Full Moon Sways, Gently in the Night of One Fine Day

:::Blame it on Me:::

First of all, I blame visiting to Makati Square. Then, I blame Facebook.

I haven't been blogging much lately because of these two reasons. Permit me to expound. I decided to go to Makati Square to look for some interesting TV series to wile my nights away after the deary hours of office. Divine intervention intervened, and I found myself scrounging on the second level basement floor looking for some anime series. Suffice to say, I bought enough to last me three months of regular watching.

Meanwhile, I succumbed to insanity and began playing games at Facebook. Lack of good games to play (and with both my PC and Xbox 360 "disabled") made me take on the apps, and now I'm collecting cards over in Warstorm, playing king at Kingdoms of Camelot and exploring dungeons over at Dungeons and Dragons Mini Adventures. At the very least, I am NOT playing the abyss known as Farmtown. I saw my wife pick up this game and I literally seen her glued to the monitor, eyes never leaving the screen and whispering diabolical mantras like "...must farm strawberries..." I think there was a slight foaming in the mouth, but thatcould be just bad lighting.

At least my games take just a few minutes to play, just enough to get my gaming fix, and then watch an episode or two in the TV, and then spend the night reading. Nothing beats a good day when you're in the bed, reading a good book, eating a cookie or two, and listening to the unearthly screams of the wife who just found out that her harvest is ruined. Ah, married life is bliss.

:::Anime Countdown:::

I've finished Beck, an anime about a boy joining a rock. Not your typical hack and slash/romance/adventure series, it chronicles how rock bands are formed, what do they go through, and how do they survive to become mainstream stars. Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I hold special reason to watch this since I used toplay bass guitar in a band, and I can empathize with they go through. Bad news is that it's only one season, but the good news is they're going to release a live action movie! Now I can't wait for that one.

After hearing so many good things about the series, I decided to watch next Gundam 00. And I must say, take away the mechas (read: robots) in the series, and you'll find a very political story. And it's all serious stuff. Wars are ugly, politicians backstabbing, lots of hidden agendas. If you like world wide politics, I can recommend these series to you. I'm finishing the last episodes of Season One, and will probably go into Season Two by the end of the week.

After that, I'll probably choose between Canaan (assassin story, amazing gunplay), The Tower of Druaga (fantasy like Record of Lodoss War) orValkyrie Chronicles (Special Operations Force). Life is good.

:::Saranghaeyo!!!:::

So me and the missus finally had a vacation in very cold Korea (-7C!!!) and had a lot of fun. We stayed there for a week, got to visit the DMZ (good lord you people are paranoid!), ate a lot of good food (what do mean we have to cook our food?!) and generally had a fun frolic in the snow. The Koreans over there are very polite, helpful, and generally no nonsense (not unlike the kids who come here to study in the Philippines; the tour guide explained to us those were country bumpkins and not "cultured"). The food is good, though generally it depends on how well you can cook. Most of the restaurants we went into have built in cooking pans, so most the Korean fare are either boiled, grilled or steamed.

The high point for me was watching Nanta, a world acclaimed cooking theather show, (kinda like Stomp, but in the kitchen). The low point was me forgetting my battery pack for my camera (epic fail on my part). The silver lining was looking for a replacement battery, and going inside a store full of old cameras. Like Mamiyas, Hasselbrads and Rolleiflexes! Seeing the price made me balked at buying one even though it uses medium format film, not the regular 35mm we have these days, just for collection purposes.

All in all, it was a good vacation, and made me want to visit Korea again, if only for just one day to visit that store again and get some good stuff. And definitely in the summertime.

:::Bookhunter Log 030210:::

The Stand by Stephen King, Complete and Unabridged.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King

Conqueror's Pride by Timothy Zahn

The Frank Herbert Collection by Frank Herbert

This Year's Best Science Fiction, 6th Edition edited by Gardner Dozois

I'm starting The Stand tonight, and I've been waiting for the unabridged edition to come out.

The Frank Herbert Collection is a joy to buy, as the author of the critically acclaimed Dune has some very good stories to tell. I like Timothy Zahn ever since reading Icarus, and is probably the one who eased me gently to appreciate science fiction. All in all, a very good haul.

:::Percy Rant:::

I have raved about Percy Jackson series last entry, so it gives me great honor to say that the movie suck ass. Where is Clarisse? and Dionysius? and Annabeth's invisible cap? And how the hell Percy came out like a douche?

Ok, I understand that I was a little hype up and got disappointed, but in retrospect even if I lowered my expectations and standards, it still comes out idiotically at least. You don't leave out major characters, and Clarisse and Dionysius are very important characters. So important that Clarisse plays some major parts in the books! It's like leaving out C3po and R2D2 in Star Wars.

Again, don't watch this movie. Buy the book and enjoy.

State of Mind: Blurry Happy

Song of the Day: Moon on the Water by Beat Crusaders ft. Sowelu

Book of the Week: The Stand by Stephen King

Want/Need: Call of Cthulhu: Arkham Asylum