December Happenings

December may be my most favorite time of the year. Aside from my birthday, Christmas and New Year also comes in the same month. And living here in the UAE means that practically half of the month of December are holidays (no kidding!). This may be one of my most memorable Decembers in recent years. Much to our surprise, my aunt’s family from the UK gave us a short visit and decided to spend Christmas here. While my cousin Dingdong wasn’t able to come with them, we still had a good time while they were here. Here, I shall recount each event with a picture.

This is me blowing my 24th birthday cake

By the Christmas Tree at the Mall of the Emirates

Me with my cousin Jae and Tito Edwin

My second moms

This is going to the Atlantis Hotel at the Palm Jumeirah, I had to go there to interview the CEO of D-Link

This is thew lobby of the Atlantis Hotel at the Palm Jumeriah

This is the entrace to the lobby of the Atlantis

The poolside of the Atlantis. You can tell you are in an island when all of Dubai's skyline looks sos far away.

This is the Atlantis Hotel.

The aquarium inside the Atlantis Hotel kinda looks like the one at the Dubai Mall.

My cousins Mhalli and Jae enjoying the articifical snow at Ski Dubai.

Christmas Night, inside the church. The celebrant had a very heartwarming performance of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". Reminds me of how much I miss home. Good thing I have another family here to celebrate Christmas.

After going to the Church, we went to Al Ghurair City and ate a hefty Christmas dinner at Nando's.

My two Tita's.

This is us enjoying the dinner. The chicken was superb.

My aunt's family. Though my cousin Dingdong wasn't able to come with them.

The morning after Christmas, we went strolling around Dubai Festival City Mall.

A shot of the original Ortiz clan at the Festival City Marina.

Me and my super 'makulit' cousin Jae.

This my family here. Aunts, uncles and cousins who live all over UAE.

Despite being a muslim country, the UAE still manages to allow people to celebrate Christmas. Definitely, I'll be looking back at this month and how it reminded me that everything is fine as long as you are with your family.

Movie Review: The Day The Earth Stood Still

I first learned about the film when I saw a clip from 1996’s Independence Day. Then, I learned about the original film is about a certain ‘being’ named Klaatu that came to Earth accompanied by a biomechanical robot named Gort, bend on destroying humankind for the sake of saving the planet against the never-ending attitude of humans against each other and its surroundings (i.e., war, racism, global warming, etc.) Usually, remakes like these have dominated Hollywood for some time now, and the bad thing is, most of these don’t do the original film some justice. I haven’t really seen the original film so seeing this film gives me a whole different perspective on the film. The movie starts out great actually, building up the tension and gives this creepy atmosphere on how humankind reacts to an event like an alien invasion. However, the second part of the film fails for me, ending to abruptly without any proper closure for all the characters. In the end, it feels like just like a big special effects blockbuster that probably some people will love. The underlying themes of the movie however was a good thing to notice, which pokes some realism into what is happening right now. Acting was only subpar, with Jennifer Connelly giving the most decent performance. Keanu Reeves as the emotionless Klaatu was rightfully emotionless. Even Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith’s performance was more convincing than Reeve’s. Overall, T.D.T.E.S.S. is still a fun popcorn flick and a nice film to see this holiday season. The Day The Earth Stood Still: 7/10.

Movie Review: Quantum of Solace

Yes, I know. It’s been weeks since this movie was shown. But with the amount of work I had to do, this is the only chance I could. Now onto the film - the first James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig, Casino Royale, was actually one of my favorite Bond films. Of course, hearing that the sequel will come out by 2007, I was pumped and ready to watch it. The story continues one hour after the end of Casino Royale. The story goes from there, with revenge being the main theme of the film. Monologuing villains and Bond babes are still present, as with any other James Bond movie. How did I think of it? Same as everyone else which is too much action, literally from start to finish the action scenes went off the screen one by one. That doesn’t mean the action isn’t good, it’s just too much. Story was too thin, and not as deep as the last film. While some complained about the lack of gadgetry and the likeness of the film to the Bourne movie franchise, it was a welcome change for me. Grittier action is what I want (but that’s just me). Another weird thing about the film was the theme song. It was nowhere near any of the Bond songs I’ve heard previously. And the title? Very, very deep I must say. Time will come when all James Bond movies are named after words I’ve never bothered reading. ;-) Btu defnitely, new Bond girl Oolga Kkurylenko was definitely hot. Wish she showed more skin though. Hehe! Director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) decided to go more into action rather than plot, and with a very short running time, what else can you show in the film? I think I'll re-watch my copy of Casino Royale. Still, it was fun action flick, but reeling from the heels of Casino Royale, this movie could have done better. Quantum of solace: 6/10

The Dubai Mall

Ever since my Aunt got her new car (which I would drive when I get my license!), we were always out and about every weekend when we get the chance. Last weekend we finally got the chance to go to The Dubai Mall. As Wikipedia describes it, The Dubai Mall is the largest mall ever built on the planet. Built at the foot and an integral component of the Burj Dubai (currently, the world’s tallest skyscraper), the 20-billion-dollar project is the world's largest with 1,200 shops, 4 times as many as the new London Westfield centre. We went with my other relatives inside the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre with a thousand variations of aquatic life inside an aquarium, including a great white shark (Yes, Jaws!). Here are pictures from our adventures:

I smile too much

With my Tita

Inside the aquarium tunnel

The glass was arouns 12 inches thick

Inside the aquarium

Under the sea

Hey! A diver!

Stingray!

I lost count of the fishes!

Dum... dum... dum...

JAWS!!!

If you look outside, you can see the Burj Dubai

This pictures show the size of the aquarium

One of the atriums

Most Awaited DVD!

My favorite film of 2008 will be arriving on DVD and Blu-ray on December 9, 2008. I gotta have my copy!

Happy Halloween!

First of all, it’s officially my dad’s birthday but we celebrated a long time back. So Happy Birthday Dad… Hope everything’s for the best. ;-) Next is I would like to greet everyone a Happy Halloween! But since I am in Dubai I guess trick or treating here would be making a fool out of me. Instead, I plan to watch horror movies today. I actually just finished viewing The Exorcist, and it still creeps the hell out of me. Now I’m watching Halloween… and all its sequels. Guess this will be another long weekend. Happy Halloween!

GITEX Technology Week 2008

With all the amount of work I have to do every now and then, I barely have time to update this blog. Anyways, last October 19-23m 2008, GITEX Technology Week was recently held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. While most high profile companies were noticeably absent from the show and only a handful attended the event, there were still a lot to see during the show. Here are some shots:

Me looking bored... after hours of walking.

Big-ass phone!

My new favorite notebook, the Acer Gemstone Blue 6920G

Yes, my friend Hazem modeling a gold-plated hard disk.

Me and Hazem

Our friends at the LaCie stand.

Playing with the Emirates Towers!

The Convention Centre

Me and Irish

By the fountain... woohoo!

Jeez, and I thought this was only used for refrigerators!

The exhibition hall seems empty...

That's Panasonic's 150-inch plasma TV!

This was at the Samsung stand, where a guest artist was offering 'cartoonized' sketches.

Samsung's Blu-ray home theatre

Sanyo's waterproof camcorders

Panasonic's new G1 digital camera

Ideas for life.

HTC's stand... but I didn't see the Google phone (HTC made the phone)

Yes, we're looking formal!

Some Harman/Kardon home theatre systems.

Still alive and kicking!

Yes, and I also want that Acer Predator desktop