Lair Of The Anime Freak

2009-06-21T18:10:00.001+08:00

Hey oh. Eneeli is now. ~~One more year to being legal~~.

This year, she didn’t get much celebrating done, thanks to a recent pain in the neck. But never mind that. The many birthday greetings really made her day =D

Thank you to all those who offered a sincere wish or two.
As cheesy as it is, I’m glad for these simple messages. It reminds me I’m not forgotten.

On a side note, my mum suddenly and randomly bought me a cake.

I got rather suspicious initially (Like, what’s the catch?), but in the end decided to stop thinking too much about this because over-thinking never really did me any good anyway.

I can’t remember the last time I had a birthday cake. It was ~~eons~~ so long ago. Anyway, the cake was one of the best I’ve eaten so far. It was from a cakeshop in Bukit-something. It’s tucked away amongst rows of olden shophouses. I can vaguely recall the location because I went there with her way back when I still donned a seifuku-inspired uniform. There’s a lot of antiques being sold along that street, if my memory served me correctly.

This cakeshop, Lana Cakes, is helmed by this veteran baker who resembles a kindly old grandmother (that was years ago). She still handmixes the cakes herself and kept the secret recipe so well that no one knows what special ingredients she used in her cakes. The shop’s famous for its chocolate fudge cakes which are so sinfully rich, it’s criminal.

I'm tempted to redecorate the cake as Domo. They have the same colour and shape after all XD

The chocolate taste is strong without being overwhelming. And the taste lingers on even after you swallow. Not to mention it’s chewy enough and crumbles in your mouth. It’s so filling that a single slice (I cut the cake into 12 pieces) made me feel kinda bloated. But that’s just me (and my host of digestive problems).

The cake is deliciouso. But it cost a whopping S$40 despite being just 1kg. >_<
I don’t know how much do cakes cost nowadays, but I get heartburn just from knowing the price.

It’s once a year, thankfully. I may or may not get a cake next year though.

P.S. There’s plenty of cake left over. Who wants a piece?

On yet another completely different side note.

Naruto Shippuden 114! Orochimaru's life story retold!
Seriously though, how he became obsessed with gaining eternal youth and subsequently the power of the Sharingan is perfectly understandable. Poor twisted soul.

The appearances of the Sharingan was nicely done. Sasuke mirroring Itachi when they threatened Orochimaru. Can't wait for their showdown (The outcome of which I already know, but heck. It's gonna be good in Anime, rather than in black and white).

Updates About Updates

2009-06-09T23:31:00.003+08:00

Eneeli will...

1) Upload ~~badly taken~~ photos of licensed2play event
2) Do something about new links and the newly-formed class blog
3) Bitch on everything bothersome prior to the vacation break >_<
4) R&R (Rant & Rave) about Japanese Cultural Club Camp (Rocks!) =DDD

...As soon as she gets back from the Photography Club Camp.

Compilation of Overdue Posts (Because Eneeli Procrastinates)

2009-05-25T23:53:00.001+08:00

THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD.

Alright. Due to too many incomplete drafts piling up ~~I hate emb-ing photos~~, this list is there just so it'll be easier to refer to previous events which ~~I took my own sweet time over~~ are finally finished.

Note: It'll not be done in chronological order since they're all in varying stages of (in)completion.

**Note: THE CANCELLATIONS ARE CLICKABLE! THEY ARE LINKS! ~~CLICKY-CLICK!~~

~~1] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party~~ *DONE 03/04!*
2] NOMAD Preview
~~3] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - Hidama~~ *DONE 06/04!*
4] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - WoW! Band Finals
5] NOMAD Fringe Festival
~~6] Superheroes Songs @ Esplanade Flipside~~ *DONE 04/04!*
7] Miyuki Red White Animation Song Battle
~~8] S'pore Toy & Comic Convention~~ *DONE 06/05*
9] NOMAD @ AMKSS
10] Cosfest @ D'Marquee
11] End of O' Levels
12] Prom Night!
13] TPRAWKS 2008
14] Bitch Rant of DOOM
15] First Job Ever
16] Farewell Assembly
17] Anime Festival Asia 2008
18] Project Breakout 2: A Japanesque Christmas
19] SOYA 2009
20] Ongaku Avenue 2009
~~21] Haute~~ D'Horreur Camp *(PARTIALLY DONE)
22] Licensed to Play event
23] S'pore Streetfest 2009 - D'J Party
24] JCC Camp
25] SPP Camp

2009-05-24T00:09:00.001+08:00

Although I couldn’t make it for the cosplay event yesterday, I decided to give License2play 2009 a shot anyway. It wasn’t anything like AFA (Anime Festival Asia) or even the S’pore Toy & Comic Convention. Not to insult it, but it seems like a really scaled-down event meant for heart-land gamers. Especially considering online games such as World of Warcraft (WOW) & Maple Story had made their presences known in the hall.

Not surprisingly, there was an ~~(alarmingly)~~ large number of KIDS present. When I say kids, I refer to brats ranging from those still being pushed around in prams to the pre-pubescent mummy boys. Of course, that meant everyone and their grandma came along (I swear I’m not joking. I saw more than just a few grannies hobbling along in there). This made the atmosphere feel more like a pasar malam than an actual event.

Yukinko Akira. Looking at his sheer exuberance made me feel exhausted.

Paper Promenade
Heavy Metal
Plastic Fantastic

2009-05-21T23:21:00.006+08:00

Sometimes, a dose of reality really ruins your day.

Despite having just awakened my bowling ~~obsession~~ interest days ago, I was all fired up and ready to join the SP Bowlers. So I dropped by their first training to enquire and look around as well.

The good news: You only need to come for one of the two training days.
The bad news: Yeah, it's still $12 per week.
The worst piece of news ever: The freshies who joined are damn good already.

The last bit roughly equates to me being the laughing stock of the whole club if I dare join after witnessing what seems to be, the Beginner's Level.

Those who went today were majority guys and a handful of girls. Quite a number could be called 'pros' already. I kept seeing strike after strike. The average speed at which the balls rolled was way faster than my fastest.

(Okay, on a side note, close to 80% of my tries end up as gutter balls. Any bowling ball I throw doesn't roll. It creeps along the floor.)

Y'know what. I don't think I'll be joining bowling now. At least, not at my current level of mediocrity. Watching how real bowlers do it is so disillusioning.

I want practice. Lots of practice. Maybe I'll join when the gutter ball percentage is reduced to 20% or lesser...So....

Who's up for bowling?

Does this look like Obama bowling?

On the bright side, I saw an injured bird for the first time. Or rather, I personally spotted an injured mynah for the first time. The poor thing was huddling at the top of the stairs leading from the stadium to the CASS hill. And bleeding just above the eyes. I half-thought it was a fledging because of all the puffed-up feathers.

Since it hadn't fled when we approached it, I assumed it broke something. Of course, I didn't dare to even try touching the mynah. What if I accidentally aggravated any possible internal injuries with my ~~monstrous strength~~ clumsy fingers?
So Daphne and I were stuck at the stairs for a while coz neither of us wanted to pick up the mynah and we didn't know what else to do either.

Thankfully, there was this group of seniors coming down the hill. We got their attention alright, but it quickly shifted to the mynah. This short-haired girl just went ahead and cupped it in her hands without any hesitation. ~~I feel strangely embarrassed by my inability to do the same.~~ They were cooing over the mynah (and possibly scaring it half to death as well). Since the seniors seem to know better, we left the bird in their care.

I don't know what course they are from, but it's nice to know they're willing to stop for a wounded bird. Their commentary (and antics) provided some amusement too.

(Upon seeing the bird) "Let's take a video!"

Guy#1: "Would cream work?" (said upon seeing the bleeding wound)
Other Guys: (simultaneously) "What do you have? Hair cream?!" "What,you want to cook it?"

Me: "Er...You guys take care of the bird."
Guy: "Hey, we stand here until some other people come. Then we pass the bird to them." (ROFL XDDD)

Anyway, those guys did take care of the bird I think. I saw them coming down the hill after hanging around for a while. Hope it got the necessary treatment.

2009-05-21T01:25:00.006+08:00

I must be sub-consciously masochistic.
To not take precautions and think VERY carefully before I take action.

For briefly losing my composure knowing full well others don't tolerate out-of-stereotype behaviour
For not being cautious enough before taking the stage (Coz no one will point out your mistakes beforehand)
For being unprepared despite knowing how difficult it would be ahead

For joining another CCA when I already have more than a handful (Quite Literally)
For actually daring to still contemplate yet ANOTHER CCA

Thank whoever's-up-there for A good listening ear.

2009-05-16T20:28:00.007+08:00

My voice finally broke.

But (according to some classmates) it sounds way sexier than those chaps on the cusp of puberty. I sounded a bit like Dieh. XDD

It made presentation time a tad awkward (and probably hilarious for some).

Yet I gained a voice by losing my own physical one. Not that I had much of a voice to begin with anyway. I don’t know what might happen when my throat heals. Maybe it’ll be to square one again. Despite the fact that the situation had only improved by a smidgen for all the talking I did.

Right now, I’m almost back to my usual sound. Which is both a relief and a pity at the same time. For one, swallowing wouldn’t hurt anymore but I never did get to hear the so-called “Sexy Voice” for myself. They say it’s husky-ish.

Haiz...I got my voice back already now (Sunday).

Anyway, I finally got to see Nadiah's cat last week. He's cute (would have been a lot more if he hadn't fled from us guests when we approached), but a little thin for the typical house cat. Then again, the other house cats I've seen so far range from slightly to grossly overweight.

Budsy

P.S. I didn't use flash on the cat for the record (I ain't that cruel). The photo was lightened artificially. Coz it was taken from under the table.

Budsy's eyes are the largest cat eyes I've seen yet. They're this really pretty shade of green which isn't captured here.

This is possibly the most pitiful mewing from a house cat. I'm not sure if that's by default or not, but it is a mix between endearing and wth-ish.

Then there was the Connect event. It's some exclusive social networking opportunity for the DMC students. Though I can't say it worked out that well, considering most (from what I saw from where I stood) hung around people they were already familiar with. The food wasn't half bad though. The only item on the menu I didn't like were the swiss rolls lookalike. And they had some pretty darn good performers on stage. The female guitarist in the acoustic version of Britney Spears' Gimme More had a lovely smoky voice. I liked the cover of Marion's End of Me too =)

Apparently there was some dress-up competition in which we're supposed to dress as what we like to be when we grow up. -_-

Female Winner (One of them, no prize for guessing who)

Male Winner (One of them, no prize for guessing who)

Unfortunately I only had the sense to take out my camera at the very end. And somehow lost my nerve in being the only one filming thus far. So hence, this short clip.
Hot N Cold cover

Connect Badge
Cool design.

The day concluded with a soothing sunset. I wished I stayed on a lil' longer though. The sunset at its peak in SP is kinda cool.

I saw this rare picturesque image of a post-sunset sky. No, it's not streaked with reds and orange. But rather, it's a huge vertical mass of dark grey clouds splitting the horizon in half. And at the curved ends of both halves, the sky was awashed with a fading rainbow splashed halfway across the darkened bits. There was a building blocking the sky where the dark cloud mass ended. I have no way of properly describing that. But I lament the fact that I hadn't whipped out my camera and preserved that little imperfect beauty for good.

2009-05-08T12:58:00.001+08:00

This is the first time I'm absent from school this year. Thanks to a particularly nasty bout of the flu bug. It had been passing around my class (I think) for the past week.

Usually getting to take a day off equates to a relaxing day spent idling at home. Usually.

This time, it was 24 hours spent semi-dazed with constant bodyache and a near-inability to swallow. Ugh.

But at least the doctor was funny. The moment I entered the room. he started on a frazzled spiel about the flu being so troublesome, how busy he is now because of it, asshat patients who refused to go a hospital when they should, etc...

LOL.

I found it pretty amusing.
Then he told me point-blank that I am short.

(And thus can pass off as someone under 16 so I could be sent to KK Hospital should the fever not subside)

>_<

Anyway if my limbs cease feeling jellified, I might return to school this afternoon. I do want a CCA (or a few) after all.

*edited

I didn't go to school after all. Darn. How do you sign up for CCAs after the CCA Open House now? >_<

2009-05-08T10:53:00.001+08:00

OHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOH!

Mas Selamat got captured!!!

Read

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-05-03T18:46:00.012+08:00

Finally, the movie about what's arguebly the most hardcore good guy on the X-Men is OUT. Ever since the comic series about Wolverine's origins was published, I was kinda excited about the movie. Bryan Singer made X-Men awesome =)

*SPOILERS AHEAD

Now Wolverine is not exactly my fave X-Men here. Partly because of his part in the love triangle with Scott Summers & Jean Grey. As well as the numerous other mutant and non-mutant females he has been romantically linked with thoroughout the X universe.

Anyway, the movie had plenty of action and some cool fight scenes. Action as in, extensive property damage. Seriously. Even in that short scene where Scott Summers got captured, the school building was wrecked beyond repair (because he lost his sunglasses).
(THIS IS NOT THE ABOVE-MENTIONED SCENE BTW)

So imagine the kind of destruction whenever the main lead comes in. Whenever Wolverine fights, it is without any of the sleek moves of typical martial arts experts.

No clever manipulations, no acrobatics. Just pure brawn and the rough, brutal blows which are more like those in real life. Of course, he destroys a whole lotta things which happened to be in his way while fighting. That’s real (property damage) for you.

The best fight? The one where Deadpool kept teleporting at a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speed and had all but pwned Wolverine & his brother left me gaping. That was wicked awesome!

This guy is not any sleeker than Deadpool, but he will be, if you get what I mean/watched the movie. ;-)

The best part, nevertheless, was the sound effects. I don’t know how on earth they generated such sounds to begin with. But whatever they did, it was a stroke of sheer genius. They made the fight scenes so much more real. I don’t ever recall the sound of bones breaking more vividly than in this movie. It’s this indistinguishable mesh of the cracking of hard bones splintering against the soft but firmer flesh and tearing it beyond repair. In an instant. Like a squelch and a crack. I don’t know how to describe it. But honestly, it is this sound which made one wince from the brutality of the onscreen blows.

The other X-Men cameos didn't make much of an impression on me. Since they didn't have enough lines and all. But I guess the casting was okay if the whole point is to make them fade a little into the background and focus on Wolverine.
Gambit was boyish-looking though.
And while he does some cool card tricks (LEVITATION), I don't really see the Cajun charm which this Prince of Thieves possessed in the comic universe. I suppose it's because Gambit is kinda young here. But since Gambit & Rogue had both appeared in X-Men movies...I wonder if they'll be matched up (like their on-off romance in the comic) in future movies?

*LOOK AT THE ~~BLACK~~ GUY AT THE RIGHT CORNER LOL!

Then Gambit's 'fight' with Wolverine wasn't quite what I expected. Gambit can change potential energy in any object into kinetic energy. Hence the cards can fly and all. But his most notable move is to use the cards as explosives. He did a variation of it in that fight by charging a STAFF then swinging into the scene like Tarzen and banging it on the ground causing a massive shockwave.

I'm not particularly impressed. While the move's kinda cute, I still want to see how he makes use of exploding poker cards to win a fight. By the way, he didn't stand a chance against Wolverine.

To be frank, I was kinda disappointed with the other X-Men cameos. Scott Summers probably had one of the larger cameos, aside from Gambit. At that time, he was in high school and got captured by then William Stryker for his ~~mutant-torturing~~ Weapon X program. Gambit appeared because he was the only one to have escaped the hellish island facility where they did the experiments, and thus had to aid Wolverine into finding it. Hell, even Professor X appeared at the very end to whisk them all to safety.

Yeah, and Emma Frost appeared as the sister of Wolverine's beloved. Who got captured. And coincidentally became the automatic leaders of the young mutant escapees along with Scott Summers.

It sorta resonates with the comic. Because the two 'leaders' were involved at one point. But I highly doubted their future dallience started with this. (When Jean became the Dark Phoenix thing and supposedly died but actually was in suspended animation somewhere because a small part of her consciousness wasn't destroyed with the Dark Phoenix persona) Confusing, right? This Jean Grey transmorgification into the Phoenix thingy made me ignore the comic for a while.

I heard Storm was suppose to have a cameo too. You can see a brief scene of child Storm in the unedited trailer ARRGH. Why did they cut her out anyway?

Yeah, that was pretty much how they were weaved into the main plot. While the whole movie is supposed to tell how Wolverine came about and all, just slotting the other characters in like that just…ruffles my feathers. I mean, Cyclops & Gambit played key roles in the X-Men universe and having them regulated to minor placements (~~damsel~~ damn man in distress and helper respectively) in this manner doesn’t quite do them much justice.

I’m a comic fan in a way and thus comparisons between the original comic and the movie adaptation is inevitable. For all the fuss about Wolverine’s origins in the comic, the movie is an understatement of sorts. The mystery surrounding the Weapon X program was stripped away completely. The truth was laid bare. Perhaps a little too bare.

I know again that the point of the movie was to reveal the truth about everything, but I’d prefer if they hinted at a greater conspiracy hidden within the exposed truth itself. I usually don’t like being kept in suspense, but I feel that they should keep some of the dark mysteriousness that shrouded Wolverine’s origins for years in the comic. Making everything crystal clear in one fell swoop lets down the fans’ expectations somehow.

The part about him losing his lover then wasn’t as heart-wrenching as I thought it’ll be. All the heart-stopping action (and mass destruction of the surroundings) probably destroyed the mood for that kind of romantic scene. When I watched that, I just thought it was a great pity. That’s all.

But one thing though. I don't know who this guy is, but he has that near-perfect wide-eyed look of the innocent.
He plays young WOLVERINE.

Which made for a good comparison if you want to take note of the whole lost innocence thing. It's like mutating from a lamb to a...Well...Wolverine. See here. He went from this:
to this

Wolverine's brother is named Victor. Victor Creed, I think. The name rings any bells? ~~SABRETOOTH! WTF RANDOM CAMEO AGAIN!~~

The movie was fast-paced and cut straight to the point without any long conversations and other distractions to take your attention away from the hardcore battles. One might have to possess some knowledge of the issues concerning Wolverine in order to fully appreciate the movie (and understand some parts). Yet, if when a comic fan watches it, he/she might be somewhat disappointed. The ending was a little unsatisfactory (as with most movies). But tis good nevertheless. So go watch it!

Hecate Outing

2009-05-02T18:28:00.019+08:00

This is just the..what…3rd Hecate outing and already our numbers have dwindled to just eight people. Geez. But then again, we were informed of the outing only the day before which was last-minute and all.

I was late (again). Because I overslept (again).
Safe to say though, I was the first at the Waraku restaurant. Not to be triumphed or anything because I spent quite some time just trying to find the ~~damn~~ place too. The entrance turned out to be OUTSIDE the mall. Facing the back exit of Pan Pacific and a not-so-crowded road. Makes me wonder how they survive with so little human traffic about.

I made reservations for the first time (I think)! Yeah, a suaku is me. It was odd to be sitting by myself at a table for eight without ordering anything and for a good ten minutes too. I studied the menu like whoa.

I don't know why the staff stuck the receipt to the wall when they could have just handed it us -_-

The overstatement award goes to the udon Tang Jie ordered.
The bowl is bigger than her head (Or anyone’s head for that matter), and yet the size of the serving is…Seems…Seems to be overwhelmingly small.

However, considering that it’s UDON we’re talking about here, that small amount should be able to fill one’s stomach anyhow.

This is KeQi's meal. Which the guys kept helping themselves to.
And which made stains on her dress. What's the score now for the "Strange Substances On KeQi" tally now? XDD

Dieh's lunch set: Pork Ramen + Sushi. I really like how the soup base looked.

It would have been a better idea to order sushi instead of other dishes. The serving is small (Less Waste), it has RAW FISH and most of all...
...It's pretty. Such a lovely orange coloring.

I ordered the lunch set: Shoyu Ramen + Tsukune.

Shoyu Ramen is basically ramen with a single slice of pork that resembles char siew (but paler and healthier-looking). It was vaguely alarming to see that the soup base resembled diluted soya sauce with sesame oil. I was kinda expecting a light clear colour…Oh well. At least there’s more to it than the saltiness of soya sauce. It’s flavourful enough (probably the meaty taste to it).

Tsukune is the name of the leading male in the fantasy harem Anime that is Rosario+Vampire.

Because he is like a luscious hunk of meat which is vied for by the other supernatural ~~potentially cannibalistic and horny~~ girls in his school.
Hence the dish was named after him.

Well, no. Not really.

The tsukune dish is so-called because of the piece of chicken meat on top of the rice. It ain’t that nice for the record. The meat’s tough and difficult to tear. The sauce doesn’t quite penetrate through the whole piece either.

Oh, and the pretty purple things in the small container at the side? It’s pickled ginger.
Doesn’t seem as good as it looks now, eh? ~~Shows that appearances can be deceiving.~~

The Waraku staff provided good service overall. They were friendly, polite and didn't mangle Japanese greetings too much. My only complaint was probably the thick accent of some of their foreign staff members. I strained to figure out what they were trying to say. But that's not their fault. The foreign staff were friendly too =)

[Btw, I think I want to join the Community Service division of CSCC. And bring up helping at animal shelters. Although the other divisions don't sound too bad either. Hmm....]

I wished we had more time to idle over our food, but apparently even with our haste, we entered the movie theatre late anyway. Luckily they always use that time to ~~brainwash~~ the public with advertisements.

Then we went to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Y’know with that kind of title, I half-thought there would be an entire X-Men Origins series about the various major characters in the X-Men universe. Not that I’ll object to that, of course. The movie was chocked-full of mutant-bashing(QUITE literally) goodness. (I'll post my movie rant soon) Go watch the movie anyway =)

Next we went to the Esplanade. Such a high-class place, don’t cha think?
For poor people like us, we’ll skip the whole posh arty-farty stuff and cam-whore at the rooftop terrace.
Before this, I didn’t know we (the public) were allowed in. O.o…

A nice lotta photos were taken. By anyone who had a camera/camera-phone for that matter. Too bad we weren't there at the peak of the sunset. It'll look a lot more picturesque then. I wouldn't post everything since it's either on FB or someone else's blog already.
I really really really liked how the background contrasted with Dieh. And how the wind catches lightly in her hair.

Erm...I don't know what he was doing until I saw the photo on his blog. Good attempt, btw =)

This hereby proves my camera is not as useless as it seems. It caught someone in mid-air! And yeah, the guys are monkeying around again.

The guys were especially playful today. I have no idea what made them regress to their childhood days. They basically monkeyed around. From throwing pastilles at passing cars and people (LIKE, WTH?!) to attempting to break into a restricted area (I think they knocked the gate out-of-place -_-") and trying to see who can jump higher [See below]…
-_-

Then we took photos against this shiny obsidian wall.

Which came out like mirror images.

Damn nice.

But I'm not going to post the photos here because there're too many photos to resize and damnit, it's sianz. Pity the camera couldn't capture the black colour of the reflection.

The view would have been better if not for the mechanical giraffes marring the horizon.

The sunset view was great as usual.

Dieh went home to play mahjong and left the rest of us to our own devices.
On our way back, we passed a performance at the Esplanade concourse. Traditional Japanese instruments were involved. I would have liked to stay and watch though.

We went to a little place in CityLink and had a meal which made my inner miser happy. Thank you loads, Joy & Gladys!

Hmm...I left for home while the others went ahead to play mahjong at either KeQi's or TangJie's house. The irony, since Dieh went home to play mahjong as well.
Note to Self: Learn the art of Mahjong by this year! Gods. I think I'm missing out a lot because of my ignorance of gambling games.

I got to relax a little during the outing. It's the little moments like these which I depend on to keep what's left of my sanity intact. I noticed the group's a little bit more sianz today. Maybe poly life is also taking its toil on them too? Well, hopefully the next outing would be timely enough and that most of the group would be able to make it.

It's back to school now. With the projects to rush and whatnot.

P.S. If you're wondering why the photos-to-words ratio is different this time around, that's because I'm out of mojo. Writing mojo. The Ooh-La-La mojo as well.

Black Monday

2009-04-27T20:53:00.007+08:00

I find it ironic that we of DMC 02 are getting into another uniform look so soon after we shook it off upon secondary graduation.

Yeah. I don't know who (exactly). But that sneaky someone pulled off yet another coordination again.

The mastermind sent the class rep a message and the class rep just passed it on without knowing any better and somehow the whole class subconsciously dons black clothing in accordance to said black dress code. And complains much afterwards. -__-"

Pity we didn't take a photo to commerate what would be the last uniform day.

Y'know what else's black about today?

The label "Ah Lian" is now stuck due to being a tad liberal with vulgarities. And for being able to convey a message within a single shot of shouting instead of being all demure-like and attempting half-heartedly to yell ~~which would turn out futile anyway~~.

Pardon me for not even trying to put on a show of civility and instead going straight to the point.

I didn't know people at this age were that sensitive to the odd rude gesture and so on. Especially when the exchange of rude gestures wasn't directed at them. And when said rude gesturing doesn't hold any malice between the parties involved.

Judge a book by its cover, will you?

*Is feeling emo when the clock struck 12*

1st Lectures LOL

2009-04-24T16:29:00.003+08:00

We had the official first marketing lecture today. By this guy called Rajah. Our whole class was late by 5 mins for the lecture. He was still there despite his earlier warning about abandoning lecture if a certain number wasn't on time.

But as it turns out, he did walk out of the theatre. Except that an encounter with some student smokers (and the resulting conflict) somehow enabled his return into the theatre. Funny guy, the lecturer.

The lecture was filled with little anecdotes and mentions of other seemingly unrelated topics which made things interesting, of course. Like this Chinese restaurant in London where customers are attracted by the service (or lackthereof actually). It kinda makes me want to visit the place myself one day. Then maybe than I wouldn't be so pissed with the service standard here in Singapore, if I had something worse to compare to.

I spent the better part of the lecture trying to keep up with the slideshow speed since I didn't buy the notes and forgone bringing the textbook. Only to find out later that the lecturer would UPLOAD the damn slideshow online and he wouldn't "allow our writing speed to dictate his life".
I just wasted 4 pages of notepaper there. T_T

Overall, the lecture was kinda fun. Even if there were more personal recounts than literal readings from the text, he got the point across anyway. Am definately looking forward to the next lecture =)

The next ICP lecture though was kinda dry. I wasn't bored but the energy level somehow dipped a little. If her lecture had been first, I would say she's good enough. But she paled in comparison to the previous guy. To her credit though, she involved real-life applications and included these funny vids (about miscommunication) as well. I LOL-ed at the Bush one.

A funny take on why Learning English is important.

Dialodge Session with George Bush *WATCH THIS ONE!*
This was actually a parody of a older comedy skit. The original one is below.

Abbott and Costello: Who's On First

I had to watch this more than once to understand it. The rapidfire conversation makes it hard to catch. This skit is, by the way, about baseball. Hence the first base, second base and so on.

Btw, here's another commercial on Learning English. It's BANNED though ~~for obvious reasons~~.

NOTE: You might want to lower the volume coz this is kinda NSFW (Not Safe For Work)or NSFH (Not Safe For Home) for that matter.

Later in the day, we got to enter studio 19! It was kinda small but they had some cool (and very costly) equipment. It makes me a little edgy to be together in such a cramp, accident-prone area with millions of $$$'s worth of equipment. WHAT IF. WHAT IF one of them expensive cameras went thunk against the wall?

Finally took a nearly complete class photo though (short of Grace who was still on LOA).

(No, our class is not deprived of clothes to wear. We just chose to coordinate an uniform look (White SP shirt) that day.)

2009-04-22T20:06:00.007+08:00

As it turns out, Eneeli can get to school early in the mornings, but utterly fails to do so in the afternoons.

I reached Dover Station around 12.15-ish and ended up half-sprinting to the classroom where I was greeted by everyone staring upon walking in. It just so happens that the first time I’m late, the tutor HAD to be reeeally particular about punctuality. I think I might have been already marked for the black list in the marketing module now. Way to go girl -_-.

And despite all the oversleeping, I still remained in a semi-aware state for the better part of the afternoon. There were those little shops along the corridor area and Foodcourt 6, which sold stuff like CDs, accessories and clothes. One of them had this cute T-shirt which had a cloud having a Technicolor yawn (literally). So I went closer to look.

And promptly stepped all over the display of colourful slippers on the floor. (Much apologies to the shopowner >_<)

To make things worse, I didn’t realize it until it got pointed out. Coz really, out of the corner of my eye, it looked like a colourful carpet.
*slaps self*

So far, only two textbooks were purchased and they already cost a bomb. $64.60 damnit. It’s not even the end of the week yet. My wallet weeps for its empty belly now.

I went for the Hiroshima exchange trip thingy briefing. Yeah, even though I know nuts about Hiroshima except that it got atomic-bombed back in WWII. But it’s still in Japan. That alone is appealing enough (The location, not the bombing).

Ended up not going for the interview after all. It’s freakin’ expensive. $1800 - $2000 even though it’s still within Hiroshima and not anywhere else in Japan. For that amount, I reckoned there’ll be a field trip to some neighbouring city as well. Haiz…Wasted though. It'll probably be one of the few chances to meet and mingle with real native Japanese in their own homeland.

P.S. For the record, I'm still struggling to upload Hecate outing photos onto Photobucket (IT SUCKS). The %**$#&% website hangs on me every few minutes. >_<

P.P.S. The first sentence only applies to my current school and not AMKSS =)

TPRAWKS'08 PURPLE5 Outing

2009-04-19T19:24:00.000+08:00

It is the first time since the TPRAWKS'08 event that I've seen my fellow group members again. I think I've pretty much forgotten the names of at least half the group already. ~~Can't blame me though. The sense of camaraderie just wasn't strong enough here~~.

Not many people turned up as hoped. We dwindled to a mere handful. Then the leader who fixed the appointment time of 4.30pm, turned up at 5pm+. -_-""
And to think I rushed to the Cathay, trying not to be late.

There were certainly some changes around. The two best friends were dressed impeccably well. To me, they felt more grown-up instead of being all girly and everything. Wee Kiat had a new hairstyle which was so much better than his previous crewcut. Umi seemed tired. Then again, she was busy with a night-cycling event at ECP yesterday. ~~(Coincidentally, I was barely a few metres from the bicycle station yesterday too. But we never saw each other. Fate, non?)~~
And Nadzeef? Same as always. A little more bulk though.

Shortie was Shortie. ~~Gawd. I still feel weird calling her Shortie.~~ Her most distinctive attribute was our entertainment fare while waiting for the last person to arrive. I haven't heard this much vertically-challenged jokes in one sitting before. ~_~ Poor Shortie.

Yolanda? Well...She was much spunkier than before. My last impression of her at TPrawks'08 was a more or less, reserved person who let people like Shortie and Nadia take the spotlight then. Now...It's like WHOA. You CAN turn a lamb into a tiger after all!

We went to Ben & Jerry's to eat, slack and talk cock. I never actually set foot in such a high-end ice cream shop before (Swensens doesn't count). Turned out to be quite comfy though. They had those plush velvet-covered cushions as backs for the inner seats and black-and-white cube chairs for those on the outside. It would have been cosy enough if not for the fact that MTV was blasting on a huge projector screen in the background. And of all things to show, it HAD to be the making of the Paris Hilton New BFF show. Whatever its name is anyway.

The food was decent though. There were "value" combos which were expensive in their own right but more affordable compared to the original menu items. I liked how they presented the nachos and cheese dip. Pity it wasn't Valentines' Day, since the heart-shaped dip-holder would look better then.

Shared a combo with Umi. I tried the famous Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream which Yolanda was raving about. It was...Oddly nice? I don't know who to describe it. But basically it tasted like cream cheese with generous chucks of strawberries in it. I'm not sure if I liked biting into the strawberry bits. It was sweet from the ice cream and there was a mildly strong strawberry with the tang of it slowly seeping into the tongue. To begin with, I never liked fruits in ice cream. Give me sinful chocolate anyday (Phish!).

Somehow, the B&J shop ran out of nachos for my order. ~~Is that even possible?~~. This was the replacement. Chocolate Brownie with Chunky Monkey ice cream on top.

I always wanted to try out their trademark Chunky Monkey. The fans made it seem like something extraordinary and all. Which is why fans can't always be trusted. Personally, I think Chunky Monkey is overrated. It's just banana-flavoured ice cream with nuts. Such a disappointment.

After the ice cream ~~binge~~ treat, Umi & Nadz had to leave for prayers. No offense, but why now of all times to have prayers? Anyway, the rest of us went to while away our time at Plaza Sing. Strangely enough, we went to Daiso. That cool $2 shop selling Japanese imports. I was always a sucker for colourful things. Hence my newest purchase.
10 Coloured PENS for $2!

Next was the arcade (again). Shortie & Yolanda didn't want to play. Wee Kiat went off by himself to play shooting games. The twosome were in their own little world. Perhaps I couldn't really relax around my companions. Which was why I failed miserably at the Basketball game which I had scored at just a day earlier. Haiz...

On a little brighter note, I saw a cosplayer in the arcade. No, he wasn't in costume. But I recognized him anyway. Who wouldn't? It's that really bishounen Shiki who appeared at AFA (Anime Festival Asia) late last year! OMG. I was half-tempted to ask for a photo since he's already clad in J-Punk clothing. But OMFG. He looks like an Anime character even when he's OUT of costume. =DDDDD

Ehhh...Back to outing...Erm....We went to Secret Recipe for dinner. Food there was overpriced and not really worth it anyway. Nadz ordered the Kids' Meal XD
Then someone else had the guts to try Tom Yam spaghetti. Which I heard was beyond awful and didn't even taste like Tom Yum. Like duh. How on earth do you mix a dish whose flavour lay in its soup with dry spaghetti?

I myself ordered a cheesy penne dish of prawns and mushrooms. It started off kinda bland. Which prompted me to douse it with cheese poweder. Which made it nauseating towards the end. I can't believe I'm saying this. Cheese made me ill. ICK.

Looks disgusting eh?

Next up was Rocher Road's soya beancurd or tau huey. We walked from Plaza Sing to the little shop house tucked away in a row of olden but spruced up shop houses. Apparently business there was so good that they extended tables into the darkened back alleys. Likewise, I hadn't set foot into this kind of place before.

Alleys have a really mysterious atmosphere to them. Of sleazy rendezvouses and illegal trading. Where nameless bandits dwell in wait for fresh prey and the darkness which encompasses all.

It was hard to capture that feeling of being in such a dangerous place since there were a whole bunch of other people there eating, drinking and making merry. The dozen or so electric lights placed all around sorta ruined that effect as well. Damnit.

I hate taking photos in that kind of dark. Especially since I don't know anything about flash manipulations and white balance and so on and so forth. This is just about the few remotely creepy photos I got.

Ok...Fine. It ain't all that creepy. But humor me, k?

We took a final picture together and went our seperate ways. To home, to school, to a new life. Blah blah blah....

The End

BBQ @ ECP

2009-04-18T10:42:00.000+08:00

The social gathering was for the CSCC freshies who went for the Haute D’Horreur camp and the Phantom Obssession thing. But we didn’t really mingle much though. Mostly amongst our own camp groups. Still it counts for something.

This is probably the last Hecate outing in months to come considering how everyone is in different schools ~~Even though we have a hell lotta people in Business~~. We met up at Kallang MRT, which I thought was kinda odd. I mean, what can we do there? Go Kallang Stadium & watch soccer matches?

From Kallang, the few of us went to Parkway Parade. Edward was late because he had problems fixing his hair. -_-…This is the first time I heard something like this coming out of a guy. Ate at PastaMania (Yay TangJie for the suggestion!) where we had to separate coz there weren’t enough tables. Sian.

Then it was arcade time since the mall didn’t have a Toys’R’Us shop. Their arcade was quite up to date. There was this simulation machine where the “passengers” inside get to experience tremors and violent shaking during their “journey”. Damn cool. But then it cost a whopping $4 just for TWO people. Was greatly tempted to try that though.

In the end, I went for the Basketball game. Basically it’s just tossing balls into the hoop. And I’m proud to say, between me and Shaira, we got to Stage 2 and scored 114 points.
~~Yeah sure. Edward & Junyang scored, like, twice as much as we did and were the highest scorers. But they’re guys who’re sportier than us. So who cares. xp~~

Then we walked all the way to East Coast Park. In the sweltering sun and where the winds blowing were hot. So much for East Coast Park being near to Parkway.
Apparently, the rush to reach the place by 4pm was because of the lure of the promised CCA points to the first 60 who reached. It sounded like some discount freebie thing at the marketplace. I highly doubt it since we haven’t even joined the club yet, so how on earth would we get CCA points. And I don’t believe CCA points are treated so lightly either. Who the hell made up that crap anyway (and made the whole group hurry along instead of strolling leisurely)?

Surprisingly though, there weren’t many people there when we finally reached. ~~Probably coz they all reached first and went off elsewhere to do other things~~. After all that walking, the only thing I wanted to do was to soaked (my feet) in the water. Coz I didn’t bring spare clothing. Unsurprisingly the sea was warm. But better than nothing. Us girls walked along the shoreline barefooted. In which Ke Qi was ill-fated enough to get crude oil (the black sludgy kind) on her foot. XD
This is not the first time she had strange substances on her. So far, the tally was two times bird droppings and one black sludge. We’ll be keeping track, I think. XDD

As usual, I whipped out my camera. I had to this time. The scenery was a sight for sore eyes. In addition, it’s uncommon for me to see the tropical seaview to match the kind of weather Singa~~bloody~~pore has. From an amateur photog’s point of view, it was bright enough so that I don’t have to care about the lighting (or lackthereof).

But the n00b me forgot to adjust the setting from “Manual”. Which sucked balls since I know shit about white balance and all the technical crap. And thus, I get photos like these.

They all look like they’re in the light at the end of the tunnel. Like in those movies when someone has a near-death experience and find themselves in this glaringly bright white place which leads to heaven and then someone tells them their time is not up and they get sent back to their bodies. If you want to be nice, it’s “artistry”.

By the time I figured out what the hell went wrong with my camera, the girls were too tired to continue walking around in the blazing sun. I had to settle for candid shots instead.

And then we spotted this group of couples who were going overboard with PDA in the sea. ~~LOL Niang tried to stop us from watching them “Not for kids to watch!”~~

~~Guess what? I have photographic evidence of their hanky-pankying! Who wants them uploaded?! XDDD~~

Then we had a lethargic game of Frisbee amongst ourselves ~~and the opposing wind~~ .

Actually no.

It was more like Fetch since most of us spent more time picking up what the other has thrown.

And obviously in every BBQ, there’s always several who jump to be the cooks for the day. In this case, Tang Jie & Ke Qi fulfilled the roles ~~unexpectedly~~.
~~Junyang's just eating here.~~

Along with a lot of other GUYS. I suppose BBQ has got to be the few, if not only, manly form of cooking you can do. Coz it involves FIRE (being so near to it is dangerous and undoubtedly doing it knowing is very manly) and minimal ingredient preparation.

I happily consigned myself to the passive role like all those eating. But honestly, I daren’t take too much BBQ since I didn’t do anything. So it mostly mee hoon and the likes.

Niang played poker with the girls.

It became Hazel’s turn to be unlucky while Ke Qi got a reversal of fortunes. This was also the first time I heard Ke Qi’s evil laugh. O.o…

Since I wasn't keen on the cooking and I don't know how to play cards much, eating became an activity of sorts. They didn't have dessert there and I coincidentally stashed chocolate away in my bag. Yay, rite?
Unfortuantely they changed state...but still edible, rite?

...I feel utterly retarded for recording this.

Then we saw this really cool pair of guys wearing...erm...Modified skates? I don't know what they're called. But basically they (literally) give the wearer an extra spring in their steps. The duo were doing backflips and all those stunts effortlessly. We cheered them on (even though they're complete strangers loh). Maybe that's why they approached our area and gave us a close-up eyeful of they could do.

Sadly the clip I recorded was of a semi-failed attempt. But cool nonetheless. I wonder if these things can be rented...

I had to leave early coz of Jap class. But got take group pic before I left. YEY!

I wished I could have stayed longer though. And hopefully, there'll be more outings in the near future.
The view's gorgeous, eh?

~~Next time, I'll don shorts instead of jeans and take more photos. And dunk people in the water. Unintentionally, of course.~~

Hecate's Day Out

2009-04-06T15:15:00.019+08:00

Hecate had its first group outing today!

Unfortunately I overslept (as usual) and arrived later (as usual) hence missing out on an hour of conversation. So I ended up meeting them at the Takashimaya branch of Pepper Lunch (Ironically, I ate lunch with my Mum at the Pepper Lunch in AMK earlier >_>).

After that, we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering aimlessly around some shopping malls before finally taking a break in the building opposite Wheelock Place where we slacked off with 爹. Along the way, we learnt that some of the guys couldn’t bring themselves to enter a make-up store [SaSa] ~~because they were too macho to be seen in a girly make-up haven.~~

And somehow, we ended up rummaging through Edward’s wallet ~~to make fun of his photos back then and now~~, and had 爹 enlighten us on the whole GEMs (General Elective Modules) thing as well as the truth about certain clubs in SP.

One way or other, we came to a decision to crash Joshua (the GL whose uber-slow version of Bom Chika Bom everyone dreaded)’s birthday party even though we barely knew the guy. Why? Because 爹娘 were going as well.

So we idled our time away until it was time for us to meet up with 娘. I ended up whipping out my camera to take candid shots unnoticed ~~which failed~~.
And KeQi, Tang Jie & I indulged in some self-love.

We met娘 at City Hall and went off to get a card (Like payment for partaking in the birthday cheer) from Hallmark. Yeah, that gift shop with the overpriced cards.
Our chosen pop-up 3D card (no bigger than my report card) costed us $10. >_>
~~If that wasn’t enough, there was a A3-sized card which was $28. And it didn’t pop-up like a magic trick. It’s clearly daylight robbery.~~

A couple of other GLs [Pearlyn, Jing Wen & Gina, right?] brought us to the venue. I heard other groups (~~Slipper~~ Silifer? Nebula? Zombi?) were joining the party as well. The only venue I know of which can fit that many people is McDonalds. For a moment there, I had a disturbing mental image of everyone there with freebie party hats & balloons, like those brat [Read: BRAT, not FRAT] parties the overly-indulgent parents organize for their ~~demon spawn~~ beloved offspring. Thankfully (Or not), that wasn’t the case.

The place’s Kenny Rogers at Marina Square. I was kinda expected a Carl’s Jr-like place from the sound of it. It was something like that, with the casual atmosphere of any random fast-food restaurant.

The only difference was the pricing. Which utterly floored us all.
They had meals which cost up to $50++. The cheapest set meal cost $12.90, without GST & service charge. SALAD cost $7.50 a serving ~~(That’s some expensive rabbit food)~~.

Needless to say, everyone at Hecate took a long time just deciding what to get. It was really tempting to just order water and/or corn muffins ($1.80 a muffin), then get away from there. So we talk cock (nearly) sing song and took some photos.

Candid Shot! ~~(Or not, since Qing Tao saw me)~~

Did the two sons go shopping together? *Looks pointedly at shirts*

LOL @ Jim

~~Damn, she caught me...~~

When Joshua arrived, the groups which were there didn’t really sing any birthday song to him. There were several disembodied greetings and gifts were presented to said birthday boy.

After sitting there for what seemed like eons (And feeling increasing abashed to the service staff who had been really patient with us not ordering anything yet while taking up a lotta space), we relented and ordered proper-ish food. Not corn muffins though. Those were free =).

They were not bad actually. I always thought corn muffins to be like bird food.

Ke Qi, Tang Jie & I shared some $12.90 set meal of chicken wings, side dishes of Macaroni & Cheese & Garlic Parsley Potato. The chicken wings had chicken HAIR on them >_<. Not to mention the meat was a little tough and the taste was nothing special. The side dishes though, were nice. I liked the Garlic Parsley Potato because it’s not overwhelmingly flavoured with garlic but yet remains garlicky enough.

But my favorite was the Macaroni & Cheese. Much to my companions’ disgust, the macaroni was generously coated in a film of bright yellow gooey cheese sauce. Honestly, I couldn’t see what’s so gross about it. Still, I ended up finishing the Macaroni & Cheese by myself, cheese addict that I am; and was too full to finish the remaining chicken wing.

娘 ordered the Chicken Pot Pie set. The “Pie” was larger than a typical coconut. Amazingly enough, he finished everything except a few scraps of bread which was shared amongst the guys.

I think the soups were ordered by 爹 and Hazel. The chicken soup looked kinda greasy to me [Was it?]

During the meal, the topic of ghostly encounters was brought up. I couldn’t hear everything but there was something about why you shouldn’t turn back while crossing the Red Bridge in the Business School, the way cheap Genting hotels dispose of suicides and why the Pax Lodge in Camp Christine (which we girls slept in CSCC camp day 1) was ridiculously cold at night. =/

We Hecate kids forked out money so we can treat out our dear 爹娘. The other GLs were envious loh XD But 爹 was a little put-out because she ordered only a soup while 娘 got the most expensive dish. LOL.

After the meal, we hung around for a while and sung the birthday song from the second floor (where they can’t hear us) ~~and watched the ensuring tussle when Tang Jie blurted out that Ke Qi’s wardrobe faux pas and Ke Qi treated all to candid photos of a sleeping Tang Jie.~~

Next up was the arcade. 爹 tried her hand at the notorious claw machines. (FYI, the claw machines in the arcade entice people with the cuddly-looking plushies within their transparent guts. Then they trick said people into handing over coins. Yes, claw machines eat money. I know it all too well) Then they had a F1 car race (in which Hazel got really excited and Jim pwned everyone else).

娘 and the guys played pool despite the exorbitant price ($12 per hour!). The girls just hung around at the background chatting. I had no idea there was this many K-Music fans around me [Hazel & Tang Jie]. I must be one of the minority still onto J-Rock nowadays. 0.o.

Anyway, I got rather lethargic around that time which was probably why I couldn’t get clear photos despite taking that many candid shots.

Qing Tao looks unassuming and all, but he's actually pro at pool.

Our 娘 is quite the pool pro as well ~~Runs in the genes, I suppose.~~

I broke off from the rest of the group to meet my parents who were going to send me home. Which was a mistake because I ended up walking from Marina Square to Pan Pacific Hotel and then across the road back to Suntec City Convention Centre again. Because Orchard Road doesn’t have enough external overhead bridges and I daren’t jaywalk in my sleepy state.

Initially I was kinda apprehensive about the meeting point (at Orchard). After all, most everything on Orchard Road is frigging expensive or at least, way out of my spending range. But I guess it was money well spent for together time.

~~I suppose I neglected to mention to the passer-by that the so-called Image Stabilizer of my digicam doesn't work as well as it should.~~

...1st Time Watching & Lockon Dies Already >_>

2009-04-05T18:46:00.006+08:00

I decided to give Gundam 00 on Okto last night. And the first episode I watch just had to be the one where Lockon dies. Haiz.

The idiot apparently insisted on trying a direct hit to the other Gundam (w/ Ali el-Sahchez (sp?)) despite his own Gundam already destroyed. Sad case really. R.I.P to him then.

Maybe I've not gotten in touch with the Gundam series in so long that I keep forgetting that self-sacrificial acts like this one feature in just about every Gundam series. Or in this case, Lockon being blinded by his righteous desire to avenge his family and just adding the bonus of self-sacrifice to top it off.

My impression after the first episode I watched was that there was too much focus on the bishounen male leads and not enough on the female commanders (& staff) in the background. Maybe it's the wrong episode to start off, but seriously, the gals are not impressionable enough. They don't make me want to find out more. At the very least, there was Cagalli & Lacus ~~(& the goddamn Fllay bitch)~~ in Gundam Seed.

Yeah. I'm not that much of a mecha fan. And I like the human interactions better than the Gundam wars (despite the whole point of the series being about Gundams).

Tieria happens to be the only Gundam pilot to weep upon realising Lockon's demise.
Tiera, btw, is fully (I think) MALE. ~~Despite his pink cardigen & exceptional cross-dressing skills~~

No wonder I keep seeing this Yaoi pairing pop out.

It's not too late to catch up with the series I suppose, though I'm not too keen on it. Gundam Seed was enough angst, Gundam Seed Destiny came with an angst-riddled protagonist ~~(Shinn Asuka)~~who propagated angst. I don't want to deal with what the latest Gundam 00 has to offer. Especially since I can't keep track of the number of organizations involved this time.

P.S. I went blog-hopping for my juniors' blogs. They actually have a Drama Club blog now. O_o...Suddenly, I feel like I've been living under a rock for the past 3 months.

~~I DIDN'T KNOW SYF WAS OVER SO SOON! And I didn't get to watch their SYF performance. Damn~~

Hanté D’ Horreur ~ Day1

2009-04-01T14:22:00.006+08:00

I went to the camp with a feeling of trepidation and underlining hope. Having experienced several rather…unpleasant camps previously, I wasn’t too keen on repeating any of those fiascos again. Thank heavens/whoever’s in charge up there, for the CSCC camp was beyond awesome.

The first day started off slow…We had the usual ice-breaker games and were then sorted into our respective groups. Mine was Hecate. It links to the trio of witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (something like that lah).

Personally, I rather liked my group’s name. It’s kinda exotic, ne? Even though nobody could agree on its pronunciation right to the last day (Hare-Kate? Hare-Curt?). And that we were consistently forgotten by the other groups during the “bombing” games (Or maybe they just didn’t want to bother with the issue of pronunciation).

Og course, when it came to addressing our GLs, Hecate had to be different too. Everyone else called their GLs "Daddy, Mummy" or something similar.
We call ours "爹 (Dieh) & 娘 (Niang)". In the reverse order. XD
Our 娘 wasn't too pleased with being the 娘 while his fellow GLs got the 爹 role.
辛苦你了，娘! Both of them were good at they do and I'm really glad they were our GLs.

Anyway, the first order was to create our own flag by obtaining materials from the GPs of each station. Basically the purpose was to embed manners into our heads. I was reminded of my primary school days again when we had to greet every single person instead of just adding a “s” to their position. It didn’t help that the GPs all had designated unique names to call themselves. Hula Girl, Silent Speaker, Mr. Spongy Spongebob, were just some of the normal ones. I LOL-ed at the innocuous-sounding Mr. Soft Balls, Horny Mustard & Horny Cheese Pie (Just Mispronounce the latter two!).

Ok. I’m digressing. Back to the flag. I was really glad I got to help out with the flag’s design this time (YAY!). Pity for the lack of time/colours available though. Everyone finger-painted the design on while playing a warped form of musical chairs. Despite the constraints, it was honestly fun.

We packed up and went to the Camp Christine somewhere near Lim Chu Kang area. I think. The bus passed by a long road of cemeteries (Part of the sights) and a goat farm sign. Anyway, the camp was reminiscent of those traditional summer camps in America near lakes and right smack in the middle of forests. Camp Christine wasn’t far off from that. We had a nice sea view and nostalgic-looking wooden lodges with names. Most importantly,they had
BEDS.
And PILLOWS.
And MATTRESSES. =) =) =)

But before we can properly appreciate the comforts of the beddings, it was GAME time. Once again, there were different stations to pass through. One of more hilarious ones was the Shampoo station. The guys were made to remove their shirts and squat in front of us girls (like P.O.Ws waiting to be shot). Then we had to shampoo their hair to produce suds which were to fill a bucket as much as possible. The resulting shampooing…Well, I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for (some of) the guys or to laugh at their expense. In a bid to maximize foam-production, one girl (Who ah? XD) ended up making her guy lose a lotta hair. You can practically see the black strands floating around in soapy puddles lol.

When they got (most of) the soap out, the guys had to each carry a girl and run in circles barefooted (on the burning pavement) singing the Barney theme song. Yeah I know. -_-“…I don’t think I can ever get used to being piggy-backed. Y’know, that feeling of your butt hanging in mid-air and you’re gonna fall off any moment if you don’t attempt to strangle your partner in a chokehold. No offense to Jim (the partner) though. You did well. It’s just that I like to keep both my feet firmly planted on the ground.

Another was a Fruits game. There were 2 dice. One with bodyparts printed on it (e.g. Hand, Thigh, Forehead, Knee, etc…) and the other with fruits (e.g. Grape, Banana, Orange, Apple, etc…). A boy-girl pair took turns to roll the “bodypart” die and then one would roll the “fruits” die. For instance, if the boy rolled a “hand”, the girl a “forehead” and the fruit “banana”; the boy has to hold a banana to the girl’s forehead and they have to walk in that manner to a pail to deposit the banana.

The first pair was unfortunately ill-fated enough to get the “cheek-to-thigh+banana” combo. Lolz. The transportation was awkwardly funny. I just had to laugh at this part. Maybe that was how retribution came about. I was paired with Edward and our combo was….”forehead-to-knee+GRAPE”.

Not a bunch of grapes, not a grape with its stalk on but a single stalkless round GRAPE.

Dear god.

Edward had to knee/squat on the ground while I held my knee out and balance one-legged. That position was cramp-inducing for both parties. We could barely move a few cm without dropping the grape. Someone suggested Edward carry me while I put my knee to his head O_O. I can’t imagine how on earth that is possible unless either of us were made of rubber. Still, we managed to trough on despite all the dropping.

Whew.

After us though, everyone were lucky. They got easy ones involving hands. Secretly, I think the luck was forcibly turned through sheer force of will (It was like a gambling den loh. People were shouting for the desired outcome and it happened. Just like that.) Along the way, I heard the GPs considering if they should include a durian for the fruits selection next time. So watch out 2010 campers!

The other stations were more or less normal. Like the one where we had to fold a canvas sheet in half using only our feet and while standing on it. And the Spider Web game with multiples gaps of varying heights and sizes in which members must be moved to the other side without touching the web. Also, the one involving balloons being wedged in between each person while the whole group attempts to cross an obstacle course in a single file. The last of which left me rather high-strung since it was the first game and already needed such a high level of teamwork. But overall, the games were fun. It was the stepping stone to becoming 同志 [doshi] or なかま (Nakama).

But the more memorable activity (not necessarily in a good way) was none other than the Blind Game. Simply put, they blindfolded the whole lot of us and made us follow whispered intructions (and ignore other distractions). Simple enough?

Hell no. It was sheer agony to be left in the middle of nowhere with only the distorted mumurs in the background for company. Not knowing what the hell is going on, or what will happen next or most importantly, WHEN will something actually happen. I actually fell asleep during these periods of solitude.

Following their instructions was…confusing. My Dieh & Niang warned us not to heed other voices except their own. But when I listened to that, one of the GPs ended up physically pulling me away from my group and to a grassy patch where I had to squat like a P.O.W. At that point, my mind was swarming with thoughts of causing my group a forfeit for getting myself captured and possibly having to do the forfeit on my own since I alone allowed myself to be pulled by the GP along with a endless litany of “ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitshitshitshitshit”.

Then we had to regroup again (Still Blindfolded), using a designated ANIMAL sound. God. Hecate had to bark. Like a dog. -_- ….While other groups were frantically bellowing/bleating/mewing/quacking (and creating this massive cacophony of noise), I couldn’t hear the “barks” of my own group. My guess is that they’re just as reluctant as I was to bark. In the end, I found my group by following the half-hearted “Woof-woof” (literally that).

Over what seemed like forever, we were separated, rejoined, separated, left alone, rejoined (Did I get the order right?). In one of my solo trails, I was led to a patch of wet sand and made to roll around in it. Then I got to sit around with some of my group to properly appreciate the feel of clumpy wet sand drying onto us like a second skin. We got to chat with an anonymous GP (who vehemently denies he is Horny Cheese Pie), which killed some time.

And just when I thought it couldn’t get any messier, the weird yeast-like mix came up. It smelled like the bread in a McChicken burger. That was beyond gross. It got into my hair, the inside of my clothes, shoes & possibly my unmentionables.

Ugh. Although I was practically blind w/o my specs, it was clear we looked like someone just barfed on us. Needless to say, the clothes were discarded w/o hesitation. Even if I did miss that T-shirt a little.

The GPs were hilarious. I was following the guy in front of me when I heard a male GP trying to distract him. I heard this “C’mon. Don’t be shy. Gimme a kiss. *lip-smacking sound*”. Lolz. Then he giggled like a schoolgirl. It was like “Tee-Hee”, something an Anime schoolgirl would do. XD LOL! Besides that, feathers, fingers & cool breaths to the ear were employed to make us all lose focus. Some of them kept trying to initiate conversation (despite their previous insistences that this was a SILENT game). While I didn’t want to appear rude, I didn’t want to keep talking especially when there might potentially be a forfeit (for not obeying instructions) later.

They say it was a game so we would trust the GPs, but I feel it’s more of a personal test of endurance. Teaches us to ~~not spazz out~~ keep the faith while no sign of moving forward is in sight.

Well, all’s well ends well.

*Shall post the 2nd part once I'm done with it.

2009-03-10T05:03:00.008+08:00

So basically Life is there, thus shit happens. When Shit happens, someone has to bear it as "The One". Unlike Mr (Neo) Anderson of The Matrix, this reality of "The One" doesn't come fully equip with downloadable knowledge and a wracked-up sense of reality warping. Nor the natural sense of cool (with the LEATHER clothing and whatnot). Nor the simple violent approach of dealing with just about anything. Nor the sylph-like femme fatale love interest. Nor the unthrillingly-cool mentor with the rock-solid, almost blind faith. Nor a motherly seer of the straightforward tellings and the home-made cookies (NOT fortune cookies by the way). ...The best part is that while Neo gets a lot of shit thrown into his life all of a sudden, he also gets to dish it out in generous proportions to said givers in the first place. Lucky dude.

...Ok. So maybe I shouldn't watch EVERY Channel 5 re-run of the Matrix after all. While I'm momentarily fixated on it, the FanGeek Effect is starting to wear off. I used to watch the action scenes with mouth agape and eyes unblinking (thoroughout, mind), during which the only thing I thought about was how AWESOME it was.

But having seen the older Chinese movies of the martial-arts-cum-madcap-comedy genre, Neo suddenly doesn't seem so cool after all.

To those who actually find that cool.

Puh-leeze.

Watch this Jackie Chan compilation instead. It's pratically a whole world of AWESOME up.

~~I haven't the faintest idea why I'm even mentioning this when I should be finishing up the rest of my event drafts. Damnit.~~

Repo! The Genetic Opera

2008-12-06T16:30:00.033+08:00

This has got to be the first time I reviewed before watching the whole movie first.
But that's coz Repo! The Genetic Opera is so freakin AWESOME that I can't even wait for it to appear on free video sites to watch it.

Repo! The Genetic Opera takes place in 2056, where human organ failure has become a global pandemic. In such times, a biotech company GeneCo had risen to meet the new demands for organ supplies. It comes up with easy organ payment plans (like installments). However, should payment not be made on time, GeneCo sends out its masked RepoMen to repossess the financed organs. Which roughly equates to ripping out the organs while their owner is still alive.

The main character is seventeen year old Shilo (Played by Alexa Vega of the Spy Kids franchise) who is infected with a rare blood disorder (courtesy of her late mum). Her overprotective father Nathan tries his best to protect her from the outside world by confining her in the house. Meanwhile, he juggles another night job as a Repo Man (doing the dirty work of GeneCo).

GeneCo's ailing boss Rotti Largo is troubled with the problem of a successor, even though he has three children. The eldest, Luigi Largo, is an ambitious psychopath while demented second son Pavi Largo who wears the skin of other people's faces. The only daughter of the family, Amber Sweet, is a drug addict to the painkiller Zydrate (which is extracted from the brains of corpses) and to the surgeries which follow.
Shilo, having reached the rebellious stage, sneaks off to explore the outside world and ends up catching the attention of some particulary unsavoury characters but finds the truth about her family entanglements. What happens in the rest of the film is for you to find out.

Trailer

Basically Repo is like the Rocky Horror Picture Show meets SAW with bits of the Phantom of The Opera & V For Vendetta thrown in. Yeah. It makes no sense when I say it like this. But seriously. It mixes so many genres together and it's so crazy, it actually works.

The awesomely outlandish array of characters all hold your attention. The cast was brilliant in terms of acting and singing. They got Sarah Brightman to play the talented soprano superstar Blind Mag. She was formerly blind, but had biogenetic eyes implanted by GeneCo. In exchange, Blind Mag must endrose the GeneCo company and perform in their great publicity stunt, the Genetc Opera. Blind Mag has this lovely, ethereal beauty and with Sarah Brightman's superb vocals, made this small character very memorable.

But there were a few surprises too. PARIS HILTON plays the role of spoiled princess Amber Sweet. But at first, I didn't even realise that Paris Hilton was even in the movie to begin with.
But don't let this put you off the movie. Paris Hilton did quite well in her role this time. She proved that yes, she can sing and it was nothing like the Stars Are Blind crap. Even though her singing parts are small. But it was enough to tell she has some potential left. She is the one in the black Domatrix!leather outfit and flanked by two muscle men in Zydrate Anatomy.

However, one of the more fascinating characters was the Zydrate supplier known simply as GraveRobber. He looks like the love child of Legolas (Lord of The Rings) and the Joker (Batman). He's the maniacally grinning guy with the glowing blue Zydrate injection gun.

This drug lord is the on-off lover of Amber Sweet but does not interfere with the power struggles within GeneCo. In fact, the half-sing,half-speak manner he performs Zydrate Anatomy reminds me of Sweeney Todd. Or the Emcee of the Cabaret musical. And the actor (Terrance Zdunich) is also the co-producer and co-writer of Repo. Pretty multi-talented eh? A minor character actually scoring one of the catchiest songs in the whole rock opera.

"Zydrate Anatomy" performed by Paris Hilton, Alexa Vega, Terrance Zdunich

Alexa Vega fits the role of sickly teenager Shilo pretty well. She shows off her singing mettle in "Infected" whereby she wallows in teenage angst and rages against her mother for passing the accursed blood disorder to her and again in the punk number "Seventeen" where she proclaims her supposed freedom at age seventeen. I didn't like the latter song though. It sounded too much like Avril Lavigne and did't quite fit in with the rest of the movie soundtrack. But it was utterly random. The room just suddenly burst into a glowing pink bordello-like place and ~~a hot pretty boy~~Joan Jett just appears out of nowhere and provides the rockin guitar sounds. The randomosity ~~and the pretty guitar boy~~ were just about the only thing(s) that I liked about that track.

"Seventeen" performed by Alexa Vega

One of my favourite songs was the duet between Blind Mag & Shilo. Apparently Blind Mag's Shilo's Godmother. In this scene, Blind Mag stops by Shilo's house to speak to her before she goes to perform her final aria for GeneCo. What I liked was how the song was part-conversation and manages not to be too cheesy despite the whole reunion-and-parting concept. The high-pitched Chase The Mornings was rather nice to listen to as well.

"Chromaggia" by Sarah Brightman [SPOILER!]

All in all, Repo! The Genetic Opera is an imaginatively original movie. I think it'll be this generation's cult classic (like The Rocky Horror Picture Show back in the '70s). The entire surgery-oriented setting doesn't seem that all far-fetched when there are surgery addiction has already taken root in our world and plastic surgery is easily available to the masses. And then there is the omnipresent threat of new and potentially deadly viruses which often borders on becoming an epidemic. So the massive human organ failure thing? Possible. I'm a sucker for dyfunctional movies with dyfunctional characters like this. Although the gruesome organ repossession scenes (Repo Man RIPS the bloody organ from the LIVING victim) did startle me at first, it sorta added to the whole appeal of the movie. I mean, how often can you find a gory sci-fi movie with a Gothic setting and Opera Rock as the soundtrack?

I don't know much about some of the other characters but their appearences alone are enough to pique my interest. Such as Pavi Largo here.

As of now, I'm patiently waiting for the wave of fanfiction and fanart to appear (as they always do with phenomenal films like these) while scouring the Internet for leaked movie clips. This is a rock opera, with minimal dialodge spoken and is a visual spectacle that simply takes your breath away. it's not as grandoise as Moulin Rouge, but makes up for it with the almost plausible bleakness felt throughout the movie. I don't even know why I'm writing this since Repo is a movie you have to experience for yourself. It may not cater to the tastes of the conservative and narrow-minded though. So if you're one of them, beware.

I really really want to watch this movie (but it's not released worldwide) simply after listening to the soundtrack alone. But the OST doesn't cover all 57 songs in the movie. Only 22 of them are in the soundtrack and has since yesterday, been played a grand total of 128 times on my computer already. Yeah, I'm rather obsessed with it now.

Repo! Original Soundtrack

I reccomend trying out "At The Opera Tonight" which features the whole cast or "Let The Monster Rise" by Shilo & her Dad. Or "I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much" which is a raw ballad sung by Shilo to her Dad after their misunderstanding (This is an understatement actually) was resolved. Or maybe "Needle Through A Bug" which is an intense conversation-like piece between the GraveRobber & Shilo. If you like opera, there's "Chromaggia" which is the swan song of Blind Mag. Then there is the already mentioned "Zydrate Anatomy" & "Chase The Morning" which are damn addictive and...

Ah heck. Just try out the whole soundtrack. Believe me, it is worth your time.
REPO! The Genetic Opera OST Downloads

p.s. If you clicked the links, you'd realised the pretty boy cameo isn't all what he seems. ;-)

Panic Room

2008-11-26T22:30:00.011+08:00

Today, I discovered why some of the ~~victims~~ people in horror movies act the way they do when I went to the dentist.

Long story short: I had to do check-ups before a pending jaw surgery to correct my slanted jawline. Today's check-up included taking X-Rays and jaw molds.

Firstly the good doctor poked and prodded the mouth with varying types of metal objects. I was ushered to a narrow room with bulky machinery to get X-Rayed. After donning this heavyweight apron thingy (Supposed to help protect against radiation? O_O), I had to bite down on this plastic bit while the nurse lady potted around with the machine(s). THEN SHE LEFT THE ROOM. Leaving me alone with the hulking machine. All she said was something along the lines of not moving and that she'll be back soon.

And there I was, standing alone in the dim cramped room biting down on the plastic extension of the machine and staring at nothing in particular since my glasses was kidnapped by the nurse lady.

The resulting silence was deafening.

I had half a mind to release my bite on the plastic bit when the machine beeped and shifted itself. The scanner thing sliced through the air, circling my head, as though looking for any weaknesses to pick on. There was a niggin spark of panic creeping in then. The machine kept beeping at me and suddenly halted. Somehow, I got the feeling that it was going to start shooting lasers like a Star Wars drone on crack and give me an impromptu lobotomy.

Maybe it was my tensing up that the X-Ray of the side view ended up tilted. But at least one can appreciate the smooth roundness of my wide forehead from that. It was pretty for a X-Ray pic. =)

Then came the frontal X-Ray. The nurse lady came back and ushered me to another dangerous-looking piece of equipment where she promptly clamped my head using prongs. Prongs which extended into my ear canals and pressed against the furrows of the eyebrows. Plastic UNBREAKABLE prongs.

I hadn't felt so trapped ever since the tunnel game way back in OBS (We were locked in twisted labyrinth-like hamster tunnel in total darkness and with about a dozen other n00by n00bs, but that's another story for another day).

The machine got into two of my orifices, pressed down between another two very vital orifices and bascially forced my HEAD into place with its plasticky hardness.

Then the nurse lady went off AGAIN and left me to the devices of that blasted machine. I very well near had a panic attack there and then. It was like one of those gory movies whereby the victim, ensnared in orifice-invading traps, makes a sudden move and ends up getting skewered/BBQ-ed/lobotomised. Yeah. Maybe I have been watching one too many gorror (horror + gory) movies. But that sense of deja vu was totally acute then. In my anxiety-stricken state, I was comtemplating everything from accidentally-on-purpose thrashing the machine (and tearing my ears off in the process) to calling for my mother (Yeah, a fleeting thought, but still a thought nonetheless). I was getting ready to shout when the machine whirred to a halt. Just when the nurse lady stepped back into the room again. And she removed all the prongs. But I can still feel the icky cold plasticky touch of the machine's invasion in my ears. Putting ice cubes in the ears doesn't even come close to how chilling it was then.

And that was just the psychological part.

I was back on the dentist's reclining chair thingy again to have the mold of my crooked jaw taken. He told me in an almost careless manner that "it might hurt a bit". Then without warning, he started fitting metal dentures into my mouth. Apparently, he couldn't estimate the appropriate size of the metal pieces by just looking at it. He kept picking up the OVERLY LARGE pieces and kept trying to fit them into my mouth by stretching the lip skin to inhumane proportions. I'm not being dramatic here. I could have sworn I felt the stretchy bits of skin tear, like when you pull plasticine apart.

When the dentist did for the upper jaw fitting was nothing compared to the lower one. At least the right fit was found quickly enough for the latter. I don't know what was the problem there. Maybe my upper jaw was so oddly-shaped that he had to get the entire basket of metal mold pieces out to find one which doesn't even fit that well.

Then he spread this weird blue clayey mixture on it and jammed the metal
piece into my gums. That HURT like hell. To make things worse, he had to repeat the oral metal smash twice because his reflexes weren't fast enough/mixture wasn't cohesive enough to prevent the blue clay from hardening before molding round my teeth. The metal mold piece had to be pressed down into my jaw too. Because it takes up so much mouth cavity space, I can't frickin move my tongue. My salivary production obviously went into overload in such discomfort. Thank god I hadn't drooled then. But I think I know how a saddled horse feels like now.
Horse-Riding is officially cruel.
Especially when you have to put the metal bit in the horse's mouth in order to attach the whole damn reins contraption. It'll bitchin' hurt.

It has been a good 4 hours since I had metal bits jammed into my mouth. The edges of the lips still ached. I still have the feeling that if I smile now, it wouldn't look like this "\_/" or "V". It'll be all Joker-like. Or droopy at the ends. Then I'll look like some grumpy pedo. Eww.

Perhaps I should start investing in smudgy stage make-up for that clown look now...

End of Rant.

Ok. I havw not idea why, but I hadn't felt like blogging for the past few weeks. And suddenly this psedo-horror dentistry trip made me have verbal semi-diarrhoea. I make no sense and I don't feel like doing logic now. But a list of looooong overdue blogposts recently.

In No Particular Order (Coz I have long since given up on the concept of time)

- End of O' Levels
- Prom Night!
- TPRAWKS 2008
- Bitch Rant of DOOM
- First Job Ever
- Farewell Assembly
- Anime Festival Asia 2008!!!

Ja'. I have a lot to catch up on and I just realised money is really really really important now.

2008-11-03T20:22:00.006+08:00

I just met an Internet perv on MSN yesterday.
A certain kohnson claiming to be from Greenview Sec and Pasir Ris Primary. Pssch. I know you're from 4/1 '08 asshole.

Don't you think that people do things just to show how "good" they can be, are such hypocrites?
To put things really politely, I am no longer on talking terms with a certain few. And one had actually sent me a friend request online with the message to forget it IF that person did anything wrong, or IF that person had ostracized me.

Apparently that person thinks she/he did nothing wrong in the first place and she/he has always been correct and as though I'm kicking up a big fuss.

And while it sounded so pretty (that online request), reality provides a completely different outlook. In front of others, you act like you don't really care and you're totally fine denying my existence. Can you claim to be anymore sincere about your so-called peace offering, two-face?
I loathe such hypocrites who pretend to do something just to appear oh-so-good-natured. Yeah. For all you know, the request was made in the presence of another just to show that "hey, I gave in FIRST".

A shitload of good your strict upbringing did to you.

I Got Tagged!...

2008-11-01T02:59:00.007+08:00

I got tagged by: Rosanna~!

Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question.
Make it a total of 20 questions, then tag the people in your list.
List them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged. Whoever does the tag will have blessings from all.

1) Have you given your first kiss away?
*Is lost in reverie* Yeah...It was an unforgettable afternoon, nearly six years ago. It was a simple fall, but with much consequence...I lost my first kiss to...

The concrete floor of Mayflower Primary's amphitheatre. ~~I broke half a front tooth damnit! And then lived on watery porridge for the following week after. >_<~~

2) Spoilt?
Kinda. Some of the loose screws up here has completely fallen out. Replacements anyone? XD

3) Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Dreamland? My own definitive Dreamland, that is.
But Japan comes to a close second. =)

4) If you can have one dream to come true, what would it be?
It would be for Life's major knots and little kinks work themselves out with little effort. A little extra (say...360GB more) of memory space would help a lot too.

5) Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?
Figuratively...No.
Like duh. People who believe/promote that have obviously never been in any serious hardship before.

6) Who/What are you afraid to lose the most now?
My Mum.
The ability to Change as I will. Change is only good if it can be controlled.

7) If you win $1 million, what would you do?
70% - Savings (Inclusive of Family)
5% - Chosen Charity
10% - Investments
5% - Buying Stuff

Well, logically it should be like that.

8) If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Hell no. Unless it's one of those desperate cliche romance novel situations where he/she is going away for good/dying/starting anew. Then I MAY consider confession.

9) List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
Meticulous, Herself?...Erm...Mindful of $$$?

10) What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
....Y'know, I can create another Tagged! Questionaire from this one alone.
Well, I'll start with the basics.
MUST BE:
- A Non-Smoker !!!
- A Non-Alcoholic !!!
- Open-Minded (Willing to try new things & not judge by stereotype)
- Understanding (Willing to accept the unconventional)
- Patient (Coz I'll still be PMS-ing/tempremental for many years to come)
- Loyal/Faithful/Trustworthy
- Honest (Frankly, I'm more at home with brutally blunt than little white lies & half-truths to "make people happy". Though a person using the pretext of being blunt to insult people...IS UNFORGIVABLE.)

And so on and so forth. Actually, the 2nd and 3rd points must prove a tad difficult to find around here. I have my doubts as to whether there are people out there with all the said qualities though.

11) Which type of person do you hate the most?
Even though it's "The Most"...It still covers a lotta ground.
- Hypocrites. Especially though who act "guai" in front of others and try to play the victim whenever they get into a conflict.
- Backstabbers. An evolved form of Hypocrites.
- Superficial People. I don't mean the vain ones. They irk me occasionally. But what really brings out the murderous impluses are those who judge others based on demeanor and surface appearence. Just because a person hadn't done anything to you doesn't mean she/he hadn't/wouldn't done anything to others. Just because a person acts like she/he is pure of heart doesn't mean she/he is. And just because someone had made mistakes before, it doesn't mean he/she deserves to be condemned in future cases.

12) What is your ambition?
Undecided. I'm still analysing which ambition has the most potential/attainable.

13) If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
Hmm...Considering the circumstances, I'd rather most people keep mum. Because I can't be entirely sure what they say is free of malice/spite. But for certain people, I'd rather they tell me point-blank. At least these can be trusted on what they say.

14) If you could change the world (or at least do something about it), what would you do?
- BAN SMOKING!!!
- Barr religion/race from having any influence on politics/the way the world is ruled/science?
- Enforce the Death Sentence in USA & the other adament countries with high crime rates & NO death sentences?
- Legalise Gay Marriages Worldwide? =)
- Reduce the Coming-of-Age Age Limit? XD
- Invent datachips which fuses with the brain so we can just load stuff in and out without having to memorize? ;-)

15) Are you a shopaholic or not?
No. I like looking around and all...But the price-tag...Usually the pricey price-tags...Actually, most price-tags. Just puts me off immediately.

16) If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
Not get so easily angered. Coz high blood pressure runs in my family. It's unhealthy. I wanna be...What's the word? ...Ah. Calmer. I wanna be calmer.

17) What do you usually do at home?
Surf the Net, Read, Day-Dream, Listen to Music, Fangirl...

18) Any weird habits or quirks?
- I do impromptu D.I.Y hair trims whenever my hair misbehaves
- I coat most of my non-sweet foods with heaps of pepper
- I often wonder about living impossibly alternate lives in impossibly alternate worlds
- I shift moods as quickly as a ninja catching a fly with chopsticks
- I think there's nothing wrong with what I am/do as it is completely normal? But others seem to contradict that...

19) How do you think the person who tagged you can change to be a better person ? (It's perfectly fine to leave it blank if you think he/she is perfect).
She wouldn't be her if she did that, ain't it?

20) What would you be doing if you were not taking this quiz?
Reading fiction/doujins, attempting to finish up blog drafts...Day-Dreaming...

I Tagged:
Miharu
Hwee Ying
Shan Lin
Wing Yan

Yeah. I didn't know what to say for some of those questions. But I shall respond with another TAGGED! Questionaire soon.

2008-10-17T16:48:00.004+08:00

I really shouldn't be blogging now. Really.

It's less than 3 days to the Big Os. And I really shouldn't be ~~dl-ing stuff~~ anywhere wthin a 5m radius of my PC. But to show this blog and its owner ain't dead...

Anyway, the Farewell Assembly has long passed. I've yet to upload/edit my photos, but a vid of the Teachers SINGING is up. There was a particularly irritating matter in which some supposedly victimised people played up their role and created a storm in a doll teacup...But it went okay I guess. A more detailed blogpost of the Farewell Assembly shall follow up next month.
Teachers Singing "My Wish"

The dreaded O'Levels Practical Exam has also gone by...I spent nearly that whole day complaining/bemoaning it, so I shall fret no more.

What happened then? ...Hmm....
- My Test-Tube Peg caught fire and I thought it was the glowing splint within that ignited...By the time I realised the wooden peg was aflamed (and half-blackened), the fire was like this far ---> <---- from my hand.
- Somehow or other, I spilled the unknown salt with the highly reactive Potassium element in it on my hand, skirt, exam paper, workplace, etc...With the bunsen burner still lit.
- The given distilled water bottle behaved like an asmatic walrus having a heart attack. It heaved and squeaked and huffed thorough the whole damn thing, hindering the clean-up process. T_T

All in all...Haiz...Screw the practical man. I'm gonna pin thy hopes on the Paper III.

On my way back yesterday, I met the two patchy black cats which hovered around my block again. They had really nice eyes, those sooty kitties. One of them had brilliant emerald eyes while the other's were of the brightest gold. However, the one with the golden eyes seemed odd last night. It fixated its gaze on me and stared as I walked to the lift lobby, its eyes now a deep amber. Then the light reflected off those eyes and I felt like I was in those creepily cheesy B-Grade Chinese horror movies whereby the ghosts are neon green and enter the scene with much fanfare, dry ice smoke & looped scary music...

Black cats crossing my path...Hmmm....An omen of sorts perhaps?

And on a final note, because I can't bring myself to continue typing....Here are some more quizzes/blog thingies.

148,377 People

WAAAAAAAAAAH! Kami's Death Anniversary is on my birthday =( Did Malice Mizer's decline begin from there?
1999 - Kami, Japanese drummer (Malice Mizer)

49%

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

ReSpOnSe!

2008-09-25T22:22:00.022+08:00

~The Aspiration~

We had to do those I Aspire To Be... cards because the school said so. Then the instructions given were contradicting. Not more than 7 words (Preferably a phrase/sentence) and yet the option of explaining the aspiration is offered. Anyway, I finally decided on becoming a Forensic Anthropologist, not to be confused with Forensic Entomology (Sorry Agnes. Got confused myself). For those too lazy to click on the wiki pages, that means I get to cut you up ~~with scalpels, scissors & chainsaws~~ when you die a suspected unnatural death. So take care and don't go off getting yourself killed if you dislike the idea of someone else exploring your dead body. Ok, that sounds wrong ~~(necrophilia!)~~.

Anyway, I was pretty surprised when Agnes picked Forensic Scientist too. She doesn't strike me as the sort who isn't squeamish at blood and gore and decomposing bodies with maggots oozing everywhere. Appearances can be deceiving though.
And then there were many job repetitions in class. Let's see...As far as I know...

2 Teachers
3 Manga Artists
2 Forensic Scientists
2 Actresses

Then I helped Joled with his paper, giving him Mad Scientist complete with drawings. Mrs Yeo rejected it. t_t...I still think it's viable. Sanity is overrated anyway.

This is the response to some of my friends' blogs/crazes.

HweeYing has already started planning for future cosplays. So here's a guide to making your own hakama.
How To Sew Men's Hakama

A hakama, by the way, is a reeeally loose baggy pants which the ancient Japanese wore. Some of them still do so if they're training with the katana or something.

The Hakama is so baggy that your pants legs almost meet even though your legs are wide apart. But unlike normal pants, the Hakama is tied with a sash as shown here, leaving two WIDE thigh slits ~~(The most common entrance of molest in Bleach Yaoi fanfiction)~~.

How To Wear A Hakama

Some Presentable Kuchiki Byakuya cosplays. (INCOMPLETE)

Personally, I feel that the main part of Byakuya cosplay is the whole arrogant-like demeanor. Not exactly arrogant, but just that sort of distinctly noble aura kind of thing. Then there is the solemn look without appearing wooden & the piercing gaze..Ok I can't find proper words for his behaviour. Some people do try the cold look, but some of those some end up looking sallow and emo instead. But ye get my point, right?

And Byakuya does cosplay too. Here he is, cosplaying Uchiha Itachi (Naruto)

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	High
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

I'm an Angry Sloth. Which sorta fits since I used up most of my energy being angry and thus am not bothered to do anything else due to weariness.

Disorder | Rating
Paranoid: High
Schizoid: Moderate
Schizotypal: High
Antisocial: Low
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: Low
Narcissistic: Moderate
Avoidant: Moderate
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: High

URL of the test: http://www.4degreez.com/misc/personality_disorder_test.mv
URL for more info: http://www.4degreez.com/disorder/index.html

I'm...mentally healthy enough. It's only mentally unhealthy if you scored a Low grade for everything. We're all human after all.

And a little extra.

This Page is Rated

NC-17

freakinasadworld.blogspot.com

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

Hur hur...NC-17? And I thought I was already holding back on the ~~Yaoi Smut~~ uncommonly-discussed topics. We'll see if it jacks up to R ~~when I decide to post my fave Yaoi couples~~ >:D

15

Created by OnePlusYou - Online Dating Service

I can take on 15 in a fight. 15 biting, kicking, scratching bitchin kids. What about you? XD

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating

And finally, a quiz noucturnal muggers can relate to. I had three cups of Heaven & Earth Osmantus Tea before this.

Created by OnePlusYou - Online Dating Site

Much Ado About Nothing (Or Not)

2008-09-24T20:33:00.012+08:00

The list of melamine-infused China products have just lengthened. According to the AVA website, we now have a grand total of EIGHT products with melamine in it. But for the kiasu Singaporean, here's a list of products taken off the shelves.

BRAND DESCRIPTION CODE
BAIRONG GRAPE CREAM CRACKERS 116634
DOVE H/NUT ALM & RAISIN CHOC 61737
DOVE HAZELNUT CHOC 61739
DOVE MILK CHOCOLATE 61740
DREYERS ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM 14281
DREYERS STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM 165294
DREYERS TOAST ALMOND ICE CREAM 106487
DREYERS CHOC CAKE ICE CREAM 153969
DREYERS COOKIE & CREAM ICE CREAM 14283
DREYERS MINT CHIP ICE CREAM 106486
DREYERS VANILLA ICE CREAM 14282
DUTCH LADY STER M LF BANANA 151226
DUTCH LADY STER MK LF PLAIN 151227
DUTCH LADY STER MK LF CHOC 151228
DUTCH LADY STER MK LF SBERRY 151229
DUTCH LADY STER M LF HNYDEW 151230
DUTCH LADY STER M LF HNYDEW 166490
DUTCH LADY STER MILK PLAIN 739008
DUTCH LADY STER MK LF CHOC 739009
DUTCH LADY STER MK LF SBERRY 739018
DUTCH LADY STER M LF BANANA 739019
FIRST CHOICE CALCIUM SESAME CRACKERS 102042
FIRST CHOICE CALCIUM SALTINE CRACKERS 102043
FIRST CHOICE CALCIUM S ONION CRACKERS 112010
FIRST CHOICE CALCIUM SEAWEED CRACKERS 112011
GINBIS PARTY ANIMAL BUTTER BISC 136143
GINBIS PARTY ANIMAL SEAWEED BIS 136144
GINBIS PARTY ANIMAL CNUT 136145
GINBIS ANIMAL BISCUIT 236531
KOALA COCOA BISCUIT 136492
KRAFT OREO WAFER STICKS 18S 103967
KRAFT OREO WAFER STICKS 5S 123926
KRAFT OREO W/STICK WH CHOC 18S 154881
KRAFT OREO W/STICK WH CHOC 5S 154882
LOTTE KOALA COCOA FUNPACK 56764
M&M CHOCOLATE PLAIN 550108
M&M CHOCOLATE PEANUT 550107
M&M CHOC CANDIES PLAIN% 550105
M&M CHOC CANDIES PEANUT% 550106
M&M CHOC CANDIES-PLAIN 550098
M&M CHOC CANDIES-PEANUTS 550099
M&M FUNSIZE MILK 163864
M&M FUNSIZE PEANUT 163865
MEIJI UJIKINTOKI 2978 455016
MEIJI UMAKABO CHOCOLATE 455017
MEIJI FAMILY PACK-GREEN TEA 144101
MEIJI CHESTNUT & REDBEAN 106129
MENTOS BOTTLE YOGHURT PROMO PK 12526
MENTOS BOTTLE YOGHURT 145161
MONMILK BREAKFAST MILK MALT 6S 135154
MONMILK BREAKFAST MILK WALNUT 6S 135155
MONMILK BREAKFAST MILK MALT 135156
MONMILK BREAKFAST MILK WALNUT 135157
MONMILK CHOCOLATE MILK 6S 135472
MONMILK COFFEE MILK 6S 135473
MONMILK HI CAL LOW FAT 154697
MONMILK PURE MILK 154698
MONMILK HI CAL MILK 143948
MONMILK HI CAL MILK 6S 143951
MONMILK PURE MILK 6S 143950
MONMILK HI CAL LOW FAT MILK 6S 143952
MONMILK HI CAL LOW FAT MILK 143949
MONMILK PURE MILK 143947
MONMILK MILK DELUXE 12S 154696
NABISCO IN A BISKIT CHICKEN 153702
NESTLE NES D/STICK MINI VANILLA 105115
NESTLE NES DISTICK MINI CHOCO 105116
NESTLE MILK & BERRY STARS CRL 153852
NO FRILLS WAFER BLUEBERRY 154712
NO FRILLS WAFER CHOCOLATE 154713
NO FRILLS WAFER PEANUT 154714
ORION FRESH PIE 240767
ORION TIRAMISU 152948
PEI TIAN CREAM BISCUIT 115554
RABBIT MILK SWEET 38055
SILANG NATURAL OAT CRACKER 142256
SILANG HOUSE OF STEAMED POTATO CRACKERS ??????
SNICKERS CANDIES FUNSIZE 550103
SNICKERS PEANUT CHOCOLATE% 550102
SNICKERS SNACKSIZE BARS PNUT 5 163863
TAKE ONE BABY BITES 24S 64602
TAKE ONE BABY BITE CK VG 116159
TAKE ONE BABY BITE CARROT 163319
VITASOY Q SOYA MILK 60408
VITASOY CHOCOLATE MILK 60409
VITASOY MELON SOYA MILK 235906
WANT WANT MILK CANDY 105504
WANTWANT FLAVOURED MILK ‘021726
YILI PURE MILK 1L 155079
YILI HI CAL MILK 1L 155080
YILI HI CAL LO FAT MILK 1L 155081
YILI PURE MILK 6S 155082
YILI HI CAL MILK 6S 155083
YILI HI CAL LO FAT MILK 6S 155084
YOUCAN UNUSUAL MULTIPACK 134136
YOUCAN STRAWBERRY MULTIPACK 134138
YOUCAN TRADITIONAL SESAME MULTIPACK 134141
YOUCAN PASSION MULTIPACK 134140
YOUCAN MASTERBEAN MULTIPACK 134139
YOUCAN SILK SLICED AND PASSION STRAWBERRY 134137
徐福记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Butter Corn Flavour
徐福记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Cheese Flavour

NOTE: Expensive ≠ Good Quality. Look at the DREYERS brand. It's a really $$$ brand of ice cream and yet it's up there anyway.

Now that's a lotta food eh? Actually, it's not really a cause for alarm. Most people tend to have the impression that consuming a few sweets/bottles of milk would result in a kidney stone. But really, it's kinda like a storm in a teacup.

I did a lil' bit of research and was rather amused by these tidbits found in the AVA's media release.

To Fall Ill, An Adult (60KG) Must Consume:
- 13 packs of Silang - House of Steamed Potato Crackers daily over a lifetime or
- 47 pieces of White Rabbit Creamy Candy daily over a lifetime (Wingyan, TAKE NOTE! XD) or
- 644 ml of Dutch Lady Honeydew Flavoured Milk daily over a lifetime or
- 7 bars of YiLi Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt Flavoured Ice Confection daily
over a lifetime or
- 520 pieces of 徐福记 Puffed Rice Rolls - Butter Corn Flavour daily over a lifetime

Like Hell anyone'll eat that much within a day for the rest of his/her life. Although there're rare individuals exception to that reasoning ~~(particularly this pig I know..)~~, most of us should be safe from malanmine poisoning. SHOULD BE.

When you think about it though, these truth about these products only came to light AFTER the China Milk Powder Poisoning sparked off extensive testing. For all you know, many more of the stuff eaten everyday contain melamine. The coffeeshop auntie brewing kopi could have brought her condensed milk from China. McCafe might be secretly buying cheaper supplies (with parts from China). YOUR MOM could have unknowingly used supposedly non-China dairy foods which have melamine additions.

Even if one avoids the listed foodstuff, it doesn't completely ensure there wouldn't be the slightest trace of melamine in the body. Everything adds up, y'know. What they didn't list down is not necessary what is safe. ALL foods have artificial chemicals in/on them ~~(Except for those overly pricey organic shit)~~. Personally, I don't see any point in losing your head over this. We'll more or less ingest some lethal-in-huge-amounts chemicals on a daily basis. Heck, we BREATHE these substances in daily. Avoiding a little of this and that isn't going to work out properly. If you must avoid, be CONSISTANT. Go live in the Himalayas or some other remote mountain as a hermit and grow your own dammed food. By hand. Coz metal/wood tools could have been coated with toxins from the surrounding air.

Anyway, my family eats the House of Steamed Potato Crackers sometimes. We have 13 packs in storage now and my mum forbade me from even nibbling a crumb. In fact when she watched the news, she freaked out and woke my grandma up to warn her to quit eating the crackers. She eats them everyday, btw. For the elderly, I'll agree that it is more advisable for them to stop. But it's such a waste of food to just toss all of them out.

My ever-so-thrifty grandma'll probably be rather upset about having to waste food.

And with the over-caution of dairy products, I'll probably wouldn't get my regular ice cream/milkshake/chocolate fix as easily now thanks to my mum. Oh! What Can I Use To Tide Over The O'Levels Now?

Credits

2008-09-23T22:14:00.016+08:00

The class picture for the yearbook was released today!

Frankly, I thought it was rather cute with the array of Chibi figures all around. I especially liked mine ~~(obviously)~~.

Kinda reflects my ~~soul stealer self~~ candid shots hobby. =)

Though there were other distinctive ones such as Jolid's Black-Haired Kakashi-Lookalike with his trademark PSP, Money-Faced Liangui (Literally) painting $ signs & Jun Yan drowning in his own crap (Not Literally). If possible, I'll post the pics up.

I wanna post the whole yearbook piece, but since Luo Min has already done so @ her blog, you can go there to view it.

Many to the trio (Hwee Ying, Koon Ling & Luo Min) who slaved over this. And who still bothered making of a list of amendments some of the class wanted to add/erase.

Anyway, after grousing/grumbling/bitching for nearly a whole day, I feel a tad better about the lost EL marks I could have gotten but never did for a reason not entirely my fault alone. Yeeeeah. I DO FEEL A TAD TAD better. Either way, I don't really want to dwell on it since those involved aren't going to be bother their non-existent consciences by dwelling on it either. Yeah. Once and for all, repeat after me;
It is Not Your Fault, It's Not My Fault(unless you're Little Miss/Mr Always Right coz my results say so)

And two words for myself & the fellow stressed ones sharing the same sorry boat.. RELAX. FOCUS.

Onto the next random thought.
X-Men (Marvel comics) have one sure thing in common with the Pokemon franchise:

Their characters get ~~uglier~~ more unattractive and weirder as time goes by.

Recently, I borrowed this issue of X-Men from the library.

Basically it's set in this alternate universe (due to a freak accident by another freak superhero team member who went berserk but the story is getting complicated so let's not care about the background) whereby 90% of the world's mutants reverted back to human beings and lost their powers. Thus Xavier's School (X-Men HQ) become some sort of a refugee camp for those who weren't converted.

Within the camp, there lies a hidden danger in the form of this mutant (I think) with a tentacle monster living in/on his chest.

Apparently his identity is a total mystery hence his name as of now is "JOHN DEE".

The ~~gross~~ tentacle monster eats bits of DNA (e.g. Hairs, Blood, Fingernails...) & produces mini-voodoo dolls of the DNA's owner. The dolls can be controlled by John Dee himself and can end lives at an instant.
By the way, that fleshy thing is his finger holding the hair from the previous pic. John Dee plunges the hair bits (& his finger) into the tentacle monster's mouth. ~~What Were You Thinking?!~~

Then he pulls a clam-shaped pod from the tentacle monster's mouth. And wala! The Mini-Voodoo Doll is made. (He should consider starting a business in New Orleans with this ability; it's like VooDoo for Dummies.)

Screw setting up a business. John Dee has already begun his career as a travelling salesmen.

The way he can command the voodoo dolls is just plain...perverse.

Here's a fine demonstration of how the Mini-VooDoo Doll works.
1) Tie looped thread round Doll's neck & Pull.
2) Watch intended victim perish by strangulation.

The Mini VooDoo Doll is disposable too. After one has no more use for it, just flush it down the loo.

But seriously though. A Tentacle-Monster Man who's Mutant Power is VOODOO?! Marvel must be running out of ideas. Long were the days of the Beautiful Ones of the X-Men whereby the mutants look remotely presentable regardless of the mutant ability. Nowadays, you get new mutants like Mammomax (some elephant man with acid saliva) & Peepers (Think Yoda with his eyes wide open). Haiz...

Not that I detest the new variety of mutants & their abilities. It's just unfathomable. And downright random (& kinda useless) , not to mention illogical at times. As with the Pokemon series, I want the first few generations back!

Yeah. Random thought. Just another random thought. I'm supposed to be studying, not ranting on the present X-Men. T_T

The Autumn Matsuri 2008 - Music Matsuri

2008-09-19T16:30:00.006+08:00

On the 30th of August 2008, I went for the Music Matsuri @ Vivocity. It was even more awesome than the Matsuri-The Butterfly Effect- waaay back in March. Let's recap anyway.

Back in March, I was first exposed to local J-rock bands such as Hellven & ethe'Real. The former of which entered Anugerah Band & the latter who is currently in Channel U's Superband competition and going strong. GO 异世界!!! MORE INFO HERE!!!

The wet weather was a doubled-edged sword for the event. On one hand, it kept people from leaving the shopping mall to go to the sheltered Amphitheatre where the stage is. But then it also prevented those who seeked shelter at said Amphitheatre from leaving. So those not inclined to knowing new things are exposed to these bands while it rained, thus giving them (The Bands & The Audience) greater exposure.
From the Sheltered Amphitheatre
Looking At The Audience Within
Needless to say, the Amphitheatre was full up. But thanks to the Singaporeans' aversion to sitting at the front when facing the unknown, I managed to get a good seat.

There were 3 bands and a solo singer in total. First up...
Cloud Sef
...Pretty Boy Guitarist.
That was the first thing I noticed of Cloud Sef. There is hope for Singapore after all...We DO have pretty boys in our midst. Anyway, their vocalist actually introduced said guitarist like this:
"And this is our guitarist Melvin, WHO IS A GUY." Lolz.

Cloud Sef - Shunkashuutou (Alice Nine Cover)

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Then they started off with an Alice Nine cover, Shunkashuutou. Their vocalist was GOOOOOOD. But it didn't really make a good first impression when he kept referring to lyrics for the first song. At least, he sorta apologised later when he frankly admitted that they weren't quite prepared. ~~Which is questionable since he didn't need any lyric help with the subsequent songs~~

That unwanted first impression was later cleared up by their AWESOME rendition of Haruka Kanata (by Asian Kung Fu Generation). Personally, I think Haruka Kanata is one of the harder songs to cover. There are parts where you have to singshout but not too much of "singing" and "shouting". Not to mention the high energy level must be shown in the singshouting. Although there is one part at 2.41 when the vocalist suddenly ROARED and...Well...I went "WTF" coz it was utterly random. But the little "drag" he did at 2.06 was nice. That is, if nice can be used to describe J-rock.

Cloud Sef - Lost My Music (Aya Hirano Cover)

For this they invited a female vocalist on stage. She started off a little low, then went into "Kawaii Voice" mode. Which was a tad bit much for me at times. But at least she hadn't shrieked or something like that. Note that the female vocalist is attired in matching outfits with the keyboardist. Who looks like he's cosplaying Raito from Death Note. If he's doing Raito...Then she's Misa?! O_O"

Cloud Sef - GO!! (FLOW cover)

Like Haruka Kanata, this is kinda hard to pull off too, since it also requires the singer(s) to be ~~a giant leaping ball of PURE ENERGY~~ active throughout the whole song. Cloud Sef seem a little "sianz" initially ~~(after FOUR STRAIGHT SONGS IN A ROW, WHO WOULDN'T BE?)~~ but quickly picked up the pace and sure enough, they packed some "oomph" into it. You can see the whole band is singing along and enjoying themselves there. =)

From what I heard, Cloud Sef is only a few months old. But they are quite good despite their age. The vocalist chose a rather interesting mike though. It's like the ancient ones from the 1960s.

The very name of Cloud Sef also intrigued me when I heard it coz it reminded me of Final Fantasy's Cloud Strife & Sephiroth which led to a half-thought that there was a Yaoi fan within Cloud Sef's line-up (Y'know, like Cloud X Sephiroth). But that was banished when I realised all but one of the band members was male. Though there is still a slight possibility about a Yaoi fan there....

Either way, Cloud Sef is good. I'm definately gonna watch out for them again.

MERFURY
When the MC introduced them, I kept hearing McFlurry at first.
Which was rather disturbing imagery since we're talking about a J-ROCK band here. But anyway that was ,thankfully , cleared up once the first song started. They covered mostly Dir en Grey songs with a little Gazette on the side.

Yep. Definately J-rock.
MERFURY - Yurameki (Dir en Grey Cover)

Frankly I haven't the faintest idea what song this is. Thanks to some kind Youtube souls who identified the song for me. Anyway, from here you can tell the vocalist had this richly deep voice (I prefer his voice to the original Dir en Grey vocalist's). It's pretty good, even though my cam doesn't exactly show that.

MERFURY - Yokan (Dir en Grey cover)

The next song, Yokan, was pretty good too. There were some Yokan MV cosplayers present, so the vocalist happily pointed them out and asked them to get down from the audience seats and dance! Lolz. Too bad they didn't do so.

MERFURY - Raison D'etre (Dir en Grey Cover)

He tried to invite the Yokan cosplayers to dance again XD. Anyway, he missed out on phrases here and there. Is it just me? Or does the way he keeps holding his chest hints at illness?

MERFURY - The Final (Dir en Grey cover)

I don't know what's with the low-slung guitar-playing stance the guitarists exhibited here. Perhaps it looked cooler with flashing lights and at special camera angles, but it doesn't quite work out here.
I pity & applaud the vocalist for roaring so often to keep to the feel of the song. He manages to sing rather richly while breaking into a roar for every other song. Here, he roared at 1.25 & at 3.05. It's good for the song, bad for his throat.

The vocalist kept with the audience interaction, advertising the band members'ages and marital status at one point

and inviting the Dir en Grey Yokan MV cosplayers to come down to dance when MERFURY covered Yokan.

MERFURY - filth in the beauty (Gazette ガゼットCover)

That...high-pitched howl that started off the song was...Startling. I certainly didn't expect him to be able to reach that pitch & I'm pretty sure the actual song wasn't supposed to sound like that. I hope not, at least. ~_~
But the vocalist did release a disclaimer/warning before the song. Something along the lines of being new to covering Gazette's music & to forgive him if any mistake was made.

MERFURY - Bottom of The Death Valley (Dir en Grey Cover)

I think it's a Gazette cover, but anyway, he exhibits his velvety-rich voice here again. I really like how he went soft at first before the music started. But there are signs that he ain't in the best of health. Like when he couldn't exactly hit the high notes in the choras.
As for the song itself...Well...If you hear it in mangled English, it'll be;
"My Sister, wah say rude Sister"...-_-"""...Yeah. Lame. But really alike though.

MERFURY - Cassis (Gazette)

The vocalist managed to put across his message about wanting to cover this over-covered song because he wants to perfect it without sounding pretentious. But unfortunately during this last song, he suddenly stopped his continued movements and leaned against the music stand. But the rest of the song went off with few bumps here and there. However, he very well near collapsed after the song and had to be helped off the stage.

Kudos to him for perservering to the very end of the song. Poor thing though. I wonder if he's fine now.

Ana Natasha
She is a local singer signed onto the Path Records label. Well, although she was clad in Visual Kei attire, she didn't sing any J-rock songs. Which was kinda a pity. I heard her debut album'll be out either late this year or next year. But I guess she CAN SING (Unlike those ACBC(Act Cute Buay Cute) C-Pop songstresses out there). Her purple hair really matches her outfit btw.

Ana Natasha - Take A Bow (Rihanna Cover)

Initially, I was rather apprehensive about her singing ability since her eyes kept darting everywhere but at the audience (hinting inexperience). So I sorta listened for a while before I started recording. But most of the song is still there anyway. So you judge for yourself.

Ana Natasha - Part of Your World (Little Mermaid)

This is a spunky rendition of "Part of Your World". Something that really suits the modern girl instead of the wistful Oh-Pity-Me original singing style.

Hellven
Hellven first captivated me back in March @ the Summer Matsuri. They had a pretty ~~elf~~boy vocalist (Locke) then. He had a voice which could be deepish & high-pitched all at once. Now after Anugerah Band, they're back with a new vocalist (Toshi), who had this awesome rockstar voice!

Hellven mostly did original instrumental music which is something like a mesh of Clssical & J-rock music in a Gothic manner. That's the best I can describe it anyway.
They did 7 songs this time (excluding the awesome soundcheck. Yeah, The Awesome Soundcheck).

Hellven - AWESOME SOUNDCHECK!!!

Whether or not their piece was completely impromptu, I don't know. But if it is part of an actual song, do enlighten me on this.
I really liked the short Huang Fei Hong theme Romey (Guitarist) did around 3.24. And their new vocalist Toshi had the perfect rock star voice. He sounds like the vocalist of X Japan actually, with the high-pitched shriek and all. When most guys shriek, it's either gay or downright awful. But Toshi does it with flair. It kinda make one feel like he's in a rock concert or something.

Hellven - New Beginning (Original)

Hellven opened with this energetic instrumental piece. "Energetic" as in, ATTITUDE-LADEN ROCK, not hyperactive bubblegum POP.

Hellven - Memento Mori (Kamelot cover)

Listen to the mournful starting. It's really good.

Hellven - Stay Away (L'Arc en Ciel cover)

Tis a tad too fast-paced for my taste (This cover, I mean), but it's ok anyway.

Hellven - Fallen Angel (Original)

Oh the Angst! Oh the AGONY! And the MELODRAMA in this piece. I kinda like it though. XD

Hellven - Carnival of Dreams (Original)

It's a change from their angsty dramatic pieces. This one brings to mine an old gypsy carnival with the usual freakshow and everything.

Hellven - Endless Rain (X-Japan Cover)

A famous melancholic song from the legendary J-rock pioneers, X Japan. Hellven covered it well, but I somehow have an inkling that the vocalist is not really portraying the right depth of emotion. Like he should have been more emotional? Or something?

Hellven - Sweet Child of Mine (Guns 'N' Roses cover)

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough space on my cam to record the whole song. It was frankly, one of the BESTEST covers of "Sweet Child of Mine" I've heard so far. The part I did recorded though, showed Romey the Lead Guitarist clowning around for his friends watching from the audience stands. Lolz.

Hellven - Heaven Vs Hell (Original)

The Hellven boys really got some stamina. This song is a whopping 8 minutes long. Fortunately for them though, it was their last song of the night.

Perhaps it was becaused I arrived late. I saw a number of lolitas but lesser VK cosplayers. The most prominent were these trio of Yokan MV cosplayers.

Maybe it was the recent stress and so on that made me lose my nerve that day. I couldn't quite bring myself to approach them for a picture. Partly coz I didn't want to lose my pretty good seat near the front. But mostly because the VK cosplayers, various J-rock dressers & lolitas kept congregating in groups. It didn't help that they had this intimidating aura around which made me, an outsider, wanna shrink into myself. Yeah. Sounds biased, I know. Not all would be unapproachable, some might even be friendly (I've the fortune of meeting these kinds before ^^). I just didn't want to risk taking an ego-battering when they abruptly reject my request.
Just because they'll oblige little kids & professional-looking photographers for pictures doesn't mean they'll oblige an awkward teen with a clumsy-looking digicam. Well, that was how I felt that day.

J-rock dressers & lolitas dress up because they want to. It's not like cosplay when photos are practically an intergrated aspect of the whole thing. Anyway, besides the missed photography opportunities, the event was great. I'll definately go for the next Matsuri (Winter Matsuri in Dec).

Ultimate Frisbee Izza DANGER When I'm There

2008-09-17T19:30:00.009+08:00

When I grow up, I'll probably need therapy but I wouldn't go for it anyway.

The past few days was a troubling mental tsunami. Each marked Pre-Lim paper brought with it a fresh wave of despair and destroyed my feeble attempts at positivity. Ack. And so I spent the last few days being over-sensitive (I think) and moping whenever I could. Which technically was a waste of time that could have been spent studying but at this point, I don't feel like caring. At least Tamaki (Ouran High) grew mushrooms whenever he retreated to his damp dark emo corner.

As you may know, Excessive Mood Fizzes are detrimental to one's mental state. I could scarely focus on the matters at hand. And when I finally do so, I can't remain aware of my surroundings much. Which pretty much led to today's accident during PE where I literally almost knocked out the competition.

Mr Ong took over our class today, so PE was a tad different. He introduced some exercise called the BackStretch which reminded me of a certain Medival Age torture machine. Coincidentally resembles the modern day exercise machine.

You put a soon-to-be victim on it and tie his/her limbs to each end of the rack. Then you pull both ends at the same time and cause excruciating pain to said victim ~~(as the joints dislocate, muscles tear & pores in the bones widen)~~. Although the survivors of this torture are said to have longer limbs when they got out. So those with Height Obsessions CAN try this. No pain, no gain after all. XP

Anyway, the BackStretch involved you flopping up and down like a dying fish. But I digress. Mr Ong later grouped the class for a game of Ultimate Frisbee and seperated some from their usual groups. My group members were Charis, WenQi, HuiYing, YinYao & LiangYi. We played against Dan Hui's group which had two guys, BoonHao & ZheHao on their side.

I know what you're thinking. Two guys VS an All-Girls team? Not a chance, you say. But there was slightly more active participation now. I was for once, not locked from the game due to someone else's monopoly of it. So I had been reeeally focused on the frisbee. To the point that I had my eyes on the frisbee and nothing else. And thus slammed my arm into poor Boon Hao's mouth. And topped it off by knocking off his specs. I hadn't really noticed I actually hit something until he started to groan. Oops. O_O"
A laughing fit promptly overcame me right there and then (I blame that streak of Schadenfreude within) coz laughter's infectious so much so that everyone laughed. Yeah. I couldn't apologise properly =X

Honestly, I'm sorry for whacking his mouth. But after that, maybe coz of the much-needed laughter, maybe coz of the violence therapy...Hopefully the former...I felt much better than I did in a long time.

That DOESN'T MEAN that I'll make it a habit of whacking people to relieve stress. This time was purely an accident, I swear.
And I'll know how much a mouth injury hurts, coz my first kiss had been with the concrete floor when I ~~was tripped up~~ fell and chipped off half a front tooth back in P4.

Anyway, the spirit of Schadenfreude is strong within society. So I guess I shouldn't be too bothered about it. After all I have other things to do. Like angst over the Pre-Lims, angst over the O's, angst over the newly-bitten mouth ulcer (retribution for elbowing people in the face perhaps?), etc, etc, etc...

I'd love to play Ultimate Frisbee again though. It's one of the few sports that doesn't threaten to rip my ~~neglected & overly long~~ fingernails off when I catch something ~~with my undersized hand~~.

P.S. What on earth do the teachers do in the staffroom? The essay I handed to Mrs Anum came back with a mysterious brown stain on the edge which smelled strangely chemical. The kind that makes you want to bolt right away. Urine doesn't even smell half as bad.

Post-Career Conference

2008-09-15T19:02:00.012+08:00

The Bad News have arrived. We started getting our Pre-Lims results back. I didn't do well for Biology Paper II, I flunked A*Maths again (No surprise there) & then I proceeded to flunked Chinese as well. ;_;

Just last Friday we had this Career Conference where the school, invites its successful old boys & girls to "inspire" the next generation. But as usual, only the typical choices were available. Doctor.Lawyer (Family Affairs).Bank Officials. Salesman.Counsellor.Nurse. ZZzz...Not to complain too much, but why couldn't they have gotten a Journalist or Scientist or even ROCK STAROr Actor, if the school hadn't produced any Rock Stars.

But anyway, the Doctor, was by far the most interesting speaker. I misplaced the timetable that day...So most names aren't available here. I do recall though that he was a radiologist & his name had a Boon in it.

He came to us with the air of someone who didn't really want to be here but was forced by his dear Alma mater to talk to the kids. He then proceeded to tell us about the YEARS and YEARS and YEARS of studying a doctor has to go through, the stringent conditions which eliminated most of the hoi polloi and numerous other negative facts meant to put us off the road to becoming a legitimate saver of life.

Let's see...From the Doctor, I learnt:
1] 1-Year of Houseman ship is HELL - since one has to play slave to the whole bloody department in the hospital.
2] Life Begins @ 40 - Coz that'll be when you'll actually be done studying.
3] Doctors NEVER Die - They'll grow old and never stop being a Doctor until they themselves die. But the responsible ones'll retire when their eyesight/mobility fails them. If not, we'll see Old Blind-As-A-Bat Surgeons in the Operating Theatre as well as an unprecedented rise in operation mortality rates.

Despite the ~~laughable~~ harsh truth & the matter-of-factly manner the Doctor put it across to us, the whole LifeSaver thing does sound like a noble cause. Almost like those Healing Hands drama serials from Hong Kong. You slog your guts out, fall asleep on your feet but it's all worth the while when you snatch your patient(s)' life back from the jaws of death.

The Doctor's probably using some reverse-psychology method of inspiring us and it's working coz we have no lack of naivety to bring forth. I too, was thinking rather positively of the whole Mug-Ur-Head-Off-Only-To-Save-Others-In-Future thing until someone brought up the topic of Forensic Science.

Which had thankfully, brought me plummeting back to earth & my original choices if I were to go down the Medicinal Road. Long ago, I had decided that dead people were far easily to deal with compared to the live ones. Disregarding all those ghostly tales that is. But as human beings, they ~~can't~~ don't Tell Lies, ~~can't~~ don't Take Up Legal Action, etc, etc...Get my point?

Not to mention I was inspired by Bones, the series about this forensic anthropologist solving crimes by looking at horribly disfigured corpses (or parts of them in some cases). Their Special Effects are realistically good! Especially one when a boy's maggot-infested head dropped off his rotting bo-

Erm. Back to the point. If I were to ever go down the Scientific road, I'll be a forensic someone. Doesn't matter what, I can be a forensic anthropologist, a forensic pathologist...But that is a big IF since the world of science & research have been known to accept nothing but the creme de la creme de la creme. Which nicely equates to a shitload of mugging for me. After which I can do a really accurate cosplay of Princess Sophia's ghost in 4bia without make-up whatsoever.

Urg. Then just as we got all worked out from the Career Conference, the Pre-Lim results came pouring water on our parade. So much for perfect timing nah....

That aside though. There's a lovely pre-Sunset Sunset scene outside my house today.

Kinda matches my mood a little. Dark & Light & Blue at the same time.

EDIT @ 12.15AM: OMG. 异世界 (ethe~Real) nearly got booted out this round. 森林帖 (Sen Lin Tie) was the sacrifice instead. Phew...But WTF?! 森林帖 (Sen Lin Tie) was one of the better bands there! Why don't those with the SAME OLD BORING style every week get knocked out? But NOOOOOO. Those band(s) remains one of the most popular because their so-called fresh style sticks with the &$@#$%^ judges & they have a larger ~~sucker~~ fanbase. GRRRRR!

SuperBand 见面会 @ Junction 8

2008-09-13T18:56:00.035+08:00

Today I did a normal fangirl-thing which I usually don't do - I went to a Meet & Greet Session....Sorta. They basically played games with the band people, while we watch.

It was a mistake that led to my being there in the first place. I thought there would be performances like the IMM event, but it turned out to be a mere Meet&Greet kinda thing. Yeah. It's high time I learn to read Chinese words instead of ignoring them in plain sight. I even brought a mini-tripod stand so my cam wouldn't wobble too much while I record stuff. T_T

But anyway, it turned out to be a pleasant event, though some of the bands featured don't look too happy to be there. Frankly, I don't mind it but the atmosphere wasn't that all lively. Games were played, supposedly bringing the bands closer to the fans. We got a brief idea of who's who & who's what.

异世界 (ethe'Real)

The first game played was something like Charades, except the person who's describing can only do so in Chinese & cannot direct-translate the English phrase given. His bandmates were to guess the English idiom/proverb as it is. Frankly, I winced inwardly when they announced 异世界 (ethe'Real) was to play this. Making the transition from English/Japanese to Chinese was clearly uncomfortable for the orignally J-rock band. Imagine the possibly mangled translations in Charades that could happen.

The first player from 异世界 was their bassist, Sam.

The phrase: "Pot Calling The Kettle Black".
He tried to describe as 那个煮汤的和那个煮水的讲话。Which translated to "The thing which cooks soup talks to the thing which boils water". WTF? And his bandmates actually succeeded in guessing it correctly...O_o"

Next up was Kunio, their vocalist.

His phrase was "Birds of The Same Feather Flock Together". By far, he took the shortest time of the three members who played.

Finally, it was their drummer Jun who took the stage.

The phrase was "Building Castles In The Air". Coincidentally, they know an organizer on the sgcafe forums called "Castle-In-The-Sky". So he tried to use that. The fans (including LiangYi & I) helped out by yelling clues. But he still took quite a while though.

异世界 (ethe'Real)'s command of Chinese, while still better than mine at any rate, made me feel a tad less apologetic for my poor grasp of Chinese. They are years older than me & they aren't pros either. So there, all you CHEE-NA people! I ain't the only one who is not as Chinese as I should be! XP

Next game was Musical Statues. When the music plays, they can do as they like. When the music stops, they have to freeze. But two sporting members of 大风吹 acted as villans as they went around the "statues" and tried to make them laugh. ~~No prize on who Channel U's gonna pick for their next gameshow hosts.~~ Those who smiled/laughed were outed. The bands participating were Screamm & 三月.

The guys were just quite spontaneous. They pole-danced around the victim, tickled them & made the usual funny faces. As a result, only one member of Screamm was left with three of 三月. The sole female member of Screamm was pretty good. She remained stone-faced even though the two guys kept picking on her to work on.

Third game involved 森林帖, 大风吹 & 兔子. They had a sticker each, stuck on varying body parts from the butt
to the armpit to the back of the knee.

The MC read a Chinese passage. The moment they hear a numeral being read, they have to put their stickered body part to another (e.g. Butt to armpit which ~~unfortunately~~ didn't happen).

Finally, the vocalists of all the bands were called upon to compete for the longest breath. It was obvious the vocalists of 异世界 (ethe'Real) & Screamm weren't really trying. I have seen them sing live before & they are defintately capable of much, much more than what they shown here (clocking at under 10s for both this time).

The others...Well, they did try. Whether or not it was their best, I don't know.

And throughout the whole time, I was standing next to this annoying fellow who supported every band and made a nuisance of himself when he cheered out at the most inappropriate times. I'm guessing he is one of the backstage crew since some of the bands knew him. Or he could be your friendly neighbourhood stalker? Whoever he was, I don't like him. From his behaviour, I get the feeling that he's like those wannable No. 1 fan kinda person who takes fanship to a whole new COMPETITIVE level. Like he's only out to prove he is their No.1 supporter to the bands and to us fans. Humph. Since when did fans have different classes eh?

The games would have been lame in a normal context, but they seem interesting here. If I were to ever plan any games, it'll be the latter two. They're recipes for sabotage and Fun!humiliation.

But all in all...I don't really want to go to another of this kind of event. I rather watch live performances...Even though I kept forgetting to watch 异世界 (ethe'Real) on the Superband episodes. -_-"

Group Photo

But still, I'm anticipating the episode where they can get sing a song of their choice (NO THEME/Restrictions). Hopefully, 异世界 (ethe'Real) will go back to their J-rock roots again.

And I found out that 异世界 (ethe'Real) is not the only band with ties to J-rock. These duo from Screamm
were once members of the local J-rock band, Hidama.

The guy was an excellent drummer in Hidama & the girl was their vocalist. I remembered being awed by how such a petite frame could carry off this big voice so effortlessly. But once again, let us be reminded that J-rockers can't switch to Mando-Pop so easily. Their styles are vastly different, y'know.
The Hidama vocalist remained the vocalist in Screamm, but somehow, I find that the quality has suffered somewhat. Then the Hidama drummer became a guitarist in Screamm. Which was wasted coz I still think his drumming skills should be shown off properly on national TV.

On my way home, I saw this rather cute guitar in the display windows of CashConverters (AMK branch).

Then the image of Sam from 异世界 (ethe'Real) playing it just struck me out of the blue. Which was half-way between downright disturbing and utterly gay. Or both actually.

Although if I could play the guitar, I'll want it for myself ~~despite the sheer...gayness (NOT in that homosexual way) of it~~. It costs a whopping S$388, by the way.

P.S. I took 70+ photos which were majority clear for once! ^_^
But unfortunately they can't be post up here since they're mostly candids with unglam shots of the bands picking noses, leering ~~perversely~~ at their own ~~male~~ band members and being uttterly sian during the whole event. It's bad publicity, y'know? XD

4bia

2008-09-12T23:07:00.017+08:00

I just came back from watching 4bia with HweeYing & her Mum. It was...for the lack of a suitable word...FUN

A tuition friend had given me a warning: The 1st story is just an appetizer. There would be a really gory story & another being the scariest of them all.
Which was somewhat true also, I guess. But it was a pity the cinema was relatively full. There were some immature people making fun of the acting, the Thai language (RACIST!) & those who were truly afraid & screaming. Irritating. T_T

Anyway to sum things up;
1st Story: Really just an appetizer. Not scary.
2nd Story: Gory. It shows some really Final Destination-like ways to die.
3rd Story: Ironically, it was funny. Not because of it was cheesy or anything, but it incorporated movie puns and had this plot twist right at the end. Yeah sure, people died. But they made it funny.
4th Story: The scariest one. It was those typical ghost tales in which the guilty gets punished. But the setting & the use of shock tactics scared the shit out of many in the cinema.

I seriously need to rant about this. But to avoid spoilering people...

The 1st tale is about communication beyond the grave. A girl (I forgot her name -_-") was confined to her room because she broke her leg in a car accident. We get a glimpse of her lonely situation. So when she receives a sms from an unknown number, she ended up chatting with the stranger who sent it. This went on for several days until she found out the truth and tried to cut off contact to no avail. The stranger turned out to be the guy who ran into the path of the girl's taxi & caused the accident. Apparently, the last thing he saw before he died was her. Anyway, when she tried to cut off contact, the dead guy said he was in the area and was on his way up to visit her. As he made his way to her room, the lights in the area just switched off one by one. The girl tried to keep him out, by bolting and locking all openings, but all in vain. Her room lights went off...
She ended up using her handphone light as a torch. On the display screen, we see the photo of herself which she had sent to him earlier. The empty space was now filled with a man's face. SUDDENLY. The translucent figure of a man zooms near and the next thing I know, she is flung out of her high-rise flat and plunges to her death. As she lay dead upon the ground...A funeral wake goes by...Bearing the picture of her ghostly companion.... This tale makes use of scenes like this
whereby there is a big empty space next to the person, like it should have been filled by someone. I really really...am disturbed by this. I was kept on a state of tension throughout coz I keep expecting people to randomly pop up in these spaces (which they didn't T_T). Then I flinched on instinct when he suddenly made his appearance coz it was utterly random and sudden (And I had just begun to relax). But you can't help but feel sorry for the poor girl in the end. She hadn't done anything to him and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No Need for Anti-Spoiler Measures since it's just a Gorefest.

A gang of delinquents kept picking on this poor lad who had accidentally discovered weed in their bags and hence was indirectly responsible for their expulsion from school. They had kidnapped him when he was on his way to the hospital and spent the day thrashing him. At the end of his ordeal, he ended up falling off a moving car when his captors lost their grip while dangling him over the edge. But he survived to wreak vengeance on the bullies in the form of black magic.
Apparently since his dad was an undertaker, he took photos of people who died with their eyes open & created a cursed book in which those who looked at it would perish ~~(in utterly random & illogical ways)~~.

The 1st girl took a look, was horrified and stepped backwards only to be impaled through the collarbone by a rusty screw. She bled to death in the car coz her friends were too stupid to at least try to minimise the bleeding instead of dragging her all the way from the top floor to their car.
The Bullied Boy, settler of the curse himself, ended up looking at the book and panicked so much at whatever invisible entity he saw that he smashed through the glass window & impaled himself on the school flag (Raining blood all over a poor passer-by's ice cream).
A Long-Haired Guy had an air-con unit fall on him & broke apart, leaving him wearing a box on his head. He died when it sparked to life again & the blades within shredded his head to a bloody mess.
The dead girl's boyfriend perished when the air-con blade flew off and sliced his face in horizontal halves.
Then pages from the cursed book (which the idiots brought with them) started flying around and the Bespectacled Guy, in a bid to prevent his flailing Gang Leader from even glimpsing the cursed paper, ended up falling over the low ledge and to his death(by far, the most merciful fate of all).
The Gang Leader survived the fall since he landed atop a vending machine. He climbed on a huge pile of ~~recyclable~~ paper and just stood there (That Fool). The seemingly only one with any semblance of intelligence, his girlfriend,dashed down to the ground floor as soon as possible. Which was just nice for the sparks from the air-con unit to land on a gas cylinder & ignite a great explosion. Then a spark from THAT explosion landed on the paper pile & erupted in a great blaze which consumed the Gang Leader alive.
This girl watched everyone die and saw the 3D-Animation of the mutilated Black Magic Boy who threatened her with this and that. She was rescued in time by arriving policemen who rejected her testimony and left her alone while they got her parents. It was then did the 3D-Animated Boy returned with zombie helpers to try to "convince" her to look at the book. She denied him....By gorging out her own eyes. Nice effect though. She lived but went nuts in the end. The whole damn story then ended with a sheet of cursed paper drifting around into the distance before returning at lightning speed to plaster itself against the movie screen. Typical...

The third tale was a laugh. It was about a group of guys who goes camping in the forest. In the tent, the quartet listened to one of them tell a ghost story about a succubus which haunts the one sleeping at the edge. The one sleeping at the edge then, Shin was freaked by the story and ~~acted really gay~~ made a fuss about wanting to sleep in the middle instead. Then Aey joked that if he died, he'll haunt the one sleeping in the middle.

The next day, the fellows went rafting down a river. When they reached the rapids, the raft overturned coz this guy Phak insisted on standing up and overturned the raft in the end. All but Ter made it to shore. Aey then dived in to save Ter who was struggling for his life. In the end, only Ter resurfaced.
The guys spent that night worrying and being guilty & paranoid as well...But just then, Aey appeared (dripping wet & shivering). Everyone was glad to have him back, but they were in doubts as to whether Aey was really ALIVE. Then one thing led to another and they ended up fleeing from Aey before coming to a Six Sense-like conclusion that Aey, like Bruce Willis in The Six Sense, wasn't aware of himself being dead.
But then came the plot twist. ALL OF THEM HAD DROWNED. Aey had came back tell the others just that.

I really liked this one coz
1) Guys are featured behaving a tad too gay in the face of fear.
2) Movie puns are being made here and there. (e.g. The idea of shoulder ache being caused by spirits sitting upon them was originally stolen from the Titanic since Rose sat on Jack's shoulder then)
3) People died, but we hear it from the spirits' point of view this time.

I'm frankly...Rather creeped-out by the female ghost's looks in this. It was something like deja vu. She had my hairstyle when I was in Lower Sec...Complete with centre-parting & white strands interwoven with the matted black hair. She looked like me minus the sharp beak-like nose, rotting skin & vomit. Because of her memorable close-ups, I'm now a tad wary of all reflective surfaces at home. But on the other hand, I could cosplay her if I wanted to. Just add black eyeshadow, greyish foundation & vomit.

Anyway the story goes like this. A flight stewardess Pim was recalled back to serve Princess Sophia in her private flight. She had previously, with another girl Tui, served the Royal Couple of Prince Albert & Princess Sophia on their own private flight. Unfortunately Tui's brother Ter, had drowned, leading to Pim being left on her own.

Pim had an affair with Prince Albert, a fact Princess Sophia had just learnt. As they say, Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman's Scorn.. The Princess had deliberately caused trouble for Pim, from upsetting a hot cup of coffee on her and warning her that in her country, women who sleep with married men will be stoned to death & made to beg for forgiveness from the man's wife before she dies. Naturally, Pim retaliated. When the Princess demanded Pim serve her Pim's lunch instead of her own, Pim served the Princess shrimp pasta despite knowing full well she is allergic to them.

A SEVERE allergic reaction was triggered and the Princess died the next day. Since the Royal Family requested the body be flown back to them by the next day. And that was how Pim got to be alone with the corpse.

So from then on, you can pretty much guess what happens. She is terrorised (along with half the cinema) and eventually is killed by Pincess Sophia.
I ~~can't~~ wouldn't elaborate more ~~coz my skin is starting to crawl again~~. Terror can't be conveyed through words alone & I don't want to find screencaps.

WATCH 4BIA, ESPECIALLY THE LAST STORY!

Phobia of 4bia?

2008-09-10T22:27:00.008+08:00

The Pre-Lims are ALMOST ALMOST ALMOST over. I just finished my MCQs yester. Despite the numerous similar options which were meant to ~~create some serious indecision issues~~ push us students to make decisions quickly and CORRECTLY, I comfort myself with the fact that there is 25% chance of getting the answer right. Yep. 25% is alot ~~(Am desperately focusing on the bright side here)~~

Anyway, I finally went on a mini-outing of sorts after a endless cycle of tuition, angst & failed attempts at self-study. After school, it was straight to J8 for lunch. I joined HuiYing, YinYao & LiangYi for lunch @ Long John Silver, in which the topic of horror movies came up. Despite all the talking, I still couldn't get anyone to watch 4bia with me. T_T...Haiz.

My basic starter would go like this:
Me: Hey, you wanna watch a movie soon?
Target: Ok, what movie?
Me: (insert beaming expression) 4bia.
Target: (blanches/stunned pause/bug-eyed look) NO WAY. I don't watch horror movies/I get scared/NOOOOOOOOOO!

So far, practically all the girls I've asked bear a certain fear of horror movies. Heck, even my MOTHER resents horror movies.

Today I asked someone whom I thought liked horror movies. And suddenly, she went on about how fake the trailer seemed and became the "Horror Movie Connoisseur", critisizing horror movies and how fake and unrealistic they are. Like duh the trailer would suck. It's a Thai movie being advertised in Singapore in the most slipshod manner. If it was a local horror movie, the trailer could probably be much better.

As for the whole realism (or lack thereof), nothing beats the real thing. But you can't experience if you don't have the slightest shred of belief in the supernatural. For instance, devout Christians who are strictly biased would just waste their time watching horror movies. After all, those who don't believe don't see the whole point. Maybe those kinds just watch to point out all the flaws and justify their religion. Or simply dissing horror movies is the equivalent of dissing fashion trends.

Personally, I don't really believe in the supernatural that much. I semi-believe because I have seen and heard evidence of their presence. Even before I Saw & Heard, I found horror movies interesting because of the element of suspence & the innate human fear of the unknown. And no, I'm not wasting time scaring myself. There is a reason why Asian horror movies tend to be better than Western horror movies (though there have been exceptions). There is a moral lesson of sorts to be learnt and usually, the humane society values are challenged and questioned.
Like in The Ring (The Japanese ORIGINAL), we learn of society's cruel rejection of what the different, or rather, what is defined by as "weird". To be polite to the narrow-minded conservative, there is a fine, fine line between "weird" & "unique". To be frank, it is the same thing, just different viewpoints ~~(one from the bottom of Loserville & the other from the wide skylight)~~

By the way, this is 4bia's INTERNATIONAL trailer. Not the crappy one shown on Singapore's TV screens. One shouldn't judge a movie by its trailer.

I'm pretty much stressed by the state of my science practical (which didn't go as planned. Hopefully, I'll be able to watch 4bia tomorrow.

Happy Teachers' Day!!!

2008-08-29T19:21:00.035+08:00

For the first time in my secondary school life, I managed to sleep the night before Teachers' Day. For this year, I'm not doing anything different for Be Yourself Day (A cosplay practice for me each year). NO TIME!
But at least I have my trusty cam to make it memorable.

KoonLing, LuoMin, HweeYing & I presented the flaming pink bikini card to Mdm Yau at the Parade Square before the celebrations started. I didn't get to record her reaction from beginning to end. But when she saw it, she went "What's that? It looks like a B-(Insert stupefied expression)"

Lolz. And I thought the class guys were the only ones who couldn't say "Bikini" aloud.

And as usual, we had the annual talent show rip-off. This year, it was the AMKsian Got Talent competition (modelled after America's Got Talent or something like that). Out of 20+ people, they shortlisted about 6-7 contestants. Some of them were pretty commendable (either for enthusiasm or potential), but the others were rather...Ahem. Yah.

One Little Slip (Barenaked Ladies cover)

The first contestant was by far the most energetic of all. There was never a still moment with this guy who held the audience's attention with lively moves and...Well...Sheer enthusiasm. He went off here and there, but compensated for that with an air guitar (which I didn't capture coz I was flailing around T_T).
Air Guitars...are for the truly ~~thick-skinned~~ confident. He pulled it off without seeming retarded. Kudos to him for that.

I reckon Jeremy had the best voice there. But it was obvious that he was nervous from his stiff posture and his rather...terse voice. Relax, Jeremy. You sing well enough to trounce the competition.

Next was my Drama junior Hanna, singing M2M's Mirror Mirror. And then others which I forgot about. Except for this girl singing a Mandarin song. She sang sweetly, but since I seldom listen to Mandarin songs, I wouldn't know how to tell good from passable (BUT I can tell AWFUL from OK).

The dancing segment was...to put it politely, inspired by the Jabbawockeez, one of the best teams from America's Best Dance Crew TV show.
Jabbawockeez

That was the original Jabbawockeez, one of the best dance crews in America. Then a group of students tried to emulate the Jabbawockeez by combining moves from all their dances from the America's Best Dance Crew TV show and one of their dance outfits as well.

I'm going to take that these fellows treat the Jabbawockeez as their idols. Hence the copy-likeness. At least, they did put their hearts into it.

Then we had another rock band whose music, through the school's sound system, was more heavy metal murmur-roar than anything else. And we all moved up into the hall for the Awards.

I don't know what the hell is going on, but there was this fashion show with clothing made of recycled materials. It was done by the Sec 1 to 3s. Well, some of them were pretty interesting. As I recalled, there was a "cute" MALE cheerleader with a newspaper costume. Everyone couldn't tell he was a HE at first...Lolz.
And here are some of the contestants.

The Olympian Fairy of 3/5 won the contest in the end, with her poofy skirt.

Then we had the Teachers'Awards, which was decided via voting earlier on. Personally, I voted Mrs Veda for a number of awards, but she never did win anything. Haiz. I guess it's a lack of support from her Sec 3 classes. But Mr Tan Song Hou, whom I voted for Most Understanding won said award in the end. Yay Mr Tan!
Ms Clara Lim set a record with two awards in a row. One was Most Eloquent and the other was...er...I forgot. But it's not bad for a teacher who was here for barely two years.

Ms Zaiton won the Most Informative (or was it Most Knowledgeble?) and was a good sport when she mocked-ran to the Principal to get her medal.

Ms Lesa, as usual, got the Most Stylish award. Psst...Mr Sim was smiling when her name was announced. ;-)
Mr Soh got the Most Creative award (but not the Most Humorous which went to a Mr Tong). Probably for his cold jokes made during chemistry lessons.

And Mr Ong, a Discipline Master, got voted Coolest Teacher.
And here he is, the Coolest teacher checking if his medal isn't made of chocolate.

THANKS to the weather, the 5km (or was it 15km?) relay run was cancelled and we had instead a Push-Up competition amongst the classes.

Needless to say, not all the Sec 4 classes participated in the event. 4/1 sent a muscle team ~~show-offs~~, the ever-competitive 4/5 HAD to send people too and the more sporting NT classes just sent their teams for the heck of it. But that was it for the Sec 4s.
4/1's Muscle Team ~~for showing off so-called masculinity~~

Lolz. It's pretty ironic to see a cute little girl (Junior Ong) alongside an attempt at masculinity.

Over at 4/5, it's mostly silent support.

Just when I thought a particular Sec 2 class was insane for doing 400++ push-ups amongst five people, 4/5 trounced them with 529 push-ups with girls in their line-up as well. Girl power, eh?

But in between the push-ups, I succeeded in taking sneak shots of people here and there. But I'll probably post them later along with the videos since Photobucket Hates Me right now and refuses to cooperate. PHOTOS UPLOADED!

Oh ya. Nadzeef came as this nomad with funky pants & a digeridoo in a carpet. He won 2nd prize for the Be Yourself Day competition...At this rate, I could have whipped up something myself overnight. T_T.

Then again, the judges were pretty unfair themselves. There were some who were unique enough, whom I felt deserved to win. Like this Sec 2 guy here.

But NOOOOOOO. Instead the 1st prize went to a pair of preppy schoolgirls who dressed alike. They weren't worth taking any photos of. In fact, if they hadn't won, I wouldn't have identified them as participants. The remaining prize went to the Jabbawockeez wannabes. From this, it's pretty obvious that the school is sending out a subtle message that
CONFORMITY IS THE NORM & thus ENCOURAGED
It's utter bullshit. The school's RICH values, that is. Didn't they encourage CREATIVITY? How is dressing alike CREATIVE? Isn't it BE YOURSELF DAY? Everyone has only one self each. So extending a Self to more than one person is considered CREATIVE huh? If that's the case, then the standards for creativity here is pathetically low. Disappointing.

At least I have my photos though. Here are some of them along the day.

Sadako revived...

...and sweeping the classroom? O_o...

Joled & Gang having a laugh ~~at the rock band~~

Class 4/2...WingYan saw me taking the photo...

I would very much like to post the photo of Lorayne who had bravely donned Mdm Yau's bikini card. But I need her approval which she isn't likely to give. So...Too bad loh.

Nadz & The Bagman ~~Joled~~

Kelvin ~~& a whole lot of other people~~ Looking Bored

And Everyone Rushing To Go Home ~~AT LAST~~

Well, all in all, Teachers'Day was fine. They improved the entertainment though ~~not that much~~ and the prizes since the Be Yourself Day winners get medals ~~even if some didn't deserve it~~. Maybe...Just maybe, I'll be back next year to check it out again.

Moo Ga Dang (무가당)

2008-08-28T14:49:00.007+08:00

Phew. The hectic week of Pre-Lims is over. Then there's one week to cram Physics and then some practical info on the Science Practical exams before rounding up the whole ~~bloody~~ Pre-Lims in Term 4. . Be Yourself Day is tomorrow and I regret to have to go out quietly this year since I have no time to get a costume (whether made or assembled). HAIZ.... But on the bright side, Nadzeef did mention he'll do something. My cam's getting fired up and I'll be waiting...

But for now, I just HAVE TO introduce this crack Korean group.

Moo Ga Dang (무가당)
舞歌黨 (Chinese Name)
Sugarless (English Name)

I got to know this group during one of my endless Internet surfing trips, when I DL-ed their first self-titled single, Moo Ga Dang. Consisting of Song Baek Kyung (1TYM), Lee Eun Ji (SWIT), VJ PRHYME & Kim Woo Geun (BOUNCE) all of whom came from different groups, Moo Ga Dang released their first single in 2006. For those who find Song Baek Kyung (the vaguely familiar, he acted as the Prince's friend in Goong S.

A look at the single cover pretty much gives you a brief idea of how...unconventional Moo Ga Dang is.

01. Don't Call Me Babe
02. Nose Nolabose (노세 놀아보세)
03. Just Sexy
04. Nose Nolabose (Disco Remix)
05. Don't Call Me Babe (Inst.)

Link: Moo Ga Dang
Don't Call Me Babe jumpstarts the single with a rather catchy techno tempo with...those traditional Korean zithers in the background. It may sound rather repetitive to some though I was hooked from the first track. It's like cheesy crack disco with a new twist. My favourite track was Nose Nolabose. It's not as energetic as the first track, but the rapidfire Korean rap with relatively clear English thrown in here and there sorta grow on you. Then there was the gunshots in between which blended right in with the erratic music.
Just Sexy is more smooth with Eun Ji leading the vocals at first with the guys rapping and one of them joining in. I don't think it's as power-packed as the first two tracks, but it's a great pick-me-up in any case. The two remixes didn't really leave that much of an impression on me but then again, most remixes don't.

I'll recommend this as a perky wake-up after a long study session. Moo Ga Dang breaks away from the usual stereotype that Koreans produce weepy ballads and nifty dance tracks (I don't even to imagine HOW to dance Moo Ga Dang's songs....). They do crack cosplay photos too. XD

It's a pity the lyrics remain largely incomprehensible to me though. They already released a 2nd single, OAO. One of the songs had "SHAKE YOUR BOOTY" as a theme. >_<
But either way, Moo Ga Dang is refreshing after listening to Korean ballads (however nice they are).
Moo Ga Dang - Nose Nolabose (노세 놀아보세) LIVE

There was this other live performance which was much livelier, but this one's clearer. Erm...With the exception of Eun Ji & her dancers, the others were...like clothed monkeys but somewhat cute in that dorky<3 way. And look out for PRHYME and his Pringles T-Shirt. They are dork<3 no doubt. I wouldn't be all ga-ga over Moo Ga Dang, but it's good entertainment. ;-)

Ride A Bike With No Handle Bars?

2008-08-25T18:38:00.015+08:00

I wanna rant about the exams today and what woes Mother Nature & Fate bestowed upon me and so on and so forth. But amazingly enough, I'm actually sick of ~~being an angry emo~~ writing so much about nothing much.

There aren't many interesting things happening in my life. Unless you want to count me breaking a chair for the first time simply by sitting on it, then ya.
I broke my tutor's chair yesterday. I swear it ain't my fault. The base just splindered. And no, this incident is of no indication of my weight in any case.

Winston & Joled was talking about some song on Youtube. From the bits of lyrics I heard from them,
"I can ride my bike with no handle bars"
"I can split an atom with a molecule",
"I can end the planet in a holocaust"...I thought it was another crappy lame song like the Roxas song here.

Then I watched the vid myself and hey, it has MEANING to it. Well, some meaning anyway.
Just observe the two guys at the start riding bikes with no handle bars when they come to a road junction with two signs - A Dove representing Peace & A "C" sign representing "Corporation". One chooses the path for money and the other goes for a free life. Just let the chain of thoughts go on from there and you'll get it. And watch the video. =)

Flobots - Handle Bars

Song Lyrics

Download Link Here

Ms Zaiton'll love this. It's chock-full of metaphors and symbolism. Perfect for SS.

P.S
かがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみかがみ

Guess which one is yours, かがみ-san? XD

T_T

2008-08-22T17:15:00.007+08:00

Mr Ong must have jinxed me.

"Disastrous", he kept repeating yesterday like some spooked soothsayer eager to imprint the belief that something bad is waiting to happen to all those within the examination hall.

And it did.
The Pre-Lims just gets better and better.

Fate ~~thatmuthafuckinbitch~~ bestowed upon me a vicious stomachache with a touch of diarrhoea first thing in the morning. Her gift kept me occupied for a good 40+ minutes, after which I was late for school.

Then throughout the Maths Paper, the stomachache made its presence known sporadically (but often at the most inopportune times). It didn't help that the Maths paper require maximum brainpower. And we only had, like, a half-hour break before the next paper. 30 minutes to quene up for food, eat, relieve myself, & cram 2 chapters in my head. But that, is NOTHING compared to having to use said knowledge to fill blank paper with 8m worth of answers. Horrible.
I was rather edgy about what I should or should not put in my answers, since the Geog teacher was...rather fussy about details. Might I add that she was the settler of this paper.

So I got carried away with a 6m question and didn't get to answer the 8m question. There goes my passing grade. Screw Geography man.

On a lighter note, I managed to find some pretty nice cartoon versions of Harry Potter characters. Some rarely-pictured characters in fact.
Tom Marvolo Riddle, unlike the sheer evil that is Lord Voldemort, is someone who does receive pity or even admiration (Yes, TMR fangirls do exist). Yeah, the fledging Lord Voldemort, although still evil, is thought of as still having that little goodness in him. Hence the tall tales told by fan girls/boys for fan girls/boys. Despite having a vague background (or not so vague if you've read the Half-Blood Prince), fangirls have successfully spun numerous fanfics about Tom Riddle Jr. Most of them are Tom/Ginny (...), Tom/Hermione (WTF?) or Tom/Original Character(....!).

I can't say I like any of these pairings. But then again, I've yet to encounter an impressive one with T.M.R in it. I'm not going to search through the long list @ Fanfiction.net for it either.

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Along with some adorable PotterPuffs!

Hopefully, I'll be able to do better for next week's Pre-Lims...But anyhow, good luck to all!

Disastrous Start, Disastrous End

2008-08-21T19:59:00.006+08:00

The Pre-Lims begun with a disastrous start. Even Mr Ong was using the word "Disastrous" again and again today.

"If you (hit on the invigilator/have a gargantuan pencil case on the table/cheer aloud after each question/take off your shoes & socks) and the Chief Invigilator is very strict, it'll be DISASTROUS for you", he says.
Guess which one did he actually say.

The E Maths Paper 1 was one of those exams where you have an inkling that you did the questions before and briefly recall some garbled method to solve it. But those bits of memory doesn't makes sense in the paper and you come up with more garbled equations to fill in the blanks.

All that garbling made me all the more sleepy (despite smuggling Pokka green tea into the Hall). And I wasted time redoing questions because my sleepy vision played tricks on me. ~~(DAMMNIT I SAW 20 as 26 & REDID SIMPLE SIMULTANEOUS EQNS THREE TIMES!!!)~~

Already feeling terrible for my blunders, my dearest classmates (a small group specifically) just had to start whining about "definately getting (insert unrealistically high numbers) marks loss" and "I sure die wan". Once again, these people are the ones that get As & Bs. Irritating. Apparently they haven't the consideration to spare a thought for someone who borders on failing everytime.

During the break, I went around passing Mdm Yau's card to my class's people scattered all over the canteen.

About 15 minutes before the EL Paper I begun, said group of classmates from before had to start blabbling about the EL format which quickly warped to Geography & Biology. Their chatter sounded so much for a bunch of chickens on crack. Thus, the beginnings of a headache was born.

For the first 10 minutes, I was uttetly stupefied. That irritating chicken chatter kept resounding in my head. It was AMPLIFIED, may I add.
The first signs of madness perhaps?
And for the rest of the bloody EL exam, I couldn't so much as string two sentences together. My essay is doomed for sure, going out of point and all. And my letter is screwed. I kept reiterating the same points and suddenly took a noble tone at the end.
"Adults may not take us students seriously, but we shall use this opportunity to prove ourselves....and show everyone the meaning of the human spirit"

Ugh. Now I feel like throwing from the cheese of it.

To round it all up, I went to the library today with company to study. And came to the realization that I may have invited a fox (no offense to real foxes though. I like 'em) into my life. Sickening...

Please. Is it so difficult to fucking SHUT UP after the exam? Yeah, yeah. I know they wanna discuss and compare and boost their flagging confidence by having people sympathize with poor poor them.
If they has truly not done well, I'll sympathize with them. Even join them.
But when the whiners are the ones who always get As, how do you think this makes those who have a much higher likelihood of failing?

The Pre-Lims are Tomorrow

2008-08-20T20:49:00.005+08:00

Time passes really quickly now. One moment I was making New Year resolutions and suddenly I find myself stressing over the Pre-Lims and more importantly, the O levels.

Slightly emotional, prone to frequent(but ~~sometimes~~ subtle)mood swings and a sheer loss of enthusiasm for what I revolved my life around (ANIME).
Although not exactly good for my mental health, it seems to be the perfect mental state for studying. Yeah. Ironically, I study better when I'm feeling somewhat emo.

Anyway, my plans for this year's Be Yourself Day seem to have vanished. One of my seniors planned to make a bang for his last Be Yourself Day by dressing as Darth Vader. And created quite a commotion, but ended up with the first prize anyway.

(He looks kinda drunken here though 0_o...)

Anyway, Clara & I did plan up a storm for this year's Be Yourself Day. But as usual, we underestimated the stress level & time insufficiency of the Pre-Lims...I guess my last year'll go out quietly then..
Nevertheless, I shall revive the passion for cosplay soon. The Summer Matsuri is coming up [Though I'll have to forgo the Natsu Matsuri =(].

I'll probably be blogging less now ~~(so much for reviving this blog)~~. But as soon as I have appropriate pics, I'll post 'em. We did a veeeeery nice card for Mdm Yau. And I've ~~finally~~ discovered that blindingly colourful notes help me study better. Charis agrees. She prefers my geog notes to the text ~~or teacher~~. =)

What I learnt today...Hmm...Copper(II) Chloride, like Copper(II) Sulphate, turns the Bunsen Burner flame a lovely shade of emerald. I found out when I had traces of Copper(II) Chloride on my lighted splint.
When you dip filter paper in Copper(II) Chloride solution and burn it, the flame will blaze green and or fiery blue. Burn it at the correct angle and you'll get a green flame with a blue centre. But beware though. The burning gives off a unpleasent smell.

Thanks to HweeYing for recording this!

Adios for now.

National B-Day Celebrations

2008-08-15T22:25:00.007+08:00

Yeah. I guess it's kinda late. But Happy Belated Birthday Singapore! It's only 7 years to your mid-life crisis. Or has it already started?

Anyway, this year's National Day school celebrations were fun! I couldn't remember much of the previous years'. But 2008's memories will remain for sure. For I brought my trusty Canon Camera to school (and took candid shots)! The Class Chair had requested I seize this chance to get pics for the Class Farewell Vid.

The beloved Class Chairperson. Intimidating, non?

Hwee Ying & Her Manga. And extra extended sleeves for sun protection in this ridiculously hot weather.

Michelle & Lorayne. Two photogenic people who wanted their photos taken. And made my life a whole lot easier.

A Boy & His Nerds. I wished I took a vid of him attempting to unstick stuck candy. It reminds me of a caveman's curiousity.

WingYan taking pictures of her pals.

Proceeding to our standing view.

The MCs. All of whom are from the Drama Club.

The start of the Parade.

My Class

Class 4/5 (At the direct opposite of our side)

The March-In.

The Principal & Discipline Master (Who looks like Robocop)

Someone doing something she shouldn't be doing during the parade. ~~Eh, LiangYi? ;-)~~

The March-Out.

Then came the fun part. On the spur of the moment, I decided to connect my Ipod to the class speakers and played past years' National Day songs. To my utter surprise, the class started to sing along. And WingYan even went to the front to lip-synch to several songs, an act cheered on by the class. This was probably of the few and last shows of rare class unity.
Unfortunately, WingYan had ~~thrown death threats at me~~ requested none of her videos be posted on ANY website. Which is a great pity since it was well done (Difficult to tell she's lipsynching).

The class waiting for the signal to start.

HAH! Caught you! Someone who lived near to the activity area and yet chose to "pond" said activity. He waved at us from the third floor, damnit!

Everyone waiting in vain for something supposedly meaningful. And yeah, I'm pretty put-out that I didna get to say the Pledge along with the others nor hear thousands of voices say the Pledge. We went back, hot and sweaty, and downright bothered.

But all in all. National Day this year wouldn't be shoved into some deep crevasse in my mind and left to rot away into oblivion.

The EL Oral Exams Are OVAL OVER

2008-08-14T16:43:00.013+08:00

Having survived the ordeal of the Chinese 'O' Level Oral exam (and was thoroughly humiliated >_< ), the EL one shouldn't be that bad, I reasoned. Which was half-true in a way. I went from gibbering like an ang moh with the limited vocabulary of a Chinese pre-schooler (Hell, a preschooler now could have done better) to rattling like some overeager primary school brat.

Reading
...Went fairly smoothly compared to the other two. I did try to enunciate clearly and vary my voice pitch for the characters. All while trying not to sound too fake at the same time. The names were damn distracting though.
Rakesh, Kevin, Amrita & Helen.
In my panic-induced dyslexia, I kept reading "Rakesh" as "Rashek" during the ten-minute pre-oral practice.

I knew people named Kelvin & Calvin. Both are pronounced "KELL-VIN". So when KEVIN popped up, I misread it as "KELL-VIN". Both during the practice and oral. But thankfully, I corrected myself after a single error. It's pronounced as "CARE-VIN".
Then there is a Japanese song from the anime Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles called Amrita. In the song, Amrita is sung as "AH-MER-LI-TA". "AH-MER-RI-TA", if you ignore the Japanese way of pronouncing "R" as "L". On my first try I went "AH-MER-RI-TA & HEL-LAN"...And nearly well did it again during the oral. I caught myself just in time ~~for the examiners to see it as a stumble~~. It's actually "AM-RI-TA", w/o any MER sounds.

Picture
Dear God. Picture discussion really sucks. And I suck at that. It was a photo of some groups of people playing around in the sand on a beach. In the foreground was a group of young boys and two older girls placing a hand each on a sand mound with a moat.I couldn't lift from the reading passage and say it was a sandcastle building competition. And the way they put their hands seemed more "this-is-Pride-Rock" kind of reverence to me than "they were patting the sand into shape". I lost my head from then on. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the word "mound" and went on ungainly about the sand "lump". Then I touched-and-go on all the other people in the background.
For the woman burying her boyfriend in the sand, my first thoughts were: "This is unwise as sand may get into his underwear and unmentionable orifices, thus posing a health risk." But I had to settle for "This is dangerous since the sand particles may get into his throat and choke him"
Halfway through, my brain decided to abandon me. I begun to start every sentence with "And then", something I hadn't done since I was seven. And then I peppered the whole damn thing with "Err..." & "Umm...".
And then things like "the back of the background", "in the far off background" & "a grove of co-err...palm trees" emerged in my description.
And then I concluded with "This shows that one doesn't need technology to have fun. Even simple things like sand can be used for fun." *facepalms*

Picture
I was asked three questions w/o prompts (Good sign, non?)
This is my saving grace. I'll fail this EL oral exam if it ain't.

Oral Rant is ~~OVAL~~ OVER. What other highlights of the day?
Oh, I brought my camera to school on orders of the Class Chairperson to get photos & vids of my class for the Class Farewell Video. I took quite a number of candid shots in every lesson, since I know a number of stubborn people wouldn't wanna pose no matter how much I beg. So here they are.

NOTE: The more ~~funny~~ candid photos are withheld cause I have no desire to be sued ~~(As threatened by my form teacher when she caught me)~~ And to those who want their photos off, or who just want their photos, drop me a line in the tagbox or something.

A fellow classmate ~~off to La La Land~~ in deep thought.

Failed attempt at artistic photography. Was she aware I took the picture?

Teacher giving us answers to a practice paper.

Our dear Vice-Chair sleeping ~~as usual~~

Sleepy too, Charis?

Between Chem & Physics. The Ex Vice-Chair yanking at his collar for reasons unknown. This pic had to be ~~horribly~~ lightened since he was standing against the light.

Jus-...Another classmate listening attentively ~~for once~~ in MT.

Hard at work during Chinese lesson.

On the way to Recess.

Our dear Vice-Chair awake ~~and keeping his PSP company.~~

The Vice-Chair & The Ex Vice-Chair. Geography lesson was like Mission Impossible. Thoroughout the whole time, I swear the teacher was fully aware of my ~~spy~~ camera.

Bored In Geography.

Due to my poor stealth skills, I can only take this backshot of the class returning from Geography lesson.

But I'm stealthy enough to take this FRONTAL shot of these usually camera-shy people. ~~HE was featured sleeping on HweeYing's blog~~

At assembly. This teacher usually looks kinder.

Some of the few people who make my job easier by ASKING ME to take photos for them.

The opening of Class 3/1's Drama. Honestly I don't know what the hell is the Sec 3s' theme, for every class to have DANCE in their plays. And this is one of the...least titilating dances I've seen of the Sec 3s. They were beyond spastic, at best.

My junior from the Drama Club reprised his role as an angry drunkard father in his class play. The prospects of his Drama career is worrying if he gets typecast as an Angry Drunkard again. But anyway, he did well here. =)

Another notable part was the spoof of a particular teacher, which was brillantly performed by a brave guy with his high pants. He even got the speech pattern down pat. I'll probably upload it on Youtube when I'm free.

Adios for now, folks.

My CCA Points, Monsiuer ?

2008-08-13T22:51:00.004+08:00

Arrgh The issue of the CCA points are driving me nuts.

Everyone got their CCA point slips a few days ago and apparently, it was a rather non-thorough job since nearly everyone had a couple of mistakes in their individual achievements.

Logically, being one of the few Drama members to actually have a decent score (REGULAR ATTENDANCE & HARD WORK! NOT LUCK), I shouldn't have anything to complain about. That is, if the whole issuing of points weren't a sheer act of injustice here.

Upon hearing about my scores, a couple of , to put it politely "shrewd" Drama members borrowed mine on the pretext of double-checking their events. And at least one of them shamelessly copied off MY achievements despite being a regular no-show at meetings.

To make things worse, a non-teaching staff was assigned the job of ensuring the final point tally was accurate. And all we had to do to was to write the amendments in pencil and it'll be corrected as written. Meaning people can make up crap about their so-called achievements and the supposed hard work they put in, and thus get the same scores as those who actually worked. Why? Because they don't bother to dig up any dirt for verification!

All that talk about CCA being important for your future was nothing but a farce. A bloody hypocritical farce. Why bother working so hard when slackers can do even better than you can? They slack, they have more time to study/relax, they eventually fare better than you and they WILL GET WHAT YOU GET FOR DOING MUCH MUCH LESSER.

The %%#^**! school keeps saying, "Oh, we trust the students to follow the moral principles. Their consciences would prick them otherwise. And then they'll suffer and only have themselves to blame."
And when their expectations fall short, the Vice-Principal and/or Principal simply gives YET ANOTHER REDUNDANT speech on how "disappointed the teachers are", how "you'll not have a moment of peace cause your CONSCIENCE would bother you" and that they hope it wouldn't happen again.

BULLSHIT I say.

If they have consciences, they wouldn't be taking credit for what they didn't work for.
If they had the vaguest sense of responsibility, they would have turned up regularly for club meetings.
If they even cared, they wouldn't have cheated someone who comprimised study and leisure time for CCA by making actual achievements amount to nothing with their falsehoods.

Needless to say, I was furious. So much so that I made another (who had a CCA slip error but chose to overlook it since it was in his favour) have his CCA slip relooked at again. I practically marched to the teacher and demanded my grievence be redressed. Something had better be done. Not just my scores, not just others' scores. But the whole bloody unfair system the school has.

God knows how many frauds got away with obtaining the two bonus points for CCA & CIP achievements by bluffing...

On hindsight though, the other whom I pointed out to the teacher did have redeeming points. He helped out regularly and was the single male senior who turned up without fail everytime. He tried his best at club activities too. All these considerably more than what the others did. But I just can't stomach the thought of another getting higher scores even though the work done was about the same. I feel betrayed somehow...
And the teacher did look rather weary. I don't mean to tax her further, but I need to see justice done.

I'm pretty drained by my outburst this afternoon. I was being pugnacious about the whole issue, a fact which I just began to be aware of. If I offended anyone who didn't deserve attitude, know that I didn't mean it to you. Stress and repeated fails with a generous serving of irritants is a surefire combination for PMS-style flare-ups.

And then the EL Oral exams on tomorrow. With Pre-lims just 8 days away...
And a stroke will probably be on its way when a blood vessel finally bursts.

P.S. If you find that RIGHTEOUS ANGER and/or TEENAGE ANGST isn't conveyed here, that's coz I believe not in using CAPS and repeated vulgarities in every ^%$#@&! sentence. This blog is ~~open to heresy~~ PG, Dammit!

I has lost teh ability to write

2008-07-13T15:11:00.006+08:00

It's just five days to a three-month absence from this blog. With a whirlwind of activities during this period, I have much more to say but absolutely no motivation whatsoever to put it in words. Especially when I realised how many events are desperately in need of preservation on my online memory space.

1] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party
2] NOMAD Preview
3] S'pore StreetFest 2008 Band Performances
4] S'pore StreetFest 2008 - WoW! Band Finals
5] NOMAD Fringe Festival
6] Superheroes Songs @ Esplanade Flipside
7] Miyuki Red White Animation Song Battle
8] S'pore Toy & Comic Convention
9] NOMAD @ AMKSS
10] Cosfest @ D'Marquee

And let's not forget the Common Tests Rant, Pre-PreLims Peeves & the Emo Speeches. (There's the miscellaneous Life happenings; that'll be left aside)

......Dear Heavens, on account on this blog, let my perpetual Writer's Block disappear ~~so I can get my EL homework done on time for once~~ so my precious memories'll be preserved here.

S'pore Toy & Comic Con 2008

2008-06-29T20:46:00.001+08:00

As usual, it was friggin' crowded. It amazes me that despite getting nice large venues, the crowds still overflow every single bloody time. It still irks me time and again that everytime I tried to take a photo, someone nudges/bumps into/blocks me. GRRRRRR.

Anyway, I did manage to take some pretty clear shots of some of the cosplayers there. Yeah, yeah. Missed a whole lot more as usual.

~The Cosplayers~
The ratio of cosplayers to crowd was even smaller than usual. At first that is. I think I missed out on alot of them because of the crowds. All photos were taken by me.

Cloud in a dress was sheer ROFL. I think it was fan-spawned ~~as with all crack ideas~~.

I think. ~~I hope actually. Coz I can't imagine the Final Fantasy franchise entertaining fangirls by putting Crossdressing Cloud in the game.~~

The Soi Fong cosplayer was PERFECT. She had that tough look which practically emanated this meanness. It sorta made me a bit hesitant to ask for a photo initially (What if she was TOO MUCH in character?). But when I did, she just nodded mutely and struck a pose even though I might have interrupted her break time.

The pirate, btw, was actually hired by a shop to promote something. He was giving out pamphlets at one point.

~The Competition~

The cosplayers were actually spontaneous and IN CHARACTER. I think the best was Hatsune Miku, she was so genki that she bordered on annoying. I'm not sure if a VOCALOID was suppose to even have a personality to begin with, but if you want judge by looks alone....Then I guess it fits. Typical Japanese Girl character, you see.

Then the guy with the massive wing (from a game, which I don't know) had all but threatened the audience into voting for him. LOL.
Hmm...What else...The afro dude was totally hip! And Kakashi (in spite of a lack of spikes in his hairstyle) remained so Kakashi-like even when the limelight is not on him. He read porn on stage while waiting for the other contestants.

I can't remember everyone, but the one-winged cosplayer was one of the winners. Shows that threats worked pretty well, eh? XD

~The Dolfies~

The dolfies on display had a more Western look, considering their facial features and all. While it's nice to see dolfies with another type of appearence, I still prefer the Asian-looking dolfies. They look more refined somehow.
One example is the very first picture of the black-haired dolfie. His owner had very kindly permitted me a picture. The rest of the dolfies were on display at some booths.

The LEGO Patriotism

It was probably some competition on showing iconic Singapore in the form of LEGO. I was quite impressed considering that many of these works were pretty intricate (buildings and more buildings). But I preferred the orang utan one [1st one in the slideshow]. Guess which Singapore icon it represents? Ah Meng

My favourite LEGO art was this though. It was not a part of the above collection, which was a pity since they just left it sitting in a miscellaneous display shelf of Star Wars merchandise. I just found it kinda cute. It's YODA! ~~(how could anyone not like YODA)~~

They had this massive graffiti wall out front of the entrances. The graffiti style...Hmm...Psychedelic?

It reminds me of the Beatles. A lot.

This are all the miscellanous random photos I took.

They had famous designers and cartoonists as guests. The range is pretty large, I have to say. The guest cartoonists included people like the Lao Fu Zi creator to modern ones like the creator of Tokidoki. This is a sample of Tokidoki art btw.

Damn cool siah.

What I liked was how down-to-earth the cartoonists were. I mean, they mingled amongst the crowds, signed autographs and did impromptu demostrations. It was cool, their lack-of-airs.

Besides that, there were THOUSANDS of figurines on display. From Star Wars to the Simpsons, it's...Whoa. I wished I spent more time snapping photos of them. It was simply exquiste!

Hopefully the next Singapore Toy & Comic Con would be more organized. And I want to see more cartoonists. And this time, do some research about time beforehand so I can get in onto the fuss. They're cool people who creates cool designs. It'll be a shame not to see them up close. Then they had veternans of the Animation industry give talks as well, but the ignorant me ended up dismissing that in favour of the cosplayeres. T_T

Ja nei for now!

Superhero Songs @ Esplanade

2008-06-20T19:28:00.012+08:00

Choosing a place so far from the heartlands for study sessions does have its benefits after all...On one of my many trips to the Esplanade library, I chanced upon their free performances programme @ the Concourse. It was at first, this duo playing acoustic guitars (whose names I can't remember) and covering pop tunes. They made me look more closely at acoustic music in the end.

Because of this, I returned on the 20th of June (Before my birthday) to check out Jack, Rai & Alvin and their superhero-themed performance. Which lasted three days btw.

By now, I'm sure most people (in Singapore at least) should be familiar with the names Jack & Rai already. But this was before the Fa La La song played on radios.

They covered songs related to superhero shows (e.g. Kiss From A Rose by Seal from some Batman movie/show) and their own spoofs. These vids are from different days of their performances.

Spiderpig [Spiderman parody]

...Ok, so this was kinda lame.

Hero Songs in E Minor (Transformers/Captain Planet/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

They actually brought out an Optimus Prime plushie ("SOFTimus Prime!") and started advertising the transformability of it.

One Week [Barenaked Ladies cover]

Crazy speed singing! This is probably the only song which sounds better with speed. I was gaping at the speed at which he sung at 1.00.

One Week - Barenaked Ladies

The next two vids were recorded by me =)

All Star (Smash Mouth cover)

It's a bit faster than usual, but didn't lose the innate wry cheeriness of the song. That I like =) And Jack is not singing backing vocals for once!

Towards the end of their 2nd set, the boys tried (in vain) to distract the audience with an age-old trick ("Hey, look over there" *points in opposite direction*).
Jack then ran off to nowhere. Which gave them some room to make up a story about how Jack got kidnapped and how they need to call on various superheroes for help. They used that as an opening to sing some superhero-related songs. Like the next one.

Superman (Five For Fighting cover)

This was the Smallville theme song. Jack's soulful rendition of this song lulled me into a somewhat peaceful mood i guess.

In the end, Jack still didn't appear. Shame though. I was half-expecting him to suddenly burst on the scene in some cheesy cape+external underwear suit.

Throughout the show, they kept making references to that line from Spiderman ("With great power comes great responsibility"). Somehow, their show had a really casual atmosphere. It's like a small gathering amongst friends with the boys clowning around (hence, the lame jokes) and just...having fun. They didn't seem to worry about showmanship or anything in front of the public. It's cool that way =)

S'pore StreetFest 2008 - Hidama

2008-06-04T18:10:00.002+08:00

In between the main events (ala D'J Party, WoW! Band Finals), there are days when each individual bands are to come down to the stage area to familiarize themselves with it as well as to perform for the public. Having heard the band Hidama at a previous event before, I made a special trip down to Plaza Singapura to watch them again.

And for once, I was early. Too early.

To the point that I ended up people-watching for a good hour+. The seating was all set though.

Besides the band performances, Streetfest also featured graffiti since it's all about the street culture. There were three large blank walls for the art to be displayed. But it was sorta "art in motion". The graffiti wasn't completed and just displayed there. It is to be finished during the course of the S'pore Streetfest. Which was kinda cool since we got to see exactly how good they were at spray-painting.

This is the first panel. It looked a lot like Johnny Depp, doesn't it?
Incidentally, it is by far, the most artistic-looking of the three. Ok, they're all artistic. But this one looks like a piece of pop art which belonged in some fancy-smancy art gallery.

This one reminds me of the Gorilliaz's cartoon band art.
Here's a sample.
...Ok. Maybe not. But the first thing that came to my mind was the Gorilliaz band. Both are kinda distorted in a way anyway.

My favourite amongst the three. I really like the vibrancy of the colours and how they used it. With just spraycans alone, the artists made it so the tiger seem to be glaringly bright. It ain't complete though.

Btw, did you know that the artists are actually secondary school students? The school's name started with an "S", but I can't remember anymore. I think they're collaborating with a few other graffiti pros for this project (Seeing that some of the older-looking ones were smoking...).

Then I managed to catch the artists in action and through a lucky combo of inadequate wobbly hands + sheer luck, succeeded in getting this.
Personally, I think it looks kinda surreal =)

Hidama arrived in a hurry (Later, it was known that they had only been informed on the day itself about their scheduled performance ) much later. Thank god man. It only takes so long before people-watching becomes obsessive.

Because of my wobbly hands, I couldn't get anything that wasn't a blur and so, shall substitute them with ~~grainy~~ screencaps. Yeah, I think I recorded all but one of their performances.

The band members, as I heard, are all from LaSalle. For your info, LaSalle is a fancy arts school in Singapore. Something like the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, but fancier-sounding.

This is the vocalist (Her name's Kai Li, I think) & their guitarist. ~~(Damn. Unglam screenshot here coz she was walking, but at least it's remotely presentable)~~

So far, this is the video with the least amount of static in the background. I would have uploaded the rest, but it hardly be audible (the vocals, I mean) since Youtube typically screws up the quality further.

Here's the full songset anyway (The links lead to live performances by the original band).

1] Himitsu (by Tokyo Jihen)
2] Jusui Negai (by Tokyo Jihen)
3] Dynamite (by Tokyo Jihen)
4] Ukifune 浮舟(by GO!GO!7188)

The last song which Hidama performed before really left an impression on me. Hidama's rendition of it was different from the original band. The song itself was kinda quirky too, I admit. Especially since the ending of the choras goes
"Rai rai rai rai rai rai rai
Oooh Rai rai rai rai rai rai rai".
Yeah. It sounds like a demented Raichu.

But it's pleasant in its odd little way. The lyrics btw, talks about some tragic Japanese lady (Ukifune) from the Tale of Genji (which is some classical Jap novel).

Hidama - Jusui Negai 入水願い (Tokyo Jihen Cover)

Despite having a sore throat, the vocalist did pretty well. She walked (more like struted) around the stage, acting coy when she should be, and commanded attention all round. ~~Which makes taking screenshots difficult for an amauteur like me.~~

I'm watching out for Hidama now. Even though they've only covered Japanese songs so far (no originals yet), they manage to put a little of their own style in. Not to mention their members are all good at their instruments. A friend commended that the drummer was insanely fast on a single-pedal drumset, despite a double-pedal drumset being usually used.

S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party 2008

2008-05-25T17:49:00.005+08:00

(This is my scrappy Streetfest booklet which got trodden on by accident, hence the shoeprint at the corner)

I arrived there late (as usual) and so, missed out on quite a number of bands.
And then I was running around taking photos and ended up missing a couple more bands. But thus far, these are the ones I've paid attention to.

It wasn't such a good idea to hold a cosplay/music event in such a small area of Suntec City (Where the CONVENTION HALLS could be used instead). To make things worse, the D'J Party clashed with some Canon promotion event. Which resulted in a lose-lose situation for both D'J Party peeps and Canon. The latter gets pissed off by the photography of cosplayers (takes up space) and the rest of us are peeved by them stopping random people to hawk their wares (takes up space). As you can see, this is the crowd AFTER the cosplay competition.
Despite a large no. of people leaving after the cosplay competition, the place was still considerably crowded.

Quis
Quis is relatively new on the scene (3 months old!). Did you know the vocalist was a former child actor? He played the character "Luo Tou" in the 1990s' mandarin drama "Tou Fu Street". In addition to that, he was a finalist in the first generation of Campus Superstar. I was kinda surprised to see him performing in a J-rock band because of all the Mandarin-related work he did.

Anyway, the videos don't do the band justice (Youtube never does). They were certainly much, much better live.

ALONES [by Aqua Timez] (Bleach)

The first cover of ALONES I've heard. These guys are pretty updated loh. At that time, ALONES was the latest Bleach opening theme.

Driver's High [by L'Arc~en~Ciel] (GTO)

Skyler

The vocalist had this uber-strong voice which is easily identified too. However, they seem to have a knack for choosing songs by artists with uniquely different voices (hard to emulate). It's great that they are challenging themselves to cover this kind of songs but they don't always work out though.

Jam [by YUI]

I like Skyler's cover of this. The vocalist's voice doesn't take your attention away from the music (which is actually pleasantly laid-back in a way) but manages to stand out anyhow. =)
YUI has this high-pitched, whiny-ish voice which sets her apart from other J-Pop songstresses, but it tends to grate on my nerves sometimes (That's just me though).

Marunouchi Sadistic [by Tokyo Jihen]

Ooh, I like the flute (Is that a flute?) solo at 2.43. And also the scat thingy she does before that. While it's a little faster than normal, I think it turned quite nicely.
Shiina Ringo (original vocalist) has one of those love-em-or-hate-em voices (with the occasional screeching and all). Just to note.

God Knows...[by Aya Hirano] (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)

I think this is a pretty decent cover (I've seen worse ones out there). Though it's kinda clear that the vocalist is quite tense. I'm not used to hearing this song being sung in a lower pitch(?). Aya Hirano has the typical Anime girl voice (a.k.a. High-pitched, squeaky-ish & annoying after prolonged exposure) and she did this song with much aplomb. So "God Knows..." is arguably a difficult song to cover. Kudos to Skyler for trying though.

Weekend [by X Japan]

This very performance led me to discover one of my all-time fave J-Rock songs. I'm partial to this cover since I saw it before the original. But once I got to know about X Japan's one, this cover version was quickly forgotten even though it is the only FEMALE cover version I've seen so far. Because once again, Skyler chose a song which is so closely tied to its original artists that anything else would pale in comparision.

X Japan is practically legendary and their vocalist Toshi had one of the more unique voices in the history of J-Rock. Attempting their songs is a whole new class of "difficult" regardless of whether you're keeping to the original style as much as possible or trying to imbue it with your own style.

Still, I like this cover enough. It's definately one of the better ones.

Crossover! - Tao Ren (Shaman King) + Sakura & Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura)

Although there were many Gothic characters around that day, this lady here caught my attention. She really stood out with her wild white tresses (complete with mask) and slender profile. For some reason she reminded me of Death from the Sandman comics. It's not the physical appearences, but the...mysterious charm they both possess.

Now this is one classy Gothic Lolita. Or should I even classify her as a lolita? She seems so much more mature than the others. The masquerade-like mask added a really nice touch to her poise.

Suzumiya Haruhi (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) CHIO!

Lavi (D. Gray Man)

Near (Death Note)

This young cosplayer was unfortunate enough to be the target of a teenage stalker. >_< I'm not kidding here..>_<...Fortunately, said teenage stalker didn't put him off cosplay permanently.

Reborn (Katekyo Hitman Reborn). This guy was with the KHR jumpsuit team. He's perched on Adult!Lambo's head (as seen by the turf of hair there).

Watching the team have fun makes me want to cosplay myself.
I took this short vid while they were posing

This duo from Bleach was spontaneous enough to pose for a crack picture. In an AU (Alternate Universe) situation where Yamada Hanatarou could stop Ichigo's Bankai with one finger (Like Aizen XD).

Some kind people put these lovely dolfies on display. I particularly liked the one with pink hair. He It had this detailed tattoo of the kanji word for love.

The Competitors

Crossover! - Katekyo Hitman Reborn jumpsuit team + Ryuk [Death Note]

Ryuk was the highlight of the cosplayers. With that massive wingspan forcing everyone to clear the way and platform boots to augument his height....Wow.

Everyone was swarming around him, trying to get a shot in. Needless to say, he won the cosplay competition.

The Organizers' Band [XCCJJJ]
At the end of the event, the organizers sprung a little surprise on us by forming a band of themselves and some guests from other bands. They were more professional than the others in the sense that you don't really detect any nervousness from them. Not to mention their music was a lot heavier.

Dogfight [by M.O.V.E]

Dramatic opening ;-)

I was totally confused with the next two performances. The MC said it was the same song but apparently one was done by 8-Ball feat. M.O.V.E while the other is M.O.V.E version. Which is what, I'm not sure.

Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E feat. 8-ball]

Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E] ??

This is the faster version. Speedmaster sped up.

There were many other cosplayers and gothic/punk/VK dressers. I shan't put up all the photos though. Photobucket is killing me. Btw, the pics were all taken by me =)

As for complaints...Hmm.

There was this band which SPOKE & SUNG in mandarin despite the event being all about J-Culture (Maybe they were at the wrong event...?). I don't know which was it but I was kinda put out by that. This is freakin' Singapore man. Speak ~~Singlish~~ English.

The sound system was whacked. Some instruments drowned out others and woe betide those who lingered near the speakers. The volume would suddenly increase and from time to time, a high-pitched squeal-screech could be heard whenever tuning or whatever took place.

The location really sucked (as mentioned before). Just crossing the stage area alone involved a hell lotta elbowing and shimmying between sweaty (Yes, even with air-con!) bodies. While I did my fair share of elbowing, it was thoroughly unpleasant. To the point that some of us left the comforts of the air-con for the sweltering outdoors.
With the &*@#$% smokers. >_<

At some point, more than half the cosplayers started to hang around outside, which effectively made it no less different from the indoors. There was photography everywhere, meaning you had to watch where you step lest you invoke the rage of the photog mob for blocking them. And some cosplayers decided to just plonk down near the entrance for their break (I don't blame them. T-shirt & pants were already enough to cook me, much less their costumes). Which then sparked off an Angry!Security Guard who started blasting people with a loudspeaker. ARRGH.

But I really look forward to the next Streetfest though. The bands were good, the cosplayers plenty. Hopefully, the location for the D'J Party would be larger. ~~Read: CONVENTION HALL or YOUTH SCAPE PARK~~

On the sides, I got to visit Otaku House for the first time ever. The size of the store was disappointing =(

Killer Cramps

2008-04-22T21:25:00.004+08:00

For (nearly) six years, I have escaped the bane which plagued women during their fertility cycles.

For (almost) six years, I have gone through all the trials and tribulations of dear Aunt Catamenia except this.

And for the very first time in (roughly) six years, the Ultimate Mother of All Period Cramps paid me a visit. Hopefully it's a visit. A once-in-a-lifetime visit.

She arrived on a cool windy day, on the start of a new school week. Her visit was like an earthquake. It started off with slight, easily ignored tremors. But before I knew it, it flared into a full-out series of cramps, heralding the arrival of the Ultimate Cramp. It was like a black hole had opened within my abdomen and was sucking within organs, flesh & blood, but something somewhere refuses to give. It was a tug of war match in there.

I was in cold sweat and vomited bits of my last meal out. Thank God WingYan had the ~~miracle pill~~ pink Panadols for menstruation...

I just might have died from the pain.

D.Gray Man Crack - Channel Surf Series

2008-04-18T23:25:00.013+08:00

....Alright. It appears I fail at keeping schedules. It's been more than three weeks since Rotation #1. And I have no motivation to put up a 2ND one. Well....I shan't make any more promises then.

AS AND WHEN I LIKE, I SHALL PUT UP ANY RANDOM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT CATCHES MY FANCY.

Now, Youtube Recs. I spent a good amount of my time chancing upon videos there. Yes, chancing upon them. And my obsession then changes every other time (Meaning I can't ~~infect~~ share the ~~addiction~~ videos within that period of impulsive craze.

First up, D.GrayMan Crack!

Crack is basically a sub-genre of fandom in which lame references, nonsensical happening and character-mocking takes place. It is not meant to be taken seriously since it consists of parodies (Read you goddamn "Purists": PARODY).

Nevertheless, Crack continues to survive in every Anime. After all, we all need a good laugh (senseless or not) every now and then.
A word of warning though; Crack might lead to brain-breaking and a whole new (Not neccessarily awe-inspiring) perspective on your fave Anime Idol. But so ahead anyway.

The very first D.GrayMan Crack videos were of the Channel Surf series.
Created by Clefiea, it basically subs in the voices of random TV shows on random channels into the mini clips. I don't know if Clefiea herself actually channel-surfed to get all this, but either way, the series is a masterpiece. I reccomend Channel Surf 3 for its WTF moments!

Channel Surf #1

Tyki's name is horribly abused here. The steep cliff on which The Black Order HQ stands has been transformed into a pedophile's candy trap for kids. Allen & Lavi aren't wearing pants. 'Nuff said.

Channel Surf #2

One of the Fangirl triggers is at 2.53 (Priceless!). This is where Daisysa thinks he's a woman, Kanda finally decides to show off his hotness and Allen spends 25s cursing his Master nonstop.

Channel Surf #3

Komui had me riveted from the first line uttered. But my fave was this: "Ladies do not start fights but they can finish them"
This has the most WTF moments with someone channeling Chewbacca and one of those irritating songs which gets stuck in your head (The more you hate it, the longer it stays). Here's the link: Annoyance Level 2

There are others as well, but I'm not going to put it up here. Feel free to explore though. Perhaps you may find something in them to laugh about.

† D.Gray-Man: the abridged series Episode 1 †
† D.Gray-Man: The abridged series Episode 2 †
Simply put, this guy makes dry sarcastic comments on the episodes from the view point of someone who doesn't seem to think much of Anime. I don't quite like it, but some people find it hiliarious.
Exorcists of the Caribbean: Curse of the Innocence This would have been better if subbed video clips weren't used. D.GrayMan Crossover trailers are kinda rare...
So check out D.Gray Man Crack and feel free to post any links I missed out.

Oh, just one last thing: Today's Sunset.

And The Full Moon Before Nightfall

Close Up

Random Rotation #1 - Jazz Fusion

2008-03-22T19:44:00.015+08:00

I've decided to start a monthly (or fortnightly, depending on my mood) music rotation just so the files I've uploaded stay there. My PC's moving at the pace of a slug on sake cause of all them music choking it up. Hence, I shall upload bits and pieces of the music here and there and delete them off my PC.
Anyway, I can't quite review well, much less tell you whether the singer had properly reach every damn note of the song. But what I can offer is my humble opinion. And I hope you'll add yours too, in order to have differing opinions for others.

So first's up: Jazz Fusion

Jazz Fusion is a sub-genre of music which combines Jazz with other genres from rock to techno to R&B. It usually comprises of instrumental music and started off in the 1960s, when Jazz musicians played around with other music types (particularly blues).

There are many who hail Jazz Fusion as a fresh face of Jazz, but other "purists" still insist that Jazz Fusion had all but ruined Jazz music.
Personally, I found this rather strange. Not strange in the LOL-WEIRDO way or WTF-IS THIS-SHIT kinda thing, but more of (....). Yeah. I don't know what to make of this. It strikes me as distorted and confusing (maybe because of the intermixing beats), but I'll probably listen to them during my restless moods.

1). John McLaughlin by Miles Davis

It's pretty strange that one of the greater contributers to Jazz Fusion would title a song after his bandmate. That aside, this track grates on my nerves at times. The piano, combined with the messy drumming in the background doesn't match and (to me) throws the entire song off-whack. I can't quite identify the 2nd genre its fused with...But this song simply doesn't work for me.

.
2)Noonward Race by Mahavishnu Orchestra
3)Birds of Fire by Mahavishnu Orchestra<

Considered one of the greatest Jazz Fusion bands of all time, Mahavishnu Orchestra was founded by John McLaughlin (That guy in the previous track). Noonward Race is basically Jazz + Rock and it has some pretty cool electric guitar sounds in it. The guitar dominates for a better part of the song (which is why I like it).
Birds of Fire, on the other hand, starts off ominously before moving onto the slower sounds of the electric guitar. This time, both Jazz and Rock elements of the song actually complements each other. So give Mahavishnu Orchestra a try then.
Oh, and for your info, they're made up of White Men. Not Indians.

Noonward Race

. 4) Swamp Thing by The Dave Weckl Band
5) Cultural Concurrence by The Dave Weckl Band

The Dave Weckl Band was formed by Dave Weckl. Yeah, it kinda makes you wonder why Jazz Fusion musicians can be so creative with their song titles but not with their band names. Anyway, Swamp Thing is mixed with funk and a little of blues (I think). The end result is this edgy-sounding, yet relaxing piece in which the other genres hadn't overwhelmed the Jazz in it. It reminds me of this dapper guy in a black pin-striped suit and fedora (ala Chicago), swinging his way from one jazz club to another.
Cultual Concurrence doesn't contain various tribal music. I don't know how to describe this. Noise? Stamina Training Via Repitative Drumming? You decide.

. 6) Mirage by Billy Cobham
7) Avatar by Billy Cobham

Hmm....Mirage is jazzy enough and is the kind of song which made me unconciously tap my fingers to it. While Avatar, as its name suggests, starts off a mystical peal of...bells? Then it quickly dissolves into the kind of music which the old Nintendo would use. I prefer Mirage though. And like the previous artists, Billy Cobham is one of the so-called movers of Jazz Fusion and was a former bandmate to the others mentioned.

. 8) Stomping Grounds by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
9) Lochs of Dread by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Stomping Grounds has country folk music mixed in. It's more suited for the polka/line-dance actually. A little too ole Western cowboy-like, but faster-paced with the minute Jazz amounts.
Lochs of Dread, while also country and ole West, reminds me of a lone ranger riding into a town over-ridden by bandits with the sunset backing him. I like the sort-of climax music around 3.35. Anyway, look at this: "The band's name is a play on the name of the 1960s rock band Dick Dale and the Del-Tones." Not much creativity as usual, but their music are worth a shot anyway.

Lochs of Dread

I've enclosed all of them in a RAR. file available for download here. Kindly delete after 48 hours (Probably sooner since I can't forsee anyone liking enough to listen to it regularly).

Click HERE for Jazz Fusion

JOEI! LOOK HERE!

Randomoisity

2008-01-05T22:58:00.001+08:00

Tis rather fitting eh? I wonder what Singapore's one would be...?

Dream

2007-11-21T18:04:00.002+08:00

After the (supposedly) roaring success of the Haunted House last year, I had high hopes for the Open House showcase. After all, it would be our chance to finally up the Drama Standard a notch. I had dreams and hopes of what's to come. Ideas sprang left and right, with the completely absurd Host Club (Ala Ouran High) to the rather unrealistic Cosplay Crossover Extravaganza to a scavenger hunt type of game spanning different universes. The worst case scenario then was the repeat of the Haunted House Theme again...But regardless, it would be our theme. The Sec 4s decided on the Haunted House which was already done three years back. We followed their directions, their ideals. Now, it is our turn to lead....

To what end, may I ask?

Day 4 of Open House 07 Preparations

2007-11-21T16:53:00.000+08:00

Where do I start?

Ah. This morning while rushing to school (being over an hour late for Drama and all...), I met Jasper the Dance Club's resident instructor at the traffic junction. (Refer to previous entry on Indian Dance for more info) The first thing jolly ole Jasper said was a surprised WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? while glancing surreptitiously (It could have been a direct stare, but our height difference made it difficult for me to see his face without craning my neck) at my crowning glory, now flecked with grey and looking lank and lifeless. I'm used to people making remarks about the premature white strands (Thanks to Mother Dearest and her genes)within the mass of black locks. But to have an acquaintance greet you with a reminder of the spread of the white ones is somewhat upsetting to a highly-strung, sleep-deprived teen. The last time we saw each other was at an early Indian Dance session months ago and he could tell the difference in my hair colour with a single glance. That says a lot, doesn't it?

Despite being extremely late, I found myself forcefully slowing my footsteps down to keep pace with Jasper. He complained about the sheer lack of initialtive in the juniors, I agreed and added on to the growing list of Juniors' Flaws. Along the way, I learnt the Dance Club used to give really crappy Open House performances since the Dancers do want to do well, but apparently the flesh is weak. Jasper is now pumping them and gearing up for the Open House ahead. After I ranted and raved about how...how unprofessional (yeah, that's the word) and rushed everything was, Jasper had dished out the same encouragement most teachers would give. I believe the exact words went along the lines of:
It is good that you have the right attitude for presentation. It does't matter that the others don't feel the same. Don't care about them. Just continue as you are now. It'll work out.
The heavenly bells rang, the angels sang and...Alas! Enlightenment!
No. Not really. They made a lot of sense compared to what I've been offered so far. The Pessimist: Bah Humbug.
The Optimist (Having long been ignored/dethroned/M.I.A: *StarSTruck*...I do believe!

Yeah. That was basically feel-good advice wrapped up nicely as Go!Go! Encouragement. But it worked. I went to school
I spent the last three days as a ticking time bomb. Tempers fluctuated (Particularly mine), jobs were rushed and standards dropped.

Stephen Lynch

2007-10-20T17:23:00.000+08:00

~Back in 2005~

Perhaps the screws holding my sanity and logic together have finally fallen out after years of hanging loosely by rust alone.

As I slounched on the sofa in a pose which would have done Homer Simpson proud, my thoughts wandered towards philosophical questions of the intricate system that is the mind.

Or not. I simply thought about my sanity or rather, what's left of it. As the crack antics of a teenaged Chris Rock in Everybody Hates Chris floated past me, I realised how much I have seperated from the conformists around me over the years.
I have now begun a new quest to seek out a...somewhat disturbing brand of humour. The prompt?

Why, none other than Stephen Lynch of course!

Through scouring Youtube for Yaoi videos, I stumbled upon what I consider to be a rare find. Stephen Lynch, who regards touchy issues such as homosexuality with light-hearted songs and an equally innocent attitude to match.

Not surprisingly, he plays a major role in the musical The Wedding Singer. For his brilliant performance, Stephen Lynch had garnered a Tony nomination. With his youthful good looks, witty lyrics and smooth voice which inevitably lifts one's mood, who could hate this guy? But unfortunately, for all you besotted fans out there, he IS happily married...

Useful Links
Official Stephen Lynch Website
Lynch-Mob
Wikipedia Entry
Stephen Lynch Fanlisting
Stephen Lynch's Space

The Wedding Singer - It's Your Wedding Day!

Stephen Lynch - If I Were Gay

Tenimyu: Imperial Match Hyoutei Gakuen Winter

2007-10-12T19:16:00.004+08:00

I realized how many incompleted posts I have...I guess for the next few posts, I'll be doing a lil'spring cleaning before I post 'em here. This is the first. I believe it was dated somewhere in 2005 though...

Despite my exams being a mere three days away, I still couldn't resist the pull of the Anime-Musicals. Having discovered these new breed of Anime fandom a long time ago, I kept putting the viewing of them off until a new threat provoked my sense of urgency. That's right. It was the Youtube moderators. While browsing through Youtube, I found out that, to my horror, the entire Dream 1st of the Tenimyu series had been removed. It wasn't even completed when I first checked it out! Thus to put the long story short, panic forced me to finish watching an entire musical within the span of four hours.

The storyline was simple. Basically, pitting the Seigaku Regulars against Hyoutei.

Imperial Match Hyoutei Gakuen Winter was impressive in its own right. It featured an all new cast from the Dream 1st and featured characters from FIVE different schools.
1] Sengoku from Yamabuki
2] Fuji Yuuta from St. Rudolph
3] Sakurai & Ishida from Fudomine
4] The Hyoutei Team
5] The Seigaku Team

Yep. I was influenced mostly by the first crew and naturally had assumed the following cast members could never match up to the cast of Dream 1st. And like so many times, my judgment proved me wrong. This cast boasts of many stronger singers and much prettier faces [they're all boys, for that matter].

Inui is portrayed as cold-blooded and indifferent.
1)First, he trained secretly with 2.25 times of Kaidoh's training menu [630 sit-ups!].
2) Then he knocked out Momoshiro in the ranking matches and became a Regular, and he faced Tezuka in yet another challenge [Number 30+].
3)Finally he became double partners with Kaidou so he could make use of him to further train both Kaidou & himself.
I can't say I dislike this Inui, but I much prefer the sadistic, Juice-making Inui in the Anime series. At least he is laughably likable there. This Inui is somewhat threatening in this version. His ruthless determination to win scares me. However, unlike the past Inuis, this one has a slightly more feminine demeanor. I mean, look at the way he pushes up his spectacles.
It's an elegant flowing movement, as though he had meant for seduce someone with that. And his hair is spikier than usual. But the best part is still his voice. He sounds way better than the Inui of Dream 1st.Much smoother and less hoarsed.

Inui-Kaidoh (Emerald Pair?) VS Shishido-Ohtori (Silver Pair)

Kaidoh also had a vast change. This Kaidoh is probably one of the better singers in the musical. However, his voice just isn't deep enough to be like the Anime Kaidoh. The Kaidoh of Dream 1st had this growly, low voice which fits Kaidoh Kaoru even more than the Anime Kaidoh. I've started off watching parts of Dream 1st instead of the Anime and for a while, I was fooled and thought that the person playing Dream 1st Kaidoh was the real seiyuu. But a good thing about this Kaidoh is that he got the snake look right down to a pat.

Tezuka himself became more boyish instead of the mature man-boy he was in Dream 1st. It seems he was trying to imitate Madonna's flared-out hair look.. Not that I'm complaining, but the hair was a tad too salon-fixed for him. Likewise, the deep commanding voice was retained but the singing was great. He, unlike the Dream 1st Tezuka, could maintain pitch and not have a voice break attack while dragging syllabuses. In this myu, Tezuka either had a growth spurt or his teammates [Inui, Fuji particularly] shrank due to excessive comsumption of Inui Juice. The height difference was simply too obvious.

*Swoons* Atobe Keigo was one of, if not the best singer in this myu. And he literally lived the character. Looking at him was akin to looking at the Anime Atobe.
Somehow, there is this aura of arrogance and superiority around him. And it's not about his looks. Atobe keigo was a narcassic, arrogant person who placed himself above others [Hence, "Ore-sama" (the great me)]. Yet this Atobe managed to pull that off while looking magnificent all the while. I couldn't even make myself feel disgusted at his behaviour. To be little more exact, I was both intimidated and intrigued by him. This feeling of awe was further enhanced by the astonishing quality of his mellow voice during "Koori no Emperor". Until now, I am still awed by his dignified demeanor.

Next worthy of mention is none other than Momoshiro-sempai! This Momoshiro did not elude the kind of arrogance and hot-headness of the Dream 1st Momo [Who was played by the equally reckless Moriyama.] He was baby-faced and reminded of a certain stereotype- The overly-enthusiatic but naive boy who is always up for an adventure regardless of the odds *coughGonFreecscough*. Bot to mention, the babyface made expressing angst more impactful. I was after all, struck by the anguished-filled expression on his face after losing the Regular spot. His voice suited the charcter more than Dream 1st Momo. Dream 1st Momo gave me the impression that he was some gangster frat boy who partied all day long. This Momo was able to bring out the boyishness of Momo and yet be mature at the same time.

Next up, Kabaji. Okay, how do I say this? He appears overaged for the myu. He reminds me of a coffeeshop Uncle instead of a Chad-type person.

After all, he was some sort of bodyguard for Atobe. But the funnier parts were when Kabaji SPOKE and the rest were like "He speaks!" "So it is human...". But the match between Kawamura & Kabaji was mildly interesting. How Kawamura gambled with his arm by using one-handed Hakyuryuu repeatedly against the ultimate copy tennis player Kabaji so it became a contest whom results were determined by whose arm gives out first. In the end, it was a tie. Comparetively to the Anime Kabaji, this one was rather vocal.

The Dirty Pair. They had virtually zero Yaoi moments in the myu.

Gakuto was aglie and energetic, performing stunts over and over again. Yuushi however, was the one that left an imprint in my mind. His voice joined the Elite among all the singers and like many descriptions in fanfiction, it was soothingly deep. Like thick cream and flowing silk meshed together. His portrayal of Yuushi was fitting. Calm & collected while his teammates fretted over the Inui-Kaidoh-Silver Pair match.

Gakuto wowed with his energy and flexibility. Still, his personality not aptly shown. What was shown was this impatient brat who was fond of using the paper loudspeaker [a.k.a whacking Jiroh, amplifying Jiroh's wake-up calls] Perhaps I read too much fanfiction where Gakuto was an angsty emotional person who had his own insecurities & was able to be mature at the same time. Haix...I guess I should be satisfied with the performance. At least his physical behaviour is nicely put [Not to mention insanely cool dancing]. But Arrgh! Too bad for the lack of interaction between the Dirty Pair.

Fuji Yuuta smiles too much. Not that I'm complaining. He needs to lighten up. But for a supposedly solemn character hell-bent on defeating his brother, this Yuuta is a little too easy-going for his own good. Admittedly, he possesses a strong voice and praiseworthy singing skills. He can switch from smily to dead serious in backstage and musical. It's probably the influence of the backstage clips I've been watching...But really, he smiles too much.

Aiba Hiroki as Fuji took me quite a while to get used to. He does have the knowing look, but Kimeru (1st Fuji) still wins hands down.

Most of the cast share a common trait- They all are pretty boys[bishounen]. Seriously, it is as though they came from the pages of some cutesy Yaoi fan doujinshi instead of the original Anime. I, however, appreciates the eye candy. Many say the Dream 1st cast was the best vast among all the Tenimyu musicals. I'll say yes and no to that. Yes, because the cast was vastly memorable due to the presence of many now-famous people [E.g. Kimeru(Fuji), Tuti(Oishi), Nagayan(Eiji), Moriyama(Momo)]. But the vocals were weak compared to this Imperial Match Hyoutei Gakuen Winter cast. The names may be unfamilar to most, but they have the substance to make their name known to fans. After all, it is a lethal combination. Pretty faces + Strong Vocals = Recipe for Successful Tenimyu [Note: Side-effects may include rabid fangirls]

This is one of the longest songs in the musical. It chronicates (Is there such a word?) the match between Echizen & Hiyoshi of Hyoutei. Fuji Yuuta has a small part in it. He has little scenes here and there throughout the musical. Sengoku (Yamabuki) & the Ishida-Sakurai Pair also features. What I like about this is that the whole cast appears in the song regardless of song or dialodge. Anyway, it speaks of how everyone hopes for and thinks about Echizen. Enjoy!
"Aitsu koso ga Tennis no Oujisama"

Casual Observations of the Truths 01: Humility Is Dead

2007-08-13T19:29:00.000+08:00

There are some things a self-analysis of one's psyche can do. And there are those they cannot achieve.

I've been immersing myself in what the "grown-ups" like to call "self-reflection" for the past few days. Outsiders call it "stoning". Any form of "self-reflection" not induced by the "grown-ups" themselves is also called "day-dreaming". And yes, self-reflection/stoning/day-dreaming does help in relieving confusion-induced headaches by fogging the mind up with a healthy dose of the Truth. Side-effects include varying periods of Despair, an absurd gut instinct that one is alone by the sidelines watching the world spin further and further away from reach and of course, the abrupt loss of energy/chronic fatigue.

Though casual observation (or as casual as I tried to be without nit-picking), I inferred several possible Truths or half-Truths.

1) Humility Is Dead.
Nowadays it irks me whenever someone tries to play down his/her strengths by quoting someone else/jokingly denying it. I shall use the term "You" to refer to any said person who possesses said characteristics. We all know that You take pride in what you do. There is no need to pretend to eat humble pie (e.g."No lah! I'm not that good. *Giggles*(Insert name of random person) is better."). If You are proud of whatever it is, then bloody well show it. You are no Innocent, no Goody-two shoes whose entire character is based on Preached-But-Seldom-Practiced Morals. You are a half "grown-up", with Innocence lost for good. I hate facades. Although brutal honesty is difficult to differentiate from faked Innocence, I rather You just tell all instead of hiding behind that digustingly clean image. Yeah, I know that when You pretend to be all modest and shy about the compliments, most people think "He/She's not proud/arrogant, therefore he/she is a nice person." And this most certainly guarantee a seat in the Teachers'Pet party. By then, of course the Teachers wouldn't mind if You hand in sloppy work/skip class events/pay no attention in class/sleep. Just flash a megawatt smile (NOTE: Smile SWEETLY/GOOFILY, not smirk, grin...) and You'll get away with anything. See? The numerous benefits of being a sunshine kid who's HUMBLE about what he/she does.

I'll accept all compliments if I deserve them. Even though I don't, I'll not reject half-heartedly. Perhaps to everyone else, I'm arrogant and aloof. But at least I have my DIGNITY not to pretend. All these Yous out there choke on your plastic humble pie. Your humble act prevents any harsh criticism from targeting You, since You will not openly accept genuine praise, and neither will You be able to take genuine criticism. But it is understandable why most behave this way. True dignity will not feed you, nor will it gain you favour with the higher-ups.

That is all there is to it.

Happy Feet

2006-12-05T03:05:00.000+08:00

It seems to be Penguin Mania lately. There was the documentary March of The Penguins. And there were the mafia penguins of Madagascar. Now, there is the artistically inclined penguin(s) of Happy Feet. While I weren’t such a great fan of penguins in the first place, Happy Feet very well converted me. Warner Brothers really had outdone themselves this time.

With all the imitation movies with the same old plotline [Madagascar, The Wild] popping up all over the place, it is refreshing to finally see the bright spark that is Happy Feet. Swans are destined to soar across the stage with grace while nightingales are meant to sooth the night with their heavenly voices. Penguins have practically the same purpose of koala bears (to me, anyway): To be the huggable spokesmen of their respective animal kingdoms. Who wouldn’t wanna squeeze the fluffy lil’ things against them? They’re cute, soft, cuddly…Anyway; the flightless, cuddly birds are the last thing I’ll associate with dance and song.
But Warner Bros broke the stereotype by doing a darn good job of putting the arts into huggable puffy birds.

The beginning of the movie already was far-fetched enough, with Mumble’s mother singing in her breathy voice and all the other males gathering around her in an attempt to attract her attention. Then along came Mumble’s dad, with his rock-and-rollicking antics. And you know the drill, they fall in love, get together and Mumble comes along.

Listening to the junior penguin singing class was crack. Literally, hearing Mumble’s voice screech halfway into a song was even better than the Singapore Idol auditions. Was Elijah Wood really tone-deaf in real life? And notably outstanding was the rapping chubby one, whom I recognized even in adulthood.

The effort of keeping half-chewed popcorn inside the mouth (Not in the throat, not all over the floor and definitely not up my nose) while guffawing (elegantly, mind) nearly unhinged my jaw. Another thing which sets this movie apart is the use of human actors to be human people. I mean, in the other animated animal films, everything is animated humans and all. But they actually involved real people in there, all the more making the scenario more real.

At first, the overly-breathy tone of Mumble’s mother was mildly jarring. If she took human form, it would probably something like a Stepford wife; blonde, pretty and every bit the perfect housewife. Thankfully, her frequent appearances in the first half reduced the reactions from physical cringing to a mere mental wince.

Although the withdrawal of all industry fishing was utterly ridiculous, from my cynical point of view, that is. No businessmen in their right minds would ever give up such a lucrative industry simply to save a species that is of no profitable use to them. It is a foolish hope to ever wish that into reality. Perhaps it is a sort of propaganda for naïve impressionable kids? To implant instill a sense of obligation so they would be more inclined to save the Earth? Well, if it backfires, the kiddies out there would be deprived of their Omega fatty acids while abstaining from fish so they wouldn’t lessen the poor penguins’ limited food supply. Poor penguins. Or rather, poor mothers. No fatty acids, no brain development, no good grades.

I wonder why Mumble was still stuck in a half fledging state at the end of the movie. To humanize him perhaps? The fledglings did look more capable of emotions rather than the adult Emperor penguins.

The characterization of the penguin species was humorous in a way. The Emperor Penguins were much like their namesake; royal and classy. Like the arty-farty people who regularly go for choir sessions. While the Amigos’ species (I don’t know what species they are), are the Jamaican partiers. Their neighborhood seems a cross between the American hip-hop style and the Caribbean beach parties.

Unlike the other movies in the kid-friendly genre, the lessons taught here actually differ from the usual family values. To sums things up, it goes along the lines of “Don’t be afraid to be yourself and to break free from past traditions. The road to self discovery may be a long and lonely one.” And the creators even managed to squeeze in a bit of wildlife conservation promo while they’re at it. It was a pretty good catch for a movie which I picked randomly amongst the titles available.
Song & Dance + Educational Values + Cute Animals = The Ultimate Kid Movie™. It’s been a long time since I watched one of those..

Unfairness Of It All: Downloading

2006-10-15T18:51:00.000+08:00

Fustration indeed puts a limit to one's store of vocabulary.
Instead of a neutral-sounding, civilised rant, I shall proceed to be extremely bias and uncouth in the following post.

Cause
7 families were caught and charged on flouting copyright laws when they downloaded and distributed music from the Internet. Between them was 18,000 songs.
Effect
1) A rising panic among local "music lovers".
2) The Straits Times recently published an "Download Dos & Don'ts" article relating to the download crackdown.
3) Me being "highly discouraged" [a.k.a "Banned"] from downloading anything at all.

This is an outrage clearly. Those downloaders of mainstream music are to blame!
Here I am, hoping to download this Japanese musical which
CANNOT be found in Singapore,
COST A BOMB to buy online and import from OVERSEAS,
is ONLY AVAILABLE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES via DOWNLOADING, and is
SUSPENDED BY YOUTUBE DESPITE there being MAINSTREAM & EASILY AVAILABLE MOVIES STILL FLOATING AROUND THE SITE.

And now, I cannot.

I am distinctly reminded of a scene in Anita Desai's Village By The Sea. In the scene, a policeman picks on homeless Hari when he sleeps in the public park. An old man steps in to tell the policeman off for picking on Hari when there are in fact other more dangerous characters like the group of gambling men in a corner of the park. The embarrassed policeman then goes off to check on the gamblers.

However, in this case, there will be no "kindly old man" to tell off the law. People who simply download a handful of songs can get caught and charged like the people who download by the thousands and share files as easily as breathing air. And while some of the newbie downloaders get caught red-handed while others who have been downloading for years get off scot-free.
Now it is a race against time to repeatedly watch these endangered shows and commit them to memory before Youtube eliminates them all.

Damm Youtube for picking on obscure Japanese musicals instead of nabbing the mainstream BLOCKBUSTERS that cost a mere $29.90 on the market, but are still being placed so freely on the site.

Damm the cheapskate downloaders who download and distribute mainstream music despite being able to afford over-priced and unnecessary accessories [E.g. Distasteful voodoo keychains] by the dozen.

Damm those who get off scot-free time and again while being the greatest sinners of the whole lot.

DAMM YOU ALL TO HELL!!!!!!!!!

*Takes a deep breath* There. I'm done with my unreasonably biased rant.

The People With No Tomorrow

2006-10-09T20:18:00.000+08:00

While chatting with a MSN contact who claims to hail from India, I was briefly stumped and suddenly realized how tired I am when he gave me a jaded reply to one of my questions. We were playing a game similar to "20 Questions". I asked him that how would he spend today if the world were to end tomorrow, and he replied that he would spend it sleeping.

I was taken aback by his simplistic reply. To be honest, I was expecting some fanciful answer which involved an outrageous course of action which one usually wouldn't attempt in any normal circumstances.
Something like "Go on a shopping spree and empty out my life savings" or "I would break laws since I wouldn't be getting punishment anyway" or even, "Streak naked down Times Square/in the church/in front of my old-stick-in-the-mud teachers just for the heck of it".
But no.

He said he would spend it sleeping. If I was speaking to him face-to-face, I would probably be spluttering while gaping at him like some goldfish. Online, I practically demanded the reasoning behind his seemingly laid-back reply. I understand if a peer had given that reply [Given their immature nature not to answer the question seriously] but an adult? Curious and curiouser...

The guy was unpreturbed by my demand. He simply said that everyday we work day and night. So if there was no tomorrow, he might as well get a good rest. I supposed that made sense. But upon further probing, I discovered that there is a deeper meaning to that explanation. Think about it.

Why do we spend a good part of our lives slogging our guts out and even going through hell willingly during that?

For what reason do parents make so many sacrifices for their children and even make them undergo extreme pressure and sacrifice part of their present happiness as well?

What made rebel soldiers of the past and present fight tooth and nail, laying down their very lives and losing their rights as normal citizens to be on the run from the authorities?

Simply, they all want a better tomorrow.

People always do things for tomorrow.
You study to have a better future, you slog and bear indignities at work so you can enjoy the many tomorrows to come. You make great sacrifices just so your loved ones will have tomorrows.

But if there were no tomorrows, you would not have to face the bitterness of life, the fruits of misery and heartbreak which only Life can grow.
By then, will you finally enjoy a true relieve. Sadly, the only time in reality when there is no tomorrow is when you are on your deathbed. The day before you die is when there is no tomorrow for you. But then again, how would you enjoy that last, final day when you don't have to plan or have anything to do with tomorrow, when you are weakened by the pull of Death?

The only people with no tomorrow aren't the drug addicts which society has forsaken. They aren't the elderly who are simply cast aside into old age homes when their children find them too troublesome.
They are not the vagrants who wander the streets looking for scraps just to survive. They are not the juvenile delinquents whom your parents were always afraid you'll become.
The People With No Tomorrow are those at Death's Door. Citizenship of The People With No Tomorrow only lasts a day and everyone has to go through that state once.
Thus, we could only dream of a day with no tomorrow.

Through this, I realised that holidays aren't really considered resting. Just because we awake a few hours later doesn't mean anything. We sleep only to wake up the next day, expecting to wake up the next day. We sleep in dread or anticipation of the next day and it leaves us no relief, no true peace while in repose. So the only time where the peaceful "state of Nirvana" is achieved is when you are one of the People With No Tomorrow.

I sleep the best I can and for that few hours, live out the life I can never have. Dreamless sleep, although restful, wastes time spent in my fantasy life where I frolick with fictional characters and where I am invincible. Where I forget I am human and cross borders of dreams and nightmares.

Nevertheless, I prefer dreamless sleep as that is the time where I don't think, don't care and don't feel. Though dreaming leaves me sated and content, I always wake up heavy-hearted with a tinge of regret about leaving that euphoric life of where there is nothing I cannot cope with or overcome. For once, I'll like to sleep without the knowing that there'll be a next day.
It will probably leaves me much more alert, as though I have gone through rebirth and am starting a new beginning. Then I don't have to live with the shadows of Past's mistakes following my every step. I can be a new person and not bother about how others think of me. And I'll be able to think quickly with nothing clouding my mind. Which would have been useful tomorrow during the literature exam.

Now if you'll excuse, I'm going to sleep like there is no tomorrow.