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!

The High Cost Of Living

Coming back from my annual checkup I find out that my high cholesterol levels have returned. Not really surprising, since I haven't exactly been exercising ever since the twins arrived (heh...blaming the kids). Plus I hadn't seen a doctor in a couple of years, so the high cholesterol was expected.

So, time to make a lifestyle change again. On tap are (a) more exercise (probably walking/running, since I can never get to a gym--plus, trying to save money) and (b) better diet. Yeah, time to lay off the cheetohs and anything with "partially hydrogeneated oil", since that turns into bad cholesterol.

Unfortunately, eating healthy is expensive. I bought natural peanut butter for $5.00 ($3.00 more than the regular stuff), and "good" butter for around $3.00 ($2.00 more than the regular stuff). Bread costs $4.00 (around $2.50 more than the wonder bread type). Less fastfood as well (which I guess is okay, because I don't eat that much anyway). Still, though, it would be nice to have that option.

Gotta do it, though. Otherwise I'd get to meet the cute little ankh-wearing lady sooner rather than later.

Rockstar: Supernova, Week 4

The good: Storm, Magni and Dilana. Good version of "Time after Time", although my favorite still remains that by EBTG (Tuck and Patti isn't bad either).

The bad: Josh, Ryan, Phil and Zayra.

Posers: Ryan, Dana. "I'm wearing denim skirts! Combat boots!" Yeah, those make you a "rocker". Sigh.

Everyone else...*yawn*

Bye, Phil.

Miss Universe

Since there's nothing on this summer, we decided to tune in to the Miss Universe pageant. It's mostly irrelevant nowadays around here, but I remember being all excited about it when I was small, hoping Ms Philippines would somehow make it into the finals. I still remember Pebbles de Asis' answer when Bob Barker asked the question:

Bob: "So you have The Price Is Right in the Philippines?"
Pebbles: "Of course, it's my favorite show!"

The answer, innocent as it was, made me cringe. The answer probably didn't matter one way or another, but I'm still convinced that contributed to her not winning.

This year, it's Miss Japan...yowza. Talk about mysterious and attractive...unfortunately, she was only runner-up to Miss Puerto Rico. I'm also convinced that her slip-up (when she didn't answer the "How did you learn French and Spanish" but instead said "Hello" in English) during the first Q&A that did her in.

Oh, and Miss Philippines winning Miss Photogenic? Pinoy vote-in power at its finest--the same folks who got Jasmine and MiG all the way to the top three.

Photograph

I think I've mentioned before that my wife had given me a Canon Rebel for Christmas, but wound up returning it. In exchange, we got a Canon EOS 30D. It's a lot of camera, and sadly I haven't been using it to its full potential. I brought it to Manila and all, but at times my trusty old Canon ELPH S410 seemed to outperform it.

I'll start taking it a bit more seriously, though. My goal is to get good enough so as to take pictures of my sister-in-law's wedding in November.

 

Sometimes, though, I get lucky. The shot above is of Amelie. The scab on her nose was caused by an overzealous puppy. 

Rock Star: Supernova, Week 3

Yes, Storm, I did use Google. Didn't know she fronted a band called Storm Large and The Balls (heh), with two bald guys. "Laura Domela" is the search term Tommy Lee should use, if he were so inclined.

Anyway, Magni rocked, I liked Jenny but she's so terribly wrong for this competition, and was disappointed in Toby. And then there's Dilana. Wow.

Hopefully she doesn't flame out like Jordis did.

Doubleheader

The wife and I played hooky from work today, in order to watch two movies:Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's and Superman Returns.

Loved POTC:DMC. I'm not sure why so many people are dissing it--it was a pretty good thrill ride, and I though the plot points meshed together nicely (a sharp contrast from other comments I've heard, which complained of the disjointed nature of the movie). YMMV, of course. Johnny Depp was fabulous as CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, while Bill Nighy was fantastic as Davy Jones. His crew was pretty creepy too. A lot of people were saying that the first one was a lot better; personally, we watched POTC:COTBP the night before and I fell asleep! I guess they just looked fondly upon the first movie because they remembered the ride. Of course, I missed the "extra" scene after the end credits, like when I missed the monkey extra scene from the first movie. I'll see it on the DVD, I suppose.

Liked Superman Returns. This one went on too long; I found myself wondering what time it was. Lois Lane wasn't pretty enough (then again, Margot Kidder wasn't too hot either), and Jimmy Olsen just seemed annoying. PJ's in love with Brandon Routh, though. And, like Calai, I found out about one of the plot points--on a freakin' technology website! Argh. Anyway, that ruined it a bit for me.

Oh, and the trailers for Night At The Museum and Talladega Nights were pretty cool too! "Lord, thank you for my sons, Walker and Texas Ranger." Hee!

Rock Star: Supernova, Week 2

(all hail Leper Pop!)

These are the "14 best undiscovered rock talent in the world"?!? A Marty Casey wannabe (who kinda looks like Michael Hutchence, IMHO, but without the talent or the charisma)? A bad Courtney Love impersonator? A camel-toe showin' Warrior Princess? Daddy's little girl playing dress-up (Born to be Mild...hee!)? Lindsey Lohan?
Creed homeboy who smiles too much?

*sigh* The only ones worth a damn are Dilana (who's still scary, but is apparently a sweetie offstage) and Toby. Oh, and (barely) Magni, who opened the show quite well. Other than that...meh.

I watched the performance show in thirty minutes (gotta love the DVR), as I was fast-forwarding through all the crap. RS:INXS was so much better, with practically everyone a good singer (yeah, even Asshat).

And yet, I'm still strangely compelled to watch. OB:House still kicks ass, and Bwak-bwak's good eye-candy. Plus, it's always fun to guess what Tommy and Jason are on that particular night.

EDIT: Wow, Jill killed EvenAsia...er, Evanescence tonight. Interesting that if they just tone down all the "peacocking", they're all actually quite good. Even Chris.

Rock Star: Supernova Week 1

(or, as I like to call it, "Tommy's Diner". Seriously, though, it's like a buffet for Tommy Lee, don't you think?)

Boy, that was interesting. Although I can't help feeling that Tommy Lee was heavily involved in the selection process. Most, if not all of the female rockers are all hot in some form or fashion. Well, except for Dilana, who's a bit scary. And (again, except for Dilana, who's one of a kind) is it just me, or do all the females look like or perform like someone who's already famous?

• Dana, the sweet little rich kid looks kinda like Winnie Cooper and performs like Jessica Rabbit from RS:INXS
  
• Jenny looks and sings like Liz Phair. I think she's better as a solo act.
  
• Jill looks like Charo, along with the *ahem* frontage to match. PJ thinks she looks like Pamela Anderson with those lips
  
• Patrice looks like Miranda from Sex and the City...so I can't picture her as a "rocker". More like a lawyer moonlighting as one.
  
• Storm looks like Tiffani Amber-Thiessen, or (depending on the camera angle) Lindsey Lohan. And who the heck names their daughter "Storm"?
  
• Zayra looks like Lucy Lawless, and makes like Daphna Dove with the flowing scarves

The guys...well, only Toby stood out for me, with his acoustic Knockin' on Heaven's Door. Lukas, although he sounded great, felt like Ty part 2 to me. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing, but he's too emo and seems to be too high-maintenance for my taste.

It's only Week One, though. We'll see if people improve, and if Tommy Lee can manage to keep his hands to himself. Doubt it, though. =)

Teaching Kids How To Spel

I like to think that I'm a good speller--after all, I did win a Spelling Bee waaaaay back in grade school (heh). Imagine my horror when I stumbled upon an article in Yahoo!, where an organization called "Simplified Spelling Society" is pushing to change the spelling of words to reflect how they're pronounced. Yes, change the spelling of words to reflect how they're pronounced.

Wow. Just...wow. After the initial outrage (and wincing at the writing style of the author...I picture her patting herself on the back, thinking how clever she is), I continued reading, if only to find out what their motivations were. From what I gather, Simplified Spelling advocates are arguing that the current system of spelling is "confusing" to children; words like "enough" is pronounced "ehnuf", but "dough" is pronounced "doh"; their way, they claim, would accelerate learning among children. This way of thought even had some high-profile advocates such as Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster and Mark Twain.

Now wait a minute, I thought. Franklin? Webster? Twain? Big names! Of course, I googled it to make sure. Franklin, yes. Daniel Webster, not really sure, might have confused him with Noah Webster. Mark Twain--well, I managed to find his essay on it, which seemed to argue that it will save pen strokes; unfortunately, this doesn't really apply in this day and age, when more often than not people bang away on a keyboard, and some words such as "education" spelled as it is currently require less keystrokes than "edyukayshun". Twain also seems to be promoting a sort of shorthand as well.

So what to make of all this? Well, personally I think it's nearly impossible to implement. It's too massive a change--imagine all the textbooks that have to be re-written, all the teachers that need to be re-taught. Most important of all, it's too confusing for the wee ones. Imagine mastering several difficult words in the third grade, only to be told to forget everything you've learned in the fourth grade. It's like that Twilight Zone episode Wordplay where the father wakes up to find that the meaning of words have changed.

It's impossible to change something completely overnight. The English language is an evolving beast, though, and it wouldn't surprise me to see some of what SS is pushing make it to the language. For example, l33t speak such as pwned! and pr0n have made it to common everyday usage. They will undoubtedly make it to Webster's at some point (if they haven't already). The texting phenomenon is also an interesting case, one I see quite often whenever my family sends me a message from Manila. You see Simplified Spelling in action, since you're trying to cram an entire message with a limited amount of letters, to wit: "m gng hm now. wil be hm soon. cya". It's only in text messaging though; their e-mails use regular, boring spelling.

So, for now I'll continue to live in the past, and revel in the fact that I once won the Spelling Bee (oh, and pray that Gaudere's Law doesn't come back to haunt me).

Petals Around The Rose

If you've been following the strange-but-funny idealogical war between Windows, Apple and Linux faithful, you've almost certainly heard that Bill Gates is stepping down from day-to-day activities at Microsoft. This has lead to some people praising Gates for his charitable work (he's stepping down to concentrate on his Foundation), while others continue to villify him, wondering at the hidden agenda Gates has in giving away his wealth.

Myself? I think he's a pretty smart guy to have been able to do what he did. He's also been very lucky. Anyway, what does this have to do with Roses? Well, some of you might know the game Petals Around The Rose. I certainly hadn't heard of it--until I came across an article about a young Bill Gates from Lloyd Borrett's excellent site, which provided an insight into his thinking.

The parts about Gates were pretty interesting (especially the last part--pretty funny, and a reflection about how programmers are lousy spellers); the part that grabbed me though, was the game itself. It was the first time I heard about it--essentially, the set up is this:

There are five ordinary six-sided dice that are rolled. There are only three pieces of information that you can have:

(1) The name of the game is Petals Around The Rose.
(2) The name is significant.
(3) The answer is always an even number or zero.

The Potentate of the Rose (the carney running the game who knows what the deal is) rolls the dice, and then tells the crowd what the answer is if they ask. Some get it immediately. Others never do (according to the Bill Gates story a lot of geniuses and math whizzes think up complex algorithms to try and solve it, but still come up with the wrong answer).

If I read the article correctly, Gates got it in the span of around three hours. After playing the game on Borrett's site on-and-off for an accumulated hour (and running scenarios in my head in the shower, which is where I work out the answers to most of the great mysteries in life, such as "How do I open that jewelled egg in Zork?"), I was able to rise to the level of Potentate. I won't give anything else away--it's pretty satisfying to solve it yourself.

Sad Songs Say So Much

So I just received my copy of Breathe's "Peace of Mind" the other day. Remember them? They who spawned the vest craze back in High School with the video from their song "How Can I Fall?" Yes, I'm a sap. I bought this CD because I was looking for the song "Does She Love That Man", which partnered with Breathe's older song "All This I Should Have Known" are a one-two punch to the gut for someone who just broke up with their significant other.

I had Breathe's first album, "All That Jazz", so I already had a copy of "All This I Should Have Known"; however, I wanted "Does She Love That Man" as well, and I couldn't find it on any of the legal sites. I was hesitant to buy the CD just for that one song, but I found one used for 47 cents. 47 cents! Shipping was $2.49, but hey, $3.00 for two songs ("Say A Prayer" was also on the CD) seemed to be worth it.

So why the sudden urge to look for this song? It's not that I'm suddenly pining for a lost love (happily married with two kids!); it just started after hearing an 80's New Wave CD in my friend JC's car ("We're always fighting for the state of the natiooooooooon." Heh.). It got me looking for "Burning Flame" by Vitamin Z (another why-did-we-break-up song). I thought I found it at Landmark, but instead found out it was a cover (the Pinoy accent gave it away). Finally, I was able to find a podcast that played it (along with an excellent Sting cover of "Aint No Sunshine"). I then started looking for other songs which I hadn't been able to find before; like "I'll Get By" by Eddie Money; "Distance Between Us" by Fra Lippo Lippi; "Different Seasons" by Johnny Hates Jazz; and "Does She Love That Man" by Breathe.

Come to think of it, those are all break up songs from the 80's. Huh. I guess I really am a sap.

Mensa this!

Found these games while reading through The Straight Dope Message Board. The games are deceptively simple; however, since there are no instructions, you have to try and figure it out on your own. Kinda reminds me of those old Mensa tests. I managed to get everything except 7 and 9 on my own; I needed a hint for 7 and 9.

Whiners, Not Winners

So as I'm writing this Dallas is playing Miami in Game 6 of the Championship. I used to like the Dallas Mavericks, starting from the days of the Three Js; they were somewhat loveable losers at that point, until Nash, Nowitski and Finley changed their team and they began winning. Then Game 5 of the Finals occurred, and I began to seem them as Whiners, rather than Winners.

It all starts at the top, with Mark Cuban, of course. Oh, sometimes his antics are funny, like the Dairy Queen stuff he pulled. But more often than not he gets out of line, getting fined $250,000 (!) for his outbursts after Game 5.

Then we get to "The Little General", Avery Johnson. Boy, this guy's a whiner. Remember after Game 1 of the Dallas-SA, when he complained about Bruce Bowen's defense? I don't think Bowen ever got a fair call from the refs after that. Johnson then hung a reporter--a reporter, mind you, for the Dallas Morning News--out to dry for asking a simple question (pretty much "What did you think of that call on Wade's drive?").

The players? Well, there's Josh Howard, being surly. Dirk's kicking a ball to the stands. Devin Harris is throwing a tantrum on the floor as I watch Game 6, legs flailing like a little boy.

And, of course, the fans. Complaining about the free throw discrepancy (forgetting about the 50-32 FT difference during Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Complaining about that ticky-tack foul that resulted in the game-winning free-throws by Wade(forgetting about the ticky-tack foul that resulted in the game-winning free-throws by Dirk in Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Complaining about the fact that Wade went to the free-throw line 25 times (forgetting about Dirk's 24 FTs in Game 3 of the Dallas-SA series). Boy, those fans sure have a short memory, don't they?

Whine, whine, whine. Just play already. Dallas may ultimately win, but they would've whined themselves to a championship.

UPDATE: Well, congratulations to Miami. I guess Dallas spent too much time whining that it took their eyes away from the prize.

Thirty Three

So I turn Larry Bird today, and would drink Rolling Rock if I could. How did we celebrate? Well, we tried watching Cars, but the kids got restless halfway thru. Being the good neighbors that we are, we took the kids outside, where they proceeded to run up and down the hallways, screaming their little heads off. Pretty soon a couple of parents followed suit, and came out with their toddlers in tow. I never did find out whether Lightning McQueen learned humility. We then had some dinner, whereupon Amelie proceeded to finish a whole bunch of tortilla chips. I had some country-fried steak, and wished I had regular steak instead. Unfortunately, I've never really had a good steak in a restaurant chain, except for Hungry Bear over in Fullerton, so I didn't want to be disappointed again.

33. Just another day, I suppose, until 40. Then it's mid-life crisis time.

Goooooaaaaallllllllll

Huh, I don't get it.

I tuned in to watch the USA and Italy kick their way to a draw today in the World Cup. I'm still not sure if I get it, much less like it. Oh, it does get exciting when a goal is scored, primarily because it seems so hard to get it into the net; however, the constant back and forth, just kicking the darned ball gets boring after a while. Maybe it's because I'm not really rooting for any particular team; I guess I'm partial to the US, seeing as I live here. There's no particular player I really like, unless you count Keira Knightley.

Or maybe it's just really boring. Then again, I like baseball, and I got absorbed watching the Ashes in Australia back when England was a sorry bunch of cricketeers (quite a while back).

It's all really a matter of taste, I suppose.

Another Waste of Time

In the vein of that Virgin find-the-musical-acts, here's another Time Waster:

LOVEFiLM

Right now I have around 75 for sure, with around 8 maybes.

Tagged

Unfortunately, I don't really know any other bloggers, so the chain stops here.

4 jobs I've had in my life
1. Tech Specialist/DBA
2. Consultant
3. Analyst
4. Um...barista? (as soon as our coffee shop opens)

4 movies I could watch over and over again
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. Spirited Away
3. The Incredibles
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

4 Places I've lived
1. BF Homes, Paranaque, Philippines
2. Orange County, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Chicago, IL

4 TV shows I love to watch
1. The Amazing Race
2. Lost
3. 24
4. ESPN News

4 Places I've been on vacation
1. Amsterdam
2. Cancun
3. The Caribbean
4. Boracay

4 websites I visit daily
1. gmail.google.com
2. The Straight Dope
3. Yahoo!
4. ESPN.com

4 of my favorite foods
1. Pad See Yew (or however they spell it--the Thai flat noodles)
2. Bun + ____ (Vietnamese vermicelli noodles with BBQ pork/egg rolls/shrimp)
3. My mother-in-law's fried chicken (just salt and pepper)
4. Bacolod Chicken's Inasal na Manok

4 places I'd rather be right now
1. Florence, Italy either in a walking tour or guiding said walking tour
2. Snorkelling in Cancun, Mexico
3. Hanging out with family and friends in The Philippines (afterglow still there)
4. The Louvre (didn't really get to see it, we were so tired)

4 bloggers I'm tagging
End of the road, I'm afraid...

I'm Back!!!

Yep, back from the Philippines. Went on vacation for three weeks, visiting Cebu and Boracay. It was kind of a bummer, since I didn't see a lot of my friends--they were either out of the country (Calai) while I was there, or was in the city while I was in Cebu/Boracay (Richelle). Oh well, at least my parents got to enjoy playing with the twins.

Overall, I had a great time in the Philippines--a lot had changed since the last time I was there four years ago; my old subdivision, BF Homes, seems to have morphed into one big strip mall. I was also pleasantly surprised that everything seemed clean--no stacks of garbage lying around! Unfortunately, the pinoy driving style was still in full effect. I had also forgotten the way we pinoys watched movies as well; the wife actually yelled "Would you please SHUT UP" to the geeks behind us commenting on everything in X3 (it worked, though). Plus, of course, it was humid.

Everything else was great--the islands were fantastic, and the wife was in shopping heaven. I actually got tired of eating while I was there.

Going back to the US was a bit of a nightmare. I'm still fuming over the fact that you need to get your bags x-rayed and searched not once, not twice, but THREE frickin' times--with the last x-ray/search not a hundred feet from the last one! That seems so inefficient. Maybe it's a way to show foreigners that the airport is safe? It's more inconvenient than anything.

Celebrity sightings:
* Fidel Ramos was in our plane going to the Philippines. He posed for pictures, and walked once around the plane
* The former NCC sharpshooter, Chip Engelland, read one of my previous posts and dropped in a nice little comment. I'm starstruck, I tell ya, starstruck! Maybe I can ask for an autograph. =)

Sailing Around The World

I hate to admit it, but...

THAT was an amazing concert. I'm talking, of course, about The Wiggles concert I was moaning and groaning about last week. The songs were great (despite the fact that they sang a bunch of songs I didn't know), the ad-libbing was pretty funny ("Grease" and "Stairway To Heaven" played prominent roles), and Greg was a bit pudgy--but had such a smooth voice, I forgave him for it (the only downside was Larissa wasn't there. Caterina had to do, although Lucy was surprisingly pretty with longer hair, instead of the butch haircut she normally has).

Actually, everyone in my group (wifey, mom-in-law and sister-in-law) seemed to enjoy it far more than my kids, who were either concentrating very hard watching the show or were sleepy--they weren't reacting at all.

Oh, well, hopefully next year (if the kids still like The Wiggles, and if they haven't retired yet), the twins will show more life when we watch them again. And hopefully we'll have better seats.

Edited to add: the picture was taken by me during their April 22 concert at Gibson Ampitheater over at Universal Studios, Hollywood.

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle is the latest film from Miyazaki, the genius behind Spirited Away, one of the all-time favorite films here in the daddychoy household. When the DVD arrived from Netflix we eagerly popped it into the player, and sat down to watch it. It was pretty enjoyable; while not as good as Spirited Away, it was definitely better than Castle in the Sky, and a bit better than Princess Mononoke.

Some observations:
* The opening sequence reminded me a lot of Kingdom Hearts--what with the "mud" people, the jumping, the balcony--heck, it's Traverse Town! I wonder if that was intentional.
* Interestingly enough, the film seems to suggest that dark hair=ugly, while blonde=beautiful. Look at Sofie--she's not all bad (actually, she's pretty) when we first meet her, black hair and all; yet she considers herself homely, compared to her sister, who has blonde curls. Howl himself has naturally black hair, but when we first meet him, he's blonde.
* I'm curious to read the book now. I've heard that it's quite different from the written word.

Studio Ghibli's next film is apparently Earthsea, from the series by Ursula K Le Guin. Can't wait.

Sportsfan

I was discussing some work-related stuff with my officemate today when another co-worker passed by. "Dude, that much!" he said as he sauntered past.

"What was that about?" I asked.
"Oh, he was referring to the Lakers just losing to Denver last night." my co-worker replied.

This then lead to a discussion about how much I disliked the Lakers. I mentioned that I liked Luuuuuuuuuke Walton and Rony Turiaf, but Devean George and Brian Cook were softies. We even talked about the Sacramento series from way back, when Mike Bibby "fouled" Kobe with his nose, handing the Lakers a ring.

The question remained, though, as to why I disliked the Lakers. It's actually a pretty silly reason--growing up, my sister liked the Lakers, so naturally, I gravitated towards the Celtics (mostly because of Larry Legend).

This got me thinking about the Sports Teams I liked and disliked:

PBA - Philippine Basketball Association
Liked:
Crispa - because they were Toyota's archrival
San Miguel - because they were the successor to Crispa
Northern Consolidated/Cement - because of Chip Engelland's sweet stroke

Disliked:
Toyota - because my sister loved them
Ginebra - because of Jawo, who I considered "dirty" (but was loved by millions)

NBA
Like:
Celtics - at least during the 80's, with Bird, McHale, Chief, DJ and Ainge); not so much now
Spurs - because of how self-effacing Tim Duncan is
Rockets - because of Yao Ming, the Great Asian Hope
Pacers - because of Reggie Miller

Dislike:
Lakers - because they're the Celtics' arch rival, and because they seem too smug
Knicks - because of their ugly style of play during the 90s. Loved the jawing between Spike Lee and Reggie. Now they're just pathetic.

UAAP - Pinoy College Hoops
Like:
DLSU - my alma mater. Although the recent school scandal kinda makes it hard to root for them. Still, though, the Limpot years are fondly remembered.

Dislike:
Ateneo - La Salle's archrivals. Think of this as Duke and North Carolina in the NCAA. Both considered "elitist" schools
FEU - because of the championship they won in the boardroom against DLSU. Take it to the court, folks! Talks a lot of smack against DLSU. Heck, everyone hates DLSU anyway.

NCAA College Hoops
Like:
Duke - because of a comic I read when I was a kid called Blue Devil
UCLA - because they're the local team, and a couple of my close friends are alumni

Dislike:
North Carolina - because they're Duke's archrivals. I still don't understand why Duke is almost universally loathed (kinda like DLSU), when the Tar Heels seem just as smug.
Connecticut - because they didn't try during the just concluded Tournament, despite being the best team on paper (unlike Duke, who did try, but were so obviously overmatched)

NFL
Like:
Indianapolis Colts - big fan of Peyton, despite the fact that he's probably never going to win the big one
Pittsburgh Steelers - because of Sgt Slaughter look-alike Cowher; I'm happy he won the Superbowl, but was disgusted by the officiating.
San Diego Chargers - duuuuuuude.

Dislike:
Oakland Raiders - because they try hard to maintain their "thug" image, when they're actually just pathetic. Plus their fans scare me.
NY Giants - because of Jeremy Shockey. Although I'm trying to like Eli.
New England Patriots - because they got smug after they won, and just keep beating up on Peyton (heh).

College Football
Like:
USC - because they're the local team
UCLA - ditto, although in a game between UCLA and USC I'd have to go with the Bruins
Notre Dame - because I'm Catholic by default

Dislike:
No one, really.

MLB
Like:
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - because they're the local team
Seattle Mariners - because of Ichiro. Started liking them during the Griffey/A-Rod/Buhner era. Buhner looked like one mean SOB.
St Louis Cardinals - because of Mark McGwire

Dislike:
NY Yankees - because they're the Evil Empire
Boston Red Sox - the very first time I liked in the MLB, I slowly grew to dislike them after they won the World Series. Their fans just got smug.

Going over this list, I found a couple of common denominators between certain teams I disliked:
* They're usually labelled as "dirty" (Raiders, Knicks, Jaworski teams)
* They're dominant, winning several championships, and are smug about it (Lakers, Yankees, Patriots)
* I just like being opposite with my sister (Toyota, Lakers)

My preferences will evolve, though, as I grow older and crankier. Who knows, maybe at some point I'll start disliking the Colts as well (unlikely, since they'll never win the Superbowl). Heh.

Baldur's Gate II: Complete

Woo-hoo, finished this last weekend, using Yuan Chung, my monk. I'm now working on Throne of Bhaal. It's kinda difficult playing when your kids are sitting on your lap and are trying to mash the keyboards, but somehow I managed to get it done.

I'd still rank Planescape: Torment above this one, though. Finishing that was bittersweet; I managed to finish it the first week after I was laid off from my last job--i.e., when I had nothing else going on. *sigh* Oh, well, life, what can you do?

Of SWAT teams and carjackers

I've been meaning to post something on this blog since this past Wednesday, but I've just been too shaken up to do it (that, and I'm a lazy bum. But I digress).

Last Wednesday, during the American Idol results show, we heard a police chopper circling around our neighborhood, spotlight on. They were looking for something--or someone. An hour passed, and it was still circling around. It got to the point where the spotlight moved across our house.

This is exciting! I thought at the time, and followed the chopper through the windows. Even Amelie was excited, and pointed at the chopper.

Then we looked outside, and there was a police car in front of our neighbor's house. Then we saw a K-9 unit. Then we saw several men with assault rifles.

Uh-oh. This is bad. I then hurried upstairs and made sure all our windows were locked up tight. They were obviously searching for someone, and that someone was obviously in our little neighborhood.

An hour later our worst fears were realized; a sharp rapping on the door, followed by a cop waving his badge at us. He's surrounded by three men with assault rifles and a frisky German Shepherd.

"We'd like to search your backyard. Is your gate locked?", Mr Policeman asked.

"No, but it's latched. You want me to open it?"

(yells at someone to try opening the gate, but the person doesn't succeed). "NO! Stay in the house! Is there a direct entry through your house to your backyard?"

"Yes."

"Can we go through your house?"

"Yes, please!"

So they proceed to walk through and exit to our backyard, and commence their search. They didn't find anything, so they left through our other gate and went to my neighbor's house.

Obviously, it was difficult sleeping that night.

The next day I managed to find out that there was a carjacking around thirty miles from where we lived--and the carjackers had made it all the way to our neighborhood, where they then abandoned the stolen car and tried to escape on foot. Two were caught, but the other person was able to escape.

The whole experience was surreal; it felt like I was in a movie. Luckily, no one was hurt.

It was the end of an eventful day, where the following happened:

(1) I got approved for citizenship (yay!)
(2) Eight children were hurt and a teacher was killed by a car that jumped the curb. This happened in front of where my wife worked, and was witnessed by one of her co-workers.
(3) SWAT team going through our house.

I was wondering at first if (1) and (3) were related (heh). The only link, though, was that I actually had to right to say "no, get a warrant" to the SWAT team. Then again, that thought never crossed my mind; what's the point? They were looking for a bad guy who could have hurt my family. I had nothing to hide.

It's a Wiggly Party!

Someone help me.

The Wiggles are having a concert on April 22, over at the Venue Formerly Known As The Gibson Ampitheatre. Seeing as my kids love the Wiggles, we bought tickets.

To prepare for this concert, we bought one of the latest Wiggles DVDs, "Sailing Around The World". We needed time to memorize the songs, so that we're prepared to rock out during the concert.

Read that again. Geez. I'm excited over a fracking Wiggles concert. Their songs are catchy (well, the early-to-mid-ones, at least, reaching an apex with "Top of the Tots"), and danceable. You can get a whole lot of dancin' from the twins if you sing "Do The Monkey" to them. Plus some of their dancers are pretty cute (unfortunately, Larissa probably won't be making it to the concert. But I digress).

Excited over a children's show. Help.

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Wow. The Grammys were pretty surprising tonight. Not that U2 won practically every major category; but that most of the performances were pretty good.

The Gorillaz were cool--but I was spoiled by the fact that I've seen it already done in the MTV-Europe awards.

Madonna? Boy, does she look old in HD.

U2's Vertigo was okay, although Bono's getting a bit old as well. His voice didn't meld well with Mary J. Blige in One, but it gave me goosebumps anyway. Too bad Larry Mullen, Jr. was cut off by the NARAS president. Boo! Who wants to hear a suit when we could hear Larry talk?

Keith Urban was surprisingly good--and I hate country music.

Happy for Kelly, sad for Gwen. She looked like she was about to cry when they were going through the nominees for album of the year.

Fun to hear Helter Skelter from Paul McCartney. I remember first hearing it on Rattle and Hum: "This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles, we're stealing it back." Ah, memories. =) Sir Paul also kicked in Numb/Encore. Although he looked kinda awkward trying to fit in with the young 'uns.

Jennifer Love-Hewitt looked a bit creepy in HD. Honestly, her face seems like a perfect triangle, kind of alien-looking. I liked her better when she was nice and round--Fergie looked a lot better.

Oh, and although Kanye West is annoying, his Gold Digger number was amazing. Credit goes to Jaime Foxx, though.

Randy Jackson! Playing bass! Sly Stone was all sorts of scary; Joss Stone was hot. So was Ciara. Maroon 5 looked stiff and uncomfortable.

Did I mention Madonna looked old in HD?

Steelers Win!!!!*

Well, I guess my "Curse of the Pitchman" theory didn't pan out. Of course, early in the game I saw the Disney ad...and it had Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander in it! Oy. I got a funny feeling then and there...

...and then all the NFL-produced ads had Porter, Roethlisberger, Cowher and Bettis in the first half, while the Seahawk players were only in a montage. Hmm. Something fishy there.

Then I saw the blown call on the first Seattle touchdown, the blown call on the Ben Roethlisberger "touchdown", and the blown holding call.

"But there was a quarter left to play!" Steeler fan would say. However, that was a game-changing call right there. One-yard line, Alexander gets in...then it's Steelers, 3 points down, and Cowher starts to put his hands around his throat.

Do you hear Joey Porter complaining about the officiating? Nope.

So, I'm happy Sgt Slaughter won. But to an unbiased party like me, I'm thinking this was a smelly win.

Superbowl: The Curse of the Pitchman

Well, we're finally at Superbowl weekend. Steelers-Seahawks. Yawn. I'm torn as to who to root for--Bill Cowher, because he totally deserves it? Or the Seahawks, because I want to wipe the smirk off Joey Porter's face?

Anyway, I have a pet theory about the NFL right now: if you appear in a commercial, you're not winning the championship. Let's see...

Chicago Bears: Had an ad for NFL Networks. Gone.
Peyton Manning: The silly, but endearing Mastercard commercials. Gone.
Donovan McNabb: Chunky soup? Boy, did his career go downhill after that. Gone.
Terrell Owens: Made a deodorant commercial, where he was "odor". Wonder if he realized that. Gone.
Chad Johnson: Fathead. Gone.
New England Patriots: That beer commercial (Coors?). Gone.

Tom Brady deserves special mention, since he not only made that stupid Visa commercial, but was also on Family Guy. Bing-bong! as Stewie said. Anyway, he and his Pats are gone (see above), and now he has a sports hernia.

Which brings us to the Steelers and Seahawks.

Steelers have Big Ben Roethlisberger (however you spell that) doing Fathead, and Jerome Bettis doing that asthma PSA.

Seahawks have...nobody. It's hard for the casual fan to even recognize any of the Seahawks. Heck, the MVP Shaun Alexander is constantly mistaken for one of the Barber twins.

So does that mean the Seahawks win, because of The Curse of the Pitchman? I guess we'll find out, won't we?

Rockstar: American Idol

Watching American Idol right now. It's not as interesting as it was back in Season 1 (Kelly vs Sideshow Bob!) or Season 2 (Rueben vs Clay!); heck, the only reason I watch it is because there's really nothing else at 8pm Tuesdays or Wednesdays (gotta watch something while waiting for Lost).

I've also heard that Rockstar 2: is going to be out pretty soon. It got me thinking...how would JD, Marty et al have fared if they had gone to "auditions" for AI? Here's my take:

JD: Hollywood, just because of the smarmy looks (see: Constantine), which a lot of women would find "sexy" (ugh). Decent enough singer, I suppose.
Marty: Probably out. Just doesn't fit Simon's style. Can't imagine him doing fluffy pop.
Mig: Hmm, tough one. Might be too...um...effete for Simon, although the niceness might sway Paula and Randy. Oh, and too thea-tah.
Suzie: Big notes...definitely Hollywood.
Jordis: Hollywood. She has that "It" quality, and has a good-enough voice (just don't have her sing Aerosmith). Remember, she did Star Search, so she's done something like this before.
Deanna: Her voice is great, but the boobs would be the main reason she gets to Hollywood (see: Ashley Jackson, the "Fit" model from this season)
Ty: See Mig. The mohawk may have to go, though.
Jessica: Voice not so great, but the sexy factor gets her in.
Daphna: Pretty enough...but on the fringe. Probably not.
Heather: Hmm, tough call. I'd say no, and we get to watch her flip Simon off.
Tara: Strong voice, has the look. Hollywood.
Wil: Hollywood. The looks, and apparently the voice (I think). More a solo act than band material anyway, which is why RS: INXS didn't happen.
Brandon, Dana and Neal: Might wind up in the "so-bad-they're-good" AI special

Somehow, I doubt any of them would want to do AI anyway, but it's a fun exercise to think what would've happened.

Pandora's Music Box

Just discovered this site today:

www.pandora.com

Essentially, you plug in either a music act or song you like, and it'll build a "station" that plays music that they think matches what you entered. It's pretty cool--I created the following stations:

Everything But The Girl - I was expecting all Electronica, all the time. I was pleasantly surprised that there was some music there that was close to the pre-Missing EBTG. There was this French song which I kinda liked, but I forgot the title already.
Gorillaz - Depeche Mode, baby.
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Morrissey?!? Come to think of it, some of Toad's songs are pretty depressing too. Windmills. Sigh. Still reminds me of something from way back.
Gin Blossoms - .38 Special. Hey, didn't they do Sister Christian?

What's nice is that I discovered some songs from artists who I never heard about, and may explore later on. Kinda like Launchcast from Yahoo!--hey, that's where I discovered Anna Nalick and Breathe (2AM). I know, I know, I'm turning into a wuss in my dotage.

I would've tried some more stations, but I was at work, unfortunately.

Coming Up Roses, Baby

So Texas won the 2005-06 Rose Bowl over USC. Pretty thrilling game, with Vince Young running in the deciding score. Wow.

Unfortunately, the game will be marred by controversy. Just like that OSU-Miami Championship game awhile back, with the late flag towards the end.

In this case, there were two critical calls:

(1) Vince Young's knee was down when he lateraled to another Texas player for Texas' first score, so the score shouldn't have counted--however, the play wasn't reviewed; and
(2) In the drive to bring Texas to within five points, a Texas player caught the ball and was hit. The ball came loose and was recovered by USC. However, the play gets reviewed, and they said the pass was incomplete.

The first probably wouldn't have mattered, because it was early in the game and Young would've probably run the score in anyway. However, the second one could've sealed the deal for USC--the Texas defense was sucking wind, and a TD would've made it a 19 point game (I think--someone correct me if I'm wrong).

You can bet USC fans are going to be crying and whining about this--just like Miami fans were a couple of years ago. However, USC made several bonehead decisions in the last two minutes or so, and were unable to defend against Vince Young.

Congratulations to Texas for being the National Champs!

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

One of my favorite webcomics is Sinfest, a kind of what-if-Calvin-was-a-pimp strip by Tatsuya Ishida. It's well-drawn, and the humor is a bit adult (there's four-letter words and tons of sexual innuendo--not that I mind). The main characters are Slick (the aforementioned Calvin-as-a-pimp) and Monique (I guess you could call her his best friend...in a When Harry Met Sally kinda way). Slick has the hots for Monique, but she always shoots him down.

Until now.

It looks like Slick is gonna score--except I know somehow, he'll screw it up.

Poor guy.

A Very Rebel Christmas

Nose to nose with Chucky

Mrs. Claus got me the Canon Digital Rebel XT for Christmas this year. Yay! After reading the blogs of Vic and Calai, I've been thinking about getting a digital SLR of my very own. I've been debating between the Rebel and the 20D, and while I now have the Rebel, the debate really hasn't been settled yet.

The wifey prefers the 20D; being a bit more budget minded, I've been leaning towards the Rebel. But the wife is right; I might get buyer's remorse later on if I didn't get the 20D (as I did when I got my Olympus camera, which I then pawned off to my dad to get my Nikon CoolPix, which I then pawned off to my sister-in-law to get my current camera, the Canon S410). So, I'll probably wind up returning the Rebel to go with the 20D.

I still love my little ELPH, though. It's compact, and takes great pics. It's slow sometimes, though, missing some oh-so-precious shots of the kids (although it was able to take the picture of the twins with Chucky). Hopefully the upgrade is worth the money...

Narnia!

So, I finally got to see The Chronicles of Narnia (or, as I like to say it, The Lion, the Witch, and the Place Where My Friend Refuses to Come Out From) this past weekend. My impressions?

It wasn't Lord of the Rings, but it was okay. It lacked the epic scope that the LOTR trilogy had; probably because the book itself was meant as a children's story. Not that children's stories can't be epic (see: Potter, Harry), but there's a certain feeling of trying to make sure that it doesn't scare the kids too much (seeing the cute cuddly furry beavers bite it would've caused a lot of nightmares).

A couple of random impressions (might be spoilers--oh, heck, everyone's read it):

* Tilda Swinton was perfect as Jadis, the White Witch. She had a cold beauty which was menacing, but still quite attractive. She had a great neckline and shoulders, very swanlike (the hair was pretty cool, too). Plus, she was badass towards the end. Anyone remember Tilda as Gabriel in the otherwise forgetful Constantine?
* Peter looks a lot like a young Heath Ledger. Oh, and Tumnus looks like Edward Norton.
* I've read a couple of opinions that the movie was laying on the religious imagery a bit thick, to the point that some folks were offended. Well, duh. Imagine the outcry from Narnia fans if the story was changed, just to be PC.
* That centaur (Peter's lieutenant) was pretty bad-ass too. Gotta have bad-asses. Unfortunately, Aslan himself wasn't as impressive as I would've thought.
* Some parts were missing--some reviews I've read are complaining about the length, but as one who preferred the EE versions of the LOTR trilogy I say: bring on the extra bits!

Overall, I'd give the movie a pretty solid B+, creeping into A- territory.

A Feast for Crows

I hate George R. R. Martin.

Not only did he make me wait five, five years for the next book in his A Song of Ice and Fire saga, he leaves me hanging at the end of the book.

What's worse is knowing that the next book (which is tentatively scheduled for next year) will not resolve the cliffhanger, since it's actually Part 2 of the same book as A Feast for Crows. Meaning, different POVs, same timeline.

Argh.

Of Races and Families

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Nice to see wee Carissa again. She's such a cutie. I guess the Weavers aren't as bad as portrayed; after all, one of the Weaver daughters (I guess she was the one who babysat the Gaghan kids) was the first one she went and hugged.

All in all, the Race was okay. Not as great as "My ox is BROKEN!", but serviceable.

The Nerds in TAR 9 are looking good, though.

Who dat band?

This is a cool site from the Virgin store--the object of the game is to identify 74 musical acts (solo/group) based on the picture. So, for example, a picture of several nude women would be Barenaked Ladies. So far I've identified around 48 acts correctly, out of around 62 I thought were correct.

Here's the link: Virgin, baby.

and the actual contest.

Now, if I can only figure out what that mannequin is...

Edited to add: er...the first link cuts off some stuff at the left. You should probably visit the contest site for a complete picture...(12/03/2005)

Political Correctness gone amok...again

So apparently, some cities have decided to remove the word "Christmas" from their Christmas Trees. The reason, they said, was because the word "Christmas" excluded people of other faiths.

They've decided to call them "Holiday" trees instead.

To which I say: Bullshit.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. It's bad enough that the meaning of Christmas (at least here in the US) is now about shopping for just the right gift (of which I am guilty of as well); now the PC police want to take away the term as well. It's even spread subtly to such stores as Target, where you'll be hard-pressed to find the word "Christmas".

I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about this. I'm not overly religious (well, I was born and raised Catholic, and I go to Mass once in a while); I think the Theory of Evolution holds water, and believe that everyone should have an open mind. I guess I'm just sick of people trying to ram their beliefs down other people's throats--be they religious or atheists.

*sigh* Oh well. Here's to a Happy Holiday season.

Pinoy Towtrucks

Did you hear about the fighter plane that had mechanical difficulties and was forced to land at the Ninoy Aquino airport in the Philippines? You'd expect firetrucks, ambulances, the works, right? Nope.

"I guess AAA couldn't make it" (photo from www.inq7.net)

Read Today, Read Tomorrow

Throughout my recent bout with the flu I've been fortunate enough to have a load of books that I could read. It all started with Knife of Dreams, the latest installment from Robert Jordan. It's a decent read; more exciting than Crossroads of Twilight, where all you read about were weevils.

Then the library told me that Olympos, the sequel to Ilium was ready for me to pick up. These two are by Dan Simmons, who wrote the excellent Hyperion series (if I ever needed a killing machine, I'll give the Shrike a call). I re-read Ilium, which is loosely based on Homer's Iliad...except it doesn't quite go according to script. More like an alterna-history for Achilles, Hector (who I still see as Eric Bana) and the boys; with a couple of intelligent Asimovian robots thrown in for good measure.

Ilium was a great page-turner, and the battle scenes are stupendous. It really appealed to the seven-year old boy in me; so, when I finished Ilium and started in on Olympos, I was stoked.

In a way, it doesn't quite live up to Ilium; oh, the battle scenes were still there, and Achilles was a bad-ass as usual (Achilles vs. The Shrike. Hmm). However, Olympos seemed to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek, and there was a lot of sex. The kind that's written by horny D&D kids living in their mom's basement. In one instance, the only way to wake an important character up...was to have sex with her. Shades of Ghostbusters--the "Keymaster" and the "Gatekeeper".

Then Feast For Crows, the latest installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, arrived from Amazon just as I was in the middle of Olympos. Then the library told me that Anansi Boys was available for pickup; while there, I picked up Jasper Fforde's latest as well.

So many books, so little time...

Reflections on a funeral

This past week the whole family had to fly to New Mexico to attend a funeral. PJ's uncle had passed away, and we all had to scramble to get tickets at the last minute.

It was a bit sad for me to be there, but I wasn't really close to the uncle, so my tears were minimal. I got misty-eyed watching the reactions of his family, though, especially my mom-in-law and my grandmother-in-law. I especially felt for Grandma; it must be so difficult, burying your children. That hit home with me, because of the twins. I'm hoping I never have to live through that.

When we got home from the funeral, the family just sat around at the dinner table, talking, laughing, remembering him and his happy-go-lucky nature. Also scaring some of the sisters with stories about how he made his presence "felt".

Interestingly, when we got home on Friday night, one of the patio lights was on--and I distinctly remembered making sure all the lights were off before we left. Just his way of saying goodbye, I guess.

The NBA: Nuggets-Lakers

I was watching the Nuggets-Lakers game last night, and one thing that struck me was that Denver has got to have the wimpiest uniforms this side of UCLA. I mean, baby-blue? With gold trim? Doesn't intimidate anyone (e.g. the Spurs with their black-and-silver garb), and isn't classy either (e.g. the Lakers with their "Royalty" colors, purple-and-gold). Kinda funny seeing K-Mart and Marcus Camby, trying to look tough while wearing baby blue.

Oh, and the Nuggets lost because of a last-second shot by Kobe. However, there were two things which led to this loss:

(1) 'Melo throwing up a brick with 9 seconds to go, instead of having Miller and Camby run the alley-oop, which the Lakers had been helpless against; and
(2) "Knick" Bavetta calling a foul on Camby, when he was a foot away from Kobe, and it was Kobe that threw the elbow. Instead, Camby fouls out, and Najera comes in and does nothing.

'Melo is pressing. He's been eclipsed by King James AND Dwyane Wade, so he desperately wants to prove something. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him during the game.

Anyway, it's only the first game in an 82-game season. I'm not really that fond of the NBA anymore, but it's fun to watch during the last five minutes, especially if it's a tight ball game.

TAR: FE, ep.6

So, the luck of the Weeeeeeeeeeeevils continues (props to SD). I mean, come on! "We were raised not to trust anyone"? "We're above anyone else because we're Christian"? Way to go Weavers. Not surprising that the rest of the teams hate them; they come across as smug, arrogant people who give Christians a bad name.

The Paolos are starting to grow on me; kinda like Rob and Amber from last season (of course, I liked Romber from Day 1 onwards; Rob was a pretty funny guy, and Amber was good eye candy. I hated Lyn and Alex instead). While they still whine a lot, they finish strong, and they play nice with the other teams. Props to Papa Paolo too with his mad skillz in lugging those bananas around. The kids were suitably impressed.

Meanwhile, the Weavers make fun of the Papa Paolo's garbage truck. Um, folks? Those mad skillz helped his family win first place, and get to pick a Segway. All this while your Mom has a near nervous breakdown trying to get out of the mud. So much about being "above anyone else".

Unfortunately for one of the teams, they run into Lena-and-Christie territory with a needle-in-a-haystack task.

Ghost Stories

I've always been fascinated by stories about strange and unexplained; I remember a book I borrowed from somewhere once (some Reader's Digest anthology) which had a story about Springheel Jack, among other things. It was a deliciously creepy book, and I often found myself nervously looking around while I was reading it (late at night, of course). However, I never actually heard or saw anything spooky myself (I dreamt of my grandmother standing on top of the stairs the day after she died, but never actually saw anything); I've smelled flowers, but that could've been anything.

My parents, however, have told me that we've actually lived in a couple of haunted houses. A couple stick out:

* There was one house which we rented from one of my aunts. According to my folks they could hear the sound of a golf ball being bounced continuously against one of the walls. Our house was at the corner, and there was a big backyard between the house and the neighbor, so they never could explain what that was (rats, maybe?). Oh, and our housekeeper (who was also my sister's nanny for twelve years) began acting strangely in that house--she started carrying a knife, because she claimed "they" were out to get her. What might explain the strange goings-on in that house was a punso in the backyard, which in Filipino folklore was the residence of a duende, which is kinda like a dwarf (not like Gimli, though!) This dwarf is more like a spirit of the woods.

We lived there for a couple of years, but I never saw anything.

* Another house we lived in (also rented) was allegedly the scene of an armed robbery/murder. It was also a stone's throw away from our church, and was across the street from an abandoned pelota court. We actually lived there twice; the second time around, one of the security guards (it was a "gated" community, so to speak) told us that he was surprised that we were living there; apparently, one of the caretakers went insane while he was watching the house.

I never saw anything there either; not sure if my parents did.

Even my condo here in CA apparently had an old-timer ghost (probably the previous owner). My wife saw/heard him descend the steps; she thought it was my dad, who was visiting at the time, but he said he was asleep.

In a way, I'm happy that I haven't seen anything (the closest I've come was in Amsterdam, where my wife and I saw a figure hovering over my sister-in-law. We assumed it was her boyfriend; he said that he was beside her, sleeping, at that time). I don't know how I'd react. Scream like a little girl? Faint? Either way, it'll probably be embarrassing.

TAR: FE, ep. 5

So the luck of the eeeeevil is really holding this episode. The racers take a trip to Panama, and we see that the cute li'l Gaghans are having transportation issues (man, talk about bad luck). The Weavers are looking scarier and scarier (with the exception of the boy, who seems cool), and seem to have alienated the rest of the pack.

The Gaghans are cute, but a bit, shall we say, challenged in the mental faculties. They should've left the Fast Forward immediately once they were beaten out. But since they're physical specimens, they managed to make it all the way to second-to-last place. Again.

Interesting TV Guide article about the Schroeders: apparently, they were victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Rogers family was nice enough to put them up when they evacuated, and all the Racer families helped out in some form or fashion except for one family. Apparently they're too busy spazzing out. That, or praying for map-reading skillz.

It Ain't Pretty

So I just saw the video of Pretty Vegas on VH1.com.

My word. INXS looks old.

JD himself looked all right (lotsa squees from the teenage female set, what with the shirt off). But INXS. Gah. What's up with Kirk's facial hair? And what's with all the black leather? It looked like they were trying to match up with Batshit's youth, but it wasn't pretty.

Jon looked embarrassed to be there.

But hey, it's at #37 on Billboard, so the kiddies are liking it. I guess that's why they chose JD.

Wanting to scrub my eyes out, I went and watched the videos of Spin, by Lifehouse; All These Things That I've Done, by The Killers (which was interesting--had some nice-looking babes. It felt like a Western Faster Pussycat, Kill!. I especially liked the "Killersluts" sign. Heh); and Feel Good, Inc. by Gorillaz.

I then watched some vintage INXS, Bitter Tears. *sigh*. Now that was good stuff. I'm just an old curmudgeon now, I guess.

Lost episode 4

Have you ever lost something that you could've sworn you put just there? Of course you have. Heck, I've lost my keys a lot of times; same with my ID badge (which is split in half, but that's another story). The best one was when I couldn't find my cell phone; of course, I tried calling it, and I heard it ring, but it was muffled.

Turns out Amelie had thrown it into our recycle bin.

And that was the theme of today's episode of Lost. As Locke said, you find something when you're not looking for it.

Plus, we get to see the Others! Or parts of them, at least.

Three weeks until the next episode. Ugh.

TAR: FE, ep. 4

I was all set to say something snarky about the episode, and then boom! They go to New Orleans, pre-Katrina. How sad. Kinda like last time, when they went to Sri Lanka, pre-tsunami. Wonder if they feel unlucky.

Anyway, on to

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

* Lots of jiggle time today. Not complaining, mind you.
* "Moon River!" I like it when one of the Linz boys raised his top, and yelled "YOUR TURN!" to the Bransen girls. Nice that Papa Bransen is taking it in stride.
* "The World's Largest Office Chair"? Man, that's a mighty uncomfortable looking chair. OSHA would be in fits.
* Once again the Gaghan kids are useless, but damn those parents are good, superhuman almost. Essentially it's a regular TAR team, bringing along their kids.
* Wonder if they were supposed to be race cars at Talladega, but the producers changed it at the last minute? Poor Papa Paolo, he thought his dream of driving a race car would come true.
* You just knew that they were playing with the editing with the regards to the Amazing Bathmat, you just knew it.
* Heaven help me, but I'm beginning to be more tolerant of the Paolos. The Weavers are just icking me out, though...

Angels Baseball and Lost, episode 4

This was the first time I've ever been pissed off at a baseball game. I've been depressed (such as when Vinateri kicked that winning field goal against the Rams), nervous (the entire series against the Yanks), and happy (the 2002 World Series), but today....damn.

Blown call by the ump. Big time. Thoughts of "Black Sox" all over again (unfair as it may seem). What happened? Well, Pierzynski swung at an Escobar pitch, and missed. Strike 3, right? 'cept the home plate ump thinks it hit the ground. After Paul, the catcher, had rolled the ball, and all the Angels were walking back to the dugout! He couldn't blow the call immediately; no, he had to wait. So of course, Pierzynski made it to first base and Escobar, obviously shaken by the whole thing, gives up a game-winning double to Crede.

*sigh* So now the series is tied, 1-1. How does this affect the Angels? We'll see...

Anyway, Lost! Totally Hurley-centric episode. Even the ep. title "Everybody Hates Hugo" reflects this. Some random thoughts:

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

* Sawyer gets hit by a girl. Again. Heh. Seems like he's moved on from Kate, though...hmmm.
* Nice dream sequence for Hurley with Daniel Dae Kim speaking English. Oh, wait, it's Hurley speaking Korean!
* Kate, Kate, Kate. Jack walks in on you showering, and you stand there and flirt, and "drop" your bra. Riiiight.
* Locke sure knows his way around assault rifles.
* Chernobyl? So maybe something melts down if they don't push the button?
* Poor Sun. I wanted to yell at the TV to tell her that Jin is still alive.
* No real progress. Except it appears that the tail section people are already dying off...

TAR: FE, ep.3

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Random thoughts about today's edition of The Amazing Race:

* Loved the "Gaghan" dance at the very start. These two kids are cute without being too annoying. The parents are pretty cool too.
* Looks like the Team Everybody Hates (see: The Guidos, Romber) has already been set.
* Funny how everyone refers to each other as "The {insert state here} Family"
* "Here comes the Cleaver family". Hee! Irony, anyone?
* What was up with that crazy-stalker-stare by one of the Linzes?
* Once again what was thought of as the "adult" Detour turned out to be child-friendly.
* Phil on the G-Force machine: "You may notice that I'm under the influence of gravity"
* The Weaver mommy is starting to really creep me out. Actually, the entire family is. The boy seems like he can go off at any moment.

Good episode, but kinda short on the drama. The Roadblock at the end was waaaay too easy.

Daddychoy: Mechanic?

I've always had two left thumbs when it comes to projects. Hammer a nail? It'll come out crooked. Paint a wall? You'll see the drippings at the bottom.

That's why when my driver-side headlight on my Civic went out, I had a quandary. Normally, I just bring the car into the shop, but after Googling "fix Civic headlights", it seemed like it would be an easy job. Pull the old bulb out, put the new bulb in, and it's all done! Simple, right? So I go ahead and buy the bulb at Walmart, pull the owner's manual out, and pop the hood.

'cept there's the Power Steering reservoir in the way.

Back to Google, and people said just pull the reservoir straight up.

Tried again, and I got the reservoir out, but it seemed like I would pop a hose, forever damaging the car and requiring even more money to fix.

So I returned the reservoir, closed the hood, and decided to wait and get home before it was dark. This was two months ago, when it was still light at 8:00pm.

It's October now, and it's getting dark by 6:30pm. So, no choice but to go to the shop and get it fixed. Due to my stubborness, though, I decided to try one last time today.

Fixed it! I got over my fear of breaking anything, and just pulled the reservoir out of the way. There were a few tense moments, but after 30 minutes of work, I was successful.

Yay me!

I won't be changing the oil any time though...

Book Signings: Thud!

So I borrow Thud! from the library (the latest Discworld book), and while the librarian checks it out for me, she casually mentions that Terry Pratchett was in Pasadena just two weeks ago. Twisting the knife deeper in the wound, she says "oh, and Neil Gaiman was there last week!"

Argh. How come I never find out about these things? I could've had my copy of Going Postal and Marvel 1602 signed.

Granted, I was in Arizona two weeks ago, but still! I could've planned my time...convinced the wife-unit to "stroll" around Pasadena while I listen to my inner geek and line up.

Great. Kathy and Calai still have a leg up on me in terms of meeting Gaiman. At least I still have that signed copy of Crossroads of Twilight to tide me over. Oh, wait, that's worthless.

Giving Pinoys a good name abroad

I had a thread about Pinoys making it big in the Sports and Entertainment world a couple of months ago; recently, MiG (from Rockstar: INXS) and Melody (from So You Think You Can Dance) have made the news for finishing in the top 4. Not in a major way--maybe an item or two in the entertainment section of some news sites.

Now this guy comes along, making us all proud! At one point, he was frontpage on the US edition of cnn.com (only to be displaced by the terror threat against NY subways).

Gotta love it. *sigh*

Lost, episode 3

For whatever reason, the twins are a lot noisier on Wednesdays. It's like they know that Lost is showing, and they go out of the way to make sure we miss vital plot points! Anyway, another fine episode. We get to find out more about what the island is, but at the same time, more questions pop up.

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

* Kate really lights up the screen when she smiles. She's so adorable! Awwwww...
* I had a minor geek moment when I saw "Jack Bender" next to Katie Segal during the first flashback. Katie voices Leela, who hangs out with Bender the robot in Futurama
* Sawyer calling the dude who dragged him around Shaft. Heh.
* Sawyer gets punched out by a girl. That must rankle.
* Come on, Michelle Rodriguez was too obviously faking her story!
* That "Orientation" film was creepy. Ooh, look, polar bears!
* Laugh out moment when Hurley spots the food.
* Shifts? So there will be a full team there now? No wonder Desmond went crazy, having to wake up every 107 minutes.

Really looking forward to next week!

TAR: FE, ep.2

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Hmm, that was a pretty cool episode! Random thoughts:

* Well, Mr-I'm-the-Father-So-I-Must-Be-Right: Way to go on the directions! Oh, and your boy? Will hate you forever. Quite the contrast from Mr. Black.
* This was one of the cooler, if cheesy, episodes. I like how they had the "spy" thing going on in DC, as well as the civil war re-enactment.
* Read your clues carefully, people!
* Again, little Gaghan was too cute for words. "Carissa explains it all". Heh.
* The Pink sisters are too lucky for words
* Hey, the Bransen sisters are actually cute! Too bad the dad's gonna have a heart attack though.
* Mommy NASCAR is CREEPY.
* Dammit, how come the Paolos are still in this?
* So I guess the siblings are from Cincinatti, given the Bengals jersey? And one of them is a Michigan Wolverine, given the Perry jersey?
* Still getting used to the yellow-and-silver markers.

On to next week!

Serenity

Saw Serenity with my workmates the other day. I was aware of Firefly, but I never watched an actual episode (since Fox buried the show, and SciFi channel showed it before I got home from work and I kept forgetting to set the DVR). I did know three things going in, though:

(1) It was written by Joss Whedon, who also did Angel, one of my favorite series;
(2) It was a cowboy space-opera
(3) The plot from the trailer was that there was this girl who was a human weapon that was being hunted down, and the Serenity crew had to protect her.

After watching the movie, I wanted to hunt the Firefly DVDs down. It was really, really, really good. A bit cheesy, but in a good way (you know how Angel and Buffy had cheap laughs sometimes). Throughout the movie I was thinking "Damn, George Lucas should've hired Joss to write and direct his prequels, and we may have gotten something decent".

And the girl who played Inara, Morena Baccarin? Wow. Heard she wants to play Wonder Woman (she also plays Black Canary in Justice League Unlimited. Hey, she gets my vote.

*** SPOILERS HO! (no pun intended, given Inara's *ahem* job) ***

I guess it's true: Relationship + Joss = Doomed. Damn you Joss Whedon! (oh, and please make a sequel. Thanks).

Certainly in my top ten movies watched this year. Hmm, that's a future post right there...

Lost, episode 2

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Hey, didn't I just talk about this? It's Wednesday again?

Random thoughts on the second episode of Lost, arguably the best show on TV today (well, other than Battlestar Galactica):

* Kate, in the vent shaft: wow.
* Michael was giving Walt...a polar bear. "He's not afraid of bears, is he?"
* Looks like Charlie is gonna give in to temptation some time soon.
* At first I thought that they killed Jin off, since he was nowhere to be found; then his name was on the credits (Daniel Dae Kim), so I guess not. This guy's been in three of my favorite TV shows (Angel, 24 and Lost)
* Kate, in the vent shaft: wow.
* Tip of the hat to people saying the show has "jumped the shark": they killed the shark instead.
* So Desmond has a ba-gua badge? Hmm...wonder what that means.
* I have to bet those numbers for the Mega Lotto.
* Kate and the candy bars. Heh. Have to check what those were.
* Have I mentioned Kate in the vent shaft?

Next week: The Others! braaaaaaaaainnnnns

ETA: Just read on The Straight Dope that the shark (or whatever creature it was) had the same ba-gua symbol on its body. Curiouser and curiouser!

The Amazing Race: Family Edition

*** SPOILERS HO! ***

Caught the two-hour premiere of TAR: FE tonight. It was pretty entertaining. Some random thoughts:

* I'm betting Jesse Jackson was going to have a coronary when Phil said..."The Black Family". Then you realize, oh, their last name IS "Black". Duh.
* Looks like they're casting the Paolo family as the dysfunctional team. And yeah, someone shut those two brats up.
* I was all prepared to hate the adorable Gaghan kids (especially Carissa, who's too cute for words), but they're surprisingly likable.
* I sure wish I can be even half the dad Mr. Reggie Black is.
* The Linz siblings? Cocky, but cool. "Dude, you're out of your league!" (paraphrased, when one of the brothers wanted to hit on one of the Pink sisters)
* Kevin and Drew, baby! Are we gonna see Romber? Flo? Jonathan (please, no) in future episodes? More Emily, please!
* Kinda creepy when that buggy ran over one of the Weavers, considering how their dad died
* One of the Pink sisters was...um...cold. Turn off the headlights, girl!
* 20,000 bucks! I was expecting $40,000

Can't wait until next week!

Songs When You're Lost

Stuff I thought about while trying to keep awake driving to Arizona at 11pm, with over 200 miles to go, Part I:

Ever play the "Five CDs I would take if I were marooned on an island" game? That's what I was trying to figure out. Two rules: (1) No "Greatest Hits" albums. So, no Best of U2 1980-1990 or whatever; (2) Only one album per artist.

Here's mine:

New Miserable Experience, Gin Blossoms. Every song was a home run (in my opinion). Memorized every.single.line of every.single.song. Too bad they broke up soon after.

Dream of the Blue Turtles, Sting. Classic. Loved Moon Over Bourbon Street--but was he a werewolf (with the howl at the end and the title, duh) or a vampire ("you'll never see my shade" and "face of a sinner, hands of a priest")?

The Joshua Tree, U2. Running to Stand Still and Exit. I hated U2 before this album; after I heard it, I bought the entire back catalog. So thanks, JC, for lending me your U2 tapes.

Amplified Heart, Everything But The Girl. Reminds me of the time I lived in San Francisco. Lovely, angsty, depressing stuff, quite the contrast from Idlewild, which was happy pop.

and finally...

Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette. A lot of the songs here depicted events in my life circa 1995-96. From being a boonie in Chicago (Hand in My Pocket) to a messy friendship/relationship (Ironic and You Learn) to meeting the woman I married (Head Over Feet). Plus some of the best lyrics I've ever heard:

It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
Are you thinking of me
When you fuck her

and

You took me out to wine dine 69 me
But didn't hear a damn word I said

Heh. I guess she really hated Full House. So, she gets engaged to Van Wilder ten years later. Wonder what she'll write if he screws her over?

A couple that barely missed the cut:

Dulcinea, Toad the Wet Sprocket
Songs About Jane, Maroon 5
Compus Mentus, Cutting Crew (hey...it was good!)
Waterfront, Waterfront (featuring the Chester anthem Cry)
Kick, INXS, pre-Asshat
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, Tears For Fears
Tango in the Night, Fleetwood Mac
Under the Table and Dreaming, Dave Matthews Band

Lost once again: Season Two begins

Wow.

So we find out what was in the hatch. Just...wow.

Some other points:
(1) Something was wrong with the tape, at least from what I was watching (on an old 32" Trinitron). The blacks were all wrong--it's not my TV or the signal, because the commercials were clear.
(2) Man, what a rug on (flashback) Jack Shepherd.
(3) So Jack has really assumed leader status, huh? What happened to Sayid? I guess he's too wrapped up in Shannon...although Locke, of course, challenged him. And of course Kate just had to know what was going on (and probably wanted to find an escape route in case the cavalry arrived).
(4) Man, what a rug on (flashback) Jack Shepherd.
(5) Totally called what was in the hatch halfway thru. Actually, it was more like "Wouldn't it be cool if..."
(6) Hulk Hogan's writing the dialogue!

Loved it. Although the kids were noisy throughout the show, and my MIL kept getting phone calls. So, the impact was a bit diluted. Still, though...wow.

INXS 2.0

HA! Totally called it. Well, I haven't bought any INXS albums since X--and I'm not about to buy the new one. Oh, I just bought their back catalog (The Swing, Kick, and X), since I lost my old CDs; but JD does nothing for me.

Wonder if he'll still be around next year.

Looking forward to...(the Fall edition)

It's almost fall, and there are a couple of things that I'm looking forward to:

* Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (September 20). The first book I read by Neil Gaiman was his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. I was impressed, so I bought Stardust and Neverwhere. Overall I liked Stardust better, but that's because I'm a romantic at heart.

American Gods was okay. I liked the character of Shadow, and the whole "the gods live among us" concept, but at times the book seemed too Stephen King-ish to me. I also read the novella in Legends II, which was a riff on Beowulf.

Anyway, I'll give Anansi Boys a go.

* Thud!, by Terry Pratchett (out). Discworld! Vimes! The Watch! 'nuff said.

* Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan (October 11). The next volume in the Wheel of Time. At this point I'm just reading it out of sheer stubborness, hoping that something happens. Where oh where is the person who wrote the ending of Lord of Chaos?

* Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin (November 8). Five years later...I just hope Martin doesn't die on us before this is over. It's like...Rowling kicking it before finishing Harry Potter. *knock on wood*

* Final Fantasy: Advent Children (November 29) Sephiroth, baby. The coolest, most badass (even more badass than Randy--heh, sorry, MiG fans) villain ever created. And he's not even a villain, he's just misunderstood. Took me almost a day to beat him at Kingdom Hearts, which leads me to...

* Kingdom Hearts 2 (December 15). Do we see Sephiroth? How about hearing David Boreanaz play Leon again? Kingdom Hearts was one of the best games I've played. Pretty dark for a Disney production; and, in true anime fashion, a heartbreaking ending.

* Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire (November). The movies just keep getting better and better.

* The Chronicles of Narnia (December). Something to replace LOTR during Christmas. Aslan looked waycool.

* King Kong (December). Speaking of LOTR...Peter Jackson goodness. Have you seen him recently?

* Lost, Alias, Justice League Unlimited and The Amazing Race (September). Thank God for DVRs.

and finally, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (October). Gorgeous three-volume leather-bound set. Unfortunately, I already have pretty much every book written by Bill Watterson. *sigh* Anyone have a hundred bucks I can borrow?

Cool it now

Finally figured out the CPU overheating problem on my box--it was a combo of the thermal compound and the HSF not being set correctly. What I did:

(1) Bought a new third party fan (Thermaltake Jungle 512)
(2) Bought Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound
(3) Bought Arcticlean thermal compound cleaner
(4) Removed the heatsink and cleaned the silicone goop off
(5) Removed the CPU (!) and cleaned the surface
(6) Put back the CPU (at first I restarted the machine--didn't work. Panic. Then I realize I didn't close the load plate correctly. Whew!)
(7) Reset the HSF and pushed down FIRMLY. I was always delicate with it because I was worried about cracking the motherboard, but the shop said push it in firmly, so I did.

BAM, temps are now hovering at 45C. Yay!

Rockstar: INXS: JD fans

Q: What's the difference between Apple Zealots and JD fans?
A: JD fans' tool of choice wears an asshat.

(hmm. that made sense when I thought of it earlier this morning.)

of course, he'll still win. cos' he's roit for OB:INXS

Rockstar: INXS: Almost there

Ever since Saint Jordis (tm Leperpop) was booted off this show, I'm not really that much into this anymore. I'm not partial to any of the final four, except maybe for MiG, and only because he's Pinoy (I don't really like his voice, it's too high).

I don't like Marty because he screams and is off-key 15% of the time.

I don't like JD because he's an asshat and he reminds me of my ex-BIL.

I don't like Suzie because she's boring.

I don't like MiG because his voice is too high and he's too self-conscious.

Alas, poor Jordis. Granted, her nerves got to her, but she was amazing. Yes, I even liked her performance of Layla (although I hid when she sang Dream On) and I think Try Not is better and more complex than Pretty Vegas or Trees. And yes, I'm buying her album if it ever comes out.

So who's roit for OB:INXS? Even though I detest him (and I find his fans too-funny and too-willing to justify anything he does, and how dare you say anything even remotely bad about him), I think it's JD. Boy can put on a show. He may be annoying (to me), but he connects to people, and inspires feeling (be it positive or negative). And I think OB:INXS needs that to survive today.

I just won't be buying their album if that's the case.

*batteries not included

Yay! Found this forgotten gem at Sams Club yesterday. It was a small "Presented By Steven Spielberg" flick--kinda in the vein of Short Circuit. Largely overlooked. Interestingly, it was co-written by Brad Bird, the genius behind The Iron Giant and The Incredibles!

edited 'coz i can't spell.

Are You Hot or Not?

Well, I went ahead and got a third party CPU HSF (Thermaltake Jungle512) from Fry's. First time actually installing one; other than the fact that I'm bummed about this machine (after plopping down money for it), it's actually quite exciting tinkering around with the guts of the PC.

Did it work? Somewhat...the fan has more RPM than the previous one, and I think the heatsink is better built...so now the temp hovers around 83 degrees celsius...still hot, but at least it doesn't crank up to 110 degrees C...all the time. I might try adding arctic silver or another thermal compound later on.

I'm typing this on the box as we speak. It's half-naked right now--for better circulation (I'll take the risk on the dust part).

Wondering now if the temp sensor is defective or not. This IS a new motherboard after all. Oh, well, the shop should respond by tomorrow.

Fan's a bit loud though. The stock fan was much quieter.

Hothothot!

Just got my computer back from the shop, and I think they screwed something up...maybe gave me a defective heatsink? Because the hardware monitor is reporting that my CPU is running at...on average...

95 FRICKIN DEGREES CELSIUS! ALMOST BOILING POINT!

It even reaches 110 DEGREES CELSIUS before it shuts itself down.

Geez. It was just a simple power supply/motherboard problem at first; they've replaced the power supply as well as the motherboard, but they may have bolted the heatsink inocrrectly. It wasn't like this before.

Unless the BIOS is wrong and is reporting inflated temperatures. Because the case itself doesn't feel hot (unless the chip is too small that I can't feel it).

Le sigh. And I thought I got my rig back. Oh, well.

Sail away, sail away, sail away

Just got back from a one week vacation on the Navigator of the Seas with the wife and kids. Lucked out in that we missed Katrina by that much--when we landed in Miami, it was a bit windy and a bit rainy--and there was no power in our hotel. Oy. Flashback to my Manila days when there was no power, and it would be impossible to sleep because of the heat. Bad times.

Once we got on the ship, though, everything was okay. Huge ship, the Navigator. The kids enjoyed it, especially running down the hallways and screaming their heads off. I'm sure the people in the staterooms were pretty happy about that. They were pretty noisy in our stateroom too--which, unfortunately, was just above the bridge. We even got a phone call from them, asking us to keep it down, and to close our drapes. Whoops.

Magen's Bay was our favorite beach. No waves, water was clear, sand was white...the twins loved it. Unfortunately, our tour bus left us cos we were late. Hey, try getting the kids to leave the water and then changing them.

The Atlantis resort was frakkin' cool. I'm sorry, I just had to say that. The big-ass aquarium was a hoot, seeing those sting rays, those manta rays, giant groupers, tarpon, barracuda, sharks, and even a good ol' sawfish. I'd like to stay there at some point in my life; however, I won't be staying in the bridge suites, which according to the tour guide is $25,000 a night, with a minimum 7-night stay. Ouch!

I did feel a bit guilty seeing what was happening to New Orleans because of Katrina...but life goes on. We'll see about helping out in some form or fashion.