From Paris With Love: A Humble Movie Review

I am an obvious sucker for action movies, especially mindless action movies that has more plotholes than bullet holes. I am not a typical plothole nitpicker to action movies, but I definitely love Luc Besson's new juggernaut masterpiece, "From Paris with Love".

The film's protagonists James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is your low-level CIA operative who is the personal aide of the US ambassador to France. Throughout the movie, he is learning the ropes of being an in your face CIA operative under the guidance of Charlie Wax (John Travolta), who delivered one of the best anti-hero performance of all time, which consists of kicking asses, knowing 10 steps ahead from his enemies and his extreme obsession with "Royale with Cheese". There is something about a bald Travolta that exceeds his villain bad-assery in the film Swordfish. He is like a combination of Chev Chelios (Crank) and Brian Mills (Taken), with Meyer's character greatly reminds me of Ethan Hawke's character in the Training Day.

As expected, the contradicting duos shown a lot of action mixed with humor, sick humor, especially when Reese gone nuts to retrieve his stolen ring. The major twist near the end caught me off-guard and all the bad guy's plan went full circle flawlessly, which ended by this unlikely duos of course.

The action sequence were top-notch, the dialogues were witty and overall, the movie is one of those you want to view the action sequences over Youtube over and over again. The professional critics hate this movie because of excessive amount of plotholes, especially the one with a suicide vest and a metal detector. Still, like what I always mention, if it entertains a common movie addict, like me, I absolutely enjoyed it and I personally highly recommend it. The director  Luc Besson is a genius and I can't wait to see another of his movie soon. I give "From Paris with Love" a 4 over 5 stars.

Somewhere in Youtube: Jollibee Does Traffic Control

A popular local fast food mascot's is doing some extra work for extra income... in a humane way. He is "rumaraket".

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nfc04y-NiM&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Monumental Disaster Pedestrians

Driving everyday in Manila is hell. Everywhere there are abundance of idiot drivers and poorly placed road obstructions that are meant as U-turn slots. Aside from those mentioned there is a prevalent accident attraction that you see everyday, and these are the selected pedestrians you wish they are prancing around in a demolition derby, with guns.

I am not a fast driver, I am more one with defensive driving. I only use the car as a tool going from point A to B. Crossing pedestrians are a common sight on everyday driving but there are some pedestrians who are total dicks and rather risk both their lives and the ones in the vehicle. Kudos to the remaining pedestrians who knows when to cross properly or actually uses a foot bridge to cross the road, but avoiding sneaky street criminals atop the bridge is another story. These are the pedestrians you watch out for every single day.

Rush Hour Runner
This pedestrians who want to cross the road as fast as possible to the point of running as fast as hell, even there is a number of vehicles, all in a hurry for some reason, hurling towards you. Most of the time they will be hit and sadly killed on the spot.

Got Stuck on One Side
They are the ones who cross the road who does not look on other direction for some reason. They always look at one direction, mostly the opposite side and does not look at the other way. I don't know why I always see them on both Legazpi and Salcedo side of Makati. One of the most important things to do before or while crossing the road is to look both ways. Having your neck stuck on one side will have a bigger chance to be... struck by a vehicle driven by a maniac.

Headset Head On
Similar with "Got Stuck on One Side" person, but this time, he is distracted to look both ways because the fool is on his head set, listening to some music, and oblivious around him. They are the ones mindlessly crossing the road, in a very slow pace, in deep trance with the music and not hearing the honks of vehicles blaring all over the place.

Middle of the Road Loaders, Motherfu....
I loathed rampaging buses in EDSA, but combine with this imbeciles, you are closer for more accidents. This kind of people will flag down a public vehicle like a bus in the middle of the road, and ascend the vehicle, still in the middle of the road, while other blood thirsty drivers throwing themselves in the road in scary, rush hour fast manner. Jeepneys are notorious of loading and unloading passengers in the middle of the road. There are times I see a mother carrying her infant, running in the middle of EDSA, just to ascend the bus she flagged down.

Footbridge Allergic Scumbags
The footbridge is one of the safest way to cross the street. Yet, this imbeciles who has obvious footbridge allergy will not use one, even if it is only few meters away. According to these idiots, its faster to cross the road rather than use the footbridge. It is someway true but you are always at death's door whenever you attempt to cross a Manila street. Use the goddamn footbridge for god freaking sake.

Irresponsible and careless pedestrians can create monumental disasters on the road. There are a lot of simple but 100% effective ways to cross the street, like using the right pedestrian lane and usage of a footbridge or like in Makati, an underpass. Next time you walk around and attempt to cross the road, just stop and ask yourself if I do this may I live another day? if you immediately find a better solution to cross the road, without facing the unruly drivers of Manila, speeding all around the place like Sonic the Hedgehog on sugar rush, do it and live a longer and safer life.

Combatron: My First Pinoy Superhero

We have Darna, Lastikman, Flash Bomba, Captain Barbell with a show that obviously blatantly ripped off Smallville and a lot of Philippine made superheroes. They have their own movies and TV shows but there is only one local made superhero that I looked up to every week back in 94-96. This hero is Combatron, created by Berlin Manalaysay.

Combatron appeared in Funny Komiks, an awesome weekly published comic that also introduced as Eklok, Planet op di Eyps, Tomas and Kulas, Pitit, Super Blag and more characters. Combatron's look is based on Megaman, complete with his loyal sidekick dog known as Askal, his Rush version. The major difference of Combatron and Megaman series is the deep personification of all characters. Every character, cyborg or human, has personalities and not a static wallflower.

In span of a couple of years, the series introduced to a lot of memorable characters and epic more than 1 issue battles. Berlin did a good job of showing both the passionate and determined side of Combatron. Overcoming every destructive robots send by his first enemy Abodawn and engaging to the insane battles with Death Metal. Combatron eventually faced his greatest enemy, a big robot known as Megadeath. So big, the robot can't handle one page panel.

Unfortunately, the series was abruptly ended with a terrible ending and was done by a very different artist due to a rumored disagreement with the Funny Komiks and Berlin Manalaysay. In the end, Combatron is not only robot and cyborg battles but also taught us the value of life as portrayed by Empoy, the real identity of Combatron. Empoy's drive to save precious life both on his enemies and mankind, are remarkably portrayed. Combatron also taught us the importance of faith and it shows the source of his strength, his deep believe with the one above all, or simply God.

Thanks to the internet, you can browse old issues of Combatron, scanned and uploaded by other loyal Combatron readers via Project Combatron (http://projectcombatron.blogspot.com/). Try to take your time and maybe you will also find out why a lot of people followed this series. This site also got the attention of the original creator Berlin Manalaysay and gracefully approved the effort of the loyal Combatron fans. Hopefully he will provide the proper ending to this series, if that happened, one of my nerdiest dreams will finally be complete.

Eject those Passengers

Commuting can be consider as a cheaper way to save money while going from point A to B. You will just pay for the fare, have a seat if you are lucky and just mind your own business. Since you commute and have a number of total strangers surround you, there always be people who are total dicks that you want to throw out of the vehicle or hit a steel chair in the head repeatedly. These are the people who should not ride in any vehicle, private or public, an FX or a bus, a jeepney or a colorum vehicle, ever... including criminals of course.

Space hoggers
This people, mostly fat, thinks they are as thin as a matchstick and hogs precious space. Even if you ask them nicely to move a little bit so someone can move or sit they will just stare at you. If you verbally fight them you will look like an idiot since he or she, unfortunately mostly she, will not listen to you and continue munching their snacks which leads to my next point.

Obnoxious Munchers
We all eat time to time on a public vehicle, eating fish crackers or a ten pesos twin burgers from Minute Burger, but I can't stand eaters who munch their food like there  is no tomorrow, very inconsiderate dick to other people. I can understand kids being messy with their foods on a bus but grown up people, eating their foods in most annoying way and you can hear every slimy munching possible. There are even times that they will leave or sprout food residues all over the place.

My other co-passenger are my stuff
This is commonly found in FXs, some inconsiderate idiot will buy the other seat so he or she place his or her things to the other chair. This way, another passenger who suppose to be the seater of the chair will wait for another opening. It is okay if you have large boxes and you need more space for it but for a stupid laptop bag or a make-up kit? give the freaking seat to a freaking person you selfish monkey crap.

Freeloading Cheapskates
This cheap bastards are usually seen in a crowded bus or even in a shuttle FX. They will not pay the fare and find creative ways not to get the attention of the ticket conductor on them. They will pretend to sleep with a head set on their ears, probably listening to an annoying novelty song. If they are about to be approached by the ticket handler, they will immediately descend the bus and find another bus to do another free ride shenanigans.

Look at Me I am Important attention whores
I hate seating next to these kind of people. They are the ones talking very loud to each other, wherein they are only a few inches apart and their voice can be heard outside of the vehicle. I observed that most of this loud mouths were either high school students cutting classes because according to them it is cool or college students who probably got their first taste of freedom. People who talks to their cellphone as if they are inside of a room alone, blabbing loudly from nonsense gossip to boasting some insignificant bullcrap.

They are the people I wish there is a nearby eject button that can instantly throw them out of the vehicle and towards oblivion. They should be considerate with other people because we are all just riding in one public vehicle, respect the well-being of the other passengers as they respect yours.

4 Years of Multimedia Art-ing

I am a multimedia arts graduate (DLS-CSB batch 2004) which deals a lot of designs both the traditional and computer assisted way. Rewind back in 1999, a mere 4th year highschool student looking for a college to enroll. For some reason that I can't remembered I only applied with 2 colleges, one is DLSU Manila and DLSU College of St. Benilde.

When I was a kid, my main dream job is to be either a painter, the artistic one with galleries or an architect. Admittedly I didn't even know whats an architect but I chose it since it sounds artistic and awesome. As I learned how to mingle with software in my highschool life, my new choice of course is computer science or they aptly called in CSB, Computer Applications. Fortunately I passed the exam at CSB and I was first placed in the General Studies Program which means I passed the test but not as a Computer Applications student. I can only apply for a regular course after the first term and I can choose any of the available courses.

During my first term of college life, I don't exactly remembered the whole details but somehow I stumbled inside of the old multimedia classroom and I was in awe when I saw everything that I need to see and hear. After seeing all the great artworks, videos and graphic designs scattered all over the room I was convinced that this may be the right course for me. Near the end of the first term and I was asked to choose which course I am going to apply, I immediately choose the Multimedia Arts course over my original choice of Computer Applications.

Through thick and thin, empty beer cans and Pepsi Blue bottles later, with a Pentium 3 computer on the verge of breakdown, a little bit of college heartbreak here and there, overcoming 2 failed minor subjects, going places, overused old Handycam cameras, marathon gaming sessions, numerous sleep overs and creating/defending my thesis alone, I finally finished my course in span of exact 4 years, faster than I expected.

Done my exhibit part, does the exhibit proper and 2 months later, I wore the toga and receive my diploma which my father proudly displays in his office.

I asked myself now what? and I answered myself, welcome to the real world... and the real world... is a very cruel place. Damn you real world.

Adding fire to Firefox: my recommended Firefox add-ons

I use Firefox primarily as my browser. It is safer and more reliable than the Internet Explorer, and I can't remember the last time I used that browser. I sometimes use Google Chrome for its speed but Firefox takes the cake because of its countless and helpful add-ons. It may slow the browser sometimes but I highly recommend the following Firefox add-ons.

Adblock Plus: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
This add-on can easily remove all the unnecessary and space hogging  ads in many popular sites. Random ads sometime slows the loading of a page, this add-on simply gets rid of the ad on the fly. It may not work in other lesser known websites though but you can block them manually.

Linkification: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/190
You no longer copy and paste a static html address, this add-on automatically converts to a more convenient clickable link. This is useful in message boards that does not support HTML scripting.

Text to Image: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/618

It is like linkification, but instead of a link, the text URL of an image will turn into the actual image itself. It is again useful in message boards that does not support HTML scripting. Remember , this add-on may mess up other   due to conflicting HTML image URL mess fest. You can easily disable this with a click if a problem occur in  a different site.

FoxTab: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8879
It's like the Safari or Google Chrome multi-tab screen, in Firefox format. This is useful if you have a habit of opening a lot of tabs. This add-on will make a navigation to countless tabs easier.

NoScript: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722
Probably the best security add-on for paranoid people. It shields you from malicious web attacks and clickjacking that can put your computer at risk of being hacked, played around or even steal your personal data.

DownThemAll!: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201
A faster download manager, its like the old Download Accelerator we all loved during the heydays of Dial-up internet, but this is faster... way faster, its like your download speed ate a bunch of Popeye's spinach. It can download huge files in less than an hour, it is still depends on your internet speed, it just enhances the speed by three times.

VideoDownloadHelper: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006
Effective tool if you want to grab a video from an online streaming sites like Youtube. If you know what to do, you can retrieve the FLV address of the video using VideoDownloadHelper and use the DownThemAll to download the video file, faster.

Use these useful add-ons for more smooth flowing internet experience especially if you are an active message board participant or an online streaming video addict. There are a lot of other add-ons scattered throughout the internet but I think the following were the the most important ones. Go to Firefox add-ons to get more add-ons at https://addons.mozilla.org.

Edge of Darkness: A Humble Movie Review

It is one of those movies that I only found out a few days ago and I did not even once watched the trailer. We originally wanted to watch Valentines Day movie but me and Rein finally decided to watch a somewhat comeback movie of Mel Gibson entitled the Edge of Darkness.

The title is kind of like a horror film but it contradict on the poster that heavily reminds me of my other old favorite movie Payback, which also starred Gibson.  The movie is basically a slow rollercoaster ride of finding who is the main culprit of his daughter's weird poisoning and the subsequent death. Gibson, a horribly aged detective named Thomas Kraven, seeks justice by tracing and kicking asses throughout the movie. Along the way he meets a hitman intended to kill him, but I cannot understand 70% of this guy's dialogue, it's a mixture of pure english accent with mumblings. I missed a lot of key plots  from the hitman because all I hear is muzzled mumblings, like a grumpy old man telling his neighbor kids to get off his lawn. The movie has more drama than the action we usually expect from this kind of film.

In the end Kraven finally found the main culprit, a lot of them, got poisoned, shoot some guys, kick more asses and shoot some guys in a calculated Clint Eastwood of mannerism. Unfortunately, he died due to his gun wounds and extreme dosage of the poison, but the presentation of his death was heartwarming as his soul reunites with his daughter while walking slowly out of the hospital room and to the light.

The movie is somewhat slow in the first quarter of the movie but it is understandable since we can see Gibson's portrayal of a father who has nothing to lose but to get justice of his daughter's death is well portrayed. He investigates, gets leads, rear end guys and finally reached to the climax of the movie. The movie reminds me of his portrayal of Porter in Payback, but a mix of Brian Mill's (Taken) mentality. I enjoyed the film and the only major complain that I have is that hitman, a major character,  has speaking problems. Only I understand his dialogue after reading some of his lines online, he is also the one muttered the line Edge of Darkness.

If you like a hard-boiled detective like story, with a string of Taken's in your face hand to hand action, I highly recommend this film. I say watch it and I hope you can easily understand on what the heck hitman's is rambling about.

Musicshit

I like music, I love music, music makes me calm, music entertains me. I even mix some sound loops to create electronica sounding music back then and I always turn on the radio whenever I go to work or head home.

Still, there are a lot of music genres and variations that should be destroyed or have the original master copy of that music shove up to the original creator's body part where the sun does not shine. This is the music genre, crappy variations and other related stuff that I hate.... I really hate... I REALLY HATE.

Remixing songs that should not be remixed in the first place
I like listening to electronica music but when some dick starts mixing songs that are really not for an upbeat tempo, it tend to suck. I remember downloading a Texas song called Say What You Want but what I got, most of them were remixed versions that does not sound right. Here we have a nice slow song but a bunch of annoying beeps and bops intertwine between choruses. Who have thought that slow, awful but memorable My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion will be remixed by an asshole who wants to remix everything for the sake of... remixing everything? that awful song became more awful.

Novelty songs for the masses
Again, the unnecessary abuse of beeps and bops with ridiculous lyrics written by someone who is probably taking a dump in his company office while writing the damn lyrics, will not make a great sounding music. It is obviously for the masses and it takes away all the hardships for them while listening to it. Unfortunately for me, I endured it for many years, whenever I commute to college and later to work. Buses, FX and jeepneys has an insane fetish with novelty songs. I think most of them probably hate the music but they need the upbeat music to keep them awake while driving in the hellish roads of Manila.

Overuse of chorus with stupid lyrics
"tonight's gonna be a good night, tonight's gonna be a good night, YADA YADA YADA, tonight's gonna be a good night" They are popular, they are everywhere, you probably hear it at least once a day. This is the popular songs with terrible choruses which consists of one to three phrases, although they will insert a few regular lyrics somewhere in between. The bottom line is it is annoying repetitive. They should balance the lyrics properly, and the writing should be better. The beats, the melody and the music itself may sound good but for the love of god have a better lyrics and balance the order of lyrics.

Emo music
Too bad for you if your significant other ditched you for that bonafide asshole and you write and sing your songs with your bird's nest hair and black colored nails. Emo music is mostly associated with rock music, but please if you are going to do what you written on your songs like jump and do a suicide dive somewhere, well do it if that's what you want, I am not stopping you. Get the emo out of my rock music.

Most of the current popular singers songs in an album are revivals
Local talents here, usually seen in either ASAP or SOP, are downright talented, no doubt about that, their voices can kick anyone's ass on American Idol. Sad thing is, most of their materials seen and hear are mostly revivals. 90% of time they will sing something you probably heard when you were just wearing a sando and shorts playing around the house while your father is listening to that old radio with a rotating knob for controls. They released their albums and most of the tracks are revivals and only a handful of original tracks. This artists should venture to higher levels and have more original tracks, better if the new materials were mostly written by them.

Music entertains, not to be a haven for assholes who uses music to be assholes, well except for the talented ones who are in need to have new and original materials.

Real Super Final Artwork: The FA tips

You have done the graphic design job, you got the approval both internally and from the client itself, time to do the Final Artwork.

A Final Artwork or commonly referred as FAs is the last set of ready-to-print files that will be send over the printer. Here are some tips you can use while fabricating your FA file.

1. Have a separate folder for your FA within the project folder. For example, inside the folder JOB, will have a folder labeled as FA. Here you will place your FA file.


2. Since you have a separate file for FA and the original one, you can backtrack to the previous original file if a major revision is needed.


3. Convert your text with fancy fonts to curves. Converting text with commonly used fonts (Arial, Helvetica, Times New Romance and Verdana) to curves is optional.


4. Make sure the real size of your FA is as the same as you quoted with the supplier. If the file is a scale down version of the design, just make it the actual size.


5. If you are still not sure on what the supplier needs, inside the FA folder, create a folder for vector, JPEG and TIFF. Place the FA vector file to the folder vector. Save a high-resolution JPEG and TIFF of the file and place them in respective folders. This way, the supplier can choose on which file to print.


6. Include the fonts in the FA folder as a separate folder if only needed.


7. Add .125 inches on each side of the file for bleeding.When a page or a cover design extends to and off the edge of the paper it is called a "bleed". In print design, the artwork or block of color must extend off the edge of the page. The artwork or block of color is then printed on larger-size paper. Then the printed page is trimmed to the desired size. (http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/bleedingedges.html)


8. Make sure the images has appropriate resolutions. It may look good in the screen but doesn't mean it looked good in the actual print. Check your images on Photoshop and view it in actual size, if the image has a pixelated look, do a quick remedy on it immediately.


9. Inside the FA folder, have a separate folder for linked images. This way, if the printer knows where to find the images of the file.


10. Always give a sample printout to the supplier.


11. When you received the proof (a printed file from the supplier to have you checked and approved for the first print run) and in need a revision, like I mentioned in number 2, you can go back to the original file. Save it and create the updated FA file on the FA folder.


12. If the supplier want the files be send through email. Zip the FA file (you can use this free zip management tool called 7-Zip http://www.7-zip.org/ ) and send it through the email. If the file is too big for the email, you can use this site (http://www.yousendit.com ) to send big files.


13. After burning the FA folder in a DVD or CD, labeled it immediately with the file name and the current date or version. The printer sometimes mistakenly reused the old files for the secondary proofing. At least this way, the printer knows that he has the updated file due to the updated  date or version.

Basically that's it and I hope it helped you in some way even though most of them were already taught to you back in your design school. Unfortunately, I learned most of them after college. Thanks!

The Post of Rage 1

I call this series, THE POST OF RAGE, the complementary complain topic. I just want to talk about things, common things you usually see and hear everyday that is in need of proper ass kicking or plain ignore like what I always do. It may have a slice of angst but if I manage to impart these little comments to the public, and for some reason, everything I will mention here was immediately removed from the world in entirety, well, I congratulate the world for making itself a better place.

People who throw used cigarette butts in the grassy area of Ayala Avenue.
Every morning, not only their kill themselves with cigarettes as well attempting to share their plight to other people through a process called “passive smoking”, they also desecrate Gods green earth by throwing their used cigarettes in grassy areas, particularly the ones on the side of the Ayala avenue. I am not an OC type of guy because my room is always a mess when I left home for work, but I thought people who work in Makati, particularly in the Ayala area, who are all educated, should know the basic concept of throwing garbage in a trash can. Is throwing your own garbage, particularly used cigarettes, in a trash can a hard thing to do? It’s only a mere few feet, even inches from your place? Are you in a hurry and have no time to throw your cigarette properly Also, you are making the work of the street sweeper a lot harder, finding creative ways to find and retrieve thrown cigarettes scattered in said areas, even in the hard to reach areas like the drainage. You, as a well-educated person, should still know the proper way of throwing trash like cigarettes in a trash can.

Kapamilya / Kapuso online war.
Ah yes, the online war between the hardcore and rabid fans of Channel 2 and 7. They brought the term fanboyism (or 90% of the case, fangirlism) in a whole new level. They go bonkers when their favorite star got bad mouthed by rival networks fan or personalities. You can see these people wasting their lives, battling each other through “flamewars” in various local message boards, even in various video sharing sites Youtube and Daily Motion. There are dozens of channel 2 and 7 shows uploaded in this kind of sites, using different title names to mask themselves from the ongoing purge of copyright infringement materials. Whenever you view the text comments, at least one of them will have an “OMG ANG PANGIT NG SHOW NA YAN!!!!111 ZOMG ITS SUXXORS!” kind of post and someone will reply, usually in minutes, “HINDI, MAGANDA ITO!! SA INYO!! PANGET!!!! WALANG KWENTA!!!”, and some other guy will reply, and before you know it, another person will respond, and this will go on and on for a very long time. This always happens to videos which focus more on with a single actor/actress. Someone will post a tribute video of actor A, and in few hours, even minutes, another flame war will begin.

Smokers in Public Utility Vehicles, the open ones
Angst time ahead. I don’t mind people smoking in public, as long as they properly dispose the rolled tube of death properly, but I just can’t stand people who smoke in public utility vehicles, like the jeepney and tricycle. Can they just wait to get to their destination and load their lungs with 4000 kinds of chemicals afterward? That habit is frustrating  walking around the city, tired, trying to reach your destination via an open air vehicle, like the jeepney, and some dude or dudette shares his plight with you through smoking. Passive smoking is deadlier than self smoking, since the real smoke is an irritant, and allergy sufferers can experience stuffy or runny noses, watery or burning eyes, sneezing, coughing, wheezing, and a feeling of suffocation within minutes of exposure. There was an actual incident around last year, when I am inside of an air-conditioned bus, heading home from work, a guy ascended the vehicle, seats in the front, and attempts to light a cigarette, inside a smoke free bus, talk about the level of nicotine dependency of this guy. Good thing the conductor immediately stopped the man from smoking before he mixed the air from a dying air-condition with his 4000 chemicals.

Havaianas
They are just a bunch of expensive slippers, with designs. Why stay in the line outside of the store, waiting for your turn then fork out your cash when you can buy 5 even 10 reliable and cheaper slippers instead from other stores? I remember seeing a line, with stanchions between people, waiting for their turn to enter the shop at the Mall of Asia. I thought it was a line for a restaurant instead bunch of guys and gals looking directly towards the glass panel of the store, waiting for their turn. They enter and 90% of time they will not buy anything and leave the store. Good for them.

Metro Manila Film Festival
I don't mind watching local films, I love them and it is clear on my habit of watching Cinema One at the wee hours of the day. But please, do not put the Film Festival candidates around Christmas time, especially if most of the films are downright horrible. Good holidays films, both foreign and local, is obviously the main attraction of the cinemas, during of course the holiday season. Most of the films look, was like produced in a week and does not look like it even used a single storyboard, I doubt if they even know whats a storyboard is. The bad thing is most of the candidates are crappy, really crappy. We had to wait till January to watch Avatar and other films that  internationally hit back in December. They can place the festival on other date, like in October, after the onslaught of popular foreign summer movies. The film festival committee should know the deserving films, the ones included in the festival. Garbage films with popular actors are very popular. These garbage should rolled and ditched somewhere immediately, it's all about the story and overall presentation of the film. The actors are just the tool of the film, not the main reason to watch the film. Still, even how obviously crappy the film are, the loyal fans will still buy tickets just to see this guy with same facial expressions even if he is happy, sad or about to deliver a killer line.

That’s it, so far, still a lot of things that deserves a proper written spankings, and I hope I made the world a better place.

Floor it: A Floorplan Creation Tips

A good graphic designer is ready for anything. Since an artist has tools that involves creation of shapes, lines and colors, there is a possibility that you will create a floorplan, something an interior designer or an architect is proficient with.

What is a floorplan? a floorplan is the scaled down  layout of a venue with essential items plotted in their proper places. Remember when we were kids and making a treasure map, with those trees, boats and the huge star illustrated, its kind of like that.

Since I work mostly with clients and their constant pour of events, I constantly create floorplans and learned a lot of things from it. Here are some basic tips and ideas on how to create a floorplan.

1. Always ask the venue for the measurements of the area. Ask for the width, length and the floor to ceiling height.


2. If possible, ask the venue for a copy of the floor specifications. Better if it is well detailed.


3. Venue people usually give the measurements in meters and feet.


4. Once you start creating the floor,If the area is not big, you can use centimeters while creating the layout. Likewise if it is a big one, you can use millimeters. For example, if the width is 45 ft, use 45cm or 45mm on the vector program.


5. Start with the outer area, the wall area. It will be the basic guide for everything you will place inside the venue.


6. Ask the venue for the item sizes. A long table is usually 6 X 1 ft and a chair is 1X1 ft.  Ask the suppliers for other items like the screen size and its projection distance.


7. Just plot everything inside the venue. Make sure note the door placement and distance of each item. It is very important to make it not clutter and the items are clearly labeled..

Basically the main point is to scale down the real floor venue. Your creativity will be the main fuel to place the items correctly. Talk with your accounts person and even the venue representatives for more correct and consistent layout.

Who knows, maybe floorplan lay-outing is your new calling, an interior designer of some sort. Just make sure the client can easily understand on what is this and that on your floorplan.

Blog Here and There

Why do I blog? aside from imparting on whatever is running on my mind, I need to do this to improve something, my brain, particularly memory enhancement. As I get older, I realized I have a terrible case of short-term memory loss.

I think this stuff happened right after college. I tend to forget things, not often, but it always happen in inappropriate times like such as, if I asked something to my officemate and I got the answer. A mere minute later, I forgot the answer and asked him or her again. I enter a room to pick up something but suddenly I forgot what am I suppose to look for.

I read in many resources that one of the most important way to improve your memory is to read and write a lot. Fortunately I love reading stuff, I have a huge collection of assorted magazines, humor books and novels. I actively participating in selected message boards and it helps my memory. I even write my a novel, which is still not finish after writing it periodically for 8 years but it improves my mind, it enhances my vocabulary, even my horrible grammar. I don't know even know if I can finally finish the darn thing.

My personal blogging is very beneficial for me, I primarily don't do this to garner traffic, but hopefully I acquire bigger traffic, but the point is, I use blog to improve my memory, grammar and vocabulary skills. Graphic design is still my primary computer related specialty, it puts gasoline on my car and pay my internet bill.

Who knows, maybe in the future, if I became more active with blogging and I have regular viewers, I might make this my income generator. Thanks for reading my blog.

Parking Lot for Men

I hate shopping that will eat more than 30 minutes, even for 15 minutes. If I am going to purchase something, I will just go to the store, probably the very first store that I will came across, buy the stuff and leave immediately. If I am going to buy something from store A, thats it, I will just go to store A and buy the stuff. Rein, my girlfriend, is a definite shopaholic and I don't like it when I need to go with her for shopping. If she wants to buy something, even in a convenience store, may take least 10 minutes, will take 30 minutes, even an hour and I am here in the car waiting for her, with the hazard blinkers on and parked parallel beside the store. Whenever we are in the mall, and she is looking for a dress or other stuff to buy, she will go to store A all the way to Z and returns to B, but later returns to store F to buy the darn thing. She is just checking the prices and compare it with the other stores, which is practical for the money of course, but women still need to be sensitive on who you shopping with, especially if he is easily get bored standing, waiting and avoiding annoying sales ladies.

Good thing most of the dress retails has its own set of comfortable chairs, even couches placed in the middle of the store. It's like a parking lot for the husband or boyfriend wherein the guy, even irritated and bored for spending unnecessary time in this store, can seat and wait, even popped a PSP or play something from your cellphone.

I remember when there was a massive and earth shattering sale from a popular dressing company, which reaches up to 70% in discount, and there is a rush of women of different ages, even pre-teens start swarming towards the store, its like the stampede scene from Jumanji, it was scary. I entered the store, immediately finds a big couch in the middle of the store, and the sounds of women chattering swirls around the room. I sit and noticed that there were 3 big couches, and everyone sitting were all men, with their lonesome faces waiting for their partners to finish checking the dresses that are still impractical expensive even if it is already discounted. I saw a man fiddling with his cellphone while I saw another guy reading the label of a cereal packaging he bought from other store. Here I am sitting, waiting, attempts to play the PSP but the battery can only last 5 minutes. Still sitting on this couches lessens my irritation of waiting for her, checking and testing the sizes of dresses that she will probably not buy in that store but instead from a different store.

I think dress retails should add something on these couches and chairs, especially if they are on sale. Why not put a bucket of free beer in the middle of the couch? While the girls shop and tries to outdo everyone else just to get the perfect dress, the men, sitting on this parking lot, enjoys drinking the booze and socialize with other brave and patient men. This men, including myself, I salute you.. and myself.

Gossip Deposit full of Shhhhh

Some Filipinos, keyword “some”, love snooping and have the “I must know” mentality. This person has starvation for things gossip, rumors and man-made-false-facts, well those two words and a hyphenated phrase have the same meaning but the point is these leeches like to feed on some things that they should not suck on the first place, even if it's obviously fake.

This is way clear with Philippine showbiz talk shows and even with our lovable local news who just love to spout things that you want to get a piece of rolled newspaper and hit them in the head repeatedly. Showbiz talk shows should talk about the actor's projects, upcoming shows and other interesting showbiz industry news. Why do we care if a girl goes to the other country? Does it entertain me? Why do we care if they are just friends? Does it entertain me? I remember a certain news segment with a big unfortunate headline of “The comedy queen, is getting fatter, why is that? Stay tune”.

Unfortunately, I grew up with people addicted with local showbiz, the hardcore showbiz talk shows and I can post here some gossips that can come from nothing and not fact checked. It's like if I said I saw a blue car and say that the guy likes the color blue but in reality, this guy likes the color pink and he just got a blue car from a radio contest ran by an annoying DJ. Here are some common gossips, rumors and showbiz craps. I think most of them are correct, at least once from the miserable life of the gullible showbiz addict will see the following.

1. If a star all of a sudden goes to the other country, mostly to the United States, they will say she is pregnant


2. A star goes to the other country, he or she is meeting his/her other same time wife, the third wheel.


3. A star goes to the other country, that person is escaping from something, from the media of course.


4. If an on-screen partner asked if they are having a real relationship, even if it too obvious and you can see ants doing their ant dance around them due to their sweetness, they will just say they are just friends.


5. If a very popular star, returns  in the Philippines after staying on the other country and labeled as pregnant for some reason. Later the "media" see that she is still thin and doesn't have any evidence of pregnancy, they will just say she aborted the baby over there.


6. If the rumored pregnant star, who disappeared somewhere in the country for some personal reason, returns in the spotlight and the media see that she is still thin and doesn't have any evidence of pregnancy, they will just say she aborted the baby somewhere out there, which leads to a police investigation and a random raid will occur in a province somewhere in Mindanao


7. If a star disappeared, even if he is a C or D-lister, they will simply say he is a failure or a drug addict, even if he is successful doing something significant somewhere.

I don't mind this showbiz fanatics but they should not believe everything, even if it is blatant obvious that they taken from a piece of hat. If you believe the piece of hat gossip generator thing, I will just hit you with this rolled newspaper that I got free from Jollibee. This showbiz industry, which is the main foundation for such mediums as movies, TV shows and even radio shows, is mean to entertain the people, their fans, and not know if she is a Leo, a Virgo or which country she went to have met her other same time wife.

So I fought high blood with crash diet

After pigging out and embracing a very unhealthy lifestyle, I felt wobbly as if I am standing while an earthquake doing his thing. Got my blood pressure checked and I got a pre-hypertension scale of 140. After that I swore to radically change my lifestyle

I feel better and I lost around 10 pounds after 3 weeks of doing the following, and a massive will power is a requirement, which admittedly took a chunk of me, pun not intended, for few days.

1. The heaviest meal for me is always breakfast. I can eat whatever I want.

2. My daily lunch is consist of vegetable viand and a cup of rice.

3. My afternoon snack is whatever I want to eat, even if it is chips

4. My dinner is always oatmeal, every night, with a little bit of vegetables on the side.

5. I don’t eat pork anymore except for a special occasion, like a birthday celebration I went to last week and yesterday.

6. My first week of crash diet, I had the opportunity to jog around the park. If I have more time I will jog more or just do quick indoor exercise.

7. I tend to drink more pineapple juice and water

Now, there are times I still feel heavy, but not as bad back in the first week of January. I will just continue doing the crash diet thing and hopefully I will be around 140-150 around my birthday time at August.

Before the Internet

Internet today is an essential tool for profit, work and recreational use. Internet is like an addiction for me, an indispensable tool for my profession and of course, my time-wasting activity generator. Before the Internet, life and overall experience is different, maybe the Internet sheltered as too much that we forget to deal with some stuff in life, maybe the internet in some way made us more lazy but in exchange it made life better and easier.

Then
Cut out photos from old books, magazines and newspaper.
Now
Google image search the goddamn image.

Then
When I am researching something I will go to a library to do some hands on real research with books.
Now
A quick research is one Google search away.

Then
Going or calling to the office to ask something, like booking flights.
Now
Just browse the company’s website for inquiry and book your flight by few clicks here and there.

Then
You have to wait patiently to have the package delivered, without knowing where the hell it is now.
Now
You can track it with the deliverer’s tracking Internet thing.

Then
Manually pay bills.
Now
Pay bills online.

Then
Landline phones, and humongous bills for overseas and long-distance calls
Now
Yahoo Messenger, Skype, and other similar messenger tools.

Then
Checking movie schedules by reading newspaper and calling the theatre hotline.
Now
Browse the schedule while enduring annoying flash animations.

Then
Watching  those videos on VHS or Beta, with your finger a few inches away from pushing the stop or eject button once someone enters the room
Now
Streaming those videos and the mastery of quick alt-F4 finger pushing to close the window once someone enters the room.

Then
Hanging and strolling around the mall
Now
Hanging and strolling around Facebook, Multiply, Friendster and WordPress

Then
Writing in a diary with a big lock around it
Now
Blogging everywhere, including outside of a coffee shop, sitting inside, typing with an expensive laptop, with one tab for Facebook opened, without ordering anything.

Like I said, Internet made us a little lazy since we are dependent with the benefits of doing everything online. Physical stuff is still better than online stuff, like its better to read a book, holding it with your hands than reading an E-Book in a screen. We should balance everything from the manual stuff and the internet surfing, at least move something with your body.