[Movies] Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004)

Sometimes I just don't get it why studios even bother with creating certain sequels when they do so half-heartedly. This appears to be most true in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy movies since the studios tend to go all-out with the initial releases and then scrimp on the sequel. And thus we will routinely see (1) a re-shuffling of the cast, (2) scaling down of visual effects and (3) a really bad, half-baked plot. It's like the studios want the movie to fail, if you catch my drift here.

The final nail in the coffin will always be the decision for this sequel to go the direct-to-video route, as if the producers are shamed that this movie is actually getting made and they don't want to show it off in the theaters. Like the stereotypical red-headed child in the family, these expansions of existing movie franchises are supposedly presented as low-risk ventures for studios that should manage to make a cheap profit due to the sheer morbid curiosity of fans.

Yes, like a moth to the flame we can't help but wonder these sequels will be like and yet still complain when they turn out as bad (or even worse) as was expected.

[TV] Clash of the Gods: Season 1

Like most geeks, I love documentaries. There are just so many things to learn more about and be interested in such that channels like Discovery and History continue to have a reason for being. Yes, our geeky viewership of these pay TV channels keeps them alive and keeps us well-informed.

I also love classical mythology, like most other geeks around. What's not to love about the legendary exploits of these gods and goddesses that once walked the earth in the minds of men so many years ago. It's funny how there are so many books now about mythology plus comic books and movies and TV series and it still never gets old, if you pardon the bad pun of sorts there.

So put the two elements together and you get a show that geeks are bound to at least attempt to follow even just once if only to satisfy their curiosity about what slant they'll take in terms of interpreting the myths.

[Social Networking] The New Facebook Like Button

Image via Wikipedia

I'm pretty liberal when it comes to privacy concerns for the most part, even online. While I don't necessarily publish everything about myself online, I do post a fair amount of things freely on the web. My blog entries for the most part remain public unless I discuss more specific details about my family or work and I'm not too big on secret identities online anymore. I guess you can blame Google for this approach to things - I like the notion that information should be free and that it's meant to be something greater than all of us. The sum of human knowledge is a powerful thing and we should never try to hinder it.

But then there are those cases when I get a little concerned and I feel that too much is to much. It takes a while before that happens - you're talking to someone who actually uses Google Web History in order to improve his search experience.

The thing about Google is that they really do try to keep the experience as free and as painless as possible. The only time they seriously try to think about personal gain is when we get to the advertising side of their business, but even that is not as invasive as some efforts.

And then on the other hand you get Facebook.

[Comics] Black Orchid

The history of DC Comics is littered with a variety of heroes and villains of varying quality ranging from the amazing and intense like Batman and the odd and campy like Kite Man or Crazy Quilt. This is probably true of all major comic book publishers, but then there's something to be said about just how odd some DC characters turned out to be.

What is more interesting is how many of these characters have been revisited over the years and given new life by new writers. Instead of leaving them trapped in their comical character templates of old, writers find new functions and stories for these characters, practically turning them into completely different people.

Many such reimaginations started with the Vertigo line of comics given how they tried to explore more adult themes, sometimes still within the confines of the established DC Universe. For the most part they remained outside the normal boundaries of continuity and thus were free to play with this power as needed.

[Movies] Riverworld (2010)

I'm getting increasingly disappointed in SyFy's ability to release interesting movies under its brand. Sure, we know they partner with other movie makers to create these made-for-TV types of movies based on popular science fiction and fantasy tales, but something tends to go wrong and the ultimate result is odd.

I think the only SyFy movie I liked was Tin Man, then the others that followed were highly, well, "meh" for lack of a better term. Then others followed like Alice, which was highly disappointing.

And now this one.

It's weird to think that this was not the first time that SyFy tried to translate this book series into something more visual. Their last attempt, which was a full TV series, ended up being just a pilot episode and nothing more. Maybe this was one of those times when they should have left good well enough alone or something.

[TV] The Big Gay Sketch Show: Season 2

I've always been a fan of sketch comedy shows ever since my father introduced me to shows like Saturday Night Live and Monty Python as a kid. There's something about the controlled insanity of a comedy sketch that just makes it work for me - the jokes have to be somewhat tighter and the scene still needs to maintain some sort of a rising and falling action centered around the punchline. You know what I mean right?

Of course in recent years a lot of sketch comedy shows have gone the way of more shallow toilet humor, resorting the highly repetitive and inane sequences instead of focusing on creating new and interesting characters. Before we had the likes of the Blues Brothers, the Cone Heads and the Church Lady as interesting characters. Now we get weird redundant sketches like "What Up With That?" Seriously, this is comedy today?

So it was a surprise when my partner dug up a copy of this lesser-known sketch comedy show that tried to add a pink flavor to the genre with its own diverse set of crazy characters and unusual situations.

[Movies] Alfie (2004)

I tend to select movies based on their potential merit, depending on the genre. Some movies I wanted to see in the theater because of the promise of amazing special effects. Other times I want to watch a particular drama because of the rave reviews for the story or the acting. There's always something about a movie that draws me in and makes me want to go out and invest time or money or whatever.

Then there are the movies that are shamelessly stupid that I venture into for very, very shallow reasons. Yes, despite my geekiness, air of responsibility and all good boy stuff, I'm man enough to admit I watch certain movies for no other good reason than the "star factor", childhood nostalgia or physical appeal.

And no, I'm not referring to porn. At least not in this case.

So yeah, this is one of those movies that I saw for no other reason than some of the fun stuff I heard from a female friend of mine. Yay me.

[TV] Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book Three: Fire

I know I've stated this cliche before, but it tends to be very true more often than not - all good things must come to an end. This seems especially true with the TV shows that we really come to love and hold dear.

For the most part it may be for the best - quitting while they're ahead, to borrow another overused phrase. As much as a show can reach some pretty amazing heights, it can just as quickly crash and burn once the writers run out of fresh ideas, actors get too full of themselves and demand too much for their participation. So it isn't always a bad thing when a show decides to close the books, now matter how "early" it appears to be.

But still, it saddened me to see this particular series end.

[Geeky Guide] A New Look Thanks To Blogger Template Designer

The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything has remained largely static in its appearance ever since I first started this blog back in 2006. I wanted a nice and simple template and so I ended up with the familiar blue appearance it has maintained over the years. Plus there's the fact that I'm really not too good with the detailed programming of more advanced webpages and so I've stuck to a simpler approach.

Over the years I've made minor improvements along the lines of new sidebar widgets, additional features like the LinkWithin recommendations you get with every post entry, but nothing major. I guess it just didn't feel necessary.


Introducing the Blogger Template Designer

When Blogger in Draft came out with the Blogger Template Designer, a point-and-click solution for more novice blog owners who want to customize their template fully. I was surprised by how versatile the tool truly was and the level of control it afforded me as a blog owner. It does take a fair amount of time for it to load the first time and you'll find yourself better off taking one of the new templates as a starting point and then working your way from there.

It didn't take me too much time to get the look and feel I wanted, and thus ultimately resulted in a wider blog text area. It did take me a bit of a while to add back my customizations such as my Google Analytics tracking code and my tag cloud, but the patient should not find this an issue. Plus there's the added benefit of new Blogger apps that may already mirror the functions of all third party hacks that used to litter Blogger blogs previously.

So here you have it - the new Geeky Guide look and feel. Tell me what you think about it in the comments or perhaps more directly.

[Books] Odd and the Frost Giants

There's something innately beautiful about classical mythology, especially for geeks. I mean seriously, as much as I'll forever be obsessed with robots and high technology, the stories of the gods and their exploits in the world of men will always be something that I'll hold dear.

While like most people, I'm best acquainted with the Greek myths, I've always had a curiosity about Norse mythology beyond the highly limited view we get through the likes of comic books and cartoons. However Norse mythology was shaped by a pretty harsh culture and the stories are rarely friendly to those of younger age and thus we don't always get introduced to them early on.

One can imagine that it must take a pretty skilled writer to shape the Norse myths into something fit for teens, even children, and of course one such writer stepped up to the plate.

[Movies] Kick-Ass (2010)

Being the geek that I proudly am, movies based on comic books are almost completely irresistible to me. Of course there's always the irony that the track record of suchs movies is questionable at best and yet despite the many disappointments of the past, we all continue to go see them in the hopes that this time it will be better.

Plus superhero movies are such an easy franchise when you think about it. They need very minimal original creative output and as long as you attach fairly notable stars, then you increase the likelihood that the crowds will come to go see it, if only during the opening weekend.

Despite how jaded many geeks tend to be when it comes to movies of this genre, we're also the first ones to go wild when the studios somehow get it right and come up with some pretty awesome movies.

[Movies] Wedding Wars (2006)

TV movies are only a few hops away from direct-to-video releases in my book. I know, I know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and all by statistically speaking there's something about TV movies that reduces the likelihood that they'll be any real good since they have to live by TV rules. That means stricter rating controls and dealing with possible backlash from the viewing public that catches the movie on TV at the so-called "wrong" time.

As far as my experience has gone, a lot of TV movies tend to be very "safe" in terms of topics they tackle or sequences they present, which is almost ironic given the fact that daytime soap operas tend to get even racier than most TV movies. I guess it also has to do with the fact that many TV movies save those created by the likes of HBO are made by smaller cable networks like Hallmark and A&E. These channels are then forced to stick to movies that are more likely to survive and generate decent viewership if they appeal to a wider audience.

So it was quite a surprise to me that this was actually a TV movie and a pretty entertaining one to boot despite it's somewhat controversial topic.

[Movies] Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

There are many aspects to telling a story through movies and it's always the challenge of directors to play around with the conventional. Sure, one can go direct and just follow along the established patterns of beginning, rising action, climax and all that while others still decide to break the norms and go into a completely different direction.

Thus we get movies where you start right before the end and then go back to the start as a flashback of sorts or you get stories told repeatedly but from different character perspectives. You can have movies told from the perspective of a the villain or from the average person who is not at all the center of the action. You get stories that are told from a noble narrator who adds amusing commentary to everything that the protagonist accomplishes and so on and so on and so on.

All good movie-goers crave this kind of innovation in tale-crafting and thus such movies should ultimately be rewarded in their own right.

[TV] Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book Two: Earth

It's not often that a cartoon manages to maintain my attention for long these days. The first seasons are generally good but beyond that it starts to give in to more budget cuts and pushes from the network to make the show more marketable by playing on its strengths based on what merchandise is purchased. It's not a good measure of effectiveness, but we all know it happens in the name of Hollywood-brand entertainment.

But patterns can be broken of course. It happens here and there. And it can always happen again.

Avatar: The Last Airbender started out very strong and I have to admit I was hoping against hope that it would not fall into the trap of many other cartoons before it and get too commercial. Instead they even surpassed those expectations and took the story to a completely new level entirely.

[Poll] Would You Read A Gay(er) Geeky Guide?

The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything is many things. It's a review blog for movies, books, TV shows and various establishments around the Metro Manila area and beyond. It's an opinion blog where I talk about current events, new items and the latest technological developments.

And here and there I have LGBT items about the latest news, advocacy items and other pink-themed topics. While I'm not at all ashamed about these entries, I am thinking about making the Geeky Guide itself focus more on reviews since that makes up more than 80% of my posts and perhaps spinning off an LGBT-focused blog as part of the "Geeky Guide" family.

So what do you think? Should I create separate Geeky Guide for my LGBT opinions, stories and other such articles? I'll retain LGBT movie and TV show reviews here for my Sunday posts but perhaps there's room for diversity beyond this. Leave your comments about this below or you can vote directly in the polling gadget I've added to the side-bar above my Twitter posts. Vote now!

[Books] Reaper Man

The Discworld series of novels are known for their humor and their witty use of satire to drive story plots. There's always something about life on the Disc that will seem extremely familiar and yet things remain distinctly different from what we know to be true.

Any longtime reader of the Discworld books will understand what I mean about the series having certain story arcs. While the books all generally are capable of standing on their own, there is still an understanding in terms of the sequence of the novels and certain characters are revisited over time. For example, there are many books that talk about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch and those that follow the Witches of Lancre.

Then there are the books that talk about the Discworld personification of Death. Yeah, these books tend to be among my favorite plus these stories tend to be rather epic in scale.

[Movies] Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

I've been a sucker for stop-motion animation probably ever since I saw that classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cartoon. I'm glad that the art form continues to survive despite all the advances in CGI and other such digital animation styles and I certainly hope that it's not going to go away anytime soon.

I've previously discussed how I tend to dislike George Clooney as an actor and I generally don't like his movies. At the same time, that general rule of sorts was disproved when I got to watch the movie Up In The Air, which was really stellar and yet had George Clooney.

So this is a year for disproving my dislike for George Clooney I suppose. Combining the elements of a stop-motion movie featuring George Clooney resulted in a movie that I really, really liked. I guess it also helped that it had a pretty creative man behind its production.

[Movies] Eating Out: All You Can Eat (2009)

As much as I have complained in the past that the lines between independent films and LGBT films has blurred so much recent years, it's ridiculous, it's also only a matter of time before even these supposedly strong, daring films trying to carve out a niche for themselves in the entertainment world break the mold. And I don't mean this as a compliment - the mold they're breaking is that of the noble, thought-provoking LGBT movie. And thus they don't break new ground anymore and instead they end up following the older patterns and thus committing the same mistakes of the rest of the movie-making world.

Yeah, some of you might refer to this as "selling out" or something along those lines.

The best sign of selling out is nothing other than that most evil of movie phenomenons - the dreaded sequel. As if the first sequel isn't bad enough, trying to turn a lackluster franchise into a trilogy is even worse.

This movie did not need to be made.

[Movies] RocknRolla (2008)

I always say that for the most part, I'm pretty open to most movies. I try not to limit myself to certain genres too much although I draw the line with Westerns, and a few others that don't come to mind right now. There's just so much to be liked about movies in general, so why close the doors to potential entertainment or sometimes even artistic fulfillment.

But it doesn't mean that I love all genres of movies equally. For example, I do really badly with horror / suspense movies (which my partner loves) and I tend to greatly favor action movies of the science fiction persuasion while not overly being drawn to buddy cop stuff. I dunno, I guess I'm too forward-facing or something like that and serious contemporary stories don't vet me overly excited although contemporary comedies tend to work.

As you can see, it's next to impossible for me to set down actual "rules" of sorts as to what movies I may or may not like, or at the very least what movies I'll put effort and resources into seeing but there are some sort of set of unspoken rules out there in the infinite reaches of my mind.

This was one of those movies that didn't register on my raday, but I'm thankful that my partner brought it to my attention.

[TV] Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book One: Water

It's interesting how cartoons have shifted away from just being random slapstick routines tied together in order to have major stories that everyone can relate to. These days, the name of the game is to create stories that both the young and the old can relate to. After all, the former kids of yesteryear are now the fanboys who shell out the big bucks for the latest geeky franchise to capture their imagination.

Yeah, I proudly admit that I'm one of those fanboys. Yay me!

So as much as I hate it when studios pander to me and try to categorize me in a pre-determined social clique of sorts. And yet there are those times when whatever market research or focus groups that they got into just works and manages to hit my interests right on the nail.

[Personal] Max (1998-2010)

Max with Elliot (2006)

I just found out from my sister that one of our family dogs, Max, died this morning. Ultimately the cause of death was an infection coupled with the fact that he was a fairly old dog. Still, it hurts of course since he was a dearly loved dog and a pretty awesome golden retriever.

Normally I post computer or web-related stuff on Wednesdays, but then I heard about this and really couldn't write about anything else. So although you never got to play with this bundle of furry energy yourself (and that was certainly an experience), I hope you take some time to wish him well on his way to the doggie afterlife.

After all, even geeks have pets and we love them with the same ferocity that we love our fandoms.

Bye Max. We'll miss you.

[Books] Equal Rites

When one explores the earlier works of an author you like, the results are generally mixed / unpredictable. I mean let's face it - a lot of times we encounter new authors because of a book that becomes majorly popular but such books are rarely their first ventures into the writing world. Their prior books eventually see the light of day as publishers try to find new ways to make money off the writer but we're all still happy about it since we get to learn more of the author's writing style.

I enjoy such ventures into the "past", a it were. I've learned how to approach such books long ago - it usually involves a lot more patience and a certain mindset of openness. After all, this is not necessarily exactly the same author you met in his more recent books. This could have taken place decades ago and he or she was in a completely different set of circumstances and a different mode of thinking, so to speak. At times it'll feel like he or she is a completely different author.

But the adventure is comparing and contrasting the older style with the new, seeing the similarities and trying to postulate how the author of before became the man or woman he or she is today.

[Movies] Clash of the Titans (2010)

I've always been a big mythology fan - I guess I should blame my grandmother for this. She got me hooked on The Wonder Book at a very early age and later on she made me watch classic movies like Helen of Troy, Jason and the Argonauts and of course Clash of the Titans.

That movie was just so kickass, although as a young kid it gave me a few nightmares. Of course when you examine the movie in the light of modern special effects extravaganzas like Avatar, well, it certainly looks rather comical. But it was amazingly enriched with stop-motion animation and a very rich story that was a decent hodge-podge of various myths tied together in one decent story.

So when they announced plans of remaking this Hollywood classic, I was both excited and scared by the prospect. Given Hollywood's recent track record for reimaginations and adaptations, well, I'm sure you understand my initial hesitation.

And it wasn't too far off the mark.

[Pink Scene] O Bar Ortigas

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 - Entrance rates for O Bar Ortigas are P150 for Wednesdays and Thursdays, P300 for Fridays and Saturdays and P200 for Sundays. There's typically a promo of 3 local beers for P100 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The O Divas and the ledge dancers perform every night.




Today is Easter Sunday and we'll end our theme of Holy Week entries with one that's happy enough to match the religious significance of today (at least for Christians). Plus there's the added irony of me posting my LGBT posts on Sunday, the so-called day of the Lord for those of the faith - you know, the one that condemns our right to marriage and feels we are doomed to the fires of Hell forever. So yeah, I'm still trying to have fun here.

When it comes to gay worship, there are still some that choose to practice with the established religions that they were born into (the same ones that condemn their lifestyles) while others find alternative venues of "worship", in a very liberal use of the word. Some would argue that the two main places of worship for the gay man would either be the gym, where they can tone their bodies to superficial physical perfection while ogling fellow worshipers or at the dance clubs whey they get to strut their stuff, show off their tones bodies even more of hopefully just have fun and see where the winds of fate will take them.

Believe it or not, this geek likes hitting the clubs every now and then even though (1) the rhythmic movements I end up doing might not be deemed to be actual "dancing" by most people or (2) I totally lack the social graces to introduce myself to total strangers. Ah, to each his own, right?

[Movies] Dogma (1999)

As the Holy Week starts to wrap up, I'm still pushing on with my pseudo religious theme of entries, although today I'm taking a rather predictable turn. Friday, after all, is the day I reserve for older movie reviews and so what movie comes to mind in terms of what a geek might cite as a entry that could connect to Holy Week?

Yeah, you know the one that I'm talking about. That one exactly,

The Christian religion may not be the most dominant in terms of population, but it is certainly one of the loudest given the passion for the pulpit many of its followers develop over time. Almost everyone on the planet knows at least something about the Christian faith and the classic tales of Jesus and his apostles or at least about key concepts from the religion like the angels, the demons and devils and all the good stuff in-between.

Thus it becomes a prime target for parody and satire in so many ways.

[TV] All Hail Jacob

Continuing our Holy Week religious theme challenge, today we're venturing into the convoluted and sometimes confusing realm of TV's Lost.

One of the most central figures of the show that remained pretty much behind the scenes most of the time was the enigmatic Jacob. He had been somehow controlling the actions of the figures that had been referred to the "Others" for most of the series who apparently have some sort of a near-sacred mission to keep the secrets of the Island safe from those who would use its unique properties for their own goals. Now who exactly represents the "best" interests of the Island remains more and more unclear during the show's progression and has become the subject for much debate.

So let's go explore what we may or may not know about Jacob and where the show might end up going to. If you haven't watched the first five seasons of the show, this is going to be highly spoilery and you might not want to continue past this point.