In the nick of time

Two weeks ago I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on the DS and after countless hardcore hours of gaming, coupled with numerous late nights, I finally completed Phantom Hourglass today; defeating Bellum and rescueing Tetra! I had hoped to complete the game before leaving for Bangkok so I won't have to carry the DS with me there.

Suffice to say - Phantom Hourglass is a great game and one of the best game that I've played on the DS. Am I biased? I do not think so. There are many great game franchises that have stood the test of time and Zelda is clearly a classic franchise. I remember playing my first ever Zelda game on the original GameBoy - it was Link's Awakening which sadly I never got around to complete and the old GameBoy screen is now busted.

Link is now in 3-D on the DS (remember when he was just a wee grey cell shaded Link on the GB?) and he is just so unbelievably adorable with that enormous pair of saucer eyes!

I found the ending of the game rather sad *sniff* and looks like I wasn't the only one who thought so - a fellow gamer at Gamespot voted it as the #1 Saddest Game Ending

出頭天 concert DVD out soon!

Mayday's 100000人。出頭天 concert DVD will be released on 20 March 2009. Yay!! I'm particularly excited cos I was there at the actual concert in Taipei last December so this DVD is gonna bring back some wonderful memories ;) I'm glad that it's being released so soon (about 3 months after the concert) cos most artists take a much longer time to put out concert DVDs.

The concert DVD will be bundled with a MV DVD at NT$599, which is not too bad for the price considering it's a double DVD set. Pre-order will begin on 28 Feb till 18 March 2009 (with a pre-order poster thrown in)

I've already secured my pre-order copy ;) It's gonna be an agonising wait for the release of the DVD and for the postie to deliver my copy from Taiwan!

Music-Man is coming to town

Leehom's Music-Man KL concert will be held at Bukit Jalil's National Stadium on 2 May 2009 and ticket prices range from between RM88 to RM600. The first few rows of the VIP section (off limits for sponsors) cost a whopping RM800!! How are they justifying the cut-throat prices? Is it the cost of the LCD screens ?

Come to think of it, I don't think I've paid so much to see other artists in concerts. Leehom's concerts always seem to cost more than the usual cpop concert rates..

Public ticket sales will start on 1 March 2009.

R.I.P Woolworths

I had no idea that Woolies had collapsed till I read about it in the news. When I was in England I used to frequent Woolies once or twice a week for chocolates, CD and magazines. They do sometimes have pretty good stuff in their bargain bins. (Liam Gallagher of Oasis used to joke about how you can buy a copy of Be Here Now at Woolies for only 2 quid LOL)

Looks like the deepening recession is hitting retailers really hard. It's unbelievable how such a reputable retailer that has been trading for almost a century and survived the two World War succumbed to the current credit crunch. Wonder who's next to crash?

"We Are Music-cians" - 五月天

Not too long ago when I re-organised my files in my external hard disk, I came across some interesting files I had forgotten and this was one of it.

I downloaded this video sometime back though I have no recollection of where I got it from. It's not very often that Mayday gets interviewed in English and this one was recorded in Japan during a MTV event. Ashin was standing noticeably furthest from the interviewer with the funky mohawk, leaving the band's English speakers to deal with him hehe

Bangkok trip

A week to go to my Bangkok trip!

I was looking forward to getting away from the horrible KL heat but I've been told it gets even hotter in Bangkok. *gulp* Must remember to pack my sunblock, shorts and singlet.

I haven't seen my Thai friends in almost 2 years ago. Jib has taken leave from work to take us around Bangkok. What a pal :)

Looking forward to a weekend of good food and great shopping!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last weekend on V-Day and my butt were numb by the time the credits started to roll! Running time was almost 2 hours 20 mins long and I cannot remember the last time I watched a movie this long. (I think it was LOTR Return Of The King..)

The concept of a person aging in reverse is really interesting and it goes to show that no matter how we age (whether in reverse or otherwise) we still end up in nappies in the end! lol. How did they make Brad Pitt look like he's 18 again?? That's so amazing! Why he look like he just stepped off the set of Thelma & Louise hehe

Heatwave in KL

On a very rare occasion at work, I found myself sweating in the office today. It’s not that the aircon system broke down but rather, the intense heat from the sunshine pouring through my office window!

My blinds are kept closed when it’s sunny outside to shut out the rays of the sun (else I get a very bad glare on my computer screen). It was so hot outside today that I could feel the wrath of the angry afternoon sun even with the blinds closed and the aircon on.

Looks like we're going through another spell of heatwave.

No Surprises

I’ve never really been a big Radiohead fan despite what the critics say about how good they are. I do however, own a few of their albums and singles. (on CD mind you, none of those digital music crap :P) A few years ago I picked up a copy of the critically acclaimed OK Computer CD during a sale at HMV cos I've always wanted to own a copy of one of the most essential Britpop albums ever.

Anyhow, I figure the band must be big in Japan cos come 1 April 2009, Radiohead's first 3 albums; Pablo Honey, Bends and OK Computer will be re-released in special Japanese 3 CD editions. And the price? A whopping ¥5,220 each (approx RM205) !!

For the casual fans, there's the budget Japanese edition which is a much cheaper option. I once bought a copy of Pablo Honey - Japan edition with 5 bonus live tracks (including a superb live rendition of Creep) at a fraction of the new prices.

Agent J's campus tour

I read in the papers today that 'Jolin Tsai is said to be keen to follow in the footsteps of boyband Mayday by going to campuses to hold concerts' *cough cough* Who's the misguided author who wrote that news? "BOYBAND"??! Mayday is not a boyband nor were they ever a boyband (c'mon the Mayday guys are all well into their 30's!)

Jolin has noted that Mayday's campus concerts boosted their album [Poetry of the Day After 後青春期的詩] sales greatly hence the idea of her embarking on her own campus tour. Some fans aren't too happy that she has to resort to such gimmick to sell her upcoming album, though I'm sure her hot blooded male fans would be more than happy to welcome her to play at their campus :P Why, she could dress up in a schoolgirl's uniform!

coming soon to a campus near you?

And for the record, campus concerts isn't a cheap gimmick to boost album sales. It's just a different form of pre-order gift. While other artists are giving away calendar/photobook/rubik's cube *ahem* as pre-order gifts, Mayday are giving away free concerts. Night after night they play for hours at various campus to spread their love for music. Such is the generosity of the band that we love =]

Phantom Hourglass revisited

I last played The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass a good couple of months back, found myself hopelessly stuck in one of the temple and then gave up playing it. Inspired by watching sudafan playing Wind Waker recently, I decided to revisit Phantom Hourglass. I reset my old saved game and started afresh.

The game takes place after Wind Waker (seems it's a sequel), and our hero Link has to travel from island to island with the cowardly Captain Linebeck, rescuing spirits to help locate the mysterious Ghost Ship that has abducted his friend Tetra. Like all classic Zelda games, along the way there's plenty of swash-buckling action and witty characters.

The game uses DS features for game controls, which I found a little annoying cos Link is controlled solely with the stylus, making the DS control pad redundant.

Coldplay in Singapore

Once again, KL gets skipped by another major international artist (what else is new?) Coldplay will be playing at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 23 March 2009 and tickets go on sale this Monday 16 February 2009 at Sistic.

Ticket prices range from between $88 to $248. This is the one gig I will be skipping cos I think they are way overrated and personally, I don't really like listening to bedwetter's music :P

Warlords

All is quiet in the Mayday camp. The lads have taken the opportunity during the festive Lunar New Year to take a break from their hectic schedule.

Or have they been busy playing 十二之天貳online?

General Chen

General Wen

I reckon they should put on those costume for their next series of concert! And what's with that red scarf? Why is it wrapped around General Wen's waist like that?!

Perfect collaboration

I'm not a big movie buff nor do I buy many films on DVD. I do however, own a couple of my favourite movies and amongst others, the limited edition DVD copy of "Fight Club" and "Se7en". Both movies were directed by David Fincher with Brad Pitt in the male protagonist role.

They were my favourite movies during my school time. I first watched Se7en at the cinema and I enjoyed it immensely (I like dark and disturbing movies haha) I loved how cleverly written the script was, and how creepy Kevin Spacey had portrayed John Doe, and of course, how good Brad Pitt looked as Detective Mills.

Fight Club was released not long after Se7en, another Brad Pitt-David Fincher collaboration. Fight Club was a dark comedy based on a novel. Another brilliant movie, though some would not have enjoyed it cos of its brutal and violent theme. I found it a rather intelligent film and grimly funny. It had a realy great twist at the end.

my Fight Club & Se7en DVD

looks cool eh? wait till u watch the actual film :)

Fincher and Pitt collaborated for the third time on the set of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (which opens here in Malaysia today!) and I am dying to watch it this Saturday.

Laptop skin

Skins, personalized laptop covers, have become all the rage these days. Gone are the days of boring old black coloured laptops. These days laptops are far trendier [Fujitsu has a really cool Tokidoki laptop in the market] and most laptop owners now decorate their lappies with funky laptop skins.

My lappy's personalised with a Mayday skin =]

How I Met The Series

I last saw Neil Patrick Harris on TV a long time ago when Dougie Howser was still airing on TV. Over the years I had forgotten about the series and Dr Howser, until recently when sudafan raved about how good "How I Met Your Mother" is. It's a comedy series starring Neil Patrick Harris featuring narration by Bob Saget (remember him from Full House?)

I don't watch much TV anymore cos I'm constantly glued to my laptop, so I really have no idea what's hot in TV world these days.

The series is currently in its fourth season in the States, and sudafan just picked up the season two DVD set.. hmm.. Maybe I should check it out to see if it's really that good..

Leehom singing Mayday song

My folks are big fans of "The Million Star 百萬大歌星" hosted by Harlem Yu. Each Sunday evening they'd be glued to the telly during dinner watching the contestants trying to win the grand prize by filling in the blanks in song lyrics in the karaoke contest.

I didn't know that Leehom was recently a contestant on that program (thanks Net for the link) I guessed I must have missed that episode on telly.

Leehom got away singing a couple of his own songs.. but met his end when he couldn't sing Mayday's "終結孤單"!! LOL

Victor Wong in HK

Come 18 February 2009, Victor Wong Ping Guan [黃品冠] will be having a concert at the HK Coliseum, which was just recently re-opened after months of closure due to renovation works.

Ashin will be Victor's guest artiste at the concert. Incidentally, I've been listening to Ashin's version of "哄我入睡" on repeat (thanks Jiayu for the song!) [哄我入睡 was written and composed by Ashin for Victor]

I last saw Victor and Ashin sharing the same stage, in HK last May during Mayday's final Down To Earth [回到地球表面] concert at the Asiaworld Expo. I found it rather odd that Victor kept calling Ashin "ah soon gor" when clearly Victor is the older of the two

ah soon gor + ping guan

Blocked YouTube videos

Have you ever encountered blocked videos on YouTube?

Lately I was searching for Glasvegas videos on YouTube and on almost every video I clicked on, I kept getting the following message - "This video is not available in your country"

I did some research online and found that the reason the videos are blocked is because the content owners have allowed access to that video only from certain countries or geographic regions! Oh gee that's great - it didn't use to be a problem when YouTube first came into existence.

This website offers a couple of solution to get around unblocking the blocked videos.. which didn't work for me :(

Top 20 best selling albums in Taiwan of 2008, revisited

This is a follow-up post to my last entry on the Top 20 best selling albums in Taiwan of 2008. Puti requested for a full list so here it is:-

1. Mayday 五月天 Poetry of the Day After 後青春期的詩　
2. Jay Chou 周杰倫 Capricorn 魔傑座　　
3. Jam Hsiao 蕭敬騰 同名專輯　　
4. Aska Yang 楊宗緯 Dove 鴿子　　
5. Yoga Lin 林宥嘉 Mystery 神秘嘉賓　　
6. S.H.E 我的電台FM S.H.E　　
7. Cape No. 7 OST 電影原聲帶　
8. Lollipop 棒棒堂 哪裡怕　　
9. Show Luo 羅志祥 Trendy Man 潮男正傳　　
10. Jing Wong 黃靖倫 Jing’s Note 倫語錄　
11. Joanna Wang 王若琳 Start from Here 　　
12. Fahrenheit 飛輪海 Two-Sided Fahrenheit 雙面飛輪海　
13. Rainie Yang 楊丞琳 Not Yet a Woman 半熟宣言　
14. Gary Cao 曹格 Super Sunshine　　
15. Kenji Wu 吳克群 Poems for You 為你寫詩　　
16. Wang Leehom 王力宏 Heartbeat心跳　
17. F4 Waiting for You 在這裡等你　
18. Fish Leung 梁靜茹 Today is Valentine’s Day 今天情人節 新歌+Live
19. Show Luo 羅志祥 Show Your Dance 舞所不在　
20. Aska Yang 楊宗緯 Star! Start!星空傳奇Live Concert 2CD

Link's weekend

It’s the start of yet another long weekend. The third consecutive long weekend since CNY J

I’m looking forward to catch up on my Zelda game which I’ve revived (I’m inspired to complete The Phantom Hourglass after watching sudafan play the Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker, which incidentally, is the prequel to The Phantom Hourglass)

maestro Link from The Wind waker

I love Zelda games and have been playing them since my school days yet they are so difficult that I can barely complete most of them. After more than half a year of The Phantom Hourgklass gameplay, I am still stuck in the first dungeon!

Cheer Chen's The Sun

I'm desperate for new albums to listen. Last weekend I tried to purchase some CDs from CDwow.com but somehow the transaction didn't go through. Hmpf! Today, on sudafan's recommendation I downloaded Cheer Chen's new album 太陽/The Sun. The album was released in Taiwan on 22 January 2009 and features 11 tracks.

She's having a concert in Singapore this 4 April 2009 at the Indoor Stadium, I think it's her second solo concert in the island. Hmm don't recall her ever having been here for concert.. It's really sad how KL gets skipped by so many artists.

Kaiser Chiefs in Singapore

I just came to know that Kaiser Chiefs are playing a concert at Singapore's Fort Canning Park this 7 April 2009, after headlining Australia's V festival. If anyone's planning to go, a limited amount of $75 tickets are now available. That's ridiculously cheap!

Ruby Ruby Ruby...