Christmas Gift

I'm one of the hardest people to shop gifts for on Christmas and my birthday. So when my younger sister goes off-the-books (or Amazon wish list), I know she did her research.

She gave me a Walking Dead themed gift package for Christmas:

1. Archery lessons for two
2. Zombie Apocalypse themed room escape
3. "Keep your eye on the" Target gift card
4. "Survival Kit" Kat bars from Japan (cheesecake flavor)

She hinted being +1 for the archery lessons. I've booked next Saturday for that. The week after will be my zombie room escape. I looked at their webpage and almost everyone gets caught. We'll see about that.

I'm done.

Movies I've Seen - December 2015

December is when I catch up on all the movies I haven't seen.

1. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) - This movie caught me by surprise. I remember the trailer in theaters last year, but I didn't think it would be so good. Also Rated-R. I didn't think it would be, but it is. The Kingsman are secret agents outside of British Intelligence. Their goals are ultimately the same. The movie portrayed a dark, almost comedic spin to the spy film genre. Colin Firth was pretty good.

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - After almost a decade since Revenge of the Sith, we have another Star Wars movie and it's the direct sequel to Return of the Jedi and it did not disappoint. I don't remember much from the original trilogy, but I get the gist of the story and what happened. The prequel trilogy is still fresh on my mind. The Force Awakens takes the best part about the original trilogy and amped it up in the story department with minimal or barely noticeable CGI, relying instead on practical effects. I think the best thing about good CGI is that you never know it's there unlike the prequel episodes. Can't wait for Episode 8.

3. The Divergent Series: Insurgent - this sequel came out back in March. They just started showing it on HBO this month and I finally got a chance to watch it. I can see many similarities between this and The Maze Runner. Overall, it's about the chosen one trope again. These movies get me wondering if the authors wrote the books with their ulterior goal of having a movie franchise made. It's so formulaic.

4. Wild (2014) - Reese Witherspoon deserves the nomination for her performance. She plays a woman who takes on a 94-day hike on the Pacific Crest Trail to find herself or maybe as punishment for losing herself after losing her mother to cancer. I like movies about atonement and reflection.

5. Her (2013) - I think a lot of people were creeped out by this movie when the trailer hit theaters. In the not too distant future, a not too recently single Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) buys an Operating System with real artificial intelligence built in. He sets up his computer and customizes it to his liking, giving the AI a female voice just like Siri for iPhone or Cortana for Windows Phone. He names the AI as "Samantha" and throughout the movie, Samantha learns about the world through her interactions with Theodore as they talk to each other. It's an odd concept, but no matter how weird it is, "falling in love is kind of like a form of socially-acceptable insanity." I know people who are in a relationship even when they've only seen the person online and never physically met them. For better or worse, technology alters the way we love. And even as the world changes, matters of the heart remain the same.

6. This Is Where I Leave You (2014) - Stars Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Dax Shepard, Jane Fonda, Timothy Olyphant, and other actors. It's a comedy-drama. This is the genre for people who want comedy, drama and subtle romance that is not the centerpiece of the plot. Four siblings are reunited with their mother and friends in their hometown after their father passed away. Their mother requested a shiva (a week-long mourning in the Jewish faith). Things about their past are brought up and they learn more about each other.

7. Wish I Was Here (2014) - Zach Braff's kickstarter movie. I wanted to watch this when it came out last year, but the subject matter about a terminally-ill father was just too much for me to deal with at the time with my father's situation. I finally saw it last night and I just want to say that Zach Braff is a wonderful human being for loving his craft and sharing the creative process with his fans and to the world. The themes have been explored before in Garden State, but I could say the same about all genre movies. I think it's worth repeating.

I'm done.

My Thanksgiving Week

My family usually spend Thanksgiving in New York City. We tried the whole "having a big feast with out of town relatives" thing, but they live out of town and don't get to come over. So we started doing our own tradition, going to New York City. We explore the museums, Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza, Chinatown, Park Place, Broadway shows, Time Square, etc. We turned it into a sight-seeing Thanksgiving trip.

We're doing something different this year. We're visiting Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, primarily seeing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's been 5 years since all of us went there.

I didn't take as many photos as I normally do, but I recorded a ton of clips from Wednesday to Friday. Actually, towards the third day, I didn't take as many videos and just took photos, posting them to my instagram.

I've compiled my videos below on a YouTube playlist, starting with clips I recorded from five years ago. I had them lying around in my external harddrive so I figured, "why not use them?"

I'm done.

Movies I’ve Seen – November 2015

1. Spectre - The latest James Bond movie with Daniel Craig. This might be his last role as Bond. If so, it ended on a good note. The opening theme song by Sam Smith is probably one of the best Bond theme songs. It captures the life that Bond (Craig's Bond) has led since Casino Royale. As a spy, it's hard for him to get attached to anyone. All his loved ones leave or die. The theme song captures it. As for the story, it continues the overall arc of Craig's Bond. In short, he learns that all his enemies so far were connected under one person. It's not on par as Skyfall, but it's close enough.

2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - I've never read the books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this franchise. I think most people only liked the Hunger Games part of the series (fighting against each other). The series is much more than that and tackles corruption, propaganda and society. I like how this series ended.

3. Strange Magic - This CG animated film is an example that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I heard about the movie earlier this year, but had no plan to see it. I think I probably shrugged it off as another generic Pixar-wannabe film produced and created by George Lucas... of Star Wars fame. Then they were showing it on one of the premium cable channels and I was surprised in the same way as when I first saw Shrek. The Bog King (Alan Cumming), leader of the Dark Forest, hates the notion of love and has ordered the destruction of all primroses, which are an essential ingredient of love potions. However, when he meets Marianne (Evan Rachel Wood), a feisty fairy princess whose heart was broken by a philandering fiance, he begins to change his mind. Meanwhile, an elf named Sunny (Elijah Kelley) makes his way to the Dark Forest to collect enough primrose petals for a potion of his own.

I'm done.

Saddling Up in Assassin's Creed III

The latest Assassin's Creed game (Assassin's Creed Syndicate) lets you drift on a horse-drawn carriage in the streets of London, but Assassin's Creed III is the last game in the franchise where your character can ride a horse. This is me saddling up on all main maps in the game: Davenport Homestead, the Frontier, Boston, and New York. I excluded both Benedict Arnold Missions and The Tyranny of King Washington DLCs.

Davenport Homestead....02min20sec
Frontier...........................05min09sec
Boston............................04min19sec
New York.......................02min28sec
----------------------------------------------------------
Total...............................13min56sec

I'm done.

Strolling Through Assassin's Creed III

Strolling through all the walkable locations in Assassin's Creed 3 (AC3): Davenport Homestead, the Frontier, Boston, and New York. I excluded both Benedict Arnold Missions and The Tyranny of King Washington DLCs.

Davenport Homestead....08min07sec
Frontier...........................25min49sec
Boston............................16min17sec
New York........................09min34sec
----------------------------------------------------------
Total...............................59min47sec

I'm done.

Sprinting Through Assassin's Creed III

So I sprinted through all the walkable locations in Assassin's Creed 3 (AC3): Davenport Homestead, the Frontier, Boston, and New York. I excluded both Benedict Arnold Missions and The Tyranny of King Washington DLCs.

Interestingly enough, Both AC3 and Assassin's Creed Rogue's New York maps are about the same distance when sprinting through them from south end point to the wall boundary in the north at about 4 minutes.

Davenport Homestead....02min33sec
Frontier...........................07min49sec
Boston............................05min19sec
New York.......................04min02sec
----------------------------------------------------------
Total...............................19min43sec

I'm done.

Who Are We?

There was a TV show called Ed back in the day about a Bowling-Alley lawyer. The premise was that on the same day he got fired from his job (for drafting a contract with a misplaced comma, costing his law firm $1.6 million), he comes home to find his wife sleeping with a mailman. His wife made a point it wasn't their mailman. He spends some time back to his hometown in Stuckeyville, Ohio, reuniting with old friends and his high school crush. He decides to win her heart, move to Stuckeyville, buy a rundown bowling alley and open his own law firm.

In one episode, Ed was hired by a psychologist who was sued for allegedly scamming people. The psychologist explains to Ed that this was part of his research (I think it was). He asks him to think of a number between 1 to 10. The psychologist guessed correctly: 7. The psychologist asked Ed again to think of a number between 1 to 100. He guessed correctly: 37.

Statistically, 7 and 37 are the most common numbers people think of from 1-10 and 1-100, respectively. In the lawsuit, the psychologist sent e-mails to a distribution list, predicting which team would win in a ball game. All he did was send half the people a prediction and the other half another team winning. On the winning half, he divides it again and so on. The people who were randomly placed in the 'always' winning distribution list surmised this guy as the real deal. Some people started betting real money on the games. This is part of a general phenomenon known as subjective validation.

Subjective validation occurs when two or more unrelated or random events are perceived to be related because a belief, expectation, or hypothesis demands a relationship. This phenomenon is also related to the Barnum effect, where individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. It provides us a partial explanation to why people believe in horoscopes, astrology, and personality tests.

I recently read a horoscope infograph on Facebook, describing the personalities of each sign. I scrolled down to my sign and thought "that kind of describes me." I read the other signs. They are just as vague as the others and might as well describe me. Some of them, at least.

This got me thinking about personality tests. I know of people who are vehemently against religion, pseudoscience and supernatural things, yet welcome the Myers Briggs test with open arms. 

Are people just inclined to seek patterns and meaning regardless of religion, creed, belief system or lack thereof? Do people take these readings and personality test results at face value or aspire to represent them in a self-fulfilling prophetic way? What makes us us? What make me me? What makes you you?

I'm done.

The New Job

1. In the IT world, especially companies dealing with government and sensitive info, security is everything. It's the third day of my new job and they're still processing my badge. I have my laptop setup, but I can't login without my badge. So I'm reading and re-reading documents my coworker printed for me about the programs we support. Once I'm done, I stare at the wall for hours. Hence my new posts.
2. Had lunch with a former co-worker and her co-worker earlier. It's been a while since we left that really awful experience for a job at that company, which still holds the title as the worst, period, job, period ever, period. She's still in the area so it's nice catching up with her.
3. I've come to depend on Facebook for such a long time that I expect I could find long lost friends I haven't talked to or seen in many years, that I forgot to factor in them probably not having an account.
4. I brought my iPad mini to work, hoping I could up my work count for NaNoWriMo, but no. I forgot to install the Google Doc app for editing. I can't connect to my work wifi without a login (which is probably a good idea as they'd know what I've been accessing at work). The nearest Starbucks is 3.4 miles away. I'll just make sure to download it when I get home.
5. My Starbucks card's gold status expires next year in August. Thanks to their member exclusive star deals, I could gather 30 stars to retain gold status for another year and spend less. If I buy from 3 different stores till 11/14 this week, I get 6 bonus stars on top of the star I get per purchase/visit.
6. Saw Spectre last weekend. It was not as good as Skyfall, but I enjoyed it the same. Also, Sam Smith's Writings on the Wall is the epitome of all James Bond theme songs. I put it on the same level as You Know My Name and The World is Not Enough. Don't care what anyone says. Goldfinger theme song did not age well. Can't let nostalgia hold us back. Not sorry.
7. The last Hunger Games movie comes out this next weekend. I'm actually more interested in what trailers they have in the theater. Watching trailers on a full screen is just better.

I'm done.

The Personal Blog

• Sometimes I miss Xanga and the personal blog format it provided. I had a closed group of subscribers I regularly talked to and followed. This Blogger account has supplanted that in someways, along with my Wordpress account. I don't share much personal info as I used to, but this can be considered personal.
• The YouTube videos I post (LEGO, Nanoblock, gaming) are mostly my creation. I've done mostly time lapse recordings, building LEGO and other construction toys. On the gaming front, I've recording gameplay footage on my PS3. I mostly set them to music, with some videos taking hours to create to sync different scenes with the song.
• I became a YouTube Partner about 3 months ago. I have an Adsense account, but I don't make much money from it. That would be nice, but that's not my intention. YouTube Partners have the ability to schedule when their videos are published. Regular users have to manually publish their private videos for it to show up on their channels. As a partner, I can upload multiple videos I've created and stagger their published dates. That way I could set up my blog posts in advanced with my videos going live at the same time as the posts are scheduled.
• I just started working this past Monday. That's 5 months and a week since I've been unemployed. The job is alright for now. They're still trying to provide me login access to my computer and security badge, paper work and all. It's contract for 6 months. They have an option to hire me full time. I really hope that's the case. I'm not getting any younger and I need to put more money in my 401K.
• After a 3 year hiatus. I'm attempting 50K words for my entry to this year's National Novel Writing Month. So far I've done 2K words. I'm clearly very behind. I'm invested in too many things and always distracted. But I'm still trying.

I'm done.

Movies I've Seen - October 2015

I can't believe it's November already. I already talked about the movies I saw in September in this post, so I'll talk about the movies I saw last month. Here are the movies I saw in September and October.

1. The Martian - Apparently, some people thought this was based on a true story. We don't even have actual working hoverboards yet. Anyway, this was an epic story of an astronaut that was left behind on Mars by his team after he was struck by debris during a dust storm in the planet. He had to survive on his own, find a way to contact Earth, and somehow make potatoes grow on Martian soil. The science in this movie checks out. Matt Damon should win an Oscar for this.

2. Sicario - I watched this on a Tuesday. Our theater in the mall has a discount day program with ticket prices at $6.50 per movie, all day. I think it's one of the most underrated movies this year. Emily Blunt plays an FBI field agent who goes on a kidnapping raid in Arizona. They discover corpses hidden behind the walls inside the house and improvised explosives. She was later brought in by her boss to a joined meeting with other individuals and recommended her for a task force in El Paso, Texas. Turns out they were going to Juarez, Mexico and performing a different task of extracting a cartel boss' top man to bait him out into the open and find his location. I think if you like gritty and suspenseful cops and robbers movies with carefully planned pacing and action, you'll like Sicario... which is the Mexican word for hitman.

3. Zero Dark Thirty (2012) - I didn't get a chance to watch this the first time around. It details a top level CIA agent's journey to hunting down Osama bin Laden for several years, including the secret special operation in Pakistan to take him out. I rarely see movies likes this, so it was nice catching it on TV.

4. Steve Jobs - This is the second movie they released after Jobs died. The first movie starred Ashton Kutcher and that one was more like an actual movie. In Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender plays the former Apple CEO. The movie is divided into three acts, all of which occur behind the scenes prior to the launch of three products: The Macintosh, The NEXTcube, and the iMac. Rather than show as Steve Jobs' life story, the movie gives as snippets of what supposedly they talked about prior to the launch conference. The movie is like a play, focusing on Jobs and his interactions with six other important people. It's an Aaron Sorkin film, so the dialogue is always on point.

I'm done.

Puddles Pity Party "Chandelier" (Sia)

Postmodern Jukebox covers pop music and takes it back in time. This time, it's Chandelier by Sia performed by Puddles Pity Party (the band). Puddles is the clown.

I'm done.

The Walking Dead Building Sets - The Governor's Room

In the spirit of Halloween, I've taken out and assembled The Governor's Room set.

These building sets are heavily detailed. The Governor's Room features the fish tanks full of undead heads, a bucket of flesh and blood, The Governor himself and the Governor's undead daughter, Penny... all arranged in a diorama format.

Happy Halloween!

How My Mind Works

I just finished watching The Blindspot after watching Gravity Falls and Supergirl. I started up my PS3, but wasn't sure if I wanted to play a game. So I went through my Facebook feed. Several minutes of that and I went to read my news feed and go to sites for entertainment and reading. There was a link to a YouTube video on historical European martial arts documentary. They mentioned Asian martial arts and somehow it reminded me of a very distant memory of a Filipino movie, Ang Lihim Ng Golden Buddha (The Secret of the Golden Buddha). It's a semi-autobiographical movie based Yamashita's Gold rumored stolen during World War II and hidden in various caves and other locations throughout Southeast Asia. These treasures were stored and encased in Golden Buddha statues. So I looked up the movie online and remembered the actor playing the lead role. I don't remember much of his other movies, but I mistook him for another actor who played the son of the devil in another Filipino movie. I also looked up that movie online. This movie came out in 1989 and I thought it was one of the scariest movies I've seen. Then again, I was 5 and I haven't seen It.

Much of what I remember from the Philippines were bits and pieces before I was 1 years old, to my childhood and graduating primary school in the 6th grade. It's weird how random things just open a can of worms in my head. I also remembered the lead actor and the lead actress in the movie, but I didn't want to continue going down this rabbit hole if I wanted to get some sleep tonight.

I'm done.

Assassin's Creed Rogue // Scenery Time Lapse

This will probably the last of my Assassin's Creed Rogue videos. I recorded several locations that looked nice in the game. You can see the day and night cycle of the game in action. I've had fun making these videos.

I'm done.

Sailing Around North Atlantic (Assassin's Creed Rogue)

The North Atlantic is the biggest location in the game. It's mostly water and several islands, inlets, and forts. There are ice sheets and icebergs in the northern part. Circling the whole place took around 22 minutes, 10 minutes more than sailing around the River Valley portion of the game.

I'm done.

Swimming Through River Valley (Assassin's Creed Rogue)

Back on the Hudson Valley again during the Seven Years war. This time, swam from the top right point to the bottom left point of the map at Mount Vernon. When I started swimming, I lost my bearings and kept swimming forward, following the open waters and trying to reach the cursor according to the mini map. I ended up taking a longer route.

The swimming speed was the fastest in water outside of ships. I could have waded through the river the whole time, but that would have been twice as long. There's a link on the video if you want to watch the full length version instead of the time lapse video, if you want a challenge. I don't really recommended it, but it let's you gauge actual speed in the game.

I'm done.

Sprinting/Strolling Through New York (Assassin's Creed Rogue)

One of the locations in Assassin's Creed Rogue is 1758 New York City. This is colonial times New York City during the Seven Years War. It's much smaller in scale than the real life counterpart, but it gives you a glimpse of what the architecture and the people were back in the day. I was able to run from the southernmost fort towards the wall in the north in 4 minutes and 15 seconds. My walking speed is roughly 3 times slower at 11 minutes 33 seconds.

A previous game in the series, Assassin's Creed 3, was set several years before the Thirteen Colonies won their independence from the British. It also featured New York City, including the ruins of the Great Fire of New York in 1776, which occurred in the west side at the southern end of Manhattan. This version of New York City in the game was much larger. I'll have to make a video and compare the running and walking distance.

I'm done.

Sailing Around River Valley (Assassin's Creed Rogue)

This is a new one.

I play many open world games with beautiful scenery, backgrounds, environments, architectures, and all the flora and fauna relevant to the setting. I will be making a bunch of these time lapse videos in the game.

This first one is of the Hudson River Valley section of New York set in 1758 in Assassin's Creed Rogue. It's not an accurate representation of the Hudson Valley and its river during colonial times, but the game shows pockets of British and French settlers all over the valley, as well has Native American tribes.

I circled around the valley on a ship in the game from the mouth of the river to the Atlantic and back, clockwise.

I'm done.

Nanoblock - Kinkaku-ji

Kinkaku-ji is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Kinkaku-ji, which translates to "Temple of the Golden Pavilion," was constructed in 1398 CE. True to its name, the top two stories of the pavilion are covered with pure gold leaf.

It's one of three Nanoblock sets I got for $15 from an online deal earlier this year.

I'm done.

Queens of the Stone Age - The Vampire of Time and Memory

I was watching Ray Donovan's Season 3 finale on Sunday. They played this song after the last major scene in the episode. The music just resonated so much with Ray Donovan's character and I just fell in love with this song.

Spoiler:

...

In Season 3, there's a catholic priest that wants Ray to confess for killing the priest who molested him and his younger brother when they were kids. This other priest knows about what happened and all he really want is for Ray to confess so he can absolve him. Earlier in the season, they were confronted by the priest and Ray beat up the priest for knowing too much about what happened to him. The priest performed an excommunication prayer for Ray and his brothers.

In the season finale, Ray's older brother was shot and in a coma. Him and his father went to the Armenian mob for revenge. They won the gun fight, but he was also shot. With a heavy heart, Ray went to the priest to confess. He didn't really care about what would happen to him, but he just wanted his brother to be back in God's graces and to be alive. Ray confessed to killing their former family priest who molested him. When asked why he did it, he was hesitant at first until he finally broke down. The priest told him he was special and that he could be anything. He bought him gifts and took him to watch movies or the carnival. Nobody ever did anything like that for him when he was little. So when the family priest started doing those awful things to him, he knew it was bad, but he just let him. He cared for the priest. Now that he's older, he doesn't know what to feel. He's all messed up inside. He sees these pictures in his head when he hugs his kids. It tears him up inside.

The priest in the confessional absolved him of his sins. He collapsed inside the church due to the gunshot. The scene shifts with the other priest driving and Ray on the passenger seat, heading back to Los Angeles and probably find a doctor. That's when "The Vampyre of Time and Memory" starts playing.

The beginning lyrics:

I want God to come and take me home
'Cause I'm all alone in this crowd
Who are you to me?
Who am I supposed to be?
Not exactly sure anymore



There are two versions of this song with Queens of the Stone Age and their guest singer, Ms. Dolly Byrd.

I'm done.

A few things (2015-09-27)

1. The last movie I watched in theaters was Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation last month (August). I've watched three movies from last year on TV: Dracula Untold, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Michael Bay Edition), and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Dracula Untold was more action than horror. I think Universal is trying to piece together all their movies to bring back the Monster Squad... or at least plan on it. It started with I Am Frankenstein and now Dracula Untold. Maybe the werewolf and the mummy will join. TMNT was probably a let down. If I didn't know about the original, this is probably an okay movie. It's just very Michael Bay-ish. The last Night at the Museum was not as good as the other movies, but it's still a fun family movie. The plot was literally fixing the tablet and all they had to do was go to London and ask questions. Robin William's last scene as Teddy Roosevelt actually made me tear up.
2. Still on the job search. One recruiter actually seems to be showing some promise. The client likes me and they're opening a spot for the same position. I should hear back from them on Monday.
3. My laptop has been slowing down for the past two months. I've tried every thing in the books, online and what I know from past experience, trying to gain back performance even though I already know the reason why it's slowing down. Then it finally happened Saturday afternoon: harddrive failure is detected. It's still working right now, but the the harddrive will give out any time soon. I have most of my important files backed up. It's still a pain, though. Good thing I have a rainy day fund. I'm going back to desktops for now. Just enough for me to edit my photos/videos and do some work.

I'm done.

A father plays poker with his drinking buddies after a long 60-hour work week. A college student goes on an impromptu road trip with his friends on Memorial day weekend. A mother takes her kids to the movies and the park on Saturday. A thirty-something professional goes clubbing on a Friday night. These are a few of many scenarios that people do to keep themselves sane and from getting overwhelmed with work, school, anxiety... life.

This is what we do. This is our getaway from stress. We go on vacations. We go to conventions. We go to parties. We attend concerts. Book readings. Autographs. Premieres. Sports. And more often than not, we take a picture of these precious moments. We want to capture that which made us happy... that which made us forget, even for an instant, the problems in our lives... that which made us remember that this is all worth it, as illusory as that statement may or may not be. We're all in the same boat. Everyone is fighting a battle we know nothing about. So it baffles me when people "rain on others' parade" for their happiness, or perceived "perfect" life.

There's an article being passed around to various outlets stating that Instagram photos are not what they seem. A Thai photographer published a series of photos showing the whole picture of a cropped photo on Instagram. One picture depicts a perfect yoga pose in the cropped out image. The whole picture shows a friend holding the woman to keep her balanced.

Another picture shows a book under a plate of vegetables and rice. The whole picture shows a bowl of ramen noodles and other items on the table.

I understood the point of these pictures and the exaggerated nature of cropping and filtering the images. However, people are using this to justify their disdain on others. They don't like someone because of the pictures they take with their friends or of themselves. They don't like (hate, even) people's vacation photos. Essentially, they don't like pictures of people having fun. For them, these are bragging and fake. These people are quick to deflect evidence of jealousy. But it might as well be... sort of.

People have control on how they should feel about certain things.

Events. Situations. Objects. Pictures.

Your negative feelings towards a person depends on the situation. If they really did do something to warrant your disdain and/or resentment, that's a different issue. If you don't like someone who you barely talk to because of their pictures, how happy they seem to be in said pictures or their captions in said pictures, then these feelings are negative projections from within that you've attached on someone else. It's not jealousy. It's envy.

This is what photography is about: a captured moment in life taken out of context. You set the frame and the shot. The audience projects their own experience to the photo.

If you're one of these people, I guess what I'm trying to say is...

It's not somebody else's fault that you're not happy with your current situation. Everyone has their demons. Just don't lash out, passive-aggressively or otherwise, to others that have something you don't.

I'm done.

Nanoblock - Taj Mahal

I got this last Christmas from my sister. I just got around to building it. It captures the basic look of the original Taj Mahal, but not all of it's details. The LEGO version was huge and contains over 5900 LEGO pieces, the largest LEGO set they've ever released.

The Taj Mahal is considered one of the most significant and beautiful buildings in the world. Taj Mahal has a very romantic love story behind its construction. It was built by the fifth Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan in the memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan (his original name was Khurram) married Mumtaz Mahal (her original name was Arjumand Banu Begum) in 1612 after five years of love story. He was the son of the fourth Mughal Emperor, Jahangir, and she was a Muslim Persian Princess. When Shah Jahan ascended the throne in 1628, he bestowed his wife with the title Mumtaz Mahal (Jewel of the Palace). After 19 years of happy life, Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 when she was giving birth to her 14th child. Shah Jahan was very brokenhearted and his court grieved for two years. Few years later, Shah Jahan decided to build Taj Mahal, in the memory of Mumtaz Mahal, which became one of the most outstanding monuments of Mughal and world architecture. (source)

I'm done.

WTF Fridays - Hell's Club

There is a place where all fictional characters meet. Outside of time, Outside of all logic, This place is known as HELL'S CLUB, But this club is not safe.

TERMINATOR vs TONY MONTANA vs TOM CRUISE vs CARLITO BRIGANTE vs BLADE vs JOHN TRAVOLTA vs AL PACINO vs PINEAD vs THE MASK vs ROBOCOP vs DARTH VADER vs MICHAEL JACKSON...

I'm done.

Movies I've Seen - July/August 2015

1. Dragon Ball Z - Battle of the Gods (2014) - I was excited when they announced this movie last year. The creator of the series greenlit the movie and the plans for a new series, continuing the story after Dragonball Z (DBZ). This also brought back the argument of whether Dragonball GT (GT) was canon or not. This movie and the new series (Dragonball Super) put the discussion to an end: GT is not canon. It's an alternate storyline.

Battle of the Gods takes place four years after the end of the Buu Saga in DBZ. Lord Beerus, the God of Destruction, has woken up. He had a dream about a Super Saiyan God and is set on finding out if such a person exists. The only Saiyans left are on Earth. He finds Goku, the main character and the rest of the gang on Earth.

This movie is for the fans. It's lighthearted and comedic.

2. Minions - Based on the Despicable Me movies, the Minions got their own movie. It's about where they came from and how they always followed someone as a boss. Most of the time it's their fault when their boss bites the dust and they go with another boss. It's a kids movie for adults.

3. The Breakup Playlist - Our local theater sometimes show foreign films every week or so. They started showing Filipino movies last year. This is the first one I saw. The story goes back in fort in the present and the past of two lovers who are in a band together and had a falling out. It boils down to the guy feeling like his girlfriend and the band's lead singer taking the spotlight and he is jealous of her. They break up. Then several years later, they are asked to do a reunion for the band. The guy was already remorseful, but the girl was wouldn't take it. She was hurt so bad by what he did. Then they make up before the movie ends. I guess it's a teen drama. Movie was longer than I expected (almost two hours).

4. Ant-Man - Marvel can't fail. At all. This is the first origin story of Ant-Man and it worked as a heist superhero movie.

5. The Maze Runner (2014) - I think it's pretty common now for popular books in a trilogy to have a movie and their trilogy and two-parter for the third book. The Maze Runner is about a group of kids who are sent in the middle of a maze. They don't know what happened before. All they know is their name. Nobody knows what happens in the maze. All they know is that it closes when the sun sets and opens back up early in the morning. Then one day a girl was brought up to the surface and knows the main character's name. I think it's a dystopian, apocalyptic movie. I liked it.

6. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - the 5th film in the series. It's Tom Cruise in the gang doing impossible missions again. This time, he finds damning evidence that an anti-IMF (Impossible Missions Force) called Rogue Nation exists. It is up to him to clear his name and put a stop this group.

7. The Last Holiday (2008) - I was browsing through TV and found this movie from 2008. It's Queen Latifah. Her character was diagnosed with terminal cancer. With the knowledge that she only have a few months left, she withdrew all her money and went on an expensive vacation in Europe. I actually enjoyed this movie. Not all movies have to be serious all the time. This was the right kind of feel good movie. Queen Latifah played her character right. She didn't overact or anything.

8. Birdman (2014) - I read that this movie was an anti-comic book movie. I didn't really get that vibe from it. It's about a washout superhero movie actor who is writing, directing and acting in his own play many years after his Birdman character. The movie is played out as if there were no cuts to the scenes and everything continuous to the next. The acting is really good. It's raw and at some points almost like they are calling out all actors who feel like they don't matter anymore and trying to do something serious to feel like they matter.

9. Dragon Ball Z - Resurrection of F - The second DBZ movie comes after Battle of the Gods. This time, Frieza is resurrected and learns some new powers. Too bad Goku and Vegeta have learned something of their own, too.

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LEGO Architecture - Louvre

The last LEGO Architecture set for 2015 is of the Louvre museum in Paris, France. This set officially comes out on September 1st, 2015.

The Louvre, in it's many different forms, has dominated the city of Paris since the late 12th century. It was originally a fortress built to protect Paris. The dark fortress from the Middle Ages was continuously altered and expanded before being transformed into a Renaissance-style royal palace from 1546 onwards. The tranformation of the Louvre into the museum we know today began with the French Revolution.

Today, it is the most visited museum in the world, renowned for famous works of art such as da Vinci's Mona Lisa, as well as the building's spectacular Renaissance to Modernist architecture.

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WTF Fridays - Been Far?

Informercials in a nutshell.

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Game of Thrones - Tommen Takes the Throne

This is the coronation ceremony of Tommen of House Baratheon, first of his name, in HBO's Game of Thrones - Season 4, Episode 5 (S04E05). This is the part where Margaery Tyrell makes her move for the throne again, with Joffrey being dead and all.

I think this should have been a bigger deal than other scenes people complained about.

They All Died...

They're all dead... dead inside after being "all about that life."

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Hello. I've been a little preoccupied with the job hunt and other stuff. Hence the lack of postings.

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WTF Fridays - We Like To Party

What do you get when you have Team Fortress 2 characters, Thomas the Train and Source Film Maker? This gem that went from 0 to 100 real quick.



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Otakon 2015

So it turns out I only took a few photos and several short videoclips all three days at Otakon this year. It kind of made me sad because I usually have a lot of pictures. I went to a lot of events, panels, screenings, Q&As and contests. I didn't stay as much in the game room and kept coming back to one TV that had Contra for NES hooked up. I kept challenging myself to beat the game using only 3 lives with no continues.

Other than that, here's a compilation of my videoclips.

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Movies I've Seen - May/June 2015

I only saw two movies in May, but they were worth it.

May 2015

1. Avengers: Age of Ultron - The sequel to 2012's biggest comic book movie with Iron-Man, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America sharing the screen together to fight Loki and the invading Chitauri.

This time, they are fighting Iron-Man's own creation, Ultron, who went rogue after gaining intelligence with the help of Loki's scepter which housed one of the Infinity gems. Overall, it's a great movie. Not too long. Part of me feels this is just a filler movie and it's purpose is to set up the story for Captain America: Civil War.

2. Pitch Perfect 2 - Another sequel movie. Three years have passed since the first film and the Bardem Bellas have made a fool of themselves on stage, forcing the school to ban their acapella group. They had to win their status back by competing in the acapella world championships (something like that).

June 2015

1. Insidious Chapter 3 - Scary movie. This one is a prequel and happens before the first film. I really hate most of the evening crowd. A bunch of teens being noisy and shit.

2. The Expendables 3 (2014) - I didn't watch this in theaters last year. It was on TV so I finally saw it. They are after some bad guys again and one of them gets hurt, prompting Stallone's character to hire some new and much younger blood. That's about it.

3. The Other Woman (2014) - Jaime Lannister took a break from Westeros and got married in this modern setting, only to cheat on his wife with multiple women. His wife befriends two of them and they take revenge.

4. Gone Girl (2014) - This was a really good movie. A famous daughter of an author disappears. The husband is the prime suspect, but he says he has no idea what happened to her.

5. Inside Out - Pixar's latest film. They've finally done it. After years of making the audience get emotional about toys, bugs, cars, robots, monsters and fish, they are going to make you emotional about emotions.

6. Ted 2 - It wasn't as successful as the first movie, but this sequel didn't pull any punches when it comes to jokes. The past few years has seen comedians and liberals censoring themselves (an oxymoron, sort of). Ted 2 wasn't having any of it.

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If Kafka Wrote A Lovecraft Story Called Pac-Man

I need the movie version of this.

source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

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World's Biggest Ballpit PRANK

The guys at Rocketjump, creators of the Video Game High School web series, decided to prank their employees at work.

Then things escalated really quickly...

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Games I've Played in 2015 (1st Half)

1. Girl Fight - This fighting game was on sale for $1.99 on the Playstation Network. There's a reason why it's so cheap. Other than having all female fighters, this should not be compared to the likes of Street Fighter, Tekken, or Mortal Kombat. Clunky controls and fighting mechanics. Not that great.

2. Puppeteer - This actually caught me by surprise and is quite good.

One dark moonlit night, a young boy named Kutaro was carried away by the maleficent Moon Bear King to a black castle where the unlucky lad was transformed into a puppet. Kutaro displeased the terrible tyrant, who devoured the boy's wooden head and cast away his body. But the headless hero was not alone, for he had discovered a very special pair of scissors to help him on his harrowing adventure to find his head, and his way home.

As the headless puppet, Kutaro must use Calipers (the magical scissors) to gather all the moonshards and free other lost souls. He also encounters various puppet heads and use their powers along the way. It's an innovative platformer that sets the game as a grand puppet show.

3. Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara - This is the arcade port of the two Dungeons & Dragons game that came out in the 90s. I remember playing them in the arcades as a kid. You could play with up to 4 people and work together. The years have not been kind to the graphics, but they're still as fun as I remember them.

4. CounterSpy - It's a stealth game similar to Metal Gear Solid, but played as a platformer. Using the Cold War setting, you are C.O.U.N.T.E.R. agent who retrieves information from both the Socialist (Soviet Union) and Imperialist (United States) nations. The goal is to try and remain undetected, if possible, and not raise the DefCon level to 1 (5 lowest, 1 highest). If you do, the countries could launch their nukes. So you go back and forth between the two sides stealing information, power-ups, weapons and lower the DefCon threat level.

5. Silent Hill: Homecoming - This is probably the last good Silent Hill game. I'm currently playing Downpour and this one just have much better controls. Alex Shepherd, a soldier returning from war, to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen (a town outside of Silent Hill), where he finds the town in disarray, and his younger brother missing. As he continues on his search to find his younger brother, he discovers more about the Order, a cult, as well as the town's history, and his own past.

6. Tokyo Jungle - Humans disappeared (died?). The only ones left are animals. Pets have gone feral and taking over the cities of Tokyo, now overrun by plants. You get to play as one of these animals. Your goal is to survive for as long as you can without dying from other predators bigger than you, starvation. You will also mate and create a family and try to extend your family tree for as many generations as possible.

7. The Unfinished Swan - Artistic games never disappoint.

8. Crime & Punishment: Sherlock Holmes - You play Sherlock Holmes and try to solve murders. It has clunky controls, but I'll try to beat it. Like most games in this list, I got it for free.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum is the best superhero videogame. I am super late in playing this game. It came out back in 2009 and I just played and finished it in 2015 thanks to PlayStation Plus's free games per month.

The story begins with Batman in the Batmobile, racing towards Arkham Asylum with Joker in handcuffs in the passenger's seat. Supposedly, Joker broke out of Arkham Asylum. Batman found him and is taking him back. Batman sensed something wasn't right. He thinks Joker just handed himself easily. He accompanies the staff in making sure Joker won't try anything funny. It turns out he did. He put the entire facility on lock down for the staff and got most of the dangerous patients freed, including Harley Quinn, Bane, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and the Scarecrow. The entire area also includes Blackgate Penitentiary. Now it's up to Batman to investigate and save the Arkham Asylum staff from Joker.

Joker's ultimate goal is to complete a serum (Titan formula) based on Bane's blood and some of venom from Poison Ivy's vines and inject it to a few Asylum inmates to transform them into deformed, powerful titan like creatures. While Batman is busy stopping Joker, the Riddler is also leaving behind puzzles and clues to mess with Batman (I managed to solve all of the Riddler's riddles and sent his coordinates to the police).

The Scarecrow also managed to inject Batman with his fear toxin. Batman started hallucinating about his childhood, Commissioner Gordon dying and switching places with Joker, who shoots him in the head. Somehow Batman was able to overcome the effects of the fear toxin, despite being injected multiple times (Scarecrow lamented on how Batman could still be standing). While running away from Batman, Scarecrow ended up in Killer Croc's lair and took him out.

As far as enemies go, Harley Quinn was the weakest. Batman put her out and locked her back in her cell. Poison Ivy is a special one. Of all the patients in Arkham Asylum, she is locked up in the Botanical Garden.

In the final battle, Joker got Batman to fight two titan henchmen. After that, he injected himself with the Titan formula and transformed. Batman was able to beat him. The police from Gotham stormed in and locked up the prisoners again. Scarecrow somehow survived and will probably come back in the next game, Arkham City, set a year after Arkham Asylum.

Apparently, the Arkham Asylum director took credit for stopping Joker and became a major. He deemed both the asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary no longer suitable to hold all of Gotham's dangerous criminals. Instead, he purchased Gotham's most notorious slums and converted them into one huge prison they called Arkham City.

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LEGO Architecture - Lincoln Memorial

Abraham Lincoln holds a unique place in the history of the United States: not only did he save the Union, he reinvigorated the nation’s founding principle — that all men are created equal. The campaign to erect a fitting memorial in his name began even as he lay on his deathbed in 1865. It would eventually be completed 57 years later, after decades of disagreements over what type of monument to build and where it should be placed.

The campaign to erect a fitting memorial for Abraham Lincoln began even as he lay on his deathbed in 1865. It would eventually be completed 57 years later, after decades of disagreements over what type of monument to build and where it should be placed.

The memorial itself echoes a classic Greek temple and the structure measures 189.7 by 118.5 ft. (58 by 36 m) and is 99 ft. (30 m) tall. It is surrounded by a colonnade of 36 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death.

The interior of the monument is divided into three chambers. The north and south chambers contain carved inscriptions of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and his Gettysburg Address. Above each of the inscriptions is a mural portraying the governing principles in Lincoln’s life.

Between the north and south chambers is the central chamber containing the solitary figure of Lincoln sitting in contemplation.

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I thought I'd make this set for Memorial day.

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LEGO Architecture - Trevi Fountain

I got this set for Christmas. This is one of the more gratifying LEGO constructions I've done. It took almost 3 hours to build, but it was worth it.

In 2006, we went on a week-long trip in Europe that took us to Germany, Austria, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Florence, Rome, Vatican City and Paris. Rome was probably my favorite out of all the places we visited. The Coliseum, the ruins of old structures still standing in the city (aqueducts, bridges) and Trevi Fountain itself.

History

The imposing fountain sits at the junction of three roads, or tre vie, which many believe gave the fountain its name. Built by Marcu Vipsanius Agrippa in 19 BC, the Aqua Virgo aqueduct was over 13 miles (21 km) long and even then had a fountain at its terminus.

The aqueduct and fountain served Rome for over 400 years, but after the invasion of the Goths in AD 537, the aqueduct was cut off and the final portion abandoned. It would be over 1,000 years, and the advent of the Early Renaissance period, before a fountain would again stand in the location we know today.

The Trevi Fountain has become an iconic symbol of Rome and remains one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. It is estimated that 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day.

The fountain has provided a backdrop for many classic movies, including Hollywood’s 1954 romantic comedy, Three Coins in a Fountain, and Federico Fellini’s famous 1960 La Dolce Vita. Part of the fountain is also replicated at the Italy Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World in the US.

The fountain was refurbished in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and all cracks and other areas of deterioration were repaired by skilled artisans, and the fountain was equipped with recirculating pumps.

In January 2013, it was announced that the Italian fashion company Fendi would sponsor a 20-month, €2.2 million restoration of the fountain; it will be the most thorough restoration in the fountain’s history

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The Long Game

I found this video on Wimp.com and it really spoke to me. The journey to success requires a trait that much of society might not possess anymore. Our generation, the millennials, have been indoctrinated with the idea that everyone deserves everything if they want it. Kids at daycare and elementary school are taught to share their toys with other kids. It's a troubling concept and may have ruined this generation's expectations on life. Kids are growing up with an unprecedented high sense of entitlement.

Louis C.K. perfectly summarizes in this photo.

Nothing in life is ever easy. Everyone wants to be a lottery winner, but you have to make the money to buy a ticket. You have to do the work and keep trying, never giving up. Lastly, success is all about perspective.

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LEGO Architecture - Flatiron Building

"I found myself agape, admiring a sky-scraper... ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the afternoon light." - H. G. Wells, 1906

History

Sitting on the intersection where Fifth Avenue and Broadway cross, the Flatiron Building remains one of New York City’s most popular and memorable structures.

As the city of New York expanded northward during the second half of the 19th century, small plots of land remained undeveloped. One of the most well known of these was the narrow triangular site at 23rd Street. The “Flat Iron,” as it quickly became known, changed owners many times, but wouldn’t be developed until the Chicago-based Fuller Company bought the site in 1901.

The Fuller Company engaged Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham to design the building and, utilizing the Fuller Company’s expertise with steel frame construction, he proposed a 20-story structure that would reach a height of 285 ft. (86.9 m). At the “point” of the triangle the building would only be 6.5 ft. (2 m) wide and would form a 25-degree acute angle.

This radical design, combined with its great height and unusual shape, created a great deal of debate as the building neared completion in 1902. Though never the tallest building in New York, or even the first building in the country with a triangular ground plan, the Flatiron Building has become an iconic symbol of the city of New York.

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Movies I've Seen - March/April 2015

A preface if you'll indulge me. Watching this latest movie this afternoon made me rethink how I go about the theater experience. I'll be watching the movies I want to watch from now on. Movie reviews should not dissuade me. Hype, popularity and obscurity will not factor in my decision, for or against them. I've never walked out of the theater ever and always try to find redeeming qualities in every movie I've seen. I rarely do the latter.

March and April have been slow months for my movie watching. Despite all the other movies I could have watched (Cinderella, Insurgent and Home), I only saw three movies and one on TV.

1. CHAPPiE - This was the only movie I saw in March. Based on the director's past films (District 9, Elysium), I expected a similar premise. CHAPPiE is the name of the police robot unit that it's creator (Dev Patel - from Slumdog Millionaire) modified with new software containing artificial intelligence. Hugh Jackman's character (Wolverine) is a jealous robot creator in the same company who wants his militarized police unit on the field instead of the others. When he learned of CHAPPiE's existence, he sabotaged the entire police robot unit's programming to show off his own. There's also the bit about Die Antwoord's involvement with the movie and existential concepts. Overall, it was an OK movie.

2. Furious 7 - I gotta say, this movie was all action, unrealistic stunts and super lucky individuals surviving falls and hits to the head that would kill someone. Yet, in the last five minutes, I teared up. For those who have not been keeping up with the movie, The 4th, 5th and 6th films in the franchise happens between the 2nd and 3rd film (Tokyo Drift). Jason Statham is Ian Shaw: the brother of the 6th film's bad guy who takes revenge on everyone and kills Han first in Japan. They retooled the story so that Han's death was caused by Jason Statham's character rather than a freak accident in Tokyo Drift. The entire movie is about them protecting themselves and teaming up with another secret government organization to hunt down Shaw. It was an entertaining movie. It was the proper send off to Paul Walker's character.

3. Django Unchained (2012) - One thing about Quentin Tarantino movies is that he's never shy about profanity. This film has lots of them, including old-school backwards and slavery terms. Jamie Foxx's plays Django, a former slave freed by Christoph Waltz's bounty hunter character. Django learns the bounty hunting trade while looking for his wife. It's a Western movie with over-the-top violence and profanity-laden dialogue. In my opinion, these take a backseat to Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio's acting. Samuel L. Jackson also plays a convincing Uncle Ruckus-type character (a black guy who hates black people). Dark comedy at it's finest.

4. Age of Adaline - I could have watched Unfollowed, Ex Machina or Home, but I thought I'd watch this one instead. I was intrigued by the premise. Blake Lively plays Adaline Bowman. At age 29, Adaline had a car accident. The car crashed into the water off the road along with Adaline. While submerged in the freezing water, her heart stopped and she was dead for 2 minutes. Then lightning struck the water and revived Adaline. This freak event caused Adaline to stop aging. She changes her identity and moves to different locations to avoid suspicion. Ellen Burstyn plays Adaline's old daughter. Harrison Ford plays an old lover of Adaline's. Great acting from the cast.

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Assassin Turned Templar

Assassin's Creed Rogue is the standalone Assassin's Creed (AC) game released in 2014 along with Assassin's Creed Unity. Within the franchise's timeline, Rogue is the direct sequel to Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and the prequel to Assassin's Creed III, with the last mission being the prologue to Assassin's Creed Unity. Rogue is set during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.

Unlike other AC games, Rogue follows Shay Patrick Cormac, a former pig farmer from New York of Irish descent during colonial times. He worked with the Colonial Assassins around this time with a younger Achilles Davenport as the brotherhood's mentor (from AC 3). In search of Precursor sites (ancient sites from "Those Who Came Before" men), Shay grew resistant to how the Assassins' gather intel and the killing of people who couldn't defend themselves.

His last mission as an Assassin to obtain the Precursor artifact from under an old church in Lisbon drove Shay to turn his back on the brotherhood. After stealing the manuscript holding the location of Precursor sites and shot in the back during his escape, he was found by the Templars. He helped the Templars in a few missions before his official induction into the Order of the Colonial Rite by their Grand Master, Haytham Kenway (also from AC3). Shay's story shows us how Achilles' Colonial Assassins Brotherhood ended.

As a gamer, you are playing as a new Abstergo Entertainment employee in the present day, tasked with studying and reliving Shay Cormac's genetic memories through the Animus. It looks like several months have passed since members of the modern Assassins infiltrated Abstergo Entertainment (events in AC 4: Black Flag). The present day gameplay is the same as in AC 4: Black Flag.

As far as the game is concerned, Rogue is everything that you experienced in AC 3 and AC 4: Black Flag. Controls are still the same as the last two main AC games. Shay has two pistols and fights with a sword and long knife combo. There are three main locations which you have access to: The Northern Atlantic, River Valley (Hudson) and New York.

I haven't played AC Unity, but I've seen the gameplay videos and know of the entire story. Rogue should have been a longer game rather than a companion game to Unity. Shay's story felt very rushed (only 6 memory sequences compared to the normal 12 memory sequences in most AC games). At the same time, Shay's adventures were in-line with the modern Templars (Abstergo) objective. Their purpose was to prove that the Assassins are wrong and show why an Assassin became a Templar. As for the story, Rogue shows us that the Assassins are not always right. Shay felt responsible for all the deaths that they have caused trying to retrieve Precursor artifacts and betrayed the Assassin Brotherhood to save the world.

If you enjoy watching Let's Play videos on YouTube, I've recorded my walkthrough of the game from start to finish, focusing on the main story mission.

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Nanoblock - Moai Statues of Easter Island

One of the gifts my sibling gave me from Christmas. I just got around to building it. The Moai Statues of Easter Island set is not too difficult to build and not too complex. It does require making 3 Moai heads.

These monolithic statues can be as tall as 33 ft. and as heavy as 86 tons. They were original carved from volcanic rock by colonizers of the Polynesian island between 1250 CE and 1500 CE. There's not much else written on the packing about the the Moai Statues, so I read up on the subject.

It is not known exactly how these statues were moved across the island from the origin of the volcanic rock they got it from and were remnants of these statues are located now. The Rapa Nui created them to represent deceased ancestors and former chiefs. Some time later in their civilization, the Rapa Nui lost order when they completely cut down all trees in the island. They could not build boats for fishing and food became scarce. Various tribes started fighting each other and toppled down statues of rival clans.

Today, about 50 of the 887 statues are intact and have been re-erected at the preservation site. 11 Moai statues have been removed from Easter Island and shipped to various museums and installations around the world to show this mysterious relic with a tragic connection to the now extinct Rapa Nui civilization.

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Stevie Wonder

My parents are watching Stevie Wonder for the Songs in the Key of Life concert in Baltimore next week. They asked me if I wanted to go back in February, but I declined. It's on Thursday and I don't know how busy work can get yet. I probably should have, though.

The first memory I have of Stevie Wonder is the "Part Time Lover" song. I was less than 5 years old and the song was catchy. I didn't understand the lyrics, but I still like it.

My mom asked me to burn her a CD of Stevie Wonder songs. She listed 28 songs, in order of which one can fit in one CD. I suggested to just make 2 CDs and add a few more songs. There are so many hit songs to choose from 5 decades worth of albums. "Overjoyed" and "Lately" are my favorites in all his songs. "Lately" I associate the most when I was 12 years old. The lyrics paint an infidelity story, but it's the chorus that touches me the most.

Well, I'm a man of many wishes
Hope my premonition misses
But what I really feel my eyes won't let me hide
‘Cause they always start to cry
‘Cause this time could mean goodbye

My mom had to leave for a job here in the US and listening or hearing the song made me lonely. "Lately" is also one of her favorite songs.

So now, I have an iTunes full of Stevie Wonder songs :)

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