The Wheel and Axle

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The Wonder Woman, Part 4: Stop A Bullet Cold

I started this series of Wonder Woman reviews having watched it four times. As of this writing, the last of the review series, I’ve watched it a fifth time (IMAX again, because obv) and still came out of it exhilarated. I watched it with my friends over at Pinoy DC Fans, a group we founded way back in the early 2000s when we met through the now-defunct DC Message Boards.

It’s been over a week since the movie was released worldwide, and it has broken some box office records. On its opening weekend, its gross earnings reached approximately $103M domestically (US), much higher than the original $65M-$70M projections. Moreover, worldwide, it hit $223M that same weekend – with some markets still not even open yet at the time, including France, Germany, Spain, and Japan.

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The Wonder Woman, Part 3: Get Us Out From Under

*** SPOILERS ***

Since I’ve talked about what I wasn’t too fond of in Wonder Woman, I decided to list some of the things I truly loved. Note that I loved so many things about the movie, so this quick list is really just to sample some of my fave highlights.

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The Wonder Woman, Part 2: Stop A War With Love

*** SPOILERS ***

Despite how much I loved Wonder Woman, there were still a few things I didn’t quite like. Mostly minor, to be fair, but could’ve been better in these areas.

1. Etta was severely under-utilized. In many ways, Etta is Wonder Woman’s Jimmy Olsen. However, she is so much more. Aside from a couple of periods wherein she was unused, she was even more actively involved in Diana’s heroics across varied interpretations (sorority girl, lounge singer, soldier). So it was sad that her role was significantly diminished.

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The Wonder Woman, Part 1: Now The World Is Ready For You

*** SPOILERS ***

The great thing about Wonder Woman is how well it still fits into the over-all atmosphere and themes of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) while creating its own niche. While I personally have enjoyed all of the DCEU films so far (Man of Steel, Batman V Superman, and Suicide Squad), they have largely been divisive primarily due to how dark and often depressing they can be. The appeal these movies have for me is how thought-provoking they can be – how much they delve much deeper into ethics, psychology, and similar mature themes rarely looked at in the genre.

Wonder Woman certainly still fits into that mold because – perhaps even more than its feminist stance – it is a film that questions the worth of humanity and provides us a good hard look at the what we are capable of across a moral spectrum. However, on top of these themes, it offers so much more than what we’ve seen so far in the DCEU: innocence, pure joy, fun, hope, and a better balance of humor and seriousness.

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*** SPOILERS ***

As of this writing, I’ve watched Wonder Woman four times. I started on Day Zero, an IMAX midnight screening the night before it officially opened in Manila on June 1st. Then almost every day until Sunday, except for Friday where we took a break with Baywatch, I saw it again and again and again. And again.

It’s been almost a week since I first watched the movie, and it took me this long to start putting my thoughts into written words because I am still overwhelmed with my love for the film.

After a long long time of anticipation and excitement, Wonder Woman arrived, and it surpassed my expectations… and even more. The critics seem to think so, too, because even before its official release, it had already garnered a huge number of pre-screening positive reviews – rivaling several top-rated superhero movies, particularly Logan and the currently-unbeatable The Dark Knight.

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Pietro, dear darling Pietro, has posted the third video of his trip to the Philippines. While the first two videos focused on Palawan, this time he shares his Cebu and Bohol trips.

Oh, man. Talk about a beautiful view.

Will he ever stop being so adorably delightful? I’m guessing never.

The feels! Oh, lawdy, the feels. Sam Kalidi posted this some time back, and he knows the profound truth in this.

Happy week ahead, guys! Is it Friday yet? (Well, Thursday, at least: Wonder Woman is coming!)

While everyone seems to be going gaga over Mobile Legends, I’m still happily playing three different DC mobile games: DC Legends as well as the two Injustice games. Injustice 2, in particular, had done a beta release for its mobile app a few months back (obviously, I jumped right in back then).

Finally, in early May, the full launch happened with lots of new goodies. The console version was also released on May 16th (time to bring out the PlayStation once more!).

You all can have your Mobile Legends. I’m definitely still hooked on DC.

Harley Quinn. Scarecrow. Robin. V. Henchmen. Harley Quinn. Bane.

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Laugh and cry at the same time: this is an amazing story from last month about an amazing friendship between a comedian and a 14-year old boy, perhaps one of the bravest boys in the world. This is strength. This is resilience. This is hope. ❤️

P.S. NSFW language and some visuals. Because: human dildos and stuff.

365 days of consistent blogging.

I actually did it!

I’d been blogging since my Friendster days (thereby aging myself), and I set up my personal domain years ago. However, for some time during those years, I blogged inconsistently.

Finally last year, I gave myself a goal: blog daily, consistently, for at least a year. After all, a writer… writes, as several mentors have told me. I needed to constantly write to keep my skills honed – especially since I’m still procrastinating on the sequel to the novel I wrote (which will soon be done).

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