Intuition – CNBlue

Love Song – Big Bang

You know, of course there are a handful of quotes which I don’t quite agree with, but there’s no deny to his inspiring and enlightening prowess.

Check out this blog here!

Go ahead,

The official version released just today. Unlike what most, if not all, fans have awaited, the official version is without Seohyun. As you all know, Seohyun – Yonghwa’s ‘wife’ on pseudo marriage variety show WGM – originally sang a duet with Yonghwa which was released on youtube (see below) and even wrote some of the lyrics of the song. What a disappointment, that it isn’t a duet.

The official youtube version which was part of a mission they had to fulfill on 25th Dec episode of We Got Married:

Kimi Ga Irukara (Because You’re Here) – Sayuri Sugawara

Official MV

Main Japanese theme song for Final Fantasy 13 (FFXIII) sang by this young 20 year old singer, Sayuri Sugawara. I liken her pleasantly fresh and lovely voice to Younha. To be honest they sound quite alike! The tune is catchy, the voice is sweet. Like this song very much

Fan-made MV

My Hands – Leona Lewis

The English theme song of FFXIII.

HEAVY RAIN

The. Best. Game. Ever. The graphics are top-notch, the gameplay is interactive, and I’m completely speechless about the storyline. Breathtaking and chilling and stunning and excellent are all understatements even if combined.

Completed the storyline in a short 4 days, but there are 18 different combination of endings waiting for players who have completed 1 ending to unravel. I didn’t play another time simply because I cannot see the characters in a different light after the way I’ve shaped them to be in my first game.

You guys can check out the IGN review video below, though I think that reviewer is a douche for marking the game down for ‘a slow start’. That reviewer clearly doesn’t understand the importance of an expository for the gamer to adapt and settle into the game. Personally I would have rated the game 9.5/10. That missing 0.5 simply went to the notion that nothing’s perfect in the world. Anyway, credit to IGN for rating the game as the Game of the Year 2010, along with many other gaming sites.

In a nutshell, Heavy Rain is an interactive game-movie where there is absolutely no gameovers. This means to say if your character happens to die in the middle of the storyline, the story continues without that character. There are countless  decisions you’d have to make, and every different choice you make brings about completely different consequences and outcomes. Thus, you shape your own storyline with your own choices throughout the game.

There are 4 main playable characters; Ethan Mars, a father of two who lost his first son in a car accident partly due to his fault; Scott Shelby, a private detective who focuses on the case of the Origami Killer; Madison Paige, a journalist who’s been suffering from insomnia, Ethan’s love interest if you played it that way; and lastly Norman Jayden, a FBI officer who’s addicted to a certain drug, and will (or will not) kick his addiction eventually depending on your decision.

Plot synopsis, filled with spoilers

What I felt.. [Spoiler alert]

Right; The first chapter in which Ethan Mars loses his son Jason, who eventually dies, in a crowded shopping mall.

The game base itself on the slogan, “Everything I did, I did for love”. Throughout the course of the game, you would find yourself being integrated into the characters’ life, especially Ethan Mars’.

Ethan Mars lost his son Jason on his birthday to a car accident. He later separated from his wife and took care of their second son, Shaun. Throughout this period, the severe melancholic setting, mood, atmosphere of the game would start to creep into you. I won’t wanna go through that same scene ever again. Haha. As the title of the game suggests, it will rain every game day heavily until the very end. After that, a mysterious child abductor/murderer called the Origami Killer got hold of Shaun after Ethan suffered from a sudden black out, a phenomenon he has experienced since Jason died.

As Ethan, you have to now locate and rescue Shaun before he drowns to death, while combating your own mental state – Ethan, for a period of time, suspects he’s the Origami Killer himself. The Origami Killer sends Ethan a box filled with 5 different origamis, containing 5 ‘challenges’ he has to succeed in order to get the location of Shaun. The most chilling challenge was the one that requires the gamer to cut off one of Ethan’s fingers. The gamer has the option of choosing any equipment in the run-down apartment (butcher knife, razor, scissors, saw, etc) ans whether to use antiseptic wash after chopping or not. There’s also an alcohol bottle which offers the player to drink,  making Ethan a little drunk so as to reduce the pain. Nonetheless, there’s an option available for the player to give up on the challenge and leave. (Failing 1 mission wont affect the chances of rescuing Shaun greatly)

It sounds kinda simple, but I can assure you it’s a pretty hard decision for a player to make. By this time, you would have treated his own finger as your own, and you WILL feel his pain when you decides to chop off his finger.

Left; Evil iPad says, “You have 5 minutes to cut off the last section of one of your fingers.”

Right; Using the butcher knife, and the series of controls we have to do. I used the scissors with antiseptic, to unlock a trophy. Hahah.

You see the picture on the right, the last icon shows a controller within a box and an arrow pointing down below. That icon means that we have to swing our controller down with strength, with Ethan simultaneously swinging the knife down to chop off his finger. This is why I said the cutting isn’t as straightforward as it sounds like. Difficult, difficult..

As the story continues to unfold, the Origami Killer is revealed to be one of the 4 main characters (find out who yourself! hahaha). Though this revelation may seem predictable to some, the real killer’s motive of partaking in the ‘investigation’ of the serial killer is both chilling and creepy.

In the last scene, Shaun’s fate will be ultimately decided by the decisions you’ve made thus far. In this last scene, any of your characters can die. From getting shot by the stupid FBI, to dropping off an elevated roller and into a crusher. Also, whether or not the villain dies or escapes scott free is also determined by your decisions towards the ending. Oops, did I unintentionally revealed the killer? Hahaha

So Scott Shelby, that sick PI is the Origami Killer. Throughout the game, you’ll see him looking up for past victims’ parents to collect the letters/boxes/etc they have received from the killer (which is him) as evidence to aid his investigation in nabbing the Origami Killer. But why would he do so? As it’ll be revealed, such an act is merely to help himself. The truth is, he collects those evidences to destroy them.

Ultimately, there are about 3 or 4 or 5 possible endings for each character, making about 18 possible permutations of overall ending.

The happiest possible ending (still with a tinge of sadness), achieved by making Ethan, Madison & Jayden alive:

1. Ethan starts afresh with Madison and Shaun, after successfully rescuing Shaun.
2. Jayden gets promoted with his drug addiction kicked.
3. Madison becomes a national heroine for her efforts in covering the story.
5. Shelby dies at the last fight scene after getting minced into pieces by the crusher.
6. Lauren (mother of a victim), who co-worked with Shelby for his investigations in attempt to personally take revenge on the killer, visits Shelby’s grave and spits at it.

The sadist of all sadist of all sad endings (I’d have killed myself if I’ve played to this ending. Sadness beyond measure):

1. Ethan survives the last playable scene but fails to rescue Shaun. Shaun drowns to death.
2. Madison survives and visits Shaun’s grave with Ethan, who told the former he needs some time alone. He shoots himself in the head in front of Shaun’s grave, with Madison running towards him crying to him. OR Ethan is sentenced guilty of being the killer. Ethan, completely confused himself, hangs himself to death in the cell, which is filled with origamis folded by him.
3. Jayden survives the last fight scene, but eventually resigned due to his failure of nabbing the Origami Killer. He eventually succumbs to the drug and die to no one’s knowledge.
4.  Madison’s life is back to the originally horrendous state, in which she constantly suffers from insomnia and nightmares. OR Madison becomes a famous journalist and book writer following the incredible coverage of the Origami Killer. However, she remains guilt-ridden by making use of the now-dead Ethan Mars to attain her fame.
5. Shelby walks away scott-free and continues his revenge on incompetent fathers.

The saddest ending doesnt necessarily mean all good guys dieing in the last playable scene. Of course, Ethan, Madison and Jayden can all die during the last playable scene, meaning completely different endings altogether. There are many many more individual endings, I only named the happiest and saddest possible endings.

What a long post, but I still have so much to say about this brilliant game. Marvelous experience playing this game.

Official Trailer

IGN Review:

Lavender Fields

Photograph by Gerd Ludwig

Purple tints land and sky as night falls over lavender fields at Tasmania’s famed Bridestowe Estate. The plantation is one of the largest lavender farms in the world.

Serra da Leba, Angola

Photograph by Kostadin Luchansky

This is Serra da Leba, a landmark in Angola. It has been one of the country’s postcard images for decades, but all shots were taken by day. I needed something different. I decided to try a night shot, but it seemed impossible: pitch black, foggy, an altitude of 1,800 meters (5,000 feet). My Nikon can stay open as long as 60 seconds max. But a car takes a few minutes to climb and descend and complete the “drawing.” The fog was blocking! Suddenly the fog cleared, a car went down, another went up, and they met in the middle in under 60 seconds. Painting done.

Puffin, Shiant Islands

Photograph by Jim Richardson, National Geographic

Dapper black-and-white razorbills (at right) and bright-beaked puffins (at left and in air, at center) find a haven on the Shiant Islands, just a few miles southeast of Lewis, Scotland. Nearly 8,000 razorbills and more than 200,000 puffins are estimated to use these islands as their breeding grounds each year.

Manarola, Italy

Photograph by Paul Hogie

A scene of the tiny village of Manarola on the Cinque Terre coast of Italy. I camped on this spot for some time waiting for the right balance of light as the sun set. I was rewarded with many great shots of the late afternoon and even in moonlight. This long exposure captures the essence of the village with the locals all joining for a party near the boat ramp.

Cherry Trees and Walkway, Japan

Photograph by Thomas Simonson

This picture was taken in Iwakuni, Japan at the Kintai Bridge. The Cherry Blossom (Sakura) festival had just ended and that is when I decided to go and get some good pictures.

Tarpon and Silversides, Grand Cayman

Photograph by Mike Sutton Brown

The picture was taken at Eden Rock, Grand Cayman. For just a short time every year these silversides swarm caves and swim-throughs at Cayman’s dive sites. The picture was taken late afternoon just as the sun was going down. I was hiding behind the silversides, low in the rocks. As the tarpon swam through the silversides, they eventually saw me and turned away. Just like you see in the picture.

FINAL FANTASY XIII (PS3)

Completed the main story in 17 days from 30 November – on the day of my final A Levels paper, but I’m still playing the side missions (which by no means inferior at all).

The main story is very engaging, albeit confusing at the start. Thrown into non-stop action from the very beginning of the game – with 13 chapters – players hardly have any moments where they can tour around a map freely like in many previous FFs without engaging in constant battles. Maybe Nautilus (Chapter is one, but it’s only for a while, seriously.

There are 64 side missions altogether, excluding all those grinding and hardwork you have to do in order to win items and money to upgrade your characters and weapons. Constantly upgrading your accessories and weapons is mandatory alongside your missions because without upgrading you can never defeat the mission bosses of the latter stages. That’s I say they’re not inferior in any way to the main story.

On a side notes, I believe many would agree this FF is the one with the hottest female character ever. And this hottest female character accolade goes none other than Lightning, the main protagonist and that hot lady on the cover.

AfterEllen.com even ranked Lightning the second hottest female video game character of all time last year, only behind Lara Croft (what!?). Lightning becomes the latest addition to the Atmospheric family of the Final Fantasy franchise, which includes FFVII’s Cloud and FFVIII’s Squall.

There are 6 other playable main characters in the game. African-American Sazh; cutie pie Vanille (what a cute name!);  2+m tall hunk Snow;  14 yr old whinner Hope; and lastly cool tough Fang. Other non-playable characters include Lightning’s sister and Snow’s fiancee Serah and Sazh’s son Dajh.

The soundtrack this time isn’t very bad. Many would know “Lost in Zanarkand”, that famous tune from FFX everybody –  including non FF players – were playing on the piano  some time ago, and this album has pretty worthy tracks capable of dethroning that piece.

Boy survivor from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake

Photograph taken by anonymous

I found this photo 2 years ago right after the major quake took place in Sichaun, China. I just happened to bump into it again, and this photo never fails to touch my heart. A little boy who got saved from the rumble holds on to a muffin given by the rescuers, looking on with that innocent glare. Anybody has any idea who the photographer is?

You know, sometimes strangers would add you on Facebook – a common feature I know. Some you would outright reject some you would accept, because you see that the number of mutual friends are very high. So tada, you added another ‘friend’ on Facebook.

Not that I’m snobbish or what, I don’t have the habit of adding strangers and even some acquaintances, honestly. I used to randomly add and accept friend requests on Friendster, but decided to be more sincere once on Facebook. Some probably think it’s no big deal, but the idea of degrading the value of the term “friend” makes me uncomfortable.

When you don’t even know several of your contacts on networking sites, it means that they are merely objects, rather than subject. I can tell you those 2 terms are very different in nature, and I don’t wish to objectify my friends at all.

Last week was my birthday, and many posted wishes on my wall. Thanks people, really appreciated that (really!) But there are some people who are quite close to me who posted wishes on my wall as well.

Hold on, why did you post on my wall when we don’t even talk physically at all? I find it a little disturbing because they dont mean it. Yeah, perhaps it’s just a friendly gesture. But why bother doing it when you’re neither sincere nor genuine? Having someone’s birthday appearing your newsfeed doesn’t make you obliged to post him/her a birthday post. For me, I won’t post such posts unless that person’s really close to me and when I genuinely mean it.

When you wish someone you aren’t close with on Facebook, you only serve to objectify him. He’s not a subject to you and you’re not a subject to him. If you wanna do it, make sure you are at least on the talking-on-a-face-to-face-basis level. Or else all will be just insincere and insignificant talk.

Facebook breeds superficiality, and I don’t like it at all.

October 23 2010
Attended KPop Night concert with Dingsheng, seeing Girls’ Generation in person for my very first time. Gosh, they really look very beautiful in person, especially maknae Seohyun. Among the star-studded line-up include SHINee, Big Bang, FT Island, ZE:A, etc. This fanatastic encounter was only made possible by Serene and her friends of course, who helped us (who were way back in the ticket queue) get our tickets.

November 8 – November 30 2010
A Levels. The big-day period all JC peeps have been preparing since getting posted into a JC. Thank God I’ve made it through the period alive.

Christmas 2010
Had Christmas Eve caroling near my church along the Geylang lorongs. Not the first time I’m doing this, but nonetheless another good experience to take home.

New Year’s Day 2011
A new year signals new changes to many things, especially for a post school-leaving-exams student like me. Where am I going next, what am I going to do now? Questions, questions about my future and present pop up non-stop.. Well, of course it would be great for me further my education here in Singapore. But it’ll be more likely for me to fly away~ Probably Australia, US or UK. It’s still anybody’s guess.

Birthday 2011
January 4th. Appreciate all the wishes that came in, really thank you. But there are certain things that I have to say about Facebook wishes in my next post. Back to the main point, I am now 19 years old. Having nearly spent almost 2 decades on the Earth, I wonder if I’m an average or an underachiever. After all, there aren’t many milestones I’ve achieved in my life, at least to myself.

So what now..?

Hopefully the planned Seoul trip in early April (to catch cherry blossoms!) with Kaisiang and Dingsheng will go on without any hitches. I’ve got to find a job of course to fund my trip. Also this period I’ve got to take my SAT to reduce delays once I receive my results on early March. Unlike all S’porean-born boys, or men, I need not serve National Service. Dont ask why, it’s simply because I’m neither a S’porean citizen nor a PR. Haha. Not serving NS now might probably wipe out any chance I have of applying for PR or citizenship in the future. But we’ll see, we’ll see..

Just a quick update,
This month I got a new phone, Milestone XT, and its an exxellent phone. Slowly getting used to the controls and all. The highlight of this month is definitely the Kpop ticket I managed to get after much struggle. I’m gonna see SNSD!! FINALLY! Haha.

Will post full posts soon, probably after my exams. For now that’s all I have. Have a beautiful day

2010 is really Maknae’s year. This theme song for drama Kim Soo Ro is a big hit, with fans singing thousands of covers after just a few days since release. Really powerful vocals by this 19 year-old. Jjang! (Y). It’ll be my dream for my future girlfriend to sing as well as her. Haha. But singing has always been the most important factor for me. (Y)

2AM Jo Kwon – The Day of Confessing My Love (고백하던 날)

He sang this before in We Got Married! He ‘composed the song on the spot’ while trying to serenade Ga In in one of the episodes, and he actually turned it into a actual studio recorded single! Amazing! Haha. Didn’t quite spot it until the pre chorus where the tune is too familiar.

May I..

So, I cant really remember what I did for May, other than watching Arsenal almost screwing their 3rd place in EPL and having intense practices for my choir’s Concert&Musical.

Matsumoto June

First week of June was dedicated to my choir’s concert/musical – my second musical project, Plaisir De Chanson. I spent my second week in Dunman LTC Camp 2010 (Leader Training Camp), returning to serve as an alumni instructor again after last year. The experience of being a group Facilitator (FA) is fantastic. To my beloved group Poseidon:

Well done Poseidon! I’m not too fierce with you guys hopefully. Learn from your experiences and grow better as a leader, just like what I’m doing too. Leaders, remember the importance of serving before leading! All the best!

And how can I forget about the World Cup in South Africa? Haha. I caught every single matches in the groupstage (well almost, just 2-3 matches not watched, mostly England ones) during the first few weeks. Was really hoping Japan and South Korea could do well. But well, fate had it, the Asian power duo are back home now. Nvm, there’s always next World Cup.

Did July?

Anyway, if you didnt catch that, that was actually a pun of “Did you lie”. Hahah! Okay, moving on, my SA2 just ended yesterday (well, it’s Friday 5am now) on a disastrous note. Ms Fernandes don’t rip me apart too badly please! Okay, let’s end the topic of exams. Let’s just think about more comforting things ya? Like.. okay, never mind.

Even Girls Are Watching!

World Cup 2010 that is. Here’s the last 8 matchup:

Netherlands vs Brazil
Uruguay vs Ghana
Germany vs Argentina
Paraguay vs Spain

If you noticed, there’s actually one South American country in each fixture! Which means it is possible for all 4 South American countries filling up the 4 semi-finalists slots. Amazing!

And just to do some Continental check, South America is currently the imba continent, with 4 teams progress to the last 8 out of 5. Asia (upon 4) and Oceania (upon 1) are the 2 continents having none left, although Asia did a little better with both South Korea & Japan in the last 16. Europe has 3 teams left but out of 13, North&Central America has 0 now upon 3. has and host continent Africa has only 1 lone ranger left out of 6. Hmm, Antartica?

Caribbean Bay is a soon-to-be-opened water amusement park in Korea, and boy, what a hit this place’s gonna be with this kind of commercial!

Mind you, this Intro + Trailer video isn’t even the real thing yet! There’s still a full length music video coming out for this. Goodness gracious me. The trailer is alr like this, let alone the actual vid!

All the 3 girls from SNSD are really hot here, especially Yoona, who’s usually more girl-next-door than this. haha. Being the youngest, Seohyun certainly surprised many with this stuff because of her usually quiet and innocent image. Aweseom Yuri simply delivered what was expected of her. Brilliant stuff.

The 2PM members who appeared here are Taecyeon, Nickhun & Chansung.

100411 Yoona, Yuri & Hyoyeon @ KJE Chocolate

Another brilliant stuff from SNSD. This time is a dance perf from SBS talkshow KJE’s Chocolate.