It's Just A Fantasy

*sigh* Now I get to be a broody Final Fantasy character. At least I'm not Vivi.



Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy VII

Tell It To The Marines

So this 72-year old guy, an ex-Marine, beat the crap out of a would-be pickpocket. That's pretty cool. Who's tougher than this Marine? Apparently, his wife.

"'I wouldn't want my wife to give me hell for lettin' that guy get my money,' (Barnes) said with a smile."

KB to KG

As you can well imagine, it's mass hysteria here brought upon by (a) Kobe's demand to be traded and (b) rumors of Kevin Garnett coming over. Laker fans seem to think that the rest of the NBA will bow down and accept anyone they offer in order to get KG. They also expect Stern to just hand them the championship if KG does manage to become a Laker.

One of the funniest things I heard was from a talking head on the radio:

"Kobe and KG will make the Lakers just like--no, better than Phoenix!"

So by that equation Kobe = Nash and KG = Amare? The second I can see but the first? Nope, I doubt Kobe would share the glory.

KG to Phoenix, though, would make the Suns more dangerous. I'd like to see that happening.

Watchlist 2007

The Pursuit of Happyness. For a supposedly "uplifting" film this sure is depressing. The hits kept on coming for Will Smith's character, each one making me more and more uncomfortable. When the expected "happy" ending came I wasn't happy at all, I was just relieved. Poor guy.

The Good Shepherd. We had to watch this over two days, because it was unexpectedly long. It started out interestingly enough, with a smoking hot Angelina Jolie to keep me occupied. The beginning of Matt Damon's spy career was very interesting, with some interesting reveals during World War II. Then we had to stop the movie because we were all falling asleep. When we resumed the movie it had become dull and boring, a development curiously reflected in Jolie, who they made up to look dull and boring. We gamely soldiered on to the end, just because Damon is such a good actor.

Flushed Away. Mildly amusing, about on-par with Shrek the Third. Except of course I had lower expectations for this movie. I don't know why the Aardman magic wasn't here--lost in all the computer animation, perhaps. Or maybe it was the involvement of Dreamworks. Some amusing bits, especially the over-the-top acting of Sir Ian McKellen and Jean Reno. Best part was Reno's French commandos ("we surrender!"). Heaven help me, I found Rita strangely attractive. A rat. In my defense, they made her look and act like Kate Winslet.

Walker

Now I know what to get Calai if/when she has a kid.

Stories I Tell

From Petros of PMS:

Frank Sinatra was talking to the valet attendant.
"What's the biggest tip you've ever gotten?" he asked.
"$100, Mr Sinatra." the young man replied.
Frank then gave him $200.
"Now what's the biggest tip you've ever gotten?" he asked again.
"$200, sir!" the young man replied.
"And who gave it to you?"
"Frank Sinatra."
"That's right, and don't you forget it," the Chairman said, as he got into his car and drove off.

Happy Father's Day!

The sermon at church today was interesting:

Last year, there was a woman who was tending to the spiritual needs of the prisoners at a local jail. During Mother's Day she was besieged with requests for Mother's Day cards, running out of cards before she could provide for everyone. She was determined to be prepared for Father's Day, so she stocked up on boxes and boxes of cards.

The boxes of cards are still in her office, untouched.

Let's face it, Mother's Day is a much bigger affair--all restaurants are crowded, and mothers everywhere get hugs and kisses. We dads? Well, the family went to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory today. I was dreading the thought of having to wait for over an hour for a table; instead we waited five minutes. Five minutes! I've waited longer on a regular weekend.

I'm guilty of this too, growing up. Me and my sister always knew when Mother's Day was, but would forget that it was Father's Day.

Oh, well. It's just a day anyway. At least I know my kids love me. And that's all that matters.

Seven Wonders

Back when I was a kid in Manila I was fascinated with the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I had a book which detailed each one of them, along with some modern Wonders like the Empire State Building and the Panama Canal. My favorite was The Colossus of Rhodes; watching Lost, I got a kick out of that four-toed giant foot off the coast of the Island.

Me at Chichén Itzá, a couple of years, a couple of pounds and a whole lot of hair ago

Today I came across a site which aims to select Seven New Wonders for the Modern World. They're allowing people to vote (either online or by text) for each Wonder. Of course, results are showing people largely voting for their local wonder--Asia's leading in the votes, of course; it's a safe bet that The Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal will probably make it in. Too bad the Banaue Rice Terraces aren't there, because it would have been a shoo-in otherwise.

For my money, here's my new Seven Wonders:
(1) Pyramids of Giza
(2) The Great Wall of China
(3) Pyramids of Chichén Itzá in Mexico
(4) Easter Island
(5) Stonehenge
(6) Petra (the city carved out of rock featured in Indy)
(7) Taj Mahal in India

My criteria is simple: the site should make you want to know more about it, how it was built, and why it was built. For example, the Statue of Liberty, while impressive, is just...there. When I visited Chichén Itzá, I was filled with a sense of awe, and a desire to know more about it and the people who built it.

Vote now, if you're so inclined. They'll release the results on (what else?) July 7, 2007.

So Much For Conspiracies

Sweep! I guess even the Mighty David Stern figured out that no one would believe a Cleveland championship. Still a lot of Suns fans sore about the entire deal, thinking they should be the ones standing on that podium. Let it go.

Funny how Stern hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible, as Cleveland booed him. The NBA is becoming more and more irrelevant, and he has to figure out a way to fix things.

Congrats to the San Antonio Spurs. Boring team, but hey, better to be boring winners than flashy losers, right?

Trade Winds

The Loose Cannons, along with PMS (a local sports talk show), just broke this Trade Rumor from the doctor of a friend of a friend of Money. This doctor also happens to be the doctor of Vanessa Bryant:

Kobe for Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon and the 9th pick of the draft.

If that's true, then wow.

Lakers Starting Five:
Lamar Odom
Luol Deng
Ben Gordon
Chris Duhon or Jordan Farmar
Andrew Bynum

Bulls Starting Five:
Kobe Bryant
Kirk Hinrich
Ben Wallace
Andres Nocioni
Tyrus Thomas

Interesting. The Bulls probably can make it to the Finals in the Leastern conference, while the Lakers suddenly become entertaining.

Of course, this is from the doctor of the friend of the friend of Money, so this is all probably just a bunch of bologna (also, that'll be breaking patient-doctor confidentiality, don't you think?). But couple this with Johnny Buss shooting his mouth off saying "Good Luck Kobe wherever you go!" and you have the makings of an interesting scenario, to say the least.

Hey, maybe that's why Kobe switched to the number 24: he knew all along that he would be following number 23 in Chicago.

Pretty Vegas

Just got back from a mini-getaway to Las Vegas. The last time I was in Vegas was about two years ago, and a number of things have changed:

• There are now three lanes throughout most of the 15. Yay! This has improved the traffic immensely. Except, of course, when a couple of cars decide to slow down or even stop to watch a military convoy training in the desert. It took us four hours to get to Vegas at night, and nearly six hours to get back home on Sunday.
  
• Aladdin/Desert Passage are out, Planet Hollywood is in. Planet Hollywood hotel, complete with new logo. The Desert Passage was renamed "Miracle Mile". Funny, I thought Planet Hollywood had gone the way of the dodo. Huh, guess not. I will say this, though--the Spice Market buffet rivals the Rio. Just don't eat the sushi.
  
• Monorail, monorail, monorail! I used to ride this for free. Now they've extended it all the way to Sahara, and you have to pay five bucks to ride it one-way. Sucks.
  

Of course, the traffic on the Strip hasn't changed, along with the bad drivers (there was this one van who cut me off while I was making a left turn. Of course, it was a Pinoy driving. Le sigh). There are the crowds of people (although there weren't that many people on a weekend; I expect that to change once school is out), the people handing out "flyers", and of course the talent. Best talent I saw was dancing on top of a bar, Coyote Ugly style, in front of a club near Imperial Palace. She drew quite a crowd.

Go Ducks!

Gotta admit, I followed the NHL during the Western Conference Finals and The Stanley Cup because of the Ducks. I have an on-and-off relationship with hockey--I ignore it during the regular season, but follow it during the playoffs. I was pissed off when St Louis won the Cup in a controversial fashion against The Dominator; however, I was rooting against Hasek this year.

The Ducks broke my heart a couple of years ago, so I'm glad that given a second chance, they made the most of it. Congrats to the Anaheim Ducks! Now the OC has two world championships under its wing (no pun intended).