Music | Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

First time I heard this song back in 2002, I liked it at once. It seemed to come at a perfect time, like a breath of fresh air, right when the airwaves were saturated with annoying pop crap.

Norah Jones was a relative unknown at the time, and this song established her--and her debut album, Come Away With Me--as one of the critically-acclaimed new artists of that year.



It was hard to describe this song at the time; while mellow, it wasn't a ballad, and while Norah's main genre was Jazz, the song sure as heck didn't have that jazzy kind of beat. I think the best description would be a "laid-back melody fit for a lazy summer day," LOL.

But no matter how it's described, this song will always be a favorite of mine, and will never get old.

Film | Kick-Ass

The concept of ordinary people dressing up as superheroes to fight crime isn't really that new, but every once in a while something comes along and does a fresh take on this premise, which is exactly what Kick-Ass manages to do.

Based on the comic-book miniseries by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., Kick-Ass shows us what happens when nerdy teenager Dave Lizewski decides to garb himself in a makeshift costume and goes about fighting crime, calling himself "Kick-Ass." Now Dave doesn't possess any superpowers at all, so things go from bad to worse, and he ends up being the target of a powerful crime lord. But he does get to meet other costumed heroes in the process, among them Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, a father and daughter duo with their own vendetta against the crime lord.

Hit-Girl, by the way, is an 11 year old superbly trained by her father to be adept at wielding weapons and firearms. As played by young actress Chloe Grace Moretz, Hit-Girl literally kicked ass, and it is her that the film owes much of its success.

Hit-Girl also caused a minor controversy, as many family advocacy and parental groups were disturbed by the sight of a little girl cutting a bloody swath through hordes of hit men. These groups probably didn't realize that the film is a fantasy--its source material comes from a comic book, for crying out loud, isn't that already an obvious clue that it shouldn't be taken seriously? Shut up already and go watch something else if you find this movie disturbing.

Besides, the movie itself shows us what happens when untrained people try and pretend to be superheroes: they get beaten up and bloodied. There's a reason why Kick-Ass has been given an "R" rating, and any parent who lets their children watch this movie has some serious parenting issues to deal with.

Just like Wanted, which was another comic book adaptation (and another one authored by Mark Millar), Kick-Ass delivers due to its unique visual style and fine performances from most of the cast. It's bloody and extremely violent, yet gratifying in its overall execution. I can't remember another film in which I found the outcome so satisfying. Highly, highly recommended.

Film | Clash of the Titans

This is probably the stupidest film I've watched so far this year. Sure, the original Clash of the Titans was campy and hokey, but that was deliberate. This new version tries to be all serious and fails spectacularly, no thanks to the ridiculous story and horrible performances by the actors.

Sam Worthington plays Perseus exactly the same as he did his roles in Terminator: Salvation and Avatar, and even wears the same crew cut hairstyle. He's not even bothering to hide his Australian accent anymore, and the result is hilarious--a Greek Demi-God with a crew cut and an Aussie accent? LOL

The other actors--mostly established actors like Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes turn in equally hammy performances, with Neeson looking like one of the Bee Gees in his glitter suit and Fiennes channeling Lord Voldermort with his laughably bad wig and black cloak. Really, do all the Olympian Gods just stand there posing around Zeus? Even the Percy Jackson movie depicted the Gods slightly better.

The sets in Clash of the Titans look like studio sets, and the scenes showing the cities look like models, LOL. Not even being in 3D helped, as the 3D itself is kinda lame and does nothing to enhance the movie. The only thing I liked was the very brief appearance of Bubo the mechanical owl from the original 1981 movie, which served as a reminder that this movie lacked some humor. As it is, Clash of the Titans clearly and plainly sucked, and I want 2 hours of my life back.

Pokemon | Pokemon Black & White Announced

After teasing us with images of 2 new Pokemon Zoroark & Zorua last Feburary, Nintendo officially announced the titles of the 5th Generation games: Pokemon Black & White.


While no other details on the new games were mentioned, except that the games will be for the Nintendo DS, and not exclusive to the DSi, The Pokemon Company stated a Fall 2010 release date in Japan for these two games, and has further updated the Japanese website to reflect the recent announcements.

Considering the elaborate HeartGold, SoulSilver and other colors or jewels used as previous Pokemon game titles, Black & White seemed rather underwhelming. But hopefully they do indicate that a significant change is in the works for the Pokemon series.

Pokemon | McDonald's Pokemon Squirters

McDonald's currently has a Happy Meal promo featuring Pokemon Squirters--various toys that can be played in water. There's a Pikachu and Piplup that basically squirt out a stream of water, a Buizel that swims, a Piplup on some kind of raft thingy, and two water vehicles that propel themselves across the water surface.


The Pikachu and Piplup squirters look great; Pikachu's holding a Pokeball that squirts out the water, while Piplup squirts it out through its beak, which is something that Piplups do, heh. Pikachu looks a little cross though, but otherwise it looks fine. Buizel looks great as well, and it looks perfect in the water.

As for the Piplup raft and water vehicles, forget it--they look like crap, and for some reason the water vehicles remind me of pencil sharpeners, LOL.

Visita Iglesia 2010

It's Holy Week once again, and just like in 2008, we went on a Visita Iglesia yesterday night with my Mom, sister Ella, cousin Yelane, and 5 nieces--Maia, Bea, Raya, Gia, and Yna. I missed out on this Lenten tradition last year because I was stuck doing work on the graveyard shift, but that wasn't a problem now. We set out a little after 7:30pm and headed for the following churches:

1st Stop: Sacred Heart Parish, Kamuning, Quezon City



2nd stop: St. Joseph's Perpetual Adoration Convent, also more popularly known as The Pink Sisters Convent, New Manila, Quezon City



3rd stop: Sto. Nino de Violago Chapel, Walter Mart complex, E. Rodriguez, Quezon City



4th stop: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine Parish, New Manila, Quezon City



5th stop: Carmel of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, New Manila, Quezon City



6th stop: Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Chapel, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Greenhills, San Juan



7th and final stop: Santuario De San Jose, Greenhills, San Juan



After we were done with our last stop, we just walked a few blocks from Santuario De San Jose to the McDonald's outlet at nearby Greenhills Shopping Center. It was crammed with people, mostly families, who I think also just came from the church. It was also one of those surreal moments when you realize that here we all are having snacks in a McDo outlet just way past midnight, surrounded by lots of people as if it was a usual weekend morning, LOL.