Welcome To Silent Hill
31 January 2007
As you may have guessed by the title and the attached picture this post will be about Silent Hill. In case you didn't know Silent Hill is a series of games which started on the PSOne. At the time it was a pivotal game for the survival horror genre in which Resident Evil was king. This newcomer on the block however, changed all that. It brought with it a different flavour of scariness by focusing less on the blood and gore and instead using suspense to shock the player. Gone were the days of monsters jumping out at you in random places. Now they merely lurked in the shadows waiting for the right moment to slowly crawl out into your path. That's not to say there weren't any shock moments, there were plenty, it's just that you thought they'd be jumping out in a different place. The designs of the monsters were also very unique as they were incredibly disturbing in appearance. From the iconic faceless nurses, to the knife wielding babies (which were in the production demo but banned upon the final release of the UK version, sods), they all served to not only disgust but also to intrigue. All of these features gained the game a cult following around the world and also redefined survival horror games.
It has taken many years for this film adaptation to be made so when I first heard about it I couldn't wait to see it. Upon its release however, the reviews were not very favourable and the reaction was generally of disappointment, both by die-hard fans and critics alike. Despite those misgivings I was still determined to make my own decision about the film. Having just watched it I can safely say that I don't agree with what people say. It's very faithful to the original source material in its appearance and plot. The one major difference is that the main character of Harry Mason has been changed to a female lead in Rose. I would guess that this was because it's perhaps easier to get the audience to feel empathetic to a woman as opposed to a middle aged man. In any case I believe the actress for Rose (Radha Mitchell) did a splendid job. At first I didn't like her character, believing she was the typical moronic lead in a horror film, who despite the completely obvious signs of imminent death, would haplessly walk into a monster infested room or something. However, further on in the film she would develop into a strong lead worthy of the Silent Hill pedigree.
Overall I enjoyed the film a lot. Although I did find it very unnecessarily gory at times, like the scene near the end in the church. Still, everything else was in keeping with the game right up to the ambiguous ending famous in Silent Hill series. If you haven't played any of the games I guess you may not like it very much. But for a fan like me (not fanatical in support though) it's a very fine film which I would recommend.
Posted byHocchan at 10:00 pm 3 comments
Attack No. 1
30 January 2007
Only one day of January left and it's safe to say that I won't be beating my monthly update record of 14. Well, not unless I go crazy and post meaningless rubbish just to up my post count. But I won't because this is a quality publication! I thought I had a good chance this month but unfortunately I had slightly underestimated the target number. It's all good though, this will be a bumper update to compensate!
In Final Fantasy I've managed to get my hands of some of the armour I wanted. Firstly came the Wyrm Mail which I dropped in Dynamis-Beaucedine last Wednesday. It was pretty near the end and I really had given up hope of actually seeing it. I'd started to drift off and daydream when the text, "The Vanguard Hexer drops a suit of Wyrm Mail" woke me up. Since I was the only person who wanted that particular piece it automatically went to me. That makes me 4/5 now on Dragoon relic with only the elusive Armet to get from Xarcabard. Then came last Friday when I finally saved up enough Assault Points to exchange for the Amir Korazin. It's been quite a gruelling path to get to 20,000 points but now I've got it I'm happy. We've only got about 4 runs left on that Lebros Cavern assault until we're done with it and can move to a new area. I can't wait! Mainly because hitting those rock walls six times a week, for the past couple of months has pretty much driven me insane...
I also managed to get level 75 for my Dragoon last week. I got lucky and wound up in a good party which earned me about 18,000 EXP in Caedarva Mire. It's nice to have another job at level 75. Now I can work on Paladin and Corsair again, all the while getting some merit points for my Samurai. I seriously need some money though. I spent quite a stressful day on Sunday where I had under 2,000 gil to work with. I'm hoping to get some of the Assault items to sell soon. Maybe even get lucky on BCNM 40 and get a Peacock Charm. I can but dream.
Rented out Azumi 2 and volume 2 of Azumanga Daioh. Despite what most people say about Azumi 2 I found myself enjoying it a lot. Granted it's not as good as the original film but it does have its own merits. The action sequences look a lot cleaner for one, and the acting seems more natural. Watching Azumanga was an odd experience. I'd been wanting to watch this anime for a long time. It took a couple of episodes to get used to the characters but I'm loving it now. It's nice to hear so many familiar voices too. Hisakawa Aya (Aa! Megami-sama), Asakawa Yuu (Love Hina) and Hiramatsu Akiko (Taihou Shichauzo) perform exquisitely. I'm looking forward to seeing much more of this series.
I should have bought it months and months ago but I ordered Horie Yui's concert DVD last night. It should arrive sometime next week with any luck. It's pretty expensive, about £30 including delivery, which is why I'd been putting it off until now. I'm dying in anticipation though, it'll be fantastic to see Yui in concert again. Another item I want to get is the Fruits Basket box set that was released not long ago. It costs about £40 so this may also take a little while to buy. /sigh
Posted byHocchan at 12:27 pm 0 comments
Egao Yes Nude
23 January 2007
I forgot to report last time that I'd watched the 'Attention Please' Hawaiian Special episode. There weren't any subtitles available at the time so I watched it in RAW form. The plot of the episode is fairly straight forward; Misaki gets assigned on a plane to Hawaii as part of her training for international flights. Things start to go wrong almost immediately as her luggage arouses the airport sniffer dog's suspicions. It turns out that she'd stepped in some dog poo back in Tokyo and the dog had picked the scent from inside the suitcase. After some shoe sniffing by the officials they let Misaki go and she departs on a minivan for the hotel. Once they arrive the air hostesses are given a few days free time for recreational activities. Misaki decides to take on traditional Hula dance. Unfortunately she and her instructor don't get on at first, mainly because Misaki is unable to grasp the concept that is the basis of the dance itself. She also manages to make everyone believe she has been kidnapped after falling asleep on the back of a truck. All is well by the end of the episode though as everything works out for the best. She and Shouta even get to enjoy a romantic sunset in Hawaii, although she still doesn't manage to confess her feelings for him. I thought this was a nice enough episode. It could have been better if they'd had focused more on the original cast but the new characters weren't too bad. It was enjoyable to watch in any case.
Soon after watching that special episode of 'Attention Please' I found out about 'Attack No. 1'. It's a fairly old drama also starring Ueto Aya as an aspiring Volleyball player. It reminds me a lot of 'Ace wo Nerae' in it's format. It tells the story of Kozue, a volleyball player of a local high school who gets picked to be on the national team. Because she isn't the most skilled of the players it causes much tension between her and her friends. The other problem is that the head coach of the national team turns out to be a strict, unsympathetic monster. It makes for some interesting encounters which 'Ace wo Nerae' didn't have. I'm enjoying the series so far. It hasn't developed into a cookie cutter episode format yet so I'm hopeful there are good scenes to come.
This will be the last comment about my unhappiness at Assault. I'm getting very tired of constantly complaining about it. Last night we were due to have our scheduled Assault static party. Somehow it ended up with us needing new people joining in order to make up the numbers. Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't the point of a static party to make sure we don't have to hunt around for people? I was very nearly in danger of not having enough points on Friday to get my armour because the 3rd run almost didn't happen. Thankfully Siraji managed to secure an extra member and we were able to get that last run done. It was far from ideal though, it left me YET AGAIN feeling angry and disappointed with people. At first I enjoyed these Assault meetings. Now I just find it a massive pain trying to get people to give a damn about them. If it wasn't for my sense of obligation to Siraji and Ophidian for their efforts, I'd have given up on this headache long ago. That's it. No more writing about it. I really don't give a sh!t any more.
Posted byHocchan at 9:40 pm 0 comments
Kamikaze
19 January 2007
Yesterday afternoon was action packed to say the least. In case you didn't know the UK was battered by gale force winds on Thursday. Worst hit were the west coasts of the country. And what do you know? I live right next to the sea in the north west. Gusts of up to 100mph were reported and I can safely say they got it right. So, what would a sane person do on this occasion? Sit at home, safely tucked away from the gales, right? Well I'm not a very sane person and neither is my friend. We decided we wouldn't be put off by a gentle breeze! We got our coats on and headed into town.
On the walk into the town centre the wind wasn't too noticeable. But as we got nearer and nearer to the seaside it became stronger. Eventually we were no more than 100 metres to the promenade and it was "literally" blowing a gale. Trying to walk into the direction of the gusts was an effort in itself. Crazy as we were though, we thought it would be a good idea to get closer. After one failed attempt Mike came up with a nice plan of hugging the wall of a building to reduce the force of the wind. He took some pictures on his digital camera while I stood there trying not to get blown off my feet. While we were there we saw a woman get blown over, swiftly followed by her husband who was using a crutch to walk. We went over to help pick them up and usher them carefully away from the wind. All this time there were several taxis parked up on the road but none of the bloody tosspots bothered to help. Oh no, they were content to sit in their nice warm cabs, too snug to go help a couple who were in danger of getting run over. Little gits.
Posted byHocchan at 4:19 am 0 comments
Omoide Ga Ippai
16 January 2007
It's only the 16th day into 2007 and it's already a disastrous start to the new year. The quick succession of bad news, first about Yoshizawa's graduation, and then about her brother's death has really set an ill tone to the mood. Meanwhile in my own little world I'm getting tired and frustrated at the events on FFXI. No matter how hard I try to get people to participate in Assault I'm left with constant absences. I'm sorry to the ones who do turn up for every run, this anger is not directed at you. I'm also sorry for that one time I was unable to log on due to a long re-installation. But when I get my hopes up that it might actually go ahead this time and someone doesn't show up it gets extremely irritating. It gets equally frustrating when there isn't an explanation to their absence, either on the night itself, nor the next day. I wouldn't be angry at all if they just posted a message on the forums to let us know that they wouldn't be able to make it. What's not good is when they don't say a single thing for days.
The worst thing is, our time is wasted sitting around for someone who isn't going to make an appearance. There could be a multitude of different things we could have been doing, IF only they'd informed us. Just a quick, "I'm sorry, I can't make it" would suffice. Goddamn it! I'm so sick of sacrificing my own time in the hopes that we can just have an hour and a half of assault, only to have it wasted. If I know I'm going to be needed at an event in a couple of hours time I don't decide take up an activity that might very well make me late. No, I occupy my time with something else that can be dropped quickly and without too much trouble. Because I have obligations. I have obligations to the other members who also sacrifice their time. Everyone's time. I'm so sick of it all! "Why should I bother?", I ask myself that a lot. Why the hell should I bother!?
Posted byHocchan at 4:17 am 3 comments
My Deepest Condolences
13 January 2007
I've just learned of some terrible news. Japanese news has reported that the younger brother of Yoshizawa Hitomi (the leader of Morning Musume) has died in an accident. It is said that he was riding his bike and was emerging from a junction when a car collided with him. He suffered major head and neck injuries and was taken to A&E. Upon hearing the news Yoshizawa Hitomi rushed to the hospital to be by his bedside. Unfortunately the doctors could not save him and he died the next day. It is not known at this time whether Hitomi will continue her position as the leader of Morning Musume until May. Since the accident she has not been in contact with the UFA staff so they cannot say for certain.
I was completely shocked by this terrible news. My most sincere condolences go out to Hitomi and her family. Whatever she decides to do in the coming weeks I will totally understand and support. My thoughts are with her.
Posted byHocchan at 2:39 am 0 comments
Every Little Helps
11 January 2007
Hurrah! The unbelievable has happened. The exclusive Tesco Clubcard has made it's way into my possession. I applied for it quite a few weeks ago but due to the Christmas holiday period it was delayed. However, now it's here it will be put to good use earning me points. My friend Mike is almost insane with rage at this outcome. He also applied for a clubcard (much earlier than I did) but still hasn't received his. I suspect jealous Asda supporters disguised as postal workers have stolen it. Speaking of postal workers, I've recently been told about a position that's available at Royal Mail in the town not too far from where I live. I've been waiting a while for one of these to come up. It's a job I've always wanted to have a go at to see if it's something I would like. I'll apply for it via the website as they asked and see how it goes.
Not much to report on the FFXI end. I've done a little bit of levelling with Corsair but the going's quite slow in Valkurm Dunes. I'll spend today trying to get Dragoon to level 74 instead. After all Corsair is still very much a trial job. We've not done any Assaults this week due to various unfortunate circumstances affecting attendance. They've been rescheduled to this Friday. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong and postpone them further. One bit of good news though. Turns out that the second chocobo that I'm raising it going to be a coloured one. That is a colour other than the normal yellow one. MomoNono (that's its name) is still in the adolescent stage but you can already see the black feathers on it's wing and tail tips. Can't wait for it to grow up to adult stage when I can show off and ride it around in the world maps. Shouldn't be long now. /joy
PS. I updated the link to Tamara's website - The Making of a Cowgirl - a few days ago. I chose sushi as the background picture seeing as we both love the stuff.
Posted byHocchan at 2:22 pm 0 comments
Ajisai Ai Ai Monogatari
07 January 2007
Had a terrible day yesterday. Couple of things happened which brought the whole mood of the day down. Firstly for some unknown reason I kept getting error messages when trying to log into Final Fantasy XI. I did a file check via POL and it found a few bad files. I asked the program to fix them but it was unsuccessful, even after multiple attempts. It seemed like the only way to get rid of the corrupt files was to reinstall the game. I popped the disc in and it needed to uninstall the game first so that's what I did. It only took about 30 minutes for the installation itself. After that came the update which was pretty big and took about 5 hours to finish. This meant that I missed the first event that we had planned. I still had time to make the second event though. At least I thought I did. The problem came when I tried to log into the game again. It said that my expansion packs weren't installed and that I couldn't access the new areas. This was odd because I remember checking if they were on the list of programs in the control panel and they were. I was getting thoroughly irritated by this point. I was going to miss the second event too because I had to install the 3 expansion packs AND update them! Goddamn stupid thing. At the end of the whole ordeal it had taken me 11 hours to get it all done. That REALLY peeved me off. Bloody stupid thing!
The second bit of bad news came whilst I was looking around the internet in the spare time I had when messing around reinstalling FFXI. I happened to check on a JPOP blog that I have bookmarked and it there was something there that caught my eye. It was a post detailing the news of Yoshizawa Hitomi's planned graduation from Morning Musume in May of this year. That's really bad news for me as she's one of my favourite members and was the one who attracted me to the group in the first place. By the time April rolls around she will have been in the group for a good 7 seven years. I suppose after all that time you would want to move on and do new things. It will be sad to see her go but she's still staying in Hello! Project so it won't be the end of her appearances with Morning Musume. It's still 5 more months until she does leave, however, so best thing I can do it to enjoy the time that's left. Gambare, Yossi!
Posted byHocchan at 5:20 pm 1 comments
Yes! Pocky Girls
04 January 2007
They're ready. My resolutions have been worked out and I'm ready to post them. Only not quite just yet... With the picture on the left it would look rather untidy if I listed them at the start. So I have a little bit of space to fill before can type them out. Hmm... what to write about... I'm not quite sure to be honest. Maybe I'll just talk randomly until some sort of idea comes into my head. Oh, I did finish watching the second series of Gokusen a few days ago. It's a few episodes shorter than the original season. The last episode was eerily similar in storyline to the finale of the first series. It was enjoyable enough though, and I'm sad that there won't be any more Yankumi antics to watch.
Meanwhile in Final Fantasy XI I'm doing a lot of Assaults now. Racking up the points and I should have enough soon to purchase that Amir Korazin I've been wanting for so long. The other pieces are going to be tough to get though. It takes ages just to save up enough points to get a single piece. Trying to get all of them would take you months of playtime. Ah well, they're fun to do anyway so it's not too much of a chore. I've also very nearly finished levelling my Dragoon to level 75. It's currently halfway through level 73. Once I've completed that task I'm thinking of making Paladin my main concern. I would also take up Corsair as a secondary job. It should be good.
OK, that should do it. I reckon I've wasted enough space to allow for a good presentation. I could ramble on a little bit more. Only a little bit more, just to make sure. Hmm... it still doesn't look right when I publish it. Hey, that's freaky! I'm talking about the past even though it's not meant to have happened yet! It's a conspiracy.
OK, enough with the foolish behaviour. I'm ready for my resolutions now. So without further ado...
1.) Apply for a place at university;
2.) Get a decent job and pay off my credit card debt;
3.) Take a trip to Japan for a few weeks;
4.) Be more confident to try new things;
5.) Continue to learn and practice my Japanese.
There we go. Five relatively easy to achieve resolutions which I'll do my best to keep to. Gambarimasu!
Posted byHocchan at 4:32 pm 0 comments
Tsuyoki De Yukouze!
03 January 2007
Like I promised in a previous post, here are the pictures of Morning Musume's 5th album, "No.5". It comes in a nice cardboard box with the middle cut out in the shape of the members featured on CD cover. The poster it comes with is pretty big, I'd say about A3 size and has all the members dotted around in 'action' poses. It also comes with a little fold out booklet that has the girls in various outfits. All of the pieces are in very good condition as usual. The CD is practically brand new. I cannot see a single scratch on the disc at all. That's one reason I like buying from Japanese sellers, they almost always keep their items in mint condition. They treat them with the care and attention they deserve and it really shows when they come to sell them as second hand goods.
As for the album itself, it's growing on me. I wasn't a particular fan of 'Do It Now' at first but I'm finding myself humming it occasionally. My favourite tracks on the album are 'Suggoi Nakama' and 'Tsuyoki de Yukouze!'. The former is a very jumpy, happy song which makes you feel glad to have your friends around. It also features a very funky rapping bit in the middle. The latter song is one I began to like when I heard it in one of their concerts. It sounded really good when they sang it live so I was determined to get it on CD. The album version loses a bit of its adrenaline but it's still a very high octane track which gets you livened up. As for the other songs on the album they're pretty decent overall. I'd give this CD an 8/10. Definitely one of their best.
Still not worked out my New Year's resolutions yet but they're coming. I should have them sorted by the next update. Tanomu yo.
Posted byHocchan at 3:45 am 0 comments
Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu
01 January 2007
Happy New Year! It's 2007 in most parts of the world now (except the USA, they're always so behind). I haven't decided on my resolutions yet this year but I can say that I didn't keep to the ones I made last year. Possibly they were unrealistic, but most probably it's because I haven't made a big enough effort. Therefore I'd better put more thought into what I promise to do in 2007 so that they'll actually be achieved. I'll post an update with them listed once I have sussed them out.
Looking back on 2006, I can say it was a good year. Certainly the best year since 2004. I had some great times during the summer travelling around the north west of the country. In particular the trip to Ingleton Falls was brilliant and I'll remember that for a long time. I also celebrated my 100th post on Kuroneko Doumei a few months ago, which was nice. I watched a lot of good Japanese dramas, lots of good films, and even bought a book (/shock!). I discovered Morning Musume during spring and have completely become infatuated with them. Downloading their TV shows and spending many an hour on YouTube/Veoh watching their various appearances. I'm positive that I'll be a fan of theirs for many years to come. Most importantly I feel like I've matured quite a lot in this past year. I don't feel like a kid so much anymore. I have more confidence to do new things, take on new challenges. I hope this trend continues in 2007 and that I continue to pursue my dreams and desires. For everyone around the world, I hope your 2007 will be a fantastic year. Guccha~!
Posted byHocchan at 4:38 am 0 comments
