gift of the gripe

Gripe of the gift

2009-07-22T23:33:00.005+08:00

Recently i tried selling a couple of PS3 games i had completed and listed them on a forum. Among them was a game (Killzone 2) that Mabeline had bought for me sometime this year as a gift (i completely forgot it was a gift when i posted). Someone wanted to deal for the game but a day before we were supposed to meet, i happened to mention to Mabs that i was meeting someone who wanted to buy it. Her reaction was along the lines of 'huh? you're selling the game i bought you?' I then decided to cancel the deal and keep the game.

On my birthday, Mom and Brandon also got me a PS3 game (Ghostbusters) which i also completed and posted along with another game in the same forum. Just yesterday someone bought the game from me for $52 and when i saw Brandon today i gave him the cash.

His reaction was 'You sold my present?' I rationalized aloud that i had completed it and selling it was better than letting it collecting dust at home, to which his reply was you wouldn't sell a birthday present like you wouldn't sell a birthday card. I gave him the first answer that came to mind: It's different cause no one would want to buy mine(your) birthday card. But this incident got me thinking.

So it is wrong to sell a present? I never really had a firm stance on this, but i feel that if you give a gift to someone and then think its wrong for that person to give/sell/throw your gift away, can i suggest that in the first place, you have never actually fully given it away? Gifts (like Love) should not have Terms and Conditions attached to it. It's unconditional.

I can't expect everyone to understand or take my position on this, but i guess that will be how i treat any thing i give away from now on. Feel free to sell, throw, burn etc anything i give you. I don't mind. I shouldn't. It's all yours to do whatever you wish with it. Having said that i should also be more mindful and sensitive to dealing with gifts received.

Kobe Bryant Asia Tour 2009

2009-07-17T00:06:00.007+08:00

Yesterday morning i went to Wisma Atria early to queue for tickets to Kobe Bryant's Asia Tour next wednesday at the Indoor Stadium. Kobe Bryant is one of my heroes since i started watching the NBA from his rookie year. I reached Wisma at about 9:50am and managed to collect the tickets only at 12:30pm.

This is the view from somewhere in the middle of the line. I was the 457th person in line (someone came and counted).

This aunty (red top in the middle) joined the queue. She then took out a phone and called someone and said something along the lines of 'there's lots of people lining up here!' and that she just joined the line. She obviously didn't know what she was lining up for cause i caught her asking someone beside her after her phone call what the queue was for.

As the saying goes, you can't keep an aunty from a good queue. To her credit she stuck to the queue for over 2 hours to get the tickets.

This is what the tickets look like. The ticket holder is pretty nice and would make a good place to get an autograph, even though there's already a fascimile sig on it.

Dreams are my reality

2009-07-12T06:51:00.003+08:00

I told Mabeline last almost a year ago that my (then) latest dream was to marry her. Now that that dream of mine is so near to fulfillment, im starting to think about what should my new dream or goal be and what it means to have
a dream. I am a very goal oriented person (see my incurable obsession with PS3 trophies) and i know having one will help give me some drive in life, something i am sorely missing now.

I told Mabs the other day that i am at a very contented stage of life. My proof? If you tell me i can have anything in the world for free now, i can honestly tell you that i cannot name anything. And call me a pessimist but that to me is a very dangerous stage to be in. It means i am content to just stay where i am. This would be a no issue if i was say, nearing 50 but im halfway short of that.

Speaking of dreams, i realised after just waking from a weird dream this morning that since the early months of my relationship with Mabeline, i have ceased having dreams (the sleeping kind) involving her. (Hence, this post title.)

PS I seriously need to change my theme and layout. Everything on here is so 2-year ago-ish.
Yes Alex the book you gave me did cross my mind as i was writing this.

Sword down the throat

2008-06-03T18:27:00.002+08:00

For the past month or so, i've been stuck with this persistent cough/sore throat/phelgm combination that just can't seem to go away. It feels like there's 'something' clogging my windpipe. I've been trying everything to the extent of near-self-induced-vomitting to try and force it out. Maybe it's time to put something long down my throat and yank it out.... Not a sword of course, maybe a long spoon?

$0.00

2008-04-17T23:17:00.003+08:00

One of the more amusing moments of my year:

Yes, i was dead broke.

Crazy, but that's how it goes..

2008-03-17T22:49:00.005+08:00

Things that i would love to do/experience once in my lifetime:

1. Find a 4-leaf clover
2. Fall into a coma (and not die from it)
3. Faint
4. Walk till both my legs cannot walk anymore
5. Feed a wild Great White Shark

And "Green Grass and High Tides" by the Outlaws is the new "Freebird" in Rock Band, in case you haven't heard:

Damn, how much longer do I have to wait to play Rock Band?? I so want to sing this song...

Looking to the sky to save me

2007-12-31T20:17:00.000+08:00

Just like the west and the chinese have their astrology and horoscopes, the Japanese have their own system of predicting a person's personality, temperament, and compatibility with others through their blood type.

Japanese Blood Type Personality Chart

Type A
Best Traits:
Earnest, creative, sensible.
Worst Traits:
Fastidious, overearnest.
Type B
Best Traits:
Wild, a doer, cheerful.
Worst Traits:
Selfish, irresponsible.
Type AB
Best Traits:
Cool, controlled, rational.
Worst Traits:
Critical, indecisive.
Type O
Best Traits:
Agreeable, sociable, an optimist.
Worst Traits:
Vain, careless.

Its application are quite evident in the anime and gaming circle as blood types are often tied down to a particular character's stereotype. Well I've never believed in any of this tripe and especially not now when Type O is listed as being 'sociable'. Pfft!

Won't die if you don't try

2007-12-02T14:55:00.000+08:00

For that wickedly explosive taste, try some Afghanistan Pomen-grenades! Only 49cents/100grams!

Just walking through the supermarket today made me realise how many fruits and vegetables i have never tasted before. Off the top of my head, i have never tried eggplants, zucchini, persimmons, those bombs pictured above etc before. Makes me realise how swakoo i am.

But am i really missing alot in terms of taste? Even if eggplants became extinct(?), I'm sure i won't look back and think, "Man, i should have tried them when i had the chance!"

Guitar Hero 3 Hands On @ Tokyo Game Show 2007

2007-09-24T00:45:00.000+08:00

I don't think this post would fit in to my other blog despite it being in Japan, but here is my hands-on opinion on Guitar Hero 3 (which i tried on the PS3 cos Microsoft did not bring it to TGS):

Songs Played:

- Welcome to The Jungle - GnR (Hard)
Nothing tricky on Hard, nothing special as well. This would be a cinch on controller for me.

- School's Out - Alice Cooper (Expert)
Looks to be an early tier song in the mould of (a lesser) Monkey Wrench. Lots of repetitive chords. I like it.

- Lay Down - Priestess (Hard)
Catchy metal song. I had a pro-face off with a member of Activision GH3 production team but lost.. In my defense, he obviously knew the song better and the 2nd verse and beyond i hardly missed a note. In fact, i perfected the solo. Not hard on Hard.

- Cult of Personality - Living Color (Expert)
Verse is fairly simple. Caught the riff quite easily but always messed up on the 3-note chords. Solo on the other hand..wow, looks like an easy fail for me without SP! It's not a Jordan, much more organised but its fast and you got to do a lot of finger-climbing on the keys to hit it.

Songs i saw people playing:

- Various songs on Medium:
Just want to say that Medium seems to be bumped up a little bit. It's still not hard but there's a lot more tricky bits in the way so a 100% won't be as easy.

- Knights of Cydonia - Muse (Hard)
This looks a little harder. Some fast passages a la Misirlou that will surely break my streak.

Some other tidbits i got from the Activision guy; game is coming out end-October; he was really quite proud of the improved strum bar which is less clickety-clack and more cushioned at the end, frankly i used the clicks to count my beats so i'm not as enthusiastic as he was; asked about TFaF and he said it was not on this demo, but Knights of Cydonia and Cult of Personality on Expert are as close as he can describe it; wireless guitar+Sony Full-HD TV = major synching lag!; he says there are 70 songs in the game; maybe it was a new guitar but the keys felt really firm.

I can't wait for this to come out. Will be a really good present when i arrive back in Singapore!

Be Still my Beating Heart...

2007-08-16T00:36:00.000+08:00

When i was younger, i used to be terrified of the dark. Then i outgrew that fear. Then i used to get homesick very often. I cried after spending 1 month in Australia cause i was homesick. I felt lousy during my entire BMT (my favourite song was '1 more day to BOOK OUT DAY!..")because i was homesick.

And tomorrow i'm going to embark on the longest trip overseas (solo or family) i have ever undertaken and now, the night before, thank goodness i seem to have lost that 'warm' fuzzy feeling of homesickness. That might change during the trip but i'm determined, barring disabilities, fatalities etc, to complete my trip (up till Nov 14th) before returning.

As expected, i'm much too excited to sleep the night before i fly off. So i got to updating both my blogs. I still havent decided whether to update this blog while i'm in Japan, so don't be suprised if this remains as my last post till sometime November.

Anyway, for those not in the know, PLEASE BOOKMARK:

http://japancyclingtrip.blogspot.com/
(MY CYCLING TRIP BLOG)
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabrielchin/
(WHERE I'LL UPLOAD ALL MY PHOTOS)
(register as a FLICKR member (free) and add me 'shdw_mss[at]hotmail.com' to be added as a friend)

Again, if you're not in the know, i'm flying off to Japan to cycle tomorrow! For 3 months! From the South to North! Please visit my alt. blog and feel free to comment (i'll really appreciate if you do)! Tell your friends all about me if you can! I'll do my upmost best to try to update daily with photos or whenever possible when i'm in Japan.

In closing, i just want to add there's still one fear that i don't think i will ever conquer. And that's the fear of having a close relative pass away and me not being around to say goodbye. One of the biggest regret i will ever carry with me was not spending the last few moments of my grandfather's life beside his bed. (I was sleeping) A lot can change in 3 months. I just pray that God will bless and keep my family safe and healthy while i'm out enjoying my holiday.

Sayounara! Till next time we meet!

Good Riddance ODEX! Farewell Anime!

2007-08-13T18:36:00.000+08:00

As some of you might know the main reason i got interested in all-things Japanese is because i was introduced to anime during my poly-days. Since then my taste has evolved to J-music, J-idols, J-movies and now most recently J-dramas. Now i think the think the time has come for me to give up on my first love (anime).

And i blame this on the entire ODEX and AVPAS crackdown on anime downloading that has been going on since the beginning of the year. I always try to place myself on both sides of any argument to try and understand where each party is coming from, so a brief summary on the 2 sides of this matter:

ODEX: Downloading anime is illegal. We own the licenses to officially release anime in Singapore have authorisation to take legal action (meaning: Fine $$) against anyone who had and are still downloading anime in Singapore. We blame our poor VCD/DVD (VCD..haha!) sales on these 'pirates' and won't hesitate to sue the pants off anyone (they actually sued a 9 year old-boy)

The 'other' side: You are just using the excuse of piracy to account for your poor sales when the real problem is that you don't understand what anime fans want. Your releases suck in video quality, subtitles and dubs etc... Using lawsuits and threats to recover your losses is really the lowest.

All this has been going on for quite a while now and my intention was to let all the hoo-hah die down before going back into anime but just recently i've been reading again about all that ODEX has done to persecute (some call it a 'witch-hunt') anime lovers (pirates) and i ask myself, is it all worth it to take this risk? I love anime, but i certainly won't die without watching it.

And just reading how unreasonable and unfair the law suits are. Basically, they CAN persecute you in a court for $10,000/episode but they will settle for an out-of-court settlement of $3,000 to $5,000, and from what i read you have to sign an agreement that basically allows them to sue you AGAIN for the same thing if they so please). And as someone questioned in a HWZ post, "Pay $3,000 and they still don't give you the anime huh?"

Furthermore, instead of first issuing a warning letter, the lawsuit will just land 'Boom' in your mailbox straightaway. It's like stealing candy from a mama shop and instead of the shopowner shouting, "Oei!" first and giving chase, he just whips out a shotgun and guns you down.

To be fair, i acknowledge that Yes, downloading anime is illegal and wrong. As soon as i read that there would be a crackdown i completely stopped downloading. However, i read that ODEX has the power to persecute anyone who downloaded within the LAST 7 months*!

Now disregarding that they don't send out warning letters before a lawsuit, if they were to suddenly send a letter saying, "Hey, we're going to sue you for what you dl'ed XX months ago. Despite you stopping your downloading when we made public that it was illegal, we still see a need to sue you to earn back our $$." Now they CAN do this. That's just totally unfair and unethical, IMO, moreso than 'stealing' a video.

It seems that they just out to make a quick buck from lawsuits rather than improve their releases and pandering to the anime niche market.

Lastly, just saw this articles today about ODEX director gloating about suing people. If i didn't hate him (or rather his company) before i certainly hate him now. Anyway you can follow this saga through this links:

- Hardware Zone forumers expose Odex director?
- how do i gotten pwnt
- Excuse me, is that Stephen? The Stephen Sing?
- Stephen Sing: Odex Director (Hardware zone Forum thread, their CSI team investigating the 'gloating' matter)
- ODEX Wiki

Anyway after all that is said and done, yes, i will try to wean myself off anime. I DON'T need to 'pirate' to keep myself entertained. I have always imported DVDs and CDs of shows/music i like. I have no financial issues about buying original. I LIKE buying Original.

ODEX, you will never have my support on any of their products unless you stop this lawsuit bullshit and reimburse all the people you sued. I certainly don't need any of your shitty releases. You will need consumers like ME more than i will ever need anything from you. Good riddance.
-----------

Oh ya, after feeling a bit pissed today reading all this ODEX crap, i called the police on the neighbour living across from me. That dumb *insert expletive here* was burning some things and all his ashes flew into our front porch. Talking to him didn't seem to do any good (retard..) so i just called the police hotline to confirm whether i could file a complaint on this matter and the police said yes. So i did.

I feel justified in my decision because i didn't use the power of the law for monetary gains or greed! I'm within my rights and just protecting my property and teaching some idiots a good lesson in return. They should thank me.

BPL Opening Night, Counting my Piggy Bank

2007-08-12T10:45:00.000+08:00

I hate the acronyms 'BPL' compared to EPL. It sounds like British Petroleum League. That's like WWF changing to WWE. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you say it.

There were a few good matches and goals but the only match that mattered to me was Aston Villa vs Liverpool and Villa lost 2-1 . I'm only a teensy bit upset because them losing to Liverpool is like a foregone conclusion (cos they haven't beaten 'Pool at home in 9 years).

That's the advantage of supporting smaller mid-table clubs. Your expectations aren't as high. A draw against a big club would be a happy result, a win would be a miracle. But i think Liverpool were lucky to get the win. They needed a Laursen OG and a 87 min to get all 3 points. Poor Villa. And except for Reo-Coker, the entire squad looks the same as last season..
-----------

I finally opened my piggy bank and counted the coins inside on Friday.

Grand total : $374.20. Decent for a year's savings (and considering how often i take coins out of it for bus fares etc) but a little short of my $500 target. Anyway i'll be changing the coins into pocket money for Japan.

Look! It's the National Day Parade! AGAIN!!

2007-08-09T21:47:00.000+08:00

Before it strikes midnight, i just want to say something on this, our 42nd National Day and NDP: How many hundred times do we have to watch a NDP flash Live or on our TV screens before we realise we've just been watching the same old-rehashed crap every single year??

I'm not trying to be unpatriotic here, but give me a break! I just turned on my TV and became overwhelmed by a feeling of deja vu; Didn't i see this last year? And when i think back of the year before i can remember myself thinking the exact same thing.

If someone can introduce me to a NDP Otaku who can tell me the subtle differences and improvements from this year, last year and the 36-40th editions, please do. I really want to shake his hand. Makes me wonder why we Singaporeans are so hard-up for those tickets. I guess it just reflects our 'everything free must grab' mentality.
-----------

Drama: Ushi ni Negai wo - Love & Farm (Episode 1 - 3)

This will probably one of the last J-dramas i watch before i fly off next week. Basically there are only 2 things you need to know about this drama, 1, the plot; 6 university students from Tokyo go to a farm in Hokkaido for a farming internship program (this drama is supposed to be 'educational') and 2, Toda Erika is starring in it.

Words of wisdom suddenly ring in Kazumi's head: "Don't have a cow, man!

Annoyingly, EVERYONE from the university is either a loser, spoiled or just a plain jerk EXCEPT for Toda Erika's character, Chiba Kazumi. And i'm being totally unbiased (hard as it may be to believe) when i state that. The show's supposed to semi-educational but i don't really want to know (or care) where my milk and meat comes from...

A quick run-down of the cast and characters:

1 : Toda Erika as Chiba Kazumi: Clumsy but hardworking. The friendly cute girl next door amd the only normal person in the group. If this was a harem this will be the girl you should probably choose to end up with.
2 : Koide Keisuke as Mano Tohei: 101% Jerk. His father is some bigshot and he loves to act like the leader of the group and boss people around. Hates it when someone else upstages him.
3 : Nakata Atsuhiko as Wakamatsu Ryuta: The silent weirdo (read:loser). Loves to draw pictures of people when they aren't looking.
4 : Aibu Saki as Fujii Ayaka: Spoiled, irritating city slicker. She gets jealous over another girl flirting with a guy who is not her boyfriend, even though she has a boyfriend.
5 : Karina as Suenaga Mihoko: The spoiled rich kid who does not want to do a single thing around the farm.
6 : Tamayama Tetsuji as Takashimizu Takashi: His family owns the farm and he wants to run away from inheriting it. Wishy washy and weak-willed.
7 : Extras

Ultimately, what's gonna keep me watching this series will definitely be Toda Erika. The show is low-average 6/10 material at best and unless you got a fetish for cows and farming then you'll probably not care what happens to any of the dumb cows. Watching all the crying and arguing over cow-care just made me hungry instead.
-----------

Found this funny Borat video on Youtube. Quite old stuff but great if you couldn't get enough of his brand of humor from the movie:

-----------

I finally decided to cut my hair before flying to Japan. With a good chunk of my hair off, i feel at least 5 years younger and it's much more cooling, especially since it's been very hot this past few days. No prizes for realising my new 'do looks the same as all my previous haircuts.

24.0 Megapixel Camera!

2007-08-08T10:01:00.000+08:00

http://reprolabels.com/camera/

Specifically, it's a sticker you can buy to 'convert' your camera into a 24.0 MP model! Now will there be anyone so stupid to fall for this i wonder? As i'm thinking about this i already have a few IT-morons in mind who might actually believe it.

If the 'Bling Bling' caption wasn't amusing visit the main site here and check out their photo model. He reminds me of this Maddox article.

Stop playing Sweet CHILD! (WCG 2007)

2007-08-05T12:12:00.000+08:00

FACT: The only song on GH2 that manages to cross all age boundaries in GH2 is 'Sweet Child o' Mine'. EVERY Tom Dick and Harry went up onto the stage and played Sweet Child. I must have heard it repeated 200-300 times in the WCG hall on the 1st day alone.

I was on and off the Guitar Hero 2 mini-stage playing whatever song i thought i could 5 star. Somehow that didn't work out right, though i did manage to win 2 free GV movie tickets.

"Take the tickets and get off the stage!"

Yup, they had to bribe me to get me off the stage so other people could have a turn at the game.

Herbert went down with me on Friday and Saturday. No prizes for guessing which booth we hung around most of the time.

"I can play this with my eyes half-closed."

And he even got to sit on a special chair. Damn, i wanted to sit down and play too.

Unfortunately, i did not bring my camera on Saturday, which i really regretted because there was a cosplay event (CosCon 2007, there are pics of it at SGCafe, the individual contest winner (maid with a machine gun, which i think is based on this game)was pretty cute) and also because me and Herbert got interviewed by a Channel V VJ, who just suddenly jammed a mic in my face and asked me how my friend (Bert) got so good.

I gave a short answer ('we practice together at my place alot') and then those idiots didn't get my hint that i had nothing more to add on. There was like an awkward 10-20 secs space of silence where i didn't know what to say with the cameras still rolling and then finally (thankfully) the VJ started laughing, "Don't leave us hanging man!" and moved on to interview Herbert. Good thing it wasn't a live feed.

Wish i could have gotten some pictures of that. And if they do air this on Channel V i hope i can somehow record it (but i don't even subscribe to it so my best bet is to hope for some webcast)

Anyway throughout the 2 days there were alot of spectators taking pictures of Herbert playing GH2, so if by some chance anyone comes across any of his pics on blogs or whatever please let me know!

Leaving on a Jetplane (soon)

2007-07-31T01:02:00.000+08:00

16 more days and i'll be flying off! Besides deciding on my first few destinations this afternoon, MOST importantly, i have secured my 'sponsor' for my trip!

I was hoping to get a fixed sum to work with for my 3 month trip, but my 'sponsor' is going to get me a supplmentary card so technically, i have no restriction on budget. But in order to curb errant spending (which i am so often guilty of), i'm going to stick myself to my original plan of $100SGD/day, and any extras put aside to possibly further my 90 days (pending a visa extension application come November).

So, first 2 stops for me upon arrival will be... Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Just can't pass up the chance to visit the 2 A-Bomb memorial sites (Nagasaki Peace Park and Hiroshima Peace Memorial) especially since both are just to the west and east of Fukuoka where i will be arriving.

Up next: Gearing up my bicycle and getting a new handphone.

Electric Eye

2007-07-29T22:53:00.000+08:00

I was going to have an afternoon nap today but upon hearing my CPU fans humming i was suddenly struck with this thought: I leave my PC on for almost 6 out of 7 days a week, so how much electricity costs am i running in a month or a year? And for that matter how much are my other devices draining?

So after some sketchy research into the subject and some rough guesstimation on my part (meaning for example, in the case of my PC i just took 75% of the max. power my power box can supply), this are some figures i came up with (based on Singapore Powers 1st July '07 electricity tariffs per kWh; 20.52cents) :

-My PC running @ ~330W w/o LCD monitor:
$397.26 if left on 24/7 for 1 year, $33.10 a month

- My Grundig LCD TV @ 200W:
$71.13 if used 7 hours a day for 1 year, $5.92 a month

- Xbox 360 @ 160W:
- $58.82 if used 7 hours a day for 1 year, $4.90 a month
(power usage compared to a PS3/PS2 in this article)

- Daikin Air-Con @ 900W:
$91.66 if used 2 hours a day for 1 year, $7.64 a month
(that's $366.64 a year if used 8 hours a day!)

- Tower Fan @ 40W:
$54.72 if left on 24/7 for 1 year, $4.56 a month

Anyway these are the main things that are used in my room daily. The biggest cost i can save is definitely on air-conditioning (and i only turn it on when friends come over). If i use my fan for a whole year i will still pay less than using the air-con for 2 hours a day. And despite what my parents say, me playing games for 7 hours a day is not the main reason for the high electricity bills.

Again i want to stress that all the figures are just guesstimation that take do not take into account electricity loss through plugs or energy saving settings etc. Reading for 15 minutes and spending another 15 minutes doing calculations did not make me a SME.

And how about environmental impact? Everything above is presented in dollars and sense so if you ask me how much does saving $50 a year in electricity slow down global warming, i seriously do not know.

I just suspect doing whatever little bit we can to reduce wastage (especially if you're a hug-a-tree kind of person) will do much more than say, having a 'Live Earth' concert and having millions of people around the world tuning in on their TVs.

There's lots of good reading online if you really want to find ways to cut billing costs or just do your part for the environment.

-----------

The latest song from Guitar Hero 3 that looks set to dwarf 'Jordan' in terms of sheer difficulty is Dragonforce's "Through Fires and Flames".

If you like the song you can go to the Dragonforce official site and download the full mp3 version of the song for free (it's the full 7:20 version that will be used in GH3 compared to the 5:02 of the MTV).

Personally i find the song very epic/fantasy-themed and fun to sing along to. Alex says it sound very 80s ala the Transformers (the fantastic cartoon movie, not the crappy shit that came out last month) soundtrack. Bert says it sound very patriotic and that if you swap National Education lyrics in it will probably be a good national song. Anyway the lyrics are as follows:

On a cold winter morning, in the time before the light
In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight
And the darkness is falling down and the times are tough all right
The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight

Fighting high, fighting on for the steel
Through the wastelands evermore
The scattered souls will feel the hell that is wasted on the shores

On the blackest waves in history
We watch them as they go
Through fire, pain and once again we know

So now we fly ever free
We're free before the thunderstorm
On towards the wilderness our quest carries on

Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls

[CHORUS]
So far away we wait for the day
For the lights are so wasted and gone
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

As the red day is dawning
And the lightning cracks the sky
They raise their hands to the heavens above
As we send them to their lies

Running back through the mid-morning light
There's a burning in my heart
We're banished from the time in the fallen land
To a light beyond the stars

In the blackest dreams we do believe
Our destiny this time
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight

And on the wings of a dream
So far beyond reality
All alone in desperation
Now the time is gone

Lost inside you'll never find
Lost within my own mind
Day after day this misery must go on

CHORUS [Guitar Solo Duel!!]

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands
We've fought so hard now can we understand?
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can
For freedom of every man

CHORUS

Feel A Fear

2007-07-29T00:24:00.000+08:00

Met two very old friends, Sun Jie and Alvin on Thursday night after watching The Simpsons Movie and Alone with Alex. Haven't seen them in at least 8 years, since Secondary School.

Incredibly Sun Jie remembers quite a lot of things from back then, even a stupid lame joke that i supposedly made (Alex vaguely recalls it so i guess i did). It's not like me to want to forget my friends (and they were very close friends) but my memory is really terrible.

Anyway Simpsons was better than i expected, short for a movie but still very funny (though i guess pretty soon the net will be choked with Spider-pig jokes and references). For such a short comedy Alex still said it felt draggy. This is a call for Hollywood to produce movies under an hour so they don't lose movie-goers like him.

Alone was above average. I could smell the plot twist coming from miles off and almost all my hunches were proven right. Scares were a plenty (like one every 5 mins) but the shock factor wasn't really high (though to look at Alex cover his eyes everytime the music turned an ominous note, you would think otherwise). Better to have a horror film with more cheap scares than those where you never even see the ghost till the last 5 minutes of the movie. And at least the plot is very accessible/understandable for a Thai film, no cultural references or whatsnot.

Safety is Contagious

2007-07-24T17:39:00.000+08:00

My Toda Erika poster arrived today! I really like the picture and I need to go get a frame from Ikea sometime this week to frame it up. From what i know this poster is quite 'rare' in the sense that it's not available via retail, instead it's given out by the The General Insurance Association of Japan (aka Sonpo, the poster(about fire safety) even comes with a letter from Sonpo about displaying it properly) for display around Japan. Quite lucky to find someone selling one on Yahoo.jp auctions.

Went out to collect my Forza 2 Subaru goodie bag today at Dhoby Ghaut mrt. Quite a nice package for just a few hours of racing. It comes with 1 Subaru shirt, 1 Xbox 360 Winning Eleven X shirt (don't ask me why..), 2 Forza car headrest, 1 universal USB handphone charger, handphone strap, Subaru 2007 catalogue CD-rom and some other misc stuff.

Miyazaki Aoi and Olympus

2007-07-22T04:40:00.000+08:00

I'm glad my sixth sense led me to buy Olympus, cause look who's the face for their E-410 and E-510 DSLRs! And I can't help but smile when i see her in the commercial. Simply too irresistibly cute...

CM for the E-410..

..and the E-510.

Asian Cup 2007: Australia vs Japan

2007-07-21T22:12:00.000+08:00

Looks like i got my wish, though it wasn't a thrashing but in the end it's the results that matters i guess. Quite a big of excitement after 70 minutes when Australia scored through John Aliosi, then Japan equalised through Takahara almost instantly.

Strong, composed finish from Takahara

And a few minutes later, Australia had a man sent off for a flying elbow challenge. I thought Japan would impose their grip on the match after that, but it went all the way to a penalty shoot-out.

Australia had their own selves to blame after their first 2 PK takers (Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill) had their poor penalties saved, but all credit to the Japan goalie. Japan won the shootout 4-3 and will face either Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia in the semis.

Celebrations after winning the shoot-out!

-----------

Finally completed [eM] -eNCHANT arM- (the NA title is "Enchanted Arms") today. First RPG i've finished on the X360 and it's actually very good. The combat system (sort of like turn-based chess) is unique in that the damage for every move is clearly shown beside the move name, eliminating random damage (or critical hits) so you actually can plan right down to the last HP how much you can hit an enemy in 1 turn.

If you think that makes it sound easy, think again. The final boss(es, all 7 'final' battles) are actually quite challenging and require alot of prior preparation. A little short (26 hours) for the main storyline but that's excluding me entering the bonus dungeon or aggressive levelling (finished at lvl.47).

Next game i want to start on (and hopefully complete) is the IdolM@ster. Looks like only 1 person in Singapore has completed that game so far.

Moonage Daydream

2007-07-20T01:18:00.000+08:00

Saw this sign on the way to Funan today to collect my replacment X360. When i saw the the line "Thanks Be to God", the first thought that came into my head about what the developers were trying to say was, "Wow! How did we ever manage to find so many suckers to buy into this property? Thanks Be to God!" But i think that's just me being cynical.

-----------

Matthew and Herbert are officially the first 2 of my friends to visit my room! Played a few songs in GH2 , ordered KFC, watched 2 episodes of Little Britain and then they sat and watched me play Resident Evil 4. Maybe they were being polite (or feeling too sleepy) because no one asked for their turn on the controller, which actually made me feel quite guilty.

Amazingly, Alex just noticed that the girl in my DP (Alex: "so cute!!!!!!!") and the actress in Nana are one and the same (Miyazaki Aoi), which just leads me to conclude he skipped reading every single past post i made on her. He claims i ruined his newfound 'true' love (delusions...) when i told him she's getting married soon.

So he asked me to go spoil her wedding when i'm in Japan and then pass her his love letter. Man, i thought i was stalker-rific/Borat-ish but he really takes the cake.

Asian Cup 2007: China vs Uzbekistan

2007-07-18T23:07:00.000+08:00

It's been 5 years since my house's was hooked up to SCV. Now we have 3 sets in our new place and i even got one for my own room. Frankly i don't watch much TV and the only thing that makes the price of cable worth it, in my opinion, are the sports programmes. Gone are the days where i have to invite myself to other people's house to watch soccer or MotoGP!

I was rooting for the South East Asian teams (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; teams i would normally be booing in the Tiger Cup) but only Vietnam managed to advance to the q-finals.

Caught the China vs Uzbekistan game tonight, and knowing me you know i would be hoping China would lose badly. And probably the best thing to happen to me this week was to watch them get thrashed 3-0.

1-0!

2-0 as the ball takes a slow roll into China's goal.

Too bad i already took my camera down when they scored the 3rd late in injury time.

However, the match took an ugly turn early in injury-time when China's striker no.9 stayed downed on the pitch for a good 5 minutes and was eventually stretchered off, quite motionless.

As much as i enjoyed watching them lose, no one likes to see someone get injured in any sport. Hope he's alright. The match ended with an unheard of 11+minutes of injury time because of this though.

Man, i wouldn't want to be China's coach right now. He will be lucky if he is just fired straight. I expect him to be stoned or to face a firing squad when he arrives back in China.

So the quarter finals line up:

Iraq vs Vietnam
Japan vs Australia
Iran vs Korea Republic
Uzbekistan vs Saudi Arabia

Secretly i'm rooting for Japan to win the cup again. Actually any team besides Australia would be fine. Haven't forgiven them for thrashing us 3-0 in our final Kallang Stadium match. Have to keep this Saturday night free to catch Japan take on Australia, and hopefully thrash them.

The Height of the Matter

2007-07-17T18:31:00.000+08:00

Skimmed through today's Strait Times and saw this interesting diagram on average (male) height in certain countries:

I don't really care about the main heading that people in the US are shrinking vertically (and probably expanding laterally), but what really interests me is that the average height of Singaporeans is 1.72m, which means that at 1.74m (technically 173.5m), i am a good ~2cm above average.

Cruel as it may sound, any Singaporean guy below 1.72 should probably consider this operation, else you will most definitely be deemed 'below average' and spurned by society. After all, it's only results that matter here in Sinapore.

If you're below 1.65m (the recommended limb lengthening limit is 7cm), you should probably consider migrating to our friendly neighbours up north. We certainly don't want Malaysia or China overtaking us, do we?
-----------

For all of Activision's Guitar Hero 3 buzz, EA's Rock Band looks and sounds altogether like a superior package to GH3. It's being developed by Harmonix, the original developer of Guitar Hero before they sold it to Activision. And it's also the same team that generously donated $2,000 to fansite Scorehero to keep its servers running.

Saw this live stage demo of Rock Band today on Gamespot today. The Fender Stratocaster peripheral which just looks totally awesome (gone are the color-coded keys that made the guitar look like a toy). It also looks almost the same size as a real life Strat.

And the Harmonix staff claims that playing the drums peripheral will actually help you learn basic drumming patterns which will be applicable to real life as well. Considering i'm a hopeless case when it comes to keeping beat and rhythm, this might actually be the most educational game i ever picked up in my life. (in case you were wondering, being able to play the guitar solo for Jordan in-game still does not neccessarily mean you will be able to play a chord on a real guitar).

So i'm definitely getting this game when it comes out. The only problem is, for which console? X360 or (my future) PS3. Herbert will be getting a PS3 so it make sense to get it with him so we can play together. But that will mean giving up a X360's achievement points... Tough decision to make.
-----------

My X360 officially died (red rings of death or ROD) this morning. Called Microsoft Xbox hotline and a replacement set will be ready next Tuesday. Guess this is actually good news since my warranty is up next month and i'll be getting a further 3 years extension from date of purchase under Microsoft's new warranty policy for all ROD problems.

Well it would be 'good' news, except my PC died yesterday as well. I rushed down to Sim Lim and had to replace my power supply and motherboard ($200+ repair..urgh..) so i got it back up the same day. But i'm officially broke for the whole of this month. Probably will have to decline Alex's invitation to Hanabi next Monday.

Where do i begin?

2007-07-16T21:26:00.000+08:00

I've only got one thing to say about my new place: Having my own room is too good to be true! I've got so much freedom that i don't even know what i should be doing or how i should spend my time.

But...I still need a 'Do Not Knock' sign to be placed on my door when i sleep. 2 different people actually knocked and woke me up this morning asking if i was awake.

Please feel free to pop by and visit though if you have nothing to do. I'm ~80% done with unpacking (the last 20% will be put up for long-term procastination, most likely) Morning visitations are strictly out of the question though.
-----------

Sad news:

"Microsoft's coporate VP Peter Moore confirmed that Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will not be coming to Xbox 360, the game remains as a PS3 exclusive title."

Was hoping that i wouldn't have to get a PS3 but now it looks likes it will be a matter of time (release date for MGS4~ early 2008) before i move on, hopefully the price of the PS3 will continue to fall (the 60GB model dropped $100USD because the 80GB(potentially 120GB) model is coming out and Sony's clearing 60GB model stock)

The Final Cut

2007-07-14T19:40:00.000+08:00

Ok, this will be my last post i ever do at my old house in Jalan Asas. I'm moving my last stuff there in a while (that includes my PC only actually) and Internet won't be up till at least Monday after 5pm (if Singnet doesn't screw things up again).

I was actually planning to move to the new place only after the Internet line came up, but a nap this afternoon on my new Queen-sized bed won me over. Besides, my X360 is already there and waiting to be played on my new Full-HD TV (but i just found out this afternoon i have no 1080p games to try..).

And speaking of X360, yesterday (Friday 13th) was the final round of XBGZ Forza 2 season 1 challenge. Coming into yesterday, i was 6 points clear in 1st place (technically 2nd, but the 1st place guy is the organiser and not eligible for prizes) but i somehow lost my consistency-streak and DNF the final race. In the end i was 2nd overall (lost by 2 points to the guy who overtook me in the standings). Not a good evening.. Thank goodness the prizes (Subaru goodies bag) is for the 1st and 2nd overall. Didn't waste 3 weeks of racing for nothing.
-----------

Exciting time for longtime Guitar Hero fans! First up, SLASH is one of Activision's spokesman for Guitar Hero 3!

You know who it is by the curly hair + top hat..

Slash (left) in-game as one of the boss characters

Besides featuring as a boss character in the game ("one of the more surreal moments of (my) career"), Slash is contributing the theme song for GH3 ('Welcome to the Jungle' original guitar track!)! Other new features are new multiplayer VS modes! And the new wireless guitar model is a Les Paul for the X360! Does ending every sentence with a '!' make me sound trippy?

That's it. Final Asas post. See you after Monday!

Love to be Loved

2007-07-11T02:33:00.000+08:00

Came across this really hilarious blog, An Englishman in Osaka. Some of the funny(ier, they're all quite funny) posts i came across:

Yeah, if you're really bored like me (i've been put on permanent daytime standby to accompany/assist anyone who needs to do anything related to house-moving) go and read some of this.

I hope to move over to the new place by this Friday (the 13th, to house no. 13 Verde Crescent). I'll have a room-warming once i settle down. That's where you stick your head into my new room and comment how nice/tacky it is before leaving. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes of everyone's time, tops. And don't forget the room-warming gift.
-----------

Movies: Love & Honor

The final movie in Yamada Yoji's samurai trilogy (all 3 movie plots are unrelated) and in my opinion, the best of them all. And i'm not being biased just because Kimura Takuya is in this, though he did put in a fantastic performance as the blind samurai. My gripes is that the show is much too slow, and if you're one of those who live for the twists-in-plot, you'll be sorely disappointed. To be avoided if you fall asleep easily (ahem..Alex..) or if you don't give a shit whatsoever about Samurais and their code of honor. Rating: 7/10

Love Letter

Finally found the DVD again at MJ dor $12.90 (and the collector's edition at that). Nakayama Miho plays a dual role as Watanabe Hiroko and Fujii Itsuki, 2 woman who share a strange pen-pal relationship; Hiroko, whose husband died 2 years ago in a mountain climbing incident, finds his old address in his junior high school yearbook and out of loneliness, pens a simple "How are you?" letter to the address.

Unexpectedly, she receives a reply from a woman having the same name as her husband (Fujii Itsuki) and discovers that both Fujii Itsuki(s) were classmates in junior high. Wanting to find out more about her husband's past, Hiroko asks Itsuki to share her school memories with her through her letters (a younger Itsuki played by Sakai Miki, very cute at that time (1995)).

The story unfolds with numerous flashbacks, sort of like Be With You but not as sad. It's a really heartwarming romance story, not at all mushy or sappy. The ending is also kind of unexpected (but IMO, a great way to end the film). If you've seen Hana and Alice (also by the same director, which i also just purchased for $12.90) then you will know what to expect but if not, don't be suprised at how it ends. Rating: 7.5/10
-----------

I should make a conscious effort to try and type/ say Japanese surnames before their given name (eg Toda Erika instead of Erika Toda). Will be handy (and more 'correct') when i go to Japan as well. After all, i wouldn't like someone to call me Wei Ming Chin.

If I Leave Here Tomorrow..

2007-07-09T20:57:00.000+08:00

Amended my flight plan and collected my tickets today! I'm flying off to Fukuoka Airport at 8pm, August 16th and arriving in Japan on the 17th (Erika Toda's birthday..). My return flight is on November 14th from Tokyo, arriving back on 14th evening at 8pm.

I also visited the Japan National Tourist Organisation (Office at #15-09, Hong Leong Building, Raffles Quay) this afternoon. The staff was very friendly and helped me print out alot of things, including weather charts, rainfall charts, (cheap) hotel contacts and camping sites around Japan. Really grateful to her for the help!

Brochure stockpiling...

The JNTO office had a lot of brochures on each major city or prefecture in Japan. Some people were there and they took 1 or 2 brochures only. In comparison, i took 40 + of them (or almost 1 of everything they had). I was afraid that the staff was going to think that i was exhibiting typical Singapore Kiasu-ism (well maybe a little) but to be fair, i AM going to visit all the places anyway so i had to take one of each.

As for the weather during this period, i don't know whether i can consider myself lucky or not, but August-November is the period with one of the lowest rainfall on the calendar. The tradeoff is, the weather in Fukuoka for August-September averages between 23-27 degress C, which is not exactly my idea of a cool temperature to ride in.

So anybody want to come see me off on the 16th? Anybody..?
--------------------------------

As usual i'm obliged to bring you the latest* J-entertainment news: (*questionable)

- Suzumiya Haruhi's 2nd season has been confirmed! One of my top 3 favourite animes last year and probably one of the most popular anime/book series in Japan (if you've never heard of it, get out from under that rock you've been hiding under and just take my word for it) - Source: Tokyograph

- After her last release 'Taiyou no Uta' and 'Stay With Me' under the name of Kaoru Amane, Erika Sawajiri has released another Single with 3 new songs (under the name "ERIKA", official site here). She is also in the CM for Subaru (CM here). Looks like she gained a few pounds though (chubbier cheeks...). Her songs are still catchy but her vocals hasn't improved much.

Dog in sheep's clothings..

- Erika Toda kisses another dog! Or is it vice-versa? Actually i can't really confirm it's a dog. Might be a doggish-looking sheep since it's from the set of Love & Farm.

Mahou Sensei Negima (or MSN)

- Mahou Sensei Negima (by Ken Akamatsu, author of Love Hina, the first manga and anime i've ever read/watched) is becoming a live-action drama this fall! You can take a look at the full cast of the 31 class girls here (most of them are young gravure idols/models i believe). My first impression is that most of the actress are quite unremarkable. It's a pity they didn't cosplay them (hair color, accessories) to look like the manga characters. Anyway the manga's story (what story actually?) is just an excuse to draw panty shots and the likes, so if the drama is anything like that i'm guessing i might (ashamedly) enjoy it.

Well the only character i like is Asuna Kagurazaka (main heroine) and Nodoka Miyazaki anyway (#8 and #27 if you're looking at the class list) and Sara Wakatsuki looks good for the role of Asuna. Can't say the same for the actress playing Nodoka though. - More coverage and pics here

Nakai Masahiro's All Star Bowling

2007-07-06T00:09:00.000+08:00

Found this 'All Star Bowling' special on Veoh.com (part 1, part 2, part 3 38mins plus each) hosted by Nakai Masahiro of SMAP. The guest stars (teams of 6) are cast members from 5 of the dramas currently airing this season, in no particular order:

LIFE (Kitano Kii)
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Horikita Maki, Oguri Syun)
Yama Onna Kabe Onna (Itou Misaki, Kyoko Fukada)
First Kiss (Inoue Mao, Ito Hideaki)
Ushi ni Negai wo ~ Love & Farm (Toda Erika!)

If you just want to see Erika bowl, then click on the 'part 2' link above (from 32:40 - 34:49) but if you have 2 hrs to spare then watch the whole thing cause it's pretty entertaining and funny.

Unfortunately i couldn't get better screencaps because they don't show replays for the bowler unless they Strike or throw a Gutter ball. Erika hit 3 pins, unlike some of the pathetic guys on her team who threw gutter balls.

Notable list of gutter ball throwers: Kyoko Fukada, who came dressed in a hotel maid costume and babbled on much too long before guttering, and Horikita Maki, HanaKimi's team Captain, who looked really guttered (<-pun) after guttering.

Babbled a whole load of rubbish...

Visibly guttered..your team loses all it's points when someone gutters (G).

Really felt like going to bowl after watching this. Alex, quickly organise something again!

There Goes My Hero

2007-07-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

Drama: My Boss, My Hero (1-10 Complete)

This is a super hilarious series i just finished watching in one sitting. Nagase Tomoya (lead singer/guitarist of TOKIO) simply steals the show as Sakaki Makio (27), known in the region as 'Tornado Makio', the strongest (but incredibly dumb) Yakuza and next in line to be Boss of his father's clan.

"I'm gonna kill ya, bastard!"

After ruining a 30 billion yen deal (because he couldn't figure out if 25+5 is bigger than 27), his father, the head of the Yakuza clan issues him an ultimatum: graduate from high school with a diploma or he will name his (smarter) younger brother Mikio as the next Boss of the clan. To fulfill his dream of becoming Boss, Makio reluctantly heads to St Agnes High School.

Won the match, lost his shorts.

From being extorted by the class bully, volunteering to be the class representative (the "Boss" of the class), to playing basketball (and losing his shorts), everything Makio does is made extra funny by his super versatile vocal and facial expressions. Tomoya really puts alot of energy and enthusiasm into his performance. His stupidity and wild Yakuza imagination (and instincts) are just priceless.

Man of a thousand expressions.

In between, he falls in (and out) of love for the first time with classmate Umemura Hikari (17), played by Aragaki Yui, who was actually the main reason i caught this series in the first place, but she got easily outshone by Tomoya. Quite a sweet performance from her though.

Buying a ring for his first love @ 27 years old.

A quick sideward glance while she's preoccupied with her phone.

I highly recommend this series. Very good, quick pacing (didn't want it to end though..) plenty of laughs and very likeable characters. If i wasn't a fan of Nagase Tomoya before this, i sure am now. And Aragaki Yui gets + points in my book just for co-starring with him.

-----------

Something i need for the next Guitar Hero guitar that i buy; firmer springs for the strumming thingie! The whole thing went soggy after mine and Brandon's 'jamming' the past few nights.

And i finally bothered to find out what the chorus lyrics are for 'Hangar 18', it's "Possibly I've seen too much/Hangar 18 I know too much". Couldn't make out what he was singing before. And Herbert, i was wrong, this song's riff IS very catchy.

Today is also Independence Day! Happy 4th of July to my cousins the Wilsons, in Mississippi!

Wake Up and Smell the Roses

2007-07-03T19:55:00.000+08:00

Cycling down the Orchard stretch at night was not as fun as i thought it would be. The main problem for a cyclist is the endless line of buses jostling with me on the left lane, forcing me to weave in and out between them the entire way, and the neverending traffic lights every few hundred metres. It seemed that i was unlucky enough to get stopped at every single traffic light from Raffles City to Wheelock Place.

Fortunately, the rest of my cycling on Sunday night was pretty enjoyable. Went down to Pasir Panjang to Shenton Way, to Kallang Stadium; stopped for Tau Hui at Selegie, cycled through Orchard Road (worst part) and down Holland Ave back to my place. I'm practicing the 'art' of riding leisurely so i didn't feel tired at all when i finished my round trip. Got to keep in mind not to gulp down too much water at once or it will leave my stomach feeling all bloated.

Cycled back to Sembawang Camp this afternoon to catch up with my ex-colleagues. The place is SO much more peaceful (and stress-free) compared to my home, so much so that i stayed the entire afternoon doing nothing but talk cock and exchange gossip, mostly with Ee Wei. Feels damn long since i ORD'ed, even though in reality it has just been 3 1/2 weeks since i've been gone.

Probably will drop by camp again next Thursday(12th) to take my IPPT with Ming Wei (failed 1st attempt). Everyone's been laughing at him cause he failed sit-ups and running, so i hope i don't end up the same. Think i have to work on my pull-ups. The only upper body exercise i've been doing the past month involve only my fingers...
-----------

Drama NEWS

- Finally some screenshots of HanaKimi (official site here)! I was eagerly waiting to see how Horikita Maki would look like dressed as a guy, and my first impression from the pictures is... she's not very convincing. Still can't wait to catch this series though.

Spot the male-wannabe. (click for bigger pic)

- The drama taking over Liar Game's Saturday 11pm slot this season, LIFE, looks interesting as well:

First episodes' ratings (11.0%) look decent for such a late slot. Will definitely give this series a shot. Theme song (also titled 'LIFE') is by Mika Nakashima as well.

- Aragaki Yui's (one of the Pocky girls) first leading role-drama aired on Sunday, Papa to Musume no Nanokakan.

Not too crazy about her (but she was voted the no.1 most popular celebrity 18 yrs and under, as a reference, Erika toda was 3rd) and not too memorable in 2 of the dramas i've seen with her so far (Galcir and Dragon Zakura). This drama's slated to be only 7-episodes long. Gonna catch it to see what all the fuss about her is about.

I Should go to Taiwan..

2007-07-02T20:18:00.000+08:00

Some exciting Erika Toda news:

Fire Prevention Poster Girl 2007, nothing to do with the following news though..

Rising teen star Erika Toda is set to take her first step as an international actress. She has been cast in the movie "Tea Fight," a collaborative work between Taiwan and Japan. The story follows a young Japanese girl who travels to Taiwan in search of a legendary tea that may help her father (Teruyuki Kagawa).

The idea for the tea-themed film began two years ago. The Taiwanese director approached a Japanese production company to discuss the project, and he was introduced to Toda, who at the time was acting in the Fuji TV drama series "Engine." He was impressed by her acting skills, and has been following her progress since then.

Toda has also been gaining popularity overseas due to her appearance in the "Death Note" movies. "Tea Fight" is scheduled to open next year throughout Asia. Distribution will be handled by Movie-Eye Entertainment. Filming is planned to take place from late October to early December, with about 80% of the filming located in Taiwan. Casting for the major Taiwanese roles is currently in progress.

Of course i'm excited to see Erika in a mandarin film, but the filming schedule (in bold) kind of conflicts with my plans to find her in Japan. Hopefully i will get to see her at some event before late October. Or maybe i should go to Taiwan instead. There's probably a higher chance of meeting her there. Anyway i will have to lower my expectations of meeting her on my Japan trip.

For those of you who don't know yet, i'm flying off on August 17th, which is also Erika Toda's birthday!
-----------

Another interesting news; just found out that my no.2 favourite actress Miyazaki Aoi is getting married! To this guy, Takaoka Sousuke, and although i've seen some of the shows he has acted in before, i don't have the faintest impression of him at all. Hope she still continues to do movies after this though.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

2007-07-01T01:08:00.000+08:00

For all the hype about today being the last match day at the National Stadium before it is demolished, surprisingly i didn't feel a single bit sentimental about the entire event at all. At the end of the day all i really cared about was watching a good soccer match. Overall i'm much sadder to see us lose than to know this is our last game at Kallang.

One last pic for old time's sake. You can tell the true fans by the shirt.

And we played well** against Australia. To lose 3-0 despite having so many chances to score just reflects how badly we lack the killer instincts in front of goal. Even big-game scorer Indra Sahdan couldn't break our duck, and was guilty of missing a fantastic 1-on-1 chance in the first half.

(**To quote from this Soccernet article: "The result might have been different had Singapore capitalised on goalscoring chances they created in a scoreless first half after opening up Australia's defence." and Australia's Coach: "Our attacking play was fantastic but we've got some work to do in defence. I was not happy with that side of things,' Arnold told reporters.
'Singapore tested us and were very unlucky. We have a lot of work to do.")

Viduka getting the better of Noh Rahman.

Australia's striker, Mark Viduka on the other hand, was a class act. The ease at which he found space to score his 2 goals was just fantastic.

Kewell going by Aide and Precious

Harry Kewell came on for the last 30 minutes and scored Australia's 2nd goal, as well as assisting Viduka for the 3rd.

They must have had like only 10 firework to shoot off.

Good thing we didn't stay for the fireworks display and the closing ceremony, cause the fireworks were just pitiful. It's as if they were on a shoestring budget. Managed to catch the display just before we boarded the bus.

Anyway, farewell to the Grand Old Lady of Kallang. Thanks for all the good memories (not last night though). Really a shame we couldn't win our final match.

Tale of Two Cities

2007-06-29T20:37:00.000+08:00

"Tell me what you can hear

And then tell me what you see

Everybody has a different way to view the world"

2 events in the past 2 days kept making me think of this refrain from the song 'Different World' (Iron Maiden):

1) About the football i watched 2 nights ago, i wrote that i thought our team played like crap. Newspaper and S-league.com (and even the Saudi coach) gave rave reviews on our performance. I must have been at the wrong stadium watching a different game. And i always thought i had low standards and expectation in football. I am an Aston Villa supporter after all.

2) Strait Times today (29/06/07) had an article on 2 newly promoted 1-star Generals in the SAF. One of them was my old boss COL John Wong. To quote from the papers:

"Navy Colonel John Wong Chee Meng is not your typical career military man - he is also a doctor. True, he stands ramrod straight and looks lean and fit"

I really must commend the Strait Times, that they are doing their bit for the society by hiring blind reporters to write their articles. I don't think anyone with eyes will describe John Wong as lean and fit..
-----------

Spent an hour painting something on my Subaru WRX STI '05 last night in preparation for an online Forza 2 tournament later on (11pm). What do you think?

Brandon says it looks childish. Which is probably one of the least insulting comment he has ever given me (it's my birthday that's why). But i kinda like the plaster design w/ the car number on the bonnet and the sides.

Coicidentally, this birthday post happens to be my 100th post as well! So Happy Birthday and congratulations to me on my century post!

The Big Three

2007-06-28T01:45:00.000+08:00

Ikea Tampines is BIG (first time there, besides Ikea, there's a gigantic Giant and an enormous Courts Megastore just across the road. )! I feel tired just walking through it twice. Spent the entire afternoon there buying some of my furniture, but mainly to assist and advice my dad (who doesn't really listen to me anyway so mainly to accompany him..)

And of course the management are clever enough to place the Hot Dog bistro right at the exit. So walking 2 rounds meant i ate 2 hot dogs (w/drink, only $1.70!) at the end of every lap. 4th time to Ikea (3 to Alexandra branch) this week and by my count this must be the 12th hot dog set they've tricked me (and my stomach) into buying..

Went to meet Zhaoliang and Sau Kit at Kallang after that to watch the Singapore vs Saudi Arabia match. Disappointing crowd and atmosphere at the national stadium. And Singapore played the same old long-ball style again, to no avail against the Saudis (who are one of the top 5-6 teams in Asia and have featured in the last 2 World Cup).

We lost 2-1 which is a respectable losing score on paper but we were dominated the entire game. Can really see the gulf between the 2 teams calibre. Furthermore they had a man sent off in the 2nd half. Our freak goal came seconds before the final whistle. Pretty funny goal. Ashrin Shariff shot a point blank shot straight at the keeper and the rebound just happened to glance his head and drop into the goal (off the post too..).

Let's hope we play better (doubt it) against Australia this Saturday. Didn't bring my camera out so no pictures today.
-----------

Like i predicted, Transformers got a poor 2/5 rating (the 2nd opinion gave it a 3/5) in today's Life reviews. The ONLY saving point for the movie now is that the review was written by Ong Sor Fern, someone whose opinions i will never trust. In fact i loathe her reviews. She is the type of person who can criticize an action flick for having too much action. And she always give poor and biased reviews on our local movies.

Cheers for No. 1!

2007-06-25T23:02:00.000+08:00

Guess what? Looks i'm ranked no. 1 in Singapore for Guitar Hero 2 for the X360 in terms of achievements. And no one else has completed Expert on GH2 yet (or Jordan, i can't complete only 1 song in career on Expert; Misirlou). So i can either conclude 1) Herbert is the best GH player in Singapore in GH2 or 2) Everyone who owns a X360 can't play GH2 for nuts.

And for what it's worth, i'm ranked no. 2 in Forza 2 (achievement wise) as well.

Battle of Bukit Timah

2007-06-25T00:36:00.000+08:00

The Bukit Timah Mountain Bike Race took place yesterday. Brandon was taking part but warned all of us (in our family) not to go see him race (weirdo..he also refuses to take off his shirt in the presence of anyone in the house, but everyone of his friends have seen him half-naked except for us..). Anyway i still went cause i wanted to go take some pics as well. Besides the entrance to the trail is just behind my house and down the road.

As expected, even though he told us not to go see him race, he invited his friends over to watch him. Race for his division (Boys 'A' 14-19yrs old) was 2 laps around the trail (2 x ~7km). He managed to finish a respectable 3rd for his first race, but at this rate (read below) he's going to mess up my plan to be the brother of 2 former Boys 'A' champions. (Kevin won 2 seasons of the Boys 'A' about 8 yrs ago).

Brandon (351), eventual 1st place (343) and 2nd place (the blue guy in the back)

The first 2 finishers (both malays, Brandon claims they are not locals) were in a league of their own. After winning the Boys race, they took part in the next race (Mens Open, a category for National riders and semi-pros) and finshed 3rd and 5th. And the Mens Open race was 5 laps! That means they rode approx. 49km altogether and 1 of them managed to get on to the podium against the pros as well.

Crashed twice (ha! small cut on left knee) due to chain problems

Brandon's excuses for finishing 3rd was because he crashed twice due to some chain problems. And after the 2nd crash he lost sight of the first 2 guys and then didn't bother to chase anymore. Yeah, whatever. There's still quite a bit of races left in the season but unless he improves on his technique and especially the mental portion of racing he's not going to win.

FULL GALLERY OF MTB RACE PICTURES (must have a FLICKR account, ask me for an invite to view my photos)
-----------

I decided to scrap the Erika Toda photo gallery at the bottom of the site; instead i've move it to the sidebar. It'll randomly show 30 of her pics with every reload with a link to the bigger picture.

Diamond in the Rough

2007-06-21T22:44:00.000+08:00

Movie: Rough (starring Masami Nagasawa, Ichikawa Yui, Hayami Mokomichi)

As much as i hate to give away spoilers, any idiot should already figure out that the two (pic below) are going to end up together in the end. Now of course a savvy movie viewer would expect something to come between them and ruin their fun before the big happy ending, but that's just it. There's no plot twist, no sudden revelations and no death/illnesses (thank goodness for that; since too many films with diseases and sickness recently). Kind of ironic to call it 'Rough' when everything's so smooth sailing...

Without a doubt, the BESTest part of the movie is watching Yui and Masami in their bikinis and swimsuits.

One thing that also caught my eye is how tall Masami is (she's 171cm, that's taller than Ee Wei, Ming Wei and Alex!) and how awkwardly short Yui (158cm) looks when they're in the same scene. (below pic)

Did i mention that the movie revolves around swimming? And swimming doesn't exactly make for the most exciting sport subject for a movie (the same goes for tennis or golf). I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you really want to watch a bland sport-romance flick. Rating 5/10

-----------

Before i forget, here's a poster of the actors in the live-action Bleach musical:

Besides the rather flat singing, i enjoyed this stage presentation very much. Most of the actor/actresses playing the characters are about as close as i would imagine them to be if they were real. Entertaining stuff.

Up and Coming

2007-06-21T01:11:00.000+08:00

Some interesting dramas to look out for come July. And by 'interesting' i mean the actors/actresses i like or just know are starring in them:

-Ushi ni Negai wo: Love & Farm (official site; starring Erika Toda!): Makes me mad to see her name listed 5th in Dramawiki... Start Date: July 3rd Tuesday

- Yama Onna Kabe Onna (official site; starring Misaki Itoh and Kyoko Fukada): Been a long time since i've seen a Kyoko Fukada drama. Start Date: July 5th Thursday

- Papa to Musume no Nanokakan (official site; starring Yui Aragaki): Still deciding whether or not to track Yui Aragaki's shows.. Start Date: July 1st Sunday

- First Kiss (official site; starring Inoue Mao (from Hana Yori Dango) and Ito Hideaki): No screenshots or promo pic! Start Date: July 9th Monday

- Doubutsu 119 (official site; starring Ichikawa Yui): Ichikawa Yui's back! Or is she? It's only a one episode special like her last drama.. Air Date: June 30th Saturday
-----------

Another all-too-cute Erika screen capture...from Bomb Vol 6 DVD.

Back to Basics

2007-06-20T00:16:00.000+08:00

Left to right (clockwise): Avengers Disassembled TPB, Kindai July 07 issue, Love and Honor DVD, Brotherhood DVD, Tsukihime Vol.4 (total: $80+)

Went out on my monthly shopping trip to Orchard today to the usual places, HMV and Kinokuniya. In keeping with my plan to buy 1 Marvel TPB a month, i bought 'Avengers Disassembled' (a review here, i read the book prior to reading the review and i have to say i agree fully with what is said). Quite disappointing but i guess i had to read this as a prelude to 'House of M' which i will get next month.

Thankfully i managed to spot July's Kindai (w/ Erika Toda on the cover) just as i was about to pay. The cover photo is terrible but there's a nice article and shots of her inside.

Bought 2 DVDs at HMV, Love and Honor (now i have all 3 movies in this 'trilogy'!) and Brotherhood (Taegukgi), which i only bought because it was on sale at $9.95. Also saw L'arc en Ciel latest single, Seventh Heaven (the reviews are quite bad..) but as i'm not really a single kind of person i'll wait till their next album gets released.

Making Myself Busy

2007-06-19T01:20:00.001+08:00

So i didn't go to the Japan Embassy today as i orginally planned, or to Kinokuniya (my Plan B) to buy books but i sure as hell kept myself busy today doing (as usual) rubbish.

First thing i did was to accidentally erase my blog's template HTML and suprise! i didn't save a backup of it. Alex found a cached version of my site on Google and sent me the HTML, which of course didn't work, but i used it to track down the site where i originally downloaded the template from (here, because i forgotten where) and so if you noticed, the template's (almost) back up. Of course there are some changes to the sidebar (no blame/prizes if you can't/can spot them) and i'm still in the middle of deciding what i should put (back)on it. Lost my bowling score tracker though...

Since i was redoing my template i added something right at the bottom of this page. It's an Erika Toda photo browser! As of tonight i have uploaded 117 photos to it so feel free to browse through it if you have nothing to do, or if you need to show a friend who Erika Toda is.

Despite the hiccup, i managed to make a slight progression for Ja-plan, namely i signed up at Flickr for a year plan so that i have a place to upload my photos to when i'm in Japan. Why Flickr and not Photobucket (the online album site i've been using all this while) you might ask? What sold me what the interface of Flickr and also the fact that you can map your photo (that is drag them to locations on a map to show where you took them) which will be handy when i'm in Japan.

Plans for tomorrow: Follow my dad to the new house to speak to renovators-> Go to Kino to buy 'Avengers Disassembled" and any Erika Toda mag i can find. Plan B is to meet someone who wants to buy my One Piece Comic, but hasn't contacted me back to confirm the time/place as of now (2:06am).
-----------

Found this very interesting show; Bleach Saien (Bleach Rock Musical) which is a live action musical on the first SS arc of Bleach. Looks very interesting, and most of the male actors they picked look spot on for the role. As for the females, well there's Rukia, Orihime and Hinamori and on first impression only Orihime looks 'alright' (but as someone on a forum observed, "Where's the package?")

If it's any good i'll post some screenshots and character comparisons after i watch it.
-----------

Strangest thing that happened today was me pulling a back muscle while reading the newspaper. Don't ask me how. Still feeling a little sore now.

Out of Track

2007-06-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

The only reason that i would get up at 7am on a Sunday morning is because i am OFFICIALLY broke as of this week, and Kevin promised to pay me $50 to take photos of him at Pasir Gudang circuit. It's a win-win situation for me cause a)i need money, b)i need practice with my DSLR so i agreed to go with him. At the last minute he managed to persuade dad to join us on the track as well, a bad decision as he would later discover (read on..)

It was pretty fun being a photographer but as expected my skills sucked. Good thing the weather was alternating between cloudy and very mildy sunny because as you know, i hate the sun.

Left: Kevin on his Honda CBR600; Right: Dad on his Suzuki K6

The track session ended with a unoffical race for 2 classes of bikes, 400cc and below and 400cc and above. Kevin and dad took part in the 400cc and above race. It is at this point that i want to mention that dad was riding a 2nd hand Suzuki GSXR1000 K6 that he JUST bought yesterday. And he crashed it on the first lap of the fun race. Ouch.

I didn't see the crash but i suspected something when i didn't see him with the front runners at the start of the 2nd lap. Kevin saw him walking around in the sand trap on lap 2 and was debating whether to stop or not. He decided 'not' and went on to finish 6th. I believe i would have done the same.

Dad plans to repair his bike this week so he can ride again next Sunday..

Thankfully all the damages were really 'minor' (he reckons a $500-700 repair bill) and only injuries sustained was a big chunk of skin scraped off his right shoulder. He still managed to ride back to Singapore (and we stopped for KFC on the way too), amazingly in a good mood. I think the track medic injected some 'mood' drug into him while treating his wounds.

"I crashed! Weeee!"

And of course all this just had to happen on Father's Day. What a perfect gift to receive. Happy Father's Day dad!

Turning Point

2007-06-17T01:14:00.000+08:00

Finally me and Herbert managed to get 1 million + points in Guitar Hero 2! Took 3 tries (because i messed up the first 2) but what a turnaround from the first time both of us saw the Achievement List for GH2 and thought we'll never be able to get this or the 500k awards.

I hereby official resolve to start my shopping and buying of essentials for my Japan trip on Monday. And as a sign of my conviction, i registered a new blog URL just for my trip, http://japancyclingtrip.blogspot.com/. (For those of you who are DYING to check it out, it's still void of content as of now, and will be till i start shopping). I plan to buy my ticket sometime this week to Fukuoka Airport (7 hour flight), tentative departure date to be 17th or 20th August, a Friday or Monday depending on flight availability.

Also on the cards this week, a visit to the Japan Embassy in Singapore (http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/about.htm) to learn more about what i need (visas etc) to stay in Japan for 3 months. Wish me luck with my planning!

That's...depressing..

2007-06-15T19:27:00.000+08:00

Today is my week ORD anniversary, and despite bowling terribly yesterday and this afternoon, i didn't think today was totally shitty until half an hour ago. (I'm writing this at 0330 in the morning..)

Basically i saw this car on Forza with a gorgeous looking Suzumiya Haruhi design on the bonnet, and a beautiful looking Mikuru Asahina and Nagato Yuki on the sides (the car was a Nissan 350Z), which i knew i JUST HAD TO HAVE (the things these Forza artists can do simply astounds me).

So i bidded. And bidded. And the bidding went up to 3.5 million game credits (which was everything i had earned so far in Forza in 40+hours) and as we were nearing the 3 million mark i already had this sinking feeling that i was not going to get the car. It's difficult to describe how utterly devastated i felt when i saw the auction resolve and the car go to someone unknown (probably a Japanese otaku...that bastard).

If i happen to see him and that car online i will be sure to bury them both in the gravel trap. I'm so seriously depressed i don't think i will be able to fall asleep tonight until this feeling washes over.

Surf's Up

2007-06-15T00:03:00.001+08:00

Movie: Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer

Somehow they managed to make the Silver Surfer un-cool.

I told Alex before i went into the show that if i kept my expectations of the film low i would probably enjoy it more. Boy, was i wrong. I think i would enjoy the film much more (like Alex) if i didn't know a thing about the Silver Surfer. As they say, ignorance is bliss (and the subtext 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' is so misleading; watch the show and you'll understand why). I just wish they didn't make him so weak, or dependent on his cosmic surfboard.

Of course everything (wrong) about the Silver Surfer pales in comparison to the depiction of Galactus, who looks like a cosmic dust cloud pillar thingie... Galactus, by the way, looks like this:

Is it too much to ask to see a few shots of a proper Galactus?

With the CGI of Mr Fantastic's stretchy hands already looking so bad, i wonder why they couldn't just make Galactus in the same way. I think a giant, CGI planet-devouring super-duper villain would look more menacing than a cloud of dust (also in CG).

Last but not least, as in part 1, Dr Doom did not make for a very interesting villain. Despite the action which was significantly more than the first movie, i still found myself bored throughout all 92 mins (and i was thinking before the show that 92 mins was too short for a movie). To me, this just confirms that Marvel are already incapable of releasing good superhero movies. Them ruining Spiderman 3 was already an omen. I think the last Superhero flick i actually enjoyed was Batman, but that was DC, not Marvel. Rating: Low 6/10
-----------

Some Liar Game news:

"Fuji TV's "LIAR GAME" drama series is getting an extended final episode. On June 23, instead of running in its regular 11:10-11:55 time slot, the program will air from 9:00 to 11:55.

This is a first for a drama series. There have been many cases where a final episode is extended (generally by 15 minutes) or a series gets a later special episode, but no serialized drama has ever had a finale extended to 3 hours.

"LIAR GAME" has attracted decent ratings and has become very popular among young viewers. In an Oricon survey early in the season, it had the second-highest viewer satisfaction rating behind "Kaette Kita Jikou Keisatsu."

Actor Kinya Kitaoji will make a guest appearance in the final episode as Hasegawa, the head of the "game."
- From http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-1117

The viewership for Liar Game may not be that high but i'm glad to hear that those smart enough to watch it (11pm on Saturdays) are enjoying the show. Since the comic is ongoing i hope this means a 2nd season (more Erika/Nao!) as well. And thanks to this news i picked up Jikou Keisatsu to watch as well. I'll probably write a short bit about it when i'm done watching the first season.

Welcome to the Jungle

2007-06-12T21:28:00.000+08:00

First day of packing my room: and look at all the junk i threw away:

Yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full..

It's funny how things that i once found unbearable to throw away, suddenly became so easy to let go off. Except for a few things that have some sentimental value, everything else just had to go. I decided to put some of my comics (and some other stuff) on sale at 2 forums (here), but if no one's interested i'm quite resigned to carting them to my new room.

Thank goodness Brandon is away for Church Camp. He won't like what i've turned his bed into. (But then again, he never likes anything i do.) Most of my stuff went into those boxes on the left of the bed, and i'm going to put off packing the comics till about Friday (to see if anyone wants to buy them before packing).

Tomorrow begins day 2 of packing, which would include mostly loose trinkets and computer accessories, and maybe my NS stuff (which i'm very very tempted to just dump). I'm not exactly moving off next week (more like first week of July officially) so i hope the spirit of procastination doesn't overwhelm me and i will get some more packing done tomorrow.
-----------

Movie: Hatsukoi (aka First Love, starring Miyazaki Aoi etc)

I would love to be biased and say this show was not bad, but i'm really disappointed with this way it turned out, all the more so because i expected more from a Miyazaki Aoi film.

The premise of the film (summary here) had so much potential to be really interesting, but there's too many scenes where people just sit around in silence, or in the case of Aoi, just look pretty, when i feel there should be more screentime to develop the other characters. The last part of the show ends with an epilogue on how the different people ended up after the incident, but i'm struggling to remember (or even care) about the characters who barely appeared in the show.

What a letdown, ne, Misuzu?

And i really don't get the point of having so many nude scenes in such a movie. It just distracts more from the story (and the girls are very ugly as well) and makes this movie unwatchable in a family context. Did i mention this was supposed to be a love story? It's neither very romantic or very tragic so i think it fais in that aspect as well. The only good parts are the robbery and the preparations, but overall, the pacing, lack of character development and too many unneccesary scenes means i don't recommend this film. I pray that Virgin Snow will be a better movie. Rating: 5.5/10

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2007-06-10T21:30:00.000+08:00

There's a whole bunch of new movies/dramas coming out this next 2 months. Some shows i want to highlight and will probably catch/buy:

Transformers Movie
There have been many takes on Optimus Prime since the original cartoon/comic design but by far this movie incarnation is the f'ugliest i've ever seen. I consider myself a decent Transformers fan and it pains me to see what they've made Prime into. Except for his head which is fairly recognisable, the rest of the body (flame art..*pukes*) looks like mechanized crap.

And i'm being very kind when i say that Prime's design is the most 'faithful' (in the loosest possible sense) to the original. The rest of the Autobots (Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide) are completely alien to me and the Decepticons (Megatron, Starscream) look like a bunch of shiny CG pipes twisted together.

I'll bite my tongue (for 5 seconds) if this turns out good. Unfortunately the "Transformers" branding alone is enough to make me line up like the idiot i am to watch it on opening day, June 28th (which happens to be the day before my birthday).

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (official site, Tokyograph annoucement) (starring Horikita Maki, Shun Oguri etc)
The title might sound unfamiliar, but this is actually the Japanese version of the Taiwan drama 花樣少年少女 (starring Ella of S.H.E). Like Meteor Garden/Hana Yori Dango before, the original story is based off a Japanese manga of the same title (Hana Kimi for short). Being biased (and because Horikita Maki is starring in this), i will of course say that this will be much more faithful to the manga and better than the Taiwan version. Hopefully it's as good as Hana Yori Dango. No pics as of yet of this drama on Wiki or the official site. Air date is every Tuesday starting from July 3rd.

Sad Vacation (starring Miyazaki Aoi etc.)
Frankly i have no idea what this movie is about. I don't even know who are the leading actors/actress in it. What i do know is that Miyazaki Aoi will be starring in it, possibly in a non-leading role (i deduced this from the amount of shots of her from the website and the fact that her name gets 3rd billing on the credits; don't take my word for it). I'm willing to bet that this movie will never get shown in Singapore theatres, which means i probably have to import it if i want to complete my Aoi film collection.

NANA 2 (DVD) (Full Trailer)

Official release date for Japanese version is June 22nd. Can't wait to get my hands on a HK or local release of this. I know i badmouthed Ichikawa Yui before on taking Miyazaki Aoi's Hachi role but after not seeing her in any shows for so long i'm excited to see her act. I guess it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. And to be fair, it was not like she slept with anyone to get the role from Aoi. (Aoi rejected the role in NANA 2 herself due to either a) other projects (Heavenly Forest) b)because there were bed scenes in NANA 2 for Hachi; take your pick)

Pretty in Pink

2007-06-10T11:11:00.000+08:00

For the 4th consecutive time, i got the same flavor drinking Anything. If i could i would shake my own hand. That makes it a 1/2196 chance that i got the same flavor 4 times in a row, out of a possible 6 different flavor. I like those odds. This higher those odds go, the more confident i will be that i can somehow by chance meet Erika Toda in Japan.

I collected my pink IC on Friday morning! Every cockster i showed on the way out of camp pretended to try to snap my card into 2. What an original prank. Oh well, that's the end of one phase of my life. Went bowling at CDANs with Alex straight after that. What a good feeling it was to leave my IC as the deposit. I bowled some OK scores by my standard but what irks me is the difference between my High and Low score (194/196). That's just terrible inconsistency. And i somehow managed to ruin a fantastic chance to hit 200+ in my 194 game. Grr..

Added some statistics on my sidebar to track my bowling averages and scores. Target: To push my average over 140.
-----------

Drama: Liar Game Episode 8

The big annoucement at the end of Episode 8 is that the final episode of Liar Game will be a 3 hour special! Considering that 1 episode is 30 odd minutes, that equates to a 6-episode finale.
Anyway this episode ends with the end of the Resurrection Round and the immediate commencement of the Third (and what i believe to be the final) round of the LGT. Can't wait to see how this ends.

Found this pics of a gameshow with Matsuda Shota and Erika Toda (and the other cast of Liar Game) appearing in it. Had to share this cause Erika looks too cute (click to see the bigger version):

Curtain Call

2007-06-08T04:58:00.000+08:00

I have officially fulfilled my 2 years of NS duty! All that's left is for me to pick up my IC tomorrow, and after that, bowling with Alex (the '224 man'). I wonder if it will be a case of 3rd time lucky because i've been losing to him the last 2 times we have bowled together. But any competition can only be good for both of us to improve our scores. I'm looking to bump my average from 120-130 up to 140-150 and progress from there. That means more consistency and focus!

I've been drinking Anything the past few days and i must say i'm extremely unlucky cause i got the exact same flavor(Cloudy Lemon i think, the one that tastes like Mountain Dew w/lemon) thrice. Since there are officially 6 flavors, the chance of me getting the same thing thrice is 1/216? Ok, maybe those odds means i've been lucky but i want to try something different! But since the taste is not bad (though not exactly original) and i LOVE sugary stuff, i'll continue supporting our local product. Ee Wei was speculating that there is some hidden ultra rare flavor waiting to be found but that's just more of his usual crap i guess.

As part of my plan to help reduce plastic bag waste, i've been buying those reusable bags from NTUC/Cold Storage ($0.95). Ok i lied. There is no such plan of mine. I just bought the bags because it was in green. But they have been very useful for carrying whatever (no, not the drink) in it. Except that every auntie going to the market has the same bag. I'll just lie to myself this time that it's all for a good cause.
-----------

Ichikawa Yui has a part in an upcoming drama! Not much info about it yet on Dramawiki except for 4 cast members and it's title, Doubutsu 119. Yui will probably be the main female character from the looks of the cast billing. And i managed to pick this up while reading her blog. Some pictures of her from the set (at least i assume it's from the set from the looks of it, except the last one):

Prelude to the Pink Parade

2007-06-06T22:09:00.001+08:00

It's finally here: tomorrow is my last official working day in the SAF! Of course i should be bursting with joy but somehow on the eve of this momentous day i feel a little..empty. Maybe the expectation of getting to my ORD exceeded the actual thing itself. Or maybe i'm too happy that i can't face the reality of the situation. Just to make tomorrow a little more interesting i already told myself i am going to try all the items on Seng Fatt's menu that i have not eaten before. And i'm going to drink tons of soft drinks, again anything that i haven't drunk before at Seng Fatt. Here's to a happy stuffed final day in camp!

..but where do i go from here? I've only been able to see my 'future' as far as my Japan trip. After that, it's all ??? and ??. I'm pretty sure i am not going to study (but don't bet on it, overseas U is still an (undesirable) option). I can't think of a job that i want to do and can do with whatever qualifications i have now. Maybe the logical step will be to get my long overdue driving license. I've put it off since poly and i can't think of any other reasons that i haven't got it besides me being lazy, and that every Tom, Dick and Harry has it so there's nothing special about having one (not having one at age 22 does make me feel a bit unique though).

Well as long as my parents don't suddenly disown me i think i probably have another half year to think what i want to do.
-----------

Drama: Liar Game Episode 6 and 7

I did say that i didn't like Matsuda Shota when i first heard he was going to start along Erika Toda, but after the countless time he saves Erika's sweet gullible self he's way into my good books. He does play the part of the super-confident, genius swindler extremely well (in fact he's really cool when he's into his stride).

I don't think i'm going to summarise this series anymore (too many spoilers, too many characters to keep track off) but the clincher for this 2 episodes was when all the contestants takes out food from their bags, and Nao (Erika) pulls out... a teddy bear. Ok that wasn't really the best part but i found it hilariously cute. And the series continues to get better and better. I hope it doesn't end at 11 episodes.
-----------

With my NS allowance gone once again i have to depend on my parents again for day to day money. So this past month might be my last 'heavy' spending spree. ('Heavy' of course, being relative. If i took home more than $560 a month i'll probably be spending a better proportion).

Last thing to buy to commerorate the end of this era (technically my longest period at a job) is the bowling ball i've been meaning to buy since last month. Going to buy it together with Alex on monday and the trade-off is he comes to help me pack my room for the move. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

Flying the Flag

2007-06-04T23:35:00.000+08:00

Movie: Flags Of Our Fathers

Another fantastic movie from Clint Eastwood. (Or should i be complimenting the scriptwriters?) Very much the epic (like it's companion film Letters From Iwo Jima), i found the story sadder(than Iwo Jima) but the pacing slower. If you fell asleep during Iwo Jima then this will probably leave you in a coma. But stay awake (even Brandon managed it) and the film's message is really meaningful. Rating: 8.5/10
-----------

Changed my site's top picture back to Erika Toda..And 4 more days to ORD! 'Nuff Said! My Erika Calendar is coming home with me this Friday Whoohoo!

Rooftop of the World

2007-05-28T13:05:00.000+08:00

Went to watch Pirates OTC: At World End with Alex tonight. I really think that Hollywood should stop making sequels to their blockbusters. POTC 1 was good, POTC 2 was meh, POTC 2.1, wait i meant 3, felt almost the same as 2. More new pirate legends to counter another pirate legend that was previously thought undefeatable. Fight scenes way, way too long and over elaborate, and i ended up reading the chinese subtitles most of the way because i couldn't understand more than 3 words of what the pirates were mumbling about. Having said that it's not 'too' bad, at least i wasn't snoring (someone in the cinema was, Alex was probably close to it) but not a movie i will recommend or watch again. Way too long as well (2h30mins). And as usual Alex hated every minute of it, kind of makes me wonder why he asked me to watch with him in the first place. He fell asleep during POTC 2.

Herbert came over played a large part (replace 'large' with something that means 'everything') in helping me clear 7 Achievements (940/1000AP for the entire game now) that have so far eluded my clumsy unsynched fingers. That has also taken me well clear of my 10k AP target (cue fanfare and loud cheers!). And he managed to place 78th in the world on 'Freebird'. That's just incredible. I'm mostly just content to be in the top 1000 (or 10,000, that's where i hover around usually) but to be in the top 100 is truly remarkable.
-----------

Movie: Tegami aka the Letter (Yamada Takayuki, Erika Sawajiri, Tetsuji Tamayama)

The key to enjoying this movie is to accept quickly the premise that the Japanese society outcasts and rejects anyone who has relatives in prison. Whether or not this middle age mindset is really true i do not know, but once you accept this 'principle' the whole movie is actually pretty good. And might i add quite moving as well.
In order to put his younger brother Naoki (Yamada) through to University, Takashi Takeshima (Tetsuji Tamayama) breaks in to rob a household but accidentally ends up stabbing and killing the old grandmother of the house. He's caught and given life imprisonment and Naoki, understanding his brother's intentions, feels guilty and drops out of school and enters the working life. In prison, Takashi finds his only comfort in writing and receiving letters from his brother.

"I've got mail!"

The entire movie has Naoki feeling the burden of being labelled a 'muderer's brother'. He is forced to move apartments and quit his job whenever his landlord or employers learn about his background. His dreams and love life crumbles as well and he is avoided like the plague. Depressed and angry at being stereotyped and carrying his brother's stigma, he slowly stops writing altogether to his brother. Roughly this is how the entire movie (2 hour+) unfolds.

Being a little too friendly with a brother of a muderer..

So how does Erika Sawajiri come into the picture? Her role is quite limited in the first 2/3 of the movie, only appearing in small scenes. She plays Yumiko, a canteen girl who tries to befriend Naoki. Her reasons are not revealed till the final third of the show though (disclaimer: her reason is not really anything shocking).

Someone told Naoki smoking would solve all his problems, or that it was a good way to burn off that awful sideburn.

I personally thought Tetsuji was great in his role as the convicted brother. He's probably the reason i actually felt sad and touched by the show. This was the first movie where i actually thought Yamada couldn't act. His expressions of sadness and shock were totally unconvincing. And he still has that ridiculous '60s sideburn (last seen in Taiyou no Uta) unshaved. Erika (the lesser of the 2 Erika(s)) goes from geeky canteen girl to aspiring hairdresser to mother of a child, pretty versatile acting from her.

This show is far, far from perfect. Some scenes are hastily rushed through without much explanation, some parts a little incoherent and some of the lines seem really poorly placed/delivered. But i still like it. There were some really emotional parts and i ended up sympathising alot with all of the characters. I'll definitely give this a re-watch when i have the time. Might get the DVD if i can find it.
-----------

Movie: Sugar and Spice ~ What Little Girls are Made of (Erika Sawajiri, Yuya Yagira)

The previous 'Sugar and Spice' entry i watched was a 1 episode SP starring Erika Toda. This movie plays to the same bitter sweet love concept as the drama with a new storyline. And the only reason to catch this series is if you don't like happily ever after endings. And of course if you're like me and enjoy watching either or both of the 2 Erika(s) than that's another huge incentive.

Unlikeable little monkey.

Let me be frank. This movie is just your normal love story with a not so happy ending.And i didn't enjoy this love story because i think Yuya Yagira sucks. My principle is that shows are only as good as how much you can 'feel' for the characters. And i didn't feel a thing for him throughout the movie. His face is really distracting; i'm thinking he has very strong anthropoid-ic resemblance or he should be auditioning for the role of Sun Wukong in Journey to the West.

Erika looks really good in this show, but has an unlikeable on-screen personality as well.

Besides her gorgeous smile, Erika's character (another sign that i couldn't get involved with the show; i forgot their on-screen names) is really wishy-washy and irritating. Unacceptable for a movie's heroine.

The only thing that stands out (again, aside from Erika) is the theme song, Oasis's 'Lyla'. They used the same song in the drama as well. And i just really felt like singing along whenever the song played in the background. Catch this (only) if you really really want to see Erika Sawajiri.
-----------

Note: The first 2 of many movies that i'm starting to watch from my new stash.

A Weak Week

2007-05-27T20:16:00.000+08:00

It seems like ages since i last updated. As my X360 Achievement Points inches every nearer to the 10k mark (176 more to go!), i'm thinking of how i should celebrate this milestone. Maybe a Suki Sushi buffet. The problem is there anyone willing to celebrate this with me? Actually i'm just using this as an excuse to pig out. I do so love (cheap) buffets w/ free flow of drinks. And speaking of Suki buffets, some guy, initials DT, still owes me for 1 buffet since last year.

Recently Brandon has been giving me a lot of 'comments' about my appearances, if it isn't my puny biceps, it's my double chin etc. Today it's my dress sense. Yes i will be the first to admit that i have a bad/non-existent dress sense, but i also have to point out that aside from my Aston Villa jerseys, everything else in my cupboard are either hand-me-downs or bought by someone else. Buying/thinking of clothings is like the bottom-est of my priorities, although with Japan coming up i should probably get some nicer clothes (winter stuff too) to go abroad with. And it's just so like Brandon to only criticize someone on his outward physical appearance (I think that's the only thing he can criticize). All these brawny people are so one-dimensional..
-----------
J-Movies: A whole Bundle!

Recently i managed to 'find' a lot of good movies (that i've been searching for to buy) to watch, in no particular order:

Sugar and Spice (Erika Sawajiri)
Metro ni Notte (aka "Riding the Metro", the time travel plot looks interesting)
Tegami (Erika Sawajiri, Takayuki Yamada )
Neigbour No. 13 (Shidou Nakamura, Ryuhei Matsuda)
Loved Gun (Miyazaki Aoi!)
Kamikaze Girls (Kyoko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya(i love her songs))
Sinking of Japan (starring someone i know in TMC and Kou Shibasaki)
Honey and Clover (Aoi Yuu)

Gonna start with the 2 Erika Sawajiri shows tonight first. But they just look like typical teen romance movies so i'm not gonna get my expectations up.
----------

Game: Guitar Hero 2 (X360)

Well i've played through the 8 new career songs enough to comment about them, and aside from 1 (maybe 2) the songs are really catchy and great to listen to again and again. My ratings:

Top Tier (4-5/5 stars):

Life Wasted - Pearl Jam: Only the 2nd Pearl Jam i've ever listened too (the other is Last Kiss), both are great
Dead! - My Chemical Romance: According to the people on GameFaqs, anyone who likes this is an 'emo fag'. Well i like it. Amusing lyrics as well.

Middle Tier (3-4/5 stars):

Hush - Deep Purple: Didn't take notice of this song when listening to their discography but it's nice as well
Possum Kingdom - Toadies: Don't judge a song by it's title or by the bandname. Catchy.
Salvation - Rancid: I'm not too crazy about this but it's not bad i guess
Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer: I love them RnR songs.

Bottom Tier(1-2/5 stars):

The Trooper - Iron Maiden: The song (original) is great don't get me wrong. This cover (and i'm solely blaming the singer) is just horrid.
Billion Dollar Babies - Alice Cooper: Some bad sounding songs have thoughtful lyrics at least. This has neither. And isn't Alice a girl's name?

The remaining 2 new songs (bonus tracks) were instantly forgettable, so i won't comment on them (actually i will, 'Drink Up!' is another bloody lousy song). Add 'FTK' to the thrash songs list too. And yes, 'Yes We Can' still sucks.
-----------

One last note: I just realised 1 more benefit of having a bathroom in my new room: i can walk out of the shower naked! Previously if i ever forgot to take a towel in to the bathroom i would have to sneak the 3 steps to my room butt naked and risk being seen and labelled a flasher. Now if anyone comes into my room while i'm naked he/she must be some kind of pervert. I can do all the flashing i want in my own privacy now!

Seasonal Sunday

2007-05-20T02:31:00.000+08:00

Went bowling with Alex yesterday. As with the previous time i bowled with him at Civil Service Club, i got thrashed again, 4-2. You would think i would feel lousy about losing, but i feel there's no shame in losing to a celebrity:

Yup, as you can see i was actually bowling with John Travlota in disguise. Looks like he has not lost the Saturday Night Fever touch.

To cap off a poor day, due to over-playing Guitar Hero 2 on the controller over the week (and especially on Friday with Bert), my right hand is aching and cramping real bad. So bad that i can't even depress the shoulder buttons properly. Probably due to a combination of too many hours every night playing and also being too tense while playing. So for the night i switched back to playing on the guitar and making sure i was relax doing it:

Unfortunately i was too comfortable and couldn't make much headway through the game. Looks like its time for an extended break from gaming.

Familiar Faces

2007-05-15T21:54:00.000+08:00

Brandon and I have been alternating between songs clearing Guitar Hero 2 on Medium. I'd say we're about the same level on the guitar controller (ie we both suck). Took us over half an hour (him on guitar, me on controller) today getting the perfect song achievement on co-operative mode. Personally i still feel like a retard with the guitar (i only managed to clear 2 songs on Expert and 11 on Hard with it) so i'm still clearing the Hard campaign with my trusty controller (the Xbox's shoulder buttons are way inferior to the PS2 controller) and i'll leave the Expert stuff to Herbert when he get backs from China.

Went to the BOB forums to add all the local people who owns Guitar Hero 2 on Xbox. Of all the names on my friends list, it looks like i'm topping the leaderboards. Fancy that. I'm the least loseriffic of all the GH losers i know.

Target this weekend: 1000 note streak on Freebird (Medium)! With a little luck and alot of patience i'll probably get it. The bad thing is that Freebird is 8mins+ long so 1 mistake and i have to play through a heck of a long way again.
-----------

It's a coincidence but over the past week, 3 dramas (Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu, Dragon Zakura and Proposal Daisakusen) and 1 movie (Nada Sou Sou) i started watching had Masami Nagasawa (she won the Japan Academy Prize 2005: Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Winner for Sekai no chuushin de, ai wo sakebu) starring in it, and an even better coincidence is that she plays a high school student in each of them. Even though i'm not too bad at recognising faces (not as bad as say, Wee Kim), it took me sometime to realise that it was her in all 4 of the shows because she looks a bit different everytime:

I like the look on the top right the best.

She's not a 10/10 (a 7.5 to me) in the looks department but she is kinda cute, most importantly of course, is that she exudes a very likeable on-screen charm for all the characters she plays. I can add her to my list of actress to look out for. Her latest work seems to be a movie (Sono Toki wa Kare ni Yoroshiku ) alongside Yamada Takayuki.

Whatever happened to poor Ichikawa Yui? She's not in any dramas or movie projects at all this season so i thought something might have happened to her (some scandal) or for some reasons she's being shunned by TV studios (her last movie was Nana 2). So i checked out her blog and it looks like she's still alive (according to the entries dates) and apparently she is still alive and well.

Not to nitpick, but has she put on weight? Her left arm looks flabby..

Sort of miss her seeing her bad acting in dramas. Hope she gets into some new projects soon. I'm sure Ee Wei misses her as well.
-----------

Last thing to add, i missed my IPPT today because i was feeling a little sick. Wee Kim said i'm probably chao genging and to some extent i think that's a little true. Maybe i'm just sick of being at work last Friday and Monday when i'm supposed to be on leave.

Lost Post

2007-05-14T23:13:00.000+08:00

It just pisses me off straight when after i spend a good half an hour writing a post and then clicking the 'save as draft' button when Blogger gives me some server error crap and i lose everything i just typed. Don't think i want to write everything out again so i'll just summarise some of the things i wanted to post originally:

A) Guitar Hero 2 (Xbox 360). Bought today. Funz Centre. $134. Fun. Getting hang of it.

B) Drama: Proposal Daisakusen (Episode 1-3 ongoing). Yamashita Tomohisa/Nagasawa Masami. Time travel, love story etc Very nice.

I'm not sure what you can infer from this picture about the story..but try to..

C) Erika Toda. New photoshoot. Sample:

Just imagine the original post that was lost with more details and more pictures. That's about it. Bah..stupid blogger! Note to self to Ctrl+C everything and paste on a notepad before submitting anything.

Game Plan

2007-05-13T20:07:00.000+08:00

Is it the trend nowadays that game shows have less to do with intellect and more with blind luck? 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' was pretty popular last time until people started realising that they actually had to think to win. I guess people at home were feeling pretty dumb and inferior when they realised they couldn't answer the questions as well so the interest eventually died down.

Enter 'Deal or No Deal' (see ChannelNewsAsia article). The advertisement was retardedly funny (one snippet had a guy saying, "I've waited 30 years to play this game!") so i thought i would catch the show. I'm predicting this show will be popular because the prerequisites look pretty simple, as long as you can call out numbers from 1-26 and can say the title out loud (Deal/No Deal, preferably shouting it out emphatically for effect) you'll probably be eligible. It helps if you're into black magic or had a good run of luck recently because the bottom line is, luck is what this game is all about.

Fortunately (or not) the show was fairly entertaining because the contestant was (in my books) a real (fat) loser. When he was not giving unnecessary winks to the girls carrying the briefcases, he was making exaggerated labour noises when things didn't go his way. In the end i didn't manage to last the entire half an hour because the guy irritated me. But that won't stop me from catching next week episode. It's something like watching 'Loser of the Week'. I can't wait to see if he can outdo this week's contestant.
-----------

A thought struck me while playing Test Drive: Unlimited today, who the hell was the idiot who thought that it would be 'fun' to include traffic in a Racing game? For some of the challenges, it's not a case of me having the skills to drive the route, but more of me restarting till the computer decides not to choke up an important corner or checkpoint with traffic. Another thing i noticed is as the difficulty of the race 'increases', so does the distance. Am i the only one who doesn't see a relation between the two? Can't they make a short race with harder computer opponents (no traffic please..) instead? TDU is still an enjoyable game, but i just about had it with the traffic (and the stupid police patrols). And a 200km race? Are you fricking kidding me?

Too typical traffic collision.

Thank goodness Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out. I tried the demo yesterday and finally it looks like this will be the game that will put the RACE in racing. Real circuits, excellent car physics (and realistic damage) and finally, no more of that annoying street racing crap. I have to say it feels (and looks) much better than Gran Turismo as well.
-----------

I would like to say a big 'Thank You' to Alex for going out of his way (and behind my back) to help me find a solution to my blogger problem, even after i resigned myself to doing without the toolbar. Consider your rep. points raised.

Can You Hear Me Knocking?

2007-05-13T00:05:00.000+08:00

Yikes! June is just around the corner! And before you think i'll start rambling about how there is less than a month to my ORD, what i'm actually concerned about is moving houses during the latter part of June. Not to mention aside from reading through my Lonely Planet Japan book, i have not made any other preparations for my trip (and that's just 2 months after June). In regards to the moving, besides chucking away my comic books, i have not packed anything else. And in truth i do have alot of junk to pack. I have to probably make a hard decision and throw away some of the stuff i used to collect, mainly my trading card games (WWE and LOTR) and basketball cards. Maybe i should invite people over before i move to look through the stuff i want to throw away to see if i can find any takers.

It's starting to be a tradition that every weekend i have or leave/off i take, i tend to fall slightly ill. This weekend is no exception, i caught a sore throat and as i'm writing this my stomach is writhing in pain. Gastric i think. Which i believe is stress induced. I can't seem to have a peaceful day at home just playing games. Someone always comes and irritates me. And i really hate when people just stick their head room and then walk off. Do they have any idea how annoying/distracting that is? If i lock my door, they will start knocking and then repeat the same thing once i unlock it. That's just so Jeremy.

Things i should probably invest in for my new room: Padded door (so i can't hear when people knock) and a professional 'Do Not Disturb' sign to nail to my door in 3 different langauges.
-----------

Drama: Liar Game Episode 4

I think Ee Wei was right when he said that Erika Toda was not the main star of the show. After 4 episodes it seems that swindler Akiyama Shin'chi is more of the hero of the show while Erika's character Kanzaki Nao is reduced to the hapless damsel in distress who just keeps getting tricked and getting into trouble. (Thank goodness this doesn't mean Erika gets less screentime on this already short drama series) I don't know how many episodes are planned for this series but at 36 mins an episode, and yet to conclude the 2nd Round of the Liar Game by the end of Episode 4, i sincerely that this gets more than 12 episodes because the show is really good so far.

There's not much to summarise for this episode without giving the villain away so i won't elaborate too much. Nao realises she's been tricked (again) and the villain takes up half the episode explaining how he fooled everyone and gloats over his supposed victory over the other 3 remaining contestants. As the final vote is counted, he realised that Shin'chi had switched votes and therefore the round was a draw (2-2) and has to be replayed. Episode ends with Shin'chi revealing that he knew all along who was the traitor and declaring to the remaining contestants after popping in his vote for the replay round that he will win the 2.1 billion yen prize.

On a side note, Erika Toda is starring in a new drama : Ushi ni Negai wo: Love & Farm to be aired in July. From the sypnosis it sounds like it's not really a drama per se but more like an educational series? I don't know what to expect from this one.

Look out, here comes the Spiderman!

2007-05-10T13:58:00.000+08:00

Caught Spiderman 1 (TV) and 2 (DVD) this past week and i never realised how much Tobey Maguire has gone up the fat road of fame. With every sequel he has put on a few pounds and then some. Anyway i put my 1 day off to 'good' use as I've more or less beaten Spiderman 3 this morning on my Xbox 360. I'm probably gonna chase after another last 60 AP (to make it 850) before i call time on this game.

Played Test Drive: Unlimited in the afternoon and i have to say this is one of the more immersive car games i've ever played. It's like GTA (you can houses, clothes, cars, bikes etc) without the violence and swearing and with online support. And i thought it was pretty cool today when i put a car up for sale online and someone bought it. I'm definitely going to spend alot more time on this game (AP for driving 5000 miles..)
-----------

Was thinking of ordering Little Britain season 2 and 3 online but i read on wiki that my favourite idiot of a character Ray McCooney doesn't appear in the next 2 seasons. Reason cited was because the set of Ye Olde Hotele was too expensive. It's hard to describe what exactly i find so hilarious about him but i really like this description on Wiki: "It appears he wants to be seen as an eccentric, mysterious, even sinister figure, but only causes annoyance."

I didn't find Little Britain too funny at first (typical witless British humour) but some of the characters really grow on you after awhile. Some are still rubbishly unfunny and irritating though. Anyway there are quite a few new sketches on the later season. Maybe i'll look around a while for a local release of the DVDs before thinking of ordering.
-----------

Drama: Nodame Cantabile (1-11 END)

2 things made this drama drop out of my 'good' drama books, 1) Besides the 2 main characters, everyone else is so damn uninteresting or irritating and 2) i can't appreciate classical music for nuts. The whole show trys too hard to feel like an anime, so you get all these weird effects that have no place being in a live drama. If you are a classical music fan or you just like querky actions/characters this might be the show for you. I preferred the anime version of this title (incidentally it's nearly entirely similar in content). The best part of the series is watching Chiaki (Tamaki Hiroshii) knock Nodame (Juri Ueno) senseless everytime she does or say something stupid, which happens alot.
Perhaps this would have been better if they had reunited Tamaki and Miyazaki Aoi (Heavenly Forest castings) but then again, Aoi doesn't do low-grade shows.

TOW No Pictures

2007-05-09T10:36:00.000+08:00

If it's not one thing it's the other: been wanting to update for the past few days but some stupid script error on Blogspot has prevented me from doing so. Even downloading Firefox failed to help. So until something on someone's end (and if you believe me it's Blogspot's fault!) gets fixed i'll be stuck posting just unformatted text, since i can't even hit the edit HTML button.
-----------

After much uneventfulness, i managed to gather nearly all of the signatures for my ORD clearance form. What a letdown for my final 'quest'. I actually thought (hoped actually) that filling up the form would be harder than this. Sort of a final hurdle before they release me. As it stands now, the final hurdle is covering the Navy Open House 2007. I don't wish to put my waning medical skills to the test.

Went bowling with Nigel and Melvin (2 fellow ORDers) today after my dental FFI at TMC. I managed a pretty respectable (to me) average of 129.6 over 5 games (TP: 648, L113H153). Nigel is a pretty good bowler once he finds his spot! He had a low of 92 and high of 182 but lost in total pinfalls to yours truly. He managed to coax me into buying a bowling ball after our next payday. Saw a nice pink ball for a straight bowler like me for $125 at the CSC shop. I don't swing 'that' way but i think pink really stands out from the usual black balls. Anyway, we'll have a lot of free time on weekdays to go bowling once June comes around.
-----------

True to self, i have nearly already overspent my entire next month's NS allowance. Besides some bowling, some pigging out (Cafe Cartel w/ Alex on Saturday, Swensen's w/ Nigel/Melvin today) and some taxis here and there, i also bought 5 X360 games this month (Dead Rising, N3, Spiderman 3, Test Drive Unlimited and Splinter Cell Double Agent) not to mention some DVDs (Nada Sou-Sou, Spiderman 2, Little Britain and Spring Snow).

And to top it off, Guitar Hero 2 is finally confirmed to be released on May 14th (Monday). The odds of me tightening my purse-strings looks to be pretty slim till at least after this purchase. It's not just PS2 Guitar Hero 2+new songs+HD graphics, MOST importantly, it's Guitar Hero 2+new songs+HD graphics+1000 shiny ACHIEVEMENT POINTS! Oh yah, i added my XBL gamercard underneath my profile.
-----------

I thought the day would never come again: my BT download list is finally empty! And vice-versa, my 550GB HDD is nearly full! I usually take my time to re-encode and burn my stuff but this time round there's too much new stuff so i'm going to have to practice watch and delete for those 'average' dramas. Even Ishihara Satomi wasn't a big enough pull to stop me from deleting Nurse Aoi off. Gonna finish the last 2 episodes of Nodame Cantabile

One last side note for this update: Liar Game 4 is out! Gonna watch it tonight!

Back to the Future

2007-05-04T18:17:00.000+08:00

Went to IMM yesterday to look at more furniture. I didn't know that the majority of the upper storeys were dedicated to furniture retailers. And unlike Ikea or Novena, they don't sell stuff off the shelf, the furniture can be customised to a certain extent. Amazingly i managed to decide on almost all my room items on that 1 day, and even more amazingly my father actually agreeded with my choices for once! Last thing i'm missing for my room is a 2-seater sofa bed, probably will get that at Ikea. Maybe when i tell people about what i'm planning to do for my room it may sound like boasting, but from my POV i'm just plain excited: after 22 years of sharing a room with someone i'm finally going to have my own space. Sweet peace and privacy is within my grasp!
-----------

Drama: Liar Game Episode 3

This will sound redundant but yes, i really like this series so far. And believe it or not, it's not just only because Erika Toda is starring in it. The story is very intriguing as well. And furthermore every episode ends on some sort of cliff-hanger (albeit a very short cliff) and makes me all excited to watch the next one (incidentally episode airs tonight 11pm in Japan). Too bad the episodes are so short (36 mins) and a good 5 mins of it is spent on recaps at the start, previews at the end and the OP for the show.

The episode picks off where the previous one left off, with 'Jigsaw' about to explain the rules of the 2nd round. Among the 22 of them, 1 person will be randomly chosen to ask a question that can be answered with only 'Yes' or 'No'. Then all 22 will have to submit a ballot with their answer. The people who chose the answer in the minority advances to the next round where the process is repeated.

A trial round is held for the contestants. The question posed is, 'Are you a woman?'. Nao does a count of the women in the room and there's only 9 of them, so she's confident that balloting a YES will see her in the minority. Of course, she doesn't understand the concept of lying so naturally she loses, with the majority of the votes for YES. The LGT announces the real game will commence tomorrow.

Worried and unable to sleep, Nao approaches Shin'chi for help to get her out of the game. Shin'chi tells her to go grab intel from the other contestants as to why they decided to come to the 2nd round. He then devises a plan so that 8 of them will manage to get through the game without being in debt. The integrity of the plan hinges on the trustworthiness of the 8 people and that after 1 of them eventually wins, he/she will split the money with the others.

I run to you for your help and you want me to play chess?

Nao eagerly goes to find 6 more male volunteers who she deems trustworthy (she's probably the worst judge of character)and the next day of the game they put their plan in action. (The question asked is, if you could go to the mountains or the sea, would you prefer to go to the sea?) Seeing the voting results later on which follows too perfectly to his best case scenario plan, Shin'chi suspects that there is a traitor within their group. EPISODE END

And then there were none

2007-05-02T11:34:00.000+08:00

Movie: Spiderman 3

Venom: All bark but no bite.

It seems that Sam Raimi has somehow managed to ruin the one good Marvel movie. I used to think that the long character interactions between all the web-swinging action were the best part of the first 2 movies, but not anymore. While SpM 1 and 2 had only 1 villain to focus on, i couldn't have cared less for either of the 3 in SpM 3. Am i the only one who feels that the New Goblin (so-named in the credit) on his hoverboard looks like something out of Spy Kids 3D (not that i watched that crap before)? Sandman might have been cooler if he was an all-out bad guy (like the comics), but add his sob tales in and suddenly Flint Marko seems like a downright unlucky loser. After wrecking havoc on the city he suddenly does a 360 turn and says, "i didn't mean for it to be this way". At least take pride in your handiwork, loser. Eddie Brock/Venom was supposed to be THE villain for the 3rd show but role he plays is so inconsequential that he's more aptly named Sideshow Ed. And what's up with the vampire fangs in his human mouth? That's just weird.

Flirting openly on a web in the park. Doesn't someone have a secret identity he needs to protect?

The majority of the story revolves around Peter Parker and MJ Watson trying to work out their relationship, but if i wanted to see draggy merry-go-round love stories i would rather watch a J-Drama. At least the girls are cuter (than Kirsten Dunst). I think i said it before, if you don't like a character, you won't be into the show no matter how much shit he/she goes through. And i don't like MJ/Dunst. Somehow they managed to even potray Gwen Stacy (my fav. of Parker's 3 GFs in the comic) as a blonde bimbo who's in love with Spidey.

The action sequences are just average as well. I think it's too much a case of seen that, done that so none of the action seems new. I wish that Spiderman would take more damage as well; falling down several hundred feet, getting sliced by blades and pounded by a few tons of sand and the only indications that he's hurt is that his suit is torn. And as Brandon pointed out all night, Tobey Maguire looks plain fat and unfit when he's exposed underneath his suit. Whatever. At least in the comic book he hurts his arm after a normal fall and can't webswing after that. Where's that teensy bit of realism in the movie? If i was Goblin, Sandman or Venom i would be mighty pissed that after all the beatings he still gets up and fights as if it never happened.

Last but not least, my biggest grievances are with Tobey Maguire himself. It took me long enough (3 movies) to realise but this guy can't act for nuts! Ee Wei probably won't call me sheepish looking after seeing him in this movie. The only expressions he has are: sheepish, grinning-sheepish and stunned-sheepish. Even at the last part when XXX dies, the camera had to focus such a long time on his face before he amazingly managed to shed out some tears (possibly eye drops). Did i mention that Brandon says he looks fa..oh wait i did. I totally agree. At least now i don't feel so bad about my double chin. Even Spiderman has one!

However bad i've criticized this movie, it still beats the shit out of the mediocre (Fantastic Four), the thrash (Daredevil), and the uber-thrash (Ghost-Rider) Marvel superheroes films. Probably it's still on par with the X-Men movies. BUT! Following in the footsteps of the 2 splendid previous showings, SpM 3 just feels shoddily done. If they're gonna make a part 4, please let it focus on one villain again (the Lizard perhaps?) 6.5/10
-----------

Note to self: When entering the toilet in the dead of the night, always check the ceiling first to see if there's a lizard waiting to drop down on me while i'm peeing. Scared a few years off my already short life last night.

Communication Breakdown Part Deux

2007-05-01T03:59:00.000+08:00

Sunday was my last duty at TMC (the only place i know where toilets stink less than the sleeping area)! Jia Da and Jun Yan played God of War 2 from 9am to 9pm and managed to complete it. Poon and I played on my X360 and thanks largely to his assistance i managed to squeeze some more achivements points and overtake his own total. Ha! I'm sure he's regretting helping me now.

Went to replace my modem(again) at 2Wire Service Centre after duty. There was a big commotion when i reached there because apparently all the people were there with the same problem (DSL signal unable to sync) so they were asking what was the use of replacing their modem with the same model when the problem was an inherent design fault. So after much bickering, the manager agreeded to supply everyone there with a newer modem model and an extended warranty. So he asked if anyone knew how to setup the modem themselves or else they would still have to queue and let the engineers assist them. Turns out everyone is an IT idiot so lucky me, i managed to jump everyone's queue(even though i just arrived) and do the 1for1 exchange immediately. A big thanks to the people who bitched and moaned on my behalf and effectively helped cut my waiting time to a few short minutes.

Went on a mini-shopping spree around AMK after that:
DVD/VCD
-Little Britain 1st Season, $10 from Cash Convertors
-Hotman 2, $3 from Cash Convertors
-Spring Snow, $10 from Video Ezy

Games
-Enchant Arm, $35
-Dead Rising, $50
-Ninety Nine Nights, $25

I rebought Dead Rising and 99 Nights because i regretted selling them off before fully completing them. Previously i bought my X360 to tide me over till i bought a PS3 so i thought i would get rid of games once completed so that i won't be stuck with a huge library. But after all the Sony bullshit and the sheer quality of the X360 games i decided that i will no longer sell away games. All the better for me to max out the achievement points for each title.

All About Chemistry

2007-04-25T14:16:00.000+08:00

I was saying how Kuninaka_Ryoko(top pic) resembles a MediaCorp Artiste (or vice-versa) and yup, i feels she does look like Fiona Xie. Granted the pose in the 2 pictures aren't exactly identical but i think the resemblance is fairly obvious (Fiona has a longer horsey-ier face though, and i don't really like her). Anyone disagree? Sorry Matt, i wasn't thinking of Yvonne Lim, and before i went to Google her i didn't even who she was also. Yes i suck for not knowing our local actresses.
-----------

Made a bad mistake walking with D.Law down to the cookhouse today. Had to endure his whining about how much work he's been given since he came back. Obviously he's just looking for sympathy. Well he won't find it from me. Empathy? Maybe. Sympathy for the devil? Sorry, i'm all out. Try the Rolling Stones. And it does sound like he's boasting when he said he has a cough flu and fever and he STILL came to work! Wow-Wee! All that and he gets paid (humanely) as well!

Of course to top it off, he mentioned that he might have to call all on us back on Saturday ('fever' talk i guess) to move the department down to SBMC, and as such told me to keep my Saturdays free (as in no going overseas) to help. Now i believe i'm a fairly reasonable guy, but 1 month before my ORD and he's asking me to do give him my Saturdays is going too far. His exact words when i said this was, "what to do? bo bian right?". Bo bian my ass! His way of thinking is truly other-wordly to me. Anyway i think Bernard has more common sense NOT to arrange moving on weekends so i'll leave it to him to run the show. BEST case scenario: Move gets delayed till after June 8th. (And of all the nerves, 'he' had the cheek to ask me to come back after i ORD to help if this happens)
-----------

Finally passed Bullet Witch on Hard Mode last night! Probably one of the more worthwhile games to play in terms of Achievement Pts/Time Spent. And thank goodness i ignored the reviews because the game was really fun to play. I think that those who rate games solely on their graphics (i'm often guilty of that *shame*) will often miss out on unpolished gems like this. And definitely i will not solely trust game reviews (Saints Row got a better review than this? HA!) before buying games. If the title interest (ie has a sexy VG girl on the cover etc) i will most likely try it out myself. And did i mention that while i was playing midway yesterday they released Alicia's Schoolgirl costume for download on Xbox Live? Man if i needed some added incentive to replay the game this is it!
-----------

Just booked tickets for Spiderman 3! Watching it with my family on opening day May 1st @ West Mall. 2 good things about watching with my family: 1) No one talks during the movie 2) Movie is free! (Paid for by Dad). Looks like i'll be watching it twice in the first week, since we have a Ninja movie outing on 4th May as well to go see it.

Time Goes By..

2007-04-22T23:42:00.000+08:00

Did my 2nd last duty yesterday! 1 more last Sunday duty before i lose another chunk of my NS obligations (my medical knowledge/ skills were the first to go). Was fussing over what to pack for duty (in terms of entertainment) and in the end didn't bring anything extra. Dennis introduced me to this fun flash game site GameGecko and that's how i blew my afternoon away.

Ended up watching Miss Singapore Universe 2007, a program that i would never normally watch while at home. But it turned out to be quite entertaining. Some of the contestants were downright...'unpleasant'. Call me biased against local girls (i don't think i am but the beautiful ones are few and far between) but hey, i call it as i see it. I was looking forward to the question and answer round because i thought there would be some funny stuff but suprisingly the girls were quite well prepared. Ok, some of the answers were crappy (and so were majority of the questions) but at least there was nothing cringe-worthy.

In the end it was down to Joey Feng (Kang Wei's pick) and Jessica Tan and the latter won. Personally i though Joey looked sweeter but as Fidelis expertly pointed out, the girl with the bigger boobs always win. And with half the contestants having smaller cup size than Kang Wei (or Dennis), it was not that hard to guess the winner based on his theory.

Well since it's over and done with i'm gonna refrain from further badmouthing our Miss Universe 2007 representative but i sincerely hope she does something about her hairstyle because it looked awful. Good luck (you'll need it) carrying the Singapore flag to Miss Universe 2007!

(Dis)Honorary Awards:

Most Forced(fake) Smile: Cadenze Koh (MSU03): think she will have trouble returning to her normal expression after forcing that smile for the entire show
'Auntie' Award: Judy Lee (MSU18): it's a wonder she passed through the age checks prior to the compy (she pulled out of the finals due to work commitments...right..)
Ah Lian Award: Carol Chin (MSU05): she just has the typical Ah Lian look
Best Answer Award: Peggy Chang (MSU04): she had a perfect (ie exactly what i would have said) answer for the 2nd question round
Worst Figure Award: Angelina Tay (MSU15): she has broader shoulder than me! Brr! OR Christabel Campbell (MSU01): she's so tall that it's a little freakish, even Adrian Pang felt intimidated
Sweet Heart Award: Joey Feng (MSU09): Kang Wei has good taste, pity she didn't win

-----------
Drama: Liar Game (Episode 2)

Just as last week, the raw + subs for the latest episode of Liar Game is already out! Episode 2 continues with more of Nao's foolishness and concludes Round 1 of the Liar Game.

Despite winning the first round, Nao gives up her share (50million yen) to Mr Fujisawa (her opponent) to help him with his debt. Shin'chi gives back his share as well, claiming that the deal was for him to get half of Nao's prize money (now 0 yen). Nao starts thinking that he's not such a bad guy after all and wonders why he became a swindler.

Nao invites Shin'ichi to her house to cook for him as a thank you gesture but they find another video tape inviting Nao to the 2nd round of Liar Game. Shin'ichi tells her to just ignore it and to call him if there's any problems. Next day, Nao meets a policeman who offers to accompany her to the meeting place of the 2nd round to formally tell them she wants no further part in the game. She calls Shin'ichi to thank him again and says she doesn't need his help this time.

Turns out she gets tricked again as the policeman is working for the Liar Game people and he only brings her there so that she will participate in Round 2. There's 22 people involved and at the last minute before the door closes, Shin'ichi walks in and declares he will take part as well. The 100 million yen this time is in the form of a diamond attached to the nametag of the players. Since there's 22 players, the maximum amount of money the winner stands to win is 2.1billion yen. The episode ends just as 'Jigsaw' is about to announce the rules of the game (something to do with Minority Voting) and with Nao looking worried (as usual).

-----------

Caught Somewhere in Time

2007-04-22T14:18:00.000+08:00

Spent my Saturday getting the Perfect Ending Achievement for The IdolMaster. Took me about 4 hours + to reach the end of my 52 week stint and then the hardest part was the farewell concert at the Dome. Failed 20 over times before i decided to sleep off my frustrations. Resumed when i woke up and passed it on my 2nd try. Hmm, I guess i would attribute the earlier failures to fatigue. That clears 20% of the achievement for the game. I have my eye set on at least 4 more achievements this week for this game.
-----------
Drama: Kekkon Dekinai Otoko (The Man Who Can't Get Married) 1-12 (Finish!)

Wow~! This is definitely the most enjoyable (2006) drama that i watched this year. Abe Hiroshi gives a stellar performance as Kuwano Shinsuke (40), a nit-picking, cynical architect who enjoys being alone and can't understand why anyone would want to be married. His HR skills (or total lack of it), blunt and insensitive remarks and inconsideration makes you wonder why anyone would put up with him. (ans: he's a famous and highly regarded architect). It's not HA-HA funny but the subtle humour and interesting character relations make this a must-watch. Word of warning: If you are looking for a show with many Highs and Lows and twists, this isn't it. Most of the episodes are just re-affirmations that he dislikes social interactions and people in general.

Kuninaka_Ryoko

And did i mention that his neighbour Michiru (Kuninaka Ryoko) is really cute as well? I think she sort of resembles some MediaCorp artiste.
-----------
Drama: Sexy Voice and Robo (Episode 1)

I'm very disappointed with this manga->anime->drama adaptation. Watched it cause Matsuyama Kenichi was in it but the first episode was a big disjointed mess. The first case feels really draggy and its hard to feel for the over-the-top Otaku(there are some funny moments though) played by Kenichi or Ohgo Suzuka as the middle schoolgirl who cares too much for other people. Especially after seeing Kekkon Dekinai Otoko i find it hard to swallow that someone would actually care so much for strangers.

I'll watch a couple more episodes before deciding whether to drop this series. Probably the only draw now is that 14-year old (born Aug '93)Ohgo Suzuka is extremely cute and sweet.

Shidou Nakamura makes an appearance in the first episode as well. Haven't seen this 2 in a show since Yamato.
-----------

Bowl Of A Time

2007-04-19T14:31:00.000+08:00

Finally after many unsuccessful attempts to go bowling, somehow we managed to the whole department (+1, Ian) together for bowling at West Coast Recreation Centre (21 games for $2/game before 6pm). Rates are really reasonable and the lanes are much newer than i remembered them. Probably renovated the place but it's kinda sad to see such a big place so empty. All the better for us bowling noobs to practice (minus Ian who is actually a above average bowler)

But the only thing that was really memorable to me was how Herbert kept falling down everytime he threw the ball. Reminded me of Otohime Mutsumi from Love Hina so i went to track down the manga panel. Keitaro's thought "And i still don't know why she falls" echoes my sentiments exactly.

Tag team bowling was more fun (and the scores closer) than regular bowling and thanks to a Ming Wei gutter ball on the 10th me and Ee Wei managed to win. Yay! Fanfare and three cheers for the inaugural no-prize-tag-bowling champs! Ok, it was not really a competition but if i didn't view it as such i probably would not be able to find any motivation to play.

Or gluttonise my food for that matter. Challenged Wee Kim to a KFC Buddy Meal speed-eating contest and also 'won' that. As usual, no prizes for the 'winner'. Just that i need a little bit of competition to be my driving force to do whatsoever, however insignificant (the more insignificant the better).

Guilty by Association

2007-04-16T20:49:00.000+08:00

Finished watching 2 seasons (9+11eps) of Hana Yori Dango today! In case the title sounds vaguely familiar, it's the Japanese version of Taiwan series Meteor Garden (starring F4), which was in turn based off the manga series. Liked the comic when i read i back in poly but never watched Meteor Garden because i hated F4 back then. Was very undecided about picking up this series but the clincher was knowing that Erika Toda appears in the last 2 episodes of Season 2. So, loyal fool that i am, i started watching the whole drama from the beginning and suddenly i couldn't stop. Back that up with a cast of up and coming teen stars (Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi, Matsumoto Jun as Doumyouji Tsukasa, Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui, Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Soujiroh, Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira) and this is one of the better romance comedies i've seen this year.
Rich Kid/Poor Girl.
And of course one big advantage about watching HYD first is that i got used to Matsuda Shota's face, so i didn't have prejudices when i watched the first episode of Liar Game, which was much better than i dared hope for Erika's first lead role. She plays Kanzaki Nao, a much too honest and gullible girl (she went to the police to return a 100yen coin that she found on the ground; she fell for the same prank 42 times ..). Somehow or rather she get tangles up with the Liar Game(hosted by none other than Jigsaw(SAW) himself) and ends up getting swindled of 100million yen. Desperate, she enlists the help of swindler Akiyama Shinichi who is just released from prison and agrees to help her for half the share of the prize money (50million yen). Eagerly looking forward to Ep 2 airing next Saturday.
Toda Erika
Matsuda Shota
A very flustered Nao.
How did Jigsaw escape into this show?

Man with a Plan

2007-04-15T20:45:00.000+08:00

Completely forgot that it was Brandon's birthday on Friday (13th). Only realised it when i saw him eating a strawberry cake (the whole cake by himself..) yesterday. Anyway he still owes me money and a chocolate bar so i don't feel so bad about this. Not that he cares anyway.

Went out window-shopping yesterday and bought Marvel's Civil War TPB. Great story and artwork. And while reading it i kept thinking of Gun n Roses 'Civil War'. Will buy Avengers Disassembled and House of M the next time i go back to Kinokuniya.

While walking to the counter to pay i saw Erika Toda on the cover of a female magazine, Seventeen. I had to keep circling the female magazine section till there was no one around before i quickly grabbed it and went to pay. But the magazine was worth it ($11.50), it had a insert booklet all about Erika (which i scanned here). The rest of the magazine i wouldn't even flip through cause it's all about female fashion. But for what it's worth, it came with a small cosmetic bag as well (black w/ pink polka dots..)

Went back to VivoCity and i have to say it's huge! But i walked through all the VCD/DVD, toys and game shops and didn't find anything of interest. (The open air park on the 3rd floor is a great idea though) There is a $2 Japanese shop on the top floor which is pretty interesting and i'll probably end up visiting it again to get some decorations for my room.

My aim was actually to look around for furniture but after yesterday i'm forced to resign that i'll probably be going to get most of the stuff from Ikea. Not because of budget constraints (and i do know Ikea's quality sucks) but because all the other places have such boring designs. Kevin bought some design magazines from Tokyo and there are some really nice concepts in it. Going to try to adapt some of the ideas for my own room.

2 days of Firsts

2007-04-13T15:45:00.000+08:00

Things that i've done for the FIRST time these past 2 days:
- Ate at Waraku on Thursday, thanks to Ah Chew for the treat
- First time to VivoCity! But no time to explore what i wanted to see. That's the problem with going with a big group. Gonna go back there someday to have a better look-see.
- Ate at Carl's Jr today, ate something that looked like an oversized BK Turkey Bacon Double, and tasted as such. Nothing special. Not worth it.
- Ate at Ben & Jerrys, can't believe i paid $8.90 for a chocolate milkshake. Taste like a sweetened version of Macs milkshake. Not worth it.

Went to Vivo for a mini Ninja Coy gathering. Suprisingly i managed to remember all the names of the people who came, considering i forgot one of the name of a girl in my class after a 1-month semester break. I really detest travelling with such a big group because simple decisions take so long to make. But it was fun for a while. And we agreed to arrange a bigger gathering to watch Spiderman 3 on Friday, May 4th. Gonna have to book very early for the tixs i guess. Well, such gatherings are fun once in a while (i guess..).

And back home (thankfully it ended at 9+), it was back to things that actually interest me. Started new picture folders for Miyazaki Aoi and Ishihara Satomi but i doubt that it will surpass my Toda Erika collection.

I'm on leave till Tuesday. Gonna enjoy a long slow weekend of slacking and most importantly, slacking without having to feel guilty. Thankfully guilt doesn't take away what i feel is now divine rights due to soon-to-ORD personnel to slack and sleep in camp while others are working. But i'll probably feel guilty if i Ah Chew goes ahead and nominates me for the Gold Practitioner Award, in which case i now pledge that i will use that $100 award to treat the branch.

And just because i feel a post feels bland without pics i'll just post 3 random pics i found today:

Miyazaki Aoi, here, there and everywhere

2007-04-13T13:12:00.000+08:00

Just found that Miyazaki Aoi had another romance movie released just a month ago, Umidenohanashi. Couldn't find any English description of what it's about. The trailer also doesn't really show what the story is (the song is very very familiar in the trailer but i can't place the title..). I'll definitely keep an eye on whether there's any DVD release coming out in a few months time.

Re-armed myself with 50 new DVD-Rs today! Now i can continue moving all my drama and animes to disc. Also bought another movie on impulse, The Host (small review here). Just thought i would watch a Korean movie for a change, furthermore it's the best selling film of 2006 in Korea (13,019,740 in Korea watched it, compared to 6,847,777 for the 2nd top film). I seriously don't know what to expect, but since it's a creature-feature film my first thought is that it will be pretty cheesy.

Looks like a B-grade movie but its record speaks for itself.

Surpisingly All About Dogs (Inu No Eiga) was very enjoyable. As you might have guessed i bought the movie only because Miyazaki Aoi was in it. Nearly jumped out of my chair in shock when i thought the movie had ended and she had not appeared yet. Thankfully her cute face popped up for the last short story, albeit for too short a while. Oh and like i was saying, the movie was good. Funny short stories, adorable dogs and pretty good pacing (movie length = 96mins).

Why did Aoi have such a small part??

And because i'm still not quite over Tada Kimi wo Aishiteru yet, i found this interview video on YouTube. Tamaki Hiroshi ('Makoto') looks much cooler in real life. Not quite the idiot that the movie (and also drama 'Remote') makes him out to be. And as always, Miyazaki Aoi has both her eyes firmly glued to the floor while answering questions. Don't understand why she's so camera shy in public but it's cute. No subtitles for what they're talking about but it's on the lines of 'i'm very happy to be acting with so-and-so' and 'i like the character so-and-so very much' etc. Ai Otsuka (singer, ED song, 'Renai Shashin') also says a few things in the video.

Just can't get enough of Shizuru!

And one of the most important piece of news: I'm down to 31 absolute working days in the SAF! That's minusing all the offs and leaves i have left. FREEDOM is in side!

A very NANA-ish moment

2007-04-12T14:55:00.000+08:00

From Nana book 1, Komatsu Nana Prologue

I think this 2 frames just about sums up my mentality towards (pretty) girls. Yup, i'm writing this because i saw a really, really (really) pretty girl down at my bus stop earlier. And as i was 'staring' (thank goodness for peripheral vision) and trying to act cool while perched on my bicycle, i suddenly realised how Nana-ish i am. (In the manga, Nana falls in 'love' with every handsome guy she meets, eg the pizza guy, the video store guy, her teacher...) Somehow the song that came to my mind while i was acting like i didn't notice her was Led Zep's "Good Times Bad Times".

And so I just watched her till she left with some of her friends who looked like they lived somewhere on my street. I am SO tempted to sign up for Who Lives Near You or Friendster now, but my inherent laziness will probably transcend any such desires after tonight.

If you're wondering what i'm doing stalker-ing girls at my stop i was waiting for Herbert who was supposed to come to my house. Somehow rather amazingly he ended up at Woodlands Checkpoint. Talk about bad (or would that be zero?) road sense. And to make matters worse he only lives about 10mins away from me and he has trouble navigating this area (Upp Bt Timah).

I wonder who has worst recognition sense? Wee Kim, who has my vote for 'Most likely to forget my face 1 month after i ORD' or Herbert? Anyway good thing is that he managed to take a cab from the Checkpoint to my place. Maybe my Mom' spaghetti was drugged because he looked like he was going to fall asleep while playing my X360. Or maybe my games are just boring.

Expenditure Projection: April

2007-04-10T20:55:00.000+08:00

Checked with Funz Centre today and they said Guitar Hero 2 will reach here only near the end of this month. Kind of sucky news but the only thing i'm afraid of is that i'll overspend my meagre allowance before i reach end April. So far my expenditures since yesterday:
- Lonely Planet Japan Guide - $51 from MPH
- The Hidden Blade (DVD) - $12.90 from MJ Multimedia
- Inu no Eiga (All about Dogs) (DVD) starring Miyzaki Aoi! - $10 2nd hand from VideoEzy
- Grand Total - $73.90 (13.1% of $560)

And if i project other things that i'm planning to get this month:
- Guitar Hero 2 (duh!) - $160?
- 25pc DVD-R TDK (Cos i ran out of blank DVDs completely..)- $19
- YesAsia order - $80 (for the time being; ordering on Saturday)
- Pump petrol for my mom - $40
- Grand Total - $309 (55% of $560)

And this isn't counting topping up of EZ-link cards and food/snacks. Bottom line is that i don't think i can save much (again) this month. And yes i have to learn to be more thrifty on small things (no taking cabs unneccesarily! no fast foods!) if i don't want to use up everything.

Boo!

Been watching Ghost Hunt this past few nights. After watching the first episode sometime last year i thought it was pretty weak (for a supposedly horror anime) so i dropped it but i read some good reviews about it after the entire 25 episodes got released. So i got the entire series and decided to give it another go and suprise surpise! i actually enjoy it this time round. Either my tastes have changed or my anime-viewing standards have fallen. Either way, i think this shows i probably shouldn't trust my first impressions. Show is still not downright scary but watching it with headphones in the dark and there are actually some hair-raising moments thanks to the sound effects and music. Each 'case' covers about 3-4 episodes and if it's the info in the show about paranormal activity is genuine then i'm actually learning some interesting (read: useless) facts about the topic as well.

Finally completed GRAW as well! Don't think i'm going to replay it on hard because it's already quite frustrating on normal. Started on Bullet Witch last night and first impressions (there i go again..) is that it's not as bad as the reviews put it. Since i like hack and slash type of games it's actually very fun. Graphics (in-game) is not very good but the CG scenes are gorgeous. Not to mention that Alicia (heroine) is pretty hot as well. And her weapon (called a 'Gunrod') is damn cool! Guess I'm a sucker for pretty VG girls with a gun or sword (e.g Yuna). As expected of an action game, story is so bad that it's actually good in a way, as there's nothing to even think about while i'm blasting bad guys.

Alica: Good Witch with a big Gun.

Gaming on Four Fronts

2007-04-09T14:23:00.000+08:00

PC:
Just got C&C 3:Tiberium Wars this morning and Brandon already started playing it. Runs smoothly on his PC at 1024*768 with Medium/High graphics settings so should be no problem on mine as well (we have similiar PC specs except i have more RAM).

Played the first C&C on Sega Saturn (amazingly i still have the game) but in truth i'm not really a big RTS fan. Especially since i prefer real-world weapons to futuristic stuff, so i guess i won't play much of it. Probably just a couple of skirmishes with Brandon just to see what it's like before i go back to my console games.

PS2:
Still in the midst of God of War 2. So far it's proved much more bloody and gruesome than part 1 but ultimately, it's too much of the same action (and moves) from the first game and that's why i'm not really rushing to finish it.

PSP:
DJ Max Portable 2 is out! But...i'm a little hooked to Marvel Trading Card Game so i haven't started on it yet. Spent an hour today just forming a new deck in the game. Man, i miss my secondary school days when all i played after school were (real)TCGs at World of JJ @ Lot 1. But they became too expensive and too many weirdos started playing so i stopped.

X360:
Achievement points are the greatest invention since sliced bread! At least with AP you can check whether someone is bullshitting you when he says he accomplished this-and-that in a game (no prizes for guessing who i'm referring to). And at least i know the hours i waste on a game has a purpose.

Finished my first playthrough on Idolmaster (check out the limited edition package here) and i'm still yet to earn a single AP in the game. BUT! I'm pretty sure i can rack up at least 200AP for my 2nd playthrough thanks to the culmulative achivements. For the record, i only managed to produce a B-rank idol first time through. Have to manage my 52 weeks better and win over 300,000 more fans the next time for a A-rank and 100 shiny AP. I'm selecting Haruka Amami to produce next.

Been switching back and forth between GRAW 1 and 2 (260AP/2days) whenever i get stuck in a particular mission. The Tom Clancy storyline sucks so bad that i can't distinguish the differences between the 2 games. To summarise the plot: Americans= Good Guys; All other nationalities= Terrorists. At least the games are fun and the weaponry real. Still can't be bothered to play on Xbox Live though.

Upcoming Games to look out for:

Forza Motorsports 2: Supposedly the most realistic driving game.

- Forza Motorsport 2 demo will be released on XBL Marketplace soon. Looking forward to that.
- 8 new characters for Marvel Ultimate Alliance to be released this week for $10USD! Told Bernard about the roster and he claims he's gonna buy a X360 when he gets back..We'll see..
- A week after Guitar Hero 2 has been released in the USA, Funz Centre still doesn't have it yet...Grr! 2 more days to payday; please arrive by Tuesday.
- Gran Turismo: HD demo looks awesome on PS3! In addition, there are some interesting games on the PS3 horizon. Pretty tempting.. But the tilt factor will still be the 3 main games i'm interested in and whether they will be multi-platform-ed: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13 and Tekken 6.

For the Love of Peace

2007-04-07T16:45:00.000+08:00

I just wish my family would leave me alone and let me slack as much as i want over the weekend. If it's not my aunt nagging, it's my irritating dad/brother combo pestering me to go out to see furniture with them. As if my opinions on furniture choice mattered. Worst of all it's furniture for the living room. When i do give my comments my brother will stare at me as if i have the worst taste in the world and when i keep mom my dad will question what's the point of me coming. (Ans: Cause he forced me to come) And speaking of mom, my mom refuses to have anything to do with the moving, for reasons that escape common sense and logic. I guess i'll never understand the female mind.

Anyway today i die die didn't want to go out. So i started to play my X360 when my aunt came and started to nag and nag and nag and nag (etc.) about some issue that is so trivial that i can't even remember what it is now. If i need to justify why a bigger chunk of my hair turned white, i'll definitely cite this instance. So i did the only thing i could do, which is to just lock myself in my room and go to sleep. Somehow it seems that every moment i'm awake at home is an opportunity for someone to irritate me.

Actually i wanted to write a little about night cycling yesterday with Ee Wei, Wee Kim and Cheng Wei but i'm not really in the mood to do so now. Only 2 things really stand out last night and they are 1) Ee Wei crashing into the wall down Mt Faber and 2) Ee Wei getting multiple cramps on the way back. Ya that's about it. Full photo album is here.

Not my idea of a romantic night up Mt Faber.

Liar Liar pants on fire

2007-04-07T09:30:00.000+08:00

If my life were to be measured by how many X360 achievement points/day i earned, these past 2 days would be considered seriously inefficient by any standards. The problem is that i have too many new games to play and not enough patience to sit down and complete one at a time. So i've been jumping every hour or so to another game after game. What a vicious cycle. On top of that i keep getting disturbed by my family who want me to make MY room comfortable for THEM to come in to play games. (....) I don't really see why i should bother to entertain them. I think out of spite i'm going to make my room so ergonomically uncomfortable that none of them will ever step in.

On the bright side i caught up with some updates for Miyazaki Aoi's upcoming new movie, Virgin Snow; Toda Erika new drama, Liar Game and in addition both Aya Ueto (here) and Ishihara Satomi (here) also have starring roles in new dramas this Spring season.

LEE plays Min, a Korean university student who is transferred to Japan when his father, a professor, gets posted to Kyoto in an exchange position at a university. There, Min meets Nanae (MIYAZAKI), a high school girl, and promptly falls in love with her. Initially indifferent to him, Nanae soon warms up, and their relationship grows, surmounting the linguistic and cultural divide, until one day Nanae mysteriously disappears.

As per normal, i always have high expectations when it comes to a Miyazaki Aoi movie. Mainly because she usually accepts quality scripts (that's why you don't see her in many dramas). The last line of the sypnosis has a feeling of deja vu because i've just seen Tada, kimi wo Aishiteru but i'll reserve my comments till i've seen the show. I'm not so keen on the actor Lee Jun Ki (even though he's supposed to quite popular) because well, i don't like his slitty eyes but that's just me. Hope this makes it to Singapore cinemas. Release date is May 12th in Japan.

Based on the manga series of the same name, Toda Erika plays an honest college student, Kanzaki Nao, who receives a million dollars one day, along with a card saying she has been chosen to take part in the "Liar Game". The aim of the game is to trick the other players out of their one million dollars. At the end, the winner gets one million dollars and the loser is one million dollars in debt. Horrified, Nao tries to contact the game organizers to give them their money back. Her old high school teacher offers to help, but it turns out he actually is her opponent in the game, and easily tricks her out of her million dollars. Coincedentally, Nao notices a newspaper article one day regarding an ex-swindler named Akiyama Shinichi. Desperate, she contacts him for help.

To be honest this series will be worth watching to see Erika alone, but it's based on a manga so i'm expecting it to have a good storyline as well. I'm not expecting a fantastic performance from Erika since this is her first lead role, but i just pray that the story doesn't do a Kurosagi (ie swindling stories). Not to sound repetitive, but the male lead's face kinda irritates me as well. He's the brother of Ryuhei Matsuda (Ren in 'Nana'), another actor i can't stand. To be aired starting 14th April in Japan.

Of course Spiderman 3 is also going to be released in a month so i'd say that there's plenty of quality shows that's on the way. Here's to an entertaining 2 months before ORD!

The Looking Glass

2007-04-05T14:07:00.000+08:00

Feel really bad today because i kinda pangseh'ed Herbert, who was supposed to come to my house to play games cause my family wanted to go see the new house and take measurements for furniture. Was supposed to go at 12noon at first, then it got changed to 6pm, and then to 3pm. So in the end i decided that 3pm was too in the 'middle' of the day so i called gaming off with Herbert.

Basically these are my room measurements and i have to say i have never had such a big room before in my life! The area of 2 of my brothers room combined is actually smaller. And a big big bonus is that i have my own toilet. After looking at the house we went to Courts and Castilla at Bt Timah to have a look-see at furniture. I actually just went along for the ride cause i didn't think that they would have Japanese-themed furniture but i found a nice low Japanese-styled bed frame for $599. Quite interested in it but I called Cedric Sootho and he told me to have a look see at Takashimaya and Esplanade first if i'm looking for Japanese stuff so i'm gonna find one day to go there and plan my room. Only thing that's bugging me is how will a traditional decor go with all my electronic stuff? A big mismatch...?

Everything...very nice!

2007-04-03T23:39:00.000+08:00

Death Note Korean Limited Edition Set...very nice!

Been a long time since i had a mini movie marathon. Got my Death Note DVD set in the post today and watched both movies back to back with Brandon. Very nice package overall for ~$65SGD.

Also watched Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru (Heavenly Forest) this morning. Excellent movie. And of course no one acts sweet, naive, innocent and cute like Miyazaki Aoi. It's like she was born to play this part. I had high expectations for the show and i'm not in the least disappointed. Glad that Aoi dumped Nana 2 for this wonderful show that made me laugh and also tear. The rest of the cast is wonderful as well. Edited the subtitles and re-burned it and watched it a 2nd time when i got home too. Ending song is by Ai Otsuka, Renai Shashin which i've heard before so it was pretty nice as well.

Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru..also very very nice!

4th and final movie i watched was Heaven's Bookstore, which in all fairness was a pretty decent movie. The only problem was that i watched it straight after the previous movie, which made the show feel too ordinary. Only good thing is that Ee Wei managed to copy down an ogre story for Phar.

Look Alike (NOT!)

2007-04-03T14:19:00.000+08:00

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Thanks to Ee Wei i amused myself tonight by playing around with MyHeritage.com Face recognition program. Registration is quick and easy. As you can see from the picture above, the software is not very accurate because I don't think i look that girlish in that pic! Good for laughs though. And as expected, Brandon got matched with Takeshi Kaneshiro. Ee Wei saved most of the collages of pictures he played with and i'm gonna bring them to work tomorrow so that we can laugh at each other.

Finally got a copy of Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru! Thanks to Cheng Wei for the heads up that it's already out. I'm trying not to let myself be disappointed but actually my expectations for this movie is pretty high, considering that Miyazaki Aoi declined her role as Hachi in 'Nana 2' to star in this show. Already got it on DVD so yup, the plan is to watch it tomorrow morning! And if it's good then i'll rewatch it in the afternoon when Herbert comes back because i believe he enjoy watching Aoi as well.

My Night in a Bag

2007-04-01T13:14:00.000+08:00

Corspe in bag.

Went out with Alex yesterday to shop in town. Bought a sleeping bag and case ($36) for my Ja-plan. Slept in it last night and it was pretty cosy. Probably need some padding for my tailbone though if i'm sleeping on hard surfaces.

Bought a new game as well, Bullet Witch ($60) for X360. The reviews aren't very good but i'm just in the mood for some mindless action/adventure game. Heard from the boss at Funz Centre that DDR Universe won't be released for Asian X360s. Anyway i'm not too upset because i'm not that big of a DDR fan anyway. However, good news is that Guitar Hero 2 (X360) will be out (US) on April 3rd and the reviews are fantastic! Looking forward to burning my next allowance on it!

Finished watching Kurosagi on Friday night. I feel that it's too episodic in nature and that most of the swindles aren't really that ingenious to be interesting. And somehow Kurosaki (Yamashita Tomohisa) succeeds too easily so there's not enough tension in the story as well. Most of the drama comes with his relationship with tenant Tsurara (Horikita Maki) who likes him but opposes his swindling because her dream is to be a prosecutor. Ichikawa Yui again appears in a minor role as spoiled rich girl who's also in love with Kurosaki. I have to say she's much more natural acting spoiled then acting sweet in H2.

Much better at acting silly than at acting cool.

Kurosaki's pesky neighbour (L) and pesky neighbour's irritating friend (R).

Started watching Nurse Aoi today, starring the slightly chubby but extremely cute Ishihara Satomi. If you are thinking that i'm watching this series because i want to see Satomi in a nurse uniform, you are exactly 100% correct. After becoming a medic i usually shun hospital shows because 1) i can't stand to see improper medical procedures being acted 2) i don't want to learn incorrect medical stuff from a TV show. From the first episode, doctors in the show's hospital are all just worried about their image and promotion, and there's only 1 'good' doctor and nurse who actually cares about patient wellbeing, so i can conclude that it's quite realistic in that it's more or less like my real life workplace.

Aoi (Satomi) knows better than to let this idiot-face handle the patient.

Lucky Dog

2007-03-29T16:03:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-29T11:55:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-27T14:18:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-25T23:31:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-25T14:29:00.000+08:00

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..

2007-03-23T13:40:00.000+08:00

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!

2007-03-20T13:41:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-19T15:10:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-17T22:17:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-16T21:18:00.000+08:00

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

2007-03-15T20:37:00.000+08:00

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...

2007-03-14T14:33:00.000+08:00

>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!

2007-03-05T19:08:00.000+08:00

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)

2007-03-04T12:37:00.000+08:00

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)

About This and That

2007-03-01T23:35:00.000+08:00

Watched Umizaru and Yamato today in office. Both movies were good but i think Ee Wei didn't like Yamato caused he was complaining it was boring at the 90/144min mark. Ming Wei was asking alot of questions during the movie (as usual) and reminding us every 5 minutes that he hates the Japanese (during Yamato). Ok i think we got your point the 5th time you repeated that...

But i feel that he is condemning the entire Japan for the actions of their ancestors in the war, which i find pretty unfair. That's like saying every Muslim is a terrorist because of a few extremists (ahem, Alex and Soo Lim). I think Ming Wei lost the focus of the movie if he just concentrated on his hatred of the Japanese. Ming Wei was so sure that the entire movie was twisting history but from the wiki entry on the history of the Yamato i would say the gist of the show is pretty accurate.

It's not an attempt to glorify or vindicate the Japanese but more on how on either side of the war, the ones involved are humans with family and loved ones as well. Does killing innocent people by dropping a bomb make it more forgiveable than torturing the same people before they die? Would shooting someone in the head make it less cruel than injecting mercury into a person's bloodstream? Even Clint Eastwood knows better than to continually potray the Japanese as villains; he takes the same humanisation approach in Letters from Iwo Jima as well. Be it the US, Israel, Pakistan, N.Korea or Japan, when it comes to a war, everyone is just duty-bound to act in the best interest of their own country. For all we know if Singapore gets in a long war we would have to follow orders and do something unthinkable as well.

Anyway all this talk is pretty depressing so i want to add i'm pretty impressed by Matsuyama Kenichi as Kamio in Yamato. I already liked his performance in Death Note as L and i will take note of future films he acts in. Also of note was Ai Kato in Umizaru. Pretty sweet as Kanna. Pity about her nose though. Never seen any of her other films before today but will also take note.

Matsuyama Kenichi better known as L (Death Note)

Ai Kato as Kanna (Umizaru)