wiileecoolstuff

Praise the Lord!

2012-02-10T10:23:00.002-10:00

Just feel like saying it. No matter how up and down I go, I know he is trying with his angels to lift me up. My love fails but his doesn't. I thank the Lord that he has managed to plug the holes in my life and made me a stronger person. I love him and I can't wait to enter the kingdom of Heaven and sing praises and dance for him. Laborers are a few so I better keep moving and help him establish his goals! Hallelujah!

My Transformers classics page!

2011-11-23T21:39:00.000-10:00

Just for kicks.

https://picasaweb.google.com/101893291391798205172

Some updates and bored edition 100th edition

2011-09-29T14:31:00.004-10:00

School is alright though I messed up my chance to get an A for the 1st exam on Chemistry. Hopefully, I got a B at least. I think my other classes, I'm doing okay. I am totally overloaded with Science courses. I got to get back more into prayer with the Lord. Maybe school is not for me overall.

Okay, so the Avengers movie is coming out soon and I have pretty much watch Thor over dozen times. Love the music and the story is not bad. I am going to rate and critique the movies that pre-date the Avengers; namely The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron-Man 1 and 2, Thor, and Captain America.

The Incredible Hulk ( 2008) : Much better than John Woo's 2003 adaptation imo. Still, the movie lacks when it comes to story, but I think this is what we wanted to see: Hulk Smash! Sad that Edward Norton will no longer play the Hulk in the team-up flick, but hopefully, Mark Ruffalo will do a better job. 7/10

Iron Man: Good adaption though I would had wanted to see the Mandarin. I felt that the villain in this movie was un-interesting. So un-interesting that I have no idea what he was called again except Tony Stark's uncle. The origin is one of the best since Spider-man (2002). 9/10

Iron Man 2: This film somewhat suffers the Spider-man 3 syndrome where there seems to be multiple story and character arcs that are spliced into one film. Its okay but no where near as enticing as the first. This film also features a badly ruined Black Widow where she almost does not resemble her comic-book counterpart. No Russian accent (yes, this is part of her defining personalities, sue me!), no real spy skills, and just no ambiguity. And the sad fact is that she is part of the Avengers in the next film. Hopefully, they make her more interesting the next time around. 6/10

Thor : Hmm... Yes features a *sarcasm* All seeing eye Odin *ends sarcasm*. Anyways, Good flick. Love the soundtrack, the characters were good... the non-human characters that is. Wish the whole thing just happened in Asgard instead of making up a phony story about Thor being human and learning to grow up. Still, the film was done great and after seeing the Avengers series (2010), what on earth did they do the Jotuns? They are so puny in this film and beings that are in serious need of a steak or two. Maybe that's how bad they are suffering. Anyways, Thor is a delight to watch and the action could be better but overall its a good film. Oh, look for the costume-less Hawk-eye cameo when Thor tries to retrieve his hammer somewhere in the middle of the film. 8.5/10.

Captain America: The First Avenger : Ah.... Good for what it is. Great to see Chris Evans playing a mature version of himself rather than some goofball in most of his films. Wait! Was that really Chris Evans playing Steve Rogers? Wow, I'm really amazed. Not bad though his origin isn't that interesting, but the Captain is portrayed really well here. Next up, Avengers! 8/10.

Antman and Wasp: Yeah, you wish this happened. Sadly, Antman who is one of the founding members will not be in the upcoming film nor will his wife Janet aka Wasp be in it. Yeah, don't know why they did this. Well, same goes for Black Panther. I guess Black Widow just took all their spots. They needed a female in the team so that's why they put her in there, but seriously Wasp would had been more interesting, but maybe someday.

That's it for now. The films did a fairly good job in shaping the characters and hopefully, Avengers won't tank since the Mandarin is still not the villain but Loki again. Rest well folks and Jesus saves!

About to start school and maybe some other rant.

2011-08-20T17:18:00.003-10:00

First off, I'm about to start school so I hope I get something out of it. If school is not for me, I pray that the Lord can help get a decent paying job. I was re-watching some of the old Final Destination films, and yes, though they maybe innovative and gruesomely titillating, one can only hope that death isn't the end for you.

I understand the FD films are only movies and "death" can't be cheated. Where I am from, once you believe in God or you let God take control, there is no such thing as death. These Hollywood films tend to neglect the presence of God, so death, which is actually Satan in disguise, is able to collect his souls. None of these people in the films try to ask God for help. The closest we get is a character name George, in the 4th FD film, asking God to end his life. Ironically, he doesn't get it until his time come. Had he asked for life, Jesus would had given it to him and death would been out of reach. If you want to guess for those who haven't seen it, the characters in these films try to rely on themselves or they look at witchcraft for answers. That is like asking Satan for help. In return he wants your soul, right? You are trapped regardless.

Then again, this is Hollywood promoting their occult and witchcraft. If people don't see it by now, everything leads to death! Even satanic hollywood doesn't deny this. If Christians do appear on screen, we see the ones that do harm, but we never get to see the good and tolerant ones because once again, Hollywood does not want you to know about God's loving grace and forgiveness. Anyways, I ain't perfect, but I strive to better myself to work wonders for the lord. And I hope I didn't come out too strong as nobody seems to like the word "better." Well, there you go, a rant I promised.

Praise Jesus!

2011-06-17T20:22:00.003-10:00

God showed me the light! That person is not my problem anymore. I could give a rats butt about what he thinks of me now or if he forgives me or not. I was immature then but after trying to apologize with him I realized I was more mature and he wasn't. If you are reading this, nobody resorts to finger pointing in an argument. And to make matters worse telling me things that is pretty much about you! Grow Up! I apologized and you criticized, sounds like I am the better man. Like an old friend of mine used to say to his opponent, "I declare victory!"

School

2011-05-30T17:50:00.001-10:00

Yay! I am back in school momentarily, and surprisingly, i met an old classmate. Though he has a business degree, he is changing careers and contemplating Nursing or Dental. And I thought 29 was being too old to go back to school. Not sure what I wanna do, maybe going to the mainland to live for a few years wouldn't be bad. Take care folks and Jesus loves you.

Terence

Praise Jesus!

2011-04-26T20:33:00.001-10:00

Yes, I admit that I like G1 Transformers, but I am even a bigger lover of Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ, what more can I say! Hallelujah! Praise be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!

Mom I'm All Right: Confessions of a Former Stripper

2011-04-06T15:34:00.004-10:00

*image is copyrighted to its respected owner. I am only using the image for informational purposes only.*

Its a long story. Some of you are probably wondering why I am reading this especially I am dedicating my life to Jesus Christ. Well, first off, I'm sorry if I offended both the lord or anyone for that matter. I bought the book because I like to read stories about how and why people who did pornography, drugs, or violent acts turned their lives around. Also, I used to have a porn addiction and had an attraction to Monica Mendez, who is the heroine (in a sense) and author of the book. I was actually amazed that she published a book on her former life. I had to get it especially it was only $7 with the shipping.

Pros: The great things about this book is that she hides nothing about her stripper life. She lived a somewhat difficult life in L.A. because, well, L.A. is expensive and she needed extra cash aside from her waitress job. She was fatherless at an early age so she credits her mother as her hero and aspiration, though she did feel like she let her mother down by taking a job as a stripper. She met and lost friends along the way and pretty much struggled like everybody else in this world, which ranged from drugs (she didn't care for this much, thank God), booze, broken heart from a relationship or friendships. Trying to survive is the best expression to put it.

Cons: Back then I had seen Monica's pictorials and videos on the internet so I thought she would elaborate more on this, but the book focuses majority on her stripper life in the strip club. She mentioned that she wasn't chosen as a playboy model and she mentions a little about internet modeling gigs she performed. Once again the focus of her book was her stripper life in the strip club. Probably the biggest drawback about this book is that it is 77 pages long. Wish it could had been longer and probably explained a little more on her pre and post stripper life. The book is written more on a casual reference so there is profanity here and there as a warning for those who don't like vulgar language.

Overall: Good book on her former life. She left it and is now pursuing photography. I don't doubt her intelligence nor her beauty, and besides her mom, I pray that she finds Jesus for future comfort and guidance.

What may seem right may not always be right.

2011-01-28T22:50:00.004-10:00

Dark day indeed. Satan may win battles but he will never win the war with God. My brothers and sisters, it is never over till it is over. You may not see it now but you will eventually and hopefully it will steer you into the righteous path. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior today?

A word about the Transformers movies

2011-01-20T21:54:00.004-10:00

Bayformers are a travesty to the Transformers legacy. Both the first and the 2nd suck! The robot designs are uglier than G1 and the humans?!? WTF! The humans are more powerful than the Transformers! Terrible, really terrible. Dark of the moon? I highly doubt it will save the movie franchise. I hope they reboot the movies and make it closer to G1.

Quote of the month

2011-01-18T23:08:00.001-10:00

Extinction to all traitors!

Trapped at Pearl Harbor: Escape from Battleship Oklahoma.

2011-01-13T21:00:00.010-10:00

*Image and book is copyrighted to its respectful owner. I am merely using the photo for informational purposes only.*

Stephen Bower Young, a survivor of the USS Oklahoma recounts both his trapped experience with other trapped sailors told in a historical narrative format. Stephen Bower-Young and his comrades were in charge of manning turret 4. What gives the readers insight about this book is it gives us the "feel" of what it was like to be trapped in the sunken hull for nearly 3 days. The story reflects on his personal outgoings prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the moment the ship overturned, and the struggle to escape the Oklahoma. This was the story of the men of turret 4.

The Story: The story starts off like any other Pearl Harbor survivor account, the day before the bombing and how every man's leisure time is spent in paradise. When that fateful day came, paradise went up in smokes. The Japanese started to continuously torpedo the Oklahoma's port side. Ensign Rommel ordered every sailor to hide below decks and man their stations, a decision that would eventually cost the lives of majority of the Oklahoma crew. Mr. Young and his fellow comrades thought that the ship would be unsinkable but fear turned into total paranoia as the ship started to list. Rommel would continue to command every men to stay below decks otherwise he would shoot them. When the ship started to list badly, Rommel finally gave orders to abandon ship. The command was only heard by a few. Those who did hear frantically tried to jump off the listing ship whilst avoiding strafing from the enemy. The Japanese successfully strafed a few good men. History has it that the Oklahoma sanked within 10-20 mins of the bombing. Mr. Young and his fellow seaman's re-telling of the story made the event seemed like eternity. It was the hellish 10-20 mins of their lives.

As the ship started to turn over, some men including Mr. Youngs friends were crushed to death by heavy debris and objects. Mr. Young and his friends were tossed around like rag dolls amid the capsizing. Survivors who escaped the ship would hear men trapped in the ship crying for help until the water drowned their screams. Ensign Rommel would forever be haunted by his decision to leave his men behind. Mr. Young and his fellow trapped men searched desperately for ways out while conserving battery lights in the darkened insides of the ship. Young would encounter a twenty-nine year old Frank Wood who chose to not escape because he kept claiming "I lived my life." Frank Wood towards the end of the book was listed as a casualty of Dec 7. 1941.

While awaiting rescue, Young would often think about his life and his dates with a beautiful island girl while surrounded by the putrid stench of oil covered in the water and every mans uniform. Young would also linger thoughts about how Hawaii was a ethnic melting pot while others thought that they would never "get laid" again. It was also this time a body floated by and the weak men pushed it aside to avoid thinking of death. The story and bravery of the 3 men who swam out to shore were told here as well. Rather than waiting for death, 3 men swam out individually to seek a way out for them and their comrades. As the 3 men made their way out, they witnessed the devastation of the Pearl Harbor channel, something they wish they never had to see. However, there was no time for grief as divers were given orders to rescue Young and the others.

The water started to rise and Young and his comrades relocated to a compartment called the "Lucky bag." There they heard voices from other survivors coming from the other end of the wall known as the "Radio IV" compartment. The story unfolds like a dramatic movie. Workmen could only use air-powered equipment to dig the survivors out. A torch was used earlier to save two men, but the gas from the torch suffocated them as they awaited rescue. The men of "Radio IV" were easily saved, but as workers hammered their way through on "Lucky Bag", the water began to rise. Someone forgot to close the door. At this point the pressure was too much to seal the door, so it became a race against time to see whether the men would suffer a watery death or would the rescuers save the day. With some prayers to God by Young, the workmen succeeded in pulling out Young and his comrades. As the men emerged from the capsized hull, cheers erupted from the men of the USS Maryland. Despite seeing the burning Arizona and the sunken West Virigina, Young and his comrades were happy and blessed to be out of the overturned vessel. 11 men survived the "Lucky Bag." Rescue workers would proceed to save others in the "5 in Handling Room", "Steering Room, Aft", and Compartment A-23-I. Salvage workers and rescuers saved a total of 32 men withing a 3 day time frame.

The book would go on and list the salvage efforts of the USS Oklahoma and the sinking of the ship. According to Young, the ship mysteriously sank. On contrar to the Okie sinking in a storm, the Oklahoma started to list on the port it was once torpedoed heavily. For 4 days tug men struggled with the ship until orders were given to tow it back to Pearl Harbor. On the 5th day, the Okie mysteriously stood upright and then sank. The Oklahoma according to Young did not sink in a storm.
The passage would end with

"Good for you, Oklahoma! Go down at sea, in deep water, as you should, under the stars. No razor blades for you. They can make'em from the Japanese ships and planes that did you in. So long, Oklahoma! You were a good ship!"

Mr Young concludes the book by giving detailed map layouts of the USS Oklahoma, explanations of what is covered in a turret, how he acquired his sources, and what happened to the men of turret 4. Some died, many lived to fight again, some died in battle during WWII, but the one thing they shared in common was that they were survivors and heroes that fought and defended the USS Oklahoma on Dec 7, 1941.

My notes: Very good book. Sad to see what went down that day. What these men went through, I only pray that no else would have to suffer the same fate. The disturbing question now is that it was possible that the Arizona had trapped men too. They never stood a chance of being rescued. I picked up this book while I was at Portland Oregon. I got it from the famous Powell's Bookstore for $6.00 used. A good $6.00 book I might add. A must for Pearl Harbor enthusiasts.

DEC 7, 1941

2010-12-07T16:51:00.004-10:00

Today marks the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. God bless the service men that perished on that day. Here are previous pics and illustrations of my visit to Pearl Harbor to commemorate the attack.

USS Oklahoma BB-37

(My dad is in the picture with the memorial.) On December 7, 2007, A memorial was enshrined to the 429 men who died with the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma capsized moments after being torpedoed and trapped nearly 450+ men. Only 32 were rescued. 3 of those 32 heroically found their way out. Most of the 429 men were trapped below the waterline. Because salvage techniques weren't of the highest order, the remaining trapped men were left to die. The ship was not righted and re-floated until 1943. Salvage workers found the bodies of the 429 men to be decomposed and un-recognizable. Due to the lack of DNA testing back then, the bodies were buried in mass graves in Punchbowl. So far only few have been identified. The USS Oklahoma never saw battle again and was to be scrapped in San Francisco. The USS Oklahoma sanked in a storm when it began to list to its port in 17 May 1947. The Okie was believed to had sunk 540 miles Northwest of Oahu heading towards California. The Oklahoma memorial is located in Ford Island in front of the USS Missouri entrance and is accessible through paid shuttle or those who have access to Ford Island. Where the Missouri is docked is where the Oklahoma rolled over in 1941. Some supporters of the Oklahoma believed this was government tape to block the public from knowing about the Oklahoma. The black granite marble represents the ship while the white markers each represent all 429 servicemen who gave their lives that day.

Warning! can be sad. The old man is Paul Goodyear, a survivor of the USS Oklahoma.

USS Utah BB-31/AG-16

Me with the Utah in the above pic. I wrote a piece on this earlier so I won't divulge much this time. 58 men lost their lives on this ship. History books write that all 58 men are interred in the ship which is not true. 4 bodies have been recovered and 2 of them buried in Punchbowl. I know because I went there and found one of them myself. According to USSUTAH.org, several men were found and classified as unknowns, so that would leave 47 and a baby girl's ashes entombed in the ship. On the opposite side of where the Arizona sleeps, the USS Utah aka forgotten memorial stands. It is only open to anyone with access to Ford Island. The navy failed to right and re-float the ship after successfully raising the Oklahoma. The ancient target ship sunk too deep into the mud to be raised. All efforts to resurrect the ship were abandoned and the Utah memorial was dedicated in 1972. As of today many people, including the locals of Hawaii know very little about this memorial due to its inaccessibility. For anyone interested, there is a book called "The men of the USS Utah (BB-31/AG-16) The forgotten ship of Pearl Harbor." by TJ Cooper. The book mainly focuses on all 519 men that served on the Utah that day. The 58 men that died have their own section while the remaining survivors have their own. To add a sad note, most of the survivors have passed on. Like the Arizona, very few are still alive today.

USS Arizona BB-39

The USS Arizona was the ship best known for the "sound" that started WWII. Till this day, nobody knew how the Arizona exploded. Most theories point out that a armor piercing bomb fell between Turrets 1 and 2 and ignited some gun/ammunition powder that caused a chain reaction within the ship to explode. The Arizona would burn for 2 and 1/2 days. A little over 300 men survived the ship. The Arizona had an estimate of 1,177 men that perished on her. Men who were caught between the blast were most likely vaporized and reduced to ashes while some were found burned beyond recognition. The Navy recovered many bodies and only 157 were recognizable. The remaining bodies were "considered" cremated and buried at sea. The Arizona itself was declared a total loss and would not see its return to fight the Japanese in World War II. Turrets 1 and 2 were salvaged and used in Mokapu Peninsula as Batteries Pennsylvania and Arizona. Only Battery Pennsylvania was completed and test fired once before it was scrapped. Battery Arizona never saw the light of day. Turret 3 was removed and installed on the USS Nevada which was moored in front of the Arizona on that terrible day. The USS Nevada would fire the turret in the bombarding of Iwo Jima. Turret 4,for an unknown reason, remains with the sunken ship today covered in coral and corrosion. The Masts and Superstructures were removed and tossed aside into the Waipio Peninsula where most of it remains rusted today. Some artifacts were taken and displayed all over the nation. The rusted remainders are guarded by the Navy. Very few are allowed to see the remains. A white memorial was erected over the sunken hull in 30 May 1962. Today, a quart of oil still leaks daily from the battered and sunken ship. The leaks, which are known as "black tears" continue to drift towards the Missouri this very day. Legend has it that the oil will stop leaking when the last survivor of the Arizona dies. 300 men survived the burning of the Arizona, only 20 are still alive today as of Dec 7, 2010. Men who survived the ship are allowed to have their ashes placed in the ship when their candles are extinguished. The third picture shows the names of survivors who joined their fallen comrades after 1941. The picture is not up to date because when I returned to the Arizona not too long ago, another person's name was inscribed to that list.

USS Nevada
The USS Nevada memorial was established in 1983 at Hospital Point. I have not seen this memorial in person due to its private seclusion. It is accessible from what I heard to the public if you call and make an appointment with the Navy to have a military personnel escort you. The memorial was established on this point because the USS Nevada was the only battleship to get underway during the battle of Pearl Harbor. The Nevada beached on Hospital point to avoid getting sunk in the channel. En route to Hospital Point, the Nevada shot down 7 Japanese planes and lost 57 good men. The Nevada would get an upgrade and one of the Arizona's turrets to fight the Axis powers in WWII. After the war, the Nevada was reduced to being what the Utah became, a target ship. In 1948, the Navy decommissioned the Nevada and sunk the famed battleship 60-65 miles sw of Pearl Harbor. Like the Oklahoma, no one has sent a search party to look the for the ship's remains today.

2403 dead and 1178 wounded were the tally of casualties that day for the service men. This doesn't even include the forgotten civilian deaths. Today is a day we remember these men died for our country and may God look after their eternal souls. If you haven't been to Pearl Harbor or haven't been there for ages, check it out. I got to see the new remodeled layover before they announced it on the news and it looks nice! It feels all new like you've never been there. Then when you see the memorials, the feeling that goes through your mind is nothing short of sadness.

Marvel vs Capcom 3

2010-11-25T19:45:00.004-10:00

So today I made one of the most oddest decisions in whether I should buy MVC3 or not. I said yes to my gut though my PS 3 has been defective for nearly half a year now. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will be released on February 15th, 2011. That could only mean I have a few months to pick up another hardware unit or if someone is nice enough to buy me a PS 3 for Christmas. Anyways, I purchased the collector's edition for about 73 bucks at Gamestop. I got free shipping but somehow they are still charging me tax to have this game shipped to me. For pre-ordering this game I get bonus decals for my console, so I'll consider the $4 tax as payment for the decals. Overall, not bad since everybody claims shipping to Hawaii is expensive. Ever heard of USPS? Its a flat rate anywhere in the states, my mainland bruddahs.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Special Edition will ship with the following included:

- Steelbook case featuring exclusive art work
- Comic/Art book- A 12-page prologue comic, written by Marvel writer Frank Tieri, plus campaign art and a curated selection of fan art.
- 1-month Subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, providing unlimited online access to Marvel content
- 2 Playable DLC Characters – Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine. Content is available 4 weeks post-launch.

Here are the Decal details:

* These 5” x 7” cards feature precision-cut images and logos from Marvel vs Capcom 3
* Durable! High-quality and washable vinyl decals manufactured by Fathead
* Reusable! Easily move the decal to a different location without damaging it or the surface
* Character descriptions and move-lists are featured on the back of each card.

Oh well, when I have more time I will finish the rest of my trip story. I'm also trying to get some of my camcorder vids on my comp so I can take stills since I mainly recorded videos rather than stills on my trip to Sin city. Later folks and take care.

My two week west coast vacation! Day 1: San Francisco, October 27, 2010

2010-11-12T18:50:00.004-10:00

Arrived in San Francisco airport with my dad around 4:45AM and took a shuttle to Royal Pacific Motor Inn located in Chinatown on Broadway Street.

Took a quick nap since I couldn't sleep well on my flight. Finally got up a little past eight and decided to survey and eat at Chinatown. I ate something simple at Broadway Dim sum right across my hotel.

Headed towards Fisherman's Wharf by foot. 30-45 min walk especially in my dad's aging condition. Highlight of the Wharf was none other than the Sea Lions of Pier 39. Other interests included the USS Jeremiah O Brian and the USS Pampanito, both liberty ship and submarine preserved from WWII. I didn't go on the vessels however.

Of course if you decided to swim with the Sea Lions, think again:

The view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge from the Wharf was nothing short of spectacular!

Finally, it came to the time where I must eat! What the Wharf is famous for is Clam Chowder. Unfortunately, I didn't eat at Boudin. I heard they have the best chowder. I settled for some Mexican joint that had Boston Clam Chowder in a bread bowl. Still good.

Afterward, it was desserts at Ghiradelli Square. I do believe it was an Banana Split. I don't recall.

I went to Trader Joes short after to pick up some Berry mix my mom loved a lot. Got no pics on the place, but the west coast is filled with these stores. Started to walk home and shopped at Chinatown a bit. Chinatown engulfs our Hawaii Chinatown by a large margin. I can't begin to describe how big and long it is. You probably need 2 days just to walk through all of Chinatown. Its pretty diverse as well. You will actually see people of all colors and not just Asians; many say its only because Chinatown is a tourist trap for everyone out of town. So true in many ways. So I decided to call it a day by eating dinner at House of Nanking. Good food, but they seriously have to work on their servitude. They give you awkward stares and most of all they don't properly thank you. It seems like its a burden to them. Here's the part where I don't want to sound racist, but they really sucked up to white people since majority of the restaurant catered to them. They seem to put an extra effort to smile to them while they look at casually dressed people like me with attitude. The worst part was that they made me pay in cash when everyone else (which so happen to be white again) was able to pay by credit card. Even this casually dressed white folk, who were far nicer to us then the restaurant crew, was able to pay by card. I don't know but this place is seriously overpraised by people of the internet. Despite having decent food and pricing, I'm never going back there until they work on their customer service. Here's peanut sauce flavored pot stickers for your viewing appetite from *sigh* House of Nanking.

Aloha, and looking forward in sharing day 2 with you. Mahalos.

Henkei Jetfire and Sunstreaker!

2010-10-19T15:38:00.002-10:00

Finally got my first TakaraTomy Henkei versions of TF. I paid a steeper price for these two so I hope they are worth it. Here are the pics. For more pics go to http://www.flickr.com/terry981

Jetfire

Sunstreaker

Transformer Toy up dates!

2010-10-07T17:07:00.004-10:00

Here are the rest of the pics of the TF universe/Generation line I picked up early Sept. I also recently received Henkei Sunstreaker and Henkei Jetfire. I will post pics on that shortly. For now enjoy pics on Universe Prowl, Generations Thrust, and Mighty Muggs Jazz and Shockwave. All in their boxes for now.

Universe Prowl

Generations Thrust

Transformer Universe Mighty Muggs Jazz and Shockwave!

For more pics: Check out http://www.flickr.com/terry981

Batman Under the Red Hood

2010-09-30T23:03:00.002-10:00

This is a good film. The best Batman film of this decade. Pick up a copy and watch it today. Its fairly violent so that explains the PG-13 rating. Remember to not take violence so seriously. Take care of the ones you love and God bless!

Trip down memory lane

2010-09-28T18:37:00.002-10:00

Not only am I revisiting toys I could use to dream of getting back in the days, but I found myself spending hours finding and listening to many oldies on Youtube like Jefferson Starship, Europe, Human League, Spandau Ballet, Michael Jackson, Bruce Hornsby, INXS, Tears for Fears, The Jets, Atlantic Starr, Peter Cetera, Marvin Gaye, Men at Work, John Waite, Paul Young, The Police, REO Speedwagon, Richard Marx, Rick James, Beach Boys, U2, Prince, Van Halen, Whitney Houston, and some others I can't think of on the top of my head.

Why can't they make music like this instead of all the filthy trash they give us today? If you take the time to listen to the oldies, you will realize these songs gave us hope, courage, and inspiration to respect and love each other. Most importantly be happy! Songs today give you everything of what I said but the end result is not respect and love, but hate, violence and fornication. Everything was calm and steady as one person said online about the 80's, but it just turned malevolent now, didn't it? Don't get me wrong, the 90's was good too, but it was the 80's that gave way for me. The Millennium really caught the bug didn't it?

SmokeScreen Transformers Hasbro Universe Release!

2010-09-25T19:56:00.004-10:00

I originally picked this up along with SDCC 2010 Blaster and Universe Prowl. Many of these G1 figures (minus Blaster) had originally been released a year or so ago back, so it could be very expensive depending on the sites you buy from. I was lucky to find Prowl and Smokescreen for $10 each on Hasbrotoystore.com. Well, I don't have the time and space to put any of my figures on display, but I will put up pictures when I finally do. Also, if you aren't on a budget I suggest you pick up the Henkei version of Smokescreen instead. He looks better articulated and colored than the model shown here. Then again for $10, the Universe model isn't so bad.

Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/terry981/sets/72157624869756199/ for Smokescreen boxed pics.

Michael Jackson's "This is it."

2010-09-15T10:54:00.002-10:00

After months of waiting I finally decided to watch the King of Pop's final event and days earnestly. This film ends on a loving note but it leads viewers and fans of Michael to imagine how spectacular his grand finale concerts would had been had his untimely death not occur back in May 2009.

The only negative thing I had to say about this film was that it was 2 hrs long. And it felt more like a special feature you find on dvd's nowadays. Still, its whatever footage Columbia films decided to allow fans to see of Michael within his last two days of his life.

Overall: A good tribute to the King of Pop. MJ's legacy will definitely not be forgotten. I'm glad he touched many lives before giving his own. This movie is the closest thing to the live concerts he promised. View it or lose it!

Blaster SDCC 2010 Exclusive!

2010-09-13T22:16:00.005-10:00

Transformers will shine forever! Sorry, not the ones Michael Bay directed, but the original Generation 1 series. I recently bought a couple of toys that were homages to G1. One of the best ones I got so far is Blaster, the autobot that transforms into a wicked jukebox; also a response to the Decepticons Soundwave. Blaster also comes with an array of weapons and cassettebots. The cassettebots are: SteelJaw, Ramhorn, and Eject. Rewind is MIA. Here's a preview on the boxing and contents. I have yet to take the contents out of the box, so until then I cannot review how sturdy the toy is. For now, enjoy the quick pic. For anyone interested, the figure can be picked up for a limited time at a cool $49.99 at Hasbrotoyshop.com. Don't get it anywhere else otherwise prepare to pay double or triple for that matter.

Why is the USS Utah forgotten?

2010-07-29T22:49:00.005-10:00

Judging by the display above, I'm pretty sure some of you still wonder what the hell is this? Can you see that rusted ship to the left of that memorial? Its the remains of the target ship: The USS Utah. The USS Utah was laid in the waters of 1909 as BB-31. The Utah was also famous for escorting president Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France during WWI. In 1931, the Utah was demoted to AG-16, which is another code name for target ship. In December 7, 1941, the USS Utah was sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers, mistakenly confusing the ship as a carrier. As a result, the Utah capsized like the USS Oklahoma and did not get appraisal or salvage work done on her until late 1943. During salvage operations, the Utah refused to completely turn over and sunk on the bottom of the soft mud. All efforts to raise the target ship was then abandoned. In 1956, thoughts were given to raise the Utah once again ,but the navy had sold all their equipment, plus it would be a travesty to wake the dead who were still entombed in the ship. Numerous reports state that 58 sailors are still entombed in the ship, while USSUtah.org states that it is only 47 since some sailors were found dead ashore. The same can be said for the USS Arizona which most cases say 1,177, but technically, only 900+ are entombed.

As a result, The USS Utah is were it lays today, on the other side of Ford Island where the USS Arizona sleeps. The memorial to the Utah was constructed in 1972. Its been 40 years now and lots of people, including locals here in Hawaii, do not or have not heard of the ancient target ship. Some sources say that its because its a target ship and nobody cares for it and that is the reason why nobody cares at all about this memorial. The closest reason would possibly be because Ford Island is still an active military base and it would prove difficult to get in without being in the military. Still, the USS Arizona memorial tours allow you to see the USS Oklahoma memorial and the Missouri on Ford Island, so why not the USS Utah? Another reason could be because the Utah has a small parking place which is just my hunch.

I was fortunate enough to see this "forgotten memorial" of Pearl Harbor last year after years of trying and realized "wait! my brother is in the National Guard, he can get me in!" I love this memorial and the 47+ sailors should not be forgotten. Even the USSUtah.org site realized the lack of information about the Utah when it comes to Pearl Harbor tourism. A professor online once stated that when the Utah became a target ship, it ceased to be a battleship. Thus, I guess this is the reason why nobody cares. Why make a memorial for it then! Guess what? I found out there is the USS Nevada memorial on Hospital point! Of course, if you ain't military, you ain't seeing it. Oh well, I'll stop here, but check out USSUtah.org for more stories and info. You will be amazed. For me and my families visit to the USS Utah pics, click on the flickr link by my title page on this blogger. If you get the chance, pay your respects to the USS Utah. No ship on Pearl should be forgotten.

*Article saw a re-edit on 8/3/10. Minor grammatical changes were made in the article.

MegaMan Zero Collection

2010-07-17T20:30:00.007-10:00

Not going to go much in depth since I haven't tried all the games. The MegaMan Zero collection consists of 4 games, namely MegaMan Zero 1-4 staring Zero from the Megaman X series. For the purists, MMZ is called Rockman Zero in Japan. Is it fun? Yes, it is. My only complaint that I share with most people who had played this game is that the game is really difficult. So far I completed the first game only because there is an easy scenario mode where your health and weapons are maxed out making boss battles a breeze. Still, even on easy, it was no laughing matter. For now, I am taking it slow on the easy scenario on MMZ 2 and I've heard Z3 and Z4 gets even more nerve wrecking. I guess I'll be having fun in a hair ripping fashion. Still, for $30 and under, you can't go wrong with 4 games!

Operating platforms: Nintendo DS

The woes of the PS 3.

2010-05-20T22:01:00.002-10:00

Or it could just be my hardware. I had to get my PS 3 fixed last year after leaving it idle in my living room for one year. After getting it fixed for a whooping $150, it died on me just tonight! Again! So its clear to me that the optical drives or whatever is faulty in my system has a one year shelf-life. What makes this matter worse is that my PS 3 is one of the rare PS 2 backward compatible editions. This sucks major arse! All my older systems work fine, but why is it that the newer generation systems suck major heat! Guess what? Nintendo's Wii systems tend to fare much better as a semi-next generation console. Of all these years, Nintendo's hardware breaks the very least of all the video gaming competitors in the gaming industry. I'm left with the dilemma if I should get my PS 3 fixed or not. If I do I would had spended $700 on the system. Total highway robbery if you ask me. Sony, you can learn a serious lesson about hardware effectiveness from Nintendo. Others, take note as well.

R.I.P. Jamil Khan

2010-04-19T21:42:00.002-10:00

Okay, this is a little difficult for me to write or explain, but I ain't down for people who do or sell dope, but I ain't down for anyone's death either, even if you are the most wicked man in the world. Recently, on the news 24yr-old Jamil Khan was missing from his Mililani home and family. 2 weeks later, it was revealed by two arrested associates that they killed Khan over Marijuana monetary issues.

Okay so why am i writing this? Because I knew the recently declared deceased's father. According to the mother Sheila, he was a good kid. Yes, even God sees and prefers to show the kind-hearted nature of every human being. But God also promised that nothing in the dark can be kept from the light. Although it isn't official, though it seems evidently that Jamil had a dark side he was unable to escape out of. I have to admit that I had dark sides in the past and I still fight them today with Jesus by my side. That is why illegal drugs should never be legal. They cause people to kill and do stupid things to each other. Like porn, it can get addicting and cause the human behavior to act aggressively.

Where I work, I deliver water samples to the lab Jamil's father owns. I haven't seen him lately and I don't expect to see him for another week or so. My prayer goes out to his family and friends. Yes, even a guy like Jamil didn't deserve death. Sure, in this world we can get mad at each other to the point where we don't speak to each other anymore, but killing someone will never get over your grief and anger and it will cause you to fall more into despair and depression. I'm not perfect but I thank God that I am content with whatever I have left and I still have jobs, family, and some friends. Remember folks, don't do drugs!

Here's a link to copy and paste on your url:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100419/BREAKING01/304190006/Two-arrested-in-missing-Mililani-man-s-death

2010-03-06T23:43:00.003-10:00

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it...."

Although attributed to Joseph Gobbels, it was Hitler who actually made this quote famous.

Quite frankly, I can't entirely disagree with these madmen. The world we live in is full of lies, but people continue to eat what they think is reality.

Gaming Galore (long read)

2010-02-20T20:14:00.003-10:00

Man, who knew the world of video games would sucker me into playing them to the extreme! I recently completed all modes of Resident Evil 5 (Biohazard in Japan). Professional mode is by far the most hair-raising mode I ever played. One hit and you are a goner. I managed to get all S ranks in pro, but let's say that it is an experience I never want to experience again. Recently Capcom decided to release Downloadable content for the game and I ended up buying the content. Lost in Nightmares is the add-on to RE 5 as well as a new mode of Mercenaries called Mercenaries Reunion. LIN is a nod to the very first original Resident Evil game. The game is a throwback due to puzzles, running around in a creepy mansion, and worst for the new comers, lack of ammo. I've spent $7 for this new content and I will spend another $7 to complete the next add-on. Resident Evil 5 is a very fun game if you own Xbox 360, PS 3, or PC. I highly recommend it.

Other news, I decided to also get TMNT and TMNT 2: Battle Nexus for the Gameboy Advance. Both games are based on the 2003 series and is compatible with the Nintendo DS. The first TMNT game is a good brawler and not to mention, there is a couple music remixed in there giving nods to the original 1987 series. Battle Nexus, on the other hand, is more platforming than brawler. While this shies away from the typical beat-um up, this can prove to be very frustrating. First of all, you start every level, and I mean every level without your weapons (story reasons i won't dwell much into). Your start-off weapon is an infinite amount of weak-as-hell shruikens. The enemies barely flinch to this attack forcing your character to evade them until you can find your weapon. Even when you find your weapon, the turtles fight slow as hell. Not to mention, the combat and combo system you had in the first TMNT game is gone. My only real complaint is that aren't the turtles NINJA?!? Can't they fight with their hands and feet? While the sequel emphasizes heavily on strategy rather than brawn, these are the Ninja Turtles, they were meant to kick butt! Crouching will happen in both games, more so on the latter game, and guess what? The turtles can crouch and attack in the first game while you can't in the sequel. Well, overall, Battle Nexus is good if you can progress far, but by the time you reach Feudal Japan, the Shredders ninjas will make turtle soup out of your character in a jippy. I guess you can say new improvements lead to new disasters. One thing both games share in common is that you have to play at least normal mode to reach the final stages, though I've yet to reach Shredder in Battle Nexus because I have to admit is much harder than the first game. Playing it on easy ends the game before you reach the Shredder.

On a related note: A couple weeks ago I ended up buying TMNT: Turtles in Time re-shelled DLC for the PS 3. The good news about this game is that it is now remade with HD graphics and the game play engine sports a 8-way directional attack system, meaning you can attack diagonally now. The turtles and Shredder are now voiced by the 2003 cast which isn't a bad thing, though I do dig the Shredders new voice. You can also hit the foot while they are kissing the floor, so in laymen terms, kick-em while they are down. Sadly, the game has huge drawbacks. First and foremost, everything I said above can be used against you. The enemies can attack with the 8-way pattern and you can sustain extra damage if you are down as well. What is also terrible is that some moves are removed from the original making the game combos and strategy so repetitive. The worst part is that in harder modes, huge swarm of enemies will come crashing on your turtle making your achievements short-lived. Thankfully, you can play this game with 3 other players co-op in-house or online. Sadly again, there is barely anyone online playing this game. Last note for this game: The original music is replaced as well. I think its because Konami still owns the music rights to the game. Btw, Ubisoft remade this game. The only stage music that comes close to the original game is Neon-Night Riders.

Are you still following this? Wow, you manage to survive my long-arse post you entertainment whores! Okay, okay. I still have quite of bit of games to play but I also got some workouts and studying I have to brush up on. Relax folks and God bless!

Ratings:

Resident Evil 5 (9/10)
TMNT GBA (8/10)
TMNT 2: Battle Nexus GBA (7/10)
TMNT: Turtles in Time reshelled (6/10)

Felt like this had to be said

2010-02-14T15:17:00.002-10:00

Okay, so we are doing what need to for Haiti, but what about America Samoa and the Philippines? Last I heard, both countries were doing poorly and many people are left homeless in America Samoa. Wasn't AS a territory of the U.S.? Why aren't we giving them more attention over there? All of a sudden, we start remaking "We are the world" for Haiti, but would we have done it for America Samoa or the Philippines? What makes Haiti so damn important? Yes, its important that we help them but don't forget the rest of the world are human beings as well. Michael Jackson would seriously be rolling over his grave right now. American politicians and celebrites, leave your egos at the door!

So it begins.

2010-01-22T16:54:00.002-10:00

The voice of the people don't matter anymore. Its clear that God has abandoned America. Remember to keep your vigilance in prayer. Also, things aren't always what they seem to be. What may be right may not always be right. God bless you all.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-21T10:04:00.002-10:00

Hope everybody is cool.

Tis the season to be sharing....

2009-12-20T16:27:00.000-10:00

Yeah, for the time being I 'm back to share my pointless info with everyone. I've done quite a bit the past half-year, but I'll just start by saying Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The economy is still weak, but thankfully, I was able to get 3 Playstation 3 games cheap: Resident Evil 5; Soul Calibur IV; Ghostbusters the Video game; and two Wii games: TMNT: Smash-up; Madworld. They were all $20 a piece with MW coming in at $10. All are pretty good games from what I heard. Merry Christmas to me.

Congrats to my sister for she graduated at UH this past Saturday with a degree of Human Resources. The only thing that sucked about her graduation was the hot temperatures in the open field. I wish it snowed here in Hawaii. I'm now pondering of going back to college when I'm thirty(two more years). Going for my Masters in the mainland preferably.

Lastly, if you are a big fan of TMNT, you owe yourself to watch Turtles Forever. This marks the last TMNT cartoon of the Peter Laird/Kevin Eastman era before its takeover by Viacom/Nickelodian. Fans of the 1987 show, the 87 Turtles and villains were litterally mocked the entire time, so don't say I didn't warn you. Enjoy what could be the last peaceful Christmas before Obama kills the nation physically and spiritually. Oh and before I truly conclude, sad year for many passing of good people and celebrities. The one to bite the dust as I wrote this blog was Brittney Murphy. A young and pretty girl gone at the age of 32. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we can't choose to really ignore one another (though I try hard with this). If one of us fall, we all fall for we are all brothers, sisters, and children belonging to Christ. God Bless you all and play it safe!

Going away for a while

2009-06-17T21:02:00.000-10:00

I'm going on hiatus for a while so its going to be a long time before you see updates ever again or it may be permanent. All I have to say is that do not call me, text me, or e-mail me. I will do the same unless if you are in dire need of help. The last thing(s) I am going to say is that I don't trust anyone anymore. I worked with a bunch of snakes my whole life. I knew they were full of toxic venom and I still let them bite me. Well, you come near me again and you will be defanged. To end this on a bittersweet note: what do people like me, the Mafia, Triads, gangersters, and the police do to snitches in general? Ans: We lay you to rest 6ft below. You have been warned.

Not in a forgiving mood,
Terence

Some June updates

2009-06-06T21:14:00.000-10:00

First, I would like to point out the sad passing of David Carridine and Shih Kien. I'm pretty sure you are all familiar with Carridine for his portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine and Bill in Kung Fu and Kill Bill respectively. Shih Kien was mainly popular in Hong Kong though he gained recognition here in America for his portrayal of the villainous Mr. Han in Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Its also ironic that these two were affiliated with Bruce Lee and they both died coincidently at the same time, similar to Thomas Jefferson and John Adams dying in the same day and year. I don't mean to harbor any negative emotions but its a shame, and I got this info from lots of users online, that David Carridine's legacy brought disappointment towards Asians. Yes, here we go again, right? I'm just pointing out that Carridine milked the "yellowface" franchise like crazy. I liked him in Kung Fu, though I did find it weird to have a white guy playing a half-Chinese monk, though the role was intentionally for Bruce Lee. But Hollywood felt that white America was not ready for an Asian lead. That was over 30 years ago, but sadly, it has not changed one bit. It's 2009 and Hollywood continues to whitewash Asian themes. Oh well, that sucks. Carridine did learn martial arts and Eastern Philosophy so it was possible for him to play Kung Fu roles, but he perpetually played Asian characters in majority of his films, especially in his latest film, Crank 2. I don't think we can blame Carridine entirely for pretending to be Asian in all his films because most of the blame goes to none other than the fabulous system of Hollywood. At least we were given a breath of fresh air when he played Bill in Kill Bill. Could had been worse, he could had been named Mong Kok or something.

Anyone interested in the Carridine's legacy of shame(that is what it is called), you
can go here or copy and paste the link.

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/06/05/david-carradines-legacy-of-shame/

Other crap news of mine:

Saw UP not too long ago and it was a cutesy flick. I also purchased Lego Batman for the PS 3 and it was all for $20 spanking new. Though I did not get a chance to play the game, it was funny that the cashier and my sis thought the artwork was cute. That's cool, I guess. Still, playing X-men Legends 2 and enjoying it. If you ever get the game, abuse NightCrawler's Teleport Frenzy glitch.

Some updates.

2009-05-27T20:40:00.000-10:00

Been real busy and tired lately especially just coming back from Maui with my folks. For movies, I Saw Star Trek and X-men Origins earlier this month. The former was a good remake/reboot while the latter left a lot to be desired. If you thought the X-men trilogy was screwed up then you ain't reprieved of the Wolverine film. The latest X-men entry featured a lot of cameos from the X-men/Marvel universe, but sadly, most of them were portrayed wrong, most notably Deadpool. How could they mess his character up? Not to mention, continuity errors were prevalent throughout the whole movie. To name a few: Wolverines relation to Victor Creed, how he got his adamantium, and his fight with Gambit (this one was weird, when you see Gambit running atop the rooftops, you'll see why I nitpicked this). The X-men movies just get more disappointing and disappointing. Maybe its time to take a long break. I recently got a chance to view a matinée of Terminator Salvation. I was going to catch this in Maui but opted not to. To cut things short, majority of this film revolves around guns and explosions. Nothing wrong with that since a full-scale war is occurring. The film also retrieves some references and quotes from past Terminator films. Overall, I thought the latest Terminator entry was a solid summer flick. Recommended for action purists.

Lastly, I decided to hang up SF IV online. I found the online fights very tedious since most users can only fight and play cheap as shotos. Its been fun but now I am concentrating on leveling my characters up in a classic Activision game named: X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse. Until next time.

SFIV online.

2009-05-13T22:15:00.001-10:00

Damn, it was fun! I had trouble finding matches most of the time, but I could remember playing my first match and I won! I remember it being Fei Long(me) vs Rufus(challenger). Then I lost other matches because they were using Akumas and Ryu, while I used Fei Long for the most part and a random select that got me Vega(Claw). I nearly won with Vega too, so the Akuma and Ryu users weren't all that but still it showed I lacked skill. So when I decided to use M.Bison(dictator), the dude uses Fei-Long. Wow, a fist to fist fight finally after my first match and yours truly came out on top. For my last match, I disconnected because my opponent had a crap ass internet connection that slowed the match down like crazy. I won the first round and decided that was enough because the 2nd round didn't show signs of speeding up. GRRR.... could had won one final match. Oh well, next time.

Can't get it off my mind. Hollywood racism again.

2009-04-02T20:46:00.000-10:00

I just had to research more on the upcoming King of Fighters movie, and I am still distraught over the issue that the character, Kyo Kusunagi is played by Sean Faris, a white guy. Why is Hollywood going so backwards? The pain is nowadays some idiots are going online posting how Ryu(SF), Chun-Li, Kyo, and all these other characters don't like Asian. WTF?!? The last time I've played the games, they looked Asian. Besides, their respective companies even said they are pure Asian. Ryu was based off of an Japanese Karate champion in the 60s and 70's. Did you know that Sagat was based off of an actual Thai fighter as well? Leave it to Hollywood to change their ethnicities to cater to the popular demographic census: White people.

Why is that Hollywood have a problem with casting Asian leads? Lets start off with 21, a film that should have had a big Asian cast, but when the financial backers of the movie heard that the film was predominantly Asian, they told the producers to re-cast a British native named Jim Sturgess. Of all Americans, they casted a British person! Aren't Asians Americans as well? Doesn't matter, as long as he wasn't Asian and was white. Two Asians were eventually casted as supporting actors, but they were made to look like idiots.

And from what I heard, the original script of Dragonball Z was supposed to be based on an Asian Saiyan named Goku. Hollywood flat-out disliked the idea and had only white people audition for the role. Asians weren't even allowed to audition. The dudes name is Goku! It was clearly meant to be played by an Asian person. The creator of DB even acknowledge Goku as Japanese before he changed his status to Alien, something Hollywood took advantage of.

Now comes one of my favorite franchises: Street Fighter. Did you know that they wanted to cast Jessica Biel or Jessica Alba as the Chinese Interpol Agent, Chun-Li? Are they Asian at all? After series of trying, they decided to cast a half-Asian named Kristen Kreuk. Still, they had to half-whiten her character for the popular census again. In the film, she has a white mother and she was once from America! Bullcrap! She's Chinese and she's from China. They didn't even bother trying to find actual Asian women for the leading role!

Now comes another one of the coolest fighting franchises: King of Fighters. The lead, who is a Japanese martial artist named Kyo Kusunagi, is played by a white guy. Of all of the Asian martial artists they could find, they came up with a white guy?!? His rival in the movie and games is named Iori Yagami, and is played by an Asian guy, but what does this tell you? Stereotypical "Good" white guy beating the crap out of "bad" Asian guy. Yep, Asians get the backseat again while the white guy triumphs. Asians can't be lead heroes from what I've researched. Why, Hollywood, why?

That's not it. The upcoming movie, maybe in 2010, Avatar: The last air bender which is based on Asian mythology and characters are all played by white people. They were deliberately handpicked and Asians were given the shaft once again. Despite protests from the Asian community, they finally decided to cast the boy actor from Slumdog Millionaire as a secondary character. The main cast still remains lily white as of today.

Reminds me when Hollywood felt that David Carridine was a better choice to play as Kwai-Chang Caine in Kung Fu, when it was clearly meant for Bruce Lee. Sadly, Bruce did become popular years after his Green Hornet show, but at the cost of his life. Older western flicks that portrayed Asia featured white men/women playing as yellow faces. So do you think much has changed now? Most people say that Asians aren't casted because they don't draw numbers, but yet you cast nobodies like Jim Sturgess and Justin Chatwin(Goku)? Asians have the same success rate as these people because they have the nobody status in common. But no, if anything, we will make stars out of people who are European ancestry. To make matters worse, they close auditions doors for Asians now. Imagine if Dragon: The Bruce Lee story and Mortal Kombat got released today, white people would had commandeered the yellow-face persona again, no doubt about it. Why has Hollywood taken two dramatic steps backwards when we all thought we were progressing forward? If Hollywood can't cast whites as leads, what do they do? They remake foreign films and put more white people in it. As you can tell, I can go on and on and vent on every movie that was supposed to have Asians as heroic leads, but you get the picture, right? Hollywood is an prime example of not learning its history and are doom to repeat it. As for the King of Fighters movie, sadly, I have made up my mind not to watch it when it comes out. Sure, some people said that the story sucks anyways, but Hollywood is the real reason why I am staying away from the racial casting travesty. The facts are there and yet Hollywood continues to whitewash history. Burn in hell, Hollywood! That's all you are worth.

PS 3 update

2009-03-30T20:29:00.000-10:00

The UPS driver just picked up my PS 3 console and guess what? When he saw my unit, he was, like, "not again." He proceeded to tell me that he retrieved and shipped many PS 3's and Xboxes from others. I guess I wasn't wrong on how Sony and Microsoft are making cheap units these days. Hope for the best now and Sony had better not toy around with me again.

*Oh, if you can't see the SF IV pics, try right clicking and select view image. Angelfire kinda sucks when it comes to hosting pics. Laters.*

Street Fighter IV (bored edition1)

2009-03-29T17:32:00.000-10:00

While we wait for my PS 3 to get repaired, let me unravel the contents of the Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition. In the pic above, as you can see, the collector's edition comes with the actual game, Blu-ray movie: The Ties that Bind, a Ryu figurine(PS 3), and the box that holds them all. The SF IV headband you see is a special bonus for those that pre-ordered the game at gamestop. Btw, don't mind the mess in the background.

Another look at the headband itself. Sorry, didn't feel like wearing it.

Up close of the design.

Ryu looking fierce figurine.

That's it for now. I'll update the rest of the contents as soon as my PS 3 gets repaired/replaced. That way I can review the game and film. Stay tuned for bored edition 2.

other movie stuff....

2009-03-28T23:19:00.000-10:00

Feeling lazy so I don't feel like posting pics, but I'd seen Watchmen and Race to Witch Mountain recently. Watchmen is worth watching once while Race to Witch Mountain is a fun flick. Although I didn't have a problem with the latter, Watchmen suffers from boring characters, uninspiring fights, and non-worthy dialogs. Not to mention, the film clocks in nearly over 2 hrs and a half. The only redeeming quality of the film is the twist towards the end and the character, Rorschach. Next up, Dragonball Evolution. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$150

2009-03-21T11:09:00.000-10:00

That's right, I paid $150 for Sony to repair/replace my optical drive on my PS3. This had better be worth it because the PS 3 I have is one of the rare PS 3's with 4 USB ports and backward compatibility. Sony has better not put another faulty drive. Now do you understand why the Playstation 2 and Xbox sell a lot? Its because of their high hardware failure rates that drives people to buy additional units. They should learn a thing from Nintendo or two. Now I am also beginning to see a reason why PS 3 is in the bottom of the rat race.

Natasha Richardson 1963-2009

2009-03-18T22:31:00.000-10:00

After my long vent and frustration on the new Street Fighter movie, sadly, I had to discover that Liam Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, had died suffering from brain injuries caused by her skiing accident. Although I vaguely remember her roles in The Parent Trap and Maid in Manhattan, my prayers and condolences goes out to her family. May God start the healing process.

An insult to the fans. some spoilers

2009-03-18T17:12:00.000-10:00

If you thought the 1994's Street Fighter was awful then wait till you get a load of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. You wonder how on earth can they make this worser than the Van Damme film, right? You and me pal. How on earth did I force myself to watch this film when I staved it off for so long reading nothing but negative reviews. I dunno once again. Maybe its because I had to see how bad it was for myself. My review is going to be critical towards the characters. As for the story, the story is all about Chun-Li seeking revenge on M.Bison, a little original but the excitement ends here.

First and foremost, I loathe the fact that Capcom had a hand in this. As for the characterizations, this is where every Street Fighter fan will roll their eyes. Chun-Li is not half white! And to some fanboys, just because you think Chun-Li in the games don't look that Chinese doesn't mean she ain't Chinese. Its how the artists draw her and that's that and that's final! Chun-Li is Chinese, so get over it! To cater her character to western audiences, Chun-Li is born and raised by a white American mother and a Chinese father. Oh, I yearned so long for Asian male/white female pairing in Hollywood, but in this case, it is just bad timing for them to do so. To sum it up, the famous Chun-Li was once American and is now half-white. Most importantly, she ain't interpol like she is in the games. That role is given to someone else. Pitiful, I tell you.

Next up, Charlie Nash. I don't mind how they conjoined the two names seeing one being the American name and the other Japanese. However, Nash is the person who is receiving orders from interpol and he is an over-acting Chris Klein. I preferred the original military persona plus his ready-to-kick your ass type of expression he wore on his face in the video games. Vega(Claw) comes next on my rant list because he appears for a little under 5 mins. And that's not it, he hides his face because it is ugly?!? Wait, theres more, he isn't a light-skinned Spaniard and he gets his butt manhandled by the Chunster easily. Way to go Capcom and Fox. Way to give Vega the most useless character award in the film. Next up, M.Bison(Dictator) is now a freakin Irish man adopted by Thai people? Way to whiten a character again. Okay, so the games dictate that Bison had many bodies, so it is possible that he was Irish, but I highly doubt it. The late Raul Julia(original Bison) looked and played a more convincing Bison than Neal McDonough.Worse of all, Bison had no powers in this film. It would had been great if he introduced a form of Psycho power that he harnessed in the games. Way to make the greatest SF villain into a common villain.

To round up the remaining cast, the only person that could had done the character justice was Balrog(boxer). Sadly, they screwed his character up by having him fight with guns. Gen, who is played by Liu Kang err.... Robin Shou, just reminded me too much of Liu Kang when he was on screen. He has a history with M.Bison which is again screwed up. Mr. Shou just seems to passive to play as Gen. Moon Bloodgood, a new character, looked hot though her character kinda seemed pointless. Don't expect her to do much good in this film either.

To wrap up this review, this movie has ass written all over it. I simply don't know how they can mess this film up after the cheesy 94 version. Shockingly, the 94 version triumphs in every category over this snooze-fest. I expected a to-kill-2 hours-of-time type of film as I walked in, but when I heard how every character pronounced Shadaloo wrong early on in the film, then you already got a film that is vomit-inducing bad. This film is not Street Fighter at all. The fights are bland and there is nothing legendary about this film. All Chun-Li ever does is flip kicks and perform more somersaults than your local circus. I'm not impressed at all, sorry, I just ain't. The best part about this film was pretty much the credits. Now that I warned you, its your choice to watch this film, but if you end up loving it, check in to the psychiatric ward immediately.

Arghh! and a movie.

2009-02-22T00:16:00.000-10:00

First off, my PS 3 stop reading discs. WTF??? I'd owned all the Nintendo consoles and a Sega Dreamcast and they all work perfectly fine still. I had my PS 3 for 1 yr and 2 months, hardly played it, watched only a handful of movies, and it craps out. No wonder why people seldom invest in Sony's anymore. Their hardware are cheaply made. Hopefully, my former co-workers that I entrusted to take a look at my hardware unit can rectify that matter. Thankfully, I was able to play SFIV for 2 days before the crapout.

He's just not that into you

Caught this film during Valentine's day with my friend who was apparently my date for that evening as well. Though, we could had watched Boyz II men in concert, my friend opted to see this film instead, so I accompanied her. He's just not that into you features an all-star female-male cast and it runs nearly 2 hrs long. This film deals a lot with complex relations and dating strategies. A good chick flick with a few admirable themes and laughs. Although I wouldn't give this film a 2nd viewing as a guy, I noticed that Ben Affleck is hardly in this film. He did the same thing in Smoking Aces. Its just strange that he is minimizing himself in movies these days. Next up....Watchmen I guess and say no to DragonBall Evolution and all the upcoming whitewashed films. Asians deserve a bigger chance in Hollywood!

movie briefs

2009-02-10T17:34:00.000-10:00

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

What a way to milk the franchise, huh? Only for the fans. The movie was mildly interesting, but still, its just a prequel, so everything was already predictable. My only real complaint for the trilogy is that why are the vampires so weak? With the exception of Victor, they move and cower almost like normal mortal beings. What's up with that? And what's up with subtitles such as "Rise" these days?

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

I thought this movie would be amusing and I ended up receiving only a few chuckles throughout the duration of this film. Could had been better. Thanks to its boxoffice revenue, Kevin James should still see the light of day in future films.

Push

Movers, pushers, shifters, watchers, and all these other people with unique gifts, what more could you ask for? A better direction and reason to care, that's what I think that could had made this movie more exciting. The concept was great, but the execution and style of the film clearly needed some hauling. Its dismal box office performance of $10 million in a week should sum up this briefing.

King of Fighters movie?!? and Hollywood racism.

2009-01-10T11:16:00.000-10:00

Okay, I don't mind a KOF film, but Hollywood once again brings a controversial syrup to the table. A guy named Sean Faris is playing Kyo Kusunagi, the main character of the KOF series. A white guy? What? They couldn't find a Japanese or Chinese martial artist to play the part? Or better yet, an Asian actor? That's Hollywood for you, there must be a white guy in order to sell and cater the movie to white audiences. Why is America so backwards these days? When we took one step forward, we took two steps backwards. I don't know if this is worse or not, but Maggie Q is playing the part of Mai Shiranui. First of all, Maggie do not have the boobs, but I guess we shouldn't focus on that. Maggie is Eurasian and most likely chosen again because she is Asian enough for the part when there are other, "actual" Asian actresses that can play and look the part of Mai.

Other terrible things that are in mind: Kristen Kreuk, although half-Chinese, really doesn't look the part of Chun-Li. Should had found a real Asian actress again. Minus my complaints of Chun-Li's boobs and big thighs, of course. And now, Justin Chatwin as Goku. A white guy again playing the part that should be for an Asian actor. The movie producers stated that Goku is an alien so race shouldn't matter. Okay, would they had thought of putting an Asian person to play Goku to begin with? Hollywood knows that they need a white person to lead in order to sell again. The same with the movie 21. The producers were originally going to tell the story with an majority Asian cast, which was the true story. Their financial backers said no because they felt Asians don't sell. Later on, the producers decided to cast Jim Sturgess and the financial backers ok'd the deal.

As you see, Hollywood continues their upscaling of racism. While nobodies like Jim Sturgess and Justin Chatwin gets recognitions for playing Asian characters, asian people who could had those parts in Hollywood gets the shaft. And once again, as long as they look Asian, they can play Asian roles when other people look and probably is better for the part. As for KOF, Sean Faris is going to make some noise for playing a Japanese guy. Sounds retarded doesn't it? Let's not even go into foreign films that get re-made every quarter of the year.

Well, I'm going to tell you that I might watch the new SF film, but I'm not going to have high hopes. Dragonball is already a stinker. And it sounds like KOF is part of that sinking ship. R.i.p Hollywood.

New Year Wii kickoff!

2009-01-04T14:55:00.000-10:00

Not really a review since I haven't test every game or feature in this dandy collection. Playing this collection is taking a trip down memory lane. You got five games, and yes, you heard me, five games. The first being King of Fighters 94, then you got what is called the Orochi Saga which pits KOF 95-97, and King of Fighters 98: Slugfest; the first and the latter were included last minute to North American releases. Another pro thing is that, from what I heard, the Wii version has zero loading time and less buggy in comparison to the PS 2 version. So far I can agree that the Wii version barely has loading nor glitches. What's not so hot about the Wii is the extra $10-15 you got to spend rather than getting the PS 2 version. I am also happy that SNK Playmore restored the infinite credits to each game featured in this collection. In the Virtual Console release of KOF 94 you were limited to 4 credits. I still can't believe I spend 900 points ($9) to buy the VC version. Oh well, it was SNK's fault for releasing 94 in this collection last minute. I heard that they were supposed to include KOF 98: Ultimate in this release, but now it is going to get its own release, pretty much another marketing scheme.

All in all, if you are a fan of the series, you definitely would want to pick this up. The only thing that I don't miss about this game is the SNK boss syndrome. God, I hate fighting the cheap beyond cheap bosses in the KOF series. Guess what? I played KOF: XI on the PS 2 recently and the boss is even, oh my God, wtf cheap!!!! Another annoying thing is that don't play this game on an HD tv. It looks awful since the games came out long prior to the first HD tv release. But don't let all this deter you from playing five games for the price of one. Next up, and perhaps my first PS 3 game ever since I got that console, Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

New Year movie quickie kickoff!

2009-01-03T10:36:00.000-10:00

Its been awhile since Jim Carrey has acted in a comedic role. Has he lost his touch after making Yes Man? I say nope and he still got it. The film starts off a little slow, but the pace really picks up soon afterwards. My only gripe is that the concept of him saying yes feels poorly contrived, but the humor and charm of this film makes up for all of that. Some people feel that this movie is nothing more but a Liar, Liar 2008. Whatever this film maybe, it is entertaining from start to finish. Just kick back, relax and enjoy the New Year. Most importantly, say Yes to this film!

If this only arrived before Christmas....

2008-12-19T23:28:00.000-10:00

Need I say any more?

Small update.

2008-12-10T19:01:00.000-10:00

Woot! Finally got to see Wanted, The Dark Knight(again, but this time, on Blu-ray), and Resident Evil: Degeneration. All are remarkable films, but The Dark Knight is the best of the bunch. I'm thinking about picking up Degeneration on Blu-ray since all I have is a dvd copy. I couldn't help downloading the film knowing that it was up for grabs on the internet prior to its December 30th release date. I don't condone this method, but I just had to see the film for myself to see if it was worth buying or not. I don't like to rent so that's not my bag of tea, either. Oh well, catch you later.

Last note: The Dark Knight looks and sounds magnificent on Blu-ray.

Third's a charm? Punisher review

2008-12-08T16:43:00.001-10:00

Hardly. There isn't really a film whose sequel to a sequel becomes the cream of the crop. I haven't seen Dolph Lundgren's 1989 Punisher, but I heard that one was bad. I managed to capture Thomas Jane's 2004 Punisher and that one was mediocre. It was good on how Jane's version focused the character of Frank Castle in another direction. Die-hard fans, of course, considered the new direction to be soft and out of line. Now Ray Stevenson dons the role of the merciless vigilante in Punisher: War zone (2008). So going back to the title do I bring up, is third's a charm? Not exactly, but it is the best Punisher I've seen so far. Ray Stevenson portrays Frank Castle stoically just like the comics. Though, he is often traumatized with ghastly images of him holding on to his dead family. This film also has all the gore and mayhem that made the Punisher infamous. Critical reviewers or non-Punisher fans will see all the gore and destruction as a feeble and mindless attempt to construct a stupid flick. However, this is how the Punisher comics were supposed to be like. The 2004 version barely qualified as a Punisher flick when it came to portraying Punisher's ruthlessness towards his enemies, but the 2008 version is everything the Punisher does as he does in the comics, and that is if you are guilty, you are dead. The plot is thin and this is how I can loosely describe it's script: Punisher kills mobsters, accidentally kills an undercover agent, feels guilty about it and tries to hang up his battle suit, a villain named Jigsaw tries to rid Castle by kidnapping the dead undercover agents wife and daughter, and Castle is forced to don the Punisher uniform once again to spill more guts and save the day. Not much more to say.

This film is not recommended for those who expect a brilliant storyline or a direct sequel to the 2004 Punisher. This film is a re-boot and is far closer to the Marvel comics than the previous Punisher renditions. Besides the thin-veiled plot, my only gripe is that some people still think 2004's version of the Punisher was better because they thought that was how the Punisher was like. If anybody had half a brain and was adamant in doing their research, they would know that this versions Punisher was the way it was meant to be. Just like how the 2003 version of TMNT is closer to the Mirage comics than the kiddie 1987 version. Some people just can't handle the truth and as Kurt Angle would say, "Oh its true, ITS DAMN TRUE!"

Pre-order The Dark Knight

2008-12-06T10:28:00.001-10:00

Wow. I have to say that this movie is the best comic-book film in years, minus the atrocious Batman voice done by Christian Bale. I decided to pre-order the film on Blu-ray because BestBuy.com is selling it for a low price of $24 in comparison to the regular 2-disc set that is only a buck cheaper. Plus, I get even some extra features on Blu-ray that is not on the two-disc set. In addition, this is the first time I pre-ordered a game/dvd. Not to mention, I get a free poster for purchasing this. I'm pretty sure there will be other tempting goodies from other stores, but I will survive. December 9, 2008 is the date, folks.

Bolt (2008) quickie

2008-11-25T23:00:00.000-10:00

What can I say? Although the film is predictable in many ways, it's a lovable film. For those who are aren't familiar with the film's premise, John Travolta plays the voice of Bolt, a dog who thinks he is actually a superhero; In actuality, Bolt is an animal actor who has been living in a set stage his entire life thinking that he is a superhero fighting alongside his owner, Penny(Miley Cyrus). Upon getting inadvertently shipped from Hollywood to New York, Bolt decides to reunite with his owner by planning to return to Hollywood with some help. He takes the arduous journey kidnapping and be-friending a cat named Mittens(Susie Essman)and fanboy Hamster named Rhino(Mark Walton). During the sojourn, Bolt will discover the fabrication of his previous life, but soon realizes the importance of his newfound life.

My last words is have fun! Its a CGI film for the family. Serious movie-goers beware!

Proposition 8

2008-11-16T11:39:00.001-10:00

This is probably the last time I write politics seeing that I created this blog more for entertainment critiques. First of all, the people of California voted and 53% said no to same-sex marriage. Stop blaming the churches for trying to donate something like $15,000 in defeating the cause. I heard that same-sex advocates received twice as more money for their pledge in overturning proposition 8. I don't see anyone else pointing a finger on advocates for that. In an other words, you folks had more money and still lost! Better luck next time. You lost fair and square, so stop acting like crybabies.
Honestly, I am against same-sex marriage, but if the state approves of the notion, there is nothing I can do. But guess what? Life continues and I'll continue to move on while all you whiners will continue to find something to cry and bitch about. Once again, the people spoke and the majority won, which were the people opposing same-sex marriage. You didn't see racist people demanding a re-election that Obama won the presidency, don't ya?

some spoilers Why did they kill him.....

2008-10-16T22:15:00.001-10:00

Its been one year and I still can't believe Marvel decided to wipe off Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America from the face of this planet. Its funny how Iron-man was considered to be the villain of the Marvel: Civil War comics (2006-2007), but Marvel managed to put him into the superhero spotlight this year. Ha, I wonder if new fans are gonna get pissed when they find out Iron-man's ruthless policies caused Steve to die. And Captain America's film is soon to debut. Somewhere down the road the Civil War storyline is bound to occur. Yeah, I knew that Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron-man wasn't entirely responsible for Steve's death, but had Tony glanced at another direction, the Captain wouldn't have met his unfortunate demise. Tony should know because a mystical and powerful seer told him of an alternate reality. I won't say who but Tony did break down and weep, wishing that he could had averted all this bloodshed. Oh well, Bucky a.k.a. Winter Soldier is the new Captain America. Its cool that the Cap's legacy lives on, but its just not the same. Rest soldier, you've earned it.

The Captain's down

WTF?!?

2008-10-01T17:37:00.000-10:00

Since I am a nice guy, or I try to be, WTF stands for what the freak?!? Look at the pictures and you'll see why.

Get the picture? Is Lucas that desperate for greenbacks? Is he worried about the current condition of the slumping economy that he is coerced to re-release his 2004 controversial souped-up versions of the original trilogy and the less than mediocre prequel trilogies? Yeah, its possible that this re-re-release of the Special edition original trilogy may sport yet more revisions for GL himself, but come on, stop killing Star Wars already! I had it up to here when he decided to replace Sebastian Shaw's force ghost at the end of Return of the Jedi with a more deranged looking Hayden Christensen, the dude who butchered the role of Anakin Skywalker. What's next? The Stormtroopers sounding monotonous and dull like Temura Morrison?

Probably the worst one yet is his latest release of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I thought Lucas wanted to end Star Wars with the dreadful prequels. Like I said, show him the money. That's all he wants. I didn't see the film, but I think I'll pass until I can rent it or something. Then again, why start a Clone Wars film when majority of the people didn't like the prequels to begin with? It just shows Lucas's hatred for the original trilogy. Oh well, a few more years and I can conclude that Star Wars is dead. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it seems like an inevitable dish waiting to be served.

Financial Crisis!

2008-09-29T20:35:00.000-10:00

One way to save the economy is to stop spending trillions on the IRAQI WAR! It's common sense that we are losing so many money and lives up there. What a sad era we live in.

Some Stuff.

2008-09-18T23:17:00.000-10:00

Excited about Street Fighter IV, which will launch next year for home console release; Resident Evil: Degeneration, which is exclusive this December on dvd and Blu-ray; and Resident Evil 5 in March 2009 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Until then I guess I have to settle for Mortal Kombat vs D.C. Universe.

*update* I just hope SFIV will have the option to select English or Japanese tracks. I prefer the original Japanese track of course. It sounds more real and aesthetic than the English version. Why do people still dub these days? Learn to read subtitles America!

Final Fantasy IV DS review.

2008-09-14T21:25:00.000-10:00

Known as Final Fantasy II in America back in 1991, the collaboration of Square-Enix finally released the true, enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS with its authentic name of Final Fantasy IV.

How do I begin? For starters, this game is difficult. For veterans, this game is still difficult! Why? When this title arrived in the states 17 years ago the difficulty was toned down to get Americans to buy it. This is also the reason why some gamers around the world taunted Americans for decades for their lack of challenge and patience when it came to gaming. Final Fantasy IV, although the story, for the most part and the characterizations remain the same, the difficulty is something that is of hair pulling. If you don't play your cards right, you might as well keep trying until you manage to grow your hair back. In the down-scaled US version 17 years ago, you could afford to make a couple mistakes and still manage to win a $1 million dollar round. This game now involves true strategy plus a lot of leveling in order to catch a sigh of breath. What this game also retained was its religious connotations and symbolisms that were omitted from the US SNES version. One example is the name Holy that was altered into white. The only thing I can think of that never made its return, besides the ability to change the characters name, is the infamous porn magazine. What?!? Yep, in the original Japanese Final Fantasy SNES game, there was a magazine placed on a table that you could pick up and observe during the game. This, however, was removed even in the Japanese remake. Some of the script which involved the protagonist Cecil, and the antagonist Golbez, has been restored in the game. However, I can't seem to get deeply into the story because the version I am playing is the Japanese version. Its been several years since I took up Japanese, so you could imagine how much trouble I had playing this game even if I beated it twice.

One of the newest features, and what I am trying to accomplish right now, is obtaining all the augments. Augments can be found through various stages and characters you run throughout the game. Augments are fun and an effective means in enabling you to win your battles easier. However, finding them all could be pretty frustrating and it will take you 3 game completions to obtain them all. Besides, you could only save up to 3 game datas. Lastly, one of the game revamps include voice-overs, in game cinematics, and crisp 3-d cel-shaded graphics. The game feels like an actual anime. How cool is that!

Much to say, but I'll stop here. Play the game for yourself if you haven't. There is a reason why this game is known as the game that revolutionized Final Fantasy. If you played the originals, then there is a good reason why to play this again. Let's just say this game re-shapes the experience all over again due to voice-overs,3-d graphics and refined game-play. Solid 9/10.

What's up so far

2008-08-24T21:43:00.000-10:00

Sloth has gotten the better of me. Then again I'm so tired from work and sleep. That's all I mostly do. Anyways, 2 things: One being the Olympics and one being Tropic Thunder.

1) The 2008 Olympics have concluded their run in Beijing, China. What I thought of it? Go USA! China may have won the gold medal battle, but we won the overall medal war. Good for China still, although some people say some of the gold medals they won were pretty controversial. However, there isn't much proof that the judges did favor China in their quest for the most gold medals. However, it did seem like there were some bogus judging from the judging panel. For instance, when one of the girls of China performed her vault routine in gymnastics, she fell on her knees, but somehow still ended up winning a bronze. The American, who, at least didn't fall on her ass or anything was denied the bronze. The next night, He Kexin, the Chinese girl who is allegedly reported to be under the age of 16, wins the gold medal over American, Nastia Liukin, who was actually tied for the gold. Why was Liukin denied? Because the judges felt that there couldn't be two gold medalists and therefore, decided to allow Kexin the gold because she had the least marginal error during her routine. I bet you if China was the one who had the higher error, the judges probably would had gave double gold medals. Not to make myself sound like a typical angry American, that's just my two cents. I didn't see diving, but I thought it was kinda fishy that they nearly swept the diving competition. Some people online did say that sometimes judges gave good scores when the Chinese did poorly while other countries that did better ended up having lower scores. Oh well, I can only take this issue with a grain of salt.

To close this part, USA did drop the ball often. They should had dominated the Track and Field. Still, USA did dominate the overall medals in Track and field. Its just that they could had earned a couple more gold medal victories in this category to give the Chinese a run for their money and honor. No one is to blame I guess, but what was up with those preliminary rounds of dropping those relay sticks? It wasn't just the Americans, but other countries decided to mimic the Americans as well. Despite the fake pyrotechnics, lip syncing girl, China not loosening their foreign policy on the 8 detained Americans, and the controversial age and rulings, the Olympics in Beijing reminds us once again that the world can put aside their differences and compete in friendly, sporting events. Minus the Cuban guy kicking the ref, however.

2) Tropic Thunder

Nothing much to say here just that the film was good. The film does fall flat every now and then, boring me here and there. I came to reason that you probably have to be a big fan of Ben Stiller and Jack Black to comprehend all the fart and disgusting shenanigans they muscle in. Not to say they weren't funny at all, its just that I felt like they tried too hard at times. Still, Robert Downey Jr stole the show as Kirk Lazuras, an Australian actor who is playing the lead black person in the film. Downey Jr. really portrays a black dude pretty well. Not to mention, he really looks like one. I feel like stopping now so go watch the film if you haven't. The introduction is really humorous, then the middle drags a little, but overall, ends with a pretty impressive bang. Once again, a good film

Quickie #6The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

2008-08-02T21:38:00.000-10:00

I guess most movies can't end with just a sequel anymore. The standard requirement for a franchise is a trilogy these days, no matter how long it takes for you to develop it.
I must say that I join the list of people who probably preferred Imhotep, the villian from the first two Mummy movies. Don't get me wrong, Jet Li was terrific in his role as the callous emperor of China. Sadly, he hardly got much screen time and the director doesn't exactly expand on his role much, reducing his screen time to characters like Alex O'Connell, Rick O'Connell's twenty-one year old son. The actor who portrayed Alex was good, but like most internet users complained, he looked almost the same age as Brendan Fraser. Another disappointment was the disappearance of Rachel Weisz, who played the original wife of Fraser in the first two Mummy movies, Evelyn. Mario Bello just didn't feel right as Evelyn. Not to mention, she has a more jumpy personality than the original Evelyn character. The biggest disappointment was the usage of the three-headed dragon you see in the trailers. He comes out for a brief time and that's it; Jet Li transforms into the dragon, btw. During the final battle, you figure that he would morph into the dragon to fend off his adversaries. Of course he doesn't, though. You'll see what I mean when, and if you ever watch this film.

As for the plot, it feels forced from the beginning till the end. What made the first two Mummy movies spectacular was its intriguing, suspenseful, and adventurous environment. Tomb of the Dragon Emperor lacked all of them for the most part. Some parts felt recycled from the first two films. Like another poster said online, "They were going through the motions until Fraser goes one on one with Jet Li." Even the final battle was anti-climatic. The movie lacked many explanations like who were these abominable snow creatures and where did they come from? I would had wanted to see a reason for their inclusion. Overall, the movie just lacked a backbone to back up what could had been a decent story. Like what my friend told me, this film is like reading off a storybook.

The forgotten movie quickie: Quickie#5

2008-07-30T19:46:00.000-10:00

Superhero Movie

I just remembered to add this film to my already saw list. I saw this flick earlier when it was released in theaters and what did I think of it? Honestly, spoof movies are really a great time to lose 2 hours of your life. So, you probably know my answer by now. That's probably the reason why I forgot to add this in the first place. Oh well, at least Pamela looks great as Invisible Woman.

Movie Quickies #4

2008-07-27T15:20:00.000-10:00

Get Smart

Caught this one earlier this month. Nothing usual except the Steve Carell shtick. Anne Hathaway is gorgeous here I'll say. The movie trailers are quite misleading making us feel that Agent 99 (Carell) is a bumbling idiot, but things are not portrayed the way they are in the movie. Entertaining flick, but formulaic plot and forgettable.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The comic book films are on a rise! Hellboy II doesn't disappoint, although the Golden Army kinda does, appearing for a very brief 10 mins or so. The action is jam-packed and Prince Nuada, the villain played by Luke Goss(Nomak in Blade II), steals the show here. Inane dialog and acting plague the movie now and then, but overall, a good sequel.

The Dark Knight

I know, I know. I should be reviewing this deeply. I don't have the time anymore so I'm just going to make it quick. This is the best comic-book of the year. I'm amazed that this is turning out to be a good summer for movies. The Joker, portrayed by the late Heath Ledger, is the highlight of this film. Every time his presence takes screen, chills can be felt throughout the atmosphere. Ledger captures the clown prince maniacally brilliant. One of the negative attributes about the The Dark Knight is the film's overall run time. The Dark Knight clocks in nearly 2hrs and 30 minutes, making it feel a tad too long. Another negative aspect is Christian Bale's forced 'voice' as the Batman. Still, the positives outweigh the disadvantages. See this movie now!

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

2008-06-30T19:14:00.000-10:00

I remember seeing the trailer for this film abundantly during my CompUSA days in the home theater section. How could I not forget? I waited for this film ever since the beginning of Summer 2007 only to find out that this film was released February of 2008. By the time then, my patience had already worn thin. Since it arrived on dvd I figured I scope out the film since I missed it in theaters. If you've seen the trailer, then you already know that Jack Black magnetizes all the VHS tapes in store known as Be Kind Rewind managed by Danny Glover and Mos Def. To rectify the situation, Mos Def decides to re-shoot the films under his and Jack Blacks image. The results are a success and business for the soon-to-be-forgotten VHS store booms once again. However, by erasing the corporate-owned tapes and splicing in their own footage possessed dire consequences to the duo and the people who effortlessly pitched in. No one is forever a winner I guess.

The premise is set up nicely. The films characters are likable, although Jack Black acts like Jack Black as always, so this may be bad or good for those who like or don't like him. The film is shot decently although the recorded footage they shoot are presented in old fashioned VHS quality. I guess it does make more sense since this film is based on VHS.

However, the film does have its bad aspects. The film isn't overtly long and that is actually the bad thing for once. The film starts off slow and by the time the main stars transform into local stars, they start to lose their business due to copyright infringement. I would had wanted to see the duo film a couple more movies and showcase any outtakes they did to warrant their finalized products. Overall, the film isn't nonchalant nor is it memorizing. The film catches and loses the audiences interest in some areas. Besides some laughter the next best part, although sad, is the ending scene. I won't spoil this but at least it brings a good closure to the film.

Final Words: Entertaining flick that could had been more. There are barely any features on the dvd. If you could mind the slow start, the desire for more cinematography in the middle and the sad ending, I say give this film a go.

Movie Quickie#3

2008-06-17T20:00:00.000-10:00

The Incredible Hulk

Out with the old and in with the new. The big green machine returns to the big screen breaking stuff and even more stuff! This film is a reboot and severes its ties to the horrendous 2003 version made by Ang lee, director of the controversial Lust, Caution. Fans of the Hulk may be a little disappointed in the 2008 version due to the fact that Hulk appears only a couple times, but once he comes out, he wreaks havoc and that should be enough to satisfy fans. Don't forget Hulk challenges Abomination. Who wouldn't like to see two brutes tear the city apart? In general, the film feels like an overtly long chase sequence that also builds on Bruce Banner and Betsy Ross's relationship. Whether this could be bad or good, it is better than the drastically boring 2003 version. The 2003 Hulk took too long to build its character development and once Bruce became the Hulk, it just wasn't interesting. once again, it was dull and boring for 3/4s of the film. The cast in the 2008 version seems to be more lively than their 2003 counterparts, which probably led to its overall negative critique. Final word: The Incredible Hulk is not the best movie this year, but light years ahead of Ang Lee's version.

Movie Recap#2 quickies

2008-06-09T21:11:00.001-10:00

You don't mess with the Zohan

There is a saying and it goes like this, As long as the name, Adam Sandler, is present in a film that looks like a comedy, people will flock the theaters to see it. Given its 40 million box office gross debut, you figure it truly be a hit, right? WTF was Sandler thinking? This movie was nothing more than a cheap way to earn a quick buck. Honestly, I didn't see Now I pronounce you Chuck and Larry, but I heard it was a good film. The last film I saw from Sandler was Click and that was a good and funny film. Zohan, on the other hand is mediocre at best. The film feels like a parody of Spider-man 3 where the plot is over-filled with sub-plots. There is no connectivity whatsoever. Most of the humor in here is totally forced, plus, there is alot of eye rolling, sexual references and innuendos repeated throughout the course of the film. Do yourself a favor and rent this first.

Kung-Fu Panda

If its any film that is going to prevent Zohan from placing #1 during it debut, its Kung-Fu Panda. Honestly, although this film is better than Sandler's Anti-terrorist film, it is an rushed product, predictable, mildly funny, and most of all, just for kids genre. Sadly, Jackie Chan barely has any lines in this film and I was hoping to hear from him more. The characters never really got a chance to truly shine among one another. This film is just Jack Black (Po the Panda) and that's about it. The animation is terrific and I give Dreamworks that, but sorely, a better plot plus more substance would had greatly improved the film.

Quick movie (theatrical) recap so far spoilers

2008-05-19T19:46:00.000-10:00

Untraceable

Saw this on a sneak preview earlier this year. And what do I have to say? Although the execution is performed "Saw" like style, the story falls flat after the murderer reveals himself halfway during the movie. Where's the suspense, I tell ya?

Jumper

Although the concept is interesting, the director of this film failed to make any reason why we should care about teh characters depicted in the film. The acting, most of all, is banal. The only person anyone would enjoy seeing on-screen is none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Hayden Christensen, as always, is dull. He can't seem to get mad worth for jack in any of his films when he is supposed to. Rachel Bilson just seemed totally lost throughout the movie.

The Forbidden Kingdom

Where do I start? I guess I should begin with the white kid. That was the major complaint from start to finish for most movie-goers. It was Jet Li who actually told the director to add the kid to attract western audiences. But it was probably best that the film was left without him. TFK storyline is comprised of loose interpretations of Chinese myths and folktales. The primary story consists of freeing the legendary Monkey King. Although the martial arts here were displayed brilliantly, the story felt too much like a western film. A lot of the jokes were stale and unfunny. I just hope someday Hollywood would accept a movie with just Asian actors doing what they do best rather than trying to put un-necessary humor, dumbed-down plots, and pointless American people.

Iron-Man

Iron-man is by far the best theatrical movie I've seen so far this year. Could had used a little more action and definetly could had spiced up the weak love scenes, although the love scenes weren't too much of an importance. Iron-man follows the comics fairly well despite the fact that the origins of Iron-man began during the Vietnam War. There Tony Stark aka Iron-man met James Rhodes aka War Machine. Rhodes, however, is part of the U.S. military in this film, so no biggie. Not to mention, Iron-mans main nemesis was the Mandarin. Overall, a recommended film to see if you haven't.

15 yrs ago....

2008-05-08T20:50:00.001-10:00

One of the greatest Batman animated films of all time debuted on the big screen. Sadly, the movie flopped in the box office; most sources indicate the lack of advertisement caused the film to go un-noticed to movie-goers. Luckily, the film became a big hit upon shelf rentals and laser-disc sales in the year of 1994. The film became a hit again upon its dvd release in 1999.

My gripe here is that I own the dvd and it has outstanding video and audio quality, but the one part it surely lacks is the supplements. Most Batman fans recognize this as the best Batman animated film of all-time. In the Batman Franchise, some say its quality is only outmatched to that of Batman Begins. Still, thats a commendable job from Bruce Timm(one of the shows creators and producers) and his team. And don't forget that this is 15 yrs ago, another amazing feat accomplished for its time! Getting back to the supplements, however, this film needs a special edition treatment. Its about time the Dark Knight is given his proper due for this movie. Not to mention, Warner Brothers owes it to fans like me and many others. Possibly a 20th anniversary edition in 2013, don't ya think?

Racism...

2008-04-16T20:56:00.000-10:00

I love how the word is used. It's more like we choose to use it on whoever we want to and not using to address the general issue, which is one's color.

Recently a French actress got sued for saying Racist remarks about Islam and she may be fined heavily for it. Mmkay, so if someone said something bad about Christianity or Buddhism, can I sue them for Racism? I remember I spoke out my dislike for Islam in college, and quickly, the teacher and some fat girl labeled me a racist. WTF?!? Did I say I hate Arab people? I merely said I don't like the religion that is called Islam. Is Arab people the only people who believe in Islam? No, right? There is black, white, cuban and Asians that believe in that religion, okay? Call it discrimination or hatred of one's beliefs, but ain't now way it is racist.

People get reprimanded for saying bad stuff about Islam. Yeah, its okay to bash Christians or Buddhists ,perhaps, but full of crap I tell ya about how this world thinks. This world is so double-standard. Once again, if a Christian extremist bombs a building, the whole Christian community/world gets blamed and condemned. If Islam blows up things and kill in the name of Muhammad, then we have idiots like Bush preaching, "Islam is a peaceful religion." Screwed-up world we live in.

That's all folks.....for now.

Terence

The racist casting of 21

2008-03-26T18:38:00.000-10:00

I don't want to make this a big deal, but it is depressing to see Hollywood at a racist gag again. The original and true story of 21, which was called Bringing down the House, comprised mainly of Asian American M.I.T. students. If I remember right, there was one Caucasian guy and one Caucasian girl too.

Here's what I found out: When producers and script writers discovered the plot to be a bunch of mainly Asian guys and one blond girl, they frowned on the concept and decided to revamp the characters the other way around, mainly White guys and one Asian girl; although Kate Bosworth is playing the blond girl in the film. So there are two girls actually. During a last minute casting, most people believed that casting directors involved Aaron Yoo to the project just to add a little more diversity.

Well, jokes on Hollywood because many Asian Americans are angry at the change. What could had been a good opportunity to include Asian men into Hollywood has once again failed. Hollywood film makers cleverly tried to market this film as an inspiration. Wow! Remember that other film I bashed that claimed itself as an inspiration.

My comments: Frankly, I'm not too distraught over this issue, but it does pain me to see that Asian men aren't getting the recognition as of today in Hollywood. Why is it that America still have a problem with colored men and White women? But why is it alright to visualize White guys and colored women? Oh well, I'm not going to tell anyone what to do about this film. See it if you want. For me, it's kinda distracting to learn all this, so I felt like I had to put in my two cents. Take care and don't stop loving one another.

The abridged storytelling of Resident Evil.

2008-03-20T18:54:00.000-10:00

Was Resident Evil 4 the first RE game you ever played? After playing RE 4, did you wonder what the first 3 installments were like? I did and Capcom released Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles a few months ago to re-tell the events prior to Resident Evil 4. Consider this Resident Evil for dummies.

Long story cut short, Resident Evil: UC fuses Resident Evil Zero, one, three and Umbrella's destruction. The latter being the only exclusive chapter to this game. Rather than making the game survival this time around, the game is a straight up On-Rails shooter, something that is similar to the likes of The House of the Dead series. Heck, they both involve zombies. The actual gameplay pits one or two players against a massive fleet of zombie, grotesque experiements and familiar bosses within 22 levels of straight shoot-em up; though some stages can only be unlocked if you obtained a good ranking and some emerge upon completion of the game. Speaking of ranking, you get graded by five objectives: time(how fast you can complete the stage), enemies killed(kill as much as you can), critical shots (works on zombies only-headshots btw), destroyed objects(break as much stuff as possible) and destroyed files (find them all). If the player can meet the requirements per stage, you get a high ranking, as well as more points to upgrade any acquired weapons, which are crucial in helping to achieve your desired rank. The player can achieve up to an S rank, the highest throughout the game. Try guess what happens if you achieve an S rank on the hard mode for all 22 stages? Its quite a blast, literally.

I found this game difficult at first, but eventually, my persistance kicked in. I have never played the previous RE entries prior to 4, so I was not too familiar with the T-Virus scenerio. What I did find out is that this game left out many details which angered many faithful followers of the originals. Besides the missing Resident Evil 2, Capcom, according to fans, retconned some of the stages and storytelling, especially Resident Evil 3. Too much to explain here, but if you did your research, many fans will tell you that the Resident Evil 3 stages in UC did not occur in the previous series. The stages of Resident Evil 3 Capcom used was that of Resident Evil: Outbreak, another backstory of the RE series. Some characters are missing in the game as fans taunt Capcom of "being lazy" to include everyone to the fray. As mentioned earlier, I never got a chance to play the original RE entries, so I am unfamiliar in this territory.

Last thoughts: This game is released only for the Wii, so don't bother looking for it on the PS 2 or cube for that matter. I know some people may disagree with me, but the game is best played without the Wii Zapper; I have yet to try Nyko's Perfect Shot. You can either play with the Wii remote itself or the duo combination of the remote and nunchuk. The choice is yours. The controls work fine, btw. As for the game itself, if you don't mind the alterations Capcom did to the storyline then you got a 30+ hour game...providing that you are trying to collect all files and trying to achieve an S ranking overall on all stages. I got an S rank overall on all the modes, so I am bored with this game and ready to move on. Bring on Resident Evil 5 already!

Tales of random things...

2008-03-17T00:38:00.000-10:00

So I got bored again and decided to try out some new things for my Wii. What did I do? I decided to purchase the Nyko Intercooler for the Wii and here is what I thought of it.

Pros: Easy to connect and set up. Really cools and does its job very well. Nice design and $15 ain't too shabby.

Cons: Fan is somewhat loud with an annoying whirring sound. The internal Wii fan does a moderate job in cooling, so this peripheral maybe is un-necessary. Fan still runs after pressing the power button off, and can only be turned off by pulling the Wii power cord.

Bottom line: Unless if you tend to turn up the game volume, the fan can be annoying at times. $15 is the retail price although you can pick it up for under $10 in the Amazon Market place. One thing that buged me is that the Xbox 360 intercooler, also released by Nyko, caused 360 systems to crash. Will the Wii version be any different? Rather than plugging in the cord to a USB port, you plug the cord through what they call a "pass-through" utilizing the A.C.. Some Wii owners have speculated this method being detrimental because it shares power with the normal A.C., generating less power needed for gameplay or graphics. So far, everything seems to be a-okay. Let's pray it stays that way. At least I know that my Wii won't overheat since I got an external cooler. If you don't mind the negative aspects about this fan then "game on."

What I have been doing?

2008-03-05T00:04:00.001-10:00

Nothing much. Workout here and there, playing and trying to complete all 120 stars on Super Mario Galaxy, and contemplating suicide. Hee hee... just joking on the latter part. This is what happens when you are jobless, you tend to fricken have too much time to spare. Not saying it's a bad thing because I get to catch up on my workout.

Yeah, it's hard to get a good job here in Hawaii because there are too many rules and restrictions employers make. I have to go through agencies to help me find jobs but most jobs they find me aren't what I am looking for. Either way, you need a hook-up. It's painful to even hear somebody's cousins and families, who got Master Degrees, drive THE BUS for their jobs. I'm not lying about this. I heard this specifically from someone on a Yahoo board voicing his opinion on Hawaii's job market. Oh well, what else can I say, although I lack faith during these recent years, pray to God for he has the answers to your job search. Maybe I should walk the path of faith again. I have nothing to lose, right?

Take care for now. The next time I write a blog, it probably be a review on Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. As Mario would say, "See you next time!"

Spider-man 3 Blu-ray quickie

2008-02-14T23:04:00.000-10:00

Spider-man 3 may not be the best installment of the Spider-man franchise, but sure as heck, it certainly has an outstanding release on Blu-ray. If you own a blu-ray player, give Spider-man 3 a view. I'm not telling anyone that this is a definite buy due to the negativity fans and critics felt at this film, but to preview the blu-ray version because of its vibrant, spectacular video quality. Some people can't see the difference between the 480p standard dvd releases and the 1080p high def releases, but I sure can and 108op is one helluva makeover. Well, not as much as the VHS comparison to dvd, but still, Blu-ray does the job nicely.

Another thing is that the audio is energetically loud. I don't have a surround system but the audio is more crisp and clear on blu-ray in contrast to the standard Spidey 3 dvd release. Did I forget to mention that the audio is loud?

I have yet to view the supplements on the special features disc so I can't positively or negatively speak out on this department. From what I heard though is that all special features on blu-ray is presentated in 480p. What could possibly make the blu-ray version unique is that there may be hidden easter eggs.

That's it for now. I don't intend on reviewing the film because I already done it a year ago. I hope to review Blood Diamond soon for Blu-ray, although I heard the picture quality doesn't appear as smooth as Spidey 3's. Still, I couldn't pass up on the $15 price tag advertised by Best Buy. For those who are wondering, I do own Spider-man 3 on standard and high-def. I got the latter through my brothers friend as a Christmas gift. Laters.

Currently playing and trying to beat: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles ( WII)

Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (April 4, 1979- January 22, 2008)

2008-01-22T23:54:00.000-10:00

Sad day for Hollywood as Heathcliff Andrew Ledger, or Heath Ledger to many, has passed away. It was really disheartening to hear such news. Mr Ledger was starting to become a promising and prominent actor. Although I found Brokeback Mountain, the only film I saw him in, an okay movie, Ledger was fantastic. The funny thing is that I couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time (subtitles, thank you) , but nevertheless, he was magnificent and truly a work of art. It sucks now that I will be watching Batman:Dark Knight, which hits theaters this summer, knowing that the Joker has died. Mr. Ledger died too young as Hollywood has this tendency to devour the young. Come to think of it, remember Brandon Lee? He died 14 years ago at the age of 28.

R.I.P. Ledger. Prayers go out to you and your family.

What were you expecting?

2008-01-20T22:33:00.000-10:00

It's Underdog! And this movie was meant to be a kids/family flick. Honestly, if you lowered your expectations, this movie played out fine. Not bad, nor is it great. The film I have to admit is full of cliche's and trite acting. Once again, what were you expecting on a kids/family film. My only real complaint was that I saw this film on Full-screen. Sit back and enjoy this flick for what it is, a friendly, cutesy flick.

The King of Fighters 94 (Virtual Console review)

2008-01-10T23:03:00.000-10:00

Just when you thought Street Fighter was the only virtual console fighting game, in comes Neo Geo's The King of Fighters 94.

This is the first of all fighters to introduce the 3-on-3 fighting system, although you do have the choice to play single player. The game features 8 teams who represent a specific country in a similar fashion to that of Street Fighter. Those teams are England, America, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Italy and China. Those who are familiar with Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury will remember characters such as Joe Higashi, Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Yuri Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Kyo Sakazaki, Andy Bogard, and some others etc... The tournament is hosted by Rugal Bernstein who seeks the worthiest fighters for himself to crush in the finale. Rugal is also responsible for defeating Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser prior to this KOF 94 tournament.

The game, imo, hasn't aged well. The sprites looks more of a beta version to the more outstanding King of Fighters 96. The music here is mediocre at best. Although memorable in some ways, most of the tracks found here got a better remix later on in the series giving it more soul and edge. The game play seems to be a bit slow when comparing to its successors. The worst part of this game is that some of the moves have ridiculous and complex commands. Out of frustration, I relied on using normal airborne attacks to damage my foes. Eventually, the CPU will utilize cheap reversals to knock your attacks out of the sky. Not to mention, this game introduces the first ever "Snk boss syndrome." Basically, the boss in this game is very cheap. And thanks to this game, the cheap boss tradition had an annoying transition to the later series. Anyone who also loved the later series will be bitching and moaning in this very first KOF because you do not have the ability to customize your own team. Once you choose, lets say, the Italy team, you are stuck with the Bogard brothers and Joe Higashi. What's awkward about this is why in the blue hell is the "Fatal Fury" team representing Italy? Why on earth is King, Mai, and Yuri representing England? The same goes for others. Last, but not least, the game allows you to only continue 3 times. So if you happen to use up all your 3 continues, it is game over and you start all over again. You figure after paying $9(900 Wii points) for this game, Neo Geo could had freed up the credit limitations.

Overall, KoF 94 is legendary and a classic. Although it is great to see the roots of this franchise, one can't help but to call this game a rough draft. If you want to see how the series started, by all means, download this on your Virtual Console, although I think the $9 price tag is quite ludicrous. The same complaint applies to all Virtual Console games. Those who want a more beefed up version with better looking sprites might as well wait until they release King of Fighters 96, my personal favorite of the series.

For now, KoF 94 should satisfy long time fans of the franchise.

Final Score: 7/10.

Merry Christmas folks!

2007-12-23T01:10:00.000-10:00

Play it safe and have a Happy New Year!

Resident Evil 4 update.

2007-12-13T23:56:00.000-10:00

WOOT! I beated the game twice. One with Ada, and one with Leon, of course. Upon completion of the game, you unlock Professional mode; Mercenaries; Assignment Ada; and Seperate Ways. The only mode I've yet to play is the Mercernaries mode. Ada Wong is your chosen character in Assignment Ada and Seperate Ways. In Seperate Ways, you play as Ada and discover what she was doing or planning when Leon was doing this or that. Basically, you'll play and see the side of her story during the events of RE:4. Playing as Ada is quite challenging because it takes only 1 or 2 hits to kill her. So be ever vigilant, thats all I have to say. Fun game once again and a lot of replay value. You get to unlock some powerful weapons when you beat different modes. Pick this up now if you still haven't.

Compusa (1984-2008)

2007-12-10T09:51:00.000-10:00

Well, first things first, I ain't giving a history lesson about how the company started out as Soft Warehouse and then it became CompUSA in 1991, although I kinda just did. Sure, I had problems with this company, but tell me which company doesn't have its fair share of problems. It's sad to see this company go down. The store I worked in was the number 1 store in the region, with the Pearl Highlands store coming in 2nd. However, two stores can't carry the entire fleet of CompUSA nationwide. There are quite some insensitive people on the web who are non-lameting the loss of CompUSA because they had one or two bad experiences there. Don't forget that thousands of employees will be jobless, especially in a season where it is difficult to obtain jobs. Also, CompUSA had far better service than Bestbuy and Circuit City. Majority vote from people online or locally, you can't get help or any semi-knowledgable service at those stores, but at Comps, you see the opposite. I admit there are bad and lazy workers at Comps, but what store hasn't? In this case, I shouldn't care about the insensitive freaks because what comes around, goes around. I've heard of customers taunting Comp managers in their face about how they are going to lose their jobs and people saying we deserve shutdown because of our terrible customer service. HA! Good luck once again in BestBuy or Circuit City. You'll be more disappointed. And for those who think it is funny to tease people about losing their jobs, I won't feel sorry for you if you lost yours all of a sudden. With Compusa gone, most people will now have to shop online for most of their computer periphals because BestBuy and Circuit City does not carry everything , Comps did!

All in All, it was a great ride. I've experienced turmoil here and there, but once again, who hasn't? CompUSA wasn't perfect but it was definetly the king of all computer stores.

Game of the Month (possibly the year)!

2007-11-28T02:18:00.000-10:00

Well, this probably comes as no surprise. Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii is no doubt one of the best platformers made for the video game industry, Nintendo to be exact. For the time being I ain't gonna review this game because I am still having heaps of fun! If you own a Wii, don't delay, pick up your copy today!

This is one freaky game!

2007-11-21T01:43:00.000-10:00

Players:1
Developer: Capcom
Year: 2007 ( Wii version)
Controls: Wii Nunchuk+Remote, Gamecube Controller.
Other notes: Supports 16:9, 480p support. ( I don't have Widescreen, so I ain't reviewing video)

Have you ever scoured a room, or area and felt a strange presence, only to turn around and find a deranged looking homocidal maniac carrying an axe trying to split you in two? Well, this is that game: Resident Evil 4: Wii edition.

The game starts off with U.S. Secret Agent Leon Kennedy, a survivor of the Racoon City incident, whose goal is to help the president find his missing daughter in this strange, remote village. As Leon arrives, he witnesses some of his comrades slaughtered. You control Leon at this point shooting every crazed villager trying to hack and slash you. RE4 does not deal with zombies this time around. Instead, you deal with humans that are parasitically infected by some uncanny-looking alien things . As the plot progresses, you'll learn that Leon's blood is somehow related to these lunatics, spicing things up a bit. That is all I can explain for now because I haven't gone far into the game, but you can tell I'm having a blast at the moment (no pun intended). However, there are elements that make the game synonymous with the name 'evil'. You go through many crazed villagers, even a chainsaw freak that can kill you with one swipe, beheading you in the process. It takes alot of bullets to give this guy a dirtnap, even the mighty shotgun may take so time. So far, I fought only two gargantuan creatures. The first one puts that "placid lake" alligator to shame. This boss was totally vexing to fight against. It took me a couple tries to finally sink this behemoth to the depths of the lake. The worse part about this fight is that you are limited to using fish harpoons as your weapon. So you mean I can't use my grenade? That is correct and wtf(rick) were you thinking Capcom! The other boss I've encountered was this ugly looking golem that won't rest to he bashes and grinds your bones to whatever he pleases. Although I beat the Golem looking dude in one try, I relied heavily on health plants. You will need alot of health boosts to survive in this game, btw. I won't dwell too much into details because your mission is to litterally upgrade weapons and pump as much bullets into your opponents, survival also pivotal. Other methods of attacks include kicks, knife attacks for up-close confrontations, assorted grenade and flash bombs, Rocket Launchers, and perhaps, other stuff I haven't found yet.

Wii exclusive:
This is the first time I've ever played a Resident Evil game and it rocks. This is also that game where it gets your adrenaline pumped up and ready to blow some heads, but in the mean time, this is also a game that gives you the chills. Well, let's get to the Wii facts. From what I heard, there is nothing added to the Wii edition, except for motion controls. The motion controls work fine and I am using the Wii blaster shell to fully immerse myself to the game. Due to the Wii blaster structure being longer and heavier, it limits my mobility a bit, though, I get better accuracy and precision. To use the motion sensing in this game, first of all you control your movement using the Nunchuk. In order for you to kick or shoot you have to hold the B button on the Remote. A recticle will appear and you can fire (while holding B down) with the A button. If you manage to stun an enemy, and run up to him, the word "kick" will appear on screen. Press the A button to use this close and personal counter tactic. This will help you save ammunition for other dire needs. It packs quite a punch and disables some baddies on short notice. Another cool feature from what I heard is that if you manage to shoot the baddies legs, while he is hobbling, Leon can suplex him. Haven't done this yet, though. In order for you to perform a 'quick swipe', you wave the remote quickly. If you want to use the knife for longer durations, you press and hold C on the Nunchuk and then start waving with the remote. This is a good crowd control manuever against enemies whom can surround you at instances (cue the "whoa" yelling part). Take note that while holding the B button, you could use the joystick to look all around the area. This is vital in finding some items, either for money or a special prize. In some cut scenes, you are required to wave the remote to escape certain death traps, or if you are struggling with an enemy. Failure to do so will result in major health loss or even death. Sometimes you may have to press some buttons in order to escape. So be ever vigilant. This game is basically the same as its Gamecube and Playstation 2 counterparts. The Wii edition has the Gamecube graphics, PS 2 Exclusives, and motion controls. Additionally, anyone that don't feel like using the remote and nunchuk can use the Gamecube controller as an alternative choice. However, that will spoil the fun.

Notes: This game features unlocked content. Although I haven't progressed far into the game, most bonuses appear after beating the game, according to online sources and the game's manual.

Overall: Great game. I love it. Simply that. If ya smell what Leon is shooting!!!!

Star Fox 64

2007-11-08T23:56:00.000-10:00

Well, I decided to review something Wii related. Well, sorta. Star Fox 64 came out during the N64 days and is still considered a classic scroll-em up shooter today.

You begin the game piloting Fox Mccloud driving an Arwing(your primary vehicle), a submarine called Blue Marine and the Land Master(tank). Fox is supported by 3 members: Peppy(long time veteran and friend of Fox's dad), Falco(Whose mouth can be troubling), and Slippy(who is trouble, period). Together you combat the antagonist, Andross, through 15 levels of exhilarating shoot-em and blow-em up action, to prevent the mad ape from grasping an iron-fist throughout the Lylat System. However, you cannot play all 15 levels in one playthrough. There are set paths you must choose depending on the goals and missions you've satsified or failed to complete in every given stage. Star Fox 64 is the sequel to the Super Nes game, Star Fox, and prequel to the later Nintendo DS and Gamecube sequels. There isn't much for me to say about this game but it is fun, although not terribly challenging until you play expert mode. However, in order to get expert mode you must acquire a certain amount of kills per stage. You also must keep your comrades alive in every stage as well. Remember when I said Slippy is trouble? Yeah, it will be tough to preserve his sorry azz every now and then. Actually, your teammates suck azz, period. They can't shoot for squat. You end up saving their azzes most of the time, albeit getting caught in friendly fire, oh, umm, let's say, EVERYTIME! Still, the positives outweight the disadvantages. I've bought the Gamecube sequel titled: Star Fox Assault, but I've yet to play it yet. I heard it wasn't as memorizing as the 64 version, or the Super Nes one for that matter. Thankfully, the Wii can play cube games, so I'll just pop Assault in sometime if I feel like it. There is a multi-player mode in Star Fox 64, but you need 4 players in order to make this feature worthwhile. Overall, this game is a two thumbs up! This game will definetly give you a lot of replayability as there are some secrets to unlock and other missions to explore. Give Star Fox 64 a try if you haven't.

3 ways to play Star Fox 64: 1)Self-explanatory if you own a Nintendo 64 system. 2)It is currently available for the Wii shopping channel for 1000 Wii points(approx $10 U.S.). 3)N64 emulators. I am not condoning this method but it's not like you won't find out about it anyway. Besides, they already got a GameboyAdvance emulator. Whoops! Said too much.

At Long Last!!!

2007-10-17T18:59:00.000-10:00

When you thought it would never happen, it finally did! After 10 long grueling years the rumors were put to rest. Street Fighter IV has come! Although there isn't much details on the project yet, it's still a jovial moment for Street Fighter fans all over the globe. Anyone interested in the teaser trailer, copy the link below and paste it as your URL. Enjoy!

http://media.wii.ign.com/media/142/14211547/vids_1.html

or here it is on youtube. Lower quality though.

Heartbreak Kid (2007)

2007-10-16T16:13:00.000-10:00

If you've seen one Scorsese Gangster film, chances are you've already seen'em all. If you've seen a Farrelly brothers movie, then chances are you've seen all their movies as well. Me, Myself, and Irene was a humorous film. Stuck on You provided a new insight which was a good coordinated story alongside a decent amount of laughter. Heartbreak Kid, which is a remake of a 1972 film, tries to capture the same essence of Stuck on You with a little touch of Me, Myself, and Irene. Ultimately, this formula grows stale and unfunny. I have nothing against Ben Stiller and clearly, he deserves better than this trite comedy. Stiller is forced to play with a lot of forced humor, humor that isn't funny most of the time. I only found myself chuckling occasionally, although there is one scene, which is a tribute to old-school humor that cracked me up for a good two minutes. The story is insipid to follow through to allow anyone in the audience to care. The characters aren't as cool as previous Farrelly incarnations. Sadly, I found myself enjoying Good Luck Chuck more than this movie and that's sad. The Farrelly brothers are capable of doing much more, but it may seem plausibly that their journey may have ended with this film.

One Year Anniversary

2007-10-06T17:43:00.000-10:00

Yep. It's been one year since The Departed came out and it still SUCKS Donkey Balls! Like what the Angry Video Game Nerd said in one of his video game critiques, "It's like Diahrea coming out of my dick!"

Those who claim it's better than the original clearly loves Martin Scorsese (he's only human), un-necessary violence, and pointless vulgarity. Shows how dumb most Americans are.

Oh well, make sure to pick up a copy of The Decrapted(formerly Departed) and burn it today!

And btw, Have a nice day!

Good Luck Chuck (2007)

2007-10-02T12:04:00.000-10:00

What? So you decided to watch this film? Had nothing to watch, really. Saw Gameplan earlier and didn't feel like watching the The Kingdom. So what was left? You guessed it. I won't go much into details about this film as the trailer already revealed what there is to know about. There is a lot of sexual humor and some innuendos here and there. There is even an overtly long porno scene. Not kidding, you see Dane Cook's buns, bunch of boobies(you get a side shot of Alba's boob but no nipple), and an abundance of sexual positions. You just got to see this scene for yourself. I'm not promoting it but if I wanted to see a porn film, I would had downloaded one off the net. The fascinating thing about this film is Jessica Alba's curse and it doesn't hold a candle for long. Half-way during the movie, we are all taught to just forget that her curse ever existed. So, I guess all those forced humor in the beginning about her bad luck towards herself and Dane Cook was nothing but forced humor. The last half of the film is basically the guy trying to win the girl's heart and trying not to lose her. I must have missed something, but otherwise it would had been better to have the movie focus on how both character's curses would coincide and remedy each other before the happy ending. Felt like two different subplots within the entire movie.

Overall: Okay film. I wouldn't give this film anything over a 5/10. It's hilarious every now and then, although the film becomes your tedious chick flick down the road. I think the only positive message about this film is "letting go" and it's time to let me go out and get a drink. Just make sure you stay towards the end. There is digusting, but yet humorous ending featuring Dane Cook and a stuff Penguin.

Resident Evil:Extinction (2007).

2007-09-28T11:12:00.000-10:00

Of the string of final 3's this year, is Resident Evil: Extinction worth the price of admission? Well, that's simple to answer because if you didn't like the first two, or hated just the second one for that matter, then you will feel apathetic towards this film. The movie's plot and battles suffices in the desert, so there is lesser infrastructure or city-like places this time around. The human race is on the verge of extinction after the world is infected by the T-Virus. It's also 5 years since the events of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Alice(Milla Jovavich) and a bunch of survivors are trying to venture to Alaska, where they believe that Human life isn't affected by the T-Virus. Of course, the ever-scheming Umbrella Corporation, who now hides underground, seeks to find a cure for the Virus by trying to capture Alice. Her blood is the key to controlling the flesh-eating zombies of the world. Some new things are added to this film from which I won't divulge much into. You got Alice and her new telekinetic powers, super-zombies, and one of the baddies turning into Tyrant. Oh, btw, no Jill Valentine as most of you already know.

Overall: Decent end to the franchise, I guess. Extinction doesn't exactly end properly as a trilogy, and the ending leaves a bunch of fresh air open for a fourth installment. The movie isn't brilliant or dumb, but there isn't much to get excited this time around. The action is aplenty, the story is fairly existant, and the only thing the movie is truly deviod of, is, a new direction. The only difference between Extinction and Apocalypse is the extensive locations and characters used. The whole movie just revolves around survival, the same concept utilized in previous installments. Still, the idea of us turning into flesh-eating undead is eerie. Don't forget the fact that the entire world is already at stake. Thank God this is just a movie. If you enjoyed the first two, or love to see a zombie getting it's throat slit, Resident Evil:Extinction is the ideal movie....until the next one comes out.

The Game Plan quickie Some spoilers

2007-09-25T00:46:00.000-10:00

Caught this film on a Sneek Peek Thursday. I don't have much qualms about this film except it's your typical get-together-Disney flick. It's predictable and mushy throughout the movie's entire run. What did you expect? It's Disney! The synopsis of the film is basically, Joe Kingman(The Rock), has to take care of a daughter he never knew he had. He has to juggle his work, fun time, and child rearing during his championship run with the Boston Rebels, the football team he plays for. Although reluctant at first, he starts to care and appreciate the one thing in life, which is his..... you can guess it. If you can't figure it out then it's pathetic that you haven't seen a Disney film before. Spare yourself the agony and don't even watch a film at all. The film also features the late Elvis Pressley as Joe Kingman's inspiration. Heck, they even close the film with the ending song they used in Lilo and Stitch(2002). Remember when I said predictable?

Overall: Okay film. Good for the family or people who love mushy movies.

Superman Doomsday DVD review spoilers

2007-09-22T21:18:00.000-10:00

Superman Returns.... again?!? Superman:Doomsday is loosely based on "The death of Superman" comic books. The viewer is basically shown the death and resurrection of Superman in this film. What, you say? Cmon, did you really think the producers would really wipe him out for the entire movie? The film starts off with Doomsday, who is accidently freed from Lex Luthor's excavation team, and wrecks havok in Metropolis shortafter. Superman is dating Lois Lane and receives the news of Doomsday tearing up Metropolis, killing a lot of military men and civilians. Supes comes to the rescue and manages to fend off Doomsday. The price is high, though, as the man of steel suffers intensive injuries and thus, our hero dies. Crime escalates and all hope is lost for Metropolis. All of a sudden, Superman returns from the grave, litterally! Superman cleans up the streets once again and everyone is shocked, but in the mean time, relieved to see their protector saving the day again. Unfortunately, we discover soon after that the Superman of Metropolis is actually a clone genetically brought to life by Lex Luthor! Guess they had to give him something to do in this film. Luthor cloned and hid the real Superman in his lab after his death. As time passes, the cloned Superman starts to become more aggressive, renouncing his passive ways, meanwhile the real Superman disappears. As you guess it, the final battle takes place in the streets and skyscrapers of Metropolis with the real man of steel versus the cloned man of steel.

I give this film an 8/10. This film does manage to get the audience to sympathize the fall of Superman. It's action packed as well which should keep action fans satisfied. This film is done well except that I do agree with comic enthusiasts that the film should had featured the Justice League of America and the 4 fake Supermen aka the Reign of Supermen. Doomsday going on an rampage went over the course of one day. You figure at least the JLA would be there since the battle raged over a day and the fact that they did appear to lend their assistance to Superman in the comics. According to a Youtube review, the cloned Superman concept was taken from 3 of the 4 fake Supermen concept. Him being cloned is a reference to 'Superboy', who was cloned in the comics by Luthor himself; Having toughen up on criminals, especially killing them is a reference to 'The Eradicator'; and him turning into a villian for the film is a reference to 'The Cyborg'. 'Steel' is the only character whose personality or concept is not adopted in the film, but fyi, he is the 4th of the Supermen who came after the real Superman's death. But, Bruce Timm(the director) omitted the usage of the JLA and the Reign of Supermen due to time constraints. He even admits that Luthor, who wasn't really integral to the Doomsday comic books, played a central figure in the movie. I guess what is Superman without Luthor, huh?

Special Features:

Comprehensive Documentary Requiem and Rebirth: Superman Lives! About how the DC comics team decided Supermans Fate:The title is self explantory. The only thing that really reeked in the part was the fallacy of the truth about why they really killed off Superman. First of all, the Superman comics were not doing good and they decided to end the franchise. So they decided to say farewell by wiping Superman out of the DC limelight. Little did they know that his death brought fans back into reading this comics. Sadly, the creators decided to tell a different story by saying, we just came up with it? Yeah, right. Otherwise, this special feature is pretty good.

Commentary by Producer Bruce Timm, Writer Duane Capizzi, Voice Director Andrea Romano and Executive Producer Gregory Noveck:Can you believe it? I sat through an entire commentary. There are some interesting things but you'll probablly fall asleep in this part. I did learn some things like about why the JLA and the fake Supermen did not appear in this film, alternate takes and stuff.

Exclusive sneak peek at DC universe's Justice League: The New Frontier: Not as interesting as you might think. They show a couple of voice actors doing their thing for the upcoming JL movie. They don't show clips which is kinda disappointing. Can't wait for the movie still. FYI, Lucy Lawless is playing Wonder Woman, how typical.

Behind the voice Featurette: We see the cast, behind the scenes, voicing the parts for this Superman movie. I wasn't too fond of voices in this movie because I am used to the WB ones that aired back in 1996. It's a fine effort still.

Superman's Last Stand Challenge:This is a game where you control Superman, in some sense. There is a power meter you must charge. If you can charge the move at least anywhere from middle to high, you will see clips from the movie where Superman launches blows that knocks Doomsday on his ass, which indicates you are winning. If you peform weak charges, then it will show clips of Doomsday, from the movie, whooping your steel butt. Really easy to beat on PC.

Trailers:You got a few trailers. Not gonna name them all but you got some like Smallville:Sixth season, Blade Runner, Blade the series, and yada yada.

Closing and other thoughs: Great film. The people who detested this film are pure comic book elites. Can't blame them since the comic book storyline does sound better. Still, because this is an 70 min film, they couldn't condense 3 years worth of comics into one film. The cover of this box is kinda cool because it comes in a lenticular artwork. It shows the Superman insignia covered in blood, but as you tilt the box a little, you'll see Superman fly through the insignia, breaking it in the same time. I bought this at Wal-mart so I got the bonus disc which contains the final issue of Superman's encounter with Doomsday in "The Death of Superman". I heard BestBuy had a Justice League comic as their bonus content, but according to fans, the Wal-Mart version is better. Give this film a shot I say.

Balls of Fury review

2007-09-18T17:33:00.000-10:00

Hmmm... Okay, so this is actually another movie about bringing someone to justice, but in a comedic sort of fashion. The story starts off with Randy Daytona, a washed up Ping Pong player, who must help the FBI bring down an evil organization led by Feng(Christopher Walken). One of Feng's past time hobbies is playing Ping Pong. So Feng sponsors an underground Ping Pong tournament for the best of the best. Earlier in the film, we learn that Randy's father, a marine, was killed after losing a bet to Feng. So Randy has two weeks to get himself back into shape in order to help the FBI, and a chance to bring the man who was responsible for his father's death to justice. Of course, hijinks are a plenty and a weak love story transitions between scene from scene. BLah blah blah blah.

Overall: I thought the movie was hilarious occasionally. Randy's trainer, the blind man, is probably the film's laughing stock. He's probably the only reason why anyone really ever bursts into hysteria. The actor who plays Randy Daytona does a good job--doesn't overact or under act for that matter. Still, it's not like people care much about his character. George Lopez, I felt just feels lost in the film. It seems like his character could had been done away with entirely. Maggie Q, well, is practically eye candy for the guys. Christopher Walken is Christopher Walken. This film can get boring at times, especially the middle parts of the film. The first half is all laughs and then it gets serious and tedious from time to time. Don't go in expecting much of this film and you should have an likable popcorn flick. This movie also stars Jason Scott Lee, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa and a brief appearance by Robert Patrick.

WAR (film)

2007-09-16T00:34:00.000-10:00

I decided to catch this film all by myself on one lonely Friday night and the film didn't dissapoint me as it did for many. The premise of the film is vengence and justice portrayed in a Cat-and-mouse setting. Jet Li plays a hitman named Rogue, while FBI agent John Crawford(Jason Statham) is pursuiting Rogue for the assasination of his partner, Tom Lone (Terry Chen). 3 years has passed and Rogue is now assisting the Chinese Triads in exterminating a rival clan, the Yakuzas. As the film progresses, we discover that Rogue has his own agenda and is secretly instigating a war between the Yakuza and the Triads. A major war ensues between the two clans causing major heat, bloodlust, and betrayals all at the expense of Rogue. Agent Crawford gets tangled in the mess trying to capture and bring Rogue to justice. Rogue is eventually discovered to be the perpetrator of this 'War' and his hitman skills become a nessecity for survival. Suddenly, a shocking twist becomes the major attraction of the entire film. Rogue is not really who you think he is and neither is Agent Crawford. Why and how you ask? See the film for yourself.

Overall: The film is a departure(not too serious) from Jet Li's martial arts flicks. This one has a decent blend of substance and style. Jet Li doesn't talk much as Rogue and when he is often not shown on camera, things get quite uninteresting. The final fight scene isn't epic, which actually hurts the action department a bit. My major gripe of this entire film, though, is the sappy start and the abrupt ending. Seriously, this movie has got to have the worst ending in cinema history. As I said, the twist was really the highlight in the film. Let's just say that the good guy is somewhat actually a bad guy, and the bad guy, whom we perceived as evil is actually good. I kinda spoiled it there but like I said, see the film. I think the trailer is one of the reasons why this movie flopped in the box office because it made this movie look like a typical watered down Jet Li film. If you can get pass the dull beginning and forget the rubbish ending, then you have a feasible flick.

My God! Do we suck or is this movie really that good?

2007-09-12T01:37:00.000-10:00

I won't dwell much into this movie because there ain't much of a movie within this movie. The title Shoot'em up pretty much sums up what the movie is about. So if you are looking for substance over style, look elsewhere. If you love stylish gun-sequences with a bit of wit and humor, then you will surely indulge yourself in this over-the-top action flick. Hey, it was either this, Nanny Diaries or War. On the other hand, I viewed this film in Koko Marina, which is located in Hawaii Kai. Nice scenery. I guess they don't call Hawaii Kai rich people's territory for no reason.

Infernal Affairs Trilogy 300 min edit quickie

2007-08-28T11:00:00.000-10:00

Originals live on! Last year, Media Arts entertainment released an 300 min 2-disc edition of the IA Trilogy containing all 3 films in chronological viewing order. The box states that IA plays in its rightful order with IA 2 first, IA 1, and then IA 3; for those who are oblivious to the IA trilogy, IA 2 is a prequel to IA 1. However, much of IA 3's content include flashbacks prior or during the events of IA 1. So the correct viewing order is more like IA 2, IA 3 flashbacks, IA 1, and the remainder of IA 3. Only minor things are cut from this film. Such cuts include: All opening and closing songs, all Buddhist scriptures which gives the film its spiritual theme, and some of the opening intro in the beginning of IA 1.

Overall: Some of the edits are horrendous while some tie in perfectly. Media Arts, or whoever was responsible, didn't even bother to take out some headliners in the flashbacks in IA 3, which elaborates on Yan's(Tony Leung) shortcomings. Not to mention, it spoils the movie for those who haven't seen the movie yet. I only recommend this re-edited trilogy for those who had a hard time understanding IA 3, or for die-hard fans of the trilogy. Those who have seen the film and are curious in picking this up might find it better to watch all 3 films seperately. With that said, another turnoff for buyers is, undoubtedly, the price. I paid $32 for this special edit and it is a 2 disc movie with no special features. Online has this marked for $40 though, so I saved a buck or two. Lastly, the dvds come in a cool artwork that features every, well, almost, prominent characters in the trilogy, with bullet holes! This is an hard to pick up item but if you are a fan, or if you haven't seen the trilogy yet, I say pick it up.

Bored and trying to make a point still!

2007-08-16T23:59:00.000-10:00

Well, it's been a cool summer so far. I've seen quite a bit of movies and possessed little time to write about them. All I have to say is that Bourne Ultimatum rocked;Rush Hour 3 is funny; The Simpsons movie was okay; and Fantastic Four 2 was better than the first, but still okay(note: I saw FF 2 prior to Transformers, I just forgot to add the review.). One of the coolest movies arrived in dvd earlier this month and that dvd was none other than TMNT. I thought that the movie and its supplemental features in the dvd were great, but still, one fight sequence is still m.i.a. in the dvd and theatrical release. If you had played TMNT for the home consoles, you would had remembered that there was an extended battle sequence, clips taken from the actual movie, where the 13 monsters and the Medevial looking knights clash with one another. In the dvd and theatrical release, the monsters stomped a few soldiers before fading to another scene. The home console cinematic displays a longer and brutal ass-kicking of the Medevial Knights. That aside, I am going to do something out of the blue. Like my headliner says "bored and trying to make a point still!". I decided to show you some Wide-screen and Full-screen capture comparisons of the TMNTmovie. Here are the samples:

Where's my arm!

Oh! There it is!

Isn't this more dramatic?

You call this an army?

Now, this is more like it!

Donnie!

Whew! What a relief!

Hmmm.. umm... yeah, that's nice. Something feels missing though.
Now that is what I call nostagia!

There you have it folks. I know not all movies are shot in Wide-screen, but lets face it, most director intended aspect ratios today are Wide-screen. New TVs are sold in Wide-screen and most dvd formats are in Wide-screen. TMNT definetly fits this picture accurately. The choice is up to you still but if you watch movies like TMNT in Full-screen, then you really need a kick in the shell!

Note: The bars, which are inaccurately called the black bars are normal. As you see, the movie's Matte(correct term) picture does not lose any information in comparison to the Full-screen format, whose pictures showcased cropped information on the sides.

Transformers (2007) review.

2007-07-24T00:13:00.000-10:00

Well, this time I am gonna do something different. Some of you know that I was slightly disappointed in the new, modern Transformers film, but I found it entertaining overall. I'm gonna let James Rolfe, of the Angry Video Game Nerd fame, do the talking for me this time around. I agree with majority of his review and I couldn't put it any better. Thank you James and I hope you continue those wonderful reviews of yours. Once again, all credit for this review goes to James Rolfe.

End notes: Okay, at one point James mentioned he didn't like how Devastator was manhandled when he showed a clip of Blackout, the Decepticon Helicopter. If he was referring to the clip, then he had mistaken. If he IS referring to Blackout, then I agree with him on the clip because I literally hated how humans played a role in defeating the cons. Remember G1 cartoons? The humans couldn't do jack squat on the Decepticons or Autobots for that matter. I know this is Michael Bay's version but it doesn't take a 1st grader to realize the logic of "destroy" and "protect. " The cons could destroy but if we could protect ourselves, why need the Autobots? Good movie, but Bay, please give more screen time to the Autobots and especially Decepticons without interference from the humans throughout.

Two Short Playstation 2 game reviews.

2007-07-21T00:42:00.002-10:00

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks

Basically this is a remake of Mortal kombat 2. The creators retconned majority of the storyline and plot that pissed off many Mk Loyalists. Gamewise, you play as Liu Kang and Kung Lao, the protagonists of the story, to fight against the forces of Outworld. In the game, you will travel through familar stages combating enemies and bosses in an action adventure rpg style. You can unleash your trademark moves plus other cool specials ala X-men Legends style. Upon completing the game with Liu Kang and Kung Lao, you unlock Scorpion and Sub-Zero respectively. The game features many secrets, some can only be found with the help of a buddy. The same logic applies for versus mode. What's cool is that you can unlock the original MK 2 game upon completing the Smoke missions. Sadly, I have yet to fulfill this task. Overall, this game can get repetitive at times, but still, it's worth checking out.

King of Fighters 2006 aka King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2

Wow! Has it really been 12 years since the first KOF game launched in the arcades? Well, this one is different for this game is presented in 3D. Ironically, in America, this game is re-titled as KOF 2006 due to licensing reasons. In Japan, This game retained its original name of KOF: Maximum impact 2. So this game is not canon to the KOF yearly series. The game features up to 38 characters, 14 must be unlocked. Some favorites return such as Terry Bogard, Kyo Kusunagi, Mai Shiranui, Ryo, Yuri, Iori, Kim Kaphwan, and others etc... Some are new but can't remember their names for the time being. I haven't played a KOF game since 1999 and all i have to say is that this game meets its expectations. Gone is the 3 on 3 fights, but then again, this game ain't part of the canon KOF series. The character models are rendered nicely, although some alternate outfits look ridiculous. The cinematics look great and there is alot of boob-jiggling for the horny males, or gals for that matter. And it's not just Mai I tell you. Anyways, the game is in 3D but many of the moves are still operated using traditional 2D commands. My only gripe is that the standard Playstation 2 controller was never meant to play fighting games. The control pad layout are fricken buttons. Half the time, I found the controls to be non-responsive, the supers especially. I nearly wanted to throw the PS 2 controller everytime a move command never sufficed. Some people bitched about how a Gamecube controller sucks in fighting games, well, heres news to y'all, I've played better with a cube controller. At least the cube controller D-pad resembles one and corresponds to your commands nicely. Those who find the PS 2 controller the best for fighting games can suck my left nut. That aside, this game is like other KOF games out there, but with a impressive 3D touch to it. KOF fans rejoice! That is until the real 2006 KOF game gets released somewhere this year.

R.I.P Chris Benoit.

2007-06-26T00:20:00.001-10:00

I wish I knew what is going on with this world. Chris Benoit is like the 8th wrestler to die this year. Last week we just had Sherri Martel. Early on we had Bam Bam Bigelow, Mike Awesome, and some others. Although I didn't really know some of them well, God rest their souls. I haven't followed up with WWE for quite some time now, but this is really shocking news. They didn't call Chris Benoit the Canadian Crippler in the ring for no reason. It's sad that now Police are confirming his death to be a double murder-suicide case. I wonder what caused Benoit to do such a thing, murdering his wife and child. R.I.P Chris. I liked you and especially, Eddie Guerrero.

Armageddon has arrived! ( long read)

2007-06-19T10:20:00.001-10:00

Mortal Kombat Armageddon:

Formats: PS 2, Xbox, and Nintendo Wii (version reviewed).
Players: 1-2 in Kombat, 1 only in Konquest, and 1-4 in Motor Kombat.
Publisher: Midway
Other stuff: Uses Remote sensing plus Nunchuk. Other options include Classic controller or Gamecube controller. 480p.

(not included in the picture: Khameleon, Taven and Daegon.)

Does the final chapter of Mortal Kombat on old-generation consoles goes out with style or is this truly Armageddon for the Mortal Kombat franchise? Ed Boon has stated that Mortal Kombat will be reborn on the next generation consoles via PS 3 and Xbox 360, and maybe the Wii. The upcoming Mk will feature a new generation storyline, similar to Street Fighter 3, superb graphics, and revamped fighting mechanism. So I guess my opinion doesn’t matter if I said Armageddon goes out with a whimper because Boon and Company is in the planning stages for Mortal Kombat 8.

So does Armageddon goes out with a bang on the old-generation systems? I say no but it is far from being a disaster. Xbox and PS2 owners have been playing this game for quite some time now, while Wii owners finally got the chance to taste Mortal Kombat once again.
The plot of this game is simple. Every chosen warrior in the game must race their way atop the Pyramid of Argus to combat Blaze, a fire elemental and final boss of Armageddon. The person who manages to get to Blaze first and defeats him, becomes endowed with God-like strength, and decides the fates of all realms. I say great going Midway. What a magnificent way to end Mortal Kombat. While the other storylines in the previous MK entries had terrific plots, Armageddon suffers from having a plot that is less intriguing then the actual Armageddon prophecies from the bible. What makes matters worse is that Midway opted not to construct bios for every character. It raises questions and debates such as ‘why is Sheeva back? Didn’t she die in MK 3? How did she return?’ With the lack of bios, one can only imagine how every fighter came to be in Armageddon. Since December of 2006, Midway has released some character bios online. Still, the bios they’ve released so far is less than half the roster.

Information:

Armageddon will probably go down in history as Mortal Kombat Trilogy 2. The game features over 63 characters, minus 1 for Xbox and PS 2 owners since they don’t have Khameleon, who is an exclusive Wii character. This game brings back all characters from Mk 1 to present day Armageddon. The game also features characters such as Sareena, whose appearance was originally from the Gameboy Advance version of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. I won’t go much in depth on the character roster but it’s so enormous that I find myself having trouble going through them all. Thank God your favorite characters are in the first row. What pleases Mk fans is that you get to select even the bosses from the previous games. To name a few: Dragon King Onaga, Moloch, Motaro, and Kintaro etc…. Side note: Kintaro looks like Tony the Tiger on steroids. Motaro, unfortunately, was a lazy addition to the roster. Because Midway felt that his 4 legged physique was out of place comparing to the other combatants, so they drew him with two legs. According to his ending, Motaro was under a curse by the Shokans, which turned all Centaurs into bipedal warriors. The original plan was to not have Motaro as part of the game because of his out-of-place physique. Thanks to fan complaints, Midway implemented a half-assed looking Centaur into the game. Speaking of endings, Midway yet made a lazy-ass attempt to put decent endings. No matter which character you beat the game with, it will show the winner performing katas atop the Pyramid of Argus with a narration in the background. In the previous games, there was at least artwork or cinematics drawn individually for each character. Thanks once again Midway. *sarcasm*

Gameplay:

Kombat:

You compete against six random opponents until you reach Blaze. The gameplay mechanics play almost similar to that of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance and Deception. Some background stages return from MK Deception along with the death-traps. You earn money as you beat and perform fatalities on each opponent. What’s disappointing about the fatalities here is that it is customary. You customize how you want to brutalize and kill your opponent. Although this is fun to do for a brief time, it becomes tedious after awhile. It’s the same commands and animation for everyone. The previous Mk’s had unique fatalities that made the characters unique. It makes no difference on which of the 63 characters I use because they will all do the same arm-rip, spine pull, and kick to the groin etc… Another disappointing aspect of this game is that, due to roster size, every character is now limited to 2 fighting styles. In Deadly Alliance and Deception, every character could perform and branch all 3 fighting styles during gameplay. In Armageddon, the player is coerced to mainly use one style because the other normally style sucked. Liu Kang was one of my favorites in Deception and since he lost his Pao Choi style in Armageddon, he is toned down severely. Ditto to others. Some fighters share the same fighting style, which clearly shows the lack of polish on Midway’s final MK product. Another stylish, but somewhat useless innovation introduced in Armageddon, is aerial combos. Pop the guy/gal up in the air, then do fake looking air combos on the airborne opponent. Get the picture? Another welcome, and rip off addition, is the parry. Press block + back to parry and counter an opponents attack. The computer uses this quite a bit, so Kombat isn’t easy this time around. You can turn the tide on them using the parry system, but watch out if you parry too soon as you are left vunerable to your opponent’s attack. Last, and finally, you’ve got a lying down system where you lie flat on your back waiting to trick the opponent to get near you so you could sucker hit them. You can counter this tricky manuever pressing up + grab though. The game is a charm to sit through at first, but the gameplay becomes very dull and reptitive after a week or so. What makes this game partially good is the fact that almost every character has their trademark moves from past games. Some are still missing such as Sonya’s leg grab or Jax’s Gotcha grab etc… This totally blows because you’ll never see these moves again since this is the final Mk of this generation.

Konquest:

This is the Mk RPG adventure in the game. The game play mechanics in here is a huge improvement over the previous konquest games presented in Deadly Alliance and Deception. However, this time around you collect relics, Krypt items, and money quicker here as the protagonist of Armageddon, Taven. While playing as Taven, you must journey forward to find Blaze, while avoiding death-traps and beating up foes along your path. You’ll learn some history in the MK storyline as you sojourn on your journey. Still, it doesn’t elaborate a whole bunch on why some some characters are back in Armageddon.

Endurance:
Newly added and compensated for the lack of online play, the Wii version has an endurance mode. In the exclusive endurance mode, you must endure 15 opponents using the same life bar. Every time you defeat 3 opponents, the game allows you to rejuvenate some of your health. Although you can earn some quick cash here, the replay value is somewhat disappointing because you only square off against 15 opponents rather than all 63 characters. Still, worth a try the first couple times around.

Motor Kombat:

Rip off of Mario Kart. I only played it two times and I felt uninterested. Maybe If I bring some friends over, it should be fun.

Krypt and extra content:

Here’s content, media artwork, alternate costumes, backgrounds, and other stuff that you unlock by purchasing them using your hard-earned cash. Nothing much here, I found the Krypt items more feasible and entertaining in Deception and Deadly Alliance.

Kreate a Kharacter:

Haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks like fun. On Youtube, I’ve seen Sagat, Chun-Li, Sakura, Akuma, Superman, Ghost-Rider, Shredder, Leonardo (TMNT), and many other characters players have created.

Video and Sound:

Graphics looks like a step-up from previous games. You get 480p which isn’t much of a big deal for me since I don’t really have a t.v. that can resolute no more than 480i. Still, that is good enough for the Wii. As for the sound, nothing too memorable as Midway continues to use many gibberish for most of their characters. Just listen in the beginning intro, it sounds like Shinnok is saying “hit em with a pie!” Cyrax sounds like he is saying “screw you” in his robotic accent.” Funny, but weird.

Wii Version controls:

What makes the Wii version immersive is the controls. The motion controls, although a novelty, works wonders on the Wii version. You simply perform a motion while holding on to the B button to perform certain moves. You may get some difficulty at first but probably after 15 mins into the game, you’ll be doing the moves 95% of the time. For those who are uncomfortable with the new controls, you always have the classic controller or Gamecube controller as other options. You can even use the Wii-remote on Motor Kombat. All you do is steer the remote as if you were steering a car wheel.

Overall:

It’s wonderful to compete in Mortal Kombat for the last time on old gen systems, but like I mentioned earlier that the game feels unfinished. Minimal improvements in the game brings new disasters such as the lack of fighting styles per character, mediocre air-kombat, or the kreate a fatality system. The lack of bios hurts this game as well because we aren’t given an updated background check on most characters. This game feels like Mortal Kombat Deception 1.5. Armageddon is a must buy if you are a Mortal fantatic. If you played the previous entries before and is expecting something really new, you probably might want to rent Armageddon first. Otherwise, let Mortal Kombat begin… perhaps, for the last time.

A disappointing summer thus far

2007-06-14T09:53:00.000-10:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Viewed June 6, 2007)

Rarely is third a charm and AWE is no exception. AWE tries too hard to garble many elements and themes, but in the mean time, many of the thrills and twists that made the first movie an epic is absent. Another main thing that affected my viewing presentation of this film was the humor. Most of the humor turned out dry, cheap, unwitty, and last, but not least, forced. I found myself chuckling only a few times. Every other attempt the writers tried to throw a pitiful joke, I just rolled my eyes. This time around, I found myself not liking any of the characters at all. Orlando Bloom’s and Kiera Knightly’s characters I felt were incredibly insipid. They even share a dumb wedding scene during the climax towards the end. You can partially see some of this in the trailer. It’s really a silly scene. Chow Yun-Fat, who makes this movie’s roster, and the person who plays as Davy Jones is badly underused. Johnny Depp is, well, Jack Sparrow. Need I say anymore? For the rest of the characters, I could care less. I loved the first movie and although it had its boring parts, it was and still good enough to overshadow the sequels, from which should had never been made to begin with.

Surf’s Up (Viewed June 9, 2007)

Honestly, I really didn’t care much about this film. The film’s targeted audience is the kids so that is probably the reason why I didn’t burst in hysteria the whole time. I have to admit that there was some adult humor that caught me off guard, but large amounts of the humor were designated for children. What made this film alright is the fact that they turned a Penguin anime into a mockumentry on Surfing. This film does poke fun of previous Penguin films such as March of the Penguins and Happy Feet, although not a whole lot. The animation is top-notch but don’t expect to see anything very inspirational. I just hope movie makers don’t continue to milk all their money’s worth on Penguins. I think Penguins are cute but why a sudden fascination on Penguins?

Video review:

Superman: Brainiac Attacks! (2006)

Never had I felt disgusted after watching a Superman anime based on the Bruce Timm series back in 1996. Tim Daly makes a triumph return as the voice of the Man of Steel, but somehow, some of his colleagues went awol. Cory Burton and Clancy Brown, who voiced Brainiac and Lex Luthor respectively in the original show, are noticeably missing. The new voice actors just make me cringe during the movie’s entire run. The new voice of Brainiac doesn’t have that robotic and alien feel and the new voice of Lex sounds like a Turkey—he even acts like one. As for the plot, it totally blows. To top it off, there is nothing original, but the same old ‘destroy Superman and save Lois Lane.’ It took me two days just to finish this hour and something long movie. And that is bad. Not to mention, very boring. I loved The New Adventures of Batman and Superman then and I still do. Do yourself a favor, skip this and watch re-runs of The New Adventures of Batman and Superman instead.

wiileecoolstuff

Praise the Lord!

My Transformers classics page!

Some updates and bored edition 100th edition

About to start school and maybe some other rant.

Praise Jesus!

School

Praise Jesus!

Mom I'm All Right: Confessions of a Former Stripper

What may seem right may not always be right.

A word about the Transformers movies

Quote of the month

Trapped at Pearl Harbor: Escape from Battleship Oklahoma.

DEC 7, 1941

Marvel vs Capcom 3

My two week west coast vacation! Day 1: San Francisco, October 27, 2010

Henkei Jetfire and Sunstreaker!

Transformer Toy up dates!

Universe Prowl

Generations Thrust

Transformer Universe Mighty Muggs Jazz and Shockwave!

Batman Under the Red Hood

Trip down memory lane

SmokeScreen Transformers Hasbro Universe Release!

Michael Jackson's "This is it."

Blaster SDCC 2010 Exclusive!

Why is the USS Utah forgotten?

MegaMan Zero Collection

The woes of the PS 3.

R.I.P. Jamil Khan

Gaming Galore (long read)

Felt like this had to be said

So it begins.

Happy New Year!

Tis the season to be sharing....

Going away for a while

Some June updates

Some updates.

SFIV online.

Can't get it off my mind. Hollywood racism again.

PS 3 update

Street Fighter IV (bored edition1)

other movie stuff....

$150

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An insult to the fans. *some spoilers*

Arghh! and a movie.

movie briefs

King of Fighters movie?!? and Hollywood racism.

New Year Wii kickoff!

New Year movie quickie kickoff!

If this only arrived before Christmas....

Small update.

Third's a charm? Punisher review

Pre-order The Dark Knight

Bolt (2008) quickie

Proposition 8

*some spoilers* Why did they kill him.....

The Captain's down

WTF?!?

Financial Crisis!

Some Stuff.

Final Fantasy IV DS review.

What's up so far

Quickie #6The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The forgotten movie quickie: Quickie#5

Superhero Movie

Movie Quickies #4

Get Smart

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The Dark Knight

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Movie Quickie#3

The Incredible Hulk

Movie Recap#2 quickies

You don't mess with the Zohan

Kung-Fu Panda

Quick movie (theatrical) recap so far *spoilers*

Untraceable

Jumper

An insult to the fans. some spoilers

some spoilers Why did they kill him.....

Quick movie (theatrical) recap so far spoilers

Spider-man 3 Blu-ray quickie

The Game Plan quickie Some spoilers

Superman Doomsday DVD review spoilers