Wishing I Was "Jumping"

If you have itchy feet (not the fungus) like me, the movie "Jumper" would made you think of the endless possibilities of teleportation. Imagine: No dragging that bag at the check-in counter, no customs, no travel tax, heck ... no travel fees at all.

I haven't realized the coolness of the power of teleportation until this movie. The only teleporting superhero I know is Nightcrawler of the X-Men. He has a devil's appearance and can be a member of the Blue Man group. No wonder I never thought about it.




From the director of the Jason Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum) and the "infamous" "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," Doug Liman takes you to a world wherein you can be in Cairo and then in Tokyo in a heartbeat.

David Rice (Hayden Christensen) was a geeky teenager hopelessly in love with Millie (Rachel Bilson), a popular girl in school. After an incident involving Millie and a bully, David discovered that he can teleport when he fell under thin ice and landed accidentally in the school library. Since then, he never looked back. He robbed a bank and lived the high life. Today in London, the next day surfing in some tropical island. Life was easy.

David's world turned upside down when Roland (Samuel L. Jackson) and the a secret group called the Paladin appears in his flat. Roland had discovered that David was behind an unsolved bank heist and hunted him down. David eluded him, but Roland vowed to kill him.

David soon discovers the price to pay for his "gift," the existence of fellow Jumpers, and the truth about his mother's disappearance. He also finds a chance to revisit his relationship with Millie, the girl he'd always wanted.

The movie as a whole is good. I'll look beyond Hayden Christen (still has remnants of the Anakin Skywalker acting) or the fact that Rachel Bilson was put there to attract the guys. The bottom line is the story is very very cool. There's the sets ... Pyramids of Egypt, Big Ben in London, Streets of Tokyo, Ayer's Rock in Australia ... amazing.

I believe there will be a second movie as the end is sort of hanging. It's begging for a sequel, which I will look out for.

Under Southern Lights

Under Southern Lights is the fourth album of Urbandub, a Filipino band hailing from Cebu.

I will admit my ignorance about this band. I came to know about them when I heard "Frailty" from their 2005 album "Embrace." Though, I have heard rumours about them for quite sometime as being one of the best out there.




The album contains 10 songs which are:

1. An Invitation
2. Anthem
3. The Fight Is Over
4. Guillotine
5. Cebuana
6. Life Is Easy
7. Evidence
8. A Method To Chaos
9. Inside the Mind of a Killer
10. She Keeps Me Warm

I daresay it is one of the best OPM rock albums released this year. "Guillotine," which is receiving a lot of airplay (radio and video) is just the icing of the cake. Songs like "Invitation" and "Anthem" have the edgy guitar riffs that Urbandub is known for. I like the overall sound of "The Fight is Over." One of my favorites is "Inside The Mind of A Killer." A brooding anti-love song featuring the angelic voice of Kat Agarrado. There are also other songs that have a certain weird charm on its own ... that kind that grows on you as you listen to it more (e.g. Life Is Easy - naggingly a hybrid of an Incubus/311 song).

Most songs are about relationships ... the bad kind or obsessive kind of ones. So this album is pretty good listening if you're in or just out of of those.

Personally, the CD will probably remain in my car stereo for quite sometime.

Kudos to the group for a job well done .... specially to Lalay Lim, you rock girl! Excellent bass work.

To the rest of the world, you have to buy this album!

"Killing The Cockroach"

"S" Marks The Spot is the latest offering of Sandwich. The Philippines's answer to the "super-group" collaboration (i.e. Mr. Big, Audioslave, etc.), the band is a twist of fate condensation of talent consisting of Raimund Marasigan (Eraserheads), Diego Castillo, Myrene Academia (Imago), Mike Dizon (Teeth), and Mong Alcaraz (Chicosci). Incidentally, most of the members are also former band mates of The Aga Muhlach Experience. This album coincides with the band's ten years of existence in the ever-changing Filipino rock scene.



If you buy the album there's a bonus cd of remixes of their past hits. The album itself contains 17 songs:

1. The Procrastinator
2. Ang Pagbabalik
3. Greenpick
4. Betamax
5. Line Drawings
6. Manila
7. Partner In Crime
8. Two Lovers
9. Text In the City
10. Her Favorite Band
11. Selos
12. Youth and Vitality
13. Rambol
14. Primera
15. Fluxxe
16. Candelaria
17. Public Offender

Just launched last February 12, the first single "The Procrastinator" created a huge buzz with its catchy guitar riffs, witty lyrics, a sound reminiscent of "Brit-rock" , and more importantly, a music video directed by none other than Mr. Quark Henares (if you don't know Quark ... you live in a cave.)

In totality the video is so simple yet ingeniously thought of (and edited). Against a white background, the band performs with extra intermingling clips of people throwing frisbees, skateboarding, or making graffiti. There's also the Tarantino-esque "cutaway" shots of the performance. Making it more entertaining, is the titles of "rock moves" with simple directions on how to do it.




Starting with the "Babe Ruth" wherein Marasigan handles the microphone like a baseball bat. Theres also the "Death March," "The Rooster," "Nail In Your Coffin," "The Archer," "Punch Drunk Love" and my favorite "Killing The Cockroach" - with a jump like that, that's one dead roach. There are several more moves one can follow to one's enjoyment.

The Sandwich & Quark Henares experiment is indeed a visual entertainment.

As for the album, aside from "The Procrastinator," my fave tunes are "Betamax," "Text in The City," "Ang Pagbabalik" and "Her Favorite Band." "The Procrastinator" is actually the "different" song from this album since most songs tend to be more whimsical and light (but don't get me wrong, it still rocks) and definitely not Brit-sounding.

If it's worth the money? Yes, it's worth it. So don't try downloading it on Limewire, cheapskate!