Crasher's life

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T01:25:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! Didn't celebrate this year, because I'm going to China trip soon, but I got a Christmas song to share!

Review: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

2011-12-19T23:17:00.001+08:00

I have doubted this movie at first, my mind keep thinking, "Mission Impossible, again?!?!". It is the fourth installment of the spy film series, at this point most movies will get bland and boring. After watching the trailer and learnt the fact that the director is Brad Bird (from Ratatouille and The Incredibles) and produced by J.J. Abrams (Super 8 and Star Trek), I decided to give it a shot. Me and my friends watched it directly after our last STPM paper, and we were amazed.

This prove that movie series can be fresh after four movies, and Brad Bird is a very good director. I didn't watch the first two before, but Mission Impossible -Ghost Protocol is miles and way better than the third one.

The story might not be amazing, it is just normal and predictable. What the movie is so amazing is that the action set pieces are exciting and action moves along without much conversation to keep the audience excited, the movie action sequences are balanced with some pretty routine tasks done by the IMF and some really "What the F***?!?!" moments. The highlight of the movie is when Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) climbing up the Burj Khalifa Tower. Besides, when a plot really needs explanation, the pacing slows at the right time.

Tom Cruise regained his action star status as Ethan Hunt, which he almost destroyed his star status with that awful Knight and Day. Personally, my favourite character is Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), who is a IT guy and ridiculously funny. The problem with the characters Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and especially William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) are underdeveloped.

Mission Impossible -Ghost Protocol might not be an amazing movie in terms of characters and storytelling, but it is a damn good movie for popcorn entertainment. Recommended.

VERDICT: 4/5

It's over!!!

2011-12-16T13:46:00.001+08:00

Finally, my STPM exam is over. Now I can relax with no worries, following the "Hakuna Matata" motto for now.

PS3 HDD Swap

2011-10-09T13:12:00.001+08:00

My PS3 comes with a 120 GB hard disk for game storage, save files, media files and etc. Eventually, my 120 filled up almost full (I'm looking at you Gran Turismo 5), so it's time for some hard disk operation on my PS3.

For the hard disk swap, I bought a 500 GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue 2.5' SATA Disk, which is basically a laptop drive, and an USB thumb drive that can hold up to minimum memory of 200MB. Before you do the swapping, make sure your vital data on your PS3 are backed up on a portable HDD and your trophies synched to the PlayStation Network. When You do, let's go!

Make sure you have all these stuffs, ~~including the scissors~~.

First up, unscrew the bottom of the PS3 with a screwdriver obviously.

Then, slide out the tray cover and the hard disk compartment should be exposed like the one below.

Pull out the hard disk tray, the cooler the PS3, the easier the task.

After that, use your screwdriver again to remove the four screw attached to the tray to remove the old hard disk.

Then remove the hard disk, as simple as that. Pic below shows the old hard disk from the PS3.

Put a new one back and put in the into the PS3 again...

Boot up the PS3. Plug your controller and USB Thumb Drive with the OS data which should be kept in /PS3/UPDATE/

The PS3 will ask the hard disk to be formatted

Then install the OS from the thumb drive.

After OS installed, the PS3 should be good to go.

Then restore the data from your backup HDD from your PS3. System Settings>Backup Utility>Restore

Make sure you do it at night or have time to leave it for hours, because the more data you have the longer the time takes. 110 GB took me a night.

New layout!!!

2011-10-09T02:41:00.001+08:00

I've been away for far too long, I mean really long!!! Can't imagine I haven't blog for months!!! And just in time, I changed my blog to a new template...

So lucky to get it

2011-07-20T19:44:00.000+08:00

Did I tell you about the cheapest 3-D ticket I ever bought? I did.

I was with a couple of my friends decided to watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3-D, cuz that is the version you must go for. I prepared 2 RM50 notes (1 ticket is RM18) to buy 4 tickets.

The cashier then clicked 4 seats and proceed for check out, she told me to pay RM48, I paid it without hesistation. Then, my friend Kah Wai shaked me up and asked me.

KW: Why it is so cheap? Confirm 3-D?
Me: Ya hor, something wrong leh.
KW: Ask her
Me: Okay.

Then I asked the cashier to confirm if it is Transformers 3-D or not, she said yes. I asked about twice, because both of us can't believe what we're paying!!! And we certainly jumped!!!

I later tell Chong Hong and Yong Qin about it, they can't believe it as well, Chong Hong even said I "boom" him about the ticket. He then take the tickets and ask the branch manager about it. The manager looked at it, she paused and lingered for quite a while before answered his question, she then proceed to ask the office about it and they are unsure whether the system has gone wrong or not.

She told us 3-D was not normally this cheap, and since we already paid and the receipt was out, she can't charge us again.

RM12!!!!

Review: Dark Side of the Moon

2011-07-03T21:03:00.000+08:00

I have low expectations for Transformers: Dark of the Moon to be honest, because its predecessor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was such a dud. But the trailers of Dark of the Moon are such fun to watch, so the hype was kinda rebuilt. So yesterday, me and my buddies decided to watch it on Queensbay Mall (Btw, it's the cheapest 3-D tickets we have ever bought, will tell that later) and I am happy the movie is entertaining and fun to watch.

When Michael Bay promised moviegoers that Dark of the Moon, I was kinda skeptical with it, since many of his movies are light on plot (Revenge of the Fallen, I'm looking at you). But surprisingly, the plot is kinda good, not great, but just good, you can sense that this time the robots are gonna attack for real and the world is gonna end, the characters have more connections and feelings this time around. I gotta give kudos to Steven Spielberg especially for making Bumblebee with voice problem throughout the series, because the connection between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Bumblebee are really close even through Bumblebee's radio voice and his expression. Rosie Huntington-Whitely is a good replacement as Sam's new girlfriend, but due to the no history behind the movie, the pair's story is unexplored.

The pinnacle of Transformers movies is gonna be the visual effects and the action sequences. Dark of the Moon offers the best visual effects I've seen and it set the bar for CGI quality, the CGI is seamlessly drawn into the image and at most of the time feels incredibly detailed and realistic. Remember my last topic about 3-D, I was spot on about it. The 3-D effects are also spectacular in many many ways, it rarely offers rarely effects but it really does offer an extra dimension and focus on the image Michael Bay wants you to focus. I am only doing this for the third time, that is you must Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3-D. The action sequences stay true to Michael Bay's fashion, loud, exciting and explosive. Optimus Prime is more badass, the sequences and robots are definitely much better to distinguish than the last film.

The audio is also on the level of reference quality, the new 7.1 audio system is always on the maximum and offers the clarity. If you watched the past film and you'll know what I meant.

The jokes and comedy has finally toned down and made more sense, but in some part still very inappropriate and unnecessary. For example, the perverted Autobot Wheelie and his new sidekick, still make some jokes, but the perverted look at Carly's ass is just a waste of time, why robots like humans' asses at the first place. The start of second act is a bit shaky with too much weird jokes and old references. The addition of John Malkovich as Sam's boss is too much and Patrick Dempsey's character is just retarded, I've never seen anyone this stupid. John Turturro's return as Agent Simmons is a welcome one.

My opinion: Transformers: Dark of the Moon is still a much watch, it redeemed what its predecessor done in many ways, but some of it's old past remains. The combination of a better story, action sequences, 3-D, visual and audio effects is going to entertain many people.

Pros: Better story, jokes starting to makes more sense, action sequences, visual effects, audio effects, Optimus Prime is a badass warrior, Dino is sexy, Megan Fox is gone.

Cons: Story can be improved further, perverted jokes are weird, shadow of Revenge of the Fallen remains.

The Ugliness: You'll come out of the cinema and wonder why the character Patrick Dempsey portrayed is so dumb.

Verdict: 4/5

Transformers might be the Saviour of 3-D

2011-06-20T17:20:00.000+08:00

Let's be honest here, 3-D is getting stale, the technology is nothing more than a gimmick as of late. It is not 3-D is not amazing, but film companies and crews don't know how to utilise the technology. In many film we have seen 3-D effects nothing more than a pop out visuals and nothing else.

We've seen many films using 3-D effects at its best, when it does work, it is truly amazing and breathtaking. For instance, Avatar, which in my opinion is not a great film, but the 3-D of the movie is the best in the business. Director James Cameron utilised the technology well. he used 3-D to focus on the objects he wanted you to focus on while creating depth to other objects which is spectacular, no pop-out, in-your-face kinda gimmick and it worked! Another movie to use well to the technology is last year's Disney sci-fi action movie Tron: Legacy, not as good as Avatar but used the same method and technology of Avatar and it worked as well. The depth and pop-out effects are more balanced than other movies.

Other than these two, do I still have movie which I think that used the 3-D very well? The answer is no, absolutely no. Most of other films are just pure gimmick just to suck up viewers' wallet. Kung Fu Panda 2? Nice but not good enough. The Green Hornet? Nope, conversion 3-D is the worst offender. And the worst is? Clash of the Titans!!! Which my friends complained to me the 3-D is less than 50% of the movie.

The reason of these failures is that all the filmmakers rush their decision to put 3-D effects in their movies, and the results usually backfire. Due to success of Avatar, which is currently the only film that look spectacular and better in 3-D than in 2-D, filmmakers started rushing their movies into conversion mode, which made the images look pasted in to feel "more 3-D".

Why I said the latest Transformers will save 3-D? Because James Cameron, not because he directed it, he actually shared his 3-D technology and crews to Michael Bay, the director of Transformers. When you've seen the 3-D of Avatar, you'll know why I'm so eager to watch Dark of the Moon in 3-D. It is whether to be seen that Michael Bay can actually put the 3-D magic into Transformers, but since I have enjoyed quite a number of his films, I have hopes for that.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Blu-Ray review

2011-06-02T22:48:00.000+08:00

Holy shit! That would sums up what I think about this Blu-Ray release. This is probably the best Blu-Ray I own in my collection (just about the disc, not the movie)

This disc showcased what the Blu-ray and HD is capable of, it is pristine in every single way. My sisters complained it looks fake, the problem with my two sisters is that whenever they watch Blu-ray, they always watched and look for flaws, even though is minor. Back to the topic, every scratches and dents on the Transformers are meticulously detailed and I even saw a pigeon landed on the pyramid. God, that is so detailed.

My BD version is the IMAX version, the con is that the IMAX scene is only at the jungle battle scene and Devastator transforming scene. But oh boy, IMAX is unbelievably clear and made the scene larger than life.

What is so good about this BD is the audio, the audio is the best so far in my collection. The DTS-HD Master Audio found in the disc will put your sound system to the test. The surround is clear and loud, typical for an action movie, the dialogue found in the audio is so immersive!!!

The best BD yet!
Verdict: 5/5

Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

2011-05-30T19:07:00.001+08:00

The first Kung Fu Panda is a blast, watching one cute fatty panda working his way to the top of Kung Fu is very satisfying and some very nice Chinese reference as well. Due to the success of the movie, Dreamworks decided to make another one, and guess what, it's another brilliant entry for Kung Fu Panda.

In this sequel, Po, with the Furious Five, go on a quest to destroy Lord Shen, who wants to conquer China. Along the way, Po's past is the theme of this movie. The story might be familiar to the first movie, but is sure is fun to watch. The jokes are again, referring to Chinese culture and over the top, it is super duper funny, I laughed non-stop at the cinema, trust me.

Kung Fu Panda 2 made great use of it's 3-D effect. At first I doubt it, but 3-D is the way to go, it added so much depth to the movie. With the addition of the visual effects, Kung Fu set pieces and animations, Kung Fu Panda 2 is set to entertain your eyes.

Kung Fu Panda 2 might be a repetitive sequel to the brilliant first movie, but in this case, repetition is underrated.

Rating: 4/5

Review: Fast Five, Furiously Hit the Strides

2011-05-07T23:36:00.000+08:00

The Fast and Furious series has been one of the big movie franchises out there, the series is all about cop chases, racing sequences, hot babes and brainless fun. In Fast Five, directed by Taiwanese Justin Lin (also directed the third and fourth movies), taking the formula to the new level.

While the movie still retain the basic old formula of the series, but the plot is significantly better than the other films as it has its purpose, other than just fast cars and sexy females. While it won't win any Oscars or good opinion for its story, atleast you see the objective of the movie and the cast. I'm surprised that despite all the esemble casts, the movie does not feel like it is too cramped or too compressed to make one movie.

The main attraction of the movie is of course the action and driving scenes, characters driving ridiculously dangerous and ridiculously fast around the streets of Rio is brilliant and fun to watch. Although I missed the racing scene, it has been moved as a side story rather than primary, which is a bit sad.

Overall, Fast Five is what a summer blockbuster should be. All fun, exciting and entertaining...

Verdict: 4.5/5 (WATCH!)

United State of Pop 2010

2011-04-27T20:36:00.000+08:00

This guy is a genius! How did he mashed 25 songs into one? AGAIN!!!

Top 5: PlayStation 3 Videogame (No, GT 5 is not No. 1)

2011-04-09T13:28:00.001+08:00

I got PS3 over a year back, got a couple of games to play with, including games from my cousin. PS3 is a great system, it got gaming, Blu-ray, internet and much more to play with. Worth every penny.

But PS3 is still primarily for games, so here is my list for the best 5 games I played on my PS3:

5) Killzone 2

Many First Person Shooter don't play well using consoles, but this flagship game design by Sony played well on PS3. And oh boy, it was gorgeous!!! It has exciting combat, intelligent AI and and stunning visuals. But the story and the heaviness of the controls slows it down from more than No. 5.

4) Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
It is not a full game, but this expansion pack feels like it is. The game can be played more than 12 hours, without counting the side missions. It is a GTA formula: fun, violence and inappropriate for children (I played since 10). This is a game to own when you have a PS3.

3) Assassin's Creed 2

One of the best game in recent years. Assassin's Creed 2 fills you in an Assassin's shoes from the Italian Renaissance era, it based on historical figure and Da Vinci's era. Walk around the beautifully rendered Italy wearing hoodie is very cool, even da jie said the settings is very interesting. What is pulling back from the game is the inconsistency of the graphics frame issues.

2) Gran Turismo 5

Must be a surprise because this game didn't get No. 1 position you guys expected, since I love this game so much. It was one of the best game, but not good enough to get the No. 1. Let's focus why this game is in the list shall we? It is all about car loving, and car enthusiasts like me love it, it has over 1,000 cars, and 200+ models have been rendered beautifully and look more beautiful than in real life (no, seriously). The physics is brilliant, but not as detailed as other games. The graphics are almost photorealistic and sometimes look better than real life. The downside? The game graphics is a bit uneven when look closely, the other cars are not as pretty as others, and the loading and user interface is clunky.

1) Uncharted 2

Yep, this game triumph over Gran Turismo for the No. 1 spot, and it is better, I mean serious. Uncharted 2 is a adventure game, exploring Marco Polo's journals and the quest to find Shangri-La. The story might have been influenced by Indiana Jones, but it is better than Steven Spielberg's and George Lucas' fourth installment of Indiana Jones. The game have very good sequences and brilliant set piece, make it feel like you're ~~watching~~ playing a Hollywood movie.The graphics is like OMG, so lifelike and believable, from tropical forest in Borneo to the icy mountain in Tibet, the game never ceased to amaze. This is a must have for PS3 owners and gamers. With the sequel on the way, this game is a highly recommended.

Blu-Ray

2011-03-18T22:38:00.001+08:00

My house living room go fully High-Definition earlier this year (well visually at least), HDTV and a Blu-ray player complete the set-up.

I use my PlayStation 3 as a Blu-ray player, since everyone on the internet said that PlayStation is the best Blu-ray player out there. Then we bought a LED High-Definition television, capable of outputting crystal clear 1080P full HD image.

If few of you don't HD means (living in the cave maybe?), HD means your image is displayed at horizontally 1080 pixels, a hell lot more than than SD, which just displayed at 480 pixels horizontally.

I don't know the full capabilities of Blu-ray before the house new TV was purchased. When I first put Transformers disc into my PS3, I was blown away. It just left DVD in the dust, although Blu-ray loading times are much slower. But when you have time for a 2 hour movie, you just don't care.

Optimus Prime never look this ~~handsome~~ beautfiul

A short description of what I saw when I watched Transformers BD:
Everything, dents on Bumblebee's Car, scratches on Megatron's body, Optimus Prime's teeth, sweat and blood on soldiers faces, are displayed in crystal clear, meticulous detail. You will never see anything close to this quality.

Nokia & Microsoft join forces, Brilliant or Utterly Stupidity?

2011-02-16T19:43:00.000+08:00

Remember those days when everyone around you has a Nokia phone? Those were the days, now the future of Nokia is could be worse.

Last week, Nokia and Microsoft announced partnership on their mobile platform, which quickly drew mixed reactions from the mobile tech world. Some said it was a good decision, but most said it is stupid. Even some said that Microsoft had sent a trojan horse, current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (former Microsoft director) to sabotage and buy Nokia.

Although Nokia is still the best seller of 2010, it is quickly caught up by Apple's iPhone and Google's Android phones, so all Nokia did was pact up with Microsoft, using Windows Phone 7 and dump their popular Symbian completely.

For me, it is Goodbye for Nokia right now. Here's why:

Windows Phone 7 is a limited and flawed platform

Windows Phone 7, which is technically a big step forward from Microsoft's previous effort, the Windows Mobile. But the OS is still severed by "several" drawbacks (or limitation):

No system-wide file manager

No Bluetooth file transfers

No USB mass storage mode

Limited third-party apps availability

No Flash (nor Silverlight) support in the browser

Too dependent on Zune software for file management and syncing

No video calls

New ringtones available only through the Marketplace

Music player lacks equalizer presets

No multitasking

No copy/paste

No DivX/XviD video support (automatic transcoding provided by Zune software)

No sign of free Bing maps Navigation so far

No internet tethering support

No handwriting recognition support

This has put Nokia is a very bad situation, WP7 is untested and severely limited platform.

Symbian is great but only flawed

Symbian is a very good OS, used by Nokia since the early 2000s, it is still one of the most popular and friendly OS in the market. But Symbian hasn't aged quite well, the Symbian on Nokia touchscreen phones are horrid. It is outdated that makes Symbian less competitive to Android and iOS, not poor platform at all. If Nokia put in more effort redevelop the Symbian, it could be a powerhouse yet again in the smartphone market.

What do they do now? Shove Symbian completely and adopt WP7 as their primary platform. This makes Nokia no longer the vertically integrated supplier, building hardware, software, and online services, to just another handset builder, like HTC, Samsung or others.

Nokia phones still have the "unappealing to the public" design

Nokia phones generally have the same looks over the years, square-ish, blocky, sometimes even ugly. Some are striking, yes, but most of them are just really meh or yucks! For example, my Nokia 5730 Xpressmusic, the one with slide out QWERTY keyboard, is very unique when putting between my friends' phones, but oh my gawd!! Boy, it's ugly!!! It looks like a big black brick! If Nokia needs to change, change the looks too!!!

Lack of marketing hurts!

Nokia still think they are back in the 90s or early 2000s, back when they were a dominant company, with little marketing, the company can be successful. Forward to the world of today, the market has changed, now we have Apple, HTC, Samsung, LG, Acer, Motorola (they are back), Sony Ericsson and more. The landscape has changed, consumer nowadays have even more choices than before. With Apple and Google quickly becoming the "it" in the mobile market, Nokia must ramp up their marketing...

Life is tough ahead for Nokia, with the market share and stock tumbling. Nokia is no longer the best of the bunch, more should be done rather than switching to Windows Phone 7 and losing identity in the process...

The Mini Darth Vader

2011-02-14T23:10:00.000+08:00

Long time didn't blog... Because I'm running out of creativity to write my blog (Damn you, Facebook)...

But found out this funny advert on YouTube, and I love it...

Review: Tron Legacy

2010-12-21T21:40:00.002+08:00

A sequel 30 years in the making, and almost no one, I mean no one (including me) in my generation have ever watched the original film. So, can the movie makes people with no clue about the 1980s film watch it? Yes, it did.

Let's start with the effects and presentation, which is the high point of the movie. The visual effects are beautiful and stunning. The Grid looks edgy and high tech look, the fight and the light cycle battle is exciting and looks very cool. One of the main highlights of Tron: Legacy is Clu, I mean of my god, his face is almost flawless. Oh, I forgot to mention that Clu is the exact face of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) 30 years ago, I will post a video soon about it. Although not all the sequences are in 3D, but most of the time 3D is available in The Grid, at least the movie makers are truthful with the 3D in the beginning. And the movie's Walt Disney's logo is one of the coolest and prettiest I've seen yet.

The story is decent, but is not going to win any awards either, the story has been here done that. The story will not make those who didn't watch the original movie blurred because in the movie they got explanation and prologue of Kevin Flynn tells the Tron world to his son, Sam.

In many ways, the movie does bring out my inner geekiness in me. I'm a tech enthusiasts and an avid video gamer. I do often think about what if we are able to enter the computer or the game itself, what can I do with it or in it. This movie captured my imagination.

Overall, Tron: Legacy is fantastic and is one of the popcorn flick you don't wanna miss.

Verdict: 4.5/5

Review: Red Dead Redemption

2010-12-17T22:08:00.000+08:00

Wild West is dead, that's what modern life right now, Wild West is history, not until 2010...

Why I said this? Because Rockstar Games (publisher of Grand Theft Auto) bring one of the biggest game in 2010, Red Dead Redemption, and it is set in the Old West world and oh boy, it is magnificent. I tried out several Wild West games in the past, but no games get me that immersed into the world like Red Dead Redemption do.

Set in the 1910s, just before the World War I, the Wild West is dying, the game protagonist, John Marston sets out to find his former gang members in order to redeem himself and set his wife and son free from the federal agent. The story is one of the best I've seen in a video game and even better than some of the movies I've seen in recent years, it is immersed, believable and brilliantly written.

Besides the story been brilliant, the atmosphere and presentation is very well done as well. The graphics of the game, although not as advanced as other games, is very beautiful. The world feels like Wild West, with outlaws gunning around, people taking care of their ranch, Mexican going through revolution and many things to do and explore. While exploring the big land, it is helped by the brilliant soundtrack of the game to make the setting even better.

The most important aspects of gaming is controls, Red Dead Redemption got it right. The horse riding got stamina level, like most animals do. The combat and cover system is brilliant and the new "Dead-Eye" system is perfectly executed.

With 20+ hours to do and explore in the world of Red Dead Redemption, with the brilliance of story telling, voice acting, soundtrack, atmosphere almost spot on. Red Dead Redemption is the game of 2010.

Review: 5/5

First Batch of My Gran Turismo 5 Photos

2010-11-30T15:13:00.000+08:00

One of the cool things you can do in Gran Turismo 5 is the photo mode, where you can take photos of your races and take your car to beautiful scenery for some photoshoot session...

Here are my first creations:

What do you think? I think not bad for first try...

5 Years of Waiting, Finally...

2010-11-29T14:07:00.000+08:00

Been waiting this game since, erm... Let me recall again, hmmm.... Hmm... Oh yeah, the year PS3 was announced in E3 2005... I expected the game to be launched alongside PS3 in 2006 but it didn't make it. Several years after 2 major exams, purchased PS3 in 2009 and into 2010, the game is finally here in my hand, yipeee!!!

I actually planned to buy the standard version of the game, but only discovered first batch of games in every part in Asia are only available in Limited Collector's Edition. What the heck, I decided to buy it as a treat after all these years...

The Collector's Edition come packed inside a box (like a DVD box set), inside it contained the game blu-ray disc (duh), a 3D card contain code to unlock 5 more cars in addition to the 1,000+ inside the game and a special book called the Apex, which is a guide to everything you wanna know about cars...

The Apex book is something special, everything you inside is about cars, like chassis, engine, drive-train, suspension and all those technical stuff... Wonderful...

When I popped the discs into my PS3, I know i will have to install a huge 8 GB of data into my PS3... Although it is optional, but I still install it anyway because I know it is going to save me a lot of time next time I fire up the game... The installation took 40 minutes, I read through the Apex book while I wait...

Let's enjoy the North American Launch Trailer of the game, featuring My Chemical Romance's Planetary (GO!), which is also the intro song and the official theme song... Make sure you watch it in HD...

Ordered...

2010-11-24T15:11:00.000+08:00

Yes, I did... Picking it up in the next few days... CAN"T WAIT!!!

Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

2010-11-20T14:24:00.000+08:00

I never heard of this adaptation before, maybe because the graphic title "Scott Pilgrim" is not popular here. Nevertheless, I interested with the movie when I saw the trailer for the movie. It is like a movie combined with comics and video game elements.

The story is not bad, but not really special either... It is about story of a slacker, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) trying to fight off 7 evil ex-es (exes or whatever the spelling of it) of the girl he wants to be with, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Although it is nothing special really, but it is good to see story be able to progress through.

The visual effect is quite brilliant, not in the way we always see movies. The movies' effects usually are those retro gaming style effect added into the movie, like Mario, Street Fighter, Bubble Bobble and "combos", making the movie progresses like video games. These effects make the movie special in it's own right. But I'm not sure it will please old generation of audiences, because those stuffs only exists since the Nintendo and arcade era.

Overall, I feel the enjoyment of the movie is pretty satisfying. For a gamer like me, I feel like the movie is actually made for person like me...

Verdict: 4/5 (Fun!)

Review: Skyline

2010-11-19T10:36:00.001+08:00

Alien invasion are always cool in entertainment world, Independence Day, Men in Black, Halo, Transformers and the list just go on... This year, is Skyline who comes in and fill the void, and are really disappointing.

Let's just start with the basics, plot. This movie lack even the most simplest form of alien invasion storyline, that is the purpose of the alien. In Men in Black and Transformers, aliens (or robots you say in Transformers) comes to the Earth to find something that is lost to the galaxy and discovered on Earth. In Skyline, there's nothing explaining why there are lights up in the air sucking people up. NOTHING!!! The story feel completely disjointed and all over the place...

The cast are not good as well... In the prologue already you know that this movie's dialogue and acting are weird and in complete mess.

For a budget around $20-30 million, it has a very good visual and sound effects, for a sci-fi movie... But for everything else, go watch another low budget sci-fi movie, District 9...

Pros: Brilliant visual effects, sound effects and action sequences
Cons: Everything else

Verdict: 2/5 (Skip)

Crasher Music Awards and Crasher Movie Awards 2010

2010-11-15T16:32:00.000+08:00

Well another year, another awards... This has become an annual event here at Crasher, make sure to check back for the awards, coming out soon...

Review: Megamind

2010-11-09T21:22:00.000+08:00

"I try to use a much more humble name, Megamind", This is what Megamind said when in the prologue of the movie. Megamind is not a movie under 12-years olds, but for someone older (like me), it was a really a fun and laugh out laugh movie. Movies typically tells a story about a hero and his struggles. But in Megamind, Dreamworks decided to put villains as protagonis, in a good way.

The story is not as brilliant as it seems, the story is very predictable with its directions. The only surprise of the movies is what happened to Metro Man (Not a spoiler), the rest just go along.

Why I said 12-year-olds won't find this movie funny? Well, the humours in the movie are very adult orientated, for example politics, love triangles, musics, tributes to other movie... These jokes usually don't work towards kids and I know it by seeing those children's response to the jokes, only 6 of us laughing most of the time (the audiences sure felt weird). For me, the jokes are really nice and me and my cousins and sisters laughed really loud at the cinema...

Verdict: 3.5/5

A Very Good Drug to Forget Gran Turismo 5 Delay

2010-10-30T21:19:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm not in a good mood whenever I hear Gran Turismo 5, because ever since the delay, I've been cursing and blaming Sony for whatever reason I can find. I just can't accept it. Waiting for 6 years, already bought my own PS3 to wait for the game, have to wait again...

Now, I just found one perfect drug to forget about it, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I've been a Need For Speed fan for quite awhile, but for the past few years EA been experimenting with the franchise, which I hate... Now at least EA know that the series is better suited to the roots, so they created Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.

NFS: Hot Pursuit is like the original Need For Speed, very fast cars and very crazy cop chases. I played before on the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, and I love it. See the trailers for it:

Review: The Other Guys

2010-10-29T16:05:00.000+08:00

I watched it few days ago and I have to say, I had a very good laugh at the cinema... Haven't watch cop comedy movies in quite a while and I really enjoy this one.

The movie is about two underachieving cops, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg solving a case in New York City. What so funny about the movie is because of the drastic differences of characteristics between two of them...

While the story of the movie is really so-so standards, it also lost it's way in the middle of the movie. Although it is still hilarious, you just can't help to notice the drop in storyline quality halfway through.

Comedy wise, I think the movie nailed it. Many of the lines are hilarious, some memorable and funny scene really help the movie. The intro of Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is funny as well...

Verdict: 4/5 (Laughing out Loud with some bumps on the way)

A Song: Fuck you

2010-10-18T21:51:00.000+08:00

Sorry if feel offended, there's songs with title "Fuck You", I heard a few of them already. So far I think the best is Cee Lo Green's new single, erm "Fuck You".

I have to say, I'm surprised with song.... Listen to it:

Delay?!?!

2010-10-16T09:47:00.000+08:00

Yep, I'm back again... Another broken promise that I will be active on this blog again. Sorry for that, but you need to blame my time and Facebook for that, because Facebook status update is so easy to show that what am I doing right now...

Okay back to the topic, the delay... You know that my most anticipated game in recent years? Gran Turismo 5? Remember that? I have so many post about the game and I can really put it under a new category on my blog, because I just can't wait for that...

You know what? Few days ago Sony in Japan announced that the game will be delayed for the time being.... What the F*** was that?!?! 2 weeks away from the launch and you said you're not ready?!?!

Apparently, many more fans that are crazier than me began to call Sony or make up speculation about what had happened. According to Sony, they are unable to meet the demand of consumers (not enough copies ready) and the game missed the Blu-ray production window. But other speculation is Sony is preparing to update PS3 to newer software along with the launch to curb hackers for the system and even some say they want to avoid the busy and packed November...

No matter what, I still want that game badly...!!!

Another Gran Turismo Trailers

2010-09-22T20:46:00.000+08:00

I haven't blog for almost a month.... Yes, yes, I'm sorry... I just busy for no reason and Facebook is really killing my blogging vibe, because I just status update my profile and done!

By the way, back to the topic... Anyone knows that I love cars and I love games, so Gran Turismo 5 is a sure buy title for me... It feature ultra realistic graphics, realistic physics, car customisation and contain well over 1000 cars to collect. It's called car pornography, and I really mean that...

Is it real? Gosh...

Here are the new trailers:

Look at what features they announced at Tokyo Game Show that ended last month (although I know many of you guys are not interested, but I'm gonna post it anyway):

Laguna Seca has been completely rebuilt and will return for GT5. Trial Mountain has also been confirmed.
“Gran Turismo Anywhere” will allow you to manage B-Spec races, right from your computer. You’ll be able to hold B-Spec races with your friends from anywhere in what are called “Remote Races”.
GT5 will feature a series of special events such as the Karting Experience, the AMG driving school, The Stig Challenge, Jeff Gordon NASCAR School, Sebastien Loeb Rally Challenge, and Gran Turismo Rally.
Point-to-point rally stages will be automatically and randomly generated – you’ll have to depend on your co-driver to give you the best instructions about the road ahead.
Rally mode can be played either on or offline.
Weather changes include temperature differences, air pressure changes, and humidity, affecting the surface conditions of the track dynamically.
Weather conditions are randomized. Forecasts for your race will be available but may not be entirely accurate, just like the real world.
Polyphony Digital has helped Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey design the X1 Concept – an “ultimate” racing car, free of any technical regulations.
Polyphony Digital has worked to improve engine sounds.
Yamauchi admits that, in certain situations – such as standing race starts in the rain with 15 other cars on the screen kicking up spray in front of you – the game may not be able to hold 60FPS. Otherwise, it will strive to hold 60FPS as often as possible.
The Volkswagen Kubelwagen, which has a drive system like the first beetle, and the amphibious Volkswagen Schwimmwagen will be in the game.
Many things didn’t make the cut in Gran Turismo 5, and work on Gran Turismo 6 has already begun.

Got a new webcam

2010-08-28T22:22:00.000+08:00

Got a new webcam for my PC today. As you all know, I use Windows 7 for my desktop, so I got a lot of software update to made my stuff compatible with it. Unfortunately, my old webcam is bought from China by my sister, which ONLY support the classic XP, so I have to buy a new one... Geez!!!

CRAP!!!

The new one is Logitech C200, with microphone and 1.3 MP camera...

The box of it...

Fits perfectly onto my monitor... =)

What about the old one?

Making new friends with the rubbish I guess

This is the Way to Excite Your Testosterone

2010-08-15T21:10:00.001+08:00

No, I don't mean that, I mean a movie to excite that... An action movie that consist of 3 action stars, 1 Kung Fu master, 2 Martial Art Champions, 1 professional wrestler and 1 retired American football player. Besides that, got 2 more classic action stars making a cameo appearance together. Tell me, is there a way to get your ____ excited if you don't get excited by this...

This movie is called The Expendables, which is right now I think is the biggest cast ever assembled in recent years. It stars (Drum Roll Please) Sylvester Stallone (Rambo), Jason Statham (The Transporter), Jet Li (Lethal Weapon 4), Dolph Lundren, Randy Couture (both Martial Art Champions), Steve Austin (Professional Wrestler), Terry Crews (NFL Player) and Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2). The cameo I mentioned earlier are Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator). This could be the manliest movie in the history of the industry.

For a movie with this scale, I opt to go for the action and a lot less emphasize on the story. For a movie like this, the action is superb. Explosions, bone crushing, dismemberments, knife throwing and cursing are all in the movie. All the set pieces and sequences are so nicely arranged, it feels very smooth and makes you say "Woah, that's cool!". If you are in for action, this is the perfect movie for you this year!!!

The story is just as typical as any other action films, a story to trigger a hell lot of action scenes, but with the star cast that big, it could have been better. I do like some of their dialogues, they feel cheesy and use it as comic relief of the film. My particular favourite dialogue is where Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the scene church talking about contracts, mocking each other and refer each other's films. I had few good laughs on that scene.

The sound effect is brilliant as well. With a good theater room, you can really enjoy the explosions and those action scene whoosing and booming around you. I highly recommend this movie for cinema viewing...

Conclusion, The Expendable is one of the summer biggest highlight, and it succeed to deliver. For those who is looking for a classic action film, this is it.

Verdict: 4/5

P.S. This is really an 18 movie. I mean, seriously...

One Ridiculously Sarcastic Review

2010-08-09T21:57:00.000+08:00

This review is a bit old, but it is funny nonetheless... The review come when a Top Gear viewer mailed the crew to tell them to make a proper and serious review. The Top Gear host, Jeremy, take it seriously in a sarcastic way... Video after this:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Review: Inception

2010-07-25T18:24:00.000+08:00

Okay, I won't write any spoilers in my review. But one statement, Inception is one of the boldest, mind bending and the most intelligent film I watched in a while.

Summer blockbusters usually don't make the viewers think about the plot and the mystery of the movies, but in Inception, director Christopher Nolan wanna makes us think deep into the movie, into the dreams.

Twisting plot line, which is carefully and nicely presented... I don't wanna talk more about this, but the ending is so intriguing, I still think about it for hours and hours already, and it's still in my head. The cast is perfectly balanced and well sorted to their roles.

I don't wanna talk much about it, the less you about it, the better... Get surprised by the surprises...

In the end, Inception is the gem and the most original movie of this summer.

Verdict: 5/5

A Video Game Trailer that can really Match Movie Trailers

2010-07-22T23:06:00.000+08:00

Man, I just love video games trailers these days, they are so finely made they feel like they are movie trailers. This $100 million sequel to Starcraft did just that, pure epicness!!!

Is Music Industry on the Decline in terms of Sales and Quality?

2010-07-21T21:20:00.000+08:00

It really makes me wonder, is the music industry is going downhill, not just in terms of sales as we know it, but also suffer from quality issues. I say that because the new decades is underwhelming compared to 2000s, 1990s and 1980s...

First, let's see the sales perspective. Music is one of the big three in Hollywood, including movies and video games, and make a bucket load of money for the industry alone. And like any other form of entertainment, music suffers from the rise of computers and Internet. As we all know, all are suffering from the piracy issues, but music suffers the worst among the three.

Piracy can hurt billions of dollars in all stuffs, ie movies, music, games, books, gadget, you name it. But why music is the worst of all? Music don't have any special anti-piracy software to curb the increasing piracy. Movies have Blu-ray installed with special DRM that makes it hard for people to hack into and burn into a Blu-ray disc, although that doesn't stop piracy, but with the quality have to be down-scaled to DVD quality and time consuming, it does slow those pirates down. Video Games have several methods: online authentication, always online to ensure it is genuine and the harshest method, lock down your whole system down so you can't play it. Music is ridiculously easy to pirate, pop the disc into a PC, click rip and upload to sharing sites.

Besides piracy, people buy music no more. Since the born of Internet store and Internet radio, people are less likely to buy a whole album. Take iTunes for example, when you listen something nice on the radio, you go to the iTunes store and download that certain song, instead of the whole album. Some stream the song instead of download it. Album sales in the past can reach tens of millions during their lifetime, now they are just a fraction of the number. For example, 2010 most critically received and the biggest debut so far, Eminem's new album Recovery first week sales was under 800k, while the past he can sell millions in a week (others artists included)

Quality side, I do see a decline as well. I have a lot of 2010 songs in my Windows Media Library, but most of the time I still scrolling down the year, 2009 and before, to click and listen instead of 2010 playlists. I also play a lot of past years songs on my phone and iPod instead of 2010. Don't be mistaken, I still love 2010 songs, but the number of "favourites" list are significantly less compared to 2009. Some artists took a eternally long hiatus to make their new album and still don't see a new release since 2006 (Justin Timberlake focus on others instead of his music), artists' comeback that is disappointing (Christina Aguilera new album, Bionic is disappointing after few years of anticipations and compared to her Jazz entry, Back to Basics) and some even come out a few years and never heard of them ever again.

So, in conclusion. I think the music industry's effort this year is lacking the spark of creativity and face tough battle against music purchase and piracy people choose. Artists these days makes more money on tour rather than on album sales, no wonder the concerts are getting more and more these days...

New Look! Dark Navy Beta

2010-07-18T21:52:00.000+08:00

I have a new look, not me, but my blog... I ditched the all too boring all white layout and opt for the Dark Blue, black and white layout...

As the title suggests, the layout is still in beta stage... There is a need of adjusting the width and height for the sake for all those widgets and apps I used on the blog... In the meantime, enjoy the new layout!!! xD

Top 5 Websites I Can't Live Without

2010-07-17T16:53:00.000+08:00

Internet seems to be on everyone's lives these days, so do I... There are some websites I can't live without, here is the top 5 of the list

No. 5 CNet.com

I am a geek actually, I love techs on all sorts of stuffs like cars, TV, gadgets, HD, phones, laptops, PCs and many many more. CNet is on of the tech websites I visit regularly to get those tech news and other stuff related to it...

No. 4 Autoblog.com

Everyone knows I am a car enthusiast, can talk about cars for hours. I enjoy cars from those small hatchbacks to those V8 supercar... Love the rumbling sound of the engines and the burning rubbers... Autoblog gives me a lot of details about cars that we don't see everyday in Malaysia (you know lah!)

No. 3 YouTube.com

I guess a lot of people also can't live without this as well. Since the born of YouTube, I have watched thousands of videos online without the need of downloading it, thus reduced the fear of computer viruses. Whenever I want to watch videos, is YouTube...

No. 2 Facebook.com

I guess many people think this one will be on the No. 1 spot, you'll find out who snatched from it. Guess how many of my friends are not on Facebook? None (technically speaking)... That statement says it all...

No. 1 Google.com

Well, Google is Number 1 on the list due to one thing, its dominance... The search engine is the best for many many years, can search literally unlimited number of sites in no time. After Google search came out, I rarely touch other search engines since then (ie Yahoo!, Bing, Ask and so on). And Google brand is everywhere, Google News, Google Translate, Google Map, Google Earth, YouTube (owned by Google), Google Chrome, iGoogle, Google Chrome OS, Android and others. It is just part of a huge list, imagine to full list of service...

Gorgeous Gran Turismo 5 Trailer

2010-07-14T22:30:00.002+08:00

No time for 2nd of November 2010...

Review: Toy Story 3

2010-07-05T17:59:00.001+08:00

I admit, I actually skeptical about this movie at first, because when a franchise reaches a third film, the result often end in disappointment and uninspired movie. But still, I trust Pixar can give me another brilliant movie because they never failed. And, they not only did it, they nailed it...

The movie started with a western style shorts featuring the main toys of the Toy Story. But then, they are left abandoned in the box, not being played by Andy (their owner). His mom donate the Toys to daycare, their adventures started there...

As always, Toy Story 3 along with other Pixar films, is hilarious... My sister always laughs loudly when a funny scene come up, but with Toy Story I just can't hold my laugh and also laugh like crazy in cinema. There are two moments in the movie that will make me remember for a long time. First is the moment Buzz Lightyear turns into Spanish version and another one is when Mr. Potato Head put his body parts into a pancake and start walking wobbly for several scenes.

The story is also another part where Toy Story excelled. It is clearly shown the development of more than 10 years really pays off. The story is perfectly balanced from start to finish, and the end of the movie really touched me.

Toy Story 3 is a movie that will be long remembered by me and the movie reminded me of how much I've grown up. Thanks, Pixar!!!!

Pros: They nailed it!
Cons: None

Verdict: 5/5 (Can I give a 6?)

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Trailer

2010-06-23T15:57:00.000+08:00

Gaming is very very big business right now (except Malaysia la, where everyone is still just torrent and buy pirated DVD), and the trailer they made for games can rival Hollywood blockbusters these days and many games these days can use millions to make. For example, Grand Theft Auto IV cost US$100 million to produce...

One of the trailer I'm gonna show you today is Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, who just entered the list of games I wanna play this year. The trailer looked just stunning, the scale look just like a Hollywood movie...

Enjoy:

Five Games I'm Looking Forward to for the Rest of the Year

2010-06-20T19:37:00.001+08:00

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has ended, showcases about video games is done and many interesting games are shown there... But five games really caught my eyes, here is the list:

1.) Gran Turismo 5

Reality or Virtual Reality? You Judge

The game is finally here. Not exactly here, but what I meant is the release date here... As I watched the briefing about the PS3 and the games, Sony exec showed the trailer for the game and a release date at the end of it. It got cheers from the crowd because people have been waiting for the game since 2005 and no date has been given every time they show a snippet... If the date is true (2nd November 2010), you might find me collecting cars and licenses with over 1000 of them... ;p

2.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

I love Assassin's Creed, I just love the gameplay and the story. The story is about a man, who has the DNA of the Assassins Order, traveled back in time through his DNA and experience what his ancestors experience. During the game, he discovered there was a war that he never knew even existed, the war between the Templars and Assassins, which also involved many famous people throughout the history, including Genghis Khan, Henry Ford, Nicolai Tesla and many others... I can't wait who will I meet up next, alternate history game couldn't be more interesting than this.

3.) PlayStation Move

It is not a game, I know I know... Based on the Wii success on their Wiimote (Wii sounds like peeing), Sony decided to fight back with a improved concept based on it, that is the Wiimote. What is different from the Wii is that the Move has a camera (PlayStation Eye) and LED balls on top of the Move. Sony said that will offer more precision than the Wii. Based on the video people recorded with them demo-ing during E3, it did look more closer to 1:1 than the Wii. Da Jie is very interested with the PlayStation Move as she might not need to buy a Nintendo Wii and buy the Move instead.

4.) Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit

Ram it or U-Turn. You decide this November

A game series I finally interested again after years of failure with experimentations with the game mechanics. This entry of the series is developed by Criterion Games, which is famed for it's Burnout series (another racing game). This version is back to the style people loved years back, involving exotic cars, beautiful locales and adrenaline pumping cop chase scene, just like Hollywood. With Criterion at helm, this could be a blast.

5.) Crysis 2

The physics engine for the game is crazy

Another processor hungry game, the first game is so hungry to process graphics it could literally make a PS3 and Xbox 360 melt, only a highly customizable PC with the highest-end specification could make the cut, the rest is bye bye. This time the developers created a new engine that could satisfy Xbox 360, PS3 and lower end PCs playing on beautiful graphics. With the open world gameplay set in the Big Apple, this could be interesting...

Review: Prince of Persia

2010-06-17T16:14:00.000+08:00

Video game based movies always got bad review, that's a fact... But let's face it, video game adaptation is a fresh genre, which started when everyone plays games in recent years (even the Queen of England plays game). Most of the adaptation resulted of a very bad plot and lousy productions... Will Prince of Persia finally make a video game movies worth watching?

The result is kind of... It's still behind many movies out there right now, but it's already way better than other video game adaptations thrown at us.

The story is a bit wobbly for me, a ousted Prince who needs to prevent a dagger that turns back time fall into the wrong hands. The problem is not with the story itself, is where the characters coming out and gone... The arrangement is just poor. Some characters gone at the early part of the movie like it was forced to do it, then disappear. When the Prince is going to save the world, he comes back and help the Prince... WHAT?!?! And guess what those leading cast doesn't feel Persian at all.

At least the movie make up with good action scenes and decent CG. The movie does live up to the game where Prince Dastan jumping up and down the city, at least it stay to the game formula.

Prince of Persia is not a bad movie and it is not a good movie either. But for the video game based movies, it has improved tremendously. It still got room for improvements, but Prince of Persia has done better than others so far.

Verdict: 3/5

Review: There's No Plan B

2010-06-14T16:27:00.000+08:00

Watched A-Team yesterday, and it was a blast...

The A-Team is a remake of a popular television series of the same name, starring Liam Neeson (Batman Begins), Sharlto Copley (District 9), Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Quinton Jackson (a mixed martial artist)...

The summary is the A-Team want to clear their name after being framed, which was basically the same as the original TV series. Although the story is just predictable, with backstabbing here and there, stuff blowing up everywhere and the cast do many unbelievably impossible stunts to pull off.

I think the main selling point of the movie is the humour. The jokes are just everywhere, from the beginning to the end, and some jokes are seriously funnier than others.

The main drawback of the movie is special effects, it is the G.I. Joe of 2010 and the sound effect doesn't wow me even with the THX theater system.

Pros: Lots of jokes, extremely funny, follow the original plot (according to internet)
Cons: Backstabbing is a little bit too much, graphics are laughable

Final Words: The A-Team is a movie that really entertaining that should satisfy your precious 10 bucks

Verdict: 4/5

TOP 5: Lee DeWyze Performances

2010-05-28T21:24:00.000+08:00

Once in a while, I will write something about in Top 5. This week, is about our new American Idol, Lee Dewyze. He is the second American Idol contestant I support to ever win the final (the other is David Cook). So, I will write about the Top 5 songs that made me support him throughout the show....

No. 5: Hinder - Lips of an Angel

To me, this is one of the best song of the 2000s. And after impressed me with the performance a week before (refer No. 4), he needed to impress me again. After he performed it, I said, "This is the guy I'm gonna support, even though he looked nervous on stage."

No. 4: Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

It was a boring male week, I was wondering that Simon was right that this season's gong will go to the female. I was so bored I almost fell asleep, that night was flat. At the end, he came out, did his rendition of Chasing Cars, Simon said it saved the night, he was right. And you know what, that felt like David Cook, the first "daring" contestant on the show.

No. 3: Duet with Crystal Bowersox - Falling Slowly

This season is one of the dullest I must admit, no one ever wanted to take a risk and no one is competing with one another. That Movie Theme week was one of the worst week I've seen, but it was saved by two duet performances, one with Casey James and Mike Lynche, another was Crystal and our Idol, Lee.

No. 2: Frank Sinatra - That's Life

One of the greatest thing in American Idol is that you can see contestant singing music's great and sometimes make it new, current and appeal to the new generations. On the Frank Sinatra Week, Lee's rendition of That's Life made the two lady judges, Kara DioGuardi and Ellen Degeneres made a bold claim that he was the person to win it (during TOP 5!!!)

No. 1: Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (Simon Cowell's Choice)

Hate him or not, Simon Cowell is the right person in American Idol. He knows what he is doing, beside judging the show (giving honest and evil comments to contestants), he knows what kind of songs to choose for contestants. He is almost spot on on every choices... In his final selection before leaving the show, he chose Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah for Lee, which I think is one of the main highlight of the season.

This is the Future

2010-05-22T20:44:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's a car

Wait... Don't close this blog, don't think "It's just another Petrolhead topic".... I mean it, this might be the most important innovation for the next century.

Why you ask this is the most important car for the future. Well, this car might be the solution to replace our petrol, really. As we all know that petrol supplies will come to an end eventually and we (human) are gas guzzlers, using fuel even for switching on the lights. If petrol really runs out, the world will be halted and nothing will move.

This car, the Honda FCX Clarity is powered by hydrogen, the most abundant element of the universe, it will never run out. It is dangerous, but they have found a way to contain the hydrogen and not making it explode, it's already two years it came out, yet no accidents have been reported as of today.

You might ask, "Why not use a Hybrid or an electric car?". The answer is Hybrid cars still use petrol and got carbon emission. "Electric car is zero carbon dioxide, why not use electric cars?" Electric cars is still a very weak solution, you can only drive for a bit more than 40 miles and the next thing you know is the car stopped on its track and will take 3-5 hours to really fully charged up and go for another 40 miles. Do you want to be restricted to that range? I don't think so. Besides, where are all those electricity comes from? Power Plant, and those power plants largely use fuel as well, not a very smart idea. The FCX operate just like a petrol car, you fill up the tank, drive like 400-500 km and stop at a Hydrogen pumps station and fill up again for another 500 km of journey, and it is zero emission, it produce the stuff we use everyday, H2O (water). How great was that!!!

It might be scarce at the moment, but this technology is backed by the US government, especially the governator, who is a very "green" man (no, not the Hulk). Currently, Honda leases out cars to residents of California as an experiment to tested out the technology and Californian Government set up hydrogen station around the state to help the experiment as well. If the car test really go well, it might be the solution for the future of motoring, we can drive car for another century. Petrol replace horse, and now this can replace petrol, who can finally deserve a retirement.

Size Doesn't Matter

2010-05-18T21:59:00.000+08:00

Everyone might be asking: "Why no post after Form 6 opened?" I'll explained on my next post...

In many of the people's mind, the bigger the car, the safer it is... Actually, it is not the case (really). Smart ForTwo, a cute tiny little car which was considered not safe, Think Again (I sounded so National Geographic-ish)

Smart ForTwo was rewarded a four star rating by Euro NCAP, one of the best car safety ratings in the world. Yes, the video still show the crash is violent, but for a car that looks like a small square, it's very good... The big brother Mercedes S-Class is not really any different as the size is like a monster, just like David and Goliath...

Sackboy, I LOVE YOU!!!

2010-05-11T21:47:00.001+08:00

Remember this cute little doll? Well, he is Sackboy, he is from the game called LittleBigPlanet. Sackboy is one of the most adaptable and most adorable and cutest game characters in recent game history... I've never seen a video game character that is so cute in recent years, since video game started making realistic characters and real personality into it.

I love LittleBigPlanet, I played it when I borrowed from my cousin and I play a lot. Even though the single player is short, there is a lot of online feature for the game. The game online is just a video game version of YouTube, everyone can create their stuffs and put it on the internet. I play a lot of other users' content, like mini Star Wars, Indiana Jones, jokes about Xbox and many many more. The possibilities are actually endless, which made me wonder, will a sequel possible considering the first one is literally use up your whole gaming life.

Well, there is.. And the features for this sequel is tremendous, the community will be expanded and the you can play driving games, shooting games, Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders and many many more... And you can create not just one level, but a whole new different game! And create new story and even music videos (Yeah, You heard that right) for your game!!

Let's see the trailer for the sequel and I can't get enough of Sackboy!!!

Music is back to normal

2010-05-10T21:29:00.000+08:00

After months of laggy service, Crasherkhoo.blogspot has restored it's Music Playlist feature, much like the old Imeem after Imeem was bought by MySpace.... No more laggy video to accompany the music, which will be a pleasure to your ears. Enjoy!!!

Initial list of Songs:

Train - Hey, Soul Sister
OneRepublic - Secrets
Paramore - The Only Exception
Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
Travie McCoy - Billionaire (ft. Bruno Mars)
Usher - OMG (ft. Will.i.am)

One Last Hurrah: One-Hit Wonder of the Decade

2010-05-05T19:44:00.000+08:00

I ended my feature of Stuff of the Decade a while back. Well, I think of one more list and I want to end the reborn and end the feature much more nicely, and it is related to the music industry: The One-Hit Wonder. If you don't know what is that, One-Hit Wonder means artist have only one song that hit the charts but fails to do so after that.

My One-Hit Wonder of the Decade:

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

No ones will ever forget about that easy going song called Bad Day. It is easy to our ears and become a Billboard No.1 in the Hot 100 chart. But after that, none of his song ever reach the chart ever again...

Other artists and songs that made the cut:

James Blunt - You're Beautiful
Gnarls Buckley - Crazy
Cassie - Me & U
Hinder - Lips of an Angel
Nick Lachey - What's Left of Me
S Club 7 - Never Had a Dream Come True

Review: It's Good To Be Back!

2010-04-30T21:48:00.000+08:00

Well, today is the premiere of Iron Man 2, me and Atles go to Penang to watch it... If you are in the US, sorry, you guys have to wait until 7th of May... HAHAHA!!!

I love the first Iron Man, it ranked 2nd in my list after The Dark Knight, replace my old time favourite, Spider-man 2. The first Iron Man is a surprise hit, when I walked into the theaters I was like, meh. But after come out, I actually like it a lot.

After the unexpected success of Iron Man, in 2010, there's a sequel to Iron Man, called Iron Man 2 (duh!)

Actually for me, this movie is better than the first one, but just a bit... The director, Jon Favreau played safe using the same formula, playboy lifestyle of Tony Stark, lots of Iron Man, lots of action and rock music! But I guess the formula works for me.

The story is ok, it's just the simple plot you expect from a popcorn. The story is about Tony Stark's struggles after he announced he is the Iron Man. Then there are copycats and those who wants him to fall from grace and those want to be on his side. But I don't expect the story to be a blast, considering that the first one didn't have a good story at the first place. The humours are very smart and very funny, Atles and I actually spent more time laughing than quietly sit down. Maybe it was those other viewers don't understand those jokes (practice your English man!!!)

The visual effects is a small leap from the first one. Kudos to people at ILM at this department, the graphics are so seamlessly fused into the real world that you rarely recognized any flaws of the visual. It is that good and flawless. Combining those graphics with action sequences, stunts and the whooshing sound effect, I had a blast and totally entertained...

The new characters like the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and the new Lt. Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine (played by Don Cheadle after Terence Howard left the role) is blended in perfectly into the movie, so they won't feel alienated, which is smart, consider that many movie failed to do that...

In the end, Iron Man 2 is a good popcorn movie with good pacing of story, nice visual effects, stunts and sound effects keep audience entertained and remind people how good is the first movie. And, I want to defend the movie against the critics that say the story is boring and stupid, Consider this critics, don't ever compare Iron Man to The Dark Knight, those two are different movies even though it is the same genre. The Dark Knight is artistic, dark and smart plot, Iron Man 2 is light-hearted, funny, and it is all about entertainment. So stop saying Iron Man 2 plot is rubbish, because it is simple and is not written to be good and smart at the first place.

Pros: Easy to follow plot and have a very good pacing, visual effect is seamless, great sound effects, more actions (YAY!!!), new characters don't feel alienated.

Cons: Although fun, the surprise factor from the first movie is lost, due to we watched the first movie...

Verdict: 4.8/5

P.S.: Don't leave the cinema until the end of the credits, there is a small clip setting up for a potential sequel to Iron Man 3!!!

Luke, I'm Your Fans

2010-04-18T16:23:00.000+08:00

This year is the 30th year anniversary of the premiere of sequel of a big franchise, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back. In my book, Empire Strikes Back is the best movie ever made, the balance between plot, actions and the effects are absolutely perfect.

Empire Strikes Back also had one of the movie industry biggest surprise at that time, that is when Darth Vader said, "No, I am Your Father!". This may seem neh right now, but at the time no one expect the Dark Lord to speak out words like that to Luke.

To bring back the feel of the 80s, I presents you the trailer at the time:

Iron Man 2 Trailer 2

2010-04-18T01:32:00.003+08:00

This is better than the first trailer:

American Idol 9 Top 7: Winner Prediction

2010-04-16T17:34:00.000+08:00

This week double elimination, we said goodbye to Andrew Garcia (poor) and Katie Stevens (decent).

Nevertheless, the show has to move on... Here's my prediction for the potential winner so far:

Potential Female Winner: Crystal Bowersox
Based on week by week performances, she is always the front runner of the competition. She knows what she is doing, she performs song she is comfortable with. With Siobhan Magnus (the other remaining female on the show) struggling to put on a good show, Crystal has the better chance now...

Potential Male Winner: Lee Dewyze
This is a tough one, because one or two other male contestants are so close... Although shy, his performance throughout the show is consistant and above expectations. But seriously, he needs to control his nerve when performing, he looks like a statue when perform...

Let's Celebrate The Beautiful Game

2010-04-11T16:20:00.000+08:00

Football, is one of the biggest sports known to mankind and FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event in human history. Along with the Olympics, World Cup is also one of the sporting event that truly unite people from all around the world to celebrate this amazing game and share a common language, "GOAL!!!". The 19th FIFA World Cup will be hosted by South Africa and the hype is building already...

The main theme song of this year World Cup is Wavin' Flag by K'Naan, this song got the flavours of Africa and unity... Enjoy the song below:

First Crysis 2 Trailer is Up

2010-04-09T20:52:00.002+08:00

Every gamer knows Crysis, a game that set the graphics benchmark for video games history, just like Avatar did to the movie industry. Original Crysis is a power hungry software, and will laugh at almost every computer hardware thrown at it, developer Crytek said that the sequel will less demanding the the old ones...

In case, you don't know about Crysis. The first game tells a story about a group of special forces were sent to a remote tropical island to save scientists from North Korean hand. During the mission, the alien forces hidden under the island woke up and attack the humanity...

The sequel will now set in war torn New York, where alien has taken over the city. Trust me, the graphics will be even better and more epic...!!!

Review: Everyone looks like Liam Neeson

2010-04-08T00:04:00.002+08:00

Just watched Clash of the Titans, a "pure" remake of the 1981 film of the same name. For me the movie was just okay nia la.

The movie is based on Greek mythology that human raged war against the gods, Zeus and the Olympus. The movie stars Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator: Salvation), Liam Neeson (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins), Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter) and Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), which are a very good list of cast actually.

For me, the story was like "Really?", the story is too simple and the ending is ridiculously lame. When the final battle scene between Kraken and Perseus was too short and too simple. But, kudos to those people who make the story is predictable and boring yet able to let viewers want more.

Visual effects is really normal for movie this budget, it didn't look fake at all, but it's doesn't look great compared to other blockbusters. The makeup is not good either, especially when everyone looks like Liam Neeson, that's my major complaint here. I don't mind they make a blockbuster with bad story just for the pure sake of entertainment, but can they at least make everyone more noticeable?!

hmmm... This face can be too common in the film

Sound effects is really worth the THX system of the Gurney cinema, when those monsters and gods moving around, you can really hear the noise going through your back and really let you have the feel of those moments.

Clash of the Titans is just a summer blockbuster film that stripped out all those great story and great characters just for the pure fun of action and humour. It might not be the film of Oscar rank, but I will place it in front of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which is the film just for pure graphics and entertainment, nothing else)

Pros: Great sound effects, great monsters design, predictable blockbuster films, humour is good, beautiful scenery
Cons: Visual effects can be bad when compared to movies with same budgets, poor story and characters, lame ending, some humour is a bit corny, ridiculously poor makeup...

Verdict: 2.7/5

Review: Timbaland Presents: Shock Value II

2010-03-30T21:35:00.000+08:00

Timbaland is probably one of the biggest names in music industry right now (no, not that clothing line brand, that's called Timberland), he produced song for Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, OneRepublic, Justin Timberlake and many many more artists of today. He even has his own album in 2007, called Timbaland Presents Shock Value, now he made a sequel of the original album, called Shock Value II (even album has sequel these days)

For me, the original Shock Value is just okay, but not great. Several songs by some artists work well with Timbaland's distintive music style, but some of them really fall short compared to others. This version of Shock Value also suffered the same consequences, songs like Carryout (Justin Timberlake), Marchin On (OneRepublic) and If We Ever Meet Again (Katy Perry) really works well. But songs of Chad Kroeger (from Nickelback) or Chris Daughtry are really bland when mixed with Timbaland style.

In the end, Timbaland Shock Value II is a very good album, able to create several radio hits. But, there are some songs still poorly execute the style of the artists and feels awkward.

Must hear from album: Carryout (ft. Justin Timberlake), If We Ever Meet Again (ft. Katy Perry), Lose Control (ft. JoJo), We Belong to the Music (ft. Miley Cyrus), Morning After Dark (ft. SoShy and Nelly Furtado), Marchin' On (Remix from OneRepublic's album).

Verdict: 3/5

Recommendation: Ars Technica

2010-03-29T19:07:00.000+08:00

So, wanted to buy gadgets or tech stuff and you can't find a tech geek like Chuck? Fear no more, I now recommend you to this new site (I visited frequently), Ars Technica.

Ars Technica is so far the best site for information about technology and computers. The website is unbiased and treated everyone equally, unlike some site that favours their advertisers over their rival.

Before I bought my iPod, PSP and even my PS3, I always refer to this website for information and search all the technical details.

Highly recommend you to visit if you want tech!

Review: How To Train Your Dragon

2010-03-27T01:02:00.001+08:00

I saw the trailer of the movie twice, once at The Princess and the Frog and once at Avatar, I instantly said I want to watch it on 3-D because it is cool and it's funny. I know nothing about the release date of the movie until Atles called me on MSN asked whether I wanna watch, I just say hell yeah, let's go!!!

I am genuinely impressed by the movie after I watched it. For the past decade or more, animation genre has been dominated by one company, that is Pixar, who brought us Up, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and many more other great animations that are loved by gazillions of people worldwide. Now, Dreamworks Animation has a gem to put their place as one of them, that is How to Train Your Dragon.

When the movie title started to come it, even the logo itself has a lot of 3-D effects into it. The 3-D effects of the movie is just astonishing (No... No, no... Please don't think of Avatar, Please). With the animation of the action sequence and dragon's models and the 3-D effects. The visual is just a pleasant to watch, as simple as that.

The story is pretty simple really. It's in a world about a war between the Vikings and the Dragon, the lead character Hiccup, is a vikings who wants to be a warrior to fight with the dragons but failed to do so. He is also an intelligent person among the Vikings and the tribes consider him an outsider. I love the way that the story was told, it was like the way Up told the story, explains stuff at the beginning, except this is much more simpler and much more action packed than Up. You can easily follow the characters' developments and the story development itself.

I also see this as a successful attempt of Dreamworks to get over it's identity crisis. For many many years already, Dreamworks target young audiences, just like Pixar do, but their animation suggest that they are targeting for adults, the biggest offender is Shark Tale, which for my book the worst animation ever made. Same goes for Monsters vs. Aliens and Madagascar, while it is hilarious, the jokes and those funny moments are meant for adults. How to Train Your Dragon is simple, will please kids (boys and girls alike) and family will enjoy watching together.

Summary: How to Train Your Dragon is might be the reason why you watch animation at the first place. Short and clear explaination of characters, cute moments and great animation effects... Even I know Pixar got the talent to beat any animation movies, this one will give a tough fight to Toy Story 3.

Verdict: 5/5

My Top 5 Video Game Theme Songs

2010-03-24T16:12:00.003+08:00

Music has been existed since the dawn of mankind and still existed until today. Nowadays, music is not only found in albums, slide shows, movies, they also been put into video games. With video game budgets soaring high, developer waste no time making better music and theme song for their video games to increase their production value. Here are some of my favourite video game theme songs (if your game is not in the list, is either I don't like it or I haven't played them):

No. 5 Killzone 2
I remember the first time I popped in the disc of this ambitious Sony exclusive, I was greeted by its wonderful main menu soundtrack specially composed for the game itself. It even attracted my sister's attention, who is always busy in the living room play Bejeweled 2, saying to me that she found the music very interesting, she even wonder whether the music is composed by some big name Hollywood composer. With the development cost of the game is $60 million, it remained as one of the finest and most expensive game ever made, not to mention the music itself.

No. 4 GTA IV

Love it or hate it, GTA IV has become a phenomenon (critically, comercially or controversially) worldwide with a total unit of 15 million copies sold and a record of 1.8 million copies sold in United States on its first week of releases. The game also received accolades from all over the world, including Crasher's Life very own Game of the Decade. The game has it's theme called Soviet Connection, to relate to the East European protagonist, Niko Bellic. The theme song it's even in my iPod!!!

No. 3 Crash Team Racing

I considered as one of the best game ever made (it is also being my sisters' favourite game too). Even though the game is simple and made under low budget, the game has very good soundtrack and very perfectly designed game play system that got me hooked for many many months. You ask my sister if you don't believe it... Haha... I can't find the original soundtrack, but I got the song from the intro for you...

No. 2 Command & Conquer Red Alert (series)

In the gaming community, many people agreed with me that this is one of the most memorable game theme song in the gaming history. I have to thank my sister (who was at the university at that time) came back bringing back a copy of Red Alert she bought. After looked at my sister playing the game, I asked whether I can play it and I am hooked to the series ever since. The game theme song, Hell March has been through many revisions for the subsequent sequels, but it's still remains as one of the gaming finest theme song. The song is first played in the first Red Alert where Soviets invades European countries as the real WW II never happened, when the song is played, it was EPIC!!! The video is Hell March 2 from Red Alert 2, the best of all Hell Marches.

No. 1 Battlefield (Series)

Who can deny the epic theme of this series, particularly the first, Battlefield 1942. I think no one actually can. This game was actually being introduced by my cousins and we all love the intro of the game and it's wonderful theme song. It doesn't felt like a game song, it felt like something came out of Steven Spielberg's epic war movies. The theme song are even performed by many renowned philharmonic orchestras out there. Even there are many war games out there, Battlefield theme song and it's game alike are still the favourites of the gaming community. With the latest installment, Bad Company 2 being one of the biggest seller yet (2.3 million copies in first month), the game is still in everyone's gaming library...

So, that's all for my Top 5 gaming theme songs... Enjoy

I love Firefox 3.6

2010-03-16T19:28:00.002+08:00

Simply put, because they added themes feature!!!
And if you don't really realize my new theme... It's the Death Star from Star Wars... LOL

Do American Got It Right?

2010-03-12T21:22:00.003+08:00

Well, the semi-final is over for good, now American Idol moves on to the Top 12... Let's see whether the four contestants eliminated are worth to be kicked:

Katelyn Epperly
A decent contestant yet inconsistant, Katelyn at least showed once she deserved in the Top 12. Yet, she is kicked when placed alongside Paige Miles. When she stood alongside Paige Miles, I said to myself Katelyn is so lucky, she would be going through... I was shocked when she is voted of instead of Paige. Paige Miles, who judges think has a very good voice, consistently lacking behind the whole competition. In singing competition, singing songs that are true to your voice is the key, or change the tune to match your voice, not choose some of your favourite song that you can't relate to. Her rendition of 'Smile' is not on the verge of terrible, it is terrible... Big sympathy for Katelyn, seriously.

Lilly Scott
A very solid front runner but got voted off. It was actually very weird to see her and Katie Stevens standing together, but when they are standing together, I think Katie is going to get through. Katie got advantages because she is a good singer (but haven't got that potential yet), good looks and really young. But why I would pick Lilly Scott instead of her? Because she is much more experience than Katie. Katie for me, she would be like any other 17 years old in the competition, lacking experiences and guts to take on the competition.

Todrick Hall
A overly confident and risky contestant. Todrick changed too much on his first two performances and alienated the audience and his 3rd last performance was unable to save him from elimination.

Alex Lambert
I like his voice, seriously good. Style and voice like James Morrison is very unique in the competition and among all the boys, he deserve to be in the Top 12. Unlike Tim Urban, who has been save by his last performance and his good looks, he could be this year Jason Castro.

GranTurismo 5 Leaked Trailer

2010-03-08T20:56:00.001+08:00

This delay and wait is killing me... I've been waiting for the game release this March, but Sony have pushed back the title again and again and again...

In the mean time, I can enjoy this shiny new leaked trailer showing racing at night in GT and new damage modeling... Unbelievable.

American Idol: My Own Top 12

2010-03-05T21:03:00.003+08:00

Well, 4 more contestants will leave the show next week and we will have finalist singing together... Here's my top 12 and why:

Michael Lynche
When I first saw him at the audition round, I say 'Dude doesn't look like a singing type'. But he surprise me, his singing is very good. His first week on semi final singing This Love by Maroon 5 is not so good, but good enough to put him trough. This week with James Brown's It's A Man's Man's Man's World (WHAT KIND OF SONG TITLE IS THAT), he is one of the best of the week... So, he's in my list.

Casey James
I always like rocker on the finals, like David Cook and Chris Daughtry. This year is no exception, Casey James is another rocker I want him to be in. After his decent audition impressed the judges (particular the females), he went to Hollywood week singing Colbie Cailliet's Bubbly, which was amazing. He is one of the contestants that can really perform consistent on the show.

Alex Lambert
No, not Adam Lambert and he doesn't have any relationship whatsoever with Adam. The boy might not be good, but his singing is decent enough in the boys group to qualify for the finals

Andrew Garcia
Since his interpretation of Paula Abdul's Straight Up, he is being going downhill, maybe because since that performance is so good, everybody expect him to be even better for the coming performances. But he is still one of the best contestants in the competition.

Aaron Kelly
A young boy who have big stage presence. He is a good singer, but he still unable to control his nerves to perform in front of millions of viewers.

Lee Dewyze
The last man to be in the 6 main male finalist. This man is pretty much under my radar for sometime now, but his performance of Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars has caught my eyes. Even Simon Cowell commented it was one of the best performance in the competition. But, he still shaky while on stage.

Crystal Bowersox
A main competitor for the Idol crown started a long long time ago. She has a very strong voice and knows her song selections for her performances. However, she need to change her looks a bit, she still lacking star quality and stage presence, which are important for finals.

Lacey Brown
Finally entered the semis after the failed first attempt previous seasons. She is not as strong as other female contestants, but she deserved to be in the finals.

Katie Stevens
A 17 year-old who has a very strong start at idol with a deserving good auditions, but she seems to be diminished at the Hollywood Week (maybe I didn't see her). During the semi finals, she wowed the audiences and viewers with her strong performances and vocals. I agree with the judges, particularly Ellen and Simon, where she needs to perform songs that are more younger and much more suitable to her age. Strong contender for finals though...

Lilly Scott
She is a great singer, with good vocal and knows how to play her instruments. She usually sings songs that others usually won't pick for their performances, that's really given her the advantages than others already.

Katelyn Epperly
I don't remember her for most of the season, but last week's performance of The Scientist by Coldplay has really put her back into the spotlight. If she continues a strong performances like this, she can be a dark horse.

Siobhan Magnus
I don't remember either but her last two performances are amazing, especially last week's performance, where she sang Aretha Franklin's Think. Her vocals is like, "WOAH!!!"

Lego Imperial March

2010-03-01T18:10:00.002+08:00

Found this on YouTube this morning... Featuring cute cute Lego version of Darth Vader conducting his own theme song with his stormtroopers... So Cute!

Friends List Reorganized

2010-02-23T18:20:00.003+08:00

Well, what did I do yesterday on my blog? Beside the review of The Hurt Locker, I also reorganized my friends' blog into much more neat order... With the last post, date and name of friends....

However, I can't put some of my friends latest updates into it. It might be those who modified their layout, because all of them don't have updates.... LOL!!! Xin Yi, Xin Chen, Ching Ling, Wen Lee, Bolie, and Vivian... Hope you all can add feed into your blog so that I can list updates from your blog.

Review: The Hurt Locker

2010-02-22T16:58:00.005+08:00

I have been talking about this movie for months, and downloaded the movie for months too. It is currently the Oscar nominated for Best Picture, against the mighty Avatar, epic animation Up, District 9 and many more... It is also one of the highest reviewed movie in 2009, holding 98% score in Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie tell a story about the bomb squad of Bravo Company. The main protagonist is Staff Sergeant William James, who take anything into his own hand, this had lead to both of his squadmates to consider him reckless and tension rise around the squad as the story progressed.

For so many movies talked about the Iraq War, this is the closest to the real thing. The movie is tense, suspense and shaken, just like what we saw everyday on news and video footage. The reckless nature of the protagonist also add more tension into the movie itself. Some scene uses handheld camera also contributed into the atmosphere of the movie.

I don't want to talk to much about the movie, because I want you guys to watch the movie. But for one thing I wanna you to know, The Hurt Locker is the best movie about Iraq War and one of the most intelligent movie I have seen in quite a while. No wonder it is a Oscar nominations for multiple awards.

Verdict: 5/5

Revenge of the Fallen BD Rip Impressions

2010-02-21T00:37:00.002+08:00

I haven't own any Blu-Ray movies yet, but I certainly downloaded Revenge of the Fallen Blu-Ray rip from the Internet.

The reason I chose this movie because of the CGI quality and reviews about the Blu-Ray versions, not because of the storyline (seriously, Michael Bay need to fix that). The file is 10GB large and it cost me a day to download the file...

Because of the video is a digital file MKV, it is not playable on TVs, PS3s, and DVD players, but on PCs and Laptop it is pretty decent. The frame rate for the video is much smoother, much more details into the movie and even though with High Quality, the flaws of CGI are rarely seen.

I might not know the full experience of Blu-Ray, but playing on standard PC is already a satisfying experience.

Adidas Originals: Star Wars

2010-02-13T16:17:00.005+08:00

Everyone knows I'm a huge Star Wars fan, a very huge fan!!! I can memorize every details in the storyline and those characters and soldiers, playing many of its video games and keep watching those movies again and again and again...

Now my sister brought something back from Singapore, a Star Wars shoes made by Adidas...!!!

Seriously, the wrapping looks like a toy... OMG!!!

See my smiling face so happy!!!

After took out the shoes the wrapping actually features Luke Skywalker

Skywalker!!!

The label of the shoes, features Adidas and Star Wars logo

Star Wars logos are even printed at the shoe laces

A pair of shoes... Duh! But it's a Star Wars Shoes

It even have a Rebellion crest on the side of the shoes

I plan to wear it for Chinese New Year... Now I'm wishing you readers Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Valentine's Day and May the Force be With You...

Pants on the Ground

2010-02-04T19:54:00.003+08:00

American Idol is finally moving into Hollywood Week, YEAH!!! But got one thing I love about audition phase is there are always funny stuffs going on.

Few seasons ago we got William Hung, then later we got one Mexican that have a lot of respect for Simon Cowell. In Season 9, there is General Larry Platt, where his audition has become a viral hit on YouTube, among celebrities and talk show.

I personally love his audition, I think it is funny... What do you think? If you haven't seen the video before, look below:

Review: Assassin's Creed 2

2010-02-04T16:09:00.002+08:00

The first Assassin's Creed is actually a very good concept for a game, a man use Animus (fictional machine) to read his DNA and experience what his ancestors actually do in the past. But the game has a lot of bugs and boredom that don't really make that game fun to play. But in the sequel, everything has changed though. Many of the bugs have been improve and the storyline is executed in a better way.

You'll do this a lot in this game, JUMP!!!

The story pretty much start up from the end of the first game, where you are rescued by Lucy Stillman (Kristen Bell) and take you to a hideout where you meet other assassins. Then they let you enter the Animus (again, duh), this time experience the life of his ancestor in Renaissance era in Italy, in the name of Ezio Auditore.

Guards near the banks... No worry, you can swim now

In the Animus, you must hunt down the corrupted society that has killed your father. Along the game you encounter a lot of allies, including genius Leonardo da Vinci, whom help you make weapons and inventories for you to use.

After killing you, should I put you there or throw it down

One of the major problem from the first game is that you need to horse ride a long way to another city for your mission. This time, you can pay 100 Florins to driver to send you to the destination you want to go, save you a lot of time I guess. The environment is much much more alive than the first where surrounding will change according to your behaviour. You can also hire thieves, mercenaries and courtesan to distract guards that are blocking your path.

But the game still have flaws though. For example, in some moves, when you try to kill a guard, another guard can easily kill you with ease. The PS3 version does experience screen tear and frame rate drops (which a lot of developer struggled at the moment).

Verdict: 4/5

Grammy 2010

2010-02-01T18:12:00.002+08:00

Beyonce took home six prizes as she dominated the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The former Destiny's Child star's awards haul included two - Best R&B song and Song of the Year – for 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)'.

The singer, who also won Best Contemporary R&B album and Best R&B Female Vocal, has now won 16 Grammys during her career.

"This has been such an amazing night for me and I'd like to thank the Grammys,” she said, before adding: “I'd like to thank my family including my husband, I love you.”

Other winners included Kings of Leon, who beat Lady GaGa, Taylor Swift and The Black Eyed Peas, to Record of the Year for 'Use Somebody'.

The band's hit also picked up the award for Best Rock Song while the group won Best Rock Performance.

Lady GaGa and Eminem also won two prizes each, while Michael Jackson's children collected a Lifetime Achievement award on behalf of their late father.

The ceremony, which took place in Los Angeles, featured performances from Beyonce, Lady GaGa and Pink.

You can see a list of the major winners below:

Best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals - 'I Gotta Feeling' - The Black Eyed Peas
Best pop vocal album - 'The E.N.D.' - The Black Eyed Peas
Best dance recording - 'Poker Face' - Lady Gaga
Best new artist - Zac Brown Band
Best female pop vocal performance - 'Halo' - Beyoncé
Best male pop vocal performance - 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' - Seal
Best traditional pop vocal album - 'Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden' - Michael Buble
Best solo rock vocal performance - 'Working On A Dream' - Bruce Springsteen
Best rock album - '21st Century Breakdown' - Green Day
Best rap song - 'Run This Town' - Jeff Bhasker, Shawn Carter, Robyn Fenty, Kanye West & Ernest Wilson, songwriters (Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West)
Best female country vocal performance - 'White Horse' - Taylor Swift
Best male country vocal performance - 'Sweet Thing' - Keith Urban
Lifetime Achievement Award - Michael Jackson

First On-The-Spot Blogging

2010-01-29T21:49:00.003+08:00

A-ha, this is the first time I blog outside my house, because I always blog when I go back home and settle with my photos and everything...

Now, I blog on the move, thanks to Wi-Fi POWER!!!

See, I'm at Auto-City...

Blogging at Haagen-Dazs... Still wanna proof I'm blogging on the move? Look below:

The ugliness of mobile blogging is, it is really hard to blog. I don't have a mouse, just a keyboard, screen and mobile for my photos... Anyway, I'm gonna continue eating my ice-cream now.

PART 5: Surprise of the Decade

2010-01-28T01:36:00.004+08:00

Chuck

I totally got into the series... When I first heard from my sister about the TV series showing in AXN, I said no way, a nerd with a sexy secret agent must be weird.

But when I saw the premiere, I actually like it. A nerd (Chuck) opens up his e-mail and found out the everything from the e-mail is government secrets and inserted into his brain through his brain. To protect him and informations, CIA sent their top agent (Sarah Walker) to pretends as his girlfriend and NSA sent their agent (John Casey) as his colleague. While doing government tasks, Chuck must balance his life with his spy life...

Since then, I follow every Thursday (or Sunday if I missed Thursday) to watch the show... Recommended

Contenders:

Lewis Hamilton in his rookie year (Formula 1)
Iron Man (Film)
Mercenaries (Game)
Katy Perry (Music)
I Kissed A Girl is censored in Malaysia due to bisexually suggestive lyrics (Music and Malaysia)
Nintendo Wii (Gadget)
Hitman (Film and Game)
Nissan GT-R beats literally every supercar these days

PART 4: Gadgets of the Decade

2010-01-22T18:51:00.002+08:00

Nintendo Wii

I never like the Wii, but I have to admit, it is a very special game console. Everyone doubted the Wii, even me, when the system was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)... But when I got my hands playing Wii Sports, I realized it will be a seller. It needs you to move your body and hands to play the game, it's involving. It might not be aiming for the hardcore market, but they have one, parents... The motion sensing spawned various other gadgets, like the iPhone, iPod, SIXAXIS controller and many more. For a PlayStation owners like me, Wii has made Sony and Microsoft to make innovative move on their PS3 and Xbox 360.

Contenders:

iPhone 3GS (Apple)
iPod Classic (Apple)
PlayStation 2 (Sony)
PlayStation 3 (Sony)
Nokia N82 (Nokia)
GeForce 8000 series (Nvidia)
Dualshock (Sony)
Nokia N90 (Nokia)
Blu-Ray (Sony & Panasonic)
PlayStation Portable (Sony)

PART 3: Video Game of the Decade

2010-01-21T19:15:00.002+08:00

Grand Theft Auto IV

Making a follow up to multiple Game of the Year franchise is always tough, GTA IV is no exception... When Rockstar North announced the game was underway, hype was building because of the game three previous brilliant installments, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rockstar Games didn't disappoint gamers in the end with GTA IV. GTA IV is quite simply, the best game ever made, with lively replicated New York City (Liberty City), great storyline, realistic graphics and physics, interesting protagonist Niko Bellic and the list keeps going on... By the way, you won't get bored when you completed the story or you are hanging around the city, because you got a lot of stuffs to complete and do.

Contenders:

Grand Theft Auto III (Rockstar Games)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar Games)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
Burnout 3: Takedown (EA)
Burnout Paradise (EA)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision)
Mercenaries (LucasArts)
Star Wars Battlefront II (LucasArts)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (EA)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos)
The Sims 3 (EA)
Spore (EA)

PART 2: Music of the Decade

2010-01-20T17:39:00.004+08:00

Album of the Decade: 21st Century Breakdown

American Idiot is one of the best album of in recent years, it revived the dying rock genre. Nobody could expect Green Day to make an album better than American Idiot, with 21st Century Breakdown, they have... 21st Century Breakdown even made American Idiot look childish by comparison.

Contenders:

The Fame (Lady Gaga)
American Idiot (Green Day)
The Black Parade (My Chemical Romance)
It Won't Be Soon Before Long (Maroon 5)
Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)
Good Girl Gone Bad (Rihanna)

Song of the Decade: Welcome to the Black Parade

What else can I say... One of the best song ever!!!

Contenders:

Umbrella (Rihanna ft. Jay-Z)
Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)
This Love (Maroon 5)
Welcome to My Life (Simple Plan)
Irreplaceable (Beyonce)
Boom Boom Pow (Black Eyed Peas)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day)
21st Century Breakdown (Green Day)
Teenagers (My Chemical Romance)
Just Dance (Lady Gaga)

*For those who saw the song of the year, it's been fixed... Sorry for wrong info

PART 1: Movie of the Decade

2010-01-18T11:42:00.003+08:00

The Dark Knight

Choosing anything for best of the decade is always difficult, because there are so many things happened in ten years. But one in all these films, The Dark Knight emerged as a winner by a very close margin.

Why? Because it is mind blowing. The movie is mature, dark and compelling throughout, Christopher Nolan knew that most of the Batman fans had grown up and demand more mature and deeper themed Batman. The result is that The Dark Knight has changed the way we think about superhero movie. The Joker performed by the late Heath Ledger is an icing on the cake...

Sorry, Finding Nemo...

Contenders:

Lord of the Ring
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Pirates of the Caribbean
Finding Nemo
WALL-E
The Terminal
Transformers
Iron Man
Avatar

FEATURE: Stuff of the Decade

2010-01-18T01:04:00.002+08:00

2009 is far over, this marks the new beginning of a decade. However, there's many things that are worth remembered by us for a long time to come, for example Movies, Music, Video Games, Sports, Technology, Major Events, News and more...

I know I'm late for doing this, but for the next few days I will countdown the Best or most shocking news of the decade... Stay tuned... xD

Preview: Iron Man 2

2010-01-15T02:29:00.002+08:00

Well, the first movie was one of the biggest surprise, it contain a balanced amount of story, action and humour into the movie and entertained the audience... The movie also reignited Robert Downey Jr. troublesome movie career...

However, the story doesn't end there... There is a new sequel to the original movie, Iron Man 2, one of the planned part of trilogy. This movie has already become one of my most anticipated movie for 2010.

Here's the trailer for Iron Man 2:

21st Century Breakdown

2010-01-09T13:53:00.004+08:00

When I started listening to hit musics, I only listen to four artists, Green Day, Maroon 5, Fall Out Boy and Justin Timberlake. These artists hold a very special place in my heart because they get me into hit music....

Now, one of the artists just release a brand new album nine months ago, and that is Green Day with their latest release, 21st Century Breakdown. This album has dominated the charts worldwide due to great reviews and expectations since American Idiot.

For me, this album is one of the best albums released in the past few years. Every single track in the album is simply awesome. Green Day's efforts with this album makes American Idiot look amateur when compared...

Must listen songs: 21st Century Breakdown, 21 Guns, Viva la Gloria, Last Day on Earth, Peacemaker

Verdict: 5/5

Will be back in blogging soon

2010-01-07T19:08:00.002+08:00

I just came back from my trip in Taiwan, I do miss my friends here... Some of my pals have gone to National Service for 3 months, I certainly miss them...

Right now, I'm trying to get my juice out from my brain to blog about... In the meantime, check out others' blog on the left...

P.S. I almost forgot, last year's battle between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert concluded a long time ago. The winner is Kris Allen...

Departure

2009-12-23T17:13:00.003+08:00

No, not Jesse McCartney...

I mean, I am going to depart for KL tonight... Then, take another flight to Taiwan tomorrow morning...

So, gotta go... I might post when I'm at Taiwan

Avatar

2009-12-21T18:18:00.003+08:00

Well, this movie took 15 years in the making and became one of the biggest movie of the year 2009. So, can this movie impress viewers? Yes, it already had.

James Cameron is a very good writer and director, he showed that in Avatar. The pacing of the story is a bit off the pace but as soon as the story progresses, the pace is back to normal. James Cameron done some great lengths to make the Na Vi's world, Pandora believable with scientific explanation and the motives of humans to have war against them there.

To cut the cost down, most of the actors and actresses in the movie, but those actors really played their part nicely. I really think the lead, Sam Worthington, could be a good actor after stealing the limelight from Christian Bale from Terminator Salvation and play lead role in this.

Well, we all wanted to see the movie because of the gorgeous graphics, especially with 3-D. Since the revival of 3-D, this is the most beautiful 3-D movie yet. The Pandora world is so realistic that I starting to believe the crew actually go there and shoot the movie. With coulourful objects and realistic CGI of Na Vi, the whole movie is purely CGI... And it is really gorgeous movie.

Besides the off pacing at the beginning of the movie, James Cameron has done it again to prove he is one of the best out there.

Verdict 4.8/5

Princess and the Frog

2009-12-15T22:45:00.003+08:00

I've seen it, and my sis wanna kill me...

Anyway, I actually had no plans to watch this movie. Me and my friend was actually planning to go to Red Box for karaoke session, but we ended up watching this movie instead because Red Box was full.

I didn't like Disney's animations for past few years because I think some of them are pretty boring and doesn't have any good humour in it. But with Princess and the Frog, I like it!!! And I liked the decision Disney made to step back into traditional 2-D animations like The Lion King and Bambi.

The characters' are very lively and some of them are ridiculously funny, mixed with nice songs and musicals. The story also tells us about love and friends, not greed, the story also has a very good pace of development and you won't feel rushed or crawl like a turtle.

I want to review it more, but I might end up spoiling it. In the end, it's one of the best Disney's animations of the past few years.

Verdict: 4.5/5

One of my favourite Tom & Jerry episode

2009-12-13T00:52:00.002+08:00

I love Tom & Jerry. In fact, is all my family members love Tom & Jerry... I could remember that I watch it regularly when I was younger...

This is one of my favourite episode I watched:

The Best Disaster Porn Yet

2009-12-08T22:35:00.004+08:00

I watched this on premiere but I really don't have time posting the review because of the 9 subjects I've been studying all month long...

2012 is a disaster movie based on the myth that the world will come to an end in 2012 (Don't panic, it is really a myth, no science has yet to prove that), and loosely referred to the Mayan prophecy. The cast is basically made up of actors and actresses I never heard before, besides John Cusack, but in the end, the cast and their acting never got any big impact on these kind of movies anyway.

The plot is pretty much dumb, it's like the director have I-don't-what-you-think-of-the-story moment when he wrote it. So, the plot and story pretty much revealed at the trailers and the beginning of the movie, the world will end, many people die, most of the cast survive the freaking disaster... Anyone wants Academy Award winning potential movie? No, this is not for you...

What is the main recipe for a disaster movie? Hmmm... Oh, disasters!!! Well, the director, Roland Emmerich (disaster movies expert) has gone great length to make the disasters in 2012 so epic in sizes, the whole city came down, tsunamis all over the place blah, blah, blah... I am impressed with what I saw in the theathers, because I am a disaster movies fan. I like disaster movies because I like the whole city torn apart and the world is in chaos, those scenarios are never gonna happen in that size and disaster movies fueled my imagination. And the best part is, the size of the disasters in this movie might be the biggest yet in motion picture history. With good CGI touch, unbelievable...

So, in the end, nothing matter in disaster movies... Just disasters with enormous size is going to satisfy viewers. With disasters at it biggest size yet, the biggest disaster porn so far...

Verdict: 4/5

Orianthi Panagaris

2009-11-10T01:25:00.001+08:00

Umm... Many people who watched Michael Jackson's This Is It will probably know her, she was the guitarist of MJ's planned 50 sold out concert in London.

Actually, she is a singer, which is not famous until the day the rehearsal videos leaked onto YouTube and she's getting more and more attentions these days...

This is one of her song from her new album (Believe):

Orianthi - According To You - Watch more amazing videos here

Now, getting back to study...

Idol Battle Season 9 V2: New Singles

2009-11-04T17:02:00.000+08:00

Well, last time in many Internet poll, Kris Allen won the battle of No Boundaries, beating Adam Lambert.

Now, both singers have their new singles coming out at the same time. Kris Allen make his rendition of Live Like We're Dying, a song by The Script, then Adam release another song called Time For Miracles, which is used in the soundtrack of 2012...

Please login your IMEEM Account if you have to listen to full song

Please vote on your LEFT!!!

Kris Allen

Live Like Were Dying - Kris Allen

Adam Lambert

Time for Miracles - Adam Lambert

This Is It

2009-11-01T22:12:00.000+08:00

"Concert in Cinema?! Waste money leh...", this is mind of most Malaysians when we said about concert movies. I have doubt about This Is It because I didn't know whether it would be a hit, but since it is Michael Jackson, I said the movie will take off the concert movies genre in Malaysia... And I specially took out my study time to watch this movie.

There are two words I'm going to say "Absolutely Stunning!!!" I am amazed by those dancers, choreographers, musicians and MJ himself make those creative moves and those beats. Practice makes perfects, these words can describe them... Their dance moves and music, they just do it like saying ABC, vowing everyone...

Music videos like Smooth Criminal, Earth Song, They Don't Care About Us and Thriller are specially recreated for the concert. All those scenes and performance merged seamlessly and feels like it is coming from 1 stage... His rehearsal is even better than some of the live acts these days

I gotta say even though the movie is fun to watch, I feel sad too... Watching those scenes, we all knew at that time Michael was just hours away from his tragic death, and this is his last work. His ambition to create a magical concert for the audiences in the UK never happened. Those worked with him for the concerts must be shocked and sad, knowing their difficult auditions, practices and dreams to perform with him were shattered...

We have Elvis, The Beatles, but no one has ever match the magnitude the King of Pop created...
And we all won't know, when there will be another pop sensation like him. Probably 10 years? 20? 50? 100? We really won't know... The King of Pop's shoes is hard to fit in

Verdict: No Score (Incomparable)

Last Day of Ah Chow

2009-11-01T13:16:00.000+08:00

Well, it's the last day we tuition at Ah Chow... Next month no more, as we all ready for SPM... We can no longer chat with him, listen to his nonsense and undoubtedly, his ridiculous jokes...

Ah Chow moments and quote (F4-F5):

"BM is not for human to study one"
"BM Literature, all stupid ending"
"Chiak Chao ar!!!"
"Put hen as your tattoo and those mob won't challenge you for a fight"
His face when can't fight back words we said at him
Keep praising his PS3 and Blu-Ray
Use Akon's Right Now as his ringtone
"BM A1 is impossible, aim A2 or B3 can liao" =.='''
Learned the art of spamming at facebook
A tech junkie, can't stop talking about tech at tuition

P.S. Mr. Chow, really don't want sell me PS3 meh?

1st ever Crasher Movie Awards

2009-10-24T21:50:00.000+08:00

After weeks of delays, the show is finally here. The show is dedicated to movie makers for making nice and entertaining movies for the general public to enjoy for this summer (according to American seasons). Let's get it started shall we?

Best Actor:
Chris Pine (Star Trek)
Sharlto Copley (District 9)
Shia LaBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Zachary Quinto (Star Trek)

Best Actress:
Sienna Miller (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Zoe Saldana (Star Trek)
Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)
Amy Adams (Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian)
Jordanna Brewster (Fast & Furious)

Best Supporting Actor:
Marlon Wayans (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Owen Wilson (Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian)
Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation)
Simon Pegg (Star Trek)

Best Supporting Actress:
Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
Julie White (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation)
Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious)

Best New Actor/Actress:
Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation)
Ramon Rodriguez (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Chris Pine (Star Trek)
Sharlto Copley (District 9)

Best Director:
Neil Blomkamp (District 9)
Michael Bay (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
J.J. Abrams (Star Trek)
Pete Docter (Up)
Stephen Sommers (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)

Best Story:
District 9
Star Trek
Up

Best Effects:
Star Trek
District 9
Up
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Terminator Salvation

Best Voice Actor/Actress:
Reese Withespoon (Monsters vs. Aliens)
Peter Cullen (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)
Ed Asner (Up)
Seth Rogen (Monsters vs Aliens)
Ray Romano (Ice-Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs)

Best Animation:
Monsters vs Aliens
Up
Ice-Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
G- Force (plus live action)

Movie of the Year:
Star Trek
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up
District 9

P.S. After all this summer, the contenders of Movie of the Year fight very closely. It is really hard to choose the winner. But the choice is made, District 9 is the movie of the year. When I stepped out of the screenings of Star Trek, I said this is my movie of the year. But in the end of the summer, District 9 surprised me. It is one of the most original movie of the year in the year dominated by sequels, prequels and spin-offs. District 9 offered us emotions, story, character developments and entertainment all together. Star Trek and Up is not far behind though, these two are tied in No. 2 because Star Trek is the most entertaining movie of the year and Up is the best animation of the year. I didn't like Star Trek series, but after watching the new movie, I got sucked into the world of Star Trek. As for G.I. Joe and Transformers: ROTF, they didn't offer a compelling package for movie of the year, but they did offer entertainment and fun into it. Transformers could be a disappointment for movie goers who want a good story, but for people who are in for graphics and robots and hot chicks, this is the movie...

Video Games Now and Then: How big are the Differences?

2009-10-19T23:03:00.000+08:00

Since video game created more than 30 years ago, a lot have changed over the years. From the Bubble Bobble my sisters love to the latest Uncharted 2 that has 96% average score from worldwide critics, and the legendary Mario to LittleBigPlanet. Things just keep changing...

Another video game I wanna let people see is Racing Game from my sisters' childhood, Pole Position from Atari and Gran Turismo 5 from PS3. No words can describe the changes over the years.

Pole Position:

Gran Turismo 5 featuring Ferrari 458 Italia:

What I want from Transformers 3...

2009-10-18T02:00:00.001+08:00

Well, I love Transformers motion picture, I really do, with amazing CGI and awesome action sequences. But even giving 4.5/5 for the sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, I think the movie is really a failure. Because I'm for the works of people at Industrial Light & Magic (kudos to them), without giving actual ratings on other stuffs.

With Transformers 3 announced to be released in July 4th, 2011, director Michael Bay can make even better with certain point I want Transformers to change as of below:

Better story line - Come on, the story is really, I mean REALLY! Abysmal to look at. I never seen a mega blockbuster earning $800 million worldwide had such a horrible storyline. It features no developments and no emotional at all(I don't care at emotion but critics' review is can influence the mind of the audience). Even with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the pair behind the highly praised 2009 Star Trek can't make a story decent enough, the Revenge of the Fallen failed in storyline in a big way.

Kill Megan Fox's ccharacter Mikaela early in the movie - She's sexy, I admit, but she just ruined the host lead actress thingy, she is boring, bad acting, unfunny, and rude. Come on, many actress can do that and beat her easily. When I said to my friends during a conversation about Transformers, I said I want her dead in the sequel, some agreed, some don't. For those who don't, are you so desperate for a sexy girl? You can watch some chick flicks or even sit at Borders Bookstore and read FHM or Galaxie and you can find even more sexy girls, or even sexier than Megan Fox.

No more jokes with sexual suggestions - I mean it... For a movie to attract general audience, the jokes of the movie, especially Revenge of the Fallen, had stepped over the limit. Many parents and cinema goers, including me, will not take children to the cinema to watch it because of sexual suggested contents inside. If I'm the parents and plan to watch it with my children at the cinema, I would have scrapped the plans if the reviews of the movie has 8 complain about the sexual content out of 10. Even you put it on a male robot humping on female and show its testicles hanging around, Michael Bay in the end defended the film because the audiences are mostly 20s man. If a man crazy in this kind of stuff, he would rather watch pornography right? Who needs it in a blockbuster?

Use common sense DUDE!!! - Ya, I know this might be controversial but this is error is too big to ignore it, it is minor problem but it is a bit stupid. After all those Autobots and Decepticons fighting at the city in the first one, how come everyone don't know their existences after all those damages? Another US government conspiracy? It is a bit too huge to hide from the public eyes... During the 2 years in the story time line , no one has ever capture a full video or a full photo of the robots. They have, but they only captured the feet of the robots after the whopping 2 years!!!

These suggestions above could be rejected by people, but I think that is what I think Transformers (especially Revenge of the Fallen) is lacking. I hope Michael Bay make at least some of the changes and make the movie more epic.

Gran Turismo PSP Review

2009-10-15T13:08:00.000+08:00

It's been five years since the first announcement of the game was made. Along this years with no updates or anything whatsoever, many media already consist this game is a vaporware. In June 2009, a new announcement was made, Gran Turismo PSP has finally arrived. But, is the game worth the wait after all this year? Crasher Khoo here think yes, it is...

Graphics

Every time we say about this game, we always say the graphics. No racing games, or any other games can rival the photorealistic graphics of the series. In PSP, it is one of the best portable graphics out there. It may not rival PS3 with its superior graphic capability, it is certainly look a lot better in PSP's tiny widescreen. It certainly look gorgeous on Sony's portable platform. THUMBS UP!

The Corvette ZR-1 makes a very good impression here, and it is sexy!

Gameplay
With more than 800 cars and 35 tracks to choose from, Gran Turismo is not a game to get bored easily. It does feel a bit boring at the beginning, with only a slow and uninspired BMW 120d in your garage and 10k of credits available. Classic company marques like Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini made debut here, the car list has ever more cars than the upcoming release like Forza Motorsport 3 for the XBOX 360, which only have a mere 400 cars available.

Lamborghini finally made its debut in the GT series

The car dealers format in Gran Turismo Mobile (unofficial name) has its advantage and disadvantage, with only 4 dealers available every time you play. The good things is the players will always play the game to wait for the car they want. The main problem is you might miss the car you want if you don't have enough credit for the car you really want and will always skip if you don't want the car. I played the game until I have 1,500,000 credit and I miss my chance for a 8 million credit Ferrari F2007 F1 car. Geez...

The game also lack a proper career mode. In old GT, you'll need to obtain licenses from driving school to get your racing career up and running. Now the driving school is just a mere bonus game for extra credits. According to its creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, the game new format is to suit the portable platform as people will only play for a short time, in contrast to the console version.

Sounds
Nothing to praise about here, the game features a lot of sounds effect for each and different cars. I am curious with the Toyota Prius, because it is a hybrid car, it doesn't make a lot of sound, so does the game only have tires sounds when the car is running? hehehez

No Money no Talk, 8 million or walk away

One of the bad points of the game is the soundtrack. How on earth the soundtrack is created, repetitive lyrics, bad groove and it doesn't help you into RACING MODE!!!

Lasting Appeal
I think the game will have an incredible lasting appeal, with more than 800 cars available, and a variety of tracks. This game will not get bored very easily, it will certainly call out to its owners, "COME BACK FOR MORE!"

This is just the virtual tracks, there's more

GT certainly makes a very good and competitive debut at the PlayStation Portable. And it is a very good Gran Turismo 5 PS3 appetizer.

Pros: Godzillion of cars available, classic virtual and real world track remains and lots of varieties to choose from, warm up to PS3 Gran Turismo 5, Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini makes it into the game

Cons: Still no damage, car dealers might not suit some people, no proper career mode, license mode is now an bonus game, Porsche is still not here, repetitive soundtrack

Verdict: 4/5

Prototype Review

2009-10-11T21:07:00.000+08:00

I finished the game last week and I have a lot of fun in the game's fallen New York City. The game offers tons of fun for you to enjoy in the city.

You play as Alex Mercer, a mutated human who can shapeshift and "consume" human. In the game, New York has been attack by a virus that turn everyone into zombie-like and Alex Mercer has no memory of himself. With his power and connection to the virus, he must find out the truth.

Playing the game is absolute fun for me. For starters, Alex has a lot of power than shapeshift and consuming, it also have claws like Wolverine, whip, giant blade, musclemass for you to transform into. In the game, using this power is fun, slashing the infected and Hunters, killing military personnel. Like any games set in New York, fighting is fun!

One of the major flaw of the game is combat sometimes feels too easy, especially military personnel and Hunters. Boss fight is a bit too hard consider the combat with other enemy is easy, making the game somewhat unbalanced.

Verdict: 4/5

Movie Awards delayed

2009-10-10T11:02:00.000+08:00

Sorry, the movie awards that I promised weeks earlier will not be finish on time, due to schedule conflict...

Try my best possible to release it on next week

The new AE-86 finally previewed

2009-10-07T09:53:00.000+08:00

Do you remember the original AE-86 from Toyota? Well, it is popular in manga culture because it is the main character's car in Initial D... Now, there's a new one on the horizon, and it looks aggressive, could be a Nissan GT-R beater!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 2nd trailer

2009-10-06T15:35:00.000+08:00

Well, this year most hyped first-person shooter game of the year is nearly here, and the 2nd trailer is released... Nice narrating.