I haven’t really used too many other 1st stages so all I can say is that it works and it works well. The fact that many advanced divers recommend it is testament to its capabilities.
Rating: 5/5
It’s a pretty cool movie. It has shades of the Wizard of Oz and the Lord of The Rings. It’s not quite Oz but it does evoke that feeling of wonder and awe back when you were still not as jaded or pragmatic. Nor is it quite LOTR as the plot is much more simplistic (e.g. very few would think Aslan clever for his sacrifice trick).
Towards the end, there was a quite violent battle between the forces of good and evil. I guess that would be another influence of Tolkien on Lewis and the LOTR movie on the director. But it is not anywhere near LOTR’s battles. I actually hope the battles of both movies are as gritty as Braveheart but I guess nobody else would want an R rating for this movie.
Overall, I think the movie is primarily for children or children at heart. But then, most of us are to a certain degree, aren’t we? ;)
Rating: 4/5
The battery that came with Selene is already 3 years old and it is showing: It only holds about an hour’s worth of charge. They say Li-Ion batteries only have 3 years life so I guess it will be downhill from 3 years on. I therefore decided to get a new battery.
After quite some time searching through Froggle, PriceGrabber, etc, I finally ordered it online from KeyBattery.com. They don’t ship international so I had it shipped to my friend Billie who was in the US and she eventually got it to me through various means. Thanks Bill! ;)
The battery is your normal IBM spec Li-Ion battery with 10.8V and 4000mAH charge for an effective usage time of roughly 3 hours. There are batteries that have 4400mAH (notably from BatteryRefill.com) but unfortunately the online shops that carry those do not accept my credit card. Too bad since you could do quite a lot with an extra 10% charge. But then again, 3 hrs vs the old battery’s 1 hr is already quite a lot too so I shouldn’t be complaining.
Rating: 4/5
I wasn’t disappointed.
The movie started off a bit slow: The background is set and the characters and their relationships built up. Then they stumble upon a mysterious island and it was non-stop action from there all the way to the ending in New York. You have to see the action scenes: from the dinosaur stampede, to the monster rumble, to the insect attack, to the city rampage, and finally to the battle up at the top of the Empire State Building.
It would seem like the movie got a lot of ideas from other movies. But remember that the original King Kong was where lot of other movies got ideas from in the first place.
And the acting is not bad either. Naomi Watts was gorgeous in a breathless 30s actress kind of way. Adrien Brody did well as the unexpected hero. He’s supposed to be Watts’ love interest but there seem to be more chemistry between her and the ape. Andy Serkis as the big ape himself almost outdid his Gollum. The only one who seem out of place is that comedy guy from Shallow Hal, but that’s because I saw that movie (as well as a few others). Otherwise he probably would have seemed great to me.
A classic in the making? Looks like that to me ;)
Rating: 4/5
The other day, my former colleagues and I had our traditional Christmas get together. We decided to do it at Dencio’s in Metrowalk instead of at Congo Grill at El Pueblo where we usually go. We should have known better.
As usual in big gatherings, people took their time and trickled in gradually. While waiting for them, one of the staff approached me and asked how many we are in the group. I told her the number. She asked what time they are coming. I told her soon. She said they don’t reserve on fridays. I told her we’ve already ordered their food. I don’t know what the problem was. Whether it’s one person or twenty, if I order food for twenty people, I deserve space for twenty people. Good thing she didn’t push the issue and the bulk of the group arrived soon after.
Then while we were eating, some of the waiters were removing plates without asking. And this is when we still had pending orders which are taking too long. Maybe they didn’t know there are still pending orders. But that’s not even an excuse. At the least, they should ask if it is okay to remove the plates. What it seemed to me is that they were running out of plates because when we asked for replacement plates and utensils, they would take their time bringing the plates and sometimes bring only a spoon or a fork with it.
Throughout the ordeal, I didn’t feel welcome nor attended to. Granted it’s dinner time on a friday and it’s the Christmas season to boot. But they should have anticipated that. So it’s no excuse. Besides, this is not the first time I’ve experienced poor service in this specific branch. So maybe they really suck at the service department. I don’t know why I still went back. But I definitely won’t again.
Rating: 1/5