... in which the Fool talks about Dune, movies, and math

I've been preoccupied with reading the latest in the Dune Trilogy that's been out (the Butlerian Jihad, the Machine Crusade, and the Battle of Corrin). I'm only something like 200+ pages in, and I must say, the book reads something like the biggest pack of coincidence in the world...

Let me elaborate. In the beginning, Man had already conqured a lot of space, setting up colonies in many of the more habitable planets through the use of superior technology. Eventually, humanity loses all drive because of the technology that's in use and become fat useless pigs. Humans rely too much on their machines that they lose their imagination (imagine that...) and become so engrossed in their self-importance.

One day, one human who has tried to awaken humanity through rousing speeches and other forms of demonstrations gets sick and tired of the fat useless pigs, that he plans a coup de tat against the Empire, seeking to hold power himself.

Long story short, he gets allies and friends to succeed in his plans and wrests control of much of the Empire, calling themselves the Titans. One of his friends programs machines to have a form of AI patterned after many of humanity's drives (ambition, curiosity, passion...) in order to help them attain control over much of the Empire. Eventually, this new form of machine takes over the empire from the Titans, and makes them serve it.

Fast forward 1000++ years in the future and they show these people that will become the most influential people in ridding the universe of the machine threat (hence the titles of the books). Now granted, anyone reading the Dune novels have probably heard of these events, and know how the battle ended (the humans won and regained control of their planets, banning the use of "thinking machines" forever).

What really irritates me the most is the sheer coincidence of all these people meeting each other and getting related to each other all in the course of one book (except for the Fremen of Dune/Arrakis, who I've never really digged). There's just something wrong that all these influential people suddenly meet together and after a little bit of friction, and they all become good guys. Er... Something's wrong there.

Each book is something like 700 pages long and in the course of that, the Harkonnens are shown as these brave people (there's so far, only one of them), the Atreides are really part of the Machine Empire (again, there's only one of them), and to top it all off, the reason that these two people know each other? They happen to love the same woman...

Really, I think that kind of story's been done oh so many times before... Plus the fact that the novels read a bit like Star Wars (maybe because one of the co-writers is a Star Wars novelist himself) and I get this feeling that I'm only reading a rehash...

Bah, no wonder my brother felt sleepy everytime he saw those books. And here I thought (a few years back) that the novels were really good, and that my brother just didn't appreciate good writing...

Compared to the trilogy before it (frequently called the Prequels to Dune), House Atreides was an engaging read. It was fresh, despite feeling like some kind of cosmic space opera. This first book is... drab. A little hurried and a little too forced sometimes. But again, I'm only 200+ pages in (out of 2100++ pages) so my opinion might still waver. I have the Preludes to Dune books though, if anyone wants to borrow it, just tell me.

I've watched The Island last Monday, and Charlie's Chocolate Factory the Friday before and I must say, I find Charlie to have a bit more content (despite being a kiddy movie) over The Island. I swear, I didn't even need to watch the Island to guess where the plot was heading (whoever made the trailer to the movie ought to be shot, there was no suspense whatsoever in the story, no point that made the viewer doubt his ideas of where the movie was going). In fact, it just felt so... linear. Far more linear than watching The Minority Report (you knew Tom Cruise would win, but how?), in The Island, you knew exactly how Ewan McGregor would free all his other friends, down to the plan he would make to do it...

In Charlie though, I didn't expect that Wonka would build a house for them inside the factory itself. Not to mention the many silly Oompa-Loompa song and dance numbers, and the ways that Charlie's other companions would be treated. Some were creative, while others were simply obvious. I liked the ending though, and how it said that some things are just plain, irreversible.

I'm planning to watch another movie soon: Sky High and maybe the Skeleton Key, but only when I get the time.

I've always prided myself in being able to understand Math. Granted, I'm not that well-versed in it, but I can say that I can "read and write" math, "speak" math, and even "teach" math. A bit. Its like saying I'm a native when it comes to the mathematical language, although making "grandiose poems and prose" (read, advanced math) may be beyond me. I can understand and appreciate, but I can't make any new theorems or what not.

Except for one particular "dialect". I've always been bad with money. I mean, its really simple right? You have this particular amount of money, lending it out, withdrawing it, depositing it, making it develop interest, they all seem pretty easy right? In fact, it should be nothing more than basic arithmetic and algebra.

For the life of me though, "money" has always been something like a different "dialect" to me. Whenever I see a problem that involves money in school, I tend to ignore it, despite it being simply Principal * Interest * Time. I just tend to avoid money like the plague, makes me wonder how I'm supposed to earn it later on...

I just, I don't know, allergic I guess, to equations involving money. And I don't know why. I mean, give me differential equations, give me matrices, or even Laplace equations, but don't expect me to solve simple economics problems in less than 2 minutes... Its just impossible for me... Very strange indeed...

Did you know that sometimes, I find it hard to find just how much change I'm supposed to receive? Especially when all my friends start pulling out large bills and saying "You owe me this much instead, because I'm paying our bill" and stuff like that. Really, if you want to earn money from me, try that trick, and you'll see a very stupefied look from me.

... in which the Fool sings the Dai-Zen-Gar song.

I was going through GameFAQs' message boards today looking for secret mechs for the Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 game that I've been playing lately, and instead of any sure-fire way to obtain secret units, I get this instead: a completely new song made by fans for another well-loved character. May I present to you, the Dai-Zen-Gar theme!!!

(background music from Yuusha-Ou! Tanjou! from GaoGaiGar)

Da-da-da da-da-da Dai-Zen-Gar!
Da-da-da da-da-da Dai-Zen-Gar!

Ikare! Nikudan no yuusha yo!
Gin kame, dekai no tsurugi de!

Zankantou no chikara~ tsukate!
Bishoujo Irui mamori tame!
Ima aku tatsu agare!

Esu Aru Ekusu! no riekuta o kowasu
Baruma yurusenai!

Da-da-da da-da-da Dai-Zen-Gar!
Da-da-da da-da-da Dai-Zen-Gar!

Genma ittai da!
Ima Jyenararu gattai da!
Aku tatsu!!!

ITTO RYODAN!!!!!
(CHESTO!!! or TATSUMAKI ZANKANTOU!!! according to season intros)

Kakuru! Kirisaku! Kowareru! Bakusaku!
Tanjou! Muteki no! Dodekai kensai!
Irui no yuusha-oh!!!

Da-da-da-da Dai-zen-gar!

Anyone that seriously wants to hear it can of course just ask me to sing it for you. Thanks go to the many people from the GameFAQs' boards.

Its a very nutty song, parodying a lot of the hot-bloodedness and bravery from the King of Braves Gao Gai Gar series, as well as the story behind Zengar Zombolt (or Sanger Somvolt according to banpresto themselves). It seems that fans just can't get enough of the badassness of this white-haired guy who cleaves huge robots into two with his own sword (from his own giant robot as well) and voila! Instant song.

... Man, the stuff you get from browsing through message threads...

For instance, there was one single message thread made by someone who had too much time on his hands, dissing the Gao Gai Gar series on purpose to, well, rattle the brains of some of the more hot-blooded members of the forums. It was pretty obvious after two or three posts of saying "What in the world is a silly lion doing hanging around with construction supplies?" and alternating it with "Why aren't Kira and Heero godlike pilots in this game?" Apparently, he found the reaction he was looking for, as immediately after the latter post, people started calling him an idiot (he was acting like one, but on purpose, hoping someone would smart up) and he stopped posting under that name. It was funny how other people reacted to him, calling him stupid for not appreciating decent anime, and even suggesting that he use other people instead if he can't appreciate the silly lion with a big golden hammer.

I swear, sometimes, people just can't take a joke.

My apologies for people who felt incredibly gypped after the incredibly short post I made last time. I did that to attract more traffic towards Mike's blog since he badly needs other people to read him. Unfortunately, as I mentioned (and as he did) he's like anchovies, and caviar, and curry. He's an acquired taste, but in retrospect, he's a good kind of acquired taste (I think). Hehehe..

Anyway, I was walking through the old streets I was accustomed to walking when I was younger, and I must admit, I feel like I've completely changed. Years ago, when I passed by, I wouldn't notice the smells in the air, of rotting garbage, stagnant water, and a whole other mess that I can't identify. Admittedly, I felt bothered, but what really struck me was the nostalgia I felt as I trudged on. Remembering how I used to rush to school with barely 10 minutes left before I come in late. Remembering when I reminded myself "last 10 minutes" as I tried to finish one stage of Super Robot Wars, despite the fact that I've already extended over 10 times of that "10 minutes". Remembering how I used to be one of the first people in school, turning on the electric fans, arranging some of the chairs and plomping down underneath one of the ceiling fans...

I don't feel old really, in fact, I just feel like I miss the darned place, and I want to spend just one day, reminding myself of the things I did when I was younger. Maybe.

But then again, the smell is enough to drive me past the places that I used to frequent. Except of course for the fishball stand around the corner. Where I used to spend somewhere between 20 and 30 pesos, all on fishballs just before dinner.

Unfortunately, when you see the state of some of the buildings in the vicinity, you're left to wonder where the sense of grandness you used to have about your neighborhood went. It just seems like the buildings just get older and grayer, all the while the people in them start leaving for some of the better neighborhoods. It's just sad, seeing all the usual places like McDonalds and Jollibee suddenly losing people at nighttime, when years ago, they'd still be filled up until well past 8.

Bah. Enough Nostalgia.

There are days when I just want to jot things down on a small notebook, some ideas or topics that I feel like coming back to at a later date and expounding on them. I don't know, the idea of keeping a small notebook to jot things down never struck me before, since I prided myself on having a good memory. But these days, I now realize why it was important to have something to write on. You may have a good memory, but the sheer amount of things to remember will clog the brain, and you will forget what you tried oh so hard to remember...

At least until you find something that would remind you of it...

I was kind of thinking of jotting down some story ideas about Super Robot Wars again (everything just seems to revolve around that game... For starters, everything I learned from anime, I learned from Super Robot Wars. Every Japanese phrase, word, and what-not, I learned from Super Robot Wars. Etc.) I was thinking of writing down my own version of the Super Robot Wars that I wanted to see. Just to have a reference point.