Film | The Tree of Life

I have to admit that I wasn't familiar at all with Terence Malick's previous work, so I didn't know what to expect when I watched The Tree of Life. I'd read a lot of mixed reviews about this intriguing movie, but there were more positive than negative comments, so I had to see it for myself.

What I got was having my mind blown to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, LOL. I'm somewhat waxing poetic here, but I guess that's the only appropriate way to describe this film, a movie so unique that it defies description.

Watching The Tree of Life is like viewing a stream of consciousness, acid trip, National Geographic documentary, mindfuck, HDTV commercial, and epiphany all rolled into one. Oh, and there's a story about Brad Pitt's family tucked somewhere in there, heh.

Most of the scenes are gorgeously framed and shot, with images are that are stunningly vivid and textured. Those scenes, particularly the nature and space scenes, have an almost mesmerizing quality to them, and they're further enhanced by the music, which soars triumphantly over everything else.

The Tree of Life is not your average type of movie; for one thing, it doesn't follow the conventional pacing of most films, and the plot--if you can even call it a plot--seems to be metaphysical, relating concepts such as Creation to a small family in the 1950's to the modern, high-tech world of today.

If you prefer a story that you can follow, then The Tree of Life isn't for you. Malick has created a masterpiece that is at times uplifting and mystifying, confounding and breathtaking. While his techniques and the film's overall look tend to overwhelm the story, it doesn't detract from the spectacular visual experience that it provides. Highly recommended, and another contender for my best movie of 2011.

Music | Santana - Stormy

It's been a rainy couple of days, no thanks to typhoon Falcon (where do they get these godawful names?). Today was the worst, it must've been raining all day long, and to top it all, a tornado decided to visit our area earlier this afternoon. I heard some kind of whoosing sound and pieces of wood and other materials came rolling down our rooftop--that was scary.


On stormy days like this, I instantly remember Stormy, a song that was originally done by the Classics IV in 1968. Carlos Santana and his band did a remake of it in 1978 for his album Inner Secrets, and I thought that it was one of the best remakes ever, with ultra-smooth vocals by Greg Walker.

Stormy was a hit for Santana in 1978, peaking at number 32 on Billboard's Top 100 Chart. It was the first Santana song I heard in my life, and while the original is also just as good, I prefer Santana's version, and it remains one of my favorite songs ever.

Film | Green Lantern

Of all the super-heroes in the DC Universe, Green Lantern is perhaps the most unique. Sure, he only gets his powers from a rechargeable ring, but when you add in the fact that he belongs to a huge group of supercops that patrol the galaxies, and his ring is but one of many colors, then his entire premise becomes increasingly complex.

So how can you tell Hal Jordan's story without being mired in all those alien concepts? The answer: you can't. That's the dilemma of Green Lantern, as it can't decide whether it wants to focus primarily on Hal Jordan or the Green Lantern Corps. Since it's an origin story, it mostly veers towards Hal Jordan, with mixed results.

For one thing, Hal Jordan isn't as interesting as the extra-terrestrials, and the scenes on Earth tended to be disjointed. And having Parallax as the main villain and letting Hal Jordan deal with him didn't really work well. Parallax was established as a powerful villain that slaughtered many other Green Lanterns, and only one neophyte Lantern manages to defeat him? After all that posturing and posing in the posters and marketing materials, the other Lanterns hardly did anything here except to lecture Hal, deliver monologues, and raise their rings.

Ryan Reynolds did okay, but his demeanor and character seems better suited for another DC character--The Flash. The other humans were meh, and the only standouts here were the aliens, particularly Mark Strong as Sinestro, and Geoffrey Rush as the voice of Tomar-Re, which only proves once again that British and Australian actors can steal the spotlight from hyped American actors, LOL.

Despite its flaws, Green Lantern was a fairly decent effort, and actually succeeded in bringing the complex Lantern mythos to the big screen. Through the introduction and lots of expository dialogue by the characters, you'll actually learn everything you need to know about the Lantern Corps. I would've wanted more action with the other Lanterns during the battle with Parallax, but maybe they're doing that for the sequel...if there will be one.

Gizmos | Nintendo Wii U

Nintendo shocked the gaming world sometime last April when news leaked out that they were planning to reveal the successor to their highly popular Wii console during E3 2011. This new console, dubbed "Project Cafe," had a very interesting controller that was supposed to have 2 analog sticks, a camera, and a large touchscreen. Nintendo finally confirmed the new system's existence in a press statement, but revealed little else, causing lots of buzz and speculation.

The Wii U main console unit

Everyone finally got to see this new system last June 7 at the E3 expo, when Nintendo unveiled the Wii U, a somewhat underwhelming looking console unit (it looked like a fat external disc drive) that finally features HD graphics and is backwards-compatible with all Wii games. However, it was the Wii U controller that hogged most of the spotlight, as it's one of the strangest-looking controllers yet, resembling a tablet with game buttons on the side while being fully compatible with the Wiimote controllers.

The Wii U Controller

The wireless controller has 2 circle pads on the top, a camera on the center top portion, the familiar D-pad and 4-button groups on the sides, plus several other buttons on the bottom. It also has a microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, and speakers. A 6.2-inch resistive touchscreen is right in the center of the controller, which will interact with the main console in unique ways through wireless streaming.

The trailer that premiered during the Wii U presentation was awesome, and probably sold a lot of people to the new system. However, more details about the console have been revealed since then, and it's not all good. For one thing, the Wii U will be using its own proprietary disc format, which comes close to a Blu-ray Disc but it's not. Which means that once again, BDs and DVDs cannot be played on a Nintendo console.


Unlike the Wii, Gamecube games cannot be played on a Wii U, which means that those who prefer to keep their GC library shouldn't exactly get rid of their Wii consoles any time soon. Nintendo also mentioned that the system is currently designed for one controller per Wii U, and they won't sell the controller separately, which means that fights for the controller could break out in homes with several kids, LOL.

The most important thing about new hardware is the software that can run on it, and I just hope that when the Wii U finally launches next year we'll see more new titles announced, not just ports of old and reliable Nintendo properties like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Metroid, and Pokemon. Nintendo should really get down and make new IPs, not just rely on their old ones. I never got a Wii, mainly because the games for it never interested me, and I'm not really fond of motion control. With the Wii U however, that might change, as I actually love the look and abilities of this new controller, heh.

While the main Wii U console showed at E3 was deemed a prototype model, I was taken aback by the lack of a wired Ethernet port; while they probably only want Wi-Fi, it's hardly safe, and not quite as fast as wired connections. But the biggest question mark about the Wii U is the price; they announced a mid-2012 launch, but no price point was mentioned, which led to more speculation. I really hope they learn from the lackluster launch of the 3DS, which was deemed too pricey and didn't have enough good launch titles to pull in impressive sales figures.

Film | Super 8

When I first saw the teaser trailer for Super 8 last year, I was intrigued. But then, I'm always intrigued now with any of J.J. Abrams' projects, from his TV work on series like Lost and Fringe to movies like Star Trek and Cloverfield. By now, Abrams and his creative team can do no wrong for me, and Super 8 continues that trend.

Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 follows a bunch of teenagers in Ohio who are filming a homemade zombie movie. One night, they are accidentally witness to a catastrophic train crash that was captured with their Super 8 film camera, and soon enough, strange things start to happen in town.

Super 8 is co-produced by Steven Spielberg, and Abrams made it a homage to Spielberg's films of the 70's and 80's--specifically, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The production detail is incredible, and perfectly captures the look of 1979, from the homes, clothes and all kinds of stuff that were popular back then.

The cast gave excellent performances, particularly the kids, and are totally believable, unlike the annoying, snotty kids you see in movies nowadays. One thing about J.J. Abrams is that he does disasters and vehicular crashes well, and that train sequence was just spectacular. I also enjoyed some scenes during the last half, where it almost mirrored Cloverfield but without the shaky cam, LOL.

Lots of people gripe at J.J. Abrams and most of his projects because the mysteries in them aren't fully explained, with Super 8 being the latest in a long line of unexplained mysteries. For me though, the mysteries aren't really the focus; the characters and the way they deal with the strange happenings around them are the main focus.

By not revealing the entire truth behind those mysteries, we're left with a sense of wonder and curiosity about the entire thing--well at least that's the way I always look at Abrams' films and TV series. But I think the reason why Super 8 truly resonated well with me was because I was also a teenager back in 1979, and it was great to go back in time even for just two hours, heh.

The completed movie that the kids were filming, "The Case," plays during the end credits, and it was a blast. Super 8 just became my favorite movie of 2011 so far.

Resorts World Manila

I first heard about Resorts World Manila from a friend who went there sometime earlier this year, and I finally got a chance to go there last week. From what I've read, Resorts World Manila is a casino resort affiliated with similar resorts in Singapore and Malaysia. It's located in a recently completed development called Newport City that's right across Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Marriott Hotel

Currently, Resorts World Manila consists of two hotels and a mall: the Marriott Hotel, Maxims Tower, and the Newport Mall. A third hotel, the Remington, is under construction. We didn't go to the Marriott, but we did enter Maxims Tower, which I mistook for the mall because of its facade, LOL. Maxims Tower is actually a luxury hotel with rooms that are entirely suites. The lobby actually looks nice, save for a humongous sculpture across the front entrance that looked entirely out of place.

Maxim Tower

The Newport Mall can be accessed through the Marriott and Maxims Tower, and it's a several story structure with a central atrium area. Shops and restaurants were laid out around the atrium, and there were cinemas on the top floor. The shops were mostly high-end clothing stores, none of which interested me--I didn't even see a single bookstore, toy store or electronics shop.

The dining establishments ranged from affordable to fine dining, with some familiar outlets. We ate at this Italian restaurant called Parmigiano and the food was really good that I'm contemplating a return visit and a separate blog entry soon.

Newport Mall Central Atrium

Central Atrium Fountain

The Casino can also be found at the Newport Mall and takes up several floors, with lots of slot machines and tables. I was appalled to find out that they allowed smoking inside, so everyone smelled like smoke and your chances of inhaling secondhand smoke are fairly high, ugh. There were also some dancers performing in the central portion of the Casino, which I thought was a bit strange and hilarious.

Shrine of St. Therese Church

After we left the mall, we strolled around Newport City; there were lots of residential townhomes and condominiums being constructed near the hotels, and further walking took us to the Shrine of St. Therese Church. As we walked back towards the carpark, we passed by the Beacon Tower, some kind of old lighthouse, which was very odd, since we're nowhere near the ocean.

Beacon Tower

Genting Group Offices

Newport City is just being completed, so the area still has a lot of bare spots. For a master planned community, this place badly needs lots of trees because right now everything looks too paved and artificial; hopefully it will look much better in a couple of years. For now, it's a good place for travelers that have short stops in Manila.

Gizmos | PlayStation Vita

Sony's Next Generation Portable system, which was unveiled last January, has changed its name. So say goodbye to the Sony NGP, and say hello to the PlayStation Vita.


Actually, it wasn't that much of a surprise, as the PS Vita name was already leaked a week before on some blogs and gaming sites. Vita is the Latin word for "life," and looks like Sony literally went with their "Play Life" marketing campaigns. And it's pronounced "vee-ta," not "vigh-ta" as some people thought.

The big surprise during Sony's E3 announcement wasn't the PS Vita name though; it was the pricing. The PS Vita will come in two versions, a WiFi only model that costs US$249 (P10,864) and a 3G/WiFi model at US$299 (P13,045). Considering the hardware involved, those prices are incredibly cheap, almost the price of a Nintendo 3DS. The price point alone makes the PS Vita rather tempting for most gamers now, including me, heh.

Also revealed were two of the PS Vita's built-in software: a location-based gaming app called Near that lets you see what nearby players are playing and share game information, and a voice and text chat app called Party. With its 2 cameras, I think many augmented reality games are also on the way.


While Sony still didn't mention a specific release date for the PS Vita other than Holiday 2011, they did come out with a sexy promo video for the PS Vita and its upcoming first party titles, like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LIttleBigPlanet, Hot Shots Golf, Wipeout, and more.

Film | X-Men: First Class

Best. Damn. X-Men. Movie. Ever.

That's precisely what I thought of after watching this newest re-imagining of the X-Men movie franchise. A reboot of the characters previously seen in the trilogy of X-Men films, X-Men: First Class takes it back even further to the 1960's, when the lead characters were much younger.

So we get to see how Charles Xavier became involved with organizing a band of mutants to fight for the greater good, how Erik Lensherr harbored a deep hatred for ex-Nazis and the human race in general, and how these two men met, connected, and ultimately became enemies. Character development is the highlight of this movie, which it delivers in spades.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender both turn in outstanding performances as the young Professor X and Magneto, and it's to their credit that the entire film succeeds. In fact, most of the supporting cast was great, with the sole exception being January Jones as Emma Frost, who displays all the emotional range of a decorative ornament; she couldn't even say her lines properly without appearing like she was reading from cue cards. It's a good thing everyone's acting was good enough to outweigh her lousy acting, otherwise she would've destroyed the entire movie.

Most of the other mutants introduced here were clearly non-canon, making their selection questionable. Havok's presence here is baffling, since he appears to be also slightly younger than Charles, yet he's supposed to be the older brother of Cyclops, so when Scott Summers finally shows up in a later movie, that would make Havok...old enough to be his father, LOL.

One thing I really didn't like was Moira MacTaggert's makeover from world-renowned geneticist to a hyperactive CIA operative. Worse, she became American in the film, instead of being Scottish like in the comics. The same can be said of Ron Weasley Banshee, who's supposed to be Irish, yet was turned into an Amercian teenager for the movie--wtf?

In the end, it's the overall product that matters, and X-Men: First Class passes with flying colors. Forget the ugly posters, non-canonical timeline, plot, and characters--view this movie as a standalone starting point for the mutants and you'll be rewarded with pure awesomeness. It was so compelling, I didn't even notice how long it was. Highly recommended, and a contender for my best film of 2011.