the last samurai

" Finish each day and be done with it. You have done wat you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget then as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your nonsense."

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

movie type: Action/Adventure
2 hrs. 24 min. Set in the late 1870s, this epic film depicts the beginnings of the modernization of Japan, as the island nation evolved past a feudal society, as symbolized by the eradication of the samurai way of life. We see all this happen from the point of view of an alcoholic Civil War veteran turned Winchester guns spokesman, Captain Woodrow Algren (Cruise), who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the emperor, Meiji, as part of a break away from the long-held tradition of relying on employed samurai warriors to protect territories, as the emperor's new army prepares to wipe out the remaining samurai warriors. When Algren is injured in combat and captured by the samurai, he learns about their warrior honor code from their leader, Katsumoto, which forces him to decide which side of the conflict he actually wants to be on.

xiaoqiang says: those who've watched "Band of Brothers" or "The Patriot" must catch this show. it's kinda sad at the ending, for death was the only way to honour the samurais and to wake the emperor up. i must say i am touched by the way of samuraihood.

r e f l e c t i o n s

10pm - dickson's place, chilling, burning CDs

11pm++ - Mag came over after work.

12am++ - met up with Paul at St James PowerHouse( i wish~)

4am++ - still at St James Powerhouse. the set juz ended.

5am++ - at Fong Seng, having prata for superfast(supper + breakfast)

I was at St James PowerHouse with Paul Van Dyke last night. yesh..we have a very intimate session. wahahah juz kidding. PVD is in town on Chinese New year Day 1 spinning. this set was also riding on the launch of his new album, Reflections. he was one of my favourite DJs. so gonna support him man. though bar counters were crowded with people with drinks, drinks and drinks. it looked as if the booze was on free-flow. but it's not. but at least one bartender was one of my junior. think he's still stuck with NS *opps*... PVD was spinning some great tracks + the atmosphere was like one of those HK rave parties. Matthew and vincent were the centre of attraction when this duo played the lightsticks. well, too bad no pix to show ya guys how beautiful they swinged the sticks along with the trance.

i want to play PVD's songs for this post but then again, it sux on website background's music. i aren't gonna spoil the songs man. so i played another one.

Chinese New Year 2nd day - wet day.... very wet day.

While i was enjoying myself last nite, i was rather caught up in the middle of a strange strife. one is a guy and another is a girl. we shall not name them. but apparently, they are not together at all. but it seems like one party has extented expressed his/ her concern over certain issues. which i would think these issues shouldn't cbe onsidered at all when both of them are not even together. i believe there's a certain stand a friend should stands and a certain stand a friend should keep. we shouldn't step over this line, though this line is real thin and often overlooked. i just hope this 2 will be fine, after all, they would make a good couple. only if they said the magic words.*grin*

--A Note on Crushes: Part I--

currently playing John Mayer - Back to You


Taking this theme from Miss vera's friend,Fiona's blog,

qoute from miss vera: "I suppose it might be beneficial to you readers to get an idea of what type of crushes that I might go through, have gone through, or have just seen/heard of"

++

1. Evolutionary Crush: perhaps the most common out of all my crushes, this crush usuallyevolves from a friendship. It is probably the most secure of all crushes, being that the crushee and crusher have been friends for quite awhile so each person can get to know the other as him/herself. There is less of a tendency to hide the flaws and bad character. However, it only works out if both individuals start of as true friends, with no inkling of a crush involved. It could have the potential of leading to a relationship. Note the word "could".

2. Obsessive Crush: perhaps the rarest of my crushes being that I usually have too many things of importance to take care of, this crush is the 24/7 crush. Every spare moment is spent thinking about ways to get crush or just crush in general. Usually it prevents any sort of productivity whatsoever, and it can be quite dangerous! This type of crush can also evolve into "Stalker Crush" *see #6

3. Fantasy Crush: this crush is similar to fiona's fake crush, and I have to say that eversince LOTR: Fellowship, Orlando Bloom has been my hot hot fantasy crush. This is the crush on some celebrity or nonexistent person/elf/magical being (even counting any hot anime boys like the White Knight from Sailor Moon - give me a break, I was twelve!)

4. Visual Crush: this is something like Fi's physical crush, but I use visual because there is an addition to her description of a physical crush. Not only does this crush make you want to "toss into a closet and make out with/shag madly", it also gives you thoughts of how beautiful your children will be. On top of those two factors, this is the type of crush where you want on your arm, wherever you go, because this crush is so drop-dead hot hot hot that he/she will make all other persons on the street/hospital/federal building gawk with extreme jealousy and wantonness. LOL I can't say that I have ever been on the crushee end of such a crush, but I have definitely been a crusher!

5. Passing Crush: something like a fleeting crush, it happens usually as a one-night obsession. The crushee is usually someone of hotness, and is usually met at a large gathering - like a club or a party. The crush can last for the entire night and with good luck, a make-out session or two, and then at the end of the night, the crush leaves, thus terminating the crush.

6. Stalker Crush: such a crush involves knowledge of AIM, computers, extremely awesome social skills, and the ability to "disappear" at the drop of a hat to cover your bases. It is the crush that involves finding email addresses, AIM names, and phone numbers. It sometimes can lead to frequent phone calls to his/her house simply to hear the crushee say "hello? hello?" only to slam down the phone in record-breaking time. Other actions might psychotically include driving by crushee's apartment in hopes of catching a glimpse of crushee. Mind you, I have never engaged in such a crush because I have never found anyone that worthy of such time and devotion on my part.

7. "Unsuitable Crush": this is as described by miss fiona as well...unsuitable. I tend to call it the Smoking-Crack crush because it usually involves some psychotic action of picking a crushee that has absolutely no comparison to yourself whatsoever.

8. Pragma Crush: taken from Lewis's definitions of Love, pragma love is based purely on "financial benefits": what do I get for what I might put in? Pragma Crushers usually go into a crush thinking of the benefits that they could obtain from the crushee and also analyze the potential disasters that could result from going through such a crush. They are, essentially, your financial analysts of crushes. Such crushes include huge risk assesment, frequent group meetings (with friends) to analyze any drops or rises in the present investment(s), and have frequent bouts of transitions and sales from one pragma crush to a new pragma crush.

9. Unrealistic Crush: this is the type of crush, as defined by fiona, that falls on a crushee that has absolutely no potential whatsoever to work out into a relationship of any sort. This is somewhat similar to a Fantasy Crush, except that the crushee is usually someone of equal status with frequent chances of running-ins, bump-ins, elevator moments, etc.

10. Denial Crush: this type of crush involves actual crushing on the crusher's part, but a mental denial that one has an actual crush. There could be many reasons for this crush, the most obvious being that the crusher has just gotten out of a relationship (usually a bad relationship) and is mentally in denial of wanting any sort of relation to the opposite sex. Emotionally however, the crusher is indeed a crusher and has one of the crushes mentioned in this post. Such crushes are blindly defined as "chill sessions", "hanging out", and so on when truth is, it is a blatant relationship of crusher and crushee.

There are of course, other types of crushes, but to go into each and every one with serious contemplation would be a huge time chunk out of my day.So until Part II, you will have to bear with this unconcluded post.

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You are one of the few out there whose wings are
truly ANGELIC. Selfless, powerful, and
divine, you are one blessed with a certain
cosmic grace. You are unequalled in
peacefulness, love, and beauty. As a Being of
Light your wings are massive and a soft white
or silver. Countless feathers grace them and
radiate the light within you for all the world
to see. You are a defender, protector, and
caretaker. Comforter of the weak and forgiver
of the wrong, chances are you are taken
advantage of once in awhile, maybe quite often.
But your innocence and wisdom sees the good in
everyone and so this mistreatment does not make
you colder. Merciful to the extreme, you will
try to help misguided souls find themselves and
peace. However not all Angelics allow
themselves to be gotten the better of - the
Seraphim for example will be driven to fighting
for the sake of Justice and protection of those
less powerful. Congratulations - and don't ever
change - the world needs more people like you.


xiaoqiang says: hmmm.. the world needs more ppl like me?? wahaha..


*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
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A R T D E P T

juz found 1 interesting website, art-dept.com where they featured some artist illustration..bla bla bla.. the illustration above is by Yoko Ikeno

Cheaper by the Dozen

upload a new pix on the right. yes. i just wanna act cute for a while. the pixwas taken the night before lip's wedding.

currently playing Astrud Gilberto - Fly me to the Moon

this is the best X'mas prezzie i've received in all 23-24 years. wahahah.. branded leh.. one of the 'aunties' got it from Swarovski.

Well, 2004 was bit of a surpise now. though Chinese new year is in next 3 days... frankly speaking, i CAN'T feel the atmosphere or the spirits...*sigh* CNY used to be fun. and i don't visit that many places now. which also means my 'ang baos' is also as little..HAH! nevermind then. i shall be happy though got to worry about some money matters.*sob* from now till the next payday is more than a month.

just before 2003 ended. i had a strange dream. didn't want to mention it in the previous post. 'cos i don't wanna kill the festive mood everybody were having. can't remember the details now. but it's strange, weird. and the only person i remembered i saw in the dream was actually a friend in secondary school. well, i can't say i didn't liked her at all.. it's more to the infatuation/ crushy type. i remembered one of my classmates liked her too. i shall continue this next time.

Met up with Gerry yesterday for late lunch. yes late lunch. but i was late. sorry girl. Met Clara and her at Wisma's Mango. Want to have late lunch at Taka's food court but ended up at Susui Tei. Crowds!!!! Horrible crowds!!! Met Jc and his wife. kekek...they were also having lunch. ahem.. late lunch. usual kopi sessions at starbucks for her. did abit of catching up after she disappeared for a while. Still jobless..wahahh keep it up girl. you will find a job.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Lord of the Rings - the Return of the King

3 hrs. 30 min. The Fellowship's journey is coming to an end. Sauron's forces have attacked Gondor's capital of Minas Tirith in his final siege against mankind. Watched over by a fading steward, the once great kingdom has never been in more desperate need of its king. But will Aragorn find the strength to become what he was born to be and rise to meet his destiny? As Gandalf desperately tries to move the broken forces of Gondor to act, Théoden unites the warriors of Rohan to join in the fight. Even in their courage and passionate loyalty, the forces of men – with Éowyn and Merry hidden among them – are no match against the swarming legions of enemies raining down on the kingdom. With each victory comes great sacrifice. Despite their great losses, The Fellowship charges forward in the greatest battle of their lifetime, united in their singular goal to give Frodo a chance to complete his quest. Traveling across treacherous enemy lands, Frodo must rely increasingly on Sam and Gollum as The Ring continues to test his allegiance and, ultimately, his soul.

xiaoqiang says:basically, i waited for the crowd to die down the rush of the opening. so i can catch the show in peace, in comfortable viewing distance. what can i say. the movie has been on my waiting list for so long. and it's one of the must catch movie in the cinema. Good graphics, effects. great scenery. but the Hobbits seemed so gay in the movie. though that's their personalities in the book. it's kinda draggy towards the end. but still.. it moved my tears for their friendship.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Comedy and Kids/Family
1 hr. 55 min. When Tom Baker (Martin) gets a job offer to coach football at Northwestern University in Chicago, he and his wife, Mary (Hunt), move to the big city, which is a big change for them and their 12 children, who range from preschool-age twins Kyle and Nigel all the way up to 22-year-old Anne (Perabo) who has already left home. With the recent publication of her long-in-the-works book, Mary feels demands outside the home taking away as much time as Tom's new job does, so the two are forced to try to find new ways of parenting their massive tribe, but they find their parenting styles aren't always completely compatible.

xiaoqiang says: it's really hilarious. i really can't imagine myself having 12 kids. i really liked the last twins. remember to catch the NGs after the show.

LIP & JOL ROM..

currently playing 98 Degree - i do( cherish you)

this might be a long post and i'm don't intend to split this post up. my year 2004 started with one of my closest friends, my bro Lip & his wife, Jolene ROM. i would say, it's abit stressful for this really young couple. but i think they will be just fine.

had lip's last bachelor dinner at one of Suntec's restaurant. orr.. lip, next time when you fill forms, you have to check the " married" box. well, we waited for douglas & sharon for quite a while. you probably can tell from my face expression. i am really full after the dinner. it's one of those ala carte style steamboat. back to the hotel was getting ready for the big day the next day. my hands got abit itchy while waiting the 2 of them finished their obsession with the bath tub. i decided to look for mr and mrs bear and trying to teach them we humans mate.

while the both of them enjoyed their lovely b'fast, douglas and myself made our way to mcdonalds. and also to pick up the flowers. by the way, the florist is not bad looking. i can't named her here but the flower shop is at basement one of raffless city. hah! the make-up artist is there when we reached the hotel room. no rush or hurry for us(as if we were pros) before the ceremony starts. but before the ceremony commence, i had a chit-chat conversation with the JP aka Justice of Peace. yes, he is David Loh. He appeared on 4th Jan, Sunday Plus. he was telling me the camera he's holding has an age. but it never fails him when taking the current archives of wedding pictures. even when the camera had be dropped on the floor twice... well, boys and girls, try to get Mr Loh to be your JP when it's your turn. he is really a funny person.

besides waiting for " i do", i am also waiting for the big spread of food which jolene has been reminding me one month back. that's the bride and the girls. unfortunately, roger couldn't make it due to his duties...damn.

below are some shots, which i found it amusing myself.

i love you two. Lip and Jolene once again, congrats. alright, knots were tied. when am i gonna see lip junior?