Quick Movie Reviews

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - It was a fairly good movie. Much like the other Mummy movies, it was action-packed and had a relatively engaging plot. However, you can tell that not having Rachel Weisz play the role of Evey had a negative impact to the overall feel of the movie. It just wasn't as refreshing without her. Anyway, this is an easy call, The Mummy Returns is still the best out of of all three Mummy movies.

The Dark Knight - It IS the best superhero movie in the history of film. Great special effects, cinematography, acting, story, and plot. Bad Batman voice. Nothing that will revolutionize the entire film industry, but it does stake claim to the best superhero film ever. Pending Snyder's Watchmen that is.

Felon - Nothing to see here. Please move along.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan - This may very well be the worst Adam Sandler movie.

Hancock - This movie got so many bad reviews from either friends or critics, I watched it without any expectations at all. Turns out it wasn't really that bad - it was an "okay" popcorn movie. Which means, watch it if you don't want to think about what you're seeing.

Impact Point - "A sexy volleyball thriller." - without sex.

Kung-Fu Panda - A measure of how good an animated movie for children is the children themselves. I watched this with my two daughters and within 15 minutes, they were already doing something else.

Pathology - "Mga doktor lang makaka-appreciate nyan..." - my wife

Rescue Dawn - Christian Bale actually agreed to do this movie? Elton Brand (professional basketball player and movie producer) must really have some deep pockets.

Harold and Kumar: Escapa from Guantanamo Bay - If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. Other than that, same same. Rob Cordry was exceptionally funny here, by the way.

Hot Rod - The highlight of the entire movie was the "punch dancing" scene. If not for anything else, you may see this movie just for that.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - This is actually one of the funniest movies of the year. But why did it have so many dick shots?

New Ville Rant

We moved from Marikina to Cainta a month ago. I definitely miss Longhorn, I grew up there, actually, I spent my entire 29 years at that place - not just a house but a home. The new village in Cainta is "okay," but far from perfect.
Consider this: the apartment is a full two kilometers away from the gate - that translates to around half a liter of gasoline just to travel to the gate and return, and don't even get me started on gas prices. Between the gate and the apartment, you have to go through no less than 10 road humps. Think about that for a minute. Ten humps. In a distance of 2 kilometers. Ten! And these aren't even nicely curved road humps. These are broken down, really high, suspension breaking road humps where you have to completely stop to go over them. Its like their purpose is not to slow down vehicles but rather to BREAK them. On a stick shift, you can't even go on fourth or fifth gear because the humps are positioned unevenly every 200 meters or so. I have to endure this EVERY day. Not to mention the traffic you have to go through outside the village to get to anywhere.
Another thing that is not helping is that stray animals are everywhere. In just a single month, I have already injured three dogs and a cat, by running over them on the road. (Disclaimer: I may or may ot have killed some of them) Honestly, I sincerely did not mean to hurt these "pets." Everyone has gone through this. It was like the dogs had no idea what to do when they saw headlights - i'm gonna cross, no i'm not gonna cross, i'm gonna cross, no i'm not gonna cross... i'm gonna... (insert non-offensive sound text of something hitting a car). This is the difference between Cainta and Marikina. In Marikina, the stray pet law (or whatever they call it) is strictly enforced. Strictly enforced. All stray animals are caught and caged and all pets are registered in each barangay. They have people going around the city JUST for this purpose. If you've been to Marikina, you'd see that there are absolutely no stray animals anywhere.
Anyway, things aren't really not dire. This village has a lot of positives as well. The apartment, although small, is very homey. Seiichi's school is just two blocks away from the apartment. This school is really nice and not that expensive. Syd is much nearer now to Assumption Antipolo and her school bus got a lot cheaper. The clubhouse has a swimming pool. The inihaw food you can buy around the village is really, really good. The village is nearer to malls and is nearer to Ortigas and to Eastwood (although not really a lot). And my wife's bestfriend lives on the same village.
At the end of the day, the thing that is mostly on my mind is - Until when will we keep on renting an apartment and when will we get a house of our own?
That is an entirely different chapter by itself.

D-Wade is back?

He has been tearing it up at the Olympics. Showing off his natural athleticism and the explosiveness that gave Miami their first championship in franchise history. I particularly liked this quote from Zo: "I see him as a MVP candidate this year and I told him that a goal of his should be to on first team all-defense and there is no reason he shouldn't be there." All-defense first team is not a stretch for Wade. He was the best shot blocking guard in the entire league a couple of years back (if you consider Josh Smith a forward).
So is D-Wade back? Not until he shows up healthy on the first day of the regular season and plays all 82 games.

James Jones

From the RealGM Wiretap:

"The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed free agent guard/forward James Jones. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Jones, 6’8”, 220 pounds, shot 44.4 percent from three-point range last season finishing with the third-best mark in the NBA. The five-year NBA veteran appeared in 58 games (three starts) for the Portland Trail Blazers last season and averaged 8.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 22.0 minutes while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 87.8 percent from the foul line. He shot at least 50 percent from beyond the arc 31 times with his best effort coming on April 15 as he tied his single-game career-high with six three-point field goals made."

Good FA signing, he can be the James Posey type player Miami used to have - coming off the bench, hitting open shots, and being a decent defender. Besides, he loves to play in Miami as this is his hometown.
BUT: The Heat's track record for signing shooters has not been really good except for Jason Kapono. And why do I get the nagging feeling that he'll be another Wesley Person, or worse, a Smush Parker? I hope to high heaven i'm wrong and he doesn't turn out like either of them.
Anyway, so what happens to Ricky Davis and Dorrell Wright now?

No-Jay Mayo

So the Heat did get Beasley in the draft. Three things come to mind:
1. Are they expecting Marion to bolt after next season?
2. Who will be Miami's starting PG?
3. Is Riley done dealing?
Overall, I think it was a great draft day for Miami. ESPN's Chad Ford even gave the highest mark this year - an A+ team draft grade.
Also, from an interview, Pat Riles said that it was an "easy" decision for Miami and that they wanted Beasley all along. That's unfathomable from all the drama they created by, publicly appearing to be high on Mayo and working out Bayless on the last day before the draft. Anyway, it's a good thing Beasley will be staying (hopefully). I just can't see either Mayo or Bayless turning into good to great players.

Recent DVDs Watched

1. Be Kind Rewind - (Jack Black, Mos Def) - Started with a lot of promise, ended up being forgettable.

2. Forbidden Kingdom - (Jacky Chan, Jet Li) - Everyone involved in this movie must have gone to the cliche-till-you-die festival.

3. Pathfinder - (Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood) - It had potential as a serviceable popcorn movie, but it failed even that.

4. Shinobi: Heart Under Blade - (Yukie Nakama, Joe Odagiri) - It had a few cheap references to Ninja Scroll I have to admit - but this movie was masterfully done. Buy the DVD or download if you have the chance.

5. Never Back Down - (Sean Faris, Cam Gigandet) - Another cliche-fest, but being an MMA fan, I actually finished the movie in its entirety without ejecting the DVD - which is a good thing for a movie I expected little of.

Incredi-Bulok and Tony Starr

I just saw the new Hulk movie a couple of days ago. First off, i'd like to say that before actually seeing it, I realized that two of my favorite actors were going to be playing hero and villain. The idea of Norton and Roth squaring off against each other just made my expectations for the movie shoot up to almost Dark Knight levels. It could have been a blessing or it could have been a curse.
In reality, it was both. Even though I had no expectations on Leterrier's directing, the acting and overall theme of the movie was really good. It clearly was better than Ang Lee's. The problem with making movies with the Hulk was inherent in the character of the Hulk itself.
The Hulk is relatively a shallow character. He gets angry, he turns green, he smashes things. There's not much else to it really.
On the other hand, you can focus on Bruce Banner's persona who is a much deeper character on so many levels. The thing with that is - who's going to want to watch a movie that's 90% banner and 10% Hulk?
Anyway, I had a few ideas that could have added to the entertainment value - like an insane sex scene with Betty Ross (Banner pulling out just as he turns green completely!), the Hulk's Sonic Clap rips tanks (and people!) in half, Abomination getting bigger as he gets angrier and at the same time hooks himself up with abomination-grade military weapons!
Bottom line, I think the recent Hulk movie was as good as you can ever get to tell the story of Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk.
But why did it feel like the highlight of the movie was Tony Stark's appearance at the end?

LATE PERCEPTION OF REALITY!!

Drei Corops: ay pare may kasama ako dito sa bahay ikalawang lalake lang na kilala ko na normal medyo gago pero mahilig sa science na hayok gaya natin
Drei Corops: may sinabi sya sakin DEHIN KO PA ALAM
Drei Corops: nakakatuwa may marinig na bago
Filip Sabio: ano
Drei Corops: nabasa raw nya sa websayt....according to COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Drei Corops: lahat ng senses natin MAY LAG
Drei Corops: mga 1/10 of a second
Drei Corops: so nape-perceive natin ang BUONG REALITY
Drei Corops: na medyo LATE!!
Filip Sabio: one tenth? talaga... parang ambagal nun ah
Drei Corops: lahat daw..touch, sight, sound
Drei Corops: baka mali sya sa numero
Drei Corops: duda ako sa numero
Filip Sabio: alam ko hayok mga neurons natin sa tulin
Filip Sabio: halos speed of light
Drei Corops: oo hayok...feeling ko mali pagkaalala nya
Drei Corops: pero may lag pa rin realistic yon
Drei Corops: nakakatuwa yung idea na since lahat ng senses may lag...e di tangina HULI tayo sa lahat
Drei Corops: huli sa realidad ng todo konting mga units of time
Drei Corops: malamang dehin 1/10
Drei Corops: pero naniniwala ako sa general lag ..."late perception of reality"
Filip Sabio: pero ambilis mag process ng utak natin
Filip Sabio: hehe
Drei Corops: oo nagcocompensate..pero yung point daw ng documentary...
Filip Sabio: ano
Drei Corops: pag daw naenhance ng science ang senses natin...may advantage tayo sa mga normal na tao
Drei Corops: parang spiderman spider sense
Filip Sabio: putah
Drei Corops: kasi nauuna
Filip Sabio: sino nakaka achieve nyan
Drei Corops: haha
Filip Sabio: or theoretical sense
Drei Corops: wala theory lang
Filip Sabio: tangina ano yon maikli mga nerves hahaha
Drei Corops: isipin mo pare..SA TOTOO LANG NASUNTOK KA NA pero ang alam ng buong kaluluwa mo PALANDING PA LANG YUNG SAPAK
Drei Corops: hahaha
Drei Corops: kung alam mo na masusuntok ka na makakaiwas ka
Drei Corops: ang ineexplain kasi OA sa generalized lag
Filip Sabio: baliktad
Drei Corops: baliktad ba
Filip Sabio: akala mo palanding pa lng yung suntok
Drei Corops: ay oo baliktad
Filip Sabio: este
Drei Corops: nakakalito
Filip Sabio: nasuntok ka na
Drei Corops: ayujn yung sabi ko jhehehe
Filip Sabio: este
Drei Corops: tama yung una ko
Drei Corops: nasuntok ka na pero dahil alam mo yun..pwede mong unahan....tangina parang metaphysical world
Drei Corops: ineexplain na magiging parang minority report man ka
Drei Corops: may future sense!!
Filip Sabio: pero in reality
Filip Sabio: dein future yon
Drei Corops: yun daw yung goal...tapso sabi daw malamang mga futureman gaya ni nostradamus hayok lang daw ang awareness
Filip Sabio: it is da "now"
Filip Sabio: pero pano ka mauuna sa reality
Drei Corops: oo parang ganon. Tanginang konsepto yun actually pang "high"
Filip Sabio: bwahahaha
Filip Sabio: pang sabog
Drei Corops: oo pare hehehe pero may tawag daw yjung field of study na yon....andun yung words na cognitive saka science saka perception of reality
Drei Corops: yung kwento sakin bitin bitin e
Drei Corops: pag lumapit sayo opismeyt mo sigaw ka ALAM KO NA ANG SASABIHIN MO KASI SA TOTOO LANG NASABI MO NA
Drei Corops: pero hindi mo pa alam na nasabi mo na
Filip Sabio: hahaha
Drei Corops: applicable lang yata yun kung ga-5 mins yung lag
Filip Sabio: kung may spyware utak mo
Drei Corops: pare sa opinion ko masyadong maliit yung lag to the point na no significant difference na pag nag statistics ka
Filip Sabio: ganon siguro lag
Filip Sabio: ahaha
Drei Corops: eh yung brontosaurus theory nakwneot ko na sayo
Filip Sabio: google ko nga
Filip Sabio: daynasor?
Drei Corops: may mga paleontologists pare sabi nila primitibo daw yung nerves ng mga dinosor..may possiblity na OA sa bagal pagtravel ng senses don. Baka pag pinutol mo buntot ng mahabang brontosaurus...tangina mamayang hapon pa sya aaray
Filip Sabio: hahahahahahahaha
Drei Corops: sobrang tanga na nila non hahaha
Filip Sabio: tangina sakit ng tyan ko
Filip Sabio: hahahahaha
Drei Corops: kasi hindi pa nageevolve to fullest potential ang nervous systsem!!
Drei Corops: naniniwala ako dun!!
Drei Corops: HAHAHAHHAHA
Drei Corops: nabanggit na rin yun ng ibang tao nakalimutan ko basta may theory na ganon..may kinalaman sa coating ng mga nerve cells
Drei Corops: hahahahaha
Filip Sabio: baka malayo yung mga synaptic gaps in between brain cells
Filip Sabio: hahaha
Drei Corops: ayun na nga kasama na yon hahaha
Filip Sabio: may problema dun pare
Drei Corops: ano prablem
Drei Corops: ay pwede sila sa LAG THEORY OF REALITY
Filip Sabio: pano yung mga involuntary moevment ng mga organs and muscles
Drei Corops: hmmm sa "senseation" lang ata applicable
Drei Corops: feeling ang pinapagusapan nila e
Drei Corops: hindi motor
Drei Corops: baka mabilis na motor
Drei Corops: pero mabagal sensory
Filip Sabio: eh pano kung natatae yung daynasor pare
Filip Sabio: after three days
Filip Sabio: makikita na lng nya yung bahay nya
Drei Corops: solb yan problem na yan pag conclude mo na sensory is slow motor is fast
Filip Sabio: puro tae na
Drei Corops: HAHAHAHAHAHA oo nga
Filip Sabio: yun nga
Drei Corops: "ay natatae pala ako"
Filip Sabio: "natatae ako" - bronto
Drei Corops: "ay wala na pala akong buntot!! yare!! AAAAAA"
Filip Sabio: isa pang problema dun pare
Drei Corops: haha ano pa tangian natatawa ako dito hahahahaha
Filip Sabio: kunyari kakain sya ng jurassic leaves
Filip Sabio: nakita nya yung plants pare
Drei Corops: tapos hahaha
Filip Sabio: tangina kelangan nya magdasal na kapag kakagatin na nya yun
Filip Sabio: andun pa
Drei Corops: HAHAHAHA
Filip Sabio: yung leaves
Drei Corops: baka naman sa BUNTOT lang applicable yung theory
Filip Sabio: kse maaaring hinangin na or wat
Drei Corops: malapit naman yung mata sa brain
Drei Corops: hahahaha
Filip Sabio: bwahahahaha
Drei Corops: kaya siguro buntot ginamit na example
Filip Sabio: putangina
Filip Sabio: tanginang theory only for buntot
Drei Corops: tangina natatawa ako
Drei Corops: hahahahaha
Drei Corops: TAIL-ONLY LAG THEORY FOR BRONTO!
Filip Sabio: hahahahaha
Filip Sabio: putangina
Drei Corops: tapos pang mahabang dinosor lang
Drei Corops: tapos pang mahabang dinosor lang
Filip Sabio: baka naman kse OA din tayo hahahaha
Drei Corops: baka hindi naman maghapon yiung lag!
Filip Sabio: baka naman yung lag nya ay seconds or tenth of a second lng naman
Filip Sabio: hahahaha
Drei Corops: hahahha palagay ko hahahahahah
Drei Corops: so bale parang "slow reaction" lang ang datin
Drei Corops: dating
Filip Sabio: pero solid yon pare kung mamayang hapon pa
Filip Sabio: everything will register
Drei Corops: tangina sinaksak mo na sa puso
Drei Corops: namatay na...dehin naramdaman! kasi hindi umabot sa hapon!
Filip Sabio: tangina isipin mo
Filip Sabio: papahinga ka lng
Filip Sabio: kumakain ka ng leaves
Drei Corops: tapos
Filip Sabio: biglang split second dedbol ka na
Filip Sabio: kse kanina ka pa pala namamatay
Drei Corops: kasi nasaksak ka nung umaga?
Drei Corops: HAHAHHAHHA
Drei Corops: pano kiung kanina pa pala sya PATAY!!
Drei Corops: LATE PERCEPTION OF REALITY!!

Beasley?

The Miami Heat got the second overall pick in the next draft. Widely considered as a two-man draft for Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, this takes the pressure off of Riles to draft the "right" player. Essentially, it all boils down to who Chicago doesn't pick.
Here is where things get complicated for my dream: Rose-Wade-Marion combo. Because now, I think the Bulls will ultimately choose Rose over Beasley. Although most mock drafts are picking Beasley for Chicago (basically because the Bulls need an inside scorer), I still think they'll choose Rose, a Chicago native, for an upgrade over Kirk Hinrich, who disappeared the entire season last year.
Hopefully, i'm not entirely wrong about this, just like a quarter of my conference finals picks, and Chicago chooses Beasley. What's more there has been talk of the Heat trading the second pick if they don't get Derrick Rose, because they appear to be "not sold" on Beasley's commitment. That'll be a disaster. Unless they get someone like Brand or Okafor or a productive 4-guy out of that trade, it'll be one of the worst draft day trades ever.
On the other hand, you really can't go wrong with Beasley anyway. He's extremely athletic and will be a career 20+ scorer and 8+ rebounder in the NBA, and those are conservative numbers. What if he shows up for training camp motivated and just wanting to dominate? That'll be something to see.




Michael Beasley

The WTF Story of the Month

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3378730

What the f...?!