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A Reaction to the Movie “I Am Number Four”

John is an extraordinary teen, masking his true identity and passing as a typical high school student to elude a deadly enemy seeking to destroy him. Three like him have already been killed … he is Number Four.

Since the rest of the nine are scattered around the world, he has to find them to join their powers and defeat the enemy. When he found Number Six (or at least she found him), together they begin their journey to find the rest — and that’s where the movie ended. Continue reading A Reaction to the Movie “I Am Number Four”

Symphony of Parols at the Ayala Triangle

For some strange reasons, I was dragged by my feet to this area in Makati. Noticing the crowd from across Ayala Avenue, I decided to join them. Since then, I bore witness to this one unique presentation by the Ayala development company called “The Symphony of Parols”.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gE5pApCIWc&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

I guess the lights could have been more dramatic if it was pitch black darkness around. The lighted building from across the Paseo de Roxas somehow spoiled the background in this video.

The Symphony of Parols is happening every evening from 6pm to 8pm throughout the Holiday Season at the Ayala Triangle.

Who Wants to Play Tongits?

Tongits (or Tong-its) is a three-player card game using a standard Anglo-American deck of 52 cards (without jokers). It’s knock rummy game that has become popular in the Phillipines in recent years.

Just like any other challenging card games, what makes Tongits truly enjoyable to play is that winning and losing (after a series of deals) does not totally depend on pure luck. In fact, besides luck you also need to possess a set of skills, among others — mathematical, memory, bluffing, guts, timing, etc., to come out a winner.

This article is not about how to play this card game. Instead, this is about a computer program that somehow knows how to play it, and can actually play it quite well.

Although the game requires three (and only three) players, you can actually download and install this program in order to play Tongits on your own (against two other computer players).

The official website summarizes the features well enough:

Drag & Drop Interface. The game feels like the real thing with its intuitive drag & drop interface.
Realistic And Challenging AI. The computers play like live human tongits players.
Innovative Way of Organizing Cards. Just like in the real game, you are free to group and organize cards in any way you like. This significantly improves your planning and strategy.
Betting Simulation. Betting enhances the realistic feel of the game. It adds excitement and suspense and gives the player a sense of accomplishment and progress.
Game Saving. The game is automatically saved after each round to preserve the precious progress you have made.
Statistics. Relevant game statistics such as number of wins and money won, are saved for each player.
Clear Card Images. The cards were designed to be easy to read and identify. This helps you easily spot important cards that you might need to win the game.
A Solid Trainer. If you are a professional Tongits player, the game can supplement your training. And with the high level AI, you won’t need human opponents to practice with.
Continuous Development. The game is continuously being developed and improved to further enhance the player’s experience.

Being built on Adobe Air, this application ensures compatibility with multi-systems including Linux and iOS. Plus, it allows playing through the browser.

The AI could be challenging, as according to the website, but not challenging enough. It’s just so easy to win against the computer players. Here are the reasons why (the way the computer plays):

It’s very much predictable when it calls draw. It doesn’t bluff. I believe it calls draw anytime its cards point total less than 20 at any stage of the game;
It calls chow even when what at his hand is already a set. For example, you throw a queen at it, it calls chow with three other queens from its hand, ignoring opportunities to form more sets from the “undrawn” stock of cards;
It calls “draw” even if the other player has only one card left. This is I guess the effect of it calling draw anytime its hand’s point totals less than 20. Think about it, the fact that the other player has only one remaining card and the last card it/he/she threw or discarded was a three, then the remaining could only more likely be an ace or a two. Yet, it calls draw even if its point total is, say, nine;
It lays down its cards prematurely–not to avoid “burn” at all. As soon as it gets a set at his hand, it lays it down immediately, allowing other players to get rid of some of their cards early by laying them off (sapaw) to the cards the former laid down;
It challenges nevertheless. It never bluffs, that’s one case. It challenges however its hand look like or count, that’s another. You as the only human player can’t even call a bluff against the computer players, because they will always challenge your call.
It sometimes miss a lay off (sapaw). Yes, after playing a number of games, I noted some instances where it missed a sapaw;
Patience is a virtue. It does not wait for a straight (flash) currently laid down to continue, before throwing away or discarding its possible continuation card/s;

Well, despite of these lack in the AI, the computer game is always fun to play. After all, who doesn’t like winning, right? If you are a seasoned tong-its player, you’ll never lose against these computer players.

Oh, I have to warn you. This program is a available for 10 free trials. That is, it allows you to click on the “Play Tong-its” button 10 times and play the game before it forces you to upgrade in order to play further. The upgrade price is a meager US$ 5.00 anyway — I guess worthy enough for a total winning satisfaction. 😀

NBA2K11 – A Quick Review

Having been a follower of the NBA2K series since NBA2K9, I can’t help but compare the latest NBA 2K installment, the NBA2K11, to the previous two (i.e., NBA2K10 and NBA2K9).

Of course, besides the NBA2K11 being a special tribute to the greatest basketball player who ever lived with the Jordan Challange feature, there are various improvements including (and especially) the gameplay.

Let me tell you my quick impressions about the game:

Improved Gameplay

I’m the kind of player who enjoys the quality of gameplay more than the superb graphic display and fancy character moves. I like simulating real NBA games—the heart-pounding crunch times, more than the flashing slams and jams.

Initial games I played indicate that the developers made some adjustments to the field goal percentages. Unlike the previous versions where field goal percentages shoot up to the roof, especially when inside the paint, it’s now closer to reality with as low as 35% on bad nights and as high as 60% on great (if not lucky) nights.

A more realistic field goal percentage leads to more realistic number of rebounds per game. Moreover, you can play the actual 12 minutes a quarter without totaling 150 points a night. It can now be closer to real NBA game, like 90 to 110 points per team per game.

There are also a lot of turnover/steal instances, so you just can’t pass around the ball blindly without incurring a ton of turnovers.

New Button Functions

If you can fake a shot when on the offensive, now there’s also a button (i.e.,the circle button [O] in PS3) to fake a pass. This is especially useful when you’re posting up and you fake a pass towards a team mate who cuts the lane.

Also, there were changes in some button functions, like you can now set an alley-hoop with L2+O, instead of L2+X in 2K10.

Layout and Sound

Of course, there are various changes in the layout like to score indicator, the time camera view, and substitution indicators. And some improvements and variety in the commentators’ comments. Also there are new halftime features, upcoming games plugs during quarter breaks, and post-game recaps.

It’s Game Time

Now, enough of blogging ‘coz it’s game time! But if you, fellow gamers, have something to share, what new features you liked or even hated the most about the latest NBA 2K installment, you are welcome to share them in the comments below.

The Day Bishop Skipped Papaya… And Its Impact On The RH Bill

This is a guest post from Raymond.

I haven’t really signed off 100% on the RH Bill in its present form since I am still seeking some clarifications on certain details of the bill, particularly its penal ramifications. But going through my daily route in Pasig and Mandaluyong areas teeming with informal settlers, seeing the sea of idle humanity converge on what seems to be public roads doubling as playgrounds, I am actually leaning towards supporting the bill. Support at least for its wisdom and intention to educate and foster responsible parenthood.

But what I don’t subscribe to is some RH bill proponents attacking anti RH bill sectors particularly the Roman Catholic Church, not really based on the merits of a sound argument (i.e. scientific facts, statistics, etc.), but rather on trivial issues. They push for the RH bill by citing instances of bishops and priests fathering children left and right, cases of child molestation and homosexual encounters, taking money from gambling, etc. Glossing on the apparent unholiness of certain individuals belonging to the holy orders, using it to discredit the institution as a whole, and ultimately making a push for the RH bill is not an argument at all.

What does Bishop Yalung’s having a child (or children?) have to do in underscoring the positive points and fortifying arguments for the RH bill?!

Any institution, be it the state, the Church, your school, your fraternity, or whatever, will have its bad eggs once in a while. Giving credit where credit is due, these anti RH bill sectors, including and most especially the Roman Catholic Church, have done their fair share in nation building. Their schools (albeit at an exhorbitant cost) educate and instill / reinforce values that seem to be so hard to pound on to children given the present internet generation. They run orphanages to shelter neglected children (neglected even by the state’s DSWD), not a few perhaps conceived unplanned due to defective condoms, missed pills, etc. Priests and nuns were at the frontline of EDSA 1986. They keep vigil when necessary in guarding our ballots. Should Article II, Section 6 also been chorused during these times?

It shapes and sends out mission volunteers to far flung areas to do socio-civic and religious works. Mission volunteers like Richie Fernando, SJ who got himself killed in Cambodia back in 1996 at the age of 26 because some whacko decided to throw a grenade to a school full of handicapped children. He instictively jumped onto the grenade just before it went off, effectively using his body to shield the handicapped children from the deadly blast. People like Richie comprise and live by the ideals of the Church that I belong to. And this Church is not as one dimensional, closed minded, selfish and evil as practically everyone fully supporting the RH bill, more prominently the nation’s favorite tour guide now, perceive and paint it to be. The Church is NOT the Pope, Cardinals and Bishops alone!

Let me be clear with you on this, I will be with you when you grill the Church heirarchy as to why it continues to sweep its mess under the rug, keeping skeletons in its closet, to the tune of millions of dollars in parishioner contributions (when for one, it could have been used to fund scholars to go through their education), then coming right back at you, high and mighty, with threats of excommunication.

But to sell the RH bill on the strength alone of Bishop Bacani having sexually harassed his secretary is like declaring Lebron James is a better baller than Kobe Bryant simply because the latter is a rapist.

Let’s stick to the relevant facts, stats and figures like maternal deaths comprising 11% of all deaths in women aged 15 – 49, 33% of births in the country being unplanned, the definition of conception, abortifacients, etc. Let our resolution of issues pertaining to national interest not be be guided by how Lolit Solis, Cristy Fermin, Showbiz News Ngayon, etc. go about whetting Inday’s appetite for the latest chismis. (This is why I am against these types of TV shows because they insult the gullible population’s intelligence rather than allow it to be put to good use.)

PNoy was already catapulted to the presidency mainly because the demise of his mom couldn’t have come at a more opportune time; isn’t it about time we, as a nation, act and argue rationally? More rational than Bishop Odchimar irresponsibly brandishing excommunication as a proximate possibility or Carlos Celdran dressing up as Rizal, and with a Damaso placard to boot.

It’s the least we could do as we project our population to reach 94.3 million by the year’s end, 141 million come 2040, and with no definite and sustainable program as to how we are going to harness this ballooning population to make it the nation’s foremost asset instead of it being its most burdensome liability.

Let those papaya-skipping priests deal with paternity and penitentiary accordingly – with or without the RH bill.

Paddle to the Grave

This is a guest post from Raymond.

I’m an Upsilonian. And the last thing in my mind right now is to act self righteously and pretend and declare that my fraternity or this and that fraternity is pure and pristine.

Like the rest, I and my fraternity, condemn that stupid and senseless act of violence that transpired last Sunday during the Bar Exam Salubong. Those responsible should have their heads cut off in return since apparently they’re not using them anyway.

My point is that I hope the rest of the citizenry would not be that sweeping in generalizing that the entire fraternity system is all evil – because it’s certainly not. The same way establishing network and “connections” is not the be all and end all of everyone joining a fraternity – because that’s certainly lame and shallow.

The (not a few?) bad eggs unfortunately cast a very dark cloud on the entire fraternity system; pretty much overshadowing all the noble ideals and undertakings that fraternities are founded on and are living by.

But the police shouldn’t be abolished just because there are Mendozas, Binayugs, Jeuteng and kotong cops within their ranks. The justice system shouldn’t be scrapped just because there are hoodlums in robes within the august halls of the courts. And how unpopular this may be, Congress shouldn’t be abolished just because there are Arroyos, Singsons and a host of other shady characters who are in the House.

I still believe that it is pea-brained individuals who destroy a system; not really the other way around. So is it just fair that these individuals / sub groups a.k.a. thugs, be held liable and accountable, and not the institution / system in its entirety?

I’m not that sure though if I’m in the best position to talk about what is fair or not; for lives and limbs have been lost throughout the years. And whether I like it or not, I’m part of the system people have typecast as the root of all this mess.

Until people realize that there’s still a line (no matter how thin) separating fraternity members from paddle swinging, lead pipe wielding, gun toting and pillbox throwing blood thirsty gangsters, I and all fraternity members will have to bear the stigma of being no different than your common thug.

As a parting shot, allow me to end by shooting out this question:

The late Ninoy Aquino was my brod. Is he a martyr, or was he a thug?

CCTV Cameras and Security

The use of CCTV camera is a detective form of security. It isn’t as effective as the preventive ones like putting up security guards in the premises to secure the area or perimeter from unauthorized entries (and exit). It only allows you to review and take action AFTER the wrong has been done.

That’s why putting up CCTV cameras alone will not ensure security of your office or building. They do require the attentiveness and skepticism on the part especially of the lobby guards.

Videos from these cameras can only be used to identify the culprit. That is, if the culprit is from the same building at all. What if he/she were a total stranger, just like in the video below.

This video was recorded from our company’s CCTV camera, which faces the office door fronting that of our neighbor’s.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJftoBNtccE&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999]

CCTV cameras ensure that you have a record of any crime that happened. Certainly, they do not prevent crime from happening.

Torture, Torture, That Is Sick!

This is a guest post from Raymond.

To make everything clear before anything else, I don’t intend to glorify, much less justify the ghastly scene caught in that torture video leaked to the media (oh and if the point is not yet driven home emphatically by now – for the record, it was an exclusive by ABS CBN).

Such barbaric and inhuman act simply has no place in a civilized and dignified society we live in.

Or is it a civilized and dignified society that we actually live in to begin with?

Just taking a step back one bit and thinking out loud here. What if we make the context closer to home than Asuncion area. Living in more upscale areas may provide a false hope of security; that one is not subject to the harm and terror at the hands of these criminals, so why bother giving it a thought?

But then again, we will always use our roads, pass by areas teeming with these hoodlums to go about our daily lives. What if we’re actually dealing with chronic, serial criminals here who have absolutely no regard for the law, makes a mockery of the ideals of a justice system whose aim is to reform and rehabilitate more than to punish?

They point their paltiks or balisongs at their victims, get their stuff, subject them to anguish and may be a life time of trauma. Worse would be some sexual abuse here, non fatal stab wound there or if they feel like it, or if they are too drunk or too drugged to think about it, install a gripo on the side of the abdomen or bore a bullet hole on their heads. Every day these morons play their role to the fullest. On a bad day they may get caught,spend a night or two in a cell, get out as fast as you can say “torture” then off they go to the streets again, on the prowl, waiting to grab on to their next meal ticket.

What if these misguided souls (by choice and occupation) happen to chance upon your parents, siblings, sons and daughters, etc.? What if one of your family members is the unwilling recipient of their next thrust of the knife or their bullet?

These criminals have rights; but so does the citizenry and the state. Why should the rest of the population live in constant fear and terror at the hands of these hooligans? That they should be given a chance to reform and mend their ways – at the expense of what? Your wife’s and child’s lives? Your parents’? Yours?

Lack of education is not an excuse to not understand the words: “Masamang magnakaw.” And a grumbling stomach is not a justification either. Try working, no matter how menial, stupid.

But in the same breath, torture is still not justified despite the repeated heinous offenses of the culprits.

In a way, by consciously living a life of crime without a tinge of regard to life and limb of their fellowmen, and no remorse for their past acts, these monsters have effectively signed up this kind of fate – just not through this cruel and graphic manner I guess. But the fact remains, deep inside in each one of us, there’s this thought that actually longs for all evil elements to just be eliminated or contained. The only uproar here is in the manner manifested to us by which the lawbreaker was eliminated or contained.

Articles on summarily executed individuals are just daily fare in the tabloids; paperwork related to these cases just pile up in the CHR. Ivan Padilla will just end up to be a statistic. Harrowing ordeals of inmates and detainees are for everyone to listen to and get a glimpse of when visiting the national penitentiary. Being confined within those walls for a significant part of one’s life by the way is still torture, albeit not of the physically brutal kind.

These are not media scoop material though. And we are partly oblivious to them.

At the end of the day, I think the prevailing subconscious sentiment is: just get these thugs as far away from us as possible. And don’t make it messy in doing so. It’s not primarily because these hardened criminals can still be considered human beings.

It’s because the rest of us still are.

PNoy State of the Nation Address 2010

This is a guest post from Raymond.

While it is very much welcome for the President to report to the people what kind of a sh*t hole the past administration has driven our nation into after nine inglorious years, it shouldn’t be the end all and be all of the SONA.

Though it seems that nothing can shock us anymore regarding the GMA administration’s wicked ways, we are still bound to be shocked by what we are about to be told, according to PNoy.

Beyond the impending shock coming our way though, what will be more shocking is if we’re going to dwell and end there. The overwhelming majority voted for PNoy because they believe that he can and will deliver the reforms we need. The SONA should indicate how people responsible for such despicable acts will be brought to justice, and what concrete steps will be undertaken to address what we are left with after the dark days of Arroyo.

If it’s mere reportage that we need, former VP Noli De Castro, with his signature voice, should have been the man. But what the people thirst for is rectification and what they clamor for are solutions.

Realistically speaking, the next six years shouldn’t promise for us a hacienda at the end of the path. Just leading us through the “daang matuwid” will already be a journey very much worth undertaking.

Would Brgy. Ginebra Appreciate FIFA?

This is a guest post from Raymond.

Why is football a long shot in generating significant fan interest and sparking a sporting revolution in the country to overtake basketball in the hearts of gullible Filipino masses?

As it is right now, nothing much can be expected from our various National Sports Associations in terms of funding, support and initiative in promoting their various fields. With athletes’ cries of delayed and entirely lacking and/or undelivered allowances, what more can we expect when it comes to solid provision for local and international exposures, gears, coaches and trainers, etc.
With this, much of the needed funds and publicity will and should obviously come from corporate sponsors and sporting godfathers. Of course, nothing comes free. In exchange for sponsorships, athletes, teams, meets and leagues serve as marketing tools and vehicles of these interested sponsors.

If one is a marketing manager with funds at his disposal, it is a no brainer to sponsor someone and something which will be gaining media mileage and publicity, say for example a basketball team participating in tournament complete with prominent coverage in the tri-media, over a grassroots football program at the heart of an almost empty, unkept football field doubling as shelter of carabaos with nary any media attention.
We have enormous successes from the RP Blue boys of youth softball, jungolfers and tennis players, note even chess wizard Wesley So. But without much fallback in the form of commercial and professional leagues, athletes are left to fend for themselves with limited opportunities in sporting fields other than basketball.
A man has got to eat. And without a promising long term horizon in other sports, not much interest is generated and sustained in the hearts and minds of our young athletes to pursue their passion. Government pension for athletes won’t take anyone anywhere.
Come up with an improvised hoop and a ball and you’re ready to go. Roads in our country can double as basketball courts easier than converting them into football fields.
I don’t know if this is entirely accurate. Or I may just be hating to admit it if it is indeed the awful truth, but we Filipinos have a penchant for the “bara bara“, lack of a system, free wheeling, anything goes, “bahala na si Batman” kind of an attitude. Football being the Beautiful game, may be something that is not ready to be appreciated by our masa. For a country thriving with one upmanship, “kanya kanya“, counterflows and cutting corners, the purity of Football will surely lull the masa to a deep slumber even before the first tagay of Ginebra.

With the international success of Pacman, Bata Reyes, Django Bustamante et al, again with the private sponsors and managers funding all their stints, awareness and interest in football will remain so so in the national scale.

So, what keeps a nation of vertically challenged citizens with not much success in the international scene in the significant past still addicted to hoops? Apart from ending, point shaving and the like which adds even more spice to the game, maybe it’s because of the immediate gratification in terms of points and fastbreaks, much the same as jabs and KO punches in boxing, that fans get to experience.

I personally believe that the excitement from basketball is something that Filipinos can relate to more than the excitement and appreciation to be derived from football. We absolutely don’t have a chance winning big in basketball globally. But it doesn’t matter to the fans. James Yap’s jumpers are enough for them to get their fix of adrenaline rush. They wouldn’t care less if James Yap won’t be able to convert those same shots over foreign behemoths in various international meets.

Basketball caters to Filipinos’ impatience more than football. Are you still wondering then why lines in lotto outlets as well as lines for showbiz auditions and gameshow contestants are eternally long?

Filipinos want a quick fix to everything; and they simply won’t last 120mins. with the score reflecting 0-0.