Sean's World ショーンの世界

One year on, and we're back!

2015-03-18T20:41:00.001+08:00

I can't believe it's been a year since I've neglected this blog. It's been an extremely busy year, but also one of the best in recent times. Met lots of new friends, been to many new places and forged many life long relationships. Decided to start writing again, but like many of the previous entries, I'll be keeping it short and succinct. I guess I'll back track a bit soon, especially since I've got lots of videos from our last trip to Japan. But I'll start the come back with the latest Rena video: doing the Shuriken Sentai Ninninger dance!

I'd buy that for a dollar. Well maybe more.

2014-02-03T13:42:00.001+08:00

It's inevitable that I would go watch this reboot, but being such a big fan of the original 1987 classic (I used to watch it over and over again on VHS), it's hard to step into the theatre without having a pre-conceived mindset that this will never be the superior movie between the two. And I'm right. But the truth is, the movie never sets itself out to beat the original. Instead, directer José Padilha gave us another perspective on how a man is made to transform into a cyborg. Spoilers below, you have been warned.

Firstly, I refer you to my previous blog entry a few months back. I explained about how the original captivated audiences by exploring a man's return to being a husband and father, after being dead in all sense of the word. We slowly see him finding out about his past, through memories of his family and events leading up to his death. It was about a man's humanity, and how technology can never replace nor conceal a man's purpose.

For the reboot, there were many references, but the differences far outweigh the similarities. I loved the fact that they kept the original score, although it was pretty cheesy how they incorporated that into the NOVAK programme, which were of course a throw back to the original commercials, while completely lacking on the satire factor which made the original classic a cult favourite. I also liked the lines thrown in, but was expecting a little more from Robocop himself. "Your move, creep" never came but at least one of the most iconic lines did return in the final scene itself.

One of the biggest differences was the entire concept of making a human into a cyborg. Instead of completely striping the human traits off Robocop in the beginning, we are shown emotive scenes of him trying to reconnect with his family. We then see OCP (or in this case Omnicorp) making use of him as a product, and nothing more, to sway political interest so as to expand their business influences on the homeland front. It's a very different angle when you compare it to the original, and I thought it was a pretty good way of story telling. There are complaints though. ED-209 is reduced to a supporting character with no impact on the story, and overall there are moments of unbelief, considering how big an organisation like Omnicorp can have so many loopholes in terms of security, marketing, and overall political influence.

But my biggest complaint of all, is the fact that the ending seemed so rushed. The gradual build up was slow but didn't seem boring. In fact, everything was primed for a perfect ending, which in the end was simply lacklustre for me. I didn't like the fact that Robocop couldn't engage the Red tagged targets. Yes, it made sense like the original. But he never ran away in the original. Lewis (his new partner) had to bust him out of trouble twice. When I was watching the part about the Red tagging, especially at the finale scene with Keaton (as the Omnicorp CEO), it occurred to me that this will be the scene where Robocop finally makes use of his human hand to pull his trigger, and give the ultimate realisation to the viewers that the human will can overcome technology. But no, the ending scene happened so fast and I was left wondering why they never capitalised on this. I mean, why even have Robocop keep his hand in the first place? It would make sense that the reason they kept it was to finally make use of his own flesh and blood to overcome his system limitations, no?

Well, that is my biggest complaint, and if they had made the finale more satisfying it would definitely have made me a happier fan. At least they kept the silver colour of the suit in the end. All in all, I would rate it between decent and good. And I'm sold for the sequel.

Super Hero Taisen Z - Our 2 cents

2013-12-14T20:48:00.000+08:00

Just finished watching the subbed version of Super Hero Taisen Z with Rena. And as usual, it was the case of too many characters and seriously the plot doesn't even matter most of the time. It's fan service the entire way, and many of the nostalgic teams and characters show up for no reason at all. At perhaps that's the whole point. I'm not one to critique shows obviously aimed at children, so you won't get too many complains from me. If I were to complain, usually it's how they completely did certain individuals out of character: doing some thing they would never do back in their own series.

Nonetheless, I guess Rena had a good time remembering all the older Sentai Teams. She recognised most of the Sentai cameos, including the monsters, which was pretty impressive since even I cannot differentiate which monsters are from which series half the time. Her sole complaint: waiting for Gaim's appearance, not knowing that this movie was released before the debut of this year's Rider. Well, what can I say? We had a blast watching and will keep watching as long as they keep making them :)

Welcome to Sean's room

2013-12-12T22:37:00.001+08:00

It's been much too long since I've last posted. I've been neglecting this blog for too long since I've not been doing any new videos of late, and that work has been keeping me rather busy. Nonetheless, since the last update we've finally shifted to our new place, and along with that comes my own room (at last). Since the inception of the original designs by our ID, I've requested for display shelves. Lots of it. And he followed my requests. Here's the video of my room, where I've finally got the area to display stuff I've been keeping for years. It might look at lot, but most of them are not really expensive and you're looking at a collection over a decade. Lastly, enjoy the video! :)

Remaking Robocop

2013-09-07T21:04:00.001+08:00

The new Robocop remake just released its first trailer this week. To me, the movie is iconic and defines the entire genre of sci-fi action flicks. Well at least in the 80s. Back as a kid I was totally geeked out by this movie and I've lost count of how many times I've watched it. Saying I'm a big fan is an understatement. Although the sequels and the series and other spinoffs were pretty much terrible, the original stands out and I believe many guys my age still love Robocop until this day.

I'll just sum up my initial thoughts in this short blog post. Firstly, I felt that the technology was too advanced for a Robocop movie. With that kinda high technology drones and cyborgs, Robocop becomes irrelevant. Not to mention I love how Robocop moves in the original. Here he jumps around and rides a motobike. Too advanced, I say. I also didn't like how he can flip his visor around like Ironman. In the original, you never get to see the human in him when he first appears. The whole process of finding himself via lost memories was the draw of the movie, and the picture you see below is the money shot of the movie: the first time we see his eye after he becomes Robocop. In that instant, you realise that Murphy was still alive.

This of course links to the scene where he unscrews his helmet, and sees himself via a cracked mirror for the first time. Even without much dialogue, you cannot help but feel for him and how he has lost everything and has become a product working for a large evil corporation. But in the remake, he runs around, fires double uzis, and flips his visors around. I'm not too comfortable with that but I'll hold on to my hopes. And yeah, I did get goosebumps hearing the line "Dead or alive, you're coming with me." But context is important. If he says that to any random thug I'll get pretty disappointed. In the original he says this to Clarence Boddicker, as both Alex Murphy and Robocop, and that's what made it standout. Till the next trailer these are my thoughts for now :)

Kamen Rider Motifs

2013-08-15T23:37:00.002+08:00

Back in 1971 where kids shows weren't nearly as gigantic as the franchises they've grown to become today, character designs were pretty straightforward. I present my point through this blog post on how the Kamen Rider designs have progressed throughout the years, from the Showa era to the present Heisei era.

The Showa era riders were basically designs based on insect motifs. They had distinct insect like figures, and were considered bugs, with the exception of a few riders. But case in common, they were always designed after an animal. Here's the breakdown:

Kamen Rider Ichigo, Nigo - Grasshoppers

Kamen Rider V3, Riderman - Dragonfly

Kamen Rider X - Waterbug

Kamen Rider Amazon - Monitor lizard (yes, a lizard)

Skyrider - Locust

Kamen Rider Super 1 - Honet

Kamen Rider Black/RX/Shin/J/ZO - Grasshoppers

Fast forward to the Heisei era, where everything is about money and making parents and collectors alike to buy more toys. The Riders these days come with fancy belts and are sure to have gimmicks that is based on collectibles. Such examples are cards, rings, switches, coins, whatever they can mass produce in different designs to get you to commit into their products. The character designs have been straying away from the original formula of insects or even animals. Note I'm only talking about the main title riders and not the sub riders, simply because there are just too many.

Kamen Rider Kuuga - Stag beetle/elements

Kamen Rider Agito - Dragon/beetle/elements

Kamen Rider Ryuuki - Dragon/Knight

Kamen Rider Faiz - Phi/Dragonfly/Shark

Kamen Rider Blade - Rhinoceros beetle/Cards (spades)

Kamen Rider Hibiki - Oni/Taiko

Kamen Rider Kabuto - Japanese beetle

Kamen Rider Den-O - Train/Peach (yes, a peach)

Kamen Rider Kiva - Bat/Vampire

Kamen Rider Decade - Barcodes

Kamen Rider W - W (the letter), grasshopper

Kamen Rider OOO - King/coins

Kamen Rider Fourze - Rocket/Astronaut

Kamen Rider Wizard - Magic/Jewellery

Here comes the new Rider for 2013. A few months back there was this rumour of the new Rider being based off the popular mobile game Fruit Ninja. He would just a knife to chop off fruits and transform using the seeds. I was like "RIGHT. How can people even take this seriously?" Well guess what. Kamen Rider Gaimu, our latest Rider, IS FREAKING BASED ON FRUITS. And a Sengoku theme as well. Just look at him. LOOK! He has an orange for a face and armour. Rumours are that him, with other riders, will have different fruits for different armours. I've already seen pictures of the banana, pineapple forms, and there's a listing for a durain form. No joke people.

Well, I guess it's the same every year. We complain about their designs in the beginning but when we see them in action we start liking them. I remember hating Den-O and Kabuto in the beginning, but those 2 are now one of my favourites. I'll post more thoughts when the show starts :)

牙狼〈GARO〉～闇を照らす者～: Failing to meet expectations

2013-08-15T01:04:00.003+08:00

南里美希 has become the sole reason why I'm still watching 牙狼〈GARO〉～闇を照らす者～. The plot is all but broken and it's aggravating because it had so much potential and it chose to throw away 2 seasons of established background stories.

First episode sets us up with a new protagonist, along with 2 new lead characters who are also Makai Knights. There was so much potential to show the rivalry between each distinctively different character, but nothing done to establish them. Nearly 20 episodes in and I've never seen anyone of them kick ass. Even when they finally teamed up, there was no emotions between them.

Not intending to make this a long post, but I really hate the fact that all the transformations and fight scenes are totally done in CG. It's not too bad if they are good, but I really detest the low frame rates and awkward animations. Seasons 1 and 2, although it was obvious they were using rubber suits, had much better plot and fight scenes and the Makai Knights looked really awesome while kicking ass. The short stories in season 2 were great and had depth in characters and plot. Here, it's a mess. I thought Garo going blind (see above pic) was going to be cool but they didn't even try and show how bad his eyes were damaged in human form.

Well, at least they have Rian. That's the one positive thing I have for the show right now.

Where do all the toys go?

2013-08-14T22:47:00.004+08:00

I strongly suspect myself to be a victim of circumstance. With eBay and Amazon being the heinous masterminds tempting me with all those specially customised advertisement emails. They have mastered the art of customer tracking and know what I will spend money on, based on site visits, search informations, cookies, etc.

Well, that's my best excuse for spending a little too much this month. Once again in my defence, the things I buy are relatively cheap. The key word here is of course 'relatively', and I benchmark with the high end stuff such as Hot Toys which go for hundreds a piece.

Me? I go for candy toys and cheap Funko Pop figures like the one you see above. $10 USD a piece, cheap cheap. Though, if you factor in the taxes and import fees the cost goes up quite a bit. Especially when the annoying thing is Amazon doesn't ship everything over to Singapore and I have to engage the use of 3rd party shipping services.

Still, I'd like to keep my collections focused. The core bulk of my collection consists of Japanese Tokusatsu figures, such as the Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman figures. These are the main things I go for, but I also go for generally popular toy lines I fancy, such as Marvel (Spider-man and Ironman), Transformers (I am resisting the urge to go into the Masterpiece series but I do have Optimus Prime), the recent Kotobukiya Justice League line, and single pieces here and there such as movie inspired figures.

For example, I thought the Jaegers in Pacific Rim were pretty cool and so in my post movie excitement I've started to order the Neca line of the related figures. Not exactly as cheap as my main collection but I find them cool. So.... most probably I'll have to remain with the line for the next series.

And then there's the old classic figures which I can't really ignore if I find one that's cheap enough. Surprisingly I got this Son Goku piece at a really really good price, around $40. And it's huge! I'd totally get this if they have more from the DBZ series.

More photos: This is the exact position they'd end up on my display shelf, which is coming soon in a matter of weeks.

I've refrained from getting the S.H.Figuarts for the Kamen Riders but I did get the Sentai ones, namely the Red ones but some of the nicer figures such as Dragon Ranger..... do eventually make their way to my collection.

In preparation of my new place I've also printed some mini posters. Getting excited and I plan to make more photos and videos of the entire setting process. Check back here soon for more details! :)

Farewell Akibarangers さらば、アキバレンジャー

2013-07-06T10:28:00.002+08:00

And so with another 13 episodes gone, season 2 of Hikounin Sentai Akibarangers has come to an end. Will this be the last? Hopefully not, considering it's been a blast watching how the show makes fun of Super Sentai tropes.

The show's primary audience are the adults who grew up watching Sentai. It takes references from previous shows, and makes fun of them at times, which gives hilarious results. The main character who's a sentai fan will notice certain "flags" raised by the enemy, and by doing so he's assured of victory. For example, whenever a main villain leaves the monster of the week alone when he's winning and says "I'll leave the rest up to you" he goes into cocky mode and knows he'll win for sure. Or when a new weapon comes, a new member joins, etc. And he makes use of this knowledge to beat difficult villains. It's hard to explain, but it's really funny.

There are even episodes where they make fun of the American Power Rangers. In this episode the original Red and Green Rangers become brainwashed and Americanised, and they have to remind them of their Japanese origins. Brilliant.

While I understand not many non-Japanese viewers or Sentai fans can understand the series, the creativity of the writers never fail to amaze me. This series takes a step away from the official line up, and the results are refreshingly entertaining. Here's hoping for a season 3. :) 非公認戦隊アキバレンジャーシーゾン「痛」は最終回で終わってしまいました。スーパ戦隊が大好きからこの番組はとても面白いと思った。シーゾン３の公表までに、さよなら、アキバレンジャー！

Movie thoughts: Mama (2013)

2013-05-03T23:34:00.001+08:00

During our dating days me and Mabel used to watch a lot of horror movies. Those were the times when the Asian horror movies were released every other week. They ranged from the Japanese, Korean, Thailand, Hong Kong, and even Singapore. Sure many were average at best, but there were some really good ones which gave us enough scares to justify the movie tickets. I remember the Korean ones were really good, and so were the Japanese ones. I especially liked those with plot twists that you can't see coming from a mile away.

To me, what makes a good horror movie is it's ability to make you terrified.... even after you leave the theatre. The ones which haunt you and become the source of nightmares for the next few days, now those are the classics. A perfect example would of course be The Ring. The original Japanese one, not the horrible American remake. I distinctively remember how certain scenes were permanently embedded in my school day memories. The main reason why the Asian horror movies tend to be better than say western ones is the formula of not resorting to the "Scream" formula: relying on cheap scare tactics such as loud sound effects or the standard over the shoulder "boos". The good ones play with your mind. Take for instance, in many Japanese horror movies you never get to see the ghost's faces. In "Dark Water" you never actually saw the face of the little girl who drowned. In photos and posters, her face was always smudged. Likewise with Sadako in The Ring. It creeps you out, and makes you feel uncomfortable. That's one element which I felt gave the Asian movies the edge over the Hollywood ones. The ability to make you feel uncomfortable.

Ok, to the main topic. I watched Mama a few days ago, and to be honest I was pretty impressed. The reason why could perhaps be derived from why I spent so much time talking about what makes Asian horror films good. I felt Mama borrowed a lot of elements from the good Asian movies, and it made the movie stand apart from the rest of the Hollywood films. I don't really want to spoil anything for those who haven't watched the film, but what I do want to say is that while the plot might be a little unrealistic and perhaps some of the turn of events a little too far fetched, I enjoyed the movie. And that's coming from someone who complains a lot about "scary" movies. I jumped during quite a couple of scenes, which isn't usual, and I was having a blast laughing at myself. All in all, it's a good movie if you're into the horror genre. With mother's day round the corner, this might be a good way to remind yourself that a mother's love is forever :)

Quick thoughts on Ironman 3

2013-05-01T23:25:00.004+08:00

Finally watched Ironman 3 today after trying my best to avoid spoilers on social media since last week. I felt relieved actually, since I can now go read up on how the other viewers thought, about possibly the last Ironman movie we will see in a while. Or at least until the Avengers sequel. So without any ado these are my quick thoughts.

To set the stage right I loved the first film but hated the second. I thought the plot was weak and I couldn't stand a lot of the things that made the film cheap. Such as gapping plot holes that are obviously there for convenience's sake. Case in point, I didn't like how James Rhodes (or anyone other person for that manner), could just step into the Mk II, kick Ironman's ass and then fly away. I've always thought that the suit needed extremely fine tuning/calibration and that only Stark could use it. Anyway, the same thing happens in part 3 but I can just assume that the suits were designed to fit anyone. And I was happy to see that Petter Potts had problems controlling the armour.

Onto this movie, I must declare that I'm a non-comic book reader. Perhaps that's the reason why I enjoyed it. I don't have a lot of background knowledge on the Mandarin or the Extremis related story and took in everything fresh. Thus, there wasn't any hype to live up to in terms of the movie versions of long established characters. To many fans who were disappointed, I figure that it was because of the Mandarin being made a joke in the movie. But to me, I thought that it was still possible that the Mandarin exists. In the movie, it was mentioned that the actor who was brought in to play the role of the Mandarin received plastic surgery. Perhaps he was sought due to his resemblance to the actual Mandarin? Just a theory.

I thought the dialogue in this film was a lot better than the last one. I couldn't stand most of the conversations between Stark and Potts in part 2. This time round their chemistry was much better. Things I didn't like in this movie? While looking at so many suits was cool, I thought it made them look kinda "disposable". Pros and cons I guess. The plot itself has quite a few issues too but it's easy to look over them. For example, I thought Stark was taking it way too personal over Happy's injury. Yeah they were buds but to show such a public outcry was a little unjustified even for Tony Stark. I didn't like the President in the Iron Patriot suit part either, and I groaned when Rhodes used the suit to fire a shot at the wires to release the President. Remote sensing maybe? How else was he able to fire that shot? Anyways, to cut the whole post short, I thought the movie was pretty enjoyable, and the final post credit scene was worth the extra wait, although there wasn't any hints about the Avengers sequel. :)

KR Girls: Go Get 'em

2013-04-22T22:13:00.002+08:00

Exactly 1 month's time before the very first Kamen Rider game gets released on the PS3. It's a Japanese only game, so here's where years of learning Japanese finally pays off! Well at least it gives me a valid reason to learn new vocabulary and get my dictionary app online again. I've ordered my pre-order exclusive version online, which gives extra music tracks from the original shows.

In the meantime while waiting for game related news to come trickling in, I've also been listening to the main theme of the game, sung by the Kamen Rider Girls. It's only the 2nd song from them I've really cared about, but I've been listening to the preview version dozens of times already. At this rate I might grow sick of this abridged version even before the actual single gets released. Till I get my hands on a copy of the game, I''ll be counting down the days. :p

Rena's Gwiyomi: Getting the video done

2013-04-21T19:37:00.003+08:00

A few days ago I had this idea of doing up a video with Rena performing the Gwiyomi dance. It's basically a short and simple Korea song, with hand gestures that can be improvised as long as it fulfils its ultimate purpose of being cute. Initially, I thought about making a full video, but realised Rena's unlikely going to remember all the moves in the sequence so I changed it into a photo show video instead. Much easier but a lot of editing work.

Luckily she cooperated pretty well for the photo shoot, and that was the least of my worries. I just had to batch operate in photoshop to clear out the background, draw outlines, and resize the photos. Should be fairy easy provided I needed to invest a couple of hours. The song itself and the lyrics were readily available online so that's no issue. I only hope that we can do a full video in the future when Rena's ready. :)

I posted the video clip up on Facebook, and you can find the link either direct on my Facebook timeline or via this link. It's on youtube too and embedded here for your convenience.

魔道ホラーは俺が切る！

2013-04-18T21:36:00.001+08:00

Episode 2 gave us a few new revelations: Rian is a Makai Priestess that uses guns. Well, and her brush of course. She fled from her first fight and like the rest of her predecessors, she seems to be more suitable as a support role for the Makai Knights.

And she changes clothes and hairstyles anime style, even faster than the knights who still need to summon their armour. Still, my favourite female character in the entire series (that's not saying a lot actually).

We learn that Zaruba doesn't talk to Ryuga because he thinks he's still a kid. Probably, if you compare him to Kouga. And that his armour will eventually turn totally gold, as hinted by what happened during the end of the fight with that poor salaryman monster. Nothing too outstanding but a lot more questions are raised and it sets up the rest of the season on a proper, character driven plot. And for those interested, yes, that brief nude scene that's customary to pilot episodes happened in this episode instead. So keep the young ones away while watching this one.

GARO ～闇を照らす者～

2013-04-13T19:51:00.001+08:00

Season 3 of Garo started airing this week in Japan. Since the beginning of season 1 back in 2005, it has now reached cult level status, following a string of successful movies and spin offs, based on the 2 seasons thus far. With season 3, the producers decided to start the series with fresh faces, and hence we have a new lead character this time, as the legendary Golden Knight Garo no less.

In the pilot episode, the only recurring character we see is Zaruba, the magical ring once owned by the previous Golden Knight, Saejima Kouga. It seems that the setting of this series is in the future, with the law enforcers holding futuristic weapons. The new Garo is now Dogai Ryuga, who looks younger than Kouga, more bashful and arrogant, but equally cold and serious. At least that's what it seems at first.

There is a visible make over to the Garo suit as well. It is no longer totally Golden. Dogai hinted that Zaruba has yet to accept him as Garo, so perhaps the reason why the armour is not totally golden is because he has yet to fully inherit the powers of the Golden Knight. But at least visually it still looks pretty cool. Pretty sure I'll get the Equip & Prop figures once they are released to complete my current Garo collection.

The trailer gave us glimpses of a young woman who uses magical powers. She doesn't seem to dress like the Makai Priestesses we saw in the previous seasons, but that might just be due to the time or cultural differences. Good thing is she looks hotter than Jabi or Rekka. Combined. :p

The pilot episodes of the 2 previous seasons both gave audience a little extra in terms of soft core nudity. This is an adult show after all, airing in midnight and coming with PG tags. It seemed like a cheap way to attract audiences since on both accounts the nudity was a little uncalled for. I was kinda anticipating this but there was nothing. Yes, the monster of the week is a bride but nothing hentai this time round. Just to be clear I'm not disappointed, just surprised... XD

The reason why Garo enjoyed such success is probably due to all the short, dark stories that reflect on society. Story arcs that stray from the main storyline usually lasts around 1 to 2 episodes, but I really enjoy the short stories because they are deeper than the average tokusatsu shows and trigger thoughts. I'll be looking forward to the rest of the season and will post updates when I feel like sharing more :)

Rena Worldwide!

2013-04-02T20:12:00.001+08:00

3 years ago I made a video of Rena using pictures edited with PhotoFunia, an iPhone app which takes your photos and edits them with funny and interesting backgrounds. I recently went through the app again and found some new backgrounds, and hence did a few more photos and made them into a slide show:

I didn't spend as much time and effort as the last one though. I used to make videos every other week, but now I don't get that kind of time, nor the creativity required any more. I still enjoy doing up all these videos, as they remind me a lot of Rena's growing up process. Kids grow up so fast, and parents grow old so fast that if we don't archive these feelings, we are likely to forget how we felt as well as the emotions, when they eventually fade away with the memories. That's why I try my best to write my journal, blog, take photos, make interesting pictures, and make videos. All because I know I have a bad memory. :)

Little milestones

2013-03-26T22:00:00.002+08:00

One of the simplest and yet most effective ways of self motivation is to have something to look forward to. Well, at least that works for me. And that date cannot be too far away or else it'll lose it's intended effect. I always try to have a date to count down to, be it a small event such as a race, or something big, which I am about to share in this blog post.

As most of you have realised, I do not have a home to call my own at this moment in time. During this transit period where I've sold my old place, me and my wife finally managed to secure our second home. And we are counting down the days till we can officially move in. She is busy with thinking about our internal layout and designs, but for me I really just to have a place where I can be totally comfortable with, and that is the place you know you can truly call home.

Well, one thing I can't deny is that I'm looking forward to having my own display/entertainment room this time round. Since we have more space to work with this time, I'm going to have my own area to put up all my figures and stuff. And that's a lot of boxes which are currently stored away right now. I also have cartons of unopened stuff, which is just waiting to see the light of day. To me, this is one of the things that keep me moving, and the anticipation motivates me in ways which can be as subtle as putting a spring in my steps. It's the little things that keep you going. :)

Struggling with OpenGL

2013-02-24T19:49:00.002+08:00

Who would have figured that a module named "Interactive Computer Graphics" in a multimedia design course would have me pulling out my hair in frustration over an assignment that is to be entirely done on c++ and OpenGL API? I didn't see that coming at all, and was hoping for a module that's more theory than practical programming.

So imagine the rude shock I had when I realised that I needed to set up a c++ compiler on my mac. The last time I had to do this was back in poly, easily over 12 years ago. And this time the module simply assumes that I have background knowledge of basic C. Hell, I can't even remember what I had for dinner 2 days ago. It's impossible, I thought.

But surprisingly some of the things really did came back after a day of installing Xcode on the mac and messing around with the basic functions. The template given by the lecturer didn't help at all and I was better off editing source codes found on the net. Eventually, it took me over a whole weekend and a couple of days more to finish up the assignment. It wasn't perfect, but I added some enhancements in a bid to score better. Basically, I had to come up with a simple drawing application that allows users to draw simple primitive shapes in different sizes and colours. Would be easier if we didn't have to come up with every single line of code ourselves. OpenGL doesn't even have a build in API to draw circles, so work arounds have to be found. It was hell, compiling and rebuilding the code over hundreds of times at a time.

I can't wait to get the results and delete this off my computer. Though...... the thought of downloading the SDK for the IOS platform for apple products does sound kinda intriguing....

Marvel over DC?

2013-02-03T17:48:00.002+08:00

Most of you would have realised that I keep a lot of figures, mainly Japanese stuff such as Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and Ultraman. I also keep other stuff which I have a fancy to, such as figures from games and anime, such as Final Fantasy and Transformers. I tend to keep my collection targets small, because I don't really want to spend too much on things that ultimately doesn't have much value. It's a hobby, yes, but I like to keep to the cheaper and easily available goods.

My stay in the US has started me on a Spider-man collection. I had a few before, but those were restricted to a few statues which were mostly movie based merchandise. I'm hoping to keep a segment in my next home for such figures, so it's a new area of interest for me. Another series which has caught my eye is this upcoming Justice League figures from Kotobukiya, known for their high quality figures. I'm not a DC fan at all, but I really like how the figures look, even Superman whom I normally dislike. Ordered the first 4 figures and although they are a tad expensive I'm still keen to complete this line. And hopefully I won't keep up with Kotobukiya figures because it's a little too costly for my liking.....

秋葉原へ行きたい！

2013-01-19T22:15:00.001+08:00

One of the best news that came out last week was the announcement of Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger season 2. For those not into Japanese media, Akibaranger is a 13 episode 2012 Japanese tokusatsu comedy series based on the Super Sentai Series. It is not part of the official line up in Toei Company's Super Sentai franchise, but is instead a parody geared towards adults who were fans of the franchise as children. There are a lot of Super Sentai parodies, in addition to references to the Akihabara sub-culture.

They also announced a Sentai themed cafe in (where else) Akihabara. Sure the prices seem kinda high and it would be pretty absurd to expect the food to taste as good as the other restaurants, but I'm sure the setting and atmosphere would be pretty fantastic. Looking at the menu, all the food/beverage names are related to Super Sentai teams throughout the ages. Needless to say, they have both my attention and curiosity.

Sure I've been to Akihabara before, but it was a short 1 day trip and I didn't even get to visit all the cool places. While looking forward to Akibarangers season 2, I'll also be planning and anticipating my next visit to Akiba, and hopefully this Sentai themed restaurant would still be standing there!

Escape from Camp 14

2013-01-16T20:26:00.002+08:00

I'm not a fan of books and don't really read often. Manga and magazines don't count so unless you put those Narutos and Bleaches into the tally I don't have a lot of books which I can proudly say I've read page to page, line by line over the last couple of years. 4 or 5 a year would be pushing it.

So, it's quite a feat when I read 2 books successively within a month. I do buy quite a couple of books, but rarely finish them. Most are self help, motivational books, while others are related to science fiction topics such as time travel, inter-dimensional "physics", etc.

The two books I've finished recently are easy reads too, compared to some of the other books I bought but too me too long to understand each topic. They are No Easy Day by Mark Owen and Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden. I don't intend to do book reviews (though people might remember that I used to do game reviews a long time ago), so I'm just expressing my feelings through a simple blog post.

Both are extremely easy to burn through, and in fact I finished Escape from Camp 14 in 2 days. I've always been fascinated by North Korea's regime, how its people are oblivious to their own situation, and yet how belligerent its leaders can get. The book focuses on the hardship faced by people thrown into the political labour camps, but it also gives you a glimpse of how life is like living in North Korea.

Strongly recommended, so do pick it up if you are interested in how one man was able to eventually reach the US and become a voice for human rights.

Goodbye 2012

2013-01-15T17:05:00.000+08:00

It's a little late for the new year resolutions but nonetheless, one of the little ones that came right up was the promise to read more and write more. I'm not talking about fancy papers or deep stuff, but simply reading up more to expand the intellectual horizon a little bit, and to reflect and share what I've been doing with the time that is blessed upon me.

It's been so long since the last blog entry I'm not sure how I can catch up. Looking back, the entire 6 months spent in the US seemed to have flown past so quickly right now all I have left are the memories of the activities I've done, the friends I've made, placed I've visited. Thankfully I managed to take enough photos, and condensed the photos into 2 videos which hopefully encapsulates my memories and experience into something easy to archive.

Upon my return to work, all my friends and colleagues seem to greet me with the same phrase. "Welcome back! Looks like you had a great time!" True enough, most of them were my Facebook friends and were not strangers to the hundreds of photos I had taken during my stint there. But I must clarify, the photos were not posted so as to make anyone envious or jealous. I feel lucky and privileged to have been selected, and as much as possible, I wanted to share my experience with friends who were not as lucky as me. I hope the photos have served this purpose, and that even though separated by thousands of miles, people are home are able to see what I have been doing.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mabel for taking care of Rena in my absence, and for making my life so much more comfortable when she joined me in Arizona. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job of taking care of our daughter. I apologise for not being there, and also for the various mistakes I've made that made you angry. I look forward to more trips with you and Rena in 2013, so you can start planning now! :)

As much as possible, I'll try and blog more from now. There's lots to say and reflect on, so hopefully I can keep this resolution going. At least for the 1st quarter, I'd say. :p

Sky diving in Arizona

2012-09-20T11:54:00.001+08:00

September 15, 2012. Together with my Taiwanese friend Randy we made our way on car from Sierra Vista to Eloy, Arizona. It was around a 3 hour drive, but made shorter through constant conversation, typically on what we were going to go through by the end of the day. For the both of us, it was going to be our first sky diving experience.

It starts off with registration in a small room, together with a couple of other people in our time slot. After signing our lives away on a stack of documents that declares they are not responsible for any accidents as well as us giving up our rights to sue in the event of any accident, we were ready for our training. Which actually wasn't anything much.

We paid additional money for digital stills and videos, and thus a dedicated camera man accompanied me for the jump. He was first to greet and introduced himself, and began our conversation by saying he has good news and bad news for me. Good news was that Kim, my instructor, was a lady. Bad news, he added, that she wasn't very good. You can imagine my reaction when he told me that. But of course he broke out in laughter and said he was only kidding. I managed to force a smile back.

A truck took us to the plane and the runway. I wasn't too excited nor nervous at this point in time really. But the trip up changed everything. As we rose, the buildings and cars began getting smaller and at this point I wasn't even joking around with Randy anymore. Somehow, the lack of instructions from Kim wasn't too assuring. She had only given me basic instructions back on land and I wasn't even strapped on to her yet. Till 3 minutes before we jumped out of the plane, that is. She told me to turn around, and began to strap my harness onto hers. Then we edged to the exit and this was the moment when the million dollar question popped into my head:

But there was no room for regrets. Nor hesitation. Before I knew it, Kim pushed me off and I was falling from 13,000 feet above ground level. To be honest, the feeling of free falling didn't last too long and I overcome the initial shock pretty quickly. I felt Kim tap my shoulders, which was the cue to let go of the harness, lift my chin up, and stretch my arms.

The free falling lasted about 1 full minute. I was trying my best to maintain a straight face, motivated by the camera man staring right in my face. I didn't really have the luxury of time to look around much and to enjoy the scenery nor feel the sensation of air rushing up my nostrils and mouth though. The camera man was too much a distraction.

However, I do remember the minute being extraordinary. The fear had completely left me, and I didn't even think or remember that Kim had full control over my life at that point in time. I was joking with Randy earlier that maybe they have this protocol to release the customers first in the event of an accident. That was a real question by the way. I just didn't have anyone to ask.

One funny thing was that I felt my shoes shaking because I didn't wear them too tight. I was afraid that they might fly off and that someone would see a pair of Adidas dropping from the sky.

I also remember my lips becoming very dry and I had to keep them moisturised because they were starting to crack. Breathing wasn't much of a problem. It's the air that keeps pushing against your face that makes it slightly uncomfortable. But that's not a problem when feel like you're on the top of the world.

After Kim pulled the chute and our speed came to a refreshing halt, I finally found time to enjoy the view that the jump offered. She was nice enough to narrate everything she was doing and we also had a very enjoyable chat on the way down. She's had over 8000 jumps, though I'm not too sure in the world of sky diving how experienced that would mean.

The descent took a lot longer than the free fall but I wasn't complaining. In fact, I found it very relaxing. It was slow, and I could make out the landing zone and all the people that were running around in the facility. She also including a few spins that brought me almost parallel to the ground. It was pretty fun.

She instructed me to lift up my legs as high as possible once we were about to land, and I did as told. So in the end I landed on my butt, and we slided along on the grass patch. She should have told me to keep my mouth shut as well. I was all smiles and didn't know that I would be eating grass as all the pieces of grass came flying. Had to spit them out while releasing my harness.

For my efforts, Kim presented me with my First Jump Certificate and a commemorative T-shirt. Pretty cool stuff. It was a mere 10 minute wait for the DVDs of the photos and video (uploaded and linked via youtube below), which I thought was worth every penny.

On the whole, I thought it was a magnificent experience. I thank the opportunity that was presented to me, and otherwise I would never have gotten a chance to try this out back home or in Asia. Would I do it again? Definitely, but perhaps not with the camera man this time round. :)

New York, New York

2012-09-17T05:25:00.003+08:00

I visited New York City a few weeks ago during one of the long weekends here. It took 2 flights to get there, around 5 hours of time from where I stayed in Arizona. And it's so different from the small little town where I live in. I already have the full album up on Facebook, so do check out the photos there. For this blogpost, I'll just briefly sum up where I visited during the weekend in NYC.

On the first night after touch down I visited Time Square, and then the top of the Empire State Building. Both were magnificent. I was speechless and both locations, and was in awe of the sheer spectacle presented to me. The bright lights as well as the crowds of people were a sight in itself. I was totally immersed in the environment and it slowly struck me that I was in the heart of NYC itself. On the top of the ESB, the view was equally mesmerising, if not more.

Next day I met up with my twitter friend Christine, who was so kind enough to give me a tour around the Manhattan and Brooklyn area. We took the subway and walked across the Brooklyn bridge, which was really awesome. I took a panoramic photo too, and more photos can be found in the album on FB.

We also went to Toys R Us at the Time Square area, which was great. There were so many display items and sets there, including a fully operational ferris wheel inside. I was particularly impressed that they showed off actual Amazing Spider-man props, including Peter's mask, bag, and skateboard. They had a lot of other life sized displays too, not to mention a T-Rex from Jurassic Park.

We made our way to Wall Street too, where I got to take photos with the bull, iconic statues, and also a NYPD police officer and her police car.

Another important location we covered on that day was Central Park. Though, I didn't really had enough time to walk through it (it was huge). But it looked beautiful and if only I could have woke up earlier for a run inside it would have been a great experience.

The next day was spent in Chinatown, where I had my first good dim sum in quite a while. Next on the itinerary was The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The queue took over 90 minutes, due to the crowd congestion and also the security checks. But it was worth it. Although there's nothing much to see on Liberty island except for Miss Liberty herself, I spent quite a bit on the souvenir shop there :p

The last day was spent in Chinatown and Little Italy, buying souvenirs and having some good Chinese food before heading back home. There's just too many things to see, and there wasn't enough time to do the attractions justice. At least I've covered the important spots and got a feel of how life in the Big Apple feels like.

This is probably my only visit to NYC in the next couple of years, since it's so expensive to visit and it's too far away from home. I wish I could have brought my family along though. But I'm thankful that my work allows me to visit places which I would normally not have the chance to. I'll be updating the next few entries on my other trips around the US, but please don't have the impression that I'm not doing any work here. The weekdays aren't that much fun, I assure you :)

Drama in Sierra Vista

2012-07-22T02:41:00.004+08:00

I woke up to tragic news of the movie massacre where a lone gunman in a gas mask and body armor killed 12 people and injured 71 at a midnight premiere of the The Dark Knight Rises in a Denver suburb early Friday morning. It was terrible incident and my heart went to the victims and those affected. I'm currently staying in Arizona, which is a neighboring state but I did not think too much about how the incident would affect me. Little did I know what was in store for me later that day.

Work ended early since it was a Friday. I reached home around 2:30pm, and found out that I could still meet the next screening of TDKR (3:10pm) at the nearby mall, which was just 5 minutes away. I changed, grabbed my stuff and before you knew it the ticket was secured. Got myself a drink and found a good seat (theaters in the US have free seating), and I was pumped and ready for the movie.

What happened 90 minutes into the movie would stay forever etched in my memory. During the scene where Bane blew up parts of Gotham, I suddenly heard shouting from the rear of the theater, towards the left isle. He was shouting "HEY YOU! STOP MOVING!" My eyes were directed to the front of the cinema, where I then noticed a man standing in the open space, by the exit, along the left isle. He was white, tall build, and wore a backpack. All eyes in the cinema were on him at this point in time, as the light from the screen reflected off the seats and the audience, who realised what was happening instantly.

My first thoughts were "No shit.... you have got to be kidding me." The initial reaction I had was to take cover. If I took up prone position he would not be able to see me. More importantly, I figured I might not have enough reaction time to make it to the exit if he was already holding on to a weapon (remember it is legal in some states in the US to obtain guns). To make it out of the theater, I had to go across 6 or 7 seats, and make a round about turn by the right isle. It seemed like the length of a marathon race at that instant.

But before I could find a place to hide, the people on my left were already scrambling towards me. I did not really have a choice except to try and make it out towards the right side exit. The situation was chaotic, as there were people screaming and shouting, and as I made my way out people were falling and crawling out. Once out of the cinema, I turned back and saw many girls and women who were crying, and being comforted by their partners.

By this time, my heart was racing and the adrenaline was pumping. Hard. It was the first time in my life that I felt I was running for my life. Thoughts ran through my head, but the most important and obvious one was the instinct to stay alive. I circled for a while outside the ticketing booth, to see if more people made it out, but it was very confusing to see people outside totally oblivious to what was happening inside the cinema. I didn't know what to do. Should I alert them to evacuate? Should I return to the cinema? To be honest, I was really lost and the only thing I could do was to return to the hotel. After calming my nerves, I went out again and wanted to see if the police arrived, but there was nothing. Everything seemed peaceful on the outside.

Around 2 hours later, I checked the website of the local news agency and they reported the incident. I quote: "SIERRA VISTA — Cochise County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a homeless man after he disrupted a local theater Friday, causing moviegoers to evacuate less than a day after a gunman opened fire at a Colorado theater." Needless to say, it was my most exciting day in the US thus far. For those concerned, I am not injured nor emotionally scarred, less a gash on my arm when I scratched myself against the walls of the exit corridor. I would most likely be completing the movie either today or tomorrow. I need to know the conclusion. Until the next post, take care!