Krappy Guitars!

Found this surfing the 'net today. Krappy Guitars, your quality source of fine handcrafted two string guitars and basses.


"Our instruments are built for frugal people
who aren't very concerned with regard to
quality, construction, materials, or safety.

The instruments are crafted from whatever
we find suitable. Pedigree of wood is not
a priority for us. We might get it from
a local hardware store, or use some old
shipping crates, or skids. Who knows??!!

If you are intrigued enough to purchase, we will provide you with a complete history
for your instrument. The history might be akin to this:

Wood: leftover 2x4 from a construction site.
Strings: used about 3 years ago on an old guitar.
Pickups: some buncha crap we snagged from some guy.
Electronics: whatever we can scrounge up!"

Sounds good to me. Where do I sign?


Props to attu.

Movie Review: "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" (2005)

I just saw this two nights ago. I have to admit. I was not a fan of Final Fantasy before but I knew about the franchise and knew SOME of the characters (what with all the posters and all the fanboys I hung out with in college and all). I wasn't sure what to make out of this strange and unusual release.

It's a movie (I think it's supposed to be a straight to DVD release or an online download) with the storyline following the PlayStation video game Final Fantasy VII. Two years after the events that happened in FFVII, the world is infected with a strange disease called 'Geostigma'. Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER, part of an elite group of warriors. He is living a reclusive life away from his warrior-friends, when suddenly, Rufus, the evil former President of Shinra, Inc, the company responsible for sucking the 'Lifestream'(life force) away from the earth's surface for financial gain, calls him and asks fro protection from a certain Kadaj and his brothers. Kadaj is the main antagonist in the story an d is hellbent on stealing 'mother' (a fluid that represents life force) which will give him power to rule the world.

Confused? yeah it took me a good 20 minutes to figure out the story AFTER watching it because, and this is probably a good thing for some people and a a bad thing for almost everybody, The story deepends a lot on the viewer's foreknowledge of the Final Fantasy franchse. The characters are never introduced, the just swoop in and you are expected to know who they are. It's a good thing I saw this movie alone, otherwise I would be left out if I had seen this with my college buds who knew the difference between Tifa and Rinoa and Why Cloud has so many swords in his motorbike.

In the first half, we are treated with not much story development, its quite boring if you're not well versed with the terminologies and the background storyline (but I bet fanboys get a hard-on everytime a familiar term or background storyline footnote is mentioned). Then everything picks up and gets compensated by the action sequences. I have never seen such adrenaline coming out of CGI since The Incredibles (stop laughing geeks! I realize that The Incredibles is another totally different school of thought!) The well 'choreographed' (for the lack of as better term) fight between Tifa and Loz was a sight to see and only paved the way foe more spectacular sequences to follow, kinda like the opening scene with Trinity in The Matrix.
I'm not even gonna begin with the weapons and motorbikes.


The graphics(by Square Enix) are sharp, but not 'realistic' sharp. After all, the characters are patterened after the hexagonal entities in the game. realism, although excellently achieved, is not the real emphasis of the graphic construction of the movie, but it's loyalty to the FF story. Unlike Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is strictly the FF we all knew and played till our fingers bled. If i were a fan of the videogame I'm sure I'd love it much more than I already did.



Rocketboy's Rating: *** (3 out of 5)

Natalie Portman Interviews Zhang Ziyi

Well, whaddaya know. They finally meet.

Turns out that my Kung Fu Geisha met up with my Jewish Princess in an interview for Interview Magazine (downloaded from helloziyi.com). They covered a wide range of topics from starting in China, working with Zhang Yimou, Rob Marshall and other directors and what she likes to do with her spare time. Its a good thing that the issue of her love affair with the Rocketboy never surfaced during the conversation or I would have gotten the wrath and fury of both the Shaolin Temple monks and an army of Rabbis combined on my sorry little butt.

Well, my love for both Natalie and Z remains unfazed and unblemished, and nobody has to know about my little secret.

NP: I understand you're learning English.
ZZ: Yeah, I go to school for five hours a day...
NP: Do you have a favorite word?
ZZ: The swear words! (both laugh)

Check the interview here: Page 1 and Page 2


Props to Yan Wang of the KFCC forums.

Movie Review: "March Of The Penguins" (2005)

I love documentaries. I have a long standing dream of being a documentary presentor. I have always expressed this whenever I am being interviewed for a job or a promotion whenever they ask me "What Is your dream job?". I don't know, maybe its the adventure, the sense of escape, the exotic food. The film element that binds all of these things together. Everything about documentary making just appeals to me.

Very few documentaries have broken through the mainstream market. The highest grossing documentary to date is Michael Moore's love letter to President Bush, Farenheit 9/11. The second highest would be March Of The Penguins.
For a movie that has a very modest budget, no hired actors (they couldn't get Danny Devito, heheh), and not very much color (the only color you really see is white and blue), March Of The Penguins has exceeded everyone's expectations, and quite possibly even the filmmakers'.

The story is based on a process that has played over and over every year for thousands of years, which only a few people get to witness. The Emperor Penguin is the only living creature left living in the South Pole and it continues to dwell in this icy wasteland solely because it has been like that for centuries. Their march starts from the edges of the ice sheet deep into the center of the pole using nothing but their short feet (and sometimes on their solf slidey bellies, man I wish I could do that). They meet their mate in their little 'convention' of sorts begin to mate.

The amazing camera wok courtesy of director Luc Jaquet makes these penguins look just like us. You can feel their joy and excitement as well as their sorrow. There are a couple of scenes so emotionally intense tha I couldn't help but look away,most of which involving the death of a baby penguin, such as the freezing of an egg as it was exposed to the freezing cold and a little one being chased down by a seagull. What breaks your heart is you know you couldn't do anything about it even if you were there yourself lest you interfere whith a centuries old process of adaptation. It miust have been very hard for the filmmakers to just stand there and helplessly look at all the tragedy unfolding. But we are always reminded by the reassuring voice of Morgan Freeman, that this is "non-negotiable" and but natural to the cycle of the lives of these amazing creatures.

It is obvious that to best enjoy this movie, you have to see it in the theater. As I saw this movie in a small 14", I couldn't help but wonder how cool all the icebergs and the marching penguins would look like in a 20 foot screen. Otherwise it would look just like a National Geographic special.

Hopefully this gets a local release. Its a good family-oriented movie, but be warned. The scenes involving the natural course of death and predator-prey relationships may have an emotional impact on the kids, they may not be as graphic as a lion eating an antelope's carcass, its just that you see the difficulty of the process these animals go through to bring forth life that any death associated is a stab to the heart.

A small movie worthy of praise and well worth your 85 minutes.

Rocketboy's Rating: *****(5 out of 5)

My Rant For The Week: Commercials Before The Movie

My rant for the week is probably one that I share with thousands of other moviegoers not only here at home but abroad as well. For this is a global pheonomenon. A Movement. A campaign, propagated by capitalist pigs. Money grubbing corporate hacks that find pleasure in the suffering of the downtrodden masses. A signal of the degredation of our times, the degeneration of the very fiber of our society. What Am I talking about? I'm talking about Commercials before the film begins!

Times have changed since the movies became a part of every civilized society's favorite recreational activity. It haslong since, gone a long way. Fore some, it is a relaxing break from the everyday hustle and bustle. For others, it is an escape from reality. For a few, even an obsession, but all of us go to the same theater and share the same experience... but before that, we need to know how Ayala Land has grown since it first started. We need to know how yummy Max Chicken is so that we can go eat there after the movie. We need to get termite insecticides because we may have subterrenian termites eating our house RIGHT NOW!! I make it a point that I come in five minutes early to be on time for the opening credits. But instead I'm bombarded with these pointless ads about termite killers and expensive corporate property

I dont have anything against previews. I love previews. Trailers for upcoming movies are kind of an extra perk for the money you pay for the movie. But you dont pay for the commercials, do you? What's up with that? Last time I checked, the person who paid for the movie was ME! They covering for theater expenses, Is my P130 not enough for paying for the aircon and the projector and the comfy seats. I don't even get a free tub of popcorn for the P130!

I can get the same movie in Quiapo for P60 (without cuts, even) and they expect me to change my attitude towards piracy? And when I do give in to their corporate ploy with emotional blackmail, the shove all these mis-targeted ads into my eyeballs! (Really now, do people looking for property or a condo or insecticides really go to the theaters for purchasing advice? )

As I said earlier, this is a global plague. Stephen King wrote for Entertainment Weekly a list of his Pet Peeves for 2004, the highest ranking pet peeve was..take a wild guess:


"Ads before theatrical movies. I pay $10 to see The Forgotten, and even before I get a preview, I have to sit through an ad for the Xbox videogame system - how insanely capitalistic is that? I think that the trend toward putting ads before films has grown slowly in America (it's common in Europe) because moviegoers see the local theater as a last refuge from the TV hucksters, and the chain owners have sensed that. But this is America, amigo, and if there's a buck to be made, someone out there is gonna try to make it.

I wish every moviegoer in America would stand up in the dark and shout, "TURN THAT SH*T OFF! TURN IT OFF! THAT ISN'T WHAT I PAID FOR! TURN IT OFF RIGHT NOW!"

Other rants from my online resources abound as well, take John Campea 's rant from TheMovieBlog:

"This stroke of idiocy is just too much. Yeah, let's fix the problem of people not coming to the theatres by driving more of them away... that should fix everything. How stupid can some people be?!?! I mean, really?

You fix the problem by investing in it... not trying to rape it more. LOWER the prices... REDUCE the amount of ad times. Yes, it will hurt financially a bit now... but in the long run it will bring some of the people BACK to the movies instead of driving them out. Get a clue and wise up you fricken commandos of the moron brigade."

Are we (the frequent moviegoers of the world) being conditioned unconsciously to buy all this stuff in purpose ('ya think?) Are we gonna have to accept the fact that we can be assured that that hideous Inquirer commercial will have to destroy the mood before you get to see March of The Penguins (seriously, I close my eyes or look away from the screen whenever this ad comes up)? How many times do we have to be told how cool the Nokia 8800 is? Am I alone in this. I sure hope not!

Anyways, on to my review...

Movie Review: "Cinderella Man" (2005)

I have to admit, Ron Howard may have perfected the art of film. Although he isn't as experimental as David Lynch or as eccentric as Terry Gillam, he has managed to make a good living out of tried and tested techniques pioneered by established and acclaimed film legends such as Steven Speilberg and Stanley Kubrick. The result is a string of movies with a combination of great talented actors and an engaging story.
Although you can regard almost all of his movies as 'commercial', he has made a great career out of being a loyal trooper of the Hollywood system, His name has always been associated with mainstream cinema and things look like it will stay that way.


Cinderella Man is the story of boxing legend James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) set in New York during the era of tne Great American Depression of the 1930's. Braddock tries to make ends meet working at the docks to support his family and wife Mae (Renee Zellweger) after losing his boxing license due to a no contest fight (which drives boxing audiences out of the bowls) caused by a hand injury. His escalating poverty drives him to send his children out to their in laws and eventually ask for government support and a 'handout' form his former colleagues in one of the more heartbreaking scenes in the movie. He then gets a break when his manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti) pulls out a deal for him to replace an injured fighter. Braddock wins by knockout surprising everybody and inspiring the rest of the American east with his charisma and fascinating history. The movie prtrays Braddock as an honest hardworking man who would rather get hurt and beaten to a pulp for money rather than steal. This story gets to the rest of America and elevates him to role model/icon.



Russell Crowe is definitely one of the best actors of out time. His recent behavior offscreen (like that phone-tossing incident with a hotel clerk) has moved people to regard him as a troublemaker. But that doesn't mean the guy can't act. He's got the Brooklyn accent and swagger down to a T and so did Renee Zelwegger. I am particulary proud of Paul Giamatti's consistent performances, definitely one of my favorite character actors. I would like to single out the performance of Paddy Considine (from In America and My Summer of Love) as a Brooklyn docker and friend to Braddock. This guy's got some real talent and I'd love this guy to be seen in more movies in the future.



The fight sequences were particulary intense and brutal, but pale in comparison to Crying Fist. Howard really utilizes the THX features of the theater with the 'boom' of every upper cut. Other than that, nothing else we haven't seen in Ali, really.


Although I can say that this may not be Howard's best movie, but it still delivers the family-friendly message of hard work and not giving up when your chips are down and all that stuff.

Rockarboy's Rating; **** (4 out of 5)


I'm now waiting for the Manny Pacquiao remake.

Retro-Review: "Supergirl" (1984)

Starting today, I'm going to be doing a retrospective review on some rare, otherwise mediocre classic movies or albums. Every now and then I'm going to bash or praise classic creations of art as well as old crappy exploitation flick that sould never have been printed on disc.


Ever since I saw that Superman Fan trailer, my interest in the new Superman Returns movie (to be released in June 2006) had risen leaps (from tall buildings) and (single) bounds (Ok. I smell cheese).
I recently got one of those 4 in 0ne DVDs that had Superman 1 up to 4. I haven't found the time to watch all four, but I did watch the 'bonus movie', Supergirl.
Now, I'm pretty sure Shuster and Siegel never intended on creating a Supergirl (I don't know if they really created her, I'm too lazy to research) if it weren't for the tremendous success of the Man of Steel. I'm not really sure if her story really fits in to the whole Superman myth, given that everyone from Krypton was destroyed and that Kal-El was the only one left. It turns out that he had a 'cousin' from 'inner space' in a saranwrapped tent called Argo City. Kara/Supergirl (Helen Slater) lost the Omegaheadron, a very integral element in life support system of Argo City the shape of a spinning ball, because eccentric inventor Zaltar (Peter O' Toole) was using it to make one of his earth creature inventions and rooled it over to her to play with, apparently playing with an integral life-supporting powersource was ok in Argo City. So she sets out to earth's surface and looks for it. She is easily distracted by private high school, her roommate who also happens to be Lois Lane's sister and a hunky landscaper with an IQ lower than his total body fat percentage.

The story is of course pathetically simple yet the director was unable to execute. I can only describe it as a man pointing a gun at an apple point blank, shooting, and missing it. I'm pretty sure that Faye Dunaway shudders everytime she sees her self in this. You keep witing for some quick funny one liners but they always almost never come, cutting away to the next scene.
Helen Slater is a sight to behold, but she has just about the same amount of talent as a mannequin in a Supergirl costume. Wilson the volleyball had more acting charisma. Even Jimmy Olsen's (Marc McClure)presence in half the film couldn't validate the movie's place in the Superman universe.


Well, you can't really expect a lot from a spinoff. Especially something as off as Supergirl. If it does not exactly fit in Superman's universe, where else should it be?

Rocketboy's Retro-rating: *(1 out of 5)

Preview: "Revolver"

Revolver has been in my radar for some time I cant wait 'till it reaches our beautiful trash-lined Islands. This new Guy Ritchie movie looks to be really good. Reviews have called it "a chess game within a chessgame within a chess game." If you're a fan of "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" this is definitely a must see. Plus, Jason Statham looks very very brass-knuckles-in-your-nosebridge cool in this one what with the long hair and the beard and all. Plus he's got that pee-in-your-pants stare-down gaze going on. One of the coolest cats in the planet.

I have read the reviews and they were pretty mixed. A lot of the reviews state that it mixes the sock-and-punch intensity of a gangster flick with a touch of game strategy.

Props to Twitch

Some Quick Superhero Updates

Gambit will NOT be in X-Men 3 according to thexverse.com. Well that sucks! First they take Nightcrawler (IMO, the most character intensive X Men character to date), now they scrap Gambit out. I wonder what bright idea Brett Rattner's gonna come up with next. By the way I think Sam Raimi is having Topher Grace (That 70's Show) as Venom?

OMG! Eric Foreman as Venom?

After seeing the fan trailer, I immediately bought the old Superman DVD. I dunno, something just struck a chord in me and triggered my Supermania. Anyways here are some more 'official' movie pics. 1 2 3



Ghost Rider pics anyone? I know, not much excitement on this department, but check out a seemingly sickly Nicholas Cage as the Easy Rider on Chili. 1 2






Have a great weekend everyone, off to crash a wedding! In the meantime, enjoy these Rachel Mc Adams pics! 1 2 3

Props to movieblog, joblo.com, and egotastic.

Movie Review: "Red Eye" (2005)

I have been raving about Red Eye for the past few weeks and I finally got to see it yesterday. Wes Craven 's take on the thriller genre after years of becoming the poster boy for contemporary horror (A Nightmare on Elm Street, the Scream movies and uggh, Cursed) has not escaped its share of skepticism and doubt. Although he has attempted to move out of the horror genre before, he has done so with lackluster reviews from both the audience and the critics.

Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is a busy hotelier with a flight to catch. Her father (Brian Cox) is always worried about her and calls her on the phone a lot. She takes the Red Eye (last flight of the day) home to Miami from Texas and bumps into Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). They chat for a while during the waiting hours of their delayed flight and when the time finally comes, it turns out they share the same aisle in the plane. The thing is. Its not a coincidence. Rippner is tasked by his 'superiors' to force Lisa to adjust a hotel accomodation for a VIP who happens to be a Homeland Security Officer and a target for assasination. If she does not
do what Rippner says, her father gets killed. What follows is a Hitchcock like tale of paranoaia, claustrophobia and a whole lot of Rachel McAdams.

One of the best ways this movie really, really delivered is that it makes you 'feel' the flight. I'm sure most of you have been in a plane and that some of you have flown in shaky weather (I was in a Cebu Pacific last year bound for Cebu and ran head on with Typhoon 'Rosing') you know how 'that' felt like. The liftoff noise, the air pocket turbulence, the annoying co-passengers, even the standard seatbelt protocol was followed to a T. There are a number of teeth cringing scenes involving Lisa trying to weasel her way out out the forced deal but eventually getting caught by Rippner's professional prying eyes, courtesy of Cillian Murphy's psychotic set of piercing blues.




Craven's attention to detail is also evident in some key parts of the film. Aside from the almost taut plotline, he pays close attention to the tiniest details like the wounds on Lisa hands while holding her lawn hockey stick.

The lead actors are exceptional in their roles. Rachel Mc Adams has applied her 'if you feel it, the audience can see it' acting philosophy quite effectively. Aside from being drop dead gorgeous, she has the potential to become one of Hollywood's new leading ladies. Cillian Murphy's quiet insanity and charisma generates both a scary and likeable character at the same time.
Oh, by the way, Brian Cox was terrible as the dad, which I think, contributed largely to the below par ending. He was obviously miscast. They should have given it to some nice unknown character actor. Its just that he's just more effective as a bad guy.

Red Eye may not be a perfect movie, but despite its flaws, it does what movies should do, entertain the nuts out of you for one hour and a half.




Rocketboy's Rating: ***(3 out of 5)

Superman Returns. Teaser. Online.

First it was the set shots.

Then Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.

Now.

Superman Returns. Teaser Trailer.

It's a .mov file and downloadable only.

It's worth the download. Believe me.

Props to themovieblog

My Coolest Evil Sci Fi Movie Characters

Science Fiction is a film genre with a very large scope. From one-dimensional characters overshadowed by tons of special effects to simplistic productions shrouded in mystery, metaphysics and philosophy... Then there are the awesome characters that bring about these fantastic stories about. Sometimes, they may not be the main character, but nonetheless, the movie is better because of them.
So go ahead, take a peek at My Coolest Sci Fi Movie Characters.



Darth Maul
The baddest, most mysterious Sith Lord of them all. Before getting sliced in half in the engine room of Naboo by Obi Wan Kenobi, he first danced circles around him and Master Qui Gonn Jinn. Played by Martial Arts expert Ray Park, Darth Maul showed us how a real Jedi vs. Sith swordfight should look like. Previously, all we saw were old washed out Jedi's and inexperienced apprentices versus a stiff Darth Vader. He showed us that Sith Lords can jump, twist and somersault and wield a double edged light-saber like Jet Li. Plus his face tatoos and skull horns make him look like a samurai biker from hell.



Bishop
Trusting Bishop was a risky thing. In the first Alien movie, the artificial lifeform on board malfunctioned and freaked out on the rest of the crew in space. Bishop is a more improved and more controlled version, however, Ripley still did not trust him until the very end, when, despite his already severed body, he helped Ripley get rid of the feroucious mother alien. I love that scene where he did the knife stabbing-around-the-fingers trick with Bill Paxton's character's hand in the beginning.



Tetsuo
What do you do when you realize you have become the most powerful being on earth. Tetsuo didn't know what to do.That's why the crap hit the fan. His best friend Kaneda is out both to save him and stop him, but his inferiority in Kaneda's presence makes it a tad hard for him to give that up. So Tetsuo ends up throwing a crapstorm and destroying half of Tokyo in the process. For an anime crafted in 1989, it has superbly detailed graphics and very fluid motion. Akira is an anime classic which has been fanboy fodder for almost 15 years. Can you spell G-E-E-K?


HAL 9000
Artificial Intelligence has always been an interesting subject, especially when they start thinking like people. A lot of questions were posed by 2001: A Space Oddysey one of which is that if it is possible if machines can be conscious of their existence. In essence HAL wasn't really evil, he was just watching over himself and achieving his primary objective, which is to finish the Jupiter mission, even if it means killing the rest of the crew in their hibernated state. To get to know HAL 9000 more, click here.



The Smoking Man (aka. Cancer Man)
He knows everything, but he won't tell us. His been-there-done that attitude towards all Fox Mulder's conspiracy theories while puffing a Morley's cigarrette is classic. He is, in some ways, teh glue that holds the show together. As long as he is alive, there is hope for the secrets and mysteries of The X Files to be revealed. I guess that won't be a problem since this old geezer's got lungs made out of asbestos.



T-1000
A bad guy who can shape-shift? How the heck did this guy get beaten? If they just stayed out of that steel mill.



The Velociraptors
In all 3 Jurrasic Park movies they have made their mark as the 'evil' dinosaurs. Fast, cunning and organized, there is a reason why the perfect predators lived in the Jurrassic era. When a cloning experiment for commercial purposes goes awry, everyboy turns into a walking Quarter Pounder in the eyes of these ferouciously efficient beasts of prey.



Megatron/Galvatron
What 20-something kid during these tiring times doesn't remember the epic battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron? Megatron is your definitive 'tuso' (treacherous MoFo in English). When he takes advantage of a distracted Prime and shoots him with a blaster in a supposed mano y mano fight to the death. Prime' death ushers in a new leader of leadership among the Autobots, but Megatron is left for dead amidst the divided Decepticon ranks, but comes back resurrected much stronger, and much more of a treacherous MoFo!



Agent Smith
Agent Smith is easily my favorite Matrix character. Personifying the law upheld in the artificial world, he represents everything official, systematic and protocol driven. He is The Establishment, the Administration, The Government and Big Brother. He is what Jack Black refers to as THE MAN. The one thing that gets in Neo's way of becoming The One.
After becoming a systemic anomaly along with Neo in the far more inferior sequels, he develops the power to copy/paste himself and spam the rest of the Matrix with his version of "Have you ever tried Viagra?"




Darth Vader
Was there any surprise? The most feared creature in the galaxy? The black costume? The creepy breathing noises? His early beginnings as a sweet young slave boy in Tatooine were a far cry from what his destiny was.Conceived by midichlorians, he was a promising young addition to the elite ranks of the Jedi and was destined to be the one to bring balance to the Force. However, because of his strong passionate feelings for the girl-Queen Padme, the murder of his mother, and being an overall jerk, he deviates from this path and chooses a different one. One that will ultimately usher in the best Sci Fi movie trilogy of our time... plus a trilogy of inferior prequels.
George Lucas gave us perhaps the most effective villain in film history but subsequently destroyed it by turning him into a button cute slave boy from Tatooine to an anal teenager-Jedi Padawan.


Runner up:



Alexander 'Alex' de Large
A Clockwork Orange is in essence, a Sci Fi movie, however the treatment was more on the repercussions of raising kids (or not raising them) properly. The antisocial behavior of Alex is classic and deserves special mention. Just don't try it at home, kids