Pokemon is awesome.

Sorry for the lack of new posts guys, it's been really crazy on this end with exams around the corner (tomorrow! and two papers!)... I promise a more steady stream of posts when I am done with them, and when I am procrastinating.

Two days ago, I was looking through this box I have that houses my stationary supplies, paints (yes, I paint), and electronics, when I chanced upon my old hard drive. I thought it was back at my parents' house in Singapore! (I had always thought I had asked Mom to bring it home for me or something. But pssh, what is real and what isn't, really? I live in a world of my own...) 

I plugged it in and looked through its contents, which was surprisingly empty; old scanned copies of my various education achievements (high school results and what not), an old resume, couple of movies, and a very, very. Special. Folder. (no, it's not the sexy kind of special. I do not own material such as those, thank you very much.)

I found my old games folder!!!

I found the Gameboy emulator application that allows you to play games on, and along with it, Pokemon Fire-Red, Pokemon Emerald, Super Mario World, and Plants vs. Zombies (though you don't need an emulator for this) !!!

this is like the best thing ever

I looked through it and didn't find any saved material in the games, so they were pretty much blank slates. 

HOW EXCITING IS THAT!

so unashamedly, I STARTED PLAYING.

(oh god. Just what I need before exams right?!) 

I LOVE POKEMON FIRE-RED!

Judge me. Whatever. I LOVE IT.

(My housemates are totally judging me but it's cool. I can live with it)

I think this love is largely due to Saturday morning cartoons on free-to-air television when I was growing up. My brother and I would watch Pokemon at 10:30 every Saturday without fail. First it's (I think,) Loony Tunes, Pokemon, X-men, Iron Man/ He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then Power Rangers.

(then Mom would go: KIDS STOP WATCHING TV! YOU'VE SAT THERE ALL DAY! and be shooed from the house to play outside...)

We were so into Pokemon, we watched from the first few episodes of the original series, how Ash met Pikachu and all that, to the first Pokemon movie (which I think we own a VHS of...). As the Fire-Red version remakes the original Red version, I'm actually familiar with most or all of the pokemons in the game? As opposed to Emerald, because high school happened and I kinda just stopped watching. I'll totally go look for episodes online to watch during my upcoming summer holiday though!!!!

Because I'm quite a fan of lists (no not really, but it's fun to write about),

here's 4 reasons why you should play Pokemon Fire-Red - or Pokemon, in general.

1. It brings back childhood memories.

If you watched Pokemon cartoons as a child/ for fun, it really is very fun! It lets you reminisce about the good ol' days, in a way...

2. It gives a great sense of satisfaction.

The feeling when you level up, or beat someone... It's really satisfying.

3. It gives you the sense that you're really on the epic adventure (as with most RPGs).

So it starts with this: you're given an epic mission to catch all the pokemon there is, to fill out a small electronic encyclopaedia (i.e. the Pokedex), and to be a Master Pokemon Trainer. You have a rival slash arch-nemesis, and you would feel compelled (by the basic storyline) to beat him at all cost. You can also give him a name of your choice. You travel around the country on foot (and later by bicycle), and you fight at different leagues (Pokemon gyms) for Pokemon-qualificatons, known as badges, whereby each badge is sort of like unlocking new things you can do.

4. It has an overhead kind of view, and it's really cute.

see for yourself!

The guy in the hat; that's you (if you chose the 'Boy' option in the "are you a boy or a girl?" question at the start) [edit: and oops i mean, bicycle guy, there are two guys in hats!]

so cute right???? 

so go play it! Gameboys are hard to come by these days, and so are cartridges - but they are easily downloadable online (both gameboy emulators and games) for both Mac and PC, so that could be your new fun indoor-holiday-activity or something!

great quote I found while writing my essay

"We must do away with all explanation, and description alone must take its place.
And this description gets its power of illumination—i.e. its purpose—from the philosophical problems. 

These are, of course, not empirical problems; they are solved rather by looking into the workings of our language, and that in such a way as to make us recognize those workings: in despite of an urge to misunderstand them. The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have always known. 

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." 

-Wittgenstein, in Investigations, 1954

District 9 vs. Avatar

TWO MEGA ALIEN MOVIES, ready, go!

AVATAR 

(Summary: Humans invaded another planet, Pandora to excavate a precious material. The aliens (indigenous natives of Pandora from the Na' vi tribe) and their homes are now being threatened by the humans. Genetically engineered Na' vi bodies were made by the humans and they controlled these avatars using the minds of selected people. One of the avatars (controlled by the leading actor) falls in love with the Na vi princess. Okay, then the battles begins, Humans VS Na' vis. )

"Avatar, Avatar was awesome! It is the movie of 2010 (well it was released in Singapore in 2010 and in the USA in 2009)...blah blah blah" , I'm probably not the only person who learned about all the fuss of the James Cameron project. An epic movie in terms of CGI and cinematography, yeah.. special effects wise, it was pretty awesome. 

But I got to admit, I was bored during some of the scenes. Come on, it was almost three hours long and it was NOT Lord of the Rings (LOTR). If a movie is three hours long and it doesn't have some sort of character that resembles Gandalf, Aragorn, Bilbo Baggins or even Gollum (for that matter), I will most probably be bored. Not definitely, but most probably. 

Yeah, it surpasses the Scary Movie series and Sadako (2012) by miles. But with all that fuss of how good it was, I wanted to be amused, I was waiting for something unexpected to happen, maybe like if they found another Earth and on that new Earth, avatars and humans could coexist and spawn baby "Avatar-mans".

Take away the 3D glasses, the high expectations and suspense, Avatar is really a story about  two incompatible 'beings' making love in paradise. 

Maybe the two most interesting things to me were the: 1) dragons (how awesome is it to be able to bond with a pet dragon man! A PET DRAGON that gets you out of danger and serves as a convenient way of transportation) and 2) the intricate and complex process of enabling humans to 'live' in the body of an Avatar through the power of the mind in the name of Science.

Think of the 1995 Disney Classic: Pocahontas, that is basically what Avatar is in my opinion.

Ratings: 6.5/10
(Alright alright, for you Avatar geeks out there, I'd give it a 7/10 at the most and I am really pushing it.)

DISTRICT 9

(Summary: JUST THINK INDEPENDENCE DAY but this time the aliens did not stay on Earth voluntarily, they were stranded as their mother-ship broke down and they had no way home. So, humans being humans start segregating the aliens (a.k.a cockroaches), calling them names and degrading them to a slum area called District 9. These Aliens worked and survived on little provisions. They adapted to life on Earth after many years of staying on the planet. One day, a reporter (played by leading actor, Copley) went to investigate the slums, however there was a twist of events and something happened to him. The show ends with a cliff hanger, leaving the audience (a.k.a ME) guessing the final plight of the reporter.)

OH MAN. OH DISTRICT 9, wherefore art thou District 10 or a sequel? (There are talks of a sequel coming up!!! :D :D :D)

I didn't watch it in the theaters, no 3D glasses, no huge comfy velvet seats, no big screen and awesome sound effects. I downloaded the movie and the only things that accompanied me and District 9 were my Macbook Pro and a pair of average earphones.

No big preview for District 9, no big advertising, just a movie title amongst the many other films that were released that month. Yeah, that was District 9's resume, including the saving graces of a promising cast (promising because they were talented and not famous - especially the leading actor, Sharlto Copley) and that it was produced by well-known names such as Peter Jackson (director of Lord Of The Rings - LOTR Trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit Trilogy) and Carolynne Cunningham (Academy-Award nominated producer and assistant director of King Kong (2005) and the LOTR Trilogy). 

In a nutshell, I downloaded District 9 out of boredom and curiosity and was more than pleasantly surprised by the experience of the movie.

Well I thought the movie poster looked like a wannabe cool-alien-action movie, something like Independence Day meets Battleship. I was curious to watch a movie that seemed trivial. A movie with a dry storyline (so I thought at first) - aliens getting stranded on Earth. Yes, that's basically the gist of the movie, ALIENS STRANDED ON EARTH...boo hoo.

But NEVER underestimate the power of Simplicity.

A simple and maybe all too familiar plot (like that of Independence Day) might actually hit the jackpot. The simple things surprise you because you do not expect much from them. Nothing works in a movie, not even a great script if the execution (eg. computer effects, make-up, wardrobe, cinematography, editing etc) of the actual production ain't great. District 9 also tugs at one's heart strings, bringing up a very controversial subject (degradation and segregation) in a subtle yet powerful manner.
Personally, the humanization of the "cockroaches" (a.k.a the aliens/intruders of Earth) is what made the movie stand out. In addition, the sympathizing character played by leading actor, Copley gave the movie a sense of hope and allowed the audience to relate to him (because we are all moral beings or we try to be at least).

In conclusion, District 9 is the Blueray DVD that I would go home with. :P

Ratings: 8.5/10
(I really want to give it a 9/10!! But I guess I still have too many movies to check out before I can be that generous.)

-Posted by Becky Brontosaurus (on Rach's account)

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time

Because I consider myself a very busy person (and I also live under a rock), I find myself being very far behind from being in-the-know, and I wouldn't be surprised if I fell low on the cool-spectrum in life. I don't follow the charts or billboards for recent or new hip-and-in music, I find out about movies when I watch movies (that's what previews are for right?!) – which is not very often, or I otherwise find out about stuff from the local abandoned warehouse that sits a block from my street. My friends also tell me that cool people don't say things like hip-and-in anymore. But I don't care.

The abandoned warehouse, or my notice board. photo credits to Google Maps Street View

Cool people (well, I find them cool) put up posters to school the public, and to let them know about the recent happenings in town. What makes this abandoned warehouse cooler is that spaces that are not stuck with posters are covered in cool graffiti or what they call urban art.

I also find out about things online, via social networking websites such as Facebook and stuff, and that was how Adventure Time was introduced to me. After learning of its existence, I began to notice posts about them on the interweb, and it looked cute and cool and awesome, so (being the very evil person I am,) I downloaded the first season and began to watch it. By doing so, however, I received a lot of hate by my flatmates. They have, apparently moved past the whole cartoon thing, and they don't watch "such juvenile programs" anymore. If you share a similar view and you don't watch shows like Futurama, The Simpsons, Family Guy and other such programs JUST BECAUSE they are cartoons, you are totally missing out! ):

4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Adventure Time:

1. It's so cute!

Everyone has the same (or similar looking) beady eyes, and they have the same charm as Pusheen the cat. If you love Pusheen the cat, you will love Adventure Time… and vice versa!

2. It teaches you about friendship.

The story surrounds two characters, Finn the human, and Jake the dog. Each episode runs for about twenty-odd minutes and consists of two mini episodes, which show us snippets of the adventures our two heroes take on. As the episodes go on, the story of how our heroes met and the nature of their friendship is revealed to the audience. These guys go through thick and thin together, man! They fight bad guys and have each other's back in everything. Sometimes they even disagree with each other and fight, just like real people (!!!), but they resolve issues for the sake of their friendships, and learn how to overcome them.

3. It teaches you about love.

After watching the first and maybe second episodes of the series, you'll find out that our two heroes have love interests of their own. Even the other characters in the series have relationships with one another, and you'd journey with them through various commonplace (albeit metaphorically) issues when you're in a relationship. You'd even develop a bittersweet relationship with The Ice King, where you sort of relate to his desire to find love, yet resent his princess-kidnapping and temper tantrum tendencies!

4. It has the most random humour.

The punch-lines in the series are awesome. The characters are strange; there are candy people, nut people, fluffy people, a game console... and there's even a unicorn in it! And she speaks Korean! How random yet awesome is that! There's even a snail waving in every episode, and the kind of awesome you feel when you spot it in the episode is the awesome you feel if you're a knight slaying the dragon. Or climbing Everest. Really.

I hope this has given you enough psyche to watch it, because it's really an awesome show!

What CSI: Miami Has Taught Me About Running For My Life

In an attempt to procrastinate (I kinda have essays due really soon), I have decided to "come on over" and write a post, and also to rather shamelessly talk about myself by documenting some of my experiences. Fuelled by an impeccable sugar rush - fed by dark chocolate KitKats (best. things. ever.) and low-GI-no-sugar apple juice, I have decided that the whole 4 o'clock hour would be spent procrastinating.

What CSI: Miami Has Taught Me About Running For My Life.

On Tuesdays, it is "Crime Night" on free to air television. TV shows such as NCIS, CSI: Miami and other local cheesy television programs such as Highway Patrol (which is essentially the show Cops taken out of America) are shown after the 6pm news, all the way till the station closes. Before I had cable (and before I moved), I was living in a smaller, less-worth-for-money apartment, and I used a small monitor as a telly. I used to hang out with a friend who lived in the building and we had dinner together every other night. We used to watch movies and TV shows  together, and CSI: Miami was one of them.

We'd get flustered about the many instances where poor unfortunate women try to run away from their perpetuators in cars, with their incredible stilettos and tight dresses, and ending up the next morning dead, their sad corpses found by the janitor. But after seeing some build-ups that leave poor women as dead hookers in or behind dumpsters, I started to observe what they did wrong, so here is how you effectively* run for your life.

*note that the effectiveness of these steps are totally situational-dependent.

 If you notice a car following you while you're walking home late at night,

1. Remove your heels, man.

If you plan on getting away from your creepy car-equipped assailant, you need to be able to run. So unless you keep spare flip-flops in your purse, you'd need to take these off and run barefoot. And fast.

2. Run in the opposite direction of where you were headed (or in the opposite direction of the car).

It sounds quite counter-intuitive, running towards the bad guys, but imagine they'd have to turn the car around (especially if there are other cars on the road)!!! They probably wouldn't expect it anyway, so they can't readily bolt out of the car to get you.

3. Don't freaking run into an alley.

Instead, try to maybe run towards residential areas. Cut across parks or yards, somewhere with less/no traffic. Bad guys are in the car anyway right? You wanna run towards people, they might be able to help you.

If all else fails… and your assailant catches up with you, well hey, at least you tried your best. At least you weren't a classic dead hooker case on CSI: Miami, who owed some uptight* people money or something.

*substitutable with any other adjective of your choice.

You get older, you get bolder.

The young and reckless, so they say.

But it seems like the opposite for me. I wish I was reckless and less self-conscious when I was a teenager, that being not too long ago.
I guess everyone goes through different phases at different times. Not saying that I am 'reckless' and irresponsible, I just take a little more risks and go with the flow of THE moment more often now that I'm in my early twenties.

Like to hell with it you know? Do or die. Live life trying or live life wondering what could have been.

Been wondering for far too long for my own good.

It is time to die trying.

Yeah I might take a different take on things ten years or maybe even a year down the road. But why wait till then?

It is now or never. I told myself that when I was twenty-one. Yes it just came to me at TWENTY-ONE. There is something amazing about the twenties. I can't quite figure it out yet.  Maybe it's when epiphany hits or STRIKES you hard on your head.

YES, I learned how to ride a bicyle at twenty-one.

Maybe a little embarrassing when everyone around me is learning how to drive. But I can look back and say that THAT was the best thing I did that year. I got over my phobia of riding and got rid of the thought of "oh no, am I too old to be learning to ride a bicycle?".  It was liberating.

And look, I am still feeling the same way today, in fact even more strongly so.

MUCH easier said than done. I know. So small steps at a time or maybe a leap of faith? Whatever floats your boat at that time.

So I say.

- Rebecca Brontosaurus