2010 Movie and Book List

As usual, here's my year-end movie and book list.

Movies:
1 Avatar
2 Sherlock Holmes
3 Alice in Wonderland
4 Book of Eli
5 Iron Man 2
6 Here Comes the Bride
7 Shrek: Forever After
8 Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
9 Toy Story 3
10 Inception
11 Salt
12 The Expendables
13 Ip Man 2
14 Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D
15 The Social Network
16 Til My Heartaches End
17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
18 RPG Metanoia

12 of these movies I was with Argel. Hulaan niyo na lang kung anu-ano yun. :)

Books:
1 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
2 South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
3 Yolonda's Genius by Carol Fenner
4 Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
5 Smith of Wootton Major, Farmer Giles of Ham by JRR Tolkien
6 A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
7 The Watson go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
8 The Rifle by Gary Paulsen
9 The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen
10 The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
11 Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Only 11 books. :( Must read more next year. Give me more books to read!

2008 Movie and Book Lists

Since medyo OC kami ni Argel, may GoogleDocs Excel file pa kami ng listahan ng movies na pinanood namin, at ng books na binasa namin.

Sa movie list, nakalagay ang date kung kelan kami nanood, title ng movie (syempre), kung sino ang bida, kung sino ang kasama naming nanood, at kung saang mall pinanood yung movie. For 2008, eto yung mga napanood kong movies. Si Argel ang kasama kong nanood unless otherwise stated. :p

1 I Am Legend
2 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
3 John Rambo
4 Spiderwick Chronicles
5 Vantage Point
6 10,000 B.C.
7 Forgotten Kingdom
8 Iron Man
9 Speed Racer
Speed Racer - Peyt
10 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
11 Narnia: Prince Caspian
12 Kung Fu Panda
13 The Incredible Hulk
14 Wanted
15 Journey to the Center of the Earth
16 Dark Knight - Argel and Peyt
17 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
18 Wall.E
19 Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Kuya and Peyt
20 Righteous Kill
21 Bangkok Dangerous
22 Eagle Eye
23 Tropic Thunder - Argel, Liz, Onin, Ige, Ron, Kelly, Arpee, May, Roma
24 High School Musical 3 - Kuya and Peyt
25 City of Ember
26 Quantum of Solace
27 Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa
28 Twilight
Twilight - Peyt

28 movies! Marami na ba yun? :D Ok naman most of the films. Di masyadong maganda for me yung Ember, Madagascar 2, Indiana Jones, and Journey. Gory ang Rambo, cute yung Wall.E, funny yung Kung Fu Panda, at nag-enjoy ako sa Speed Racer. Hehe Forbidden Kingdom maganda rin pala. Saka HSM3 nag-enjoy din ako. Hehe :D Yung Tropic Thunder, mas natuwa ako dun sa mga previews than the movie itself.

For books naman, yung list ko lang yung nadadagdagan. Ang columns for books ay date started, date finished, title, and author. For 2008, eto yung mga nabasa ko:

1 Lasher by Anne Rice
2 The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
3 Taltos by Anne Rice
4 Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck
5 The Broker by John Grisham
6 An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'engle
7 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
8 Homeland by R. A. Salvatore
9 Ysabel by Guy Kavriel Kay
10 Exile by R. A. Salvatore
11 The Road to Cana by Anne Rice
12 Sojourn by R. A. Salvatore
13 The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach
14 The Legacy by R. A. Salvatore
15 Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice
16 New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan
17 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
18 The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
19 Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
20 The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
21 The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
22 The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan
23 Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
24 A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan
25 The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
26 Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan
27 Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
28 Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
29 The World of Robert Jordan's WoT by Robert Jordan and Theresa Patterson
30 The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino
31 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
32 New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
33 Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
34 Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
35 Starless Night by R. A. Salvatore
36 Siege of Darkness by R. A. Salvatore
37 Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
38 Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind
39 Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind
40 Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind
41 Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind
42 Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind
43 Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
44 The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind
45 Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind
46 Chainfire by Terry Goodkind
47 Phantom by Terry Goodkind
48 Confessor by Terry Goodkind

Natapos ko rin pala yung Sword of Truth before 2009. Hehe Di naman kasi ako busy. Yun din pala ang reason kung bakit di ako online most of the time, nagbabasa kasi ako ng books. :p

Kunwari yung edition na binasa ko ng Wheel of Time, yung young adult edition (yung hinati yung isang book into 2 para maiikli raw) para lalampas sa 50 books yung count. Hahaha And, mas gusto ko yung WoT kesa sa SoT series. :D

Mag-suggest naman kayo ng book series na babasahin ko. Ayaw ko na nung ibang books ni kuya eh, di ko type.

Game Movies

I heard there's going to be a live action movie based on World of Warcraft. Live action. Hmmm... baka maging parang LotR. Think war and orcs. Haha

Also another movie based on a game is Tekken. Also a live action film.

And a second Street Fighter movie is also coming. The lead character in this film is Chun-Li, and is played by Kristin Kreuk.

These are all going to be released in 2009. Those may be interesting to see, but what I'm really looking forward to is the movie based on the first book of the Wheel of Time series. Universal Pictures acquired film rights for series. "The Eye of the World" will be released sometime in 2011. Still a long time to wait but I'm already excited. Hahaha :D

Sword of Truth/Legend of the Seeker

For those who didn't know:
Sword of Truth series - books by Terry Goodkind
Legend of the Seeker - TV series based on Sword of Truth

Dahil naibalik na kay kuya ang kopya ng Wizard's First Rule (1st book of the series) niya, binabasa ko na ito ngayon. Hindi yata magandang idea ang pagbabasa ng book habang nanonood ng series - naghahalo yung events sa utak ko eh. Medyo naka-di-disorient.

Dati ayaw kong simulan yung SoT dahil naisip ko hindi siya kasing-ganda ng WoT... but so far so good naman. :D Pero tingin ko mas maganda pa rin ang WoT. :p

35 books na ang nababasa ko so far for the year 2008. If I finish the Sword of Truth series before 2009, and that's a big if since all the books are quite lengthy, I still wouldn't hit my 50-book target. :(

:(

Best-selling author Michael Crichton dies

I loved the books he wrote. Among the ones I read, my favorites would be Sphere and Prey. There goes another talented writer...

Twilight Saga

I first heard of the Twilight Saga just a month ago, which I found weird considering the first installment of the series was released way back in 2005. Anyway, I immediately looked up for book reviews, and there were mixed reactions regarding the series. I decided it's not really a must read (like HP was), so I opted not to buy them... I thought of just reading them if somebody happens to have copies available for lending.

And then, sometime when I chatted online with Rose, she mentioned reading Twilight, and how she couldn't stop reading them despite her thesis work. She voluntarily sent me eBooks of the series. I wasn't thrilled by the idea of reading off a computer screen though, so I didn't plan on actually reading them.

But a week ago, my brothers and I watched HSM3, and one of the trailers shown was the film adaptation for Twilight. To my surprise, some people in the theater screamed and squealed (like whenever Legolas appears in LotR). I was quite intrigued with the reaction, but not enough to make me go to a bookstore and buy the books. I was curious though.

So I remembered what Rose sent, and finally read the first book. While reading it, I was agreeing with the reviews, and found the story quite interesting but... shallow? Haha. Yeah I know the target market is young-adult/teen, but hey, Harry Potter isn't shallow. Anyway, despite this shallowness thing, I kept reading the books, and before I knew it, 4 days have passed and I finished the entire saga already, and now eagerly waiting for the movie.

Interesting to note though that despite seeing Robert Pattinson as Edward from the movie trailer, I couldn't imagine him as Edward when I was reading the book. Weird.

Back Online

Due to our Globelines broadband connection problems, I wasn't able to go online for 3 days. 3 days of not checking email, not visiting my multiply, facebook (yeah, I now have a facebook account so add me up!), no web surfing for whatever I could think of etc etc etc.

Good thing though that our net connection acted up just after my birthday, so I was able to see all those greetings for me in my email, multiply, facebook, ym, even friendster. My dad called me on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday, then said goodbye. Then he called again a few minutes later to remind me to thank the people who greeted me on my friendster account. Sheeesh. Anyway, thank you again for those who greeted me!

Other stuff:
WoT. I'm now reading Knife of Dreams, the 11th in the series. My brother's copy is a hardbound, his only hardbound one in the series. The book smells funny though. Smells like a very old book. Mabaho.

Facebook. The first time I logged in on this, I was like, O-k... where are things supposed to be? The layout was... disorienting. And the layout keeps changing. What's up with that? Whatever. I now have 5 SNS accounts (friendster, myspace, multiply, facebook, and eskwela!). The only one I'm just visiting regularly though is multiply. The others, I visit only when I have a notification in my email (or when my dad notifies me. :p).

Melamine. China milk scare. Enough said.

24. Jack Bauer reminds me of John McClane. I don't like Jack Bauer, but I'm watching 24 Season 1. :p

Westside Story. Argel and I have tickets for the Oct 12 show. Yeah! :D

Goodlife and More

Malapit Sta. Lucia East Grand mall, may Genie Magic KTV at Good Life Reflex Zone. Tinanong ko kay Argel kung anong meron sa Good Life na yun, sabi niya body massage daw with added service. O-k...

So tuwing magpa-part ways na kami ni Argel from our date sa malapit lang, usually dinner or dinner + movie sa Metro East or Sta. Lucia, makikita namin yun kasi katabi nung building yung sakayan ng trike papunta sa village. Nakaiinis lang kasi, na nakatatawa rin na naloloko ako lagi ni Argel simula nung tanungin ko yung tungkol sa Good Life na yun.

Parang nagkaroon kasi siya ng game. The let's-see-if-i-can-make-loko-elma-again game. Pag nandun na kami malapit sa trike terminal, magkukwento na yan ng kung anong sakit niya sa katawan. Tapos maniniwala akong masakit talaga kung ano man yun tapos magwoworry ako. Tapos sasabihin niyang, "Kelangan ko yatang magpamasahe sa Good Life..."

Matagal-tagal na rin niyang ginagawa yun, and it never fails. Haha. Ang galing nga niya eh. Nag-iisip pa talaga siya ng "kwento" para lang maisingit yung masahe na yun. Like yung last kwento, ang sabi niya, "Ang sakit ng batok ko... Sa office kasi dalawa yung monitor ko. Yung sa desktop, tapos laptop. Pero isa lang yung mouse. Alam mo naman yung software na yun di ba? Yung macocontrol mo yung dalawa? Ayun. Eh lilingon sa desktop, tapos sa laptop, tapos balik sa desktop... Sumakit tuloy ang batok ko..." And then magsasabi naman ako ng ay kawawa ka naman wag mo na gawin yun blah blah blah... Tapos sasabihin niya, "Kelangan ko yatang mag-Good Life... :D " Ayun. Naloko ako.

Tapos mas nakakainis, remotely niya gagawin. Kahit text message. Like just now. May CNL dinner kasi sila. Tapos nagtext. Sabi, "Napa-ice cream nga ako eh. Sakit ng ulo ko. Tapos kanina habang nagkukwento si barry ubo ako nang ubo.. Sakit sa dibdib..." Eh syempre magworry na naman ako nun. May sipon kasi yun ngayon, and syempre di naman malayong ubuhin na. Tapos pagscroll down ko pa sa message may katuloy pala. "Tingin ko kailangan kong maggoodlife.. Haha. Oil massage para mainit. Haha" ~X(

Naiinis ako na natatawa kasi di ko ineexpect na hihirit lang pala siya about goodlife. Kala ko totoo. Haaaay... Sana may time na hindi ako maloko. Haha

Other stuff
WoT. Book 7 na ako! :D Ganda. Daming times na nagulat ako sa pangyayari. Like pagka-still kina -bleep- and -bleep-. Tapos na-Heal ni -bleep-! Ang galing niya! Haha (Baka may nagbababasa pa kasi. Ayokong macrucify sa pagiging spoiler tulad ni Danes. Haha). Tapos naging Amyrlin si -bleep-! Haha ok tama na. Wala ng makaiintindi.

Eheads reunion concert. Late reaction ko? Haha ganda. Basahin na lang ang blog entry ni Ige, yun na lahat yun (na sulit and buti mabait ang fans walang riot etc etc). Reunion din yun for me kasi nakita ko yung ibang high school classmates ko na wala akong contact. So dun ko lang sila nakita/nakausap sa concert after 7 years. Haha. Sa dami ng tao dun buti nakita ko sila. Tapos nakita ko rin pala si Gian and Maam Joy and Cholle. Hehe :D

UAAP Cheering pila sa tickets. First time kong manonood ng live sa cheering competition sa Sunday. Pumila ako nung Tuesday para makabili ng tickets. Sabi ni Argel agahan ko. Dumating ako 7:30am. My goodness! Nosebleed ang pila! Buti nakita ko sina Rose. :D Ang aga raw nila dun. 6am! And I thought I was early. Tsk. Well since di pa nga ako nakakanood ever, and syempre di pa nakapila sa ticket buying ever, di ko naman alam na ganun. Grabe yun nakakapang-init ng ulo dun, lalo na yung mga guards na di gumagamit ng utak. Tsk. Basta yun, excited kaming manood! :D

Wheel of Time and Other Stuff

Besides playing PSP games and self-studying Java, reading has also been eating a LOT of my time. A month ago, I started reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I'm now burying my nose on the 5th installment of the series, and I must say that I am enjoying every bit of it. I even had a few dreams that I was an Aes Sedai. Hahaha funny. I think those who have the luxury to spend some of their time reading must include the WoT series in their list of books to read.

I also squeezed a Nicholas Sparks novel (Dear John) sometime when I was reading WoT's Book 2. I found it in Kuya's room (he's my source of books to read :D). It seemed interesting, and when I started reading it, I couldn't put it down so I finished it in a night. My eyes were puffy from crying because of that book. It was the first Nicholas Sparks novel that I read... I don't know if I'd want to read another though. I don't want to cry like that again.

On to other things. Last Saturday, Argel and I went out with my high school friends to play badminton somewhere in Marikina. The badminton courts there I think are a lot cheaper compared to the ones located in Quezon City. It was my first time to play badminton with a net. :D I tire easily though, so I was the one who played the least games. Most of the time, I just watched them play doubles. I think Argel was in most of the games (doubles and singles). And I also lost to Argel a number of times. I didn't win even once against him. Huhu

Then Sunday was PBA night. It was my first time to watch a PBA game. The game was between Ginebra and Air 21 at the Big Dome. I'm not a basketball fan, but I really enjoyed watching the game, not just because of the tight game, but also because of watching people get excited with all the shouting and the booing and the trash talking fans. Argel and the other guys were among the fans who were yelling at the top of their lungs (Jeric and Yugs and two other SZ guys were there). Because of the atmosphere at the coliseum, I even found myself also cheering for Ginebra. Hehe :D They won the game last Sunday. Tomorrow is Game 7, we won't be watching it but I hope Ginebra wins. :)

Hmmm... That's it. I will be blogging again when I feel like it. :D

My Weekend

Fun weekend for a number of reasons:

1. My brother just downloaded an official psp theme maker. Currently working on an FF7 theme. So hindi ako naglalaro lately, gumagawa lang ng theme. :p

2. Lunch + bowling with the 01s. Talo ang team ko though. Twice. Haha sorry! Di ako magaling (or dapat yata "hindi ako marunong") magbowling eh. Buti na lang walang pustahan yun. :p Pero ngayon ang sakit ng katawan ko, lalo na ang left leg at right arm... Sayang, may badminton pa naman ang IML people this afternoon. Di tuloy ako makasasama...

3. I learned that my father has a Friendster account. :s Ito hindi fun. Funny lang. Tawa ako nang tawa nung makita ko. Paano ka ba hindi tatawa sa isang album na puno ng pics mo tapos ang mga title eh, My daughter Elma busy picture taking in Taiwan, Elma with a friend in Taiwan, Working on a project at UP...? My goodness... T_T

4. Dark Knight. Heath Ledger as Joker - bravo! Ang galing... wala na akong masabi. Basta ang galing niya...

5. Eye of the World. Wheel of Time's first book.

ahhh ano pa ba? anyway, pwede na siguro yan. hehe

Ay ay ay. Kapag sinabi kong hindi maganda ang quality ng picture, hindi talaga maganda ang quality ng picture. Yun lang yun. :D

Books

Today, Marco goes to Taiwan. Goodluck Marco! Naway maging mabuti ang pagtira mo doon. :D

~~~

Nabasa ko dati sa blog ni Miss Fil yung goal niya na makapagbasa ng 50 books sa year 2007. Syempre gumaya naman ako. Hehe 2007 is nearing its end, but so far, eto pa lang mga nabasa ko (in order ng pagkabasa):

1. Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
2. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
3. The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore
4. Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore
5. The Halfling's Gem by R. A. Salvatore
6. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
7. The Giver by Lois Lowry
8. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
9. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
11. Tigana by Guy Kavriel Kay
12. A Song for Arbonne by Guy Kavriel Kay
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling
14. Merrick by Anne Rice
15. Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice
16. Blood Canticle by Anne Rice
17. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
18. Animal Farm by George Orwell
19. All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room by Erma Bombeck

At eto ang mga sinimulan ko at hindi ko pa natatapos at kasalukuyang binabasa pa rin:

1. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (wala na 'to. nalimutan ko na. kelangan nang simulan ulit)
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (sa Project Gutenberg ko lang binabasa, kapag walang magawa sa lab)
3. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (ebook din, MS Reader copy)
4. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (kasisimula ko pa lang kagabi)

Tsk. Di man lang ako nangalahati sa 50 na goal. Haha
At dahil magkri-Christmas na, eto ang book wishlist ko. :P

Animal Farm

I just finished reading George Orwell's Animal Farm on Google Books a few days ago. And just like 1984, I thought the situation in the story will get better in the end... I thought wrong. After reading it... My goodness... Parang may negatibong enerhiya na nakabalot sa akin.

What else did George Orwell write? Are all his writings about the negative side of things?

Ending

Kaning umaga ay natapos kong basahin ang Blood Canticle, and huling aklat sa serye ng mga nobela na isinulat ni Anne Rice tungkol sa mga bampira. Ngayong tapos ko na ang serye, nalulungkot ako dahil mami-miss ko ang mga tauhan na itinampok sa mga kwentong nagpasaya, at kung minsan ay nagpaluha sa akin, lalo na ang bidang si Lestat.

Ngayon, wala na akong babasahin ulit. Hmmm... baka simulan ko na lang siguro ang Mayfair Witches trilogy.

Beyond the Epilogue

A link for those who had read all the seven Harry Potter books. Sa mga hindi pa nakatatapos magbasa, don't click it if you don't want to be spoiled. :)

Click!

No Title

I am such a sloth. Just watched Friends all day long yesterday. Well not all day actually, because I also continued my reading of this fantasy novel by Guy Kavriel Kay. And I also did some sewing, and a little piano playing... but the point is, I need exercise. I need to engage in strenuous activities to tire these lazy muscles of mine.

~~~

Watched Spiderman3 with Argel and my brother Peyt last week. I generally liked the movie. James Franco's smile is sooo dreamy... :x

:|

Nanood na naman ng sine. Ang Cute ng Ina Mo. Kasama ko sina Kuya at Peyt. Funny film. 7th movie na napanood ko this year. Yun lang.

~~~

Tapos ko na rin yung binabasa kong book. The Icewind Dale Trilogy. Maganda rin.

Ok wala ako sa mood magkwento. Haha

Desolation

I am at a loss for words to describe how I feel right now.

I have been reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and I must say Marius and Armand are my favorite characters. Their story was first told in The Vampire Armand, (obviously) a book about the life of Armand. I was enamored of them both and was fascinated with their relationship. When Marius and Armand were happy, I was also happy. And when they were in a state of despair, I was in one too. And when their perfect world crumbled and they were sundered, I was crestfallen. That was a month ago. I read this book during the last weeks of September. In my opinion, it did not have a happy ending.

This afternoon, I have finished reading the other side of the story - Marius' life - in Blood and Gold. Marius' life is a long one, for he is an ancient being, and I loved him (and Armand) even more after reading the book. Again I feel how I felt when I finished The Vampire Armand, for this book too had no happy ending.

Rice has created characters that for me, are almost as real as you and me.

This piece of writing does not explain what is in my heart. And after reading and rereading what I have written above, I do not see my point in writing all of these.

Summer!

After 5 long years, this is my very first summer without summer classes and surprisingly, I'm finding it a bit... boring. I thought summer without summer classes would be fun and exciting... but no. I thought I could do all the things that I wanted to do since college life started... but no. You see, I can't do the things that I wanted to do (which are reading books and playing videogames and watching movies) since doing so would make me look like a sloth. So I'm making very little progress on my game (KH2), and also of my reading (Les Miserables). At least I get to watch movies when Kuya is here.

Daddy is home! Yay! He arrived last Thursday, and he gave me a brand new phone as graduation gift! It's the N70, which has 2 cameras and is capable of video calls. I just love it. It's the first time that I have a better phone than Kuya's haha.

Graduation is 6 days away! And I still don't have a dress! Haaaay... :D