Dog Fetish Part 3

dog (and cat) hunting in southeast asia ...

Dog Fetish Part 2

I chanced upon this dog and its owner at Bonifacio High Street. More photos from the scene at http://www.flickr.com/photos/g0901/

I really miss my dog :(

Iron Man

I grew up reading DC comics. I knew Batman, Wonder Woman, and my all-time favorite Superman. Later in my college years, I discovered the Sandman.

I browsed over some pages and bought an issue or two to discover what people raved about in the X-Men and Spiderman. The Marvel universe didn’t really give me the flight-from-reality thrill that I get from reading my weekly Superman subscription. I never dived into the reasons. Nevertheless, that was years ago, when I had a comic book budget.

Now, I get my fix, the flight-from-reality thrill by watching live action films. I thought the Spiderman series were great. So did the X-men trilogy. So-so with the Incredible Hulk. Not so with Daredevil. This May 2008, Marvel Studios brought another one of their comic book heroes to life in Iron Man.

Iron Man, the character created by the great writer-editor Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appeared in Tales of Suspense in 1963. Tony Stark, played by Oscar nominated actor Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man’s alter ego. Stark is the genius son of wealthy industrialist head Howard Stark of Stark Industries. He inherited his father’s company after his parent’s accidental deaths.

Stark is injured and held hostage in Afghanistan. His fellow prisoner Yinsen operates on him to prevent the shrapnel from piercing his heart. Stark recuperates and creates a new magnetic chest plate for his heart and the plans his escape by building a battle armor.

His fellow prisoner is killed during their escape. Stark is rescued by best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes, an army pilot. Oscar nominated actor Terrence Howard as level-headed Rhodey complements Downey’s easy-going Stark. This is Act One.

Act Two begins as Stark surprises everyone in his welcome press briefing by announcing that Stark Industries will stop producing weapons for the US military. Profit plummets as stocks drop and mentor-partner Obadiah Monger is enraged by Stark’s irrevocable decision. Actor Jeff Bridges is Obadiah. He is an unlikely but inspired choice for the role. How many can play determined and principled for all the wrong reasons – in short be the bad guy and remain watchable?

Also in Act Two is Stark’s loyal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow another Oscar nom). She is on hand to pick up his suits from the dry cleaners, spy for him (stole files from Obadiah’s office computer), and save his life (twice). Here are some spoilers for those who haven’t watched the film. My prediction is Pepper Potts will do more than these in the last two installments for the Iron Man series. I sure would like to see Gwyneth last as Pepper… unlike Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series when alas Richard Harris was untimely replaced by Michael Gambon (both superb actors).

The bulk of Act Two is Stark developing his Iron Man armor. As mentioned by Wikipedia, Iron Man’s standard weapons are the repulsor rays fired from the palm of his gauntlets. The armor for this movie designed by the Stan Winston Studios is a feast for the techno-hungry eyes. Iron Man’s armor has a “single fire arm-launched missile and a multi-targeting ballistic weapon that pops up from the shoulder blades…” (Learn more details on the armory in Wikipedia.)

The movie’s awesome visual effects are from Industrial Light and Magic. Advanced Iron, the fanzine notes that Iron Man director Jon Favreau loves practical effects vs. CGI. It really doesn’t matter what is CGI or not as long as it’s believable and seamless. This is what makes it thrilling. This is from a regular movie-goers point of view.

Act Three begins as Stark discovers his enemy is long time friend and mentor Obadiah Stanel who engineered the attack and supplied the Afghans with Stark’s weapons of destruction. Obadiah steals the magnetic chest armor and creates a bigger armor, the Iron Monger.

Again, CGI and the action sequence in the finale outdo the scene where Iron Man makes his first red and gold appearance being tailed by a pair of US fighter planes – the F16s. Who won the mano-a-mano between Iron Man and Obadiah’s Iron Monger at the Stark Industries?

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson helps Tony Stark prepare to meet the press (again). Tony and Pepper discuss are they or aren’t they involved with each other. And the film ends in an uproar as Tony Stark announces he is Iron Man.

Iron Man is an entertaining live action film that delivers punchy dialogues and smart storyline from scriptwriters Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Arthur Marcum and Matt Holloway. (Not to complain, but I want more?!) I rate this movie with four stars (five as highest).

I have not read the Iron Man comic book…

Iron Man wallpapers

Through The Fire and Back Again?

A scene from the film "The Brave One" went like this...

A cop was burning old pictures of his ex-wife and dropping the ashes on the ashtray. Why? He was still hung up on her. Maybe… He wanted to burn whatever hold she has on him. Maybe… The scene before this one was the cop called on his ex-wife to help him on a case he was working on. She refused for a number of reasons. She cited conflict of interest. It turned out that he had another reason for meeting with her.

What happened? This one opened the escape hatch and parachuted off the plane without an explanation or a simple goodbye.

There were traces of falling out and I felt abandoned or discarded. I thought I was being positive when I let everything unravel---that maybe in time things will go back the way it was or maybe it was just an adjustment period and I am being paranoid.

At the end, I was validating everything I thought and felt when we had the TALK. (What a way to talk things over. Technology is boon or bane. It is the advent of cellular phones. I wouldn’t talk like this given another choice.) Some issues were cleared. Some were left unsaid. Some were delegated to time and space.

So after talking and saying what we both had to say, I said my final goodbye. I stamped it with a card signed sealed and delivered through FedEx.

The ex-wife said its time to move on. Maybe that’s why he burned their photos because he also wanted to move on.

I wanted to move on and the goodbye was never face to face. So I said farewell to the next best thing: photographs. Then I was ripping them over and over until they were thumb sizes and would fit the tin can I substituted for an ashtray. A lighter was on hand but frustrating to flick until my skin was sore before it produced a flame. I watched the flame travel from one piece of photograph to another until it made a small pyre.

I shot this picture as the fire burned and the photographs turned to ashes. Did I move on ...

Dog Fetish

This is Twinkle. This is my dog. She's half Askal (mongrel) and half Ridgeback.

Twinkle was dropped off one hot afternoon. She was given for "adoption" by a dear friend in 1999.

Her name has always been Twinkle. I followed suit rather than changing it for the sake of changing. Besides, the name fits - not the "hypothetical integer factorization device" as defined by Wiki. It simply means spark of happiness.

Yes, there were incidents of un-happiness like Twinkle's slipping and running away from the house when the gate was open or stealing a hot chicken leg at the food table or shreddingthe fabric of the sofa until the foam came out.

But they were overcome by Twinkle's adapting to how everything runs in the house. She lets me know when its time for peeing and pooing. She used to fetch me by sniffing my ear, whispering dog-style, licking my face and finally hooking my elbow with her teeth to wake me up for meals. She laid beside the sofa when its video night with her butt facing the television always raising her head when it was time to change discs. She kept schedule for patrolling the interior of the house for mice and rodents. It was always after she had finished doing the exterior for cats. She liked to welcome the mailman, bread or peanut vendor everyday. And there was always a ready smile and a wagging tail for each of the men.

She loved poking inside grocery bags. She was a regular barbeque eater, never the stick just the barbeque. She knew the music for the You Got Mail soundtrack. Twinkle danced on the fast songs and slept deeply on the slow ones. She liked to eat Pedigree biscuits but only if I cupped my palm and didn't place the treats on a plate. She loved ice cubes. She came to the kitchen whenever an ice tray was being popped for drinks. I gave her an ice cube everytime and Twinkle took her refreshment to the sofa.

I miss Twinkle. I pass by pet stores and feel sorry for the dogs in their cages. I watch dogs roam the street wondering if they have owners. It'll take time before I get another pet.

Why Twinkle isn't here? I have loads of posts on this dog alone. This post ain't all folks :)

why i love the night … and why silence is being murdered.

I love the night for its stillness and complete noiselessness। Everyone is asleep. I can only work in a silent environment, that’s why I love the night especially after the clock strikes twelve. Tonight I walked the web to write।
Why silence is being murdered?
What defines noise? Noise is relative. For example, a person can lis ten to music as loud as he can and he doesn’t consider it noise. It ONLY becomes noise when it invades another person’s space.
In Wikipedia, there is such a term as “Personal space, an updated form of Edward T. Hall's 1966 proxemics, is the region surrounding each person, or that area which a person considers their domain or territory.[1] Often if entered by another being without this being desired, it makes them feel uncomfortable. The amount of space a being (person, plant, animal) needs falls into two categories, immediate individual physical space (determined by imagined boundaries), and the space an individual considers theirs to live in (often called habitat).”
My personal space is being intruded by karaoke as regularly as neighbors itch to belt out their signature song. Residents consider a karaoke player (the big box type like slot machines) as a major necessity like a refrigerator. It’s great for occasional merry-making, not so for residents who want to rest and get a night’s sleep before waking up another busy day at work. I learned that calling the local police station will not get your complaint going but make the police irate and shout at you until you know that its time to call the barangay tanod (local patrol) as the police “suggested”. So I contacted the barangay tanod who merely got my name and contact number and logged them with the nature of the complaint. At the end, the barangay tanod said they are patrolling their route and have NOT gotten any similar complaints and did NOT hear any karaoke singing as loud as cows belting within the vicinity I mentioned. Have the patrols joined the singing or what?
I am glad the Philippine government has website and a space dedicated to opinions and suggestions. I just read that someone had written to ask if there are any laws that aid citizens in keeping the peace in their neighborhood. Thankfully, someone answered there are P.D. 856 Chapter XIX Sec. 85 on Nuisances and P.D. 1152 Sec. 5 Community Noise Standards. I checked these Presidential Decrees and they are old laws and I don’t know if they are still laws. Regretfully, I do not know if they are being enforced or if any noise pollution laws are being enacted and enforced.
In New York USA, the Department of Environmental Protection have a Noise Code dated 1998 with provisions, noise quality criteria and standards, allowable sound levels, enforcement including citizen’s complaint, and penalties. I do not know why lawmakers are active in controversial Senate hearings or they don’t think that my money as a taxpayer is not worth a damn if I go deaf or not --- this country where I am residing and I am a citizen.
Apart from the karaoke, there are fastfood chains that play music NOT pipe in BUT as high as their acoustics could take. When did restaurants (not music lounges) become concert venues? Who needs top-10 hit music at 7am while you’re bent on eating hotcakes and drinking coffee for breakfast with peace? Or why is the service crew shouting at you to repeat your order and why is your throat aching from shouting back that you only want a burger not fries for a meal? Aren’t there regulations for appropriate commercial music within appropriate sound levels?
I think that certain manufacturers of portable music players have opted to put a noise reduction level to regulate volume when playing their units. I think that all of us have own level of tolerance when sound becomes noise. The motto of Noise Pollution Clearinghouse is "Good neighbors keep their noise to themselves." Isn’t it time we all did?