Geeks and Villagers

Focus on the hamstring injury

2018-09-04T04:28:00.001-07:00

There is nothing like witnessing the deep frustration of an athlete who has no choice but to stop competing in an important sports event once he or she suffers a hamstring injury. This is precisely what happened to Earvin "Magic" Johnson during the 1989 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons.

During Game 2, Mychael Thompson of the Lakers failed to score on an offensive play which led the Pistons to a fast break. Magic Johnson, who was near Thompson when they had possession, quickly ran down the court to help the Lakers defense and by the time he reached the half-court mark, he started to hold his left thigh and slowed down to the other court as the Pistons scored. As it turned out, he pulled his hamstring and he could not help but be frustrated because so much was at stake.

Johnson was not the only Laker player who suffered the said injury as his teammate Byron Scott also strained his hamstring during team practice before Game 1 started. The result was a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep by the Detroit Pistons.

What the hamstring is and what the injury is about

To put things in perspective, the hamstring is one of the three posterior thigh muscles located between the hip and the knee. Hamstrings are crucial for any human being’s daily activities like running, walking, jumping and the like.

With regards to hamstring injury, it occurs if any of the tendons or muscles are stretched beyond their limit. The injury occurs during sudden, explosive moments such as sprinting, lunging or jumping. Unsurprisingly the pain is sudden regardless of the degree of injury. Any activity associated with the sudden acceleration when initiating or during running can lead to a hamstring injury.

The 1st degree (Grade 1) of injury is the mild hamstring strain which often causes sudden pain and tenderness at the back of the thigh. As such moving the leg is painful although the strength of the muscle should be affected.

The 2nd degree (Grade 2) of injury is more painful and tender as it involves a partial muscle tear. There may also be swelling and bruising at the back of the thigh and some strength in the leg is lost. Some tearing is involved.

The 3rd degree (Grade 3) of injury is usually very painful, tender, swollen and bruised. This one is about the complete tearing of muscle and it comes with a “popping” sensation at the time the injury occurs and the sufferer will be unable to use the affected leg.

Those who suffered hamstring injuries have to submit themselves to primary care physicians including family medicine and general-medicine doctors. Physicians who specialize in athletic injury evaluation and treatment are referred to as orthopedic surgeons.

For recovery, home treatment is done with the goal of restoring muscle function and preventing the formation of scars. The treatment starts with the process referred to as “RICE” meaning rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

Rest is about the methods of avoiding offending activities and the practice of immobilization. For the more serious states of hamstring injuries, crutches or splinting may be necessary. Ice, compression, and elevation all help in controlling pain and swelling. Also helpful for recovery is the use of the short course of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen.

For the more professional treatment, it is essential for the patient to undergo a program composed of stretching and range-of-motion rehabilitation exercises because prolonged immobilization and inactivity results in muscle shrinkage (atrophy) and scar tissue (fibrosis). Excessive scar tissue is incompatible with healthy muscle function. Atrophy and fibrosis are best avoided or reduced by a program of motion and stretching implemented early in the rehabilitation process.

It should be emphasized that an early rehabilitation program does not mean a quick return to the desired usual activity. Given the type of individual that usually sustains a significant hamstring injury, it is usually a difficult task to keep athletic patients off the playing field. Re-injury is pretty common and is often due to avoidable premature return to sport. Re-injury not only prolongs recovery, it also increases the risk of making the damage permanent.

Once the pain and swelling have been controlled and an acceptable range of motion and flexibility have been attained, a gradual strengthening program should be implemented next. After adequate strength has returned, then a gradual return to the desired activity is attempted. The full return is usually possible only after maximal flexibility and optimal strength have been obtained. Depending on the severity of injury, the entire rehabilitative process may take several months. Physical therapists can assist in guiding the exercise program.

To prevent injuring the hamstring, it is important to warm up before and stretch after physical activity, boost the intensity of the physical activity slowly, stop exercising if pain is felt on the back of the thigh, and learn to stretch and strengthen the hamstrings as a preventive measure. It is also recommended to seek advise from a professional trainer or an expert on injuries.

Opening image credit: MedyHealth

Why I love the song Happy Day

2018-08-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

I really love listening to the song Happy Day which has the holiness of Jesus Christ in its lyrics.

As a Born Again Christian living in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, I regularly attend Sunday family worship with the Joseph Kack Ministries International (JKMI) community at the World Prayer Center (WPC) in BF Homes, Paranaque City. Ever since I became Born Again saved by my dearest friend under the guidance of God, I felt the Holy Spirit from God return into my life. Specifically Jesus Christ occupies and lives in my heart. In fact, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit a lot more as a Born Again than compared to the last 22 years and 11 months of my old life as a Catholic.

Listening to the holiness and beauty of the song Happy Day adds a lot of depth to my worship of the Lord as a Born Again.

I remember attending Sunday worship service at WPC on June 24, 2018 with the JKMI spiritual family and that particular service had holy communion prepared for us. Happy Day was one of the early song played with a fast-paced Christian rock creating a whole lot of energy to all of us. As the music rocked and energized me, I paid close attention to the lyrics displayed and instantly those lyrics brought back memories of my becoming Born Again and becoming a saved soul now part of the Kingdom of Light under God.

Some time later during the service, holy communion was served and a slightly slower but more sentimental version of Happy Day played. As I stood carrying holy communion, I listened to the song and it brought me into tears because the song's holiness from the Lord touched me deeply as I recalled my becoming Born Again (moving from the dark age of my life - started April 7, 1995 - into the Kingdom of Light - happened on March 4, 2018 - becoming Born Again).

Very recently, specifically on July 29, Happy Day was played again and this time it was played thrice. The first was upbeat Christian rock, the next was slower and sentimental, and the final time was instrumental. Like what happened on June 24, I was moved into tears by Happy Day during the holy communion rite.

I should mention that JKMI's musicians did a GREAT job playing Happy Day. They should be praised!

There truly is a lot of holiness in the lyrics of Happy Day. Let's take a look at this portion of the lyrics.

The greatest day in history

Death is beaten, You have rescued me

Sing it out, Jesus is alive

That early segment of the lyrics made clear its expression about the saving of souls performed by Jesus Christ and His followers. God created all humans and because the world we live in is so chaotic, a lot of people lose direction in their lives and many also end up being spiritually lost to the point that they lost their focus on God and His son Jesus. Living in the flesh is indeed a hard struggle but for as long as we strongly honor, praise, serve and follow God, we can make it into His Kingdom. Jesus Christ is present even though we mortals cannot see Him. Jesus is with us, He lives in our hearts, He always guiding us and always keeps on caring for us. It is very true that Jesus is indeed alive.

Oh, happy day, happy day

You washed my sin away

Oh, happy day, happy day

I'll never be the same

Forever I am changed

This is chorus of the song. I very strongly relate with it as a Born Again. My old life as a Catholic was difficult, painful, disorienting and lacked the presence of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of the word change, becoming Born Again is the single greatest form of change to ever happen in my life and I ever since I've been making moves to improving myself and no less than my mother noticed this. In fact very recently my mother has fully accepted me being Born Again and she thanked God for my conversion. I should also mention I reconciled with my mother on the day (March 31, 2018) I revealed to her and my father that I became Born Again.

Going back to the lyrics, the words "I'll never be the same." and "Forever I am changed." strongly resonate with me. I became Born Again on March 4, 2018 and that was truly a very happy day for me as my faith in God and Jesus was not only restored but also greatly reinvigorated. I found a new purpose in my life that same day. Truly a day I will never ever forget and definitely I'll never be the same.

Oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
And oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious name
Jesus

That part of the lyrics is truly powerful. So powerful it is deeply moving and can move anyone into tears. Let us remember that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save all of humanity from sin. Lost souls that end up being saved (and permanently changed) to enter the Kingdom of Light is clearly in accordance to Jesus' ultimate sacrifice in saving humanity. It takes faith and personal renewal to believe in God and His son Jesus. Jesus' saving of lost souls is undeniably glorious and His love for us cannot be denied.

In return, we dedicate ourselves in honoring, following and serving the Lord. What lies ahead in the Kingdom of Light are peace, love, tranquility and Kingdom Wealth.

Before I became Born Again, I was a frustrated Catholic who started drifting away from the Lord in 2009. Just months ago, my dearest friend who has long been Born Again saved my soul under the guidance of the Lord. Afterwards my faith in God and Jesus got restored and reinvigorated and I became Born Again ever since. Jesus (through my dearest friend) saved me in a glorious way (Jesus living in my heart) on a glorious day!

Whenever I listen to Happy Day, I don't think of amusement. I think of the Lord and how He saved me and changed me forever. Happy Day also reminds me of the blessings God made for us all. On July 1 as I was driving fast along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) coming from Subic Bay going home to Metro Manila, I replayed the song Happy Day on my smartphone for around twenty minutes.

There was a segment of the fast drive in which a beautiful, scenic view of the land and the mountain on my left appeared as Happy Day played on. That moment easily reminded me of God's creations and blessings for humanity.

In closing this article, I posted below the lyrics of Happy Day plus two Youtube videos of the song in Christian Rock and in slower, sentimental performance (at an American church). I love Happy Day and you will if you believe in God and His son Jesus. Open your heart to the Lord.

Happy Day

The greatest day in history
Death is beaten, You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive
The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal, You have won the day
Shout it out, Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

When I stand in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am yours, Jesus, You are mine
Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate, Jesus is alive
He's alive

And oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Oh no, forever I am changed

Oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
And oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious name
Jesus

Hey, and oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Oh no, forever I am changed
What a glorious, glorious day
I'll never be the same

Parañaque City's Ordinance Number 16-24 (Series of 2016) is limited to students Grade 7 to 12 enrolled at Parañaque Science High School!

2018-08-01T05:29:00.000-07:00

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez. (photo from Mayor Edwin Olivarez page on Facebook)

There has been some buzz about Parañaque City due to the recent announcement about the granting of cash allowance to students Grades 7 to 12 (under the K-to-12 system) within the city. Naturally a growing number of parents and their enrolled children were delighted by the announcement.

Through the Facebook page of Mayor Edwin Olivarez, it was posted on July 25 that the cash allowances would take effect on June 2019 was made possible through City Ordinance Number 16-24.

But there is a big discrepancy here. City Ordinance Number 16-24 specifically is about granting monthly cash allowances to students Grade 7 to 12 who are enrolled at Parañaque Science High School. It's not about granting monthly cash allowances to all Grade 7 to 12 students all over the city!

Take a look at the post (presented in two parts via screen capture) from the official Facebook page of the mayor.

As you can see, Parañaque Science High School was mentioned nowhere and the way Ordinance Number 16-24 was presented it looked like it was about the granting of monthly cash allowances to ALL Grade 7 to 12 students all over the city! It's not!

For transparency, posted below are the copies of City Ordinance Number 16-24 as legislated and approved in the year 2016 by the City Government's Councilors and the Mayor.

This post is all about pointing out the discrepancies and the specific parts of the information presented. Whoever operated the Facebook page of Mayor Olivarez committed errors or inaccuracies here and there. Once again, City Ordinance Number 16-24 is all about granting monthly allowances to students Grade 7 to 12 who are specifically enrolled at Parañaque Science High School. The July 25 Facebook page post was incorrect and misleading.

Retro Movie Review: Starman

2018-07-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Starman is one of those science fiction gems from the 1980s that is often overlooked and under-rated. Released in 1984 to positive reviews (and later an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Jeff Bridges), Starman was directed by John Carpenter who established himself nicely in Hollywood with 1978's Halloween. Between Halloween and Starman, Carpenter also directed genre classics Escape from New York and The Thing.

Starman follows an alien creature whose ship (a UFO) was shot down by fighter jets that acted in defense. The alien finds its way into the house of Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen) who is grieving over the sudden death of her husband Scott (Jeff Bridges) watching a personal video of their past and drinking lots of liquor. Inside the house was an album which contained a lock of hair which the alien used to create a clone of Scott instantly from infant to full adult which is the titular Starman (also played by Bridges).

This of course shocks Jenny. She sees her husband return yet it's not really him. Starman - the alien - clearly is not used to occupying a human body but does his best to communicate with her in English. He also carries with him seven silver spheres that allow him to do special things (specifically manipulating matter) that would appear as miracles to others. Starman wants Jenny to bring him to the Barringer Crater in Arizona within three days in order to be picked up by his fellow aliens. Otherwise he would die.

Although frightened and hostile towards him, Jenny still was considerate enough to drive him far away.

If there is anything significant about this movie, it is the sheer depth of character development of both Jenny and Starman. Equally significant is the chemistry between Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges who made their characters believable.

Jeff Bridges is excellent in his portrayal of Starman. He's clearly an alien who is not only struggling on being in a human body but also struggles to learn about the many ways of life and expression around him on his time on Earth. This includes learning gestures, saying words and doing things that people already find normal to do.

Karen Allen delivered a fine performance as Jenny Hayden. In fact when it comes to character development, I see Jenny a more significant character than her counterpart from outer space. While Starman adapts to life on Earth, Jenny's character is gradually and convincingly transformed from one who is stuck with the past and being bitter into a person who gets renewed by understanding that life does have more to offer, that hope exists, that miracles do happen and finding new love and inspiration to live on.

As a Born Again Christian who went through personal transformation, who gained renewed faith in the Lord, and who left the old life behind to live on with a new outlook on life, I strongly relate with Jenny's character development a lot. The concept of renewal and personal transformation portrayed by Karen Allen is much clearer to me than ever. Not to be outdone is the element of the healing of the soul of Jenny as a result of learning and understanding Starman.

The movie also has a solid supporting character in scientist Mark Shermin nicely played by Charles Martin Smith. Shermin is the typical sympathetic and willing-to-understand scientist who strives to discover first-hand an actual living alien which puts him into conflict the National Security Agency's plan to capture Starman dead or alive. His talk with Starman reminds us viewers that humanity is always flawed and has many times resorted to violence as a means of accomplishment whenever a challenging situation (read: the visit of Starman to Earth by space ship only to be shot down due to fear of being invaded) happens.

With regards to storytelling, Starman is a nice mix of genre elements that goes beyond science fiction. It is also a road movie and a romance. At the same time director John Carpenter told the story with a controlled pace that gives viewers ample time to understand what's been going on and a decent amount of spectacles that highlight Starman's "miracles".

Speaking of which, Starman does have elements of Christianity and the "miracles" of Starman are just the start of it. I could emphasize further here what the other elements are but that would mean spoiling the story and that is something I won't do. You just will have to watch the movie to realize it.

Is Starman a wonderful movie? Absolutely! Is it one of the best works of John Carpenter? Truly it is and it deserves any moviegoer's attention. How does it compare with other friendly alien movies like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Compared to those two flicks, Starman has the best and most mature character development on its protagonists. Its dramatic performances are also better.

Starman is a true sci-fi classic that deserves your attention even if you are not fond of sci-fi or UFO movies. I highly recommend buying this movie on Blu-ray disc or by streaming it.

My time at TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018

2018-06-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

Me at the Wonder Woman display!

After struggling with uncertainty, I made the decision to attend the TOYCON POPLIFE FanXperience 2018 on the afternoon of June 10 (which was also the event's final day) held at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City. As it turned out, it was the right move as I still managed to enjoy the event and bring home some fun collectibles. I should mention that buying a ticket on-site and entering the main hall were quick, convenient and painless efforts.

This year's event was my third time to attend the TOYCON. As I arrived at the recent TOYCON only on the final day, I missed out on the opportunity to see in person actress Kelly Hu (X2: X-Men United, The Scorpion King) and actor Dante Basco (Hook).

The legendary comic book artist Neal Adams.

I managed to see in person veteran comic book artist Neal Adams who was still receiving fans who came to have him sign their stuff and even have their own pictures with him taken. I have fond memories of certain Batman artworks and it turns out Adams was responsible for some of them. He had been working in America's comic book industry since even before I was born. It was quite an experience for a geek like me to see Neal Adams in person. Oh yes, Paranaque City Vice Mayor Rico Golez got to see and meet Adams at TOYCON the day before I arrived.

To make the most out of my visit, I walked by the exhibits and saw a lot of fun stuff like action figures, comic books, highly detailed models(plus statues) of pop culture figures, toys, clothes and so much more. Truly this event had just about everything for local geeks and collectors.

A nice looking Yoda.

Look at all those colorful things!

Macross figures and other relevant items.

Calling all fans of Wonder Woman!

As I love comics, I went on to visit the booths of some comic book sellers and check out what they were selling by the boxes. Ultimately I bought some X-Men comic books illustrated by the great Whilce Portacio. To my delightful surprise, I found an existing copy of WildCATs #5 (published by Image Comics) which was drawn by the great Jim Lee.

While my visit at this year's TOYCON was the shortest in terms of time spent, I still managed to enjoy the event a lot and got back my money's worth on the price of admission. I look forward to attending next year's edition of TOYCON.

For those who are not familiar with TOYCON, it is one of the best pop culture and comic conventions the Philippines has and already several international entertainers and comic book industry professionals have already graced it over the past years.

In closing this article, I will leave some more fun pics for your viewing pleasure. :)

Wonder Woman cosplayer posed for me.

Mystique!

Marvel superhero figures.

The Terminator!

Comic Odyssey selling comics books and other things.

More Wonder Woman!

Batgirl on display!

Really nice cards.

The last shot I took on the way out.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is fun to watch

2018-06-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that it has been twenty-five years since Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park rocked cinemas around the world showcasing very lively dinosaurs to moviegoers. Since then four more movies in the Jurassic Park movie franchise followed and this year we have Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which itself is the follow-up to the 2015 mega blockbuster Jurassic World.

Right from the start I can say that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is indeed a fun movie to watch and a worthy sequel. Also important to take note is the fact that the filmmakers exerted efforts to add new ideas into the narrative.

Don't get me wrong. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is not exactly made to win movie awards. Like its predecessors, it is a thrill ride showcasing dinosaurs complete with past elements like chases, dinosaur action, stunts, suspense-filled sequences and the like. It was made to entertain first and foremost.

What makes this new movie different however is its use of more horror elements into its narrative which I find fresh to watch. Director J.A. Bayona and the screenwriters came up with ideas to play with people's expectations on the Jurassic Park elements and for the most part those ideas worked well to prevent this movie from being "just another dinosaur movie."

There is an element of greed in the story and even some sentimentalism about how humans should treat dinosaurs in the event they suddenly start living in the world. Should people treat them like the way they do with other species of animals or should the dinosaurs be disregarded?

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are back as Owen and Claire and in this movie their team-up is more focused and more believable. Jeff Goldblum returns but is limited only to talking in front of a committee. James Cromwell makes a nice addition as Sir Benjamin Lockwood and he delivered a fine performance that convinced me that he and John Hammond were indeed past partners. Rafe Spall meanwhile does not make a solid anti-hero. Overall the cast works nicely and just about each member does his or her part well to add value into the narrative.

As for the dinosaurs, there are lots of species to look at. With regards to the velociraptor species, this film easily has the most sentimental portrayal of raptors mainly due to special focus on Owen's relationship with the raptor named Blue whom he oriented when it was young. Raptors in this film are unsurprisingly fewer than ever and as such their vicious nature as pack hunters was not repeated. As for the new dinosaur the Indoraptor, that one is a nice addition into the franchise and I felt that it is more significant than the Indominus Rex when it comes to giving the characters a chase and close moments of death.

At a little over two hours in length, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is nicely paced and even though it is a few minutes longer than its 2015 predecessor, it never felt dragging to me. In fact, I found it paced faster.

Overall Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a worthy film to watch packed with lots of action, thrills, dinosaurs and most notably a strong effort by the filmmakers to add new elements that made it stand out not only among Jurassic Park franchise movies but among all dinosaur-related movies. Personally I find this new movie the most entertaining Jurassic Park movie since Steven Spielberg's 1993 original. Go watch it!

NEWS RELEASE: Muntinlupa City's Mayor disposes confiscated cigarettes, warns residents of smoking ban

2018-05-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi leads the launching of World No Tobacco Day in the city by disposing confiscated cigarettes from violators of the local smoking ban last May 28. Fresnedi is joined by other local government officials and urges the public to quit smoking. Muntinlupa City is one of the first cities in NCR to pass an anti-smoking ordinance following President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) No. 26 or known as the Nationwide Smoking Ban.

Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi disposed confiscated cigarette packs from Oplan Sita operations of a local task force and warned residents of the existing smoking ban in the city last May 28 at Muntinlupa City Hall.

Fresnedi, joined by other local government officials, led the discarding of cigarette and other smoking paraphernalia in the launching of World No Tobacco Day in Muntinlupa City.

He urged residents and visitors to quit smoking and said the local government will be seriously implementing Ordinance No. 17-072 or the Comprehensive Smoke Free Ordinance of the City of Muntinlupa.

Recently, the Muntinlupa Smoke-Free Task Force (SFTF) visited Bureau of Corrections Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to discuss the city’s No Smoking Ordinance. BUCOR Dir. Gen. dela Rosa expressed his support in the implementation of the Smoking Ban in his area of jurisdiction.

Muntinlupa City is one of the first cities in NCR to pass a local ordinance following President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) No. 26 or known as the Nationwide Smoking Ban.

Under Section 5a of Muntinlupa Ordinance No. 17-072, the use and distribution of cigarette and tobacco products are prohibited in the city.

Section 5. Prohibited Acts. – The following acts are declared unlawful and prohibited by this Ordinance:

a. Smoking or vaping in enclosed or partially enclosed public places, workplaces, public conveyances (whether mobile or stationary), except in Designated Smoking Areas duly approved and fully compliant with the requirements set by the City Health Office

As of May 2, the Muntinlupa SFTF apprehended 1,277 individuals violating the smoking ban and confiscated 227 cigarette packs from violating vendors.

Released by Muntinlupa Public Information Office on May 31, 2018.

SM Hypermarket at The Village Square Alabang now open!

2018-05-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

The SM Hypermarket inside The Village Square Alabang.

This morning I witnessed first-hand the 10AM opening of the newest SM Hypermarket located at the ground floor of The Village Square Alabang which is precisely located at the corner of Alabang-Zapote Road and Concha Cruz Drive, Las Pinas City. The space The Village Square Alabang occupies used to be where Toyota Alabang was located at.

The counters and lanes for shoppers to check out with their purchases.

As the opening approached, there was a large crowd of shoppers eagerly waiting to get in while some people who love showbiz could not contain themselves from seeing local actor Richard Gutierrez who was present as a guest. Immediately after the opening countdown, people scrambled to go inside and see what they could find.

Those who are hungry for a meal or a quick bite/drink should check these.

Like any other branch of SM Hypermarket, this new one has a wide selection of goods to suit customers' needs especially those with families to feed. Fresh vegetables, fresh meat/fish/chicken, canned goods, juices and milk (in powdered and liquid forms), snacks, electronic products, ice cream and much more all were available.

For the customers, there were twelve lanes to check out and this includes two lanes that each have 3 counters to deal with shoppers who want to pay with lighter loads (by the basket) of products. I bought a few things to check out, used my SM Advantage card to earn the points, paid the prices and checked out without any hassle.

This is where you can pay your bills and do other transactions.

Concerns of customers will be handled by the staff.

There are also counters for customer services plus commercial services (bill payments, etc.) which people can visit. At one of the exits (the one leading to the multi-level parking) is the liquor store. The other exit on the other side meanwhile leads directly into Concha Cruz Drive and by exiting there you will be just steps away from the BF Homes subdivision gate of that road. Just across the Concha Cruz Drive exit is the tricycle terminal.

The Hypermarket exit along Concha Cruz Drive. Just steps away from the road.

The tricycle terminal along Concha Cruz Drive.

The BF Homes subdivision gate of Concha Cruz Drive.

It may be on its first day of operation today (May 18, 2018) but I am confident SM Hypermarket at The Village Square Alabang will attract a lot of people in the weeks to come for their grocery needs and commercial transactions.

Note: This article is NOT a paid endorsement at all. It is a personal observation. Simple as that.

Deadpool 2 is definitely bigger, better and more badass!

2018-05-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

NON-SPOILER MOVIE REVIEW - Deadpool 2

After waiting for a little over two years, I finally got to watch Deadpool 2 in the local cinema and I can clearly say it out loud that the movie is indeed bigger, better and more badass than its predecessor!

The R-rated sequel to 2016's hit movie that starred Ryan Reynolds has lots of the elements that made the first film memorable but only much more and with more characters that added depth and variety to the existing X-Men cinematic universe that 20th Century Fox built since 2000.

There's a lot of swearing, hard-hitting violent action, stunts, loud explosions and lots of pop culture references (including references to the cinematic universes of Marvel and DC Comics) that make Deadpool 2 fun to watch. I should mention that breaking the fourth wall performed by Reynolds also returned and added depth to the film.

Other than the fun stuff, there are more characters for moviegoers to enjoy this time around. Zazie Beetz as Domino is a nice addition as she has a cool on-screen presence and performed nicely with the on-screen action as well as the character interactions. The most notable addition of all is Josh Brolin as Cable who makes the screen light up with spectacle with the character's deep badass personality combined with lots of action scenes that are so much fun to watch.

If you are a fan of X-Force, there is a team element present in the film but done with lots of comedy in between scenes. I sincerely believe that a standalone X-Force movie will be made in the near future and Deadpool 2 is a nice preview of it.

In terms of storytelling, Deadpool 2 is no epic nor is it a quest for Deadpool and pals to save the world. Rather it is more about the title character's journey on trying to fulfill his destiny and struggles through a series of unfortunate events that bring together many characters. The movie moves at a medium pace in many stretches of the first half which is understandable since the filmmakers had to do lots of building up. The good news is that the film moves much faster in second half and the thrills of the final conflict are truly enjoyable.

With all of its fun elements and characters, Deadpool 2 is highly recommended watching and in my view it exceeds its predecessor in terms of depth, enjoyment and variety while still maintaining the adulterated flavor on humor, action and presentation. Also let me repeat that this sequel is definitely bigger, better and more badass than the first film. Quite notably, Deadpool 2 is a nice look at how the X-Men cinematic universe is shaping and it definitely eased my pain of waiting for X-Men: Dark Phoenix to be released (delayed to early 2019).

High time for you geeks and moviegoers to watch Deadpool 2 in the cinemas now!

On Deadly Ground is a worthless action film to watch

2018-04-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Steven Seagal plus the environment did not make a good movie.

Way back in 1994, Warner Bros. released the action movie On Deadly Ground which starred and was directed by Steven Seagal. The movie had a poster that easily attracted the attention of avid Steven Seagal fans and eventually the film lured quite a lot of moviegoers to the cinemas.

I never saw it in the cinemas due to a lack of time and money. Instead I saw On Deadly Ground on VHS format in the comfort of home. That comfort however turned into disappointment after watching it.

For starters it's a Steven Seagal movie which guarantees lots of hard-hitting action with lots of swearing. What makes it feel unique is its emphasis of the environment and how a very greedy top executive of an oil company is a danger to the environment.

The execution of the movie, to say the least, is rather poor. Just about every character in the movie is one-dimensional. When it comes to action, it's typical Seagal as the star gets to fight lots of bad guys without ever being hurt by them! Ironically Seagal in the film expresses pain over the treatment of his wounds.

Michael Caine and Steven Seagal.

And then there is the emphasis on the environment. The movie narrowly portrays the fictional oil company Aegis as the force of danger to nature and threat to indigenous people of Alaska because it is led by Michael Jennings (played by Michael Caine) who is too greedy and desperate to beat a deadline and prevent the oil rights from reverting back to native Alaskans.

That's right! Jenning's Aegis had the oil rights for twenty years and all they could do is try to launch an oil refinery so near the end of the time period. Does it really take that long to construct an oil refinery?

More on the environment, Steven Seagal plays Forrest Taft who initially serves Jennings. He eventually checks the computers of Aegis Oil to find out that faulty equipment has been used and the delivery of better and more reliable equipment is coming in way too late. Taft even asked Jennings (who discovered Taft's unauthorized computer access) how much money is enough and this predictably leads to a scene in which Taft gets set up to die in an explosion.

Unfortunately for Jennings and the other bad guys, Taft survived and got assistance from native Alaskans. Predictable he makes a comeback, collects weapons, performed a few destructive operations before proceeding to Aegis Oil's refinery to cause further destruction and kill bad guys!

Then the film ends with Taft giving a speech at Alaska State Capitol about uncontrolled pollution, environmental destruction and big businesses' contribution to environmental decline.

It's funny how Taft got to deliver his speech. He was not arrested for causing refinery destruction nor was held accountable for killing other people. Logic was clearly thrown out for the sake of senseless violence.

Ultimately On Deadly Ground is a worthless action to film to watch and I believe only die-hard Steven Seagal fans will love it. It was a very bad movie back in 1994, it's even worse by today's standards.

As such, I should say that you should never waste your time nor money on this piece of crap.

We know you and your crew worked hard on this movie, Steven Seagal. Sorry to say this but your movie is crap!

Garden Row businesses sued by BF Homes developer

2018-03-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

This is only a small portion of the Garden Row photographed along Concha Cruz Drive. Look at the size of those garden businesses occupying open spaces that they do NOT own!

At 1:47 PM of March 12, 2018 at the Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) in Parañaque City, BF Homes subdivision developer BF Homes, Inc. (BFHI for short) successfully filed a lawsuit against fifteen garden businesses that illegally occupied open spaces (which BFHI owns) along Concha Cruz Drive and a part of Elizalde street that formed what is popularly referred to as the “Garden Row”. The law suit (Civil Case Number 2018-17 for Unlawful Detainer), if in the event it succeeds in getting rid of the garden businesses, would definitely improve the landscape of Concha Cruz Drive and unquestionably cause real estate values to soar high.

Specifically the garden businesses sued were Wellner’s Garden & Landscaping, Plantscape, Green Leaf Garden, Fernando F. Alfonso Garden, Kriscia’s Garden, Plant Kingdom Landscaping Services, Parina Gardener’s Choice, Jamoral Plant Kingdom, Benito’s Garden, Gardema Garden, Artscape Garden & Landscaping Services, Bel’s Garden, Plantas Verdes, Co, Inc., Cristina’s Garden and Grands Garden.

Legally the developer prayed that the MTC would order the named defendants (including their representatives, owners and others acting in their behalf) to immediately vacate and surrender the possession of the property along Concha Cruz Drive and Elizalde street as covered by TCT No. 456604 and TCT No. 449696. BFHI made clear in its filing that it is not engaging in forum shopping.

Before the suit was filed, BF Homes, Inc. availed the service of a local courier to send letters to the Garden Row businesses in 2017 informing each of them the developer’s demand that they vacate the open spaces and remove all the illegal structures they establish there. The garden businesses defied the BF Homes developer and they even confirmed to me that copies of BFHI’s letters were given to the BF Federation of Homeowner Associations, Inc. (BFFHAI) which in turn has been collecting monthly rentals from the garden businesses for some time now.

Imagine someday that the Garden Row businesses would vacate the open space which can later be turned into a new facility to benefit Concha Cruz Drive residents. Look at all that space!

Until now, the BF Homes developer still is the owner of all the road lots, sidewalks and open spaces of BF Homes subdivision. In fact BFHI consistently reiterated that it has never donated its BF Homes subdivision properties (roads, sidewalks and open spaces) to any of the local governments (cities of Parañaque, Las Pinas and Muntinlupa) concerned nor to any homeowners association (HOA) with the consent of any local government unit (LGU) pursuant to Presidential Decree Number 1216 (PD 1216). Further backing its claim as owner was the November 30, 2006 decision rendered by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) which was upheld by the Philippine Supreme Court (G.R. Number 209175) on March 2014.

Presidential Decree Number 1216

What is Presidential Decree 1216? It is an old law that defines “open space” in residential subdivisions and also amended Section 31 of Presidential Decree Number 957 requiring subdivision owners to provide roads, alleys, sidewalks and reserve open for parks or recreational use. It was signed into law by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on October 14, 1977.

Section 1 of PD 1216 states: the term “open space” shall mean an area reserved exclusively for parks, playgrounds, recreational uses, schools, roads, places of worship, hospitals, health centers, barangay centers and other similar facilities and amenities.

Section 2, which amended Section 31 of Presidential Decree Number 957, states: These areas reserved for parks, playgrounds and recreational use shall be non-alienable public lands, and non-buildable. The plans of the subdivision project shall include tree-planting on such parts of the subdivision as may be designated by the Authority.

Upon their completion as certified to by the Authority, the roads, alleys, sidewalks and playground shall be donated by the owner or developer to the city or municipalities and it shall be mandatory for the local governments to accept provided, however, that the parks and playgrounds may be donated to the Homeowners association of the project with consent of the city or municipality concerned. No portion of the parks and playgrounds donated thereafter shall be converted to any other purpose or purposes.

Before any donation would succeed, the developer of open spaces must first apply with the Commission on Certificate of Completion by filing an application form and a letter of Intent to Donate (the roads lots and open space to the Local Government). These details are from the Rules and Regulations Implementing Section 31 of Presidential Decree Number 957 as amended by Presidential Decree Number 1216.

Garden businesses deprived residents the use and enjoyment of open spaces

If Presidential Decree Number 1216 is any indication, it is clear that making money out of the open spaces is illegal since those very open spaces were never donated by BFHI to any LGU or to any homeowners association at all. What kind of defense can the garden businesses along Concha Cruz Drive and Elizalde street come up with to justify their occupancy, their money making practices and establishment of structures on those open spaces?

Defense aside, can the garden businesses explain why are there makeshift homes for their caretakers built? Why is there a fighting cock farm or even a small piggery established when those are clearly banned by law? These anomalies have attracted complaints from the residents not recently but for many years now.

Also worth noting is that certain structures involving Garden Row businesses caused inconvenience not only to motorists but also to pedestrians who relied on the sidewalk for safety. What’s with those structures that consumed too much space of a sidewalk that forced pedestrians to walk a bit on the road which puts them at risk of being hit by speeding vehicles? Also were the sidewalks ever designed to be a place to showcase garden products for sale?

The tree on the sidewalk is understandable but the rest of that solid structure consuming too much space of the sidewalk easily blocks pedestrians’ path which forces them to step on to the road to walk further. This means putting pedestrians in danger of being hit by moving vehicles.

Be aware that there are people who defended the Garden Row businesses by saying they are legitimate enterprises simply because they pay monthly rentals to the BF Homes federation BFFHAI.

In my past talks with BFFHAI regarding Garden Row businesses, the federation stated they have rights to use the open spaces as per item C of Section 10 (Rights and Powers of the Association) of Chapter III of Republic Act Number 9904 which states “Regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement and modification of common areas and cause additional improvements to be made part of the common areas: Provided, That the aforementioned do not contradict the provisions of the approved subdivision plan.”

Still nothing changes the fact that open spaces are supposed to be free from the commerce of man and nothing changes the fact that the Garden Row businesses do not own the land they have been occupying for so long and that makes them ILLEGAL OCCUPANTS.

How the Garden Row started and lasted for so long

As written in the statement of facts of Civil Case Number 2018-17, the defendants leased their respective parcels of land (Garden Row) from United BF Homeowners Association, Inc.(UBFHAI – the umbrella organization and federation of homeowner associations of BF Homes subdivision) with the latter collecting proceeds of the lease. BF Homes, Inc. acquiesced to such lease in order to provide possible sources of income to its residents but as the developer of BF Homes subdivision they questioned the old federation’s (UBFHAI) intrusion into their prerogative of maintaining the corporation’s open spaces, which includes all the lots leased by the defendants from UBFHAI.

This case was filed before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) in the consolidated cases of “Jesus Arranza et. Al., vs. BF Homes, Inc. KK Homeowner, Association, Inc. et. Al, vs. BF Homes, Inc., Harp Homeowners Association, Inc. vs, BF Homes, Inc.”

The HLURB Board of Commissioners rendered a decision on November 30, 2006 of the above-captioned case commanding that BFHI be ordered to maintain the roads and open spaces as long as the same are not yet turned over to the respective city governments, the UBFHAI or any of the local associations in BF Homes. The HLURB also declared UBFHAI’s authority to represent the homeowners’ associations in BF Homes as already rendered moot with the revocation of the MOA between BF Homes, Inc. and the UBFHAI. This meant UBFHAI became an illegal entity.

Unsurprisingly the old federation filed for a partial motion for reconsideration of the November 30, 2006 decision but was denied through an August 10, 2007 resolution which resulted UBFHAI to appeal only to be denied by the Office of the President on July 27, 2011 including the motion for reconsideration thereof (September 8, 2011).

UBFHAI appealed the aforementioned decisions of the Office of the President to the Court of Appeals (CA). The CA issued its decision on January 30, 2013 dismissing UBFHAI’s Petition for lack of merit. On September 6, 2013, the UBFHAI’s move for reconsideration was denied by the CA.

The old federation filed an appeal with the Supreme Court (SC) via a Petition for Review on Certiorari and on January 14, 2014, the SC issued a resolution denying the old federation’s petition for failure to sufficiently show any reversible error in the assailed judgment to warrant the exercise of its discretionary appellate jurisdiction. UBFHAI filed a motion for reconsideration but was ultimately denied by the SC with finality (GR Number 209175) affirming the HLURB’s November 30, 2006 decision. The Supreme Court then issued an Entry of Judgement on May 6, 2014.

Where to from this point?

In view of the finality of HLURB Board of Commissioners’ November 30, 2006 decision, BF Homes, Inc. was recognized as the rightful owner of the open spaces and to this effect the developer sent letters to the defendants (garden businesses) via private courier demanding them to vacate their leased premises. The defendants were reiterated that the land they were occupying and using in their businesses are owned and registered in the name of BF Homes, Inc. and that the open spaces are intended for the use, enjoyment and benefit of all residents of the subdivision and not for a select few. BFHI even allowed the garden businesses time to freely remove all the structures they erected as well as the materials in their businesses.

Still the garden businesses continued to occupy the open spaces defying the developer. Their current occupancy of the lots is to the detriment of the thousands of BF Homes subdivision residents who are deprived of the real purpose parks and open spaces was intended for which is contrary to PD 1216 and HLURB’s November 30, 2006 decision.

With regards to the local community of Concha Cruz Drive which is home to 90 households, the Concha Cruz Drive Homeowners Association, Inc.’s (CCDHAI) Board of Directors headed by its President Grace Morales and the General Assembly ratified on February 17, 2018 that all the Garden Row occupants be excluded from the membership roll of the association since they are not qualified to be members in the first place. As stated in the CCDHAI by-laws, a homeowner member must possess a lease contract from the residential property owner in order to be a member and the written authority from the lot owner to be a voter.

The Garden Row businesses are well known to attract lots of homeowners from Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City for their landscaping and gardening needs. It is a sad fact, however, that many Ayala Alabang clients (and many other homeowners from outside of BF Homes subdivision) of these garden businesses are not even aware of the fact that those businesses have been illegally occupying the open spaces owned by BFHI.

In effect, the more money spent on Garden Row businesses, the more deprived ALL BF Homes residents become since the open spaces cannot be used for their use and enjoyment.

Are you a customer of garden products and landscaping services? The more money you spend on Garden Row businesses, the more you will deprive BF Homes residents of their enjoyment and use of the open spaces. Please remember that.

It is clear that open spaces are supposed to be free from the commerce of man and there definitely should not be any form of business or exchange of money using open spaces.

The weird thing, in my years of exploring and covering BF Homes as a community newspaper journalist, is that there are lots of allegations around the subdivision that open spaces continue to be used (can you say abused?) for money making purposes that continue to this day. There are people, other than the Garden Row business people, who allegedly defied laws on open spaces.

Imagine a Garden Row-less future along Concha Cruz Drive

With BF Homes, Inc.’s case against the Garden Row businesses already making its way through the local justice system, it is more doable for anyone to imagine what Concha Cruz Drive will look like in the future in the event those businesses vacate the open spaces they occupied for so long.

Imagine that some day the open spaces get vacated by the garden businesses. In the years to come, those open spaces could soon become sites for the establishment of facilities that BF Homes residents can enjoy or use like a new chapel, a new park, a new cover basketball court, a new clubhouse, etc.

For those dream community projects and facilities to come true, the law violators, the greedy people and those living with the culture of impunity need to brought down first.

CCDHAI’s wireless CCTV project is a fine futuristic model of community security

2018-02-17T01:58:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like organizing the inauguration of a special project that not only benefits the legitimate residents of community but also brings them together as the homeowners’ association (HOA) continues to take care of them.

That was the precise experience I witnessed first-hand when I attended the inauguration of Concha Cruz Drive Homeowners Association, Inc.’s (CCDHAI) wireless closed-circuit television (CCTV) system held at their office on February 3, 2018 which was graced by several important guests from around the BF Homes community and the City Government of Parañaque.

CCDHAI President Grace Morales smiles happily as BF Homes, Inc. Director Jose Luis Matti, Parañaque City Vice Mayor Rico Golez, City Councilor Wahoo Sotto and CCDHAI Homeowner Asleah Mangudadatu formally cut the ribbon during the inauguration of the Concha Cruz Drive community’s wireless CCTV system on February 3.

At past 4PM in the afternoon I, along with the many guests, saw the blessing ceremony performed by Brother Don Mercado and subsequently the ceremonial ribbon-cutting was done by special guests Parañaque City Vice Mayor Rico Golez, City Councilor Wahoo Sotto, BF Homes, Inc. Jose Luis Matti, CCDHAI homeowner Asleah Mangudadatu and BF Federation of Homeowner Associations, Inc. (BFFHAI) Vern Madamba. Witnessing the cutting of the ribbon was Grace Morales who heads the Board of Directors (CCDHAI) as its President. Also present were CCDHAI Vice President Peewee Calaqui and directors Nilo Samia, Roy Arpon and Atty. Jon Jamora plus appointed Treasurer Carlos Jamora.

Luckily for me, I got myself into position to get the best possible shot of the ribbon-cutting with my Nokia 8’s camera as there were other photographers trying to do the same.

Going back to the wireless CCTV project of the CCDHAI, its technology is indeed very impressive and was clearly designed with communities in mind. It’s an ideal model for the security and welfare of Concha Cruz Drive residents.

One of the CCTV cameras installed along Concha Cruz Drive. (photo owner – CCDHAI)

“The ultimate goal of this project is to bolster the peace and order situation of the CCDHAI homeowners whom we really care about. We really treat them like family,” CCDHAI President Grace Morales told me. “Not only does it add to the security of our community, it also makes our residents more aware about what’s going on along Concha Cruz Drive such as how light or heavy is the traffic, who is walking or biking past the homes, which part of the road is flooded and so on. The project is a major assistance without any additional costs to our legitimate homeowners. It is proof of our dedication to serve and take care of them.”

How CCDHAI's wireless CCTV system works

To understand the CCDHAI wireless CCTV system better, it has a total of eight cameras located on a kilometer-long stretch from near the corner of Concha Cruz Drive-Elizalde street up to near the corner of Concha Cruz Drive-J.P. Laurel street. These cameras installed on solid posts transmit video feeds wirelessly and the transmission is aided by three antennas located in strategic spots. At the CCDHAI headquarters is a high-powered modem and a monitor.

More on the wireless aspect of the system is the shared access feature that legitimate residents can use for as long as their smartphones or tablets have a specially designed app (to be installed by a technician hired by CCDHAI) and are connected to the Internet. Whether the users are located nearby or even abroad, they can access the CCDHAI wireless CCTV system and view video feeds of the cameras in real-time. When using the system, they can check more on the footage by means of zooming, scrolling and do video playback on 30 days worth of recorded footage. The system runs on a fiber optic Internet connection ensuring constant and reliable data transmission.

Parañaque's Vice Mayor Rico Golez with CCDHAI President Grace Morales. To the left are the monitor and modem of the CCDHAI wireless CCTV system. Golez expressed that the system will help resolve security concerns of the Concha Cruz Drive community.

The technology and concept of the project to help the legitimate residents are so impressive, Vice Mayor Rico Golez and Councilor Wahoo Sotto praised it and admired the CCDHAI for a nice job done. They relayed their admiration through me.

Golez: I congratulate CCDHAI on their wireless CCTV project which will greatly benefit their area in terms of being a deterrent (against crime or disorder) and will help solve several security concerns. Hats off to its officers and board.

Sotto: First of all, I want to congratulate President Grace and the rest of the CCDHAI for this relevant project as this is in line with Mayor Olivarez’s vision for the city. As the Chairman of the Committee on Disaster Reduction and Risk Management, I highly commend this project. For one this will be a deterrent against criminals, second, this enables us to have a monitoring system for natural and man-made disasters. Lastly, it will allow us to monitor the flow of traffic and to take note of congested hours and gather data for future study. Again, congratulations! This will not only benefit the homeowners but also the cities of Parañaque and Las Pinas.

The wireless CCTV project of Concha Cruz Drive community is currently on its first phase. There is a strategy to add more cameras and enhance the system’s capabilities to serve the legitimate residents better.

Spirit of community and civil interactions

Guests enjoying the catered food during the party. (photo owner – CCDHAI)

Afterwards a party was held at the fine garden nearby and what I witnessed was nice socializing between the legitimate residents (who belong to homeowners who follow rules and pay their monthly dues), the varied personalities of BF Homes and other important figures like City Councilor Edwin “Bong” Benzon, former City Councilor and former Barangay BF Chairperson Beng Amurao, BF Agelor HOA Director Marilu Glorioso, BF Mayuga HOA President Diana Malig, NSHA President Bob Mejias, Tirona HOA President Migo Ledesma and former BFFHAI Director Margie Aquino. Last but not least to arrive was Barangay BF Homes Kagawad Paolo Marquez.

Former Parañaque City Councilor and former Barangay BF Homes chairperson Beng Amurao with CCDHAI President Grace Morales and Treasurer Carlos Jamora. (photo owner - CCDHAI)

Not to be outdone are the CCDHAIers (local term referring to the CCDHAI Family) as they came in full force: the Asleah Mangudadatu Family, Jhoanna Gonzales Family, Roy Arpon Family, Conrado Espino Family, Maria Fe Bolanos Family, Dang Leming Phong Family, Bing Balbis Family and plus others.

CCDHAI Family united and in harmony with their Board of Directors among them. The care is real. (photo owner – CCDHAI)

On my experience, I am happy and proud to have seen the very community of Concha Cruz Drive residents who belong to legitimate homeowners. I also took the opportunity to chat with CCDHAI’s VP Peewee Calaqui and director Atty. Jon Jamora and naturally I got to learn more about the recent history of their community. The CCDHAI BOD is clearly in high spirits and I’m not surprised given the fact that they won a major case in the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) last December. That court decision essentially upheld the legality of CCDHAI as the definitive association (and legal collector of monthly dues and fees) of the entire Concha Cruz Drive community in accordance to Republic Act Number 9904 (Magna Carta for Homeowners and Homeowners’ Associations).

“As the old saying goes, if the law is on your side you will emerge victorious no matter how hard or how dirty your opponent fights you,” CCDHAI President Morales remarked.

The victorious and dedicated CCDHAI Board of Directors: Standing are President Grace Morales and director Atty. Jon Jamora. Seated were VP Peewee Calaqui, director Nilo Samia and director Roy Arpon. (photo owner – CCDHAI)

The party had lots of opportunities for socializing. I got to listen to conversations between BFHI’s Jose Luis Matti, BFFHAI’s Vern Madamba and NSHA’s Bob Mejias focusing on the history of BF Homes subdivision. It was a very educational experience for me personally learning about what happened decades ago through different points of views.

Conclusion

Very clearly the inauguration of CCDHAI’s wireless CCTV project is undoubtedly successful and received glowing praise from the special guests and other guests. From a technological and design standpoint, the wireless CCTV system implemented at the Concha Cruz Drive community could inspire the associations of other villages to adapt such a system for their own security.

Equally important is the gathering of friends from the real and definitive Concha Cruz Drive community and from other BF Homes communities spending quality time and socializing with one another.

I’m very glad I was there to experience these. I’m so thankful and inspired as well. 😊

I'm so inspired, I got something developing for Havenor Fantasy.

You read that right, Havenorians! I am bringing back Varna, Rally, Brick, Savannah, Sage, Ryder and Laetitia with new adventures!

Mobbing is wrong and should be stopped!

2018-02-14T22:25:00.001-08:00

Mobbing is defined as an act of bullying against an individual committed by a group of people (referred to as the mob). It is an act that happens in schools, the workplace, the family, online and in communities.

A mob is driven not only by anger but also rage, hatred, impunity and the pursuit for power in its different forms. (photo sourced from EC Comics)

Usually a mob acts with its members united by the pursuit to hurt or even destroy the individual in varied ways like using physical violence, picketing, becoming rowdy and causing a disturbance while pointing at their target. Sometimes the mob can abuse the legal system to bring down their target.

Examples of acts of mobbing:

1) Spreading rumors or propaganda or organizing a smear campaign against the individual target.

2) Gate-crashing or deliberate trespassing into someone else’s territory.

3) Isolating the target to make him/her look undesirable in front of others.

4) Filing cases in court versus the target even though they don’t have solid evidence to win.

5) Beating up the individual physically.

6) Protesting in public and trying to fool members of the public into supporting their cause.

7) Lying to local authorities and telling them half-truths or exaggerations just to fool them into supporting their cause against the individual target.

Why do mobs keep on mobbing? I have my own theories.

1) They really have nothing better to do in life and the temptation of organizing to “win” (hurting or destroying their target) is too irresistible to them.

2) Hate versus their target is so strong in their minds, they are too blinded to think rationally.

3) They are cowards deep inside and because they don’t have the law on their side, mobbing is their option.

4) They want to grab power or feed their own pride as a united group. They may even have some vanity in their minds that they don’t even realize.

5) They are driven by a political or sociological ideology.

6) Their group leaders are mentally unstable and the “follow the leader” approach still gets executed.

7) They believe that being united gives them the freedom to take the law into their own hands, to trespass into any territory and misinform people who discover their group. They may as well have adapted the culture of impunity.

8) They simply enjoy violence and want their target to suffer.

9) They don’t give a damn about right and wrong.

How to protect yourself from mobbing

1) Know your rights and study the law extensively. Get a very credible and experienced lawyer.

2) Prepare your own pieces of evidence that will discredit the mob.

3) If you can afford it, hire security personnel when you know the mob will resort to physical violence against you. Also consider a more protective location you will be staying at.

4) Observe how the mob thinks and acts. You should be able to analyze their flaws and use them to your advantage.

5) Avoid following their tactics and prove you are more civil than they are. You can influence members of the public when you discredit the mob successfully.

6) Research each member of the mob, especially their leaders. Also take a look at their personal interests that could explain their agenda in mobbing you.

7) While researching the mob members, observe how they act in front of others. Some mob members pretend to have been victimized (by the target individual) when in fact they are the ones on the offense. It’s too easy for mob members to pretend to be victims and blame the individual they want to destroy.

8) Wherever mobbing happens, do not hesitate to call for help from the immediate authorities. If you get mobbed in school, call the principal or a faculty member. At work, call the supervisor or the nearest security personnel.

Mobbing can cause serious physical injury and even death to victims. (photo sourced from EC Comics)

Mobbing is simply wrong and in a way it is considered uncivilized. The mere act of a group bullying an individual person is just despicable especially when he/she is innocent.

I myself experienced being targeted by a mob of grade school classmates back in 1983 and it was a very difficult experience to overcome. I certainly don’t want to see such a tragic experience happen to others who did not commit anything wrong.

If you, the reader, want to make a big difference in local society in a positive way then I urge you to learn why mobbing is wrong and why mobs are more destructive than their worth. If you get mobbed, fight back using civil and legal tactics!

The genius of anime legend Shoji Kawamori

2018-02-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

Anime legend Shoji Kawamori of Japan addressed the many Filipino fans in attendance on August 27, 2017 during his media presentation at the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila.

August 27 of twenty-seventeen was easily one of the memorable Sundays I’ve had in recent memory as it was the day I (along with around a hundred others) got to meet the legendary anime creator Shoji Kawamori in person during the final day of the 2017 AsiaPOP Comicon Manila at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Philippines. For those who are unfamiliar with him, Kawamori is a visual artist and mechanical designer who happens to be a very capable screenwriter and anime director.

Before meeting him, me and several others carrying priority numbers had to wait long hours standing in line because many fans who waited brought a lot of items (from cards to action figures) for him to sign on. In addition, Kawamori’s team accepted payments from fans who want him to draw commissioned art works on the spot which added to the waiting time. One particular fan ahead of us reportedly paid over P20,000 for five commissioned art works.

At past 6PM, I finally got meet Kawamori at last. As there were lots of other fans waiting behind me, I quickly told him how much I admired his work and presented to him my two computer print-outs related to Macross Plus – one was the Battroid mode of the YF-19 and the other was an art of Isamu-Guld-Myung with the YF-21. He signed those print-outs addressed to me and he even drew Isamu’s hand-sign from the anime (portraying the YF-19) on one of them. I can’t express enough how truly special it was for a long-time fan like me to watch each and every moment Kawamori signed those print-outs. As I walked away and Kawamori entertained another fan, those who were in line congratulated me and cheered. Easily the stress and pain of waiting long in line vanished as happiness and pride of meeting the anime legend followed.

During the afternoon of that same day, Kawamori and his team organized a media presentation at one of the function halls of the SMX Convention Center for over an hour for the fans. He surprised us a lot when the first words he spoke with the microphone was “Magandang hapon.” to start the presentation. Aided by an interpreter (speaking in English), Kawamori revealed that he was born in 1960 in an old town in the mountains of Toyama Prefecture in Japan.

Kawamori with a fan who wants him to sign his collectible.

As a youth, Kawamori moved into the metropolitan areas (notably Tokyo) where he experienced culture shock. While the Internet was decades away from becoming accessible to the public, news about Project Apollo spread throughout Japan and the historic landing on the Moon inspired Kawamori to aspire join NASA (National Aeronautic and Space Administration). As a boy, Kawamori was fond of the German blocks called Fischertechnik which was older than LEGO and through this experience his talent on designing (specifically mechanical) started to form. As a teenager he got to work as an intern at Studio Nue assisting on art and animation.

During his days at Keio University he met with character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto and screenwriter Hiroshi Onogi and together they came up with concepts with eventually led to the creation of the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross TV series (jointly produced by Studio Nue, Tatsunoko and Artland) which eventually evolved into a huge entertainment franchise still followed by fans in Japan to this day.

Kawamori explains the triple-changer aspect of the fighter planes in 1982's Super Dimension Fortress Macross.

As a creator, Kawamori has his own philosophies on creating concepts that could be realized in animation or even physical form. He said that from time to time, normal objects in the office like the scotch tape dispenser inspired him to design a space ship. He also revealed that his idea of the GERWALK (Ground Effective Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-joint) mode was inspired by his experience of skiing which required the bending of knees.

There is NOTHING like watching every moment of Kawamori signing the two Macross Plus computer print-outs I brought to him. He wrote my name too!

Before Macross even started, Kawamori designed the Diaclone transformable figures for toymaker Takara which launched them in 1980. The Diaclone line was the basis of the Transformers toy and animation franchise that eventually became popular in the West and the rest of the world via a licensing deal Hasbro made with Takara in 1984. As he made his way through the business world, he encountered some toy or entertainment company executives who rejected his concepts and was even told that aircrafts would not sell. He learned that if someone disapproves of his ideas, there’s a big chance in it to succeed or start a new trend. As seen in Macross, the fighter planes transform into robots and by the 1980s transformable toys or models became hot around the world.

Near the end of his media presentation, the anime legend gave the fans a short and free preview of his next project showcasing flashy visuals, characters and designs. That upcoming project was revealed this past October to be Jūshinki Pandora (Heavy Divine Unit Pandora), a brand new anime TV series set to debut this year.

Me with Shoji Kawamori! :)

Ultimately meeting and learning from the 57-year-old Shoji Kawamori is one of the best experience I had as geek as well as a long-time Macross fan. He’s truly a genius who achieved a lot of milestones in anime, toys and other forms of entertainment media. As technology evolved, so did his methods. Here is hoping that he will return to the Philippines in the near future.

The legends and history of pizza

2017-04-16T06:02:00.001-07:00

The legends and history of pizza
by Carlo Carrasco

A pizza normally has a crust and cheese and toppings (depending on flavor) on the top cooked.

Pizza is one of the most popular forms of food in the entire world due to its variety, texture and convenience when it comes to eating. If you are fortunate to travel to different countries around the world, you will eventually discover that pizza has different forms or flavors that are arguably linked with the local culture.

In the city of Chicago, the deep-dish pizza is very popular even though the inventor of it remains undetermined and undeclared. In the early 1900s at the Little Italy area of New York City, the first pizzeria was founded by an immigrant from Naples, Italy and soon more pizzerias opened around the city, cooked pizzas (with sauce on top and cheese on the bottom) using coal brick ovens which eventually led to the creation of the now famous New York-style pizza.

Locally BF Homes has several places where people can visit (call to order for delivery or take out) to enjoy pizza and the good thing for residents of the community is that they don’t have to travel too far away to avail of it. Also there is nothing like having pizza delivered to the home where families can enjoy it in private and in comfort.

Believe it or not, pizza has a whole lot of history behind it and this goes centuries back to the past and overseas.

Legends and history

As its history goes way far back, the definitive inventor of pizza remains undetermined until now. Among the most popular legends behind the creation of the pizza was a 6^th century B.C. story about soldiers of Persia’s Darius the Great baked a flat bread on their shields which they covered with cheese and dates. Another legend suggests that soldiers from Rome gained a taste for Jewish Matzoth while stations in Roman-occupied Palestine and developed a similar food after returning home.

During the 3^rd century B.C. it was said that Marcus Proscious Cato – Cato the Elder – wrote the first history of Rome and wrote what could be a description of the pizza as a “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs, and honey baked on stones”. Also there is reference that ancient Greeks had a flat bread called plakounto (on which they placed toppings) and Greeks also founded the city of Neapolis in Italy which was later renamed as Naples which in turn became home of the so-called modern pizza.

Regarding the use of mozzarella cheese, it has been said that the introduction of the water buffalo into Italy was a factor as its unique milk served as a foundation of the said cheese. In 1998 the European Union gave mozzarella a Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (TSG) certification which means that mozzarella sold in the EU is produced according to a traditional recipe.

In Italian cuisine, mozzarella cheese is considered essential on making pizza and Italian pizzerias are known to not using the dried, shredded type of cheese found on many American pizzas. In the year 1522, tomatoes were brought back to Europe from Peru which caused quite a stir as many perceived them to be poisonous. Centuries later it was the poor people living in Naples who consumed them, found them to be safe and added them to their yeast dough which supposedly created the first simple pizza (the Neapolitan Pizza or pizza napolitana).

After some time, the peasant-designed Neapolitan Pizza made its way up Italy’s social ladder reaching members of the local aristocracy who eventually loved it and by then street vendors sold the said pizza to satisfy public demand. In the year 2010, Neapolitan Pizza was declared a TSG product in Europe and its certification defined it as “as a round product baked exclusively in wood-fired ovens at a temperature of 485°C for between 60 to 90 seconds with a variable diameter not exceeding 35 cm, a raised rim (1–2 cm thick) and a garnished centre (0.4 cm thick).” The TSG certification requires that the Neapolitan Pizza must be “tender, elastic and easily foldable.”

In the year 1889, Italy’s Queen Margherita visited the Pizzeria Brandi in Naples and its pizza maker on duty that day – Rafaele Esposito – created a pizza for her that contained the three colors of what was then the new Italian Flag. It had color red of tomato, white of mozzarella and green of basil and Queen Margherita loved it. This led to what is now known as Pizza Margherita.

Fast forward to the 20^th century, pizza made its way around America and into Americans’ preference for food starting with its early 1900s beginning in New York’s Little Italy. During their time in Italy in World War II, American soldiers got to appreciate pizza and brought home with them a craving for it.

In the 1950s, celebrities of Italian origin that include Frank Sinatra, Jerry Colonna, Jimmy Durante and Joe DiMaggio ate pizzas which caught the attention of the public in America. By the year 1957, the frozen pizza was introduced and proved to be a useful addition for local grocery stores which attracted families who wanted to cook the pizza at home in a somewhat convenient fashion. In the year 2013, it was estimated that American consumers spent $37 billion on pizza accounting for roughly a third of the global market.

Image Comics at 25 (and more)

2017-02-11T22:52:00.002-08:00

Image Comics at 25 (and more)
by Carlo Carrasco

Note: This is an extended version of the article that got published in NewsVille (Paranaque City, Philippines) on January 19, 2017

The Image Comics Founding Fathers were (back row) Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, (front row) Whilce Portacio, Jim Lee and Jim Valentino.

Over the past several decades, superhero comic book publishing in America has pretty much been dominated by the “Big Two” namely DC Comics and Marvel Comics. While there are indeed other superhero comic publishers, the two very old companies have an archrivalry (now on the Hollywood level) that may never be matched by others. Aside from that, Marvel and DC each have their own key characters who eventually became icons of American culture such as Wonder Woman, Captain America, Superman, Spider-Man and Batman. Let us not forget that the Big Two also collectively published many of the most significant comic storylines and remain dominant commercially until now.

Of course the stories and art of their published works would not have been possible without hired creators such as the writers, illustrators, inkers, colorists, letterers and editors. Believe it or not, there were seven high-profile comic book artists and one other creator (Chris Claremont) who worked hard for Marvel until they got frustrated with them and decided to abandon the company altogether to form their own publisher – Image Comics.

For the uninitiated, Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher that was co-founded by illustrators Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino and Whilce Portacio. Those guys’ works with Marvel covered the X-Men, Spider-Man, Wolverine, New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor and Guardians of the Galaxy to name some. As Marvel Comics achieved tremendous commercial success with them, the seven artists were paid standard page rates, modest royalties and had to deal with a corporate policy that automatically grants the company ownership of their creations.

In response to Marvel, Rob Liefeld said "Without your creative people, there would be no Batman, there would be no Spider-Man, there would be no Hulk. That's short-sighted as far as I am concerned. You will need warm bodies, warm creative bodies to create properties to keep your company going."

Early on Rob Liefeld desired to publish his own comic book while working on The New Mutants for Marvel. Liefeld placed an ad in Comic Buyers Guide for his project entitled Executioners but was stopped by Marvel’s legal team which sent him a cease-and-desist demand. At that point of time Todd McFarlane privately wanted to launch his creation Spawn but was worried that his personal direction for it would never be realized under any major publishing label. Apart from being legally constrained, the artists received no royalties with regards to sales Marvel made with merchandise (examples: T-shirts, posters) that used their art.

According to the documentary The Image Revolution, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld entered the office of one of Marvel’s top executives (supposedly Terry Stewart) in December 1991 to express that they had it with them and decided to leave. McFarlane’s wife Wanda and infant daughter witnessed the meeting.

Liefeld meanwhile claimed that during the meeting, the door of the office was slightly opened and that Marvel’s then editor-in-chief (supposedly Tom DeFalco) somehow fell on the floor as it opened further revealing that he was eavesdropping.

After leaving Marvel Comics’ office, the group went through the streets of New York City to visit the office of rival DC Comics and met with their executives (unidentified for legal reasons). As that was Jim Lee’s first time to visit the company, there were staffers in DC who were so surprised and reacted as if the best-selling X-Men artist was joining them.

During the office meeting involving the executives and several comic book editors, the company of Superman-Wonder Woman-Batman invited McFarlane, Liefeld and Lee (who himself joined DC in 1999) to work for them and even announced they had worked on a new contract for better rights and better working conditions for the creative community. McFarlane responded by asking if DC actually consulted with a single creative person when making the contract. The response from them was a “pregnant pause” according to McFarlane. Ultimately the group made clear they did not leave Marvel to work for DC but to go on their own way which led to the founding of Image Comics (with four other artists).

Marc Silvestri: It would be nice to write something you wanna write, draw something you wanna draw and it will go straight through without anyone saying 'well you know what, I kinda like to change this.'

Even without the Internet, news of the popular artists leaving spread like wildfire and caused Marvel’s stock price to fall down $3.25 per share. Thanks to Jim Valentino’s previous experience with self-publishing, the group of seven artists decided on the idea of hiring Malibu Comics to handle the infrastructure and logistics of running a comic company for that first year until they can handle it themselves. Malibu itself was sympathetic to the artists’ struggle and eventually became Image’s publisher-of-record until the latter became independent.

After struggling a lot, the artists’ dream projects came true in 1992. Liefeld’s Youngblood was launched as well as McFarlane’s Spawn, Lee’s WildCATs: Covert Action Teams, Silvestri’s Cyberforce, Valentino’s Shadowhawk, Larsen’s Savage Dragon and last but not least Portacio’s Wetworks (1994). Even though the quality of the stories were uneven, the launch issues of those comics became hot collector’s items and the concept of creator-owned projects finally gained mainstream attention among readers.

Todd McFarlane's dream project launched big tim in May 1992 as Spawn #1 sold 1.7 million copies. Today Spawn is an icon.

In relation to Image’s formation, Marvel publicly stated that creative people are secondary to comic book characters. This cause Rob Liefeld to respond saying: “Without your creative people, there would be no Batman, there would be no Spider-Man, there would be no Hulk. That's short-sighted as far as I am concerned. You will need warm bodies, warm creative bodies to create properties to keep your company going.”

Now 25-years-old, Image Comics continues to exist and has sold millions of comic books around the world. The Image Founding Fathers eventually formed their own studios publishing with a corporate philosophy that Image Comics itself would not own any creator’s work, that the company would not own any intellectual property other than company trademarks and its corporate name, and that no partner would interfere (creatively or financially) with another partner’s work.

Under the Image banner, McFarlane founded Todd McFarlane Productions, Jim Lee started WildStorm Productions (has since joined DC Comics in 1999), Marc Silvestri has Top Cow, Rob Liefeld with Extreme Studios, Jim Valentino has his Shadowline and Erik Larsen founded Highbrow Entertainment.

The launch of Image in 1992 was indeed a very exciting time for readers and collectors who anticipated the respective comic books of the different creators. I remember the initial shipment of WildCATs: Covert Action Teams #1, Cyberforce #1, Spawn #1 and Youngblood #1 quickly selling out at local comic book stores. Sometime later, there was a “gold” cover edition of WildCATs: Covert Action Teams #1 being sold for over $250!

Along the way, new creators broke into comics through Image as the Founding Fathers expanded their projects for publishing. One notable talent was J. Scott Campbell who, in response to a talent search, submitted a 4-page WildCATs story to the WildStorm (then referred to as Homage Studios) which led to Jim Lee himself calling the artist and asked if he could move to the city of San Diego in California to work for him. After doing early WildStorm projects, Campbell went on to work on the Gen13 mini-series which became a major seller and a red-hot item for collectors during the Comic Book Speculator Boom. Unsurprisingly Campbell became very popular.

(From L to R) Gen13 #5 variant cover drawn by Whilce Portaction, Backlash #6 cover art by Brett Booth and Glory #4 cover art drawn by Mike Deodato.

While new talents were introduced, Image also attracted experienced creators such as Art Thibert who not only inked covers of titles like Brigade, Spawn and Team Youngblood but even had his creator-owned project Black and White published with the company. Over at the side of Todd McFarlane, artist Bart Sears got hired to illustrate the Violator mini-series released in late 1994. McFarlane himself got other notable creators like Alan Moore and Frank Miller as guest writers on Spawn.

As of this writing McFarlane is President of the company and still remaining are Valentino, Silvestri and Larsen. Other than emphasizing creator-owned projects, Image’s more adulterated approach to storytelling arguably influenced other writers and artists to pursue independent or experimental projects. Image also published science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction and humor works while also attracting talented creators. Finally, McFarlane’s Spawn is now an American pop culture icon.

They may not be perfect nor were they able to break the comic book duopoly of Marvel and DC but it cannot be denied that Image Comics defined creator-owned comic book projects big-time. The struggles of its seven co-founders still resonate with creators and aspiring creators who have their own dream projects to this day. If you want to go independent in comic book publishing, learn from McFarlane, Lee, Liefeld, Valentino, Silvestri, Portacio and Larsen.

For your Halloween satisfaction

2016-10-31T08:17:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween to all of you.

If you're at home alone in front of your computer looking for horror-related videos to satisfy your Halloween spirit, then I would recommend watching these videos from Watchmojo.

Enjoy watching these.

X-Men 2099 revisited

2016-10-25T06:12:00.003-07:00

X-Men 2099 revisited

by Carlo Carrasco

Note: This is a longer version of the same article that I wrote and got published in The Geek's Corner column in NewsVille, a community newspaper based in BF Homes, Paranaque City, Philippines.

X-Men of 2099!

In August of 1993, I hurriedly went home to open a brand new comic book that I bought from a comic book store that was located along Presidents Avenue, Barangay BF Homes, Paranaque, Philippines. That comic book was X-Men 2099 #1 (cover date October 1993) which was the fifth new monthly series title launched by Marvel Comics under its 2099 franchise.

At the time the publisher claimed that the 2099 imprint was selling a lot and that they received feedback from fans to do a futuristic team based on the super popular X-Men. Considering the ballooning comic book speculator bubble at the time, I personally felt that X-Men 2099 was launched to take advantage of the big spending Marvel made on promoting the 30^th anniversary of the X-Men franchise.

Under the watch of line editor Joey Cavalieri, the chief creators of X-Men 2099 were John Francis Moore (who wrote Doom 2099) and Ron Lim (best known for Silver Surfer) and together they came up with a concept of a team of struggling mutants who were not futuristic versions of well-known X-Men characters like Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Jean Grey and Professor X. Instead they came up with a batch of new mutants who really had almost no connection nor influence from their 20^th century counterparts.

Already a prolific artist at Marvel, Ron Lim worked a lot on X-Men 2099 and with writer John Francis Moore helped to visually expand the world of Marvel 2099.

To put things in perspective the 20^th century X-Men strongly focused on mutants yearning for freedom and acceptance while protecting human society from villains (even though the society rejects them out of fear), X-Men 2099 meanwhile was about mutants traveling in the western wilderness (inspired by Mad Max movies) of America where they are somewhat free from the clutches of the dictatorial mega-corporate societies yet are still in danger from the outlaws of the land. At the same time mutants in the late-21^stcentury are a slave class of people who were born to families living in poverty.

The original X-Men 2099 was composed of Tim/Skullfire, Shakti/Cerebra, Henri/Meanstreak, Lemuel/Bloodhawk, Ruth/Krystalin, Edward/Metalhead, Kimberly Kristine/Serpentina and Xi’an/Desert Ghost. The story begins when the homeless Tim (who cleverly symbolized the reader’s curiosity) entered a large quiet facility in the middle of the Nevada desert and shockingly finds many people inside partying and enjoying themselves. He bumps into Kimberly who explains that a gathering was organized for a major speech by outlaw-turned-messianic leader Xi’an who happens to be the leader of the X-Men (and also one of the successors to Professor Charles Xavier) of that era.

Because of Xi’an’s crusade, he got into conflict with the patriarch of a very powerful family that runs a crime syndicate and a casino. Obviously Xi’an and his X-Men became targets and their struggle to survive the attacks begins. Tim’s entry into the team got realized after saving Xi’an from certain death by sniper fire.

If there is anything worth analyzing on X-Men 2099, it’s the fact that ethnic minorities were highlighted through the characters and that stereotyping was defied. Tim is the white Caucasian American (Kimberly the other) who finds himself in a group led by Xi’an who is of Vietnamese heritage with no connections to the Vietnam War (which was still fresh in Americans’ minds in the 1990s). Henri is the superfast Chinese American member presented as a non-martial artist who is talented with technology and super speed. Shakti is the Southeast Asian who deserted her ruthless, powerful father to start a whole new life and use her mutant power to sense the presence of other mutants (similar to Professor Xavier’s Cerebro). Ruth is of Wakandan heritage who left the para-military organization that was inspired by her ethnic traditions.

At the same time X-Men 2099 provided readers something new when it comes exploring other parts of the 2099 universe. There were outlaws, mutants and other kinds of characters and concepts that made X-Men 2099 different enough from the other 2099 titles.

When comparing past to the future, the 20th century X-Men we're familiar with was most often about mutants trying to find their place in a world dominated by humans many of which are afraid of mutants. In X-Men 2099, it's more about mutants struggling to survive the lawlessness of the wilderness before realizing their true purpose as a people.

As Tim/Skullfire said in X-Men 2099 #25: You can't expect to be handed a world where humans and mutants coexist peacefully, you have to build it brick by brick.

Considering the economic conditions of the American comic book industry at the time, X-Men 2099 was pretty successful achieving an average paid circulation of 368,867 per month (versus 515,042 copies printed monthly) during the first 12 months. By 2016 standards, that’s even higher than what Marvel Comics achieved this year with Black Panther #1’s 253,258 and the 235,791 of DC Comics’ DC Universe: Rebirth #1. For those who are unaware, the American comic book industry shrunk significantly since the industry crash of the mid-1990s.

X-Men 2099’s commercial success faded subsequently as its 2^nd year average paid circulation fell down to 128,316 per month (a 65.2% drop) and the monthly printing of copies went down to 213,852 (down 58.5%). Before ending with 35 issues printed, X-Men 2099 even had an action figure lineup launched through Toy Biz.

Toy Biz's action figure of Skullfire under its X-Men 2099 line.

When I asked geeks (born in the 1970s up to 1985) what they thought about the comic book series of Marvel’s 2099 franchise, X-Men 2099 is the 2^nd most mentioned series next to Spider-Man 2099. They were split, however, regarding the main reason why they were attracted to that comic book title. Some admitted that the use of the X-Men brand lured them while others found its core concept and characters attractive to read. A few others mentioned they were fans of Ron Lim’s art style and there were also those who admitted they bought the first issue for the prospect of profiting. Among comic book collectors who were active in the 1990s, it’s no surprise that X-Men 2099 #1 (launch issue with foil cover) and #25 (with special cover) were the most collected.

To put it bluntly, X-Men 2099 is a relic of the 1990s comic book speculator boom culture that proved to be somewhat fun to read at first. While it is a fact that stories and the newer characters added failed to maintain public reader interest which led to a sharp decline in the 2^nd publishing year, John Francis Moore and Ron Lim did what they could to expand their own share of the 2099 universe given its setting being far away from futuristic New York (where Spider-Man 2099 and others were).

Believe it or not, Marvel Comics actually values X-Men 2099 and just a few months ago the mutants of 2099 appeared in X-Men ’92 #5 meeting Cyclops and Jean Grey. Something tells me we’ll see more of X-Men 2099 very soon.

Back to the Future with Marvel 2099

2016-10-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

Back to the Future with Marvel 2099

by Carlo Carrasco

Note: This is a longer version of the article I wrote for the community newspaper NewsVille (Issue 20, Volume 4, dated September 29-October 12, 2016) in the Philippines.

The 1990s was a decade of excess as well as lots of wild stuff in the realm of superheroes in America. During that decade seven high-profile artists deserted Marvel Comics to form Image Comics, DC Comics killed off Superman temporarily and broke Batman’s back, and countless comic book collectors hoarded comic books to make their dreams of big profits come true.

In the year 1992, Marvel Comics was feeling the heat of competition not just from DC Comics but also from the smaller but growing Valiant Comics and Image Comics. Behind the scenes there was this graphic novel project that initially involved the legendary Stan Lee and the highly talented John Byrne to portray a future world within the Marvel universe. Although Byrne abandoned the project and left Marvel, the publisher decided to develop it further into a new imprint called Marvel 2099 complete with creative teams to drive the four brand new monthly comic book series under the guidance of former DC Comics editor Joey Cavalieri.

In September 1992, the 2099 universe got realized with the launch of Spider-Man 2099 (written by Peter David and drawn by Rick Leonardi) which sold a lot of copies ending up as the 4^th biggest selling single issue of the year. A month later Ravage 2099 (team of Stan Lee and Paul Ryan) launched successfully and gave readers a close look at Paul Phillip Ravage who was the only 2099 character not to be based on any establish Marvel hero. Subsequently the team of John Francis Moore and Pat Broderick tried to twist readers’ expectations with the launch of Doom 2099 whose protagonist Doom was based on the iconic villain Dr. Doom. By the end of 1992, Punisher 2099 (team of Pat Mills, Tony Skinner and Tom Morgan) made its commercial debut and sold well.

At the heart of Marvel 2099 was its concept of a cyberpunk dystopia that was clearly influenced by the 1982 movie Blade Runner. It highlighted North America as a continent that has been completely dominated by the few, largest corporations – most notable of them was Alchemax - at a time when there are no more superheroes left.

In that future, people living in cities have no choice but to live under a constant atmosphere of suppression, propaganda, manipulation and even fascism. At the top are the all-powerful individuals who don’t just have tons of money in their bank accounts but also almost unlimited power.

In addition, the concept of governance is no longer democratic in nature but rather corporatized. It’s as if the 2099 universe creators saw the social concept of the 1987 movie RoboCop (a future Detroit that showed what would happen had Reaganomics and corporations were left unchecked) and decided to make their own vision of the future (within Marvel’s universe) inspired by it. For example, the justice system has been manipulated to penalize criminals (guilty of murder) with financial punishment instead of death penalty or imprisonment.

Marvel 2099’s social norms and themes got emphasized nicely. Spider-Man 2099 saw protagonist Miguel O’Hara working for Alchemax which he ends up conflicting with in his costumed form. Ravage 2099 emphasized corporate corruption which forced the hero to abandon his executive post to become a fighter supporting the helpless. Doom 2099 followed the exploits of a wildly ambitious and intelligent man who fearlessly challenges authority to satisfy his lust for power. Punisher 2099 meanwhile follows Jake Gallows’ struggle to restore old fashioned anti-crime methods which have long been abandoned by society.

With strong sales, a growing fanbase and lots of requests and demands coming in, Marvel expanded its 2099 lineup in 1993 by launching the quarterly comic series 2099 Unlimited (May) which introduced Hulk 2099, and launching the new monthly series X-Men 2099 (August). By the end of that year, the 2099 teams combined their efforts to produce the first-ever 2099 crossover storyline called The Fall of the Hammer which brought the four original protagonists and a few of the X-Men together in a single conflict instigated by a powerful being claiming to be Thor.

By 1994 the downward trend of the American comic book industry was starting to be felt. Monthly sales for the 2099 comic books deteriorated readers found the latest stories unengaging and comic book collectors tried to sell just about everything they have to make the best profit. Not even the 1994 launch of Ghost Rider 2099 could save the imprint from decline and as such the creative teams tried their best by presenting Doom 2099 as the real Dr. Doom (Victor Von Doom) who would go on to conquer the United States and impact the rest of the 2099 characters.

The situation at Marvel worsened in 1996 and the publisher made a cost-cutting move by firing 2099 line editor Joey Cavalieri which made many of the creators quit in protest. The publisher intriguingly went on to release X-Nation 2099, Fantastic Four 2099 and a special crossover comic book featuring Peter Park/Spider-Man encountering his 2099 counterpart. The imprint ended formally with the 1998 release of 2099: Manifest Destiny and became dormant.

In the following years Marvel published comics that revisited the 2099 universe and eventually they published the Timestorm 2009-2099 limited series which linked the present day Marvel universe with the futuristic one. Just over a year ago, there were new comic books of 2099 released in connection to the 2015 Secret Wars series.

Having read many Marvel 2099 comic books from the 1990s myself, I find its sci-fi futuristic concept rather interesting even though the qualities of the writing and art were collectively uneven. Peter David was a masterful storyteller whose work (with the artist) made Spider-Man 2099 the most engaging and longest lasting comic series of the imprint. Although Stan Lee’s writing style was outdated for the 1990s, his work ironically made Ravage 2099 interesting and the character’s appeal deteriorated quickly when new writers took over. X-Men 2099 had a serviceable storyline in the first three issues but quickly became uninteresting afterwards.

What I find impressive about Marvel 2099 was the way the creative teams made slight references to past Marvel superheroes (already gone in 2099’s society) without ever mentioning how they each ended. Punisher 2099 got hold of a journal written by his 20^th century counterpart Frank Castle while Miguel O’Hara confirmed early on he was familiar with the original Spider-Man.

It is true that Marvel 2099 was imperfect and will continue to be remembered with the 1990s era of comic book excess. What is clear, however, was that the publisher daringly decided to turn a graphic novel project (which had Ravage as the initial hero) into a new publishing franchise of different monthly series showcasing the far future with different versions of established Marvel superheroes.

Undoubtedly Marvel 2099 comic books’ strong sales start was connected to the comic book collectors’ combined efforts of buying the said comics as part of their respective campaigns to profit in the near future. The debut issues of Spider-Man 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, Punisher 2099, X-Men 2099 and Ghost Rider 2099 all had special foil-edge covers that were really attractive to the eyes of eager buyers.

With the publishing chapter done and millions of old 2099 comic books in bargain bins waiting to be bought, here’s the hot question: Will Marvel Studios ever consider making movies (or animated productions) based on its 2099 universe someday?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a masterpiece

2016-04-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a masterpiece

By Carlo Carrasco

Let’s get straight to the point. The much anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is easily the most daring attempt on telling a very adult-oriented superhero story in cinema while at the same time serving as a vehicle to quickly expand the DC Extended Universe that Warner Bros. and its creative team have been developing. Is it any good? I can boldly say it is a great film.

Set 18 months after the end of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman shows how much the world has changed and continues to struggle with Superman’s presence. Along the way Bruce Wayne/Batman has been doing lots of detective work to get to Superman whom he blames for the collapse of his business building (and deaths of his employees) during the destruction of Metropolis in the previous film. Meanwhile eccentric business tycoon Lex Luthor has been planning something big against Superman and this involves talking with government officials in order to obtain very important things he needs.

With regard to storytelling, the movie really felt like a very cinematic comic book which has Superman as the central figure while switching to the views of Batman, Luthor and Wonder Woman (in a small role). The first half of the movie was focused on story and character development with some action sequences that help prevent the movie from boring the viewer.

The second half of the film is where the pace really goes into overdrive leading to a very heavy action and special effects bonanza from director Zack Snyder and team. I also want to mention that the Batmobile sequence is fantastic to watch and it easily puts to shame the Tumbler from the Christian Bale Batman movie trilogy. I also love the way Batman moves and fights against multiple armed thugs near the end of the movie which eerily resembled action seen in the Batman: Arkham video games complete with Batman moving so fluidly. The hard action sequences were also a nice change of action style from director Zack Snyder as he did not have to rely on computer graphics.

At the same time the so-called “heavy spoilers” from the movie trailers did not really spoil the movie at all as there were literally tons of surprises and other forms of cinematic spectacle that not only amazed me but also intrigued me. Going back to the storytelling, Batman v Superman’s presentation is clearly geared towards young adults and adult viewers as it contains mature elements like terrorism, torture, some sensuality and even horror jump scares. It’s a PG-13 rated movie that bordered on R-rating territory.

In terms of performance, Ben Affleck is very outstanding as Bruce Wayne/Batman. With Batman serving as a crucial viewpoint of the audience, Affleck successfully portrayed the Dark Knight as having been fighting crime for decades who lost lots of sleep because he was so driven with detective work, who is bitter, who is not enjoying life and his view of the world changed because of Superman. The translation of the icon from literature to cinema was flawless and Affleck nailed it.

As I expected, Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is a combination of pre-Crisis and post-Crisis Luthor with a notable touch of eccentricity which led to a few funny moments (perhaps Warner Bros.’ way of countering the Marvel Studios-style humor without going overboard). Gal Gadot meanwhile successfully portrayed Wonder Woman respectfully and already I’m excited to see more of her in the 2017 standalone movie of the queen of superheroes. Gadot’s Wonder Woman closely resembles her comic book counterpart and shows precisely what she would do in society. Jeremy Irons is great as Alfred even though he’s portrayed more like covert mission operator than as a butler.

With regard to weaknesses, Batman v Superman’s narrative suffers somewhat when the film tries hard to emphasize world-building related to expanding the DC Extended Universe. You will see short but notable visuals confirming the existence of the other members of the soon-to-be-formed Justice League. Another weakness is the somewhat shortened presence of Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman which was not a surprise since the movie was about building the path to the Justice League movie.

Overall Batman v Superman is a truly great movie that is worth waiting years for (or decades in the case of DC Comics fans). It delivered its big promise on showcasing the DC trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman on the big screen which essentially established a strong foundation of expanding the DC Extended Universe. The big battle between Superman and Batman lived up to its promise too. The movie’s dark tone, gritty and adult-oriented approach to presentation clearly sets it apart from the superhero flicks that have been released since the year 2000. Even though it is not a Justice League movie, I enjoyed Batman v Superman a lot more than 2012’s The Avengers (which was a very great and magical film to watch). At this stage the future looks bright for DC Comics movies.

Score: 9 out of 10

When Kirk took command of the Enterprise away from the rightful captain

2015-08-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

There is nothing like getting demoted and losing a ton of value in a flash.

Such a case happened in the 1979 sci-fi movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Below here is a scene that showed how Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) replaced Decker (Stephen Collins) to relieve him of his command of the Starship Enterprise and subsequently take control of it.

If you were Decker - who spent a lot of time and effort improving the ship - you would really get angry and frustrated.

What is most notable about the scene is that it shows the hero Kirk in a forceful and undesirable manner.

If you can't get enough of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, watch Oliver Harper's in-depth retrospective review of the movie below.

Friday the 13th - struggling to survive

2015-01-09T03:27:00.000-08:00

What is pretty common in slasher horror movies is the struggle between the protagonist and the villain. During such encounters the protagonist really struggles to survive and the tension and emotion running high hampers the efforts to survive in a more efficient manner. In other words, surviving from the onslaught of a killer is hard and unpredictable to pull off.

Just watch these key scenes from the first three Friday the 13th movies.

What I like about this scene from 1980's Friday the 13th is the clever use of the first-person view (seeing what the character sees) in key moments of the struggle between Alice (Adrienne King) and Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) which really delivered that in-your-face touch. They also added to the tension.

In Friday the 13th Part 2, there's the nice capture of the feet of Jason Voorhees stepping and searching around until Ginny (Amy Steel) is seen hiding. The view added some depth to the suspense. Oh yes, Ginny's struggle with Jason has that nice raw feel when it was executed. You can clearly see Amy Steel exerting effort with the chainsaw and the chair.

For Friday the 13th Part 3, Dana Kimmell as Chris was memorable in her scene with Jason. The energy, emotion and freaking explain why her character eventually ended up crazed.

Comic Book Review: Hardcase #1 (1993, Malibu Comics)

2014-12-16T07:01:00.002-08:00

By Carlo Carrasco

Released in mid-1993, Hardcase #1 introduced readers to Tom Hawke who is an actor who went from a wanna-be to a celebrity. The story – written by James Hudnall and drawn by Jim Callahan – is not that simple and took a layered approach to presenting the protagonist’s exploits.

The comic book starts with a deeply hurt Tom Hawke (who was not yet Hardcase) whose three teammates D.J. Blast, Forsa and Starburst (his love interest) were being killed by a large robotic enemy whose head, jaw and color eerily resembled that of Xenomorphs in the Alien movies popularized by directors Ridley Scott and James Cameron.

In a desperate effort, D.J. Blast charged himself up to cause a desperate powerful explosion to destroy the enemy but not before Hawke took Starburst with him and jumped far away to escape the blast.

Unsurprisingly survival became hollow for Hawke as he struggled not only to recover from his injury but also dealt with the critical condition of Starburst whose doctor confirmed that she sustained serious brain damage and that she was unlikely to recover.

Filled with grief and even guilt, Hawke struggled to change for the better and by utilizing his superhuman talent he eventually went into showbiz as an actor. In the present he got into making movies (during which he wore the costume that defined him in the comics), earning lots of money and talking with varied showbiz professionals on projects.

While life became more progressive, Hawke still was not at peace with himself deep inside. As he signed an autograph for a policeman’s son, he revealed that he was just lucky being the only survivor when his team – The Squad – met its tragic end and that even as an ultra himself, he felt that he was not any good in a serious crisis. Feeling guilty, he admitted he let his friends down.

Analytically, the creative team did nice a job fleshing out Hardcase from his days with The Squad to the present as an actor in good demand. The approach of showing him struggle with guilt over the tragedy that claimed two friends’ lives and disabling his love interest is pretty unique and at the same time engaging to read. In this way, Hardcase is a superhero who is not exactly the happy and stable figure to the public but one whose life is imperfect and having no choice but to pay the price of life through a major disaster that hurt him physically and on the heart. Not even the success and promising opportunities of showbiz could lift his spirit.

On other matters, the comic book had plenty of action and that includes some gruesome and bloody scenes. Not only that the transition from one scene to another was smooth and well paced.

Safe to say Hardcase is the flawed and struggling hero that people of different walks of life can relate with. For this concept alone brilliantly done by Hudnall and Callahan, Hardcase #1 is highly recommended for all comic collectors.

About Microsoft publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider

2014-12-10T03:10:00.000-08:00

The news is all out that Microsoft will be publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider instead of Square Enix and this comes shortly after the "shocker" that Street Fighter V will be released only on PS4 and PC. As far as exclusives go, Xbox One and Xbox 360 will have Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusively (no telling if permanently) while PS4 has the sequel to the best-selling fighting game franchise.

I should say that I am no longer an avid fan of the Tomb Raider and Street Fighter game franchises. I became tired of the fighting game genre and the days of me enjoying SF, Tekken, Virtua Fighter and other fighting games were long over. So in my view, the PS4 having Street Fighter V was no big deal.

It's different with Tomb Raider and it all goes down to the action-adventure game genre which in my opinion is more enjoyable and more interesting than fighting games when done well. While I am no longer an avid Tomb Raider fan - I got fed up of the franchise after playing Tomb Raider Chronicles - the 2013 reboot proved to be a very enjoyable game for me and somewhat reignited my interest in that franchise.

Arguably Tomb Raider of 2013 would not have been possible if it were not for the tremendous critical and commercial success of Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 which many claimed redefined the action-adventure game genre. The creative team behind the Tomb Raider reboot really pushed themselves and ultimately I enjoyed the 2013 game a lot. To put it short, the reboot was the best Tomb Raider game I ever played.

Square Enix expressed some time ago that the Tomb Raider reboot's sales did not meet their expectations and my guess is that Microsoft went in, took advantage of their "disappointment" and got Rise of the Tomb Raider as an exclusive. As publisher Microsoft will market and distribute the game while Square Enix will most likely relax a bit knowing that the risk is on Microsoft and the Xbox consoles. If Rise of the Tomb Raider flops, it will hurt the Xbox brand.

Of course game developer Crystal Dynamics is expected to deliver their best and who knows? Rise of the Tomb Raider may just be worth the wait and it just might be worth buying an Xbox console for come late 2015.

Comic Book Review: Spider-Man 2099 #1 (1992, Marvel Comics)

2014-12-07T06:12:00.001-08:00

by Carlo Carrasco

Released in late-1992 by Marvel Comics, Spider-Man 2099 #1 not only marked the debut of Marvel’s 2099 universe but also answered the dream of some Spider-Man fans as to what if their favorite hero (or at least a different character being spiritually Spidey) lived in a very futuristic, high-tech society like that of Blade Runner.

With its story written by the legendary Peter David and drawn by Rick Leonardi (who drew some Spider-Man comics previously), the comic book introduced readers to Miguel O’Hara who is a very talented geneticist working for Alchemax with an interest on the original Spider-Man (Peter Parker). As head of the company’s genetics project (working under Aaron Delgado who answers to R&D Vice President Tyler Stone), the Latino O’Hara planned to create new and powerful beings called “corporate raiders” (which reflects Alchemax’s planned control over them).

O’Hara intends to create a new being with abilities and specialties similar to that of the classic Spider-Man and it is clear in the story that he has vested interest with him having existing records from the past.

Even with very high-tech equipment and resources, a genetic experiment using a living person went horribly wrong which brought way down O’Hara’s morale and spirit. Discouraged and filled with guilt he visits Stone’s office to express his desire to resign. Seeking to calm O’Hara down, Tyler offers him a drink and at this point of the story things really start taking twists leading to how O’Hara becomes Spider-Man of his era. You’ll just have to read the comic book.

From a visual standpoint, Rick Leonardi did a nice job bringing 2099’s society to life with those high-tech machines, floating vehicles, buildings with very futuristic designs, nice looking action, etc. On pages 2 and 3 you’ll see Spider-Man 2099’s first-ever appearance literally coming straight at you which is to say the least memorable. Oh yes, the late Al Williamson inked the art.

Storytelling was nicely paced. The chase and action scenes in the start were pretty fast and clearly Peter David took his time controlling the pace when it came down to emphasizing characters and telling the back story. He really defined Miguel O’Hara’s personality and within a few minutes any reader will realize that the protagonist is not the “typical and likeable” hero some would expect.

In fact Miguel O’Hara is somewhat arrogant and even had the guts to stand up to Tyler Stone. He’s a lonely guy as well and spends a lot of time interacting and depending on Lyla, a holographic aid with artificial intelligence.

With regard to the presentation of genetics, Peter David was clearly influenced by the 1986 movie The Fly directed by David Cronenberg. Even that movie’s title was mentioned in the comic book. That being said the story shed light on the risks and possible unethical approach to scientific experiments that involved the manipulation of human genetics. Along the way it clearly dramatizes the complete power and freedom (and abuse perhaps) Alchemax enjoys with its operations and that nothing could stop them.

Overall Spider-Man 2099 #1 is worth looking for and collecting even though it is over twenty-years-old now. Sure it has that 1990s vibe in terms of visuals but it is indeed refreshing to read especially after reading many of today’s “modern” art in comics (especially with the recent Spider-Man 2099 comics).

Even until now Spider-Man 2099 #1 is still one of the very best 2099 comic books ever released. It is a classic in its own right.