Current Situation
Friday, October 16, 2009
Just an quick update of my current life. I'm right now serving the army and it's all I can say. All army related stuffs are highly confidential, so I don't want to get charged by leaking any. Well, for me, it's quite hellish for me. Very physical demanding till the point you wanna just die lol-ed. Haiz...I dunno how am I gonna pass 8 weeks more. I think I will just drag myself through. Whatever, I'm tired, so needa go slp.[=| Love, Live, Leave @ 11:33 PM |=]
ILoveILiveILeave Version 桜
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wheeee changed blogskin~ I felt like making a theme skin so I chose the flower that I wanted to see the most - cherry blossoms aka sakura aka 桜 lol-ed. I have always love to see leaves detached from their branches and slowly drifting down to the earth when a wind or breeze blew. It always is a calming scene to look at. Also, through anime or jap related stuff, when it's the sakura season in the country, the sakura trees will bloom to their fullest and it's OMG beautiful! Need not to say it's beyond beautiful when the sakura petals come pelting down from the trees, like what they always like to show in anime lol-ed. I will someday visit Japan surely...Enough about cherry blossom...hmm...Last Friday went Games Convention Asia 2009 (GCA 2009). Quite small and not much games there..or mayb not much games that interest me =x. Well, at least I got to try the latest Need For Speed: Shift before I go buy it. The game was eh...very difficult to control. Steering was real sensitive and car easily gets out of control when you go on sand. Turning wise...the car they demo for ppl to use was not easy at all. Turning angle is real small...like F1 cars lol-ed. Then other games....Gears of War 2, Halo3, Forza Motosport 3, Dragonica, Brutal Legend...few game titles I can remember seeing that day.
Then kena surveyed by the organizer's surveyor to get feedback on this year's GCA. Remembered there was one question where he asked something about which company you wish to see at GCA next time. I answered "Hmmm...Square Enix.....Billizard..." LOL-ed. Well, can't think of anymore at that moment so I just said those two. Should have remembered Bioware, Activision, Crytek, Capcom, Falcom, Koei, Konami, Bandai, LucasArt, Rockstar Game, Sega, SCE, Ubisoft, Valve...etc etc..lol-ed, spam all games companies.
Yea, ever since I watched the awesome video of Clannad ~After Story~ opening song posted in my previous post, I went on a journey to search what model was that electronic organ and also who is that girl that plays so godly lol-ed. Well, I did not yet have any clue who was that girl, but I finally found out the model of that electric organ. It's called Yamaha Electone Stagea. What really blows me off is the price....it costed 1,081,500円(yen) which is equivalent to USD 11857 Zz_-ed. Man...must be super rich and pro in organ to buy this. Anyways, the following video showcase the same girl performing Clannad opening song 'メグメル'. This song is faster than the previous..hence from the video you can see how busy the girl was. I really respect her...she's one person orchestra lol-ed.
[=| Love, Live, Leave @ 9:23 PM |=]
Clannad Withdrawal Symptoms
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Everytime I listens to Clannad ~After Story~ opening song, '時を刻む唄', or any other Clannad related music, the anime's episodes will march through my mind, and I also have the urge to play the game again. Of all the anime I watched, I can confidently ranked Clannad at the 1st place. IMHO, I also feel that Clannad ~After Story~ OP song, '時を刻む唄', is much better than Clannad OP song, 'メグメル -cockool mix-'. Although both are nice, '時を刻む唄' really is a song that suits perfectly with Clannad, especially the lyrics. I think this song definitely was composed specially for the anime =D. Yea...I always love those music/songs that was specially tailored for something, regardless of anime,movie,game etc. Everytime you listen to them, it would bring back so much beautiful memories...don't you agree?Reasons why I love Clannad? Copied and pasted some parts of a forum post I posted in some forum:
"I think there're a lot of Clannad fans out there, well, I'm one of them too. I don’t remembered how I came across this anime, but I’m glad that I watched it, because it was such a great anime. What’s more, it’s from the company Key, whom are famous for making people cry. If some of you did not know yet, Clannad is originally a visual novel. What’s a visual novel? Well, check it yourself =p. I had played the game and watched the anime, although there are slight variations in between them, it doesn’t really affect the main plot. However, what I can ensure is that both the game and anime are truly touching, and that’s also one of the elements I love about this anime. Another great thing about the anime is their beauteous soundtrack. Well, it’s from Key, so their soundtracks are guaranteed to be nice, just as the same as Key’s other titles such as Kanon and Air. I especially like the game's title music of the game “汐” (Shio), which I think is not featured in Clannad but as a short music for the sponsors’ part at the beginning of each Clannad After Story episode.
Of all the many story arcs of Clannad, Fuko’s and Kotomi’s story touched me the most. I will never forget it was episodes 9 and 14 of Clannad that made my tears kept flowing throughout watching the episode when it was the conclusion of Fuko’s and Kotomi’s arc respectively. The game was of course, similarly touching. In the game, Tomoya had different romance relationships with the different female characters, depending on which path you take in the game. I quite like the romance between Tomoya/Kotomi, Tomoya /Yukine and Tomoya /Kyou. Although the first 2 was not shown in the anime, the last one was shown eariler in July. In the game, Tomoya had to date with Ryou first before entering Kyou’s path. Many things happened, and both Tomoya and Kyou went through a great deal of struggles before they finally acknowledge each other’s feelings, thus, making it touching, so I like it =x. Yukine’s story in Clannad After Story and the game was quite different, although it still revolves around her deceased brother. I like the part when Yukine slept in Tomoya’s lap in the reference room of the game. Kotomi…well, basically it’s the same as in the anime just that in the end both of them are together =x. Don’t worry about Ryou, she would eventually be with one guy named Kappei Hiiragi (柊 勝平), who is not featured in the anime.
Another element that made this anime a great one are the values they bring to the audiences. The main theme of the anime is about family, as we can see a great deal about it from the story arcs of Kotomi, Fuko, Tomoyo, Yukine, the Okazakis, the Sunoharas and the Furukawas. There’s also friendship, where this is obvious from the strong bonds between all the characters in the anime. Well, there are still a lot of things I love about Clannad, but I will stop for now."
Hehe, quite a long one. Few days ago, I had my withdrawal symptoms again when I saw this awesome video on YouTube...
Anyways, my portfolio is updated again!
[=| Love, Live, Leave @ 9:41 PM |=]
Portfolio up!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Finally my portfolio is up. I had done one for a project in my poly final year but due to very limited time, the final thing was not really good. Hence, one day, I decided to revamp it, and after around 1 month of doing it on and off, it's finally up at http://iloveiliveileave.good-lifes.com/![=| Love, Live, Leave @ 11:50 PM |=]
Orchard Central
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Hmm, long time no blog. Was browsing through photos taken with my handphone and realize I had some photos of Orchard latest shopping mall, Orchard Central (OC) which I went with my fren last month. Orchard Central is a shopping centre which is Singapore's tallest vertical mall. Yea, tallest vertical mall, no doubt. Normal shopping mall usually are wide but not tall(normally like 5 to 6 stories?). However, this Orchard Central is the opposite, it's wide and tall! =xI remembered taking the so called "outdoor" escalator, which basically means it's built outside of the shopping center instead of inside it. These escalators always take you 2 floors up, quite a faster way to get to the top of the mall if you are rushing for time, dun wan take the crowded elevators, and waste your energy getting up one floor by one floor. Well, it's a long ride up 2 floors, so along the journey, you can enjoy the view as you get higher and higher. Caution to those having phobia of height, it gets real scary sometimes hehe.
Because the shopping mall was only partially opened, when I got to the 8th floor, the "outside" escalator to the 10th was blocked. So I took a few snaps of the view of Somerset (OC is at Somerset btw) and went inside with my fren. We then saw the escalator to the 9th floor, and off we went. Well, that was the highest we could go that day, although there was still one more floor I think. Eateries on the 9th, nothing interesting. So, we started our real exploration of the mall, from top to bottom.
Sad to say, actually there's nothing to explore, coz it's only partially opened. MANY shops were not opened lol-ed, especially the higher floors. Those opened shops that catch our attention were game shop, sports shop that only sells soccer related stuff and clothing shops with very unique design, catering to female. Honestly, nothing interesting there yet, except the thrill of looking straight down at the busy road of orchard from the top floor =x.
Well, hope the mall will soon be fully open and I shall visit there again. Here are some photos I took when I was at the 8th floor.
[=| Love, Live, Leave @ 9:17 PM |=]
~Chalet~
Friday, June 5, 2009
Last Fri was my graduation ceremony in school, so I'm officially not a student now...so sad-ed. Ceremony ended in afternoon, chalet is in the evening. Quite rushing that day...had to go home to change into normal clothing before heading to chalet. Stayed from Friday to Sunday at Goldkist resort at east coast.
Hmm..remembered the first thing we did was to set up the xbox360 brought by Daniel and began having our own concert lol-ed. Well, we started playing guitar hero world tour. We have 2 guitars, a drum set and a mike, so everyone became a guitarist/drumer/singer in an instant! I went to try the drum, and discover it was quite fun. In fact, I was quite addicted to it =x. I tried the guitar, but well...I prefer drum more. As for the bass drum, which is the "pedal" that we need our leg to step on, is operated by others, making the drum easier to play lol-ed.
Besides guitar hero, we also tried left 4 dead, street fighter 4, NFS:Undercover and Rock Band. L4D I played alot on PC, when it comes to console FPS, it's a disaster. I dun realli like playing FPS games on game consoles, coz it's sooooooooo hard to control. Street Fighter 4, we watched the performance of our experienced and pro fren Alvin Cheng play the game. Oh, there're also the exiciting battles between the 2 Alvins, Cheng and Han on Street Fighter. Oh man, they realli fight to their death...almost every round both of their health are near zero.
Of course, we play card games too, but not as much as xbox =x. Then I also like the part where we chat by the beach, the soft breeze blowing onto my face endlessly. Yea, stupid east coast...I thought I could watch the sunrise but I couldn't, because east coast don't have it..=(... I think maybe downtown east or somewhere around pasir ris then I can. Aiyz, but the walk by the beach in the early morning (5am to 7am) was very soothing and calm, in addition of the soft breeze...ahhh..it was perfect. The sceneries there were too, beautiful, especially when the sky turned from dark to bright, it was such a beauty of nature.
Hmm..remembered the first thing we did was to set up the xbox360 brought by Daniel and began having our own concert lol-ed. Well, we started playing guitar hero world tour. We have 2 guitars, a drum set and a mike, so everyone became a guitarist/drumer/singer in an instant! I went to try the drum, and discover it was quite fun. In fact, I was quite addicted to it =x. I tried the guitar, but well...I prefer drum more. As for the bass drum, which is the "pedal" that we need our leg to step on, is operated by others, making the drum easier to play lol-ed.
Besides guitar hero, we also tried left 4 dead, street fighter 4, NFS:Undercover and Rock Band. L4D I played alot on PC, when it comes to console FPS, it's a disaster. I dun realli like playing FPS games on game consoles, coz it's sooooooooo hard to control. Street Fighter 4, we watched the performance of our experienced and pro fren Alvin Cheng play the game. Oh, there're also the exiciting battles between the 2 Alvins, Cheng and Han on Street Fighter. Oh man, they realli fight to their death...almost every round both of their health are near zero.
Of course, we play card games too, but not as much as xbox =x. Then I also like the part where we chat by the beach, the soft breeze blowing onto my face endlessly. Yea, stupid east coast...I thought I could watch the sunrise but I couldn't, because east coast don't have it..=(... I think maybe downtown east or somewhere around pasir ris then I can. Aiyz, but the walk by the beach in the early morning (5am to 7am) was very soothing and calm, in addition of the soft breeze...ahhh..it was perfect. The sceneries there were too, beautiful, especially when the sky turned from dark to bright, it was such a beauty of nature.
Well, everything has to end somehow, so on the third day, my frens and I head home with fatigue all over. Thinking back, it was quite a great chalet. Special thanks to Kim's bf, Daniel for taking the trouble to take his xbox360, 2 guitars, 1 drumset and 1 mike to the chalet. Thanks to also Kim for booking the chalet and all the frens who came to the chalet. Congratulations too, to everyone who graduated, I wish you all have a smooth and happy journey ahead.
在就要转身前突然又想起你.
相遇的那天漾着微笑的你.
那个微笑,还是很美丽...
[=| Love, Live, Leave @ 12:15 AM |=]
Distant Worlds Music from Final Fantasy
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Had a busy weekend in chalet so din blog, but there's one thing I must must blog about. 2 weeks ago, on Saturday, I went for an orchestra performance, it's called "Distant Worlds Music from Final Fantasy". I cannot find the words to describe how wonderful the day was, how lucky I was to be able to sit in the concert hall, how touched I was while I was listening to the performance, how great the orchestra was, and how funny and cute Nobuo Uematsu was =x. Huh? Don't know what I'm talking about? Nvm, I will explain slowly.It all started months ago when my fren wx told me about an upcoming orchestra performance featuring Final Fantasy music. What's Final Fantasy you ask? Eeek-ed, I will slap your face if you ask that =x. One simple sentence, it's currently the best RPG game in the World =D. I love orchestra music and FF, and hell...this concert has the 2 things I love! OMG! I said to myself I MUST ABSOLUTELY GO, even if it cost my life! Heh...just exaggerating. So I checked the tics and bought them immediately through Sistic when the sales date opened.
And after months of waiting, finally 23rd May came...the big day! Woot...I bought the afternoon concert so my frens and I went Esplanade Concert Hall early tat day. We entered around 45mins before the start time because there were merchandise sold for the concert, and there is a long queue too. For the merchandise, there are the "Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY CD album", the concert's t-shirt and an artbook. My frens and I bought only the cd. The artbook was very attractive to me, but well, needa save my pocket so din buy. After we got our hands on the CD, we waited excitingly in our seats as we see the concert hall became slowly packed with ppl that shared our excitement.
When the announcement for the start of the concert, the chatter in the hall quieten down. The hall suddenly was filled with cheers and clapping when Nobuo Uematsu entered the hall! OMG! It's the legendary great music composer! The clapping and cheering did not stop as Nobuo bowed and greeted each direction of the hall, and then he settled himself down. Finally, the concert starts with "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy 8. Though this piece is not my favorite, listening to it live was totally a different thing. Anyways, below is the programme list for tat day.
FF VIII: Liberi Fatali
FF X: To Zanarkand
FF VIII: Don't be Afraid
FF VII: Aerith's Theme
FF I-III: Medley 2002
FF V: Dear Friends
FF IX: Vamo'a alla Flamenco
FF XI: Ronfaure
FF series: Main Theme
Intermission
FF VII: Opening - Bombing Mission
FF VIII: Fisherman's Horizon
FF XI: Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds
FF IV: Theme of Love
FF series: Swing de Chocobo
FF VIII: Love Grows
FF VI: Opera "Maria and Draco"
One thing I always love about orchestra is the piano. The crisp sound of the piano echoing around the hall was just unbelievable perfect to the ears. "To Zanarkand", "Aerith's Theme" and "Fisherman's Horizon" are 3 very gd examples of it. Fisherman's Horizon...my favorite city in FF8, and of course, the BGM of this city also made it wonderful. When the orchestra was performing this piece, the feelings that I felt was indescribable...it was like a feeling that you have no regrets and can leave this world at that moment lol-ed. To Zanarkand...2 words, absolutely beautiful.
Love Grows...the instrumental version of the famous song "Eyes on Me", was similarly touching. Hmm, I think I was most touched by this piece, mostly because of the love I have for this song =x, and of course, the piano solo was awesome for this piece.
Aiy..I can't put down my feelings for every single pieces. Basically, the whole concert was a blast. 2 things that you must be prepared for if you go for the next Distant Worlds, one is be prepared to clap your hands till tired and pain. Secondly, be prepared to cry, wahahah. Well, these 2 happened to me on that day =x.
Whatever it is...I will always forever remember this day, 23rd May 2009, remember this fantastic concert.
And after months of waiting, finally 23rd May came...the big day! Woot...I bought the afternoon concert so my frens and I went Esplanade Concert Hall early tat day. We entered around 45mins before the start time because there were merchandise sold for the concert, and there is a long queue too. For the merchandise, there are the "Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY CD album", the concert's t-shirt and an artbook. My frens and I bought only the cd. The artbook was very attractive to me, but well, needa save my pocket so din buy. After we got our hands on the CD, we waited excitingly in our seats as we see the concert hall became slowly packed with ppl that shared our excitement.
When the announcement for the start of the concert, the chatter in the hall quieten down. The hall suddenly was filled with cheers and clapping when Nobuo Uematsu entered the hall! OMG! It's the legendary great music composer! The clapping and cheering did not stop as Nobuo bowed and greeted each direction of the hall, and then he settled himself down. Finally, the concert starts with "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy 8. Though this piece is not my favorite, listening to it live was totally a different thing. Anyways, below is the programme list for tat day.
FF VIII: Liberi Fatali
FF X: To Zanarkand
FF VIII: Don't be Afraid
FF VII: Aerith's Theme
FF I-III: Medley 2002
FF V: Dear Friends
FF IX: Vamo'a alla Flamenco
FF XI: Ronfaure
FF series: Main Theme
Intermission
FF VII: Opening - Bombing Mission
FF VIII: Fisherman's Horizon
FF XI: Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds
FF IV: Theme of Love
FF series: Swing de Chocobo
FF VIII: Love Grows
FF VI: Opera "Maria and Draco"
One thing I always love about orchestra is the piano. The crisp sound of the piano echoing around the hall was just unbelievable perfect to the ears. "To Zanarkand", "Aerith's Theme" and "Fisherman's Horizon" are 3 very gd examples of it. Fisherman's Horizon...my favorite city in FF8, and of course, the BGM of this city also made it wonderful. When the orchestra was performing this piece, the feelings that I felt was indescribable...it was like a feeling that you have no regrets and can leave this world at that moment lol-ed. To Zanarkand...2 words, absolutely beautiful.
Love Grows...the instrumental version of the famous song "Eyes on Me", was similarly touching. Hmm, I think I was most touched by this piece, mostly because of the love I have for this song =x, and of course, the piano solo was awesome for this piece.
Aiy..I can't put down my feelings for every single pieces. Basically, the whole concert was a blast. 2 things that you must be prepared for if you go for the next Distant Worlds, one is be prepared to clap your hands till tired and pain. Secondly, be prepared to cry, wahahah. Well, these 2 happened to me on that day =x.
Whatever it is...I will always forever remember this day, 23rd May 2009, remember this fantastic concert.