北海道のフェアへ行ったばかり

Just visited the Hokkaido fair which is being held at Tampines Mall, and boy was it packed. You'd never have imagined the queue that was leading a few rounds within the display stands, just to buy freshly made cream puffs and cakes. Me and Mabel managed to squeeze between the hordes of people, and got for ourselves some food stuff, such as ramen and Japanese fishcakes. A Japanese auntie even gave me a discount, for speaking to her in Japanese. She winked and put her finger to her mouth, while returning me the change for a crab flavoured fishcake which costs over $5. Most of the things were pretty expensive, but it's pretty natural since it would be hard to get such authentic stuff in Singapore. We did a fair bit of shopping around the entire day, and got some interesting stuff too. Mabel bought more baby stuff, more or less orientated to girls clothings, though I still prefer to remain neutral since the confirmation will only come next month. I'm ok with either a girl or a boy, since to me health will be the important issue.

We bought a small miniture model of the Honda Fit, yellow colour too. It required some assembly, and needed 4 AAA batteries to power up the car and the infra-red sensor. Pretty cool, since I was able to drive the mini-Jazz around my living room. It makes for a great display too, since it's now sitting on top of our shoe rack. I also finally got the latest Ultimate Solid set for the Ultraman series, and thankfully I'm still on track having collected all previous installments. They're really detailed, hence the higher than normal pricing....

The recent commercials featuring Tsuchiya Anna (土屋 アンナ) piqued my curiosity, and thus I went online and did some research on her. Apparently the album advertised on TV is a pretty old one. Not surprising, since Singapore rarely gets mainstream Japanese music and only selected artists from well known record companies get the nod here. More about Anna can be found here. Her album Strip Me is in Singapore now, and although released in Japan since 2006, I find it really good and reminds me a lot of Aikawa Nanase (相川 七瀬). Tracks such as Rose, Knock Down and Slap that Naughty Body shows her punk/rock side, which softer tracks such as Jane shows her being softer and more composed. All in all, good stuff and do check her out. Hopefully we'll hear more from other Japanese artists and not just outdated stuff a few years back.

Jumps SQ’s August issue has some new images from the upcoming Dragonall movie. You can see the rest of the images from the link here. Along with new scans, Goku (Justin Chatwin) is also seen in the original gi which was worn at the very beginning of Dragonball. This homage shows promise, and also means that we can get to see more stuff which was in the original anime series. From the very same magazine, here are some words from the cast: Justin Chatwin (Goku): "I am very honored to be able to play Goku. When I am playing gentle and loving Goku, I feel as if I am given energy from him. In the movie, I have a lot of great action scenes. After the movie is finished post production, I’ll get to see my Kamehameha appear on the screen, and I get very excited when I imagine that." Chow Yun-Fat (Master Roshi):
"On my career as an actor, it is my first time to play a manga character. Dragonball is read all over the world, have many hard core fans. I hope they won’t be disappointed by my acting (laugh). But to be honest with you, I’m totally satisfied with my performance as Master Roshi."

The 3rd trailer for the movie Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers (大決戦！超ウルトラ８兄弟, Daikessen!) has been released a while back, along with some other events featured in its advertising campaign. With just 2 more months to go before the release in Japan, many of the figures and toys have already been shown and we can expect them to make their way to local shores soon. Check out the trailer here:

Even closer to the release dates are the movies based on this year's Super sentai and Kamen rider series. They are: Movie Edition: Kamen Rider Kiva: The King of Hell Castle (劇場版　仮面ライダーキバ　魔界城の王) and Engine Sentai Go-onger: Boom Boom! Bang Bang! GekijōBang!! (炎神戦隊ゴーオンジャー　BUNBUN！BANBAN！劇場BANG!!). Yes, the titles are a bit of a handful. Both movies will premiere in Japan next month, and will be tied in with their respective series. And in tune with tradition, Kiva will be getting his form upgrade in his movie. Known as the Emperor form, he comes complete with new gear and a new cape, as shown in the picture on the right. There will also be movie exclusive characters, so we can expect EX versions of their models to be in stalls soon. Toei announced on its various official websites that there would be a series of short five-minute internet movies that are spin-offs of both The King of Hell Castle and Boom Boom! Bang Bang! GekijōBang!! to be accessed by a mobile phone service, so hopefully we'll be seeing them online soon too.

I managed to get 2 tickets for the preview screening of The Dark Knight from a close friend, so hopefully me and Mabel will find time off (its a weekday) to attend it. I've been avoiding a lot of the teaser stuff on the net, and I'm looking forward to the show. Frankly speaking, I like Batman but definately not as much as the Marvel heroes. I thought Batman Begins was good, but overrated by many of the reviewers on the net. To prepare myself for the movie, I even watched Batman: Gotham Knight. It comprises of a few short stories featuring Batman, drawn by different artists in distinctively different styles, ranging from American comics to Japanese anime. I actually feel asleep near the end, but it was probably due to fatigue than boredom. Will post my thoughts on the movie after the show.

We're also be going for the detailed scan of the baby in 2 weeks time, so hopefully everything's going to be fine, and once we confirm the gender I'll be posting up more information here. In the meantime, live still carries on as usual although I'll most probably be expecting a change of environment in work as I will be embarking on a command tour soon. It's all part of my road of advancement career wise, and I'm looking forward to it, although it will mean more busy times ahead. But then again, we all need to make the best use of whatever time that is given to us. So, until the next post, check back soon. Cya!