Happy Halloween!

XD~

Once again, picture from Pani Poni Dash!

I forgot to tag this one...>_>

But oh well, it has got my signaturate moves everywhere anyway....

But, Happy Trick or Treating! (Assuming you have that thing in your area....)

--

Boro 4 - 1 Man U.

Best. Score. Evar.

Anyway, I've finally found a use for my Friendster account. I've decided to use it to store my banners/pictures which I've so happily pasted words on them there. 50 slots is a lot, and I don't have that much space in my computer anyway, after I realised that my picture collection (comprising of pictures stolen from forums and screen shots from animes) is getting quick large.

So, finally. Friendster has a use!

WTF?

Chelsea's success linked to Liverpool's success?

Liverpool won 2-0 today.

And, Chelsea also won 4-2 today.

O_o.

Hell, even Everton won today (/yesterday).

Liverpool success = everyone's success?

Hmm....

Civilization IV.

Score: 7.5/10.

Quick review:

Nothing special. It's basically Civilization III with improved graphics. And erm...that's about it, I think. Didn't really see any difference.

Except for one thing: It's sloooooooooow......

Oh well. No CD key required, BTW.

Open house a flop.

Remember that post a few days back, hidden below the F.E.A.R. review?

Well, I've been following the thread for a while.

And I have to say, it does get pretty interesting.

That's thanks to the flames, and the school "protectors".

There is a time to defend the school.

But then, there is a time when you have to be a little rebellious.

However, it isn't the people who defend the school by saying that the teachers have done their best which irks me.

It's those who are saying that the "open house is useless".

Reason: People can't go to the Top 5 JCs are posted here. Hence, they don't have a choice when they come here either way. Whether the open house is there or not, people are going to get dumped here because they screwed up their O levels.

That's just sad.

Not only that....

It's pathetic.

The open house is a way to get future possible students to enter this school. If you are spoilt between entering NYJC, MJC and TPJC, the open house is one of the ways which could decide your mind. These days, heading to a JC does not mean that you are simply studying alone. With the addition of CCA and PW, you will want to join a school with the best facilities available so thatyou don't screw up your project work, and that you can join a CCA which you totally enjoy.

The open house becomes more important these days, because of the world saying how "poly > JC". People who could easily get any course of their choice in a poly would want to know whether JC would be a better choice. Hence, that's what open houses are for.

Bottomline is, open houses ARE important in getting future students. While there are those "dumped" into this college, many more join because of other factors, such as distance, or having a CCA which they would enjoy.

The people who said that the open houses are "useless" really need to open their eyes. If it's not effective, then why does almost every other institute have one? This isn't a case as to saying "Since xxx has it, we must have it too! (aka road run/walk)". A college without students will fall quickly. It will fall even quicker when the students are rubbish. Open houses are one of the few ways for neighbourhood JCs like mine to steal 6 pointers away from the "top 5" JCs, hence keeping the scool name "afloat". Of course, the words are all in quotation marks, because a school need not necessary sink without 6 pointers.

For those who say that the open house is useless, it simply shows how much they care about the college. If it sucks, scrap it. The obvious easy way out. However, what about the hidden pitfalls which lie beyond what their myopic eyes see? Students would have no idea about the school, and when you have colleges such as MJC, with all their new facilities around (Their science lab rocked. Hard.), they will obviously choose MJC over ours.

Hence, instead of taking the easy way out, the school administration should seriously consider the views of those who want the open house to be changed. As the first poster had said, we don't need to bore the foreign investors with talks. Show them our CCAs, what they are capable of. Show them our lessons (pictures, of course), and anything which could be used as propaganda.

Make them want to come to this college.

And that isn't done by scraping the open house, or having an open house which would make looking paint dry as exciting as a football match.

--

Along with that in the forum, there is this rather amusing function that the admins of the forum implemented, namely "marking" a post if it is offensive. The teachers have happily marked it, as the list of people is shown. However, many did not post anything, nor did they bother to remove the post.

With the forums having flame wars ever 5 posts, I think we definately need the teachers to take control. Simply marking a post, which is useless anyway, since people can have fun by giving it a positive rating instead, is not going to work, as the moderators have to be on hand to delete the posts.

This somehow reminds me of the old days in GameFAQs, where there's this "auto-suspension" function, where if an amount of users marked a post, the offender will be placed on "suspension" mode immediately.

Of course, it is removed since there are people who abused it, resulting in moderators and admins getting suspended (XD, can't say we didn't see that coming).

Hopefully, it will be soon before the admins realise what GameFAQs had learned almost 4 years ago.

Noooo! /o\

Just when I was about to laugh at Liverpool's Carling Cup defeat by Crystal palace...

Chelsea 1 - 1 Charlton.

Charlton goes through on penalities (5-4)

Nooo..

Chelsea sure is leaking goals more then usual now....

T_T

Shakugan no Shana

Under the recommendation of Kazekun, I've decided to pick up Shakugan no Shana, which was initially subbed by EvalPowar. Although they have since dropped it, I must thank Kazekun for introducing this anime.

Simply put, it's amazing.

Only 3 episodes have been released, and I'm looking forward to the 4th one already. The character developments so far have been excellent, and there's always this action scene.

Besides, as always, there's this pretty interesting girl, known only as Flame Haze.

She's the one I've decided to use for a quick random mess around on photoshop, after I got bored. I have no idea how to put the glow/stroke as they have in the picture (The japanese words are from the anime. My words are at the bottom. =P), as if you look carefully, the first 3 characters have a full body glow, while the last few does not.

>_<

So, out comes the..pencil. Hahaha.

This is one of my highly recommended animes to watch. If you got some spare time, pick it up.

--

It is only approiate that the song of (whatever) is Yoake Umarekuru Shoujo (The Girl Who Comes with the Dawn), which is Shakugan no Shana's ending theme, by Takahashi Youko. Ignore the first 30 seconds or so, and you actually have a pretty nice song. In the anime, the animation for this song is also perfect.

I stared F.E.A.R. in the eye, and found it nothing special.

F.E.A.R was one of the most anticipated games this year, since it was voted the “best of E3”, and that the two demos released were rather promising. Of course, First Person Shooter gamers have seen it all, and roughly done it all. It takes that little bit of extra spark in order to separate the “normal” games from the “best”.

Unfortunately, F.E.A.R. falls on the former category. It definitely had the potential to be one of the better FPS games, but sadly, it simply was missing that extra boost.

F.E.A.R. starts off with a pretty nice cinematic, giving you a nice background info on your main enemy. Your mission is supposed to eliminate him right from the beginning, and will stay that way almost right to the end. Along the way, you will meet people who can help shed more light on the issue at hand. Sadly, most of them don’t live for more then 30 seconds, as something super happens and they end up being dead, resulting in nothing being shared from these people. Along your mission, you will meet this creepy girl named Alma, who will pop up from time to time, killing people and trying to scare you in general.

That’s about it for the story.

Pretty bland, isn’t it?

Thankfully, there are some saving graces for this game, as we head into the main part of our review.

Graphics:

The graphics of this game was done superbly. Monolith’s new engine did live up to its hype. The walls look fantastic, and the floor does give the area an extra feel to the environment. The water reflections are superb, as you can really see reflections of the night in it, coming very close to looking at real water itself. Bullet holes, blood, smoke and almost every single detail about the environment is made to be as real as possible. The lights themselves, when shot, will spin in a random direction, casting shadows (usually yours) of different size and shapes in the walls.

Of course, enemies look as though they came out of a clone factory somewhere downtown. If you are going to identify Bill from Joe, forget it. It’s easier trying to differentiate twins. However, the fact that the enemy looks alike is found in almost single FPS game, so it does not really matter. Who cares how A looks different from B? Just shoot them both.

Score: 8.5/10

Game play:

The game play in this game is boring to say the least. See an enemy? Slow-mo, then pump some lead into him. Retreat, wait for slow-mo to recharge, repeat. The slow-mo is one of the key factors in this game, but it can easily be abused, as your enemies simply have no protection whatsoever from this super ability that you have. Being able to keep health packs is also another factor which reduces the difficulty of this game. Instead of looking around for health during the battle, you simply have to press your button to administer your health pack, and viola; you are ready to go once again. This saves the trouble of running around after a battle, looking for med kits in a weakened state, and running into another group of enemies, who would most likely clean the floor along with you.

Of course, one of the main plus points of this game is the enemy AI, as almost everyone would have told you. If you want to rush at an enemy hiding behind a box, chances are, he isn’t there anymore, as he would have moved away from the spot, and would have a clear sight on you right now. The enemy also work rather well in teams, as they will try to flank you whenever possible, or produce suppressive fire so that you can’t peak out and shoot at the two or three enemies that is rushing at you. However, that’s about it for the enemy AI, other then that they can work well together, and they are rather smart on not hiding at the same place for a long time. If you set some traps and retreat, most enemies will simply follow you, allowing you to kill them thanks to that remote bomb you have placed, or that mine that you have carefully thrown at the entrance of the door. In a way, after a few hours of killing them, they are rather predictable, as you will know when they will attack, when they will defend. The fact that they talk more often then your mother nags at you to clean your room does not make them any smarter, because the idea of “stealth” has never crossed their minds. You can hear them chatting from almost a few rooms away, giving you ample time to prepare your strongest weapon, and your fingers to hover over the key which activates the Slow-mo. Also, for some reason, the enemy does not realize that they have a remote bomb stuck on his face. If, somehow, you managed to stick one on the enemy, retreating then detonating it will most likely take out more then 1 enemy, as the enemies tend to somehow stick together.

One interesting note is that you are only allowed to carry three weapons at any one time. I find this concept rather refreshing from other FPS titles, because it does require you to prioritize your weapons, and also, does not make your character a walking armory. Should you keep the 3 strongest weapons in the game, or should you just carry the type- particle beam, while your other two slots are weapons which your enemy drops frequently? Not that your weapon choice really makes a real difference in he game, as killing an enemy usually means ammo of some sort. If you are running low on the assault rifle, simply drop it and pick up a sub-machine gun, which the enemy dropped, instead. If you keep a balance of strong weapons, whose ammo is rather rare, and normal weapons, the game is actually rather easy.

Other then the three weapons which you carry, there’s this “forth” weapon which you have, namely your lets and your fist. Since you are some sort of super soldier, one kick usually means instant death to anyone who happens to be in your path. Problem is, you usually won’t be close enough to the enemy to use any close combat measures, and if you messed it up, the enemy’s close combat isn’t exactly pillow strikes either. The only good thing is that by using melee attacks, the rest of the enemy won’t be alerted, which can be useful. Sadly, this idea was not developed, and you will find it more satisfying to simply rush into the battlefield with your guns blazing.

This game uses the idea of “one man army”, as most of the supporting casts in the game are rather useless. One of the guys in your 4-man squad disappears within 15 minutes. Any soldiers sent to help you dies within 30 seconds. Even if they do survive longer than that, you won’t be working together with them, due to something dramatic happening or something. Hence, expect no help during the course of the game, except from F.E.A.R’s coordinator, who will keep you updated on situations.

On top of all these, is the “scare” factor in the game. The scare factor comes in the form of some cheap scares, and some which uses the environment. Of course, there are these flashbacks where you move at half your usual speed, looking at the same scene again and again, with roughly the same words whispered in your ears over and over again. However, F.E.A.R. seldom uses it’s scare tactics twice, and if it did, they are rather far apart from each other. This makes this game a lot more interesting, because you can never expect what’s going to happen next. The scares come when you least expect them to, giving a new element of surprise. Still, the fact that the annoy flashbacks appear once in a while is extremely annoying, and tarnishes this otherwise impressive factor.

Hence, while the concept of holding only 3 weapons at any one time is interesting, the rest of the game was rather blend. The AI isn’t exactly fantastic, as you can out smart them instead of them outsmarting you, if you do the right things at the right time. Abuse the Slow-mo function, and you should get past this game quite easily.

Score: 7.5/10

Storyline:

Most FPS that I’ve played had a pretty weak storyline, and this game isn’t much of an exception. The mission to kill the main enemy will be around for the entire game. When you finally chased him down, one bullet will end everything. So, if you were expecting some sort of super boss which you would be fighting at the end, you would be disappointed. The plot itself is blend enough, and it does not help that there are plenty of unanswered questions at the end. Your past,, was done pretty poorly, as your birth was merely mentioned, with nothing said on how you joined F.E.A.R. or how you had super reflexes (which is the cause of the slow-mo) ability.

It does not help that your main nemesis’s past is not revealed much, or that the end leaves you hanging. While this does allow the producers to create a sequel, it does leave a pretty poor aftertaste after ten hours of playing the game.

Although this is a FPS, which usually means that it has a pretty poor plot, I was at least hoping for something better. Nothing like the Role-Playing Games, but enough to be satisfying for a FPS.

Score: 4/10

Sound:

The sound was very well done, with the weapons having the “feel” to them as you fire a bullet. The voice cast was superb as well, as you can hear their puzzlement, or their fear when they are about to die. The enemies don’t disappoint either, especially the group of humans who seem to be in great distress when they shout “help me”. This is the only place where I cannot find any fault, but on the other hand, it isn’t exactly super either, especially when placed against the likes of other FPS such as Half Life 2.

Score: 9/10

Multi-player:

Not much to say here, except that it has just the usual Death match and Capture the Flag modes, along with Slow-Mo type if you want them. Of course, there is one more mode called “Team Elimination”, which puts you in a team to kill the opposing team. If you are killed, you have to sit out for the rest of the round. The slow-mo does add a little variation to it, but when you can see the slow-mo carrier on your HUD, he isn’t going to live long, if you are playing in a pretty big server. In small servers, those who hug the slow-mo and the strongest weapons (and have a good aim too) would be able to control the game. Melee attacks usually result in 1 hit kills, which brings a totally new idea to the multi-player scene altogether, as the melee attacks are no longer used to humiliate your opponents. Holster your weapon and run around trying to kick people. You will be surprised how many kills you can get, if done properly, of course.

Score: 7/10

Conclusion:

This game was rather disappointing. While I was not bored at any point, the fact that the plot was paper-thin does mark it down. The enemy AI is one of the best so far, but if you used your head a little bit, it isn’t too hard to defeat them. It does bring something new to the market, but if you ask me whether this is the best game ever, I would say no. It simply isn’t the best. Had the storyline been done a little better, then I would have had said yes.

Sadly, that did not happen.

Overall score (not an average): 7/10

--

TPJC's open house was a flop, according to an ex-student.

Daniel Vaithilingam 02S07 (Sun 23 Oct 2005 11:13 pm) Not rated Profile Rate Reply Reply w/quote Send message Permalink Rate this post as 3X extremely bad

I feel that this year's open house was a terrible flop. As a former student of the college, I am utterly disappointed with the management about how the open house was runned. It was pretty much in shambles if you asked me. Firstly, the open house is about attracting potential students to the college with its vibrancy, something the students can actually look forward to, not boring them with some talk or tour of academic issues. I'm pretty sure the students get enough of that at home and in their previous schools, what with their exams coming up. The open house is about show-casing the college's strong points, be it in the arts, sports or whatever it is, so long as the CCAs are show-cased, it brings alot of "raaraa"ness into the day, and it allows the students to interact with the potential college students. And to think, I heard from the current students that it was the Principal's idea to have the open house the way it was. Well done, Mrs Goh, you have succeeded in possibly decreasing your intake for the upcoming year. Or maybe you thought that it was alright to make the open house boring because there are alot of students already coming in through direct entry. I believe that anyone would have enjoyed themselves more attending open houses at VJC or even SAJC, what with all the enthusiasm and the fun culture they can inculcate. And look where VJC and SAJC are in terms of how people view them. They're one of the better JCs around. I do hope that future open houses or even the orientation would be much better than the open house of 2005.

Since when was it ever successful anyway? HAHAHA.

Oh well. Thank god I'm heaing out of this school. I'm proud of being a TPJCian simply because it's slack. I mean, I laughed at my friends who had mock exams everyday last year till 7pm, while I was waltzing home at 12:10pm, thanks to the gate being unguarded or something like that. At least I enjoyed it, but sure as hell will enjoy watching this school burn to the ground.

It does not surprise me whatsoever that this ex-student has voiced his views. At least he cares.

Now, it's time to see whether the administration cares.

Tip on life...

Here's a random tip on life by NF-chan.

Tip: Never! And I mean NEVER! Doubt the underdogs!

Fulham 2 - 0 Liverpool.

Rock on Fulham! Liverpool slip further down behind Chelsea! \o/

XD!!!

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid, best of 2005?

Note: This will contain spoilers from FMP:TSR.

Frankly speaking, yes.

After being delayed by almost an entire day, Full Metal Panic, The Second Raid is finally out!

And hell, it's one heck of an ending to cap an incredible series.

First off, Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (Henceforth known as FMP:TSR) is the second season to the rather successful Full Metal Panic, which also had an OVA. FMP:TSR was directed by the dude who also directed the OVA.

That meant a little more violence then FMP season 1.

Not that I mind. In fact, the violence was used rather nicely. Not too much, but at the same time, not too little that would have turned this into a kids show.

The story starts off in a blast, with the main character, Sagara Sousuke in a mission where he almost sacrificed himself to save a bunch of refugees.

As the story goes on, more is revealed about the organisation Sousuke works in, for the benefit of those people who have not watched the first series (like me). The organisation is called Mithril, a Mercenary force bent on keeping world peace. Sousuke is a bodyguard of Kaname Chidori, a "whispered", which means that she has some super knowledge on computers (or something like that. I need to watch FMP season 1).

The main enemy appears in episode 3, which shows Mithril falling into a trap set by the enemy. By episode 6, more of the enemy is revealed, which is an organisation called Amalgam (note: Both Amalgam and Mithril are fantasy metals). Obviously, Amalgam is on a totally different wavelength from Mithril.

However, the fun part comes in episode 9, where Sousuke got relocated, with his orders telling him to stop his protection on Chidori. By then, some sort of a relationship had begun between the two, although both won't admit it.

That's also where the real story starts. Sousuke, who believed in Mithril, was suddenly confused, unsure of what his goals in life are. Unable to protect the one person who matters in his life, and also unable to pilot his machine properly, he was extremely distracted, with himself unsure of what's happening around him.

Obviously, as is of your typical clinche endings, he got over it in episode 13 (the final episode), with Chidori showing up and revealing the path. LoL.

With that, he just kicked ass as he finally bonded well with his machine.

However, this animes stands out via the fact that they actually spent time developing the ending. Unlike many other animes which would simply spend like, 2 minutes or something at the ending zone, FMP:TSR showed Sousuke heading back home to Tokyo, and resuming school, after he made a request with the higher ups in Mithril to return to school for half his pay. The fact that it's 27 minutes instead of the usual 23 minutes speak for itself. The producers are serious about making a good ending. And, it's 27 without the opening or ending animations.

That's probably why this anime shines above them all so far. 13 episodes was a little short for many, but I think it's just right. Anything more would have had fillers in the series, hence possibly tarnishing this series. The director did a great job by managing to squeeze a rather impressive storyline, with character developments all in such a short time. Besides, not all shows with a long series would mean that it is good (*looks at GSD*...50 episodes, and it's still crap).

If you are looking for action packed anime, with a bit of gore, a pretty nice storyline and character development, you should grab FMP:TSR. The ending did close a chapter, but it also left a door wide open for a third season, which everyone is waiting for.

Score: 10/10.

It really is that good. You seldom see a perfect score from the bird.

Screens:


Chidori! <3



Wake up..baka...



Yay..? Hahahahaha.


While TSR is finally over, not all is well.

Namely, the group which released the subs first: Anime-Shrine.

They are a pretty decent group, with plenty of staff members from Malaysia, which means that their release is usually in saturday mornings. However, there was a problem somewhere, somehow, and it was initially released at around 9pm.

Within minutes of its release, staff members realised that they encoded with the wrong script, and pulled it back, preparing to release a Version 2.

QCers were obviously sleeping on their jobs. However, one of the editors cum QCers, Sophia decided to blast the staff members, as according to her, she has to watch things which has her name in it, before the group are allowed to release it.

Since she isn't around at the time of initial release, they have decided to release it first. Thanks to that, Version 1 was screwed up.

Not that I mind. There are screw ups before in many other groups, resulting in Versions 2, or even 3s at times.

However, what disgusted me was Sophia's attitute towards her members. She has threatened to release the script to a rival Fansubbing group (Bakakozou) [not sure whether she did or not. Bakakozou did release pretty quickly this week, along with Blood+ 02], and wanted to declare "her" script stolen. On top of that, she decided to happily post a spoiler of a text which she did not edit on the main channel, with over 700 users online waiting for the release, hoping to show how poor her fellow staff member's editing skills are.

Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for fansubbers, since they are people who take time off to do things for others, when they can simply head onto a computer and play a game of Guild Wars instead.

However, this is simply ridiculous. Her lack of respect towards fellow staff members, and the way she "controls" the channel. Yes, she controls the #Anime-shrine channel in IRC as well. Last week, we, the users, were pretty much having fun, enjoyig the stories of a guy who was an Assistant Prof, who was saying about the crappy students and what he does to them. Sophia then stormed in, and said that she will NOT tolerate (emphasis on the word "not") making fun of others in her channel.

Oh well.

The chat pretty much died after that.

Since then, I don't really like her, so I simply typed /hop and decided to get rid of my voiced status in that channel.

Other than being a staff of Anime-shrine, she also happens to be the team leader of AnimeU, which does Shuffle!. I was curious as to what their subs looked like, and went into their channel (I usually wait for KnKF's version).

Seeing Sophia as an OP there made me decide against wasting my bandwidth.

To know that she, a person with such a definate lack of team workmanship, appals me. True, you are doing this out of your own time, but respecting others is also a must, especially in this industry. Fans are what make you famous. Without them, you are nothing. Scaring and blasting team members when they have admitted their mistake and is willing to correct it in any way possible also won't make a lot of friends for you.

One thing is for certain.

I definately won't bother to get any of AnimeU's releases.
--

GSD episode 4:

-Minerva falls into a trap, a note highlighted by Athrun.
-Shinn and Lunamaria battle for their lives, as they watch two pilots (I didn't even know they exist in the first place...) from their crew die.
-Minerva tries to hide in the huge astroid.
-Plan backfires as the enemy ship, Bogey-1, takes advantage by attacking the rocks instead, allowing the rocks to do the damage.
-Meanwhile, Shinn and crew were just barely hanging on against the three stolen machines. Lunamaria loses against a quick duel against Gaia, but was saved by Shinn.
-Athrun advices Minerva to fire against the rock, allowing the explosion to propel them away from the astroid.
-The plan worked, and Bogey-1 is coutnerattacked.
-Bogey-1 escapes, giving Minerva some time off.
-Minerva then repairs during the rest period.
-Shinn and gang meets Athrun briefly.
-Shinn says that "all who lives in ORB are cowards"
-Junius 7 begins it's movement to earth.
-Episode ends with Shinn listening to Mayu's voice from her cellphone.
--

A kid named google...

XD!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16978909-401,00.html

Well, at least he's better then this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116

Now, this one is really sad....LoL.

Dreams...

Recently, for some unknown reason, I keep waking up sweating and shaking, even though usually have no idea why, since I would have forgetten the nightmare which I was in a few seconds.

Then, I return to sleep.

I guess I got used to them.

After all, they are just dreams.

Except for the fact that they rob me of 5 minutes of my sleep every now and then, which sure as hell is pissing me off.

--

Song of (whatever) switched to Eternal Blaze by Mizuki Nana, the opening theme of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A. Pretty decent, IMO. Gotta catch the anime when it's released...

Ronaldo held for Rape..

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=346384&cc=4716

XD?

Seriously, women should stop cashing in on men by exploiting weaknesses.

However, in order to do that, the damned media should stop giving thousands of dollars to people to "buy" their story. It's just ridiculous these days. A women gets paid 100,000 pounds simply because she got "raped" by some super footballer (Beckham, gang-raped by the Chelsea and Newcastle players, Robin Van Persie, just to name a few).

Talk about easy cash.

However, the media can't help it. If you are not going to buy it, someone else would, then every single mindless idiot will flock to your rival paper simply because they have the story, and you decided to place how Chelsea won 4-0 in the Champions League in the front pages instead.

The world is going to end soon...

and here's a catch: According to SportsCenter, the last 5 high profile cases of "Rape" resulted in either no charges being brought onto the player, or that the player is found not guilty.

And women have the gall to say that "If women ruled, the world will be a better place?" Even without ruling, women are already causing enough havoc. Thank you very much. ^_^

I mean, this pretty much says everything...

1828-1861 Queen Ranavalona I Rabodoandrianampoinimerina (Ramavo)
Known as Ranavalo-Manyka I or Ranavalona I. She was married when she was almost a child to Radama, king of the "hovas" and was accused of poisening her husband in agreement with the protestant English missionaries who were her friends. Radama left no descendants so English missionaries made their way to help her to gain the throne. After she became Queen, Ranavalona soon had most of her family relatives assassinated, she expelled foreigners and extended her rule all over the
Island, with her 20.000 men Army. In 1829 French Government of Louis Philippe asked French to leave the Tidtinque post. France and England whose consuls' were largely berthrayed under Ranavalona I rule tried to depose her but with no success. In 1845 Captain Romain-Desfosses then again tried for revenge but all he could do was bombarding Tamatave. Ranavalona I largely took revenge on Europeans left in the Island because of these actions against her. She died hated home and outside. She had her lover Rainitaiarivoy (b.1828-d.1896) named Prime Minister. She was mother of King Radama II, and lived (1790/1800-1861).

Hahaha.

Women to rule?

The world will go to hell. \o/

Or not..?

Perhaps they just need a chance to prove themselves.

However, in order to do that, won't they simply need to get elected? In a democratic world today, everyone gets a fair chance, hence, if you want to be a leader, get voted in. Do the usual stuff.

Until you do, stop whining about women rights. Whatever happened to Men's Rights anyway?
--

Happy Birthday Asa-Senpai! \o/

I seriously can't believe I'm celebrating the birthday of an Anime girl, but this is probably the only character in so many series which made me develop so many feelings. I mean, she's simply amazing.

And, in 3.5 minutes...




I didn't get a bigger picture, and I certainly did not like the colour which I have done.

Oh well. LoL.

Happy Birthday! Hopefully, you will be the one Rin chooses! \o/

I'm never buying another creative product ever again.

Seriously.

I brought a 4 gig Zen Micro in March this year during the Creative Warehouse sale. Initially, all seems well, even though it came without a wall-charger.

Until roughly 2 months later.

The player would hang at the start up screen from time to time, giving me a very nice picture of the words "Creative" or "Zen Micro". Only after the removal of the battery a few times, did the firmware inside detect that the library was corrupted, needing 5 minutes or so to rebuild (I use every bit of the 4 gig space)

In june, I had to get my player replaced, after the system fried it. My dad told me of a long queue in the customer center, speaking volumes of how many people got their players spoilt.

Today, it took like a full 10 minutes to boot up, by which I had returned home, resulting in me being unable to listen to my soothing music after a rather hard day in the college.

And yes, I'm rather pissed at that time.

On top of the player malfunctioning quite frequently, the battery life is horrible, lasting roughly 4 hours at best sometimes (full charge). Volume is at 15, which is a "audioable" type of volume in the streets.

Sure, Maywind may have gone though quite a bit with me, but version 2 will definately not have the words "Creative" writen on it.

The stress is piling in....

How comfortable....

*dances like what Elie did in Rave Volume 23*

"Don't forget about me...."

GSD episode 3

-The enemy ship retreats. It has been labeled as Bogey 1 by Captain Talia
-Minevra gives pursuit.
-Meanwhile, the Chairman meets Cagalli, who demanded an explaination as to the existance of the more powerful machines.
-As they head towards the docking bay, Shinn over hears Cagalli saying that force is not necessary.
-Shinn hence blasts Cagalli by saying that "Making excuses is a specialty of the Athhas!"
-Minevra catches up with Bogey 1
-Episode ends with Shinn Lunamaria launching, and the chairman removing Athrun's false identity (Alex Dino).

--

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The outgoing U.S. envoy to Singapore criticised the city-state's limits on political expression, saying governments will pay an increasing price for failing to give citizens freedom of choice and expression.

U.S. Ambassador Franklin L. Lavin said it was surprising to find what he called constraints on discussions given Singapore's strong international links.

"In this era of Weblogs and Webcams, how much sense does it make to limit political expression?" Lavin told an audience at his farewell dinner on Tuesday. The speech was made available on the U.S. embassy's Web site.

In August, police ordered a 36-year-old filmmaker to surrender equipment used to make a documentary on opposition figure Chee Soon Juan. A student on a state scholarship shut down his personal Web site in May after a government agency threatened a libel suit for his online comments.

On Friday, Singapore jailed two men for posting racist comments aimed at the country's ethnic Malay community, who are mainly Muslim, on the Internet.

"Singapore has flourished over the past 40 years, but is a 20th century model adequate for the 21st century?" Lavin asked.

"Remaking (Singapore's) economy is, in a sense, the easy decision. Shaping a political system to reflect the needs and aspirations of its citizens is more difficult and more sensitive," he added.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last week ruled out adopting a Western liberal democracy with a multi-party system in the next 20 years, saying that it was unsuitable for the country.

Lavin, whose four-year tenure saw the conclusion of a U.S.-Singapore free-trade agreement and a deepening of security ties, takes up a new post in Washington as undersecretary for international trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

He will be replaced by Patricia Herbold, a lawyer and a Republican fundraiser.

A parliamentary republic with elections held at regular, constitutionally mandated intervals, Singapore has been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965.
Opposition politicians, who hold only two of the 84 seats in parliament, have long complained that frequent defamation suits by PAP officials have stifled dissent -- a view echoed by a 2004 U.S. State Department report on Singapore.

Many analysts expect parliamentary elections in the coming months although they are not due to be held until mid-2007.

In May, Amnesty International criticised Singapore's human rights record, saying that control on political expression remained tight despite government promises of greater openness.

--

Song of (whatever) switched to If You are My Love by Kajiura Yuki, from Tsubasa Chronicle Original Soundtrack - Future Soundscape II. A beautiful song, by the famous Kajiura Yuki. Nothing less.

Farewell, TPJC!

14th marks the final day of our official stay in TPJC.

And of course, we go out with a bang.

Kinda.

The teachers decided to put together some sort of a video which has all their delications in it or something of that sort. It was rather moving, especially with all the "Thanks for everything." style of speech done by everyone.

After all the videos, the teachers sang "When You Believe" and a chinese song. Although half of them can't sing worth nuts, it's still a nice effort done by them.

The day ended with the entire college singing the college song together for like the first time, since no one sings the college song during morning assembly. TPJCians rose as one, and with 1 voice, blew the audi away.

A truely memorable moment.

Thank you, TPJC.
--

October 14th also marked the opening day of the Cyberathlete Professional League. Of course, the 1st day was totally rubbish, with the air-con not working, resulting in the tent becoming a "greenhouse" (as quoted by the newspaper).

Today is the second day of the tournment. For those who cannot make it to the place itself, you can simply watch the action on TV. Channel 1 for Starhub peeps, and some UFM frequency for those who don't have cable TV. I highly recommend watching it, because it is extremely exciting. Much better than any show you could watch. For example, the 1st match showed fnatic.vo0, one of the favourites of the tournment, getting owned by a 4k member (forgot the name) in a game of painkiller. The next one was on Counter-Strike 1.6, which showed RtL winning Progamers by a score of 16-14. RtL was behind 11-14, before they came back to take the game.

Extremely exciting.
--

With us leaving TPJC, there's also one more thing which continues to fascinate me.

The level of stupidity in the TPJC forums at times.

Threads on how globalisation being beneficial to the world, or thoughts on terrorist attacks never get much replies, but threads on DOTA, a candy shop, and so on.

Hey, it's a forum anyway. Since when did any forums place any interest in world wide events, short of UT's serious board, and GamingForce forums?

But still...

Looi Yuan Hui 05S17 (Fri 7 Oct 2005 9:36 pm) Not rated Profile Rate Reply Reply w/quote Send message Permalink

well my promos just ended, and supposedly i sud be having fun and playing like madman, and enjoying time with close frens, but suprise suprise....guess what? my frens and i couldnt think of anything ANYTHING fun to play, or even things tht we cud do to enjoy...

Well mayb thts the school wants to see, turning us into hardcore muggers, to the state where we are not deprived of un, but the inability to think abt having fun, so nice, WELL, as for anyone, especially the teachers, YOU dun have to say things tht ''STUDENTS ARE TO HAVE A BALANCED LIFE, WORK HARD AND PLAY HARD''

THese are all nonsense, BEcuz of the fact tht the school only aims for academic results, even at the expense of our mental well being, i might sound as if i am making a mountain out of a molehill, but truly in SG, we only seek the results, the schl will be more than happy to see us all go mad, AFTER our As lvls, so tht we can push TPjc onto higher grounds, and as for wht happens to us after it, the schl cudnt be bothered abt it

Sad. Truely sad.

05S29 has also happily decided to use the TPJC forum as their own, starting their own thread. Fine, they are TPJC, but hey, start a php board, will ya? LoL. Not that I mind, since they don't care who reads their posts, if any.

Of course, there is hardly any thread which could stay on topic for like 10 post, before some sort of flame happens, or that the topic goes sideways, 50 degrees to the left, or whatever.

For example, take the DOTA thread, which was somehow placed in "discuss" instead of "games". By the 10th post or something, there's this guy advertising some pro dude who will level your Bnet account for 5 bucks or something.

Needless to say, he got flamed to hell. I shall take even greater pride in saying that my CG was the one who sent in the nukes, before he was forced to retreat out of the forum, showing how badly he got owned.

Seriously, 5 years in GF forums has taught me plenty of tips and skills, after I got owned rather badly when I was still a youngling. However, from those ownages, I learned from my mistakes, and after watching a few more people get owned, I picked up a few tips.

After my stay in the TPJC forums for 2 years, I can safely say that there are less than 5 person who can defeat me in a debate, when I'm right. (Over confidence. ^_^)

How do I do it?

Simple.

Here's a few points which I follow:
-Never let your emotions get better of you. If you do, you lose. Immediately. That's because you will make a fool out of yourself when you are angry, by typing stupid things.

-Scout your competition. Especially if you think you are wrong. Getting owned isn't a nice feeling, and even more so, when you are the one who started it.

-Before posting your message, check and double check. If there are cracks, take care of it. Prepare some sort of a counter argument before you post it. If you can't come up with a counter argument with what your opponent is about to post, then don't post it.

-Evade when necessary. Sometimes, you simply cannot counter their points. Simply press on your advantage, and hopefully, you can play him into your hand.

-If you are losing, back out. Gracefully. Simply agree, place a few smilies, and be gone. Don't start to swear, or try to repeat stupid points which he has convincingly beaten. You'll simply look stupid.

-Last of all, type properly. If you are going to argue, you want to look serious. Keep the chat language to the chats. Sure, this is the age of technology, but as you can see, respectable websites post their stuff in proper lettering and grammar. Take CNN.com. Imagine that site with all the funny chat stuff "pres bush said tt every1 mus stand 2gether". How much are you going to respect that report?

Not a lot.

It isn't that hard to debate properly on a forum, since you can simply disappear if you are really screwed. However, whether you can make your points heard during the process of debating is what matters.

Interesting Birthday...XD

And so, it ends.

First of all, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. It's much appriciated, especially those who messaged me at the midnight times (Lan jie, Fengzhi and Pei Hua). Ronald decided to cheat by congratulating me at 11:40, officially making him the first. Haha.

Anyway, my room has some new stuff staring right back at me when I'm doing my work, thanks to Andrew and Kok Siong, since a 1/144 Force Impulse is peering down at every single work that I write. LoL. Thanks once again! My maid pitched in with a handphone holder which was more on the cute side. LoL. She must have seen my poor handphone being tossed on my bed every now and then.

Pei Hua gave me book which I read for only a chapter, before my mom decided to take it away to read it first, as "I have my A levels, and that the title is beautiful". Haha. Thanks!

Winter received an upgrade, Courtesy of my family, who brought a DVD writer for me (16x DVD write, 8x rewrite, 42x CD write). I guess they must have noticed that I have 30 gig of Anime, or that I was burning a little too many CDs. LoL.

On top of that, I have decided to buy my first bottle of alcohol. While waiting for the spectacle shop to open while tagging alone with Eigen and Li Feng, I brought a Mud Shake (Vodka, 4%). I was pretty much ready to show my Ez-link card as a proof that I'm 18, but that cashier didn't even bother asking for my proof of age. LoL.

Still, the day felt...incomplete. My morning felt wierd, as I was constantly checking my handphone, waiting for an SMS, or my screen to at least brighten up.

It didn't.

Into the afternoon, and as I was putting the Force Impulse Parts together, I stole glaces at my handphone every 2 minutes or so.

Only to look away each time, disappointed.

After dinner, when all the celebrations were done, I had pretty much lost hope. My smile at that time was artificial, although I did enjoy dinner, I still felt myself looking at my handphone, praying, hoping, begging, for the SMS to arrive.

At around 9pm, feeling rather sad, but at the same time happy for the day, I decided to SMS a friend to ask a few questions.

A few minutes later, the Handphone brightened up, the lights at the side of the handphone turning into heir "pulse" mode, indicating a SMS to be read.

Thinking that it was from that friend, I opened it.

Only to receive a shock.

It has arrived.

Finally.

That definately made my night. XD

Haha. Interesting how our moods can swing so easily, and all because of one person, yeah?

--

Song of (whatever) switched to Kiiro Vacances, featuring Katagiri Himeko, which is Pani Poni Dash!'s 1st opening theme, by Momodzuki Gakuen Ichinen C Gumi and Orikasa Fumiko, the latter who plays Himeko in the series. I was trying to get another song in, but as our lovely TPJC server works at night, I could not upload the 6 megabyte file. Oh well, this is also the song which I placed on my friendster profile for kicks. XD.

It could have been worst, as I could have placed something from Final Fantasy I there. XD

Happy Birthday, NightFalcon-Chan. XD

Bloody hell.

I'm 18...

>_<

I sure don't act like I'm one at times.

Anyway, happy birthday to Nerine-chan as well!

Usually I don't care that much about my birthdays, but since being 18 = beer...



It does call for some celebration... \o/



I decided to mess around with the blur effects for once. Turned out pretty...alright, I have to say. Could be better if the fill and the transparancy is better. Rofl.

Song of (whatever) switched to Happy Birthday by Kyoko, which is the Detective Conan 1st Movie's ending theme. I have like 3200 songs on my hard disc, and I only have one song which is related to birthday...

Rofl.

Fifa 06 (PC): A huge disappointment.

Fifa 06 is one of the more anticipated sports games this year, simply because EA sports has the right to call the clubs by their name, and also the players by their real name. This is different from Winning Eleven, who has to use "covert" names, such as West London Blue to represent clubs which they didn't have the right to use.

So, no more "Merseyside Red" or playing players whose names are "Van Nisterooy".

You would have thought that with THAT amount of money paid into getting the stars, you would actually get a decent game.

Not.

Let's start off with the game play.

Alright, so you have the ball, and you are so ready for kick off. You kick the ball back, before hammering the Q button to get some players forward in order to lose their marker.

You tap the W key, hoping that you are able to release a player who seems to have shaken his marker off.

Instead, your player decides to do something retarded, and kicks the ball to someone who isn't even half a step ahead of his marker.

You lose the ball.

Then, you swear.

That's about it. The AI of your teammates are so stupid, there's no actual purpose in trying to get them lose their markers. True, there are times when their balls are placed perfectly, but they are rare and hard to come by.

Defense isn't that great either. For some reason, your defenders keep losing their opponents, allowing them a chance at a free header, or a free shot at goal. In fact, you find yourself having to reposition quite a number of your men when the opponent is taking a corner kick, if you don't want them to be in front of the ball.

At least, the only good thing I see about Fifa 06 is that they got rid of the stupid corner system in Fifa 05, where there are only like 3 men in the box, and you have a choice of 3 different crosses. What kind of corner has only 3 attackers in it? >_> In Fifa 06, the corner system is pretty much like the Winning Eleven system, with an arrow to tell where you want to guide the ball.

As for graphics....

They say, a picture is worth a thousand words....

So, instead of a thousand words...



Good god. This is like new and super back in 1999 or something. Heck, I think Half Life 1 has better graphics. Hello? This is 2005.

As you can see, on top of horrible drawing, there's this outer glow on each player, giving them a strange holy aura when playing. Not only is this wierd, it also can be a pain to the eyes at times.

Crappy drawings, neon glow.

Nuff said about graphics.

Even the sound has some kind of fault. The commentator, Clive Tyldesley, sounds more like a talk show host then a football commentator. At least, Andy Gray is still around. The songs which are played in the Menu is just decent, and the crowd noise isn't that great at times (What the heck are they chanting..?)

This game is further struck down on my list, because when I played the demo, the only teams available were: Munich, Barca, PSG, AC Milan and Man Yoo. Of all teams...Man Yoo.... The team which didn't win a single trophy last year....

Meeh.

Anyway, according to the boards, this review actually stands, because the difference between the demo and the actual game isn't that much. The major underwork, which is the graphics and the AI is about there.

Thank god for the demo. Saved me roughly 2 days of internet time.

So, if you are planning to get this game, don't. Even at gun point. There are better ways to die then watching your brain leap out of your head as your IQ points start to decrease as though the Big Show has just stepped off the weighing scale. Just wait for Winning Eleven 9 to be released on the PC.

Score: -10/10
--

Click here.

Watch. That. Now.

Trust me. It's the best video I've seen since like...ever.

It's worth the minute or two that you have to wait for it to load.

XD birthday dinner.

My parents decided to bring me and my bro out to dinner. Since this is like the first time in a gazillion years (ok, not that long) since we had some fancy dinner, we decided to go to Pariss in Marina Square.

After lunch and a bit of messing around, we finally reached Marina Square at around 4. Since we booked the table at 5:30, we got about an hour or more to mess around.

So, while my parents went off to shop or something, me and my bro hit the Arcade. The Marina Square Arcade isn't exactly that bad, with World Combat 2 and Ghost Squad.

Or so, we thought.

World Combat 2 was alright, but as I've given the review for GameFAQs, it sucks compared to World Combat 1.

Then, came ghost squad.

The great thing about that damned machine is that someone inserted something into the card slot, resulting in me not being able to insert my card, and hence, I have to play as a level 1 nub, using the submachine gun, instead of my usual uber spamming TR-14.

Good practise...

If only the damned gun is more accurate, and the trigger button is more responsive...>_>

Oh well.

As all bad things come, some good things must happen.

And it did.

After being bored with GS and WCII, we had 15 minutes left to burn, and hence, we decided to play our all time favourite game: Time Crisis II.

The result?



2nd in the top 5. Hehe. Anything above top 5 means that when the operators reset the machine, the scores won't be erased. Sure, this isn't like those super ones in TM, where you need to get 1.58mil and above to even have a chance to get into the top 5 (Top was close to 2mil, IIRC), but hey, this score is pretty decent for us who were not chasing a top 5 spot.

Anyway, after the stress relief, we went over to Pariss, and started our meal. The place there was fantastic, with a huge variety of food. Some of the food are cooked on the spot, so that you won't be eating a cold hard steak or something. Their method is tossing a clip with your table number labelled on it, onto a bowl labelled with the food that you want, for example, chicken chop, and they will send it to you. A pretty neat way to get warm food cooked on the spot, on top of those which are already cooked.

However, as the time went on, more people came to fill up the empty spaces. This is where the flaw of the "instant cook" idea fails. With so many people ordering different dishes, the cooks have no choice but to cook quickly. While the meat is still good, though it took longer, the seafood, cooked in a claypot fails utterly. The 5 minutes they spent warming the claypot resulted in the claypot being warmed alone, and hence, the food in it is NOT heated. I had the joy of eating a cold mushroom in a hot claypot...

Still, the food is excellent, with a wide choice of drinks available, and the service staff was pretty friendly, especially the supervisor who had to explain to my dad why the pricing in Marina Square is different than the one in Tampines Mall (About $10 difference), since we were eyeing the price that was given to us in Tampines Mall. Heck, I had a free glass of red wine on the house, and to ensure that my dad is able to drive home later, I took the liberity of drinking half the glass. XD

After the dessert (Horrible, I must say. The only other bad point about the resturant), we went to play a game of pool at the arcade once again. As my brother has mysterously turned seventeen, I had to disappear for a while. I did so by watching some pros (4 of them) playing World Combat II, and then some nubs getting owned in Stage 1 of Time Crisis II. After 7 minutes, I entered the pool area without much of a problem, because I do look seventeen.

According to my brother, the guys were not exactly convinced that my brother was sixteen. Rofl. But still, my dad simply showed up, tossed his I/C (in our case, the FIN card) in his Moustached face, before picking the balls and walking to our table.

So, those guys obviously don't like us, as much as we don't like them.

It's obvious, since my mom, who had no experience in playing Pool, was trying to learn in an empty table beside us. Those dudes decided to use the microphone to tell us not to use that table.

It gets better.

We decided to take a few pictures as well, since the next time we get such a family outing is probably in December. However, this moustached dude appeared again and told us that no photography is allowed.

Oh well. Suit themselves.

Simply put: The arcade in Marina Square sucks. Machines that arn't working. Computers rusting away in a corner (there's another Lan Cafe, Raiders, just outside, and its packed with people. Why? It has newer comps. Nuff said.). The pool is charged at a rather steep price ($8 per hour? O_o), and the service sucks.

I'm not going back there again. Except perhaps to look at my high score. LoL.

GSD Episode 2

-A quick recap of the last episode
-Ignited played, without minus the 1st 14 seconds of the song. The part where Stellar and Shinn were shown together is still cut.
-Shinn and Impulse battle the 3 stolen machines, but he's losing to the numbers game, although Shinn did manage to hold himself out well.
-Stellar decides to go solo, and ignores Sting's command to retreat, deciding to take down Impulse instead.
-Lunamaria and Rey appears.
-Auel uses one of Stellar's forbidden words, "die".
-Stellar snaps, and decides to retreat.
-While Shinn is chasing the three retreating Gundams, Sting manages to take out Impulse's Excalibur Sword.
-Shinn immediately orders a switch of kits, switching to Force Silhouette, which grants Impulse a much needed speed boost.
-Lunamaria suffers from thruster damage, and has to head back to the Minerva.
-Meanwhile, Athrun and Cagalli also heads to the Minerva.
-Cagalli accidently blurts out Athrun's name.
-Episode ends with Minerva launching into space to help out the troops who are fighting in space, as the three stolen Gundams are to be picked up outside.
--

"The thing is, Bsc computer science with the most specialised electives are mostly offered by UK iniversities. I didn't see much in US or Spore."

T_T

I know I should not be selfish...but still....

Sigh.

Goodbye, I guess...

Inject F.E.A.R. into your opponents, online.

While I was searching for a suitable program to stress test my graphics card, I stumbled onto the F.E.A.R. Multiplayer demo.

Needless to say, since I enjoyed the single player quite a bit, I downloaded and played it for about half an hour every day, before lunch after I returned from school.

Well, it was pretty interesting, to say the least.

After installing and configuring the settings, you simply click on the multiplayer option, before choosing a server of your choice. On joining the server, you will be given a choice of weapons to select, namely a dual piston, a submachine gun, an assault rifle, a Sniper type rifle, and a penetrator.

However, anyone who has played the single player demo will know that this isn't your normal FPS multiplayer.

Reason: Slow-mo

Slow mo is a way to slow down everyone around you, except yourself, who is able to move in perfectly normal speed.

Initially, I feared that everyone would have slow mo, and hence, the game will be played...pretty much in slow mo.

Thankfully, I was wrong. There's a booster found in every map, which allows the one who carries it to have the slow-mo ability, after roughly 20 seconds of charge.

The catch? Everyone knows that you have it, and your location is displayed on everyone's HUD.

Expected to be hunted down, especially in Slow-mo DM map types.

However, the Slow-mo, once you have successfully allowed it to charge, can be devasting. See a bunch of dudes duking it out in the center of the map? Activate slow mo, and pump lead right into their heads, as they are almost defenseless against the slow mo.

Another plus point for this game is the melee attack. No, I'm not talking about the crowbar or the knife in CS. I'm talking about slide kicking, bicycle kick, round house kick, or simply punches type of melee. While holding a weapon, you can humliliate your opponent by slide kicking him, dealing 100 global damage (i.e., if you haev 35 armor and 100 health, you will be left with 35 health) to him instantly because you are supposed to be some sort of hyper juiced up soldier. The beauty of this is the lack of a need to backstab the guy by shooting at him, which may result in him turning around and somehow getting a headshot on you. Simply stalk him until you are in range, then slide him to death. The results are truely satisfying when you can do it properly. Even better is the ability to holster your weapon, allowing you move at almost 2 times the speed then you would have had with a weapon. This allows you to perform melee attacks much more easily. So, if you are planning to go on a full melee round (like what I usually do), simply holster your weapon, and slide kick everyone. You'll be surprised as to how many frags you can get this way, if you can get close enough. This is due to people usually aiming higher than chest level, in order to get a headshot, and is hence unable to go against you hopping towards them, before slide kicking them. If you are on a Slow-mo server, that's even better, activate it, and see them doing absolutely nothing as you jump kick right into their faces.

However, the multiplayer does have a few draw backs. First of all, a few weapons are grossly overpowered. For example, the 10mm penetrator is a favourite among almost everyone, due to it's high damage output. While everyone is complaining that the 10mm is too strong, it actually isn't. In my opinion, the assault rifle (G2AS) is much stronger, due to the fact that it's all rounded. Sure, the 10mm can work great in long distances, but, in short range, it's slow Rate of Fire (ROF) is what kills it. Sure, in the short range, the Shotgun is king, but the shotgun is close to useless when you are fighting it at long distances. Hence, the G2AS is the one which is overpowered, since it works rather well in short distance, as you can jump all over the place, and all your bullets can still hit the enemy. In medium distance, it's the best, and at long, it can still grab a few frags here and there. The incredibily high recoil which was in the Single player is no where to be seen in the multiplayer. In fact, the slight recoil is the one which helps you to get the headshots when shooting.

While some guns are overpowered, some are incredibily underpowered, The dual pistols are cool to use, but they are close to useless, with their weak damage, and their insanely high recoil. The submachine gun is nice, but with the rifle, you should be using the rifle instead, since the rifle does not have an insanely high recoil.

Also, this game does not have a balance for servers with lesser people. The Type-7 particle beam, isn't great in maps with a lot of people, because no one likes anyone who uses that 1hit kill weapon. However, as the weapon has roughly 1.5x the firing rate of the rail guns in the Quake Series, it is incredibily deadly in small servers, like those with roughly 5 people playing in it. All someone need to do is to hog the slow-mo booster (as there isn't a lot of people to hunt you down), and carry the Type 7. Once you see someone, activate the Slow-mo, and fire. Insanely overpowered.

The game modes themselves isn't that great either. CTF, DM and team elimination (Think Counter strike without the objectives). CTF is boring as hell, because flag runners simply holster their weapon, before running the flag, moving at insane speed. The map chosen in the demo isn't that fantastic either, as it's cramped on the second level, allowing the melee fighters to have quite a nice chance with their melee attacks, since the slide kick is so powerful. Team elimination isn't my type of game, especially since they have it a little to realistic (you usually die if you are spotted first)

The last part of the downside of this multiplayer is that they use Gamespy's servers, which to be honest, sucks. Anyone creating a server that uses a firewall won't be sending full information to the Gamespy servers, and hence, their ping isn't shown. Hence, their servers will be bumped all the way to the end of the list if you sort the servers by ping. So, there's a decent server which hosts a melee only game, but you probably won't see it. Also, the lack of a favourites part in the server means that you have to refresh the whole list everytime.

But still, so far, it's a great game, inspite of all its flaws. It is still high on my "To-buy" list.

Demo review, 8.5/10

*"So, you've finally found me."

OOC: Note: Bleach knowledge required to understand this story.

Rey sighed inwardly, as he looked at the figure in front of him.

"So, you've finaly found me.", the object in front of Rey repeated, as if thinking that Rey did not hear him correctly.

Rey cleared his throat, before speaking in a formal voice.

"Sagara Sajin, former captain of the 10th division. You are under arrest for 2 counts of attempted murder, unauthorised entry into the 12th Divison's research headquarters and leaving Soul Society without proper permission."

"It's best that you surrender now."

Sajin laughed after hearing the charges.

"So, I'm former captain now? That's fast."

"As for whether I am going to be arrested...that all depends on you, isn't it?"

Rey knew that this is going to happen, the fact that Sajin was going to resist capture. Rey was hoping for the slightest of chances that Sajin was simply going to surrender, and perhaps, Rey could beg the Council to spare Sajin's life.

Guess it isn't going to happen today, Rey's mind smiled at his own stupidity.

sssss... smacked Rey back to reality, as Sajin took unshealthed his sword, readying himself for a duel.

No, not just any duel.

A duel, to death.

"What do you say, Captain of the 3rd squad? Just like the old times, yeah?" Sajin said, smiling.

Old times indeed. Rey could remember every single detail in their history together. Both got into the Special Advanced Class together, became officers at roughly the same time, and pretty much stood for their captaincy trials together.

Plenty of history.

And it all comes down to this.

"Look, this isn't worth it. Lay down your sword, and your life could be spared. Stop being stupid!" Rey shouted one last time, trying to knock some sense into Sajin.

Sajin simply responded by rushing forward, his sword ready to taste Rey's blood.

Rey simply sidestepped, before drawing his sword to parry the follow up swing by Sajin. Sajin tried once more to find an opening by stabbing towards Rey's chest, but that was parried once again, allowing the sword to hit empty air.

Without waiting for Sajin to recover, Rey kicked Sajin in his chest, sending the other man flying towards the opposing wall. A huge thunderous crash was heard, before layers of dust appeared as Sajin was drove right through the concrete.

But still, Sajin merely picked himself up.

As is expected from any Captain.

"Damnit." Sajin swore to no one but himself, as he faced Rey once again.

"Kashou, KakiKitsune!" Sajin shouted. (OOC: Burn him, Fire fox!)

Instantly, the sword which was once shining at a colour of dull silver, turned red hot. Jets of flames appeared, as the fire which appeared from no where engulfed Sajin's sword, changing it into one which had no definate shape, as the fire used the sword as a dancing platform, gently licking the air around it.

A truely beautiful sight.

"Oh..god..no..." Rey almost moaned, as he watched Sajin releasing his Zanpaktou.

The situation has just changed into something totally different.

"Kakeru Minamikaze, KyuutenKouryou!" Rey muttered, holding his sword in front of him. (OOC: Take flight through the southern winds, Heavenly Dragon! Note: Translation is horrible. XD)

Immediately, the air around Rey started to move, as the sword began to breathe, almost as if it was alive. As the sword slowly sucked in air around it, the colour of the sword changed steadily from one that is of dull grey, to one which is pearl white. The shape, which was twisting after the sword was released, settled down into one which resembled a short sword, except that it's main point was never steadily at one place, as it swayed gently as if it's a blade of grass being carassed by the wind.

Without anytime for rest after Rey has released his Zanpaktou, Rey was forced to sidestep once again in order to avoid a lunge by Sajin. However, at this distance, the heat from Sajin's sword, KakiKitsune was just as dangerous as that of the blade itself. Rey felt a slight pain in his arm as skin began to peel off, due to the effects of the heat.

Sensing some sort of victory, Sajin pressed on, pushing Rey to be on the defensive. A short stab here, and slash there, Rey was slowly losing control of the battle, as he found him self being pushed backwards slowly, as he tried hard to step out of the way from the attacks.

Until, he has decided that it's time to fight back.

Parrying a stab by Sajin instead of merely avoiding it, Rey attacked Sajin via a direct stab that was aiming for Sajin's chest. Sajin immediately tried to counter it.

But to Sajin's surprise, KyuutenKouryou did not make contact with KakiKitsune.

Instead, it travelled around Sajin's sword, delivering a gash at the center of Sajin's chest.

Blood immediately flowed from the chest of Sajin, as though they were POWs in a concentration camp who found that their guards had suddenly decided to travel to some where in southern Afganistan.

Leaping backwards, Sajin sent a burning fox towards Rey.

Rey simply stood still.

The fox roared as it rushed towards Rey, sensing blood from a defenseless prey.

It was wrong.

It was simply blown away by Rey's sword, KyuutenKouryou.

"You can't beat me with your Shikai, obviously. Fire can never win against the wind. Further more, KyuutenKouryou can absorb anything you throw at me."

"I say this one last time. Give up." Rey shouted at the kneeling body of Sajin.

Sajin decided not to reply, but instead shouted.

"Bankai!"

Suddenly, a huge screen of smoke surrounded Sajin, making Rey being unable to see through towards Sajin. (OOC: Isn't that what always happens in the Manga? Rofl.)

A gust of wind was enough to remove that visual obstruction.

However, as the wind slowly parted, Rey was slightly shocked by the sight that's in front of his eyes.

A huge fox that was bathed in white flame was staring right back at him, with Sajin standing between his front paws.

"Ouja KakiKitsune." Sajin whispered in a deadly tone that was dripping with venom. (OOC: Monarch of the fire foxes)

Once again, the battle was brought to another new level.

Kakikitsune roared in a manner which would have scared away even the strongest of all lions, before running towards Rey, who sent a wave of wind towards the huge fox.

It had no effect whatsoever, for the pillar of fire was so huge, that considerably small breeze of wind merely distorted the shape of it's leg, before another patch of fire replaced those which was blown away, just like soldiers who would take over their fallen comrades just to maintain the front line.

Rey was forced to leap backwards. Death, it seems, was knocking at his toilet door.

Not if he can do something about it.

"Damnit, you leave me with no choice, Sajin.."

"Bankai." Rey muttered, as he released his grip on his sword.

Instead of falling straight to the ground thanks to gravity, KyuutenKouryou started spinning in midair, defying all the laws of physics.

Then, thousands of swords appeared from out of nowhere. However, unlike KyuutenKouryou, which is a sword by nature, these swords have a transparent look on them.

Sword made of air.

All of them started to spin with almost the same frequency, resulting in a blur of swords which stacked up to almost 30 stories high.

Simply put, a tornado made of swords.

"KyuutenKouryou Konton." Rey whispered, almost a greeting to his Zanpaktou's final form. (OOC: Chaos of the Heavenly Dragon.)

The thousands of swords passed through Rey, standing in front of its master, ready to meet the fire fox head on.

The fire fox, undeterred by the display of power, rushed towards Rey's sword.

A bad bad choice.

What one sword cannot do, a few million swords can, as the fire fox was sliced into pieces by KyuutenKouryou, before it was blown away into the sky by the wind.

It's sword, back to its original form, flew right back at Sajin, who caught it with some difficulty.

"I've... not lost yet...Rey...." Sajin whispered.

"One, final, trick."

"Watch"

Suddenly, Sajin reached backwards, and pulled something from his back.

A hollow mask.

Rey sighed one last time.

"You are really thick, arn't you?" Rey asked.

"Whaa..?" Sajin, who has expected shock from Rey, was surprised by Rey's response.

"Have you ever wondered, why, I've always beaten you in any spar? Have you ever thought of the reason that I'm the only one being sent to capture you, one of a captain class?"

"Have you also questioned the reason that I always wear a jacket, no matter how hot it is?"

"Let me show tell you why." Rey whispered, as his hands slowly unzipped his jacket.

Sajin gasped.

A hollow hole was right below Rey's neck.

"You're Allankar?!?" Sajin, his turn to be surprised.

"how..How..did you get into Soul Society? How..did you pass the captain's exam? How....?" Sajin, absolutely lost for words, has somewhat suddenly lost it.

"Simple. My sword covers what I want to cover." Rey replied.

Suddenly, a huge amount of spiritual pressure from Rey caused Sajin to fall to his knees, unable to move even an inch.

"Really, I've given you a chance, so that you can be stronger by joining us." Rey replied with mock sadness, as his face shows otherwise.

"Sadly, it seems like you are just another idiot."

"We can't have people like you in our group. It reveals our identies too easily."

Rey looked one last time into the eyes of a human.

They were pleading for mercy.

Rey stepped closer, KyuutenKouryou in his hand, almost humming with what its about to do.

"Gomen."

"And..Sayonara..."*

OOC: Hmm, roughly 2 hours, and I got this done. Getting names for the characters and the swords sure was hard..>_<, especially when I don't even know Japanese. Needed to use all sorts of translators to get plenty of the words translated. I'm very sure I definately got something wrong. LoL.

Oh well. It was fun, and definately enjoyable.

Damned MJC. ^_^

Over the span of 2 days, I was forced to waste 6 hours of my life doing a paper which came from a school which I was rejected from more then a year ago.

And as if the school was laughing at me, the paper annoyed me.

Totally.

It's the first time I could not complete a question regarding Newton Raphson......

...?

Baaaaah.

Damned MJC. =)

October 18th...

Quake IV, F.E.A.R., Serious Sam II and Age of Empires III.

Man, I won't have enough hard disc spac-, I mean, money to buy all that games..>_<

Chelsea FTW!

Liverpool 1 - 4 Chelsea.

After the demolition of Liverpool by Chelsea, I wonder if people will seriously start looking at them like a team, instead of things such as toys....

Oh well. Jealously is a powerful feeling. =D

*sings*
--

Song of (whatever) switched to Cloud Smiles from the FFVII:AC soundtrack.

Gundam Seed Destiny Review, and its Dub's first impression.

Note: This WILL contain Gundam Seed Destiny spoilers, as the review is based on that of the plot. If you don't want to be spoiled, please do not read this review.

So, finally.

10am or so, Hiro has released Gundam Seed Destiny Phase 50, while XeroSux has released it a few hours earlier. Had I woke up a few hours earlier, I would have watched the one from XeroSux first.

Anyway, because of the debute of Gundam Seed Destiny on Kidscentral (Singapore is the first in the world to show it with dubs. Before America! \o/ Talk about a first.), and that my parents won't leave the house till roughly 3, I had to wait till 3 to watch Phase 50 (Final Phase), although I obtained the show at like 11am thanks to the high speed bots Hiro provides.

And so, the moment my parents stepped out of the door, I clicked excitedly on the file, my heart actually beating fast, wanting to see how Gundam Seed Destiny ends.

After watching, I have to say that the show was excellent, but it did lack quite a bit of things hanging.

Anyway, before we get to that, let me talk about the whole show first. Gundam Seed Destiny is the second season of Gundam Seed. It takes place 2 years after the end of Gundam Seed. The whole story of Gundam Seed Destiny can be summerised by something like "Blue Cosmos started war against the ZAFT. The ZAFT fought back and won. Then ZAFT turned evil and wanted to control the world. So, Kira and Co came in and defeated ZAFT".

Er..yeah, that's about the jist of it. However, as many of them say, Gundam Seed Destiny is not an anime where you simply see machines trashing each other, but they try to develop characters as well.

Unfortuntately, that's the downside of this anime.

This anime has started brillently, with Shinn Asuka, a new character in Gundam Seed Destiny, showing his hatered towards ORB. Athrun, a hero back in Gundam Seed, will end up being the one to straighten him out, and their friendship somewhat developed from there. This ends at around episode 26, when during a battle against the EAF, the Blue Cosmos' pawn, Freedom, piloted by Kira (another hero back in GS), killed a friend of Shinn and Athrun's. It is around that time, when the series started sliding downhill, as Athrun, a very decent character who is strong, becomes rather confused as to what he's fighting for.

So, it is also around that time when Kira and the rest of his friends from GS appeared in the series (they did appear in GSD in other episodes, but made little of no impact to the storyline). This is when the makers of GSD, Fukuda, tried to develop a little too many characters, but ended up messing up plenty of it. Athrun and Kira's
characters were developed with the help of 1 recap episode, but other characters with plenty of potential, such as Lunamaria and Meyin Hawke was developed poorly. Heck, one of the main villians of the show, Chairman Gilbert Dullindal, was hardly developed. Roaming thorugh message boards has allowed me to find others who agree with me that Fukuda messed the development up.

The high point of the show was when Shinn defeated Kira in episode 34. However, the show has effectively ended there, as after episode 34, we see Athrun escaping ZAFT and heading for the ArchAngel with Meyrin Hawke. During the escape, Shinn was forced to destroy Athrun (and hence Meyrin). However, after Meyrin had supposedly died, the relationship between Shinn an Lunamaria picked up, the only high point in the series after episode 34.

Sadly, after that, it has been boring all the way.

Even though the series was supposed to end at episode 50, there were 3 filler (recap episodes and episodes with little or no development of the storyline) episodes, including 2 back to back ones (47 and 48), something which has caused an uproar within the fans.

In the ending of Gundam Seed Destiny, we see the fights between Shinn and Athrun, and also between Rey and Kira. Both fights were eagerly anticipated by many, but both fights ended within 5 minutes, with the former getting trashed a little too easily (everyone hoped for a fight such as that found in episode 34, where Shinn took on Kira).

Truely disappointing. However, it is understandable, since there isn't time for two super fights.

The storyline, in a whole, was generally alright, with a few plot twists here and there. Of course, as I've said, the storyline, was in a downward spiral after episode 34, but still, the excellent parts of the starting of Gundam Seed Destiny more then made up for it.

As the storyline died in the later episodes, so did the music. The downward trend started with the 3rd Ending theme (I wanna go to a place... by Rie Fu), and hit rock bottom with the 4th opening theme (Wing of Words by Chemistry). Still, the background music and the insert songs (Vestige and Honoo no Tobira) more then made up for it. Still, while there was no screw ups with Gundam Seed's themes (with the slight exception of River, the 2nd ending theme), Fukuda messed up the 3rd ending and the 4th opening theme (I remember a fansubber saying how he hated timing the songs. LoL).

Why can't Fukuda simply made the dream anime everyone was wishing for (at least, I am one of them..LoL), whereby Shinn and Co fights along side Kira and Co. It seemes to be heading in that direction, before it somehow messed up somewhere near the end.

Gah.

The machines themselves are nice, however, Kira and Co seems to have their Gundams a little overpowered. We all know that Kira has an inbuilt aimbot in his brain. Combine that with a Dragoon pack (the little cannons you deploy so as to help you attack) on Strike Freedom (The name sure is original..>_>)? A gold gundam?

Er..

At least the ones from ZAFT is nice, especially Impulse and Destiny. Legend looks simply horrible, but since it's styled after Providence from GS, it does not have too much room for creativity.

The ending of GSD is somewhat similar to that of GS, where Fukuda simply hangs you at the end after Kira (him again. Rofl) has killed the enemy, in this case, Chairman Gilbert Dullindal. After that, the ending credits roll, leaving so many questions unanswered, among them..:

-What's going to happen to the relationship between Shinn and Lunamaria..?
-What about Meyrin?

Shinn and Lunamaria, as I've said before, was probably one of the best pairings in GSD for me (Many will disagree, since they find that Shinn is a chaotic ass.). Sadly, the link was not developed well, as it happened during the time when Kira and Co took centre stage, hence leaving little time for development of the relationship, because Fukada was working on Kira and Athrun. During that time, Shinn was protrayed as an insane maniac who isn't sure what he's fighting for. Even before that, fans of Athrun and Kira were already hating him, the former for Shinn constantly miocking Athrun after Athrun's defeat to Kira, while the latter loathing him because Shinn destroyed Freedom. There isn't a week where I can't find words such as "SHINN IS AN ASSHOLE" in IRC. Perhaps that is why many hated the relationship between Shinn and Lunamaria.

Well, I'm a Shinn fan. LoL.

The ending leaves a rather bitter after taste, but I have seen worse endings afterall....

All in all, a rather disappointing run towards the end. I had hoped that the final 2 episodes will redeem the entire series, but I was wrong. It can simply be seen when Shinn tried to attack Lunamaria because Lunamaria was blocking Shinn from attacking Athrun (Athrun then pwned Shinn in 5 seconds.).

Bloody hell...what really was Fukada doing? >_>

Still, the starting parts made up for it, particularly the ones before Bandai Licensed it (Coincidence? XD). A decent anime, if you go by average.

6.5/10 from the bird. The poor ending was just a little too much for me.



Up in smoke, just like the plot...



Boom. Sayonara, Gundam Seed Destiny

Anyway, with GSD, there was quite an interesting stuff going on between sub groups. There were like 4 groups which started subbing, but after episode 6, only 2 of them remained, namely AnimeOne/Anime-Kingdom and SEED-Fansubs. Both were quality subs, that is to say that they take their time to sub the titles, releasing the titles usually on Wednesday. When GSD was licensed by Bandai at episode 19, AnimeONE/Anime-Kingdom dropped it because it's not their policy to sub licensed animes, as they are based in America. SEED-fansubs continued. At episode 20, Haro^2Tori^2 appeared, bringing back the memories of Haro^2 from Gundam Seed, the ones who subbed GS even after it's licensed. (HaroTori)^2 is also a quality sub, which releases its releases slowly.

At episode 21, a new sub group called Cellphone^2 appeared. They had quality, and speed, which made them very popular after a few episodes. They usually try to release their subs by Sunday afternoon, which is within 24 hours of it's airing in Japan.

However, at episode 39, Cellphone^2 disbanded, reportedly due to an encoder leaving the group (he was asleep, which resulted in the 24 hour deadline not being met). After that, a few members of cellphone^2 joined some other staff from Nanashi, creating Hiro. Their quality was not as good as that from Cellphone^2, but no one really complained, as they had speed.

At episode 47, one more new group appeared, calling themselves XeroSux. Xero is a member of Cellphone^2 and Hiro, and a few said that he was one of the reason why Cellphone^2 disbanded. XeroSux was reportedly made up by the other half of Cellphone^2 staff which did not join Hiro.

Plenty of action on the Fansubs front. :D

--

The ending of GSD also marks the day which Singapore shows GSD dubbed in Singapore. Although it's in dual audio, where you can switch to Japanese audio and read the English subtitles, I decided to listen it in English. It was rather horrible, as is most dubs, but still, not as bad as those in Gundam Seed. At least they got more or less the plot and the speeches right, instead of twisting it horribily. The voices were also pretty decent, with the exception of Meyrin's voice.

Episode 1 summary:

-We see the part when Freedom was fighting to protect ORB during one of its fights found in GS. Shinn and his family (Mayu! <3) were running towards a ship which will transport the refugees to safety. Sadly, an explosion of a Gundam on the ground killed Shinn's family, who was saved as he was helping his sister, Mayu, to recover her handphone. The scenes ends with Shinn crying and shouting into the sky in anger.

-Next, we see Cagalli and Athrun, disguised as Alex Dino, her bodyguard, visits PLANT, and holds a meeting with chairman Dullindal. The subject is as to the military might of PLANT (or something of that sort. LoL).

-During that time, 3 new machines, Gaia, Abyss and Chaos were stolen by 3 unknown terrorists (Yay for everyone spoiling it, saying that they are the extended. \o/)

-Chaos..yada yada yada...Athrun and Cagalli went into a ZAKU for protection.

-It ends with Impulse, piloted by Shinn, being deployed to tackle the 3 stolen machines. Gilbert's words 'No princess, Strength is a necessity; There will always be conflict' ends the episode.

Remember to catch ig every sunday, 11am, only on KidsCentral! The first 19 episodes are worth it. Trust me.