Saturday, September 29, 2007

reminders...

...Old cell phones, cell phone batteries, cell phone chargers should be properly disposed of. I just saw a receptacle for these at Glorietta and you could drop them off there. The same goes for old laptops and laptop batteries. Some of these old electronic devices can actually be recycled by their respective manufacturers, and they should usually provide information regarding drop-off centers.

...According to the Credit Card Association of the Philippines, per DTI AO no. 10, series of 2006: there should be no additional charges when you pay using a credit card, there should only be one price tag per item, and that the indicated price should already be VAT-inclusive (if it is VATable).

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

B Movie


When I saw this, I couldn't help but stop and read it. Bee Movie is still to be shown here but I've seen the trailer and it looks quite funny. The storybook is based on the movie but is only 40 pages and targets those who are 9-12 y.o.

The story revolves around the bee Barry B. Benson, who must choose his lifelong career after graduation. Barry soon discovers that humans have been stealing honey from the bees and with the help of his new human friend, Vanessa, he stirs up trouble by fighting for bee justice.

celebrity sighting... at Outback Glorietta, Anne Curtis. Tall, slim, and VERY beautiful.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Protectors...

When I as younger, I used to read a lot of serious novels that were quite mature for my age at that time. It is quite funny that nowadays, I enjoy reading a lot of young adult novels and comics/graphic novels. Proof that my brain is turning to mush probably. Anyway, the last two (or rather five) that I read are about people who help and stand up for the oppressed...


Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1 (To Be A Lantern) gathers the first 6 issues of the new Green Lantern Corps comic series. It tells the different tragedies and triumphs of members of the Corps as they try to patrol and protect their assigned sectors of the universe. Each comic issue tells several parts of stories that are eventually brought to a close after a few issues, a common strategy to keep the reader interested and buy the next issue and therefore complete the story. We get to see that Lanterns do have personal lives and that that the Corps has as much camaradarie among it's members (and not just military-like order).


Protector of the Small is a quartet of books (First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight) written by Tamora Pierce. It is sort of a sequel to The Immortals quartet that I have previously read and written about because events in this series occur several years after the Immortal War. (Chronologically, The Song of the Lioness quartet started it all and it was followed by The Immortals quartet.)
Keladry of Mindelan, or Kel, wants to become a Lady Knight just like her idol Alanna, The Lioness. The series covers her struggles to achieve her dream, starting from becoming a probationary page at age 10 and ending as a full-pledged knight at 18. Pierce's previous characters make cameos in this series, and she again writes as simply and clearly as before. A good story that is interspersed with action, humor, and drama makes this very entertaining light reading. Kel makes for a very endearing character as Alanna or Daine, but has lots of uniqueness just the same.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

HK


Batman Hong Kong was written by famed writer Doug Moench. What is special about this graphic novel is that it was drawn by Tony Wong in his famed asian style (popularized in several of his own action/kung-fu comics). I usually read comics and graphic novels for their stories and I rarely get to notice the artwork. This one is an exception because the story as well as the art is like a blending of East and West. Batman leaves Gotham to pursue a killer when leads point to Hong Kong. He teams up with Night Dragon and they eventually resolve the chaos that gripped HK in the wake of their quarry's crazy criminal capers.

tedbits... In a previous entry I wrote about CRs. Robinson's Galleria is renovating it's male CR's into the waterless urinal systems like that of SM. It is a good way to save water, I hope all the Robinson's Malls do substitute into that system.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Ultimate X4


What happens when Ultimate Fantastic Four meets Ultimate X-Men? Well, this graphic novel is the answer. Cerebro is stolen and all clues lead to the Baxter building. Wolverine, Iceman and Phantom sneak into the FF's HQ, and of course the two groups get into a fight. They get to team up in the end to regain Cerebro and defeat the real culprit. Nice enough story. The last several pages are profiles of "Ultimate" characters, which makes the comic a good enough buy.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Rogue Assassin


Rogue Assassin brings back together Jet Li and Jason Statham (who were previously in The One). Statham plays an FBI agent who is after "Rogue", a Yakuza assassin played by Jet Li. Intense action and fight scenes make it an entertaining movie. There is also a twist in the end that may not be that unexpected.

As I have written in my previous post, it s already the -ber months. That means Christmas carols are already being played in malls and over the radio...

Saturday, September 08, 2007

cr...

I get to pass by several shopping malls while going to and from work. I sometimes while away the time there and of course, get to use their public comfort rooms in the process. As you may well know, males have urinals in their CRs.

The cleanest CRs for me are those at Ayala Malls. Those of the rest are more or less at par with each other. The urinals in Ayala Malls flush automatically without your having to touch or push anything. I think this is more hygeinic than those where you still have to press the plunger in order to flush. SM Mall CRs, meanwhile, employ the no-flush/waterless system which according to them saves more than 100,000 liters of water per urinal per year. This is very sensible in terms of water conservation and again is more hygeinic than having to flush by yourself.

Thank goodness also for pay CRs like the one in EDSA Shang-rila Mall! P10 gives you the opportunity to use a cleaner and a bit more private CR. Tissue paper is also almost unlimited. Contrast that with still having to buy tissue from vendo machines that cost P3 and are quite inadequate.


moving on... my recent reads:

JSA Classified Honor Among Thieves compiles JSA Classified issues #5-9. The first storyline invloves the resurgence of the Injustice Society while the second storyline involves Flash and Wildcat against the Spear of Destiny. Overall story and art is quite good.


The Batman in Nine Lives by Motter and Lark is an Elseworlds graphic novel. As the Elseworlds introduction goes: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places - some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist. The result is stories that make characters who are as familiar as yesterday seem as fresh as tomorrow." The setting of this story is in the 1940s, with Batman trying to solve who killed Selina Kyle. The other charaters like Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Joker, Penguin, Two-face, and others are portrayed as real people without any powers, but with character traits similar to the original ones. Being a Batman fan, it is nice to be able to see Batman in a different light.