... is here!!!

If you're a rabid LOTR fan as I am, I'm sure you won't miss buying the ROTK EE DVD (or better yet the Collector's set) this coming December 14. This version of the film includes over 50 minutes (read that -- OVER 50 MINUTES!!!) of additional never-before-seen footage integrated into the original theatrical release. It includes 4 discs -- 2 movie discs + 2 discs loaded with special features [more].

The collector's gift set, on the other hand, has the 4 dics PLUS the collectible Minas Tirth polystone keepsake box created by Sideshow Weta and a Bonus DVD "Creating The Lord of the Rings Symphony" by Howard Shore [more]. Also, a collectible Minas Morgul will be available to gift set owners (ordering information will be included in the gift set). YEEEEOWWW!

We will see (FINALLY!) all our beloved scenes that didn't make the cut in the theatrical release of ROTK -- the final confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, the relationship between Faramir and Eowyn (whoopee!), the confrontation with the Mouth of Sauron, the House of Healing scenes, and the Witchking and Gandalf's showdown.

Anyway here's a 6-minute preview of the ROTK EE DVD:
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Ganda di ba?!?

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First snowfall of winter happened today. It was just beautiful. I may have complained about how extremely cold winter can be (duh) but seeing everything covered with snow never fails to amaze me -- and somehow it almost makes up for the intense cold we have to endure for more than three months (almost being the operative word). It's so serene, so perfect. You can stare at it for hours and hours and never tire of it. Of course, it's a different story when you drive -- the road can be a bit slippery with snow on it. Haay ganda ng snow.

(via)

Haha how ingenious!

It's one thing for foreigners to criticize us. It's another to be criticized by our fellow countrymen. In most cases, it hurts even more when we are being lambasted by other Filipinos, especially by those who are in "greener pastures." Some comments that I've read whilst browsing the internet included this (this is a comment posted in reply to the thread 'RP Economy to Crash in 2 Years'):

This is the way of life they've chosen, let them lie in the beds they've made. In the entire history of civilization, there's the "haves" and there's the "not haves". They can't all be "haves". You have to accept it, pinoys are the atsays of the world. They provide cheap labors and they do a good job at it. They are obedient and they are hard workers if you keep an eye on their work. They make good followers but poor leaders.

In all honesty, without the pinoys, who would wash my car? Clean up after me? Wash my clothes? Where will I get servants? Most of them are content with their simple lives. We, the Chinese, don't have the right to tell the filipinos how to rule their land. Just sit back and enjoy the benefits. [more]

and this (in response to the thread how to apply for work in NZ):

Why should Immigration consider making the applications for immigrants be easy? Especially Filipinos? Filipinos use New Zealand as a stepping stone to migrating to Australia (this is common knowledge, so dont deny this). Im not being anti immigration but most Filipinos are not known to boost the New Zealand (and Australian ) economy with their lack of professional skills. And do the New Zealand government really want NZ $ to be filtering out of the country to the bank accounts of poor Filipino realtives back home. I dont feel sorry for your applications being delayed. Filipinos have this wiley ability to somehow jump the queue. Theres enough crusty old men (from NZ and Australia) travelling to the Philippines looking for a "wife" so dont despair. Noone can argue that Filipinos (even the so called rich ones) have resorted to "marrying" a Kiwi or an Aussie then getting divorced once they settle themselves here in NZ or Australia. HEY, why isnt the government doing anything about this??? Change the policy so if a Filipino marries an NZ citizen or Aussie, they wont be able to get a citizenship until they have met certain criterias. It's sickening to see Filipinos blatantly abuse this type of priviledge. [more]

Wow very harsh words there. It's a marvel how some people can be so narrow-minded and jingoistic. How appalling it is to still find people who think that their culture is better than others or to find people who go out of their way and harrass/abuse people who have different racial backgrounds. What's even more upsetting is the fact that the above comments were made by Filipinos. Tsk, tsk. Nakakainis.



*Links via Letters from NZ

I don't like taking vitamin capsules. For one, I hate pills. I almost choked on one when I was little. Second, I once believed that vitamins can make you fat, hence, I didn't take them before (now I know better -- vitamins are noncaloric and don't have fattening substances in them). Third, I believe in getting your vitamins from organic sources like fruits and vegetables. Although I must admit, I rarely get the recommended dietary allowance for each and every vitamin and mineral and so I had to resort to taking those vitamin capsules. One of the vitamin capsules I'm taking right now is Vitamin E.

Vitamin E is said to be a "powerful biological antioxidant*" and has also been shown to "play a role in immune function, in DNA repair, and other metabolic processes*." It is also a widely held belief that vitamin E may help prevent cardiovascular diseases. However, recent studies failed to show the association of increased dietary intake of vitamin E with decreased incidence of cancer, coronary heart disease, and cataracts. In short, vitamin E does not have any significant benefits. Yikes. So what use is vitamin E? Apparently nothing.

Well my throat would be happy. That's one less pill to swallow hehe.




*Information from Office of Dietary Supplements
**More info from Antifaust and Doc Emer

I turned off the commenting system in my blog. I feel that, for the past months, I'm not writing for myself. A small part of me wanted approval and so, I find myself searching for topics others would be interested in and/or would likely comment on. If I think that the subject will not suit my readers, I wouldn't post it. I've silenced myself before I can turn on my computer. Don't get me wrong though. I love reading your comments, from friends and strangers alike. I love reading them so much that I would go online frequently just to check my blog for comments. Trying to gain your approval... or I guess, trying not to be judged harshly. I'm one of those people who can be easily swayed just so I can gain approval and/or escape judgment. Pathetic huh? And somehow, I'm ashamed of that fact. Parang wala akong personality. Because of that, I'm slowly trying to change myself or rather find myself in the process. Hopefully, it's not too late.

Yikes I haven't noticed that it's been a week since my last post. Ah well blame it on a bout of procrastination (of which I suffer from occasionally).

Been busy with computer-related stuff. You see, a friend of my uncle offered to reformat our hard drive. The measures I took to remove the spyware and adware were not enough and it seems our computer wouldn't be completely devoid of those nasty files. I spent all day yesterday and today compressing our files and folders and I'm not halfway done! I have gigabytes of files and it just hurts me to delete them. Even if I don't have any use for some of these files, I save them anyway, for sentimentality's sake I guess. Do you know how much a pain in the butt (literally) it is to compress the files, upload them to Gmail and to Yahoo briefcase, and then download them when the coast is clear?? It's very tedious. Then again, at least I have the chance of saving our files rather than finding out my PC died on me without saving a single byte. Now that would be horrid.

A thought just occurred to me -- computers are lucky. When programs freeze, all you have to do is wait until somebody hits the Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys and -- voila! -- you're starting up again. And when you're over-ridden with spyware, worms, and viruses, a simple reformat would do the trick and it's like you've been given a clean slate. Hopefully, your owner would learn from his mistakes and protect you from further damage. Sometimes, I truly wish this too could happen in life.

I read this news awhile ago and it seriously creeped me out. According to the article, about three weeks ago, a Secret Service agent visited the house of a certain Livejournal user regarding a nasty post in her LJ about US president Bush. Here's a screen capture of her post -- you need to scroll down a bit to see it. Annie "thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said." Unbeknownst to her, the FBI received a report about this specific blog post and within the week, a Secret Service agent showed up at her mother's door in South Carolina "to talk to me about what I said about the president, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life." Even though the agent quickly determined that she's not a threat, the whole experience freaked her out (well who wouldn't be?!). Yikes. Some people don't have a sense of humor... and some have more than their fair share. Tch.



* Links from Sarah

So far here's the overview of the electoral vote between President Bush and challenger John Kerry:

Looks like Bush is winning. I may not know the intricacies of American politics (heck even the Filipino politics, I'm a dimwit) but the first thing I'm thinking whenever this topic comes up is "just stop the war." A bit off-tangent, I know. It's just that I'm not comfortable talking about politics. I don't even know what I want or what to expect from these candidates. I'm just praying that whoever wins the election would have enough sense to stop the war in Iraq.