Advance Greeting For Year 2006

Ok, here goes...

Advance Happy New Year to all! Keep your dogs safe and sound for the coming year of the Fire Dog - 2006

Arf,arf...

Quiet Christmas Morning

Early Christmas day, I woke up early and prepared myself to go to the gym. It was already planned that I would be burning up calories for an hour to banish all the fats that I have accumulated from eating all those Christmas food treats at home (who can resist though my wonderful angel hair classic spaghetti recipe which was a hit among my family and close relatives).

But alas, I should have known, that the nearest gym branch was closed (should have known, or was I not really thinking and paying attention that that day was Christmas Day and I should be cutting the gym attendants some slack). With nothing else to do, I decided to go home. So I trudged along the path towards the waiting station of the FX transportation.

What I enjoyed though during that long walk was the serenity of the environment - chirping of the morning birds, the gentle breeze, the unusual absence of the morning traffic sound. That made my day. It sounds and feels cheesy alright. But hey, Christmas mornings should be like this, if not everyday of my life.

No stress, no rush hours, no pollution.

Holiday Break

Taking a break at the moment for the Christmas holidays. See you next week.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Earth Shaking King Kong Movie, Part 2

Watching the film remake of King Kong (almost as long as viewing the move Titanic and each part of the entire Lord Of The Rings movie series) was already a struggle, but the rewards are great and I find myself unabashedly teary eyed in some scenes between Kong and Ann.

Below are my thoughts (and some spoilers, so I am warning you):

• The first parts of the movie painstakingly narrates the Depression Era in the US, and how a jobless theatre actress and fledgling movie director meet each other to start an adventure to an undiscovered island. Along the way, they would meet other colorful characters - the ship's captain, the helpers, the sailors, the playwright etc.


• Much of the movie's meat and sauce happened in that mysterious Skull Island where huge predatorial creatures - the natives (looking much like the dirty orcs from the LOTR movie series), dinosaurs (borrowed dinosaurs from Jurassic Park?), insects (think of house pests the size of a St. Bernard dog or a rhinoceros), slimy leech-like worms (pinkish with crooked teeth) - abound every corner of the place. Expect plenty of fleeing scenes of the helpless human protagonists from these merciless creatures.


• Overkill in effects and execution. Example: the stampeding brontosauruses scene is a little bit comical for me. I think in real life, it's more likely that none of the characters would survive the onslaught even if everyone is a dexterous Olympic runner. And how about those moments when Ann is helplessly held in one hand of Kong while this beast trashed through the jungle? One way or another, Kong would have carelessly bashed poor Ann's head or scar her face on a protruding rock or tree branch. But hey, this is Hollywood, and the good guys always magically able to survive any impossible situation. Let's just forgive the script.


• As noted in Jessica Zafra's Blog, the now famous LOTR's Gollum actor Andy Serkis has played two characters in this film: Kong and the boat's cook. Taking a hint from that post, I kept an eye for Andy; indeed he chameleoned himself into Lumpy the cook. But his character died in the most slimy, horrendous way (not for the squeamish). And yes, his Kong beast character died too at the end. The Nazi guy of The Pianist, Thomas Kretschmann plays the boat's captain (no wonder he looked familiar, besides of course the pianist himself, Adrien Brody).


• Naomi Watts is a real beauty to behold. There are some angles that I could have mistaken her for Nicole Kidman (those curly 50's blonde hairs). I have this liking for blondes. :-)


• Be prepared to get teary eyed in this movie.


• Best scene: the frozen lake scene where Kong playfully slides and whirls on the ice while Ann sits on Kong's hand.


• Kong died as expected. Well, this is a (second) remake of the original film (1933).

Overall, I rate this 4 out of 5 stars.

Want more information on King Kong? Try this site.

Earth Shaking King Kong Movie, Part 1

Hmmm, if this is an indication that the massive special-effects laden movie King Kong is really a ground-breaking hit, then I'll gladly watch the film this coming weekends. The story may be bad, but I'll hold off any judgments plus criticisms after I watch the film. And then I'll review it afterwards and post my thoughts.

I hope when I watch the film, no (similar) disaster would happen.

"Angel of God, my guardian dear..."

Look At This Sheep

I am holding below a harmless looking sheep (reminds of Pokemon) keychain handed to me by a co-worker. He found this while searching for items in Market!Market! Lo and behold, this could be a perfect kris kringle gift or simply a Christmas gift until...

It's made from China. It was branded as one of those naughty animals that simulate excrementing. Or pooing. Or s*$%ing if you want it that way.

December Weather

It's raining outside. And someone told me that since it's already December, it should have snowed. But since our country is near the equator, the warm weather supposedly melted the snow flakes and turned them into liquid water. Thus it's raining instead of snowing.

Hahaha. Haha. Ha. Hmmmm. Makes sense to me.

Summarized Thoughts

Dear diary, today, it was...

Wait, this isn't a diary. Of course, not a dainty one. This is a blog. Main difference between a diary and a blog is that a diary is more of a confidant of thoughts and other stuffs deemed too personal to be marked for public consumption. Meanwhile, a blog is a repository of mostly (anything goes) stuffs that we all want to share to other Internet visitors, may it be a post about one's opinions, a news event that happened around the neighborhood, rants and complaints about some service, daydreaming thoughts and aspirations, and tons of pictures of anything to share and brag about.

But today, even yesterday and tomorrow, is marked hectic full of scheduled things to accomplish at work and at home. Momentarily, I just sneaked in this post in an attempt to break away from the monotony of analyzing and writing dead-end computer codes. Call it a "blogging" coffee break.

And what happened since the last post? Here is the list:

• Decided to go along with friends at work to supposedly watch Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Olivares (The [Feminine] Puberty of Maximo Olivares? Some say The Blossoming of Maximo Olivares) but ended up watching the last full show of Just Like Heaven. I dismissed latter film, thinking it would be a dragging mushy love story after looking at some of the movie's simple flyers (I almost thinked the same thing with Maximo though many regarded that movie a great film). I was wrong; the movie's script was witty and the jokes refreshing and not annoying. It's not the usual boy meets girl type of movie wherein dialogues are purely sweet nothings. The moral: Don't judge the movie. It's not a person. Er, I mean, see the movie, judge it later, puke at home if it's total crap.


• Later that night, me and my co-workers went to Temple bar in Greenbelt. My companions drank hard liquor; I drank water. Yeah, no joke. Not being purely a health buff person, I decided to avoid drinking since I was already sleepy. I feared I'll just aggravate my sleepiness and never wake up until sunlight. A couple of hours and the group decided to kill time in a dingy Videoke bar somewhere near Kamagong street, Makati (forgot the place, it was recommended by an officemate who happens to frequent this after work). Now, this I got to say: if ever you need to find a decent place for videoke belters and music lovers, choose a place where the locals don't sing songs out of tune and deliberately not follow the beat of the music. The place we got to was a torture chamber for our ears. All I could see across the faces of my companions in that dimly lit room where expressions of sourness as if we were served vinegar instead of beer. Imagine this: somebody behind you is nearly drunk, belting his own version of "That's What Friends Are For" in random tunes and six to seven words behind than the currently highlighted word on the videoke screen.

Last before I stop typing. I congratulate our country for winning overall the recent 2005 SEA Games. Next stop, Thailand 2007 SEA Games. We better be prepared for their so-called "revenge" amidst the rumors that we have cheated.

Chasing New Rainbows

Riding an FX this morning along the stretch of South Super Highway, a soft drizzle caused quite a spectacle as seen by the photos above.

These are no two rainbows. These photos show two different parts of the same rainbow. While the sun was slowly rising, one end of the visible part of the rainbow slowly disintegrates while the other end appears. In effect, the visible part seems to move from right to left in a circular way.