to bleed or not to bleed

to bleed.

as you can see, my blog's got a spankin new and not-so-new look. and i did it all by myself. anyways, i would very much appreciate if you could give me your first impressions, comments, reactions, suggestions, and/or expectations. just anything.

and now, my responses:

(board)
patty: thanks. your comment went through though. leader, squad member, neehh doesnt matter. important thing is you boost team spirit while wearing short pleated skirts. btw, there was this female wrester in w.o.w. named patty pep. p-a-t-t-y! p-a-t-t-y! patty pep! (clap clap clap) patty pep!

randell: dude, no celebration today. ive depleted my funds over the weekend. i just stayed at home and bummed around since there was no way they were makin me work today. when i get paid, big mac's on me. plus we're gonna finish ghost squad once and for all.

mara: ditto. hope you come back. thanks for the greet.

tin: thanks!

flash-ko: good luck with the flash games site. im a flash animator myself. anyways, ever heard of/played the charlie flash games by pornholio?

jerski: and im from the republic of the philippines. thanks for visiting.

blacksoul: im a guy! what made you think i was a girl?! i don't get it. but anyways, link exchange? done.

charisse: dont mind if we do. thanks for hoppin here as well.

ikay: sorry the dancers are out for the time being. they're takin a much needed rest. wouldn't you be tired if you've been doing that 24/7 for the past two weeks?! well, actually ive taken them down because their presence just doesnt jive with the whole new package. but that's just me. think i should bring em back?

sd: this was me. thought the tagboard was fucked up.

(comments)
din-din: thanks for the birthday and monthsary greetings! especially the monthsary one, you're the only other person to greet us that. usually it's just layla and me greeting each other. well, here's the new (and not-so-new) theme. what do you think?

joyce: me too. havent got enough time to stroll around and say hi. thanks for the greet.

patty: see above.

that's it for now, boys and girls. thanks to everyone who greeted. i wish all of you twenty-six million reasons to smile for the next twenty-six years. take care out there. oh and please update your links. good-bye filler, hello HEM0RAGE.

p.s. no gifts but no hard feelings...

a very merry un-birthday

on tuesday, i will be celebrating a most wonderful day of my life this year: my 26th birthday. well, actually, the celebrations have been done. with my sibs, layla and her sis, i went to enchanted kingdom last saturday and liked anchor's away, loved space shuttle, got wet in the jungle log jam, got very very wet in rio grande, got bored in rialto, enjoyed the 4d theater, and watched the fireworks. the rio grande was the most fun for all of us, we all got soaked. i thought i was the only one who'd walk out of there dry, and then we passed the mini-waterfall and it just had my name on it. anyways, so on tuesday, i'd probably stay at home with my woman, talk, sleep, eat, try to finish need for speed most wanted (you're next, blacklist #3), read an e-book or two, and wish really really hard for a surprise great gift. but gift or no gift, i'll be a happy man. sure im getting old but in the name of adriana lima, there's lots of people out there who don't reach this age. and check it out: im 26 on 26. cool, eh? (and it's my 38th monthsary with layla as well so it's like double cool.)

okay, so filler came to the world around new year. before that there was rope. and before that, my first blog, spew. soon, this blog will carry a new name (again) one that kinda sorta fits more into what im delivering. this one, i am hoping, is gonna be the one that will last longer than the previous three incarnations, if not the very last blog "theme" i'd ever have. of course, there is still that possibility that somewhere down the drain, i might eat up all i just said and change it again. but for now, or more appropriately since it's not yet on, for later, this blog shall be known to all humankind as...

to be continued... (that's not what's it's gonna be called, okay? i just dont wanna give it away just yet because you'll never know if some idea-robber is lurking around. you'll find out on my next entry. which makes this entry my last filler entry. boo-hoo. but no worries, i'd still have the same old shish kebab, only under a different moniker and a few minor adjustments. say goodbye to filler, folks!)

p.s. i wanna how many greetings i'd get if i put my mobile phone number here so: 09167170207

jai versus the volcano

weekends at the casa de jai y layla: saturdays are usually spent sleeping during the day and watching dvds at night with pizza on the side. sometimes we'd go out in the afternoon, do a lil malling, have dinner, maybe catch a movie's last full show, and then buy chow on the way home. on sundays, we mostly stay inside, sleep, talk, clean up, watch a dvd or two again, but we sometimes go out as well especially when we've lazed around enough on saturday. so categorically, we're both happy homebodies but anything good comes up and we'll fly.

anyways, when the american trainors of the account layla works for come over to the country, the whole team goes out clubbing. i went with them a couple of times, and sure it was fun watching them americans get drunk and dance like fools but i guess (since they really werent my friends) i didnt enjoy it that much. anyhow, saturday last, layla was out with the party people again, and i was home sleeping, tired from an editing job. sunday next morning, as always, layla arrived loudly, waking me up from my deep slumber. she dragged me off the bed telling me that they were going to tagaytay again (this was their second time) and she wanted me to come with her, all expenses paid by the kind one named jacinda. so i ditched the plans to have our tv fixed and tagged along with the temple troop on their trip to tagaytay.

layla and i breakfasted at mcdo then met the gang at the rendezvous point where the van awaited. after a quickie stop at sm bicutan for batteries and a halo-halo "initiation" for the gay one named travis, we we're off. while christopher cross performed live on the dvd display. anyways, first stop was taal vista lodge sans "taal vista lodge" on the grass. i have been here a million times. great view of the taal volcano, where i heard we were headed next. now there, i have never been.

what did the male volcano say to the female volcano? "i lava you."

from left to right: my layla, gladys, nelly, marie, jacinda, travis, noel, bottled water.

names on are based on what i heard, not sure about the spellings. especially bottled water. i really think im wrong there. anyways, not shown in the pic are laura (american), gladys's boyfriend who doesnt have a name, and layla's macho handsomo boyfriend who took the picture.

we jumped back into the mystery van and crossed the road to get some grub from mcdo (yes, mcdonald's again, but someone else is paying for it). outside, they conversed with this fat dude on a motorcycle about the boats that would take us to the volcano. the deal was made and we followed the fat dude and his bike down the zigzaggy road im familiar with and to a resort in talisay.

layla: i thought you said you have a yacht? what is this?
jai: it's a thinner version of a yacht. it's pa-yacht.

amazing race?!

about 15 minutes later, the boats dropped us off a beach where people hung around offering horses. the one named marie got one while the rest of us traversed the dusty horsedung-filled trail on foot. the hike lasted about an hour or so.

smile is an anagram of miles.

just like a walk in the park eh? a really long park...

a mac user in a photo that looks like a microsoft windows wallpaper.

btw, everyone in the group hates the one named gladys because she apparently doesnt understand what courtesy means. actually she wasnt invited to the clubbing and the trip but she just popped out of nowhere plus escort. how acquire the information is a mystery to them. anywayss, i mentioned this because i had reason to hate her myself: she had ruined the picture above by stepping into the frame. so i guess they were right about that courtesy thing. but thanks to the wonders of image cropping, the horrible sight is gone. only beauty...

aragorn: what can you see, legolas?
legolas: i see trees of green... red roses too... i see them bloom... for me and you... and i think to myself...
aragorn & legolas: what a wonderful world...

i am sykes.

going back to the adventure... when we finally reached the summit, i didnt sit down to rest despite being a bit tired. i opened my bottled water and drank everything as i admired the splendiferous spectacle that laid before my eyes: the taal volcano crater lake. i wondered and pondered how such a devastative force of nature as a volcano can look so calm and beautiful. and then i sat down to rest.

w

o

w

however! the journey didnt end there. the locals there told us that they could take us down there for a price. after the negotiations, seven of us went for it, guided by three guys armed with guns. i wasnt paranoid or anything but as we walked through the bushes, my imagination fired up and i was thinking maybe they weren actually gonna take us to the crater. instead they'd lead us to an altar where they'd kill us and sacrifice us to the volcano god. or that they were terrorists taking us to their hidden camp where they'll hold us for ransom. or they were aliens with a secret base underneath the lake and we were dinner. anyways...

layla is covering her face because she's afraid the leaves might cut her.
yeah right. as if these green things can...
oh! f*#k! im bleedin! medic! mediiiiccc!!!

are we there yet?

Y-M-C-A! It's fun to stay in the Y-M-C-A...

compared to the previous walk we did, this one was a piece of pie. it was short and there were no horse poop to dodge. the only threat we had to face were some thorny shrubs. lots of moments later i noticed that werent exactly heading towards the lake. the path they took us seemed to just go around it and at one point it even went uphill. i was like, weren't we supposed to go down? and then suddenly our guides told us to stop. they pointed to the steep side of a cliff below our feet and said that we were gonna climb down. with sheer determination and a lil "we're-here-let's-get-it-over-with" encouragement, we descended to our inevitable deaths, i mean, destination. we held onto branches and roots, dug our shoes into the soft soil, slipped occasionally, and with the three gunmen assisting us, we did what seemed impossible and reached lower ground.

where there's smoke, there's... smokers? potheads? indians?!

can you do smoke rings?

and so that's where the smoke was coming from. a big hole in the ground spewing sulfur like a big eternal fart. i really believe that it's a tunnel straight down to hell.

uncle lucifer, you there? how's the soul-buying business goin?

who's that good-lookin guy in red?! that would be me. with layla's handbag attached to my belt. and i have to admit, a crazy part of me actually wanted to jump. but then again, i could just end up at the rocky bottom of this pit and have broken bones. which would mean id have to be carried all the way back up this:

look! a face! right there! see?

no, thank you. anyways, with dirt-filled shoes, sweat-drenched shirts, and picture-loaded cellphones, we ran towards the water. we took off our shoes and socks and waded into the lake. felt nice, as long as you didnt step into some really hot parts. man, do they sting. there are even parts that actually boil. oh yeah, we are in a volcano after all. cool.

water nymph, oh water nymph... what rhymes with "water nymph"?

last one in is a rotten egg!

first one in's gonna have hard-boiled eggs...

layla: it's hot!
jai: you're hot.

green one! red two! black three! pink four! gray five!

anyways, the sun was beginning to dip by this time and the gunguys said we should start leaving before it got too dark to go back the trail. i left my mark on a big rock near the shore before joining the gang in retracing our steps all the way back to manila.

a moment to remember... a pose to regret.

well, that's the end of my coverage of our outrageous outdoors operation. there are about 10 times more pictures in my mobile phone which i didnt include in this entry simply because im lazy. and also for content reasons since this is still a blog, not a photo album. and i'd probably run out of things to say in the captions. and part of the hike back to the shore where our boats waited was in darkness so no use taking shots there. im pretty sure each of us stepped on some of the horse crap we had carefully avoided before. anyways, i wasnt really that exhausted but i demanded a good rest nonetheless. however, i didnt fall asleep in the van on the way back. when layla and i got home, we showered, i bought some food, we ate and hit the sack. i suffered from minor body aches, mostly on my leg muscles and a not-so-painful one on the chest which wouldnt put me to sleep for a while. when the sandman finally won, i dreamed of being in a school for adults but they were teaching us the same lessons from grade school and when i questioned why we had to go through all of that again, i woke up to the morning sun and all the pain was gone.

if you got here by reading through all of the words and looking at all of the pics, a big bunch of thanks to you. hope you enjoyed this entry. because i sure enjoyed posting it. but not as much as i enjoyed experiencing it. hah! until next time, friends, good bye and may you all be safe wherever you go.

p.s. got a couple of new movie reviews, btw: death trance and monster house.

MONSTER HOUSE by jaiskizzy

in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood there is a house, inhabited by a scary mean old man who terrorizes kids that step on his front lawn. dj is a kid who lives right across and he monitors everything that happens around the house. when his fat friend chowder's basketball ends up on the house's area of responsibility, they retrieve it only to come face to face with the gruesome geriatric ghoul himself... who suddenly has a heart attack and dies. soon, the house becomes haunted and not the way we all know haunted houses. seemingly possessed by the old man's ghost, the house roars to life with window eyes, wood plank teeth and a carpet tongue. who you gonna call? ghostbusters!

i really think that just about every kid, especially in my generation, had their own nebbercracker and their “adventure” stories to tell about him. there’s the old neighbor who owned a fruit tree and would come out with a shotgun if kids dared to climb it. (and then there’s that really bad one we usually see in the news, he who cant keep his hands to himself…) mine was my mother’s grumpy old father, but not as menacing as nebbercracker. that was eons ago, when he was still alive and strong, and me a young boy who still played in the dirt with my cousins. we weren’t really that afraid of him, making him mad was actually a bit of a laughing matter for us. remember those little firecrackers with string on either end that when you pulled them, the firecracker would go off? well, i tied one of those to the bathroom door while gramps was taking a bath and when he came out, boom! my cousins ratted me out and i got a good whacking then. anyways, the point of this flashback is that monster house is a movie that everyone can relate to, and it doesn’t just end with the villainous old man. take for example dj, damn i was that kid. all grown up but still treated like a baby. then there’s chowder, didn’t we all have that kind of friend at least once? and of course, pretty girl jenny, we all had (and still have) our jennies. that one girl you had the biggest crush on and gave you your first and subsequent pimples.

because of this, monster house is a refreshing take on the cgi genre. all we’ve seen recently are talking animals, talking cars, more talking animals, and talking ants (again?!). kids are eating up these movies like free candy and it was a brave move to take the path least treaded, the people behind monster house deserve kudos for that reason alone. and they came up with an animated movie that is almost real, where the kids acted like real kids, and the characters and situations mirrored the ones in our own lives. the only other movie i could compare this to is goonies, and that was live action. well, you know how most kiddie adventure movies are, kids are in trouble and the adults wont listen or believe them and so they face the perils themselves. a tried and tested formula put to good use the way we haven’t seen it. one different thing they did here was the person the kids turn to for guidance: a pizza guy named skull who has all the high scores in an arcade game. to them, he is the all-knowing one and the only one who would care about the sht they’re in. that’s some great writing if you ask me.

the voice acting was perfect. only ones i recognized were steve buscemi as nebbercracker and maggie gyllenhal as the babysitter, but that doesn’t mean the others weren’t great. because they were and they fit the roles like condoms. take for example pixar’s cars. cars don’t talk but after the movie, you might say that a talking car could sound like that. in monster house, dj and the rest of the characters sound exactly like they look and the way they would if you bumped into them in real life. and i need not even discuss how good the animation is, every cgi movie that comes out after the last one just ups the ante that im guessing there will be virtually no use for real actors in the near future (which i honestly hope never happens, at least not until jessica alba bares it all). for me, chowder seemed the most realistic of them. his movements were just… right. there’s a very noticeably big difference between a cartoony turn of the head and humanly real turn of the head. chowder, and the rest of the “cast”, had the latter. my only gripe about this movie are the unreal parts, like the inside of the house (the outside, i bought. but the inside was just too much. an uvula?!) and the unbelievable climactic end sequences. they should have retained the realism a bit more. good twist ending though. oh and if you pay attention, there are some good jokes in there that only an adult would get.

this movie was the brainchild of a guy fresh out of film school. good job dude. plus, he was backed up by the best in the business. robert zemeckis and steven spielberg? ‘nuff said.

the good: animation, story, and that freakin house.
the bad: the house’s interior and the over-the-top sequences.
the ugly: the old man’s wife.
the score: 8 bottles of urine.


home skiz home

holy guacamole

years ago, some friends took me to up los banos and we went out on a 4-kilometer trek/climb up the slippery rocky bushy side of a mountain plus waterfall. that was an exhaustive but rewarding experience. after that, i havent done anything as tiresome and dangerous and fulfilling... until yesterday. (insert suspense music)

tune in this thursday for the dynamic details. same blog url, same blog owner.

batgirl: is that your batarang, or are you just happy to see me?
batman: my nipples are hard!

DEATH TRANCE by jaiskizzy

a samurai-lookin dude wrecks havoc in a temple and steals a mysterious coffin that carries a myth that it can grant wishes. soon a rumor spreads that a monster of a man is making rounds and killing off people, keeping the heads in a coffin, all the while accompanied by a child. later, a monk arrives at the temple and is sent by the archbishop to find the thief and bring the coffin back. he is given a sword with a handle that resembles a penis and cannot be unsheathed. from there it's fight after fight after fight. who is destined to pull the sword out of its scabbard? why it's entitled death trance, i'll never know. or care. japanese live action anime is the shiznit, baby!

i first used "live action and anime" together when i reviewed another japanese film in the past, casshern (click here if you want to read it). live actors performing anime-type action. in perfect execution. combined with anime-type shots and more or less the same kind of storytelling. well, i guess only the japanese can pull off something like that, anime is theirs anyways, because here's another example of that cinematic splendor. actually, most of the japanese action movies ive come across kinda utilize the same formula one way or another and i guess that's their trademark, same way that high flying kung fu is the trademark of chinses action films. what's the trademark of pinoy action movies? is it the rapid succession of punches to the stomach punctuated by a clap to the ears? the destruction of cars that were obviously taken from the junkyard? or the big warehouse final gunfight/brawl scene? doesnt matter anyways. i mean, there really hasnt been any decent (couldnt use good) pinoy action film recently. or has there been any action film at all?

anyhow, while our local action stars are busy trying to save their carrers on tv, the rest of the world just keeps getting better and better. like the emergence of tony jaa for instance. in japan, tak sakaguchi is one of the top action stars. i first saw him in the movie versus (a good one). death trance is the very much-awaited follow up to that movie, helmed by the same director. they basically have the same approach: most characters are nameless, tak is the best fighter, everyone wants him dead. in death trance however, tak is up against better opponents, worthy of his fighting skills. there's this one woman who kicks his ass, a couple of ninjas, and a group of zombies that fight back. then there's the final battle sequence where he's up against... a goddess. of destruction. cool eh? of course, there are also some characters who are on his side. well not actually allies, they're just drawn by the same purpose: the coffin. there's the monk, and then there's the little girl who resembles rin, sesshoumaru's sidekick in inuyasha. this little girl drinks blood instead of milk. oh yeah, steven seagal's son is there too and he's got a gun. and a sword. and a really stupid looking haircut which is an example of how those weird and cool anime haircuts would look like in real life.

dialgoue's kinda bad, costumes were good, the action, great. tak's fight scenes arent like the usual ones we see in other movies. nothing fancy or outrageous. he just gets it done, punching his way through, beating them with his stick (which turns out to be not just an ordinary stick). oh, and this is one of the few movies ive seen where the punches do connect. tak takes care of business with coolness and arrogance, he just knows he'll be the last man standing. and smiling. when he falls down, he just goes back right up, none of that dramatic slow-mo sht. steven seagal's son does clean house differently though. gun, sword, and at one point he even builds together a rocket launcher out of nowhere. which sorta puts the timeline in modern times right? but there are no buildings and no one's wearing a watch or using a cellphone. they're all dressed like it's the feudal era. must be post-apocalyptic japan. well, wherever or whenever that is, it's not a good idea to go walking alone in the woods if you cant fight, 'cause you aint goin nowhere.

when the end credits roll, tak is named grave although nobody ever calls him that in the movie. i guess the director felt names arent important in this kind of movie, you just remember the characters. unlike in many pinoy movies, the characters' names dont even fit the actor or actress. sheesh. anyways, death trance is a great film if you take it as it is. ask nothing more and you will be rewarded by bottomline mindless but fun dynamic entertainment. else, stay away and watch something like you are the one. eugh!

the good: the hits, the weapons, tak sakaguchi's coolness.
the bad: no back stories, no names, no plot.
the ugly: the throbbing penis sword. and the goddess of destruction didnt look much like a goddess.
the score: 8 chained up coffins.


skizziguchi

crikey

i am deeply saddened by the passing of steve irwin, australia's famous crocodile hunter, he who made catching crocodiles seem fun and easy. he was killed by a stingray barb that stabbed his chest while filming a documentary.

CNN: Stingray kills "Crocodie Hunter"

you will be remembered, mate...

up up and awake

Your Element Is Air

You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world. And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly. Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life. You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful. You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person. With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!

What's Your Element?

Which OS are You?



yesterday when i was on my way home to batangas, i couldnt get some sleep in the bus because the woman next to me kept waking me up by hitting my shoulder with her head whenever she fell asleep. jeez. just when im about to warp into dreamland, boink! then, her head would return to its original position almost robotically. so i did what i always do in such situations (and believe me, there's quite a lot): i watched her and waited for her to fall asleep and just as she's about to drop her head sideways towards me, i dodge it by leaning forward. she didnt get far and she snapped right back up into place. eyes still closed. like nothing happened. well, isnt there a bus that allows you to recline your seat more than the usual? i wouldnt mind paying a few extra bucks just for that feature.

anyways... hello there, friends. old and new. for visiting, for returning, for giving shout-outs, for commenting, for linking, and for making me a wee bit part of your life, a million thank yous to all of you.

so, pluto's off the solar system, huh? really cant say anythin about this anymore since it's official, i just think it was so sudden. why werent we informed that there was a debate going on about it, or better yet, that a debate was going to occur in the first place? i was just flippin through channels a few days ago and bam! pluto aint a planet no more. im okay with it, really, i just wish that next time them nerds oughta give us a heads up you know. regarding this controversial issue, there's a nice little worth100 link immediately below this paragraph, along with other new links i missed during my recent busy days.

save pluto : tom cruise's new job : underwater resort : 10 things you didnt know about nokia : extreme pogo : baby toupees : will ferrell's best snl skits : bikini girls piano : most disturbing album cover : a reviewer who hasnt read the books he reviews : women can pee standing up : michael jackson's lean forward trick : the reincarnation station :

hey, does anybody know the exact time and day the show just for laughs is on in channel 9? i happened upon one episode the other day (and yes i cant quite remember what day of the week that was) and i laughed so hard at the pranks, neighbors probably thought ive gone wackadoo. the people behind this show are really good, the rip-offs on local televsion cant hold a candle to them. the gags they come up with are so original and outrageous and very funny. the reactions of the victims are classic. there was one where they placed porta-potties (portable toilets for the uninformed) on a raft in a large pond and attached it so that people thought it was part of the ground. then when a person enters the toilet, a couple of guys would quickly and secretly detach the raft and let it drift away to the center of the pond. doesnt sound funny here but i was rolling in laughter on the bed at the looks on the faces of the poor victims upon realizing what just happened. one guy actually jumped off and swam. this is the show to watch when you're really down. sure to make one feel better.

and finally for our video of the day... final fantasy spirits within characters do michael jackson's thriller. i never knew that this existed. freakin dancing phantoms!