Wednesday, October 31, 2007

False Expectations

The problem with good books that are adapted into movies is that if there is something somewhat lacking with the film, the inevitable question a person would have is "Is the book better?"

When that was asked about Stardust, I just deflected the question by saying, "I read the book for the words. I watched the movie for the visuals."

And from the trailer of the film, I was also asked before watching, "Please tell me he doesn't break up with his fiance to be with Claire Danes."

I was tempted to say, "If I tell you, will you not watch with us?"

And afterwards, when it was shown that there are situations when you want a couple to break up - such as when she doesn't deserve to be with someone as good as he is - I could have asked, "So you don't like it that he broke up with her?"

Sometimes, something other than what's on the screen can ruin a film for a viewer.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The Guilt Leash

This will give a totally new dimension to what I just wrote today in CSI, but sometimes being with friends, they want you to enjoy so much what they like that you're willing to be dragged around to see things that ultimately end up being doubly tiring especially since they want to stay out very late and you're the only one who has a long trip home ahead.

Drastic solution of the moment: limit these instances to once a month or longer, by saying I'm not available most of the weekends they invite, which isn't exactly a lie anyway.

Footnote: the picture above is from the American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, which is the second time in a month I've used a picture here of such cruelty practices by abusive US citizens.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

CK vs CK

Current science fiction shows taking advantage of actors from old science fiction shows (such as Star Trek people in Heroes) with Dean Cain appearing on Smallville as an immortal named Curtis Knox, leaving the doors open for a recurring role.

This seems to be a very interesting year for geek fans.

Friday, October 26, 2007

I'd Like to Lift Those

Still on shopping, this is one of the items I'm tempted to buy next time I'm in Japan Home Center, as mentioned in CSI.

Trust the Japanese to come up with a creative poster like this, considering the round containers are filled with liquid.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Reptilian Writing

One of the less than P100 purchases I made last Sunday, as detailed in CSI yesterday. Even with the ink run out, it's still a nice pocket toy.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mediocre Work Will Out

You keep skipping your classes for laziness or spa treatments or to go out with friends and it will reflect in your work and in what the teacher grades you. You have no one to blame but yourself.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Never Stale

Weird Al's latest album (released last year) Straight Outta Lynwood has a lot of nice memorable songs, but none that are vocally challenging like Hardware Store or Horoscope for Today from his previous albums. You're Pitiful is a free download that wasn't part of the album though, due to declination not by the artist spoofed James Blunt but by the record label.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Pathetic Follow-Up

The first indication that this film wasn't going to be as good as the original is that the main star is gone, replaced by a boy band refugee. It's sad, because the comic antics of the supporting cast really does try to bring the whole thing together, but it wasn't enough.

Recommendation: borrow the DVD from someone else, but don't spend money on it.

Friday, October 19, 2007

More Updated Childhood Games for the Tech Age

Just like that "Catch the Differences" arcade game in Town Center that Mokey likes, this one (which I found through nodwick.com again) has the player looking for small changes between two side-by-side pictures. The main draw? The pictures are animated, and sometimes tell a very quirky little story.

Too bad I finished it already. Hope they come out with more soon.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Kicking Someone When They're Down

Urban Dead update: Just when I'm down to my last few AP and looking for a secure building, that's when a zombie starts chasing me.

Usually even if I don't get to enter a safe house, I use my last AP to get inside any ruined building, making it just a bit more difficult for zombies to find me (am not visible in a 3x3 grid like humans who are outside), unless they do a house by house search which uses up AP. Then I'd log in again in a few hours just to use the handful of AP generated to get to safety.

So it wasn't surprising that after clawing at me in the street and I disappear, the player behind the zombie started looking for me inside the nearby buildings. It was just his luck and my misfortune that I was out of AP at that time.

When I logged in again an hour later (enough for me to get in the neighboring heavily barricaded building) I was dead.

Good news though: I did get all the zombie skills in one sweep, using my 1800+ XP.

Side note: the video still above is from the 1991 LA police brutality case on black suspect (mind you, not yet convicted) Rodney King on the street.

Foreshadowing of today's caveat to be careful what you do, because anyone can have a camera phone to capture the moment.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Monsters and Side Quests

I was suprised how far I was able to get in this game Jade Empire in less than six hours. Even with the added necessity of having to talk to everyone you meet, it was still pretty fast paced, having been used to games where you hang around a certain locale or setting for an hour at least trying to uncover what will lead you to the next stage or level.

There were some clunks, such as the character having to move to a certain point in front of an object to be able to open it, but otherwise, I wasn't annoyed or bored with it.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Anthem?

This girl originally came out with a tune whose version by Ronan Keating is being played in local radio stations.

It was only recently when I really listened to the lyrics that I realized it contains at least two phrases that are part of my personal philosophy: the first line about keeping a sense of wonder and not following the path of least resistance.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Brain Eaters Don't Get Dehydrated

Resident Evil: Extinction is set in the desert. There are infected crows (although there were also those in 28 Days Later) and supposedly intelligent zombies, but the best fight for me is still the one with the dogs at the start. Besides that it tried to go back to what made the first movie great by returning to the mansion, but I would have rather seen what happened after the last scene.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Catch the Differences

This is the game that Mokey introduced to all of us yesterday in Town Center. We got to almost the final stage, not only because of several continues, but also because several pairs of eyes (six or seven) were helping out to look for the differences between the pictures.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Empty Offices

The staff are having their yearly recollection today, having been in the campus only for the morning.

That means the teachers are left with the responsibility of locking the labs after our classes, while the other services (library, registrars) are closed. This is just one of several half-baked ideas being implemented here.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Selfishness Goes On...

Second time I'm using a demotivational poster to prove a point.

{Ahem, where was I?} Continued from yesterday...

She could have just said no. I didn't go to her birthday party, and not just because she wasn't going to serve anything that I could eat. She even had the gall to tell me then to just go "for her".

She had already said yes when my friend (the one supposedly courting her) asked her. Then she backed out, and said she would only go if I invited her.

What a user. She doesn't ride with us going to school because she now knows her being late inconveniences a lot of people in the car pool. But she still rides with us at night when there are other drivers she could ride with if she really wanted to stick to her principle.

And what principle would that have been? Not abusing my friend's kindness when she has no intention of saying "yes" to him.

And now that she's told them about her stand, she's made them suspect there is a conflict between us, when I, all this time, have not even said a single word against her to them.

It's just between her and me, and she doesn't even have the decency to approach me about it, instead just choosing not to ride with us anymore where I'll see more of her bad behavior she doens't want to change. Yeah, that's the way to deal with your problems.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

The Fifth Wheel

I think my friend already suspects that I don't like the girl he is "courting" because she is inconsiderate of others.

But it didn't stop him from asking is she could join us on the day I'm supposed to treat this long weekend.

I just told him "It's up to you."

So much for enjoying that day then. I'll just lavish spending more on the other people along that I like then.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Oh, No! It's Back Again



Thought I was done with this game, being content with finishing the GBA versions, but now I just got them for the PC. More inane Easter eggs than the ice skating Wompa and the Jarjar Binks dummy targets, is what I'm looking forward to.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Beware the Mutated Catfish

Best monster film I've seen this year, and it doesn't follow Hollywood formulaic storytelling. Just get the subtitled version though, the English dubbed one shown in local cinemas is bad.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Is It the Rose of Mohammed All Over Again?


Last year the Moslems were all fanatically up in arms about a Danish newspaper printing what they claimed to be an offensive caricature of the prophet.

Now we have something similar brewing against a show all about promiscuity, murder along with other criminal activities and eccentric suburban behavior, asking for an apology. Most of these probably still have self-proclaimed Divalicious outcry hangover.

People can threaten to get their demands (and may get it, just to shut them up. How sincere is it then?), but it doesn't take away the fact that they're oversensitive and care more about what other people say about what they do than they do about actually doing a good job regardless of what everyone else thinks.

Where are the Marcos supporters rallying from all the jabs made by Hollywood against Imelda and her extravagant lifestyle? None to be seen.

I wonder if the reaction would have been so united if they had talked about nurses instead.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Zombies with Weapons


Only now that I have gotten all human skills and am now amassing experience points for zombie skills in Urban Dead do I realize it's possible to be a zombie with a weapon instead of just tearing at people and things with just hands and teeth.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Wrong Does Not Become Right

Had to endure listening to someone in the car the other day insist that when an ambulance with the siren on ignores traffic rules, it is when "wrong becomes right" instead of being an exception to the rule that still has to be sorted out afterwards if there are consequences to the swerving or u-turns made.

If she was trying to point out "subtly" that there were justifications to her being late all those times before, it's no excuse, because it is entirely preventable just by waking up goddamn earlier.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The Blossoms of a Fertile Imagination


These are stills from one of the two low-priced DVDs that my friend TV and I got over the weekend, "Mirrormask" by Neil Gaiman, who also wrote the upcoming (at least here in the Philippines) "Stardust".

Monday, October 1, 2007

Uh-Oh, Numbers AND Math

I was playing this long before Sudoku arrived on the scene, in Logic Puzzle magazines. There was a local version that came out but it didn't have a unique solution like the well thought out US makers had.

Thanks to Sudoku though, now there are magazines full of these too instead of just a handful in each puzzle magazine I used to purchase.