Salam Maal Hijrah 1431!

Salam Maal Hijrah 1431 to all Muslims around the world. Hopefully 1431 will be a better year for all of us. Let us pray.

Wonder Girls on US television

Image source: Asia enews

Yup, the girls have been busy promoting their music in the US. They already had their hit single Nobody in the Billboard Top 100 back in October, had joined the Jonas Brothers on their North American leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 and recently they have performed on So You Think You Can Dance. You can watch the video of their performance here. So cute!

For those of you who don't know, Wonder Girls is a South Korean girl group. Some of their popular songs are Tell Me, So Hot and Nobody. Yay to K-pop!!!

All about movies! Resident Evil: 4, Silent Hill 2 & more

I love digging news and rumors about new movies, especially regarding sequels of my favourite movie franchises. Here's what I've dug so far...

• Resident Evil: Afterlife, the 4th installment of the Resident Evil movie franchise, had been pushed back and scheduled to be release in January 2011. The original release date for the movie before the delay was August 2010.

This is not surprising to me, although it is quite disappointing. Apparently, they afraid that they will not finish the movie in time for the summer 2010 release and hence, the delay. And because this movie will be released in 3D, so they will definitely need more time to complete it.

• Silent Hill 2 will start filming after Resident Evil: Afterlife wrap production.

This is good news for me! I've been craving for a sequel for a long time. Hopefully it will be visually stunning just like the 1st film but less confusing plot-wise.

• Vulture and Vulturess (a new character) will be the new villains in Spider-Man 4.

Although it sound stupid, but this is the newest rumor circulating the new installment in the Spider-Man movie franchise. According to the rumor, Vulture will be played by John Malkovich while Anne Hathaway will play Vulturess. Mmm...I'm a bit worried if this rumor turns out to be true. I mean, having a 'bird' as a villain is bad enough and now they want to add another one. But wait, Nite Owl from Watchmen looks cool, so perhaps it wasn't a bad idea afterall.

• Magyk, a children's novel by Angie Sage and the 1st book in the Septimus Heap series, will be turned into an animation movie.

This is another good news for me. I love Magyk! Although I was expecting it to be filmed as a live-action movie but I think animation would be great too.

• Jurassic Park 4 on the way?

A lot of fans want this but it is still not confirmed whether the studio will go forward with it or not. Joe Johnston, the director of Jurassic Park III, however did mentioned in November 2009 that a script has already been done and the story will take the franchise to a whole different direction.

• Dawn Trader set to sail in December 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Trader has already started filming back in July 2009 and scheduled to be released in December 2010. Everything seems fine with no more drama about budget conflict or creative differences, hopefully the 3rd film will be as successful as the 1st film.



Hopefully all the movies that I had mentioned will have smooth production process and become successful in the box-office. That is, of course, if the studio decided to make them (yes, I'm talking about Silent Hill 2 and Jurassic Park 4, I'm tired of waiting).

Sources:
ComingSoon
Wikipedia

What's happening in December 2009?

Mmm...a lot of things happening around me in December 2009.

1. Britney Spears' birthday on December 2, 2009.
- It's today! Okay, as a fan, I just have to make a shoutout...Happy Birthday Britney!

2. My friends' wedding
- Two of my friends are getting married in this month. Well, I can only go to one event since the other one is too far away. Still planning on what to wear, I don't have much suitable clothes for weddings.

(image from Bleach 7)

3. Bleach premiere on Animax Asia
- Finally...Bleach anime will premiere on Animax Asia (Channel 715 on Astro Malaysia) on Dec. 18, 2009. I can't wait! I really hope they enable bi-lingual audio since I like watching it in Japanese. But of course they need to provide subtitles as well since I cannot understand Japanese. :-P

4. My niece birthday
- I MUST NOT forget this. My niece is turning 2 this 23rd December. Now...what should I give her? I cannot decide!

(image from Wikipedia)

5. Avatar coming out on Dec. 16, 2009
- I had promised myself that I will go to see this movie. I must! I feel like I will be missing something totally amazing if I miss it. Sometimes I will feel very excited about a movie but when the movie comes out, the excitement died away and I will have no interest to watch that particular movie anymore. So hopefully this time I will not disappoint myself. And I'm also hoping that Avatar is as good as it looks in the trailer.


Mmm...so far, that's all I can think of.

RE: The Darkside Chronicles...continuing the greatness of the franchise

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is the latest video game from Capcom for the Resident Evil franchise. It's an on-rails shooting game developed for the Wii console and had been released in the US on 17 November 2009.

This game will retell the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It will also feature a new chapter with an original storyline set prior to the events in Resident Evil 4. So far the game had received a score of 8.1/10 from IGN and a slightly lower score of 6/10 from GameSpot.

Although I'm a fan of the RE franchise, but I have to admit that I'm not going to own this game because I don't have a Wii console. Unless of course someone decided to give me one for my birthday, then I will go and gladly buy this game because from the trailer, it looks pretty fun and scary.

And here is one of the trailer for the game. You can check out a lot more videos for the game in GameTrailers. Enjoy!

Confused...

I'm confused. Where should I go from here? I want to have a better life but I'm not sure what to do to achieve that. Sometimes I think life is so complicated when it can actually be pretty darn simple.

Who's the alien?

Another animation movie will be released in this month. Produced by Madrid-based animation studion, Ilion Animation Studios, and British film production, HandMade Films, Planet 51 tells a story about an astronaut landing on a planet and thinking he's the first to do so when in reality the planet had already been inhabited by green aliens. Some of the voice-casts include Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Jessica Biel and Justin Long.

I'm still uncertain of what to think about the movie because the trailer looks 'average' for me but I'm sure kids would love to watch it. With school holidays around the corner, I know kids would drag their parents to see this.

Here's the trailer for Planet 51 courtesy of IGN. Enjoy!

CeleBRITion! My top 5 favourite Britney's singles

I'm so sorry. I couldn't resist myself.

Here are my Top 5 Favourite Britney's Singles.


5 ~ Me Against the Music feat. Madonna

It's catchy and just makes me want to stand up and dance. I absolutely love the fast-part before the chorus (sorry, I don't know what its called). There are a lot of good tracks in In The Zone, (Britney's fourth studio album and where this track came from) but Me Against the Music is absolutely one of the best.




4 ~ ...Baby One More Time

Addictive and infectious. When I first heard the song, I fall in love with it. One of the reason I love Britney is because of this song. I reckon she would not be as famous as she is today if it wasn't for this song. Max Martin (writer & co-producer of the song) really knows how to produce a good pop song.





3 ~ If U Seek Amy

I know the lyrics is somewhat inappropriate but the song is so addictive that I don't really mind about it. Another track by Max Martin (he co-wrote and produced the song), this song sparked another controversy in Britney's career. No need for me to explain more on that. Anyway, the strong pop sound with easy sing-along chorus, this song is one of the standout track in Circus (Britney's sixth studio album and where the track came from).



2 ~ Break the Ice

The first moment I heard the song (in my cousin's car through her newly purchased Britney's CD), I was stunned by it. It was soooo good! In fact, I think it's the most well-produced track among all Britney's singles in terms of music, lyrics and appeal. It's sexy, flirty, and hot. Absolutely the best track in her Blackout album (Britney's fifth studio album and where the track came from).



1 ~ Born to Make You Happy

As an avid pop song lover, I unquestionably crazy over this pure bubblegum pop song. It's my personal favourite single from Britney Spears and that's why its on top of this list. It got a bit of sad tone in it which makes me fall in love with the song even more. Did you know that the track was originally written to sound sexual? Hard to believe isn't it since the released track sound so innocent.



And there you have it, the top 5 of my favourite Britney's singles. Britney Spears latest compilation album, The Singles Collection, had already been released in certain region so if you like her songs, please don't forget to buy it.


All images courtesy of Wikipedia.

Silent Hill 2 ~ review

And so I continue my journey through this legendary video game series with Silent Hill 2. I know I was a bit left behind (Silent Hill Homecoming was already released and the remake of the first Silent Hill is currently in development) but it did not make me any less excited to finally get my hands on Silent Hill 2 since I heard and read a lot about it on the web. It is arguably the most popular and, some would say, the best game in the series.


Players will take control of James Sunderland, a lonely man desperately looking for his late wife, Mary, in the eerie town of Silent Hill after he received a letter from her stating that she will wait for him in their 'special place'. Along the way, James will meet various other characters; the depressive Angela; the naughty young girl Laura; the mysterious and seductive Maria; and the bully-victim Eddie. And of course James will also experience the surrealism and madness of the town as he stumbles upon monsters, corpses, and the mysterious and ever popular villain Pyramid Head. Players will have to navigate James through various creepy locations such as graveyard, apartments, hospital, and prison.



I'm impressed by the atmosphere present in the game as it gives me the sense of creepiness but also eagerness to explore more of the twisted locations. The foggy street, the I-don't-know-where-it-came-from noises, the decaying buildings; all that contribute to a great atmosphere for the game. Combine that with twisted-looking creatures and Pyramid Head, and you will get an awesome horror game.

The scariest place for me in the game was at the bloody underground prison. My heart almost stopped when there's a loud banging or when the monsters suddenly appeared on screen. Definitely one of the worst place to explore in the game.



In terms of plot / story of the game, it didn't continue on with the storyline from the previous Silent Hill game but present a whole new story for the gamers. But I must admit, the story is a bit confusing for my obviously-slow-than-your-average brain. I get the part that James is looking for his dead wife, and the background stories of the minor characters, but there are parts that I got confused especially when it involved the psychological twists. Maybe I need to get all the endings and the guide book to understand more of the game (I currently only achieved 1 ending; there are all about 4 to 5 different endings). I do appreciate more of the game and the psychological twists once I read more about it on the web. But if you do not like spoilers, than I suggest you play the game and get at least 2 to 3 different endings before you search the web about it.

Overall, Silent Hill 2 is a satisfying game for me. Like what I wrote before, although I was a bit confused, but I still get the whole picture of what had happened in the game. I found the story to be sad since it revolves around the themes of loneliness and the sense to belong. The story was well-written and very well played-out in the game. Silent Hill 2 was highly praised by critics and was a commercial success, so it's worth a game to own.



Images courtesy of IGN.

Play the music!

Here are some of the music that I currently enjoy listening to;





Toni Braxton: Yesterday

(image source: Wikipedia)








Big Bang: Gara Gara Go!!

(image source: Spillin' My Beans)









Miley Cyrus: Party in the USA

(image source: Wikipedia)










Tata Young: My Bloody Valentine

(image source: divxklip)









One Republic: All the Right Moves

(image source: Wikipedia)









BoA: I Did It For Love

(image source: Wikipedia)







2NE1: I Don't Care

(image source: K~Freaks!!)








Kristinia De Barge: Future Love

(image source: Wikipedia)









Cascada: Evacuate the Dancefloor

(image source: Wikipedia)

Heroes & Thieves!

Finally I bought Vanessa Carlton's 3rd studio album, Heroes & Thieves last Saturday. After more than 2 years of its release, finally I owned it. Hooray! It's really hard for me to find this album in my country but I knew eventually I would find it. I would give it a few spin before I review it. Or maybe not since it already had been out for 2 years. Mmm...we'll see.

Trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

This looks good.

Just want to inform you guys that the trailer for video game-based movie adaptation of Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time had been released. You can click here to watch the trailer or here to visit the official website.

I hope this one will turn out to be a successful franchise because so far, everything looks good.

Percy Jackson to replace Harry Potter?

I always wonder, which book-adaptation movie will next become a new franchise and replace Harry Potter? Obviously we need a new fantasy adventure film now that Harry Potter movie franchise is nearing its end. I watched The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, certainly not that one. I did not watch Inkheart so I don't know how that goes. I love The Golden Compass but unfortunately the movie did not performed as well as expected, and so the need for a sequel is still questionable. The Narnia Chronicles was doing well until Disney did not want to distribute it anymore. Hopefully the 3rd movie will do well and regain the strength of the franchise. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant performed poorly on its opening weekend, I don't think it can raise up to the same level as Harry Potter. The Twilight Saga? Err...I don't think it's in the same league with the rest that I had mentioned.

And then there's one more, Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Based from the first book in the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief will be released in cinemas in February 2010. I always wanted to buy the book but always ended up buying something else. Hopefully this movie will give me a good reason why I should then.

Anyway, this movie looks set to become a franchise as big as Harry Potter franchise. Although it's still too early to tell, but with Chris Columbus as the director (he directed the 1st and 2nd Harry Potter movies) this movie has all the potential. Plus, have you seen the teaser trailer? Or perhaps the new poster that had just been released online? They both have that same vibe as Harry Potter movies, well in my opinion at least. From the atmosphere to the title artwork, they all reminded me of Harry Potter.

You can click here to check out the new poster for the movie and decide for yourself. I also have the teaser trailer posted here. Thanks IGN. And for all of you, enjoy!

Oh, you can also click here to go to the official website of the movie. Again, enjoy the trailer!

CeleBRITion! My top 5 Best Britney's videos

Yes, I'm a huge Britney Spears fan. Well, nothing obsessive, I just love her music and style. So hopefully you guys wouldn't mind me counting down my top 5 Best Britney's videos to celebrate the release of her new greatest hits album, The Singles Collection, on November 24, 2009. At first I want to do my top 5 favourite Britney's music videos but that proves to be too hard for me to decide (because I like almost all of her videos!). Hence I come out with this one, the top 5 Britney's videos that I think the best that she had come out with so far.


5 ~ I'm A Slave 4 U

Okay, this video is hot. I was surprised to see the change of attitude and art direction when I first saw it but it's still a great music video nevertheless. The theme, about the drought-affected city-dwellers, is very interesting. Combine that with sexy dance moves, and you have an awesome video. And I also like the lighting effects that make everything appears...hot! (I mean literally).

4 ~ Toxic

Definitely one of the hottest and sexiest Britney's video. Taken from her In The Zone album, this addictive song had even won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2005. The airplane scene is very funny and I think Britney looks hot when she dyed her hair black in the video. Although the diamond scene is way too sexy for minor, but I think her face looks prettiest during that scene.

3 ~ Lucky

I know not all would agree with me on this one. The song would sound too pop for most people but I just love pop songs, that's why I love Lucky. I really like the story and settings for this video. Plus, I put it so high up in the chart because I like the theme of loneliness that it brings. It kind of makes me feel sad. :'(



2 ~ Me Against the Music

The combination was flawless. I mean it's Britney Spears & Madonna, should I say more? Love the settings, love the dance moves, love the outfits, love the chase scenes (although it's a bit controversial in the end). I think Britney's appearance for this music video is her best look yet. Did I mention that I really like her outfit?

1 ~ Womanizer

So this is it! The number 1 spot for Best Britney's music video! I think this video is very, very classy and stylish. It's totally in a different league compared to the rest of her videos. Plus it featured the best looking male model (his name is Brandon Stoughton by the way) among ALL her music videos so far. The story is funny and together with the addictive beat, we have one amazing and unforgetable music video. Britney (and of course Brandon and the rest of the dancers) rock!!!


So there you have it, the best of the best of Britney's music videos (according to my standard of course, LOL). Don't forget to buy her greatest hits album when it come out. Peace!

Sick joke!

What is this?!?! A sick joke?!?!

I stumbled upon this when I was reading Utada Hikaru Wiki page. Read the last sentence before the Personal Life section. Sorry if the image is not so clear.

Anyway, I was stunned. :-(

Pandorum ~ review

This movie has all the elements that I like. Stranded spaceship, check. Zombie-like creatures, check. Creepy atmosphere, check. Ben Foster, check. I went into the cinema hall expecting something good and I got more than I paid for.

Pandorum follows Bower and Payton who had awaken from their hyper-sleep and found themselves with no memory of who they are and what they are doing. Furthermore they are trapped within their room on the spaceship Elysium (nice name) and there seem to be nobody else around. When Bower got out from the room through the ventilator (I guess its the ventilator) and further explore the spaceship, he found creepy and cannibalistic humanoid creatures, lots of dead bodies and a few survivors. The power is running out and in order for them to survive, they must reset the system. And so Bower and the other survivors make their way to the spaceship reactor with Payton's guidance in the control room to restart it while at the same time fighting their way through these humanoid creatures.

Pandorum is actually a fictional psycological condition caused by extended periods of hyper sleep (suspended animation) and its symptoms and effects include severe paranoia, vivid hallucinations and homicidal instincts.


To be honest, I really, really love Pandorum. I fall in love with it! I love the story, I love the characters, I love the settings, I love everything about it. The acting, especially from Ben Foster, is just fabulous. Ben Foster is truly amazing in this movie. And the other two characters that I like are Nadia played by Antje Traue in her first ever English-language role, and Manh, played by Viatnamese American kickboxer, actor and mixed martial artist Cung Lee. However, I think Dennis Quaid's Payton character is a bit underdeveloped. Other actors include Cam Gigandet as Gallo, Norman Reedus as Shepard, and Andre Hennicke as the Hunter Leader.

What about the plot? Being a sci-fi movie, I think Pandorum do have problems in explaining the complicated background and concept that were featured in it. Audience needs to fully concentrate on what the actors are saying to fully understand it. Plus, there are several things that I think did not seem right. However, I think the story about human survival in Pandorum is very interesting and this in effect tend to make me overlook all the negative things about the movie.


To sum it up, I LOVE Pandorum! It's obvious from my review right? 4 and a half stars out of 5 for the incredible Pandorum.

Oops! I forgot. I do have several other things that I don't understand about Pandorum. Two of them are; why most critics hate it? Another one is, why did it failed in the US box-office? Two big questions there.

Surrogates ~ review

Surrogates takes us into a near possible future where people don't necessarily have to go out anymore. Instead, we have surrogates, robots that we control with our mind, to run our chores. To be more precise, the surrogates run our lives for us. Neat isn't it? Well, apparently not. Although it brings a lot of benefits, but it also degrades human connection and mentality.



The story focuses on Tom Greer, an FBI Agent, who's investigating a murder case. This is truly shocking in a society where murder does not happen thanks to the use of surrogates. To prevent it from happening again (and also to prevent panic among uninformed civilians), Greer together with his partner Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell) investigate the murder that leads them to an even bigger conspiracy.



Surrogates is one of those films that I found to have an interesting trailer but not so on the movie itself. Set in a world with robots but not too elaborated like the one in I,Robot or even A.I., I find the concept of life in Surrogates to be fresh and fascinating. So obviously I did not have problem with the whole concept of the movie. What was disappointing for me is the lack of drive in the story. Take out the beautiful surrogates and explosive actions, and all you have left is a normal investigation story. Of course there are twists here and there in the plot but they do not seem to be enough to leveled up the mediocrity of the story. I think Surrogates could have been a better film if they could come up with a better plot.



But not all is bad for the film. For starters, it starred Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell. I really love both actors so seeing them being 'surrogated' is very interesting for me. And of course no complaints for their acting, I think they did good. All the other actors did pretty well too on their part, and that includes Ving Rhames as the Prophet, Rosamund Pike as Mrs Greer and James Cromwell as Dr. Lionel Canter.



Another prospect that I love about this movie is the make-up effects (yup, you read that right). You can really see the difference between the smooth-skinned-and-beautiful surrogates and the old-with-wrinkle-lines-and-imperfect-skins of their counterpart. It's very real and believable.

In general, Surrogates is just an okay movie. It's not so bad but not that good either. It could have been better. It was still an enjoyable watch and so I give 3 stars for the efforts.

Tsunami at Haeundae ~ review

When it comes to Korean movies, I always looking forward for their horror offering. But this time, it's a disaster movie. As bad as I want to watch their horror movies, I felt like I should not miss this one too. Maybe it will turn out good. Maybe....

Tsunami at Haeundae has a simple premise; people living their lives at the gorgeous and famous beach in Korea, earthquake deep in the ocean sea occurred, mega tsunami came, and how the people survive the ordeal, or for some how they died. There's also a typical character who knows about the arrival of the tsunami and try to warned the authority but being ignored instead. Everything seems cliche. But cliche isn't exactly a bad thing.

The plot was somewhat separated into two. The 1st half of the movie focus on the introduction and development of the characters. Audience will get to know the central characters that will be involved in the tragedy, their relationships, and their personal struggles. The 2nd half of the movie will involve 2 big tsunamis, a lot of screaming and crying, and a lot of dying. I have to admit though there are some parts that I did not understand in the plot like the relationship between two male characters. It's either the plot did not explain enough or the translation sucks.

The development of the characters in the 1st half did help a lot in giving the audiences the chance to relate to them. We get to see their personal problems, and how they overcome their differences when the disaster strike. It's not all action and no drama. In fact, it was quite balance between the two. The emotions and actions felt real. Who says a disaster movie should all be about major over-the-top destruction? But of course there are some scenes that did not look logic. No need for me to explain in detail there because in my opinion these things are common in this type of movie.

So what about the acting? The actors did a good job in portraying their characters. However, I only recognized two of the actors; Ha Ji-won (from the horror movie Phone) and Uhm Jung-hwa (from various TV series). Hopefully this movie will provide more exposure to the other actors as well.

Overall, I give this movie 3 and a half stars. As many of you may have heard, Tsunami at Haeundae is billed as the 1st disaster film of South Korea. For a first-timer, I'd say they did a pretty good job. Congratulations!


Image source: star-ecentral

An adventure like no other

Title: Pendragon: The Merchant of Death
Author: D. J. MacHale
Cover artist: Victor Lee
ISBN: ISBN 0-7434-3731-4

I like the cover. The synopsis behind the book was quite interesting. And the price is cheap. So I thought I should give it a try and bought it. But did I like it?

Pendragon: The Merchant of Death is the first book in the Pendragon series that contains 10 books and several other companion books. I was first interested in it when I was looking for an adventure book to read in a bookstore. I did not know that there were more than half a dozen of books already in the series at that time, and so I bought it and start to read it without any expectation. Boy was I surprised. It was a great book, filled with action, adventure, humor and imagination.

The book is about a young boy named Bobby Pendragon who was taken by his uncle, Uncle Press, to another world (or territory as they called it in the book) named Denduron. He was forced to accept the fact that he was a Traveler, chosen to fight against Saint Dane who planned to bring every territory into destruction. While he was in Denduron, he learned more about the culture and life in that territory, and the conflict that the people on Denduron was facing. In the end, it was up to him, Loor (a traveler from the territory Zadaa), and Alder (a traveler from Denduron) to save Uncle Press who had been captured, and also Denduron from major chaos in the hands of Saint Dane. While on Second Earth (which is the territory that Bobby came from, the present Earth), Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde, Bobby's best friends, were trying to cope with the disappearance of Booby and learning the new life that Bobby was living through a series of journals that Bobby sent them through a portal.

While the story was good, I was particularly interested in the book narrative which keeps on switching between first-person perspective and third-person perspective. The third-person perspective was when the story focus on Mark and Courtney on Second Earth while the first-person perspective was when the story focus on Bobby through his journals. It was an interesting read. D. J. MacHale had also created the territory of Denduron realistically unique. I was even amazed at how closer I felt the conflict was to home although it was happening on Denduron.

Overall, it's a fun book to read and have good moral values in it too. I was looking forward for the second book in the series. Hopefully it will be as good as this one.

The final round of Dark Tournament begins!

Image source: Coverbrowser

It's been awhile since I last wrote about YuYu Hakusho. Let's continue from where we left off. There might be spoilers so stop reading if you do not want me to kill the fun.

The final round of the Dark Tournament started in Volume 11 of YuYu Hakusho. But before that, we get to see what were the characters up to before the final round begin. Hiei was practising his ultimate moves for his final fight; Kurama and Kuwabara got some help from a former rival to enhance their spirit powers; while Yuusuke finally overcame his grief over the death of his mentor, Genkai, in the previous volume.

The 2 teams who reached the grand finals of the Dark Tournament were, you guessed it, Team Urameshi and Team Toguro. Since each team needed to have 5 members, Team Urameshi added Koenma into their team while Team Toguro added Sakio in theirs. Both contestants however stated that they will not participate in the fight (they would not have the strength to do so anyway).

The 1st round was Kurama vs Karasu. It was an interesting and long fight. We get to see Kurama in his full glory as he fought his heart out against the bomb user, Karasu. So basically it was plants vs bombs in this round.

The 2nd round was Hiei vs Bui. The fight was rather short but it was a violent fight. Hiei showed his greatest skill yet while Bui shed his heavy armors to unleash his full strength. We get to see Bui's face for the first time too (he's quite a good-looking fella ;-P)

The 3rd fight was Kuwabara vs Older Toguro. Although he looks like a small kid, but Older Toguro is a cunning and vicious little man. The fight was quite difficult for Kuwabara. As the situation got tense, Kuwabara finally showed his inner strength and double-up his effort in the fight. But was it worth it? Will Kuwabara win in this round?

The tournament is far from over. The fights and final result of Kuwabara vs Older Toguro will be revealed in Volume 12 of YuYu Hakusho.

Final goodbye...Yoshito Usui (1958-2009)

Sad, sad news. Yoshito Usui, the creator of the popular manga Crayon Shin-chan, had died. On September 12, 2009, his family filed a missing person report after he did not return from hiking in nearby Gunma Perfecture. On September 19, 2009, a body had been found at a bottom of a cliff wearing clothes matches to his. Dental records and family members had indentified the body to be Yoshito Usui.

Source: Wikipedia

I have been a great fan of Crayon Shin-chan and the passing of Yoshito Usui had certainly left a sad feeling in me. I did not even heard the news of his missing until I stumbled onto the subject on the Animax website today. I was shocked!

R.I.P.

Selamat Hari Raya 1430!

I want to give an early wish of Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all my Muslim friends and also to all those Muslims throughout the world. Have a pleasant month and enjoy the food. :-D

The Final Destination ~ review

So what would you do if you have premonitions on how you and your friends would die in about 10 minutes later? Would you run away and tag your friends along with you eventhough you are not really sure if the events that would lead to you and your friends' deaths would happen? For the fans of Final Destination movie series, the premise may sound all too familiar. But would it be too repetitive for a 4th installment?



The Final Destination (or Final Destination 4 to avoid confusion) follows Nick O'Bannon (Bobby Campo) as he tries to save his friends and a few others, including himself, from horrific death staged by Mr. Death himself (not a real actor mind you). The opening scene shows Nick having premonition of horrific accidents at a race track that would kill him and his friends. Freaked out, he rushed out from the stadium along with his friends and a few other spectators. Shortly afterwards, one by one of the survivors died in freak 'accidents'. Convinced by the disrupted death pattern due to his intervention, Nick and his girlfriend, Lori Milligan (Shantel VanSanten) and the security guard of the stadium, George Lanter (Mykelti Williamson) try to warn the other survivors about their impending death.

As a fan of the first 3 editions of the series, I must say that I like this 4th movie as well but of course it's not without flaws. Eventhough the male and female lead are gorgeous on screen, but I feel the acting especially Bobby Campo is a bit stiff. Maybe because I keep comparing him with Devon Sawa from the 1st movie, which is of course unfortunate for him, but I honestly think that he can do better.



The story, after seeing it for a fourth time, is quite predictable but that's fine with me since I was only there to see the death plan that Death had for the characters, and of course the fate of the male and female lead (survive? no?). One thing that bothers me is that the plot seems rushed. It's like they want to finish off the characters as quickly as they can, which I think is a bad way to tell the story. The audience did not even have time to feel sorry for the dead characters which somewhat disconnect the bonds between viewers and characters.



I was a bit disappointed that the director rely heavily on crushed skulls and bodies to reflect the gruesome of the deaths. Whatever happen to slow and tortured deaths like the one suffered by Tod Waggner and Valerie Lewton in the 1st movie? Now that were creepy! Anyway, there are still some creative death scenes in this movie. Some of them to watch out for are the Pool Death, the Carwash Scene, and the Escalator Death. There are tons of gory scenes in this movie so better leave the minors out of it.

Overall, I give this movie 3 stars out of 5. Although some will argue that they have had enough of this movie series, but I beg to differ. I do agree that it's hard to keep the story 'fresh' but it's not impossible. It is likely that The Final Destination will be the last movie in the series but I do hope it's not. As long as they can come out with a fresh and creative story, people would keep on watching. Well, I know I would.


Pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.