3 Extremes Film and Asian Horror

Hey there. We tried to take it easy this weekend. Didn't go to many places and didn't over exert ourselves at home. We put up the swimming pool this weekend for the kids to jump and we did some house cleaning while they were in there. We also caught many movies this weekend.

First off, I finally made the jump from Direct TV. I know... I know... blasphemy. But you know what, it was the better. Verizon was offering us this bundle package that included FiOS TV so we took it. So now we have FiOS TV, FiOS Internet, and FiOS phone line. I can't complain with the services. Haven't screwed up on me once so I'm fairly happy with it. We still need some time to get used to the TV though. The remote is kinda weird and the channels have not yet been programmed into our brains. I don't know where half the channels are but I know where they may be. lol Like Cartoon Network is somewhere in the 250s area and movies start at 340 or so. lol

Anyways, we spent a fair amount of time watching movies. Anything from WALL-E, to Dark Knight, to 27 Dresses, to Wanted. I also caught this Asian horror film called 3 Extremes.

I'm a horror fan. I try to catch the latest in fright but quite frankly, they go for cheap scares like something jumping out of a dark corner or something like that. I tend to enjoy the foreign films a lot more since they go for that "mindfuck" route to not only get you trippin' out over the film, but have you thinking about it afterward. 3 Extremes is one such film.

The film is a collection of 3 short stories, each filmed by a famed horror director from the East (Korean, Chinese, and Japanese). Each has their style and each one was beautifully done. The first short was called "The Dumplings". It's basically a "how far would you go to stay young" story. A woman offers her special dumplings as a means of getting younger. As the story unfolds, you see how the dumplings are manufactured and to what lengths are taken to secure the ingredients. Definitely a chilling tale.

The second short is called "Cut". I enjoyed this short mainly because it was written in "Saw-esque" mode, where as a person is pitted against himself, and the outcome of his predicament depend on his actions. It did half some low points such as trying to force some comedy in unnecessary places, which irked me some, but otherwise, enjoyable.

The last short is called "Box" which tells the tale of sisters. I really can't say much without killing the story but I can say that this one was beautifully done. I loved the camera work and the way the story is told flows gracefully.

I loved it. Not a gruesome film, but definitely gets you wondering as to how you would react in the characters situations. I've a got a few more that I have lined up under movies I need to see. I can't wait to catch Battle Royal. From my understanding, a film of teens that are stranded on some island in a no holds barred kinda of death match. I don't know if they were forced or they being there by choice. I'll find out when I see it. Another one I want to see is Tale of Two Sisters. I'll confess, the movie poster intrigued me enough to look into this film and I've found out that the film "The Uninvited" is a remake of this film. I haven't seen The Uninvited, but that may be on my list next, only to compare to the original. Until then, later.

The King of Informercials,Billy Mays,is dead.Celebs are dropping like flies this week.Like a good friend of mine pointed out,celebs may have pissed off death...

Its going to be pizza and movie night tonight. Kids spashed thepo mstar of the day so now its time to sit back and catch a few good movies.

Is Banking Your Baby's Cord Blood Right For You

Hey there friends. My wife and I are now well into our second half of our pregnancy. We are in what I like to call, full baby mode. We've gone out to buy some clothes, check out some strollers, look into cribs and fancied a few bassinets. We've also received a few pamphlets and coupons in the mail. It's almost as if the world knows we're expecting since we're receiving all sorts of baby stuff in the mail. One particular pamphlet got us talking. It was concerning the baby's cord blood.

I know that it's a touchy subject to some and I don't know the full details of what or how banking your baby's cord blood can help, but it is something that we decided to look into and inform ourselves on. One such company that offers banking is Cryo-Cell .

Cryo-Cell offers a very user friendly interface and we were able to get all the information that we need to better inform ourselves. Cord blood is proven to help aid in over 70 diseases, that's good. But it's only been performed about 12,000 times, that's not too good. Could it be because it's still a relatively new process? I can't say. It's also a little pricey, but what price can be put on your child's health? They also have financing which is as low as $57 a month. Not too bad, I think. The cord blood collected is 100% effective on the donor and 25% chance that it will be effective on a sibling. It's proven to be helpful against Leukemia, Hodgkin's Disease, Hunter's Syndrome, among many others. That list itself is pretty impressive.

This is something that is not for everyone, but it is something that surely deserves some consideration. Especially since Cryo-Cell is offering $750 discount if you sign up by 06.28.09 and using the promo code HOT during check out. This is definitely a life changing decision for our family and is something that should be discussed in detail. Check it out. It may be something that you are definitely interested in. Later.

The End of an Era

Hey there. Earlier today, Farrah Fawcett passed away. Many articles across the web deemed it the end of an era with such an iconic woman passing away. Word on the street is that now, Michael Jackson has just passed from cardiac arrest (heart attack). If the reports on Michael are true, then today, June 25th 2009, is the day an era came to an end.

Update: 3.26 PM MSN.com has confirmed Michael's death. RIP Farrah & Michael.

A Buffet Fit for a King

Hey there. Last night, we treated my father in law to dinner at a buffet restaurant that he loves. The place is pretty good. They specialize in oriental food but they have their fair share of seafood as well. We were a little hesitant on going there only because the kids have never really ate stuff like that and we were not sure that they would enjoy it. And to top it off, our middle child was not well (threw up the night before) and having her eat something that she's not familiar with could end up with disastrous results.

In the end, we ended up going and I walked with our middle child asking her what she felt like eating. She basically asked for pizza and fries. She didn't even eat the pizza but she did fill up on all sorts of fruit later on. Our son had himself a field day. He stocked up on ribs and he tried something different each time he "refilled" his plate. Good to know the boy enjoys seafood. He had some fish and liked the crab legs and he also had this red kabob looking meat that we had no idea what it was. All that matters is that he said it was good. lol Our little one wanted ice cream so she chowed down her food and went straight for it. lol It was funny because she was always munching on something and when anyone offered her anything, she said she wanted it. I know she got stuffed. My wife enjoyed her orange chicken. Her personal favorite. She "only" had 1 plate. We all had refills except for her. She's not a big fan of the place and usually gets a plate of white rice, pizza, and orange chicken. As for me, I had an adventure. lol

First off, earlier in the day, knowing that we were heading towards the buffet, I sent a Twitter message asking if I should be bold and try the sushi. I've never had it before and I knew that it was going to be there so I started asking myself if today was going to be the day I finally took the plunge and try it. My friends and family said to do it, with my brother proclaiming to "Eat the head!", a la Yao Ming in that T Mobile commercial. lmao

While I was filling up my plate, I saw a large shrimp looking thing that reminded me of that.

It wasn't moving so it's not entirely like the ones Dwayne Wade and Chuck B. encountered, but still... I had a chuckle over it. I ended up serving myself a plate of white rice, spicy shrimp, salmon, fish fillet, and octopus. Mmmmm... octopus. Don't tell me this doesn't look good!

Soon after I gobbled that down, I enjoyed some crab legs, beef & broccoli, more shrimp, and then it happened... I walked by the sushi. I grabbed a third plate and walked over to the sushi section. Now, I know that buffet sushi is no where the quality that sushi should be. But I figured, I might as well start somewhere and really, sushi is raw... How much more fresh can it be? As long as it's not squirming off my plate, I'm good. So I decided on the four below.

I have no idea what each one is. I pretty much just picked some at random. What I can say is that I liked 2 and not the other 2. If anyone knows the name of them, please let me know. I'm sure that if I ordered it at a restaurant, it would taste many times better so it's something that I am willing to try. The others, not so much. I'd like the names of those two and put them in my black list (which includes bacon and cooked onions). I ended my feast with a plate of pineapple slices and mango. I missed out on the ice cream. I wanted some but seeing that everyone else was stuffed, I didn't want to be only one still eating. lol Next time. Later.