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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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