dOLLAR.4.thE.day

Last Post for 2011

2011-12-31T21:20:00.002+08:00

As the MRT train slowly pull out from 2011, shakily moving towards 2012, I would like to take a slight look at the year soon to past.

2011 is a significant year for me, I get married, move to a new place and get promoted on the job.
Things look great of course, just I got the minor grouse that the MRT is really moving slowly now, making my journey longer than before. I spend on an average 3 hours a day on the move. So if the public transport network can improve or at least restore back to how it was like before, I will be glad.

So that's actually one of my wish for the year 2012.
That and of course the standard "World Peace" wish which we always wish for.

So Happy New Year, everyone (whoever that reads this) !

From a mobile, on a train

2011-12-26T11:14:00.003+08:00

Congratulations, on your hand is a mobile device that opens endless possibilities (so long as you are hook up on the internet) and free to choose whatever it maybe as far as your imagination (or fingers).

Now you have no excuse not to update where you are, what you are doing, how are you are feeling, who you are with and other countless of personal information whether people cares about it or not.

(but edited and published later on a laptop in Jurong West)

Yes I did took an afternoon off to do this entry

2011-03-03T22:31:00.002+08:00

but I napped throughout the noon.

It was raining and the bed does look inviting.

Anyway it's about exactly a year since my last entry. Blog is almost dead should I have registered it with another account (that was locked up after months of disuse).
I wonder I was doing it right by extending it's longevity.

Looking back 2010, it was a busy year but somehow it wasn't justify for the lack of updates.

Anyway I did my sums, watch out for more updates soon.

No I didn't just took an afternoon off just to Update my Blog

2010-03-03T16:26:00.002+08:00

And it's impossible to update 9 months of ICOULDNTREMEMBER.

Yes it's a long time but I wouldn't really try to go back and backdate everything.
I probably would just review the movies I watch and the games I played if I could remember. 9 months passed and I blame FACEBOOK for the lack of updates (excuses).

Hitting the big 30 is probably the First Saddest Thing I know other than having to extract yet another Decayed Tooth. Thank Goodness that I am having a job with dental plan.

Having being disappointed by the New Anime Fad, I am cutting down watching anime altogether. Other than established Mecha Franchises that ended. That and K-ON. The rest of those Hyper Fan-Service stuff are maybe just a whole lot too much for an old man like me to bare. Hmmm. I am actually more than I thought I am.

Oh and Facebook stuff starts to wear off on me. So if anyone actually still check this blog, they will expect to see more details. From me, of course.

Gone to a better place.....Michal Jackson

2009-06-26T18:51:00.002+08:00

Having grew up listening to Michael Jackson (I never listen to radio and my contact with the English language music scene was limited), I was in a state of shock to be seeing his face all over TVmobile.

Music Legend Michael Jackson passed away on 25th June 2009.

Rest in Peace, Michael.

(And yes this is just 1 among the Billions R.i.P that will be dedicated to Michael Jackson, a TRUE SuperStar of my Generation, taken away before he could shine ever brighter again)

Now let me crawl back under my blanket for comfort, playing Moon Walker on my old Sega MD2 and seriously complete the game. This is for Michael Jackson.

Wolverine & the Downhill Rush

2009-05-02T16:16:00.004+08:00

Superhero movies are going downhill this year. I guess the buck might stop at X-men Origins: Wolverine.

(Warning: As per to every other movie reviews I actually attempt to write, this review riddled with Spoilers)

The closest Live-Action Comic book Wolverine you can get is X2. Nowhere else. That Wolverine isn't inside this brand new Wolverine movie.

Hugh Jackman doesn't want his kids to cry. Being the nicest Heterosexual guy, he extend that goodwill to all the other mummies (and Cinema-goers) who might be bringing their kids to this movie. Unless Male Nudity makes children cry that is. Which is why Wolverine is Stylo-Milo without the Edge (and clothes). Wolverine is a movie without Fangs. (Critics however do, biting deep into this Movie and Fanboys are already tearing the movies to bits).

The opening act is fair enough warning that the Fanboys should check their comic-lore knowledge at the door, as it reveals that Young Wolverine (James) & Victor Creek are brothers. (According to Wolverine Origins, James Howlett Jr and Dog Logan are brothers. They didn't say if Dog Logan is Sabretooth).

So the brothers went on, with Victor (do note that they never refer Victor as Sabretooth. Maybe it's not to confuse people with the one in the Trilogy) and Logan (effectively discarding his birthname and using his actual father's surname) fought through major wars. Eventually Victor's feral behavior went out of control during a tour at the Nam and Stryker recruited the brothers to his Elite Black Ops of mutants.

It's Action Showcase as Stryker's Black Ops of Mutants burst into a Diamond Cartel in Nigeria. While some mutant powers were obvious (such as Wraith's teleportation, Bolt's control of Electric/Electronic Devices), others were more...."Normal" Movie Action powers (Agent Zero's L33T shooting, Wade's Katana Dance and Fred's extraordinary strenght and toughness). It kind of well handled if it wasn't like a mix-mash of action sequences without much said, restraint (if without a better word).

So Logan left after the Black Ops failed to extract information from a village regarding a Black Meteorite Fragment recovered from the Cartel (which is actually Adamantium! Of course anyone can guess that). If Logan lives in Singapore, he already outlived his retirement pension and CPF would have to tailor a special scheme for him. However, Logan is Canadian and so instead of working in McDonalds and Kopi-Thiam, Logan is retiree who works as a Lumber Jack (TYPICAL) and lives in the Mountains with his School Teacher Wife, Silverfox. If we didn't know already, Strkyer came to Logan to warn a mysterious killer who are hunting members of his disband team. (I find it disturbing. If they want to make the movie straight forward, why not just let Logan know it's Victor? Irregardless, it was obvious some kind of setup is being made). They probably want to make it Bourne-like but it's not working as Silverfox demonstration of her powers did not make us wonder what's ahead. Nice touch on the origin of Wolverine's name however disturbing it might be to be telling a sad folklore as a prelude to sexual foreplay. Note that there's no sex in the movie, further making Wolverine look like a sad and pacifist retiree trapped in the body of Hugh Jackman (who is tragically now, the posterboy for Wild and Furious). It kind of remind me of how some real people are murdered by crazies, having Silverfox to be "murdered" by Victor in the afternoon while Logan is away at work. It seems great but it isn't really working in a dramatic sense of way (A better option is to take cue on how Sabretooth "murdered" Silverfox from the comic).

Like a sports movie story, Logan gets beaten by Victor who broke both his spirit and body. Stryker promptly appears to give Logan a way to beat Victor: Infusing Adamantium into his body. By this part of the movie, you would have guess that they aren't making Wolverine to be the next Spiderman, Ironman or the even next X-men. They are going for the Ghost Rider, Blade treatment in terms of plot.

Stryker seems to be the smartest Dumbass in this movie. He couldn't just keep his plans secret. That or apparently Wolverine (Logan likes that story Silverfox told him, now named thus in memory of her on his dogtag) now has hyper-senses and other super exaggerations of his former powers, fled the Weapon X labs within minutes in full naked glory.

Alpha Flight? Hell no. Mr Hudson and his Mrs are now Old folks like Ma & Pa Kents. It's a Breakfast and Bed affair for Wolverine as the old folks are put to ground by Zero. Now that's sounds like an opening for Alpha Flight's Guardian/Vindicator as the murder is push to blame to Wolverine. Great. If only they want to make Wolverine 2.

In a somewhat usual car chase and in Die Hard 2 style, launched to air sequence, Wolverine defeated and "killed off" Zero (if it's off screen, it ain't confirm) and went in search of other still alive members of the Black Ops team who might help him find the "island".

There's the only comedy in the movie which occurs as Wolverine goes fisticuff with Fred (now The Blob, no thanks to Wolverine's habit of addressing other males as Bob). They should have done a better job in designing The Blob. This movie felt like Art of Fighting. What's this, stage to stage fighting all about? Does it matters? I don't know.

Hence the stage moves to New Orleans, as the next clue is with Gambit, who fled from the Island that imprisoned mutants fo experiments. Wolverine gets his Round Two with Victor and won, thanks to his new found enhancements. Before Wolverine can perform his fatality (Finish him!), Gambit cuts in (for unknown by obvious reasons, but likely REFEREE decision as Fatality cannot be performed with only 1 round won) and Victor escaped.

In similar fashion, Wolverine advance to the next stage and found out that he was suppose to be in a Bourne-like conspiracy web that was clumsily executed (Much like....Art of Fighting?). Wolverine won the decisive Round Three but performed MERCY on Victor ( and by Anime/Manga standards, Love Lost became Love Gained). Stryker somehow like that Villian from the DOA movie, uses his secret experiment to battle Wolverine when Wolverine awkwardly released the imprisoned mutants (Hey Wolverine, ever heard of a master switch?) . Since the movie sets in the 60s or 70s, Strkyer can't use his Hori/X-box 360/PS3 controller of choice to battle Wolverine in true Tournament fashion, and had to rely on Weapon XI (or Deadpool....who is the Ultimate Patchup Warrior of all the Mutants combined in Wade's body) to fight with just keyboard commands (GEEK!). By the way, Weapon XI is like exactly like Baraka from Mortal Kombat with his mouth sew.

The lethal combinations of all Warriors movesets (see Seth from SF IV) prove to be nothing in the face of Brotherly Love. Like all cheesy Nemesis-Alliance from Anime, Video games, Victor left with a statement of declared Hate-Love (LOL).

The finale came in, with Wolverine carrying Silverfox into the sunset in search for First Aid. If they cut about the discussion of Stryker with his Finale Failsafe, it might come as a shock. Rather it was expected and in fair comedy like element, a gun props out and shot Wolverine. Wolverine, can't be killed as explained before, the bullets can only erased his memories (which is shitty, you can always keep the Mind Swipe for another movie). Since you can't kill Stryker and you can't leave the villian unpunished, Silverfox ordered Stryker to "walk his legs off" as he attempted to finish her off. With Wolverine woke up with no memories at all, the movie ends with Wolverine and Gambit parting ways to avoid police/military arrest.

(Ok I obmited kind a bit of the side track stuff but that's exactly what is the movie is like. A one-track story with some sides thrown-in.)

In fact, if they ever need to make a KOF Origins: Kyo Kusanagi movie, you can just rework this script. It works! Really!

There are Multiple "Post Main Credits" endings to this movie probably as a marketing gimmick :
1) Stryker was found by MP and arrested for the murder of the General that was supporting him. (This is the one I saw)
2) Wolverine in Japan, drinking in a Bar. (Hyping for the next movie!)
3) Weapon XI retracts Katana and picked up his own head and does a 4th Wall interacting. (Looking at the audiences and asking to the audiences to keep silence). This ending will debunk that rumour of Weapon XI is not the movie Deadpool. If you want to see the Deadpool ending, it's on Youtube with audible audience commentaries.

Wiki used to have description of the scenes in the movie entries but are deleted. There might be more endings still stay tuned.

First impression of the movie was the lineup of characters. With 3 mutants of significant fanbase, I am sure that the other 2 will be marginalized in favor of Wolverine but with the likelihood to steal his thunder. All that was proven, even when there was awkwardness in execution. The entire mutant escape almost irrelevant if not for Silverfox having her sister there and being mortally wounded later on. Cyclops is only there for ability donor. Deadpool and Gambit are there only to try spawn more Origins movie. The only serious agenda is probably to make Monster Hit that scores. It's the sales that counts after all.

It's a great transitional piece (meaning....it wasn't that terrible to watch) to welcome the summer blockbuster season. Hopefully things get better from here.

Accordingly to most people the trailer is the best part of the movie which I cannot deny.

"I am not dead" post

2009-04-11T16:26:00.003+08:00

Ah the usual. "I am still around and the blog is not abandoned" post so to assure whoever that actually read this blog will not think that I ceased to exist or that I dumped this can.

Then again, I doubt there will be any faithful readers or whatsoever. I don't use any counters so I will never know if anyone will be so unfortunate as to stumble upon my blog.

Haha.

Anyway here's what I been up to:

= I changed a new wife as my ex-wife is way too hot to handle and her memory is all foggy and she needs to put to rest. She's also way too noisy so much that I can't stand my new wife when I first booted her up. (By "wife" I mean Computer.)

= Faster processing speed equals faster download time. So much for money spent on bandwidth upgrade if you never paid any attention to the com you are using.

= Facebook games. I still don't get it even when I spent much time with it. The only game that says I am playing well is School of Magic. Then again these games are a pain. Oh there's a new game called Restaurant City. At least it's not one of these silly text games that requires people to cobble people to feel a sense of achievement. It's not very stable but it at least is better than that Pet Society game (which I will never excel in).

= Movies. Just as Moviemakers are cutting down most movie franchises (all your multiple-parted, base by children/teen fantasy books movies), I am cutting down the number time of going into the cinema. Since I got more time,I probably be writing some reviews on the disc collections I had. That is if I am into that anymore.

= Games. I stop touching my NDS. I am not sure why. It had been 2 months since.

Yup. I am not dead. Not yet.

1,2,3,4

2009-02-03T23:21:00.002+08:00

Theres only one thing two do three words four you.
I love you.
(I love you)
There's only one way two say those three words
and that's what I'll do.
I love you.
(I love you)

Actually the previous song is for the unfortunate folks that unfortunately fell out of a relationship before Valentine's Day. So to kind off balance it out, hence this post.

This song is obviously to go around to help to say those 3 words that guys should be stingy to say.

我不難過

2009-02-03T23:11:00.002+08:00

I listened to this song countless of times but I never really watched the MV until now.

Was it compulsory for someone to be terminally illed (or seems to be) for MV during those days?

The Compulsory CNY Post.

2009-02-03T22:04:00.003+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!!!
Best Wishes to Everyone!!!

I think it was necessary.
So, necessary it will be. Doesn't matters it's like the 8th Day closing to the 9th of the Lunar New Year.

This year's CNY is so tight to X'mas/New Year's Day, that it was totally difficult to breath at work. My backlogs are piling and it's showing. I got no remorse when I never stay for OT?

OT? Fuck OT. It's CNY!!! I need to prepare, buy clothes and stuff.
I buy way too many shirts and they spot the same design. Stripes.
Then again, what I worn to work are all Solids (one block of colour), so the morning question from now on is (other than "Can I don't got to work?").......
Stripes or Solids? Lol. (Cue Laughter).....Geddit? Ah haha.

CNY! Yay. It slip through me. I got no idea what's going on, didn't watch the TV after the evening's dinner. It's steamboat and I am stuffing my face, ignoring the girlfriend I brought home. At least I managed to impress my mum that she washes the dishes unlike my bro's GF. AHAHAHAHA.

Didn't sleep much during the CNY Holiday Period, very much thankful to my insane younger brother. He invited his homies on the Eve, the Actual Day to play Mahjong overnight.

On the 6th (a Saturday), he brought a party of 20++ people to eat steamboat. It's a fucking riot. Lucky I was smart to get out of the house.

As usual, Stoning at Bedok Reservoir before stoning at Haig Road.I prefer not to bring anyone because stoning at these 2 places are totally killing. Not much ang pow and not bothered with that fact.

I bothered with cousin giving ang-pow however.
Look, I don't need Ang Pow from you people. I am old enough already.
I am NOT going to buy those nephews and nieces presents.
Especially when I know it's either "Sexuality Enlightening" Barbies (or skanky dolls like BratZ and Such) or "Fanboy Starters" Action Figures or Transformers that I be giving away.

Went back home and my infamous Mahjong Players are coming in. Didn't I saw you dudes yesterday? Man. Where the babes? Ah. Drawing lessons from OKTO (Yes. NOW I KNOW WHY YOU PEOPLE DIDN'T AIR WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN) from the Eve where W&X became "Sleepy Fun Time with Wolverine & Friends", I turn to Entourage (obviously knowing that X-Files would somehow becomes the Z-Files....Explanation some other entry). Entourage is pretty nice too bad I only got Season 1 (bought with X-files Season 7 solely for that "Buy the Other Box @ 50% off" promotion). It kept me awake due the Occasional Flash of Bare Titties and the barrage of Insult Trading that's so wonderfully amusing. Oh also because it's an interesting show.

Day 2 was running away from home (there are relatives coming in) and hanging out at my GF's place. Basically, we spend the whole afternoon playing Facebook Games and watching TV. Oh we got no life at all.

Anyway people, Gongxi FaCai!!!
(Yes. Fuck Post Struture. CNY is really really boring shit).

Personality Test (yes....there's alway these around)

2009-01-18T23:29:00.002+08:00

Lifted from Bernie.

(DVD) Justice League: The New Frontier

2009-01-06T19:18:00.004+08:00

I finally got this (Thanks Bernie!!!)

Yes, I had to get her to get it from Australia all the way back.
Local Stores didn't stock this on shelf and they didn't have any of those DC Animated Video DVDs in abundance until recently with Batman: Gotham Knight & Superman : Doomsday.

Guess the stock purchaser made their own judgement on this title. After all, the Darwyn Cooke art style is good enough to make them think it's a Hard to Sell title. Indeed it's not stylistic in comparison to perhaps Anime or the Justice League Animated Series. Still the charm of the book lies in Darwyn Cooke's art. In their defense, they did put out a VCD (with a slightly attractive cover) that didn't came with the extras.

The Animation is slick and good. While there is some attempt to do a faithful page to frame translation, some changes were made and I am not sure if it was made in favour to the movie. They tone down on the political issues but they kept the Vietnam S vs W/Man vs Woman scene.

Lucy Lawless did good on the "Big" Wonder Woman. I can't say if it's all good with the other good "celebrity" voice actors however I felt it was a vast improvement over Superman Doomsday. In fact to a certain amount, New Frontier was better than the "Anime" Dark Knight.

The animation did outstandingly best at the closing epilogue of the book which is the clip that follows.

(NDS) The World Ends with You

2009-01-04T21:46:00.004+08:00

One of my (non-posted) resolutions for the year is to try to reach a certain level of completion for all the NDS games I had in my possession (Especially for the RPG stuff). Thank God I didn't had something the likes of R4, otherwise it will be a real tall order.

I bought The World Ends with You in december. Yup I was playing Children of Mana back then but it seems to go endless with the missions.

The basic plot of the game revolves the location of Shibuya. If anyone watch Sh15uya (Shibuya Fifteen) and Kamen Rider Ryuki , that's about that kind of twist and turn. Unlike these two Tokusetsu series, TWEwY is more gripping and resolves fairly well. The game really lives to the notion of "Living to what you want, how you want" or something like that as quoted by Mr. H (an important NPC in the game). Generally, the game already allows you to play with you setting up the difficulty (affecting the drop items) and your level (affecting the drop rate) in the midst of the other player settings (like combat/item settings). While the scenarios are preset, the player is pretty much left to choose Encounters and several small tweaks to the subplot/quests. Dual Screen combat is crazy and difficult? Let the com handle your top screen! (althought it's just either hitting X or B).

Engaging and yet it's easy to put the game down (you earn level points for Pins, the primary combat items when the game is on shutdown), it makes a good game on the go (but don't miss your stop!) once you master it, of course. (there's complaints of Steep Learning Curve? I thought all the necessary literatures provided in-game and manual. Wouldn't kill to read, so just read?)

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-04T21:23:00.002+08:00

Even when it's the 4th Day of 2009!

The First post of the Year is certainly without the compulsory New Year Resolution. So here are the resolutions....

1) I will not be Late for Work
(I am already late for work)
2) I will not sleep Late
(Too late. I slept at 3am on 01/01/2009!!!)
3) I will not over eat.
(Been there. Done that)
4) I will not snack after 11pm
(Over with already)
5) I will exercise
(Barely started)
6) Type more entries in this Blog
(I am doing already)
7) Clearing and Giving away stuffs
(Already packing)
8) Buying less DVD and Manga and stuffs
(I just bought DMC Vol.6 and 4 other DVDs........)
9) Keeping my living space neat and tidy
(I do that.....next saturday....haha)

There. My easier to accomplish Resolutions. I mean, everyone had to be realistic and be less demanding on ourselves. 2009 will be a rough year with all that recession, wars and natural disasters coming in. So all the best, people and I can assure you all that we can survive these 'cos we came a long way.

To the Infinity and Beyond!

The Graveyard Book

2008-12-22T22:10:00.005+08:00

The Graveyard is the latest book from Neil Gaiman, writer of Vertigo's Sandman, Stardust and American Games, etc.

Actually it's a book for the young (I got a Series of Unfortunate Events....so..) and there's 2 version of it on sale locally. Check this link:
http://www.thegraveyardbook.com/bloomsbury-editions/
and browse before you buy.

I choose the Dave McKean illustrated edition (aka Adult Edition) even when I felt that Chris Riddell's illustration is more fitting.

Review to come, pending on my temper. (Then again the reviews on the website is more sufficient. )

Zone Fighter Clip....

2008-11-05T22:12:00.003+08:00

I don't think many recognised Zone Fighter since it's a short lived Toku/Giant Hero Show. The only memorable part about it is the Tie-In with Godzilla.

Keep watching this clip and you will realise what set this from Ultraman apart.

Zone Fighter on Toho Kingdom

Wiki Link

Godzilla Wiki

And a parody via subs.....

Who to defend HK in times of Alien Invasion?

2008-11-03T22:44:00.004+08:00

In nutshell......Chinese Deity Guan Yu vs Space Invaders.
Why invent Silver Giants when you can get an excellent hero in the next studio?
Unfortunately nothing is ever found other than a few posters and pictures. The prints are probably destroyed or lost.

Maybe it's a Z-graded movie but really it's an awesome concept. I don't even know what Singapore will use to defend itself against Alien invasion.

Just join facebook....

2008-11-03T21:52:00.000+08:00

For the fun of it,

wthlouis@yahoo.com.sg

there's nothing much there....but I am playing those mini game stuff.

Ah yes.....the decisions to make...

2008-10-29T21:31:00.003+08:00

First off, the admin portion.

I will be rounding up and clearing the links portion. As for addition, I only had 2 in mind. As for clearing/deleting :

# maxblue
(He is Yomiko's friend. He started around when I was fooling with blog and such. I remembered we had plans to something on sentai. I guess things didn't quite work out and it was never updated)

#Joli Joyce
(Joyce is my Real World Cousin. I am deleting her link due to an obvious LACK OF UPDATE)

#deathgaze/Sanzo
(Husaini is a great guy who I always believe to be not as messed up as he want people to think he is. In fact he was a mentor to me in all those html/blog shit stuff. Now turning into a shining Torch of Guidance, leading the spoil and the hapless in the course of Serving the Country. Reason for deletion : Dead Link. Don't worry however, I will be putting up his LJ for everyone to see)

#Tennis-chan/Rose
(Was one of the little girls I met on Sgcafe/Sganime. In fact about 99% of links are people who I met on Sgcafe/Sganime. Reason for deletion: I think it's Update also)

#White Wolf Eliza
(Was one of the little girls I met on Sgcafe. Reason for deletion: I don't really know her that well and also she didn't link me)

#The Sadist
(To be truthful, I got no idea who this was except she was on Sganime. Reason for deletion: Updating Ceased)

#Lenne
#ZGW
#akito
#Zermine
(If you click, you know the reason why. Reason: Site was moved/deleted)

#aisubeki
#martianunicorn
#kura
#gothydark
(If you click, you know the reason why. Reason: Updating Ceased)

#violet
(Violet stop opening up her life on Blogspot. She had make it private. I hope she isn't uploading hamsup stuff like what Sun Tan did. Anyway she had a LJ too so just click on someone who had her as a friend. Reason: When it's private, it's private. A public link has no meaning and is contradicting. And you all know what contradiction lead too........)

Other than that.....I think that's about all.

Some other updates......

~ I finally got my passport made. Yay.
~ Playing Disgaea on PSP. Urgh. Friggin Battery just croaks up. Maybe need to resort to CFW to prolong Battery (Loading Via UMD maybe zap up more juice? Excuses. LOL)
~ Playing Apollo Justice. Yay. Last chapter.
~ Watching X-Files. I got the first 5 seasons. They are affordable and pretty awesome.
~ Work is pretty much the same. I survived a year and it's getting easier everyday.
~ I am getting fatter everyday too. Boo.

That's all folks. Remember.

I am not dead yet.

Some colour quiz thingy

2008-10-24T21:20:00.000+08:00

you are mediumauqamarine
#66CDAA

Your dominant hues are cyan and green. Although you definately strive to be logical you care about people and know there's a time and place for thinking emotionally. Your head rules most things but your heart rules others, and getting them to meet in the middle takes a lot of your energy some days.

Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it.

Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

2008-08-30T16:58:00.008+08:00

The other day I went to M&A (a chinese manga shop that I sometimes go) and the lady that say I buy books that are "odd/strange".

Jeez. Here's what in the shopping bag:
- Detroit Metal City (5)
- Astro Fighter Sunred (6)
- Nichijou (1)
- Kuchisake Onna Arawaru!

Ok. The books are kind of strange althought 3 of them are gag manga with the exception of the last title (which is a horror/suspense).

Detroit Metal City
(Bottom Right on the Photo)
Sure. Detroit Metal City looks weird but it's perfectly fine despite the odd translation (Yes. It's actually tough to translate. I think) and rather mundane artwork which isn't a stranger to Gag manga. Still it's not weird and in fact, I think it's rather popular. It got a Life action movie and a
OVA anime. Still, the book run on a formula which by far, not failing yet.

Check out the links!!!:
- Go to DMC!!! (OVA)
- Go to DMC!!! (MOVIE)

Astro Fighter Sunred
(Top right)
Translated name as Tentai Senshi Sunred.
It's a gag manga so featuring some really "strange" (AKA Less than Desirable) artwork is nothing out of the norm. The storyline is about a Sentai hero living a daily as a bum living off his OL girlfriend. However the main protagonist should be the "obasan"-like neighbourly, "Evil" Mastermind who tried to defeat Sunred with his mild manner ways and equally incompetent slew of "Monster of the Week" creatures. It's even funnier that someone actually took the joke forward by making it an anime.
- Anime Website

Nichijou
(Top Left)
Nichijou......is the opposite of what the title meant (which means The Daily Norm). Althought like the thousands of Gakuen Gag books..yes. It's pretty normal til it's Blend. Think a Azumanga clone (yes. The artwork is very much shoddy lookalike to Azumanga) but with out of the norm, standard manga characters like a clockwork Android Girl (normal), a Mad Shojo Science Genius (normal) doing standard stuffs. Wait.....my verdict is that it's just a Azumanga Daioh clone with some strange characters. My god. What a rip-off. Still, it's entertaining enough.

Kuchisake Onna Arawaru!
(Bottom Left)
I bought at least 2 books featuring the Kuchisake-Onna, an urban legend that exist to scare the shit of naughty school children and I pretty much like the plot twist in this one which is a collection of shorts inspires by spooky tales of the Showa period (the full title is Kuchisake Onna Arawaru ~ Showa Kaiki Densetsu). The artwork is pretty good with the usual shock stuffs. Not very

So my conclusion is that I am having odd taste, only because I am male and didn't buy the oppai/loli exploitive stuffs? Or the Shonen Stuff like Bleach and Naruto and D-Greyman?

Lol.

No. Simply because I am a jaded manga reader who happens to look into the other alternatives.

Hell....I am quite bored so....here's movie review.

2008-08-18T21:17:00.003+08:00

Ah the rest of the summer movies.......

Actually Batman : The Dark Knight is the best movie of the moment.....so you don't need to consider anything else if you haven't watch it. Unless you hate Batman & all that other Superhero, Comicbook movies. Ya. You should. It's annoying sometimes that such trends are formulated.

The Mummy 3

Now Jet Li. We all know Grandmaster Jet Li. Ya. He won a prize in acting. No kidding. He won a prize but that's in a Chinese Movie. His Hollywood Films are still pretty much bad. Really uninteresting.

If you find Forbidden Kingdom really uninspiring, Got the Hell away from The Mummy 3.
If you had high opinions on The Mummy, don't watch The Mummy 3.

I love to give scenarios to compare to, so imagine this:

You met your secondary, high school/Teenage Sweetheart at a Reunion function. You could still remember all those unfulfilled fantasies and what-if and all the good times you had shared. You eagerly wait for a chance to see her again and you could hardly wait. Finally you met her. Deep inside, you question yourself if you had been kidding yourself all these time and if all those good times are actually 'good times'.

OK. That isn't really funny. Likewise so was The Mummy 3. It had all the sparks and fireworks (which in my opinion was a "High" moment of the movie but soon to pass) but none of the soul. In fact, like what Wong Jin said about Forbidden Kingdom "it's made for American African Kids". Likewise, the same to The Mummy 3 save I had to reserved on the "African American" part. Generally. Just Americans & Michael Kelso.

Verdict: Rental and watch it with alot of people.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

I admit I didn't watch the previous Hellboy movie, neither was I any motivated to do so after watching Hellboy 2.

It's all good fun watching Hellboy 2. Nothing else. BRPD reminds me of M.I.B. Funny isn't it?

Verdict: If you haven't seem it, it wouldn't hurt. I am sure the DVD got tons of extra material when it's released so watch for it.

.......come to think of it....I actually didn't watch that many movies in July/August

Gotham's Dark Knight. (The Dark Knight)

2008-07-21T19:16:00.005+08:00

To get straight to the point, this is the Best Movie of the year, the Best Movie of it's franchise (Batman) and the Best Movie based on a DC Superhero Character. This is also the Best Superhero movie that YOU CANNOT BRING KIDS TO WATCH. If your children are afraid Big Red Hellboy, there's no way you can keep them from crying while in The Dark Knight.

One prominent drawback is that it's not really very accessible to KIDS. If your children have a phobia of clowns, you don't bring them to watch this movie. If your children don't have a phobia of clowns, you don't bring them to watch this movie either. Children are very fond to be afraid of clowns. Don't try to test for trouble, Cool Parents. Heath Ledger is the ultimate Joker in terms of Being Scary and Creepy. You thought Jack Nicholson is Scary? You thought wrong. Of course we need to tribute that Heath built his joker on Jack Nicholson's. Without such a solid foundation laid, Heath's Joker might not had been as well defined.

The movie end up being a bit on the drag. Perhaps there were too much bases to cover but I am happy that they did at least took the risk of being dull than to be vague.

Oh and Poor Edison Chen. The only reason I think he wasn't completely removed from the movie is that they found it not worth to spent money digitally removing him from the background (a blink and miss moment).

What exactly is the name of Gordon's daughter? Was her appearance deliberately made to throw fans off of a Batgirl appearance? If the new Batgirl is based on a Year One bio, then what will happen to Gordon's happy family of four? Will the Nolan Batman ever get any sidekicks? (I hope not). It is to be noted that if Jim Gordon's daughter is named Barbara, she will be Batgirl irregardless whether Barbs is really his biological or adopted daughter.

So what lies ahead? Will Batman get allies? Super powered allies? It's a hard task for Nolan to top his own game.

By the way, the latest 'common' (of Departmental Store Range) Batman movie toys are not very inspiring. Somehow the best toys were made from the worst movie (Batman & Robin).

Gotham's Dark Knight. (Gotham Knight Animation)

2008-07-20T22:19:00.005+08:00

Unlike the previous straight to Video release DC Animation, Batman: Gotham Knight in DVD format pretty much not a haunting quest and is definitely cheaper (I recalled that I bought Superman : Doomsday close to $40 and by chance. I never saw The New Frontier at all. ).

Is it a good "successor" to the like of Animatrix (a Movie related Animation)?
Answer : NO

Where as Animatrix was Good as a movie spin-off device (having interlinked components and element faithfully represented to the movie's feel and style), Gotham Knight is an idea that's purely GREAT on print but a letdown on execution. Sure some characters/events are bridged into the movie but some don't.

Having foreign talent was a fantastic idea. In fact I would agree that having the Japanese to animate it was cool. That is if they really are given a Free Hand to actually made it to "Anime" effect rather than to some weird effect.....none of the Japanese feel of energy was channeled into the animation, just the very business-like approach that akins to Gonzo's way of making anime.
(Meaning that they are just making stuff that they "think" what the International Market would like. Do they look like they are trying to make good original anime??? Not so much to me most of the time. )

Similarly that's how I felt about it. Either the people from DC are demanding the Japanese to stick to do what they are told, or the Japanese are too polite to push and do what they felt their clients would want.

The stories are pretty ok. Each had their own appeal. I just round this up so it's less painful for me to type and for you to read.

(1)Have I Got A Story For You
Interestingly this is the only one I considered to be the BEST animated one of the lot to show case the energy and dynamics that Japanese Animation Studios can offer. While most superficial anime lovers would point out that it's that "UGLY" style, this is one where it excels exhibiting it's character on both animation and narration. For those who found this story to be familiar, Google to see what writer Josh Olsen had to say about it. Oh course, the answer can be found on the Disc 2 under Bonus Batman TAS episodes (there are 4. More details later).

(2)Crossfire
Shoot me but I don't find it exactly fantastic especially it coming from Studio I.G.
The story was pretty simple. 2 cops escorting a crook back to the Arkham and got caught in a crossfire. Importance? It bridge by going to a geographical location of great importance in Begins and explaining a situation/decision/concept that will be integral to the End of the DK Movie. However I didn't spot Crispus Allen in the Dark Knight movie. OR maybe he did and was killed.

(3)Field Test
Lucius was one of the few characters that really brought a smile to people's face whenever he appeared in Begins since there's always some really interesting exchange between him and Bruce. Needless to say, Lucius's appearance always mean a new gadget for Batman. A testimony of Batman's personal values.

(4)In Darkness Dwells
A very polished animation nothing short from expectation by Madhouse.
If you are curious to know what happened to the Scarecrow after Begins, this is the one you need to watch. I don't really find the scythe throwing part necessary however.

(5)Working Through Pain
Only to bridge the previous story to next I guess. A real filler story. Lol. It expands on Wayne's Journey that was seen on Begins. It said something we already know but there's no harm being reminded again. I find the ending of this segment rather amusing.

(6)Deadshot
I am not too sure if anyone would agreed that Deadshot is actually a B-graded Batman villain.
Over here, Deadshot is a flamboyant Assassin. Needless to say, it's a recurring theme of Batman fighting someone "similar yet different". Batman facing off his sole enemy - The Gun. He is not really fighting Deadshot. Deadshot is just a pussy with a Gun.

Disc 2 consist of 2 documentary specials: one about Batman's Greatest Villians, the other about Bob Kane, Creator of Batman. The one thing I find consistent about DC's New Animation Videos are that the Extras are really worth the money despite the main feature film being more or less disappointing. There's also 4 episodes from the The Animated Series althought there's not enhancement with the last feature I am the Night looking pretty rough and raw.

Crap. I still wrote too much. The next post will be about the Dark Knight Movie.

The Umbrella Academy

2008-07-19T15:16:00.004+08:00

Oh and talk about Dark Horse Comics.....

I neglect to include in my previous post that Hellboy isn't my first Dark Horse comic I purchased. My first was The Umbrella Academy.

The Umbrella Academy is a superhero team created by a famous entrepreneur (who is an alien in disguise) with his adopted children. However the story unfolds after the team was disbanded and after their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, died.

It's a kind of a Superhero Family Book. Think Fantastic Four except it's much more complex and definitely darker.

Here's the Myspace for Umbrella Academy

http://www.myspace.com/umbrellaacademycomic

For those who are interested to who did the cover art:

It's James Jean. The one who also did Fables. Here's his blog (Contains Nudity):
http://www.processrecess.com/index.php

I also neglect to mention that Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance wrote and create The Umbrella Academy?

Graphical Readings......Hellboy

2008-07-08T19:05:00.005+08:00

After giving away the Dreaming (I mean Neil Gaiman's Sandman), I got an urge to start exploring for other (graphic novel/comic) readings.

The spandex stuff? I got Invincible ongoing (Yes it hit Milestone issue 50 last month. Not bad for a book that was almost canceled before the 10th). Seriously I got no need for the DC and Marvel Stuffs. Too many stuff to be collecting, all ended with a TBC Conclusion. Sure, there are a few noteworthy TPB (notice I mentioned TPB. I could never imagine a shelf full of Hardcovers or Absolutes or Other Kitten Killer Equivalents) and I got most of them or read most of them.

June is always a good time to start a collection since Kinokuniya is having a 20% for the month (or so) for the members.

I was going to get something from Dark Horse anyway (it's either Star Wars: Legacy or Hellboy) and with Legacy nowhere sighted, I picked up Hellboy (althought I intended to get vol.1 before May. Strangely it's not stock on the shelves in both Bugis and Orchard shops).

I am at vol. 6 of the TPB of Hellboy (Main Store didn't have vol. 7) and vol. 1 of BRPD and Lobster Johnson. I also get the Hellboy Companion since I can't be bothered reading everything off the net or purchasing everything.

BPRD is a spinoff title of Hellboy that is brought to existence when Hellboy left BRPD (think.....Wolverine & the X-men???) and Lobster Johnson part of the whole "something else" (it's not uncommon for something on the background to surface).

It's funny how Hellboy isn't really an "Action" comic where there's alot of fighting and some narration. In fact there's quite a bit of reading and the action tend to be un-fancy and direct to the point. I kind of like it that way and perhaps it's that which separates Manga from Comics. Mike Mignola's art style was something I would go for. I never really like super fine details sometimes as it would distract people heavily from the narration and sometimes.....your brains would just say "Got it." and you flip the page, discarding all the lines and details the artist's effort.

Final Fantasy III DS.

2008-06-27T19:08:00.002+08:00

Yes first off check the Opening CG to the Game On the Youtube.

Ah it's pretty but what's with the costume change???

Yes, one of the few oddity about this game is that you cannot explain the Job System in ,say, REALITY or plotwise. Haha, indeed however, the Clothes does made the Man (or Woman). The job market is open to everyone, althought with the Gender ratio of 3 is to 1, there might be a.....well completely biased job allocation based on appearance. Lol.

These are the top 3 Job level for my characters at the end of game.

Luneth (that's the white hair guy)
1. Thief (Lv. 52) 2. Ninja (Lv. 42) 3. Freelance (Lv. 28)
Not just because I think Luneth makes a good looking Thief, but also a thief is a good character to have in the party for early game. For some odd reasons Luneth has a high Freelance level due to.....I couldn't remember but it attributes to that he is alone in the begining with no other jobs to choose from. I had him as a ninja in the end only because he is a Thief. Take it as a job advancement (not).

Arc (the weak boy. lol.)
1. Scholar (Lv. 48) 2. Bard (Lv. 35) 3. Summoner (Lv. 30)
I admit it's purely appearance for the choices I made. I mean look at him! He shouldn't be carrying a sword!!! Of course no one should be going on with the game without a Summoner/Evoker. Can't explain for the Scholar usage but a scholar is necessary for a certain boss and I need the BOOST for item use. Plus he looks good in a scholar garb.

Refia (the only girl)
1. White Mage (Lv. 81) 2. Devout (Lv. 35) 3. Freelancer (Lv. 10)
Yes. Gender Biaseness. I might make a controlling father if I ever had a daughter. That and I am the gamer who absolutely need someone to cast curative spells in my party. Usually that person will be a girl. Shoot me but I don't care.

Ingus (the blondie)
1. Warrior (Lv. 54) 2. Red Mage (Lv. 24) 3. Dragoon (Lv. 21)
Ah Ingus. Being the last guy in recruit, Ingus earns the role of having to fit in.

Really.

I need someone to hit hard. Who has to do it?
Ingus (since there's no heavy hitter in my party back then).
I need someone to cast Black Magic. Who has to do it?
Ingus (since no one can cast black magic back then).
I need a Dragoon. Who has to do it?
Ingus (even if I could just convert everyone to a Dragoon as I had enough equipment for that to happen).
Despite for all the sacrifices he made, Ingus hardly stays alive at the end of Boss Fights. I can't say I didn't try. It just happens.

See the part which I mention my reviews sucks? There's really no structure in it but fuck structure. Anyway. Let's talk about why FF III DS isn't really that appealing to said the gamers who might be shelling out around $49 or more (but in Play-Asia, it's $47.74). For useless information, I paid $35 for a shop resale copy. No. I don't really buy all my games 2nd hand. I got First hand Stuffs but I save that for another entry.

Reasons no one should be playing FF III DS:
01) You want epic storylines as convoluted as possible. FF III is strip down in that aspect and hauntingly reminding the players, that elements that impress you in narration and game play in the latter games had their roots over here.
02) Retro gaming just don't feel right in a remade.
03) The characters look chubby or tubby. Or Fat.
04) There's no 20 side quests to do each time you got a free roam period.
05) You get the real Side Quests if you exchange free codes and send a certain amount of messages via the Mognet through Wifi. I don't think it's fair to be locking up portion of the game so that you can say..... find friends to talk about the game? Really? I don't know. I don't get it.
06) There's nothing you can do after you complete the game. No New Game Plus. Just a save update on stats. Oh yes there's something you can do. Play the Side Quests. Fuck you Square Enix. Fuck you. Do you people know that every time someone use the Mognet, a Moggle lose it's wings?
07) You only play FF7 and related games. You think Sephiroth will start balding if you play anything that's Final Fantasy and unrelated to FF 7.
08) You only play one game in your life. Countstrike
09) You only play one game in your life. DoTA. Heck it wasn't even a real game.
10) You only play MMORPG.
11) You only play one RPG. The one in your pants, you quick firing imbecile.
12) You don't own a DS. (And you don't have to. Really)
13) You got Metal Gear Solid 4.
14) You are still playing Metal Gear Solid.
15) You are still playing Metal Gear Solid 2.
16) You are still playing Metal Gear Solid 3.
17) You got a Wii
18) You got a Pokemon GOD
19) You are a Guitar Hero.
20) You got Final Fantasy IV DS.

20 reasons why you shouldn't be playing FF III DS. So are there any reasons why you should?

It's FF3. Never had it been in English officially on any other consoles. If you are a traditional console RPG player, you know how difficult it is to find anything that's turn base and as engaging. It's pretty neat to grind as you go since you can go on lengthy train/bus without needing to pay extra attention. As oppose some of the other games that's really good on the DS but you had to really sitting down to enjoy.

And yes, Final Fantasy IV will be out this month.

P.S. The last boss for the game is called Cloud of Darkness. It's a green Meduse like creature with 2 tentacles. Not some spikey blondie with a Badass Big Sword.

Narnia......What Prince Caspian?

2008-06-16T18:47:00.003+08:00

After watching The Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian, it's deja vu like the whole Speed Racer =/= Rain's movie.

Anyone who read newspapers or printed media on the week before the Opening and the Opening week of Speed Racer would have realised that most of the adverts are selling Strongly on Taejo, the Character Rain played. Expectation was that Taejo will be a main character but in reality, he is just a support character. Or actually a plot device.

Same goes for Prince Caspian?
What's his function?
A plot device?
A marketing device?
Prince Caspian was suppose to Titular hero of the movie (as in expectations based on Movie's marketing material) with the Pevensie siblings as supports. I don't really cared about C.S Lewis's original material ; all I want to watch a good movie. Not a movie about misdirections. If I want, there's The Happening by M. "Simi-Lan!".

So as a titular plot device cum posterboy, Prince Caspian, willingly got his nose led by High King Peter, who is such old School English Punk (what if Pevensie is an Emo-Band??? That's a nice thought). He is Angry and Eager to Impress. Kind of like those Young English EPL Footballers. Caspian like some Spanish Imported Newcomer quietly accepted his role as a Locker Room Wuss.

He is also Susan's bitch. It's one thing to be a romantic interest and one thing to be a girl's bitch.

The only other heroic loser in this film is King Edward who ...... I mean? What? His presence is simply to be said "I am in this movie so I can be in the next". Tragic. Like Rain in Speed Racer. He is simply in the movie so he can work as a titular protagonist in another film. I wouldn't mind being paid to do "nothing" (you did something. No one remembered what you did that's all).

Of course, you still don't see the blood. It's dumb like fuck, it's like a bukkake movie without cum. No one is expecting it's like Passion of Christ bloody (a bloody Pro-Christian movie) but the least allow a bare minimum amount of sense. I really find it disturbing to be allowing swinging of swords (which is easily imitated by children) without showing the consequence or danger of what might follow. No real abuse of children this time except you get to see Lucy being flung across the room. Ouch.

There is no real story telling. Just like someone say it "it's a movie about 4 children going into another world to kill things", the movie's focus is on Bloodless Fighting, Talking Animals and a Seemingly Underplayed Key Player.

My Chemical Romance don't make you suicidal. Maybe it was Your Chemical Romance

2008-06-03T22:08:00.006+08:00

Disclaimer: This is an entry of Exploitation. I am simply doing this, just for the very fact I can dig My Chemical Romance on the title of this entry (Read. It's on the top). I do not endorse the very notions of Hurt, be it on Inflict on Self or Others by Self or Others, as a way of escaping or simply to get "High" or any other negative stereotype notions that are loosely linked to Emo music usually by either Idiots who Like Emo Music or just plain Idiots who didn't like Emo music.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-564611/Girl-13-hangs-obsessed-Emo-suicide-cult-rock-band.html

I couldn't tell but laugh when the article quoted lines from The Black Parade in which I believe to be a song about Fighting Against Oppression and the Odds and Keep on Living. Not a song about Glorifying Yourself By Killing yourself (which I believe is likely to be easier to achieve by going to Romania and asking Vampires to make yourself as their equal.) I mean how many My Chemical Romance followers are out there? If they were all suicidal and wanted to kill themselves, I am pretty sure Gerard Way and friends wouldn't be making any money at all. In fact they probably killed themselves too since they didn't know anyone who like their music (since the fan were all dead. From Killing Themselves).

Remember this:

My Chemical Romance don't make me want to kill myself. Maybe it was Your Chemical Romance.

When most people are obsessed in something beyond the norm, it's usually a cry for attention. Poor Hannah probably died because no one try to see her as a person but a label (E.g. Emo Kid, Teenager). More cases like this will occurred in one fashion or another and trying to pin the blame on a media/music/culture wouldn't necessary solve anything.

No. I don't particularly love Emo.

Meme.

2008-06-02T19:10:00.004+08:00

Tag by shuuichi.

Rules of the game: Remove one question from below, add in one of your own(personal), to make a total of 20. Tag 10 people in your list in the end of this post. Notify them. (not necessary)

1. At what age do you wish to be married?
30?

2. What is your plan 5 years down the road?
I can't even know what to eat next!

3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Dreamland?

4. If you can have 1 dream come true, what would it be?
To be a happy person. Always.

5. Do you believe you can survive without money?
Yes.

6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
My mind.

7. If you win $ 1 Million, what would you do?
Keep it in the bank and watch it disappear.

8. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
No. I make them confess to me. I am The Confessor!!! (Lol. For Adventures of the Real Confessor, read the Astro City TPBs).

9. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
She's Female....Nice....and Like Hairy Guys on Horses.

10. What kind of person do you hate the most?
Hate is the root of Bad things. Hating is bad mmmmkey?

11. In the clouds....
There's a Tower.

12. If you are given the chance to go back to the past and make a difference, will you?
Provided I am given the chance to be Human (see the ACG classic masterpiece....AIR)

13. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. What does it mean to you?
It's give, give, give.

14. Any wisdom to share with your readers?
If you want the world to change, you start it with yourself.

15. If there's ever a war(or things that are similar) happening in your place, are you going to move to a safer place, or fight?
Go to a safer place to fight. You cannot just ALL IN at the time. Protect the nest.

16. If you have the chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
Perserverance. The lack of it.

17. Who is the person that you can share all your problems with?
My Mum. I am My mummy's boy.

18. What's your weakest point?
I am an Airhead living in a Stoner's Life.

19. Think of the person who tagged you to do this quiz. What song do you relate him/her to?
Hey Jude.

20. What is on your mind right now?
Which Porn to start Watching.

Who to Tag? Anyone who read this and just want to pass along, please do so.

More movie trailers!

2008-05-25T21:23:00.003+08:00

Oh it's going to load really slow from now on. Lol.

Qn: So how many CG Animation movies with Talking Animals do we need?

Ans: Many more.

Space Chimps

Madagascar 2

Ice Age 3: Dawn of The Dinosaur

Yes people. More animated Animal movies. How many more do people want? Many more. Many more.

Which is why I worry for RainTree's Sing to The Dawn.
Talking Animals? Not sure but I hope not.

Blockbuster Month Schedule.

2008-05-24T19:41:00.004+08:00

Choices. Choices.
Since Sunday is my designated Movie day and there be a lot of upcoming movies to watch, I will need to watch out some plans.

1st June - Drillbit Taylor or Chocolate (Leftovers from May. Yes there were some good movies on the month of May.)

Drillbit Taylor

Chocolate

8th June - The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

15th June - The Incredible Hulk

22th June - Get Smart or You Don't Mess with The Zohan. Or Both.

Get Smart

You Don't Mess with The Zohan

29th June - 21 or Wanted or Shaolin Girl.

Wanted

But really this isn't Wanted. Wanted is the Ultimate Fuck You to Superhero at the Ass.

Shaolin Girl

This is only a rough guide. There might be inserts like Cosfest and my own work duties or changes in Release Dates. So if anyone wants to tag along, please do so by SMS me or PM me (@ Sgcafe).

The Machine Girl

2008-05-14T22:02:00.003+08:00

This film will be in Singapore......NEVER.

But this trailer really make my day.
Not because I like amputation (Do I like Gunslinger Girl? No!) but because it's...CAMP. If the movie isn't weird out funny enough, the English Distributor up it by a notch with this trailer.

Anyway it will be a terrible film but it's a laugh-a-minute film best served on late night parties and sleepovers.

Little hang-ups...

2008-05-14T19:05:00.002+08:00

Goddamn spyware/malware kind of had a little pary last week.
Reformatting kind of didn't work. They just keep reappearing until I stopped using drivers downloaded from the net and instead either getting it from official sites and using a trial Anti-virus software (Kaspersky).

Yes and because the blog looks hideous on Firefox, I did a few adjustments that I ought to have done years ago.

Other than that? Business as usual. This blog will still have infrequent updates according to my wimps.

Canned Heat

2008-05-03T15:52:00.004+08:00

Yes, just another, I don't know...music video copy-pasta entry.

Elite Beat Agent : Family Honor! Introducing the Secret-Weapon Ninja!!
(With the Divas......Cover Song)

The infamous Napoleon Dynamite Dance.

Original Canned Heat MV (by Jamiroquai)

Not Really Important Announcement.

2008-04-29T22:54:00.004+08:00

As of 29th April, 2212hrs, Kenshin finally proceed with my request to do a name change on Sgcafe.

The decision for this, is however made on the start of April, roughly after Kenshin got in the google ads. Since then, I been sending applications for around once a week.

It has nothing to do with a current "dispute" on the forum with Miavi but somehow he managed to drag d4thday out onto the mud just in time? Coincidence? Perhaps a twist of karma because I did noticed......there were some similiarity between him and me.
Caught up by past???
Ironic. I am a stoic believer of Current Life Karmic justice.

Very sad to say is that, the name change was to reflect an end to the 5 year membership as d4thday on Sganime/Sgcafe and to move on from active posting in Sgcafe.

As for 402......it's the apartment number of Ayanami Rei.

Unless I am too free to create a new skin for this blog, the name of this blog will not be disturbed.

September - Earth, Wind & Fire

2008-04-24T21:47:00.002+08:00

Urgh. September is a nice song but playing it on Elite Beat Agent.....on the Diva Level is....

Anyway I couldn't even clear the game at Normal. Period. (And I am with Ouedan & FF 3).

Oh and the original Song sung Live (which is faster than the recorded version...but you can feel the energy of the song...and you know they couldn't just keep it down)

and Sowelu cover September in her latest Naked album (which had the 6th ED of D-Greyman, Wish ,in it).

Ace Attorney...or you have objection?

2008-03-22T18:53:00.008+08:00

Phoenix Wright. Ace Attorney.

I would say it's more a "cult" game rather than say VERY POPULAR. At least anyone who is into ACG probably has heard of it. Playing it, however is another matter all together (at least legally) since paying $40 for an interactive novel (or rather Story Adventure game)is quite a high price for casual gamers. So when it's being offered for 2nd hand, I had to take all 3 despite a slightly higher price with no bulk discount. (At least someone is selling to me. Approached 3 sellers before that. Buying 2nd Hand for NDS is still ok since the ROM carts are sturdy.)

Phoenix Wright sets in a Anime world setting where "Slightly Odd" is fairly normal.
Leave your worldly logics behind.

A rookie (just like the player), Phoenix would fight his case with his mentor Mia Fey by his side, teaching us how to play the game. The game drop hints alongside so solving this case (which is a Disguised Tutorial afterall) is a breeze. You just got to do a bit more thinking. The first game introduce the Fey Sisters and revolve the DL-6 incident, setting the basis for the 2nd and 3rd game. Missing the first and playing the subsequent games might be ok but there's slight more than enough references back to it. So yup. I suggest Inova to pick it up from me if he had time.

The interesting aspect is that the DS remake includes a 5th scenario that would tie back to the 4th (Apollo Justice). Rise from the Ashes will include gameplay that's utilising more features rather than simply....shouting to the microphone.

but unlike the lady below who is playing Justice For All....I don't shout to my microphone. I play my NDS like it's a GBA instead. I must be some kind of Techno Caveman.

Justice For All is fairly good sequel althought there's no Overview Storyline that ties all the loose episodes together. Having 4 scenarios (with the first serving as a tutorial), Justice For All seems to be less jam packed and the shortest game of the Wright Trilogy. This installment however introduce Pearl Fey, a delightfully funny sidekick that might overtook Maya Fey who became absent due to yet another case of her being the defendant (and another as hostage). New elements like the Psyche-Lock and Vital Bar will migrate into the next game. Some characters introduced in the 2nd game will return in the 3rd.

Interesting portion of this game? The tutorial forces Phoenix to become a rookie due to a....Plot Device.

Trials and Tribulation is the final arc of the Phoenix Wright games by tying up some loose ends. No. Phoenix is not going to end up with Miles that WAY.

This game starts with the player playing as Mia in her Most controvesial case (as well as Miles' which was briefly mentioned in the First Game). It's terrible to see that Mia used to be....like that when she's younger (and worse...when her senior Lana Skye looks much that other way). It's not that I am against woman of womanly features but.....let's just say the years aren't kind to Mia (or not...depending on which part of her you are looking at). Another surprise is the one on the defendant chair. Chuckles (making it a Truth that anyone can be sitting on the defendant chair).

As usual if you are paying attention, you are always ahead of the storyline, so leading to the conclusion as you go is the tougher part.

And like some Street Fighter game.....you get to meet your Evil Twin (Miles is rival character...which akin to as Ken to Ryu).

And yes, you get to play as Ken....I mean Miles in this one too. Miles and Frankziska returns as somewhat guest starring in this title (when will we get to play Prosecutor???Lol).

Phoenix Wright is a fairly engaging title. Despite not making much logic at times (still SMARTER than Birdbrain Birdman....lol), it's one of the preferred titles for lazy gamers who are into ACG like me who also would most likely read than play a game while on the go.

The above contains the Japanese Promo Videos to the Gyakuten Saiban games. Do not view if you do not watch spoilers. Then again if you are afraid of spoilers....reading this entry is not a wise choice.

......gillian...

2008-03-18T20:28:00.003+08:00

There was a thousand words to be written but I realised there's left nothing to express how I felt about it.

I dedicate this song to Gillian Chung. Thank You for filling in the void for those years.

In love in with a Mirage//PrEtEnDinG iTS foR REAL.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

2008-03-17T20:28:00.004+08:00

Evangelion 1.0 is an alternate Retelling/Reanimated Movie.

It probably had more meaning if you are going to watch the rest of the Rebuild movies or actually experienced NGE beforehand.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone brings back 2 phenomenon of the '90s in a single sitting.

Namely NGE itself and Hikki...Utada Hikaru who sang Beautiful World, theme song to the movie itself.

In the movie, after the song ends there's the money shot we are suppose to be getting. A trailer. As soon as the familiar melody rang, a voice was cut off and we are facing a blank.

It was cut. Either due to the lack of Confidence in the local market by Cathay (does not want to commit to be bringing the next movie) or simply a marketing gimmick by the film makers.

What a wet blanket.

I am not going to be specify but everything you see in the MV is inside and everything will be about the same with all the key points and dialogues presented. However there's some minor tweaking and likely putting the money on the word "ALTERNATE" in the upcoming movies.

Be prepared, people. It's the Second Impact.

Tree hugger by antsy pants

2008-03-08T23:24:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, a nice song doesn't had to mean anything (or is it?).

Tree Hugger is in the OST of Juno, a particularly nice movie I just watched recently.

There's quite a bit of songs from Kimya Dawson and her collabrators. So be sure to check out on her songs if you had time.

Here's the trailer to Juno (which won the Oscar for Best Screen Play.)

Which Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

2008-03-06T21:13:00.001+08:00

Who Should Paint You: Andy Warhol

You've got an interested edge that would be reflected in any portrait

You don't need any fancy paint techniques to stand out from the crowd!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

Watched....(backlog)

2008-03-06T19:37:00.004+08:00

Hell there's a lot backlog to do in that department.

The only thing I can summarised is that Anime watching is particularly cut down to only D-Greyman on TV, which I watched so that at least Arts Central can see that people really appreciate the efforts of bringing the anime in Hot and Fast.

I didn't stop watching anime because of Odex but because I got a burnout. Just tired of all that and.....really, Anime starts to come across to me as "Overrated".

So I just picked up 24 again but stopped at 3 at the moment. I guess it's a cross road moment before I decide to continue since 3 wrapped up pretty nice with most of the loose ends tied up a bit.

And then there's Veronica Mars. Teenage PI vs the World. 3 seasons only. I got a soft spot for cancelled shows. Veronica tells the true about the world on WIN WIN Situations. They don't exist. I will highly recommend it for everyone except Young Children because there's....Sex. Lol. On screen, Off Screen.

As for the movies....heck I got a short attention span so that will be for next time.

Here's the theme to Veronica Mars. A great song with a title that explains an aspect of the plotline.

We Used To Be Friends by The Dandy Warhols

By the way, Veronica Mars is still on TCS 5 but should be at the last leg of Season 2. (Sundays, 5pm, TCS 5)

[NDS] Luminous Arc

2008-03-05T20:55:00.004+08:00

One of the first other games I bought for NDS and completed......

Luminous Arc

Once infamous for a lack of explaination...."The Game Characters look like this" (insert a Tenchi Muyo pic). An actual published review from ST's Computer Times. Amazing.

Luminous Arc is a 2D, Isometric view Fantasy Strategy game.
Yes much like FF Tactics which is some what a Good example but not really a close one.

For instance, Luminous Arc is.....Entry Level. Everything is pretty to understand.
There's nothing easier to understand than "Move, Hit and Wait". Ok. Maybe the part on Synergy is abit hard to get (since there's little use for that.....even in Late Game) but other things are pretty much sat in after playing through the initial stages. The Turn Base Battle is determined by character order not by faction so the strategy part is mostly decided by consulting the Sequence of Things (which I often ignored).

The game got an odd leveling system which goes by a level per every 100 experiences points gained. Any spill over will be forfeited during level up. Maybe it adds up to the strategy if I didn't point out that randomly casting a support or healing on other characters will earn you a maximum of 30 exp. Irregardless of Level Differences. Thus there's the alternative route of gaining experience by just casting spells, leaving the combat to only characters who CAN'T cheat the system (which is close to....NONE...or just 1 but he is the basher, the one that finish the boss and most opposition).

Control via stylus can be a pain, since there's time you had to change the controls to buttons when certain points are unaccessible (I thought there's a problem with the DS but clearly that's not the point).

In fact I start wondering why I am seriously writing a review for a game that's ....
entry level. Little surprises, very normal and cliche plot line, character designs. The only good part is probably it's a pretty smooth running SRPG which cast a very strong advantage over SRPG titles over at PSP. God I hate it when a game load for 10 seconds over a 2 second sound effect.

Luminous Arc is a forgettable game.....so I guess I know the pain of the writer of that article.

A little update....

2008-03-05T20:23:00.003+08:00

To prove I am not dead?

I always heard "A...where you die to?" and it sounds to me that I am pretty dead to the rest of the passive, waiting for me to look for them World.

Oh well. I had to accept that fate I guess.

Since I am , pretty much, passive and close up myself.

Cloverfield

2008-01-22T18:20:00.000+08:00

I never watched The Blair Witch Project but I know I will like it in a special sense.

Cloverfield is the "In-a-Sense" Blair Witch with Lots of CGI, A Very Much Bigger Budget, More Actors....you get the meaning. Yes, a very overly Over-paid expansion capitalising on a "cheap effect" concept.

Cloverfield isn't about the monster. The monster is half of it. It's about surviving (or reliving) the experience (apparently NOT for the Main characters in the film). Interlude is a Love Story that despite Overcoming of the Odds, still eventually comes to a BAD END.

What's good about it? Watch the trailer.
What's bad about it? It's depends on whether you watched the trailer.

If you never, you are in for an unexpected Bad time if you HATE FPS and Shaky Cameras.

Generally posting so that blogger don't del me (kidding lah.)

2007-12-20T11:17:00.000+08:00

Funny. It's 2 months since my last post. Yes. Really a database job really can turn people off the computer. Other than doing the neccessary readings (Comic and Movie news, Gamefaqs, and just general reading), I hardly want to touch the computer to do typing. Also facing the computer for almost 9 hours and one doesn't need to be facing the computer for another 8 hours (taking the 7 hours of sleep assumption).

So I became a sofa fixture, at least watching 2 hours of TV watching (I paid almost $60 for Cable, at least let me watch an hour of paid stuff) on weekdays. I do watch the news but I am really turning in early if I am not watching Veronica Mars (a grown man watching a Teen Drama? Why not? I watch Cartoons too).

Oh, I also bought a 2nd hand DS (Fat) 2 weeks ago as I got some spare cash and someone got a spare item going at a reasonable price ($90. Actually I can get a 2nd hand Slim at around at a few $10 more at my neighbourhood store) plus a NDS seems to be better than a PSP on my bus trips and he is throwing in Advance War: Dual Strike which is a pretty awesome game. Some people (including the buyer) might regard me as a sucker since someone boasted she got a DS Lite @ $60 with those SuperCard Stuff. Now whoever sold her that is a sucker (but you never know who do the sucking. Ok. That's rude) . I promptly get another game anyway which is Trace Memory and Luminous Arc (which is another Strategy-Rpg. What? I am a slow gamer. If I want to play Musical Games, I might as well play Beatmania on the PS). Oh and someone already mimic me on how I sms while playing. Good Grief.

My social circle growing smaller with another net friend going off the Country. It's only a year but I bid Aoi 'Mana' farewell on my blog here (Yes. It's a bit lack of sincerity but at least you got a mention.....unlike Miss See....who I am not sure where she went.)

Realised that I got a lot of backdating to do...

2007-10-21T11:45:00.000+08:00

So generally I going to fill up whatever little I can remembered in general in the upcoming posts.
Since I got a proper job, I can well settle my time abit more and do something more than just mopping around.

But first off.......don't buy that whole , mobile blogging, GPRS content shit. It's convinent but it's expensive. $40 for 4mb of data transfering is pure overcharging. I switched that service off and make a hoo-ha with M1 simply because I cannot believe that I was charged on a rate that no one will pay if they knew. So they waived half (I play the angry ignorant bumpkin/miser card) but yes it still leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Other stuffs to follow up. Keep the viewing consistant please, whoever read this. It's countdown to 9000 hits. Haha.

A vintage photo of me!

2007-10-16T21:30:00.000+08:00

Yes, I am not really a friggin vainpot but here's a photo of me....Hair Dyed!!!
Lol. I never thought I got a photo of me in that period of time. Haha.

and below that's me next to a girl who was Top 18 (they told me she was among top 10) in Miss Singapore Universe '07(which was in March). This contest is serious to prove they aren't looking for Good Looking Girls only. Lol. Hey hey I not saying she not pretty ok? According to the website, she goes by a name that I cannot pronounce but I did seen it on a title of a Videogame. I think it was on a Melty Blood Title.

Ok ok before someone pulls my ears ask me how she was related to me, she was a temp (like me during '03) in the other department. I never talked to her, not even once (maybe once I guess)in a period of 6 months. Thanks to her however, I managed to see myself in a state which was supposed to remain in my memories.

4 years. It always look like a wasted journey to me. Especially when I return to a spot, I was at previously. 4 years ago, I was 3 years after 20. Now I am 3 years to 30. Unbelievable the kind of effects, those old photographs got on people.

F.I.R new M.V. 月牙湾 (Yue Ya Wan)

2007-10-16T20:38:00.000+08:00

I was mildly disappointed with their previous Album and thinking maybe they lost the touch that put them up high in their debut album. Glad they got it back in this one.
(And for REAL, I didn't even to listen to Real's Solo Album. And yes. I didn't realised that they had a new album until last week.)

and let's put up a personal favorite at the same time... Our Love (我們的愛 Wo Men De Ai)

and yes that Kwai Lun-mei is the Girl in the MV. A sequel of some kind in the new song 需要你的愛 (Need your Love)?

Trailer: Superbad

2007-09-24T17:41:00.000+08:00

Superbad Website
Clips, Photo, Games and Pictures of Dicks (LotSA. Just look for the Zipper).

Superbad makes me think why I wasn't a Sex Crazy Teen yesteryears before.

Grindhouse: Planet Terror

2007-09-24T17:11:00.000+08:00

Yes, Singapore finally have the Original Double bill Grindhouse (Limited Screens however) but who is going to pay for something that is watered down when you can catch both on it's own (DVD for Deathproof and Planet Terror on the big screen).

I am not too sure I will since Deathproof on it's own is kind of hmmm....but a watered down Deathproof might bring it to speed for those who aren't Boredproof.

Anyway Planet Terror is surprisingly good for it's B grade glory. QT must have liked Planet Terror (they probably drew lots for what to do on their Grindhouse project....guess who won???) so much he had to be in it himself (as a consolation for not directing it himself???).

Storyline was pretty simple. Some blackmarket experimental Biochemical weapon was set upon a small town in Texas changing the affected into aggressive killer psychopaths. Those who remained normal band themselves to fight their way out.

It was very entertaining. Sad to say it's R21 so if you aren't watching it, you wouldn't be watching it (the legal way).

Among the FAKE trailers in Grindhouse, Machete is set to be a real feature film.
Looking forward to that.

New phone

2007-09-11T15:34:00.000+08:00

And just trying some new functions!

Follow Up to Guess! Controvesy

2007-09-08T19:03:00.001+08:00

I feel that the Suzumiya joke was still ok althought they ought to have NOT do it.
The risk is too much having that Anime fans are all IT saavy and very vocal.

The statement by 祐祐 of 黑澀會美眉

"他不該活在這個世界上吧"
MIGHT COST HER in her placing in 黑澀會美眉, a group that eliminates members seasonally in their Variety Show.

To say that another human being shouldn't Exist in the World just based on their looks. That's abit over the top for that guy.

Guess!!! 台灣御宅男special

2007-09-08T14:59:00.000+08:00

One of Guess!!! 's staple program is "Ren bu Ke Mau Xiang". Claim to fame bevy of pretty non-celebs coming in for a voting challenge of the day's topic. There are occasional breaks, one of them is the 台灣御宅男 (Taiwanese Hikikomori or Hermit). This is not their first time having such a topic with a previous version and a female edition in '06.

The VCR portion to introduce the topic is correct in content.
The rest of what Jacky had introduced are questionable and not necessary correct.
(Always take what Jacky Wu said in his show with a pinch of salt).
However I do stress that they didn't put a bottom of the barrel type and likely those guys that auditioned probably exaggerated themselves (so to make their makeover looked extreme).

The first contestant was your usual Otaku who gamingly partake in "play acting". How do you know who is a fan or understood what happen???When the guy look away. Observe Wu Zun when Jacky (who claims to Gashbell....does he even know what that is???) challenge Contestant 1 who respond with Ninjitsu (WTH!LOL).

Contestant 1 is a fervent Naruto fan. Who sang Naruto songs. Lol. A japanese student remarked he sang pretty good. I wouldn't really say he is a total recluse, just a regular fan. Ok getting a bolster is quite Mid-Level.

No.2 isn't crazy. He just like to ACT. He is spontenous enough.
Could be Mid-level in anime enough althought he has normal interest (Wu Shu).
He writes (articles and novel) and sought for Literature/Art material.

No.3 is suppose to represent a Higher Hierachy fan.
He try to explain MOE and preference of 2D girls.
A previous discussion of why he dislike Adult Materials probably inspired them to say that Light Novel adverted his sexual desires from Adult stuffs as they had "adult/hentai situations". Despite having a proper defination on the screen, fans complaint about it when Jacky Wu improvise on the Suzumiya Haruhi line of Light novel's expense. Kadokawa Taiwan isn't too happy with the treatment of their product on National TV and made a statement. an official statement on their website

No. 4 is actually a regular guy. A collector and game player.
Sure he travel to meet people for tips and tricks but it's actually more of being a social gamer. Oh well, they do need a slightly special one from the line up.

No. 5 is well....we can't tell if he is austic or just anti-social.
He do get nervious. Very nervious but he do dare to declare his love for a person he saw on the bus everyday on National TV.

LOL to the stylists when given the task to make over them. Personally I feel that no.4 need minimum makeover.

Makeover session and voting.
I took offense to what a particular member of the girl group that is judging them had to say on their pre-makeover look. It's abit too much to say that someone ought to exist because of how they look. Didn't she know she might have alot of fans that look worse than that???

Actually, portrayal of people are always abit off on the media, especially on variety show, where everything is meant to entertain, take it with a pinch of salt.

A problem of Mentality?

2007-09-06T17:07:00.000+08:00

Let's drop the subject of ODEX aside for the moment.

Let's talk about Anime Downloaders.

A quick glance of feedback reveals that some people fail to acknowledge the fact that they are being targeted for doing something that is equivalent to stealing (Yes people, pinching is a form of stealing).

If you are thinking I am some H.I.P advocate who abide every rules, I am not. Althought I do believe there should be a certain rules of engagement regarding downloading:

1) You are a Thief. You steal with Stealth.
2) You are not a Terrorist. You don't preach a Higher ORDER over with what You are doing. You don't make a big hoo-ha neither should You be PROUD for what You did.
3) Take what you want and leave the rest. There's no point being caught, your hand in the cookie jar for what you cannot finish.
4) If you really like what you saw, pay for the real thing when you see it on the shelf.
5) There is something wrong with you if you pay for a merchandise many times more than the anime itself when you didn't pay for the anime. And you claim you are a fan.
6) If you didn't like what you saw, you didn't want to buy it then don't download the whole series.

There should be more but the main point is that everyone has to play a part in recognising the harm you will be returning back to the loop. I can see the main stayers, people who wishes the well-being of the circuit, refrain from advocating downloading like it's a God Given Right.
Best part, they claim they made the anime famous. Sad to the say, the credit should go to the fansubbers. Not the downloaders. Serious fans should made the series a commercial success.

Whenever an anime is licence in US, the fansubbers will drop the series. The reaction from Singaporean fans are akin to a crybaby who is being force to return a toy they took from someone else. It was pretty amusing to see the States people to be respecting the gesture.

So, while we Singaporeans are very much well versed in the internet, are we ready to take upon some responsibility by honouring intellectual property? That we are ready to be responsible to any action taken for our errors? That recent happenings are a result of what we did boomerang back to us?

Sing Sang

2007-09-04T17:41:00.000+08:00

Those who have STOPPED downloading after the date of Sep 03 will not get any letters from us.

Oh. Assurance.
But....his idea of a warning shot is bizarre.
He was obviously never been threaten or given a dateline.

The reason why the heat escalated so fast was that their previous warning shot failed to sound.
No one can confirm it. No one spread the news and No one DECLARED IT openly.

Yes. The handling of the warning shot is very important.
You need the people to stop, you got to tell them to stop in a CLEAR and AUDIBLE manner.
You will need to go through all medium possible and give them ample time to react.

Sing made his declaration on 03 Sep 1.07pm.
On the ODEX forum
Singaporeans who persisted has......only 11 hours to react?

11 hours to spread the news to everyone. Wow.

24?

LOL.

p.s. d4thday took 30hrs to even give everyone a heads up. So what do you think? Will it be possible that anyone with determination to stop be hearing the news on time??? LOL.

It's not like BFC don't read newspaper

2007-09-04T16:53:00.000+08:00

Odex blamed BFC for "their incorrect translation".

BFC hits back.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/209169.asp

If this doesn't show that Odex path it's way with spin, I don't know what this is.

A game of lies continues....

2007-09-03T20:57:00.000+08:00

Previously on Anime Civil War of Infinite Aggression....

Odex had the door slam on their face with their case thrown for lack of supporting evidence and suspiciously lacking the "rights to act".

Now.....

Odex get their expert witness from BayTSP and

Various Japanese Broadcasters and Anime Studio are coming to lend support....it was expected but I didn't realise the extend of their dedication....oh well, if the Bomber had fail to drop the payload and it's up to the Blazing Guns of Yamato to crack the walls down.

A press conference, of course, surfaced and dear old Stephen, motor his mouth away with more "True but not in entirely" answer to one of their better mishaps.

Errors and mistakes in Subtitles.
When we say Errors and mistakes, what do we think of?
Negligence? Complencent? The other Dirty Dozen?
In aircraft work, we got These Twelve Human Factors that will affect Quality.
You got Twelve possible things to say out and not be ashamed of since To Err is Human (To Forgive Divine....a quotable by Alexander Pope, Great Poet of the 18th Century....althought I can say that Forgiveness is hardly available in some people's heart...especially for ODEX. ESPECIALLY FOR ODEX) but you choose the Number 1 rule in a Press Conference.

Deny. Blame. Distract.

Victim of the Blame Game?
BFC. The Board of Film Censorship.

Way to go.
The BFC involvement only covers the parts which are altered by ODEX to suit BFC standards (in which I deduced is Kiasu, Go for ONE PASS without much supporting documentation). BFC does not check for your spelling, grammar and sentence structure (just like how Blogspot doesn't check my spelling, grammar and sentence structure) nor are they paid to do so.

Before we end, let's hear something from TV Tokyo Coporation's representative, Yukio Kawasaki

".....best to solve the problem, is through our licensees in each country....because licensees can take action very quickly. In this case, Odex is a very important partner to us."

and here is how I take it

"Listen!!!The Great Asian Ambition commitee has decide to employ licensees as our Kempeitai.
Kempeitai are the best there!!!And what they do, aren't nice!!! HEAR!!!"

The Uncompulsory, unnecessary entry by the fence-sitter

2007-08-27T17:16:00.000+08:00

Downloaders are primarily been playing poker with Odex as it appears.

And after so many players folded and pay up did we realised that Odex had always been calling bluff. Odex wasn't holding a winning hand at all.

If you didn't heard it yet, District Judge Earnest Lau threw the case out for Odex for the Pacnet hearing. Of course it wasn't about the same silly thing about compassion or such or that Anime Downloading is LEGAL (it's still NOT.) but rather Odex is not entitled to take the action against the users of PacNet.

It is a matter of insufficient evidence to justify Odex's action and the questionable aspect of Odex's behaviour.

It does not equate to that Legal Action will not be taken against downloaders.

The fandom/downloaders suddenly turned yaya 881 (Papaya!!LOL) all the sudden.
Sure this incident might take Odex out of the play but end of the day we got to realise that people should be responsible for themselves. They got to start accepting responsibility of their own actions. The download links are there but it is YOU who activate the downloading. People who don't buy your stuff is not because they are cheapskates but because you aren't competitive enough. The only reason why things got this far, is because people do not accept their wrong doings and choose to play the blame game.

Sure fansub spread the fandom but when good things are abused, we seldom get any happy endings.

Watched: Bourne Ultimatium

2007-08-25T16:39:00.000+08:00

Honestly in a year full of T(h)rees, everyone might get started of swinging from one t(h)ree to another.

Still this t(h)ree is worth the effort.

I didn't start with the first Bourne movie, despite watching a bit of it, here and there on TV and VCD but yes, I am watching Bourne for the first time.

This movie never stays idle, thanks to an intense plot and a shaky camera (LOL. Some idiot complain that he d/l the movie and the pirate seems to be shooting with a shaky hand. He ought to vomit since he ate garbage. LOL). All these without being too incredible and strictly down to earth effects.

This should be the best t(h)ree offered by Hollywood. Sure, this movie deviates from the original novel by alot but people who read the books.......aren't children. LOL.

Watched: Brave Story

2007-08-25T14:55:00.000+08:00

Young Children should be living in sheltered and blissful life, worrying about nothing around them, except play and school. That's the basic ideal scenario for every children to have and every adult to give.

That is the ideal scenario. Then again, is it always that way?

There's always some magical fantasy about being a child growing into this chaotic world of ours and very often it's not easy to be one so vulnerable to make an impact to change one's destiny.

Brave Story is one of the many that a young one has to venture into Strange Worlds to prepare oneself for adulthood or to change the fate of worlds. The Neverending Story, Chronicles of Nardia, Pan's Labyrinth, Jim Henson's Labyrinth, Mirrormask and to a certain extent, The Harry Potter Series of Books are a few good examples of that in the Western World. For the anime side, we been offered other examples of "a familiar person in a strange world" such as Curious Play (Fushigi Yugi), Inuyasha, Chronicles of Twelve Kingdoms and Strange Dawn.

Gonzo choose this to be their 2nd feature film and it's excellent choice, being a newcomer into the feature film business. It's hard to break into that market with the same approach they did with the TV/DVD market seeing the previous Origin: Spirits of the Past
somehow sink under the radar of every movie go-er and even anime fans.

Brave Story is a story that is shouldn't be strange to everyone.

Wataru (Somebody ought to call the lawyers? Key Wataru in wiki-search and you will see), a 10 year old boy whose family is breaking up with his father moving away and his mother in the hospital (Mother in Torment/Illness?See Mirrormask and Pan's Labyrinth). A previous encounter with a new transfer student (Transfer Student? Lol. As long as you had school you get these. See Suzumiya Haruhi no Yutsuu for a vague explaination) led Wataru to a strange gate that promise "to change destiny". Desperate to hang onto his life before it went South, Wataru took the courage to go beyond the gate and entered the world of Vision.

Vision is a RPG-like world governed by magic and deities. Travelers from another world are to collect five gemstones to get a wish granted by the Goddess of Fortune (see Dragonball). Wataru, being pretty much lacking in all aspect, turns out to be on the last step of a short ladder. Thankfully, Wataru, despite his shortcomings, overcome overwhelming odds to put himself in the right directions with some help from good friends and a hidden ally. Wataru's good virtue finally come to a test when he met up with his friend/the transfer student, Mitsuru, who is driven by his own personal tragedy and do whatever necessary to get the gems (see....Digimon Season 2. In a sense it quite mirrors that way).

Brave Story uses the 2 boys to present the age old argument of "The End will justified the Means". The winner of course is pretty age old predictable as well (See all Shonen anime?).

As a result, Brave Story is pretty much a repackaged deal with having a Light novel (Light novel are pretty easy to read and to a certain extend, write and formulate) but a unique presentation irregardless. It will be irresponsible to say that the plot of the movie is LOUSY. It's a simple story that is meant to be pleasant without being candy-flossed. Something that is actually difficult to juggle with. Good things need not be complex or shoot at the balls Original.

An amusing fact is that it went under the radar that Takako Matsu is the voice of Wataru. An even more amusing fact is that we are getting about the same deal with Taiwan, getting a screening so late despite having the movie being sold on digital formats last year.

Brave Story did brought Gonzo somewhere I guess since their latest movie feature is about Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi which seems pretty rated EA (Ok for Everyone).

Ok, Brave Story is still a bit gritty just like Harry Potter, having a young girl crying over a scene late at the film (which Order Of The Phoneix might have if they didn't tone down on Sirius's Death). So please, dear parents, do go through the movie before you bring your children. Otherwise don't complain if your children are having nightmares.

What cheese are you???

2007-08-18T14:02:00.000+08:00

Cheese Test: What type of cheese are you?

Shocker henchman

2007-08-16T19:58:00.000+08:00

Urgh.....what the hell...I was sleeping....

What???And I need a Job...zzzzz........ah....

What???Stop bothering me!!! You want a promotion??? You see that guy over there??? Get his wallet. Then we talk about promotion.

FIN

Hehehe. I bought him for a $1 only @ That Taka Toyfair. Non-posable but.....$1!!!
Lol. Since pretty much the great bargains are non-posable so....ya....call me cheap.
BTW I notice Taka no longer selling sculpts and Japanese anime figures after that.

Ship of Fools

2007-08-15T20:13:00.000+08:00

With Odex awarding letters for (or like Stephen Sing, now INFAMOUSLY put it on the Web..."double-6-ed") every anime downloaders, it's quite true that every anime lover of Singapore on the internet with a blog will eventually make their stand. (Kind of like how in last Great-Marvel-Event, Civil War, taking sides.)

Yes true believers, we are now at Crisis or Countdown to Crisis of Multiple Anime Downloaders.
Surely you don't think it's the END?
No!
It's the Begining of the END of FREE LOADERS!!!
Excelsior!!!

I do wondered if I am getting the straw with the short end. Everyone does. Live in fear for past action done.

Then again I had cut down since last January so.......

Anyway my side of the Crisis/War is Fence Sitter. In the middle. People always tell me, stand in the middle, get knock down by both sides of the traffic. Quite true but this isn't REAL LIFE. Yes. It seems Distant to me.

I mean whats the point of hurling abuses at Forces of Change???
Especially when they have LAW ON THEIR SIDE( Bejesus to the TNP journalist who wrote this line. LOL).

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU???

Lord have mercy on our souls, we are a small group of consumers (or rather non-consumers) getting a kick of something free. If Odex had earlier went on a propanganda, running a campainge to educate the situation, give enough "weather forecast", I am sure the hostility will be cut down by at least a good 20%-30% because we are not a bunch of brutes. By help, it's detering the concerned from committing the offence and not, collecting settlement fees and say

WE WANT TO HELP YOU???

So is it productive hurling abuses at the fall guy???
Odex is the fall guy.

To show the Americans that Japanese Businessmen means business, Odex will be doing the dirty work and taking fall for them. Business benefits are inevitable, obvious and who knows how much "kopi lui" benefit comes about. At worse, Odex can fold and reemerge with another name (note the "Pte Ltd") just to hawk their wares. At best, Odex will emerge a super power and giving them an edge over competitors (Fat hope???!)

I won't side with the overly "PASSIONATED" fans.
Bunch of ChickenShitZ who post empty threats and BIG WORDS.
Best part???
Stephen Sing (now TNP Headline Story for 15/09/2007. Yes your parents and family and friends will be so proud of you) took the harmless threats as SERIOUS and made police report (over lolz stuff ESP The WANTED POSTER. I think he took offence over the $9000 reward. Too little I guess???).

Singaporean Netizens made fun of MP's daughter, she never cry and call police....
and Stephen Sing thought he was....more Important?
Oh come on. That's Internet Justice served with a pinch of salt.

The media???
A lot of UnTruth (or misquote. Depending on where you standing) is being made and observed by many. Either Odex is lying or providing statistics with poor explaination. I publish any of my "findings" unless there's a demand.

Want to be a good fan???
Stop wasting time blasting Odex.
Spent more time watching existing anime.
Buy the original.
If you need a quick fix on the latest, watch via streaming since they aren't in focus at the moment. Don't pay heed to hearsay. They are catching downloaders and not users of an internet service.

To sum up on this entry, I will to draw attention these article which is 3 parts.
http://comipress.com/article/2006/07/20/489
http://comipress.com/article/2006/07/27/523
http://comipress.com/article/2007/01/16/1334

Played: GrimGrimoire

2007-08-15T15:05:00.000+08:00

Another top notch game from Vanillaware. Sure there's pretty much great RTS on the console but most of them are just port cousins from PC. Instead of the usual isometric view, we have the traditional 2D view that Vanillaware is famous for these days (see Odin Sphere).

Likewise with Odin Sphere, the interaction of the game is through books except it's a bookshelf and individual chapters are books. Upon completion of story mode, you can access to another row of books, bonus stages of added fun to make up for the lack of diversity in appearane and gameplay of the story mode.

Lillet Blan is the latest student to the Tower of Silver Star (think Hogwarts). The Tower of Silver Star is not without woes and danger as Lillet Blan finds out. Eventually something really bad happens and Lillet (like Harry) meet the Main Event Villian, the Archmage Calvaros (think Lord Noseless). When Lillet is about to meet her maker, she was mysteriously returned to five days earlier, the day which she just arrived. Thus began her journey of running in circles, resolving the problems of Silver Star and eventually defeating the Archmage. Kind of like how the game stages of Odin Sphere is set, much to my amusement.

Insteads of playing via races/factions, GrimGrimoire employs a Magic System scheme. You can pick and mix what you learned in your Grimoire to fend of oppositions. Power balance is quite fair, so it's a matter of preference on how to play that game (althought certain things are quite clear....Dragons are bitching....)

Sure, playing without mouse is pretty hectic but luckily the controls are pretty easy to learn and there's a pause when you are making selections in runes so you are chill out abit to make the right decisions (making it a fact that this wouldn't be a multiplayer game).

http://www.nisamerica.com/games/grimgrimoire/

Watched: Rush Hour 3

2007-08-14T17:58:00.000+08:00

Why does the 3rd movie always taste so Flat???
Is it because they raised the standard so high on the 2nd???

Likewise the other "The 3rd" summer movies of this year, Rush Hour 3 stays faithful to recipe but lack of the spices to "up" the experience. No surprises. No new thrills.

Basically the movie is going through a checklist to be done.

Other than that, if you choose to get a ride out of a movie, Rush Hour 3 is good entertainment, just don't expect so much.

Watched: Secret

2007-08-13T17:08:00.000+08:00

Jay/Ye Xiang Lun is the new transfer student to the school.
Hearing an unknown and beautiful melody, Jay walked into the old piano room and met Rain/Lu Xiaoyu. Attracted by Rain's strange and mysterious behaviour, Jay went actively in pursue of Rain. Little had, he any knowledge of what he is going into....

Being a veteran of MV making, Jay had little problem of shooting the movie beautifully. Sure he is still the same old Jay, althought he was smart to not open up his own weaknesses of limited emotions so everything is falling on the story and Kwai Lunmei and the other actors to make the experience of watching Secret a better one.

There's enough plot holes in Secret but basically it's easier to understand if you try not to go too deep. Really. I just don't understand why people say they don't understand the ending.

http://www.sonypictures.com.tw/movie/secret/

Watched: Knocked Up

2007-08-09T18:01:00.000+08:00

Knocked Up might not be a suitable date movie.

Since it's likely to inspire topics that couples to discuss or argue about.

It's a simple, (cautionary?) tale of going through one too many drinks and doing it in the heat of passion.

A one night stand later, Alison woke up, not totally impressed with what she picked up.
Ben Stone isn't exactly a catch.
In fact he is a slacker with absolutely no objective in life.
Where as for Alison, she is moving forward on her career.

Fast forward 8 weeks, Alison realised she's pregnant.
Ben is willing to shoulder his part of the responsibility.
Or is he?

Couple with interesting support cast, Knocked Up is a Comedy about Life. Or dealing with Life in the making.

40 years old Virgin ends with sex
Knocked Up ends with birth
So I probably guess Judd Apatow would be completing the experience???

http://www.knockedupmovie.com/

Watched: Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoneix

2007-08-07T15:29:00.000+08:00

Ah Harry Potter. Time of the year, ain't it lad???

Once again back to the magical world and the school of Hogwarts but...... the "magic", apparently isn't there. Yes. You don't feel the awe and wonder when you start out with. The sets are nice but they speak to you. The effects are good but you no longer got a sense of wonder. What's going on?

In terms of Main storyline, this solve as a bridge to all the previous movies to the upcoming 2. This open the doors to the last arc, a begining to what is to be the end. In which they succeed, this movie is both easy to understand, less "emotionally heavy" (compare to the previous movie). Drawback is they fail to script it tight, plot devices that intrigues becomes just a flower in the path and the most important little details slipped out without playing on too well. The introduction of many new characters and their relationship to existing characters wasn't play on so well unlike the previous movies. They did shorten the movie, which is thankful since the movie will be too draggy. Oh yes, it's the only movie that didn't had any quidditch matches which is a pity because a quicker change in pace can jolt the audience before they go solemn again.

Oh. The kiss???
It WOULD HAVE BEEN important had not they chuck Cho aside right after the kiss.
The failure to play on Harry's reaction to Cho's "betrayal" lost the meaning of the kiss.
This made it redundant as I feel the children's reaction to the "kissing" as to seeing their infant sibling vomit on them.
I am not bluffing.
The children behind me were making sounds of disgust.

Watch this if you had watch all the other movies. This is one best enjoyed before (or with) The Half-blood Prince. Not entirely an amazing experience of it's own.

Harry say that they have what Voldemort didn't.
I think he was refering to either the hair or the nose.

Oh and remember,

God is the potter, not Harry

so says the signboard at the church opposite The Cathay. LOL.

Fanboy History....Seduction of the Innocent: Ep.2 Anime

2007-08-04T15:42:00.000+08:00

I decided to create an anime subset because it's easier to write and to read.

I do recall watching Gatchaman (before G-Force comes about) and Macross, Mospeda, Southern Cross (before Robotech) during lower primary and King Arthur and The Knights of The Round Table in my kindergarten days.

I believe I watched Gold Lighthan entirely because I was P4 (or it could be P6) then and they shown it around 6pm. There's also Gordon the Warrior but I found it to be quite boring despite the rather interesting Robot combination.

There's Godmars too and I found it disappointing because I catch bits and end of it because school. I also watch odds and bits of Captain Harlock, the Force Five Stuff (Gaiking, Getter Robo G, Spaceketeers, Danguard Ace and Grendaizer) and of course Voltron(Lions and Vehicles). The best was, of course in my Primary School days, the Japanese Transformers which I followed almost every episode for Masterforce and latter half of V for Victory.

Subsequently I bought a HK anime magazine A-Club #107 and the interest grew (which led to manga, the first purchase of Dragonball). I am probably in p5 then.

Meanwhile, TV3 is no longer available after we moved (but prior to that, they aren't showing anything new) to Tampines at '93.

TCS8 then start showing anime at midnight/late night. We tried to tape shows on the VCR but the VCR consistantly broke down on and off. It started with a bloody good anime (unlike the pussy stuff they are showing on Arts Central right now), a movie that got spliced and shown over days. It's called the Blade of Kamui. A title/genre that pussy OX will never bring in.
In the morning run, there's Wataru, Borgman and Yoriden Samurai Troopers. Night belt comes with, later on, a rather surprise choice, Record of Lodess which was reknown back in the days as one of the Few Great OVA in Japan. Ch8 is not trying to push any further but at least they commit to show some reasonable stuff like Saber Marionette, Tenchi Muyo TV, Orange Road and Maison Ikkoku.

First Contact: MSG 0083

but I didn't watch any anime proper in japanese dialogue until Gundam 0083 in 1995. It's considered a full contact as we watch it via video tape and it was chinese subbed with Japanese Dialogue.

It's also the first anime which I bought my first OST (and first CD).

The other anime which I watch via videotape are the Dragonball Z movies in Cantonese Dialogue.

First Purchase:

Martian Successor Nadesico

Although considering collective stash, my brother bought MSG: Char's Counterattack before that but this should be the first series ever bought (VCD). It was bought via piece by piece not as a boxset and we watch via PC as we didn't get a vcd player until early '98. That's in '97.

Over time, we slowly build up a collection which apparently we neglected to count....

then we discovered fansub and filesharing. Which is around early '03.
Due to the fact that internet speed was limited, we actually meet up and swop disc to hasten the progress. It's pretty much fun, meeting people and taking something back to enjoy. Oh well.

Now with the progress of internet speed and P2P, we actually hit a new problem.
Raws can be put up almost as fast as the show finished broadcast and go as far as Alaska or anywhere else that has access to the net. With a possibility that, millions of people will be spoiling via their blog posting (with images) and billions of people discussing the episode within a day of broadcast. All done without the broadcaster, the programme producer, the anime house and the sponsors earning a cent or a single rating. While we enjoy our spoils, we could be damning the producers to hell as they struggled to keep the project afloat. A lot of people are thinking, maybe the anime studios are earning alot from licenses. However, how sure are we???

With the Ox in the China Shop (with the likelihood that the OX will break everything), we are not too sure what everything will turn up. There's a strong voice of protest again, after the newspaper reported that a 9 year old was awarded.

I can do without downloading anime. Especially when I saw the OX, great being of inferior products and tasteless actions, smashing their way and trying to bring everyone to Justice.
Justice???
Or Vengance???
Or a road to Business Monopoly???

I don't know but I hope I struck Lottery fast since I know I might come up on that nominal roll.

Hmmm....Fanboy history...Seduction of the innocent???Episode 1: In the Begining

2007-08-03T17:57:00.000+08:00

I think relatively everyone got their history of how & how or so & so.

Let's do the First Contact with......

Manga

Doraemon!!!Nuff said. I don't recall buying any of his books. Just via 1st contact. Reading at barbershop, saloon and cousin's place.

I do remembered my mother bought me coloring books of Dr Slump and Doraemon however.

My first manga that I actually came up money with is Dragonball volume 2 back around primary 5 (or even 4) althought I first read it under a pirated name "Xiao hou wang". Of course back those days, everyone is buying pirated "Tong Li" brand so all the other weird named versions just slowly dies off. I don't remember getting Vol. 1 until I got Vol. 5 or Vol. 6.

My other manga purchases, when I am in Primary School that comes later on, is probably in the following sequence:

- City Hunter

I only bought 1 volume (vol.4) . Which was a seriously censored reproduced version by a Singapore/M'sia press. I like the art but the various censorship didn't do a good job in story telling. My brother bought a HK edition of 1 & 2. I think it's pretty gritty and grim and I like it quite a bit but owing to gigantic gap in between, we didn't continue until another bootleg press pick it up until Latter of my secondary school days. It's based on the Taiwan version so it's Ryo rather than Mumble (Mon Bo).

- Kujaku-Oh

This is the first book that I bought that I got no idea how the storyline goes and bought at book 1. I love anthologies stuff and supernatural back then. It's a creepy book and the mood setting is fantastic. However like City Hunter, the interest is killed via the lack of availability and I drop the book at 2 (despite the fact that the Yuan Biao Peacock Prince movies are being shown at that time). I never carry on, only reading via rental read (during NS days) because the art wasn't fantastic (in my opinion).

- Ranma 1/2

It has a unique storyline. Kung fu with comedy. I bought 4 volumes of it but I probably discontinued after PSLE. It's borderline cheesecake for the 1st few volumes but I seen the latter stories on Comic Weekly so it didn't really turn me off. However, in secondary school days, I somehow didn't try to buy much manga except for periodicals thus I dropped the book. I never finish reading it completely but I did read whatever that's on Comic Weekly until the last issue of Ranma 1/2.

- Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken

Everyone loves adventure. Plus they marketed it with a subtitle as "Xin Qi Long Zhu" (which means "New Seven Dragonballs"). It's a great adventure story. A good shonen manga with good character designs. Too bad, we opt to drop this manga around vol.8 because of missing volumes. I tried to restart in '97 when someone gave me the final volume but it's too bad because CY stop printing some of the numbers in between.

- Comic Periodicals

My first manga periodical should be the one by Chuang Yi (I think it was City Comics. You can find alot of them at Bras Besah. LOL) back in their bootlegging days. So who say someone with a past, can't turn a good leaf??? Their content is pretty plain. Just comics. Dragonball is of course their strong point.

However after a good 5 or 6 issues, I switched to Comic Weekly (a Malaysian publication which might be pirating or with permission from a HK publication which is obviously breaks some laws but who cares about that those days???) as their Dragonball is faster than CY's by a good 2 to 3 chapters (in the begining). Their format originally was almost Newspaper Size, close to how gossip/showbiz magazines are like. They didn't went down to magazine size until they decide to go weekly (it was fortnightly or once every 3 week) which is around 4 or 5 issues later.
They got a mixture of anime and game news as well as shojo manga occasionally. Owing that they are M'sia published, the censorship was ridiculous and ridiculously done (but nothing beats the S'pore Bootleg Cityhunter). I continue to buy Comic Weekly after they stop their Singapore counterpart (issues/distribution) and but availability is a bitch. I probably stopped during O'levels period because I cannot go to Bedok to them pick up.

I threw all of them out and sold the last of them to Karang Guni last month. It was a mixed feeling but I was relief because I finally gotten some space back.

By the Way, Comic Weekly is still ongoing. Lol. I still wonder if they got license to print.

Oh ya start tune for the Secondary School Days version.....which was kind of hazy to me......

Fanboy THINKTANK

2007-08-02T16:22:00.000+08:00

dkiwi did an inspiring post on his blog (Hey! I wouldn't be posting his link here!!! Haha!!! Go google!!! No I am not scared of the social backlash. Just the post was meek on his blog compared to his post captured on the sgcafe forum. Read it in Original Flavour via other people's quoting before he EDIT).

Anyway, he was going fascist in a way, as to defend his love while expressing that there are people of SUBSTANCE (as pertaining to going to school, Cream of Crop of the University) that are watching.

Of course we usually use examples like that just to get people from smacking a LOSER label on yourself.

But the big winner is from this line

(quoting dkiwi)
Well, this proves the smart, mature ones appreciate anime, and the dumb, narrow-minded ones are stuck to their dramas and movies.

which I find, in especially, amusing. It's fascist. Probably more fascist than when Mr. KKP slapped his Cosfuck label on almost everyone on his Cosfuck Awareness Drive Days.

All the sudden I realised this guy probably is a cross between a Parent who discover that D&D chess pieces that SCREAMS when thrown in Fire and a Pothead.

Here's more his weird rambling. Yes. Maybe the sky is really falling but we had to be GREEN. We rather live with the sky falling than being drowned like rats as envisioned by the Greatest Discover and Inventor of LAST CENTURY, Mr Al Gore. (Buy An Inconvenient Truth today!!!Now on DVD!!!)

actually an industry expert in another forum has already confirmed at least manga readers (which branch into consumers of anime, light novels and visual novels) are smarter than the average consumer. Yes, its the chuangyi manga forum.This stems from how the average consumer things that anime and manga is "just cartoons and comic books" and shuns them, while those with higher IQ are able to appreciate them to a deeper degree and start commenting on them. Would any of your normal friends pick up Potemayo? I don't think so. Yet alot of anime bloggers have commented on it positively. And Potemayo is Seinen as well, which means it targets the 18-30 male crowd.Like I have already stated, its the truth. It isn't like I didn't grow up reading these really thick novels from the likes of Jeffery Archer and Isaac Asimov. I watched more than my far share of dramas and movies. But why do I prefer light novels and manga to normal novels? 'Coz ultimately, they are a superior form of entertainment and not mindless American drivel that our society is consuming, causing their brains to degenerate. The propoganda from the government isn't helping either.Please don't let societal pressure convince you otherwise. Its the truth. Light Novels like Suzumiya Haruhi are definitely much harder to write than a draggy novel, which allows much more room for character development. Unskilled and boring. Light novels need to move quickly, and can be very complex as well such as Suzumiya Haruhi. My take on the religious and scientific expect of Suzumiya Haruhi (I didn't import this over as I felt it was abit offensive):

oh shit. It seems I am attacking on his state of mind delusion more than anything.
But who can buy that without being mistake that someone is Sniffing Glue???
Light Novels are harder to write and allow more room for character development???

I really wonder what kind of garbage he had been reading since he discover how to read, before he made a switch to Japanese Light Novels.

Reading Potemayo proves nothing. Really. In fact I never heard of it, possibly because it's over ecchi, or playing heavily on the MOE card.

It's like, I read Sandman and really, that encounter didn't make me more a Shakespeare fan, nor a Goth (fanbase of Sandman covers a prominent among of Goth). I got zero piercings or tattoos.
Sandman is just a good piece of literature/art that make us goes introspective on ourselves. I can't say I got smarter in anyway BUT I do gain something in the end. I wonder if I threw a bundle of Sandman to this dKiwi.....

anyway back to being the fascist....

You're correct there, but I'm really not an escapist. I'm not so rigid as to shun all movies and dramas. I got my circle of friends and we go out for movies quite often. SG is caught in the movie trap seriously... that's the main social gathering.I don't flame Transformers openly in front of my friends although I think it SUCKS DICK.I'm not escaping reality here, more embracing it. Most movies (and sickening dramas) I watch disappoint me tremendously, and I wonder why everyone thinks they are good. Are they the ones escaping reality or me I wonder, I wonder.In fact the excuse that most people give me for catching local dramas is because they got "nothing better to do". They can sense it sucks, but yet they don't wanna watch better stuff.

Ok. He's hell of deluded. I wonder if it's being in NS or Singaporean or a Haruhist Extremist or what. Or he got a major tendency to disagree with the Mass (God Knows). The Transformers isn't the best movie of the Year (not Yet) but it certain doesn't Sucks Dick (how a movie sucks dick???I only know got movies that got plenty of dick sucking but no movie can actually does that act....I am sure any movie with that function will SELL. Everyone is tired of self helping.)

If anime had made me anything, it made me a pussy.
It made me to think that there's two side of a coin.
That trying to be too hard from being something you dislike might just make you ultimately the worse person you want to be.
Trying to make everyone look your way, only make everyone turn the other way.
That every action begets a reaction.
That fascism, racism is never the right path.

I just wonder how anyone who watch anime can end up being that way. Strange indeed.

Exclusives!!!

2007-08-02T15:34:00.000+08:00

I just pick up my camera and see if I got anything I did out of boredom.

And yes I did.

I think they are taken probably when Christopher was released from prison and I just felt I need to ape him. Yes. I just love to horse around when I am too free and there's batteries left in the camera.

"No Comments."

(Mimicking Mr. Lee in one of the press shots, freshly out and ready to grab a cab)

"Cut his throat."

(Althought I intended that, it seems to be endorsing a product so alternative)

"How's The Transformers Movie???"

Camera shy. Just camera shy.

Read: Anansi Boys

2007-08-02T14:31:00.000+08:00

To my surprise, I didn't encounter Neil Gaiman on the graphic novel, Sandman, first.
I actually read a novel called Good Omens (written with Terry Pratchett) back in '95.
It's a humorous and fun novel and I enjoyed it greatly.

I bought Anansi Boys around June of '06 and never start reading it until July of '07.
I think it's one of those bad habits we called, buy in sales period and use later.
Normally certain things will be, like losing value over time, and stocking up is pretty much a good waste of money as as well as space.
This nature however aren't applied to books (unless it's like the overhyped last volume of HariKoptar which the price of anticipation to find out what happen, outweights the value of enjoyment of the book itself).

Anansi Boys tells about a British everyman with an extraordinary father who had an acute sense of humour.
After his father passed away, Charlie Nancy was told Nancy Senior is Anansi.
Anansi, the Spider/God who owns all the stories.
Anansi, a trickster God.
He was also told of a Brother, one of whom he never met or recollected as of having.
A brother who had the gifts of his father's magic.
In a moment of probable folliness, Charlie summoned his brother.
Then his world starts to fall out of place, in more ways he expected.

Anansi Boy is humorous and delightful read. A piece of well woven fiction that took place in the contemporary world. Recommended for anyone who is getting post-Harikoptar blues.

P.S. I probably will be getting American Gods (or Good Omen) tomorrow since Kino is having a 20% off.

Why this blog is getting 10 hits per day/Not 400 hits per day.

2007-08-02T12:13:00.000+08:00

Oh yes. I think primarily because I am not a SMART guy. Lol.
Unlike someone who is getting 400 hits or a top pedigree in his university.

I have never taken enough care in getting myself a Superb education (as getting the scores. My brains are shitloaded with knowledge) when I was 13. I didn't use my brains when I decided to stay on Mechatronics so as I don't waste a year of schooling.

Look at the asshole who I dislike. He got into ITE, he took the same diploma and got better paid than me. Where as I am in complete stand still now, he is probably on the way to get himself further. I mean he is an asshole and a jerk why is he is getting all these???

I thought God is Fair??? Why am I not getting anything???

Because God is Fair. I deserve to get nothing. It doesn't matter whether you are a good person at heart or you never do bad things. You don't deserve, you don't get.

Anyway let's stick back to the Blog now.

Why am I getting 10 hits per day???
I don't know. Maybe people just come in by mistake or via the blogger bar.
I don't think I live an interesting life
but
maybe,
I can tell an interesting lie.

Here's the reasons why I don't deserve more:

- I don't do too much politics
- I don't do news either
- I don't do "save the earth" stuffs.
- I don't openly bitched on people on a regular basis
- Lack of pictures
- Lack of my own pictures
- Lack of me advertising it on any other places
- Lack of "social" postings in other blogs, forums
- Lack of "tension" postings in other blogs, forums

You might suggest me a better layout.
Of course but I like what I am having right now.

Hmmm....so my conclusion???

I think I should save my time on posting at forums to type something less meaningful on my blog. Which I agree. Why should I type things nobody bother to read on a "public" arena when all they cared is some bullish garbage by a kid who probably types like shit but extremely good looking??? I don't hunger for that kind of attention.

Or simply I just no longer hunger.

Besides some people on forums type rotten english while I fought so hard to maintain my own mastering of the language. It can get infectious, laziness and such (by the way, I refuse to use a word processor to spell check my entries. If I made a mistake, I either spot it myself or let other people do it).

Whereas I do entertain the notion of getting more than a 1000 hits per month (I am not trying for 400 per day.), I am merely posting for the sake of reading something I wrote over time and at the same time, continue to practise writing so that perhaps One fine day, maybe I can be an amateur writer and contribute a piece or two to publications I read.

P.S. I wrote because it suddenly happens that Top bloggers are just obsessed people who are just into raking hits just trying to express themselves.

P.S.S. I realised this a complete, utter waste of time. Bad spelling and all that shit. Proof read and amended on 09/08/07. Yes. Happy Birthday Singapore.

Watched: Flash Point

2007-07-30T17:31:00.000+08:00

The concept is simple.
Kick some butts, Donnie.
Kick some butts without that goddamn wig (which probably left in the Dragon Tiger Gate set).

Don't read the synopsis on the homepage if you haven't watch it.
There's so much more material in that synopsis, you will realised that this movie can be better (but less explosive).

In short, Donnie Yen is Ma Jun.
Hard Boil Policeman. Best policeman there is with a small problem, his "hands-on" approach left him a papertrail of complaints.

Flashpoint is obviously not going the same way as Infernal Affairs or any modern Cop/Crook movie. It takes a simple approach with straight forward (2D) characters and add in Good old fashion fist-talking and point at blank, messy gun shootouts.

While it's not going to as hype as SPL with Donnie taking on a respected Senior like Sammo Hung in a final showdown, we got Collin Chou (last seen in the forgetable D.o.A the Movie), as the vicious and cold Tony.

http://www.flashpointthemovie.com/

Watch it if you are an action fan and not minding too much about depth.

Watched: Disturbia

2007-07-30T16:08:00.000+08:00

Disturbia.
Surbia life with Disturbing truths.
Better than reality show.

Kale (Shia LaBeouf) was sentence 3 months of House Arrest after assaulting his spanish teacher.
House Arrest is a state of confinement to home with the use of an ankle monitor.
Most people (and me) will agree that it's not such a big deal.
You get to do time at home. How bad can it be???
For Kale, it goes from fine to worse.
His mum cut his subscriptions to Xbox Live, Itunes, "Maid" services and his TV wire wasn't spared either.
With his best friend, Ronnie, going to Hawaii so he is pretty much left on his own...

Until he learn the pleasure of spying on the neighbours. A behaviour that was inspired by Ashley, the freshly move in Girl Next Door.

But soon, he uncovered a suspected serial killer in the neighbourhood...

It's funny how local cinema operators do to make an extra buck.
They know that Shia LaBeouf will be a household name after The Transformers (I mean who will know of Shia as Chaz, Constantine's Sidekick in Constantine???) so they play a delay and yes, you can do a Shia LaBeouf doublebill (since that "other" penguin animated feature was taken down already. Oh ya. I think it's call Surfs Up) now that Disturbia is up and....Transformers still going Prime. LOL.

And I didn't realised that Carrie-Ann Moss was in this movie. Until the credits start running.
Man. Black Leather does do magic!!!

http://www.disturbia.com/

Watched: The Simpsons Movie

2007-07-30T13:37:00.000+08:00

I admit I ain't hardcore fan of The Simpsons and I didn't watch any more episodes when they moved it about to oddball timing and finally, disappeared from Singapore's public TV.

In fact it should be very long ago since I cannot even recall what the last episode I watch was about.

Nevertheless, you don't need to watch every single episode, just to enjoy it. (Still you need at least abit of knowledge of the other folks in Springfield.)

The movie starts by Breaking the Fourth Wall, with Homer telling us we are stupid to pay for something that's for free indirectly (via complaining in the cinema about watching a movie version of Itchy and Scratchy). The movie also turn it's back later on and laughed at itself as a advert message scrolls belows, reminding us of the movie's origin as a TV series. This gag went on further with a 'mock end' cliffhanger (which happens in extended story arcs, season finale) when the movie is coming to an end.

It didn't fail to live up it's promises to be funny althought it went abit too fast paced in the begining and it feels somewhat penalising when the movie went to a slight slowdown for emotional moments. Also the issue of that town folks of Springfield are under utilised, serving as back drop or sight gag.

I don't see the need to type anything abou the plot. Just go watch it.

The donut in the posters is a key essential to the movie if you need to know.

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/

Watched: Black Sheep

2007-07-26T17:13:00.000+08:00

I want my $9 back!!!
Oh wow. Such a reaction from the fellow behind.
And he was the one who laughed the loudest.

Black Sheep is one of those movies that you got to see to put some of the Blockbuster fatigue out (It was a cycle of great blockbusters since Late May).

Does it worth my $9???
Every dollar!!! (Not the same case for the Nachos that yuki bought).

Black Sheep tells of a story of a boy, Henry Oldfield, who grew up on the greens of New Zealand. As a boy, he was a capable sheperd, rounding up the sheeps and keeping them going and his father saw potential.

For every blue eye boy out there, there's envy.
And it comes in the form of his older brother, Angus.

Angus decided to play a prank one day. He slaughtered Henry's pet sheep and led Henry to a storage house and jumped at Henry in the sheep's head and skin. Subsequently news of their father death came in, putting Henry into a trauma, developing a phobia for sheep.

Fast forward 15 years, Henry returned to the Oldfield farm to actually get some psychological closure and at the same time, sell his share of the farm. Meanwhile enviromental activists, Grant and Experience arrived at the Oldfield farm to uncover evidence of Angus's secret experiments.

Grant stole one of the bottles for disposal, accidentally unleashed a mutant lamb, which bit Grant. The mutant lamb then bit a sheep which soon spreads off a virus which made the sheeps carniverous and aggressively so.

Henry and childhood friend, Tucker met Experience and in events to be, discovers the reason behind the Aggressive Sheeps and how they will affect humans. Will they be able to survive and defeat the Sheeps???

I leave that to the guy screaming for his $9 back.

http://www.blacksheep-themovie.com/

Watched:Paprika

2007-07-24T12:38:00.000+08:00

What's Paprika???

It's a name of a spice.

It's also the title of a sci-fi story by Tsutsui Yasutaka (a writer whose work I encountered via various adaption such as anime and drama) and now, title of an anime by visionary director, Kon Satoshi.

So what's Paprika about???

It's about man of the Waking World going into the World of Dreams.

Paprika, a figure that manifest in the Dream World, is a guide that helps the users of the DC mini to prescribe treatment.

The DC mini experimental device that acts as a gateway for the doctors to go and view people's dream and more...

Trouble is that 3 DC mini was stolen from the hospital and suddenly the Waking is abducted into the dreamland, causing havoc in the process.

Atsuko, the supervisor of the project and also the Waking Host of Paprika, must recover the 3 DC mini before it's too late as more people are abducted into a dream of a never ending parade....

Some of Kon Satoshi's work had always been refered by me as "Mindfucks". It's a tough ride for many, especially the lesser anime lovers who been always watching the regular harem and shonen stuff. The shock equates to trying to stuff a walnut up your nostil.
But this time round, it's not going to be that way because this time you got a guide.

Her name?
Paprika.

Played: Odin Sphere

2007-07-20T17:21:00.000+08:00

My experience with consoles is this, I always buy it after it's reaching the last leg of the race when the manufacturer declared: Your Successor is due.

But that's when the real fun begin. In fact, most of the time, games that are launched during that moment are giving the quality you been waiting for, pushing the hardware to the MAX.

It's strange that during the last leg of PS years back, I played a Norse Mythology based Valkyrie Profile that stars a daughter of Odin.

Once again.....if you are thinking I was going to write about Valkyrie Profile 2, you ought to be looking at the Title.

Odin Sphere is another kind of interactivity. You do not play as a party of 4 with a main protagonist. Rather you unveil events of the Last Days of Erion with 5 different characters.

Gwendolyn

Protagonist of Valkyrie
Daughter of the Demonlord, Odin.

Gwendolyn returned to Ragnanival, after her sister Griselda fell in battle in the wasteland of Valentine. Witnessing her father's indifference to news of Griselda, Gwendolyn concluded that dying in the battle field will probably be the only way to win her father's approval. Little did she knows...

Cornelius
Protagonist of The Pooka Prince
Prince of Titania.

Cornelius is in love with Velvet, a mysterious Princess of a Lost Kingdom.
Their relationship was forbidden by his father and little did he know that the odds will be against him as a dark conspiracy descends upon him.
Changed into a Pooka, a rabbit like creature and left in Endelphia, the Land of the Dead, he will have to find a remedy and stop the conspiracy in time....

Mercedes
Protagonist of Fairyland
Princess of Ringford

Ringford is constantly at war with Ragnanival over the Cauldron. One battle concludes with Odin mortally wounded the Fairy Queen, Elfaria. Mercedes is to be Queen but she's not ready for it.......Someone, however, IS READY to descend upon the throne....

Oswald
Protagonist of The Black Sword
The Shadow Knight of Ringford

Found abandoned as an infant, Oswald was raised by Melvin, newphew of Elfaria.
As the Shadow Knight, Oswald fought valiantly for Melvin. Little did he know the power he is having is actually a result of an arrangement between Melvin and Odette, Queen of the Underworld....

Velvet
Protagonist of Fate
Princess of The Lost Kingdom of Valentine

Velvet and Ingway are twins born to the Princess of Valentine and Odin.
Velvet was set to deactivate the Cauldron, in which was a part of a prophercy of it bringing Armageddon to Erion.
Ingway, meanwhile, had other plans.....

Armageddon
The Last Book that will bind all 5 books together, it allows you to choose your 5 playable characters to pit against 5 bosses which puts up the Armageddon and the End of Erion. It's easier if you played it to Order of True Ending but nevertheless there are certain nice BAD ENDINGs for some characters if you choose to use them against a certain boss. However using the WRONG PERSON has consequence of different magnitude such as a harder fight or a really mundane ending.

It's not a hard game but even on an Easy Setting, things are still hectic to throw any inexperienced player into a frenzy. The game also didn't give an easier way to train your character or gather items as replaying the same book does results in carrying out the character in Armaggedon but you still have to go through the storyline and take whatever that's being offered via the storyline rather than the usual UNLOCK ALL situation which players are being spoilt by these days.

A unique part of the game is that the game starts with you controlling Alice, a girl in an Attic with her cat Socrates. On the floor, you will find a book which you can promptly pick up to start reading (hence starting the game). Alternatively you can pick up Socrates (a bizarre logic to the function) to allow Alice to "recall" (view the cutscenes) what she read. A new book will appear when you finish a story until the Last Book Armaggedon appears. A Good Ending will ultimately give you an idea to how "You" are involved in the game itself.

In short, if you own a PS2 and enjoyed Action RPG, this is one game you cannot afford to miss.

http://www.atlus.com/odinsphere/

LoLcat quiz

2007-07-18T16:28:00.001+08:00

Your Score: SurpriseAdoption Cat

42 % Affection, 66 % Excitability , 28 % Hunger

Calloused. Heartless. Exuberant. You carry the heavy burden of informing children that they are adopted by jumping out of their birthday cake. A difficult task, but somebody must break the news.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Cosfest Day #3 (15/07)

2007-07-17T09:10:00.000+08:00

Of the 3 days, this resembles the usual Cosfest itself.

Same crappy MC who I always missed his own self-introduction.

Saw more "Power PENIS!!!". It's so much fun for them, comparing their appendage during shots. LOL. Cosplay with swords compare swords. Cameraman with "Penis" compare "Penis".

Performance wise, I actually skip a few but I did catch an inspiring piece of comparing Red Heads.....hmmm....

Hei!Gin!
While not related guess but the Hei went up and did the usual-tickle-me ribs performance. Oh great. Carry on Krishnan (or whoever that is), I hope no one paid too much attention to you. While there's a Gin on the floor!!! Haha. Power to the Darkness than Black!!!

AhBehh with his power wig......how come he need to do that character with a wig???He can opt for his own natural hair and do that WhatsHisName's other friend. Oh yes and suddenly all the S.O.S Dan merge and become Dai S.o.S Dan.

There ain't no fun having just one Orgy 13 so they had 2. Laffs at Sagara's "Mickey Gloves". Kingdom Hearts is just getting bigger....hmm so where's the other Square Enix???

Square Enix Spotted are well....the usual Tidus and Yuna from FF X (all 3 day got....different couple...lol)....and Cloud (FF VII)...and Cloud (FF VII AC) and Cloud (FF VII AC). That's why it rains (and hence concluded the fact that it rains on Cosfest usually???)

A DC/JSA team???That's new. Normally the presence of comic costumers are much confined to Marvel characters (this time I spotted Spidey and the Thing). However there are a group of DC/JSA people (althought they look a bit off but better than None I guess).

Usual CON/Costumes are Star Wars and Star Trek. Hey they are everywhere!!!

Retro-fun!!!Spotted Creamy Mami and hmmm..her successor Sister-work Fancy Lala (I hope I got the name right). Hey it's like 20+ year stuff to me!!!Bring out the Pinky Momo!!!

Deka!Deka!Deka!Dekaranger!!!
Justice Time!!!
Dekaranger!!!
Yes!!!!!!!!
It's Justice Served in a Loose Top and TIGHT *ahem* Pants!!!
Finally some Justice done in a Mask on the Lord SK!!! (Hey Hey!!!)
As usual, SK got a slip here and there. Sure he is human but he is a Veteran.
You know, certain good habits should be cultivated. I just didn't see them on display. I am not too sure if anyone told him that he ought to do a trial run to see if his costume is ok. I did told him so however. You can't just stand there and let those Buy-off-rack people laugh at the more budgeted guys. If you can do it, you should fight for it. What gives to the The First Guy??? He ain't so good, he's just loaded.

Same thing lah.

Congrats on Yuanie and Marie for winning the Summit Contest and representing us. Good luck!

Hey it's pretty late to post this and the fact I wrote this on like 5 days after, there's bound to be missing stuff. But hey, what gives. Plus 1!!!

Cosfest Day #2 (14/07)

2007-07-16T16:05:00.000+08:00

Actually there's not much to it.

Surprising there's less Grossplayers this time now. No Guys eager to make anyone dig their eyeballs out.

Let's see what's the fresh going-ons.

Code Geass Team. That's new. It's quite a complete set just maybe missing The Crowd favourite Orange-kun and my personal favourite Cornelia (or maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough).

Persona 3. I wasn't really amazed by it since it features 1) School Uniform. 2) Good looking characters. Pity no one is doing anything other than the uniformed characters.

Chicken Little. A winner with everyone.

Spotted Inuran.....she's looking for her KAH-lien earlier on....but whenever spotted her, she was with Cheese Kun. Never get to see her Kallen partner.Hmmm....and finally saw her with a Pizza Hut box. That really inspires us......but strangely no one say let's go Pizza Hut.

Spotted Lenne and this Dusty girl (who did Aerith in one of the EOY). I got no idea if they are doing something from Neil Gaiman or simply Lenne was just drawing the Eye of Horus Mark for the fun of it (A prominent feature of Death of the Endless from the Vertigo/Sandman Universe).

Spotted SK. No. No costume. Singing. Althought he talked too loud and drink too little. This will actually affect his performance. His Brave Heart took a slightly different approach from how he did it (perhaps he did that before but I am Friend. Not Fan.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKUmNo7GCM8 (courtesy of Bjorn )

Hmmm....in fact there's a lot of others I don't recognised

Seems that there's a god-dozen Suzumiya Haruhi and related characters. Hey I should be happy. I guess.

Spotted Xrystal in Bunny Suit Edition. She seems to be the First School Uniform Haruhi I actually saw and the first Bunny Suit. Eh. I should not comment any further about that but I really feel that she should be the only one sing [God Knows] being that she was in the right costume. Ok the objective is Karaoke but I don't think she was the most GOD AWFUL one on stage so cut her some slack. Anyway I didn't stay for the rest after Helena sang.

Of course the main event of my groupies is waiting for Mana Sama to arrive.
Aoi make me go weak on the knees and if he asked me to Eat back my Country Mana jokes......
I still wouldn't. Haha.

This time round, we got Chrono Jing which I find it rather amusing. It's like my Doom Patrol got a regular Super-being. Haha. Well it's fresh of course, we don't get a cult status character to drag around with most of the time. I think the most famous we originally got is SK althought Retsu turns out to be very well recognised. LOL. Althought that's beside the point. I can see why most people warm up to her easily.

Turns out Takahan is doing more venture outside Cosplay. Good luck to him.

Oh before I forget.....

2007-07-16T15:40:00.000+08:00

For every subsequent posts I made, a real dollar will be saved to my comic book fund.
Hopefully this gesture will allow me to keep posting regularly, since a trade paperback will be like $30 dollar tops. Hence hopefully there's a motivation to keep the blog to date and at the same time, curb my spending on comics which is increasing significantly.

Cosfest Day 1

2007-07-15T10:43:00.000+08:00

No photographs. I swore off taking any since everyone is doing that. Better be free walking around and maybe spot a familiar face then showing off The Other Penis...I mean Camera. Besides my Camera isn't a Penis. It's a Peanut. These days you will seeing my dorky pictures of me or my toys taken with it. Can't be used for anything else.

So what's for the first.
Nothing much.
Prove to be a shocker however, seeing that there's security checks and policemen.
Ok. Justified.
Banner reads the Honorable MM Lee KY.
God Bless that Old Gentleman.

(Yes Dear Sirs of PAP, I am out of job for the last 4 months, I been trying for Government Sector Stuff. I will kiss the Grounds of where the Whites walked if I were to be even granted an interview and someone telling me off why the Government will never employ me. I am banking on a new recent urban legend that the G-men are viewing every garbage that Singaporeans are posting online.)

Before I can catch a glimpse of the MM, I will of course be going around looking at people and letting people catch a glimpse of me and hopefully, not turning to be a backdrop and ruined people's photograph. In which eventually end up being cut off, cut out or digitally switched with a cow,dog or Vader (my choice).

Oh yes it indeed happened. Check this out.

http://sgcafe.com/showpost.php?p=2044193&postcount=2471

I am not going to post the full picture. I think it's bad enough already. Haha.

I am going to be mean now, so if anyone had the decency to swallow the bitter pill, do write me a Thank You note. LOL.

First off. The strange Suzumiya Orochimaru. This guy got height but WTF is he trying to prove.

He is much scarier in photographs people posted (REALLY!!!I think maybe they think they should scare the shit out of anyone.). Wrong hair. Curly fringe??? I don't care if he is a veteran or anything. If you want to be a joke, you are a joke and if people laugh, that's what you are.

Also readily available is a "Lactus Clyne". The extra T stands for Terrific! as in "OH Terrific!!!What's This???". And yes I am "Lactus" intolerant.

Remember how I tell jokes about that Kazuki Ace seems to be trailing me in his Meer (Yes. Sir I am sorry and I really appreciate your Crossplaying presence now that I saw the BEST OF GROSSPLAY) and how I do not want to go to toliet because I DO NOT WANT TO BE PISSING HALFWAY AND GET STALLED BECAUSE I NOTICE HIM NEXT TO ME??? Ok. It wasn't that funny and neither was it as terrifying when a Funny Looking "niang" Thai/Mat make a pass at me when I exit the toliet.

But yes. Lactus was hovering around and it got funnier at every watch. At first I notice the sloppy looking costumes and then, it seems that his wig...is slipping. I got to admit he was brave because it's a wrong wig length. He got the color right alright. Finally his wig was slipping like 10cm away behind his own hairline. It's funny in that ridiculous way. BTW I don't think anyone posted his pictures.

Performances are Excellent Yawnage when corny lines are exchanged. Quite thrilled to see the Sakura Taisen duo however. Great Costumes althought I doubt they were singing but the dance was alright. The rest of the teams are mix bag of Omega Pass Around The Table jokes quality (ok I am just aiming at The Sora from the Org 13 group). Hack G.U. seems cool althought they look bulky due to the layers of Costume.

Overall, the heat was the killer but how many times you got a Cosfest Event with the G-men and RC people and Samba Dancers???

Greek Mythology Personality Test

2007-07-08T19:15:00.000+08:00

Your Score: The Oracle

0% Extroversion, 80% Intuition, 44% Emotiveness, 52% Perceptiveness

Heuristic, detached, and analytical to a fualt, you are most like The Oracle. You are able to tackle any subject with a fine toothed comb, and you possess an ability to pinpoint nuances and shades of meaning that other people do not have and cannot understand. Accomplishment and realization of ideas are, for you, secondary to the rigorous exploration of ideas and questions -- you are, first and foremost, a theorist. You hate authority, convention, tradition, and under no circumstances do you accept a leadership role (although, you will gladly advise leadership when they're going astray, whether they want you to or not). Abstraction and generalities are your interests, details and particulars are usually inconsequential and uninteresting. You excel at language, mathematics and philosophy.

You are typically easy-going and non-confrontational until someone violates one of the very few principles that you deem sacred, at which point you can fly into a rage. Although you possess a much greater understanding of process and systems than the people around you, you are always conscious of the possibility that you've missed something or made a mistake. You don't tend to become attached to particular theories, and will immediately discard mistaken notions once they're revealed to be incorrect (but you don't tolerate iconoclasts who try to discredit validated theories through the use of fallacies and bad data). Despite being outwardly humble, you probably think of yourself as being smarter than most other people. That's because you are. In fact, in your dealings with people your understanding of their motives is so expansive that you know what they're going to say before they say it, and in world affairs, you usually know what is going to take place before it actually does. This ability would make you unbeatable in debates if only you were a little less pensive about your own conclusions, and a little more outgoing.

Famous people like you: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John McWhorter, Ramanujan, Marie Curie, Kurt Godel
Stay clear of: Apollo, Icarus, Hermes, Aphrodite
Seek out: Atlas, Prometheus, Daedalus

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Finger quiz (lifted from Bernie)

2007-07-08T18:58:00.000+08:00

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything.

You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word.

Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world.

You get along well with: The Pinky

Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

Hot Fuzz

2007-07-08T17:42:00.000+08:00

http://www.hotfuzz.com/

An unusual British comedy/action movie.

Big Time Policeman goes to Small Village.
No big crime in toll for last 20 years.
Will he be able to take it???
A previous example of such commited Suicide.
Will he end up like this???

Of course not.
This movie is worth watching a second time but most of the fun is already taken out from the ride the first time.
In fact there's a plot twist in the middle that will throw you so far off, you will be wondering if you are watching the same movie when the credit goes up.

Glad I made it before the curtain comes down on this one.

Transformers

2007-07-08T16:49:00.000+08:00

To be honest, when I see the initial teaser, I know it's going to be very different from the cartoon. I refuse to actually go into search for trailers althought I did look at the design sketches, artwork and such.

Then I seen the trailer for it in Blades of Glory.
It promises alot so did it live to expectation???

Yes. There's breathtaking CGI which probably Spiderman 3 will be losing to, big explosions, corny jokes, references, babe (althought no braless in the rain like in Spiderman) and a good old fashion linear storyline. Strong popcorn material. So it's not a wonder if there's a sequel to it.

So what's missing? "The Touch".
A theme song/score to actually relate to the movie.
Otherwise. Perfect.
No. Don't tell me it's that Linkin Park Song. It's not. It's just another Linkin Park Song that has no Nu Metal in it. It's a Linkin Park Song screaming Watch Out, Bono!!!

Yes. It's the only summer movie that's worth all the $9 paid for.
So far.

Watched: Death Proof

2007-06-25T07:54:00.000+08:00

The idea of Grindhouse was a double back to back feature. International audiences think the cinema people are exploiting the situation to roll in big bucks when the 2 features are split and sold as individual. I think the cinema people are just trying to maximise the profits to just try to break even. LOL.

Death Proof might had been a bizarre experience for those of Modern Cinema. People who are new to QT's style will find it a really bad film with nothing but Bitches yakking away. Those who knows QT is paying homage to Grindhouse Films which translate to BAD CINEMA. I don't think I watch any of these but think cheap Taiwanese movies they shown in Midnight or any Cleaned Up Cat III HK movies. Add in the scratched, aged film look with disjoint reel and such. There you have it.

Plot is linear. In fact Death Proof is like 2 movies on it's own.

First Act is about a psycho,stalker Stuntman Mike who had been stalking 3 girls around in Texas and made contact with them in a bar before bumping them off with his "Death Proof" Chevy Nova with a head on collision of their vehicle. You got to love Kurt Russell for being such an Asshole as Stuntman Mike.

Because they got eyes on Mike for the stunt he pulled in Texas (he was free to go after all that shit), he appeared in Tenassee 14 months later.

Hence comes the closing act which he tries to terrorise another group of girls. He ends up getting more than he bargained for naturally. You got to love Kurt Russell for being such a wimp as Stuntman Mike.

Guess what's the part with the most laughs are at???
When THE END pops up.

So how much is the movie worth??? All of your $9???
I don't know. I rather pay $30 more to get the DVD hearing QT and Kurt yakking away. LOL.

Invincible

2007-06-17T21:22:00.000+08:00

To be honest, I never read anything from Image. I did bought an issue of Spawn but it stops there. No absolute desire to be playing an active reader of their books until recently. All the while it was Marvel. And then DC. So I decided to check what Invincible is about since I read great things about it on and off.

Invincible's art, at best, should be called Bare Minimal. There's a god 300 titles out that can easily impressed the readers out there in terms of Splash pages, effects, character design, fantastic artwork, amazing details. Invincible doesn't. It's very simple stuff with simple colouring, light on the eye stuff. However don't be fooled. What's in there is very clever scripting and design. Invincible is engaging without trying to fuck your eyeballs off.

Mark Greyson is a simple teenager flipping burgers and eyeing the fry machines. Then puberty came. All the sudden, he will be able to do what his father, Omni-man been doing.

Superhero stuff.

Wow. That's a rather plain origin. He wasn't bitten by a Spider, exposed to Galactic Radiation or made a pact with a demon. Nothing exciting. Except his father lied.

He lied about who he was and what he is going to do.

I am not going to give the game away but if you got intentions you can pick up Invincible with 3 options: Standard trades (I choose this) or Hardcover Ultimate Collection (Hamster Killer) or Hardcover Complete Collection (The Puppy Killer). I can say that most FAMOUS titles didn't had a Puppy Killer within 4 years of publication so it does say how good (or how Image strongly pushed this title).

Oh and they are going to make a movie

Althought some of the twists, plotline wouldn't much of a shocker if you read quite a bit of manga titles.

If you are interested, here's issue #01 (on the Top right.)

Three X Three

2007-06-06T17:26:00.000+08:00

It's the season of ThreeS and therefore 3 reviews of 3 'THE THIRD' movies.

Spiderman 3
Acumulated tension of 2 movies wasted on the 3rd.
The potential is not harvested properly, the expectation was let down.
Sure it's a pretty good movie, compared to [Revenge of the Sith] which in my opinion left the audiences pretty much unsatisfied.

The direction of this movie is pretty simple, make Spidey busy. Tons of Special Effects and lots of 'oh.ah' plot twist. A very busy movie compare to Spiderman 2
After going introspective for the last 2 movie, they tried it again in Spiderman 3 with mixed results.

Every Great Aspects of Spiderman is in Spiderman 3.

Good Guy fighting inner demons? Check.
Villian isn't a really bad person? Check.
Fanciful Special Effects? Check.
Makes you want to be Spiderman? Check.
The Quotable Aunt May? Check.
A song/dance routine? Check.
Bruce Campbell? Check.
Jonah? Check.
Wet Shirt and outlining of nipples? NO!!!Why???

Ok the last one doesn't really counts. Even if it's probably a fan favourite.
Leave your expectations behind, you probably be a happier cinema viewer.

Pirates of The Carribean : At World's End

This is the better of the 3rd movie I watched so far, althought cinema viewers who skipped both Pirate movies before will end up confused and mildly entertained.

In terms of plot, it delivers and answers most of the loyal viewer's question. However it will really help to throw logic off board since mythologies and magic is in place.

Action set pieces wise, it loses out to part 2, it doesn't provide anything new except Flying Dutchman vs Black Pearl in a whirlpool. It doesn't create a spec fest only water logged pirates.

Highly suggest a viewing of both Pirates movie before watching part 3 to fully enjoy this.

Shrek the Third

Shrek the 3rd wise is a fairly simple story. The only drawback is probably that it's too short to showcase everyone but making it too long will bored the kids. New elements are introduced althought hardly substantial to make an impact.

And therefore in overall conclusion, these 3 titles fairly dipped and barely satisfying the long time supporters (or probably just me) yet will throw any new viewers into confusion easily. However in all fairness, these 3 the Third movies are certainly good films, entertaining without forgeting storyline and eye candies.

271st post

2007-06-06T17:23:00.000+08:00

And just cross 8000 hits!!! (althought unofficially been over that since the counter was changed and resetted before)

Same garbage all year round but stick around folks, more twits for the fire!!!

Looking forward to 10,000!!!

(Who am I? I am d4thday. My blog has an average of 4 hits per day!!!)

Famous Movie Kiss?

2007-06-05T11:35:00.000+08:00

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Romeo + Juliet

"Has my heart loved 'till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw a true beauty 'till this night."

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Do You Have a Dirty Mind?

2007-06-05T11:20:00.000+08:00

Your Mind is PG-13 Rated

Your mind is definitely a little dirty. You're naughty, but not trashy.
You don't shy away from a dirty joke, and you're clearly not a prude.

Are you immature?

2007-06-05T11:16:00.000+08:00

You Are Somewhat Mature

You definitely act like an adult sometimes, but a big part of you is still a kid at heart.
While your immature side is definitely fun, you're going to have to grow up sooner or later.

Are You Immature?

My Scorpions sting your bird bird

2007-05-31T14:48:00.000+08:00

Now hear how the Scorpions sang this Rock Anthem.

This is what I see

2007-05-30T21:28:00.000+08:00

A couple of guys get stranded on an Island. One of them found himself a gun and therefore decides it's for his keep. The others disagreed, not wanting to trust the one with gun even thought he is likely not be using it on them. They fought and in the struggle dropped the gun into the ravine. Even when the gun is lost, the bitter feelings remains and the unnecessary arguments continues.

(Footnote: The story above has nothing to really do with the incident)

I think the situation is unwarranted for any dispute anymore but no really the case for the GREATS of Cosplay.Sg.