AVATAR

Straight out from Fantasy Paintings of Boris Vallejo. A little twist from the movie The New World. Worth watching again, I wish the screen I watch it from was a lot wider. Flying with the Banshees were like riding on flying dragons (asian version). That was cool. This movie is enough for now, until Robin Hood which is worth watching in a theater. The rest I planned to go see can wait till they come out on DVDs. Robin Hood probably has a love story too, other than action pack. Which was the part I forgot about James Cameron flicks, his good at adding love stories to his action and drama films. This Avatar movie in particular is Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Awesome visual effects from Industrial Light and Magic based in San Rafael.

The Na'vi Natives has different mixtures that reminds me of what earth has, including culturally wise. The Na'vi evolved from felines rather than apes. They are blue like the East Indian Goddess named Ramayana. Culturally wise like the Woodland Native American Indians. I've seen some gunstock war clubs that most Native American Warriors has in the movie. The Na'vi Natives also does tribal ceremonies like the Polynesians and Balinese Kecak Dance. It's cool how they present what I always thought about nature dwellers, which is some sort of a global networks that connects all. From the trees, plants, animals, soils, to insects, and more, are all connected, even their ancestors that had been long gone, are still a part of them. Makes me wonder about how certain cultures gets so successful sometimes in their personal businesses (they do a lot of food offerings to the dead), some religious belief would say thats paganism, or from a demonic source, and to me thats just plain ignorance to makes such remarks.

The Native Americans also believes that their ancestors are also watching over them from the woods, rivers, or from the rocky mountains. When they hunt, they give thanks to the prey right before or after they kill the animal.

I wouldn't say the movie is about the current war, or against it. Although there are parts that are very familiar. The war "in the movie" is definitely corporate domination that fights with no soul, but for power and simply to gain access to help their own economic crises. It's nothing about Kingdoms and Spiritual reasons. I could be wrong, but maybe Kingdoms and Chieftains with good moral advisors should always comes first, and then economic purposes. Nature always has enough to provide for all, as long as they are not for exchanging gold and silvers.

In reality, certain areas about exchanging gold and silvers are a little too late man, it's better to just go with the flow, but with some considerations of what most people find as primitive. I think that's what the movie was also about. You never know, maybe the ancient people had much more advance technology than a laptop. Like using visualizations of what a hawk can see from a far away (like a satellite).


There was this classic movie from the 80's, kinda cheesy now. I forgot the title. He looks like He-Man, with some bad guys using crystal balls. I think it was The Beastmaster.


...or maybe the Mongols from the Altai Mountains.

Christmas 2009

Here are what was inside the tree boxes I blogged about from 12/07/09. I forgot Christmas starts in the 24th. The old man was singin' karaoke about some loner - and then I realized it's probably Christmas.

But I was actually surprised Christmas turned out really well after my Sister and Mike arrived to celebrate Christmas Eve...


The first box opened. Mike and my Sister. I placed the Holy Book behind her photo somewhere in the back.


The second box, for the folks...


And then the third box, for my Bro and Elsie...


I got myself a portable heater. I already have one but the chord blew up - I fixed it, but it's better to rely on a new one. Plus this one seems to save more energy than my older heater.

For anyone that never read the Holy Bible, I best recommend to start in the Book of John. Then the Book of Genesis, Psalms, and then the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation is very symbolic, and really abstract if you don't understand the language of the prophets. In order to understand them, I heard you have to read the whole book from the beginning to end of The Old, or The First Testaments - 2 versions: Old Testaments (Hebrew and Islam), and New Testaments (Jesus Stuff - people who believes Jesus was the awaited Messiah). The Holy Book is a living thing - it's not some Catholic Decoration that you just place in on altar. You'll be surprised how modern it is in its own meaning. The Book of Revelation is like some hip-hop and spaced out language straight from a Beastie Boys Video or some sort...

San Roque Shrine

I came across this site yesterday, I didn't know there was a TV Patrol (philippines national news network) from Ilocos Norte, based from Laoag City. Not too far from Paoay where I was born. Anyway, there is this Water Well called San Roque Shrine, that were in the news, near the house we used to live at. The well is right in front of a relative's house (Bagamaspad Family). People from other provinces comes to Paoay to visit the well in the belief of being cured from their illness by its water. Some locals finds it amusing, why these outsiders believe such a thing. And some locals place candles, and drop coins after making a wish.

The well is pretty humble looking, and it ain't the typical shrine of the orient. Altho there was a statue of a saint, that was facing the well, possibly made of bronze or maybe even gold.

Footage from 5:15 - 8:00

Sprite and Popcorn

They are a little crumpled on the top, since I tried to remember the last time I wrap these types of presents. To me this is more than what I've been saving for, just to check out the movie The Road, Ninja Assassin, and Avatar, along with medium size sprites and medium bag popcorns with lots of butter. At least something this year man. There should be more I be giving out, but I wish them to have a good holidays. These presents here are for 3 couples which makes that 6 people. I am just glad I got these done a lot sooner. I still got few more trekking to do online. I'll blog about what's inside them later...

Philippines Election Massacre

I heard about this yesterday, but I didn't payed much attention to it plus I haven't been watching the news. Not even the Philippines Network or CNN. And then my brother mentioned that it was a massacre of 50 plus something people including journalists. A massacre? This ain't just abductions of one scholar in a month or twice a month, but all in one day in broad day light. Most of the finest journalists they have in Maguindanao of the southern Philippines are probably all gone with their stories buried with them.

These stories I got from the Internet Media and in Youtube.

The Candidate:

This is Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province. You see him in Philippines network not showing any sign of sadness because he promised not to show any weaknesses. He controlled himself pretty well when he spoke about the gruesome details on how his wife were killed.

The motive was to make peace with the rival clans. Ismael Mangundadatu was not part of Monday's convoy because of threats on his life, so he sent female relatives in the belief that women would be spared. In the massacre were his wife, sisters, relatives, and supporters, along with local journalists, and lawyers.

The Massacre:


The Accused:

This is Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. The heir to a political clan accused of leading the election-related massacre of 57 people last week. He turned himself in.

From Associated Press: By JIM GOMEZ.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines – Undeterred by the deadly attack that killed 57 in a campaign convoy, Ismael Mangudadatu filed to run for governor of Maguindanao province Friday, heavily guarded by police and soldiers.

His candidacy poses an unprecedented challenge to the Ampatuan clan, which was implicated in Monday's massacre. "Only death can stop me from running," he said.

A day after burying his wife, sisters and many other relatives, Mangudadatu traveled past the spot where they were killed along with supporters and journalists who were stopped and gunned down on their way to file election papers on his behalf. Many of the dead were dumped in mass graves.

"This symbolizes our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation," he said, holding up his certificate of candidacy in front of reporters and hundreds of cheering followers.

His 50-vehicle caravan was escorted by soldiers, a police commander, a senior army general and hundreds of supporters. Mangudadatu was not part of Monday's convoy because of threats on his life. He sent female relatives in the belief that women would be spared.

Prosecutors, delayed by a two-day holiday, said they will file multiple murder charges Tuesday against Andal Ampatuan Jr., heir of the clan that has ruled Maguindanao for years.

Several witnesses came forward, including one of the gunmen who claimed he saw Ampatuan order the killings and fire his weapon, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.

Ampatuan told reporters from his detention cell in Manila that at the time of the massacre he was at the municipal hall in Datu Unsay township, where he's the mayor. He denied any role.

He turned himself in Thursday under threat of military attack on his family's compound.

The clan's patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and six other family members, including the governor of the autonomous Muslim region, are considered suspects and are not allowed to leave the country, Devanadera said. They were implicated in witnesses' statements, she said, refusing to elaborate.

Police said six senior officers, including the provincial police chief and his deputy, 20 members of Ampatuan township's police station and nearly 400 militiamen were in custody. Not all were considered suspects.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Punourity said he would seek the replacement of the entire provincial political structure.

Faced with domestic and international outrage over the killings — the bloodiest in recent history — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized a crackdown on the clan that helped her and her allies win the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.

Arroyo's ruling party expelled Ampatuan from their ranks, along with his father and a brother, while the president repeatedly vowed justice for the victims.

Devanadera said more than 20 women were among the slain, and the pants of some female victims were unzipped and lowered. Police said, however, that autopsies were not finished and reports of rape were not substantiated.

At least 22 journalists working for newspapers, TV and radio stations in the southern Mindanao region were among the dead. It was the most reporters killed in a single attack anywhere in the world, according to media groups.

Troops and police poured into the rural, impoverished province. Checkpoints were set up along highways and tanks deployed in the provincial capital.

Many hope that the fallout from Monday's massacre will lead to the end of the Ampatuan's violent grip on Maguindanao's politics.

"Our people were like strangled with a rope for a long time," said Arnold Fernandez, administrator of Buluan town, which is led by a Mangudadatu. "We seem to be moving to a new era."
___

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Teresa Cerojano and Hrvoje Hranjski in Manila contributed to this report.

WIKIPEDIA LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maguindanao_massacre

World's Largest Horns

I don't know where this bull is from but I thought it was fake. I checked out the rest of his photos, and they seemed to be real. Unless the person who did the photoshop is real good.

This is Lurch, the proud bearer of the world’s largest horns. Lurch is a Watusi bull living in an Animal shelter, whose horns measure 92.25 cm and weigh more than 100 pounds each. He’s quite the attraction in his home state and he’s favorite pass-time is acting as bodyguard for a crippled horse that’s being harassed by fellow horses.

Fried Turkey

I haven't been posting lately, I've been doing some world trekking through the internet. All the places I would wanna check out, or if I were in the Navy. So far I am done with Asia, all of Asia, and all about each countries in Asia, except places like North Korea or other small Islands that pretty much has coconut trees and lava rocks. I am also done with Africa, just few places like Kenya with their awesome National Park, and Latin America including the Caribbean. Right now, I am on Europe except hostile regions like Bosnia and the rest of the Slovaks Nations. I know Serbia was a hostile country in the 90's, but I am sure it should be aight to visit there today. I still have The Middle East and The Pacific to check out. Later when I have the time, is to trek California on the road and on foot. I've been to most areas in California, but never had the chance to photograph them. And then so on...

Here are some cool shots though from Thanksgiving.


Here is the Turkey.


The cooks text messaging each other while frying the turkey.


Peanut oil - 325 degrees - 4 minutes per pound turkey.


Finished product, plus 4 more minutes to fry. It was under cook when it was 3 minutes per pound.


Sake pee-pee time.


Tiki sun bathing time.

I'm gonna stop tagging my blogs from now...

Ramchand Pakistani

Pretty awesome movie. Youtube should have more free movies like this, rather than the divided sections of a movie posted in Youtube. I didn't even know there are Hindus living in Pakistan (Islam Nation). It's a bit of a twist to know some Hindus are calling a town in Pakistan as a home, when India where the majority are Hindus is a place where they were en-prisoned to by accidentally crossing the border.

Dog Biscuits and a Pomeranian

It's pretty windy right now in San Jose. And what is up with them storms or even typhoons with funny names that keeps on forming around the Philippines man. Gotta be the climate change. They showed a footage of my hometown last past week, which was Paoay, Ilocos Norte. Paoay Lake was overflowed but other areas seems to look alright, except for some old trees. Thanks for the cute lady with the Lacoste shirt for telling the news.

As I am doing some internet searching and surfing. I uploaded this video, of Sake trying to figure out a way to reach for the Dog Biscuits. I'll blog about what I have been searching and surfing in the internet later...

Philippines Disaster Mapping - Pepeng

Cool Interactive Mapping of the Philippines current typhoon called Pepeng. It's powered by Google, modified by the GMA Philippines News Network with the help of volunteers from the UK. This is cool. Not too long ago, before the Typhoon Ketsana hits Philippines, I was just checking out the Philippines Google Map specially the region where I was born and grew up till the age of 12. I wish they had navigators that mapped out the roads on the ground, like the ones they have for US regions, except for Hawaii. The US Google Map navigator has a little man icon where you place him on the road, and it will show 360 degree angle of the road's surroundings, showing actual photo images. I was trippen the first time I checked it, because it can actually show my front house. Philippines doesn't have that yet, but it was cool enough to see the roof top of my house from there. I was so fucking stoked man, I can actually see the elementary schools I went too, the trees where I used to take fruits from, my childhood friend's houses, the paoay church where my ancestors built, bakeries, the creek I never knew that trails all the way to the ocean, the place where I flight kites at, and so on.

I'm sure there are lots of stabbings going on too. In the other hand, I really admire their spirits man...

Anyway, check out this map or click on it for some interactive updates:

Ketsana, Tsunami, and Earthquakes

The last 5 days of September, these disasters happened, from the Philippines, Vietnam, Samoa, and then back to Indonesia. More like a boomerang thrown by mother nature. I just hope there's no ripple effect that would reach San Francisco and then towards the rest of the Bay Area. Not just Tsunamis but maybe like a typhoon. Otherwise I would probably start packing my stuff and runs to the hills. So instead of doing that, I made a list what you'll need for evacuation till you reach the safety zones or evacuation centers. It's just a list man, not a paranoia effect, but you just never know when natural disasters strikes out of no where.

I was just watching the GMA Filipino Channel yesterday, and they were lecturing few items that are necessary to bring with you as an emergency kit, as far of typhoon goes. And there were two things I never thought of as an important items to take with you, which was candies and a whistle blower. Candies gives you that boost when you're low in sugars, so chocolate bars are also a must in emergency evacuations. And a whistle blower, just incase you get yourself trapped somewhere. Sometimes people loses their voice for screaming or yelling too much, and a whistle blower can be a life saver.

09/23-28/09: Metro Manila, Philippines - Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy)

09/29/09: Pago Pago, American Samoa - Earthquake and Tsunami 8.0 magnitude

09/30/09: Sumutra, Indonesia - Earthquake 7.6 magnitude

For me, I think this would be important to do first, before listing the kits for evacuation.

It's always good to have a family Fireproof Safe or a Gun Safe. The once with combination locks. I say, it's a good idea to throw in your family values in there like old family albums, and other valuables like maybe jewelries. Also your computer External Hard Drives. You might have some business plans and important documents saved up in your External Hard Drives, so throw that in there too.

Anyway, here is my list of the things I would need:


1. Backpack: Just my regular Jansport brand backpack.
2. First Aid Kit: Triple Antibiotic Ointment, Bandages, Imodium A-D, and Tylenol should be enough.
3. Flashlight: I heard separating the batteries until you use it will prevent flashlight from breaking.
4. Lighters: Grab all the lighters I can find in my drawers.


5. Hiking Boots: Sneakers works too, don't use cowboy boots or some dress shoes.
6. Khaki Cap: Sometimes I feel naked without my hat.
7. Windbreaker Jacket: With a hoody and warm enough to sleep out in the cold.
8. Shirt: Throw in an extra t-shirt.


9. Camo Short: Throw in an extra short, I move better with this kind of shorts.
10. Underwears: Throw in two extra boxers and one pair of socks.
11. Towel: Avoid other things for wiping, bring your owl towel.
12. Wallet: Your ID, use cash, cards are no use when there are no electricity.


13. Toilet Papers: At least one should be enough.
14. Cell Phone: Good only if you can get a signal.
15. Dog Repellants: Defense against mad dogs and crazy people that haven't been sleeping for a year.
16. Whistle Blower: Just incase you got into a ditch and got trapped.
17. Compass: Sun rises from the east and sundown to the west.


18. Food: I prefer Nature Valley Bars.
19. Water Bottle: The one with a belt clip. And two extra bottled water.
20. Point & Shoot Camera: With a 2GB or 4GB memory card, and a car battery charger adapter.
21. Notebook and Pens: Whatever that needs to be written down, you can even doodle some images.


22. Toothbrush and Toothpaste: Place in a resealable plastic bag.
23. Burt's Bees Soap: Don't use other people's soaps. Any bars of soap will do.
24. Lock Lid Plastic Container: To store in all electronic gadgets, and cash or wallet, when it gets wet.
25. 35GB USB Key: Store in all personal documents, photos, and scanned old 35mm family photos.
26. Pocket Knife: For cutting ropes, boxes, opening things, and for a defense.


27. Playing Cards: Something to kill boredom, so play poker or 21.
28. Garbage Bags : For dirty clothes, wet cloths, wet towel, and to protect bag stuff from rain.
29. Keys: Your home keys and automobile keys.
30. Waterproof Watch: Nothing fancy. Something tough and waterproof.

Whoever reads this, I best recommend to also make your own list.

Dog Bites and Deep Fried Chicken

I should of used a staff. But at that time, I didn't even have time to think about it. I'll keep this in mind though that I should be more prepare for something like this. As I was preparing for dinner today, I saw these two dogs out the window wondering around in the hood, sniffing the grass, and the trees. There are always dogs wondering around the hood so I didn't payed much attention to it. Few hours later I saw the kid from across the street looking for something. Again, I didn't payed much attention to it, the kid is always curious. And I was thinking more about recipes and some tropical fruits. All of sudden I heard a scream. I looked out the window, and third house down from the left side of the kid's house was him, squatting down crying and screaming as he watches over close to his black poodle dog being mauled by the two dogs I saw wondering around earlier. Maan the kid was too damn close to them dogs, so I ran there fast as I could. As I got closer, I see the black poodle dog like a tag of war rope between the two mean lookin' dogs. It was like a scene from animal planet of two hungry lions biting on a baby wildebeest. The dogs seemed a lot bigger as I got closer. I yelled at the dogs and then I stupidly picked up a crumple news pepper off the ground and threw it, thinking it will drive them away. And of course that didn't do anything. And then I blanked out, I think I remember punching one of them dogs. The next thing I remember, was looking for another object and found a long metal pole. I wish I had a metal bat with me, or the wooden staff from my room. The long metal pole only made the dogs agitated as I poke them with it. As the kid cries with his hand bleeding, I asked where his black poodle dog at. And he says that his dog were already back in the house but his really hurt bad. I was like what!?!? Here I was poking at one of the dogs with a metal pole and the kid was standing behind me with his house garage still open. So I told him he should go back in the house to take care of his hand first, because he might of gotten some rabies from the dogs.

And then the kid's mother came out. The mother was looking for the dog's owner, but the kid was hurt. So I had to pick up the long metal pole again, and gave a sign language to my neighbor to call 911. Now I had to guard the mother and the kid following the mother as she knocks on the house's door where the attacked happened. But no one was answering. She says their dogs shouldn't be out on the street. I wanna tell her that she should go back in the house with her kid, because I don't think it's a good idea to be around them dogs. Finally, the mother and the kid went back to their house. And I ran back in my house. I left the oven on.

Then a white van appeared. A middle age blonde lady came out of the van and picked up the two dogs. The kid called her mother back out, and the mother ran out on the street to stop the van right in the middle of the road. I yelled at the other neighbor to write her plate number down. Two of them neighbor ran back out with a pen and paper. The lady in the van yelled at the kid's mother to "Get off the way you indian lady!!!" She was probably a racist bible fanatical middle age lady, because she was also cursing out Jesus' name. The cops and animal control service came by in about 20 minutes later.

Anyway, I told my mother what happened and she got mad. She says it was stupid and I should of left it alone, because I didn't have any medical insurance. That's very true...

The dogs might of been pit-bulls. But Elsie, my bro's lady says she saw the same dog earlier and believed they were Brindle. I checked out the internet and indeed they were Bensenji Brindle. An African breed dogs, and they look a bit like pit-bulls but leaner. They are known not to bark which makes them deadly because it's hard to read them dogs when they are in attacking mode. And the way I saw them attack the poor black poodle today, they are very ferocious animals...


The father probably got off work early.


The cop about to ask the kid what happened.


The interrogation...


The city animal control officer wondering which hand was bitten. The kid has a cast on his left forearm.


I wonder what took these guys 20 minutes till they showed up.


I tried to capture the dogs but I shot the whole thing from the inside of the house through the window using a zoom lens. There was too much things I planned to do for the day as it is. And I got too tired too fast, I really need to get in shape.


Back to what I was doing, I think these fried chicken was a little too dry, all I added were salt and pepper, and deep fried them using peanut oil. The peanut oil is perfect for deep frying, plus you can store them for a reuse. And they do not splash. I was gonna use the backyard stove but the propane tanks needed refills.


Boiling water to blanch some sweet potato leaves from the backyard.


With some tomatoes also from the backyard.


All mixed together with a little bit of fish sauce.

Flatland BMX

I didn't know flatland BMX are still big in the Philippines, or they could be the same dudes that used to do this back in the 80's, and still looks like a bunch of 15 year olds. I was around 11 years old when BMX was big in the Philippines and it was still big before I left back in 1986. I didn't own a BMX till later, but I did own a bicycle with a side rack (my bro and my sister were the monkeys). So I wasn't the only filipino fob who was aware of it back in high school here in the states. In high school, most filipino fobs got together because they identify themselves of owning at least one or two BMX. It was a way to socialize. I wasn't as good as these guys though, they were freakin' awesome on them flatland tricks. Most of them pinoys even made crews. Sometimes these filipino BMX crews were mistakenly identified as gangs by the real street gangs and usually got bullied.



Later that BMX hobbies evolved unto import car racing. They took that same knowledge they had from tricycle and jeepney chop-shops back in the philippines, and incorporate that to modifying japanese import cars, unto an urban race cars, as well as urban drift cars. Not just filipinos but pacific islanders and south east asians in general. There used to be a lot of them around in the streets. Now most of them urban race cars are impounded by the law, because the parts added to modify them import cars were illegal. Making the urban racing lifestyles slowly dying out. It's pretty awesome though how it became hollywood 17 or 18 years later ever since the fobs were doing all these modifications. The impounded urban race cars, now became collectable items as part of an american culture of what James Dean left back in the 50's.


1992 Modified Honda Civic. Downloaded this cool image from the internet...

Gerry Alanguilan - WASTED

Wasted style of artwork is definitely out of the comic book tradition. Gerry Alanguilan, a filipino comic book illustrator and writer, also inked for comic books like the X-Man and among other comics. It's funny because I saw the dude in youtube making some Beef Kaldereta not knowing he was the same guy who I had in my website from way back, as one of my favorite Filipino Illustrator. Very crafty dude, weird, sometimes has annoying personalities in videos. He also got a website to preserved the old school filipino comic books. It's an online museum of a bunch old filipino comic book artists who also work for some of the well known american comic books. I must warn you though, this comic here is a bit violent and crazy.

Slumdog Millionaire

Finally had the chance to rent the movie and check it out. I always like Indian Movies, but this flick is directed by Danny Boyle along with a co-director from India named Loveleen Tandan.

And what is up with the news I have been hearing about, of the child actor loosing a home, and a parent in real life. I figure it could be some child exploitations just to make some money by films. And for that reason, it took me awhile to see the movie. But when I watch the movie, I thought the movie was one of the best rented movie I've seen this year. The movie is good man, the soundtrack is also cool. They picked the right person to chose soundtracks for this film. About the child actors. I also heard the child actors weren't even real actors but real kids who were coach to act. It seems as though Hollywood took that stories from the slums and made something out for themselves. Just like that one pimp dude who Jamal shot in the head to save his brother Salim's girl of becoming a prostitute. The pimp acts kindly at the kids first and then asked them to sing, and if they sing good, he'll put them to sleep and takes away their eyes just so he can pimped them better by singing in the street begging for rupees.

The setting of the movie is also real. I heard muslims are being treated bad in India by the hindus. Muslims being burned alive and all that. There is this scene in the flick where a mob of armed hindus invades the muslim's squatter community, and a little muslim boy was painted blue and dressed up like Rama (hindu god) holding a bow and arrows. A part of the scene when the main character named Salim were telling the story to the police chief on how he coincidentally knew the answer for the question of what Lord Rama uses as weapon, which was a bow and arrows. Salim was framed as a cheat due to his uneducated background and his roots from a slum of India. The movie is basically how he knew the answers from the Indian version show "Who Want To Be A Millionaire". I guess every country has it's own version. Philippines also has their own.


It also reminds me of this one movie maid by Mira Nair titled Salaam Bombay also a story of kids from the streets of Bombay now known as Mumbai.

Facebook Account

I know Facebook is supposed to be more serious and mature than Myspace, but in a way I still think it's pretty much the same as Myspace. More like people from Friendster moved to Myspace and then back to Friendster again, but newer. Because it does has PBS and all that. Plus you can upload good quality photos. Unlike in Myspace where the photo quality looks a bit shady. I still think Blogging Networks are a little more pure to me, beside the advertisements to make something out of it. Which sometimes loses the essence of it. But money is always good. So I place a serious looking profile photo with a suit and tie. It ain't me though, haha. Soon or later, everyone will be blogging.

District 9

.

You may not want to read this if you don't want me to spoil it for you - but I'm gonna go ahead and blog about the best movie I've seen this year. Critics rated this movie pretty good. Usually a good movie is rated "C" but this one was rated an "A-". Convincing enough I guess. I'm predicting it's gonna take home some movie awards or at least people's choice award. Watching the movie, you never expect this one annoying dude that typically dies first in sci-fi flicks would be the leading character. You hate him first, you wanna see him get all messed up, but then later, you start to root for the dude. Another cool thing is that the aliens (also called prawns) has human like personalities, but they don't look anything human. They look like giant prawns. More like the underdeveloped human fly from the movie The Fly. I say they took some part of the movie The Fly. The aliens were also rude, brutal, and very grumpy, which was sort of funny. But they weren't the bad guys, the humans were. Typically most aliens in films wanted to take over planet earth, these aliens stays in a Johannesburg squatter community in South Africa as refugees (district 9), and they were badly treated by both the government and the locals. There were no peaceful negotiations whatsoever about exchanging intelligence between the aliens and human scientists. It was all about not being welcomed, harsh conditions, secret weapons, and battles between mean soldiers and ghetto ass voodoo gangs who were fighting to hunt down an alien infected human specimen. Overall I gave it a "B". I like the alien weapons, the nasty looking biological alien labs, the story, and the acting. Plus it wasn't Hollywood, the casts were very much like regular folks. And I wish the movie was a bit longer. Can't wait for District 10.


The theater's ticket. It's an old smelly theater, I wouldn't recommend it for dating. There are a lot of new theaters around the area, like the malls but this one is cool for going solo...

Family Stereo System

We had this back in 1988. I used to scratch to the spinner on this stereo system when I was 14, with no mixer. We have fun memories with this stereo system man. Now it's in the list for a garage sale. Still works good. It has CD player and everything. Our first CDs were Faster Pussy Cat, Fine Young Cannibals, Madona, and Michael Jackson's Bad Album. My grandfather were the one who ordered our first CDs. I was like damn grandpa where did you get these? He says it was some free or a bargain ad from Reader's Digest Magazine. Fine Young Cannibals has some cool ass beat man. My siblings and little cousins used to dance to Michael Jackson music - We gottem on videos but I don't think they'll be happy if I post them in Youtube. Faster Pussy Cat somehow lead me to heavy metals back in my freshman year of high school, and then to Mitallica, Pantera, and then to the more classic heavy metal like Iron Maiden. Specially Iron Maiden's Iconic Character named Eddie. He was a cool character to draw back in the late 80's.


The Dubbing Deck. This is where all my mixtaped magic happened. I did mixtaped to impressed some girls and for driving to school and work. I still like the clicking, rewinding and forwarding sound to it. I understand things are more digital now, and so easy to just load up mp3 files to an iPod. My bro says "It's time to move on man, things are a lot more compact and advance now." I was like "Whaaaat? ...your telling me about what's new?" To me analogs are just more authentic. And vintage designs are in, and always. Don't get me wrong now, because I do like things that are new too. It's about the memory man. Memory is the soul...


My first Recording Limiter.


Speaking of moving forward, I am keeping the Spinner from the Stereo System. So alright, the sound volume may not work well without the amplifier - but I still gonna keep it. One thing that I know of, the design are now being used.