Not even trying at Faded Boxers

Had to spend the weekend at Baguio because my company, in its infinite wisdom, decided to schedule our summer outing after the summer. Seing as my family owns and runs the said company, and how I’m supposed to be learning how to run it—a task for which I have no aptitude I might add—I had no choice but to tag along and bond with my co-workers.

Discounting all the pleasant activities such as contracting a bad case of diarrhea, and a near death experience that would have landed all of us in the hospital even without the diarrhea, it was an altogether ok weekend if only Rach was along for the trip, and if there was an accessible wifi hotspot anywhere near where we were staying. This resulted to a backlog of movies, books, and CDs I wasn’t able to blog about.

The fact that I got home to a busted DSL modem only served to further the delay. While I had originally drafted a detailed review of each item in my mind; my desire to actually put my thoughts on paper (or on screen as is the case) has severely diminished in proportion to the amount of weight I lost during my bout with diarrhea.

So, in the hopes of moving on with my life at the soonest possible time, here are my abridged thoughts on the following distractions that I have been involved with in the past few days:

Fantastic Four — You know how when you’re walking in to see a bad movie, but hope that it’s simply so bad that you can enjoy it if you turn off your brain? This movie isn’t one of them.

Herbie: Fully Loaded — A movie so stupid, silly, and flitty, I ended up enjoying it only after I checked my brain at the door (see above). Also, I’ve always thought of Lindsay Lohan, Justin Long, and Breckin Meyer as competent actors despite their age and obvious predilection for stupid movies.

The Island — Michael Bay: The two words that would send any discerning moviegoer running for the hills. Sadly, nothing else was showing and it had the fortunate fate of being af the bottom of the barrel just when it ran empty. Also, the fact that 90% of the story (including the big secret) was already revealed in the trailer should at least make people think if they should actually go pay money to see it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — I have never admitted openly that I have read every single book in the series thus far, as well as seeing the movies. However, this latest book may have got me thinking into changing my mind. What I’m starting to like about the latter books is how Rowlings has allowed some of her characters to grow up. I’m sick and tired of authors who’ve disallowed any evidence of time passage from touching any of their characters (Yes, I’m looking at you Lemony Snicket). But that doesn’t stop me from giggling everytime I read this, and this.

Octavarium is Dream Theater’s latest studio release, but far from being its best. A lot of the songs tend to ramble on without any real direction, and one gets the feeling that not a lot of effort was put into it. It’s as if DT peaked with Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory, and everything that followed was a hit or miss affair. Of course album’s still got a lot of things going for it, but my biggest gripe about it, is that it isn’t Train of Thought.

While my favorite live Dream Theater album is Live Scenes From New York; Dream Theater: Live At Budokan has two songs that the former doesn’t: Instrumedley, and the live version of Stream of Consciousness (best Dream Theater Song EVAR!!!!).

Which brings me to something that has been bugging me: DT’s vocalist James La Brie’s voice is getting more and more annoying as of late. Which is why I’m wishing for more instrumental jams from DT (Stream Of Consciousness—BEST SONG EVAR!!!).

When the rest of DT embarked upon the instrumental side project that was Liquid Tension Experiment , I wet my pants. Each and every song contained within the two albums released by the band was pure brilliance. Unfortunately, it would only go so long as most (”most” being the operative word) of their fans want them to go back being Dream Theater. Good thing that they worked in some of their jams in Instrumedley.

My sister brought home a copy of Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season and immediately got the rest of the family hooked. Being that today found me bedridden, I decided to pass the time by seeing what all the fuss was about. I’ve now sat through about 6 episodes and I still don’t get it. I mean, it’s entertaining enough, and I get that it’s satire, and how people can love the show. What I don’t get is how people can choose to watch this one over Arrested Development. I guess I missed the boat on this one.