Right now, I have this to say: Spongebob Squarepants the movie was far more entertaining and engaging than The Incredibles. And I say this because, you, reader, may be faced with the hard decision to choose which of these recent animated movie releases you will pony up your hard-earned money for. The answer is this: go for the yellow Scotch Brite pad (with the squarepants).

The Incredibles, though promising, was uneven at times, and took a helluva long time to become interesting. The weakest of all Pixar releases, The Incredibles is weighed down by long character setups (yeah, yeah, yeah we get it, he's *incredible*) and the writer's onus of making superhuman characters interesting in an animated universe so used to, well, animated superhuman characters: the best of Pixar had to do with toys, ants, fish and more toys. Monsters, Inc., I believe was second weakest.

The one saving grace was Edna, and she had the fewest lines -- heck, it took nearly half the movie to introduce the evil villain! And I wasn't crazy about their superpowers either; we've seen them all. No talking fishes here, no toys with identity crises either.

Contrast this to the maniacal buzz of the Ren and Stimpy-esque gem that was Spongebob Squarepants (even the art looked Michael K). Complete with humor only the intellectual snobs can get ("You can't fool me! I listen to public radio!") and unbelievably witty repartee ("I made it to Shell City! I rode the Hasselhoff!") Spongebob kept you laughing with its own witless bizaare brand of humor that was all so tongue in cheek. There's Spongebob, in an ecstatic moment of self-realization, proclaiming that he was just being himself (not a "kid", and not a "man") as he flies magically in the air dressed like Jimi Hendrix and freeing the people of Bikini Bottom from Plankton's mind-control with every riff from his guitar.

I've long forgotten the best parts of The Incredibles, yet the "Goofy Goober" song is earworm. And there's Mindy, Patrick, competitive ice cream eating and a song and dance number you will never forget. Perhaps a little bit of the unexpected (I was dragged in the movie house with three other kids) made this movie even more delightful, and made The Incredibles the more half-witted one.

Leave the Mr. Incredible doll alone, I want a Spongebob tee for Christmas.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:36 PM | Permalink
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Well, take that and add our legendary texting prowess and you've got an excellent Friendster beta market for its new mobile SMS product.

Friendster will soon launch its first mobile service in the Philippines to test the concept of merging the biggest online social networking service with mobile phone technology, an executive told INQ7.net.

After six months of negotiations, Friendster has picked local mobile phone content provider Entertainment Gateway Group (EGG) to roll out the social networking service in the country, according to Joe Hurd, director of international business development of Friendster.

The Friendster mobile service will soon be available on the networks of three mobile phone operators, namely Smart Communications, Globe Telecom and Sun Cellular.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Even worse, how many will fall to the disease?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 12:55 PM | Permalink
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1. Only Filipino men tuck in their shirts inside their briefs. The example I saw (involutarily of course) was using the Holiest of all drawers: Jockeys!

2. "Ssssst" is a call to attention only Filipinos use. I was crossing a parking lot and someone was calling out "Ssst...! Ssssttt....!!" and it wasn't to me. And he sure didn't look Filipino.

3. We laugh at someone who falls and hurts himself. It seems that instead of helping people out and having sympathy, we laugh at and even embarass someone who slips and falls. Well, the other day, a student slipped off his chair and fell back firts on the floor. Everyone laughed except me.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:35 PM | Permalink
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I got around to surfing and found out about Ron Howard and Tom Hanks imminent team up for "Da Vinci Code" -- interesting timing as I'm just winding down reading "Angels and Demons". Casting Jean Reno as Bezu Fache may be the best book-to-movie matching yet: I actually imagined Jean Reno as the inspector as I was reading the book.

Another point of interest was Loren Legarda's thwarted attempt in making it into "Mano Po 3", in what is a telling sign of her desire to run for office in 2010. Thwarted, nonetheless, by Mother Lily not wanting to just give her a cameo. Meanwhile, leave the acting to the Lipa City mayor.

And, is John-D the John Hughes of the Philippines?

Ah, but what really pleased me was Robodump.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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1. How cold will it be this weekend?

2. Can I manage a 24-person class in Color and Design?

3. Will Roe v. Wade be repealed?

4. What's my resting heart rate?

5. Get a thumbdrive mp3 player or go for broke and get an iPod?

6. Why did I upgrade to Panther when Jaguar is so much more stable?

7. Will I get my allergies this Christmas when I go home?

8. Will I ever finish writing all 100 poems for my "100 Poems Project"?

9. Why is Kashi GoLean Crunch so delicious?

10. Will Manila's traffic problem ever get fixed?

11. Isn't there something that isn't made better with a dash of hot sauce?

12. Pistachio or chocolate?

13. How many species will lose their homes and eventually die once they start drilling for oil in the Alaskan Reserve?

14. Will my father ever really retire?

15. Will I ever play poker, sing songs and drink with my old high school buddies like we used to when the power would go out back in '93?

16. Will Syracuse win another NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in my lifetime?

17. How long will I keep kicking myself for missing the last Guided by Voices concert?

18. What will Aaron Sorkin do next?

19. When will I get my ACL repaired?

20. Will my children believe everything I say?

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday declared that the country has wriggled out of fiscal crisis barely three months after admitting that her government was in dire financial straits to coerce Filipinos in accepting painful reforms such as high taxes, higher power rates and spartan expenses.

Now, here's a quote from the same story, barely a line down:

In a brief talk at the headquarters of GMA Broadcasting Corp. in Quezon City, Ms Arroyo said: "We are now getting out of that (fiscal) crisis and I told my Cabinet members, let's not talk crisis anymore. We rang the alarm bell and the people and the institutions (responded)."

"We are now getting out" is significantly different from "we are now out", as the headline reads. Meanwhile, GMA demonstrates the kind of papertrail bureaucracy she wants:

"Just today, I got some coins from some children in Tiaong (town in Quezon province) amounting to P700. I asked my finance officer to write a receipt and thank you letter for their contribution in solving the crisis. If that is our attitude, then we are out of the crisis," the President said.

Dang, Php 700 goes a long way for column inches huh? ( Bet that Finance Officer would looove to write that thank you letter.)

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The world take note: there are Americans out there, lots of them, who think that this man deserves a second term. Obviously to them, the economy, human rights, environmental rights, women's rights, the advancement of medicine, the future of the supreme court, healthcare and the war on terrorism is not important. Or they simply got it horribly wrong.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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1. Bush is a Christian. Kerry's "Pro-Choice" -- he doesn't mind killing babies.

2. I voted for Bush. I'd much rather have someone who never served in a war, than someone who did and turned his back on it like Kerry did.

God, if you're out there, bless America.

Posted by Bulletproofvest at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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