Not bad. First part was dragging considering this is the 2nd installment. It still took a long time just to set things up. Nice movie though. Worth watching. I guess for the ladies, they'd watch it for prince caspian alone.

Just "ok" for me.

Indy is back and it was worth the wait. You can hardly go wrong with the same team that made the original came back to do Crystal Skull. I guess the next Indiana Jones would be starring Shia Lebouf :P

Liked it but came short of loving it.

Well... after saying that the top 24 was the "best ever"... is the top 12 the best ever in the seven seasons of American Idol? I think there is definitely some truth to that. Definitely much better than last year which was the worst ever (in my opinion). Jordin wasn't the worst contestant to eventually win I think that award easily goes to... what's his face??? Oh yeah... Taylor Hicks! Well, eventually Daughtry (who was my favorite to win that season) proved to be the better one afterall hehe.

But i'm getting ouf of topic here... going back to this year, I do see 3-4 people who I am ok to see as champions. And collectively, they have all great talent! Unlike last year where there was 1 who i wanted to win but didn't, there were ho-hum and joke finalists (Sanjaya anyone?), but this year they are all good singers who can really sing and perform. Except for 2 people who wasn't on my list everyone else made it to the top 12.

The girls I had a hard time predicting who make it to the finals. My rankings have been shifting quite a bit every week. But my top choices were in tact including Carly and Ramielle. I was expecting (and wanting) Kady out for sure but Asia'h I thought was good enough for the top 12. In her place, I would have put Amanda... i don't care if she brings her unique rock style... after the first week, she started to bore me. I don't what the judges see in her though.

For the guys it was easier for me. I've predicted Jason Yeager and Robbie the previous week...  and my top favorites all made it to the finals. David Cook is my fave for the guys after all the semifinal performances. I was really sure that Luke must be the next to go and he was. I wasn't sure of my 2nd choice but settled for Chikezee. Although i'm not a fan of Danny, I liked him more than Chikezee since he is fun to watch.

Thus, my core Top 12 by grouping has been made. Of course, things may change after the performances during the finals. But for now i've group the contestants into my three groups:

My top choices
David Cook - Consistently impressed by this guy... under appreciated I think by most
Carly - Loved her from the auditions... she still has make that definitive WOW performance though
Ramielle - Wouldn't it be cool to have the first Asian-American idol to be Pinoy! But I am a fan!
Michael - Not the best vocals but one heck of a performer.

Middle group
David Archuleta - An early favorite and his rendition of Imagine was the best but too pa-cute
Jason - Unique. Too meek to be a champion
Syesha - Great vocals... she's got potential
Brook - Last 2  performances were great. Let's see if she continues to grow.
David Hernandez - Some very good perfomances just at the right time landed him to the top 12 but don't know if he'd be able to sustain it

Bottom pack
Kristy Lee - Just "ok" for me
Amanda - Like I said, i'm not a fan of her voice and her style is getting old quick
Chikezee - The guy who I wanted to go out first from the top 12 but even he has the pipes but he has an attitude... and not a good one.

All in all... it makes for an interesting season especially when we get to the top 6!

I've seen the original in broadway but I was curious enough and enjoyed the show the first time that I had to see the local production!

One thing was evident... the quality of singing is a notch better than the original! Especially with Rachel as Kate. The puppetting could have been better since in the broadway original I hardly notice the real actors as I was focus on the puppets all the time. Here, I saw some lapses in puppetting... or maybe that's because i'm much closer to the stage this time :)

The production was comparable although I felt the broadway show was more "grand". The local production has made up for it with small changes in scenes and timing of lines.

The cast were great! Everyone was a step up on singing. Performance-wise, it is a split for me with some doing better than the original while the others not but definitely comparable. I definitely enjoyed it and for those who haven't seen it yet... you still have a chance! Don't miss it!

They've posted these samplers of Rachel Alejandro singing. These are not from the show itself since recording is obviously not allowed inside.

Rachel as Kate Monster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjrFVEs6Yi8

Rachel as Lucy the Slut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v97PmRL2Sxs&feature=user

Microsoft seems to have finally developed a decent enough video editor as part of Windows Vista. Took a stab at it today by creating this video.

About the video: Loved the song... but ever since the first time I heard it on the radio, I knew I heard that style somewhere before.

One thing i've been enjoying lately is Shutterfly. An online photo service where you can upload, share and print your pictures. They deliver it to your house and i'd surely miss this service when I get back to Manila.

But what i've loved about it lately is their photobook. You can easily design your own photobook using the many themes, layouts and formats that they have to offer. And the all important question... how much?!? Price ranges from $29-$39 depending on the cover but who pays retail these days? Every so often, Shutterfly offers discounts and coupons even for a FREE photobook! Recently they offered several of these to entice people to move their pictures from the closing service of Yahoo Photos or Sony Imagestation or even for tie-ups with upstarts like Codi.  You just have to wait around for these offers! They even have special offers to individuals or even coupons for free shipping (so you're don't spend a dime!) Even if you pay the full price, it is very much worth it in my opinion. As a gift, for your own collection, coffee table top book, or even as a portfolio of your best shots!

So, if you're a photography enthusiast... bring life back to your pictures. Get them printed on a photobook! I hope there was a similar service in Manila or maybe a way to deliver these there.

 

 

Here are examples of the photobooks i've made so far:

My UK Trip     http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Act3Dhi1cs2Lm4
Fireworks       http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Act3Dhi1cs2LoA
Mother's Day  http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Act3Dhi1cs2LqI

I wonder when the Philippines would have a decent broadband service provider. Last year, frustrated with Destiny's persistent downtime and oh so difficult to contact support, we decided to switch to another internet service provider.

We settled with SMART Bro thinking that since it's ran by PLDT, it SHOULD fare better in providing quality service... I was dead wrong.

2 months ago, we lost our connection. Like anyone, we tried desperately to call the support to get the connection established. When we made contact they've advised they'd bring someone over. A week has passed, no one came. We called again. They've advised they KNOW there was now a problem in the area and they'd have that fixed soon.

We waited... still no connection. Called again and they've advised they'd send someone over... again. By this time we had 3 weeks of no connection. No way for my sister to get in touch with us (his brothers) in the US to coordinate regarding matters at home. Finally, someone came and fixed the problem.

3 weeks... of course we demanded that they should not bill us for the 3 weeks lost! The person in the call said that "Sir, we only credit you for that one day you called" WTF?!? Didn't they just confirmed that the area had a problem for a week and that we have not had our connection for a total of 3 weeks?! "Sir that our policy kasi eh!". So they're billing us for 3 weeks for which they didn't provide us service!

At least Destiny had the decency to credit those days back but downtime happened so often it wasn't bareable and we rarely are able to reach their call center. SMART on the other hand didn't care if they didn't give the service during that time... they said that we should have called each and every day there was a problem for us to get credited for the whole 3 weeks. Who in their right mind would spend a significant portion of their day calling them up for this problem when they know they haven't worked on the first report we made!

The service is on contract for 1 year. We asked... when was the connection established... They didn't want to tell us... but with some push they reluctantly said it was on Oct 15, 2006. This means we can opt out of the service if we don't get the credit for the weeks we didn't have a connection.

We got the bill. they only credited for 1 day of no service!!! Tough. What is it to them that they lose one customer when they can easily fool others. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I trusted in their name. Now I can really say SMART BRO BULOK!

But then I ask... is there a better option out there?!? Anyone tried Sky's Zippedee? Globe's broadband service? For all I know, we are stuck with no really good options out there. I can't wait for the day when competition really drives customer service for us here in Manila.

After years of not buying a new PC, I finally bought a new notebook quenching my thirst for a dual-core, Vista OS, 2GB RAM, 200GB HD, entertainment machine! So far so good. I haven't completed my setup yet. It has most of the bells and whistle I find useful. Webcam, fingerprint reader, memory card slots, 15.4' glossy screen, Altec Lansing sounds, DVD Lightscribe drive and a TV tuner to connect it to the TV/Cable and record shows/videos!

Trying hard not to spend countless hours on setting it up though... surely, i'd have the time one of these weekends. Not a big problem yet but Vista and IE is having issues already. The dangers of being online really requires good spyware and virus protection. I didn't have to deal with that with my office PC which is fairly well protected.

Net! Good buy for me so far. I've been looking for this kind of an entertainment inclined notebook. It is not for those who want a light and portable notebooks though. HP's TX1000 is your alternative which I also considered given that it was ultraportable and can be a tablet PC.

Entertaining. Recommended if you need a laugh trip. Not a must watch... you can wait for it on DVD (but if you are in Manila, you can get it in DVD now and watch it at home).

(This was an old blog post of mine on my HP7 book review last month)
And so it ends... as promised, Harry Potter ended with the release of the 7th book last weekend. Did it live up to the hype??? You bet it did! I wasn't certain that it would as the last few books since book 3 I thought left too many things unclear. Being the last book of the series, it had the advantage of being able to close it all.

Last friday, people filled a nearby Barnes & Noble @ midnight... simply waiting to get a hold of the book ASAP. I was there more to see the crowd who were wearing costumes including one who wore Hagrid's robes and who must be wearing stilts underneath.

I finished the book the other night... not because I can't wait... but I'm afraid I get to hear or read of the ending accidentally and spoil the experience (which happened to a friend recently). It was written in a way that it was as if you were watching an action sci-fi movie complete with drama (and musical scores in your head! Seriously!).

Of course theories abound on what happens in HP7. (A bit of a spoiler alert but I won't mention anything specific.) Things such as Dumbledore is alive or Snape is good or Harry dies... The book did not disappoint... it was expectedly unexpected. A friend said that it somewhat like LOTR where instead of Frodo and the fellowship, you have Harry with Ron and Hermione (plus DA and the order). You have the battle at hogwarts replacing battle at Gondor. Many died. Many lived. A great way to end a great series. JK gave a last surprise by writing an Epilogue at the end... set 19 years after it all.

Kudos to JK Rowling! I do hope the series won't be spoiled by sequels... it should simply end here. It would be tough to translate this one into a movie!