Thought of the day

It's ironic that the smarter you become, the stupider you are. Whats the point of getting a degree when you can't even dispose your own garbage. I feel that way all the time I enter the uni's library and cafeteria. Candy wrappers, plastic bottles, plastic cups, soda cans... Is it so hard to just throw it into the garbage bin? Is it so hard to put your meal plates into the designated area?? It's not time consuming and it's not even a hard task that requires a PhD or something.

My friends said that its a Malaysian mentality.. Hope not.

Rojak-ed

Rojak is a traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found over here in Malaysia. In the Malay language,the term 'Rojak' carries the meaning of 'mixture'. Culturally, it is also used as a colloquial expression for an eclectic mix, and in particular is often used to describe the multi-ethnic character of Malaysian.

I love fruits Rojak and today's entry is not about why Rojak is the best street food ever but a very rojak post with little bits of this and that.

Last January, I said that I would keep my hair long. Guess what? You won't be able to see that in a while cause...*insert scissors snipping sound*. I couldn't stand looking like I'm wearing a bell shaped helmet on my head so I decided to go for a haircut last Saturday. *checks Chinese calendar* That Saturday must be a good day for a hair cut cause every saloon that I went to was fully occupied. So I had to bear the helmet hair for another 2 days and finally had a snip on Monday. Consumers probably thought that hair saloons will increase their price due to the Chinese New Year celebration but trust me, they won't. Competition is just way too intense lately. They won't sell their customers so easily to others.

Anyway, my sister said that my new haircut is short, but I don't think so. I've had shorter haha. Might be dyeing it tomorrow. My hair dye have been lying inside my wardrobe for 3 months! It's still unopened so it won't get dried up right? haha

Talking about intense competition, if you're a frequent reader of The Star newspaper, you'll notice the war between Tesco and Giant hypermarket. They're so competitive that instead of feeling happy that they're doing their best to provide the lowest price for the consumers, I felt disgusted and betrayed. Lets say I saw your ad on Friday and bought what was advertised on the same day. The next day, the rival company advertised the same product at a cheaper price. And the worst part is, on Sunday, you advertised the same product at a lower price!



These ads are slightly old. The recent ones are even more obvious that they're declaring a hypermarket war against each other. Sorry that I couldn't find a soft copy of the recent print ads.lazy to scan Treating consumers like commodities... no wonder people still shop at Cold Storage although its about 10% more expensive than other hypermarkets. I prefer Jusco

On another note, I've just accepted a writing 'assignment' on Monday.I was so excited about it that I couldn't sleep at all on Monday night. Actually, it's because I had a very bad leg cramp. So far I have 2 different themes in my mind and still flipping through Malaysian based Japanese magazines to find for fresher ideas. I don't even put in that much energy in completing my journalism assignment haha. A big thanks to Clair who is willing to cross check my work. I owe u a cream puff for that!
Wow! I suddenly had another idea flashing through my mind while typing this. I better jot it down somewhere before it fades away. But having too much ideas might not be a good thing. I have to stay focus!

Talking about writing, I'm currently drafting an entry for the February's Japan Blog Matsuri. Gotta make sure that it's not a last minute entry like the previous one.

Karaoke

Okamoto Keito should consider forming a group with me. I've even thought of our group's name. Karaoke! Chong Ai Rene and Okamoto Keito.. you'll get CAR A OK. He can play the guitar and we'll be like the Heisei version of Dreams Come True (a mixed duo with a female vocalist and male bassist). Johnny san, if this works out, shoot me an e-mail ya? Anyway, today's entry is not about some never ever gonna be formed band but about my Seishun Amigos' karaoke habits. I've been karaoke-ing alone quite frequently lately and every session reminded me of them.


If you're wondering where we got our group name from...*points to TV screen*


This is Kim and Ashton. Karaoke-ing with them is very very exciting and tiring in a good way. This is because, their song selections are very random. For one second, you'll be reminiscing yesterday once more and next, you'll be rapping like you're worth more than 50 cent and before you realize it, you're singing and dancing to some catchy song like there's nobody nobody but you for the third time. And suddenly, a song entitled Hamburger pops out of nowhere.


Then there's Estee and Jackie who have different karaoke habits. Estee here is very supportive of the local music scene. It's not exactly a bad thing but there was once the 3 of us went to a karaoke booth and Estee selected a song that made Jackie and I felt like running out from the booth. Estee was the only one enjoying it. The worst part was we didn't know how to adjust the volume and the whole world knew what song we were singing. As for Jackie... she always select songs that no people wants to sing. She's the only one who listens to Cantopop. we can pass as the next Softbank spokesperson.


The five of us has never been to a proper karaoke together before. Estee is in Australia and Ashton's in Russia. That makes our first and last 5 people karaoke outing 2 years ago and it came with an unwanted distraction. I hope one day we'll get to take a new group picture and karaoke ya? All 5 of us. And don't forget that we're suppose to write our high school story out and publish a book!

They are greater than us.

I've been drafting my next entry for my "It's in the name" series for days and my initial plan was to blog about it today. But some avoidable incident had to take place and its unavoidable for me to blog about it so, Part 5 of 'Its in the name' has to be avoided. No pun intended.

This morning while I was having my breakfast, I flipped through the newspaper and some news caught my attention. definitely not about the 1Malaysia clinic Yup, we're singing the same tune if you're thinking about the Churches attack over Allah issue.

The newspaper did not mention about the reason of the attack. But after linking the news about the Judiciary website hacked, I'm quite sure it's related. It's a conspiracy?

First the cow head incident and now churches attack car smashing. Although I've not been attending church services for n years, I still feel angry and disappointed. What's next? What about the 'Allah' word in our State anthem that we have been singing since 1967?

Planned protest are banned but violence is always an option. It is never compulsory and can be avoided. So what should these protesters do? I don't know. But one thing I know is whether its my God, your God or whatever religion's God, we should respect Them(Gods). There is a very good reason why They are Gods and we are not. Love and respect.

Somehow this entry reminded me of someone haha.

Hatachi

Yesterday, my Japanese teacher asked the class "Kotoshi no mokuhyou wa?" (What's your aim this year?) Oh crapppp.. I hate questions like that. I'm hopeless So I gave that answer every student will give. "Daigaku no shiken de, 75 ten ijou wo mezashite" (75 and above for university exams) Which... honestly is a little too high for me. Should have just said 70 haha. Out of 8 subjects in my first year, I only had 3 distinctions. Haha so 70 and above will be my super big aim for 2010 and 2011.

When I came home from my class, I began thinking of some smaller aims that I should set for myself.

1.Keep my hair long

Honestly, I'm very unsure of this.The last time I had long hair was like 14/15 years ago! I've not been visiting the hair saloon for 4 months already!! One reason is I'm on my super long semester break and I'm at home most of the time. whatever happened to the part time job And the saloon that I frequent has increased their price. My usual hair cut price has gone up by 16%! I usually cut my hair every 2 months as suggested by Readers Digest but I realize as long as I befriend the hair dryer, it will be okay.

2. Cut down on Tomato sauce or any other sauce

I loveeee Tomato sauce so much that I 'tsunami' my food especially french fries with tomato sauce. I just like my food to be covered with sauce cause it tastier. As I know, the sugar content in tomato sauce or any other sauce is not low. Sighhhh.. do you know sugar makes u age? If I can kick out soda drink out of my drinking habit, I can cut down on sauces too right? Looks like I won't be saying "more chilli sauce please!" to the subway guy.

3.Save Money

The good news which I don't think is good..it's torturing is I did not spend a lot of money on my Johnny's fandom last year. Just a couple of bucks to call in and win Akanishi Jin's autograph I should be able to save quite a lot of money right? I thought so too.. BUT, I've spent most of it on food. You see, I really really hate dislike driving, so to bribe my sister to drive, I have to pay for her lunch and it's not cheap. I remember telling myself that I'll step into the Land of the Rising Sun before 20. I'm turning 20 this June, still broke and no sight of Japan plan this year. To go to Japan, I need money. And I feel really really bad whenever I ask for money from my parents. So I was thinking I should get a part time job in Monash when I start my class. It's quite convenient. And I should sell off some 'precious junk' as well. I'm gonna put ALL of my Chinese New Year angpau money (Otoshidama) into the bank! And..I want a new camera too.

4.Go out and take some photos!

I've always like photography but never really took it seriously. I should go out and take photos more often and not only photos on what I eat or myself. I'm sure you readers are sick of my face. And I really need to learn some new camera tricks haha. Can't be using the same ol tricks all the time. Time to use my fish eye jelly lenses! and hopefully my future time lapse videos will get better and better =)

5. Don't show that 'I'm not interested' face so often

I need to stop being so anti social. Somebody, get me the "I hate people" book please! I really really should go out and not spend most of my time in front of that squarish machine. Even my parents are more happening than me. And I really need to cut down on ranting and whining gossiping about others

6. Lastly.. EXERCISE!

Wii Fit or real exercise.. I really need it. My back and leg have been telling me that I lack of exercise. I remember checking my body age(?) on the Wii Fit and its even older than my parents!! I am the 'oldest' in my family according to Wii Fit. I should be the youngest!! Its been 2 years since I hold on my tennis racket. Looks like its time for some tennis action.

As for my aim tomorrow.. start writing for my corby post!

What are your 2010 aims?

Nothing is permanent but Change

There is a new virus T(3c1-1) that is constantly invading us. It's very hard to stop it once you caught it and everyday, more and more people are infected by it.

Signs of T(3c1-1)
Constantly wanting things to function to the maximum in the minimum possible time, in another words faster, more efficient, the shorter the better.

Symptoms of T(3c1-1)
Doubting the currency of newspapers, ranting about how slow your internet is, always wanting to tweet, check your mails every 10 minutes

Effects of T(3c1-1)
Once infected, a person will lose his patience, might become lazier and the worse of all, when a whole lot of people are infected, it will lead to the death of newspaper.

You must be wondering what am I talking about huh? It's about Technology and the future. In case you're wondering, T(3c1-1) comes from the word Tech, and I was the one who made that up.

Last semester, there was this discussion about newspaper and how long more will it last. I believe that newspaper will always exist and it's impossible for the interne to take over the papers. Why? Simple enough, in the world, there are more people without internet access compared to netizens.

But come to think of it.. It's just a matter of time. Newspaper circulation have been falling while conversely micro blogs like tumblr, twitters are emerging. Fast and efficient.. that's what people today wants. Newspapers are considered outdated compared to SMS alerts, twitters and more. If you want your news to be more detailed, you can even check out blogs.

Technology is not a living organism. But it slowly engulfs us into it, slowly taking over us. Even me myself have to carry my iTouch around so that I can tweet whenever I can access the wifi. And what do I tweet? The most mundane events of my life from the weather to what I had for lunch.

It's sad to see a tool for mundane events has the potential to take over newspapers. A friend suggested, death of newspaper = save more trees. Plus, newspapers are actually for advertisements, internet has lesser ads. Sounds quite positive, but how many jobs will be lost through 'Internetization'?

But you know what? Nothing is permanent but change. When the time comes, newspaper will have to go to somewhere that is better for it.

Have a good year ahead

Today was my final Japanese class in the year 2009. Before ending the class, Nishio sensei asked us "What should we say before the year ends?" or what is it "What should you say at the very end of the year?" I don't remember whats her question exactly, but you do get what I mean right? Being the silly me, I said er.. "Rainen mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu" (Please also take care(?) of me next year) and one of classmates said "osewa ni narimashita" (an expression used to thank someone for their help or favors done for you over a considerable period of time. Both of us are not exactly wrong, but the right word to say is Yoi otoshi wo! (Have a good year ahead). That's something new for me. Shall try to spot that word while watching Johnny's countdown or NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.

Before facing 2010, lets have recap on what happened to ME in 2009.
January
-Made some NY resolutions, and still pending..*shakes head*
-Was forced to get a part time job by someone I barely know
-Received my offer letter from Monash University
-Chinese New Year

February
-Endless Shock begins
-Read The Tales of Genji unfinished
-University orientation. Officially a Bachelor of Arts student of Monash University

March
-Boys Over flowers was really huge that time
-Shocked by the news of Visual Kei icon, Miyavi and Melody getting married
-Ate Korean food (the last time was in 2006)

April
-Wrote Hard news for the first time. "Hard news is really hard", I got only a Credit for it.
-Went to One World Hotel's lounge for some Jazz music for my American Music assignment

May
-I won Akanishi Jin's autograph hahah
-Borrowed Kirino Natsuo's crime fiction book entitled "OUT" and dreamed of Kimura Takuya as a serial killer
-My Journalism lecturer was arrested under the sedition act.

June
-EXAM! Almost failed Psychology! hahah and Semester break
-Michael Jackson passing away 2 days before my birthday.. Shocking indeed
-My 19th birthday. Met some old friends
-Played Wii so hard that I thought that my hand were gonna detach from my body

July
-Back to University
-Force myself to LOVEEE Psychology

August
-Assignments again and again
-Started watching Wild Bunny
- National day
-Started The Rene Report ver.2

September
- Jay left 2PM.. and still not back yet
-I toured around Kuala Lumpur
- I wore high heels to IKEA and killed my legs
-iPod died.. because of my careless acts
- Endless assignments

October
- Cats cats cats! The stray cats behind my house gave me a whole lotta trouble
- Enjoyed Asian music a lot. The listening part, not the studying part
- Got myself a new iTouch, named it fiftyone
- Exam begins!
-School's out, break's in

November
- Started music monday on this blog
- My picture was on Durian Navi magazine

December
-Started the 'It's in the name' thing..and still going on with it
-Received my price from shibuya246
-Cats cats cats
-Took my JLPT Level 4

Things to blog before 2010
-Update on Kristy outing with pics
-Blog a trend.. probably about newspapers or music

It's in the name pt4

This naming thing is endless eh? Don't worry, it will be a different approach this time.Today, it's about the Horvejkul brothers. And no, this is not a fortune telling corner.

Sorry, I couldn't find a proper pic of Nichchan, so there's double Nichkhun here.


The Horvejkul bros consists of Nichkhun,21 (pronounced as NI-KUN) and Nichchan,23 (I assume it's NI-CHAN?). So, what comes to your mind first when you saw their names? The first think that strikes me was "Do their parents speak Japanese?" Why is that so? you ask.

Let's drop both's 'nich' and take 'Khun' as 'kun'. So what do u get? Does 'kun' and 'chan' rings any bell? If you're thinking of Japanese honorific suffixes, then you're on the same page as me.

Kun (君, in Kanji, くん in Hiragana)is used by a senior person in addressing a younger male. For instance, a teacher usually addresses her student as xxx kun. However, in Johnny's I believe that the Jrs are told to address their seniors by kun. Let's take KinKi Kids and Hey!Say! JUMP as an example. The age difference between the oldest member of HSJ and KinKi Kids is 11 years and yet they have to call them Koichi kun, Tsuyoshi kun. Imagine Ryutaro calling Kimura Takuya as Kimura kun. It will be so awkward!
Besides that,kun can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to or have known for long.

Chan (ちゃん) on the other hand is a more casual way of addressing someone. Thus, using chan with a superior's name would be condescending and rude. In general, chan is used for babies, young children,cute animals, lovers and close friends.

You know what? Nissan* should really seal a deal with the bros.

*san is pretty much like Mr./Mrs./Ms in English

It's in the name pt3

When will this naming thing ever end? Haha remember I said that I wanna change Maki's name? It was decided that it's new name is でぶ (Debu, so that it will grow bigger. Just 3 days after that, Debu really did grew bigger!! Okay..maybe it's because it's at the growing age, but lets assume it's the naming thing ya? There are also lots of cat's dropping behind my house.. Please do it else where and don't make me rename you cats 'Benpi' (Constipation) ya!

On an unrelated note, I came across this Japanese cat blog just now. でぶねこ☆めんまさん (The fat cat- Menma san)So cuteeee!!
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Last night, I was watching my weekly "1 Night 2Days" tv program. It's actually a Korean travel-variety program. This week, they went to Gangwon-do and visited an observatory there. In the observatory, they get to take a glimpse of the moon and a young star named Capella via the super canggig-manggih* telescope. The telescope was so huge/magnifying that they get to see the Moon's crater. I wanna take a look at the moon too! to find out whether it's cheese like I wonder do we have the chance to take a look at the moon at the National Observatory in Langkawi?
*canggih means advance in English
I wanted to sms Kristy at that time, but I can't remember where did I misplace my mobile phone. I keep misplacing things lately especially my phone Repeats are on Sunday 5.20PM, KBS world (Channel 303 on Astro)

Oh ya.. I was woken up by this really strange dream. Shall story it tomorrow!

Smoking is Dangerous To Us

Smoking is Dangerous to Us (OT: Santa claus is coming to town)
You better watch out
You better not smoke
You beter not try
coz i'm telling you why
Smoking is dangerous to us

I'm singing a song
Making it clear
Telling you smoking makes you blur
Smoking is dangerous to us

It kills you when you're sleeping
It kills you when you're awake
It kills you although you've been bad or good
So dont smoke for goodness sake

SO~
You better watch out
You better not smoke
You better not try
Coz i'm telling you why
Smoking is dangerous for us!

Credits to Clair and Me for the lyrics

Some months ago, Clair asked me, "Why do people smoke?" I answered her, "It makes them feel happy?" I think she wasn't really convinced with that answer so I gave her an example which I think why people smokes. "Think of a food that you'll feel happy and satisfied after eating it" And she replied, "Zanmai's Tamago mentai sushi". Everyone I know who frequents Sushi Zanmai loves that sushi!!



Sushi Zanmai's Yaki Tamago Mentai Sushi

So that day onwards, I use the term 'smoke' when I'm talking to my sister or Clair about this sushi. "Eh, I feel like smoking" , "I'm gonna smoke later",etc etc..

Why do people smoke? I don't know the answer as I don't smoke. But I guess it's not right to judge a person's character by seeing whether they smoke or not. coughs Ko chan coughs My grandma smokes a lot, but she's a nice lady.

It's in the name pt2

Remember one of old entry about why naming is important? Today, the stray cats behind my house once again proved that to me. After writing up that previous post, my sister and I decided to change JiHoo's name to the almighty me Jun Pyo. And this morning, when my sister fed them some sausage, Tatsu the dragon and Jun Pyo fought rushed to it, leaving poor Maki behind. It's really really weird to see 'Jun Pyo' behaving like that. Usually it's the most passive out of all 3 and will run away whenever something was thrown near them. The Name power? or maybe it's just hungry So I'm thinking to give Maki another name. Any suggestions? Anything but not Tiger/ Lao Hu/ Harimau/ Tora or anything along that line please. Look at Tiger Woods, totally living up to his name

I went to Tropicana Mall for lunch today. Had Kenny Rogers Roasters and I'm quite positive that there might not be any next visit. I was quite disappointed with the chicken and Nando's was wayyyyyyyy better. Of course it's not as healthy as KRR.. but the taste is just so different from what I remembered. Sighhhh healthier food = not so tasty food??

Anyway..it's been 100 days since Jay left. At the same time, videos of him and his crew battling surfaced on YouTube. Glad to see him doing his thang with his homies in Seattle. His crew (Art of Movement) even won first place in a bboying competition.

All I want for Christmas is...

Sorry for not updating over the weekend. I was really occupied with my video which turns out to be quite disappointing? I only like my intro part.. and the content is very different from what I visualized so won't be posting it up here haha. I should have a better plan next time.

Anyway.. what do I want for Xmas? Some of my friends have been telling me that they're having problems when it comes to buying gifts for me whether it's Xmas or Birthday. Their reason is I have everything. Which I think is quite true. I have everything that is necessary for me to live on. and a whole lotta junk at home And things on wish list? It doesn't really matter whether I have it or not. But who doesn't like icing on their cake? I'm greedy haha

1. "Have A Little Faith" by Mitch Albom


Mitch Albom's one of my favorite author! I have 3 out of 4 of his books and will definitely complete the collection. It's just a matter of time gotta wait for the price to drop first haha

2.I want this pair of shades


want to look like Jang Geun Suk


Haha it's quite cheap actually but I just bought an aviators not long ago. And I'm very happy with it.

Thats about it I guess? I don't really make wish lists, so it's hard for me to compile what I really want. Shall edit if I can think of anything.

The Magnae Rebellion

In the Korean language, the term "magnae" is used to refer to the youngest member of a group. In most Asian culture where individualization is not as huge as the Western culture, the magnaes are usually the one being bullied by the elders. Because they're the youngest, they cannot go against their seniors or else it will make them look rude. The magnaes are also always the one who gets all the bad things.

I was watching this reality tv called "Idol Magnae Rebellion" and found out that these magnaes were terribly "abused" by their seniors. Especially poor 2AM Jin Woon whose hyung* is a fan of boxing. And whenever his hyung watches boxing, he have to be next to him. And out of no where, a high kick will be flying to him. And if he refuse to sit next to him, his hyung will threaten him "Don't ever talk to me anymore"
(*Hyung is used by Korean guys to refer to guys older than them)

In a way, it's quite true. Cause my high school friends always make Kim, who is a year younger than us, do things for us.The other day, Estee and I make her ask the Kopitiam guy whether they have durian cake or not. we were too embarrassed to ask Sorry Kim! you're the youngest

But it's not always true. If you have a passive leader and a do-S magnae like MatsuJun or an Italian face like Chan Sung, or an AB face like me you'll probably overpower your seniors. Haha like me, I think I bully more people older than me than people older than me bullies me. The one living with me is probably the biggest victim, followed by Clair and sometimes but not so much, Kristy.
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Last week, there were a couple of uninvited guest in my house.

Meet the pineapple skin look a like moth/butterfly


And woody looking moth

My Pony Lies Over the Ocean

Something weird happened today. It's not a rare sight in Australia according to sis but it's certainly shocking to see it over here in Malaysia. 2 police men passed by my house riding on a horse each. I'm not kidding! It happened so fast that I did not have the chance to take a good picture of it. All I heard was ke-de-kut ke-de-kut, then ran out of the house and saw two police men hahah. "I don't even live near a stable, barn or pasture.. why are there horses here? How did they came? Did they rode it through LDP or Sprint Highway?? " Those were some of the thoughts I had in my mind when I saw it. I quickly ran up to grab the camera and standby the auto gate keys in case they pass by again.. but sadly, they did not.

Okies.. I did some Google and guess what I found? There's a horse unit in our police force. In October, these horses were at SS2. Click here for more photographs. Suddenly I felt as if I live inside a cave haha. SS2 is just a couple of neighborhood away from my house. And I didn't know about that event? Should have went and rode on the white one . Haha horses reminded me about some soon to be 31 years old and bald guy who's Chinese zodiac is a horse too.

Talking about horses, I have an expression/face that my sister calls it the Horse Face while I call it the Won Bin smile Because my teeth are so small unlike some fashion disaster beast, if I over smile, you'll see my gums. No pictures of it cause I really hate it when my picture turn out to have a Won Bin smile. I ain't no Won Bin

The horses sure do reminded me of my camping days at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club back then in 2001. Come to think of it.. I was talking about the camp with my sister on my way back from Monash. And not long after that, the horses appeared. Hmmm....

It's in the name

Remember a while ago, I blogged about the post code lottery? Today's entry will be about the naming lottery. The Chinese thinks that it's very important for their children to have a good name. They believe that the name will reflect what kind of person their children will grow up to be. I'm not stereotyping people by saying people with what name have a certain behavior or they end up getting what type of job but I think it can be quite true.

For example.. the stray cats behind my house. The one named Tatsu (Dragon) turn out to be quite a strong cat. It's quite aggressive when it comes to food and is not afraid of people. Sometimes it even roars like a tiger. not cat As for its twin, Maki (not sure what it means in English.. rolls is the closest word I guess) always roll around. And lastly, the orange kitten, Ji hoo. It's a little soft lembik just like Ji Hoo sunbae. Should have named it Jun Pyo or something.

I wonder what does my name have in store for me? Haha Car? Arc? Care? Reine means queen. no wonder I once dreamed that I was a queen But too bad it's not my name haha.

Aye aye aye..

Aye Aye I... I'm your little butterfly.. Green, black and blue make the color in the sky

Aye Aye Aye.. Where's my Samurai?

Lately, I've been watching and reading some Samurai related text and that song *points above* I'm sure guys know that song came to my mind yesterday. So I decided to write about the Samurai for today's entry.

A couple of days ago, I was watching "Takizawa Enbujo" which is Takki's Samurai Musical. When he appeared, I thought "Woah.. Takki as a Samurai is really convincing." It then stuck me that I've never seen a Samurai, how do I know Takki looks/behaves like a Samurai? His sharp fierce eyes? Neatly shaped eyebrows? Squarish jaw? The way he speaks? His gesture?

You see.. these characteristics listed above are my impression of a Samurai which is obviously mediated. In films, Samurai always appear to look very fierce and speaks in a low tone and it made us think that all Samurai are like that. What we see is what the media whats us to see and not necessarily 100% accurate. I'm not saying what they're showing is wrong. .I'm just wondering about it. My apologies if you find entries as such boring. It's just that I usually spend my time wondering about things like that although I look like I don't use my brain a lot.

Anywayyy.. so how does your mediated Samurai looks like? Here's my top 3 favorite samurai actors.

1. Takizawa Hideaki

Although Takki has a little Western feature his nose? eyes?, I think he still can play as a Samurai. I guess it's because he have this what the Chinese call "General(將軍) Face" General as in Military's Generalissimo not the common general.

At 2nd place would of course be Domoto Koichi.

He somehow reminded me of Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. Besides, his skills in swinging the blades in Sushi Oji and SHOCK is one of the factors too.and the eyes! He was also ranked 2nd in a poll "Which actor would you like to see play the role of a samurai warlord of the Sengoku period (1467/1493-1573)?" Sorry that I couldn't find a better samurai picture of Ko chan.

If you're wondering who was rank first in that poll.. It was MatsuJun. But I prefer to see Jun looking glamor in his bling. Actually I think he looks more like an emperor

At 3rd place, Miura Haruma who is currently starring in the drama "Samurai High School"

Honestly, when I first watch Samurai High School, I was like "YERRR what kind of show is this. So lame one." Thank God I did not stop watching it. It gets better episode by episode and Miura proved that whether a thug, hacker, guy who make his girlfriend pregnant, detective or a student, he can carry his role well. And now he can add Samurai into his archive.

Also , I've never seen him as a Samurai before.. but I think he have the eyebrows of a Samurai. Very oriental eyes, Kamenashi Kazuya. No need picture la ya.. Lazy to Google.

And of course that guy who played as a blind samurai 3 years ago

Who? Figure out yourself!

Can u hear my heartbeat? It's beating for u

My answer? No.

They don't have a heart, the heart is missing. Just look at the entire concept.. It's so dark and joker-ish bee pollen and hollowed eyes.

You can ignore the top part of this entry ahha. It's a song I heard recently entitled "Heartbeat". Wanted to write a song/music video review on it. But blehhhh tak payah la. I'll probably end up criticizing it a lot although it's not that baddd.

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Christmas songs.. they're always that few same songs, just a little improvised as it's being performed by different people. One of my all time favorite song is Christmas Eve by Yamashita Tatsuro. It's actually quite cool for the Japanese to have their very own Xmas song don't you think so? I mean, all along, we're only singing other people's song..when will we have our very own "Selamat Hari Natal" or even an original Xmas song?

If u find the name Yamashita Tatsuro familiar but couldn't recall who he is.. He's the one who composed Garasu no Shounen, Kiss Kara Hajimaru Mystery, Jetcoaster Romance and Happy Happy Greeting. And a more recent one, he composed "Snow Express" for NEWS.

I first heard the English version of "Christmas Eve" on SC performed by Jimmy Mackey. I wonder what's he doing right now

Enjoy~

Japanese version


English version

The song was released in 1983 in case you're wondering whats up with his voice and if anyone wants the mp3 of the Japanese version, let me know ya! I'll upload it

There is nothing permanant but change

The thing about being on break is you have all the time to update your blog but there's nothing to blog about.

I've been watching quite some shows related to "Life" lately. Is the topic of Life a new boom among audiences lately? Hmm..I guess people just like to watch about things that they can relate to or things that might happened to them some day later. Among all these 'slice of life' type of drama, I like "Tengoku de kimi ni aetara" (If I can meet you in heaven) the best. It's not the average lead actor was diagnosed with cancer and die in the end type of story cause it was narrated from the psychiatrist's point of view.

Honestly after taking Communication, I look at technology differently. There was this topic on fandom about why people are so emotionally disturbed when their favorite celebrities passed away or when something happened to them. One reason is of course It's because you like them. But why do u like them? It's because technology have created a para-social relationship between your favorite celebrity and you. It feels like you're having a face to face interaction with them and you'll feel like they're your friend. See how technology alters our emotion. The explanation is a whole lot longer..but I'm lazy to explain further and it will be boring haha. But if you're interested to know..u can leave a comment and I'll blog about it next time.

Maybe I should get a part time job at Etude House instead of sitting behind technology. Haha My semester break is till next March. I have some plans but I don't think it's sufficient to last me till next year. Ahh

The Fruit of Midsummer

Happy 11th birthday to Kenshiro. It must have been really hard for a dog at such age to play around and be active like it used to be. Your owner really cherishes you, you lucky dog!

I'm way behind my study schedule and I really need to stop listening to those power house vocals emo songs! Oh

You know what.. There are 2 things that I really regret not buying from Taiwan 2 years ago! whats with the sudden change of topic? I think I've mentioned this before in the old blog, but will blog about it again cause I'm feeling the regret-ness now. Dayum! I should have bought the Seishun Amigo single. It's dirt cheap and I hesitated? Whats wrong with me?? And the second item.. Southern All Star's (SAS)album! I was holding it, preparing to buy it but why did I put it back?!?! Bodoh! They're a little old but their songs are really good! I personally love Tsunami and Manatsu no Kajitsu (The fruit of Midsummer) the most! My Japanese teacher loves SAS too!

There were a couple of remakes of Manatsu no Kajitsu..but no one beats Kuwata Keisuke (lead singer of SAS). EXILE's version was really beautiful but not enough emotions/spirit inside and their vocal range is not as big as Kuwata. Jackie Cheung's one is alright and so is Bonnie Pink. The worst was this group called A.G.E Not only they didn't do justice for the song..but totally killed it. SAS songs are very very hard to sing because of the octaves! But I really wish to see Tsuyoshi performing a SAS song. He definitely have the amount of emotions to sing it! He totally pwn the song Shirushi, a very emotional song (in my opinion) originally by Mr. Children.

I also enjoy SAS' collaboration with Mr. Children! Mr. Children are really good musicians and they're on my MUST BUY list when I go to Taiwan again next time which I don't know when So many CDs and DVDs to buy when I visit Taiwan. They'll probably mistaken me as a DVD seller or something.

Wow.. I actually did a Music entry.. how rare.Haha I usually try to avoid writing something music-ey cause I'm not so much of a music junkie and I don't know much about music. Though I took American Music and Asian Music in Uni Talking about Asian music, SAS was mentioned in my Asian Music unit book heh.

There were people who ask me "Did u listen to SAS because of Yamapi?" The answer is No. The person who intro-ed SAS to me was actually Yun Ho. He listed Tsunami as one of his "currently addicted song" years ago. I find it foreign, so went and Youtube it and really really liked that song.

Haha do you know this song is actually an insert song for Tsuyoshi's drama "Moto Kare"? When I heard it in that show..I was like OOOHH!!

I'll be blogging on another Japanese musician some time soon! Look forward to it

Oh my.. just re read this entry and finds the flow really bad! Sorry bout it! haha too lazy to edit it

Loveless

Excuse me for the fan girl moment! But it's November already!! The month when my Number 1 is gonna release his 2nd solo single. *points at the calender which had November 18th circled* I'm so excited! It's been so long!! Looks like I can put Daite Senorita aside and start playing Loveless! and his Mola routine's really nice! I wanna learn!



Wonder of the day..
Yesterday, I called Clair and asked her something
C: Clair R: Rene

R: Why is Honggi's voice so powerful? I mean how he train huh?
C: I heard from my cousin la that he used to sing in a choir
R: I used to sing in a choir also what. 4 years somemore. But why no power at all? Not even 1/10 of him.
C: How come your voice like that huh?
R: Got 2nd place in some Choir competition you know

Haha yeahh makes me wonder what did I learn from 4 years of Choir. I remember my choir teacher said that I have very good expression. So all along I've only been working on the expression? Sigh..I really wish that my singing voice is a little bit bit more powerful and higher..Don't have to be like the Wonder Girls, BoA or even Mariah Carey..just a lil bit stronger. I don't wanna sound like a cat.

Something's gonna happen tomorrow 2PM KST. It's time to face reality... I'm not asking for a good news.I'm just hoping for something positive, please.