On an island in ancient Polynesia, Moana, the village chief’s daughter, longs to be out in the ocean, but her father forbids it. When an environmental catastrophe reaches the island, Moana embarks on an adventure to seek the help of the demigod Maui and save the island. Facing adversaries and impossible odds, will the duo save the island in time?

Short review:

Thought: I’ve been waiting for the movie to come out here in the Philippines! But, I have to wait for a few more days because of overtime at work and studies ate up my nights last week. I considered watching it a weekend, but since this is a Rated G (general patronage) movie, I might get distracted by unruly kids watching. So, Monday night it is.

This is not a typical Disney princess movie. Yes, Moana is the chief’s daughter and has animals as sidekicks, a Disney Princess, but aside from musical numbers, that’s it. The story is a hero’s journey complete with a chosen one (Moana, voiced by newcomer Auli’i Cravalho), a supernatural (the ocean), a mentor (Gramma Tala, voiced by Rachel House), and a helper (the demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson).

A Disney movie is incomplete without the musical numbers. I like the songs by Moana (“How Far I’ll Go”), but I love the song of Maui (“You’re Welcome”) as performed by The Rock himself. He really can sing. The songs in Polynesian highlight the scenes and bring out the culture of the source material. I will add songs from the soundtrack to my Spotify playlist.

Overall, this is a good movie for all ages. I never got bored. The characters and characterizations are rich. The pacing of adventure and emotional scenes is balanced with comedic scenes to spice things up.

In short: Go watch it!

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: https://promdigeek.blog/2016/12/06/movie-review-moana-2016/

Heroes: Saving Charlie: A Novel
Written by Aury Wallington; Story by Jeph Loeb; based on the series Heroes created by Tim Kring

I waited for this book to be released in the Philippines for a long time. I have been checking out the bookstores since January, and when I saw this last February, I immediately bought it, set aside all other books I am reading, and started reading this.

The book is based on the hit television series Heroes, with a central story revolving around the characters Hiro Nakamura, a time traveler, and Charlie Andrews, a waitress whose main character is infatuated but destined to be killed by the “Brain Man.” In the Heroes – Season One episode “Seven Minutes to Midnight,” Hiro tells his best friend that he wants to prevent Charlie’s death by traveling to the past — one day before the incident — but he missed by six months! After the episode “Six Months Ago “, we saw that Hiro failed his mission with the look of desperation.

The story of Hiro and Charlie in those six months is chronicled in this book. We see how their romance blossomed and the relationship between Hiro and his father, Kaito, via Hiro’s flashbacks. This is not your ordinary science fiction book. It is a romance novel.

After reading the novel, it is below what I expected from a science fiction or romance novel. As a science fiction novel, I hoped that the effect of time travel would be explored, at least in the Heroes universe. The explanations through examples from manga, American comics, and movies fell flat for me. As a romance novel with the male as a point-of-view character, the story fell flat, too. (Sorry, my exposure to romance novels is from Nicholas Sparks novels, and his male characters spoil me.) The deep emotions Hiro felt (claiming he is in love with Charlie) did not come across the page, although I felt his excitement and overall infatuation. As a media tie-in book, my only problem is the last part. All the Hiro-Charlie scenes in the episode “Six Months Ago” were reworked to fit the novel, but those reworkings made sense, and I would like to thank the author for that, although I am not recommending this book for the continuity buffs. The ending fell flat, as some events were just mentioned, and it should have been told.

Overall, this book is recommended for Hiro/Charlie shippers like me. But for the serious Heroes fans, read the Heroes, Volume One graphic novel instead.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars out of 5

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: https://promdigeek.blog/2008/03/09/heroes-saving-charlie-a-novel/
: http://icheb.multiply.com/reviews/item/21

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES (newworlds.ph) — Have you ever tried following one of those long-running fantasy book series like Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” or the Dragonlance series? Or have you ever tried reading all the “Star Trek” novels in order but couldn’t find the next volume? Tried to keep up with the Star Wars Expanded universe novels?

You’ve probably tried. But as the venerable Master Yoda would say, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

“But Master Yoda,” you protest. “I can only try because it’s too difficult to find all the books in these series. It’s rare to find all 10 Wheel of Time books available in a store, or to find someone with a great number of Star Trek books I can borrow!”

Master Yoda looks at you with a knowing smile and whispers, “Ah, but the New Worlds Library, there is. Know about it, do you not?”

I can see you’re quite bewildered. And before Master Yoda decides you have to do a single handstand while he’s standing on your foot and you try to levitate some rocks using the Force because you don’t know what the New Worlds Library is, let me elucidate.

The New Worlds Library (NWL) is a project of the New Worlds Alliance (NWA), a network of local fan organizations of science fiction, fantasy, and horror enthusiasts. Located at Fandom Café, the Alliance headquarters in Quezon City, it is the first online lending library of its kind and scope in the country. The aim of the NWL is to provide a wide selection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror books and references, and various magazines and similar publications that its members can either read on-site or borrow.

To date, the NWL has more than 1600 books in its collection, most of which were donated by NWA member groups and other individuals. There are substantial collections of Star Trek, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, and various classic science fiction and fantasy books, some of which, you won’t find available in local stores, or are already out of print. So if you’ve ever wanted to finish that long book series but couldn’t find the other volumes, try searching the NWL database, and you just might find what you’re looking for. We can’t count how many times visitors to the library have said “I’ve been looking for this book for the longest time!” while browsing the NWL collection.

The NWL catalogue is available online to provide members easy access to information they need before going to Fandom Café. Members may browse the catalogue at their leisure using their workstations, check if the book is available for loan, reserve it online, and go to Fandom Café to pick up the book. If the book they want was checked-out by another member, members can reserve the book and they will be notified by e-mail if the book is already available. Right now, library volunteers are still busy migrating book information into our new database system, but a more comprehensive list of books may be found in the NWL Librarything account.

Applying for membership to the NWL is easy. Secure a Membership Form from Fandom Café or request for one through the NWL website, fill it up, present the required documents, and pay the membership fee. After validation of the information in your application, you can start browsing for books you can borrow.

So now that you know what the New Worlds Library is, hurry and apply for membership now! Master Yoda is watching you, and so am I… especially if you do not take care of those books.

The New Worlds Library is open for business and is located at:
Fandom Café
Unit G-09 Regalia Park Towers,
150 P. Tuazon St., Cubao, Quezon City

For more information, visit our websites:
http://www.fandomcafe.com
http://www.newworlds.ph
or the NWL catalog database at:
http://www.newworlds.ph/elib/login.php
our Librarything account is at:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/nwa_library
You can also call: (02)4396586
or e-mail: library@fandomcafe.com

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: https://promdigeek.blog/2008/02/01/new-worlds-alliance-launches-the-countrys-first-online-science-fiction-and-fantasy-lending-library/