The Air-Con-Man

Thinking about my aircon makes me feel sad. Mr. Electric Fan is back in my room again. I thought it was repaired already but it seems to only want to work when it feels like it.

I got my mother to help tend to the technicians while I am at work (can't wait for the weekends anymore or I'll go crazy). They can't seem to figure out the problem and would suggest ridiculous ideas like replacing the whole thing, which almosts entails to renovating my room. Every trip they make is an easy $50-$80 for servicing some new-found 'problem' that does nothing to fix my aircon. And this is their 3rd trip already. I am beginning to feel it's one big con job. (I think I just made a pun; air-CON-man!)

No longer wishing to be their 'carrot head', I decided to hop online and get a different company to come check things out: http://www.coolserve.com/ . Once again, my mother tended to them while I was at work. She said they looked real professional when they dropped by with their uniforms and assortment of gadgets. After a thorough examination, they said that the gas may be leaking but they didn't want to start work on it and charge us when our aircon was still under the service guarantee of the previous air-(con)man. And they just left like that. My mother even offered to pay for their transport but they turned her down. They came and left empty-handed. No payment, no nothing. Just like that. And I felt that was pretty damn awesome.

As of now, my airconditioner still remains in a semi-broken state, though I think I am beginning to see a pattern. Whenever my brother is home and uses his aircon, my room would instantly become a sauna.

Anyway, I am trying really hard to put this behind me. It feels terrible to brood over my aircon every day for the past two weeks. Maybe I really should get used to a fan. I keep telling myself it's 'just an aircon' but I still feel distraught because my once perfect room is no longer perfect. It no longer has that 'everything is the way I want it' kinda homely feel to it whenever I come home from work.

Guitars and Nasty Little Robots

I went to check out the E-Life Gaming Challenge at Suntec on Saturday. I was accompanying Rhyfe because he wanted to participate in the Guitar Hero 3 qualifiers. First thing I realized was that there was a new underpass leading to Suntec. Something felt different, though; either I couldn't find the way to the old overhead bridge or it was really gone. Hmm.



I had a hard time finding the place which was actually one whole section on the 2nd level of Suntec with a bunch of IT stores. As for the event... Rhyfe was the only one who participated (??!!). I guess all the participants are spread out over a couple of weeks. He ended up having the set to himself since there was no one else. He happily practiced away since he didn't own the game/console (that may change if he has what it takes to place top 3 in this contest). I played a little, too. I hope the staff didn't think we were being hogs. Meh. I guess I should have come when the finals are held instead.

Anyway, it wasn't too bad. We hung around and watched the Halo 3 competition in the earlier part of the day. It was mostly one-sided matches, though.

I spent the rest of my weekend at home playing Viking: Battle for Asgard (which was pretty okay) and Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (link).



Yup, Penny Arcade; that webcomic. They have their own game now, available on the PC and costing a whopping $30++ on Xbox Live.

Most. Expensive. Downloadable. Game. Ever. And this is just the first episode of four in total. The price turned me off and I was a little disappointed after hearing that it was only a 6-hour long game. I don't really consider myself a big fan but I read Penny Arcade a whole lot. (Recognize that Prinny pic?)

I hated to give the game a miss so I gave in and purchased it. The game is an RPG with frantic battles and lots of Penny Arcade humour. You get to fight hobos, psychotic clowns (who show you the birdie a lot), killer mimes and... of course, those lovable Fruit F**ker robots with their hip-thrusting, fruit-humping antics.

I finished the game in two sittings on Sunday and now I am left wanting more. Dammit, bring on the next game already.

I'm Melting!!!

Tuesday night was a real bitch. My air con was not working properly (again) and released a constant stream of warm air into the room. And it just got serviced for leaking water (again) last week. I have more or less resigned to the fate that my sucky air con is forever irrepairable and the only way to solve my problem would be to move out.

Back to crappy Tuesday night. It was so hot that I actually missed being at work which was wrong in every way (the day that work > home is the day the Earth implodes). The heat got to my head and actually made me forget what I was planning to do for the night. I ended up missing CSI on TV. I forgot to check out the sites that I visit daily. Couldn't even draft out a proper blog post (note: I am posting this from work). I did force myself to play my Xbox but it wasn't very fun when I was probably sweating as much as my in-game character, running around a vast island on foot in Viking: Battle for Asgard.

I opened my windows and had a little fan running but it was still hot. And the thing about open windows; they scare me. I live on the 8th floor but I keep thinking that some random projectile or stray animal is going to fly right in and hit me in the face. Maybe an airplane blows up in mid-air halfway across the world and the wind carries a chunk of its debris to Singapore and flings it right through my window (I got quite an imagination there).

I can go on to whine about not being able to call the air-con repair people myself because they get off work at the same time that I do, but never mind, I just feel overly disgusted that a perfectly fine day at home got wasted. Time to endure anothre 8 hours of work before I earn the right to go home again.

Saturday Night Movie Marathon

This weekend was pretty exciting for me as I had a sorta impromptu movie marathon.

On Saturday, I went to AMK Hub in the evening to watch Iron Man with Akira, Max, Kyo and Yonghao. I kept hearing good things about it so I knew I was in for a good time. I was quite surprised that the show was quite popular since Iron Man seemed pretty obscure when compared to mainstream names like Batman or Spiderman.

After Iron Man, we went for dinner and everyone was making their way home. I actually kept passing by FunZ to shop around because I was being indescive at buying something I want. haha. I ended up chatting with Michael & Yonghao and... I don't know how it happened but suddenly, we talked about catching the late-night show for Speed Racer. I was very reluctant because it would mean staying out real late and reaching home at 3 am. Oh well, Speed Racer was the next on my 'to watch' list and, since I am always complaining I hate staying home on weekends, I decided to give it a go. haha.

I did reach home at 3 am and, by the time I was through with my usual net-surfing routine, I went to bed at 6 am. At least there was the new McGriddles breakfast waiting for me when I got up. I love that.

Here are my little impressions for the two movies!

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"I want a Cheeseburger."

The story in Iron Man was pretty good. It touches on serious issues like war and the weapons-making industry. Robert Downey Jr. played the perfect Tony Stark! Heck, he even said he IS Tony Stark in a magazine interview. He is funny and has a lot of amusing one-liners. The Iron Monger was... a little boring for a super villain (I didn't even know 'it' had a name!) but I guess he was a much-needed key character to introduce backstory of the series.

The mention of SHIELD towards the end was a nice touch (Security Homeland... wha?). As we left the cinema, Akira pointed out that there was supposed to be a surprise after the end credits; Samuel L. Jackon appearing as Nick Fury and hinting at a future Avengers movie! Doh. Why do they like to trick viewers by putting such things after ten-minute long credit rolls. Hope there will be a video of it on Youtube or something.

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"Go, Speed Racer, Go!"

I got quite a pleasant surprise. I did not have high expectations for Speed Racer but I must say it was pretty good, too! I knew the movie was by the Wachowski Brothers but I did not expect it to remind me of the Matrix movies. haha.

The entire show had an eye-catching cartoonish/anime look with bright colours and somewhat absurd-yet-cool character designs. There were a number of memorable funny bits and they all made me laugh out loud. And the fighting scenes... wow, I thought stylish, eye-popping fight scenes belonged only in the Matrix trilogy. I am really a sucker for the over-the-top fight sequences. The plot may be pretty generic but I found Speed Racer to be a fun ride. Definitely worth checking out.

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Oh yes, both movies I watched were 2-hour movies! I am beginning to see a pattern here.
2-hour movies == good movies.

On the subject of movies, here's a first look at the upcoming ang mor Dragonball movie. Oh my god... I think that's Chow Yuen Fatt there.

Grand Theft Auto IV is Out!

Like most other gamers in the world, I really looked forward to the worldwide release of GTA IV in Singapore on Tuesday. The MDA started putting ratings on video gams, which is why this once controversial title is now freely available on our sunny little island.

I was so anxious that I went all the way to FunZ Centre to pick it up during my lunch break that day. While I was at the shop, things were sure busy. The phones kept ringing and Chriz & friends would pick them up and promptly reply that GTAIV was in stock. There was also a constant stream of people coming in to purchase the game and go off. I settled on getting the normal edition since the special edition was more than double the price and I would end up leaving the goodies untouched in the corner of my room.

I had to endure the rest of the day at work before I could finally go home and play the game. First thing I noticed was that 99% of the people in my Friends List, and even their friends, were all playing GTA IV on launch day. haha.

I would say the game is very good and addictive but doesn't really deserve all the online hype (every single video game site gave it a 10/10 rating and IGN even proclaimed it the "best game in the last 10 years"). GTAIV certainly has its fair share of problems and, in my honest opinion, the much-touted multiplayer mode is rather bad. The single player mode is still the real star of the game. It is a totally immersive experience with tons of things to do, backed up by a plot and script that rivals Holywood blockbusters.

By the way, it is official and you may have seen it in the local newspapers: Microsoft has slashed the prices of all Xbox 360 packages in Singapore (cos' MS love us!), making it the cheapest of the next-gen consoles. The standard Pro console set is now $499 and I just bought mine for $620 two weeks ago. Meh.

Two Plastic Guitars are Better than One

I picked up Guitar Hero II recently! I really liked Guitar Hero III and was yearning for more songs even though I'm still not very good at the game. Hard mode is a pain with its really steep learning curve but it's actually fun and satisfying to play through.

GHII comes with the X-plorer but I don't like it. It's an abomination (to me anyway; there are people out there who love it). I am simply too used to holding the the Les Paul that came with GHIII. Here's hoping that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will make it to our shores with the new bad-ass (and more 'normal'-shaped) guitar.

In the meantime, this means I have 2 guitars now! *chants*multiplayer multiplayer multiplayer!

A Peaceful Weekend

This weekend was a peaceful way to end the horrifically hectic week. I stayed home in case there was a mobilization. There hasn't been one in like 4 years and every passing year always seems like the right time for them to push the panic button and waste the Government's money. Fortunately, all was quiet.

It was one of those typical weekends for me, cooping myself up in my room playing video games and ending the week with pizza on Sunday night. Though, this time, as I lay in bed, controller in hand and fragging arrogant ang mor kids with my P90 in Call of Duty 4, I couldn't help but feel that playing video games all the time can be rather... sad.

I mean, it's perfectly fine on weekday nights. I come home from work and fire up my X360 for a night of fun. It's sort of like my WoW days. Besides, there's nothing much else to do in the few hours of a weekday night.

But somehow, it feels wrong to be repeating this same routine on weekends as well. That's two whole days I have to myself and I really feel that I should be doing something else to break out of this monotony. I know I don't engage in much 'going out of the house' activities anymore. I need to find more things to do on weekends. How do most people spend their weekends? Help!!!

The (Very Belated) Birthday Post

I know that this is waaaaaay overdue but I still want to post something about it. I didn't want to let it slide by without mentioning it at all. It just seems wrong.

I met up with the guys to have dinner on Saturday, 29th March, to have a kind of pre-birthday dinner. Jason, Max, Kian-Kian, Junjie, Jeremy, Yong Hao and Darrell turned up. We ate at the Swensen's at Orchard Road. Most of us didn't know where it was. I took some photos using my handphone but they turned out super-blurry. I was trying too hard to shoot them without disrupting the atmosphere. haha. Only one survived:



After that, we walked (!!!) all the way to have coffee at Plaza Singapura.

It has been ages since we got together to eat so I looked forward to it and enjoyed it. As time go by, we get tied down by by our own things like National Service, jobs, school or other commitments. This makes it hard to meet up. It's kinda sad but thank goodness for blogs and MSN.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for dinner that day! For those who gave me well-wishes, thank you as well. And count me in for any future dinner outings!

Say Hello to my New (Old) Friend

I bought a new Xbox 360 for myself last week. It was both a happy and sad occassion. I found it really annoying to play with my old half-spoilt X360 and could no longer bear waiting for it to break down before getting a replacement. haha.

I would take a picture of it but all standard Xbox 360s look identical. haha. Instead, I have changed the look of my dashboard so it doesn't feel like I am still playing my old Xbox 360. Anything to make me forget the headaches it had given me all this time. It's still one of the default dashboard themes; I'm looking to purchase a nice one from the Live marketplace.

I pray that my new Xbox will serve me well for many years to come.

Raining Blood...

I finally 5-starred all songs on Medium (you may laugh now) in Guitar Hero 3 today! The last hurdle for me was Raining Blood. I harboured nothing but contempt towards it until I beat it.

I got home on Thursday night and attempted it several times in vain. I decided to drop the idea and casually went through some of my favorite songs. I even tried some new outfits for my in-game character (Mmh, leather + purple = hot). I was about to call it a night but then decided to try the song one last time. So I fired up Raining Blood and, all of a sudden, I could see the notes clearly moving towards the screen instead of one huge blurry mess of colours. My stubby fingers ran like clockwork and... I got the 5-stars.

When the result screen came up, I was overjoyed and did a happy dance around the room. I got on MSN and told a Guitar Hero friend that I 5-starred Raining Blood... on Medium (you may now laugh. Again) Now I'll be off to learn Hard mode where I actually have to learn how to slide my hand rapidly up & down the handle. I hope I don't get wanker's cramp.

By the way, the Bard hero class in WoW is freaking awesome! I'm gonna be a Tauren Bard when the expansion comes out. Nothing screams more badass than a cow shredding on a guitar. Just don't let him know that he's going to have trouble playing with only two fingers; it'll hurt his feelings.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

It's okay, it's alright. I got my Guitar Hero III. Good thing Chriz had the foresight to keep old stock for such an old title. First off, I had absolutely no idea that Guitar Hero was played by holding down the fret and then strumming (are real guitars played this way, too? haha).

The game is actually pretty overwhelming to me but I'll just try to enjoy myself and take my time to learn it. It's very tough and its mostly skill-based achievements are regarded by many to be the hardest ever.

I was actually encouraged to pick up this game by this awesomely funny Zero Punctuation GH3 video review. I'll probably just aim to 5-star all songs on Medium since I do not possess tentacles for fingers. So far, I don't know ALL the songs in the game except for one (Guns & Roses' Welcome to the Jungle) so I hope to catch some nice new tunes to put into my phone.

Anyway, for non-Xbox-gamer readers, I think I'll briefly mention what 'achievements' are. Each X360 retail game is worth 1,000 g (gamer points) which are earned by fulfilling its conditions/achievements. Basically, it tracks your progress & accomplishments for the game. If you get 1000/1000, you know you probably done everything there is to do. It's great because it adds tons of replayability to games and anyone can view anyone's achievements online for comparison, bragging rights and whatnot.

And that's it for this week!

I Wanna Be a Guitar Hero T_T

It was last week when I saw it at Tampines' Mega Multimedia. Lying in the glass display before me were a whole bunch of X360 Guitar Hero III packages. Now that was a rare sight. I've never seen it available in stores before. As I looked on, an equation formed in my mind: Me + Guitar = Fun! But time was a-wasting, so I brushed aside the thought and went home with RB6V2.

However, that thought lingered over the next few days and I soon found myself yearning for the game. I think it was due to a lot of sublimal messages and influences that I came across when I was surfing the net. Ranging from game forum discussions to comics strips to watching the full South Park Guitar Queer-O episode (I only recently learnt that full South Park episodes can be watched for free at the official site) Then of course, there was this crazy Guitar Hero contest that totally reminded me of rejects from American Idol:



That was it. I finally decided that I would get the game today. I actually wanted to hold it off till the weekends as a birthday gift to myself but I couldn't wait any longer. haha. I endured through a day at work then quickly cabbed down to Tampines Mall. Somehow, my penguin senses told me something would go wrong.

When I arrived at the store, I quickly went to the glass display and eyeballed the boxes of Guitar Hero III. PS3, PS3, Wii, Wii, PS3. Where the heck were all the X360 versions? I felt that I already knew the answer but I just had to ask the salesperson. Yup, the X360 was sold out. No. Freakin'. Way.

The journey home felt so cold and empty. Time to carry on with the sadface. T_T