And there are times of overdoing humor

The focus is on the topmost panel. The previous panel (from the previous page which is not shown here) "shows" crunching sounds illustrating that someone is eating outside the window. The top panel on this page shows that it's Spider-man, eavesdropping on the Jamesons' argument.

Spider-man eating popcorn? How's he doing it while having his mask on? I'd believe he'd get the bottom half of his mask up (just like when he's doing his kisses - dang, of all the references to make). And does Spider-man really have the time to go get some popcorn before unexpectedly seeing the two Jamesons go at their argument?

The purpose of the humor is understandable. It is also unbelievable.

This is comic book world though.

Brownout!!! (or blackout, as it is properly termed)

Last February when I was supposed to conduct a Conflux Launch Party, Dumaguete City got a rude awakening with the city-wide flooding. Almost 3 months after and with another Magic set in mind (and a supposed trip that got canceled because Customs wouldn't let the products through), I'm stuck here where there hasn't been any electricity for 21 hours and counting.

And I thought I've had worse in Iligan City during Aquino's power crisis. Back then, the number of hours that mattered was the hours that we would have electricity and not the number of hours of not having any.

It's dangerous to walk in the streets when there's no light. True, Dumaguete City is supposed to be a safe city but without street lights, I don't think so. Having no street lights is the perfect invitation for motorcycle-riding robbers to poke a gun-like metal object on the back of an unsuspecting streetwalker and ask for their precious wallet and cell phone.

Well, there are at least 2 things to be happy about (and I'm always looking at the bright side of things):

1. It's a further opportunity to save the Earth.
2. It's a preview of what would happen if "The Day After Tomorrow" comes.

The NBA playoffs are finally here!

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 Cleveland vs. No. 8 Detroit

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 7 Chicago

No. 3 Orlando vs. No. 6 Philadelphia

No. 4 Atlanta vs. No. 5 Miami

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 L.A. Lakers vs. No. 8 Utah

No. 2 Denver vs. No. 7 New Orleans

No. 3 San Antonio vs. No. 6 Dallas

No. 4 Portland vs. No. 5 Houston

Some quick comments:

Detroit at number 8. Wow! My favorite team and consistent playoff bound team ends up at number 8, barely making it to the postseason and holding off the Charlotte Bobcats (of all teams!). As how it's always said, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Detroit will visit the Cleveland Cavaliers. Back then, it used to be a second round match up, with both Detroit and Cleveland ending in the top 4 in the Eastern Conference standings.

If the Cleveland versus Detroit match up is not going to be as exciting as the previous years, then the East's match up to watch is the Miami at Atlanta game. Who would have thought that the Hawks would grab the 4th spot in the East? Who would have thought that the Heat would be back with a rookie coach handling the reins. Of course, Dwyane Wade has taken the mantle of Superman for Miami.

Utah finishes 8th and Dallas jumps to 6th in the Western Conference. And here I thought that the Dallas Mavericks were doing a Detroit Piston falling mightily. Poor Utah. They draw the mighty LA Lakers in the first round. I'm pretty sure they won't just roll over and lose easily.

New Orleans is the West's version of the Detroit Pistons. The former 2nd seed is at a lowly 7th this year but that doesn't mean that they're a bad team. But they do have the (un)fortunate situation of drawing the Denver Nuggets (also a surprise as the 2nd seed).

Portland is a surprise at number 4. Like the Miami Heat in the East, Portland returns to the postseason after a near appearance in 2008. They have the homecourt advantage against the Houston Rockets, who are looking for their first playoff series win. This should be fun to watch.

It's San Antonio versus Dallas in the first round. Like the Cavaliers versus Pistons, these two teams are old rivals. Now they meet in the first round.

Predictions:

Cleveland over Detroit in 5 (and prompting another change from Joe Dumars!).

Boston over Chicago in 4 (that's quite a bold prediction but it hinges on the health of KG).

Orlando over Philadelphia in 6.

Atlanta over Miami in 7 (this series could be all about Wade).

LA Lakers over Utah in 7 (Jerry Sloan won't back down on this one).

New Orleans over Denver in 6 (upset alert!).

Dallas over San Antonio in 7 (Manu Ginobili will be sorely missed).

Houston over Portland in 6 (Houston finally wins a playoff series).

It's looking clearer and clearer that we'll have a Cleveland versus LA Lakers NBA Finals. LeBron versus Kobe. Nike is going to be wearing a smile the whole series and so will David Stern.

A guess at From the Vault: Exiled

Somehow, with just too much time before I go on a vacation and the persistence of trying to predict the list for Wizards' From the Vault: Exiled, I've come up with:

From the supposed spoiled pack from April 1's Draft Viewer:
Balance - $4
Sol Ring - max at $15 for the most recent version
Land Tax - $5
Mind Twist - $3 or $4
Skullclamp - $2.50

Since the essence of From the Vault: Exiled is that the cards are/have been restricted, Tarmogoyf, Umezawa's Jitte and the rest of the non-restricted cards from the said Draft Viewer have been removed.

Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall have been removed from the list also because they are currently in Wizards' Reserved List.

5 cards remain and they all have mellow prices.

Here's where the wild theory comes into play once more:
Mana Vault - $2.50 - $3
Voltaic Key - $4
Disciple of the Vault - $0.50
Vault of Whispers - $0.75

These are cards that are featured in the prank From the Vault: Vault announcement. Since I considered Disciple of the Vault as a possible inclusion in a post at a forum, why not some of the other "vault" cards being featured. It somehow makes sense. The three other cards have been on the Restricted List.

Further look at the Draft Viewer (where I got the list that had the Tarmogoyf, Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, etc. list), there's:

Enlightened Tutor - $6

The Enlightened Tutor is a bit of a reach but for prediction's sake, it's in.

That's a total of 10 cards so far.

The breakdown is as follows:
White - 3
Black - 2
Land - 1
Artifacts (without counting the artifact land) - 4

Red, blue, and green has to be represented of course. Wizards probably would not want a product to be favoring (or not favoring) certain colors in the color pie. A quick look at what's possible reveals (note: anything above $5 has been removed):

Brainstorm $1
Channel $0.50
Crop Rotation $0.50
Fact or Fiction $3
Frantic Search $0.50
Gush $1
Hermit Druid $1.50
Kird Ape (varied prices)
Merchant Scroll $2
Mind's Desire $3.50
Orcish Oriflamme $0.25
Ponder $1
Rebirth $0.50
Recall $0.50
Regrowth $1
Rukh Egg $1
Squandered Resources $1.75
Tempest Efreet $0.50
Windfall $0.75
Worldgorger Dragon $4

Out of the blue (pardon the pun), I'd remove Kird Ape and Ponder. Both are recent reprints and would be too boring for fans.

I think Wizards will include Squandered Resources (the only gold card I see so far), Gush (for being such a storied card - in and out of the Restricted List), any of the ante cards (Tempest Efreet or Regrowth) because they are just that - ante cards, Merchant Scroll (one of the last remaining tutor spells left), and Channel (somehow I always hear, "Hey, I used to have that Channel-Fireball deck." The card is "famous" for just that.). If Channell is included, I would expect to see Tempest Efreet get included in the list (or maybe even Burning Wish but it's at $7 right now).

That's my wild guess list!