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Friday, September 30, 2005
think 比克, 塞鲁, 布巫...
imagine if your hand kenna cut off, then you start growing a new hand out.. hehe.. like the above 3 characters from dragonball...
sounds cool hor? sigh.. but only in comics and fiction...
however news regarding mighty mice is kinda exciting... genetically altered mice could grow back tails, regenerate damaged heart, eyes etc. quickly by itself!... what's more when cells of these mice were injected to other normal mice, they inherit this regenerative powers as well. offsprings also inherit such 'superpowers'..
what's exciting is that if this is possible in mice, it may also be possible in human... hmmm...
While some amphibians can regrow body parts, mammals for the most part do not have that ability, making this a very special mouse indeed. If the results can be translated to humans, it would be a dream come true for people who want to live forever.
read this interesting article here...
posted by winz at 5:02 PM
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yummy...
singaporean who are abroad for some time is bound to miss one singapore food or another... and of cos, most of u guys know that i am crazy over chicken/duck rice... hehe...
so when sanz came over to japan, she brought over some yummy treats like chicken rice (hainanese and soya sauce), laksa, curry chicken rice, mee pok tah, bee hoon teng, etc.
wahhh... how to bring all these and sit on plane? simple... they were all instant food.
ok guess you guys in singapore, after being exposed to this for so long, shouldnt be surprised liao.. but for ppl like me... damn excited after hearing about such "new advancements" in instant food can? and to finally taste it.. wow... ambrosia!
the first one that i tried, back in august, was this...
dunno what brand... but soya sauce chicken rice..
although i heard many positive feedbacks regarding the quality of these instant fixes, still didnt expect them to be any much good...
anyways... shall continue..
after ripping off the packing, these are whats in the inside...
portions looked kinda small, but got chilli!! steady.
the instructions on preparing the chilli was to soak either in hot water for 1 min, or in warm water for 3... but i didnt brink any recepticle, and lazy to walk back to my room, so i just heated it up like this...
under flowing hot water... anyway water's free ;p
yup left it there like that for the 4-5 minutes that i let the chicken rice undergo in the microwave... ;p
the foil was susposed to pop up but cant see clearly...
anyway while microwaving, can already smell the nice aroma of chicken rice... slurrrpp...
afterwhich, its just peel-and-ready-to-serve.
tadah...
(pls focus on the dish on not my messy table... ;p)
it smelled good, looked good, the only gribe was still the portion size...
i took the first scoop and.... it was great!! almost like the real thing! the chicken is tender, the sauce is good, the rice, well a little grainy, the chilli is nice too!
rice a little grainy but still nice taste.
chicken was surprisingly tender and juicy... almost fooled by it - thot it was fresh chicken!
amazingly, can keep this instant fix for almost 1 year in freezer... wow... i am impressed...
i give this soya sauce chicken a 7/10... might have been higher if not for the measly helping... ;p it's really great!
on another ocassion, i tried the dodo fishball mee pok tah... i think this should be more popular among singaporeans bah...
dodo mee pok tah...
like the chicken rice... it tasted great! but the fishball texture can be improved upon... no need to drive down for midnite mee poks at coffeeshops any longer!
posted by winz at 4:16 PM
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Thursday, September 29, 2005
welcome piggy!
hehe... now i have another pet! the pig is soooo cute that i just have to adopt it!!.. hehe... (who says i can't have more than 1?? fafa)
you can make him roll in the mud, and you can spray him clean, and you can even feed him with an apple!! hehe.. why can't i do likewise with my guinny?
posted by winz at 12:50 PM
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ishihara quote..
"the worst thing a civilization has produced is an old hag... it's a waste, and almost a crime, for women to go on living even after losing their reproductive ability."
this is what a college professor (unnamed) said, and ishihara, the tokyo governor, in turn quoted.
well.... 131 women got together to sue him for sexism.. but failed... Judge Yoshinori Ishikawa said that while the remarks must have sounded unpleasant to the women, they did not "violate their rights to pursue happiness and live equally."
hmmm....
anyway they are submitting their appeal to the Supreme Court.
full story here.
posted by winz at 10:12 AM
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strange
read from some blog (was it gizmodo? cant remember) that some reader pointed out that if we use google image search to search for "ipod nano", there won't be any correct results.
i've tried it, and it's true... so weird.. hehe.. and i thought google image search very all-encompassing... i tried the same at yahoo image search, and it's alright over there... hmmm....
anybody knows why?
posted by winz at 10:01 AM
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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
無理だ
as i was just flipping through a few pages of japanese notes that i have to digest to prepare for my test in dec, i came across this example phrase...
急いだところで、今からでは無理だ。
even though you hurry, you cannot make it from now...
and the next phrase?
今から勉強したところで、明日のテストに間に合わない。
even though you study from now on, it is too late for tomorrow's test...
egad!... what an ominous sign... with that, i closed the binded notes, and stuffed it into my bag...
i am so going to fail.. sigh...
posted by winz at 4:58 PM
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happy birthday...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WINTER!!
may all your wishes come true... and stay cute and pretty always! ;)
posted by winz at 10:15 AM
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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
penguin...
everyone who knows me long enough knows that one of my nickname is called penguin... why? cos i am shaped like one, and i walk like one... hmm... ok lah.. i dun mind.. cos penguins are cute ;)
anyway thanks to serendipity, i now own a blog pet.. hehe.. cant fit her inside the sidebar so she'll do at the bottom of the page... fafa
cute hor?
anyway, take this chance to wish google a happy 7th birthday!
posted by winz at 9:44 PM
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初体验
first of all, i think if i not wrong, in chinese, "初体验" just means trying/doing something for the first time. correct or not? if wrong tell me leh...
but anyways, beware of using it to the japanese. because last time i searched for its meaning, i got this as a result...
初体験 [しょたいけん] - first sexual experience.
yeah... hehe... japanese 101.
anyway of course by putting this in my header, i am not referring to any sexual experience whatsoever...
yesternite, it was my first time (hence the title) watching a japanese movie, in a japanese cinema, without any subtitles whatsoever.
...
...
...
yeah the movie went something like that.. fafa.. almost everything a blur of words...
the movie so honoured to become my first was "Nana".
credit to Mika Nakashima of course, my current favorite singer (but definitely not my fav actress). from reports and reviews i have heard the Jay Chou was bad at acting in Initial D. I think if there's going to be anyone challenging for acting awards with Jay, it will be Mika.. hehe... jialat.
but the story is pretty easy to understand, even though the speech most of the time we (fangyi, calvin and me) catch no ball...
but the songs are real nice... and obviously Mika shone during the performance scenes. i think the most powerful moment for me is when she stood on top of the table and sang into the mobile phone - brought out some goosebumps.
but acting wise, she was definitely overshadowed by co-star, Miyazaki Aoi. Aoi was really sweet (sometimes too sweet) and a great actress... you cant help feeling sorry for her... kudos of course to the mangaka (comic artist) who penned an interesting enough story about 2 gals with similar age, name, goal, interests, yet different in many aspects, becoming best of frens, supporting each other. definitely for the gals. that being said, i enjoyed the movie pretty much too...
song wise, a tad too little for my liking.. they should have them sing more or something. Mika's main theme, Glamorous Sky, is real nice... but at some pt being threatened by Endless Story (REIRA starring YUNA ITO) to be my fav. but maybe to be fair, i think i prefer the Endless Story bah... you can try listening to it here or *ahem*download*ahem* before baidu gets sued and the end... hehe... even the song by Aoi is great.
but Mika... poor Mika... she really need to put on more weight! she's really awfully thin.. gosh..
anyway, wont divulge anymore of the story any further, in case you ppl in singapore may wanna catch it... ;)
posted by winz at 10:15 AM
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Monday, September 26, 2005
aichi banpaku visited...
ok lah.. since i mentioned about the expo earlier this morning, i will first cover this photo blog... fafa... omataseshimashitane...
but first of all, let me list out the pavilions that i have visited... (in order)
1. japan electric pavilion
2. singapore pavilion
3. dream pavilion
4. mitsubishi pavilion
5. spain pavilion
6. toyota pavilion
the highlight of the event is undoubtedly the toyota pavilion, where we had to queue for 2-3 hours for the 20 mins show. not too bad lah, considered i queued 3h 15mins for a spiderman ride in Universal Studios (Japan) before.. fafa.
also some of the pavilions i visited, nothing much interesting, so i didnt feature any photos here... hehe... and toyota pav, no photos allowed. so dun be sian diao to see that most photos are of the singapore pavilion ok? hehe...
here we go...
we first reached the expo at ard 830 am... obviously being 30 mins early isnt good enough, as we are already behind these bunch of ppl in the line...
yeah.. ppl so many until cant even see the entrance...
that's our first queue of the day - to get in.
we charged for the toyota and hitachi pavilions, but by the time we got there, they already closed for the day (ie. filled with reservations liao), and will be opened only after 5. hence we trudged along to the one with fewer ppl (but still need to queue 45 mins) - the japan electric...
which wasnt really interesting. next.
by that time, it was already late morning, and time for a quick pavilion followed by lunch.
SEA corner... tadah! singapore pavilion just at the corner.
(hmm... i wonder how much singapore paid to get the prime location - first pavilion ppl will pass by in this region)
anyway, being singaporeans, we went to visit our homeland, not so much to look at the hoo-ha surrounding their 'moment of genius' - the rain simulator, rather for the food... hehe.. yummy singaporean food...
and being singaporean, quite proud that the queue for our pavilion is longer than most, if not all, in this region ;)
at the entrance, all visitors are handed an umbrella each. cos we all were to watch a clip of singapore in the rain.. yes the rain simulator..
good idea? well the locals like it.
well at least since the outside was hot, the rain was sort of like a welcome change.
afterwhich, was a stretch displaying singapore's local artwork... wah super arty farty man... they portraying singapore to be some art hub, but sadly i dun think she really is... not yet anyways.
then we went past 2 walls of chinese medicinal herbs...
yup, those are drawers containing all the chinese herbs.
hmmm... again, common in singapore? representative of singapore? maybe ;)
then theres this...
opera costumes and indian costumes and what have yous....
so far, there isnt much message in saving the planet. more like scalping the plants for herbs... haha.. but in the next room, finally theres an exhibit using NEWater bottles to form a .. what was it? light? chandeliar? lantern? i cant remember... and again more arty stuff...
and we reached this part...
selling singapore memorabilias... at the right, you can see SIA uniforms being sold.. hehe...
we even posed with the Merlion... something i havent done since i was a little kid.. hehe...
calvin, james, jianrong, me, tshush, august, all stand in awe of japan's fav singapore statue.
hey we singaporeans dun think much of the Merlion, but mark my words, do yourself a favour and learn the legend behind it. cos for many of the foreigners i have met so far (esp the japanese), the one thing they know about singapore is the merlion. and when you tell them about the story behind it, they will be definitely delighted. ;) worked with the japanese gals i've met so far... hahaha
anyway we came to the most exciting part of our expo trip - LUNCH.
heheh they sold things like chicken rice, curry chicken rice, hokkien mee, carrot cake, popiah, curry puff, etc.
yup 600 yen for a can of tiger beer from singapore. the gal at the counter is air flown from singapore too, in case you are wondering.. hehe.
i spent 1500 yen (23 dollars) on a curry chicken rice... not chicken rice, as i can get that in tokyo. by singapore standards, i think it is ok.. but since it is a rarity here, i was totally satisfied, begging for more!!
curry chicken rice
laksa
hokkien mee
the laksa was not bad too, but tsu tsen was suay as he ordered a sub-standard hokkien mee. he was so pek chek that he ordered a curry chicken rice (1500yen) and ice kachang (600yen) as 2nd round. all in all, he spent a whoppng 3600 yen (55 SGD) just for the hokkien mee, curry chicken, and ice kachang... ex-AC boy, so no probs lah... fafa
we were talking ard the table until a voice behind me said..
"oi... where are you guys from?"
we turned and saw a lady in her early 30s.
"singapore lor, where else?" was my reply. our accent, and singlish kinda hard to ignore.
we started chatting with her and found out that she was the owner of the food stall. she asked us how the food was, and i told her frankly that the curry was quite good, but sadly the hokkien was dismal. she was like "why did you order hokkien mee??? aiyoh.. if i was here, even if you all wanna buy, i also dun wanna sell to you"
she explained that since the taste of hokkien mee is derived largely due to the pork lard, the stall being halal (to serve muslim singapore ministers, and other SEA neighbours), they couldnt replicate the taste. it was good enough for the locals, but she told us to avoid at all costs.. but too bad. i then asked her, got discount or not?
"discount cannot lah, but what i can do is to give you guys some stuff FOC" she replied.
she immediately ordered some set, with curry puff, popiah, and carrot cake.
steady!
they were yummy, not only because they were free, but quite authentic. she definitely knows her stuff... she asked whether we tried the chicken rice, and we said no. she said it was a must try - her pride and joy. so again, she signalled her kah kiahs to bring up a plate for us to try, free of course.
and my gosh - it was really really good! even by singapore's standards! she explained that for hainan chicken to taste like that, cannot use frozen chicken meat, but must use live meat. she mentioned that the whole of japan, only nagoya can find live chicken, hence the good quality...
we sang the praise so much, she offered another plate to us. waving the 2nd plate in front of me was a temptation too much to refuse, but i was thwarted by my frens.. hehe... we kindly declined saying that we needed to continue our tour. she returned the plate to her boy at the counter and told him "the curry chicken also no need liao, tell them dun bring up"...
we are some lucky singaporeans. hehe..
anyway, as i said that was the highlight of the day. the 2nd highlight was the toyota, but i think i prefer my chicken rice.. hehe...
we went to the dream pavilion, and saw some rather bizarre video clip abt humans tranforming into dogs... dunno what was that. after which, we went to the spain pavilion..
spain pavilion
how could we photo-crazy singaporeans miss this photo-taking chance? hehe...
along the way we took some photos as well... didnt have time to go in for more...
romania pavilion.
forgot what pavilion this was.. hehe..
the dutch pavilion.
photo with the mascots... hehe..
we took a cable car to get back to the toyota pavilion for 600 yen. before we boarded the cable car, i saw this...
having a toddler on a leash.
steady.
view from the cable car.
we reached the pavilion, queued up for close to 3 hours, watched the very interesting 20 min robot show, and got out. in the robot show, there were 2 segments. 1st segment you can see toyota robots playing musical (brass) instruments. yes, they actually blow and play them. it was kinda cool. the 2nd segment was even cooler - you see the new age vehicles - concept of toyota. real real cool. if only they start selling these things sooner. as i said, too bad no photos. but i do have a videoclip of this show (condensed version), maybe i will upload it somewhere. drop me a mail or comment if you are interested to see it.
by the time we got out, it was already dark...
anyway, though we couldnt take photos of the show, we were able to take photos of the cool car as they were exhibited outside.
car in a seating position.
car in a speeding position.
nice hor?
another nice car concept exhibited, but not featured in the show.
it was late, and we were all tired from the whole day of queuing... hence we decided to call it a day after that (not that we have any other choices - we tried toshiba and hitachi, but they were closed liao).
before we left, we went to the expo shop to get ourselves some omiyages..
yes... a long queue to get into the shop.
seriously, the crowd was crazy man. i didnt even have space to keep my hands down inside the shop... seriously. after grabbing a few stuff, i left.
逃げた!
and that was my whole aichi experience. sigh. how "marvelous"...
posted by winz at 3:40 PM
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aichi world expo
finally the long running expo came into an end yesterday.... (and i have yet to post my photos of the trip there ;p)...
yesternite, there were lots of news on the said event, since it was the last day. the crown prince as well as the PM were all there for the (rather boring-looking, except for aya matsuura) closing ceremony.
it was crazy - the last day being, a lot of ppl wanted to be a part of it. japan, IMO, is a country who is number 1 in the world at queues. really. forget about the hello kitty queues in singapore, those are nothing. forget about the singapore idol queues, or the queues into mtv asia, etc. events. japan is da bomb.
watched on one news last nite, the nite before, at ard 1 am, there were already 2178 ppl in line for the expo. ok... that's not too surprising... when they interviewed a 50 over year old looking man how many times he'd been to the expo, he replied, smiling, "140."
140??? gosh that is crazy. 1 time is enough for me. yet he can go 140 times. amazing.
come morning, before the gate was opened at 8:10 (50 minutes earlier than usual), there were already about 35,000 ppl lining outside the north entrance. obviously when the gates were opened, everyone did sprints to their preferred choice of pavilions. it was kinda amusing to see tv journalists trying to interview ppl who are running... they were like asking which pavilions they were aiming to visit first, and the interviewees were all running and shouting back "hitachiiii......" voice trailing off as they were running... hehe...
after awhile, there were already signs outside pavilions posting waiting time in queues... 480 minutes!! ie. 8 hours! yup, that crazy.
the tv journalist followed a family of 4 around the pavilion. i guess they didnt come as early as the rest, since everywhere they went, they encounter a 終了 sign (ended). the poor family even met with a 4 hour queue in an attempt to have dinner in one of the restaurants. they finally settled for ready cooked, cold and yucky yakisoba. ended the day with 0 pavilions visited, yucky food, and 17,000 yen poorer. poor them.
that also being the last day, you could see some of the pavilions selling off their exhibits and their props (such as loudspeaker)... hehe...
in the end, a reported 22 million visitors have visited the expo in the entire duration. that's really a lot if you think about the number of visitors everyday... it's almost surely jam-packed everyday. i can't even think how the situation was back in 1970, when the world expo in Osaka boasted 70 million visitors!
anyway, whether it was good or bad, it has ended. next will be in Shanghai. i wonder how the chinese government will be able to crowd control, cos some chinese i have met like to cut queues and stuff (not saying the entire chinese population is like that, so dun flame me if you are chinese and offended). at least in japan, they have queue manners. well, we shall see.
posted by winz at 9:55 AM
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夜夜夜夜
想问天你在那里
我想问问我自己
一开始我聪明结束我聪明
聪明的几乎的毁掉了我自己
想问天问大地
或著是迷信问问宿命
放弃所有抛下所有
让我飘流在安静的夜夜空里
你也不必牵强再说爱我
反正我的灵魂已片片凋落
慢慢的拼凑慢慢的拼凑
拼凑成一个完全不属於真正的我
你也不必牵强再说爱我
反正我的灵魂已片片凋落
慢慢的拼凑慢慢的拼凑
拼凑成一个完全不属於真正的我
想问天问大地
或著是迷信问问宿命
放弃所有抛下所有
让我飘流在安静的夜夜空里
你也不必牵强再说爱我
反正我的灵魂已片片凋落
慢慢的拼凑慢慢的拼凑
拼凑成一个完全不属於真正的我
你也不必牵强再说爱我
反正我的灵魂已片片凋落
慢慢的拼凑慢慢的拼凑
拼凑成一个完全不属於真正的我
你也不必牵强再说爱我
反正我的灵魂已片片凋落
慢慢的拼凑慢慢的拼凑
拼凑成一个完全不属於真正的我
我不愿再放纵
我不愿每天每夜每秒飘流
也不愿再多问再多说再多求我的梦
我不愿再放纵
我不愿每天每夜每秒飘流
也不愿再多问再多说再多求
我的梦
歌手: 齐秦 词曲: 熊天平
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a great fren of mine for many years, fiona, was looking for the lyrics of this song... hence i posted up here so that she can find this easier ;)
posted by winz at 1:39 AM
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Thursday, September 22, 2005
future of P2P?
the name is Peerflix...
hmm.. wonder if it will really be safe from any infringements... if it is, this may be the next big thing in file sharing - literally disc sharing.
the concept is simple. you sign up for the service, and swap (ie. buy and sell) original DVDs, CDs, and stuff... (of cos, the obvious worry for the industries are that ppl will duplicate games, music CDs, videos, etc. before passing it on to be sold, but this is not encouraged by Peerflix of cos.. lol)
how do they stay out of the law's reach? the founder of this says that "...because the ownership on our network transfers with the trade, it's a fully legal environment." apparantly protected by the first-sale doctrine under the U.S. Copyright Act.
hmm.. the price is definitely much cheaper than any rental/2nd hand shops... and there will definitely be ppl duplicating copies before passing on, but they can't catch them, can they?
whatever it is, it is worth to wait-and-see for now...
read the article on this here.
posted by winz at 10:14 AM
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giant bunny..
if a pink bunny is as large as this, i can't decide if its still cute or if its scary... its like 200 feet long, found in italy... read about it here.
posted by winz at 10:12 AM
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real facts
after reading sixthseal's blog entry on snapple, decided to go snapple.com to check out some other fun facts.. hehe...
so here are some rather useless trivias that i have learnt...
it is possible to lead a cow up stairs, but not downstairs.
a female kangaroo is called a Flyer.
mosquitoes have 47 teeth.
the first human-made object to break the sound barrier was the whip.
you burn more calories sleeping then you do watching TV.
lizards communicate by doing push-ups.
the world's biggest pyramid is not in Egypt, but in Mexico.
an electric eel can release a charge powerful enough to start 50 cars.
there are more telephones than people in Washington DC.
i played the real facts game for awhile (until 20 caps actually - scoring 16/20), but didnt continue since there are like 200+ of such questions! truely for the bored and free.. hehe...
play the game here.
posted by winz at 9:58 AM
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Tuesday, September 20, 2005
firefox users beware!
Firefox users will have to recognize that the open-source browser is currently a greater security risk than Internet Explorer.
Researchers also found that over the past six months, nearly twice as many vulnerabilities surfaced in Mozilla browsers as in Explorer.
Twenty-five vulnerabilities were disclosed for Mozilla browsers, including Firefox, in the first half of the year, compared with 13 for Explorer, Symantec said. Eighteen of the Mozilla flaws were classified as high severity, compared with eight high-severity Explorer flaws.
from here.
particularly noteworthy cos me also using firefox sometimes... hmmm... seems like reverting to good old IE is a good option.. hehe.. better for me also.
posted by winz at 2:29 PM
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plain
one look at my blog, looks like it is in need of some photos... hehe.. havent been uploading any photos for some time liao...
been to a bbq with the jap bandmates, tokyo game show, sea paradise (revisited), plus all my backdated photos which i havent found time to upload yet... hehe got lots of them to share, but blame it on procrastination lah...
i'm sure some of you are interested in photos of babes from the tokyo game show... fafa... will probably do that one first, before novelty's lost (or maybe lost liao).
hehe... going to do some real work liao... so ttyl!
posted by winz at 10:12 AM
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Sunday, September 18, 2005
newcastle 3-0 blackburn!
hehe.. normally dun blog during weekends, but cant help but to do so today...
newcastle finally posted their first win!! good old shearer! always scoring!!
hehe and owen got his own goal after a good feint and cross by zogbia, who finally got the third - a personal second in as much games - by beating the off side trap and rounding the keeper!!
hehe... hopefully they can keep this up!!
howay the lads!
posted by winz at 11:55 PM
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Friday, September 16, 2005
baby it's cold outside...
yup, starting yesterday, finally outdoors is colder than indoors liao... hehe... cool air con temperature air....
how i wish such temperatures can last forever... alas... it's gonna get really cold soon!
posted by winz at 4:24 PM
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review: winning eleven 9
well i now have winning eleven 9 for both the ps2 AND the psp.. hehe...
the ps2 one, well, hehe... got it off bit torrent... so it was free ;p well i forked out 4700 yen for an original psp version of the game last nite when it was launched.
and have i ever saw a longer line for the cashier at yodobashi...
and it was cool to have both... i finally used the usb port of the ps2 for the first time, since i bought it many years ago... they sync and those players and names and emblems that i have created and edited, appeared edited in my handheld as well... damn cool...
i was pretty frustrated at the ps2 version actually, cos i guess in addition to the game's AI improving, the deproved the player controlled team's AI as well... let me explain.
for example, when the ball is crossed in by the opponent, since usually u will be controlling the man who is tackling the crosser, the team mates in the box who goes to position to mark the opposition will be controlled by the AI (lets call this 'frenly AI'). so when the crosser crosses the ball in, or through pass it in, the inside defender, controlled by frenly AI, should make a run for it to attempt to cut the cross/pass rite, before i assume control of it, rite? wrong. instead the frenly AI will make the player mysteriously run in the opposite direction letting the opponent free to stroke the ball into the goal. i cant do anything, since i do not have control over these frenly AI controlled players...
another example. mysteriously, all the player controlled players passing has gone much weaker. i think for 80% of the time, when you pass the ball, the ball will end up being passed to the opponent. everytime the ball ricochets when someone blocks, passes, the ball will mysteriously end up under the opponent's feet. the opponents through lob is super precision, while my through lob is always a lobbed pass to the goal keeper...
i wonder how all these are improvements to the game. c'mon konami, i am sure you guys are making the game more difficult so that ppl like me wont win 6-stars game in WE8 by 13-0 scorelines... (heheh i do have boasting rights after posting such wins right?).. but seriously i think being realistic is a greater key. when a player like kaka faces an open goal, 4 yards out, rounded the keeper, the shoot key pressed at half-strength, you dun have the goal hit the bar. when the professional players pass the ball, you dun have them passing the ball to the opposition 80% of the time in real-life...
it was super frustrating at first, me working hard to score 1 or 2 goals per game (5-star... no 6-star dunno why), only for the defenders to commit the above bizarre actions to concede a few soft goals, and in the end, tie or lose the game...
but i have to say, i am getting more used to it now... the 3rd season, i am unbeaten going into my 7th game. so maybe the player can do something to avert such situations after all... dunno, but will conquer this game in due time...
for the psp version, i was rather disappointed at a few aspects. first, no commentary. c'mon, even the ps1 versions have commentaries! and psp should be way better than that! secondly, no master league - meaning i cant buy/sell players... so i will have to get stuck with the same players forever? this one i am not too sure yet, since i only fiddled ard with it for awhile last nite.. 3rd, uniforms cant be edited. so now i am stuck with my newcastle team wearing ugly, unauthentic uniforms... sigh... gameplay wise, its quite tight. graphics are excellent too.
main thing is the master league lah. well why cant they reduce the teams available, have 1 master league just like the ps1 days, where u can still buy players and all? instead of the current many teams, but no buy/sell. by not renderring such good graphics, maybe they may have space for commentaries as well.. i dunno thats just me....
but with all these faults, i am still happy to own these 2 games lah... i'm hooked to them eversince i played WE4 during my ps days... so conquer them i will...
...someday.
posted by winz at 10:14 AM
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review: charlie and the choc factory
this movie got 2 thumbs up from me... hehe... actually initially i wondered how good this show could be, since the trailers dun really look fantastic.. cheesy actually...
but hey i was surprised, and it turned out to be one of the better shows i have watched in many recent months... the oompa loompas were absolutely cute and hilarious, and i must say charlie, forgot his name, did much better here than during neverland (where he also costarred with depp).
depp looked so cute as well.. hehe... his blank expression at times reminded me of edward scissorhands... the plot was, well, like the book, good for children with morals behind it of course.
although the setting and the graphics didnt blow me away, but the oompa loompas and willy wonka himself sure did! they were absolutely hilarious!
hehe... reminded me of my sec sch days when some ppl nicknamed me willy wonka... winston => willy, and wong => wonka... haha... think it was this guy called tee toon especially... well i called him tiny toon, so it worked out.. heheh..
after the movie we overheard 1 ang moh lady with 2 japanese frens talking while exiting the ladies...
Angmoh: "Hey, didnt you think the movie was funny?" (in the usual high-pitched american accent)
Jap1: "yes..."
Jap2: "yeah..."
Angmoh: "... then why aren't you ppl laughing at all? I felt like an idiot being the only one laughing out loud!"
at this point, i raised my hand, waving half-frantically, saying "i did! i did!"
but i guess she didnt hear/ see me... hehe
i dunno how the conversation continued, cos they went out of ear's reach.. but for sure it was the first time the angmoh watched a movie here in japan... well i was like her when i watched incredibles long long time ago... felt like an idiot laughing out loud when the whole cinema was hushed... it's either the japs dun get/enjoy the jokes/humor or they find it too impolite to laugh out loud...
i wonder...
posted by winz at 9:59 AM
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i wonder...
is it alrite to hire a hitman to... well... kill someone, and when the hitman didnt do the job, lodge a report to the police?
well it sounds kinda dumb to me, but amazingly, its in the news today...
this lady wanted to kill her lover's wife, so she hired a hitman and paid him 15 million yen to do so... but the hitman didnt do the job... the wife survived and even have a baby now. this lady then went to the police to complain that she paid for someone to be killed but the hitman didnt do so...
weird... then again, its japan lah.. haha..
read about it here.
posted by winz at 9:54 AM
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Thursday, September 15, 2005
September 15th...
ok a little frustrated at work cos of my project, so thought i'd take a break for awhile...
so today is September 15th... what a normal day... besides being the day that Flemming discovered Penicillin strain, the start of the first Sino-Japan War (Battle of Ping Yang), or being the late Agatha Chrisitie's, Tommy Lee Jones's, Oliver Stone's, Prince Harry's birthday... nothing much liao hor?
wrong.
today is a big day cos today is the day when i can finally lay my hands on Winning Eleven 9 for PSP... fafa... now i can play my favorite soccer game wherever i go liao... hehe...!!!
posted by winz at 4:27 PM
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Sharon Au is Coming
The bubbly girl, whom I vividly remember as the screaming emcee during the recent NDP, is leaving for Tokyo's Keio University for 4 years.
Who would have guessed she is such a bright student? Well, all the best, Sharon, you are the first Singapore female celebrity that I recognise by the name (I have bad celebrity IQ)...
words taken from a fren of mine, razlan's blog.
well she used to be from hwa chong, so i guess that is an indication of her intelligence (not that i am suggesting that all hwa chong ppl are smart or the converse).
anyway the important pt is, will i get to meet her here? keio university very near leh... hehe...
posted by winz at 2:20 PM
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PSP high-end cases
these are PSP cases that my sister will buy if she owns a PSP... thankfully she doesnt... hehe...
Peter-Som
Fendi
Anna-Sui
There are more of course, but i only pirated these 3 pics from the blog here... go here to view the rest in line.
posted by winz at 11:21 AM
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Jenny and Chern Yi...
this post is dedicated to the soon-to-be man-and-wife, Chern Yi and Jenny...
Knew both of them during my NTUSB days... Jenny was (still is) a fantastic tuba player, and Chern Yi was (still is?? hehe) a fantastic photographer ;p no lah.. he's a real nice guy... went to WMC (in holland) with the band (ok actually with his gf) back in 2001. so he sortof became a 零时 photographer for all of us while we were practising/ performing.. hehe..
They are both a warm and extremely frenly couple... those kind you see and get goosebumps hehe... and its good that they are going to take their relationship a step further after 4 years of being together....
Congrats, both of you... may you 2 live happily ever after...
for those who know them, visit their wedding homepage for news, infos, and photos, and remember to sign their guestbook... for those who dun, well do send them your well wishes as well ;p
last thing to add... Jenny, your wedding page is great!
posted by winz at 10:19 AM
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how much would you pay for a 1988 Porsche 944?
well guess what? firstly, the owner of the Porsche cant afford to pay for the taxes. well ok, maybe he was well off when he bought it, but now became poor.
then, the hokkaido prefectural government seized the car cos taxes not paid. they auctioned the car via the internet... (previous practice was to hold live auctions)..
guess what?
this bloke won the bid for 230,000 yen. well that is like less than S$3,500!!!! wah... even i can afford it!! old nonetheless.. Porsche leh..
hmm.. wondering if there are any such future auctions.. hiak hiak...
side note: another car auctioned off at the same time was a japanese car (1997, model not mentioned)... it fetched 180,000 yen (S$2720)...
from here.
posted by winz at 9:22 AM
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005
more on nano... durability and all...
ipod is simply quite amazing... how many of you think that you can drop your mp3 players from a 50 mph moving car and they still function? well ipod nano can...
check this website out, where some byoutekina ppl subject their nano to various crazy tests, to see the durability, such as dropping from 9 feet, dropping from moving car, sitting on it, running it over with a car, etc. amazingly, it is pretty tough...
and check their subsequent post, where they dissected their finally spoilt nano.. well this time this is in english, so you can def understand.. hehe...
amazing... nano anyone?
posted by winz at 10:11 AM
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Tuesday, September 13, 2005
FF7:AC
stands for Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children...
hmmm...
fact 1.
even though i am a gaming fan and a big fan of FF, and also staying in Japan, i didnt know that the exact launch date was yesterday.. LoL... hehe yeah.. there are sooo many publicities for this.. but somehow just slipped my mind...
fact 2.
according to kotaku.com, it says here that the *ahem*pirated copy*cough cough* of the movie was leaked into internet via bittorrent 1 day before launch! well... that's fast... ok gotta keep up.. fafa...
update:
okok... i was kinda conned by kotaku this time.. fafa... well according to all stores in japan, where i am now, the release date is today, 14 Sept, instead of 2 days ago, as stated by kotaku... anyways... james is going to buy, so maybe i will have a review posting soon.. hehe
posted by winz at 11:13 AM
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profession jokes...
hehe... there are jokes relating to lots of profession at engineer.. well sort of.. so thought i'll post some funny ones here as well (IMO)... (and i have to admit that some are kinda true.. hehe)
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During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, NASA decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules.
After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of $1 million. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.
The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil.
---==---
The great mathematician John Von Neumann was consulted by a group who was building a rocket ship to send into outer space. When he saw the incomplete structure, he asked, "Where did you get the plans for this ship?"
He was told, "We have our own staff of engineers."
He disdainfully replied: "Engineers! Why, I have complete sewn up the whole mathematical theory of rocketry. See my paper of 1952."
Well, the group consulted the 1952 paper, completely scrapped their 10 million dollar structure, and rebuilt the rocket exactly according to Von Neumann's plans. The minute they launched it, the entire structure blew up. They angrily called Von Neumann back and said: "We followed your instructions to the letter. Yet when we started it, it blew up! Why?"
Von Neumann replied, "Ah, yes; that is technically known as the blow-up problem - I treated that in my paper of 1954."
---==---
Three freshman engineering students were sitting around talking between classes, when one brought up the question of who designed the human body.
One of the students insisted that the human body must have been designed by an electrical engineer because of the perfection of the nerves and synapses.
Another disagreed, and exclaimed that it had to have been a mechanical engineer who designed the human body. The system of levers and pullies is ingeniuos.
"No," the third student said "your both wrong. The human body was designed by an architect. Who else but an architect would have put a toxic waste line through a recreation area?"
---==---
Top Ten Things Engineering School didn't Teach You
1. There are at least 10 types of capacitors.
2. Theory tells you how a circuit works, not why it does not work.
3. Not everything works according to the specs in the databook.
4. Anything practical you learn will be obsolete before you use it, except the complex math, which you will never use.
5. Engineering is like having an 8 a.m. class and a late afternoon lab every day for the rest of your life.
6. Overtime pay? What overtime pay?
7. Managers, not engineers, rule the world.
8. Always try to fix the hardware with software.
9. If you like junk food, caffeine and all-nighters, go into software.
10. Dilbert is not a comic strip, it's a documentary.
---==---
After Receiving an Invitation to an Inventors' Ball:
Edison thought it would be an illuminating experience.
Watt reckoned it would be a good way to let off steam.
Stephenson thought the whole idea was loco.
Wilbur Wright accepted, provided he and Orville could get a flight.
Morse's reply: "I'll be there on the dot. Can't stop now must dash."
---==---
Real Engineers consider themselves well dressed if their socks match.
Real Engineers buy their spouses a set of matched screwdrivers for their birthday.
Real engineers have a non-technical vocabulary of 800 words.
Real Engineers repair their own cameras, telephones, televisions, watches, and automatic transmissions.
Real Engineers say "It's 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 25 degrees Celsius, and 298 Kelvin" and all you say is "Isn't it a nice day?"
Real Engineers wear badges so they don't forget who they are. Sometimes a note is attached saying "Don't offer me a ride today. I drove my own car".
Real Engineers' politics run towards acquiring a parking space with their name on it and an office with a window.
Real Engineers know the "ABC's of Infrared" from A to B.
Real Engineers know how to take the cover off of their computer, and are not afraid to do it.
Real Engineers' briefcases contain a Phillips screwdriver, a copy of "Quantum Physics", and a half of a peanut butter sandwich.
Real Engineers don't find the above at all funny.
---==---
The Dictionary: what engineers say and what they mean by it
Major Technological Breakthrough
Back to the drawing board.
Developed after years of intensive research
It was discovered by accident.
The designs are well within allowable limits
We just made it, stretching a point or two.
Test results were extremely gratifying
It works, and are we surprised!
Customer satisfaction is believed assured
We are so far behind schedule that the customer was happy to get anything at all.
Close project coordination
We should have asked someone else; or, let's spread the responsibility for this.
Project slightly behind original schedule due to unforeseen difficulties
We are working on something else.
The design will be finalized in the next reporting period
We haven't started this job yet, but we've got to say something.
A number of different approaches are being tried
We don't know where we're going, but we're moving.
Extensive effort is being applied on a fresh approach to the problem
We just hired three new guys; we'll let them kick it around for a while.
Preliminary operational tests are inconclusive
The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.
The entire concept will have to be abandoned
The only guy who understood the thing quit.
Modifications are underway to correct certain minor difficulties
We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.
Essentially complete.
Half done.
We predict...
We hope to God!
Drawing release is lagging.
Not a single drawing exists.
Risk is high, but acceptable.
100 to 1 odds, or with 10 times the budget and 10 times the manpower, we may have a 50/50 chance.
Serious, but not insurmountables, problems.
It will take a miracle. God should be the program manager.
Not well defined.
Nobody has thought about it.
Requires further analysis and management attention.
Totally out of control.
The project is designed for high availability.
Malfunctions will be blamed on the operators mistakes.
This project has low maintenance requirements.
We wouldn't let the technicians change a light bulb, much less fool around with our baby.
The software is being developed without excessive process overhead.
The documentation will be written in clear and lucid Chinese.
The delivery is scheduled for the last quater of next year.
This leaves us plenty of time to decide who to blame for it being late.
---==---
Engineering Revisited
Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable and three parts which are still under development.
Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.
A failure will not appear till a unit has passed final inspection.
If you can't fix it -- document it.
The primary function of the design engineer is to make things difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.
---==---
How many first year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
None. That's a second year subject.
How many second year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
One, but the rest of the class copies the report.
How many third year engineering students does it take to change a light bulb?
"Will this question be in the final examination?"
How many civil engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to do it and one to steady the chandelier.
How many electrical engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They simply redefine darkness as the industry standard.
How many computer engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
"Why bother? The socket will be obsolete in six months anyway."
How many mechanical engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Five. One to decide which way the bulb ought to turn, one to calculate the force required, one to design a tool with which to turn the bulb, one to design a comfortable - but functional - hand grip, and one to use all this equipment.
How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Seven. One to install the new bulb and six to figure out what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years.
posted by winz at 11:08 AM
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racist bloggers charged...
its pretty old news that 2 blokes got charged for racist remarks made in their blogs recently... while this is hardly surprising as much as it is interesting (to me), i found that ppl's reaction to this are even more interesting than the case itself.
sure, singaporeans have their own views on this, but it is interesting to know how ppl from outside singapore view this incident.
for starters, here's the definition of the 2 words in debate.
sedition n : an illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government.
racism n : discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race.
i wanted to quote some of the forum entries here, well i did actually, but i deleted, cos scared of Big Brother watching.... cos according to lawyers in the article, it is warned that "anybody who forwards seditious remarks to others via email can also be charged with abetment... It is also an offence to utter any seditious words or to print, publish, sell, distribute, reproduce or import any seditious publication."
well, hope nothing comes my way after i put up this link here. it's an interesting read... ;) but dun think the Singapore Big Brother will like many of the comments there.
posted by winz at 10:12 AM
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Monday, September 12, 2005
duh part 2...
today this particular person emailed me for some help again...
and again, sigh... either her sense of humor too different from mine or.... (quick someone restraint me from strangling this person!!)
well you notice this is actually the exact same person as the one i talked about last month... it happened before and will probably happen again.
dun worry, i've gotten used to such lame jokes... hee.. so not thinking of strangling anybody lah...
posted by winz at 4:20 PM
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hi all...
hmm... a fren of mine asked me last nite if i was busy at work or not....
true that i have lotsa things to do actually, but true also that i am also slacking many a times... hehe... so after thinking over it for awhile, i answered him this...
the days you see me not blogging during office hours, are the days that i am busy at work...
hehe... i think this is rather true.. haha... so guys and gals, now you know, if you see me not posting anything during weekdays, it means i am busy...
this past weekend did nothing much... sat nite cleared 2 DVDs + 1 CD worth of photos... took me like 3 hours to go through all of them... and last nite, i finally cleared my half year's worth of mess in my room!! hehe.. so proud of myself... woke up today not really used to it... when i stepped off the bed, i was being my careful self, placing my feet down on the floor carefully, so as to not step on the things sprawled around the floor.. but today, my feet felt only the cold hard wood of my clean parquet flooring... hehe... i was like yah hor, i cleaned up all the mess liao.. fafa...
this week will be an interesting week... sep 15 will see the launch of the white PSP as well as the Winning Eleven 9 PSP version... hehe... weekend will be the Tokyo Game Show, the show so big gaming fans and journalists ard the world await in anticipation. havent got the tickets, but hope theyre still available though... hehe...
anyway, while the excitement over the ipod nano is still lingering, let me show you how the ipod looks like - undressed... some rich bloke in japan bought a nano to dissect it and see what's on the inside... real rich man...
well, another rich friend of mine, she bought an ipod mini during comex like a weekend or 2 ago... and just few days later, the ipod nano was launched... she was so rich pekchek that she went to buy a nano anyways... so now she has a brandnew mini, as well as a brandnew nano... hmmm... some gers get all the money...
posted by winz at 9:53 AM
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Friday, September 09, 2005
cool photoshopped roller coaster rides
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from sony...
hmm... just when ipod nano is launched, sony is going to lauch their new gadgets in nov.... looking more bulky and less attractive, dun think it will take off also... and they are more expensive than the nano... (granted they have a 20GB model)
here are the specs:
NW-A3000
20 GB capacity
2-inch screen
Violet and silver skins
Around US$320
NW-A1000
6 GB capacity
1.5-inch screen
Violet, silver, pink and blue skins
About US$270
one thing cool is that they have new shuffle modes. 1 is favorite shuffle mode, where the machine will shuffle the 100 most listened to songs. another is time machine shuffle mode, where songs from the same year will be played, shuffled of cos.
well, me, i'll still take the nano... ;)
posted by winz at 11:05 AM
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Thursday, September 08, 2005
technology is evil...
lead us not into temptation... but this is proving hard to do so...
although i used to think ipod looked real cool when it was first lauched, i wasnt really a fan of it, or any of such devices... but with ipod nano, its proving hard to remain unwavered...
S$348 for 2 GB, $438 for 4 GB.... ships in 4-6 days... go here to order.
posted by winz at 2:46 PM
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