The Forbidden Kingdom

Release Date: April 18, 2008
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Rob Minkoff
Screenwriter: John Fusco
Starring: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Crystal Liu Yi Fei, Li Bing Bing
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of martial arts action and some violence)
Official Website: ForbiddenKingdommovie.com
Review: 6.5/10 rating
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available
Movie Poster: One-Sheet | Teaser
Production Stills: View here
Plot Summary: A 21st Century American teenager takes a spellbinding, dangerous journey into martial arts legend in the new action/adventure epic “The Forbidden Kingdom.”

Shot on location in China, “The Forbidden Kingdom” marks the historic first-ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan (“Rush Hour,” “Drunken Master”) and Jet Li (“Fearless,” “Once Upon a Time in China”), and features the awe-inspiring action choreography of Woo-Ping Yuen (“The Matrix,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”).

While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano – “24″, “Will & Grace,” “Lords of Dogtown,” “Seabiscuit”) makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the powerful Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk (Jet Li). But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed – and find a way to get back home.

www.comingsoon.net

Interesting Stuff

Coca-Cola was originally green.

In the 1400 ‘ s a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have ‘the rule of thumb’

Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled ‘Gentlemen Only…Ladies Forbidden’….and thus, the word GOLF entered into the English language.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear well.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this…)

The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour… 61,000.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter, Tom Sawyer.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride ‘ s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts… So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them ‘Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.’

It’s where we get the phrase ‘mind your P’s and Q’s’

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. ‘Wet your whistle’ is the phrase inspired by this practice.

At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!

Don’t delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.

Something To THINK About

-Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
-Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their
conversational skills will be as important
as any other.
-Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you
want.
-When you say, “I love you,” mean it.
-When you say, “I’m sorry,” look the person in the eye.
-Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
-Believe in love at first sight.
-Never laugh at anyone’s dream. People who don’t have dreams, don’t
have much.
-Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only
way to live life completely.
-In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
-Don’t judge people by their relatives.
-Talk slowly but think quickly.
-When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile
and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
-Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
-Say “God bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
-When you lose, don’t lose the lesson .
-Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and
Responsibility for all your actions.
-Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
-When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to
correct it.
-Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your
voice.
-Spend some time alone.

Attraction To Another Man

After years of marriage or relationship with your partner, can you certainly say that you were never in contempt? Well, to define the word.. to be willfully disobedient.

Meeting men during a marriage, or relationship can pose danger to women. It may start with infatuation and grow as deep as fantasizing… even worst being physically involved. How does it feel? As for me, I’m telling you… it was an emotional roller coaster every single tic tac of the clock. My head told me completely different things than my true feelings did. It does take Hercules’ strengths to stay within focus, be objective, and not loose the sight of a greater picture rather than just looking at that precious flirty moment of a temporary “feel-good” factor. The organ called “heart” was the most difficult to convince. You had to whisper “do not give in to temptation” 1 million times. We all know that it is impossible to allow yourself to get attracted to another man while still remain faithful to your partner. One hint of attraction is equivalent to a point of evil (but you can pray that it wouldn’t be… or convince yourself that it is not until you find yourself next to the man’s chest on a hot tub).

However, we can always assess ourselves and do a personal analysis… find out why are you feeling like this in the first place… what consequences could bring this attraction to you?

Quite often as you can think, a woman may have felt something with another man. One friend said that she shared worry-free, fun and relaxed moments with him… and being with her husband or partner, she has to deal with tons of problems and stressful worries as soon as they start a conversation, which has a greater probability of resulting into a fight.

Despite all odds, we have to recognized that instead of living in Hello Kitty’s dream world and “execute” a lot of fantasizing about the man, we have to snap out off it. Think about the deepest commitment. We can never be happy if we were creating our happiness at the cost of hurting our partners.

But this doesn’t mean just because you are married or locked up in a serious relationship, you automatically stop turning your head to other men or even feel any attraction. But be conscious about your actions that they will not hurt your partner… that you absolutely respect and love him. Resistance to something that feels good kills but I’m still holding tight to cross my fingers. ^^

10-Hour Gimmick

TGIF and Sabado nights are much awaited by a lot of people. Getting together, drinking, having fun, and talking about anything under the sun… we had it all last night until now as I am writing this blog. Moments like these are worth keeping, however we should still be watchful about a few details.

Watch out for your funny drunken friends! It can be really enjoyable to simply watch intoxicated people who act stupid and get consumed by alcohol. We love to take photographs and share these with our friends. We can then get surprised about how drunk we looked because of those tantalizing eyes.

If you are not into the drinking spree, I suggest that you act like you’re one just to keep the vibe going on. Well, your friends won’t know the difference (of course!) and then you can just do stupid things with them as I used to do. It may not be good but it is indeed fun. Being euphoric reduces any hangover!

If you can’t push yourself too hard to mingle their way, you can watch a movie.

Can’t find a good DVD? Then, find some sober people to talk to. This is a good opportunity to get to know more of your friends.

If nobody is sober, find drunk people to talk to (worst option possible! ^^). Buzz a friend and he might share a secret that you have been dying to know.

Play bartender if you can (or break those glasses if you can’t).

One can play poker with all the drunk people… gamble a penny and there may be odds that you will win. If you don’t win at all, you can always cheat. Nobody knows that you did because they’re drunk.

Because you are the only normal person in the room, be the designated driver to make sure that your friends arrive home safely. This maybe annoying but it may make you the superhero of the night.

I Once Dreamt of Becoming a Bombshell

Sounds funny and extremely ridiculous, but I would trade my jeans and flip flops for a big hair, thigh-high skirts, and plunging necklines.

I am a far cry from being a glammed-up-hottie persona that shakes every man who stares at me. I am as low maintenance as you get. Getting used to it may sometimes become boring. When looking at a perfect figure, I would have to sigh and wish I am one of them. Not contented huh! Who does not want to be beautiful outside?

If I were a bombshell, I would probably be in the modeling world. It’ s a thrill getting up one sunny morning and knowing that you have got a BIG day ahead of you (apart from the BIG boobs!). Igniting the inner spot, I would go out of my door with a flawless skin, smoky eyes, and glossy lips.

As I have read some articles, I was stunned about how great it is being a real babe.

Lesson One: She cannot afford to become self conscious. You have to be comfortable at all times as long as your butt is not exposed.

Lesson Two: She gets better service. Flattering!

Lesson Three: She has to have the mammaries. Do I need to elaborate more on this? Mammaries… you know.. watermelons in the innocent eyes of men…^^

Lesson Four: Men are dogs. Opppss! Sorry! Well at least for the ones who cannot control their ogling. Some guys walk while holding his girlfriend’s hand and yet his head swivels around just to stare at you.

Lesson Five: Girls will hate. They get furious because you are drop dead gorgeous, too beautiful and they are not… their boyfriends pause for you to blatantly stare at you.

These and more to be happy and be sad with. If this is the case, I realized that being a bootylicious bombshell is not a bomb at all… Let’s call it a day… I should be happier being myself. ^^

Why Do Parents Interfere?

A lot of things frustrates us and first on the list is having our parents try to run our lives (even if you are already married!). As a person, it is a common act to find your own place in the world. Of course we love to make decisions for ourselves… we wouldn’t care if those choices are good ones or bad.

Parents have been there… teen years… married life… and any other life there can be… therefore, we expect them to know that we often need to make mistakes to learn from them. Now why in the hell they can’t just sit back and let us live our “might-be-miserable” lives?

One simple reason… because they love us.

It’s hard to understand (or we just refuse to understand most of the time). But come to think of it… parents find it physically and emotionally distressing to know that their children are up to things that could do them harm. This causes anxiety which makes them act more strictly (as if they’re militia!) towards us. Believe me. It’s definitely a vicious circle. They fear that we will suffer from any danger or be confronted with more problems as a result of the choices that we make, thus they will definitely run with utmost interference. Hahhhh… parental nature.

How to stop it? Just one thing to do; foster some trust. Behave. Be open. Give them an idea of how we think. Show them that we listen (or pretend to listen to make the sermon shorter… ^^). Appreciate the values they have worked hard all these years to instill in us. Agree even if you disagree. Sacrifice on our part demonstrates respect for our parents.

Respect is a vital part of building trust. Work with it to get it.

Are You Having A Cyber Affair?

The Internet is one big technical progress to our civilization, however it also becomes one of the easiest mediums to pornography and, worst, have Internet affairs. Cyber sex is one popular “relationship crime” to commit. In fact, 8-10% of Internet users are addicted to cyber sex and about one third of couple separation and divorce litigation is ignited by these so called online affairs.

Now we are confronted with bigger questions; Is cyber sex a form of cheating? Is it considered adultery? What should a person do if there is a suspicion that your spouse is having an online affair? Is cyber affair a real affair? With our modern times, is it that really easy to cross the line?

A wife was interviewed on this matter and here is what she had to say:

“My husband is spending long hours on the computer in his office and when I’d walk in, he’d be switching so I couldn’t see what he was doing. He’d say he was working. And then I had gotten a picture sent to me from my sister and I’m not very computer literate, and I was checking the computer to find out where I put the picture when I downloaded it. I started finding pictures that he had – some very interesting photos.”

Finding things out, the wife installed a software package on the computer that she and her husband shared. It kept track every inch of activity on the computer from e-mails, instant messages, web sites often visited and even a single keystroke made from that computer. Reports were automatically emailed to her and that’s how she caught him.

That triggered her. She started making copies of everything that was going on as she planned to set him up by pretending that she was somebody with a different name. She was able to have a friendly conversation with him at first. It was for quite a while and then the husband started to shell out his behavior which made her find out exactly what he was doing and what he was saying.

But other people contradicts the idea that this form of activity is an affair. They reason out that no body fluids exchanged… no penetration with sticky keys… when you are “typing”, you are literally typing. Why does a person enjoy pornography? Why does a person engage himself in cyber sex? Why does one enjoy “flirty” chats? Why divert the wrong way?

All of us should consider the fact that there might be a problem in our relationships or marriages because if there was none, one wouldn’t be probably making love to a computer. Most men’s opinion: Cyber affairs are harmless. Do you think so? I think it’s getting close to the edge… which at times, definitely hard to resist.

Holding “The Notebook”

While blogging early this morning, sipping a cup of hot malt, I thought about what movie should I be watching for today (as a part of my undying accent training for some work…).  I feel dramatically “senti” today as I woke up too early out of sleeplessness. I cried so hard out of pity for Ejay… PBB… teen plus… you know? Kinda hooked up here! Also I think some soul must be thinking about me… hehehe!. After looking for a few links, I finally chose a movie which I happened to watch years ago. The pic is your clue.

In all honesty, my uncle paid me to go see The Notebook with my friends because he kept saying how magnificent it was. I went because it was free and with no expectations at all. However, The Notebook drew me into the story from the beginning right up until the credits – and then kept me crying for quite some time after it had ended.

I, along with almost every other person i have discussed the movie with, felt involved in the situations and the lives of the character… crying at the sad moments and feeling joy at the happy bits.

In general, love stories are predictable and somewhat dull (well… in my opinion. I have had all the drama in my life of course!) yet this movie kept me guessing at the outcome and delivered twists throughout the whole film. The Notebook was extremely well constructed and I would give it an eleven-out-of-ten stars… a truly unremarkable film (aside from Notting Hill which I am proud to shout out aloud that I’ve watched it 27 times… ^^).

Life After Your Ideal Diet

Dieting is tough, but backsliding is what really discourages people. As soon as they give up their crash diets, reducing pills, plastic suits, and rigorous exercise, they tend to drift back into their old habits and put pounds right back on.

The ideal weight, as a rule of the thumb, should be to allow 100 pounds for a woman five feet tall and then add five pounds for every inch over that height. For a man, allow 106 pounds for five feet of height and then add six pounds for every inch over that. Actually, your ideal weight is the weight at which you can feel and function at your best, so it could be higher or lower than the tables suggest.

As a home based entrepreneur and a writer, I am not actively engaged in physical activity, so my diet must be even more restricted to achieve weight maintenance. I always plan to enroll in an exercise program (boxing is my utmost choice!), but the plan remains a plan even until now.

There are four techniques which I use to restructure my eating habits to sustain my ideal weight without too much deprivation. It is basically mind over matter!

1. Keep and inventory of what you eat or drink for one week.

List everything down. This may be tiring and nonsense but believe me, it makes sense at all. If you are eating more than you should, cut the calories down.

2. Change your attitude toward food.

Keep in mind that innocent-looking temptations can be culprits (oh… like flirt men, you know! ^^). Fact is you can gain three and a half pounds a year by adding a pat of butter or margarine to your toast everyday; and three pounds a tear by adding just two teaspoons of sugar to your fave hot drink everyday (it breaks my heart to take unsweetened Milo malt… grrr… mind over matter…).

3. Change your food preparation.

Broiling food instead of frying it can reduce as many as 200 calories per serving. Eating a baked potato instead of 20 french fries saves 35 calories. A poached or boiled egg contains 35 calories fewer than a fried egg. When opting for salads, go for fruits and veggies instead of canned fruits. Sprinkle lemon juice on these salads instead of salad dressings.

4 . Put temptation behind you.

Don’t watch “foody witch” TV commercials (hahaha! Close your eyes instead). Don’t go to supermarkets when you’re hungry. While at work, don’t carry loose change for creepy stuff to buy. Don’t snack for pastries during break. Take a walk instead. At home, use smaller plates. Eat slowly pleaseeee… and chew properly!

I do things this way to achieve an ideal weight which results to an ideal look. Friends may say I’m drowning in vanity or wandering in paranoia. But doing this makes me feel good… and looking good is a plus!

Unhappily Breaking Into Boracay

Months ago, we went to Cebu for Sinulog festival and out of curiosity, we headed to the famous Boracay  kingdom via The Panoly Resort Hotel. “Club Panoly”… enchanting right? They typically portray images of the best sunset and whitest sand beach having the four-star hotel facilities suited to our planned vacation. So when one of our relatives told me that they booked our accommodation with the Panoly for our Boracay trip, I was indeed too excited.

After a safe travel, we finally got there by afternoon. Certainly, the sunset was perfect. White sand beach front was amazing. Just one thing destroyed our mood.. the resort itself. The facilities are scruffy (synonym to grungy and untidy!) and everything was ill-maintained. The supposedly “magnificent” pool was uninviting. Where’s the spa anyway? Virtually non-existent. The wall paint in our rooms was peeling off like faces of women who have just started using hydroquinone exfoliant… and a lot more to mention.

In addition to that, they boasted that they have got the best restaurant in the land but the fact is, they were only serving guests who walk in to have their lousy meals (graces… sorry about that…). What irritated me most is that if there was really a real cook around, we would have been satisfied with a hotel-like food. However, I wonder if all of it was just bought out of the blah-blah-blah whatever!

Mind you. I am not good at blogging bitter things but I just happened to wake up this morning feeling the summer breeze (too hot!) and I remembered how pissed off I was breaking into Boracay, sadly, for the first time.