Death Race: A Film By Filipinos

The other night my beloved wifey and I watched the last full show of the film Death Race (Starring Jason Statham as Jensen Ames) – because Wall-E isn’t showing anymore. And while on my way to meet up with her at the mall, I was thinking of the title which by itself is a no brainer. As it aptly implies, I presume that it’s just all about death and race. No more. No less. But wait…there’s more.

The moment the film started rolling, it immediately captured my attention with some of the words it presented on the silver screen and with some questions running on my mind along with it:

·         2012 in America. Will we be there by this time?

·         Unemployment. Will we be included?

·         Death. Entertainment?

·         Race. Will we be watching another live F1 soon? And when?

My wife, as I expected, started giving her naughty remarks (I always know that it is meant to intentionally annoy me) while I was starting to sink in to the story. But instead of hushing her, I myself made my own mumbled remarks in agreement. And as if those keywords aren’t enough to keep us related to the opening part of the film with its resemblance to our pending future, the opening scene also shows the main character getting laid off from his job in the metal factory. There’s chaos in the line of workers waiting for their turn to get their last pay. At this point, I was beginning to feel uneasy and I was somewhat praying to get over with the factory scene and show the death race itself.

A few frames more, the factory setting ended, thankfully. I did not mind when the succeeding scenes became tragic with Jensen drugged by someone in a ski mask and eventually becoming unconscious just to wake up with police and their hand guns sticking inches away from his face while trying to make sense what he’s doing with a knife in his hand and his dead wife beside him. Needless to say, that landed him in prison.

His role in the prison called Terminal Island became apparent when he was offered to participate in the famous Death Race since his record shows that he was a famous car racer years before. His acceptance of the part will be his way out of the prison facility with the condition that he will win the race. (Sadly, I didn’t catch in the film the reason why he indeed the said career and instead endured working inside the hot metal factory).

So just like any sane man offered to race for freedom, Jensen accepted. And this is where I started to enjoy the film. The main death race had several inmates as drivers and with their own armored, gun-mounted, and extra modified cars. Among them of course is Jensen who had to wear a mask in order to pretend as Frankenstein who was actually the famous death racer who perished in the opening scene but without the fans’ knowledge. The race is viewed online by fans numbering in millions with each paying at least $99 per view while the death racers outrun and “outgun” each other.

While I consider this as a B-movie, I actually applaud whoever was behind it. I’m now beginning to imagine that the people who conceptualized this movie are a team composed of Dana White’s men, ex-FIA officials, troubled American school kids, Twisted Metal (PS1 game) programmers and last but not the least – Filipino drivers.

Why? Because I find this movie a mixture of UFC fighters who are driving F1 cars with trigger-happy American school kids handling the Gatling gun’s remote button. Furthermore, the Filipinos here are divided into two sub-teams. First are those Jeepney drivers who loves to mount anything (such as horse figures, shiny CDs, LEDs, more LEDS, horns, antennas. Just to name a few.) on their jeeps – they are the designers of the Death Race cars. The other Filipinos are those who designed the weapon activation systems – which I wish I’m one of them as sometimes…just sometimes (wink wink), I wish I had those buttons inside my Mary.

Surprising as it may seem, I recommend this movie to let out some steam without doing any harm to the stubborn driver in front of you while stuck in traffic. Road rage alert. Watch out for bald male driver fumbling with the cigarette lighter.

X-Files and Me

 

At last! A couple of days ago my wife and I finally got the chance to view one of my much awaited movie – The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I can’t exactly say that I’m the number one fan of its TV series, but I can say that it’s one of the shows that made me forget almost about everything once it starts on TV. The moment the first note of its theme song played I’m all eyes and ears in front of the boob tube.

You see I’m one of those who believe that someone could be indeed out there. Since I was kid, one of the things we did once the sun sets is to look up the dark and star-filled sky either just to past time away or to compete with either my friends or my sister on what have we lately learned about the constellations. Most of the times when we do that I would always wonder if someone else may be staring down (or up) at us and wondering just the same thing like I do.

My enthusiasm for alien life form – or at least stories of it – increased further as I grew up. And the advent of The X-Files filled in the craving to know and discover more. I begin to wonder if conspiracies especially on the part of the U.S. government existed – remember Roswell? Those days and even until now, seeing the “Something is out there” poster sends some sort of adrenalin rush. These are words that keep the alien conspiracy theorists awake and sleepless.

So other than the fact that The X-files featured two great characters, FBI Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), whom I had crush with the latter (but of course yes, who wouldn’t anyway), the presence of the elements of mystery, conspiracy and the idea of finding alien life form here on earth is a dream come true for every believer like me.

Sadly, the 2^nd X-Files movie still didn’t do justice to the TV series. It has actually gotten worse than the 1^st one. The story just doesn’t have the X-Files feel compared to its TV counterpart. But maybe it’s just me. And maybe it’s because we came in late in the first place and my mind was divided between catching the UFO looking patty of Burger King’s Whopper Jr. and getting in on time inside the cinema. My wife actually sensed the desperation that she consoled me that we missed only a couple of minutes of the show. That’s easy for her to say that, but then again The X-Files for me wouldn’t be a complete X-Files if I didn’t hear its main theme song.

Bits of this movie that I find interesting are:

1. Finally, their (Mulder and Scully) platonic relationship ended. Good for Mulder, bad for us male Scully fans.
2. Despite the obvious ageing, both still has the appeal as X-Files FBI agents. (I learned from the Jimmy Kimmel show this morning that Gillian Anderson was just 24 years old when she first made it to the X-Files TV show).
3. At least Skinner is still there. But it could have been better if the Cigarette-Smoking man had his appearance. I love this Morley-packing character.
4. Pedophile priest considered alien? Just about time I guess.
5. The snowy Virginia setting really added to the cinema’s chilly temperature. Hot brewed coffee highly recommended instead of sodas.
6. And guess who’s in charge of the music for this movie? Mark Snow. How colder can it get?

If given the chance, I’d like to watch this movie again from the very start in order for me to understand what it was all about. I hate to believe that the 2^nd X-Files movie is a flop. There must be one good story behind it all.

Anyway, while I’m still trying to figure out who’s the actual leader of this sinister plot – wherein I’m starting to believe that there’s a conspiracy between Burger King, bridge repair works, SM guard on duty, the cinema and my wife (This is where the X-Files theme song plays) that made me be late, I am now actually thinking that The X-Files and marriage may seem to have some commonality at all (now you have a clue of who am I suspecting):

1. Scully: What are you doing? Mulder: Trying to ignore you.
2. “Don’t give up!”
3. The anticipation to see the show is just like anxiously waiting for your wife to come home with six-pack of beers. The moment she’s in, you grab the beers and then you’re in your own world on the sofa.
4. Sometimes the episode doesn’t seem to make sense just like your…(you fill in; I’m not getting quoted for this)
5. Sometimes you get obsessed with the show, of course, just like you sometimes get obsessed with your wife.
6. The continuation of an episode sometimes doesn’t seem to get related to the other. I’m sure you’ve had discussions with your wife that suddenly shifted to something that made you wonder if you’re awake during the whole discourse.
7. Sometimes the episode is just so scary you can’t help but avoid looking at… (I’m not completing this one either – you fill it in. Take the risk)
8. Most of the time though, you miss it so much that a week is never complete without seeing it. Sometimes you even wish that you can see it daily. Now, this is more like my wife. Hahaha. Peace!

Alien Me: Uncovering the conspiracy

 

 

Lucky 9 Movies

Our week together turned out to be quite good despite not going farther than Festival Mall Alabang or Tagaytay. To make up with the cancelled road trip I played some make believe situation by considering our own home as a hotel as if being out of town and staying in a comfy hotel room. To make it a bit more realistic I let the air-conditioning turned on every night, woke up late, ate without counting calories and going out of the “hotel” any time we like.

After celebrating our exact wedding date with the rest of my wife’s team members, the other days of the week were spent mall hopping, window shopping and of course watching movies. And since we’re celebrating our 9^th year, I will do a brief review of the 9 movies we’ve seen recently - not necessarily within the anniversary week. By the way, I’ll rate the movie from 1(poor) to 5(great) stars just like my wife and I do in our individual diaries (which reminds me that I haven’t updated mine for a long time).

9.  Forbidden Kingdom (Jet Li. Jackie Chan). I’m not so sure if I enjoyed this movie or not. It may have something to do with too much exposure to MMA especially UFC on TV that I’m not buying the flying kung fu stunts anymore. What I like about it is seeing both actors back in business and being together in one film I think is a good way to do just that. 3 Stars.

 

8. Kung Fu Panda (Jack Black. Jackie Chan. Lucy Liu. Angelina Jolie). Being a fan of cartoons, I can immerse myself into it in no time every time I see one. Frankly speaking, I find this Kung Fu movie better than Forbidden Kingdom due to the fact that I have no reason to question once I see the characters, like the bulky panda, float in the air to do gravity defying stunts. It’s not impossible. Why? Because it’s cartoons. Duh. Po rules!  4 Stars.

 

7. Get Smart (Steve Carell. Anne Hathaway). There’s always anxiousness inside me whenever I get to watch a film that is closely similar to previous movie. I have some reservations that this stupid-field agent-comedy movie will be a letdown. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case. The casts (and characters) and story of this film are a great combination. The comic scenes are so hilarious that I was either laughing or giggling from the start until the end of the film. Jim Carey beware. 5 Stars.

 

6. Evan Almighty (Steve Carell). We caught this one on TV while lazily channel surfing one afternoon. It was just a couple of days after we watched Get Smart and my interest to see another version of the famous ark story grew with the fact that Steve Carell is portraying as Noah.  I was fascinated with the idea of mixing a biblical story to a modern setting but I don’t know if my mother would have been laughing as I find some of the exchanges blasphemous. Anyway, I did have a good laugh from majority of the scenes and more importantly I think that the same moral of the story is conveyed as intended in the bible. I’m becoming a Steve Carell fan. 4 Stars.

 

5. Letters from Iwo Jima (Ken Watanabe). This one was from the DVD - another Clint Eastwood film to complement his Flags of Our Fathers movie. I always wonder if there are good people on both sides of the war and this movie helped prove that. The Iwo Jima story reminds me that most soldiers fight with what they believe is right regardless what side they’re in.  In a sense, one you consider a foe is actually a hero of the other side. Comparing the two war films, Letters from Iwo Jima is better than Flags of Our Fathers.  Additionally, dubbing the film in Japanese with English subtitles created a more genuine experience to it.  5 Stars.

 

4. The Happening (Mark Wahlberg).  This film is like some of the dreams I had. It starts with something so interesting that no matter how frightening it was, I forced myself to stay in it in order to find out how it will end.  It’s like a nightmare that you have no control over what you’d see next and every scene makes you curse and jump out of your bed and find yourself sweating from the excitement and/or fear.  At the end of this movie my wife and I were staring at each other still with lots of unanswered questions but being an M. Night Shyamalan flick the end is no surprise – and I love it. 4 Stars.

 

3. Wanted (Angelina Jolie. Morgan Freeman).  Have you ever had a time when you felt like they cast a well known celebrity to compensate with the movie’s poor story? In my opinion, this movie is one of those. Angeline Jolie was like an a wriggling bait so irresistible to an unsuspecting fish like me that despite having seen the trailers with bullets circling its way to find its intended target I still got to watch it in the end. I could have give in to the idea of the intelligent bullets but I called it enough when the story came to be about killing individuals as dictated by a loom supposedly started by weavers from long time ago. To me that’s just crap (pardon the word). 4 Stars – for casting Angelina. 2 Stars for the whole story.

 

2. Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton). Other than fearing lightning, I fear that I might see another lousy Incredible Hulk movie once again. I wisely skipped the first version of this marvel comic character but unfortunately watched it either on a pirated copy of the public buses or from friends’ houses (also pirated, I suspect). But having watched almost all film being shown this week, I hesitatingly agreed to see the new Hulk movie with my wife. Good thing this new version erased all my doubts as the movie progresses. I was awed by the actions scenes, I find the CGIs are not exaggerated and the actors are convincingly good. Lastly, having an unexpected twist in the end makes it more interesting. See for yourself. 4 Stars.

 

1. Made of Honor (Patrick Dempsey. Michelle Monaghan). What better way to cap a week of wedding anniversary celebration, than to end it by watching what else? A wedding movie of course! The movie is about a platonic (or more aptly, hypothetical) relationship which led to a crazy love story. What sets this movie apart from other romantic movies is the idea of having one man being tagged and eventually agreeing to be the bride’s maid of honor.  Although come to think of it, IF I were in the shoes of the male character, I can’t imagine myself to last that long as just being a friend with a lady as lovely as Hannah.  4 Stars.

 

Don’t get me wrong, but whether I enjoyed the movies we’ve watched or not, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the company of my dearest (wink!) wife. We’ve been in the movies 11 years ago (wink again) and hopefully we’d still be together to see more of it even if we’re as wrinkled as English bulldogs.

 

Too Much Hollywood

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction…” – Bad Religion

 

Who can accept that one way or another, Hollywood has made an impact in their lives? I for one am raising both hands. Don’t get me wrong, but needless to say, I have neither been near Hollywood nor ever have seen in person even one Oscar’s nominee or awardee.  I’m not even an actor material (reminds me to check heritage.com).  As much as I’d like to, I was never that close.

Just like everyone else I get my daily dose of it out of the boob tube if not from the giant silver screen. And as far as I can recall I’ve been watching a bit of it almost every day even since I was kid. Heck, that may even be the reason why I started telling fabricated stories when I was yet in grade school. Just like any kid does. Remarkably better than an embedded chip, Hollywood movies or TV shows really know how to find their place in our mind, stay there for good and eventually affecting our daily lives – whether we like it or not.

Moreover, with the steady influx of technological advancement  that is getting affordable or at least accessible to the masses (at a rate that’s quicker than most people can get their salary increases) blurs the line between real and reel life every time. From cable TV, the internet, mobile TV, virtual reality and my favorite – High Definition audio (e.g., Surround sound system, SDDS, THX) and/or video (HDTV, Blue Rays, etc.),  one’s senses and imagination gets treated better than it was before. Each sensory experience is getting more surreal and it felt usually so satisfying that often times creating a make believe environment just like in the movies is as easy as closing one’s eyes.

Not trying to sound psychotic or one who has taken a good dose of hallucinogens and brandishing the peace sign, I love to entertain myself by superimposing some sort of “Hollywood-ish” flavor into my reality – as often as I please.

Like a couple of weeks ago until today, the weather has been harsh in our part of the globe. Mornings would usually come with bright orange dawn and would continue to become a very sunny, warm and humid noontime. In a matter of minutes though, as if on cue, AND as if a scene coming right out of Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds, the sky would be overcast and the dreaded lightning flashes streaks across the black backdrop. What follows next is a thunder roaring like something out of an Armageddon setting. During these times, I can beat Dash’s speed 10 times. Trust me.

To keep reality in check, I always appreciate the presence of shows such as my favorite Mythbusters and when I get the chance or when my remote fingers stray away, I like watching Nat Geo’s “What Happens If?” and Mad Labs. These are shows which remind me that Hollywood will never be equals to reality (at least for now). It reminds me that cars falling off the cliff won’t normally explode, a piercing bullet in a gas tank doesn’t mean an instant kaboom, sticking a knife on a ship’s sail won’t cushion or slow down your fall and many more fallacies being obviously exposed that every time I get to watch a movie makes me a bad viewer – just waiting for mistakes to happen. It takes one good movie to make me switch from a pesky critic to an all-adoring fan.

But my love-hate relationship with the weather always fascinates me that I can easily relate either a blue sky day or a cumulus laden heaven from a scene out of the movie world. For example, waking up this afternoon I saw that my wife eagerly waited to show me an animation of the typhoon Fengshen (local name, Frank). Although this typhoon is nowhere near a super storm, the rotating mass at the center which covers a great part of Luzon switched my neurons into role-playing time. I immediately heard a clapper sounding inside my head and saw a camera crane panning from behind me to my left showing just the glowing monitor which became a perfect backlight to emphasize my profile. If I could have lifted the mouse anywhere near my mouth, I could have uttered the words, “…Andrea Gail…there’s a storm coming your way…”

As much as I find reality annoying and most of the days it is just tempting to surrender myself to our coach, grab one tube of Pringles, a bottle of ice cold beer and complemented by a good DVD movie and an ever sympathetic wife just by my side, having a grasp of the concrete life along with its demanding goals remains a test of our true character. A character that plays its part unconditionally even without the luxury that its reel counterpart enjoys but with the assurance that every well-played part in the real world will have its real rewards and hopefully will have its own happy finale. But then again, I’d appreciate it a lot if our lives can readily have an alternate ending. Ti abi.

***

It appears like the cancellation of our Ilocos trip which was supposed to happen next week is a blessing in disguise. From wunderground.com, it shows that typhoon Frank seems to be planning to go along with our road trip. Hahaha. The price we have to pay for celebrating our wedding anniversary every June.

 

 

*Weather Images from Wunderground.com

F*** You

Be calm.No need to censor. But I’m trying not to say this dreaded F word – FATS; because right now I’m facing a tough problem. Tougher than the impending unemployment and tougher than facing an unending oil price hike. It has something to do with my weight. And the horrifying number is Seventy pounds. That’s how heavy I am right now. And that’s seven pounds more than my required weight.

In gym lingo I’ve reached the hated plateau. It’s no matter how much I do the tread mills, do weight training and perform hopeless crunch and abs work out, my body just got bored with these routines. And like an employer running out of manpower, my body has posted a vacancy sign outside its doorstep. It’s accepting fats and calories like Vietnam is accepting all the multinational companies.

I know I can’t do anything about Vietnam but I’m sure I can do something about this weight. A battle must take place though to achieve once again my ideal weight as I don’t find it amusing anymore seeing our bathroom scale displaying a value higher than the last time I stepped on it. So instead of crying over spilled beer…I mean milk, I’d like to write about this new weight goal so I can get back to it soon and feel good about losing – weight, that is.

For me to be back on track, a re-assessment has to be done like anything that has gone awry or in this case what I’d call SNAFU – Situation Normal All Fat’s Up. Got to go back to monitoring what I eat and when I eat. I have to say goodbye to Jollibee breakfast, goodbye to Burger King Whopper, goodbye to heavy dinner, goodbye to beer…ooopps, let me recall the latter.

As part of my reflection, I’m wondering what I have done recently that made me accumulate such weight. So let me focus at least on this past week’s activity.

Monday. As scheduled, I played badminton with a couple of colleagues. Although known as the fastest game and tagged by some as a good cardiovascular workout, I find this game as a false sense of exercise to complement a diet.  Why? Normally, the heart-pounding and blood-pumping game for the whole day will bring us to a fast food restaurant to recover what we skipped during lunch. This last game, we found ourselves eating spaghetti and having a couple of beer in The Old Spaghetti House.

Fats – 1. Diet – 0.

Sunday. I was in Batangas with wifey to attend a birthday and a farewell party. The Red Ribbon chocolate cake and the predictable spaghetti were there and were looking mouth-watering as ever. I must have blacked out in front of the table but I found my stomach bulging and my lips colored brown and red.

Fats – 2. Diet – 0.

Saturday.  Finally, I attended my first TUP-V summer outing after several postponed dates with my batch mates. So right after a hard day’s work (at least I believe so), I find myself worthy of rewarding myself with good food and good company.  Without wasting time, I excitedly drove my way from Cavite to Sta. Rosa Laguna; and a hundred wrong turns  and a couple of hours later (thanks to the perfect map), I eventually located Dictado Resort where most of the attendees also got lost which is probably the reason why the program started late. Despite the exhausting drive it was fulfilling to meet long lost friends, schoolmates and other new alumni. It was also nice seeing some of the faces behind the aliases in the Tup-Vian’s yahoogroups. It was a “tagalog-free” night and it was like being home in Bacolod with everyone around speaking Ilonggo.  The feeling of nostalgia is of course never complete without guess what? Beer. Lots of it. Ti abi.

Fats – 3. Diet 0.

Friday. Coming from work, I picked my wife at home and went back to SM to watch the most anticipated movie of this year – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t know if the peanuts we brought inside was responsible for my calorie pile up that night OR was it the film being the MOST boring (sorry, I can’t help but emphasize) Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg film I’ve ever seen – it was so boring, my metabolism almost stopped working.  If I haven’t seen any of their previous works, I could have included them in my “never-to-watch-films” list. Watching Indiana Jones is like watching a chopsuey of films such as X-files, Tomb Raider, Alien vs. Predator, Armageddon all rolled into one. And that’s not a compliment either.  Anyway, peanuts or this B-movie film, Fats – 4. Diet – 0.

Thursday. Failing to bring home something to eat after my shift ended, I asked my wife for a dinner at the nearby David’s Tea House. Meal was picked to have the least calorie content that we can think of. I ended consuming the dumplings that my wife did not eat. By the way, did I mention I had beer that night? Well, I did.

Fats – 5. Diet – 0.

As much as I’d like to add more days in this list, it’s becoming more obvious that my Diet is losing the battle. I can imagine a fictional referee raising the Fats’ hands after winning the unanimous decision for the 5-rounder battle. But the fight is not yet over, my Diet is calling for a rematch and I’m making sure we will win next time.

Beer and Gym

Spending Wisely

They say there are only two things in life that’s certain – these are death and taxes. But come to think of it spending may be added as well. Besides, it is where taxes will come from.

Since the dawn of civilization or at least when people started using money, spending by people for things they both need and want has been as predictable as clock work. Of course with the infamous wealth distribution pyramid, the outflow of money differs from one social class order to another. Fairly, everyone (i.e., rich, middle or lower class) has their own set of financial worries – The Ayalas may worry what Cadillac color to get, The average Juan Dela Cruzes worry which one is a good bang for the buck – Vios or City, while the less privilege worry when the next jeepney fair price hike will happen. All are worries nevertheless. Parang patas, pero hindi (Looks fair yet not).

But before I fully transform (though I truly wish) my blog into something like Francis Kong’s business article, I’d like to share some of my tips with regards to spending wisely – at least I believe so.

·         Obsolete items have to go. The unstoppable electricity bill made me decide to sell (another of my online selling adventure) our old air conditioner and replace it with a new one that has a timer so it can switch the electric fan at a specified time without me having to perform a half-sleepwalk just to reach and turn the air con off.

·         Be on the lookout for best 2^nd hand (used) deals. My wife showed her haggling talent and got a 5-month old Canon IXUS 70 at 25 percent less than the original price - Not bad. But I banned her on my ebay’s buyers list – I can’t handle such hagglers.

·         Drive as if you’re participating in Petron’s Extra Mile challenge. Been doing it lately and I’m seeing an improvement both to my sanity and fuel economy. It’s also one way to discourage your friends from riding with you – who wants to be in a new car without an air conditioning on? Hahaha. Just kidding.

·         Watch only good movies (Catch the bad ones in HBO). Last week we watched “What Happens in Vegas” and we quite had a good laugh at it. Cinema: P240, Watching Aston Kutcher and Cameron Diaz: Priceless.  

·         Read restaurant reviews before dining in. This is what we learned with Fish & Co. where I read in some forums that even those known rich people find it overpriced. Too bad I read about it late enough. Last week was a different story; we had our sweet revenge in Bollywood. I enjoyed our dinner (but my wife didn’t) in this Indian cuisine restaurant and that made me dream of going to India to savor more of their foods. I’m wondering if there’s any other way we can commute there other than their trains – I have some “issues” with it. If there is, Bombay, count me in.

·         Pay and download only the music you like.  When I heard about it from my wife, I immediately agree with the idea; rather than buying a full CD (single artist) and feeling shortchanged later on after learning that your favorite artist himself has actually only one favorite song in his own album. Ti abi. But then again, I’d like to emphasize that this is not a reason to patronize pirated music. Buying pirated materials is not spending wisely. It is stealing. Period.

·         Grab every chance to join a raffle or contest. My wife got her pair of limited edition Havaianas 7 Waves for free after being included in the first 70 entries for their contest.  That will keep her from buying another Spartan enemy…for now. I’m thinking if I can sell this pair in ebay. Shhh.

 

There’s a rule to having a successful diet – do not deny yourself of your cravings as doing so will just make you binge in the end. Instead, eat everything (those obviously not hazardous) in moderation. Spending is no different. Cutting every expense out at once will have its repercussion. It is better to moderate it at first and depending on the availability of resources – i.e., money – try eliminating the unnecessary ones one at a time. Good luck.

 

 

A Gold Fish and An Iron Man

The recent gas price hike didn’t keep us inside our house on a weekend.  It’s not that we’re rich (but I WISH we really are) or never really cared if a liter will cost us around Php 50.00 (>USD 1.00), it’s just that we craved for Indian foods since the start of last week. And Sunday was like a much awaited day and when it finally arrived, we were so raring to go.  In fact, I was so excited that I once again met up with Hana and had my red collared shirt pressed.

Originally we were headed for Bollywood restaurant in Greenbelt 3 Makati. After attending mass however in the Shrine of Jesus church, we decided that maybe the giant Mall of Asia (MOA) will have some Indian foods to offer. And after less than 10 minutes (which most of it was from cueing at the exit and letting some pedestrians pass) of driving from one parking lot to another, we were already inside the mall.

Just like any visit we had in MOA, the mixed feeling of excitement and confusion enters my mind as soon as we came in. The mall is so huge that it has a dizzying effect especially if you don’t exactly have a plan in mind to where your destination may be. Or maybe I’m just not the window shopping expert yet that relaxes at the sight and thought of the numerous stores ahead.

And since it was already lunch time then, we immediately checked the stores locator. Bingo! We spotted an obvious Bollywood replacement . The name itself shouts I’m an Indian food restaurant. The place is Prince of Jaipur. I likewise noted Fish & Co.’s location. I got hungrier with anticipation.

Disappointingly, when we reached our first choice, the place was deserted.  It was as if a police caution tape has been placed around it that only the surrounding restaurants had flocks of patrons whom some are even eating al fresco (by choice or not). For whatever reasons, none were inside Jaipur’s and in the food business the mutual rule, “eat where there is a long queue” is a surefire rule of getting good food. Although my wife and I are the type who willingly try any food around, the emptiness inside the Indian restaurant on a lunch time is not a good sign. Maybe our second choice is good.

Fish & Co.’s place was enticing. Once we got inside the restaurant, the smell of the place tells me, this one is a hit. The place is almost packed and by the look at the tables, it looks like everyone is enjoying their meal. Happy customers mean good food. And just as we got seated the menu was promptly laid in front of us. And that’s when I smell something fishy when I glanced on the price list. But since my mind was conditioned to have anything Indian, the word curry convinced me to order the Seafood curry. My wife picked the Prawn Fettuccini.  

 

Gladly, the foods were served in no time. The presentation was just like in the menu book. So far my two senses – smell and sight – agree that I got the right stuff. But just as the two are feasting on what’s on the table, my taste buds tell me that I’ve been robbed. So as not to be judgmental on the first bite, I kept on eating. I even tried if my wife got better pasta than she ever had. Unfortunately, the ummmhs and the ahhhs never came. Both foods didn’t deserve a round of applause. And by the way, the clam chowder is a shame compared to Don Henrico’s (theirs is the best so far). We’ve been robbed indeed. I can’t say, “Curry $14, Pasta $10, having Sunday lunch at Fish & Co. priceless”. This commercial tagline just doesn’t fit in.  The food is overpriced, period.

Next time, we’re eyeing MOA’s Sakae Sushi. Doesn’t buffet ring a bell?

 

 

 

***

Good thing we got our ticket for the 1:20 PM showing of the Iron Man at Centerstage – at least we got a reason to scram out of Fish & Co. (and I’m never buying anything from there, if you ask me).

As I’m never an avid reader of marvel comics, I’m just going to give my pros and cons of this movie just the way I see it.

Pros:

·         I dozed off at the first part of the movie…errr, this must be in Cons.

·         Setting aside Mythbusters , I find the effects such as the transformation and Iron Man’s flight great (I’m a sucker for anything that flies – except flies).  We never knew if such technology will someday come to reality and to quote “it’s all funded by the military”. Amen.

·         The sound effects are overwhelming. Hearing the Jericho blast out of the missile pod made me smile. The sonic boom Iron Man created is just as remarkable.

·         Gadget’s and cars galore!

·         The humor lines are perfectly delivered.

Cons:

·         Story is a bit dragging at first plus the fact that someone invited something sophisticated inside the cave is just lame.

·         Surgery and implants inside a crude environment - cave. I just wonder if anyone will survive for days. I could be wrong though, I’m no medical expert.

·         Stupid villains are a thing of the past. And by the way, somewhere in the Middle East, an anti-Iron Man movie sentiments is brewing, I’m sure.

·         Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is pathetic…hmmm, must be the talent fee that convinced her to still do it.

Overall, this movie is great if watched with a couple of friends over a bottle of beer (paging cinema owners) just to kill time. And remember, always forget about the Mythbusters prior to watching the movie.

 

Photo credits:

Fish & Co website

Iron Man - Yahoo movie site

Two-Choices

Every now and then, I always remember one of the e-mails I received regarding man having just two choices the moment he wakes up and starts his day. So as this week seems to be a week of confusion, fun, adventure, fun…or in short just confusion, I’m once again faced with these two choices. And what are these? Simply, it’s just deciding if it’s going to be a good or bad day.

So on April fool’s day, despite already having a hint of the things that may happen within the week, my wife and I refuse to let it go down on us. We chose to be happy. By lunch time we decided to eat at Brazilian Bbq restaurant in ATC which is just a couple of months old in the area.

The place is just at the back of the former Saisaki restaurant and is fairly small thus giving a homey feel to it. I think it just can accommodate approximately 50 customers at a time – less elbows to rub (that is if you actually get to be even that near), less buffet rivals, more chance to pick and savor the food. Just don’t be deceived by its size though as this restaurant packs a variety of good food, mostly grilled, in its menu.  I don’t know who conceptualized it, but this place re-defines yoyo diet.

Other than the plates, spoons and forks, and condiments, the waiter also places a yoyo on the table. To a newcomer this may come as surprise as to what its purpose may be. The yoyo is actually colored green on one side and red on the other. Laying the toy with its green on top means a waiter will come at your table with random grilled food still at its rotisserie stake for you - although you may ask whatever you wanted. They’ll be coming right back until you’ve turned the yoyo over with its red side on top. It just occurred to me that this is a good way to keep the customers from saying “stop” while their mouth is “stuffed”. Wise idea.

As we normally do, we checked out the movies after the hearty meal. And as much as I’m longing to watch an animated film – Horton, I quickly erased the thought of it as the grilled meat seemed to make me look for something adrenalin-packed. So we transferred to the nearby Festival Mall and without any doubt I saw what I’m looking for – Vantage Point.

The first 30 minutes of the movie will make one think of seeing a crap film. The scenes keep on coming back to 11:59:59am. What’s good with that!? Sooner though, the plot continues to thicken and it was just then that I begun praising its filmmakers.  The movie stands true to its theme: “8 strangers, 8 stories, 1 vantage point”. The car chase scenes are almost at par with that of Ronin. But unfortunately this film is not free of Hollywood B.S.  One will never fail to notice the clean state of some of the characters amidst the bomb blast and car crashes. Other than that, I find the acting of both heroes and villains convincingly great. Two thumbs up.

  

Part II: Ship is Sinking

Working for a multinational company which most people and its other employees consider as one of the most stable work place in the country then, I can’t help but compare it now to the Titanic. The day it was built and the very day of its maiden voyage, the Titanic was flaunted and described by its engineers and owners as the biggest and as the unsinkable. But they’d found out soon that it wasn’t meant to be. And so are we.

While I’m not about to dwell on what isn’t clear at this moment yet, I’ve been thinking  what if we are all in that gigantic ship from the moment it struck the iceberg. What type of passenger or crew will we be (in reference to the movie)?

Are we the night watch crew who trembled in fear when we realized we missed informing the bridge of the huge iceberg because we’re so busy watching Jack and Rose making out in the cold?

Are we the economy class passengers who remained clueless of what is going outside because we are located at the ships lower deck?

Are we one of the crews who readily handed out life jackets by prioritizing those in the business class and give the remainder to those in economy?

Are we the ones who surrendered our fate and preferred staying with our kids and love ones until the very end?

Are we the captain who tried to shrug off the crash like it was just a bad dream and later on decided to go down with the ship instead?

Are we the crew who in an attempt to control the passengers from stampede accidentally shot one of them and out of desperation and regret turned the gun on himself?

Are we the lucky ones who got hold of the life boats and turned a blind eye to those hopelessly trying to survive in the frigid waters?

Or are we the band that played on so as to make our very best to entertain those who might have shut their mind to the imminent reality?

In “our” part, I can’t directly relate to the above mentioned characters but if James Cameron could have had a camera zoom more on the people running around, we’d be seen just plainly walking around the ship’s deck, taking our time to enjoy the wonderful cold night sky and entering some of the food halls and ordering the most expensive food available (while wondering why the waiters seem pale). We may even be seen inside the car where Jack and Rose were before the tragedy. Hehe.

Tomorrow is D-day. But once again, Que sera sera.

 

  

Amazing Pampanga…

They say that watching TV has its subliminal effect.  I may have to agree this time as what we’ve done a day after the Balloon fest is somewhat similar to the recently concluded Amazing Race Asia Season 2. No, there’s no running involved, no Henry-Trinidad-arguments and definitely no clues nor roadblock to beat. But of course there’s money to be budgeted (I always imagine myself saying, “Money is no issue!” kelan kaya?). I can somehow relate to the show though as my 2-weeks of “re-gym” made me somewhat near Marc Nelson’s six-pack abs. I wish.

Flashback. Waking up at Swagman hotel still with the after taste of San Mig lights beer and the flavorful chicken curry my wife shared with me during last night’s dinner, we just did some stretch, a shower of course, then we packed our things immediately. We avoided having breakfast at the resort thinking that the breakfast menu is quite stiff.  Instead, we opted for the nearby McDonald’s and had our hearty late morning meal for just more than P100.

Actually, the reason why I’m trying to control our first meal, both budget and volume, is because we’ve been planning on checking out Everybody’s Café. So after Angeles, we were on our way to San Fernando, where the main restaurant is located.  We got the idea of going to this famous Pampanga restaurant from a TV (see, TV again) show which if I’m not mistaken is from the Food Network channel. The host of the show ate frog legs in this resto and that perk up my appetite to try this exotic food.

We arrived in San Fernando about an hour later. The city is surprisingly good and looks more developed than I expected. The presence of several major car dealerships reaffirms this observation. A couple of minutes after entering the city and spending a few more time asking for directions we eventually located our objective. To my dismay, it’s not the one that we saw on TV. My wife later mentioned that what we’re expecting is actually in Angeles – it’s their branch store. Ti abi. To save the day, and our grumbling stomach we proceeded still.

From the outside, the place looks just like any old residential house. And with only one SUV parked that day, a newcomer wouldn’t even think that inside is a restaurant if not for the large sign just at the right of the entrance. But just after stepping inside, the sight of the food display gave me a hint that we are in the right place. At this point I was already starting to check every food tray for something looking weird, with long legs and webbed feet, and that resembles those we see in ponds – frogs. Unfortunately, there were none. Good thing the old lady at the counter sensed my craving for kapampangan delicacies. She politely offered buro with mustard leaves, fried hito (catfish) and of course to my delight,  fried camaro (crickets).  We also ordered Tapang Kalabaw – this became my instant favorite since I had one in SM Clark’s Cabalen.

  Tapang Kalabaw    

  Camaro!

Once the foods were served, I was a bit surprised that there was little hesitation (esp. from my wife) to dig the foods in front of us. The camaro tasted just like small shrimps if not for the hollow stomach and dark brown color that reminds you otherwise. And the buro and mustard leaf combination reminded me of my late lola’s preparation when taking the nganga (leaves and lime chewed usually by elders). Overall, we enjoyed the weird lunch. Burp. Spent: P500+

 Too much cricket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon finishing our kapampangan meal we still had time to check out San Fernando’s malls which we unintentionally discovered when we took the wrong turn while looking for the resto. So with full stomach we find window shopping a good way to burn calories – I’m still wondering if how much calories did the fried crickets deposited in me. I observed that unlike the malls in Manila and Cavite, Robinson Starmills and SM San Fernando are a bit deserted (and sleepy) when we came in.  So after grabbing some items, we decided it’s time we head back to Manila. Spent: P1000+

It was just around 1:30PM when we left San Fernando. Traffic at NLEX was smooth and we only got stuck starting in Cubao and the area before Ayala. We realize we still had time to kill; To the delight of my wife, I agree to drop by Glorietta Center in Makati. And besides, our car badly needs a wash.

Inside the mall, the temporary stalls located at one part of the mall reminded us that a renovation is still on-going to repair the site affected by the December 07 blast. Suddenly I felt like going back outside. However, that feeling was soon forgotten once we got in Glorietta 4. And as if to continue my quest for local foods I decided to take my snack from Taco Ilocano – Ilocano style empanada. My wife got something different too.  Right after the calorie pile-up, we went to watch the movie “The Eye” in one of G4’s cinema. It’s been quite some time since we last watched a film in this mall. Spent: P1500+

By around 6pm we were already on our way back home. And then the thickening traffic flow gave us another reason to make our final stop - we dropped by SM Mall of Asia (MOA).

Once we got out of the elevator from the parking lot, all the food we took a couple of hours ago seemed to just disappear out of our bellies – we are hungry once more. So we combed the area and found ourselves facing the Manila bay at the rear portion of the mall. And there in front of us we saw that something new has been recently built in that vicinity – SM by the Bay.

We excitedly crossed the bridge to check the area; and it was as if all of a sudden we were transported into another place. We kept on reminding ourselves that we are still in the Philippines. Whoever thought of doing this place deserves more than just a pat at the back. It was packed with people, it is clean, it’s enticing, romantic and more importantly, the choice of places to eat is overwhelming.  Almost an hour later of picking which is which, we eventually settled in Aling Tonya’s restaurant. We ordered calamares, sinigang na isda and of course, last but never the least, San Mig lights beer. What a wonderful way to cap the Balloonfest. Spent: P800+.

There goes another trip with my lovely wife, another well deserved outing for the two of us. Until the next road trip, and good food to deal with. And by the way, I need another set of coin banks.