MrNiCeKiD's DeAd

free windows 7

2009-11-08T23:01:00.007+09:00

I had a pleasant surprise when I went to check my mail box today.

I got my free copy of Windows 7 Home Premium from Microsoft!

When I bought my new computer, it comes with Vista and a free coupon for Windows 7.

I’ve been using Windows XP the whole time, and the change to Vista brought along some unwanted trouble (mostly because I was not used to the new system) but now I can say that I understood why people HATE Vista so much.

If you have the slightest interest on news about operating systems, you’d heard about people that knows what they are talking about, are saying that Windows 7 is going to save Microsoft some face because it is much more polished, stable and faster than ever.

Windows 7 were labeled as the best OS from Microsoft, yet.

BUT.

I’m still pretty skeptical.

Sounded too good to be true.

So for the mean time, although I have Windows 7, I would not be upgrading to it.

Besides, what if some of my games that worked beautifully in Vista, run like shit on Win 7?

Before upgrading to Windows 7, I want to at least finish Borderlands, Vegas 2, Dead Space, Fear 2, Crysis Warhead, Stalker Clear Sky AND Resident Evil 5.

Then I’d make the jump.

Like always… games come first.

Lulz.

REVEAL SPOILER

*note: this has nothing to do with Windows 7, but clicking the spoiler link will reveal some latest pictures of the ever lovely Akiyama Rina aka Oshirina. Be nice and thank me in your prayers.

kelate vs n9

2009-11-07T19:48:00.002+09:00

ore kato gomo klate gomo.

gomo gomo jugok.

tapi jange sapa jadi pongoh tok kalu.

kalu klate demo kaloh.

ore kato sek sek klate ghama gedebe.

ganah sangak la tuh.

sebak bola.

kalu pasa karo lain.

malah hapah.

another long collection of movie reviews!

2009-11-01T20:59:00.013+09:00

おくりびと(Departures) – 9.0
Okuribito is simply put the best Japanese movie I’ve seen this year. A cello player lost his musical job, and then decides to leave Tokyo to return to his Yamagata hometown. This is how he found a job as the person who does the traditional preparation for the dead during funerals. The intricate details and how the director likes to tease its audience with scenes that opens up possibilities for various interpretations was really a quality only found in Japanese movies; and I love this style of film-making. The story was very beautiful and I managed to learn a thing or two about the traditional Japanese funerals. If you like movies, you have to watch this. I can’t write how much HIGHLY RECOMMENDED this one gem is.

Star Trek – 8.0
I must state a confession here: I was never a fan of Star Trek because I thought the costumes were foolishly gay, and why drool on Star Trek when there is something as awesome as Star Wars? The only reason why I wanted to watch this in the first place is because of director J.J.Abrams; and boy what a great movie this is! Ok, maybe I’m pushing it a little bit here, but what genius could turn something as stupid and boring as Star Trek into such a great action movie with great story? Recommended.

Godfather 3 – 8.4
The Godfather series is probably one of my favorite movies of all time, and recently, I had the opportunity to watch the third and last installment on Bluray. Like the first and second, you’re immediately drawn into the story and all its interesting characters right from the start. A lot of the flash back scenes tied some loose ends from previous movies, and provide the much appreciated detail to an amazing drama. Highly recommended.

Joint Security Area – 8.0
Brilliant story telling and realistic drama that not only involves a couple of military personnel, but symbolizes the feelings of two nations at whole. The story involves border guards at the South Korea – North Korea border, and this movie really made me think about the true meaning behind the word nationalism and patriotism. It is emotional, it is sometimes funny and definitely a recommended watch.

The Twilight Samurai (たそがれ清兵衛) – 8.5
One of the better Samurai movies out there, The Twilight Samurai is strives for a realistic presentation of its world, and the audience got sucked in pretty quickly into the Samurai era of feudal Japan. This is one slow drama but the meticulous detail put into the story line, beautiful props and low-key acting really fits the theme very well and I enjoyed every minute of the movie and it slowly creeps up on me and succeeded in holding my attention to the end credits. The basic story is about a low-ranked samurai who quietly lives his hard life trying to support his two daughters and his mother. Spice the story with some feudal Japanese romance, and I’m sold. If you like Samurai movies that focus more on story than action, you have got to watch this gem. Recommended for sure!

Changeling – 8.4
This has got to be Angelina Jolie’s best movie yet. A mother lost his son, and when the police found the wrong boy and insisted that it was her lost boy, several heinous crimes were uncovered and linked, bringing along with it an interesting story with a lot of emotion and drama. I totally recommend this movie directed by Clint Eastwood.

Ponyo On The Cliff (崖の上のポニョ) – 7.8
I was always a fan of Studio Gibli’s movies, and although Ponyo is not the best, it is still unique in its own ways while retaining that stark Hayao Miyazaki style. Although this movie was publicized to be a children’s movie, I think there were parts of the storyline that might seem hard for a kid to understand. Children will love the creative visuals and adults will enjoy the intricate details put into the animation; and Ponyo being kawaii really helped both parties. Recommended if you like Hayao Miyazaki movies!

Public Enemies – 7.3
I was quite hyped to see this movie because of lead Johnny Depp and Christian Bale was in it, but was quite disappointed when finished watching it. This is not a bad movie, but so much potential in chemistry between both actors is wasted with shallow characterization and story build-up. The gun fights were entertaining and realistically cool though. Definetely not the best film for Johnny Depp/Christian Bale.

Shake Hands With The Devil – 8.0
If you liked Hotel Rwanda and want to see another good movie about the Rwanda Genocide, you have to watch this movie. The POV this time is from Roméo Dallaire, the Commanding General of the UN Forces in Rwanda at that time. Very violent and very tragic, the movie captures General Dallaire’s frustration and guilt very well and the lead actor did a great deal of acting to bring all the emotions alive. This is a great movie about the failure of humanity, and I highly recommend watching it.

Monsters vs Aliens – 7.9
DreamWorks Animation has been a great rival to Pixar when it comes to CGI movies and Monsters vs Aliens is another great addition to their great offerings of CGI movies. Although targeted towards children, I had fun watching this. Simple and funny. Recommended.

Sweet Lie – 8.0
I don’t know why, but it seems like I have developed fondness to Korean romantic comedies, and Sweet Lie is one of the reason of this. The story seemed so clichéd and unoriginal at first, but the director managed to put some twist to the story, denying it to be boring. This is one cute and funny movie, and if you like Korean romantic comedies, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Talentime – 7.5
The first half of the movie is spent building its multi-racial characters while trying to break stereotypes of each other. Sometimes it felt like the message was forced down our throats, but I guess that’s exactly what Yasmin Ahmad had in mind. The acting was hit and miss, and the dialogue terribly unrealistic, just like her past efforts. The whole movie might felt like a cheesy melodrama and lack focus nor direction, but it clearly had something big that it wants Malaysians to think about. Think about Malaysians as non racial, but mere humans with differences. Not one of Yasmin’s best films though…it is very sad that she is not with us anymore... She had so much potential...

Year One – 7.0
Jack Black and Micheal Cera together in a movie that insults Jews, Christians and Muslims as it poke at the ridiculousness of holy tales taken from Torah, Bible and Quran. How can that be NOT funny? Most of the jokes are stupid and some disgusting, but the whole movie was not that bad, and Micheal Cera was funny. So was Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Brain not needed to enjoy this.

Xmen Origins Wolverine – 7.0
You like Wolverine? Then you should watch this movie. If you have no idea who or what Wolverine is, then don’t watch this because there was nothing special about this movie. Just another Hollywood action movie. I happen to dig Wolverine. That is why I’m writing this.

Land Of The Lost – 6.0
Will Ferrell should really choose his movies; and think about a new funny character, not play the same character in all his movies. Bad movie, it would be better if they had a hotter chick as Will Ferrell’s love interest though.

Goemon – 7.2
This Japanese alternate fantasy movie seems like a great idea on paper, but the execution was pretty rough and I wonder whether to take it seriously or does the cheesiness and stereotypical elements in a lot of Japanese fantasy movies were just there as an element of parody. I guess 90% of the scenes were made out of cheap CGI, and the acting really didn’t help much. As a mindless action movie though, the amount of cool action involving shinobis killing hundreds and hundreds of fully armored samurais could satisfy any action movie fans. Still, definitely NOT a good Japanese movie, although the effort should be encouraged.

Transporter 3 – 7.4
If you love Jason Statham, you’re going to love this movie, but even to the normal action movie-lover, this movie is not bad at all. The action scenes were cool and the ending was pretty explosive… literally. Jason Statham was brilliant but I just wished they casted a hotter girl as the package.

Too Beautiful To Lie – 7.0
A pretty ex-conwomen on parole had to lie and lie some more to avoid trouble, but it causes more chaos and leads to some funny situations that don’t make sense but this romantic comedy Korean movie is as mediocre as many of it’s kind, so there is no surprise there. I think a rating of 7.0 is pretty generous already.

Crank High Voltage – 7.0
Although not as good as the first Crank, High Voltage is almost as crazy. The sequel does have more violence and sex, so be prepared because it was pretty ‘hardcore’ and might offend a lot of people. Even a good Muslim would surely be sent to hell if he/she enjoys this.

Fast & Furious – 7.3
This would be the 4th addition to the Fast And Furious series, and after Tokyo Drift, this time they’re bringing back the cast from the original. The story is worse this time around but the action sequences were pretty enjoyable and at least I had fun. In short: not so furious.

10 Things I Hate About You – 7.5
It’s quite amazing that a movie so old thus seems to be packed full with cliché, is still enjoyable.

Che Part 1 – 6.0
The movie was so boring that I slept in the whole movie. I need to rewatch this and re-view it again, if I have the time.

Race To Witch Mountain – 6.0
2 alien kids with alien powers and Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson is in this Disney action/adventure movie. I guess you’d figure out what to expect from these types of movies. Not terrible, but just passable.

Chadni Chowk To China – 5.0
This Indian movie’s new concept of bringing Bollywood to the world of kungfu in China seems like an interesting promise, but it failed miserably because one must not forget that they bringing along Bollywood’s horrible acting, failed attempt at comedy, ridiculous story, dumb actors and worse directors. The cinematography was beautiful and the music was not so bad though. Avoid this movie.

Red Cliff 1 – 6.0
Boring. John Woo was a brilliant director when it comes to modern action movie. I mean, he popularizes shooting with two pistols and flying while at it! Unfortunately, I don’t think he made great epic movies that had to deal with history and ancient Chinese battles and story. Of maybe I was just too tired from work when I watch this?

Twilight – 7.0
Seriously, I thought this movie is going to be shit; but it is not. I never read any of it’s novels but by watching this movie, I kinda understands why Twilight is such a hit with the teenage girls. I mean, which teenage girls don’t want a vampire boyfriend that’s rich as fuck, good looking and had super powers? Kristen Stewart was incredibly hot in a weird and new way. I really like her acting style.

Adventureland – 7.0
I expected a nonsense comedy with lots of perverted jokes but this movie is far more than that. Of course it has those aforementioned elements, but the story focused more on romance and conflicts that it brings along. The acting was really relaxed and Kristen Steward was weird hot and I started to like this young actress after seeing this movie and Twilight. There was nothing special about the movie though, but I don’t really regret watching it.

Tokyo! – 7.0
Three different stories from three different directors, with three different styles and three different preferences; and they all have one thing in common: location. One pretty weird movie though, and I don’t normal moviegoers could stomach any of it.

September Tapes – 6.0
Borrowing the format of Blair Witch Project, this ‘finding Osama Bin Laden’ movie is all about creating a believable home-made movie, with some seriously realistic special effects and camera shots. Not bad at all, but I just can’t rate this movie any higher.

Land Of The Dead – 6.5
Zombies!!!

A Very Long Engagement – 7.0
This Frech movie starts very slow, and it didn’t pick up the pace quick enough to hold my interest in the plots about a girl who tries to investigate about what really happened to his fiancé during the war.

Dragonball Evolution – 5.5
I knew this real-action adaptation of the legendary Dragonball manga would be extremely bad, and I still can’t believe how right I am.

Erotic Comic Girl – 5.0
The movie is about a virgin Japanese girl who works and strives to be a good eroge mangaka (erotic comic artist), and after her imagination for sexual stories almost runs dry, she searches desperately for ways to refresh and advance her ability to be more imaginative. The obvious step to take is to pop her cherry and have lots of sex… What a dumb movie.

this weekend 2

2009-10-25T22:59:00.004+09:00

friday night the people at work held a welcoming party for the two of us 新人(shin jin - new guy) at this japanese-italian izakaya.

it was not so bad.

when all the 年配の方 (nenpai no kata - old people) left, we held a second party (二次会 - nijikai) just for people in their twenties.

with the big senpais gone, the second party was more relaxed, and i got to talk and had simple games with my new colleagues; which is a great opportunity for bonding.

after the second party, they wanted to go karaoke until morning, but i just had enough for the night.

the other shinjin got so drunk that i think i should take the responsibility to take him home.

well, i always take the drunkards home. always.

the next morning i woke up very late.

then out of the blue, i decided to buy a new car.

so i went to Toyokawa, and then i bought a second-hand Honda Fit.

although the it is not brand new, the condition was very good, and the price was not so bad.

around 470000 yen for everything plus road tax until October of 2010.

it was really a pretty good deal.

i went home and decided to organize my photos using picasa.

the free image software from google is amazing! especially the face recognition tech!

i'm very impressed!

i woke up on the sunday morning with a headache.

and hungry as fuck.

so i went to family mart next door to buy a simple bento.

while i eat my bento, i connected my 47 inch sharp aquos to my nvidia gtx 285 via hdmi so that i could watch おくりびと (Okuribito - Departed) on the big screen.

that movie was simply the best Japanese movie i've watched this year. highly recommended!

then i turned to my ps3 to continue the single player missions in uncharted 2.

i got to this puzzle involving big ass golden 'dagger' thingy and it was freaking cool and all; but i got stuck so i decided to watch cat videos on youtube when i realized that Adilla was online playing mp.

fast forward some messages...

well, she kindly invites me to her party and for the first time i'm playing co-op.

it was super fun.

i mean AARRRR FUNNN!!!

pretty hard though, but i'm glad i played that game.

thanks Adilla.

kalau ada masa, kita main lagi okeh?

damn, tomorrow's work; gotta go to bed early.

良い夢を！

p/s: i noticed that i have totally forgotten my responsibility to the society to post pictures of hot Japanese girls. i would like to apologize by presenting to you some fines from Anri Sugihara:

REVEAL SPOILER

burger king windows 7 whopper

2009-10-22T12:43:00.000+09:00

this weekend

2009-10-18T23:45:00.002+09:00

this weekend i spent most of my time relaxing, watching movies, playing video games and going outside to explore new cities.

i went to nagoya today, and was surprised to saw this statue that was located just outside of nagoya station.

as you can see from the picture below, it is obviously a statue of a naked women doing an anal-fisting; in the middle of a public space.

i guess the nagoyans are crazy too!

i also got to play uncharted 2's multiplayer, and it was pretty good.

maybe not as good as modern warfare, but at least on par with gear of war 2's.

and that's a high spot to top off.

anyways, i got bored really fast, so i turned to a demo of battlefield 1943 and it was a blast!

then i continued my gaming marathon with a couple of hours of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S Clear Sky and i must say, this one is a gem of an FPS.

great atmosphere, great gun battles, great immersiveness, overall a great game although the story was confusing and the characters were very weak.

with my room tidier and equipped with stuff that i needed, now i can feel like home again.

with that, i hope this means that i could really focus on learning new skills at work, and play harder when i'm off.

tomorrow's going to be a great starting day.

i just hope i could get my hands on a decent honda fit as soon as possible without much hassle.

uncharted 2 getto!

2009-10-16T23:21:00.004+09:00

last week i was looking around for a 3d mouse pad in amazon japan, and then i noticed that they're selling pre-orders of uncharted 2 just for 4784 yen.

that's pretty cheap for a new ps3 game.

the first uncharted was probably the best ps3 game that sony had when it launched the ps3, so i expect the second to be at least on par.

i put my order and i received the game just today.

i was pretty skeptical when i opened the amazon envelope; the cover art for the game is hideously ugly and stupid!

i know the game had a reputation of being a 'movie that you play' in japan, but this is just ridiculous.

then i looked at the back cover and were pretty disappointed to know that the game runs in 720p native; why the hell did i bought my 1080p sharp aquos for?

moving on from my geek-rant, i put on the bluray disk and instantly recognized the interface and was pretty impressed with the first opening 'gameplay'.

i'm just about one hour into the game, but my first impression was that the game is exactly like the first one: unoriginal but very interesting.

this IS the japanese version of the game, so it is bilingual, meaning i could play the game in japanese on my second run! i always play my games in english, if the game offers it.

i stopped playing because i wanted to watch music station; HALCALI's performing my new favorite song 今夜はブーギバック (Konya wa Boogie Back). Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsSCiNCpf7A

anyways, i heard the multiplayer component of uncharted 2 was not so bad.

can't wait to check that out.

i hope it's better than japanese AV.

rearanging the new room

2009-10-15T00:21:00.000+09:00

i'm extremely bad at placing things in my room to make it look like something that humans could live in comfortably.

it has just been a month since i moved to toyota city, and i'm thinking about doing this thing they call 'interior design'.

i start with nothing at all.

then i mess the whole thing up with stuff from my previous apartment.

then i made little effort to look more civilized by placing an unfinished metal rack and a reclining seat on random spaces.

then i bought a tv, a computer table with side-rack and a computer table.

aaahhh i'm too lazy for this shit.

as long as i can watch おねだり！マスカット (Onedari Masukatto) every Sunday in HD, i'm OK.

Osaka Tomorrow!

2009-10-10T00:21:00.002+09:00

i'm going to Osaka tomorrow!

can't wait to use 「なんでやねん！」 - nandeyanen!

all the way!

＊translates to something close to [ Why the hell?!] - one form of 突っ込み (tsukkomi - an important element in the Japanese Manzai comedy routine)

but first, i got to go to sleep.

catching a very early densha tomorrow morning.

the d90 can't wait to be 'on the job' again!

:)

big-ass typhoon tomorrow!

2009-10-07T22:46:00.003+09:00

according to the news, there will be a major HUGE typhoon tomorrow that will hit the whole of Japan in a big way; they're saying that this will be the biggest one in 10 years.

they predicted something really big, that most of the schools and universities around the country is giving out 'disaster holiday' tomorrow.

my company does not give out 'disaster holidays' tomorrow, because gaining profit is more of a logical stance than fearing for the life of its employees, of course!

knowing the Japanese typhoon, i knew that it would be pretty bad.

old people in rural areas will die.

they always did.

i hope this time around that consistency would be broken.

Japan please be safe for all...

going to toyota

2009-10-05T00:10:00.006+09:00

It was a gloomy morning.

I don’t feel like waking up, then I would have to leave this place.

I never liked this weird feeling.

Although it has only been 6 months, I really made great bonds with my (same year) 同期colleagues; and I’m really sad that we have to be separated all over Japan.

It felt like they made us go through such hardships together just to make it such a bummer when we had to part our ways.

I don’t know about the tradition of other companies in other countries, but it is a Japanese company’s tradition to held a ‘determination declaration ceremony’ (決意表明式) at the last day of training, before they send the trainee to their destined department thus ending their training program and officially become a part of the company for real.

There are two main elements during the ‘determination declaration ceremony’: first is officially receiving the ‘department assignation order’ and the second one is the obligatory speech to say our goodbyes and pledge our loyalty to the company by declaring our determination to work hard and stuff.

Thus the determination-declaration!

I don’t remember my own determination-declaration speech, but I’m glad that I was able to fish for some laughs, instead of a gloomy-sad atmosphere.

Then we took our bags, and went out.

To Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Utsunomiya and Sagamihara.

The folks assigned to Yokohama wave us the last goodbye.

I’m assigned to the Nagoya Branch, so I have to take the Nozomi Bullet Train (the fastest bullet train in Japan) from Shin-Yokohama to Nagoya.

When we arrived to our intended destination, we waste no time by asking the kind human resource guy to took us to the city’s municipal office to do what is needed to be done when you move address in Japan; especially for a foreigner like me.

Each city have it’s own regulations, for instance, Toyota City requires the presence of an 印鑑登録書 (certificate for one’s personal seal) for that seal to be approved of use.

The 印鑑 (INKAN) is the equivalent of a signature, and is very important when dealing with documents that needs personal approval or recognition.

Then finally we were taken to our new apartment, and I’m so glad that it has more space that what I got back in Hashimoto.

It even got warm-seat toilets with washlets and full SECOM security system!

Plus, I really liked the bathroom that could be turned into a quick sauna room to fast-dry my laundries!

Anyways, the thing that boils my mind is that by just walking around the neighborhood, I found 3 whore houses just in 1km range from my apartment.

God damn Toyota City!

New Gaming Rig!

2009-09-28T22:08:00.006+09:00

i bought my Dell Dimension 8300 in 2003, and i've been using the system to play games, listen to music, write assignments and other work-related stuff, watch movies, edit photos and videos, and every other activity that one could be doing with a computer.

but it is already 2009.

a single-core Pentium 4 can't keep up with my new habit of crazy multi-tasking when using the computer.

then i knew about intel core i7.

and yesterday, i got one!

it was freaking amazing!

i didn't know such smoothness in handling multiple processes even existed!

the upgrade from Pentium 4 to Core i7 was really worth it.

because i was buying a new rig all together, i guess it would be wise to make sure it could handle future games too.

4GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB SATA2 Hitachi Hard Drive, nvidia 1GB geforce GTX285, creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer to join my intel Core i7-860 (2.8GHz/8M/1333).

all that just costs me around 130000yen, compared to my previous Dell Dimension 8300 that costs me almost 160000yen.

computers getting more powerful with lower costs.

loving it!

now i'm going to play Resident Evil 5 while i run some video decoders, image processors, torrents, virtuagirl HD and multiple rapidshare downloads on the background without ever affecting the fps!

;)

nak raya juga... walaupon sekejap

2009-09-27T23:19:00.000+09:00

tahun ni aku silap budget hari raya.

so tak leh raya.

tapi aku nak raya juga.

so seminggu lepas raya pertama.

baru aku sempat raya.

terima kasih penganjur majlis makan2 raya kat toyohashi gidai punya kokusai kaikan.

so tahun ni kira nya aku dah raya la.

orait!

packing up stufff: moving out

2009-09-13T23:38:00.001+09:00

I hate moving.

I hate packing my stuff into boxes, taping them all up.

Before I could do that, I have to really mess the room up.

It looked like a hurricane just visited my apartment.

Although it was a last-minute effort, I managed to pack my stuff for delivery on time.

With all my stuff on its way to my new place in Aichi Prefecture, I just have my trusty Logitech speakers as the only entertainment tool for my farewell party; to be held in my apartment for the last time.

I should pat myself on the back.

I cleaned the place pretty well.

Now for the farewell party…

they're sending me to NAGOYA!

2009-09-06T23:05:00.003+09:00

my training in Yokohama is getting closer to its final phase.

last Friday, they finally announced where I'm going to be posted after training.

it looked like i was needed at the Nagoya Branch.

the place was actually in Toyota City (the automobile city of Japan, a sister city of Detroit, the automobile city of US), but because it's just close to the famous city of Nagoya, they took the Nagoya name... which was confusing to me at first.

anyways, i have to pack my things and get ready to move (again) in the 15th this month.

that's like next week!

6 months in Sagamihara and Yokohama was a pretty good experience, and i really felt the bond that i made with my fellow co-workers are going to stay for the rest of our lives, and i'm starting to felt a little bit of sad that we're going to be separated to the many corners of Japan.

to all my 同期, good luck! and don't forget our hardships and all the wonderful experience we had together!

man, it is going to be hard to say goodbye...

today is doraemon day

2009-09-03T23:30:00.000+09:00

i was surprised when i went to google today:

they're celebrating the world's most famous robotic cat!

happy birthday doraemon!

and google is soo cool to have done this!

Asakusa Samba Carnival Summer 2009

2009-09-01T00:26:00.006+09:00

I never quite understood it, but each year during summer, the famous Japanese city of Asakusa, known to tourists as the easiest place to experience Japanese culture in Tokyo, held a samba parade competition, where various groups (probably with Brazilian-Japanese roots) would parade with their best group-dance routines and costumes (or lack of) to impress the judge, and the gazillions of local tourists flooding the streets.

This year, the Asakusa Samba Carnival was held last Saturday, and I got nothing better to fill my boring weekend.

My apartment is just an hour train ride to Asakusa, so I thought, why not go and see some hot Brazilian and Japanese chicks dancing half naked on the streets during bright day light eh?

Here I want to express my utmost gratification to all of the genius Brazilians who created this Samba Culture in the first place and brought it to Japan.

A wonderful Brazilian culture that made it OK for Japanese girls to dress up in thongs and parade it for everyone to see, for free!

And you can take pictures and not get into trouble with the police!

Here's some videos:

Asakusa Samba Carnival Summer 2009 from Taufiq Ali on Vimeo.

Click the SPOILER below for more pictures of cultural exchange fun in Japan!

REVEAL SPOILER

early month of ramadhan

2009-08-23T23:12:00.011+09:00

it is the muslim month of ramadhan.

so...

i went to yokohama to see some people dance!

it's the yokohama city's hamakoi dance festival.

the number of groups performing was pretty impressive; and they bring their own originality to their routine. ranging from groups of office ladies.

to high school girls.

obasan with cool okinawan dance gear.

to freaking loli-bear favorites: elementary kids.

and this guy. he wears green scarf on his belly.

or this ojisan trying to take a peek behind the jazzy themed high school girls dance troupe.

here's some video:

then during the night, my co-workers brought me to yataizushi.

to eat sushi.

good old sushi.

maguro maki, avocado gundan, aji, saba, anago, ama ebi, ika, aburi salmon, tuna sarada... and kari.

and oh, their uni was fantastic!

then we did some random stuff until morning.

where i decided to have ice café au lait coupled with butter toast, and boiled eggs.

that might not be enough to some people, but i can't really eat much on mornings.

then later on, i found myself an american football helmet.

so i tried it on, and try to look the look.

where am i going with this?

syurga atau neraka?

2009-08-19T22:27:00.003+09:00

petikan dari BERNAMA:

KUALA LUMPUR 19 Ogos — Dakwaan bahawa pengakuan dan sokongan kepada orang, pertubuhan atau parti tertentu diperlukan sebelum seseorang itu layak masuk syurga atau akan ke neraka adalah salah menurut ajaran Islam, kata Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Muzakarah Fatwa Kebangsaan, Prof. Datuk Abdul Shukor Husin.

Beliau berkata, keputusan Jawatankuasa Muzakarah Fatwa Kebangsaan telah menetapkan bahawa ketentuan seseorang Islam masuk syurga atau neraka adalah hak mutlak Allah s.w.t. berdasarkan kepada keimanan dan ketakwaan seseorang itu.

Katanya, keputusan itu telah diperkenankan oleh Majlis Raja-Raja dalam Mesyuarat Raja-Raja Kali ke-188 pada Mac 2001 dan menambah bahawa Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan telahpun membincangkan isu itu sejak tahun 2000 lagi.

“Muzakarah Jawatankuasa Fatwa Kebangsaan juga berpendapat bahawa sesiapa sahaja yang mengajar atau menyebarkan pandangan atau fahaman seperti ini adalah salah dan menyeleweng daripada ajaran Islam sebenar,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Menteri Besar Kelantan yang juga Mursyidul Am Pas, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat dua hari lepas bahawa penyokong atau anggota UMNO tidak akan masuk syurga. - Bernama

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cukup lucu sekali petikan berita di atas.

mungkin Prof. Datuk Abdul Shukor Husin fikir golongan muslim/muslimin di Malaysia itu,

semua nya bodoh lagi bangang.

seperti mereka semua nya tidak tahu bahawa kenyataan Tuan Guru Nik Aziz itu hanyalah semata-mata pendapat peribadi nya yang dipengaruhi pegangan politik sahaja.

pakai pengaruh dalam agama untuk meraih sokongan politikal.

bukan kah suatu ketika dahulu Tuan Guru pernah guna teknik yang sama?

cepat lupa lah orang Malaysia nih.

kerajaan pun cepat melatah, bimbang rakyat akan percaya bulat-bulat.

terdesak?

takut dan bimbang?

kerajaan dan pembangkang, kedua-dua nya.

main-main, anjing-anjing, bodoh-bodoh kan rakyat.

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syurga atau pun neraka, tiada manusia yang tahu.

sebaik-baik manusia pun, tiada manusia yang tahu.

sejahat-jahat manusia pun, tiada manusia yang tahu.

loop-hole agama?

mungkin!

tapi di situ lah ironi nya.

dan ironi itu sungguh sadis kenakalan nya.

Nozomi Sasaki + Cake = Cute Boner

2009-08-17T20:42:00.013+09:00

Thanks to reallycuteasians for this link!

Put a really, really hot Japanese gravure model in a bikini, and made her eat fattening food in her own ways, and you'd have the perfect video to watch when you got back home tired from work.

What a group of a genius bunch.

If you have not already, better check out Nozomi Sasaki; the best thing Japan had to offer at the moment, besides warm toilet seats, obviously.

Damn that really made my day!

earthquake this morning

2009-08-11T23:34:00.001+09:00

Japan was struck with another significant earthquake this morning.

I woke up at about 5 a.m. this morning with the apartment shaking.

It felt like the end of the world; scary as fuck.

I know I’m going to be fine because my apartment is earthquake-proof.

But it is still as scary as fuck.

Minutes after the shake was over, an announcement from the public speakers is informing us to check for the safety of other family members, and report any injury to the authorities.

So I checked my PS3, XBOX360 and the new D90… all were safe and sound.

My Dell Dimension is the last thing I would check… it gives me headaches lately for being so slow!

Then I went back to sleep; I figure I’ll watch the TV later to be updated on the scale of today’s earthquake.

A couple of hours later, I woke up to the sound of my iphone receiving messages.

I got 6 identical emails with an hour interval between them; it’s from my company’s disaster countermeasures system.

The system would automatically send emails to employees to respond and report their status in the occurrences of any disaster, and it will keep doing it until you answer.

When I click on the link, it would take me to a form that I could fill to report my well being.

I turned on the TV and was a bit in awe; the earthquake was a pretty big one.

6 in Richter scale.

Damn!

Summer Holiday '09 Day 2

2009-08-10T21:04:00.014+09:00

The second day of my summer holiday is all about testing the new D90.

I’ve never been so giddy since I last bought my PS3.

The inner otaku/nerd/gadget-mania in me was unleashed!

To test my D90 for the first time, I decided to go to Harajyuku because that place is packed with the most interesting young people (fashion wise) in Tokyo.

> Taking pictures of random people without their permission: Newbie in photography.

It is just a 50 minutes train ride from Hashimoto (city where I live) to Harajyuku, and I arrived at the station in awe; I have forgotten how crazy Harajyuku is.

The place was packed with people, and tourists with their big cameras.

Quickly I realized how hard it is to take photos at such crowded places.

Everything was moving so fast, I can’t really concentrate of using different configuration to check out and compare the different results… I was really overwhelmed by the many functions and manual settings that the D90 offers.

Aperture, ISO, Shutter Speed, White Balance, Composition, Bracketing… I’m lost! It felt too much, and I guess I’m doing this all too fast. I should learn to learn slowly.

I quickly crossed the road from the station to get to Takeshita Road (竹下通り), snapped some photos of the road entrance, and then a heavy pour of rain came, forcing me to get back to the station to find shelter.

And everybody else did the same thing.

The train station is packed full of gothic lolitas, gyarus, hime-keis, homies and huge fat American tourists; all wet and hot.

I can’t stand it any longer, so I decided to go home, after just arrived 15 minutes there LOL.

The train back home felt longer as the bad weather seems to slows down time and I’m a bit blue… but that’s ok because a girl passenger sitting right in front of me on the train wore a shirt so short, I’ve gained little happiness.

You perverts, I can’t take photos! Might get charged with chikan/perversion in public places!

I arrived in Hashimoto, and the Hanabata Matsuri is still going on.

The last time I went, it was during the night, and this time it is during the day, so I take out my D90 and shoot away.

One last thing, did you know that the D90 was the first dSLR that could shoot HD videos?

Although it is a bummer that the D90 will not Auto-Focus when taking videos, the video quality produced was not bad at all.

Here’s a video of a dance performance that I took during the Hashimoto’s Tanabata Matsuri:

Lastly, here's some of the pictures that I took during my first day with my new girlfriend…ok the D90 does not have a vagina but it’s cute anyways.

Festival Ornaments at the Hashimoto Tanabata Festival

The entrace to the famous Takeshite Road in Harajyuku

A broken entrance-ticket machine in Shinjuku Station

Trains coming to Hashimoto Station's Keio Line

Rabbit guy performing in front of Hashimoto Station

Crazy but cool 3rd year high school kid doing street performance

Kakikoori with various flavors

Chicken steaks sold at the Hashimoto Shrine

Cute windmill thingy

REVEAL SPOILER

And of course, hot gyaru chicks with short-hot-pants

D90 is HERE!

2009-08-09T14:02:00.006+09:00

At last, my first dSLR has arrived.

I welcomed the NIKON D90 with 18-200mm lens kit with much excitement, as I’ve always been a fan of photography for a long time. It just took me this long to decide to step up and give more dedication towards this hobby of mine.

At a price tag of about 140000yen, this is also the most expensive thing that I have ever bought with my own money.

Wait a minute, actually in the past, I had bought something more expensive than this dSLR some 5 years ago (my Dell Dimension), but that’s using scholarship money, so that did not count as my own money lah!

I am writing this as I waited without patience for the battery to be fully charged.

Can’t wait to take my new baby out for a test drive!

My new main camera with the sidekick Nikon Coolpix P5100.

Summer Holiday '09 Day 1

2009-08-08T23:20:00.002+09:00

Today is the first day of my Summer Holiday, so what better way to start it by going to the beach!

I've been in Japan for almost 6 years and a half now, but weirdly enough, I’ve never been to a Japanese beach, so this might be fun!

The Enoshima Beach was just a 45minutes densha ride from my place, and I met with Bentong and Yu at Fujisawa so that we could go together.

Reached the beach at about 10:30 a.m. and there was already a crowd at the beach.

After successfully influencing Yu to buy a new pair of swimming pants, we head on to the beach with our sunscreen lotions on.

So I got to be honest here, one of the major attractions of going to a Japanese beach during summer is none other than: Japanese girls in bikinis HAH!

But I’m blind as a duck so I have to wear my glasses in order to see the beauties, so I went into the water with my glasses, and only a few minutes later that I realized that this is an extremely stupid thing to do.

Getting deeper into the water to hide my boner, I mean, to experience the wave, I didn’t know that Japanese beaches has such strong waves!

Before I knew it, a strong wave knocks me off balance; I got sea water in my nose and ears.

Then I realized that it was too late: I’ve lost my glasses during the tumble.

It was impossible to recover it.

So I got off the water and went to the spot where we put our stuff, to relax and slap myself on the head for being such a stupid pervert.

As I squished my eyes to make sense of my surrounding, I could slightly see that there were like hundreds of sexy Japanese girls in their cute bikinis running around playing frisbees and beach balls, laying down and doing some other stuff that they usually do when on the beach, and I can only project this image clearly with my imagination, because I can’t see shit without my glasses!

:(

Next time I’m going to the beach, I’m wearing contact lenses!

LOLs, am I a scary person?

After that extremely unproductive and failed attempt at ogling sexy Japanese girls in skimpy clothings for FREE, we went our separate ways, with me returning to Hashimoto.

In the afternoon, I placed an order for a Nikon D90 with the 18-200mm kit lens, after a thorough research and opinion-asking activities.

I really can’t wait for my first Digital SLR camera!

Then somehow, I went to sleep.

I was probably quite tired, and I woke up at about 8:15 p.m. to the sound of my door being knocked.

My Korean co-worker told me that there was a matsuri (festival) being held just 5 minutes from our apartment.

I quickly washed my face and get ready to go out with him.

Does that sound gay?

Damn homophobes hahaha.

It’s Hashimoto City’s 58th Tanabata Matsuri (七夕祭)!

The festival was great with a lot of people showing up, including loud kogyarus (子ギャル) eating chocolate bananas in their skimpy short-shorties.

After a decent amount of watching cute girls in their summer yukatas and ganguro gyarus being drunk while pushing their baby-cars, I decided to buy a pack of tako-yaki, and went home to eat it.

It costs me 500 yen, and this is probably the worst-tasting tako-yaki that I have ever tasted, and I’m really disappointed because I love tako-yakis to death!

I guess that is pretty much what I did today.

Not bad for a first day of holiday.

I cannot wait for my shiny new D90 to arrive at my doorstep tomorrow!

Doki doki doki!

Edogawa Firework Festival

2009-08-03T00:36:00.007+09:00

If last week I joined my co-workers and went to the Sumidagawa Firework Festival, this weekend I joined a shady group of 300 people and went to the Edogawa Firework Festival, where the scale was just different from the Sumidagawa Firework Festival.

There were just so many people!

It really looks like a huge summer rock concert as people camped about the Edo-River.

Here's a video of the opening act, and sorry for my 'over-excited' voice on the background:

People crowded the train station after the show, and it was several times worse than the usual train morning rush that I had to endure to get to work; but it's OK because I'm wearing my fav 3/4 pants!