[Movies] Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

While I have been known to enjoy Japanese anime from time to time, even I have to admit that I'm not exactly a hardcore fan as compared to others. And this has nothing to do with my impressions on the quality of the work that comes out of Japan - they're all pretty awesome. It's more me admitting that I don't always have the needed time to invest in a TV series that requires subtitles. That's the biggest challenge I face in terms of having more anime in my life.

But my history is littered with the occasional series that did manage to get my attention. And the Samurai X cartoon series was definitely one of the highlights of my geek life. It's not necessarily my all-time favorite or anything like that, but it was a show that I did find myself investing significant time in.

And initially I was really scared about the news that this was being adapted into a live-action movie. Time and time again we've seen how cartoons just don't immediately translate well into life-action, especially complex tales like this one. Add in the fact that only SM Cinemas were going to bring the movie to the country and you can imagine my initial reluctance to go see this movie.

But Tobie and I eventually made the trek to Ortigas and managed to catch it at The Podium. And the end result- totally blown away by what they filmmakers accomplished.

[TV] Threesome: Season 2

I feel sort of bad that not too many friends have discovered the joy that is Threesome, a rather funny comedy that has manage to float under the radar for most folks outside of the UK. But thanks the the joys of the internet and little reviews like this, I'd like to think that we stand a chance of getting more folks hooked on the show, and thus keeping it alive as well. It's really just one of those shows that need all the help that it can get in the fan department, and I totally think they deserve the love.

And let's face it, it's a pretty unique series that really brings straight characters and gay ones together in a manner that keeps everything feeling normal while also presenting some interesting scenarios for us to consider. As I mentioned in my review of the first season, this is not about a gay man who lives with a straight couple. This really is another sitcom about close friends and sexual identity is not necessarily central to the premise of the show. And we definitely need more shows that elevate gay roles to more than just comic relief or tweaked out circuit boys.

[Movies] Love Actually (2003)

After "montage romantic comedies" like Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve, one can't help but feel annoyed at how director Gary Marshall seems to have totally missed the point in terms of how these sorts of movies can work. Rather than a hodgepodge of scenes of various stories taking place at the same time, the opportunity for truly novel storytelling of this nature is missed time and time again. It isn't about the number of actors but the quality of the plot threads that tie them all together.

Thus we come back to this gem of a movie, Love Actually, that I feel best demonstrated this concept well before the Marshall movies and did it a heck of a lot better. And it comes as no surprise that this was a British production - they really have different sensibilities about these things, I feel. And while the movie still features a rather impressive cast of diverse actors and actresses, they are all merely players bringing a story to life instead of a bunch of stars that just happened to appear in a single movie. There's a world of difference to be found there, believe me.

This is a movie that never really gets old no matter how many times you watch it and it probably deserves revisiting from time to time.

[TV] Wilfred (US): Season 2

I love dogs. But that isn't exactly the reason why I continue to watch this show. I watch it because it's pretty darn funny.

And it has a guy in a dog suit.

I will never understand how a guy like Elijah Wood got involved in this crazy adaptation of an Australian TV series. Then again, after something as epic as Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings books, what else can you get yourself involved in? So on that note, I suppose it makes sense to sort of distance yourself from the epic fantasy genre and end up in a quirky comedy series.

But I have to admit, the show really works. And it's a lot smarter than people assume it to be, man in a dog suit notwithstanding. And this is not your typical comedy either (although there's a lot to laugh at or about). But beyond that, we really do have a man dealing with some potentially serious mental issues.

But more on that later.

[Games] Transformers Legends (Android)

So I do my best to review the different Android apps that I use on my ASUS Transformer TF101, but I only have so much time in the day for blogging. But then this app, which only launched recently, totally deserves some special review time, even during this holiday week.

Transformers Legends is another attempt by Hasbro to cash in on the worldwide love for Transformers. It combines the game play of a computer card game with the additive qualities of CCGs. Heck, a lot of the elements of this game are more like Zynga games like Mafia Wars. But the big thing that makes this game so  different is the fact that it involves Transformers. And not Michael Bay movie era Transformers but those that seem to echo the original 1986 cartoon.

[Books] The Quantum Thief (Jean le Flambeur Book 1) Review

This is probably one of the best science fiction books that I've read this year - or in a while. And admittedly, The Quantum Thief is no easy book either.

When I first started reading this book, it reminded me a lot of my experience in reading Peter F. Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction back in high school. I knew from the start that it was an interesting book, but I also knew that it wasn't going to be the kind of book that one can read while distracted by other things. It was a story set in a very rich setting with a lot of unique concepts and terms and the book was mature enough not to stop and explain everything to you as a reader. You just had to keep up and gain better understanding on thigns as you go along.

I definitely had that initial sense of confusion when I started with this book, but over time the story just kept me more and more hooked as I gained a better understanding of the unique reality that Rajaniemi setup. And quite frankly, it was worth every moment of the experience.

It's good to note that this book is but the first in a trilogy of stories (and maybe more in the future). But it stands quite well on its own, to be frank about things.

Although I must admit, the timing of this review was not intentional. It's not like this story has any direct connections to Christmas in any way.

[Movies] Rise of the Guardians (2012)

I had actually watched this movie with +Tobie Abad (testing G+ Blogger integration!) a while back, but given all the other movies we had also watched since then, this review got deferred a bit. But I also figured it would be nicely time to review Rise of the Guardians this close to Christmas. No matter how you look at it, you have to concede that this is our child-focused holiday animated feature for 2012. It's practically a tradition at this point.

As is more and more the case these days, I have not had a chance to read the books that the movie is based on. If it helps any, I did have a bit of a discussion with a friend who has, at least to give me better perspective on the franchise. If anything, I wanted to go see it since it meant having all these mythical characters together in one story. And that has to be worth something, right?

Of course this is coming from a geek who still actively collects Transformers and random LEGO minifigs. Go figure.

[TV] Threesome: Season 1

It's always tricky to determine when exactly it's safe to review a new British television show since their series (as opposed to "season") format doens't exactly have a clear number of episodes in mind. Sometimes a full series can be 6 episodes. Sometimes it goes on for 13. Other cases involve only three episodes, but each is like a mini-movie in itself.

And thus I end up forgetting to go back to a show for review purposes, hence this very late review for the comedy Threesome, which is a show that I enjoy quite a lot.

And posting these reviews during my Technicolor Musings weekly spot here on the Geeky Guide is a bit hit or miss for me, I have to admit. I like highlighting it as an LGBT-related show since it does have a central gay character. But the joy of the series is that it's not about trying to jam a version gay culture down your throat all the time.

At the end of the day it's a sitcom that has a gay character in a lead role, and that's it. It's not a show because he's gay - the brilliance is that he's treated no differently than anyone else.

Besides, it's the craziness of the straight people in this story that we really ought to worry about.

[Movies] 2012 (2009)

It's been a fairly busy holiday week and I haven't had a chance to watch the next James Bond movie as part of my on-going review series. So instead I dug through the movies that I had already seen previously and realized that I had never posted a review of the Roland Emmerich disaster movie 2012.

Ironic right? I swear, I totally didn't plan this! It's not my fault that the supposed day of the apocalypse based on some Mayan calendar misinterpretation is supposed to be today!

But back on point, I felt this was definitely one of Emmerich's more ridiculous movies, not that he's known for truly thought-provoking content when you think about it. I mean seriously, even the phrase "Roland Emmerich disaster movie" seems redundant since such special effects spam movies are his bread and butter in the industry. And no matter how bad the stories are or how ridiculous some of the plot twists end up being, they still rake in millions and millions of dollars in revenue.

Now that's what's really crazy.

[TV] Leverage: Season 2

So Tobie introduced me to Leverage and since then the show has started to grow on me. And while I can't say I'm a huge fan of the storylines on their own, I do admit that I've fallen quite in love with the characters themselves. And that's where the story really shines.

Sure you can put together any group of actors together and hope the writing carries things on their own. But if you really want a show to shine, you need strong players who can bring good character writing to life. And this show has definitely managed to put a lot of those pieces into play.

The show seems to have a tendency for ending its seasons on rather stressful cliffhangers, which is a classic trope in the TV world. But given the fact that Tobie and I have just gotten into the series while the fifth season is currently airing, it does somewhat soften the potential impact of said cliffhangers. Not that this takes away from the show or anything like that - if anything it does provide a degree of assurance

And given a show like this, we do need some sort of a lifeline to carry us through the tricky spots.

[Transformers] Generations Deluxe Class Wave 3

I admit the table was rather messy when I took these shots LOL

Continuing my on-going reviews of the various Transformers Generations figures by release wave, we come to the rather timely pairing for Cybetronian Soundwave and Red Alert. I say this is timely only because of the Voyager-class Fall of Cybertron figures for Soundwave and Soundblaster that pretty much follow the same mold as this Soundwave figure with some differences.

This wave marked a change in overall distribution and a relative effort to release an equal number of Autobots and Decepticons overall. As of Wave 2 our count ended at 3-3 and now this brings us to 4-4. Good times.

[Books] Star Wars: Fury (Legacy of the Force Book 7)

As my journey through the Legacy of the Force books draws to a close, I have to admit that I'm quite enjoying how the story has developed over time. Sure, it's had more than its fair share of bad and even silly moments, but I suppose it would not be a true Star Wars adventure without those kinds of moments.

I've come to appreciate Aaron Allston's contributions to the Star Wars universe over the years starting from his time with the X-Wing series of books. He's become quite the key author in the new Star Wars books ever since the events of the New Jedi Order marked a big change in the overall narrative. I do sincerely appreciate the decision to enforce a stronger meta-plot across the Star Wars books as opposed to the isolated (yet still loosely interconnected) adventures of the past.

This book marks a return to the more "strategic" action that we've come to expect based on prior Star Wars books but has not been consistently in play in this particular series. Maybe it's just my perception, but I strongly feel that we had a lot more fleet action before that did result in some pretty impressive maneuvers and strategems. Thus it was nice to have more of that plus more of the growing sense of conflict and urgency as the rival forces try to take out the other side.

[Movies] The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Like most geeks, I remain a huge fan of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring movies. They were quite the masterful adaptation of the original books in manner that made the franchise a lot more accessible to a wider audience. And while there are those purists who have a number of complaints about the movies when it boils down to certain details, on the whole you can't really argue the fact that the movies were a lot of fun.

Naturally fans of the movies all wondered if Peter Jackson would ever get around to adapting The Hobbit, the rather child-friendly prequel to the core trilogy that centered on Bilbo Baggins. Initially hew as pretty adamant that he would not be involved but over the years the arguments went all back and forth until we did end up with Peter Jackson not just producing the movie but also directing it as well.

Did we really need this movie to be made? Well, maybe, since we all love Peter Jackson's vision of Middle-Earth. Did we need more than one movie based on a single book? Perhaps, but only because no single movie can perfectly adapt every part of any book. But did we need for this movie to be a trilogy? Now there I definitely draw the line and say that's just going way overboard for this franchise.

[Technicolor Musings] Another Pride March As The Fight Goes On

Last December 8 was the 2012 Metro Manila LGBT Pride March - Sari-Sali: Pride in Action. Tobie and I marched together with the PG4M contingent along with quite a number of other organizations representing various LGBT groups, allies to the LGBT community and a number of companies and LGUs as well. It was quite the memorable event, although naturally I still wished that more people had attended.

Regardless of the opportunities that the march experienced this year, it still remains a key event in the pink calendar and an important reminder to the local community that we're still here and we're still demanding equal rights. Demonstrations like this go a long way towards the overall fight for the LGBT cause in the country and to some extent the world at large.

So for today I'll leave you with this question - How much do you truly value the cause of LGBT rights?

Whether or not you attended the march this year or in years prior or whether or not you vote for LGBT-friendly government officials and party-list groups, have you ever really thought about how much this matters to you. Do you think things are okay as they are? Do you think that the members of the LGBT community do not need access to civil marriage rights and other frequently discussed legal rights concerns? Are you okay with how things are for LGBTs in the Philippines or do you think we need change?

And just what are you prepared to do to help make that change happen?

[Movies] Goldfinger (1964)

Without a doubt, Goldfinger is probably one of the best-known James Bond movies, especially from the Sean Connery era. And that's not a surprise at all given the movie's many diverse elements including high action, quirky gadgets and a rather memorable movie villain. There's nothing quite like obsession to help define your evil mastermind.

Over the years, this is the one James Bond movie that I most remember seeing parts of and yet never truly sitting through from start to finish. You know how it is - it just seems to always be playing on one movie channel or another and yet you always catch it mid-way or while channel surfing to something else. And since the movie has been around for as long as it has, you also keep thinking that you can defer it for another day.

So I finally made sure to sit down to see it for real as part of my on-going efforts to watch all of the James Bond movies. And it was definitely a lot of fun.

[TV] Leverage: Season 1

I can't fully explain why it took us so long to get into Leverage. A few friends here and there had recommended the show to us previously, but for one reason or another we never gave it a shot. I suppose the fact that it sounded like a Mission Impossible style show with "bad guys" as leads seemed like a lazy rehash of the old concept may have played a part.

But recently Tobie gave the show a shot and now has me watching the episodes as well and I'll admit that it's not so bad. I don't think it'll evolve to become my favorite TV show any time soon, but admittedly there are far worse shows on air now than this.

The show is already in its fifth season and there are talks of it finally coming to an end. It's a sad reality to consider for any TV show, but then again these things have their project lifespans that need to be played out accordingly.

But for now it's time to go back to the very beginning.

[Transformers] Generations Deluxe Class Wave 2

Continuing off after my review of the first wave of Transformers Generations Deluxe-class figures, this second wave only consists of two figures where the first wave had four. And given that there were other toylines based on the Michael Bay movies also being released, the Generations line would continue with these smaller release cycles for quite some time.

If you have been keeping track, then you would have noticed that the first wave consisted of 3 Autobots and only 1 Decepticon. This second wave seemed intent on trying to even the score a bit with the addition of two more Decepticons - although their choice of Decepticons may have skewed things instead.

After all, both figures represent leaders of the Decepticons at one time or another. Thus they represent some pretty heavy firepower brought to the table indeed.

[Books] 100 Years of Vicissitude

Since I invest a bit of time in cross-posting portions of my book reviews over on Amazon, I periodically get offers for review copies for various novels. And despite the gazillion other books left in my reading queue, I do my best to slot these titles a little earlier just so that I can give the author feedback about his work as soon as possible. And like I've mentioned in the introductions of other such book reviews, the experience has certainly been an interesting one, thus introducing me to some rather interesting new books and thus new authors.

This book came along and tickled my fancy with respect to its touching on Japanese culture - something that I'm quite passionate about as evidenced by the fact that I own practically all the books written by Haruki Murakami and I have quite a thing for sushi buffets. But that's not an automatic equation for success when you get down to it, and thus perhaps I should have stuck more to books more in my typical interest range.

Given the nature of this book was a bit outside of my comfort zone that probably colored my appreciation for the title. Initially it was a bit difficult for me to really get into the book, but I eventually overcame that in time.

[Movies] Cloud Atlas (2012)

Over the years, a lot of folks talk about various books that seem impossible to adapt into a movie. But as movie making technology has involved in terms of special effects, make-up and even just sheer creative vision, thus more and more of these "impossible" movies have managed to hit theaters anyway.

It's rather inspiring in that regard how these filmmakers defy all odds, risk the stigma of extremely high fan expectations and still manage to release these movies. And despite how much people expect a lot of these movies to fail, many times we have been pleasantly surprised and even overwhelmed in awe and wonder.

This was one such movie - another case of a book that I had not read getting the Hollywood nod. And while initially I was rather concerned how the trailer seemed to feature the gimmick of the make-up more than just the story, it in no way prepared me for just how amazing this movie would actually be.

So while I can totally understand how this movie could have been deemed "impossible" to adapt into a film, the movie wasn't just created - it was crafted to be downright interstellar.

[Technicolor Musings] Happy LGBT Pride 2012!

Tobie's Journey-inspired T-Shirt Design for Pride 2012

Yesterday was LGBT Pride here in Manila, and it was quite the fun experience. While there were a few hiccups initially, in the end the march itself managed to get underway decently enough.

I still wish that there had been more familiar faces at the march, but you can't win everyone right away. Every year I invest some of my social media time to promote the march and I think I'll continue to add pressure in the years to come to see how many people I can convince to march. It's a good goal to keep in mind for future pride marches.

So major kudos to Task Force Pride 2012! You pulled it off! Congrats!

[Movies] From Russia With Love (1963)

So my recent explorations of the James Bond movies is certainly an interesting and not quite as painful as I had expected. While these movies may seem theoretically "dated" given they were first released in the 1960's the end result is anything but, quite frankly. If anything it's interesting to note how well the movies stand on their own despite the many advances in technology in recent years that make some of their little tricks and special devices not all that special.

This second movie includes the return of Sean Connery as James Bond and thus cementing this part of his career as an actor. And let's face it, he truly defined the role for many viewers and this movie does seem to be a rather good representation of precisely that.

The movie certainly stepped things up a bit versus the first jaunt into the James Bond universe. We saw more complex spy gadgets this time around, a nicely complex plot and of course the recurrence of SPECTRE as the criminal organization that Bond is pretty much up against.

And yes, there are Russians, too.

[TV] Fringe: Season 4

The fact is not lost on me that the fifth season of Fringe is well underway and I'm only getting around to posting a review for the fourth season now. Then again, this is one of those those that are best savored instead of rushed through - plus it hurts when there's no new Fringe to watch for extended periods of time. Case in point, we're actually still at least 2 episodes behind in terms of the current season since we don't want to be left without the option of going forward to the next episode in case we end on a particularly compelling cliffhanger.

And let's face it, Fringe loves its cliffhangers.

This penultimate fourth season wobbled a bit for me, but in the long run it still makes a lot of sense in terms of the overall progression of the series. And things do look increasingly grim for the realities / universes covered and perhaps inevitably complicated as well.

But that's really part of the fun of the series, when you really get down to it.

[Transformers] Generations Deluxe Class Wave 1

Now I had previously established how much I've come to love the Classics / Universe / Generations lines of Transformers figures that have come out in recent years. They're nicely done designs that predominantly pay tribute to the "classic" Generation 1 look of Transformers popularized by the animated TV series back in the 1980's. And while I was a little late in the game in terms of collecting these figures, I was quite solidly already engaged by the time Generations was launched in 2010 and thus committed to collecting the figures as best as I could.

In addition, recent years has seen a greater effort to more or less standardize the size of Transformers into various classes like Legend and Voyager. But the Deluxe class naturally seemed the most accessible since it debuts at a decelt retail price point and it's a nice size for figures. I've focused on the Deluxe classc of figures above all others since Legends tend to have less than ideal detail while Voyager class robots don't always seem like good value for money for me.

And since I started to realize that I don't quite feature enough Transformers on this blog despite how much I love the core franchise, I figured it was about time that I rectified that with a new series of posts focused on the toys that I already have.

[Books] Star Wars: Inferno (Legacy of the Force Book 6)

The on-going saga at the heart of the Legacy of the Force is somewhat a "classic" one as far as the Star Wars universe is concerned - or perhaps in terms of literature as a whole. This is not the first time that we've followed a character in his descent into what is generally termed as evil, no matter how well-intentioned things were at the start.  Before we saw the fall of Anakin Skywalker as he became Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequel movies and now we see the same thing happen to Jacen Solo, son of Han and Leia.

But what is a bit more interesting this time around is how the writing team behind the series tried to give a greater degree of plausibility to why Jacen fell as compared to the movies. Let's face it - Anakin Skywalker seemed to have rather shallow and petty reasons for embracing the Dark Side whereas the writers had a bit more leverage to plot the slow but seemingly inevitible fall given the events that started all the way back in the New Jedi Order series of books that covered the Yuuzhan Vong war.

Jacen becoming a Sith Lord was no idle whim or kneejerk reaction. Instead, it was a rather methodical corrupting of his life to leave him pretty much doomed to take on the dark mantle. And I think this book helped better capture a lot of that versus the other ones in the series thus far.

[Movies] The Campaign (2012)

The US political scene is admittedly something that the whole world watches to one degree or another. I suppose we can't help it - the influence of that one country on the rest of the world is rather significant indeed. And thus we all have vested interests in how the political situation there changes over time.

Now watching this political arena turned into a movie isn't quite my cup of tea, but for one reason or another I ended up watching it with Tobie and my sister during our Singapore visit earlier this year. And combining the strange subject of the movie plus the casting of Will Ferrell and Zach Galifiankis and, well, you don't get a perfect comedy for me.

And yes, I'm not a big fan of either comedic actor given more often than not I feel their humor plays more to rather base slapstick or even gross-out humor instead of actually witty comedic dialog.

Plus there are only so many jokes that you can make about political campaigns when you really think about it.

[Technicolor Musings] Celebrating the Fight Against Intolerance

Every year, December 1 is celebrated as World AIDS Day, an important time to remember the continued fight against the spread of both the virus and the intolerance that naturally comes with it. At least that's the way things are now - with a lot of work and continued effort, we all look forward to the day that we bring the number of new HIV infections to zero and when people stop alienating people who have the virus.

At the same time, December is also a time when Filipinos - at least those in Metro Manila - take time to celebrate LGBT Pride with the annual Metro Manila Pride March.

It's interesting to note how both the fight against AIDS and the fight for LGBT rights have many similarities. Both are things (or perhaps states of being?) that are often met with a certain degree of ridicule and definitely intolerance born of ignorance. Naturally because of its prevalence, there is the inevitably thinking that one follows the other (and which comes first doesn't even matter at times). Too many people think that gay people are worth condemning and thus "deserve" to contact HIV / AIDS. Or some believe that people who have HIV / AIDS did something "wrong" to again somehow "deserve" infection.

But both being gay and living with HIV are not things to be ashamed of nor should these be things that we have to hide. They simply are what they are and until we as a society learn to treat it as such, then we'll never really get to where we need to be in terms of equal rights and true acceptance as a race. Until we can put aside these petty disagreements for those who are different from us, then we'll never mature as a people - or even as a species.

So take this month as a good time to remember the struggles that both these groups of people face every day. Take time to remember that gay pride is more than just a street party and HIV awareness and advocacy is more than taking an HIV test just once in your life. It is about changing the way you think and essentially changing the way we live our lives.