Of pyrotechnics and ambidextrous swordsmanship
It was a quiet birthday, yesterday. The only time I left the house was when I went to sit for Grade 8 Music Theory examination.
I’d still like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who wished me. My facebook got flooded in a pretty nice way. Heh.
Last Friday, my good pal Farisha gave me an early gift:
(This is deemed a rare occurence because as far as I know, nobody has ever received anything from Farisha :O)
Also, for the past week, I borrowed her Avatar: The Last Airbender DVDs (all three seasons) and finished watching it on Saturday. 
**To tell you the truth: Even before I watched it episode-by-episode, I already knew the spoilers because I’ve watched random episodes here and there on Nickelodeon, guh!**
Now that I’m done watching it AND trials are coming in just a few weeks, I shall talk about Avatar like there is no tomorrow 
WARNING: You might not understand.
<avatar talk>
I know that I’m not a fan of anime/manga style cartoons, but this one is an exception. Awesome graphics and effects. Even the dude who provided the "voice" for Momo (lemur) and Appa (flying bison) did a really convincing job.
I thought that the battle between Aang and Fire Lord Ozai was a little strange. Could’ve been a wee bit better but well wells. Still a good show, though
Whenever there’s a show that I like, there’s always a favourite character (this theory isn’t always true though). For the past few years, I have three favourite fictional characters, and they are Admiral Norrington, Severus Snape and The Phantom of the Opera, all of which I’d like to call…The Three Bachelors.
About this particular favourite character from Avatar, he has some mutual characteristics with The Three Bachelors.
1. He sails around on a ship and he’s excellent with swords
[but he handles two swords instead of just ONE sword, like Norrington]
2. He has…powers
[but he doesn't need to use a wand like Snape does]
3. Half his face is scarred
[but his mood swings aren’t as bad as the Phantom’s]
The big difference(s): He’s a lot younger and he didn’t die (which is exactly what happened The Three Bachelors)
So who is this character?
Heeere’s Zuko, banished prince of ze Fire Nation. I like this character because he’s clever, agile, stealthy, and he appears to be the only character that changes drastically throughout the series (that includes his hairstyle hahah) Yay for character development. Wheehew.
(Can YOU smell a fan art coming?)
See, he was bad-ass at the beginning that I just had to look at my brother and say: "Waaah, damn YENG."
By the end of the series, he turned good and nearly everyone had travelled with him for a "life-changing adventure". So nice and still very yeng.
Besides that, I really like the uncle-nephew relationship between Zuko and Uncle Iroh. The optimistic Iroh loves tea and he is such a heart-warming character — you can’t hate him. He is like a walking fortune cookie who treats Zuko as though he is his own son, despite losing his own biological son during a war.
I think that his [romantic] relationship with Mai is very dull. He could have been involved with Katara of the southern water tribe instead. A lot more drama, that way (slap me and knock my head, I am addicted to the show)
Lastly, there’s a film based on the show which will be released next year. I don’t mean to sound like a racist but appearance-wise, it’s bad news. You can find the comparison between the actors and the real characters right here: http://www.racebending.com/v2/. Seriously man, whaaat is this!
(echo: This is madness!)
</avatar talk>
Y’know what I just noticed? My favourite characters are all anti-heroes (or at least — at certain points in their lives)
I’ve never developed a liking for any superhero, for all I know. It’s ironic that my classroom’s theme is/was "Superheroes"..
..glory days, baaah.
A Little Nightmare Music, please?
School will be closed next week. I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry. School has been really quiet this week anyway.
In the previous post, I mentioned that it’s very unlikely that FF will come to Malaysia for MTV World Stage Live. To make things a little better, IGUDESMAN AND JOO ARE COMING TO MALAYSIA~ (I thank Sean for informing me about this)
Not for MTV World Stage Live lah of course.
Yeaaaah.
Info according to the official website:
| Monday 16. november 2009 | |||
| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – with Gidon Kremer | |||
| BEING GIDON KREMER: The Rise and Fall of the Classical Musician Igudesman & Joo with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica |
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| Tuesday 17. november 2009 | |||
| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | |||
| IGUDESMAN & JOO: “A Little Nightmare Music” | |||
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| Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – with Gidon Kremer | |||
| BEING GIDON KREMER: The Rise and Fall of the Classical Musician Igudesman & Joo with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica | |||
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Hohoho, and SPM starts on the 18th of November. I don’t care whatever happens man, I am willing to see these guys in action a day before my major exam (As long as I am well prepared…)
Where ART thou?
I have been away for to long and it’s August already (MegaSale month!). A summary of what I needed to talk about:
one I finished my Home Theatre model for Art (Paper 3) less than a month ago.
Absolutely not the final product!
When I received the question paper back in February (or was it March?), I remember telling myself “If can, I’m going to add a lighting system.”
And so I did.
This isn’t exactly the final product either. It’s just missing some speakers, that’s all.
If you are a fan of Monkey Island, you’d know that the drawing on the TV (yes, it’s a drawing) is based on the scene outside “Planet Threepwood”.
Also, the TV can swivel to the left or right.
You can jolly well bet that the whole model itself costs more than RM200.
To tell you the truth, the making of the circuit required 99% improvisation (the worst part is that I had no internet connection, and that means I have no where to refer to). In the end, I killed about 3-4 light bulbs.
Behold! The circuit.
Lightbox thingy! I didn’t glue the box properly, as you can see.
This be Yvonne’s model. The SpongeBob is hand-drawn, yes.
One of the decorative lamps she included
This is Farisha’s. Best model ever, hands down. FYI: Her dad is an architect.
two On the 22nd of July, I (and many others) missed the solar eclipse! They say that it was supposed to appear around 9-something in the morning. We had our Biology paper at 9.10AM. Aiyah, even if we didn’t have the exam, I don’t think it’ll be easy to spot the eclipse due to the cloudy Malaysian skies. The next night, however, I saw this:
Close enough lah.
three Went to play paintball on the 24th. Got shot at the neck and I felt so negative about life. Dementor’s Kiss hahaha. The mark even looked like a hickey that day! :O
four Malaysia will be hosting MTV World Stage somewhere this month (not that I’m a fan of MTV)…but I heard that FRANZ FERDINAND MIGHT BE COMING. Might be only lah — They’re touring around in the US at the moment, if I’m not mistaken.
…I guess there’s no chance of them coming, eh? Even if they are, my mother wouldn’t allow me to see them by using H1N1 as an excuse. If I get to see them [and at the same time if I actually have a high chance of dying], I get to die happy knowing the fact that I met them, right? Haha.
five It’s probably old news now but the saddest news since last week is: Yasmin Ahmad passed away on the 25th 
She was 51.
She was responsible for the Petronas ads we see on TV, and not to forget Sepet! She will always be remembered as the story teller; the best film maker Malaysia could ever have. Her films can really make you (or at least, me) do a lot of deep thinking. Although some of her films are considered “racially controversial”, it speaks a lot of truth. Like in Sepet, there was a line (spoken by a Malay character) which went like “All Malay men are lazy”.
Rest in peace, Kak Yasmin.
PS: I have never attended a funeral before.
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