Fringe

Let's just get one thing straight: Abrams knows how to get the right lead female on his shows. If Fringe isn't the next Lost, then at least it has Olivia Dunham, played by the Brit Anna Torv. (She's British-- her name isn't Brit.) There's this one scene in the pilot that Torv has to get a little nakey-nakey and she looks sexy-sexy. Whaddaya know, she's also a blonde. On a side note, I think we can officially stop calling my infatuations with blondes just a fad, and instead realize that I find blondes attractive.

Yeah, so Anna Torv is cute. She's not dream-about-her-every-night material yet. For one thing, she's a human being so eff me for objectifying blah blah blah. Just Watch Fringe for her if you don't like Sci-Fi.


Meat And Potatoes of Fringe

Now on to my impression of the the "leaked" pilot of the new science fiction show Fringe. It's produced by J.J. "Lost" Abrams. Fringe's pilot is not of the same caliber as Lost's phenomenol first episode. While Lost keeps you on the edge and wanting more straight through its two hour premiere, Fringe starts off with a similar bang (plane fetish?), but due to the incredulity of some of the "science" in the episode, Fringe starts to taper off in the middle acts.

Also, maybe there's not enough characters yet, like in Lost, but the few faces of Fringe lack chemistry. I think Joshua Jackson's character was supposed to be witty, but he came across as annoying. When everyone else was having their own serious conversation, in this pilot, Jackson would interrupt with a "witty" remark that everyone would ignore. I think the writers were trying to make it funny. I'm hoping that he isn't just relegated to comic relief.

But just think of how beautiful Anna Torv is and you'll be fine.

There's definitely potential for the future of Fringe if it doesn't get cancelled. They strictly deal with an unknown source doing fringe science experiments on the world itself which call the phenomenon "the pattern". Sounds freaky, so me likey. It's Dunham's job to find out who is doing this and how they're all connected. There's mythology that can be explored in this series. I hope there's alot more twists and turns and mystery, though. If they can introduce better dialogue that would be a plus.



Not Like Any Pie I Know

This time last year I was super-hyped for Pushing Daisies after seeing its pilot, though I'm not raving about Fringe after seeing its pilot, I'd say it's at least better than anything that's new on TV this Fall. But that's just saying how crappy all the other new shows are. I hate my grammar.

Where Have All The Asian Girls Gone? (Borderline Racist)

Let me preface this post with a little disclaimer. Yes, I will admit that my confidence and self-esteem fluctuate a lot, but I have to ask the world,

"What is up with all these Asian girls NOT dating Asian dudes?"

More specifically, it's always a the white guy who ends up with the Asian girl. Maybe this perceived problem is similar to how some black men wonder why all the black women don't date them.

Or maybe, I just answered my own question in the first line of this post? (Typical over-achieving Asian male, answering his own questions in a single karate chop.)

I know the typical answer would be that Asian guys tend to not be assertive enough. That they are too shy and do not make any moves, thus leaving the girl to any other guy. Yeah, I can see this. It's true in many cases and for any ethnicity. But come on, you're telling me that there are no Asian guys who are slightly assertive enough to get with their female counterparts? Really?

You know what, maybe we should just go for white girls. White girls have yellow fever too, don't they? Don't they?

Meh.

Obama Nomination

How do I know I'm American? Whenever I hear the "I Have a Dream" speech, whenever it's played and I hear the sincerity and hope in Dr. King's voice, I always almost cry.

I think it's hard for some people to understand this. Some people think that you have to be black in America to feel the power of the words and believe in it's meaning. Well, I'm not black. I'm just American. Actually, I think anyone in the world can connect with the message that we are all brothers and sisters regardless of our many differences. Yes, we do have differences and it's a mistake to pretend like they do not exist. Color exists but that does not make us human. Gender and sexuality exist but that does not make us human.

It's probably easier for me since wherever I go, I see all types of people who are not afraid to walk on the same sidewalk with each other. We are all different, but there is something about living in America that brings out our shared experiences and our similarities.

This country is far, far, far from perfect, but if we can elect a black man to be our most highest servant, then humanity is one step closer to getting closer. Think of it as globalization but more brotherly and more celebratory of our unique qualities, minus all the forced conformity to a single ideal.

I hope I make sense.

Life, Prince, Nina Meyers

You Have Video Games In My TV Soup

I think there's a word for when two things you like to do that are usually separate meet with interesting results. The summer is basically done and it's time for classes to begin once again (When will this school thing end? When I say it does.), so I have spent my time just going online and watching the tv show Life on Hulu. I'm up to the seventh episode and there's a part where the detectives have to play video games for something. Lo' and behold, they end up playing Prince of Persia, and guess what I'm using to currently feed my addiction? Prince of Persia!

Pretty neat, huh? My life is so awesome.

The interesting thing is how they totally butcher or alter the game. Prince of Persia does not have levels per se, yet in the plot of the episode, the police have to get to level ten to unlock something. Also, just throw in the usual Hollywood tactic where whenever there's video games, some plays it like they're having a manual seizure. Nobody moves there body like that. This isn't Wii Sports.



Hotties

Life is a decent show, so I might have to tune in this season. But people should definitely watch out for Fringe. It's pretty high on the buzz meter, and though I have downloaded the pilot, I have yet to find the right time to settle down and enjoy the show properly. I just may have to watch on premiere night 9-09-08.

The episode of Life I was talking about had particularly good looking women. So get ready to add more girls to the Asukal files. No, none of them blonde, but there is a red-head. There's this one chick, Sarah Shahi, who I suspect is of Persian descent. She's petite so that's definitely a plus, but she gives of a strong but sexy vibe. Yes, very sexist of me, but I'm just saying. Shahi is cute. She reminds me of Vanessa Marcil of Las Vegas fame, also from NBC. It's good that brunettes are being represented now in this Asukal post. It's a good change from the usual oh-my-god-I-think-I-have-a-blonde-proclivity posts.

Though I am still a huge, huge, Chelsie Hightower obsessed fan.

Oh, Chelsie. :)

I almost forgot! Sarah Clarke, yes Nina from 24, was in this episode. She's still hot. And interestingly enough, two things I like have intersected again: Sarah Clarke is sporting a blonde do. I don't know if she's really a blonde (I know she's hot), but does this count as another one in the I'm-a-blonde-guy-now-for-real column?

Still Waiting

It's weird that the summer is coming to an end. It's even weirder that I'm still in school. This coming Fall will hopefully be my final semester in the masters in education program. But, I am actually hoping to start a second masters in biochemistry come next Spring. I figure, I might as well stack up in degrees, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The school's decision should arrive late September or October. So we'll see.

Right now though, my youngest brother just left for college the other day. I feel so old now! I'm a thousand percent positive that he'll fit in well and have the best years of his life in Binghamton. As for me, I am, of course, just a commuting grad student.

My Lolo is in the hospital, though. He's always had trouble breathing, but it's gotten bad since he recently returned from the Philippines. So when he finally got checked by the doctors after months of trying to tolerate his condition, the doctor decided that he should be left in the hospital for a while for some observations. I hope he does well and gets better because I'm sure it's hurting my Lola so bad right now. I'm not too down though. It's not like this just happened out of thin air, and I'm hopeful anyway.

So that's my life right now. A sort of purgatory in that I am technically out of college, but I'm still in school. Anyway, good luck to my bro and get better, Lolo.

Oh, Chelsie

Check out my new celebrity (?) crush: Chelsie Hightower. The judges on So You Think You Can Dance call her a firecracker on stage, and who would disagree? Chelsie really destroys the competition with her Latin ballroom skills. I can't stop watching her dances on youtube. Her partner Mark definitely deserves props, even though I'm jealous that he got to dance with her. So it's no surprise I was a little bummed she didn't make it one more week for the finale.

From a purely dancing point of view, I really enjoy her dancing. All the Latin stuff is great. Part of it might have something to do with her beautiful legs (I'm not even a leg guy!). The best thing outside of the way she shakes those hips of hers (oh em gee), is her playfulness off of the dancefloor. The clips of her rehearsals really make her seem like just a chill person. I'm actually surprised that I find her so attractive since she has this tomboyish nature to her. In fact, that's what probably adds to her fireyness.

There are fans of the show who may believe that Courtney deservedly advanced to the finals over Chelsie, but Chelsie had the edge in my book. Some may say Courtney got in because she's sexier, but at least to me, Chelsie is sexy. She just exudes sexiness on the dancefloor, and more importantly, she can switch it up when she gets off the stage. That's definitely very appealing because of the great contrast. It feels like you could just hang out with her, but then she could still do the whole girly thing (but not too girly).

Marry me, Chelsie!






Wow, another blonde? I might have to do away with the whole "I'm not attracted to blondes" thing. In the mean time, I'm going to learn the Argentine tango.

Dollars and No Sense

If you are interested in buying this "app" for your iPhone, but are not able to, I suggest a similar alternative which is to have the words "I am a douche" tatooed on your forehead. Best of all, it's cheaper. If you don't like cheap, then pay a homeless guy $999.99 to punch you in the face. The homeless dude can use that money to buy brass knuckles that can leave a similar imprint on your smugly mug as said phrase.

Thank you.

Family Vacation

I just returned from my Myrtle Beach vacation--well, actually, my family and I came back two days ago, but who's keeping track?

I should have blogged during my time off to save my memories in the internet bottle, but I did not have adequate internet access. That, and I was lazy.

We stayed in the awesome beach house of my aunt and my first thought is how I wish I would be rich one day. Besides the warm sun that reminded me how great it was to be a teacher during the summer (too bad I'm not working anymore), the best thing about the vacation was spending time with extended family. My brothers and I were once pretty close to our cousins from West Virginia when we were younger, but after they went to boarding school and we all went through our awkward phases, we did not visit each other as much. It's not perfect now and I will always say that nothing ever is, but at least now, I have a better appreciation for family and friends. In fact, I would go so far as to say that we might be getting closer.

The way I see it, family and friends have things in common. Friends are people you can confide in and be yourself with no reservations. Finding these people is difficult and even harder to maintain relations with them. But for some reason, family is always there. The best thing though is family who can be friends. I'm hoping that this is the case not just for those cousins I was once close to, but for my cousins half way across the world, cousins just barely teens and cousins who have their own families now.

The more the merrier.

I know I haven't told any family about my little asukal blog here, but I would like to just say to them: Until the next time we share the sun together, I have your backs and you have mine and it's good to know that.

Ciao.

Lullaby

I would like to present you with a quote from a terrifically queer novel I just finished reading called Lullaby by Chuck Pahlahniuk.

The best way to waste your life is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don't participate. Let Big Brother do the singing and dancing for you. Be reporter. Be good witness. A grateful member of the audience.

The novel itself is just the right kind of twisted that you need to read it.

Valerie

Right now, when I hear that name, I immediately think of the infectious and uber-fun song of the same name by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse. It's just a really good song and I promise you it will not disappoint.

Just this past week, my family started subscribing to The Filipino Channel (TFC) because my aunt and mamay felt it was the right time. I guess they are often bored. Well, they are also fans of Wowowee, a hugely popular variety show in the Philippines. Anyway, true to the name of my blog, I would like to briefly talk about one of the lips that are like sugar on that show.

But, Blueberry, you're Filipino, so of course you'll think those girls on TFC are hot. Not true. I am an equal opportunity guy and find all sorts of girls cute. In fact, I find inanimate objects cute (sometimes the curves on the piano's legs are just too irresistable). With the exception of Heart E. (please don't hate me for being cliche), I have yet to google any of the girls on the channel to find out more about them. That was until I started watching Wowowee and saw Valerie Concepcion.

I thought she was cute so just today I did some Wikipediaing and that's when the surprises slapped me. First of all, she's only twenty years-old?! What the frack, man? I've only been watching for a week, but I would have guessed she was a couple of years older, you know, just slightly younger than me. She's even younger than one of my brothers. So after thinking about it a little longer, I come to accept that she's younger than me. In fact, that's not so bad-- that's actually a good thing. I am youthful for my age, so I imagine that I would have more in common with a youngin'.

The age problem becomes a non-issue, but then the second factoid that gets me (and this one is humongous) is that she has a child. Wait, she's twenty and has a child? That's not all. She had her daughter when she was sixteen (frack!) by a Sotto guy! Well, I immediately stop reading because that whole Sotto thing disgusts me and the fact that those cats are old and impregnate a teen.

Well, Blueberry, maybe the Sotto guy the website talks about is actually a young guy unlike Vic. Pish-posh. I refuse to read any more and have those facts destroy my image of Valerie. I'll be fine. I will pretend that Valerie's having a child has made her more selective with her love interests, thus making such an awesome guy like me an excellent suitor. I'm better than a Sotto guy, right?

Whatever, I just hope I don't become more douchey by reading more biographical data on Valerie. I'll just enjoy her on Wowowee whenever my family watches The Filipino Channel.

Arghh, Nintendo at E3

I just finished watching Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference and I have rediscovered the meaning of the word "crap". That whole mess of a wreck was horrible. The only thing I found interesting was the Grand Theft Auto Chinatown game and that did not even have any screenshots or video.

Sure, Animal Crossing may be interesting in the same way that Animal Crossing is interesting to only a select few people. I am not one of those people. It looks like more of the same and the only reason I have played the DS version was because I wanted to see what the whole fuss was about.

The whole presentation just talked about how many Wii's and DS's Nintendo has sold. Big deal. The games for Wii are getting on my nerves now since there is no real substance. Do I have to wait once or twice a year for a great game like Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros.?

Nintendo, I don't care about your Wii Music. It's not even a game. Even Wii Sports was fun. Actually, I'll give you that Wii Sports is a decent game, but only because it was the first game to showcase the Wii's controller. Wii Music has no objective but to look stupid while pretending to play a wind or string instrument using the Wiimote. It doesn't even sound like the real instruments.

It's a good game if your're two years-old or are not a gaming enthusiast. There's nothing wrong with that except, your real fans will have to start to look to other consoles. I'm going to see what Sony and Microsoft has to offer, while you, Nintendo, sell a butt-load of Wii's that most people will never buy another game for (they can just play the Wii Sports which they think is the whole damn reason for owning a Wii).

I am angry and frustrated, because now, I have to consider spending 400 bones for a different system and I have a Wii that will collect dust perpetually.

Price Droppin' Fool

The xbox 360 $50 price drop is imminent and makes purchasing an xbox almost affordable. I am seriously contemplating buying one. However, if I think about it long and hard enough (hehe) I realize that I should probably wait a few months or a year to see if Sony drops the price of their Playstation 3.

Here are my reasons why I have to try my best to NOT buy a price-dropped xbox 360:

1) First of all, look at it's library of games. Yes, there are some really good games like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and Mass Effect, but not a whole lot of variety. The 360 is mostly good for shooters, which though I am a fan off, can get old fast if there's not fluffy stuff to balance out all the shooting and explosions.

2) In keeping with the games theme, the many of the good games are also multi-platform. In other words, there are not many exlusive games to the xbox 360 that warrant a purchase. Halo 3? Good game, but it's another shooter and there's a whole boatload of those on othe sytems. Where are my action adventure games and RPGs?

3) Playstation 3 has better exclusives and a better variety. Just look at the Ratchet series and think about Square Enix's support. I know the Final Fantasy series is overrated as are many Japanese RPGs, but it is a change of pace. There is at least good Japanese support for the playstation.

4) This price drop also signals that Microsoft may be coming out with another configuration for the xbox and they're just trying to clear up some room for this new one.

5) More importantly, the ps3 may also have a price drop in response to the xbox's. I really hope that the 360's sell really well following price drop. This would signal to Sony, that maybe, just maybe, 400 to 500 bones for a video game machine won't cut it for many of us. Hell, I still don't have a good enough TV to enjoy high-definition or any definition for that matter. If the xbox sells well, the ps3 will have to come down in price soon. I can only hope. Then I can judge for myself what moves I should make.

Let's pray for 250 to 300 dollar price point for both systems. Let's even drop the $60 price tag for games.

Peaces.

Iran is Not Da Bomb

Are you serious? Under no circumstance (at least currently or even foreseeable) should the United States even consider attacking Iran. We are still in two wars, if people forget: the hugely unpopular Iraq occupation and the less publicized Afghanistan operations.

Let Iran showboat and flaunt its photoshopping capabilities. I don't care how many missiles and nuclear plants it has, we cannot do a damn thing about it. We shouldn't even try because a three front operation is not going to happen. That's like the most unpopular kid alienating two random kids and deciding to give a third kid a wedgie (atomic wedgie? sorry). It's not good publicity much less the cost and casualties.

Mainly, the U.S. needs to let the rest of the world (Europe, ahem) deal with any supposed problems in the Middle East. Let's clean up our mess in Iraq, return to looking for Osama and Al-Qaeda, who are now most definitely in the mountain tribal regions of our "friend" Pakistan. But we should be careful about that, too. Pakistan does have nuclear capabilities.

As a matter of fact, let's just get the hell out of the Middle East all together and just strengthen our homeland security. Why not develop oil alternatives so that we don't have to step foot in the Middle East until they are an inviting enough place. Just read the Kite Runner and dream of the good parts of that book (what parts?). I'm all for travel and having a global community that celebrates the uniqueness of culture (I wish I had money to travel), but there are just some places right now where all parties are misunderstood.

Let's gallavant in Europe, instead. I hear it's great there in the summer.

Do It For Russia

I am a patriotic man. I am so patriotic that I am taking up the responsibilities of all patria. One country I plan on helping is the motherland, Russia. The twelfth of September, 2008 has been declared Family Contact Day where married couples are encouraged to "engage in marital intimacy". Sounds good to me. The goal is to create boat loads of Russian babies by June 12, 2009, to combat the falling population rates of Russia.

I say, Hooray for babies, but a double Hooray for engaging in marital intimacy. I would go so far as to say that one may leave out the marital part, but I'm sure Russian officials would not be down with that.

As for me, well, I am extending a proposal (I think there's a joke to be made here) to one Ms. Hotforwords, "Let's make some magic and some Hotforwords Pinoy-Ruski-American babies."

Ciao.

Casino Royale: Take Two

What's with me and watching movies for a second time through NetFlix and loving these movies even more? First, I saw Batman Begins for a second time and I was enthralled for the whole two hours and came out super excited for its sequel. This time, I rediscovered the goodness of Casino Royale.

I saw Casino Royale, probably back in 2006, on my computer so I didn't get the whole theater experience. The image quality was great, but it was on my computer and that may have affected my first impression. Since I was able to rent the DVD just recently, I was able to follow the weaving plot and more importantly, the witty, typical Bond dialogue that was heavily accented when I first saw it.

This movie is definitely along the same lines of Batman Begin's reboot of the franchise: it has refreshed double 0h seven. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Brosnan's Bond, but it was getting stale. The movies started getting too flashy. The gadgets were just too unbelievable (car controlled with a phone?) and the villains were over the top (diamond faced dude?). They weren't bad. They were good, but Casino Royale showed me that Bond could be better.

While not as gritty as Batman (can anything be, really?) Royale tweaked Bond to rely less on fancy devices and more on solid action sequences. It had parkour for crying out loud! You can feel Daniel Craig exert energy as Bond trying to achieve his mission. There was no ease of accomplishing things with the flick of a rist watch, just the use Bond's wits and doggedness. He friggin' ran after that parkour dude, and he kept up with that airplane bomber by just calling his phone.

Casino Royale has the good kind of glitz and glamour. The locales are amazing (Venice and Prague), and his suits are really sophisticated. Plus, Craig is in super good shape. It makes sense how he can do all these things.

This was and is Bond 2.0. I can't wait for the sequel Quantum of Solace. The sequel promises more of the same (good thing) and be a continuation of the plot established in Casino Royale. Plot continuation, anyone? Yes. Sign me up.

That Reminds Me Of The Time When...

What is the deal with two-minute webisode content? That's episodic web content. The dude who made "Family Guy" and Google have a deal to deliver original content (a new cartoon) to websites that Google predicts are sites that Family Guy fans visit. Of course, the two-minute episodes will have product placement and your typical advertising and banners.

Is it just me, or does this smell of money money money? (I don't know what money smells like, so I couldn't find an adequate euphemism.) Maybe that's the purpose of Seth McFarlane's and Google's objective. How do you sell a product marketed to the Family Guy demographic (people who don't understand comedy and have ADD)? Well, why not create "content" (advertisements) by a popular cartoonist (unfunny bastard) that the intended demo will click. Plus, since the webisodes are two minutes long, it's practically a commercial. In fact, it's a commercial bookended and plastered with more advertising.

Genius marketing or are FG fans just stupid? Both.

Have fun watching glorified commercials, fans. I'll just wait for youtube to have the episodes so I can watch one and decide that I still don't like anything McFarlane makes.

Hair Countdown.

I got my hair cut today. I can't wait until it grows back. But, for now, I will enjoy that it's not too hot anymore and I don't have to wear my hair in a vertical pony-tail while at the gym. No faux-hawk for me, though.

You Think You Know But You Have No Idea

Okay, I am going to try to explain how to explain-- no, I am going to express how it feels to feel old.

There are varying degrees of old, and for the most part one can be old, or feel old, or both be and feel old. For me, I think I've always been immature or child-like in my behavior and lifestyle. In a way, I like this because it makes me feel youthful. More importantly, I think that kids enjoy life more on a basic level. They play. They are fascinated by common things.

Well, recently I feel like I just woke up suddenly one day and realized I am at the stage of my life that young'uns look forward to. It's the point between adolescence and adulthood. Yeah, I know that adolescence varies between individuals and maybe I'm not exactly at the point anymore, but instead past it. But it's just weird that when I look all around me, people are still growing and have their whole future ahead of them, while I am in my future. Maybe it' s not exactly the future I was planning, but it is a future.

A year from now, I will see if my new plans have come to fruition. Hopefully, with a little more do and a little less reliance on lady luck, I will be in a position to do what I want to do.

Letter To Coldplay

Dear Coldplay,

I am so angry that I did not get free tickets to the MSG concert. This is a problem and will be for quite a while. You see, Madison Square Garden is the most accessible venue that you played in for your Viva La Vida tour. Now, I have no chance to see you live. I have never seen you guys live! Since I am also budgeting my money for future education expenses (hopefully, more grad school), I cannot afford to buy tickets to your shows. More importantly, I am the only one I know who digs Coldplay. My friends are a little "meh" about you guys, and the ones who are fans live in another state so going to a concert with them is out of the question.

If you guys could play another gig or two in New York, that would be balls to the walls great.

Yours Truly,
Blueberry

P.S. I love the new album. At first I couldn't get into it, but since I am such a huge fan, I eventually found a way to dig it. But I cannot emphasize how much I want to see you guys live before I die. Ciao.

Taste my Adobo, Bitches

Surprise. I am not upset about what the President said about Filipino-Americans. First of all, of all the things that I could be upset about Bush's presidency, this remark is a non-issue. I can't even figure out how to make it an ignorant remark. The chef of the White House is Filipino and he was just saying that when he eats his food he is reminded of the talents of such Filipino-Americans. In no way can that be interpreted as an implication that Bush thinks Filipinos are just cooks. He may think that, which I don't believe he does, but his comments did not reflect that.

So, relax bloggers. Nothing to see here. In the mean time, while we all wait for the end of this administration, as a fellow Filipino-American, I offer you some lumpia.