Support Team Azkals!

Show your love and support for the Team Azkals! Join this activity tomorrow, June 10, at the TriNoMa Activity Center.

X-Men: First Class -- When Professor X and Magneto were simply... friends

After missing 2 very-much-anticipated movies, I got to watch X-Men: First Class (yeah, after how many days since its first day of showing).

I'm not a fan of the comics nor the animation, so all the knowledge I have of each character is thanks to my husband.

Anyways... here in the movie, we are shown the beginnings of a friendship among mutants. The movie shows us the younger versions of Professor X (an intelligent and witty yet flirty Charles), Magneto (the boy-with-a-childhood-trauma Erik), Mystique (the "adopted" orphan insecure with her looks), Beast (the pre-blue-and-furry science genius), and some other characters.

Basically it all starts with Erik, during his teenage years in a concentration camp, whose powers were discovered by a certain Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). So as not to spoil anything, I'll cut the story between them short by saying that Shaw caused Erik terrible emotional damage, and that's why the latter is traveling around the world to seek revenge on Shaw.

Erik grows up, still with vengeance on his mind, but after a close encounter with Shaw, he meets Charles, who's with some CIA agents investigating on an imminent nuclear war. The guys form a friendship upon learning they have something in common: that they are not ordinary humans. With this discovery, the two went on to search for people like them.

Meanwhile, Shaw has other plans -- which actually involves humans killing each other. Upon learning of his plans, a CIA agent enlists the mutants' help to avert World War III. They succeed in this mission, but unfortunately for them, the humans turn against them -- those scary superhumans. And so you know what happens: Charles and Erik go their separate ways with their separate teams.

To be honest, I kinda liked how the plot was presented. There was a good background in each of the characters, especially Charles, Erik, and Raven (Mystique). The fun part was when they were recruiting members for their team -- to give you a hint, there are cameos here you should not miss.

I just found it odd, though, for Charles to have that suave personality. You'd think he'd be more reserved like his older version, but well, he was pretty different here.

I liked Erik's story and how the events of his past led him to be what he is. Though I'm not so sure how he was convinced easily by Shaw to believe that mutants are of a superior race and that humans should bow to them.

All in all, X-Men: First Class was a pretty fun ride. Not really sure if it ties up with the previous X-Men movies, but if this was a reboot of the franchise, I'll be looking out for the next installment.

However you want it: Starbucks Personalized Frappuccino

Starbucks Philippines recently launched the "However You Want It Frappuccino Blended Beverage" wherein you can customize your Starbucks frap by adding or removing components. Now, coffee afficionados can create a blended beverage that suits their taste and reflects their personality.

Customizing your Starbucks Frappuccino can be done by:
- choosing your milk: regular, non-fat, soy;
- choosing your coffee's strength: regular or decaf;
- adding the special Frappuccino Roast or getting an extra espresso shot;
- adding extra syrup or drizzle;
- doing away with the "calorie-adding" stuff: no whip, sugar-free syrup, etc.

To help spread the word, Starbucks held a blogger event where they launched their new concoctions, the Extra Coffee Caramel Frappuccino Blended Beverage and Soy Green Tea Cream Frappuccino Blended Beverage.

Starbucks Extra Coffee Caramel Frappuccino

Starbucks Soy Green Tea Cream Frappuccino

They also encouraged the attendees to customize their favorite Starbucks fraps -- and actually make them!

(Disclaimer: crappy quality photos from my phone. My camera was "indisposed" that night, hehe!)

Love from Starbucks' marketing dept. assists Jon of Blogger Manila in writing his personalized frap on the Starbucks shirt.

My own beverage: Single Tall White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino Blended Beverage

Carmi of Starbucks teaches guests the steps in making the frap.

Yuri of Lost Tsinelas whips up his customized Starbucks frap.

My personalized White Chocolate Mocha (no extra espresso shot, though). Too much whipped cream, eh?

After creating our own personalized frappuccinos, Starbucks served us their new food items that are great complements to their coffee:

Left: Mango Peach Cream Pie. On the plate: Coffee Brownie (made with Starbucks VIA), Five Cheese Turnover, Chicken Galantina and Fontina Cheese on Pandesal, Chicken Buffalo Bleu, Tiramisu Cheesecake (made with Starbucks VIA).

At this point, maybe you're thinking, "I wanna make my own unique frap, but I'm not quite sure how to start." Good thing there's frappuccino.com.ph to give you a guide on creating your own frappuccino concoction.

So what are you waiting for? Visit a Starbucks branch near you and order your own customized frappuccino.