JOSHUA: MMFF Review #1 - Captain Barbel: Dissappointing



Got to see one of the Metro Manila Film Festival Movies - Captain Barbel. Pretty much dissappointed. I should have known better than to expect much from a Filipino movie.



The story: It barely holds true to the history of the character. It's well and good thay made some explanation on how the barbel appears and vanishes. I think the scriptwriters didn't really think about the plot of the story, the whole movie looks like a weekly-mutant from smallville (glowing rocks appearing on their time of death and then giving them strange powers).



The characters: Enteng (played by Ogie Alcasid) was good. He was able to hold true to the character. However, Captain barbel (played by Bong Revilla) was just plain... errr... plain. I don't know if they decided to make the character really like that but I doubt it. He probably used the old superman movies as basis for his character. It's just plain weird. The villains were good, however, the movie could have given them better backgrounds and even death scenes. I had a better time watching the supporting casts.



The special effects: The movie was supposed to have 200 special effects, the audience won't be able to miss them coz the screen turns kinda moldy when a special effect is coming up. Probably something wrong with the digital editing. They could have checked this before finalizing the film.



False Advertising: Part of the reason I went to watch this movie first was that it had more superheroes than the other movies. I was wrong. It seems Darna (played by Regine Velasquez) and Lastikman (played by PJ Manalo?) was just part of a dream sequence. Grrr!



More Advertising: Blatant product placement could be seen in the movie. Milo (who's taekwondo commercial actor can be seen behind playing on one scene) and PLDT (now that scene was pretty blatant).



Audience: It was supposed to be a movie for the kids but they (the kids) were just running bored inside the movie houses. I had fun listeing to their comments. On one scene Freezy (played by Rufa Mae) was raped by her boss. A kid asked 'Mommy, anong nangyari kanya? Anong ginawa sa kanya?' The Mom didn't know what to tell the kid. Another funny comment was 'Bakit mataba si Captain barbel?'. Ha ha ha!!!



::sigh:: They could have done better.

MIGUEL: Death passes by a few meters away.



Was on the bus heading home. Somebody stands up from a few rows in front. He pulls out a butterfly knife and slashes the old man who was sitting at the eisle near the bus' door. He then makes a run for the door. The man who was slashed looks down to see blood soaking on his shirt. He reaches to his neck and finds a wound there. It's pretty long but shallow. He's lucky.

JOSHUA: Darna in Leather?



Seems the boyfriend of a friend of a friend of mine (blame Miguel for this) is an actor who played a supporting role in one of the local indie films. I was able to see his film and wasn't really that much impressed. I have just seen a third of the movie but felt i was already sitting there for three hours. So when I unexpectedly ended up having dinner with them after watching the movie I knew I had to watch what I had to say - enough to praise the film but also enough to give them nasty comments. (Good thing Miguel wasn't online during that time)



Anywasy, to avoid making any further social blunder, I managed to divert the dinner topic to producing independent films. It seems there are a bunch of local companies which were more than happy to sponsor independent movies as long as they were shot on digital medium. Looks like Epson and Kodak have enough budget for these (Hmm... have to confirm that with Zak).



Still, the topic on what to produce was part of the problem. It was decided that superhero movies were not only a blast during the MMFF but also off christmas season as long as they were good. But what would be considered to be good? We had losts of discussion of who should play who, what effects should be done. We ended up at around 3 a.m. with no final deision. It seems playing Darna in Leather would be too much for the 'madlang people' and just would sell. Or would it? I guess I have to see the locan MMFF movies to check how good competition is...

RICO: busy . . . busy . . . reports to make . . . busy . . . busy . . . books to close . . . busy . . . busy

RICO: busy . . . busy . . . reports to make . . . busy . . . busy . . . books to close . . . busy . . . busy

JOSHUA: Thanks Zak! Got help from Miguel and , with the use of a little coincidental magic, was able to find a copy at one of those out of the way cd shops.



Will Young's good. This one will be the one lulling me to sleep for quite a while.

JOSHUA: Zak! Do you know where I can get a copy of Will Young's 'From now on' album? I've been searching around the metropolis for a copy. Seems they just vanished. Kainis. Anyways, do tell me when you do find one. Thanks.



Oh, and if you do find 'Friday's Child' his sophomore album, give me a call too.



(Just in case you don't know, Will Young's the European pop idol - kinda like Eropean's version of Americal Idol)

GENE: had a weird dream. in my dream, raistlin and gollum were the same person/being. must be the rotk fever kicking in. but then, when one thinks about it, the dragonlance trilogy and the lord of the rings trilogy does have some very similar ideas - that is, the hickman/weiss tandem got some ideas from mr tolkien's work. but could you really blame them since both works deal with the same genra - fanstasy. the companions and the fellowship members also share similar personalities as that of the non-fantasy group. the group has done this tens of times, let's take the (extended) gaming group as an example (as raistlin sees them):



allan - tanis - the official leader. he's the one who the members follow around (or in our case, we have no choice since he owns the car we use to go around)

sunshine - laurana - strong leader type - has her own angsty side though

max - flint - always comlaining about stuff, yet cares for those around him in his own special way.

chris - tasselhoff - always lost. always getting himself in trouble. always finding something that distracts him.

mike - riverwind - the warrior ranger wanderer. until the time he hooks up with goldmoon (see below) that is.

ching - goldmoon - another strong leader type. pious. was able to tame riverwind.

obey - kitiara - dark sister.

edy - caramon - twin to raistlin. shares some sort of bond.

ipe - tika - caramon's s.o. (for some reason, i could really see ipe in tika's role)

me - raistlin - his manipulations and dark secrets tolerated by the group.



see?

RICO: busy . . . busy . . . reports to make . . . busy . . . busy . . . books to close . . . busy . . . busy

Ying Tzi: Onmyoji. Medieval Japanese film. Scary piece of work. For my own sanity - better to stick to Chinese or Korean.

JOSHUA: caught the last part of the the anti-piracy concert at the town center. they featured a group of guys called the 'akafellas'. galing! as their name implies, they're like a boyband group but they sing without accompanying musical instruments. there's around seven of them. i think two for each voice range - from tenor to base. but i think the highlight of the group is the one they called 'dj mike'. he can beatbox like justin timberlake. galing! their songs are mostly revival but with an a capella twist. i think they're coming with an album next month. i might just get a copy of that.

PIPER: Ha ha ha!! I think part of Josh's horror comes from the fact that Rico (forcibly) joined a singing contest when he was back in 2nd year high school. He had a high score in his final exam (solo singing) in his music class and was required to join the school's singing contest. I guess stage fright got the best of him and he messed up. He tripped over the lyrics of 'mandy' while singing in front of the whole school. Was that a disaster. Poor Rico. Ha ha ha!!!

JOSHUA: i thought i was imagining things when i heard 'mandy' on the radio being sung by someone not 'barry mannilow'. assumed it was some no-name person. was at tower records when i saw the boyband westlife's new album. it seems one of their tracks is 'mandy'
god! the horror! nooo!!!

PIPER: Got a phone call from a friend and sked if it was ok if we just hand out. Seems he had some trouble with his "bitter half" and needed someone to talk to. Well, we didn't really talk as if he just brooded there while eating hotdog. I on the other hand was happily eating sliced ham on pandesal while wondering why there were so few people at the food court (we were at glorietta 4).
After probably half an hour, he started talking about the possibility of their relationship ending and that it was just because of something they fought about. It seems it was already a couple of days since they last talked. He just kept on rambling that his significant other was impossible and that his demands weren't that impossible. or was it? he asked me. since i was happily chewing on my 2nd sliced ham pandesal i could only raise and eyebrow in response. he took that a no and started saying he was sorry and that he should apologize. i said (finally swallowing the rest of the sandwich), that's good. maybe your significant other feels the same way. just after i said that, his phone went off and it seems his 'better half' just realized the same thing was saying sorry too. don't you just love it when things fall into place with a little push of magic. :)
p.s. i strongly recommend the adelina's ham sandwiches at g4. yum!

JOSHUA: was talking to michele while heading for greenbelt 3 for a dinner meet when the topic changed to that of channel [v] getting brad turvey as their new vj. i asked her if brad was the only male vj of channel [v] since i only know of vj amanda and vj sarah. she said she didn't know. i answered that it was ok and that it was no big deal, and that i could probably find out about it if i wanted to. we were walking to centro and she said she would reserve the seats for us so i excused myself to head for music one. i went staight to the 'new releases' stands and bumped into a girl who was reaching for a cd which was on my side of the stand. i thought she kinda looked like (vj) amanda griffit. weird coincidence. anyways, i made my way through the racks looking for a 'michael buble christmas album'. zak said it was out but i couldn't find one. suddenly the speakers of the place went on and the girl i bumped into started talking on the mike. turns out she was indeed amanda griffin. here's the more weird part. it seems she's there cause channel [v]s laucnhing their new vj. it was then they called out vj sarah and the other vj (who'se name i still can't recall). they then called out the name of their new vj - vj brad turvey. it was here that brad turvey said he was glad to be the only male vj on channel [v]. guess they answered my question. weird, huh? darn coincidence!

GENE: when atari’s ‘temple of elemental evil’ originally came out it had too many bugs and timothy warned me about playing it so it just sat there on the bookshelf. the patch came out last Wednesday so game last night so I decided to finally install the program. i had two reasons for getting the game, first was that it’s the first computer game to use the 3.5 version of d&d. the second one was that it was based on the 1st ed ad&d module of the same name. i already played the module for the table top versiona nd was interested to find out how they did for the computer version.




character creation went much the same way as thay in a normal d&d game, so to simplify, I decided to create an elven ranger (read: legolas) to test the game. after being given a quest (which I think depends on what the alignment of the character your playing) legolas was dumped on the road just outside of the village of hommlet. it was here that I was pulled into another world.


my high school gaming group spent a couple of years of our early gaming years playing around hommlet and the surrounding country side. playing toee allowed me to once more see familiar places and landscape (though in cgi this time). it was funny coz as legolas walked the dirt road, I knew which house was which and who lived there. it was like going back to a place of childhood memory. old familiar faces where also there – ostler the innkeeper (though the girl on the sign of the inn of the welcome wench had bigger boobies the last time I saw it), jaroo the druid, rufus the fighter. even the nasty trader was there (I knew he’s actually an assassin spy but legolas doesn’t know that yet). i guess the names and places stuck coz the gaming group was able to function well and had tons of great adventures during that time.




this brings me back to one of the questions asked on why my current group is thought to be unable to role-play well. one of the things that could easily be seen was that the players in the previous gaming group has been able to invest much in their characters. i’m not talking about monetary investments here but the fact that the players in the old gaming group took the time to fix and flesh out their characters by not only knowing the rules as to which would affect their characters in the game but also took time to learn about the setting they were going to play in. each player took the time to read (in the case of the toee campaign) the history of verbobonc and how their characters came about to that place. they also studied how the different factions (deities, power groups, evil factions) affected the lives of their characters and reacted to those accordingly and in a way they used this information to role-play well.




that isn't exactly what happens with the current group. whenever a campaign was established, a player would simply create a character with numbers and stats and start playing the game. during a campaign session, I think around only be around one or two players who actually know anything about the setting. for example, if a campaign was set-up in waterdeep, I doubt if any of the players would know who the ‘lords of waterdeep’ are or if they played in greyhawk, if they knew where much less what ‘furyondy’ is. in the current cos:baguio campaign, one has to wonder how many knew what the 'shadow' is. i think part of good role-playing and memorable stories come from putting a bit of more heart into the project. a good campaign isn't made of just the character one is playing with but it is also made up of the different interactions he has with the differemt pcs and npcs in the world. and how could one do that if he didn't know anything about the world they move in. does that make any sense?


maybe next time we play, we can put a bit more love into the project and maybe you'll see the rules disappear and experience the campaign in a more... ummm... glamour filled way? :P

ZAK: ::grumble grumble:: ... FPJ's running for president... ::grumble grumble:: ... economy's due to plunge... ::grumble grumble:: ... wonder if selling panday swords souveneirs would click... ::grumble grumble::.

PIPER: WOW!!! Got to see a couple of episodes from the new season of Charmed. Phoebe looks great with short hair. The new whitelighter, Chris, is very intriguing. Can't wait to until the local tv networks get the new season. :)

MIGUEL: Got invited to attend the Elysium. (An Elysium is a gather for the kindred to meet up. Normally it's because of some interesting news that the community has to discuss. But most of the time it's just an excuse to have a party. Thankfully this one's because of the former.) The gathering was participated by kindred from most of the clans. But since it was the Toreadors who called for the meet it was their clan which were most in number. I called Timothy up to join me but I guess he was busy with his own affairs. As with all typical Toreador functions, the set-up of this Elysium was more for show rather than function. Refreshments were served as prepared by the host of the evening. I made the required socialization but one has to be a Toreador to really understand what the talk was about between them.
Thankfully, I was pulled into conversation with Ventrue Elder from Singapore. It seems that he was in the Islands for business and some of them were of the same type I handled in the last couple of years so conversation was easy. Talk changed from business, to entertainment, to social functions to relationships. I picked up quite a few pointers from the Elder, especially with regards to shedding enlightenment on the the previous night's encounter.
I ended the evening feeling much better than what I felt the night before. Not really a bad deal from spending the night with the roses.

MIGUEL: Just got back from a visit to ATC. The place was bursting with people. Ayala it seems has made early the yuletide season and people are eager to be a part of that spirit. I had my own reasons on why I was there but it wasn't business either. I was there to relax. I should have known better, 'specially when you're entering another's hunting ground uninvited.

I think the sountrack for the evening was Todd Rundgren's 'can we still be friends?'

But how exactly can that happen when there are instances that just work against you. Pre-conceptions or something as simple as a misplaced word during a conversation. Things that could just cause all efforts to reconcile to be discarded.
But then again is it simply just one's paranoia acting against onself? How would one know?

RICO: Zak, he he he! I'll try but I can't make any promises.

ZAK: Happy Birthday!
Gene, I think he already spent much for his birthday for him to treat us out. If I remember right he already got the DX6490 Kodak camera, the four disc Two Towers DVD and a copule of books from as national bookstore as his birthday gift for himself.
Rico, I do hope you're not planning to make Christmas another excuse to go on a buying spree.

GENE: happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!! happy birthday!!
where and when do we eat? what did you get for presents?

MIGUEL: Happy Birthday, Rico.

RICO: btw guys, it's my birthday today. :P

ZAK: Got in touch with some of my contacts regarding the RoTK premier tickets. It seems that ABSCBN isn't sponsoring any. Plus it's not an art film so my other source isn't covering it. My other source is scheduled to give birth within the week so she's won't be in the regular circulation when the tickets come out. I can't believe (well, ok I guess I can) that they're sellign tickets at P500 each when regular showings are going to be at P80 to P100. I just have to wonder if the guys out there are really that interested in seeing the movie three to four weeks in advance. I mean, we've already waited a year, what's a couple of weeks more? But then again I've known of some poeple who have saved and bought P1500 to P 5000 just to watch the F4 concert. One kinda sees P500 a bit cheap compared to that. What do you guys think?

GENE: no wonder i couldn't post. :(
anyways, got a copy of the newest dragon magazine #316 (i think, i don't have the copy with me right now). pretty much disappointed, it seems the ads are much different from what the actual articles are. still looking forward to the next issue though - they're covering the campaign settings from the old edition. hopefully, they'll touch up on spelljammer. woohoo!!!

RICO: Ok guys, there seems to be some problems with Blogger and some of the web browsers we're using. The edit menu might be a bit different when you're trying to update the blog. I'm still trying to figure this one out.

ZAK: He he he! Miguel, you're so serious and bitchy as usual. Anyways, just wanted to inform you guys that Powerbooks opened yesterday at Greenbelt 4. They moved the Pasay Road branch. I think they held a ceremony for the opening but the place still looks as if they need to fix it a bit more. There as some new books though, so you guys might want to check them out if you have time.

MIGUEL: Nice job, Rico. I'll see if I can start the rant.
Dont' you just hate it when people say something and they can't defend what they just said? The story goes something like this: Sitting in a coffee shop, one tends to overhear the conversations happening around him. A couple of females were in a conversation regarding GMA declaring no work for a couple of days during the Christmas season. The first woman says "That's the reason why I'll be voting for her in the next elections." To which the other one says "I won't (vote for her) 'cause she doesn't have any final word".
I assumed she meant GMA's declaration of running for the office in 2004. It's here I bend over and ask "So what's wrong about that? What's wrong about changing one's mind?".
This is when the girl looks at me and looks as if she was about to give an answer but just as quickly she catches herself and states "Just because".
I don't know if she just didn't want to answer me or she simply didn't know what she was takling about. I think it was the latter. She's just another one of those who repeats what she has heard from what other people say.

RICO: Finally figured out how the link frame works. Added some links to the other blogs i know of. Still trying to figure out how to host the pictures for the blog.

RICO: As of this time, the page is already up and running. I was able to change some of the settings of the template but I still need to figure out some of the other functions of the style sheet. It will probably take me a couple more days to complete everything. In the mean time, feel free to post.

GENE: hey rico! have you figured out how the blog works? can we start posting? can we? can we? :D

RICO: testing... testing...