1st Singapore Toy & Comic Convention

Last weekend was a real busy one for me.

It was the first every Singapore Toy & Comic Convention (STCC) and I was quite excited that Singapore was actually going to have one. The other reason why I was busy was coz I was helping a friend to launch his new comic book! More on that later...

Below are some pics from the STCC. Actually, there were quite a few other things to see, but I was kept busy helping my friend so I didn't have much time to go round taking pics. You can catch more pics from some other sites (click here and here for pics from other sites - Warning! Plenty of pics so they might take some time to load).

While I'm really glad that we have our own Toy & Comic Con, I as initially a little disappointed at the whole thing at the beginning. I was there on the set-up day and I felt that the booths and exhibits were a little low-key and boring. Some thots:

- The Star Wars exhibit was quite cool, but the booth was so small and there really wasn't much to see unless you are a super die-hard fan who must scrutinize every single little figurine.

- The Lego booth was a super let-down. THey only showed some entries on some Singapore-themed Lego structures. Come on.. there have been so many other awesome lego structures which I've seen in Singapore, where were they?!! And there wasn't even any lego sales!

- There was a decent representation of Singapore Artists, but I couldn't help but wonder where was the promotion? Much hoopla was made over the foriegn guests, but there didn't seem to be more effort promoting the efforts of local artists, some of whom are really good.

- In my bid to support local artists, I bought this comic novel from kenfoo, who was in the booth just next to mine. To be frank, it was the drawing which first attracted me to the comic. But when I read it... sigh.. it was so depressing!!! Don't let the happy smily drawing below fool you. It's one of those sad stories...

- There was plenty of cosplay/costume competitions going on. Not bad really. Saw this really cool guy in a Cylon costume which actual moving red eye! Sound effects included! Kinda nice to see more Singapore youths picking up on cosplay. I think it helps our youths to be more open in expressing themselves.

I was really surprised with the huge turn-out on the two days open to the public! It seems that there really is a pretty huge fan-base for all things comic and toys. But personally, I hope that the STCC can really look into improving next year. I felt that this year, maybe coz it's the first year, they can't really decide what they want to be. Do they want to be really serious and attract the fans with very niche stuff or do they want to attract the general singaporean with plenty of sales and offers. I felt it was neither. I guess it's unfair coz I'm comparing STCC to other Comic Conventions I've been to in Japan and USA. Those are really awesome. You can spend hours browsing the booths and there are sales, artists, talks, movies, etc, etc, etc going on around the clock! Very exciting! Hopefully we'll see more support next year and we can see more booths and more exciting displays and competition.

On the whole, a good start! Hope to see it continue. Here are some pics I took:

Oh yeah, as I was saying earlier, I was helping a friend who launched his new book (below) at the STCC. We had a good time at the fair and it was really amazing that we were able to sell out all 300 copies which we had brought to the fair! The book should be out in bookstores soon. So do take a look at it if you see it and buy it if you think it's good!

Mega Movie Mini-Reviews

In case you haven't realized by now.. .tonight (ie. Monday night) is server maintenance night for Age of Conan... so that's partly why there's a huge blog update. Sorry lar, for now, my life does kinda plan itslef around the two server maintenance nights for AoC :P.

The last two weeks have been movie-catch-up weeks for me. Since returning from Japan, I realized there were plenty of June holiday movie releases which I had not seen. So I hit the movies with a venegance and I've kinda realized that in the last two weeks, I've caught at least 8 movies... hehheh.

Well, it's gonna be too long to review each one of them in detail, so here are my mini-reviews for those who are still wondering if you should watch them:

KUNG FU PANDA

- RECOMMENDED! -

Good movie! Plenty of fun. Just wondering how much more interesting it might be if it were dubbed in Chinese!! Heh.

WANTED

- STRONGLY RECOMMENDED! -

Excellent action sequences! There are a few which litereally blew my mind away! Keep a lookout for the train scene. LOVE ANGELINA JOLIE. Jack Macavoy also played a great loser really well. Must see!

YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN

- RECOMMENDED (If you like Adam Sandler) -

This is Adam Sandler back to his roots. Hilarious jokes. Adult Jokes. Body Part Jokes. Can be a turn-off if you dun like Adam Sandler. For me... I LOVED IT!

21

- CAN SEE IF YOU LIKE -

Decent movie about gambling. Kinda predictable but it was a fun movie for me. Nothing spectacular unless you are a true maths geek and enjoy trying to understand the maths behind it.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN

- CAN SEE IF YOU LIKE -

Not a fantastic show, but much better than first one. Main characters are just not as interesting as characters in movies like Harry Potter. Shows you how important casting can be. On the whole, not bad lar.

GET SMART

- RECOMMENDED -

If you want to enjoy this show, leave your logic at the door. Don't try to think too hard, just sit back and enjoy Steve Carrel in all his naive stupidity. I find him pretty watchable. He hasn't reached irritation levels yet. Anne Hathaway is a nice icing on the cake. heh.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

- STRONGLY RECOMMENDED -

Though not as entertaining as Iron Man, this second hulk movie is much much better than the first hulk movie. Story moves along faster, effects are kinda fakey but still quite good, Edward Norton is an excellent Bruce Banner.

THE HAPPENING

- BEST MOVIE OF THE SEASON!!! NOT!!! -

This is such a wasted movie. Please avoid it. I only kinda enjoyed it only because it was so bad and I wanted to see how much lousier it could get. Even die-hard Shyamalan fans can't support him after this!

1Q 2005 Get Together

Sorry... this post is long overdue but I just downloaded the pics from my camera so I'm blogging it now (I know, I know.. it's a lousy excuse. :P).

On 18 June, Zongyi organized a class gathering for former 2005 1Q-ians. It was great to meet all those who turned up and you guys have really really changed so much! When Zongyi took out his laptop and showed me some of the pics when they were in Sec 1 and 2, it was almost hard to believe that you guys are in Sec 4 now!

A big THANK YOU to Zongyi for organizing the gathering. Hope we'll continue to keep in touch!

My new distraction...

It's been just over a week since I returned from Kyushu and I know my blog has not been getting many updates. Two main reasons really. (1) I'm in the finish-busy-period-so-now-I'm-super-slack mood and (2) I'm getting hooked on AoC (aka Age of Conan).


My days were kinda filled with catching up on all the movies I missed while I was away in Japan as well as catching up with friends. I've really been on a movie-watching and lunching/dinnering craze. My nights have been filled with the new MMORPG, Age Of Conan.

It's been some months since I kinda stopped playing WoW coz I was getting kinda bored of it. Things in my guild had gotten a little messy, so when I left the guild, I lost interest in the game. I still like WoW but I think I'll give it a break until the launch of the new expansion, Wrath of Lich King.


Age of Conan is the new MMORPG which is supposedly for more mature gamers (that's MATURE... not necessarily OLD.... heh...). It's reasonably fun so far. After playing for about 5 days, I'm up to level 16. That's still kinda low coz I think the action really starts after level 20.

The graphics for AoC are quite different from WoW. It's definitely more detailed and the combat is kinda bloody. I don't know if I really like this style of graphics. I'm not so much into realism. I think WoW is fantasy/cartoony enough to hold my attention and interest. And since WoW is not so graphics intensive, my laptop and old PC ran it reasonably well. For AoC, I had to upgrade my PC and even then, I'm only playing the game at a low to medium graphics level. Scary.


I'll give it a month of two to see how AoC shapes up. I think Wrath of Lich King is due for launch later this year. So I have up till then to see if I remain hooked on AoC.



Other than that... it's the off-peak season right now, so I'm thinking of taking a holiday. Can't decide to go to my always-favourite USA or try something new like Taiwan or maybe even Cambodia. Tough choices. :)

JYSS Photos Uploaded!

Yep! I've uploaded the photos for the JYSS Geog Kyushu Tour.

You can click the album link on the right or here (to access the entire album).

BVSS Photos Uploaded!

Hi all, it's nice to be back. Have been busy catching up on (1) sleep and (2) food!

I've enjoyed yummy horfun, vietnamese noodles, hainanese pork chop and more since I've come back. Next... laksa and chicken rice!

It was really nice to meet up with some of you from JYSS at the airport. Thanks for coming to receive me... sniff sniff.

I've uploaded the pics for BVSS. You can click the album link on the right or here.

Junyuanians... gimme a day or two more! Will upload the pics as soon as I can!

It's almost over!

Yes... finally time to go back to Singapore. I love Japan, I really do... but doing three tours in 2.5 weeks is really quite tiring. Cannot wait to sink my teeth into some shiok local singapore food!

Although tiring, I must say that I have been very fortunate to have three pretty fun groups. Each group was fun in their own way and the challenges were also very different.

The last group is from SJIMB. Thanks for the fun memories guys... and stop calling me u-noe-what!!!

Another tour... over

Blogging from my room in Hakata Fukuoka. Another group departs tomorrow and another group is arriving at the same time. I don't remember ever having such an exciting schedule of tours. Usually there's a day or two of rest before the next group starts. Must admit I'm feeling a little burnt out. Must push on for one more group! Kanpatei!

I'll be saying good bye to JYSS tomorrow. Thanks for a really interesting trip... I don't think I've done so much adventure work in a Japan tour before! I will try to upload the pictures when I get back or maybe I might pass a CD of the pics to your teachers. All the best! And I hope we will bump into each other some time soon. Here's a picture to remind you guys of my 500+steps of suffering. :-)

From Amakusa, Kyushu...

It's been a really busy two weeks since I last blogged. I'm right now in Amakusa in Kyushu, the first time I've visited this place... and I'm almost finished with the second tour group. One more to go! I'll blog a little more when I return next week.

For now, here's a BIG HI to the students from BVSS who might be dropping by my blog. Hope I didn't make your life too miserable! heh.

I will upload the photos into my Flickr account when I get back to Singapore. Thanks for the memories and I hope to see you all soon!