Puerto Galera!

What a trip it was! We got a LOT more than that measly p2,500 that we paid for. BARCODE GALERA surely didn't disappoint. ;p

We're in all, 15 peeps:
BakalSoc: Pilep, Ed, Myk, Mark, Mado, Dale, Oninz, Me, and Anthony.
SINS (Che's Barx): Che, Kat, Patch, Jessel, Inah, and Robert.

So it all went like this... ;p

FRIDAY
Around 7pm, I met up with Myk and Oninz in McDonald's Q.Ave. Dale once again is late. So we decided to all meet up in Pilep's pad nalang. There, we waited for Ed and Dale to arrive. Tagal kasi ni Dale so hindi nakuha kaagad ni Che yung ice cream niya! Haha! After we're all set, we proceeded to Che's house to leave our bags. We then met up with Anthony in Taft, where they proceeded to play DOTA (sorry, I don't play that damn game! haha). I opted instead to play Monster Hunter on my PSP.

SATURDAY
The guys finished playing around 2am in the morning. So we immediately went back to Che's pad for the service. It came around 4-5am. Grabe, wala talaga kaming tulog. Kasi on the way to Batangas pier, ang ingay ni Myk! Haha!

At the pier, we surprisingly saw Marvin (our classmate who already went to the states). He said he's here for vacation. Small world noh. ;p

So there, we boarded the boat which was really, REALLY crowded. Parang sardinas talaga... literal! The trip last about an hour. The trip was ok, it wasn't wavy or anything at all. The only discomfort really is the crowded space.

Once we got to Puerto, there's already a service waiting for us. We then finally got to the rest house, where we got to rest for a bit. We went to the stores nearby to buy some food.

After lunch, we finally went to the beach to start our "packaged" activities. Let me say first that the story of the trip is all about "PUTIK!" (mud!). As in halos lahat ng lalakaran mo (except the beach itself) ay putikan! I'm not kidding! The road are all very rural! Konti lang yung cemented na road, lahat talaga putik!

Back to the story, the first activity was the Banana Boat ride! It was my first time to ride it! LOL. Masaya naman. One thing though, they asked us if we wanted the ride to be "Hardcore" or not. Until now, I don't know the difference between the two. The organizer kasi told us that "hardcore" will include a "taob"... meaning tataob yung boat niyo. Well, we kept choosing not hardcore but we still kept on turning upside down! LOL. Labo! ;p

Anyways, masaya rin talaga. The highlight of the banana boat ride was, yun nga, tumaob kami! Haha!

Another highlight was: ANTHONY FELL OFF THE BOAT. ALONE!

Hahaha! Mukhang kawawa tuloy na lumulutang sa dagat. Ang layo na namin! Hehe.

Next activity was the Henna Service. Some got their hennas, some didn't. The last activity of the day was supposed to be the Cave Crawling, but the cave clamped down because of the sand. It was turned into a steep mountain climbing, which only Oninz and I did. Hindi sumama yung iba kasi mukhang hindi safe yung dadaanan. Oninz and I had a great time with the climb. Magkamali ka kasi, hulog ka dun... bali buto mo. Haha! Pero safe naman kasi matibay yung mga vines (those are the only things that you can cling to).

We finally reached the other side of the climb. Ang ganda, para siyang 'secret area' or something. We then posed for pics taken by our tour guide, Luningning! Hehe!

When we came back, nagpalagay na kami ni Oninz ng henna. He got some scriptures (which looked like a worm) that wards off evil spirits. I, on the other hand, got a OM MANE PADME HUM tattoo. Si Anthony naman, may tragic love story ulit! Hahaha! Pero I won't divulge anything about it nalang for his privacy's sake. Just let me say: Yung girl na nag-henna sa kanya, type niya... kaso may bf na... dinamdam naman ni Anthony! Ang babaw! OOOPPPPSSS!! Nasabi ko na tuloy! Damn! Hahahaha! ;p

It's around 6pm that time when the boys and I went strolling around. Surprisingly, we met Mark and Mado! As in unexpectedly! Kanina pa pala sila nag aabang dun kaso walang nag rereply sa text nila! Buti nakita namin sila. Hehe. So yun, we went all back to the house. Rest ng konti, took a bath... then we're all set to return to the beach to take our dinner. Ang sarap nung nakainan namin... Almost all of us ordered chicken kebab! So yun, sarap ng kwentuhan.


After dinner, tambay muna sa beach. Lakad lakad just to pass the time because there's gonna be a Luau party later at 11pm.

The Luau party was also great (and memorable at least for me). There was pika-pika every where and UNLIMITED MINDORO SLING. So why memorable? Because it's the first time I saw Myk drink. EVER. Dati talaga, hindi namin mapilit yan kahit papaano. Si Anthony naman, naglasing kasi "heartbroken" na naman! Hahahaha! Anthony actually made the most quotable quote of the whole trip!

Anthony: "Hindi ako LASIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!! NAIIHI LAAANNNGGG!!"

Hahahaha! That was when we decided to come home to the rest house. Anthony, obviously heavily intoxicated, kept on insisting he's not drunk. He then proceeded walking at a past pace without even minding about the MUD... we kept on calling him, telling him to slow down for safety reasons, but he kept on saying: "Hindi ako LASIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!! NAIIHI LAAANNNGGG!!"

Hahahaha! Once we got home, he still kept on telling me: "Hindi ako LASIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!! NAIIHI LAAANNNGGG!!"

Hahaha! Really funny stuff since he's all serious while he's saying that! LOL. Punong puno pa ng putik yung feet niya kasi nga nagmamadali maglakad pauwi. Haha!

SUNDAY
When I woke up, my throat is sore! Ang lamig kasi ng aircon. Either Anthony or Myk placed it on high blast kasi! Mga lasing! Hahaha!

After getting ready, we went to the beach for our first activity for the day: Island Hopping and Snorkeling. It was great! The Sunday morning though was all gloomy and maambon! So we're all shivering like wet chickens. It was also my first time to snorkel. We saw some beautiful fishes and corals. My only qualm is that, parang may mga kumakagat kagat sa katawan ko pero hindi ko makita. Myk didn't even last 5 minutes under the water kasi inallergy raw siya!

The trip went on with the island hopping. We got to a beach with really strong waves. Ang saya! Masarap magpaalon! ;p

When we went back, we all canceled the Hiking trip. Gloomy kasi yung panahon tapos 6 hours yata yung trip. We took the time nalang to rest. The other guys decided to sing on the videoke. Anthony kept on getting a 100 score! Talagang walang taste yung videoke machine! Palakasan lang ng boses. Hahaha!


By dinner time, we all ate at one restaurant. Dale, Myk, Oninz, and I decided to eat that large barbecue kebab that we saw the other night pa! ;p

One side note is that, nagbabaha rin pala sa Puerto Galera! As in USTE-type na baha. We experienced it while going home. Luckily, hindi nagbabaha yung house namin. ;p

When we got home, inuman na naman! Yes!!! Haha! We bought beer (Red Horse, SanMig Lights, Tanduay). After we finished it, we proceeded to the 2nd round: Pilep's "Bora Mix", which was really delicious, and Che's Tequila Rose which is something like Bailey's but stronger. Sadly, hindi na umabot si Anthony sa 2nd round! Hahahaha! Hinamon kasi siya ni Che ng one on one inuman... BAGSAK SI ANTHONY! Hahaha! Nice one, Che! ;p

So yun, 2nd round was fun. Kwentuhan, kantyawan, baklaan, lesbohan, lahat na! Haha! It was really great to be with these people. We finally stopped after consuming all the alcohol.

MONDAY

This is our last day! By after lunch, we should be out of the house. So yun, we went to the beach early. It was the 2nd banana boat ride. Mark and Mado wasn't able to join the first one so we accompanied them this time! Taob na naman kami! Hahaha!

After a while, it's time to pack up and leave. Sayang nagmamadali kami so I wasn't able to buy my sis a Galera shirt.

BOAT RIDE of HELL
Eto, ang pinaka HELL na boat ride na nasakyan ko! It was actually more spacious than the one where we got on the first time, pero this time ang LAKAS ng waves!!! During the middle of the boat trip, nasusuka na talaga ako... my head started spinning. Oninz, on my left side, immediately got a plastic bag and puke!!! Patch, on my right side, did the same! Grabe, napag gitnaan ako! I really felt like throwing up too.. Patch even offered me her barf bag! Hahaha! Buti lang talaga, napigilan. Even Myk was too dizzy to get off the boat, he needed Dale to assist him while walking. Grabe talaga.

The trip finally concluded when we all ate at KFC for dinner and bid each other goodbye. It was a great trip. Supposedly, the next trip will be on Tagaytay naman daw... same people! ;p

Richard's Birthday

It was Richard's birthday today (October 18). Richard is one of my best friends. He's been a friend since childhood since we spent the better part of schooling in LSM (from prep to high school). I accompanied him earlier today to Quiapo. We were canvassing for SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) Cameras. You know, the ones the professionals use. We went to the SLR camera mecca, which is in Hidalgo, to check the prices. And yeah, you guessed it... anytime in the future, we're gonna take up Photography! Mwahahahaha! ;p

After Quiapo, Greenhills (again) was our next stop. Check up on gadgets, games, and clothes. I'm really surprised we really have almost the same interests.. the least are gadgets which I'm really not that keen on. One discussion earlier though is the HP Tablet Laptop which has a touch screen monitor. I heard from Richard that people who works for HP get discounts (I suddenly remembered Rica.. LOL.. miss you Rix! ;p).

Another thing was we kept calling Verg, another part of our LSM barx (I wrote about his birthday here before), all day but to no avail. We finally got to him after eating lunch in Dimsums and Dumplings (Siomai and Rice all you can!).

After GH, we went to Shangrila and window shopped on Zara. Then on to Richard's house. Verg followed later. Kain na naman. Grabe.. laki na talaga ng tiyan ko. T_T

So again, to Richard, Happy Birthday! :)

Onwards to Puerto Galera!

I will be going to Puerto Galera with BakalSoc, together with Che's barkada (SINS). It was Che's barx' outing really... she just tagged us along. Yung promo kasi is 2,500php per head tapos ang dami nang kasama sa package (see the details below). The only twist is that, there should be 15 people in the party, no more-no less. Anywho, masaya ito. :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*Copy pasted from Che's original message. I deleted the "WHO" part for privacy reasons.

Dates and Times:
Oct 27-29… that’s a Saturday to Monday.
Departure from Manila at 3am on Saturday.
Departure from Puerto at 1pm on Monday.
Estimate time of Arrival in Manila is 6pm.

Payments:
2,500 per head… dalin nyo nalang on d day ung pera. Kasma na lht except food… c mark daw maglulu2! Hehe :p

Activities and Inclusive?
• Round Trip MANILA-GALERA via Private Van and Ferry Boat M/V Golden Falcon
• Welcome Drinks
• White Beach area Room Resort (Aircon room 4-6pax per room w/ cable T.V)
• Trekking to Aninuan Falls
• Banana Boat
• Whole Body Massage or LUAU PARTY (unlimited party food and MINDORO SLING!!!)
• Snorkeling
• Island Hopping
• Trip to Kweba
• Trip to Batuhan going to TAMARAW BEACH
• Henna or Glitter Tattoo
• Personalized Sand Bottle Souvenir (I SURVIVED GALERA!!!)
• CD compilation and documentation of video and pix or your whole galera trip!!!

ITINERARY/OFFICIAL GALERA PROGRAM (Ideal Sked/Tentative)

1st Day
2:30am-3:00am Meeting Place
3:00am-5:00am Travel Time to Batangas Pier
5:00am-6:00am Adjustment Period Free Time
6:00am-8:00am Expected Travel Time from Batangas Pier to Puerto Galera
8:00am-12:00nn FREE TIME
12:00nn-4:00pm Nature Tripping, Trekking to ANINUAN FALLS
4:00pm-8:00pm FREE TIME
8:00pm-10:00pm Henna and Glitter Tattoo
10:00pm onwards FREE TIME

2nd Day
8:00am-1:00pm Snorkeling
1:00pm-3:00pm FREE TIME
3:00pm-5:00pm KWEBA (Hiking, Crawling)
5:00pm-6:00pm Beach Volley Ball
6:00pm-11:00pm FREE TIME
11:00pm-onwards BEACH PARTY

3rd Day
9:00am-11:00am Banana Boat
11:00am-12:00nn Check Out
Free Time while waiting for the Ferry Boat. possibly more than an hour.
NOTE: we can adjust and tailor fit the said itinerary for your group if requested. tnx!
3-4 TOUR GUIDES will accompany your group within your 3 days and 2 nights GALERA TRIP!!

Contacts?
• GLOBE 0915-5191290
• YM: barcodegalera
• Email: barcodegalera@yahoo.com.ph
• Friendster: www.friendster.com/barcodepg
• Multiply: www.barcode1stopshop.multiply.com


*Oh, ang bait ko... sinama ko yung contact details.. libreng advertisement para sa Barcode Galera! ;p

Instant Aircon!

I don't know if I should be annoyed or happy! The Toyota, the car which I use, suddenly got its aircon back! W-O-W! But how, you ask? Well, my mom used it last Sunday to go to the groceries. She then suffered an overheat (LOL). Our initial suspicion is that the auxiliary fan is the culprit. 'Cause of this, she asked her office driver to take the car to the mechanics. So there we were in the 'talyer'. All the mechanic did was tap into a wire or something... basta may kinalabit lang na wire. Hayup, pag uwi ng car dito sa bahay may aircon na!

So why should I be annoyed, right?

Well, it seems that the aircon never really was gone! Nag freeze lang ata yung switch ng aircon! What the driver told me was that he just kept turning the aircon switch on and off a few times. That probably "unfroze" the controls! Shiiiiiiiittttt!! And there we were, nagtitiis ng walang aircon all this time... when all we had to do was to mess up with the controls once in a while! Wow! Sometimes, it really seems relevant to kick or punch something just to make it work. Wow. 0_0

A Little Help?

I can't, and WON'T, do everything on my own!

BASTARDIZING the word "UBER"

I used to like the word 'UBER'. In fact, it is included on my repertoire of words that I use here on this blog. I used to say: "I am UBER busy to care!", "This game is UBER hard!", or "That girl is UBER cute!". But now, a bozo from ABS-CBN thought it was great to name a new show of theirs after the word "UBER". Well guess what!? They fucking bastardized it! Now, each and every other person are gonna use it to the point of being overrated!

Yeah, the one chic adjective that I used to like is now a title of a Big Brother UPDATE show! All I can say is.... JOLOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To commemorate it, let me use this space for this:
I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!! I AM NEVER GONNA USE THE WORD "UBER" AGAIN!!!

Done.

200 Pounds Beauty

Starring: Kim Ah Joong, Joo-Jin Moo
Directed by: Kim Yong-hwa

It's been a while since I last watched a Korean movie. I heard about this movie being the blockbuster hit of 2007 in Korea, but it was only when my friend suggested me to watch it that I finally did.

200 Pounds Beauty is about Kang Hanna (Kim Ah Joong), a 200 pound obese woman who works as a phone sex operator. Unknown to many, she is also the real voice behind Ammy, a popular pop star. As in, she provides the real singing voice while she's tucked hidden behind the stage, while the pop star Ammy lip sings on-stage ala Milli Vanilli. Kang Hanna has very low self esteem because of the fact that she's obese, and that she's usually the butt of jokes... usually made by Ammy herself. She bears with all of Ammy's insults just because of their handsome producer, Sang-jun (Joo-Jin Moo), who Hanna has a crush on. One night, Hanna over hears Sang-jun and Ammy talking about how they are just using her. Being hurt over this, she tries to commit suicide. But before she can kill herself, she receives a call from one of her phone sex customers. This customer happens to be a top plastic surgeon. Desperate to change completely and be beautiful for once, she blackmails the surgeon to give her a total plastic surgery makeover. Now beautiful and sexy, Hanna comes back to the scene after a year, now hiding under the name 'Jenny'. What will happen?

The film is the usual romantic comedy. Most of the humor comes from Hanna's obese form... and after her transformation, on how she adjusts to her new form. The plot of the story is actually good, and gives a good insight on the subject of plastic surgery, which is all the rage now in South Korea. The conflict of how Hanna copes up with her new looks; how she deals with old acquaintances; how she builds her own confidence; and finally, how she gains her redemption actually works. Most of the drama though is in the end, which is a definite tear jerker.

Besides the superb portrayal of the cast (specially the lead star Kim Ah Joong), the real highlight of the movie, in my opinion, is the soundtrack. And it's actually Kim Ah Joong who sang all her parts, which I think is really impressive. There's even a great cover of the 1999 Blondie hit, "Maria", sung by Kim Ah Joong herself.

In a nutshell, if you love romantic comedies (and Korean at that), definitely watch 200 Pounds Beauty. It's a no brainer since it's actually a mega hit in Korea. So watch, watch.

Trailer


'Maria' by Kim Ah Joong

Greenhills with MAKDO (Mark and Donna)

Back at Ed's Lola's wake, Mark asked me to go with him and Donna on Greenhills this Friday. I happily obliged. LOL!

So, the meeting time was after lunch. I was out of the house by lunchtime. By the time I reached Greenhills, grabe men... TRAFFIC! As in, paikot lang ng loob ng Greenhills, it took me almost more than half an hour. By the time I reached the parking lot, I was drenched in sweat! *I HAVE to fix the Aircon!* Haha! Anyways, "nang-sulot" pa ako ng parking sa iba... agawan kasi eh! Buti hindi bumaba yung nakaabang! Pasensyahan nalang! Hahaha!

Finally, after meeting Mark and Donna, we went around for a while. Then Mark treated us to Krispy Kremes, and then to LeChing for merienda. Sarap ng noodles! BTW, nagkaproblem pa si Donna during that time. Her classmate texted her that their report was not received by their Prof. So after eating, we immediately went to a nearby Netopia just to email the project to her Prof again. Since Mark was looking for a jacket with a hood, we went around again looking for one. We even bumped into a fellow UST batchmate/classmate, Ache. After a while, Mark and I ended up buying shoes. He got a high cut Converse sneakers, while I bought another Vans slip ons.

When we left Greenhills, we thought that the traffic has loosened up... guess what, it almost took us 20 minutes just to get out of the parking lot! Haaay! Hindi na ako babalik ng Greenhills ng may dalang kotse! Taga niyo sa bato! ;p

Anyways, thanks to Mark and Donna for the wonderful treat! Also, for their company. i enjoyed sharing a few laughs and stories with them. :)

RIP to Ed's Lola

Last Monday, Eduard, my good friend and barkada, had an unfortunate event. His lola succumbed to a heart attack. She was 83 years old. Rest in peace.

Mark, Donna, Pay, and I went to the wake last night. It's been a long time since I last saw these guys. I missed them a lot. Ironically though, the last time me and Ed were together, we're also on a funeral wake... Regina's.

Anyway, I'm just glad that Ed wasn't as depressed as I first expected him to be. He's actually doing great, and is cheerful last night. I was thinking of spending the whole of today to give Ed some company in the funeral homes... but Erick and I scheduled our meeting also for today, so instead I went to the Funeral homes yesterday with Maki and company.

Oct 7th - My Dad's 69th Birthday

Another year has passed and my dad's birthday went and gone. As usual, my mom held a party for him again this time. It was actually great seeing most of our relatives, specially the ones on my father's side which I rarely see nowadays. It was also funny that almost everyone gathered around the TV to watch the Pacquiao-Barrera slug fest (which turned out to be disappointing in my opinion).

Also, right after the boxing match, the attention shifted to the DLSU-UE UAAP Championship. It was specially great for my cousins Jon and Ej as well as their dad, Tito Ed, who are all proud green bloods (is it LaSallians or LaSallites?! I have no idea! haha).

Anyways, one of the highlights of the day was meeting Francis again after a VERY long time. His dad and mine are first cousins, so that makes me and Francis as second cousins. We grew up very close. We're both on the same age bracket and on the same schools, actually. We both studied in Lourdes School Mandaluyong from Prep to High School. Then in College, we both went to UST. Him taking up Architecture, and I, Computer Science. We were very close during the seventh grade, but when HS came, we kinda drifted apart due to different interests and different posses. To think, I only bump into him once or twice in UST. Then, a couple of weeks ago, we exchanged messages in Friendster (see, Friendster still has its uses!). Perfect timing since it's gonna be my father's birthday so I ended up inviting them. I learned that he actually started an IT company. I was very impressed at what he accomplished. I actually miss the good 'ol days with him, and reminiscing good times that day was great.

Today we we're supposed to go to Purple Haze, a bar in Tomas Morato, to watch our LSM batch mates who are having a band gig. Unfortunately, he had a change of plans so it was canceled. Well, I guess next time.

Redemption

One weird and tragic thing happened to me this evening. It was heartbreaking in a way, but also a good thing. I was actually praying for it to happen. It was something I could not give up on my own, probably kasi nanghihinayang ako... and thankfully, an intervention happened that was supposed to upset me, but instead "freed" me. I'm grateful that one "tragedy" happened... upsetting as it is, at least now I won't be obliged to do it each and every day anymore. One problem down, onwards to improvement. ;p

a day in the movies

Ok, so I went to PIA this morning and I met my mom's friend, Tita Grace. Out of nowhere, a trailer of Kim Chiu's latest movie came up on TV. Then my mom suddenly blurted, "'No, diba yan yung gusto mong panuorin?!". Haha! I joked her before kasi na panuorin namin yun. Tita Grace immediate response was, "Nino, gusto mo yun?! Gusto rin panuorin ng mga pamangkin ko yun! They love Kim Chiu!" Shit, hiyang-hiya ako! Haha. Then suddenly, the good part came in: "May extra complimentary tickets ako dito, you can watch any movies you like in any SM Branch!". Yay! I helped her earlier by fixing her wi-fi connection on her laptop.

So when I got home, I quickly ate lunch and took a bath. And as I drive the car out of the gate, the rain dropped! LAKAS! Malas. So while on the way to SM Fairview, I kept on wiping my windshield... it mists because my aircon is still broken (sorry, I got no money and time to spend on it). Luckily, I got there safely. I then watched this two movies which I'll gladly give a review on.



Resident Evil: Extinction
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr
Director: Russell Mulcahy

This is obviously based on the popular survival genre game of the same name by Capcom. This is actually the third movie! I saw the first one, and am actually the few ones who actually liked it. The second one, I skipped with reasons I forgot. Now, I've watched the third today. Early in the movie, I was trying to play "connect the dots" since I never saw the second film. As the movie went through, it became clear that you don't need to watch the second film to actually enjoy and understand this one.

The plot is clear: a dangerous biological virus was being experimented by a rich and powerful corporation (Umbrella) to create the perfect biological weapon. And then, an outbreak occurs and the virus spread all over the world to the brink of extinction by turning all inhabitants into living zombies. And here we are with our protagonist, Alice (a former employee of Umbrella, and actually a successful experiment) has developed her powers (due to past experiments) and is striving hard to help herself and the few remaining survivors to avoid complete and utter extinction.

The movie is actually not bad. I was expecting the worse after hearing a lot of negative things about the second movie... as well as the usual tradition of bad movie adaptations of videogames. This, I can say, is actually a good adaptation of RE. Non-stop action, suspense, frights... it doesn't disappoint. And what can we say about Milla Jovovich that was never been said before?! She's BEAUTIFUL! Even at any angle! Her acting was ok. She definitely redeems herself from playing a part to that abysmal movie named, ULTRAVOILET! Apart from all, I also liked the movie's ending which could actually bridge into a fourth film (they told that Extinction will be the trilogy ender).

The only qualm I have was that the movie relied so much on cheap thrills instead of a more psychological and atmospheric horror. I mean, you get shocked because something would suddenly appear on screen, or because the sound effects suddenly spurred a booming sound which leaves you surprised instead of actually genuinely frightened. Another complaint of mine was the actor who played Wesker. He looks like some B-movie actor that was just dragged into this. Never mind that, it's a personal opinion! LOL!

Overall, the movie was ok. It's actually worth watching. Only the real video game nerds will say otherwise (they are very hard to please, wants an EXACT adaptation from games, and are irritating. LOL). Rating: 6/10



Shoot 'Em Up!
Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Monica Bellucci
Director: Michael Davis

There are movies that are cheesy because of horrible acting, bad production, and bad directing. This is what we call BAD MOVIES. Then there are movies which are too overly cheesy to the point of it being done on purpose, that it turns into a good and entertaining movie. This movies often receives mixed review from critics because not everyone will like them. Since a selected portion like this movie, it gains a following. This turns to something what we call CULT MOVIES. I'm glad to say that Shoot 'Em Up! falls into the latter!

The hero in the movie is Mr. Smith. Supposedly, a bum just minding his own business and eating his carrots at the start of the movie. Then he sees this pregnant woman being chased by a hitman. He just simply can't sit there, and then began helping the woman by shooting all the baddies. He also helped the woman birth her child. Then came the equally mysterious Hertz, who seems to be the head honcho. Hertz and his men were successful in killing the mother, but Mr. Smith was able to save the baby and enlist the (unwilling) help of a prostitute. For some reason, the real target of Hertz and his men was actually the baby more so than the mother. The question is why.

There is little plot and simply NO character development here. The mystery of Mr. Smith's past or Hertz's definite background were only given little shedding. Instead, it's all action! Non-stop, adrenaline-packed action! Heck, the movie won't even last 5 minutes without a gun firing, and a bullet hitting it's target! I even lost count of the body counts! Hence the title, Shoot 'Em Up! Really, it's like Looney Tunes but with real people and ultra-violence. Enemies come on screen and our mad protagonist had no problem of blasting their sorry asses! This is a popcorn movie in the real sense! Non-stop action and little story telling is the main objective of this film, and it succeeds.

The cast is incredible to say the least. I mean you got Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti (Paul Freakin' Giamatti!), and my uber favorite actress Monica Bellucci! These are all very good actors, and with a plot like this, they even have to try hard! Owen was great as Mr. Smith. He was moody, mad at a lot of things (as in galit sa mundo), violent... and Owen really delivered well. This sorta like his payback for being denied the part of the new Bond. LOL. Giamatti, as always, is at his best. He always seems to excel at playing quirky characters... and Hertz was no exception. And last but not the least, Monica Bellucci. This woman's beauty never seems to age! IMO, she IS the most beautiful celebrity right now. Great acting, as well as some exposure of her rack, is greatly appreciated! Haha!

Watch this movie for non-stop action. If you mind too much for plot and character development, look elsewhere. Shoot 'Em Up is a movie that is not to be taken seriously. EVERYTHING in the movie is done over the top. Certainly a great pop corn movie, as well as an outlet for all that violent tendencies of ours. Haha. Rating: 7/10.