Got to catch Spiderman 2 yesterday night with a buttload of friends, and what can I say. Spidey is the only thing coming out of Marvel Entertainment (apart from X-Men 2) that can keep me engrossed for over 2 hours. I never dreamed that Doctor Octopus could be such an interesting villain, but I suppose that’s due to the 2-D nature of comics.

My problem with the first spidey movie was that the action sequences were pretty weak compared with the scenes where the actors were just talking to each other. So much goes on in Tobey Maguire’s geek visage that it’s almost a shame whenever he puts on the mask.

In the sequel though, the action choreography was brilliantly done. The fight sequence outside the bank and on the train were just fantastic.

Unfortunately, it was the people scenes this time around that felt weaker. In one dinner party scene in particular, Peter is subjected to a series of socially-inept-geek-type mishaps, then gets in to a fight with Harry, then finds out that MJ is getting married. If that’s not scene economy, I don’t know what is. I just kinda wish it didn’t seem so … comic-book-like (and I don’t mean anything written by Alan Moore, I mean something written by Stan Lee).

I do understand where the filmmakers are coming from though. They need to subject the hero to a whole crapload of trials and hardships, before his character can grow. This is where the overall movie is strongest; you develop an emotional attachment with Peter Parker because you feel so sorry for him. And when he finally gets to kick some ass, you can’t help but start cheering. This is what made the Spiderman comics so popular, and I’m glad that Sam Raimi’s movie captured it all so well.

Saw two cinemanila films yesterday at GB3. Although both of them were pretty well-done, neither of them really spoke to me, for various reasons.

The first one, The Mother, was a BBC-produced film about a 60-year-old housewife whose has lost her husband. Suddenly, she doesn’t know what to do with her life. She doesn’t want to be like those old, defeated widows who just sit around at home all day, so she goes to live with her children (who are both adults with their own families) in the city, which turns out to be a pretty bad idea. You’ll have to watch the movie yourself, because I don’t want to go and spoil it for anyone, but suffice to say that she gets herself into a rather curious situation.

My main problem with this movie was that I was so unable to relate with any of the characters. Maybe I’m just not mature enough to really get it, or maybe you have to get to a certain age before things like this really start to make sense. (Obviously, your mileage may vary, as they say.)

Unfortunately, the only thing that this movie left me with was an intense fear of old age.

The second film we watched, Osama, had the intriguing honor of being the first movie to be shot in Afghanistan since the war. It described the life of a young Afghan girl who is forced to disguise herself as a boy in order to earn a living. Visually, the film was above average; the war-torn cityscape of Afghanistan makes for some great cinematography.

My problem with this movie was that it didn’t try hard enough to grab its viewers. It just felt detached from its subject matter, so much so that you didn’t feel any significant sadness or pity for the girl (who is named “Osama” by one of the boys she has to hang out with). Maybe if I could understand the film without the subtitles, it would feel more … substantial. A lot of the dialog (as translated) feels too simple somehow.

In between the two movies, we got to try out Go Nuts Donuts (see sassy’s thoughts), which I thought were alright. I guess I was expecting something really phenomenal given that there were 30 people in the queue clamoring for these crazy things, but it was just marginally better than your average Dunkin Donuts or Mr. Donut. Their coffee was definitely better though.

And lastly, we saw another well-funded thesis exhibit from the DLSU-CSB Multimedia Arts graduating batch. The exhibit was sitting in the middle of the cinema waiting area, a cluster of about 12 LCD monitors which showcased the students’ interactive portfolios. I didn’t see anything very interesting, although I did see examples of just about every new-media-design cliche you can think of: the hiphop soundtrack with flashing text, the enya soundtrack coupled with an organic interface, the milk-carton menu, pictures of pet dogs in photography portfolios, excessive use of the word “emancipate” as a major design element. The list goes on and on. I guess I should be glad that at least these kids are paying attention to what’s popular.

Here’s a band that slipped past me last year, which was regrettable, since I was zoning out yesterday to tracks from an album that’s more than a year old now (entitled Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, it came out in April of 2003). I’ve been able to find six songs, after over an hour of searching and I’ve yet to hear a bad one (although obviously, the fact that they’re available online as legal downloads means that they’re at least decent). I was able to find their MP3s scattered around the net at Amazon, Epitonic, AudioLunchBox and the E2k network.

I’d probably describe their sound as the bastard child of Suede and The Strokes, with a touch of Morissey’s overwrought vocals (or maybe even Joy Division’s Ian Curtis). I think the reason why I had such a hankering for this band on first listen was because their music feels quite a bit like Interpol (my favorite rock band of 2002), particularly on the track “Bokkie”. Although Elefant is a bit on the barebones side musically, their sound is still noticeably thicker than Julian Casablancas and company.

Then this morning, I finally got around to grabbing Coheed and Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth : 3, which is another “oldie” (it came out November of last year). Amazing, amazing emo. Obviously, I’m slightly biased because I’m a huge emo fan (I only listen to 2 genres religiously, indie and emo), but it really is a fantastic album. My favorite tracks so far (after about two hours of listening) include “Velorium Camper I” and “Favor House Atlantic.”

And since I was in an emo mood, I also stumbled on Get Up Kids’ brilliant cover of the Cure’s “Close To Me.” This is probably the best cover of a Cure song I’ve ever heard; I love the drums on this.

And of course, my listening adventure wouldn’t be complete without downloading this song, which is the worst cover I have ever heard, hands-down. (Yes, including Avril Lavigne’s cover of “Chop Suey.”)

I finally picked up Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons today, after being badgered by the folks at highfiber to upload a copy to the Downloads section. I’ve only read about 30 pages so far, but it seems like more of the same. Robert Langdon, the good-natured but not-terribly-courageous symbologist is pitted against another ruthless secret organization and its very capable enigmatic henchman.

My mind started wandering after the 4th or so chapter, so I decided to look around online for what other people thought of the book. One of the articles I found was a Spinsanity-esque listing of several logical and factual errors throughout Brown’s book. I’m not saying that the writer of the article is himself correct, since he was too lazy to quote any sources or references, but it does emphasize that Brown’s work, although grounded heavily in fact, is first and foremost, a work of fiction. Reviews around the net are pretty positive, but whenever someone criticizes the novel, you can be sure there’s gonna be a comment about Brown’s poorly-researched “facts” or his predisposition toward truly awful cliches (e.g., here, here or here).

Hot damn, y’all sher took yor own sweet tahm gettin’ ‘ere!

I’ve been sleeping at 3am the past few nights reading Michael Moore’s “Dude Where’s My Country?” It’s moderately entertaining; his writing style is pretty pedestrian, but there’s enough interesting info to keep me reading, if only for purely academic reasons.

My book selection for June has been pretty non sequitur. My last book before “Dude” was “The Manitou” by Graham Masteron, a rather unimaginative horror story that can best be described as Cthulhu with Indians. Ridiculous first-person narration on that one.

The book before that was Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” which was a wonderfully disjointed narrative about (among other things) the author’s experiences during the 2nd World War.

And the book before that was William Gibson’s astounding “Count Zero,” which is quite possibly the best cyberpunk I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed “Neuromancer” also, but “Count” is slightly less ambiguous, not to mention noticeably thicker plot-wise.

But back to Michael Moore and “Dude.”

Although I don’t believe that Moore’s major contentions are false (”There are no connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda”, “There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”, etc.), I do think that he’s the sort of guy that doesn’t hesitate to embellish his facts when he’s trying to make a point. A quick look around the net proves this theory to be true: Spinsanity’s commentary is particularly telling. (A full list of “Dude”’s factual errors can be viewed here.)

The lesson here is that even pundits need to be policed. “Dude” is generally true, just don’t let yourself get suckered into thinking it’s gospel.

Some nice music I’ve recently discovered from forays into AudioLunchBox (love the download system) and PopMatters (reliable as always), as well as conversations with my girlfriend:

Probably the cutest band name I’ve heard in awhile, Pedro the Lion is proof that you can write wonderfully intimate songs without sounding like a sap. Their fifth (?) album Achilles Heel is just delightful to listen to. Stand-out tracks include “Transcontinental”, “I Do” and “The Fleecing” (simple yet poignant lyrics: And we’d have more drinks / We’d speak of so many things / But I don’t know you, and you don’t know me).

For Stars is a vaguely ambient/electronic band, with synths reminiscent of those crazy Mogwai bastards and vocals that sound a lot like a more accessible Sigur Ros or more alternative Air. Their album … it falls apart is a solid collection of not-rock. “Shattered Glass” and “If It Falls Apart” are great tracks, and the whole album (all of only 8 songs) is consistently engaging.

Snow Patrol’s third album Last Straw didn’t get a very positive review over at popmatters because the quality of its 13 songs was a bit inconsistent. However, its 3 strongest tracks, the absolutely majestic “Run,” the Death Cab-trouncing “How to be Dead” and the lucid “Chocolate” (coolest use of a singular drum loop since The Doves’ “Pounding”) more than make up for the unevenness of the rest of the album. [ UPDATE: You can download an MP3 of “Chocolate” over at my pride and joy, highfiber ].

Other interesting music:

• The Clarks’ Fast Moving Cars is a welcome dose of good-natured pop rock, for fans of Counting Crows and maybe Dishwalla. The title track and “Shimmy Low” are stand-outs, but you can sample the whole album over at ALB.

• Diana Anaid’s Beautiful Obscene is a nice debut from this Aussie artist. The closest comparison I can come up with is Veruca Salt with filters.
• And I’ve mentioned this before, but Mindy Smith is going to be big. I don’t really know much about folk & country, but her song “Hurricane” seems very well-written, as does the poppy “Falling.”

I guess a lot of you know by now that Chronicles of Riddick sucked eggs, but it cost a lot to make and I suppose it’s only right to give it a good and proper dissing.

First, let’s talk history. Vin Diesel’s Riddick character debuted in the movie Pitch Black, which I was (un)fortunate enough to catch in the movie theaters, back when Diesel was a nobody with a barrel chest and a big voice. The gist of that movie? 40 space immigrants are stranded on a perpetually dark planet (their arrival occurs right at cusp of a month-long solar eclipse, how cool is that). Luckily, one of them is the convict Riddick, who guess what, can see in the dark. There are bad flying monsters lurking on this planet who have no trouble seeing in the dark either. The passengers start dying, ala just about every survival-horror/sci-fi you’ve ever seen, and Riddick takes control of the group in order to save them. At the end of the movie, 2 others survive. One of them is the girl Jack, who crosses over to the sequel rather handily.

Fast forward to 2004. Vin Diesel is a big name in dumbass action movies. His best angle involves looking menacingly at the camera over his right shoulder. David Twohy knows this, and exploits it just as often as he can in Chronicles. He even does variations, with camera dollies, zooms and high-framerate versions of essentially the same shot sprinkled throughout the movie.

The basic plot is, well, pretty fucking basic. You have a religious army conquering the universe and — stop the presses — Only One Man Can Stop Them. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing how many movie conflicts are solved by Only One Man.

They’re called “necromongers,” which I suppose is better than “whoremongers” or “necrophiliacs,” but not by much. Their leader is called “Lord Marshall,” which I suppose … well, that could’ve definitely been better chosen. This is the first of many utterly unimaginative concepts that the movie throws at us, each one more insulting than the last. It tells you a lot about the filmmakers, i.e., these guys don’t know shit about science-fiction.

Illogical concepts abound. How the girl Jack (who has renamed herself Kiera, for no reason other than it fits her dangerous-vixen image better) manages to survive for years inside the predominantly male high-security prison is pretty significant, but this movie glosses over that conveniently. (Hell, if Ripley could do it, so could Jack, right? Right?) Also, the whole necromonger transformation process is never adequately explained. What happens when you convert? Do you become stronger? Do you lose free will? Do you become invulnerable? The movie alternates between “yes” and “no” for all three questions, and you never actually get a definite answer.

Avoid this one, at all costs. Or just rent the DVD when it comes out and watch it while you’re preparing lunch or something. It makes for adequate background noise, but not much else.

And so, after finally wrapping up the Marinara, Nivea and Fashion Festival projects over the past 3 weeks, I can finally breathe a little easier. I do have 3 web projects (a law firm, a real estate brokerage, and a medical institute) waiting in the wings though, which should keep me pretty busy until early August. That means I’m pretty much booked for the entire 3rd quarter, although fortunately web projects are a lot less stressful than video, because I can pace myself properly. (Not to mention the fact that I’ve programmed so many modules over the past 3 years that the development tasks for sites such as these are usually just reduced to tweaking my old code.)

Last Monday I interviewed a gray-market auto dealer in the Greenhills North area, for Manual. Lots of very expensive machinery there. The owner’s daughter was pretty cute too, although I found out later that she was a bit old for me :(

… not that I’m actively looking, of course. (Yep, that’s me acting whipped, right there.)

I’ve written 5 different intros to the article, and I’m just now settling on the sixth and final draft. Writing about cars can be pretty tricky work, especially since I’ve never been much of an enthusiast. Hell, I just recently learned that “horsepower” actually does pertain to the “power of a horse,” i.e., a horse could do 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute drawing coal from a coal pit, as determind by James Watt. Of course, our editor believes in placing his writers out of their element, which I figure is because he finds it entertaining as hell to see us flounder. (To be honest, I don’t even know if he does that to all of his contributors, or just me. Wouldn’t that be fun though.)

Also, I’m currently worrying about highfiber and its escalating bandwidth usage. I’m hoping I won’t have to upgrade its hosting package next month, but the signs are not optimistic.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a review of my little buddy, the Motorola V500 and submitted it to this site. They put it up yesterday, so check it out! I managed to sneak in a pretty nifty self-portrait too :)