Green Lantern Movie premiere

     
Last Wednesday (June 15, 2011); I was lucky to get a movie pass to the much awaited movie premiere of the Green Lantern at Glorietta 4 at the Ayala Mall, Makati.  I wasn't able to bring my car and had to go through the gruesome process of commuting from my home to the theater.  According to Angel, the show starts at 7pm so I left home at about 5pm just in case the traffic was horrendous.

     And my thoughts were true, it was jam packed.  It felt sooo hot as I journeyed the ways to Makati.  The many streets carved by the Maynilad plus the many people going out of their work and students going home.  Haiz...  I even forgot today is actually payday (my company doesn't go with the 15th and 30th salary day).  So after a gruesome 2hrs+ of traveling, I arrived at the meeting place.  Unfortunately, Angel left work late, and knowing Makati it would be pretty traffic outside Ayala Avenue as well.  I also met some of Angel's friends April and Khaye who were going to watch a different movie.  I also saw some cosplayers who were representing some of the Green Lantern knights.  Angel arrived around 15mins before the show was about to start so we ate as fast as we could so we could join Chinky who already saved some seats for us inside the theater.

     And as the movie was about to start, they started off with a mini game.  5 volunteers who each were given a replica of the Green Lantern rings...  How I wished I stood up... Unfortunately I would look stupid together with the 4 kids who came up at front to join.  The preview of the movies before Green Lantern were awesome as well.  Can't wait for TRANSFORMERS!!!

     The show begins!  Green Lantern was awesome!  The effects, costumes, and all.  At first, I was dubious because Ryan Reynolds was known for his comical gestures.  But he was able to pull it off amazingly!  He actually looked a bit like Hal Jordan, and his body type was was almost the same type as well.  As an avid fan of the Green Lantern corps, I knew well of what was going to happen with the story line.  But for this movie, I casted away all the things I know about Hal and just enjoyed the movie.  And my thoughts about it were true, it's a very enjoyable movie, especially in 3D.  Much like watching Spiderman for the first time.  It's a movie you would be eager to wait for a sequel no matter how many.

     So all in all, I'd rate the movie a 5/5.  The right words at the right time, great effects, normal story line.  I suggest you put this in your movies to watch for June.  Happy watching!

Dallas Mavericks 2011 NBA Champions

I always believed

     Since day 1 Dirk entered the court, I had become a fan of him.  I knew that someday, he would be able to bring his team to the championships and someday get the trophy.  Last June 13, 2011 he made me my belief come true.  The Dallas Mavericks became the NBA Champions for 2010-2011.  And even though he had an off start, he finished big in the last minutes and got the MVP award for the Finals.

     The Heat played well, and it can be felt with the emotions showed by their players afterwards.  The only one whom didn't cared about it and showed no sympathy was the one who regards himself "The King".  Who's laughing now LeBron?

     Mavs vs Heat was a truly one of the greatest championship games I ever watched.  You never knew, even at the last seconds who's going to win.  The points in the ends of each team were most of the time just a few points afar showing the determination of each individuals.

     Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks and to the many fans who believed!

Macau-Hong Kong trip pt 4

Last Day (June 5, 2011)

 

      Our last day for our vacation.  We woke up early and ate the food we prepared from Sasa's place.  We also had the instant noodles as back up which we ate to lighten the load.  We had to finish packing all our things to bring so that we could leave the large luggage at the reception.  That way it would be easier for us to roam around Macau for the last time.  We rode the hotel's bus to the Venetian where we rode another bus going to the Great Lisbon hotel.  We had our lunch at McDonalds and then walked the streets going to the ruins.

     On the way, we somehow lost each other. My group (Me, Enzo and Matt) and also Angel's group (Angel and Tin).  There were so many people around the place so if by any chance one of your groups suddenly went inside a store (which my group did), the other group might not notice you.  Lost, we decided to go to the ruins since it was the only spot we wanted to go there.

Famous egg tarts from Lord Stow's bakery, The Venetian

McDonalds, Macau

McWings

Crowded street going to the ruins

Ruins of St Paul

Share Tea, best tea store we found in Hong Kong

Matt's favorite street foods

      Good thing my instincts was correct, we found Angel and Tin at the ruins resting up.  The streets were so crowded that you'd feel like you're in a rock concert.  We had some snacks while resting up as we found a Share Tea store and a store selling Matt's favorite "Botcha" foods.

     We had some difficulty going home because of the way the buses in Macau are designated (shows bus number in front signaling the bus stop they are going to unload/load) but we were able to manage to get to the airport earlier than expected.  After having our bags checked, we had our dinner at the airport canteen which served terrible foods which we didn't mind out of frustration since it was the only place to eat there aside from a store which resembled 7/11.

    Tin and Matt had a problem, they were chance passengers, so we prayed hard that they would still be able to come home together with us.  Angel came along with them as me and Enzo went in to waiting area for departures.  Our flight got delayed, which also came as a blessing in disguise since Tin and Matt were able to join us.  Unfortunately we were too tired from traveling so we didn't had any time taking some pictures of our journey in the airport.

     At NAIA 3, we were picked up by my parents whom I drove home.  We then had a quick bite at Chickboy in Puregold, Madrigal before I drove Angel and the gang home.  Arrived at around 3am.

     It was a short lived but fun experience, if I was going to do it again then we would be more prepared and accustomed to the travel.  To anyone who's going to travel to Macau, DON'T TAKE THE TRAVEL TOUR PACKAGE.  I promise you, commuting and walking around is much better and cheaper.  Macau... well it's beautiful but much too expensive to stay at. Have fun traveling! ^_^

Macau-Hong Kong trip pt 3

Mongkok Shopping (June 4, 2011)

     We woke up late because of the tiring day we had from yesterday.  One good thing about it was we were well rested for the day and we don't have to spend so much for breakfast.  Shops in Mongkok open late, around 12nn to 4pm.  The place we stayed was cheap because it was just a guest house.  So if you are going to Hong Kong and would like to have an affordable place which has easy access to markets.  Try to look for guest houses near Mongkok so you would just be walking distance from most the affordable markets.

 

Enzo and Angel goofing around at the guest house

     After checking out from the guest house, we headed to the nearest fast food chain... KFC!!!  Unfortunately, they don't serve gravy in Hong Kong and also plain rice so we ended up buying their bucket meal since it would be cheaper to share than to buy their meals individually.

they also have plastic hand wrappers for those who don't want grease in their hands ^_^

     With our tummies filled, we headed off to the famous ladies market and went sight seeing first.  We needed to get some of our cash changed first so we'd got money to spend.

Tip: Try to come early, most of the sellers have a tendency to drop the price very, very, very low for their first customers.  They think that it gives them luck if they were able to sell to their first customer.  Kinda bringing more money if they started with a sell ^_^

     After buying all the nice goodies we could afford, it was time for us to go back to Macau to check in to our hotel and meet up with Sasa.  We finished at about 3-4pm and felt tired so we rested back to our favorite eating spot, Cafe de Coral.

     Since we were already familiar with the area, we just walked back to the ferry terminal where we came from yesterday.  Angel collects tumblers from Starbucks and one of the things she likes collecting from them is the tumbler with the name of the place she's gone to.

     Back in Macau, we checked in to the Great Eastern Hotel and after resting and having our nice quick baths went out to the Venetian to meet up with Sasa.

      We had dinner with Sasa at the fast food area of the Venetian.  Good thing there was a place like that there or else we might starve because of the very pricy restaurants there.  Since it was Tin's birthday, we treated our dinner as her gift to us as well.  As we ate, we enjoyed laughing and exchanging the fun experiences we had at Hong Kong to Sasa.

      After dinner, we headed to the Galaxy (Sasa's workplace) where she toured us to the beautiful areas of her hotel.

      We headed back to Sasa's place to cook some of our leftover canned goods and had some fun time picture taking.  Off to our hotel...

Macau-Hong Kong trip pt 2

Disneyland! (June 3, 2011)

We arrived at Disneyland around 3pm in the afternoon.  Good thing we were commuting because we had the chance to ride the Disney MTR. 

We rode the train ride around Disneyland so that we could decide which place we would visit first.

Before we headed to the different spots around Disneyland, we were told that the parade would start at 4pm.  So we decided to sit back and find a good place to watch the parade from.

Then we headed to the Adventure Land where we watched the Lion King musical.  Good thing the place was had aircon so we were able to relax and enjoy watching the show.

We wanted to watch the Golden Mickeys the next showtime was after an 1 1/2 so we strolled around Tomorrow Land and rode the Space Mountain and Autopia where I had the chance of having Angel as my driver ^_^

After the drive, we hurried to the Golden Mickeys only to find out that they already had a full room.  So we just strolled around the area and had some pictures on the different sites and places.  We also had the chance to watch the 4D show at the Mickey's PhilharMagic show.  Since the fireworks show was about to start, we searched for a nice place to relax in front of the castle.  Before the fireworks show, there was a part they call the lighting of the castle which was supposed to be done by Tinkerbell.  It was a beautiful show of lights as the whole castle was being lighted by different light surrounding it.

The fireworks show started at around 8:30pm and the park was fully packed.  Everyone was smiling as they enjoyed the show, but since we all know that the people would start rushing for the train ride after the show.  Me and the gang were already walking backwards midway the fireworks show.  And when it finally ended, we were all running while laughing as we hurried to the trains.  Tired but happy, we planned our route for Mongkok, near Nathan road, where we would be looking for a place to stay.  By God's grace we were able to find a nice place in no time thanks to Angel's friend whom we got the chance to bump into at the Disneyland.

So after having a nice dinner in an Chinese restaurant nearby, we headed off to dreamland...

Macau-Hong Kong trip

Day 1 (June 2, 2011)

At last! June! We start the second half of the year by visiting other countries and learning their way of life. We chose Macau and Hongkong.

Prior the day of our flight, I met up with Angel and decided to sleep at their place, with the thought that she would consider coming home with me so we could leave for the airport together.  My plan actually worked but had some trouble along the way.  Like getting our pocket money and me forgetting my passport while on the way to the airport.  We arrived at the NAIA 3 airport 2 1/2 hours before our flight.  There, we met up with her 2 siblings (Tin and Matt) and her cousin (Enzo).  Had a quick bite at Seattle's Best Coffee and headed of to our flight.

 

At Macau, we we're greeted by Sasa who was working at the Galaxy hotel.  She accompanied us to her flat where we stayed for the night and also arranged some of the places we were going to the next days.

Day 2 (June 3, 2011)

Disneyland day!

I didn't felt sleeping the first night because I had some stomach ache so I just decided to cook for breakfast.  We left Sasa's place early in the morning so we would be able to catch our ferry ride to Hong Kong.  Sasa tagged along with us on the bus ride and gave us some tips regarding commuting.  Buses there just had numbers in front of them and those numbers have corresponding bus terminals it could only stop at.  Since we arrived early, we were the first ones at the line at the ferry terminal.  We rode the Cotai Ferry and I slept the entire trip.

Hong Kong, we were going to meet up with Angel's friend at 1pm who was going to take us to her pad where we were going to stay for the night.  So we planned on going there first before heading to Disneyland.  Since we had a lot of time to kill, we had breakfast again.  We ate at the "Cafe de Coral", they served delicious meals which were right for our budget (about $15-30 HK).  Afterwards, we strolled the streets of Hong Kong to look for a decent place to have our money changed and to do some light shopping ^_^

We had some trouble orienting our place with the fast paced life in Hong Kong but we were able to manage our directions easily since the train ride was easy to understand.  You really just need to know where you should go and remember which train line you're going to switch to.  We also got acquainted with their Octopus card.  A card which you can practically charge anywhere, for shopping, riding buses and trains, for dining and all.

After a few train rides, we arrived at the meeting place and still had an hour to spend.  We waited patiently but got dismayed because when we arrived at pad, it was too small to fit us five and found out that there were 3 additional people who was going to sleep there.  The place was as small as a regular toilet room and only had 1 double deck bed.  You can just imagine the thoughts running in our heads.  Good thing she was just introduced to us by Angel's friend (she is a DH who previously was a maid of their friend) and wasn't really a close friend of theirs.  Tired and angry, we decided to go to Disneyland and just look for a place to stay afterwards.

X-Men: First Class

Me and Angel watched the premiere of the movie "X-Men: First Class" last Wednesday, June 1st, at the Cinema 1 of the Mall of Asia. I was pretty much excited of the upcoming movie because I've been an avid fans of superheroes since I was in grade school. During those days I had the opportunity to buy/sell comics and collector cards of Marvel superheroes. But with the experience I had with the previous X-Men films, I was pretty much disappointed with the cast they chose and also the kind of storyline and graphics the past X-Men movie had.

So this time around, I chose not to read about the characters of the upcoming movie and instead just seat back and enjoy the show. As I mentioned earlier, the movie house was already full when we came which only means two things. One, a lot of people came because the movie was really great. Two, the venue was just too small to accommodate the number of people. But not minding the seats that was provided for Me and Angel, we still sat through and enjoyed the movie.

The movie as the title suggests is going to show the audience how the X-Men originated. On how "normal people" found about the knowledge regarding "mutation" and how for some apparent reason some of the "mutants" (people with mutations) had a special ability. It starred two of the characters of story of X-Men,Magneto and Professor X. The movie showed the difference they both had in growing up, which eventually led to the decision they had to choose in the end.

It was a fairly enjoyable movie. Enjoyed it because it was a Marvel movie, but they could have done better. I mean, recruit a band of young mutants and come up with "Banshee"? There are a lot of X-Men superheroes who were much more noticeable than him and has more character, Storm, Cyclops, and the such to name a few? Also the line "Mutant and proud"? Is there really no other lines they could think of that would express the significance of the mutants who wanted to be accepted in the world? I mean, really now?  Spidey's grampa was able to come up with "With great power, come great responsibility" line which was both very suitable for the moment and was also a line that would be remembered for a long time in the history of Marvel movies.

"Mutant and proud"... maybe they just wanted something short and simple? Anyway, it was just pretty lame for me. It felt like they were acting like most taglines today like "I'm Pinoy" and others. There really nothing wrong with the line, but how it was used for the movie really sucked big time for me.

Anyway, I was there to just enjoy the show and not think too much of the technical side. I'd rate the movie a 3/5 stars. Try to see it and check how you would feel whenever the line "Mutant and proud" was said. Maybe it would strike differently for you ^_^

Sera

I've always promised my Angel that I would be starting to blog again once I already have my dream laptop... And a new laptop I now have! ^_^

Sera, my Samsung R-series laptop was a laptop I didn't knew I'd have. That was because I kept on roaming around malls for a nice laptop which had the specs I want (i5, 4Gb memory, 1Gb Video) and also has nice sounds. So last month I went to SM North with my younger bro and tried for the last time to survey the computer stores for the laptop which would best match the specs I need. Something that was both affordable but also had a sense of longevity.

After roaming SM Annex for about an hour, we had a chance to find a new store which opened. A Samsung store which sells laptops, monitors, and other stuffs. There I saw her, and I instantly fell in love with it. She had the specs I was looking for, nice speakers, and also a HD monitor. So I hurriedly pulled out my newly received credit card from CitiBank and swipped away!

I had some problems installing some of the needed softwares, but of course being patient paid off and I was finally able to use my Sera. Hopefully this would be the start of something new and special for me! ^_^