It's been a good whole 2 months plus since my last blog entry. Although it's been around 3 weeks since my return from Australia, we've been really really busy with our renovation preparations. And also, my internet connection at the new place seems a tad problematic. I can't connect to certain sites, including Blogger, which explains why I've not updated in such a long time. Initially I thought that it was due to the quakes, but then I have been able to log in from other places. I really need to get this sorted out soon....
One could hardly imagine the amount of work needed to really make your place the dream home that you've always wanted. We spent days discussing intricate details with our designer, and spent countless hours shopping for furniture and everyday house hold items.
While not yet complete due to several missing key furniture, we've already moved in, and settling very well these days.The housewarming party is yet to be confirmed, till at least all our ordered furniture arrives. Here's a quick glimpse of our living room, but Mabel doesn't want too many pictures to be posted at this point of time, so that she would still have a few surprises up her sleeves when the guests arrive. For friends/strangers who cannot make it to the house warming, don't worry as I'll post up more pictures in due time.
Here you will get another glimpse of my entertainment/display room! And as expected, it's full of my Ultraman figures, Kamen Rider figures, the Gundam model kits, and of course the Garo figures. There's not much space for new figures, but I've got most of the stuff I kept for years on display, finally. The sad thing is that most of my air brushed Gundams had to be squeezed into one level, and that most of them had to go without their stands to make room. Well, you win some, you lose some. If more stuff come in (and I'm sure they will), I'll have to sacrifice some of the older stuff to make more room.
Mabel's been very much with housework, and is either washing clothes or ironing them every day. I'm clueless as to why there's so much things to be done. Maybe it's because I have a higher tolerance level.... Anyway, we've also bought alot of electrical appliances to make toast, steam boat, grill meat, etc. She's having a blast preparing food, and the picture you see is a sample of one of the breakfasts that she makes for me. We're still having problems operating the microwave open at times, but we're coping fine.
We visited Cosplay Cafe at Chijmes recently, and I finally had a chance to take pics with same maids! After being rejected by the Akihabara maids back in Japan a few months ago, this was at least a consolation prize. Sure they might be Singaporeans, but their "Power of Love" special moves raises their kawaii factor up a few notches. Cosplay is encouraged, but I'm not too sure what me and Mabel can dress up as. Well, as long as otakus visit the cafe, they will be around in time to come. Ryan celebrated his birthday there, and had 3 maids giving him support in the challenges (read: sabo). Mabel's a maid too, I thought. Just a different kind, that's all. One that does housework and not dressed in kawaii french style only mah.
Having seen both of the live action films and the currently broadcasting anime series, I've been converted into a total Death Note fan. I started downloading all the anime episodes, and even bought the manga in English form, which costs triple the price than the Mandarin versions. I love the plot in Death Note, especially on the battle of wits between L and Yagami Light. I've even uploaded a page of the Death Note rules on my webspace. You can see it here. Beware of spoilers though, as many of the rules have yet to be revealed in the anime.
On the Hello! Project front, the latest single from Berryz Koubou (Berryz 工房) has been released, and personally I feel it's has a great tune to it and is one of the best singles from HP in recent months. It's better than the past few Morning Musume Singles, and deserves to be posted here as a video. The name of the song is "Munasawagi Scarlet" (胸さわぎスカーレット). Don't be put off by their young appearance. These girls will make it big in a couple of years time. Check out their video via youtube below.
In other H!P news, the 8th generation winner has been announced! Sadly, it's another young girl. Her name is Mitsui Aika, (光井愛佳) - Nicknamed Mittsi (she's the one in the top right corner in the top pic). She's 14 I believe. Older than when Kagi Ai, Goto Maki, and last year's winner Kusumi Koharu joined. I'm not sure what the producers were looking for, since there were so many other good looking girls at the auditions which were held all over Japan, much like American Idol. Either way, Tsuku has an eye out for talent, as Koharu has proved. With the departure of Hitomi and Miki coming soon, the old birds will be replaced by the young girls. Can't say I like that very much, as it's the more mature girls who stand out in MM.
And also, Morning Musume celebrates it's 10th year anniversary very soon, and has released a new single called Bokura ga Ikiru MY ASIA. It's performed by a shuffle group called Morning Musume 10 nen Kinentai, which means 10th anniversary team. It consists of 5 girls: Abe Natsumi, Goto Maki, Iida Kaori, Niigaki Risa, and Kusumi Koharu. It's a slow song and sounds similar to Sakura Mankai. Will post up the PV for the next update. 
I've completed the Kamen Rider Blade series recently. It's from 2005, but is recently getting exposure in Singapore because of Kids Central screening it every Sunday at 10:30am. The dubbing sucks and I'm sure they are going to remove the more violent scenes, so I'm recommending downloading from Tv-nihon instead. Always go with the original voices in anime or toku. The dubbing never does justice to the original voices. The Garo movie is out too, and it's fantastic. I will write more on that, as well as the new 2007 sentai and Kamen Rider shows in upcoming shows in future posts.
Too many things to say, but I can't do it at home due to internet connection problems. Damnit. Will talk more soon once I find out where the fault lies in. In the mean time, do leave a message to let me know you're still reading this ok? Take care friends!
I've recently received the Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers DVD I've ordered from Amazon Japan. The special edition of the DVD comes with a few special items, such as the script and story board pictures. Sadly, the movie only includes Japanese subtitles. But luckily, because of the Japanese subtitles, I am able to slowly translate it into English, with the help of my handy Furigana dictionaries.
James Ballard, a regular on the Ultraman Lah forum gave the movie a very detailed and positve review. You can check it out here. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly, and thought that it was a very fitting movie for a 40th anniversary special. The appearances from the older actors really brings back lots of memories, not to mention a sense of nostalgia which sweeps through your entire body when you see the actors back in their young days decades ago.
With that, I present to you the srt file here. If you want to thank me for what I've done, just leave a message here on this blog post. I'm happy enough knowing that there are people all over who appreciate the time I've taken for the translation and the timing. If the file expires, just leave a message in the shoutout box and I will update it again shortly.
Thank you and please enjoy the movie. I know I did. 皆さん、お楽しみください！ウルトラマンメビウス＆ウルトラ兄弟の映画をきっと見ました！すぐに英語に翻訳をしました！
