Month: October 2008

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Appaloosa

By on Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Appaloosa is a western along the lines of those maverick hero-for-hire adventures pioneered by Akira Kurosawa (in his case it would be katana-for-hire) and westernized, in both senses of the word, by quite a few filmmakers. The movie follows the story of Virgil Cole (Ed Harris), a traveling lawman-for-hire (nothing new, yeah?) and his sidekick Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) as they ventured into a troubled town, gets hired by the terrified populace, and tracked down the terrorist villain. But not without some twists and turns, of course.

Still, the storyline is not one to follow the roads less traveled but hey, that’s what timeless tales are made of. Remember those? The ones you want to hear over and over from your grandparents at bedtime? The movie is long, almost (but not quite) epic in feel. And that’s already the version horribly butchered by the MTRC and/or the cinemas. And yet, it was able to keep my attention with the right combination of humor, [cheesy] romance, and action, and storytelling.

Word is that there’s already a sequel in the coming. If it’s anything like this one, then they can count on me to be one of the first to watch it (especially if someone gives me a premier ticket).

Rating: 4/5

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Body of Lies

By on Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Middle East or at least things that involve Middle Eastern terrorists is very much in vogue these days. Body of Lies is just one among that long list of movies (Syriana, The Kingdom, Rendition, and the recent Eagle Eye among others) and luckily, it’s among those on the top.

Roger Ferris (Leonardo Di Caprio of that yeech-boat-movie fame) is a CIA field agent who reports to Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), a Machiavellian spy master (is there any other kind?). They are tracking a notorious Middle Eastern terrorist of the Osama Bin Laden shade. Di Caprio is eager, talented, and resourceful but his best laid plans are often messed up by Crowe to dire consequences. And this is the focus of the movie, the human cost of the shadow war on terror.

Rating: 4/5

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New Writer

By on Thursday, October 23, 2008

I haven’t been updating this site as often as I would like. Partly because of work and partly because Michelle and I have been doing so many things. So what’s the solution? Simple, ask her to write together :D So expect new, and more interesting, stuff from her soon. TTFN!

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2008 October 19 Paintball at Global Gutz, Army Adventure Zone, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig

By on Sunday, October 19, 2008

Played paintball at Fort Bonifacio. There are actually two fields in Fort Bonifacio: a skirmish/scenario field at the Army Gym and a speedball field at the Army Adventure Zone. We went to the latter. We were supposed to start playing at 9 but arrived at 9:30, started playing at 12, and ended at 2. I don’t know why we always end up starting late when it comes to paintball. It’s so irritating.

There was supposed to be ten of us but for some reason, the other team got horribly lost or something so there was just five of us. We teamed up two (Ian and Edong) versus three (James, Michelle, and I). Needless to say, numbers carried the day but there was a match or two when they actually won.

After months without playing, I can say paintball is still quite fun. It’s too bad that it’s kind of dying due to the rapid spread of airsoft. Even the owner of the field has caved in and opened an airsoft field. Would have been nice to switch (back) but the problem with airsoft, and one of the reasons I quit, is the honesty, or the general lack of it, of the ever increasing number of so-called airsoft players. This has led to a race in the amount of pellets you can carry and the power of your gun. That plus the emphasis on form over function. Not at all good.

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Philips X-treme Power Headlight Bulbs

By on Saturday, October 18, 2008

After over two years, one my Philips VisionPlus headlight bulbs finally died out. I was very happy with them so I decided to go Philips again, this time the Philips X-treme Power. It’s got the same attributes as the VisionPlus except this one offers not just 50% but 80% more light than stock bulbs. This, again, without requiring new wires and ceramic sockets. Installation was easy as usual and it was bright. I can’t say really say for sure that it’s 80% brighter than stock but it sure is as brighter than the VisionPlus.

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