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

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.
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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.
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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:

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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.

Safety is Contagious

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.

If I Leave Here Tomorrow..

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..?
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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

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!

I Should go to Taiwan..

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!
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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.

Up and Coming

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

Pretty in Pink

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.
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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):

Prelude to the Pink Parade

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.
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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.
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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.

Lost Post

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.

Can You Hear Me Knocking?

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.
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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.

Back to the Future

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!
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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

Time Goes By..

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

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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).

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Guilty by Association

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

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.

Liar Liar pants on fire

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!

Lucky Dog

Sheepish looking dog.

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

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

A case of 'Glassy' Elbow

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

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

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

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

That guilt-ridden face says it all.

I'm flattered by your compliment!

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

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

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

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

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

STUPID SINGNET!

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



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

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

Ken Watanabe (Right w/binoculars) as General Kuribayashi

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

Story 1: Tokyo

Story 2: Taipei (suckiest of the 3)

Story 3: Shanghai

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

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