[TV] The Big Bang Theory: Season 3

I've posted reviews for a number of long-running shows already, and the challenge of keeping the narrative fresh and interesting never truly goes away. I suppose one can only introduce a show so many times, thus making my progress through the various Star Trek franchises a long and arduous experience despite my general for the franchise as a whole. Go figure.

With this obviously geeky show, it seems a bit harder since sitcoms by their very nature rely on repetition and running gags while having the character stories progress rather slowly. At least I feel this is the typical model hence sitcoms prefer for its characters to generally return to the status quo by the end of the half hour episode almost every week.

But then there come those moments when the shows actually try to move forward, give the character more depths and try to further expand the relationships amongst themselves and with new characters introduced primarily to perform the role of romantic entanglements. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. And to try this approach with a group of socially awkward geeks? Yes, this has interesting possibilities indeed.

[Blogosphere] Lessons From Gay Bars In Manila

I've only been to a gay bar (yes the sleazy kind) once thus far in my life. It was when my partner and I were on a vacation in Clark and we stumbled upon one come Saturday night. On a dare of sorts, we checked it out, stayed around for the first show and then returned to our hotel quickly thereafter.

I'm sure a lot of gay guys out there wonder what goes on at such locations. And I'm sure a lot of the curious have questions like "how do you table a guy?" or "what's allowed and what isn't" and all that, and I have to admit this is an area of expertise where this Geeky Guide can't provide much help. But I just found out that I actually have a friend who might be able to help out instead.




Enter my friend G.B. Goer, where GB stands for gay bar (obviously, hehe). He's he elusive blogger behind the blog Lessons from Gay Bars in Manila, a collection of his personal experiences as a regular gay bar patron. And we're talking the complete soup-to-nuts deal in terms of discussions of various bars, encounters with the dancers who work there (both at the bar and beyond) and whatever else might come to mind when it comes to gay bars of all sorts.

So I managed to get him to participate in a little interview-by-email activity as part of what I hope to be a regular series of features about various local blogs of interest. So let's learn more about GB Goer right after the cut

[Books] Sourcery

While I love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, for one reason or another I never got to like one of its most famous characters - Rincewind the Wizard.

To you non-Pratchett fans, Rincewind is probably the worst wizard on the Disc. He failed all of his assessments at the Unseen University and he can't peform a spit of magic on his own. His only claim to fame is the fact that one of the 8 magical spells of the Octavo is lodged in his head and he has a knack of surviving the end of the world many times over. He always runs from danger (and just about everything else for that matter) and his only redeeming quality is not part of him at all - it's the enchanted Luggage that follows him around these days.

It's hard to define what exactly I don't like about Rincewind - maybe it's his lack of any personal motivation other than running away from danger with little regard for anything (or anyone) else. Maybe it's the fact that he spells the word wizard with two z's. Maybe he just doesn't strike me as funny.

So naturally in my quest to read every single Discworld novel ever written, I find myself now stuck with mainly the Rincewind books in my unread pile - and thus I'm slowly working through them now. And they're not as bad as I initially perceived them to be...more or less.

[Gaming] California Video Game Ban Rejected By Supreme Court

Image via WikipediaNews broke out today that the US Supreme Court struck down a California state law that would have banned the sale of violent video games to children. While I could go into the arguments that the true "proof" of the connection between violent video games for kids and violent behavior as adults has not been made, the true arguments against this law remain its fundamental violations of free speech. The games have every right to be made just like any movie can be released to video and the only constraint against kids getting direct access on their own are the rating notices as published.

Quoting the CNN report:

The 7-2 ruling Monday is a victory for video game makers and sellers, who said the ban -- which had yet to go into effect -- would extend too far. They say the existing nationwide, industry-imposed, voluntary rating system is an adequate screen for parents to judge the appropriateness of computer game content.

The state says it has a legal obligation to protect children from graphic interactive images when the industry has failed to do so.

"As a means of assisting concerned parents it (the law) is seriously overinclusive because it abridges the First Amendment rights of young people whose parents (and aunts and uncles) think violent video games are a harmless pastime," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority.

And let's leave it to the parents to determine what games kids can get. I mean seriously, if you need the government to prevent kids from getting content (movies, games etc) that their parents would deem objectionable, then blame the parents for letting them buy them! Heck, more often than not the parents buy the games themselves.

[Movies] Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)

While I started my geek life as a Marvel comics fan, in my older years I've come to better appreciate the DC Comics universe a lot more given the quality of their stories (the current "reboot" announcement not considered in this general statement).

This has been especially true when it comes to the direct-to-video movie market that both comic book companies are trying to dominate or at least decently penetrate. To-date I've found myself enjoying the DC Universe animated features more consistently than the Marvel ones, so much so that I don't always take the time to look for their titles. But for DC, I do my best to get a copy of the latest movie as soon as they come out.

Their first foray into making a movie solely about Green Lantern, this being Green Lantern: First Flight, which was enjoyable but not quite there yet. This time around they decided to make a movie that takes a look at more of the Green Lantern Corps as a whole and not just Hal Jordan. It was a good goal and I think the handled the translation into animation pretty decently.

[Books] Me Talk Pretty One Day

My Kindle has opened up many new doors for me. As much as it's okay to read ebooks on my netbook or potentially on my smartphone, it's nothing like the ease of reading that I experience on my Kindle. And thus I've collected quite a number of titles that I probably wouldn't pick up under normal circumstances. But since the Kindle gives me access to a wider range of books (including some that don't even make it to local bookstores at all), I'm quite the happy bibliophile.

I had heard a lot of good things about David Sedaris from various friends, and I have to admit I've been curious about his works for some time now. And yet when I do bump into hard copies of his books I either have other science fiction titles of greater priority already in hand or I just can't seem to take that next step into the realm of the purchasing decision to actually get them.

Then the Kindle came along and I finally decided to acquire a copies of a few of his books. This is the only one that I've had time to read so far and I think the jury's still out on whether or not I can say that I officially like him as an author. I'm not saying the book is bad - I'm just thinking it's not quite up my alley, for the most part.

[Pink Scene] 10th White Party Manila Postponed

For those who haven't already heard, the 10th annual White Party Manila has been postponed at this time due to the weather and the continued flooding in many parts of Metro Manila. I've included the official announcement below:



There is no news about when it will be rescheduled for, but many of the bars have mentioned that they will still be open tonight. As soon I as find about the new date of the event, I'll be sure to post an update.

Still, Happy Pride everyone!

[Pink News] NY Senate Votes for Gay Marriage

Image via WikipediaFinally, some good news despite the bad weather we have here and the announcement that the White Party has been postponed indefinitely.

In a surprise move after talks seemed to have stalled as of a few days ago, the New York Senate has voted 33-to-29 in favor of a bill legalizing gay marriage within the state including providing all the legal rights entitled to married couples. This comes after many lengthy debates and a Republican-controlled legislature.

Quoting the CNN report:

"New York has finally torn down the barrier that has prevented same-sex couples from exercising the freedom to marry and from receiving the fundamental protections that so many couples and families take for granted," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a written statement shortly after the vote.

Now all it needs is the governor's signature and then New York will be the 6th state in the US that will legally allow for gay marriage. Another step forward for LGBT rights! The bill has been signed into law! Gay marriage in New York will begin in 30 days!

[Movies] Layer Cake (2004)

No matter how many movies, TV shows and other related content that my partner and I watch together each and every day, it's staggering to think that there's a whole host of titles that we still haven't seen and may never see. I guess that's why social recommendations become so important - through friends, online reviews and the like we discover new movies that we might want to watch. And so we invest time in finding out if the opinions of friends were correct or not and the whole viral process continues.

My partner started watching this movie without me and when he showed me the movie, it seemed like something I wanted to get into. And this was despite the fact that I had never heard about this particular movie before today. And that's often an interesting experience - finding something that your friend or partner has never known about and getting to be the person who will introduce them to the film. And you don't even need to like the movie in the end - it's just a matter of being the one to handle that experience that makes it all the better.

Of course it ended up that we had both never seen the movie before, and thus the whole thing unfolded quite interestingly enough. It's fun to discover something new together - it one of the many things that make having a geek partner so much fun.

[TV] The Big Bang Theory: Season 2

So here we resume my working through the backlog of the this pretty awesome (and yes geeky) TV series. At first I was worried that it was just gong to be one of those one-shot sort of shows that will make a big splash when they first hit and then fizzle away. After all, the concept behind the show seemed to be doomed to failure given they ended the first season by killing the sexual tension.

At least that's how things appeared on the surface.

Thankfully the writers were a heck of a lot smarter than that and they figured out how to kill the show in the same way that Moonlighting died once the protagonists finally got together. You know what I mean right? And I didn't even watch Moonlighting - it's just one of those patterns of television everyone should know, right?

But I digress.

At its core, the show is funny. It started out funny, it continued being funny and it always tried to challenge itself to find new ways of being funny by exploring various aspects of geek culture with Penny acting as your "average Jane" of sorts to interpret things from the outside. Of course as things progress, we all know that you can't just remain an outsider when exposed to that much geek culture, right?

[Blogosphere] I Support Roger Ebert

While some might argue that it was in questionable taste for Roger Ebert to post the following Twitter message after news of Ryan's Death broke out, I still think he was fully entitled to his opinion. And he certainly didn't lack for merit in terms of the core argument here.




Quoting from his blog post:

What did I mean by that? I meant exactly what I wrote. I wasn't calling Ryan Dunn a jackass. In Twitter shorthand, I was referring to his association with 'Jackass.' I thought that was clear. I note that Bam Margera uses the word 'jackass' in the same way in his tweet. [Tuesday p.m.note: Of course there was a double meaning. I was implying that someone who drinks and drives is a jackass. Just as I was when I was drinking.]"

The guy had a history of drunk driving (including run-ins with the law) and with speeding, he posted a Twitter photo of him drinking just hours before his death and his entire career was built around him behaving inappropriately, or like a Jackass, if you will. We didn't even need the toxicology report to figure out that a man driving that fast and eventually driving headlong into trees was under the influence.

And today the news reports confirmed that he was drunk at the time of the incident. Heck, his blood alcohol content was well over twice the legal state limit. And he was driving close to 140mph - go figure.

So was it tactless and inappropriate for him to post that tweet so soon after his death? There's probably merit there. But was he right? Oh most definitely.

[Games] Dynasty Warriors 7 (PS3)

My partner and I are major fans of button-mashing local cooperative games. I guess we just like the generally simpler goals of such games that put more emphasis on the story and the cheese factor instead of making gameplay so complex that it crosses the line into being intimidating. In that regard I suppose we're pretty easy to please from a gaming perspective, although good local cooperative play games are somewhat few and far between on consoles like the PlayStation 3.

I suppose it's somewhat understandable. Your average gamer spends most of his time playing on his console alone, thus the easiest way for him or her to find other players to play with is to go online. Gone are the days that players routinely meet at a friend's house to play together. More often than not people just utilize whatever online options the game / console supports and then they go from there.

The Dynasty Warriors series has certainly been a guilty pleasure of are over the years. They practically invented the crazy button-mashing bonanza genre for more "modern" consoles. Although when you think about it, these games probably trace their origins back to classic titles like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. And that's never a bad thing.

[Blogosphere] Guest Phone-In at MGG

A week before my post on The Importance of Coming Out, I agreed to participate in the first-ever phone-in Fabcast over at Manila Gay Guy. It really just consisted of me asking a question via a cellular phone call but it seemed like a fun activity and of course a way to get other opinions on relevant issues.



Given it's Pride Month, naturally my question was whether or not the Fabcasters felt it was still important to come out. Not just to yourself mind you, but to other people out there whether they're co-workers, family or friends. And given I had already asked the question, I eventually got around to posting last Sunday's Technicolor Musings post with my thoughts on the matter.

The Fabcast discussion was pretty interesting and I'm inviting everyone to listen and share your opinions. Given the quality of the call, you actually can't quite recognize my voice (at least for those who know what I sound like). But no worries, it was still fun to participate.

Maybe I should try participating in a full Fabcast in person sometimes. We'll see, haha - I have no idea if the Fabcasters would be open to that sort of thing.

For the full podcast, you can stream it or download a copy of it here:
http://manilagayguy.net/2011/06/20/the-qa-fabcast-rocky-the-blogger-on-coming-out/

An alternate link can also be found on McVie's blog here:
http://mcvie5.blogspot.com/2011/06/q-fabcast-part-2.html

[Books] Clementine

The steampunk genre is certainly growing on me. Or maybe the alternative history genre is. Or maybe using the elements of both genres are in a story is totally working for me - hard to say at this point.

Cherie Priest has become one of the advocates of the steampunk genre in many ways. Beyond her won articles about how to write within the genre, her continuing works as part of her Clockwork Century books continues to demonstrate what can be done with the genre outside of just revisiting Victorian English. Bringing the story focus over to the still-solidifying Civil War era United States has presented an interesting point of focus.

And on top of that, she's gone the slightly risky route of having us focus on a fairly different set of protagonists in this story. The last time around we had the strong widow Briar Wilkes facing off the Rotter-filled Seattle. Now we have two different story lines to follow along with their respective characters and see how they end up working their story lines together in the end. While risky, it worked, at least for me. And I did generally enjoy the book.

[Movies] Super 8 (2011)

Movies are stories. Beyond the flash and flair of special effects, big name movie stars (and all the controversy inevitably attached to them), they're just stories. And when the story doesn't work, the movie won't work either. It's a very simple fact and yet many movie makers forget about this and we end up with special effects bonanzas that are barely held together by a semblance of a plot.

But then every now and then a movie comes along and reminds us that Hollywood isn't totally without a soul and hope remains for the future of movies as an artistic medium. And while these movies don't always have the same amount of flashiness about them, they do step up the plate with a whole lot of heart and ultimately a good story. And what would we be as a species without our ability to tell new stories, right?

This definitely felt like a slight different path for J.J. Abrams to take, with respect to his other projects. Instead of your typical science fiction or thriller type concept, he went with one that was a lot more oriented towards younger audiences. But just because kids are at the forefront doesn't mean there isn't a great story at the heart of this piece In fact it becomes a reminder how the simper stories tend to be the better ones since they don't get distracted by their own cleverness (or attempts to appear so).

[Technicolor Musings] The Importance of Coming Out

June is Pride Month, even without a decree from the Philippine government. It's a time when the local LGBT community celebrates our diversity and our right to live our lives as we see fit. It's time to celebrate love but mostly its a time to celebrate who we truly are.



gwb's gay adventures in the homophobe closet by soozums via Flickr.

And yet it remains a big question within the LGBT community whether or not it's important to be out. Can one still be proud while still hiding in the closet? Can only truly claim to be living the gay pride dream when you're still hanging out in Narnia?

Thus in today's Technicolor Musings, let's try and tackle this little concern, shall we? It seems a good a time as any. And I know I wrote a related piece about coming out last year, but it never hurts to revisit a topic as important and relevant as this one.

[Opinions] Why I Don't Appreciate Daily Deals Sites

I'm not a big fan of daily deals sites.

Yes, as a consumer it seems to make senses. Suddenly things that you might not normally purchase become a lot more affordable given the promised 50%++ discounts offered on goods and services. So you shell out money you normally would have saved for a rainy day and then the store owner makes a little profit. Right? Sadly, that last part is definitely wrong.

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeI've repeatedly expressed my dissatisfaction with the concept behind Daily Deals sites for some time now, although not necessarily on this blog. While it's bad enough that they make people spend more instead of saving more, they also cause irreparable harm to a lot of small and medium size businesses who don't have the marketing know-how to properly gauge if a daily deal campaign will really benefit them.

I came across this Tech Crunch article by Rocky Agrawal as part of a series of posts that discuss why the daily deals industry is a bad idea. In this particular post, he paints a very clear picture of what's wrong with the Groupon model in a way that I couldn't do better myself.

Businesses are being sold incredibly expensive advertising campaigns that are disguised as “no risk” ways to acquire new customers. In reality, there’s a lot of risk. With a newspaper ad, the maximum you can lose is the amount you paid for the ad. With Groupon, your potential losses can increase with every Groupon customer who walks through the door and put the existence of your business at risk.


Groupon is not an Internet marketing business so much as it is the equivalent of a loan sharking business. The $21,000 that the business in this example gets for running a Groupon is essentially a very, very expensive loan.  They get the cash up front, but pay for it with deep discounts over time.  (This post applies to Groupon operations in the United States and Canada; it’s different in other parts of the world.)


In many cases, running a Groupon can be a terrible financial decision for merchants. Groupon’s financials also raise questions about its ongoing viability. Buying Groupon stock could be as bad a deal for investors as running a Groupon offer is for merchants.  This is my opinion, but I have some facts to back it up.

So think about that deal before you claim it. Do you really think you're supporting a local business when you take advantage of a deal like that? Or are you better off remaining a steady loyal customer who only buys what you actually want / need at the established value? Or do you want to feed the revenue stream of the daily deals provider instead and gut the SMB owner one coupon at a time?

The daily deals industry is still in its infancy here in the Philippines - I only hope that it won't take off before its too late.

You can read the other posts in this guest series here:

• Part I: Groupon Was “The Single Worst Decision I Have Ever Made As A Business Owner”
  
• Part II: Google Offers Is A Cheap Knockoff
  
• Part III: Why I Want Google Offers And The Entire Daily Deals Business To Die

[Pink News] U.N. Council Passes Gay Rights Resolution

Image by Ashitakka via FlickrWell this is great news!

While it's not exactly a solution to our problems in itself, to have a policy body like the United Nations to pass a resolution about the importance of LGBT rights is a key step in our path to true equality.

Quoting from the CNN news report:

'It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world,' she said, 'and that those issues ... need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what's going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda going forward.'

I especially like the focus on addressing LGBT discrimination and related violence. While many argue that existing laws generally cover these concerns, I still feel that specific legislation that acknowledges the challenges of the community remain a key focus point that needs to be continually addressed.

The resolution also will commission the first-ever U.N. report on the challenges that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people face around the globe. Nossel said the Obama administration hopes it will 'open a broader international discussion on how to best promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.'

This is also very important - you have to admit that there are far too many formal studies done on LGBT-related concerns and to have the UN work on such a report should prove to be important to future LGBT rights efforts. Plus it'll be a pretty interesting read to boot!

While I know we all laugh at the UN's lack of relevance at times when it comes to international affairs, every now and then they do manage to do the right thing. Now it's up to the individual member nations to follow suit - but that's a whole different ball game.

[Movies] Temptation Island (1980)

As mentioned previously, I don't watch many local films. Very few strike my interest and since I stick mostly the stories that I like, it has done very little to add to my list of Filipino movies that I've actually seen thus far.

This one was a little harder to ignore.

In queer circles, Temptation Island is one of those cult classics that everyone is supposed to watch - or something like that. It's a movie that's often quoted for added humor at parties and it's even been converted into a stage play featuring gay men in the roles of the beauty pageant contestants.

With news of a remake getting everyone excited about the movie again, it became somewhat inevitable for me to give in to queer peer pressure. So secured a copy and watched the darn thing with my partner...and thankfully I survived.

[Geeky Bits] Mismatched Google News Images

I'm a regular Google News user - it's nice to have so many news sources in one page and entire blocks of articles about the same topic all grouped together.

But sometimes the algorithms that pick up images and news articles don't always work out.

And so you get weird pieces like these:





What's with dogs today?

And don't get me started on the second image - we all know that issue has already been thoroughly discussed.

[TV] The Big Bang Theory: Season 1

Here's another classic case of a show that slipped through the geeky cracks. As much as I do my best to post reviews of pretty much everything that I read, watch or experience, for one reason or another I have yet to get around to posting reviews for this particular show. This feels terribly ironic given the sheer geekiness of this show and the fact that has already ended its fourth season.

And I have nothing against the show, mind you. I've been a pretty regular fan since I first heard about shortly after the end of their first season. And that's not too bad a delay given I live outside of North America. Seriously.

Shows like this have done a great job of promoting geek culture, although at the same time it has played to certain stereotypes that we're also trying to shake off. But for better or for worse, the show has definitely developed a strong fan base in the geek community and it has probably helped more people better appreciate who we are, why we dress up the way we do and how a lot of the things we invest time in are all about celebrating our fandoms, likes and interests. And that's rarely a bad thing, right?

[Philippines] No More Smoking at Starbucks

As based on notices posted at branches nationwide, Starbucks Philippines has announced that all of their branches will become smoke-free starting June 27. This is in support of the recent MMDA push to enforce RA 9211 by banning smoking in areas like schools, hospitals and all major and secondary roads including bus terminals and waiting sheds.



Untitled by Doun Dounell via Flickr.

Naturally the announcement has been received with mixed reactions by the smokers and non-smokers everywhere, with the usual cries of outrage and how this will be the "end of Starbucks".

[Books] Boneshaker

In my continued efforts of exploring steampunk fiction, I came across this Hugo nominated title that seemed to offer a lot of promise. I was a bit surprised that the author was a woman since it's not often enough that female speculative fiction writers get enough notice in geekier circles, and yet her book managed to stand out. That made it worth looking into and eventually worth the ebook purchase since I have yet to see physical copies of her books in local bookstores here in Manila.

These books in particular don't seem quite as far-fetched as some of the other steampunk ventures I've encountered. The focus wasn't so much on the technology but more its potential effects on the era. Thus this becomes more like an alternative history piece, but one with a generous amount of speculative technologies and sometimes fantastical elements involved as well. I liked her take on things - thus allowing the steampunk side of things remain part of the background and the setting instead of letting it become an overt distraction that might get in the way of the plot.

This book in particular taps into another popular theme these days - zombies. Well, at least a form of zombies, but not necessarily born of voodoo magic or anything like that. At first I was skeptical since the many "zombified" classics are really getting annoying, but then the book flowed really well and the zombie element actually worked. The different pieces all nicely complemented one another and the end result has been pretty cool so far.

[Movies] X-Men First Class (2011)

We live in a weird world where there have been four different movies related to Marvel's X-Men comic book franchise with varying degrees of quality. Not even considering their lack of respect for comic book canon, the movies have only been generally enjoyable with the last two being near disasters for anyone with an actual brain.

This movie was a bit of a sleeper since it sort of popped out of nowhere with little fanfare. Plus the fanfare that initially came with it was pretty bad, if you remember the controversy behind some of its early release promotional posters. Given that this movie remains a Fox production (who are doing their best to hold onto the rights despite the Marvel movie full court press), it lives outside the rest of the Marvel movie universe and the tight little continuity that they've been building in preparation for the Avengers movie.

I guess that sort of fits, given how the X-Men have always been the poster children for every marginalized group and ethnic minority around. They've always been a walking metaphor of diversity and the challenge of oppression based on race or social class in one way or another. However this movie wasn't quite the social pariah it could have been - and that's generally a good thing.

[Movies] Shortbus (2006)

In my many years of writing and self-publishing online, it's interesting to note that I've written quite a number of reviews for this movie on different locations. But with how the Geeky Guide has more and more become my central vehicle of expression, I've been doing my best to consolidate such efforts here instead of keeping things spread out across the web.

This movie certainly comes with its fair share of controversy given its highly graphic nature, it's unsimulated sexual acts and the many concepts it throws around (yes, including the gay stuff). But at the same time it's a very strong artistic piece that aimed to convey a deeper message with sex being the metaphor (instead of metaphors being used to depict sex, as is the norm). A lot of people tend to scoff at this kind of an explanation since for them sex on screen is porn and nothing else. And then you get the more shallow folks who have gone out of their way to watch this movie since it does feel a lot like porn at times.

This movie means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Naturally I have my own somewhat complicated history with this particular movie and recently watching it again with my partner stirred some of those thoughts up. Ah well, such is life in the long run, I suppose. Everything will always remind you of something else, ad nauseam.

[Movies] Crying Ladies (2003)

I don't watch a lot of local movies. Yes, I admit it's largely a language issue and maybe even at times a cultural issue - it's very rare that a Filipino movie comes along that actually catches my attention or interest. It's a bit of a statement regarding the quality of a lot of the films that get produced locally - many of them tend to pander to popular themes that are cycled, repeated and rehashed over and over again. In many ways, our local comedies and romances are still following the same plots as their counterparts over twenty years ago.

And then there are those times that a movie or two slips through the cracks and I find myself in the theater. Usually it's because other people prompted me to do so. Or perhaps a credible reference source stated the movie was different from all the others. I can hardly remember what brought me to watch this particular movie when it came out, but I definitely do no regret having seen it back then.

Recently I actually introduced my parter to this movie, which felt a bit weird since I don't often recommend local movies to anyone. But this was always triggers fond memories, mainly of the ridiculous scenes that triggered a genuine reaction out of me. The movie is unmistakably Filipino in terms of its humor, but it was done in a manner that remains particularly poignant and quite simply funny, no matter how you look at it.

[TV] The Office US: Season 6

I do my best to keep this review introductions interesting and dynamic, and for the most part I manage to put something decent together when posting reviews. But when it comes to TV shows that span so many seasons like this one, you tend to run out of ideas sometimes.

Let's face it - the success of any show like this tends to rely on the reliability and consistency of the characters and the stories that they get into. This is especially true for sitcoms that typically revolve around presenting new situations to its cast but generally returning to the status quo by the end of the episode. This cycle repeats over and over from that point and with very minimal changes to the characters themselves.

Of course the really good shows learn how to balance the zany one-shot game-changing concepts with the slow gradual growth of the characters as the show progresses and matures over time. In the early days of The Office, it's clear that the writers were mainly working in silos, just coming up with crazy ideas for the cast to act out and respond to and then working from there. But somewhere along the way they found the time (and the upper management support) to finally let the characters evolve, grow and ultimately progress in their fictional lives. We saw a lot of that in the season prior, but this one marked some especially powerful developments that really needed to happen given all that had happened in the seasons before.

[Philippines] I Support The RH Bill

One of the major controversies that has rocked the local media scene is the pending Reproductive Health Bill(s) pending in both Congress and the Senate. As a country that is normally touted as a predominantly Catholic one, the Philippines is an odd mix of modernist Western thinking and values interlaced with rigid Catholic or Christian doctrine. The two sides tend to come into conflict with one another more often than not and this issue is a clear example of that.


Smokey Mountain II by Simon Oosterman via Flickr.

Admittedly, I no longer identify myself as being Catholic. Instead I choose to state that I'm agnostic at best - I believe in the existence of a superior power (or powers) but I don't think that a human-defined religious organization can clearly speak for said power. In this light, I do not represent the statistical majority of the population of the Philippines. But as an individual, a Filipino citizen and a free-thinker in my own right, I thought it best to make a firm stand on this issue.

[Books] The Windup Girl

It's funny how steampunk has started to evolve from being just another aesthetic style within the works of science fiction and fantasy (and Squaresoft games) to starting to break free as an independent fiction genre. Sure, you can always argue that this should merely remain as an aspect of speculative fiction in general but its rising popularity, at least in literary circles, presents a significant argument for its recognition.

Plus let's face it, steampunk stories tend to involve a lot more creative thought and use of one's imagination compared to the recent wave of zombie books that have been making the rounds as well. And thus they get my vote of support for full independence - just let me know where to vote for the referendum or whatever. Ha.

Pardon my horrible sense of humor.

This book certainly made waves when it came out given how well-received it was in science fiction circles. The book went on to win several awards and thus I eagerly looked forward to its arrival in the country. Fast forward to 2011 and I still haven't seen a copy on local bookstore shelves - I blame the lack of sufficient support for new science fiction authors / titles with local distributors. Thus this book also holds the personal distinction of being my first Kindle ebook purchase. And it was definitely worth the purchase (and that of my Kindle 3).

[Movies] Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

It's great how a sequel can surprise you. And I'm not just talking about sequels that do better than you're already lowered expectations. I mean the sequels that just come out nowhere with how well the movie was put together and thus making it actually a contender when placed in comparison to the first movie.

This definitely felt like one of those movies given how much my partner and I had laughed while watching this in the theater. And it wasn't just us - the whole audience was definitely bowling over in laughter more than once during the course of the movie, regardless of whether we're talking about the children in the audience or the adults that came along with them. This was definitely a great example of a movie that managed to cross the boundaries between age groups and other demographics rather well.

And think this movie had a much more visually interesting villain driving the story along. I'm not saying he was necessarily better or worse than Tai Lung (from the first movie), but he was definitely distinct and quite memorable. As with the first, this movie was another great example of merging Western comedic sensibilities with Eastern martial arts styles and related aesthetics.

[Technicolor Musings] The Rings Of My Life

The ring has become a practically universal symbol for commitment. The usual explanations revert back to how the circles are shapes with no beginning and no end, and thus they are a great representation of something that is eternal, immortal and basically just forever. Thus rings have been used to symbolize the permanence of unions between individuals, the strength of a commitment and other related concepts.



It's Pride Month and we still live in a world where the LGBT community is unable to exercise the right to marriage in most parts of the world. While there are a variety of arguments for and against this, the net result is that we in the pink community are still presented with an interesting opportunity to create our own symbols and define our own pledges of commitment outside of some established ceremony.

For the most part, I suppose rings have played that role in my life to varying degrees. I've owned very few of them and some of them have been steeped in meaning while others were just circular bands of metal. The ring in itself of course holds no true meaning on its own. It's the context behind it that makes it all the more powerful, and thus significant.

So today's post is all about the collection of rings that I now have in my possession and what they've come to mean to me. If rings are not your thing per se, well, then just think of today's Technicolor Musings as a reflection on alternative symbols of commitment, at least until we come to that point when we're all free to marry whoever we love regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

[Movies] Tekkonkinkreet (2006)

It's interesting how companies like Pixar and Dreamworks animation have helped herald a change in terms of how Western countries view animated features. Gone are the days when cartoons automatically meant something strict for children and more and more they've tried to explore the medium, although mainly from the more comedic side of the spectrum.

In truth, they're still playing catch-up with Japan, who has always viewed the amazing world of anime as a separate art form in itself. And thus you get some very powerful and striking stories but told through animation of various kinds. The message is more than the medium used to convey it after all and the end results can be pretty impressive. And Japan has been doing this for many years now and thankfully it looks like there's no end to their efforts to push the envelope and see how far things can go.

This movie was...well...wow. I hardly know where to begin in today's efforts to post a worthy review for the piece. And it's certainly a work of art in its own right, one with a powerful message about human nature, the question of good and evil within each of us and ultimately the innocence of children.

[TV] The Office US: Season 5

It's hard to determine the difference between shows that die off after its first one or two seasons and those that manage to continue on for years on end. These days, just reaching five years is a small miracle in itself for shows outside of the reality TV arena. Sad but true.

Getting past the five year mark is tricky for any show. But this time characters are pretty fleshed out and it becomes far too easy to spend an entire episode dedicated to a single character while forgetting all others. Sometimes extend storylines go on for a bit too long at the consequence of other characters fading into the background. The larger the size of the cast regardless of it being an ensemble can certainly make things rather unwieldy. And thus its only the really good shows that manage to find that balance among all players and keep things active, vibrant and feeling like new.

I don't think anyone really expected the US version of The Office to get as far as it did. I mean seriously, it started as a mid-season replacement based on British series of the same name. This is technically a remake - yet another show imported and adapted for US audiences! But despite its origins, I think it's pretty safe to say that the show did something tremendously right in such a manner that helped it surpass its parent show and helped it become something else entirely - something that quite frankly is really funny (in a good way!)

[Pink Culture] June is Pride Month!

On a personal level, June has always been Pride Month for me. Now I know some of you might argue that the local LGBT Pride March actually happens every December (at least for the past several years) and the community doesn't take many over steps to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots in the US. But regardless of all the negative reasons you can point out about how the local LGBT community has handled June in the past, this month has always meant the need to remember how we need to be proud of who we are.

And it looks like this year, Task Force Pride Philippines is certainly trying to take steps to make this year's Pride memorably beyond just the annual White Party during the last weekend of the month of June. They've published this calendar of major events for the month related to LGBT Pride, and for the most part it does look a bit promising.




Sure, some of these events are just "meaningless" parties - but what gay pride celebration is able to completely escape that? Look anywhere in the world and you'll find events of that nature. And it's not because the need for money is universal - but it's also because that we all need our own venues to celebrate who we are with people that we can trust not to insult us to our faces or try to condemn us to some metaphysical hell.

But alongside the other more shallow ventures are a few notable events that give hope for stronger and more meaningful LGBT activism and representation in the country. So feel free to check some of these events out, publish the calendar to your own blogs or websites and at the very least get the conversation started.

June is supposed to be Pride Month for all gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders and all the other colors of the queer rainbow. Let's make the most of this month and celebrate who are and remind the world that we're here to stay!

Happy Pride Month Everyone! And I hope to catch you at the White Party!

[Finances] Adventures In Peso Cost Averaging

Being the geek that I am, I've wanted to make sure that I make the right financial decisions for the long term. We always go back to the cliche that we're never growing any younger and thus it becomes all the more important to plan ahead for the future.

Of course being in a third world country where corruption is rampant, the business sector is often unpredictable and government oversight is a statistical wild card, it's hard to figure out where to put your money. Quite frankly, there are people who argue in favor of just holding on to your money and keeping out of the system entirely. Plus with typical savings accounts only offering about 0.5% interest per year, simply banking your money is gong to get you anywhere. While there are special deposit products like BPI's Maxi-Saver accounts that offer better rates, it's still not enough to secure you in the long term.

Enter the scary world of the local stock market. This legalized gambling den remains to be your best bet to long term financial stability, provided you keep your wealth-building options sufficiently diverse. So apart from my bank funds, my life insurance polices and associated variable income components, I've recently started to explore the local stock market via Citisec Online.





No, this doesn't mean I've become an active stock trader like you see in the movies. I really don't have the kind of constitution for short-term investing given how volatile the local stock market can be. Instead, I'd like to think that I'm more of a value-driven investor, mainly relying on the principle of Peso Cost Averaging (and thus the point of this entry). Let's face it, geeks like me a very skittish when it comes to high risk and high pressure situations like trying to figure out the stock market. One will always have that general advice in mind about the need to buy low and sell high, but your average guy doesn't have the time to fully analyze and theoretically understand the local market. Worse as a geek, I'd probably obsess about trying to figure out the market and would probably end up doing nothing due to analysis paralysis.

But Peso Cost Averaging makes sense to me, and maybe it'll work for you as well. Let's face it, if you're not a regular reader of this blog, then some investment-related web search brought you here. Given that, I hope this proves helpful to all of you on one level or another.