Rooftop of the World

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

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

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

"I've got mail!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unlikeable little monkey.

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

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

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

The only thing that stands out (again, aside from Erika) is the theme song, Oasis's 'Lyla'. They used the same song in the drama as well. And i just really felt like singing along whenever the song played in the background. Catch this (only) if you really really want to see Erika Sawajiri.
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Note: The first 2 of many movies that i'm starting to watch from my new stash.

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.

Game Plan

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

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

Fortunately (or not) the show was fairly entertaining because the contestant was (in my books) a real (fat) loser. When he was not giving unnecessary winks to the girls carrying the briefcases, he was making exaggerated labour noises when things didn't go his way. In the end i didn't manage to last the entire half an hour because the guy irritated me. But that won't stop me from catching next week episode. It's something like watching 'Loser of the Week'. I can't wait to see if he can outdo this week's contestant.
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A thought struck me while playing Test Drive: Unlimited today, who the hell was the idiot who thought that it would be 'fun' to include traffic in a Racing game? For some of the challenges, it's not a case of me having the skills to drive the route, but more of me restarting till the computer decides not to choke up an important corner or checkpoint with traffic. Another thing i noticed is as the difficulty of the race 'increases', so does the distance. Am i the only one who doesn't see a relation between the two? Can't they make a short race with harder computer opponents (no traffic please..) instead? TDU is still an enjoyable game, but i just about had it with the traffic (and the stupid police patrols). And a 200km race? Are you fricking kidding me?

Too typical traffic collision.

Thank goodness Forza Motorsport 2 is coming out. I tried the demo yesterday and finally it looks like this will be the game that will put the RACE in racing. Real circuits, excellent car physics (and realistic damage) and finally, no more of that annoying street racing crap. I have to say it feels (and looks) much better than Gran Turismo as well.
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I would like to say a big 'Thank You' to Alex for going out of his way (and behind my back) to help me find a solution to my blogger problem, even after i resigned myself to doing without the toolbar. Consider your rep. points raised.

Can You Hear Me Knocking?

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

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

Things i should probably invest in for my new room: Padded door (so i can't hear when people knock) and a professional 'Do Not Disturb' sign to nail to my door in 3 different langauges.
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Drama: Liar Game Episode 4



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



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

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

Look out, here comes the Spiderman!

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

Played Test Drive: Unlimited in the afternoon and i have to say this is one of the more immersive car games i've ever played. It's like GTA (you can houses, clothes, cars, bikes etc) without the violence and swearing and with online support. And i thought it was pretty cool today when i put a car up for sale online and someone bought it. I'm definitely going to spend alot more time on this game (AP for driving 5000 miles..)
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Was thinking of ordering Little Britain season 2 and 3 online but i read on wiki that my favourite idiot of a character Ray McCooney doesn't appear in the next 2 seasons. Reason cited was because the set of Ye Olde Hotele was too expensive. It's hard to describe what exactly i find so hilarious about him but i really like this description on Wiki: "It appears he wants to be seen as an eccentric, mysterious, even sinister figure, but only causes annoyance."

I didn't find Little Britain too funny at first (typical witless British humour) but some of the characters really grow on you after awhile. Some are still rubbishly unfunny and irritating though. Anyway there are quite a few new sketches on the later season. Maybe i'll look around a while for a local release of the DVDs before thinking of ordering.
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Drama: Nodame Cantabile (1-11 END)



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