Wreck it!

Yay! I managed to catch Wreck-it Ralph in the cinema today. It premiered on 20/12/2012 when I was at home so I thought it would be gone by the time I came back here. Thank goodness it is not the case. The reviews have been positive for the show and it is not simply because of the huge numbers of well-known game characters which appear as cameos.

The beginning reminded me of Toy Story as the game characters come to "live" after the arcade is closed for the day. However, I must say that it is a genius idea that the game characters are able to leave their own game and visit the other games via electrical cable. The central power point/supply (in which the various arcade machines are plugged in) serve as the game central for cross-game movements. If any character gets into trouble and die in another game, they are gone for good. If they die in their own game, they can regenerate.

It is also good to "visualise" these games characters as if they are "working to play in the drama". When it is time for the arcade to open, everyone has to return to their stations i.e their respective arcade games. And when someone is playing the game, they have to "work" i.e appear in the game. Once the game is over, they have to tidy up everything back to normal (perhaps loading screen in real life?) to prepare for the next game from the beginning again. The glass of the arcade machines serves as 2-way window. Just like how the players "view" the game characters, these game characters are also able to look out to the players. They can even look out to another arcade machines!

The creativity does not end there. Not gonna spoil the story but in summary, the plot is quite cliche: A bad guy is bored of being bad and wants to be good; But he ends up making things go haywire and in the end, he realises the "good" in him by helping to tidy up the mess he has created. Despite the cliche, the story turns out to be quite simple to follow and very engaging with all the humours (Diet coke lava with mentos stalactite anyone?). The last part is quite touching and I admit that I tried hard not to shed tears. Lol. Oh ya, even the ending credits are interesting and pleasurable to watch. And not to forget that the movie began with Mickey in Steamboat Willie (that's the very first Mickey Mouse movie in case you don't know) humming to a weird tune and a short animation clip titled Paperman.

The only negative thing I can think about is that some cameos are really cameos -_-" Just in the background and just passing by.. Haiz.. Chun li should have more screen time!! Haha. So yah, who said that cartoons are only for kids? I think Wreck-it Ralph! and Rise of the Guardians show that cartoons are not only for kids but also for people who have good memories of their childhood. I think teenagers will be able to relate to these "childhood" characters.. or even the 1980s people to recognise the cameos in Wreck-it Ralph!

Anyway, I thought my day was kinda wrecked too T_T Firstly, I read the fortune forecast for the coming Year of the Snake. I will have bad luck throughout the year: poor health, poor wealth, poor energy, poor social relationship, and perhaps poor luck. Of course I can't surely say that these kind of Chinese zodiac thingy is true or not la.. But still can't help but feel emo.. 

Secondly, I saw Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Memorial Ultimania being sold at $76.20 each at Kinokuniya!! Jeez!! If I were to buy it during the 20% member sale, the 3 books will cost me about $180 only. I spent almost double of the amount buying the 3 books from cdjapan.com!! I am still angry, sore, and devastated about it. Based on the information I obtained last year, I thought it would be only be available via SquareEnix Japan online shop and hence I thought no chance it would be available via Kinokuniya!! As I did not want to miss it like the fucked up The Sky again, I immediately bought it online. Sigh.. They were tempting that there would be exclusive bonus for buying the 3 together and the bonus was kept secret until the release of the book. 

The bonus turned out to be a slip case to house the 3 books. Fuck!! So yea, $150 just for the bloody slip case.. Cdjapan.com is also disappointing as fuck. They already charged 2000 Yen service fee to "specially purchase these items from Square Enix online shop" and they still had the face to overcharge the shipping too! The 3 books weigh about 5 kg and according to EMS Japan website, the rate should be about 5600 yen for shipping. Cdjapan.com charged me 8100 yen! 2500 yen for crappy service and packaging (oversized box almost double the size of the content, one layer of bubble wrap, additional layer on top of the bubble wrap, and rough paper to fill in the remaining half of the box). Fair enough that they published their "overcharged" in their website for information but still, I think I need to warn others so that they do not fall to the same trap as me. I am perfectly fine for them to charge service fee for ordering from a third party and to pack the item for me. But seriously, another 2500 yen on top of the 2000 yen service fee? Isn't that ridiculous!!

No more cdjapan.com from me. To hell with their point system yada yada.. I still have 500 yen discount from them but I don't think I will ever use it. If anyone want to order something from this fucked up company and want to get 500 yen discount, don't hesitate to contact me to see whether I can help.

Emo emo emo :( $150 gone.. could have bought an ipod nano with that T_T