Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Rant No. 1
Mother Earth and Those Pretty Faces
I was watching those Miss Earth promotional TV ads wherein the contestants say their stuff about the conservation of nature. I couldn't help but ask skeptical questions about those pretty faces.
Have they tried picking trash on Manila Bay?
Have they tried getting dirty on the banks of Pasig River?
Have they planted at least a single tree on their lifetime?
Did they join the pageant to campaign for Mother Earth or to just strut their pretty faces?
Do they really, really know what on EARTH they are talking about?
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Oh... i remember also that time when ABS-CBN hosted a benefit concert for the Save La Mesa Dam drive. I got really, really annoyed with the hosts. I can't help myself when i uttered some curse: Tang-**a din ano? Mineral water din naman tinutungga nyo eh.
Not surprisingly, i decided not to buy that baller-id for that Save La Mesa drive. Nor did I affix my signature on their signature campaign. Comeon, of course I know the value of clean water. But the Save La Mesa Dam project does not solve the problem. There were people who were legally promised land on that portion of La Mesa. Given the legal contract, no matter how faulty it was conceived, these people have the right to build their homes there too. The Save La Mesa Dam drive should have campaigned not only for clean water but for legal compromises with these people who were promised with land.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
"Look! He's still alive!"
Will get back to blogging sometime soon, folks. As soon as my laptop gets back from the repair shop, that is.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Film Review No. 4
300 - Wrestlemania two and a half millenia before Hulk Hogan
Director: Zack Snyder, based on the graphic novel of the same title by Frank Miller
The military commanders of the Persian empire are idiots. There are a number of ways of defeating 300 Spartans however 'elite' their combat skills may be:
1. Archers. Why they never thought of using flaming arrows is puzzling. Their archers using normal arrows can blot out the sun but the Spartans can just block them with their shields. But imagine if these are fire-tipped arrows. The wasted arrows hitting the ground will keep burning due to the thousands of arrows they rained down on the Spartans. They can even use their 'sorcerers' to first rain down oil or gunpowder on the Spartans' narrow pass before shooting the flaming arrows.
2. Shock Cavalry. Engaging the Spartans will spear-wielding heavy cavalry will be effective. Match the Spartans' shorter spears (historically correct since phalanx warfare with longer spears was used at a much later date by the Macedonians) with cavalry troops using longer spears. The rest of the momentum will be taken care of by the excellent horses of the Persians.
3. Siege weapons. What can those greek shields do with catapult volleys? Or giant spears hurled by ballistae? Okay, if the persians around 400BC were too dumb to develop military engineering, maybe they should consider #4.
4. Sappers. Have sappers dig an alternate access point behind the pass to pin the Spartans eventually. If the mountainous area is too thick for sappers then see #5.
5. Find a totally different route. Why waste your men on 300 Spartans when you can go around the mountains? The persians have travelled a long way from their country and it wouldn't hurt to walk a little distance around that mountain to avoid the 300 Spartans. Or, heck, just go over that damn mountain. Hannibal did that on the Alps.
Leonidas is a dictator. It's enough kicking the Persian messenger's ass for hurling insults but start a war without the council's consultation? The Spartan king's undemocratic war against terror (ahem, ahem) just wasted the lives of brainwashed idealistic warriors.
But of course I was talking about the movie and graphic novel flowery account. Herodotus' written history of the battle tells a different tale. First, the major city-states of ancient Greece have already formed alliances prior to the Battle of Thermopylae. Guarding the pass was a strategic move to trap the Persians while the Greek Navy eradicates the Persian Navy in the Aegean. The plan was to defeat the Persian Navy and control the sea so that the entire land troops of the Persian Empire starves to death while trapped between the sea and the mountains with no supplies. Secondly, Leonidas had thousands of Greek allies with them guarding the pass of Thermopylae. The Persians managed to surround the army through a secret passage used by goat herds, thanks to a Greek traitor, and the Greeks decided to abandon the pass. Not to mention, the sea battle became a stalemate. It is at this point that the Spartans vowed to sacrifice their lives in order for the other Greeks to leave the battle and fight another day. Sure there were 300 Spartans as Herodotus tells us but they were joined by some Greeks who also decided to stay and fight to the death. It was said that the Spartans' decision to stay was further fueled by the Oracle's word that a decendant of Heracles has to die in order for Sparta not to fall to foreign rulers. The kings of Sparta claimed to be descendants of Heracles.
So the bottomline of the written history is that Sparta was never alone in the war and the defenders of Thermopylae count more than 300 whether you consider the headcount before or after the Greek retreat.
On to my verdict!
Script - 8/10 for the down-to-earth script. The lines are not mushy and the characters use proverbs reminiscent of ancient Greece. The script has to be excused as fiction though.
Cinematography - 8/10. Majority of the scenes are shot in studio blue screens. Had they shot the film in the same quality as LOTR i would have given then a 10/10. The superb effects and faithful adaptation of the graphic novel strips compensate for this though.
Acting - 5/10. You don't need actors on this film. You need guys with non-existent beer bellies.
Music - 6/10. The music was okay in the beginning. They even showed a Spartan soldier on the march playing the Aulos (a double-barelled wind instrument that sounds like an oboe). Then suddenly in the fight scenes you hear heavy guitar distortions. I feel like seeing Triple H, Sean Michaels, Rey Mysterio and Batista amidst the Spartans. The period movie feel was utterly destroyed by the use of WWE-inspired entrance music.
Direction - 7/10. Direction was good from the overall design of effects to the details of the fight scenes. The acting direction can be excused but the choice of music is unforgivable.
300 is one action movie I wanna keep in my shelves. Sure, the script is historically skewed and character development in the script is negligible. Majority of action movies are like this anyway. But the visual effects and fight choreography redefine what action movies should look like.
Director: Zack Snyder, based on the graphic novel of the same title by Frank Miller
The military commanders of the Persian empire are idiots. There are a number of ways of defeating 300 Spartans however 'elite' their combat skills may be:
1. Archers. Why they never thought of using flaming arrows is puzzling. Their archers using normal arrows can blot out the sun but the Spartans can just block them with their shields. But imagine if these are fire-tipped arrows. The wasted arrows hitting the ground will keep burning due to the thousands of arrows they rained down on the Spartans. They can even use their 'sorcerers' to first rain down oil or gunpowder on the Spartans' narrow pass before shooting the flaming arrows.
2. Shock Cavalry. Engaging the Spartans will spear-wielding heavy cavalry will be effective. Match the Spartans' shorter spears (historically correct since phalanx warfare with longer spears was used at a much later date by the Macedonians) with cavalry troops using longer spears. The rest of the momentum will be taken care of by the excellent horses of the Persians.
3. Siege weapons. What can those greek shields do with catapult volleys? Or giant spears hurled by ballistae? Okay, if the persians around 400BC were too dumb to develop military engineering, maybe they should consider #4.
4. Sappers. Have sappers dig an alternate access point behind the pass to pin the Spartans eventually. If the mountainous area is too thick for sappers then see #5.
5. Find a totally different route. Why waste your men on 300 Spartans when you can go around the mountains? The persians have travelled a long way from their country and it wouldn't hurt to walk a little distance around that mountain to avoid the 300 Spartans. Or, heck, just go over that damn mountain. Hannibal did that on the Alps.
Leonidas is a dictator. It's enough kicking the Persian messenger's ass for hurling insults but start a war without the council's consultation? The Spartan king's undemocratic war against terror (ahem, ahem) just wasted the lives of brainwashed idealistic warriors.
But of course I was talking about the movie and graphic novel flowery account. Herodotus' written history of the battle tells a different tale. First, the major city-states of ancient Greece have already formed alliances prior to the Battle of Thermopylae. Guarding the pass was a strategic move to trap the Persians while the Greek Navy eradicates the Persian Navy in the Aegean. The plan was to defeat the Persian Navy and control the sea so that the entire land troops of the Persian Empire starves to death while trapped between the sea and the mountains with no supplies. Secondly, Leonidas had thousands of Greek allies with them guarding the pass of Thermopylae. The Persians managed to surround the army through a secret passage used by goat herds, thanks to a Greek traitor, and the Greeks decided to abandon the pass. Not to mention, the sea battle became a stalemate. It is at this point that the Spartans vowed to sacrifice their lives in order for the other Greeks to leave the battle and fight another day. Sure there were 300 Spartans as Herodotus tells us but they were joined by some Greeks who also decided to stay and fight to the death. It was said that the Spartans' decision to stay was further fueled by the Oracle's word that a decendant of Heracles has to die in order for Sparta not to fall to foreign rulers. The kings of Sparta claimed to be descendants of Heracles.
So the bottomline of the written history is that Sparta was never alone in the war and the defenders of Thermopylae count more than 300 whether you consider the headcount before or after the Greek retreat.
On to my verdict!
Script - 8/10 for the down-to-earth script. The lines are not mushy and the characters use proverbs reminiscent of ancient Greece. The script has to be excused as fiction though.
Cinematography - 8/10. Majority of the scenes are shot in studio blue screens. Had they shot the film in the same quality as LOTR i would have given then a 10/10. The superb effects and faithful adaptation of the graphic novel strips compensate for this though.
Acting - 5/10. You don't need actors on this film. You need guys with non-existent beer bellies.
Music - 6/10. The music was okay in the beginning. They even showed a Spartan soldier on the march playing the Aulos (a double-barelled wind instrument that sounds like an oboe). Then suddenly in the fight scenes you hear heavy guitar distortions. I feel like seeing Triple H, Sean Michaels, Rey Mysterio and Batista amidst the Spartans. The period movie feel was utterly destroyed by the use of WWE-inspired entrance music.
Direction - 7/10. Direction was good from the overall design of effects to the details of the fight scenes. The acting direction can be excused but the choice of music is unforgivable.
300 is one action movie I wanna keep in my shelves. Sure, the script is historically skewed and character development in the script is negligible. Majority of action movies are like this anyway. But the visual effects and fight choreography redefine what action movies should look like.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The End of the Beginning
If you noticed, you'll see that I haven't posted in a while now. Preparing for finals week.
I'll get back to you quickly as soon as finals are over; so for the meantime, expect slower updates. Unless Juphel or Kafka's girl does something to fix that.
In the meantime, why don't you try some of the links over to your right?
I'll get back to you quickly as soon as finals are over; so for the meantime, expect slower updates. Unless Juphel or Kafka's girl does something to fix that.
In the meantime, why don't you try some of the links over to your right?
Friday, March 9, 2007
What are bears?
Your response to that question would perhaps be "What a stupid question," or something to that effect. The thing, however, is that the term "bear" has been given a somewhat risqué redefining.
I'm not going to directly post potentially incriminating stuff here (except for the teaser pic below). Find out for yourself the answer to my stupid question via these links:
Wikipedia entry on "Bears"
Wikiality entry on "Bears"
"The creature in the foreground is 'human,' not Gimli son of Gloin, a popular misconception." (Pic and caption pilfered from above Wikiality article)
I'm not going to directly post potentially incriminating stuff here (except for the teaser pic below). Find out for yourself the answer to my stupid question via these links:
Wikipedia entry on "Bears"
Wikiality entry on "Bears"
"The creature in the foreground is 'human,' not Gimli son of Gloin, a popular misconception." (Pic and caption pilfered from above Wikiality article)
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Oh, Sweet Serendipity! The "Children Love Great Dictators" series (incomplete)
Surfing for a new header pic to be featured on this blog soon (watch for it!) led me to a site called Wikiality, a Wikipedia parody built around Stephen Colbert's brand of humor. Check it out if you have the time.
What caught my eye in particular was the "Children Love..." series, a collection of alphabetical flash cards that featured dictators and other infamous figureheads instead of the usual assortment of everyday stuff. Truth be told, Wikiality isn't what you'd exactly call "work-safe," so for those of you fearful of offensive or obscene content, here are the pictures for you. So far, I've managed to get hold of only four:
Adolf Hitler
Vladimir Lenin
Chairman Mao
Joseph Stalin
Please let me know if you find the other letters of the great dictator alphabet. Thanks!
What caught my eye in particular was the "Children Love..." series, a collection of alphabetical flash cards that featured dictators and other infamous figureheads instead of the usual assortment of everyday stuff. Truth be told, Wikiality isn't what you'd exactly call "work-safe," so for those of you fearful of offensive or obscene content, here are the pictures for you. So far, I've managed to get hold of only four:
Adolf Hitler
Vladimir Lenin
Chairman Mao
Joseph Stalin
Please let me know if you find the other letters of the great dictator alphabet. Thanks!
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