I’m trying to get inspiration from Pro Blog Design, as well as the currently-underway redesign of The Raven Republic (which I still have to finish!).

Hmm. Weeks ahead are going to be busy.

Don’t be a stranger now, you hear?

Like her, I’m hoping that the newest iteration of Microsoft’s is as “re-pon-kin-sliv” as they’re pushing it to be. Which, in all probability, it might just be: I got to try the RC out on a display system a few months ago, and it just flew. Even when compared to XP.

My last post was on July 28. Only after more than a full month later does the next one come. Hmm. I partly point the finger of “blame” on Twitter (follow me by the way) for being so ubiquitous and easy to use. It’s so convenient to update yourself to friends bit by bit, 140 characters at a time, instead of writing whole blog posts on how you promise to update yourself to your friends bit by bit, one blog post at a time.

Currently, again, I’ve hit some sort of deadlock where I know I can squeeze in some time to write something here, get ideas out of my head and onto a place where people can see, hear, read and play them and get the creative juices flowing, but I always fall prey to either laziness or physical fatigue – from work, not from writing here. After all, you and I know that the beginning of many good things is to note it down somewhere, and not just leave it percolating in your brain. I just gave this advice yesterday, and now I realize I haven’t been following it myself. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

So, dear blog and dear readers, I hope you have not forgotten me. I shall return to you in a few weeks time, refreshed, more involved and more consistent that before. My Twitter account may be crackling more often than this blog, but I’ve found it’s not really conducive to creative ideas, it’s really more for friends and news. Creatives, that’s where this place comes in.

And don’t worry, if I can’t be bothered to write a full-fledged entry, I’ll make sure to post a drunk half-assed one instead.

Promise!

I’ll get to experience (something like) this one day, when the long-awaited trip to La Union finally pushes through.

This was originally used as part of the publicity campaign for the 2009 NBA Playoffs, but people will probably recognize it more as the entrance song used by Frank Mir at UFC 100, where he got his face badly bashed in by Brock Lesnar.

Anyway, I digress. The beat is sick, and the lyrics are fierce. Oh and this fan-made video which uses typography in a unique way is pretty damn cool too.

It’s amazing, I’m the reason
Everybody fired up this evening
I’m exhausted, barely breathing
Holding on to what I believe in

No matter what you’ll never take that from me
My reign is as far as your eyes can see

It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’
(Let’s go)

I’m a monster, I’m a killer
I know I’m wrong, yeah
I’m a problem that’ll never ever be solved

And no matter what you’ll never take that from me
My reign is as far as your eyes can see

It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’
(Let’s go)

I’m a monster, I’m a maven
I know this world is changin’
Never gave in, never gave up
I’m the only thing I’m afraid of

No matter what you’ll never take that from me
My reign is as far as your eyes can see

It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’

I’m amazin’, yeah, I’m all that
If I ain’t on my grind then what you call that?
Victorious, yeah, we warriors
We make history, strive off victory

Standing at my podium
I’m trying watch my sodium
Die high blood pressure
You even let the Feds getcha

I’m amazin’, born on the full moon
I was bred to get it in, no spoon
That’s why I’m so goose, summer time, no juice
Big family, small house, no rooms

They like, oh God, why you go so hard?
Look what he’s been through
He deserves an applause

So amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’, so amazin’
It’s amazin’

But anyway, what I’m writing this for is to praise how good Batman looks in this specific instance of his character design. Look at him! Heavily built, long gloves and boots made of leather, torn trenchcoat-like cape billowing in the wind. It’s all very steampunk and dapper, in a rugged and vicious crimefighter way.

A quick research told me why this design resonated so loudly with me: Mike Mignola. I dug his character designs for the past two Hellboy movies, as well as in Pan’s Labyrinth. Well done, sir.

It has style, it has action, it has good choreography, it has the cheesy slow-mos and the multiple-angle shots. The scene has it all. I read that they did this without wire-fu, which makes it doubly amazing. It makes you think about just how much body control Tony Jaa has in order to pull this off, which brings up obvious comparisons with the greats like Jackie Chan. Still, I think the hailing of Jaa as the next great martial arts movie star has some merit to it, because clearly he has some sick moves.

On to Ong-Bak 2!

Dig holds a certain… significance for me. It reminds me of someone. I’ll leave it at that. :) Personal meaning aside though, it’s a damn good song. It’s signature Incubus, you could say.

We all have a weakness
But some of ours are easy to identify.
Look me in the eye
And ask for forgiveness;
We’ll make a pact to never speak that word again
Yes you are my friend.

We all have something that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when weakness turns my ego up
I know you’ll count on the me from yesterday

If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me
Sing this song
Remind me that we’ll always have each other
When everything else is gone.

We all have a sickness
That cleverly attaches and multiplies
No matter how we try.
We all have someone that digs at us,
At least we dig each other
So when sickness turns my ego up
I know you’ll act as a clever medicine.

If I turn into another
Dig me up from under what is covering
The better part of me.
Sing this song!
Remind me that we’ll always have each other
When everything else is gone.

Oh each other….
When everything else is gone.

Do you memorize theatrical lines
That seem to lead them in
Play the role with the good girl heart
Hide the tangled webs within
Who was it that led you on
That makes you want to hurt me so
Who do you want to forget
Who forgot you long ago

Do you still feel him
Calling in the air tonight?
Do you still feel it
Seems like you’ve done this before
You make breaking hearts look so easy
Seems like you’ve done this before
You’ve got breaking hearts all but down
And you’ve done this, you’ve done this before
You make stealing hearts look so easy
Where is the girl I adore?
You’ve got breaking up all but down
And I can’t love a thief anymore

Do you collect the souls you’ve lost
In the top of your dresser drawer
Count the number of tears displaced
On lonely bedroom floors
Now the shape where your heart once was
Slowly takes the place of you
Will they hold the memories now
Of the love I thought I knew

Do you still feel him
Calling in the air tonight?
Do you still feel it
Seems like you’ve done this before
You make breaking hearts look so easy
Seems like you’ve done this before
You’ve got breaking hearts all but down
And you’ve done this, you’ve done this before
You make stealing hearts look so easy
Where is the girl I adore?
You’ve got breaking up all but down
And I can’t love a thief anymore

You make breaking hearts look so easy
You’ve got breaking hearts all but down
You make breaking hearts look so easy
Seems like you’ve done this before
You’ve got breaking hearts all but down
And you’ve done this, you’ve done this before

The best you could hope to be is,
Now just a bitter sweet memory
And you make breaking hearts look so easy