LEon の话

My KubrickToys Comics

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:24:09 GMT

It was a weekend and I was packing my toys. Come across some of my Kubrick toys and decided to play with it. Here are some the Kubrick I had.

Above are 3 of the Matrix Kubrick which I have. I got them as they really look cute.
PS: The yellow car (Bumble Bee animated) is not a Kubrick toy. Special guest appearance only.

Batman and Robin were given to me as a gift from a friend who collect Kubrick as well.

Jin-Rô on the other hand was quite a hard find and I bought it from my friend who has an extra.

In the past, buying Kubrick is like "Tikam Tikam". You have to try your luck to get those rare ones. Nowadays most of the figure already shown on the art work of the boxes. Some shop also sell it loose for a price of course. I didn't collect much Kubrick. Only those I find it cute and within my budget.

The passing of Michael Turner

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:37:24 GMT

I came across this pieces of news at Wizard website that the co-creator and artist of Witchblade, Michael Turner dies of cancer last Friday, 27th June 2008 . After battling Cancer for 8 years... At 37... that's a young age.

I collected Witchblade comic when in was serving my national service. I remember heading down to Serene Centre with my one of my army friend who was into English comics. Witchblade was one of those rare English comic I collected. The style of Michael's drawing appeal to me and I remember his name. Since I was there when the first book was out, I started collecting it. As you like the artist, you will likely to follow his works.

I found some of his press release during his battle with cancer and working toward his dreams.

“ I want to express my apologies to the fans and retailers who’ve stuck by me throughout this arduous Soulfire run and the many delays on the book’s release. The past several months have honestly been incredibly painful to me not only physically, but also mentally trying to finish up the last few issues in the series and meet our return ship date. Towards the end of last year after completing my commitment to Marvel for a run of their covers, I dove right back into the Soulfire work, completely ready to get everything finished up in time for the big return and finale. At the time we announced the books return date, I had believed many of my health issues to be behind me, but unfortunately the pain in my leg and hip came back strong and fast. It became time again for me to address the situation before something worse happened. I’m closing in on an 8 year battle with my cancer and I know I’ll beat this eventually, I’m just backed into a corner right now and need to fight my way back out again. Unfortunately, the Soulfire schedule takes the hits too.”

“I’m going as fast as my body lets me,” says Turner. “My goal is to go at a steady pace and try to get a couple of pages done each week. Some days are good for me, and some are not. I’ll just need to deal with those as they come and stay on track. Thankfully, the pages are turning out well and I’m excited for everyone to check out all of the new things I’ve been putting into the book. I want to make sure it’s worth the wait for everyone.”

Read more here.

Art by Michael Turner

It's inspiring to see how Michael kept going in life and battle cancer head on for 8 years from setting up his own comic company to continue with his art with his fans. He fought a good fight. May he now find peace.

More about Micheal Turner
More about Michael's Artworks

HOT TOYS M Icon WONG KA KUI 黄家驹十五年

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:35:28 GMT

光阴似箭. 十五年前的今天,我其中喜爱的歌手黄家驹告别了人世. 想到真是惋惜...

为了悼念黄家驹, 香港的 HOT TOY M Icon 做了三个黄家驹十二寸的人行.

他们很成功的把黄家驹的神态捉住了. 相识度很高. 做这个人偶一定是黄家驹的FANs吧?

一个是1992 年演唱会的家驹.

1993 年演唱会的家驹共有两个版本.

其中穿青色外套是限量版. 只有40个. 好象全40个是为拍卖慈善筹款.

我真的很高兴香港会做黄家驹的人偶. 黄家驹在那年代在音乐界的贡献和给年青人的歌真的觉得他是配得这份荣誉.

十五年了.人虽然不在,但歌曲依然还是这样被热爱.

Premium Jazz Transformers Movie

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:59:10 GMT

Jazz is the only Autobot that went "Offline" in the Transformers movie. The vehicle was cool but the toy does not justified Jazz as the body was never properly painted or should I said never painted at all. Rather than looking like silver metallic, it look plastic. Finally the Premium version does SOME justice to Jazz. I use the word SOME as the Quality Control of the painting was not consistent with each toys. Here are the my review.

Package
The package layout remain the same, the only different was the label of the "Premium Series" and the name of Jazz is in chrome Silver. Have a closer look.

Vehicle Mode
The car design of Jazz look really Sleek. It is a Pontiac Solstice GXP.

I just love the car design! You can see the numbers of photo I took for Jazz in his vehicle mode.

Did you notice that some spots were not painted properly? It's pretty obvious right? Here is a picture of every angle of Jazz in vehicle mode.

A view from the top. You can't really go wrong with a good car mold.

Let's mount the gun up. Wicked!

Transformation Mode
The transformation is pretty easy and the joints are steady and firm.

Does this mode look similar to you?

Robot Mode
Here is Jazz in full Robot mode.

Jazz was armed with a gun and shield which look great. However this toy Jazz do look a little stout. I guess the legs were a little too short, that's why.

I choose not to answer that question of yours Jazz.

So how this deluxe class Jazz fair with the rest of his counter part? Let's take a look.

Compare to Leader class Optimus Prime, Jazz do look in scale as he is suppose to be shorter than Prime anyway.

What about with other Deluxe class? We have Bumble Bee in Camero 1974 with us today.
In Robot mode...

But when in Vehicle mode...

Seems like scaling problem once again... Anyway the toys are targeting more to kids and to kids, scale does not really matters.

Overall Premium Jazz is still the way to go for those who wanted a movie Jazz. For the same price, I would rather pay for Premium than a normal plastic looking ones. Of course the QC of the paint job have yet to be improve. However the toy is fun to transform and a good looker in car mode. Way to go Jazz.

Erm...Jazz. Do you remember what happen the last time you said that? Tthat was your final word in the movie anyway. Maybe we have not see the last of you. You may return in the coming movie. :)

Before there is Blog, there was homepage

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:48:18 GMT

I was going through some of my stuff the other day and I happened to find out another homepage of mine. Beside having a homepage in Geocities, I remember that I had another one in Fortunecity.

The birth of my homepage was in 1997 when I was picking up HTML by myself Back then they are couples of popular free web spaces that allow anyone to create their homepage. Some of the more popular one that I know of were Geocities and Fortunecity. However the web space provided was rather limited. I ended up signing for both web spaces to try it out.

With the demand of people wanting more web spaces, some of this web space providers had to fight the demand of web users. Due to the unstably of some of this web space, I hop between them from time to time. Eventually I settled down to Geocities to stay focus. Geocities used to allow FTP where I can directly upload my own created pages. When Geocities go with Yahoo! it really gets unfriendly. By then, most of my content were already up and thus I stayed on.

Everything that I did back then, I have to take bandwidth as my first consideration. No point having a full graphical web page when visitor were put to wait to see the whole website. I know to some who read this may find it rather alien to you. But before the millennium, majority of home users were still using 56K connection.We are talking about World-Wide-Web. Some people on other part of the world maybe in lower bandwidth then that. 800 x 600 was a rather standard resolution. With all that in mind, I started doing my homepage. Doing web pages in frame was the way to go due to bandwidth constrain. All pictures had to be optimized in JPG or Gif for easy loading and also because of the limited web space given by the web spaces providers. You should see email capacity given then but that will be another blog entry for another time.

Javascript was fun as you can ask for visitor's to enter their names and a pop-up box will follow greeting the visitor with his/her name in customized message. In any homepage, Email contact of the owner, Guestbook and counters were found almost every homepages. Some even have survey and feedback options Having music in pages was a IN thing too. Instead of having MP3, Midi was a good choice (maybe an only choice) as it is small and some midi ain't that bad at that time.

In the new millennium, I included CSS and started to change the layout of my homepage. Removing the frame, I started to get my hands on learning Flash and put up some plug-in in the web pages.

I realized that what really make homepage work was that you got to have a theme or something that you are passionate about to share. In my case, was my artworks. You also have to be willing to learn the related programing languages. Of course you have to have some creative juice as well. As I look back, creating that home page was really a fun learning experience and it was monumental as well.

Read about Geocities history.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:02:41 GMT

Chipmunk's cutie power is still going strong in the new millennium.

They have done a great job in CG for this movie. I don't know if you have notice but each chipmunks have different color eyes in sync with their signature colors. Alvin for red, Simon for blue and Theodore for green.

The soundtrack was equally great too. The cover version of "Bad day" took me totally by surprised in the beginning of the movie. It is good that the Chipmunks stay relevant to times.

My wife instantly fell in love with them after watching the movie. Her favorite is Theodore. I guess Theodore's chubby cuteness during the scene where he asked to sleep with Dave really rub off. Guess Theodore is more popular with gals rather than Alvin huh?

Too bad I didn't really get to see any toys of them in retails. Did they ever reached Singapore? Maybe I missed it.

Flashback a little to the Chipmunk cartoon that I watched in 80s. I still can remember the song in the intro of the cartoons. It was really catchy.

Watch out, cause here we come
It's been a while but we're back with style
So get set to have some fun
We'll bring you action and satisfaction

We're the chipmunks
C-H-I-P-M-U-N-K
We're the chipmunks
Guaranteed to brighten your day

When you feel like a laugh
Give us a call we'll give you a roll
And if you feel like a song
Tune in to us and sing right along

We're the chipmunks
Coming on stronger than ever before
We're the chipmunks
Alvin, Simon, Theodore
Do-Do, Do-Do-Do Do!

The 1980's cartoon intro video can be found here.

Somehow I had a feeling there will be another movie. Guess we will be seeing more of you guys in time to come.

Behold my Hands

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:49:07 GMT

Above is a piece of my "Art" (more than a decade ago) which I drew it on the column of my parent's house. Inspired by Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel drawings on the walls and ceilings, I decided take on a personal project to do a wall drawing at my home. My dad graciously allowed me to do at one corner of my house which is my study area (which was my drawing area as well). With the limited space, I decided to draw the Michelangelo's Creation of Adam (Only the hands). Instead of drawing Michelangelo's version of the outreached hands, I took my own hands as reference. Must be original, else it is a copy right?

I drew it in pencil and after drawing the outline, I took a rest and thought of painting it later. However it remain in that way since. I think it look better in Black & White. To be really honest, I allowed laziness and contentment to set in. I am unsure how it will look after painting in color either. The process of coloring and getting the tone right are hard work! If I did it wrongly, it will destroy what I have done so far too.

It is a "Milestone" artwork to me personally as my late father continue to allow the drawing to remain on the wall. Guess it look "Presentable" and true enough many of my guest did asked about it and gave some praises.

The drawing remain for more than a decade and I took a picture of it before I moved out. Today the walls are repainted but the fond memories of the process of making the art piece stays with me.

Prowl Transformers Animated Toy

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:51:46 GMT

Is another review for Transformers Animated toy figure and this time round we got Prowl.

Prowl is the only motorbike transformers so far in the animation series. Surprisingly in robot mode, he is taller than Bumble Bee.

Packaging
In packaging, Prowl look really nice. Since he is the only motorbike figure, of course he would stand out among the rest. Knowing it is small in size, the manufacturers put it on the most left hand side. The weapons were displayed clearly in the packaging. Yes including the traffic light. Now I wonder what does the traffic light have to do with Prowl.

Vehicle Mode
The bike mode look really cool! I can't really put my hands to where are his hands nor his legs initially in vehicle mode.

At all angles, Prowl is a good looker. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any figure which will look good sitting on top of it.

Compare with a Acree in scout class side by side, you can have a idea what is the size different.

One weakness of this figure in bike mode was balancing by itself.

Autobot Transform!

The transformation is not that simple as I have to really look into the instruction booklet and transformed it step-by-step.

Robot Mode
In robot mode, Prowl is tall which he should be. However the joints are rather easy to come out. Although it can snap back in place, you would still want to handle with care.

Prowl is rather flexible. It is the only one which can be pose in a sitting position so far.

The facial was well done. Look just like the one in the animation.

Weapons
One of the weapon which is the blade was cool. It can be fitted at the side of his back tyre. The blades can be expanded as well.

Next weapon, a traffic light. How can traffic light be use as a weapon? Beats me. It is a rather stupid idea if you ask me as it was not found in the animation as well.

We just leave it to Prowl to do the explaining.

Overall a value for money figure. I do not know if time to come will Prowl have anymore weapons or armor add-ons but I think I will just stick to this Prowl version figure for now.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:44:41 GMT

I will not review the movie but share some thoughts after watching the movie.

After the show, my wife asked me why Aslan the lion was not as pro-active like that last series to come out and help but rather wait for someone to seek him out when he already had a simple solution to solve the conflict? That question really start me thinking.

In "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", it was Aslan battle against the Ice Witch. Both of them are some kind of Immortals (Not Human) and at that time, Aslan was the ruler of the land. Generally it was Aslan was more proactive as the battle was to get rid of the Ice Witch and install the rulership to the Sons of Adam. After the victory, Aslan handed over the rule of Narnia to the Sons of Adam. So Lucy, Susan, Peter and Edmund start ruling and later went back to the real world.

In "Prince Caspian", Aslan is no longer responsible of Narnia (at least not directly) as he already handed over the ruling of Narnia to the Sons of Adam (Human race). So it is understandable that Man have to seek out a solution and decide. Remember Aslan made this statement a few time? "Things never happen the same way twice"? Beside the enemy was man this time round. True that Aslan has taken the back seat but he have to out of respect to Human's rights. If you have watched the movie, you will know that Peter, Susan and Edmund were not really looking for Aslan but rather choose to rely on their knowledge, understanding and experience to try to solve the problem on hands by themselves.

Lucy on the other hand was trying to tell them to look for Aslan but they were not patient to wait nor listen. Peter who plan the surprise attack and it went badly. In his stubbornness, he refused to take full responsibility of his actions and instead push the blame to Caspian. No doubt Caspian action of seeking revenge on his uncle Mirza but did not have the heart to do it was wrong. Have I told you that I don't like the Prince as he is "Sissy" and weak? Guess what? I am not the only one.

Out of desperation, quick fixed solution was offered to them. The resurrections of Ice Witch symbolizing the dark temptation for an easy way out but will cost you dearly in end was offer to them. "You got no choice!" "You already lost so much, don't you want to end all this?" Sound very familiar? Don't do it! They were lucky that Edmund who in the first installment fall into that deal with the Ice Witch stepped in end the resurrection ceremony. In fact, Edmund has overcome that obstacles but not Peter who was blinded by revenge.

After all these happening, they still did not look for Aslan. Half heartedly perhaps but "they got no time, situation is hard pressing them." Is that really so? Or they did not really find the time to do so? Only at the last of their straw, they find the time to seek Aslan. You know the story or the movie if you have watch it. Aslan saved the day.

Looking at Aslan, he really remind me of some experience elderly person who have thru experience gained wisdom but when the younger generation is taking charge, he just step a side. When a situation arise, the elder just keep quiet. Not because the elder do not care but they know even if they do give their advice, the young leaders may not listen and insist they want to do things their own way. So the poor young chap have to go thru making all the mistakes and until they came to end of themselves, they finally are ready to listen and asked for help. There is a saying "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." That is where Aslan, the old experience person step in and solve the problem.

Wouldn't it be easier if in the first place they seek Aslan out and asked for help? Yes and No. If Aslan had stepped in earlier then Peter and the rest will not appreciate how hard they try and gain the experience and wisdom in handling the situation. End of the day, they have to conquer their own giant in their life. Including the prince (I still don't like him at the end of the show).

Of course, above are just my opinion. There are lots of interpretations.

If life is like a cup of Hot Chocolate

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:39:34 GMT

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups-porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:
'Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each others cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate we have.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Care deeply. Speak kindly.. Thank the Lord for your blessings . And enjoy your hot chocolate!

* Credit to the unknown writer (Not me)

Sales should respect people privacy

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:49:15 GMT

When selling, respecting other privacy should be the up most priority. It is common sense but some still don't get it!

Door to Door sales method
Don't you just hate people knocking at your home door selling things to you? Seriously I really think Door-to-Door sales should NOT be practice anymore. It will never produce any good result for the company or the product. Worst is when you have aggressive salesman who do not take No for an answer and people are just trying to be nice.

Sales should always do in a neutral ground. Home is never a neutral ground. Without you knowing or not, people are not open to what you got to sell. Home is a private place people and generally they do not want to be disturbed. So what if you are even selling ice-cream? So what the salesman had a license or claimed that they are commission by certain authority or organization to promote some things to you? Most of the time which is not the complete truth anyway.

Maybe this should not be in here as sales topic but since we are talking about door-to-door I would also like the add about door to door evangelism. You can forget about it. It is likely to get into argument right at people door-step which you have no rights to invade people privacy anyway.

Doing direct sales when people is eating
Have you hear of the phase of do not disturbing people when they are eating? It is a basic manners but still some salesman just don't get it.

The most annoying and stupidest move is to go into a food court and start selling things (like tissue paper and what not) to people who are having their meal. Although people couldn't go anywhere as they are in the middle of their meal but that does not give you the right to listen to your sale speeches.
Even if the sales is close, it will be done resentfully. For sales people who is doing this, do not feel confuse and wonder why people are not receptive toward you and may even give you a angry look. Your action is rude in the first place. Stop distrubing people who are having their meal!

Cold calling with private number
This is one area that many will have some experience in. Calls ranging from credit cards or insurance promotion to "you are one lucky winner" are not new to everyone. Even if you are a lucky winner, chances are they have terms and condition that later you need to qualify to claim the price. Such calls are just never welcome. Most of their sales line are scripted and sometime some telemarketers could not wait to finish reading all they got before even allowing you to say No.

How did they get your numbers in the first place? When asked, they do not have a clear answer as well as the telemarketers will just told to do their job with the list. To make things worst, such company uses private number which is not honest nor accountable.

In short, some of the methods above may had work back then but times has changed.
At the end of the day the rule of the thumbs is this. Unless you are invited, if not, you are never welcome.

Do not be a Solicitor.

Transformers Animated Soundwave

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:13:07 GMT

Since my previous entry is about Mini-Compo, let's do a toy review of Soundwave in Transformers Animated series.
This decepticon had a big fan base and one of them is me. Stood faithfully under the leadership of Megatron, Soundwave is one loyal Decepticon.

Originally a mini-compo player, in the recent animated series, Soundwave finally become a moving MPV vehicle. A good take I would say.

Yes your eyes are not deceiving you. That is the guitar on top of the MPV.
So what the Guitar for? If you are a fan in the Generation 1 transformer, you will remember Soundwave being a mini-compo cassette player in disguise had a good number of loyal sidekicks in cassette form. One of them is Laserbeak which transformed from cassette to a bird (eagle) in the Generation 1 series. Although in latest animated transformers no sidekick of Soundwave made any appearance, the toy had included one.

Behold, Lazerbeak transform!

Quite neat isn't it?

Let's move back to Soundwave shall we?

Vehicle Mode
The fluorescent green outline I thought was meant for glow in the dark but it was not. However if under UV lighting (those blue lighting tude), the outline should stand out like in the animated series.

I realized that some of the outline of Soundwave was not painted like the back of the vehicle. Some cost cutting measures? Ya. it is kinda different from the prototype AGAIN. The rims of the wheels should had be painted in gold. Look at the prototype figure and you can tell the differences.

Robot Mode
Let's see how Soundwave transform himself from Vehicle to Robot mode shall we?

The figure can balance really well. The back do look a bit of haunch. Can you see the "Power On" logo on his back?

It always a regret that the Transformers toy maker never make soundwave come with any actual sound feature like he can say a line or two? The best they did was to make it a MP3 player. I still like how Soundwave sound like in Generation 1 series tho.

Well let's see if Soundwave can dance. Maybe they can start a "Transformers / Decepticon got Talent" or something.

Soundwave: "It's good to be at the..."

Wow, Soundwave really can dance. See what I told you about how well these figure can balance itself even though he look bulky?

Since Soundwave had a guitar, can he sing as well? Soundwave can you sing us a Rock song?

Yeah! That is my kind of music! Rock on Soundwave!

PS: The above singing and dancing are NOT that actual feature of the Animated Transformer Toy.
It is just Fiction done up by digital touch up and story telling.
However the actual toy do look, transform and able to be pose as the above.
Have fun.

My Aiwa CA-W35 Mini Compo

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:55:14 GMT

I was at my old apartment the other day, doing some clearing and there were some things that I have kept it for a long time. Most of them I kept are for sentimental reasons of course. Like the sayings goes "A time to keep, A time to throw away", I decided to throw away some stuff that day. However before I do that, I can't help but to take some photos and blog it for memory sake. I will be doing more listing of my "treasures" in time to come.

Mini Compo in the mid and late 1980s were COOL! It was a great things to have especially during gathering like BBQ or overnight stay at outdoor. However due to it portability, some teen had used it inconsiderately on public places like bus stop or even on bus. Nothing seems to change from then and now right? Except now is using mobile phone speaker playing MP3 while then was using Mini-compo.

I wanted to own a mini compo which has a double cassette deck in 1987. I found a attractive offer on the local newspaper ad and request my father to get one for us. He did but it was not the one that shown on paper but a better one. My dad got a Aiwa CA-W35 for us for less than S$200.

See the red stickers on the cassettes deck? they were not the original stickers. I use other aiwa stickers to paste on it. I had some aiwa brand stickers from some retailer uncle back then. Should I do a informal review of this 20 years old gadget?

aiwa CA-W35 come with a Built-In Graphic Equalizer, a headphone jack and microphone input which you can see on the picture below.

These are the double cassettes decks which I take about. It allow record song from radio and from other original cassettes to customize my on the go music album for my walkman. You can also do some extended version of some songs if you know how. The Dual Cassette Mechanism complete with Continuous Play (After the cassette play finish side A, it will auto switch to play side B without removing the cassette from the deck).

It also come with High-Speed Dubbing that is when you are recording from cassette to cassette, it will play and record as the cassette will spin in double speed which sound like the Alvin and the chipmunk version. The result will be on a acceptable range but I always find it will not be as clear as it should be. Normally I do not use that function.

The Cassette Mechanism also come with One-Touch Recording, and an Automatic Stop System.

The AM/FM Stereo Tuner come with it own extend able antenna which can give a good reception most of the time.

In cases where you still do not find the reception really that clear to you, you can use the fine tunning node.

The mini-compo can be break a part also should you want to remove the speakers and place it in a room to give a stereo effect.

The last time I on this devices was in the 90s. The cassettes did not perform well like how it used to be and thus I stop using it. It was a CD time anyway in the 90s. I only used it to listen to radio in my study room.

Guess what cassette was in my 20 years old mini-compo? It is a "Beyond" album cassette which was 18 years ago!!

Talking about cassettes. I had many cassettes back then but along the way I threw some away during spring cleaning. Here are some that are still with me today.

Michael Jackson was BIG in the 80s and 90s. I had his Thriller, Bad and Dangerous album cassettes which is still with me now. One day will give a more detail review on that.

Another Beyond twin cassettes which is still with me. This album was the best of the lead singer, Wong Ka-kui who had met an accident and passed away in the early 90s. Sigh... after that I hardly hear the later part of the Beyond's songs.

That all for now. :)

6" Venom from Spider-man movie 3

Fri, 30 May 2008 02:15:07 GMT

Finally after a long wait, I got a 6" Venom from the Spider-man 3 movie. I actually got a 5" Venom sometime back but I am not happy with the scale as it look too small! Thank God I waited and not give in by buying from some sellers who sell this figure at high prices.

I got this figure at the Takashimaya toy sales. Originally was $17.90 (You can verify in the picture) but there is 20% discount!! I only paid for $14.00++ for it! It is a steal right? And to think I was about to pay $35 for one. Good things come to those who wait.

The packaging is colorful and the display in card look really good.

When I open the packaging. I found a Green Goblin Sticker hidden at the back of Venom.

Now to review Venom out of the package!

Thanks Spidey, on with the proper review!
From the front and back, Venom look really massive as he should be.

Venom's signature tongue on side view. Wicked!

Time for Spidey to join in to further the review.

You can see the size different between the two of them. Yes, the scale is correct for 6"!

This Venom figure lose out in joints compare to Spider-man. On the hand, Spider-man's fingers can move while Venom's fingers could not.

On the leg part, the Venom toes does not bend like spider-man (see the orange circle part of spidey) which make Venom impossible to crawl.

Although losing out with joints, this Venom generally still a good figure. It is still flexible enough to make some pose which is good enough for me.

Don't take it so hard Venom. Guess he really hate to lose...

Yahoo Auction Singapore problems

Thu, 29 May 2008 02:38:13 GMT

I have been using yahoo auctions for years ( 8 years and counting). Often for looking out good deal of toys and stuff. Although most of the time the toys sold by individual are at much higher price but still there are some reasonable good deal around.

Now I can't even do any decent search with related result in the yahoo SG auction site. This problem has exist since last week.
Anyway of late, the condition of yahoo auction are having some technical problem. No doubt Yahoo customer service still reply inquiries and feedbacks but noting much are being done. Is it had to do with Microsoft buy over? I don't know.

Is Yahoo closing down their auction services? Seems like heading that way. Yahoo auction US was retired on June 16, 2007 which was not too long ago. If US had closed down, other sites may suffer the same fate right? Is just a sooner or later thing right?

Someone asked in Yahoo! Answer "Is Yahoo Auction Singapore closing down?" and got a few responses, but they are no official word given that they are closing down auction sites for good. However you can see the problems still remain to this day.

A saying goes if the service is FREE, you should not complain. But you can Blog and share about your personal experience!! I hope Yahoo can do something to keep or upgrade auction in Singapore.

Congkak the horror movie

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:52:45 GMT

Just caught this scary movie last weekend with my wife and we really enjoyed it. We have seen Thai horror movie before but not for Malaysia horror movie.

When I was making my payment for the movie ticket, the ticket seller remind us that the movie will be speaking in bahasa Melayu. I told them we are fine as long as they have English subtitles. I actually prefer watching movie in their original language. We were a bit taken back however to see some children (less than 8 years old) watching that show with us. Even though it was rated as PG, we still felt that such show maybe too scary for the children and they may have a bad dreams. Yes they do scream a lot too. On with my review.

Warning. Spoilers ahead.

The movie started with the legend on the origin of Congkak, a Malay board game. Myth was some special individual (royalty) who played the game make it into some spiritual game and at the end of the game, a spiritual gate will be opened either to heaven or hell by the Congkak guardian. Please note that the above is what the movie said. For the real origin of the game Congkak can be found here.

Anyway a family consist of the Father, mother and 2 daughters were on a trip away from the city to their new purchased house at the country side aka Kampong for holiday. The family was rather divided as the father being the man of the family will usually decide things on his ways which sometime are rather stupid in the later part of the movie.

The father was driving his family car and he lost his way. They drove to a rural place and got spooked by some evil forces which lead them to a house which he taught it was their new resort unit. Everything was fine but the wife felt something was wrong even the house look rather new.

To cut the story short, the little daughter heard a old lady kept calling her name and was lead to a room which was locked initially. There she found a Congkak and started to playing with it. Her dad saw the Congkak and encouraged her daughter to play with him together for a good quality family time. More weird things followed when the old lady appeared to be playing Congkak with Lisa (the little daughter) in the middle of the night.

Shorty the angry teenage daughter who went around kicking stones and throwing rocks in the kampong got possessed. The family sent for spiritual help and she was cured (for awhile). Even after this incident, the stubborn father refused to believed in the spiritual aspect or cutting short of his family's holiday regardless the constant protested of his wife.

Soon the wife also got possessed also . This is the most funny part. The wife was not well and lied there stone cold and the husband can still tell the wife that they will leave tomorrow morning. Hello? Your wife is not well, what make you think she will be okay tomorrow morning when it was not even night time when he make that statement?

The last straw came when he woke up to see 2 daughters gone and his wife floating in the mid air on top of their bed. He freaked out and ran out of the house. Yes, hopeless husband which in the mist of his fear ran for his life leaving the family behind.

Anyway a Malay priest came in time to deliver the distressed family. It seems that in the beginning, the family were already being targeted due to the wrong stop over by the father. The visual effect of how the Malay priest "fight" with the devil was nicely done. Of course the ending was a happy one. Everyone was saved and the haunting was gone.

Overall a simple horror movie and we enjoyed it as it was a different take.

Transformers Animated Blackarachnia

Thu, 22 May 2008 12:23:18 GMT

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Help! Spider crawling up my thighs!!!

Just joking. This is Blackarachnia from the animated transformers. Doesn't it look scary? Actually I find her rather neat in spider mode.

Well she look like this in the cartoon.

When in robot mode, the designers really gave her feminine features. Look cold but sexy. The sharp golden claws and pointy helmet somehow remind me of Thai design.

With a spider and a woman, it make sense to have a big butt. She comes with heels as well.

"I am the ONLY female in transformers animated toy (so far in the series), Hear me ROAR!!"

One down side was that her hand lack of joint at the wrist.

She got two pair of eyes and it will glow if there is bright light source directly at the back of her head.

As for weapons beside her venom, it come with a clip which act as a claw.

Aim and shoot!!

Yes, she can start hanging around with you if you want.

Okay exclusive Transformation capture from robot to spider!

I fancy this figure which I find she look better than Acree transformer. However being a big spider as vehicle mode do not make much sense She is one wild Decepticon.

Rude kid, Unremoseful Parent

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:28:59 GMT

I was at ToyRus the other day with my wife. When I was approaching the Transformers section, I noticed a kid was firing away a toy blaster gun which was still in packaging and making a lot of noise. He was the only child there. The mother in shirt and jean was at his side folding her arms pretending that everything was alright. I tried to ignore the misbehaved kid and look around some transformers. The kid was sitting in the middle of the shelves which make it difficult for me to take a closer look at the toys. There are lots of "Optimus prime twin pack" in the lower compartment of the shelves, I just reached out and picked one up for a closer looked.

As soon as the packaging was in my hand, the kid shouted at me and said THAT was his. There was another just the same at his side and thinking it was a misunderstanding, I ignored him and inspect the package (I just want to see, not wanting to buy). Her mother told him, "No. You have another one just beside it. That is yours." However the kid refused to understand. He stood up and snatched the packaging from my hand and gave me an angry look. Not wanting to be A Tug of war, I released the package and stayed cool waiting to see what the mother to handle the situation.

The mother did NOTHING.

She did not reprimand her child nor did she apologize to me for her son rude action. That was equally rude. I walked away with my wife not wanting our days to be spoiled by the kid's rude behavior.

Maybe I should give a piece of my mind to that kid on that spot but I choose not. Why should I? It is not my kid and if his parent did not CARE enough to discipline his son, why should I? Why should I cast my pearl to the swine? Lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear me in pieces? No, I will hold my peace and let the parent to reaped what they have sow. Shame is on you parent when your child misbehaved. More to come if she still choose not to discipline that kid behavior.

After making our round in ToyRus, we saw the mother walk away from the kid leaving the child still having his fun at that transformers section. Guess she had given on the kid AGAIN. Anyway this is not the first time me and my wife met rude parents but that was another story itself.

I am fan of GhostBusters, the Real Ghostbusters

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:07:42 GMT

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.

Stealth Bumble Bee Transformers Movie Toy

Thu, 15 May 2008 13:19:04 GMT

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?

Photo Album: ME x5

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:33:49 GMT

ME x5

Sept07: Im in the Matrix!! Welcome to my World. Not Jet Li.

jan06: Cameron highland

Jan06: Tea plantation!

Aug05: We all need to drink.

Aug05: Looking up to me ya? hehehe

Oct04: Me at Thai River

Apr05: watch my k700i then

Apr05: Darkside is strong!

Apr05: I look sexy but not prevert!

Sept05: B&W shots

More Photos...

Photo Album: Outdoor Pics

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:20:45 GMT

Outdoor Pics

bugis Street Jun2007

Singapore Skyline May 2006

Near the Bay May 2006

May Sky 2006

Green old building

sky of 2005

China Town Sky 2004

More China Town Sky 2004

Art painting on a wall

Near to home view May 2006

More Photos...

Photo Album: Nieces

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:03:46 GMT

Nieces

yuying3Apr05: Let me comb your hair.

yuying8Aug05: Dont block me!

yuying8Aug05: I tired!

ying8Aug05: ah yu wat you doing?

yuying8Aug05: playing together

Yu: I shy.

Yu: watch me walk uncle.

yu: No shooting pls. me wanna sleep

Yu: I want to be carry!

yingYing at Redhill central

More Photos...

Photo Album: ToyShots

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 08:52:03 GMT

ToyShots

pengine among Toys

Bleach: do i look taller?

Bleach: side view also look cool rite?

bleach vs Luke skywalker 1

bleach vs Luke skywalker 2

Papaer astro boy. Will burn later?

Paper mouse display. Burn later also?

Lego bobafett

Ghost in a Shell Standee

keroro toys line up

More Photos...

Blog list: Blog list

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:46:22 GMT

Daily Silence
One of my Toy friend Blog. Gundam, keroro and other writings.
TAMAKI's Little Treasure
A very good to mixed of toy and real environment thru Photoshop!Jap site but no need to know the wording. Pics do all the talking.
TOMOPOP
Collectible Toy Culture

Custom List: Recent Watched Movies

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 16:26:46 GMT

Recent Watched Movies

Superman Return
Not exciting and lack of good storyline. Give me back my old original superman anytime. 2 Stars from me.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
2nd installment of Pirates. Enjoyable and funny but need to wait for part 3 for a conclusion. 4 Stars