BIRTHDAY 2009: I TURNED 35!

PICTURED ABOVE: I bought some food to celebrate my birthday with my maids and my driver, and his kids. Jollibee cheeseburgers and fries, rotisserie chicken, Goldilocks birthday cake, Coke, and Magnolia Sorbetes. I grabbed the opportunity to buy a complete set of the UAAP Coke bottles, for my lola.

PICTURED ABOVE: me with the maids, my driver and 2 of his kids.

This is actually the second leg of my 35th birthday celebration. The first leg was last night at the dialysis clinic at The Medical City, where Rose, a coworker of mine celebrated with me and the nurses on duty [and some of the patients too] with Pizza Hut viva lasagna meat lover's and free pepperoni pizza and pepsi. Thanks to Ed, Ruby and Tine, nurses and tech at the unit for celebrating with me.

I wanted to celebrate my birthday with a little blowout for my maids, my driver and his kids. These people have been taking care of me everyday and I wanted to celebrate with them. So I tried to order Jollibee so I could also get the UAAP bottles. But unfortunately, they don't give those on deliveries. You have to get dine in or takeout. So even with the insane weather, my driver and his eldest daughter Jackie went out to buy food. We couldnt go to Jollibee Temple Drive because the way there was flooded. So we braved it to Galleria... if I felt better I would've just hung out in the mall all day and watched Surrogates. There wasn't a whole lot of people at the mall because of the weather! Anyway, since we were there, we also got a cake and some ice cream from the grocery. And I got a good deal on some rotisserie chicken.

We also hit a small snag on the Galleria Branch of Jollibee... 3 of the UAAP bottles were out of stock. The UP, Lasalle and Ateneo ones, in particular. So after we got everything, we went to another branch in Emerald Ave. Yahoo! They had all the bottles available. That completes the set and meant more burgers and fries for everyone.

The last leg is later, my Tita is coming over with food and my first cousin and her husband and baby are also coming over. That is if the weather permits. If only I would get to see my nephew, this would be perfect.

This is my first birthday where I have a Facebook account and the fact that it makes it so easy for my friends to remember and greet me on my birthday makes this site makes it so valuable. I have loved FB ever since I joined in august and although I lost a friend since, I gained a lot in return. I am still hoping for another chance of reconciliation someday. But I am not holding my breath. But you never know... life is full of surprises.

Every year, I feel lucky to have made it to another birthday. I love life and belive it's precious. I've been doing my damndest to make the most of it. And I think I'm doing fine.

Thanks for everyone who remembered, and who will still celebrate this day with me. I love you all.

SATURDAY [ONLINE] SHOPPING

Quite a fruitful day. 2 great finds. Both on Ebay.ph and both for a steal of a price...
Been in the market for a second DVD recorder ever since I became a heavy contributor at PINOYCHANNEL.TV. Lots of programs to record, some of which are also on 2 stations and airing at the same time. And since Pioneer is the only brand most shops carry [it's the best one anyway] , I have been looking for a cheaper alternative. Today, I hit paydirt. An Aussie listed this baby on Ebay.ph. He bought it and brought it here to the country, thinking he was going to stay here for a while, but he sold his business and wants to dispose of everything quickly. So he let this go for a real bargain, and he hasnt even used it!

Handsome, isn't he? TF Universe Deluxe SE-01 Optimus Prime. About 7" tall, very articulated, and transforms into truck mode. It isn't metal but I never really cared much for metal. If you want a metal truck, get a Tonka! I found this one for only P500. I was thinking they were just selling this for a bloated price and it was probably on sale in Toy Kingdom or something, but it was out of stock in the big toy stores a long time ago. I heard this came out last year. I would never pass up the chance to own an Optimus Prime with this detail for only P500. And so, here he is.

I also got some cool AA rechargeable batteries from CDRKING for only P500 a pair. The cool factor: the caps of the batteries come off and reveals USB plugs. Charge them by simply plugging them straight into a USB port. Really convenient to use with my digicam that drains batteries like a humvee!

It's been a great saturday, tomorrow I may go to Vmall again to shop for DVD+RWS. Until now, I've been using minuses but this new machine uses the pluses.

All this time, my driver and I have been shopping for these gadgets like Batman and Alfred/Lucius... oh did I mention my driver's name is also Al? LOL

WOLVERINE'S RIDICULOUS HEALING FACTOR EPISODE

I know Wolverine's got healing factor, and I know part of it includes regeneration of tissue, but THIS IS RIDICULOUS.

Whenever I watch or read something fictitional and find something ridiculous, I am always told to SUSPEND MY DISBELIEF. Well, you can only do that so far, there are still some things that your mind can't just accept even if the story is fictional.

I have been catching up on my reading of Wolverine pretty quickly. I already put away the whole Volume 2 and am now finishing up on the last 15 or so issues of Volume 3.

In this story, part of the CIVIL WAR story I think, Wolverine is battling Nitro, a mutant whose power makes him a walking atomic bomb. So anyway, Wolverine and he go at it. Nitro does his thing, blows up and Wolverine is at ground zero. If he had a normal skeleton, he would've disintegrated. But since it's indestructible adamantium, it survives the blast and even protects his vital organs. BUT, most if not all the meat on his bones are gone. Check it out...

Here's where the bullsh*t REALLY starts... even if he's only got the organs inside the skeleton left, his healing factor, and the regenerative qualities kick in and EVERYTHING GROWS BACK.

WTF...

I'm no expert on the human body, but you need to eat to make muscles. Your body doesn't just make them out of nowhere. He just laid there and grew himself a body. That's supposed to be part of healing?!

So my next question... if someone cuts off his penis, will it grow back? Will his healing factor make it the same size or can he adjust the length? LMAO

If I was reading this 10-15 years ago, I may found this to be way cool. Now I just laugh at it and say bullsh*t. And yeah, I haven't forgotten that it's fictional and more ridiculous things have happened in the X-universe.

Oh and a sad, unrelated note, I am saddened to find out that one of my high school classmates, Marie, passed away a few days ago with breast cancer.

A LITTLE SHOPPING AT VMALL

NO, I didn't buy this! I saw it at the food court at VMall and I wanted to shoot it...

My DVD writer was showing signs of age. Close to conking out, actually. Been making coasters and what good discs it makes takes 45 minutes to burn at 16X. Something is definitely not right. So before I have to make that new batch of DVDS I'm sending to Canada, I decided to buy a new one.

ABOVE: The Liteon DVD writer I bought at my favorite PC store at VMALL. I was surprised to find that nobody really sells DVDROM drives anymore. The ones with burners are too cheap, so adding a few hunnerd bucks to the price of a DVDROM already buys you one that can MAKE DVDS instead of just read them. Logical indeed. While I was there, I decided to throw out the jurassic floppy drive I had and put in a card reader with USB port. This makes transferring pics from the digicam to the pc much easier than plugging the USB card reader.

I saw TEN THE EVENING NEWS last night, and in the Gadget segment, they featured a digicam and mentioned that more and more people are buying digicams now 'coz they want to post pics in Facebook. Well, I myself joined FB recently and can appreciate the site much more than Friendster. Truly wonderful, more on that later.

PICTURED ABOVE: a GHOST IN THE SHELL STANDALONE COMPLEX t-shirt I found at FILBAR'S. I noticed I was wearing the same batch of clothes over and over when I go to the hospital so I decided to buy this so I can wear something different next time. Bought it for P250. They had a few more anime t-shirts there, too.

(HAPPILY) DROWNING IN WOLVERINE COMICS

Last night, after reading only for a few weeks, I have finished reading ALL 189 issues of Marvel's Wolverine Volume 2. I don't really know why it is called Volume 2... I think volume 1 pertains to the 4 issue limited series by Frank Miller [the Mariko Yashida story].

About 10 years ago, I stopped reading comics just when Wolverine ALMOST got his adamantium back. Cyber's adamantium skin was "skinned" off of him and was going to be put into Wolverine but it was rejected... he was doing a lot of soul-searching with Elektra when I stopped reading and I have been meaning to catch up on my reading for a while. It was after the latest Hugh Jackman movie came out that I decided it was time to finally start reading again.

And I simply love the comics. Woleveine finally got his adamantium back thanks to Sabretooth and Apocalypse, and my favorite character Sabretooth now had an adamantium skeleton too! I can't wait to start reading volume 3.

I am currently wrapping up reading his little adventures on Marvel Comics Presents. I have but 2 major stories to read from MCP... "Typhoid's Kiss" and "Weapon X", both of which I have read before because I owned the trade paperbacks... before it got eaten by termites. But after that, I'm going straight to volume 3, and then back to the miniseries and one-shots. Clearly, I am far from done with Wolverine.

A "LEGENDARY" PROJECT!!!

It's been 3 weeks since EL CARTEL was passed off back to the inhouse writers and I haven't been given any work by the studio. But luckily, my old boss called me that very same night to hire me for another new project, one that I truly love.

Other than the time I was hired to write the Tagalog scripts of SLAM DUNK, I don't think I ever wrote another script that I was such a fanboy about.

THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE is a drama series produced in mainland China about the life of the legend, the martial arts man himself, BRUCE LEE. I first heard of this series when I was watching the Discovery Channel, they held a huge competition in China called "The Next Kung Fu Star" and the winner was going to star as the lead in this show.

When I found out the studio bought this series to be dubbed, I was quite excited, but when I found out that they hired another writer for the Tagalog version, I was pretty disappointed. But I was glad to find out that they wanted me for the English version. Although out of the 30 episodes, I was only tasked to write 6, I had the most fun writing a script in such a long time! After writing for a year about romantic couples facing all sorts of adversity and drug dealing traitors ratting each other out to the DEA, I'm finally writing about something I have been fascinated with all my life - Kung Fu on the big screen and Bruce Lee.

The show had a lot of interesting stories and factors that any fanboy would love. People from his real life were had onscreen presence, from his wife Linda, his son Brandon and daughter Shannon, friends and students Taky Kimura, Jesse Glover and Filipino friend Dan Inosanto [who was played by a Chinese guy, WTF! If you know nothing about Bruce Lee, you'd never guess this character was Filipino], including his nemesis opponents in the martial arts world like kenpo master Ed Parker and wing chun grandmaster Wong Jack Man! I had a blast researching my facts and names of real people in his life, I never had so many notes in my scripts explaining martial art disciplines, moves, techniques, and even philosophical inferences.

The show also had Hollywood actors playing roles, Michael Jai White was in it, Gary Daniels and Ray Park [who played Chuck Norris] are some of the big names in this show. And Linda Lee's actress looks a lot like Kelli Williams [Lindsay Dole] of THE PRACTICE.

I was also glad that my coworkers liked my script. Well, they said they did. They said it was so obvious I was a Bruce Lee fanatic. Some of them even asked for copies of his movies, which I was happy to oblige. Anytime you meet someone with similar interests as you can't be all bad... besides, some of them wanted it so they can study their roles. So I also made them copies of whatever Bruce Lee bios and docus I had. And over the years, there were quite a few of them.

And I was glad that the translation they provided was pretty decent. I wasn't given fansubs on a bootleg burned DVD this time, and I truly appreciate that. I never approved of using fansubs for dubbing of legally acquired shows. I always believed they should spring for decent translations and do it right.

My last episode is due monday... I sure wish there was more. But it was definitely fun while it lasted.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT MAKING AN ANIME MTV [AMV]: VOLTES V

Whenever I am at dialysis, I listen to songs on my mp3 player... Sometimes I visualize an MTV... when I listen to Paul Oakenfold's "Ready Steady Go", I think of Voltes V... for some reason, it just fits. This song has been used in famous movies like the car chase scene in THE BOURNE IDENTITY, and a club scene in COLLATERAL.

This weekend, it was like a new chapter in my life. After 5 years, I finally kicked a bad habit. I used to think of someone everyday, and finally realized it was such a waste of time. I decided to learn how to make AMV's.

My first step was to go online and see if there are any tutorials. The most recommended progs I saw were Sony Vegas, Windows Movie Maker and Pinnacle Studio. Of the 3, Pinnacle was the one I found easiest to use.

After downloading and installing the software, I played around with it for a few hours, and before I knew it, 4 hours have passed and I have finished the AMV. It was so much fun. I still have plenty to learn, since I hardly know anything about effects, transitions and stuff. So my first attempt is pretty basic. I also skipped the recommended steps like planning the video. At first, I thought making a storyboard would be appropriate, but I was too excited. I had all the scenes mapped out in my head, I was aching to see it compiled, timed with music.

So here is my first AMV, hopefully I can think up some better ones in the future.

MORE ON MY X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE EXPERIENCE

More on my take on the Wolverine movie…

I watched this movie last night with my driver and his 16 year old daughter. They weren’t too familiar with the X-men story, and that is the point I am going to try to make with this.

While this movie may be a good one for the Wolverine/X-men fan, if you don’t know much about the comic then there’s a lot that wouldn’t make sense to you about this movie. My driver’s daughter could barely understand why Logan and Victor were still alive after fighting in almost every major war in the Us and the world. The movie just assumes you know about mutants and you don’t wonder why some of the characters have superpowers and where those powers came from.

This is sort of a conundrum for me. For the fanatics who defend the movie, they would argue that for me to enjoy the movie, I would have to shut up about how it was different from the comic and just take it as it is. However, if I disregard the comic, then I would have to watch this movie as if I previously knew nothing about it, in which case a lot of things, like the existence of mutants wouldn’t make any sense at all.

And if I leave behind everything I know about the comic and just watch the movie, then the movie just isn’t good enough for me. I have seen the black ops put in the shelf and the remnants killing off all the old members thing one too many times. Was I really surprised that Sabretooth and Striker had a deal going? Even if I wasn’t reading Wolverine, that was pretty damn predictable. Even Gambit being the only one who escaped from the secret lab and showing Wolverine the way back is so “The Rock” as in Sean Connery’s movie in the 90’s. And of course… Weapon XI’s all-your-powers-into-one soldier has been so done to death, how many anime and videogames have we seen that before? Even Megatron did that over 20 years ago in TF Generation 1 when he took weapons from every Decepticon so he’d kick Optimus Prime’s butt in an “honorable duel”.

And Wolverine's claws all hot and red from Weapon XI's optic blast... while pretty awesome, has been done somewhere before. I've seen the predator do that in Scwarzenegger's movie with the blade attachment in its arm... it heats it up using the laser sighting on its shoulders... sort of like a hot knife through butter thing...

But again, in defense or in fairness to the movie, the Wolverine story is quite old. So I am not saying it ripped off other movies or plots. It’s just that I have seen it all somewhere else before. The simple point is this… you can’t really watch this movie and say forget everything you know and do not expect anything. Rather, you have to have some sense of familiarity and prepare yourself for how some things are different and some stayed the same, and somewhere in the between, have a great time.

Lastly, did you ever wonder why Wolverine's claws seem to NEVER have any blood stains of them, considering they go in and out of his arms all the time and each time, the skin rips open? Anyone who watches CSI knows that a knife, when used as a stabbing weapon, has blood stains or even small particles on it. Wolverine's claws seem to be clean all the time. Does the blood slide off because the claws are like non-stick teflon? Hey, I'm nitpicking here...

MY WOLVERINE MOVIE BUBBLE BURST... THANK GOD FOR HEALING FACTOR

It took a while but I finally had free time and circumstances finally gave me the chance to catch this movie. I went and watched guaranteed seat at SM Megamall Cinema 1 last night. Gee. When was the last time I watched a movie? I didn't know tickets were this expensive now! P180 a pop, and the popcorn and soda I bought weren't cheap either. I bought a Coke 500 and 2 bags of popcorn and it cost me P210. Oh my...

I read some reviews by my friends about this movie before I went, and so I had an idea what to expect. But as per my EX's advice, throw your expectations out the window and it won't disappoint you THAT much. Other reviews I read were raving about it so much that they watched it over half a dozen times. Well, I won't be doing that with this one, at least not on the big screen.

It may also be good to point out that I didn't go into this one armed with my stock knowledge of the X-men storyline, a comic book line I have been reading for years. I had boxes and boxes of X-comics, and Wolverine is definitely one of the coolest characters in my book. Not to mention that over the years, the X-men storyline has been remade and retold so many times with so many different animation series, I barely remembered which were the original. It's as if I was like Wolverine himself, not knowing which part of what he remembers is real.

The movie itself was pretty good, at least better than the X-men trilogy which I hated. It didn't have a lot of boring parts, lots of action in this flick. I expected no less since Wolverine does more with action than talking. I didn't have too many complaints on the casting. They all did pretty well. When you watch a comic-turned-movie like this, you tend to nitpick a lot about who they picked to be who. Wolverine looked like Wolverine, if you can forgive the actor's height, he's got everything else done right. Kikiligin ka pa when you hear him say his famous line "I'm the best at what I do." Deadpool is right on the mark, he is still as funny as he is in the comic... although the actor seemed to deliver some lines too familiar with his character in Blade Trinity, who is also the comic relief in the said movie. Other memorable characters like Agent Zero, the Blob, Cyclops, and Silver Fox were also well-casted.

Aside from Logan [why the hell did they give him the name "Jimmy"?], 2 other characters that stuck in my mind made it to the movie... the first one being Gambit. I disagreed with some friends of mine who said his role was too small. Gambit had a whole story altogether, if they delved into that too much, I think the movie would've taken a different direction. As much as I liked him in this movie, he is one of those non-faves of mine, the kind that is so cool and prominent that you just have to include him, but you wish they included other characters that you like more. To me, Gambit is one of those overexposed characters in the mainstream X-Universe... I guess I saw too much of him when I watched the animated series in the 90's that I got sick of him. In Looney Tunes, Gambit would be like Sylvester, Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Taz, Marvin or Porky... They just have to be there but you wish some other characters made it.

Which brings me to my favorite X-character... SABRETOOTH! Even when I was reading X-men over 10 years ago, I always liked Victor better than Logan. That wrestler they casted for him in the first X-men movie was terrible compated to this one. At first, I was skeptical with his new actor... I saw this guy in CSI [he filled in for Grissom when Gris went on a sabbatical] and he was the guy in the Manchurian Candidate. But he did it pretty well. I always found Sabretooth to be menacing, big, almost maniacal, cold-blooded... and he was like that in this movie. And how cool is having Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting on the same side?

I still remember Sabretooth's picture in the comic that got me into thinking he is the coolest villain Logan could ever face. In my TPB copy of the Wolverine Saga, there was a part about how Wolverine found Silver Fox dead, and Sabretooth owned up to it. He wasn't in his costume yet. He was wearing something that lumberjacks usually wore. His face had all that hair and that evil grin... that look that gave you the feeling he just raped a woman, killed her, and ate her! Not to mention that they had a fight in that bar [which was used in the movie], Logan got his ass kicked! Unlike Logan, Sabretooth is naturally tough, he wasn't fused with adamantium, and that is why I like him more. But enough of that, I am not trying to put Wolverine down... point made, not necessarily taken...

The only one minor complaint I have with the movie is that part where he finds Silver Fox supposedly dead, he holds her in his arms and shouts loudly with his head tilted upwards, and the camera taking an overhead shot. For me, napaka-baduy at overused na nito. Ilang beses ko na yata itong nakita, pati sa local shows like ABS-CBN's Lobo and Sana Maulit Muli. Mahilig sila dyan sa mga sustained "nooooo!!!" na yan. I think even Barry Allen did that with his dead brother in the TV series of The Flash.

It was a great experience watching this movie and I will definitely buy the DVD, unlike the X-men Trilogy. If you guys still haven't caught this one, you might still be able to. But Angels and Demons is taking over in the cinemas pretty quickly.

PREMATURELY BURSTING MY WOLVERINE BUBBLE

PICTURED ABOVE: Wolverine & Sabretooth toys I bought in Toys R Us 3 years ago. My how time flew. Halos di ko na makita yung blog post ko where I posted these pics. Wala lang, just to prove na hindi ako nakikiuso porke may pelikula sya ngayon...

Hindi ko pa napapanood ang Wolverine movie ni Hugh Jackman. May deadline ako this tuesday at may gagawin pa ako sa sunday [sisimulan namin ng driver ko na maglinis ng kalat dito sa kwarto at sa kwarto ko sa itaas]. Malamang, kung papalarin, next sunday ko na ito papanoorin, at kung may oras, pati ang Star Trek.


I am a big Wolverine fan... Kumpleto ako sa digital comics nya, Meron akong Essential Wolverine volumes 1-3. Wolverine Saga 1-4, at napakadaming comics, graphic novel at TPB tungkol sa kanya. Yung pagka-forbidden love nila ni Mariko Yashida [I have the TPB version] was one of my old favorites dahil nung panahon na yun, yung girlfriend kong Koreana eh pinagkakait din sa akin ng pamilya nya. Hehe I also had a Wolverine shirt, saka nabili ko yung classic action figures nila ni Sabretooth dati sa Toys R Us.


Pero nung nabalitaan kong gagawan ng origin movie at live action pa, hindi naman ako ganung ka-excited sa kanya. Based on my EXGF Meo's review of the movie, mukhang masasatisfy ako pero as a Wolverine fan, parang maiirita lang din ako. Sa totoo lang kasi, wala akong nagustuhan sa mga XMEN movies [the trilogy] and while kamukha ni HJ si Wolverine, he is obviously too tall for the role.

Nakakatawa na lang yung mga babaeng fan na tuwang tuwa sa character na ito... as usual na-reduce na naman sa pagiging "fafa-ble" si Wolverine... Asus... kung talagang kilala nyo ang character na ito, you'd probably find him cool but definitely not a hunk... bakit ka naman mai-in love sa isang tao na mas matanda pa sa lolo mo?

Anyway, back to the movie I HAVEN'T seen yet... sana nga mali ako at matuwa ako sa kanya. Kaso as of late, disappointing naman talaga ang mga ganitong movie... PUNISHER WAR ZONE ang pinakahuling movie based on a comic na nagandahan ako. Everything else, even Michael Bay's Transformers was disappointing for me. Nakakatawa nga yung mga comment ng TF fans, libog na libog kay Megan Fox na parang ngayon lang sila nakakita ng babae. Eh kung nanonood ka ng CSI MIAMI, linggo-linggo may ganyan... Asus!

Mas okay pa para sa akin yung WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN animated series. Sana kasi magconcentrate na lang sila sa paggawa ng mas magagandang animated series/movies kesa pinipilit nilang pagkitaan ng Hollywood ang mga ganito. As a fan kasi, hindi mo naman maiiwasan na panoorin dahil fan ka nga nya, pero malamang madidisappoint ka lang tapos sasabihin mo sa sarili mong "Hindi naman yan ginawa para sa iyo, para sa mainstream yan."

NEW PROJECT

Tapos na by next week ang project na sinusulatan ko sa 20+, ang Tormenta en El Paraiso. Sad to say, hindi sa akin napunta ang final episode so as usual wala na naman akong kaalam-alam kung papano magtatapos ito. Sigh. More importantly, kinabahan na naman ako na wala akong raket.

Kahapon, tinawagan ako ng contact ko at sa wakas eh may bagong project na. Sana dumami pa! Although I checked this one and it's only 50 episodes [Tormenta was 185], at least sa simula pa lang eh kasali na ako dito kaya marami-rami ang episode na mapupunta sa akin.

And it looks right up my alley, too. May pagka-Scarface meets Punisher War Zone yata itong El Cartel. Excited na akong simulan sya. But not before I finish my last episode of Tormenta. They're both due on tuesday. So walang habas na sulatan na naman ito. But I'm no stranger to that...

There's nothing like a new project that makes me see green [kahit na wala nang berde sa pera ng Pilipinas]... Hindi ko na nga maalala kung ano yung binalak kong bilhin sa kikitain ko dito. Pero siguradong hahabulin ko yung mga Street Fighter toys na nagsilabasan na hindi ko pa nabibili. As far as I know, may bagong line na ang SOTA [kasali si Dhalsim, at E. Honda among others] at yung Revoltech. Sana lang nga meron pa when the time comes...

BAGO KONG PINAPANOOD: GOLGO 13!

The other night, I was waiting for my driver to get redy... pupunta na ako sa dialysis. So pinanood ko ang episode 1 nito na matagal ko nang dinownload...

Matagal ko nang alam ang anime na ito. Nalaro ko ito a long time ago sa Nintendo Famicom nung may parentahan sa Virra Mall.

Balita ko din eh dito binase yung pelikula ni Jean Reno na "Leon: the Professional". But I haven't seen that movie yet. I don't remember if i I bought the original DVD years ago, for myself, or my director. Naku ang ulyanin ko na kasi...

I saw episode 1 and was not disappointed. This guy is way cool. He doesn't talk much pero pulido kung pumatay. Just my kind of guy...

Sayang lang nga at palaktaw-laktaw ang fansubs. Hopefully there isn't a whole lot of continuity in his "missions".

Mapapag-aksayan ng oras ito...

MY CRAZY SHAKEY'S CUSTOM PIZZA

Nung nasa high school pa ako, the very first time I tried this was when my dad took me to the then newly opened SM City [North Edsa]. Back then bihira ako makapunta sa mga ganung kalayong lugar. Kadalasan eh sa Greenhills lang ako nakakapunta.


May Shakey's doon [meron din naman sa Greenhills so ewan ko kung bakit doon sa SM City ko ito sinubukan] and I decided to make a customzed piiza for takeout. Back then, wala pang vegetarian pizza ang Shakey's so I basically just ordered a basic cheese then ordered extra toppings... 2 of each vegetable. I liked how the garlic tasted and having fresh sliced tomatoes and I have gotten hooked ever since.


Later on in high school, hinahanap-hanap ko pa rin ang Shakey's pero at the time, hindi pa rin sila nagdedeliver. Pizza Hut pa lang ang may delivery nung panahon na yun. Pero back then, my half brother and half sister moved in with us, their mother passed away. So the driver would go pick them up at Katipunan [my half sister studied at Maryknoll or Miriam College as it is known now] everyday after my brother and I went home. May Shakey's sa tapat ng Ateneo so lagi ako nagpapabili ng pizza for dinner...


That was when I really went nuts customizing my pizza. Back then affordable pa ang pizza sa Shakey's. Wala pa yatang P200 ang pinakamalaking thin crust pizza nila noon at sobrang dami na ng toppings. Mura pa ang extra toppings noon [about P9 each] so for about P300, I could have a family size pizza with so many toppings. Eto yung nakakalokang combination ko...


Thin crust family [or party size, basta yung pinakamalaki] Manager's Choice, Shakey's Special or Italian Sausage and Mushroom.


extra toppings:

4 x extra garlic
1x extra onion
1x gresh tomato
1x anchovies


Sa sobrang dami nung bawang, talagang iinit yung bibig mo. Pero ang sarap! If you've ever had Mongolian buffet at Mongolian Quick Stop and see the bowl of garlic na pwede kang kumuha ng as many spoonfuls as you want, ganun kadami ang nasa pizza ko.


Those were the days. Syempre sa presyo ngayon, hindi na yan feasible. Katulad ngayon, I ordered a small thin crust vegetarian pizza with 2x extra garlic and 1x beef, halos P300 na. And the amount of toppings on it won't even compare to how much they put back then. Sobrang kaunti na.

KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD

Wala lang, maikli lang ito... just felt like mentioning it...

When Francis M died last friday, something came over me and I wanted to listen to some of his songs. I didn't listen to his songs much nung buhay pa sya, pero parang gusto kong pakinggan ngayon.

Kagabi, laman ng MP3 player ko ang Cold Summer Nights at Kaleidoscope World. Pinakinggan ko nang paulit-ulit habang nakasalang ako sa dialysis.

Ewan ko ba... hindi naman sad song yung KW pero parang nalulungkot ako when I hear it now, ewan ko kung baka dahil naaalala kong wala na sya. I am not really that attached to Francis M pero nalulungkot ako. Kahit nung napanood ko yung coverage ng libing nya kanina, parang ang lungkot nga naman.

Every color... every hue...

RIP: FRANCIS M.

Ang bilis kumalat ng balita.

Pumasok sa room ko ang maid namin at binalita sa akin na namatay na si Francis M. Tanghali ito kanina at nagiiyakan nga daw ang mga kasama nya sa Eat Bulaga. Pati lola ko na laging nanonood ng EB eh naiyak daw.

Last year ko pa alam na may leukemia si Francis M. Nainggit pa nga ako sa kanya kasi ang daming nagdonate ng dugo sa kanya. Nung panahon na yun, nangangailangan din ako ng dugo kasi ang dami ko nang utang na dugo sa blood bank ng The Medical City [coincidentally, doon din sya nagpapagamot] kasi kailangan ko ito because of my kidney failure.

Malungkot for me ang balita na wala na sya. While I am not exactly a big fan of his music, I always respected the guy. And I am not saying that porke sya ang laman ng balita ngayon. He and I share the same name, and people always call me Francis M as a joke, it shows how popular he is. Basta pangalang Francis, sya na ang naiisip ng tao.

One of the things I remember about him is his being a die hard Voltes V fan. Sa multiply account nya, kinunan pa nya ng pictures ang kanyang SOC Voltes V, swerte naman ng laruan nya at isang magaling na photographer si Francis M kaya nakunan ng magagandang pic ang robot na yun.

So kahit it's been said so many times whenever someone has passed away, Francis M is big loss to everyone. So katukayo, pinagluluksa kita.

ONE OF NY FAVORITE JACKIE CHAN MOVIES: SPARTAN X

nadownload ko kahapon itong isang old jacky chan favorite ko... it's called WHEELS ON MEALS... 25 years ago when i was a kid, paulit-ulit naming nirerenta ito sa betamax. it was shown here as DRAGON IN ACTION... some of you may have seen this movie... it stars jackie chan, yuen biao and samo hung, plus lola forner, beauty queen ng spain [leading lady nya rin sa armor of god]. it was shot in spain.

the fight scene here of jacky chan vs benny "the jet" urquidez is considered one of the best fight scenes of all time.



you may remember this movie because of their yellow van [a mitsubishi L300] that transforms into a chinese fast food store and they do a lot of stunts with skateboards.

i found this japanese trailer for the movie...




ang galing talaga gumawa ng mga hapon ng trailer. it makes the movie seem even more action-packed [action packed as it is]... this movie was also a big hit in japan because a videogame for the nintendo family computer named SPARTAN X was based on it... sa states, the title is "KUNG FU" for the nintendo entertainment system. do you guys remember playing this game?



so anyway, kahit na meron na ako nung original VCD nito from astrovision, dinownload ko ang english dub nito sa torrent kahapon. i was so disappointed when i watched it kasi it was redubbed for the DVD. ang pangit ng dubbing and the original soundtrack was removed and replaced with some really boring music. ang laki ng pinagbago!

Anyway, it's his old movies produced in Hongkong na gustung gusto ko... once he went international with movies like First Strike and Mr. Nice Guy, parang iba na e... iba talaga yung mga produced sa HK na halos lahat ng artista eh mga Chinese din.

MY LOLA'S 90TH BIRTHDAY!!!

ANG GANDA NG LOLA KO... 90 YEARS OLD NA SYA BUKAS [FEB 2]

BLOWOUT NG TITA KO: CHINESE MINI-BANQUET FROM CHOY'S GARDEN.

KUMAKAIN ANG CELEBRANT...

BLOWING OF CANDLES WITH HER KIDS & GRANDKIDS... AND YES, THAT'S A YUMMY MANGO ICE CREAM CAKE.

90th birthday na ng lola ko bukas so ngayong sunday na namin ito cinelebrate. As usual family gathering nang matatawag ito, may apat syang anak na dumating at tatlo kaming apo nya na nandito sa bahay so masaya.

Bumili ng Chinese food ang tita ko sa Choy's Garden. This is the chinese restaurant that used to be COUNTRY WAFFLES sa Annapolis, Greenhills. Balita ko eh ex-partner ito ng owner ng Gloria Maris at nagsarili na sya, taking some of the GM chefs with him. We had some fried rice, roast duck, chicken with mushroom, fish fillet, scallops and prawns.

Nagulat ako sa tangkad ng hugis ng kanyang birthday cake. It turned out to be a mango ice cream cake. Ayos!

Dumating din ang tita ko and her daughter who I haven't seen in a long while. They weren't there during her last birthday celebration in Gloria Maris. She's the eldest of her daughters and was the one who raised me for the first 13 years or so of my life. Her daughter grew up in this house mula nung baby pa and they moved out when she was about 4 years old. So kilalang-kilala ko rin sya. She's in college now. Architecture student sa UST. Grabe ang tanda ko na! It was so nice to see them both.

Happy 90th birthday lola, many happy returns.

SEMPAI

The Japanese word for someone who is your senior. It could refer to someone at work who is of higher rank, your mentor, etc.

I've been a VA [voice actor] in the Philippine dubbing industry for over 8 years. My humble beginnings started when I was being trained and taught by my director. Since then, I've had numerous projects and even worked for other studios and other directos. I daresay, I learned most of what I know of the craft today from him.

Sa industriyang ito, laging may bagong sumasali, anxious to get a slice of the pie. madaming VA na magugulat ka na lang ay biglang mga director na. While I respect and admire my coworkers, it's quite obvious that some of them didn't earn it. Being a director doesnt just involve technical directing, but it involes giving the whole thing, even the other people behind it direction.

I've been working in another studio. The director doesn't talk to me as much and I have no real idea what kind of script they want me to write. Mababalitaan mo na lang, after makabigay ka na ng mga tatlo, na ilang linggo mong trinabaho, ay may mali daw at dapat ayusin. Ang kaso, hindi naman sinasabi kung ano ang mali at papano ang gusto nilang ayos.

Nagkaron ako ng long break itong holidays. Nahinto ang dubbing. Sa lunes [jan 5] pa ang deadline ng unang script ko for the year. Halos 3 weeks ko nang hawak ito, pero hirap na hirap akong simulan dahil hindi ko alam kung tama ang ginagawa ko.

Last night, dumalaw sa bahay ko ang long-time director ko. [Saan ka makakakita ng director pa ang pumupunta pa sa bahay mo?] Pagkatapos ng mahaba-habang kwentuhan at palitan ng input sa mga bagay-nagay tungkol sa industry at dubbing, nakwento ko sa kanya ang problema ko sa script.

Without even looking at my script, he started by saying "If you don't mind a little constructive criticism..." and I sure didn't mind. What have I got to lose? He may know how to help me. And in just one minute, he told me what the problem with my script could be and why it was a problem, and I immediately understood what I was doing wrong. It was the most fulfilling talk I have had in a while. Napakaikli ng sinabi, pero ang dami kong natutunan!

When other directors teach me something, the usual feeling I have is I am hesitant to try writing because I am afraid I still don't know what to do, because their explanation usually isn't clear. After my talk with my old director, I felt a rush and the first thing I did was revise my script in one sitting! I didn't even feel the need to rest. Ang sarap ng pakiramdam. Ganadong ganado.

It's what I believe he's got that makes him rare, despite the fact na ang dami nang dubbing director dyan ngayon. Bihira ang magaling magturo. Most just let you watch them at work and all you can do is hope you pick something up on your own. You can really learn from this guy and he isnt against the idea of learning from you, too. And he isn't like others who give themselves big titles and charge for lessons.

Before he left, I told him... "Tignan mo nga naman... 9 years and I'm still learning from you." And I hope with that message, I let him know how grateful I am, grateful that he is my SEMPAI.