Anime Festival Asia 2011 - AFA11 (Preview II)

Anime Festival Asia 2011 will be held on a special day this year; 11.11.11 for three continuous days from 11th Nov (Friday) to 13th Nov (Sunday). Ticketing info including I Love Anisong concert is now available. Let's Go!

Anime Festival Asia 2011 - AFA11 (Preview I)

Anime Festival Asia 2011's website is up running now. This year, Anime Festival Asia 2011 brings in Kalafina (カラフィナ) as one of the performers for I Love Anisong concert segment. Check out their awesome anime songs:

#1 Kalafina カラフィナ

#2 Oblivious (Boundary of Emptiness 空の境界)

#3 Aria (Boundary of Emptiness 空の境界)

#4 Melody of Light 光の旋律 (Sound of the Sky ソ・ラ・ノ・ヲ・ト opening theme)

#5 I Have A Dream (Time of Eve イヴの時間 movie theme)

#6 Magia (Puella Magi Madoka Magica 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ ending theme)

#7 Kalafina's rendition of あんなに一緒だったのに(Gundam Seed Ending by original artist See Saw)

#8 In the Silence of the Shining Sky 輝く空の静寂には(Black Butler 黒執事 soundtrack)

DVD Shopping Spree @TS Jurong Point

Yesterday I went to Jurong Point with the purpose of depositing my cheque. Once my main business done, I thought of having lunch at Burger King taking advantage of their 11.30pm-3pm S$4.50 lunch hour package which is similar to McDonald's lunch package. To my dismay, such package is not valid on Saturday. It costed me S$7.90 to have BK Mushroom Swiss Tender Grilled Chicken burger with onion rings and a regular Sprite.

In the midst of window shopping in Jurong Point, I found out that TS branch was selling their CD/VCD/DVD at discounted prices up to 50% in preparation for their renovation work. The cheapest was CD/VCD at S$1.00. I bought three DVDs of Japanese drama and a DVD of combo movies amounting to S$56; Mr.Brain (S$24 S$26), Code Blue Season 1 &2 (S$13 S$25 each), Sand Chronicles and L.O.V.E. (S$6 S$10).

Being once a regular buyer of fake DVD and a kiasu internet user who watch only internet streaming video, I was aghast when I tried to play the original DVD of Mr.Brain using window media player version 11. All I got was a wide screen high quality video with subtitle but with no audio! I thought I had been ripped off only to find out from google that VOB files can only be played with window media player version 12 and above or alternatively VLC player downloadable via internet.

A Love Before Time 月光愛人

A Love Before Time aka 月光愛人 is one of the most memorable song which greatly soothes my mind in 2000 when I was pursuing bachelor's degree. The meaningful Chinese lyrics delivered by Coco Lee (李玟) with her awesome and angelic vocal accompanied with the musical sound of traditional Chinese instruments makes this song truly epic. In fact, Coco Lee (李玟) performed the English version of this song in Academy Award 2000 as it was nominated for Academy Award for The Best Song. 10 years on, this song remains as one of my favorite song to listen to whenever I need to soothe and relieve my mind from the reality stress.  

Original Chinese Song (月光愛人 aka Moonlight Lover)

English Version - A Love Before Time

Split Personalities

This month alone, I met three guys who are apparently suffering from depression. Yet for two of them, I didn't even realize about their conditions until others inform me of their predicaments. They looks normal as anyone else and exhibits pleasant personalities during my interaction with them even for just few days. Could these be split personalities? When with me, their normal personalities take place. When with someone else, their so-called depressed personalities take over. The other guy shows some weird traits, attributable to depression, just recently.

Two split personalities of conflict

I have been pondering if they are depressed under such ambiguous condition as what I perceive of, I could be suffering from even more severe depression inside without displaying it publicly. Depression from boredom. Boredom because of not having enough money to buy entertainment. Having a decent sumptuous meal, afternoon high tea, weekend shopping, friday night drink and midnight movie are all but money. When I was in better state of financial flow, I didn't bother about these. Yet when I am tight financially, the temptation to these entertainment is spreading over me like wild fire. Ironic.

Everyone has split personalities, hasn't you. Split personalities aka masks are which you exhibit or wear specially for specific occasion or for certain group of people and individual. You hide what you actually feel and fake what you actually don't just to keep your audience and targeted people happy to your advantages either in terms of monetary reward, better reputation and companion. The art of changing mask wearing mask is utmost important skill for those in sales marketing and human resource area. It is equally important for those seeking for better remuneration and fast promotion regardless of what area under the sun.

Courtesy of http://inkjot.wordpress.com 

So called depression or split personality disorder kicks in when you lose control on your masks. The moment people look at you when you forget to put up your usual make up before going to work. The awkward moment people feel about you when you miss your shaving for a day (applicable only to those having high testosterone) or perhaps several days. Probably the worst scenario is when you wear none of those masks but a blank face. Blank face staring to PC monitor, walls, ceiling for hours..... still counting.
    

Mid-Autumn Day 2011

Today is mid-autumn day; 15th day of 8th lunar month in Chinese calendar. I woke up at 7am, took a simple breakfast of Gardenia Mango & fruit filled bun with Milo malt drink before going to work. As usual I listened to my favorite mp3 while commuting a 1 hour 15 minutes journey from the central to the west part via buses and mass rapid transit. At work today, doing some sharing on my working experience, self practicing on new assignment and helping out with a client's assignment.

I aborted my original plan of taking a night sightseeing in Chinatown after work due to tiredness. Thus, I do not manage to take photos of Chinatown night view of Mid-autumn Festival. Don't have any mooncake too to spend my mid-autumn night. Instead, I am having a apple juice and a Pandan custard bun for my supper.

Chinatown Daylight Mid-Autumn Festival

Batman 2: The Dark Knight (On Air)

Official website: thedarkknight.warnerbros.com

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)

Main cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart & Maggie Gyllenhaal

Director: Christopher Nolan

Release date: 17 July 2008

Running time: 2 hour 32 minutes

Plot:
A follow-up to "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight" reunites director Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Now, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organisations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UBP2nXtRRo

TV Channel: TV3

Time: 9 Sep 2011 9pm-12am

TV Channel: Channel 5

Time: 11 Sep 2011 Part 1 7.30pm-9.30pm & Part 2 10pm-11pm 

Rating:

Plot           9/10

Effect     9.5/10

Scene    9.5/10

Cast         9/10

Overall  9.3/10

Quotes:

The Joker: (to Det. Stephens) Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards? 

The Joker: (over the PA) Tonight you're all gonna be part of a social experiment. Through the magic of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, I'm ready right now to blow you all sky high. Anyone attempts to get off their boat, you all die. Each of you has a remote... to blow up the other boat. At midnight, I blow you all up. If, however, one of you presses the button, I'll let that boat live. So, who's it going to be: Harvey Dent's most wanted scumbag collection, or the sweet and innocent civilians? You choose... oh, and you might want to decide quickly, because the people on the other boat might not be so noble.

(Joker pins Batman, in view of the two rigged ferries)
The Joker: We really should stop fighting, we'll miss the fireworks!
Batman: There aren't going to be any fireworks!
The Joker: And here... we... go!
(Silence. Nothing happens. Confused, Joker turns to look at the clock, which shows that it's past midnight and neither ferry has blown the other up)
Batman: What were you hoping to prove? That, deep down, everyone's as ugly as you? You're *alone*! The Joker: (sighs) Can't rely on anyone these days...

The Joker: Let's put a smile on that face!

The Haze Menace

This morning I woke up feeling thirsty with a sore throat. The Chinese herbal syrup I took before sleep to relieve cough did not able to prevent me from getting throat irritation. I guess this time the returning haze in Singapore is more serious and smelly too. I have never been affected by such haze to the extent of deteriorating my health condition. In addition to that, I have been sneezing several time today. Luckily my room have air conditioning to keep away from haze. Tonight gotta sleep in my room sealed with air-con.

Haze returning to Singapore

Serangoon NEX

It is Sunday yet as usual I wakes up around 7am to do my laundry and have my breakfast at a nearby foodcourt. I checked my yahoo mail, twitter and restaurant city but my tiredness defeated me. I took a 3 hours power nap at noon to rejuvenate my mind and eliminate the exhausted feeling.

In the afternoon, I went to NEX to get my Amani hair cut at QB outlet. Before heading back to my place, I spent two hours window shopping at NEX. NEX is like a Doraemon pocket. Whatever you think of, you can find it here. Most of the fast food chain can be found here; KFC, McDonald, Pizza Hut, Carl's Junior, Long John Silver's. Renowned restaurants are here too; Kitchen Jade, Putien, Wan Chai Hong Kong, Jia Xiang Mee, Pontian Wanton Mee. My favorite window shopping chains are located here too; Fair Price, Cold Storage, Guardian and Watson. Typical fashion outlets I visited here include Hang Ten, Giordano, Bossini, Sportlink and Isetan. 

For IT gadget fan, Newstead, Challenger and Courts are here too. The public national library which I discovered at the rooftop of NEX is so large and definitely added as one of my favorite hang out during weekend. As expected in this month of mid-autumn, there are dozens of stalls selling mooncakes in the atrium area. A box of four mooncakes costs at least S$40 here. Tasting sample from each of the stalls here will be equal to eating a quarter of mooncake! I better get one in Johor Bahru at half the price compared to here.