Way Of Blue Sky

Stayed back to watch 'Way Of Blue Sky' in office today. It's hard to get into a movie where all the actors/actresses are by Japanese television standards, ugly. Especially when the girls aren't cute. You can tell how low the movie budget is when they can't even buy sailor school uniforms for the the actresses.

The main actor (forgot his name) is planning to move to the USA to play basketball. Trouble is, he can't even act like he can play. At least Erika Sawajiri (1 litre of tears) and Erika Toda (Nobuta wo Produce) could act like that they could play B-ball. And here we have a) a guy, b)the school basketball captain, who can't even do a lay-up. That's disgraceful.

The look on his face says even he can't believe there are so many girls crazy for him.

The girl in the middle looks like a Filipino maid.

The rest of the show is a typical high-school harem. 5 girls want to confess their love for him before he leaves but he already has someone among them in mind. Like so many harem-anime i've seen before the girls are broken down into the usual stereotypes, there's the studious/shy type, the sporty-type, the transfer student, the childhood friend and the best-friend type. Not having someone cute to root for, i went for the childhood friend (4th from the left) to end up with him. Boy was i disappointed. The storyline was flat and took itself too seriously You would think and hope the director would add some love scenes to save the viewer from boredom but alas it was not to be.

If you want to watch a real live-action harem, look no further than this drama, 'Shimokita Glory Days'. A mark of a good harem is the amount of panty-shots and nosebleeds the male character gets and this show has no lack of that. But if you do pick this up please know that it has quite a few nude scenes (no sex) so watch it when you're alone. I can't say much for the storyline for this drama but at least the actresses are pretty.

More of a visual treat than a film for thought.

Someone's got a new toy...

And that 'someone' is me. Make that 2 new toys. First up is 'Talkman' for PSP. This is a mini-translator for English, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean which will be useful for my Japan trip. It comes with a microphone for PSP along with the UMD. Got it for $65 at Funz Centre. This completes my triumvirate of PSP gadgets. (Camera, GPS and Microphone)


UMD, Box and Microphone (that shiny thing on the brown box)

The reason i took off today was to collect my 2nd new toy; a touring bicycle for my Japan trip! Yes, i am really serious about going ahead with my trip even if i have to go alone. Anyway the bike is pretty cheap, $800 including 4 side panel bags (2 bags alone cost $100). One thing to note is that the bike is extremely heavy @ 20+kgs (compared to 9.5kg for my road bicycle) but it's built that way to last for long journeys. Parts are very low-end but suprisingly smooth. Anyway i really like the bike and the good thing is that it's super comfortable thanks to the seat and geometry. It's like floating on air or like riding a Goldwing. The tires are semi-road as well. Gonna test ride it tomorrow to camp and then to duty at Tuas, with all my clothes and barang barang packed into the bags to simulate touring.

I can probably start a delivery service with all the bags.

Ordered the following from YesAsia.com yesterday night. The tempting thing was that i couldn't find any of the following DVDs in Singapore and also the free shipping for all the items. Due to arrive mid-March. Yes i believe i already spent all my CNY money (and then some).

-The Idol Master (Normal Edition) (Japan Version) XBOX 360 game

-Eureka (Hong Kong Version) starring Miyazaki Aoi etc.
-Heaven's Bookstore (Hong Kong Version) starring Takeuchi Yuko etc.
-Yomigaeri Resurrection (Hong Kong Version) starring Takeuchi Yuko etc.
-Night Of The Shooting Stars (Hong Kong Version) starring Takeuchi Yuko etc.

Oh and in case no one notice, i changed the top banner of my site. Wanted to put my own face but that would be too narcissistic so the obvious choice would be Erika Toda. But i think my photoshop really CMI so it looks a bit tacky.

The Sore Feet Post

Both movies (see post below) i watched today sucked. Tenacious D was amusing for the first 15mins before it started to get really really lame and unfunny. And watching Kyle Gass and Jack Black baring their bottoms wasn't exactly a pretty sight. The songs were shitty as well. "Greatest Movie Of All Time" my ass.

Ju-On 2 was as bad as part 1. Even D.Law was wondering why no one wanted to run away from Kayako instead of just backing into a corner and crying/screaming. And please learn to turn on the lights when entering a spooky house or room. The scriptwriter has got to come up with more believeable human reactions to the scenario. As such the only thing that's scary is how dumb everyone in the movie is. And Ju-On's poster child Toshio irritates the shit. I wonder what's supposed to be scary about a over-powdered kid who makes irritating sounds for no rhyme or reason. He sounds like any young children i know. At least float around or do a 360 head rotation so that people will know you are supposed to be a ghost.

You can tell how much Toshio's mother loves him by the amount of baby powder she applies before he goes out haunting.

Dinner at Cafe Cartel with Alex (finished a Crispy Combo meant for 3 people) and we went for a walk around BP to digest the food and talked about our favourite Mushishi episodes (among other things). I'm surprised i forgot to tell him about the live action Mushishi movie that's coming out in March. However from comments that i've read about the initial screening at a film festival i think i shouldn't get my hopes up for the movie.

Joe Odagiri as Ginko.

Aoi Yuu as Tanyuu(from episode 20).

Anyway the stories that look to be covered (from the pictures) in the movie are Episode 3 "Tender Horns", Episode 7 "The Rain Falls, A Rainbow Forms" , Episode 12 "The One-Eyed Fish" and Episode 20 "A Sea of Brushes" from the anime. There might be more that are not revealed. I passed the entire anime series to Ee Wei and Gavin last time but i wonder if they have watched any of the episodes. I think i wasted 2 DVD-Rs.

Bought/borrowed the following shows in preparation for next week at work: "Way of Blue Sky", "Yamato", "About Love", "Umizaru" and "Umizaru 2: Test Of Trust (or Limit of Love)".

As Good As It Gets

Rode to camp today (new record of 36mins to camp!), took a bath and spent half an hour cleaning my bicycle. Opened up my PSP and dusted the insides as well. Went to the waiting area and watched 'Fearless' before going for lunch (Western thursday!) and then took a 45min nap before wiping my bicycle again. Movie for the afternoon slot was 'There's something about Mary'. I have never felt so ORDish till today. And of course the best part is the guilt of doing nothing at work is starting to fade away! I can hear SAF singing, "Na-na-na-na, Na-na-na-na, Hey Hey, Good bye!" already.

(Tomorrow, Movies@DMS will be screening, "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" and "Ju-On 2". Have to get more movies to entertain myself next week over the weekend.)

Mini-Movie-Marathon

I'm quite speechless how Ming Wei can continually liken this pic of Miyazaki Aoi to Ee Wei. Somehow or rather he managed to psycho Wee Kim to think so too but thankfully Wee Kim turned to the light after watching Aoi in "Nana". The most obvious difference is of course, Aoi is outrageously cute while to describe Ee Wei as 'cute' is like hacking a flea with a chainsaw...pure overkill. Unless Ming Wei somehow thinks that Ee Wei is kind of cute, then it would make some sort of sense..in a very brokeback kind of way. Brrr.. i think i better not board my mind on that train on thought for the sake of my sanity in branch.

Went on a mini movie marathon this past 2 days (as in half-a-half-marathon). First show i watched was Forbidden Siren 2 nights ago (VCD from VideoEZY). Wouldn't mind collecting this movie if i find it on DVD.

Movie Pros: Short movie (87mins), good pacing, made me jump more than Ju-On, nice plot twist at the end, Ichikawa Yui in a starring role, no noisy children like in Ju-on (cause the kid is dumb)
Movie Cons: Lots of Siren 2 references that are not explored/explained further, almost nothing to do with the game in fact except the island name and the siren, Ichikawa Yui tying back her hair to reveal her elfen ears, poor CG (see last scene)
Rating: 7.5/10

Watched 2 movies with Alex and my dad yesterday at West Mall and then Lot 1. Eng Wah tickets on PH cost $9.50 while Shaw cost $8.50. But i did find the screens at EW to be slightly clearer. First of yesterday double header was Ghost Rider.

Movie Pros: Movie started on time at 1710hrs.
Movie Cons: Plot (or lack of it), climax (lack of it), insanely pathetic villains (full of them); the demons most potent power is to darken/brighten up lamps and candles (i'm not kidding), draggy pacing, ridiculously overpowered protagonist (Pennace Stare -> GAME OVER), lame dialogue, the longest boss battle probably lasted as long as you took to read this paragraph, Blackheart not transforming to his winged form, Mephisto being threatened and cowering away from his own creation, Eva Mendes.

Rating: 1/10

Even the Ghost Rider game on my PSP has better plot than this show. And cooler boss battles. This just overtook 'Daredevil' on the bottom of my Marvel movie adaptations.

Last show of the day was "Just Follow Law", a Jack Neo film. Seems that every new year we get one movie from Mr Neo. The worst i've seen was "I do, I do" because of Sharon Au (note to Miss Au, asking for your autograph doesn't make me a 'fan') but generally i enjoy our local comedies. This was no exception. Singapore (Movie) Boleh!

Movie Pros: Fann Wong gropes her own breasts many times, satirical accurate potrait of office life (CC: Cover Ca-chng, BCC: Better Cover Ca-chng), made me laugh out loud more than a couple of times (esp. the chinese exorcist scene, "You want to up-size?")

Movie Cons: Fann Wong has not much breast to speak of (or to grope for that matter), Fann still needs to improve on her English (but still a fantastic improvement from last time), Jack Neo in another unfunny cameo (this time as a Doctor), the accident CG was so fake, not a show i would rewatch again (but enjoyable 1 time through)

Rating: 7/10

And concluding my movie marathon i watched 'Siren' and 'Nana' again today in camp while doing (unproductive) office work. I think everyone found Siren to be quite interesting as well. But i don't know why people keep asking me to tell them what is going to happen in the movie. Just watch the show finish first then discuss later la! Just because you want to know what is going to happen doesn't mean that those around want their movie to be spoiled as well, especially if they are not asking any questions. And it's not like the movie is going to stop playing half-way before the plot is revealed. For the record, i can't stand having any movie that i plan to watch/am watching to be spoiled. I think that rules out watching Saw III for me cause i overheard most of the plot (twist) already. But the worst case of spoilers was when we were watching "Shutter" on a LST, Kiat kept telling us "eh, the next part is very scary" and Matthew was like, "ooh, i can't watch this next scene!". Really, thanks for nothing... But 'Shutter' still managed to be quite scary even with the 2 spoileroos.

Saw this Death Note 1 and 2 movie box-set on YesAsia.com. Really hope they have a local release with English subtitles as well cause i would love to buy this DVD (Erika Toda as MisaMisa!). Some interesting Erika Sawajiri movies as well, .this and .this and .this movie starring Takeuchi Yuko that i wouldn't mind collecting as well.

Miyazaki Aoi vs Ichikawa Yui PART 2 (END?)

Went to Herbert's house for an evening of games (played GH2, DDR:SN, GT4 and WE8). Anyway i got sabohed because no one told me that they were going to eat out so i ended up ta-paoing my own dinner (MOS Burger) from West Mall before coming... So i was munching my burger and fries while walking out with them to eat when suddenly they decided to order Macs and turned back to the house. Haiz...Highlight of the evening was playing 4-man GH2 (me/wk vs mw/bert) and WE8 (same teams) but i didn't really like DDR:SN cause the score system rewards the player's accuracy more than their consecutive hits, which meant that my team kept losing even though we probably had a longer streak. Or maybe it was just me pulling Wee Kim down with my psychomotorness. Anyway i just dislike losing in video games so i'm just going to stay away from DDR (and also Guitar Freaks and Beatmania, basically any KONAMI rhythm games). And our favourite CFC was not present (not because Herbert didn't invite him) but cause he was on duty. Ee Wei i just want to say on behalf of everyone that we had alot of fun today! Too bad you couldn't join us. What a shame. Aww..

PSP GPS and MAPLUS Software: $160

While walking out from Herbert's house i tested my PSP GPS with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops 'GPS Scan' Mode, and suprise suprise! it managed to connect to the GPS. Came close (to connecting) at Tuas and elsewhere but this was the first time i got to see the game's GPS Scan in action. And it just so happened that on the road leading out there was a hotspot (but i got a sucky character). I assumed it would be easy once connected to locate a hotspot but on the taxi home i didn't pass through anymore. The closest hotspot that i passed was (presumably) somewhere in Matthew's condo area according to the zoomed out view of the GPS.

As promised (to Ee Wei) i am going to put up another comparison (part 1 is here) between Miyazaki Aoi and Ichikawa Yui. This time the theme is who is SEXIER. I think the result is pretty obvious (so i'm not going to name the obvious winner) and i'm not going to pretend to be blind or too biased. However if given a choice i would choose...Erika Toda. But overall between this 2 i still prefer Aoi.

Pretty hard to find comparable pictures because Aoi doesn't have many skimpy pictures (the opposite is true as well).

The CNY post that has almost nothing to do with CNY

As previously posted i went to rent 3 movies 'starring' Ichikawa Yui. I added ' ' because after watching the first of the 3, Ju-On: The Grudge, i have to say that she's more of an extra than a star of the show (a very hot extra if i might add). Not to be acting brave or anything, but i didn't find Ju-on scary at all. I like how my heart would jump when i got scared while playing the Fatal Frame (my favourite being FF 2) games but i didn't have any of that feeling throughout the show. As for the plot..well, what plot? To sum it in an equation, CURSE => DEATH. The movie just tells how everyone eventually kicks the bucket after being involved with the curse and being spooked by Kayako (woman with long dry hair, presumably drier than mine) and that irritating powdery kid. I was scratching my head at the end sequence wondering whether i missed some important twist or plot point somwhere but then i read online that that's all there it is to it. There's no point cracking my brain trying to find a deeper meaning into the show. The intention is just to entertain (good looking female cast) and frighten (failed miserably) the viewer. So plot wise and scares wise this movie was really disappointing. The only thing that made it interesting was how each character's mini-story intertwined with each other, with the chronological sequence of their meetings also jumbled up (a la Pulp Fiction). Interesting to follow the links between each chapter but ultimately pointless. Read that Ichikawa Yui has a bigger role in Ju-On 2 so i 'm hoping that will keep me entertained tomorrow night.

More like a 5 minute cameo than a real role.

Saw this picture (see below) of Zhang Ziyi from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which i'm going to rent after i return this batch of movies) and the first thing that came to mind was that she looks perfect to play the part of Ling Xiaoyu if ever a Tekken Liveaction movie is to be filmed. Granted that she's 28 years old while Xiaoyu is supposed to be an 18 years old schoolgirl, but Ziyi probably has the martial art background to pull the role off as well. All this is SUPPOSING a Tekken movie is to be shot. Just thought i'd offer my 5 cents on casting so that a Tekken Liveaction movie doesn't end up like the DOA movie. Movies like Fearless had fighters of different nationalities (speaking in their own language) coming together so why can't a fighting game to movie do the same?

Zhang Ziyi prepares to go into the Rain Dance Stance.

Since we're on the subject of movies, just want to highlight this article here, stating that Kojima will be producing a Metal Gear Solid movie! Can't help but be excited about this cause MGS is my all-time favourite video game series. Just hope that the essense of MGS won't be lost in the leap to the big screen, but with Kojima involved i doubt fans will be disappointed with the outcome. And to quote another source, "Sony Pictures' vice chairman Yair Landau announced the company is working on a movie version of Konami's Metal Gear Solid. In addition, Sony Pictures is also looking into a possible movie version of EverQuest." Glad to see that there will be more MGS even after this year's MGS4 which will conclude the series.

Went through the formality of house visiting today and i have to say i feel bad taking Hong Baos from people i don't know or remember. What can you expect if i only see some people once a year? I doubt most of them know who i am as well. The comment going around was that Brandon looks like Takeshi Kaneshiro (as you can see i have alot of blind relatives) with his long hair and i look very si wen (a polite way of saying i look bland or just bleah). Whatever. Anyway i'm already thinking which of the items on my wishlist i will be getting with my CNY money. Probably the Wii since i already pre-ordered it from Funz Centre. (~$400+). Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year to all! May the money we collect this CNY be more than our NSF monthly allowance!

Futureal

Just returned from a leisure ride with Alex. Lent Alex my MTB with a gel pad overlaid on the most comfortable seat in my house, but he still complained of groin (and back) pain. Can't blame him. Used to get that when i started riding after a long lay-off. Travelled through Mandai Road down to Upper Thomson Road and had supper (2 kosong, 1 kopi cino for me) at the Roti Prata House before heading down through Macritchie Reservoir and back down to Upper Bukit Timah Road to my house. Distance (as estimated by Brandon) was about 40+km. Quite impressed that he managed to cover such distance on a first ride. But he still can't beat Sufian's legendary cycling journey from Marsiling to my house to Changi Village..on a BMX.

I felt the pace that we did tonight was the sort of speed i would probably aim for when bike-touring Japan. 1 day cycling to a youth hostel, 1 day sight-seeing and vice-versa (something like guard-duty rotation). Ya i decided to plan a cycling trip through the whole of Japan instead of backpacking. Why? Cause i think it will be more meaningful and fun to do something like this before i start my working life. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that i don't want to miss while i'm still young. Been looking through this site to see some of the routes that i can take through the middle of Japan. Plan A would be to cycle through the middle, sent my bike back to Singapore and then backpack all the way back to my starting point down the coast this time. Plan B would be for me to chiong for my driving license, convert it to an international license, bring my bike over and rent a car and cycle around while driving from point to point. Easier said than done cause i haven't even taken my Basic Theory.

Anyway at this point i'm still very early in the planning stage. Will probably find some detailed maps, hostel information on the route, modify my MTB for touring and pick up my PSP GPS attachment (arrived 2 days ago!) and test it out etc. Have to really plan as i get closer to ORD if i want to make this trip possible. For the time being all i've bought is a bicycle rack attachment (centre and 2 side panels) to mount my luggage. Alex suggested that i blog on the way through Japan via my PSP (built-in Internet Browser) and take pictures via my PSP camera as i cycle through for a day by day update progress as i cycle. Oh yes, if anyone is interested (and available) to go through this tour with me please let me know. Plan to leave after July and be back before or during November (wintertime). Would love to see snow before i return.

Found this mini-series that Erika Toda also acts in titled "Division 1 Stage 8". Only 4 episodes in the series but too bad that there's no subtitles available. Airing date was 2004 so Erika was only 16 in the show. Have to say that she looks better as she gets older but she is still uber cute nonetheless in the show (after i skimmed through all 4 eps). Also starring with her are Horikita Maki (Nobuta in "Nobuta wo Produce"), Nakamura Ruria (some extra in "Attack No. 1" and the ugliest of the four) and Tokunaga Eri (same talent agency as Erika, never seen any of her other shows before). Hope someone releases some subs soon (though i doubt it cause it's a 2004 series) cause i can't understand shit on what the show is about, or maybe i'm just too distracted by Erika in a high school uniform.

Pretty. And cute. Or just pretty cute.

(L to R): Eri, Erika, Ruria and Maki.

PS: Ee Wei probably didn't realise this but Ichikawa Yui's birthday passed last Saturday. I noticed it last week but forgot to remind him about it. Saw "Siren" the movie in VideoEzy the other day. Will borrow it during the weekend to see how she acted in it. (Quote from Geek.com, "Its main star is the lead actress Ichikawa Yui, who is most noted for her roles in two of the "Ju-on: The Grudge" films.") Haven't seen either Ju-on so will try to find it as well.

DND!

Most people probably don't know this, but if there is one thing in life that i absolutely HATE (besides insects and play-doh) is to be disturbed when i'm sleeping, ESPECIALLY by trivial matters. It's alright if i'm on duty and it's there's an E-Case or when i'm going to be late for work. But i can distinctly remember 3 incidents where i was awaken and became damn irritated:

1) BMT; after returning from the range after midnight i just dozed off on my bed, only for some idiot to repeatedly poke me up 10mins later to just say "good night".. I literally screamed at him "WTF!". Brainless.
2) Some so-and-so waking me up during my lunch break (and it was pretty early into the break) to spend my entire break cleaning the office and listening to him bitch about how untidy everyone is. (The same so-and-so who would walk through 2 rooms to tell me to throw away a newspaper he found lying there instead of just throwing away the damn paper in the bin JUST BESIDE the newspaper. Worthless.)
3) Tonight while i was taking a nap cause i'm going night cycling. Then someone SMS'ed me. I present to you the following text exchange: (> = someone's message; < = my reply)
>"wat time you cycling to camp tml?"
<"before 830 reach lo". >"I noe la. I mean you will come wat time. got any...watever on tml?" (thought i answered his first qn..but maybe there's a misunderstanding so nevermind..)
<"got some medic meeting at 9" >"meeting for medics? by who?"
<"Edmund" (1 word reply cause i want badly to go back to sleep) >"He want to meet us?" (....i didn't reply after this, cause i just want to go back to sleep!)

In all fairness i'm not angry with him for this cause he has no idea that i'm taking a nap. Maybe i should have been more clear when i replied but anyway the bottom line is DND me when i'm taking a nap! I got really low tolerance and become super grumpy whenever this happens..

Burn(ed)out

Was peeing outside in the office toilet yesterday afternoon when the new storeman came up to the urinal beside me and peed on my shoe (!). Anyway if after he peed on my shoe he said sorry immediately i would have just shrugged it off and assumed i was just suay. Plus i would have a pretty funny story to tell everyone. But new guy just remained silent as if nothing had happened (and it was not just a drop or two on my shoe...it was a whole 'splatter' of pee). Anyway i still had a funny story to tell after the incident. Except the 'funny' part of the story is not how unlucky i am but what a weirdo the new guy is.

So anyway i circulated my tale of woe to people around me including Nigel who was his upperstudy. But didn't expect him to go and tell Michael Lee about it. So Michael Lee gave the new guy a ticking off and told him to go apologise to me which was, i felt pretty unneccesary since i hate forced apologies. If someone is really apologetic and sincere he doesn't need to be told to go say he is sorry. Anyway Herbert told me to go look for Nigel and new guy after lunch but i didn't want to. So out of the blue Nigel brought him to DMS to apologise to me. Sorry i don't appreciate the gesture at all. And the first thing he said was he can't recall whether it was me he peed on or not. (.....) I'm pretty speechless at this point so i just walk off to another room. Then Nigel brings him in again and he says he is sorry. I'm more curious to actually know why he peed on me so i asked and he tells me, "oh i misfire sometimes..". Okieeee....THANKS for the warning! I'll make sure he doesn't come beside me the next time i am at the urinal. Otherwise if he approaches i probably have to pull rank and ask him to pee somewhere else or after i'm done. But i feel pretty bad that Nigel had to also apologise on behalf of his understudy. I mean he was not at fault at all. Just want to tell him that i'm more shocked than angry that a 19+ year old guy can pee on someone else's shoe and have no reaction after that.

Rode 55km today (20 to work, 15 after lunch and 20 back home). Bad idea after such a long lay-off with the flu. Luckily Alex woke me up or else i would have slept till the morning. He came to return me some PS2 games i lent him for a chalet while on his evening walk. Think he should get a bicycle.. Me and Alex haven't had a walk cum singing session around Bukit Panjang for quite a long time. Quite miss that. Singing out loud shamelessly while walking is fun and we haven't caught up in a while. Had (another) 'big' dinner today after my ride: 8 BBQ chicken wings, 1 plate of white rice and 1 can of Campbell soup all to myself. No wonder i conked off. Hope i at least burned more (calories) than i took in..

Wanted to post just one more pic of Miyazaki Aoi. I think she looks really great in this shot from her website. And for the record Me, Matt, Nigel and Zhaoliang have chosen her as the cuter actress. On the other side of the ring is Mingwei and of course Ee Wei. The score (so far) is 4 to 2 to Aoi in case someone wants to keep track.

I don't think a Japanese actress would sign her name in English..

Miyazaki Aoi vs Ichikawa Yui PART 1

Before i get to the main topic of the post, just thought that i would share some of the pics taken during my last karaoke session with Andrew, Eugene, Nigel and Melvin. No Superstar contest this time but it was just as fun cause during the latter portion we were all quite into it and standing on the sofa and singing. And it seems to be an unspoken tradition to group-sing "朋友", "笨小孩" and "对面的女孩看过来" during a karaoke. At least that's what i notice.

Nigel struts his stuff..i mean his voice.

Not to be outdone..

Nigel does his best to come in between Melvin and Eugene's duet.

Caught the trailer for Nana 2 yesterday night (movie's been out for a few months i know..poor outdated me). I knew since long ago that Miyazaki Aoi was going to be replaced by Ichikawa Yui in her role as Komatsu 'Hachi' Nana. But only after seeing the trailer did i realise how irresitibly cute/well casted was Aoi in her role as Hachi. Of course to fully appreciate her acting you have to follow the NANA manga, anime and movie (which i have been doing). Ichikawa Yui is cute and sexy in her own rights that but she looks too 'bitchy' (for lack of a better word than 'slutty') to play Hachi. And she doesn't radiate the innocence, childishness and sweetness of Hachi as well.

Anyway Ee Wei took offense when i mentioned she looked more 'slutty' as Ichikawa Yui is one of his favourite bikini models actress. For the record i have yet to see her in a non-skimpily dressed picture online (not that i'm complaining mind you). But for the purpose of partialness i have found some pictures to compare the 2 actresses. Make your own mind up on who is more suited to play Hachi.

Komatsu 'Hachi' Nana (from the manga)

Comparison 1 (Left = Miyazaki Aoi; Right = Ichikawa Yui):

Scene from Nana (L) and Nana 2 (R)

Comparison 2:

With co-star Mika Nakashima.

Comparison 3:

Ok i couldn't get much screencaps from the movies. Anyway this is also from the movie press conference.

Just to add this in.. Nana 2 bombed compared to the first movie. Not to point any fingers but you can guess why.. Aoi ditched the 2nd movie to act in "Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru", again looking immeasurably (i ran out of suitable adjectives to precede the word 'cute') cute. And she's an '85'er too. Want to get this movie when it's DVD is released in March. Despite all i've said about Ichikawa Yui, i also want to get Nana 2's DVD when it's out, cause i love the series. And to be fair to Ee Wei, i'll do another comparison (PART 2) on 'Who is sexier?' between the 2, with pictures of course.

Miyazaki Aoi in Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru

How Many More Times

Just finished day 3 of my mini-soccer marathon. Played on Wednesday at NDU's basketball court, Thursday at Tuas (but only for 10mins cause got called back to man the phone) and today at Temasek Club (7pm to 11pm!). And this will be really stating the obvious, but i suck real bad at soccer. Day 1 i thought i was just rusty cause i had not played for a damn long time, but day 2 was equally bad and soccer today confirmed that i have lost whatever iota of skill i once had. It's not a question now of what i can do when i have the ball at my feet, but of when i will lose the ball eventually. But it was nice to meet up with Ken, Yong Quan (wonder if he has forgiven me for the GB incident...) Clarence, Siew Rong (thanks for always booking the court for us) and Ah Boon. Always fun to play soccer with them, especially at TC where the shower facilities are excellent. (Except tonight someone vomitted at the shower room entrance. And it stank of red wine. And it was damn gross) For most of the night i had Duo Teng, Sau Kit and Victor on my team so we still won 90% of the 4v4 matches played. But they could have just replaced me with any Tom Dick or Harry on the street and we would have still won anyway.

Had late dinner at Al-Ameen after the game. This is the first time Duo Teng did not manage to finish a jar of green chilli on his Nasi Goreng Kampung. I have also yet to see him order anything else but that as well. I really pigged out tonight, had a packet of roast chicken before soccer, and ate 1 plate of 5-star Hainanese white chicken rice while waiting for my 4 kosong pratas after soccer. On top of that i drank 1 can of 100plus, 1 cup of home-made barley, 1 teh-tarik ice and 1 Seasons ice lemon tea during the Al-Ameen trip. But hey! At least i didn't eat unhealthy fast food right? Actually i think in Singapore, mainstream food outside of fast food joints are just an unhealthy. So as long as i eat out i think i just increasing my cholestrol levels. Unless i eat just order porridge or some vegan dish. But I think my stomach must be feeling damn confused by all the rojak i mixed inside tonight. Hope my tummy doesn't get upset in the middle of the night.

Karaoke (again..) tomorrow night is set! This is like the 3rd time within the last 30 days i have been to a KTV. All 3 times with a different set of friends. Anyway i got my PSP all charged up and ready to record any singing we do tomorrow. Hope Matthew can make it cause i need someone to sing English songs with me. Anyway tomorrow we will be up against our NMS Talentine Winner Eugene. So must really try to knock him off his perch and stake our claim as the next NMS superstar..

Most likely i will be getting 2 new games this weekend at Funz Centre, "Battlestation Midway" and "Winning Eleven: PES 2007" for my X360. Yup, it's payday tonight and i want to spend it all! Even though i still have so many games i'm yet to complete at home. But i'm just greedy for new stuff i guess.

Crying in The Rain

Watched finished "Be With You" yesterday morning at 3AM. Very beautiful heartwarming show. I cried alot during the last few scenes till my nose got blocked again (still not 100% recovery from the flu). The pacing of the movie (1HR58MINS long) is steadily slow but i think it's appropriate for a drama. But if it were that similiar pace for an Action movie then i would just fall asleep. The ending song is "Hana" by Orange Range(whose only other song i know is "Asterisk" from "Bleach"). Maybe it was the momentum of the movie but i also shed a few tears when i read the lyrics (translated of course) of the song during the ending credits. It really captures the feelings of the movie's main characters. I went to find the song immediately after the show ended and it's been been repeating on my PSP ever since.


Hana Single Cover - Orange Range. Nice orange peels petal.

Also went to learn more Jay Chou songs by finding 2 of his albums Still Fantasy and November's Chopin. I dislike all his R&B songs in which he raps, he has a lazy way of slurring his words that just irritates me. His ballads however are very catchy and the lyrics are pretty good as well, but i'm probably a poor judge cause i hear only a little Mandarin songs.

I was looking for this movie "Sky High (2003)" but this morning when i checked my download it was actually this "Sky High (2005)". I'm trying to find "Sky High (2003)" because i like the director Ryuhei Kitamura. He directed "Azumi" (not "Azumi 2" which sucked) starring Aya Ueto and also "Versus" which i am trying to find so i can bring to office to screen during VA. He was also involved in directing the cutscenes of the remake "Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes" for the Gamecube. To me his trademark is making low budget action flicks look good and gory. Too bad i don't see many of his DVDs for sale in Singapore. I wouldn't mind collecting his shows. For the time being i don't know what to do with "Sky High (2005)" that's on my HDD. Should i take a risk and waste one and half hour of my life to watch an American High School Comedy or just delete it? Hmm...

Love Flies Away

Yay! Aston Villa will be sponsored by Nike from next year! This is a pleasant change from the Hummel jerseys i have been buying the past 3 seasons. I hope the price don't increase so much just because of the branding. I kinda like Hummel actually. Mainly cause it's fun to hum the 'Humm' in 'Hummel'. I hope we get a better sponsor next season as well. I don't like being a walking advertisement for an internet betting company's on my jersey.

After reading Ming Wei's blog, I realised that people will seldom talk about relationships in front or with me. I guess it's because the only relationship i can share about is that with my games and consoles (Tip#37: Long hours invested in a game doesn't neccessarily mean you will get a happy ending). I can also discuss fictional relationships that happen in Dramas, anime or videogames. I like love ballads with meaningful/sad lyrics. But when it comes to real love and problems i can't be really bothered listening, giving advice or sharing. Is that sad? Well to each his own. I get as much satisfaction and enjoyment doing what i like to do. Plus i think maintaining my 'relationships' is much, much easier.

And we finally took our branch's photo today. I'm just waiting to see how bad i will look in the photo. I think i'm terribly unphotogenic. Or maybe cause i actually look bad in real life and i don't notice it.

Made a poster last night that i'm gonna try to get signed by this year's Singapore AFC squad. I hope i didn't miss out anybody in the poster. I love making my own stuff to be signed. Anyone can get an autograph, but my poster + autographs will be one of a kind. I also have another one of a kind signed poster of the 2004 squad. But i have to say my design this year looks hell of a lot better than my previous design. Going to print it on A3 when i get the chance.

And by popular demand i decided to upload another karaoke video of everyone (but me) singing "Don't Cha". CPL Fan was especially enthu' during the 'Don't Cha!' part.

Monkey Wrench

Left office at 5:30pm and went cycling with my dad at Upper Pierce Resevoir. Cycling itself was uneventful, except that i suprised myself being able to push hard despite my bout of neverending flu. I had to spit out alot of phlegm while riding though. It seems anyway that the roads have been overrunned with monkeys waiting for some idiot(s) to feed them. It wouldn't be so bad if not for every damn monkey standing in the middle of the road and not budging till you are about 5 feet away from them. Then it's a matter of reacting to them dodging left/righto at the last minute and praying that i don't run one over. Actually i have no qualms about running over a monkey. Except that i would have to pay a fine. It's understandable if i ran over them while i was cycling in their forest but this is a freaking road! Shouldn't there be a grey area where i should be allowed to kill the bugger if he runs into my path all of a sudden? I can't rely on my spider-senses all the time to dodge every single last one of them on the road.

But what really irks me are the stupid idiots who feed the monkeys and cause them to gather on the roads waiting for more food. There was this stupid malay driver and family throwing bread to the monkeys as i was riding towards them. They stopped for a while and pretended to drive off when i approached but as soon as i passed they stopped and started throwing bread out again. Ok, maybe they didn't know that they shouldn't feed the monkey but wait! There's a bloody BIG POSTER (10 feet wide 4 feet tall) pitched right beside their car saying "DO NOT FEED THE MONKEYS!" (in 4 langauges). Anyway i quickly turned around and shouted "OEI!" and they quickly drove off again. For the record, the car license plate is SFV 2767 X. A blue Nissan Sunny. Next time i'm around there i will be sure to pay extra attention to spot this supremely inconsiderate idiot again. Maybe i should just find some coconuts and durian and throw them at his children's face when i see them. "I'M JUST FEEDING THEM WAT! There's no sign that says i can't feed your children".

Watched "Super Size Me" today. Ah Chew was trying to put across that i should cut down on fast food. Appreciate the thought. But why am i the only one being singled out? It's as if i am the only one in the branch who eats fast food. He should tell Ming Wei to cut down on food, period. Wee Kim needs to actually eat more fast food so he can gain some weight and so his body fat % will rise above mine (boasting rights). Herbert needs to drink more fluids cause he sweats (from his hands) so much. Ee Wei needs to stuff his mouth with food so that he will crap less (today i realised out that Straits Time actually censors the word c*ap) Anyway, I am actually actively but slowly trying to make my lifestyle more healthy:

1) I don't frequent fast food joints that often *no evidence to back this up, you have to take my word for it
2) When i remember i will take off the skin from my chicken
3) Cycling to work whenever i can
4) Less midnight raids to 7-11

That's all i can muster for the time being.. Vegetables are still a no-no. Oh ya, my mom touched my skin yesterday and said it felt like a 40 year old man (probably she used my father for comparison, but my father is 45...Hmm). So she gave me a bottle of "St Ives Intensive Healing Advanced Therapy Lotion" (it says on the bottle "FOR SEVERLY DRY SKIN" yikes!) to moisturise my skin. I have to admit that by comparison her skin is damn soft and smooth compared to mine, even though she's twice my age this year (44 x 22). Going to have to diligently apply this after baths and before sleeping.

Take That Thailand!

What a heart-stopping Finale to the 2006 AFC...Singapore looked like they were going to collaspe anytime under the Thai attack (match report) but somehow (as always) we managed to come back from an early goal down to defend our title as ASEAN Champions (1998, 2004, 2006 Winners!) I guess the turning point of an otherwise torrid match for Singapore was when Noh Rahman managed a superb last ditch block on the goal line to deny Thailand their 2nd goal (70+min). After that the Thai attack started to sizzle out and Singapore managed to get their foot back in the game, ending in a fantastic strike by supersub Khairul Amri in the 81 min. Wow, me and my dad nearly had a heart attack when Amri scored. But i think we were the only one in my whole street watching the match cause it was so quiet all around except for the both of us screaming our lungs out (alot of old folks living around our house..i think we might have woke some of them up). I think i shed some tears of joy while celebrating. I think Thailand mentally cracked after such a later hammer blow cause they seemed to just give up from that point on. Indra also did his part while on the bench to irritate the Thai players (earning himself a yellow card) by holding on to the ball and delaying play during the last couple of minutes.CONGRATS to Singapore..even though we had a bad game but we showed them 30,000 Thais our never-say-die spirit and deservedly defended our title. Really looking forward to the Lions victory parade in Orchard Road when they return. I'm already planning a new poster to get autographs from the team.

Met with Alex Wu (my best friend from BMT) yesterday for a drink and dinner to catch up. He shared this very funny YouTube clip with me (view here). If you have been following the news or forums you would have heard of this. Basically it's just some chinese guys going to an Indian (Halal) food shop and ordering pork as a prank. Hilarious stuff.

Borrowed 3 DVDs from Video EZY yesterday, Seven Swords (七劍), Be With You (いま、会いにゆきます, Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu) and Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. Watched about an hour and a half of Seven Swords and then stopped cause i couldn't handle how corny the movie was. And this is coming from someone who enjoys watching corny and B-list shows. The seven swordsman are so powerful that its not even cool when they manage to destroy the bad guy's fort of over a 1000 people. And all the villans always talk big about taking the head of the heroes but they are so weak compared to them i actually feel sorry for them. I was hoping that at least one of them will kill one of the hero in the first part but alas, no such luck. Unless the storyline starts twisting for the final hour of this show, i will probably rate this as one of the WORST asian movie i have ever watched. I have no idea what the reviewers on IMDB were talking about when they said it is a masterpiece. Bleah..

The 2nd DVD i skimmed through was Be With You (starring the lovely Yuko Takeuchi). I just watched the Trailer for the show under the Special Features and i already cried a whole bunch of tears. Better ready my tissue box(es) when i actually start to watch the main feature.

Be With You (いま、会いにゆきます, Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu)

How Do You Mend a Broken Voice(box)?

Went to PartyWorld at Park Hotel yesterday night after a super long day at work. Initially we booked a room for 10pm, which was then pushed to 10:30, then 11, then 11:30 and would have been pushed later had D.Law not dropped all 5 of us off in town in his Honda Jazz. Good thing that none of us are obese (like the many U/M screenees that came that evening). D.Law was worried that his car's suspension would spoil under our combined weight but i assured him i would help him zhng his suspension if that were to happen. And Ming Wei chose to wear his No.3 out to town and karaoke...I think he must really want people to know that he is a Navy CPL so for the remainder of this post i will refer to him as CPL Fan.

CPL Fan tries to maintain his professional image in his No.3 uniform while everyone else is busy making fools of themselves. Thankfully i am on the other side of the camera.

Our karaoke session started slowly cause i think everyone was a little shy about singing out loud. At first we booked the room for only 3 hours but when we neared the 3 hour mark we decided to extend another hour cause we were so into it. CPL Fan suggested that for a big finale we would all choose one song to go solo in the last half hour (after we all had lost whatever voice we had) to decide a "绝对SuperStar" winner. For the record no verdict was returned after the session (in fact no one was even designated as judges) so i don't know who won the contest. But anyway we took video of each of us singing so you can make your own decisions. Comments from myself about the singer below each link:

M01 - Ee Wei singing "一首简单的歌"
Ee Wei must have thought that the song title literally meant that the song was simple to sing. It sounds damn hard to me. Much like how he likes to fake people with his cock and bull story, throughout the night he was trying to fake us into singing the wrong key for every song that we duet-ed with him.

M02 - CPL Fan singing "我可以"
I think CPL Fan must have taken it to heart after D.Law warn him not to do anything to disgrace the Navy in his No.3 uniform as he sounds rather serious while singing this song.. If i am not wrong he chose this song 3 times tonight...Apologies to CPL Fan cause i kept mumbling in the video background.

M03 - Me singing "退后"
My voice is flatter than my tummy throughout. My chinese pronounciation is worse than rojak. My body movement is super stiff. Alot of the lyrics that i couldn't read i just mumbled through. This performance is so bad that Herbert had to ask "why no one clapped?" at the end. Ee Wei was trying to distract me by saying that Hebe act cute in the video but i think he pitied me after hearing my singing so he stopped his crap. Ok, i think i insulted myself enough.

M04 - Wee Kim singing "Only Love"
Wee Kim thought he would stand out to the judges better(if there were any) by choosing an English song while everyone sang Chinese songs. But i guess he didn't know that you were supposed to sing only Mandarin songs on ""绝对SuperStar"..Thus, automatic disqualification..

"M05 - Herbert singing "温柔"
Herbert can falsetto his voice into a range that i think i can reach by screaming when someone kicks me in the groin area, as evident by his truly entertaining rendition of "One Night in Beijing". He was supposed to be contestant M01 but he got saboh-ed by Wee Kim (paused his song) and CPL Fan (skipped his song and put him last instead) so i think that threw his rhythm of during the Finale.

I Need a Fix

Came back from the Singapore vs Thailand Finals yesterday night after midnight so i was too tired to write anything about the match. And judging from what i was reading from the papers/internet and hearing from everyone else, i think there's nothing new i can add to what's already been said, but i wholly agree that everyone involved in that facade should be fined and banned. Thailand next time if you want to stage a walk-out, for goodness sake do us a favour and have the balls to actually WALK OUT. Don't waste our bloody time. My compliments to Thailand No. 23 who was the only who was sporting enough to shake hands with our players after the final whistle. Not like the rest of his teammate who saw it fit to surround and harass the referee after the whistle for who knows what reason? You want to act tough and bully the referee at least do it during the match and earn your red cards like a man. I can only assume the referees in Thailand have NEVER made a wrong call and so Thailand didn't know how to react after one.

Can you spot all the losers in the picture?

"Their testicles shrunk after all the vehement booing from the crowd, the Thais meekly re-entered the pitch with their tails between their legs."

Our department is going to PartyWorld at Orchard tomorrow after screening the new U/M tomorrow to de-stress after a super tiring week of VA (I'm feeling shagged even though i did the least work..). I've been nursing (nursing as in still eating my regular junk food + some Panadol Cold) a cold/flu/sore throat since last Friday and it hasn't improved till tonight. Going to 2 matches at the National Stadium and screaming my lungs out probably wasn't the best track to a quick recovery. I hope i can squeak out some sound to sing tomorrow. Otherwise the rest of the KTV party are going to know the true meaning of Zhao Xia tomorrow night.. Oh yah, this would be the first time i will be going to a PartyWorld karaoke, so far have only patronised K-Box. Hope they have more variety of songs but i think i promised i would only sing Chinese songs tomorrow, so i guess i will be singing the usual 伍佰, 周華健 and 周杰倫 songs. Ee Wei passed me some 王力宏 songs just now so i will be trying to learn some new stuff to add to my (extremely) limited repertoire.

Tomorrow is also our department's long awaited/postponed photo-taking session! Weee! We were supposed to take from last week but only reminded again on Wednesday (when Ming Wei forgot his No.3) and then today (when *D. Law went AWOL when we were free to take the photo and we fell asleep and got caught by *Ah Chew for taking a well-deserved nap). Before we left today *D.Law told us to polish our boots tonight for the photo-taking. I am half expecting to witness the unveiling of some super-camera tomorrow that can capture how shiny our boots are during a photograph. I hope me and my Kiwi-shined boots won't be disappointed. And i hope i don't look too cock or too white in the photos this time.

* Not their real names. Duh..