High School Musical! and a slice of my life...

yup it's true, i know i should probably watch something of another genre soon but somehow i ended up watching HSM3:



the third and final (?) installment of the story of Troy, Gabriela and friends in their little sugar-coated land called East High. somehow i wasn't even surprised when they started bursting into song in less than 5 minutes of airtime.i mean, it was the successful formula that warranted a third chapter to this series with the teen-bopping music and all. i'd have to admit that the music was pretty good actually. it did, afterall, keep me from feeling nauseous which i would have considering how lovey dovey the perfect couple troy and gabriela was. brrrr......

there were a few things, however, that did got me confounded. like how troy's magical grime-defying white v-neck never gets dirty, even in a scrapyard. now wonder he wears it for so many scenes in the movie. and how the wet green paint that got on his hands doesn't stain the white railing he touches immediatly after that. i understand the theatrics, but, running straight to class after getting drenched in a mysterious morning shower while spinning around on the rooftop? but most importantly, how Vanessa Hudgens' legs are so damn hot. (and yummy~)

Oh well everything ends well with people going to Stanford, Yale and Juliard amongst other colleges. i guess it's ok to watch such peppy shows once in a while.

alright, i'm actually pretty edgy today so things are going to get a little angsty for the rest of the post.

first, i was going to the gym before i went to meet the rest so like any other person, i waited for the bus. if you must know, the bus i waited for isn't really that popular a ride so SBS very cleverly makes it comes rather infrequently. and so the bus finally arrives but the driver just drove off, totally disregarding all the people at the bus stop. like totally WTF? so i had to wait for the next bus which, as usual, took really long to come. that really wore my patience out a lot for the day. but, nevermind.

next, after dinner, we were on the way to cine to get the tickets. then, it happened, yet again...
no~~ nobody ever believes the person who's always the victim. they don't care because it never happens to them. i frequently tell them "it's the danger zone" whenever we go out to town but they continue to courageously march under the trees along the stretch of the road to heeren. bam! (or more precisely, splat!) i got hit by bird droppings for the upteen number of times. honestly, i've lost count. so i try to wash it off, but it just doesn't come off. i don't know what nuts that damned bird has been eating but it just left a sickly green stain on my t-shirt. so i started my new quest to get a t-shirt. yea my friends put in some effort to help me but eventually just gave up. i mean, sure, it's not them what. i guess no one looks at me so nobody would notice the green area on my shoulder. maybe i'm just too self-conscious. but having to wear that stained t-shirt really got me pissed. there's only so much heat a guy can take.

something has been really getting to me recently as well. for some unknown reason my mum has been extra annoying and unreasonable after her trip to shanghai (i forgot to mention, she didn't bring any souvenirs for me. thanks ah.) she made a hell lot of noise when i asked her to buy the straits times yesterday since she was going down to pick my brother up anyway. she went on and on about how picky i am because i refuse to read the business times which she got for free from her subscription to the chinese paper. come on, if they are really the same why would SPH bother to run 2 different papers? and, hey, i'm under no obligation to read it just because you got it free. if i wanted to read it, i would have, you telling me to do so won't make a wee bit of a difference. she also prattled on about how i buy stuff that are "made in china" when we are going to hong kong in november and should have waited till then. what kind of logic is that?

actually one of the scenes in the movie reminded me of the time when i was preparing for my prom. if only my mum was half as supportive as troy's mum. i didn't even asked her to spend a single cent on my prom stuff ok but she just went on disapproving my clothes, saying it's so~~~~ expensive and whatnot. i only got a shirt, shoes, pants, belt and a tie. i didn't even get a blazer....i already tried my best to keep the budget reasonably low considering i had to pay for everything myself and everything came out of the savings i made out of my own effort. she thinks she's a modern woman with an open-mind. but in reality she's really in her own world and is as stubborn as an ass. (so much so she probably is one) i mean, look at what she told my cousin about her birthday. she said that my cousin should be careful of which guy cuts her birthday cake because some guy who likes her might want to cut it to "show off"? show off what? that he's a good cake cutter? if anyone not living in the 50's or mars can find the logic in that piece of admonishment please kindly point it out to me ok? really can't stand her antics anymore.

ugh...that was a mouthful (handful, whatever). i hope tomorrow will be a better day. damn, i miss the days when my mum was overseas. oh well, until next time then. cya.

First Blood! Bargains Galore~

first of all, i want to say thanks to everyone who has read my blog. also, thanks to everyone who has given their feedback. all suggestions given have been very constructive and i'll be sure to take them to make this blog better.

alright let's jump right into the juicy stuff! after holding onto my reins for like more than half of the month i finally let go and managed to get some pretty good deals!

i actually made a trip down to queensway shopping centre to try to get a deal for the nike gym bag i saw in the stores but it was a rather disappointing trip. even though the shops there sold it at like 15% cheaper than the retail price at the nike stores, not a single one of them had the brown colour one which i wanted and only had the black one. (bleah~~) so i made up my mind and decided to head down to the nike store at wheelock place to get the brown one (imo, to get the right colour, it was worth paying the full price) i went down and asked the shop assistant for a new piece. after checking she told me the last one they had was the display piece and i was a little hesistant but then the nice lady said that she could give me a 10% discount for that piece! (wow~ so unexpected!) so here's the bag!



it's big enough to put all my gym stuff inside! (even my shoe bag!) next time i can go to the gym after work! and the strap is removable so it's super versatile! look at all the different ways i can carry it!

you can sling it!:




carry it using the handles:


on the shoulder:


and for the slightly more adventurous, like a backpack (it's a very japanese-y way to carry it):


totally love it! it's casual enough to go out with yet sleek enough to bring to work! nice~ hmm...maybe if you guys have any more good ideas can tell me. haha.

anyway, on the same day, i went down to taka because they were having their brand sale at the basement forum. everything was going at crazy prices! but i managed to keep my cool and just got this celio* shirt:



it was on 60% discount so i ended up paying less than $30 for it. (too good to be true~) just in time for the wedding. heh heh.

it is also about time i got a new singlet for gym because i've been wearing my favourite blue mizuno singlet a little too often. saw this on sale at the adidas store:



couldn't believe my eyes! it was on 30% discount at the official adidas retail store! even those shops at quuensway only gave like a 20%? lucky~
i can wear this with my adidas split shorts with red stripes! yay!

alright alright, enough with the excitement. i've gotta go get some sleep, need to wake up early tommorow for my dental appointment. so, ciao~
stay tuned for more updates! ;)

Official release! 魔杰座!

ok let me clarify something. the previous album review i did for 魔杰座 was for the preview version of the album. as it turns out, there have been changes to the official released version. basically the songs remain the same but the order and most of the titles for the songs have been changed. the cd also comes with premiums! jay poker cards and calender! (yay?) okok, here's the official cover:



the official tracklist (*names of track in preview version in brackets):
01.龙战骑士 (*魔杰座)
02.给我一首歌的时间 (*女儿红)
03.蛇舞 (*东方之殿)
04.花海 (*红楼梦中)
05.魔术先生 (*失恋的青蛙)
06.说好的幸福呢 (*失落的非主流)
07.兰亭序 (*从新爱)
08.流浪诗人 (*大灌篮)
09.时光机 (*达芬奇的画布)
10.乔克叔叔 (*小丑)
11.稻香

i feel that these song titles are way more appropriate than those on the preview edition. this track order is also much better. all these factors added up gives the official album a much better overall presentation. i like this album a lot more because of that too.

apart from the songs i've mentioned in the earlier review, i find that 给我一首歌的时间 is also worth a mention. it's a soothing slow song. very K-able. (*note: K-able = good song to sing at the karaoke) 说好的幸福呢 reminds me of Landy's 祝我生日快乐 which was of course written by Jay himself.

the title track 稻香 really gets to you after a while. it's a very light-hearted song that talks about how we should just take things easy in life sometimes. somehow it just makes you want to get in touch with nature, probably because of the lyrics about the scent of wheatfields and the cricket sounds at the beginning on the song. (until you start thinking about the annoying mozzies and how all the grassy scents would just trigger off your nose into a sneezing frenzy that is. haha.)

well, that's all for now. until next time~

Grand debut! ~Deluxe edition~

this is the first post on my new blog and like any deserving tv series or fledgling magazine, this is going to be the equivalent to the 2 hour premiere or special double issue! yup, i'm going to give my readers (if any) a special treat right from the start.

why did i decide to start a blog you might ask? oh well, as i've got some free time on hand recently i decided to might start on a new project to spend some time fruitfully(?). second, i also found i needed a medium for my endless ranting (especially when i have nothing else to do). third, i also thought that if i catalogued my shopping misadventures, i might actually realize how much i'm spending and this might help curb my cravings (hopefully). so, yes, this is also going to be my shopping journal! yes, perfectly normal guys can also have shopping journals. fourth, well there is no fourth yet and i'll tell u if i think of more reasons. anyway, if you're looking for profound or emo stuff here, you are barking up the wrong tree (well, at least most of the time).

alright, let's get started shall we? for my super special extra long virgin post, i'll cover my top buys for the month of September! (surprisingly i've managed to control myself so far for October)

first up, *drumroll*, my new pair of denims!


front view

back view

was looking out for a new pair with slim fit when i managed to get this at levi's when they were having a sale. (hmmm...don't they always have sales?) after discount i think it still wasn't very cheap la, around $100plus a bit liddat. love the cut! when i tried it on i just knew i had to get this. oh ya, the wallet chain u see in the pic is my own (got it earlier this year). there was a denim version of the chain (so it's more like a strip) that came with this pair. i thought this would look better so i changed it. recently i've been wearing this pair quite a lot. so...it's a good buy.

next up!

this was purely an impulse buy. the store was having a sale and the design really juz got me from afar. BUT it's a good impulse buy, not the kind that's left hanging on the hanger. it's definitely a steal!

last (in case you were wondering, they are just being listed out in the order i bought them):

this is one of the cases when the display on the mannequin actually got me into the shop. haven't got to wear it yet but i'm planning to wear it tomorrow. but so far so good!

ok! i'm done with the shopping journal part of this post! why don't we move to the review of the last movie i watched? the last movie i watched was...

yup, House Bunny! stars Anna Faris and also Katharine McPhee of AI fame. Anna's character is a super stereotypical bimbotic blonde from the playboy mansion. she got kicked out and she finds herself becoming the housemother for the outcast zeta house. well, she helps them get popular, they help her get her guy who isn't just into looks rah rah rah. predictable main plot aside, there were many antics and dumb blonde jokes that just got us laughing. it's just a light hearted comedy that you can watch when your mind just needs a techincal break. it pretty much served it's purporse and it is better than some other movies i've watched recently.

Phew~ that was quite a lot but, hey, since this is the 2 hour premiere, heck, i'll throw in an album review too. and the album i'll be reviewing is...

S.H.E - 我的電台 FM S.H.E (wo de dian tai FM S.H.E)

the first time i listened to this as though i was just listening to a regular album where i just browsed through the tracks and most of the songs didn't leave much of an impression. but a few days later i gave it a second chance and listened to it from the very first track and it was a totally different experience! the theme of this album is to sound like you're listening to the radio with certain tracks that sound like the dj is talking. what really cracked me up was the track "xi bi fu ren shi jian" where hebe tries to play an aunt agony role and selina pretends to be a caller who needs a little help in her love life. selina's character is pretty shameless and admits that she is quite pretty even though her face is a little round and was quite proud that a middle-aged guy tried to hook her up even though she was too busy to give him her number. there are actually many good tracks that really stick in your head after a while. like the song "bi ni jian" sounds like a revamped version of the MJ oldie "billy jean" and "an jing le" is a rearranged version of jay chou's "an jing". there's also my personal favourite "612 xing qiu" which is loosely based off the book "the little prince", the story about the prince who lives on his home located on asteroid 612 and has feelings for his rose (it's pretty hard to explain here, you should read it for yourself. it's a classic). if you haven't heard this album i'd reccommend you get your hands on it and listen asap!

hmm...while we are at it, why don't we end off with yet another album review?

Jay Chou - 魔杰座 (Capricorn) [Preview Edition]

personally if you asked me, i'd expect more from a jay chou album. it actually isn't bad but just not up to the expectations for a jay album. there are tracks i like though. this album generally has a soft, slower feel to it. the song "dao xiang" is reminiscent of his older song "ting ma ma de hua" and has a very Nan Quan Ma Ma touch to it. the song "shi lian de qing wa" is one of the mid-fast tempo songs and has a cutesy presentation. it also cleverly uses a line from jay's song "niu zai hen mang" from his previous album. "hong lou meng zhong" is a slow song that kinda leaves an impression too.

alright, that's the end of the deluxe premier edition of my blog! look forward to more random posts in the future with more shopping updates or just some of my ranting! heh heh.