GIO'S 10 BEST MOVIES OF 2009

STAR TREK

• I mean c'mon, this is what a reboot should be. I watched it twice in the theaters, twice on a plane and multiple times on DVD, it never gets old. Spock punches Kirk! Vulcan obliterated! The green-skinned girl! Surly Bones! Great space battles and more lens flares than you can shake a stick at! Well done JJ Abrams! This is popcorn entertainment at it's best.

DISTRICT 9

• Wow! Low budget sci-fi kicks ass with District 9, great story, great FX, and a great score by my buddy Clint Shorter, seriously, give it a listen!

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

• Tarantino rocks the WWII genre in this uber-entertaining look at the men who brought down Hitler. Very well done and very entertaining.

THE HANGOVER

• The Rain Man Blackjack scene is a killer, the wedding photos are a killer, the whole movie is killer. Best comedy of the year!

ZOMBIELAND

• The Bill Murray cameo alone makes this a watcher but the slick style, the opening credits and the constant referral to "the rules" make this a welcome addition to the Zombie Genre.

TAKEN

• Best Liam Neeson movie ever! I loved it, Michelle loved it, my parents loved it. That says a lot since we all like different types of movies but can all get behind a man who will do anything to find his daughter.

DRAG ME TO HELL

• Sam Raimi returns to low-budget horror with a bang. The only thing missing from this flick is a Bruce Campbell cameo!

UP

• Pixar does it again! Squirrel!!!

AVATAR

• Despite the unoriginal story, the animation & FX are absolutely astounding. The film is shockingly engaging and that makes you forget you've seen this story before in another form. It has to be seen in 3D and I will watch it again!

WATCHMEN

• Most people hated it and yes, it did have its issues but for me, Zak Snyder took the legendary, unfilmable comic book and made an entertaining and visual feast of a film. A little long & a little wordy but for this comic fan, it's a job well done!

WHAT I MISSED OR HAVEN'T SEEN YET DUE TO LIVING IN SINGAPORE:

• THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX, THE HURT LOCKER, ANVIL, UP IN THE AIR, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, THE INFORMANT, BRUNO, MOON, PRECIOUS, THE ROAD

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! All the best in 2010 from us, Gio & Michelle!!!

SO ANGRY..... (updated...)

So it's 6:55pm on December 29th right now and at this moment I should be boarding a plane to BALI with my wife and friend for a fun filled week of sun, fun and ringing in the New year in Indonesia.

But I am at home, not on the plane. Why?

Turns out my Canadian Passport expires... IN SIX MONTHS... so they wont let me on the plane.

Yes, that's right, it is valid... for another 165 days or so but in Singapore, that means it's invalid. If it's less than six months to go on your passport, they won't let you fly.

Crazy.

So Michelle and Chad are off to Bali (against their wishes mind you, they wanted to stay but I wouldn't let them - no point in three vacations being ruined instead of one - the need of the many outweigh the need of the few or the one) to meet a bunch of our friends while I deal with the Canadian Consulate tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I will be there in 24-48 hours to ring in the new year with my wife and friends, otherwise this will be one lonely New Years Eve.

Will keep you posted.

DEC 30th UPDATE: So I went to the High Commission of Canada in Singapore this morning. According to the nice lady who helped me, a "Emergency Rush Passport" takes 4-5 Business Days (it takes under 24 hours if we were in Canada) and since I would have been back from my Bali trip before the 4-5 Business Days had come and gone, my Bali Vacation is not happening. No Vacation, No Refund, No Passport. Shitty end to the year for me and it will be a lonely start to the new one since virtually all my Sing friends are either in Taiwan or Bali or home for the holidays. Ah well, as they said in the BATMAN BEGINS... "why do we fall? So we might learn to pick ourselves up". The new passport has been applied for and paid for and hopefully will arrive in 15 business days or so. Live & Learn!

MERRY XMAS FROM SINGAPORE

Well, it's our first christmas away from home and it's safe to say, it's a unique experience. CHRISTMAS IN SINGAPORE is warm & muggy but still festive. Nothing closes but everywhere plays Christmas music while everyone wishes you "a Merry Christmas". Despite wearing shorts and flip flops, you can't help but feel just a little of that ol' Holiday Spirit.

For Christmas Eve, we went for a great potluck Dinner at Aamir & Denise's place. There were about 12 of us and the food was fantastic, Aamir made Turkey & Homemade Egg Nog, Michelle busted out her incredible Lime Shortbread Cookies and I introduced Singapore to my Maple-Dijon Ham (six Christmases in a row now) and we all passed out on the couch thanks to a massive food coma, it was a nice way to spend the evening. The next day, we opened presents (Michelle got perfume, I got Scotch Glasses & a Boba Fett Bobblehead), we ate Blueberry French Toast, skyped with the families and watched some Love Actually (Michelle's favorite Xmas Movie). We then got ready and headed for a giant Xmas Day Feast at Heather & Roman's. There were about 20 people there and the star of the show was Heather's fantastic Bacon-wrapped Turkey. After dinner I read "the Night Before Christmas" for the kids and then we were all visited by a barefoot, red wine drinking, Australian Santa Claus who handed out presents to everyone. It was surreal.

We miss our friends, we miss our family and we miss our dogs but Christmas in Singapore was a very cool experience and we are lucky to have made some great, new friends to help us ring in the holidays in our new hometown! Pics from the Holidays HERE!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

MT. FUJI AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME!

With only a few days notice from work, I was headed to SIGGRAPH ASIA 2009 in JAPAN and boy am I glad I went, Japan is awesome!

Siggraph is a technical conference and it's the first one I've ever been to, according to repeat attendees this was a small one but still cool. 3-D Technology seems to be all the rage and Motion Capture has taken a large leap forwards since my Mainframe days (remember kids, I was the mocap actor for Kingpin!) but a lot of the lectures were in Japanese without translation so that was a bust. On the plus side, I had coffee with THE creator of Pokemon, had a studio tour of Bandai-Nameco and hung out in the Audio Department with the Soul Calibur team. We attended one "event party" thrown by Polygon Pictures which made Bobby and I laugh. Why? Well as the two Canadians there, there was a point where we both had cans of beer, standing next to a river in the freezing cold and we thought, man, it's like partying back home. All in all, I wish the translation possibilities were better so I could have ingested more information but Siggraph was still a cool experience.

Japan on the other hand was even cooler. It was my first time in the land of the Rising Sun and despite the cold weather (0 degrees most days - a big change from 33 in Singapore), we tried to see as much of Tokyo and Yokohama (where Siggraph was) as possible. The subway system is a ridiculous maze of anarchy that somehow makes sense once you eventually figure it out, the streets are always busy, every restaurant seems packed all the time, the food good, the sights amazing and I can sum it all up in one word: EXPENSIVE!

Man is Japan expensive. just to step into a taxi is $8CDN, a subway ride costs between $2 & $6CDN and you have to subway everywhere. Most meals start at about $20CDN and that's without booze, which by the way, also start at about the same price. Unless you go local and that's what we tried to do most of the time. We tried to eat at little Yakitori stalls which serve Chicken, Pork, Veggies and organ meat on sticks grilled over a little BBQ. Very tasty and cheap (full meal of 6 sticks plus a beer for $17CDN). I guess you could eat at McDonalds if you wanted but you don't come to Japan for McDonalds BUT if you feel like a fast food burger, try a MOS Burger. Think of it as a Japanese McDonalds with uniquely Japanese fast food!

Despite the prices, it is still an awesome place to see with so much to do. All the sections of Tokyo are cool and different with crazy big stores, small underground bars, quaint little restaurants and blinking lights everywhere. From the busy intersections of Shibuya, to the quint hang-outs in Shimo-kitazawa, to the technical monstrosity of Akihabara, to the kooky shops of Harajuku. Tokyo truly is the basis for Los Angeles in Blade Runner. Sometimes I would get weird looks from the older Japanese people as to why I was in certain areas or whatnot but the younger generation of people were quite warm and welcoming. All in all an awesome experience and one I can't wait to have again but with Michelle along for the ride.

Here's a link to all the Japan PICS from last week!

CATCHING UP ON PIX

We just realized that it's been a long time since we've done a PHOTO UPDATE, so here are some links for you to enjoy:

• General pics from SEPTEMBER '09
• Some of our adventures from OCTOBER '09
• Remember, remember, it's time for NOVEMBER '09!
• BARB & BRETT have moved to Singapore!!!
• Who doesn't love HOT WINGS!!!
• A few more selfies from CORSIWORLD!
• FOOD! FOOD! Glorious food!

THE LAS DINNER & DANCE

We attended the official work Christmas Holiday party known as the D&D (Dinner & Dance) which was a great event held at the Indochine Waterfront at Boat Quay. The majority of staff and their partners dressed to the nines and a good time was had by all. Here's one of the "official photographer" pics from the event (doesn't Michelle look great?)... fantastic way to start this warm Holiday Season!!!