Lucky Dog

Sheepish looking dog.

Yes i do so want to be that sheepish dog right now. Spent the evening adding on to my Erika Toda picture collection; i'm up to Erika Toda album 3 (100+ pics in an album) on my PSP now! WOW! How's that for a fulfilling evening?

Was planning to have an early night rest because i want to cycle to camp tomorrow but my dad was in a pesky mood and kept hanging around my room playing guitar the entire night till 1am. So much for 7 hour of rest...

Th3P-Law

Pain, Pleasure, Pointless. Any activity that i do in the SAF can be associated with at least one of these 3 Ps. Duty on a Saturday? Painful. Day off? A pleasure. Digging up my No.4, SBO and forced to go on a midnight route march? Painfully pointless. Usually i get some satisfaction out of completing a march, but asking me to go on one without carrying anything while everyone else has a MOP or field pack on just hurts my pride. To see Joseph and Jordan carry a field pack full of water bottles hurt me more than the post-march blisters on my heels.

Had a nice nap when i got home in the afternoon and watched finished H2. Maybe Ee Wei is right in saying i'm a sucker for 'friendship' drama because i really like this series. Especially when the (girl)friends look so hot. And i'll say it again: i really like the ending sequence and song by "Over" by K. Gonna start on Kurosagi tonight, another Ichikawa Yui drama.

Care to guess who Hiro ends up with in the end?

I'm very happy to discover that there's at least one more game i'm looking forward to on PS2: Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes, which is my favourite hack n slash title on any console. The HnS is so good that i don't mind not understanding a single word of the story (it's only in Japanese). Capcom is probably the publisher that i trust the most when it comes to quality game releases. Big news to me is that Kojuurou (Toshiyuki Morikawa, VA for Sephiroth, Kazuya Mishima) and Oichi (Noto Mamiko, VA for Yakumo (SR), Enma Ai) will be playable! PS2 is not dead yet!

This is how a special move should look like..Dynasty Warriors, eat your heart out!

3 games announced for PS3 looks really interesting to me, Brave Arms, Chain Limit and Second Season 01. Nice to see some original games and hope the reviews are good so i can justify getting a PS3. I will always be a Sony fan at heart but of course now my brain(and wallet) is on the X360 side.

Heard of Low Ji Wen? He's the Singapore National Cyclist who's going to France soon to begin professional training. (appeared in Strait Times a about a week ago). Well anyway after reading the article Brandon couldn't believe that anyone his age could be as strong as him in cycling (not exactly what he said but i just summarised what he actually intends to say) so somehow he got his email address and invited him to go for a ride with him this evening. I can tell from his expression when he came back that it was 'no kick' (summary). Me and my brother (and father) are pretty prideful when it comes to things we feel we are good at. And cycling is pretty much in my family's blood. (my elder brother happens to be a former national cyclist as well). I think Brandon intends to go overseas (France) to train as well. Well good luck to him.

Death to Common Sense

Looks like i'll be moving house soon! Went to see the new place that my dad bought for the first time just now. It's at Verde View which is just beside CCK stadium, so looks like i'll be supporting SAFFC from now on. Usually i'm not so keen on moving (cause i'm lazy) but i was promised (bribed actually) 2 things:

1) I'll be given the biggest room in the house (behind the master bedroom) all for myself because i have the most stuff (3 bicycles, TV, consoles, collectibles etc). Just have to be careful not to get killed by my 2 (always) jealous brothers when they find out the arrangement. Oh and i'll have freedom to renovate the room however i want. I'm thinking Japanese decor already, with tatami mats and all that stuff. Or maybe a hikikomori type of messy room.

2) The big 42" HDTV will be given to me! Woohoo! Because my dad feels i use it the most, which is so true. Anyway the living room TV is mostly used by my aunt to watch Channel 8 shows so it's a waste to put a HDTV outside. My room will be transformed into a gaming and entertainment utopia!

Only problem is that the house will only be handed over in June. So after renovations and etc, moving in and settling might carry over to late July/early August, which might mess up with my Ja-plan.

Helmet: $450
Jacket: $0 No idea how it got into my cupboard
Shirt: $10 From Church Musical
Jeans: $0 Hand-me-down from my brother
All dressed up and realising i have to take a shit: Priceless

Speaking of Ja-plan, i have half a mind to just fly over without any preparations at all. I'm confident that i can get through the whole journey and i will relish the challenge as well. The sane half of my mind tells me i will die not knowing the langauge or the route. Anyway i can't resist the first option cause it sounds like common sense is daring me to go without a plan. Hmm..which half should i listen to..?

A case of 'Glassy' Elbow

Started watching H2 last night at about 2am and couldn't stop till episode 4 (about 4+am already then). A interesting drama has to have either 1) good story, so-so cast or 2) so-so story, good cast. H2 falls under the latter description. Story revolves around baseball but it's mainly about friendship, love and rivalries, pretty average story, nothing to get emo about. But i really like the cast: they've got Takayuki Yamada who can pretty much carry any drama on his own(Taiyou no Uta, Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu), Ichikawa Yui (Forbidden Siren, Nana 2) and the adorable Ishihara Satomi (Nurse Aoi).

Satomi plays Haruka, the klutzy manager of Senkawa baseball club who loves baseball and falls in love with ace pitcher Hiro (Yamada), who's in love with childhood friend Hikari (Yui), who's the girlfriend of Hideo (Tanaka Koutaro) who just happens to be Hiro's best friend and baseball rival. Yup, it's a typical love quadrangle. Bottom line of the show is...Ishihara Satomi is extremely cute in her role, the same type of cute innocence as Hachi (Miyazaki Aoi) in Nana and steals the main female role from Yui without much effort. As for Yui, well... i regard her as the actress with a 1001 faces, cause she looks different from every camera angle. But one thing's for certain, she's got really pointy elvish ears ! (see 3rd pic below) Thought she could cover them with her hair but they just poke right through it.

If you're wondering why this baseball show is called H2, i'm guessing it has something to with how all the main character's name all start with 'H', Hiro, Haruka, Hikari and Hideo. Ending theme song ("Over" by K) and video is very nicely shot as well.

"Cheese!" Haruka (Satomi) and Hiro (Yamada)

That guilt-ridden face says it all.

I'm flattered by your compliment!

The most interesting news i found today was that Erika Toda will star in the manga to drama adaptation of 'Liar Game', which i personally haven't read but i've heard some comparisons of it to Death Note (battle of wits). I always like to enjoy manga to anime/drama adaptations (because i like to compare differences) but having Erika Toda play the lead character is a super bonus! To be aired in Japan starting April 14th! Now the only problem is should i read the manga before or after catching the drama..

And speaking of Erika Toda, found another short 1 episode drama starring her, Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshitachi. I have the entire 8-episode series (it's a series of 1 ep short story about girls in the city) and so far i've only watched the Aya Ueto episode. Not bad. There's Ishihara Satomi (H2) and Horikita Maki (Nobuta) in 2 of the other episodes as well. Anyway i just scanned through the episode and Erika looks fantastic with glasses!

Actually she would look good with anything on. (Erika from Season 2 ep 2)

Somehow i don't think she's receiving good news. (Satomi from Season 2 ep 1)

Slacking on the job. (Aya from Season 1 ep 1)

Another Saturday out of the way

Not a Saturday well spent because i just kept going back and forth between getting up and going to sleep the entire afternoon. Feeling very sickly and lethargic the entire day and my nose keeps leaking 'stuff' out.

Was bored so i popped in my Nana: Special Edition DVD into my player and watched the movie again but with the commentary on. The 3 people commenting on the movie are the director, Mika Nakashima and Miyazaki Aoi and there was some really amusing remarks they made. It's especially funny to hear them saying candid stuff during the emotional scenes. Really good stuff. Worth all $12.90.

Scene at Jackson's Hole (commenting):
Director: Hachi said something very insensitive to Shoji but she can't be blamed cause she's too cute.
Mika: (laughing) Yes, she's just too cute!

In Hachi's room (commenting):
Mika: I wasn't wearing socks in this scene at first but i remember someone saying, "I can see the soles of her feet" and "It's dirty"..
Director: Eh, someone said that? Was it me?
Aoi: (laughing) It was me..
Mika: It was you??

Ren calling Yasu after the Trapnest Concert
Yasu: (movie)If you don't want to see Nana, i'll take her.
Mika: (commenting) Yes! Please take me!

New show i picked up today was History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.

Shirahama Kenichi is awalys bullied by the classmates. One day, he sets out his mind to become strong, following an advice of a beautiful girl, Furinji Miu, he goes to a martial arts school. However, it was a tremendously hard school where the strongest martial arts masters teach... from Animenfo.com.

Saw the PS2 game about it in Gamewave and thought i would check out the anime. First 5 episodes were pretty funny and just what i needed to brighten my dreary day. Hope it doesn't get caught in the same old joke cycles (as many comedy animes tend to do) and i'm looking forward to some good fights in the later episodes.

Finally figured out where i've seen Yu Aoi (Alice in "Hana and Alice") before. She plays Hagumi in the Honey and Clover live action movie (old promo news) and also Tanyuu in Mushishi live action (old promo news). Ordered a movie with her in it (All About Lily Chou-Chou) as well as the Death Note Limited Edition Box Set (both movies in a box). And suprise suprise: Found that YesAsia has added Nana 2 movie onto its pre-order list. Expected release date is June 21 though. Hope a HK edition makes it out sooner.

Knew i seen her before somewhere..

Here's to a good Sunday and hopefully getting cured of my persistent sickness!

My poor aching butt cheek..

Had a nice ride today with W.Kim Wee who just bought a new hybrid from AMK Hub's NTUC. Rode him back to his house which is suprisingly near to AMK Central (i keep thinking that 'Hougang' sounds damn far east) and then rode back home. Haven't ridden my racer since Fraser Hill but today i definitely feel much fitter than before the trip. Even after reaching home my legs don't feel shagged. Only problem is i kind of pulled the muscle in my right butt cheek, most likely due to lack of proper stretching before setting off.

Seriously, these 2 are going to fight each other. (L: Nayuki Minase (Early morning version, Kanon) and R: Kanna (Air))

Downloaded Eternal Fighter Zero, a doujin versus game with characters from various Visual Novel games(read: H-games). All i can say is: It's too bloody cute! Characters from Kanon and Air are also in the roster. The moves that some of the girls pull are seriously funny and weird (if you've watched the anime) and i just got a good laugh trying everyone out.

One more reason NOT to get a PS3 (yet): Devil May Cry 4, previously always a PS2 exclusive is going to be released on X360 simultaneously with the PS3 version. I can see other big name games slowly losing their Sony exclusivity and coming to X360 in the future as well. Hopefully MGS4 as well! Unless PS3 has some killer apps coming soon or the Cell starts showing its potential i think Sony should start planning for the Next-Next-Gen now. I still prefer the PS controller over the Xbox anytime though.

I think it's time to retire the DVD player in office. Was watching 'Hana and Alice' today and it kept freezing in between. Couldn't even finish 1 disc even though we were completely Law-less today. Not the first new VCD to be given the freeze treatment. Anyway i brought most of my movies home to watch, because someone was giving all our ears 5-star crapping therapy yesterday about how we all owe him something for something that only he remembers. I think he would make a terrific ghost in Ju-on because he harbours grudges for so long. Oh well, just 2 more months before i'm promoted back to Mr Chin (no more CFC hooray!)...Carry on my wayward son!

And that reminds me...i have to start prepartations for Ja-plan (Japan Plan)! Besides getting a bicycle i have done absolutely zilch after that. Time to lift my one good butt cheek off my bed and do something..

Go My Way!

My 2nd YesAsia DVD shipment arrived today. I really prefer buying DVDs from overseas because everything just looks more professional than the local prints of movies. The price is about the same if not cheaper, there's a bigger catalogue to choose from. Anyway this delivery only took 6 days, which is damn fast for free shipping.

Of note among the DVD Su-ki-da (Korean edition) and i'm really impressed with the package i got. Subtitles (Korean, English and French) looks good when i scanned through the first chapter and it comes with some nice extras. Click on the pic below to see the stuff included.

Was playing IdolMaster last night and spotted an easter egg. If you've seen Nana the movie you will recognise the music store that Hachi goes into to buy Trapnest's album. Well the same background is used in IM and the bottom right you can see the Nana DVD on sale on the shelve.

IM is pretty fun. I chose to 'produce' Chihaya Kisaragi for my first idol but i later read that's she pretty hard to manage. I'm on the last 12 weeks of my 52 week idol cycle and i need 510k more fans to get the A-rank achievement. Don't think i'll get it this playthrough but now that i've more or less got the hang of the game mechanics i think it should be no problem for my next starlet.

Pre-audition grilling ala Singapore Idol.

I have trouble even talking to girls, how the hell do i motivate them?

Another Audition passed! Idol Rank UP!

Another audition failed...Time to use the sign-out and reload trick!

All for a chance to perform in front of a crowd.

Can you say "Star Power!" ?

The gist of the game is that you have to train your idol (Visual, Dance and Vocal stats) through mini-games and then guide her through auditions. If she makes it through she gets to perform (you can produce 5 singles for 1 idol initially) and you get more fans. Rinse and repeat. The hard part is managing the girls because all of them have very different temperament. Sort of like DOA Extreme 2. The bad thing is that i used up my 5th single about 10weeks too early so i've been stuck with hearing her perform 'Go My Way!' for the last 20+ weeks.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

Watched the last 2 episodes of Kanon last night. Kanon was originally a Japanese Visual Novel by Key, which also produced Air. Both these anime adaptations really made me cry alot. For some reason i tend to get more emotionally attached to animes than dramas or movies. From my Air anime experience i was already preparing myself to be emotionally scarred at the end but thank goodness it was a bittersweet ending. I can honestly say i have never been so glad to see a 'happy' ending before. Both Air and Kanon are very good dating-sim animes but i still prefer Air because the ending was so sad i remember not being able to sleep after finshing it.

Yuichi Aizawa returns to this city after seven years. In his childhood, he often visited it, but something happened in the past which caused him to block out his memories of the events of seven years ago. On the day after he gets settled in, he meets a girl carrying a backpack with wings on it. Her name is Tsukimiya Ayu and he begins to recall the memories he had lost. - from Animenfo.com

I'm looking forward to Clannad, the latest adapation of a Key visual novel. The teaser trailer was aired after the ending credits of Kanon and release is sometime in October '07. Maybe i can catch it airing while i'm in Japan.

L to R: Ninomiya Kazunari as Asai Shouhei, Yamashita Tomohisa as Iwasaki Kengo, Narimiya Hiroki as Udagawa Hayato and Oguri Shun as Enami Kouji

Screenshot from Stand Up (ep1)! I'm downloading the series in English to rewatch again and so far only Episode 1 is done (it's @ low priority). Maybe i enjoy this series so much because it's damn funny and i can empathise with the plight of the 4 main characters. It's similar to movies like 'The 40-year old Virgin' and 'American Pie'.

The 2 standout actors from the 4 are Ninomiya Kazunari (Saigo from 'Letters from Iwo Jima') because he has the 'Ben Stiller' comedy aura, in that he has a very blur face and somehow all the unlucky things always happen to him; Narimiya Hiroki (Nobu from 'Nana'), pretty one-dimensional actor so far but he's gifted with the joker look and plays the part of the village idiot (fig.) all too well in both Nana and this series. Herbert gets a crack out of seeing him everytime.

Anne Suzuki as Oowada Chie

The main female lead is played by Anne Suzuki (Natsuki from 'Initial D') who looks terribly plain and homely. Everytime she appears Jay Chou's 一路向北 starts humming in my mind. Anyway she plays her role very well. If she looked too pretty all the 4 guys would be chasing after her instead.

If i have to compare myself to one of them i think i would be Enami Kouji (Oguri Shun) because i have difficulty conversing with girls i like. Sadly he grows out of it by the end of the show, i have not.

Update: Got my hands on God of War 2! I know how i'm gonna burn my free time this week at home and on Friday's duty.

Into the valley of death marched the 300

1800-pacs on display. (300 * 6-pacs)

In case you haven't guessed by now, i went to watch '300' last night with Alex and Gerald at Lot 1. This could very well have been a movie about Singapore and our SAF. Hopelessly outnumbered (300 to 100,000++), 300 of SAF's finest regulars go to war and make their last stand against the invading army. Back in parliament after their inevitable defeat, a voice sounds out, "Send out the NSmen!" and all of a sudden there is a huge reserve of soldiers ready to continue fighting the war. Ok, just replace all the terms above with the ancient Greek equivalent and you will get what the movie is all about.

I went into the movie expecting that the 300 Spartans would win (it is a movie after all) but alas it was not to be. After the show Alex informed me that it is actually (loosely) based on a true event in history called "The Battle of Thermopylae". Anyway the fight sequences in the movie was fantastic (comparable to Troy) but the nude and sex scenes were pretty needless and could have been omitted without affecting the story at all. I hope they make a 'clean' version of the movie (without the sex) so that i can buy it to watch at home.

The wiki about the movie (here) is pretty informative and interesting and the most incredible fact to me was that the movie was shot in 60 days. Anyway if you're above 18 (and i'm sure everyone i know is) and are a sucker for cool sword fights and violence then don't miss this movie.

Took some pics of people i know who particiated in the Singapore Biathlon yesterday morning. Nothing particularly interesting because i was stuck at my Satellite Post. It's pretty hard to focus on photography when i'm busy acting like a cover medic. Anyway thank goodness our post was quiet. All we had to deal with was heat-spraying some cramps. You can check out the full Biathlon gallery here.

Teo and Phar in front of Ogre Castle.

Sierra 2. AKA the forgotten post.

EW: "If i act cool maybe she will turn around and notice me."

"(Yes!)"

Thanks to some incredible download speeds over the past few days i pretty much emptied my download list. So i went to DramaWiki to add some new series today. Added Stand Up, H2, Orange Days, Kurosagi, Tokyo Friends, Hero, Hotman 1 and 2, Cheap Love and My Boss My Hero. Some of the series i already own on VCD but i prefer to watch them with English subtitles.

Download Limit Break

Singnet must be paying me back the 1 week of internet they stole from me by giving me more bandwidth. Downloaded 5GB+ of stuff today alone.

I added a tagboard from Tag-Board.com on the sidebar as introduced by Rong Ming. Feel free to anoyomously insult me.

Fraser Hill Picture Tour

I am OFFICIALLY back online at home! Don't want to write much after my last lengthy post so i'll post the pics from my holiday at Fraser. Pictures are reduced in quality (a mix from my DSLR and Brandon's Digi-cam) so don't judge the cameras from this shots.

Stoned...setting out for our trip at 4am..

Breakfast at Melaka. The shop owners still remember us even though we haven't there in a long time.

Fraser is made up of climbs like these.. The corners are especially steep.

Went for our first uphill session after resting an hour upon arrival.

Some bugger disturbing my sleep..Grr!

2nd day morning ride with my mom on her folding bike. The uphills claimed her legs after 8km.

The killer last 9km up to the town. You can't see my expression but i'm really suffering here.

This (generic) picture sums up my agony after every ride.

Homeward bound. The hat looks snazzy.

That about sums my trip up. Some guy called me (again) from Australia today, obviously he doesn't care about international phone charges but it was quite worthwhile because Bernard somehow picked up an Aussie slang (in half a month) so it was pretty amusing. Good thing it wasn't more work but just a check-up on our status in office.

Finished watching 'Stand Up!!' with Herbert in office yesterday. Really hilarious show. Usually i'll be raving about cute actresses but this time the 4 guys really stole the show. Pics and thoughts on the 4 stars next post.

Out of the Ashes...

>Introduction
>Post-Chapter 1: Where i bitch about Singnet and admit how sexist i am
>Post-Chapter 2: Where i try to muster your sympathy for my sufferings up Fraser Hill
>Post-Chapter 3: Where i boast about new stuff that i bought this week
>Post-Chapter 4: Where i try to get you to watch what i think is interesting
>Post-Chapter 5: Where i write on games i don't own on consoles that you probably don't have

Introduction
WARNING!! THIS IS AN ETERNALLY LONG POST..SO LONG THAT I HAVE TO DIVIDE IT INTO CHAPTERS. AND (FAINT..) THERE ARE CLOSE TO ZERO PICTURES!

Post-Chapter 1:
FINALLY...After a record 5 days without access to the Internet i am finally back online so that i can get myself in touch with the world outside of the newspaper. I wouldn't be in this predicament if it wasn't for Singnet's extremely lousy broadband link and customer service (7 days to the earliest appointment to fix my line..).

True story: I called Singnet's helpdesk last Thursday and a woman 'technician' picked up the phone. I was already feeling a little sceptical (because you can't trust women with tech stuff) about whether she could help me so i described to her how my ADSL light kept blinking. Her immediate response (midway through my sentence no less) was "Oh, that means your modem is spoiled!". Her answer left me in a 50-50 state; one half was groaning at the cluelessness of the girl on the phone and the other rejoicing that i was proven right in my prejudice. (FHI, the ADSL signals blinks when the modem can't detect a DSL signal in the phoneline and remains lit when the connection is established. And just because i LOVE to be proven correct, i tested the line (used new phone cables as well as different DSL phone jacks in my house) with my 2 other modems and guess what? All the ADSL lights were blinking.) Anyway i gave her my explanation above and asked politely that she have someone come to check the lines. I called Singnet again on Sunday as well and this time a guy tech immediately concluded that the fault was the phone lines.

So bottom line is, Singnet's broadband reliability sucks. The outage this time coincidentally happened a night after my previous post 'Singnet Sucks!' was posted. Hmm... I would suspect a conspiracy but after my experience with them i can assure myself that they are too lazy to bother to do such a thing.

Post-Chapter 2:
I was gonna post details before a cycling trip with my family to Fraser Hill last Friday to Sunday but if you had read PC-1 above you would have known why i couldn't. I thought that i was fit enough for some uphill cycling but boy was i wrong. Fraser Hill (it's more of a mountain than a hill) consists of 2 notable sections, the gradual climb (about ~26km) up to the Gap from the main road and the "short ascent" (all 9km of it) from the Gap to Fraser. Too bad the site doesn't mention what a killer the last 9km are. It's the type of gradient that you can't find in Singapore (having been up Bt Timah Hill and Mt Faber) and it's also damn bloody long. I'm actually quite proud to say that i did not resort to pushing my bicycle up.

If you haven't been to Fraser Hill, all i can say that it's small, peaceful, cooling, has beautiful scenery and flowers, and also totally devoid of any type of life or entertainment. The only way to enjoy (or torture) yourself would be to bring a bicycle up or if you like golf there is a beautiful course up there. I want to post some pictures of my trip but it'll have to wait till i get my home internet up and running.

Post-Chapter 3:
First up would be my new DSLR camera which i bought primarily to bring with me to Japan. Bought it on day 1 of the IT show (Thursday) cause i wanted to test it on my Fraser Hill trip (CP-2). Confession: I'm an absolute noob when it comes to cameras. I contacted Matthew Chuah (whom i haven't spoken to in 7 odd years) and Ah Chua to ask for some recommendations cause i know they have some expertise on this matter and both recommended the entry-level Nikon D50 for a newbie like me. Anyway the D50 has been out of production for some time so i went to the IT show and went for the best deal, which to me was the Olympus E-500. (review here and here)



Price was well within my budget of 2K ($1,199) and it came bundled with an extra lens (40-150mm) on top of the kit lens (15-45mm), 2 X 2 GB CF card, tripod, lens cleaning kit, bagpack w/camera compartments and some other extras. Well i read the reviews of it only today but it looks pretty well-rated for its price range. And i'm happy with the performance and also the ease of use of it. I even taught Brandon how to adjust and shoot with it pretty quickly. Took 500+ shots (w/o flash) with it in Malaysia and the battery indicator still showed over 50%. Might get an extra battery pack before my trip.

Bought some more DVDs from YesAsia.com today. Synesthesia, The Twilight Samurai, Confession Of Pain and Su-ki-da (Limited Edition). I haven't watched the DVDs from my previous order yet but i'll post my comments if they're any good.

Lastly i bought Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 for X360 from Funz Centre which moved to the new AMK hub. Haven't played GRAW 1 before but i've only heard good stuff about the game from the net and friends. Gamespot rates it better than the original GRAW but nowadays i'm apprehensive whenever reviews say the best part is to be found online. Xbox Live was fun for the first few weeks but now...it's just a novelty. Give me a good story-based game anyday. Furthermore i don't have any close friends who has the X360 and the same games as me. So i end up selling my games once i'm done with the story and after dabbling online for a few rounds. That's the same gripes i have about MMORPGs.

Post-Chapter 4:


Watching 2 'new' series, Egao no Hosoku which i have not got much to write about since i only managed to dl the first 2 episodes before my internet died. It stars Takeuchi Yuko (i always enjoy her shows) and Abe Hiroshi" (Hero).

2nd show is Stand Up!! which Joseph Wong kindly lent me. Easily one of the funniest dramas i've seen so far (up to ep 7 of 11). The story is about 4 childhood friends who find themselves the last virgins left in school. So during summer vacation, the 4 of them try their best to get laid. Standing in their way is their too conservative parents, lack of experience with girls and their reputations as virgins. There's Shouhei who probably the most normal, except he's deeply in love with his English teacher and often fantasizes of her in her lingerie; KenKen, who is extremely faithful to his girlfriend, except her priority is getting into Tokyo University before getting into bed with him; Hayato, the self-proclaimed Ero-King (he can identify an AV actress's from hearing her moan) who's just a plain loser and finally Kouji, the soccer captain who's too shy to even talk to girls. There's some good (but predictable) jokes and slapstick but the cast is good and the entire show very enjoyable. Screenshots after i get back online at home.

Post-Chapter 5:
God of War 2!. The Gamespot review makes it sound really awesome. After reading it i'm pretty sure it won't disappoint like other sequels (ahem, Guitar Hero 2 and Devil May Cry 2). Really looking forward to this.

End of the month will see the release of DDR: Universe and possibly Guitar Hero 2 for X360 as well. Abit torn between the 2 because i never owned a DDR (w/mat) before but i definitely like GH2 better than it. Hope i have enough money at month's end to get both with the accessories as well.

STUPID SINGNET!

Finally got around to hard-subbing Gal Circle. Did it once previously but i didn't like the Divx quality of the re-encode (used VirtualDub with filters). So after testing many different codecs i decided upon Xvid because of its video file size-to-image quality ratio. Think i'll rewatch Gal Circle again cause it's in English this time round.



No prizes for guessing why i'm watching it again.

Saw 3 movies the past few days, first would be 'Letters From Iwo Jima', or as Sau Kit calls it, 'Letters from 1WO Jima'. When i told Peng Xiang that we were going to watch '1WO Jima' i thought he would know that i was mocking Sau Kit but turns out he is another bodoh. He went to the ticket counter at EW West Mall and asked for tickets to 'that 1WO show'. I had to step in quickly and correct him. That auntie behind the counter tried to act smart by telling me it is pronounced EYE-woh instead of EE-woh but i'm 100% sure my pronouciation is correct. Movie was slow paced but i liked it (i'm sure MW will hate it). It's a complimentary film (from the Japanese perspective) to 'Flags of our Fathers' which i haven't seen, both films were directed by Clint Eastwood. Rating: 9/10

Ken Watanabe (Right w/binoculars) as General Kuribayashi

2nd show i watched was 'About Love' which is basically 3 short stories about love (duh!) short by 3 different directors in 3 different locations (Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai) that has to do with breaking cultural and langauge differences. All 3 pairings are played by a Japanese and a Chinese actor/actress. And suprise suprise! Ichikawa Yui pops up as a minor character in the first story! Didn't expect to see her in this movie. Besides her the only other people i recognise were Misaki Ito (Densha Otoko, YUA, Ju-On etc) and Takashi Tsukamoto (Battle Royale, Midnight Sun). But i thought that Chen Bolin was pretty good-looking, and he rides a bicycle as well! Gonna get a jacket/long pants combo like him to cycle around Japan. Movie was light-hearted, nothing mushy or to cry about but i enjoyed it. Rating: 7/10

Story 1: Tokyo

Story 2: Taipei (suckiest of the 3)

Story 3: Shanghai

Last movie was "Midnight Sun" which is basically the movie version of Taiyou no Uta (see post below). Even the characters names are exactly the same in both versions. The story however has quite a few changes (Koji can't play the guitar, for example) but all in all i was pretty disappointed with this version. I preferred Erika Sawajiri over Yui as Kaoru Amane. Erika's insert songs ('Stay With Me' and 'Taiyou no Uta') i found to be more catchy then Yui's ('It's Happy Line', 'Good-bye Days' and 'Skyline'). It uses less Engrish as well. The story is far too simplistic as well and even though it's a 2 hour movie alot of the screen time is wasted on awkward silences and unneccesary camera panning. It fails to have the same impact on me as the drama. Would i be feeling the same if i had watched the movie and then the series? I honestly don't know. I loved 'Be With You' the movie but i'm a bit apprehensive about picking up the same drama series with different actors. It doesn't help that Takeuchi Yuko is one of my favourite actresses as well. Anyway i would highly recommend the drama for Taiyou no Uta over the movie but if you do want to catch both, then watch the movie first so you won't be so disappointed. Rating: 6/10

And i want to add that this is probably the most annoying post i have ever had to write because i kept getting D/C while i was searching for URLs and uploading pics. Singnet is fast when everything's normal but more often than not there's alot of problems with the connection. I want to say that the grass is greener on the other side (Starhub) but i bet many cable users have their own complains as well.

New Stuff (Again)

Went out after work to Sim Lim Square on Friday with Bernard. Picked up 2x512MB RAM (for $128) for my PC. Now it's up to 2GB of RAM! And the difference? Well honestly, i don't see any difference after running some memory intensive programs (VirtualDub + VLC + BitComet + PSP Video 9). Still slow despite the RAM boost. Maybe it's because of my processor.




Also bought a new Samsung DVD-RW ($69) that can burn DVD-RAM and DVD-9 as well. Bought it caused my old DVD-RW was a bit (actually there's nothing wrong with it except it can't read my Tekken 5 DVD) screwy. But i was quite happy that i actually managed to install the drive myself. I may be an IT student but i have no experience doing DIY on computers.




Last thing i bought was the Taiyou No Uta (Midnight Sun) movie DVD ($21.90). It's the exact same story as the drama Taiyou no Uta (starring Erika Sawajiri) but the cast is different. Acting as Kaoru Amane in the movie version is singerYUI. Haven't heard any of her songs before but she should be a better singer than Erika, not to say that Erika's 2 songs in the drama ('Stay With Me' and 'Taiyou no Uta') were bad. I liked them alot actually.


Also saw Synesthesia starring Miyazaki Aoi on sale in the same shop but it was a bit pricey ($29.90) and i had already overspent for that day. I remembered that the same edition online was cheaper so if i decide to buy it i will order from YesAsia.com as well. (free shipping too)