Author: Wilfrid

Categories
Linguistic My Hobbies

¡Hola! ¿Cómo Te … Erm … What? – Our First Spanish Lesson at Las LiLas School

You didn’t think I was joking when I said Cynthia is going to learn Spanish after Fernando Torres scored the goal that won Spain the UEFA Cup 2008, did you?  So I join her, under one condition.  Stay tuned and you may hear about it in September this year.

To learn Spanish is one of Cynthia’s childhood dreams.  I honestly have no special love for the language, the music, or the food but I do love to fulfill the dreams of others if I can.  Learning a language is absolutely not my strength and it is utterly one of the 10 things I fear most.  I am not exaggerating.

Exactly what I am going to do with this new skill, I have no clue.  However I am a strong believer that whatever you learn today opens up options you may have in the future.  Besides, I have this impression that Spanish is widely spoken in the Americas and I just learned from a Filipino friend of mine that his country was under the Spaniards for 400 years!  If this new experience hasn’t opened up new options for me yet, it has certainly opened up new conversation topics.  Did you know that Spanish is the world’s second most-spoken language by native speakers after Mandarin Chinese?

I told my boss that I have a Wednesday class in town so that any travel plan in the near future can hopefully be scheduled according to my constraint; I told my team that I am learning Spanish so that they know I have a life and won’t expect me to OT on work that never ends.  My boss sounded supportive and he told me that learning a new language is good to give our brain cells a good workout.  Great!  I think my first lesson was more than a workout.  I was exhaustively euphoric.

Anna is an interpreter by day, Spanish teacher by night and she is a fun person full of laughter.  Las LiLas School specializes in teaching Spanish language at various levels and the learning environment is OK.  I wish the classroom could be more colorful.  Having some refreshments inside the room would have been nice.  Next time I shall bring along my bottle of water and some snacks as well.

I guess all good language lessons begin with hi-how-are-you, what’s-your-name, and I’m-so-and-so.  Spanish language seems to have three extra alphabets ll, ch, and ñ, which is pretty funky.  Cynthia’s mother tongue is Bahasa Indonesia – a language with a certain level of Dutch influence – and she didn’t find the i-pronounced-as-e and e-pronounced-as-a confusing.  That alone confuses the heck out of me.  Fortunately, I am trained in pronouncing the tongue rolling ”˜R’ sound of the Indonesian and the throat vibrating ”˜R’ sound of the French, I am doing OK with the Spanish ”˜G’, ‘J’, and ”˜R’ that utilize both techniques.  ”˜Y’ in Spanish is pronounced as ”˜Y Griega’ (literally means letter Y from the Greek).  Some of these alphabets sound almost like a word to me.  When I was asked to spell out my name, I flipped.  The alphabet ”˜W’ is pronounced as ”˜Uve Doble’.  Although I seem to be able to get the rest of the tough alphabets right, ”˜Uve Doble’ is one tough nut for me.  You know the Spanish dance genre Paso Doble?  It is the same ”˜Doble’.  Why English calls ”˜W’ double-U?  I don’t know.  Spanish calls it double-V.

Ah … all these confusions.  Thanks to the Tower of Babel.

Oops, exceeded 500 word count for this entry.  Stay tuned for more stories on How I Flunk My Spanish Test.

Categories
Music Journal

Stripping My Own Song into Just Four Lines and an Orange Lit Valve That Glows Within – My First V-blog (Prelude) Episode 6

If you still don’t get it, don’t be concerned.  Most don’t.  I am terrible in communication.  Next week the video should be out – baring any unexpected exciting events that may appear from nowhere, that I am compelled to blog about, that push my most-don’t-get-it mini-series schedule to yet another week.

After I finished working on the 3 minutes video, I wanted to make a small video clip of simple end credits that is completely different from the video itself.  And I found just what I wanted – an old song of mine written back in 2004 called “Mind Control”.

You know how it is like when you pour your heart and soul and hundreds of hours into making something – ironically may well be applicable to this mini-series – and you think out loud: This is a genius piece of work!  I picked up my electric guitar one day, trashed out some heavy, raw, original power chords, and I was screaming my heart out, screaming my brain out.  I really thought I was the next Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.  So full of explosive randomness, so full of chaos, so full of madness.  Did my fingers bleed on that one day recording while home alone?  You bet.

Clicked send and the demo song was digitally finding its way to my lead guitarist’s mailbox.  Holding my breath I was, dying for some form of acknowledgement, and his reply was …

“It’s too intense.”

I don’t think my bassist got it either.

4 years have passed and I am supposed to be wiser.  “Fit for Public Consumption?” should now be part of my vocabulary.  But yet I still have this nostalgic affection towards “Mind Control”.  The Boss Metal Zone pedal sound is out and the sweet sound of my Les Paul guitar is in.  Most of the song is out and the excerpt is left with what I love most – 4 lines.

We want the truth, we want the fact
Overrule the media, destroy the rats
It’s mind control, stripping our rights
It’s mind control, running our lives

I had so much fun recording it.  OK, pain too.  You would have thought how tough it is to record a 1 minute excerpt of just 4 lines?  I spent the first entire night trying to get my 10 years old drums programming equipment to work; I spent the second entire night recording in the wrong key; I spent the third trying to get my new toy working (see picture above … and yes, there is a valve inside my new guitar and amp effect processor); I spent the fourth trying to remember the lyrics (I know, just 4 lines right?).  By the time I got a rather decent take, I couldn’t be bothered any more.

“Fit for Public Consumption?” should now be part of my vocabulary.  But yet I am releasing my video next week.  How ironic that some good things don’t change over time.

Neither are the bad ones.

My 1st v-Blog Mini-Series:

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

The Dark Knight – Being the Rare One Who Cannot Connect to the New Bat Franchise

Erm.  Yawn?  Zzzz.

OK.  It is hard to write something knowing that over 90% of the population will disagree with.  And if I am to continue my ‘review career’, I have some serious recalibration to do.

Cynthia loves “The Dark Knight”; I had a headache watching it.  So what happens?  I will get to that in just a bit.

Great casting, no doubt.  The acting is rock solid especially from the late Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Both I adore and respect a great deal.  Jack Nicholson’s Joker as far as I can remember is comical; Heath Ledger’s Joker is pure creepiness and madness.  Give Ledger his Oscar.  He deserves it.  Did Warner Bros. modify the ending to be sensitive to the circumstances?  I have no clue.  Warner Bros. did change the promotional campaign after Ledger’s death.

Just how much of the success of “The Dark Knight” is contributed by this unfortunate event?  I also have no clue.  What I do know is that I have done some serious reflection on why this film doesn’t quite work for me.

Maybe I am addicted to computer-generated imagery especially after that jaw dropping non-stop special effect of Hellboy II, “The Dark Knight” looks a bit bland to me.  I am not sure how most audience feels about the 153 minutes film.  But isn’t it a bit too, lengthy, with too many gaps of how-you-wish-there-was-more-entertainment-per-minute?

Sure I could overlook the above easily.  I love the Batman franchise.  I really do.  Probably one of my favorite superheroes.  If I close my eyes and think of Batman, I see a strong association to the flying bats, I see the bat cave, I see Batman sleeping upside down like a bat, I see a bat mobile with absolute sleekness, I see fast moving fights, I see a Gotham City so dark so thugs infested that induces fear, I see my heart leaps when Batman appears from nowhere, and I see myself living in a fantasy world captivated by its creator.  As I opened my eyes and watched “The Dark Knight” in a theater, I saw Batman making a rather unglamorous entrance, I saw Batman standing on top of the modern IFC building in my birth town Hong Kong (read: where is the fantasy when I know that the building was officially opened in 2003?) having absolutely no animalistic association to bats or whatsoever throughout the film, my heart sank.  If Batman was to stand on top of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, I would have thought of the film “Entrapment”.  In fact, I did think of that film briefly while I was watching “The Dark Knight”.

And maybe I am still an old school when it comes to comic book adaptation.  I want to see frame-by-frame scenes composition; I want to see a rather simple storyline and I want to feel with and for my hero.  Anyways …

Having said all of the above, I can understand why “The Dark Knight” has a mass appeal.  Over 90% of the population loves this film, why wouldn’t you?  Can the gross revenue of “The Dark Knight” overtake the original “Batman” (1989) by Tim Burton?  Only time can tell.

OK.  I am done.  Back to my recalibration process.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Ethics for the Real World by Howard and Korver – Making Better Personal Ethical Decisions for Work and Life

What does ethics mean to you?  I asked this question to the people around me and the responses commonly point to a state of vagueness, and of confusion.  Some are able to observe ethics when lapses occur.  Most think that there are different types of ethics.  Not many are able to articulate and relate to the benefits of being ethical at the personal level.  Is there such a thing as ethically right or wrong?  Some may ask.

Yet, we face ethical decisions in our day-to-day life, at work and out of work.  Maybe we lie to avoid embarrassment.  Maybe we think that white lies are acceptable, especially if lying will lead to a ‘greater good’.  How about making promises that we can’t keep?  Is it wrong to download or copy intellectual properties?  Shall we work for or invest in organizations whose products harm innocent people?  Note that none of these questions that cover the areas of deception, stealing, and harming has a demarcation between work and life.  It is the same person who makes these decisions based on the same ethical code.

Having taught ethics for decades – both in the academic and profession arenas – the authors Ron Howard and Clint Korver have put together a book that clearly defines what ethics is.  In crisp black and white, the authors leave no room for ambiguity.  And because of their extensive training experience, “Ethics for the Real World” is one of the rare books I read that focuses on imparting knowledge via a simple structure, filled with lively easy to relate real life case studies, thought experiments, real life ethical codes that their students have drafted, and a book summary with key learning points, examples, supplemented with the page numbers as a quick reference guide.

I picked this book because I confess that in my life and in my line of work, at times I do find myself trapped in many so-called gray areas where I am tempted to transgress ethics.  And I did in some situations.  “Ethics for the Real World” opens my eyes to perspectives that I have not previously thought of.  I am not a skeptic but I was initially skeptical when I was asked to draft my own ethics code (one generic code for all types of situations).  How is it even possible when the scope is so huge?  Upon reading some of the examples written by the students, I am convinced that it can be done.  In fact, I may draft one and share with you all here in my website.  After I have finished reading the book, I am also convinced that it is possible when faced with situations – personal and professional – I shall be able to create alternatives and look for a quality solution that may even be transformational.  We may regret decisions made that are unrelated to ethics.  But to transgress ethics leads us to remorse.  In as much as possible, I would like to live a life with no remorse.

Related Website: ethics {for the real world}

Book Summary

Kindly note that this book summary is written for my own future reference.  It may read dry without the case studies and illustrations from within the book.

Ethical refers to behavior considered right or wrong according to our own beliefs no matter the culture or society.  We develop our own code for self-improvement, and not to criticize others.  Having good ethics enable us to lower the barrier between others and to enhance relationships.

Ethics is about actions, not thoughts.  It is important to note that there are three dimensions of action: prudential, legal, and ethical.  Prudential dimension pertains to our self-interest and legal dimension pertains to the law in our social system.  These dimensions overlap with one another.  Rarely we encounter ethical dilemmas.  The key is to clearly define our possible actions and to go through a consistent approach in arriving at a quality decision.

There are negative ethics (things that we shall not do) and there are positive ones (things that we shall do).  Confusing the two often leads to fuzziness when making decisions because positive ethics are like aspirations, they are lacking in bright lines of what we shall not do.  We also need to distinguish between action- and consequence-based ethics.  “Thou shall not kill” is a good example of action-based ethics.  But will we kill if killing is for a ‘greater good’?  Misusing consequence-based ethics may lead us to justify our wrongs.  In fact, rationalization often comes in ethical-sounding clothing.

We form our touchstones by consulting our religious legacy, secular legacy, as well as the codes written by our organization and professional bodies.  With our touchstones, we can draft our own ethical code, test them out, and live by it.

Transgressing ethics in any circumstances often result in a lost of opportunities for our own growth.  More often than not, we can create alternatives.  And some of these alternatives can transform our life and work.  When in doubt, put ourselves in other’s shoes.  Start with the ones we love.

Living by our ethical codes is a skill that we need to turn into a habit, into a way of life.  And we shall continue to expand our ethical space as we grow.

Categories
Travel Blog

Speed Touring Chennai Pt 1 – Pictures from the City

A montage from my short Chennai trip - pictures from the city

If there is such a term as ”˜speed reading’ or ”˜speed dating’, I guess my trip to Chennai is speed touring in the finest. I have written two articles for my two days visit. Click onto the link below to view.

To recap, out of the blue, my bosses asked me to join them for their ‘VIP visit’. Fine. I have not been to India before. And besides, since I was not in the project’s travel plan, I shouldn’t be doing much besides making coffee and writing notes right?

OK. That picture I had in my head was far from the reality. There were questions flying left, right, center, pointing towards me in a room so full of people including all my bosses and more, for 2 days. Certainly not a good time to screw up or look stupid. Oh well, I really should consider writing a song titled “So I Did My Best”.

So I did my best. Work aside, I managed to squeeze out time in my 2 days trip to Chennai and took some pretty good pictures during the day. At one point, I was so excited that I winded down the window of car and started to take pictures. Everyone inside was screaming as though I have committed the silliest mistake in life.

And I did. No one in India sticks out any part of their bodies from within the moving vehicles that are often inches away from each other. Gosh!

I hope you will enjoy some of the pictures I have posted in the next two articles. If I was to have a bit more time, I would love to hit the beach. Maybe next time.

Related Articles:

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch – A Lecture from the Heart to Whom He Loves

Given Randy Pausch’s medical condition, it is astonishing that he is able to publish a book (with the help of Jeffrey Zaslow).  Randy delivered the now famous “Last Lecture” last September when he was told to have only a few months to live.  A while back, I wrote a brief summary on his “Last Lecture” and if you like what you read, this little book (206 pages, 61 chapters, paperback) will certainly inspire.

In my previous blog entry, I have covered Randy Pausch’s background, his positive outlook, and how inspiring he is.  Hence, I won’t repeat myself here.  The objective of the book is exactly the same as the objective of his lecture as seen in the video linked in my last entry.

“The Last Lecture” is organized in six sections and it is far from being a depressing book to read.  In the first section, Randy Pausch touches onto his medical condition, how he and his family is coping with his aggressive cancer treatment, and why he is doing this – the lecture and now this book.

In the second section “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, Randy shares with us what some of his wild childhood dreams are and how he really went all out to achieve them.  Some he has attained, some he hasn’t.  It is inspiring to read how a goal focused person he is and how he walks the talk of brick walls are there to proof how badly we want things.

The section “Adventures and Lessons Learnt” probably contains the highest dosage of heart warming moments – a section dedicated to his mentor, his love story with his wife Jai, his and his sister’s children.

In one of John C. Maxwell’s seminar I have attended, his vision of the highest order of success is to make others to be more successful.  Here in Randy Pausch’s book, he has devoted a section on how to enable the dreams of others.  This section may cause you to reflect upon the things that you do and the person you think you are.

30 topics are packed in the second last section “It’ About How You Live Your Life” and they are a lot to be absorbed in the first read.  You may become a better person who constantly show gratitude and always tell the truth; you may take on a new attitude towards your job; you may even want to be the ‘first penguin’ who dares to head for the potential ‘glorious failure’.

This entire book is by and large kept to a tone of positivity and optimism.  To keep it real, you will also get to read about the emotional vulnerable side of Randy and his wife Jai.  The short final section “Final Remarks” is probably one that fills with heartfelt moments and to remind us that there is a bigger picture in life out there, at times beyond us.

I can imagine some readers may find his ideas too hard to achieve.  But here is my observation: You will get to read how he lives what he writes and from within his book, how the people around him succeed in doing so.  My question is: If other can, why can’t you?  The journey to achieving your dream is not going to be easy.  That’s why we have to work hard for it.

Related blog entry: Last Lecture of Randy Pausch – How to Live Your Life

Categories
Fragments of My Dreams

Fragments Of My Dreams Episode 10 – A Job As a Spy

Fragment of my dream

I was innocent.  At least I think I was.  Apparently, in this dream, I was a girl.

It is a bright and sunny day.  I met this guy the other day and this new friend of mine referred me to this job opportunity.  It is not hard to find the office.  A wide open reception area with sunlight flooded into the interior of a modern design office space.  A few gentlemen in ties and formal dress code approach me at the front door area and ask if I know what this job is about.

“A classical vocalist,” I reply.

They exchange a few looks that I can hardly decipher and one of them ask me to sing a few lines.

The fact is, I don’t think I am qualified as a professional classical vocalist.  I told my new friend that I wish to be a classical vocalist.  There is a whole world of difference.  Nevertheless, he passed me a name card and asked me to turn up.

Maybe I am shy, maybe I am lacking of that confidence, my brief audition is a total disaster.  My voice is scratchy and thin.  I am about to leave this super massive embarrassment of mine when one of them says in  a casual tone, “Can you start now?  Our boss wants you to be in the job.”

*     *     *     *     *

For the past few months, my new friend – my boss – and I have infiltrated this new organization in separate capacity.  I hardly have the chance to see the sun and I hardly have the chance to see him.  I have a gigantic office for myself equipped with futuristic high tech gadgets blended perfectly with the minimalistic design that spells out the word “emptiness” so loudly, so in my face.  There is no life in this space.  I have no life in this place not of my own.

I have no problem working my way into this new organization either.  My apparent limit in my vocal skill seems to have been compensated by perhaps my earnestness?  Perhaps my …

So far, there is no direction, no instruction from the organization that I truly work for.  What am I suppose to do?  How am I suppose to infiltrate?  As I am leaving my office, a few men come up to me.  One of them say, “We want you to come us”.

Ushered through a myriad of hard to recognize lifts and corridors and rooms, we arrive at a room with blinking lights, no sound, and in the middle lies a huge mechanical cocoon.  What’s inside the cocoon?  I don’t need to wait long before I get the answer.

My boss is trapped inside this cocoon and he is wrapped with a mechanical suit and helmet that cover his entire body.  I gasp and take a moment to steady myself.  One of the men casts me a look of suspicion and says, “He is a spy and in no time we can extract all the information from his brain.”

*     *     *     *     *

Time is 7.42pm and I am staring through the large window inside my office as I strum my fingers on my desk.  It’s time to exit, I say to myself.  I pack my bag and leave.

Mission Abort.

2008.07.13

Categories
Diary

Chennai Here I Come

Oh God, I don’t even know where to start.

I am a small fry at work.  The VIP fly out for business trips, not me.  I make good coffee and I write well.  I make sure that everything is recorded, which is kind of important to the bosses.  When I think of my job, I think of show biz.  To make sure that everyone look good, I prep them on what to say, what’s going to happen, and if disasters shall fall, I am here to do damage control.

It’s show biz.

Last week, inside a small meeting room, my boss and my director – whose next role is probably going to be a country CEO – freshly back from their long compliance leave and there I was giving them a run down of all-good-news.

The next in the agenda was their “VIP visit” to India.  OK, all the ground works have be done.  They just need to turn up, hope and pray that the team there has no screw-up, and if everything follow my script, everyone should look good.  They can travel.  And I’d love to stay where the good sun is – Singapore.

The director paused at the end of my briefing, looked at my direction, raised his eyebrow, and asked my boss, “Is Wilfrid coming with us?”

Uh-oh.

Before I even get my hands onto the Indian Visa, my teammates from the other side of the ocean have already called me and said, “Welcome to India”.

So I guess, Chennai here I come?  Time to give my dear friend Jann a call for a survival guide on my way to the airport tonight.

PS. I’ve written a whole week worth of blog materials over the weekend so it will be business-as-usual for my website.

Related Posts: Speed Touring Chennai Pt 1 – Pictures from the City

Categories
Jamming Session

So We Jammed Again: Of Heavy Load and Long hours of Post Production (July 11)

If people can blog about baking cookies a hundred and one times and still read fresh, let me see if I can write something fresh for our jamming journal.

While waiting for our 2nd guest drummer to get back to us, we continue to explore the possibility and to learn from our 1st guest drummer Wieke.  Throughout the week, I have been reviewing the recording of our previous session and finding ways to improve.  My vocals really sucked last week so this time, I committed 20 minutes of vocal exercise in the morning and another set in the evening.  And I stayed away from caffeine the entire day.  That really helped and my vocals sucked less.  In preparation of this session, I have also called up the manager of Stone Jamz and requested for the bass drum pedal to be tuned because it hurt the foot of our guest drummer.  The manager has it replaced with a new one, which is kind of cool.  She gave us a very nice room for us to jam too.  Two thumbs up!

I weighted my gears.  20 kg in total.  That includes my guitar, the effect and amp processor, cables, recording device, my personal mic, the mic stand, and etc.  Mic stand?  That’s right.  I need a sturdy one to be freed from distraction.

Lugging that 20 kg gear through several blocks of building can be quite an exercise on its own.  I said to my guitarist Jason that I need to resume my weightlifting exercise.  I ain’t kidding.  I need a crew; our band needs a crew.  (Hey Selrol, are you there?  We need to hire our nEC crew.)

Since our unofficial band manager Selrol was not feeling well, I took up the responsibility as a designated band photographer.  As you can see, nothing as lively as hers.  Oh well …

OK.  Here is as far as I can go to stay general.  The next bit is more technical and for those who share the same hobby as mine, you may be inspired in some ways.  If you are already a pro, please feel free to share your experience.  I’d love to learn from you.

Technical Stuffs

As you may see, the above setup poses a challenge to our live recording.  And I will tell you why.

Zoom Handy Recorder H2 is a versatile and inexpensive device (below S$300) that in my humble opinion is a must-have for those who wish to record sound.  I was told by the sales assistant that when a container worth of Zoom H2 arrived last December, they were sold out in a matter of days.  Journalists and institutes order these devices by hundreds.  When I bought mine on the day of that silly incident I had at the Malaysia Custom, I was told that 500 units were delivered to an institute in the same morning.

H2 is capable of a front and rear surround sound recording – front stereo track at 90-degree and rear stereo track at 120-degree.  That is a total of 4 mono tracks simultaneous recording inside this tiny device.

The front of the H2 should aim at the vocal speakers and ideally, the drums should be placed at the back.  In this setting, we can’t do that.  Drums are also the only sound that is acoustic in nature.  That is, the volume cannot be controlled.  And since there is a limit as in how loud the vocal speakers can go without inducing the feedback noise, the drums are going to dominate the entire recording.

And that was preciously the outcome.

Previously I relied on the H2 to mix the surround tracks into stereo mode (which took 30 minutes per song by the way) and perform minimal post production work at my computer.  For this studio setup, I can’t do that because our challenge cannot be overcome by 3D panning.  Decreasing the front channel volume in order to make the drums sound softer will have the same effect on the vocals.  Our mission is to bring down the drums’ volume while giving more emphasis on the vocals and strings.

To answer that, I rely on different compression settings for the front and rear channels.  I have covered the technique compression extensively in one of my articles.  It’s time to put it to work and have the post-production work done at the computer.

I use a hard knee compressor for the front channel (click here to see the setting of ‘Drum Destroyer’).  By default, it has a +8dB gain boost, which is great to bring out the details of the vocals.  And it also comes with a 30 times hard compression that is perfect for general drums recording.  For the rear channel, I use my favorite “Vintage Neve 33609” (click here to view setting) and manually apply a +10 dB gain.  Mix the two channels together (with a -6 dB gain reduction) brings forth a much fuller sound.  The overall gain is hotter than any recording I have ever had.

It took me 12 hours to select the right materials and complete the post production work for 12 of our takes (outtakes included).  Different studio rooms may require different settings.  I reckon if we do jam in the same room again, the process will be much faster.

Related Blog Entry: No Eye Candy’s 1st Female Guest Drummer (July 4)

Categories
Fantasy & Sci-fi Movie Reviews

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – It is 4,900+1 Against 4+1!

Absurd as it sounds, I have high anticipation on Hellboy II because of Pan’s Labyrinth and the rather hot Selma Blair.  Why do I think that Hellboy’s girlfriend is sexy?  I have no idea.  Perhaps because of some of the past movies she made.

When I read that in this sequel, it is Hellboy and his team meet the magical creatures of the ancient time, I know much of the good essence of Pan’s Labyrinth will surface.  And truly so, it does.  The movie watched almost like a fantasy experience and I believe the director and writer Guillermo del Toro’s unique vision and attention to details has a significant role to play in breathing life into these creatures.  I suspect in time to come, people will remember these concepts and visions rather than the storyline.

I often confuse between Hellboy franchise and the Fantastic 4 and X-Men.  Fire, checked; huge red character that punches like a tank, checked; us and them, checked.  And I think in this installment, there are more character development.  They crack jokes, troubled by emotions, get drunk, probably this human side has earned the movie a high rating along side with the beautiful created special effects.  Some of the scenes are in such a scale that mind blowing is the only way to describe.

Hellboy II has certainly raised the bar for comic book adaption.  Now, any film in the horizon is going to top this?