It's no secret that IronMan is one of my favorite superhero movies of all time.
(I prefer the 1st IronMan movie.)

And one thing that makes the movie so appealing is the visual effects in the film.
What better way to appreciate the VFX than watching the Iron Man 2 VFX Montage.


Credits to:
*Prologue Films - the people behind the Ironman VFX.

Additional notes by Skiverz:
*Look at 1:20 - a news stream about the Philippines is displayed.

*You can download this montage in .mp4 format by right clicking the link below:
IronMan 2 Prologue Montage Video
-Right click then select Save as...

*If you want to watch the whole film, you can have the IronMan 2 DVD shipped to your home.

How do you turn off Google Instant Search?

It's quite easy.
To disable this feature, just follow these steps.


1. Go to http://www.google.com/preferences
2. Scroll down to the "Google Instant option"
3. Select Do not use Google Instant.

There you have it! You can now search without Google trying to read your mind.

Additional information:

Google Instant is available for the following browsers:
Chrome v5/6, Firefox v3, Safari v5 for Mac and Internet Explorer v8

*Side note: Avoid Internet Explorer as much as possible.

Noynoy Aquino responds to an open letter via Facebook

The following text is excerpted verbatim from Reyn Barnido's Facebook note.

Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die
by Reyn Barnido
Retrieved: September 15, 2010 09:03 AM

This is not anymore about failing to handle the hostage-taking as much as this is about fulfilling the promises of your oath-taking. This is not just about nine people losing their lives, but ninety million citizens losing their national pride. This is not about a singular madman shooting bullets up and down; this is about an orgy of fools shooting lies left and right. This is not anymore about the negotiators’ inefficiency to convince a police officer to surrender, but the government’s incapacity to comfort a nation. This is not about the Police; this is about the Presidency.



I have visions of you staring at your breakfast table, unmindful for the first time of the tempting plate of sizzling chicharon and frozen bottle of Coke regular, and asking yourself, “Where did I go wrong?” as you blow heart-shaped smokes in the air. That is wishful thinking I know. Chances are you chomp on the chicharon with gusto as you invent new excuses in your mind.



Mr. President, we did not switch from cheerleaders to cynics because of a singular incident caused by a madman. Our process was a metamorphosis catalyzed by a series of excuses and inconsistencies over the past two months. They don’t paint you as a man in control; rather they portray a group of helpless officials in utter disarray like rats scrambling from the basement of a burning building. You are the hub of a bunch of incompetent fools whose idea of honesty is withholding the truth until someone slips and whose interpretation of transparency is to let the media and the public wrestle the facts from their mouths like fishes dangling from hooks.



This is not a flaw in the character of your administration; this inefficiency has become your defining trait.



We don’t deserve this, Sir. This is not the covenant we entered into during your oath-taking. Now, since you don’t have the time to reflect, I will help you articulate some of the lessons that you should learn about your administration. Understand that I am taking your word when you said that we are your bosses. So, pay attention:



Your Dream Team of a cabinet is really just that – they excel in dreaming. You craft your government strategy based on high-brow vision statements which your team built like castles in the sand. But there never was a concrete strategy to transform the nation. From visions you get inspiration, but only from well-crafted strategy will you get confidence and courage to govern. Inspiration melts in the face of a crisis situation. Rebuild you team, for there never was a team to begin with.



I grew up in the shadows of the Abads, Soliman, Deles – the patriarch and matriarchs of your administration. From them I learned everything alternative when I was a student leader: alternative education, alternative lifestyle, alternative politics, alternative Christmas, alternative governance. Do not take their analysis of society at face value for theirs is a construct designed to fuel a protest movement, not manage a large bureaucracy. Do your own analysis and dialogue this with those prescribed by your consultants and mentors.



Having a BFF for an Executive Secretary only helps you in trusting the man’s loyalty, it doesn’t mean he can be trusted with the deliverables. You talked about the importance of training our police force and yet you brought in an inexperienced and untrained man to become the Little President? The Cabinet, Sir, as my friend Trixie once said, is not a training ground. I have no problem if women and wine are his coping mechanisms; but to be seen in public doing that while people are hurting reminds us of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning.



Your Communications Team was impressive when you were still running for the position. They were excellent in writing fiction; communicating the truth is a different discipline altogether. And they might not be the right men for the task, considering that they don’t even communicate among themselves. And Sir, this is not just about the Black Monday; they have been sending apologies since Day One. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!



Jesse Robredo, God bless his soul, is a good man. He was an excellent Mayor. But his glaring ineptitude was exposed during these last few days. He never had any experience nor exposure on a national level, Sir. If you find his contribution indispensable, just create a new office, like Presidential Assistant for Municipal Affairs or something.



Come out from the protective shell, Mr. President. Do not be afraid to be caught in the line of fire for it is the sacred space where your salvation can happen.



I hope you realize that DEATH is a key element in your life journey as a man and as a leader. A year ago, the death of your mother fuelled a national movement that catapulted you from being Kris’ brother to a president. A year later, the death of nine victims fuelled a nationwide disgust that can bring you down from the pedestal to a pigsty where years of eating chicharon will be avenged.



Do not be afraid, for something in you has to die so that the real Noynoy will emerge better and wiser.



Embrace the Black Monday as your Good Friday Mr. President. Do not resist the crucifixion for as our faith tells us it is the only way to a new life. Yours, and ours.



Believe it or not, your cheerers may have become cynics, but they are still your companions in this journey. I, for one, will not abandon you Mr. President.

Here is President Noynoy Aquino's response:

Response to "Mr. President, Something In You Has To Die"
by Noynoy Aquino
Retrieved: September 15, 2010 09:15 AM


This is in response to: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=494735718205



Hello, Reyn. This is your President.



First of all, thank you for your note on Facebook. Such insights from concerned citizens are vital in a maturing democracy such as ours, where all avenues and technologies should be explored in order to raise the level of public discourse. However, thoughts expressed in such sites, which can sometimes be incendiary, spread easily without the necessary validation. This is why I felt the need to respond to your letter.



Your comments against my Cabinet seem to prejudge them without taking a hard look at the reality. For example, I do not believe that my Communications team writes fiction. When have they ever lied or not sought to tell the truth?



We do agree on one thing: the last administration wrongly governed. You supported us because like you, we condemned the nine years of corruption under the previous dispensation. You may not be fully aware of the magnitude of the problems we have inherited, such as midnight appointments by the last administration, which sought to embed in our bureaucracy people who do not share our mission of reform. There is also the increase over the last decade in the number of people living in poverty. The deterioration of our corruption ratings was laid out before the world, making our country less attractive to foreign investors. I do not believe it is realistic, as suggested by your letter, to change everything in two months.



We gave ourselves a more reasonable timeline, two years in fact, to show evidence of real transformation. In the last two months, we have been surprised by very encouraging developments that the changes we envisioned, and promised to our people, might actually be achieved in a shorter time. These are developments, which unfortunately, seem to have been overshadowed for now by the hostage taking tragedy.



One of the priorities that I have repeatedly said my government will focus on is job generation. Just last week, a call center by Convergys was inaugurated in Manila. This facility will provide 5,000 new jobs on top of their existing 17,000-strong workforce.



In a recent courtesy call to me, a major European bank guaranteed an increase in investments by three times the current level with their exposure here in the Philippines.



The forthcoming US trip will likewise reinforce this bullishness on our country’s growth through the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs.



In addition, I will be on hand to receive a $430 million grant from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

In the last two months, we were also successful in terminating contracts to procure overpriced equipment for the Department of Agriculture. The P60 million acquisition price has been brought down by nearly half, to P32 million.



We are also tightening procurement for police equipment, to improve our law enforcers’ ability to deal with future hostage-taking incidents and other law enforcement challenges.



Let me also remind you that in the recently submitted budget to Congress, we have sought to make real the campaign pledge to fight poverty. The budget puts in place promised improvements in health and education, and conditional cash transfers. If we are able to sustain them over the life of my administration, we will help lift millions of Filipinos out of poverty.



It has always been my personal philosophy not to overly play up achievements that any government should have been doing in the first place. Perhaps my administration should be doing more to highlight this, but the simple truth is that we are working hard to solve our problems.



I understand that much of your frustration stems from the unfortunate crisis that befell our nation, but my administration will not be defined by this tragedy. It will be defined by what we have already achieved and what we will still achieve in the future.



Again, thank you for your note.

Are you satisfied by Benigno Aquino III's response?
If you were to write your own letter, what would you like to tell the Philippine president?


Update:
Since rumors were floating around that the reply was ghostwritten (not written by Pnoy himself), we asked confirmation from Manuel L. Quezon III - the Philippine Undersecretary of Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning.

Here was Manuel Quezon III's (@mlq3) response:

@skiverz the letter was signed and sent by the president for publication whther drafted by or for him.