Well this was fascinating, I never learned exactly the technical way my primary family (me, my brothers, and parents) were able to enter the USA and eventually became American citizens. I guess my Mom thought we knew the story already, but I definitely never heard of the how. I always thought that my relatives here in the states petitioned for my family to enter the U.S., but apparently that wasn't the case. The story started years ago, going all the way back to around 1967-68 when my Dad just graduated from College in the Philippines. After my Dad graduated, he immediately requested entry to the United States, and was accepted right away. He pretty much received a "get in with no hassle" pass from the American embassy, with no expiration date! I imagine that something like that is rare to come by nowadays. Due to my Dad's job, him marrying my Mom, plus we the kids being born, America ending up not being in the to do list anymore. However, my Mom did keep that legal document... just in case. Sure enough come 1990, we arrived in the states. Despite the fact I've lived in three other countries; and loved them all (Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia), I have to admit that I am the most happiest here in the USA. Thanks Dad!

Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End  (2007) C+

Here it is folks, the conclusion to the trilogy that started with the very popular "Pirates of the Caribbean : The Curse of the Black Pearl." Like many sequels, "Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End" has a lot to live up to, and while it does finish up the story line as neatly as it can, it was still kind of a mess. The first movie; while it was a little "too Disney" and too kiddy for my taste, at least had a lot of fun in it. The second movie; "Dead Man's Chest," started to expand the mythology of the characters, and definitely made things more interesting than just another simple pirates story. Now the third movie tries to combine both of those elements here, but simply ends up feeling like a movie that has an identity crisis, as well as makes the story feel very disjointed. You'll get one scene that's dramatic one moment, then it'll jump to some slapstick comedy involving a monkey.

There are scenes in this installment that are memorable, and they usually involve Captain Jack Sparrow, once again excellently played by Johnny Depp. Sequences where Jack Sparrow have halucinations are definitely a mind trip, and quite enjoyable to watch. We also get to once again enjoy watching Bill Nighy play Davy Jones, as well as Geoffrey Rush in another stand out performance as Barbosa. However, just like with the previous installments, I've never really been fond of the other two main characters; Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.  I'm especially annoyed at how much of a "pirate wannabe" Elizabeth Swann's character is, with any plot point involving her automatically making me just roll my eyes.

"At World's End" tries really hard to cram in as much as they can in a two hours forty-five minutes movie. You think with a lengthy time like that, director Gore Verbinski would be able to fit everything in at a very reasonable pace right? No, not really, as there are many things that just happen in the movie, just because "it has to" for the plot to keep moving. Needless to say, there are many plot holes in the story that makes it hard for me to keep my suspension of disbelief. The movie also kinda panders to the audience a little too much, which I feel shouldn't have been necessary.

As an end to a trilogy, things could be worse. At this point, I'm only really recommending it for anybody who wants to see how the whole story play out. I liked it, even enjoyed it at many parts, but I definitely didn't love it.

Fake Random Tales Of San Francisco

the unsung heroes of Star Wars (link)

passive aggressive notes (link)

UFO? (link)

Star Wars Clone Wars Sneak Peak (video)

John Rambo 4 first teaser (video)

Bird poops on Pres. Bush (video)

Cell Phone warning by Star Wars (video)

Cat eats with fork and chopsticks (video)

are you an internet addict? (link)

That's What She Said - Star Wars edition (video)

I learned something new this past day. For the longest time, I thought that you have to be super smart to solve a Rubik's Cube, it turns out that isn't entirely the case afterall. There's an actual technique in solving it, using some pattern of when and how you turn the cube. If you know this "trick," it should only take as long as 2-5 minutes to solve it, for the average person. Personally, I haven't tried it myself, but my brother was demonstrating it to me, and I was impressed.

I Bet You Look Good On The Random Dance floor

Heath Ledger as the Joker (video)

American Idol's Sanjaya a fake? (video)

cat fight on the View (video)

dry humping furniture (video)

Dog In Love With A Duck (video)

domino PCs (video)

He-Man: I Have The Power (video)

I will give 40,000 blowjobs (link)

personal pics from the set of Back To The Future (pics)

urban stickman sniper (game)

These past months, there's been this surge in the TV viewing community about how great the show "Heroes" is. I admit, I helped build that hype myself, and rather enjoy the show. One casualty from the hype surrounding "Heroes" is the show "Lost," which itself also had some huge fanfare when it was on it's first season. People started turning against "Lost" because of it's convoluted mysteries and seemingly never ending spiral of having more questions than answers. It resulted with people defecting to "Heroes," proclaiming how much better it is to "Lost."

Now here's the thing, as a person who still watches both shows, I have to admit that "Lost" still delivers a rich quality program BETTER than "Heroes." There's a lot of people who would completely disagree with me, and I'd like to call them hypocrites. They claim that they now hate "Lost" because "it seems like the writers are making things up as they go." The reason why I would call those "Lost haters" hypocrites, is because the creator of "Heroes" himself boldly admits that he is making things up for that show as it goes, while the creators of "Lost" have always said that they know their long term plan for the show. "Heroes" also has a habit of creating too many plot holes and inconsistencies, as well as the fact that it panders to the audience a little too much.

I've seen both the season finales of "Heroes" and "Lost" very recently, and if I was to compare the two, "Lost" delivered a lot more in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the season ender for "Heroes" as well, but it just wasn't up to the quality that the season ender of "Lost" achieved. Put it this way, I'm looking forward more to the next season of "Lost" which doesn't happen until January 2008, as opposed to "Heroes" which will start again Fall 2007.

"Heroes" to me is like junk food, that I know is not really that good for me, but it tastes delicious. "Lost" is like a full course meal, that I'd want to savor every tasty moment.

*edit update* I found this article, which ties in exactly with what I'm saying
 - Lost vs Heroes - *spoilers*