The Google Story

Google's official youtube account has uploaded a nice little video showing the brief history of the said company. Just dropping by to share this to all of you!



Sorry for not being able to make posts recently. I'll try to make posts on the next few days. Yadda!
Rod of the Future!
.(@_0)"

Trailers I Just Can't Get Enough Of!

I love movies!

I am always open and proud about that! And it has been a long time since my last movie post! Whoa! So I just decided to just drop by here to post few of my favorite trailers for the past few days. Here they are.

Surrogates. People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates -- sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer (Willis) discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.



Zombieland. In the horror comedy Zombieland focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss -- but when you're afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-toting, zombie-slaying' bad ass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.



The Last Airbender. The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.



Avatar. In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture.



It's amazing how technology has evolved, right!

ABS-CBN NewsCasting Competition

Posting my blog on my other site: ABS-CBN NewsCasting Competition:

Last September 12, 2009, Abs-CBN held a newscasting competition at SM City Iloilo Activity Center. College, High School and Elementary students compete with the English, Filipino and Hiligaynon category.

Our three High School contestants, namely Alyanna, EJ and Aezel Jade, did their best on the three categories. And Ateneo de Iloilo won the championship on the Filipino category, with Aezel holding our shool flag up high.

Go Ateneo!

Read more on Eregia.com

Ateneo de Iloilo Immersion

As part of the outreach activity of Ateneo de Iloilo - Santa Maria Catholic School, the third year students will be adopted by a certain foster family, and live the simple life in the rural areas for a day. It has been my privilage to be asked to be one of the teachers to accompany the young ones, and thanks to God, the whole activity is a success.

A scenario in Brgy. Sinubsuban

It was such a good scene to see the student's who were not used to walk on muddy trails "survive" and appreciate the simple lives of the residents of Brgy. Sinubsuban in Maasin, Iloilo (here on the Philippines). I too had fun doing (of what supposed to be a daunting) task of checking on the kid's condition with their respective foster families. Imagine we also have to walk hundreds of miles of muddy trail (ofcourse I'm exagerating) in order to check on all of them. But the long walk was seemed to be made short with the company of my serious(?) but fun colleagues and co-teachers. It was such a great experience with an activity with a great cause!

My co-teachers making a pose with a (self-proclaimed, just now, sacred) tree.

Students and teachers walking through a muddy trail.

Ma'am Menchie overlooking at the students who enjoy the coolness of the river.

Me in my (self-proclaimed, again) hacienda.

For more pictures, please go through my official blogsite, Ateneo de Iloilo - Computer and Technology.

We are the STALLIONS!

Last August 21, Ateneo de Iloilo - Santa Maria Catholic School, held her High School Intramurals Opening. As tradition, the Level 2 had their cheerdance competition, and guess what, we gor the second place! Yeah! I'm soooo proud of my co-advisory class! Weeee!!!

Yeah, we are the stallions!

*****
For more pictures, please visit my official blogsite for my stay at ADI.

When Career and GOD Work

Heyya!It's been a long time since my last post. And come to think about it, I miss doing this! The last few days, or weeks, has been very very busy. With all the papers to check, the examination to make, the lessons to prepare, not to mention the stress (and additional work) the burning of our computer lab caused, it felf like I was really about to give up TEACHING.

Hmmm.... I'm tired of too much drama, but the last few days really made me realized that I need to grow up (or go younger). Tests came in one after the other. Hush!

But the GREAT thing about my current career is that we always take the time to PRAY and converse with GOD. Even with our busy schedules, deadlines to meet, we still pause and give HIM the TIME.

This made me realize, GOD, I love this.

A picture I took when I was working with my student's grades.

lol! Too much drama, eh? Anyways, Please take the time to read the official site for my student's computer subjects at EREGIA.COM. I may post updates there from time to time. Thanks!

Dashboard Confessional's Even Now

My most favorite band, Dashboard Confessional, has recently released one of their singles, Even Now. Wanted to share with you this wonderful wonderful song.



Also, here is Chris Carraba's recent interview with Banana Republic. Enjoy, Yada!

Blogging is in my blood!

Heyya!

Its been awhile since my last update. I know there are many things that we need to talk about, however, time is one of my problems nowadays.

Its been about two months since I started teaching Flash Animation and Java Programming to high school students. And I can say that there are alot of ups and downs and twist and turns with my current profession. After all, TEACHING isn't noble for no reason at all.

Teaching has opened alot of new perspectives for me. I mean, I can better understand and relate to how my previous mentors actually feel. (Now I understand that even the most silent of all the whispers between two students in the most secluded place in a classroom is very very VERY distractive.)

I will never deny the fact that I miss the things I did before that I can't now. I miss my previous job and BLOGGING!! Yep! That is why even with a very busy schedule, I really took the time to post this! Yeah!

So far, so great! The job gives me alot of challenges and I can say, I am even a better person after 2 months. I am always inspired to go to school. So, is teaching really for me? Is this the end of my quest to find my rightful place in this world? Too early to tell, but I can't say never. After all, I'm currently a loving a job I never really imagined myself since my birth up until the day I passed my resume. Hmmm....

Time moves soooo fast!

Samuel Morse, telegraph system and Morse Code

Samuel Morse is much known as the American creator of the first telegraph system and notably, the Morse Code. And he was born this day, last 1791.

As a tribute, I decided to make a post to the person, who made communication with long distance possible.

According to Wikipedia.org,

Samuel F.B. Morse was born on April 27, 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the first child of geographer and Pastor Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) and Elizabeth Ann Finley Breese (1766-1828). Jedidiah was a great preacher of the Calvinist faith and supporter of the American Federalist party. He not only saw it as a great preserver of Puritan traditions (strict observance of the Sabbath), but believed in its idea of an alliance with Britain in regards to a strong central government. Jedidiah strongly believed in education within a Federalist framework alongside the instillation of Calvinist virtues, morals and prayers for his son. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Samuel Morse went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of religious philosophy, mathematics and science of horses. While at Yale, he attended lectures on electricity from Benjamin Silliman and Jeremiah Day. He earned money by painting. In 1810, he graduated from Yale with Phi Beta Kappa honors.

In addition to this, after his education, he became a painter who created little known masterpieces. Though he isn't know for painting, his invention of the Morse code is one of the reasons and the foundation of why we have technology like telephones and cellphones. Read about the overview of the brief history of how he came up with Morse code at Wikipedia.Org

You rock Samuel Morse!

Try and decode this: - .... . & .... ..- -- .- -. & ... .. -.. . & --- ..-. & - . -.-. .... -. --- .-.. --- --. -.--

Yadda!

Ashton Kutcher's Twitter Account Reaches a Million Followers!

The internet is evolving!

It is known that actor Ashton Kutcher had made a contest with CNN on who first reaches a million followers on Twitter. It turns out that @aplusk won the contest against @cnnbrk!

Congratulations Ashton! Great! What is even greater is the fact that this is for a good cause. The winner gets to donate to MalariaNoMore.org!

Change the world! Tweet!

Sidenote: I too have a twitter account. Check me @sanity_hunter! Yadda!

Movie Bosses is Listening to Your Tweets

I was actually doing my daily news reading when I found this article at IMDB.com as reported by Studio Briefing. Just wanted to share this great, yet disturbing, kinda funny news about movie bosses listening to your tweets.

In a clear reminder that all that Twitters isn't told to just a small circle of friends, a woman who had been tweeting about trying to download a copy of Adventureland from a BitTorrent site found a message from the movie's distributor, Miramax: "Cmon Amanda, don't do it. #adventureland # fbi." The message took the form of a thumb-typing instant-message writer, lacking case and punctuation, and appeared to be a warning that the FBI might take action against Amanda if she actually found a copy of Adventureland to download. She did not. She did, however, respond to the Miramax tweet. "Okay I won't, Just For You." This time Miramax responded by offering her a free ticket to see the movie. "I was pretty surprised about it," Amanda told the TorrentFreak website. "I couldn't find a working Adventureland torrent anyway."

Just wondering what'll they say if I tweet... nah never mind.

Sarah Michelle Gellar: Fabulous Forever

This post is extremely off our topic and theme which is the human side of technology, but as I've said before, sometimes its healthy to make posts like these. Well, what would the post be about?

You guessed it right! Sarah Michelle Gellar!

For one, I am a big fan of Sarah. This started on Buffy the Vampire Slayer days and I still continue to diligently follow her project ever since. And a good news for you. It's April 14th! It's Sarah Michelle Gellar's birthday today! Yay!

I also wanted to share another greater news! Its confirmed! Sarah and hubby Freddie Prinze, Jr. are expecting their first baby coming this fall! More yay!

And as additional trivia, I wanted to share some personal favorite quotes of SMG as listed in her IMDB page:

[On job pressures] There's so much pressure on all of us right now. On Katie Holmes, on James Van Der Beek and myself, to do these movies, and do as much as you can because there is the slight feeling that one day your phone will stop ringing. It's not about the craft, per se. It's so easy to fall for it all because people remind you constantly that as fast as it comes, it can go. And I think there is this sort of paranoia, this need to keep working. And I know that I felt it, and for the first three years of the show, I never had more than a week off, except for Christmas. That was it.

[On her kissing scene with Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions (1999)] It was a great kiss. It even had a saliva trail.

One of the greatest gifts my job has given me is that my mother, who gave up her entire life for me, doesn't have to work any more. I'm now in a position to repay her for her devotion.

I am militant about drugs. You want to do 'em? You're out of my life.

[on posing nude] Right now I can't picture posing, but I don't believe in saying never... There might be a time when I got pregnant and felt really beautiful and wanted to have a nude picture.

[On what she would do if she wasn't acting] I would go to college to be a journalist. I always wanted to write for Time or Newsweek.

You'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try.

I love you Sarah!

Flutter: The New Twitter

Twitter too wordy for you. After all, 140 characters is indeed too long to read, sometimes, that is.

Enter Flutter, the world's first nanoblogging site.

Zak Ryman, Flutter CEO, says: "I think a lot of people don't have time to Twitter. It just takes too long to compose a message with 140 characters, and then you start getting bombarded by a few tweets and it's like hundreds of characters that you have to read."

Flutter brings the limit down to just 26 characters for Twitaholics, who need more time.

"We limit our users' posts - or flaps, is what we like to call them, because it's like a hummingbird's wings flapping, which is like really fast, which is like, you know, faster than a regular bird tweets - we limit it to 26 characters."

I was literally browsing the internet in random when I saw this video. I say lol to this! Especially with the glasses.

Note: this is of course a joke made from the guys at Slate Video. Kudos for them!

New Hobby: Reviewing Movies!

Hello!

There has been no updates and posts has been quite slow these past few days. I've been busy and I'm trying my best to make posts.

Anyways, I've develop a new hobby these past few days. As you've known, I love watching movies and I enjoy blogging, and I've been busy to do both, watch movies and think of ideas to blog!

Yesterday, I thought of something. What if, what if I decide to blog about movies! Now that'll keep be great right! So, for the past few days, I've been making reviews about the movies I caught in the cinemas. So far, I've made only three. Ready?!

• Race to Witch Mountain - the family film I loved and had a great time. Read more in My Information Technology - Race to Witch Mountain Movie Review
  
• Knowing - the movie that squeezed the creeps out of me! A must see in the cinemas! Read more in My Information Technology - Knowing Movie Review
  
• Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - even though you already know what will happen, you'll still loot at this movie! Read more in My Information Technology - Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Movie Review

These are just the first three movies I've made a review. Catch more in the next few days. You may be able to catch them at the My Reviews Category from My Information Technology! Yadda!

Aniston Dumps Mayer because of Twitter!

Whoa!

Recent Hollywood news says that the break-up between John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston was because of his addiction to Twitter!

A friend of Jen has told Star Magazine that

John suddenly stopped calling her or returning her emails and when she would finally catch up with him, he’d say: ‘I’ve been so busy with work. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to call you back’. Jen was fuming. There he was, telling her he didn’t have time for her and yet his page was filled with Twitter updates.

Every few hours, sometimes minutes, he’d update with some stupid line. And in her mind, she was like ‘He has time for all this Twittering, but he can’t send me a text, an email, make a call?’ He didn’t even deny it. He knew he was avoiding her. So when she called him on it and ended things, he just said OK, and that he was sorry it didn’t work out. He took the break-up like a man.

Whoa! I'm not against Twitter or Jen, but isn't this a lousy reason to end a "long" relationship? Well, welcome to Hollywood! Or to the Internet.
For those who are not familiar with what Twitter is, according to Wikipedia.org:

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 bytes in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon, TweetDeck and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees.

Technology has always its human side. It will work against you once you learn not to use it properly. This news for me is absurd because Mayer's addiction only give Twitter a bad impression when its aim is suppose to be the complete opposite.

In case you'll ask, I do have a Twitter account, but been a little busy these past few months that I never got to update it. Well, have a happy tweet!

Blogging: Not worth to be trusted?

Well, i recently read on a magazine an article that focused on the credibility of blogging. The fact that most bloggers had been making posts that were generally as good as paid advertisements, not only corrupts the honesty of blogging, but also alters how search engines would make their search results, the article claims.

Well, its been known that many people, or bloggers perhaps, engage in pay per post activities. After all, this is one of the ways they could earn money online. But is this good? Is this healthy? No, it isn't. However, this can be changed by simply placing a discalaimer or a disclosure with your blog, to let readers know that they were paid advertisements or posts.

Another remedy would be making uninfluenced reviews. In other words, the reviews will never be changed or altered by the compensation received. This may be very hard to achieve, but if a blogger is sincere, it ain't impossible.

Blogging is a trend. Help keep it honest and clean.

Blogging and Disclosure Policy

Hi guys, sorry if I haven't updated this blog for quite some time. That's why I really took the time to make this post.

There are following updates that I would like to share. One would be the disclosure for this blog. You may be able to view it on My Info Technology Disclosure Page.


Another thing that I wanted to let everyone know that I am currently trying my best to update my new blog site. It's called My Info Technology. The complete url would be http://www.myinfotechnology.com/ and I'm currently accepting paid advertisements for it. I know I'm just starting out, and I do my best to update it. Thanks for the visit! If you also want to be a guest writer, feel free to contact me.

Yes -- Science is the Answer

Well, been browsing through the internet and I got a chance to see this video. Just wanted to share it.



Yes, science is the answer.

Autobots... Decepticons... Transform!

Well well well. Everybody had experienced being a geek, right. Well, I would say that the peek of my "geekness" age would be by the time I got hooked on the animated series of the Transformers! As a kid, I was addicted to it! They were just plain awesome! So yeah, I decided to post about the group of robots we all love. Transformers!

Originally, I was planning to post a complete list of all the Transformers! Well, it was later that I realized, there is just too many to mention. Well, I then decided to create a list of the ones that were shown on the recent 2007 movie and a small description given by Wikipedia.org. And here it goes!

Autobots

• Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader who comes to Earth to destroy the All Spark in order to end the war.

• Bumblebee. Known as the guardian robot and due to a battle injury, he is rendered effectively mute, and communicates through use of selected playback of radio and television signals.

• Jazz. The lieutenant and is described as having a love of style, with a hip-hop personality.

• Ratchet. The team's medical officer.

• Ironhide. The cantankerous weapons specialist.

Decepticons

• Megatron. The Decepticon leader who crash-landed in the Arctic thousands of years ago in his quest to obtain the All Spark. When he is defrosted, he keeps his original alien jet form out of vanity.

• Starscream. Megatron's second-in-command.

• Brawl. Described as "a very pissed off Decepticon" and always looking for a fight.

• Bonecrusher. His feet are wheels, "skating" as opposed to running. His only weapon is a claw-like scoop at the end of a large telescopic arm.

• Barricade. He is a hunter/scout of the Decepticons, choosing his vehicle mode to easily hide among the humans as a symbol of authority.

• Scorpinok. His machine form is a mechanized scorpion. Scorponok is the only Decepticon in the movie that did not transform, but he is able to dive under sand or other soft landforms.

• Frenzy. A small and vicious spy who transforms into a boombox, and later into a mobile phone.

• Blackout. The first active Decepticon to be seen and is fiercely loyal to Megatron.

I wanted to include all of their pictures, but I guess I'm so limited, as to the fact that I cannot lengthen this post. But well, I'm a geek when it comes to Transformers, and that fact alone makes it possible for me to make another post.

No worries, I'll make sure to update this post if ever I do post another. For the meantime, see ya around!

Oscar List of Winners!

You would notice that my last few post was with regard to the Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. Now to put a sort of closure to it, I'm posting the winners of the recent concluded 81st Annual Academy Awards.

As I have predicted, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won the Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and Wall-e won the Best Animated Picture!

Yeah!

Here's the complete list of the winners of the 81st Annual Academy Awards:

• Best Motion Picture of the Year

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: Christian Colson

Other Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
Frost/Nixon: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
Milk: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
The Reader: Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

WINNER: Sean Penn for Milk

Other Nominees:
Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

WINNER:Kate Winslet for The Reader

Other Nominees:
Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

Other Nominees:
Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Other Nominees:
Amy Adams for Doubt
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

• Best Achievement in Directing

WINNER: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Other Nominees:
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

• Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

WINNER: Milk: Dustin Lance Black

Other Nominees:
Frozen River: Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky: Mike Leigh
In Bruges: Martin McDonagh
WALL·E: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: Simon Beaufoy

Other Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
The Reader: David Hare

• Best Achievement in Cinematography

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: Anthony Dod Mantle

Other Nominees:
Changeling: Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister
The Reader: Roger Deakins, Chris Menges

• Best Achievement in Editing

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: Chris Dickens

Other Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight: Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon: Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Milk: Elliot Graham

• Best Achievement in Art Direction

WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

Other Nominees:
Changeling: James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Dark Knight: Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess: Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road: Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

• Best Achievement in Costume Design

WINNER: The Duchess: Michael O'Connor

Other Nominees:
Australia: Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Jacqueline West
Milk: Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road: Albert Wolsky

• Best Achievement in Makeup

WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Greg Cannom

Other Nominees:
The Dark Knight: John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army: Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman

Other Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Alexandre Desplat
Defiance: James Newton Howard
Milk: Danny Elfman
WALL·E: Thomas Newman

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar("Jai Ho")

Other Nominees:
Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya")
WALL·E: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

• Best Achievement in Sound

WINNER: Slumdog Millionaire: Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty

Other Nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight: Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
WALL·E: Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted: Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

• Best Achievement in Sound Editing

WINNER: The Dark Knight: Richard King

Other Nominees:
Iron Man: Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire: Tom Sayers
WALL·E: Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted: Wylie Stateman

• Best Achievement in Visual Effects

WINNER: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

Other Nominees:
The Dark Knight: Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man: John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan

• Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

WINNER: WALL·E: Andrew Stanton

Other Nominees:
Bolt: Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda: John Stevenson, Mark Osborne

• Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

WINNER: Okuribito(Japan)

Other Nominees:
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex(Germany)
Entre les murs(France)
Revanche(Austria)
Vals Im Bashir(Israel)

• Best Documentary, Features

WINNER: Man on Wire: James Marsh, Simon Chinn

Other Nominees:
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World: Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Trouble the Water: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

• Best Documentary, Short Subjects

WINNER: Smile Pinki: Megan Mylan

Other Nominees:
The Conscience of Nhem En: Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306: Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

• Best Short Film, Animated

WINNER: Maison en petits cubes, La: Kunio Katô

Other Nominees:
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya: Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi: Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto: Doug Sweetland
This Way Up: Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

• Best Short Film, Live Action

WINNER: Spielzeugland: Jochen Alexander Freydank

Other Nominees:
Auf der Strecke: Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume: Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy: Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen: Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh

Yay! I feel satisfied with the winners! My only regret, Wall-e could have made the list of Best Picture nominees. Well, see you next year, Oscar! :)

81st Academy Award for Visual Effects

As promised in my previous post about the Academy Awards for the the best achievement in Visual Effects, I would like to create a post dedicated for my comments in this year's nominees for the said award.

The official nominees for the 81st Academy Awards for the Best Achievement in Visual Effects are:

• Iron Man
• The Dark Knight
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Luckily, I've seen all three in the big screen in the past. I would like to stress the fact though that these are just my personal comments and somehow, you may, or may not agree with me.

Iron Man. Plot: Tony Stark is the complete playboy who also happens to be an engineering genius. While in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile he's captured and wounded. His captors want him to assemble a missile for them but instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his death from the shrapnel left in his chest by the attack. He uses the armored suit to escape. Back in the U.S. he announces his company will cease making weapons and he begins work on an updated armored suit only to find that Obadiah Stane, his second in command at Stark industries has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. He uses his new suit to return to Afghanistan to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research. [Written by John Vogel of jlvogel@comcast.net]

Unlike the other two nominees, this movie is the most visual effects driven movie. I enjoyed the whole movie, much more its visual effects. The effects focus more on Iron Man itself. I have to admit, they look pretty real and the whole deal was very believable!

The Dark Knight. Plot:Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker. [Written by Peteagassi]

The realistic approach of the director make visual effects on this movie very limited. I can only think of the climatic battle scenes wherein the image and visual alterations have been made. Overall, it was Heath Ledger's performance that made the movie outstanding, but I doubt it'll win the award of this achievement.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Plot: On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams nee Fuller is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being born an old man who was diagnosed with several aged diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time. Abandoned by his biological father, Thomas Button, after Benjamin's biological mother died in childbirth, Benjamin was raised by Queenie, a black woman and caregiver at a seniors home. Daisy's grandmother was a resident at that home, which is where she first met Benjamin. Although separated through the years, Daisy and Benjamin remain in contact throughout their lives, reconnecting in their forties when in age they finally match up. Some of the revelations in Benjamin's diary are difficult for Caroline to read, especially as it relates to the time past this reconnection between Benjamin and Daisy, when Daisy gets older and Benjamin grows younger into his childhood years. [Written by Hugg]

This movie focused more on the performances of the actor and the movie itself, rather than the visuals that it carries. But I loved the movie, and it managed to pull great deal of imagery and visual effects! The alterations and the modifications can clearly be seen on the character's faces. I also liked the scene with regard to the war at sea. God, loved that!

My thoughts is that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would win the award, but it will face very tough competition with Iron Man, which is likely to be favored.

Update: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won the award! View the full list of 81st Annual Academy Awards winners.

And the Visual Effects Oscar goes to...

The Academy Awards (Oscars) is a national film awards ceremony in the United States. It is presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and gives recognition to those who have achieved the highest in a certain field in the movie industry the year before. And since the Oscar season is here, I decided to post something about the annual ceremony and technology. And your right, I wanted to feature the Academy Awards for the highest achievement in visual effects!

According to Wikipedia, here are the following criteria in order for a film to be nominated and win the prestigious award.

For a film to be nominated for this award, the effects artist must have created something not available for filming. For example, an entirely digital Empire State Building could not make a movie eligible, since one can easily film the building; on the other hand, a recreation of ancient Rome could, since it is impossible to film. However, movies are judged on the quality of all of their effects shots, not just one scene.

According to the official Academy Award rules, the criteria are:

• consideration of the contribution the visual effects make to the overall production and
• the artistry, skill and fidelity with which the visual illusions are achieved.

And I decided to list the previous films which garnered the prestigious award. Here they are:

1930s

• 1939 (12th) The Rains Came1940s

1940s

• 1940 (13th) The Thief of Bagdad
• 1941 (14th) I Wanted Wings
• 1942 (15th) Reap the Wild Wind
• 1943 (16th) Crash Dive
• 1944 (17th) Thirty Seconds over Tokyo
• 1945 (18th) Wonder Man
• 1946 (19th) Blithe Spirit
• 1947 (20th) Green Dolphin Street
• 1948 (21st) Portrait of Jennie
• 1949 (22nd) Mighty Joe Young

1950s

• 1950 (23rd) Destination Moon
• 1951 (24th) When Worlds Collide
• 1952 (25th) Plymouth Adventure
• 1953 (26th) The War of the Worlds
• 1954 (27th) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• 1955 (28th) The Bridges at Toko-Ri
• 1956 (29th) The Ten Commandments
• 1957 (30th) The Enemy Below
• 1958 (31st) Tom Thumb
• 1959 (32nd) Ben-Hur

1960s

• 1960 (33rd) The Time Machine
• 1961 (34th) The Guns of Navarone
• 1962 (35th) The Longest Day
• 1963 (36th) Cleopatra
• 1964 (37th) Mary Poppins
• 1965 (38th) Thunderball
• 1966 (39th) Fantastic Voyage
• 1967 (40th) Doctor Dolittle
• 1968 (41st) 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 1969 (42nd) Marooned

1970s

• 1970 (43rd) Tora! Tora! Tora!
• 1971 (44th) Bedknobs and Broomsticks
• 1972 (45th) The Poseidon Adventure (Special Achievement Award)
• 1974 (47th) Earthquake (Special Achievement Award)
• 1975 (48th) The Hindenburg (Special Achievement Award)
• 1976 (49th) King Kong and Logan's Run (Special Achievement Awards)
• 1977 (50th) Star Wars
• 1978 (51st) Superman: The Movie (Special Achievement Award)
• 1979 (52nd) Alien

1980s

• 1980 (53rd) Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Achievement Award)
• 1981 (54th) Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1982 (55th) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• 1983 (56th) Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Special Achievement Award)
• 1984 (57th) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• 1985 (58th) Cocoon
• 1986 (59th) Aliens
• 1987 (60th) Innerspace
• 1988 (61st) Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• 1989 (62nd) The Abyss

1990s

• 1990 (63rd) Total Recall (Special Achievement Award)
• 1991 (64th) Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• 1992 (65th) Death Becomes Her
• 1993 (66th) Jurassic Park
• 1994 (67th) Forrest Gump
• 1995 (68th) Babe
• 1996 (69th) Independence Day
• 1997 (70th) Titanic
• 1998 (71st) What Dreams May Come
• 1999 (72nd) The Matrix

2000s

• 2000 (73rd) Gladiator
• 2001 (74th) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• 2002 (75th) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2003 (76th) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• 2004 (77th) Spider-Man 2
• 2005 (78th) King Kong
• 2006 (79th) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• 2007 (80th) The Golden Compass

For this year? That'll be something I'll reserve for my next post. I'll post the nominees for this year, and I'll give my comments on each. I'll update this post once I'm done with it.

Yadda!

Update: As promised, I posted my thoughts on the nominees for the 81st Academy Award for Best Achievement on Visual Effects. If you have time, read though it.

Paypal Philippines Bank Codes

It's been a while since Paypal has been available in the Philippines, but I had alot of problems and questions when I was trying to sign up. So yeah, I'm posting the list of banks and their respective codes, the portion I had some problems searching.

Bank Name - Bank Code

• ALLIED BANKING CORP - 010320013
  
• AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND - 010700015
  
• ASIA UNITED BANK - 011020011
  
• BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS - 010030015
  
• BANGKOK BANK - 010670019
  
• BANK OF AMERICA - 010120019
  
• BANK OF CHINA - 011140014
  
• BANK OF TOKYO - 010460012
  
• BANCO DE ORO (& EQUITABLE PCI BANK) - 010530667
  
• BANK OF COMMERCE - 010440016
  
• BANK OF THE PHIL ISLANDS (BPI) - 010040018
  
• CHINA BANKING CORP - 010100013
  
• CHINA TRUST COMML BANK - 010690015
  
• CITIBANK N.A. - 010070017
  
• DEVT BANK OF THE PHILS (DBP) - 010590018
  
• DEUTSCHE BANK - 010650013
  
• EAST WEST BANK - 010620014
  
• EXPORT & INDUSTRY BANK - 010860010
  
• FUJI BANK - 010640010
  
• HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANK (HSBC) - 010060014
  
• INTL COMML BANK OF CHINA - 010560019
  
• INTL EXCHANGE BANK - 010680012
  
• JP MORGAN CHASE BANK - 010720011
  
• KOREA EXCHANGE BANK - 010710018
  
• INTL NEDERLAND BANK - 010660016
  
• LANDBANK OF THE PHILS - 010350025
  
• MAYBANK OF THE PHILS - 010220016
  
• METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST CO - 010269996
  
• PHIL BANK OF COMMUNICATION - 010110016
  
• PHIL TRUST COMPANY - 010090039
  
• PHIL NATIONAL BANK (PNB) - 010080010
  
• PRUDENTIAL BANK - 010150018
  
• PHIL VETERANS BANK - 010330016
  
• RIZAL COMML BANKING CORP (RCBC) - 010280014
  
• SECURITY BANK & TRUST CO - 010140015
  
• STANDARD CHARTERED BANK - 010050011
  
• UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK - 010299995
  
• UNION BANK OF THE PHILS (UBP) - 010419995
  
• UNITED OVERSEAS BANK - 010270189
  

Been busy these days, so I'm sorry for not making any updates for a while.

Grey's Anatomy Addiction

It was for one night that I tried watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy from a full season 1 DVD (which I did not intend to borrow). And it took only that night, no, it took only one episode to get me hooked on the series. Now I find myself not able to stop watching it!

Enter Meridith Grey, the main protagonist of the show. She is smart and has great potential. But the main problem with her, in my perspective, is that she always have love problems. Well, everybody has love problems, but she never solves hers. I know her character is written that way, and some of my friends say that the main theme of the show is about her love story(to which I disagree).

Enter Cristina, Izzie, and George, the three co-interns of Meridith, who throughout the series, has their own personal life problems. All four of them resolve their issues, while trying to help the patients at Seattle Grace Hospital recover, cope, and live. The show also brings in many memorable characters and stories, which can make you appreciate your life.

Nah, this post seems out of the theme, but just wanted to share my thoughts about the show.

For me, the main theme of the show is the struggle of the interns to pass their residency while at the same time, balancing their personal and professional lives.

Oh, by the way, my favorite characters are Miranda and George. Miranda simply gets the best lines on the show while George's character is the most misunderstood and underwritten.

Social Networking Sites: a Tool in Politics?

Nobody can deny the power that social networking sites may bring in terms of influencing people of their decisions, views in life and sometimes even in religion. I mean, the internet brings anonymity to those who choose not to be known to public. Thus, giving people the chance to be themselves, to play, to be free, to enjoy the company of other unknown individuals, to live their fantasy in the internet, or just to have fun by simply telling others to f*ck themselves(just joking, no offense intended). Social networking sites have served as a medium for this. This is also where people can share ideas, and change other peoples perception of that idea.

It isn't a surprise that politicians would use these social networking sites as a tool in campaign for their candidacy. First, it reaches many places, even the ones that a politician can never visit., Second, it has great appeal on this generation, most especially on the youth. Lastly, its cheap.

Nah, you already have the knowledge on most of what I am writing in here. Just thought I wanted to share my say on this matter. I say to the politicians, F*CK YOU (again, I'm just joking, no offense intended), lol! Kidding aside, I posted this article because I found this news article I would want to share.
Title: Obama poised to be first 'wired' president
Source: CNN.com

The article is about the sort of campaign of the newly elected US president to reach people via social networking sites. Will it be effective? **** *** Obama! (you fill it up, again, no offense intended) :)

New Year, New Technological Expectations

Happy New Year, everyone. At last, the turmoil 2008 brought to the world has ended and this time, 2009 kicks in. This year might bring better economic stance or the other way around, but one thing you can never leave behind are the expectations for this year.

The year 2009 surely promises change. Sounds familiar with a speech of a US presidential candidate, ey, but this is what many expect. I expect changes, too. And to focus on the theme of our blog, I decided to post my expectations from 2009 with regard to technological innovations and everything else under the sun. Here goes the few.

• Microsoft Advancement. Lets face it, Vista's great interface and design did not cover up for the errors, bugs and incompatibilities it brought. But this year promises great hope for Microsoft. The new OS they're developing, known as Windows 7 for the moment, has great potential. I have read online, and few of my friends that has tried the beta version actually liked it. (I haven't had the chance to try it) It may bring hope and shed new light for the falling giant.

• Blu-ray Affordability. Let's face it. It gives a new definition to our movie experience at home. As far as I know, no major problems has occurred.(Speaking of problems, I was shocked by the leap year bug of Microsoft Zune! Nah, goodluck Microsoft.) One major problem of Blu-ray players is, well, they eat too much of your budget. Well, ehem...

• Smarter Technology Movies. Being a big fan of movies, I cannot help it but wish more for the movie industry.This year had Wall-e and Iron Man, but other than those, nothing was set on stone.

• Internet Availability. Yes, internet has been more accessible last year compared from other previous year, but I want more. It would really be great if the World Wide Web goes cheaper so that many more will enjoy its wonders. I hope stronger connection between different culture.(Shocking as it is, many countries does not have access to the internet.)

I still have many hopes for the new year. But while we enjoy the innovations this year, lets not forget what good things the previous year have given to us.

Thanks to the readers of this blog. Though there aren't that much of you and you get here so random, I owe you everything. This week, this blog gained a PageRank of 2, and it couldn't have happened without you. Thanks to YOU, thanks 2008 and welcome 2009! :)