edited: 4.45 pm, Wednesday

Ok, I’m done with my kitchen. Added a few more stuff which took me another half a day. Hmm… I guess it’s pretty decent now, it’s got a microwave, switchable lights, a bar, stools, and an awesome rotating fan!

Nuff with this shit.

—-end of edit—-

It’s what I tell myself everytime this period comes. The exams are upon me… again! While everyone else already had their exams, mine looms closer. It’s just two weeks till the papers.

But I wouldn’t complain if it’s two weeks and I got all the time to study. No, instead… I’ve got major assignments deadlines to meet. Assignments which are like 1/4 of the exams’ weight.

But one assignment I DID manage to complete by today is the very ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’ subject of computer graphics. Behold! My kitchen!

Ain’t she pretty? And all this… the whole kitchen, with the chairs, table, stove, refrigerator, fruits, cups, lighting… they’re all hand coded! It’s freakin’ crazy I tells ya! Coding takes all the FUN outta 3D modelling.

Well, whatever. It seems like they always teach us the screwed up way before the cool, short-cut way. Just like the other subject, System-Administrations. I only found out that the redhat linux has a built in GUI all along. They only revealed it to us in the final lab. If I had known earlier, I’d have used it to ease my sufferings working with Unix. We had to code… and type commands… the WHOLE TIME!

So, with this assignment sort of done, I’ll have umm… 3 major assignments, 1 homework assignment and 2 more lab tasks to complete in this two weeks. So… where’s the bloody time to study?

They really know how to make a killer schedule don’t they?

FINALLY!

I watched the movie yesterday night, after weeks of wanting to watch it. Hmm, I really don’t know where to begin with this awesomeness of a movie.

Ok, from the start then.

Beowulf was a legendary poem written by some guy. I only found out this fact after watching the movie, and my friend told me about it. That must be why it has such a fantastic storyline. Superb in every sense.

I haven’t seen a good ‘hero’ movie, set in medieval times, for a very long time. I couldn’t even remember the last good one. Troy, perhaps? But Beowulf is a ‘hero’ movie different from all others. It really captures how events turn to stories and then to legend. Like all legends from all over the world, they’re probably exaggerated a little to add a little flair. The movie’s witty dialogs and style will get you thinking about it way after the credits roll.

Beowulf was a viking warrior who seeks glory in slaying monsters. He travels with a small brigand of soldiers who call themselves Beowulf’s Army (simple enough, no?). In this movie, he travels to Middle Ages’ Denmark, where the city is under constant attack from a troll-like monster. I actually pitied the monster Grendal, and you’ll see why, if you watch the movie.

Ok, that’s as far as I can go without spoiling anything for ya. Coz, any further into the movie, you’ll encounter all the great elements that make Beowulf such a good movie.

I came in wanting to see its animation, rendering etc… but I ended up being fully immersed in the story, as if I’m in the heart of the action itself. The actors, voices, environments, monsters, everything… they’re just beautiful.

Beowulf was played by Ray Winstone, not really a popular actor, but he pulled off the voice with great majesty. Actually, when he first appeared in the movie, I thought he looked a lot like Sean Bean, who played Boromir from Lord of the Rings.

Then there was the old king, played by Anthony Hopkins. How the character emulates the actual actor is simply uncanny, unfathomable, unbelievable. I often find myself thinking if it IS real life. Beowulf’s loyal friend was played by the guy from Braveheart. William Wallace’s childhood friend, remember him? He looked damn familiar and again, the resemblance is uncanny.

John Malkovich’s character was also nailed to perfection. Even the style and trademarks of the actors were captured. All the way down to Anthony Hopkins slightly tilted head while acting, and John Malkovich’s weird style of talking. Oh, and who can forget Angelina Jolie… only, this time, she’s super-fine! Way better than the real one. Everything… and I mean, everything… is enhanced to perfection. She plays the sorceress/witch, by the way.

I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about the movie except that I wished it had gone on longer, maybe a trilogy? Like Lord of the Rings? Coz really, it’s of the same stature as LOTR, I think.

And to those people who still say that this is just a cartoon …. …. …. wake up. This is the future, and you people must be stuck in the stone age. I don’t care to argue with them anymore. Suit yourself and don’t watch it. Go ahead and miss out on one of the best movies of the year.

I give Beowulf 9.5/10. The 0.5 is due to the irritating exit light in my line of sight, and the fact that I couldn’t get nachos before going in, coz of some problems with the booking system. Other than that, Beowulf scores full marks on my watch.

deal or no deal

what’s up with this dumb show?! It’s the dumbest show with the greediest, dumbest people around. How come only dumb people get to be on shows like these? Shows that give away money like water.

They’ve come back for a second season. You know why?

The producers, after reviewing the first season, said to themselves, “Hey! These contestants are really stupid! They make ridiculous gestures with their hands,. They throw away money given to them to gamble for a bigger value, and they usually lose. They’ve obviously not heard the phrase ‘quit while you’re ahead’. They have dumber relatives to push them to gamble the money and lose BIG! It’s great! No wonder we still have so much money to give away. Let’s roll in the second season for more dumbasses to play in!”

tv premiere

And what’s with Channel 5 labelling every single movie TV PREMIERE!? Like it’s some kind of big hit blockbuster movie released a few months ago. But in fact, most movies featured are extremely old already. I’m talking 2 years or more old. And what’s worse is that they have the cheek to label screwed up B grade movies with the TV premiere bullshit. Yeah, I’m talking about lame ass titles like : Crocodiles!, or Air Panic!, or Spiders!

Movies like these consist of bad acting from bad actors and are a waste of what little money spent making them.

The only reason they are ‘premiering on TV’ is because they couldn’t make it to theaters, or even home videos. And here we have good old channel 5 announcing with such gusto, “TV premiere!”.

Pathetic.

b-grade movies

As mentioned earlier, B grade movies now litter the prime time of Channel 5. And I’ve noticed, Monday Night Movie is also known as Lame Ass Movie Night.

Shit-filled movies, sometimes with the false pretense of “TV Premiere!”, will crawl their way into prime time channel 5, every Monday night. Sometimes they appear on Saturday nights.

Well, I could understand if they come on Saturday nights. Coz’ that’s the time where people are ‘expected’ to go out and have fun. But to have it on Mondays!? That’s the time where people experience ‘Monday Blues’ and wanna go home to watch some good TV to take their mind off the shitty work/life they’re having. At least, typically, that’s what happens on Monday nights. But then they get treated to a bucket full of shit splattered all over their TV screen.

80’s series/sitcoms

I have irregular school hours and as such, I sometimes find myself tuning in to watch TV at odd day times like say… 10 am. Last time, they had lifestyle shows, food programs, travel programs lined up at those day time slots. Good day time TV. But now, all of a sudden, I found myself watching extremely lame 80s series.

If the series was a popular one, I don’t mind. Coz then it’ll bring back memories of good ol’ 80s. But these shows, I’ve never heard of. And the lame screwed up opening intro montages make me wanna puke.

Well, except one. I watched a comedy when I was little. It’s called Perfect Strangers. It was pretty funny back then. But now, I find it extremely lame. I don’t mind it that much, coz I remembered liking it.

I realised that Singapore comedy is still stuck at that lame level. They gotta break out of that shell man…

local comedy

Ah yes… Local comedy. Usually they take up prime time too. With the exception of Maggie and Me (Fiona Xie… hmmmmm), other local comedies just plain suck.

They just don’t not make me laugh. They really pissed me off. Just how lame can people get!?

I thought new shows like Noose and 80s Rewind would breathe new life to local sitcoms/comedy, but sadly, it’s just more lame stew.

Like I said before, Singapore comedy was stuck at the lame 80s standard. I used to laugh at Gurmit’s World, or Phua Chu Kang and even Under One Roof when they first came out in the 90s. It was funny back then, and fresh too. But over the years, they just didn’t get better.

With excruciatingly funny comedies coming from the rest of the world, local shows just don’t seem too interested to compete for viewership.

With stuff like these, taking a break by watching TV had become an eye sore.

The Starcraft Ghost game intro movie.

This is a video of the gameplay. Anyone noticed how the voiceover is extremely familiar? Optimusly familiar?

I’ve been out of the gaming loop for a long time. But one game I truly loved was Starcraft. Played it in my secondary school days. Tasted the first online multiplayer gaming with the game. Loved the storyline, concept and everything to do with it. Then Blizzard decided to do Diablo II and Warcraft III, which was… okay, I guess. The thing is, they’ve already announced Ghost way before Warcraft III. They’ve even got all these trailers, videos and teasers. But where the hell is the game!!!

Warcraft III was released, and I find it a little disappointing. Then they went on to do World of Warcraft, which got me interested till I found out that you’ve gotta pay and all just to play it.

But where’s Starcraft GHOST!?

Then they said they’ll return to the Starcraft universe, with Starcraft II. Yeah, it’s sure as hell been anticipated for a long time. But where’s Ghost? That’s a damn good idea for a game, which never got released.

The most recent movie I watched was Bee movie, a couple of nights ago. I never thought I’d go see this movie, but it turned out to be delightfully pleasant.

I wanted to watch Stardust actually, but the ‘animators’ persisted on watching the Bee movie.

It’s about how a single bee caused the entire upset of nature’s balance by placing a lawsuit against the humans for illegal harvesting of honey.

One thing I like about the movie is the familiarity of the voices. I could actually identify a few of them before the credits roll.

• Jerry Seinfeld plays Barry the Bee.
• The guy who voiced Joe Swanson (the cripple from Family Guy) plays the eccentric boyfriend.
• John Goodman plays the lawyer.
• Chris Rock plays the mosquito.

The jokes were very Seinfeld-ish. I loved Seinfeld. Therefore, the jokes, even though its translated to animation, told by a bee, is still funny.

I’d give the movie 7/10. It’s okay lah… Watch it for a marvel at how animation had progressed and Seinfeld’s little antics.

I’ve gone MAD!

The long awaited Day of the Black Sun episodes had come! I can’t keep it in anymore… I’m gonna write some stuff… They’re not exactly spoilers… more like, teasers.

We all knew this day would come. I mean, if you’ve been following this super awesome show that is… Somewhere in mid of season 2, when they discovered the ‘darkest day’ in Fire Nation history… at the library guarded by that freaky huge black towering owl, when Appa was stolen… you knew this day would come.
But this day, the invasion, has been looming and anticipated from mid season 2 all the way till now. And it’s finally happening!

I’ve got some screenshots which will leak nothing whatsoever to spoil the story for you.

Aang, the avatar… he’s blamed himself a lot since the fall of Earth Kingdom Capital. That, in addition to the guilt of leaving the air temple early, causing the world to fall into war without the avatar. He carries too much burden for his young age, but then again, a lot of heroes do. Now, he’s got hair too

Sakka’s been accepted by his tribe as a warrior. He wears the cool wolf head thing. Just like every other water tribe fighter. A lot of cool moves from him too.

ooh! Lighting… A different kind too! It’s not Azula shooting… but who?! Heheh.

Azula, evil princess.

Prince Zuko, major plot twist revolving around this confused prince.

The duo-episode is freakin’ awesome. It’s full of action and yet it leaves you asking for more. Now I’ve gotta wait for the next episode.

Heard rumours about Avatar not gonna be continued into Season 4, because of Spongebob Squarepants. I don’t know what’s the relation. But I’d take Avatar any day over Spongebob. Dammit.

It’s been going around for quite some time hasn’t it?

We’ve all heard about it in some way. All the news about how some of our favourite shows are being put on hold, or even risk cancellation, because of the writers not wanting to work.

But before you get pissed at these writers for being selfish, and not bringing you the goodness of shows such as Prison Break, Heroes, 24 and many others which are affected by their strike, take a look at this video, which explains why they do it.

After watching it, I would probably join them if I was a writer.

Fire.

Avatar is an animated series with a really cool concept. It’s one of the best animated series coming from the west. It’s on par with many of the anime, which so many people are crazy about nowadays. In fact, I think it’s way better than a lot of anime series.

Fire is the third book of Avatar: The Legend of Aang. I’ve followed his journeys since he was a bald little kid with a huge burden on his shoulders. He learnt water bending and earth bending through the first two seasons. And slowly, episode by episode, a great epic was revealed.

I’ve been putting off watching the show coz I really wanted to get all the episodes down so that I can watch it at one go. But releases have been really slow in the US, and thus, we’re unable to obtain it sooner.

I’ve got up till episode 9 so far, and one night, I just can’t hold it anymore.

I loaded up the last episode of season 2 for a recap, and continued with season 3. All 9 episodes in one sitting.

It’s too… bloody… good.

No spoilers here, although I really wanna talk about it.

Avatar is an epic. Watch it, however you can.

Image from deviantart:~arriku

My guitar’s been collecting dust for over a few months now. The last jam with Meatz & Loba2 was way before fasting month.

But on Deepavali, we met up for a really blast-to-the-max, release-the-fury, extreme 3 hr jam session!
It was awesome, I couldn’t remember when was the last time I cranked up the amps & effects to that level of loudness. My ears weren’t ringing at the end of it, but hell, it was loud while it lasted.

Then, Meatz lent me his Zoom 707ii multi-efx for trials before I decide to buy it. Yeah, I’ve been thinking of buying some sort of distortion/metalzone/overdrive effect pedal for a very long time. I’m probably gonna get this.

Anyways, the gadget was bloody awesome! I didn’t really get a chance to play with it at the sessions, and the only time I really explored its functions and sounds was when I got home to play with it. And all I can say is… it’s renewed my love for the guitar. It was the same feeling when I first bought my ‘Fina’ accoustic, and the same feeling when I bought the ‘Orient’ electric guitar & ‘Marshall’ amp. Because, those were the times when my passion for the instrument was renewed.

I played & played till my fingers hurt, and I kept thinking about it all the way through class just now, and I came home and played some more till the batteries went dead. Gotta get new batts tomorrow.

Well, that’s the musical side of me.

At school, the first assignment of Comp Gfx had been released. We’re supposed to build a kitchen… from scratch! A full, 3 dimensional, fully lighted, shaded, rendered, textured kitchen that’s navigable.

Honestly, I think it’s a huge leap from what we’ve been doing with OpenGL, but it seems really interesting. It’s really a wonder how you can do something really well when it’s something you like doing, even though it’s hard.

I have a good feeling about this semester. I hope it continues throughout.

 Oh oh oh! And I finally caught up with Avatar! I’ll write a whole post on that later.

A note-worthy movie coming out next year, among all the superhero blockbusters, is one called Valkyrie. It’s about a group of German generals plotting to overthrow Hitler (or kill him?) at the height of Germany’s success in its world war 2 campaign. Watch the trailer here. It looks pretty cool. Stars Tom Cruise, and directed by Bryan Singer.

I wonder why they all don’t speak with German accent though? yar? Achtung.

There’s a movie called One Missed Call coming soon. I couldn’t help but find this poster disturbingly eerie. Stare at it long enough and you can see what the face is trying to tell you. Won’t spoil it for you here. Stare at it. Stare. Watch its trailer here.

And who can forget the very cool movie, Donnie Darko. This is the talking bunny who is so deliciously mysterious… and yes, disturbing. The head is actually the guy in the suit, if you’d seen the movie, you’ll know what’s going on.