Touch screen fun!

Woohoo! My gadget arsenal is slowly building. :)

I finally settled on a digital camera... why the sudden purchase you may ask? First of all, let me explain, I've wanted a digicam for years. And now, with office travels looming (one as early as September), I figured it would be the best time to buy one. This is my 3rd major purchase for 2007. The first was my SE Z610i last April, then my 120Gb portable hard drive, and now this. I'm thinking this will be the last for 2K7. :)

So... what did I buy? After weeks of research, I finally chose the Pentax Optio T30. Factors mainly considered for this was value for money, memory card format (I wanted an SD to simplify PC transfers), LCD screen, user reviews, picture quality and of course extra features... Among the best selling points for me was the the big, bright 3" LCD screen, the touch screen interface which just blew me away with its simplicity and responsiveness, and the fact that I can do so much with it! I can edit, resize, crop, modify, frame my pictures, even use the stylus to make notes on the photos, or even record sound commentaries to go with it! Isn't it just geeky?

And it's slim and stylish too! Not bad...not bad at all. :)

For more info, you can visit the Pentax website - http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/compact/optio-t30/feature.html

Now all I need is a reason to start taking snaps so I can practice using my cam before I go to Ukraine. :p

No spoilers, I swear!

July 21, 2007... I've marked this date on my calendar for so long.

I reserved my copy for The Deathly Hallows last March 30, 2007... already anticipating what will become Harry's last journey in his quest to fight the Dark Lord. And yesterday, I finally claimed my copy of the long-awaited book from Powerbooks Glorietta, at approximately 10:20am (my copy was fourth from the left, bottom row).



Of course, I wasted no time devouring the book. Even reading at the SM Prestige lounge for the 5 minutes Jeng and I were there. Given my busy activities yesterday (see previous post), I think it's still an accomplishment that I read the last page at 00:28 last night.

I'm not going to write anything about the ending, or about what happened. As promised (to Mich and several others), there will be no book 7 spoilers in this post Instead, what I'm going to do is rate the Potter books in order of preference. Just so I can react to what I just read. :) But I guess it's safe to say that it is one of the best in the series. :)

1. Half Blood Prince : Book 6 : Snape...how could you?!
   
2. Deathly Hallows : Book 7 : No comment. No spoilers. :)
   
3. Prisoner of Azkaban : Book 3 : The Marauders stole my heart.
   
4. Order of the Phoenix : Book 5 : Used to be #5 in my list, but after a more careful re-reading, Occlumency and the Prophecy seemed like the turning point of the series.
   
5. Goblet of Fire : Book 4 : Quidditch and The Triwizard tournament.
   
6. Sorcerer's Stone : Book 1 : Where it all started, I read my British cousin John's copy when they were here in the Philippines, many many years ago, when people still didn't know who Harry was...and I was hooked. It was the Philosopher's stone in his book - UK edition, you see. :)
7. Chamber of Secrets : Book 2 : Tom Riddle...introduced.

BTW, I loved all the books, I just had to rate them in some way. :)

I think I will be reacting in more detail in later posts... and I will give fair warning of spoilers. But in the end, loving this series or this book is really a personal preference. Everyone has an opinion, and in my opinion, Half Blood was the best. :)

JVC Dinner and Smalltalk Lunch

It was a great weekend for catching up with friends. :)

Last Friday night, I met Jeng and Cess (my high school best buddies!) for one of our elusive get togethers. (The last one was at MOA, last October). We had dinner at North Park, celebrated Cess' engagement and had a fun time "making chika" about everything.

After dinner, we continued our chika-fest in Starbucks... I miss coffee! It used to be so easy for me to go down the elevator and buy a cup, but now that I'm in a different building... *sigh*.

Anyway, pardon the low quality snaps...they were taken by my camphone in less than ideal circumstances. :)

And then yesterday at lunch, Jeng and I caught up with our Smalltalk (College barkada) for lunch at Recipes. Only Ai and Kat were there, we were missing Grace, Jo and Krisel, but we already planned our next meeting (around September), which will probably be better attended. :) I think that's the trouble with IT, most of us really find it difficult to fit in recreation in our busy, busy lives.

We went on our separate ways after lunch, since Kat and Ai will be catching OoTP and Jeng and I had an appointment at Fix salon. After seeing Cess the night before, we got so envious of her hair we simply had to have ours done as well. Jeng and I spent 4 1/2 hours at the salon (I had Harry to keep me company) to have our hair relaxed, treated and cut. I'm very, very happy with the result. :)

Slideshow below courtesy of Louie :) The official scrapbook-maker (be it online or on paper) of VILLMA. It's really nice to look back on old memories... especially ones that were shared with really great friends.

Sana we'll get the chance to have a pic with all 6 of us in it. :) It would be hardest for Irene, of course, pero I'm sure we'll be able to manage a VILLMA reunion soon.

Cheers!

The Order of the Phoenix

I can't bring myself to speak ill of the movie, no matter how many cuts, changes, ommissions, additions and modifications they put in to make the whole thing understandabable to non-readers or for the whole production (870 pages worth) to fit into a two hour movie.

To me, Order of the Phoenix is a lot more fulfilling if you've read the book. The most common rant I hear about it is "nothing much happened", people seemed to expect so much more from this movie...but for those who know the book, we know that nothing much did happen...and since it was constrained to fit into a two-hour or so movie, the things that did happen (or of a particular significance) had to be rewritten or not shown altogether (Quidditch, Kreacher, Sirius' mum, Snape vs. Sirius, Occlumency (in detail), Draco and the Inquisitorial squad, the mirror, Rita Skeeter, Percy Weasley etc. etc.)

I do have some complaints... Occlumency for one, should have been given more emphasis. Draco and Snape's characters could have been more developed, as they do play bigger parts in Half Blood Prince. Lupin could have shown up more, and I think they should have explained the prophecy and the Order of the Phoenix more.



But the fight at the Ministry of Magic was just...magic. :)

I loved the way the Death Eaters and the members of the Order were shown as swirling masses of black and white, occassionally transforming into themselves, waving their wands and casting spells and jinxes at each other.

And the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort? Awesome.


All in all, anything that brings Harry Potter to life is an achievement in its own right. David Yates did a pretty good job bringing to the big screen Harry's fifth year in Hogwarts. I wish they would hurry up with the 6th and 7th movies though... as the gang is really getting older... (and hotter) over the years *grin*.


Six days to go before Book 7. And then it will all be over... :( I can't help but feel sad about the whole thing, but I can't wait to find out what happens next. I just hope that Snape (my favorite character) redeems himself in the end...although that would almost certainly bring about his death. Is he 1 of the deaths JKR was talking about? I hope not... but I just don't know how else he could be redeemed for what he did in Half Blood Prince if not to die in the act of saving Harry (provided that he is in fact good, which we don't know yet). I really wish JKR would do him, and everyone else, justice in the final book.

Lakbayan

I saw this link on both the blogs of Louie and Jong, thought I'd also check my Lakbayan grade :) Hopefully by next year, I can add Palawan to the map.

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

...the rebellion begins...

I can't concentrate...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is showing in theaters starting today, and my tickets aren't for until Sunday!

The past two days I've been pretty idle at work, so I re-read Book 5 of the HP series just to have something to do. And now, I'm fidgeting about because all I can think of is Dumbledore's army and how I have to wait for 4 more days before I can see them.

Problem is, now I have something to do...

*Sigh*

This is going to be a short post...

Transformers, one word, WOW!. :)