Film | Transformers

Just like Spider-Man 3, our office treated us to another movie; this time it was Transformers. Unlike Spider-Man 3, the movie started early at 2:50pm, so we were allowed to leave the office earlier, at 1:30pm. So off we went to the Shangri-La Plaza Cinemas, where one whole theater was again reserved just for us.

If you were a Transformers fan like I was during the 80's, you will love the movie. I can sum it all up in one word: AWESOME. Everything seemed to click, the script, the pacing, and the action sequences. The story, however, seemed to have gaping plotholes, and I sure didn't like what they did to Megatron, who looked really ugly in the film.

Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots rocked, and the other Decepticons didn't do so bad either. I was dismayed that my favorite Transformer, Soundwave, wasn't in the movie though, but the ending seems to have been deliberately set up for a sequel. This is by far my best movie of 2007. Critics will surely hate this, but who cares? I loved it, and that's all that matters.

Pokemon | Raikou, I Found You!

At last--after weeks of trying to find that damned cat in Pokemon Leaf Green, I finally found Raikou! Thanks to tips given by pals over at Pinoy-N, I was able to nab that elusive legendary beast.

It turns out that I was doing everthing right, except for one slight problem--my lead pokemon was way too powerful. By using a Repel, one can move through grass and can encounter Raikou without encountering weaker pokemon. But Raikou is Level 50, and my lead pokemon was way higher than that, so I wouldn't be able to find him no matter how many times I moved through the grass.

Switching my lead pokemon to another one that was around level 30 did the trick, and I found Raikou in no time at all. I did the same strategy for Pokemon Fire Red, and was able to capture Suicune there. Now all I need is Entei, but since there's only one legendary cat per game, I'd have to start a new game. Hmm...maybe later on.

La Luz

Sometime last year, my cousins and I went on a trip to the La Luz Resort in Batangas. Now I normally don't like going to beaches, since it's hot and usually crowded with people, but my sister Ella convinced me that this resort was somewhat isolated from the other beach resorts in the area.

We made reservations months before Holy Week, and it was a good thing, because the resort is usually booked for months in advance, with a long waiting list, and the accommodations weren't exactly cheap. For this trip, it was just us--cousins and kids--with no other oldies coming along, heh.

La Luz is located in Barrio Hugom, within the town of San Juan in Batangas. I've been in Batangas before, and was familiar with the beaches along the Nasugbu area, but it turns out that San Juan was located way, way farther than that; in fact it was in the opposite direction of the Nasugbu area.

Even though we followed the very precise directions on the resort's web site, we still got lost several times. After the last leg of the trip, along somewhat rough roads, we managed to arrive at the resort, and I was immediately struck by the view of all that cool, blue water.

Lovely white sand, cool blue water everywhere

Where are all the people?

The resort appears to have been carved out of the cliffs, and was a private vacation spot of the Marasigan Family before they decided to open it to the public. It was nice and peaceful most of the time because music and other noisy activities weren't allowed. The only music that could be heard was coming from the dining gazebo area, and the music was chill out music, which was one of my favorite types of music, so it was all good.

The cabanas as seen from the cottages

The view from inside a cabana

The food and accommodations were great, and best of all, there were hardly any people around, yay! As for the beach itself, it had lovely white sand all around, and the water was clear enough to see the rocky bottom; we could even see some fish swimming around. You could rent diving equipment, but since I didn't know how to swim, I didn't bother; all I did was submerge and float around in the water, which was great.

We spent three blissful days at the resort, and I have to say that the experience was really worth the expense. This is one beach that I can see myself coming back soon.

Pokemon | Pokemon Ranger: Manaphy

When I bought Pokemon Ranger last November, I was all excited about it. At the start, it was good--nice graphics and animation, and a different storyline set in the same universe as the Pokemon RPGs.

However, excitement turned into annoyance when the game became progressively harder to finish. It wasn't that it was difficult, but the way the developers turned the method of capturing Pokemon was too over the top--you had to draw multiple circles around the Pokemon, something that seemed nearly impossible to do if you had to do it 16 or more times. The result was more likely to be repetitive stress injury, and my poor hand couldn't take it anymore.

My main reason for getting Pokemon Ranger was to get the ultra-rare Legendary Pokemon, Manaphy (pictured at right), which was only obtainable in the game. But you could only get Manaphy when you complete the game, so I was terribly frustrated and also irritated at all that work just to get something that looked like the most gay-looking Pokemon ever. >_<

I then decided to ask help from my nieces, two of which were avid Pokemon players. Since they were still on vacation, I lent them the game, and they helped me out. Needless to say, I was one happy person. Thanks to my nieces, I was able to complete the game, and was able to access the Manaphy mission. When I got the Manaphy egg, I set up my DS Lite with Pokemon Diamond to receive it. Finally, I had Manaphy, and it's all because of my nieces Raya and Bea. Thanks, girls--your rewards will be forthcoming.

Gizmos | Transformers Masterpiece: Starscream

After the releases of Masterpiece Optimus Prime and Masterpiece Megatron, Transformers fans everywhere became excited when it was announced that Masterpiece Starscream would be next in line. But when it was actually released late last year, fans heaved a collective sigh of dismay when they saw the final color scheme.

Unlike MP Optimus and Megatron, MP Starscream doesn't come in anime-accurate colors; instead, it was more of a dark gray, something that you'd expect to see in a real jet fighter. The red highlights were also replaced with a kind of dark pink, which annoyed a lot of fans.

Masterpiece Starscream Box

Starscream's highly deatiled jet fighter mode

However, the detailing was superb, particularly in jet mode, and it also came with a nice-looking display stand. I didn't like the way they did the feet though, which to me looked really ugly. Feedback on MP Starscream also wasn't that good--just like MP Megatron, it was difficult to transform and to make it stand, and seemed too fragile; one nagging complaint was that stress marks would start to appear after the figure was transformed.

In jet mode on the display stand

Starscream in full robot mode

[Photos are from the excellent seibertron.com galleries]

Music | Yes - Leave It

Here's another one of my favorite music videos of all time--it's "Leave It" by the group called Yes, who made a successful comeback during the 80's. The song itself was mostly sung acapella, but a slight remix version was also done with sparse instruments.


The video is a bit unusual, as it shows all of them upside down and paper-thin, with special effects that were considered cool during that time. I heard that they actually made several versions of the video for the song, and the best one, which is shown here, was chosen by viewers who voted on MTV.

TV | Heroes

The first time I heard about Heroes, I was already intrigued--and it was just the announcement months before its season premiere last year. When its first episode finally aired on NBC in the fall, most reviews called it boring, but thankfully the series went on to become the best new show of 2006.

The show's premise is simple enough. A solar eclipse apparently triggers unique abilities among people all over the world, and the series follows a handful of characters as they cope with whatever's happening to them. At the same time, someone seems to be stalking these people and killing them, and the first central arc involves the saying, "Save the cheerleader, Save the world."

The writing of Heroes is very similar to superhero comic books, where a main storyline happens over several chapters. As the series progresses, we're introduced to all of the main and secondary characters, and learn that each one of them is somehow connected to the other, culminating in everyone meeting together for the literally explosive season finale, with hints of more new Heroes to come in the following seasons.

Heroes showcases script writing at its best, with a first rate cast of actors. But like superhero comic books, don't expect a happy ending for all the characters; in the cast photo pictured above, some of them don't make it.