Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire

Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire is the first Conan movie that I get super hyped about even since the first trailer and announcement were out. This is the first Conan movie featuring Kaito Kid that I watched. When Kid is involved, the story is usually funny as Kid and Conan will try to outwit each other. Makoto is seldom involved so it is nice to have him featured. This movie is set in Singapore so that is another bonus point for the hype as the trailer really showcases Singapore in an amazing way. Lastly, the movie was originally released in Japan on my birthday so that is another reason for my hype.

The Fist of Blue Sapphire feels like an opposite of Zero the Enforcer. The Fist of Blue Sapphire is much funnier but the action scenes are not as exciting. Despite all the good elements, the story is pretty lousy. The "I trick you and you trick me" plot between the 2 antagonists are so confusing. It does not help that the reasons for the antagonists to commit the crimes are so vague. The pacing is so bad: funny and light-hearted at the beginning, suddenly turn serious and full of expositions/shortcuts to drive the story in the middle, action-packed (although rather flat) towards the end, and then return to funny and light-hearted for the end credits.

This movie is a good example of a trailer that already shows all the exciting parts of the movies and give false expectations of the movies. The trailer is so action packed with Kid fighting Makoto,  Kid getting hurt, Merlion vomiting blood, and all the explosions. In the actual movie, Kid fighting Makoto does not quite make sense as Kid keeps successfully evading Makoto, Kid getting hurt is not that dramatic in the actual movie, Merlion vomits red liquid is only a sign for the antagonist's plot to start, and all the explosions do not give adrenaline rush.

Nevertheless, one thing that the movie really does well is the depiction of Singapore. I think Singapore Tourism Board (STB) should use this movie to promote Singapore in Japan. Haha.. It is a nice touch that they use Chinese, Malay, and Indian names for character names. The English is not that believable but at least they use English speakers instead of Japanglish. Even if you are not a fan of Detective Conan, I will still recommend Singaporeans to watch the movie as it is quite interesting to see Singapore in an anime form.

I think $60 is quite reasonable

Because of my hype, I decided to splurge for the fan screening and meet and greet. I knew about this event quite late and by the time I booked, there were only about 10 seats left which were the first row seats. I was still deciding if $60 was worth spending since I was not impressed with the fan screening that I attended for The Crimson Love Letter. This time I was really swayed by the t-shirt. Since I would get the first row anyway, I decided to buy the meet and greet so that I would be able to see mascots, Kappei Yamaguchi (seiyuu of Shinichi and Kid), and Naoko Matsui (seiyuu of Sonoko) nearer.

I am feeling very emo because I left office at 522pm today when I was planning to leave at 5pm. Although the screening started at 650pm, collection of the goodies started at 5pm and Odex kept emphasizing that the available t-shirt sizes would be first-come-first-serve. I was worried that I would not get M size so I queued for the goodies first before queueing for the mascots. Odex did not even state that there would be opportunity to take photo with the mascots. Sigh.. The mascots only appeared at 6pm. I was quite lucky that I decided to still queue after hearing the staff were saying "5 more minutes" and I was the third last person to take photo with the mascots. Unfortunately, the person helping me to take photo sucked and the photo was not clear. Jeez... I did not have any chance to re-queue or even to change to the movie t-shirt for the photo. Haiz.. Of course looking at the bright side, I should be thankful that I still managed to take photo with the mascots given the circumstances but I can't help to curse myself why I was so stupid to stay so late at the office. I already brought my digital camera so I should have just used that instead of my phone camera as well. Sian..

Part of the meet and greet was lucky draw for 20 shikishis signed by the seiyuus. I was at A12 and A11 got one of the lucky draw. FML! One of the perks of sitting in the first row was during the mass photo taking session, I would be in the first row. I am pissed at the woman that asked the first row people to stand at the aisle. There were some standing spots in the first row (with the mascots etc) and I could have been there. Sad.. Let's see the final photos posted online to see if I am visible enough to see if this was a good or a missed opportunity. The meet and greet event itself was quite badly organised and poorly executed that it felt that the organiser just wanted to milk our money. I am actually quite okay to pay extra $10 for the 15 minutes of meet and greet part. It is possible to maximise these 15 minutes for a more memorable experience for the fans but too bad things did not happen that way.

It is my first time attending this kind of fan event and I admit that I quite enjoyed myself and I would not mind to do something similar again. The fans watching were quite lively so it was laughing or clapping together with others who could appreciate the show or understand the jokes. It is also my first time watching at GV Max. I think the main difference with usual cinema hall is that the distance from the first row to the screen is still quite big. It is not that bad to watch from the first row in GV Max although my neck is still not comfortable la.

Some photos from the event.

The lighting is so dark

The first two people are the seiyuus of Sonoko and Shinichi

The mascots should be lively and expressive la

One unexpected encounter today was the person who checked my ticket for the collection of the goodies recognised my name. He was one of the student volunteers during ASEAN Para Games in 2015. I could not remember him in an instant but after seeing his name tag, I remembered. His hair was different. Haha.. I showed him that yes I eventually remembered him and I showed him the group photo we took previously lol. I am quite honoured that someone remembered me although I feel quite self-conscious given the circumstances. Haha.. I am a closet otaku after all :p

Unfortunately I was cut off from the video and the photos :(

I am barely here.. Sucks.. They should hire a better photographer

Taiwan Trip Day 4: Kaohsiung (Lotus Pond, Dream Mall)

Kaohsiung Metro is having a collaboration with Chibi Maruko Chan so there are Chibi Maruko Chan decorations at Yanchengpu Station, the station nearest to our hotel. I am not a fan of Chibi Maruko Chan but since it was my last day, I just went all out with the shamelessness and the photos.

We took the train to see the Dome of Light. We arrived in quite a nice time as not long after we arrived, tourists (read: photobombers) started to arrive. This place is famous for being insta-worthy and wow.. looking at the things that people do to have those insta-worthy shots, I am still consider 'very mild' in comparison.

I am not into Instagram but I can understand the craze about this

Although it was drizzling slightly earlier, the weather turned into bloody hot when we reached Lotus Pond. Sigh.. I should not be complaining since sunny is better than rainy but it was so hot that I was not even ashamed to open my umbrella to protect me from the heat and the same time to dry the rain drops.

Despite the name, the Lotus Pond is actually very big and there are plenty of temples/pagodas around the pond. We only visited three before we decided to retreat from the heat to a shopping mall. Hahaha.. First was the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. There is a belief that people should enter the dragon's mouth and exit from the tiger's mouth for good luck. We walked along the pond to Spring and Autumn Pavilions (the one with the statue of Guanyin on a dragon) and Pei Chi Pavilion (the one with a giant statue -I don't know what statue since it was too hot and I could not be bothered to walk closer to the statue).

We took a cab to Dream Mall which is the biggest shopping mall in Taiwan. As huge and nice as it is, to me it is essentially just a shopping mall. Having said that, there are large promotional areas for Aladdin and Toy Story 4. I took photo with them and it was purely coincidental that I was wearing Aladdin t-shirt today. I completely ran out of cash as I bought a green colour sandals and a t-shirt with Wing Gundam Zero picture.

The funny thing is that the LCD is promoting Toy Story 4...

While Toy Story 4 promo area has the LCD promoting Frozen 2...

We had lunch at Chun Shui Tang which is regarded as the inventor of bubble tea drink. I don't have the tongue of an angel so I can't tell if the bubble tea here is special or unique. In fact, as long as food is not "ew" for me, I will just consider them as OK.

We went back to the hotel to re-pack my luggage. I already checked out so I did it in my friends' room. My room last night is actually even bigger than theirs since I got a corner unit. Plus I was alone and they were 3 people. Lol. At about 430pm, I left for airport. The driver asked me something and my goodness, there was no way I would survive travelling here alone since English is so rarely spoken. I told him international terminal but he was asking if I was travelling to China or to somewhere else. I did not know why he asked that but thank goodness he was tech-savvy and used his phone app for translation of his question.

That is the end of my visit to Taiwan. I am quite averse visiting Mandarin-speaking countries so this visit has been an eye opener. No doubt I still prefer Japan for the attractions but I will not mind visiting Taiwan again to explore other areas. However, I personally do not think it is worth spending a week of annual leave for Taiwan. Hahaha.. For 4-5 days during a long weekend or a public holiday is okay but not any longer than that.

I am very thankful of my friends who allowed me to tag along. They did not really take pictures and they had to entertain me taking photos instead. Haha.. Win-win arrangement. I would not survive without them for the communication and although my intention was only to tag along, I felt that they were becoming my tour guides since they made sure I tried the famous food and visited the 'must-see' places in these 4 days. In return, I was the extra stomach to help them with the food. They always over-ordered with the variety and I ended up having to finish. Hey.. that is also another win-win arrangement.

Taiwan Trip Day 3: Tainan (Cigu, Beimen), Kaohsiung

Today was not a good day because it was raining quite heavily for half of the day. It was such a bummer as today's destinations were mostly outdoors and there were more opportunities to take photos. In the end, rain did not stop me from taking photos. It was okay to get wet a little bit during the times when photos were taken as I was hiding my umbrella away so that it would not spoil the photos.

The first stop of the day was Cigu Salt Mountain. It should be actually be called a hill than a mountain. Luckily I managed to take enough photos with and on the mountain before it started to rain. The place has an abandoned theme park vibes with a night market-ish area on one side (which was not open as we went in the morning) and a few small exhibition halls with sculptures which were still under construction.

Lucky for us there were not many other tourists

This reminds me of Tottori Sand Museum

From here we went to Beimen and the first stop was a shop called "Money Coming" which was famous for being the shoot location of a Taiwanese drama (The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog) in the 2000s. We walked to Beimen Visitor Center. Because of the rain, we only took photos with various paintings on the walls since there were a part with canopy to shelter us from the rain. There are some sculptures around but we did not bother walking towards them to take photo because of the rain. Honestly paintings on the walls are something quite so so. I simply took photos to entertain myself. And hey, the group needed someone to be the first to be so thick-skinned with the photos despite the rain (aka me) before they started to take as well.

Beimen Crystal Church looks so nice in photos but the actual spot building is not that impressive. It is quite small and the actual "church" is closed when there is no actual wedding. Around the area, there are buildings with painted walls (something similar to Beimen Visitor Center but the themes are more about love) for some wedding-themed photos.

It is just like that...

The next disappointing destination was Jiangzaijiao Tile-paved Salt Fields. It is simply an open area with plots of salt fields. There are 2 to 3 plots opened for visitors to play around with the salt or build salt sculptures.

We did not have anything planned for the day as we would go to Kaohsiung in the afternoon. On the way back to Tainan city, our driver recommended to stop at Lao Tang Lake Art Village. The place simulates a traditional or perhaps olden days Taiwanese village. The place has been used for shooting of some period dramas as well. The buildings feel more like a run down village rather than a preserved tourist destination so I kinda have mixed feelings. Even the toilet has no urinals and I was just peeing against a wall. The only fun thing to do here was taking the boat across the lake. We had to pull the strings attached to the boat to 'drive' the boat.

The other string (the one I am not holding) is connected to some pulley system so it is not purely muscle strength to pull the boat :p

Just as we were done, the rain also stopped. We went back to Tainan city for quick lunch before continuing to Kaohsiung. The driver recommended a quick stop at Chimei Museum. Initially we declined but after seeing how crazy we were with photos today, he insisted that we would be having fun here as well. Lol.. he was right. I have to admit that the place is nice but it feels like imitation of the garden at Schonbrunn Palace in Austria.

Apollo Fountain (which is like Neptune Fountain in Schonbrunn)

Behind the fountain, we had to walk through a bridge before reaching the museum building. The bridge is named Olympus Bridge and statues of Greek gods and goddesses are lining both sides of the bridges. Again, it feels similar to one of the pathways in the garden of Schonbrunn Palace. Suprisingly, some of the sculptures here are in full nudity lol. 

 Apollo and Athena

Upon arrival at Kaohsiung, one thing that caught my attention is the many schools (primary, secondary, high schools) along the way since when we entered the city until we reached the hotel. The schools are so big and it makes me wonder how many students they have. They are even bigger than my schools back in Jakarta.

The hotel blows my mind. I was initially skeptical since the name is F Hotel but this hotel is actually A star. Lol. I get a corner room so it is so big. The most mind blowing thing is the bathroom that has a window to the room. I usually do not bother to waste time to soak in bathtub but with such an 'atas' bathroom, I also want to experience soaking while watching TV (although I did not know how to change channel and ended up watching a tennis match).

From the door, there is an alley leading to this window before I have to turn right to the 'actual' bed room

The huge window separating the bedroom and the bathroom

Yes I did soak and had my bubble bath hahaha...

We took a taxi to go to Carrefour to shop for souvenirs since tonight is already my last day in Taiwan. A friend bought shoes and I offered to use my card and take her cash since I think I am running out of cash. The famous night market is not open on Monday so we went to an area with street foods and that marks the end of the day.

I have to pack for my flight back tomorrow T_T I am tired and I regret that I have to leave so early. I want to enjoy this atas hotel at least another one night.

Taiwan Trip Day 2: Tainan (Annan, Anping)

I think the vinegar drink and the honey milk yesterday were somewhat effective to help me pass motion since I went to toilet 4x although I kept feeling incomplete bowel movement. Luckily nothing happened throughout the day. Haha..

The taxi that we booked arrived at 9am and we started the day by going to Sicao green tunnel. I don't usually enjoy this kind of boat ride although I enjoy nature. The pictures online are quite amazing but unfortunately the reality is not the case. You can only get those views if you sit at the center of the boat. The boat has no seat and we were sitting on stools. I feel that they are trying to squeeze as many people as possible and that is already a bad first impression. I saw sandbags at the sides and immediately I felt turned off. It felt so artificial and no longer something natural. I know it is not fair to compare but this experience is so underwhelming compared to my previous experience in Australia.

Sandbags... -_-"

Sicao Dazhong temple is just next door. I don't normally enjoy visiting places of worship as I always think it may be disrespectful to take photos an so on. I have to admit that this temple is grand and has pretty impressive decorations. Too bad the pink tentage just ruins the whole thing.

From here we went to Taijian National Park Visitor Center. Across the carpark, there is a lookout point but the view is not amazing. The Visitor Center itself has a nice modern architecture: white buildings surrounded by bodies of water provides pretty reflection. I am not a fan of modern architecture so I am ambivalent about it. We spent some time at the souvenir shop and I was happy because the friendly girl at the cashier speaks great English too. Hehe..

Next stop was Ninao Gelato which my friend said is an award winning ice cream. I am not a foodie so when people ask me about food, my usual answers are "okay" or "yucks". It is seldom that I will say something is very good or amazing or those kinds of superlatives and Ninao Gelato deserves its popularity. I ordered honey brandy raisin which I found to be pretty good. It had the flavours of all three, although they are more on the lighter side. A friend ordered pistachio and that pistachio flavour was really strong and authentic. The building also deserves a special mention. It is a 3-storey-building with large windows for amazing natural lights. The ceiling is all the way up on the roof to give an airy vibe. At level 2, there is a covered outdoor balcony as well.

Salt is a famous produce of Anping and there is a salt museum (Sio House). It has 366 different colours of salt i.e. one for each birthdate. It is quite a spectacle to see that many colours but with no context whatsoever, the whole place just feels like a tourist trap. It is meant to appeal to tourists to get merchandises that represent their colour or birthday. I would be tempted if my colour is nicer haha.. My colour is shit green so it is not that appealing. My friends said that I should be happy that at least it is still a shade of green instead of a colour that I dislike.

Seeing this colour spread, it made me feel quite shiok despite the hot weather

We had shrimp rolls for lunch. It is a famous food at a famous place. I am not usually into shrimp or seafood in general but I think the shrimp rolls and the fish balls were not bad. We visited 2 pudding shops along that road and at both shops I tried the chocolate flavour. My friends laughed at me for trying something so generic but I had the last laugh in the end since my chocolate was pretty nice.

We went to Anping Tree House after lunch. I hate to compare but this is so lame compared to one of the temples in Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Even the skybridge at the back is not as great as what I imagined. The view from the bridge was meh too. I wanted to pedal and take photos with the waterwheel but an inconsiderate family was there hogging the spot. Bleah.

Quite meh for me

Anping Old Street is not too far from the Tree House. On the way, we dropped by at 7-11 and finally there were so many nice designs of the Easy Card. I decided to get the shiny/hologram Pikachu face design. Anping Old Street is also similar to night market but I definitely enjoyed it more with small crowd here. I bought a washable facemask with cute design and tried Xing Fu Tang bubble tea. I did not find it that special so it is just overhype in Singapore as usual. Anping Old Fort is next to the Old Street but we did not go in as from outside, it does not look that good to take photos.

On the way back to Tainan, we were brought to the beach at Yuguang Island. Nothing is special or unique but it was a crowded beach so it must be popular with the locals.

I consider this structure as the landmark of this beach

We went back to hotel before going out for dinner at the area near to the Tainan train station. We had McD for dinner and visited random shops along the way since a friend was crazy about those claw machine games and there were so many along the way. It was an eye opening for me as I only know now that nowadays each machine as minimum guaranteed amount to 'kiap' one thing. Think of it as a 'buy out price' haha.. I had quite a bit of coins so I decided to turn a Conan gachapon once. I got a small tote bag with Ran's uniform design. I was actually gunning for Akai's design (shaped like his cap) but at least I did not get the hannin's design.

With it being the last night at Tainan, I am overeating again. I am not going to take a risk at Kaohsiung so I decided to buy the other Lays' KFC flavour. I prefer the ridged ones yesterday.

Taiwan Trip Day 1: Tainan

I prefer red eye flight than a flight early in the morning that requires me to take up in ungodly hours. Flying with budget airlines makes it worse. I was already not in a good mood and the Scoot staff at the check-in counter was so unprofessional and borderline dumb. I was in a rather unusual position as I did not need a visa with my Japan visa free status and thus I only required a letter to enter Taiwan. The staff is supposed to check it is okay for me to flight and that is her job to know. If she did not trust me that I had sufficient documentation, then she should find out and verify what I said instead of asking me questions that she would not believe anyway. Bleah..

I usually prefer aisle seat but this time I was planning to sleep all the way and chose a window seat. I filled my stomach using my priority pass lounge access and thank goodness everything was good for my stomach. I appreciate the "board me first" that came with my Scoot ticket as Passion Card member as I was able to chiong to the toilet. I was knocked out even before the safety demonstration. The flight route was SIN - KHH (Kaohsiung) - KIX (Osaka) and the plane was the 3 x 3 seats so the leg space was comfortable unlike the previous 2 x 3 seats plane that I took to Jakarta. It was a smooth flight with no turbulence and that was how I was able to sleep well throughout.

After arrival, we took the train to Kaohsiung Main Station for our train to Tainan. The train is quite similar to the MRT in Singapore. Despite the name (main station), Kaohsiung Main Station was not that crowded. The station is undergoing renovation and there was only one option for us to get our lunch: the lunch box at the station. I was lucky to get the last box of the fish since that was the only option with no bones. It was quite filling and quite good quality for barely $2.50 after conversion. I judge places based on the toilets and so far the toilets (in the airport and in the station) were amazingly clean and spacious/huge/big.

The train ride to Tainan was about 40 minutes and all of us were really tired. Tainan really reminds me of Pontianak, the city where my dad came from, with the city layout, the chaotic traffic, the motorcycles, and the old buildings. Tainan still feels more advanced though with the abundance of the 7-11 and Family Mart.

We stay at Dynasty Hotel. The room is surprisingly quite good considering the toilet is kinda meh. I think they can make the room a bit smaller to give more space for the toilet.

The view from the window of my hotel room

With only less than half a day left, we just explored around the city. We visited Hayashi Department Store which to me, well, is just like any other department store and the prices are quite expensive. I suppose people come here for its historical significance (it was originally opened in the 1932 as one of the rare buildings with elevator and it was the tallest building in the city then) rather than for shopping. The old elevator is still maintained as only 5 people can fit and the elevator is there not exactly for transporting. It will only go to the first and top floor. There is a Japanese shrine at the roof although the view from the roof is not amazing since it is 2019 now and this building is no longer the tallest in the city. Despite it being a tourist attraction, it is definitely the right decision to keep the historical feel of the building facade. Nonetheless, this kind of attraction is not really my cup of tea.

The Japanese shrine at the roof of Hayashi Department Store

We went to have the vinegar fruit drink across the street, explore the city further, before hailing a taxi to a night market. The initial cost of the taxi is 85 yuan and after 10+ minutes ride, the total cost was only 130 yuan. That is really cheap for a taxi ride. It is nice to experience an authentic Taiwanese night market although I admit that I am not a fan of the crowd. I just don't like when people are squeezing without regards to one another. I have been hearing about smelly tofu and only today then I understand the horror. It literally smells like diarrhea shit. Initially I was like "why are there so many toilets here?" since I kept smelling the shit smell. It was actually the smelly tofu. I am usually quite adventurous but I did not try since usually the tofu is sold by a box. I don't mind to try one piece but not a few. Haha.. This smelly tofu aside, generally I think the food was good.

It was quite an eye opening to see the game stations. The one that my friends like the most is the bingo with mahjong tiles. Basically you choose 15 random tiles and see if you can form any lines with those tiles in the printed bingo mats. It is purely luck based. Unfortunately, getting one line is only the 'first stage'. After that you still have to choose 1 out of 24 numbers from a wheel that you spin. You have to get the number correct to get a prize. I did not try anything after knowing this. Haha.. 1 stage is ok.. 2 stages I can say bye to my luck.

Although I was full, with the few days here, I would prioritise "trying first and losing weight later" so I will buy snacks and drinks that I have not seen anywhere else. I don't normally eat KFC but this Lay's x KFC snack is just too tempting. I cannot comment on how authentic the taste to KFC is but the structure of the chips is wow.. very crunchy.. I like. The honey milk does not have enough honey while I am too full for the chun chui he.

Aladdin

For a live action adaptation that received a lot of negativities since the announcement of the actors, this live action movie really proves everyone wrong. Kudos to the actors and especially the director. By far, this is Disney's live action movie that I enjoy the most. I maybe biased because Aladdin is my favourite Disney cartoon but being a huge fan also means I have a high standard of expectations for this adaptation.

Story-wise, this live version Aladdin follows the original cartoon faithfully. Despite the 'bloated' runtime of 128 minutes (compared to 90 minutes of the cartoon), the movie does not feel draggy. There are hits and misses with iconic scenes from the cartoon. I think the opening, when Aladdin is running from the guards, the "Friend Like Me" and the "Prince Ali" scenes are impressive. Sadly the escape from Cave of Wonders, the "A Whole New World", and the climax are nowhere compared to the cartoon.

Some changes are unavoidable but I don't think they ruin the essence of Aladdin. Most of the changes are to make the story more human and less cartoonish. Spoilers alert!

Changes which I think are for betterment of the story and movie:

-Sultan, Jafar, and Jasmine get more story related to palace intrigues unlike in the cartoon where their characters are rather poor: Jafar is evil for the sake of evil, Jasmine is just there as a 'prize to be won', and Sultan does not seem to be governing the nation at all. In the movie, at least we see some governing and politics and we know a bit the reason behind Jafar's ambition.

-Genie's appearance as human definitely suits real life situation to hide his identity as a magical being

-Addition of Dalia (Jasmine's handmaiden) helps to give Jasmine more personality. Although Dalia seems to be more of a comic sidekick, her addition helps to maintain the comedy aspects of the movie.

Changes which I think are shit:

-The climax is worse than the cartoon as it lacks the urgency and the gravity of Jafar's threat. There is no final fight with Jafar turning into giant snake so the climax is literally resolved just by talking. 

-I hate the ending the most. In the cartoon, Sultan changes the law so that the princess can marry anyone she chooses. In the movie, Sultan makes Jasmine as the new Sultan so that she can change the law. What the fuck! I have no problem with Jasmine eventually becoming a Sultan. However by making her a Sultan and ask her to change the law just like that makes the Sultan appear so irresponsible. It also ruins the realism a little bit since prior to this, Jasmine is depicted to know little about governance and politics and yet she can become Sultan just like that.

-For the sake of more realism, we get less of Abu, Carpet, and Iago. While this is understandable, I think this is quite a loss since these three characters are great in the cartoon. And Iago's voice in this movie is an abomination.

-We lose that iconic structure of Agrabah palace :(

The set pieces of the city and palace are amazing but the Cave of Wonders lacks any wonders. I enjoy the music and I don't mind they try to make it a bit different from the cartoon version. However I hate it when they change lyrics of iconic songs. Vocal-wise is where the live action cannot compare with the cartoon. The vocal work during the songs lacks the power, energy, and emotion. The vocal work during Disney Renaissance era is of musicals quality while the vocal work in this live action movie is just like any normal human singing in their daily life.

Acting-wise, I think only Will Smith is doing great as Genie: extravagant enough as a genie but not too-over-the-top or too cartoony. The others are very flat and boring. The emotional moments such as when Jasmine realises Aladdin has been lying, when Aladdin is fighting with Genie, or when Genie is set free are all wasted in the movie. That Genie is free scene in the cartoon still makes me tear when I watch it.

Well nothing can be perfect but overall I am very happy with this live action adaptation of Aladdin. It does not ruin the original story, the changes and additions are generally making the movie better, and it still retains the comedic atmosphere. All in all, I am happy that Disney does not ruin my favourite cartoon :D Hehe...

Megane Ichiba x Digimon Adventure Tri spectacles (DGM-06RLB)

After getting and being happy with Takeru/Patamon version of Megane Ichiba x Digimon Adventure Tri spectacles, I succumbed to temptation to also get Joe/Gomamon version. Takeru/Patamon was a Christmas present while Joe/Gomamon was birthday present, especially since it was just nice that I went to Japan and I opted for collection from Lawson.

One interesting fact to highlight is they use 'reliability' which is the English translation of Joe's digicrest. In the Japanese version, Joe's digicrest should be 'sincerity'. It is confusing because of Mimi's digicrest which is 'purity' in Japanese version but is translated to 'sincerity' in English translation.

The details of the spectacles can be found here and I shall only share the photos of the actual item.

The wipe

The print is slanted -_-"

The design for the spectacle case (both external and internal) is the same for all variants of the spectacles

Surprisingly the design is nothing like the spectacles that Joe wears in any of the versions of the anime

The circle is based on Vikemon's shoulder guard and the four linked squares are based on Vikemon's Mjolnir chain (the Mjolnir in Tri design)

Gomamon's colour scheme :D Strangely this design is only on the right temple but not on the left :(

Symbol of Digicrest of Reliability

The original display lens

The website states that this frame style is wellington. To me it looks like a bigger square frame so I do not really understand how wellington frame differ from square frame.

Side-by-side comparison with Takeru/Patamon design

If you ask me which one I prefer, I will say I like both. That is the reason I bought both. Although in terms of unique-ness, Takeru/Patamon design has the winning edge with less mainstream colour and I like the additional "wing-like" feel from how the temples are connected to the lens.

According to the information that I read in the top Digimon forum, the spectacles that Joe wears at the end of Digimon tri movie 6 is based on this.

Joe's spectacles here is definitely different from the one he wears previously and in the tri promotional materials (which has no frame for the upper half of the lens). 

Enough of digimon and it is time to think through about Prince of Tennis spectacles. Haha...

NB: Post is tagged as 'Toys' for ease of retrieval in the future if needed.

Landings retreat

I just came back from Landings retreat which is sort of the closure of Landing run (actually there are 2 more sessions to go) that I am currently in. Honestly I felt kinda lazy since I just attended a retreat earlier this year and I wanted my weekend to settle things after my Japan trip. Well God is kind and despite my reservations, I come home feeling blessed.

The retreat was held at FMM (Franciscan Missionaries of Mary) House of Prayer and Formation. The atmosphere is similar to Choice Retreat House as the building feels rather old. FMM has bigger canteen, hall, and greeneries. I am alright with the dormitory style of the bed area. However toilet is something that I really cannot tahan. There is no hot water and one of the toilets did not flush. Eeeww...

The main points that I take home from this retreat are:

-Love language
There are various ways we show and perceive love: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, physical touch. Different people have different styles and many times this is the root cause of misunderstanding "If you love me, why you never do xxxxx" vs "I love you by doing xxxx. Why don't you appreciate?".

I have to reflect to know myself better since the love language towards God and towards humans may be different.

-God substitutes
God is the source of love but often we stray for Him and try finding His substitutes in the forms of wealth, pleasure, power, honour. I have gone past wealth, power and honour but I am definitely still struggling with pleasure. I am not saying that the first three are not important to me. It is just that they are not that important compared to pleasure or being happy. I see no point of being wealthy and influential if I feel miserable. My pursuit of happiness makes me very selfish and impatient when my happiness/comfort/'me' time is affected. I also often think about death since I see no purpose of living longer since I am quite happy with my life on earth.

I also learn something meaningful about the Eucharist. The body and blood are separated as they represent death. After the bread is broken, the priest will put some of the bread into the wine and this unity of body and blood represents resurrection. I was also reminded that Mass is a celebration for Jesus and the focus should be Him, and not me. That means even if I feel miserable or if I don't feel that I get anything or whatever negative feelings I have, these are not good enough reasons to skip Mass and I should still go for God.

The unexpected surprise from this retreat was the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I missed going before Easter and I thought the next one I go will be this coming Christmas. I am happy that I managed to go yesterday. I had to write down the list of sins on a piece of paper (later to be burnt) and I felt I had a lot. However after the confession, I am reminded again of the gift from this Sacrament: I really felt lighter as if the burden in my heart was lifted.

While confession was a good surprise, I also had a bad surprise. One session was a group prayer in which everyone had to pray for the other group members. I had to come up with spontaneous prayers 6 times and I am someone who is very bad with spontaneous prayers. I usually pray in my native language so translating adds another difficulty in spontaneous prayers. Curiously my group facilitator found that I have a gift in affirmation while I felt completely opposite.

For Sunday Mass, I was asked to do the first reading. It was my first time ever proclaiming the word of God during any Mass and I was reluctant. I did not reject as I tried not to think about myself (I was scared of making mistake and I was self-conscious about my accent) but to allow myself to do God's work. I am glad that I did that as it takes time to exercise this kind of humility.

We had a drink at RedDot BrewHouse last night. I ordered a glass of beer because of peer pressure since everyone ordered beer. Of course I could not finish it but I was quite surprised that it took half a glass before my face felt warm aka turned red. I never drank any beer before and although the green colour one (supposedly infused with spirulina) caught my interest, I decided to get something with lower alcohol content. I ordered RedDot Lime Wheat simply because it contains the name of the place so I assume that is special. I think I tolerated 5% quite well and I should have tried the green one with 5.5%. I always thought beer was bad but I had a change of mind after this. It is not as dry as wine, it is not as gas-sy as I expect, and it does not give me rapid flushing or gastric.

After 3-week suspension, I intended on returning to gym after lunch. I decided that I was too full and too lazy. Haha.. I went to Kinokuniya to collect my Free Comic Book Day package. There were leftover goodies to take for free and ooh la la some people were really greedy. Well I am still happy with some Amuro Rei post cards and Free! plastic folder.

I am very tired now as I did not sleep so well last night. Initially I used the blanket as my pillow and then it got pretty cold so I used it as blanket, although still folded halfway. Then I woke up again to fully open the blanket because of the cold.  Then I started seeing numbers 666 and 999 merged together (the 6 and 9 share the same round thingy). I saw 666 in red or 999 in green alternatingly each time I was awakened. I don't know if I saw 666 because I was worried if the dormitory were previously a hospital or if it was because I confessed that one of my sins is to keep thinking of death.

We all know what 666 means but I don't know about 999. To me 999 is a good number as it looks like 'almost perfect' to me. I will interpret this as a reminder that everything is a matter of perspective: I can see my life as hell or as blessings. Interestingly when I google the meaning of number 999, most search results seem to concur that it means a chapter of my life will end and it is time to move on. Does this signify that I will finally be able to let go my grudges with my previous job? Does this mean that after this Landings run I will start serving in the Church? I don't know.. I can only pray for God to show me the way.