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Just checking if I still know how to do this. lol

Orphan

Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Vera Farmiga, Isabelle Fuhrman
Produced by: Leonardo DeCaprio, Joel Silver
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra

Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga), a mother of two, is still recovering from depression after her third child is still born. Trying to save her strained relationship with her husband, John Coleman (Peter Sarsgaard), they try to start over and move on from the death of their third child by adopting an orphan. In the orphanage, the couple are smitten by a charming and intelligent girl named Esther. They decided to adopt her. As soon as Esther moves in, they are surprised on how fast the girl adapted to their household. Everything seems great until Esther started showing "that something is wrong with her"...

Wow, what can I say!? I loved the movie! It was thrilling, suspenseful, and haunting. The actors were great, the direction was superb, and the thrill factor was there. Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther was superb. She actually scared me every time she shows up during the better parts of the film. The movie was so haunting that it actually deserves a 2nd viewing.

There were also a LOT of memorable scenes, and I must say that the character of 'Esther' should be placed alongside other iconic suspense characters such as Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs series), Damien (The Omen), and Norman Bates (Psycho), among others.

A haunting and terrifying thriller, Orphan is a great movie. And there's a TWIST in the ending that greatly wraps up the story. If someone tells you that they saw the twist from a mile away, say 'BULLSHIT'! In my opinion, no one can guess the twist unless someone spoiled it for them before hand--like being told that Bruce Willis in 'The Sixth Sense' was actually dead during the whole time.. OOOPS! Score: 10/10

RIP Corazon Aquino

Our country's symbol of Democracy finally ended her fight with the Big C. Former President Corazon Aquino succumbed to colon cancer last week. The whole nation mourned for her loss as millions flocked her wake and burial. May she rest in peace and finally be with her husband Benigno Aquino in heaven. Condolences to the Cojuangco and Aquino family.

short shorts

**Mary Kay - Drive to Makati Challenge!
My mom was going back and forth to Los Banos for her training camp for ASEAN. She went back last Tuesday just to attend her Makati meeting for Mary Kay. And grabe, naatasan na naman akong driver. And I had to use the no aircon Honda again. When I had all that trouble going to Trinoma last movie night, just imagine driving to Makati with all the traffic!

I COULDN'T SEE A THING! The windshield was fogging due to moist, and the sky was getting dark--very hard to see through the SUPER DARK tint. I feel like Yoda for having to drive through all the crap: close your eyes and use the force!! LOL! Honestly, all I can see were silhouettes. Crap hard. I need to fix these cars immediately.


**Monster Hunter Freedom United
After that playthrough with Pilep last movie night, I opted to start playing. I initially held back as I wanted to farm things from MHF2 but decided to go ahead to United. I brought my PSP along in Makati during the Mary Kay meeting as I expected to wait a long time for my mom. After buying a grande Mango Passion Fruit, I found my spot and started playing in Starbucks.

I immediately did that Double Hypnoc quest. After Pilep gave me a rundown of that last time, I was surprised to find the mission so easy. I never died against a Hypnoc again, EVER. Nice since I died twice the first time I did that. Haha. I've been playing these past few days during free time.. I'm currently at HR8 and am farming for the Nargacuga armor which looks kinda cool. So far, everything is manageable, probably easier than MHF2.. only thing that held me back is that new Red Shogun Cenautaur.. which can rape you faster than you can say 'help!'. Looking for the HR8 missions.. that Lavasioth mission looks nasty. Seems like this is going to get harder. ;p


**Nigga in India
Our nigga Dale is currently in India right now. Thanks to Ade for informing me (sorry hindi ako maka-reply, alang load!! hahaha). He's supposedly staying there for three weeks for a job assignment. I'm currently communicating with him thru Facebook PM. Pasalubong nigga!! Haha!

Trinoma with CHELIPS

Haha! This is already so last week, just wasn't able to blog about it as I was busy finishing some things. ;p

And as expected, after Myk, Mark, Donna, and Ed's departure, the regular "mainstays" on BAKAL gimmiks will be just the three of us: Pilep, Che, and I! Haha! Dale usually have plans on Saturday nights, Ade is still "inaccessible" at the moment(haha! ;p), Oninz is usually a hit or miss these days, Dom still has her unruly work schedule, Drey has different things on his mind right now, Jem is usually unavailable during Saturday nights... its only CHELIPS and I who's gonna be the "regulars".

Actually, Jem was supposed to come pero hindi natuloy because of we changed venues (we're supposed to be watching in GH, but opted to Trinoma instead). She had a commitment later that night so hindi na siya nakahabol sa Trinoma.

It was a rainy night. I was actually so worried about Che and Pilep getting a cab kasi nga sobrang lakas ng ulan. Thank god they were able to go through without any much trouble. As for me, I almost hit a wading ambulance! Haha! I used my mom's car kasi, and the aircon was broken. So with the heavy rain, expect the moist to cover your windshield--then add the fact that it has SUPER DARK tint makes it super hard to see. No choice since the Toyota had a flat tire and wala akong spare. :(

Moving on, after I suffered almost 30mins stuck on Veteran's thanks to bumper-to-bumper traffic, I finally reached Trinoma. After a while, CHELIPS arrived. When I met them, they already bought tickets. And Fifi treated me to a movie! Yay!! Thanks pre!! Hahaha! ;p

Since we got a lot of time to spare before the movie, we decided to have dinner in Teriyaki Boy. While waiting for the food, Pilep and I finally played Monster Hunter United! Haha! Pilep even had a "screen-capture" function in his PSP so he got a picture of us over a Double Hypnoc victory! ;p

Finally the food came and we began to eat. The three of us ordered the same thing: Gyu-Yakiniki Don (did i get that right? haha).

After finishing the meal, we still got some time left so we decided to pay Timezone a visit. Pilep still had 40 pesos left on his card so we used it. We played that ball throwing game! Haha! It's the one where you throw balls on the screen to hit whatever you're supposed to hit! Ang saya! Nangawit nga lang yung arms namin after! ;p

Then its time for the movie. We're watching... THE PROPOSAL! Haha! It's a movie about a male secretary (Ryan Reynolds) and her "terror" boss played by Sandra Bullock. Bullock's character learned that she's gonna be deported out of the country (she's Canadian! lol) so she 'blackmailed' Reynold's to marry her so she can be legalized by "marrying an American". It's formulaic and its cliche, but its fun! Haha! I love the performances of the two lead stars (im actually a Reynolds fan btw), and they seem to have great chemistry together! ;p

It was a great movie, but the highlight was definitely "Booger"! Hahahahahahaha! Wanna know who Booger is?! Haha! Kasi when we got to our seat, there was this "around 10"-year old girl who was vigorously picking her nose! Hahaha! And unfortunately for Che, she'll be seating next to Booger! Wahahahaha! Even during the movie, Che told us that Booger wouldn't stop picking her nose! Pumapahid pa raw sa seat! Hahahaha! Che leaned toward to Pilep the whole time, hindi raw para mag PDA pero para umiwas kay Booger kasi baka pahiran siya!!! Hahahahahaha!! The three of us continued laughing even after the movie was over and people are starting to leave! I think Booger noticed us kasi she looked back at us while we were laughing out loud! Haha!

After the movie, its uwian time! But wait, Starbucks muna! Haha! So we proceeded to the Starbucks right outside Trinoma. Che treated me to a Mango Passion Fruit (my fave! ;p). Thanks Che!! :D

Kwentuhan, laughtrip, and more 'Booger' stories at Starbucks! Haha! After a while, we called it quits and decided to go home. I gave CHELIPS a ride home, then went back my way. Great night! ;p

Thanks to Fifi for the movie, and to Che for the Starbucks! Love ya guys! ;p

old school pics

Around a week ago, Lola Carol was kind enough to tag me on some of her Facebook pics. Turns out, they were old school pics from around Freshman days. Haha! ;p


The first two pics were from the class Christmas party held at Mark's house. The rest of the pics were from Carol's birthday at Fontana. Vintage! Taena, Kodak pa talaga uso nun! Haha!

outbidded!! outbidded!! goddamit!

I was eagerly watching an item on ebay for days. My game plan was wait until the final minutes before placing my bid so I can outbid the previous bidders at such a low price. That method is called "sniping". What got me were bidders using auction bots!!!

Turns out, those suckers are using bots that automatically places bids higher than what the a would be bidder would place! And so, I got out-bidded! Hahaha!

It was the perfect plan. In less than a minute, I placed a bid of 9.41 dollars.. higher than the current. Then right after I press 'submit', a bid is automatically higher than me! I bid a little higher again, then before I know it, there's automatically a bid higher than mine... by the same bidder! In less than 30 seconds, the bidding war gone through. Eventually, a third bidder bids at the last second.. 20 dollars. Yet he still didn't win. The bot bidded a few cents higher at the last nano-second!

Frustrating! I should have bidded 1k so the fool with the auto bot would end up paying more than 1k for the stupid item. Haha!

On a brighter note, Donna agreed to be my proxy in the States! Yay!!! ;p I will address all my purchases from stateside to her, and kung marami na, tsaka ko ibabalik-bayan box para sulit ang bayad! Hahaha! Thanks Donna!! ;p (and btw, ingat talaga sa pating.. narinig ko madalas raw ang shark attacks diyan! haha! ;p)

just popped my ebay cherry!

Finally, I had my very first ebay transaction! And it went smoothly! ;p

I am collecting a toy line of Go Nagai's Devilman when I chanced upon an online ebay store selling some for cheap. What also attracted me was the "Free shipping within the US". My first option was Che's offer: her parents are coming home from the US for a vacation, so kung gusto ko raw, ipabili ko nalang sa kanila para sila na rin mag-uwi.

It just so happened that after a while, tinaasan ng seller yung price. There was a "Best offer" option though, where you make an offer to the seller, then wait for the response if it its accepted or denied. Yun nalang ang balak ko para babaan yung selling offer. Nahiya na rin ako kay Che since mukhang busy yung parents niya, so sabi ko ako nalang ang bahala.

So my second option was my good friend Rix, who's on vacation in the US since June. I was able to get in touch with her 2 weeks ago, and buti pumayag na siya na mag-receive ng items ko! Hehe! ;p

So it was set, I already have a proxy in the US. Next step was get a Paypal account via my credit card. I thought it was gonna be complicated, but I was wrong. I LOVE Paypal! Easy to register, easy to use, and you're safe purchasing things in the net!

All angles set, I gave my "Best offer" to the seller. We exchanged quite a few offers until we get to settle a price. And by Sunday, I was able to pay him. He shipped the items 2 days ago, and by this morning, Rix messaged me telling me that she got the package! Yay! ;p

So finally, I'm no longer an Ebay virgin! Haha! By talking to the seller about stuff, using the ebay system first hand, and actually purchasing.. I'm now familiar with how it works. Ebay is no longer an uncharted territory for me. ;)

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

People are wondering why God took an extremely talented individual from the world so early in his life.

With all the hatred, criticisms, and ridicule that people threw at him while he was still alive, it was all clear:

God took him because he knew that the world doesn't deserve someone as special as Michael Jackson.

Rest in peace, Michael. May you moonwalk your way into heaven.

===

"I'm starting with the Man in
the mirror..
I'm asking Him to change
his ways..
And no message could have
been any clearer..

If you wanna make the world
a better place,
take a look at yourself and
then make a change."

-Michael Jackson, 'Man in the Mirror'

Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen

Cast: Shia Lebeouf, Megan Fox
Director: Michael Bay

Here it is, the sequel to the hit Transformers live action movie! I'm not really a big fan of Transformers when I was a kid, I was more of a GI Joe fan, so I wasn't really that excited when the first TF film came out. In fact, when I was to choose what movie to watch, Transformers 1 or Die Hard 4, I chose the latter! John McClane for the win! Haha! I ended up watching Transformers 1 on my friend's iPod a year later on a rainy night during a out of town trip! LOL.

So there, I ain't a fanboy so I can generally say that I can give you an unbiased review of TF2: Rise of the Fallen.

The sequel starts off where the first one ended. The Decepticons, seemingly defeated with their leader Megatron dead, goes into hiding and everything seems back to normal. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, continues the hunt for Decepticons who went into hiding. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky, is back to normal life--or so he thought. While preparing to leave for college, he stumbled upon a fragment of the destroyed AllSpark from the first film. This embedded valuable information into his mind. Information that is invaluable to the Decepticons. Upon learning the recent turn of events, the Decepticons are on the move for Witwicky as they need the information so they can herald in their supreme leader, a being called "The Fallen".

So what's new? This is basically just like the first Transformers movie, only longer and MORE EXPLOSIVE (AARRRRR Michael Bay! ARRRR!). It has more comedy injected in it as compared to the first one.

Like I've said, the movie was OK, but not great. It's definitely a graphical masterpiece with all those special effects catered on the robot transforming and all those explosions. Yes, I get that this is a POPCORN movie--you care little about the plot and just go along the ride. You don't care if the movie has dumb subplots or pointless scenes. I just wished that Michael Bay knew when enough is ENOUGH.

For me, the movie dragged too long. Two hours is too long for this kind of movie. The last half, which supposed to be the most exciting part with all the explosions and robot smashing, dragged on so much that I was almost asking myself when this is gonna stop. At least the first movie had more substance without resorting to almost an hour long battle in the desert just to showcase special effects, and again, EXPLOSIONS (damn Michael Bay).

The die-hard Transformers fans, and sci-fi geeks, will still probably like this film as much as the first one. To credit Michael Bay and the rest of the production stuff, they did justice to robots. For casual moviegoers, if they know what to expect (a popcorn movie), and if they can get past the unnecessary length of the movie, they'll still get their money's worth. But for the moviegoers who are expecting their Transformers movie to have intelligent sub-plots, or even something like a good conversation/argument about the movie's plot afterward, this will disappoint you. When you watch a Michael Bay movie, expect explosions... EXPLOSIONS! And nothing much else. But I guess you already knew that. Score: 6/10

Goodbye Myk; Che's Birthday

I've been busy, AND sickly, lately. Blame the lack of sleep thanks to the construction going through next door. Ahh, I can still hear those hammers pounding 'til now!!

Myk's Despedida; Che's Birthday

So another one gets to leave. First it was Ed, then Mark, then Donna left for the states indefinitely. This time, it was Myk leaving for work in Singapore. At this rate, I won't be surprised if Dale and/or Pilep will follow suit. Heck, even Che has offers from China!

And grabe, ang konti nalang namin. Kung mag-set ng gimik, you can probably count on one hand the "sure people" who would go. :(

Anyhoo, back to Myk. He got an offer from IBM Singapore so before he left the country, he held a despedida for us. He treated us to Dinner in Cyma! Then movies afterward--Transformers 2! And it was a double celebration too: it was also Che's birthday! She treated us to Starbucks much later that night (and a popcorn exclusively for me! thanks che!! hehe!). :D

Ang usapan, kitakita ng 8pm sa Trinoma. When I got there around 8:30pm, I was worried na baka ako nalang ang wala pa. Shet, si Pilep at si Oninz (buti nagpakita na! haha!) palang! Myk got delayed for having to wait for Dale (haha!); Che had a celebration with her tutees back at home; and Jem had a work related celebration earlier that night.

After a while, everyone got there in time for dinner. Myk's reservation in Cyma kasi was for 9pm. Medyo badtrip pa nga si Myk kasi ang labo ng arrangement ng Cyma--we had a reservation pero pagdating namin, there was no table available for us! Tsk.

Back at Cyma, the food was great. It was good, but was too expensive for quite a few servings (for the meat). The salad was great though. After dinner, the guys even ordered the complementary dessert off Jem's card. Parang tester siya of some sort. Itsura palang medyo masagwa na, so I didn't even dare try it! Hahahaha! ;p

When we're done with Cyma, we we're right in time for the movie. It was already 11pm but the people at the cinema were still buzzing. It was Transformers 2 night after all!

And popcorn! Che treated me to a bucket of popcorn! Busog na silang lahat kaya ako lang ang kumain! Wahahaha! ;p

Oninz was also maarte. Pabago-bago ng isip, tuloy hindi na nakasama manuod ng movie! Haha! Well at least nakasama namin siya ngayon after a long time. ;)

And the movie, it was OK but not great. This time, it had more laugh trips than the original--but I guess it was more shallow. Blame Michael Bay and his uber over the top use of explosions. Brr. I guess it would've been ok if it wasn't about 2 hours long. I'll do a review later.

After the movie, it was already around 2am. Starbucks daw muna. So Myk gave me a ride til the carpark so I can get my car. Jem rode with me while the others were with Myk.

Looking for an open Starbucks, we ended up near the Timog branch. There, Che treated us with Starbucks goodies! Before you know it, Myk and Pilep were already at it, playing Magic. Dale was eagerly watching on. All the while, I was chatting with Che and Jem. Hehe.

A while later, Starbucks was closing. It was already past 3am na. It's gonna be goodbye time na. This is probably the time that we'll have Myk in a "regular" gimik. The next time we'll see him, it would probably be a homecomings or special events. :(

I don't know Myk's plans, or if he's serious about it. He says that he has no intentions of going back to the Philippines for work. After SG daw, his primary target is the US where he likes to migrate.

Anyhoo, the goodbyes in that Starbucks parking called it a day. Che and Pilep went with Myk (NOOOO! there goes my CHELIPS points! hahaha), while Dale and Jem went with me. We gave Jem a ride home, while Dale slept over my house.

Thanks to Myk (by now, in SG na) and Che (happy happy birthday, antanda mo na!! hahaha!) for that wonderful evening! :)

*Pics to follow after I grab some from Che!

disheveled and disoriented

And so I am. First, I greeted Che a birthday greeting ONE WEEK in advance! ~Haha! Cge, ok lang, first mistake palang eh!

Then, a few days later, I greeted an old friend another birthday greeting, that friend replied moments later: "Fil! Ano ba!?! Si ******* ang may birthday, hindi ako!!" ~Waaaaaahhhhhh!! Hahaha! Grabe na ito! I needed to slap myself upside the head for this.

Then TODAY! I woke up late, but still determined as ever. I am going to UST to get my diploma! On the road, nagulat ako na walang traffic! Medyo maulan, pero steady! It was a nice travel, overall. When I reached Espana, nagulat ako parang walang tao... I told myself, "Aaahh.. meron nga palang case ng swine flu kaya nag-suspend yung ibang colleges sa UST.. dibale, office naman habol ko eh! :)"

Then when I proceeded to go inside the gate, I brought my windows down and double checked with the security guard:

Me: "Boss, bukas ba ang main office?"
Security Guard: "Ay, sarado ho. Sarado ho lahat!"
Me: "Oh, bakit?!"
Security Guard: "Araw po kasi ng Maynila ngayon!"

!!!TOINK!!!