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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Heh 1 week of lagging before i get to post this up. Ill put up a later post to give you an insight on all the lagging, however for now, we’ll focus a lil’ on last week’s VGL – just simply awesome! Almost a week has passed since VGL 2010 at KL Malaysia, yet the memories of it is still very fresh making it seemed as if it just happened yesterday. With your childhood gaming memories being evoked altogether while you indulge within a live Orchestra being performed, it’s no wonder VGL being a success over a long 5 years since its debut at the Hollywood Bowl on July 6 2005.

When i first enter the Orchestra hall with Sichiri, the seating we picked was quite perfect with ample leg space as there is a walkway separating our section from the front most section. The feeling was grand and i immediately had the satisfied feeling of a well spent hefty MYR250. While the seats are being filled, as it is almost 8:30pm, a short music video is being shown and oh boy, not only it is hella hilarious, the video immediately brings back a lot of memories be it gaming, or even anime. (do let me know if any of you guys can remember the title of the video, kinda wanna re-watch it and look up the lyrics ^^;)

Initially i was sorta in a bind on how to write up this post, as words can hardly describe the feeling of an Orchestra performance. Thankfully video recording is allowed such as these here so long you don’t interfere with the performance and/or the audience so it would be easier for me to just link them instead of figuring out how to write it up in words. While i personally do not think those videos do the performance justice, however to those that are unfortunate to miss out VGL 2010 Malaysia, that’s the best you can get, sorta a ‘better than nothing’ deal, and hopefully, you’d be convinced to not miss out the next VGL near you.

A couple of highlights i would love to personally make in no particular order:

VGL Pre-opening video clip

Click here to view the embedded video.

VGL Rockman medley

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was a bit sad when i couldn’t guess the answer from Tommy’s hints, more sequels titles than the rest, yeap, Megaman. (or its japanese name, rockman) This totally brought back a lot of childhood memories as i was a huge fan of the old rock/megaman series. Having it played from the old famicom/SNES cartridge consoles, to the playstation 1 CD based console, recognizing the stages and the bosses of the old games when the background video is being played, really moved me. And being an anime fan as well, having known of nico nico douga, a japanese online video streaming site, sorta like the “Japanese version of YouTube”, there is a rather popular nico nico medley (which i am including below) which featured a portion of the music from rockman and fans were quick to chant it out during the performance. Mainly from the ComicFiesta people I’d assume heh.

Nico Nico Medley Orchestrated version

Click here to view the embedded video.

Okkusenman (English Subtitles)

Click here to view the embedded video.

VGL Warcraft Suite

Click here to view the embedded video.

Of course, the ever popular Warcraft with its latest MMORPG game having well over 11 to 12 million subscribers. The moment the video started with the “Ten years” prior to “of Warcraft” introduction, almost everyone in the hall knew what was coming – Warcraft suite from VGL and the hall totally went crazy with the cheering and clapping. It mainly features the parts from the WoW/Warcraft 3 games such as Legends of Azeroth from the first WoW login screen music, first WoW Trailer music and “a call to arms” from Warcraft 3 trailer linked below.

WoW first trailer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Warcraft III trailer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Very satisfying performance, and to add in the satisfaction, when Tommy went asking “horde or alliance”, horde chants were very noticeably louder. FOR THE HORDE LOL and to add towards the injury, Alliance got boo’ed by the overwhelming horde XD

Norihiko Hibino also captured the audience with his Saxophone, playing the very smooth Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid 3:

VGL MGS3: Snake Eater

Click here to view the embedded video.

Finishing their performance is the ever so popular One Winged Angel from the Final Fantasy 7 franchise. Well, with the earlier Kingdom Hearts performance and this OWA performance, the conclusion of it is that Square (now Square Enix) are just shit heads for not granting the rights to VGL for the videos. First we have Kingdom Hearts showing various Disney pictures, now we get “Cosplay FTW!” for Final Fantasy’s OWA, kinda kills the mood lol. Notice the middle part of the video with the chocobo and the end of it:

VGL Final Fantasy 7: One Winged Angel

Click here to view the embedded video.

Of course, whats a great performance without encores? VGL brought us with not one, but THREE encores with the Castlevania Rock, Chrono Trigger and to me, the best moment of all, Chrono Cross opening. I wasn’t quite expecting this until the first tune played right after Chrono Trigger, and wow, with Tommy and Jack playing on acoustic guitar, Norihiko with the Saxophone, Laura with her flute (aka Flute Link heh), backed by the National Symphony Orchestra, it was just totally breathtaking.

VGL Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross

Click here to view the embedded video.

And lets not forget the original game opening:

Chrono Cross game opening

Click here to view the embedded video.

note: Credits goes to the respective uploaders to all the above videos on YouTube, as well as their respective games/titles, and to Video Games Live of course.

Just like any game, victories must be accompanied with epic loots, for me, it would be the VGL Volume 1 CD signed by Tommy/Jack/Norihiko/Laura personally on the spot shown below:

Special thanks to Solomon aka Wisefreeman for the autograph session tip off. Else me and Sichiri had to go through the long line and risk missing this out. Thats all for now, i hope we will get another round of this, and just for the sake of it, FASTER than the Singaporeans too! LOL

No doubt, i will be attending it again should that happen

=update=

updated to include the Okkusenman video with english subtitles
and i just got the pre-opening vid from a figure.fm comrade XD

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Whoopsie, long time no post! Been really tied up at work recently, and even my WoW play time is basically reduced to weekends. Much sadness D: Hell, i even just had a 2 weeks straight of overtimes. (at least i still get to have my weekends, i guess lol) Oh well, at least the money would be worth it.

Looking back on the initial draft date, it dates back to 5th of February, wow, 2 months of lagging for this post to come out rofl. Even the VGL inquiry email was dated on March 14. /endrants

Anyways, It is just less than 2 days till Video Games Live for Malaysian Music/Orchestra/Gaming fans, so here’s an informational post regarding the event.

Again, if you haven’t gotten your tickets for the event this coming Saturday 17-04-2010, you may head over here: http://www.ticketpro.com.my/jnp/concert/new-age/376848-vgl.html which lets you purchase the tickets online, as well as rough details on VGL, and a promotional video. There will be a noon and night session for VGL, and as of 12:54AM 16-04-2010 GMT+8, below are the current seating’s for each session respectively with grey = occupied

17-04-2010 2:30pm

17-04-2010 8:30pm

For more detailed information, kindly visit the following from the official website:

http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates

http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=info

And as i have mentioned earlier on the VGL inquiry email, ill just provide a pretty straight forward Q&A for you guys:

- Are we allowed on photography or any video recording during the performance?

in terms of photography and video recording, it is strictly not allowed during the concert.

- Is food/drinks allowed?

Food & drinks are also not allowed into the premise.

- What is the current track list for the performance?

The tracklist will not be revealed as it would be a surprise for all the Video Game Music fans who will be coming to the concert. But we ensure you that it’ll be most enjoyable for all.

- How long is the performance expected to last including the break time if any? If there is a break time, how long is the break?

The total showtime will run for 2.5 hours with 20 minutes of intermission time.

- Is there any required dress code for attending this event? for example, are guys required to wear long pants or just casual shorts would do?

There will not be any particular dresscode for the event. In fact, you are welcome to dress as a cosplay character if you want to.

Should be simple enough for everyone, and consider this a small personal request to everyone attending: PLEASE abide by their rules and regulations and not considering yourself doing anyone a favor by recording the orchestra with your crappy phone cams and most certainly not feeling proud after being caught and/or escorted out the hall. (yes i am talking about the few certain people during the May’N concert)

Speaking of the May’N concert, lol that was drafted forever, but yeah, will be up soon enough (lol). Until then, hope you enjoy this yet another informational post by DMM.

=update=

Ok since my information on the FAQ are a little outdated considering it’s from March, according to our VGL guy (lol?) right here:

So to sum it up:

OK on photography/video recording, however no pro stuff. So, bring your noob gears i guess.

more updates:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Well, lol much at the late post, to the point my ‘extra’ birth day plans/planned birthday post went gg, still, doing it anyways as some people may have miss it regardless.

Starting off: To all ticket holders purchased before 23/02/10, your ticket stands a chance to win an autograph from May’N. Simply put, 80 lucky draw ticket holders will be getting an autograph on the exclusive May’n BIG☆WAAAAAVE Asia tour poster. Whats more, one lucky winner will be getting an Exclusive Sheryl Nome figure by megahouse. Refer post by linkinstreet on LYN: here. As well as the facebook fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4205065&id=261617925333

quoting the most important detail:

Q: How will I know if I am the winner?

A: If you are one of the 80 winners, your 4-digit serial number will be published after 26/02/10 on the official May’n Facebook  Fan page.

And as you’ve probably guessed on the post title – yes, i am one of the winner too lol.

Lastly:

May’N will be having a special appearance at AnimeTech L-1.23 at Sunway Pyramid later on today, 06/03/10 Saturday at 4PM. Concert ticket holders will stand a chance to win the above listed giveaway prizes. To those who have not yet gotten their ticket, now is your last chance to do so, and guess what, AnimeTech members get 30% off the ticket price, and renewal is only MYR10 while new membership costs MYR20.

That’s all for the updates, see you guys tomorrow at Sunway as i will be there and most importantly, Sunday at KL Live for yet another awesome concert by May’N.

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If you haven’t heard about this news from Danny Choo long before, well here is the slowpoke update by me heh. May’N is having her Asia tour for 2010 and coincidentally, her Malaysia stop is on the same week as my birthday. Needless to say, especially from my previous postings of May’N, i am definitely going to this concert and no doubt ill be attempting to score first row seating’s again. I mean, i did it for AFA 2008 and 2009, gotten her signature (oh lol whiteboard rage), gotten a couple of her singles, might as well already right? rofl

Anyways for those who doesn’t know who May’N is (oh how could you ) visit her official blog/website here, and the official tour website which also contains her profile.  She is going to be making 3 stops for her Asia tour which is:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: March 7th

Hong Kong: March 19th

Taipei, Taiwan: March 21st

And the following press release quoting from danny choo.com:

(18th January, 2010) The organizers of Mayʼn BIG☆WAAAAAVE!! Asia Tour 2010 are excited to announce Mayʼnʼs first ever concert tour of Asia, which promises to deliver the latest hits from her chart topping repertoire of successful music releases. Her first concert of the tour is scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 7th of March 2010, while her concert in Hong Kong will be taking place on the19th of March 2010, followed by the concert in Taipei, Taiwan on the 21st of March 2010.

“After my Budokan, to come to Asia again is a great honor for me. I love Asia and look forward to be connected with everyone all around the world through my music. I look forward to meeting everyone! Letʼs sing together!” Translated quote from Mayʼn.

For her Asian tour, Mayʼn will be delivering a full concert experience, featuring specially choreographed dance moves and exclusive performances. Extremely popular with the Asian audience, Mayʼn has performed to sell-out concert audiences of over 5,000 twice at Singaporeʼs annual Anime Festival Asia event, and full house audiences in South Korea and Guangzhou, China.

Set to perform to a full house at Japanʼs iconic Budokan Concert hall to an audience of over 9,000 on January 24th this year, the concert follows suit her latest chart topping releases of her latest album “Styles” (Debut at #7 on the Japan Oricon Charts) and her Anime Macross Frontier mini-album “Universal Bunny” (Debut at #3 on the Japan Oricon Charts).

For the full official press release, visit here.

Speaking of slowpoke though, i am quite disappointed in the fact that concert details for Hong Kong (which is taking place on March 19th) is already out while Malaysia that’s taking place on 7th March is still lacking any info at all, be it location, or ticket pricing. I guess its built within Malaysian blood for slow poking literally everything? oh wells.

Anyways from Danny’s post itself, see if you can spot me(don’t cheat XD):

Also having a Lowyat.net thread, Linkinstreet from wakarimasenlol got a picture of her AFA 2009 concert from Music Japan Japanese broadcast(IINM) which i also appeared in:

See if you can spot me in this lol. If the resolution isn’t helping, the original size is available here, from the LYN thread post here.

Hope to see you guys in Malaysia (or hey, you guys over Singapore/Thailand, or anywhere for that matter! ) going even if you’re not a fan. Supporting this concert is indirectly supporting other artists that may potentially come over to Malaysia depending on how successful this concert goes. Will most likely make a new post or updating this one once we get info for her Malaysia concert, here’s to hoping for a good pricing/location for her Malaysia concert. ^^

=update=

Ok ticketing information are out and below are the details (damn flash, seriously):

Doors open: 7pm
Show start: 8pm
Venue: KL Live, 1st floor, Life Centre, 20 Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Google map here.
Ticket price: MYR 198 for outlets, MYR 218 at the door.
Ticketing starts: 9th February 2010 (Also available online)
Enquiry:
Phone: +65 6325 9871
Email:  info@mayn.asia
note: This is a free standing event, entrance to the venue will be granted on a first come first serve basis (wtf?)

For more info and further details for the ticketing outlets, don’t forget to visit the official website: http://www.mayn.asia/

=2nd update=

Ok i have sent an email some time ago to further clarify some things, which went:

Hi There,

I wish to inquire more details regarding the May’N Concert in Malaysia on the 7th of March. First off:

1) It is mentioned that the ticketing starts on 9th Feb, does this mean that on 12AM Sharp 9th Feb i am able to purchase the tickets?
2) I have heard that the online purchase is only for Singaporeans, is this true? Why can’t Malaysians purchase via online method?
3) Also please clarify regarding “entrance to the venue will be granted on a first come first serve basis”, does this mean even if i have a valid ticket, and the event is full i am denied of entry?
4) Considering this is a free seating event (why do this in the first place and not have priority seatings for people willing to spend more/buy early?), are we allowed to camp early for the event so that we can have front row ’seatings’?
5) Also, based on past experiences, just to be sure, are photography/video recording allowed?
6) Will light sticks be provided?
7) Is is possible for an autograph event/fan session after the concert?

And finally they replied a short while ago before this update:

1. Yes the ticket sales starts at 12am sharp on 9th feb
2. No, Malaysian can purchase the tickets online too
3. No, every ticket holder will gain access to the venue, that sentence means that people who comes first will be more likely to get better spot at the concert as they go in first (front rows)
4. You can come earlier to queue for best spot but regarding camping we are not sure is it allowed for KL Live, we will suggest you to wait for our confirmation before you start camping there
5. No photography and Video taking is allowed in concerts, action will be took to anyone who is caught recording or taking photo in the scene
6. Light sticks will not be provided
7. Regarding the autograph even/fan session, it is not decided yet, please wait for our further announcement

So there you go

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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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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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Theres an upcoming Star trek blogger gathering this upcoming May 1st Labor day. With free early screening of Star Trek: First encounter. And since Wisefreeman invited me along, i couldnt say no now could i?

To be honest, im no hardcore Star Trek fan, only minorly love it when i was a kid watching the TV series but as i grow up, it was sort of forgotten in due time. This coming movie, with all new CG and what not, being a whole new movie, it will definitely spark back some of those lost Star Trek interest

Hard to really blog about something that i really dont have much idea on, much less watched the movie, so ill just provide these 2 links and you guys may help yourselves

http://www.startrekmovie.com/

http://allmalaysia.info/ambp/contest/startrek/activities.asp#ambp

p/s: prolly the shortest blog post EVER since DMM is up.

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Here is another update for Daicon 2009, and it will be a pretty BIG one. Assuming you’ve already noticed the title and started going crazy with all the excitement (or in doubt for potential rick roll), yes, this is no April’s fool joke, the dates doesn’t show “1st April” – That’s right, popular Japanese seiyu (voice actor) and singer, Chihara Minori is visiting Malaysia to grace us at Daicon 2009!

Just in case if you’re still not familiar with this seiyu/singer, fear not, we will definitely provide as much info as possible, so here goes!

Straight from Daicon’s official website:
http://www.daiconnews.com/cm_profile.php 

Artist Name: Chihara Minori
Birthday: 18th November
Blood-type: B

Representative works:
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (Nagato Yuki),
Minami-ke (Minami Chiaki),
Ga-Rei -Zero- (Tsuchimiya Kagura).

Debuted as a voice actress in 2004 as the role of Natsume Aya in Tenjou Tenge. Her role as Nagato Yuki in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu sparked a boom in her popularity. Since then, she has taken part in many popular works such as Minami-ke and D.C. II: Da Capo II as well as excelling as a singer.

A recorded video of Chihara Minori greeting us (English subtitles also provided) is also available from the Daicon Official Chihara Minori page. (http://www.daiconnews.com/cm_profile.php)

On her tour to South East Asia for the first time, Miss Chihara Minori will be holding a Q&A panel with the fans on Saturday, 11th July 2009 and a special performance on Sunday, 12th July. Be sure to witness this historic event at DaiCon!

again, Saturday Q&A Panel, Sunday special performance, DONT MISS IT!

Some links of interest regarding Chihara Minori

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chihara_Minori Wikipedia page
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=22271 ANN Page
http://chiharaminori.jp/ Chihara Minori Official page (Japanese language)
http://minorhythm.jugem.jp/ Chihara Minori Official blog (Japanese language)

In addition to the above, Daicon also released their trailer which you may view it from here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Looks pretty damn awesome if you ask me. Heck, so awesome, should you want to keep a copy of it, you get to do so via:
http://www.daiconnews.com/downloads/DaiCon_Teaser(1280×720).mkv
http://www.daiconnews.com/downloads/DaiCon_Teaser(704×400).mkv 

Lastly, do take a look at Aoshi’s write up for this update, which includes a nice jab at our Singaporean neighbours down south:
http://aoshi.wakarimasenlol.com/chihara-minori-live-at-daicon/  :P

Again, hope to see you guys this coming Daicon 2009, 11th – 12th July, MMU Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

=edit again=
Embedded Chihara Minori greeting video to the post itself. Much thanks to Uncle-Valho for the codes  godai uncle
Removed Chihara Minori greeting video as per requested by Daicon folks due to agreements with the manager, the video is only allowed on the DaiCon webpage.  Sorry everyone~

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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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