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!