over the edge of the world

je viens de finir le livre qui je lisais ces derniers jours. il raconte le voyage de magellan où il a fait le tour du monde au début du XVIe siècle (1521-ish). au fait, j'ai acheté ce livre d'un booksale pour seulement 100 PHP.

we are all familiar with the story of the portuguese, under the flag of spain, who for the first time had successfully circumnavigated the world and as a consequence discovered a water route to the spice islands across the "ocean sea" west of the new world.

magellan's encounters with fascinating natives and their customs including our own cebuans (to which i descend from) and the proud mactanese, betray european bigoted and self serving attitudes. they also betray our own weaknesses providing brief insight of why we continue to be divided even to this day.

pigafetta is i think as important as magellan himself for it was him who chronicled the entire voyage reminiscent of captain picard doing his log aboard the enterprise. besides being a representative of the pope, he also served as the ship's linguist and anthropologist. he (attempted to) put into writing the local languages and their sexual practices. this to me was a kind of expected. he was a man of the cloth and like many others, there was a kind of obsession with sex (just as it does today) and he means to impose his beliefs on to the natives. sans respect to their own beliefs.

most of the native chieftains who converted did so, mostly because they feared the armada de moluccas. magellan was all to happy to demonstrate their superiority. their weapons admittedly surpassed the bamboo javelins, bows, and poisoned arrows of the natives. and local politics paved the way for some of the chieftains to ally themselves with magellan thinking it would give them advantage over rival kingdoms.

i am surprised why his story had not yet made it on hollywood. it had the familiar elements of drama, political intrique, adventure, vicious villains, and noble heroes. vital ingredients that make up an epic adventure non fictional story.

rating 4 out of 5
an interesting and easy read

Mr. Vampire

mr vampire

mr vampire upholds that certain tradition of favorite kungfu movies we have grown to love over the years. i felt like a kid wanting desperately about knowing the kungfu. remembering jackie chan and his antics. the movie appears low budget but what it lacks in special effects, it fully compensates with good natured humor. i think anyone from any background would be able to appreciate it. come to think of it, the raw quality of it is part of its charm.

the story is filled with chinese folklore, about the nature of the dead. how it continues to "live" after life. my favorite part was when the taoist? monk discovers the rogue vampire and tries to (and fails) to capture it using his own stock of undead. the fight scenes were not martial arts intensive. but like i mentioned earlier. it compensates with humor.

3 stars ***
made me laugh ..

narnia

narnia is a typical disney movie. there was no blood shed. and problems were magically whisked away by some powerful force that is beyond the world and undertanding.

the villains appeared ugly save for the witch who was enchanting. the heroes were valiant and noble looking. clear templates of what defines noble and not so noble. the villains were doomed and didnt have a chance. perpetuating yet again the myth of good and evil in the world.

i got a strong feeling that it fell short of showing a very good battle scene (potentially). like the ones in the lord of the rings. or with la coeur valiant. i didnt feel the same desperation as i did when i watched these other films. i wished that edmond had sticked to his true convictions. and that is to bring destruction to his meddling siblings. i mean, i would .. ^_^

i like the two sword wielding centaurs. the creatures. the taurens. the polar bears! and my personal favorite la sorcière. the acting was good, convincing. and the english accent was charming.

this movie is definitely for kids. im predicting that local producers will start copying certain elements of this film. and make it appear as if they were original.

rating 3 out of 5
stereotypes abound

Ladyhawke, La Femme De La Nuit

i am looking for a DVD copy of this old 80s movie starring michelle pfeiffer. its about this couple; a lady and a knight who were cursed to spend their days separate. the lady turns into a hawke during the day and into a woman during the night. while the knight turns into a man during the day and into a wolf during the night.

i am not sure if the story was original for it bears ressemblance to several other medieval romantic stories. but if it is, i think the breaking of the curse was unsurprisingly obvious.

there was minimal special effects, or nothing at all, that i can recall from this movie. the story and actress michelle pfeiffer were both the only "special effects" it needed. it is a simple fantasy love story. very entertaining.

rating: 4 of 5 ****

Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (rob review)

Watching this made me finally appreciate the rich story and characters of the Star Wars Universe. I've always been lukewarm about anything Star Wars. I liked the original trilogy, found The Phantom Menace boring, and enjoyed Attack of the Clones. But with this one, I finally 'got it'. I had fun from beginning to end, watching the story unfold, seeing the master politician Palpatine manipulate both sides, observing Anakin's final transformation to the dark side.

Lots of good action, the story was interesting. I think George Lucas would have been better served to let someone else write the screenplay, but I guess wooden dialogue will always be a part of Star Wars, no big deal. My main issue with the movie was that I found some events to not be believable and consistent. I found Padme annoying. Some of Anakin's actions were not logical. I understand this is a fantasy movie and all, but I believe the plausibility of the events leave much to be desired.

Best characters: Obi-Wan and R2D2! That little droid had a lot of good scenes. Palpatine too, almost forgot. Hey they didn't give Jar-jar one funny line?

Despite all its flaws, I had a good time, and you don't need me to tell you to go watch this if you haven't already. For a surreal experience, try watching Episode IV 'A New Hope' again after seeing Revenge of the Sith. Mr. Lucas sir, can we have some more?

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars * * * *
Best movie among the prequels both action and story-wise.


--- SPOILERS BELOW ---
Don't read any further if you haven't watched the film. I'll discuss some of the parts I didn't like, plot holes, and the plot elements I didn't find believable.
---o---o---o---o---o---



- The whole 'Anakin wanting to save Padme's life so he had to give in to Palpatine' was kind of lame. I would have preferred if it were more of a slow descent to the dark side as Anakin is seduced by power and out of frustration with the Jedi Council.

- Max and I debated this issue. Was Palpatine's disfigured face a result of his battle against Windu? Or was Darth Sidious wearing a Palpatine mask all along. From the movie you are led to believe that his face changed from the battle. What I didn't like was that immediately afterwards, he addresses the Republic in his disfigured form, and receives cheers? The transformation was too sudden.

- I found it too convenient that Obi-Wan would leave Anakin to die in the lava. A better way is for Anakin to either get saved by Palpatine in the nick of time. Or perhaps the lava gets in the way of the battle, preventing Obi-Wan from finishing him off.

- C3PO's memory getting erased at the end seemed like an afterthought by Lucas.

- I found this to be utterly unbelievable, it almost spoiled the movie. The scene where Padme 'loses the will to live' was just too precious. I mean, wouldn't giving birth to twins give you a new reason to live?

- Yoda acknowledging Chewbaca was entirely unnecessary. I liked the scene with the Wookies but it just felt too convenient. And I always thought Chewie was more of a trader/smuggler rather than war hero.

- Max mentioned this (which I didn't find to be a big deal), the proud Jedi were too easily defeated after Palpatine's double-cross. You'd think they would have given a better fight. Only Yoda was able to fight back.

- A minor gripe: Count Dooku's role was too limited. I actually felt bad that he went down so quickly.

- I liked the ending, I thought it was perfect. But I found it unnecessary for Darth Vader to shout out after learning of Padme's death. It seemed out of character for a Sith Lord.

- And lastly... what happened to Jar-jar? Just kidding.