Miyazaki Aoi and Olympus

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.

Moonage Daydream

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.

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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.

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.

Welcome to the Jungle

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.
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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

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)

Miyazaki Aoi, here, there and everywhere

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!

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!

Everything...very nice!

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.

Another Saturday out of the way

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Knew i seen her before somewhere..

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

Go My Way!

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

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

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

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

Pre-audition grilling ala Singapore Idol.

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

Another Audition passed! Idol Rank UP!

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

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

Can you say "Star Power!" ?

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

Out of the Ashes...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Post-Chapter 4:


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

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

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

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

New Stuff (Again)

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




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




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


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

Mini-Movie-Marathon

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 1/10

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

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

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

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

Rating: 7/10

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

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

Miyazaki Aoi vs Ichikawa Yui PART 2 (END?)

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

PSP GPS and MAPLUS Software: $160

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

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

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

Burn(ed)out

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

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

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

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

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

Miyazaki Aoi vs Ichikawa Yui PART 1

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

Nigel struts his stuff..i mean his voice.

Not to be outdone..

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

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

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

Komatsu 'Hachi' Nana (from the manga)

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

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

Comparison 2:

With co-star Mika Nakashima.

Comparison 3:

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

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

Miyazaki Aoi in Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru