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Monday, June 7, 2010

Movie review: Kick Ass

There are several reasons why people watch movies. There are movie adaptations based on a famous book, comics or a video game. There are movies your friends told you that are too good to miss out and there movies that seems so lame that you have just have to watch it. From the movie trailer and posters, kick ass seems lame but I was surprised that the movie isn’t that bad. When I saw the movie poster, it reminded me of a film starring Ben Stiller called Mystery Men.  Mystery Men is about a group of people who doesn’t have real superpowers but ends up saving the day anyway.

The story is about a Dave Lezewski, a high school student from New York who so into comic books wanted to become a superhero. He doesn’t have any real superpowers. He could not run faster than a normal teenager nor does he have any abilities that could real qualify him to be a superhero. All he has is eagerness to help others and a costume that he bought in the internet. 

His first attempt to save others did not go as smoothly as he expected. He was stabbed by two thugs who were trying to steal a car. After being stabbed, he wondered around the streets until he got hit by a car. He was badly injured and needed to be implanted with metals to replace all the broken bones. During the accident, his nerve ending got messed up leaving him with a high tolerance to pain. 

Before he was saved by the paramedics, he removed his costume leaving him naked on the streets. The students of his high school found out about the mysterious circumstances in which he was saved and a rumor started to spread that he was gay. This was totally not a bad news to Dave Lezewski because his long time crush, Katie Deauxma, asked him to be her gay best friend. He was reluctant at first but ended up agreeing to it since it is the only way to get close to her.

He didn’t quit after his first attempt, and got back to fighting crime as soon as he was well enough to fight crime again. He was able to save someone eventually and then he finally called himself kickass after someone who captured his heroics in video ask him who he was.  His exploits was captured in video and was posted in Youtube which made an overnight celebrity.
On one of his exploits, he met with two vigilantes who were dressed in superhero costumes that ended up saving him. One of the vigilantes is dressed up like batman and is named as Big daddy while the other one is dressed up like a school girl wearing a mask is named Hit girl. Hit girl’s real name is Mindy MacCready and Big daddy is her father.
According to the movie, Big daddy use to be a cop who was imprisoned because he went after the crime boss named Frank D’ Amico. While imprisoned, D’ Amico killed Mindy’s mom. After Big daddy got out of prison, he trained Mindy to become a lethal weapon. Big daddy played by none other than Nicolas Cage by the way. 

Since Big daddy and Hit girl has been disrupting the business of the Frank D’Amico (who taught kickass was responsible), D’ Amico decided to hunt down Kickass to make him pay. D’ Amico’s son gave his father an idea to capture Kickass. He then posted as a superhero called Red mist so that he could gain Kickass’ trust. He found out that Kickass was nothing but a harmless geek and found out that the real people behind the attacks were big daddy and Hit girl.
Red mist then found a way to capture Big daddy and Hit girl. But it didn’t go as he planned. After shooting Hit girl who fell from the window of a building, Big daddy was captured along with Kick ass. D’Amico plans to unmasked the two and execute them via the Internet. Hit Girl who was wearing a vest when she got shot, came to the rescue but was too late to save his father. She did made plans to storm D’amico’s residence. She finally took down the Frank D’Amico and left Red mist alive. 

From the looks of it, the movie is poised for a second installment. The movie is set to be released in 2012. The movie is based on a comics released by Marvel with same title. There are a lot of alterations from the original story. Frank D’Amico’s named is changed from John Genovese. In the movie, the character the Nicholas Cage played is named Damon MacCready. In the comics, his wife was not killed by the Genovese. He was an accountant who was bored with his life and took her daughter away from her mother to train her. He didn’t have any grudges with Genovese. He just thought that a hero needs a villain and Genovese is the biggest crime boss in New York. In the movie, Dave Lezewski confessed to Katie Deauxma that he was not gay and that he was kickass. She accepted it and became his girlfriend. In the comics, Katie has a boyfriend and after finding out that Dave was lying, he asked her boyfriend to beat up Dave. 

I found the movie funny at times and really went beyond my expectations. I didn’t expect it to be violent. Since it is a superhero movie, it was bound to have some fighting. But the way Hit girl killed D’Amico was way brutal for some viewers. There is one thing that I have noticed. Normally superheroes are reluctant to kill. But in the finally scene, Kick ass killed some of D’Amico’s thugs. He didn’t felt remorse since he was a goody goody. 

But as a whole it was not as bad as I have expected. I am curios though how the second movie would turn out.

Things to know about Phone Viruses

The technology has gone a long way. Before mobile phones were introduced, landline phone was the popular way to communicate. The first mobile phones introduced where analog phones. Analog phones were basically landlines that are mobile. Compared to mobile phones today, an analog phone does not have the capability to send Text messages. Now with the latest innovation, Phones are now capable of using operating system like computers have. The common operating system use by mobile phones is Symbian. 

Since mobile phones today could be use to access the internet, send MMS (multimedia messaging service) and transfer of files via Bluetooth, the risk of getting a phone virus has increased. Phone Viruses are the same as a computer virus. They are executable files (.exe) that infects your mobile phone and then copies itself to other mobile phones. So how are they transferred? Files sent by Bluetooth, files downloaded from the Internet or files copied to your phone from your PC are the common ways a virus is transferred. 

So what are the different types of Phone Viruses? Here are the most common ones

Cabir.A
This virus commonly infects Symbian Series 60 Phones. The most common way to get this virus is via files transferred using Bluetooth. This is one of the mildest phone viruses since it does not affect your Cellphone. This was first reported on June 2004

Skulls.A (Trojan type)
This phone virus is usually transferred for files downloaded from the internet. It infects various Symbian Phones and came out on November 2004. This is a nasty one since it disables all the phone functions except sending and receiving calls. It also changes the phone’s icons into skills and crossbones. 

Commwarrior.A
This phone virus would really cost you money since it sends out expensive MMS messages to everyone in your phonebook. This particular virus infects Symbian series 60 phones. You could get it from files sent via Bluetooth and MMS. It first came out on January 2005

Locknut.B
This is another nasty virus. This virus crashes your system ROM and disables all phone functions. This also inserts other malware into your phone. It infects Symbian Seies 60 phones. 

Fontal.A
Another phone virus that disables your phone is this virus. It locks up your phone in startup mode. It spreads via internet download and infects Symbian Series 60 phones. 

SymbOS/PornDial.A
This is another virus that causes an increase to your Postpaid Bill or your prepaid balance if you are using a prepaid account. It infects Symbian Series 60 phones as well. A phone could be infected if you open an Ipornplayer installation file. The effect is that it dials predefined Premium rate IDD numbers when left idle 

Hatihati.A
No phone with a system operating system is safe from this one. This spreads when you swap a memory card from one phone to another. This virus is also costly since it sends Text messages to predefined international numbers.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Phone Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

I have been a fond of using Sony Ericsson phones for quite some time. The great thing about this phone is that it has a lot of the features that I look for in a phone. The phone could be use as an MP3 player, Camera to take photos or shoot videos and the phone has the capability to connect to the web. Since I have been using a Sony Ericsson P1i phone, I have been used to a qwerty keypad. The Xperia also uses qwerty feature for text messaging. Although I am not sure if it would be easy to use the phone for text messaging while traveling.

The phone has a built in 8.1 megapixel camera that has a 16 times digital zoom, Auto focus, face recognition, image stabliser, Photo light, Picture blogging, video recording, Video light, Geo tagging and Smile Detection.

The phone supports MP3 and AAC formats which you could use as a ringtone or you listen to music with formats mentioned earlier. You could connect to Web using the phone with built in widget that allows you to easily access Youtube, Google search, Google Maps and web feeds. You could use you the phone in Wifi hotspots to the web as well.

A new feature that is offered by most of the new phones is GPS capabilities. This phone uses GPS powered location based services. You have to check with your local network provider for the availability of the service.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Mobile phone review: Nokia N97 Mini


I normally purchase and prefer to use Nokia Phones only. But since I got my Sony Ericsson P1i, I have fell in love with the brand and have not tried using a Nokia mobile phone since. Since I had my phone for two years, I have been checking the market for a suitable replacement. One of the phones that caught my eye is the Nokia N97 Mini. I have been used to a Qwerty type of keypad and for those are use to using it as I am, this the phone is highly recommendable. The great thing about this phone is that you could personalize your home screen so that you accommodate widgets that provide feeds from your social network like Facebook. You could also add bookmarks of your favorite webpages.
Since I have been using a phone with touchscreen capabilities, I want a phone with that feature as well. You could modify the themes for a selection of preinstalled themes or a theme that you have downloaded. You could also modify your ringtone to accommodate files like mp3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+ amd wma.  The phone is equipped with a FM radio feature and you could listen to music files with same format mentioned earlier.The phone comes with an internal memory of 8 GB. If that is not enough storage, you could simply purchase a MicroSD memory card that could store up to 16 GB.
The phone uses a High-speed USB which would make transfer of files from the Phone to computer faster. It also has Bluetooth capabilities with enhanced date rare so that you could transfer files from one phone to another at a faster speed. A cool feature of the Nokia N97 mini is the TV out feature which would allow a user to watch a video which is stored on your phone in your TV.
Before I got my DSL subscription, I used my phone as a modem so that I could use my Laptop to connect to the web.  This phone could be use to connect to the web at a faster speed because of the enhanced data network feature.  You could browse the real web page using this phone.
The phone is equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. You could zoom up to 4X and has a different camera for video calls. Still photos could be saved as JPEG. The phone supports to MP4 and 3GP formats for video files.



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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Is the rainy season finally here?

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has forecasted that the rainy season would come during the last week of May or the first week of June. So when it rained hard today it me wonder if the rainy season is really here. 
The afternoon rain shower was a sweet escape from the relentless summer heat. There is only one problem. The rains may have brought Filipinos relief from the heat but it also brought another burden – Traffic. I took only a few minutes of rain to cause minor flooding in the streets in Metro Manila.

I was on my way to the office when it rained. It felt rely good to be outdoors. The cold breeze was so soothing compared to the hot and humid wind that Filipinos have been enduring since the El Nino Phenomenon kicked in a few months ago. I had to take a detour that added an additional twenty minutes to my travel time. The route that I usually take was packed with vehicles which are barely moving. I was able to make it in time for my shift though.
A local network has reported that rains where not an indication that the rainy season is finally here. But they said that it would only take a few more weeks till the summer season ends. I have hoped for months that the El Nino ends sooner. But the rainy seasons will bring a lot problem as well. It may not be as hot as it has been in the last few months, but disease like Dengue and the swine flu might emerge. Filipinos also fears that the storm like Ondoy (International name Ketsana) would hit the Philippines. The powerful storm has caused severe flooding which has claimed so many lives and destruction a lot of structures.

So if you ask me if I want to the rains to come. Definitely! But I also hope that the government has made preparations for the rainy season. I hope that the drainage system is better prepared to avoid flooding. And I hope that preparations have been made for the swine flu virus and Denque.


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Are we ready for the Swine Flu?

The swine Flu pandemic has caused panic in the Philippines last year. Since the new virus has only emerged last year, Health organizations around the world were caught unprepared for the outbreak. I personally was paranoid if someone near me sneezed or coughed. And of course everybody was frequently pouring alcohol to sanitize their hands. Thermometers were deployed in most establishments and everybody had to submit to having their body temperature checked. It was around May last year that the Swine Flu struck the Philippines and lasted until June. Several schools suspended their classes in fear of the virus spreading among their students.

More than a year after the swine flu has spread from Mexico, Health Governments are now more prepare as the vaccine for the swine flu virus are now available. Back then it was a race against time to make a cure for the swine that has claimed the lives of 11516 deaths worldwide.

The workplace offers Flu vaccine every year. This year, the vaccine that they are offering is called Vaxigrip which is supposedly a vaccine to fight off the Flu and the Pandemic A H1N1 strain. It may cost more than a regular flu vaccine but it is better to be safe than sorry.


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It's so great to be kids

When I was young, I hated taking my afternoon nap since I wanted to play. Now with everything going in my life, I don’t get enough time for sleep. When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and get my driver’s license. When I finally got my license, my mom always asked me to take her somewhere to run an errand. During those time I wish never had a license to begin with. Now I don’t own my own car and I miss driving. When I was in college, I wanted to finish my studies quickly so that I could earn my own money. Little did I know that earning money is not that easy. It was easier back then when I was not aware how hard it is to earn and just had to wait for my allowance. When I was still in college, I use to hate summer vacation because I got bored really fast. Now that working, I long for a long vacation away from work.

Ain’t it funny? Our worries when we were younger were so trivial that I now realize that it is not even worth worrying about in the first place. Life is way easier when we were younger. Free of all the problems in the world. Free from responsibilities, bills and worries if there is not enough food in the refrigerator. The only problem that I was worrying about when I was six was how long would I have to pretend sleeping or would I get the chance to watch my favorite afternoon cartoon show? When I was in college, I worried about the deadline for the submission of my turn paper or thesis or would I be able to graduate.

Everything was so simple back then and now I wonder I have spent enough time when I was younger having fun? Did I spend enough time being a kid? I remember this line from a movie called 10 things I hate about you. I goes something like “You won’t know what you want until your forty. And When you do you’re too late to use it” I can’t remember if that was the exact line. I guess everyone has to learn to enjoy the ride. If I knew back then how life really works, I would have spent more time having fun but of course fun with limits. Too much fun is not good for anyone. Too much of anything is not good either.

Trivia # 5

The following artists died at the age of 27: Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.

Trivia # 6

The names of Santa’s reindeer are Dancer, Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Donner, Blitzen and Cupid

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