Literature and Film brings passion!

I read books, watch films and play video games in order to learn a lot about life and be able to know how people react and feel in different situations. It brings passion!

Through novels by Paulo Coelho and Banana Yoshimoto, I learn about the intricacies of life through how people struggle and face the harshness of challenges in life. Yet we still stay strong to be able to do what we normally do in our everyday lives.

Through international films, I get to learn about different cultures and value empathy. We all act differently depending on how we are raised and what we are involved with in our environment. It’s not just natural as a lot of people would argue.

Through video games, I test out my senses and act out willingly to reach the goals that I’ve been asked to.

Passion is all about emotions and how we perceive them or execute them. Through literature, film and video games, we do become emphatic, knowledgeable and sensitive.

Metal Gear Solid 2

Currently Playing Metal Gear Solid 2

I thought MGS2 is brilliant, unfortunately, I felt depressed. I guess some people who have played the game will know why. It’s because she died. It made me horrified and I was even hoping for an alternate storyline so that she could be kept alive. I did tons of research on the internet and none came out.

I was just so disappointed and hurt by that part of the story. To think that she’s a lovable character and end up like that is just unacceptable. I just hope someone would cryogenically preserve her or maybe her nanomachines will heal her or something on future games.

Nonetheless, I am about to battle with the bug machines at this point.

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Oh, and I forgot, the girl I wanted to see Meryl isn’t in this game… she’s going to appear instead on MGS4. Too bad I don’t have a Playstation3 at the moment but I hope that she’s can make me forget about the other girl in MGS2. I just couldn’t get it out of my head at the moment.

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The gameplay is quite neat keeping up with the first game. There are more weapons and there are more items to use.

However, I liked the continues of Snake when he dies in the game rather than Raiden’s which have annoyed me so much.

The biggest disappointment I had in this game was the plot and character development. I couldn’t understand a single bit of it and there are few references to Titanic - Jack & Rose - and not to mention the girl who died after being stabbed by one of the villains who I never wanted to exist in the story because of his awfully general characteristic which exists in a lot of villains in many stories - he’s a vampire (now people are starting to know what I’m talking about).

Characters are mixed up, repeat scenes from MGS1 are evident - the difference is that Raiden is the one on the receiving end of it. And all kinds of crap.

I’m disappointed with MGS2, with the story, with the plot and with the death of that girl who has an important story to tell and who would be amazing if only the game made her live. I wish they made some other kind of story for MGS2.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I would like to take this opportunity to greet everyone a Happy Mother’s Day!

I celebrated it with my mother who is currently recovering from an injury.

I thought I want to share this because it’s kinda funny. I read a magazine called “Psychology Today” (I have the link on my “Sites of Interest”) and I found an article [link] about Italian adult men living with their mothers - they are called “mammismo”. The article says that a large percentage of men who are sons do have an exaggerated strong bonding with their mothers. This means that there are a lot of mamma’s boys in Italy.

Although they would be able to have their backs covered and be able to face lesser economic difficulties, this “Figli per sempre” setting is somewhat impeding the autonomy of men which can be a pathological issue.

I thought to myself that reading all about this on Mother’s Day made me reflect a lot about my role as a son. I have been living with my parents for 24 years. I do think that I have a strong bonding with my mother. I care for her a lot and it pains me so much to see her suffer. Of course, her recent accident made me reflecting about my role in the family.

Unfortunately - for them - I definitely don’t want to force myself to keep myself in the house forever. I have to learn being autonomous. As time passes by, I realize that if I stay with my family, I will stay forever as a bum - I will just stay here at home playing video games and surfing the net not being productive enough to be able to help my family… Worst of all, I might not be able to find a family of my own. If only my parents knew, I am quite desperate to have someone else to love me aside from my immediate family.

But where do my parents - especially my mother - fit in these things? How would they understand me?

I always thought that parents are always there for me if ever I need their help/their assistance. That if I get into trouble, I know that they have enough experience to be able to help me. I want them to be among all the people who I talk with and spend quality time with learning about life, acquiring insightful knowledge, and getting the right resources and know-hows with regards to solving all my problems and my issues.

But I really thought that their authority over me should just be over with and that they should just push me towards moving on with life, getting a new job, earning more money, having a romantic relationship, and being able to do things on my own on a very large scale.

I was able to finish a leadership and effective communication course, I wanted to deal with teaching and learning a.k.a. pedagogy after two years of taking linguistics as my major in university, I start to experience things by myself, I become a lot more reflective, I become a lot more caring about all the things around me whether my parents agreed with me or not.

I want to take my risks in life. I want to fix my own problems. I want to be alone and build up that confidence that I need in order to live better. If I fail, I will keep on trying because I know pretty well that my parents have done it for themselves as well; That my parents were able to bring all of us in another country leaving behind their loved ones - their homes - not being stopped by anyone.

I definitely wanted to be independent literally to be able to know myself even better. I wanted it because I want to take the lead and be able to show to my parents how much they have contributed in order to make me into a mature, well-educated and values-oriented individual which they would want me to become anyhow.

But here’s one thing that I think would matter most for all of us. It’s that we have to keep the love alive. I love my family - my mother, my father, and my younger brother. Leaving them behind doesn’t mean being cold towards them. Through their company, I turned into what I am today and I am very happy of it. If I stop loving them, then I won’t grow. If I don’t choose to understand them or to interact with them or to discuss and debate with them a lot of things, it’s as if we don’t know each other. There is a saying that “Acquaintances agree, friends argue.” The thing is that this is between my family and I and my family deserves to see all the truths about myself.

Second of all is that we have to always show gratitude. I thank my family all the time for being there for me in all of my trials and my challenges in life.

And I do thank my mother for always showing us so much care in our lives.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

(photo: http://www.waterloogardens.com/wallpapers/images/1280/january/carnation_pink.jpg)

Pangea Day is on Saturday!

To everyone around the world! May 10 is Pangea Day, turn on your TV screens at 1400ET (1800GMT; check your timezones) to watch films from around the world and listen to the most powerful speeches sending forth the message of social change, understanding, diversity and unity to the world through films.

To those who are living in Canada, you can watch the Pangea Day celebrations which will broadcast on CityTV. To those who are living in Asia - especially to my friends in the Philippines - you can watch it on Star World on cable TV. You can even watch it online at www.pangeaday.org.

www.pangeaday.org

Solid Snake Collection!

I was browsing through the electronics department of the grocery store where I work and found this:

Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection
Contains: Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3
Producer: Hideo Kojima
Company: Konami

I missed the very first Metal Gear Solid game for the Playstation (one) and I really thought I will never have the chance to play it again. I gave up on MGS2 after realizing how it looks different from the first one and I never even bothered when the third installment was released for the Playstation2.

To think that I’d be getting all the three games was something I never expected.

I played the first game over the last 2 days. After 7 years I realized that for two discs, the first Metal Gear Solid was too short. The plot was just sweet and simple and you know what to do in every part of the game. I beat the game easily and I beat it twice already viewed both Meryl’s and Otacon’s endings and acquiring the bandana for infinite ammo, the camera and the stealth item. I was able to make Snake wear the tuxedo as well.

The funny thing about this was that on the first day, I suddenly had a terrible headache when I was playing MGS all because of the excitement to see the game again. Anyways…

Throughout the game, the only hard part was the very last fight of Snake which was mano a mano.

But it wouldn’t be fun without hearing the voices of Snake’s friends over the Codec whenever Snake dies (what happened? snake Snake SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!). Everytime I remember MGS, that always come into mind.

Speaking of Snake’s Codec, I was intrigued with the last empty slot in the Codec Menu. I found out that there is a hidden Codec number and the voices of the makers of the game will be heard. Unfortunately, the hidden Codec number only works for the Japanese version of the game.

But overall, MGS definitely have brought me joy.

Now, I have to give my brain some room for MGS2 and 3.

Football Matches this week

I was able to watch the 2nd leg of the semi final match between Manchester United and FC Barcelona as well as the recent match of Toronto FC who was up against New York Red Bulls at home last Thursday. I couldn’t have the energy to look for youtube videos of the latest football matches that I watched, but here are the results of those games.

Manchester United 1- FC Barcelona 0 (aggregate 1-0)
2nd leg Semifinal Match (April 29, 2006 Old Trafford, England)

The 1st leg was played in Barcelona which ended in a goalless draw. This match I felt so disenchanted with FC Barcelona after realizing that Ronaldinho wasn’t playing on the game. The first goal was scored by Paul Scholes before the 15th minute mark which was too early to score in my own viewpoint. But I have to give credit to Scholes for taking advantage of an error in passing on the Barça side which he in return converted to a goal.

Deco had plenty of chances for Barcelona. Unfortunately there was nothing that the Spanish team could do to come back against Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. It was a big disappointment really for this strong team who like ManU is also a favourite to reach the final.

ManU had some good chances in the middle of the game to extend their lead. Park Ji Sung and Cristiano Ronaldo were just among their players in the highlights.

Though it’s unfortunate for Barça, I’m quite thrilled to follow the All English final in UEFA Champions League history between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Toronto FC 1 - New York Red Bull 1
May 1, 2008 (BMO Field, Toronto, Canada)

Both goals came from set pieces. The first scored by Toronto after Marco Velez headed a free kick by Laurent Robert in the 22nd minute but by the of the 30th, NY equalised with a free kick by Dave van den Bergh. The scores stayed until the end of the match. Guevara almost lead the match near the end of the match but the NY keeper only caught it safe.

I was a bit upset with how things went for TFC. Maybe NY was able to figure out how things worked for the Reds and probably they know very well how Guevara plays since he played for NY before.

Nonetheless, I don’t think that this is TFC’s demise this season, there are plenty of matches to come and there are plenty of chances for their star players to grow. GO TFC!

MLS: Red Patch Boys Rule!

I couldn’t find a televised clip of the match between Toronto FC and Kansas City Wizards in the past couple of days but I do thank the Red Patch Boys (one of the biggest fan groups of TFC) for uploading the video of their match.

I really love the TFC fans. One of these days I will be in BMO Field helping out our team to win their game through chanting, cheering and throwing streamers.

Here’s the most recent match of the TFC. Enjoy!

Toronto FC vs. Kansas City Wizards (26 April 2008 - BMO Field)

The following clip was taken by the Red Patch Boys.

Here’s a clearer look of Amado Guevara’s second goal coming from a set piece.
This video was taken from the televised broadcast here in Toronto.
Amado Guevara is also best known as “El Lobo”
which is why the video starts with a howl and the picture of a wolf.

Prayer Requests

To those who are passing by, please do pray for my mom who just had a surgery on her left kneecap today. She fell badly Saturday evening after arriving from a meeting with friends from the Legion of Mary.

I know very much that my mother is the spiritual leader of the family as my father is a provider. And I know very well that through her devotion to God, she is able to keep our family united, healthy and safe through her prayers and her moral support to every member of our family and to all of our friends and relatives as well.

I ask everyone to please give my mother strength and peace of mind as she goes into this transition of healing. I ask everyone who passes by this page to pray this special prayer of St. Anthony de Padua and mention my mother on your special intentions. God Bless all of you.

Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua, Performer of Miracles
Dear Saint Anthony, your prayers obtained miracles during your lifetime.
You still seem to move at ease in the realm of minor and major miracles.
Saint Anthony, Performer of Miracles,
please obtain for me the blessings God holds in reserve who serve Him.
Pray that I may be worthy of the promises my Lord Jesus attaches to confident prayer.
[mention your special intentions]

You can see this message under “Request” on my pages on the menu bar above.

TTC STRIKE ENDS!

TTC STRIKE ENDS!

The provincial government led by Premier Dalton McGuinty was able to pass a back-to-work legislation to end the surprise walk out by the employees of the Toronto Transit Commission last Friday midnight.

To me it’s a great feeling since the city will be back to business once again. Unfortunately, someone in my family will have to wait for a couple of weeks for this and that’s my mother who have shown so much love in the family. I do hope she gets better after her surgery.

I was able to see the reactions of various people from the news and even in Youtube over the last day and a half. They definitely had the usual “OH MY GOD!” and “YOU’RE KIDDING!” and “THIS IS RIDICULOUS!”. Others had tons of stuff to say about the TTC management and the union who have failed with their leadership and have caught the whole city of Toronto in the middle of that mess regarding their bargaining agreements.

There have been a lot of people who were saying that the TTC should be an essential service. That way the workers will not be allowed to walk out and go on strike. It would be a great idea, but there are going to be some risks that the city will have to give in order for that to happen.

Whatever goes, goes… yet on the other hand we can’t all be too hasty and just let things happen in order to reach a certain goal. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. So I wish everyone in the TTC Management, the Unions as well as all levels of government involved would be able to come up with the best collective agreement possible which can be ratified without any kind of problems.

But if you’re going to ask me, I do think the TTC should be an essential service in a city of more than 2 million - there are about a million and a half users of TTC everyday; some do have alternative ways of going from point A to B such as the car or the taxi cab or other transit systems like the GO Transit; unfortunately others do not and are reliant a hundred percent to the TTC. When going to school, to work, to medical appointments, to daycare, and others, the TTC have been a great way for people to be able to do their tasks and move on with their daily lives. Toronto is a reeeeeally really busy city if you’re going to look at it after its years of existence and amalgamation and the TTC is its very backbone.

Anyways, let’s just rejoice cause the TTC’s back on the roads!

The Forbidden Kingdom

“The Forbidden Kingdom”
Directed by Rob Minkoff

Starring: Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Jackie Chan, Yifei Liu, Collin Chou, Li Bingbing

First thing’s first, this is going to be my very first film review here in my blog. I am so thrilled to give my thoughts on this film. But there is only one thing I want to request those who have not seen this film… you might encounter reading spoilers and I ask you not to read this blog unless you have viewed the film.

It’s very interesting how I watched “The Forbidden Kingdom” with my brother and finished it hours before the transit strike in the city last Friday. Though we were blessed to still have the transit after the film, my dad picked us up instead.

~

The story begins with a scene where the Monkey King is fighting in the clouds with soldiers. It ended up as a dream by a young Boston teenager named Jason who always go to this pawnshop in Chinatown. Jason one day found a certain relic in the pawnshop that looked like the stick which was used by the Monkey King in his dream. Through the golden stick, he was sent into another world destined with a mission, to return the golden stick to its rightful owner.

I hope I was effective with the synopsis.

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I have to applaud the achievements of this film throughout the weekend box office ranking first. It’s nice to see a Jet Li - Jackie Chan film which is a first in the history of films.

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I really find the film very colourful with all the costumes and sets. It’s more of a film that you’d want to watch again because you can see almost every colour in all scenes.

This film is all about the two great action stars: Jet Li and Jackie Chan. It’s great! But I have to say that there aren’t enough stunts for both of them. Probably Hollywood is making sure that everyone is safe and sound in the production or maybe the film itself didn’t require too much crazy stunts from the two. As a conclusion, I really wish this film was produced by a Chinese film company rather than a Hollywood one or maybe they changed the theme of the film into something that shows a lot of JC and Li’s martial arts and acrobatics. If this concerns the age of Jackie Chan or Jet Li, I have to concur cause they both look really fit to do anything despite their age - as a matter of fact, Jackie Chan did well on his stunts on “Rush Hour 3″.

~

Going into another world with a mission, being trained by poetic masters in martial arts, traveling together in the desert, I have to say the plot is a cliché of clichés. It’s like looking back at “Drunken Master”, “Operation Condor”, “The Neverending Story”, “The Karate Kid” and possibly one of Jet Li’s films again all combined in one film.

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I didn’t have any problem with the story having lots of foreshadowing and obvious references. Yet it bothered me when the pace of the story went too fast. I did find myself saying “WHOA!” when there’s a scene change.

This goes from the very first transition - Jason suddenly going into another world. There wasn’t anything that I reflected upon when the scene changed… my main question that time was, “What happened in between the time of Jason’s fall and the time when he woke up in that magical Chinese kingdom?”

The other scene is when the monk and the drunken master were training Jason to become a good martial artist. It seems like Jason learned how to fight after we have all listened to that poem that Jackie and Jet recited. The poem recital sounded more like it’s merely a part of a script rather than something real coming from the two masters.

Another scene that made me really so frustrated about was when Liu Yifei’s character Golden Sparrow dies in the end of the story in the kingdom. Jason carries Sparrow and asked the old holy man “Is there anything you can do about this?” and the old man told Jason about how Sparrow wrote her own destiny and yada yada she can’t be revived. The next scene made me want to call upon the screenwriters - “Wait a second, where is Sparrow now?” Funny how she ended up to be a reincarnation in the Boston Chinatown.

The pace of the story was really fast, but nonetheless, I can say that the screenwriters were able to make a simple yet effective one… but the focus of the film is not merely on the story.

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I couldn’t comment too much with character development because just the same as the plot, the characters were just too identifiable. Watch the film and you will have no problem with learning more about the characters in the story. You have a kid who went into another world, a drunken master, a monk, a pretty girl playing music speaking in the third person all the time, a monkey king who is a trouble maker, a villain and his pretty witch disciple, and a couple of holy immortals who were hibernating for the large part of the film.

But I wanted to really learn more about the characters that Liu Yifei and Li Bingbing were playing besides from just learning who they are - of course what could an entertaining film be without so many details about the girls, right?

~

Miscellaneous observations… These do not really affect my overall impression of the film. These are just observations that I wanted to make sure that I could understand whether through reflection or maybe through another opportunity of viewing the film.

It may be interesting but I see that Jet Li’s English accent is a lot stronger than Jackie’s and it’s unfortunate that I couldn’t understand all of the things that Jet was saying because of it. It’s not a problem really but I’m looking forward to watching this film again only to understand what Jet Li was saying.

~

Overall, I have to say that this film is all about Jackie Chan and Jet Li - the showcase was mainly on their big fight in the rock temple and their fights with the “boss” villains.

The fighting styles and stunts that both actors used in their films were pretty much distinctive in the film. You can figure out that Jackie’s falls were genuine and that Jet Li obviously was using the strings when fighting. I sure wish that they have worked together long time ago - watching the interviews with the two definitely have opened me to the idea.

Though I definitely wish that this was something different instead because of the plot and how the action seem to be lacking something, “The Forbidden Kingdom” have attracted me to both the action stars as well as the girls - I really was thrilled to see both JC and Li together in the film and the girls were definitely people to be reckoned with when they get another opportunity to join in a future film production.

“The Forbidden Kingdom” became more of an entertaining endeavour for me rather than an all out reflective one.