The real reason why Filipinos suck

Filipinos, as a people, nation, and culture, have an identity crisis and an inferiority complex.

There, I said it. Anyone who thinks or says otherwise is either clueless or in denial. Herein lies the problem: it is a cowardly society where nobody takes accountability for themselves.

For a group that hasn't much to show for itself, it sure is so loud and proud. Filipinos put their nationality and origin ahead of everything else, including their own individualism. For a big shiny example of this, look at the Miss Universe 2013 competition. The final ten contestants each gave a solo video speech about themselves. Miss Philippines was among them. And out of the ten remaining ladies, Miss Philippines was the ONLY one who did not talk about herself. Instead, she talked about the COUNTRY, highlighting its natural beauties and beaches or some shit like that.

This bothered me to no end, and is very indicative of how most Filipinos think and conduct themselves. Their sense of self takes a backseat to some macroscopic idea that simply having their own nation validates their existence as people. Rather than let the world know who Miss Philippines is as a person, she cowers behind advertising the Philippines instead. Way to be charming and relateable. Could you imagine Miss Japan dodging personal questions to brag about the beauty of Mt. Fuji, or hearing Miss Italy prattle on about how great her country's food is? It would seem so arrogant and pretentious, wouldn't it?

The irony is that Filipinos rely so much on "being Filipino" for their identity as if to give an impression that Filipinos have this sense of community as a people and culture. Reality check: there is no sense of community among Filipinos. Filipinos hang on to each other and band together only when it's convenient to. But on a normal given day, Filipinos will be vindictive, covetous, insecure, judgmental, and looking to one-up each other. Jealousy, self-entitlement, and crab mentality run really deep and it permeates every level of society, even within families. I get no sense of togetherness when in public, even in America, Filipinos cut each other in line and don't care to do simple courteous things like saying thank you for holding a door open.

So you're proud to be Filipino, but do you really care to make Filipino society better? I doubt it! And it's that culture of inaction for why the country will never improve. Face it: "pinoy pride" is a lazy state of mind that Filipinos can take with them anywhere without having to actually do anything.

I've never seen Japanese or Koreans posting their flags so visibly in public for everyone to see. I've seen Filipino flags and stickers on cars, on caps and shirts, pins on bags, even tattoos of the flag on arms and necks. What's with the overflow in shameless pride? It's obnoxious and unwarranted. Modesty and humbleness only comes with confidence and security, which are traits Filipinos do not possess. Filipinos rely on things above their own selves to feel validated. They have to make it clear to the whole universe that they're Filipino first before their own individual voice and personality. No personal accountability. Cowering behind national pride is the easy way out.

Oh, one thing I have to get out to Filipinos: stop bandwagoning. It's embarrassing and shows how insecure and pathetic you are. Jessica Sanchez does not represent you Filipinos. Stop claiming her as your own. She was born and raised in America became successful under the American system. She is not entitled to owe anything to the Philippines. Her achievements are not achievements of the Philippines or its people. She's not even full Filipino. There was an outcry when Jessica lost. Well, she was simply not the best overall contestant in the competition. Get over it.

I could continue on for literally another 10 paragraphs about this, but I'm tired. Let the flaming commence.

Iron Man 3 sucked.

What the hell did I just watch? I believe it was a movie that was about some butt-hurt scientist that made a career change to terrorism. Wasn't clear to me what the big payoff to that plan was. Oh, and the Mandarin made a sorta-but-not-really-cameo appearance in a dumb plot twist.

What to say? Okay, the visual effects were good as usual, if not a bit tiring by now. Can't think of much else. Maybe that's the problem: nothing surprises us anymore. What's left is the plot to deal with, and the plot sucked. Instead of getting to see Ben Kingsley kick some ass, I spent over 2 hours in the theater watching some petty hotshots exercise their self-esteem problems.

I suppose any movie that starts out playing Eiffel 65's Blue is going to be crappy.

What's with the 'bad guys' in this film? Suddenly everyone is Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four. Bleh, boring. Aldrich even shot a beam of fire out of his mouth a la Godzilla. Why stop there when you could also have him chuck bouncing fireballs like Mario?

Superhero movies need to go away for a long, long time.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5.0

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was a piece of shit.

Gamespot's review for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword received tons of backlash from fans. I actually thought their score of 7.5 was TOO generous. Sigh, Zelda fanboys. They're like the Apple community. They're like Michael Jordan jockers. If you have any experience with these types of people, you know what I mean.

Man, I thought Twilight Princess sucked hard. I couldn't imagine Nintendo making more crap out of their flagship series. I was proven wrong with Skyward Sword. My goodness this game started out slow. SLOW. Only to set you up for one of the most irritating game experiences in the history of the medium.

How can you bozos out there think that Skyward Sword was a masterpiece? So apparently to many of you, a perfect 10 game is one where your hand is held all the time, everything is repeated at least twice by an annoying sidekick, "exploration" being mandatory repetitive fetch quests and backtracking for petty reasons, frustrating motion controls, and tedious traveling mechanics. Wow, sounds like buckets of fun! NOT.

Let's look at the "masterful" gameplay of Skyward Sword: "Ah, motion controls! A gaming novelty that forced me to spend $30 on a new controller just to play this game. ::Enemy approaches:: Die! (wack wack wack) Oh wait, THIS swing will work.. (wack wack) ::enemy dies:: Aw, no hearts, no money? Up yours. (plays more) Okay, my arm is tired, I don't want to fight anymore. ::Another enemy approaches:: Okay go away, swinging this damn controller is getting exhausting and old. Gah, I miss actual buttons now! And I wish there was some kind of real payoff to all these repetitive, tiring, unrewarding battles! ::Yet another enemy approaches:: Okay these stupid mindless fights just keep interrupting the game, I just want to get on with the main quest already. But the power-off button is feeling more of an attractive option at this point..."

The same feeling goes with the stupid dowsing sections. I reach an interesting-looking area that I want to look into more, only to be forced to do some long-winded favor for some NPC I don't care for. Awesome: not only does the actual game halt for a while (which happens again and again), I know I also get to engage in MORE tiring fights. You Zelda jockers find this shit fun? It's not fun, it's WORK. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't play video games to do work. By the time I reached the 3rd area of the game, I was already feeling the grind. If I wanted to do chores, I would've signed up for a slave labor camp.

But wait, there are NEW features in Skyward Sword! Like.. ::drumroll:: ..the STAMINA METER! Big whoop. I was sure Nintendo will place idiot-proof areas throughout the game that will allow (force) you to use this tacked-on feature to effortless effect. And of course I was right: "Hmm, it appears that Nintendo cleverly designed this cliff to give you enough room so that the stamina meter won't entirely run out on you. Brilliant!" Not. Then Nintendo decides it was a lovely idea to put upgrade-able items in the game. Great, MORE work. Nice way to pad up this piece of crap title even more.

If repetitive, padded, idiot-proof play mechanics wasn't enough, there's Skyward Sword's disjointed overworld. I'd rather mindlessly sail and shift winds for 30 straight days in The Wind Waker than put up with Skyward Sword's ridiculously choppy travel system. There's no convenient flow to getting around in the game and the overworld design is just illusory vastness. And do we HAVE to keep doing activation swings with the controller just to get around? Considering the number of times the game forces you to travel.

It's hard to enjoy yourself in this game. Something is always blabbering away, something always needs a motion control, something always needs to boss you around to do trivial shit, something always gets in the way and interrupts any flow that will possibly save this trainwreck of a game. Having sex is an infinitely better option than to play Skyward Sword.

One of the worst video games I've ever played. Goodnight.

The only franchises that validate the overrated Nintendo

Something about Nintendo's games just don't "grab" me. I always feel there's something missing in them, something in their design philosophy that is continuously off-putting. They just don't strike a chord with me the same way Sega and SNK games do. There's this distinct lack of finesse, depth, personality, risk, and payoff in Nintendo games. Sorry fanboys, it has to be said.

In the NES era, I wasn't a big fan of Mario. Nor did I care much for Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, Excitebike, Donkey Kong, Punch-Out.. pretty much any of the flagship Nintendo titles that everybody had. Nintendo was fortunate to have Square, Konami, Capcom, Taito, Namco, and Tecmo on board to make up for it. Even on the SNES, which games were the ones worth noting? Again, the games made by the developers mentioned above. I realized the main reason why I own Nintendo's consoles in the first place is because of the other companies' games.

I was a fan of Zelda for a long time, until 2002's Wind Waker (the last Zelda game worth its attention). I've sworn off the series since then. I could never get into Metroid, and while Super Metroid is a classic, I still felt it lacked the atmosphere achieved by Dracula X and the smooth platforming mechanics of Shinobi. Then there's Pokemon. Well I gotta admit I enjoyed the cartoon as a kid. But that's all I have to say about Pokemon.

So which series of games DO I like from Nintendo? Well here's a short list of what I think are good Nintendo franchises that they should be investing more into:

1. Pikmin

Now here's a franchise that is fresh, charming, and distinct. Terrific design. You really feel for the Pikmin. You can't really put Pikmin into a specific genre, but that's why it's good: it defies conventional design.

2. Pilotwings

A very fun simulator series. I've always loved the different tasks and situations and all the uniquely designed maps; the replay value seemed endless. That's the sign of a good game.

3. Mario Paint

No, this is not a Mario game, more like a brilliant game slapped with Mario's face on it. Its sequel, Mario Artist, was released for the 64DD and some features were carried into the WarioWare series.

4. Advance Wars

This is actually a sub-series in the Nintendo Wars lineup of games, but it's the most known and well-loved. A very fun, addictive turn-based war game. Quite a handheld achievement.

Now, I'm actually fond of F-Zero and Star Fox, but the way Nintendo has handled those two franchises has been suspicious for a while. I guess I can't ask for too much considering they peaked at their N64 incarnations, in my opinion. It's safe to say I can swear off those franchises the same way I did Zelda.

So there you have it. Let the flaming commence.

Movie spotlight #1: Kundun

So I'm gonna start a mini-series of reviews of movies that I personally like and recommend. These are movies that have always stood out to me, and movies that, in my personal view, take the medium of film to another level.

Kundun, 1997

Kundun was film directed by Martin Scorsese and was released in 1997. I first watched this film as a pre-teen; I don't remember exactly what year but I reckon it was some time in late 90's. The remarkable thing about this film is the personell behind it: Scorsese was its director. I became a fan of his when I first saw GoodFellas earlier in the decade (the first film to truly "shock" me, the little inexperienced kid that I was then).

Kundun was Scorsese's film after 1995's Casino, another mobster epic akin to 1990's GoodFellas, but the style of Kundun is totally unlike those movies. And unlike Scorsese himself, for that matter. For starters, none of the primary cast members are professional actors. For a directing career full of star-studded films, Scorsese's approach with Kundun seemed risky in a good way, almost admirable. But that's the thing: the movie wouldn't have been half of what it was if it full of Hollywood. This gives the movie a more honest heart about its subject matter.

Kundun is a visual and meditative film. Its hypnotic narrative style, fittingly, feels like a manifestation of the Tibetan Buddhist theme. It tells the story of the 14th Dalai Lama, the current one we know today, from his holy anointment as a child to being a marked man in exile. While most movies explicitly talk you through the story and the characters, Kundun makes you feel the story and characters. It puts you in the heart of Tibet's struggles with change, with grisly dream-like sequences that evoke the young Dalai Lama's worries and fears about his people.  

One of the the film's beloved qualities is its grand musical score, which was composed by minimalist titan Philip Glass. Glass (a Buddhist, by the way) injected his trademark musical style with Buddhist instrumental and vocal influences. The resulting effect is genius; a match made in heaven. The music is exotic, reflective, and tragic, like the story itself. It's difficult to imagine the movie without Glass's music, and vice-versa. The music certainly made half the movie.

Kundun isn't a film for everyone, but I still say give it a shot. Not only is it a haunting historical tale of one of mankind's most intriguing figures, it's also a love letter to Tibetan Buddhism and it shows in the feel and presentation. You won't find many movies where sound and picture come together so brilliantly. I don't mind if it's one of Scorsese's less popular films; hidden treasures tend to be more cherished when not as exposed.