It's past 1:00AM as of typing this and I should really be studying for an exam tomorrow night later tonight but let me sneak in a blog entry for all you guys. Worth the read, I promise! Plus writing this actually helps me by not boring out myself too much with all the studying I've been doing since the weekend.
For all iOS device users out there, y'all can now download Streetfood Tycoon: World Tour, or what I'd like to call, the second, bigger and better servingof a truly great Filipino-made app! Following the success of the original Streetfood Tycoon gaming app, Kuyi Mobile, an independent game development company based in Manila, decided to feed us with the newer version of one of their games.
Happy Holidays! It's been more than a month since I've updated this thing and I hope I still have readers even after a month-long (short LOL) hiatus. I was blessed to have been invited to perform in several events during the past month and that plus school took so much of my time. Anyway, those nice-paying gigs (LOL again) have helped me in copping some really nice stuff this holiday season. I was able to treat my family, some of my friends, and even get myself a condenser microphone for my home recordings! But probably one of the best item I got for myself is a new pair of headphones from Coloud.
Aaand I'm back! I got caught up with tons of things these past few days months, thus the hiatus. Summer 2012 ain't that good, too, since I haven't had time to go away from the hometown because of summer class, service for BLD Youth Ministry's YLSS, getting fit and this other thing which I can't really talk about here, or anywhere, for that matter. Ha ha! Anyway, let me make it up to you by posting about this recent purchase I made.
Called up Vans Off The Wall's store in ATC to reserve me a piece since these cases are selling like waffles, I mean pancakes! Got the chance to drop by the store earlier and I've been using it since this afternoon. The case is made of Van's new flexible rubber and is a replica of their famous Waffle Sole series. It added a bit of thickness to the iPhone but it's something that you'd get used to easily.
I'm really digging the look and feel of my iPhone right now! If you wanna cop a case (or two), drop by any Vans Off The Wall concept stores right away since these cases are only available for a limited time only. Priced at PhP 1,198.00, the Vans Waffle Sole case is definitely one of the best-looking iPhone cases in the under PhP 1,500.00 category.
Got surprised by the "performance" of this nifty little thing right here so I'm sharing this one out for the fellas. I've been using disposable razors for so long now and I always forget to get one that has replaceable blades. I got the chance to use this Gillette Blue 3 razor last week and I believe this is the best disposable razor I've used ever since my facial hair activity increased. Ha ha.
Gillette Blue 3
It has 3 blades to ensure the closest, smoothest shave in fewer strokes. The orange strip helps in preventing irritation for sensitive skin.
This one also has a pivoting head to adjust to the contours of your face.
It's made of plastic enclosed in rubber which provides good grip. Its overall look doesn't say "disposable", eh?
I'm definitely sticking to this one until I remember to get a reusable razor. A pack of two Gillette Blue 3 costs around PhP 93.00 and I'm pretty sure they're available in your local groceries and pharmacies.
Waiting six long years for this fourth installment of Mission Impossible made me expect a lot. Good thing the movie exceeded all my expectations.
I grew up watching James Bond films and when the first Mission Impossible came out in 1996, I somehow edged our copies of James Bond films (VHS) and put Mission Impossible on top of our VHS rack. I anticipated each and every installment and I've always liked them. I guess I've developed an inkling to death-defying scenes coupled with spanking gadgets.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, for me, is better than the third installment (2006). I liked the plot and storyline better and obviously, the technology they showcased was far more better than those they featured six years ago. However, I still think that the second installment (2000) is still the best.
It's funny how after watching this film, I felt like an agent of IMF just because of my iPhone. Ha ha!
Honestly, I like how it looks so simple and minimal. Kinda reminds me of Wall-E's head! Ha ha! It has a cable management apparatus, which is basically a slot at the back of both speakers that could hold the cable so as to avoid tangling. Now, in terms of sound quality/performance, I was quite surprised that it actually sounds good! Although you might not want to up the volume too high especially if you're playing any kind of music that has tremendous bass in it 'cause the sound from the speakers will be muffled. Overall, it's a decent pair of stereo speakers perfect for a small room.
I like how it's in white. Dear Santa, how about a Mac Book Pro this Christmas? Or New Year's? Even Valentine's. Oh, please.
Pictured above is a screen-cap of a tweet that I posted yesterday. Right after I got home last night, I rummaged through our file of receipts and found that it has actually been more than three years since we bought our now defunct printer. Mum asked me to get a new one as soon as possible and I obliged. I got one earlier from Accent Micro, SM City Calamba. Actually, she called in advance and I only picked it up. Ha ha!
We've always used printers from Hewlett Packard and I can't find a reason not to continue the line of HP printers that have come to serve my family. HP printers come in a wide variety and I'm pretty sure they have a printer for every single one of your needs. What I like most about HP is that their original ink cartridges are kinda cheap, so there's no need to get those generic ink refills that can sometimes harm your printers.
To say that my family likes pizza is an understatement. Italian food fare is a very common choice whenever we dine outside our house. I'm a big Shakey's fan, RJ likes Greenwhich more than the others, and my mum and the others love Pizza Hut. She's a fan, really, so finding a box or two of Pizza Hut in our house as merienda is very typical. Since it's also the nearest to our house, Pizza Hut, over the years, has become our go-to place whenever our aunt gets a tad bit lazy to cook.
After spending a gruesome and sweaty afternoon in the cemetery, we decided to grab some late lunch in Pizza Hut, located in Olivarez Plaza, Los Baños, Laguna.
Yes, you read that right!
For those who still do not know about the Palm Card, it's this amazing card you get in Pizza Hut stores and whenever you present it, you'll get a free pizza for every pizza that you pay for, provided that you buy any Pepsi product along with your purchase. Originally, only to-go customers and those who've availed of the delivery service are the ones who can avail of this promo, but in the spirit of Christmas, Pizza Hut now allows customers to use it when dining in! This is actually perfect for groups and for celebrations!
Like I said, my family frequents Pizza Hut so we kinda have this "set meal" whenever we eat there. Here's what we usually get.
Cream of Mushroom Soup with Puff Pastry (PhP 69.00)
The Hawaiian Pan Pizza was free of charge since we originally ordered one of the store's new variant of pizza. We brought this home 'cause we were already feeling full because of the other food we ordered. Ha ha! And now, for the piece de resistance, Pizza Hut's Tuscani Pizza.
Medium Supremo Tuscani Pizza (PhP 349.00)
Pizza Hut's Tuscani Pizza variants boast of a thinner-than-usual-Pizza Hut-crust filled with flavor, topped with generous amounts of premium toppings. We got the Supremo variant, which is kinda like the Super Supreme of their Tuscani line, and I can honestly say that this just rocketed to my top pizza flavors. It was well-balanced and the thin, crispy-on-the-side-soggy-in-the-center crust does magic! Oh, and look at the amount of toppings! I hope they put this on their regular menu!
All four of us (Mum, Mama, Tita Cora and me) were able to finish all except the Hawaiian Pizza. Went home with happy tummies!
How about y'all? What did you guys have for today's meals?
A father and son story plus a dancing robot who can totally kick ass? I just couldn't help but ask for more.
If you follow me on Twitter, then I guess you might have seen my tweets regarding Real Steel. I raved about it online for a couple of days and I can't get over it still, although I've decided not to fill up my Twitter's timeline and my Facebook's wall with Real Steel-related posts. I guess this entry is my last way of convincing you all to get tickets and watch it.
Real Steel is a movie set in the not so far-off future. By then, people have developed a penchant for extreme contact sports which became too suicidal dangerous for real people, hence the birth of robot boxing. Think boxing/MMA but between C-3PO on steroids and the Tin Man, yet again on steroids. The story revolves around Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), a used-to-be boxer turned promoter of robot boxing, and his son Max Kenton (Dakota Goyo) whom he left years ago. The two had a rough start on rebuilding their father and son relationship since Charlie wasn't too keen on keeping his son. An incident led them to the discovery of a sparring robot which they rebuilt and reprogrammed. This robot, named Atom, became a strong contender and was easily liked by the people, all this to the outrage and defiance of Tak Mashido (Karl Yune), a well-known promoter of robot boxing and the owner of Zeus, the robot which held the title of World Robot Boxing Champion. The movie culminates into a match between Atom and Zeus and I'll stop blabbering here. Ha ha!
Real Steel's still being shown in a lot of cinemas and I know a lot of people will watch it, especially since most still have about a week off from school. The movie is very inspirational and focuses on the importance of family. Fine, I'll admit it. I cried teared up because of the father and son scenes, especially that one scene while the match between Atom and Zeus was happening. Good thing I wasn't seated next to anyone. Ha ha! Overall, the movie is just plain awesome. Great story, great actors, great cinematography! Just. Plain. Great.
As I've said in my tweet, Real Steel has got to be the best movie I've seen this year. I'm excited to get it on original DVD and I'm really looking forward to a sequel. Oh please, let there be one. Or two.
My sincere apology for this overly-late movie review. Dolphin Tale was shown in cinemas about three weeks ago already and here I am, just about to write a review for it. At least y'all wouldn't be spoiled, right? Ha ha!
Dolphin Tale is actually based on the true story of a dolphin named Winter. Winter's tail got injured when it got caught in a crab trap and the tail had to be amputated in order for her to survive. The movie basically "documents" Winter's journey as she tries to be a normal dolphin. She somehow learned how to swim but those who were taking care of her found out that her swimming movement is actually wrong and is beginning to sever her vertebrae which could ultimately lead to her death. Winter's best friend, a boy named Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble) finds ways to prolong Winter's life with the help of his friend Hazel Hasette (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and her father Dr. Clay Hasette (Harry Connick Jr.). A prosthetic tail was made for Winter but several prototypes were rejected by Winter because it irritates her skin. After several tails, they found a way to make it more comfortable for Winter and her swimming movement was brought back to normal, thus eliminating the possibility of her breaking her vertebrae.
I highly recommend this movie for families and for people looking for inspiration. Winter served (and still serves) as an inspiration to people, whether or not they have disabilities. Today, Winter is still alive and kicking swimming! You can click here to visit her official website.
I own an almost three-year old Nikon D40 and I've somehow outgrown the habit of lugging it around. I still use it for special events but you won't find me carrying it everyday mainly because of the weight it adds to my back pack.
Thank God for Steve Jobs (RIP) and the rest of Apple Inc for the iPhone 4. It's 5 mega pixel sensor does wonders and it sure saves me the weight from lugging my D40 around. I somehow maximized the capabilities of my iPhone 4's camera over the months that I've owned it and I began to search for an app which would up my iPhone 4's camera feature. A friend of mine introduced me to this certain app which promises photos that looks like it came from a D/SLR and edited with any popular post-processing software available today.
Say hello to Camera+, dubbed as the "ultimate photo app". I don't think this app is available for free but for a measly 0.99$ (roughly 45.00PhP at the time of the purchase) from the Apple App Store, you can enjoy this app to its fullest. You can take photos using the app itself and edit them right after or you can import previously taken photos and edit them in Camera+.
Photo up for editing.
Edit photos using pre-loaded scenes.
Adjust photo orientation.
Crop photo.
Edit photo with preloaded effects.
Edit photos with retro effects.
Edit photos using special effects.
Edit photos using analog effects which can be purchased.
Add simple borders to your photo.
Add stylized borders to your photo.
The screen caps above shows some of the things that you can do with this app. You can also edit your manual settings when taking photos using Camera+. I have yet to try all these features and effects so y'all have to wait for my future posts with contents coming from this app. Ha ha. For now, here are some photos I took and post-processed using Camera+.
Scenic view of Mt. Makiling, UPLB (HDR effect)
Platters from Ristretto (Played with the depth of field)
Coin Purse from Vigan, Ilocos Sur (Toy Camera effect)
Ravioli from Mi Bonitos (Adjusted the color and depth of field)
This entry gives out only about a half of what Camera+ offers. Click here to visit their official website and know more about this app.
If you happen to see me sitting or standing in a corner and rocking my phone sideways and then letting out a "demmit" gasp, don't worry, I'm most probably just messing with this game. Lima Sky's Doodle Jump is one heck of an exciting game, I tell you; although I think I need not tell you guys since statistically, it's one of the most played games on iOS devices and also other phones with the platform required for the game.
The player navigates the four-legged creature called the Doodler up a series of never-ending platforms without falling or getting killed by aliens or whatever creatures that might come in its way. The more platforms you pass, the higher the score that you'll get!
I purchased the full version of the game for my iPhone 4 from the Apple App Store for only 0.99$ (roughly 45.00PhP at the time of the purchase) since the free version only allows players to "jump" only up to 12,000 points. This one's definitely a good game for when you're standing in line for some time or when you start to feel bored while waiting for someone or something. Ha ha!
Home Page
Outer Space Game Platform
Stats
As of the moment, the full version offers nine (9) different playing platforms. These platforms differ from one another with the background and the creatures that appear on the game. I think one very important feature of Doodle Jump is that there's a very small chance of playing with the same arrangement of platforms to jump to so there's no way that you'll learn or memorize a certain game.
Doodle Jump is available for Apple iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Phone 7, Samsung Mystic, XBox 360 Kinect and Windows 7.
Another addicting and easily my favorite game installed in my iPhone 4 is Fruit Ninja from Halfbrick Studios. You basically slice the fruits and avoid missing three and also avoid hitting the bombs that are thrown out occasionally. Special bonuses are also given if you cut three or more fruits in one slice! The free version lets you play up until a score of 125 only and that, my friends, is just not enough! Ha ha! I decided to get the full version for Apple's App Store for only 0.99$ (roughly 45.00PhP at the time of the purchase) and boy, I've been more addicted ever since.
The full version offers the training mode (Dojo) and four (4) game platforms (Classic, Zen, Multiplayer and Arcade).
Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick Studios
Home Page
Game Modes
The Classic mode's objectives is to slice as many fruits as you can without any time limit. Of course, you need to avoid missing fruits and the bombs. The Zen mode lets you play for only a total of 90 seconds per game and the objective remains the same; slice 'em fruits! The Multiplayer lets you, well, play with other players via WiFi and the Arcade mode is basically like the Classic mode with the only difference that you're only given a minute for each game. I guess it's safe to say that there's a game mode for everyone, eh? Ha ha!
Fruit Ninja is available for Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, Symbian (Nokia), Bada (Samsung), XBox 360 (XBLA) and Windows.
Angry Bird from Rovio is probably one of the most famous games to ever hit the mobile scene. It was first released in 2009 for Apple's iOS devices but developers have also made versions for other touch-screen based smart phones like those with the Android operating system.
The game's pretty basic, with the main objective as to hit the green pigs with the Angry Birds using a slingshot, but it somehow requires the player's knowledge on projectile motion so as to get higher points. It's really addicting and it's a good way to spend some null time.
I got the full version from Apple's App Store a couple of weeks ago when I finished all the levels in the trial version. For 0.99$ (roughly 45.00PhP at the time of the purchase), you get to play with six (6) main levels (with a total of 378 sub-levels) plus one bonus level (Golden Eggs) of pure squeaky Angry Birds goodness.
Below are screen caps taken from my iPhone 4 and you'll see from the photos that I've only finished level 1 but that's only because I don't proceed to another sub-level if I don't acquire scores that'll reward me with three (3) stars! Ha ha!
Home Page
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Bonus Level
So, there! I know most, if not all, owners of iOS devices and other smartphones already have Angry Birds but I highly encourage everyone who has not yet downloaded the full version to go get it! It's totally worth your 0.99$!
Finished the entire full version? Y'all can get several different themed games of Angry Birds like Angry Birds Seasons, Rio, and the Halloween versions! And you can always hope that T-Mobile brings this to the Philippines! Ha ha!
Angry Birds is available for Apple iOs, Maemo, HP Web OS, Android, Symbian^3, PSP/Playstation 3, MAC OS X, Windows, Web GL, Windows Phone 7 and Google Plus.
