I haven’t really been in the mood to watch movies lately. Real life has been getting me down a bit and I tend to feel that the small screen is more than enough for me. My LP on the other hand is a movie buff and films are part of what makes him happy. So when he said he wanted to go watch, off we went.

The family’s choice was Night at the museum - since that’s the only kid friendly movie showing this week. As with the first movie, it stars Ben Stiller,Owen Wilson and Robin Williams. I wasn’t expecting much since I had never seen the trailer. I found that I enjoyed it.

The story isn’t particularly deep but it was fun. The museum of Natural History’s display was being taken down and moved into storage at the Smithsonian. That should have been the ens of the matter but the monkey threw things for a loop. The smithsonian’s stored displays came to life creating a new adventure for us to watch. As always, no spoilers so please do just watch the film.

The children were laughing at the right moments and chattered about it when it ended. We all liked the music used - Let’s Groove by Earth, Wind and Fire being the favorite.

For myself, I have always loved the words, the lines, the dialogue. I like to find moments in a movie that impact or just connect, so to speak. Amelia Earhart sure was feisty. Without giving anything away (I hope): sometimes, we go through life…literally. We forget how to live life. Sometimes, we need people to remind us how to LIVE.

After months of waiting, the Star Trek movie was finally here! It took the original crew but played by different actors under the direction of JJ Abrams. The question: did they pull it off? This trekkie says YES!!!!!

I can only imagine the challenge they were up against. They had to come up with a movie remaking a legendary, iconic group - one with a very well established and strong fan base. They needed to create a movie the existing fans would love or appreciate and create new fans at the same time. In my opinion, they did.

Via Astris, the Star Trek club of the Philippines, was there in full force at the IMAX theater in SM Mall of Asia for the premiere. Yep, the geeks were in the house and dressed in uniform, absolutely excited and happy that after the long wait the movie was worth it. (Pictures to follow)

As said yesterday before the movie opened by Selena of UIP (thank you for the tickets!!!), Star Trek was a drama set in the framework of space. It was nominated for 2 Emmy awards prior to the original series ending. It did create an iconic show that few people imagined would be as big as it has become.

Now, I may give some spoilers so apologies if I do and I will try to avoid any major revelations as I talk about what I liked in the film.

The movie begins with the USS Kelvin. The crew spots what appears to be a lightning storm in space. As explorers they naturally move closer to examine it and find themselves fighting for their lives. Among the survivors are James T. Kirk and his mother. Personal opinion - great battle scene and I love the way they handled the whole moment. 

Fast forward a few scenes showingKirk growing up. He’s a smart kid with a liking for the ladies. He tries to hit on Uhura and gets into a brawl where he meets Capt. Pike who tells him about his dad. He also challenges Kirk to do better and enlist in starfleet.

Introducing Leonard “Bones ” McCoy, who Kirk meets on the shuttlecraft. Karl Urban plays this role and plays him really well. He really brings back the feel of the original “Bones” McCoy. Note the flask!

Anyway, the three go through the academy together. Getting ready for finishing up - enter the Kobayashi Maru. Now every trekkie knows this scene. How would this new movie execute this. No spoiler at this point but here is the moment when Kirk and Spock’s path meet.

An emergency on Vulcan causes starfleet to scramble and get the cadets rushed off onto their ships. Enter Sulu and Chekov (wictor, wictor!). At this point it’s almost a trip down memory lane as the geeks in the house point out those easter eggs - the one liners and inside jokes and things that only other trekkies would remember or note.

I could go on and on and on but I will end up telling the story and I feel that any movie or show is best experienced for oneself. Let me just say that they did not forget Scotty and yes, he’s there too.

Effects - battle scenes, CGI were pretty cool. The scene were the Enterprise tries to duck under space debris was cool! So was the drill scene over Vulcan with Kirk and Sulu. I’ll always laugh now when I think of Sulu and his martial art.

As always, a red shirt gets killed off. That’s a must in every trek movie. 

Cool soundtrack. They upgraded the original theme and created a new feel but you can hear the original theme still.

There are aliens but the only aliens in focus are Spock - being half Vulcan (Wulcan according to Chekov), an Orion Slave girl (in the academy scene), Scotty’s companion and the villains of the piece led by Nero (played by actor Eric Bana). Now this is indeed a departure from the Original series since Spock was supposedly the first alien in the academy. They met others as they went on their mission.

This is a reboot and it is clearly stated in the movie that it is an alternative timeline. So there is an opportunity for new stories to be made for the Star Trek Franchise  that will truly be different from what we know and love as cannon in the existing series. If it makes enough money, we’ll be looking forward to another movie and the continuing stories of the starship: Enterprise.  I hope in 2011 or sooner.

It’s so hot! I’m sitting inside the house with all the windows open. The fan is set to the fastest speed and pointed straight at me. There’s actually a breeze but if anything, it slaps hot air on the skin. Bummer!

Best solution: go play water pistols with the kids

I just got out of the cinema where we watched Fast and Furious. The original cast back together at last with, as always nice cars and stunts. Vin Diesel is back playing Dom Toretto and this is all about revenge. Now, I don’t like to give spoilers so I’ll avoid saying much about the plot other than to say, Toretto’s going hunting, using his driving skills as the ticket to get to his prey.

Storywise, like the others in this series, there isn’t much depth to it but who cares? This is a movie meant to take you out of your normal mode, whatever your routine is and for a bit more than an hour, take you on a trip with fast cars and some cool stunts. I read that the stunts weren’t doctored with visual effects. It was just old fashioned planning and execution by stuntmen. These were done by some pretty tough stunt masters if that’s the case. Everything had to have been very well timed.

The music used had great beat making me bounce in my seat at times (to the annoyance of my LP). None of the songs stood out in my mind though so thankfully no LSS.

A good movie to take a break from the daily grind. It was fast paced and definitely not boring, just don’t expect to come out of the theater with a new attitude or some profound message. Just be prepared to take a ride.

I’m sitting here with nothing in my head on what to write. I just know that I want to write something. So, here are some words that come to mind:

Talkative    Flamboyant    Mischievous    Crazy (not insane)     Sleepy head     Workaholic     results oriented     flirtatious     couch potato      book worm     strong     direct     simple     stubborn     rebel     dense     enough for now

I saw this cute top in the mall last week. The difficult part - it has to be made first. It’s a crochet pattern. The tough part, I’ve forgotten how to crochet. My grandmother tried to teach me how when I was a kid. I just never had the patience to learn.

To be able to make it, I got the pattern, bought the needed materials and then looked for how to crochet instructions online. My daughter also volunteered to teach me and I’m now off to a good start on it.

What I’ve learned and rememered:

1. It’s not age that determines the teacher. It is knowledge and experience and a desire to teach - a passion and gift for passing on knowledge.

2. It’s ok to go slowly. It’s not a race.

3. Go ahead and count. These are markers of success - milestones of success and growth.

4. The beauty of this: you make a mistake, you get to start over. It’s all ok.

5. Give yourself some slack. Too much tension makes it difficult to develop.

6. It’s all about determination. It’s easy to quit. Perseverance and practice - that’s the key.

My friends always manage to find the most interesting stuff. It being valentine, look at what they found for me:

Get Your Sexy Name

I saw a trailer of a movie called Race to Witch Mountain. It seems to have nice effects and stars the kid who played the lead role in the movie The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. It also has Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It being a Disney movie, you can bet that I’ve already marked it down as a must watch on my calendar.

When I saw it though, I knew that I’d watched a movie of a similar name before. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s 2009 already! My, how time flies. It looks to be a big year. There’s a lot to do, a lot of changes in store and a major event to look forward to - The Star Trek Movie!!!!

I always try to start my year right by being with my family and celebrating together. There’s some great food coming out of the kitchens so yes, I feel very stuffed. Sad though that my insomnia is still here so am now very sleepy. Hmmm…maybe it’s carbo overload.

We took a cab from my folks place and it was a pretty uneventful trip. Once we got home I paid the driver - still typical. The driver says happy new year. Naturally, I greet him too and wait. He’s not giving me my change! Are you freaking kidding me?! On the 1st day of the new year? His new year’s resolution must be to be crooked this year…grrr. His answer was, he thought I was giving him the change as a tip. Hello! It was equal to the fare so NO WAY! Greeting someone happy new year does not equal keep the change you ^%&*. I am not getting into this “prayer partner” cab again!

Hay! Shaking it off….there are more things to be happy about and right now, happiness is getting some sleep in my nice soft bed….

A friend of mine wrote a post about his take on “someone Meant To Be“. Old question. The debate still rages on. Some people say you bet there is! Others say in your dreams (almost literally).

I think women are more into the concept of the “one true love” than the men. Maybe it’s because we grow up with this concept. We have all these romance stories that keep the concept alive. The love songs out there with lyrics that say someday my prince will come. Can you blame a girl for getting ideas?

Most people think that our other half will be tall, dark and handsome. Well maybe not exactly dark…some like them fair after all. We think they will understand us perfectly. They will see our beauty (inner as well what is skin deep) and overlook our flaws. They will love us unconditionally and never leave us.

Reality: if there is a one true love out there for each one, they sure aren’t easy to find. It’s more like looking for a needle in a haystack. One can grow ancient trying to find that person.  So many just settle for what they can get. Others just collect and select, hoping that they bag “the one” during the process.

It is possible that the much awaited individual actually came along but unfortunately didn’t recognize their other half. After all, there were 2 people hunting - both with blinkers (or should it be blinders) on. Most of us don’t know what we want. How can we recognize our other half when we are unclear what we want; especially when the packaging is not what the tales and ballads say he or she will look like. Instead of dashing and debonair or buxom and beautiful, you have plain, not very noticeable and definitely not what was expected.

It is also possible that should we be lucky  enough to find the right one, as my friend Phil said, we think love conquers all and now there is no need to work on the relationship. Without care….most things do not flourish. In a country like ours where there is no such thing as divorce, this can be a costly mistake. It can result in many unhappy people trapped by a piece of paper and vows said in front of a priest.

Long and short: love is a decision. We choose to be with someone because of their strengths. We often close our eyes to their less pleasant side. When their quirks begin to get on our nerves, we have a choice to make. We have to decide whether we can be with them still or not. Give it a fair shot; try to really make it work first. Most times, things can be worked out. If our choice is to say goodbye, it hurts whether or not this person is the infamous “one”.