Twenty-Four

Twenty-Four

The Package
The mailman came on Friday and mentioned that I have to go to the post office to collect a package. I was wondering what happened, he said it was too big. I only ordered a DVD, so how could it be "too big"? So I went to Pudu Post Office to pick it up, got lost in the process... when I finally picked it up, only I realized, it was huge!






There was a piece of paper in it, upon reading it, I was sure that it was definitely my MADE IN TWENTY (20) Arena Tour DVD I ordered from CDJapan... But it was way too big!



Then I took out the paper that was protecting the content, and there it was... my DVD, and a poster! Yup, a limited-edition poster! WooHoo!!! And that was why the box was huge... it was to protect the poster, even though it was a free gift. The customs department at KLIA opened the package to check the contents, but they damaged the poster slightly... darn, they should've been more careful. CDJapan also gave some funny brochure with lots of photos of weird and ugly people... eeuughh....











Muffin wondered what all the commotion was about~

WooHoo! An original, straight from launch, region 2, limited-edition BoA concert DVD... It feels so good to be among the first in the country to own this DVD... Malaysian region 3 versions should be available in 1-2 months from now, and I don't think the limited-edition version will be available. (Limited-edition versions come with an alternate cover, back and casing, plus an extra DVD with tons of exclusives)

Quiet Twenty-Four
This year's birthday was rather low-profile, not much buzz about it (maybe because it was a Saturday). Before midnight I received a sweet sms message from Sock Boon wishing Happy Birthday. And there were a few messages on Friendster and a few more sms messages throughout the day from family and friends (thanks, everyone). It was an overall happy day, had to go to Muar to fetch bro from college again, then later at night we went to Tony Roma's for the 1st time. It was sweet... the food was awesome (really... so tender!) and the starters plus dessert were so delicious (but had to share because I was too full)...










Beatmix Bumblebee
My mum got me such a cool birthday present (love you, mum)... it's Beatmix Bumblebee! He's an MP3 speaker that dances to music, mixes tunes and will interact through music (as in he will try to attract your attention if he's lonely). He records song snippets at random as well as sounds he hears around the room and he'll play it back as he wishes... Oh, and he lights up like crazy depending on how excited he is (his doors will move too). He's adorable and you could tell that my room has been rather noisy lately... (he's now connected to my Walkman, which was last year's birthday present from the office)














Here's a video of him in action:



Okla that's all for this time... I'll post more photos and possibly a few reviews later~

PEACE & God Bless,
Aris

Eventful Wednesday...

Eventful Wednesday...

Yawn... just another lil entry to kill time... it was quite an eventful Wednesday yesterday (I didn't expect it as Wednesdays normally have helluva lot of work!)

Bumblebee Camaro '08
Yup, I finally managed to grab one, thanks to James (thanks boss, respect!). I wanted to grab BB08 since June, but by that time it was announced that Hasbro didn't approve of any sales before the movie. And after the movie they all were snapped up like hot cakes and prices in certain shop skyrocketed up to insane levels. Imagine, some shops were selling up to RM180! EBay prices were even higher... and I refused to give in to bloodsucking scalpers trying to take advantage of the Transformers movie craze. Anyways, almost 2 months later, he finally followed me home :)




PADAN MUKA


I have nothing much to say about this chap, except Padan Muka, as the govt and police are investigating the matter on what to do with this guy, possibly even stripping his citizenship over his Negarakuku song (the chorus was sung rather well actually, but he's in trouble over the usage of the song). We've been watching his video for the last couple of weeks or so (or was it a month), so it was kinda funny when I saw it in yesterday's papers. While his video appears to have a bit of humor, I have no room for racist morons like him. As a Chinese myself (yeah, I'm fortunate enough to be able to view from two sides), feel ashamed to be associated with someone like him who makes insensitive remarks on religion and race through his lyrics. What he's doing would only create tension between races and we all wouldn't want another incident like the past, wouldn't we? What I'm worried is that the result is that the Chinese will get the blame, all because of a sick idiot who's studying (pigi belajarlah woi!) in Taiwan (I love Taiwan btw, home of Angi's mum & Vivian Hsu... would like to visit there someday). Hitting out at the government and police... while some are true in a way, there are lots of statements that damage the reputations of fellow countrymen who work hard everyday to make our country a better place. And mocking religion too (haiyoh)... This isn't his only song... there are many more and a whole blog to go with it... And doing all this on Malaysia's 50th Merdeka? I am speechless lah... Freedom of speech yes, but hell no to racism. Unity to all Malaysians :)

BoA's Arena Tour '07 DVD Launched!


Yesterday was the official launching date of BoA's latest DVD, her MADE IN TWENTY (20) Arena Tour 2007 concert... I've been eagerly awaiting this, especially when it shows her return to form and health. She had an ankle injury which prevented her from dancing much (evident from her birthday concert) and seeing the queen of dance in this state hurts so much, especially when she's so good. If you don't believe me, watch this clip from YouTube of her "Sweet Impact" performance... see those little legs move~



Btw, she's wearing the Ed Hardy special cap that the designed specially for her... I sooooooooooooooo want this cap... really wish I could find it... Anyways, this is a really MUST get album... I can't wait!!!

NPE's Kg Pasir Ramp Exit Opened
The New Pantai Expressway's new exit through the Kampung Pasir Ramp opened recently, and I tried it, since it says you can head to Puchong that way. It goes thru a kampung for a while and exits in the middle of Old Klang Road, near Kinrara. Pretty convenient. I save RM3.20 compared to using the other exit near Sunway (cos that wan need to pass the Sunway toll on LDP too). Woohoo!

Can't think of what else to write at this moment... laters then~

PEACE & God Bless,
Aris

More of the Usual...

More of the Usual...

Sigh
Just another usual day in the office... It's getting quite repetitious, but I guess it can be expected from this field of work. Got some sad news on my colleague leaving (2, in fact)... It's always sad to have someone go, especially when you're so happy with having them around. But I guess there will always come a time when we have to move on to newer things... Anyways, I'm still wishing they'd bring in another staff to help us out. It's now that we can't handle the work, it's just that with the insufficient manpower, we finish late at night almost on a daily basis... we do want to have a life too... Sigh...

Rebuild of Evangelion
If you're an Evangelion fan you'd have heard about this by now... The 4-part Evangelion movie retelling will kick off this September with the 1st movie, You are (not) alone. With the amount of remastered, repackaged and dunno-what versions, I'm quite glad to finally see something new. The 4 movies will have some scenes reproduced frame-to-frame, but also feature new stuff and CGi graphics to show how much progress anime has come through. Rumour has it that they're going to be based on the 1st 6 episodes of the original series, but from the looks of the preview, I saw Kaworu there. Hmm... they wouldn't include my cute Asuka (she appears from episode 8) in there, but they'd include Kaworu (who appears on the last few episodes). That doesn't make me happy at all... But anyways, below are the trailer & preview for You are (not) alone:





I dunno bout you, but the trailer gave me goosebumps on my 1st viewing... I doubt Malaysia will be screening this movie, so I'll just have to wait for the DVD I guess...

BoA Complete Clips 2004-2006
I got this DVD from Tower Records recently... It's a continuation from BoA's previous music video compilation, 8 Films & More. This completes the compilation of all her Japanese music videos up to 2006, which means the last song in the DVD is Winter Love, and her 1st adult single, Sweet Impact onwards are not included. Overall it's an excellent DVD cos all of BoA's music videos are beautiful. However, if you've purchased the album Outgrow and MADE IN TWENTY (20), you'd probably have a compilation of the music videos already. Wish it had some extras like commercials (like in 8 Films & More) and behind the scenes (like in Outgrow), but I guess you can't get everything perfect all the time. I'll do a proper review soon. I'm still looking for her birthday concert DVD, BoA the LIVE...



Transformers - The Movie Guide
Bought this book at a nearby MPH and I admit I was a bit disappointed with the content. Not only is it so thin, it also has early stage renders of the robots and they don't look that realistic. Not all the robots are in it either... sad indeed... but it does have some info about the robots featured, and given that it is in full color, it should make a good book for one's collection.



Weddings
Okla... I dunno what else to mention... yet another one of my old crushes is getting married soon... I guess this is how it goes, something deep inside of me is sad, but I'm also glad that she's happy. I have moved on quite sometime back, its just that it brings back some memories. Seems a lot of old buddies are getting married lately...

Hmm... I forgot what I wanted to write, so I guess I'll end it here 1st...

PEACE & God Bless,
Aris

Let's Join in Prayer

Let's Join in Prayer





I'd like to ask everyone to unite in prayer for the safe return of the remaining South Koreans being held hostage by the Talibans (sick group). I've been reading the news for the last couple of days and it's really sad to see all their family members crying and citizens praying (from various faiths, Christian, Muslim, etc) for them to be returned safely. The Talibans have abducted 23 South Korean aid workers and keeping them hostage, so far killing 2 people, stating that they want their members released from imprisonment. These people are really sick as these hostages have nothing to do with the Afghan government who have held Taliban members over war crimes, and furthermore, they came to Afghanistan to aid people there. I mean for the love of God, they came there to HELP (I pray that their souls be blessed and those in sin be punished). They are innocent and the Korean government have no power to release prisoners in Afghanistan. What on Earth are they expecting? The Talibans have long followed a distorted view of their religion, as the proper Islam teaches you to love each other and be faithful. Taking hostages and killing people is just sick and inhuman. Some of the South Korean hostages are unwell and they need medical attention quick. So people, let's pray and hope BoA's fellow countrymen return home to their relatives in good hands. Ameen.

PEACE & God Bless,
Aris

Of Statements and Reality

Of Statements and Reality

Me blogging again... posts have been scarce of late, due to either lack of interest or no time... sigh... work has been murder lately. Late nights, tiredness... wondering why can't they get a frigging replacement already... hiring the wrong people... sigh... schedules have been pretty similar from day to day (wake up, drive to work, traffic jam, surf, work, lunch, work, try not to have a crush on the boss, surf, work, drive home, traffic jam, reach home, sleep). Yawn... need more excitement in my life... Anyways, interesting stuff of late (at least to me):

Letter to the NST
A local senator recently made a statement about the Proton Juara being the worst car by Proton, etc in the New Straits Times on the 20th of July... So I just had to make some noise in the paper... I sent an e-mail to the NST referring to that statement. There were no letters on the following Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday my letter didn't appear, so I thought there was no chance of it being printed (maybe kena tapis). But alas, on Tuesday it was published and I even got calls from Juara owners about the letter. Hehe...

Here's a scan of the article:
(click to read in full-size)



Transformers Movie Rocks!
Yeah, Michael Bay's Transformers kicks ass like nobody's business, and despite the shortcomings and few drawbacks, it was still awesome and I plan to have more screenings of it (had 3 so far). It is like nothing you've ever seen on the movie screens and I believe this will rewrite the way blockbuster movies are done. If you haven't watch it, what are you waiting for? This is best watched in the cinema, just like Star Wars, LotR and King Kong.


COWABUNGA!!!

Here's my view on the movie:
http://raptorclans.multiply.com/journal/reviews/item/47

Reality Bites
Been wanting to let this out but I dunno where to do so... So I'll just release it here... This happened a few months back... maybe 3 or 4 months ago. It was something typical of me. When I saw this person, A... she was like "the one" or something like that. She was sweet, cute, friendly and um... sexy in her own way. She was young, only a couple of years older than me. But boy was she adorable... So I just had to have a crush on this sweet gurl, especially after I was slowly getting to know her and trying to understand what type of person she is. But I guess when things are so flowery and sweet, it's always too good to be true. This gurl looks like she's younger than me, but I found out later that she's married. Yeah, she's taken, tied the not, full stop. And she seemed so innocent! As you might've guessed, it was a big blow to me. She wasn't only married, but had a child too... I felt like I had a ton of bricks dropped on me. I seriously do not believe in wrecking marriages. The only thing that made it feel better was the fact that those feelings didn't go too deep... but I see her quite often, and it was rather upsetting at first. But now since time has passed, I've come to terms of accepting her as a friend and not something impossible to achieve. And I believe that friendship was better than nothing in the end...

If you think that's where the story ends, well... I got to know this other gurl, B, a couple of months later... I admit I spoke to her less than the other gurl, but there was this sense of attraction that was kind of odd... She wasn't exactly drop-dead-gorgeous or anything, but something about her just seemed so interesting. Perhaps it's because she's so matured and all (she's the same age as A)... I tried getting to know her, through talking and MSN. But oh well... our conversations consist almost entirely of question and answer sessions... I dunno how to explain but I guess you know the picture. Ask once, answer once... and it's almost the same online... It was really frustrating because chanel handbags was hoping I could at least understand her more. But well, it turns out she was going out with someone, a guy much older and mature. I guess girls dig these type of guys... It was actually hard to let go (which I find it weird, as I was kind of attached to A more). But eventually it was over. I learned to accept her as a normal friend (I dun even know if she thinks of me that way, since we hardly have proper conversations) and kept myself occupied with other stuff. But in the end, it was just a crush. I didn't really know her that well, and it was all in the mind. It wasn't the same as really liking someone (nobody would understand me with this but I don't give a damn).

I guess I won't be too serious with stuff like this in the future, but someday, maybe one day... I' might find someone again...

Shark Attack 3 : Megalodon
On a lighter note, here are two really interesting clips from the 2002 movie Shark Attack 3 : Megalodon. Do watch them both...
Note: The second clip's really short, but it brought more attention from critics and viewers than the entire movie itself...

Okla, I'll continue the next time I post~

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris