The Sony Playstation 3 in full HDTV. The
photo is in full resolution if you click
on it to see the quality of the HD image.I received my Playstation 3 — dropped off by my landlord, arrived from America — on Monday. I was literally tearing up as I watched the startup movie for Gran Turismo in full 1080-line resolution on the 60 inch Sony television... the picture is that beautiful.
The BluRay movies are really nice too... although the aspect ratio of the movie version still leaves the 2 black bars above and below the movie, even on the wide screen television, effectively wasting 25% of the 1080 lines of resolution. Therefore, the film image is only 800 horizontal lines... only 25% more than full-screen broadcast television. (People with LCDs that only produce 768 lines of resolution thus won't see any improvement whatsoever.)
Work has improved over the last week. With the new accounts and the new house and the new family, everything was topsy-turvy for a while, and my work really suffered for it. However, over the past week I've been turning things around. As always, it is a factor of how much I can get done before lunch: I'm still not worth a damn in the afternoon... but that's the way it has always been.
Local kids roister about in the creek
by Epril's family's house.Last weekend, it was out to Kimaya to celebrate Epril's cousin's 18th birthday. We went swimming at Basamanggas Resort and had roast pig. I really need to buy a different motorcycle next year. The Motorstar "superscoot" (i.e. any "clutchless" 2-wheeled vehicle with larger than a 125 cc engine) that I have is fine for around town, and it actually gets Ferrari-like attention from the locals, but it isn't comfortable to ride for anything more than 30 minutes. Also, the top speed is only about 50 miles per hour, which in theory is more than enough for the road to Kimaya, but I really would like a bit more zip for passing traffic. I won't talk about the brakes.
Anyway, we had a good time out in the village.
I would really like to build a house out there someday. I've looked at a couple of lots in the village. There is an entire promontory — downhill on 3 sides, 2 facing the ocean — right above the village, 3 acres in size, entirely flat, about 100 meters up and 150 meters back from the beach, that I'm in love with... but it's selling for $180,000. That price is only going to go up too, if the big ship building facility gets built 10 miles back down the road towards Cagayan De Oro. There is another pretty lot about 2 acres in size right across from Epril's parent's house that is nice too, planted with banana trees. That one isn't for sale, but I've heard $70,000 would probably do it anyway. It's not bad, but it doesn't have any view other than the village of Kimaya itself.
Obligatory Jungle Jil valley photo.Anyway, this week has been entirely mundane but satisfying: Work, watch 2 BluRay movies per day plus perhaps play video games for an hour or two, and study politics on the internet. That's about it. Hopefully another trip out to the jungle this weekend to keep life tropical and exotic.
5 comments:
Nice TV. I could fall asleep in front of that!!
Looks like you will have plenty of fun with your PS3.
Regarding the lot purchase: is there any smaller plots with an ocean view? (3 acres is a lot of property!)
Glad to see all is well there, see you in Sept.
Any idea why real estate is so expensive in such a poor country?
I'm not really sure about the real estate costs in The Philippines. I've only looked at 3 lots, and happen to know that land inside of the big high-end developments are agoing for $100 per square meter ($10 per square foot).
Still though, I would say that what I have seen is about the same cost compared to the cost of equivalent property in America... when, of course, you would expect it to be cheaper. I guess it's just a smaller country with less land.
Still though, if you know of anyplace in America where you can find 3 acres of ocean-view mountain top for $170,000 in America... I'd be interested in seeing it.
Issarat,
I'm sure there is land for sale all over the place. It's just a matter of location and I do want a flat piece of land to build upon. Got to have a yard though to throw the ball around with the kids I hope to have someday. None of this Asian "your yard should be big enough to hang clothes out to dry, no more" type of living.
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