Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing ~ great anime series!

First I have to admit I didn't watched Last Exile, the anime series by Gonzo that begins it all. But it is safe to say that you do not need any knowleadge about Last Exile to watch the sequel, Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing which is currently running on Animax Asia.

Fam, the Silver Wing is about our protagonist, Fam Fan Fan, a talented sky pirate, and her navigator, Giselle Collette, trying to help a runaway princess, Millia II Velch Cutrettola Turan to restore her kingdom that had been conquered by the Ades Federation. It's a bit complicated to describe what really happen on the series as of now since I had missed several episodes already. But for those of you who still haven't watch the series, I think it's not too late for you to start to watch it now. Don't worry about not understanding the plot, you will gradually understand and appreciate the story. Even if you still got confuse along the way, well, internet is the best place to start to so some research.

I was blown away by the high-quality of the anime when I first watch it, it was beautiful and mesmerizing, not to forget extremely in detail especially when it comes to the airships. You can see the hardwork the studio had put on their product. The voice-acting was also good and suits the characters really well.

Speaking of characters, Fam, the Silver Wing is packed with interesting characters. First you have the main duo, Fam Fan Fan and Giselle, then you have the hard-headed princess Millia of Turan. Sara Augusta, on the other hand, is the reigning empress of Ades Federation. I'm not sure of her age, but she seems like she was only 8 or 9 years old. Served by her side is the antagonistic Premier of the Ades Federation, Luscinia Hafez, a cruel military head who will do anything to achieve his goal. Some other interesting characters are Tatiana Wisla, Alister Agrew and Dio Eraclea who were all originated from the first series, Last Exile.

You can watch Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing on Animax Asia (Malaysia on Astro Channel 715) every Saturday on 8 pm with last week's episode airing on 7.30 pm so you can watch it back-to-back. Happy viewing!

Link: Animax Asia

The Last of Us amazing trailer

I just saw an amazing trailer for a new video game from Naughty Dog on You Tube. It looks amazing. The girl character reminded me a lot of Ellen Page while the guy character looks a bit like Gerard Butler. Well, on second thought...no, not really. He does looks like some actor I know but I just cannot figure it out.

The setting reminded me of I Am Legend, the movie that Will Smith was on. It would be cool if the world environment in the game resembles a lot from that movie. But I'm a bit confused about the monster that was featured in the game. A zombie? Or plant-infested human? The monster's face looks a lot like some kind of plant or fungus to me.

You can check out the trailer by clicking here. By the way, the trailer might not be appropriate for children. Enjoy!

Masterchef Malaysia!

I was so happy when my favourite reality TV cooking competition came to Malaysia. Yes folks, Masterchef now has its own local brand, Masterchef Malaysia. I was ecstatic! Several weeks had passed now since the show aired and I must say that it got me glued to the TV. Before this, the only Masterchef I watched are US Masterchef and Masterchef Australia. I'm glad they made Masterchef Malaysia because I was getting sick with singing competition which are a lot these days.

I was also happy when they chose to follow the Australia format and not the US show format. I'm not sure if the Australia version started that format though but I'm sure to prefer that format compared to the US version.

So far in Masterchef Malaysia, they had chose Top 24 out of 40 people and 6 persons from the Top 24 had been eliminated, they are; Azizah, Zeri, Hui Ting, Azilah, Terrence and Mastura. From the 18 people that's left, I really like Ezani for her calm demeanor. She's a great cook too; she had had her dishes picked as one of the top dishes for several times and she had also participated in the celebrity chef challenge. Another contestant that stood out to me is Felix. He had some amazing cooking skills and he had also had his dishes as one of the top dishes as well throughout past weeks challenges. He also participated in the celebrity chef challenge. Brian and Imelda on the other hand brought a lot of personality to the show; the former for his quirky and funny comments while the latter for her emotional behavior.

I personally think that all these contestants have an equal chance of winning since every one of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. You can watch Masterchef Malaysia every Saturday to Wednesday at 9pm on Astro Ria (Malaysia ASTRO Channel 104) while Masterclass will be aired on Thursday at 9.50pm on Starworld (Malaysia ASTRO Channel 711). You can also visit the Masterchef Malaysia website (click here to go) for more info on the episodes.

Rule of Rose ~ review

Before I begin my review, let me caution you that this review contains spoilers, so read at your own risk. ;-)

Rule of Rose is a 2006 survival horror video game for PlayStation 2 and was made by the company Punchline. In the game, we take control a young teenage girl named Jennifer who was somewhat trapped in a place where it was ruled by young underage girls known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats, with the backdrop of 1930 England. The video game was banned in several countries for child violence and sexuality.

The story began as Jennifer was given a story book by a small boy on a bus in the middle of the night. When the boy suddenly took off, Jennifer followed her and came across a creepy orphanage with a lot of mysteries. Her journey in the orphanage was cut short though as she was captured and transported to an airship. And on this airship the torture began. Jennifer was captured by the Red Crayon Aristocrats who ruled the airship and in order to survive, Jennifer had to obey all their rules. She was asked to do several tasks, all of them involving finding certain items to progress. With an airship filled with strange creatures, the tasks were not easy to complete. Lucky for Jennifer, she was accompanied by Brown, a dog that she rescued on the ship.

 The plot story is definitely one of the best aspect of Rule of Rose. Although at times we end up clueless and running around not exactly sure what to do, but as the story progress, we got more and more curious to find out where will this all end. It teases us with a bit of information here and there without fully revealed the whole agenda and that what's keep the gamers going. Although I do feel that the story can be a bit confusing and hard to follow. Personally I have to search online to fully understand it, and I encourage other players to search online too if you finished the game but not truly get what was going on with the story because you will appreciate it more when you understand what's the story about.


The gameplay, however, is not as good as the plot. The character is too weak and players can get frustrated while controlling especially during fighting enemies. Although it is believable but it gets truly annoying when fighting bosses that needed to be hit multiple times to be knocked off but can easily get us sprawling on the ground with just one swipe. That was kind of unfair. The gameplay is very repetitive too, all you got to do to progress the game is find items upon items upon items. This contribute to the game's low replay value.

The visuals for the game are beautiful, and it almost reminded me of Silent Hill video games. The characters are well rendered and the settings are creepy, dark and desolate. I also like the writing of the game menu that looks like it was written with chalks on a blackboard. The voice acting are rather good too although at times it can be a bit off.

The music of the game is another great aspect of Rule of Rose beside the plot. It is well arranged and hauntingly beautiful. Not to mention memorable. It creates a sense of loneliness that suited the game very well. In fact it was so great that I could almost hear it playing in my head even after days not playing the game. It sounded good and perfect for the game with its settings and story.

Overall, the plot and music are definitely the best part of Rule of Rose. With flawed gameplay however, you might feel frustrated playing it. But there is no doubt in my mind that this game is one of a kind, a rare game that you don't usually get in the market. Thank you Rule of Rose for a great story telling.

Images from Wikipedia and IGN.

KARA ~ Step sounds so good!

Okay, so I know Kara is not really a household name in many parts of the world. People usually heard Wonder Girls, Girls' Generation but not Kara when it comes to Korean girl groups. But they are quite big in South Korea and they are very succesful in Japan too.

Consists of 5 members; Gyuri, Seung-yeon, Nicole, Goo Hara (which reminded me a lot of J-pop sensation Namie Amuro) and Jiyoung, I first came to know them with their song 'Honey' with soft and girly concept. But when they came out with 'Wanna' with more mature looks that I started to really like them. Then 'Mister', 'Lupin' and 'Jumping' came out, securing their place as one of the top girl group in South Korea.

But now with 'Step', I'm totally in love with them. The song 'Step' was made by the people behind the song 'Mister', so it's hardly anyone surprise that the song became so popular. It sound really good, a dance tune that will surely make you want to stand up and dance.

You can click here to see the awesome video to 'Step' at YouTube. Happy viewing!

Silent Hill: Downpour official gameplay

I can't believe I missed this. It's a video of gameplay of Silent Hill: Downpour. It's quite an old video, because at the end they stated that the release date for the game was October 2011. Obviously that is not true, they already changed the release date to March 2012.

If you haven't seen the gameplay already, click the link below to directly take you to the video. It also got commentary from the Producer and Senior Associate Producer about the upcoming game. They didn't show much,but at least you could see how the game would look like, a bit of the combat system and also a chase scene. Looks pretty cool to me.

Silent Hill: Downpour gameplay

Final Destination film series ~ Best Awards

I love the Final Destination (FD) movie series, and I had watched all 5 of them, although not all at the movie theaters.

To (somewhat) celebrate the success of the series, here are the awards I came out with for the movies. It's just for fun, and also for my own entertainment. LOL. Hope you enjoy this (fake) award show! :-)
BTW, this post include spoilers for all FD movies in the series.Just some precaution for those who didn't watch the movies yet.

And here are the winners for FD Best Awards!!!


Best Opening Disaster Sequence

Final Destination 2 - Highway Car Crash

Very well orchestrated and pretty damn scary / nasty too. You got heavy logs rolling, cars smashing and people screaming. In real life, car accidents would happen in a blink of an eye and before you know it, people got hurt. But in this movie, the accidents seem to keep going on and on and on. Its scary to watch but at the same time have all the entertainment value that it need to be one of the best opening disaster scene in the series.

Best Ending Disaster Sequence

Final Destination 3 - Train Derailed

I love the ending to this movie. It's kind of ambiguous and you could not tell whether they make out the train alive or not...although I doubt they did. It all started out innocent enough when suddenly the 3 remaining 'survivors' met in a subway train, then all hell break loose. It's cool that the filmmaker toyed with the audience about the fate of the survivors so that we kind of hoping that they did make it out alive. At least I was hoping for that. But like I said, I had my doubts....

Best Lead Character

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Wendy Christensen (Final Destination 3)

This award is for to the main character who first received the premonition. I was torn between Devon Sawa (from FD1) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Although Devon Sawa was more believable and portray an emotional character which I love, I still have to pick Mary Elizabeth Winstead because...I guess I just love her character more. She's an incredible actress and an even more great scream queen of this generation.

Best SupportingCharacter

Ali Larter as Clear Rivers (Final Destination 1 & 2)

This award refer to all the other characters other than the main character who received the vision. Some of the best characters in my opinion include Olivia Castle (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) from FD5 and Kat Jennings (Keegan Connor Tracy) from FD2. But Clear Rivers is no doubt my favourite character from all the entire film series thus far. She's very quiet and somewhat timid in the 1st movie but turned to become more of a brave and gutsy character in the 2nd movie. I love her character more when she was timid and a little reserved but the fact that she had survived the horrific ordeal in the 1st movie and returned in 2nd makes me love her character even more. She's a fighter! I was also delighted when the character's name was briefly featured in the 4th movie.

Best Looking Couple

Bobby Campo & Shantel VanSanten as Nick O'Bannon & Lori Milligan (The Final Destination @ FD4)

Well, a lot of people might disagree with me but I honestly believe they are the best looking main couple in the movie series. They complement each other and have great chemistry on screen.

Best Individual Death Scene

Hanged in bathtub - Tod Waggner (portrayed by Chad Donella, Final Destination)

This award is very, I mean VERY, difficult to pick. I have numerous scary death scenes to choose from and I found that the death scene for Tod Waggner from the 1st movie is by far my favourite from all the movies. What separate this scene from all the other gory scenes is that it featured a slow and painful death compared to a lot of other death scenes which are quick and gory (crushed by a glass pane, crushed by two iron weights, ran over by a vehicle, smashed by a stray wrench, etc.). It was so hard watching the scene as you could almost feel that you were suffocating too. It's scary, tragic, sad and excruciatingly painful to watch. Personally, this is by far the scariest of them all.

Most Suspense Death Scene

Gymnastic practice went wrong - Candice Hooper (portrayed by Ellen Wroe, Final Destination 5)

Okay, so this awesome death scene didn't won the Best Individual Death Scene Award, but it is certainly the most suspenseful of all. The characters, of course, didn't fully aware of what was going on around them but the audience were left clutching to their seats as we wait for the 'death' to occur. Will she be crushed by the giant fan falling from the ceiling? Or will she step on a nail and fall off? Electrocuted??? What? What will happen to her?!?! The laser eye surgery was another cool death scene from FD5 but this one definitely deserves the award.

Best Overall Story

Final Destination

It's the movie that starts it all. Clever plot, amazing group of casts, dark and creepy atmosphere in the film and horrifying death scenes, need I say more?

And with that last award, we shall end our show here. I hope you enjoy this small show that I prepared and please support the FD movie series as I personally think it is a great franchise. For those who haven't watch the movies, better watch them now. Happy viewing!

Images from Yahoo! Movies, Wikipedia and screen caps from YouTube.

The cool girls from f(x)

f(x) is a South Korean girl group. The five members of the group are Krystal, Victoria, Amber, Sulli and Luna. They first caught my attention when my cousin introduced me to their hit song Nu ABO. I love the song! I also searched for their previous released songs like La Cha Ta and Chu~. Both were pretty good. Then this year they released an album featuring hit songs like Pinocchio (Danger) and Hot Summer. Both songs are remakes of other people's songs I believe but it still doesn't change the fact that they are good songs. And they dance very well too. Kudos to them, I'm very impressed.

I believe fan of K-pop would already know them but if you're new to this genre, please search them up. You can easily find their music videos on YouTube. They are beautiful, talented and pretty cool. I still haven't found their album in my hometown but hopefully I will soon.

Happy Aidilfitri!!!

I hope I'm not too late.

Happy Aidilfitri to all Muslims throughout the world!

Cloral ~ A world without land

Title: Pendragon : The Lost City of Faar
Author: D. J. MacHale
ISBN: ISBN 0-7434-3732-2

This book series is definitely one of the best series for children and adults alike. For those who are not familiar with it, the Pendragon series is about a boy who learned that he is a Traveler who can travels to different worlds, or territories, and have to save them from destruction planned by the main antagonist of the series, Saint Dane.

In the second book of the series, Bobby Pendragon heads off to the territory of Cloral with Uncle Press. And just like the territory of Denduron that Bobby had explored in Book 1, Cloral also at its crucial turning point. The problem is to find out what the turning point is and stop Saint Dane from taking advantage of it.

If the first book got me excited, I must say that the second was also quite exciting. In fact I think it is a lot better than Book 1. The plot was well-arranged and the setting of the story (which was the territory of Cloral) was very well established. The author believably brought the landless territory and lifestyle on Cloral to reality which readers can easily imagine and understand. I love the settings and falls even more in love when the underwater city of Faar was introduced. It was such a suit setting for the story in the book.

A few new characters were introduced in this book and Vo Spader, the Traveler from Cloral, was the main focus out of all these new characters. He is a good character, cheerful and full of energy with a little bad attributes to add colour to his personality, but he is not as great a character as Bobby Pendragon, our main hero of the series. The character development for Bobby was great, readers can see that he is learning to become a good Traveler and to accept his faith as the one who would defeat Saint Dane. I would love if the author could develop more the character of Wu Yenza too, I think she could become a great character if the author let readers learn more about her and involved her more in the action. I see great potential in her, hopefully she would take center stage in later books.

What about the story? In my opinion, it's well-paced, packed with action, a bit of emotional moments, and definitely fun to read. It expands what the 1st book had established and make it better. I also love the plot about a lost city that need to be discovered in order to save humanity. It was mysterious with a lot of dose of fantasy involved, which made me crave for more.

As a conclusion... yeah, you guessed it, The Lost City of Faar is definitely a worthy book. Fun and exciting. Go grab a copy now!

Utada Hikaru ~ Top 10 Favourite Song part 2

Here are the remaining 5 songs that complete my top 10 list.



1. Beautiful World

Another great song from Utada. It was featured as a theme song for the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I like the piano sound in the song, well I think it was the piano. Anyway, it was very relaxing listening to this song. There's another version called Beautiful World: Planitb Acoustica Mix that were released for the 2nd rebuild film, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. This version is pretty good too. You should definitely check it out.



2. Wait & See ~ Risk

This one is included in Utada's 2nd Japanese album, Distance. This song is kind of upbeat and fast compared to the other songs on the list. I love it very much and it's one of the songs that got me really interested in her music.



3. Be My Last

Another strong ballad from Utada Hikaru. Very slow, very emotional, and very touching. She played more with her vocal and sound of her voice than just singing the lyrics which might sound a bit strange at first. But take a listen carefully and you might appreciate the emotion that coming out from the song.



4. Hikari

Gamers may recognize this song as the theme song for Kingdom Hearts video game series. The English version for this song is called Simple and Clean. The song started out with no music intro, it was like you just switch on the radio and the song was already playing. I think it was creative for her to start the song that way. You should check out the music video for Hikari too, very simple and creative. I love it!



5. Heart Station

I love the beat to this song. It was really soothing and calm. Although this list of my top 10 favourite Utada Hikaru songs come in no particular order, I can assure you that Heart Station sits somewhere in the Top 3. I also love the music video which was mysterious and simple, which of course fits the song. Another great song from Utada that begs people to hear it over and over and over again.


So there you have it, my 10 most favourite songs from J-Pop sensation, Utada Hikaru. If you haven't listen to any of the songs yet, I recommend you to do so because these are, in my opinion, some of her great works of art. Enjoy her music!

If you missed out Part 1, please click here.

Utada Hikaru ~ Top 10 Favourite Song part 1

Utada Hikaru is my favourite J-Pop artist. She's definitely one of the biggest music icon from Japan. Unfortunately she's taking a break now from releasing new music, so I guess we won't be hearing from her anytime soon. To somehow fill the void of missing her, I came out with a list of my favourite songs from her. However, I only count songs that were released as singles, easier to make my choices that way.



1. Exodus '04

The only English song in the list, Exodus '04 was taken from Utada's English album, Exodus. It has that unique sound that so common in Utada's other songs like Sakura Drops and Colors. It's such a great song, too bad it doesn't have its own music video.

2. Final Distance

A very sad song. Although I don't really know what the direct translation of the song, but I still could feel the emotions pouring out from the song. The song was actually rearranged from 'Distance', a song from Utada's 2nd album. She wrote it as a dedication (I think) to a young schoolgirl who was 6 years old when she was killed in a school stabbing rampage. Utada heard that she wrote an essay about how she wanted to become a singer just like her. Now you know why the song sound so sad.

3. Keep Tryin'

A very positive song that urge us to keep on trying in life. It was quite an energetic song and kind of playful too. It has an upbeat and cheerful tone that suit the message that it brings. The music video for the song was one of my favourite video from her too. You should check it out.

4. Sakura Drops

I think this song is one of the most played Utada Hikaru song on radio in my country. Well, I can't confirm this, but it was pretty popular back then. The song had a unique traditional touch that set it apart from other J-pop songs that I listened to. Very unique indeed. I love the song and I think other people that don't really listen to Japanese songs can find it very interesting too.

5. Prisoner of Love

It's not really a ballad but the theme for the song was quite...melancholic? Well, I don't know what the song was really about, yet again, but the music and tempo does sound like it was a sad song. The title also suggested the same right? But like I said, it was not really a ballad, it was kind of upbeat. I like the beat and the way the sings 'I'm a prisoner of love' and 'Stay with me' through the end of the song. It was rather touching.

That was 5 of my favourite songs from Utada Hikaru. To find out which 5 more songs made the list, please click here for Part 2.

Sexy time!

Okay, my post today is out of the ordinary. It's about underwear, men's underwear to be exact.

The other day I bought myself a Skinxwear ultra low trunk. That was my 2nd time buying Skinxwear brand because I found it to be comfortable and rather alluring. But it was my 1st time buying a trunk. Well, to be honest, I'm not really know how to differentiate the different styles of men's underwear, except for those obvious ones of course. It says there on the box that it was a trunk, so that's how I know. I thought it's a boxer brief. Are they the same?

The one I bought was, for me, extremely satisfying. It's 90% nylon, 10% spandex and super comfortable. I was happy with my purchase. I tried to find about the brand but the search results on the web were kind of minimal. I'm not even sure where it was manufactured at. Kind of surprising because it looks like a well-established brand.

I'm definitely going to buy this brand again in the future. For those guys who are reading this, I recommend that you try it too, if you haven't already. And for those girls who are reading this, you should buy it as a present to your father/husband/brother/boyfriend/etc. It's comfy and sexy. Got to have it!

Movie news

Here are some of the movie news that I found. Many interesting info!

1) Jurassic Park 4

Looks like they will make a fourth movie from the franchise after all. But nothing is certain, as usual. Steven Spielberg is cooking up some ideas for the movie with writer, Mark Protosevich who were a screenwriter for I Am Legend and Thor. This movie could be a continuation from the past movies or it could turn out to be a total reboot. We will have to wait and see.



2) Final Destination 5

Okay, so everyone who is a fan of the franchise (or maybe not) should probably already know that a fifth movie is coming out sometime in August 2011. You can watch the trailer by now, just head to YouTube and type Final Destination official trailer. Speaking of the trailer, the film seems to take a different tone than the previous movie, which to me is a good choice considering the fourth movie is the 'weakest' in the franchise. It was said that if this fifth movie is a success, a sixth and seventh movie would be filmed back to back. Cool!

The film starred Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell and Miles Fisher. The main 'death' event that will be the trigger point is the collapsing of a bridge. There are also 'accidents' involving laser eye surgery and acupuncture. Scary....

3) Silent Hill: Revelation 3D

That would be the title of the new Silent Hill movie. I posted about this before, so now for some updates. The movie already wrapped filming in May 2011. Some of the actors from the 1st movie will also appear in this movie like Sean Bean, Radha Mitchell and Deborah Kara Unger. It follows plot from the video game Silent Hill 3 and will feature characters from the video game like Heather Mason and Claudia Wolf.

I played Silent Hill 3, it was a scary and dark video game, hopefully the film will also follow the same tone. But I would prefer if the don't follow 100% the story from the game because it was very good that I doubt they could successfully adapted it on the silver screen. It would be better to stray a bit from it. ;-)

4) X-men movie series

X-Men: First Class are still playing in theaters and they already talking about a trilogy. Yup, X-Men: First Class will have another 2 movies if the first movie did well. The studio that developed the movie always envisions the movie as a part of a trilogy, so we just have to wait how this all will turn out.

There are also plans to do X-Men 4, a continuation from X-Men: The Last Stand (or X-Men 3, which way you want to say it). Although it would be hard to get the actors from the past movies back, but I think if they plan it right, this could work out! They are also trying to get Bryan Singer, the director of the 1st and 2nd X-Men movies, to get on board for this movie. Hopefully this could become a reality.



5) Septimus Heap: Magyk

This movie will be the film adaptation of the children novel by Angie Sage, Magyk. I love Magyk very much and so I hope they would make a good movie out of it. Reportedly it will be a live-action movie and not animated. Mmm...are trying to find a new wizard for the big screen now that the Hary Potter movie series coming to an end? Whatever they do, they better not screw this up because Magyk the novel was superb.

6) Pacific Rim

Many would never heard about this movie project by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy). It's an upcoming science fiction giant monster film set to be released in July 2013.

What's interesting about this project is that it is inspired by mecha anime, piloted robots used in battles that heavily found in anime; and kaiju, meaning strange beast in Japanese which used to describe a type of monster movies in Japan. I love anime, and I used to watch these kaiju in TV series like Ultraman. So this project sounds very interesting to me. 2013 is still so very far away but hopefully they manage to make this movie into a hit.


Okay, that's all for now. Hopefully I gave you some valuable info that you do not know.

The art of Flyte

Title : Septimus Heap Book 2 - Flyte
Author : Angie Sage
Illustrator : Mark Zug
ISBN : ISBN 978-0-7475-8449-0


Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Flyte is the 2nd book of the Septimus Heap series. Magyk, the 1st book in the series, is one of my favourite children novel. Let's see how much Flyte can live up to its predecessor.

The book sees the return of the main villain in book 1, Dom Daniel, in his quest to take over the Castle, which is where all our protagonists lived. But this time, he let his newest Apprentice do his dirty work for him (because he is practically just a skeleton after the event in book 1). The book also explores the new lives of our protagonists; Jenna who is now the Young Queen who lived in the Palace, and Septimus Heap who is now the Apprentice to the Extra Ordinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Since the title of the book is Flyte, the main story also involved the ancient art of flying which is thought to be lost.

In general, the story is good with a lot of humor, adventure and a bit of suspense and mystery which will have readers eager to find out what will happen next. Personally, I find the early chapters of the book quite boring but fortunately the story gets interesting as the chapters continues, especially when Septimus begins to embark on his journey to find Jenna who had been kidnapped.

The returning characters are all fun to read about with Aunt Zelda being my absolute favourite. I love reading every chapters she's in. There are also some characters, who are briefly mentioned in book 1, that got featured in more details this time like Jannit Marten, Boy 409 and the 4 Heap brothers that lived in the forest. Some new characters are also introduced like Beetle, Una Brakket, Sleuth (a former tennis ball) and Spit Fyre (Septimus's dragon pet).

I really love the idea of making Simon Heap, the eldest Heap brothers, the main antagonist for this book. I found his character to be the most human from all the other characters; his anger, frustration, self-pity and desire really shone through the pages of the book, I mean I can really relate to his emotions. He's a great character and I wish he would make a comeback in later books in the series.

To sum it up, I think Flyte is a great book but I have to say that Magyk is better. I still love the series though and hopefully book 3, Physik, would be even better.

New trailers for X-Men: First Class

Two new trailers for this movie can be found on the internet in the last few days. It looks awesome, as I mentioned it in my earlier post. However, nothing is certain until the movie's release. Hopefully the story would be as good as what the trailers had portrayed thus far.

X-Men: First Class would be released in June 2011.

You can click here to watch both trailers at UGO.

Resident Evil 4 ~ review

Before I begin this review, I would like to state that the game I played for this game was the PS2 version.

Resident Evil 4 is a hugely popular and highly praised video game from Capcom and was released in 2005. Considered as one of the most influential video games in the 2000's, Resident Evil 4 is a commercial and critical success.

In general, the plot centers around Leon S. Kennedy, recruited by the US Secret Service, who must travel to a remote village in Europe to rescue the US President's daughter, Ashley Graham, that had been kidnapped by a mysterious cult, Los Illuminados. Along the way, he met several key characters like the mysterious agent Ada Wong, the suave researcher Luis Sera, the former comrade Jack Krauser, the local castellan Ramon Salazar and the cult leader, Osmund Saddler.

As a horror-action video game, the plot was entertaining and engaging eventhough it was not really connected to the main storyline of the Resident Evil series which pretty much about the Umbrealla Corporation and its evil deeds. It's great to see how the main character, Leon, has grown since we last saw him in Resident Evil 2. Although the plot sometimes focus too heavily on action especially at the last half of the game, Resident Evil 4 still generally had a good horror storyline and manage to keep the tradition of the franchise in putting horror into the story.

The characters were pretty well-designed. I like how Leon was portrayed in this game, tough yet very cool. The President's daughter, Ashley, can be pretty annoying sometimes with her constant cry for help, but I like her voice actor and the way she delivered her dialogues. We had one tough girl in the game in the form of Ada Wong, who was a great addition to the game. She was just as mysterious as she was in Resident Evil 2. The primary antagonist, Saddler, was very good a character too, although I wished the developer polish him more to be a great villain, instead of just good.

A lot of the enemies that the player had to dispose however reminiscent of fantasy and action video game rather than a horror video game. The only enemies that creep me out are the generators. The breathing sound they made was really creepy. To be fair, although most enemies seem human (and some were regular animals), the game does have its scary moments like a burning enemy running out of a standing oven and enemy sneaking up on you with a chainsaw.

The visuals were, needless to say, amazing. The settings, especially the remote village and the big castle were ample in bringing in the spook feelings that associated with the previous installments. The island setting in the last half of the game however was too emphasized in action with its war-like setting which making me feel like I was playing an action or a world-war based video game rather than a horror one. The laboratories however reminded me of the previous games in the franchise, which was pretty good in keeping with the RE tradition.

The gameplay was a major shift from the previous installments of the series. The over-the-shoulder camera view was refreshing and very engaging when the characters get into action in blasting the skulls of the enemies. I read that many people criticized the fact that you can't move while in the aiming position, but for me personally, I don't really mind because I think I wouldn't use that feature anyway if its incorporated into the game (not because I'm a great player, but because I'm a novice player who can't even beat Devil May Cry chapter 3).

Overall, Resident Evil 4 was a great video game with a mixture of horror and action. Plus the bonus features you get after completing it were great too like Separate Ways and Ada Assignment. Definitely a worthy game for a Resident Evil fan.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia and IGN.

K-On! ~ Cute high school girls + Good music

Season 2 of K-On!! had just recently end its run on Animax Asia and I'm pretty sad about it. It's one of the best anime I'm watching on the channel right now and to watch its final episode was kind of sad and painful. The anime is about 5 high school girls (Yui, Ritsu, Mio, Tsumugi and a junior Azusa) with their school life and their love & passion for music. It's a light anime with no heavy themes, just about their friendship and similar passion for music. They were the members of the school's light music club and with only 5 members (yup, they were the only members of the club) they tried to keep the club alive.

The characters of the anime are really lovable with their crazy and kawai (that's cute in Japanese) personality. You just can't help but fall in love with them. The plot for each episode are really quite simple, usually about them practising their music (or lack of it which drives Azusa crazy), performing at the school carnival, going to the beach, or preparing for photo shoots for their school's magazine. Their music are pretty good too with a lot of J-pop flavour in it. Personally, I love the opening and ending themes for the anime. They are really good.

The series was originally a manga written and illustrated by Kakifly before being made into anime. The 1st and 2nd season of the anime are actually from the 1st series of the manga. The 2nd manga series will continue on their story in college. I can't wait to see them more in the 3rd season of the anime. I'm really going to miss them!!!

Image courtesy of Lightchan.

Pia Toscano ~ What a shock!!!

Pia Toscano had been eliminated from American Idol Season 10. What a shock right? Not in a million years I expect her to be eliminated this early. In fact, I thought she had a great chance to win this season. A great shock indeed.

For me personally, she's one of the perfect singer that had ever been in the competition. She sound perfect, she looks perfect, and she's awesome on stage. What a great loss to the show. I know it's rare for a contestant of the show to have a career if they got eliminated this early in the competition, but I really, really hoping that Pia could get a recording contract and get her singing career going after this. We will miss you Pia Toscano!

Writer's block

Okay, so I haven't post anything lately. I'm having writer's block. I'm not even sure if I can use that term for myself since I'm not even an active writer in any medium. But anyway, I'm having a hard time finding any suitable topic to write. Sometimes I want to review movies that I watch or albums that I bought but I cannot construct any sentence to begin my review. My mind went blank!

I need time to refresh my brain.

Hot movies for 2011's summer

Malaysia (my home country) doesn't have a four season cycle weather but let's just pretend that it has so that I could come out with this list. So what hot movies coming out this summer? I've made a list of some of the movies that might just interest me;

1. Thor

I'm not really sure if I'm into this after I watched the trailer but I think I'm going to give it a shot when it comes out in theaters. It seems to have heavy action and some deep story, but that just my thoughts. It could turn out the other way around.

2. X-men : First Class

I'm definitely going to see this. The X-men movies are some of my favourite with versatile characters and interesting abilities. Hopefully this one will turn out good, and set the tone for many more movies in the franchise to come.

3. Super 8

I'm not really sure if this movie will get a release here in my country but hopefully it will. I'm also not so sure what's it about, seems like some alien (or maybe experiment creatures) escaped from a train coach. Anyway, still excited for this movie to come out.

4. Green Lantern

Another superhero movie. This time with Ryan Reynolds in a kind-of-sexy superhero suit. He will definitely be the eye candy for the ladies. But I hope the story would be as good as the special effects we've seen in the trailer thus far.

5. Transfomers : Dark of the Moon

It's sure going to be a pack theater but I'm going to watch it anyway, maybe a few weeks after its release to avoid some of the crowd. I think this movie will be as big as the 2nd movie in terms of box office collection. Oh yeah it will. One of those movies where you could watch with your friends and have a great time at the theater.

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Part 2

I would be crazy if I didn't go for this one. After an amazing movie that is Part 1, and after an amazing journey I had with the movie series, Part 2 is a MUST! Besides, it's the conclusion of the series. So definitely a must for all Potter fans.

7. Cowboys & Aliens

A rather unique theme; western meets science fiction. Mmm...a little indecisive on this one. The actors cast in this film are amazing though; Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Maybe I will go see it, after I hear some good reviews about it.

8. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Another movie that I'm not sure whether it will get a release in Malaysia or not. And again, I hope, this one will too. The trailer looks good. Plus, it's co-written by Guillermo del Toro. I know it's a remake, but still...if Guillermo in it, then it will definitely be weirdly good.


So there you have it, my list of some of the interesting titles to come out in theaters this summer. Hopefully all of them will get a release here in Malaysia and hopefully all the movies are good too.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII gameplay

I'm pretty sure a lot of the video game fans of the Final Fantasy series had seen the gameplay trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. It looks pretty cool, and it kind of reminded me of Final Fantasy XIII gameplay, but of course with more realistic graphic and far more advanced system.

While I'm still playing Final Fantasy X on my PS2, I'm still excited for this game to come out, although that would be in...I dont't know...2012? Nothing is certain right now, all I know is this game takes a lot of time to complete but that understandable seeing it so high in quality.

You can click here to watch the trailer on GameTrailers (if you haven't already or if you can't get enough of it) or here in the Square Enix Channel on YouTube. You can also click here to get more info about this awesome video game on Wikipedia. Happy viewing!

The Thirteenth Reality ~ Mystery letters of riddles

Title: The 13th Relity: The Journal of Curious Letters

Author: James Dashner

Illustrator: Bryan Beus

ISBN: 1416991522

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

I needed a new book to read. I was looking for a book from a series that I've never heard before; something other than Harry Potter, Septimus Heap, Bobby Pendragon, Artemis Fowl or even Arthur Penhaligon. Those characters are from series that I know, that I've read. I want something new.

The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters was the book that I picked. The reason I chose it is because I was interested about the story regarding alternate realities. It's a cool theme. So let's start my review with the plot. The story revolves around Tick @ Atticus Higginbottom who received letters with riddles he need to solve if he decide to be on an adventure to save many, many lives. If he wasn't interested, then he can just burn the letters and everything will go back to normal. But of course he'll be interested in the letters, if not this book wouldn't exist.

The main attraction of the book are the riddles in which our main character received in 12 letters. In fact, almost 3/4 of the book involve the riddles, and lucky for us the riddles are quite fun. Readers can actually participate in order to solve the mysteries of the letters. Of course there are several other chapters in between it that involve things other than the riddles but I don't mind if the author completely cover 3/4 of the book with the riddles, like I said they were fun.

The last 1/4 of the book covers their adventures (their as in Tick and his friends) into other realities. To be honest, I was quite dissapointed when Tick finally solved the mystery letters as I was certain the rest of the pages (1/4 of the book that is) wouldn't be much interesting without the riddles. Now I'm glad to say that I was wrong, the last quarter of the book was packed with adventure and action, and clearly was the climax of the story. The author not only can come up with interesting riddles, but he can also write good action stuff too.

Now we move on to the characters. Sadly I think the main character, Atticus Higginbottom, was not as strong a character as some of the main stars that I've read from different series before (a lot of them I had mentioned above). In fact the author tried too hard to make him a good role model that at times he seemed fake. One example of this is when Tick's father constantly remind readers how glad he was to have a good son like Tick.

The other characters doesn't fair well too. Master George was annoying for me instead of funny (funny was what he intended to be). Sofia was a great character but sadly a bit underdeveloped. Paul and Sato were also underdeveloped; but I think Sato will make his presence felt in the future due to his mysterious background. Mothball and Rutger were quite interesting characters but not much were told about them which made readers quite hard to love them. The only character that I think had been developed well was Mistress Jane, the villain of the book. She's a powerful character that shines in every chapter she's in. Although her apperance in the book was not much, the author manage to make her a promising villain.

Although this book was not as great as I had hoped it to be, it was still a fun read largely thanks to the fun-filled and mysterious riddles that out main character needed to solve. The high-action plot near the end of the book was also entertaining and had nicely set up the plot for the next book in the series. I am looking forward to read the 2nd book in the series and judging by the interesting ending and powerful villain, I'm hoping it will be a great sequel to the first book.

Image courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

My top 10 movies of 2010

Everyone has their own list of favourite movies that they had watched over the year, and this is my list. For some strange reason, I listed all the movies that I had watched in 2010, and surprisingly I watched ONLY 19 movies, not a great number for someone who claimed to be a fan of movies. Getting the best 10 out of 19 was, as anyone would have guessed it, quite easy. So here are my 10 best movies in no particular order;

1. Avatar

It opened in cinemas in December 2009 but it had a long run. I watched it in January 2010 so the movie made the list. Not to put the movie in the list would be stupid, as it was one of the best movie that I had watched in the cinema. Good story, good visuals, good acting; what not to like about Avatar?



2. Toy Story 3

Definitely the best movie out of the series, and the most funny (with laugh-out-loud scenes like the one with Spanish-talking Buzz Lightyear) and emotional as well. The last scene where Andy finally decided to part with his toys (especially Woody) was one of the best goodbye scene I watched in an animation. Great job Pixar, great job indeed.

3. Inception

Seriously, it was kind of confusing and complex to follow but it was also engaging and keeps the audience thinking all the time. The visuals were awesome and the story was good too but for me the best part about the movie was the concept. A dream within a dream? I love it! Oh, and great ending too.



4. Resident Evil: Afterlife

I know many Resident Evil video game fans hate the movie series. But I like the video games, and I like the movies too. Although I think I like Apocalypse and Extinction more, but Afterlife does has it own strengths. The feel of the movie was slightly different than it predecessors and I kind of like the changes. Love the settings too; high-tech underground facility, maximum security prison, seemingly-abandon ship. Great opening (Tokyo!) and good ending. But best of all; the return of Jill Valentine! Yes, it was just a cameo but it was worth it. Hopefully we get to see her more in the sequel. Oh, and I LOVE Milla Jovovich too.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I like Narnia movie series, it kind of sad though to see it struggle in the market. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a movie with a simple plot but heavy dose of fantasy and high moral values made it a great movie. Not to forget the good acting from the young stars of the movie. Hopefully the studio will continue making movies from the series because it will be a waste if they don't.

6. RED

A surprise entry in the list. RED, the movie starring Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren (with guns!), is a great and fun movie. The plot seemed heavy but it was just a light movie about retired agents running around. It was fun. I like it. End of story.



7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

What can I say? Everyone already knows it's a great franchise. What I like most about this movie is that it is emotionally-charged. They were sad, angry, alone, scared and there were a lot of pain. Quite dramatic if you asked me but that's why I love it. Can't wait for the movie that will end it all.



8. Devil

Another surprise entry. Didn't know anything about the movie before I watched it and now I can't wait for the second movie in the series. It's serious drama in an odd place. I mean, in an elevator? That's kind of cool.

9. How to Train Your Dragon

I can't believe how much I'm in love with this movie. It's very heart-warming to see the bond formed between the boy and the dragon, and the plot was great with a slight twist in the end. I personally think this movie give Toy Story 3 a run for its money for best animation of 2010. I love it, I love it, I love it. Did I tell you that I love this movie?



10. Clash of the Titans

I heard (or read I think) that many critics hate this movie. It does look kind of foolish with the facial hair and glittering custom but the overall story was great. And it has mythical creatures in it. What not to like about that? Well, I do have a weakness when it comes to Greek mythology (God of War comes to mind), maybe that's why I like it so much. Not to mention Sam Worthington was in it. He's such a good actor. I'm crossing my fingers that they will make a sequel for this movie. Hopefully they will.


And there you have it. My top 10 movies of 2010. Some are highly-rated while others were condemned by the critics. I do have a complex taste in movies don't you think?

All images courtesy of Wikipedia.