Earthquake Struck KL?

Sometime around 8:15pm (Japan time) I noticed the Twitter was flooded by tweets about earthquake tremor in KL. After a few moments of refreshes, the whole Twitter page is filled with people tweeting bout updates of the quake.

One of the most popular retweeted post is this picture taken at Raja Chulan Monorail station in the center of KL, showing people gathering under the station after the tremor.

(http://twitpic.com/jpbl9)


Well in case you haven't notice, or feel it, an earthquake (magnitude of 7.9) struck near to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia this evening.

Seems like most part of the Klang Valley felt the tremor, things were shaking. Besides, there're tsunami warnings calling people to stay away from the coastline, especially those in Port Dickson and Penang.

For more info & updates about the earthquake one can refer here:
The Star
US Geological Survey
Tsunami warning

Hopefully everyone will be safe there, do take care as earthquake is not something funny at all. Malaysians had limited knowledge to handle it when it really happens.....

True Love Is Hard To Find

The following essay is written by my cousin Yong Qun, which he had recently won in an essay-writing competition.

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True Love Is Hard to Find (by Lai Yong Qun)

What is love? It is like the flowers blossoming in spring, like the birds singing beautiful melodies, brightening the whole world? Or is it like winter, where everything is blankted by pure white snow, so innocent-looking but hidden with traps all around. One wrong step and everything you have, the thing you have shared will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Love is wonderful yet dangerous, adrenaline pumping yet boring at times. There are not many people in this world that can live without love, yet true love is the hardest thing in the world to find. True love is an unspoken connection between two people, knowing what they like and hate, understanding them, standing by their sides with unwavering commitment, going through thick or thin with them and feeling that you can't live without them.

Love is not just saying "I Love You" to someone, it is actually meaning what you say. If true love means getting married, why are there still divorces happening? True love is forever, an eternal commitment. Divorce cases happen because the people involved do not share this beautiful, sacred love. But when you see old people out there, holding their partners' hands when they cross the road, you can actually feel their affections for each other, their life-long commitment.

Young people nowadays make rash decisions and never think about their actions and the following consequences of their actions. Some may get married because they are pregnant, not because of love. After giving birth to the baby, their love may begin to fade away, leaving an innocent little baby with no father or mother.

True love is hard to find, yet it is hard to keep. The classic love story written by Shakespeare between Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example. Their love ended tragically as they both died at the end of the story. Their love was forbidden by their parents as they are from different classes in the society. Many people still cry when they read this story of forbidden love.

Yet it is not impossible to find true love. It appears at the place we least expect, taking us by storm, leaving us breathless and wanting more. Some people admit that they have met their lifelong love by mistake, but ended up falling for each other. The story of Cinderella and her prince is one of the example of everlasting love.

A mother's love for her child is also true love. It is so pure, so unconditional that the mother will do everything to save her child in the face of danger. The motherly affection for the child will not change, even when the child has grown up and got married. The child will forever be the baby that she helps to change diapers and feed, the reason she had many sleepless nights worrying about. Yet she will never complain, hate, or even abandon the child as it is part of her.

Love appears in many forms. True love is universal and transcends nationalities, age, time and sex. Though love is hard to find, don't be afraid to fall in love. One should never give up in the quest for true love!

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I am amazed a 15 years old can produce such quality essay! Kudos and congrats to Yong Qun! His sis Xiao Shan produces some great essays as well, which helped her to get into one of the top universities in US, University of Pennsylvania.

I think Yong Qun should be starting his blog someday lol....

Hamazushi, 2nd visit

Yesterday was being called up for a spontaneous idea to had sushi dinner again at the same place, Hamazushi. Since the restaurant is near the school so decided to stay up til dinner's time.

After the class discussed things about university with my teacher, and then played ping pong with friends til 6:30pm when we headed to the restaurant.

Having dining in here once, I somewhat knew which dishes I should be eating this time.
Since I didn't bring my camera along with me so all the pics are taken with my handphone, not bad I must say.

かつおたたき (Katsuo, Skipjack Tuna). Previously I didn't get to taste this as it's out of stock. One of my favourite tuna sushi as well, tasted great!



Oh this is the must-order top class tuna (maguro)! It melts in your mouth!


Erm, sorry but no pics of sushi from this onwards as I'm too busy consuming the fish dishes lol... plates by plates.

Well this time I think I've tried all the single salmon & tuna sushi except the ordinary ones (plain salmon & tuna). Tried sea urchin (uni) but dislike it, left an unpleasant after taste in the mouth for awhile. :S

The main purpose of this dinner is actually to have some out-of-school chit chat with friends, as we seldom hang outs after school.
Since there's no time limit we can sit there for as long as we want, eating sushi, chatting and taking a sip of the complementary green tea. That's the way we "yam cha" in Japan!

Hah it's nice that a few friends started to chat and crazily build up the story where we would be going to hunt for nice food when we're back in Malaysia. From Kajang satay, to Klang's bak kut teh and til Melaka's famous cendol.... Yumm!!

My total damage, 15 plates of sushi, which cost JPY 1,575 (JPY 105 per plate).


Gonna pause my sushi-eating frenzy for awhile after having this round....

Desktop 2009 Sept 24

desktop_20090924, originally uploaded by CLF.

Current desktop, featuring the Brabus E V12 and some simple icons.

Akihabara, 2nd visit.

(Sorry for the late post, had been caught up with something last night and neglected this update. Was having movie marathon. :P )

Sunday, I woke up rather late close to the noon mark, it was great to sleep at the early-autumn's weather around 25'C. Quickly loaded some breads and coffee, prepared myself and off I go to Akihabara.

Train ticket cost 310 yen on Tokyo Metro Chiyoda line (東京メトロ千代田線) transfer to JR Yamanote line, same price as going to Ikebukuro too. Reached Akihabara in about 20 mins' time, rather short distance in Tokyo's case.

This time I took the right-turn at the Akihabara train station instead of the usual left which signals "Akihabara Electric Town Exit".
Just outside the right-side exit, here's one of the biggest department stores, Yodobashi Camera.


Saw folks gathering near the entrance of Yodobashi Camera, everyone's having a Nintendo DS on their hand. Seems like there's some sort of gaming event here, if not mistaken Nintendo DS comes with the function to connect wirelessly with other players.


Headed into the Yodobashi Camera first instead of the last destination from the previous trip... Now that I'm a little more familiar with the floor plans I know which floors to go to look out for things that interest me rather than going through each floors.

Testing out the new iPod Touch (though looks the same as previous generation from the outside), watching a music video from one of my favourite anime series.


Age of Empires III Gold Edition, love this series but didn't try this one before. Rather expensive costing at 9,200 yen, you can get it cheaper in Malaysia (I'm referring to the original's price, not the "Jack Sparrow" edition)


Spotted this new Canon IXY Digital 930 IS which replaces the one I'm currently using (920 IS).


Although comes with higher megapixel and widescreen display, I wasn't too fancy with it because of the troublesome touchscreen feature, which I think will somehow spoil the familiarity with Canon's camera interface.


I spent a little time in Yodobashi Camera, decided not to waste too much time inside there where I can see more stuffs outside. Sunny and breezy weather it is, good for some walkabouts around the streets.

Spotted people selling 2nd hand goods here. Figures, plush toys, dolls, etc etc....


Cuteness be warned!




The dolls above mostly cost between 500 to 1,000 yen. Consider cheap as mostly one would need to spend quite some fortunate to hook it from the UFO machines. Good idea to get it as souvenir for friends if they love cute stuffs such as these.

Not really a beauty sight, used clothings at 100 yen per piece.


Spotted a nice car, from my favourite brand Lexus. This one is the new Lexus HS 250h. It's a hybrid btw.




Later I spent most of the time walking down the main street, and some of the back alleys.








You know what's selling inside don't you?


A very smart business strategy, a shop mainly caters for the smokers.


Had late lunch around 4pm+ that day. Spotted this shop specialise in raw fishes don (my fav!).


Sweet shrimp (甘えび), maguro (tuna) & salmon with nori (seaweed) underneath it. Cost 780 yen. A little pricey but that's one of the cheapest combination there....


One of my main mission coming to Akihabara is to check out the electronic dictionaries, which is really useful for my studies. Planned to get one but at the end didn't bought anything as I need some time to consider and do some research in it, which model suits me the best for the price.
Electronic dictionaries aren't cheap here, which can easily fetch up to 30k yen or so (more expensive than my camera!).
Would get either Sharp's Brain series or Casio's Ex-Word series.

Besides, my ears had some great time by testing out some top-line earphone/headphone models around. Doing some ear impressions with some of the highest-end models which I'm unlikely to own in near future, kinda cool but if you wanna do serious listening experience, you'll need a quite environment to do so.
Anyway, testing the earphones out, especially noise-canceling ones, at this kind of situation would be great to test out the noise-isolation, whether it lives up the expectations or not.

Before heading back I tried to ask to signup an iPhone 3GS. Yeah... with all the hype going on I'm actually tempted to get one. Asked for the terms and seems to be reasonable. Went ahead to apply it but for some technical reasons my data cannot be located on their database. O_o
Later I only realised I gave them my name in katakana while I apply my current mobile using my alphabet name. Such troublesome....

Anyway, I would reconsider my plan of getting an iPhone. Although I dislike my current phone but I still can live with it. I guess iPhone can come later into my life when I'm more settled down eh.

Going to Akihabara

In awhile I'll be going to Akihabara, the so-called streets of techno geeks and otaku.

This would be my 2nd time going there, as previous trip was ended prematurely as I'm getting kinda sick that time.

My aim would be checking for any suitable digital dictionaries around, very handy for my study. Besides, also like to check out whether there's the new Sony Walkman players to test around too. Mostly bout geek stuffs, you name it heh.

Good weather today, it's bright out there with sunshine but the weather is kinda cool at around 26'C. Autumn's coming~~

Well that's all then, will update this blog with any pics or goods that I've "looted". :)

MAESTRO: Hans Zimmer

Wow it's been awhile since I last update the Maestro series blog post here! Anyway this week I've found inspiration from one of the greatest soundtrack composers of all time, and would like to share it here. :D

Hans Zimmer (born September 12, 1957), is a German composer and producer. He is best known for his Academy Award, Grammy and Golden Globe–winning film scores. He has composed music for over 100 films, including Hollywood blockbusters such as the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Gladiator, The Da Vinci Code and The Dark Knight.

It's quite common that people did not heard of Hans Zimmer this name, but I guess one should've at least heard some of his compositions before, in the cinema. He's been composing many scores for movies and most of them are big hits among the screenings. Notable ones including The Lion King, Gladiator, Pirates of The Caribbean, Batman The Dark Knight and many more.

Zimmer's composition is said to play a large role in the movie. Aside from the usual actions, the music scores are used to express the emotion and build up the atmosphere of the situation, such as tense scene or in the battlefield. Zimmer's music makes the movie much lively as such that it can left a deep impression with the audience.

(since I'll be mainly focusing the music only, the Youtube videos will be placed at a smaller resolution.)

Here's an example from a recent film, Angels and Demons, the first track from the album, "160 BPM".
I didn't watch the movie but I find this song interesting to start things with. Tune up your volume a little higher at the intro part, which you may find noticed some fine details in the music. I noticed there's an unusual approach in the selection of the instruments used, not your ordinary chamber orchestra. I don't really like excessive vocals but this one had done perfectly. Combining orchestral and choral vocals, effectively creating the such powerful intro.

P/S: 160 BPM means "160 beats per minute", a rather fast-paced song compared to the normal ones around 100-120 BPM.

Hans Zimmer's involvement in Batman The Dark Knight is a highly successful one, composing together with another fellow James Newton Howard in this case, creating an unforgettable experience especially when it comes to the motive of the main characters of the movie, Batman & the Joker.

The overall atmosphere in The Dark Knight's soundtrack is rather dark, mysterious, and perhaps uncomfortable.

One of Hans Zimmer's best attribute in composing is the ability to absorb and assimilate the musical elements of a foreign culture, fuse it together with the Western music. There're a few works from Zimmer which prominently featuring Oriental instruments, such as this example from The Last Samurai.

"Spectres In The Fog" start things off with traditional Japanese instrument called koto. The first half plays the main theme of the movie, while the second half expresses the scene from the movie, the appearance of the warriors from the thick fog as shown in the video's image. Along with it is the, then again, uncomfortable yet effective arousing effect built up for the battle scene in the movie. Anyway, I like how the Japanese element is being added into the track though just appears briefly.

I wonder whether you've noticed any similarity of the tracks mentioned so far? It's so called Zimmer style, heavy percussion and strings to create the sort of dark & tragic tone for the movie.

Now here's a rather earlier work of Zimmer in the mid-90s, from the movie "Beyond Rangoon". Story is about the political instability and conflict happening in Burma/Myanmar, which unfortunately still exist until today.

This song, "Waters of Irrawaddy" prominently features the instruments of South-East Asia, which some may find it familiar as compared to the usual orchestral soundtracks. I am amazed by the composer from the West able to utilize these instruments so well to bring out the emotion of the track, especially through the flute and the percussion.

Here comes my favourite song by Hans Zimmer, from Pirates Of The Caribbean 3: At World's End, "Drink Me Me Hearties".

This video is a combination of 2 songs, "Drink Up Me Hearties" & "Up Is Down". Both songs shared similar traits which you may noticed it.

Somehow listening to this song I felt excited, due to the upbeat rhythm and great orchestral arrangement to bring out the best in the Pirates Of The Caribbean theme.

This is the song, that influenced me to get into Hans Zimmer's song, one of the best ever!

Hans Zimmer's musical composition is not your ordinary soundtrack, it's a masterpiece of hardwork and researches. Research, as in that Zimmer would spend time to collect information of the musical background of certain culture to understand it better, before start composing for the particular soundtrack for the movie. That's why the his music is tastefully done.

Looking forward for his future works, as there're a lot of upcoming nice movies coming up, so do great movie soundtrack compositions as well, by Hans Zimmer. :D

New Sony Walkman Music Players

It's been awhile since I update the audiophile hobby of mine here, but today I've been very excited since getting updates of the new Sony Walkman music players via the subscribed RSS feeds.

First off, the mid-end S series, S640 & S740.

S640


S740


Screen: 2.0" LCD (TV output at 720×480 (SD) resolution available)
Storage: 8GB, 16GB & 32GB (S740 only) flash memory.
Earphone: MDR-EX300SL (S740's earphone is similar to MDR-NC33)
Sound Enhancement: Noise-cancelling (S740 only), Clear Bass, Clear Stereo, and DSEE.
Functions: FM Radio, ability to display lyrics (might be limited to Japan models only), play speed control
Battery life: 42 hours music playback. 10 hours video playback.
Codec:
Music -MP3, WMA, AAC, HE-AAC, ATRAC, ATRAC AL, PCM/wav.
Video - AVC (H2.64), MPEG-4, WMV.

The difference between the S640 & S740 is the design of the player (S640's plasticky feel while S740's metallic feel), the noise-cancelling function (exclusive for S740), the earphone and the 32GB which is exclusive to S740.



I had the previous generation S730 series, and still using it now. Quite happy to see the improvement in the hardware and quality, but sad to see the demise of the auto playlist SensMe Channels.

Next up, the higher-end version A series, A840.





2.8 inch WQVGA OLED screen (with TV output function at 720X480 resolution)
Slim design with the thickness of 7.2mm.
Storage: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
Sound Enhancement: S-Master digital amplifier, Digital Noise Cancelling, DSEE, Clear Stereo, Clear bass, and lyric display.
Earphone: MDR-EX300SL (with NC function, similar to MDR-NC33)
Battery life: 29 hours audio listening. 9 hours of video playback
Codec:
Music - MP3, WMA, AAC, HE-AAC, ATRAC, ATRAC AL, PCM/wav.
Video - AVC (H2.64), MPEG-4, WMV.

Another fine piece of gadget by Sony, this is the new flagship model which I believe will get along together with the current flagship touchscreen X series.
I'm kinda interested to know which would sounded better, though I'm slightly biased towards the A series due to it's better earphone, the MDR-EX300SL.



The new S series & A series is likely to be available by November. Still don't have much idea bout the pricing but I guess there's a price to pay if you wanna enjoy high quality music.

For me, I'm actually tempted to get the A series in the future. Love the sound of the current player, but A series will definitely sounded better as it comes with the S-Master Digital Amp that builds in within the player itself. Besides, I love the noise-cancelling function too, glad it didn't been taken away heh.
A 16GB is not enough for me, so I'm likely to get 32GB or 64GB model. Budget budget, hmm.....

Left to right: A840, S640, S740, S730.


Anyway on to give my advice whether you should get the new Walkman players or not, do take a few points into consideration:
- It performs superb in music-playback but doesn't comes with fancy application like those in iPod.
- Video-playback is average. Screen is not the biggest and limited codec supported, which means you gonna convert the videos into compatible format (most commonly WMV).
- Noise-canceling only works with the bundled earphone.

Otherwise, it's a real nice piece of gadget to enjoy music-listening to another higher level. :)



P/S: It is OK if you can't really differentiate the model based on the pic, because the design is more or less the same. It would have been better if Sony put in some effort to make each of the series' design unique so that the consumer can easily recognise the model instead of scratching into the details (which most of them wouldn't bother much).

Hamazushi

Friday night I did not cook, instead I join my friends for some exotic sushi in a sushi restaurant located near the school.

Hamazushi (はま寿司)


It was full when we reached there around 745pm, waited for like half an hour before we're being assigned to our seats.


I was abit skeptical at first but seeing that each of the dish cost just 105 yen, this is definitely a good deal.

Some of the promotional items for this season.


Extensive sushi menu.


The touch-screen ordering panel. Just select the sushi you want and it'll be served via the conveyor belt. Freshness guaranteed.




Helping ourselves with green tea.


As a big fan of raw fishes, I don't show any mercy for the dishes and quickly "attack" them.

まぐろ (Maguro, fresh tuna) coming up on the conveyor belt, tempting....


First "kill", あじ (Aji, Japanese Jack Mackerel). Haven't eat this before so wanted to try it out. Tasted not bad.


One of my favourite, 大とろサーモン (Ootoro Salmon, fatty salmon). This part is near the belly of the fish which is oily and juicy.


King of the day, the 特撰本まぐろ(special selected Maguro). This would be the best piece of tuna sushi I've ever had so far.... absolutely sinful delicious!! 105 yen for a piece of this is worth it!!


Another salmon! 焼とろサーモン (Yaki Ootoro Salmon, grilled fatty salmon). Similar to the earlier one but this is slightly grilled which results the crispy skin.


まぐろはらみ (Maguro Harami, Harami Tuna). Not quite sure which part is this but nevertheless it quickly slips down into the stomach due to it's smooth texture.


うなぎ (Unagi, eel), which disappointingly nothing much to shout about, perhaps is due to the absence of the signature kabayaki sauce (蒲焼たれ) found on most unagi dishes.


広島産かきフライ (Fried Hiroshima Oyster) tasted great! Too bad I didn't ask for 2nd serving, regretted....


エビフライ (Fried Shrimp). Another tasty fried stuffs but I still prefer the raw ones. :P


うに (Uni, sea urchin). Didn't tasted this one but according to my friend who had it, there's a strong taste in it which some people may not like it. I dunno whether I'll like it or not.


炙り生えび (Broiled Raw Shrimp). As usual shrimp dishes are favourites in any sushi outlets, this one tasted good due to it's raw taste.


Another worthwhile mention, though unconventional sushi dish.

北京烤鴨 (Beijing Roast Duck). First time eating duck in Japan (the Japanese don't really eat duck), crunchy texture and generous portion! Yumm!!


4 servings for each of us!


いくら (Ikura, salmon roe). Some find it disgusting but I find it tasty. :P


生さんま (Sanma, Pacific Saury). Also known as 秋刀魚, this is the first time I eat the raw version of it.


ねぎとろ (Negi Toro). Tune flesh being mashed to create the texture, another fun way to eat the sushi if you couldn't take in the raw fish slices directly.


とろびんちょう (Toro Binchou). Not quite sure which part of tuna is this, but I guess is the flesh on the upper part as the texture is thinner than those near the stomach.


活〆はまち (Hamachi, Japanese Amberjack betterly known as Yellowtail). I had zero knowledge of this dish as it's the first time I came across one. Anyway, it tasted not bad too.


My last piece of sushi for the day, 特製白だし醤油漬けサーモン (Special marinated Salmon).
Noticed the extra bit of flesh eh, I guess it's special "service" by the chef who prepared it coz it's quite late already. A great sushi to end the meal!


Btw, all the sushi above are priced at 105 yen per dish, which is quite reasonably with the quality of the food.

Friends opt for some cakes as dessert. I didn't take it as I'm full and the creamy cakes doesn't digest well with the raw fishes I guess, hah.

Chocolate cake, 210 yen.


Cheese cake, 210 yen.


A chocolate dessert which we let it pass.


The tower-stack of plates lol. Total damage, 50 plates from 4 ppl!


After being divided, each of us paid around 1,400 JPY (~RM 54).

Too bad I don't have the chance to taste this かつおたたき (Katsuo Tataki, Skipjack Tuna) as it's been sold out even before we're seated.


This would probably be the best meal I ever had in Japan so far.... おいしかった！