I'm Tired

Well, three straight overnights at work does that to you. Yeah, I'm still here. Just in time to say goodbye to November and hello to December! Whoopee!

Can't really sleep. Lot of stuff to finish. But I can't work on something else at this point either since I'm still waiting for my programs to finish before I can proceed with my other tasks. Stupid dependencies. Anyway, I figured now's a good time for some updates.

Viewed...

• You Got Served. Well, I'm glad I bought the DVD (bootleg, of course) a couple of weeks back because this film doesn't disappoint. If you enjoyed Bring It On, you'll like this a lot more. Well, there's a little bias in there since I've recently been in touch with my inner "Hip-Hopper", thanks to Cardio Funk.



• After The Sunset. They say The Thomas Crown Affair was way better, but I haven't seen it yet so I wouldn't really know. But I do know that if Woody Harrelson wasn't in this film, it would've sucked big time.



• The Incredibles. This has got to be my most favorite Pixar film ever! Every aspect of the film was simply...well, incredible. I guess four long years of production does that to a movie.



• National Treasure. It was a good thing I didn't expect too much from this film (the title just didn't appeal that much to me), because it turned out to be a whole lot better than I initially thought. Ok, the start could be a little dragging, but it quickly picks up the pace and makes for high-quality entertainment. And Diane Kruger is so gorgeous here too.



• Supersize Me. Just watched this yesterday on DVD. Djong has a much better review over at her blog. All I can say is it's a real eye-opener (especially the "Fries Experiment"). It does make you want to stay away from McDo food...at least for a while.

Read...

Warning: Geek mode on.

• Identity Crisis. Written by Brad Meltzer; art by Rags Morales and Michael Blair. I hadn't planned on buying issue one the day it came out, but I'm happy (and extremely lucky) I did. The premise: Somebody knows our superheroes' secret identities, and he/she is going after their loved ones. Interesting, isn't it? Six issues into this 7-part mini-series, everything just keeps getting better.



• JLA. I'm glad I decided to start collecting this series from book 1 because I really get my money's worth. I just finished book 14 (Trial by Fire, written by Joe Kelly; art by Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen) and I have to say it's one the best story arcs I've read so far: The Martian Manhunter has overcome his fear of fire, but at what cost? Kelly is now officially one of my favorite writers. And I'm really enjoying Doug Mahnke's art, which has greatly improved since he first started in The Golden Perfect story arc.



• Green Lantern: Rebirth. Written by Geoff Johns with fantastic art by Ethan Van Sciver. I'll have to save my comments probably until the 4th issue comes out. "So far, so good" is all I can say as of now.



• Adam Strange. Besides Andy Diggle's highly entertaining treatment of DC's Premier Science-Fiction Hero, one of the strengths of this series is Pascal Ferry's amazing art. You need not be an Adam Strange fan or know who he is to fully enjoy this book.

Played...

• Fantasy NBA. I didn't see why some of my friends were so hooked on this before. Now I know and I'm enjoying it a lot, considering all you have to do is set which players on your team should or should not play on a given date. Players on a team are real-life NBA players, drafted by each manager into his team before the start of the season. A team then earns points based on the stats that a specific player fills up during real-life NBA games. Sounds complicated, doesn't it? It's really quite easy once you get the hang of it. I'm currently in 2nd place in the TLS league. Ping is at number 1. Not bad for a couple of rookie managers, eh?



• Need for Speed Underground 2. This game takes off on the right foot and has surpassed all expectations so far. A lot of improvements in this sequel to the 2003 hit game. There are a lot more cars (including SUVs) to choose from, the non-linear gameplay gives players the freedom to progress through the game at their own pace, and new race types have been added such as Street X and the Underground Racing League. Graphics and sounds are fantastic and the controls are relatively easy to master. Unfortunately, our apartment PC (Pao's) is a little too underpowered to maximize enjoyment of the game. Hopefully, I'll be lucky enough to purchase a PS2 by next year.

More later. Brain functions are starting to shut down.

In The Last Episode Of Nefville...

Truth be told, I was very tempted to just post some amusing picture I received thru email a few days ago. I, obviously, decided not to. For one thing, I didn't want to risk being called madaya (a cheat) by Zane again (which, I admit, is true...easy way out and all that). But more than that, I figured it was just a little too unfair to those who allot a small amount of their time to drop by regularly in the hopes of finding some decent updates. So, to my loyal fans, this post is for you.

The Tale of the Missing Nefmobile

My car was towed a couple of days ago. I had just gotten off from work when I saw that it wasn't where I had left it that morning. I always park in that area so I was surprised (and of course, furious) that my car was taken. That was at around a little after 7:00 PM and I was just about to fetch Pi from work. So I called her up and asked her to just have her Tito pick her up. You can imagine how bad my mood was by this time.

I asked the people around the vicinity for details, which was, of course, the most logical thing to do. The "witness" I had asked told me that my car was raked at around 4:00 PM, and that there was a central impound where towed cars in the Mandaluyong area are brought (lucky for me, it was fairly easy to get to).

"4:00 PM?!!", I had thought. If I was parked illegally, wouldn't my car have been taken earlier, like in the morning, already? That's when I started to just lose it. My hands were clenched into fists, my uni-brow at its uni-est...you'd think I was about ready to punch the first guy that passed by me in the face. I was majorly, majorly pissed.

So I made my way to the impound, which was located in front of Star Mall, along Shaw Boulevard. I had been rehearsing a few lines in my head that I thought I would use to defend my case. "If my parking was illegal, why didn't you tow it in the morning?!!" and "I always see cars parked at where I parked, how come you don't tow them?!!", lines like that.

The first sign that welcomes me at the impound writes "No one is above the law!" I start to calm down after reading it. Then I see my car, still in good condition. My heart rate begins normalizing. The guy in charge there brings out a piece of paper with my car details and starts briefing me on what had transpired. My parking space was legal...if I was there. I decide to use my "If my parking was illegal" line.

They did take my car in the morning. Around 9:30 AM. It was written on the paper...so clear even a 1st grade student could have read it for me.

I'm a lot calmer by this time (not to mention ashamed) so I just proceed to ask what my violation was. Apparently, the rear end of my car was just beyond the legal parking line (which I failed to see). This line marks the point where a car, if parked beyond the said line, poses as an obstruction to large and long vehicles turning into the street. I didn't bother using my "I always see cars" line. It was pointless. I was clearly in the wrong and it was only fair to face the consequences of my negligence. The penalty would have been a whopping 1,500 pesos. But Mr. Impound Guy decides to give me a discount and takes 500 pesos off the fee.

The funny thing about all this is I left the impound not feeling as bad as I initially thought I would. Which is a good thing I guess. It's weird what the Universe does to your sense of humor sometimes.