AAA Asia Tour 2016 Fan Club Event (Singapore)

After yesterday, I was so happy to see that today's event had the audience seated!! Oooh tears of joy.. Haha.. The ticket said free standing so I came later than yesterday and I arrived at about 515pm. I realised I was the second last audience to enter. Lol.. It was almost full house except for the last row on both aisles so I sat at in the middle of the last row.

Shinjiro and  Misako were the MCs which I sort of expected since their English was the best among AAA. The first section was for the audience to ask questions to AAA members. I think it was quite demoralising that only few hands were raised when they asked who wanted to ask questions. The allocated time was 15 minutes and it took too much time to answer the first question (it was about how do the members behave when they are drunk). I feel that they should not tease Nissy's english so much as it was quite a waste of precious time. The second question was a quick one since it only required 1 word answer regarding the sports that members would want to try.

The second section was game. The mystery box was not as exciting as those mystery boxes in the TV shows where they put living creatures etc. The boxes were so big but the items were so small and from my seat at the last row, I could hardly see. The second game, Scissors Paper Stone and Hey Look That Way, was much more entertaining and enjoyable.

They prepared a nice surprise too and played the Scissors Paper Stone with the audience until the last 3 winners would get a concert T-shirt with members' autograph. As usual, I sucked and already lost since the first round. I feel quite bad for the 3 winners when they were on stage as both themselves and AAA were rather awkward. It would be nicer if the members were warmer towards them (shake hands? hugs?) instead of just saying congratulations and had an invisible wall.

Before the end, AAA took a picture with the audience from the stage and obviously I would not be visible. Lol. AAA closed the evening with singing Yell and the same problem with the sound system as last night: they sounded great during their individual parts but the sound system could not accommodate when there were more people singing at the same time.

Is that all? The biggest surprise came at the end: the audience was given a chance to high five with all the members on our way out!!! Kyaaaa.... That was totally unexpected and really nice of them. Since I was at the last row, I was the first few to exit which I think was great because it was not crowded yet and the members were still 'fresh' lol. Why do I say that? Because their high 5 (and I grabbed some of their fingers like a handshake) was still energetic. They also maintained eye contact as I said "Please come again." lol and I appreciated that.

So if yesterday I said I would think again to attend their next concert, after tonight, my answer is a yes! Haha... Considering the seats were almost full (my guess is above 90%), I think I am quite lucky to get this ticket as it was given by a lucky draw.  It was indeed an experience and I enjoyed the members' interaction among themselves which was lacking during concert last night.

Lets talk about the merchandise now. I only bought the muffler ($30) and the postcard set with a book cover ($32) yesterday. I did not get the rest since the AAA panda is rather ugly. Lol. I 'sayang' the muffler and I did not take it out to wave it during the Hurricane Riri Boston Mari song last night. The postcard set was quite disappointing as I don't think the poses of the members are great and they all look rather pissed. Bleah.. The postcard at the bottom is what given to everyone after the Fan Club Event tonight. I don't mind paying more for some exclusive merchandises for their Fan Club Event instead of just getting 1 piece of postcard :( Oh well, I guess the high five memory is all that matters.

AAA Asia Tour 2016 Concert (Singapore)

Dang! I should have snapped a picture of the banner that was flashed on the screen just now. I thought I could find the AAA Asia Tour 2016 banner online but it was not the case. So no picture to accompany this post.

I can finally cross another item from my bucket list: to attend a J-Pop live concert. I like watching J-Pop concerts via youtube or VCD/DVD but the thought of watching a live concert is always not something promising: I hate the heat, I hate the crowd, I hate the noise, etc. I first came to know AAA after they came for a concert in Singapore last year. I started to enjoy their songs and kinda regret that I did not know them earlier or else I would have watched their concert. So when I heard the news of another concert: YOLO! Let's just give it a try.

The concert was at *SCAPE, The Ground Theatre and I am so glad that all the horrors I was expecting from a live concert did not materialise. The concert was planned to begin at 6pm and door opened at 5pm. I reached there at 445 and the queue was already long. I am not familiar with the place so I did not know how long it was but the hall was not filled to the brim. There was still plenty of space and I was standing somewhat at the 'back'. I could still feel the aircon so I did not feel hot. The beginning was a bit turbulent for myself trying to adapt to the bright stage lights and the loud loudspeakers.

I thought the concert itself was pretty good. AAA sang live and they were good. Too bad that the sound system was absolutely horrible. The solo parts were great but when everyone was singing together, the sound system simply could not take it: the sound that came out was horrible. The order of playlist could somehow better because the string of ballads came too early when the audience's energy level was still not hyped up yet.

For the first song, the members were still rather cool but subsequently they warmed up, had plenty of smiles, and seemed genuine when they tried to engage with the audience. I find Hidaka to be the best one in terms of trying to engage with the audience. I think the audience (myself included) was a rather 'dead' audience. Haha.. So it had to be a tough job for AAA members to engage us. To illustrate how 'dead' we were as an audience, we did not even shout for encore. A group of people were singing Happy Birthday and most of us were wondering whose birthday it was. Then only we realised they were saying ''Happy Birthday Triple A" since their anniversary is on 14 September (I may be wrong). Then people started to clap and chanted something that sounded like "Ma-Ri-E" and evolved to "Not the end". I actually had no idea what they were saying and the people around me were equally confused and also asking one another what the people were saying.

The concert itself was rather short: 1 hour (including 5-10 mins talk) followed with a 30 minutes encore. The audience was too diverse (from China, Taiwan, Japan) and the Singaporean might not even make up 50% of the attendees so it was difficult to engage, not to mention with the limited English that the members can speak. What could be done better is that they should have some topics to prepare during the talk parts. There were plenty of awkward silence but again given the profile of the audience, it was really a tough job. One thing that I found missing was the interaction among the members while singing / dancing. There were few occasions but in general it was rather non-existent.

For $130, I honestly feel that it is quite pricey. But hey, at least I can strike off one item from my bucket list. Will I go again if there is another concert next year? Hmm.. I shall think about it. Lol.. If only I got one of their balls earlier, the answer would be a resounding yes.

I am feeling as if I just had a 3 hour detention to stand all the way. So tiring for my legs :( But I am still looking forward to the so called limited fan club event tomorrow. I read that it would not be a concert but it would be more like a talk show and given how bad the parts of interaction with audience today, things can potentially quite disappointing.

Breaking out of own comfort zone

My (old) laptop is another step closer to its end of life. It was perfectly fine on Saturday morning but when I went back in the evening, it showed error messages upon rebooting and after that it can no longer receive wifi :( I thought it was something wrong with the network adaptor but it does not seem the case. The red light indicator does not even light up when I press the wifi button although on the screen it shows the message that wifi is enabled. Usually that light is on even when it cannot receive any wifi signals. I already have a new laptop but I still have not gotten used to it. Sigh emo... It has got to start somewhere and this is the first post I am typing with the new laptop. Ouch my eyes :(

Another thing that has been bugging my mind is my job application. I received the call for interview on Friday and the interview was today. It has been more than 5 years since my last job search and interviews so it was quite a nerve wrecking experience as well. I had to do a 5 minutes presentation and I am too lousy to present spontaneously. I spent the past 2 days preparing scripts and memorising. Luckily the presentation went pretty well just now. There were also 2 written questions which turned out to be 2 essay questions. Lol. The first question was pretty generic about a conflict faced in the past and how I resolved it. The second question was about what I would do if students constantly playing internet during class. I don't know if I answered well but what I wrote is my true opinion. I am fine whether they pon class or listen in class as long as they can pass. Haha.. after all I was also once being that kind of student.

I felt pretty good during the interview. Bear in mind that it means completely different from: I feel pretty good about the interview. I honestly did not expect the director of the school was one of the interviewers and I was even more surprised when the first thing she said was if it was our first time meeting. She thought she met me before. My face must be so marketplace. Anyway I was told that my requested pay is too high and they definitely cannot meet it. Haiz.. Well too early to say or think anything now since I don't even know if I will be offered. If I am offered, there will still be a second round of the interview and dilemma will start again. It is more convenient to stay where I am but seeing the kids running around and having fun are really energizing. It was like going to a place with positive atmosphere which I think is going to be a happier place than my current place to see rude old people everyday. Haiz.. don't think too much and let's see how things go in 2 weeks time.

I watched Suicide Squad and Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV but I don't have the time to blog about them yet. Coming up soon (but I will backdate the date), I promise. Lol.

Suicide Squad

I heard that this was better than Batman v Superman so I was willing to give it a chance. I watched the trailer which I found interesting but not really gaga over it. But since it ticks so many things that I usually enjoy such as a group of superheroes character, an female bad ass character, lots of explosions, and potentially hilarious conversations.

Well, unfortunately DC seems to be very far from Marvel. As compared to Guardians of the Galaxy which also features obscured characters, Suicide Squad actually has more famous characters in Joker and Harley Quinn. Yet, the movie pales in comparison to Guardians of the Galaxy. Joker does not have enough screen time or significant role in the movie plot that he can actually be removed from the movie and it makes no difference. I have to admit that Harley Quinn is the star but she seems too out of place as the other characters are unable to match her craziness. All of the lines that are meant to be a joke or I supposed meant to be a laughter-inducing turn out flat and "duh" because of the way the others respond to her craziness.

The story is also quite rubbish and is hanging on too many loose strings. A lot of these criminals do not even have any reason (like their loved ones being taken hostage) to cooperate with the government in the first place. Yet, when they are given the 'çhance' to be out of prison, they just follow stupidly to government plan when there is no beneficial outcome for them: completing the mission means back to the prison and failing the mission means death. If they can defeat a horde of supernatural armies, I am pretty sure removing a bomb from their neck should not be a problem.

The final match is also dumb. If the villain (the Enchantress) has so vast magic power to build the giant weapon in the sky, she could have easily beaten these few people. Yet she chooses to engage in a physical fight. Not to mention that somehow she runs out of army to defend her while she continues with her power to fly all the rubbles into the stratosphere to build her weapon.

Characters development is poor. I find only El Diablo to be someone to be symphatised with and Deadshot has a bit of the family man side. The other characters remain as obnoxious and you don't get to like them or symphatise with them until the end of the movie. The fight scenes turn out to be quite meh with not much physical fight or even CGI fight. It is all about shooting guns and faceless explosions.

Although I may sound very biased, I am actually following DC comics as much as I follow Marvel comics. DC comics are pretty good and occassionally can be even better than Marvel but for the movie.. there is still a vast difference..

Gold

Second home will never be able to replace first home. That is my sentiment from this Olympics. I am happy with Joseph Schooling's gold medal but I am proud with Tontowi Ahmad & Liliyana Natsir's gold medal for Indonesia. I saw the news this morning and I watched the medal ceremony (lucky it did not make me late to work! lol). I know my Malaysian colleagues are so excited that they have several medal potentials for Badminton. I don't mind Malaysia winning gold for male singles or male doubles but I am still rooting for my own country for mixed doubles. Haha.. Anyway they are quite cool with the results. I guess we, the Southeast Asian people, are relatively friendly towards our own neighbours. So yeah it is quite heartening to see the Malaysian pair congratulated the Indonesian pair after the national anthem at the podium. The China pair (who won bronze) looked like a pair of sore loser. At least the girl smiled while the guy looked to angry throughout. You should be at least proud that you lost to the eventual champion.

And that's all that I want to write today. Hehe.. specially for this.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

Previous Final Fantasy movies are hit or miss so I was not having too much expectations on this. Sadly Kingsglaive is closer to Final Fantasy Spirits Within instead of Advent Children. The story is too 'realistic' and lacks of a lot of things that define Final Fantasy. In fact, if you read a synopsis without knowing the title, this movie can easily be mistaken for any other war movie of the similar genre. To proof that point, I shall summarize the story without mentioning any names.

Kingsglaive basically tells a story of 2 countries at war. The smaller country (or the 'protagonist') is on the verge of losing to the invading empire (or the 'antagonist) if not for the final defensive shield which protects the whole country. The invading empire offers an unfair peace agreement and the smaller country accepts it in order to spare its citizens knowing that there is no way they can win the war. This peace agreement turns out to be the empire's ploy to destroy the defensive shield and conquer the country. Sounds familiar?

I thought Kingsglaive refers to the crystal or something but apparently it refers to King Regis' of Lucis (the smaller country) group of elite force that can use magic power of the king. As the king is growing old, he is simply losing power. However, when he agrees on the peace agreement, most members of Kingsglaive feel that the King has betrayed them, without realising the King's true reason. The main character, Nyx Ulric, stays loyal to the end to fulfill his mission: to somehow bring Lady Lunafreya to meet Noctis, who is the main character of the upcoming of FF XV game.

I don't know if the movie will make more sense or will have more relevance once the game is out since the movie is meant to be a prequel. But as for now, nothing is really fantastic about the movie whether the plot, the characters, the battles, the everything.

Seriously Square Enix, stop wasting money to create or write new stories for movies. Just make your FF I to X into movies and the cash will be flowing in. You already have great stories and elements form the games, just port them over to movies for goodness sake!

Dedication

It is good to be sociable and I am glad that I decided to go for the usher BBQ yesterday. I was very hesitant because I knew very few people. In the end, there were only 2 ushers whom I know. Talking to others make me realise that what I am feeling is quite normal and there are others out there who feel the same as me. People may term it as a 'quarter life crisis' but basically it is the feeling of emptiness and lack of purpose in life after graduation from university. It is made worse, thanks to social media, with jealousy when you see your friends are furthering their education and having family etc.

All the emo talk caused me a nightmare that made me even reluctant to get married somehow. I am so lazy to find a girlfriend and I always joke with my parents to match make me. In my nightmare, I was really match made but I had never met the girl until the morning that I had to go the gate crash and when I decided that I AM NOT GOING TO DO THIS but how I am going to inform everyone! Lucky it was just a dream and I could escape simply by snapping back to reality.

On the way home from the BBQ, I decided to walk back from Matrichie bus stop all the way home to find pokemons along the way. I realise that it is a waste of time to hunt pokemons at areas with no pokestop as pokemons only start spawning when I reach Upper Thomson Road shophouses with several pokestops there. I nearly fell and broke my ankle when I caught Magmar near as I did not realise that there was a step. Yes I have to thank God for that. Stay safe when pokehunting, guys!

Today I walked from Dhoby Ghaut (after my Japanese class) all the way to MBS, again to just pokehunting. Sigh.. It was quite disappointing as even at the large body of water, all I got were Magikarps and Psyducks. Based on the eggs that I have, I walked a total distance of 10km within the past 24 hours. Wow.. and I consider myself just a casual gamer. Lol. If only such dedication is directed towards my life, perhaps I already earn my Masters and I am already married with few kids now.

After 1 month, I am finally back in Church lol. Thanks to Mother Mary. Tomorrow is Assumption Day which is a day of obligation. Hence I decided to might as well go for Sunday mass today and then for Assumption mass tomorrow. Hehe.. it turned out to be a 2-in-1 as the mass was considered a sunset mass for Assumption. Hurray that means tomorrow I don't need to go again. Anyway, it was announced that they were looking for cathechist. I am interested but I am scared :( I will be alone, I don't have any experience, and I am not exactly a good example of faith. Father said not to worry about skills etc because training will be provided. Haiz.. I don't know.. I will pray for God to give me a hint if I should go for this but I don't know what kind of hint/push that will make me realise that it is indeed God's sign.

Aaah youth...

Last week, my news feed was full of Pokemon Go. This week, news feed is full of Joseph Schooling. Congrats to him for winning the first Olympic gold medal for Singapore in history. As an audience, the match was not that exciting since Schooling was actually quite 'far' ahead of the other competitors. However, he was fantastic considering he beat Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympians, and the match will go down in history with 3 silver medallists who clocked exactly the same time. I am not a Singaporean so I am feeling quite neutral about it but I can imagine (and I hope) Singaporeans will be happy and proud with this. I can remember the excitement and energy when Susi Susanti won the very first Olympic gold medal for Indonesia. It left quite a memory since badminton match is longer than a swimming race so it was quite intense to sit down through the match.

Schooling is still 21 years old and I am pretty sure he has a bright future ahead of him. I sincerely hope that he will achieve greater things in years to come. Aahh.. so good to still be young.. Schooling left Singapore to study and train in the US when he was quite young and look at where he is now. I left my hometown in my young age but I am just a loser. That realisation is quite demoralising. Lol.

Yesterday I went to buy Kingdom Hearts 2 comics from a carousell seller who turns out to be a school kid. However, I was very amazed and surprised that he offered a handshake when we met. Wow... With all the negativity about strawberry generations nowadays, it is a pleasure to find a polite and courteous young boy. It is also a reminder of how impolite I am usually. I don't offer handshakes when I meet strangers for buying or selling things. I don't even offer handshakes to new staff. Sad.. ironic.. when I just left university and entered the workforce, I aspired to be someone friendly and nice, especially towards newcomers since I know how it feels when people are not nice towards me when I was a newbie. Alas.. all the pressure and stress I face have turned me into a monster. If only I can turn back the clock..

PokeGO!

Pokemon GO! is finally out in Singapore since last Saturday. There was a lot of hype a few weeks ago when it was released at other parts of the world and I never considered of playing it. Well for one, I am not exactly a fan of Pokemon. Haha.. However, seeing how even uncles and aunties on the bus are playing it, I decide to also jump into the bandwagon.

Overhyped things tend to get a lot of fans and haters alike and this is not an exception. For me, I don't see much difference between people on the road playing Pokemon Go vs people on the road checking their whatsapp, facebook, other games on their mobile phone. While I can agree with those who find Pokemon Go players as childish, ridiculous, etc, I think you only deserve to say that if you yourselves are not 'addicted' to your mobile phone in the first place. Otherwise, the only difference is just what we do/see with our mobile phones.

Although I am a skeptic, it is undeniable that Pokemon Go is a genius. Nothing has ever been so successful in making people going outdoor (although the only difference is where we play our mobile phones: in our room vs outside), exercise, and meeting fellow 'trainers' at the Pokestops. Authorities have been dangling carrots to make people exercise more and more sociable etc and the usefulness is limited. Pokemon Go makes people doing all these things without any dangling. It is all in the name of fun. You gotta admit that it is genius.

Enough about Pokemon Go, I am glad to announce that my bond is finally over since last Monday. Hurray!! My stress is finally relieved this morning as I submitted my resume and cover letter for my job application. Lets see how it goes. Honestly I don't know what I am going to with my life and my future and I can only trust God. If I can get this new job with the pay that I request, I take it as a sign that I am meant to take it. If I get a job but the pay is not much of an increase, it will be very difficult to decide. On one side, I feel that I have certain 'future' with my current employment, but on the other side, I really want to leave because of all my negative emotions. It will be a battle between the brain vs the heart.

Gundam Build Fighters

There is a criticism that Gundam anime series usually suck because Bandai's main objective is to sell Gunplas and the anime series are just mere gimmicks to advertise the model kits. Gundam Build Fighters completely fits into this stereotypes. In fact, it takes it further with featuring Gundams from other existing series and modify them specially for the anime. It made me a skeptics and I was only interested to watch this because of Bearguy III Double Happiness version that I bought during the Gunpla Expo this year.

Watching the first episode is like discovering a beautiful pearl inside a clam. It is unexpected good pleasure. I have to say that the whole idea of Gundam Build Fighters is bloody genius. The story features people building Gunplas for hobby (which is realistic) and thanks to the discovery of Plavsky particles, it creates a mechanism to make these Gunplas into a game in which the Gunplas really can move around and battle one another (which I consider to be the 'augmented reality' part). The reality and the 'augmented reality' are blended very well that the whole setup feels believable.

For Gundam fans, whether the anime series or the Gunpla, it is always our imagination to be able to control Gundams whether for games or for real battle. No doubt the series hits us on our soft spot very well. However, the flip side of resembling reality very closely, the actual plot is quite boring and draggy for a 25-episode series. The main character, Sei Iori, is an avid Gunpla builder, inspired by his father who was the runner up of the 2nd Gunpla Battle World Championship. Although Sei builds an excellent Gundam, he is a poor fighter. He has little chance of following his father's footsteps until one fateful day when he meets Reiji who can fight with Gundam well. Together they form a team to aim to be the World Champion.

Throughout the 25 episodes, we follow their journey from the regional tournament until eventually they reach the World Championship. After a few of the Gunpla fights, the fights get quite boring. The conflict presented feels very forced. Sei and Reiji are constantly being sabotaged by the tournament organiser. The main antagonisth, Chairman Mashita, is actually a thief from Arian colony who steals a treasure from the castle, gets teleported to earth, and create Plavsky particles. Reiji turns out to be a crown prince of Arian and Mashita is very worried that Reiji knows his identity and will capture him. The whole Arian colony and teleportation thing sort of destroys the whole realism that the series have and I feel kinda mess up the whole thing.

The whole setup for the final battle is quite bizarre too. The giant exploding Arian crystal under the stadium makes the Gundam battle setup a reality and suddenly the giant asteroid base (and the mobile fighters inside) becomes a reality above the stadium. The kids have to use their Gunpla to destroy everything before everything becomes a reality. It makes the final battle resembles actual fights from other Gundam series but the realism is simply thrown out of the window. Having said that, I still think it is one of the most intense fight in the series.

There is plenty of fanservice for Gundam fans with people cosplaying as or resembling characters from previous Gundam series as well as characters sharing same names and saying quotes of Gundam characters. To take note of the fanservice component from each episode is a nice thing on its own. I am glad my favourite Gundam Wing (Fenice) is one of the stronger Gundams here and I was very happy to see Mercurius being piloted by a character which resembles a female version of Heero Yuy.

Void of truly evil characters and killing, Gundam Build Fighters is really a feel good Gundam series. It is quite sad that this series is quite overlooked. Even finding an image to put here is a big challenge and the picture I put on top is a screenshot from gundam.info website. Jeez. Anyway, I am looking forward to the sequel, Gundam Build Fighters Try. I don't expect much but if it can be give a good feeling just like Gundam Build Fighters, that is good enough for me.

I almost forget but the opening and closing songs are great and complement the atmosphere of the series very well. The animation for the opening and closing is great too. I usually skip the opening and ending songs but I did not skip them when I watched this. That is quite a feat. The other series that have such impactful songs are Natsume Yuujinchou. So yeah, it is an accomplishment because usually Gundam opening and end songs can be quite 'randomly' done.

Opening 1

Opening 2

Ending 2

I can't find just the ending 1. Lol.

I don't usually put fanart picture but this is a perfect tribute of Gundam Build Fighters for the previous Gundam series :D