LEon の话

I am a fan of Ghostbusters. Love it since the movie was out in the mid 1980s. It was so popular that they have it on cartoons for that. However there was already a cartoon named "The Ghostbusters" before by Filmation studios. To tell them apart, they name it as "The Real Ghostbusters" as it came out later spinning of from the live action movie. Even I catch both Ghostbusters cartoons, I still prefer "The Real Ghostbusters" (Sorry to the other Ghostbusters' fan).



What I fancy about the Real Ghostbusters was their equipments. Their Proton packs, Ghost Trap and their vehicle Ecto-1.

I do collect  the some of the toys of the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters's toys. They are as follows:

• Egon Spengler
• Peter Venkman
• Ray Stantz
• Stay Puft marshmallow man
• Bad to the bone (Still currently have it with me)
• Ghost bomber (Forgotten the name and it is still with me. A monster/ghost that fly and carry slime in the mouth).
• Ecto-1
  

Here is "Bad to the Bone" figure which is still with me.

You can see the plastic had turned yellowish after close to 20 years (1989 till now) Nevertheless, it is still in good shape.


Here is the EctoPlasm Bomber I was talking about. It still works but no more EctoPlasm (Purple slime).



The mouth is where you store the Ectoplasm. Press the switch on the back and it will open it mouth to release the slime. Neat!


Here is one of the remaining Proton Packs of the figure.

The rest was given to my nephew and nieces to play. I heard from my nephew he still keeps some of them.

I collected "The Real Ghostbuster" stickers by PANINI.(PANNI actually have another Ghostbusters sticker book.) as well. Here is how it looks now.


The stickers are awesome and colorful.


Some special stickers are in 3D Holographic design.



It was a great motivation to collect this sticker book as it had many give away. If you get M,N,O,P stickers, you can redeem a free Ghostbusters toy.


if you get a Q you can exchange a Ghostbuster's badge. I still have the Badge and an extra Q stickers with me.


Here is where Q was been pasted in the album.
 

My extra stickers are with me till this day.


Here how the back of the stickers look like. Come with different languages.


This was my first ever complete sticker book from PANINI. I sticked the Ghostbuster badge on my school bag. Nerdy I know but somehow wearing that badge made me feel brave. I ain't afraid of no ghost.

I managed to got hold of the DOS based Ghostbuster II developed by Activision in 1989.  I remembered playing it on EGA monitor with my 286 computer with a 5 1/2 " floppy disk drive which I had to exchange the disc from time to time to load the game. The game consist of total of 3 Floppy disks. Here a look of how the game looked like under Dos version. The game allowed some sound to be played by the internal speaker from the PC. It was a fun game. Busting never felt so good!

There will be a new game heading our way in a few months time. Apparently it will not be in PSP but other console. :( Anyway good reason to get PS3 or Wii since the game will be out in both console. Headache.. Anyway here is the official Ghostbuster game website.

As for the two Ghostbusters movies, it's in my  DVD collections too. :)


Well some hardcore fan apparently built the Ecto-1.
See the link

If you are a fan of GhostBusters, these site is for you.

We are ready to believe you.

I got a Stealth Bumble Bee toy from the Transformers movie line. I got this piece at retail price. The changes in packaging is the head change to Bumble Bee in battle mask which also shown in the movie.


It is not hard to tell the difference of this Bumble Bee and the original one. Yes it is not Yellow as it should be. This is the alternate color version. The yellow become black while the black become yellow. Chevy Camaro design already is quite good looking. Just played with the color and it should sell like hotcakes. That must be what the toy makers thinking.

The wind screen is in tinted blue which is a good touch.


The front view look cool in black. Actually black look good on everything.


See the uneven part of the top? I have not get this Bumble Bee to transform yet. It was just out of the box.


The view from the back can be better. Yes I know, my camera missed focus.


View from the Top side. Personally I find this view look best for the vehicle mode.


You can see the detail of the wording "CAMARO" on the side.


As for the Robot mode, they only change of head to the battle mask of Bumble Bee in the movie. Somehow the head does not go well with the color of the body. In fact the you see more yellow than black in robot mode which is rather confusing.


His weapon remains the same. A short blade which can change to be a cannon gun. Just look at the face of Bumble Bee, doesn't it look FLAT to you? The head color should be painted in black as well. Sigh...my Bumble Bee's toy head is rather loose too.


The transformation remains the same. It is basically just a Repaint figure. The paint job wise can be better.


The plus point of this Bumble Bee is in Black which is first time in other colors (Forget about cliff jumper movie version which used exactly the same figure as Bumblee Bee just in tone of Red). Minus point is the Mask which still look ugly to me. For retail price and nothing to buy at the moment, it is rather worth actually.

Does this repaint look better than the original to you?

Adding some emotion icons in your blog entries can be fun. That what I did. Actually they are some sites provide good emotional icons to your msn messenger or for your blogging entries.

UR emicons
Free Cute MSN Emoticons, Emotions, to Download - This is a really good source. :)

To add to MSN Messenger:

1. Select the emotion icon you wanted (which is a gif).
2. Right click on the icon and choose "Safe Pictures As..." and choose any location to save it to your computer.
3. Open MSN Messenger
4. Click on the arrow beside the first icon and click "My Custom Emoticons".
5. Click "Add"
6. Click "Find Image" button and browse to the saved MSN Emotion
7. Assign a keyboard shortcut to the icon if you like.

To use it in your Blog entry:

1. You need to have a place to store your pictures online.
2. There are some around and one of them (which I am using) is the Photobucket. You need to sign up and it is FREE.
3. Just upload the emotion Icon which is a gif to your online storage location.
4. Refer the url of the emotional icon to your blog as an image and you can see you are done.

Some words of caution
Try not to use too much emotional icon in ever sentences as it  may make reading more difficult and the alignment maybe out (Just look at my next sentence and you will get the hint).
Try not to use black or dark background on your blog as some emotional icon may not turn out well (like mine. See the white lining around the icon?)

Okay that wrap up my entry for adding emotional icon to blog entry. If you have any problem can just ask here.

By the way, if you would like to know how to backup MSN emotional icon and restore it, can refer to one of my previous entry here.

Do I want to own my car anytime soon? Now that is a very interesting question.
Of course I do want to own a car but I would think trice (not twice) if I would ever commit myself to get one in Singapore.



I do not mind paying for the fuel. Seriously I really do not mind a single bit. It is fair isn't it?  I pay for how much I used. But as for Parking? Why would I have to pay SO MUCH for parking? Logic being that your car only take up a certain amount of space but your space taken is a constant. If I pay every month for monthly parking fees for one location, why should I pay more or for another one which is still under HDB?

I was having a conversation with one of the car owner friend and he mention he had not go to some location in the city when he start owning his car. Reason? The parking, the traffic and the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) already turned him off. Indeed having to PAY the installment of your car is not the end of the story. The Road Tax , fuel prices, parking expenses, insurance and other maintenance fees have to keep in mind as it will all add up to your financial commitment. Yes, no doubt it is convenient in some way but in some ways you do not really enjoy your "freedom".

Factor contributing to lack of freedom are as such:

Think about going some place and you have to consider the traffic condition and the trouble of having a parking space and fees.
Think about waking much more earlier to office because  you worried about caught in traffic and limited parking spaces.
Think about going shopping and have to be mindful of your parking time which they may charged you another hour as you were just late to drive off by a few minutes.
Think about  visiting your parents or friends and worry about your parking coupons which had put too little or too long.
Think about some attitudes of car and cab drivers.

So do you still think you really enjoy the 100% freedom of having a car in Singapore? Does it make you worry more? Of course if you have the spare cash and you NEED it for family or preference and can really afford it, then by all means get one.

As for me, I am still pending that thought. I don't really see the need to commit myself of owning one. I do have dream of having one or two. Running on a wide empty road where the parking is free and traffic is light. If can transform, it even better!

I was trying out my PS2 on my FULL HD TV sometime back when my new TV just arrived and I was very disappointed with the resolution. Much of the screens showed was blur. It really a big turned off for me. I was using the standard composite cable back then which used to provide nice imagery on my old TV. But on my new HD TV, it does not turn out  that well. For those who do not know what is composite cable can see the picture below.


As I recently got a Component Cable for my DVD player to TV, I wondered if PS2 comes with Component cable connection also. I went searching and found out that PS2 do offer component cable connection. I went and the cable from Play-asia as the price was reasonable compare to my neighborhood game shop.


Anyway Component Cable for PS2 consist of 5 connectors. Green, Red, Blue, Red and White. The Green, Red and Blue are for the video which were dedicated to transmit no compression and impose no real limit on color depth or resolution signal directly to the TV. The other Red and White are for audio. Click here if you want to read more regarding Component cable in technical terms.

Once the connection is done, I turned on my PS2 and went into the system settings. T chose the Component cable connection and select the Full Screen option. I can really tell the difference once everything was done. The image is sharper and the color is so much richer. I was glad to change to component connection. So that taken up my TV 2 Component channel. Next game console will be using HDMI connection instead for BETTER resolution. Hehehe

Oh Great! GTA IV is releasing soon. I am a fan (consider sucker?) of this franchise. I got hooked on this game ever since GTA III recommended by a friend of mine.

The 3D free game play was ground breaking. With the good storyline, it just give you a whole news game experiences. You can get any car you like on the streets and drive around completing various mission by shoot out. The environment give you day and night with a big enough city for you to drive around and do craziest things. This game was so ground breaking that it received many complains from the parents regarding the streets violence and vice in every release of these series.



Things just get more cooler in the Vice City days.I just love the 80s! Full of Neon lights, cool cars and Retro music which I grow up with. This game was rich in 80s culture. You just felt you enter the world of Scarface, Miami Vice and Hawaii 90210. You get to fly planes, speed boats, cool motorbikes and even golf cart! The weird DJs at various  radio station will give you a feeling of how crazy the city was. Pop and Rocks songs will be playing in the radios and the thing I love most is their commercials as they are so funny and sarcastic The city is way bigger than the former game which allow you to fly helicopters above it. In the game, you will get a chances to own movie studios, private clubs and even penthouse.
 
When San Andreas first came out, it was exclusive to PS2 only. It gave me a good reason to get a PS2 and I did. Not for Final Fantasy, not for Gran Turismo but for GTA San Andreas. I even get the guild book for it! San Andreas was cool! I just loved the way the characters talks in this series. You get to groove / dance too in the game! San Andreas introduce new improvements. For the first time in GTA, your character finally learned how to swim. Your skill and physical status will reflect your training and diet. You get to go on dating with some female characters and may never get to have coffee session. As you complete more mission, your reputation will increase and you can recruit some "homies" to follow you in gang raid. It no longer a city map only, you get to in country side, beaches and town. The soundtrack was alright. Hiphops and R&B mostly.

Two releases was on PSP as well. Liberty City Stories and Vice City stories. You will be surprised that I did not really play GTA on my PSP. Reason? It is not ideal to play on a portable game console as it do not allow easy saved. It is so distracting especially on the go to play such games which sometime I get too frustrated busying in the mission that I missed my stop. So PSP GTA for me may not be really a good thing. Thank goodness these two series can be found on PS2 as well but I have not get a chances to get hold of it. :(

Now GTA IV is going to be release on Xbox360 and PS3. Between these two game consoles, it is hard for me to decide on one. Actually I am deciding between PS3 and Wii for my new game console. :P Sooner or later PC version will be release ( I hope). If that happen, I would have upgraded my PC for this game. Meanwhile I just  have to wait or  buy one of the game console. See how. Ultimately it is just a game to get relax so I just have to take my own sweet time to enjoy it. That the way it should be. Not to take such game so seriously. :D

I spent my weekend catching up recent movies. This weekend was Stallone weekend with John Rambo and Rocky Balboa. In my own opinion, Stallone did a good job immortalize these two characters.

John Rambo
A war movie hero icon who make a mark in the 1980s. Many commented this latest Rambo movie was violent. I would agree but it is not mindless shootings. It depicted well the cruelty of war and on screen, it need to be as real as it gets. But what about the children? Hello? That where the movie rating is all about! For those who are of age, you need to know the reality of war. Much more from hearing news about certain group of people who got massacre, guess how bad will it gets? There is no sanity in war.


The storyline was set in Burma and John Rambo had since retired in his war action and became a snake catcher in Thailand. A group of "Good work volunteers" request his services as a guild or boatman to ferry them into Burma to do some good deeds to the local over there. John refused their request initially as they do not know about the risk they are getting themselves into. He finally gave in to their request by the female volunteer whom displayed her stubborn and conviction ( I would said it is stupid for her not knowing what they getting themselves into) of "making a difference".

Half way through the journey they encounter pirates and with not much choices, John Rambo killed the pirates in full view of the group of  native volunteers. One of those ideal volunteer still blamed Rambo for killing the pirate without knowing their own life will be ended up the same manner should Rambo had not killed them first. The volunteer reached the destination and Rambo head back home. The volunteer attended to the villagers and shorty the village got raided by the militants. The scenes where the villagers got raided and the captives were treated was cruel. The volunteers was captured and John Rambo was called up again to help to ferry a group of hired mercenaries to save the volunteers again. The group of mercenaries would treat Rambo as a boatman and asked to stay with the boat but Rambo had his own agenda.

Even as age catches up with him, Rambo still can run rather well and can think quickly on his feet. I like the way he used his bow and arrows. The cruelty in the enemy camps look realistic and the rescue was exciting. The ending was expected. Hostage saved and Rambo wins. Rambo headed back to USA hometown.

One of the moving quote from Rambo in this series is "Live for nothing, die for something".

Overall 4 stars from me. This Rambo installment is more grounded in terms of actions and storyline compare to his formers. You may need to have some Rambo background to appreciate more of the Rambo character. You may read more here regarding the storyline of John Rambo.

Rumors has it that another installment of Rambo will be coming. Better do that soon Stallone. You are in your 60s already if I recall correctly.

Rocky Balboa Many including me loved this character created by Stallone. Flesh and blood character who life is an under dog success story. However as age catches up, Rocky retired from his boxing career and started a Italian restaurant. He seems to had a hard time coping with his wife's death while his son all grown up and pursue his own career rather disconnected to him. Surrounded with his old friends, Rocky wanted to do something. To fight a last fight so it seems. A lot of element of the Rocky series was put into this last installment. The classic soundtrack of his trainings scene still remain (All time favorite. Get you working out). In this movie, Rocky will also talk about some some real life issues such as Aging, lost of soul mate, wanting to do something more in life before it expire, son and father issue. This movie had a good moving quote when Rocky told the son to deal with his own issue and not blaming him (Rocky) for over shadow him (son). "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't 'bout how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!""

The ending was a happy one where he finally put up his last fight with the current heavy weight champaign. Actually what Rocky was fighting is his own demons. He finally get out of those unhappy thoughts and restore his relationship with his son.

Again this movie will only be more meaningful if you have been following Rocky series Unlike Rambo, the Rocky series came to an end.

For Stallone. He did a hell of a job in making Rocky and Rambo still look good and stayed relevant even as the characters get older in age.