After the Raya

Hooo dear....

I'm feeling the workload. What with having several meetings in a week, on top of a crazy amount of reading needed. But at least I got to spend a good weekend with my family. They came up for the Raya holidays...which translates to spending time out with them, which equals to less time for assignments, but yeah.

Didn't do anything special...but we went to my uncle's place. And there was a PS2 there!!! I was so happy T_T Just spend the whole day glued to the machine...playing ToA and Star Ocean...finally! The feel of having a controller in your hand and the sight of Fayt going in to bash the enemies with those very familiar skills....sure missed the feel of it. I saw Albel-sama too~~ *dies a happy fangirl*

But now it's back to work....with multiple things to do and loads of stuff to read. Hopefully, by the time the year is out, I'm still alive and well lol.

Gamers, go watch Gamer

SERIOUSLY.

**SPOILER ALERT**
In the future, gaming has revolutionized into a form of virtual reality in reality. Developed by a man named Ken Castle, it started off with a life-simulation game called Society. It pretty much mirrors Second Life and the Sims. Here, a player can control another human being, much like how we control Sims, using them to interact and do whatever in Society...and I really do mean whatever. There are also people who 'work' in Society, people who get paid for being controlled.

A new game, featuring this same model of control, called 'Slayers' was then developed. In Slayers, players control real-life convicts, all who have a death sentence on their heads. I haven't played any war games before, but Slayers is your typical shoot-and-survive game. Convicts are given the chance to go free...if they can survive 30 sessions. And in Slayers, the man closest to being the first to reach that is Kable (real name Tillman). A big part of the movie shows him running around, blowing the brains out of other players in the game, but there's a hint of conspiracy and rebellion through it. On top of it, he's got a wife who is a controlled character in Society and a daughter adopted by someone else. Tillman escapes the system and exacts revenge....or justice, however you wanna see it.

**SPOILER ALERT END**

At first glance, Gamer might look like your run-of-the-mill action movie, complete with fast-paced gun action and pretty gross carnage. It looks brainless, but there is an underlined issue of gaming violence and what it does to people. If you're a psych student like me, you know desensitization and dehumanization.

You can watch it for the bloody galore of it all, but you can also think of the implications the movie has about media violence. Gamer gives us a look at how it's like for the person playing the convict and the convict playing the game. For Tillman, the pain, deaths and violence are very, very real. He carries a psychological burden of having to go into the battlefield...not knowing how many people he would have to kill, not knowing when he would be killed. Yet, his player (a 17-year-old rich brat, Simon) treated the game exactly as it was...a game.

The truth is, no one cared who dies in the game. Blood, gore, violence....the adrenaline rush, that's what drives the population wild every time they watch a live session of Slayers. And to them, Kable is like a shipped hero of that game. So real people died on the other side of the screen...so what, they were criminals waiting to die anyway. That's what's being portrayed in the movie...and it reminds me how human beings remain the cruellest creatures on earth.

Gamer is not a movie for you if you can't stand seeing body parts flying off, or blood spattered all over the place. It's also not for you if you have issues with sexual scenes, since a few players of Society look like their sole purpose in the game is to order their avvies (for the lack of better words) to get laid and watch. Granted, they never did get there, but personally, I found the controller of Tillman's wife really gross.

That aside, it makes for a pretty thoughtful watch...for an action movie anyway.

Swell week...

I just came back for less than a week and it's been so "happening"...haih...

Shortly after I arrived home, there was a blackout in my area. Apparently it's been happening pretty often lately. I think the electricity was out for maybe about almost 2 hours?

Then the stray cat we've been feeding (who got pregnant) gave birth behind my house. Technically, inside the compound...and left the kitten there, umbilical cord and all. We were literally running around the house wondering what to do with the kitten, till my mum had the sense to call Luffy's vet and asked him for advice. Turns out that if the kitten was meowing loudly and scrabbling around (which it did) it's probably healthy. So yeah, one sigh of relief. But we have to help it cut the umbilical cord...*gulps*

It was...mystifying, if anything. I wouldn't say I was totally disgusted, but it wasn't the kind of experience you wanna go through again. So I put on the only pair of surgical gloves we have left and struggled with the kitten, trying to get a hold of the cord. It's so feisty, I thought, "Ah, this one is going to live for sure!" So yeah, got a hold of the umbilical cord...obviously, with my hands full of kitten and cord, I didn't do the cutting. My sister grabbed a pair of scissors (which we disposed of later) and cut away...

Done and away with all that, we tried to feed it with some pet formula milk. Future note...straws are lousy, get a dropper. Anyhoo...my mum said if the cat doesn't turn up, I'm gonna have to care for the kitten. Cute as it is, I'm not sure I'm so keen about feeding it and helping it poop. But thankfully, its mum turned up a couple of hours later and carried it off. I think it gave birth to a few more. So there we were, cheering for the reunion, when my sister said, "Ah, we should have taken photos." But yeah..

Then I found out my PS2 is out of commission. AV wouldn't display...argh!! I've checked it through, and it's nothing to do with the TV, nothing to do with the AV cable, which leaves the machine itself...*beep*! My brother's theory was that it short-circuited during the blackout. Which kinda makes sense. So now I'm on a long holiday with no PS...great...

But all is not lost. My sister has somehow gotten hold of FF7, PS1 version. Although, regrettably, my grandfather broke my PS1 when he played with it the last time he came back, Sam downloaded the emulator. So right now, I'm hijacking the desktop until my PS2 gets ported off to repair...or doom be spelled when it's too old to fix. I just got my hands on Abyss and Star Ocean, so I don't care how, but I'm gonna play it.

Time to kick some Shinra ass, so if you please, I'll be off.

*Interesting* V-day...

V-day...the day where people (esp guys) open up their wallets and drain their life savings on goodness-knows-what in the name of love. Isn't if overrated, how we choose this one day to show our affection for loved ones by being extravagant? I mean, we can show affection in many ways, and certainly not just on this one day. But no, I told myself not to be judgemental. Those who have those significant others to spend it with, I'm sure you enjoyed each other's company. Those who are like me would probably have either spent the day enjoying one's own company, or went out with your friends ala singles' night out.

But alas! My plan of having a fairly uneventful V-day was disrupted by a fairly bizarre and shocking incident! I was much disoriented after that...but being me, decided not to let it bother me...till after my evening out anyway. Service was funny, actually, since Ps made some really hillarious allusions to us female species, and gave advice to the guys that they all paid close attention to while the girls laughed knowingly. After that, it was 'makan' time, then I headed home...my plans for the night drawing to an end. Of course, there was that issue to deal with still...but some advice and sleep sorted it, and it has been taken care of since.

What about you? Anything interesting?

PS: I really kinda wish I had a camera phone...or a decent camera with me nowadays. It's when you hang out with your friends like this that you wanna take a snap and realise that, "Drats! No camera!"

PPS: I soooo want to play Dissidia Final Fantasy. Now I wanna get a PSP just to play this game, dang it! It's literally a fangirl's dream come true, to see your fav FF characters ditch it out cross-universe. Personally, the fact that I can finally see Zidane and Kuja rendered in 3D reminiscent of Advent Children is icing on the cake. If you haven't seen the intro video, I recommend you Youtube it...the visuals are breathlessly beautiful.

Some DFF wallies; top one is the hero wallie, bottom villians.

Of Books and Birthdays and the Brand New Semester

Woah, I've been taking a long break off my blog. Partly because I'm back in Ipoh, mostly because what I was doing in Ipoh. I must say...once I got back, I literally glued myself to the PS2..haven't played for a long time, and my bro finally bought back Shadow Hearts 2, but it was the Jap version (We had the English one once...but I think my mum threw it away T_T)

So yeah, spent the whole week playing Shadows Hearts 2, and watched lots of TV. There is no TV where I stay in KL...and eat lots of good Ipoh food...went to Camerons and had tea there...went to Penang for a day trip and eat some good Penang Food. Did some shopping too. (Actually, my mum did the shopping, but she got me a new pair of shoes out of the trip XD)

Me and meh siblings...my bro 'leng chai' le? XD

In Penang's Queen's Bay Mall

UTAR Kampar...scenery is superb here.

Our beloved Luffy...ain't he cute?

And most importantly, I've been catching up on reading. I've been devouring my books like crazy...with what time I have left from PS2. Managed to digest 'The Shakespeare Secret'...gonna do a small book review here:



I like books that challenge me mentally, and are able to engange me into their storylines. So yes, I like books which have language capable of transforming words into graphics in my head, and plots which allow me to think about the 'whats' and 'whys' abd 'hows'. Chick lits lack these severely, with a few rare exceptions. This book is essentially another 'Da Vinci Code' in the guise of English Lit. Basically, it talks about a woman who is searching for a long lost (perhaps legendary) play of Shakespeare and a murderer is on her trail. Really interesting plot twists, and the story is well-grounded. If you're not a fan of Shakespeare or English Lit...or even Da Vinci Code, then I think this book may not appeal to you very much.

Then I literally chewed through 'The Black Book of Secrets', a fantasy fiction of a Secret Pawnbroker and his assistant. I find the concept of pawning secrets interesting, and the relief and breakthrough brought by unloading these secrets remind me very much of psychologists and counselors in general. Now, if I can just go back and grab Book 4 of Septimus Heap...The Queste, if I recall correctly. I'm craving for some good horror-based novels too...I miss my Anne Rice vampire novels

I'm now back here in KL for my 3rd semester. Really sucks that I can't take PMG101...which translates to having to take an ADP elective...which means staying back for an extra week. >< Just hope we can take some interesting elective. On a side note, Ms Winnee's class looks to be another interesting sem. XD It's interesting when you have a lecturer who has OCD and has all sorts of cute and funny quirks! XD

Today is Gorgan's birthday! Whee~~~ Happy Birthday, our beloved 'Umma' and Jie~~ XD

We decided to surprise him a bit. Pretended not to remember it was his birthday, then got him cake and coffee from San Fran's. When we burst into birthday song and gave him the cake, his whole face was red...I think he was close to tears, hahaha... And we got him the necklace! Hahaha, he was smiling into his nasi briyani the whole time! I'm really very glad that he was happy. I don't think anything makes me happier than seeing the smiles of those who are close to me. ^^ Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (corny, I know).

PS: I've updated the songs of the month too. If you've never heard them before, give it a try. If you have, well, I say listen to it anyway. 'Whatever They Say' and 'Somebody to Love' really display DBSK's harmony and prowess. And 'So I' is a really sweet song from Super Junior. (Yes, I'm sure my fandoms are apparent by now)