New Hair Job Done

Phew! I had just completed a long hair job at the Reds salon at Suntec City today.

This was a cut, colour, highlight, wash and blow hair job that took almost 5 hours to complete. Throughout the session, I kept falling asleep as I was very tired and there was nothing much to do other than sit in the salon chair to get my hair done. As it was a special xmas package, the total cost for the whole job was $188.

Plus I had a treatment done in for my hair and that cost me another $35. Whoa! All in all, I spent close to $240 just on my hair alone. Boy, come to think of it, it was quite worth it as my appearance looks much younger and fresher than before.

My hairstylist picked the colours for me and I am happy that she got it done so nicely. The base colour was mahogony brown and the highlights were copper red, though the red wasn't that bright like an ang pow. *grinz*

Now I am feeling so light and wonderful with a new hairstyle. Gee, I hope the colour will last me for a long time since I paid so much for it, eh? Anyway, it's still worth it.

=)

Whoa! Robert Pattison in USA Today's Top 100 People List

Harry Potter's Page has posted that Robert Pattison has just made it to the USA Today's Top 100 People list this year.

Pattison is placed at number 20 on the list. Reason is listed as follows:

His glistening skin distracted millions of teen girls this year, and it's safe to say the Twilight franchise will transform the actor into a superstar. Even if the sequel bites, Pattison's hair is a box-office cash machine.

So, will he be able to match Daniel Radcliffe of the Harry Potter movie franchise? It remains to be seen as Radcliffe is not included in the list this year. This is probably due to the fact that the latest Harry Potter film's release has been pushed back to July 2009 and so, his influence is not as great as Pattison's this year. After all, Stephenie Meyer's vampire series has hogged the limelight this year and it's no surprise that the movie will do the same.

On a side note, the HP Page also reported that Pattison had just recently cut his famous Twilight hair into a super short cut. Here's a comparison of his hair:

Before: His famous Twilight haircut.


After: His new super short haircut. Btw, those words are not written by me.

I could still remember the time when he was first cast as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He was quite a relatively unknown actor before being casted in the Harry Potter movie. Here's how he looked while portrayed as Cedric:




Heh heh... he certainly looks very different back then, eh? Now with the enormous success of Twilight, his career can only go up and up. Besides, I doubt he could return back to the Harry Potter franchise movies as his character, Cedric Diggory, had already been killed off in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though he still appeared in flashbacks in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Will we be seeing more of this rising young star? I think so but he has to be careful not to be typecast permanently as Edward Cullen. Otherwise, he would never be recognised as anything else except as Edward. That would be a disaster for an actor, I believe.

Look at Daniel Radcliffe. He has since branched out to act in other movies such as December Boys and also acted in musicals such as Equus. Thus, Radcliffe proved to the critics that he is not just a one-time boy wonder but a serious thespian to be reckon with.

Too bad I won't be able to see Equus as it is currently not staged in Asia. Hmmm... Besides, the naked scenes would have made it impossible to premiere in conservative Singapore's theatres.

So, between the 2 guys, who will prevail? For me, I will always support Radcliffe as I am very impressed with his performance in the Harry Potter movie franchise. As for Pattison, his acting is nah. Oops.

There you go. My few cents worth. Keke....

Anime Watch: New Episode for Vampire Knight Guilty is Out!

I had just checked the online website for new updates to one of my favourite japanese animes, Vampire Knight Guilty, and the latest episode has already been uploaded for viewing. Wee!!!

The only thing is, there are no english subtitles dubbed for the episode as yet. So even though I can watch the episode, I won't be able to understand a single word. Damn...

I hope some kind soul out there would quickly uploaded a subbed english version so that I could watch. Anyway, for now I will still watch the episode. Well, at least I can try to hazard a guess to what the characters are saying.

Yay!

Merry X'mas!

Merry X'mas and happy holidays! I went to celebrate X'mas with my friend and just got back home. I will do an update post of my x'mas gifts later. Well, not that I have received a lot of gifts but then, at least its better than nothing.

Cheers!!!

Anime Watch: In Love with Vampire Knight

Lately I have been watching many animes on the new TV channel, okto, and now I do admit that I have become an anime fan. Long long time ago, I remembered watching Doraemon and Sailor Moon on TV and memories of those animes have been vague. However, I wasn't that hooked on them as I do now.

Mainly this is due to the new influx of animes that are beautifully drawn and the storylines are getting very good and intriguing. Among all these animes that I have liked, Vampire Knight and its sequel, Vampire Knight Guilty, is one of them.

Vampire Knight is not officially shown on Singapore's channel. So I watched the anime online. The anime itself is adapted from a popular manga of the same name. A cover picture of the manga is shown below with the three leads.

From left to right: Zero Kiryu, Yuki Cross and Kaname Kuran.

The manga is written by Matsuri Hino, as seen on the book's cover. The story is about a young girl, Yuki Cross, whose earliest memory is of a snowy night in winter, when she was attacked by one vampire and was saved by another, Kaname Kuran.

Yuki is the adopted daughter of the Headmaster of Cross Academy, Kaien Cross and has grown up and became a prefect for the school with one main purpose: to protect the Human Day Class Students and the Vampire Night Class Students from each other. Yuki is actually a vampire but her mum had blocked her early childhood memories as well as her vampire side in order to protect her from her evil uncle, Rido Kuran.

Her fellow guardian, Zero Kiryu, a childhood companion whose parents were killed by a pureblood vampire, is now determined to kill them all and refuses to trust them. Through a cruel twist of fate, Zero becomes a vampire himself, having been bitten by the same pureblood vampire four years before, Shizuka Hio. Having come from a family line of vampire hunters, he rejected his vampire side but was eventually forced to accept his vampire side when he was overpowered by the thirst of blood in him. However, he still set out to destroy vampires and through a twist of events, he ended up being the strongest vampire hunter ever and managed to defeat Rido Kuran together with Yuki.

For Kaname, he leads the group of Night class as their President. On top of that, he is also a pureblood vampire who commands awe and respect from his fellow mates. Unknown to Yuki, he is also her fiance and they had pledged to marry each other when they were young. Unknown to Yuki, Kaname is actually the ancient ancestor of the Kurans, and Rido is his master who awakened him from his grave, making him unable to kill his 'master'.

Because of the theme of suggested incest, this anime will never get to premiere in Singapore. It's a pity though. The story is intriguing yet humourous at the same time. I enjoyed watching the anime as it has many light-hearted moments. Kaien Cross provided many of the comic reliefs in the anime and it's a good thing that I watched this anime in the comfort of my home. Ha!

I like the way the vampires activated their powers by turning their eyes red, or something like that. When they are not sucking blood, their eye colours are normal. However their eye colours turned bright red when they reveal their vampire side. See the picture below of the vampire side of Zero:




Eh, it's kind of different from the Twilight vampires. They just suck blood normally and the Cullen family only feeds on animals and not humans. Zero had fed on Yuki on several occasions when she was still living as a human. For the rest of the vampires in the Night class, they survived on blood tablets which was not quite the same thing as human blood.

Nonetheless, all the vampires are so cool and gorgeous in Vampire Knight. Just like the Cullens in the Twilight series. I think being cool is part of the job description of a vampire. But Yuki is so, erm, uncool. However, she is still loveable enough for both Zero and Kaname to fight over her. I'm so envious of Yuki. She gets to choose between 2 gorgeous guys who are willing to do anything for her.

From I have searched on the internet, Yuki finally makes her choice in Kaname and Zero wishes her all the best before leaving her. Aww... Honestly if it were me, I wouldn't know who to pick. They are good in their own way so it's hard to make any comparison. Many fans out there actually hoped that Yuki would choose Zero because he's so protective towards her.

In the second season, Vampire Knight Guilty, they have shown up to the latest episode 11. Now I am waiting for episode 12 to be aired so that I can watch. Zero actually has a twin brother, Ichiru, and in the previous episode, he had sacrificed himself so that Zero could finally gain power as an individual rather than be split into 2 parts as twins do. For it's a curse for twins to be borned to a vampire hunter family.

Oh man, I can't wait for the next episode! It's gonna get exciting and things are certainly going to get rough between Yuki, Kaname and Zero.

w00t!

AFF Suzuki Cup Semi-Final: Singapore vs Vietnam

Tonight's soccer game has not been very satisfying at all. Both sides took possession of the ball yet no goals have resulted even after 70 minutes into the game.

Both sides' players have not been awe-inspiring in their passes and kicks. Vietnam wasn't playing as well as they should. Personally, I had thought that they were a better side than Singapore. So far the score is still nil to both sides.

I wonder who will win eventually.

First Half of AFF Suzuki: Indonesia vs Thailand

Barely 13 minutes into the soccer match between Indonesia and Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 Semi-Final match, Thailand scored a point against Indonesia.

Thailand looks set to be going strong against Indonesia and it is hard to see who will emerge the winner tonight.

It's still early stage. Let's see who is leading after the first half.

Tales of Beedle the Bard is the Fastest Selling Book for 2008

According to Telegraph, J K Rowling's latest book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, has just become the fastest selling book for 2008.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard – mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the latest book in the wizard boy series – sold 367,625 copies in the first three days after publication on December 4.

It is apparent that her fans are still very supportive of her even though she had wrapped up the Harry Potter universe. That includes me as well. So I am very happy that her latest book has done so well, especially since it's going to be sold for charitable purposes.

Till to date, I still can't bring myself to read it as I want to prolong my reading period as long as possible. Then I won't have to let go of Harry so fast. Weird, isn't it?

Anyway, let's savour the book's success for now, before another new book comes in to take away the feat.

=)

Damn Drivers! So Arrogant!

I was having my dinner when it was rudely interrupted by incessant car honking noise from below. Damn the driver. So I went to my kitchen window and found a single car which was parked below. That car's driver had to be the culprit.

The only damn thing is that I can't see the car plate number otherwise I would report it straightaway to the traffic police. Damn stupid driver.

My post is gonna get flamed but who cares!! The damn driver is a damn brown guy. Damn them. So what if they have a car?! Does that make them more superior than us? Damn them!!!

I should have gone down to copy the car plate number and post it online. I am so angry now. But I must give a name for such people in future. The law here is not very forgiving of bloggers who are racists. But I am!!! Oh who cares!!!

*sighs*

Anger is getting right to my head and making me lose sense. Damn. I better stop writing now.

iPhone 3G Glory

Now that I am starting to get excited over the iPhone 3G (i know it's a long time), I am keeping a lookout for any good iPhone 3G deals from Singtel.

In the meantime, I can only goggle at these iPhone 3G pictures:


















There are even talks of a red iPhone that might be released by Apple in conjuction with the holiday season as well as to boost the sales for the PRODUCT(RED) charity project.

I wonder what are the next plans that Apple has for its red-hot product. Last time, it used to be its own iPods, now its overtaken by its own iPhone. Things are certainly looking more and more exciting now.

For the consumers, things can only get better.

Microsoft Makes its First iPhone App

According to CNET, Microsoft have just rolled out its first iPhone application, Seadragon Mobile, which was added to Apple's iTunes on Saturday.

Seadragon Mobile is a free image-browsing app that allows users to quickly "deep zoom" images while online and is intended to demonstrate what is possible with a mobile platform.

Hmmm, looks like the iPhone is starting to get attractive as the days go by. Many interesting and fun accessories and apps have been made specially for the iPhone. So much so that even I have been tempted to want to buy an iPhone for myself.

Too bad I had bought my Nokia N95 8GB way back in August and if I want to do a handset upgrade, I have to wait till August 2009. However, I have got another phone line to my name but its of a lower value and the number is different. I wonder if I could use that to upgrade my handset but limit it to my own mobile number?

That sounds very complicated, doesn't it? Oh well, at least I could wait till Apple releases a third version of the iPhone. That's when it would be the most ideal handset to purchase. Hopefully it would be end of next year, then I could trade in my N95 8GB for that droolicious iPhone!

w00t!

Watching videos on my PSP 2000

All right. I admit that I am a super duper slowpoke when it comes to my psp 2000. I only just got my unit this year and started playing games that were outdated compared to those gamers who are probably playing the latest titles for their PSPs.

There are many things that a psp 2000 could do. Like playing music, watching videos and of course, playing games.

All the while I was only using my psp to play games. It was only a few days ago that I thought it would be nice if I could watch my favourite animes on my psp too. The only problem was the video format. Or so I thought.

I had read online that the psp is very picky in using a particular format for video playing. The only acceptable format was MPEG-4 and nothing else. Well, I had some of those format video files and I thought I could use them for viewing on my psp. Boy, I was wrong.

I thought by just putting the video files onto the memory stick would solve the problem but yet I still couldn't view my videos. Something had to be wrong somewhere. It was only through research on the internet that I realised that I had to create a video folder in my memory stick and transfer my video to this folder before my psp could read the file.

Oh man, I felt so stupid when I found the solution to my problem. Nonetheless, here's a really old piece of news about the newly-released psp 3000. Here are some of the pictures taken of the psp 3000 as well as the psp 2000:

PSP 3000

PSP 2000

To me, the 2 versions does not look very different from each other. Maybe the psp 3000 looks a slightly more sleeker than the psp 2000. But other than that, it looks almost the same. Sony probably could have done much better with the new version but for now, the opportunity is lost this year.

Now I'm looking forward to the release of Nintendo's DSi next year and it looks better with each version upgrade. Pictures of the new DSi are posted below for references:








The new DSi will much more slimmer than ever before and it will also comes with an SD card slot, as seen in the picture above. Looks like things are going to get very exciting as the 2 gaming devices gear up for the consumer dollar next year. Who knows, I might even be tempted to buy the DSi next year.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed now.

=)

Twilight Gallery

For those who are wanting more of Twilight's cast, I have found a gallery which has quite a number of pictures which mostly includes Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart.

Click here for the site.

Most of the pictures are taken on the set of Twilight and some of them featured light-hearted moments between the 2 main leads. A sample is posted below:




So go feast your eyes on the pictures and hopefully more pictures of the movie premiere can posted online too.

Kudos to the web!

Boring Superman

After watching the TV premiere of Superman Returns on Channel 5, I can only conclude in one word: Boring.

The film ran way too long with the plot going nowhere in the first half of the film. It ding dong between the past and the present of Superman's life. Then the super bad guy turns out to be, well, not very bad after all. Though this bad guy does have the ambition of killing billions of people with a newly created landmass that contains kryptonite and will destroy Earth's existing continents. Thus making Lex Luthor into the new owner of such a landmass.

The film starts to get a little better at the back with some action but then it drags again towards the part about the love triangle between Superman, Lois Lane and Richard White. Superman seems to get it easy all the time. Plus he always manage to get to the dangerous situations at the right time to save people.

This is unlike Spiderman, who has to fight conflicts within himself for most of the time even though he's a hero. For Spiderman, it would always be "with great power comes great responsibility". For Superman, I only see his pain at losing Lois Lane. Hmmm... nothing much to compare here between the 2 heroes.

Although I do wish that Superman would clear up his dress sense and start to wear his underwear inside his clothes. It looks so weird sticking out.

All in all, this movie is pretty average and does not really impress me much. I would still prefer to watch Spiderman movies over this Superman anytime.

Here I come, Peter Parker and Tobey Maguire!

Movie Watch: Superman Returns

And now I'm watching an old movie which is premiering on Channel 5 tonight at 7.30pm. It's titled Superman Returns and is directed by Bryan Singer.




A short synopsis from imdb.com is posted below:

--
For five years, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Earth, coaxed into space by a belief that Krypton may still exist. Finding nothing, he comes back to a changed world--not only has terrorism become rampant, but Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has married, started a family, and won the Pulitzer for her piece "Why the World Doesnt Need Superman." After a stop in Smallville to see his adopted mother (Eva Marie Saint), Superman is back in Metropolis, and Clark Kent has his old job back at the Daily Planet, with everyone still incredibly oblivious to his alter ego. But where theres Superman, there's Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), and he is likely to be planning something dastardly--in this case, using a piece of pilfered kryptonite to grow an entirely new continent that he will control.
--

I have not watched the movie before and so when Channel 5 decided to premiere the movie, I thought it was a good chance for me to watch. Hopefully it would be as good as those Spiderman movies. I adore those Peter Parker movies, especially when Tobey Macguire is casted as the tragic superhero.

w00t!

Twilight Phenomenon Unique to USA

I was browsing through Google for some various pictures of Twilight the movie when I came across this gorgeous picture.



This is an example of a Twilight Phenomenon. An excerpt taken from wikipedia is posted below:

--
A Twilight phenomenon is produced when unburned particles of missile or rocket propellant and water left in the vapor trail of a launch vehicle condenses, freezes and then expands in the less dense upper atmosphere. The exhaust plume, which is suspended against a dark sky is then illuminated by reflective high altitude sunlight, which produces a spectacular, colorful effect when seen at ground level. The phenomenon typically occurs with launches that take place either 30 to 60 minutes before sunrise or after sunset when a booster rocket or missile rises out of the darkness and into a sunlit area, relative to an observer's perspective on the ground.

This phenomenon usually produces a cloud of green, blue, white and rose colored hues which takes on a corkscrew appearance as it is whipped around by wind currents. It is seen within two to three minutes after a launch has occurred. Depending on weather conditions, it could remain in the sky for up to half an hour before dispersing.
--

The above picture was taken at Tranquillon Peak in northern Santa Barbara county. The twilight phenomenon lights up the night sky over Vandenberg AFB following the launch of an unarmed Minuteman III missile on Sept. 19, 2002.

Only a small percentage of the malfunctioning missiles would create this twilight phenomenon as most of them would have been destroyed by a Range Safety Officer.

Nonetheless, it's truly a sight to behold if I could be there to witness it first-hand. That would be so spectacular. We could never have this kind of sight in Singapore as our army do not fire missiles so openly. Even if they do, pictures such as these would probably have been destroyed before they could be circulated.

For now, I can only envy the beauty on my laptop screen but that's enough.

=)

New Moon Gets a New Director

According to this report, the new sequel to the hugely successful Twilight, New Moon, will be getting a new director, Chris Weitz.

Director Chris Weitz. Hm, doesn't look very good, imo. LOL.

Stars of Twilight, Robert Pattison & Kristen Stewart.

His previous work included The Golden Compass, which was a box-office bomb. At least, that was the case in Singapore. Hmmm... would he be a suitable steward for New Moon? That remains to be seen.

So far, I still have yet to see Twilight in the theatres although sneak previews are out. I'd rather wait for the official release of the movie which is coming this Thursday. What's the difference between sneak previews and the official release anyway? I still don't get it.

=)

Gmails get a proper PDF viewer feature

According to this CNET report, Gmail users get to open up their PDF documents inside Google Docs instead of getting their own native Acrobat Reader to start up on their own computers.

I think this is a cool feature as it helps to cut the loading times of the PDF file as compared to using the Acrobat Reader. So far I have yet to try out this new feature as I don't have any pdf files that are stored in my emails.

Nonetheless, it is good to know that my gmail account is now able to do much more things compared to its earlier days.

=D

Missing those yummy butter pork ribs

I just had a very satisfying lunch a few hours ago and I'm still missing one of the dishes as it was so good and delicious that I couldn't keep my mind off of it.

That particular dish is none other than butter pork ribs. Here's a picture of it on which I found on the web:




Just the look of the dish makes my mouth drools. Those creamy powder that you see on the pork ribs are actually the butter powder. The butter is slowly cooked until it turns into this powdery substance. Amazing, isn't it?

The taste of the butter pork ribs is quite milky and yet crisp. I just don't know how to put it into words. You have to taste it to know how delicious this dish is. Oh, it's at Blk 116 Commonwealth road.

I went with my colleagues to this zi char stall just to savour this dish. Of course, we did ordered other dishes to complement our lunch. Initially I was very surprised when my colleagues asked me out for lunch. Normally they like to hang out by themselves so I often have my lunch alone.

It was during the lunch that it was announced that this was a welcome lunch for our newest executive. In my heart, I was thinking about the unfairness again in my dept. We had a new admin colleague joining us last month yet till to date, no one had actually bothered to give her a welcome lunch. I don't know if the fact that she's a muslim plays a part because there's very limited muslim food choices here so if we were to have a lunch for her, it would be tough to find a halal stall.

Yet we would never know because we never bother to try. Then here comes this new executive and he was promptly given a welcome lunch within a week. *sighs*

That's the reality here in my dept. They look kindly upon excutives but they outright ignore admins. Sadly enough, I belong to the admin group and so gets outcast along with the rest of the admins. This situation only happens for my dept. In other dept, you can see that the executives mingle well with their admin staff.

It's truly depressing to work for this kind of dept where rank disparity plays such a big part. I hope I can leave this world of oppression soon otherwise I might lose my sanity.

Singapore Wins 2 - 0 over Indonesia in AFF Suzuki Cup 2008

Woo. I had just turned in to Channel 5 and saw that our home team had won the match against Indonesia in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008. The score was 2 to nil.

Looks like our lions are in good form and they might be facing up against Thailand or Myanmar. I didn't pay attention earlier on as I am pretty bad with soccer.

Oh well, at least it's an achievement that we Singaporeans can be proud of before the end of the year.

SPEED : Sky of Tommorrow

Yeah!!!! SPEED is finally back together permanently as a group this year! They have just released their 15th new single on 12 November 2008, titled "Sky of Tomorrow".





I am very happy to see them back together and I can't wait to buy their studio album!!!

w00t!!!

=D

SPEED : Walking in the rain

A 14th single was subsequently released by SPEED after the "Save the Children" campaign. This was to be titled as "Walking in the rain".





This showcased a much mellower SPEED as compared to their debut days. In addition, they put on more make-up and more lady-like clothes to look more sophisticated.

SPEED : Be My Love

Even though SPEED disbanded in 2000, they still came back together to support charity drives such as 2003's "Save the Children". They released their 13th single "Be My Love" specially for this charity drive.





See how grown up the members have become. =)

SPEED : Long Way Home

Finally a music video where you can see Takako and Hitoe singing alongside Hiroko and Eriko, the 2 main lead singers of SPEED. This song is titled "Long Way Home", a final single shortly before the disbandment of the group on 31 March 2000.





This song has a R&B feel to it and the moves are slicker compared to their early days.

SPEED : Steady

"Steady" is the first single to hit the first million sales for SPEED. This is a ballad single which was released after "Body & Soul".





It's quite a normal song which doesn't quite hit the spot the way "White Love" does. To me, "White Love" is the most definitive SPEED song. Of course, there are others who might or might not agree with me but that's just my opinion.

SPEED : Body & Soul

The very first single for SPEED is Body & Soul, which was released on 5th August 1996 and was their longest chart-topping song at 31 weeks.





It's an upbeat song and definitely fits the younger generation of their time too.

SPEED : ALL MY TRUE LOVE

Here's an upbeat single from SPEED, ALL MY TRUE LOVE. The music video was shot on location in the Grand Canyon Arizona. Amazing, isn't it?





The fast tempo of the song helps to lift up my low spirits whenever I listen to it. w00t!

SPEED : April

This particular SPEED song is a tribute to SPEED's 10th anniversary. Titled "April"





I loved this song lots as the strains of the music arrangement is very touching and I could feel emotions coming through from the girls. Some of you might or might not agree with me but this song is special.

SPEED : Alive

Yet another favourite SPEED song. This time round, it's titled "Alive". I seem to get stuck in memories of SPEED today. Kind of feeling nostalgic, ya?





I sure missed them lots ever since they disbanded long time ago. Although I do have a favourite female japanese singer that I'm also following faithfully right now.

That female singer is none other than Ayumi Hamasaki. Her songs are simply awesome and they filled the void left behind by SPEED.

Maybe I shall post Ayu's songs sometime too.

=D

SPEED : my graduation

Here's yet another favourite SPEED song of mine: my graduation.





I love the music arrangement of the song and it brought back memories of my own school graduation ceremony too. Hmm, but there weren't much pleasant memories to choose from. *sighs*

SPEED : White Love

While browsing through Youtube, I had came across a really old favourite song that I used to listen to while I was still studying in secondary school.

The song is titled "White Love" and it's sung by Japan's all time popular female group SPEED.





This was one of my favourite SPEED songs ever. Oh my gosh, just listening to this song brings back many memories of my younger days in school. That was like in the late 90s back then. Oh, I missed SPEED and boy, I was so sad when they disbanded. But there are news on the net that they have reformed back together this year. I hope I can hear them again soon.

=)

Twilight director won't return for Sequel

According to this report, Twilight's director, Catherine Hardwicke would not be returning to direct its sequel, New Moon.

It was quoted as saying that due to timing differences, Hardwicke had to bow out of the commitment. Some say that Summit Entertainment wanted to do the sequel as soon as possible, given that the current Twilight movie is doing extremely well at the box office.

For Hardwicke, whose previous films include Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, had the highest opening ever for a female director when Twilight made nearly $70 million in its first weekend. It has grossed over $138 million in three weeks.

Twilight will officially open in Singapore on 18 December 2008 and that's when I will be watching it along with maomao. She's very excited over the movie though she has been claiming otherwise.

So for me, it remains to be seen whether the film is really that good or I should just concentrate on Harry Potter, whose next film release will be in July 2009. Boy, that's such a long, long time. Warner Bros better catch up quickly if they want to beat the Twinkies in their movie debut. Hee...

=(

HTC Touch HD Only Exclusive to Starhub

I was so happy when I read in the papers that HTC Touch HD will be coming to Singapore this month.

Yet to my dismay, this new phone is an exclusive item specially sold by Starhub. Since I have a Singtel mobile phone contract, I am unable to purchase this new baby to replace my Nokia N95 8GB.

Looks like this is going to be the mobile operators latest strategy to lock in new customers, by selling phones that are not offered by other competitors. Yes, it's convenient for the companies and those new customers. But what about the existing customers? Does that mean we are penalised for NOT changing our mobile operator?

All these exclusive thingies are not doing us justice. Already in the US, AT&T practice this with the iPhone. Or maybe the party who's truly at fault is actually Apple.

Damn stupid Apple. It wants to earn big bucks and through all these exclusive deals, it ensures that Apple fans will be lured and tied to one of their desired operators, i.e. one who would pay them, Apple, the most premium fees for selling the iPhone.

I guess that's when the trend of selling exclusive phones kicks in for all mobile operators. This is so unfair to us, especially if we don't feel like changing our operators since we are comfortable with them.

Life sucks, doesn't it?

=(

My new 6-cell battery

I know this has been way too long in coming ever since I collected my 6-cell battery last month. Now I'm posting this to make up for my promise.

Overall, the battery life is definitely a great improvement over the 3-cell battery. Most of the times, I could log in about 4 hours of usage compared to my previous usage of 1.5 hours. I also got the technician at Corbell to overclock my wind but the guy only gave me an increase of 4%. It's pathetic but at least I'm having an overclock function rather than an underclock function, as was the case before.

The overclock function is made possible through MSI's latest bios update for the wind. Now my wind is better than ever and I'm so glad that I made the decision to buy it. Worth every cent, I must say.

Below are some of the pictures that I took of my 6-cell battery with my wind. I also took picture of the overclocking mode. Note that the power light turns to orange instead of its usual blue colour. Interesting and pretty, right?













What do you think of my wind? Worthy enough to dethrone the eee pc? Now my wind is perfect. Battery life is good. Has overclocking function. Is small and portable. What's there not to like about my wind?

=D

Yay! I finally got my copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard!

Tales of Beedle the Bard is finally released in Singapore on 4th December 2008 and I am very delighted to have bought my own copy at Popular's Bookshop yesterday evening.

Tales of Beedle the Bard was initially intended to be given to six people who are most closely connected to its author, J K Rowling and as well as through helping her throughout the 17 years of her Harry Potter journey.

A seventh copy was eventually made to be auctioned off at Sotherby's in London to raise funds for The Children's Voice campaign by The Children's High Level Group. The book was bought by Amazon.com at a record price of £1,950,000 and the proceeds helped to improve the lives of institutionalized children across Europe.

Below are some images of the original hand-made book by J K Rowling:
















Amazon.com has decided to publish the book to all Harry Potter fans, much to every Muggles' delight. w00t! A Collector's Edition is also available for sale through Amazon here. However, at a price of $100, I am better off with buying the standard UK version. The Collector's Edition comes with the following:

• All five fairy tales from the original The Tales of Beedle the Bard
• Outer case disguised as a wizarding textbook from the Hogwarts library
• 10 ready-for-framing prints of J.K. Rowling's illustrations
• Exclusive reproduction of J.K. Rowling's handwritten introduction
• 10 new illustrations by J.K. Rowling not included in the Standard Edition or the original handcrafted edition
• Velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling's signature
• Metal skull, corners, and clasp
• Replica gemstones
• Emerald ribbon

The collection sure sounds cool but it's simply too expensive for me to buy, especially since the Sing dollar is so weak against the UK sterling pound. =(




So I contended myself with the standard edition. A picture of my copy of the book is posted below:




Hmm, the picture is not very well-taken though. In any case, the book is being retailed for S$19.26 at Popular's Bookshop. With the 20% discount off top-selling books, I only had to pay S$15.41 for my copy.

Thank goodness I didn't make a preorder as the price would have been S$21.95. So now I am still admiring my book and I have yet to start reading it. It's such a joy to be holding it in my hands for the moment. For this book will almost signify the end of the Harry Potter world, which has kept me enthralled for so long.

Rowling did mentioned that she might one day publish a Harry Potter encyclopedia of her own but how soon will that day come, no one knows. However, no one ever wants the Harry Potter dream to end. At the very least, that's how I'm feeling right now.

During the years when Rowling was still writing the story through to the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I could still remembered the long wait for each Harry book to be completed, published and released to the world at the exact midnight. Though I did not queue overnight to get my hands on the books, I did made preorders to ensure that I get my own copy of the book.

The moment I get my book, I would hurry back home and settle down in my bed to start my journey into the magical world once more. And each time, Rowling did not disappoint. I'd still remember the day that I flipped the final page of the Deathly Hallows. Harry's journey had came to an end. No more eighth book or nth book to look forward to anymore.

That's why when Rowling announced that she had written Tales of Beedle the Bard, I became instantly happy for I know that there will be a day when this new book will get published and come into my hands. When that happens, I will get transported back to Harry's magical world again, even though it will be for a short time.

Boy, I sound so much like a crazy fan, don't I? Still, I don't mind going through all that again if I have a choice once more. For now, I shall be walking through the magical world with Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Tada!

Oil Prices Dropped to Lowest Since 2005

Here's a piece of good news for all of us: According to AFP News, the oil prices has dropped to the levels last seen in Year 2005 at 43.67 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January fell 3.16 dollars to settle at 42.28 dollars on the InterContinental Exchange, also at the lowest since January 2005.

In intraday trade the New York contract fell as low as 43.51 dollars and the London contract dropped to 42.04.

This is good news for all of us who have been weathering against the economic downturn ever since a few months ago. On top of that, oil prices used to record at sky high prices which led many transport companies to increase their fares and this hurt our pockets deeply. Electricity at home also cost more since the increment of at least 25% on our monthly bills.

In short, we could barely survive with the high oil prices pushing everything else up. From food to transport to leisure to electricity to our basic daily needs. Prices could only go up and up.

However with the decrease in oil prices, we could possibly see a ray of hope shining through our despairs. Due to the falling oil prices, the transport companies, mainly the taxi companies, cut back on charging the oil surcharge to customers.

As for the electricity at home, it is most likely that the lower oil prices will result in lower electricity bills in the next few coming months and that's a relief for us. Money is hard to come by and every saved cents counts a lot.

Hopefully the situation will improve over time as it's not easy to get out of an economic crisis as serious as this current one. But nonetheless, we still can hope for more rays of hope to shine through our lives in the near future.

=D

A simple yet delicious lunch

Today I had a very simple lunch. Despite that, it was delicious enough to remain indelibly in my mind.

I took a picture of my packed lunch with my Sony camera:




I had 3 dishes to accompany my rice. One is fried fish slices with apples, one is chilli-fried long beans and the last one is fried white cabbage.

I had some chicken curry sauce poured onto my rice to make it more tasty. I love the fish slcies the most as they are very crisp and tasty. It's milky sauce also makes the taste more unique. To top it off, apple slices are added to give more zing to the dish. Yummy!

So there you go. My simple lunch and a simple post for the day. Cheers!!!

Farewell, Ms Lo Hwei Yen

Finally, we have gotten more information about the Singaporean woman who was tragically killed in Mumbai's worst terrorist attack in recent years.

Her name is Lo Hwei Yen, who was a lawyer and was in Mumbai to give a conference talk. Cause of death is listed as: 'Fracture of skull with abdominal injury. Firearm injury.'

A Mumbai senior hotel executive at the Oberoi Trident confirmed that she sustained gunshots to her head and abdomen. It is a cold way of killing.

These terrorists really stop at nothing to ensure they got what they wanted. Which was nothing compared to the loss of human lives. Everything makes no sense in these terrorists' minds. They are probably just as normal as the boy who lives next door. Underneath the exterior lies a mind so shocking that it defies the very existence of humanity.

It is very hard for anyone to accept that their loved one is gone. Just like that. To add salt to the wound, it was a tragic end to a vivacious life. That can't be right. I mean, based on news report, this woman is so lively and so cheerful that she deserve a better fate than this. Life shouldn't ended in this way for her.

She had just gotten hitched and her career was going on so wonderfully. Yet death's jaw snatched her away from life's hand in a snap of a second. There can be no satisfactory answer for this.

C'mon, is there a reason to start a war over trivial matters like race? Why does violence become a necessary negotiation weapon for these terrorists? All the commoners will suffer for nothing. Poor Michael. His life with Hwei Yen had just barely started and now he's all left alone. Thankfully, the strength of family love still keeps him going and I hope he will stand strong and live life once more, this time without his beloved Hwei Yen.

I don't know all these people and I only got their names from newspapers reports. Yet because we all share the same thing that ties us together: our home country, Singapore. Because of that, we are one big family and we give each other support when in times of need. At life's bleakest hour, we rose to the occasion and unite as one family, one heart.

No matter what life has to offer in the future, Singapore will unite and stand behind Michael for we will never condone terrorism. Ever.