As the year comes to an end, Takahina would put up a series of blogpost to commemorate whatever has happened in 2010. This is a "tradition" of the Takahina blog series since 2007 and hence this would be the 3rd year running.
It sounds a bit cocky, because it won't matter to other people at all what happened to Takahina's life this year. However, do note that Takahina writes his blog, for his own sake and to share whatever he feels, whatever he knows, whatever he wants to share to everyone else that he knows. As a matter of fact my blog did manage to let me know a few more friends outside, so it can only be a positive act of mine.
This post would only be a prelude and summary to what has, and what will (meaning stuff that will start after I post up this post) happen in 2010. It won't include regular outings with group of friends or normal birthday celebrations because those happen every year. Events in December would also not be included except for those already planned. (Since it's not yet December anyways)
With the help of my planner, I won't forget anything that happened at all. (so you guys now know why I like to use a planner?;) )
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Jan 2010:
- Entering Bunka Japanese Language Intermediate Class (ended)
- Drum teaching to Karen (ended)
- Jamming with Grottesca (ended)
- Restart of new sem at SIM, project group with Charles and co, pair project with Xiao Tong. (ended)
- TNT work full time begins (ongoing)
- Drum Recording for Elisen (1-shot event)
- Passing my driving test (1-shot event)
Feb 2010:
- Drum teaching to Uncle (ended)
March 2010:
- Jamming with Vincent (ended)
- Drum recording for Bernard (1-shot event)
April 2010:
- Start of exercise regime (ongoing)
May 2010:
- Brother's ROM (1-shot event)
- JB trip with Charles and co (1-shot event)
June 2010:
- Rehearsal with Rong for his farewell party (ended)
- Starting of Rurouni's business proposals and meetings (ended)
July 2010:
- Restart of new sem at SIM, project group Uni cliques. (ended)
- Rong's farewell party + Gackt's bday. (1-shot event)
- Jamming with Square Table feat Umei (ongoing)
- 1st Re-service ICT (ended)
- Jamming with Resonance (ongoing)
- First Car Mishap (1-shot event)
August 2010:
- Jamming + Recording for Marco's song entry (1-shot event)
September 2010:
- Gig with Resonance (1-shot event)
- Entering Bunka Japanese Language Pre-Advanced Class (ongoing)
- Chalet on Chin Han's birthday (1-shot event)
October 2010:
- 1st NS Mobilization Exercise (1-shot event)
November 2010:
- Jamming with Yellow Boots (ended)
- Marina Bay Sands stay on Patricia's birthday (1-shot event)
- EOY Audition (1-shot event)
- Taiwan Trip with Parents (not yet done)
December 2010 (planned):
- Gig with Square Table feat Umei and Resonance (not yet done)
- Obtaining Diploma (not yet done)
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Next time I blog would be after my Taiwan trip (will try to get pics and blog about it). Whatever will happen from then on would be another story for another time.
For now... タカヒナでした。。。
Whatever Takahina writes here, is fully affected by all the people around him. Whatever you don't agree, you are fully responsible for it.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Collecting Takahina 2010 - Part 2
Continue on from the previous post which featured my Games and Music collection, here is part 2.
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Anime/Misc VCD/DVD/Blu-ray
To be honest, I haven't been buying any new anime at all lately. Currently my anime intake comes from TV channels, mainly Animax. The previous one I had bought was Rurouni Kenshin's Seisouhen which I had just watched only recently. My newer ones are the Japanese Movies, such as Galileo's Suspect X and Departures (Seriously one of the best movie I have ever watched).
Therefore, I don't really have much to brag about here. It's a pretty modest collection compared to some hardcore Otaku's out there.
These are the separate VCDs which I collect when I was around Sec 1 or Sec 2. My parents bought me my first VCD, "Sailor Moon". I tried to collect the whole series but at that time being poor, I couldn't get more. Soon enough the whole series went out and gone. Among these separate cases there is...
- Sailor Moon 2 discs
- Pokemon the whole of season 1
- Love Hina episode 1 - 18
- Gundam Wing Endless Waltz
- Dragon Ball Z Movie
As you can guess, it's all VCDs, meaning they're of quite some age. The Love Hina VCDs are still quite prime though, original and bought from this shop which imported them from Hong Kong. One thing is, I kinda regret even starting on buying the Pokemon VCDs, a complete waste of money. Soon after hearing that they released even more seasons, I gave up.
The VCDs are tucked in, and in front of it I'll place my box collections. Eventually as I collected Love Hina, it occurred to me that buying separate disc never makes sense. Buy the box sets, they look nice and most of the time they are complete. So, with my Anime-love peaking when I was around 15, I got around buying more box-sets. Albeit it's still too little for my liking.
Titles of Anime Box-sets includes:
- Record of Lodoss War (didn't watch it in the end cause the dub was english)
- Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala (This is a bishoujo anime. A weird choice, but it's seriously not too bad)
- Vandread 1
- Vandread 2
- Final Fantasy X/X-2 game playthrough (One of the stupidest thing I bought)
- Love Hina Again
- .hack//Sign (total bootleg. Subs sucked too)
- .hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu
- Maison Ikkoku (A classic, must watch for any romance anime fanatics)
- The Vision of Escaflowne
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
- Pretear
- Rurouni Kenshin, from TV-series to it's movie to it's OVA. I got it all.
I do love watching Japanese Drama/Movies, but somehow I watch them off either online or via TV. I still buy some, but most of them are movies.
Japanese Drama/Movies:
- Love Generation (Drama)
- Galileo, Suspect X (Movie)
- Tokyo Story (a low profile movie featuring Matsu Takako)
- Departures (on loan to Tian Wei lol)
ODEX (a gone case VCD/DVD Singapore shop) was quite hot at that time and released very nice looking box sets.
I have 2 live concert DVD, 1 is Matsu Takako, the other written as "MIJ" is SMAP's live actually. It was given to me as a present in Sec 3 by Stella, Xing Yun, Priscilla, Chin Han, Benjamin and Ben if I'm not wrong.
If this was just an update, then serious for 2010, I have only bought, Suspect X, Tokyo Story and Departures.
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Manga/Comic
Manga was introduced to me by Ben in 2002 when he brought Love Hina to school. I got stuck with it ever since. On the otherhand, I actually watched Anime first behind getting my first Manga, so yes I'm consider a late bloomer.
Nothing much to say about Manga but to say that it has grown slowly but steadily throughout the years ever since 2002. I now primarily collect 2 series, Mahou Sensei Negima because it's real good and Conan just for the sake of completion (the first 12 volume was given to me by Shu Qin). If I see manga being discarded, or I know if anyone wants to throw away their manga, I would grab it from them. A small portion of my collection comes from discarded manga from Ben actually.
Manga shelf part 1
Manga shelf part 2
Manga shelf part 3
Naturally my collection and variety isn't that impressive. Because I'm going more for completion rather than varied viewing, I only have a few series completed.
Completed Series:
- Love Hina
- A.I ga Tomaranai
- Chobits
- Kindaichi Shounen no Jikembo (cept for the short series)
- Rurouni Kenshin
- .hack//legend of the twilight bracelet (the only manga I bought in English)
- Mahou Lala (yes, its the same series as the Bishoujo anime I bought)
Uncompleted Series:
- Mahou Sensei Negima
- Conan
- Ranma 1/2
- Shikahime
- Fairytale
- Sailormoon (out of print, so completing this seems impossible)
- Suzuka
- Rave
- Murder Princess
- 地动天移
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Kimi Kiss
- Kindaichi Short Stories
- Ichigo 100%
- Rose Hip Rose
- Samurai Deeper Kyo
- Getbackers
- Naruto
- Tsubasa no Chronicles
- 666
- Ronin
- Bleach
- Slam Dunk
For my uncompleted series, most are discarded from Ben.
For some reasons I do not know myself, I don't really like Hong Kong Comics that much, I still can appreciate US comics from Marvel or DC, but not Hong Kong ones, I think they ridicule the story too much. The only "comics" I have non-Japanese is from Wee Tian Beng, a local comic artist. First got hooked on his Return of the Condor Series and followed on into his Celestial Zone.
The so-called Wee Tian Beng collection I have. From his Return of the Condor Heroes to Adventures of Wisely up until Celestial Zone 2, I have most of his comics. After Celestial Zone 2, I think he's milking it too far and stopped collecting.
I buy 1 manga a week now, so this list is very likely to continue faster in the future. May need a new shelf for it too.
Drum related
As a drummer, I gotta say I'm rather pathetic. Not having any drumsets at home, not having any signature favourite cymbals, not even having a drum-pad and relying on my bed to practice my drums. It's depressing.
So for people who wonder how I practice my songs...
This is a drumset of the studio that I have been playing with my band frequently.
Thank you AMG room 3.
This is the drumset at my house...
Thank you Bed.
As you would have known, hitting on pillows produce nothing except for a deep thud sound. So in other words, I would have no idea what sound would suit the song. How do I exactly practice then? I drill the song into my head, in otherwords I figure out the things which is used to produce the sound just from the song itself and play out a "fake" version with my bed while the mp3 is still on to practice my strokes and see whether I can play it or not.
This is, playing from ear, literally. So it's not that I'm pro so I learn from listening, but it's more of a no choice situation, I'm FORCED to learn from hearing itself. Luckily, drum is a type of instruments that isn't too difficult to differentiate the "notes" played, so I got through it pretty well. I'm quite sure you won't find any pianist learning songs the same way I do.
After I found out whether I can play out the song through the "fake" drumset, I now "tab" out the song. People who have jammed with me would know I use a very weird "tabbing" method. I don't use the orthodox "tao geis" which you would see from music scores, but instead, I focus more on the song flow, like when it's at the verse, when it's at the chorus, what are the unique fills to take note of, how many bars are there etc etc.
An example of my drum tab.
爱我别走 By Zhang Zheng Yue
It's one of the simplest song ever and took me just 10 minutes to tab it out. You would see the words "verse", "chorus" etc to signify the song flow, beside it would be numbers in circle in show the difference in the drum groove between this part to another part, numbers not in circles to tell you how many bars are there, and the other descriptions to show you what groove to play and what to take note.
Now for one of the hardest tabs I have...
Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari by Supercell
Just tabbing it took me about an hour to do, because there is so many different parts, groove and things to take note in this song, it got me quite frustrated at first.
However, of course this shouldn't be the way a drummer learns his songs. However for me, it works now so I'll keep using this until I find a better way. By far the songs which I have tabbed (It's gonna be a long and boring list so skip all the way down if you're not interested):
English:
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia (With Child's Play)
Letter Read - Rachel Yamagata (With Benji)
Worn Me Down - Rachel Yamagata (With Benji)
I Won't See You Tonight - Avenged Sevenfold (In Recruit's Night during NS)
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers (With The Unknown)
Wake me up when September Ends - Green Day (In Recruit's Night during NS)
Holiday - Green Day (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
Nobody's Home - Avril Lavigne (With EvE)
Don't Speak - No Doubt (With EvE)
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
Have a nice day - Bon Jovi (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
You give love a bad name - Bon Jovi (With Yellow Boots)
Check yes juliet - We the Kings (Forgot >.<)
Animal Instinct - Cranberries (With Child's Play)
Time is running out - Muse (For Rong's farewell party)
What have you done - Within Temptations (Auditioning band song)
Alone - Warnock (Auditioning band song)
My Immortal - Evanescence (Auditioning band song)
Japanese:
Depend On You - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
A song for XX (a-nation 08 ver) - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Will - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
End Roll - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Endless Sorrow - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Seasons - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Moments - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Can You Celebrate - Namie Amuro (With Child's Play)
I'm Gonna Scream + - Tommy Heavenly 6 (With Child's Play)
Yesterday and Today - Do As Infinity (With Child's Play)
Desire - Do As Infinity (With Benji)
Tookumade - Do As Infinity (With EvE)
New World - Do As Infinity (With Benji)
Brightdown - Nami Tamaki (With EvE)
Wagamama Koushinkyouku - Antique Cafe (With Amber and Benji)
Yokan - Dir En Grey (With Le Foret)
Cage - Dir En Grey (With Han)
The Final - Dir En Grey (With Le Foret)
The World - Nightmare (With Han)
I For You - Luna Sea (With The Unknown)
Rain - Luna Sea (For Rong's farewell party)
Rolling Star - Yui (With EvE)
Love and Truth - Yui (Auditioning band song)
Lover's Boy - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Honey (2000 ver) - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Stay Away - Larc en Ciel (With Le Foret)
Driver's High - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Vivid Colours - Larc en Ciel (With Yellow Boots)
Koigokoro - Aikawa Nanase (With Amber and Benji)
Yumegui - Ai Otsuka (Auditioning band song)
Houki Boushi - Younha (Auditioning band song)
Kokoro - Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen (With Benji)
Sounan - Tokyo Jihen (With Child's Play)
Shunkan Sentimental - Scandal (With Resonance)
Don't Say Lazy - K'on (With Resonance)
Alchemy - Angel Beats (With Resonance)
God Knows - Aya Hirano (With Resonance)
Bouken Desho Desho - Aya Hirano (With Square Table feat Umei)
Anata ga ita mori - Fate/Stay Night (With Square Table feat Umei)
Realove Realife - Sphere (With Square Table feat Umei)
Kimi no shiranai monogatari - Supercell (With Square Table feat Umei)
Help me Erin! - Touhou (With Square Table feat Umei)
Orion once again - Deluhi (With Han)
Closer - Inoue Joe (With Averia)
Poison - Takashi Sorimachi (For Tian Wei's Birthday Party)
Rusty Nails - X Japan (With Han)
Mikan no Uta - Sex Machine Guns (With Han)
Glamorous Sky - Mika Nakashima (With EvE)
Alive - Speed (With Chris)
White Love - Speed (With Child's Play)
Love Namida Iro - Aya Matsuura (With Child's Play)
Naze - Hysteric Blue (With Chris)
Utada Hikaru - First Love (With Child's Play)
Chinese:
受够 - Cherry Bloom (With EvE)
清新早晨 - Cherry Bloom (With EvE)
爱死你 - Karen Mok (With EvE)
24 hour - Karen Mok (With EvE)
虚假 - Po Huo (泼猴） (With EvE)
搞错 - Po Huo (泼猴） (With EvE)
Wake Up - 柯有伦 (With EvE)
零 - 柯有伦 (With EvE)
直接 - 同恩 (With EvE)
第一天 - Stephanie Sun (With EvE)
My Anata - David Tao (With Mingwei)
黑色柳丁 - David Tao (With Vincent)
爱要坦荡荡 - Xiao Xiao (With EvE)
倒带 - Jolin Tsai (With EvE)
红色跑车 - Beyond (With EvE)
Fly Away (unplug ver) - F.I.R (With EvE)
Revolution - F.I.R (With EvE)
牙关 - Mayday (With Mingwei)
恋爱ing - Mayday (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
燕尾蝶 (Mayday concert ver) - Mayday (With Vincent)
来不及 - Hebe (With EvE)
阳光宅男 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
不能说的秘密 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
蒲公英的约定 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
新不了情 - Jam Hsiao (With Vincent)
爱我别走 - 张振嶽 (With Vincent)
Misc:
Maria - 200 Pound Beauty Theme Song (With EvE)
Eli's Original song - Elisen (a person who contacted me through soft.com needing a sessionist drummer)
Midnight - Elisen
Shiqi's Original song - Shiqi (friend of Edwin's who needed a drummer to help in recording)
In love with love - Original from Chris's friend
I'm Alright - Neil Zaza
Electric Gypsy - Andy Timmons
Too Much Damage - Marco's audition song
Anyways, that's all for the tabs.
In terms of hardware equipment, I only have drumsticks to boot.
My standard use is always a Zildjian 5A Black, either a signature series that goes via ASOT, if not the standard pair that Zildjian sells. Oval tip, not too round so the sound is less bouncy and more deep. Not too thick if not it'll be difficult to maneuver for more jazz songs. I have experimented for sometime before deciding on this pair. In terms of tardiness and sound, I like it the most. Another one is a Vic Firth signature series of Steve Gadd. Sadly it's so rare in Singapore I've only managed to saw it once. I like black, because it's cool and I can determine easily around how much longer for it to crack due to colour peeling off.
I'm pretty sure I had tons more accumulated throughout the years, but threw them off most probably during one of the Chinese New Years.
I studied around 1 year of drums under Jimmy Lee and bought a few of his textbooks for learning. For those who are interested in how Jimmy writes his scores (hand-written) and an example of how it can be done... here it is...
Yes, this is 4 mins+ worth of song into 1 piece of paper.
Seriously, unless he explains it to you, you won't understand a bit of it at all. And this is a simple song!!!!
I created my own piece as well, Animal Instinct by Cranberries. I used it as a "mid-stage" exam for an ex-drum student of mine, Patricia when she was still interested in it. I had 3 students, Patricia being the most senior, Karen second and my uncle third. Only Patricia actually got to the stage of having a "test" while the other 2 stopped around the 2nd - 3rd lesson. Patricia then stopped too after the "test". I think it's because I'm a lousy teacher huh? ^.^;
My learning stuff when I'm still learning/teaching
I use the exact same books to teach, while Jimmy uses the exact same books to teach me. Till now, I haven't exactly cleared intermediate level yet. Quite a pity.
Novels
The pathetic looking array of English Novels
I haven't read much books to be frank. I don't have much english novels and I seldom buy them as well. Up to date, the only english novel which I had bought myself is by John Grisham's The Rainmaker and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The rest are either picked up from discard piles, if not people give it to me. I haven't read most of them actually, unless the introduction attracts me, I find it difficult to carry on. Thus, it would be easy to figure out, I like John Grisham's work and all the lawyer/legal systems struggles. Dan Brown's works are more towards curiosity and controversy which I feel got overrated.
And no, I don't read Harry Potter.
Chinese Novels' are a total different issue. Although I hadn't bought any in a long long time, among my peers I'm the 3rd person I know to be able to read finish the whole Jin Yong's collection. First being my cousin Peng Yuan, second being Ben.
You think you can read this?
I have been contemplating to buy the 4 classics, Journey to the West, Red Mansion Dream, Water Margin and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms. But somehow, manga has always gotten a bit more of my attention and thus my collection ended there. Up to date the hardest and most difficult to comprehend Chinese novel is Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅）, which is also the so-called "Yellow Novel" in the ancient China times. Jin Ping Mei is on a total different level from the Jing Yong novels.
For 2010, nope I didn't buy any novels AT ALL.
Misc
Not only do I collect stuff of my own interest, I also hold on to things that people give to me, be it for my birthday whatsoever. If I'm able to hold on to it or that thing meant a form of memory to me, I'll hold on to it. Especially cards and photos, they never go missing. ;)
A secret drawer of mine holds stuff which contains pictures and cards and some misc items. JC people would still remember the "Biggest Card 06" that Desmond planned for me. It's still with me man. And of course, all other cards I keep it with me, even real small ones like the "Friendship Valentine" that Joan gave during JC and even the Bunka's thank you card, I put them in here.
Due to most of the presents that you guys send me being either consumable, or wearable or usable, they're unexactly "collectibles". I have a shoe box which contains contents that people have given me in the past and stuff that I bought when I was overseas as a souvenir. Some things in the box I can't really show, so this are just the few of it that I shown in the picture.
The hand-fans are from the time I went to a Japanese School Matsuri and from one of the Japanese events in Singapore. 2 "Artist" Tags, one of it is my first Stfest performance with Le Foret in 05, the other is a gig that happened this year 2010, Alliance Music Group gig at a Community Centre.
On the extreme right is a Gyoza keychain that I had brought for various people during last year Xmas, but it being of a SHITTY quality, most of my friends had it spoilt in the first week. Very sorry. >.< Below that Gyoza is some keychain I got when I went to Thailand long long time ago. Right beside it is a "Bleach" sword keychain; Ichigo's Zangetsu in Bankai form given by Patricia (I doubt she understands anything about Bleach when she bought me this gift :x). I couldn't manage to attach it to my key or anything else, cause it'll either poke me or break. Among many other things include some India low quality bracelet, an India note and some stuff left behind by people dear to me.
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Finally, the post ends. Rest assured that next year would be a much shorter post.
Also, Takahina will be going overseas to Taiwan from 27th Nov - 4th Dec. So miss me guys. If I have the $ and time, I will buy presents for you all. That is IF I HAVE IT.
:)
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Anime/Misc VCD/DVD/Blu-ray
To be honest, I haven't been buying any new anime at all lately. Currently my anime intake comes from TV channels, mainly Animax. The previous one I had bought was Rurouni Kenshin's Seisouhen which I had just watched only recently. My newer ones are the Japanese Movies, such as Galileo's Suspect X and Departures (Seriously one of the best movie I have ever watched).
Therefore, I don't really have much to brag about here. It's a pretty modest collection compared to some hardcore Otaku's out there.
These are the separate VCDs which I collect when I was around Sec 1 or Sec 2. My parents bought me my first VCD, "Sailor Moon". I tried to collect the whole series but at that time being poor, I couldn't get more. Soon enough the whole series went out and gone. Among these separate cases there is...
- Sailor Moon 2 discs
- Pokemon the whole of season 1
- Love Hina episode 1 - 18
- Gundam Wing Endless Waltz
- Dragon Ball Z Movie
As you can guess, it's all VCDs, meaning they're of quite some age. The Love Hina VCDs are still quite prime though, original and bought from this shop which imported them from Hong Kong. One thing is, I kinda regret even starting on buying the Pokemon VCDs, a complete waste of money. Soon after hearing that they released even more seasons, I gave up.
The VCDs are tucked in, and in front of it I'll place my box collections. Eventually as I collected Love Hina, it occurred to me that buying separate disc never makes sense. Buy the box sets, they look nice and most of the time they are complete. So, with my Anime-love peaking when I was around 15, I got around buying more box-sets. Albeit it's still too little for my liking.
Titles of Anime Box-sets includes:
- Record of Lodoss War (didn't watch it in the end cause the dub was english)
- Mahou no Stage Fancy Lala (This is a bishoujo anime. A weird choice, but it's seriously not too bad)
- Vandread 1
- Vandread 2
- Final Fantasy X/X-2 game playthrough (One of the stupidest thing I bought)
- Love Hina Again
- .hack//Sign (total bootleg. Subs sucked too)
- .hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu
- Maison Ikkoku (A classic, must watch for any romance anime fanatics)
- The Vision of Escaflowne
- Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
- Pretear
- Rurouni Kenshin, from TV-series to it's movie to it's OVA. I got it all.
I do love watching Japanese Drama/Movies, but somehow I watch them off either online or via TV. I still buy some, but most of them are movies.
Japanese Drama/Movies:
- Love Generation (Drama)
- Galileo, Suspect X (Movie)
- Tokyo Story (a low profile movie featuring Matsu Takako)
- Departures (on loan to Tian Wei lol)
ODEX (a gone case VCD/DVD Singapore shop) was quite hot at that time and released very nice looking box sets.
I have 2 live concert DVD, 1 is Matsu Takako, the other written as "MIJ" is SMAP's live actually. It was given to me as a present in Sec 3 by Stella, Xing Yun, Priscilla, Chin Han, Benjamin and Ben if I'm not wrong.
If this was just an update, then serious for 2010, I have only bought, Suspect X, Tokyo Story and Departures.
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Manga/Comic
Manga was introduced to me by Ben in 2002 when he brought Love Hina to school. I got stuck with it ever since. On the otherhand, I actually watched Anime first behind getting my first Manga, so yes I'm consider a late bloomer.
Nothing much to say about Manga but to say that it has grown slowly but steadily throughout the years ever since 2002. I now primarily collect 2 series, Mahou Sensei Negima because it's real good and Conan just for the sake of completion (the first 12 volume was given to me by Shu Qin). If I see manga being discarded, or I know if anyone wants to throw away their manga, I would grab it from them. A small portion of my collection comes from discarded manga from Ben actually.
Manga shelf part 1
Manga shelf part 2
Manga shelf part 3
Naturally my collection and variety isn't that impressive. Because I'm going more for completion rather than varied viewing, I only have a few series completed.
Completed Series:
- Love Hina
- A.I ga Tomaranai
- Chobits
- Kindaichi Shounen no Jikembo (cept for the short series)
- Rurouni Kenshin
- .hack//legend of the twilight bracelet (the only manga I bought in English)
- Mahou Lala (yes, its the same series as the Bishoujo anime I bought)
Uncompleted Series:
- Mahou Sensei Negima
- Conan
- Ranma 1/2
- Shikahime
- Fairytale
- Sailormoon (out of print, so completing this seems impossible)
- Suzuka
- Rave
- Murder Princess
- 地动天移
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Kimi Kiss
- Kindaichi Short Stories
- Ichigo 100%
- Rose Hip Rose
- Samurai Deeper Kyo
- Getbackers
- Naruto
- Tsubasa no Chronicles
- 666
- Ronin
- Bleach
- Slam Dunk
For my uncompleted series, most are discarded from Ben.
For some reasons I do not know myself, I don't really like Hong Kong Comics that much, I still can appreciate US comics from Marvel or DC, but not Hong Kong ones, I think they ridicule the story too much. The only "comics" I have non-Japanese is from Wee Tian Beng, a local comic artist. First got hooked on his Return of the Condor Series and followed on into his Celestial Zone.
The so-called Wee Tian Beng collection I have. From his Return of the Condor Heroes to Adventures of Wisely up until Celestial Zone 2, I have most of his comics. After Celestial Zone 2, I think he's milking it too far and stopped collecting.
I buy 1 manga a week now, so this list is very likely to continue faster in the future. May need a new shelf for it too.
Drum related
As a drummer, I gotta say I'm rather pathetic. Not having any drumsets at home, not having any signature favourite cymbals, not even having a drum-pad and relying on my bed to practice my drums. It's depressing.
So for people who wonder how I practice my songs...
This is a drumset of the studio that I have been playing with my band frequently.
Thank you AMG room 3.
This is the drumset at my house...
Thank you Bed.
As you would have known, hitting on pillows produce nothing except for a deep thud sound. So in other words, I would have no idea what sound would suit the song. How do I exactly practice then? I drill the song into my head, in otherwords I figure out the things which is used to produce the sound just from the song itself and play out a "fake" version with my bed while the mp3 is still on to practice my strokes and see whether I can play it or not.
This is, playing from ear, literally. So it's not that I'm pro so I learn from listening, but it's more of a no choice situation, I'm FORCED to learn from hearing itself. Luckily, drum is a type of instruments that isn't too difficult to differentiate the "notes" played, so I got through it pretty well. I'm quite sure you won't find any pianist learning songs the same way I do.
After I found out whether I can play out the song through the "fake" drumset, I now "tab" out the song. People who have jammed with me would know I use a very weird "tabbing" method. I don't use the orthodox "tao geis" which you would see from music scores, but instead, I focus more on the song flow, like when it's at the verse, when it's at the chorus, what are the unique fills to take note of, how many bars are there etc etc.
An example of my drum tab.
爱我别走 By Zhang Zheng Yue
It's one of the simplest song ever and took me just 10 minutes to tab it out. You would see the words "verse", "chorus" etc to signify the song flow, beside it would be numbers in circle in show the difference in the drum groove between this part to another part, numbers not in circles to tell you how many bars are there, and the other descriptions to show you what groove to play and what to take note.
Now for one of the hardest tabs I have...
Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari by Supercell
Just tabbing it took me about an hour to do, because there is so many different parts, groove and things to take note in this song, it got me quite frustrated at first.
However, of course this shouldn't be the way a drummer learns his songs. However for me, it works now so I'll keep using this until I find a better way. By far the songs which I have tabbed (It's gonna be a long and boring list so skip all the way down if you're not interested):
English:
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia (With Child's Play)
Letter Read - Rachel Yamagata (With Benji)
Worn Me Down - Rachel Yamagata (With Benji)
I Won't See You Tonight - Avenged Sevenfold (In Recruit's Night during NS)
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers (With The Unknown)
Wake me up when September Ends - Green Day (In Recruit's Night during NS)
Holiday - Green Day (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
Nobody's Home - Avril Lavigne (With EvE)
Don't Speak - No Doubt (With EvE)
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
Have a nice day - Bon Jovi (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
You give love a bad name - Bon Jovi (With Yellow Boots)
Check yes juliet - We the Kings (Forgot >.<)
Animal Instinct - Cranberries (With Child's Play)
Time is running out - Muse (For Rong's farewell party)
What have you done - Within Temptations (Auditioning band song)
Alone - Warnock (Auditioning band song)
My Immortal - Evanescence (Auditioning band song)
Japanese:
Depend On You - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
A song for XX (a-nation 08 ver) - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Will - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
End Roll - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Endless Sorrow - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Seasons - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Moments - Ayumi Hamasaki (With Child's Play)
Can You Celebrate - Namie Amuro (With Child's Play)
I'm Gonna Scream + - Tommy Heavenly 6 (With Child's Play)
Yesterday and Today - Do As Infinity (With Child's Play)
Desire - Do As Infinity (With Benji)
Tookumade - Do As Infinity (With EvE)
New World - Do As Infinity (With Benji)
Brightdown - Nami Tamaki (With EvE)
Wagamama Koushinkyouku - Antique Cafe (With Amber and Benji)
Yokan - Dir En Grey (With Le Foret)
Cage - Dir En Grey (With Han)
The Final - Dir En Grey (With Le Foret)
The World - Nightmare (With Han)
I For You - Luna Sea (With The Unknown)
Rain - Luna Sea (For Rong's farewell party)
Rolling Star - Yui (With EvE)
Love and Truth - Yui (Auditioning band song)
Lover's Boy - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Honey (2000 ver) - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Stay Away - Larc en Ciel (With Le Foret)
Driver's High - Larc en Ciel (With The Unknown)
Vivid Colours - Larc en Ciel (With Yellow Boots)
Koigokoro - Aikawa Nanase (With Amber and Benji)
Yumegui - Ai Otsuka (Auditioning band song)
Houki Boushi - Younha (Auditioning band song)
Kokoro - Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen (With Benji)
Sounan - Tokyo Jihen (With Child's Play)
Shunkan Sentimental - Scandal (With Resonance)
Don't Say Lazy - K'on (With Resonance)
Alchemy - Angel Beats (With Resonance)
God Knows - Aya Hirano (With Resonance)
Bouken Desho Desho - Aya Hirano (With Square Table feat Umei)
Anata ga ita mori - Fate/Stay Night (With Square Table feat Umei)
Realove Realife - Sphere (With Square Table feat Umei)
Kimi no shiranai monogatari - Supercell (With Square Table feat Umei)
Help me Erin! - Touhou (With Square Table feat Umei)
Orion once again - Deluhi (With Han)
Closer - Inoue Joe (With Averia)
Poison - Takashi Sorimachi (For Tian Wei's Birthday Party)
Rusty Nails - X Japan (With Han)
Mikan no Uta - Sex Machine Guns (With Han)
Glamorous Sky - Mika Nakashima (With EvE)
Alive - Speed (With Chris)
White Love - Speed (With Child's Play)
Love Namida Iro - Aya Matsuura (With Child's Play)
Naze - Hysteric Blue (With Chris)
Utada Hikaru - First Love (With Child's Play)
Chinese:
受够 - Cherry Bloom (With EvE)
清新早晨 - Cherry Bloom (With EvE)
爱死你 - Karen Mok (With EvE)
24 hour - Karen Mok (With EvE)
虚假 - Po Huo (泼猴） (With EvE)
搞错 - Po Huo (泼猴） (With EvE)
Wake Up - 柯有伦 (With EvE)
零 - 柯有伦 (With EvE)
直接 - 同恩 (With EvE)
第一天 - Stephanie Sun (With EvE)
My Anata - David Tao (With Mingwei)
黑色柳丁 - David Tao (With Vincent)
爱要坦荡荡 - Xiao Xiao (With EvE)
倒带 - Jolin Tsai (With EvE)
红色跑车 - Beyond (With EvE)
Fly Away (unplug ver) - F.I.R (With EvE)
Revolution - F.I.R (With EvE)
牙关 - Mayday (With Mingwei)
恋爱ing - Mayday (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
燕尾蝶 (Mayday concert ver) - Mayday (With Vincent)
来不及 - Hebe (With EvE)
阳光宅男 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
不能说的秘密 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
蒲公英的约定 - Jay Chou (In CO-changing parade post celebration during NS)
新不了情 - Jam Hsiao (With Vincent)
爱我别走 - 张振嶽 (With Vincent)
Misc:
Maria - 200 Pound Beauty Theme Song (With EvE)
Eli's Original song - Elisen (a person who contacted me through soft.com needing a sessionist drummer)
Midnight - Elisen
Shiqi's Original song - Shiqi (friend of Edwin's who needed a drummer to help in recording)
In love with love - Original from Chris's friend
I'm Alright - Neil Zaza
Electric Gypsy - Andy Timmons
Too Much Damage - Marco's audition song
Anyways, that's all for the tabs.
In terms of hardware equipment, I only have drumsticks to boot.
My standard use is always a Zildjian 5A Black, either a signature series that goes via ASOT, if not the standard pair that Zildjian sells. Oval tip, not too round so the sound is less bouncy and more deep. Not too thick if not it'll be difficult to maneuver for more jazz songs. I have experimented for sometime before deciding on this pair. In terms of tardiness and sound, I like it the most. Another one is a Vic Firth signature series of Steve Gadd. Sadly it's so rare in Singapore I've only managed to saw it once. I like black, because it's cool and I can determine easily around how much longer for it to crack due to colour peeling off.
I'm pretty sure I had tons more accumulated throughout the years, but threw them off most probably during one of the Chinese New Years.
I studied around 1 year of drums under Jimmy Lee and bought a few of his textbooks for learning. For those who are interested in how Jimmy writes his scores (hand-written) and an example of how it can be done... here it is...
Yes, this is 4 mins+ worth of song into 1 piece of paper.
Seriously, unless he explains it to you, you won't understand a bit of it at all. And this is a simple song!!!!
I created my own piece as well, Animal Instinct by Cranberries. I used it as a "mid-stage" exam for an ex-drum student of mine, Patricia when she was still interested in it. I had 3 students, Patricia being the most senior, Karen second and my uncle third. Only Patricia actually got to the stage of having a "test" while the other 2 stopped around the 2nd - 3rd lesson. Patricia then stopped too after the "test". I think it's because I'm a lousy teacher huh? ^.^;
My learning stuff when I'm still learning/teaching
I use the exact same books to teach, while Jimmy uses the exact same books to teach me. Till now, I haven't exactly cleared intermediate level yet. Quite a pity.
Novels
The pathetic looking array of English Novels
I haven't read much books to be frank. I don't have much english novels and I seldom buy them as well. Up to date, the only english novel which I had bought myself is by John Grisham's The Rainmaker and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The rest are either picked up from discard piles, if not people give it to me. I haven't read most of them actually, unless the introduction attracts me, I find it difficult to carry on. Thus, it would be easy to figure out, I like John Grisham's work and all the lawyer/legal systems struggles. Dan Brown's works are more towards curiosity and controversy which I feel got overrated.
And no, I don't read Harry Potter.
Chinese Novels' are a total different issue. Although I hadn't bought any in a long long time, among my peers I'm the 3rd person I know to be able to read finish the whole Jin Yong's collection. First being my cousin Peng Yuan, second being Ben.
You think you can read this?
I have been contemplating to buy the 4 classics, Journey to the West, Red Mansion Dream, Water Margin and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms. But somehow, manga has always gotten a bit more of my attention and thus my collection ended there. Up to date the hardest and most difficult to comprehend Chinese novel is Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅）, which is also the so-called "Yellow Novel" in the ancient China times. Jin Ping Mei is on a total different level from the Jing Yong novels.
For 2010, nope I didn't buy any novels AT ALL.
Misc
Not only do I collect stuff of my own interest, I also hold on to things that people give to me, be it for my birthday whatsoever. If I'm able to hold on to it or that thing meant a form of memory to me, I'll hold on to it. Especially cards and photos, they never go missing. ;)
A secret drawer of mine holds stuff which contains pictures and cards and some misc items. JC people would still remember the "Biggest Card 06" that Desmond planned for me. It's still with me man. And of course, all other cards I keep it with me, even real small ones like the "Friendship Valentine" that Joan gave during JC and even the Bunka's thank you card, I put them in here.
Due to most of the presents that you guys send me being either consumable, or wearable or usable, they're unexactly "collectibles". I have a shoe box which contains contents that people have given me in the past and stuff that I bought when I was overseas as a souvenir. Some things in the box I can't really show, so this are just the few of it that I shown in the picture.
The hand-fans are from the time I went to a Japanese School Matsuri and from one of the Japanese events in Singapore. 2 "Artist" Tags, one of it is my first Stfest performance with Le Foret in 05, the other is a gig that happened this year 2010, Alliance Music Group gig at a Community Centre.
On the extreme right is a Gyoza keychain that I had brought for various people during last year Xmas, but it being of a SHITTY quality, most of my friends had it spoilt in the first week. Very sorry. >.< Below that Gyoza is some keychain I got when I went to Thailand long long time ago. Right beside it is a "Bleach" sword keychain; Ichigo's Zangetsu in Bankai form given by Patricia (I doubt she understands anything about Bleach when she bought me this gift :x). I couldn't manage to attach it to my key or anything else, cause it'll either poke me or break. Among many other things include some India low quality bracelet, an India note and some stuff left behind by people dear to me.
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Finally, the post ends. Rest assured that next year would be a much shorter post.
Also, Takahina will be going overseas to Taiwan from 27th Nov - 4th Dec. So miss me guys. If I have the $ and time, I will buy presents for you all. That is IF I HAVE IT.
:)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Collecting Takahina 2010 - Part 1
Taking that this year is coming to a close, Takahina will come out with a series of post that will update this upcoming year and serves as a memo for Takahina for whatever has happened, such as most memorable, most influential etc.
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Takahina loves to collect, I guess it's no mystery. Throughout the years when I've finally gained some financial power, I started buying stuff, regardless I will use them or not, because I like them and I like to collect them. Therefore in a sense, normally I'm reluctant to borrow out any of my stuff, especially things like CDs, Comics, DVDs, Games, because it's part of the "collection."
Hence, for the first of the Takahina "year-end series", it'll be a very 'Otaku' update on his collectibles. It's kinda in a sense to show Takahina how much his collection has grown in this year as you compared it.
The collectibles will feature:
- Games: CD/DVD-rom, PS games, PS2 games, PS3 games. Sadly most of these are pirated ones cept for the roms and the PS3 games.
- Music CD: Featuring artist like Matsu Takako, Perfume, Tokyo Jihen, Do As Infinity etc. I do not collect singles FYI.
- Anime/Misc VCD/DVD/Blue-ray: Most of it are Anime I bought from commercial stores in SG. I wanted to purchase some from online however they have region problems and are much more expensive, thus sadly none of the collection I have are from online.
- Manga/Comics: This will be the most regularly updated collection since I'll have an average of 1 new manga per week now.
- Drum related stuff: In future I will purchase actual drumsets, cymbals, pedals and toms to go with my drumming hobby. But for now, I sadly only have drumsticks to work on.
- Novels: Be it Chinese or English, I do read stuff other than comics.
- Misc: Anything which I felt memorable and kept in a corner of my room.
This will be the first year that I'll be doing this... so please bear with me as I slowly go through them.
Games
Cd/dvd-rom:
A large series of these came from a period of time when I was rather infatuated with chinese rpg games. You know those cd-rom games you would see being sold in Popular and Challenger but not being able to be sold out at all? Yeah I was the rare few who would buy them. To be frank some of them were a damn good play, some were damn weird, and some were close to the standards of being a Bishoujo Hentai game. Around those time I also got in contact with the more mainstream Starcraft and Heroes of Might and Magic Series.
However, eventually the one thing that would eat up TONS of my money is The Sims series. I actually bought the expansion set 1 by 1, without waiting for the compilation to come up, so you can imagine my grief and insanity when they came out with the whole THE SIMS series with all the expansion pack in it.
Up to now, I haven't been buying any cd-rom games. I have been contemplating to buy The Sims 2 expansion sets and The Sims 3, but worried about the cheap compilation sets that they will release without warning, I didn't buy it at all. To the extend now I'm completely out-dated. I remember my The Sims 2 and Caesar 3 should still be with Tian Wei... but that's another story for another day. :/
Playstation 1 Games:
My first Playstation came from my brother when he bought it from his friend at a discounted price. I remembered tempering with it, buying parts for it and having it go into smokes once (I was seriously freaked out at that time).
We actually didn't buy games for it. We actually discovered a whole big bag of Ps1 games at the void deck. We took it... and played it. Inside the bag was a whole bunch of worthless games that we slowly explored. Eventually I recognized a few being seriously good and kept them while I threw away the rest.
Partly, at that point of time we bought a few of their continuation such as Silent Hill (the 1 game which I do not dare to play in my life even up till now), Final Fantasy 8 (which I can't stop playing), Suikoden 1 and 2 (immensely good RPG) and for me, Dance Dance Revolution. Yes, at that point of time I was madly in love with DDR and trained regularly at the arcade and with the direction mat that they sold at that time.
Thanks to that, I am now what they call, a Heavy Weight DDR Champion. I assure you won't find another person same or bigger size than me playing DDR as good or even as close as me.
Playstation 2 Games:
This period was the scary point of time. Piracy was roaring at that point of time and there are pirated PS2 games sold at almost every neighborhood heartlands shop-house. It was mad. Thanks to that, after I got my PS2 (which is still in a very pristine condition even up till now), I went into a buying spree. Yes I was a PS2 game shopaholic and would anyhow buy games. This was when I grew into a self-proclaimed gamer. However sadly I was rather focused on my studies too while I was a secondary school student entering JC. So, of all the games you will see below, I have only completed like 10% of them. Sad huh :/
My games are sorted out according to Movie/Anime-related, Horror Games, Fighting Games, Action Role Playing Games, Role Playing Games, Strategic Games and Sports/rhythm Games.
The movie/anime-related, horror games, fighting games
I bought most of the Silent Hill games to accommodate my brother who loves it. Fatal Frame can be used to scare people to no end such as JunRong. Personally, I have never really played the horror games. I'm a wuss.
Action Role Playing Games
Some games such as FF7: Dirge of Cerberus, I have never touched it at all. But I know I'll want to play it, so I buy it first for future use.... It has been almost 3 years now though. >.<
RPGs + Strategic RPGs Games
Till now, I'm still playing these games. Such as FF12, I'm still stuck at "training", before I will complete the game. That's how I play RPGs, full 100% completion. ;)
Strategic, Sports Games. I have no idea who bought the Mario but it's there. :/
Soccer games are mainly bought by my brother and I use it as a "guys-night out" game. It's always a guys favorite and several members of Rurouni love it to no end.
Playstation 3 Games:
I just bought the PS3 this year. So I don't have lots of games to boot. Also since there is no piracy for PS3 and it's blue-ray technology, games are all original and damn expensive. My brother and me normally would only buy certain games first-hand and other games to be sold as 2nd hand and bought as 2nd hand.
PS3 Games
Among these collection, Super Street Fighter 4, Dragon Age Origin and Final Fantasy 13 are a NO-SELL and 1st hand. Meaning it's here for the collection. The rest of the games such as Lego Batman is for my Sister-in-law to play in her spare time and 2nd hand bought by my brother. Ah Ning (my sister-in-law) loves simple minded games but I heard she can't manage to complete it. Go figure :/
Lastly, to better allow me to perform my moves with better dexterity and fluidity, I bought a Fight Stick.
Yes, I play Street Fighter 4 with a King of Fighter Fight Stick
Why I buy this design? Well it's the cheapest in the market.
Music CD
From the template of this blog, you should know I have several artist's albums that I collect. I don't collect singles cause that will make me bankrupt.
It's not exaggerating to say that buying my first CD, "Countdown Jpop 2000", determined the route of my life. You would have noticed that Takahina is a very Japanese Culture Loving kinda guy and it started out from that CD. I started collecting since 2000, which is around 10 years now, from ever since I'm Primary 6. I ventured out and came into the current state which I am today.
1 point to note out though, although I buy CDs to collect but at the same time to listen to the music that they have rather than just to "collect". So I don't buy extra versions of the same CD.
Ayumi Hamasaki: Favorite Album - My Story
Ayumi Hamasaki was, and in fact is still big in Japan. I don't call her Madonna of Jpop for fun. She was the 1st idol I started to collect to and it didn't stop ever since. Although I found her standard dropping tremendously compared to before, she'll still be a legend in my heart and perhaps the whole of Jpop culture.
F.I.R: Favorite Album - 无限。
The only non-Japanese artist I collect. F.I.R was promising. They had potential and I had truly loved their sense of music in rock pop. It sounded full and had a different feel from the usual brand of mandopop rock at that point of time. Their fame has dropped much ever since, but still they remain quite good.
Compilations: Favorite Album - Best of Jpop 2003.
I collected compilations, because they normally feature artist that are less known in Singapore and I would know more of them from these cds. However lately there has been a lack of these cds and I hadn't updated them in years. Youtube has also overtaken their position in my source for new artist.
Utada Hikaru: Favorite Album - Heart Station
I love to call Utada Hikaru a true musician and the magician of Jpop music. Her pieces are normally creative to no end and sounds totally original. You hear her music, you know it's her. She has expanded into US and had a above average 2nd English CD, which is coincidentally my first R&B CD. I first heard of her not through her famous "First Love", but rather, "Can you Keep a Secret" which still remains a favorite of mine till this day.
Matsu Takako: Favorite Album - 桜の雨、いつか
Without Matsu Takako, there can be no Takahina. Simply cause the nick "Takahina" was derived from "Taka" and "Hina", with the "Taka" originating from Takako. First knew her through the drama "Hero" and I fell in love with her since. At first I thought she only acted, but when I discovered that she sang as well, without second thoughts I bought her CDs. It was expensive, because they can only be imported from Japan, so a normal CD costing of $20 would be $40-$70 for hers. Up till now, her Compilation CD "Footsteps" is still holds the record for the most expensive CD I have ever bought, $100+. Her voice is soothing and helped me a lot during a period when I was most emo and rebellious. She seldom produces music now and focuses more on stage-plays and movies.
Do As Infinity: Favorite Album - Eternal Flame
My first interaction with rock music would have come from them. Their pop rock is never boring and has a power that motivates people on. The drumbeats of theirs are challenging and seriously fun to play with. They disbanded at 06 but reformed again last year and released a new album Eternal Flame, which I can't stop listening. The chops are back and more exciting now.
Shibasaki Kou: Favorite Album: The Back Best
For the people who have read my reviews on Shibasaki Kou's music before, you would know that I kept emphasizing on how creative her "behind the scene crew" are and how versatile she is. Among my CDs, she always hold the Takahina's record for the most emo album. "The Back Best". If I wanna get emo, listen to that and I'll get emo.
Tokyo Jihen: Favorite Album - Adult
The insanely brilliant band that creates music which I can only hope to produce. Imagine a band filled with all known experts in their own field of instruments forming into a band and you get Tokyo Jihen. Their music are at times sexy, at times crazy, at times quirky. It's not easy to get used to their form of Neo-Jazz but once you like their sound, you will like it. Problem is, it's not all easy to get used to their sounds at all.
Perfume: Favorite Album - Triangle
Perfume needs no introduction. They are one of the biggest girl group in Japan right now and sparked off the whole electronic pop trend in Japan. I won't exactly say they sing well, in fact without vocoders I'm pretty sure they won't sound as good as the average singers in the market now. But they excel, in being artists. Being able to dance, able to host, able to joke, these various traits has got them into Takahina's list of idols and their story of reaching today's achievement will always serve as a reminder to Takahina on the importance of diligence.
Alan: Favorite Album - Voice of Earth
Having a China Girl singing Jpop is something which I hadn't expect to happen. Alan's voice are one of the most unique voices in the field; mix it into the talented hands of Jpop musicians and she has tons of potential to only grow further. It's difficult for a young girl as herself to pursue a career in a place you have no knowledge of, but she did it against all odds.
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The 2nd part will be up by next post. :)
...................................................................................
Takahina loves to collect, I guess it's no mystery. Throughout the years when I've finally gained some financial power, I started buying stuff, regardless I will use them or not, because I like them and I like to collect them. Therefore in a sense, normally I'm reluctant to borrow out any of my stuff, especially things like CDs, Comics, DVDs, Games, because it's part of the "collection."
Hence, for the first of the Takahina "year-end series", it'll be a very 'Otaku' update on his collectibles. It's kinda in a sense to show Takahina how much his collection has grown in this year as you compared it.
The collectibles will feature:
- Games: CD/DVD-rom, PS games, PS2 games, PS3 games. Sadly most of these are pirated ones cept for the roms and the PS3 games.
- Music CD: Featuring artist like Matsu Takako, Perfume, Tokyo Jihen, Do As Infinity etc. I do not collect singles FYI.
- Anime/Misc VCD/DVD/Blue-ray: Most of it are Anime I bought from commercial stores in SG. I wanted to purchase some from online however they have region problems and are much more expensive, thus sadly none of the collection I have are from online.
- Manga/Comics: This will be the most regularly updated collection since I'll have an average of 1 new manga per week now.
- Drum related stuff: In future I will purchase actual drumsets, cymbals, pedals and toms to go with my drumming hobby. But for now, I sadly only have drumsticks to work on.
- Novels: Be it Chinese or English, I do read stuff other than comics.
- Misc: Anything which I felt memorable and kept in a corner of my room.
This will be the first year that I'll be doing this... so please bear with me as I slowly go through them.
Games
Cd/dvd-rom:
A large series of these came from a period of time when I was rather infatuated with chinese rpg games. You know those cd-rom games you would see being sold in Popular and Challenger but not being able to be sold out at all? Yeah I was the rare few who would buy them. To be frank some of them were a damn good play, some were damn weird, and some were close to the standards of being a Bishoujo Hentai game. Around those time I also got in contact with the more mainstream Starcraft and Heroes of Might and Magic Series.
However, eventually the one thing that would eat up TONS of my money is The Sims series. I actually bought the expansion set 1 by 1, without waiting for the compilation to come up, so you can imagine my grief and insanity when they came out with the whole THE SIMS series with all the expansion pack in it.
Up to now, I haven't been buying any cd-rom games. I have been contemplating to buy The Sims 2 expansion sets and The Sims 3, but worried about the cheap compilation sets that they will release without warning, I didn't buy it at all. To the extend now I'm completely out-dated. I remember my The Sims 2 and Caesar 3 should still be with Tian Wei... but that's another story for another day. :/
Playstation 1 Games:
My first Playstation came from my brother when he bought it from his friend at a discounted price. I remembered tempering with it, buying parts for it and having it go into smokes once (I was seriously freaked out at that time).
We actually didn't buy games for it. We actually discovered a whole big bag of Ps1 games at the void deck. We took it... and played it. Inside the bag was a whole bunch of worthless games that we slowly explored. Eventually I recognized a few being seriously good and kept them while I threw away the rest.
Partly, at that point of time we bought a few of their continuation such as Silent Hill (the 1 game which I do not dare to play in my life even up till now), Final Fantasy 8 (which I can't stop playing), Suikoden 1 and 2 (immensely good RPG) and for me, Dance Dance Revolution. Yes, at that point of time I was madly in love with DDR and trained regularly at the arcade and with the direction mat that they sold at that time.
Thanks to that, I am now what they call, a Heavy Weight DDR Champion. I assure you won't find another person same or bigger size than me playing DDR as good or even as close as me.
Playstation 2 Games:
This period was the scary point of time. Piracy was roaring at that point of time and there are pirated PS2 games sold at almost every neighborhood heartlands shop-house. It was mad. Thanks to that, after I got my PS2 (which is still in a very pristine condition even up till now), I went into a buying spree. Yes I was a PS2 game shopaholic and would anyhow buy games. This was when I grew into a self-proclaimed gamer. However sadly I was rather focused on my studies too while I was a secondary school student entering JC. So, of all the games you will see below, I have only completed like 10% of them. Sad huh :/
My games are sorted out according to Movie/Anime-related, Horror Games, Fighting Games, Action Role Playing Games, Role Playing Games, Strategic Games and Sports/rhythm Games.
The movie/anime-related, horror games, fighting games
I bought most of the Silent Hill games to accommodate my brother who loves it. Fatal Frame can be used to scare people to no end such as JunRong. Personally, I have never really played the horror games. I'm a wuss.
Action Role Playing Games
Some games such as FF7: Dirge of Cerberus, I have never touched it at all. But I know I'll want to play it, so I buy it first for future use.... It has been almost 3 years now though. >.<
RPGs + Strategic RPGs Games
Till now, I'm still playing these games. Such as FF12, I'm still stuck at "training", before I will complete the game. That's how I play RPGs, full 100% completion. ;)
Strategic, Sports Games. I have no idea who bought the Mario but it's there. :/
Soccer games are mainly bought by my brother and I use it as a "guys-night out" game. It's always a guys favorite and several members of Rurouni love it to no end.
Playstation 3 Games:
I just bought the PS3 this year. So I don't have lots of games to boot. Also since there is no piracy for PS3 and it's blue-ray technology, games are all original and damn expensive. My brother and me normally would only buy certain games first-hand and other games to be sold as 2nd hand and bought as 2nd hand.
PS3 Games
Among these collection, Super Street Fighter 4, Dragon Age Origin and Final Fantasy 13 are a NO-SELL and 1st hand. Meaning it's here for the collection. The rest of the games such as Lego Batman is for my Sister-in-law to play in her spare time and 2nd hand bought by my brother. Ah Ning (my sister-in-law) loves simple minded games but I heard she can't manage to complete it. Go figure :/
Lastly, to better allow me to perform my moves with better dexterity and fluidity, I bought a Fight Stick.
Yes, I play Street Fighter 4 with a King of Fighter Fight Stick
Why I buy this design? Well it's the cheapest in the market.
Music CD
From the template of this blog, you should know I have several artist's albums that I collect. I don't collect singles cause that will make me bankrupt.
It's not exaggerating to say that buying my first CD, "Countdown Jpop 2000", determined the route of my life. You would have noticed that Takahina is a very Japanese Culture Loving kinda guy and it started out from that CD. I started collecting since 2000, which is around 10 years now, from ever since I'm Primary 6. I ventured out and came into the current state which I am today.
1 point to note out though, although I buy CDs to collect but at the same time to listen to the music that they have rather than just to "collect". So I don't buy extra versions of the same CD.
Ayumi Hamasaki: Favorite Album - My Story
Ayumi Hamasaki was, and in fact is still big in Japan. I don't call her Madonna of Jpop for fun. She was the 1st idol I started to collect to and it didn't stop ever since. Although I found her standard dropping tremendously compared to before, she'll still be a legend in my heart and perhaps the whole of Jpop culture.
F.I.R: Favorite Album - 无限。
The only non-Japanese artist I collect. F.I.R was promising. They had potential and I had truly loved their sense of music in rock pop. It sounded full and had a different feel from the usual brand of mandopop rock at that point of time. Their fame has dropped much ever since, but still they remain quite good.
Compilations: Favorite Album - Best of Jpop 2003.
I collected compilations, because they normally feature artist that are less known in Singapore and I would know more of them from these cds. However lately there has been a lack of these cds and I hadn't updated them in years. Youtube has also overtaken their position in my source for new artist.
Utada Hikaru: Favorite Album - Heart Station
I love to call Utada Hikaru a true musician and the magician of Jpop music. Her pieces are normally creative to no end and sounds totally original. You hear her music, you know it's her. She has expanded into US and had a above average 2nd English CD, which is coincidentally my first R&B CD. I first heard of her not through her famous "First Love", but rather, "Can you Keep a Secret" which still remains a favorite of mine till this day.
Matsu Takako: Favorite Album - 桜の雨、いつか
Without Matsu Takako, there can be no Takahina. Simply cause the nick "Takahina" was derived from "Taka" and "Hina", with the "Taka" originating from Takako. First knew her through the drama "Hero" and I fell in love with her since. At first I thought she only acted, but when I discovered that she sang as well, without second thoughts I bought her CDs. It was expensive, because they can only be imported from Japan, so a normal CD costing of $20 would be $40-$70 for hers. Up till now, her Compilation CD "Footsteps" is still holds the record for the most expensive CD I have ever bought, $100+. Her voice is soothing and helped me a lot during a period when I was most emo and rebellious. She seldom produces music now and focuses more on stage-plays and movies.
Do As Infinity: Favorite Album - Eternal Flame
My first interaction with rock music would have come from them. Their pop rock is never boring and has a power that motivates people on. The drumbeats of theirs are challenging and seriously fun to play with. They disbanded at 06 but reformed again last year and released a new album Eternal Flame, which I can't stop listening. The chops are back and more exciting now.
Shibasaki Kou: Favorite Album: The Back Best
For the people who have read my reviews on Shibasaki Kou's music before, you would know that I kept emphasizing on how creative her "behind the scene crew" are and how versatile she is. Among my CDs, she always hold the Takahina's record for the most emo album. "The Back Best". If I wanna get emo, listen to that and I'll get emo.
Tokyo Jihen: Favorite Album - Adult
The insanely brilliant band that creates music which I can only hope to produce. Imagine a band filled with all known experts in their own field of instruments forming into a band and you get Tokyo Jihen. Their music are at times sexy, at times crazy, at times quirky. It's not easy to get used to their form of Neo-Jazz but once you like their sound, you will like it. Problem is, it's not all easy to get used to their sounds at all.
Perfume: Favorite Album - Triangle
Perfume needs no introduction. They are one of the biggest girl group in Japan right now and sparked off the whole electronic pop trend in Japan. I won't exactly say they sing well, in fact without vocoders I'm pretty sure they won't sound as good as the average singers in the market now. But they excel, in being artists. Being able to dance, able to host, able to joke, these various traits has got them into Takahina's list of idols and their story of reaching today's achievement will always serve as a reminder to Takahina on the importance of diligence.
Alan: Favorite Album - Voice of Earth
Having a China Girl singing Jpop is something which I hadn't expect to happen. Alan's voice are one of the most unique voices in the field; mix it into the talented hands of Jpop musicians and she has tons of potential to only grow further. It's difficult for a young girl as herself to pursue a career in a place you have no knowledge of, but she did it against all odds.
............................................................................
The 2nd part will be up by next post. :)
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Atas Takahina Who Swam Among The Clouds
(Just for this post, I won't write anything stupid/vulgar/negative :D)
Note: This post may make you very jealous :p
From almost mid-late October 2010, Woon Han Chong and Priscilla Phua started to plan a big celebration, for Patricia Tay...
Lovely Patricia looking to the sky
We didn't want her to know anything about it, so Pris would be in-charged of booking Pat's time, while I got around with the logistics. But stupid me accidentally smsed Pat, mistaking her for Pris and it kinda wrote,
"You think Pat would prefer an Atas life at MBS, or outdoor at Sentosa?"
Luckily, Pat still remained clueless...
This pic speaks of 1 word. "Huh?"
After a few meetings and conference over the phone, we came out with a final solution of something that most Singaporeans (except the already atas Singaporeans and gamblers) want to do at least once in Singapore.
Marina Bay Sands, I choose you!
Thus, the plan came into action. Recognizing the dates whereby we would be free, finding out which day would be appropriate, taking everyone's exams into mind, knowing our overseas trip's schedule, expecting which day she won't be free etc.
We finally came out with the date to hold her Birthday Present, and that's a whopping 1 month before her actual birthday. For that, I'm very sorry as it seems as though we wanted to get it over with and don't seem sincere :/ The date was set on 6th Nov 2010 - 7th Nov 2010.
And then there I was... looking over the website of MBS. There were several rooms as I looked through, with Club Room being the best of the rooms and Suites seemingly too big sized for 3 people. Needless to say, these are mostly above our budget, so I went for the normal one, Horizon Deluxe............
Takahina, "Ok, check in at 3pm... check out at 11am... blah blah..."
MBS personnel over the counter, "blah blah."
I might wanna add though, reserving over the internet is a bit of a confusion. You're "reserving" over the internet, not "booking" or "buying". The actual payment only comes at check in and check out. MBS you didn't make this clear so you may wanna do something about it? (I wrote it in your feedback anyways, if any personnel working there is reading this you may want to take note.)
The day came on the 6th. I was commanded by Pris to check in first before meeting up. Kinda a screw up here, cause I don't have a credit card with a limit high enough for MBS and THEREFORE I CAN'T CHECK IN YET UNTIL PRIS COMES ALONG WITH HER CREDIT CARD!!!
For this I deserve a facepalm.
And soooo... after the walk under the sun and me waiting, listening to the 4 piece chinese orchestra band and exploring the MBS for quite a bit like where the toilet and the breakfast/dinner/pub is etc,
The miniature of the whole MBS which has yet to be fully constructed will greet you at the entrance
Beside the miniature is a mini vehicle which is actually function-able
The whole metallic structure will hail you once you look to the top in the lobby.
The hallway, right side being the main restaurant for your breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet. Left is the way to the casino, shops etc
If I may add, I saw quite a bit of loud mouth ah tiongs in the area. Who says they are poor?!?!
Soon enough, the 2 ladies arrived. Sadly though Pat took more interest in the miniature and went STRAIGHT for it, ignoring me...
Haiz.
Anyways, I got the credit card (tks Pris) and finally checked in while Pat was happily chattering away with her experience at the SIA audition. During the initial check in, this was the news I heard from the staff,
"Due to the shortage of rooms from the influx of tourist, we couldn't managed to get you the room you booked and thus upgraded your room to the club room."
We're freaking lucky. ;) I love the way they said, "we couldn't managed to get you the room you booked". Its as if we don't fancy the club room. Heh Heh Heh...
And so, we got our check in cards, room number and needed stuff. So here we go...
Credits to Pat who took all the photos with her fast snapping Iphone 4 camera, and her story telling through the pictures...
First is the elevator with some guards looking over at us. We proudly flaunted our room cards.
Our room is 4971, which is the highest floor for rooms. The highest floor is 55 for the pool, 50-54 are the suites which uses another elevator.
This is the lift area at the higher floors. You can see out to the Singapore River from the side mirror. We're all getting pretty excited at this point of time.
Corridor to our rooms.
Reached our rooms and Pris had the honors of opening the room.
We entered, and there was quite a sight waiting for us. Right in front of us is the big window facing into the city area. It has 2 sections...
Bed Section
Sofa Section
Desk along with the Sofa.
Toilets were quite grand too.
Toilets were taken on the last day, so you can see some carnage around....
The cubicles for shower and "business".
Finally the bath tub that the 2 girls have been so excited about.
At this point of time, Pat can't stop taking photos as she scattered around the room, I was mainly messing around with the TV while Pris succumbed to the bed's temptation.
Guilty as caught...
View from our window.
Another view from the SAME window.
And finally a trio photo at the mirror for camwhoring sake. ;)
The one thing that makes MBS so magical, will have to be the sky garden. The weird looking surfboard on top of 3 curved structure makes for a very unique view. Plus the location is prime for overseeing the whole city area.
Thus so, the 3 of us, unwilling to waste any of the little time we have left, headed for the Sky Garden on the 55th Floor. One thing to note though, by right you need a door card to get through to the 55th Floor, as I booked the hotel under 2 person (adding 1 more person will need an additional $100 O_O), we only had 2 cards, but still we kinda went through. With just a few smiles, hello and thank you from the 2 girls, they easily made their way through while I just followed behind...
Smiles from these 2 ladies can make any Unker/Bouncer/Guards/Men stop work and let them through any form of gates/barriers/doors.
If it's like this guy...
I'm hungry (sorry Benji.. I just gotta put this pic in hahaha...)
or the guy featured in this IC...
A photo like that could make you constantly in trouble with the law, Mr Chong.
There is NO freaking way we can smuggle in smoothly.
Eventually, we made our way to the Sky Garden...
The first sight was breathtaking. Even though it's not the first time I saw the city area of Singapore from the top, but it's the first time I had such a vast and unblocked view. The magnificence can't be absorbed or contained entirely with 1 view. It requires a less focused, less concentrated view, but an open mentality and vision to take in all the awesomeness. Which is kinda the reason we went there for, to relax, to be less stressed, to be relieved of it and acceptance of future that we will face and see in our lives.
Of course, we need to camwhore a bit. ;)
Then, it's the time to swim. (By right... there are TONS of photos taken... but due to the Singapore Decency Act, it'll not be featured in this blog despite this blog posting worse stuff before.)
So, in the end, Takahina will just show himself. In his... FULL OPEN GLORY!
Drool Girls... DROOLLLLL.....
It's quite crowded actually. To find a place to lie down isn't simple. You gotta come early and kinda "chope" the pool beds. While I was reserving the beds, tons of people were asking me whether it was available or not. For those thinking of going to the pool, go there early. Take it from Takahina ;)
A very Singaporean example, "choping" with HP, high class places requires high class "choping" equipments. Tissues won't work here.
We swam among the clouds, frolicked among the clouds , and looked more of the view from the hanging pool. It was freaking cold actually. The wind was damn strong and the water aren't exactly heated. A pity though is that if the haze was still present. You can literally see clouds and smoke/smog below, now that would be surreal.
We stayed till the sun started to set...
As the sun set, so did our day. However the night was just beginning...
Takahina doesn't look as atas, cause he doesn't have the robes... :(
Night View from our room.
The girls went on to have a longgggggggg bath while Takahina just slacked 1 korner and looked through the available dining places. Apparently they did show restaurants available, but didn't put up any prices whatsoever. Directions to those places was not very clear either. Therefore lesson learned, you better hear of the restaurants in the area first rather than rely on the hotel.
Undeniably, after our swim and bath, we were all damn hungry. Pris became freaking serious and we were afraid. So we ran out in search of food....
By some chance or rather, there were very little restaurants open in the shopping area. We saw Coffee Bean which was packed filled (something you would seldom see in other parts of Singapore), passed by a few signature restaurants that warrant 1/3 of the hotel room in price and even entered the casino by chance!
....
Sorry no photos. Casino doesn't allow phototaking. Pat was happily snapping away though until someone told her she can't. :/
This was all she managed to savage in pics of the Casino. The roof :x
The casinos, as compared to Genting's was huge and very empty. Tons of tables were not opened and only a few had players in. The rest only had traces of the dealer sitting there lonely. Jackpots machines around seemed very popular though. The design though were much much classier and exquisite. Sounds of gamblers shouting "picture! picture! Ah pek! Ah pek!" was missing too, so it's a total different feeling from that of Genting.
In the end, tired and hungry we dragged ourselves all the way to Esplanade, which is the closest and around a 15mins walk + run. It started to rain on the way and we got rather drenched.
Had dinner at the Thai Express there which serves relatively good Thai food actually.
Among the thai food we had, in terms of ratings...
Starting from no.3 best,
Prawn Pancake
A favorite among the both of them, I think it's nice, but not superbly awesome though. Still it's a good appetizer.
Green Curry
Pat absolutely hated it. Pris was ok-ok with it while I loved it. Spicy foods are a favorite of mine and this one is spicy, too spicy for Pat though. :p Great with rice but NOT TO DRINK LIKE A SOUP.
Pineapple Rice
It's surprisingly good actually. At first I thought it seemed normal, but the flavor is rich and portion just nice for the average people. (Not Takahina, he eats like a Sumo :X) Even though I had tasted better Pineapple Rice elsewhere, this one was quite awesome.
Drinks wise, the Watermelon-Lime drink... I can't really remember actually, was pretty good. Quite cooling too.
Now as we were eating, we were thinking how to spend the night through. Going out would be a waste of the hotel, so we figured to stay in instead. That kinda means booze and snacks are a must.
But in consideration for my cotton wool stomach, instead of the usual hard liquor we got...
Sake, White Wine and Red Wine (1 extra bottle was brought from my brother as he wanted to visit the room and I asked him to pass me some clothes and charger...
Potato Chips. This one actually taste good!
Everyone's enemy of the night, the super spicy ちょうううう～～辛い (Chooooooo~~ Karai) Wasebi Nuts. It was a mystery as to why Pat bought this. :x
So with things prepped, we headed back to the hotel.
Overall verdict for dinner if you're staying at MBS... Order Pizzahut/KFC/Mcdonalds delivery. It's seriously better than the walk all the way to Esplanade >.<>_>
Had fun at night, playing card games, drinking here and there, talking and chatting, watching cartoon network... (yes cartoon network),
I did some push ups too...
Seriously no kick. ;)
And you may think that Pris's foot was on the ground, that doesn't change the weight she has on me... REALLY...
Wasabi Beans actually became a dare as well since NO ONE wanted to eat them.
Takahina remains the brave soul to eat it. ;)
I might add though, I still have some at home and brought them to work. They work AWESOME as a wake-up call. If you have friends drunk like this...
Sam, your sister made us do it... serious!!!!
You can just pop in a whole packet of the Wasebi beans, they will freaking wake up. Serious.
Lastly, Pat had a bua duku as she "wiiiiiiii" and "THUD" her head against the chair when she thought it was a sofa... long story...
Nevertheless, the night passed by quickly and soon it was morning.
When you go to a hotel to stay, there are several objectives you HAVE TO meet.
1. Waste the night away.
2. Have a soak in the bathtub full of bubbles.
3. See what channels they have, you never know...
4. Morning Buffet Breakfast
Frankly, the buffet breakfast CANNOT be ignored. I make it a point to eat it. However I was still feeling baffled as to whether we get free complimentary breakfast or not. The thing about MBS is that they lacked details which makes it irritating for people like me who would DEFINITELY eat hotel breakfast.
So, as usual the Takahina is ALWAYS the first to wake up somehow or another. He wakes up, forces the other 2 up through the temptation of a morning breakfast buffet. It worked wonders for Pat, but not so for Pris who very much preferred to sleep it through. Shows you their behavior. :/
Morning View 1
Morning View 2... taken from Pat's brilliant IP4. She can seriously endorse it I swear.
After a bit of scuffling and dressing up, we went over to the Rise Restaurant.
The Coffee Place/Bar/Lounge section.
Our Seat
Takahina being Takahina, went STRAIGHT for the food. When it comes to buffets, Takahina has only 1 rule:
You eat everything, at least a bite, for EVERYTHING. Unless you don't like the look of it.
Sadly, buffets never look bad.
The concept was the usual; Western, Asian, Breads etc. And as any high class hotels/buffets would have, it will feature an omelet counter. Pat told Takahina to go for it immediately and so he did.
Pat's first kill
Pat's style is more of a eat whatever I think I want to eat. She has a different philosophy from that of Takahina's. Therefore her's was quite a mixture of various looking food which ended up making her food looking neo-asianic western.
Takahina was more to the point... but because it's kinda gross, Pat didn't want to take a picture of it. :/
Anyways, of food ranking...
No. 3!
Omelets just cooked straight from the pan never disappoints.
In a buffet, anything which is hot will definitely stand out and the long line of queue waiting for the eggs to be done says a lot. Omelets are good here. I won't say it's exceptionally memorable, but you just can't reject them.
No.2!!
Western meat, a.k.a HONEY BAKED HAM
Call me a glutton whatsoever, but salty pieces of meat in your mouth in the morning never goes wrong. The bacon isn't that good imo, too tough. But the sausage and the honey baked ham... THE HONEY BAKED HAM!! That was awesome. Additionally you don't really get to eat the chunks of ham like this, normally they'll give it to you in slices which doesn't look appetizing and oily. This one wasn't, it's nicely lit, bright, doesn't look oily and it's just sitting right there, waiting for you to snatch a piece of it away.
You will want to ta pao it home. Trust me.
No. 1 !!!!!!
I'm the best thing that this whole hotel has gotta offer and I look unappetizing to be frank.
No, this is not a pile of mess. It's FAR from it.
It's the best thing in the buffet. It's not the drink, it's not the fried rice, it's not the tim sum, it's not the bread. It's this. The Bread Pudding.
I have to admit, I'm not that much of a pastry fan. The main pastry I eat is at Red Bean Bread at night and Cinnamon Melts of McDonalds, so this was totally new to me. Pat had me tried it, saying how incredibly nice it is. And so it was.
I don't know how other Bread Pudding tasted like, but for me this is the best... or seems the best. The texture and taste of it was delicate and not too awfully sweet; simply put it was addictive. Would crave to have more of it if possible.... Sadly though, by the time I had the first bite of the bread pudding, I was close to being full (yeah like that was ever gonna happen.. >_>), so I didn't went for my 3rd, 4th, 5th servings etc...
At the same time, there were some disappointments.
Bacon for example, was too tough and dry for my liking. Kinda felt like it was left there overnight, re-roasted and re-served again.
Epik Phail Counter
The Porridge they have were so bad, Pris can't even finish a small bowl of it. It was too watery and lacked the substance and coagulation of the normal congee that we can find in our kopitiam. Choices of assortments wasn't fantastic as well. The porridge that I had on cruises were much much better.
They had cold Soba as well, I guess to attend to the Japanese tourist staying. But it lacked colour, didn't have light, felt like it was left there for such a long period of time cold Soba can become lukewarm Soba. Needless to say, I didn't even touch it at all.
The rest were kinda just of satisfactory standard, but somehow for a hotel like MBS, you would expect more from the buffet.
Hence, we finished our meals and off we went back to our room.
The check out time was at 11am. We still had some time left so off we went around taking last minute photos.
Skypark was a favourite, thus we can't let it off...
Pat with her "V"
The Woon overdoing the V, and ended up looking like Ah Tiongs...
See the similarity?
We followed on, did our packing and took some more pics. The room was kinda devastated by us but we didn't really care. :/ The roomkeepers need to earn their keep.
Proof that we had been here.
After checking out at the lift lobby.
The day was sunday, time around 11.30am. We all had our own things to do later that day, such as Pat needing to return back a calculator, Pris with her own stuff and me going for my auditions. It was once again back to the hectic life we have in Singapore.
Overall, it was kinda dreamy. MBS itself is situated at quite a weird place, it's not very accessible to be frank and other amenities requires quite a bit of walking. But at the same time, it's this very essence that makes it dreamy. I remember walking along the road beside the hotel and looking up into the sky and the MBS structure. You don't really see reminiscence of any other thing Singapore except for the taxi. The sky was slightly damp due to the ending rain and a little misty perhaps due to it being near the coastlines. For a minute, I thought that I wasn't in Singapore.
The night brought me some memories from the past as well as determination for future routes to go. Striving hard so I can stay here again is now part of my objective. ;)
And thanks to our luck, we got one of the best rooms. Should be from the birthday girl I suppose. :)
I had fun there. Hope you had fun as well. :D
Photos are taken by Patricia and she has full credit for the photos featured in this post. But it's arguable whether it's her hp that's good, or her photography skills are good. :/
Note: This post may make you very jealous :p
From almost mid-late October 2010, Woon Han Chong and Priscilla Phua started to plan a big celebration, for Patricia Tay...
Lovely Patricia looking to the sky
We didn't want her to know anything about it, so Pris would be in-charged of booking Pat's time, while I got around with the logistics. But stupid me accidentally smsed Pat, mistaking her for Pris and it kinda wrote,
"You think Pat would prefer an Atas life at MBS, or outdoor at Sentosa?"
Luckily, Pat still remained clueless...
This pic speaks of 1 word. "Huh?"
After a few meetings and conference over the phone, we came out with a final solution of something that most Singaporeans (except the already atas Singaporeans and gamblers) want to do at least once in Singapore.
Marina Bay Sands, I choose you!
Thus, the plan came into action. Recognizing the dates whereby we would be free, finding out which day would be appropriate, taking everyone's exams into mind, knowing our overseas trip's schedule, expecting which day she won't be free etc.
We finally came out with the date to hold her Birthday Present, and that's a whopping 1 month before her actual birthday. For that, I'm very sorry as it seems as though we wanted to get it over with and don't seem sincere :/ The date was set on 6th Nov 2010 - 7th Nov 2010.
And then there I was... looking over the website of MBS. There were several rooms as I looked through, with Club Room being the best of the rooms and Suites seemingly too big sized for 3 people. Needless to say, these are mostly above our budget, so I went for the normal one, Horizon Deluxe............
Takahina, "Ok, check in at 3pm... check out at 11am... blah blah..."
MBS personnel over the counter, "blah blah."
I might wanna add though, reserving over the internet is a bit of a confusion. You're "reserving" over the internet, not "booking" or "buying". The actual payment only comes at check in and check out. MBS you didn't make this clear so you may wanna do something about it? (I wrote it in your feedback anyways, if any personnel working there is reading this you may want to take note.)
The day came on the 6th. I was commanded by Pris to check in first before meeting up. Kinda a screw up here, cause I don't have a credit card with a limit high enough for MBS and THEREFORE I CAN'T CHECK IN YET UNTIL PRIS COMES ALONG WITH HER CREDIT CARD!!!
For this I deserve a facepalm.
And soooo... after the walk under the sun and me waiting, listening to the 4 piece chinese orchestra band and exploring the MBS for quite a bit like where the toilet and the breakfast/dinner/pub is etc,
The miniature of the whole MBS which has yet to be fully constructed will greet you at the entrance
Beside the miniature is a mini vehicle which is actually function-able
The whole metallic structure will hail you once you look to the top in the lobby.
The hallway, right side being the main restaurant for your breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet. Left is the way to the casino, shops etc
If I may add, I saw quite a bit of loud mouth ah tiongs in the area. Who says they are poor?!?!
Soon enough, the 2 ladies arrived. Sadly though Pat took more interest in the miniature and went STRAIGHT for it, ignoring me...
Haiz.
Anyways, I got the credit card (tks Pris) and finally checked in while Pat was happily chattering away with her experience at the SIA audition. During the initial check in, this was the news I heard from the staff,
"Due to the shortage of rooms from the influx of tourist, we couldn't managed to get you the room you booked and thus upgraded your room to the club room."
We're freaking lucky. ;) I love the way they said, "we couldn't managed to get you the room you booked". Its as if we don't fancy the club room. Heh Heh Heh...
And so, we got our check in cards, room number and needed stuff. So here we go...
Credits to Pat who took all the photos with her fast snapping Iphone 4 camera, and her story telling through the pictures...
First is the elevator with some guards looking over at us. We proudly flaunted our room cards.
Our room is 4971, which is the highest floor for rooms. The highest floor is 55 for the pool, 50-54 are the suites which uses another elevator.
This is the lift area at the higher floors. You can see out to the Singapore River from the side mirror. We're all getting pretty excited at this point of time.
Corridor to our rooms.
Reached our rooms and Pris had the honors of opening the room.
We entered, and there was quite a sight waiting for us. Right in front of us is the big window facing into the city area. It has 2 sections...
Bed Section
Sofa Section
Desk along with the Sofa.
Toilets were quite grand too.
Toilets were taken on the last day, so you can see some carnage around....
The cubicles for shower and "business".
Finally the bath tub that the 2 girls have been so excited about.
At this point of time, Pat can't stop taking photos as she scattered around the room, I was mainly messing around with the TV while Pris succumbed to the bed's temptation.
Guilty as caught...
View from our window.
Another view from the SAME window.
And finally a trio photo at the mirror for camwhoring sake. ;)
The one thing that makes MBS so magical, will have to be the sky garden. The weird looking surfboard on top of 3 curved structure makes for a very unique view. Plus the location is prime for overseeing the whole city area.
Thus so, the 3 of us, unwilling to waste any of the little time we have left, headed for the Sky Garden on the 55th Floor. One thing to note though, by right you need a door card to get through to the 55th Floor, as I booked the hotel under 2 person (adding 1 more person will need an additional $100 O_O), we only had 2 cards, but still we kinda went through. With just a few smiles, hello and thank you from the 2 girls, they easily made their way through while I just followed behind...
Smiles from these 2 ladies can make any Unker/Bouncer/Guards/Men stop work and let them through any form of gates/barriers/doors.
If it's like this guy...
I'm hungry (sorry Benji.. I just gotta put this pic in hahaha...)
or the guy featured in this IC...
A photo like that could make you constantly in trouble with the law, Mr Chong.
There is NO freaking way we can smuggle in smoothly.
Eventually, we made our way to the Sky Garden...
The first sight was breathtaking. Even though it's not the first time I saw the city area of Singapore from the top, but it's the first time I had such a vast and unblocked view. The magnificence can't be absorbed or contained entirely with 1 view. It requires a less focused, less concentrated view, but an open mentality and vision to take in all the awesomeness. Which is kinda the reason we went there for, to relax, to be less stressed, to be relieved of it and acceptance of future that we will face and see in our lives.
Of course, we need to camwhore a bit. ;)
Then, it's the time to swim. (By right... there are TONS of photos taken... but due to the Singapore Decency Act, it'll not be featured in this blog despite this blog posting worse stuff before.)
So, in the end, Takahina will just show himself. In his... FULL OPEN GLORY!
Drool Girls... DROOLLLLL.....
It's quite crowded actually. To find a place to lie down isn't simple. You gotta come early and kinda "chope" the pool beds. While I was reserving the beds, tons of people were asking me whether it was available or not. For those thinking of going to the pool, go there early. Take it from Takahina ;)
A very Singaporean example, "choping" with HP, high class places requires high class "choping" equipments. Tissues won't work here.
We swam among the clouds, frolicked among the clouds , and looked more of the view from the hanging pool. It was freaking cold actually. The wind was damn strong and the water aren't exactly heated. A pity though is that if the haze was still present. You can literally see clouds and smoke/smog below, now that would be surreal.
We stayed till the sun started to set...
As the sun set, so did our day. However the night was just beginning...
Takahina doesn't look as atas, cause he doesn't have the robes... :(
Night View from our room.
The girls went on to have a longgggggggg bath while Takahina just slacked 1 korner and looked through the available dining places. Apparently they did show restaurants available, but didn't put up any prices whatsoever. Directions to those places was not very clear either. Therefore lesson learned, you better hear of the restaurants in the area first rather than rely on the hotel.
Undeniably, after our swim and bath, we were all damn hungry. Pris became freaking serious and we were afraid. So we ran out in search of food....
By some chance or rather, there were very little restaurants open in the shopping area. We saw Coffee Bean which was packed filled (something you would seldom see in other parts of Singapore), passed by a few signature restaurants that warrant 1/3 of the hotel room in price and even entered the casino by chance!
....
Sorry no photos. Casino doesn't allow phototaking. Pat was happily snapping away though until someone told her she can't. :/
This was all she managed to savage in pics of the Casino. The roof :x
The casinos, as compared to Genting's was huge and very empty. Tons of tables were not opened and only a few had players in. The rest only had traces of the dealer sitting there lonely. Jackpots machines around seemed very popular though. The design though were much much classier and exquisite. Sounds of gamblers shouting "picture! picture! Ah pek! Ah pek!" was missing too, so it's a total different feeling from that of Genting.
In the end, tired and hungry we dragged ourselves all the way to Esplanade, which is the closest and around a 15mins walk + run. It started to rain on the way and we got rather drenched.
Had dinner at the Thai Express there which serves relatively good Thai food actually.
Among the thai food we had, in terms of ratings...
Starting from no.3 best,
Prawn Pancake
A favorite among the both of them, I think it's nice, but not superbly awesome though. Still it's a good appetizer.
Green Curry
Pat absolutely hated it. Pris was ok-ok with it while I loved it. Spicy foods are a favorite of mine and this one is spicy, too spicy for Pat though. :p Great with rice but NOT TO DRINK LIKE A SOUP.
Pineapple Rice
It's surprisingly good actually. At first I thought it seemed normal, but the flavor is rich and portion just nice for the average people. (Not Takahina, he eats like a Sumo :X) Even though I had tasted better Pineapple Rice elsewhere, this one was quite awesome.
Drinks wise, the Watermelon-Lime drink... I can't really remember actually, was pretty good. Quite cooling too.
Now as we were eating, we were thinking how to spend the night through. Going out would be a waste of the hotel, so we figured to stay in instead. That kinda means booze and snacks are a must.
But in consideration for my cotton wool stomach, instead of the usual hard liquor we got...
Sake, White Wine and Red Wine (1 extra bottle was brought from my brother as he wanted to visit the room and I asked him to pass me some clothes and charger...
Potato Chips. This one actually taste good!
Everyone's enemy of the night, the super spicy ちょうううう～～辛い (Chooooooo~~ Karai) Wasebi Nuts. It was a mystery as to why Pat bought this. :x
So with things prepped, we headed back to the hotel.
Overall verdict for dinner if you're staying at MBS... Order Pizzahut/KFC/Mcdonalds delivery. It's seriously better than the walk all the way to Esplanade >.<>_>
Had fun at night, playing card games, drinking here and there, talking and chatting, watching cartoon network... (yes cartoon network),
I did some push ups too...
Seriously no kick. ;)
And you may think that Pris's foot was on the ground, that doesn't change the weight she has on me... REALLY...
Wasabi Beans actually became a dare as well since NO ONE wanted to eat them.
Takahina remains the brave soul to eat it. ;)
I might add though, I still have some at home and brought them to work. They work AWESOME as a wake-up call. If you have friends drunk like this...
Sam, your sister made us do it... serious!!!!
You can just pop in a whole packet of the Wasebi beans, they will freaking wake up. Serious.
Lastly, Pat had a bua duku as she "wiiiiiiii" and "THUD" her head against the chair when she thought it was a sofa... long story...
Nevertheless, the night passed by quickly and soon it was morning.
When you go to a hotel to stay, there are several objectives you HAVE TO meet.
1. Waste the night away.
2. Have a soak in the bathtub full of bubbles.
3. See what channels they have, you never know...
4. Morning Buffet Breakfast
Frankly, the buffet breakfast CANNOT be ignored. I make it a point to eat it. However I was still feeling baffled as to whether we get free complimentary breakfast or not. The thing about MBS is that they lacked details which makes it irritating for people like me who would DEFINITELY eat hotel breakfast.
So, as usual the Takahina is ALWAYS the first to wake up somehow or another. He wakes up, forces the other 2 up through the temptation of a morning breakfast buffet. It worked wonders for Pat, but not so for Pris who very much preferred to sleep it through. Shows you their behavior. :/
Morning View 1
Morning View 2... taken from Pat's brilliant IP4. She can seriously endorse it I swear.
After a bit of scuffling and dressing up, we went over to the Rise Restaurant.
The Coffee Place/Bar/Lounge section.
Our Seat
Takahina being Takahina, went STRAIGHT for the food. When it comes to buffets, Takahina has only 1 rule:
You eat everything, at least a bite, for EVERYTHING. Unless you don't like the look of it.
Sadly, buffets never look bad.
The concept was the usual; Western, Asian, Breads etc. And as any high class hotels/buffets would have, it will feature an omelet counter. Pat told Takahina to go for it immediately and so he did.
Pat's first kill
Pat's style is more of a eat whatever I think I want to eat. She has a different philosophy from that of Takahina's. Therefore her's was quite a mixture of various looking food which ended up making her food looking neo-asianic western.
Takahina was more to the point... but because it's kinda gross, Pat didn't want to take a picture of it. :/
Anyways, of food ranking...
No. 3!
Omelets just cooked straight from the pan never disappoints.
In a buffet, anything which is hot will definitely stand out and the long line of queue waiting for the eggs to be done says a lot. Omelets are good here. I won't say it's exceptionally memorable, but you just can't reject them.
No.2!!
Western meat, a.k.a HONEY BAKED HAM
Call me a glutton whatsoever, but salty pieces of meat in your mouth in the morning never goes wrong. The bacon isn't that good imo, too tough. But the sausage and the honey baked ham... THE HONEY BAKED HAM!! That was awesome. Additionally you don't really get to eat the chunks of ham like this, normally they'll give it to you in slices which doesn't look appetizing and oily. This one wasn't, it's nicely lit, bright, doesn't look oily and it's just sitting right there, waiting for you to snatch a piece of it away.
You will want to ta pao it home. Trust me.
No. 1 !!!!!!
I'm the best thing that this whole hotel has gotta offer and I look unappetizing to be frank.
No, this is not a pile of mess. It's FAR from it.
It's the best thing in the buffet. It's not the drink, it's not the fried rice, it's not the tim sum, it's not the bread. It's this. The Bread Pudding.
I have to admit, I'm not that much of a pastry fan. The main pastry I eat is at Red Bean Bread at night and Cinnamon Melts of McDonalds, so this was totally new to me. Pat had me tried it, saying how incredibly nice it is. And so it was.
I don't know how other Bread Pudding tasted like, but for me this is the best... or seems the best. The texture and taste of it was delicate and not too awfully sweet; simply put it was addictive. Would crave to have more of it if possible.... Sadly though, by the time I had the first bite of the bread pudding, I was close to being full (yeah like that was ever gonna happen.. >_>), so I didn't went for my 3rd, 4th, 5th servings etc...
At the same time, there were some disappointments.
Bacon for example, was too tough and dry for my liking. Kinda felt like it was left there overnight, re-roasted and re-served again.
Epik Phail Counter
The Porridge they have were so bad, Pris can't even finish a small bowl of it. It was too watery and lacked the substance and coagulation of the normal congee that we can find in our kopitiam. Choices of assortments wasn't fantastic as well. The porridge that I had on cruises were much much better.
They had cold Soba as well, I guess to attend to the Japanese tourist staying. But it lacked colour, didn't have light, felt like it was left there for such a long period of time cold Soba can become lukewarm Soba. Needless to say, I didn't even touch it at all.
The rest were kinda just of satisfactory standard, but somehow for a hotel like MBS, you would expect more from the buffet.
Hence, we finished our meals and off we went back to our room.
The check out time was at 11am. We still had some time left so off we went around taking last minute photos.
Skypark was a favourite, thus we can't let it off...
Pat with her "V"
The Woon overdoing the V, and ended up looking like Ah Tiongs...
See the similarity?
We followed on, did our packing and took some more pics. The room was kinda devastated by us but we didn't really care. :/ The roomkeepers need to earn their keep.
Proof that we had been here.
After checking out at the lift lobby.
The day was sunday, time around 11.30am. We all had our own things to do later that day, such as Pat needing to return back a calculator, Pris with her own stuff and me going for my auditions. It was once again back to the hectic life we have in Singapore.
Overall, it was kinda dreamy. MBS itself is situated at quite a weird place, it's not very accessible to be frank and other amenities requires quite a bit of walking. But at the same time, it's this very essence that makes it dreamy. I remember walking along the road beside the hotel and looking up into the sky and the MBS structure. You don't really see reminiscence of any other thing Singapore except for the taxi. The sky was slightly damp due to the ending rain and a little misty perhaps due to it being near the coastlines. For a minute, I thought that I wasn't in Singapore.
The night brought me some memories from the past as well as determination for future routes to go. Striving hard so I can stay here again is now part of my objective. ;)
And thanks to our luck, we got one of the best rooms. Should be from the birthday girl I suppose. :)
I had fun there. Hope you had fun as well. :D
Photos are taken by Patricia and she has full credit for the photos featured in this post. But it's arguable whether it's her hp that's good, or her photography skills are good. :/
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