End of Year (EOY) cosplay - 13 Dec 2008

Cliche phrase coming up! ...How time flies...! You know you're getting old when you realize how often you say those three words. Anyway, once again it's EOY and the theme this year is "retro anime" or something... but even then they're referring to anime from around 1999-2000. You call that retro??? What about my Slam Dunk!? What about Doraemon, or even Digimon!? Pfffttt. Talk about 'retro'. >_>

Anyway, me and my friends got there at around 2+pm and it just happened that my parents were also at EXPO (Singapore's biggest convention hall grounds?) attending a Buddhism event, so I met up with them for a while. As expected, my dad was pretty amused with the cosplay/cosplayers while my mom couldn't quite care (haha), so I brought my dad to check it out a bit.

There were a lot of cosplayers as usual, but sadly to say we could only take pictures of those that were 'outside' cos' to get 'inside' we'd have to pay 12 bucks and there's nothing special to do in there. XD There were a few cosplayers that I had really wanted to take a pic of but they disappeared 'inside' too quickly and I never saw them again so I don't have their pics on my camera... but that doesn't mean I can't find their pics on the interwebs! Mwahahhaa!!

[The above 4 pics aren't taken by me.] So first, there was a ginormous Naruto group of about god... 40 cosplayers? O_o;;; It felt like the entire case was there, from the Konoha genins to the jounins to Sasuke's gang (whose name I forgot) to Akatsuki and Pain's half dozen orangeheads. If they weren't called upon the stage I dunno how anyone can take a proper picture of all them at once. Well, even on the stage you can't take a proper pic. >_>; Next, there was the nurse from Silent Hill~! I suppose she's not 100% accurate since those nurses have 4 legs and no head (?) but that's enough to give her credit for! ^_^ (Too bad there was on Pyramid head... or it would have been very sexey~ :P) Third, there was this Maes Hughes from FMA who looks pretty quite like him. XD! It would have been even better though if he had a 3 year old girl cosplaying as his daughter with him LOL! Lastly (that I remember), there was Byakuya with a perm! LMAOZ!!! Who would want to miss that?! (You should see his hair from the back... LOL)

Anyway... back to my photos, there was Mario (and Luigi who went missing), yet another group of Vampire Knight *sigh*, YAGAMI IORI (!!) and Hinamori + Unohana. It's a shame I couldn't find Luigi... and that there's no Kusanagi Kyo to accompany poor Iori... :(

But there was Shingo, (and Rock Howard but I skipped him :P) a lone Sai, and another lone Kougaiji. Auuww... He was pretty cute... XD And then of course... where there's cosplay, there's Final Fantasy, especialy SEVEN.

And then we camwhored ourselves a bit...

And then we camwhored others a bit...

And then we camwhored ourselves again! Ooh lala~! /(^O^)/

Oh yeah, Zach!! Well actually I've seen him since we arrived but OMG! He's pretty good lookin'~~! (If you'd close an eye on the fact that he should be 15 pounds meatier and have perfect teeth ^^;) I remember seeing a group of girls gathering around him and slobbering. XDXD!! Too bad~ he's already taken. Lulz~

Then ZOMFGWTFBBQ!!!!!!!! I don't care if you think I'm overreacting but ZOMFG!!! I found a Travis Touchdown!!11!1 *Dies* And here I thought no one in Singapore but me and Huiling know of No More Heroes!! T__T!!! The dude said he's trying to look for other cosplayers to form a NMH group but it wasn't working out yet... which is expected, hence the reason I respect him even more for STILL cosplaying Travis anyway! Well, actually, I'd totally cosplay as BADGIRL but I dunno where to get her outfit (eBay don't got it) and I'm not into sewing/making the outfit/wig myself. But...! I still have a BAT (which I forgot to bring this time)! I can do a lot of things with a bat...! >:3 Muahahahaha!!!

So, that's it for cosplay and stuff. After that we had dinner as Bugis (yummeh laksa yong tau foo, but it had too much MSG! XD) and took some purikura before we went on to watch a movie - The Day the Earth Stood Still. LULZERZ. XD!! I dunno whether to shake my head and sigh or laugh, but I guess I already laughed first. XD! In a few words, I wouldn't say it SUCKS like my brother did, but it sure does a good job of misleading its audience with its title. BAD decision... x_X;

Aaaand that's all, folks! =)

Resident Evil Degeneration

I had been so busy with my own things the past one month I didn't even realize this movie was already out until last week. Thanks to the kind souls (altho' we're all charged guilty for p|r4cy) who uploaded the movie for all, I was able to watch the movie without having to buy a blu-ray DVD (no blue-ray player!). And so, here's my humble boring review, which I bet is the same as a thousand others. (Spoilerless)

Graphics: A-
Not bad at all for a Capcom movie; you know how 'financially poor' they are compared to *gasp* Square Enix (I gotta admit I didn't research it to confirm tho'). If you ask me, all of us should know better than to compare this movie with FF7 Advent Children since the beginning, so no I do NOT expect Degeneration to be like FF7AC at all. I acknowledge the graphics/animation as 'not bad' for a Capcom movie, but still it's pretty obvious where and what it's lacking that even without comparing it with FF7AC there just are a few things that will negatively catch your attention.

1. Facial expressions
   Other than Leon (who seems almost permanently poker-faced throughout), the rest of the characters do put on different facial expressions from situation to situation but somehow they still look like they only move/open their jaw/mouth but their eyes/eyebrows are more or less fixed (as if they have botox?)
    
2. Lip animation/syncing
   The lip movements aren't smooth/natural enough. Sometimes they don't even feel in sync with the voices that it made me wonder if the original animation is made for Japanese dialog (like FF7AC) but is now dubbed over in English (which is not the case).

There are a few other issues of course, like the fact their hair stays neat and pretty (not to mention anti-gravity sometimes), their faces smooth and 'porcelainy' under all circumstances, and that they don't get dirty/wet blablabla... (wow that sounds so wrong XD) but we know that applies to almost all (Japanese) full CGI movies/cutscenes so yeah. (Not even the acclaimed "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" could escape that. Sure, Nathan's shirt/pants gets wet and dirty but his face remains clean, no? =P)

Story: B-

Zombies appear out of nowhere, mercenaries try to stop them, a single experienced man is sent to aid the mercenaries, the zombie king dies in the end... you know the drill. ^^; It's exactly how I've expected the story to be like, so there's no surprise whatsoever, really, not to mention that the events of this story prolly has no connection/relevance with RE5 except for just one tiny little thing which I'm not about to spoil for you =P However, there is just one thing that I expected would happen but didn't — the zombie-infested place didn't blow up in the end like all the Resident Evil games ever made. LOL.

Sound: ???
I don't actually remember any of the music, but it's not like most people do anyway. >_>; I didn't watch through the ending credits either so I don't know the theme song. Oops...

Rewatch Value: B

For an 'action horror' movie, Degeneration doesn't exactly have very many action scenes. Well, I dunno. Maybe it does, but it didn't feel like it to me. There was like two and a half scene where they sort of fought with zombies in the dark, and two scenes or so where they just kept running away from the zombie king, which so does not count as a true action scene. I was hoping to see more of like any Resident Evil last boss battle. Typical, I know, but at least it involves some form of strategy (be it lame or not) and gunfire. =_=;

Since there's not much the story could offer, I thought maybe it could offer good action. But that wasn't awesome enough either so all that's left for me to wanna watch it again is Leon. LOL. Cos' despite his solemn and angry poker face, he still has a good voice (same voice actor as RE4), better lines (compared to RE4 LOL) aaaand....!! He's gotten more manly HAWT!!! ^__^!!! Waahahahaa!! (That boy band hair of his has gotten even prettier too!) So yeah, I'd rewatch the movie a few more times for him, but that's pretty much it though. It's great how honest fangirls can be aye? XD

Overall: A- (mostly becos' of Leon XD)

Qian Hu Fish Farm - 8 Dec 2008

Me and two friends went to check out a local fish farm near/at Choa Chu Kang yesterday, and that officially became my first Choa Chu Kang (area) outing (other than to go to a friend's place). Singapore's such a small place, but it's surprising how many places I've never been to in my life. LOL.

I wouldn't know exactly how to get to the fish farm on my own, so I'm thankful they have free shuttle buses there on weekends and public holidays (yesterday was a public holiday). It's a good thing there weren't too many people too, but that's prolly cos' it wasn't very good weather yesterday; rain, rain and more rain...

And so we got there, and there were tons of all kinds of fish. There were so many there's no way I can take a pic for each kind, not to mention my camera sucks under poor lighting. But oh, do take a look at that fish on the rightmost above. It's called the dragon fish and you typically find them at a rich man's office/home (LOL), at least, that's the impression I remember getting. XD These fish are pretty expensive; those I saw at the farm range from 1600-7000 bucks. I dunno why they cost so much (maybe they're 'branded' or something?) but if you ask me, with that money and for a fish, I'd rather buy a lion fish. :P

Anyway, we actually went to the fish farm for one purpose - fish spa. XD! I read on the internet that their fish spa is cheap ($10 per half hour as compared to the previous $30 at Marina Square), hence the reason why I wanted to try it out, as well as sharing the experience with my friends. Unfortunately and to my disappointment, despite having bigger fish tanks/ponds (?) the number of fish was pathetic. In my opinion, there was barely enough for two persons per pond. =/ I guess that's what we get for paying less. Well, I don't think my friends minded cos' they're afraid tickles but it was definitely below standards to me. *Sigh*

After the fish spa, we pretty much returned to Choa Chu Kang MRT and shopped around the mall and pasar malam there! KYAAaa~~!! I wuv pasar malams (night street market)!! I bought so much street/take out food there that I was totally bloated by the time we were about to go home. >_<! I had like 1 mini cheese tart, 2 bread (one of which is effin' yummeh!!), siew mai, pisang goreng (fried banana; wasn't good tho...), salted chicken and shark's fin soup~ AaaAahh~~ *ish in heaven*

Before we left, I also took the opportunity to buy a body pillow. LOL. I know that's random, but I had wanted to buy a new one (the cotton filling kind that can only be bought from pasar malams) to 'invest' on for a while. Those with cotton fillings start out slightly 'hard', but after a few years the cotton inside starts to break down/crumble/loosen and that's when it slowly gets 'seasoned' and feels really comfy!! (Hence the reason I call it "investing" XD!!)

Random dream log

Oh a random note, this morning I dreamt of Peter and Nathan (from HEROES). In the dream they were staring passionately at each other for a while before they leaned over slowly to kiss... (LMAOZ!!!) For some reason I was either *IN* HEROES as well as a crew member or simply someone standing by watching, and I was fangasm-exploding over seeing that scene. Like this *kaboom!* But before their lips met Nathan suddenly stopped to look at me/the camera/the screen and said something like "Haha, that was for fanservice. Sorry it's not gonna be on TV." And then I fell over in disappointment, and woke up. LMAO.

Modeling Portfolio/Photoshoot

Finally, my photoshoot pics have arrived! Good news is, the photographer included more than 40 pictures (my package was for 40). Bad news is, not many are that awesome. And further bad news was, the photographer has lousy photoshop skills. =__=#

The original softcopy he gave me looked so halfassed it didn't even feel like a photoshoot. So in the end I had to photoshop them myself!! Lucky for me I know how to do that but imagine all the other models who know shit about digital editing. =_= Oh, just so I don't feel like I'm deceiving everybody, lemme say that I totally photoshopped off my eye bags/dark rings :P C'mon, you know I don't look like that for real. LOL

Anyway, there are about 10-14 shots for each outfit but I'll post only the best 5.

1) Casual (Favorite = #2, 4, 5)
The shirt and pants are mine -_-; Also, ironically I like these shots the best.

2) Elegant (Favorite = #1, 5)
This dress is mine too... My sister would remember it. =P

3) Formal (Favorite = #1, 4)
Finally, one of their outfits. When I first looked in the mirror I thought I was some cabin crew on a plane. XD! Or a lawyer... or finance planner... or something. o_o;

4) Wedding Gown (Favorite = #2)
One of their gowns. It was actually pretty old and dirty, but whatever. LMAOZ... This is prolly the one and only time I'll ever wear a gown in my life. =P

On a somewhat-related note, tomorrow's the video shoot day for the TV show thing... (for my slimming center) I'm a little nervous cos' I get so self conscious and all in front of a video cam as compared to a photo cam. I really hope I don't have to talk too much... *Sigh* But hey! One little thing I can at least look forward to is to meet that make up artist from before again! XD!! He's just too awesome, practically the best make up artist I've had in my life!

Zoo event - 30 Nov 2008

For the first time ever I initiated an outing with my friends and I'm glad some of them actually care/want to go the zoo with me. ^_^! (I was afraid they're indoor people who wouldn't ever wanna go under the sun) And so there we went, arriving in the morning at 10am. (Damn I have to wake up even earlier than on a regular work day. XD)

However, since this is a zoo trip and there're more pictures than anything, I'll forget about writing the details (since there's none) and just post the pics. All my comments are already embedded in the pics :)

Oh yeah, the white tigers. They got pretty 'infamous' bout two weeks or so ago, or so I heard. All thanks to this. ^^; I dunno whether to find it interesting or tragic. >_o;;

The next 4 pictures were from the elephant show at 11:30am - Elephants of Asia.

After the show we went on to check out more animals... :D

After seeing the crocodiles, we tried to find our way to the kodomo dragons but it seemed that the reptiles area was closed. =/ So somehow, we ended up taking whacky pics nearby instead. XD!!

And then we finally hopped off to "Children's World Play Land" where the farm animals + water play ground + KFC (how ironic) are.

As expected, we had lunch at KFC (take out) and sat down to eat and rest for about 30 minutes before we moved on.

XD!! And so that's it~ As you can see in the last picture above I was pretty tired by the end of it all. I got bitten by mosquitoes or ants a few times on my legs and walking around for hours in a humid day isn't a very awesome thing... but at least the zoo itself was fun, and it didn't rain cats and dogs. o_o Guess I should be thankful enough for that. *Bows*

Anyway, after the zoo we took a cab to EXPO to check out the IT show/fair. Well, all I wanted was to get an external harddrive and a new mp3 player (cos' mine finally crapped after 4+ years). Luckily, I found what I wanted almost immediately after I got there and I'm glad I could get out of there ASAP cos' it was SO crowded it took 5 minutes to get from the main entrance to to the booth I wanted to get to! =_=; (The distance was less than 200 meters!)

So yay! I got me a 500GB Maxtor external harddrive for $179 and a 4GB mp3 player from Creative for $99. I had originally planned to get an old model from Creative (the same one as the one I have) cos' I loved it enough, but looking around at an IT show does things to you... mentally. >_>;

So! After that we met up with two more friends and dun dun DUN!! It's dinner time at geylang!! Mwahahaha~! I've been looking forward to that for so long!! XD Time for some scrumptiously good food!!

The beef horfun there is just THE BEST evarrrr!!!! @__@!! *dies of happiness* After dinner, it's time for part two - durian. Mwahahaha!! It's been than 5 years since I last ate durian and I'm glad all but one of us are able to eat it. :D But cos' we were already full we got just 2 and most of us ate just one 'seed', but that was enough for me cos' I was full and I just wanted to remember/taste durian again after so long. ^_^v

By then it was about 8.30pm and that's quite an 'early' time for us to call it a day, so as usual we decided to go back to the arcade at Bugis LOL. Unfortunately, while it was fun, it was also annoying for me cos' 1) I couldn't get to play Xmen Vs Street Fighter cos' someone challenged and killed me immediately after I started playing (bastard!) 2) I had to come face to face with the fact that I suck at KOF. I know I suck... but I prefer going around that fact rather than having it slapped at my face. *Sigh*

In the end, I had so much more fun watching a friend kick ass :P

The end =)