Fort Bonifacio Global City, Philippines

Fort Bonifacio Global City is a masterplanned city that is designed to meet the needs of the 21st Century. That sounds like marketing speak, but this video explains it much better than I do.

I’ve been following up the developments of Fort Bonifacio for about a year now. New residential condominiums and office buildings are popping up all over the city. I might just buy a condo at this city when I’m older (and have the $$$)

The video shows a possible Fort Bonifacio 15 years in the future with the City Center densely packed with high-rises. Right now the City Center is in development with only the Retail Promenade in construction.

More pictures of the Fort Bonifacio Global City as it is now.

Pokémon Diamond/Pearl US Release Date

Not that I check it everyday or anything but according to Pokemon.com, the release date for the US release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is April 22, 2007. Mark it on your calendars, folks.

For me this is exciting because last week I received a black Nintendo DS from two of my friends as a birthday/Christmas present. Owning one is really different from just playing one. Even if I lost the DS, I would probably buy a new one. But that won’t happen, since I’m guarding it with my life. To go along with the DS, I bought Pokemon Emerald which is a Gameboy Advance game but it plays on the DS.

Japanese and Korean: Which is harder?

I’m currently in my last course of Japanese and while I love this language, it is very difficult to learn. The pronounciation is simple enough as it is quite similar to Spanish pronounciation, but the grammar technicalities and complexities is just a lil’ bit difficult for me to pick up. Then again, for me, I have to try a bit harder than most people as I get easily distracted in the learning process. It doesn’t help, however, that Japanese is written in three different scripts, each with their own use and fairly even usage. One of those scripts is the Chinese script, or Kanji, which almost makes me want to forget learning the language altogether. Other than that, Japanese is a very nice language that will take time to master.

Then there is Korean. I’ve never formally taken Korean, but from what I’ve picked up from listening to Korean music, watching shows and movies, and also from my friends, it seems that the language is easier to learn just from hearing. I also learned Hangul, or the Korean script, in a matter of hours. Then is Korean easier than Japanese? Yes — and no.

Living the Star Wars Life, No Really

Almost 30 years after the first Star Wars film debuted on the big screen, the film sets of the Star Wars movie in the sandy deserts of Tunisia have become home to poor Tunisians who have nowhere else to go. Who knew that the sandstone dwellings that housed Anakin Skywalker in the movies would become a refuge for poor desert people?

…he explained to me that since he had neither family nor money, he came to live in the movie set. He looks after the place, the real roof of the fake house protects him from the sandstorms, and if a tourist throws him a small coin every once in a while, he can buy some more tea and some food. And he is hardly the only one living in the Lucas-built wonderland in the middle of the Sahara.

It seems that Tunisia has got itself a lil’ tourist spot. I’d like to go there someday. If it weren’t so hot I would so go there, bring my lightsaber and live the Jedi life. I’m afraid I can’t handle the two suns.

Read the very interesting article here.

Frank Miller’s “300″ Theatrical Trailer

 The theatrical trailer for “300″ has been released at Yahoo! Movies. “300″ is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel that tells the story of the 300 Spartans that fought against thousands of Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae. Frank Miller’s comic is of course not a literal account of the famous battle. It has taken some liberties in rewriting history, perhaps to make the story interesting and not too sterile. The film follows the exaggerated style of the graphic novel.

As for the trailer itself, it is quite nice. I prefer the teaser trailer that came before this, but this is still great. The film looks to be a good one. It looks like Gladiator to the extreme! I kid, I kid. Although the shot of the wheat field didn’t help much.

New Evidence Suggests Water in Mars

 

The surprising find emerged from some 240,000 images taken by the orbiting spacecraft Mars Global Surveyor.

Images taken of the same areas over time revealed that liquid water likely flowed through hillside and crater gullies during the past seven years.

Telltale deposits of debris suggest that gully sediments were washed downhill by occasional water flows.

“It could be acidic water, it could be briny water, it could carry lots of sediment or be slushy, but [it appears that] water is involved,” Edgett said.

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“Five years ago they were talking about water millions of years ago. Today, we can honestly talk about liquid water in Mars today—that revolution in our thinking has changed how we view Mars.”

- National Geographics News

Nintendo Wii released in Japan, first TV victim

Although the Wii has been out here in the US since November, it just came out in Japan. Continuing the great sales of the Nintendo DS, the Wii is reported to be sold out in Japan, selling 400,000 consoles in a matter of days.

Due to the physical nature of controlling the Wii via the wireless Wiimote, there’s already been a television casualty. The person posted a picture of the TV on her blog.

Apparently, it was match point and she was going for a forehand winner crosscourt, but the wrist cord snapped. The Wiimote flew at the TV and damaged it. (I made that story up.)

Lesson for today? The Wiimote is a dangerous weapon that can injure people and electronics.

 

Halo 3 Ad on Monday Night Football

There was an ad for Halo 3 shown at tonight’s Monday Night Football. Although we’re used to Bungie’s use of in-game graphics for commercials and trailers, this new commercial is CG but it’s exciting because it’s Halo, duh. It’s quite short, but it definitely works. Considering the game is a year away, I’d say it’s successful.

Watch the commercial here.

 Update: TeamXbox released a higher quality version here and a HD version here.

Amazing Microsoft Paint Skills

The farthest I got with Paint is stick figures.

Mac vs. PC ads in Japan

If you’re not tired of those Mac vs. PC commercials yet, here’s three more made for the Japanese market.