Reading the Hyperion Cantos

During the Christmas season, I introduced my eldest son to a few science fiction novels to read over the holidays. I was hoping that the books would keep him offline for a few days.

I showed him a couple of Star Trek novels and Frank Herbert's Dune. But what got his attention was Dan Simmons' Hyperion series.

Experimenting New Old Things

With the start of a new year, I decided to rediscover some old hobbies that I used to do. There were activities that I have neglected because of things like work and family. 

A few days ago, I made some watercolor paintings. I watched a video showing how to paint a galaxy spread using watercolor pencils. It provided step-by-step instructions, such as putting the right color on the paper and applying the correct brush strokes to achieve the correct blending of colors.

RIP Jackie Cassada

One of the fantasy writers that I admired passed away today. Her name was Jacquelyne (Jackie) Cassada. She was one of the writers from the old White Wolf gaming company and she contributed a lot of material for Changeling the Dreaming.   

New Books from Booksale

I love going to Booksale. It's like going on an expedition to some historic archaeological site. There is always a new book to be unearthed and discovered. 

Over the past few months I have bought some interesting comic books. These are not the usual superhero-type comics, but are more of the alternative type. I don't think I'll ever get to buy these books in the mainstream bookstores or comic shops.

What makes these books so attractive to me are its price (costing less than 150 pesos) and its art work. The stories are engaging and I think the drawings make the characters more interesting. I might do a review of each book in a future post.

Aside from these alternative comic books, I also found some RPG books hidden behind one of the coffee book shelves. Most of them are fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons books. I think the price is reasonable, but I decided not to buy it since our RPG group has abandoned playing 4E.

Buying McDdo Adventure Time Happy Meal Toys

Looks like McDonalds is now offering six Adventure Time toys for its Happy Meal product. I initially bought two of the six toys for the kids, but I am now thinking of buying two more.

The kids loved the Bendable Finn and Jake toys. I do like how their arms and legs bend in weird but funny poses. Unfortunately the toy manufacturer seemed to have used cheap paint to color the toys. The white paint on Jake's eyes and Finn's hat have started to chip off after a few hours of playing.

I hope these toys are safe, at least nothing harmful would happen if a young child chews on them.

Cat and Dragon Paper Toys

Some of the best things in life are still free. Thanks to Google, I was able to assemble some free paper toys for the kids. I managed to download some Hello Kitty cut outs and also a cut out of Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon).

With help from the kids, we were able to cut out and assemble the pieces. Here are the finished toys in all their paper glory.

Reading X-Men Noir

It's been ages since I last posted something a book review, but I want to write something about the latest comic book series that I read. The X-Men Noir mini-series was something I discovered by accident a few years back, I wanted to read something similar to what Neil Gaiman wrote with Marvel 1602.

I was amazed that Marvel came up with an entire line of alternate settings, similar to what DC comics did with its Elseworld franchise. The X-Men Noir mini series is set in the late 1930s / early 1940s, presented like a work of pulp fiction and crime drama.

In this storyline, none of the main characters are mutants. Instead, they are psychopathic criminals who were recruited and trained by Professor Xavier, further honing their criminal talents. Despite their lack of mutant powers, they possess their own talents and histories that are quite similar to their official counterparts. We have Scott Summers as a master sharpshooter, Jean Grey as a grifter, and Captain Logan as a bootlegger. The series begin with the X-Men on the run shortly after the arrest of Professor Xavier. Much of the story revolves around the search for Anne-Marie and solving the mystery behind Jean Grey's murder.

Other familiar antagonist also appear in the series, populating the city's criminal underworld. Eric Lensherr plays the official antagonist of the series. He is the chief detective of the local police department with connection to the city's crime lords. Remy LeBeau is a gambler and casino owner with ties to Unus the Untouchable.

After the series was published, Marvel immediately released a sequel to X-Men Noir. Mark of Cain tells the story of the surviving X-Men, still running from the Law and preparing for a new heist. Their target is the mystical Gem of Cyttorak. What makes the story more interesting is that Professor Xavier has been released from prison and he has assembled a new team of criminals to "bring back" his former students.

The reason why I loved X-Men Noir is because it reminded me of Leverage, which was a television series that I loved. I like that each member of the X-Men team had a special criminal talent, which Professor Xavier and Eric Lensherr working as the masterminds for their respective teams.

Overall I'd consider X-Men Noir to be a worthwhile read. I wished that Marvel would make X-Men Noir into a regular series. I think all the characters have potential for something great. There are a lot of stories and ideas that can still be explored and worked into the X-Men Noir world. I would have loved to see Professor Xavier leading his team of X-Men in a scam and see each of his students in action.

Paper toys I made for the kids...

Inkle Software (for Interactive Literature)

One of my friends referred me to this site, telling me that it's a new HTML5 application that enables people to write interactive stories similar to those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the site and found myself tinkering with the "inklewriter" application. This innovative tool allows people to write and publish interactive stories. The tool is also geared towards e-learning, allowing teachers to create interactive modules that allow students to make choices and learn from their inputs.

I signed up and tried making a short interactive story, much like one of those narratives with multiple alternate storyline that lead to multiple endings. The tool's GUI looks interesting but it does take some time to learn the interface and make the changes/customizations that you want. You can also upload pictures to add some flair to your interactive stories.

Personally I believe the application has potential, but there is room for development. One thing I noticed was the lack of sample stories. I wanted to read the stories of other account users but there are none available. The stories are kept private, unless you know the URL of a specific writer's masterpiece.

The site currently offers an interactive story available to Ipad users. The story is a retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, written by Dave Morris. They even have a teaser advertisement out in YouTube, promoting the story and the Inkle Application.

Too bad the site is currently geared towards Ipad users. I hope they'd tap into the Android market as well. I'm sure there are a lot of writers and booklovers out there who would like to read the story in their Android phones/tablets.

Android Tablet for the Kids (A Coby Kyros 1042 Review)

I managed to convince Jen to buy a new Android tablet for the kids, something affordable that can function as an educational/learning tool. She was reluctant at first, but I showed her a few educational android apps and had the kids play them on my phone. Watching the kids' delightful reactions made the decision much easier.

I've been looking at the Coby Kyros MID 1042 tablet for some time now.  It is a 10.1 Inch Capacitive Multi-Touch 16:9 Widescreen tablet, powered by Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here are the reasons why I bought this tablet over the other Android tablet brands:

1.  Price/Affordability - The Coby Kyros 1042 tablet fits my budget. I bought my unit at the price of 7.3k pesos.
2.  Size - I prefer bigger tablets so the kids won't have a hard time looking at the images.
3.  Choice of Android Applications - There are tons of applications out in the market. I did encounter some problems installing Google Play, but I found a good work-around solution for that.
4.  Capacitive/Multi-touch feature - This is a must-have feature for me. I don't like the resistive feature of the cheaper Apad tablets and the kids still lack the needed "finger strength" to navigate through the screen.
5.  Reliable Brand Name - Coby has been around for some time now. I think they make good products and the seller assured me that my tablet came with a one-year service warranty.

My unit came with a charger, earphones, a user manual, and a carry pouch for the tablet. The first time I held the unit, I noticed how heavy it was (1.5 lbs compared to other tablets). The screen resolution is okay for me, not at par with the Apple IPad, but good enough for its price. The built-in sound speaker is at the back and the quality is not that good. You won't be able to hear much from the device when the TV and electric fans are turned on. It also has a front-facing 0.3MP camera which I think is mainly used as a web-cam. You'd be better off taking pictures with a digital camera than with this tablet. I am satisfied with the tablet's  WiFi network performance and I still haven't tested the HDMI port.

Now the biggest issue I encountered with the tablet was the fact that it lacked Google Play. Coby Kryos tablets come with its own GetJar app which downloads applications for the tablet. Unfortunately, GetJar has a poor selection of Android applications. I read somewhere that most Android tablet manufacturers pay Google in order for them to have Google Play (and probably other Google applications) work with their tablets. But since Coby opted not to pay a premium for Google, their tablets don't have the usual Google apps.

Most Coby tablet users must go through the process of rooting their tablets to install Google Play. Since the Coby 1042 is still a relatively new product, I was unable find a reliable online source that could properly instruct me on how to root my tablet and install the Google Play application. I did get several alternative solutions, which enabled me to install the Android apps I wanted (even without Google Play):

1.  Manually search for the APK file online and install it on the tablet -- I've been doing this before with my old Palm T3 and Palm Lifedrive units. Sites like www.4shared.com and www.freewarelovers.com/android offer a wide choice of apps which users can download and install in their Android tablets. It might not be as glamorous as having Google Play search and install apps for you, but the results are the same.

2. Install the Amazon App Store -- Amazon has its own version of Google Play, which is the Amazon App Store. You need to have an Amazon account for this application to work. I did install the App Store on my Coby tablet and got it running. Unfortunately I was unable to download apps because of regional service issues.

3. Install the 1Mobile Market App -- Here is another alternative to Google Play and Amazon AppStore. 1Moble Market offers a wide selection of Android applications. I think this application is better than Google Play and Amazon App Store because you don't need to have a Google or Amazon account to download apps. I installed the 1Mobile Market App on my tablet and successfully installed all the toddler educational apps I needed for my kids.


Overall, I am happy with my new Coby Kyros 1042 tablet. It is something that my family loves. The kids enjoyed the educational games and Jen couldn't stay away from the word puzzle app I installed. I still want to install other applications on the unit, as soon as I get some alone time with it.

Book Purge of 2012

I finally got rid of some books at home.I was lucky enough to find a non-profit group willing to accept book donations and have these books shipped to different public libraries across the country. It's hard for me to let go of books, because I do value these collections. But I feel that they just take up space, collect dust, and often forgotten. I'm slowly coming to the realization that books are meant to be shared and read. It's sad to see these stacks of book in my shelves, read only once and placed away.

I managed to stuff these books into three large plastic shopping bags. Majority of them I bought from the different Booksale branches and half are already available in digital format. It is getting harder for me to decide which book to donate or keep, specially if the book has a pdf or epub version which I can download or read online. Call me a hoarder, but I prefer to have both a virtual and physical copy of a book.

With these books gone, my book shelves look a tiny bit more organized. There are still a lot of books in my collection and I refuse to let go of them. I'm thinking of creating a list of a hundred books I plan to keep, much like a desert island shelf containing the books I will never let go (and books I wouldn't mind rereading over and over again, if I were stranded on an island). The idea of trimming my books down to just a hundred seems impossible now, but it is something I can strive for in the future.

Watching Bioman

This was one of those few Japanese Super Sentai series that I enjoyed watching.

The stories were entertaining and a bit campy. But I like how the heroes and the villains evolved during the course of the story. I was surprised when one of the heroes (Yellow 4) got killed off during the early part of the show.

I never did finish the series. That's probably the reason why I still get excited watching old reruns of the show. There's probably a part of me that wants to know what happens to all of them in the end, and if they did triumph over evil.

I recently found out that one of the enemies (the one who played Farrah's sidekick) was one of Japan's famous actress/martial artist, internationally known as Cynthia Luster.

 I'm glad that someone managed to post some episodes of the series on YouTube.

Selling Some Old Stuff

I've decided to clear out some of my old (unused) "toys". These include a second-hand Palm Life Drive unit and a nice Lego Creator Mythical Creature set.

The Life Drive is valued at three thousand pesos.

The Lego creator set is valued at six thousand pesos. The two items are posted at ebay.ph and I'm hoping to get some buyers. It'll be nice to earn some money from these things I don't use anymore.

Return to the Caves of Chaos

The Lego series 6 minifigs are out! I finally got the Minotaur minifig for my collection! :D

A Cup Full of Lego Minifigs

Posting one of the many presents I got from Christmas... Happy holidays everyone!

Toy Kingdom Warehouse Sale

I'm looking forward to the weekend warehouse sale. This will be my chance to buy discounted Lego and other toys. Thanks for the update, Vince.

Trick or Treating with the Kids

I don't recall Halloween being a big celebration here in the Philippines. Things like "treat or treat" and getting dressed up as zombies had no relevance when I was growing up.

Blame it on the malls and the stores who promote the ghoulish costumes, just to boost their sales. Most kids right now consider it part of tradition and parents would spend money to get them dressed up in pretty costumes.

I never planned on getting into the Halloween bandwagon. My son's school organized the celebration, telling parents to bring their kids in costumes and go around the village for some trick-or-treats.

Rather than spend money on some costume, I decided to make my own Thomas train costume for my son.

And we bought a crown and pair of fairy wings for my daughter.

It's definitely cheaper than those creepy outfits.

Another discovery at Booksale

Here are some of the stuff I discovered in a Booksale branch in Manila.

The D&D Fourth Edition Eberron Campaign Guide costs 325 pesos. I did not buy it since I'm not collecting Eberron or D&D 4e books.

I did manage to get my hands on a brand new Three Dragon Ante card game set for 45 pesos.

The card game is made by Wizards of the Coast. I also found a video tutorial for this game.

Found in a Local Booksale Store

D&D Player's Kit worth 210.00 pesos. Looks interesting and a worthy purchase.The set should contain six dice, some miniature figures, maps, and some books.

Lair Assault (The End is Near)

The guys decided to play a Dungeons and Dragons 4th Ed Lair Assault blog campaign. It's supposed to be a killer adventure, where you have to stop the main villain in twenty or less rounds from completing his ritual.

It's nice to have a play-by-post game again, even though I have a bad feeling I'll be the first to die. The three other players are more experienced in the rules and the system. But that won't stop me from having fun. At least I managed to kill off one of the warlocks and eat a fire fish (that grants my character temporary fire immunity).

I'm playing a dwarf shaman who is supposed to be healing and curing my companions as they hack the enemies to pieces. But it turns out they don't need much healing to start with, they've chosen stuff to aid their recovery (such as ongoing regeneration). I guess I'll be using my own healing powers on myself.

Anyway, it's already the 8th or 9th round and the dungeon is getting as hot as hell. I'm down to my last twenty-plus health and the fire demons are getting more aggressive. I'm hoping to make it to the main room before I die. At least I could say that I made it to the last climatic event before getting roasted.