Music | Godley & Creme - Cry

This is my favorite music video of all time...yup, of all time. I saw it first in 1985 and 26 years later, nothing can still top it. It's from Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, two English musicians who were part of the classic 1970's rock band 10cc.


During the late seventies to mid-eighties, Godley & Creme recorded several albums as a duo, having their greatest success in 1985 with The History Mix Volume 1 album. That album contained the single "Cry," which was a good tune on its own, but it's the music video that propelled it to greatness.

The "Cry" music video, which was also directed by the duo, featured stark black & white faces of people that appeared to morph into one another, using simple fades and dissolves. CGI wasn't even in use during that time, but this video manages to create a striking effect using just simple film techniques.

What makes this video so brilliant was its concept, which was so simple and minimalist; the almost haunting images go so well with the music, providing an overall result of pure awesomeness.

Godley & Creme went on to become acclaimed music video directors through the 1980's; the morphing faces concept of "Cry" was copied in the music video for Michael Jackson's "Black or White," but despite using the latest CGI technology of that time, it still paled in comparison, as nothing can beat the original.

Pedring Blows Into Town

Typhoon Pedring (International name: Nesat) went through the Luzon area yesterday, with winds reaching up to 121 miles per hour. We'd been alerted about it a couple of days before it hit, so I made sure to charge every electronic device that can keep me occupied when a power failure occurs, which always happens.

I charged my mobile phone, DS, DS Lite, DSi XL, PSP, iPod, and laptop, in that order. The laptop was my least priority, since it was next to useless because I won't be able to access our broadband router anyway during the blackout.

So I managed to wake up early to the sound of wind and rain battering above me, and when I saw that we still had power, rushed downstairs to make coffee, because if I don't get to drink some freshly-brewed coffee before the day starts, I'll end up being miserable the entire day, and that's how mababaw I am these days, LOL.

And true enough, the lights went off just after breakfast. You gotta hand it to our ever-reliable *snark* electric ulitity company here; just when the rain and winds were slowing down, they decide to cut off the power. How's that for efficiency?

As always with typhoons of this type, the rains came in bursts, but the scariest part were the winds--you could hear it whipping through the air, and when you hear the simultaneous rattling of your neighbors' rooftops, you just didn't want to think about it.

bflavi's video of Roxas Blvd. as Pedring passes by

Paul Go's video of Roxas Blvd. during Typhoon Pedring
as posted by metromanila2011

The power was out for 14 hours, and during that time there really wasn't anything else to do but wait it out as Pedring proceeded to batter most of Metro Manila during the day. The Roxas Blvd. area near the Seawall was hit the hardest, with incoming waves turning the road into a river, as seen in two videos captured by people who lived nearby. I think this is the first time I saw that place covered in water, and hopefully it never happens again.

[Photo of Typhoon Nesat approaching the eastern Philippines taken by NASA's Terra satellite, from the NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team]

TV | Fringe Season 4 Promos

Fall is approaching in the USA, which means it's time once again for the new primetime season of TV shows. Among the small number of shows that I watch without fail, Fringe is on the top of that list. During the past several weeks, we've been bombarded with teasers and promos for Season 4, which starts this Friday, September 23, 2011, and these are some of the best:



The first promo adds in the Observers, which I actually didn't notice the first time I saw it, while the second one shows the regular cast--or at least the ones in "our universe." All the promos show Peter Bishop, who was wiped out from existence in last season's finale, so I guess he's not that gone after all, LOL.

Fringe is still every bit as strange and awesome as it was when it first premiered; it's experienced some ratings dips due to FOX's constant meddling of its schedule, and this season may well be it its last, so I'll just enjoy the ride until it ends.

Film | Contagion

Contagion shows us probable scenarios on what happens when a pandemic spreads; it follows several characters, from the infected to the authorities in government who struggle to combat the disease.

It begins innocently enough, with Gwyneth Paltrow's character, and we see that she's not well. Over the course of several days, she experiences a seizure and dies, while we're shown seemingly random people around the world who also die in a similar fashion.

When more people die in the following days, officials from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are alerted, and they begin to suspect a lethal virus while dispatching people to investigate and formulate a cure. Turns out those random people shown earlier all had contact with Paltrow's character, and they've spread the virus in return.

As the days pass, fear and panic spreads among the general public; the government's inability to cover-up the pandemic along with the military's ineffective use of force results in anarchy, as society begins to break down.

Aside from Paltrow, Contagion boasts a large cast of supporting characters, all ably performed by other high profile actors like Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Lawrence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, and many others. There is no lead character, which is just as it should be, as this type of story affects everyone, with most of the main characters linked together through interweaving plotlines.

This type of storytelling, where scenes shift from character to character, works well in this case, and it's actually an effective method of depicting how a virus spreads rapidly anywhere, and through anyone.

The only gripe I had with the film was the plot involving Cotillard's character, which was bizarre and seemed out of place, like it belonged in another movie. Other than that, it's excellent. Hypochondriacs should stay away.

Design | The National September 11 Memorial

The National September 11 Memorial, also known as the World Trade Center Memorial and the 9/11 Memorial, will be formally inaugurated today, on the 10th Anniversary of that terrible day in New York City. A tribute to the thousands who perished when the Twin Towers fell, the Memorial is actually two huge reflecting pools set within the footprints where the towers stood, and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the region.


Designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker, the Memorial was the winning entry in a design competition held in 2003. While politics and controversy have marred the competition, the end result is all that matters, and the Memorial is a fitting remembrance that honors the ones who died, with their names carved on bronze panels that surround the pools.


The stark simplicity and spectacular beauty that the Memorial creates is just awesome; there's nothing more calming than the sound of water, which also represents life and renewal. The waterfalls are surrounded by greenery that creates a natural, peaceful space right in the middle of the city, and setting the pools themselves within the footprints of the original buildings was a truly brilliant concept.

Gizmos | Ni no Kuni Magical Edition PS3

The upcoming game Ni no Kuni: Shiroki Seihai no Joou for the PlayStation 3 has already set records for being one of the more expensive games for the console, and just recently, Sony also announced a hardware bundle for it, which includes this awesome limited edition PS3.


The Ni no Kuni Magical Edition PS3 is gold-coated, almost white gold in appearance with a gold PS3 logo and an imprint of a character found in the game. It also comes with a matching white and gold DualShock controller.

When the Tales of Xillia PS3 X Edition was announced, I thought it was the best of the special edition PS3s, but this new one just trounced it. And of course, with no English version of the game being confirmed, this bundle remains only exclusive to Japan; it will be released on November 17, 2011.

TV | Top Chef: Masters

Top Chef: Masters is the first spin-off series of the popular Top Chef reality show franchise. While the original show features younger professional chefs who are just starting to make a name for themselves in the industry, Top Chef: Masters has established, big-name chefs as contestants. Also, while the prize pot is almost the same, the actual prize money in Top Chef: Masters is donated to a charity of the winning chef's choice.

The format of Top Chef: Masters is similar to Top Chef, with a Quickfire Challenge being given out first, followed by a longer Elimination Challenge, but the ones doing the judging are mostly food critics. During the first two seasons, Top Chef: Masters used a different format in which preliminary rounds were held first, with the winners in those rounds competing in a Champions' Round later on. A ratings system was also used where each chef was awarded a number of stars, with the winner getting the most number of stars.

However, the newest season reverted to the Top Chef-style of eliminations, and removed both the preliminary rounds and star rating system. Host Kelly Choi was also replaced by Curtis Stone; I'm not really sure why a replacement was necessary, but I preferred Kelly Choi as host, as Curtis can be somewhat annoying.

But it's the contestants themselves that make watching Top Chef: Masters a treat--while it's first and foremost a competition, these renowned chefs have nothing but respect for one another, and you can sense genuine camaraderie among everyone, as compared to the trash-talking and hypocrisy that we usually see among the Top Chef contestants.

It's also somewhat fun to see famous chefs like Michael Chiarello, Susur Lee, Jonathan Waxman, Wylie Dufresne, Anita Lo, and Susan Feniger thrown into situations where they are entirely out of their element, like cooking in a rowdy tailgating party or letting them all create an amuse-bouche by just using ingredients from a vending machine.

There's very little drama and hardly any clash of egos, as these are wiser, more experienced chefs, but despite the grueling challenges you can easily tell that their passion for cooking good food and respect for their colleagues are the things that matter most, which makes Top Chef: Masters a notch above other cooking competition shows.