On the lighter side-Movies-Rendezvous with Death (1980-HK)

A new martial artist agrees to escort a mysterious box for a huge sum of money and along the trail gets involved with rivals seeking to steal the box from him. Recommended with caution

On the lighter side-Movies-Bastard Swordsman (1983-HK)

A bullied boy in a martial arts school comes to the defense of it when bad guys want to eliminate it. Weird martial arts with some special effects and magic thrown in. Recommended with caution

On the lighter side-Movies-The Shadow whip (1971-HK)

Bad guys are looking for a shipment of gold stolen by a thief and it leads to lots of fighting with a master whip man. Just enjoy the fights and not get into too much detail about the story. Recommended with caution

The forced Advertisements

As many of you watch YouTube®, I have started to notice any annoying thing that of ads which you are forced to watch and can’t skip. Usually some of the ads which seem to be few and far and are longer have a skip ad options which I sure believe many of people use it to watch their videos but for ads that are less than 10 seconds, you are forced to watch it and there is no skip button. I can understand that websites have to make money but even for a song or some little videos, it is excruciating to watch ads before you go on to watch your videos. Sometimes even for a news item video, one has to go through sometimes 30 seconds of video ads just to watch a two minute clip. And in news videos, you don’t have the option to skip ads.

I know that it may become a future staple where if you want to watch a free video, you would have to sit through the ads to enjoy it. It is just an annoying nuisance and there seems to be no way around it unless you want the ad-free version of the websites, where you would have to pay in order to enjoy it. It is all part of the effort by the media companies to generate revenues whichever way they can in order to offset the costs of streaming and to make up for the lost revenues due to lower subscription to the paper publication and also to increase revenues in order to pay for the increasing expense of proprietary and exclusive content that is now the buzz word for every streaming media. The more exclusive your content is the more you can charge your subscribers and advertisers. I hate it but have to deal with the necessary evil.

On the lighter side-Movies-Hotel Inferno (2013-Italian)-Rayner Bourton

A hired assassin is hired to kill two serial killers at a hotel but gets involved with zombies and undead killers. Gross out First person movie, which I am still unable to get my head around it. Bloody and comically gory that gets tiresome after a while. Thankfully at almost 80 minutes, ends not so soon.  I have heard they will be making six sequels to it. Not looking forward to it though. Not Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Revenger (2018-Korean)-Bruce Khan

A cop infiltrates an Island prison in order to avenge his family’s killing at the hands of the top prisoner who rules the island. No holds barred martial arts thriller with very minimal special effects. Recommended

A new trend in Unforgiveness

Recently an actor who was supposed to be host of the Oscar show had to withdraw because some of things he said about gays came online and he said it seven or eight years ago and people have pounced on it like he has committed capital. He has since apologized but in this politically charged and political correct climate when everybody wants people to be angels from the day they are born, it did not matter much. One can say one thing at one time and can redeem themselves after a while, you are not the same frame of mind when you are young and talk things with your friends which are just a joke but later on, you gain enough insight to retract your statement and apologize. But NO, now people want everybody to have a clean childhood and talk about being inclusive from day one.

Everybody wishes that it be a peaceful world and everybody embraces all kinds of people and don’t say anything bad but it does not work that way. Sometimes you can say things which are ignored during a time of jest but it despite offering apologizes, some people don’t want to forgive them. It seems the so called political correct people also have monsters in their closet and they should be afraid of getting them revealed. People makes mistakes during their younger years and when they don’t fully comprehend the gravity of their words, but people should be able to have the courage to forgive them when someone apologizes; otherwise they are not creating any friends of allies.

On the lighter side-Movies-Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)-Chris Pratt

The heroes try to save as many dinosaurs as possible before the possible eruption of a once dormant volcano. Again a movie, best watched on the big screen. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Avengers: Infinity War (2018)-Josh Brolin

The Avengers band together to try to defeat Thanos before he destroys the Universe and create a new one. Super special effects extravaganza best viewed on the wide screen. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies- The Meg (2018)-Jason Statham

A shark versus an action star. It is interesting to see an action star fighting off a shark and saving lives. Recommended

And the Government shutdown continues

The longest in the U.S. history, the shutdown continues over a budget deal that no side either the Democrats or the Republican President is willing to budge. Since the Congress is getting paid during this shutdown, the effect of this childish behavior has started to increasing impact every day Americans working class. The dispute over the payment of the wall between Mexico and United States is increasingly being played out to the world in ridiculous ways than it was intended. I wrote long time ago in my blog that the neither parties are interested to get rid of this debt ceiling and each side use it to their advantage to keep the government open for a while till the next doomsday debt ceiling limits hits and they try to get whatever they can to get their agenda (whatever it can be) included in the budget deal.

Instead of automatic extensions in the debt ceiling, the bickering and increasing divisive parties of the United States tries to get what they think their voters or constituents want and don’t hear the fact that the people of the United States only want things to work smoothly since it is they who will eventually foot the bill. But working together on budget deals is so loathsome to these parties that in order for what they want, they will hurt people and their country in the process. But again since the representatives are elected from people, it is also the people’s fault that they are electing them to do these kinds of things. That is why people are not confident; their representatives are listening to them and we will have to wait how long this shutdown continues.

On the lighter side-Movies-Insomnia (1997-Norway-Sweden)-Stellan Skarsgard

A Swedish detective is invited to investigate a teen’s murder in a north Norway town with 24 hour daylight. The sleep deprived detective stumbles through the investigation with increasing insanity due to the lack of sleep. Interesting movie, slow at times but very watchable. Recommended

On the lighter side-Movies-Mandy (2018)-Nicolas Cage

A couple living off the grid in a forest in the northwest United States gets their life upside down when the wife gets kidnapped by drug crazed lunatics. The husband takes revenge in brutal and bloody ways in this drug fuelled action, horror journey to hell. Recommended with caution

On the lighter side-Movies-Charlie’s Farm (2014-Australian)

A group of friends venture out to an abandon farm despite being told by the locals to stay away due to a legend of killer still lurking around. And as usual, listening is not one of the traits in these horror movies as curiosity gets the best of them every time. Killing starts anew and in gory fashion. Usual fare of a killer offing the characters one by one.

Not recommended

The 10th Anniversary of my Father’s Death

Another year, another death anniversary, it is true that time heals everything but not the parting of your loved ones especially if it is your child, your parents or your siblings. The day was Friday, January 3^rd, 2009 when I got that life devastating and altering phone call from my sister that my father had passed away. I still miss my father immensely and just to hear his voice will be the greatest gift of all. But after you leave this world, you venture into the next with nothing under your control and so I mourn another year without him in silence as I being his only son knows how to mourn in my own way, celebrating his achievements, being proud of his son and trying to strive to be the son he wanted me to be. Sometimes I feel so lost that I feel like I have nobody to guide me where to go when a problem arises as I don’t feel I can confide my problems to anyone and if there is anyone who can see through me to know how I need help.

Parents are a true blessing and if you lose one, you lose a part of yourself which some people may quite not understand if they had not had close relationship with their parents. I may not have inherited many of this traits but I am very proud to be his son and I am eternal great GOD gave me enough time to enjoy his company and gain from his insights in life and his wisdom. May GOD bless his eternally and may be enjoying his life in Heaven. I love you DAD.