Danganronpa: The Animation ~ full season review

Welcome to my full season review of the anime series, Danganronpa: The Animation. I did a 4-episode impression for the anime before, so if you're interested to know what was my initial reaction to the anime series, you can click here for my post for that.

Danganronpa: The Animation is the anime adaptation of the visual novel game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It's the first game in the franchise and it became so popular that it spawned more video games, manga adaptations, novels and of course an anime series. There might be a few spoilers scattered in this post regarding the plot so if you plan on watching the anime, you may want to skip and read something else. There won't be any big spoilers though so you might not need to worry much.

So what's the anime about? It's about a young boy named Makoto Naegi, along with 14 other students, who were trapped in the building of Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy which only accepts talented students. All the doors and windows were closed and locked, the facilities were run with an enclosed self-sustainable system, security cameras were everywhere watching them, and they were monitored by a mysterious someone who controlled a stuffed teddy bear named Monokuma who also acted as their school's principal. All students who were trapped were to live in the facility forever and if they want to get out from there, all they have to do is to kill another student BUT they cannot be caught doing it. A trial will be held when someone is killed and if the killer is caught, then he/she will be punished, or should I say executed. If the killer got away with the murder and someone else was blamed for his/her action, then the killer will be released from the facility and the other students who will be executed instead. It's a weird (but definitely fascinating!) premise.

Vanessa Carlton is back with Liberman!

I'm a huge fan of Vanessa Carlton, so I was surprised to realize that she had released a new album and I didn't even know about it. What a terrible fan I am. Liberman, her fifth studio album was released back in October 2015. She had released few videos on YouTube, a combination of official music videos, lyric video and audios, to promote the release of her album. I will put the link to her videos below so you can check them out.

I have always enjoy her music. She makes beautiful music with meaningful and poetic lyrics that I sometimes don't even understand what it means but I very much enjoy them nevertheless. She is not as mainstream as she used to be though so it's not easy in this digital era for someone like me, who only buy physical copy of albums, to find her albums sometimes, and considering I'm on the other side of the globe make it much more difficult. I'm not even sure myself if her current label would distribute her album worldwide or is it just will be for United States or North America only. I hope it will be available in my country eventually because as a huge fan of hers, it would be ridiculous for me not to get this album. You could buy the album through her official website but to be honest that would be too expensive for me.

As mentioned above, I have listed below the videos that had been released on YouTube to promote Liberman. If you are only familiar with her earlier works like A Thousand Miles and Ordinary Day, you might like Operator and Willows as they sound a bit more mainstream than the rest of the new songs. But you should definitely try to listen to the rest of the tracks as well. Personally I really love the two I mention earlier together with Take It Easy and Nothing Where Something Used to Be. Click the links below to listen to the songs!

• Take It Easy (Audio only)
• Willows (Lyric video)
• Willows (Audio only)
• House of Seven Swords (Official music video)
• Operator (Official music video)
• Operator - Live Living Room Session (Audio only)
• Blue Pool (Official music video)
• Blue Pool (Audio only)
• Nothing Where Something Used to Be - Live Living Room Session (Audio only)

If you enjoy any of the songs above, you can buy digital copies of the songs or if you like all of them, you could buy digital copies or physical copies of the album instead. You can find more info on how to purchase them in the video description in all of the videos above.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: December

We've come to the end of the year. How many movies have you watch in the cinema or movie theater so far? Usually a casual moviegoer won't spend so much to watch movies in cinemas so that's why I wonder. I've watched quite a few but I had sure missed a dozens more. Watching movie is quite an expensive thing to do nowadays surprisingly enough. So what are the movies scheduled to be released in December? Below are some of the movies that seem to be quite interesting.


1) Krampus

I was surprised of how this movie was getting quite the publicity, especially in a small market for Hollywood movies like Malaysia. I think I've seen the trailer been shown in cinemas and the movie posters had been displayed in the cinema hall very early on as well. I think that's kind of rare for a small movie like this, right? Anyway, it does look kind of interesting so I might be tempted to check the movie out. Krampus, according to the Alpine folklore, is a horned anthropomorphic figure who punishes bad or misbehaved children during the Christmas season, as opposed to the Saint Nicholas who rewarded the good ones. The film is a comedy/horror film directed by Michael Dougherty who is known for writing and directing the cult hit horror movie, Trick 'r Treat. Starring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner and Allison Tolman, Krampus had been released in US on December 4, 2015 (it had been released in Malaysia as well on December 3, 2015).


2) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

This is possibly the most anticipated movie of the year. It's a huge franchise and there's a lot riding on this movie to be successful so the franchise can keep continuing on with more sequels and spin-off. Disney (the studio who owns the franchise now) seems to be pretty confident in this movie though since (I believe) production had already started on the spin-off known as Rogue One, and also the sequel which is Episode VIII. The movie will introduce new characters and bring back beloved characters from the previous films as well. The box office projection for this movie is pretty epic with some analyst predicted it will cross the $3 billion mark. That's a pretty high bar if you asked me but with a franchise like this, who knows? It could be possible. I guess we all just need to wait and see, and we don't have to wait any longer now as the movie is scheduled to be released on December 17, 2015 in the United Kingdom, December 18, 2015 in North America and most of the world around that time as well.

Danganronpa: The Animation ~ The first 4 episodes impression

Danganronpa is a video game franchise which currently consists of 3 main titles (with one upcoming title) and had also spawned manga series, novels and of course, anime adaptation, in which I will review now based off the first four episodes that I had watched. Danganronpa: The Animation had been aired in Japan beginning of July in 2013 but it had just premiered on Animax Asia last Monday on 16th November 2015. It's kind of sad to see that it only got released on the channel more than 2 years later but I guess it's better late than never.

I've never heard about this series before and I was just lucky to have seen TV ads for it a few days before its premiere. So what is it about? It's about several people trapped in a building and the only way for them to get out is to kill someone but they have to make sure they don't get caught doing it. Sounds dark, creepy and interesting, right? The ads just showed this simple premise but that definitely caught my attention straight away.

The anime starts off with the main protagonist (Makoto Naegi), a regular, normal, "extremely lucky" student walking into Hope's Peak Academy, an elite academy that only accepts the best of the best of students. But once he step his foot into the academy territory, he passed out and next thing he knew, he was trapped in the academy's building along with 14 other "accepted" students of the academy. As they assembled at the assembly hall, they were introduced to an evil-talking-stuffed bear named Monokuma and were told that they were to stay in the academy forever and if they want to get out from there, they have to kill someone but they cannot let themselves get caught by the others for doing it...and so the story begins.

Regression ~ review

Regression is a 2015 movie starring Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, David Thewlis, Dale Dickey, David Dencik, Lothaire Bluteau, Devon Bostick, Peter MacNeill and Aaron Ashmore, written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar. It's a psychological thriller film about a detective investigating a case which involved a girl who had been a victim of a Satanic cult. I think the release date for the movie had been delayed in the US but it was already released here in Malaysia in October 2015, and had also been released in Spain, United Kingdom and Canada. This will be my review of the movie and it will have no spoilers in it, so don't worry about getting your movie experience spoiled.

Before I begin this review, I would like to address that the trailer for this movie was a bit misleading to me. It was marketed as if it was a horror movie from the trailer but I would say that the movie's plot lean more towards the mystery and crime aspects of the story. But I would still labelled it as a horror film because it does have some pretty scary scenes, and it also have a typical horror vibe to it since the case the detective was investigating revolved around the horrific activities that were related to the satanic cult.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 5 - 1)

Here is the third and final post for my Top 15 favourite photos for Cycle 3 of Asia's Next Top Model. My apologies if I have kept you waiting. Without further delay, let's begin the final countdown. Can you guess which photo will top my list?

5. Monika ~ Episode 5: Close-Up Diamond Attraction Ad campaign

Monika is extremely photogenic and when she smiles, she just melt people's heart away. She not only look stunning and sweet in the photograph, but she looks natural and approachable as well which I think is important for an ad campaign like this. I must say that the position of her right hand seem a bit awkward to me but other than that, she looks gorgeous. She won best photo for this episode, which I think is deserving, and as part of the prize for winning best photo, her shot was run as an actual commercial ad for the product as well. Great job Monika!


4. Gani ~ Episode 3: Jewelry photoshoot

I really like this shot of Gani and I was a bit disappointed that it only received lukewarm reviews from the judges. The jewelries look good on her, the clothes fitted her perfectly, the make-up was not overly done; personally I feel that she simply looks stunning in this photo. I wish they would just adjust the necklace's position on her neck because as you can see, some part of the necklace got tangled up in her clothes but other than that she looks amazing and she sold the necklace to me as what she should be doing for this jewelry photoshoot.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: November

There's not a lot of movies that I'm looking forward to in November, at least compared to the number of movies I've listed for October. There are a total of five movies that I had listed here and honestly, that is actually still a lot. So what are those movies? Scroll down to find out.


1) The Peanuts Movie

I'm not really a fan of the Peanuts comic strip but I did read them before occasionally. What got me interested the most for this movie is the animation. The movie looks almost like a hybrid between 2D and 3D animation, and it looks beautiful. And judging from the trailer, the story seems to be pretty nice as well, so I'm looking forward to it. The movie is directed by Steve Martino (who previously directed Horton Hears a Who! and Ice Age: Continental Drift) with voice casts that includes Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Hadley Belle Miller, Anastasia Bredikhina, Mariel Sheets and Noah Johnston. The Peanuts Movie had already open in the US on November 6, 2015 (and will find its way into Malaysian cinemas starting December 10, 2015).


2) The Hallow

I found this movie by accident when I was browsing my local cinema chain website for upcoming movies. I like horror movies and this movie looks kind of good judging from its trailer. It has a great setting that gives the film the creepy atmosphere that it needs, and the actors look pretty convincing in their performance too. Directed by Corin Hardy and starred Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton and Michael Smiley, The Hallow had already open in United Kingdom in July but will only open in Malaysian cinemas on November 19, 2015.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 10 - 6)

Welcome to the 2nd post of my Top 15 Favourite Photos for Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3. I've already listed the 5 photos that occupied the bottom part of the list. So now it's time to countdown the middle half of the chart from number 10 to number 6.

I hope you enjoy this post and the beautiful photos of the contestants below.

10. Melissa ~ Episode 1: Swimwear shoot

I noticed that Melissa always somewhat hunched in her photos. Although it looks kind of weird to a certain extent, somehow I was captivated by it, and she caught my interest from this first photo of her from the very first episode of the cycle. The photo seemed unique to me from all the other girls and already she was a standout. Although she only finished in 8th place in the competition, I had always liked her photos and I wish her all the best in her modelling career.


9. KB ~ Episode 6: Zalora campaign

You can tell from her personality that KB is an active and energetic girl, and although that works against her in most of the photoshoot, it certainly played to her strength when it comes to this Zalora campaign photoshoot. She didn't won best photo for this episode though but I feel her photo is one of the strongest for this photoshoot. She looks free, active and comfortable and this picture is certainly one of her best photo in the entire competition.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Top 15 Favourite Photos (No. 15 - 11)

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 was aired around March till June 2015 in Asia and it was a fun season. There are some truly amazing and beautiful shots taken during this cycle so here I am again, listing my favourite photos from the season just like what I did for the previous season. But unlike Cycle 2 in which I listed my top 10 favourite photos, for this cycle I'm going to make it a top 15 list. There are just too many photos that I like and I want to list them as much as I can.

I managed to shortlist 29 photos that I like from this cycle and even though I had add 5 extra spots for this year it was still not easy to cut down into the top 15. I will be dividing this list into 3 different posts featuring 5 photos for each post.

Without further delay, let's get started.


15. Melissa ~ Episode 7: Subaru photoshoot

I'm not a fashion expert (obviously) so I would definitely have different opinion on what looks good and what's not. So it would not be surprising for me to pick this photo for my number 15 spot. The Subaru representative that came as guest judge for this episode slammed this photo and it eventually got Melissa eliminated from the competition. I like this photo, so I was a bit disappointed by how that turned out. To me, Melissa looks good in it and her demeanor suited with the background as well.


14. Gani ~ Episode 9: Alex Perry's long gowns

This is another photo in which I loved but was hated by the judges. This photo landed Gani in the bottom 2 and almost got her eliminated. I think I like this photo because of the fantasy element in it. In fact, this is actually my favourite photoshoot in this cycle and you will see several more of the photos taken during this episode listed in my top 15. I love this photo because Gani looks like she is in the water or falling gracefully from the sky. I remembered they mentioned that Gani didn't do enough in this photoshoot so I guess compliments must go to the photographer then, Jez Smith, for making this shot happened and also for the clever editing.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: October

So I was browsing through the list of movies that will be released in October for this post and...wow, there are so many interesting movies lined up! Let's go through them, shall we? Here are the list of movies scheduled to be released in October that I'm most excited about.


1) The Martian

The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott, is heavily advertised in my country which is pretty rare for a potential awards contender like this movie, so I would assumed that it has quite a huge commercial value as well as being quite mainstream in contrast to most awards-type movies that we often see. I already heard a lot of good buzz for this movie so it should be good. The movie is about a guy stranded on Mars and have to figure a way to survive there alone while waiting for the rescue team who would take years to come and save him. Starred Matt Damon as the guy who stranded on Mars along with an ensemble cast which include Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Pena, Kristen Wigg, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Donald Glover and Sebastian Stan, The Martian was released in cinemas on October 2, 2015 in the US.


2) The Final Girls

Not to be confused with Final Girl (which starred Abigail Breslin), The Final Girls is a horror comedy film which starred Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig and Nina Dobrev, and directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson. I've never heard about this movie before until I saw the trailer not long ago. The trailer looks good and I like the way they make fun of the slasher films. The film features a bunch of teenagers where while trying to get out from a burning cinema, slashed through the silver screen that was showing a horror film that they were watching and mysteriously ended up in the film themselves. The premise sounds fun, right? The film was screened at South by Southwest Film Festival and received positive reviews. The Final Girls was released in limited release on October 9, 2015.


3) Pan

This movie was caught in a controversy because of the white-washed casting of Rooney Mara as the character Tiger Lily (which traditionally was portrayed as Native American) for this film. While I do think this could become quite a problem for the movie's US box office performance, I don't think it will suffer much in its worldwide haul. Even if this movie doesn't do well at the box office, it would probably be the lack of interest in the film itself rather than because of the controversy. That's just my opinion though. Pan will take viewers to discover the origin of Peter Pan and Captain Hook before they were popularly known as they were in Neverland. The movie starred Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Adeel Akhtar and Amanda Seyfried, and directed by Joe Wright. Joe Wright previously directed Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist, Hanna and Anna Karenina, so this would be quite a departure from his earlier work. Pan was released in US cinemas (and I believe in most of the world as well) on October 9, 2015.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: September

It's almost mid of September, my apologies for uploading this post a bit late but I thought I should get this up online anyway so here it is.

Summer movie season has ended and September usually is the slow month for movies but I feel that there are still some potentially good movies to be found. Check out below for some of the movies that I feel are quite interesting.


1) The Visit

I think a lot of people have lost faith in M. Night Shyamalan after he directed the live adaptation of The Last Airbender and also the poorly received After Earth. Eventhough he had his hits and misses with his movies (just like any other director, right?), I still think he is a good director. I mean, he gave us The Sixth Sense, right? And I'm one of those few people who actually like The Village. Maybe he works better with small scale movies? The Visit looks like the kind of movies he used to make before so we'll see. The movie is about two siblings who discover strange happenings around their grandparent's house when they spent some nights there with them. Well, not just the surroundings but their grandparents are acting pretty strange as well. The trailer seems to point it to be a horror movie but I understand it is also a comedy? Hmm...I don't see that in the trailer at all to be honest but I'm certainly curious to find out what's the story is all about. The movie was released in cinemas on Sept. 11, 2015.


2) Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

I love The Maze Runner the movie, so I'm really excited for this sequel which will be released in the US cinemas on Sept. 18, 2015 (the film had actually been released here in Malaysia and some other Asian countries on 10th and 11th Sept. 2015). After managed to get out from the maze in one piece, Thomas and his friends will need to figure out what's their next move will be as they find out more about the mysterious organization, W.C.K.D., that had placed them in the maze in the first place, and also after finding out the reality of the apocalyptic world that they are living in. Can they survive the even more grueling and unforgiving land of the outside world? Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is directed by Wes Ball (the same director of the first film) and starred Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Dexter Darden, Alexander Flores, Patricia Clarkson, Rosa Salazar, Aidan Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Jacob Lofland and Barry Pepper.

Hammerin' Hero ~ review

Hammerin' Hero is a platforming, beat-em-up, action game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) developed and published in Japan by Irem Software Engineering (as Ikuze! Gen-San: Yuuyake Daiku Monogatari), published in Europe by DHM Interactive (simply as GenSan) and published in North America by Atlus.

I don't think I need to put a spoiler alert for this game review but just in case if people are wondering -  no, I won't go into details regarding the story but I will mention several of the levels/characters/unlockable items that were featured in this game. I won't give the full list of those things of course but if you want to be surprised when you unlock any new stage, character or item, you might want to avoid reading this review altogether then.

So what is this game about? When a small town is threaten by a huge company (the Kuromoku Company) who wants to demolish the area and develop the land, Gen, a local townsfolk come forward to fight them in the hope of bringing an end to their evil corporation plan. It's a platforming game so it's understandable if the story is not something the game is focusing on but regardless I find the story quite entertaining and easy to follow, the story was told in a kind of cute way too. In this version that I played, players have a choice between English or Japanese voice-overs. I chose mainly English voice-overs. Although some characters' voice-over were pretty bad, for the rest it was quite good with the lines delivery were quite funny, and I mean that in a good way. I like the main character's English voice-over, Gen, the most. The voice actor (sorry but I don't know who it was) did it just right, not too over-the-top but not quite plain either.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: August

I listed so many movies each month but ironically I can only get to watch so few of them. Hopefully I can watch more movies in the coming months. So which movies that will be released in August that caught my interest the most? Scroll down to find out.


1) Dark Places

I actually already watched this movie, it was released in July (or was it June?) in Malaysia. Dark Places is based on the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn (the same author of Gone Girl for those of you who don't know) and tell the story of Libby Day as she tries to investigate what exactly happened on that fateful night 25 years ago when her family was killed which had also resulted in her older brother being put behind bars based on her testimonial statement. Did he really killed them? Or was it someone else and she was traumatized that made her remembered it wrongly? I really like the movie and the murder mystery that was featured in it. If you like murder-mystery-drama type of film, then you would probably like this movie too. Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and starred Charlize Theron, Tye Sheridan, Christina Hendricks, Nicholas Hoult, Chloe Grace Moretz, Corey Stoll and Shannon Kook, Dark Places would be released in the US on August 7, 2015.


2) Fantastic Four

I feel so bad to see this movie received so much hate even before people get to actually see the final product. I seriously hope that this general hate won't affect it's box office performance. I kind of understand where the hate is coming from but at the same time the feedback are so overwhelmingly negative that it made me pity the crew that had work hard to produce this film. The trailers look pretty good and interesting so I'm hoping for the best for Fantastic Four. The movie could turn out to be bad but I think we should all save our judgement until the movie is release and when we actually see it, right? Directed by Josh Trank (the director of 2012 film, Chronicle) and starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell and Reg E. Cathey, this Fantastic Four reboot would be released in cinemas on August 7, 2015.


3) The Gift

This film will be the directorial debut for Joel Edgerton. The trailer looks interesting, which is about a couple's life that had turned upside down after they met the husband's acquaintance from high school. The mystery aspect of the story really get me intrigued, and I'm curious to know what really happened between the husband and his high school friend. It's a small scale type of film so I hope the story is good to keep the audiences entertain. Starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton, The Gift is scheduled to open in cinemas on August 7, 2015.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 Winner!

This is a late post, but seeing that I have post something like this for the past 2 seasons, it seems odd if I didn't post it for season 3 as well, so here it is.

Congratulations to Gani for winning the third season of Asia's Next Top Model! Gani had always being praised as the Asian beauty multiple times throughput this season and now she has proved herself to have what it takes to win the competition. Believe it or not, I missed the final episode of this season eventhough I had watched all the other episodes prior to the finale. Until now I had not watched the final episode although I believe there are multiple repeated airing of the episode already. I only knew the result through my sister (who was devastated, of course, since she's a die-hard fan of Monika who came in second).

I guess I should congratulate both Monika and Aimee too for reaching to the finale. It's not an easy thing to do considering so many people had auditioned for this season, and they had beat out the rest of the contestants who had reached the top 14 too, so they should also be proud of themselves.

It's been a fun season and I enjoyed watching the show very much. For all the staff and crew behind this cycle, well done! I'm not sure if the season is considered a success or not (since I don't know about the ratings and stuff) but hopefully it is and they will continue on with a new season.

And again, congrats Gani!

Images from AsNTM3 official website.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: July

So far for 2015, three Hollywood movies had reached USD$1 billion at the box office (Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World), and we're only halfway through the year! And there's more blockbuster movies coming out soon. There are a few movies that caught my interest for July but which movies do you think would make it big at the box-office? Or maybe make a big impression with film critics a la Mad Max: Fury Road and Inside Out?

Below are the movies that I'm most interested with for July 2015. Let's start!


1) Terminator: Genisys

Similar to the Jurassic World, I believe Terminator: Genisys has a strong brand that could lure old and new fans of the franchise to the cinemas. However, seeing how the last 2 movies of this franchise were not as highly praised as the first two movies, it could also spell trouble for this new sequel box-office performance. We'll see where this movie would take the franchise; rise to the top of the pack or burn to the ground. I'm rooting for this movie to be successful though because from what I see from the trailers, it looks like a really fun movie, and the story takes it into a totally different direction than just simply following the timeline established from previous movies. So hopefully the movie will be good. Directed by Alan Taylor (the director of Thor: The Dark World) and starring Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Lee Byung-hun and J. K. Simmons, Terminator: Genisys had been released in cinemas on July 1, 2015 in the US and July 2, 2015 in Malaysia.


2) Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow

Usually my list contains only Hollywood movies because that's the easiest movies for me to track online, but this time I got two Asian movies that caught my interest in my list (I should have checked my local websites movie schedule more often then). First up is the anime film adaptation of the popular manga/anime TV series Attack on Titan. There seemed to be two parts to this movie, and the first part is called Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow which was adapted from episode 1 until 13 of the anime TV series. I had only read several chapters of the manga and have never watch the TV series before but from what I've read, I know that the story is unique and very entertaining so I'm very much looking forward to this movie. Already released in Japan in November of 2014, Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow was released in Malaysia on July 2, 2015.


3) The Gallows

To be honest, story-wise I suspect that this film would just be a regular found footage horror movie that has been produced quite a lot recently but the trailer for this movie was so cleverly cut and accompanied by an awesome rendition of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit that it piqued my interest. Come to think of it, I somewhat remember a movie with "Gallows" in the title been released in Malaysia some few months back? Can't really remember for sure but if that was this movie, then I had missed my chance to watch it. But the US audience would still have that chance as The Gallows would be released in cinemas on July 10, 2015. The film starred Reese Mishler, Cassidy Gifford, Ryan Shoos, Pfeifer Brown and Alexis Schneider. If you're wondering that awesome rendition I was talking about, check out the cover by Think Up Anger feat. Malia J on YouTube (thanks to the comments section of the trailer in YouTube - I wouldn't know who did the cover version if you ask me). Awesome stuff!

Salam Ramadan 1436!

I've been crazily busy with work recently but I feel that I still need to spend some time to post this because it's a special month for Muslims all around the world. For those non-Muslims that may not know, Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and the month where Muslims will go on fasting as an observance for one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Aside from not consuming food and drinks during the day, Muslims are also encouraged to increase prayers and the recitation of al-Quran, and also to do more charity and refrain from behavior that are deemed sinful. It is indeed a special month in Islam.

I pray that all Muslims will have a peaceful and blessing Ramadan this year. Salam Ramadan everyone!

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: June

May was a great month for movies as the summer movie season officially kicked-off with films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Pitch Perfect 2 banking in lots of money at the box office, while others like Mad Max: Fury Road was critically acclaimed with its creative choices. The summer movie season continued on as more blockbuster movies are scheduled to be released. Below are some of the movies coming out in June that excite me the most.


1) Insidious: Chapter 3

I'm quite surprised when I found out that they were doing a third movie for this franchise. I thought the second movie was nice but it was not as memorable as the first one. But still, I like it a lot and it was a fun movie to watch, so I'm totally looking forward to this next installment. The focus now shifted to a new family who were haunted by something supernatural, so I don't think we would see Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson in this movie. Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson would be back though, reprising their roles as the ghost/supernatural experts that will do all they can to help this poor family. Also starred Stefanie Scott and Dermot Mulroney, this movie will not be directed by James Wan who directed the previous two films, instead it will be directed by Leigh Whannell in his directorial debut (he is also the writer of all three films). Insidious: Chapter 3 will be released in cinemas on June 5, 2015.


2) Spy

Spy had actually been released here in Malaysia in May, but it is only scheduled to be released in US on June 5, 2015. It was released on the same weekend as Tomorrowland, whereas the remake of Poltergeist, which was released against Tomorrowland in the US, would only be released here in Malaysia in July. Weird scheduling, huh? The movie is about a desk-bound CIA analyst who had never really been in field for a mission before, goes undercover to investigate in the dangerous world of arms dealer when her partner goes missing. I haven't watch Spy yet but I'm really tempted to thanks to its hilarious trailers. I don't only think Melissa McCarthy looks funny in the movie, but Rose Byrne, Jason Statham and Jude Law were all look funny in it. This might actually be a very good and fun movie to watch. Directed by Paul Feig (he also directed Bridesmaids and The Heat), Spy also starred Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale and Allison Janney.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ Who are the Top 5?

We are almost at the end of the competition in Asia's Next Top Model season 3 and it's down to the final 5 now. It has been a great season thus far but if you had missed this cycle, I've listed down the final 5 contestants below and my thoughts on them. Check these ladies out.


Aimee (Singapore)

I think Aimee gained the most from the makeover that the contestants had gone through this season. Her makeover suits her very well and elevate her look to a whole new level which I think give her an edge and advantage compared to the rest of the contestants. So I'm not surprised that she made it this far. She had been doing pretty well in the competition, pretty consistent, but I think for her to go farther, she has to give more and take more risks with her poses. She had received a best photo call-out once before, so I'm sure she can push it further.

Amanda (Philippines)

Amanda is such a sweet girl, I like her a lot but I think out of these 5 ladies, she is probably the weakest one. In the beginning of the competition, I thought she was one of the strongest contestant but her "blinking eyes" issue was getting in her way during photoshoots, and it's kind of hard for her to get good photos with that issue. Nevertheless, it's still great to see her come this far, and I still believe she has a shot in winning this but she needs to fix that "blinking eyes" issue quickly. She received her 2nd best photo in the latest episode (episode 9) so hopefully she had managed to get rid of that "blinking eyes" problem.

Namie Amuro New Album "_genic" Songs Preview

It's been awhile since I last follow any news on Namie Amuro and when I was digging about her recently to find out about her latest activity, I found out that she will be releasing a new album soon! The new album which was titled "_genic" will be her twelfth recorded studio album and will be released in June 2015. The album will contained 13 new songs (plus one bonus track) with 5 of the songs will have music videos.

Namie Amuro official channel on YouTube is also currently running a trial listening of all the songs from the album. I'm not sure how long will they have this trial listening so you might want to go check them out before they end the songs preview. You can do that by clicking here.

I've listen through all of the songs and I must say the album is quite good. The album is bilingual with English and Japanese lyrics and from my trial listening it seemed like most of the lyrics will be in English. Although I prefer Namie Amuro songs in Japanese, she sounds really good in English too. I feel like I want to get this but unfortunately Japanese album is quite expensive in my country, and I don't think it is any cheaper if I order it online. I'll see the price when it's finally release here, hopefully they will have a special price for it and will not be too expensive.

Infini ~ review

Infini is an Australian 2015 science fiction/thriller/drama film directed by Shane Abbess and starred Daniel MacPherson, Luke Ford, Grace Huang, Bren Foster, Harry Pavlidis, Dwaine Stevenson, Luke Hemsworth, Louisa Mignone and Kevin Copeland. Primarily set at the farthest space station that human had ever explored in the 23rd century, a search and rescue team was dispatched to secure a highly-volatile source material from being transported to Earth and to rescue the only known survivor that had escaped from the disaster that had happened there.

This movie review will have minor spoilers regarding the film's plot, so if you haven't watch the movie and want to avoid spoilers, please leave to read other posts in this blog right away.

I had never heard about this movie before, and I just noticed it because of the poster and film's trailer that had been shown at my local cineplex while I was there to watch another movie. I have no knowledge regarding what's the movie about and I was only interested to watch it because the trailer reminds me of the movies Event Horizon and Sunshine, both which I loved. And I love science fiction movies, so why not? But in the end, did I like the movie?

YuYu Hakusho Volume 19 ~ review

We have come to the end of the manga series! I know this is an old series but...oh well, it's still pretty exciting to finally review the final volume (Volume 19) of YuYu Hakusho. What would become of our four protagonists; Urameshi Yuusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara? How would it all end? This review will contain spoilers (not just for this volume but for past volumes as well) but if you don't mind spoilers, you may continue to read ahead. I also want to apologize for procrastinating to do this post. Now that I finally post it, I hope you enjoy my review on this manga series and if you want to see my review on previous volumes for this manga, please click the YuYu Hakusho label and it will take you there. Okay, now let's get started.

Let's rewind a bit and recap what had happened in this final story arc. Yuusuke, Kurama and Hiei were each visited by representatives of powerful demons that rule the Demon World. Yuusuke then join his demon blood-related ancestor Raizen; Kurama joined the blind demon Yomi; while Hiei joined Mukuro. Not long after that, Raizen passed away and Yuusuke inherited his throne, and suggested to held the Demon World United Fighting Tournament (that is not the official English name by the way, I directly translated it to English from the Malay-translated manga that I bought in my country) which anyone can enter, and whoever wins will rule the Demon World. The preliminaries had begun and the final 128 contestants will move on to the final stage where they will have a one-on-one fight. So what happen next?

Ranking the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron

I bet plenty of you had watched Avengers: Age of Ultron, maybe even more than once. It's a great movie and I like it a lot. But which Avenger is your favourite? Instead of a regular movie review, I've decided to rank the Avengers like what I did when the first Avengers movie came out, but this time I will rank it in order from the bottom to the top (I ranked it randomly in my post for the first movie). I will only list the main characters so there will be 9 Avengers altogether. There will be no major spoilers here but if you haven't watch the movie and want to avoid any kind of spoilers (even the smallest one that may already have been revealed in the trailers and TV spots) - and to be fair, there are some minor spoilers involving a character's origin included here, you best leave this post right away. So which Avenger will be on top of my list? Let's start from the bottom and work our way up the list. Let's begin...Avengers assemble!


9 - Thor

At the bottom of my list is Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth on the silver screen). He is quite popular with the ladies and I think Thor is an interesting character too. However, I always feel that he didn't fit well with the team, always seems like the odd one out. Even though Thor's solo movies were not as highly acclaimed compared to some of the other superhero's movies from the team, at least he is more outstanding, or should I say he has stronger presence, in his own movies rather than in an ensemble team. Furthermore, he didn't have a strong character development in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and most of his scenes were focused on his abilities and the power that he possessed. Nevertheless, Thor still looked awesome in this movie, and his scenes when he used his hammer to call on the lightning were really amazing. I'm looking forward for his next adventure on the big screen with his third solo movie.


8 - Quicksilver

Oh Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver ~ I think it was quite unfair the way the movie handled the character at the end of the movie. He's a particularly interesting character and his relationship with his twin sister was one of the aspect that I like about this movie. Aside from that, his banter with Hawkeye were fun to watch too. Aaron Taylor-Johnson played the character well, and he definitely made an impact in the movie, especially in the final battle with Ultron. However, I felt that the character could have been developed more, that was also why I'm quite disappointed with the way the character was handled in the end, such a waste, a missed opportunity. From the studio point of view, I kind of understand why they had to do that, but still, it was a tad unnecessary.


7 - Hawkeye

Clint Barton a.k.a Hawkeye is a cool character, I like him. A lot of people complaint the way the character was handled in the first Avengers movie, so here in the sequel we can see they had expanded his role and make him more relevant to the team. Even from the first movie, I can see he is a great asset to the team, so I don't really have any issue with how he was handled in the first film, but to see the character developed even more in this movie is certainly delightful. The character and the actor playing him, Jeremy Renner, really deserved it. I really hope the studio would insert him in other solo movies the way they did with the Black Widow character, that would greatly help to make Hawkeye even more important and recognizable in the Marvel Cinematic Universe like the rest of the Avengers.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: May

The summer movie season has started, and we have plenty of blockbuster movies lining up ready to please the cinemagoers...or will they? It's going to be quite competitive at the box office because it's so packed with so many big movies. I wonder which movies will become successful and which will lose the audiences interest? Let's look at the movies that I'm most excited about that will be released in May.


1) Hot Pursuit

I don't really like watching comedy films at the cinema but Hot Pursuit is a movie I'm willing to try. Starred Reese Witherspoon (who also acted as one of the producer for this movie) and Sofia Vergara, the movie is about a police officer who has to protect a wife of a criminal from other criminals and dirty cops who are after her. It is directed by Anne Fletcher who had also directed movies like The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds) and 27 Dresses (with Katherine Heigl and James Marsden) before. The trailer for Hot Pursuit looks quite funny although I don't know how much can it compete with this year's packed and highly competitive summer movie season. We'll wait and see if the counter-programming strategy will work for this movie. Hot Pursuit will be released in cinemas on May 8, 2015.


2) Mad Max: Fury Road

I don't think I have watch any of the Mad Max movies before. But that doesn't stop me from being excited for this movie. The trailers for it look incredible, with stunning visuals and eye-popping action and special effects, but I hope it will also has a good story to complement the rest of the amazing factors that I've mentioned. The movie stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron (whom I'm most excited about when it comes to the cast of this movie), Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoe Kravitz and many more. Originally George Miller, the director and mastermind behind this franchise, planned to shoot the movie back-to-back with its intended sequel, but that plan didn't seem to follow through. The sequel tittled Mad Max: Furiosa, seem to be focusing on Charlize Theron's character since she played a character named Imperator Furiosa. I love Charlize Theron so I hope this plan would become a reality. Mad Max: Fury Road would be released in cinemas on May 15, 2015

America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 ~ My 5 Favourite Photos (Guys)

Welcome to my second post for America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 where I'm listing down my top 10 favourite photos from this cycle. I've separated the list into Top 5 Guys and Top 5 Girls. I had already done the list for the girls, if you missed it, you can check out the post here. Before we start, let me remind you of the rule that I made when I was shortlisting the list; I've limit the photos to 2 photos per contestant. Now, let's find out who are listed in my top 5 list for the guys. Let's start!


5) Keith

Contestant: Keith Carlos
Episode: 08 (Heritage + A.I. relationship)

Keith is the first ever male winner for the reality show, so congratulations to him! While I do like some of his photos, I must admit that sometimes he always give the same kind of look in his photos and there is lack of variety in his expressions. That is why I like his photo from this photoshoot, where his face had this mixture of confusion and angry expressions that differs from his other photos. For this photoshoot, the contestants were dressed based on their heritage (which was based on their DNA results), where it also involved Cory Hindorff, a contestant from the previous cycle. Cory acted as a cyborg and they played a science-fiction future scenario where the contestants had some kind of relationship with an artificial intelligence. I know, sounds complicated. But at least Keith nailed it. He look really good in this photo, so bravo to him.


4) Adam

Contestant: Adam Smith
Episode: 12 (Honeymoon)

Adam oh Adam, how had I misjudged you in the beginning of the competition. Who would have thought you would go all the way to become a top 3 contestant? I certainly didn't when I first saw him in the first couple of episodes for this cycle. He didn't seemed to be taking this competition seriously, as noted by some of the contestants too. But if you continue to watch his progress throughout this cycle, you will notice his determination and how he worked really hard to excel in each photoshoot, and how he also highly respected the judges and taking every criticism that had been thrown to him with his head held high. He got my respect for working very hard despite the doubts and skepticism that had come his way. And he really improved a lot especially towards the end of the competition, like this shot taken at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Although Adam landed in the bottom 2 because of this photo, I still think he looked great in it.

America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 ~ My 5 Favourite Photos (Girls)

I know the 21st cycle of America's Next Top Model had aired a long time ago in the US but it was only one or two months ago when the finale was aired through StarWorld channel in Asia. So here I am, listing down my top 10 favourite photos for this cycle from the show. Or should I say top 5? I will be separating my list into girls and guys photos, with 5 of my favourite photos for each category. I also include one simple rule when I was shortlisting my list; each contestant can only have a maximum of 2 photos each. That makes it a lot easier for me to cut it down to only my top 5 picks.

Since the girls didn't win this cycle, let's start with them first, shall we? Below are my top 5 favourite photos of the girls from America's Next Top Model Cycle 21. Hope you enjoy it!


5) Chantelle

Contestant: Chantelle Young
Episode: 11 (MCM brand)

Chantelle was one of the unique contestant in the reality show because of her unique skin condition, nevertheless she was still a fierce competitor, perhaps maybe too fierce that made her somewhat alienated from the rest of the contestants. She was also the contestant that was originally eliminated and then brought back into the competition based on public voting. Obviously she was very popular based on the votes. I like this photo of her because her face looked soft, which was the opposite of her strong personality. I like the movement she made in the photo too. Sadly, this is the photo that landed her in the bottom two. But still, I like it! She looked good in this.


4) Kari

Contestant: Kari Calhoun
Episode: 06 (Hair whipping)

For this sixth episode, the contestants were doing a motion shoot with photographer Massimo Campana that involved whipping their hair. So it was not really a "photo" produced in this shoot, instead it was a short slow motion video. There were some amazing shots produced for this episode, and Kari's was one of my favourite. I always thought Kari have a very interesting face that set her apart from the rest of her competition. However, I feel her make-over was a bit too much and it turned her face a bit weird, but maybe that what was Tyra Banks was going for? A unique look for her? Nevertheless, she looked amazing in this shoot and I like it a lot.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: April

Bigger and bigger movies are coming your way. Which movies that are coming out in April that I'm most excited about?

1) Furious 7

I have never watch a Fast and Furious films in movie theater before, not because I don't like it but because I prefer to watch them on television. Besides, I'm not really into cars which this series is obviously obsessed about. But for this seventh entry, I might consider to watch it in cinemas, not only because I had heard many good things about it but also because this will be the last time I can watch Paul Walker, who tragically involved in a car accident and passed away, for the last time in movie theater. The trailer looks good so I might have a good time watching it. Beside Paul Walker, the movie also starred Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, Chris Bridges (Ludacris), Jordana Brewster, Tony Jaa, Kurt Russell and Ronda Rousey. Directed by James Wan, the movie had already open in cinemas (and currently banking a lot of money at the box-office) on April 3, 2015.


2) Child 44

I seldom watch movies with heavy themes in cinemas, but sometimes there are some movies that caught my interest with the story that it wants to deliver, like the one in Child 44, a movie adaptation from the novel of the same name by author Tom Rob Smith. The movie is about a disgraced MGB Agent named Leo Demidov played by Tom Hardy, who is tasked in investigating a series of brutal murder involving children. I kind of like the cast too, beside Tom Hardy the movie also starred Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman. The film setting also looks interesting which is in Soviet Union during Stalin's rule. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, the film is scheduled on April 17, 2015.

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 ~ First Impression

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 3 had its Global premiere last Wednesday (25th March 2015) with a fresh batch of contestants and a stunning new host. So how was the first episode of the season?

As per usual for the first episode of the reality show, the new season showed the new contestants arrived for the competition, this time once again held in Singapore. I was hoping it would be held someplace else, since the show had already made Singapore its home in the first cycle. The Philippines or Hong Kong sound like a good place for a new cycle, but I guess maybe to hold it in Singapore is more convenient for the producer of the show.

The very first challenge for this cycle that the contestants had to face was a catwalk challenge with a turntable at the end of the runway for them to pose. Under the eyes of the new host and head judge, Georgina Wilson; model mentor, Joey Mead King; and Marina Fairfax from Storm Model Management, the challenge was quite nerve-wrecking to some contestants who struggled on the spinning platform. After some feedback from the judges, the first challenge winner was announced as Barbara from Japan.

What to watch? ~ 2015 movies: March

Hmm...it looks like March has a few interesting film releases. Let's take a look at some of the movies that I'm excited for that will be released in this month.


1) Chappie

I love District 9, and while Elysium was not as good as District 9, it was still good and thought-provoking. So this third effort from the director Neill Blomkamp should get me excited too, right? After watching the trailer, I am pretty excited for this movie because not only it falls under the science fiction category, which I love and seems to be the director strength, it also reminded me of other artificial intelligence movies like 2004 I, Robot and 2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence which were both I adored too. Eventhough the world Chappie was set in seems not highly advanced with robots as the other two movies, the exploration of the robot way of thinking and their emotional journey really seems to be the same. Starred Sharlto Copley as the voice and motion capture of Chappie, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Yolandi Visser and Sigourney Weaver, the movie had already opened in cinemas on March 6, 2015.


2) Cinderella

At first, I'm not really sure I would want to watch this. Eventhough I love Disney's animated version of the fairy tale, I would not like to watch a live-action, straight adaptation of Cinderella, which was what it looked to be from the first released trailer. Then the second trailer came out, and it seems that the movie will not be a straight adaptation after all. Great! I would prefer it that way since I don't want to watch the same thing again, eventhough it's in live-action. The animated movie is still a good movie to watch even today, so if you want to do the exact same story, why not just ask people to watch the animated movie right? Starring Lily James as the titular character, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger and Sophie McShera, Cinderella will open in cinemas on March 13, 2015.