Binky - post surgery

Binky had her surgery last tuesday. It went fine. She stayed in the vet hospital overnight and I picked her up on wednesday afternoon. They shaved binky's leg and it looked really weird. She looks like some kind of rodent.



Her right fron paw was also shaved. This is where the drip was injected I believe.



Today, my instructions from the vet were to remove the bandage. At first she was licking around the wound and picking on the sutures. I had to tell her off. She's stopped now.
Over the next several weeks, Binky will need physiotherapy. Basically no running and jumping for her in the next 2 weeks. Then the sutures will come out in 1.5 weeks. I'll post some photos then.

I'm also giving her warm compresses over the wound and muscle and just like a miracle, she started using the right leg a little this morning. A good sign that she'll have the use of her right hind leg.

Interesting new way of browsing

This is called "Swarm" (www.swarmthe.com/go/swarm).

Basically it creates a preview of each site and arranges them around this blob like still satellites.

I've been looking at the sites shown and so far they look repetitive. Clicking on the preview thumbnail will open a new window. There is also an adult on/off switch.

Intersting idea but kinda limited and a pain to navigate.

Pre-order your PS3

www.sony.co.nz/products/news.asp?article=1977

Out November 17, 2006

Too dear for my wallet...perhaps I'll wait for the PS3 Slim...

Boobs on bikes

Yesterday's Boobs on bikes parade sure stirred a lot of attention publicity. An estimated 100,000 turned up to get a glimpse of the porn stars on this topless parade. Mayor Dick Hubbard cleverly used this event to divert the public's attention away from the controversial rates rise in Auckland.

Among the protesters were people carrying a placard "Sleeze brings disease..." (incorrectly spelt - hahaha)... Personally, these placards should be shown during the Hero parades on ponsonby and K' Road - but that's another matter. By showing up protesting, they are there to look too! Boycotting such an event would be a more effective message I think.

Anyway, here are some photos courtesy of our agent on Queen - B0log3r...ahem I mean courtesy of Stuff.

Thank goodness for the warning

For the next TVNZ Fishing trip

Can't wait for the next annual TVNZ Fishing trip organised by B0log3r. Based on the last time, I will only get squid and a little pilchard as bait. Squid seem to last the longest.

I am also looking at using a special bait. See image below.



This bait is worth $1 million. Here are some more info:

• Approximately 100 cts. Diamonds and Rubies (4,753 stones)
• Over 3 pounds of platinum, 14-k and 18-k gold
• Over 12 inches in length

More info, other photos, and to purchase.

Surgery for Binky

I’ll be taking Binky in for Surgery next Tuesday. I forgot what the condition is called but here’s the long version.

A couple of months ago Binky started limping on her right leg. In the beginning it was on and off. I took her to the vet and they reckon it was a sliding knee cap. It is especially common for small dogs because their legs are bowed outwards and the knee cap has the tendency to slide inwards. When this happens the joint will hurt and the dog cannot use it. Apparently there are 4 stages or levels for this condition. Stage 1 is when the knee cap is very loose but it is not exactly sliding out of place. For this stage you observe the leg to make sure it doesn’t develop to anything more. Stage 2 is when the knee cap slides in and out (initial diagnosis for Binky). At this stage, the knee cap can slide out and the joint may or may not hurt. You actually have to force the knee cap in or out. Stage 3 is when the knee-cap is sliding in and out on its own. i.e. slightly worse than stage 2. Stage 4 is when it is out all of the time and the dog permanently has to carry the leg.

The problem is no x-rays were taken during that time. The vet prescribed some anti-inflammatory in the hope it will heal itself. The vet did suggest surgery as the solution but I thought I’d wait as surgery is a bit drastic and not to mention money!

Two months later, Binky seem to have started carrying her leg more and more so I decided to contact the vet and schedule for surgery. Initially the estimate was $900-$1500 for the operation and I have the option of going to a vet or going to a specialist. The specialist will of course cost more around $1500-$1800. So I thought well if the normal vet can do the same job then why not go for the cheaper option. Binky was scheduled for surgery last Monday. However, in the weekend I spoke to the vet and I was told that the normal vet have increased the price to the same as the specialist. That is when I was convinced to go to the specialist instead. Difference of course is the specialists do these things everyday while the vet is like a GP and probably do not have a lot of surgery experience.

So went to the vet on Tuesday and took x-rays. Later that afternoon I found out that Binky doesn’t have a sliding knee cap. In fact her legs are perfectly straight and the knee cap is smacked right in the middle of the knee. The problem is the bone on the right femur stopped growing about 2 months ago possibly due to an injury and loss of blood supply. It has since recovered but due to that incident, the “ball” that normally fits on the hip socket is smaller and is not as mobile as the normal bone.

Normally this is remedied by HRT or hip replacement therapy but the smallest hip replacement they make are for Border Collies. So the only solution for Binky is FHO or femoral head ostectomy.

I had several questions including will she be able to walk again and the answer is yes. Apparently a Jack Russell this specialist operated on started chasing rats after 6 months.

Binky will need bed rest for a minimum of 2 months with no running and jumping in the first 2 weeks. The rest of the time we’ll try to make her use the right leg again.

a degree of cringe-cross-your-legs-in-sympathetic-pain factor

now remember kiddies, don't sunbathe in places where things might get stuck...

This won't save her any bread

Why asian guys can't get white girls

Spam me silly!

Once in a while you get arseholes emailing you and demand, complain, criticise, etc like they own the world. There is only one thing I want for these folks…

Bots, please come and harvest the following emails and spam them like hell:

• lillie1@orcon.net.nz
• john.moher@pocold.co.nz
• drcard@xtra.co.nz
• tjgoldstein@yahoo.com.au
• brad02@xtra.co.nz
• mnicol@dannemora.co.nz
  

We love Mario

New Windows Vista Speech Recognition

Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.

Friendster

I've registered with friendster a few years ago but I haven't relaly been using it until a few days ago.

It all started when I joined a yahoo group called "Grace Christian Scouts" This was my old school and group when I was still in pinas. Late last week I got a Yahoo group announcement from someone who use to be my troop leader, Ross William Tan. His brother and I hang out when we were in the scouts. In fact, his brother Randy was one of the last people whom I said good bye to before coming here in 1992.

So I sent an email, said hello, and eventually I was chatting with Randy. He is now a dad and operate a barbershop and a bar and restaurant in Subic. He showed me some photos of his family and asked me to visit his Friendster accounts. So I did. He said why don't you join? There are heaps of Graceans there.

So I logged in my ancient account, saw a message left to me by El Nino 2 yrs ago...hehe..and true enough a lot of my old friends and classmates were there. So I started updating my profile, started viewing other people's profiles and added a lot of people as friends. I got a few replies back and some of them I wasn't expecting or the person wasn't who I expected them to be.

For example, one of them was Erns. I didn't realise he is really a cute Jap Girl. All these years of knowing him, he is really a she...?

I got a reply from Debbie Jane Ruste who is someone from my batch. We weren't really classmates but her cousins I do know. One was named Dennis who was a scout and the other was in my class and her name was Marilou Dyogi. Dyogi was one of a dozen girls (henceforth called the "Pretty Dozen") in my class whom I always thought were the prettiest girls in my school/batch. They were the ones always nililigawan ng mga school jocks/varsity players, etc...Dyogi did end up marrying one of them and here she is with her baby Lance.


Let's see who else is there? We have Jean who is the smallest person in our class and in the batch but she is the smartest. I think she was like Valedictorian or something.


Calina Prieto, another one of the pretty dozen, Calina is physically the opposite of Jean. She is the tallest girl and perhaps taller than 99% of the boys in school. There was this guy who had this huge crush on her and he was from a different class. But any chance he gets, he hangs around our class almost as if like he was part of our class.


Lyn Florence; I was only in the same class as her for a year I think. I'm surprised she even remembers me. I was quite below the radar I thought and wasn't part of the "in" crowd. Not to mention some students hated me.


Carren; we were never in the same class. But an old friend of mine had a huge crush on her and I often be his support when he would go mangliligaw... That was how I knew her. Been to her house a couple of times.


Fanny Marie; she was in my class and perhaps was one of the happiest people there. She always seem so carefree. She is neutral with everyone I thought.


Susan Lopez; now this person disappeared off the face of the earth before I came here to NZ. We use to hang out at her place working on group assignments. I have one thing associated with her and that is Bananarama - her fav band at the time.


Roselle (Uy); hmm....perhaps one of Lyn's best mates. I remember she was a very nice person...I've always had a soft spot for her. We use to hang out quite a bit in freshman year when we were in the same class.


Roselle (Teodosio); One of my best friends in school. We were quite close and her brother was also a very good friend of mine. He wasn't happy about it...heheh..


There were quite a few of them I saw. I saw my old high school crush, Rhea. The whole class knew I had a big crush on her but I was as torpe as I can be and it went no where.


Here are some of my quiet class mates: Tiffany, Michelle, and Cherry are among a few.


By now you must be wondering why all the ones here are girls? well, some of them I knew since I was in elementary school but in my school, the high school classrooms are arrange differently. Each year was divided to around 10 classrooms. One of these classrooms was called the "star class" if I remember correctly. The 40 or so students here are kinda like the top of the year level and it is composed of mainly girls. There were only 10 of us boys. I remember in Filipino and English subjects we use to have plays like Shakespeare and Noli Me Tangere...it was difficult for us to divide into groups because of the shortage of boys.


When I was freshman high school student, I was in section 7 or something. But for the last two years of high school in pinas, I managed to get into the star classes. I'm not sure how it works though because there are other really smart people in other classes which I feel should have been in my places...hmmm..dunno...


Also in our class was the Principal's grand daughter Rachel. One of her wedding photo is here.


Also in the photo are some I already covered above...plus Maureen Yu (bottom right with bouquet) and Jacqueline Ching (red dress), both are in the "Pretty Dozen". Maureen Yu is the daughter of the famous Manila architect "Willie C Yu". The girl in blue is probably the most tomboy girl of our batch and her name is Kevin...no shit.


Will see if I can get more "friends" added to my list. As I said, I was pretty low under the radar and most of the guys in my class hated me...so...

I want one of these!

Movie Review: Superman Returns

ok. i saw this film a couple of weeks back, and I would still give it 3 stars out of 5.


i enjoyed the 2-hour long film, and a much awaited one at that, since the last couple of Superman films ever to grace our screens are mediocre or ridiculous at best. maybe that's why former X-Men director Singer said something along the lines of "'Returns' comes after Superman 2", and decided not to credit 3 and 4 (i warn you all not to kill a million brain cells by subjecting yourselves to Superman 3!).


the 2006 script is good, and there comes at least a couple of engaging moments where i felt like the movie hit the stop for most movie-goers - lois lane's secret (?!) and Superman's first rescue since his return.


i reckon Perry White was a bit more clued in as to the coincidental re-appearances of the Man Of Steel and mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent. and Marsden's role in this film really didn't make much impact, and imo, he should've stayed with the X-Men franchise. He could've had a bigger role as Cyclops. but i digress....


routh is often seen to be making a great impersonation of Christopher Reeve, but i mean that as a compliment.


time for my usual gripes: 1) what kind of security does the Fortress Of Solitude really have? 2) was Spacey channeling Gene Hackman there? 3) they still could've done much better with the flying (although I heard that watching the sequences in 3D is a different experience all together).


oh... and 4) i'm expecting clobbering times in the sequels. please.

Cop with second job

So how does it go in the movies?


Potential Customer: Hey babe!
Call girl: Hey honey wassup?
Potential Customer: Yes. How much?
Call girl: Are you a cop?
Potential Customer: No.
Call girl: Good. But I am…


I suppose they are gathering revenue one way or another.

One question that must be asked though. Should cops have a second job? If a cop is trying to solve a crime, will he/she look at the clock at the end of shift saying "I'll do this some other time. I late for my other job." Is this why crimes don't get solved in NZ?

I think most people will be worried that if a law enforcer has a second job, it may compromise his/her effectiveness on the primary job.

Mailroom Etiquette

Went to the mailroom this morning to get our mail. So this "Little" guy was there sifting through a mail drawer. This guy is an editor of a men's mag and because his department/mag is small, he shares the drawer of 2 other departments.

What appalls me is that he was looking for his mail and left all others behind. The least he could do is grab a handful of mails and give it to the editorial assisstant on his way to his desk (which is on the way). At least the editorial assistant will not have to make multiple trips to get all the mail.

I know of other editors who are not too proud to help. Perhaps it is his nature. I once heard that he is a real arsehole...so up himself...?

Is it too much to expect such kindness/manners?

I want one: Hyanide personal tank

Do you want to have a motorcycle, a dirt bike, and a snow mobile? You can have all three without spending for all three with the Hyanide concept vehicle!

Read more about it here.

Now if only they can combine it with a quadski...

R.I.P. Yvonne Tan Part 2

Cont... from previous post.

This piece was shown on Sunday 16th July 2006 in two programs; Asia Down-under and Sunday.

Wanted: Real judges for NZ Idol

I find it interesting to watch reality shows and in this instance it is the NZ Idol. Not because I want to laugh at some terrible hopefuls (like the Oh no girl, The prison break dude, and diet Rick Astley) but because there are some fairly good ones. Of course NZ is always short of good singing talent when it comes to idols (compared to Australia and of course USA) but there are still some.

But that is not what I'm writing about today. I am writing about the terrible judges (except Frankie Stevens) such as Paul Ellis, Fiona Macdonald, Jackie Clarke, and now Iain Stables and Megan Alatini. I've made antry about this before and after seeing the first episode of NZ Idol, I feel I need to vent some disappointment again. In my first entry I complained mainly about Megan Alatini who was a member of the group "True Bliss" - a product of a similar "popstar" competition format that made the Spice Girls. But True Bliss didn't last that long which was my argument against Megan as a choice for NZ Idol judge. I felt she does not have the right to be there. I thought Carly Binding (another True Bliss ex-member) was the better choice. But today, I'm willing to give her the chance.

Iain Stables on the other hand is a radio man who don't even like pop music so what the hjell is he doing in a pop music competition??? The whole episode Frankie was apologising for Iain Stables' negative comments to some contestants saying Iain doesn't really like R&B or Iaian is not into pop...he clearly is a rock person. Were the organisers of NZ idol so desperate to find a nasty judge?

Let's see the next few episodes and hopefully it becomes better. Just remember judges, I do not want to here "You made it your own!" comments.

Today's interesting news

A couple of interesting news articles I read today. The first one is about a teenage girl inviting a stranger she met in Bebo.com to her house, while her parents are away, to have sex. Parents should really try to control this at home and schools should have these sites filtered. For budding parents like B0log3r, there is a software called Net Nanny which is quite good. I’ve had good feedback from our readers about it.

Second article: Police say severed foot not suspiciousSHOCK HORROR!!! It was like…

While walking along beachPoliceman 1: Hey look! A severed foot.
Policeman 2: Yeah…cool.
Policeman 1: Yeah…let’s issue some more speeding tickets.

I mean what is wrong with these people?

Great new idea for the police

The Police Commissioner Howard Broad found it offensive that the poilice have a quota system. Here’s a quote from him:

"I have a fundamental opposition to that because quotas, to me, suggest that we are somehow a beneficiary of what it is that we do, that we are collecting the revenue, that we are somehow punching the ticket along the way, that officers are somehow benefiting from this,"

My question is, Aren’t you? Doesn’t this help buy your toilet paper in the stations because you are all shit?

Here’s another one:

"That's just not the case. We're not a bunch of bounty hunters who are out there ticketing for ticketing's sake."

I have a great new idea. How about solving crime for solving crime’s sake! There are lots of unsolved crimes on your desks so how about this great idea…How about a crime solving quota!?

Hey what you think of that? It doesn’t have to be a daily quota. It can be a weekly or monthly quota. You can start with say solving 7 crimes a week each. If you feel lucky, solve 10. Hey by the end of the year you would have solved all the crimes!

Police - traffic quota system

The leaked internal memo exposed by National's law and order spokesman, Simon Power, confirmed what most of us believe, for a very long time, that the Police operate on a traffic ticket quota system.

Basically most people (people I’ve spoken to who are not related to a police-person) believe that the police have a daily target/quota similar to what parking wardens have. This means, just to reach the target $$, the police will stop anyone they feel like picking on.

This brings up a few questions as well:
Who do they normally pick? I police can be quite racist and pick on any dark skinned fella with a hoodie.
Also, shouldn’t they be solving crimes? There are plenty of cases left unsolved. In a way the police are not public servants anymore. They are a business. The do not solve crimes because it is not profitable.

Can you feel my anger?

Transformers Teaser

More than meets the eye!

Flock

I'm testing out this new browser called Flock. It is currently in beta stage. The browser features uses Mozilla and integrates features like access to your Flickr account, blog account, and search and news.

The interface is quite refreshing. Reminds me of Firefox and IE7 combined (or is that IE7 copying Flock?)

You have the usual menu system, and have theme and extension abilities just like Firefox. The main differences are the easy access to uploading photos (Flickr and Photobucket) and blog entries (Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal, and Drupal). Have I mentioned that it supports multiple blog accounts? Oh and there is Favorites Sharing (in case you want to share your adult sites)

Overall I think it is quite good. I welcome you to try it. If you can read this then obviously the publish button works :)

Blogged with Flock

Brrrrr cold...

It was a bit cold this morning

It was the first time this year that my car had this much ice on it! So i grabbed a couple of empty sipper bottles that i keep in my boot for occasions such as this (no i'm not lazy, i really do keep things like that in my boot)...

So I wombled on back to the kitchen to fill up the bottles with hot water and went back to the car and began to liberally spray the windows to melt the ice... used up one bottle and thought, cool i can keep the other bottle for some other time... but upon sitting down and looking through the windscreen, i realised my mistake as half of the windscreen was still covered in semi-translucent ice...

So out we went again with the second sipper bottle of (now) warm water and emptied that on it... Doesn't the roof of my car look pretty :-)

Haha...power cut

Yesterday was a weird day. First the traffic was really bad going to work. Waves were breaking over the causeway on SH16 going into the city. I didn't ride my bike yesterday due to plans for later in the evening. When we got to the causeway, it wasn't even that bad. The water splashes don't even pass the bus lane!!! The only reason traffic was bad was because everyone was rubber necking.

Anyway around the time we reached Western Springs, the radio died, then it came back on, then it died again. All the stations were dead. Odd I thought. Exited on Newton and the lights were not working. Got to work and the lights are still not working. Took me a while to cross the Fanshawe st pedestrian crossing because the cars would not stop.

Got to work and the emergency lights were on. THERE IS NO POWER! So we waited a while and was told that a generator is due to arrive around 10am. 11am still no generator. Later found out that it is now due around 2pm. So we were sent home. I decided to stay.

Went to lunch and on my way home, some of the lights were working so I decided to go back to the office. Got there and power's back on so I stayed on and did some work.

All-in-all it was an interesting non-routine day. And it was all due to Transpower not doing their job...nah actually the weather was to blame. A power line snapped and landed on a "feeder". This affected a lot of businesses. Today we received an apology from Transpower.

Bahay Kubo

I'm on holiday right now, the majority of which I'll be spending ouside of the country in Sydney. Arrived here on Saturday early evening. The first thing that my girlfriend's sister asked was if we wanted filo (short for filipino) food for dinner. Personally, I'll eat most anything really as I
like to keep my mind open to new experiences & taste sensations. My girlfriend just loves filo food to death, probably even more so since we don't really cook it at home. So she immediately said yes and started to think about what she would order (she's been to Bahay Kubo - the name of the filo restaurant, which also had a karaoke stage - several times before as she used to live in Sydney)...

So after taking an innumerable number of turns and frantic lane-changing (did I mention that I think that Sydney-siders are crazy drivers? However that is a subject for another blog) we reached our destination 40 minutes later.

Bahay Kubo was a cozy place in Lidcombe (south sydney) that had about a dozen tables that could sit 4-6 people... and they were all either currently occupied or had been reserved already. While confirming with that waitress that we in fact did NOT have a reservation, a kind lady overheard us and helpfully pointed out that she was just waiting for a takeaway order
and so we could take her table after.

Now let me tell you what we had for dinner at Bahay Kubo:
crispy pata (very nice)
pansit palabok (the best I've ever tasted)
pork chop (ok, nothing to write home about)
longanisa (wasn't too shabby)
prawn sinigang (not too bad either)

The servings were a very good size for the price & very yummy... in fact, I'd have to say that the palabok was the best that I've ever tasted... seriously...

There were dishes on the menu that I had never heard of before (not that hard seeing as the menu was in tagalog and the filipino dialect that I grew up learning was bisaya... and the only reason(s) that we had for not having them was either due to them having sold out on that dish
already (it was only 7pm at that point) or that the dish would take nearly an hour to prepare (which we couldn't really be arsed waiting for)...

We were just so stuffed at the end of it, what initial plans of having halo-halo for dessert were reluctantly discarded... So since filo food has been ticked on my checklist of things to eat while
in Sydney, I've got filo ice cream next, or more specifically ube macapuno ice cream... oh, and there's this place that does the best thai dry chilli chicken that I've ever tasted which I ALWAYS go to when in Sydney... musn't forget to have dinner in Darling Harbour as well... oh and the spanish quarter definitely... mmmm...

I'll keep you all posted.

-------------
Sent from my Treo

R.I.P. Yvonne Tan

Some of you may know her and some may recognise her from her TV work. She's an actress. Back in '99 she was a patient in Shortland Street. She also did a couple of episodes in Xena in 2000. She did a commercial last year (I think) as the foreign exchange student who stayed with a rugby fanatic family drinking Maggi Soup. Last year she filmed an episode for Orange Roughies as the Madamme Crystal Yo. This showed about 2 weeks ago.

It was about one year ago when Yvonne discovered she had cancer. She fought it, had several treatments, but ultimately the cancer won. This cancer was quite potent. One cluster dies off but another one pops up.

The doctor initially said she only had a couple of months to live - this was around October last year. But Yvonne managed to fight and hold on. Eventually her body couldn't take the treatments any longer and her energy dropped. She ended up bedridden a little more than a month ago. She could still talk and smile but it got worse some days and she drifted in and out of sleep.

A few weeks ago she was admitted into a hospice. A few days ago, around thursday, she slipped into a coma and finally today she passed away.

R.I.P Yvonne

Movie Review: Xmen III The Last Stand

This movie has had mixed reactions among us Kuyas. Personally, I think it was an ok movie. However, I seldom get disappointed with a movie and I always give it a chance knowing that each time I watch a movie, I understand how the movie was created by a different director, different writer, and each time, the graphics and effects would most likely be different or would have improved due to various technological advances.

I found Xmen III to be quite intense. Perhaps it is because there is war going on. I found that there’s too much death (of course consistent with war) that is somehow not what you would expect from a comic book fiction. Graphics as usual was quite good. Effects were quite good there’s been some interesting mutant powers featured in this film.

Jean Grey/Phoenix didn’t quite turn out the way I imagined. She seemed so cold and ruthless. My Marvel-reading Kuyas can confirm whether this is in line with Marvel’s depiction of the character. It is sad and disappointing that several major characters died. (I can’t say anymore for those who haven’t seen the movie). Rogue as usual is probably the most useless mutant. I have a feeling that this role damaged Anna Paquin’s profile and image in Hollywood. That’s ok Anna, come back to NZ and do a couple of Shorty Street episodes.
One funny thing my wife asked me..."What does The Beast do?" :) implying that he seems useless and that his only mutation is his blue skin and hair.

The very last scene was unclear. Did he or did he not move the chess piece?



Here are some award-winning comments from other Kuyas who’s seen the film:

Rem (pretend Kuya i.e. not a contributor in this blog)
It sucked

B0LOG3R
I thought the movie was short :-)

JIGGASAURUS
I thought it the story sucked and there was lame direction.. good graphics tho...

They've also just deviated too much from the original.. it doesn't even feel like X Men anymore... more like Lavagirl and Sharkboy crap (not that I've seen it)

Overall I gave it 3 out of 10

I've been an Xmen fan since childhood and I can't say enough about how much the characters, the interaction and the creative stories always captivated me. This latest installment, The Last Stand, was downright boring. Let me quickly explain:

Xmen 1 - Mags wanted to turn everyone into mutants Xmen 2 - Government dude wanted to kill all mutants Xmen 3 - Government trying to cure every mutant
It's consistent themeing but I think it's already been well-stressed enough.

Three (because it's part 3) personal beefs with the movie:

1) I've had enough of the Jean Grey/Wolverine/Cyclops tryst. Don't get me wrong, they're of course probably the most famous of mutants but it's not really about just them, is it? Great to see Angel make his debut but just a token one same with Kitty Pryde/Colossus (again)/Juggy etc.

2) Cheese, cheese, cheese. Visually the movie was great - the awesome power of Magneto/Phoenix displayed and many more mutants this time around. But some cheesy parts eg, Cannonball special and Wolvy appears from the rear of the Sentinel head.. or the pre-ending shot of Wolvy staring in the distance panning out. Oh, and lest we forget the Magneto moving the chessboard piece ending..

3) Holey stories, Batman! For example, with Magneto de-powered, a criminal with that kind of record I doubt they'd just put him in a rest home to live out the rest of his 'peaceful' life. How about a life prison sentence in a maximum security jail?

I guess with the thousands of possibilities of stories that they could've told, they settled for a movie that just barely floats in the sea of hollywood mediocrity.

'Nuff said.

el Niño

i'm not one to think that the movies should reflect the comicbook a hundred percent (this was pretty obvious from the first film... hello, leather!), but to this humble graphic novel enthusiast, it is believably a film about the X-Men. the third instalment is a joyride that's much more enjoyable than Van Helsing in terms of roller-coaster scenes and almost rivals the special effects of the Matrix Reloaded by representing the mutant abilities in a realistic light (i won't include Angel here though).

i give this a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars because, although I would recommend this to anyone, the film isn't a perfect comicbook-related x-perience for me.

i only have a couple of gripes: 1) Juggernaut should've died when Shadowcat pulled him down into the earth (never mind about his costume) and 2) who the hell is that porcupine kid (Gambit or Psylocke would've have been more x-citing)?

the performances of Stewart, McKellen, and of course (introducing!) Grammer were flawless. loved the phoenix. loved the death of cyclops. loved the 15-second clip that came after the credits. x marks the spot for me on this one.

eXcelsior!

Cold Snap

Today we have a cold snap in Auckland. Very cold. I believe it went down to 2 degrees C at my place.

It is during cold snaps like these when people catch cold. Luckily I was able to take some precautions and I believe this improved my resistant to the virus and cold bacteria.

...and you think you are smart?

Here is a little test for you. It will only take a minute ... literally.

Dont't scroll down any further unless you want to see the answers now.

What would you do?

I'm glad that double amputee Mark Inglis decided to defend himself from the pointless criticism made by Sir Edmund Hillary. This may sound cold but first of all David Sharp went up the mountain without having enough gear. True, he should not be to blame but he is an experienced climber and had climbed many mountains and this is definitely a misjudgement on his part.

Second, Mark Inglis and his team were not a rescue team and they did try to give him help but even surgeons know when to stop reviving a dying patient on the table. It is simply too late.

Let us say they did rescue the man and went back down the mountain. Would Inglis' team have enough oxygen to spare? Would the guy survive? In a dangerous expedition such as this one, if you are not prepared to take on extra "baggage" then you will endanger your team if you do.

When I was training with the Red Cross during my scouting days, the first rule I was taught was never try to rescue a person if I cannot rescue myself. e.g. if you are at Piha and a fisherman managed to get swept off by a freak wave, you do not simply jump in to try and rescue the man. Even if you are a strong swimmer, the forces of nature may simply be too strong and you'll end up stranded as well, or worse, dead. What help would that do to the fisherman? If you are alive and on firm ground then you can find a way to rescue the man. Maybe use a fishing rod or call of professional help (from life guards or rescue agencies).

Same principle applies here with David Sharp. First he is already dying. Two, he doesn't have enough clothing which will make the trek down the mountain much worse than sheltering under a rock. Three, Inglis and his team are not equipped to take on another member and will most likely end up endangering the whole team - i.e. another member may die or suffer in addition to Sharp.

What do you think you would do?

On a different note, Telecom ordered Web site to remove a video yesterday. The video was here but is currently unavailable. Try again later. It is quite entertaining and a large bit of truth in it. Telecom staff I sent this too don't find it amusing though.

In Support of Marvel's Civil War...

Movie Review: The Da Vinci Code

As most people flocked the Gold Class for this much-awaited film, I think most of them were expecting a bed scene involving Mary Magdalene! So everyone probably went home saying it's all so boring. All kidding aside, I'd give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars. And with that out of the way, let's get down to the essence of it.

The movie was a very good adaptation of the book. Remember that word: "adaptation". This must not be mistaken for the book itself, that's a purely different encounter (as I stubbornly learned eventually). So for those of you who haven't read Dan Brown's bestseller, even if you're not into reading books, do give this one a try if you want to savour the universally-famous DVC adventure. And you might as well throw in Angels And Demons for safe measure.

Going back to the silverscreen, unfortunately the entire experience for me was spent either admiring the portrayal of Langdon (although his dialogue played safe towards the whole Church conspiracy) or deciding whether that particular scene was actually in the text (thus, my mention of adaptation).

The runaway performance would have to have come from the ever versatile Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto or Gandalf?) as Sir Leigh Teabing. "Sophie" was ok, but I thought the aptly named Sophie Marceau should've played the part, as I imagined the character to be more mature than Audrey Tatou.

The plot development was swallowed by the whole Paris landscape, and although that was an integral part of the book, I thought it was slightly distracting for the pacing of the movie. I wish the initial Louvre sequence had more substance to it though. I didn't particularly like Ron Howard's somewhat sublime style on this adaptation, but I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery film.

Oh. the drama of the last scene is a fitting ending.

Finally, my question that I pose to all who have seen it and read the book as well: where's Mickey Mouse?

Something wrong with this picture...

Found posted in toilets at Orbit restaurant on the top of the Sky Tower...

Poker Face

New Idol Judge

The third NZ Idol is about to hit off, the organisers have finally found the third idol judge to complete the trio of judges. Frankie Stevens is still there. To replace Paul and Jackie, we now have Iain Stables (a ZM DJ) and, wait for it..., Megan Alatini !!!! WTF?

I mean Fiona MacDonald, yeah...she was a veteran singer, part of a band...etc... Jackie Clarke...ok. To be honest I do not know much about Jackie Clarke but I do know that she's been performing for a while and occassionally appearing at "Christmas in the Park" concerts and of course Lotto commercials. But Megan Alatini?! Yes she was part of True Bliss - acclaimed to be a platinum-sale music group. Lemme tell you something about what I learnt from the way they rate music sales...I was told by a former radio industry DJ that music companies record the number of WHOLESALE sales of CDs and albums and count that towards the rating (whether gold or platinum, etc). What's wrong with it? What if the music shops don't actually sell the whole lot that was purchased? What if they were sold for 75% off a month later? What if they were given away as promos? I do not think that counts, does it?

Another thing, True Bliss was a one-hit wonder (if you can call them a hit just like Hear say - who?) As a judge, I do not think Megan Alatini is right for the job. I am willing to bet she will use the phrase "You made it your own." which seems to be the trademark phrase of NZ Idol. If they are going to choose a former True Bliss member, then it should be Carly Binding 9who's had several pretty good hits) or, if they have to, Joe Cotton who until still has a band called Mermaids.

I suppose NZ doesn't have many music talents they can use and any talent that do pop up tend to go overseas.

Some comments from idol fans: http://www.idolblog.com/node/2008053

Movie Review: Mission Impossible III

What can I say? MI3 didn't give me the 'oohs' and aahs' at first. Part of the reason is that Ethan Hunt is now retired (in the beginning at least) and his life is somewhat normal. But Ethan Hunt is not suppose to be normal. An IMF agent is very skilled. Perhaps even more than MI6 agents. They are suppose to be ghosts - master of disguises that can fool even spouses. They are daredevils, jumping off choppers into tight spaces. So to fix this terrible fact in the beginning of the movie, they showed a very emotional scene from the middle (of the movie) where he was captured by his enemy. Now you got my attention!

After retiring and with wedding plans, he was force to carry out one final mission to rescue his student, agent Ferris played by Keri Russell captured by the enemy. Russell was quite impressive in this action movie and I predict this to be one of maybe a couple more action films for her. She handles herself very well as a serious female action star - good with guns and tumbling around, etc...

The mystery of the IMF office was bared open in this movie. In previous MI films, it felt like agents are somewhat nomadic meeting in strange places receiving self-destructing message devices with (big) central command like the FBIs do.

The bad guy (Owen Davian), played by Philip Hoffman, is Hunt's ultimate nemesis. His evil twin. His is strong, and ruthless. Unlike any MI bad guy before. All the previous ones are motivated by money. At the end of the day, it is about stealing something and selling it for money. Davian is very personal.

What about the action? I felt that I've seen all the action sequences before. For example the famous hanging from the ceiling only a couple of inches from the floor; they seem to have repeated this too many times. At least they didn't dwell too much on the scenes.

The story was a lot more personal. It was about Hunt and not about saving the world. In the first one the main item of interest was the Noc list. In the second it was the Chimera. Both these can have big consequences either to the whole world or to the agency if it got out "in the open". For MI3, it was the Rabbit's Foot. The movie didn't really explain what it does. It is as "biohazard" but what can it do? The story is too personal to explain what the Rabbit's Foot actually is. It was as though the whole movie was one big rescue mission.
Nevertheless, you still get that edge of the seat feel. The tricks they do are still nerve racking. The weapons are still cool (somewhat) - I really like the explosive implants. The movie didn't have a draggy beginning. Action is scattered all throughout. Overall, it is enjoyable and it does have a good twist at the end.

I would rate this...8.5 out of 10