Movies, DVDs, and Jerry Bruckheimer [Sunday, February 22, 2004]
Pessimistic Procrastination [Thursday, February 19, 2004]
Drunk and Dazed [Sunday, February 15, 2004]
Valentine's Date [Saturday, February 14, 2004]
This Place Sucks [Friday, February 13, 2004]
UP Fair [Wednesday, February 11, 2004]
Strike One of Three [Monday, February 9, 2004]
When Fucking Irony Hit So Hard [Sunday, February 8, 2004]
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie [Saturday, February 7, 2004]
My Sassy Girl [Saturday, February 7, 2004]
Gundam W: Endless Waltz [Thursday, February 5, 2004]
Pre-Oscar Drought [Wednesday, February 4, 2003
Theme of the Week [Tuesday, February 3, 2004]
A New Month Dawns [Sunday, February 1, 2004]
Movies, DVDs, and Jerry Bruckheimer
Look what I got myself the other day.
Pretty cool stuff. Mind you, those are limited edition releases of Se7en and Memento. One thing though, forget about asking how much they cost.
Anyway, it has been quite sometime since I last talked about movies, so here goes.
The following days seem to be quite interesting.
Runaway Jury and Cold Mountain
are showing this week, as well as a limited release for
21 Grams, which is quite nice compared to last week's crap. Then
there are trailers for upcoming movies.
Hellboy seems like a worthy comic book
inspired movie. Never got the chance to read the comic book, but I can say the
world and the characters are quite interesting. Plus,
Selma Blair is in it. Enough said.
Jerry Bruckheimer is back with another "blockbuster"
production hoping to follow the success of Pirates of
the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which was probably the
biggest Jerry Bruckheimer prod ever. Still, memories of
Kangaroo Jack coupled with Bad Boys II
will never go away even with regular brainwashing.
Things are in luck though, the next movie up his sleeve is
King Arthur, which claims to be a factual recollection of a myth.
Regardless of what they say, movies should never be referenced when talking
about history, especially if it came from Hollywood.
Anyway, the movie is directed by hmmm, the one who directed
Training Day. As seen with Pirates, giving a
director Jerry-Bruckheimer-tools produces spectacular effects. No
Johnny Depp this time, but we still have the
lovely Keira Knightley.
Honestly, I don't remember the name of the director because it was not even
mentioned. The trailer just said, "From the director of
Training Day." Unlike "A Jerry Bruckheimer
Production", the name of the director is sadly, not imprinted on your
brain enough compared to the producer. Then again, am not sure about that
either.
Friday gave me the chance to watch Cold Mountain. The heavy Southern accent can lead one off in the beginning, but then it grows on you. With the movie, there is hardly anything bad one can say about it. The movie in general was masterfully created. The storytelling style was right on, one of the parts of the movie which I really loved. The way each scene would span from one character to the other is amusing, almost like a flashback but it is happening at the same time, only at a different place.
As you can see with the picture above, I have received the copies of Se7en (Platinum Series Edition), Memento (Limited Edition) and American History X. It's amusing how I am starting this DVD collection a mediocre DVD player at home, I wouldn't even call it mediocre, as most PCs these days has a DVD drive. I still don't have the benefits of watching it on a decent TV set with complementary audio system.
These copies though are Region 1. This country and most of SE Asia is Region 3. The country am most likely moving to in the future is Region 2. Three different Regions, one collection. I must sincerely look into a multi-region player now.
Setting up the PC for multi-region playback is not much of an issue, simply download a copy of DVD Region-Free and your all set. Sadly, the trial edition is over and I would have to crack it. Aside from downloading that, one can attempt to flash the firmware of the drive, which is what I did. Or should I say, what I think I did. After setting the PC up last night, I discovered one thing, somehow I was able to make PowerDVD read only Region 3 DVDs and all other players (the system itself) would read Region 1 DVDs. This means I do not need DVD Region-Free, though I would have to settle with lousy players. PowerDVD is still the best I have tried so far.
Early home today. This gave me the opportunity to watch one of the DVDs. Picked American History X out of the lot. This is one fine movie which tackles racism, hate and prejudice. I vaguely remember the main point of the film, which is to ask the right question about racial discrimination, have the things you done helped improve your life in any way. Dumb. I really forgot how it went exactly, but it's similar to that. Edward Norton was at his usual best in this one. How I wish I had such a ripped body as he does, skinny but ripped. Edward Furlong narrates bits of the story, his voice sounds too calming though, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Am sure happy that I finally had the chance to watch this film, even though it cost me quite a bit.
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Four day break.
This has got to be the longest span of time I did not bother to blog this year.
Call it procrastination, uninspired, or what have you, but I'd say the bed has been such a tease as of late. After years of living, I finally discovered that sleeping early (in my case, before midnight) does have it's benefits.
In the first place, there is nothing much to tell about anything that has happened in the past days. Nothing special happens at all, heck, I'd even get surprised if I get an SMS in a day.
I guess the most significant incident was the clarification about missing the promotion. It was not 0.08 points after all, it was a freaking 0.01. Fuck. So depressing. It was not the overall score, but just this score in one metric.
I mean, I was that freaking close, and I missed the mark yet again. Akin to the time I was not able to meet the Dean's List because of a grade in only one subject. Sure, the average is still overwhelming, but one subject can ruin it all. And it does not have to be your fault either, but some mistake by the department.
This time around I have no one to blame but myself, I did not even aim for a promotion before this, so what's the fuss all about, right? The thing is, I did not do anything at all to achieve anything, instead letting things fall into place. In the proper places, so it seems. Stupid fucked up pessimistic ideals.
Ah. Fuck. No sense talking about it further on this blog. Surely you would not care, or even if you did, you'd say something like, "You're good and there is always next time." This would happen if you care, but for those who don't, they won't even bother empathizing with you, to think they should now you better.
Yeah, right. I can't even speak straight. Damn twisted tongue. Next assessment would be after March, and now I can safely say it's a pretty long shot even with the lights and auto-aim switched on.
Call it pessimism or whatever you want. This could have been the one thing to start build up my crushed and shattered confidence and what happens, I miss out by a tiny fraction. Those tiny shattered pieces are further pulverized into microscopic bits. Perfect.
At this age, I still have to find my --- given talent. This is clearly not it. Oh, and don't even say it is writing. Compared to anyone else's, this is crap. Visit a few web journals and you'd see what I mean.
Actually, I have so much more to say about talents and all, I might as well dedicate a monologue. It has been ages since I last wrote one of those. I miss talking to myself that way.
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No!
Day-offs have changed once again, back to weekday offs. How sad. How am I gonna watch Cold Mountain this week, since I was expecting to see it come opening day. I wonder what else is opening this week?
Hahaha. Am out of my senses. Am already quite drunk and it's past twelve in the evening. I have to wake up by 3 in the morning, which translates to, boy you need to sleep now.
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The UP Fair last night was a riot. With a line-up composed of bands such as Cheese, Greyhoundz, Kamikazee, and Chicosci among others, you'd expect mayhem lurking around the corner.
The Fair itself was stopped twice. The first was quite early in the night, during Greyhoundz' set, the crowd already restless and weary since they could not get in, as they wanted to have fun but not shell out any money. Somehow, they managed to obliterate the fence closing out the concert grounds from the rest of the field.
After security beat up a couple, the crowd somewhat settled down. Sadly, at this point, bands had already backed out, but the show still went on. Cheese and Chicosci were able to perform with little alarming commotion from the crowd. At the end of Kazee's set, there was this incident involving stabbing which eventually led to the termination of the event.
I went to the Fair expecting more, Typecast was on the line-up and I was looking forward on finally seeing them perform, but still, no such luck. It just had to happen during the only day I actually attended the fair.
Anyway, what little stuff happened and as uneventful as it was, I'd say I had fun, but did not meet the level I had set for being the UP Fair and all.
Atleast it allowed me to get home early, as I still had a date later on in the day.
Being Valentine's Day and all, a couple of single co-workers of mine decided to spend the day together, for lunch and a movie.
I have to say that this has been the most significant V-Day for me since I was born. For the past two years, what would happen is I'd pass out drunk from all the liquor ingested, since the day also happened to be my brother's birthday.
Unfortunately, we had close to no selection of viewable movies at Eastwood. Not wanting another chick flick, we avoided Chasing Liberty and settled for Mona Lisa Smile, a movie I did not intend to watch in the theaters.
This movie does not live up to the previous Julia Roberts films. It does not even come close. Nice but lacking. Am too sleepy to explain why.
Eastwood City Walk now has a record bar, which makes the place real convenient for me. Now I can watch a movie and check out a decent record bar at the same mall, a mall that does not rhyme with sega.
My eyes are real heavy now, and I expect them to be, as I only had close to 3 hours of sleep this morning.
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I mentioned I was supposed to go to the Fair last night, but I did not. My weak frail body just begged for some rest after walking around the mall waiting for something.
Once I got home, I played a few hours of FFX-2 then slept well before midnight. I finally got out of bed after 1 in the afternoon today. Now I understand why my body was begging for sleep.
Now am all refreshed and charged up for the Fair later on tonight. This time I really hope to see yah there.
Browsing through the net a week ago, I stumbled across a website that offers DVDs which are never released here, Parconline. The great thing about it is that you can order almost any DVD there is, as long as it is available of course.
After some clarifications with them, I placed orders for American History X, Memento (Limited Edition), and Se7en, and am also in the waiting list for the Limited Edition of the Fight Club DVD. Patience is a virtue, as I have to wait 1 to 3 weeks before they are delivered. Sure, they may cost more (almost double the price of DVDs sold here), but we have to consider that these are DVDs not released here and never will be released locally. I believe one can also order audio CDs through them.
Pretty cool stuff, to think they started this as a simple hobby, personal DVD collecting.
Surfing at home is such a PAIN. I guess I really got used to the high-speed access over at work. I almost never complained in the past as I had nothing to compare it with. Now, am really troubled by it. Sure, there is such a thing as broadband access, DSL and Cable, but hey, we can't even get cable TV here, much more broadband access. It's really annoying since I could easily pay for broadband access due to work.
Now that's real nice. Cannot even pull up CNN using IE. Simply Pathetic.
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Work. Fuck work. Let's try not to mention any of it right now.
Being a Wednesday, I checked out what movies are new this week. Sure, checking it out at Eastwood Cinemas which only has 4 theaters is not a good idea, since they have to choose which ones would actually make money. Still, it does give you a vague idea of what movies are showing for the week.
When I checked today, I saw Milan and that Mandy Moore movie which I forgot the title of. Well, what should I expect, it's Valentine's Day this coming Saturday, though I do not know what the hell the day is for.
The only things I remember during Valentine's which holds any significance to me is it being my brother's birthday and the fact it falls during UP fair week.
Missed out UP fair last year, which is highly unusual of me. I had plans of going, but I was so freaking drunk I could not get up, and that's after sleeping the whole day. With that in mind, there is no chance am missing out on this year's festivities. Day-offs at work are still on Friday and Saturday, which gives me the freedom of doing whatever I want Thursday and Friday night. Cool.
Hope to see yah there!
Oh there. I just remembered the Mandy Moore movie, it's Chasing Liberty.
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Two chances left. Two chances to redeem myself. If I fail yet again, am leaving, with no looking back.
Only thing that could change that even if I do get struck out, is if something truly extraordinary would happen in my life in that short period of time, and I highly doubt such a thing would even materialize. These are stuff dreams are made of, sadly, they are trapped in that world.
Fuck. The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. I doubt I'd ever get that close again, not with a new statistic rolling in to the equation further making things impossible. Anyway, there are still two quarters left, so let's just wait and see what will happen.
I need a movie, will probably watch an advance screening of Runaway Jury at Robinson's Metro East, in an attempt to see if there is indeed a John-Cusack-standing-in-the-rain scene in this one. Overtime today made me push the idea from today to tomorrow.
Am really thinking of shaving my head. What do you think?
Some sort of punishment for being so damn lazy and stupid. All I did was sit back, not do anything, and wait for things to fall into place. The fact is they were. All I had to do was push a little here and there and I would have scored four lines easily.
Though I remember saying I would have shaved my head if ever I did get promoted, because I really did not believe I was capable of such a feat.
Nah, I was just being my usual pessimistic self at that time. I always say "I'm going to shave my head" if I know there is a minute chance of whatever happening.
Sick idea. Luckily, I have not had the chance to have my hair cut yet.
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When Fucking Irony Hit So Hard
Isn't that simply splendid? Today happens to be the 8th as well. I officially hate the bloody number.
Found out today that I needed 0.08 points in order for that one failing statistic to reach the passing mark which could have then lead to a possible promotion. Zero point zero eight ticks. One of the annoying facts of life, failing by just a few points.
Calls per day. This is the only fucking statistic at work I am genuinely having a problem with. I needed a mark of 2.05 in January to be able to hit the nail right on the head. Too bad I missed and hit my already smashed up thumb yet again.
2 is passing, but I had such a low score back in November that it was neigh impossible for January to make up for it, even though the month marked my highest number, which is 18.
It's something I cannot blame on anyone else but myself, simply for just not doing anything about it. Probably my biggest mistake was not asking questions about promotion during the 5th month assessment back in December. If I had only known promotion was still up for grabs, I would have been more concerned of my stats during the said month.
Imagine failing two statistics in the same month, statistics which are nearly inversely proportional. If you'd fail one, you'd atleast pass the other.
Careless, simply careless. Though I wish I was more careless that month since failing the statistic which needed the most care would still average out as passing in the end.
Regrets. More freaking regrets. This is the story of my life, and once again, I am living by the motto I almost forgot.
"It is not failure that is hard to bare. It is the feeling of being a FAILURE."
Thank you for fucking reminding me.
Ow, and about the fucking irony, today marks the new high in number of calls, at 22, surpassing the previous by 4 points. If I could exchange stats for this day for one day in the previous month. Arrrgggghhh. You'd know what would happen.
Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.
Since I did not want to go home yet, I dropped by Metro East and Sta Lucia. Checked the record bar in Sta Lucia, and my near teary eyes nearly popped out and glimmered at the sight of Thursday's War All The Time. I've been waiting for this album to come to our polluted shores for the longest time now. Finally, I have a copy. Grabbed a copy of Incubus' A Crow Left Of The Murder on the way to the counter.
I then satisfied my shattered ego with a movie, Stuck On You, the latest movie from the Farrely Brothers. This movie is not even comparable to their best work, There's Something About Mary, but still, there is something more than just a comedy for this movie. It's kind of amusing in it's own personal way.
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Wow! Cowboy Bebop is one great series, I bet. I am making this assumption from what I have seen and experienced in the movie itself. Sure, Anime movies tend to be a lot more serious than the series itself, and would just show one story for more than an hour, with little to no character development at all, but I still loved this movie. I am saying this with no idea whatsoever about the series itself.
All I heard about this series are a few words from Nothing Nice to Say and No Pants Tuesday, plus it was mentioned in the recent Animatrix thing. Aside from that, I know nothing about Cowboy Bebop aside from it being a hit in the US.
With the movie, I had my first taste of Cowboy Bebop. Fuck, I don't even know who or what Bebop is. Watching the movie gives you a direct explanation of what cowboy means in the series, but as for Bebop, no freaking idea, aside from it being the name of their ship. Supposed that's all to the question what, but after comes the question why.
I really need to get my hands on the series in it's entirety.
First Saturday of the month today, but I am not at the Admit One gig. A new work week begins tomorrow, and it is really a pain living so far from work and gimmick places. I don't have any problems not sleeping then going to work, but if I have to travel 2 hours to get home, spend 45 minutes washing up and preparing stuff, then another 2 hours to go back to work, forget about it. How I wished I had a place I could go home to which is atleast a little more convenient than this.
Barf! Might as well sleep now, so I'd have enough energy to get through the week. Thank whoever for Multivitamins.
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With nothing much to do and after enjoying myself to enough videogaming, I decided to go over some movies and check which I can see today. Watched My Sassy Girl before dinner and Goodfellas after.
My Sassy Girl is a Korean romantic comedy, one of which I really loved. It is not as cheesy as some love films are, being in the context of what usually happens to real people. The story itself is very amusing and you'd actually feel the sentiments of the characters. The female lead is SO pretty, and to that the way she acts in the movie is so irresistible and cute. This is one of those movies that perfectly combines romance and comedy.
Goodfellas is another film by Martin Scorsese, a mobster film revolving mainly on three characters. It's a nice long movie, and shows the directing prowess of Scorsese. I believe this is the movie that holds the most number of F words in a movie. It wasn't blatant and loud, but if you paid a little attention to it, you would notice. South Park came close, but am not really sure if it had more. One thing is for sure, South Park still has the most F words per minute, plus it's obvious so one would notice it more.
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"As long as humans exist, there will always be war."
Another work week came to an end. If they are all this fast then I'd have no complaints.
Decided to drop by the mall before going home. Craved for a movie and picked The Last Samurai among the lot. I still enjoyed the movie a lot. Am not sure if I was just sleepy when I watched it back on VCD but there seemed to be additional scenes, like the ninja infiltration scene. I guess VCDs can only hold a tad more than 2 hours, The Last Samurai timed out at 2 hours and a half, which is why pirates try to squeeze it onto two cds lowering the cost further instead of creating a three disc copy.
Walked around the mall and bought copies of Gundam W: Endless Waltz and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. I am not really familiar with both of these series, I had school back when Gundam W was being shown on GMA 7, while Cowboy Bebop has yet to be release locally. Anime series which I have heard a lot about.
There are original copies of Cowboy Bebop on DVD, but it costs too much for a series am not really familiar with, so I settled for another bootleg copy. Just a little piece of trivia, one of the Animatrix shorts was created by the same creators of Cowboy Bebop. I'll try and look into it and determine who and which it is exactly.
Tried to look for a copy of Incubus new album, but as everyone knows, Robinson's East has only one teeny-weeny record bar. Did not even bother to ask.
Watched Gundam W: Endless Waltz the moment I got home. I have seen this movie before, but could hardly remember it. Now I want to watch the whole Gundam W series, and this DVD copy of the series I saw in a shop in Shangrila came to mind. Would probably be a good waste of money.
it's amusing how am hoarding over DVDs yet I still don't have a decent DVD player at home, still satisfied with the PC. Have no plans yet on investing on one, not until we get a larger TV set, or have the old one fixed.
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Wow! That was pretty fast. Last work day for the week once again tomorrow. Nice and quick.
Sadly, uneventful, but who cares?!
Wednesday normally means new movies. Unfortunately, there are no good ones for this week. Checked out what's showing at the Eastwood Cinemas, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mona Lisa Smile, Brother Bear and The Last Samurai. If ever am in the mood for a movie, I'd probably just pick The Last Samurai, a movie I have watched on video but have not had a theatrical experience with.
Just so you know, last Saturday, I had the chance to watch Brother Bear. I don't watch Disney cartoons on the big screen unless it is something animated or peculiar like Lilo and Stitch. Brother Bear is for the pure in heart, in other words for the kids and the kids at heart.
This is the boring part of the year, movie viewing wise. It's what people call as the Pre-Oscar Drought. All the good/exciting/blockbuster/hyped-up movies come out after the Oscars, which is during early summer.
Atleast, there are tons of DVD to view. Speaking of DVDs, it's about time to drop by Greenhills again.
Getting home early after work gave me enough time to see one of the DVDs I recently bought before dinner. Goodfellas was at the top of the list, but I did not suffice time for it as I checked how long it would take. Decided to watch Miranda instead, which even gave me some time to read the October issue of FHM (I am that far behind now).
Miranda is a love story, one of which I love. I could say I can relate directly to Frank, the male lead, having the same insecurities and dedication to the one he loves. Since it is a movie, of course, his story ended on a happy note. Well, my story ain't over yet, but still. It is actually a fun experience in some parts, and I absolutely adore Cristina Ricci, her big expressive eyes really burn deep in your soul. The movie is quite quotable too, akin to Fight Club, but in a different way, violence versus cute-near-cheesy-but-romantic lines.
I saw this movie once on the papers a few months back, and was being released here as an art film at Greenbelt. Greenbelt being one of the malls I have least access too made it hard for me to ever get the chance to watch the said movie.
This blog was supposed to be short, as I am really feeling sleepy yet again. Might as well end it now.
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Nope. This is not that month. With just three days gone by, I have already missed a day. See what happens when I plan things? They instantly don't happen.
Spent some time yesterday with college friends. Initial plans were just to have some coffee, which later on evolved into watching a movie, which did not even materialize since we did not make it to the malls in time for a decent screening time. Ended up having dinner at some Thai-Malaysian restaurant at The Podium. I was home by 12 midnight. Yes, I had to wake up by 3 in the morning and now, my body is longing for sleep once again.
Theme of the week for the MP3 player is EMO. The Ataris, Saves the Day and the like. Last week, it was all homegrown stuff. Finally, I was able to delete Spongecola from the player as it has been on there ever since I could remember.
The DVD copy of Kill Bill Volume 1 which I own, is one of those DVDs I have to watch. Sure, I have watched the movie several times already, but have not had the chance yet to watch it using this copy. It's currently going the rounds right now, as it is with one of my friends. Hopefully, I'd get my hands on it next week, and watch it first before lending it to someone else.
Fuck. I simply could not resist. After selecting songs to put in the MP3 player, two are still from Spongecola. Anyway, I was able to download 91 songs on to the player. 30 by Saves the Day and 48 by The Ataris. The remaining number is a selection of recent favorites which would fit in the particular theme.
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Woohoo! 13 days until that day of the year. Haha...What the hell am I talking about? Never did have any special meaning to me except being my brother's birthday and UP Fair of course.
Another month added to the archives. Perfect month in the making? Nah, I doubt it. We are talking about me here. One more thing, February is the shortest month of the year, so it would not really be fair and perfect.
Speaking of UP Fair, I MUST not miss this year's festivities whatever the reason maybe as I already missed it last year. There are 7 days in a week, each having a corresponding event, surely I can attend even one.
Had the chance to work in Makati once again. It has been quite sometime, dating back to our training days. It's weird, but the smell of the office alone is a dead-on give away, add to that how bloody cold the offices there are. It's a one day thing, and we're off to Libis again tomorrow.
Anyway, got informed about the P word over at work, but I don't want to talk much about it since I do not want to expect anything and be terribly disappointed in the future.
This has been the story of my life, if I actually try and do my best in something, I usually end up in utter failure. The exact opposite happens when I sit on my lazy ass waiting for things to happen. Better things have happened that way than the other. Interesting right?
Maybe I should just have a more positive outlook in life. If you'd really sit back and think about it, things are actually getting better. I hope.
Touch wood. Crossed fingers. And reversed underwear.
**Note**
Uploaded pictures from Friday's gig at Shutterfly. Visit and take a peek.
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