Touchscreen Phones: The New Trend

Touchscreen phones is the new trend now. One can easily argue that this trend was started by the infamous iPhone:Then, comes along the HTC Touch, touted as the first iPhone beater:

Now, we have many alternatives to the iPhone and HTC Touch. Here's a list compiled on my own:

HTC Touch DiamondBlackberry StormSamsung Omnia, the identical looking clone of the iPhoneNokia 5800 XpressMusicLG KU990, or better known as ViewtySony Ericsson Xperia X1LG KC910, also known as RenoirLG KP500, or Cookie

Tagged By A "Stranger"

Question: What is your name? (Please give one answer)

1) Soh Tsu Chung

Question: What is your nickname? (Please give two answers)

1) Jay
2) Tsu Hei Lun

Question: Three books you often read? (Please give three answers)

1) Adventure stories
2) IT magazines
3) Car magazines

Question: The things you gained from blogging? (Please give four answers)

1) Meet new friends
2) People get to know me
3) Able to share my secrets with the world
4) Share my knowledge on cars and IT with the world

Question: Your favourite food? (Please give five answers)

1) Fried rice
2) Sushi
3) Mamak stall's mee goreng
4) No idea
5) No idea

Question: Favourite songs? (Please give six answers)

1) Qing Tian (Sunny Day) - Jay Chou
2) Dao Xiang (Fragrant Rice)- Jay Chou
3) Inconsolable - Backstreet Boys
4) Bu Neng Shuo De Me Mi (Secret) - Jay Chou
5) It's Not Over - Daughtry
6) Leave Out All The Rest - Linkin Park

Question: Places you wish to go? (Please give seven answers)

1) Japan
2) Singapore
3) Canada
4) Italy
5) England
6) Korea
7) Monaco

Question: All-time favourite movies, dramas or animes (Please give eight answers)

1) Secret (Movie)
2) Initial D (Movie and anime)
3) Reaper (TV series)
4) Shakugan no Shana (Anime)
5) The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (Movie)
6) James Bond franchise (Movie)
7) C.S.I (TV series)
8) Knight Rider (TV Series)

Question: Items that you wish to obtain? (Please give nine answers)

1) A new handphone!!!!! (Badly)
2) A real driving license
3) A real car to drive
4) A gaming desktop PC
5) A better MP3 player
6) Good health
7) Good exam results
8) Good job
9) True love

Question: Who you want to pass this tag to? (Please give ten answers)

1) Michelle Hor
2) Kate-Lyn
3) Melody Chang Kar Lei
4) Lydia Wong
5) All my friends who has a blog
6) Those who thinks this post is fun
7-10) Anyone who volunteers to write this

A Trip To The Mines

I went to the Mines yesterday with Jo Lynn, Michelle, Jen Ai, Kate-lyn, Rachel and Jo Lynn's sister, Jia Hui. Funny, as I was the only guy there T.T..... Anyway, we went to Jo Lynn's house for lunch. Her mom cook spaghetti for us (I must say her mom is a real genius! I have never ever thought about mixing cheese with spaghetti. But I never ate the spaghetti with the cheese, though, as I don't feel like mixing them in case something disastrous happens). Later we went to watch "Quantum Of Solace", the latest James Bond movie. As it seems, "Quantum Of Solace" isn't as good as "Casino Royale". While Daniel Craig's first outing as the famous British super-spy sees him taking down Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game and nearly got killed, the sequel sees him running around the world (well, literally) trying to find the traitor who betrays and causes the death of his lover Vesper Lynd. Although Bond claims that he is not motivated by revenge while carrying out his duties, M thinks the otherwise when villain Dominic Greene frames Bond for a chain of murders. As if in a trademark for 007 films, none of the cars used by Bond survived in all the car chases stunt, and the latest Aston Martin DBS is no exception as well. It's quite heart-wrenching to see such a beautiful car getting knocked and shot like crazy and the driver side door got ripped off from the body. Jo Lynn, who was sitting beside me in the cinema, was telling me, "He wasted such a nice car.....". (Sigh) Mr. Bond, maybe you should consider taking good care of your beautiful and expensive car next time around. It is already costing Mi6 a fortune to fund you in your missions. After the show, Michelle wanted to go bowling. Well, Michelle got hooked to playing bowling since the Genting trip. She was never interested before that. But first, the girls have to get socks for themselves. Things never went well for me in bowling since the Genting trip. All the ball that I throw seems to go into the gutters. My last shot got my arm in pain, as I strained my muscle when I swung my arm too hard. I say, I will lose my arm if I ever hurt it again. An unhappy Michelle was complaining about her lame throws which keep going into the gutters. Jo Lynn manage to got her first strike in a bowling game, but suffered muscle cramp at her foot at the end of the game.

Boring Week

Yes, it has been a boring week for me last week. This computer's not bringing me any fun, for I have either already finished my unfinished games or got bored with them. Time to get new ones..... (sigh). The internet's boring too, for I have no idea what website to go to already. The TV's empty too (meaning: no interesting shows). In short, EVERYTHING'S BORING :-( !!! Looking forward to watching Mr. Bond on Wednesday.....

Inkworld

Details :
1) Published in Germany as Tintenherz by Cecelie Dressler Verlag, Hamburg, 2003
2) Cover illustration copyright 2003 by Carol Lawson
3) Inside illustration copyright 2003 by Cornelia Funke
4) Book design by Elizabeth B. Parsi

If you are a dreamer, come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean buyer,
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin
Come in !
Come in !

Shel Silverstein

CHARACTERS FROM INKHEART





Meggie Folchart (Eliza Bennett)
The daughter of Mo and Resa, now living with her parents and her mother's aunt Elinor. Like her father, Meggie has the rare magical ability to read characters out of books -- to bring them into this world by reading the words aloud. But since meeting Fenoglio, the author of the original INKHEART, she now dreams of being able to write as well as she can read -- so that she can not only bring characters out of books but also send them back in again.





Mortimer Folchart, known as Mo or Silvertongue (Brendan Fraser)
A bookbinder or , as his daughter calls him a "book doctor." Meggie says he can "paint pictures in the air with his voice." Since experiencing the awful consequences of reading Dustfinger, Capricorn, and Basta out of their story and almost losing his wife forever, he has avoided reading aloud. Mo is now troubled by his daughter's dangerous fascination with the world of INKHEART.





Resa or Teresa (Sienna Guillory)
Mo's wife. Meggie's mother, and Elinor's favorite niece. Resa is new safely back with her family but has still to recover from the years she spent to trapped in the INKWORLD, her time in service to the evil Mortola, and losing her voice. She tells Meggie of her life on the other other side of the pages, scribbling down her memories on paper.





Elinor Loredan (Helen Mirren)
Resa's aunt, a book-collector, also known as "the bookworm." Elinor once preferred her book to human company but is now happy to have Meggie, Mo, and Resa living with her. Darius, the book-loving but stammering storyteller, is also now a part of her household.



Darius
Formerly Capricorn's reader in the first book of Inkheart, Darius, like Mo, and Meggie, possesses the ability to read characters out of stories - but damages them if he stutters over words. He now helps Elinor in her library. Basta calls him Stumbletoungue.





Fenoglio, also known as "Inkweaver" (Jim Broadbent)
Author of the original book Inkheart, from which Basta, Dustfinger, and Capricorn came -- and, with Meggie and Mo's help, the writer of the words used to get rid of Capricorn. He disappeared into his own story that same night.





Dustfinger (Paul Bettany)
A fire-eater Mo accidentally read out of the pages of Inkheart. He is also known as "the fire-dancer." Plucked from his story, Dustfinger has lived in our world for ten years and would risk anything to go home to the Inkworld. At the end of the first book, he stole from Mo the last remaining copy of Inkheart. He owes the three scars on his face to Basta's knife and is never without Gwin, his tame marten, or his young apprentice Farid.





Farid (Rafi Gavron)
A boy read by Mo out of Tales of the Arabian Nights, he is devoted to Dustfinger. Nimble and quick witted, he has a talent for stealing and other robbers' arts, developed in his previous life. He also has a soft spot for Meggie.


Gwin
Dustfinger's pet, a horned marten intended by Fenoglio to play a deadly part in his original tale of Inkheart.





Capricorn (Andy Serkis)
The brutal leader of a gang of mercenary fire-raisers, he was read out of the pages of Inkheart. He choose his name over his star sign, Capricorn. Unlike Dustinger, Capricorn enjoyed his time in this world. He made it his business to burn every remaining copy of Inkheart in an attempt to avoid ever returning to the story. But eventually, with the help of Meggie and Fenoglio, he is destroyed by Mo.





Basta (Jamie Foreman)
One of Capricorn's most devoted henchmen. Superstitious and in love with his knife, he once slashed Dusfinger's face. At the end of the first book he made his escape, follwed by Capricorn's mother, Mortola.



Mortola (Lesley Sharp)
Capricorn's mother, also known as "the Magpie." A poisoner, she kept Resa enslaved for many years as her servant. Her greatest wish is to see Mo punished for what he has done to her son.

JO LYNN

Initial D

"Initial D" started out as a Japanese manga created by Shuichi Shigeno in 1995, which was eventually turned into an anime 1998 and later a live-action movie in 2005. My post will focus only on the live-action movie. "Initial D" is Jay Chou's acting debut movie, which sees him play Takumi Fujiwara, a 18-year old who delivers tofu every morning for his father, Bunta Fujiwara (played by Anthony Wong) to a hotel at the peak of Mount. Akina (Mount. Haruna in real-life) in the panda-coloured Toyota Trueno GT-Apex (AE86) since 2nd grade. Unknown to him, Takumi had actually perfected his own drifting skills in the process. When a racing team called 'Night Kids' from Myogi comes to challenge the local 'King of Mount. Akina', the Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (BNR32) of team leader of 'Night Kids', Takeshi Nakazato (played by Shawn Yue) was outrun by an AE86 (which was driven by Takumi on his daily routine of tofu delivery) during a leisurely drive in the wee hours of the morning. Upon hearing the news, the leader of the local team, Itsuki Tachibana (played by Chapman To) who was told it was Takumi's father who drove the AE86, requested Bunta's help to challenge 'Night Kids' team. But Bunta did not show up during the race night, and instead it was Takumi who appeared in the AE86. An unconfident Itsuki advises Takumi not to race him, but Takumi replied that he had actually beaten Nakazato before. Takumi then went on to race with Nakazato in a race which he eventually won. The race was witnessed by Ryousuke Takahashi, team leader of 'Red Suns' and driver of the famous 'White Comet' Mazda RX-7 Efini GT-X (FC3S) based at Mount. Akagi, who was surprised by the gutter technique used by Takumi to win Nakazato. Ryousuke challenges Takumi, who refused, saying it was under his father's order to race with Nakazato. Then, on one fateful night, Itsuki and Takumi, in the former's car (a similar AE86) went for a practice at Akina when a white Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS (CN9A) driven by Seiji Iwaki (played by Will Liu), the 2nd driver of 'Emperor' racing team, crash into Itsuki's car on purpose. Seiji then runs away, leaving Takumi, who now takes over the wheel from Itsuki starts chasing him, forcing Seiji to crash his car. This prompts Seiji to take revenge, who with his partner and team leader, Kyouichi Sudou (played by Jordan Chan) causes the engine of the AE86 to get blown when Takumi was deliering tofu on one morning. After that incident, Bunta changes the engine of the AE86 for a racing-spec unit, which is much more powerful than before. Soon, Ryousuke challenges Takumi again, this time with Sudou in tow. While many thought Ryousuke would win the race after overtaking Takumi near the end of the race and with Sudou crashed out early in the race, Ryousuke's FC lost grip at the final turn, allowing Takumi to regain the lead, win the race and given the 'King of Mount. Akina' moniker. However, Takumi has to deal with his girlfriend, Natsuki Mogi (played by Anne Suzuki) who is claimed by Itsuki to be engaging in some 'secret activities' with a middle-aged man.

Secret

If there is one show that me and Jo Lynn like, it would be Jay Chou's highly-successful 2007 directorial debut movie, "Secret" that garnered him the 'Best Visual Effects', 'Best Original Film Song' and 'Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year' awards at the 44th Golden Horse Awards. "Secret" is a Taiwanese romance film with a sci-fi twist that focuses heavily on music and piano (Jay's forte). This movie is still the ONLY show to date that is capable of touching my heart and make me cry for real. It tells the story of Ye Xiang Lun (played by Jay Chou), a music student majoring in piano, who on his first day at Tamkang (Danjiang) High School meets Lu Xiao Yu (played by Kwai Lun-Mei) after being led to the piano building by the mysterious tune she played. When he asks her about the song she was playing, she tells him that it is a secret that cannot be told. The two to developed a relationship that is clouded in mystery. But misunderstanding takes place between them after Xiao Yu thought Xiang Lun actually likes his classmate Qing Yi (played by Alice Tzeng) and after seeing the two kissing and embracing each other on one fateful night, Xiao Yu seemingly disappears from this world. Xiang Lun was left to piece back the puzzle in order to find his lover again. It was not until the night of Xiang Lun's graduation that his discipline teacher father (played by Anthony Wong) told him that Xiao Yu had actually died 20 years ago on the same day due to asthma. As explained by Xiang Lun's, when Xiao Yu told his father and her mother that she had actually travelled to the future with a piano piece called "Secret" and met a boy (who happens to be Xiang Lun), everyone thinks she is crazy. Upon hearing the whole truth, a visibly shaken Xiang Lun quickly cycle back to the magical piano, which is about to be destroyed together with the piano building while his father discovers what Xiao Yu said to him last time was real. He runs after Xiang Lun, but in vain. Xiang Lun finishes the piano piece at the last minute, which Xiao Yu taught him on the day he told her that the piano building would be demolished, and goes back in time. He cannot return to the future because the piano is demolished, and the film ends with Xiang Lun and Xiao Yu getting their graduation photo taken, in 1979.

Which Phone?

I'm going to change my phone soon, but I'm still pondering on which phone to get. I have 6 choices. First is the Sony Ericsson Z555i:Then I have the LG KF300:Next is the Motorola W510:

And finally, the LG KS360, also known as the LG Q: Where's the 5th and the 6th phone, you may ask. Well, it's actually a Panasonic VS2 and VS3 respectively:The VS2 is old, yes, but I still intend to get a Panasonic, don't matter if it's a used unit. But I want a new phone, so to avoid any problems usually associated with 2nd hand phones. I don't know why, I think it's a matter of brand preference to me. Decisions, desicions.... :-(

Quantum Of Solace

At last, James Bond is back today, with a VENGEANCE!! The story in "Quantum Of Solace" takes off an hour later after the last event of "Casino Royale". Betrayed by Vesper Lynd, the woman he loved, Bond fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (Judi Dench) interrogates Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who reveals that Quantum, the secret organisation that blackmails Vesper is far more dangerous and complex than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence links an Mi6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organisation. On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, Bond must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organisation.

It's Not Over - Daughtry

I was blown away, what could I say?
It all seemed to make sense.
You're taking away, everything...
That I can't do without,
I tried to see the good in life, but good things in life are hard to find,
Blow it away, blow it away,
Can we make this something good?.....

Well I'll try to do it right this time around...

Let's start over...
I'll try to do it right this time around.
It's not over...
Cos a part of me is dead and in the ground.
This love is kiling me but you're the only one...
It's not over.....

I've taken all I can take, and I cannot wait,
We're wasting too much time.
Being strong, holding on,
Can't let it bring us down.
My life with you means everything,
So I won't give up that easily.
Blow it away, blow it away,
Can we make this something good?.....
Cos it's all misunderstood.....

Well I'll try to do it right this time around...

Let's start over...
I'll try to do it right this time around.
It's not over...
Cos a part of me is dead and in the ground.
This love is killing me but you're the only one...
It's not over.....

You can't let this get away.
Let it out, let it out,
Don't get caught up in yourself.
Let it out.....

Let's start over...
I'll try to do it right this time around.
It's not over...
Cos a part of me is dead and in the ground.
This love is killing me but you're the only one...
It's not over...

Let's start over.....
It's not over..., woah... yeah..., yeah...
This love is kiling me but you're the only one...
It's not over......

Genting Trip: A Resounding Success

Well, I must say that the Genting trip is a HUGE success. There were comedic moments here and there (Chun Yew keep shouting out at the cable car in front of us like a mad man that brought him no results, Asthen and Mun Jack partying the night away with others in their room next door to mine that I share with Nicholas, etc.) and also unhappy moments (Jo Lynn got sick, Kumaran was all alone at night in his room that he shares with Chun Yew, etc.). Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip:

Fantasy Love.... Or Reality?

Even after more than 6 months, I thought I could let her go. I did almost everything to get her out of my mind, but it failed. I even tried to date a friend of mine and ask her for advise to make her jealous, but this backfired too. Up to that fateful day, I eventually had to tell her that I still like her.

MERDEKA!!!! MERDEKA!!!!

Finally, I'm happy to announce this: PMR IS FINALLY OVER!!!! It has been a crazy 5 days, for all the papers I took were either ridiculously easier than the school's standards or much tougher, not the same. The end of PMR also means that freedom at last. Now I can't wait to go for that Genting trip with my class. I'm really looking forward to it!

Fast And Furious

It's been almost 3 months since I last put up a post. Many things had happened. I start to play online games (I've been an anti-online gamer) starting with Gunz, I've been training real hard in my favourite Need For Speed: Most Wanted game, waited for an insanely long time for the game Racedriver Grid to launch, start to learn to shuffle (this style of dance is getting really popular in my school now) and (finally!) stopped playing Initial D for more than 4 months! It's like an addiction I couldn't cure when I started playing Initial D, so I really have to say it was an achievement for me to finally stop playing. Also, I met up with a couple of my good old pals (Hey, what's up dude!) so it really rounded off my very good 3 months disappearance on my blog.