April 23, 2008
Ayala Center Cinema 1
7:30 PM
Attendance: 95% of capacity
Story:
Jason is a kung fu obsessed teenager. He frequented what looked like a very weird video shop ran by an odd old man. He found a staff that turned out to be magical and was once owned by the Monkey King. Jason turned out to be "the one" who'll free the Monkey King from a Jade lord curse. To do that, though, he apparently had to travel back in time or to use the movie's term, "go through the gate of no gate" (what the heck?) to when Jackie Chan wore a hideous wig (I hope it's not his real hair) playing the "drunken master" (which I have to say he couldn't do as well as he once did years ago) and Jet Li was, well, Jet Li. Trained by these two masters, the evil Jade simply had no chance. There's this girl they threw into the story at a fight scene in a tea house who obviously was just thrown there so that the movie will have a female character (which otherwise doesn't add to the story). Jason fell in love with this girl later, or at least the writer tried to fool us that he did. This subplot has got to be the most underdeveloped love subplot in the history of impossible movie love affairs. This female character was simply just the token love-interest-of-the-hero role. The writer tried to flesh her character out by having her tell the story of how the evil Jade lord killed her father and burned down their village. But the way she told it and the way the "flashback" was presented on screen, I just didn't care. In the end her character was insignificant. Negligible. And sure enough she was killed later in the movie. And I shed not a single drop of tear. Even the circumstances upon which she died was a token kill-the-love-interest-of-the-hero act. In the end Jet Li trainor of Jason turned out to be a strand of hair of the Monkey King (which he used to clone himself) and drunken master Jackie Chan turned out to be odd old man from the odd old videoshop. The token love-interest girl reappeared in her 21st century hot girl glory seconds away from when the end credits scrolled up. And Jason smiled a knowing smile.
Thoughts:
The way I described the story above should be enough for anyone to gauage how I feel about this movie. What an utter waste of 140 pesos. Several of us from the office decided we should watch a movie. A mini poll was conducted. This movie won. It might look like I spoiled the movie by telling what happened in the end, but in reality I'm saving you (all four of you who read my blog) from accidentally spending your hard-earned cash on this movie.
Would I see it again? Would I recommend it to my friends? If you have to ask, you'll never know.
***
Actually, if I forget about the 140 pesos I paid for the ticket for a moment, I believe the very simplistic love connection presented in the movie between Jason and the token heroe's-love-interest can happen in real life. When both of you are eight. At that age, there's a big chance that your crush also has a crush on you. And you go on having a crush at each other, spending a lot of time together, writing each other notes, until such time that the two of you graduates from elementary school and had to go each other's separate ways because you are going to an all-boys high school and she an all-girls one.
I don't know. Just my opinion.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
New banner
I thought it would be nice to have a banner for my blog, so I created one. The picture in the banner was that of the lake at Del Monte Golf Course. It's probably the tee #11 or #12 for senior golfers. I don't know. I forgot. But I love this part of the course. The tee was in a little island in the lake. I like that it had a bench at the end of the bridge that connected the little island to the rest of the golf course. Spread around the golf course were the company houses provided for Bugo and Plantation-assigned DM executives. How nice it would be at the end of each day to sit in that bench, relax, think, and blog.
***
And of course, whenever I think of the DM Golf Course, I remember her. And yeah, I wouldn't admit it before, but they were right, I went there just to see her, at least at first. But if I really think about if, if I can be objective about it, more than half the time (probably even two-thirds) I went there, I never saw her. So in the end I'd like to think that this proved that I went there because of the golf course more than anything else. One time I went there with just two hours of sleep (went home at 2:00 AM from a Saturday night out with friends, slept, and then woke up at 4:00 AM to get ready). I remember I was very sleepy in the ride going to the course, and sleepy while eating breakfast at the clubhouse. But as we started and I got to see the view of the course, breathed the fresh air, smelled the freshly-cut grass and the pleasant smell of pine trees, I was energized. The whole course was more than 6 km of walk, but I forgot that just minutes before I was tired and lacked sleep. There's something about walking that golf course that I love. It's the reflections about my life that I got while walking the scenic route. It's the reason why I now call this blog "Walk With Carl". This blog, like the walk, gives me a venue to think about my life and where it's headed. Now it's not literal where I write my goals in life here in this blog, rather this blog has been a tool for me to reflect on where I came from (my history, at least that which I chose to write about) and gives me an insight or hint at where I am headed.
***
And yes, the Moalboal trip last weekend. And the customary birthday post (which I conveniently forgot to write). More on these later.
***
And of course, whenever I think of the DM Golf Course, I remember her. And yeah, I wouldn't admit it before, but they were right, I went there just to see her, at least at first. But if I really think about if, if I can be objective about it, more than half the time (probably even two-thirds) I went there, I never saw her. So in the end I'd like to think that this proved that I went there because of the golf course more than anything else. One time I went there with just two hours of sleep (went home at 2:00 AM from a Saturday night out with friends, slept, and then woke up at 4:00 AM to get ready). I remember I was very sleepy in the ride going to the course, and sleepy while eating breakfast at the clubhouse. But as we started and I got to see the view of the course, breathed the fresh air, smelled the freshly-cut grass and the pleasant smell of pine trees, I was energized. The whole course was more than 6 km of walk, but I forgot that just minutes before I was tired and lacked sleep. There's something about walking that golf course that I love. It's the reflections about my life that I got while walking the scenic route. It's the reason why I now call this blog "Walk With Carl". This blog, like the walk, gives me a venue to think about my life and where it's headed. Now it's not literal where I write my goals in life here in this blog, rather this blog has been a tool for me to reflect on where I came from (my history, at least that which I chose to write about) and gives me an insight or hint at where I am headed.
***
And yes, the Moalboal trip last weekend. And the customary birthday post (which I conveniently forgot to write). More on these later.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Moalboal
I have been talking to an officemate through instant messenger about our plans to go to Moalboal (which I assume is a scenic beach/dive resort to the south of Cebu City) tomorrow. The original plan was for an overnight stay, but due to the resort being fully booked, it was decided that it will just be a whole day affair instead. It's fine by me, considering that the alternative was to stay overnight, sleeping on the beach using a sleeping mat. It would have been cool actually if I think about it but only so long as it wouldn't rain. If it rains, it'd be uncool and very cold night of non-sleep. So it'll just be a whole-day affair.
Now this Monday will be a public holiday so I guess I have an extra free day to buy a Rubik's cube and learn how to solve it.
***
I've just upgraded to Vista SP1. The total download was just around 67 MB (I guess because I've installed all updates from Windows Update just last month so my PC needed only a few updates to be officially called "SP1") and overall the whole activity probably took around an hour and a half to finish. I'm happy that I didn't experience any of those horror stories regarding installing SP1, though I guess it's still too early to tell if the installation went well.
I'm sticking with Vista for now because it came pre-installed with my PC. All other OS that I'd like to try will have to be installed in VMWare Server that I've already downloaded but have not yet installed. Interesting because in my previous PC, it took just about 5 days after buying it before I made it into a dual boot (the other OS being Mandrake Linux). Of course I was still in college then and I had plenty of free time to install and reinstall different operating systems. And it came with just Windows 98. And I wasn't "online" then so a downtime due to OS mishaps doesn't mean much. Now, I just want to check my Gmail everyday.
People say that Vista is slower than XP. And I get them. My previous PC, at the time that my parents bought it for me, just barely met the minimum requirements to run Windows XP. But when I finally installed XP (a release candidate, not the final release) I immediately notice the improved performance. It was noticeably faster than Windows 98.
This time around, my PC is not top-of-the-line, but I'm certain that with this specs, XP will fly like the wind if it was the one preinstalled. But I'm sticking with Vista for now. It came preinstalled with my PC and I'm sure a significant portion of the price I paid for it was for the OS. So I'm enjoying the privilege of "Genuine" Windows, whatever that means.
***
Update: The trip to Moalboal will be an overnight stay after all. I just hope it wouldn't rain.
Now this Monday will be a public holiday so I guess I have an extra free day to buy a Rubik's cube and learn how to solve it.
***
I've just upgraded to Vista SP1. The total download was just around 67 MB (I guess because I've installed all updates from Windows Update just last month so my PC needed only a few updates to be officially called "SP1") and overall the whole activity probably took around an hour and a half to finish. I'm happy that I didn't experience any of those horror stories regarding installing SP1, though I guess it's still too early to tell if the installation went well.
I'm sticking with Vista for now because it came pre-installed with my PC. All other OS that I'd like to try will have to be installed in VMWare Server that I've already downloaded but have not yet installed. Interesting because in my previous PC, it took just about 5 days after buying it before I made it into a dual boot (the other OS being Mandrake Linux). Of course I was still in college then and I had plenty of free time to install and reinstall different operating systems. And it came with just Windows 98. And I wasn't "online" then so a downtime due to OS mishaps doesn't mean much. Now, I just want to check my Gmail everyday.
People say that Vista is slower than XP. And I get them. My previous PC, at the time that my parents bought it for me, just barely met the minimum requirements to run Windows XP. But when I finally installed XP (a release candidate, not the final release) I immediately notice the improved performance. It was noticeably faster than Windows 98.
This time around, my PC is not top-of-the-line, but I'm certain that with this specs, XP will fly like the wind if it was the one preinstalled. But I'm sticking with Vista for now. It came preinstalled with my PC and I'm sure a significant portion of the price I paid for it was for the OS. So I'm enjoying the privilege of "Genuine" Windows, whatever that means.
***
Update: The trip to Moalboal will be an overnight stay after all. I just hope it wouldn't rain.
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