[Movies] The Three Musketeers (2011)

For the most part, I make sure that the only movies that I watch in actual movie theaters are worth the added expense. Beyond the ticket price, there's the need to travel to the mall in question, the possibility of getting snacks and all those other incidental costs that come along when you're in a major shopping center.

This was not one of those movies. Instead, this was a movie that I ended up watching with my family since we needed to kill about two more hours of time before picking up my brother, It was the only decent thing on given The Podium only has two cinemas.

And while I had not heard much about this movie before watching it but the premise seemed interesting enough. I guiltily enjoyed the 1993 version of this story created by Disney. I happen to like aspects of the whole Steampunk movement / aesthetic.

But I had no idea what happened to this movie to make me walk out of the theater with such disgust and annoyance.

Heck, this movie made me miss the 1993 Disney version of the movie.

[Movies] Eating Out: Drama Camp (2011)

It's weird to consider that this one of the few movie franchises that exist in the LGBT movie sphere. Seriously - think about other movies that have triggered sequels and you won't be able to think of too many apart from the likes of Another Gay Sequel or something.

It's hard to determine whether or not that's a good thing. On the one hand, it does sort of imply that most LGBT movies are truly original creative works - the types of movies that that are created to tell a particular story from start to finish. On the other hand, it could also be said that it means our movies don't have much longevity - as if the creative forces behind them tire out or move on to other projects, perhaps due to lack of profitability.

This movie is probably not a good example of a strong concept continuing to thrive with additional sequels. If anything, it's definitely feeling like the kind of movie that just keeps on going and going like old B-movie horror flicks only to generate as much money as possible for as minimal expenses as can be managed. Thus the writing continues to degrade with each new sequel as we beat this particular dead horse well beyond its best before date.

If anything, at least the guys seem generally hotter this time around.

[Movies] Observe and Report (2009)

Believe it or not, but everything that I review on this blog tends to be something I've watched  or finished reading recently. While it's easy to just dig up old movies that I had seen ages ago for possible reviews but then that wouldn't be as fun as going through the process of watching the good stuff all over again. Thus the reviews that appear here are pretty much a reflection of our recent media consumption habits.

That does mean that here and there I run into a wall when I don't have anything to review. ever since I implemented my personal schedule for which reviews are published on which specific day of the weak, it results in me needing to make sure that I diversify the stuff we allot time for in order to get a good balance.

So this was one of those instances when I needed an older movie to review and my partner pulled one out almost at random from his download queue. Given everything else he had, this seemed decent enough mainly because my partner has a bit of a thing for certain aspects of Seth Rogen. When I say aspects, I mean that there are only certain movies where Seth seems to have greater appeal for my partner where in others it just doesn't work.

I think this was definitely a case of the latter.

[TV] Wilfred (US): Season 1

Some shows seem bizarre when you just read the synopsis of the series. You know what I mean - the things that seem absolutely ridiculous when on paper but seem very different in terms of actual implementation.

This show definitely felt that way when I first stumbled across it. Take one suicidal guy and add in one anthropomorphic dog and you get...this? That's a good an attempt to summarize things as any.

But the show oddly worked for me and my partner (and I'm not just saying this since I often joke that he behaves like a dog). The humor of the show is definitely at tad blacker than most and I can understand why it was picked up by a pay TV channel and not a mainstream network. It's the sort of thing that is hilarious to some and oddly disturbing to others.

Oh wait, I thought of another way to describe this show. This is sort of like the natural progression if you maintained a Calvin and Hobbes type of relationship and make Calvin grow up into a rather depressed and slightly pathetic man.

Yeah, that sort of sounds better to me.

[Geeky Guide] The New Banner

I don't know if you guys have noticed that the Geeky Guide has had a new title banner for a few weeks now. Amid all the other geeky things I've been writing about along with all those annoying real-life obligations, I realized I had yet to take the time to formally discuss the change in a blog post. And it's a pretty fun story.

Many months back (like December 2010), I received a message from a reader offering to provide a new header graphic for the blog. It was a really nice offer and of course I agreed, although I had no major ideas of what I might want other than it be something geeky and perhaps a little queer too. Obviously I'm not a very right brain kind of guy in situations like this.

Fast forward to this month and he finally got back to me with this little number that we now have on the site. It took a little tweaking to get the new look implemented but the end results were beyond fantastic - I can't believe how awesome this turned out!

So here's me giving a very big THANK YOU to the amazing Mikko Vartio from Finland! It was amazingly generous of you to do the work to come up with this new header graphic and it has certainly made a major difference in terms of the site experience.

For you other readers, be sure to check out his work and follow him on Twitter! He's a fellow geek, so you know it'll be worth your while.

[Books] Star Wars: Force Heretic II: Refugee (The New Jedi Order Book 16)

When you read certain books, especially in a franchised as highly regulated as the Star Wars Expanded Universe, you can pretty much imagine how the meetings went or the kind of decisions that led to a particular story. One day the board (or whoever) decides that there's a lot of buzz around the likes of Boba Fett going on, so it would be a good idea to write a few books about him and the other bounty hunters. The next time a committee may come up with a plan to explore the lives of the younger Jedi in greater detail and thus they start writing about that. It's like a geekier version of SEO-like principles applied to the writing process or something.

In this case, I've come to surmise that the Force Heretic books were design not just to advance the overall story of The New Jedi Order, but also to revisit a number of locations prominently featured in past Star Wars books to generate some cross-title interest. This was probably a theoretically good idea if they had provided more NJO plot points for the writers to address. Instead, it felt like they only had 2-3 major NJO plot points to tackle across three separate titles, thus the rest was a lot of filler fluff focused on the older story being revisited.

In the first book in this trilogy, we sort of returned to the story of the Yevetha as featured in The Black Fleet Crisis books. In this second book, we end up going back to the world of Bakura, as previously featured in The Truce at Bakura.

[Movies] Hanna (2011)

Many movies start with the simplest of concepts and then they just try to expound and elaborate on it. Sometimes this results in some pretty compelling stories. Other times it ends up feeling like a cheap gimmick of sorts. It's hit or miss really. Many will argue that it's because the end result becomes too simple that the movie fails. Others will claim things didn't pan out well because the movie had too much going on and should have been edited down.

At first I thought this movie was a one-trick pony - an entire story build around a girl being rather kick-ass. And we've seen a lot of movies like this. For example, the Tomb Raider franchise is a combination of kick-ass girl plus ridiculous breasts. So it took a while before my partner and I got around to watching this particular movie.

But thankfully it surprised us - and in a very good way mind you. Despite a premise that could have easily gone into a very, very bad direction, it actually had a fairly compelling story to go along with its rather excellent cast. And that says a lot about the sort of entertainment muscle that pushed this movie into theaters. I'm surprised it didn't make more waves in fact - probably more because of lackluster movie marketing prior to release or something. Anyway.

[Technicolor Musings] Living Without Hate

October 20 marked a fairly recent "holiday" of sorts known as Spirit Day, which is a day dedicated to showing support for the LGBT youth, especially for those who are victims of bullying based on their sexual orientation. The day is celebrated by wearing purple, which represents spirit in terms of the traditional LGBT rainbow flag. And it's not something that only gay people should participate it - it's for everyone who supports the idea that we are all equal and we should have fundamental respect for one another as fellow human beings. It's one of many manifestations of a growing movement to offer more support for younger members of the LGBT community including The Trevor Project.

And this week actor Zachary Quinto officially came out in order to show his support after the news that another  LGBT youth, Jamey Rodemeyer, had committed suicide due to bullying.

There are an increasing number of LGBT movements trying to promote tolerate and fighting against bullying, homophobia and the like. There are interesting campaigns that are social network specific like Wipeout Homophobia on Facebook and there are more high profile campaigns like NOH8 (No Hate). All of which are definitely steps in the right direction - gay and straight people working together to promote a greater message of true acceptance of gender diversity and challenging those who continue to espouse a message of hate.

More and more people are standing up to try and remember the basic fact that we are much more than our sexual orientation. This does not define is - people are far more complex than that. While it is part of our identity as individuals it does not define all that makes us who we are and thus we shouldn't be judged based on a single aspect of our being alone.

It's a lot of inspiring work - something that I definitely want to continue to support as much as I can. A lot of these campaigns are built around trying to spread a message of love and greater community instead of trying to force the definitions of gender lines in everyone's faces. You don't always need to resort to extreme rhetoric in order to get your message across. Sometimes you just need to express yourself clearly, consistently and in an intelligent manner.

So this is just a gentle reminder that we're all people, who deserve the same rights as everyone else. Our gender orientation does not make us a completely different class of people nor do our beliefs or likes and interests. We're all human and part of single global community and that deserves an agreement of mutual respect, if anything else.

We're not asking people to love us or anything crazy like that. We just want people to remember that we're not all that different and there's no reason to go out of your way to make us feel that way, or go to the extreme of trying to make us feel bad for simply being who we are.

[Movies] Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

How does one classify a movie like this?

There are certainly comedic elements in play given the title alone - a fact compounded by some of the stars involved in the production. There's some romance to be found as well given the lead stars are a guy and a girl - your classic friends-since-forever type of situation.

But then there's the porno bit. Ah yes.

Thus we end up describing this as a Kevin Smith movie - and for those who have seen his other movies, it'll all make sense right about...now.

Admittedly I had been rather curious about this movie for some time now but just never got around to watching it. So on one of those days when we happened to have enough free time to watch another movie together  my partner suggested we try this movie out and that sort of led to this review.

And please note - at the time we had no idea it was a Kevin Smith movie. We just hoped it would be funny somehow.

[TV] R.O.D. the TV

I can't necessarily say that I'm a huge fan of Japanese anime, but I certainly appreciate their brand of animation. They certainly have a flair for interesting and often unusual story premises. the only thing that prevents me from saying I'm a true fan is that I don't always have time to watch / read a subtitled movie or TV series. While there are many versions of such shows dubbed in English, somehow dubbing takes away from some of the original spirit of the movie, especially when it comes to the voice acting.

But this was one of those rare anime TV series that had a nice balance of complexity of story and a sheer lack of episodes. Given the show ran for only 26 episodes (to be precise), it's one of those shows that you can actually watch from start to finish with some measure of closure. And that's a rather rare given how long a lot of anime series run for - don't get me started on talking about the like of Samurai X!

Still, this show really stood out and remains one of my favorite anime series. So it was fun to introduce my partner to the show more formally and re-watch the entire run in sequence. While it helps to have watched the OVA prior, in truth you don't absolutely need it. The series stands well enough on its own.

[Call Centers] Different Ideas For Practicing Your Skills

I'm sure we've all come across the popular phrase "a born salesman" -  a statement that insinuates that sales is more based on the innate nature of the person and not because of anything he has learned to do or that you can learn as well. On a similar vein, a lot of call center folk complain that managing your CSAT scores is an entirely random process - that no matter how well you're doing the scores are outside of your control since it's all up to the customer. The list of such arguments and excuses for agents not hitting their KPI targets just goes on and on to the point of being a tad silly.

by JanneM via Flickr

But what most call center don't understand (or perhaps don't accept) is that a lot of what makes one agent successful in the job versus the other is normally a combination of both raw talent / innate ability and finely honed skills. In this sense, practice does help one become closer to perfect, if you're willing to open yourself up to the possibility.

But what can you practice? That's the typical question I'd used to get and as a trainer my natural answer would go back to the value of agent-customer role-plays.

Not, not that kind of role-play, you filthy thing. But I jest.

So I thought it might be helpful to all you call center readers out there to spend some time talking about the little things that every call center agent should work on (or at least try to work on) to improve your phone skills.

[Books] Batteltech Warrior: Coupe (Book 3)

And finally the end of this trilogy, which is the second Battletech trilogy I've ever read. And coincidentally enough, both trilogies were written by the same author. Funny how the world works, yes?

While this isn't exactly the best example of his work as a writer, the books do cover a fairly critical point in the history of the Battletech universe and one that  had one read about as mentioned in passing by other characters in later books. And while this isn't exactly an award-winning work here, the fanboy in me cares little for that.

The book is fun reading for sure - a lot of good action, a fair amount of political intrigue and of course the final fulfillment of Prince Hanse Davion's master plan. After all, he is famously known as "The Fox" given his penchant for strategy and his little war to commemorate his wedding in the grandest way possible, of course he still has even more in store for all of us before the end of this little trilogy.

And to be fair, this was still a nice twist to things even if it seemed a tad predictable given how the story developed.

[Movies] Real Steel (2011)

It's funny now movies can still surprise you. Despite how jaded a lot of us get about the remake-centric culture that has swept through Hollywood in recent years and how bad movies seem to have become a matter of habit instead of the rare one-off gimmick, there will still come a movie that appears to be bad but turns out to be rather good. And this is probably part of the reason that I continue to patronize movie theaters in the hopes of catching movie moments precisely like this.

When the buzz around this movie started to go around and the first trailers hit the web, I first thought this was a bad idea gone worse. It seemed like a movie recreation of the old toy Rock'Em Sock' Em Robots (given we do have a movie based on Battleship after all). Thus it felt like a big miss for me that they couldn't get their remake / adaptation right by trying to brand it differently.

But fast forward a few months when the movie finally starts to screen and movie reviews start posting how surprisingly good it was. An that really gave me pause - what had the folks behind this movie done to make even some of the harshest critics give this movie some rather decent reviews?

And so we watched it.

[Blog Action Day] Food

Starvation by Cody Simms via Flickr.

Today marks Blog Action Day 2011 - and given today is also World Food Day, thus it made sense to the organize to merge the discussions about the two topics.

Recently my annual physical exam showed a few above average spikes in my system that has mandated a change in my diet as recommended by our company physician. And while it's a bit of a challenge, it's not exactly like I've started to live a deprived life.

[Movies] Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington

My recent adventure with watching Eugene Domingo movies reminded me of why local cinema disappoints me. We have so many talented actors and I'm sure there many great stories just waiting to be told. And yet we often squander all this on cheap trips, rehashed storylines and cliched characters.

When I had first heard about this movie, I certainly had my doubts. The impression the trailer gave was that it was somehow equating homosexuality with a zombie plague - and that couldn't be a bad thing. It seemed like just another movie that glorified the more outlandish stereotypes about what being gay in the Philippines is like, even if only a certain type of gay character.

But the movie finally hit theaters after its limited Cinemalaya screening and the positive reviews started to pour in. This was definitely one of those cases of when the opinions of my friends started to factor heavily in my movie-watching decision and so I finally gave in. Thus my partner and I spent an afternoon watching this movie and we were delightfully surprised.

[Movies] Candy (2006)

I was stumped as to what I could possible review for today when I asked my partner for possible movie recommendations. Since he was going to be away for work, it was one of those rare times that I'd be home alone, thus a good chance to watch a movie he had already seen that I hadn't. While I could always just write a review for a movie that I had seen some time ago, it just wouldn't feel the same.

So he gave me options and I avoided the horror stuff for now (since I didn't want to watch that kind of a movie alone) and was not overly thrilled by the odd romance. So we ended up with this movie mainly because it had Heath Ledger in it, and he's had quite a number of interesting films over the course of his brief yet fairly impressive movie career.

The only potential problem here was the fact that the it was yet another movie that centered around drug abuse.

With all due respect to movie makers around the world, but far too many movies about drug usage tend to be overly similar. We know its' a self-destructive habit, we know it's bad for your health and all that stuff. So when you decide to make a movie about drug usage, one kind of expects that you're going to bring something new to the table.

I'm not quite sure if this movie did that.

[TV] Battlestar Galactica: Season 3

Yes, this is a review of season 3. Allow me to explain.

I got into the BSG game a tad late. Thankfully, a friend of mine started trying to stream the show at work and eventually I was hooked. And I eventually got my own copies of the show and managed to get through the first two seasons well enough.

But by the time I had finished season 2, a business trip to the US came up just as season 4 was starting. I watched a few of those episodes while there and for one reason or another never got back to finishing the third season.

Then the big last stretch started and I met my current partner and we ended up watching the last few episodes together - the gaps in my BSG "memory" having been filled with various iterations of the What The Frak show synopsis videos. It wasn't the same thing as watching the whole seasons, but it was enough.

So things ended up that I managed to see the end of the series without having seen the entire season 3 and the first half of season 4 either. Funny how things work out. So I finally decided to address these gaps in my idle time when Tobie doesn't happen to be home at the same time I am, which is an oddly rare occurrence given the alignment of our respective schedules.

[Gaming] Playing Fictional Characters

So ever since I got together with my current partner Tobie Abad, I've also gotten into the fun hobby of gaming. While I had generally played games before, what I had not done was get into classic tabletop RPGs. This is obviously no longer the case given my partner is a Storyteller (or GM / DM, depending on your system of preference).

Now I could write about all the crazy celebrity characters that he's introduced into our games like the time the devil took on the form of Zac Efron to try and seduce my character or that instance when a character who just happened to look like Ryan Reynolds happened to have had a significant relationship with my character that I seem to have conveniently forgotten about, there are other interesting cases worth discussing.

While most times we create our own characters with the option of using celebrities and other personalities as visual pegs, there are those interesting cases when we try to step into the role of existing characters and famous members of fictional worlds. At times I feel this is a bit more difficult than the other instances given you are now bound by the common perceptions of that character and thus people assume you will only behave in one way or another. And if you don't behave like the character, it sort of disrupts the game.

In more than two years of gaming, here are a few of the interesting roles I tried my hand at...

[Books] Battletech Warrior: Riposte (Book 2)

It's somehow comforting to be back in the Inner Sphere, metaphorically speaking. My renewed access to Battletech content that is essentially new for me but technically old by the standards of the franchise has certainly proven to be a most rewarding reading exercise. It's the find of light, easy reading that makes you feel like writing such stories is relatively easy and that giant Battlemechs lie just around the corner.

And this is probably the furthest back into the series that I've ever ventured given these books were very difficult for me to find even when the books were regularly being stocked on the shelves of local bookstores. Science fiction always gets the short end of the stick in terms of the local book market and more obscure franchise like this that rarely manage to get on the likes of the New York Times' Bestseller list really have a hard time getting out there.

The first book in the series was certainly interesting, although not necessarily that compelling, I'll admit. It certainly touched on a critical event in the history of the Inner Sphere, but it handled it in a manner that possessed limited literary value as many characters were simply who they were and not much else beyond that. Still, we press on to see how this trilogy pans out, of the few in the Battletech series as a whole.

[Movies] Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

I do my best to deal with my almost instinctive aversion to horror movies. This typically consists of trying to watch more of these sorts of movies, especially when my partner highly recommends the film. Of course the end results aren't always too great, so for the most part I try to watch such movies only at home.

But every now and then we still end up catching a movie of this nature in the theaters, especially when my partner is really excited about it.

That was the case with this one given the involvement of Guillermo Del Toro, who admittedly has done some phenomenal things with movies. I really enjoyed the Hellboy movies and I loved Pan's Labyrinth (despite how it gave me the willies in some parts).

But this movie reminded me that perhaps his skills are more related to the his ability as a director and not solely as a writer. While this movie did have a lot of potential given the original material (yes, apparently it's a remake), but then the directorial vision that shapes the movie still has a larger role in things.

So I had more reasons not to like this movie beyond the fact that it's a horror movie.

[Technicolor Musings] The Bravery of Drag

I can't imagine myself every trying to go drag. Not that I have anything wrong with drag queens in general - I just know that it's something that remains to be well outside my comfort level. And in that regard, I have to admit that there's something to be admired about those who do.

by davitydave via Flickr

Drag, for the uninitiated, is the more fabulous term to describe transvestites - guys who like to dress up as women. This may or may not reflect the kind of people there are when the wigs come off. Some drag queens  get into character since they always imagine themselves to be women trapped in men's bodies. Others seek to put on heels as a liberating experience - one where you get to be someone other than yourself entirely.

There are just so many reasons and all of them are valid - at least for the individual. But compared to most other gay men out there, I feel drag queens are definitely some of the bravest among us all.

[Movies] Toy Soldiers (1991)

After my partner posted this feature on his queer blog, I knew that we were going to have to revisit this particular movie soon. Not that I have a particular urge to see actors posing as high school kids in their underwear (which didn't hurt either), but of course I was curious to go back to the movie.

Admittedly, I have vague memories of having seen this movie before - and when we did sit down to re-watch it various snippets started to trigger long-forgotten memories. I'm not saying that I was a total fan of the movie (else I would have remembered things of course), but it was certainly a movie that had its appeal.

Translated to its modern equivalent, I suppose you could consider this to be one of those pseudo-serious movies using younger stars as the front line actors (sort of like, I dunno, Abduction or something?), although I don't see how some of these guys could be considered as teen idols apart from the lead, Sean Astin.

I mean hey, obviously my partner likes him, so that has to count for something, right?

[TV] Outsourced: Season 1

I actually watched this TV series before I watched the movie it was based on. And admittedly I had no plans of watching either. But one thing led to another and I found myself with the first half of the season thanks to my brother.

I avoided this series like the plague since it's all about the industry that I work in. Why would I want to unwind by watching a show that is supposed to represent the call center industry? Would seeing Indian versions of agents help me relax after a busy, stressful evening working the graveyard hours at my own call center?

Think about it.

But I already had the episodes, so it seemed like a waste not to at least give the show a shot. Plus news of its cancellation had already broken out by the time I started watching - and somehow knowing that the show wasn't going to go on helped me decide that it would be okay to watch it since its impact on my life was definitely measured.

But admittedly, it wasn't that bad.

[Gaming] Paradigm Infinitum Games (Singapore)

During the big Singapore Birthday trip last August, my partner and I had been given a tip by a friend about a gaming shop that we could scope out while in the country. And while we do have stores like Neutral Grounds here in the Philippines, it's always a good thing to scope out other geek venues, especially those in other countries. As much as I love the Philippines, you have to admit that we don't have as diverse gaming options as some other places.

The store in question is known as Paradigm Infinitum Games and we visited their branch on Orchard Road, although it's a little hard to spot. It's located at the third floor of Midpoint Orchard and it seems most if not all the other establishments sharing the floor with them happen to be beauty salons or massage parlors. But don't worry, it's definitely worth the adventure.

[Books] Battletech Warrior: En Garde (Book 1)

One of the many pleasant consequences of my conversion to the Cult of Kindle was the discovery that many of the classic Battletech novels are available for purchase. This was technically my very first book series that I ever got into (yes, even before Dune), but it was also one that immediately taught me just how underappreciated science fiction and fantasy novels are in Philippine book stores. At best I'd catch one or two of these books per store, which I'd quickly snatch up if by some chance it happened to be one I didn't already have.

But now I'm clearly past that childhood book collecting trauma and can now move on to retro-nostalgia buying via the Kindle Store. While not all books are available for download (yet?), a lot of the bigger, more popular stories are already available online.

This was one of them - a series I had never managed to find in print in any of the shops here. Plus it was the first set of books written by Michael A. Stackpole, who later on became my favorite Battletech writer (and perhaps Star Wars too). Thus this proved to be an interesting exploration of both a childhood fave in terms of the franchise and of courser a favored author.

[Movies] Your Highness (2011)

It's interesting how a weird cult following has formed around the person of James Franco. The current embodiment of the Renaissance man has captured the minds and hearts of many fans ranging from those who like him for his looks, his academic achievements and everything else in-between. It's crazily difficult to keep track of everything that he eventually gets into since he seems to have a near infinite amount of time for exploring new hobbies.

I can't say that I'm a true fan at this point, but I am certainly amused at the weird acting range he tends to operate in. He does comedy pretty decently, although it's all done in a manner that I suppose could be termed ironic since he's funnier when he's not consciously trying to be so. If anything, his appeal for me is how stupid he can be while still managing to hold a decent conversation. The statement is quite confusing, I know, but it's certainly a good start.

This movie truly felt like a fan service piece, especially given his success in recent years in endeavors that touch the youth more directly. His experiment with Twitter was quite a hoot and it certainly helped get him a  lot of attention and press space, both good and bad.

[Movies] Ice Blues (2008)

For one reason or another, I find myself making time to watch LGBT comedies more than any other genre. While there's a whole host of other LGBT-themed movies (especially sad relationship dramas and such) I guess my tolerance for how such stories are handled lead me back to comedy. I guess it just feels better somehow since a lot of the drama stuff seems overly, well, dramatic - for lack of a better term.

But this series has gotten me reconsidering my stance for the gay mystery movie - a fun amalgamation of old gumshoe detective stories with that of the plucky female detective I suppose. Except Donald here isn't all that plucky.

But he is gay.

What I like most about this series is how there are so many different kinds of gay people that they try to represent. The protagonist is rather butch, but clearly in love with his partner. His partner is more delicate while his assistant at work is a bit more of a queen. And of course their clients make up the rest of the spectrum, thus presenting more angles from which to experience the story.