thoughts before Spring 2012

with the exception of Aquarion EVOL and Moretsu Pirates, i've finished all other Winter series last week in preparation for the new Spring season.

four Weekly Shonen Jump series ended last week,
1) Bakuman (no worries, there's still season 3 in Fall)
2) Bleach (total-drag-thank-goodness-it-finally-ended)
3) Beelzebub (my first surprise ending)
4) Gintama' (shocker!)

i'm still reeling from the shock of Gintama' ending. something i really couldn't accept especially with the news coming only a week before the last episode. since i don't follow the manga, i can't be too sure whether it is because the anime have caught up to the manga chapters. but at least, or i hope, this will not be the end of Gintama. the last episode still gave me a small glimmer of hope that there could still be some continuation somewhere in the near distant future, even though what was posted on WSJ sounded like there would never ever have anymore Gintama anime.

with four WSJ series wrapped up, we only get 2 replacements, Medaka Box and Kuroko no Basuke.

Spring 2012 is HUGE!! of the 50 shows, i already have 20 which i would definitely catch their first episode. whether or not i will continue on watching, will have to be determined after that.

Spring 2012 also comes with the much anticipated Fate/Zero continuation!! another sequel is Kimi to Boku, but we all know everyone is more excited about Fate/Zero.

finally, even with 20 new shows, i've started watching Naruto Shippuunden. something to fill in the hollow that Gintama left.

One Day by The Rootless

i hope this video stays on youtube.

couldn't stop crying as i watched through this opening song. and i continued to do so for the next 10min.

random tears just kept pouring out my eyes even as i was watching through the usual introduction part. most befitting song for the Marineford arc.

and needless to say, Ep459 was good all round in terms of story pace and animation. i almost thought they wouldn't reveal Ace's father, which they did at the end of the episode.

it is definitely going to be very emotional once the real stuff hits at the end. especially once they start playing the OP in the background.

GOSH! just thinking about it is making me tear. damn you Odacchi!

update on 19 Jul,

here's some screencaps of the Strawhats from the OP.























brothers.

Strong World in Hawaii

the One Piece Film Strong World will be screened during the Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu on April 18 and 20.

dammit!!

Marineford Arc FINISHED!

in case you haven't already known, the Marineford arc has finally come to an end at Chapter 580!!

man, Odacchi better be getting back to the rest of the crew soon.

yes i know.

i'm already said this before.

yes i know.

i'm ranting.

GIVE ME SANJI BACK!!!

One Piece Manga #57

and another record first week sales for Odacchi and Shueisha.

1.69 million copies.



as much as i'm happy about it, the current arc is getting a little out of hand that. so much so that i'm starting to dread it.

and i can't remember if there ever was a time when i wanted an OP arc to be over.

Odacchi need to wrap this up soon.

MOVE ON!

i hate it...

... when they remove manga parts i like in the anime version.

they are totally skipped Kiyora's violin competition part (Chp111-114) in the Nodame Finale.

this is why it should have been a 24-episode series! they're gonna be blazing through the manga at this rate!

now the chance of seeing Chiaki's dad in the series is getting even more bleak.

*sighs*

they do realize why Chiaki is how he is now because of him right? they should give him more backstory!

i'm too old for this

after 2 days (20-21 sep) of the TA Amazing Race, i can only conclude that,

i'm too old for this.

even though i'm not even past 30yrs yet, i could feel the years eating away at me.

i only had 2 main motivations for the entire program,
Day 1: to not sleep on the streets of SG.
Day 2: to finish the race and hope that the ending point is in the West.

thankfully, i had a great team that wasn't the cheong sua type, and we never really run for anything, except for that one bus 131 that led us back to our night pitstop at TA2.

other thoughts,

i've never sweat so much since who-knows-how-long-ago, even without all the running. and i've sweat in areas i've never though i would. (dun ask, i'm not saying)

i dunno whether to be thankful that the weather was so good, or curse that it was bloody blazing hot. and i still can't believe i walked up and down Race Course Road in the blazing afternoon sun. without taking out my umbrella.

i hate sleeping in the TA2 choir room. mattress too thin, air-con too cold.
ALL my joints were aching.

seriously, i'm too old for this.

the moment i reached home, had a long thorough bath, drank green bean soup that mum made, and i was out within 5min on my bed.

when i eventually woke up, minus the toilet breaks and such, it was close to 10am today.

you know you're probably too old for these strenuous activities when you need 18hrs to recharge yourself (in this case, myself).
------------------------------------------------------
Singlish 101
cheong sua: hokkien for running up a mountain. usually used by army guys as an alternative term to "gung ho" which means to be enthusiastic, sometimes excessively so.

AFA09

just got informed by moo moo that they've announced the dates for AFA09.

Date: 21-22 Nov 2009
Time: 10am - 9pm
Venue: Suntec Convention Halls 403-404

more guests have already been confirmed, including celebrity blogger Danny Choo, renowned cosplayer Kaname, together with the return of May'n and Mizuki Ichirou and many more.

BUT, still not signs of whether they'll be inviting any mangakas or seiyuus.

i want my seiyuus.

i can think of a whole list of people they could ask.

Koyasu-sama, Seki Tomokazu, Miyano Mamoru, Yamaguchi Kappei, Fukuyama Jun, Sakurai Takahiro...

i could go on, but i'm already ranting.

in any case, i wouldn't be able to go early for any of the days. gotta attend a wedding lunch on sat and church activities end at 3.30pm on sun.

*sighs*

i hope i don't miss the exciting stuff.
____________________________________________________

on another note, i have a feeling me and moo moo are gonna spend alot of money there if alot of One Piece merchandise is gonna be on sale.

heehee.

moo moo just started so i'm sure she'll wanna expand her collection as much as possible.
____________________________________________________

PS. birdy's birthday today. even though she might not be enjoying herself cos she's still slaving away at work, here's a birthday song to cheer you up.

happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to BIRDY/MADAM!
happy birthday to you!!

from moo moo to birdy.

Happy Bird Day to u..
Happy Bird Day to u..
Where r all my little birdies??
Happy Bird Day to u...

heehee.

birdy, where are our little birdies?

*cheeky grin*

OMG!

latendo's pre-order list just came in with the One Piece Strong World Kuji set.

the one i said i was drooling over and couldn't find picture for in my last post?

here's the picture now.


but OMG!

i nearly had a heart attack when i saw the price!

it's bloody expensive!!

and you can only pre-order if you wanna get the entire set of 29, which not only includes the entire crew, but also plushies, drinking glasses, clear files, keychains and bandanas.

i only want the Strawhat Pirates crew!!

they're gorgeous!!

OMG!!

i think i'll just wait for it to arrive in Nov and buy the loose items.

hopefully they might be selling the set of Strawhat Pirates crew only.

but OMG!!!

i still can't believe it's so expensive!!!

i'm definitely still hyperventilating.

>_<.``

gundam & special powers

i should probably leave this to the finale episode, but what the heck! it's not gonna make much difference.

i just finished G00 #24 and all that's going through my mind was,

"hey, didn't they already use this in GS and GSD?"

*dramatic BGM starts*

enters Kira Setsuna, who finally evolves to become a Ultimate Coordinator pure Innovator, and activates SEED MODE Trans-Am Burst in 00 Raiser.

the tide turns, and everyone starts hearing everyone else in their heads.

*dramatic BGM ends*

cliché, cliché, cliché.

whatever happened to normal people just piloting great Gundam suits?

the next gundam series should just stick to Gundams, war, and even better Gundams.

people DO want to see more of the Gundams than a human attaining nirvana and miraculously solving all problems through said special powers.

*sighs*

i miss Gundam Wing.

Countdown AFA08

TWO days to AFA08 at suntec city convention halls 403-404.

except for Ichirou Mizuki's performance on sat 7pm, the cosplay competition on sun 2pm and May'n performance at 7pm, non of the other program schedules is up on the website yet.

WHY IS THE SCHEDULE NOT UP YET??!!

i wanna know what i will be missing in the mornings of both days.

May'n for AFA

OH MY GOSH!!

remember how i said i was hoping they'll bring people i'm interested in for AFA?

well, they've really done it!!

MAY'N IS COMING TO AFA!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

and she's going to sing at least all the songs from Macross Frontier. which is just great!!

i am so so going for AFA now!!

now i only have to know which day she'll be attending.

i can't wait for the finalized schedule to come out!

it's gonna be a great great convention!

yuuko

i've been meaning to put Yuuko up as the blog pic for ages but have always never found the best picture.

not that it's difficult, mind you. but it's hard to find a good decent manga scan that is sort of going on borderline creepy, cos that's the impression she always gives me.

but i decided to give up and use this picture instead.

the cover picture from Tsubasa RC Chapter 103.

though it's nowhere near creepy, it's simple while still maintaining that mysterious air around her.

and i even managed to mess around with photoshop enough to give it a nice purple hue to blend in with the color theme of the website.

not bad for someone who just uses photoshop to edit the size of any given picture.

ahaha.

hmm.

maybe i should go take some lessons on editing.

AFA08

okie, i'm the ultimate slowpoke.

i just found out from darkmirage's blog that there's gonna be an anime convention in sg on 22-23 Nov!!

Anime Festival Asia. aka AFA08.

check out the official website here. (i'm gonna put it on the sidebar just in case.)

judging by the various local blogs that had covered the press conference last week, it looks to be quite a promising event.

i'm very excited to see who are the other guests, aside from those already mentioned, that will be gracing the event. (yes, anime directors and project managers are important people, but i'm really not that familiar with the background works of anime.)

hopefully, they'll bring in the people i'm more interested in.

for example, well-known seiyuus (Koyasu-sama? Fukuyama Jun?! Miyano Mamoru?!!), or mangakas (Clamp?! Odacchi?!), or maybe even some singers (Sakamoto Maaya? May'n??).

well, one can hope and pray.

i'll definitely be going for at least one day, since admission is cheap too. $5 for 1-day pass, $8 for 2-day pass.

anyone interested??



PS. there will be limited edition mecha and collectibles for sale during the convention. what better way to fill up my new cupboard. ahahaha...

PPS. new cupboard is still "under renovation". will post up some photos once everything is sorted and in place. ^_^.``

Olympic History

MICHAEL PHELPS HAS DONE IT!!!

ONE (1) OLYMPIC RECORD!
SEVEN (7) WORLD RECORDS!!
EIGHT (8) GOLD MEDALS!!!

my gosh!
he has become one heck of an Olympic champion!

thought i couldn't catch his last swim, 4 x 100 medley relay, on Sunday, i had it all down on tape.

it was a great win but it still wasn't as fantastic as his 7th win on Saturday, in which he out-touched Milorad Cavic by 0.01sec.

an utterly unbelievable win. any slower and the 8-gold dream would have been out of his hands.

but there you have it.

he won Mark Spitz's 7-gold record.

he had 7 new world records.

his name, MICHAEL PHELPS, will go down in history.

------------------------------------

last Saturday was also the day in which the Men's 100m run had a new world record by Usain Blot from Jamaica.

another unbelievable win, where he run a record 9.69sec!

9.69sec!!

i don't think i can even do 50m in that time, much less 100m!

now it's a matter of whether Blot will win the 200m on Wednesday night, in which he is the current world champion.

back-to-back golds in the sprints?

he will try and accomplish it.
and maybe, just maybe, break Michael Johnson's 12-yr old record. (!!)

anyway, i've spent all of my last weekend's nights watching the athletics.

i will still continue to do so for the rest of the remaining Olympic days.

i'm so glad most of the track finals are in the evening rounds.

ohohohohohoho...

Olympics 2008

while i may not keep up with the world of sports most of the time, Olympics is the only time you'll see me glued to the TV screen watching events you'll never expect me to watch.

my all time favorites, Women's Volleyball and Track events.

mainly due to influence from my secondary school days when i spent that one week trying out volleyball when i was in sec1, i am all for women's volleyball.
(just don't expect me to watch the men's event cos i juz think it's weird to see men playing volleyball.)

i'm hoping for Brazil to win their gold medal after a very very long draught at previous Olympics. they're off to a pretty good start at the prelims, winning their 3rd straight game (as of today) and being placed 1st in Pool B.

as for track, though i like the short events like the 100m and 200m, the long events (1500m, 10,000m) are the ones i usually love to watch. basically cos i'm such a bad long-distance runner that i prefer to juz watch them on screen. ahaha.

then there's the gymnastics and diving competitions that you'll watch to wonder how there's actually people out there that can do those difficult twists and turns when you can barely even touch your own toes with your legs out straight.

but this year, i'm especially excited to watch the swimming finals. as is every other Olympic spectator out there.

one reason.

Michael Phelps.

you really can't ignore this guy even if you want to. if you thought Ian Thorpe was great, Phelps is fantastic!

11 Olympic gold medals under him. (as of now)

add that to the multiple world records he's broken in just these 6 days alone.

but you really don't need me raving about him. cos everyone else is doing it. (i shall do mine in the comforts of my own home)

so will he get his 8 gold medals to overthrow Mark Spitz's 7 gold medals win in one Olympic meet?

we'll find out on Sunday.

GO PHELPS!!

i miss you like crazy

you know how important this means when your sis comes back from dinner and proclaims this...

"I ate LuNCHeON MeAT today!!"

and to all those that don't think that it is a big deal, well,

IT IS A BIG DEAL!!!

the other alternatives in the market does not even COMPARE to previously.

*sighs*

i miss Ma Ling.

Spring 2008

i love spring season. the good shows always comes out during spring seasons. here's the list of what i'll be watching for the next 3-6 months.

the "definite-will-watch-til-the-end" shows:
1) Special A
2) Junjou Romantica
3) Kyou Kara Maoh: Season 3
4) Code Geass: Season 2
5) xxxHOLIC: Season 2

the "have-to-watch-a-few-episodes-before-deciding" shows:
1) Vampire Knights
2) Nabari no Ou
3) Monochrome Factor
4) Soul Eater
5) Toshokan Sensou
6) Crystal Blaze
7) Wagaya no Oinarisama
8) Allison & Lilia
9) Tower of Druaga
10) Blassreiter
11) Amatsuki
12) Neo Angelique Abyss
13) Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

the start of Spring also marked the end of Gundam 00, Aria the Origination, Dragonaut, Spice and Wolf, and Hatenkou Yuugi.

personally, i only wished for Aria to have a longer season, since G00 is gonna come back for its 2nd season in fall 2008 anyway. my fingers are still crossed, hoping they'll have a final season to wrap up the manga serialization that just ended in feb.

with last week's MC, i've finally caught up with the anime for D.Gray-Man and Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn, both of which are at exciting parts now.

especially Reborn, since they've just started the Future Arc and we get to see the grown-up versions of Hayato and Yamamoto, amongst other characters. i should really continue to buy the manga for both series.

remember how i was commenting on Gurren Lagann a few months back?
well, it is really truly the best anime series of 2007.

the adrenaline rush was throughout the entire 27 episodes. i haven't seen an anime so intense before. the story pace was fast, yet it still managed to capture even the smallest emotional scenes well.

and guess what?
there's gonna be a movie in fall 2008!
WOHOO!!


wisdom tooth: the aftermath

went to take out my stitches today. bloody hell, the dentist was super rough. it took him 2-3 tries before he could remove the stitches. i'm never going back to him again!


super random quirks:
read this somewhere yesterday, and in case u're asked not to curse, eg. "what the hell??!!"

"hell" is not a curse word. it’s a place.

heehee. thought it was a rather creative answer.

wisdom tooth: the end

the minute i sat on the dentist chair, the jolt of fear clung on to me.
my hands started trembling slightly.

and it didn't help that 3 LA needles were sitting on the tray beside me.

thankfully, aside from the initial LA, my mouth was already numb as the dentist cut opened my gum and started yanking my tooth out.

although, he had to give me another LA cos i could still feel pain after the first few yanks. but all in all, it was a rather short procedure. and he didn't even have to use the drill to split my tooth.

anyway, i left the clinic heavily-laden with antibiotics and painkillers, with a numb half hamster-liked face (only the right side was swelling), and the inability to speak properly.

it's been 2 hrs since the operation. the LA is wearing off and the pain is coming back to me. intensely.

and i'm still waiting for the area to stop bleeding.

ughh....

wisdom tooth

3 years ago, on 8 Mar 2005, i went for an extraction for my lower left wisdom tooth.

horror of all horrors, it is happening to me again.

3 years later, on 24 Mar 2008, i'm going for another extraction.
this time, for my lower right tooth.

incidentally, it was also in the same month.
why is it that everytime i start a new job, i have to christen it with an extraction. (i had just started work in jan 2008)

3 years...

short enough for me to remember the extraction procedure.
yet long enough for me to forget the pain, sensation-wise.

albeit, i think my 1st time was much much worse cos my gum infection was really very bad.
(i had waited quite long before i convinced myself i needed to see the dentist den.)

ughhh.....

hope this time will not be as painful...
*cross fingers*