A Warm Sunday

Seeing how warm it is today, I think I wouldn't want to have any ice-cream today.

Very warm indeed. I continued playing God of War 2 - and could stop only at the Deep Chasm. I couldn't go on as disc 2 is needed to play the remaining of the game. I noticed that the main premise of a man's quest to alter his fate - seeking the Sisters of Fate is somewhat akin to Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. But it also couples with our man's obsession to kill Zeus. We had brunch today - nothing for lunch. I didn't feel that hungry today.

Edmund today spoke about narcissism and told me that her younger sister Regina is one example of that kind of syndrome. Mainly it's about having too much of obsession and the willingness to go extreme with constant believes that your reputation on the stake. I mean, look at some people in the rich class - I find that when they are being praised or being recognized in the high-class society, sometimes they feel that they got carried away by the reputation and from that it's like the starting point of gradual obsession. Correct me if I am wrong, according to this and by referring to the dictionary -it leads to vanity. Thackeray made his point about this in Vanity Fair.

One of J.K Rowling's characters, Narcissa Malfoy - Draco's mother - is the exact modeling of narcissism. By reputation, she is actually weak in stature - derives on the wealth and reputation of being married to one of the richest wizard families of Britain - the Malfoys. Now that the family is accused of being the in league with Voldemort - what can she do when she is pulled in? This goes to Regina - Edmund's sister - what will happen if she is stripped of the rights or the source that is the foundation of your reptuation? Will you go suicide or go bonkers or something? The thing is that is a definite factor that causes a man's fall from grace. The kind of excessive pride and greed that drives you to a dark end.

After dinner, I watched The Spy Who Loved Me. By far, this was the best of Roger Moore's Bond movies. I didn't really like the others with exception of For Your Eyes Only. It was a commercial success since it featured the biggest set - the main room of the tanker set - in Pinewood Studios designed by Sir Ken Adam, the cartoonish but sadistic villain Jaws (Richard Kiel) and the Lotus Esprit "Wet Nellie".


Jaws was the part inspiration of Garth Ennis's comical villain Barracuda. Both men are big size , capable of maiming people but one exception: Jaws is more or less like Non the silent but dangerous man in the Superman movies. In fact the role of Jaws was intended for Jack Halloran who played Non. The metal teeth serves as the "Fuck You" teeth for Barracuda. But Barracuda is an example and the collection of the negative stereotypes of people. In the spin-off, how Barracuda escaped alive from the clutches of the shark was a mystery - until the paperback comes out but I think his escape show is somewhat like how Jaws escaped: he killed a shark and eat its flesh! Test audiences cheered for that guy - like our comic fans do for dear Barracuda!

A Greek Myth Twist

I am writing two posts today, as to make up for yesterday’s post. Dad came back home today from K.L since Thursday. This would the first time I met him for the last six weeks. Fifteen days in the United States, the first week he was in the West Coast. The photos that he showed to me documented his one week in New York. He had visited many places in that weekend. He got stopped in Chicago airport, awaiting shuttle flight to JFK airport. He told me that he encountered actor Nicolas Cage – crazed fans chasing him for the autograph.

I came back as early at 9 plus on Friday night, and made a detour to see my maternal grandmother. She’s not in a good shape. She could not longer move as normal and remained in the bed. I fear that she might not last as long by the end of the year. I hope she pulls out well and I wish that the subsequent visits might not be the last few while she is alive.

Dad didn’t expect the weather to be as low as -10 celcius. He thought it would be somewhere between 8-10. He didn’t carry his winter coat. When he was visiting Wall Street, the snow was as high as two feet. Cars could not move at all. He visited many places including Rockefeller center, Central Park, Tussaud’s wax museum, the Ground Zero site and various places within Sunday. He could not cover all places and take all photos.

While I was in K.L people are playing God of War 2 – the sequel to one of the best video games of 2005. So I spent the entire weekend playing that game. It’ like a twisted story of a man who became God but still unhappy over his past transgressions. His decisions have angered Mount Olympus and now he got double-crossed by the Gods. Near death, he was rescued by the Titans led by Gaia – Mother Earth herself, in the Titan’s quest for revenge against the gods. Ever wonder of the famous Titan Prometheus? Cursed to be eaten alive forever for stealing the torch for mankind? You bet it.

Our man Kratos is more of brooding character and sometimes a cynic fellow. He sacrifices his own worshippers – Spartan soldiers into a gear machine to activate a door. He battles some people including Perseus – gee, Harry Hamlin’s cameo and reprisal of his role originated in Clash of The Titans and Icarus – the guy who uses the wings to fly.

The environments are not as frustrating as the first game, but in place of frustration are boss fights. It took me about at least 5 tries or so to beat them. BTW, I am using the Normal mode to start out. However, after one point, I could not proceed on. I was supposed to step at one point of the Deep Chasm in order to trigger a cutscene but it didn’t show out. Then my brother told me that the game was split into two discs and the disc that I played was only the first half of the game.

I really wanted a notebook out of my own – but I am typing this at my brother’s house using my dad’s old Pentium III book intended to be used by his staff. Seriously, seeing that I am to venture into additional marketing business to support myself, I think that I need one for portability. I definitely believed that I can raise half of the total cost as to support my payment in the coming months.