This morning, I managed to get two tickets to the local premier of The Passion of the Christ.

The screening is being sponsored by the church group of a friend of mine and he had some tickets left to sell. Uncle and I will be catching the show late this afternoon, which is running until the early part of the evening.

Right after the Holy Week, I tried to procure tickets to the premier of The Passion through some family acquaintances. Unfortunately, I lucked out because, apparently, all of the tickets had been sold out in the days prior to the Holy Week.

Thus, it is a very good thing that my friend brought his quota of tickets and sold them with no price increase (scalpers, keep away!) whatsoever.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I bought CanoScan D646U ex, just as I said I would.

More than being true to my word, in this instance, as my intention was to buy before the month ends, not quite midway through the said month. But it is all good.

Thus, I intend to open my photography site sometime in the future. I will be scanning in photos that I have been able to salvage from my old archive of cheap 3R-sized prints.

The rest of my collection have either faded to the point of being too blotty and hazy, or been deemed by yours truly as unworthy of publication.

As such, it is one of my foremost wishes to acquire a digital camera of the Canon line, either EOS 300D or PowerShot G5, in the near future. That is, should finances and more pressing priorities permit.

Happy Easter to all!

Before the month ends, I will be getting a new scanner, the lovely CanoScan D646U ex. That is, if nothing comes up that will otherwise warrant my foremost fiduciary attention and priority.

With such an acquisition, there will definitely be loads of new photographs and scans up on this site. One of my intended projects is a gallery showcasing my labors of love behind the camera. Goodness knows I have a good number of prints all over the place, collecting dust and developing acid rot.

I am quite envious of those Wizarding kids in the Harry Potter mythology when Easter comes about. They get large chocolate Easter Eggs as gifts every year.

The very idea of getting a magical chocolate treat the size of a football is enough to bring tears to my eyes. I am assuming that majority of the Easter Eggs received by Hogwarts students from their loved ones are larger than this Muggle sporting good.

Even Ginny Weasley and angst-ridden Harry had a fairly good time sharing this sweet at the Hogwarts library, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

You know, right now, I would gladly settle for a Chocolate Frog. One would be enough, provided that it has an Albus Dumbledore collectible card.

“This above all, to refuse to be a victim. Unless I can do that I can do nothing. I have to recant, give up the old belief that I am powerless and because of it nothing I can do will ever hurt anyone. A lie which was always more disastrous than the truth would have been. The word games, the winning and losing games are finished; at the moment there are no others but they will have to be invented, withdrawing is no longer possible and the alternative is death.”

I came across the beautiful quote posted above some time ago. It is from Surfacing, a novel by mystery writer Margaret Atwood.

I have one of Atwood’s earlier works in my personal collection, Playing for the Ashes. It was published many years ago, with professional cricket as the backdrop.

There is a great possibility that I will look up this particular book in one of my bookstore jaunts in the near future.

However, my foremost priority would still be Koushun Takami’s blood-drenched, gore-splattered thrill ride, Battle Royale (Batoru Rowaiaru).

The novel’s Amazon.com page provides a summary of the story:

Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, Surfacing is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec.

Setting out with her lover and another young couple, she soon finds herself captivated by the isolated setting, where a marriage begins to fall apart, violence and death lurk just beneath the surface, and sex becomes a catalyst for conflict and dangerous choices.

Surfacing is a work permeated with an aura of suspense, complex with layered meanings, and written in brilliant, diamond-sharp prose. Here is a rich mine of ideas from an extraordinary writer about contemporary life and nature, families and marriage, and about women fragmented…and becoming whole.

I took part in a most diverting and riveting conversation during lunch today.

The topic was movies. We talked about two films in particular, both widely popular milestones in their own time.

The first film we discussed was Ben-Hur, touted “The World’s Most Honored Motion Picture.” With good reason, too, having won the most number of Academy Awards.

The second was, arguably, one of 2004’s most controversial silver screen features, The Passion of the Christ, helmed by Oscar alumnus and multi-talented Hollywood icon Mel Gibson.

The Passion of the Christ gained extra attention from the rather excessive amounts of blood and gore splattered throughout the film, especially during the beating-and-lashing session prior to Jesus’ crucifixion.

Our discussion centered mostly on random facets of both movies, such as the real-life dangers faced by the actors during Ben-Hur’s famous chariot race sequence and the authenticity and difficulty of the language used throughout The Passion’s script.

I, however, confess to not having seen the latter movie yet, as it is due for a premier in my city come April 21st.

How fitting, indeed, that our attention was focused on historical roots of the Christian faith, as it is Good Friday. Today is when Jesus Christ dies on the cross, and when the world should offer even just moments of its time in mourning His passing.

Have a blessed Good Friday, everyone.

I read this rather interesting bit of news recently and opted to share it.

The article is entitled Pope to ping the faithful, with the news lead: “Verizon Wireless is launching a new cell phone service in the United States on Wednesday that will allow subscribers to receive messages from the pope.”

Similar to so many a-text-a-day ventures, this new Verizon Wireless-Vatican City partnership involves enabling the faithful to get their daily dose of enlightenment and wisdom straight from His Holiness, via SMS (Short Messaging Service) or, in simpler terms, text.

The rationale behind this service was very well expressed by David Kerr of Strategy Analytics: “Religion has the classic ingredients of any popular content service: a large and passionate community of interest. For this to extend to the mobile environment is only natural.”

In addition to this market-responsive reasoning, here is another positive spin on the matter, from Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “People are always trying to find ways to market His Holiness.”

Too bad, really, that Verizon Wireless still has not ventured into the Philippines. Perhaps a syndication by Globe/Touch Mobile or Smart/Talk-and-Text is in order?

Now, when I think about, I would be very interested in receiving daily text messages from Jaime Cardinal Sin, what with his razor-sharp intelligence and wit.

I was browsing through anime/manga fanlistings tonight when I came across the one for Genbu Kaiden. This particular FL is dedicated to the manga installments in the Fushigi Yuugi/The Universe of the Four Gods mythology that tell the story of the Genbu no Miko and her Shichi Seishi.

Due to this rather serendipitous web link encounter, my Fushigi Yuugi passion has been rekindled full blast. Thus, off I went scouring the Internet for FY and Genbu goodness.

Yours truly was not disappointed, as I came across the beautiful, freshly redesigned SuzakuSeishi.com and, to my great delight, TamaNeko.net‘s Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden information and translation site.

The latter brought me closest that I have ever been to the Genbu legend. I was introduced to a most fascinating young man, named Rimudo, who is also the Genbu Shichi Seishi Uruki.

Needless to say, he is gifted with extraordinary, highly interesting powers, not to mention dashing good looks. Somewhat a cross between Hakurou of Mount Leikaku fame (Fushigi Yuugi: Genrou Den) and Tatara of the Byakko calling, methinks.

Amazon.com gives the following skinny on the Genbu Kaiden manga:

As referred to in Volume 12 of Fushigi Yuugi, Takiko Okuda was the first of the priestesses to enter “The Universe of the Four Gods.” With this latest work from the pen of best-selling artist Yuu Watase, Takiko’s full story is told.

When schoolgirl Takiko Okuda attempts to destroy her father’s translation of “The Universe of the Four Gods,” she is instead literally sucked into the story, becoming the Priestess of Genbu in an epic journey to find the seven Celestial Warriors.

In her first encounter, she meets the mysterious Rimudo, one of the Celestial Warriors who has a tattoo of the Chinese character for “woman” on his chest.

As it turns out, it’s there for a good reason: Rimudo can not only summon the wind as one of his special powers, but also transform into a woman!

I have just finished watching the 6:00-8:00 A.M. episodes of 24: Season Two.

The series was aired on Philippine television in Filipino-dubbed format by ABS-CBN, at 9:30 PM on Sundays. Each telecast constitutes of two episodes. Tonight’s installments were the last ones of the show’s second season.

24 is one of the best television series I have ever come across, the reason why I watch it so religiously.

The pacing, sets, storylines, acting and direction, among numerous other production factors, come together to create a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat series. It is a mixture of action and suspense, headily spiced up with realistic human drama.

Kiefer Sutherland is in his element as Jack Bauer, a brilliant, dangerous and highly resourceful Counter-Terrorist Agent.

The tight scrapes and continually mounting tensions in 24‘s second season gave Kiefer’s character the plot room to grow in terms of depth and strength. Jack is, of course, my favorite character in the show.

My favorite female, and second overall, character in 24 is Kate Warner, portrayed by Sarah Wynter. I loved the way Kate developed from a rich girl doubting her sister’s husband-to-be to a brave, quick-thinking woman who had survived numerous life-or-death encounters.

Sarah’s portrayal has the perfect blend of intelligence, vulnerability, steely nerves and indomitable courage. These qualities made Kate a character that provided a perfect match to Jack’s own willful nature.