points of inflection

I know, I know, it is supposed to be Batman’s time this month.

BUT I finally found and bought the much raved re-telling of Superman’s origin - Smallville style! Jeph Loeb writes the book, the same person who conceptualized Smallville and written the first few episodes of the show. I have been looking for this book since September 2004 (it was first printed on 1999). I didn’t know that this is a huge book about Superman so I just shrugged it off when I saw a copy at Bibliarch in Glorietta. When I came back at Bibliarch to buy it, alas, it was already sold.

And now, I am a proud owner of Superman For All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Here’s a short review:

SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS is one of the finest Superman stories ever told.

Appearing in 1998 as a four-issue prestige format mini-series, SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS was produced by the team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale — also responsible for BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN and the Marvel “colors” graphic novels (e.g. DAREDEVIL: YELLOW), among others.

The story’s most influential portion is its first, beautifully depicting Clark Kent’s life on the farm in Kansas, growing up with good old-fashioned Midwestern American values under the tutelage of Ma and Pa Kent. Here is his perception of his difference from others while still very much the human being. Here is his simply joy at his powers, flying with Lana Lang in a scene reminiscent of his flight with Lois Lane in the classic 1978 movie Superman. An idyllic pastoral more than a traditional Superman story, this chapter would go on to exercise great influence on SMALLVILLE, the TV series featuring a super-powered Clark Kent growing up in Smallville without a costume.

Worth reading, and mandatory for Superman fans.

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(this is a sticky post, continue reading after this entry for the newer posts)

Might as well post it here rather than in the comments section from the previous blog post…

I finally put up my own site. Bought a domain name and (semi) launched the site. It was just a matter of timing and an apt domain name. I really wanted to launch the site today as it is a special day for us.

Give your initial impressions here folks.

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I was supposed to do the project I’m working with Dinky but alas, laziness struck me.

My brain would not cooperate with my will and the DVDs in our house keep on calling me. I cave in and popped Collateral in our player. It was a nice movie. Tom Cruise playing an assassin while Jamie Foxx as a good-hearted cab driver. When the movie ended, I put in Rocky III. I am again into these Rocky movies. I already completed buying the movies in DBD format but haven’t got time to watch ‘em. I got Rocky/RockyII in one disc, RockyIII/RockyIV in the another disc and RockyV/Daylight in the last disc. Haha.

After the Itallian Stallion clobbered Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T), I put on next the Blade Trilogy. This DBD contains the 3 Blade movies. They are all in good quality and couldn’t ask for more. It was my first time to watch this Blade character. I haven’t seen a single movie of it since it was shown. I bought this movie set because of the third movie - Blade Trinity. Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel join Wesley Snipes in their vampire hunting. Nice movie and superb effects. Kita mo yung improvement ng Blade mula nung simula. Hanep din yung fight scenes.

I think I started watching about 3pm in the afternoon and finished at about 12pm. And maybe that’s the reason why I’m having a terrible ache at the back of my head now.

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Pocketbook List

Last night, I made a list of our growing pocketbook collection (mine and pen) currently piled in my bedroom. Tutal sinipag na kong maglista, binalot ko na rin sila ng plastic cover kagabi. Ayun, sumakit ang likod ko.

Grisham:
1. The Testamament
2. The Partner
3. The Chamber
4. The Pelican Brief
5. The Summons
6. The Rainmaker
7. A Time to Kill

Brown:

8. Angels & Demons
9. Da Vinci Code
10. Digital Fortress
11. Deception Point

Crichton:

12. Jurassic Park
13. Timeline

Puzo:

14. Omerta

Follet:

15. Code to Zero

Baldacci:

16. Absolute Power

Sheldon:

17. Windmills of the Gods

Feynman:

18. Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman - (not really a pocketbook)

Gaarder:

19. Solitaire Mystery

Again, these are the books piled in my room. Other books are with Pen. We’ll try to list those next time.

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Aaah. It’s so nice to re-energize yourself by escaping the hustle of the city and communing with nature.

Pen and I went off to Villa Escudero last Feb25-26. It was all worth it.

I’ll leave Pen to make the detailed story out of our tour. *wink*

More pictures at the gallery

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Pen & I went to Manila Zoo yesterday.

Sabi sa balita ni-renovate daw yung zoo pero mukhang ganun pa rin ang itsura. Nung huling punta ko dun ay elementary pa ako. The place was relatively clean but the people made the place more messy. Think of the jologs crowd roaming around.

I think the high light of the tour was when a python ate a live chicken. The girth of the python was bigger than my thigh. Katakot mapuluputan ng ahas na yun!. It was a painful slow death for the chicken I bet you. First the python coiled around the chicken. You could see the chicken struggling to be free and it’s feet kicking the air. Then both animals were still for sometime. Slowly, the big jaw of the snake swallowed the chicken whole. It was a very very slow process. You could see half of the chicken’s body still dangling outside the snake’s jaw for about 10 minutes. We didn’t see how the snake finished his meal as many people are crowding our space.

Let’s wait for the pictures Pen will upload. There were only a few shots as the battery died early.

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Yesterday I filed a half day leave from office because I was not feeling well (I’m being honest here). Before going home and headed SM to buy some needed stuffs (sorry I have to write this sentence so I would remember the date). And when I got home, eventhough my head aches terribly, I can’t sleep it off. Got up from bed, plugged in Pen’s PS2 console and played NFS Underground 2! Yeah baby! F**k the headache and the sipon dropping from my nose. I played Need for Speed for about 3hrs and needless to say, it was bitin!.

Man, the game is awesome. I liked Midnight Club II, Grand Theft Auto and Need for Speed Underground 1; all the elements I liked from these 3 games are all in NFSU2! Well, save for the killing spree of Tommy in GTA, every car race elements are here.

Yung Metal Gear Solid 3, di ko pa uli nasubukan laruin. Na-engross ako masyado sa NFSU2. Ang sarap mag-race kasi. Although Easy level lang ginawa ko ngayon. Kain ng alikabok mga kalaban ehehe.

Now I have to find time to play the game. Dammit. Mukhang kailangan kong gumising ng mga alas-tres o alas-kwatro ng madaling araw para makalaro o kaya tuwing sabado at linggo i-hoard ko na ang TV. I can’t play during the weeknights as I’m too tired to play and would just like to sleep off the day’s stress. Even though I still have the energy to play, the TV will be free at about 8:30pm or so after my mom and sisters watch their telenovelas. After which, dad would pop a DVD and watch a movie or two. There was a time when we had 3 working TVs now, there’s only one. Sigh.

Anyway, I’m still revved up about this game. I will definitely put some time to finish this one.

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Upon the recommendations of my friends in the office, I bought Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater PS2 game. This is easily one good game. Loved it the moment I tried it at the store where I bought the game. Haven’t played Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2 so I am completely unaware what the game is all about. I guess it is much like Splinter Cell only more dynamic and more action oriented.

I also bought Need for Speed: Underground 2. Eventhough I was not able to finish NFSU1, I really aim to finish this one. The game has a very good graphics and awesome rendition of cars. I’m using white Trueno as a starter car. ü

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Head over to Pen’s page and see some pictures when we went on tour at Intramuros last Saturday.

It was a rollercoaster stroll we did that day. Hehe. Both of us ignorant of the place where we would meet - SM Manila. She was coming from her house and me at the other end of the city. We settled to meet at SM as it is somewhat the middlepoint on where we intend to go.

Pen wanted to go to San Agustin Church, Fort Santiago, Luneta, BayWalk, Corregidor and Manila Zoo. We were able to see all these places save for Corregidor and Manila Zoo. I think we will do that some other time. Oh, she also wanted to go to StarCity when we saw the lights came alive when we were at BayWalk infront of Malate Church. :hihi:

Anyway, we spent most of our time walking. From the Puerto Real entrance of Intramuros (almost infront of Manila City Hall) to San Agustin Church to Manila Cathedral to Fort Santiago to Manila Hotel to Luneta Grandstand. It was a ‘good walk’ and not a ‘torture walk’ mind you. We just happily walked away.
:hot:

We were like tourists mouthing ‘WOW’ everytime we see something extraordinaire. I personally like the San Agustin tour than the Fort Santiago tour. If you have read ‘Angels & Demons’ book by Dan Brown you’ll affirm that indeed the church has the most wealth during those times (even now). There were so many artifacts inside the San Agustin Museum: religious icons, paintings (there were lots of ‘em), religious costumes (fit for a king according to Pen), a miniature of San Agustin Church, the choir place of the church proper with huge pipe organ and even broken ceramic bowls and platters.

Fort Santiago was nice but it was a fieldtrip day for I think 3 schools. There were bunch of kids/teens running around and shouting at each other. Sayang yung ambiance nang place. Bad trip. Kaya siguro di ko gano nagustuhan yung lugar. We just made a quick run around the walls and visited Rizal’s cell and memorabilia room. There was this ceiling to wall - 3 feet wide - half inch thick clear glass that has various transcriptions of Rizal’s poems. And with the right lighting, the letters would cast shadows on the wall then you could read the whole poem easily. Ganda ng effect. Sayang bawal mag-picture sa loob. There was an anecdote written on the floor, letters I think are 5 inch in height. You have to move backwards to be able to read the anecdote from start to finish.

Next stop was at Kilometer 0. I have a solo picture of with that post last year and this time I got to take a picture of Pen. Wala lang.

We passed by Luneta Grandstand before heading to Baywalk. By this time we were feeling our sore feet and exhaustion. So we hailed a taxi and off we went to Malate Church. It was sort of a landmark for us and thought we can start our walk from the church. We did walked from the church to the bay but just sat there and rested. icture: Pen happily clicked her camera to capture the sun setting down. I guess we were at a good spot that many photographers are standing behind us clicking their cameras.

After the sun expired, we ate dinner at a stall there (Lechon Express was it?). I remember we had lechon liempo and sizzling tuna.

Yummy. :happy:

For sure this little tour of ours will not be the last. The moment we rode the bus home, Pen is already planning where to go next.

rink:

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Gotta admit I’m a Post-It guy (I’m shaking my head in disbelief while typing this blog).

It really didn’t occur to me that I’m fond of this cute little yellow stickies until last December when my teammates pulled a prank on me during my bday.

I remember arriving at the office earlier that usual so I can start the day with a little less pressure to start working immediately. My routine when I arrive at the office is turn on the monitor (I never shutdown the PC during weekdays), ctrl+alt+del to type my pwd (my workstation is just locked from the previous day), hit win+r to telnet and time_in, lastly get 1 mug of hot chocolate.

During that day, I saw my monitor filled with Post-it notes. Cute little square yellow and white papers literally covered my whole PC screen. My initial reaction was, “WTF?! Who the hell did this?! How am I suppose to login and time in?”. Then I saw the notes written all over saying “Happy Bday etc. etc.”. That erased the grumpy face I had. After careful thinking, I removed them one by one and set them aside so I can read them later on. I was thinking of logging first before anything else. Hehe. I was thinking of waiting for the other guys to arrive so we can have a good laugh and take pictures of it (with me of course) but I just have to use my PC and check my mails - sayang yung oras eh.

Here’s a picture of those Post-it notes. I had them stuck in my little cubbyhole partition at the office.

I still use these Post-it notes. I have in fact 3 stickies in my office PC. I attempted to use a postit software but it’s not the same with the real thing. And yes, it’s already uninstalled.

Well, will this qualify me for a peculiar award or something?
:hihi:

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