A Friend of a Friend

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: The Gospel According to John
Category: Website/Blogsite
Rating:

A friend of mine posted this website on her Multiply site and when I browsed through it, I found it really nice.

The Gospel According to John is not a website on religion but a website concerning technology. The site showcases reviews on new tech and also articles written by the blogger concerning techs.

The website is fairly new. As this afternoon, it only has 4 posts. But it's a promising website. It has a simple layout without all the fancy stuff like floating hearts or moving backgrounds. The layout used is one of the standard templates in blogspot that navigating isn't really hard to do. But what I like about his blogsite is the fact that he doesn't use a lot of technical terms that people who aren't really that "fluent" in tech language would understand (someone like me. :P) So reading his reviews on the Panasonic ZS3 and the Magic Mouse didn't put a question mark on my head wondering what it was really about.

I will look forward to his other articles and reviews.

Why is it only four tumbling babies instead of a real well deserved five? It only has 4 blog entries so it's fairly new. I hope that he continues to write in this blog then maybe if he makes it frequent enough, it will change from 4 to 5 tumbling babies.

Visit his website at http://techgospelaccordingtojohn.blogspot.com/ and see for yourself. :)

Finished TV Series

It's actually a bit late but I only recently finished watching these two TV series. One is again being currently shown locally in the Philippines at Studio 23 everyday at 7pm and the other one isn't being shown locally at all but I got the DVD compilation of the series from my brother.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Kyle XY
Category: TV Series
Rating:


The concept of the series was more or less unique when they first started showing it. Although there were many series that were shown with more or less the same concept, Kyle XY lasted more than 2 seasons. A breakthrough more or less for the kind of concept they had shown.

Kyle is a genetic experiment whose powers come from his super brain. Not only is he faster than a computer but because of his powerful brain, he can do a lot of super human things like jumping off buildings without hurting himself in the process.

The first season introduces him to the world as a boy who has amnesia with the ability to absorb anything by just a snap of a finger. Through each episode he learns a particular ability that slowly unravel who he really is.

The second season starts off by returning to the family who took care of him when he had amnesia and was introduced with a female version of him named Jesse. They continue with finding out their potential and how much of their brain they can use. At the same time, they battle off the people who wants them to become super weapons in their quest for a normal life.

The final season is the continuation of their quest for a normal life at the same time trying their best to defeat the people who needs them for other purposes. But the series ended at a cliffhanger with Kyle finding out he has a brother who isn't super human.

The first two seasons were okay. The way the story progressed was well written and the actors did handle their characters nicely. I loved the way they introduce a new ability and how they try to put the element of family drama in it. The show didn't just focus on the two super humans (Kyle and Jesse) but also the rest of the characters who helps them out.

The third season on the other hand clearly shows how hurriedly they want to wrap up the whole series. They left a lot of questions even if they try to answer some of the previous seasons questions. And they left the series at a cliff hanger with people wondering, "Now what?"

It's sad though. I'm thinking that if they didn't cancel the show, they could have done a better ending than what they have showed.

So for this, three tumbling babies by ending the show so abruptly.

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: BBC's Robin Hood
Category: TV Series
Rating:


I'm a huge fan of Robin Hood. I tried to watch all reincarnations of the legendary English Hero and this new Robin Hood nearly topped my list of favorite incarnations (the top being Men in Tights that although it was a comedy version of Prince of Thieves, I was highly entertained).

Of course, they kept the basic storyline: Robin of Locksley came back from the crusades after serving the king of England as a personal guard to his majesty. He finds that Nottingham was different from the Nottingham he had left it with finding a new Sheriff of Nottingham and his land being taken care of by a man named Guy of Gisborne. After publicly accusing the sheriff of corruption, he was outlawed along with some of his people from Locksley. Since then, he began his quest to stop the corruption by stealing from rich and giving it back to the poor.

The first season introduces Robin and how he became an outlaw. In the beginning, we see that Robin shoots to just incapacitate his opponent but never to kill because of his experience in the crusades. This is also where his band of outlaws were formed.

The second season continues with their outlaw-ish ways. This is also the season where Robin begins to kill of his opponent rather than incapacitate but we find that when it comes to Sheriff Vesey, he couldn't kill him due to an agreement with Prince John that if the Sheriff dies, the whole of Nottingham will be destroyed. This is also the season where Robin and Marian's love story blossomed...only to put into an abrupt end when Marian died while protecting the King although they got married before Marian finally dies.

The third season finds a more reckless Robin who after a month still mourns the death of his wife. This season also introduces Brother Tuck as not the chubby friar who drinks a lot but a black man of the cloth who fights like a soldier. New characters where introduced like Guy of Gisborne's sister and Robin and Guy's half-brother Archer. This season ended with a huge explosion and half of the main cast dying, including the hero Robin Hood who was reunited with his beloved wife Marian.

The series has a good mix of action, romance, drama and comedy. The scenery and the settings were very well chosen that it gave you that good feel of jolly old England. The characters have good chemistry from the heroes to the villains and how they portray their characters were believable that you wouldn't believe that they were good friends off cam.

The third season wasn't as good for me as the first two, I guess it was mainly because the Robin-Marian tandem wasn't there anymore and Robin became a sort-of playboy having two women in love with him with him still in love with his wife but still comes of with having a relationship with both women (not at the same time of course).

I do regret that they canceled the series. At the beginning of the second season it was announced that the actors who were playing Robin and the Sheriff wouldn't renew for a fourth season. They only stayed until the third. At first, they were looking for a replacement of Robin Hood but eventually, just canceled the show altogether since Robin Hood is dead anyway. It have been nice to see what they would have done if they had replaced Robin Hood like the first Robinhood TV series "Robin of Sherwood" where a second Robin was introduced when the first one died in the series.

I guess the explosive last episode closes everything up but leaves the question of what will happen to England now that Robin is dead and Prince John still out there wanting to steal his brother's throne. But unlike Kyle XY, Robin Hood tied everything together before they burned everything to the ground.

So, four tumbling babies for me instead of five because of the love square angle between Robin, the two women who's in love with him and the memory of his dead wife.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Bohemian Rhapsody (Muppets Version)
Category: Music Video
Rating:



This is one song of Queen that I really love to listen to. It's highly entertaining, has a mix of mild rock, pop rock, rock and classical that was combined to make an awesome piece.

The rendition made by The Muppets, made it more amusing that it already was.

They have placed I think almost all the characters of Muppets and recreated the original music video of the song but made it "The Muppets" way. It was highly amusing and very hilarious. While I was watching it, I couldn't stop laughing.

My favorite part of the whole thing was Animal's part where all he said was "Mama...". It was really funny.

All in all, 5 tumbling babies for this one. I was greatly amused and until now, weeks after I've seen the video I still couldn't get it out of my head and I couldn't help but giggle every once in a while whenever I remember some of the parts...especially Animal's.

The IMAX Experience

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: Avatar Movie
Category: Movie
Rating:

Let's just say that this movie wasn't at all as I have expected it to be. I went in thinking that it would just be another so-so movie that was so hyped up but in the end, the hype wasn't worth it. I stand corrected.

The movie was well worth the money that I had spent on it. With power house CG Animation Companies like WETA and ILM taking charge, it was a wonder that nothing could go wrong in this movie when it comes to CG Animation.

The movie in itself was a typical story of power hungry humans wanting to exploit a world that isn't theirs to begin with.

Earth has discovered another planet rich with a particular mineral that a small piece of that mineral would costs thousands of dollars. In the guise of wanting to learn the culture of the natives of the planet, they put in place a special research team controlling special bodies called Avatars - a shell of a body with DNA of the particular human who would be controlling them and a DNA of the natives. Only people with the same DNA could control 1 particular Avatar. Enter Jake Sully, a crippled ex-marine whose twin brother was part of the research team but unfortunately died. He replaced his twin as a guard to the research team whenever they want to get samples of the world. As an added assignment to Sully, he was told to try to get the natives to trust him and gather as much information from them so that when they start to drive them away from their home, there wouldn't be that much of a problem.

Stage one of the assignment was easy enough to do. He was reluctantly welcomed by the natives after an accident that caused his avatar to get separated from the research team and started to learn their ways. But the more he stayed with them and continued learning, the more he understood their world, their customs and culture.

When stage two of their plan was about to begin, he was caught in the middle, not knowing which side he should be. When he finally chose, battle ensued with him helping the natives claim their planet back and drive away the humans back to their own dying planet.

In the end, he decided to remain forever in his Avatar body and become permanently part of the natives.

Like I said, the story isn't really new. But how they brought about the story into the big screen was no easy feat.

The characters have really great chemistry. You can see how they interact with each other and you see how very natural it is.

Since the setting was mostly in CG, my hats off to both WETA and ILM for doing a good job. The location while some parts are very real (I remember reading that it's somewhere in New Zealand), how they blended CG and the real thing was flawless that you won't see where the transition starts and ends. The place looks so real to me and the colors are so alive and vibrant that you would think that the animals, plants and even the natives are very real.

The same thing with the characters. The CG characters of the natives and the humans interact in such a way that you would think that the CG character was really there and just an orange ball or a puppet. It's seamless and very real. The CG of the characters were made great that their actions weren't clumsy, repetitive, and stiff. Their movement was fluid similar to how human beings move.

All in all, despite the very typical storyline, the movie was really amazing. Plus the fact that I watched it in IMAX made the experience seem real to me. Kudos for making it into a 3D movie. Five tumbling babies for this movie.


Name of Topic Being Reviewed: IMAX Theater Mall of Asia
Category: Place
Rating:

I had my reservations with spending P400 on the movie where I would be watching behind colored glasses. I was happy enough that my IMAX experience was well worth the price.

The seats were comfortable. The back rest is not stiff...it moves to a comfortable position. The arm rest are also movable. You can pull it up if you don't want any hindrance, especially useful when you want to talk to your friend sitting beside you.

The setting of the cinema is a bit curved so wherever you sat, you'll have the full effect of the movie.

The 3D animation of the movie is really fantastic! I love how the image jumps out in front of you. It looks so real that more than one occasion, I half-lifted my arm to block an non-existent branch or reached out to touch a floating creature.

The sound system is also great! Good combination of bass, voice and sound effects. Spoken words weren't drowned out by the sounds and the background music has the right amount of bass and treble that one doesn't drown the other.

All in all a good place to watch a movie especially for movies that needs those 3D effects to make the movie experience perfect, like when I watched Avatar last night.

My only problem with it that's why it only has four tumbling babies if the fact that since it was so real, nausea was real as well. I'm someone who has motion sickness so, I got a bit dizzy with some parts especially when they were flying around and when they were looking down...I had the feeling of vertigo. So, for people who has the same problem as I am, I suggest you buy yourselves motion sickness meds and drink it before you go watch an IMAX film.

2012

Name of Topic Being Reviewed: 2012
Category: Movie
Rating:

This was one heart-stopping, suspense-filled movie. For a movie where ILM has nothing to do, it was one of those better movies that came out this year.

I would compare this movie with the bible story of the Noah's Ark. For those not familiar, God told a man named Noah to build a huge ark and put in it pairs of every type of animals God created. It rained for forty days and forty nights. Until finally, the rain stopped, the water subsided and they created a new life afterwards.

Movie wise, in the year 2009 a scientist found an irregularity with the sun that affected the earth's core. They predicted that by 2012, the world would feel the whole impact. From 2009 - 2012, preparations for that impact went underway in Tibet. But calculations went wrong and D-day was earlier than expected. A scramble to get everyone (who paid for a ticket) and everything in the specially made arks began while others tried to say good bye to the people who will be left behind. The movie revolves mostly around the preparation and when it finally happened. In the end, 3 arks were made instead of 7, there was a massive shift in the globe, and Africa will be the start of the new world.

The movie was well made. The story line, was really well thought of and the development of the story was really good. The different characters were played really well and you would feel for them with every scene. The CG was really good. Like I said, for something not made by ILM, it was really well made. A whole city submerging looked so real that it's freaky. And the plane scene was really both nerve racking and heart stopping. I was holding my breath the whole time the small plane was fying over, under and around buildings and bridges that were slowly tumbling, crumbling and sinking down the sea. The big plane scene made me hold my breath even harder. It was really scary.

All in all, the movie was really good. It would really make people think if this is really true or not. I really recommend people to watch this movie. I got my money's worth. I hope you do too.