Random thoughts --

Johann and I watched Transformers last Monday. I was initially apprehensive about watching this movie because I didn't really like the way Michael Bay did the robots. I was actually trying to convince Johann to watch Fantastic Four instead. (I liked the first movie but he didn't.)

So we watched it and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Michael Bay is very good at doing action sequences and Tranformers is an amazing accomplishment, considering the challenges of doing action sequences with real actors and CGI characters.

The dialogue was, perhaps, the weakest part -- and tended to be a bit overdramatic (cringe-cringe overdramatic) and the story was actually very simple but I actually liked his interpretation of the Transformers story. I wonder about how it all ties into the whole mythos (the animated series) --

I especially enjoyed hearing the "original voice" of Optimus Prime and missed the screechy Starscream voice.

Now, I wonder how the live action Evangelion movie will turn out... ^_^

Oh, and Transformers 2 is in 2009. Wow! ^_^

* * *

Iloilo news --

The new airport opened a few weeks ago and people say it's really beautiful. (I haven't seen it yet. >_<)

There was some drama when it first opened -- the first one involved a long-term concessionaire from the old airport. He has a contract with the Iloilo Airport until 2015 but, because of the new features of the new airport, the services he offers is now redundant. (He used to offer porterage services which were very expensive and had a lot of hidden costs.) Right now, the case is in court and I wonder how that will turn out. Truthfully, many people are not sympathetic to his cause because he was a bit tyrannical in his run of the old airport.

There's also the matter concerning local taxi operators. The new airport is far (30 to 45 minutes, depending on the traffic and time of day) -- and taxi drivers are concerned about bringing passengers there. They have asked to charge a flat rate airport fare of PhP300 which is very steep for Iloilo standards. The latest recommendation is a "Gratuity Fee" of PhP80 on top of the metered fare. The DOTC-Iloilo was very angry about this because it is a misnomer -- it is no longer a gratuity fee (or tip) because people are required to pay it. The proponents of this explained that it protects passengers from being overcharged (O_o) exorbitant amounts just to go to the airport ("kontrata").

Finally, some people have also talked about how long it takes to check in. I had a friend who left for Cebu last June 22. Her flight was at 905 (via Cebu Pacific) and she arrived at the airport at 8. At 905, she had just completed checking in and there was still a long line of passengers waiting to check in for that same flight. My dad went to Manila last Friday and he decided to go very early -- fortunately, he didn't have the same problem as my friend.