Seen: Ant Man

     Could it be that the wave of new super heroes come from a pool of underrated actors? Chris Pratt probably spear headed this trend. From the overweight mediocre lawyer bestie of Vince Vaughn in The Delivery Man, he transforms into the charming Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.

     Case in point, Paul Rudd. One of the best chick flicks of all time for the teens in the 90s is Clueless. Paul Rudd plays the adorable, dorky, but very reliable stepbrother (Josh) to Alicia Silverstone's Cher (I don't think I have to go on about what happened next). He mostly starred in comedic roles, and surprisingly is adept at script writing. In "So This is 40", he plays a 40-year old father of 2 who undergoes a midlife crisis. He played the part to a T by sporting a dad-bod. Seeing him in Ant Man made me do a double take. He never looked so good, not even in Clueless.

     Scott Lang, an ex-con gets manipulated into stealing the Ant Man suit from Dr. Hank Pym's vault. He tries it on and takes the suit for a test drive, then gets recruited as the new Ant Man. Dr. Pym's protege who is obsessed with the Pym particle is close to making objects minute. His protege succeeds and makes the Yellow Jacket, which he sells to an agent of Hydra. Evangeline Lilly plays Hope, the daughter of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) who helps in stopping Hydra's acquisition of the Yellow Jacket. It took me a while to recognize Evangeline Lilly in her black bobbed hairstyle. 

I stole the show

     The man who stole the show is Michael Peña who plays Luis, Scott Lang's fellow ex-con. He narrates the situation with such aplomb that it is fascinating to watch as the characters in his scenario mouth's off his dialogue. It's super fine. As the trade mark of Marvel super hero movies, Stan Lee makes a cameo and of course, look for the trailer which comes at the end of the credits.

Macau: Why I Need to Go Back?

     The post is a month late but it's all because of the tons of picture that I took, and some of which haven't been uploaded yet! It's the annual Dora and Chabelita (my sister and I) adventure and this time, we flew to Macau with our dear parents.

Ruins of St. Paul's

      Nothing screams Macau than the facade of the ruins of St. Paul's. We were lucky enough to catch some sort of Chinese festival (sorry, no idea what it was). But the charm Macau holds is the meshing well of 2 cultures, old world Portuguese and Chinese. Due to a few people who could really speak English when you're not in the Casino, getting around is really a challenge. It's just fascinating that almost every block, you could find a church. The ruins of St. Paul's are currently undergoing restoration. By far, this could be the biggest Catholic church in Macau.

SENADO SQUARE

Senado Square

Holy House of Mercy

Catholic Church

     Taking a walk in Senado Square is very picturesque. The mosaic flooring of the square is beautifully preserved as well as the buildings as they are UNESCO heritage sites as well as the temples and Catholic churches. The architecture is splendid, and most shops and restaurants operating in the area are enclosed in colonial buildings. The Holy House of Mercy used to serve as a hospital back in the day.

Courtyard, Governor's House near A-ma Temple

Entrance, A-ma Temple

Offering prayers, A-ma Temple

     At the opposite end of the ruins of St. Paul's is the A-ma Temple which is near the Governor's house. The courtyard is nice and stands in strike contrast to the temple. You can get souvenirs nearby as well as visit the Macau Maritime Museum which is right next to the temple.

Galaxy Hotel

The Venetian

At the Grand Canal

Egg tarts abound

Why it's so easy to get lost...

    Now on to the more modern areas of Macau, which consists mostly of the casinos and hotels that are world class. Galaxy Hotel and Casinos and of course, The Venetian, topped our list. I just had a hard time getting over on how realistic the indoor sky looked. I also had to have some egg tarts at Lord Stow's Cafe in The Venetian.  The major drawback was we often got lost going around since the signs (even road signs) are way too small. Seriously!

      Why I need to go back?

1) Go back when the weather wasn't as hot as it was (in July) so I could walk around at a leisurely (not hurried) pace.

2) Take more pictures of other buildings that I missed while getting lost such as the Ho Tung library.

3) Wasn't able to go to the Grand Prix Museum and Guia Fort and other gardens

4) Wasn't able to see the show at Wynn Hotel

5) Stay at The Venetian

6) Eat Margaret's egg tarts which I heard was even better than Lord Stow's

7) Eat Portuguese delights such as duck rice, african chicken, bacalhau, chorizo (I only got to eat the pork chop bun, huhuhu).

Seen: Daredevil

    

     My sister could not shut up about this series, so I simply had to watch this one. The only reference that I could come up with was the previous Daredevil played by Ben Affleck, which during my tweens, I thought it was okay but it received a lot of blah reviews. 

Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson), Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll),
Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson),
Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio)

     The first season has 13 episodes, roughly lasting about an hour each. If I was just in the comfort of my home, on the couch, I would have been able to binge on this one for an entire day. I was skeptic at first since most of the cast is not known to me with the exception of Rosario Dawson and Vincent D'Onofrio. If my memory serves me right, Elden Henson was in "Idle Hands". (After checking it out on Google, indeed he was). I'm not a fan of True Blood so I have no idea who Deborah Ann Woll is (so sue me!). More so with Charlie Cox (name sounds like that of a superhero's).

Hmmm...you look hot and familiar! Like somebody's brother....

     Oh yeah, Charlie Cox...couldn't remember him having played Tristan in Stardust way back in 2007. But he does look like the hot brother of Rob Pattinson, don't you think? Getting over that, he does play Matt Murdock's character well. Straight-laced Catholic lawyer by day, brutal vigilante by night. His other senses that kicked in after losing sight is just awesome. The backstory on his childhood was really good to establish his present day character and then there's his daily struggle in keeping his other identity secret from his friends. 

The bestie

     Elden Henson provides some comic relief but in the episode Nelson vs Murdock, he comes to terms with his discovery that his best friend is actually the "masked man" of hell's kitchen. Initially he gives off the vibe that he's a doormat but he showed some gumption when he met his ex-girlfriend for a deposition as the opposing counsel. He looked so handsome then.

The first client

      She may have started out as a mousy accountant who found some anomalies at her firm then was framed for a murder that she did not commit. Nelson and Murdock came to her rescue as her legal counsel and eventually Karen Page decided to work for them. Her quest for the truth led her to several run-ins with thugs, and the people that she cared about ended up being hurt or dead. She got pushed over the edge and eventually shot Wesley, Wilson Fisk's assistant dead. She tries to keep the team together as Foggy and Matt go through a "rough patch" and at the same time, hiding her crime which puts her at constant vigil from a payback from Fisk.

The racketeer

      Initially elusive as a crime lord, Wilson Fisk steps out into the limelight as a "saviour" of Hell's Kitchen. His back story explains the holding of his character which makes you not hate him so much. Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal with his somewhat raspy voice is a little ode to Don Corleone in "The Godfather". We see Wilson Fisk's struggle to be the top man of crime as he falls in love with an art gallery curator which his associates think is making him lose sight of the end goal. It's nice to see that in spite of his size, they pretty much kept with the traditional Kingpin that could bust up some nasty moves.

   

The stitch

     I couldn't find fault with the casting of Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple. Surprisingly, she does't show much skin and there's no juggling of her boobs and what not but she's still sexy as hell being the smart and confident nurse who stitches up the "masked man" from time to time. I have no idea how her relationship with the Daredevil will progress in season 2 (yes, it's already underway so yay!).

     Well what's not to like with this series? The fact that Netflix is not available here in the Philippines. The series itself is really good, and I'm glad that they went with actors who are on the up and up. The storyline is straight to the point, the back stories are not boring and every character really contributes to the multiple facet that the series presents. I cannot wait for season 2. What's really hard for me to grasp is, since they'll be introducing several characters (heroes) so eventually they could become the Defenders, so that leaves how many seasons are there per hero? I do urge the rest of you to binge on.