Angel Beats!

This anime is so good that it included an exclamation mark in it's name XD
Been trying to get this review going ever since I finished watching it the day before I left NZ but I've been busy and lazy lol~
Anyway Angel Beats! is a new anime only just came out this year, from the same people who made Clannad, this anime had quite a high expectation and Im glad to announce that I also approve this anime.



Compare to Clannad, Angel Beats is more random but includes all the emotional effects from Clannad which makes it so enjoyable to watch. Im talking about all the laughter and sadness that you can really feel from watching one 20 min episode. The graphics are excellent, more stylish rather than cute compare to Clannad however they still got those eyes that fills half of their face XD



Since the story consists of a music band "Girls Dead Monster", sometimes the episode gets musical like Macross Frontier which isnt a bad thing but Im not into any of the songs they sung. Angel Beats's opening is sung by Lia who also sang the opening for Clannad After Story. I still like the clannad song better X) but I like their ending though.



The downside of Angel Beats is that its too short. This storyline had a great potential but due to their episode limit, the episodes did not bring out the fullest emotion. Like with Clannad they had at least 3 episodes for one story so when it reaches the climax, it can really bring tears to your eyes. However with Angel Beats, it happens too fast. I know it's sad but the feeling hasnt sunk in yet and then the episode just ends... They also rushed the ending a bit. Nevertheless, Angel Beats is still a great anime 8/10 from me :)

11 hours 5 movies

So I'm in Taiwan now and due to various reasons I am now living in the mountains lol, kinda feel like a hermit going through secret training. Anyway on my way from Auckland to Hong Kong I could not sleep so the only thing I could do was to watch movies. During the 11 hours flight, I watched 5 movies. Here are my thoughts on them and in order.



I started with Inception since it caused a really big hype when it came out. Everyone was like omg omg but for some reason I did not go watch it, I think it was due to the bombardment of assignments. After watching it, I now fully understand why it was considered one of the top movies this year. The idea and the concept of the movie is pure genius and beyond creative. 10/10 from me, strongly recommend movie to watch.



I wanted to watch Ip Man 2 but the movie was laggy so I then pick this. I've seen the first Ip Man so I thought it was weird to find this movie exist. I prefered the story of the Ip Man series better. I didnt like how this movie ended. I'm not saying its bad its just not my kind of ending. 7/10



Unsatisfied with the Ip Man I just watched, I tried this again and it wasnt laggy anymore yay! lol I really like the Ip Man character in this movie. He is alawys calm, friendly and fights for justice, I also prefer his style of kung fu than the other movie. In Ip Man 1, he fought the Jap, this time hes fighting England. My jaw actually dropped in amazement(this never happened in any other movie before) when I was watching Ip Man fighting the other pro kung fu master, really pro stuff, must watch. 9/10 for this.



At this point I was already tired as however still could not go to sleep so I decided to watch another big hype movie this year. Im always a PIXAR fan, was kinda disappointed with UP last year but think goodness PIXAR brought back it's usual standard. Sequel from Toy Story 1 and 2, the 3rd movie shows what happens to the toys when Andy grows up and is about to go to college. Like all PIXAR movies, its packed with humour, adventure, action and sometimes sadness. It actually got me thinking about my old toys when I was watching this lol. A solid 8 or 9/10 for Toy Story 3.



2 hours left until Hong Kong, 11:30pm time in NZ, eyes burning but cant sleep. All other movie would not finish before I land so I picked this one. Just a standard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie and I was pretty sure I've seen it before. I was right, I saw the last 10 mins of it like a year ago. 4/10, maybe Im too old for this but I found the movie lacking story and action lol~

I then had to wait an hour and a half in HK airport. As soon as I got on the plane to TW, I fell asleep almost immediately. I missed my meal :/ grrr
Got to Taiwan at 12am, 5am NZ time basically overnighted. Arrived home at 3am, was just too insane...

Universe - 2nd Opinion Needed

Omg double post in one day however this is emergency! I need to know... IS THE VOCALIST A GUY OR A GIRL?!



Oh by the way, my favourite song lists has expanded and categorised into English, Jap and Korean! My taste in music covers a wide arrange of area hence the need for an updated system XD

P.S. Just realised its past 12 so its actually not double post in one day

Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky

Another quick movie review, for those who dont know Im a straight up Detective Conan fan. Been watching/reading the movies/manga ever since I was a kid so there was no way I would miss the latest movie. Movie 14: The Lost Ship in the Sky.



I thought this movie took a different route than most of the previous movies. Previous movies always slowly uncover events, build up excitement for the final climax. However movie 14 reveals the exciting part relatively early and then had continous excitement and tension throughout the entire movie. This results in an average-ish ending in my opinion though.



As shown on the poster, Kaitou Kid shows up in this movie and it is always fun to see him in action. He works with Conan together on this one though and therefore the humour level is higher compare to the other movies. I didnt really like the ending theme, it kinda strayed away from the usual Bz or Mai Kuraki. I give movie 14 8/10, 2 off for the ending and ending theme XD

Resident Evil Afterlife

Woot finally an update that hasnt been a month after the previous one. Anyway had dynamics exam today, I tried my best I guess. After the exam, went to the korean place opposite imax to eat, it was pretty good. Then went to watch Resident Evil Afterlife with Dennis, Dixon and Jp.

Now to fully understand this movie (well maybe not fully but MOST of it) you must have seen the previous Resident Evil movie Extinction and to have played the game Resident Evil 5. The first half an hour or so, you would be pretty lost and be going wtf if you havent seen the 3rd movie. I found that this movie focuses more on the journey of Alice rather than fighting fked up creatures like 1st and 3rd movie.



A lot of the monsters/zombies were taken from the game Resident Evil 5, I particularly enjoyed the axe boss scenes. There were definately a lot more humour in this movie or maybe cause I was tired from the morning exam so I laughed at their dry jokes lol. But yeah, I really enjoyed watching this movie right after the exam. They had a few jump scares which got me, yes I admit it.

A downside in this movie is that they used the slow motion scenes quite often, to show how cool the characters are probably. It works well once or twice but too often just overkills it. I know all the critics on the net says this movie is crap but thats what they said for all the RE movies. But since I've always enjoyed watching and playing RE. It was a fun, enjoyable movie for me to watch, I give it 8/10.

NBA - My favourite players

Ok it seems like im getting more and more inactive with the blog business. Time between entries is longer and less updates per month. My excuse this time is that I had a pretty insane last month of uni. Just assignments then test then more assignments, one after another. Anyway now that uni has finished, Im hoping that I can get back into this again.

So a bit of a status update on my life, currently on study break. Got an exam next friday and the friday after that then I'll be free :D Need to try to find a job for engineering work experience this holiday. If anyone has any news about it, feel free to contact me. Umm, going for my collapsed lung surgery after my last exam and hopefully I wont get a 3rd collapse again... I really want to get back into basketball. Feeling pretty frustrated that I'm not improving my game while everyone else is. Speaking of basketball, new NBA season started yesterday so I might as well write something about NBA.

My Favourite Players

Steve Nash



If you've played basketball with me then you'll definately know that I'm a Steve Nash fan. Nash is considered one of the best point guard of all times. Right now there are quite a few awesome PGs out there like Jason Kidd (still going strong), Rajon Rondo (getting better everyday), Chris Paul, Deron Williams but none appear to me more other than Nash. His ability of seeing the floor, his team is incredible. The no look passes can easily make the opposing team go wtf? Even I go wtf and Im not even playing! Nash can also drain 3s, drive in and make the most random layup plus his free throws are basically automatic in. I can still go on but I think I'll stop here lol, save some space for the other players.

Jason Williams



Yes another point guard but Jason Williams is nothing like Nash. The only common thing between them is probably seeing the court. I really enjoy watching Jason Williams when he was in Sacremento Kings, he doesnt play as big of a role nowdays. But back in the days, he was the shizz. His passes are wild as, crazy bullet speed behind the back pass, behind the head pass. The one which he is famously known for was the pass off the elbow, I mean who could've thought of that?! Due to his insanely crazy and accurate passes, it earned him the nickname of "The White Chocolate". The blackest white boy who has ever balled in NBA history. He can also shoot 3s pretty well and his layups are usually one handed which allows him to manuever freely in the air.

Dwyane Wade



Finally a black player! LOL jks, D Wade, where to start. Well hes definately NBA's best slasher in my opinion. The way he can dribble through 2 defenders then jump in the air and avoiding 2 more defenders is pretty average for D wade. But it makes me jump up and down on my seat every time he does it. Wade specialises in driving in with the ball, splitting the defence and is damn determined to get that ball in there. The acrobatics he does is just uncomparable. Wade can also dunk with frikin authority, just go watch the one where he dunks over Varejao. Although his shooting isnt as good as his driving in skills, he can still shoot the ball well.

I've only listed here 3 of my favourites, my list carries on however some of the others are Derrick Rose, Manu Ginobli, Tracy McGrady lol I just realised they're all guards. But yeah I didnt include some of the best players right now like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Durant. I do recognise their skills however they just do not appeal to me. I prefer watching interesting players rather than consistent players and no, I havent forgot about Michael Jordon. No man has ever reached his level yet, period.

Elfen Lied

So I've uploaded the ski trip photos on to facebook, couldnt be bothered doing it on here. The uploader on here is too slow, feels like Im uploading at dial up speed or something... Now I bring you guy my opinions on Elfen Lied



Elfen Lied, another loli-ish anime with characters who have eyes that fills half of their face. Dont be fooled with the innocent looks on their faces, this anime contains heavy violence and plenty of action. Elfen Lied has one of the most memorable and disturbing intro episode I have ever seen. Lets just say it invovled tearing of body parts and loads of blood. Due to the images being too distrubing (for myself and the few general public) I wont post bloody screenshots on here. But please be warned, this anime may not be suitable for young audience or people with weak stomach.



Besides the bloody aspects of this anime, Elfen Lied's story isnt bad. It was interesting enough for me to keep wanting to watch the next episode. It starts off with the introduction of diclonius, a mutant species to the human race (actually tbh cute anime girls with horns on their heads). They have invisible arms that can extend which serves as their weapon or just extra limbs. The anime then carries on exploring a special diclonius, Lucy's past.

The drawings and artwork I thought were really average. They really could have done better. However it was done in 2004 so I wont push on. Another thing to note about the anime is the amount of nudity contains in it. I could accept on some occasion it was appropriate however they just went overbroad with it. An clear example of my point would be, the anime intro song is just Lucy posing nude in every scene. Seeing a young underaged girl naked just isnt my thing, I find it sickening. My guess is that they added just for the fans out there who are just into these things... So again be warned, Elfen Lied not suitable for young audiences.



Nothing really to say about music, other than meh. I wished there was less violence and more funny, everyday life kinda things in the story. It would really suit the characters. One thing I did like was how the anime ended. In most anime, I would be like wtfff at the end since it'll just have bizarre twist or a rush ending. Although this was also a rushing ending, with few unexplained bits, I found this one acceptable and liked it somewhat. Anyway to conclude, Elfen Lied just isnt my type of anime so I rate it at best 5/10 despite the general high rating of 9/10 on the internet.

Tomorrow When The War Began

Just watched Tomorrow When The War Began and thought I'd blog this before I forget. This movie is about 7 friends who went out on their end of the year trip then came back home to find that their home had become a war zone.

I thought the acting was realistic, the actors expression really portrayed their emotion and the situation at that time. I think its cause of their acting (not to mention getting chased by bullets) made me realised how intense the movie really is. The only down side of the movie was the ending, actually there was no ending at all so that was a bit of a bummer.



I quite liked this movie, it kinda opened my eyes a bit. I often think about what happens when an emergency happens, how will I react to that situation eg. a car crash or store robbery something like that. But I never imagined what I'd do if I was in a war. The closest thing to it which I've experienced is paintball lol. I mean normally when we watch a movie or watch tv series about battles or wars, we laugh and go, haha why didnt that guy just shoot him. But if you were in that guy's position, would you have the guts to pull the trigger?

If suddenly I was given a gun and was trapped in my house with 3 of my friends while there are helicopters and soldiers outside searching and hunting civilians. Would I have the courage to lead my friends and try to survive? Or will I just breakdown completely and await death? Well for now I would say, I would stay calm and develop some sort of plan to survive but who knows, under those circumstances, you might not be who you think you are.

I dunno why this movie had such an impact on me. I guess its cause there are various things I can relate to. One, I've just been to a trip like 6 weeks ago so I know what its like out there and the terror of coming back home to find that you house is empty. Two, Im also a teenager, a student. Im not some trained militia, if war is brought upon me, Im not sure what I'll do. And three, like I said before I often find myself thinking about these situations. Anyway, I give this movie a solid 8/10 :D

So outdated...

Ok, really been a while since my last update. A lot of things has happened, some were expected, some wasnt. The unexpected event was my lung collapse 2-3 weeks ago, I stayed in hospital for nearly a week. Various things kept me from updating my blog, one, obviously my stay in hospital. There was no internet in the hospital :OO Second, assignments tests assignments. Before and after my stay in the hospital, I've been studying for tests and working on assignments. I just finished my software one today but still have 2 more to do...

I finally watched Angels and Demons (with subtitles otherwise I got no clue whats going on lol) and I must say I really liked it. The views of science and religion plus detective reasoning was a perfect mix. Plenty of action, mind 'blasting' storyline and Tom Hanks. This movie is a 10/10 in my eyes.

Upcoming updates: Ski trip photos(really need to get that done), Elfen Lied review, my hospital adventure(if I feel like writing it).

For now I leave you with my current favourite songs.

Redemption - Gackt



Already Over - Red

Entertaining Aion Videos

Second day of the ski trip will be up soon but for now I would like to present to you these exceptionally well done Aion videos. The first two were done by EpicCookies on Youtube. After watching these, I just had to subscribe to her!






The next two are about a player named Rosch trying to find his love.

Ski Trip Day 1 (Finally lol...)

Ok I admit I've been lazy, no updates for like 3 weeks. Quite a few people have asked me to write about the ski trip, sorry about that, just couldn't bring myself to do it, anyway here we go.

Oh before I start, I would like to ask those people who are quite picky about my grammar mistakes to step up and correct any mistakes you can find. Just post them at the comments below or tell me on msn. I got to get myself ready for the report writing assessment :)

So on Tuesday 13th July, us 3 clueless asian headed out of Auckland and was on our way down to Mt Ruapehu. By reading printed off maps from Google map, the journey was rather pleasant and straight forward.


Just...perfect weather



Aaaannnd we're off!



Stopped by at Huntly to have lunch



Member of the team: Leader/organiser admiring his lunch (the fish burger was actually really good, do try it if you are there next time)



Professional photographer trying to drink out of a vase



Master of San Guo Sha eating rabbit food



The busy road



Hey, I got up early to watch the soccer world cup ok?



The Big Apple Cafe, might consider stopping by next time



Shawn: GOOD views!


Omg, finally! I see the white mountain!



Arrived at our accomodation, Snowy Waters Lodge



Our room



Dinner at Mountain Kebabs in Ohakune, best kebab in NZ! (not joking)



Giant connect 4, game on!



Shuhan prepares to rob a bank



Night time entertainment, San Guo Sha



im so high~ im so high

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is now taken off from the Anime Currently Watching list and joins the Anime Finished Watching list. Yes that's right the anime has indeed finished since last Monday. Due to various distractions I only just finished watching the last episode. Now this might be a pretty big statement coming from me but I think this FMA series is probably the best anime series I've watched up to now (although Clannad could compete against it).



Let's see... I dont even know where to begin. XD
Ok lets just start with the story. Unlike the previous series, this series is directly from the manga which means it's omg epic as. There is always a twist or cliff-hanger in almost every episode, hardly any dull episodes. The journey that the brothers had been through had been a long one, I watched an episode a week for a year and it had been the most satisfying anime to watch. I cant imagine for the manga readers, after all those years and all came to an end.



I can officially say this is the best action/comedy anime I've ever watched. All the fighting scenes are packed with excitement and thrill, occasionally suspense. Some episodes just gets you on to the edge of your seat and you would hope that it does not end. The comedy is just brilliant, most of it involves Ed since hes the impatient, jumpy type. But because of all the characters different personality. the funny parts really makes you laugh out loud.



The music for this anime is quite decent but what I really liked about this series are their opening and endings. I liked every single song they picked and all the opening animations, they always corresponds to the story without giving too many spoilers. My favourite ones will definately have to be the 4th opening, Period by Chemistry then 1st opening, Again by Yui and then 5th opening, Rain by SID.



If I really had to compare, I prefered the artwork of first series of FMA, the characters looked cooler, here they look a bit round on the face and less detailed. If the artwork was a bit more detailed then this anime would be perfect in my book. Nevertheless, it was still enough to make this anime looked cool.
So people, watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, you will not regret it. I give this anime 10/10! If you dont watch it then... Ed might hunt you down!

Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler

Omg??? 2 updates in one day??? Well I guess Im making up for my June section which only has 3 entries... Anyway like I said yesterday, I recently watched a Japanese movie called Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler and it was such a suprisingly good find.



Like half an hour into the movie, I kept thinking the main character Kaiji looked strangely familiar but where else could I have encountered a Japanese actor? Then it suddenly hit me, OMG IT WAS DEATH NOTE, YAGAMI LIGHT! The movie suddenly got 5x better.



The movie is full of mind games, quite similar to Death Note. However in Kaiji there are parts where really strong emotions were shown and you would know exactly how he felt during that time. Although the acting isnt all perfect compare to american films, the tone of the actors was enough to display the message across. I'll probably get the general picture of it if I watched it without subtitles.

Then near the end, an insert song was played while the ending was shown. The movie ended with 10x more satisfaction for me cause the song was sung by YUI! Yui's It's All Too Much was a #1 single last year. The credit song Never Say Die is the 2nd song that was released in that album.

P.S. Was looking at the cast of Kaiji and Death Note while writing this. To my amazement L WAS IN KAIJI TOO OMFG. I KNEW I'VE SEEN SAHARA'S FACE SOMEWHERE LOL. Just couldnt recognise him without the insane eye make up XD
This movie was placed in my favourite movies list right after I watched it. My rating for it would be 9/10 due to a few biased factors XD 7/10 for general public.

Dragon Age

Been wanting to write the review for this game ever since I finished it since 3 weeks ago. So lets get straight to it. Dragon Age is a RPG game, made by Bioware and I must say this game is actually pretty good. The background story is that the dark spawns (kinda like undeads) are rising again and only Grey Wardens have the power to defeat them. You start off by choosing your race and occupation. Then the story begins with your chosen race's setting and background. After a while, the story will converge, meaning no matter what your chosen race or background is, you will be be playing the main story now.



I chose to start off with a Dalish Elf cause they were like in the wilds and use bows so I figured they seemed like elven archers in mmorpg games lol. However to my disappointment they werent as strong in this game. Nevertheless I enjoyed playing my character even if I was weak. Anyway moving along, Bioware tend to make their rpg games real life ish. Every conversation will have at least 3 options for you to choose as your answer and sometime your answer can affect your game dearly. The consequences of your answer could range from getting a bit more money for yourself or a party member leaving your group (and no you wont get them back again). It's like if you anger a friend, you lose him/her forever.



Dragon Age is a team fighting game so technically you're role playing 4 roles. However while you are controlling one, the others will auto attack and you can also set the kind of spell they use or the action they should take when they are on auto attack. Speaking of team members, each member has this relationship scale with you. Much like real life, not everyone will always agree to your actions. So most of the time when you make a decision like accepting a bribe or not, some members will approve your action while some wont. Therefore it is actually quite hard to be Mr Popular or the Ladies Man. I tried dating 2 girls at the same time but then in the end I could only choose one.



The graphics I thought was pretty average, I've seen better. The music used during the game was nice though. The fighting game play is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The key is to press pause and you will be pressing pause a lot whether you like it or not lol. However the thing I liked the most about Dragon Age is the story. Although there is a vague overall story while you play. Your decision that you make during the game really influence how the story will turn out in the end. You are in charge of your life which in result you are in control of your destiny. With that being said, luckily there is the save/load option so I could test and try out my life before choosing my destiny :P
Dragon Age is a game I definately would recommend to play, a solid 8/10 from me. If I had a LOT of spare time, I would consider re-playing it. :D

4 days into holiday

Finally an update! I've been wanting to write for some time but due to certain circumstances I was not able to do it. First, obvious reason, exams. I studied for 3 weeks straight, only left home for exams, occasionally buying food and one day of basketball. Second, I was on dial up speed since the 20th of June, damn my 9GB limit T.T

So to the holiday life we go. Right after the electrical exam, I went to Korean BBQ with Karthik, Ben, Alvin and Dixon. It was going great until the rice ran out and they didnt refill it like half an hour later which ruined our appetite. The portion of meat and rice must be balanced in order to keep eating. Oh and Ben's toilet trip was pretty lol! After the meal, went to play pool with Alvin and Dixon and that basically concluded my day. No wait I also watched a Japanese movie called Kaiji, more about that later on.



The very next day, I remembered the promise to myself that I would go gym on the day after my exam. So I dragged Shawn with me to go work out and boy was I weak lol. A year of no gym had it's toll, Im like basically back to where I started. Hopefully with all the gaps in next semester will allow me to go gym and start building up again. Played 10mins of bball before injuring my thumb AGAIN and got kicked off the court by badminton players.

The 3rd day after waking up with intense aching muscles, I had to get myself to uni by 12 to play bball with the crew, if I dont show then that means 3 other ppl wont show lol therefore my attendance was required. To most of our amazement Jerrell finally joined the gym! We had some pretty good games however I was scared to use my right hand due to painful thumb so I couldnt go hard and most of my shots were off... Afterwards, we went to Golden Bowl for a feed as usual. I thought I'd try something new however it was the worst decision ever made. The dish I ordered was really sour and somewhat spicy, luckily I was hungry therefore I could finish half of it. Then went to play pool again with Jerrell and Shawn hehe.



4th day, today. The day started in a good way since I have broadband again! I could open my email within 10 secs instead of 3mins! Got to uni by 12 again to attend the job seminar. There were 2 guests speakers and both gave quite a lot of information so I guess my trip was worthwhile. After the 2 and a half hour seminar, we couldnt decide where to go and have lunch. Then funny enough they agreed on Korean BBQ, Dennis and Juan. Lol 2 korean bbq in 4 days. Luckily this time the rice did not run out and I ate pretty much my money's worth. Had to kill time before the main event so went around the city, read magazines, look at laptops, play at arcade. Then finally it was time.

We arrived at the shooting range 20mins early however there were already 6-8 people waiting. Then within the short time range, it grew to about 25 or more. We shared a booth between us 5 ppl, each shot 5 rounds which is 1 mag on the .22 rifle. Juan was a pro therefore he could fire a semi auto pistol. Now I had never seen or heard or fired a gun in my whole life. So this was quite a new experience for me. We were all required to wear earmuffs. I thought to myself how loud could this sht be??? So I took them off after a while but then put them straight back on 3 secs later LOL. The BANG sound actually hurts your ear a bit.

My first try I was just a complete newb, luckily Juan helped me load the rifle but I did not know how to aim with the rifle, where I should be looking etc. On my second go, one of the supervisors taught me the proper technique and all soon enough I got the hang of it. Due to time running out and we just bought new 50 rounds, we quickly fired 10 rounds each and I must say I had some major improvement.I was reloading fast and like 3 of mine were really close to the centre I was aiming for. This was definately a new and fresh experience for me and Im looking forward to improve on this skill in the future :D

Eden of the East

Started watching this anime last week, finished it 2 days ago. Eden of the East is a very modern anime, aired only last year and is rated quite highly on the net. This anime is more for young adults or adults rather than kids cause the story involves conspiracy, politics and since Im not interested in any of those areas, the anime didnt appeal to me as much as other people. The story starts off with the main character finding himself with memory loss and a phone that will do anything he asks it to do. His journey seeking the answer to why he lost his memories and the true identity of the phone then begins.



The drawings and animation I thought were excellent. Really realistic and just... modern lol, cant think of any other words to describe it. Like you look at the train ticket gate thing, you can see how much detail is on that. All the scenery, city view, etc just looks the same as they do in Japan except animefied <--new word. Not much could be said about the music, I thought it was pretty average. The opening and ending songs... kinda like the opening song but a thing to notice is the art work for them. Really unique and different for each of the songs.



Japan actually made a real version of the phone shown above. Now this is the first time in my life that a phone has sparked my interst. It just looks so damn cool! Now since the anime hasnt officially ended (going to end with 2 movies I think), I cant give my final rating. But my rating for just the anime series will be 5 or 6 /10 since it is not my type of anime.