[Games] Strikefleet Omega (Android)

I was surprised to come across this game recently on the Google Play Store as one of the recommended free apps. But the promise of managing a small fleet of capital spaceships and support fighters seemed too good a deal to pass. Plus it was free, hello!

Not many free games preoccupy a lot of my time. More often than not I try a game for a few minutes or maybe an hour but then if it doesn't hook me I move on. Strikefleet Omega is one of those games that has managed to capture a LOT of my attention and I keep going back to it - including trying to replay earlier missions in order to win more stars.

But more on that in the review proper.

This game totally surprised me and I'm curious to see what other games the developer may come up with. Plus there's the consideration that sooner or later clones of the game are bound to come along, as is often the case for popular games like this.

Okay, I don't necessarily know if it's actually popular, but I liked it! Tough!

[Comics] Y: the Last Man

I briefly considered splitting this review into separate reviews for the 10 volumes of the series, but that seemed like too much work. Besides, I can't quite separate the story of this graphic novel series into the volumes in my head. So best to talk about this as a single collective work, which ultimately it is.

My partner Tobie, who introduced me to the world of Vertigo comics. I can't quite explain why I never got around to reading titles from this comic book line before that point - it's just something that happens, I suppose. But that's all in the past and now I've been able to enjoy quite a number of interesting titles thanks to him.

Now this is a book that I can't quite picture myself picking up on my own. Without someone to introduce me to what this comic is all about, it's not exactly something that would blip on my radar. So in the same way that I was able to experience the joys of this title, I figured it would be nice to introduce you geeky readers to this comic in turn. Pay it forward and all that, right?

This assumes you folks trust me of course.

[Movies] Apollo 18 (2011)

The whole "found footage" sub-genre of movies (typically horror films at that) is getting rather old, in my opinion. As landmark as the original Blairwitch Project was in terms of shaking up a lot of our assumptions in terms of movie budgets, what was once a remarkable technique has fast become a cliche.

I guess what frustrates me more is how a lot of times the use of said technique tends to be mishandled in terms of which camera the director chooses to involve. More often than not we have directors breaking their own rules with respect to the found footage premise and resorting to magical cameras that take up more interesting angles and the like.

This movie didn't exactly excite me when the trailers first came out, but this past weekend felt a bit slow and I wasn't in the mood to watch Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is the only new movie showing in theaters.

It wasn't too bad, I suppose, but at the very least it wasn't entirely boring.

I didn't get scared though.

[Pink News] The LoveYourself Hub Opens Today!

The following is a press release from LoveYourself.ph:

The Love Yourself Project, an ongoing advocacy group which aims to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS is set to open ‘The Love Yourself Hub’ on July 8, 2012 at 1850 Leon Guinto St., Malate, Manila (at the back of PWU).

The Love Yourself Hub will serve as a resource center to further increase the levels of awareness and knowledge, counseling and education, wellness, prevention, cure and rehabilitation of the communities it serves specially the youth and LGBT-MSM in response to sexually transmitted infections (STI and HIV) and other sexuality-related concerns.

One of the main key programs is to conduct HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) with the able support of the Research Institute for Topical Medicine (RITM).

To complement this main task, equally important are the other goals which aim to establish the following: ‘EQUALITY’ without regard to HIV status, religion, sex, gender preference and culture; provide skills training to other advocate volunteers on HIV counseling, HIV health education and management; empower professionals and other advocate volunteers to administer timely, appropriate therapeutic counseling and safe quality care; promote HIV education (e.g. Philippine HIV/AIDS Law) through partnerships with education-related groups and organizations; align with the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC), World Health Organization (WHO) and partners to maximize resources.

The Love Yourself Hub shall embrace the ideals set forth by its parent organization – the Love Yourself Project by reaching out to the community it serves by propagating ideas and practices that encourage loving one's self -- to DARE to be oneself, to CARE for oneself, and to SHARE oneself as a way to multiplying joy.

[Movies] Back to the Future Part II (1989)

More often than not, I've spent a lot of time on this blog lamenting how the sequel of a movie brings the entire franchise down a peg (or three) in terms of overall quality. It is very, very rare that a sequel movie lives up to the reputation of the original what more stands a chance of actually surpassing it even. But I think that at least for this movie, the notion may just be true.

Back to the Future Part II remains one of the most memorable movies in the trilogy for me. I can't quite put my finger on why this is the case, but it probably has to do with the fact that our heroes actually do travel to the "future" - at least as far as late 1980's sensibilities go - whereas the first and third movies spent a lot more time in the past. Not that I have anything specifically against depictions of historical periods - you just have to admit how depictions of the future tend to be pretty cool.

The movie also went on to provide even more examples of more "average Joe" friendly explanations of the effects of time travel, the challenges of causality and how alternate timelines are born. It may not seem like much today or to geeks such as myself, but one has to acknowledge how much effort the writers put into making sure that everyone in the audience stood a decent chance of figuring out what the heck was going on. And that's a rather admirable thing indeed.