Rise of a Ninja

It was a post on Kotaku that got me interested in Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.

Because it's been years since I followed the anime/manga scene, I knew little else about Naruto other than that it was a popular Shonen Jump manga and anime series about an eponymous ninja in an orange jumpsuit. I'd also developed the impression, after having watched enough episodes of X-play during my three-odd year tour of duty in New York, that most games based on the franchise have been widely vilified.

Nonetheless, I held out hope for Rise of a Ninja. Partly, it was because the game features cel-shaded animation (and I'm a sucker for most things cel-shaded). Partly, it was also because the game was packaged as a cross between platformer, RPG and fighting game. But above and beyond these, there was the unmistakable fact that Rise of a Ninja was rooted in the first eighty or so episodes of the anime (with cutscenes!), and thereby promised to be a quick and easy way to get introduced to the series.

On that score I've been quite pleased with Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. I think of it like RPG-lite, a straightforward and, for the most part, no frills RPG that doesn't require an inordinate investment of time to enjoy. Character development is mostly story-based, with enough questing elements -- Deliver ramen! Play hide and seek! Race through town! -- that, while absurd, work well enough for a quick fix of occasionally challenging gameplay. This gives the game enough variety, even if one intends to just switch off mentally and just get lost in a video game for a couple of hours. Especially so. The stunning cel-shaded graphics are a huge bonus as well.

Ironically, the plot-based elements are what I liked the least about the game. While it keeps very faithfully to the anime's plot, translating these into the game resulted in storytelling where it was painfully clear that so much (too much?) was left on the cutting-room floor. Avid fans of Naruto would surely get a real kick out of reliving the anime through Rise of a Ninja; unfortunately, the uninitiated will have to make do with a decent game whose story makes only the bare minimum of sense -- as far as orange-jumpsuit clad ninjas go, anyway.

Yet games don't need to be taken all that seriously. Hence, as far as plain and simple fun are concerned, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja comes out well ahead and is a great game to own for the Xbox 360.

Chopsticks

The wife prepared an oriental dish for dinner the other night, complete with a chopsticks-and-bowl table setting. This was both something different and a pleasant surprise.

"Dear," I asked, "where'd you get the chopsticks?" These were the real deal and not the disposable stuff one can get from the supermarket; a nicely crafted wooden set with fine narrow tips. For some reason, I just couldn't place where they came from.

"Don't you remember?" she replied. "We got them in Singapore."

So reminded, I did recall:

We happened to be passing by Takashimaya and discovered a display of Japanese crockery and china that appeared to be on sale. As we didn't yet have a bowls and plates to match an oriental motif (you never know), the wife suggested it might be a good idea to see if there were any we liked. I agreed, and thus she set about to try and put a set together.

This task proved to be a little more involved than we anticipated, as the items were sold by piece -- except for the chopsticks -- and had different designs in varying amount of stock. So bowls, trays, chopsticks and all other manner of items had to be mixed and matched to get just the right look and feel for our liking. At first, it was enough for her to piece things together on her own, but soon enough it became necessary to invoke the assistance of a saleslady, who dutifully located, presented and returned items as she worked on the jigsaw puzzle of our imagined oriental table setting.

About an hour later, the wife happily presented her work: a setting complete with bowl, chopsticks and rest, lacquer tray, saucer and a quaint rectangular plate.

Now the set would have been perfect for our needs, except it didn't make sense to just buy a setting for two or even four. Doing the logistics in our heads (rattling off the number of our family members and/or possible guests we could conceivably entertain at a time), whatever we got had to be a setting of six or more, preferably either suited to eight or twelve. And even then it would have been fine, nevermind the question of how to get it all home, were it not for the price.

All things considered, it was an indulgence we could put off for another time.

So we thanked the saleslady for her trouble, just settling for the set of chopsticks.

As I recalled all of this the wife got started with her meal, but not before quietly remarking, "That saleslady must have hated us."

Quite right!

The Big Rich

Bryan Burrough's latest, The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes, certainly lives up to its name. A work of "engineered history," as Burrough describes it, the book details the fates of four men who, after striking oil, would in their lifetimes be among the richest men in America: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson. The indelible mark each would leave on the oil industry, American politics and the development of Texas itself would be felt for generations.

Overall it is a fascinating account. The most interesting parts of The Big Rich are arguably those that depict the "wildcatting" days of Texas oil and the personal struggles, successes and excesses of the four oilmen who typified the new social class that would come to be known as the Big Rich. Further, par for the course for the co-author of Barbarians at the Gate, Burrough is at his best in those chapters piecing together the growing political influence of the oil industry, the latter's connection with the rise of right-wing conservatism in America, and ultimately how national events could be interpreted as revolving around Texas.

At the same time, it is often a circuitous and uneven account, if only because it does not revolve around the Cullens, Hunts, Murchisons or Richardson in a dedicated fashion (unlike, say, how Erik Larson effectively structured Devil in the White City, which could also be described as engineered history). Hence, while it shies away from being "biography plus," it does so with the trade-off that earlier chapters suffer in comparison to later ones. The difference between the two is that the former offer a hodgepodge of observations to paint the bigger picture of Texas oil in general, while the latter find a unifying theme in the inevitable narrative of the subsequent decline of the Big Rich.

Still, as engineered histories go, Burrough's The Big Rich is a remarkable achievement, if not because of the research that gave life to the colorful narrative contained in its pages then because of the cogent socio-political commentary one can find by reading between the lines.

Steady

Maybe we've been clinging to the wrong lesson from Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. 

In reality, "slow" is not necessarily safer, nor will it guarantee that we'll get ahead. 

Yes, there's something to be said for stopping to smell the roses, but an equally compelling case can be made that "he who hesitates is lost." 

Try driving at 25mph on a freeway where all the other cars are moving as they should at 65. That's a recipe for disaster right there. 

And it isn't exactly a good idea to be the slowpoke when the markets begin to tank or when you realize your retirement fund is tied to a Ponzi scheme. We know that it doesn't pay to be slow when it comes to opportunities for massive gains; but neither does it benefit us when it comes minimizing losses. It's just like that book tried to remind us some years back: it's not the big that eat the small; it's the fast that eat the slow.  

Granted, the dangers of being hasty are well documented. On balance, you'd be better off hitting that brick wall at 25mph and not 65. Likewise, for every cool million that's been made by the lucky few who jumped onto a new trend first, there are scores of early adopters who've been burned or lost their shirts precisely because they moved too quickly. Too fast, too soon. 

Think about it: the hare lost the race not because he went too fast -- if he kept it up, he'd have won hands-down -- but because the idiot got cocky and decided to take a nap. Similarly, the tortoise came out ahead not because of his speed (or lack thereof) -- but because he just kept at it longer. 

So, no: slow and steady don't always win the race. 

But if you're as fast as you need to be, and steady all the time, odds are you'll be mighty successful.

Nonlinear and Non-scalable

We fancy we understand a lot about time. We know, for instance, that time's arrow moves only in one direction: irrevocably forward. We comprehend it as continuous and thereby "flowing" as fluids do. Events, beholden to the caprices of time's flow, may occur earlier or later or even not at all. Most of all, we perceive time as linear: if A then B then C...and so on. 

Because human beings are creatures that exist in time, we cope with the constraints it imposes upon us in various ways. In fact, we've developed jargon for just this purpose: multi-tasking, parallel tracking, even the notion of "time management" itself. We see ourselves accelerating the course of events (such as loan payments), postponing others (such as meetings), or "time-shifting" the rest (thanks, DVR! ) depending on our priorities or simply what works best for us at the moment. Even simple mathematics imparts a sense that we can bend time to our will: if a task can be performed by one person in seven days, surely getting seven people to work on it together will get it accomplished in one.

Strangely, we cling to these notions despite volumes of evidence to the contrary.

It doesn't follow, for instance, that by pushing things back (or forward) we can just as easily pick up where we left off. 

Leave ten minutes late for work during the morning rush, and you could arrive at the office forty minutes later than usual...or sometimes fifteen minutes early. 

Miss your connecting flight by seconds and it can be a full day before the next outbound flight on your itinerary. 

Pick a fruit off a tree a ten days earlier days than you ought and it could be ten percent more tart than it usually would be otherwise (if not a hundred percent inedible).

Put in for a job too early and your application is just as likely to be papered over as it is to keep you in the share of mind of whoever's hiring. Face it: sometimes timing is everything.

Neither is time is time perfectly scalable (mathematics be damned!). Yes, there is such a thing as economies of scale; however, there is also such a thing as diminishing returns. Too many cooks do, in fact, spoil the broth. 

We spend one-third of our lives asleep. Wouldn't we be more productive if we could tap into that well of unused time? Or sleep more efficiently?  Maybe. Yet we can't hope to sleep for 122 days of the year straight just so we can work (or play) nonstop for the balance of 243. 

It takes nine months to make a baby. Yet try as we might, a person can't impregnate nine women in the hope of having a child in one month. 

Thus, whether time is indeed linear (as we understand it) or takes some other shape beyond our comprehension is anyone's guess.  In the end, it seems that all we can really say about time is that it does indeed flow in one direction, is non-renewable, and in some cases is entirely inflexible.

Use your time wisely.

State, Government, Constitution [Presentation Thursdays]

View this and my other presentations on Slideshare.

More slides from my Philippine Politics and Governance archives. These were meant to be used for the introductory lecture that preceded a long section in the syllabus whereby salient points of the 1987 Philippine Constitution are discussed.

The slide template is one of the few that I actually liked from Powerpoint XP. To complement it, I decided to use white and occasionally yellow text (font: Book Antiqua), italicized and predominantly presented in lowercase. I think that combination was mostly decided on a whim, but overall it worked out, even if it's not the most reader-friendly of presentations. Certainly not the most elegant of slides, but they get the job done.

Three things to note about the content:

• The lecture always gave me the opportunity to remind students that sovereignty is not pronounced "sovereign-ity" (Slide 7).



• In the original typology of governments discussed in Aristotle's Politics, the ideal form of "rule of the many" is dubbed "polity" whereas its corrupted form is labeled "democracy", precisely because the latter is understood as mob rule. I decided to be practical present the typology in the way it's normally understood today (Slide 10) so as not to confuse the students and cause unnecessary debate. They'd delve more into the topic anyway when they took up Political Thought (which I also happened to teach, at the time).



• To keep things simple, I omitted confederacy from Slide 11, though I'm pretty sure that one can make the argument that there's a whole lot more I omitted, too.

Slideshare interprets spaces between bullets as used, hence the numbering gaffe that lists two reasons to study the constitution in Slide 14 as (1) then (3). It's just a technical glitch, folks; I do know how to count.

[About Presentation Thursdays: Every now and then, on a Thursday, I post a presentation from my archives and include some accompanying commentary not just about the content but also my thoughts on designing it. The presentations can also be viewed and downloaded from my Slideshare page]

Kilalanin! Presidential Forum

De La Salle Santiago Zobel was awash in yellow, green, white and orange last 9 January 2010 as it hosted the aptly named Kilalanin! (Get to Know Them!) forum, featuring four candidates vying for the highest position in the Philippine government in the May 2010 elections.


Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Former Defense Secretary Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro, Senator Richard "Dick" Gordon and Senator Manuel "Manny" Villar were the presidentiables who accepted the invitation to present themselves and their platforms during the event. Moderated by television anchor Mike Enriquez, Kilalanin! was broadcast live over AM Radio dzBB and taped for delayed telecast by GMA-7.

It was made clear from the onset that the event was a forum and not a debate. Hence, there were no imposed time limits and no "rules" invoked other than that any questions for the candidates (either from Enriquez or the audience) were to be addressed to all of them, whereupon they would be called to respond in alphabetical order. As such, the event lived up to its name as a venue to simply get to know more about each candidate and felt more like a civil discussion between those with opposing views than an out-and-out presidential debate and/or campaign rally.

Some impressions from the event follow below. [Disclaimer:I support Noynoy Aquino's candidacy.]

Noynoy Aquino


The way the forum's format was implemented did not favor Noynoy Aquino: since the candidates were called to respond to questions in alphabetical order, Noynoy inevitably had to be the first to answer each and every question. As such, his competition had more time to think their answers through and adjust accordingly. Consequently, there were instances where what he had to say was less than impressive as he would seemingly grope for the right message to get across to the audience.

Still, he did acquit himself quite well in several respects. In particular, he was able to articulate the key thrusts of his candidacy -- empowerment for the Filipino people and good governance as concretized by people doing what is right. Saying these things gave much more force to his statements that his campaign will continue the fight that his parents had started.

From my perspective, two key moments stood out for Noynoy during the forum. On the issue of past performance, he made the succinct point that what matters is that a government official does what they say they will and ultimately does what is right. Second, he made it clear that, if elected, he would rather not take Malacañang as his official residence and instead stay at the family's house on Times street, if only "to have some semblance of normalcy." A classy answer, that.


Compared to the other candidates, however, Noynoy was the most soft-spoken of the bunch. This is not necessarily a liability, and some have noted that it gives him that air of sincerity reminiscent of his mother. However, to win the presidency, I think it's clear that he must work to come across as more decisive (if not aggressive), especially in the face of those running against him.

Gibo Teodoro


In a sense, Gibo struck all the right chords at the forum. He spoke articulately and intelligently, which are his real selling points as a candidate, really. Of all the candidates, he spoke the most clearly, every answer straightforward and well structured so as to be easily comprehended by the audience.

Inevitably, he was asked his thoughts on his low ratings in the surveys, which he put an interesting the spin on. This, he says, he views as a challenge. Beyond this he emphasized that compared to his competition he has not held a nationally-elected position. It's a reasonable argument, and an interesting way to position his political campaign which, if played right, could give it an underdog appeal.

Perhaps the most notable part of Gibo's showing at the forum involved something that went largely unnoticed. When a Villar supporter aimed a question squarely at Noynoy, it was Gibo who adamantly signaled to Mike Enriquez that he thought this was inappropriate and that all candidates should address the question (which was how the question was eventually handled). On balance, I think that showed more character on Gibo's part than anything he said or did during the forum.


Notwithstanding this, however, I still wonder how Gibo can conceivably think he can win over those who, as a matter of principle, have signified their intent to vote for someone else, given that he is the candidate endorsed by an administration widely viewed as corrupt.

Dick Gordon


Dick Gordon was probably the best known among the candidates present at Kilalanin!, what with his record of service as Olongapo mayor, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chair and Senator. If anything, he put his political savvy to good use during the forum with a good balance of pointed remarks, humor, and personal candor.

Undoubtedly, Gordon's experience and involvement with the Philippine Red Cross were strong points in his favor at the forum. He could answer any question raised by relaying some anecdote or other either from years ago or in recent weeks. Admittedly, there were moments where some of his remarks could be off-putting. One such example was his forceful insistence -- bordering on hubris -- that "I am a born executive." But just as quickly he could win over the audience with his wit, as with his remark (which sounds better in the vernacular) that during his time in Olongapo, "Laziness was prohibited...so was stupidity."

Yet it was an unexpected show of emotion from an otherwise feisty Gordon that had to be the most memorable moment of the forum. It happened while he was delivering his parting remarks to the audience, and recounting the values that his parents had instilled in him and themselves abided by as public servants. His mother, he said, during her final days had the option of being rushed to any of the country's prestigious hospitals to treat her illness, yet insisted on being brought to the Philippine General Hospital. As Gordon recounted, his mother told him, "That's where the poor get their treatment, that's where I'll get my treatment, and that's where I'll die." In recalling this personal moment his voice broke and he needed to take a moment to collect himself. That brief pause spoke volumes.

Overall, I'd say that Gordon came out ahead of all the other candidates at the forum. Yet whether he will be able to keep it up during the campaign season and thereby rise up in the surveys is, unfortunately, doubtful.


Manny Villar


Villar's presence at the forum and all that it implied -- given the amount of his campaign spending to date, his status as frontrunner ceded to Noynoy Aquino, and his reported narrowing of the gap in opinion polls of late -- promised to make it interesting (especially given his no-show at the prior presidentiables' debate at UST). In this he did not disappoint, despite the fact he seemed to be suffering from a cold.

As noted above, the event was not meant to be a debate, and thus the candidates refrained from attacking the points the others would make. Of all the candidates, however, Villar managed to fire the most broadsides at Noynoy, within good taste and for the most part, quite effectively. For instance, he stressed the point that whoever will be elected president must be someone who can stand toe to toe with other world leaders, and that the country could not afford to have a president that needed on-the-job training upon assuming office. Both these points are, of course, in reference to Noynoy. Neither are they particularly novel, considering that they have been raised (also by Villar) in the past. Yet it is a credit to Villar's political savvy that he could was able to throw down the gauntlet at this venue.

When he spoke, Villar came across as slick, polished and practiced, and thereby did seem to be more decisive and aggressive than Noynoy. Granted, it may be said that in much the same way that Noynoy might have been disadvantaged by always having to speak first, Villar did have the benefit of always having the last word at Kilalanin! But there's no denying that there was more to Villar's decent showing than simply that.

May I also say that, for some odd reason, Manny Villar's demeanor reminded me of a younger Christopher Walken. Now, that's not meant to be a put down (unless one doesn't particularly like Christopher Walken). Just saying is all.


Final Thoughts



Kilalanin! had all the trappings of a good ol' fashioned political rally. The candidates came, ready to fire on all cylinders, with their supporters in tow clad in their respective colors (Gibo and Villar, in that order, having brought the most with them). The fact that each camp was able to remain civil to each other -- no heckling, no jeering, no untoward incidents -- itself shows that there is hope that this country can turn a corner in 2010. Assuming, that is, the quality of candidates vying for office in the upcoming elections is not reason enough to make us hopeful.

That said, it's clear that what this country needs from now until the end of the campaign period are more venues for the candidates to get their message out to the public and call out their opponents for their inconsistencies and shortcomings. Kilalanin! was a start -- and a good one -- but otherwise inadequate in other ways. Listening to what these presidentiables had to say, it's impossible to overlook that, at some point, one could argue that their statements coalesced into much the same thing. This is why not much of it merited belaboring above. Everyone was for good governance. And experience. And accomplishment. Everyone agreed that we needed to work harder. Generate more jobs. Address what's wrong in Philippine education. Take the lead in ASEAN once again. Et cetera. If we assume these individuals walk their talk, then if the elections were held today we'd all be voting in favor of the same things, albeit embodied by the person we happen to like the most.


At the same time, this can be a good thing. If this is true, then what it means is that the candidates who offer themselves up for our approbation do have something to offer -- or at the very least, these four do. Thus, the future holds promise. By engaging these candidates in more discussion, both with the electorate and with each other, the playing field will be narrowed down to the most deserving, and thereby maybe for the first time in a long time this periodic democratic exercise will not have been undertaken in vain.

The Secret to Eternal Life

A 'shroom of course!

I'm not saying where I got mine, but I have it on good authority there's one in a hidden block by the pipe before the pit in World 1-1.

Patapon 2

In many ways, Patapon 2 is the game that the original ought to have been but wasn't.

The first Patapon was a gem for its novelty and simplicity. You were the deity Kami; the Patapons were your tribe. By beating your drum -- pata-pata-pata-pon! -- you unleash your juju and direct the tribe to attack, defend, charge, or retreat. You set off to hunt big game, defeat another tribe, and guide the Patapons to "gaze upon IT at Earthend," all the while planning your strategy, collecting armaments and materials, and developing one's army for the next adventure.

These elements are also in Patapon 2. The basic gameplay mechanic is the same -- pon-pon-pata-pon! -- as are the big game hunts, skirmishes, and in a couple of instances even the mission objectives themselves (Must! Get! Catapult!). Added to the mix are a host of improvements like a Hero Patapon, new units, and a multiplayer component that makes collecting rare items, materials and weaponry much more engaging. Further, there is now an "evolution" system for Patapon development that affords players better party customization. Finally, the game appears rebalanced, with big game monsters and bosses mostly keeping to the beat with their actions as well, not to mention item drops being more forgiving and reachable to players even when they fall beyond the initial reach of one's party. The game also carries over materials and ka-ching (but not units or weaponry) for those with save files from the first Patapon, making it that much easier for seasoned players to get started with an all-new campaign.

Of course, the original Patapon didn't have these enhancements to be one heckuva game. Nor did it necessarily need them.

But as Patapon 2 shows, they certainly do help make an already excellent concept -- pata-pon-don-chaka! -- even better.

30

Brown is my natural hair color. 

It's not obvious at first, but shine a light on my head and you'll see it clearly enough. No, it isn't nearly as brown as my mom's hair -- a natural brown a shade darker than milk chocolate -- nor as noticeable as my brother's (a smidgen lighter than mine), but look closely and you'll see: I have brown hair.

I suppose when you're young there's a need to cling to whatever it is that makes you unique to boost your sense of identity and self-esteem. Oddly, for me it was my hair. I'd never told anyone that. Other kids seemed more talented or popular than me (or so I felt); many others were wittier or smarter. Even when I began taking my studies much more seriously, I didn't want to be remembered as the nerd whom everyone could rely on for homework (though it turns out I don't exactly have a say in that). Yet I could always take pride in the fact that I was the kid with the natural brown hair, an unusual characteristic for the average Filipino. 

That was my little secret. That's what made me different from everyone else: a physical trait that would usually surprise people when they'd notice for the first time, in the process making me feel just a little bit special. Even now, in my private moments, it still brings a smile to my face to think of myself in this way. 

Lately, however, my hair has begun to gray. 

Not all at once, of course, and not in any copious amount as to make my acquaintances remark that I've aged suddenly since last they saw me (unless there's a patch of silver at the back of my head I don't know about), but enough that I've started to notice. It's true we all know that such happens eventually, that a time will come when we're no longer as young as we once were. But I suppose I didn't think it would happen so soon, in the same way that people convince themselves that thirty is the new twenty or some such other nonsense. 

Time is a thief. It takes the best of what we find in ourselves and leaves something diminished in its place. It's the great equalizer, for given a long enough period what once was special becomes mundane, and what once shone can just as easily lose its luster. So it is with all things in nature, including my brown crop of hair that will eventually gray completely. 

Yet if we look carefully, time also allows us to put our existence on this plane in perspective. This is a true blessing. Indeed, the mere fact we live but briefly is what gives our lives any meaning at all. Thus, I am compelled to ask: Could it be that my slowly graying head of hair is nature's subtle reminder that I have much more to be proud of now that I simply take for granted? That it's really time to grow up, let go, and begin looking forward instead of back?

I think so. Come what may, I'll always be that kid born with brown hair, and its inevitable graying brings with it the realization that the best years of my life lie before me and not behind. The challenge, therefore, is to make the most of the road ahead so I can look forward to the day -- when no one can tell my hair was ever brown -- that I can say in all sincerity, "And how remarkable my life has been."