Rockstar: Supernova, Week 9

This Rockstar is far different from the original Rockstar with INXS for me--I mean, I had one early favorite (Jordis) who I stuck with throughout the entire competition until she was eventually booted out.

With this edition of Rockstar, I've changed my mind several times. I started out rooting for Toby, got on the Dilana lovetrain, began liking Magni and Storm, got off the Dilana train, and then liked Toby again.

One thing which hasn't changed is my dislike of Ryan and Lukass. Just can't stand the two. Lukass is just an ass while Ryan is too TH (Trying Hard to non-Pinoys out there). You just felt that the SP boys were secretly laughing at Ryan's "intensity" behind his back.

Toby kicked all sorts of ass with Rebel Yell last night. It was a fun performance, and I was rolling on the floor laughing when he brought those girls up. The guy's so cheeky, and if Suave Porn wants to project a "Party Band" image, then Toby is the way to go.

Hokage

I've been spending waaaaay too much time on YouTube lately. Why? This little anime called Naruto. I've always been a big fan of the fight-style anime; Ninja Scroll and Dragonball Z (although a bit cheesy and drawn out) come to mind. I've always liked how the creators came out with different powers for each of the combatants, and how each one matches up with the other.

I'm also a big fan of the fighting-style video games, although I'd rather watch experts duke it out, since I'm a lousy player. I'd say Tekken and Soul Calibur have the best backstories, with Soul Calibur having the plus of having a Filipino character (Talim).

My favorite character in Naruto? Rock Lee, the odd-looking Bruce Lee/marionette bastard child. Works hard, and has killer moves. Naruto's annoying, and Sasuke's just too-cool-for-school.

Teacher's Pet

There was a segment on Kevin and Bean @KROQ where they talked about the different pranks played on teachers by students. It got me thinking as to whether there were any Great Pranks played back when I was in school. We had some very interesting teachers back in grade school and high school; one teacher was a Menudo fan, and had a poster in her cabinet. Another was a "keeper", keeping stuff that me and other students left behind in the classroom (since none of us had the guts to call him out on it). Still another "mined for gold" and then flicked 'em to the class. Then there was the "English" teacher who said that my definition of "gumption" was incorrect (a check of the dictionary later on proved otherwise).

Playing pranks, though? I think a couple of my classmates made Ms. Menudo cry once. Other than that I can't really remember (or I blocked it out, or I wasn't involved--I was too much of a goody-two-shoes back then). Personally, the biggest prank I ever pulled was convincing the Science Teacher that my "project" was worthy of making it to the Science Congress (when it was really just a Capsela project running off a potato). Exciting stuff--not.

The best prank I remember was similar to what one of Kevin and Bean's listeners did--their teacher was a former Playmate, so they hunted down the Playboy where she appeared and stuck it to the blackboard. In our case the teacher had posed for a promo calendar--nothing as revealing as Playboy (I believe it was either a swimsuit or a wet T-shirt--I guess she wasn't that memorable). In any case, she was pissed, and her boyfriend was pissed as well. Good times.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 8

*yawn*

I'm off the Dilana lovetrain. Another case of "peaked too early", like Jordis. EBYT was boring, and the "Di-laaaah-nuh, di-laaaah-nuh" part was just freaky-deaky. She fits Supernova, though, along with Lukas.

Speaking of Lukas, I'm not sure why they gave that tongue bath to him. That was my favorite Killers song, and he completely sucked on it.

Patrice is so bored right now, they should just do a mercy elimination.

I liked Toby and Storm this go-around. Storm is such an attractive woman. Toby was cool with Layla, although the lame "EVS" tattoo was cheesy.

bookoftheweek: Cell by Stephen King

Remember when I said that Stephen King writes really killer openings but sucks at endings?  Well, he did it again with his newest book, Cell.

The premise is pretty simple, but cool: everyone with a cell phone has turned into zombie-like creatures.  People without cell phones are normal.  The book then follows a group of these normal folk as they try to survive.

Simple, right?  King captured me from the get-go with that premise, and I eagerly flipped the pages, wanting to see what would happen.  What was also interesting to me was that this felt like it happened in the Dark Tower universe, with the event seemingly caused by the Crimson King.  Heck, I think he even makes a cameo appearance, although obliquely (you'd have to be familiar with school mascots).   Things were building up to an exciting finish when...

He ends it.  Just like that.  He ends it.  No sense of closure.  Nada.  I nearly threw the book at something, except it would've woken up the wife and kids.  He addresses this somewhat on his site (scroll down towards the middle, posted April 26, 2006), but to me it felt like he didn't know how to end it, so he just did.

Nonetheless, it's an entertaining page turner and is worth the read. 

Just make sure you don't hit anything if you throw away the book in disgust.

Going to the Dogs

Shih-tzus have invaded the choychoy household.


The two dogs, Lola and Pepper, are owned by my sis-in-law (AZ) and sis-in-law (CA) respectively. Lola's older, and she's pretty mellow, while Pepper is your typical teenage boy, full of hormones. They're cute dogs, and the twins love them, except when Pepper starts getting all hyper and starts nipping. Hopefully he outgrows that.

Anyway, this was taken this past weekend, and was the first time the dogs met. Pepper immediately took to Lola; I believe they're hoping to breed the two at some point. They said they were going to give us one of the puppies, but I doubt the wife would go for that... 

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 7

Well, that was an interesting show. It was probably the best show overall in terms of performances--no real "weak" performance, except for Zayra, and only because she sang an original which nobody knew. She sang it well, though.

Ryan still scares me though. Magni may look more like Chris Daughtry, but Ryan's up there with Chris in terms of "intensity". Dude looks like he's going to kill someone.

I think Patrice is gone. She looks like she wants out already. Maybe she can sing Jordis' Try Not to tell the band she doesn't want to be there anymore.

(I actually think Try Not was the best original song from RS:INXS. Trees was kinda light-hearted fun, while Pretty Vegas...well, let's not go there. Try Not is still in heavy rotation on my Zen).

Message In A Bottle

I'm a big fan of messageboards. Ever since the day I first got a modem (I think it was a 14.4K or something), I've been logging onto BBSes, talking to complete strangers about absolutely nothing. There was a time when 99% of those logging into BBSes were guys; when that occasional female wandered into one by mistake, everyone would start hitting on her (not that I did, though. What?).

Of course, no one ever thought that it could be someone pretending to be female, just to elicit a few laughs and giggles. But I digress.

Now? Everyone and his second cousin are arguing about something on amessageboard/forum. Here's a couple I read on a regular basis, because they're pretty interesting:

• The Straight Dope is probably the most interesting, with some very intelligent people, some very political people, and some people who are just weird. This is my favorite messageboard as it covers a broad spectrum of topics. There was a time when I was actually a full-fledged member, but then they started charging for the right to be able to search, and I figured that I spent more time reading rather than posting, anyway.
  
• Digg keeps me up-to-date with the latest technical news, and the forums keep me entertained. Especially when a Microsoft or Apple story gets on the front page. The fanboys come out in full force.
  
• Mac Daily News/http://Apple Matters are Mac-centric sites, with some of the scarier zealots posting on the forums. There are some sane ones, like "Beeblebrox" and "Ben Hall", but there are others who are of the "Jobs-can-do-no-wrong" type. At times I've been sorely tempted to post something, but I never do, since nothing I say would change their minds anyway. I don't have a Mac, but I've been close to buying one at times. Maybe I will at some point, but it's a bit scary to associate myself with the rabid fanboys (who will then say "Good, we don't want you here anyway!")
  
• Slashdot is something I visit on occasion, especially when "Anonymous Coward" was rumored to be either Steve Jobs or some high-up Apple executive. This was also a fun read back when the "Hack-a-Mac" challenge was running.
  
• Engadget keeps me up-to-date with the latest toys. This is where I first heard about Zune, and the hundreds of opinions regarding it; the back-and-forth banter between Microsoft and Apple fanboys was a thing of beauty.
  
• Television Without Pity is where I get a lot of spoilers regarding my favorite shows. The snarking also makes it a worthy read.

I'm a big fan of sports, but not that big a fan of sports messageboards. This is because most posters can barely string a coherent message together, with most posts barely going beyond "Your team sucks" and "{player name here} sucks". I'd rather read the actual stories.

We've come a long way from those BBS days.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 6

Loved Magni. I'm a casual Live fan, and he just did that song perfectly. Better than that Chris fellow on that other show. His kid is soooo cute too--and surprisingly mellow. Duuuuuuude.

The rest? Storm reminds me so much of Shirley Manson of Garbage, Dilana's becoming forgettable (sacrilege!), Ryan's still a tool, Lukas is still annoying, Toby was good but JD-esque and Zayra is still out there on planet Zayra, sans underwear.

Did I forget anyone? Oh yeah, Jill, Patrice and Josh (who butchered one of my favorite songs. You bastard!). See ya.

Hanging with Mickey and Friends

This past weekend we finally took the kids to see Disneyland. It had been building up for the past month or so--hardly a day went by without the twins watching one of the Disney Princesses on DVD. Their favorite was Ariel, followed by Belle, then Cinderella, and then finally Aurora (because the kids had only recently started watching Sleeping Beauty). They were also big fans of the New Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, complete with a new theme song from They Might Be Giants. Hot Dog!

PJ and I were also keen on seeing the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, due to the fact that it had been remodeled to tie up with the movie.

We broke down and got two four-day passes from Costco--at $119 per pass, it was a bargain, considering that a single-day ticket was $79. Kids 3 and younger were free.

We got to the park at 4pm. We figured that this would be plenty of time to see what we wanted to see, since the Park closed at 11pm. The smaller crowds and the cooler temperature were also a plus.

We decide to watch the Snow White mini-play first. Unfortunately, we were unable to catch the 4:15 show, so we had to waste some time until the next show, which was at 5:30. To kill time, we went to the It's a Small World attraction, since the lines were relatively short. So we lined up, and waited.

And waited. Whoops, the ride broke down. And it was only 4:45! We decided to head to Toontown to see Mickey Mouse's house. No lines! So we walk in...and hit a line. By 5:15 we were this close to meeting Mickey Mouse, but no luck. We had to leave if we wanted to catch Snow White. So, we leave and proceed to the ampitheatre to watch Snow White's Scary Adventure.

It was pretty much the cartoon, except with Live! actors. Snow White was a cutie, but here face was a bit long. The dwarves were rather tall; I'd say they were my height (if not a bit taller). Then again, from an American standpoint, that's probably short. The Magic Mirror, though, was pretty awesome; the wicked stepmother was cool. The stage production of Beauty and the Beast still beats this, though.

We then went back to It's a Small World to find that the ride was now up and running. I wish it had stayed down; that was seriously annoying. I was ready to jump out of the boat and start ripping up displays.

After escaping from that creepshow we staked our claim to a prime spot to watch the parade. Once the music started the kids hid their faces, but when Ariel came out they got interested, and just proceeded to watch (Amelie got scared by the Ursula float though).

Ursula, the "o-pus" as the kids call her

Unfortunately, the girl who played Ariel wasn't as attractive as the one who played her the last time I went and saw the parade. The other princesses weren't so great either; I'd say Alice was the prettiest of the lot.

After the parade was over we went and had dinner. Of course, the price of food at Disney is off the charts. We pretty much had classic kids food--mozzarella sticks, chicken strips and fish and chips. We spent around $30 for the carcinogenic nightmare. The good thing was that I managed to find a seat fronting the Rivers of America--a primo spot to watch the Fantasmic! show. The kids, of course, hid their faces again--but once I pointed out the Disney princesses in their barges, they began to watch.

Jack in Night Vision!

As a finale, we went and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction just to see what changes they made to match the movies. They've added Jack Sparrow in various areas (three in all), and the dummies look amazingly like the real deal. Sadly, no Keira. Davy Jones and Captain Barbossa do make appearances, though.

After that, it was 10:30pm! We headed home.

I'd say the twins' first trip to Disneyland was a moderate success. We'll see how they react to California Adventure, which would be our next stop.

Photos by me. All characters are owned by Disney, except of course for Mommy and Camille.

King of Pain

Bianx took issue with me saying that The Dark Tower series (which I mistakenly referred to as The Gunslinger series) ended badly. Yeah, I felt let down pretty much after Book 3 (The Wastelands, probably my favorite installment, with Blaine the Mono and all that riddling).

King took a long time between Book 3 and Book 4 (5 years, I think), and it shows. It's like he couldn't decide how to advance the story, so he bought himself some time and wrote a prequel-of-sorts instead. Then another 6 year hiatus between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla--and a different direction again. There were some clever touches in Calla (such as the sneetches! You half expected Flagg to pop up saying he was Voldemort...and he still could be, come to think of it) but again it felt like a filler book.

Things finally got moving in Books 6 and 7 (especially 7!) but the fates of Randall Flagg (a kickass character) and Roland were ultimately unsatisfying to this reader. Maybe it's because I was expecting a showdown between Roland and Randall Flagg, just like the Westerns that heavily influenced the series. I wanted an epic battle, something that would make up for all of Flagg's evils in books like Eyes of the Dragon (my favorite, and the only King book I own) and The Stand. I wanted a real ending, darn it, not the ending which I saw coming a mile away.

Instead, I got an ending that felt like a cop-out. Which is one of King's biggest problems: a lot of times he doesn't know how to end his novels. It happened with It, and it happened here (sorry, Bianx).

Despite my disappointment though, I can say I still enjoyed the series. It didn't turn out to be the epic I was expecting after Book 3, but still quite readable. YMMV, obviously.

In The Blink of an Eye

The winners of The Blink of an Eye contest over at Flickr were announced, and unfortunately I wasn't one of them. I wasn't expecting to anyway, after seeing the other pictures that were there. Here's my entry:


That's Camille at the CityWalk over at Universal Studios, after we had watched the Wiggles concert. Camille's consistently photogenic; if only she wasn't constantly aburido like her daddy. =)

Peanut Butter (No Jelly) Time!

I've discovered the goodness that is Peanut Butter - Dark Chocolate Dreams. Made by the Peanut Butter & Co., it's only available in health food stores such as Whole Foods. Dark chocolatey goodness without the partially hydrogenated stuff, and (supposedly) can bring up my HDL levels (the good cholesterol).

I may have to buy a case. Yum!

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 5

Tommy Lee's right--the reason why guys try to learn guitar/play piano/learn the drums is to get the girls. At the very least, it gives you an opening. Hey, it worked for Billy Joel.

With that said, that was a great performance by Ryan "David Blaine" Star. Normally I dislike the guy, because he just seems so angry all the time, but all that angst worked this time around.

Unfortunately, Dilana was just okay this time around. Hopefully it's not the start of a Jordis-spiral. Zayra was awesome.

Good: Ryan, Storm (ch-ch-ch-changes!)
Bad: Jill, Lukas

EDIT: Dana gets a tattoo--and it's a freaking clef note! Take that, SuavePorn! She's a rocker now!