Monday, December 31, 2007

明けましておめでとう!2008もお願いします!

It's a little late to say Merry Christmas at the time of this post, but at least I can still wish you a happy new year. Wishing you a fantastic 2008 starting from day 1 tomorrow! Me and Mabel organised a 'mini' christmas party at our place last week. Well, it was supposed to be mini but in the end we counted and had over 20 guests, whom we must give thanks to for the wonderful time. We had a gift exchange session by the christmas tree, and it was fun trying to guess what our lucky pick was, and then realising that size doesn't really matter in this case. Again, thanks to those who came, and made this Christmas a memorable one.
Mabel's a really cheeky wife to have. Having promised each other not to buy any gifts, she bought me this Spider-man 3 bust figure, and gave it to me at the stroke of midnight. I told her once that I really liked this figure, so she got it for me secretly. I didn't plan anything for her because I was obedient. Haha but at least I gave her a surprise earlier that week, by bringing back the christmas tree and setting it up at home before going to pick her up from work. When she opened the door and saw the tree she thought a burglar had entered our house. Yup, one that leaves behind a christmas tree and doesn't steal anything else. :p
During the holidays that followed, we went around shopping in town. I got myself a couple of books on separate trips, just to make sure that I got something to work out my new year resolutions. The books included a couple of JLPT level 2 preparation material, and also a "thicker than your yellow pages" type of book on Photoshop CS3. Although I work a lot on PS, there are still a lot of things left unexplored, and I gathered that it was time to go a step further and see what I can do with these new features taught in the book.
Haven't been taking any photos of Misa and Kiki recently, so decided to give them a shot in this entry. Both of them have grown quite a fair bit, especially Kiki, who's the same size as Misa now. Kiki's the noisy one, making noises whenever we open the fridge or walk pass the cage. Misa's still the same, cute but lacking in the emotion department. She can stare at you for hours and not take a single step, even when you leave her in the open for hours.....
The official site for the new Tokusatsu shows of 2008 are up, although there's nothing much inside right now. Teasers have also been broadcasted on Japanese TV, and are readily available on youtube. Check out the teaser below, which I have embedded for your viewing convenience. The advertising slogan for the series is "Wake up! Release the chains of destiny." (Wake up! 宿命(さだめ)の鎖を解き放て). Wataru Kurenai (紅 渡), a young man who likes the violin, is destined from birth to become Kamen Rider Kiva to fight the Fangire (ファンガイア) that feed off of humans' lifeforce and are the very race his mother came from. Wataru is assisted by a creature called Kivat-bat the 3rd (キバットバットⅢ世) who attaches to the Kivat Belt (キバットベルト) to allow his human partner to transform. Kiva accesses his arsenal through whistles on his belt called Fuestles (フエッスル).

The Wake Up Fuestle (ウエイクアップフエッスル) opens up the chains on his right leg so Kiva can use his Darkness Moon Break (ダークネスムーンブレイク) attack. Kiva has five other Fuestles, but the names are not currently known. Kiva's motorcycle is named the Machine Kiver (マシンキバー) and his base of operations/mecha is called Castle Dran (キャッスルドラン).
The Go-onger team is composed of Go-on Red (ゴーオンレッド), Go-on Blue (ゴーオンブルー), and Go-on Yellow (ゴーオンイエロー). Go-on Green (ゴーオングリーン) and Go-on Black (ゴーオンブラック) support the main team. The Go-ongers' technology revolves around the Engine Souls (炎神ソウル), sentient chip-like items that imbue power into the items that the Go-ongers employ. When not in use, they are kept in the Engine Soul Holster (炎神ソウルホルスター). The motif of this series is animals and the motor industry. I don't really see myself following this series as nothing known from the series interests me at all right now. We'll have to see how it goes, and having said that Gekiranger is the only sentai show I've seen, and really enjoyed.
AKB48 is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Akimoto Yasushi. AKB48 currently consists of 48 members divided into three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Each group contains 16 members. The group has their own theatre in Akihabara where they perform once every weekday. A much bigger group than any H!P act such as Morning Musume, I've been listening to one of their single called "Bingo". Check it out here:
Local company 77 Star is producing an anime short film “1,000 Stars and Squalls” 「千の星とスコール」, and is now recruiting production staff. The production staff recruitment opens on 28 Dec. Priority will go to experienced design students that attends 77 Star’s 6-month course in animation production. This course is meant for those with prior experience in design, and the course is at S$288 per month]. Students that attended the 12 months course [S$350 per month] may apply as a part-timer positions. The animation section of 77 Star productions is looking for 30 people to staff the Animation Section, and another 10 people for the Voice Acting section. This project marks the first locally produced anime short film, right here in Singapore. Produced in collaboration with Yoyogi Animation School (代々木アニメーション学院)in Japan,77 Star aims achieve recognition and awareness for the local anime industry in Singapore. Here’s a sypnosis of the story.
Year 2008, Summer…

I met her in the International Exchange Programme that was held in an university in Tokyo. Her name was Mai, an overseas student from a Singapore university who liked Japan very much. On a rainy day, I got to know her from a little incident.

As the summer ended, the time for her to return to Singapore had arrived. Before she returned, I couldn’t express my real feelings towards her…. After she had returned a month later, her letter came. On that letter, there was only one word written on it: ‘arigato’.

I noticed that the word had been rewritten again and again. I felt that something had been attracted deep inside my heart. ‘I have to express my feelings to Mai…’ Then, I decided to travel to Singapore. In order to meet Mai once more……

I'll be logging off soon, to meet a couple of friends for dinner and to catch a midnight show (yes, counting down in a theater....). Although I've read some extremely negative reviews for Aliens Vs Predator II: Requiem, I can't help it but to watch it and bitch about it later on. So, expect a review in the next update. I'm not saying it sucks (yet), but I'm not having my hopes pinned high. Well, happy new year to all reading this. Thanks and see ya. Ja!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

獣拳戦隊ゲキレンジャー PV


Made another video this week, not of myself this time. Rather, it's my first attempt at making fan made videos based on Japanese Tokusatsu shows. Based on this year's Super Sentai show: Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger (獣拳戦隊ゲキレンジャー), which is ending very soon. Check it out!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

病気しょたので、ちょっと大変です

久しぶりですね! It's been quite a while since the last update, around 3 weeks I think, just before my JLPT 3. I've been sick these days so I haven't really got any mood to update. Err.... ok so I wasn't really that sick, but still I didn't find any urge to write, and hence keep pushing off this update till I found time to burn. As for the JLPT, it wasn't as easy as I had hoped (or expected), so I'm not expecting high marks like how I scored over 90% for the JLPT 4. I'll settle for a pass, so hopefully I'll have something to celebrate come next May when the results are out.
Finally got myself a new laptop too! I've been working on a lot of multimedia related assignments lately, and using processor extensive applications like Premiere or Photoshop on my previous laptop was murder. On countless occasions I nearly flung my mouse onto my old laptop monitor because the darn thing hung at the most crucial moments. Well, at least she's served me well for nearly 4 years now. Hew new sister, also from NEC, boasts the following specs:
Not everything's the same though, as in I only have 200 GB worth of harddisk space, and that I'm using Vista home edition. Vista's been a pain in the ass, due to some bugs with software built for xp. I even lost my itunes stats, because Vista's using a new form of storing and archiving documents, and a stupid bug made me delete my documents. Solved that now, but my statistical data is lost forever. DAMNIT. At least I can play the next gen games on my living room TV now.
Berryz Koubou's released their new single this month, named Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi (付き合っているのに片思い). It's another lively song, and as much as I love the costumes I thought the dance sequence sucked. I've never been a fan of those knee jerk movements. The song is catchy enough though, so can't really complain. Another bright spark to note is that Sugaya Risako's really looking fantastic in the PV. She's looking much more feminine than before, especially when compared to the other members (such as Momoko...argh). It's amazing when you see these H!P artists start from such a young age, and grow up to be an adult within such a short time. And usually, the transformation is really incredible. Just take Kusumi Koharu for example. From a audition try out to become the current front girl and face of Morning Musume...... simply amazing.

L-77 Star is a newly established company in Singapore, bring to us a variety of anime related education programmes, such as the Seiyuu (voice actor) course, which is due to commence very soon. Also on its agenda is a free anime newsletter, set to be ready early next year. This is really good news for anime fans in Singapore, as the newsletter covers articles on the latest anime series, games and consoles, cosplay information, and even tells you about places in Japan such as Akihabara. Keep a look out for this newsletter coming your way soon.
About the Voice Actor Course: You don't need to have an exceptional voice in order to be a voice actor. In the course of a year, each and every student will discover their own special voice. Students will acquire the basics of physical stamina, sense of rhythm, breathing methods and other skills. Following that, students will gain a wide variety of performance techniques that enable them to act in all kinds of scenes. If you're interested in providing voices for future anime titles to be released all over the world, do give their site a visit and provide support for the local anime production efforts.

News of next year's Kamen Rider series have surfaced! Kamen Rider Kiba (仮面ライダーキバ or Masked Rider Fang) is the title for the 2008 Kamen Rider series produced by Toei Company and Ishimori Productions. Nothing is currently known about its plot or characters. It premieres on January 27, 2008, following the finale of Kamen Rider Den-O. It will be a part of TV Asahi's 2008 Super Hero Time block with Engine Sentai Go-onger. Current advertisements suggest a horror film theme to the series, with the motif for Kamen Rider Kiba as a vampire, and also feature a second Rider tentatively named Kamen Rider Hunter (仮面ライダーハンター). First impression of this Kamen Rider, is surprisingly good. That's because the first impression of the previous 2 seasons (Kabuto and Den-O) have been less warmly received due to radical new designs. So far, Kiba's looking good and more pics to come in the next few updates.
Engine Sentai Go-onger (炎神戦隊ゴーオンジャー, Enjin Sentai Gōonjā, Engine Squadron Go-onger) is the title of Toei Company's thirty-second Super Sentai series of Japanese tokusatsu television dramas. Nothing else is currently known concerning characters or cast. It is scheduled to premiere on February 17, 2008 following the finale of Juken Sentai Gekiranger. It will air as part of TV Asahi's 2008 Super Hero Time block alongside Kamen Rider Kiba. The motif of this series is animals and the motor industry. Gekiranger's the 1st Sentai show I've really gotten into (the only one which doesn't put me off as being to kiddy), so I'm pretty sad to see it end. It was great while it lasted, so I'll have to see whether this new series will become a must watch series for me. I doubt so, but we'll see.
Another entry completed. Will take another rest while I think of new stuff to write. Most probably this wait won't take too long, because there are lots of announcements and events happening both in Tokusatsu and anime lately. Until then, I'm ending off with a current fave song, called "Koko ni iru yo" (ここにいるよ) by SoulJa feat. Thelma Aoyama .