It’s been a while since the previous room post on this very site here, and the ones from Danny Choo’s Figure.fm: room, workspace, video tour. So what got me to posting this up if you may wonder? That would be this: http://www.dannychoo.com/post/en/25940/Another+300+USD+Giveaway+Rooms.html

Well, regarding that giveaway anyways, i believe I’ve passed the submission deadline, but I’m doing it anyways since its kinda half done and i just want to finish what I’ve started. I would still like to thank Danny for holding this giveaway, as without it i won’t be doing this post, and without this post i wouldn’t have my figures cleaned, or boxed up figures that were on display from Comic Fiesta opened back up to display at home, or even my bed that is a total mess especially the Horo bed sheet that is completely crumpled up in a pile instead of being a bed sheet.

Anyways it is almost 5AM as i am writing this while listening to the just released panty and stocking with garterbelt OST, so i will cut this short and just go picture frenzy with some comment if i find the need to on the photos. Be sure to mouse over each photo as i have attached some minor comment to each of them

If you have checked out the workspace post from figure.fm (linked above), first thing you’ll probably notice is how CLEAN Nono gotten. Yes i have washed her up (cant use duster as the dusts already stuck onto the figure) good, hell, its the whole figure cleaning that’s one of the reasons i couldn’t make the deadline You may even check out the other figures that i display outside of my detolf (they are the ones that get REALLY dusty anyways) comparing to the workspace post.

My current workspace. Not too much difference than before. You’ll notice a bunch of goodies stacked around the right ish side like that Scandal CD over there is from AFA, and various other CD/DVD/BD that i am supposed to go through them before stashing them up for good in the detolf >_< Even got Astraea’s pillow from Nyantype vol.14 on the top of that stack. Sadly it’s too small compared to my current pillow and it won’t fit

You will also notice why there is Klan Klan lying on the table like that. Well the reason for that is that her peg broked during the display at Comic Fiesta 2010. Got it epoxied, and then it broke again /sigh At this point i’ll have to epoxy it as the plastic peg can no longer support Klan Klan. The peg kept breaking on new segments as the epoxy is actually stronger than the peg itself :/

Here you see a plastic bag from Kinokuniya book store. which i just gotten my Nyantype vol.14, Horo Novel vol.3, and May’N photo-book.

Next is my Detolfs where most of my collections are located at. You can see chibi Ikaros is guarding my H-Doujins XD Also recently gotten US licensed Spice and Wolf season1 DVD, which includes a Horo gold coin that looks pretty nice. hell, the coin is the only reason i got the DVD anyways. My most favorite figure of recent has to be Grans’ Ikaros. The wings and pose are just gorgeous! It even have a minor cast off capability and i have even shortened the joint (by cutting it, same as what I’ve done with Benisu in the past) to reduce the seam line on the abdomen. You can also see my WoW Cataclysm and Starcraft 2 Wings of liberty Collector’s edition. For WoW Cataclysm i only buy it to collect, i have already stopped playing WoW lol. And of course my favorite tapestry: Dual chain saw wielding Yandere kotonoha sama! XD

Final place would be my bed. And finally, i have the entire bed being filled with 100% anime merchandise. (i was only lacking the pillow for a while, and with Eris, it is completed) Also 2 straps from AFA 2010, and a Sora no Otoshimono tapestry that i’ve gotten earlier.

That’s it for now, thanks for watching and hope you guys enjoy my yet another room tour (yeah really cutting this short here rofl!)

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Just gotten Horo dakimakura and ‘datass‘ Himari figure from Chara-Ani last Saturday and i felt like doing a post about it, so here it is. Come to think of it, i have been leveling up quite a bit looking back at my previous Dakimakura post. With this new addition i will be having a total of 4 Dakimakuras lying around and while i wont be using 2 of them, 2 Horo able to interchange time to time to slow down wear and tear is definitely a good thing.

That said, i am not sure if i will even go back to the old polyester smooth knitt since the 2 way tricot just feels so much better. It does take a little bit of getting used to from the smooth knit, since its really smooth, though it doesn’t feel cheap like the non smooth knit polyester dakimakura would. As i have linked earlier, 2 way tricot is the general material you’d encounter on swim wears, so that probably would give you a good idea on how it may feel like.

The other 2 dakimakura i am having are single sided freebies from the Limited edition Sora no Otoshimono DVDs, and yes, they are using polyester. If i were to grade them, it would be 2 way tricot > smooth knit > normal polyester. Pretty much, already having Horo smooth knit dakimakura previously, i don’t see why i would want to have these angels take up more bed space than i can already spare. Seeing that they are angels in the first place, it is only logical that i let them fly

Anyways, lets start off with Himari from the anime Omamori Himari. Only reason i am liking her is due to her seiyuu being the same seiyuu as Horo – Koshimizu Ami. Pretty easy to figure it out, but yeah thought id make a mention anyways. And yes, her voice in Himari is very Horo-like

Yes, supposedly you get the limited edition if you pre-order early, and it includes another pair of pantsu lol.

Then we get some attached Chara-ani advertisements:

Really wanted to get this too as i like Misao, from Asura Cryin’.

Not sure who this is honestly.Someone from shangri la.

Here she is unboxed. What a nice pose

Naturally, the first damn thing after unboxing himari, would be to try out that elastic pantsu. I mean, Chara-ani figures are definitely a notch below the other figure makers such as Alter/MaxFactory/GSC/Kotobukiya, and the only damn reason to get her would be that pantsu gimmick.

Aww finger in the way. Well, if you’re wondering, no, it isn’t sculpted

Standard box, with the additional pantsu to change. One is your normal pantsu while the other is sorta a fundoshi/bikini pantsu.

This is the normal one. I actually had the fundoshi one put on and forgot to take pic. And since it was kinda hard to get it on, i’m too lazy to take it off again for the picture.

Here she is in the fundoshi, barely able to cover it

Look at that fancy kitty footwork. Was actually surprised that she was having her hands/feet perfectly placed on the keys as i first set her up.

Well, Chara-Ani ain’t so bad after all, i mean, himari is absolutely cute in this shot XD Well, could use better shading for her skin/hair, and better hair/ear/tail sculpting. Then again, for ~5-6k yen with a pantsu gimmick, this is actually pretty damn good.

Next up is my new Horo dakimakura:

The more ecchi side

The non-ecchi-less-interesting-clothed side. lol

Bottom end of the dakimakura, with the zipper shown.

Notice how the zipper is much wider, especially when compared to my previous dakimakura. And this makes it much easier to fit in the body.

As you can see on the above 2 pictures, very stretchy in material too, and again, makes putting on the cover a breeze.

Oh heh, gotten a little too far in demonstrating the cover material.

Comparing the 2 dakimakuras together. Notice that the new one is longer, yes, its 160x50cm compared to the previous standard sized 150x50cm.

Closer shot comparing the 2 dakimakuras. Wish i could have both at the same time, however bed space is limited, so i will just interchange them to reduce usage wear and tear.

Anyways, I’ve came across a recent upstart in people showing their affection to 2D recently, such as this from sankakucomplex.com (click below spoiler to show):

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Lets not forget this from Atalude.net. Admittedly, i have already having plans for a having my own showing of affection to top off sc.com right after seeing it. Quite disappointed that shinn87 from atalude.net not only beaten me on posting it sooner, he totally 1up’d me for the stunt he pulled, and lets remember, it is in Ausfailia after all where DFC is banned wwwwww. Well, hope you enjoy the post, and do check out shinn’s blog that i just linked too, awesome comrade pulling awesome stuff.

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Seriously, this is the best i can do for the picture. sorry. (If you got the book/scan of a high res Malaysia, do let me know)

Yet more hiatus, and i am about to go through a month without a single post (dang!) until my colleague sent me a very hilarious email. Funny, and at the same time a little bit sad considering how true most, if not all of the below listed things are. Without further delays, enjoy your read of what is it like being a Malaysian:

This is Malaysia – What A True Malaysian Should Know
NATIONAL INSTANT FOOD: Maggi Mee (the cause of my rapid balding? D:)

NATIONAL BREAKFAST : Nasi Lemak (gogo Malaysian to the road of obesity)

NATIONAL LUNCH : Nasi Ayam (Chicken Rice, literally)

NATIONAL SUPPER : Roti Canai & Teh Tarik

NATIONAL EXCUSE FOR BEING LATE : Traffic Jam (oh boy lol)

NATIONAL CONDOM : None. Most Malaysians still feel embarrassed buying condoms. So they rushed into a 7-11, hurriedly grab the nearest pack, any pack, pay and leave before the cashier can even blink an eye. (come to think of it, I’ve yet to witness someone purchasing condoms, so this could be very true LOL)

NATIONAL FAKE ILLNESS FOR GETTING MC (MEN) : Food Poisoning

NATIONAL FAKE ILLNESS FOR GETTING MC (WOMEN) : Menstrual Pain (Really? lol)

NATIONAL EXCUSES GIVEN BY WOMEN WHEN REFUSING SEX : Headache, kids not asleep, maid not asleep,mother- in-law around, early appointment, food not digested yet, aircon not cold enough, aircon too cold, nail polish not dry yet, forgot to take the pill, sleepy, stomach cramps, period, haven’t remove make-up, haven’t shower, no water supply, going to watch ‘Akademi Fantasia’, depress, no mood, etc… (wow, i am quite impressed at the length)

NATIONAL EXCUSES GIVEN BY MEN WHEN REFUSING SEX : None. Malaysian men never refuse sex. (even for otaku/gamers? really?)

NATIONAL CURE FOR DIARRHEA : Cap Kaki Tiga. Down one bottle with warm water and you are all ‘dried up’. (“cap kaki tiga” = 3 legged brand? XD)

NATIONAL CURE FOR HEADACHES : Panadol. The ‘cure for all’. If it fails we have another secret weapon – Tiger Balm.

NATIONAL CURE FOR DIZZINESS: Minyak Angin Cap Kapak. (“axe brand wind oil” lol direct translations are fun)

NATIONAL CAUSE OF DIZZINESS (FOR YUPPIES) : Happy Hours.

NATIONAL INSTANT CURE FOR DIZZINESS (FOR YUPPIES) : The sight of a police road block.

NATIONAL RICE COOKER : NATIONAL Rice Cooker (literally, lol)

NATIONAL RUBBISH DUMP : Anywhere… As long as it is not your house.

NATIONAL MOST MIS-PRONOUNCED NAME : Carrefour. Sometimes even pronounced as Carry 4!

NATIONAL ANSWER FOR ‘WHERE ARE YOU’ ? : - on the way lar.

NATIONAL OFFICIAL TIME FOR BEING LATE : - 10 minutes

NATIONAL REASON FOR PRICE INCREASE : Petrol naik lagi kawan… semua barang pun kena naik ler… inclusive chicken meat? (“petrol increase again friend… all items also have to increase”)

NATIONAL REASON FOR PETROL INCREASE : Still cheaper than other country la….

NATIONAL EXCUSE FOR CAUSING TRAFFIC JAM : there was accident on the other side of the road.. of course must slow down and tengok-tengok, kaypoh-kaypoh lah! (“of course must slow down and see-see, busybody-busybody”)

NATIONAL REASON WHEN REJECTING INVITATION : ’I got some work to do la..u all go first la..’

NATIONAL MINISTERIAL REASON FOR INCREASING TOLL RATES : Orang cakap mau naik mesti mau naik lah! Lu ingat ini jalan saya punya bapak punya kah?! (“people said want to increase, sure must increase! you think this road belongs to your father?!” rofl man)

NATIONAL EXCUSE FOR JUMPING QUEUE (TRAFFIC JAM OR WHAT EVER QUEUE) : Everybody doing what lah…….

NATIONAL EXCUSE NOT PAYING SAMAN ACCORDING TO DUE DATE : Relax ler… government will give discount one of these days

NATIONAL EXCUSE TO BRIBE (ANY CONDITION) : Give them minum kopi lar (“Give them drink coffee” lol, i never really ever understood why coffee and not tea, or other beverages )

=update=
notes and reference links updated

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Long time no post lol, (1 month absence, pretty much) well heres an icebreaker – Last Saturday morning i had a Blazblue gathering with Lowyat forum Blazblue players at V-Station. Attendees were: Myself, Sichiri, Reis, Susanoo, Incx, and Edmundsiew.

The location is at SS2 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on a dreaded ~11AM Morning. Me/Sichiri/Reis arrived a bit earlier and had breakfast at a restaurant beside the place. Once the rest arrived, we just went in, with myself/Reis/Sichiri bringing in our own Arcade sticks and Incx with his own controller, Susanoo with his own BlazBlue game, and off we go firing up the game:

Patching only took less than 2-3 minutes, and you can see Reis can’t wait start the game lol:

So while we wait i got around taking pictures, obviously without myself (/gg):

Susanoo was supposed to take pictures for this gathering i suppose, until i whipped out a DSLR lol. STILL! videos are much welcomed and i am not sure if Susanoo recorded any nice footage, like the parts where we were cheering on anyone against Sichiri’s Tager rofl. Oh and heres a better view on the “station” itself:

Onwards to the games, heres a heated match between Incx’s Hakumen vs Sichiri’s Iron Tager:

And this one should be Reis’ Ragna vs Incx’s Noel:

Well that’s it for the lazy write up and pictures lol. We finished our session after around 3ish Hours. It should’ve been MYR50 per hour for the room during weekends, however since we brought our own controller/arcade sticks/game, we got a nice discount for weekday price of MYR30/hour and it netted us MYR90 and after the split its MYR15 per person Definitely enjoyed this session and looking forward for more. Learned a lot more about the game from everyone and especially Incx since he plays Hakumen just like i do too

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It’s almost as if 2009 new year was just yesterday with the coming of 2010 new year, time does fly and we are now entering a new year of the taiga Tiger 2010! So yeah, Happy new year 2010 to everyone out there from DMM! May you have a lootful (otakus lol) and prosperous year~

Looking back at the previous 2009 new year post,  i don’t think i will be writing up as much as before as this year, would be a ronery 1/1/2010. Instead of having gathering like the previous year, I’m basically alone (well, i guess 1 of my imouto aka little sis is at home as well lol) at home, “celebrating” this virtually on TFM chat, ronery much indeed. But yeah, what happened on 2009, lets see, DMM just had its 1 year anniversary, we had Daicon 2009, GACC 2009, Anime Festival Asia 2009, Comic Fiesta 2009, all which i just got too darn lazy to fully cover/cover them at all rofl, but believe me, those were really AWESOME events, and a majority of them were in Malaysia too!

Oh lets not forget, this year is MY year too Yes, according to the Chinese Zodiac horoscope, i am born in the year of the Tiger, looking at some forecast, i will definitely be looking forward for 2010:

The Tiger

Magnetic, passionate and grand! When the Tiger does anything, it’s noticed! Indecisiveness and stubbornness can mar the sparkle of the Tiger personality. On the one hand generous, on the other hand a little mean, it’s sometimes hard to know where one stands with the Tiger. Flexible, honest and truly entertaining, one has a friend for life with a Tiger.

Forecast for 2010

Being the Tiger’s own year, 2010 holds great promise for those born under this sign, with exciting developments happening for them both personally and professionally. Some Tigers may be feeling disappointed and disheartened after 2009 and it will be important to leave the past behind and concentrate on the future, which is looking so bright! Financially, everything improves this year for those born under this sign and money-making thoughts and ideas should be fully explored and investigated. With the fast pace of this year for all signs, the Tiger needs to take extra care in planning and thinking all projects through – no rushing headlong into schemes during 2010! Tigers looking for romance will possibly see a friendship suddenly develop into something more personal with exciting consequences. August, December and January will see a very active and entertaining social calendar, but all of 2010 will see fun activities for the Tiger. The Spring months, March to May, will bring encouraging and interesting job opportunities, but the Tiger will still have to make sure he puts himself forward and gets noticed at work.

source: http://www.wayangtimes.com/2010-year-of-the-tiger-chinese-zodiac-horoscope-forecast.html

Visit the above site for the other 11 Zodiac forecasts. For more info on the Chinese 12 Zodiac Horoscopes, click here.

As for myself, things definitely ended smoothly on 31/12/2009, i managed to sold off the processor i got from cyberfusion, and my old Asus Commando motherboard that was replaced by my new Maximus Formula, basically some cash backs to pick myself up from my negative finance…oh and a short chat log from TFM chat earlier:

Quazacolt: maybank went smooth
Quazacolt: fucking manager went all explaining and shit
Quazacolt: and then finally ask me if i agree to bear the charge and try to play the women advantage bullshit all pitiful and all
Quazacolt: and i showed my not amused face saying “i believe i have made myself clear on my letter, and our previous phone conversation have i not?”
valho: give her the finger
Quazacolt: instantly “ill go prepare for the reversal”
Quazacolt: so i gots back my monies
Quazacolt: 31-Dec-2009 CASH DEPOSIT RM284.55
Quazacolt: and i get to play blazblue
linkinstreet: oh hi
* Quazacolt is so shiawase
Quazacolt: and now i get to eat wanton mee (with curry! and fried wanton!)
Quazacolt: and opening up FMA
Quazacolt: gonna end my 2009 in awsm

Yeap. 2010, here i come.

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Wow, managed to drag this post for like… an entire friggin month based on the EXIF data lol. So that Saturday i was supposed to go for a haircut, while my mom went shopping at a local mall. With my lol luck, the barber is closed and i ended up joining my mom for shopping instead and we’re only shopping groceries. Out of a sudden thought, i just felt like having spaghetti, and its been a while since I’ve had some nice creamy Alfredo/Carbonara spaghetti.

Eventually that thought evolved into cooking some nice Alfredo Spaghetti for myself out of the random, and usually its a rarity for otakus being tied with cooking, as instant (and cheap!) food stuff would be the general preference (such as instant cup noodles). And on the day itself – Sunday, the whole idea of taking photos and even making a blog post about it never even occurred to me until the idea of taking some pictures of the spaghetti for my sister that isn’t coming home this week (lives at her university dorm) just to tease her.

From there, I’ve gotten myself some nice pictures, and of course, i decided to write up about the whole recipe and process on preparing this dish. Don’t worry, its really simple, just time consuming and takes up a bit of cash XD So if you’re interested in preparing yourself some nice spaghetti, read on after the fold.

So lets start on with the ingredients!

• 6 pieces medium sized onions
• about 1 or 2 pieces of garlic
• Leggo’s Alfredo Pasta Sauce 565g
• San Remo Reg No5 Spaghetti 500g
• sugar/salt to taste
• Fresh milk
• Olive Oil
• Chinese Parsley aka Coriander (you can use other kinds of garnishing/flavor enhancers such as parsley, or even
• Cheese for the finishing touch. Typically people use Parmesan. I’m using mozzarella for this heh. Also to note that butter is also used in this, however i missed it out

Optional stuffs (up to your preference, feel free to add/change them):

• half a pack of Ayamas Premium Black pepper cocktail sausages 500g (this is up to you)
• a pack of sliced ham (up to you also)
• about 500grams of sea prawns/shrimp
• about 200g of canned button mushrooms

References from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettuccine_alfredo

So to begin, slice and dice the ingredients! (lol) and once that is done, i started off by heating up the wok and pouring some olive oil into it, and then some chopped garlic, once it gets slightly golden in color, i pour in the prawns to give them some good frying. Prior to that they are marinated with just salt and sugar. Same method applied to the sausages, after both items fried to satisfaction, i take them out of the wok and proceeded to pour in the premade Alfredo pasta sauce:

Before pouring the sauce, I’ve had some garlic and onions fried with olive oil, to get that extra aroma/taste out for it. Once the onions and garlic gets slightly cooked (very noticeable with the strong aroma coming out) i just pour in all of the sauce along with some milk and sugar/salt. Below is a picture on the fried prawns and sausages:

Once the sauce thickens a little, just proceed to pour in the cooked spaghetti, and let simmer for a minute or 2. Lastly just pour in the rest of the ingredients such as the mushrooms, prawns, sausages and ham. And its done:

So lastly, all that’s left is to sprinkle some cheese and Coriander and its finally done:

Pretty simple ain’t it? Well, considering the delayed post, and I’ve already went on and cooked up a second Carbonara dish, i guess ill post it up too! So for the ingredients:

• about 2 pieces medium sized onions
• about 1 or 2 pieces of garlic
• Prego’s Carbonara Mushroom Pasta Sauce 300g x2
• San Remo Reg No5 Spaghetti 500g
• sugar/salt to taste
• Fresh milk
• Olive Oil
• lots of black pepper powder
• Parsley
• Parmesan Cheese! (got it right lol)

Optional stuffs (up to your preference, feel free to add/change them):

• half a pack of Ayamas Premium cheese cocktail sausages 500g (this is up to you)
• Some sliced pork, forgot its quantity, so you’ll can just refer the below pictures.

References from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonara

Ok I’ve gotten a little lazy for this particular dish, then again, the original recipes i referred from the Internet is much simpler, so why not just keep it simple as well? The only slightly “challenging” part was trying out how to cook the sliced pork differently, which i will explain. First off, the pork is marinated in salt and a LOT of black pepper, with an egg mixed into it. I start with the usual garlic in the wok, and then in goes the pork. Once the pork is somewhat half cooked, i pour in some milk and let the meat absorb it. Once its drying up, i sprinkle some Parmesan over it, and of course, putting them aside on a plate. The aroma and taste was surprisingly good after tasting a few pieces of it ^^

The rest was pretty similar to the above dish, frying up the sausages as well and then taking them out again. The sauce on the other hand had some slight difference – LOADS of black pepper.

And finally, the result:

Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and parsley, and it is finished. Hope you guys like the above recipes/pictures. Feel free to ask away if you have any questions pertaining the dishes above.

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As i am writing this post, it is drafted/done entirely live and immediately just after i came back from the Cinemas. Considering my usual pace of posting (Hello AFA 2008 day 2?!) on my site, it says something about this movie when i am doing such a ‘speedy’ post.

This will be my second movie review with the first being Star Trek 2009. I’m not entirely sure if i would be doing this on a regular basis, most likely not, however there are just some of these really damn good movie that I’d really like to share it to as many people as i possible could, so expect more of these to come in the future. Feedbacks of my writeups are greatly appreciated ^^

Ok moving on – regarding this movie, typically i wouldn’t pay much attention to “3D” Japanese productions as they usually aren’t as good as say, their “2D” anime counterparts. This is not to say that their J-Dorama are bad, but that is entirely another subject.

So we have this Japanese film festival thingy going on at Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC, not to be confused with GoodSmile Company) Malaysia recently, and as mentioned, since it did not show any Anime, i sorta brush it off unlike the previous Japanese film festival that showed Tokikake aka Toki wo Kakeri Shoujo aka The Girl Who Leapt Through Time which myself and my family enjoyed together in the cinemas although myself and my sisters already watched it on the computer before. However, out of random, my mom just said she wanted to watch Departures after reading some review from the newspapers/seeing the advertisement from TV, and she seemed pretty serious in watching this movie which is rather rare (in fact may be a first time).

So to cut to the chase, we end up watching it, and my review will follow shortly after a brief introduction

Official English website: http://www.departures-themovie.com/
Wiki info page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departures_(film)

Seemed like a really big deal movie in 2008, which SOMEHOW slipped by my radar. Won many many awards including an Academy award for best foreign language movie on 2008 during the 81st Academy awards (again, which i never knew until i looked up infos of the movie), and received many MANY positive reviews about it.

The story involves the main character (Daigo Kobayashi, played by Masahiro Motoki) losing his job at the orchestra as a Cello player, and ended up being an “Undertaker” (his role is more of “beautification”, or rather “restoration” of the deceased for their final “Departure”).

Just like my previous Star Trek review, i will try my best to stay away from spoilers, however, being a *heavily* plot/storyline based movie, it can be difficult. So consider yourself warned, and if you’re spoiler sensitive, DO watch the movie first

And to start – just like many of you who probably expect a moody drama movie, (considering its 2 hour+ length) and it basically involving many dealings with corpses, i didn’t had much expectations for this as im not really one who fancy long winded J-Dorama, at least not on the big screen. But what do you know, right off the bat im greeted with extreme HUMOR in a supposedly moody movie involving funerals and dead people. The only thing ill say for this is “thingy” Or if you’re familiar with most Japanese anime and/or Otaku culture – “trap”. It totally got the entire cinema breaking out in laughter.

As my basic intro mentioned, Daigo Kobayashi (played by Masahiro Motoki) is a Cello player, that just landed a job with an Orchestra, which unfortunately (or fortunately heh!) disbanded, and he had to get another job, which he found from an advertisement. Little did he know, it was a job dealing with the deceased, and boy did it went down hill FAST from then on, until he finally “accepted” and from a different perspective, how “great” such a job can be.

Of course, this being a drama, it certainly would not escape some sobs and i am certainly prepared for it. If you’ve known me, you would know damn well that I’m not one for shedding tears over shows. Hell, I’m a person that attended over 10-11? funerals of my family and relatives or even people i barely know, which also include even my own grandmother’s funeral, and I’ve never shed any tears at all. (don’t get me wrong, my grandmother was very dear to me and losing her was very saddening) So considering this, I’m almost certain that it would be the same over characters that I’ve barely known for mere Minutes, or Hour(s).

I was so proven wrong with 2 particular scenes that got me in tears. Its like all of a sudden, without myself even realizing, till i noticed my cheeks being wet and eventually dripping down to my neck. Before i even realized, during those 2 scenes (and a couple more), you can hear sniff/sob sounds across the cinema. It was just emotional. For me, the 2 scenes would be the cremation part (i decided to keep this one a little vague, so it wont be a potential spoiler, however, as you watch the movie, it will be very obvious), and the ending, “last” service by Daigo (this is not to be confused with the “demonstration” performed during the ending credits).

Lastly, be SURE to stay through the credits. As the BGM is just wonderful, and it shows how the ceremony (preparing the deceased body) is done in detail

Now, as for the individual actors, Daigo Kobayashi (played by Masahiro Motoki) was just, incredible. His facial expressions, is almost as awesome a character that you tend to find in Japanese Animes. Amongst my favorites were the one where he just finished his first job, and went totally emo about it LOL. Not to mention Masahiro Motoki won NUMEROUS international AND domestic awards, which was very well given.

The lead actress, being Ryoko Hirosue, playing Mika Kobayashi – Daigo’s wife, was well, awesomely cute I’m probably going to be biased being a guy and all, however considering her age of almost 30, looking almost teenager like, being cheerful and everything throughout the movie, is just, very heartwarming. (or should i say “Moe“? ) Oh, if you’re interested: http://www.ryoko-hirosue.org/

The rest… hmm well, generally old folks >_<, so not much to say. Well, Tsutomu Yamazaki playing as Shōei Sasaki, President of NK Agency was really funny and definitely kept the audience entertained

The director of this wonderful movie is Yojiro Takita, and… quite frankly i don’t know much about him aside from directing this wonderful movie >_< Also lets not leave out the writer: Kundo Koyama, sadly, as with the director, i also don’t know much about him, but the story was really REALLY well written, and well paced out. Despite being a LONG 2+ hour drama-on-a-big-screen, there was never a boring moment, and it has a good balance of sentimental moments, as well as a lot of humor.

And now, for the musical composer – Joe Hisaishi. This guy’s just… brilliant, wonderful. I just cant find words to really describe how wonderful of a job he did in the movie. And only after looking up his profile i realized why – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Hisaishi Composer for hit anime such as Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, and ugh, god, this legend’s list is just… too damn long for me to list down. Just go to his wiki page, and you’ll immediately understand >_< IMO, it his his music, that really struck my emotional cords with the violin/cello heavy plays. Without it, i think there wouldnt’ve any tears being shed at all. Much applause to Joe-san.

The ending? Very very touching. That is all i will say.

Conclusion: Its been a very long while since I’ve watched a movie that has such quality storyline/plot, music, and the emotions involved, so yeah, it is VERY highly recommended. Go watch it if its available in ur area. For Malaysian folks, you may watch it at GSC Mid Valley as they still have Departures on international language screening.

I am going to give it a 10 out of 10, as i can’t possibly find any flaws for this movie.
And this ends my review for Departures, hope you enjoy it.

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Despite my efforts to keep up April’s post count, and possibly improve it, i was being lazy slammed down with many BS which includes but not limited to – My PC being dead. So hey, might as well turn this into a blog post eh? I’ll promise to make this one good, so long you stick through it (oh and Solomon, ill definitely get those pictures processed >_<)

Anyways, PC just went down recently, and got restored with a new Motherboard. Basically, i overclock, and i have a light overclocking profile that have my PC running 24/7 for torrents. Considering the recent weather change for the worse, (read: burning) my old Asus Commando motherboard finally gave in, but that’s not all, it dragged the PSU’s 8pin 12v plug along /facepalm.

Its not all that bad i guess, i took the opportunity to clean up the entire casing and all of its fans and heat sinks that’s stacked with pitch black pile of dust. The crappy part is that i have to pay for a new motherboard. (about MYR750)

Speaking of the motherboard, its a pretty awesome Asus Maximus II Formula, and boy is it EASY to overclock with this baby.

There’s still about 20+ pictures of the process, and the board itself being hooked up with the IFX14 heat sink, and eventually inside the casing. Also showed some minor cable tidying work (yes i suck at keeping things tidy lol, but hey it ain’t that bad XD). Ill have all of those grouped up in a mini-Gallery just a little bit further down this post.

Anyways, i started rebuilding the PC like 10-11pm? It dragged on until 7-8AM i believe and i gave in to Horo and crashed out for the day. About 6ish AM i went off to grab a chilling Peel fresh apple drink loaded with ice and i thought, why not spend that time with mai waifu?

So after i finished my apple juice and some quality time with Horo, i continued on with the PC, and finally, it is done. Even mai waifu approves:

And the final touches – turning the damn thing on XD

And here is the gallery:

In a super slowpoke closing (some 3 months slow), I’ve got some pictures taken when i bought a new 1TB HDD. Some of you may have already noticed the additional 1TB increment from my PC specs page though, totalling 2.5TB on this PC alone

Enjoy them, along with a slightly related video (again, also slowpoke, so you’ve probably seen it) regarding HDDs.

Do take note that the above pics are 3 month old ago, and my PC was well alive at that time ^^;

Lastly, the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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A while ago I’ve mentioned about this Star Trek movie bloggers gathering, well I’ve went and watched Star Trek movie for yet another time with my family during Mother’s day, and boy it was still as enjoyable as it was during the early screening.

Anyways the movie was released on 8th May, and (in before slowpoke) by now i would assume a huge majority already watched it, so this post may contain spoilers so if you have yet to watch this movie, and are very sensitive with spoilers, i would suggest to read no further and do yourself a favor by watching this epic sci-fi first

Before i start, you may want to check out JCdish’s review right here: http://honestlywhatevergoes.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/star-trek/

So normally, in any typical sci-fi movie, the story would slowly build up, as well as the action it provides, and the best are usually saved for the very last. Star Trek sorta took a rather non-typical approach by tossing EPIC straight to your face right from the start! Before the movie title and logo even shows up, you were given an epic battle scene of the USS Kelvin warding off the colossus warship from Romulon with Nero as their Captain. A thing to note that since the movie is releasing on Mother day’s weekend, i believe it was almost the perfect movie for it as it portrays how great our parents and particularly mothers can be as the battle rages on with our soon-to-be Captain James T. Kirk’s mother (played by Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk) giving birth to our captain.

One thing to note is that this is sort of a remake from the original Star Trek movie, so Hardcore fans may be hating this new Star Trek, as it is very different than the original. That said, they had some really good “explanations” as to how they are able to pull this off, so w/e bias you may have as a hardcore Trek’er, at least give it a shot. You may even consider this not your usual Star Trek and simply call it “Action Trek” ^^

Generally the pace of the storyline is pretty even, nothing too fast or too slow, a pretty good balance i would say. It starts off introducing the main crews of the ship, had their encounter with Nero, and eventually wrapping off the “introductions” by having Scotty on board

The actors in the movie are well in-character, with each characters having REALLY distinct personalities and humor tied with them. Kirk tends to be the idiot like ladies men joker, with Spock being the intelligent guy, while packing a lot of sarcasm and humor. Chekov was a “natural” lol everytime he speaks with his thick accent, sadly, it didnt quite kept up as the story gotten more serious later on. Similiarly, Scotty had this really thick scottish (corrected, thanks aka for pointing it out ^^) accent as well and he played it really well by keeping the audience entertained even to the very end

Visuals from this movie will definitely be stunning as it is a recent movie, that, and JJ Abrams/Roger Guyett had a really good idea on what to present to us that is both stunning, and new. A perfect example would be the rather “different slow-motion” (to portray the ‘stillness’ in space)  thats completely muted being shown a couple of times especially during the downfall of the USS Kelvin right at the start. It was totally breathtaking while experiencing it, and at the same time, being something thats rather new for the audience.

The musical score was also very well done and it kept the movie pacing really good, especially the epic moments. much props to Michael Giacchino. I just cant seem to find words to describe the epicness it brings, so the best you can get is by going to their official website linked at the end of this post.

Now to the ending. Many including myself wasn’t quite satisfied with the ending, seeing how the movie was MEANT for EPIC. It could’ve been so much more, but it didnt unfortunately. Despite that, don’t get me wrong, it still ended well, and overall being a pretty damn good movie.

If i were to rate it, id give it somewhere around 8-9 out of 10, with the 1-2 point deducted from the lack of an all-the-way EPIC ending, as well as the storyline being a weee bit bland.

In closing, if you havent watch it already, SERIOUSLY, go WATCH IT.

Don’t forget to visit the official website: http://www.startrekmovie.com/

Loads of media for everyone, including their awesome sound track from the movie.

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Oh wow, how should i start… Cyberfusion 2009 LAN Party event just happened on 10th April till 12th April at Cyberjaya MMU Malaysia now having its place in the Guinness World Records. After a long 40 hours of gaming non-stop, and lots of energy drinks/caffeine, it is finally over, and Malaysia has officially achieved a new world record of having the world’s largest and longest running LAN Party with 274 participants qualified gaming for 40 hours and 58 seconds.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/National/2530293/Article/index_html

So like initially, some maybe a few weeks/a month ago before the event, i didn’t really bother to participate in this. However after a lot of pestering from TFM people, and a sudden confirmation of FREE AMD processors being announced, its ON!!! Things suddenly took for a very “serious-as-cancer” turn to the point I’ve even bought a new Dell Studio XPS Laptop just for this event. (well i kinda need a laptop in the long term anyways so it isn’t really *just* for this event heh) As for the laptop, initially i wanted to post it up earlier and definitely before this post, just didn’t really got the time to do so with workload and all.

Anyways, the money draining just doesn’t stop there on the laptop, on the way towards Cyberjaya (the location for Cyberfusion 2009) i just so happen to get caught up in a car accident.  That night was raining pretty heavily, and i was driving pretty fast rushing for time thanks to Franstormer. Basically traffic got slowed down, and i was closing in on a car, so i just brake as usual, which shouldn’t been a problem, but it just so happen that during the braking period there was a puddle of water and my car just skid forward and gotten a bumped towards the car in front of mine. The damage was pretty bad, with an estimated around MYR 2k for the victim’s car and another MYR 1-2k for mine. Thankfully insurance claim wasn’t a problem, however i lose out on my NCD (No Claim Discount).

Despite the accident, both me and our bijin (literally means “beautiful person,” but analogous to “beautiful woman”) fu-chan (Franstormer) still managed to arrive Cyberfusion before 9pm which we proceed to check-in and proceed to our pre-reserved seatings and begin to setup our equipments like my Dell XPS with its cooling pad along with the other accessories like my Razer mouse i  took from my PC

Well, not much to write up now during the event. Pretty much just me gaming for 40hours or so. There are 5 minutes of break time awarded for every passing hour and they are accumulative and are free to be spent according to your preference, so long you remember to register during start of break time and end of break time to make sure you dont overspent your allowed break time. Personally i only spent like no more than 15-25 minutes of break time in total just for bio breaks, as i planned to “end early” by having all my break spent at the end. Pretty much plan failed when it is mentioned that we cant do that as the Guinness adjudicator will be doing headcounts/monitoring that we have to be gaming, aka break time ALL WASTED.

Additionally, i also initially thought there would be KFC/Pizza Hut sponsored thorough the event as i saw the Cyberfusion forum thread showing KFC/Pizza Hut trucks/trailers (whatever they are called) rolling in and setting themselves up. To my surprise you have to pay for it and their price are *SLIGHTLY* marked up. Totally disappointing on that part and guess what, the free food being provided (generally Malay/kampung style mixed rice) was *ABSOLUTELY* horrible. Me being stingy and all (well my finance is in a state of despair, mind you) did not fork out the cash i would’ve for some proper food like KFC/Pizza hut (although fast food aren’t really “proper food” to begin with) and save my stomach the agony i had after the event. Yeap, had some really nasty diarrhea after the event, and another round when i got home. AT LEAST it didn’t struck me DURING the event and especially during the headcount, which I’m damn thankful for.

Not much pictures during the event itself as I’m sorta busy gaming and having a Canon 450D DSLR around can be a little distracting. I guess this is where a good PNS Camera like the Panasonic Lumix or Canon Powershot G10 comes in

Anyways without further delays, enjoy the gallery i have taken after the event, where the closing ceremony, which involved a few high profile people visiting such as the minister of Science Malaysia, the vice president of AMD and so on. The minor lion dance event and the gorgeous AMD chicks were also a nice rejuvenation for our fatigued soul heh heh. A shout out to Solomon Freeman on the wonderful group picture as you can see below, thanks again man! Oh yea, Don’t forget to check out the Cyberfusion ending countdown that also comes with a short Caramell Dansen Youtube that Ultimaweaponx recorded, which also included HD feature for a much clearer picture quality.

http://www.quazacolt.com/galleries/cyber-fusion-2009-gallery/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back row from left to right: Quazacolt, Ultimaweaponx, Elfenrir, Kiddokid, Kuzuryu, Makie

Middle row from left to right: Ahfai, Franstormer, Squallie, KusakabeMisao, Haruji

Front row from left to right: Valho, Yukiijuin, Aiko

p/s: We totally understand your (Solomon Freeman) shying need to keep your face confidential from the Internet
because… WE KNEW 

And of course, who can forget the purpose of anything in life – PHAT LEWTS (actually lulz applies too i suppose )

Things I’ve gotten for/from Cyber Fusion 2009. From the left to right: My brand new Dell Studio XPS 1340 Horo edition with Hachune inside ™ , Cyberfusion 2009 Guinness backpack, Cyberfusion goodie bag containing some ubermen hair styling/facial products, Enermax notebook cooling pad, Cyberfusion 2009 Certificate, Star trek sticker, Transformers car sticker, some MMORPG game CDs/DVDs, AMD 9150e processor, Yukata set with shoes, Kata DR-467 Backpack with Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee badges hooked onto it.

In closing,  have a look at other posts/news articles links below to get a different perspective on Cyberfusion 2009. And i would also like to give some shout outs to the folks at TFM for their support, especially Moe-Kev for clean sweeping the local cafeteria sponsoring us canned  Nescafe Coffee drinks, Exiled_Gundam and Sichiri for tagging along and staying with us to keep us accompanied. Lets not forget the /AS/ folks helping out in reserving our group seatings. Oh and my WoW guildies for the arena and battlegrounds to help me burn time a lot quicker which made this event quite a breeze. Anyone else that I’ve missed, apologies in advance ^^;

Other Cyberfusion 2009 writeups:

http://spotgamers.blogspot.com/2009/04/cyberfusion-2009-overview.html

http://alvinftc.blogspot.com/

http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/games/longest_LAN_Party-world_record_set_by_CyberFusion_90191.htm

Cyberfusion 2009 LYN Threads:

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/996954 Afterstory

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=966511 Original thread

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