Lunch 2011.08.28 - ABBA on Rhythmboat

Took on a Rhythmboat Cruise with the family. There's a three-course meal plus an ABBA tribute show. What more can you ask for?

The meals' not too bad, but nothing spectacular. The same thing can be said about the tribute show. The sound system is not the best, and the acoustics of the "room" leaves much to be desired. Most of the patrons on the boat liked the music and the performers nonetheless. Liked them enough to get up and dance. Me, I'm here for the cruise, which took us from the King Street Wharf to Pyrmont to Balmain to Luna Park to Kirribilli to North Sydney to Cremorne Point to Mosman then back with spectacular views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the top deck.

If you don't want to miss the ABBA action while checking out the views, there's a fenced opening on the floor, so you can still dance to the music.

Movie 2011.08.27 - Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil

The movie's so forgettable, I can't remember what it's all about. Quite a pity, as I really liked the first one.

Red's in some kind of training academy run by the Sisters of the Hood. Granny was kidnapped by an evil witch with a mask while trying to rescue Hansel and Gretel, who turned out to be the real villains. The witch Verushka was a former classmate of Granny. She harboured a lifelong jealousy of Granny because she was always second-best. In any case, they forced Granny to cook up a batch of magical truffles, which the kids use to become powerful. The good guys were helpless in stopping the kids from terrorizing the city. They did manage to trick the naughty kids into eating more and more truffles, which made the puff up, rendering them immobile. That's the end of their criminal career.

Movie 2011.08.26 - The Change-Up

Another switched-body comedy. Only reason we "discovered" this movie is the wife did a search for her two favourite actors, Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, and Google came up with this.

The concept has been done to death. An unexplainable metaphysical event happened causing two very different persons to swap bodies. One's an overstressed working family dad/lawyer, while the other is a happy-go-lucky ladies man. They eventually learn to like their new selves and settle in. One wants to prove that he can complete a merger deal. The other wants to have a fling with a hot colleague, which he can't do while in his married self.

As with the other switched-body movies, the guys can now see their lives from a different vantage point, and turn things around once they get their bodies back. The only highlight of the movie are the very inappropriate things that they say and do.

Swatch Metal Flash

After selling the Brise-Glace (GK274) and the Sheikh (GG183), both with expandable metal bands, mind you, I bought a brand new Metal Flash (SSK104). This is the first time I've owned a Swatch Stop watch, and I quite like it. The watch has only one crown and it controls all functions on the watch/stopwatch.

Pull out the crown to adjust the time. Slow turn adjusts the minute hand one minute at a time. Fast turn moves the watch forward (or backward) by an hour. Press once to activate stopwatch mode. (Hands go to 12:00 position.) Press again to start couting. Press again to stop. Press once more to switch back to normal mode. In case the stopwatch doesn't reset to 12:00, do a long press (about 3 seconds). Pull out the crown. Turn crown clockwise to adjust the minute hand. Turn crown counterclockwise to adjust the hour hand. Once at 12:00, push crown back.

Movie 2011.08.20 - Hop

Story of how a bunny doesn't want to become the Easter Bunny, how a right-hand chick tries to take over the spot, and how a lazy human bum ultimately became one. That's pretty much the whole movie. I was quite impressed with the live animation - looks so seamless. The introductory segment at the Easter Island chocolate factory is also very impressive, very colorful.

Interesting trivia: Hank Azaria did the voice for both Carlos, head of the Easter Chicks, and Phil, his sidekick, who was the cause of his downfall because he can't stop himself dancing.

Movie 2011.08.19 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I'll tell you what this movie is about. Never mind Dumbledore's long-winded effort to recruit Slughorn; the romantic tension between Hermonine, Ron, Romilda, Lavendar, Harry, Ginny, and Dean; the Slughorn parties; the Quidditch matches; etc. It only got interesting during the latter part of the movie.

With the aid of Potter, Dumbledore discovers that Tom Riddle is immortal because of horcruxes. By splitting one's soul into multiple pieces and injecting them into objects, one's soul lives on even after the body has been killed. Dumbledore and Potter go in search of the horcrux. Meanwhile, Draco opens up a portal that allows the Deatheaters to enter Hogwarts. By the time Dumbledore and Potter apparate back, the Deatheaters were already there waiting. Potter goes into hiding, while Dumbledore faces the enemies. Snape hits Dumbledore with an Avada Kedavra spell, and he goes flying out of the Astronomy Tower - dead.

Movie 2011.08.15 - The Great Global Warming Swindle

Possibly meant as a rebuttal to the case presented by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth. The Great Global Warming Swindle argues that carbon dioxide is not a cause of global warming, but simply a byproduct. It's been there all along, so why worry? We've had hotter climates before. The polar icecaps have melted before. Huge chunks of ice have fallen off iceshelves before. We think it's a big thing because we're only seeing these events now. Give it a few more years, and she'll be right, mate.

So why all this fuss about global warning from the scientists, if things are ok? For one, that's the only way you're going to get research grants and funding from the government nowadays. And the media? Well, news about freak weather events sells, and each one tends to get more extreme that the next in order to catch the jaded public's attention.

So why is the climate getting warmer? It's the sun, dummy. We're currently at the peak of the solar variation cycle. More solar activity means hotter temperatures. Makes sense, right?

Trip to Costco

Today, we went to check out Costco Auburn. We've been given some warning that it's gonna be packed, especially on a weekend. I guess that's to be expected, given that it's been open for only a couple of weeks, but I mean, how bad can it be?

So from M4 we took the Silverwater exit, then left to Parramatta Road. Street's blocked. On a Sunday afternoon? That's strange. Looks like quite a few cars are turning into the Bunnings parking lot. There's actually a Bunnings staff talking to some of the drivers and waving them off. Next left is the Costco parking lot entrance, but that's been closed off. Ahead, I can see someone putting cones in front of the other parking entrance. Drove to Olympic Park, doubled back, and parked at Lidcombe Power Centre. Even that one's almost full. Crossed the street with about a hundred other people to Costco. The warehouse club is so full, I can't even have a good look at what's on the shelves. The checkout lines stretched all the way to the other side of the building. I had to ditch our trolley because there's no way I'm lining up. All we managed to buy is a combo pizza, an all-meat hotdog, and a very berry sundae from the food centre.

Movie 2011.08.13 - Manufactured Landscapes

A bunch of pretty pictures by Edward Burtynsky woven together with some minimal narrative and snippets from a TED talk.

If you don't have access to a decent photo gallery or museum, watch this movie. That is, if you can tolerate loooong tracking shots with zero dialogue. The movie features scenes from an electric iron factory floor in China, e-waste recycling village in Fujian, a loading dock, a massive shipyard in China, recycling dockyard in Bangladesh, a coal mine, the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, old and new neighborhoods in Shanghai, etc.

I'm sure the photographer is trying is to tell us something about social inequality, human consumption, rampant industrialization, wanton pollution, etc. Me, I'm just here for the pretty pictures.

Movies 2011.08.12 - Fuschia, Bahay Kubo

I don't know why we keep on watching these Filipino movies. I guess if you want enough of them, you're bound to find a couple of good ones. These two are not. In fact, the plots are so forgettable I have to think hard in order to write up this post.

Fuschia is a about old woman (Gloria Romero) who's trying to be hip. Can't remember whether she's married or widowed, but I seem to recall that she has a boyfriend, but she's still flirting with another guy (Eddie Garcia). Then there's the mayor who's after some land because some property group wants to develop it into a memorial park. She then makes a speech in public, berating the mayor and exposing his shady deeds. Unbelievable! In real life, she would've been abducted and salvaged before managed to hold the mic. Why Fuschia? Because that's her favourite colour.

Bahay Kubo: A Pinoy Mano Po! is Regal Films' official entry to the 33rd Metro Manila Film Festival. Not saying that the Mano Po series about a Fil-Chi family is any good, but Bahay Kubo is nowhere near the "quality" of Mano Po. We have province girl Eden (Maricel Soriano) adopting kids left and right. She marries Perry (Eric Quizon), bore a child, and adopts some more. A few years down the track, the kids started getting unruly. You have sibling rivalry between the real and adopted kids. The biological parents came a-knocking. Perry's business failed, and he had to make tracks. Boo hoo hoo. If you know of any other cliched drama elements, feel free to add them here. By the end of the movie, the Dad comes back, and everything is okay again.

Movie 2011.08.11 - Zombieland

Almost similar to Shaun of the Dead, but with more on-screen special effects, which makes the movie quite refreshing. It's only 88 minutes long, and there's no idle moment with all the zombie-killing.

It's the 21st century, and the US is overrun by zombies caused by mad cow disease. College student Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) manages to survive the plague by staying in his room and playing WoW. He decides to go to Ohio to check whether his parents are still alive. Along the way, he meets redneck Tallahassee, whose sole purpose in life is to torture and kill zombies. At a grocery store, they meet hot Wichita (Emma Stone) and her little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), who dupe them out of their SUV. The boys find a yellow Hummer full of guns and ammo and gives chase. They find the girls stranded on the road with the SUV, and duly gets duped again. At least this time, Wichita decides to give them a ride. The girls were on their way to an amusement park in Hollywood, which is supposed to be zombie-free. Wichita knows this is not true, but she just wants Little Rock to be happy. They arrive at Hollywood and stays at Bill Murray's mansion. And why is Bill Murray still alive? He dresses up as a zombie when he goes out. Columbus doesn't know this, so when Bill plays a prank on him, he goes for his shotgun and shoots him dead. End of cameo. The girls goes to the abandoned amusement park at night, and turns on all the lights and the rides. Of course, this draws out all the nearby zombies. Columbus and Tallahassee charges in and saves the girls, then they ride off into the night.

Movie 2011.08.09 - Flawless

Another heist movie centered around two disgruntled employees at the London Diamond Corporation - a lady senior executive Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) who was passed over so many times and a night shift cleaner Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine) who lost his beloved wife to cancer.

The plan was for Laura to steal the vault codes, and for Hobbs to get into the vault during his night shift and sneak away a thermos full of diamonds. The next day, surprise surprise, the whole vault was cleaned out. They tore up the whole place, no diamonds. They called in the insurers, won't pay. The chief investigator managed to secure a grainy photo of the two together at the tracks and some prints, inconclusive.

Ms. Quinn eventually traced the diamond cache at the end of a sewer pipe. The insurers eventually paid the ransom to the tune of 100 million pounds, but not before the insurer Mr. Sinclair killed himself. Mr. Hobbs disappeared without a trace. Ms. Quinn eventually took ownership of the 100 million pounds and spent the rest of her days giving it away to charities all over the world. As her last act, she gave her exclusive story to a cocky news reporter, plus the 168-carat South African Star.

Audiobook 2011.08.08 - Fight Club

Better than the movie! Better than the book! Just because you can't fast forward or speed read, you're forced to listen to every word of the audiobook. And if it's a Chuck Palahniuk book, you don't want to be missing anything.

I've read the actual book a couple of times already, and yet I still missed a few bits and pieces. Have to say I prefer the book ending than the one in the movie. In the movie, our main character manages to dispatch Tyler by firing a gun in his mouth. Some other skyscraper blows up, and not the one they're standing on. In the book version, the bombs didn't detonate because Tyler used paraffin. So our main character ends up confined in a mental institution. Staff would approach him, call him Sir, and talk about future plans.

Movie 2011.08.08 - Equilibrium

Big-Brother movie in the same vein as Fahrenheit 451 and Nineteen Eight-Four. At the end of a disastrous World War III, a new regime called the Tetragammatron Council rose to power and controls society by making people take an emotion-repressing drug called Prozium. "Sense offenders" who don't take their daily dose are persecuted by Gammatron Clerics. All materials that might incite emotions are confiscated and destroyed.

One day, cleric John Preston accidentally breaks his vial of Prozium, and didn't manage to get a replacement. He starts having stirrings of emotions, and stops taking Prozium altogether. That's the start of his upward spiral. He now reads books on the side, plays with abandoned puppies, and ultimately falls in love with a member of the Underground resistance. Disillusioned with how things are, he unleashes his gun kata skills and fights his way through to the office of the Father. Turns out Father doesn't take Prozium himself. Doesn't matter - after a short fight, Preston kills him, too.

In the final scene, we see the Underground members activating bombs and fighting with the Gammatron guards. Chaos, anarchy, and lawlessness. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Movie 2011.08.06 - Mostly Martha

German movie about a workaholic chef with a superiority complex who tries to balance her life, career, and a niece who ends up in her care. Sounds strangely familiar? Turns out there's a Hollywood adaptation featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Martha usually only has to contend with picky patrons. When her boss Frida hires free spirit Mario, she got stressed even more. The last straw was when her sister dies in a car accident, and she has to take care of her niece. She starts to bond well with Lina, then the estranged father shows up and brings her Italy. For a happy ending, Maria eventually reconciles with Mario, and with his help, they travel to Italy to bring back Lina. They marry and open their own restaurant.