Flavor of the Day

Goodbye One Manga

Tina — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:53:39 +0000

Click image to enlarge.

It pains me to announce that the manga streaming site One Manga has announced that this is their last week of hosting scanlations. They will remove all content by next week. *sniff sniff*

This site has saved me from insanity many, many times. I learned lots of philosophical stuff here, more than what I’ve picked up from books that I’ve read for the past 20+ years.

You will be sorely missed.

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WHSmith

Tina — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:53:00 +0000

This entry is a part of the Paris English bookshops series.

I first heard the name of the bookshop while Googling for something else. It got me wondering why it was not included in my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook. So last July 17, I ventured into the shop along rue de Rivoli. It was located across the street from Jardin des Tuileries, near Place de la Concorde.

I think I just found the Paris counterpart of Fully Booked Fort Bonifacio branch. They sell the same things that regular bookstores in the Philippines sell, and then some. Books, magazines, stationery, Harry Potter merchandise, and so on. None of the used books here, they sell only new books. And they have a great collection of new books, and I was quite surprised that they have the entire collection of Clive Cussler books. And since it is located very near the famous tourist attractions of Paris (Louvre Museum, Tuileries Garden and Place de la Concorde to name a few), a lot of foreigners can’t resist but to look around (probably trying to escape the summer heat).

Even though there are lots of books housed in this 2-floor shop, you can easily find the books you are looking for. General fiction and nonfiction books are located at the ground floor near the entrance, while the magazines are located at the back of the store. You can also find reference books like dictionaries and travel guides in the same floor. If you go upstairs on the first floor, you can find the stationery, childrens’ books section, DVD section, and books for other specialized topics like business, science, sports, music and so on. I chuckled when I also found other merchandise in the first floor (Harry Potter merchandise, Lord of the Rings figures, game boards, and so on). I have to use all my willpower to let go of the Cluedo game I found. They even sell snacks and drinks on the same floor. If the book you are looking for is not in the shop, there is also a counter at the first floor where you can ask them to order a copy of the book for you.

Unfortunately, the books here are NOT cheap. There are other shops where you can buy the same books at a lower price. However, I have to admit that they have a really vast collection of new books. If you are looking for a particular book, you are more likely to find it here rather than the other bookshops in Paris. So if you are really desperate, this will be your last stop.

Just a little tip: you can easily ask for a loyalty card (carte de fidélité) so that you can have 5% discount on your book purchases. All you need to do is to register here, and ask the cashier for the loyalty card.

French people are famous for closing shops during the summer holidays, so I was delighted to learn that they are open 362 days in a year (closed only on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and May 1). This shop is also one of the few shops that open on Sundays. You can visit the store from 9am to 7pm (Mondays to Saturdays), and from 12:30pm to 7pm on Sundays and bank holidays.

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English Bookshops in Paris

Tina — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:36:09 +0000

As a foreigner in a strange land, I was shy to look around by myself, knowing that the French people prefer not to speak English and insist that you learn French. I’ve stayed long enough (and even gave tours to some friends who visited me in Paris) for me to get bored with the different sights in the city.

I had to learn from a friend of mine that there are actually English bookshops in Paris. I never bothered to look around because I thought that they only sell books written in French. But since I’m getting bored with my research (and I have unlimited access to the metro anyway), I did some research and sought all the English bookshops in Paris.

I hope the next few entries will be of use to you if ever you visit Paris. Enjoy!

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Now Playing: AME Track 10

Tina — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:14:28 +0000

University of the Philippines Anime Manga Enthusiasts presents

NOW PLAYING: AME Track 10
Rhapsody of the Rain

Cosplay Competition | Novelty Booths | J-Rock Concert and more!

TUNE IN THIS NOVEMBER

Please check UP AME’s official website or visit our forums for updates!

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Toy Story 3

Tina — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:13:44 +0000

Leave it to Pixar to come up with another tear-jerker animated film. This gem is my favorite among all the Pixar movies, for it was created not entirely for kids but for all the loyal fans of Woody and his gang for the past 15 years. Geez, I never even realized that it has been so long since the first Toy Story came out. And what a way to bid it goodbye. *sniff*

(Spoilers ahead.)

Andy is now about to leave for college, so his toys spend more time in the truck rather than outside being played with. In particular, it made Jessie paranoid because she already went through this “moving on” process with her previous owner, Emily. After a series of misunderstandings, the gang found themselves out in the wild again and we are following their journey back home. But this time, they have to get past Lotso the bear, who would stop at nothing to keep them in the Sunnyside day care to suffer in the hands of unruly toddlers.

Just like any Pixar movie, there were lots of funny scenes. Mr. Potato Head being turned into Mr. Tortilla head is particularly entertaining, I couldn’t stop laughing while he was fighting with the pigeon. And I just love Ken’s reaction as Barbie tears up his vintage clothes right before his eyes. (Seriously Ken, you’re gay.)

I just had to say this, I was surprised with the appearance of Totoro. So the creators of Toy Story 3 are fans of Hayao Miyazaki, eh? Now I want my own Totoro plushie. Seriously.

But for me, the last scene is the one thing most people would remember for years to come. While it was quite endearing to see Andy introduce his toys one by one to young Bonnie, you can feel his hesitation when Andy found Woody inside the box. He was probably torn at that moment: he wants to keep Woody and bring it to college with him, but at the same time he didn’t want to hurt Bonnie’s feelings. He probably thought that it was useless to hold on to Woody when he realized he can no longer remember Woody’s catchphrase but Bonnie said it even before pulling Woody’s cord. (And honestly, would normal college kids bring their old toys and still play with them?) As Andy looked down on Woody, I felt that I was shedding the tears that Andy did not dare show to young Bonnie. I’m amazed that Andy’s voice didn’t crack as he said this:

Now Woody, he’s been my pal for as long as I can remember. He’s brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he’ll never give up on you… ever. He’ll be there for you, no matter what.

As Andy played with his old toys one last time, I was crushed knowing that after this scene, Andy and Woody would go their separate ways. I even half-expected that tears would fall down from Woody’s face as Andy waves goodbye and gets inside his car.

Woody and the gang were lucky to have Andy as an owner. He treated them all like good friends instead of merely toys. Even if they can’t speak in front of Andy, they are alive just the same.

My friend gave her toys a big hug when she got home from watching the film. I cried myself to sleep, thinking of all the toys I mutilated when I was a kid. And I think amyowhorker of Cracked.com got it right. If movie titles were honest, then Toy Story 3 will be renamed as:

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The Last Airbender

Tina — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:20:19 +0000

There ought to be a law punishing people who make 3D films just because it is the “in” thing. Tickets for 3D films ain’t cheap, you know. You should at least get what you pay for.

Seriously, The Last Airbender is not worth watching in the cinema. Not in 3D, not even in 2D. Just wait for a kind soul to provide a copy via torrent. And while you’re waiting for that copy, just watch the TV series. Or just watch Eclipse. *shudder* Even Rotten Tomatoes gave a higher rating for Eclipse compared with this mess.

So how exactly did Shyamalan mess up the movie adaptation of one of the most adorable animated series ever?

First, the script. I watched this film with someone who is uninitiated in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he felt that there were lots of scenes that were disconnected and unnecessary. Imagine how I felt, having watched the animated series a few days ago. It’s as if I’m reading a badly written essay, where the writer lifted some paragraphs from several sources without bothering with the continuity of the story. I’m not even sure if Shyamalan is thinking of his target audience at all. It lacks the depth that adult viewers would appreciate, and it lacks the humor that would make the kids excited to see the film.

Second, the 3D rendering. I would have been less annoyed by it if I just watched the film in 2D (because it is cheaper). James Cameron’s Avatar earned a lot from the 3D version because there are certain scenes that you would appreciate only in 3D. The only 3D scene I could recognize in The Last Airbender is the landscape of the Northern Air Temple. Most of the time, I was lifting my 3D glasses to see if there is a difference with and without the glasses. Now I miss the times when you get a warning seconds before a 3D scene telling you to wear your glasses, and you can remove the glasses after that scene. It’s a little inconvenient, but at least you know which parts of the movie are rendered in 3D.

Third, the acting. Well you can’t really do much with a badly written script. I imagined Aang to be a playful kid, but we get an emo version of him instead. Sokka was supposed to be the king of sarcasm, and yet he only got slightly funny when he met the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. Katara is not motherly enough in the movie. Besides, she is already a powerful water bender in the animated series when she defended Aang from Zuko’s attack. But in the film version, Zuko defeated her easily. And speaking of Zuko, he is not angry enough. I don’t see the obsession with capturing the Avatar to regain his honor. He should be doing everything he could to prevent Aang from escaping his clutches.

Fourth, the battle scenes. The Fire Nation has been waging war for a hundred years, and they are winning. How can you make me believe that a huge fleet of Fire Nation ships would simply back away because they saw a giant wave? They should have stuck to the version in the animated series, where Aang attacked the Fire Nation fleet in the avatar state and cannot control himself. Seeing the other ships destroyed would be enough motivation for the rest of the fleet to fall back.

I was also not satisfied with the battle of the benders. I imagined that the movements would be quick, the elements reacting to the slightest movement of the bender. Having to watch a lengthy dance before seeing a reaction is a bit lame. It would give the non-benders an advantage in battle, because they just have to attack the bender before he finishes the movements. The decent battle scenes are already in the trailer. Most of the time it just felt awkward.

To be fair to Shyamalan, I like the idea of having the fire benders not generating their own flames. Only the strong fire benders can make fire out of their own chi, like Iroh and Zuko. But didn’t Master Pakku tell the Water Tribe warriors to put out all fires before the attack of the Fire Nation? Then why were the lamps within the city walls still lit? Zhao even used those fires to attack Iroh. Stupid of the Northern Water Tribe to miss that.

So if they ever plan to do the second part of The Last Airbender, here are my suggestions.

If they don’t have enough money to shoot the entire movie in 3D, prioritize the battle scenes. Look at the fifth Harry Potter movie. It was a horrible movie overall, but the fight scene between Dumbledore and Voldemort was stunning in 3D. You should make the audience evade the attacks even though it is just an illusion. There are lots of battles between benders to choose from. Take some lessons from James Cameron’s Avatar.

Zuko needs to resolve his issues in the second part. He needs to figure out if he will continue to chase the avatar to satisfy his father or if he will listen to his Uncle Iroh and be on the good side. We need to see some epic acting from Zuko. Can’t we have Alfonso Cuarón direct the second part?

And seriously, look for a better scriptwriter.

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The Last Airbender Movie: Initial Thoughts

Tina — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:09:18 +0000

I entered late in the “Avatar” phenomenon, it was only last year that I got to watch all the episodes of the animated series. And my friends were right, it was surprisingly good. And that’s the reason why I am having second thoughts with M. Night Shyamalan’s movie adaptation.

First, I don’t see how they are going to squeeze in all the important details in 103 minutes. Are they just going to concentrate on Book 1? If yes, maybe it can be done (although we won’t be able to see some Earth-bending action). Otherwise, forget it. Even the seventh book of Harry Potter had to be split into 2 parts, so there’s no way that the entire series of Avatar: The Last Airbender will fit in just one movie. Now if they are just going to show the Water Tribe saga, that would be a bit boring. Let’s face it, the series only got exciting when they finally reached the Northern Water tribe and they had to defend themselves from the attack of the Fire country. Only the humor got me through the first few episodes of the series, thanks to Sokka. If they cannot do that in the movie, then I’m afraid that we won’t see the sequels.

Now for the controversies on racism, frankly I don’t care. As long as they can bring justice to the character in the series, that’s fine with me. Geez, I was just praying that this won’t turn out into a Dragonball: Evolution type of movie adaptation.

I was also having second thoughts when I saw their website. Don’t get me wrong, the website is really great. But then, the website of The Golden Compass was just as impressive, and we all know how it fared in the box office. I am praying that this film will not flop, because the next 2 books of Avatar are way more exciting compared with the first book.

The fact that it will be shown in 3D got me interested in watching this movie. Wow, it would be interesting to see how they bend the elements in 3D. The last movie I watched in 3D was James Cameron’s Avatar, so I have a pretty high standard. They better pull it off in this film.

Tomorrow is the opening day of The Last Airbender in the US, much later for the rest of the world (July 28 in Paris). I got my advanced screening tickets on July 9. I hope it’s worth the wait.

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Festival and Company – Day 1

Tina — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:39:43 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be in Paris during Festival and Co., the literary festival organized by Shakespeare and Company. The theme for this year is Storytelling and Politics. Seeing that Philip Pullman is one of the invited speakers in the festival, I decided to take a look (and have my books signed in the process).

Day 1 featured a round table discussion entitled “Do Books Change Things? Are Things Changing Books?” The panel was chaired by Ian Jack, with Olivier Postel-Vinay, Philip Pullman and André Schiffrinas members of the panel. (See their short biographies here.) They discussed the comparison of book publishing in the past and at present, and tried to look at the future of books in general.

Philip Pullman started by saying that people used to read a lot of books in the past for the sake of being entertained. (A world without the radio, television and Internet, what else can you do?) Everything changed at around 1910, when films and comic books started to appear. Because it is easier to be entertained by seeing pictures, there is a decline in the number of people reading books. With modern technology (ebooks, blogs, etc.) there is also a decrease in the number of people buying real books. Will the book industry die out eventually? Philip Pullman is optimistic that they will survive the test of time unlike their digital counterparts. “Books are better,” he said. Besides, people can remember was was written in the books, and as long as there are people who can pass the stories to other people, the stories will live on. (At this point, I remember the bet between Dr. Parnassus and the devil in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.)

Olivier Postel-Vinay is not as optimistic as Pullman. He conducted a study on the behavior of the college students at present, triggered by the laments of university professors in Paris that students are reading less and less. This trend began in the 60s (the time when Bill Gates was still young, he adds). Is it because of television and the Internet? There is no evident correlation to support this claim. He also complained about the lack of good books nowadays. He claims that most books are bad books. (Now why did I suddenly think of Twilight when he said that? Hmmm…) He didn’t say anything about what he means when he mentioned “bad” books. (And no one in the audience asked about it? Strange…)

Clearly, the book publishing business is in a crisis, said Ian Jack. André Schiffrin elaborated on this topic by saying that the change came in the structure of the book publishing business. It may be built in the current social system, and not brought about by technology. There might be a problem with the business model of book publishing that prevents good material from coming out and be known to the general public. He thinks that the audience did not necessarily disappear, but the content disappeared.

Ian Jack asked if books are still a good way to disseminate information. In general, the answer is yes. Philip Pullman mentioned that people find a sort of authority from printed books, maybe because of the filtration process that authors must undergo before the book is released to the public. This is not possible with the modern ways of publishing, like in blogs. However André Schiffrin warns that nothing new is being provided to the reading public. Most of the books that appear nowadays deal with themes that other authors have already tackled in the past, he says. The problem is that sales people determine which books to sell and which books will be taken out of circulation. This filtration process is now dependent on the economic decisions of the publishers. He ends by saying that there is nothing wrong with the technology, but with the people who control it. (*coughSteveJobscough*) At this point, Philip Pullman agrees wholeheartedly. The marketing people think they know which book will sell, Pullman adds (a bit forcefully, I should say).

At the end of the discussion, someone from the audience asked for some advice for all young writers. Ian Jack answered that if you are planning to make a living out of being a writer, you better find another way of living. Philip Pullman however advised that you should write what you want to write. The business of writing books is a fluid business, and you can’t tell where the next big hit will come from. André Schiffrin ends the discussion by mentioning the decline of good bookshops in the US, so it would be unwise to depend on writing as a main source of income. He added that he is happy that the French people are strong in preventing the decline of good bookshops.

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Hiding Facebook Game Updates

Tina — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:02:59 +0000

Tired of seeing quiz results and games updates from your Facebook news feed? There used to be an easy way to do that, using the ‘Hide’ feature. Unfortunately, a hidden news feed will reappear once you refresh your page. The only way to do it is to block the application permanently.

First, find the news feed that you want to hide, and click on the application link at the bottom. (See image for an example.)

Clicking on the link will bring you to the Facebook page of the application. Click on the ‘Block Application’ link.

A dialog box will appear to confirm if you really want to block the application. Just click on the ‘Block [app name]‘ button to block the application entirely. Now all the updates related to that application will disappear from your news feed.

Unfortunately, you have to do it for every application that you want to hide from your news feed. Imagine the horror of going to the page of every quiz application and blocking it one by one. I wish that there is an easier way to do it. Hell, there used to be an easier way to do it, but Facebook removed that feature a few months back. We have to wait for Facebook developers to overhaul the layout once more.

Paging Facebook: Can’t you provide a link on the news feed update instead? It’s tiring to go to the Facebook page every time I want to block an application.

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Glee Season 1

Tina — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:13:20 +0000

What took me a while to post something about the current craze that is Glee? Sorry, I was a bit busy.

I was late in the Glee phenomenon. My former students have been buzzing about it in Facebook, Twitter and Plurk, so I was finally intrigued and started watching it late last year. And being the music lover that I am, I was immediately hooked. Here you have a group of high school misfits, each character displaying an over-exaggerated stereotype. But when they perform together, it’s just amazing.

Though the plot may be ridiculous at times, what I love about it is that they are reviving the songs I loved when I was younger. Now I don’t feel so old whenever I hear my students sing to Journey or Madonna. And thank God, I finally know the titles of some of the songs I’ve been singing since I was a kid. You see, I grew up listening to 96.3 WRock and 94.7 Mellow Touch because of my father, but for the life of me I don’t know the titles of the songs or who sang them. But play the first few lines of the song and I know the rest of the lyrics. This is the reason why my music library is pretty limited, because I cannot search for the MP3 when I don’t know the title or the artist, can I?

Now what finally pushed me to write this article is because of the preview for the season finale next week. Here’s a preview of the ballad that New Directions is going to sing at the regionals. (Embedding is disabled, so just go to the YouTube video.)

Faithfully, by the Glee Cast

Okay, this video focused too much on Rachel and the other members were left in the background (even Finn, who is supposed to be Rachel’s partner). But still, it’s pretty awesome. I can’t wait to try singing it in a karaoke bar when I get back home.

Now they recently released a track list of what they are going to sing in the season finale next week. OMG they are going to do Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. That alone makes it worth watching.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

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