Bats and Zelda.

Bats and Zelda. Hi all. I've been kind of busy lately. Have picked up two new projects which will keep me pretty busy till middle of dec. Still, i've found the time to play zelda phantom hourglass on my Nintendo DS. So when i saw this tiny bat taking a midday snooze in broad daylight, i had to shoot a pix of it cuz it really complements my zelda obsession right now. For those who have played anyone of the zelda titles before, you'll know that bats are a mainstay in the games. Usually they're annoying little buggers in the game but this little fellow on the ceiling has a very cute face and isn't one bit scary at all. Ok. Gotta go. Was killing time but now have to dash. Later. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

The Nintendo DS Opera Browser

Usually I like to place pictures in every entry on the blog but this time it isn't going to be quite that easy for me. The reason is because I'm using the NDSL's Opera Browser to write this entry.

I only just got the browser and have just started playing with it. I thought that this woud be a good time to test this browser out since I'm currently still working and have a little time to kill but don't have my laptop with me.

I'm currently rather liking this application and even liking it more than the Sony PSP's browser. Of course it has been months since I've gone online on the psp but even then I wasn't particularly in love with the experience.

The biggest beef I had with the psp browser isn't actually the application's fault. It's really a hardware problem. Now, I do think the psp is a good handheld, especially if you like your games to look good but surfing on the internet isn't one of it's better features. The reason is simple. The psp doesn't have touch-screen. This is the biggest reason why I really much prefer the ds when it comes to going online. The touch-screen makes typing out an entry like this a breeze especially when compared to the clunky and time consuming way of doing it on the psp. On the ds, one simply uses the stylus to tap on the screen to spell out words. It is that easy. The psp requires a combination of moving the d-pad or joy-stick and mashing on the A button to type out some thing. Correcting mistakes can be a chore on the psp as you have to move the cursor one letter at a time unlike simply using the stylus to tape at the point where the mistake was made.

There are of course a few cons. The ds opera browser is not free and certainly not cheap. The ds itself does not have enough ram for cacheing so a slot-2 ram cart is necessary to run the application. This is probably why the browser cost more than SGD60 in the shops.

The other imperfection of the browser isn't actually the browser's fault. It is really a hardware problem. The ds's screen isn't really that big and although the dual screen helps, it's still not the most ideal if one wishes to surf for an extended period of time.

Still in the end, I think that if one has the extra cash, want internet access on the go, has access to a wi-fi connection outside your home and owns a ds, this application is certainly worth the money. At the very least, it may help you keep your blog just that little bit more updated. =)

cheers

Jdorama - Nodame Cantabile

Cast of Nodame Cantabile

I think you can easily tell from the title that I've been bitten by the Japanese drama series bug. And although I've neglected this blog because I've been really busy with work, I just felt I needed to write about this series, so here you go... =)

Aside from HK's TVB dramas, some of the stuff made by Mediacorp Singapore and a few Mainland Chinese series, I really don't watch any other types of series made by the Asian TV industries. Even then, the last Jdorama I watched was Shomuni 1, 2 and 3 which I really enjoyed but I was never truly into Jdorama's since I wasn't able to get good recommendations to the kind of Japanese dramas I liked.

How I came upon Nodame Cantabile is actually a little unusual and makes a mildly amusing story. =) Since Elite Beat Agents on the Nintendo DS, I have been hooked on rhythm games and hunted down Ouendan 1 & 2 just so I could play them. In the process of looking for more rhythm games to play on my NDS, I came upon Nodame Cantabile. While EBA and Ouendan used songs from popular music, Nodame Cantabile differed from them because it used only classical music.

Now I really like classical music and my familiarity with it made playing Nodame Catabile the NDS game a breeze. But what made me really fall for the game was the quirky girl that kept showing up in the story parts. In this game, one takes the role of a conductor and tries to conduct a musical piece by taping or performing movements on the touch-pad with the stylus. This quirky girl didn't seem to have too much to do with the music parts but she kept showing up and even though I didn't have a clue what they were saying to each other, I pretty much figured out she lived in a messy room and made a lot of cute quirky sounds. Now it sounds silly but I for some reason, really liked her character in the game.

So just last week I was in TS video shop when I saw Nodame Cantabile the TV series being sold on DVD. I didn't even have a clue then that Nodame Cantabile was first a manga before it was made into a hit TV series, an anime series and a video game. For some strange reason, I was drawn to the series and the prospect of finding out just exactly what this quirky girl with the funny expressions story was and so I bought the series.

What I definitely didn't expect was just how wonderful this series turned out to be. The series has a cast of quirky characters that are not just for laughs but who influence each other and the story, giving this series depth and warmth. This series is heartwarming without being maudlin. The exaggerated manga/anime-ish moments are also well thought out as they aren't use merely for laughs but also to take off some of the edge of the serious moments so that the series isn't weighed down by melodrama. The background music is mostly comprised of classical music which is very well used and the music is so striking that I do consider the music to be one of the stars of this series. Many of the orchestra performances are also very nicely setup and really do bring across just how grand and moving a live performance can be.

It really helped that this series was very well cast and although Ueno Juri isn't the lead in this series, she played Noda Megumi with so much passion, energy and charm, and so perfectly that without her, I don't think Nodame Cantabile would have been superb series that it is. That's not to say that Tamaki Hiroshi who plays Chiaki Shinichi the protagonist in this series was bad. He was really good too. He was very convincing as the arrogant, very talented and at the beginning very self-absorbed music student. And Tamaki Hiroshi needed to be good because even though this series is titled Nodame Cantabile, the series isn't about Nodame (aka Noda Megumi). Although it is Nodame's love for music and life that influences Chiaki Shinichi and changes him, the story is really about him, his growth as a person and a musician and how the influences of not only Nodame but also Mine, Masumi and a hold host of other people help him to in turn influence them and others to seek out the best in themselves.


Eita as Mine Ryutaro and Mizukawa Asami as Miki Kiyora

Other notable characters and actors in this cast are Eita (plays Mine Ryutaro - violin), Koide Keisuke (Okuyama Masumi - timpani) and my personal favourite among the secondary cast, Mizukawa Asami (plays Miki Kiyora - violin). And yes, the only reason for this paragraph is because I just had to mention them. =) Truth is a lot of the supporting cast is very good, suitably cast and quite memorable.


Support cast

If you love classical music and heartwarming stories about love and friendship, then I urge you to check out Nodame Cantabile the TV series, it is that good. =)

cheers
p.s. now I'll have to hunt down the manga and the anime. =)

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! Agents Are Go!

(courtesy wikipedia)

This week has been really busy at work and on occasion it was pretty horrendous too but one thing I had going for me are the agents from Beat Elite Agents!!!!! They made me grin from ear to ear even when I was being a totally grouchy about have to work the many hours that I had to. When Commander Kahn yells "Agents Are Go!!!!" I know that the Beat Elite Agents are here to save me. =D

Last week I discovered that I'm not the only Nintendo DS owner at the office, SY owns one too. I had been interested in this game Beat Elite Agents but wasn't sure if I would like a rhythm game. So when I found out that SY owned the game, I was like... lend me... lend me.... lend me please.... please... please. =D Well, I didn't really have to bug her lah, she lent it to me anyway and I lent her my still-in-progress Final Fantasy III in return.

This is one goofy game and it's probably not a very cool game to be seen in playing in public but boy is it FUN FUN FUN. There is probably no point going into the details of the game as there are many other webpages that do it better. Click here to read all about the game.

The game is really very simple. You just have to tap to the rhythm and try and tap the number hit makers as the circle closes in on it.

(courtesy wikipedia)

The graphics are pretty much comic booky but they are rather well done, bright, colourful and very cheery. There are several songs you can play to and each one is rated at a different level of difficulty. And while there isn't much of an overall story arc, there is one common theme. It always begins with a rather silly story that's told in an overly dramatic and in a humorous fashion. And at the end of the story, there is always someone who needs help and that's when Commander Kahn will go "Agents are Go!" and our agents will appear and help save the day.

(courtesy www.gamehope.com, www.perfect-gamers.com)

My favourite part of each song is when the 3 agents and the person or persons they are trying to save raise their arms and sway to the music. It works especially well with the YMCA song. It always makes me laugh. I think it's also because when SY first showed me how to play the game, she played the game with YMCA. Since then sometimes during the day we'll raise our arms and sing YMCA and sway to the beat in the corridor or even in the office.

I couldn't find any nice pictures of my swaying agents so here are some taken by me. They're horrible I know but you get the picture. =)


Okay, that's it from me today. Late and am sleepy. At first I thought I would talk a bit about Dicey Business, this new TVB series I'm currently watching but I think I'll leave that for tomorrow or a later date depending. Also, I hope to get back to my Guizhou photos sometime next week.

For now, it's good night. =)