random stranger's journal

Toilet Paper Holder in Tokyo

2010-03-29T23:39:00.001+08:00

When you're having a hard time disposing your previous meal in there, it's reassuring to know that your toilet paper is understanding...

Sasuke Shippuuden thus far (Chapter 484)

2010-02-28T16:39:00.002+08:00

Having paused Naruto for quite some time, I did some intensive catching up...

-------------------
After Orochimaru's sudden departure, the story became all about Sasuke. No wonder Sakura made up her mind to get rid of him herself. At this rate, she'll never get the screen time befitting the female lead of the story.

Sasuke should have had nothing to complain about. He asserted his life-long vengeance, only to find out his rogue brother who massacred his entire clan in a cold blooded frenzy was actually some misunderstood messiah. But instead of reflecting on his bad judgement, Sasuke became Bad Guy A.

And Naruto FINALLY gets some screen time in the story that's supposed to be about him in that Painfully long fight. But after he kicked Pain's sorry ass in the Mai HiMe arc, it's all about Bad Guy A again.

Since Akatsuki was severely decimated from about 17 (inclusive of the Pains) to 2, Sasuke helped out as freelance Akatsuki, and Madara outsource the troublesome projects to him.

Sasuke has always been fashionable to snag the hearts of those stupid fangirls, and we've always wondered where this pretty boy found the time to go shopping for clothes while training. I mean, he even had time to stitch on the Uchiha crest on every one of his clothing, we know it's not just some spare change clothes from Orochimaru's younger days.

Well, this time he got his hands on a black caped cloak, where the symbolic red Akatsuki clouds appear when he's on assignment; and magically disappears when he's off duty...

Meanwhile, the 5 Kage hold a conference in Samurai-land, where Sasuke infiltrated and went trigger-happy, hysterically picking a fight with everyone in sight. Itachi must be so flipping in his grave.

Madara dramatically materialized at the conference to share his plan for the Human Instrumentality Project. To summarize what happened next in a sentence : There was a war declaration; Danzo scampered off; the ninja nations formed an alliance; Kakashi became Hokage.

We know Konoha is desperately short of manpower when Kakashi became the most eligible candidate for Hokage.

As mentioned, Danzo runs off from the conference and we learn that he too has a Sharingan in his right eye. Sharingan is so passe. No one is even surprised anymore, since every other dude appears with those red eyes once in every few chapters. It got abit more interesting when he showed off his proud little collection of those much coveted red eyes in his right arm, but he soon got his ass whipped by Sasuke, who went berserk with delirium at the sight of the Sharingans.

And now, Team 7 reunites. After eluding everybody for years, suddenly Sasuke can be tracked by ANYBODY. Sakura fails, cries, needed to get rescued AGAIN. Kakashi looks like he needs to be hospitalized AGAIN. And Naruto and Sasuke looks like they're going to launch into melodrama reunion next chapter...

I am so looking forward to it!!

(By the way, does anybody still remember Kabuto??)

Happy Birthday, Tiramisu!

2010-02-18T00:52:00.000+08:00

My last birthday cake this year came from my 14 year long friends from wayyy back. A delicious creamy Tiramisu chocolate cake bought from my sweetest best friend!

My Chocolate Truffle

2010-02-08T01:08:00.001+08:00

Chocolate Truffle sprinkled with silver dust over it, with raisins embedded inside the soft dark cake. A sweet treat from 2 sweet ladies as my first birthday cake this year!

Oreo Cheesecake

2010-02-03T12:36:00.001+08:00

A snack for a Munchkin game. Why are oreos always used in various dessert? This chunk of dessert was a tad too sweet...

Christmas Log Cake

2010-01-10T18:24:00.000+08:00

I don't get to eat log cakes alot, so I've forgotten that log cakes were over-priced Swiss rolls layered with cream. All the same, it looks great aesthetic-wise, and adds on to the Christmas ambience. I miss Christmas already!!

Addicted to Munchkin

2010-01-07T12:29:00.011+08:00

Kick down a door! Fend off the Lame Goblin with a Rat on a Stick! Roast the Large Angry Chicken (because fried chicken is yummy)! Don yourself with the Badass Bandanna! Get cursed with a Chicken on your Head and bribe the GM with food to go up a level!

I am so addicted to this silly game, and have repeatedly trashed a certain self-proclaimed "seasoned AD&D player".

When we first bought the game, my fiance had taken it out of the bag to read the rules while standing in queue for some terrific tako yaki. And a random girl came squealing at him. "Oh my god! You got Munchkin!! Where did you buy it from!!" Now I knew Munchkin was popular, but I didn't expect this level of street recognition.

The sales person had tried to impress upon me that Munchkin is for gamers who are into role playing as the game is rife with 'inside jokes' which lowly non-gamers like me wouldn't understand. How I beg to differ after a couple of rounds! Munchkin is for anybody with a decent sense of humour; and for anyone who thinks the idea of distracting 3875 orcs with pretty balloons is hilarious. In fact, I suspect girls would find this game more charming than guys, as demonstrated by the enthusiastic stranger. And contrary to what the sales person said, I don't think hard core gamers fancy this game as much as noobs. Too undignified for the mage/elf wannabes who spent half their lives living in a fictional story.

And so, I'll be adding the expansion pack into my board/card game collection this weekend. Hoo!

Chocolate Satay

2010-01-05T01:28:00.000+08:00

Chocolate satay? Nah. Simply a buffet of banana fondue and mini oreos.

Screamy Kids Control

2009-12-21T02:33:00.004+08:00

I can so relate to the necessity of implementing this. From the Sign Language section of www.telegraph.co.uk.

The Crepe is Reserved for Me.

2009-12-20T02:53:00.004+08:00

Oh this was yummy. Chocolate goes so well with bananas. And caramel. And Cognac.

Quote of the Day

2009-12-17T00:06:00.000+08:00

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."

– Elbert Hubbard

Basically, be an armchair. Everybody likes an armchair. They are usually so agreeable. And stupid. Just like a certain guy who used to do accounts in my company.

Love Bug

2009-12-14T23:06:00.000+08:00

This has caramel and nuts inside the Almond Mocha ice cream but the unity of the taste wasn't exactly excellent. The nuts were a tad too chewy. I find the oreo crust too thin too.

Have eaten yummier mudpies.

Chocolate Mousse at Montmatre

2009-12-08T00:34:00.000+08:00

No bells and whistles. Just a humble glass of chocolate mousse for dessert in that little restaurant at the foot of Sacre-Coeur. The soft creamy chocolate marked a sweet farewell to France at the end of my trip.

Why "To Love-Ru" is called "To Love-Ru"...

2009-10-21T01:00:00.015+08:00

I was curious enough to watch 1 episode some time back. But the storyline looked so incredibly stupid that my curiosity ended there.

Ahh, the best way to learn about other anime is to watch Gintama afterall. It happened while Tsukuyo was challenging Gintoki to grab her boob...

So amidst the "Puff-Puff action", I found the reason for the title. It's because the Japanese have a really damn bad command of English and "To Love-Ru" is also the way they pronounce "Trouble". It takes alot of imagination on my side to get the pronunciation to sound remotely close to the said word.

So. To love Ru is Trouble eh. I find this so amusing. Hehehehe.

Anyway, the new Gintama arc looks like it's gonna kick ass!

Before Insults in the English Language got Condensed into the 4-letter word

2009-10-16T11:56:00.000+08:00

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."
- Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."
- Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."
- William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
'Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?'
- Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it."
- Moses Hadas

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."
- Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."
- Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one."
- George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." - - Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here."
- Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."
- John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial."
- Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."
- Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."
- Paul Keating

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."
- Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.."
- Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"
- Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."
- Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
- Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination."
- Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."
- Groucho Marx

'There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure.'
- Jack E. Leonard

'He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.'
- Robert Redford

'They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.'
- Thomas Brackett Reed

'He has Van Gogh's ear for music.'
- Billy Wilder

'He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.'
- Abraham Lincoln

'A modest little person, with much to be modest about. '
- Winston Churchill

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison."
He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

Devil's Chocolate Cake

2009-10-12T00:37:00.005+08:00

A cake that did not live up to its name. But it was acceptable to curb the chocolate craving.

Brownie that I didn't taste

2009-10-08T23:39:00.004+08:00

I got scolded for taking pictures of this brownie. It was alleged that my photo-taking caused the ice cream to melt and depreciated the dish by a dollar than it is supposed to be worth.

And I didn't even get to try it...

The Worst Place and Time to be Congested

2009-08-25T22:21:00.008+08:00

There is nothing more annoying than being stuck just a few vehicles away from the ERP, with a full view of the gentry blinking to life in front of you.

Tolite : A place to politely lighten your bladder

2009-07-05T22:30:00.008+08:00

Aawww look how everybody's happily using the restroom together.

Gintama Doughnut Fiesta

2009-06-26T12:57:00.005+08:00

Oh this is so cute! Poor Shinpachi is left out of the doughnut buffet.

Oji-sans in Coffee Shops

2009-06-21T17:17:00.006+08:00

I was waiting for my fried rice, and as usual, remarking over the number of beer-sipping uncles camped in the coffee shop. But this is the 1st time I see someone playing an instrument and singing in the coffee shop with his fellow uncle friends amidst the beer.

How relaxed. They look like they're enjoying life eh.

No Need for Expensive Cosmetic Surgery

2009-06-19T02:00:00.006+08:00

Get your Silicone Teats at your desired size of S,M,L,XL, or Xcut (wth is that)!

To be fair, I have never thought of what these are called in English. But 'Silicone Teats' are abit....

File sharing and Piracy

2009-06-04T23:57:00.003+08:00

This is quite...insightful.

Greetings from Tosshi

2009-05-28T23:23:00.006+08:00

I almost collapsed when Okita appeared in the cab wearing the Tosshi outfit. Gintama is not going to die that soon yet.

Before Shangri-La Became Shangri-La lay the True Shangri-La

2009-05-17T14:49:00.009+08:00

This month's National Geographic had an article on Shangri-la and I just learned that I've been to Shangri-la 10 years ago!

It was the last year of my high school, and several months before The Exam, I went on a cultural exchange trip to Yunnan; my second trip back to the province. Kunming and Lijiang had progressed leaps and bounds within the 4 years that I last went there. For example, the once backward towns that showed tourists their honestly foul pothole toilets had since installed ceramic squat toilets that was only a little less than completely repulsive.

And we had to go all the way to 虎跳峡 (Tiger Leaping Gorge) before we once again experienced the mind boggling adventure of stepping into a fecal scented hut, stepping on wobbling wooden planks and watching your liberated piss dribble down the side of the granite wall below into the gushing brown gorge which you could see through the wide window of the W.C. facing the river. One misstep on the planks and you could be swimming in crap.

Anyway, shortly after this illustrous incident, we arrived at Zhongdian; the most beautiful place I ever saw. Industrialization has not touched the place. Goats came near our bus when we stepped for a breather. Pastures loomed like a sea with mountains far off. The mind cleared just by looking at the blue of the skies hitting the green land.

The few days I spent there was the closest I ever got to nature. Giving way to oxen, tramping on dung covered pastures, listening to the natives sing to each other across woods on the hills while pulling their mares...

We went to one particularly large meadow where some Tibetans lived in sparse tents, and charged a nominal fee for us to ride on their ponies. Red faced natives half my age guided the ponies which we sat on, and I remember watching the pony which my brother ride on shit out large brown remains of its previous meal while it jogged back to camp.

We spent the entire afternoon in the meadows; the small group of us, learning the natives' songs and dances under the heavens in the wind. Zhongdian was a beautiful place in a different world, with a sparse population of Tibetans and Naxi people who tended to their secret garden, occasionally showing it off to travelers such as ourselves. Now that I think of it, I would truly have described the land as Shangri-la.

But that was another time in another world. From what I read in the National Geographic, the paradise where once we had to spend days travelling by bus to reach now had a direct airport together with its extreme makeover, including a name change.

Yes, Zhongdian has since been officially renamed to Shangri-la as part of its tourism marketing effort. Industrialization has finally found Shangri-la. Tibetan monks there are now equipped with modern devices and clad in leather jackets. Monks? I'm inclined to think of them as just some bald monk-cosplaying Chinese charlatans who infest tourist hotspots.

I felt abit sad when I read the article. Places, particularly the naturally beautiful ones can never transcend time. The author said tourism saved the place. I would think that tourism killed the place.

Conservation is a myth.

Shiroyasha, Zura and friends!

2009-03-20T00:59:00.006+08:00

Gintoki and Katsura in their full samurai glory; sword wielding, Amanto killing... with my Absolut Mandrin!

The ever bored looking Ginpachi sensei with his 'lollipop' guarding my pouch!

Kagura the Yato hangs by the window. This one looks so cute-aru!

The Brave Little Chalice

2009-03-10T00:04:00.008+08:00

"Exceptional high-grown arabicas are hard to find. That's why Starbucks coffee buyers travel thousands of miles in search of these elusive beans. After tasting and evaluating hundreds of superior coffees, only the truest gems are chosen for Starbucks."

Or so says the pearls of great illumination on my Vday present. Yes, I got this lovely deluxe pure white Starbucks Coffee Paper Cup on 14th February this year.

Now this is no ordinary coffee cup, as you can see from the splendid dark print on the side of the cup. In more ways than the words imprinted on it, this cup is the ultimate work of fine art.

For starters, the cup is paper. Not crystal glass, not stylish porcelain; but the simply humble and lightly waxed paper cup of pure ivory. And what a heavy burden this paper crater must bear; to contain, to hold, to preserve, and be the vessel of the depths of warmth until the end of time. Can this paper goblet match up to the expectations of a normal mug? One is inclined to express reasonable doubt. But this little paper chalice stands strong and proud, defiantly taking on the challenge of the uncertainties ahead.

And what could possibly give this paper cup of such sad frailty the unfounded strength that it possesses? Ofcause, due credit must go to the pallid plastic that resiliently caps over it; protecting it, fostering, shielding and keeping it secure.

And if you are not convinced yet about the mastery of this piece of unequaled craft, you may turn the cup slightly to the right and witness the horrifying but deeply heart warming evidence of devout strength. That's right, despite the tenacity of this plastic lid of highest class; it had, in the act of protecting our little paper cup, and in stubborn protest as one tried to ply it off the delicate chalice; been inflicted with a wound so deep it brings compassionate tears to the art appreciator's eye.

Of Fragility and Fortitude; Of Determination and Courage. This is the ultimate Valentine's present one could possibly receive...

(Pictures taken with my other present...)

Gintama Songs

2009-03-01T15:37:00.007+08:00

Following Elizabeth biking into the night with 'Speed of Flow' in one of the Gintama endings, the sequel to that sees Gintoki scootering into dawn with 'Kagayaita', the ending for the Yoshiwara arc. This song is even cooler to blast as you drive alone late at night, especially with the female vocal singing her heart out "saaaa".

I really like how the portrayal of solace at night was done in the Yoshiwara ending. There are 2 versions, one with Kagura's brother, Kamui, wrapped in bandages before he was revealed in the arc, and the other with him unmasked; hair billowing in the night wind right before dawn. Kamui is cute, cool, and extremely dangerous! Although I don't know why they bandaged him; he only appeared bandaged in 1 scene, right before he takes down Kagura. Subsequently, this Yato saw no need to conceal himself.

And so, the Yoshiwara arc ending became my current favourite Gintama ending, pulling down my ranking of Shura from the Benizakura arc.

Kamui bandaged, and Kamui unmasked

My Favourite Gintama Ending (Yoshiwara arc) :

--------------------------------------------------------------------
My favourite opening is still Donten from the Itou arc, where even Madao looks cool smoking his cigarette. The choreography is superb, especially the part with Gintoki, Katsura, Takasugi and that other guy fighting the Amanto as comrades. Shiroyasha kicks ass!

My Favourite Gintama Opening (Loser Hijikata arc) :

Another Noisy Saturday

2009-02-21T15:12:00.005+08:00

Drums crashing across my wall
Construction pounding over my door
Tearing apart mind and soul;
A Double Whammy on the roll

- Voice of a HDB Dweller, namely me; head drowning in the ruckus on an otherwise peacefully drizzling Saturday afternoon, when I am neither here nor there.

Street Badminton

2009-02-18T02:06:00.011+08:00

It's the 1st time I walked to this part of my village last year, in December, when the sight of this little game of Street Badminton impressed me so. The 2 little chibi's actually found the perfect net and a free badminton 'court' where nobody will stop their game. They even turned to grin at me gleefully when they saw me take their picture.

The only time I played badminton on the streets was more than 10 years ago, during a holiday trip to China. It was in some town in the mountains, and my parents were shopping at a small shop at the side of the road. I was sitting on a beaten old wooden stool outside the store, freezing to death in the 3 layers of thick clothing that I was engirdled in. 3 teenage boys slightly older than myself were whipping a shuttlecock back and forth in misty breath in front of me on the sidewalk. I remember musing about why they were wearing suits while playing badminton in the middle of the mountains at 8pm at night, when they invited me to join their game.

The racket was heavy wood and the strings were old. But I had the time of my life, with the dim pale street lamps barely blocking the starry black skies overhead, and every thud of the shuttlecock on my racket melted the chill in my body. By the end of the game (and my parents' shopping), I had shed 2 layers of coats, barely sweated but invigoratingly refreshed. So far, no other game of badminton played between then and now had matched up to the experience of that simple clumsy game under the stars.

And that is why I can really appreciate watching these 2 kids being able to find their impromptu court and play with abandon without a care in the world.

The General Manager's Personal Box

2009-02-16T01:42:00.005+08:00

The General Manager is a very important man. His feedback and suggestions are extremely valuable.

And where do I put the Right Luggage?

2009-02-14T14:23:00.003+08:00

Mapping the Skies

2009-01-27T17:24:00.004+08:00

And I spent the last hours of the Rat year and the first few of the Bull's year happily mapping the night skies with 62 of my 88 'pets'.

The skeleton of this was originally 2 pieces of very badly photocopied handouts I received about 11 years ago in a long forgotten Astronomy event. I recently 'found' it again and remembered when I was first fascinated with the idea of all the mythological figures in the skies. So, I spent about 10 hours over the Chinese New Year weekend to reconstruct this. First the stars, then link them up, and finally the most tedious part of getting the shapes into the image. I changed a lot of the original drawings as they're argh-too-cute.

I have no idea which book the original copy with all the cute mascots as constellations can be found. This probably originated somewhere further up north as most of the Southern constellations are below horizon.

Constellations in the map:
Winter skies
1) Lynx - The Cat
2) Cancer - Hera's Crab
3) Monoceros - The Unicorn
4) Pyxis - The Compass on Argo Navis
5) Puppis - The Poop Deck of Argo Navis
6) Gemini - Castor and Pollux
7) Auriga - The Charioteer
8) Canis Major - Orion's Dog
9) Canis Minor - The Small Dog
10) Orion - The Hunter
11) Taurus - The Bull fighting Orion
12) Lepus - The Rabbit
13) Columba - Noah's Dove
14) Eridanus - The River
15) Fornax - The Furnace
16) Aries - The Golden Ram

Autumn skies
17) Perseus - Some Greek guy who killed Medusa
18) Cassiopeia - Some Utopian Queen
19) Cepheus - Some Utopian King
20) Pegasus - Winged Horse
21) Cetus - Whale or sea creature who tried to eat Andromeda
22) Andromeda - Some Princess chained to the rocks, saved by Perseus
23) Aquarius - Water Bearer Ganymede
24) Carpicornus - Sea Goat
25) Pisces - The Fishes
26) Piscis Austrinus - The Southern Fishes
27) Triangulum - The Triangle
28) Sculptor - Sculptor
29) Lacerta - The Lizard

Summer skies
30) Lyra - The Lyre
31) Cygnus - The Swan
32) Aquila - The Eagle
33) Delphinus - The Dolphin
34) Sagittarius - The more popular Centaur
35) Scorpius - Hera's Scorpion
36) Libra - Themis' Scales
37) Centaurus - Chiron the Centaur
38) Crux - The Southern Cross
39) Scutum - The Shield
40) Corona Australis - The Southern Crown
41) Draco - The Dragon
42) Microscopium - The Microscope
43) Ophiuchus - The Serpent Doctor
44) Serpens - the Serpent
45) Equuleus - The little Horse
46) Sagitta - The Arrow
47) Vulpecula - The Fox

Spring skies
48) Canes Venatici - The hunting wolves
49) Hydra - Water Snake
50) Crater - Cup
51) Corvus - Crow
52) Virgo - The Virgin, probably Persephone
53) Leo - The Lion
54) Leo Minor - The little Lion
55) Ursa Major - The Big Bear
56 ) Ursa Minor - The chibi Bear
57) Sextans - The sextants
58) Antlia - The fire hose
59) Coma Berenices - Berenice's Hair
60) Hercules - That strong Greek guy
61) Corona Borealis - The Northern Crown
62) Bootes - The Herdsman

Missing constellations:
1) Carina - The Keel of Argo Navis
2) Vela - The sails of Argo Navis
3) Phoenix - Phoenix
4) Grus - The Crane
5) Mensa - The Table
6) Indus - The Indian
7) Dorado - The Sword Fish
8) Caelum - The Chisel
9) Horologium - Pendulum Clock
10) Pictor - the Easel
11) Lupus - The Wolf
12) Norma - Set Square
13) Ara - The Altar
14) Telescopium - Telescope
15) Pavo - The Peacock
16) Volans - Flying Fish
17) Chameleon - Chameleon
18) Circinus - Drawing Dividers
19) Triangulum Australe - The Southern Triangle
20) Octans - Octant
21) Musca - The fly
22) Tucana - The Toucan
23) Recticulum - Recticle
24) Apus - Bird of Paradise
25) Camelopardalis - Giraffe
26) Hydrus - Little Water Snake

Fruits Basket Juunishi Popularity Ranking

2009-01-21T00:08:00.007+08:00

For the past couple of months, I've been flipping through the world of the cursed Sohma family, where selected luckless Sohma members transform into an animal of the Chinese Zodiac when embraced by the opposite sex. It's a bizarre curse, and one can almost ascertain that the one who fabricated and set the said curse some centuries ago must be some overly deprived debauchee.

And while we squeal over how the transformed Sohma are oh-so-cute, the overactive distracted mind keeps trying to figure out the mystery of how their predecessors manage to successfully copulate with the non-cursed human beings...

I'm not done with the manga yet, but am so enthralled by the story that I decided to do a popularity chart for the Juunishi in Fruits Basket. Who gets to vote? The residents in my head of cause!

Honda Tohru is not in the chart, because I know a real life Tohru-kun who is as sweetly innocent as the 2D one, and because Tohru is obviously not cursed.

So here's my tribute!

1st: Sohma Shigure the Dog
He made it to the top with the later chapters of Fruits Basket. Because we never know what this canine is thinking. The Dog is supposed to be your most loyal and trusted friend. But you can't trust Shigure. And who can resist a man of mystery!

2nd: Sohma Kyo the Cat
His personality is a replica of Inuyasha. A stubborn grouch who is actually a big softie at heart! He sprouts occasional cat ears which has the same "kyaaa so cute!" effect as Inuyasha's inu-mimi.

3rd : Sohma Ayame the Snake
He was no. 1 on my list before I read the manga. His unpredictable humour gave life to the otherwise too-slow-shoujo-anime. But he turned out to be quite the self-absorbed bastard in his younger days, and I can't completely forgive that yet.

4th : Sohma Isuzu the Horse
I don't like how she's always convulsing and fainting like a damsel in distress. Other than that, Rin has got quite the personality! Short hair doesn't do her justice though. I think Takaya sensei wanted to save on the ink.

5th : Sohma Hatsuharu the Cow
Black Haru gets his points and position into the top 5 by confronting and threatening Akito, and getting away with it too!

6th : Sohma Yuki the Rat
He gets the most screen time out of the Sohma, but he's not at the top 5 because he looks like a girl. And because he thinks Tohru-kun is his mother... Strange dude.

7th : Sohma Hatori the Dragon
He looks NOTHING like a dragon. He's a freaking seahorse! I've never seen a more undignified 'dragon'. And he's wayy too serious as a man. But Takaya sensei calls him the most eligible bachelor in the series. So... ya... Me and Takaya sensei has different tastes in men.

8th : Sohma Kureno the Rooster
The first to be free of the curse, yet allowed himself to be imprisoned by Akito, just because he slept with him. Her. I can't stand a man with no backbone.

9th : Sohma Momiji the Rabbit
I feel like I'm watching Ouran High every time he came on screen. And he becomes Ussa-chan when he transforms. But I prefer the Tamaki type. So Momiji-kun is nowhere near the top either.

10th : Sohma Kisa the Tiger
Too little screen time to get to know her better. And she speaks too softly.

11th : Sohma Hiro the Lamb
I hate smart ass kids who think they're so smart. He's so mischevious that he should be the monkey instead of a meek looking lamb.

12th : Sohma Kagura the Boar
Boarish. Though she seriously should be the tiger instead for being so fierce.

13th : Sohma Ritsu the Monkey
I've only seen this guy in 1 episode in the anime, and 1 chapter in the manga. All I know about him is his fetish for cross dressing. I wonder if he'll get together with Shigure's editor...

Ip Man is the Man!

2008-12-29T00:44:00.018+08:00

The first time I watched Donnie Yen play the role of a Chinese folk hero was when he acted as Chen Zhen on some TV drama in the mid 90s. That was bizarre to watch as Chen Zhen bore the same name to a then nerdy Primary school female classmate of mine. Donnie Yen looked boring and I had never been a fan of his.

So when I first saw the poster for his latest movie, I was going "I... P... Man? WTF is that?" The title made Donnie Yen look like some kind of Sci-fi cyborg who wears traditional Chinese clothes. Well, excuse me for not being Cantonese. It was until I saw the brackets that read "Eep Mun" that I realised that was probably the Cantonese name of the character. And you can't blame me for not knowing who he was either. The movie makers knew exactly how obscure Ip Man's name was to the general public too, or they needn't have exploited Bruce Lee's mighty name to anchor the show. "Celebrated Master of Bruce Lee". Aaahh, Bruce Lee. Him I know.

So for lack of better movies this season, Ip Man (I prefer to refer to the show as 叶问, because his name in Mandarin sounds and looks so much cooler) became my Christmas movie. I went into the theatres not knowing what the show was about, except that it was a biopic about some martial arts teacher whom Bruce Lee trained a mere 3 years under. And what a movie it was!

The last Chinese folk hero show to hit the big screens was Jet Li's 霍元甲. It was a pitiful shadow of Jet Li's peak as 黄飞鸿 and 方世玉, who were both my childhood heroes. Huo Yuan Jia was instead a 2 hour display of how Jet Li has degenerated to completely forgotten how to act since he entered Hollywood.

Which was why I was totally impressed that Donnie Yen has learnt how to act.

Ip Man started off on a light-hearted pace, with the hen-pecked Ip Man sparring friendly opponents behind closed doors (He says he's not hen-pecked, but respects his wife. Yea yea, that's what all hen-pecked men says). We feel the adrenaline when the Northern bullies enter Foshan to pick a fight with the various kung fu clan masters, and just as we knew would happen, Ip Man quite literally whipped their asses.

The feel-good rhythm changed as war and the Japanese arrived in China. Stripped of his mansion and status, we learn that Ip Man was more or less a bummer during more peaceful times, probably living off from gifts from the townfolks. And so, to keep his family alive now, he signed up to be a coal miner; his first job. There, he was reunited with his kung fu friends and got embroiled in a dojo fight against 10 Japanese Karate students; to which he beat the shit out of. That was the start of the Japanese General's admiration for him, and the beginning of Ip Man's problems to keep his family safe from the General.

Throughout the show, there were numerous subplots which wove together nicely to make the story incredibly touching. The death of Master Liu was the most heartbreaking part of the show, and also the turning point where Ip Man snapped. It was sad because every time we see the poor bugger in the show, he was always getting thrashed. Just when we finally see the friendly Master Liu win a fight, he was shot. And all because he wanted some rice. More rice, I mean.

I didn't care that Lam died; he had it coming. But his little brother's reappearance with the Northern bandits, and wordless poignant regret after learning of his brother's death was touching. Other subplots which swirled together very nicely included how the police guy turned translator gained respect for Ip Man, and became loyal to him even after being unjustly called a traitor and punched by Ip Man; his nerdy good friend's (Huo Yuan Jia had a nerdy good friend too!) imploration to Ip Man to teach his factory workers how to fight with Wing Chun. It was a Stephen Chow moment when the cotton mill aunties posed to fight the bandits.

Every event and dialogue in the movie had a reason and tied up so nicely that I'm almost surprised they left out explaining the whereabouts of the housekeeper after war came. You know, the guy who always closes the doors when Ip Man gets challenged to a fight in his house.

Although all promotional marketing stated that the movie was based on the life of the real Ip Man, one can't help but suspect the high level of fiction in the tale. For example, while it is perfectly believable that Ip Man was invited to teach the Japanese during the occupation, I seriously doubt that his rejection to that offer included beating up their General in a public contest, and at the same time get away with it alive. Neither do I believe he was talent scouted because he thrashed a bunch of Japanese in a dojo while delivering the lines in pure dispassion : "I am merely a Chinese man".

I still think they should have launched this show during the Chinese New Year period instead of the season where Western winter romance shows would be a more popular choice among movie goers.

Mini Gallery of Topless 2D Men

2008-12-23T01:20:00.004+08:00

Because I can't get enough of those topless men. -rubs palms in glee-

In manga-land, one of the main distinct distinctions between the anime men and the real 3D ones (besides the outline) is the mysterious lack of nipples. Now nipples have never had any real functionality for men in the 1st place. The fetus gets the nipples before the fetus gets a gender. And if the gender turns out to be the Y Chromosome, it's just too bad; it gets a couple of useless dots on its chest. And so, that is why this flaw in nature is corrected by the artists who believe in the ideal world when they draw them sexy topless men.

------
Some sexy topless men.

Sakata Gintoki (Gintama) : Showered by leaves and bathed in light. My favourite anime Ending of all time!

Hijikata Toushirou (Gintama) : Drool!! This is why Gintama is my favourite anime. They know how to make a girl happy.

Okita Sougo (Gintama) : Ahh, sword practice under the moonlight..hyak hyak

One of my favourite scenes in Gintama, where 2 of my favourite characters sweat it out in the Suana, delivering a good 10 minutes' feast of topless glory (nothing Yaoi, I'm not a pervert -ahem- yah like someone who posts this is one to talk). Like I said, Gintama knows how to make a girl happy.

Sesshomaru (Inuyasha) : The only scene which Sesshomaru so much as remove his garment throughout the series.

Kanda Yuu (D.Gray-man) : Grouchy Kanda walking around the Ark half naked, as if inviting you to just go on and stroke his tattoo.

Sagara Sousuke (Full Metal Panic) : Those beach scenes in every other anime are for those topless tidbits!

Kiryuu Zero (Vampire Knight) : A topless scene right from the 1st episode. This shoujo story doesn't believe in subtlety.

Ouran High Host Club : Rich boys are skinny

Sohma Kyo, Shigure, and Yuki (Fruits Basket) : The Sohmas are skinny too!

Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist) : An example of how muscles can be so undesirable.

-Added on 13 July 2009-
Kyon (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) : OOOhhhhh

Vampire Knight Guilty 09 - 10 : Vampire Blood is the Solution to Hairfall Problems

2008-12-17T01:39:00.022+08:00

Forget Vida Sassoon or the other crappy shampoo which promises vivacious flowing hair. Vampire blood is definitely the way to go if you have hairfall problems. But if you think you'll get words of approval, of flattering "oh look at your hair!" you're dead wrong.

Nobody will notice that you've grown so much hair, so long, and so fast that you don't know what hit you. Said hair grew within 5 minutes of ingesting that very much coveted Pure Blood.

Nope, no one will notice. Not your just-reunited "brother", who will be busy molesting you (as usual) and needling you to suck his blood. Not your childhood best friend whom you're playing adolescent love games with, and whom when the last you spoke to a few hours ago, you still had hair barely grazing your shoulders, where now they graze your butt. Not that annoying sidekick of your new/old brother, who is now suddenly your servant. And oh no, definitely not your best friend at school who is also your roommate and who sees you everyday.

It'll be as if your hair had always been like that all your life. Your best friend will not go: "Yuuki! I was so worried about you!! ...What's with the hair."

Or maybe the childhood best friend will comment. If he's not too preoccupied being the antagonized hero in a dungeon. But you will forgive him because the poor fellow is going through that identity adjustment stage in life.

Before :

After :

Come on, Zero has other things on his mind than your new hairdo.

Like I said, he's busy. And we seem to have seen him like this before...

See. I knew we've seen this scene before. It's their rendezvous spot. Quick! Do the gay blood sucking thing again!

Super Mario Bros in my Journal!

2008-12-14T16:40:00.004+08:00

Ooh!! A flash Mario game!! The previous desktop application was much more fun, but this is great for a flash game too!

Anime men in showers

2008-12-13T00:20:00.031+08:00

While bathtub and onsen scenes are a more popular choice to depict a bathing femme, it is those shower scenes when we get to see our favourite anime man strip himself of his inhibitions in that little bathroom cell. With one hand on the wall to support the strain of his burden, the shower that rains relentlessly down on him attempts, unsuccessfully, to wash away his internal torment. And the man bares it all; he broods, he languish, he is vulnerable. And above it all, he is oh-so-yummy.

I only watch the "healthy" anime where the bathing women expose up to their gravity-defying cleavage. But the men-in-showers are always bare-chested. So I guess we ladies get a better deal for the limited male shower scenes.

And that is why when Katsura says he pisses while taking a shower (sometimes), I know I'll never see the shower scenes of those brooding men in the same light again.

Damn.

The hilarity was worth it though.

------
Some shower scenes I remember

Athrun Zala Shower Scene (Gundam SEED) : The coolest guy in the show gets the only shower scene. WOOTS!

Athrun Zala Shower Scene (Gundam SEED Destiny) : Because it was so well-received, Athrun gets another shower scene, 2 years older, and looking even more vulnerable than ever. That same shower scene gets an extended re-enactment later on. Well done Sunrise!! I love you Sunrise!!

Kiryuu Zero Shower Scene (Vampire Knight) : Brooding as usual. This guy gets lots of back-slammed-on-shower-wall-with-antagonized-look scenes.

Edward Elric Shower Scene (Full Metal Alchemist) : The shower scene serves to display the weight of the automail that little Edward has to carry on him.

Katsura Kotarou Shower Scene (Gintama) : Blissfully taking a piss while in the shower. The description paints the most unsexy shower scene image. Ever.

Orochimaru Shower Scene (Naruto) : The most. Disturbing. Shower Scene. In History. Why is it that Orochimaru is the only one we see in the showers in Naruto?? Even more disturbing is that we have to watch Kabuto watching Orochimaru shower. Give me a showering Itachi, or Kakashi. Hell, even watching Chouji shower wouldn't be half as disturbing.

(added on 30 Dec 2008) Tiera Erde Shower Scene (Gundam 00) : He looks like a She. I don't wanna see Tiera. I wanna see Lockon!!

(added on 25 Aug 2009) Sakata Gintoki Shower Scene (Gintama) : No posing in the bathroom, no angst under the shower head. Just the protagonist happily humming to himself while shampooing his head.

Revamp of the 'Desk'

2008-12-05T02:00:00.006+08:00

After 4 years, I finally found a skin that caught my fancy. I love themes, and I love it even more when themes are done correctly. An example of my love for themes would be my Silverdawn Tavern, the original sense of wonder of the 16 year old me. An example of a correct theme would be the new Tea House theme in Gmail. That wicked little theme had me clambering out of bed at 5am in the morning when I was doused with insomnia one night to check out what the little Kitsune was doing. It was asleep (that stupid fox is asleep when I'm not!) and 3 fox spirits were looking intelligent over Go in the dark misty courtyard. That was somewhat random, but it was wicked alright, and further enchanced the enchanting xxxHolic feel that the Tea House had generally given me.

And so, the Random Stranger's Desk is now a Journal. Wait, so how did a Gmail theme link up to a new skin again? Well, I like themes, and the theme of my journal is now visually, a journal. With a nice design.

I'm so happy with this pretty skin. The artist of this skin must be a real, yeah, artist. It makes me feel like I'm ready to compose anytime.

Below is the fallen winged femme on the 'Random Stranger's Desk', currently shelved into the Stranger's drawer until her wings would heal again.

The Public Piss Pot

2008-11-05T00:16:00.011+08:00

A day ago, I saw a car stop beside a busy kerb, and 2 kids of no more than 7 years of age got out. The little boy reached into his pants, pulled out his weeny weenie, and started hosing the kerb. The little girl yanked down her shorts, squatted down, and proceeded to water the kerb beside her brother. Passerbys (and trust me there were a hell lot of them) didn't even take a second glance, indifferently engrossed in their own lives. The siblings clambored back onto the car after their little business was done, and the car drove off nonchalantly.

Wow.

And so, this must be the city's solution to their social pissing problem. Don't piss on the kerb, piss in the 'Liquid Abandoned Place'.

Wading through Inuyasha...

2008-10-09T02:48:00.005+08:00

Oh this is so random it cracks me up.

All the cool one-eyed men

2008-04-20T01:37:00.026+08:00

It's not what you can see, it is what you cannot see behind that dark curtain. Be it your trusted companion gorging out your eye and eating it, or the valiant sacrifice for a friend's life; that black veil is a patch that can barely contain the deep suffering of the tragic soul.

Indeed, that eyepatch is the secret weapon to turning a boy into a man. It adds a new dimension of sadness and a hidden story of tragedy.

Behind every one of their eyepatches, there is a secret tale of pain, of sacrifice, of what turned them into damn cool anime guys that makes this otaku girl's heart go 'boom boom boom'.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Fye D. Flourite from Tsubasa Chronicle : Fye became my favourite character in the series after he dropped his mask of laughter and shows his tormented side with that eyepatch.

Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist : One of my Top 5 Favorite anime guys looked even cooler and plagued with sadness after putting on that eyepatch.

Takasugi Shinsuke from Gintama : The raging black beast of revenge resides behind his bandaged eye.

Lockon from Gundam 00 : The eyepatch gives Lockon a serious side, and enhances the grief that torments his soul.

Lavi from D.Grayman : That eyepatch hints of a secret story of a battle long past.

Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle : I hated Syaoran clone for being so damn wholesome, but this Syaoran looked so cool and mysterious with that eyepatch.

Zaraki Kenpachi from Bleach : That eyepatch accentuates how violently insane he is.

Hatake Kakashi from Naruto : And ofcause, for those who do not read the manga, the secret behind Kakashi's hidden Sharingan is the mystery that makes everyone love him.

(added on 03/08/08 ) Yagari Touga from Vampire Knight : A vampire hunter with an eyepatch. Not as cool as Zero but you can imagine how much less cool he would have been without that patch.

(added on 03/08/08 ) Cross Marian from D.Gray-man : The enigmatic general looks mysterious with half of his face covered by the white mask-like thing.

Naruto Shippuuden 053 : It's like having sex without climaxing

2008-04-06T13:22:00.019+08:00

Summarize the past 10 over episodes into 10 words or less
Basically, the past 10 over episodes is beautifully summarized by Jiraiya into less than 2 minutes to a still-bedridden Kakashi. I somehow wished I hadn't gone through the constipated chest banging by the Kyuubi for 4 episodes; Orochimaru puking himself out over and over again; the soap opera-ish "Sasuke!!! Why!! We're friends!! Don't you remember!! ~~Return to your kind self!!" (Opps that was from Shurato.)~~ Return to Konoha!!". I would have settled for sitting beside Kakashi in his hospital bed to listen to Jiraiya's summary anytime.

If you want Jiraiya to summarize the entire arc further into 10 words or less, it is "Sasuke's gotten pretty powerful. Naruto was no match for him." That is really about it. (Javier's description of this arc in 10 words or less is: 'It's like having sex without climaxing'. Yes, these are his words. If you need to, go give him grief. Don't flame me.)

That anti-climatic ending...
After all the hair I tore out while watching the slow-mo pacing and everybody glaring at each each for the past few episodes; all in the hope of getting some kick ass action between Sasuke and Team Kakashi, all we got was the 3 bad guys burning away (hopefully, into oblivion). The audience must be going "Huh.. That's it??" followed by the flurry of questions like "so what exactly was the jutsu Sasuke was going to use???", "Why didn't Yamato go beat him up!!" and "did they rehearse to synchronize that flashy exit or what..."

Naruto was weak, weak, weak. And he was crying!! Gah! At least he knows he's weak now. And they actually needed Sai to cheer them up.

After which, everybody goes home, and Naruto asks Sakura out on a date... Considering how he was crying over Sasuke not too long ago, he sure got over it in a hurry when he realized his rival isn't coming back and he can have Sakura all to himself.

Sai communes with himself
I actually liked that part. Perhaps it was due to the nice soundtrack resonating at the back when Sai attempts to draw a picture about friends with an uninterpretable smile amidst the backdrop of gloomy paintings. The art direction of his solitude broken not unpleasantly by Team Kakashi waving him to the next mission gives me hope that the next arc will have a better rhythm.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto Shippuuden 053 Screenshot Gallery

We were all hyped up for some action when that old snake stopped the fun.

This looks like a CD cover for a boy band.

That flashy exit. It can almost pass for a bad MTV.

Saying goodbye and flipping away the ninja way.

Kakashi never tires of Come Come Paradise. It seems like such a long time ago since he overused his Sharingan.

This is a nice scene.

The story behind that bedside photo revealed.

Naruto Shippuuden 051 - 052 : It's a Flashback Buffet

2008-03-22T23:12:00.022+08:00

There are more flashbacks in this episode than new scenes in this tedious 1 hour special. You're forced to watch bits and pieces from about every other Naruto episode in the past.

The good flashbacks are when you see Itachi beating the shit out of Sasu-gay. Ahh, those are some good memories. The bad flashbacks are.. the rest of the flashbacks. Yes, although it's been more than a year since we've seen those scenes; the audience still remember! They really didn't have to replay the entire conversation at the waterfall where Naruto and Sasu-gay blasted each other. Because. We. Still. Remember.

The title for this episode included "The Emotional Naruto Shippuuden Special". The only emotion I derived from watching this special is the violently-tears-hair-out-in-irate-frustration kind of emotion.

Sai becomes a good guy. What did you expect anyway.
Sai becomes Good Guy A. And that's the long and short of it. I've liked Sai since he 1st appeared, and more so after he called Sasuke a gutless homo.

The good news is that next week is the final episode of the whole 'Rescue Sasuke from the Snake Nest' arc. (It is, isn't it? Please tell me it is!! I can't take anymore flashbacks. It's too heavy duty for my little mind.)

After scampering around in Orochimaru's nest for the past 2 episodes opening and slamming doors to find Sasuke, why are Naruto and Sakura so stunned into wide-eyed immobility when they finally see him. If I were Sasuke, I'd seriously not want to associate myself with those losers either.

The pacing of this arc is killing me. The exciting rhythm from the Sasori-Sakura-Chiyo fight is completely gone. Instead, we have to endure watching the camera's slow pan up from Sasuke's legs to show him in the stylo pose about 3, 4 times in a single episode.

The only new thing we see that we haven't before was Sasuke's new full body chidori. He looks like a squirming eel now. I really don't like Sasuke because he's trying too hard to be the tragic antagonist. Now the perfect tragic antagonist was Sasori.

All in all, this episode is like watching a soapy soap opera.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto Shippuuden 051 - 052 Screenshot Gallery

I wish Sai hadn't changed his mind about killing Sasuke.

A cameo!! -gush gush-

Sasuke looking down on his former comrades. I didn't know the walls were purple.

Bam!! A satisfying punch by Itachi.

Another whammy. This is why I love Itachi.

A full view of Sasuke's bare chest and Orochimaru's love-bite for the Sasuke fans.

"I hate my brother because I can never be as cool as him."

I'll admit I totally don't remember this scene. I think my mind auto-blocked this from my memory because Sasuke looks disturbingly like he's about to kiss and violate Naruto.

Sai saves Naruto.

It's almost like a love triangle.

Kakashi's biggest mistake was to impart Chidori to Sasu-gay. Bad investment with negative returns.

Another view of his bare chest.

D.Gray-man 075 : Cero is the in-thing now

2008-03-21T19:44:00.018+08:00

Having watched this week's Bleach and D.Gray-man back to back, I have to admit I was confused for just a second there when the Earl started hurling Cero at the -ahem- Crowned Clown (rolls eyes). I swear the energy blasts which the Earl used is exactly like the Cero which Ulquoira and Grimmjaw blasted each other with.

The pronunciation of Ulquoira's name finally stuck into my head. It's Ooh-ki-yo-ra! -pats my head, proud of self- I've just about had it with all the Spanish sounding Arrancar names, what Aaroneiro and whatnot. I don't even remember any other names except Grimmjaw and Ulquoira. And I'm making an effort with Ulquoira only because he's the coolest Arrancar.

With all the fanciful moves and attacks the characters always like to brag about, all Grimmjaw and Ichigo can do are Cero hurling and old school sword clanging... Bleach is really tasteless.

...Wait, this is supposed to be about D.Grayman.
It's somewhat amusing that Kanda and Allen suddenly acted like they're in the middle of a bickering omake. It's the 1st time we see Kanda with a half-lid expression and the 1st time Allen goes way out to insult someone. I think they actually like each other pretty well!

And everybody loves Lenalee. The 1st thing Lavi does when he gets reunited with Allen is to snatch Lenalee back and to cradle her in his arms. The 1st thing Kanda did when he entered the fight ep before last was to rescue Lenalee too. Heck, the whole fight after Edo got blown into smithereens was about saving the damsel in distress.

I liked Lenalee too, but that was when she had 2 nice cute ponytails, before she underwent an image change. The Lenalee now sprouts manly hair (errr that didn't sound right) and somehow managed to get herself kidnapped by an umbrella.

Speaking of image change
Kanda with his hair down looks just like Zura-ja-nai-Katsura-da! And he seems to be the only one with long hair now. Allen is in stylo bankai form, with his hair styled like Shippuuden's Sasu-gay, donning a nice fur coat, wearing a gay-looking dangly earring, and not to mention acquiring a masquerade mask to confuse his opponents in the middle of a fight.

And how did Tiedoll know about Allen's new nickname (Crowned Clown... lameee). Did Allen brag about it? ("Check out my new mask. Know what they call me now? The Crowned Clown!" -proud smirk directed at Kanda-)

It looked like the exorcists were walking on marble floor in post-annihilated Edo. The Earl's Cero has polishing effect or something. The Earl is sooo misunderstood. He's actually a nice caring grandfather. Just look at how he unceremoniously dragged Tyki and 'macho uncle' Skinn Boric out of the fight. That part was suitably amusing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cero. The choice weapon for all villains. We now have it in pink, green, red and blue.

Aren't they getting along well

Naruto Shippuuden 048 : Kabuto walks longer than Team Kakashi talks. And that's REALLY alot longer.

2008-03-19T00:36:00.012+08:00

I'm at a lost. How to you do a review on an episode where nothing happens except watching the main characters chat in a dark room and talk about picture books?

Nevertheless, I shall rise to the challenge! The episode went like this:

Sai reads a book. Team Kakashi enters the room. Sakura returns Sai's picture book. They chat about Sai's secret mission. Sai confesses. Naruto stares at Sai. They chat about the book. Naruto stares at Sai. We see some annoying flashbacks. Naruto and Sakura stares at Sai. Kabuto enters room. Everybody's gone. His envelope is gone (or maybe he just went into the wrong room. There are so many of them afterall). Kabuto looks perplexed. Team Kakashi continues to chat outside (more windy, you see). Everybody stares at Sai. Naruto brags about staring Orochimaru to death. We hear some unnecessarily energetic soundtrack.

The end.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto Shippuuden ep 48 Screenshot Gallery

Peekaboooo. I found you....

Yamato grows keys out of his fingers.

Yamato holds his kunai like a reporter holds his microphone.

Naruto stares at Sai. He doesn't look happy.

Naruto and Sakura stares at Sai.

2 snakes and a gay.

Kabuto looks perplexed.

Naruto Shippuuden 050 : If you're tired, use the toilet in one of the rooms

2008-03-17T18:22:00.018+08:00

Orochimaru is practically running an underground hotel or something, with that vast amount of empty rooms. Sai and Naruto could have made full use of the facilities if they were running tired, like freshening up in the room toilets or something. And yes, we know there are toilets in the rooms because Kabuto gave Sai a detailed description of the facilities.

EVERYBODY associates someone they know with Naruto. And unsurprisingly, this time it was Sai's turn. Hell, he sure can draw fast, although there's alot to be said about the logic of bringing around an assassination list with him; and a pictorial one at that. Nevermind his teammates rummaging through his stuff, what would have happened if Kabuto had wanted to do a spot check. No wonder the ANBU Root was more or less uprooted. Intelligence was not exactly their forte.

What we learned this episode:
- Captain Yamato has new-type ability, just like Kira Yamato! -zing-
- Sai has a magical calligraphy brush which keeps itself inked at all times, and doesn't create a mess in his bag.
- Although ninjas weren't taught to knock on doors, they were sure trained to close them after they've left the room.

Nothing else happened this episode, except that we were spared watching Orochimaru puke himself out again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto Shippuuden ep 50 Screenshot Gallery

Kabuto talking to a block of wood.

My, aren't we a happy family now. When tired in the middle of a mission, take out your magical calligraphy brush and draw.

Sasuke-kun's ghost appearing YET again.

Yamato displaying his New-Type abilities.

"What do these big X's mean?" Like, isn't it obvious????

Sai peeking at a napping Sasuke. Orochimaru made Sasuke very tired -wink wink-

While I was wading the net for Gintama Goodies...

2008-03-15T03:03:00.019+08:00

I somehow managed to find this : Animage's 29th Anime Grand-Prix 2007. Kinda outdated; me is, but who cares! Also found out that Code Geass Season 2 is slated to be released in 06 April. Woohoo!! Can't wait!!

Favourite Series

01. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
02. Gundam Seed Destiny
03. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
04. Ouran High School Host Club
05. Gintama
06. Blood+
07. Bleach
08. Rozen Maiden ~Ouvertüre~
09. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ~Mai Hitoyo~
10. Sokyuu no Fafner - RIGHT OF LEFT
11. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
12. Kyou Kara Maou
13. ARIA The NATURAL
14. Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
15. Shounen Onmyouji
16. D.Gray-man
17. My-Otome
18. Eureka Seven
19. Tsubasa Chronicle Season 2
20. Death Note

---------------------------
1) Aww, will you look at that. Code Geass is at the top. Though I have alot to say about the way they truncated the story so suddenly (I'm glad I was warned about it), it was enjoyable while it lasted.

2) GSD didn't live up to Gundam Seed. But what the heck. Support Athrun!

3) Sweet, nice, and short story. I don't understand the Haruhi Fever, but have to admit it had a lasting impression for some obscure reason. I like Kyon!

4) Kiss Kiss Fall in Love!!! I love Ouran High!!

5) Yay!! It's good to know Gintama is not as underrated as I thought it was.

* So many people have been saying Blood+ is nice... maybe I shall hunt for this series next. The next grand prix should see D.Gray-man in a higher rank and we can count on Death Note to be totally out. I hate My Otome. Dumbass story that wasted 26 eps worth of my life. Tsubasa Chronicle is great only if you watch on to Tokyo Revelations (My poor Fye!!!). Bleach is boring. The voters must be a buncha tasteless shonen. And what the hell is Rozen Maiden doing there.

---------------------------

Favourite Guy Characters

01. Lelouch Lamperouge - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
02. Kira Yamato - Gundam SEED Destiny
03. Athrun Zala - Gundam SEED Destiny
04. Kyon - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
05. Sakata Gintoki - Gintama
06. Kururugi Suzaku - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
07. Haji - BLOOD+
08. Okita Sougo - Gintama
09. Hitsugaya Toushirou - Bleach
10. Kurosaki Ichigo - Bleach
11. Mizuho - Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
12. Shinn Asuka - Gundam SEED Destiny
13. Suou Tamaki - Ouran High School Host Club
14. Syaoran - Tsubasa Chronicle Season 2
15. Kanda Yuu - D.Gray-man
16. Abe no Masahiro - Shounen Onmyouji
17. Oo no Suefumi - Harukanaru Toki no Naka de ~Mai Hitoyo~
18. Hakuoro - Utawarerumono
19. Hijikata Toushiro - Gintama
20. Allen Walker - D.Gray-man
20. Yagami Light - Death Note

---------------------------

1) I don't like Lelouch. He's like Kira disguised as Kira (drawn like Kira Yamato, with the self-righteous personality like Yagami Light). They have the same hair and eye colour. But if I have to choose a fave guy from Code Geass... I'll admit I have no choice but to point at his name.

2) Can't people get over Kira yet...

3) I can't get over Athrun! -throbbing fangirl heart-

4) Kyon and Gintoki feels like the same person down to the voice actor. So I'm glad they're both there! Though I'd prefer Gintoki over Kyon. Naturally. Who can resist a carefree natural perm of a Samurai.

* It's nice to see Tamaki among the ranks, along with Hijitaka and Okita from Gintama. Not to mention Kanda!! I wonder... why are the characters from Naruto left out totally. I can't even find them in the top 75 ranks. Even Shinn managed to squeeze into Top 20...how??

---------------------------

Favourite Gal Characters

01. Lacus Clyne - Gundam SEED Destiny
02. Suzumiya Haruhi - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
03. C.C. - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
04. Cagalli Yula Athha - Gundam SEED Destiny
05. Fujioka Haruhi - Ouran High School Host Club
06. Kagura - Gintama
07. Sakura - Tsubasa Chronicle
08. Kallen Stadtfeld - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
09. Nagato Yuki - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
10. Stellar Loussier - Gundam SEED Destiny
11. Saber - Fate. Stay. Night
12. Otonashi Saya - BLOOD+
13. Yuuko - xxxHOLIC
14. Kuchiki Rukia - Bleach
15. Kou Shuurei - Saiunkoku Monogatari
15. Asahina Mikuru - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
17. Revy - BLACK LAGOON
18. Mizunashi Akari - ARIA The NATURAL
19. Shirley Fenette - Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
20. Shana - Shakugan no Shana
20. Ryugu Rena - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
20. Suiseiseki - Rozen Maiden ~träumend~

---------------------------

1) Lacus. Again. Even Kira got defeated by Lelouch. Must be because C.C. doesn't have pink hair... Then again, the other pink haired princess in Code Geass massacred an entire stadium of Japanese. Now THAT's worthy of a rank right at the top duncha think.

2) Like I said, I don't understand the Haruhi Fever. But I'm not too surprised to see her there.

3) Must be 'cause C.C. didn't get enough screen time, and half of them she's munching on pizza. She's in my top 5 too nonetheless!

4) Cagalli!!

5) To be honest, I'd never thought of her as an option to vote as a female character. But well, seeing that she seems to be about the only votable female in Ouran High, it's a well deserved top 5 rank.

*Kagura made it to the top 10! As did the rest of the SOS Brigade. Too bad for Koizumi or the entire club will be in the boards. What I don't understand is why Suiseiseki in top 20. You'd think that if a Rozen Maiden has to be up there, it'd be Shinku or Suigintou. Suiseiseki is annoying and irritating. Kallen is up there because she she gets so many naked scenes in Code Geass. Shirley looks exactly like Orihime, but I'm glad she's the one that got voted up instead of Orihime. Saber is there! I think I saw Lenalee in no. 28. And I don't want to talk about Stellar...

---------------------------

Favourite Episodes

01. Gundam SEED Destiny: FINAL PLUS ~The Chosen Future~ (OVA / Episode 51)
02. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Episode 01 - "The Day the Evil was Born"
03. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Episode 12 - "Live Alive"
04. Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition III - "Sadame no Goka"
05. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Episode 06 - "The Stolen Mask"
06. BLOOD+: Episode 50 (Final) - "Nankurunaisa"
07. Kyou Kara Maou: Episode 78 (Final) - "Until the day we meet again"
08. Ouran High School Host Club: Episode 26 (Final) - "This is Our Ouran Festival"
09. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Episode 08 - "The Order of the Black Knights"
10. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Episode 00 - "Asahina Mikuru's Adventure"
11. Eureka Seven: Episode 50 (Final) - "When You Wish Upon a Star"
12. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Episode 09 - "Someday In The Rain" (Episode 14)
13. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Episode 04 - "The Name Is Zero"
14. Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition II - "Sorezore no Ken"
15. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Episode 11 - "The Day Of Sagittarius" (Episode 13)
16. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Episode 14 - "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya VI" (Episode 06)
17. D.Gray-man: Episode 05 - "Sing Me A Lullaby"
18. Ouran High School Host Club: Episode 16 - "Operation Haruhi and Hikaru's First Date"
19. Eureka Seven: Episode 48 - "Ballet Mécanique"
20. Shakugan no Shana: Episode 24 (Final) - "Crimson Thoughts"
20. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Episode 26 (Final) - "The Atonement Chapter - Part 5 - Retake"

---------------------------
*Now why do people vote for a favourite episode... I don't really understand how they can remember the episode number and title... especially for series es which runs endlessly. I guess that's why the episodes which got voted in are from anime with 50 eps and below. And that'll explain why Haruhi snagged so many places in this category. With only 12 episodes to boot, it's easier to remember what happened in which episode.

*AND WHY IS GSD FINAL PLUS AT THE TOP??

* I think this year's Grand Prix will see Tokyo Revelations hovering at the top.

Naruto Shippuuden 049 : Beware of Naraku's Bees

2008-03-08T17:05:00.018+08:00

The puzzling part in this episode was perhaps a cameo of Naraku's 'surveillance bees', which sent the usually cool Kabuto tumbling rather comically. It was no wonder Sai betrayed him after that. I wouldn't want people to tell tales of me betraying my Village and associating myself with someone who tripped over a buncha bees neither.

Kabuto's surprise was soon followed by a waste of good pollen as he chopped down the bees with pin-point accuracy that Kanda didn't manage with the Tease.

Narutards were also feasted to a picturesque scene of nature at work as an iguana helped himself to some pollen and a swooping eagle ferried the little reptile away... What was that all about anyway??

The wood clone looks...pretty much like a block of wood.
And it was Kabuto's turn on the ground bound by wood where only minutes ago, Sai sat in the exact same undignified position. I have to say the wood technique is a really convenient one, being able to erect resorts and the like. And it sure looks sturdier then Sai's inky rope, though I have my doubts whether it can really bind a ninja and keep him there. Besides the multiple techniques I can think up of offhand, the guard watching over Kabuto was, afterall; a block of wood...

Didn't mama teach you to knock before entering...
Orochimaru could very well be undressing behind one of those doors and we don't want to encounter a naked Orochimaru now do we? Think of the audience who are still traumatized from the scene of Oro-chan in the shower some hundred over episodes back.

Speaking of which, while it is not uncommon to see the characters showering as fan service (oh the drooling when Athrun got an extended shower scene in Gundam Seed Destiny) why is Orochimaru the ONLY one in Naruto which we have to see in the shower? Now if they'd shown Itachi showering instead...

Anyway.

Not to mention after all the theories behind Orochimaru and Sasu-gay's questionable relationship, did Naruto really want to barge into a room to witness the scandal for himself? ("No wait! We're just, -cough, looks away- training..."-blush-) Oh Sai will really be able to see the bond~~age~~ for himself.

The Flashbacks are killing us.
The recent episodes have been laced with tedious flashbacks, which are really getting Kung Pow-like; and really getting on my nerves.

Sai: You said I still have bonds with my brother.
-flashback to room-
Sakura: (in flashback) You still have bonds with your brother.

GAHHH!!! Even the last few minutes of this ep was a flashback from the very 1st few minutes of the 1st episode of Naruto Shippuuden. How cheap!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto Shippuuden ep 49 Screenshot Gallery

1st, it was Sai.

Then it was Kabuto.

Kabuto looked so cool fighting Naruto...

But the bees got the better of him.

Oh look, bees!

I half expected Naraku to appear with his baboon face and annoying cackle.

Sai looking cool.

Kabuto looking not.

Yes, we know you shocked Kabuto with that powerful attack, so how long are you gonna pose there like that?

The ghost of Sasuke-kun is everywhere.

The Most Fearsome Animal

2008-02-17T13:49:00.014+08:00

It was punishment, and it came down swift and fast. We were punished for rejecting a vegetarian lunch just a short 5 minutes later as we were brought to a big restaurant reputed for its fresh and good food. It was late winter in that Chinese City when we learned the true meaning of the word 'Fresh'.

However desensitized one can feel towards the desperate squirming of the fish while being scooped out of the tank, we weren't prepared for the live non-seafood awaiting the guillotine. While I'll have to confess that I didn't feel any twinge in my conscience in the face of the stone dead looking clams, the wide-eyed pleading look of a pair of bunny rabbits soon twisted up my insides. Caged up and looking all depressed just opposite them are a pair of Mandarin Ducks, best known for always being in pairs, perhaps even in death for these 2 particular ones.

My hunger had all but drained when I turned another corner to behold a big severed head of a fish, its gills still flapping slowly as if it was trying to die fast to relieve the pain. The pulsating decapitated head was placed just beside the tough skinned reptilian legs and chopped up pieces of a crocodile.

I took a step back and almost bumped into another cage filled with more slithering reptiles. 3 full cages of them, to be exact; each one boasting a different price tag. The cold hard gaze of the snakes killed the rest of my appetite.

Within the restaurant was a man-made pond, with geese and ducks swimming in it for the visual delight of the guests. Similarly caged by human, but with different destinies as their peers just a few meters away. For now at least.

It was like a theme park horror house for lunch. The place was no pet shop, and Human are the most fearsome animal afterall.

On Lucid Dreaming

2007-09-20T01:06:00.001+08:00

It was a precarious drop of stairs on the stone hill. The rain drizzled down, making the stairs even more slippery. People around me were sliding down step by step. I tried and was able to do the same for a while. But I soon reached this particular drop that was too steep and where I could lose balance at any moment and plummet to my death. The empty fear at that point was when I realized I was dreaming. I stared at the stoney bottom of the hill calmly and knew there was no logical reason for me to be in this gloomy grey world and what I had been doing up until now had just been too wild and senseless (travelling through big white tubes and riding on clouds to reach this hill).

And so, to make my point, I defiantly dived, arms widespread out of the hill; knowing I would end up flying in this swiveling dreamscape. True enough, the rain ceased and the grey scenary shifted. I was now soaring above the tropical island known as my home, out towards the deep and vast blue sea, overlooking the world, free as the wind...

---------

I've had lucid dreams for as long as I could remember, and that was one of the more recent ones after I learnt I could actually control my dream story at will. Lucid dreams don't last long after the dreamstate had been uncovered. And although I always found myself caged back to reality on my bed not too long later, the prior moment of freedom always ignite my day with a smile on my face.

The previous one found me mysteriously in a mall. As usual, I knew I was being lucid. This time though, to verify, I looked at my hands. And just as I suspected, they were fuzzy and 2 thumbs appeared on my right hand. It seems Dream never did found a way to properly construct hands...

And so I wandered the mall wondering what story I should create. As with most lucid dreams though, I was soon struck with a False Awakening, finding myself stirring in bed. But I was still lucid enough to glance at my hands again and sure enough, they were still fuzzy. Another series of False Awakenings followed protestingly until I finally lost my lucidity in one of them...

---------

From brief research, ways to verify if one was indeed lucid were

1) Look at hands and expect distortions
2) Look at the time and verify after a few seconds
3) Look at some text and verify after a few seconds

How to stay lucid:

1) Spin while closing your eyes.
- I tried that at some point in time in one of my lucid dreams. It did work. But not for very long.

2) Rub / clap your hands. Yell.
- It didn't work the 1st time I tried. It did after that.

3) Cling onto the dream desperately as a child would cling to his mother.
- That's my personal way of always despairingly trying hard to remain lucid. I usually end up in a state where I can feel my sleeping body lying stationery and yet continue directing my dream at the same time. I always wake up tired though.

Mario Returns...

2007-09-18T22:57:00.001+08:00

This is one kick-ass Mario fanart I found somewhere off the net. Looking at the proportions like this, one can understand why our hero HAS to be a fat plumber to punch those bricks and intimidate those crawling mushrooms or whatever they are.

The picture inspired some 3-minute crap out of me:

Mario returns;
Our dark hero.

As massive as his collection of coins,
The plumber toils.

Chewing mushrooms,
Ripping traitors,

All for Toadstool.
Not cute; Super.

My Sky map and I aka '14th Astronomy Retreat at Desaru Golden Beach Resort'

2007-06-23T15:55:00.002+08:00

5 sumptuous meals a day, free flow of strong coffee, the edge of the ocean at the doorstep, the observation ground 5 metres from a nice soft bed of a comfortably air-conditioned resort room... It was the perfect getaway for my sky map and I.

The 14th Astronomy Retreat from 19-22 June at Desaru Golden Beach Hotel was the most relaxing and comfortable astronomy observation trip I had, with the only downside being the incessant tropical insects; most of which I never got around to identifying. The 18 insect bites I suffered on my tender flesh were almost offset by the 16 meteors I saw on night 2 and 3. And although the skies wasn't clear all the way and could have been better for the larger part of the night, it was breath-taking while it lasted. So this Singaporean from the thickly light-infested skies of her homeland is perfectly satisfied with the moment of peace and liberation that can never be found in Singapore.

The Observations
The pure joy of being clothed by the shimmering darkness with the steam of the milky way splashed across the skies is simply unrivalled. The last night (early morning) was a new experience for the enthusiasts with the impending storm clouds from the Eastern seas thundering its warning of a storm which, not only never came, but also for some obscure reason made the sky transparency even clearer with each blinding flash of lightning. Most of the participants retreated to their rooms upon the sound of thunder. But the undaunted enthusiasts continued to savour every moment that the storm did not come; be it frantic searchings of the deep sky objects through telescopes and binoculars while they can; or simply sitting back on the blue plastic chairs and drinking in the majesty of the Summer constellations, patrolling the night sky with the green laser pointers (like I did).

Not too long later, the Great Scorpion crawled under the crimson bulbous clouds, which had finally found its way above us. Those with telescopes gave up wrestling with the clouds for one last view, and I returned to cringe at the horrible old TCS re-runs on TV.

The clouds did blow itself thin later on, beckoning the coffee-intoxicated ones such as me. But the high haze limited my star search, and bored even the wide awake polytechnic kids. These little ones chose instead to go exploring in the jungle, unwilling to squander the remaining hours of their retreat in Dreamland. I wonder if they ever came back..

The Room
No it was not pristinely clean. Yes, insects always found a way to infiltrate in. And the locust-like flies that swarmed outside our rooms during the 1st night after the downpour was like something out of a doom-impending horror movie, trapping us in the room until we plucked our small pampered clean-city-life courage to brave the 'locusts' which seemed to be in the midst of a battle outside the room 208.

The TV channels were all Mediacorp shit with only 2 Malaysian channels. The only saving grace was that I wouldn't have to miss Girl From Hell!!

The Participants
There were also less screamy kids this year, with the students of Bukit Panjang Govt High being replaced with the slightly older and slightly less screamy kids from Singapore Polytechnic (still noisy, but less screamy). The remaining little ones being elite nerds from RGS and NUS High, the noise level was definitely lower this year. The story is that BPGH is sore from losing the Astro Quiz this year HO HO HO.

A Chinese Marionette Show

2007-05-01T01:35:00.001+08:00

*A random showcase from my deviantart! Photo taken quite a while back but only recently had time to upload it.

Storytelling in one of its most traditional form.
3 puppets, 5 puppeteers.
Each puppet has more than 30 strings attached to it.
Each puppeteer have devoted his/her entire life to mastering this art.
One wrong tweak and the show will entangle itself.

It didn't.

Masquerading for Chingay 23-24 Feb 2007

2007-02-25T02:03:00.002+08:00

It's the overpowering smell of powder, cosmetics and stale costumes in the backstage that marks the prelude to all the performances that I have experienced since I was 4. It's that smell that tells me I have to be on stage soon; that and the thickly coated faces of performers in most of the time over the top costumes, wading around the buzzing sparks of anticipation that electrifies the backstage. Some search for a final touch up to their appearance, some sway around recapping the dance steps or lines to the wall, and every performance will house some unhappy performers bitching about something or everything else. Hey, these people are essential for a successful show. Without them, the wholesomeness of the affair would be almost scary.

No matter the location, country, group, nature of performance or era, the pre-show preparation is always the same, and this year's Chingay opens with the same prelude for me.

Perhaps out of curiosity or perhaps out of some innate need to reminisce performing with some old familiar faces, I found myself participating in this year's Chingay Parade as one of the volunteer (read: NO PAY) Samba dancers for the opening item of Asia's Largest Street and Float Parade with Dance Emotion; that's the company that engaged us cheapskate dancers (I'm beginning to suspect the 'company' is a one-man show I may be very wrong though) and SAF Music and Drama Company. Yes, the costume is vaguely Samba. The music is not exactly Samba though and no, the dance steps are not Samba. I may not be trained in Samba but I sure can recognize Samba when I see it. No matter, the choreographers say Samba then Samba loh. They big mah.

The Rehearsals

The choreography rehearsals had been fun enough. I especially enjoyed dancing on the PA field under the darkening skies with Venus, the waxing moon and the peeking stars of dusk as our audience. The freedom of expressive movement always sends an almost malevolent excitement through my veins. That was ofcause, dancing without the torturous boots, and without the cumbersome headgear and the load of oversized elephantine backdrop that we had to attach and carry on our backs.

Moans of grief about the discomfort were dismissively shuffled away by the organizers during our rehearsals, and only after the full dress rehearsal did we receive an email from heaven saying, oh this is hilarious, how the council meeting concluded that the dancers looked really bogged down by the heavy costumes and alterations would be done to lighten our load.

That made me one happy woman all the way until I eagerly pulled out the costume from the bag before the Chingay preview. I had to double check with my fellow dancers before it sunk in that the only alteration they made was remove the sleeves of our silver jumpsuit. Oh swell, that must have took off about 1 gram of load which we REALLY needed to be off. The headgear and especially the jumbo backdrop remains ominously colossal, with long feathery boas altered into it, which god forbid, must have weighed more than the 1 gram which was removed from the jumpsuit. I was impressed to tears and speechlessness by the sense of logic that must have overcome the person who decided on this alteration... I am without speech.

One of the things I learnt this Chingay is also why I always overhear the resident 'old folks' in PA griping about "young choreographers and their sense of responsibility tsk tsk" as I observed amusingly how our choreographer seemed more intent on winning the favour of my girl friend than brushing and cleaning up our dance steps, which would highly reflect on his reputation in return during the show. Oh well, what do the old folks know anyway. The Springtime of Youth is a season not to be squandered by responsibility!

The Parade

Under the enthusiastic brush of the effeminate male make up artist, alot of us turned out with stars and other glittering shapes on our faces, reminiscent of the half masks of masquerade parties. It took abit of getting used to, but it wasn't so bad after I registered that the weirdo in the mirror is me.

After alot of griping about how the boots were killing alot of our feet, the headgears causing headaches, waiting time that didn't seem likely to end, and waving to VIPs who most of their identities we'll never know nor do we care to find out (Oh yes, I waved welcome to this particular ancient-looking political celebrity. No, he didn't wave back and no, he didn't look too happy to have to be there. Me thinks he's only there so the camera can pan to his royal face when they remind everybody who the credit of the idea of Chingay should go to... His son wasn't there though), the firecrackers exploded in a deafening golden splendour as if to say: Let the Masquerade begin!

And so began our 2 hours of parading glam and circulation cut off from our feet as we heralded the begining of Chingay 35 with our 'Samba' dance. A million cameras and flashes were shoved at our faces as we masqueraded the Orchard Road. It was a everybody-scream-let's-party kind of mood which made alot of us high, leaving the troublesome world behind. Only the growing pain of my feet anchored me to reality with every minute of running, posing and yelling.

By the time we reached the finale, I could barely walk without wincing with every step. But even that didn't stop me from basking under the explosion of fireworks above Takashimaya and the rain of crimson confetti. A light-headed me continued to groove to the retro songs lip-synced by Singapore's most famous transvestite, Kumar, who was dolled up in a barbie doll dress. Why oh why do we need to have a she-man lip-sync in the finale?? He/she/it didn't even look pretty and there was one obscene moment when I witnessed Kumar adjusting his/her/its bra before the show... Why? Because ChinGAY lah sister!

The Post-Parade

I must have posed for more photographs with strangers today than I ever did in my lifetime. I'm not complaining. I was high too. But high is high and I'm done with charity dancing and ready to soak my feet in warm water while I down a nice chilled can of 100 Plus. Let this be official, I am swearing off boots for at least 2 years.

Back at PA, the group organizer took us to a side and asked us to "be honest with yourselves, who has not missed a single rehearsal since day 1?" Some girls stood up and for a moment, I thought she was going to say that they'll get paid afterall. But no, she instead apologized to the rest of us, saying we won't get to perform in the heartland parades. The way she made it sound so exclusive to the good-students-who-didn't-miss-even-a-single-lesson was even more hilarious than the "email from heaven" she sent. Did she seriously think we're that much of a sucker? Masquearading at night in the middle of Orchard Road was one thing, parading in the heartlands on the precious weekends was quite another. And while it might have been something else to consider for experience points, no will do without at the very least a promised and properly negotiated remuneration. Hey, I'm not a high school girl dancing for CCA points anymore aye. Plus I could gripe on and on about how welfare was non-existent, how badly mistreated and unappreciated the volunteer dancers were but my nicer and more wholesome girl friends would pat me on the head and say "forget it girl". So I'll try to.

And so, that was on my mind and the fact that I have sworn off boots for the next 2 years when she approached me later on to ask if I could make it for the heartland parade afterall. Whatever happened to the exclusivity?

My weekends belong to me now.

The chaotic backstage eminent before all shows.

The scary backdrop that goes on our backs.

Occupied Town

2006-05-08T00:14:00.004+08:00

It's over, but it's still there. Somehow, all the posters on the lamp posts gives my town a jarring feeling of being occupied by some foreign forces. (A red swastika keeps floating in my mind everytime I walk past a lamp post boasting the encircled lightning...)

Mystery of the Missing Opposition's Posters
A while back, when the opposition's posters and pictures were still up, the town looked more like it was undergoing a fair election campaigning contest. But somehow, around Tuesday last week, those posters mysteriously disappeared overnight. To make sure, I roamed my neighbourhood a few days before polling day, but all signs of the opposition were definitely gone. Ever since then, the foreboding feeling of occupation grew ever more.

Where have the opposition's posters gone to? Yes, the residents do notice such things. Maybe they were struck down by the mighty lightning...

Implosion

2006-03-28T19:50:00.001+08:00

The quiet is insufferable; the silence is deafening. My insides riot for the myth of freedom as the days wheeze by in a whirlwind of ice and fire. There is no sanctity, no cave to hide. My fingers itch madly in my wild desire to dissect the notes of my scores. It was a wisp of solitude, which perished quickly in the screech of the piano, a reflection of the defiant incapacity of a 12 year old girl.

Like an incomplete homonculus devoid of cheer, I pushed through reality's doors daily. Past the vile corruption of rotting perfume. Past the fire of mid March's sun. Past the deep satisfying waft of incense-polluted aircon; the pungence of a prison I once escaped. Past the ice of the cube I hail. Past the malevolent stench of fresh paint mingled with decaying excretion...

Inside me, I scream and I scream. The turmoil is sealed and vacummed shut in the cask of my being; no sound escapes from my lips and no tears leak through my eyes. I am the only witness of the raging storm of being too old for an identity crisis and too young for a mid-life one. A dead rag dolI shoved around by the cold hands of destiny will turn me into no Hulk.

I implode.

Peekaboo from my desk

2006-03-11T00:59:00.001+08:00

The current residents on the desk of my office says hi!

Media teaches traumatized girls to strip

2006-01-27T13:44:00.004+08:00

Ya, I saw the 'Love Concierge' episode last night where Ann Kok strips to her funky pink bra in a flurry of anguished tears. Wah, someone dying to get an award so soon after coming back to TCS ahhh.... So what's new...

Here's what's new. Today, I saw a real life enactment of that. INDECENT EXPOSURE!! A girl, she looks quite young, had pulled up her black shirt to reveal her pale yellow strapless bra (with funky patterns on it too!) When I saw her, she was squatting at the roadside, outside one of the construction barriers near Paya Lebar MRT, wailing a string a saliva from her mouth. A guy was standing in front of her; I assume they are acquainted, staring at her with the 'not again' look and waiting for her to snap out of it. She was wailing and wailing, and I say she looks young, because at such close proximity, witnessing her in only her bra showed that she was quite under-developed.

I was walking beside a cute Korean guy who had asked me for directions and who looked suitably amused at the beautiful sights of Singapore. I had to assure him that this was NOT a norm in Singapore. (At least not until the media started inspiring traumatized females on ways to proclaim exactly how devastated they are)

Dang, if the Korean guy wasn't standing beside me I would have snapped a quick picture with my cellphone. But hell, I'm not supposed to the tourist of the 2.

The Garfield downstairs

2006-01-27T00:15:00.001+08:00

The fat cat downstairs found yet another sleeping spot. I used to think it was pregnant. Now I know it's just plain fat.

Random calls from Indian strangers

2006-01-25T15:02:00.003+08:00

I received one of the most random phone calls in my life yesterday from an Indian stranger female who left me with floating question marks

------------------
Indian strange girl: Hello? -mumble mumble-
Me: Hello???

Indian strange girl: -mumble mumble- cooking... -mumble mumble-
Me: What???

(This went on for a quite a while until I finally heard a more comprehensible sentence.)

Indian strange girl: My cooking is not good, so I'm wondering if you know anybody doing tourism, so they can teach me business and we can network together.
Me: Huh? What has business, tourism and cooking got to do with each other?

Indian strange girl: Ya... I don't know... But I call you because I was thinking maybe you can help me.
Me: I don't think you're calling the correct number to ask about this. Try calling the Mental Hospital...

------------------
Sheesh, like what's up with her. I remember a long time ago, I received another call from another strange Indian girl.

------------------
Indian strange girl 2: Hi, can I speak to Sally?
Me: Rong lumber.

Indian strange girl 2: What? I want to speak to Sally.
Me: -ahem- Wrong Number.

Indian strange girl 2: Wrong number? Where's Sally?
Me: There's no Sally here.

Indian strange girl 2: What? This is not Sally's number?
Me: No.

Indian strange girl 2: Oh.... Do you have Sally's number?
Me: (what the???) No.

Indian strange girl 2: Oh... You sure you don't have Sally's number?
Me: NO. I DO NOT HAVE SALLY'S NUMBER.

Indian strange girl 2: Oh.... are you Indian?
Me: (Now I'm really peeved) NO. I AM NOT.

Indian strange girl 2: Oh... you're not Indian??
Me: NO!

Indian strange girl 2: Oh... Have you eaten?
Me: THERE IS NO SALLY HERE AND I AM NOT INDIAN. GOOD BYE.

------------------
All bow to my god-like patience with weirdos. And these are a couple of gals. I don't even want to begin talking about the even weirder calls I ever received from Indian-sounding guys.

Meer on my iBook

2006-01-13T11:09:00.001+08:00

Would you choose to play with the computer or play with Meer?

Rain and Storm

2005-10-28T11:52:00.001+08:00

A piano piece aptly composed by Kajiura Yuki. One cannot feel the beauty of this piece from .hack//sign until one has actually listened to it amidst a landscape of a crashing thunderstorm.

10:30pm and I was stuck under the tracks with 'Rain and Storm' stuffed into my ears, at the point between running home through the rain or turning back to the station (while carrying my very heavy new toy. yay.) Any other day, I might have shamelessly begged that unfriendly malay girl with that big brolly to shelter me across.

Last night though, I was distracted by how the thundering flashing skies seem to be uncannily orchestrating the already very beautiful song while the sound of the heavy raindrops smashing to the ground makes 'Rain and Storm' all the more melancholic. It didn't help that the train tracks and the buildings around seem to be on fire everytime the flashing skies outline them with the rising crescendo of the piece. So I put the song on repeat and just stood there and indulged in being alive for 10 minutes. Beautiful.

Finally, the rain simmered down as the song reaches its drizzling end (Oh Mother Nature is a great musician) and I strolled back to reality in that drizzle (my new toy!!).

I am so going to master this piano piece...

Obsession with Flying Stuff (Mai Otome 01)

2005-10-16T01:33:00.001+08:00

I've just about had it with the Japs and their obsession with flying appendages... First the machines, now the women are in midair. Maybe it's half a year of drowning in Gundam that these resonations can't get outta the screen... They should seriously rename this "Mai Gundam" or something...

Which brings to the question... where's Mai?? Where's Mikoto?? I can't believe they retrenched the title character!! Why call it "Mai" Z Hime (or Mai Otome whatever, like can't they make up their minds??) then?

This first ep is the pits compared to the grand opening episode 1 of the predecessor Mai Hime (a kid using a sword taller than herself to cut a cruise ship in half was really the way to attract a viewer's attention) Oh well, at least Natsuki's still around flipping her hair...

Akane as Strike Rouge:

Shizuru as Destiny:

Remembering a Sunset

2005-10-08T15:00:00.001+08:00

How do you tell the difference between a sunrise and a sunset? I can't. But I remember this beautiful sunset in another land not so far away and not that long ago.

Let's go shopping on the Moon! (Gundam Seed Destiny 46)

2005-09-17T01:32:00.001+08:00

I really wasn't sure why the Archangel were going to the Moon until our heros started to go shopping... So sightseeing on the satellite is part of the perks of being with the ORB military. Cagalli is fast to give generous employee benefits so soon after returning to her seat so everybody can forget about her previous blunders.

Meyrin and her amazing hat
Meyrin escaped ZAFT with Athrun in the middle of the night dressed in her pjs and suddenly on the Archangel, she has her uniform and her amazing hat back. Being a neutral country, ORB must surely be keeping stock of the rival militaries' uniforms in case soldiers 'jump ship' to ORB but need their old uniforms to feel nostalgic...

Lacus shopping
Until we actually saw Lacus shopping did we realise how she got her fanciful dresses while running for her life. So beneath the 'world peace' exterior is a typical girl who likes to look good afterall.

Athrun should sue for IP
I say Athrun should have sued the smug Dullindal-sitting-in-his-high-seat-pretending-to-be-King-of-the-World for copying the Haro without permission and Meer for endorsing it. He could have made a hefty sum everytime Meer appeared in the media with the bouncing Haro bouncing along with her bouncing bosum.

Too much pink on screen
So after spinning around in slow motion after she was shot, Meer died. Like, who cares. Whatever happened to the plot anyway... What's really going on in the story now??

The Fight for Screentime (Gundam Seed Destiny 43)

2005-08-16T23:51:00.001+08:00

The men fight with their fists while the women with words. We can see who's more intelligent species -snigger-. While Kira and Athrun happily explode their colourful seeds on the battlefield and beat the ego outta Shinn, their girlfriends have to do the diplomatic damage controls. Just when Cagalli finally gets to do something useful and appear on national TV, that fame-seeker Meer pushed away Cagalli's frequency with her own speech. But oh boy did Lacus show her who's the real woman! Good thing for her Dullindal prepared a long speech for Meer too. Long enough for Kira to take off from Archangel on Freedom and fly her to the TV station anyway.

It's been a bad day for Shinn, having to deal with his demotion from protagonist to antagonist. And now he's getting encounters with The Third Kind as the heros he supposedly killed comes back to haunt him. First Kira returns in his powerup Strike Freedom Gundam and kicked Destiny's face!! And when Legend and Destiny were trying to bully Freedom by outnumbering him, the Red Knight Athrun comes along and kicks Destiny's ass BWAHAHA. Legend is for decorative purposes only afterall.

So only 7 episodes left. I wonder what the storytellers have in store for Shinn. He who was supposed to be the lead of the show got hussed around by Kira and Athrun. Nobody loves Shinn, everybody loves Kira and I love Athrun!

When Skygrasper took a hit, I was just thinking eehhhh Fraga where got so clumsy... and what do you know, Neo gets a Fraga flashback!! So he really is friggin' Mwu La Fraga!! How did that happen! And we thought Kira and Athrun were the only ghosts around... The poor Tiger has officially lost all chances with the sexy captain. Speaking of which, Cagalli is now a widow, so yay please someone kill the last barrier, Meyrin already so Athrun can move back with Cagalli.

Can't wait for the catfight next week!

The random stranger's desk is on...

2005-08-16T12:14:00.001+08:00

created by 399AnimeShop and Narutofever.com

Weee!!! Naruto fans get a page checker to see the location of the website! Go to: http://narutofever.com/fun/hidden-villages-checker or click on that banner!

The Return of Freedom and Justice (Gundam Seed Destiny 42)

2005-08-09T13:45:00.001+08:00

Finally Cagalli makes herself all useful woohoo! That's the fiery girl we like. Kira comes down to save the day. Again. Like wat did we expect anyway. Can't Cagalli fight a war without the help of her big brother??

Lacus dons a sexy pink-as-her-haro pilot suit and rides a Gundam (OMG) and gives another wholesome speech to Athrun. And her ex-boyfriend who couldn't even stand up straight without the help of a pink-haired babe is now suddenly ready to fight in a super Gundam. Not that I'm complaining. "Athrun Zala. Justice. Launch!" Yay!! Haven't heard that in a while. Finally we get to see The Cool Athrun in action again! And it gets Meyrin's paws off him. I wish she would just disappear already.

So Neo finally stopped watching his TV in the sickbay and is now hinting that he just MIGHT be Mwu La Fraga in disguise. Escaping from THAT kind of explosion in SPACE! The man who makes the impossible, possible indeed... Dead men should just rest in peace and give the the Tiger of the Desert a chance at well-bosomed captains. Then again, having a familiar Skygrasper ally in an exciting war is an exhilarating visual feast for Gundam Seed fans so... heck who cares about the Tiger.

The old cast is the way to go! Kill Shinn! Kill Rey! Kill Minerva! Yay Freedom and Justice and Archangel and the not-as-powerful-as-it-seems Akatsuki!

Idolizing is hard work

2005-07-05T23:17:00.002+08:00

OK, I don't exactly idolize Neil Gaiman. I just happen to think a coupla of his works are wonderful ideas that's all. Queuing for 5 hours to get an autograph, however, seems like an act of idolization and man, idolizing sure is hard work. How do those people spend 10 over hours queuing to scream for 5566, 3399 whatever?? Then they queue another 10 hours to shake hands, another 10 to sign CD, another 10 to take pictures... Gee, once is enough for me. Not gonna do something like this again. Ever. Oh well.. anyway, weee, I have nice books with nice covers signed by one of the authors I like. Oh geekdom!

I saw someone dressed up as Destiny who looks more like Harry Potter, a girl dressed as a very undesirable Desire, LOTS of Death ankhs, and countless middle aged men clutching the original Sandman covers (oh generation gap!).

We spent about 5 hours weaving though a VERY long queue criss-crossing the Ngee Ann City Kinokuniya's Japanese section, Interior Design, Sports, Graphic novels and languages section before we finally got to Neil!

I noticed he removed his synthetic very-thick-but-cool-looking-and-yes-it's-black jacket. (The first pic was taken at about 4:30pm and I got to him at about 9:30pm) Was suitably amused with that fancy jacket in humid Singapore and even more with his desperate scribbling of "sweet dreams" on every other book he signed. Creative lines must not do well with jet lag.

Fan kids' GAIMAN letters fell all over the place when they turned around and enthusiastically showed Neil
Press coverage: Neil Gaiman as so busy attending talks and signing sessions in Singapore he didn't have time to comb his hair.

And now I patiently await George R.R. Martin to visit the little red dot. Yay geekdom!

The fangirl in me!

2005-06-27T01:48:00.001+08:00

Memories of the future

2005-06-22T20:19:00.001+08:00

When I sleep, I soar above rooftops and hop on treetops. I am at multiple places at the same time. I’m not just a girl. I am a shape shifter and a magician. I am invisible yet the centre of attention. Soldiers chase me past hidden corridors of paper walls. Chasing me for knowledge and blood; chasing me for immortality. I feed on faith and drink from love. My feet are fins when I plunge into the oceans. I swim with dolphins and dive with whales. My wings shield the world and carry me to the skies. The blue calls to me when I follow the sun and I am invincible. When I sleep.

We return to reality each night but are yanked back to fantasy every morning. Others call it dreaming but I know the truth. Dreams are our memories of reality.

Human live in a world of magic and disorder, where everybody is somebody yet nobody. We are cats one day and fish another. Amidst a life of disarray and frenzy, we dreamt of an existence where everything was figured out for us. We dreamt of system and we dreamt of caste. We wanted chaos no more and sought for mediocrity. So over the millenium, we built a world where we can live our ideal life, where each day was more or less the same, where our life journey was planned the moment we were born. We called that world Earth, and using magic, we inserted our minds into the dream world and emerge from the other side as a squalling babe.

Crying for this dream world meant a one-way ticket, the payment being our memories of reality. No magic is perfect though, and each night, we return briefly to reality, believing them to be incoherent dreams.

For me, coming to this world was a mistake and every night, I desperately plunge deep into reality, trying hard to attach my claws back to where I belong once again. So far I have failed but I won't give up. One night, I will rectify my blunder and cross back to reality's side for good. Till then, without the wings I stupidly left behind, I can only work hard not to drown in this befuddled mediocrity that we have so naively built in our ecstatical belief in order.

- Yiru

random picture...

2005-06-17T15:03:00.001+08:00

of a cat who's stoning!

That's a resident cat in my neighbourhood who's fat and always sleeping

----

prima donna

2005-06-16T23:42:00.000+08:00

Nancy Yuen (whoever she is) is singing as the Chinese princess who married to the Sultan. MUST be coz she was getting into character so she had to be prima donna abit. Like wait 3 minutes to rehearse together also "NO time! Have to do hair! Do makeup!" and stalk off the stage. Oh princess.

-complain complain-

How the Heart was Invented

2005-06-14T00:13:00.001+08:00

Here's my theory after gushing for 2 whole days at Yu En's kawaii picture. (SHE'S SOOO CUTE!!!) What's the most romantic expression for love? A kiss on the mouth right? And 2 heads kissing would form this shape:

So that's how the heart came to represent love!! Aaawwwww!!

Something classic

2004-09-26T02:09:00.002+08:00

This is a story about 4 people named EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY and NOBODY.

There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that SOMEBODY would do it. ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it. SOMEBODY got angry about that, because it was EVERYBODY’S job. EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it, and NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it. It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have done.

news report in Iraq

2004-09-16T11:54:00.000+08:00

click to open in default player

A girl for 6 days

2004-09-12T11:53:00.001+08:00

Dry and warm for 6 days since
The prettiest in town, I'm convinced

Grown ups think I'm some kind of game
And sad to say, I've still no name

vv my baby niece

Ode to Canopus

2004-09-10T22:48:00.001+08:00

Fiery sphere of burning gas.
Dimmer than me! : Sirius jests.

Indifferently trailing the so-called King,
The unblinking star rules reality.

- yiru