I'm sure you've seen this situation before. An unfortunate life threatening tragedy happens to somebody, and that person survives to tell the tale. That somebody then talks about how the traumatic experience makes him/her realize that "we should all appreciate life, because you never know when you're going to die." Everytime I hear that statement through the news, or in some TV show, or in the movies, the first question I always ask is "why weren't you appreciating life already?" Maybe it's just me, but I've always tried to appreciate life every single day. Whether it be at work, home, or away on a trip. It kinda became a pet peeve of mine to hear that cliche of a statement, because it just reminds me how people "don't care" about a lot of things in the first place.

The way you connect with a total stranger.
A type of food that you always seem to love.
The sight of a familiar building you always seem to pass by everyday.
Noticing the new roads that show up in your city.
The calm quiet atmosphere of taking a car ride at 1'o clock in the morning.
Taking the dog out for a walk.
Relaxing at home.

The simplest seemingly unimportant things are what needs to be appreciated.
The simplest seemingly unimportant things is what makes life.

Random Panic Attack

four days of Comic-Con panel programming now available (link)

pyrats (video)

phone tag (video)

south park movie memo (link)

bicycle drifting (video)

Japanese potty training (video)

dust art (link)

ladder racing (video)

16000 firecrackers (video)

Toshiba vs. Samsung - HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray (link)

alien scare, screaming girl (video)

excite bike (game)

movies I've seen recently...

Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia)  (2006)  B

"Fearless" is based on a historical Chinese figure in the martial arts world, "Huo YuanJia." The story itself is not so far off from other Kung Fu films, and the plot progress goes rather well. Although there were some plot holes that weren't covered up too well. It was a little unusual seeing Jet Li playing an unlikeable character
in the beginning though, but ofcourse he redeems himself. I also felt it got a little over dramatic at the end hammering down the message of the story to us.
The fight scenes however I thought were pretty good, except they did
use some camera tricks that kinda irked me. Good film, and if this
really is Jet Li's last Kung Fu movie set in the old periodical Chinese times, then it's a good
way to go.

Cars  (2006)  B+

The very first thing you need to get over with when watching "Cars," is the fact that vehicles that are made to be driven by humans are alive, yet there are no humans around. Just imagine that these living cars are actually humans, and things should go down a lot easier. Okay, as for the movie itself, since it's from Pixar I expected it to be good, but not as good as it ended up. The quality of the visual is obviously top quality all the way through. I also have to give kudos on actually making the cars resemble their voice actors in a very uncanny way. Looking at the Hudson Hornet, actually does make me see it's voice actress Paul Newman instead of simply just a car. I do have to criticize that the plot progression is very much your standard cliche story, BUT even so the comedy, action, and drama still work very very well. In fact there are many touching moments in the film that should pull on your heart strings, despite the predictability of the scenes. I also have to mention that there are some humor kids won't get but adults would, like female cars "flashing" the race car Lightning McQueen with their headlights (if you know what I mean). Overall though, Cars is easily in the higher bracket of Pixar's film resume, go see it.

Three... Extremes (saam gaang yi) (2004)  B-

"Three... Extremes" is actually an anthology set by three different directors doing three different horror films. These aren't your slasher films, but the kind of horror that creeps up in your psychosis. Needless to say, this film is definitely not for everyone. Fruit Chan did the segment called "Dumplings," which is actually a shorter form version from a full length feature version. That story is about how some people can be too obsessed with obtaining youth and beauty. In this case, they are willing to eat.... something horrific to get it. Disturbing? Yes, very much so. Chan-wook Park did the segment called "cut," which is about a pyschotic man trying to make a sociological argument by ways of torture involving piano wire and chopped fingers. This segment will keep you guessing on how it'll play out, and it is definitely messed up. Takashi Miike did the segment called "Box," which is about guilt and jealousy involving sisters and them being able to fit into small boxes. This is the one that is purposefully done to be really slow moving and meditatively quiet. At the same time, this is also the one that achieves to be the creepiest of the three. In all three segments, I was very much engrossed in the stories. I had a few complaints here and there, but for fans of the "Asian extreme cinema" sub-genre, this one is for you.

I finally got to check out the Vans Warped Tour for the first time. The last music festival I went to was the KROQ Wienie Roast, so that's pretty much what I was expecting. It turned out that while there are similarities, it's not exactly the same thing at all. Parking for one was less of a hassle at the Pomona Fairplex compared to the Verizon Wireless amphitheater. Getting in was also no hassle, in fact they didn't even do a pat down for weapons or anything like that (can't say that's necessarily a good thing).  There are a huge amount of booths for the bands performing, as well as tons of booths for the sponsporing companies. Now here's the biggest difference here, you've got roughly 50+ bands performing at the Warped Tour, and they achieve this by having something like 10+ stages for them. The stages range from two main stages to ones that are as small as a simple tented booth. As for the bands themselves, there were a ton that I wasn't familiar with, so I only really went there for five bands; Bouncing Souls, NOFX, Meg & Dia, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and the Living End. 

The type of bands there were mostly rock bands, emo bands, and the majority in the punk genre. Ofcourse as it always seem to be the case, punk bands + emo bands = pretty, cute, and hot girls in attendance. Since it was a hot day, it wasn't uncommon to see girls with minimal clothing. In fact i've seen boobies and panty shots (thongs too) that there were a ton of neck twisting and eye balling moments for me. On that note, if you are wondering, my fiancee doesn't go to concerts (hates how loud / crowded it gets) so I went by myself. So forgive me for looking.

I got to the event well into the afternoon, so I apparently missed the Bouncing Souls.  After walking pass three other stages from the entrance, I came upon "main stage right" which NOFX was already performing. Excellent timing, especially since the bands only get 30 minute sets. NOFX are jokesters, so in between their songs, they would joke about random things as well as poke fun at the other bands performing on the other stages at the same time.

Afterwards, I went to the "myspace.com" tent, where they have their smaller stage set up for Meg & Dia. This is a band that is prominently advertised in myspace music, so I thought I'd go ahead and check them out. Ofcourse it helps that the two sisters are hotly gorgeous. They look like twins, but apparently they are not. Meg is one of the guitar players, and Dia is the lead singer. To say the least, they definitely rocked out! Afterwards, I even got the opportunity to personally introduce myself to Dia, but I kept the conversation short from being stupidly tongue tied (dumbstruck actually).

I walked around the festival grounds, bought a copy of the Living End's latest CD, and decided I'll just head back to the "main stage right" for the next two bands, since I wasn't going to really purchase anything else.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts was on next, and while I was familiar with some of the songs they had back in the '80s, I've never seen them live. They were absolutely awesome. I didn't think they would rock this hard, because they gave an incredible performance. Ofcourse the audience sang along to the chorus of "I Love rock & roll" with much gusto.

The Livind End was up next and they were probably the best band of the four I heard. Admitedly I'm a little biased since I like the band, but it completely felt like it to me. Really. They played a good selection of old and new songs, but the one song that really got the audience all crazy was "Prisoner of Society." Woah, was that a great moment. I wished they could have played more than a 30 minute set, but alas that was it.

Afterwards, I headed home. Leaving the parking lot wasn't even a hassle at all. In fact, it didn't even take more than five minutes, which is a far cry from other concerts I've been to. I've got to say, I was a bit surprised at the positive experience I had at the Warped Tour. I may even consider going back again next year. Oh, as always I don't bring my digitial camera to things like this, so my cellphone camera pics will have to do. *click here for some more pictures*

I Walk Random Beside You

emmy award nominees (link)

bridgestone dog (video)

smallest mp3 player ever (video)

Bumblebee on Transformers set (link)

the real superman trailer (video)

careful when you fix your pipe (video)

chairman Optimus Prime (link)

cat in a bottle (video)

did he really dream of genie? (video)

big brother sexual harrassment incident (link)

bird swarm (video)

street fighter vs mortal kombat (flash)

argh, this is disappointing to me. Apparently, that one cool cute and hot Asian chick cosplayer that I see at the San Diego Comic-Con also attended the Anime Expo this year! Well, at least based on the couple of pictures below, it seemed like she was there. Either way, I'm disappointed at the missed opportunity.

I went to visit one day of the Anime Expo again this year. Just like the past years, I don't really go there for the anime or the anime related panels, so I always opt for the "dealer's room only" pass. There are pretty much two things I look forward to at the Anime Expo, possible merchandise that I want to buy (mostly shirts), and to take pictures of the "cosplayers" (costumed folks).

I went with my fiancee again this year, and this is the first time she bought more things than I did. I bought one single item, she purchased about five or so different items. Speaking of merchandise, this year is the biggest dealer's room I've ever seen for the Anime Expo. The dealer's room has finally expanded to an additional adjoining room, so there are more booths and more things to buy. They even had some anime showing on big screens, karaoke contests, and even a Japanese Pop band performed. I even saw the lovely Linda Tran who I met at the San Diego Comic-Con last year, BUT since I'm with you know who, I couldn't exactly chat it up with her without looking like I'm flirting.... well then...

The rest of the time we spent there was taking pictures of the cosplayers. Also I think I'm over the shock that there are actually many ladies attending this convention, and a good majority of them are pretty, cute, or even hot.

These Random Walls

creative job - commute helper (link)

spiderman 3 teaser (video)

Transformers teaser trailer (video)

panda suit for rent (link)

Japan funnies (video)

molested by an animal (video)

blender's 50 worst songs ever (link)

hikers play a prank on sasquatch (video)

Scientology Orientation video (video)

The Nightmare of Cancelling AOL (audio)

massage chair prank (video)

pitch n putt (game)

movie I've seen recently (woah, deja vu)...

Superman Returns in IMAX 3D (2006)  B-

I've already seen Superman Returns once on a regular movie screen, but I wanted to try the IMAX experience which got me to see it one more time. Well I finally got to see it on IMAX, and I'm a bit disappointed that they only had four
sections in 3D (and one of them was rather short). There were
definitely some other sequences that I thought would have worked well
in that format, so I'm not sure the reason they didn't take advantage of those. The quality of the 3D is actually pretty darn good,
especially with scenes that have several "layers" to them, like the
protruding land mass, an audience, and small buildings (like the farm).
The quality of the 3D is almost similar to what you find in
Disneyland's "Honey I shrunk the audience" or "It's tough to be a bug."
There are definitely some scenes that felt as crystal clear as a pop up
picture book, and I was pretty much in awe at the whole effect. It does
have to be mentioned though, that some scenes (especially the fast
moving kind) can tend to be a bit blurry, and in some ways ruined part
of the visual experience (the last 3D flying sequence comes to mind).
As for the none 3D sequences, it has to be noted that the much better resolution that IMAX
brings does make everything look even prettier than on a regular screen.

So now I've seen Superman Returns on a regular screen and on IMAX. If I was to recommend only one of the two, or to which
version to see first, I would honestly suggest to go see it on the
regular screen. Not saying the IMAX experience wasn't great, but there's still a sense of distraction that detracts from the film when seeing some sequence in 3D.