Favorite TV 2008

Merlin from BBC-1 is my favorite TV series of the year. It's a retelling of the legend of King Arthur (who's still a prince in the series) that focuses on Merlin and his friendship with the once and future king. They are of the same age in this series. Evidences that it's not a big-budget American TV program that looks and feels like a movie  (e.g. Prison Break, 24) show up in sequences that required complex special effects, but the story itself is very engaging and the reason why I was hooked from the first episode. Its Wikipedia page says that it will be shown in the US by NBC for the Spring 2009 TV season. This series, more so than the good but rather inferior of the two, The Legend of the Seeker, could potentially usher in the rebirth of the high fantasy genre to television, which if I remember correctly was last brought about by Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: The Warrior Princess.

The Big Bang Theory from CBS is my favorite comedy series of the year. It's a sitcom about two brilliant physicists room mates (Leonard and Sheldon), their two genius friends (Howard and Rajesh), and their hot neighbor (Penny). The writers kept coming up with very funny, highly rewatchable episodes each week.

Fringe from Fox is my favorite sci-fi TV series of the year. It's about a group of government agents involved in cases that are related to what is collectively called "fringe science". Only the scientists who know real fringe science will not like this new series from J.J. Abrams, creator of Alias and Lost. The rest of us who like science fiction but don't really care whether the science in it is realistic or not will love this show. The special effects in this series are rather good and have a movie-quality feel to them. If only Merlin have the same budget.

Of course I still like and still watches Prison Break, The Amazing Race, House, and How I Met Your Mother. 24 took a hiatus this year, a casualty of the 2007 writers strike. I have a feeling that 24 would have been my favorite of the year had their 2008 season not been cancelled. But then again, tomorrow will already be January and it means the new season of 24 from Fox is just around the corner.

AS/400 is all that

System iNEWS magazine recently published the "Top 10 IT Problems We Don't Have with IBM i". I don't want to paste the whole thing here and I don't want to put the link because it needs a subscription and people who don't know IBM i really shouldn't bother subscribing. So I'll just mention two somewhat-related items on the list.

#2 Unplanned Downtime
#7 Rebooting as a "Solution"

For four years, I worked for a company that ran AS/400 (a.k.a. iSeries a.k.a System i) along side another system, which I won't mention. And it got the reputation of the most "non-problematic" system. I mean the box itself was a dwarf compared to the racks and racks of servers needed to run the other system, and yet it's very stable. And it's not stable because it's rarely used. In fact, it's used 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, and up 24/7. The other system had, in total, more users than the AS/400, but in context, the lone AS/400 (with just one CPU) handled more users per CPU compared to the other system. The only time that I could remember it was taken down was because of a problem with the power supply of the data center where it was located and then for system upgrade. In the same span, the other system was taken down unplanned several times because of, among other things, problem with the database (several times), and problem with something that I didn't entirely understand (it refused to let anyone sign in). Of course all these are just based on observation, as a developer for both systems. Just anecdotes and aren't scientific. I didn't really know the root causes of what happened. The AS/400 just appeared stable. It wasn't even part of the yearly planned downtime (during long Holy Week weekend of the year) per se because for some reason it wasn't needed, though it's still affected because the network itself was taken down for maintenance.

Favorite book 2008

My favorite read of the year is a book first published over three years ago. It's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I reread it last month and say what you want about how JK Rowling writes, all I know is that she writes very engaging books that are hard to put down until you read the last page.

My second favorite read of the year is a book first published in 1990. It's Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. His fiction may not have won awards, but I have yet to read a boring Crichton book. Come to think of it, most of the time, those award-winning books are the boring ones. I'm looking forward to reading his final book, which will be published sometime next year.

***

 And yes, it's Christmas. Merry Christmas!

Day before Christmas

Last year, I didn't go home for Christmas. And since all the people that I know went home for Christmas I was left to fend for myself. But it wasn't really as dramatic as "fend for myself" made it sound. I spent the whole day in SM Cebu. And I discovered that perhaps people make their last-minute shopping two days before Christmas. SM Cebu on December 24, 2007 was the emptiest I found the mall that year. There were still many people, of course, but compared to the usual day it was by far "emptier". There wasn't even a line when I took my lunch in Chowking at around 12:00 noon. At the same time any other day and I would have been at least tenth in line with four lines total.

***

Going home that day I bought season 3 of House so that I had something to be busy with in the hours leading to Christmas and on Christmas day itself because the malls were closed for the holiday. Luckily, the 3rd season had a twist in that House fired all his staff and conducted a reality-tv-like contest to search for his new staff. It was an interesting season and kept the series fresh.

Favorite movie 2008

December is drawing to a close and with it the year. I don't think I'll be seeing another movie in the theaters for the rest of the year, so I think it's safe to pick my favorite among the movies that I have seen in theaters this year. I've seen most big movies for free courtesy of The Company's "movie night" before the budget for community activities were cut: I Am Legend, Vantage Point, Iron Man, Indiana Jones IV, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Twilight. It's easy to see how it's been cut, of course. Notice that all of these movies came out in the first half of 2008 with the exception of the last one, which came out in November. In the second half of 2008 the economic crisis in the US began to loom upon us like the heavy dark clouds before a storm. If the budget wasn't cut I would have seen 12 movies (one for each month) for free by now and I would have seen my favorite movie of 2008 for free. As it was, I had to pay for it to see it and seen it with only two co-workers instead of 99.

WALL-E. I have no doubt that this would have been picked had there been a "movie night" for August. I like "nice" sci-fi movies. By nice I mean something that isn't highly stylized (e.g. making the whole thing grayscale, or the opposite making it burst with too bright colors) and something that doesn't strive to be something more than what it can actually deliver. WALL-E was the "nicest" scifi movie that I've seen this year. It's a Pixar animated flick and, like its predecessors, it's worth the ticket price to see it in theaters. If WALL-E wasn't shown this year, The Dark Knight would have been my top favorite movie. And there's also no doubt in my mind that it would have been picked for July if the movie night budget wasn't cut.

***

I have seen only 3 Filipino movies in theaters this year: Ploning, For the First Time, and I.T.A.L.Y.. And among them, only Ploning was worth the ticket price. Even the co-workers that "forced" me to watch FTFT and ITALY with them weren't happy with these movies.

***

Tropic Thunder was the funniest movie that I've seen in theaters this year. It was funny in a silly kind of way. And we paid only 90 pesos for each ticket because we saw this in SM instead of the usual Ayala Center.

The funniest one in the most-fun kind of way had got to be Bolt from Disney. We had plenty of laughter and the story wasn't bad either.

***

Next year, I'm looking forward to watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Break and rebuild

Smooth, smooth, slow, smooth, smooth, slow, slow, smooth.

That's the flow of traffic from our home to downtown Cagayan de Oro. Or at least that's the flow during rush hours. The last time I was here, third week of November, they were not yet there. And yet here they are just weeks later. Roads. Underconstruction. What's interesting is that I didn't notice any problem with the roads they are reconstructing now. But then again I'm just a commuter so what do I know about roads and such? But why December? It's the month when most Kagay-anons working and studying outside the city comes back home for the Christmas break. Perhaps to give us the illusion of progress? Or maybe to treat our eyes to something different than we were last here? So that we may go ahead and nod our heads and think, "Ahh... Something's changed." Whatever the reason, these roads will certainly be smoother after they are done, I hope.

***

It's the fifth day of my long vacation and Christmas is a mere four sleeps away, and I still haven't started reading any of the books that I planned to read for this long vacation. Somehow I found places to go to and things to do besides reading books. I'm still determined to finish them before I go back to Cebu, but even if I won't finish them I'd still be able to read them the next time I return. But hey, it's a long vacation, and really this is just the fifth day. There'll be plenty of idle times ahead and when they do come I'll be ready, book in hand, pillow on my back, and nothing around me but the cool, drowsy silence of our village in idle times.

Aside from books

My former college classmate, let's just call him RonMyks for privacy reasons, reportedly took a day off work so that he could finish his Gossip Girl season one marathon. The series must be that good. Besides, I've read good things about the series before. So last Thursday after checking out what changed and what did not change around the city, I bought the season one DVD. I watched the first three episodes last night and I thought it was written well. Can't wait to watch the rest of the season.

***

I also bought The Unit season one and watched the first two episodes yesterday afternoon. Well, it wasn't bad. But I thought it wanted to be something more than what its budget was capable of and its writers were capable of writing.

***

The acoustic guitar that my parents bought me when I was 14 for my high school music class is still alive. I thought it was given away a long time ago. I never really got the hang of learning guitar back in high school. But maybe in this long vacation, when I don't want to read books or watch DVDs anymore, I could take time to learn how to play the guitar again.

Packed and ready to go

I just finished packing the stuff that I will take home to Cagayan de Oro. Majority of them are actually books that I won't be taking back to Cebu. My luggage will be about 60% lighter in my return trip. Once home, I plan to take advantage of the Christmas sales to buy a new pair of sneakers that I'll also leave home in Cagayan de Oro. I'll be taking steps that will help me travel light in my future trips home.

Keeping busy while on vacation for a month

Among other things in this abnormally long Christmas break I plan to read the following books:


Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope by Jenna Bush

I got this one during our batchmates (Rocky's Batch) Christmas party. It's a story about someone infected with HIV at birth. A "wrenching story" according to a review I found in Amazon.com. There's nothing I love more than a wrenching story to read in between fantasy books.


The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

And speaking of fantasy books, this is one of them. It's about a boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts. Holly Black (co-creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles) promised that I would "love it to death". Ahh, there's no better book to read than the one that I should love till the end.

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner

Just as the title says, it's about the history of the CIA. Almost a year ago, I read a review saying that this is a very interesting book about the agency. I found the hardcover edition while in Manila last February, but the book was very thick, and heavy, and expensive that I thought I'd wait for the paperback and hoped that National Bookstore (in Cebu) would carry the title. The paperback edition came. But apparently not in Cebu (NBS and Powerbooks). Thank God for Fully Booked (recently opened in Ayala Center Cebu).

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

This is a story about someone "born with the world's greatest power--- the power to create." This power made him a target. According to Kirkus Reviews, it will leave readers "breathless". Ahh, yes, a book that would take my breath away. This should be a perfect companion to Gaiman's book that, if I were to believe Holly Black, I should love to the death.

Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine

According to the publisher, it's for "ages 8 up", so I'm definitely one of the intended audience. It's written by somebody who actually wrote novels, so I just can't resist buying it. You see, I still have this dream of writing a novel someday, a dream getting tinier each day, but still alive, nonetheless. Gail wrote Ella Enchanted, which according to Orson Scott Card was in many ways superior to the movie version.

The irony

The irony. When I'm in a project, sometimes I get very busy that it's very tiring and I long for the days that I'll be in bench again. But when I'm in bench for a long time, it's boring and I long for the days when I'll be in project again. They say I should enjoy the time I have in bench. Well, I enjoyed it, of course, but I can only enjoy it for so long until it becomes too boring. I feel like rust is starting to form in my brain. On top of that, we were "encouraged" to take a very long leave of absence, effectively about a month's worth of absence starting Monday, December 15. Paid, yeah, but I want to save some VL credits for the Holy Week next year. But hey, the Holy Week will still be a very long weekend no matter what. There, the silver lining in this irony of a life in an outsourcing firm.

***

The Day the Earth Stood Still. In the words of one of my co-workers that watched the movie with me, "Mao ra to?" ("Is that all?")

***

Bolt. We enjoyed this movie a lot. With the merging of Disney and Pixar, Disney's back with producing quality films. The last time I enjoyed a Disney animated movie was when they released Mulan. And that's a long time ago.

Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park

It was after my first week in my freshman year in high school. For five days I had gone to the city by myself to attend school. I lived some 16 kilometers away from the city and for the most part I was confined to our barangay (village) since I had been attending a local school. But high school was different. I got a scholarship from a school downtown. A few classmates from elementary school and I decided we should celebrate our first week of going to school in the city by watching a movie. So we went to the city, to Lim Ket Kai center, which was new back then, to see a movie. We went to see Jurassic Park.

We enjoyed it a lot. Residing as I did that far from the city, with parents who were never into movies, I rarely went to the cinemas. Jurassic Park was the first movie with awesome special effects I saw in a theater. I was blown away by the special effects. It was as though dinosaurs, extinct for millions of years, were back and roamed along side humans. Afterward, we agreed to watch it again.

It was only later that I learned it was based on a novel by Michael Crichton. I borrowed a book, "Congo", from a classmate in second year high school, and though published much earlier, the recently released paper back listed "Jurassic Park" as one of Crichton's novels. I've put off reading the book for a while. I went on to read the author's "Airframe", "Timeline", "Andromeda Strain", and most recently "Next". And then weeks ago, came the news that Michael Crichton died. I thought it's time to read "Jurassic Park". And so I looked for my copy, which started to gather dusts, and started reading.

It was good as always. I've yet to read a Crichton novel that bored me. I don't want to say that the book is better than the movie. I'd say that it was as enjoyable as the movie was. The book certainly digged deeper into the characters as only a book could do, but just the same I wouldn't prefer it over the movie that I enjoyed so much, that my friends and I enjoyed so much one Saturday afternoon, after our first five days of going to the city by ourselves.