Electric Eye

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.

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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

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.

Asian Cup 2007: Australia vs Japan

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!

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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.

The Height of the Matter

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?
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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.
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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.

The Final Cut

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.
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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!

A Weak Week

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..
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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.
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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.
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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

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

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.
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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.
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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

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.

Communication Breakdown Part Deux

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.

A very NANA-ish moment

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

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

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.

My Night in a Bag

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.

My poor aching butt cheek..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

How Many More Times

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

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

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

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

Cold Day in the Sun

Completed Lost Planet early this morning(3am) before going to sleep. The graphics are excellent on my HD-tv. CAPCOM tried to make the gameplay and story cutscenes epic and film-like but shot themselves in the foot with a shallow and incoherent storyline. I'm not expecting a Hideo Kojima type of story but the least they can do is tell a story that makes sense. At least Dead Rising (also by CAPCOM) had a engaging B-movie storyline.



Wayne finally understood why his father warned him to stock up on bug spray.
The likeness of Wayne (what kind of stupid name is Wayne for a main character?) was kindly provided by Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun. CAPCOM has a habit of using famous actor's likeness in their games (see Onimusha series) but Lee looked extremely out of place in the game as everyone else, including his own father are Caucasians. Anyway i already posted this game for sale here. Also selling Saints Row because i didn't like it when i playtested it last night. Everything in the game screamed 'cheap production' and i hate how 'black' the game is (music, dialogue etc). Nigga jokes and talk always gets on my nerves.

Alex took up my offer of the extra ticket to tomorrow's match so i guess he will be tagging along with my dad, mom and myself. I just pray that he doesn't turn out to be a jinx but at least i have someone to vent my anger on if Singapore lose tomorrow. Good thing he is quite chubby so he should be nice to whack. I can give him his birthday handshake as well when i see him tomorrow.

Songs For Rainy Days:

As recommended by myself less 'It's raining men' cause i hate that bitch and song

Light Drizzle
'Raindrops keep Falling on my Head' - BJ Thomas
'Crying in the Rain' - Everly Brothers
'Rhythm of the Rain' - The Cascades
'Rainy Days and Mondays' - Carpenters

Drenching Downpour
'Rain' - The Beatles
'The Rain Song' - Led Zeppelin
'Let it Rain' - Eric Clapton
'Texas Flood' - Stevie Ray Vaughan
'Riders on the Storm' - The Doors

Torrential Floods
'Have you Ever Seen the Rain' - Creedence Clearwater Revival
'November Rain' - Gun n Roses
'Who'll Stop the Rain' - Creedence Clearwater Revival
'Rainmaker' - Iron Maiden
'Purple Rain' - Prince

14 Tracks ??:?? mins (definitely not enough to last through one rainy Singapore afternoon)

Too Much Pride Will Kill You

I was gonna write about some incident that happened at City Hall MRT but the more i thought about it as i typed the more i realised how petty i am. So i'm not going to describe what happened but all i will say is that it involved 1 (quite)cute girl, 1 ugly guy and myself. Ok, end of story.

Bought 5 2nd hand X360 games today for $210.:
1. Gears of War (going to sell this off ASAP since i already owned and sold it before)
2. Call of Duty 3
3. Saints Row
4. Marvel Ultimate Alliance
5. LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth II (disappointingly doesn't support keyboard and mouse)

So i will probably be sufficiently occupied/entertained this weekend.

Disclaimer: Capcom did not pay me a single cent to put this banner up or link to their site.

But before starting those games i want to complete Lost Planet (X360) since i'm on the 2nd last mission already. The novelty of blasting insectoid alien after alien is starting to wear thin and i will sell this off once completed while it's still a new release. What i will say is that Lost Planet is very challenging without being frustrating even on the Normal difficultly. No way will i play this game on Hard or Extreme. Other games pending for myself are Okami (just started) and Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria (halfway through).

Chionged through Pride episodes 5 - 11 (end) yesterday night till 3am. It's no big secret that i am a Kimura Takuya (Halu) fan and this series didn't disappoint. I have not watched a Takeuchi Yuko (Aki) drama until this one but i instantly became a fan of hers overnight. She may not look that pretty or young (as Erika Toda) but her character and acting was very sweet and moving. And she has such a very cute way of talking and smiling. Gonna try to find more of her dramas soon. This may be a romance drama but if you're like me and hate long mushy romance scenes in dramas then I highly recommend this series, and even more so if you are a Kimura fan. Good news too if you are a Queen fan. This series has loads of Queen song, the best used one with the ongoing scenes IMO being "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (ep 11).

Aki (Takeuchi Yuko)

Halu (Kimura Takuya)

P.S: I have an extra gallery ticket to the Singapore vs Malaysia match this Saturday. Anyone care to take it off me? F.O.C. I'm going with my family by the way.