April ’07 Archive (from my spaces.com blog)

April 30

Now playing… Ghost Recon [XBOX360]

Ghost Recon [XBOX360]
Playing as Captain Scott Mitchell, I run tasks from the general with 3 soldiers under my command, and sometimes tank and even Black Hawk. The graphic is amazing, and the high tech weaponry also interesting. Fighting in Mexico, I have to protect the president, retrieve secret documents, and of course demolitions.

I like the game. It’s a solid

11:15 AM

Now watching… Phantom of the Opera [Musical]

Phantom of the Opera [the Musical]

Received 2 free tickets from my cousin Terry, and they are tickets for the VIP box, best seats on the house. Thanks Terry.

Familiar songs, very gorgeous setups (bravo to the stage manager) and overall good casts. I like the male casts better compared to the female ones, especially the Phantom. I find the female casts are slightly too “operatic” for a musical.

Although going through stomach discomfort during the show, because of fried onion blossom and nachos, I do enjoy it, and so does my friend LW.

11:09 AM

April 23

Now playing… Grand Theft Auto San Andreas [PS2]

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas [PS2]

Taking a break from FFXII for a while. FF games can take a while to finish, even longer if you want to complete all the side quests. After a long while, it feels slightly repetitive. So, teleporting back from fantasy world, instead of swords, poles, crossbows and magic, my arsenal is now guns, machine guns, knife, grenades, and cars. This GTA games is one of the most well-known games. I finished the GTA 3, GTA: Liberty City and now the latest, San Andreas. I actually played this one half way about a year ago…?? I stuck with one quest and couldn’t advance. Now I am replaying and hopefully I can finish the game this time.

9:18 AM

Now watching… Wild Hogs [Cinema]

Wild Hogs (Cinema)

Starring: John Travolta, Tim Ellen, Martin Lawrence & William H. Macy.

In few words, it’s about 4 middle-aged guys looking for open road freedom adventure as bikers. It’s a comedy and it is funny. I laughed out loud a few times. Look at how “big” John Travolta becomes… I give it a

9:13 AM

April 20

Now watching… Music Station Ep.6

Music Station Ep.6

Phew, tonight show is not so bad, after last 2 shows that bombard me with either groupie or kiddie songs.

1. Shimatami Hitomi singing “Dragonfly” which is her first rock n roll song: Not bad, although I won’t call it rock n roll because it’s not “rock” enough.

2. Arashi singing “Love so Sweet”: ugh… no comment, I think by now you know I don’t like groupie.

3. Hamasaki Ayumi singing “Evolution”: it was ok, a bit pitchy thou.

4. Nakashima Mika singing “Mienai Hoshi”: The chic Mika sings very well and barefoot. That shows something already… Oh, she also has colored contacts on, just like Gackt, it suits them both.

5. Yrongli sings “Possesion”: newcomer, and went to Berklee College of Music for 5 weeks. Maybe I bumped into her last time? Because my college is only a block away from Berklee < ![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>

6. Otsuka Ai: ugh… childish n cutish song… next! BTW, is she always robotic (acts n sings) like that or only for this song?

7. Yanawaraba: Not my style because this duo sings Okinawa’s folk/country song

11:57 PM

April 19

Now watching… Suga Shikao’s DVD

Suga Shikao’s 20 Music Videos [DVD]

Except the music, the whole 20 clips are not so much different, they are arranged in a chronological order. I can summarize it as:

1. In the beginnning, when he hasn’t thought of sunglasses, he wears a hat very low to cover his eyes. Then a slightly tinted glasses, then sunglasses like now.

2. He usually sings while playing guitar. Now that I think of it, I think almost everytime.

That is it, and I think: yes, sunglasses looks better on you.

10:44 AM

April 16

Let’s talk about… the unpopular God

First, I am not a preacher and I occasionally go to church. So please just read and ponder what I have in my mind.

If we picture God/religion as a pie. We can cut the pie into half: one side for those who believes in God, and the other side for the ones that do not believe. I am sure why the world today has to cut the pie at all because doesn’t matter which side we are on, everyone will look for God when one is in deep trouble. When we are in big trouble or when we see our life flashes in front of our eyes, what do you think we do? We ask for help, of course. From? God, of course. Even the atheist will do. When an atheist in trouble, do you think s/he will pray “dear mr. policeman or superman, help me please”? I don’t think so. Why both side of the pie pray to God? Well, probably because both sides know God is of higher entity who can perform miracle, which regular human being unable to. So in a sense, deep down we human do believe in God, but most of the time forget about it and unfortunately, will only have clear vision of God when we are in trouble. It is true we often forget about God, who knows God is beside us and helping us along the line? For example, you are walking along the sidewalk and suddenly a bike very dangerously sweep by very close to us. What do you guess we’ll say/think? Probably “Phew, that’s was a close call” or “I am so lucky”. Have you ever think maybe it is God who put his hand between us and the bike? No, never. We will probably think of God, when we are in the situation where the bike is coming to us head-on. Well….. just something to think about.

4:07 PM

Now listening… ayaka’s First Message

ayaka’s First Message [CD]

This is my first ayaka‘s CD. She is a good singer, strong and solid, not one of those high-pitch girly cute style, which is very fine with me. I “bumped” into her when watching Japan music chart on YouTube. At that time she collaborates with Kobukuro with “Winding Road” and it caught my attention that I put my bet on her. Now with her CD, it is not a dissappointing bet. She wrote most of the lyrics and some of the music.

1:59 PM

Now watching… Kekkaishi Ep.14

Kekkaishi Ep.14

Kekkaishi is one of my favorites show. In short, about exorcism. To sum up, the main character is something like “unpolished but cool” kind of character. Because of childhood trauma, he vows to protect the girl and will not ever let her hurt while hunting for yokai. I also like the guardian dogs.

12:00 PM

Now watching… Music Station Ep.1

Music Station Ep.1

Yeah, it is a re-run. But that’s cool, because I missed half of this episode last time, which is also how I get to know about this show. Ok, the line up for 1st episode is:

- Tamura Kaela… too “childish” sound for me

- Hirai Ken… the songs is good but the singing part…. I don’t like it. It always seems to me that he can’t sing (out of tune), but I guess many people don’t think so, because of his popularity.

- EXILE… don’t like it

- Shiina Ringo & Shiina Junpei (her aniki)… love it, it’s the last track from her latest album

- Kondo (something)… it was good, but I get the feeling that he has this “I am beautiful” kind of attitude < ![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>

- John Legend… yes, the same John Legend from US. He sings the grammy winning “Ordinary People” song.

Overall, a good show…. not with a bang, but good.

11:56 AM

April 13

Japan trip… Second purchase: ryokan reservation

Finally made reservation to various ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Tokyo and Kyoto.We save one day to stay in a very expensive ryokan at Kyoto to enjoy the authentic ambient and being pampered. It has the Japanese garden, and kaiseki dinner. It costs around S$300/night. Yeah, you see that right. But I am sure I’ll have the one experience of Japan that I won’t ever forget.

3:40 PM

Now reading… Rurouni Kenshin manga… COMPLETED

Yesterday I finished the last volume (vol.28) of Rurouni Kenshin. I actually finished the whole anime quite sometime ago and now managed to finish the manga. This series is loved by many fans, and it shows. I like the mix of sword fights and comedic scenes. The chibi and funny faces are hilarious (especially Misao).

3:35 PM

April 11

Now reading… variety of manga

Just acquired quite selection of manga and spending these few days reading them. There are few last books of “Rurouni Kenshin”, few “Galaxy Angels”, last book of “Chrno Crusade” (good series), “Shingansuten Tsukihime” and few more (can’t remember… especially when it’s close to 5PM).

4:40 PM

April 09

Now watching… Music Station Ep.5

Music Station Ep.5

Is this a groupie week? What’s up with all the groupie groups like News, Arashi, Exile, etc.? I didn’t even watch it completely because it really is opposite and against my core existence… for my love of J-Pop music. There is one soloist, “something” Kaela is her name but what the…? Nah, totally the worse episode so far. Far worse than Ep.4!! What a dissapointing episode for me. Something’s been bothering me for quite some time, is there any other group than Exile that has members who just dance but no singing? Why not just hire dancers? Just find it strange…

10:16 AM

April 07

My bizzare theory of Homo Sapiens

When you mention Homo Sapiens (us, human) against other species, in summary, you’ll get something like “we are the most advanced species”. Theorically and factually, it is true. But have you ever think of how we evolved to become so advanced, compare to other species? They are hundreds of books that can explain this. I never read any of those book, but I have my own theory. This theory just pop into my mind when I was brushing my teeth, yes… interesting huh? Let me explain how I formulate this theory. While brushing my teeth, I was thinking, if I have another pair of hand, I would be able to do other things at the same time while brushing. But then it’s hard to split your brain/mind into several sections to control each activity. That means, the brain will evolve to “catch up” with our hands. So, in the first place, when we, homo sapiens, have a pair of hand that is well control-able, our brain advancely evolve to better control the hands. In the earliest human age, we can hold stick, and the brain evolved to control the swinging, the farming, and et cetera. With the farms, the brain continuously evolved to control the hands to do peeling, cooking, etc. So, like domino piece, one new activity leads to another new one and now, with our hands, we are able to build air space. Also, can you imagine if we have extra pair of hand? That means we can accomplish tasks in double time and the evolution will also speed up by times two.

Now, which other species can control their “hands” as well as human? None. The most closest is chimpanzee, and they only managed to control theirs so far, and since nothing else to be “invented” by the “brain”, they stuck as they are now. Maybe in thousands years, when chimpanzee suddenly able to control their hands/limbs better, they will surely advanced, maybe like us thousands years ago. But by that time, I think we human are living in a space colony in Pluto already. Wait, there is no more Pluto…

9:11 PM

Now watching… One Piece Ep.210

One Piece Ep.210

Here we turn a new leaf of Luffy-gumi new adventure. They have been fighting together, supporting each other since the first time they set sail. Now, with everyone but Robin losing their memories, what will happen? They don’t know each other anymore! And it is up to Robin (maybe) to set things straight? Interesting opening…

8:53 PM

Now playing… Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

I put off this game when I got my XBOX360. After satisfied with Gears of Wars and no new game in hand, I continue this game. No need much introduction to this game. The title tells all for those who are familiar. In short, nice graphic, epic story, thick plot and interesting characters.

8:49 PM

April 05

Just acquired… Monkey Majik’s Best 2000-2005

Monkey Majik’s Best 2000-2005 [CD]

Just received. Haven’t had the time to listen to it.

11:05 AM

Now watching… Happy Feet

Happy Feet (DVD)

It’s the second time I watch this movie and I still think Robin Williams is the best! This movie is, in summary, as Robin Williams says: “It’s a March of the Penguins meets Riverdance”. Well, I like both March of the Penguins and Riverdance, so I should like this movie too. It’a heart-warming movie with great tap dancing and a big punch of message about the well-being of life in north (?) pole. I give this movie a . I recommend you get the DVD.

10:49 AM

April 03

Just acquired… Shiina Ringo’s Heisei Fuzoku & Suara’s Yumeji

Shiina Ringo’s Heisei Fuzoku (CD)

First of all, Shiina Ringo‘s is very different, very avant garde. Even I feel her “Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana” album is weird. With this album, Ringo tries a different style (even her old songs also transformed). Overall, I like this album a lot because, first, it has jazz theme and second, her collaboration with the famous conductor Saito Neko. The last track is a duet with Junpei Shiina, I like the arrangment of the vocal duet. I give this album a and recommend that you get the CD.

Suara’s Yumeji (CD)

11:00 AM