Malaysiaku Gemilang

So much of a Merdeka celebration here in Kelantan. There was no obvious celebration being held, other than some random light display of fireworks. My neighbours can do that better during Chinese New Year. No countdown party. No special concert. No gatherings. Just a bunch of mat rempits cruising with flag poles attached to their mopeds, exclaiming “Merdeka, merdeka, merdeka!“

50 years and still strong.50 years of glorious nationhood and monumental achievements.50 years of internal conflicts and political dilemma.50 years of togetherness in unity, despite of the hypocrisy.50 years of freedom in speech dignifying human rights.Happy 50th birthday to Malaysia.Even my beloved country Malaysia do has her own flaws but we did prove of our wits in ways that many did not expect. Malaysia is still young and got many to learn about especially in strengthening unity. Obviously the government denies this fact but we Malaysians are not lame people (well, mostly). If we are so united as claimed, why unnecessary issues such as racism, Negarakuku freedom of speech, and unquestionable special rights are still the talk of masses? Even the global observers whom most Malaysians dubbed as the unruly western media are aware of our petty crises. Whether we like it or not, we as Malaysians must accept the fact that racial unity is still a major concern to this fragile nation. Without equality, there will be no unity.Hey! I am not going to ruin the jovial mood of Merdeka spirit. I am saying this as a response to this news article, so don’t backlash me for no freaking reason. Anyway let us celebrate the day which we cherish in our heart and let us protect the peace which we had been defending for the past 50 years. Happy Merdeka!

Romeo x Juliet (Episode 16)

Tonight is Merdeka eve. Let the nation’s golden celebration begins as Malaysia ushers its 50 years of independence. This calls for patriotism. Even I am celebrating it with my blog. Merdeka greetings to all Malaysians.

It has been a very long time ever since I reviewed Romeo x Juliet to the extend that I had forgotten the names of certain characters, other than the obvious ones. I cannot guarantee you that I will hasten my review for Romeo x Juliet as I have other commitments to attend to for this weekend. What’s more, it’s Merdeka Day soon. Putting that aside, the story has reached a surprising turn as we had witnessed the possibility for the bitter ties between Hermione and Juliet might get better. As far as the story is concerned, the story’s development in this episode is only a little – considerably slow. Basically we get to see Hermione committing to idiotic decisions which reaches to the sudden change of her thoughts of Juliet. I can’t say if she would reconcile to Juliet but things might get better between the two. Also there is another imminent possibility. With Mercutio growing closer with Montague, he might be slated to replace his own father Titus. Maybe in the extreme scenario, Montague might consider to have Mercutio to resume Romeo’s position. Well those are speculations only.

“I am so lonely. Please take me to your bed tonight.”

With the news of the earthquake in Gradisca, Hermione went after Mercutio to ask about Romeo’s well being. Mercutio told her the facts that Romeo is away from harm. Even so, Hermione begged to Mercutio to persuade the Duke to bring Romeo back to Neo Verona and blame it all to Juliet. Then she decided to go to the Gradisca mine herself to go after Romeo. Well Mercutio could not care less anyway. Meanwhile Juliet was still on the way to Mantua with the rest inside the carriage, then had a rest stop. At that time, Antonio approached Juliet to ask her if she truly loves Romeo. The answer is obvious but she added that it was not timely for her to be together with him just yet. Francisco on the other hand talked over with Curio that he might have lost his chance to be with Juliet as she was won over by Romeo. And of course, Curio denied such a feeling towards his beloved maiden. While Mercutio who is with Montague, was asked about his opinion of his father Titus. He was quite frank to say that his father did not use advantage of his authority most of the time, wasting himself with wine. Montague then suggested a stiff action to be taken against Titus. Suddenly Hermione’s parents came over to meet the Duke, informed of Hermione escaping from the Keep. Meanwhile Hermione was riding the carriage.

Darker Than Black (Episode 20)

I’ve just updated the download page, adding a few more songs into the collection. Do please check it out. On another note, I had just got myself episode 16 of Romeo x Juliet (finally). A full review will come soon.

What an eye opener! This episode has revealed the truth behind contractors, not for its history but the difference that put them apart from humans. Keep a fact in mind that contractors are no different from human because they are humans to begin with. Exception for Mao who has an animal body but with a human conscious. I like the fact that the episode posed a strong emotion without going through those emotional ups and downs. Don’t worry, you feel depressed watching this but you will be able to connect to the character emotionally. Surprisingly even Huang is included to this equation. In fact this also would be the first for his character to develop and for him to show his lesser known softer side. By now, we have all the main characters covered, all except for Mao. I wonder if there will ever be a feature episode for Mao. The poor fellow has not been in the limelight just because he is an animal. Come on now, we don’t like animal cruelty go about around here.

Huang may not be typical Prince Charming material but he’s there to save our fair lady.

Huang had a meeting with Hei and Mao, passing the instrucion to make another assassination attempt on Alma and to dispose of Shihoko. For this particular task, Huang is joining along as well. After Huang left, Mao also passed another order from the Syndicate to kill Huang if he is unable to complete that task. Then it’s action time. They had easily infiltrated the religion centre and secured Shihoko. After asking directions from her, Hei made haste towards Alma’s location while she and Huang made their escape. Hei confronted Amagiri as he tried to convince Hei to join their side as requested by Amber herself though he intended to kill him instead. Hei took cover and suddenly a secret trap door opened up with Alma calling Hei in. Amagiri then completed his remuneration by eating hard-boiled eggs, giving orders to quit chasing Hei and give more priority on getting the dolls. He added that the Prophet Alma is no longer useful. While driving Shihoko away, Huang expressed his thoughts of her that she used him to get information on Isozaki whom she assassinated six years ago.

Work and Play in Penang

If you had been wondering where I have been missing to last week, the answer will be Penang. Last week I had a call of duty to serve in the annual health exhibition in conjunction of the Convocation Expo (CONVEX) this year. Not surprising enough I was working for the dietetics booth for the CONVEX, so I was there on official business. If you work hard, you play hard. We left the Kelantan campus about 10.30 p.m. and arrived in Penang early morning, probably about 6 a.m. What a disappointing start, I tell myself. The bus took us to Gelugor for some lousy breakfast and the driver refused to take us to the main campus, claiming that the gate is still closed. Leaving us with no option, we took breakfast there. Once reaching campus, we received yet another surprise. We were given only one room. Imagine all 40-50 male students fit into just 2 rooms. Even the sardines inside those canned food have some extra room. Obviously I won’t be staying there. Thankfully my friend had arranged me a place to stay inside the same campus in another room. Goodbye claustrophobia.

Patiently Waiting Cafe isn’t exactly convincing to name a cafe.

Arrived at our destination – Desasiswa Restu

The convoy of buses from Kelantan.

The reason why I did not want to sleep here.

Darker Than Black (Episode 19)

I know that I am going over the top on this episode’s review but this episode is can be simply be expressed in one word – coolness. So we have the story about Huang this time. He’s a less preferred character in this story, known for his ass-wit attitude. However going over this episode, there is more than meets the eye for Huang. He is not such a bad ass after all. All I am saying that you don’t necessary see Huang in his mechanical nature but surprisingly his softer emotional side – something human for a change. But not much though. Also there are more things of his past had really caught me unprepared, for instance that he used to work for the Japanese police before joining the Syndicate. It’s too bad that not much is known about the Syndicate so far, even after this episode. To the least, we get a fair share of Huang’s history. Also the noir movie element is infused this time especially during flashbacks of Huang’s past. Not to say that the theme of the story this time is of dark nature but noir (black in French) feeling is there. Not bad for anime directing.

Shihoko

“I lust for blood…”

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (Episode 3)

I am trying my best to catch up with all the anime reviews since I have assignments needing my attention for the coming days. With this reason, I may consider on dropping one of an anime title to make up time for my hectic schedule.

I know that Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is one crazy anime but the opening scene this time is just mindless. Not ridiculous but mindless. So, we have a fugitive appeared to be running away from the police. After that she found herself a TV and she switched it on. I was lost while watching it. Furthermore Nozomu is easily depressed on many matter including petty ones and those that do not concern him. Most of the time when he feels depressed, he intended to commit suicide. Despite of this, all of his attempts are a failure and this makes me wonder if he truly is a great failure. Even suicide is such a hassle for him. To the least, his antics never fail to amuse me. Yet the episode this time did not punch up much laughters compared to the last two episodes. But what the heck anyway, it’s a great show to watch.

Remember this guy?

Days later Nozomu announced to the class that a test will be held next week. Accustomed to the class’ antics – from a stalker and a girl paying his license for naming him “Pink Supervisor”, he continued on to convey his zero-expectation to his class for the test. Not much a motivation you need from a teacher. However Chiri protested his remark, saying that he will be removed from his job if his class fared badly. Nozomu was confident as the oversea student is returning, having the believe of a higher standard overseas will make the student smarter and is able to raise the class average. That is his usual stereotypic thinking. However when a student said that a student is not enough to raise the class average, Nozomu gotten depressed and intended to kill himself – again. Then Kafuka suggested that the student from the oversea class would be a returnee. Hearing this, Nozomu gotten depressed as the student might be correcting him all the time and again he resorted to suicide.

The Simpsons Movie (Movie Review)

Finally, America’s most dysfunctional family is back on the big screen. Against the popular CGI (computer graphic animation), The Simpsons Movie is all traditional 2D for the old time sake because we all love the Simpsons in yellow 2D. It tooks decades for Matt Groening to have the world to grow fond and love this crazy family. With their comeback on the silver screen, the remaining question is will The Simpsons would make any difference in the movie format? Quite common that we enjoy to have only 30 minutes of The Simpsons on TV but how about lengthen it to 1 hour and 15 minutes? Would the writers even considered on improvising from the original theme or characters of this story? Ever since the announcement on April 2006, fans had been anticipating this for more than a year before its release on this summer of 2007. In fact, when the movie was announced on 1 April 2006, people thought that this was one of those April Fool pranks 20th Century Fox intended to do. It seems that the fans were foolish to not to believe it. By the way, the following synopsis will contain spoilers.

Watch out, the Simpsons are back. This time, on theater.

Homer is in hotter soup than ever.

Darker Than Black (Episode 18)

The bus ride back to Kelantan is like taking a long haul flight. I’m feeling fatigued from the trip, feeling sleepy throughout the day. When I’m tired, I get cranky. It felt like jet lag somehow.

This episode is more entertaining compared to the previous one in the sense that it is more emotional. The writers were able to put in more emotion to the characters and literally to the doll. I mean the doll is smiling, suggesting the doll may not be as what many would think. The idea of the possibility for a doll to turn human-like is there. Well that’s good news for Hei in his loli-seeking love. What’s more is that the BGM for this episode is another job well done – a signature work of Yoko Kanno. Those jazzy tunes really fit the mood of the episode (towards the end) making this arc ended in perfect absolution. This episode also hinted that Hei really cares for Yin – that we know all too well but this time, Hitotsubashi had brought up the question and this tests Hei’s true feeling for Yin. Nothing naughty I hope.

Kenji is begging Hei for his help.

The episode began with Hitotsubashi awaken from his dream about his past by a phone call, confirming that the Nakazawa gang leader is dead. Meanwhile Kenji tried to reason himself with Hei, saying that he had fallen for the doll and wanted to make her happy. He also decided to flee Tokyo with her. Hei doubted it was impossible for him as Kenji knows nothing about dolls. At the club, Hitotsubashi had received the news about Kenji taking the doll away. He was furious about the timing of the events – happening right after they assassinated the leader. So he ordered his people to catch Kenji and the doll. Misaki and Kanami were shopping together in the mall when Misaki set sight to whom she thought to be BK201. Obviously this guy is Hei but Misaki didn’t know that BK201 is actually Hei. So when he turned around with lipstick-shaped taser pointed at him, Misaki was surprised to see that the guy is actually Li (Hei’s alias). Furthermore she caught him at a wrong time when Hei was shopping for women clothings (in this case, a bra). Even Kanami came in at the wrong time, seeing Misaki together with Li shopping for a bra. After making his purchase, Hei thanked Misaki before leaving them although Misaki was curious (natural detective instinct I suppose) about Hei.