UFC 110[afterthoughts]

Am I the Nostradamus of MMA or what? All of my main card picks are spot on! Except of course for the Crocop fight. Big Ben Rothwell pulled out the last minute due to some frickin' injury, so he had to be replaced by fellow Croat Anthony "The Hippo" Perosh.

Crocop looks just like a shell ofhis former self. He's a ghost in the shell! If this version of Crocop showed up against Ben Rothwell, Big Ben would just smother Crocop! But I guess Crocop is just showing some mercy to Perosh because he is a can, as well as a late replacement. Poor bloody Perosh.

Now I wasn't impressed by Jardine's performance. I expected him to have his back against the wall and fight to the death. One more loss, and he's gonna get the pink slip from Zuffa. But I did pick Ryan "Darth" Bader to win against him anyway, so his loss was already predicted by me. I think Bader is ready for the upper echelon of the LHW division.

George Sotiropoulos didn't really impress me because I already predicted that he was goin' to win against Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. I really hate how Joe Daddy smirks and bounces while on his way to the octagon. Good for him George enrolled him in a submission clinic. George's subs are slicker, and more varied, as compared to Joe Daddy's only ammo, the guillotine. That's all the fucker knows. And him training in Greg Jackson's camp don't mean shit!

Once again, I'm glad that Bisping lost. And he lost to one of the sport's legends too, Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva. Michael "The Count" Bisping's cockiness was his downfall. That just fired Wanderlei up. I actually was expecting The Count to get dropped way earlier than the dying seconds of the 3rd round. But that's the way some fights go. The distance!

As for the Cain Velasquez-Minotauro Nogueira fight, I also wasn't surprised of the outcome. Nogueira is tough, but Cain is the real deal! The kid has power. He sent Minotauro into a comatose! I mean, I've never seen Minotauro stopped like that. He was stopped before by Frank Mir, yes. But that's with a nasty, internal staph infection. This version of Nogueira was just shot! I guess that's what years of taking power shots does to your chin. It turns it into glass!

Hopefully I go 5/5 again in the next UFC event.

The Wolfman[afterthoughs]

A great werewolf movie! What a werewolf movie should be. Not like Teen Wolf or An American Werewolf In Paris or somethin'.

Danny Elfman's great control of sound made me jump outta' my seat quite a few times. I mean, I was literally semi-screamin' or gasping everytime a sudden gory, violent scene takes place. Lots of blood in this flick! I thought I saw a pancreas or liver being flung in the air.

The main characters, or should I say, "mainies", wera a heavy, werewolfy pair. As usual, Anthony Hopkins spittin' out his calm, fatherly lines. And Benicio Del Toro showed how deranged and psycho he could be, especially in that asylum scene.

hugo Weaving did a good job portraying a Scotland-yard detective. Though he could've thickened his English accent just a wee bit more. But i still love how at times he eloquently plays with huge, dictionaric(this word I just made up) and mixes them with his lines, makin' him sound like Agent Smith of The Matrix.

The appearance of the lycans here shows good handiwork in both make-up artistry and CGI, or whatever effects these Hollywood production editors are usin'. These wolves should have been how the New Moon werewolves looked like.

Invictus[post-viewing afterthoughts]

We were supposed to watch Dear John(which is the number 1 highest grossing film this week, surpassing the Juggernaut that is Avatar). Somehow, the money was funneled into being used for purchasing Invictus tickets instead. And I wasn't disappointed. I love films which depict reality. And this story really happened.

'Invictus' seems such a strong word. But it's just a poem that Nelson Mandela used to read when he was in prison. If it wasn't for the movie, I wouldn't know that Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years or somethin'! That's my fuckin' age man! I was already bitchin' and moanin' when I was locked up in prison for a measly 3 hrs!

Morgan Freeman was the usual Morgan Freeman here(just like always). I understand that he was tryin' his best to imitate Mandela's accent. Good effort. At least he doesn't have his Freeman accent.

Matt Damon's South African accent, together with his buffed up, rugby player physique was perfectly fitting for his role. And his typical American looks have all vanished. I swear he looked like a Brit-African or an Aussie in this flick.

There's only one quote that really got stuck in my head. It's a quote comparing football and rugby. It goes like, "Football is a gentleman's game played by hooligans. Rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen."

Anklebreaker

[02-17-10]

I fockin' injured me ankle, not by playin' b-ball. It was by plain stupidity and a miscalculation of motor skills.

I was standin' at the entrance of one of 'em Robinson's when I decided to go back in again. As I took the 1st step up, I fuckin' tripped! The lady behind me even let out a shriek of distress. What a concerned citizen!

So there I was, lyin' in a pool of blood. Or rather, lyin' ina heap of clumsiness. The pain was unbearable. I was tryin' to gather my wits for like 5 seconds 'till I decided to pick myself up.

I was literally hobblin', while tryin' to get away from the scene of the crime. That was the best walking gait that I could muster, but I was still badly limping. So I decided to sit down on the nearest possible spot available. Luckily for me there was a Jollibee a couple of steps away so I decided to sit on one of 'em chairs.

As I was recuperating, I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. the pain was really that excruciating to make me suddenly sweat in an air-conditioned surrounding.

Bottom line is that my ankle's broken, so I won't be breakin' ankles in tomorrow's game for sure.

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief[afterthoughts]

This was 1 movie that I've waited for for like months. I've seen the trailer, and I knew it was good. And the movie did deliver! That's because I liked it! I don't give a shit about reviews! My opinion is absolute!

I just noticed that the Greek god Athena was also played by a person of Greek descent. She's the lead lady from C.S.I. New York. As far as I know, she had a Greek last name.

Joe Pantoliano played the jerk stepfather of Percy Jackson(Logan Lerman, who kinda' looked like Zac Effron), and he was one helluva jerk like Cypher in his The Matrix role. His name in the Percy Jackson movie was kinda' funny too. It sounded Italian as well. Gabe Ugliano or somethin'.

Kevin McKidd's work in the HBO series Rome has finally paid him dividends. He's now getting breaks in his Hollywood roles, such as in this movie, where he plays Poseidon. But I still think his Rome counterpart Ray Stevenson has iller acting chops. McKidd usually sounds robotic and predictable.

Pierce Brosnan on the other hand, just sounded cool and smooth in his role as a centaur. You kinda' wouldn't even notice that he was there in the movie.

As for the gal that played Athena's daughter(Alexandra Daddario), man she was the bomb! If Zooey Deschanel's eyes are black holes, then Alexandra's are blue, or aquamarine holes!

The last, but not the least one who deserves some recognition is that dude who played Alpha Chino in Tropic Thunder(Brandon T. Jackson). He's the comic reliever from all that hectic adventuring! That lotus flower drug in one of 'em Strip hotels really had Brandon laughing in a funny way. As if he was really peaking on acid, or some other recreational drug.

My advice to moviegoers is, if you don't want to watch The Wolfman, watch this instead. It's not worth it watching Valentine's Day IMO. That's a solid DVD movie right there!

Rakestra 2010

This is the event's name last Friday at the UP Diliman fairgrounds. Nothin' special to it. I didn't find the lineup impressive too, not 'till I saw Markus Highway. That's because I only go watch either Pupil, Kapatid, and Markus Highway. So it was kind of a relief to at least find Markus Highway in the lineup.

Like the crappy UFC cards, this fair event looked weak on paper(because of the lineup). But just like the crappy UFC cards, it delivered! I guess I stuck long enough after Markus Highway played to know that it really did deliver!

As usual, I went in via backstage(been doin' it for the last five years). I thought I had no chance of gettin' in because I didn't know any bands there. Good thing though that I saw the band Boy Elroy lined up. These guys are high school friends of mine. So I decided that I'll just use their name as an excuse to get in.

My friend Ryan and girlfriend Mica, plus her cousin Ycah, also managed to get in backstage, but they went in with the metal band Sin. Lucky for them because they really didn't know a single member of that band. All said, we managed to save Php 360(the price of an entrance ticket was Php 90). In this struggling economy, we need all the freebies we could get.

I didn't really get to watch Boy Elroy play. They were done when I came in. So the gatekeeper said, "Hey, Boy Elroy's done!"[Tapos na Boy Elroy ah!]. So I just replied, "I know. I'm late."[Alam ko. Late ako eh.]. So they let me in. My acting's good enough to garner an entrance.

Markus Highway as usual, played that song that "rock'n rolled"! I also liked their rendition of "Wild Thing" with Romeo Lee doin' the vocal chores.

Now I thought it makes no sense sticking around to watch any longer. Good thing Ryan told me to stick around, because he wanted to watch Moonstar 88. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be able to see the other up and comers. Especially Even, the band that recently won the Red Horse Muziklaban. For a new band to emerge, they sound pretty tight and good!! Waaay better than the last couple of winners, like Mayonnaise or some of the other mediocre ones.

I've actually heard about Even prior to this gig. But I just didn't realize they sounded this good! A mixture of progressive rock, metal, and some psychedelics too! That's how good they are!

Then of course, I was once again amused at Kamikazee's antics. Masturbating the mic and shit. But I really laughed out loud at Jay gulping all the smoke from the smoke machine, and blowing it like a hippy addict or somethin. He somehow ended up in boxers after their performance.

But the biggest surprise of all, when it came to band members, was this new band named Franco. I even saw this dude[James] from our subdivision who worked as a PA for both Franco and Moonstar88. But anyway, Franco was literally an all-star lineup! I only don't know the backgrounds of their vocalist and drummer. But their lead guitarist was the vocalist of Urban Dub, the other guitarist was 8 from Cheese(or Queso), and Buwi, Parokya Ni Edgar's bassist. Prett heavy ain't it?!?

I just wanna say somethin' about this surreal experience I had with the vocalist of Moonstar88. She's the new vocalist, their 3rd one so far[1st was Kitchie Nadal, and the 2nd one I can't remember]. While I was watchin' Kamikazee, I just happened to look towards her direction because she was happening to sit on the spot where James[that PA who lived near our house]was standing at. Then I happened to see that new vocalist staring at me!

Now I ain't handsome or whatever, but what the fuck's a hot, pretty woman doin', staring at me like that?!? Am I that ugly?!? Anyway, there we were, starin' at each other for like a total of 3.5 seconds. Then I turned to look away, because Mica was with me. She might slap me in the face when she finds out I've been ogling at chicks while her back was turned. Hehehe!

Well that sums it up. My Rakestra experience. See you guys next year!!

UFC 109[afterthoughts]

This was actually due almost 3 days ago, but I was just feelin' lazy. Now that I am reading MMAMania.com(I highly recommend this website, the best among MMA sites. Guaranteed! Sherdog and Bloody Elbow don't even compare!), my (almost daily) newspaper, I feel pumped up again about what happened last Sunday(Saturday night in the US).

Let me start of by sayin' that this once again looked like a weak-assed card. Who wants to see 2 old men fighting? The only thing that sells the Couture-Coleman fight is the fact that they are both UFC Hall Of Famers. This fight should have happened 10 years ago!

The only fight that I was really looking forward to was the Paulo Thiago-Mike Swick fight. Man I hate Swick! Good thing he lost to my boy Dan Hardy. And I just want to prove that Paulo Thiago's win over Koscheck was no fluke! That's why I was screaming when Thiago clipped Swick. The only thing lacking was someone shouting "Timbeeeeeer!". If it wasn't for the Jon Fitch loss, Paulo would've sweeped American Kickboxing Academy clean! But for the now the record is Paulo-2, AKA-1.

Kudos to Demian Maia for showing improved stand-up. So improved that he was able to hold his own against the much more well-rounded Dan Miller. Well not just hold his own, he owned the crispier strikes between the 2. He was also pushing forward, hence aggression. I guess that's what training your striking with Wanderlei Silva does! It's just new to me that Maia won via decision because he always wins via submission.

On the other hand, it's also new to me that Randy Couture submitted Mark Coleman. I expected a unanimous decision victory from Captain America. I was thinking that he would just lay-and-pray and dry hump Coleman all night long, and vice-versa. Both have wrestling pedigrees, and they wanna show which brand of wrestling is more effective. Randy Couture's Greco-Roman or The Hammer's freestyle wrestling base. Seems like Greco-Roman + dirty boxing reigns!

Did You Hear About The Morgans[afterthoughts]

This was another one of'em DVD movies. I don't know how we ended up watching this. My girlfriend was actually insisting on "Messengers 2-The Scarecrow". For some reason, we somehow ended up looking at Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker's faces. I have no qualms about it though 'coz I didn't pay for it.

Well first off, I wanna say that I'm not in the least bit turned on by Sarah J Parker. She has no hotness factor, her boobs are saggy[I think], etc. She's one rich New Yorker though. I'll be willing to have her as my cougar. I'm just not sexually attracted to her.

I just like the part of the movie where we get to see Ray, Wyoming. Or should I say "Redneck County" or town or somethin'. These Republican yahoos really are livin' it up. It's all happenin' in the sticks! Sorry, I was bein' sarcastic. It's boring out there! The Rodeo Show is the only entertainment they get out there.

As for Hugh Grant, he's one lousy actor. Can't he fake an American accent just for once? He's just a Brit actor with zero versatility!

Ninja in Pinas

I was walkin' outside this mall when there was this ladylike figure approachin' me. I just caught her in my peripheral vision. But what I saw in my periphery was weird enough to make me slowly turn towards her and notice.

There are Muslims all around us, though they're a rarity here in the metro. We see them with their heads covered up, wearin' long sleeves and shit. But we never see the ones that have their faces veiled and hidden from the public. If you have seen one, good for you. 'Coz in my 27 years of existence in this lonely planet of ours, I've seen just 1 or 2. And they were characters from a play in a theater or somewhere.

The veiled figure slowly walking towards me was dressed in black. I was just amused that I would see one of 'em Afghanistan women here. But I believe that ninja lady was a Filipina, whatever...

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 3-D[post-movie analysis]

This flick was a foodtrip! It literally was! All the food you can imagine, in one movie. And I ain't exaggeratin'!

I don't wanna bore anybody readin' this by seein' how the movie went, how the story flowed, yadda-yadda-yadda. I just wanna say that I knew it! I fuckin' knew that it was Mr. T's voice doin' the voice of Earl, the policeman in shorts!

On the other hand, I was caught unawares by the monkey Steve. I actually laughed out loud twice because of his[or its] antics. The reason was because the person doin' his voice is a funny guy in real life. None other than Barney Stinson a.k.a. Dr. Neil Patrick Harris[I just like remembering him as Doogie Houser].

I should say I was impressed, not because of the storyline or effectes or what not. Though I was amazed that a hot dog flew right by me, thanks to 3 fookin' D! I was impressed by the story. I mean, who would have thought about a plot centered on a rinky-dink island town in the Atlantic that's dependent on the sardine industry, and the only way to save it is by makin' it rain food. Very original, like the main character, inventor Flint Lockwood. His inventions are very original indeed. Like the "Spray-On Shoes".

Oh wait, my bad! I thought all of this was original. Seems like this is a film adaptation from a book. I should say kudos to the book! Very original.

The Vampire's Assistant[post-movie analysis]

I had fun watching John Reilly bein' a vampire. It was kinda ironic that a funny guy like him would play a dark character like a vampire.

Willem Dafoe, I would understand. He already played the role of the Green Goblin, and a villain in Speed 2, so bein' a sinister character ain't new to him. The impressive thing was that both of 'em managed to pull off bein' funny vampires.

A lot of familiar faces also popped up in the movie. Like that young journalist from the movie Almost Famous. He played the reptile freak who was a one-man band called Serpentine. I believe there's a band in real life that goes by the same name. I dunno. Too lazy to google it up.

Another was Jane Krakowski[or whatever her first name was]. She's from the TV show 30 Rock[one of my personal favorites 'coz of Tracy Morgan and baby-momma Tina Fey]. She was also a freak there who could regenerate her limbs.

Ray Stevenson was also there. For those not in the know, he played Titus in the HBO series Rome[the show which turned me into a pagan].

There seems to be a 2nd installment to the film because it seems kinda cut short in the end. If you know what I mean. Like the endings of Star Wars Attack Of The Clones and LOTR Two Towers. As it is, I'm just excited to have watched the film verwsion of Cirque Du Freak, though I haven't read it yet. Somebody please lend me the book! Thanks!