A Song of Vanilla Ice and Fire

I came across this incredible video recently, with the cast of Game of Thrones rapping Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby and I enjoyed it immensely.


video originally created by swedemason and uploaded by JOE

While this video was uploaded by youtube user JOE, it was originally created by youtube user swedemason. Swedemason uploaded only a portion of the video (see it here) so I decided to share the video JOE uploaded since it is more complete. The effort to put this together must have been absolutely enormous. Swedemason had to look for most of the words (or syllables that had to be put together to form the words - I'm guessing there's no Vegas or Bikinis in the Game of Thrones script?) spoken by the different characters. Apart from that, I just love hearing the elegant voices of the cast. The timing of the claps and the slaps and even the snap during the chorus are all so awesome. Even the 'Hodor' part at the end and Jon Snow screaming 'Loose!' were hilarious. I've watched this many times already but I still can't get enough of it. :)

Upside

The last couple of weeks have been tough, what with my brother's health scare, the loss of our pet, and the loss of my friend. Thankfully, there are a lot of very good things that happened too.

First, my friends and I revisited Mystery Manila and we successfully made it out of the Sorcerer's Stone room in Ayala the 30th. Thankfully, we managed to turn things after after our previous failed attempt to escape. There are still more rooms for us to try out so I look forward to our next escape room experience.

I also had a game nights in two consecutive weekends. Just last weekend, I played Valeria Card Kingdoms, Grand Austria Hotel, and Oceanos with my ex-colleagues. Most of them were playing these games for the first time (Denise had played Valeria Card Kingdoms before) but they seemed to enjoy all the games I brought. We just need to schedule another game night soon while they can still somewhat remember the rules. :) The week before, I got to play Wingspan again. I also got to play many new games, including Imperial Settler: Roll and Write, Kartel, Cabo, Prêt-à-Porter, and My Happy Farm. Prêt-à-Porter was probably my favorite of everything that I played that night, due to its complexity and the fact that there are so many ways to score points. It took me a while to grasp the many rules of the game so I am looking forward to playing it again.

My Happy Farm

I got to meet up with my ex-colleagues from my second job a couple of times. First was during the birthday of the daughter of Joh and Raffa. It was a grand celebration with a fun-filled program and lots of really good food (I believe their caterer was The Creamery). Second was over dinner in Manam with Ian, who was in Manila for a few days as he was doing a major tour of Asia.

Food from The Creamery

Interestingly enough, I met up with my high school friends the night before also in Manam (but a different branch) so we could meet up with Jerma. I hadn't seen Jerma in decades so it was amazing to see her again.

I also spent an afternoon with KC, Nery, and Ricci, all of whom I haven't seen in a while. KC and Nery are getting ready for their wedding and they asked me to sing at their wedding with Ricci accompanying me on guitar. We spent the afternoon over coffee discussing the songs we would play. It was great catching up with them and since Ricci and I have to practice, I am sure we will be seeing each other a lot more.

Finally, our department at work also spent a Friday night at the nearby karaoke place singing our hearts out. It was the first time that I got to hang out with my colleagues outside the office and the fact that we sang such a varied repertoire - from Ed Sheeran to Queen to the Spice Girls to Aegis - made it such a memorable evening.

As they say, life is like a Ferris wheel, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. I'm just grateful to have many incredible people in my life to balance out the terribly low moments.

Rest in Peace, Denz

Last week was another tough week for me. My dear friend Denz passed away.

We were ex-colleagues who worked in the same department in one of my previous jobs. We worked on a few projects together and at some point, we sat in the same area at work. We shared the same passion for music and love for singing and dancing. We talked a lot about American Idol and we also often shared videos of performances that impressed us. I discovered Steve Balsamo's version of Gethsemane through him. Like me, he was often asked to host or sing at weddings (or both). One time, he told me that if/when he got married, he wanted me to sing at his wedding.

It was our participation in a company event that made us bond even more. Our company was celebrating a milestone anniversary and the event organizers decided to stage a big musical to showcase my company's history. Both Denz and I auditioned and we both made it to the cast. We had hours of practice everyday after work and we also rehearsed for whole days on Saturdays and Sundays. This gave us and the rest of the cast a lot of time together and a lot of shared experience. During Denz's wake, a handful of us were able to visit. We got to talk to Denz's sister and his mother. When we told them that we were Denz's castmates in the musical, both of them lit up and they told us how Denz talked about that experience with such fondness.

Due to his medical condition, we hadn't gotten to see each other frequently but I did get to see him a few times after I left that job, usually during his birthday. Quite recently, our castmates discussed the idea of a reunion and I'm gutted that we didn't organize one sooner because it might have given us a chance to see Denz one more time before he passed away. Still, I'm happy that we continued to keep in touch through the years. Farewell, Denz.

Movie Watching 2019 Part 2

Spider-man: Far From Home

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Far_From_Home

I just saw Spider-Man: Far From Home last weekend I absolutely loved it. SPOILER ALERT: stop reading now if you don't want to know more about this film! The movie is set after Avengers: Endgame and I like how this film addresses the difficulties of having half of the population reappear out of nowhere. They coined this phenomenon the "blip" which is when all those living beings who disappeared suddenly reappeared after the Avengers brought them back to life. They were the same age as when they vanished and they practically lost all their belongings. I also found the story to be engaging, exciting, and enjoyable. It was nice to see the conflict that Peter Parker faced as he tried to juggle being a normal teenager and being a superhero who helped save the universe. It was nice seeing the tension and chemistry between Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Zendaya as MJ Watson. While the revelation of Spider-Man's true enemy wasn't all that shocking, it was at this point that the film shifted gears and the intensity went up a few (or even several) notches. Spider-Man ended up facing a challenge of such great magnitude that his strength, resilience, durability, and fighting ability were on full display, proving that he is a very worthy Avenger. I personally think that of the 23 films in the MCU so far, this one has thebest end credits scene. It made me want to see the next film as soon as possible and in fact, after watching the movie, I searched online for the release schedule of the next Spider-Man film (there is no date yet). Spider-Man: Far From Home is definitely one of my favorite films in the MCU.

Toy Story 4

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story_4

Toy Story 3 seemed like the perfect ending to the Toy Story trilogy so when it was announced that a 4th film was in the works, I had some pretty major reservations. However, I trusted that Pixar wouldn't make a sequel that would ruin what had been accomplished over the years by their flagship series and apart from The Good Dinosaur, there isn't a Pixar film that I didn't like (note that I haven't seen Cars 2). Thankfully, Toy Story 4 turned out to be a very good sequel. SPOILER ALERT: stop reading now if you don't want to know more about this film! There are so many things to like about this movie. It deals with issues on outliving your perceived usefulness. It shows us the struggle we face when the world around us changes and we aren't quite able able to adjust or keep up. I loved how the "antagonist" in this film, Gabby Gabby, was pretty ominous in the first half of the film but didn't turn out to be the evil manipulator we may have initially thought. The filmmakers did a great job showing us how her actions were spurned by her heartbreaking situation and audiences went from having negative feelings about her to rooting for her. Similar to the previous film, there is still a very moving goodbye scene at the end. Toy Story 3 is still my favorite of the tetralogy but the great thing about Tory Story 4 is that it ties into the first three films very well and it moves the story forward and closes it out perfectly.

Avengers: Endgame is now the Worldwide Highest Grossing Film

It took three months but Avengers: Endgame finally passed Avatar and is now the worldwide highest grossing film. The 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has now earned a global gross of $2.790 billion, just moving past Avatar's $2.789 billion.

Many were expecting Avengers to achieve this feat earlier after it obliterated many box office records. It passed $1 billion in only 5 days and it passed $2 billion after 2 weeks. Unfortunately, it ran up against a lot of other films with strong box office draws such as John Wick 3, Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Godzilla: King of Monsters, Dark Phoenix, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and The Lion King. It lost a lot of steam and its weekly grosses started to slow down significantly.

Avengers: Endgame passed Avatar's first record of worldwide gross before any re-release (Avatar earned $2,749,064,328 before it was re-released and Endgame passed this mark in end-June). Now, aided by a re-release of its own two weekends ago, the fourth Avengers film has broken Avatar's record for the highest global gross. The people behind Avatar have acknowledged this and very graciously congratulated Avengers: Endgame on social media:

Congratulations, @MarvelStudios! pic.twitter.com/DWZDX0uDVi

— Avatar (@officialavatar) July 22, 2019

I've read some articles that highlight the fact that Avatar sold more tickets than Endgame and that Endgame only has the record because ticket prices now are higher than they were ten years ago when Avatar was released. While this is true, if we were to adjust all tickets sales based on inflation, neither film would be sitting at the top of the list. Instead, Gone with the Wind would have the record, followed by Titanic. (See list here.) In any case, the overall record not counting inflation is still an incredible feat and I'm sure many Marvel fans around the world are celebrating.

Wimbledon 2019

Over the last few years, the common question about tennis' Big Three - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic - has been how much longer they would stay at the top and who would eventually take over. So many young guns have showed up over the last several years who had the talent to potentially challenge them and more recently, the big three have faced some big losses against the next generation players such as Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. That said, the Grand Slam tournaments continue to be the domain of the Big Three, as they have combined to win the last 11 majors, including this recently concluded Wimbledon. In fact, all three made it to the semifinals, with the two top seeds Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer battling it out for the title.

13 years
47 showdowns
1 of the most storied rivalries in sport #Wimbledon | @DjokerNole | @rogerfedererhttps://t.co/Zx23MWTBjm

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 14, 2019

In the end, top seed and world number 1 Novak Djokovic produced an incredibly gusty and mentally strong performance to edge past Roger Federer in a tremendously dramatic five-set win. Novak Djokovic have to save two match points - and he did it on Roger's serve! - and the final had to be decided by the first-ever fifth set tie-breaker in Wimbledon Singles play, a change implemented at the tournament this year. Novak now has five Wimbledon titles and 16th Grand Slam singles titles. In the total Grand Slam count, he is only 4 behind Roger and 2 behind Rafa. With no other consistent challengers to the big three and with Djokovic continuing his mastery over Roger and Rafa (he leads his head-to-head records against both of them), he may very well surpass both and end up with the record for most Grand Slam titles. It will be interesting to see how things turn out over the next few (or even several) years.

World No.1 @DjokerNole is well known for his physical fitness, but Sunday's final required toughness of a different kind...#Wimbledon https://t.co/nW5qxw6T2K

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 15, 2019

On the women's side, Simona Halep trounced Serena Williams in straight sets, 6-2 6-2, to claim her first Wimbledon title and her second major win (she won the French Open last year). Simona played a tremendous match, retrieving so many balls and forcing Serena to hit one more shot. In this high stakes final, Serena just couldn't sustain her shot-making and she couldn't stay with an inspired Simona. How inspired was she? She hit only three unforced errors the entire match. That is a record for the fewest unforced errors in a ladies' singles final. While many people were disappointed that they didn't get to see Serena tie Margaret Court's record, I was very happy for Simona who looked to be in disbelief when she won and couldn't contain her joy.

One for the mantelpiece 📸#Wimbledon | @Simona_Halep pic.twitter.com/3VAeUTRvTT

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2019

Congratulations, Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep!

Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader Reimagined

I came across this video on social media and as a Star Wars fan, I was immediately drawn to it. The original Star Wars movie came out in 1977 and since then, fight scene choreography has improved leaps and bounds. It is great seeing this reimagined light saber duel between two of the most legendary Jedi in the Star Wars saga.

video created and uploaded in youtube by FXitinPost

Tough Week

Last week was tough. First, my brother was hospitalized. He was confined for several days and he needed to undergo a critical operation. Unfortunately, he doesn't have decent medical coverage where he works and his hospital bill was pretty substantial. I contributed to the payment, which meant that my savings took an unexpected major hit. While it was painful, I have to be thankful that at least we, as a family, had enough resources to help bring my brother back to full health.

As if that wasn't enough, our cat passed away. He got sick over the weekend and while the vet did some tests and tried to give him meds to make him better, his health continued to deteriorate rapidly. I eventually got a call from the vet saying that they weren't able to save him. He was an old cat who got sick and as the vet said, it is difficult for old pets to fight off disease.

It didn't help that the week was bookended by two annoying inconveniences. It started with a flat: I ran over a screw that punctured my tire. Thankfully, I was near a vulcanizing shop at the time that my tire lost pressure so I just had to run flat for a short distance before getting my tire fixed. The week then ended with a mix-up at the catering company where I placed a food order for my family for the weekend. When I was ready to pick up my order, I had to wait for several minutes and before being told that they lost my order. Argh. It then took 30 minutes for them to prepare three of the four dishes I ordered - I had to cancel the fourth item. - and by then it was lunchtime already and my family was waiting for the food I was supposed to bring home. It was a stressful end to a difficult week. Hopefully, things start getting better.

Wingspan and More Gaming in 2019

Wingspan is one of the most hyped board games that came out this year. It's been so in-demand that most board game companies in Manila don't have it in stock anymore. Thankfully, my friend Jovan was able to get a copy which we played in my most recent board game night. The objective is to have as many birds live on your board and get them to lay as many eggs. This simplistic explanation makes it sound like a bore but it's actually very interesting and complex, with so many options and ways to win. We played it twice and on the second game, I managed to win with 96.5 points. Cool! I look forward to playing this game again, not only because it's really fun but also because it's very aesthetically pleasing, with beautiful artwork and well-designed game pieces, such as the multi-colored eggs and the bird house dice tray.

Wingspan

I also got to play many other really interesting games for the first time. Treasure Island has players trying to find the treasure that Long John Silver hid somewhere on the island before he escapes his prison and finds his way back to the treasure. Root is an asymmetrical war game where the winning condition of each faction is different. Villainous features six different Disney villains trying to be the most villainous of them all (this game has awesome art and is perfect for Disney fans). Legendary Encounters: The X-Files provides an awesome X-files flavor to this popular deck-building game. Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game requires players to paint popular elements of Bob Ross' many paintings, such as fluffy clouds and happy little trees. :) Finally, I got to try Unlock, which is just like an escape room. This game is so cool that I now want to get my own copy so I can run it with my other friends, even those who don't normally play board games, because I'm pretty sure they will enjoy it.

Treasure Island

One of the more interesting game nights I also had recently was the Scythe night that I organized. I missed playing this game and I hadn't played the expansions that I got so I asked my friends if any of them were interested in a night where we play at least a couple of rounds of Scythe. A good number of them agreed to join. We played only two rounds because people's schedules prevented them from arriving early and by the time the second game was done, most people had to leave. I haven't managed to win in this game but I still absolutely love it and it continues to be in my top 5. I'm now thinking of organizing another Scythe night but hopefully, people can arrive earlier so we can play up to 4 or even 5 rounds LOL.

Also, achievement unlocked: I finally played a game of Legendary where we managed to beat the Mastermind. Making it a bit more serendipitous was the fact that we played it the week that Avengers: Endgame came out. The way we won was also just like what you see in the movies where the heroes win at the very last moment. There was one villain card left, which means we only had one round left. However, we also had one mastermind card left so we had a chance. I had amassed a lot of Captain Marvel cards which, when played together, can inflict a lot of damage, but I wasn't quite sure that I would generate enough attack points to kill the mastermind. I was hopeful because one of the cards in my hand allowed me to draw two more cards. As I drew the two cards, we did the math and I ended up having more than enough attack points to kill the mastermind. Yes! What a nailbiting finale! While I didn't win the game - I was tied for second place - this continues to be one of the highlights of my year for a board gaming standpoint. :)