And So It Ends. And So It Begins.

"And so it ends. And so it begins." - Ira Winderman

And So It Ends

Notes on the 1st-round ouster of the Heat:
1. Down 0-3 was such a big hole. That Game 3 Paul Pierce buzzer beater was a heartbreaker.
2. I really thought Wade could do this. But it seemed his whole season was epitomized by a desperation 3 with the game tied and lots of time left on the last possession of their ultimately last home game - he really did not get to the hole that much.
3. No one on the roster did get to the hole that much. To Boston's credit, their defense made the Heat a jump-shooting team and forced a lot of turnovers. Not an easy thing to do since the Heat are 2nd in the entire league in taking care of the ball during the entire regular season.
4. The thing that struck me most about this series was how much Kednrick "Perpetually-Pissed" Perkins and Glen "Ticket Stub" Davis outplayed JO, UD and Beasley. Really. Think about that for a moment.
5. Buti na lang Rasheed Wallace was playing for the Celtics, kung hinde, baka na-sweep pa ang Miami.
6. Buti naka isa (Game 4). At least, hindi na sweep.
7. With Miami out, who do I root for now in the East? Orlando? Cleveland? Ah alam ko na. The SPURS.


Ans So It Begins

So now the anticipation of Heat fans shifts to the offseason. No one really has any idea how this summer is going to turn out for this franchise. I'm reading really good articles regading how much more cap space the Heat will have over other teams. That Miami can sign 2 superstars and another all-star caliber player.
Yes, Lebron is the holy grail of free agents. But no one is really pegging him to leave Cleveland. Why would he? He's been there all his life and he has a winning team. So if the probable happens, and Lebron stays with Cleveland, I just hope that Riley signs the next best FA - Chris Bosh.
My personal FA priorities in order (no Bron) - Bosh, Boozer, Stoudemire. I really don't have anything good to say about Amare Stoudemire's defense. Be it post or help. In fact, he rarely plays it, that he's not just a liability, he's a weakness. Boozer, on the other hand, can only play the 4 but would be a much better fit, I think, with Miami's offensive and defensive strategies. Bosh meanwhile will be the best 1-2 punch partner to Wade not named Lebron. He can slide from 4 to 5 and will be the next celebrated big man in Pat Riley's history - from Kareem, Ewing, Mourning, to Shaq. I know that's a huge list, but Bosh will have that potential in Miami.
Here's hoping for the best. I have to say this again - In Riles we trust.

Win or Go Home Time

Notes at the end of the regular season:
1. Twelve games above 500 for Miami - way better than I expected.
2. Dwyane Wade's career FG% dropped a little this season, and at times seemed to be coasting on both O and D. But, you can't deny his greatness with almost single-handedly keeping Miami at the 5th spot.
3. This was supposed to be Michael Beasley's year. He showed flashes of offensive brilliance but never showed any grit or determination like Haslem. Come to think of it, if they can get an all-star caliber PG, PF or C for him - Miami should JUMP on it. Immediately.
3.a. On a side note regarding Beasley - his potential seemingly decreases as his NBA career advances: From draft day potential to current/realistic potential - from Shawn Kemp (Sonics) to Carmelo Anthony (offense only) to Glen "Big Dog" Robinson (Bucks) to Chris Gatling (Nets) to Corliss Williamson (Detroit/Kings) to Matt Freakin Bonner.
4. D-Wright is a good kid. He just makes bad decisions - DUI and the "sex" scandal. Can't believe he's known as mister-5-inches now. Ouch.
5. JO has been better than expected, I just hope his knees hold up in the playoffs.
6. If Wade is the absolute priority this offseason, an all-star PF/C should be next and resigning Haslem should be a very, very close third. Yes, he is that important.
7. The Rafer Alston experiment ended at the right time. Carlos Arroyo seemed to be real professional with the way his minutes were handled and how he proved to be a natural leader this side of Wade. I still believe in Mario Chalmers - even more so than Beasley, think about that for a second.
8. Strong way to end the season. Boston in Round 1. (I wanted Boston instead of ATL in the first round - I felt Wade and co. had a better chance with them old guys than Smoove and Crawford in a seven game series)
9. Seven games in Round 1 and the season will be a success. Reach the second round and Miami exceeds all expectations.
10. Playoffs, baby!

League-wide notes:
1. I can't believe a team as dysfunctional as Chicago made the playoffs. Sure they caught a few breaks towards the end of the regular season (Jamison elbow to Bosh face), but it just goes to show you Rose's brilliance and Noah's heart.
2. The Cavs are GOOD. Hopefully they don't win it all this year so Miami has a window for Lebron. Blech. I know, never gonna happen. I can dream, right.
3. The Spurs won 50 games, yep. But no one is really counting on them to win the championship much less reach the WCF. Duncan and the Spurs are my second favorite team. Although looking at Duncan, it seems that age has caught up to the best power forward to ever play the game. Hopefully he still has a few more productive years left and they make a splash at this year's playoffs.
4. I honestly believe that Gilbert Arenas is one stupid-@$$ mo-fo. Probably thought he could get away with it.
5. Kawawa ka naman, Greg Oden. Na-injure ka na, nagka scandal ka pa. Actually, dein. Hindi ka pala kawawa. "Anlaki" mong tao eh. Mas kawawa si Dorell "Mr. 5-Inches" Wright.

My Picks:

Regular Season MVP (in order)
1 - Lebron James
2 - Kevin Durant
3 - Dwyane Wade
4 - Dwight Howard
5 - Matt Bonner

DPOY - Dwight Howard
ROY - Tyreke Evans
COY - Scott Brooks
MIP - David Lee

All-NBA 1st:
D. Wade
K. Byrant
K. Durant
L. James
D. Howard

All-NBA 2nd:
S. Nash
J. Johnson
C. Anthony
D. Nowitzki
A. Bogut

All-NBA 3rd:
-wag na-

All-NBA Defense:
R. Rondo
D. Wade
G. Wallace
L. James
D. Howard

Pat Stood Pat

I'm actually relieved that the Heat did not make any moves before the deadline. As it stands, Miami still has the most cap space for the offseason in the entire NBA. I didn't think Booz or Amare would have made that much of a difference really. (Plus 5 or 6 in the W column perhaps?) Besides the cap space, I really didn't want the Heat to part with either Beasley or Wright - good production for cheap contracts.
Of course, all of these will be moot if we don't get Wade and another max contract-worthy player or if... gasp... Wade bolts.
(Take note of maximum contract "worthy" - a few players will be worthy of a max contract, James, Bosh, Wade ... but another group will get max contracts but really should just be a notch under it, Joe Johnson, Amare, etc..)
Go Heat!

James Cameron's Avatar

1. The best movie of the year. I was actually motivated to write in my blog again. Imagine that.
2. Although I haven't seen the ordinary theatrical version, I can say for a fact that this movie was MEANT to be seen in 3D. Like the first time I saw Miller's 300, I couldn't stop telling myself how awesome the Avatar 3D experience was.
3. I am still quite amazed on how this motion picture turned out, although I don't know if the same high will be experienced if you watched the non-3D version of the movie first.
4. I wonder if this was all from James Cameron's head (like Lucas with Star Wars) or if this was just a creative collaboration from his production team? Can't wait for the DVD/BR special features.

5. Too bad - I heard the PSP game sucks.

6. Runtime was long but the story was well told. Although it did have its "love story moments" in the middle that made me ask "Where's the action?" (And then just minutes after, a full blown war ensues. Go figure.)

7. Okay I did find one thing that didn't exactly sit well with me: ***Spolier Alert*** It seemed stupid that the Na'vi and would fight and charge to death at the end without formulating some sort of tactical advantage aside from - "Their sensors won't work!"

8. Is this a prelude to the idea of a trend that only CG-heavy movies can really rake in the cash at the global level?

9. I gave it 4.5 DREIs but its actually closer to a five than to a four.

4.5 DREIs


1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Does Booze make the Heat better?

Iverson? No, thanks.

Boozer? Hmm...

Current Depth Chart:

C - J. O' Neal

PF - U. Haslem

SF - M. Beasley*

SG - D. Wade

PG - M. Chalmers

6th - D. Cook

7th - J. Jones

8th - C. Quinn

9th - M. Blount

10th - Y. Diawara

11th - D. Wright

*Riles and Spo indicated that there is a strong possibility of B-Easy starting as SF this year

**No word yet from Jamario Moon and Joel Anthony's qualifying offers, nor from Jamaal Magloire's status.

Depth Chart after acquiring Boozer (for perhaps Beasley and Haslem after matching salaries):

C - J. O'Neal / M. Blount

PF - C. Boozer

SF - J. Jones / Y. Diawara

SG - D. Wade / D. Cook

PG - M. Chalmers / C. Quinn

You can throw in Wright and to either the 2 or 3 positions but you can still see that that roster will rely heavily on the outside shooting of Cook and James Jones to open up the inside. The Booze and O'Neal pairing will clog up the inside immensely - you just have to hope that both their midrange game is working (just like when UD had that 10 to 15 footer on).

Still contract-wise and thinking of the 2010 cap space, this could potentially be a great pickup. It will just be extremely hard to let go of Haslem - the Heat's ultimate warrior and Beasley - youth and unbounded potential.

Revenge of the Fallen

Critics hated it. I loved it.

1. While watching, I couldn't help but think: "How much MONEY did they actually put into this movie?" - I would have to guess the number of (expensive) CG shots trumped that of Revolutions and Phantom Menace.

2. Andaming robot. Not needing to develop a back story for the characters, Michael Bay went all out using as much robots as he can without choking the audience. (Although, I hated the two gremlin-like twin robots he used - too much personality, I say - if that's even possible for movie robots.)

3. The story/plot was okay. They did need 2.5 hours to finish it though. But with all the eye candy, who cares if it was a tad too long?

4. Anyone notice Michael Bay's self-promotion with the Bad Boys II poster? And oh yeah, he used the same ecstacy/reefer drugged up funny scene with the Witwicky mom.

5. Shia Le Bouf was good. Megan Fox was good. Turturro was good. Although Duhamel and Gibson, felt like they were playing bit parts.

6. Congratulations, Michael Bay. You managed to make Megan Fox even more hotter.

7. The Decepticons went terminator-style and upped the ante with the robots-in-disguise thing. I'm still not sure on whether this was a good idea or not.

8. Revenge of the Fallen. Yep, better than the first.

4 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Noong Wala Pang Tint si PLU...

...pano ka nga naman makakatulog ng maliwanag...

Movie Reviews

Recently Seen:

Ip Man - I was hoping for something along the lines of an epic like Hero or even something just as entertaining as probably Fearless. Those standards proved to be way too high. Waaay too high. Ip Man = Fail.
2 DREIs

Fast and Furious (Old Model New Parts) - Yes, it is an upgrade over the monumentally bad Tokyo Drift. But really, not much else.
3 DREIs

The 13th Warrior - I saw this first in the theater (1999? 2000?). Recently got an AVI copy. Liked it before, still like it now. Probably the best movie adaption of the Beowulf saga.
3.5 DREIs

The Invisible - It is predicated in this movie that people that are near death can walk around the world "invisibly." As expected, not a whole lot went on; and just too many holes in the plot.
2.5 DREIs

The Horsemen - Starring Dennis Quaid and Zhang Zhiyi. Whodunnit Cops and Serial Killers. It seems that they used as much movie cliches as they can. Aside from bad acting and sciptwriting, it was just too easy to figure out.
1 DREI

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - I saw the "unfinished" copy first, and then the final cut. I have to admit I liked almost everything about it, everything was relatively good - plot . But this is where Dark Knight sticks it to almost every other superhero movie - compared to the Joker, Sabretooth was just... forgettable.
3.5 DREIs

Punisher: War Zone - I saw one or two scenes with flashes of brilliance, but see Dark Knight reference above: Jigsaw = also forgettable.
2.5 DREIs

Dead or Alive - Surprisingly entertaining. I liked the fight scenes and the slowmo volleyball game. And besides, this movie had Holly Valance mostly half naked! Nuff said.
3.5 DREIs

The Spirit - Frank Miller is thought of as a god in the comic book industry. But even deity sometimes does stupid mortal things. Like making movies like these for example. Shot almost entirely in the same manner as Sin City, just infinitely more boring.
2.5 DREIs



1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Terminator Salvation

1. McG delivered. Action-freakin-packed. When someone asks you: "What is an action movie?" You say: "This is."

2. Chel and Drei were right though: not much in terms of the story itself - but the action more than made up for it.

3. Christian Bale was amazing. It is hard for anyone to play John Connor and he did a good job of doing it. Method acting paid off, I guess... (and yep, I heard his 15-minute internet audio cursefest on this set... on a side note, continuous cursing is hard to sustain over a two or even three minute period, Bale was relentless for that entire time... THAT is something.)

4. Sam Worthington (Marcus) will probably have a Hugh Jackman-like career from now on.

5. (Semi-Spoiler Alert) The Arnold Schwaenenzggreenegegegr CGI should NOT have been there. It distracted you from the entire action sequence. I was thinking, if you can't put in the "real" Arnold, then DON'T put him in. (on another side note, the movie industry has made great strides in terms of computer animation and graphics for the past couple of years... but this goes to show you how we are still so far off in terms of people CG realism on closeups.)

6. (Major Spoiler Alert) I was really hoping they were going to finish the story. But instead, even after blowing up Skynet's main base, John Connor said something like - "Skynet's Global Network still remains strong, but the fight isn't over..."

7. I can't help but think of parralels between the Matrix and the Terminator mythology. The machines in the Matrix (sentinels, etc..) are way way way way harder to beat than Terminators (even if Skynet had nuclear capability). I'm just sayin.

8. Overall, good action flick. Monumentally better than the last one. However, I just had some issues with the CG and the ending.

3.5 DREIs

1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)

2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)

3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)

4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)

5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)

Angels and Demons

1. The Da Vinci Code may have been a bigger box office and bestseller hit; but cinematically, Angels and Demons proved to be just above it in several levels.

2. More action, better paced, better acting (Obi-Wan did a fantastic job.)

3. Much like other book-to-movie adaptations, the book was more engaging. Although the movie itself, did not disappoint.

4. Just like The Da Vinci Code, I read the book before I saw the movie. I particularly liked the representation of the God Particle (anti-matter) and how Ron Howard integrated the use of the Hadron Collider to create it.

5. MINOR SPOILER ALERT: The thing that was missing though, and this was a huge part of the story in the book, was the Camerlengo's relationship to the deceased Pope. This was what I thought, what Dan Brown wrote as the match that started the whole fire.

6. I love wide-angle shots in a movie. It is sort of a like a gauge on how grand the scale of production is. And this movie had lots of it.

7. Replay Value: definitely worth buying an original DVD box set for. We got the original The Da Vince Code Limited Edition Box Set with Cryptex for the first movie. What box-set bells and whistles will they think of this time? Limited Edition Anti-Matter perhaps?

3.5 DREIs


1 - DREIs: "Avoid Like The Plague" Why did we watch this in the first place? (i.e. Bangkok Dangerous, The Hottie and the Nottie, Scorpion King 2, etc..)
2 - DREIs: "Shite" No need to see this movie unless you have absolutely nothing else to do. Movies with high expectations but falls short on almost everything. (i.e. Righteous Kill, Max Payne, The Island, etc..)
3 - DREIs: "Okay" Good movies that could have been better. Usually gets half good reviews, and the other half so-so. The experience will also depend also on who is watching. (i.e. Clone Wars Animated, Fast and the Furious, The Devil Wears Prada, etc..)
4 - DREIs: "Great" Almost all facets of the movie were masterfully done. Great in almost all aspects. (i.e. 300, Dark Knight, Transformers, Slumdog Millionaire, etc..)
5 - DREIs: "Revolutionary" It will change the entire concept of filmmaking and how films are made from this point on. It will serve as the new gauge for movies of the same genre. (i.e. The Matrix, LOTR, The Godfather, etc..)