My 2012 wishes

1) Get rid of my 'addiction'

2) Get a girlfriend

3) Get a more stable job

4) Finish my 'X' project

5) Save more money in bank

Five goals should be enough I guess. What about you?

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.