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Deja Vu

After the long drought of any watchable movies due to the so-called Metro Manila Film Festival (nothing to be festive about if you ask me), I was really in need for something to watch. The most interesting of the new openings seemed to be Déjà Vu so off I went. I was expecting it to be similar to Man on Fire. But heck it was just for an action fix. Denzel Washington was good (what’s new?), Val Kilmer turned in a good supporting role (his curse since Top Gun), and even James Caviezel got the villain role down pat. But it turned out I was right: The two movies were indeed similar. But they were also quite dissimilar. Better if you watch yourself but I’ll tell you this much: In both movies he dies (oopsie), but in this one he gets the girl. Have fun!

Rating: 4/5

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Mango Cream Pie

My first Mango Cream PieLast sunday, Val taught a bunch of us to bake a mango cream pie. It was my first and as I went about the process I started questioning whether the effort was worth it. The answer came when I cut the first slice and took a bite: An unequivocal YES! I’m so happy with my pie (there are many like it but this one was mine hehe). The crust, the filling, the topping… they were all perfect. Okay so I did forget the vanilla. And there’s a wee bit more sugar than I’d like. But all in all it’s great for a first pie. Heck, it’s even better than some off-the-shelf pies I’ve encountered. Thanks Val!

Below is the recipe.

Crust
1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs
1/8 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300ºF
Combine crumbs, sugar and butter.
Press into pan.
Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes.

Filling
½ cup sugar
¼ cup cornstartch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 tbsp gelatin powder
1 pack all purpose cream

Mix gelatin in 1 cup of milk. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Mix all ingredients except vanilla and all purpose cream together.
Use a double broiler to heat the mixture.
Whisk while heating to avoid burning the milk.
The resulting filling will be lumpy.
Add more gelatin for firmer consistency.
Transfer into another bowl and immerse the bowl in ice bath.
When mixture is cool, use strainer to remove all lumps and whatnot.
After that whip up the all-purpose cream and mix with filling–hahaha!
Add vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Pour the filling into prepared crust

Topping
1 to 2 Mangoes

Slice into strips and put on top.
Refrigerate or Freeze for 3-4 hours before serving.

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2006 December 29 Anilao, Batangas

Went on a day dive trip to Anilao with Billie (as co-driver :D). We took the SLEX then the Star Tollway where I took advantage of the long straights to test velocity constraints. Everything was fine at 100 kph, 120 kph, and 140 kph. But at 160 kph the oil pressure light lit up and I had to ease up on the throttle back to 100 kph. Looks like my GA16 is consuming oil :( After exiting the tollway, I had to add more oil.

We got to Aqua Reef without further event and proceeded to dive. The DM was an in-house DM named Dennis. A Californian guest named Joe also joined us. The first at Sombrero was good. Vis was great and there were tons of fishes. But the second dive was better. It was a drift dive along the Sepok Wall and the current was just right as we drifted along the well, then was a bit stronger at the latter part. We then ascended into the surface and bobbed around 3 foot-high white caps while waiting for the boat to pick us up.

After lunch, we drove back. It became interesting because I missed a turn but decided not to retrace my path choosing instead to rely on my GPS unit. But although I had recorded a track on my GPS unit, for I couldn’t seem to get back on the track. So I started asking around but everyone I ask seem to be directing me farther away from the track. I had to prompt them a bit to find out that the other direction does lead back to the track. After several U-turns and retraces we finally got along a course parallel to the track that I had driven through on a previous trip. After a bit, we merged back into the track and it was smooth going from thereon.

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An Inconvenient Truth

I spent my Christmas Day morning watching An Inconvenient Truth via YouTube. Due to video length limitations, it was divided into 10 segments (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) but it provides a glimpse of the future of TV. But on to the movie. It’s basically a wake-up call on global warming: a fact that a lot of people don’t want to face. It presents exhibit after exhibit of evidence on global warming, what it is, what it is doing, and what part we can play to prevent it. Go watch it. If it doesn’t show in local cinemas (highly probable), then buy a VCD/DVD, use YouTube, or something. Then start using E10, biodiesel, hybrids, and fuel cells as they become available (and affordable) because the biggest contribution we as individuals make to global warming is through the cars we drive.

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Pieces of History: Antique Rifles

IMGP0873I recently snapped some shots of two pieces of history. One of the pieces is a flintlock musket which was supposedly bought long ago from a Manobo hunter in Mindanao. It’s definitely old. Flintlocks were made primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is probably Spanish in origin. But it also has what looks like a Union Jack marking so it could also be from the British, from their colonization of what is now Malaysia or even possibly from during their brief occupation of Manila. The other piece is a Remington 1903A3 Springfield bolt action rifle. It was the standard rifle of American troops from 1903 up to 1936. But was still in use for the sniper role during World War II, the Korean War, and even until the very early stages of the Vietnam War.