To 'port 'n' back.

Been a busy and rather hectic week for me as I've been making multiple trips to the airport in the past few days to send my parents there as well as picking them up from there, both together and individually. My brother who has been staying in Singapore for the past few years also came back yesterday for a short one week vacation, so looks like my upcoming week is going to busy as well. There's even more renovations going on now as they are extending one of the backrooms in the house.

Thursday night I checked out classic wrestling PPV on Astro, which showcased some of the greats in the business like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Rude and Randy Savage. The highlight for me was the profile on the great Gorgeous George from the 1950s. It's easy to see why so many of today's modern day arrogant heels got influenced by the late Gorgeous one. The man was a heat generating machine that riled up the crowd just by not wanting to be touched by the referee to check him for any illegal items due to the fact he hated being touched by "dirty hands".
Even better was that PPV was followed up by the Golden Age of Wrestling PPV, which featured profiles on some of the best stars of the '50s like Lou Thesz, Antonio Rocca, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Pat O'Connor, Fritz Von Erich, Dick the Bruiser and again, Gorgeous George. It's one thing to read about these legends in books as well as the internet, but seeing them in action in those classic archived footage is another whole other ball game. Definately felt like I got my money's worth for those shows, and I think I should have taped them too.

Yesterday, me and Ling went to check out the new HK action flick, Dragon Tiger Gate, which was based on a popular HK comic. This was one of those movies where there wasn't much to the story, but the fight scenes are the main draw and were excellently done. Definately recommended for fans of martial arts movies with high special effects and special attacks.

We still miss ya, Dime.

Today I watched the VH1 Behind the Music special on Pantera. This was a recently done show and brought to light the history of one of the greatest heavy metal bands ever before the tragic murder of guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott on Dec. 8th, 2004 by a crazed fan during a gig.
The special did the obligatory look at the bands history, up till the point where the band split thanks in part to singer Phil Anselmo and his various side projects (Down, Superjoint Ritual, etc). And speaking of Anselmo, just how stoned did he look during his interview segments?!? Seriously. When you hear all the arguments over who caused the break up of Pantera, there's definately more evidence in the Abbott brother's corner to support their claim that it was Phil who walked out on them first, even in the most recent Revolver magazine interview with Vinnie Paul he mentioned everything he said in this special and it just came off as more sincere that Phil Anselmo is a bit of a jerk.
But like I said earlier, the main draw of this special was the tragic death of Dimebag Darrell. In addition to interviews with various eye-witnesses of the shooting, they even had security cam footage that showed the guy walk on stage just seconds into Damageplan starting their set, lift a gun and blow 5 rounds into the back of Dimebag's head before turning the gun on security members and audience members who rushed the stage. The gunman himself was of course gunned down on the spot by a lone police officer who was first to respond to emergency calls.
It almost brought a tear to my eyes to hear the very emotional story of the events from witnesses, as well as friends and family like Dime's girlfriend of almost 20 years, Dime & Vinnie's dad, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society, and a host of others. I was particularly amused by Zakk Wylde's tale of how at Dime's funeral, all the guests (made up of various headbangers and metal's elite) would all put bottles of liquor into Dime's casket, and when Zakk finally made it to pay his respects, he amusingly asked Dime, "So you think this is enough for the trip?" XP
For those of you who have never heard his work, Diamond Dimebag Darrell Abbott was truly one of the best guitar players ever to walk the face of the planet. And for all us fans (even late bloomers like me), we still miss him as he was in his prime when was taken from us. He's probably up there rockin' the heavens and shooting Blacktooths like the party animal he is though.

Shiver Me Timbers!

Last night me and Ling went to check out the highly anticipated sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which is of course Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The movie was definately a worthy follow up to the original, though there were some major changes to the attitudes of the original characters compared to the last time. Capt. Jack Sparrow (again brilliantly played by Johnny Depp) was a bigger cut throat than in the last movie, which you could probably forgive since he's running for his life this time around. And remember that pirate duo (the fat guy and the one with the glass eye), they were dumb one minute, and actually competant the next, like during the part where they kept trading swords back and forth with Elizabeth while running from Davy Jones' crew in the jungle!
I thought the overall story of the movie was rather well played out, with a really good surprise at the end of the movie! I commend them for filming the third movie back to back with the second one, and I can't wait for that one to come out next year!

It's no secret I'm a fan of the Teen Titans cartoon series on Cartoon Network, but I'll admit there hasn't been much to be excited about in the current episodes. Well, that all changed tonight as they aired one of the best episodes I've seen in a while! "Titans Together" was the season finale, and boy did they go out with a bang! The highlight was a great battle scene featuring all the heroes and all the villians that ever appeared in the series, though I had no idea who half the heroes were. It was just awesome and probably one of the best American animated cartoon battles ever. Somebody tell me again why this show got cancelled?!?

The Melancholy of Extreme

I've had a pretty mellow weekend. Friday I wasted 5 bucks playing Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II at the arcade before going to pick up Ling from work. Saturday we had dinner at McD's before heading back to my place where we watched anime for a change. I love this girl for actually trying to share in my interests. She currently into this series called Magical Pokaan, funny anime series about these 4 outworld princesses trying to adjust to living in the human realm and the hilarious hijinks they get up to.
Sunday me and Ling went jogging up at the hillside, up a steep pair of steps and my legs were hurting after the second lap! I had a good rest that evening, but had a hard time trying to get any sleep cause the weather here has been really warm these past few days. Wish my bedroom had air-conditioning.

Did I miss something?!?

Ok, for the past few weeks I've been watching this hilarious show on one of the Astro chinese channels called Haruka 17, a hilarious Japanese TV series about this girl by the name of Haruka who goes to Tokyo to look for an office job and ends up becoming an idol! And all kinds of hilarities ensue. It's non-sensical shows like this that I love to watch, just like anime. Anyways, I'm not sure if I missed something, but last week Haruka had just received her father's blessings to continue with her idol job, but this week it starts with her returning from a sabbatical from her hometown due to work pressure or something, ending in a scandal by the rival talent firm. I'm not sure but I think they skipped an episode. Anyways, this is a really entertaining series and there's more to it than just the anime-like humour. Definately check it out if you can. I'm already hunting down torrents for this show but came up short, so I'm even keeping my eyes open for VCDs or DVDs of it.

Haruhi-ism, Superman and RockStars

The title above more or less sums up the last 3 days for me.

On Tuesday I watched the finale of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu), an anime series that came out of nowhere and took anime watching population by storm. It was one of those series you either loved or you hated. Personally, I loved it. The story is basically about this girl named Haruhi Suzumiya, and she's not like other girls. She hates normal life and longs to meet aliens, time travellers and espers (ESP users), as she feels life would be more interesting if they truly existed. Enter Kyon, a high school student who had long given up believing in such things along with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. He comes into contact with Haruhi and for some reason she sticks around him (or rather drags him around) and ends up recruiting him into her newly created club, the SOS Brigade, with the purpose of investigating any strange occurances and such. In doing so, she gathers together an oddball group of characters, and they go off on a trip of bizarre adventures together. I don't really want to spoil to much for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but the "special" people Haruhi so desperately wants to meet are really all around her, it's just that they can't reveal themselves to her due to the fact they are keeping a close eye on her since Haruhi really is more than even she knows about herself.
Like I've already said, this is a really great series and actually quite original in spots. The first episode alone gets you wondering if your watching the right show since it starts off really differently from other series. Heck, only small complaint Me and many of the other fans of the series have is that they actually jumbled up the episode sequence from the actually manga storyline. Just listen to Haruhi during the episode preview at the end, she gives the "real" episode number where as Kyon corrects her by giving the episode number following the order of release. It might sound confusing at times, and it does detract from the story sometimes, but it actually works on some levels.
Don't just take my word for it, but check it out and judge for yourself.

Wednesday Me and Ling went to the Star Cineplex to check out the much anticipated Superman Returns movie. I liked how the story was rather true to the Christopher Reeve generation of movies, and that they didn't re-run the whole "origin of the superhero" gimmick like most movies do these days (Batman Begins comes to mind). I also liked how there was more to the story rather than the usual good guy vs bad guy story, and the ending of course leaves multiple possibilities for sequels. I also like how they actually made Superman a Superman, where he truly looked unstoppable unlike the many other adaptations where he would struggle or break a sweat while trying to fight the good fight. This Superman came off as the real deal, not flintching at anything thrown at him, like the awesome spot where a guy shoots him in the eye and the bullet just bounces off it! Kevin Spacey was a great Lex Luthor too, and true to the character in the comic/cartoon as well as similar to the classic role played by Gene Hackman back in the day; a super genius that has his comedic moments. And in true superhero fashion, even when on the brink of death, and quick recharge will always fix your hair.
I was truly satisfied with the way the whole movie was handled even if there were a few filler bits in there. Definately recommended viewing if you've got 3 hours to spare.

And finally, last night I caught the premiere of RockStar: Supernova. Last time they were searching for a new singer for INXS, this time it's for a new "super group" consisting of Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Jason Newstead (Metallica, Voivod) and one of the ex-Guns & Roses guys. Going through the field of 15 contestants, I thought they all pretty much sucked. Than this punk chick by the name of Dilana takes the stage, performing the classic Nirvana track "Lithium", and totally OWNS all the other performers! You could even see it from the exitement of the band members reactions that this chick has got IT. All I can add is that I've seen a lot of bands and singers try their hand at that song, but Dilana is the first person I've ever seen do the song the way it SHOULD be done. Needless to say she gets my vote from here on out, and I truly hope she wins it.

Re-Cycle...other's ideas?

Saturday night me and Ling went to watch the new Park bros. directed fantasy horror movie, Re-Cycle. It was a really interesting movie and had it's share of shock-scare moments, but I couldn't help but notice the many similarities the movie had with the Silent Hill games on PS2. You had the lead character seemingly haunted in her apartment by unseen forces (SH4), a normal trip out of her apartment leads her into another world (any SH game), ghosts of people floating chasing her around (SH4), an creepy abandoned carnival type setting (SH1 & SH3), and all manner of other weird similarities. Actually, the story took a turn and became more of a fantasy adventure than horror once the lead character enters the ghost world.
And another thing that bothered me about the movie was the ending. The Park Bros. tried going for that M. Night Shyamalan shock/surprise ending, but it came off more confusing to me here than what I was expecting. And a more straight forward ending would have been better as I could see everyone else in the cineplex was rather confused as well. Watch it for yourself and make your own decision. Hopefully they'll add somekind of alternate ending to the DVD release of the movie.