Long Weekend

Thank you Ninoy Aquino! Because of your sacrifice more than a decade ago, I, Mike the invincible man, get a reprieve from work today. As corrupt, poor, stagnant and virtually hopeless our country is today, your actions have at least brought a little joy into my life. In order to show my appreciation, I say “Screw You!” to those who say Ninoy was a communist.

Anyhow, this post is about how I spent my long weekend, mainly watching DVDs, so, this post is actually about the DVDs I watched and not about me, but its technically about me because a was the one doing the watching, ‘cause watching DVDs is what I did during the long weekend and since this post is entitled the Long Weekend, it is also about watching DVDs, which is what I did, so this post is also about what i did because I am MOOOOOJOOO JOJO!!!

Err…

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I met some of my batch mates from college in metrowalk for a semi batch reunion sort of thing. We had dinner, a few drinks and we talked about stuff (Lui Agustin got married!! Whoa!!!). I had a blast although marami umalis ng maaga (can franz and avic, dulce and grace). Saka si jme hindi sumipot, inuna ung ADTX bago ung kanyang batch mates (sha pa namn isa sa nagyayaya)… tsk tsk.

Since I got home at around 1:30 in the morning, I woke up at around 1ish in the afternoon. I actually had my weekend planned, i ma marathon ko dapat ung season 1 ng Lost, which I borrowed from my officemate especially for the weekend. Well, I didn’t watch lost, instead I watched a couple of japanovellas (uhm, this word doesn’t sound right, so I’ll just use jap TV shows instead); Densha Otoko (Train Man) and Hana Yori Dango (Boys over flowers).

Densha Otoko

The show, is about an otaku (basically a Japanese male who loves anime, comics, video games and all related merchandise to the EXTREME)/loser who saves a beautiful girl from a drunk guy on a train. He of course falls for the girl but he has no idea whatsoever how to go about wooing said girl, he posts his story on an internet message board where various eccentric individuals help him in his task of improving his image and getting his love interest.



In most underdog love stories, the guy is a regular joe and the girl is a figurative goddess, in this series the guy isn’t even a regular joe, he’s total loser (the girl is still a goddess). Because of that, you can’t help getting behind him (everyone loves the underdog) in his quest to get a girl that is seemingly beyond his reach. This is where the show gets its good moments. But sometimes, the story gets so dragging (there are lot of scenes were they just show the guy talking to various people in the internet), you just want to kick his damn ass.

All in all, the show is okay. I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone though. You should have at least a “little otaku in you” to appreciate it (pero di namn to the point na katulad nung guys depicted sa series, shit creepy sila).

Hana Yori Dango



Hana Yori Dango is based on a Japanese manga with the same name. Its about a poor girl who studies in a school for the extremely rich were she meets 4 guys, two of which she falls in loves with. Sounds familiar? Well it damn should. The manga Hana Yori Dango is also the basis for another show; Meteor Garden (if you haven’t at least heard of this show, you’re probably a hermit or something).



I can’t compare the shows ‘cause I never really got to watch Meteor Garden in full. I actually saw the first few episodes (during one of my summer breaks when it first aired), but I had to stop ‘cause I had summer classes (they showed it early afternoon I think). Then the show got sooooooo huge that even though they moved up the time slot, I didn’t bother watching ‘cause everyone was watching it already (I think I have masa-phobia). But even though I barely saw it, I know its basic story (You can’t help it, its like the Sixth Sense, even though you didn’t see the movie, the news that Bruce Willis was a ghost eventually reaches you), and I can say that its similar to Hana Yori Dango’s (except for the ending).

So which one is better? Uhm… I dunno. But if I had to pick I’d go for Hana Yori Dango, because Makino Tsukushi, the show’s Shan Cai (I don’t know the spelling, sorry kabo), is waaaaaaaayyyyyyy hotter than her meteor garden counterpart. She has the whole Japanese school girl thing going for her.

I recommend this show to fans of Meteor Garden. I’d love to hear their opinions, arguments or rants as to which show is actually superior.

Noir Art, Voyeurism and a Couple of Movies

This is a three part post of three totally unrelated things. You’re probably gonna see a lot more of these types of posts because I rarely get the chance to update my blog.

Noir Art

A few days back, I saw this tutorial on the internet how to transform photos into graphic novel style art, like the ones you’d commonly find in the pages of Sin City. Sooooo… I decided to take a crack at it. Here’s what came out of it;



Can anyone guess where the quote came from? Haha.

Making this type of thing is relatively easy. It can be done in about thirty minutes. Wala kasi mashado work, pag manipulate lng ng layers, levels etc. Sisiw! Haha.

Voyeurism

Right next to the building where I work is a high-end condominium with an outdoor swimming pool. You know what that means right? Oh yeah! Babe watching baby! If you’re gonna tell me that I should be ashamed of myself, don’t bother. The guys from work have been doing it long before I started working there. So, like they say; When in Rome, do what the Romans do. But Ateneans want to do things better than anybody else! That’s why I brought erm… binoculars to work. Mwahahahahaha! (me washing my hands: hey di lng ako ung nagdala. Si Jm din. Hihihi).

Anyhoo, one day, this foreign girl in an uber mini two piece bikini (with leopard pattern design I might add) and some schmoe who I presume is her boyfriend decided to go for a dip. The girl was pretty hot, so I got my binoculars and started uhm appreciating God’s work. Usually when we “observe” all the girl does is swim and/or sun bathe. That day was different. They were in the Jacuzzi-like-thingy and they started getting, shall we say; dirty. The guy had his hands all over the babe (lucky stinking good for nothing rich idiotic piece of bird dropping bastard), literally feeling up her private places. And the girl was into it! Shit! She was like spreading her legs and wiggling her ass in the guy’s face (both while her crotch or her butt was about a foot away from the guy’s noggin’)! And you know what? I think she knew they were being watched! She kept glancing at the direction of our windows. The girl was working it for an audience! The little tease! Work stopped and mouths hung open for about an hour because of that very lewd but extremely entertaining display. The next day, before going into the building, I took a look at the windows. You definitely can see through it, which supports the theory that the girl knew she was being watched and it probably flipped her switch.

I need more powerful binoculars.

A Couple of movies
I saw a couple of movies in the last few days.

The first movie I saw was Miami Vice (with Tay, Kabo, Charles and Tops). It was crap. They had loads of scenes were Collin Farrell and Gong Lee (Hatsumomo from Memoirs of a Geisha) get in on. Good right? Nope. I’d like to classify “getting it on” in the movies into three categories. The first is the raunchy, torrid semi porn type (e.g. Basic Instinct). The second is the tastefully done type (usually for those love stories like the Note Book). Finally the third is the boring type where because of various reasons (I.e. no chemistry, poor characterization, bland camera shots etc.) you go “oh enough already, we get the idea! Pan to a shot of the wind blowing through some curtains or something!”

The second movie I watched was Click (with Xtiane, Jm and IC). The movie was ok. As with almost all of Adam Sandler’s movies (except Spanglish), I loved the soundtrack. 80’s music rulz man!!! The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. Why does Hollywood think that the “Everybody Lives Happily Ever After” is a necessity in feel good romantic comedies like Click? If it didn’t have the Hollywood Ending, the movie would have been better. Oh yeah, Kate Beckinsale was hot! She looks just as good in her Pocahontas outfit for this movie as her in that leather clad outfit in Underworld.

Now for some movie news…

The joker for the sequel for Batman Begins has been cast. The Joker is… Heathe “Brokebacker” Ledger. I think it’s a good choice. Hope the joker isn’t homo though. Haha.

Good news for all of you Sandman fans, Neil Gaiman has confirmed that a movie is going to be made and that he *gasp plans to direct it himself. The only reason I see for fans to be disappointed is that the movie is going to be based on the mini series “Death: The High Cost of Living” and not the actual Sandman graphic novels.

Mike’s 4 Steps in Dealing with Frustration

Step 1: Sarcasm
I ride the MRT going to and coming home from work (dati going to work lang, but since nag resign na si LaC, wala na ako sasabayan every afternoon going home. Sad). Now, If you haven’t tried taking the train at around 7 in the morning or around 5 in the afternoon, you should. ‘Cause your missing a lot boys and girls! What fun it is to abandon all sense of decency to fight your way through the dreaded hordes in order to pack yourselves like sardines inside the train. And the aroma is just divine. Oh yes, the sweet heavenly smell of day old sweat clinging to the bodies of your fellow passengers is like aged wine to the senses. I urge everyone to give it a try.

Step 2: Ranting
To those of you who don’t know, the MRT adapted the system that the LRT1 uses. It reserves a car exclusively for female passengers. I’m cool with that (I’m not sexist). What I find annoying is how some of the female passengers insist on riding on the other cars even though one car is reserved just for them. Now if the other cars were relatively vacant I wouldn’t mind. But there I am trying with all my might to move my body away from some guy’s crotch when some woman tries to squeeze herself into the already packed car even though the car for women has tons of space! What’s with that dammit!? If the girl is with company, say her boyfriend or some friends, I, again, wouldn’t mind her in that part of the train (cause, cheesy as it may be, I don’t think its fair to separate people who don’t wanna be separated). But those loners, what reason do they have for making life difficult for all the passengers? Is that how they get their kicks? Or is it some perverse fetish perhaps? Whatever it is, damn them!!!

Step 3: Funny Anecdote
The train ride to work this morning was horrible as usual. The train was so packed that I thanked God for every station we passed, edging me closer to my stop; Ayala Station a.k.a. Sweet Freedom. When the train reached Ayala, I scrambled my way to the train’s doors (everyone scrambles, either you move fast or you get off on the next station) when somebody grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door, hard! “What the hell is going on?!” I thought to myself. When I got out of the train, I saw that the person who was pulling my hand for dear life was some girl (not a pretty one if your curious). “Uhm…” I said making my presence known. The girl turns around, catches sight of me and says; “Ay…” It dawns on me she grabbed my hand by mistake. The hand she should’ve taken was…

I looked behind me and there he was. An orc in all his glory. He gave me his “hath-garesk-Shuk-bah” (translated from orc: “Insolent-human-I’m-gonna-rip-off-your-penis-and-stuff-it-down-your-throat) look. In response, I wanted to give him my “as-if-I-grabbed-her-hand-she-grabbed-mine-so-get-out-of-my-fuckin’-face-jabronie” look, but since he looked like an orc on steroids, I gave him my “erm-I-have-no-idea-what’s-happening” look. Apparently that was good enough for him. Phew.

Nagulat cguro ung girl when she realized she was holding the hand of a man-god instead of her sorry excuse for an orcfriend. Ahahahahahaha!!!!

Step 4: Song
When the fantasy has ended
And all the children are gone
There’s something good inside me
That helps me to carry on

I ate some bugs, I ate some grass
I used my hand, to wipe my tears
To kiss your mouth, I’d break my vows
No no no no no no way jose
Unless you want to, then we break our vows together

Encarnacion
Encarnacio –oh ho ho on
Encarnación (doobeedee doobeedee)
Encarnacio-oh ho ho on