And it's in the house

From Channel News Asia:
Singapore has confirmed its first case of Influenza A (H1N1).

The patient, a 22—year—old Singapore Management University student, is currently being treated at the Communicable Disease Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and is in stable condition.

The Singaporean woman was in New York from May 14—24. She arrived back in Singapore from New York on SQ25 on 26 May at 6.30am. She was seated at Row 55.

She began to develop a cough while onboard. She passed the thermal scanner uneventfully as she did not have fever then.

Later in the morning, she consulted a GP who decided to send her to TTSH via a 993 ambulance, given her travel history.

She was immediately admitted for testing. Laboratory confirmation of her infection was made by midnight of 26 May.

The patient has been vigilant in monitoring her own condition and had sought immediate medical attention once she realized that she was unwell.

Her attending GP, through his quick response in activating the 993 ambulance for the patient, had also helped to minimize the spread of infection from this case.

The Health Ministry says it has initiated contact tracing of her close contacts. They will be quarantined and provided with antiviral prophylaxis.

Passengers who had travelled in the same flight and were seated in rows 52 to 58 are urged to call the hotline at 1800—333 9999 to enable the MOH to check on their health condition.

The MOH adds that all medical practitioners and healthcare institutions should continue to be vigilant to suspect cases.

Singapore will continue with temperature screening for passengers entering Singapore at all checkpoints (land, sea and air).

All passengers passing through or entering Singapore are given Health Alert Notices on board their flights, advising them to monitor their own health if they have been to affected areas and to seek medical attention immediately if they are not well.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said: "We know that sooner or later we will have our first case (of H1N1 flu) and now we do. I suppose we have been lucky —— we have now five weeks since the alert to prepare ourselves, as well as Singaporeans for this eventuality. So there should really be no cause for alarm.

“Especially in this case the patient has been most responsible and the GP is highly commendable. (The GP) made the right judgement —— calling 993 so that within six hours of (the patient’s) touchdown in Singapore, she was isolated in the hospital, so the risk of her causing a spread in Singapore should be very low."

Speaking at a labour event on Wednesday, NTUC Chief Mr Lim Swee Say said Singapore is prepared for its first case of the H1N1 virus.

He said: "All of us are psychologically prepared for this but the issue here is not so much on when, now that it has happened. I think what we have to focus on is the speed of spreading. What we have to do is ensure that the entire community plays their part."

Singaporeans are reminded to maintain high standards of personal hygiene. This means covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze or cough, and washing your hand frequently with soap and water, especially after contact with respiratory secretions, for example, after sneezing and coughing.

Everyone also needs to be socially responsible. This means staying home and avoiding crowded places (including trains, buses, offices), putting on a surgical mask and seeing a doctor if you have flu symptoms.

MOH advises those who travelled to affected areas to closely monitor their health and seek treatment as soon as possible should they develop symptoms.

Members of the public are also advised to exercise caution over travel to affected areas.

In the event that travel is unavoidable, the public is advised to take precautionary measures such as avoiding crowded areas and maintaining high standards of personal hygiene at all times.

However, if you are unwell with fever and cough but have no travel history to affected areas, you are also advised to see a doctor and stay at home.

MOH is monitoring the situation closely and will update the public should there be any new developments.

For more information on Influenza A (H1N1—2009), you can access MOH’s website, call MOH’s hotline at 1800—333 9999, or get more news and facts.

***

Looks like the upcoming GSS might be slightly affected by this. I'm kind of looking forward to shopping with less people crowding me(hopefully) though...

All play and no work & all work and no play

This past week has been an all-out relax week, slacking/gaming at home mainly. Even managed to put in a session of KTV with E yesterday at my favourite KTV chain Partyworld(I love their mock-sleazy layout...). We sang(or rather, mumbled)our way through various Ayu/Namie/Utada/SMAP/PG/Ken Hirai/etc songs, and some miscellaneous Chinese songs thrown in for good measure. Three hours is not enough for KTV. I still mantain that KTV should be at least 8 hours, as at the 4th-hour mark one has only just warmed up, with the remaining 4 hours for actual belting out.

A funny little sidenote of this ad-hoc outing was this particular male staff serving our room. He was really polite, and I mean really, really polite. Like so polite he was doing these little bows, just like a Japanese would. I was a little amused, because staff there have been generally quite pleasant, but this was probably the first time I've had one doing this tiny, polite little bows. After much 'critical analysing', I came up with a few possible reasons:

1) He thinks we are Japanese.

This is probably helped by the fact that E(much more so than I) is a hardcore japanophile when it comes to wardrobe/hair/make-up, meaning she usually looks like she just stepped out of a copy of CanCam/S-Cawaii/etc. I was helping her just a tiny bit by being rather 'jappy' in my tastefully co-ordinated layers. *cough*

Another thing is I think we sound a bit weird when we speak Mandarin? E does anyway, maybe cause she tends not to use it, or it's just her unique voice(so she doesn't sound very local when she speaks Mandarin... or so I feel). And my pronunciation varies depending on if I'm making an effort... or not.

Plus we were singing/mumbling mainly Japanese songs, so I guess he might have assumed we were. Also, when the bill came, I was hao4 lian4 and tried using my UOB JCB card(points!), so maybe that kind of cinched it. (In the end, they didn't accept JCB so I had to use Masters instead.)

2) He is studying Japanese

I remembered when I first started at my current language school, how all the staff(both local as well as the native Japanese staff)would greet the students in Japanese and make these tiny little bows, a bit like an extended nod. After a period, I found myself mirroring them, and also unconsciously brought it out to my world at large, in small doses.

3) He is new at the job

And perhaps a bit eager to prove himself.

4) He is none of the above, just a very very polite person

All in all, I don't really mind KTV staff like that. Especially when they're easy on the eye. I'll just doing some return bowing of my own then ^^ After all the playing though, tonight I'll be working again, and Thurs-night to Sun-night as well. Which means I'll technically be working 65 hours in total(fortunately not 91 hours like I previously thought, phew~) from tonight till the morning of the next Monday after tomorrow. *shudder* Time to load up on truckloads of tea to stay awake.

Mugen

It's 'PG Weekend' over here at this blog, in light of them announcing the release of their PVs on DVD~!!! So if you're already bored, click on the 'Next blog' button already!

If I had to choose just one PV I'm most looking forward to watch on DVD, it's probably 'Mugen'. Why? Well, it's PG meets jazz(... I do have an extremely soft spot for jazz...), and I absolutely love this one. Haruichi's dark lyrics meets Tama's gorgeous, exuberant jazz melody, perfect combination I say~ Not to mention PG with all the musicians look like they're having the time of their lives(albeit seemingly in slightly drunken fashion). Haruichi looks really punk/cute/cool with that hair style, Tama's so cool he's almost glacial, and Akihito's looking smexy and doing his little dance. And I believe that I've said this before... I wish I were that tenor sax player(for more than one reason... okay, make that three reasons...)

*cough*

Enjoy!



Mugen
作詞: 新藤晴一 作曲: Tama

僕が暗闇を恐れてるのは
いつか　そのまま溶けていきそうだから
ほんの小さな灯りでもいいさ
僕は輪郭を取り戻す

冷えた指先を温めようと
自分の両手を合わせてみても
僕の悲しみが行き交うだけで
それは祈りの姿に似ていた

※幻想とじゃれ合って　時に傷つくのを
あなたは無駄だと笑いますか?
元より　この世こそが夢幻だとしたら
空架ける虹を行こう※

僕が「永遠」を好まないのは
今日の次にある明日を求めるから
過ぎた時間を重ねた上に乗って
やっと届く明日がいい

一人きりで生きられないほどは
弱くもないのは確かだけれど
誰かの瞳の中　映る僕はどうだ
影を抱いてはいないかなぁ?

現実がじゃれて来て　いたずらにため息
小さな灯りを吹き消そうと
僕は駆け出していた　惜しみなく輝く
太陽の光のもとへ

(※くり返し)

むせかえるほど熱を帯びて吹く風は
あなたの髪も揺らしてますか?
限り無くは無限　夢幻が無限
遙かなる想いを吼える

ポルノの日決定！

PG have announced that 09/09/2009 will be the release date of their new, yet-to-be-named single. But, MOST importantly, they have FINALLY decided to release the rest of their PVs on DVD!

*cue PG fans everywhere celebrating/ doing the monkey dance*

I'm pretty psyched that we'll soon get to watch 'Voice', 'Mugen', 'Uzu', 'Oto no nai Mori', 'Melissa', 'Ai ga yobu hou e', 'Lack', 'Agehachou', etc in DVD quality. (basically all of「2nd LAP」and some in「3rd LAP」... the more recent ones are of more decent quality, but I won't say no to watching those on DVD either...) After years of squinting at those videos in 320 x 240...

*wipes single tear from left eye with slightly trembling hand*

I translated a bit of the news from the PG official site , condensed below:

New single & video clips DVD release!
2009 September 9, ポルノの日('Poruno Day':p)!

★ New single release! ! !
★ 4 DVDs of video-clips release! ! !
★ DVD box-set of 4 DVDs of video-clips(with bonus) ! !

8th September 2009 will mark 10 years of PG since their major debut, and the release of a new single has been chosen to be on 09/09/2009 to signify the first new day after 10 years of being in the music business. Also, the decision for the video-clips DVD release is partly to thank the fans for their support, as ever since the release of 「OPENING LAP」in 2001, PG have been flooded with requests for the release of the rest of their PVs.

Porno Graffitti Visual Works 「OPENING LAP」- First released in 2001
① アポロ (Apollo)
② ヒトリノ夜 (A Lonely Night)
③ ミュージック・アワー (Music Hour)
④ サウダージ (Saudade)
⑤ サボテン (Cactus)
⑥ diary 00/08/26 (a making-of-the-PVs video)


「PG CLIPS 2nd LAP」- Features video clips from 2001 - 2003
①ヴォイス (Voice)
②幸せについて本気出して考えてみた(I Tried to Think Seriously about Happiness)
③Mugen (this has 2 meanings 'Infinity' and also 'Fantasy')
④渦 (Whirlpool)
⑤音のない森 (Soundless Forest)
⑥メリッサ (Melissa)
⑦愛が呼ぶほうへ (To The Place where Love is Calling)
⑧ラック (Lack)
[bonus material] アゲハ蝶 (Swallowtail)–short ver.-

「PG CLIPS 3rd LAP」- Features video clips from 2004 - 2006
①シスター (Sister)
②黄昏ロマンス (Twilight Romance)
③ネオメロドラマティック (Neomelodramatic)
④ROLL
⑤NaNaNaサマーガール (NaNaNa Summer Girl)
⑥ジョバイロ (I Dance)
⑦DON’T CALL ME CRAZY
⑧ハネウマライダー (literally 'Winged-Horse Rider', but I think there could be a better translation...)
⑨Winding Road

「PG CLIPS 4th LAP」- Features video clips from 2007 - 2008
①リンク (Link)
②ベアーズ (Bears)
③あなたがここにいたら (If You Were Here)
④痛い立ち位置 ('Painful Position' or rather, 'situation'...)
⑤ギフト (Gift)
⑥Love,too Death,too
⑦約束の朝 (Morning of Promise)
⑧A New Day

【DVD BOX SET】「COMPLETE CLIPS 1999-2008」
①「OPENING LAP」
②「PG CLIPS 2nd LAP」
③「PG CLIPS 3rd LAP」
④「PG CLIPS 4th LAP」
[with bonus material]

※ Reservation at various stores starts 21/05/2009.

最高～！！！

The performance that sealed my PG-fan fate long ago
(28 secs shaved off by PB -_-'")

Choose the robot, Riiko! CHOOSE THE ROBOT!!!

This post is strictly non-intellectual(if ever there was any here anyway... no, wait... there is none). I first noticed Mokomichi Hayami as Tenjo Night in the J-dorama 'Zettai Kareshi' (the manga of which I read, and yeah, I'm an idiot for taking so long to notice him), but seriously, both males and females alike, who won't? His acting is pretty decent, though my guess is that people will first notice him for a different reason.

"What may that reason be?", you ask. Well.

Basically, Mokomichi is 186cm worth of smexy bronzed Greek-god goodness. (though I must admit the hair styling makes him look even better) After studying(and I use this word in all seriousness) his physique as compared to the normal humans around him, I have arrived at a conclusion: he must have been born of the Final Fantasy universe. Have you seen his head/neck to body proportion? It's so unreal, the guy is practically a living, breathing, male version of Barbie!!! (I don't use Ken as comparison as... he's rather lame, isn't he?) Really. If they make a live version FF movie they should definitely cast him, though some people may mistaken his 完璧FF-ness as CG...

*鼻血出る*　


** On an unrelated side note, I think I'm losing weight(partly thanks to the weird timing of my night shifts affecting sleep/eat cycles), so got to keep the metabolism up with jogging, before it stagnates~

"We should treat all trivial things very seriously, & all serious things of life with sincere & studied triviality." ~Oscar Wilde

And no, I don't think swineflu is funnny funny. Who would? But neither do I view it with doomsday gloom like some people. You have to put things in perspective. SARS was far, far worse, and many more people died. Now what we are doing is to try and keep H1N1 out of the country, but that doesn't mean we have to keep a solemn doomsday-gloom face/heart/perspective while we are at it. If we did, all healthcare people would have died long ago, not from any disease, but from seeing doom & gloom every time they stepped in for work. It's partly the ability to see above and beyond that that kept us alive and going at it :)

Murakami+Matsuken = I can die happy now

I haven't blogged for the longest time, but here I am, again. Work wise, things have taken a different turn from what I had previously anticipated. Instead of returning to Ex-company 2(and that's another long story altogether), I'm freelancing at the moment and making pretty good dough, for the next few months too, probably. Who knew swineflu could make a positive impact in regards to my pocket? Now I can safely say I'll be able to save enough for a Japan trip later this year or early next year. Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this post isn't to talk about my life at the moment, or rant about some infuriating gaki who made one of my night-shifts crap(I pretty much hope they grow up and encounter scores of people like their now-selves, so much so that they'll be cursing and swearing) *shakes a fist*

As I was saying. The purpose of this post.

Kenichi Matsuyama has been cast in Anh Hung Tran’s upcoming adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s internationally best-selling 1987 novel “Norwegian Wood”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, okay, if you didn't know already, I'm a huge fan of Matsuyama Kenichi. 'Nana', 'Death Note', 'Sexy Voice & Robo', 'Zeni Geba', 'Detroit Metal City' and small parts like in 'One Litre of Tears', etc. There's an offbeat, yet genuine way about the guy that attracts me like Magneto attracts metal(okay, I understand, very, very lame comparison. Did you know I love X-men?). But I like offbeat weird. In a cute way. Like how I love Johnny Depp so much that even in 'Sweeney Todd' when I'm cringing at the bloodbath, I'm still thinking what a wonderful actor he is(and how, simply put, hot he is). And then I'm a huge Murakami fan. I feel him, to put it in a cliched way. He's my kind of literary illegal-substance, just like he explained.

So I was just pottering about on the internet as usual when I came across the news. My adrenaline went up, no kidding, and goosebumps started coming out, I started feeling a bit euphoric from the blood rush. Seriously. I guess I must be a bit mad, but I never imagined one of my favourite actors will soon be starring in a film adaptation of one of my favourite novels from my favourite author. Of course, I'll be looking forward to Rinko Kikuchi(better known as the Japanese actress who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars in 2006 for portraying a deaf-mute teenage girl in Babel)as Naoko, and Reika Kirishima as, my guess, Reiko? And newcomer/model Kiko Mizuhara as Midori. Although I'm not familiar with the works of the more veteran actresses, just imagining their faces as the characters' makes me a bit woozy. In a good way, of course~ I'm also wondering who will be portraying Kizuki, Nagasawa, Hatsumi, etc

Not familiar with the director Tran Anh Hung's works either, but having seen the trailer for 'I Come With The Rain', I think Norwegian Wood will be pretty interesting in his hands, and after all, Murakami himself(who was always very concerned about how his books were adapted) approved of him. Speaking of 'I Come With The Rain', I'm kind of looking forward to seeing Kimura in it, he's looks good(as usual) and he speaks English! Sort of...

End post: You know, you just read this relatively calm post of me stating the casting news, the actors, the director, etc and etc. But words will fail to adequately describe the screaming-and-jumping-up-and-down-with-joy on the inside, the hyperventilating, as well as the stupid blissful smile on my face when I imagine Matsuken as Toru~ X)

The music that starts playing in my head when I think of Matsuken

Practice makes (slightly more)perfect

After the second and third practice, and a few tips from big brother on how to hold the air pistol properly, the shots are now closer together.


14th April 2009, first 50 shots left, second 50 right



17th April 2009, first 50 shots left, second 50 right

ちょっと嬉しい～ :]

Put your weapon up!

I had my first proper practice today, 2 rounds of 50 shots each. First round was with15 minutes of dry firing and completed in about an hour. Second round was with 5 minutes of dry firing, completed in about 40 minutes. As you can see, shots for the second round were more scattered.


First round(left) and second round(right)

Morale of story: It pays to do a proper dry-fire run before actual shooting, and also to have enough time to complete the 50 shots(I rushed through round 2 cause I was late for Jap class -_-'").

Will do better next round. Ganbarimasu~ ( '_')p

Computer error haiku

These haiku were part of the submissions to the Haiku Error Messages Contest by Salon Magazine in 1998. More information about how these haiku came to be, and many more computer error haiku can be found here. Funny stuff~ The ones in I highlighted in purple I particularly like X) Recently, there was a Japanese online contest for some of these vintage pseudo-haiku to be translated into Japanese(which is, of course, the language from which haiku originated). Funnily surreal, surely~ XD

Imagine... "In Japan, Sony Vaio machines have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with their own Japanese haiku poetry. "

...

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
(Peter Rothman)

A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
(David J. Liszewski)

The Web site you seek
Can not be located but
Countless more exist.
(Joy Rothke)

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
(Suzie Wagner)

ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask way too much.
(Mike Hagler)

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.
(Margaret Segall)

First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
So beautifully.
(Simon Furth)

With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.
(Howard Korder)

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao, until
You bring fresh toner.
(Bill Torcaso)

Stay the patient course
Of little worth is your ire
The network is down
(David Ansel)

A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
(James Lopez)

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
(David Dixon)

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
(Cass Whittington)

Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
(Frances Heaney)

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.
(Judy Birmingham)

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.
(Ian Hughes)

Entertain me

Yeah, did I mention I have a lot of free time now? Ran my blog address through the Typealyzer, and my result is:

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.


"I'm an entertainer, look at my brain activity!"

That's kind of true, I enjoy being the entertaining type, being able to elicit a good laugh from people makes me happy~ I wonder how the analysing is done though, does the Typealyzer scan through the types of words used? (...by the way, it seems only blogs in English or Swedish can be analysed.) Hmmm... omoshiroii~

Japanese, homework & work

Yes, I'm free now and have lots of time.
But my Japanese homework is still undone.
I do wonder why.

(...hey that rhymes! :D)

For the friends that have been concerned about me not being in gainful employment/bumming around, well, you may be glad to know I have decided to return to Ex-company 2, for the main reason that: I need to eat. Apparently, since a vacancy will be opening up soon, it seems I can look forward to (carefully considered)retail therapy/cinema entertainment again, after the first cheque comes in. I shall probably start mid-April, marking the end of me being part of the jobless community after 2.5 months. (Yeah, I can hear you guys breathing a collective sigh of relief, those of you who have been concerned about this, maybe even more so than I~ :p)

By the way, I've passed JLPT 4! (Yes, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test's lowest level, higest being JLPT 1.) I understand that JLPT 4 is pretty simple compared to JLPT 3 and up(yes, laugh at me, JLPT 1-ers...), but it does give me a little bit of encouragement to continue on. The new vocabulary being taught is increasing steadily, and I realise I have to start revising like from NOW onwards, or I may just forget them. As it is, it's necessary to remember all the vocabulary taught before, so I can make sense of the sentences I read.

*sigh* I'm really not the most hardworking person, but I have to force myself to, somehow. I do want to ace JLPT 3 year's end, so yes, note to self, "PLEASE put in MORE effort!" Like most students, I think I'm afraid of messing up, so on top of the fact that I mostly speak it in class, I kind of shy away from saying too much of it, in case I'm saying something wrong(...though I know this wouldn't do, cause you HAVE TO speak it to improve, right?)

Have been watching 'SmapxSmap' and various programmes here and there, but of course I'm still too low-level to understand the details. 'Bistro Smap' is my favourite part I think, I love to watch Smap cook(they do get some help off-screen, of course...)as well as the Bistro guests going 'ooh' and 'ahh' over the gorgeously-presented food~ :d (...and Shingo doing spoofs of the guests~ XD) Also, I recently watched 'Okuribito' on the big screen and loved it, looking forward to 'Detroit Metal City'. Have been following anime 'Kuroshitsuji'(Black Butler), a bit of 'Junjou Romantico' and 'Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei', a bit of dorama 'Mei-chan no Shitsuji', and want to make time for 'Zeni Geba' soon. (You see, my attention span can be a bit erratic at times...)

Anyhow, that's all for now. I'm positive I shall return with much more interesting stuff once I return to work, as there always has been rather a lot of, erm, interesting people visiting Ex-company 2...

Ash@FCP(三) 蜿々長蛇じゃないのよ～

Ash in Concert@Fort Canning Park
2nd October 2008

After finishing up the the last crumbs of lunch, we looked over across the road for any signs of Ash-fan life. We spotted two people lurking around the entrance, and realised they seemed to have started camping near the concert-ground entrance. Of course this meant good news, and so we trotted over to confirm if they were there indeed to watch Ash rock out.

And thus that's how we made friends with L & L, Liz & Ling. Both had flew in from Malaysia for Ash, and came bearing a home-made banner.(...I think Liz made it and Ling helped a little? Chotto...) We also found out soon enough that they were also meeting for the first time, but more importantly, had actually sat/ stood through the Ash sound-check! *sigh* And we sighed some more when they showed us the photos they had taken together with the Ash lads.

It was a long wait, just four of us sitting on the pavement behind a section of railing that had been placed there to mark the start of the Ash queue, ants crawling around. One of the gong1 zhuo4 ren2 yuan2 came over to chat with us, and we heard about the Muse concert held there in the recent time passed, about how the fans were so fanatic they started queueing at 5am in the morning, and that someone broke a rib leaning against the railing when the people behind him surged forward too hard. *ouch*

At this point in the gong1 zhuo4 ren2 yuan2's story(...it was probably around 4pm+? Gates opened at 630pm to 7pm, if I don't remember wrongly...), we were still the ONLY four people in the queue, so we concluded Ash apparently still has yet to inspire the type of fanaticism which makes fans start queueing at 5 in the wee hours of the morning. It's good in a way though, that means the fans are more laid back, which also means we don't have to drag our unconscious bodies to do the queueing-thing, should there be a next time.

Fast forward to about an hour or so before gates opening, more fans started trickling in, joining the queue. However, we could still see the end of the queue(no Mayday around-the-building kind of queue then... :p ), and some fans opted to just wait around instead of doing the 'uncool' thing of queueing. Which of course didn't make us too happy, but since there weren't that many people, I guess we didn't mind much.

When we were finally let in(with little fanfare...), we rushed to the stage front to get choice spots. To our bemusement, we were only some of those who did, as the rest of the (small)crowd seemed contented to get their beers/etc., and camped down on the grass patch behind us, and I mean WAY behind us. Suddenly I felt like we were at the Botanic Gardens for a ballet performance, instead of a rock concert. Maybe I was just too used to Asian concerts' fanaticism, but wasn't it TOO laid back, though? I pondered this question as I continued leaning against the railing in front, the way we have done/wished we could do at Mayday concerts.

... to be continued~

(I know this is some really drawn-out posting, but I can't seem to finish all at once! Not only that, there's the unposted-about Mayday free concert eons ago, plus the recent Bangkok trip and soon-to-come Cheer Chen concert... *sigh*)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Love. Death. Life.

Based on a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, anthologised in his book 'Tales of the Jazz Age', the movie tells the curious tale of the life of Benjamin Button who ages backward. It differs substantially from the book, only the title, the main protagonist's name, and the aging process were kept faithful to it. Brad Pitt stars as Benjamin Button, Cate Blanchett(... she's gorgeous :3 ...), Julia Ormond, and Tilda Swinton, among others. Cate Blanchett~!!! I mean, Cate is such a great actress that if she's in it, you know it HAS to be pretty good. And David Fincher as director? We're talking the-same-director-for-the-critically-acclaimed-Seven-and-Fight Club here! :)　

It was a pleasant surprise, then, that it was even better than I had imagined. I haven't felt such impact from a film since 'Tokyo!' (a French film about Tokyo, which is a bit messy, but I still love it, at least the 1st and 3rd stories...). Seriously. Do yourself a favour and watch Benjamin Button. If you have been suffering the cold of any sort of winter, this film may be just the thing to uplift your spirits. In case you were wondering, yes, I did get a little teary-eyed...

"We are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss."

A song that needs no introduction

ヘイ・ジュード - ビートルズ

Firstly, I want to say: "Gougou, you're STILL waiting for my Ash concert follow-up?!?!" Such has been my procrastination that I suspect anyone that had hope for me to continue have since abolished that foolish thought. But since you have such faith in me, I have absolutely no choice but to do just that. But not today. Before the year is over, I promise~ :p

Okay, now that I'm done, let's move on to the video for today, this was at 'Meet The World Beat' 5 years ago. Yes, various artistes performed this song together, including Akihito Okano(the kawaii otoko playing guitar in the opening verse) and of course, Haruichi Shindo (with his red guitar... and he's becoming a dad in June/July! Little Haruichis/Kyokos!)of Porno Graffitti, Sukima Switch, etc. Enjoy... and let's not pick on the poor pronunciation...

Konnyaku is a traditional Japanese jelly-like health food...

The new year is here. And I've been away from this blog for a long time(and yeah, I'm still owing the Ash concert conclusion... eh... get back to you in a minute...). Not that I've been terribly busy or anything like that, quite the opposite actually. Which explains the lack of recent content here, nothing much happens, nothing much to write about. I suppose I could do a post mortem of the previous year. Yeah, that's what most people do, right? Hmm.

Work-wise, suffice to say it has been an interesting year, met new people, some really nice. And some, well, interesting people, some in the good way, some, the bad. People aside, actual work has ranged from fairly interesting to really boring within less than a year. I'm one of those who get bored easily in a job, but this one takes the cake for being the most mind numbing one. It's partly my fault, I suppose, for being unable to sustain interest, but going to work became an awful drag, especially after school closed and we were all stationed indoors. My mind became a mix of (lumpy)oatmeal and konnyaku, really.

Japanese-wise, took JLPT 4(fingers cross), continuing with intermediate almost immediately after, we won't want to forget all we've studied so far, now, would we? I could be more studious though...

Movies-wise(cause it's the best thing to do besides reading), I think I've watched less movies than the previous year, but did one 7-movie marathon in a day(that's more than 14 hours in the cinema, excluding the waiting time in between movies). It was quite fun and new, though I did get terribly sleepy into the last movie, no doubt due to the fact it was 4 plus in the morning...

Music-wise, lots of concerts this year as in every year, Mayday, Jay Chou, Lee's Guitars, Ash, to name a few. But the one that got away was the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival(30th Nov 2008, 2nd day), to see Ash again. And no confirmed news still about whether the festival will be on in February this year. It's a pity, really.

Sleep-wise, my circadian clock is as messed up as ever. I'm still mostly sleepless in seattle at night, and nemui in the day. Friends tell me to 'just sleep earlier', though I suspect it's not that simple, but it's also something I don't seem to be able to discuss with people, how does one discuss how one can't/doesn't want to sleep at night? Too trivial for most...

To end, no new year resolutions as usual(as they just end up not fulfilled, I know myself, hah~). But I do hope to find what I'm looking for(like Bono), and perhaps just get more sleep this new year. And of course more great movies, music and books.