FonePrint has moved from Stall 11, D2B, Multilevel Parking Building, UST, Espana, Manila to 3rd Level, G-Box Entertainment, Robinson's Place, Ermita, Manila. It's been great fun and learning at UST but opportunity calls at Robinson's Place. I hope we eventually also get space in Robinson's Galleria. I'd volunteer to check on it maybe not daily but definitely regularly :D
In Apocalypto, Mel Gibson brought to life the Mayan civilization and used it as his setting. Novel enough in itself. Like The Passion of The Christ, he uses an archaic language. In this case, Mayan. Like the previous movie there are English subtitles. And that's where the similarities end. Make no mistake: This is purely an action movie. And you get loads of gripping, adrenaline-pumping action especially during the long, extended climax where the escaped protagonist was being hunted by his former captors as he makes his way back to his village to rescue his family. Good enough for an action fix.
Yesterday, some of my classmates and I were having a post-exams dinner at Gerry's Libis when the question of why we were all drained, tired, and famished after the exams. I mentioned that I read somewhere that the brain consumes a lot of energy. But how much exactly I didn't know. So I did a quick look up and found the following (from Power Of A Human Brain):
The brain makes up 2% of a person's weight. Despite this, even
at rest, the brain consumes 20% of the body's energy. The brain
consumes energy at 10 times the rate of the rest of the body per
gram of tissue. The average power consumption of a typical adult
is 100 Watts and the brain consumes 20% of this making the power
of the brain 20 W.
Glucose is the main energy source for the brain. As the size
and complexity of the brain increases, energy requirements increase.
The human brain is one of the most energy hungry organs in
the body thereby increasing its vulnerability. If the energy supply
is cut off for 10 minutes, there is permanent brain damage. There
is no other organ nearly as sensitive to changes in its energy
supply.
Incidentally, the question why some people get chubby at MBA also popped up. My theory is that people usually eat a lot after brainwork. Thus they tend to eat more but the energy is no longer needed so it gets stored as fat. The solution, I think, would be to eat a bit before doing anything major :D
Crash has what's got to be one of the most powerful scenes in a movie. It's worth watching if only for that. But it is a lot more than that. The movie is about the interleaving stories of several characters as they go about their lives in downtown LA. It is a story about racism, how it's not limited to just one group, and the animosity it generates. It is a story that, amidst all this, there are redeeming human qualities that give us a glimpse of hope. All these was very well told. Paul Haggis (story, screenplay, and director) rocks!
Caught a replay of the Monte Carlo Rally last night. It featured the much awaited debut of the new Citroen C4 World Rally Car on the WRC. Although it has essentially the same 2L turbocharged engine (providing a drool-worthy 315 BHP @ 5500 RPM and 570 NM @ 2750 RPM) as the previous Xsara, improvements in other systems is said to have improved overall performance. Even opposing drivers were awed. And it showed in the results: C4s piloted by Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo (Junior WRC champ) took the first AND second places respectively. It is, of course, in no small part due to driver skills. It looks like Sebastien Loeb and Citroen are going on a winning streak again.
The Impact XL is an underwater flashlight that can also be used for above-water outdoor activities or, if you prefer, an above-water flashlight that can also be used for underwater activities. Per manufacturer specifications, it is waterproof up to 100m. It has a single Luxeon LED bulb which can throw 17 lumens of light as far as 50m. 4 AA batteries provide burn-time of up to 50 hours. Its tough plastic body is clad in molded rubber for grip as well as additional protection. A lanyard loop at the tail end allows for the attachment of a lanyard, wrist strap, or clip. The switch is a rotating bezel. It has enough rotations to minimize the chance of opening and flooding the batteries while underwater. However, you turn it in to activate so there's a chance, albeit pretty small, that a push, say from water pressure, will move the head in and activate. Other than that, I've no real complaint about this light. Highly recommended.
After the long drought of any watchable movies due to the so-called Metro Manila Film Festival (nothing to be festive about if you ask me), I was really in need for something to watch. The most interesting of the new openings seemed to be Déjà Vu so off I went. I was expecting it to be similar to Man on Fire. But heck it was just for an action fix. Denzel Washington was good (what's new?), Val Kilmer turned in a good supporting role (his curse since Top Gun), and even James Caviezel got the villain role down pat. But it turned out I was right: The two movies were indeed similar. But they were also quite dissimilar. Better if you watch yourself but I'll tell you this much: In both movies he dies (oopsie), but in this one he gets the girl. Have fun!
Last sunday, Val taught a bunch of us to bake a mango cream pie. It was my first and as I went about the process I started questioning whether the effort was worth it. The answer came when I cut the first slice and took a bite: An unequivocal YES! I'm so happy with my pie (there are many like it but this one was mine hehe). The crust, the filling, the topping... they were all perfect. Okay so I did forget the vanilla. And there's a wee bit more sugar than I'd like. But all in all it's great for a first pie. Heck, it's even better than some off-the-shelf pies I've encountered. Thanks Val!
Below is the recipe.
MANGO CREAM PIE
Crust 1 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs 1/8 cup sugar ¼ cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 300ºF Combine crumbs, sugar and butter. Press into pan. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 minutes.
Filling ½ cup sugar ¼ cup cornstartch 1/8 tsp salt 2 cups milk 2 eggs 2 tablespoons butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 to 2 tbsp gelatin powder 1 pack all purpose cream
Mix gelatin in 1 cup of milk. Set aside for 5 minutes. Mix all ingredients except vanilla and all purpose cream together. Use a double broiler to heat the mixture. Whisk while heating to avoid burning the milk. The resulting filling will be lumpy. Add more gelatin for firmer consistency. Transfer into another bowl and immerse the bowl in ice bath. When mixture is cool, use strainer to remove all lumps and whatnot. After that whip up the all-purpose cream and mix with filling--hahaha! Add vanilla and mix thoroughly. Pour the filling into prepared crust
Topping 1 to 2 Mangoes
Slice into strips and put on top. Refrigerate or Freeze for 3-4 hours before serving.
Went on a day dive trip to Anilao with Billie (as co-driver :D). We took the SLEX then the Star Tollway where I took advantage of the long straights to test velocity constraints. Everything was fine at 100 kph, 120 kph, and 140 kph. But at 160 kph the oil pressure light lit up and I had to ease up on the throttle back to 100 kph. Looks like my GA16 is consuming oil :( After exiting the tollway, I had to add more oil.
We got to Aqua Reef without further event and proceeded to dive. The DM was an in-house DM named Dennis. A Californian guest named Joe also joined us. The first at Sombrero was good. Vis was great and there were tons of fishes. But the second dive was better. It was a drift dive along the Sepok Wall and the current was just right as we drifted along the well, then was a bit stronger at the latter part. We then ascended into the surface and bobbed around 3 foot-high white caps while waiting for the boat to pick us up.
After lunch, we drove back. It became interesting because I missed a turn but decided not to retrace my path choosing instead to rely on my GPS unit. But although I had recorded a track on my GPS unit, for I couldn't seem to get back on the track. So I started asking around but everyone I ask seem to be directing me farther away from the track. I had to prompt them a bit to find out that the other direction does lead back to the track. After several U-turns and retraces we finally got along a course parallel to the track that I had driven through on a previous trip. After a bit, we merged back into the track and it was smooth going from thereon.
I spent my Christmas Day morning watching An Inconvenient Truth via YouTube. Due to video length limitations, it was divided into 10 segments (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) but it provides a glimpse of the future of TV. But on to the movie. It's basically a wake-up call on global warming: a fact that a lot of people don't want to face. It presents exhibit after exhibit of evidence on global warming, what it is, what it is doing, and what part we can play to prevent it. Go watch it. If it doesn't show in local cinemas (highly probable), then buy a VCD/DVD, use YouTube, or something. Then start using E10, biodiesel, hybrids, and fuel cells as they become available (and affordable) because the biggest contribution we as individuals make to global warming is through the cars we drive.
It's the season for giving. Now here's an interesting thing. Potentially, giving is a negative economic benefit activity. And that's no good. But if there's giving, there is also receiving, a positive economic benefit activity. Considering both together, we get a zero-sum economic benefit situation which is not so bad anymore. But we haven't yet considered goodwill which is generated by the two activities. And it gets even better, we can just give again what we received and so on and we could potentially have unlimited goodwill! Cool huh?
I recently snapped some shots of two pieces of history. One of the pieces is a flintlock musket which was supposedly bought long ago from a Manobo hunter in Mindanao. It's definitely old. Flintlocks were made primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is probably Spanish in origin. But it also has what looks like a Union Jack marking so it could also be from the British, from their colonization of what is now Malaysia or even possibly from during their brief occupation of Manila. The other piece is a Remington 1903A3 Springfield bolt action rifle. It was the standard rifle of American troops from 1903 up to 1936. But was still in use for the sniper role during World War II, the Korean War, and even until the very early stages of the Vietnam War.
This movie started off with high expectations cut down to shreds. My friend Val and I went to the IMAX theater of the SM Mall of Asia expecting to watch a 3D version of the film. Alas, it was not to be :( They were showing only the 2D version (to make more money on the 3D version later, no doubt). But since we're already there, we decided to go watch anyway. Fortunately, the movie turned out to be quite entertaining, especially when the lead penguin was still a chick (cute and fluffy) and, of course, the adelie(?) penguins. Those little guys sure were a riot :)) There was a point in the movie where it could have already ended as a poignant reminder of the misery brought about by man onto this world. But no, as the title would clue you in, this is after all a happy movie. So the movie had to drag on a bit more for that happy ending. Reminds me of AI.
I'm not much of a James Bond fan. He's just too clean, smooth-talking, and glamorous. I prefer my protagonists to be the dark, silent, and brooding kind. But Casino Royale updates James Bond to the typical modern day hero. He is still generally clean, smooth-talking, and glamorous but now he got his dark, silent, and brooding moments. For that alone this movie gets stars. But of course that's not all of it. The movie is plenty entertaining too. It traced how Bond got started in the 007 role and his first major mission of spoiling the money making schemes of an infamous money launderer for terrorist organizations. It gets a bit tedious as the story dragged on a bit more after the villain already got dispatched. But I guess that's how the book went and so does the movie.
I thought The Prestige was a romance movie. But since I was bored and there was no other movie to see (the only remotely interesting alternative was The Marine), I decided to watch it. It turned out that what I had in mind was The Illusionist. The movie turned out to be quite nice. It's about two magicians, Borden and Angier, who started out as friends but had a major falling out when Angier's wife died in a magic trick that went horribly wrong. Angier sought revenge on Borden who he blamed for his wife's death. As their rivalry on the stage heated up so it did too behind the stage. Their conflict finally culminated in death. But all is not what it seems. The movie, after all, is about magic. Have I spoiled it for you? Not yet. After all, you haven't seen the prestige ;)
PS One thing I totally disliked is the idiot-proofing at the end. Hollywood movies seem to do be doing it more and more.
When it comes to a cutting tool for diving, simple is the operative word. Face it, you won't be fighting off a hungry great white. Heck, you're lucky if you see one. More often than not, you will be using it for cutting lines and ropes. So a simple one will do the job. In fact, experienced divers sometimes use a simple kitchen knife. But kitchen knives can't usually be used for prying.
This is where the Gerber River Shorty comes in. It can do everything a kitchen knife can. Plus the blade is also thick enough to be usable for prying. There is actually a version with a flat tip designed for prying. The blade is sharp and is 50% serrated/50% straight. The spine has ribbing for control with your thumb. The handle is molded plastic with ribbing and cut-outs for grip. It also has a no nonsense solid plastic sheath with a clip for attaching to your flotation vest or belt.
It's light and small. Unobtrusive but there when you need it. I've dived quite a few times with it and it has held up well for a knife originally designed for river rafting. Saltwater can cause some rusting but nothing a good washing and oiling can prevent.
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