Into The Spider's Web: Pokemon Apokelypse Trailer

I have just seen a video spreading fast in Facebook and Youtube regarding a leaked trailer video for a live movie adaptation of Pokemon. The video shows a grown-up Ash and Brock arguing about Pokemon Battles banned and the Pokemon Gyms closed. It then shows that Pokemon battles are made underground under the control of Rocket Industries.

Here was the video description in Youtube:

Celadon City hasn't been the same since the Gyms closed down. Pokémon fighting has gone underground, and the sport has gotten a taste for blood. Ash, Misty, and Brock have been forced deep into the city's seedy underbelly to keep training, but the Pokémon aren't the only ones in danger. Now, Ash must choose to either become a master in the grim world of illegal pokémon fighting, or make a desperate stand to free them all from the criminal grip of Rocket Industries

Some scenes shows Oak, Misty, Jesse, James and Nurse Joy, and a CGI's of Pikachu, Squirtle, Meowth, Psyduck, Mew and more. The most interesting part is most of the dialogues were either one liners from the animated series and from the original theme of the series. Based on the trailer, the movie's plot was very dark and the theme is about revenge which was very opposite from the animated series we loved to watch.

The video generated some buzz over the web regarding the validity of the movie. It also divided the blogging and forum community. Some gave violent reactions telling that it was a big mistake for making a live movie adaptation so dark and totally opposite of what we used to watch from the series. Other people thought that it was kind of cool making the adaptation dark and more serious and they looked forward for the movie for its release.

Further digging for information revealed that the viral trailer video of the soon to be shown Pokemon live movie adaptation is just a parody. It turns out that a group of people who are into film making had an idea of turning an animated series to a live short movie and the result was this Pokemon Apokelypse movie trailer.

Click this link to read the whole interview of the video makers from the Shogun Gamer site.

Enjoy watching the HD trailer from Youtube below:

Wide Tube 2.0: Resident Evil: Afterlife

After attending a friends wedding we decided to watch a movie. It was a choice between Despicable Me, Resident Evil: Afterlife or an asian horror movie currently shown. Resident Evil was the choice of majority in the group.

I was an avid follower of the Capcom's Resident Evil game series in Sony PlayStation. I played the first 3 games and was able to finish them. The game was so addictive that I had to follow and watch the first movie adaptation. Most of the characters from the game is included in the movie but the storyline was entirely different from the game series although some concept were borrowed from the game.

Resident Evil: Afterlife starts years after the events of the previous movie Resident Evil: Extinction. Alice's (Milla Jovovich) clones attacked Umbrella Corporation's Tokyo base but Albert Wesker was able to escape and purge the facility killing all the clones. The real Alice confronts him in the aircraft but he was able to inject her with a serum that neutralizes the T-virus in her system removing her super human abilities. The aircraft crashes before Wesker can kill her and she was able to survive the crash.

Next scenes shows Alice looking for a place called Arcadia, where a broadcast was made that a safe haven for every living survivor of the viral apocalypse. Several back scenes from the previous movie were shown as flashback. Upon locating the origin of the signal, she only encountered a deranged Claire Valentine (Ali Larter) suffering from memory loss.

Traveling to Los Angeles, they met a group of survivors which created a maximum security prison as their shelter. They discovered Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) in one of the prison cells. The zombies find a way to get inside the prison so they decided to release him as he claims there is a way out of the security prison so that they can reach Arcadia which they discovered was a cargo tanker. Upon battling a horde of zombies, Alice, Claire and Chris were able to reach the ship and find it abandoned.

Further checking reveals that the ship was a trap set by Umbrella Corp. to collect the remaining survivors and conduct experiments on them. Alice finally discovers that Albert Wesker, just like her was able to survive the aircraft crash earlier. A battle begins between the 3 and Wesker, now with superhuman strength since he injected himself with the T-Virus. After defeating Wesker, a new set of umbrella aircraft arrives with Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), with the same mind controlling device, leading an army to fight against the three. This ends the movie for a possible sequel in the future.

My personal rating for the movie is 6 out of 10 since I feel that there was something lacking in the plot. After making 3 movie series about zombies in an post apocalyptic setting, a question raises on how will you present the same zombies in a different way that it would not look like the previous films. Maybe that is why zombie was only shown 30-40% of the screen time, since there was no way you can present the same villains on a fourth installment of the series. Even the fight scene with Executioner was a little bit short from what I expected. What's more a little bit confusing is the Executioner just walk right into the prison gates and knock it off, no explanation where it came from.

Let's just hope that if there will be a sequel coming up, they can make it better this time.

All images came from Internet Movie Data Base

Dietrich's Eyes: Metro Comic Convention

I have attended the Metro Comic Convention held at the SM Megatrade Hall 2 and 3 last August 22. I have been busy that it almost took a month before I could post a blog regarding this event. But as they say, it's better late than never.

Metro Comic Convention (MCC) was held to showcase the local comic industry. Although the traditional comics, meaning the "Komiks" that we usually see in the news stand during the 90's was completely gone, local comic artists strive to promote awareness that the Filipino Comic industry still lives.

There was a panel discussion not only with the local comic artists but also with game designers, voice acting and some band performance. But the main reason why I came to attend the event was the cosplay competition where one of my officemate joined and their group won.

I was able to meet Hazel Manzano whose Professional Callboy of the Callwork comic series that I have reviewed (click here for the comic review). I purchased her new indie comic entitled Dra. Yap.

Here are the pictures of the cosplayers that I was able to take. Kindly hit the comment sections if there are some wrong information on the name of the cosplayer or the character they portray.

Kristel Lim as Hatsune Miko

Guy Singson as Special Forces

Left, Gia Gold Bustamante as Kosmos

This little girl dressed as Sakura from Naruto was a crowd favorite

Babman is the first local comic character I have seen to be portrayed in a Cosplay Event. Babman is the alter-ego of Bab from the Pugad Baboy comic series.

Nice costume for V

Project 8 and Bulacan Cosplay Mania in their One Piece group entry

Mark Aurelio beloy as Frankie from One Piece

Lancia Concepcion as Nico Robin from One Piece

Spider Dan

Kamen Rider Double

Jessica of Cloud Nine (got her name based on the name plate)

Wide Tube Sneak Peak: Tron: Legacy

I have been in Robinson's Galleria Movie World last week and I saw a poster for Tron: Legacy. I remember seeing an almost similar movie poster in the room of Chuck Bartowski in the TV series. Based on Chuck, Tron was the greatest movie he ever watched because he watched it with his father.

Out of curiousity, I have checked information regarding the movie Tron. I found out that it was released in 1982 produced by Walt Disney Pictures and stars Jeff Bridges. It was about a man's journey and adventure in the virtual world and the battle against artificial intelligence who imprisoned him in the computer world. It was 1982 when computer effects is just starting to proliferate movies and you would not imagine how good was the effects for this movie during that time. It was a box office success for Walt Disney for an action sci-fi movie possibly due to a new concept for the storyline of the computer world during that time.

I manage to get a copy of the trailer of the 1982 movie and watch for yourself how was the special effects during that time:

28 years later Disney will release the sequel Tron: Legacy with Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner reprising their original role. Kevin Flynn (Bridges), CEO of ENCOM has been missing for some time and his son Sam (Garett Hedlund) finds a clue leading him to his father's old arcade game house. He was then transported in the virtual world and finds that his father was trapped in the same world where he was before. Both father and son must fight their way, back to the real world, against an enemy who will do everything to stop them from doing so.

Watch the official trailer from Yahoo! Movies and see for your self the difference of the light cycle scenes from the original movie and the sequel.

Tron: Legacy will be released by Disney Pictures on December 2010 so mark your calendar for that holiday movie presentation.

Wide Tube 2.0: Grown Ups

It's been almost two weeks since I watched Grown Ups in TriNoMa but I still wanted to make a review because it is so hilarious that it will makes you laugh from beginning till the end of the movie.

"Play life like how you've played the game today so that when the final buzzer of your life goes off, you will have no regrets." These were the words given by Coach Buzzer after winning the 1978 Junior High Basketball Championship.

Fast forward to present and the five friends already have their separate lives. Lenny (Adam Sandler) is a Hollywood agent married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek), Eric (Kevin James) is married to Sally (Maria Bello), Kurt (Chris Rock) is a house husband wherein his wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph) is the one who works, Rob (Rob Schneider) is married to Gloria who is 30 years older than him, and Marcus (David Spade) is a single who is afraid of commitment.

When the news came that the Coach Buzzer passed away, it became a time for the five friends to have a reunion with their families. They rented a lake house since it's the fourth of July weekend. During their stay the five shared some of their childhood memories, with Lenny lamenting how he wants his kids to be like normal kids, Eric's disappointment with his 4 year old son that is still into breast feeding, Kurt's dilemma on how his family treats him and Rob saying that he was a disappointment to the coach for failing 2 previous marriages. They have tried showing the kids what they do during their childhood days.

During that stay they started to find out things that sometimes life is not that complicated than we think. It seems that everyone has been hiding something from each other. Lenny is ashamed of bringing a nanny for their kids, and Eric lied of being owner of the lawn furniture company. Deanne is jealous of the nanny because she sees Kurt is having a good conversation with her and Rob hates Marcus because he thinks the latter is taking advantages to her 2 daughters.

Upon confronting the issues, Lenny decided to tell the truth about why he wanted to stay in the lake house instead of going to Roxanne's fashion show in Milan. He wanted his family to experience normal life just like their friends do, because he sees that the kids is becoming spoiled. Kurt admits he had a good time talking with the nanny because he never had that talk with Deanne so she promised to take him to dates. Marcus denied sleeping with Rob's daughters because he won't do that to his friend. In the end Gloria said that even there is some hostility towards each other, love still prevails with each other.

The movie ends with a basketball challenge from their childhood nemesis whom they beat in the game 30 years ago. Everybody agreed that if the coach was there, he will want to see them to play the challenge. The game ended with Lenny letting the opponent win to give them the sense of winning.

My personal rate for this film is 9 out of 10. What's good with Adam Sandler's movies is that they always make you laugh at every scene but it never fails to instill family values within it. It may have overused comedy acts, but being able to show how important to show your kids how life is so simple in the past and how to be truthful to your friends and family, justifies the act.

All images came from Internet Movie Data Base

Cesar Montano is FHM Collections Cover

FHM Collections comes with September 2010 issue as the reverse cover. FHM Collections focuses more on men's fashion instead of the usual men's magazine content. This is the second time FHM Philippines included the Collections section in the magazine. The first time was last year with Robin Padilla with their August 2009 issue. This time, Cesar Montano poses for the magazine to show his sense of clothing.

FHM Collections also features Senator Francis 'Chiz' Escudero, Nonito Donaire Jr., Sid Lucero, Paolo Bediones, Gloc-9 and more. It includes a closing article regarding the president.

FHM Collections Cover was scanned and watermarked for blog purposes only.

Bianca Manalo is FHM Philippines Cover Girl for September

I'm not sure if FHM Philippines made it coincidental to the recently held Miss Universe pageant to have Bianca Manalo to be the magazine's cover girl for the month of September. If I am not mistaken, this is the first time Bianca will be in a cover of a men's magazine. She was crowned Binibining Pilipinas 2009 - Universe and currently can be watched on the ABS-CBN's "Magkaribal" wherein she plays Gigi who is best friend to Bea Alonzo's character.

This month's issue gives some articles on guide in casino basics. There's also a feature about how some women get their ladies and pointers how they do it. You can also check the Binondo Food Trail which showcases the best food house in Manila's China town.

I was able to get a chance to have Bianca sign my magazine's copy last September 4, at the Robinson's Galleria Movie World. Thanks to Babaeng Lakwatsera for tagging along and having the patience while we wait in line for the my copy to be signed and have a picture with Bianca. The event was hosted by Sam YG of Magic 89.9. Just wanted to tell Bianca thank you for signing my copy, I will sure enjoy reading it.

Bianca was not spared by Sam YG from asking the famous question "What was your major mistake...?"

Bianca untiringly signed copies of the magazine...

... and never failed to smile in the camera from time to time

FHM September 2010 Cover was scanned and watermarked for blog purposes only.

Hammy's Hangout: Red Box Trinoma

One of my friend who is based in Bacolod recently came to Manila to prepare some things for her upcoming wedding. Since it has been almost a year when we saw our college friends, we decided to have a get-together party.

I can't help but take picture of the kid while waiting for us to be ushered inside Red Box

One suggested that we try Red Box in Trinoma Mall so I have made a reservation a day before since another friend told me that walk-in customer seldom get a chance to get a room.

There are several rooms that can cater for 5, 10 and 20 people. We were able to acquire the room for 20 people since were 15 already when we meet up.

My college friends and our Physics teacher had some fun time in one of the big rooms

The setup is a little complicated if you frequently use coin operated videoke machine. It uses a remote control to select a song by artists, songs and other classification.

Red Box Trinoma offers some promo when you visit them any time of the day. You can enjoy the Lunch Hour from 12 noon - 3 PM, with Eat All You Can Buffet and free room use for only 299 PHP per head. They also offer Happy Hour from 3 PM - 7 PM which includes free room use and 2 local drinks for 199 PHP per head. They also have Prime Time from 7 PM - 12 MN for 399 PHP per head.

Red Box currently has 2 branches located at the 4th Level of TriNoMa and 3rd Level of Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center. For other promo offerings you may visit the above mentioned branches for inquiries. I recommend that you go and visit Red Box for an alternative way of celebrating parties with your family and friends.

Dietrich's Eyes: Farewell IBM Plaza

It's been more than a week already since we moved to our new office. I was already adapting to my new office place but sometimes I can't help but reminisce the day we spent at the IBM Plaza in Eastwood. Come to think of it, Trendlabs was my second job and I was able to stay for 2 years and I can't believe that the 2 years that I have been working in this building.

On my last day on IBM, I took shots of the work area and some of the views we usually see outside the window.

The swivel chairs are being prepared for the movers to get them.

Looks like a storm passed by the training room after it was used as packaging area.

The work stations in the floor which was once never left without people on either section day and night now looks like a deserted place, no computers or phone units.

The pantry was once always filled with people trying to get a little time out from their workstation is like a dead zone.

I will surely miss the views we always see from the windows.

Maybe the only thing that I won't miss with IBM Building in Eastwood is their scenic elevator that gets stuck and won't let the people out for more than 15 minutes.

Hammy's Food Trip: Super Bowl of China

My niece recently had vacation from Canada and decided to meet some of her friends in SM Megamall. We decided to have dinner at Super Bowl of China.

This is my first time dining in Super Bowl of China and I decided to write about it. Based on my understanding their specialty is of course, Chinese inspired delicacy.

The Deep Fried Wanton we ordered came with the sweet and sour sauce perfect for fried dumplings.

As usual our meal won't be complete without trying Superbowl's version of Lechon Macau complete with the sauce which I just found out today was called Hoisin Sauce.

And since we are with my mother who obviously wants some vegetable in our meal to compensate for the large amount of cholesterol friendly dishes, we ordered Seafood Chopsuey.

And my niece who only eats chicken in every restaurant she goes, we ordered Fried Crispy Chicken for her. I just took a small portion of the chicken because I still had some unforgettable experience with this type of chicken from another restaurant.

Spider Ham's Rating for Secret Recipe:

• Food: 8 out of 10
• Service: 7 out of 10 - we need to ask for appetizers (is it Kropek) while we noticed that this was given automatically.
• Place: 9 out of 10
• Estimated Budget (per person): 200 PHP - but they do have a 99 PHP Solo Meals.