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The Prestige

I thought The Prestige was a romance movie. But since I was bored and there was no other movie to see (the only remotely interesting alternative was The Marine), I decided to watch it. It turned out that what I had in mind was The Illusionist. The movie turned out to be quite nice. It’s about two magicians, Borden and Angier, who started out as friends but had a major falling out when Angier’s wife died in a magic trick that went horribly wrong. Angier sought revenge on Borden who he blamed for his wife’s death. As their rivalry on the stage heated up so it did too behind the stage. Their conflict finally culminated in death. But all is not what it seems. The movie, after all, is about magic. Have I spoiled it for you? Not yet. After all, you haven’t seen the prestige ;)

PS One thing I totally disliked is the idiot-proofing at the end. Hollywood movies seem to do be doing it more and more.

Rating: 4/5

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Gerber River Shorty

When it comes to a cutting tool for diving, simple is the operative word. Face it, you won’t be fighting off a hungry great white. Heck, you’re lucky if you see one. More often than not, you will be using it for cutting lines and ropes. So a simple one will do the job. In fact, experienced divers sometimes use a simple kitchen knife. But kitchen knives can’t usually be used for prying.

This is where the Gerber River Shorty comes in. It can do everything a kitchen knife can. Plus the blade is also thick enough to be usable for prying. There is actually a version with a flat tip designed for prying. The blade is sharp and is 50% serrated/50% straight. The spine has ribbing for control with your thumb. The handle is molded plastic with ribbing and cut-outs for grip. It also has a no nonsense solid plastic sheath with a clip for attaching to your flotation vest or belt.

It’s light and small. Unobtrusive but there when you need it. I’ve dived quite a few times with it and it has held up well for a knife originally designed for river rafting. Saltwater can cause some rusting but nothing a good washing and oiling can prevent.

Rating: 4/5

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2006 October 24 Subic, Zambales

Dived for the first time at Subic yesterday. The place is known for wreck dives so naturally we dived wrecks.

First dive was at the San Quentin wreck. It is the wreck of a steam gunboat scuttled by the Spanish to block a channel during the Spanish-American War. Since that was so long ago, there’s nothing much left of the ship except its skeletal structure. But to make up for it, the site offers good biodiversity. I saw three blue spotted rays up close aside from a bunch of other sea creatures.

The second dive was at the El Capitan wreck. It is the wreck of a pretty big freighter. Nothing much is known about when and how it sank. It’s lying on its side and is pretty intact. We penetrated the wreck and checked out a few chambers. It’s not so tight as to cause claustrophobia so it’s good for beginning wreck divers. Visibility however was low and can easily go worse if divers disturb the silt.

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2006 October 21 Tagaytay

Drove to Tagaytay last weekend for a [very] late dinner. My co-driver (feeling WRC hehe), Billie, and I took the SLEX. Traffic was light so we were moving pretty fast and completely missed the Sta. Rosa exit. We took the next exit at Greenfields. From there, the road to Tagaytay was well-paved and had almost zero traffic but it was sooo dark. Once at Tagaytay proper, we again missed the turn we’re supposed to take. We were looking for the landmark McDonald’s but didn’t see it. We ended up somewhere in Nasugbu where we retraced our route, met up with Joel who drove out to meet us at the turn, and followed him to Ninoy’s place.

After a quick dinner we drove back to Makati. We were on a convoy with Tina and Rob in another car. The drive down from Tagaytay was pretty uneventful though we did pass by a road crew extricating a pickup that went off the railing. But that’s their event :D When we got to SLEX, it was pretty much deserted so I honked at the other car as a friendly “see you around”, opened up the throttle, and went ahead. Tina could’ve been the one to go ahead as she was on the mighty B16A and I was only on the GA16DNE but I guess she was being nice :)

The drive made me realize that I need auxiliary lights. It’s a glaring (hehe) deficiency with my current driving equipment as the roads, especially at Greenfield, were really dark.

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E10

E10 is a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline. When I learned that the neighborhood gas station started selling E10, I made it a point to fill-up with it on the next refuel. Aside from directly reducing imports of crude oil, E10 has many other advantages (from Journey To Forever):

  • It is a renewable fuel made from plants
  • It is not a fossil-fuel: manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect
  • It provides high octane at low cost as an alternative to harmful fuel additives
  • Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications
  • Ethanol is biodegradable without harmful effects on the environment
  • It significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions
  • Ethanol’s high oxygen content reduces carbon monoxide levels more than any other oxygenate: by 25-30%, according to the US EPA
  • Ethanol blends dramatically reduce emissions of hydrocarbons, a major contributor to the depletion of the ozone layer
  • High-level ethanol blends reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 20%
  • Ethanol can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100% on a full life-cycle basis
  • High-level ethanol blends can reduce emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 30% or more (VOCs are major sources of ground-level ozone formation)
  • As an octane enhancer, ethanol can cut emissions of cancer-causing benzene and butadiene by more than 50%
  • Sulphur dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are significantly decreased with ethanol.

So what are you waiting for? Fill up with E10 now!