Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

I just finished watching the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, the latest series of the Gundam franchise. It was a long episode. Almost an hour long. Like most of the Gundam stories, it's all about war.

The story takes place after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam and before Mobile Suit Gundam F91. That goes without saying that all three belong to the same timeline. Yes, there are NewTypes, Funnels, the Zeon, etc. The main protagonist is a young man named Banagher Links, and pilots the Unicorn Gundam (RX-0 Unicorn).

What's unique about the Unicorn is that it's pure white, unlike the other main Gundams with white, blue, red, and yellow schemes. The Unicorn, however, displays a a yellow and bit of red glow when it enters its NT-D mode (something like the Trans-Am mode in Gundam 00). Even with its plain colors, the MS looks awesome.

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam NT-D Mode

Watch a video of the trailer for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn below.

If there are problems with the video, click here.

I hope the Gundam fans enjoy watching the series as much as I did (at least for the first episode).

My Top Ten Favorite Movies (to date of course) part 1

Here is a Top Ten list of my favorite movies (to date of course). It might take a while to change the whole list since most of them came out more than a decade ago. Some of you may not agree with the list. I understand. We do have different tastes and preferences.

10. Speed. An appropriate title. The movie came out in 1994. It starred Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, and Sandra Bullock. There are very few movies with almost non-stop action and this is one of them. The sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control came out in 1997 but the boat ride wasn't as exciting as the bus ride.

9. Bad Boys. This is an action film that was released in 1995. It stars Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett, a married, straight edge Miami-Dade cop; Will Smith as Mike Lowrey, a rich boy Miami-Dade cop that doubles as a chic magnet; and Tea Leoni as Julie Mott, a witness to an execution. A sequel, Bad Boys II, came out in 2004. Though the main antagonist of the sequel died with a land mine blowing up on his face, I still liked the first movie better.

8. Pitch Black. This is a science fiction, survival horror film that came out in 2000. This is the only film in this list that came out in the 2000's. It stars Vin Diesel as Richard B. Riddick, a very dangerous criminal who can see in pitch black darkness. A sequel and an animated movie came out in 2004; The Chronicles of Riddick and The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury respectively. Unfortunately, the sequel became more science fiction fantasy and lost its appeal.

7. The Transformers: The Movie. I'm talking about the animated movie way back in 1986 not the Michael Bay films. Sure, Optimus Prime sounds right but the animated movie had a lot more Transformers and lesser humans.

6. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. This is Kevin Costner's portrayal of the prince of thieves. The movie came out in 1991. Believe me, I watched this over and over back then that I almost memorized the dialogues. Hence, I consider this one of my favorites.

Second half of the list comes out on the next post.

Twenty Years Ago...

It was 20 years ago today that the earth shook from under me.

It was a sunny afternoon. The sky was almost clear except for a few clouds. Classes were over early. I believe we were one of the few schools that didn't follow day light savings time.

I suddenly stood up from the porch when the earth started to shake. Weak at first but it intensified. It was so strong that I heard the shelves crashing down from the school library. The ground was shaking so vigorously that I had difficulty standing up. I heard distant screams. I saw Hyatt Terraces Baguio crash down. In a way, it was awesome.

When the tremors stopped, we headed home. There was devastation along the way. The smell of debris, smoke, and death was in the air.

Many died that day. Some survived. It was probably because of fate or luck. Either way, I was one of those who did. And I have been surviving since then.

If It's Jester's Time, It's Jester's Time

I may have delved into the possibilities of parallel worlds. Where different worlds are created due to different choices. Since there have been many choices, almost infinite, then there are infinite number of parallel worlds. However, there is a finite number of worlds that would coincide with certain conditions. Pardon me if i have confused you a little bit.

Let me get straight to the point. The recent typhoon, Basyang (as in Lola Basyang, at least i think so) came not with heavy rains but with strong winds. That was just last night. The winds were howling. I even heard stories of some co-workers whose homes have been de-roofed (did i just coin that word?). Early this morning, i saw the damages. Billboards, trees, and posts were damaged. Thus, the Luzon-wide blackout.

Again, to the point where the typhoon and the parallel worlds meet. I wonder how many ME's no longer exist in the other parallel worlds because of the typhoon. I may never know.

At around thirty minutes after midnight the lights went out. It didn't really bother me because it was a bit cool. But it was too dark and the wind was howling. I got up and lit up a candle, placed it on a plastic holder and placed it on a wooden stool near my bed. I tried going back to sleep but I couldn't because I was sweating a little bit. Yet, I closed my eyes in the hope that i may fall asleep. I occasionally do but keep waking up every fifteen minutes or so. Until at last, I did fall asleep. I woke up at 4AM and saw the plastic candle holder aflame; on a wooden stool and a bottle of alcohol just beside it. For some reason I didn't panic and blew out the flame. I couldn't go back to sleep again.

Then I thought to myself, "What if I didn't wake up to blow out the flame?" The possibilities are many. It could have been disastrous. But fortunately for this world's ME, it was all well.

Now, I wonder how many ME's survived the night...

Crimson Rain (deux)

The bloodstained letter remained in his possession; a reminder of his once cherished love, a love gone but not forgotten. Remembering the past was all that's left for him to do. With the stains of the pain still lingering, he took the bloodstained letter and stared at the portion where his beloved's name used to be. He didn't know his beloved anymore.

He could only recall the blissful times he had with her. He found it strange that he could not remember her face.

Why?

He stands at his doorstep staring at his shack, still damaged from the storm on that sad day. Fixing it would do no good. It might even do more harm. He only looks at it now.

He clenched his fist, crumpling the bloodstained letter as he looked up the sky. Dark clouds formed. The crack of thunder didn't make him flinch. The rain poured down as strong as that faithful day. The wind began to blow. Stretching his clenched fist to the wind, he stared blankly beyond his fist. Slowly, he let go of the bloodstained letter from his grip as the wind blew it away from him. A metaphor of a love that was blown away by sorrow.

With the bloodstained letter out of his sight, he enters his house. Never to be seen or heard from again.

Broke on a Sunday

It's a slow Sunday morning. The excitement from last month has pretty much died down. Again, I stare at nothing. There is nothing to do and I'm pretty much broke. Being broke blows. I can't go out and see a movie or eat out. All I have with me now is my trusty net book and a can of liver spread. Yes, that's how it is today. Liver spread.

I browsed through my old files and old notes and saw a few things worthy of posting. One of which will be at the IONean blog. I also saw a few pictures worthy of slideshowdom (I just invented that word) or at least archiving for future slideshow purposes. If you must know, they're food pictures.

When all things fail, I still have my 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' re-runs and Marvel's 'Secret Invasion' I've been meaning to finish. I might fall asleep with that one. I liked Marvel Zombies better.

Anyway. It's still a long way until the day ends. So good luck to me.

How are Villains Made

In the fantasy world, be it comic book, game, anime, or movie, there are villains. Most of these villains start off as good folk pushed to the ends of their morals by those who they thought were their allies. Of course, some of them are born villains.

However, in the real world, that is not the case. As human beings, we believe that every man is in essense, good. We are all born good, with the capacity to do evil. And our evil tencdencies are triggered by other's evil deeds, usually by someone trusted.

Let's take the example of the Green Goblin for the movie Spider-Man. At the start of the movie, he is, in a way, a good man. He does, however, attend to his work most of the time. Then the board members of the company that he built opted to take him out of the picture. He then takes his 'super soldier formula' and uses it on himself. Thus, transforming him into the Green Goblin. Of course, the comic book story is different but you get the idea.

So do be carefull with how you treat others. You might be planting the seed of hate and turn someone into a villain.

Sickening Shoal

I've been playing Magic the Gathering for quite some time but I stopped updating my decks since maybe a two or three years ago. The Ravnica block was the last block I ever meddled with. My favorite block would be the Kamigawa block because of its Japanese theme. The card I'm about to review is from the Kamigawa block.

I have made a review for a MTG* card before but it got deleted with my old account. By the way, I'll be leaving some notes for those who have never played or heard of the game before, that is if you're still reading this far. Let's start my review of the Sickening Shoal.

Sickening Shoal is a rare, black, instant-arcane card with a casting cost of XBB**. This is what the spell can do: You may exile*** a black card with converted mana cost X from your hand rather than paying Sickening Shoals Mana cost. Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.

What I like best about this card is its alternative casting cost. Besides being an instant**** card, this gives a surprise to the opponent when you're tapped out^. Also you can include cards with high casting costs to your deck as payment to casting this card which you can also use latter on in the duel if it lasts long enough. The next thing I like about this card is that it can take out the indestructible^^ creatures by just making them disappear. With enough mana (or the right black card), it can even make a Darksteel Colossus^^^ disappear. But a different card^^^^ is better suited for Darksteel Colossus disposals. Yet still.

As a black and blue color user, I personnaly like this card and have it placed permanently on one of my black decks.

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* Magic the Gathering
** X is any color of mana cost BB is two black mana
*** To remove the card from the game (The original printing didn't say exile, as seen on the picture)
**** It can be played anytime even if it's not your turn
^ All mana sources are tapped out
^^ Those that cannot be destroyed by damage or destruction spells.
^^^ Let's just say it's a big creature and it's indestructible
^^^^ That card would be Eradicate

Bitch Slap

Another boring moment lead me to watch a movie that has been on my hard drive for a very long time now. Today, I'll be reviewing the movie, Bitch Slap. This movie starred Julia Voth, Erin Cummings, and America Olivo as three women out to get a massive loot from an underworld kingpin. There were a lot of close-up cleavage shots and Playboy-like takes. Take them all out and you might have a thirty-minute long movie with a story so bad you'd want to throw something at your expensive home entertainment system. However, I'd commend the writers for the attempt in twists.

Low down reviews. Visuals. For some of the scenes, it had the feel of Sin City in color. The close-up cleavage shots, the 'water fight', and more cleavage shots gave the visual department the edge they wanted, at least for those who don't get tired of looking at breasts. The explosions were bad. The violence was bad. Make-up was bad. The acting was bad (sorry Hercules). Story. Like I said, the story was so bad that the boob-shots compensated for it. Recommendations. Don't even think about it. Well, I guess the curious would want to watch it. But trust me, if you're a movie lover, don't see this, don't get the DVD, don't even see it on cable. Well, I guess you can see it on cable coz you can always flip the channels. In the name of the tomato rating system, I give this movie seventeen tomatoes, and a ball of cabbage, and some carrots. Heck, I'm throwing in the whole salad bowl.

Star Craft II First TV Commercial

"Make no mistake. War is coming. With all its glory and all its horror."

The wait is over. Now that's an understatement. After a very, very, very long time, the sequel to Star Craft is coming out on the 27th of July 2010. I am definitely getting myself a new machine for this game.

Check out the quick TV commercial below.



(If the video doesn't satisfy you, click here.)

So to all Star Craft fans out there, Let's hope this game delivers. Let's hope it's all worth the long wait..