I won't be posting for the next two weeks because as some of you might know, the Lunar New Year is coming up this Saturday. And try as I may, I cannot escape from the preparation process. My mom screams at me, telling me to haul oranges and drinks and all sorts of edibles to my grandparents' place before the new year. Because when you live in a country with the majority of the population being Chinese, the entire country goes into shutdown, ghost-town mode during the first 2 days of the new year. In other words, IF YOU DON'T PREPARE YOU WILL DIE OF ZE HUNGER.
On new year, which is bound to be inauspicious.
After the new year, I will be recovering from the trauma of awkward questions by relatives, like the date of my impending nuptials and such and such. I wonder if they'd still come to my wedding if they knew I was in love with a goat...
Ahem.
And of course, the new year is an excuse for many of us Singaporeans to stay up late, drink copious amounts of beer and gamble away all our red packet money. No time in between for blogging.
The week after that happens to be my exam week. Cruel isn't it, to force us to revise during the festivities? Either way, exams mean my brain will die, and with a dieded brain I cannot has inspiration to write blog.
Since I've blogged about my previous colognes, it seems like a need to blog about my latest one.
Bvlgari Aqva Pour Homme!
Most expensive one I'm using so far, it smells really spicy at first then slowly mellows out to a fresh scent that is possibly too manly for who I am. But hey, anything for the ladies, am I right guys? :D
So go sniff this cologne and imagine sniffing me. If you're creepy that way that is.
(Oh look! Cologne has a post label! As does Perfume! LOL.)
This week's SQS is postponed for me to properly thank you guys.
I can never express enough thanks to everyone who reads my blog. 2009 was a pretty rough year for me and I'm just glad that I stuck through the hard parts and you still came back to read my posts.
Oh by the way, this blog is 2 years old already. Since November actually, but I was so busy that I never got around to posting about it.
2009 was the year I lost so much interest in Jpop (as compared to my previous extremes) that there were many times I just felt unqualified to blog about things. I was constantly outside the loop of things, not knowing anything had happened until several weeks after it happened (the most severe cases were Koda Kumi's murder threat and Kanjani 8's Kyu Jo Show! single), which prompted me to start Q4R.
Q4R was a crutch that I relied heavily on, and I still do. It's nice to have people inform me of the latest happenings in the Jpop world. But even that after a while seemed a little difficult at times to accomplish on a weekly basis. I'm one for originality, and it seemed my posts were gradually losing that as the days went by.
As you can tell, I am very very neurotic. xD But please, continue to update me on every single piece of news you think I'd be interested in, because you are my new news source. You are what is fueling my blog, my posts. 2009 couldn't have been without you.
2009 was also the year I fell in love with Kpop, a territory of sorts which I avoided like the plague because... it felt like betrayal. I felt like if I ventured into Kpop and feel in love with it that I would go against all that I was (I'm half-Japanese after all) and all that I stood for ("JPOP JPOP RAWR!" was all I chanted for weeks at a time on my blog). And indeed it was a decision that I'm not sure I'm happy about till this day. Sure, the music is great and the people are amazingly good-looking, but I'm not the kind who can juggle more than one passion at a time.
And so Kpop became my new love. Jpop became less important.
Though I must say, Jpop WAS boring in 2009, so it is not entirely my fault.
I had to work harder to maintain readership because blog trackers seem to love H!P or JE-centric blogs more. Mine was neither. There didn't seem to be a place for me anymore, which made me worry ever more about the quality of my posts.
Most of you have heard me whine about how hard a time I'm having to come up with posts. I like writing things that entertain people, but entertaining is not something easy to keep up all the time. No one is always funny. I had to be. It got tiring. I spent hours at a time finishing up posts. It was like a job.
I also stopped my vendetta of buying singles/albums. I stopped buying AAA releases altogether. I only bought 4 Jpop-related items in 2009 (8 if you count Big Bang's Japanese releases). I no longer had that to lord over anyone. Another part of me that died as the year progressed.
As strange as it may be, I don't discuss anything about my blog to any of my real-life friends. No one (except Angelia) even knows I have a blog. It's hard to keep my two identities separate. I always toyed with the idea of just abandoning this one, perhaps it would make life easier. But knowing that I made someone laugh, regardless of where they are, somehow pushed me to keep going, keep trying harder.
(If you're wondering, yes I AM a boring person in real life. Go ask Angelia.)
This post is seriously turning out more emo than I'd intended it to be. xD So all I'm really trying to say is I really appreciate you, for staying with me through a really hard year. Hopefully in 2010, whenever you read a post that's not entertaining, you'd still pretend to laugh to make me feel better.
I'll try harder for you in 2010. Please stay with me.
Have the best 2010 you can ever have. You deserve it for being such an amazing reader.
Raid on Screen! A movie review blog by me! :D Click here!
[The following can also be found on the "About" page in Raid on Screen.]
I'll mostly be reviewing English language movies, with the occasional Chinese/Korean/Japanese movie. So no, it's not another Japanese-media blog, it's a whole new thing.
The format of ROS will be kept as neat and minimal as possible, not too gimmicky. The synopses will be brief so as not to spoil the movie for readers yet give you a good enough idea on what the movie is about.
Basically what I set out to do with this blog is just give frank reviews from a very layman perspective. Many times, I read movie reviews only to not understand a single shit the entire thing was trying to say and I don't understand what warranted a good or bad review for the movie. With this blog, I'll try to make it feel like asking a friend about the movie. Although maybe that friend is a little bitchy at times.
"How was the movie?" "Oh it kinda sucked but you know, the effects were cool and all and the lead actress was hot even though her boobs looked really fake in that one scene."
I've always believed that simpler terms get more meaning across.
There will be two regular sections in every review, which is the Verdict and the Worth Watching For. Verdict is my overall, one-line take on the movie. Worth Watching For are the parts or elements in the movie that I think makes the movie worth watching. It could be a huge reason, such as the best effects ever, or it could be something really small, like a tune which a character sings in a part of the movie.
Either way, I hope I can review movies such that it isn't daunting for my readers. I'm going to do reviews the right way.
(Leave me comments on that blog! Don't you want the honor of having the first ever comment? :D)
(And comments are disabled on this post, so you'll have no choice but to head on over. :D)
Leave me loadsa lovely comments for the totally random post! xD
Anyways, I just woke up this morning and decided I wanted to cook myself some carbonara! I'd already bought the ingredients prior in another shopping trip with mom so all there was to do was to get off my lazy ass and cook it.
And if you're wondering, yes, this recipe is so easy that even a blind monkey could do it.
Make sure you read carefully all the way through before using this recipe. I left a lot of post-notes, with lessons learned.
The ingredients I used (to serve 2) are:
200g of streaky bacon and 5 hot dog franks, chopped up into huge chunks.
250g of linguine.
1 can of button mushrooms.
These that I got from the supermarket were pre-sliced, so it saves you tons of time! It said "pieces and stems" on the can so I suppose you just have to look out for that.
Around 50g of parmesan cheese.
4 eggs, with one yolk separated. You should use 6 eggs and separate 2 yolks if you're serving 2.
So here we go!
Step 1: Cook the linguine.
To a pot of boiling water, add some oil. The packaging for the linguine said it didn't require oil, which sounds strange to me so I added a tablespoon or two just in case.
Also, Nigella Lawson (who is the queen of cooking, so whatever she says must make sense somehow) said that you should add as much salt to the boiling pasta as there is salt in the Mediterranean sea. That probably means quite a lot of salt, so I dumped in two hearty tablespoonfuls of salt. You should only add this after the water comes to a bubbly boil and you've put in the linguine. This way you won't have to wait as long for the water to boil initially.
Step 2: Cook the bacon.
While that is cooking, cook the bacon in about 2 tablespoonfuls of oil. Make sure to let it cook through till the fat is dissolved slightly and the edges are a little brown.
Step 3: Add mushrooms and hot dog franks.
To that, you add the hot dogs and button mushrooms. These don't require much cooking so just let them sit in there and absorb some of that bacon juice.
I know carbonara is not supposed to have mushrooms nor hot dogs, but I like my food that way. You can skip these if you want.
And crap. Right now when I'm typing this post only do I realize that I forgot to take one photo. So anyways.
Step 4: Beat the eggs and mix in cheese.
+
JUST IMAGINE OKAY.
Beat the eggs (not the yolks that you've separated) and to that you add the parmesan cheese. Don't worry too much if the cheese doesn't melt, it'll do that later on in another step.
Step 5: Drain the cooked pasta.
Once the pasta is done, drain it! Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of starchy water (from the boiled pasta) to your egg/cheese mixture and give it a good stir. This will help make it more solid or something. You're supposed to cook the pasta till it's al dente, which I have no idea how soft it is. So just cook the pasta till however soft you'd like it (as you can see, mine is pretty hard because I like it that way) and you're good. Who needs to listen to those chefs anyways!
Step 6: Add pasta to cooking ingredients.
Throw the drained pasta into your pan of cooking ingredients and toss it around. To make sure the ingredients are not clumped in a corner you know? Common sense stuff.
Step 7: Add cooked pasta/ingredients to egg cheese mixture.
Once that is more or less done, pour the hot pasta and ingredients into a huge bowl with the egg and cheese mixture. Quickly stir it around to mix the sauce with the pasta well. The eggs might cook if you do this too slowly. See the white specks in the picture? They're the melting cheese. YUM.
Step 8: Add yolk to finished carbonara.
As the step says, add the yolk to the carbonara. Just in case you don't even know this, the yolk is supposed to sit in the center of the bowl/plate.
And there you have it! Carbonara!
Yes I know it looks good. Stop drooling. It tastes really decent too! For a first try at least. :D Post-eating notes (VERY IMPORTANT SO YOU MUST READ.)
Step 1: Nigella Lawson lied. Or for carbonara at least. The bacon itself will already be salty enough so adding salt to your pasta will just make the whole thing really strong. Which is fine if you're me, but generally I'd advise against it. Just add a teaspoon or two of salt to get it going.
Step 2: Honestly, too much bacon. In fact, too much ingredients. To serve 2, you'd probably need 100g of bacon, 3 hot dog franks and half a can of button mushrooms. You could otherwise be generous and add 150g of bacon, then skip the hot dogs and mushrooms altogether.
Step 4: Parmesan, unlike mozzarella, does not do well if abused and overused. I'm guessing 40g of parmesan should be fine if you reduce the bacon.
And this is the heart-stopping part: 4 eggs is NOT enough for 2 people. Traditional carbonara would ask for cream, but that is just too tricky for me so instead, you might want to up the eggs to 6 and separate 2 yolks for topping later.
Step 5: Do not add that much starchy water to your mixture. LOL. Add about a quarter cup will do.
I really don't think anyone should take my advice when it comes to cooking, but if you really do try this out, let me know how it goes! Please don't sue me if you die of food poisoning or something. Oh and as you should have already figured out, this recipe is really unsuitable for children because of the non-fully-cooked eggs.
We've finally entered the last quarter of the year and it's time to prepare for those end-of-year lists we bloggers like to do so much.
I did a top 30 Jpop songs list last year and I'm definitely hoping to get one up this year too. Of course, with my newfound Kpop fandom, there will be a top 30 Kpop songs list as well!
So here's where you guys come in. Honestly, I've not been paying as much attention as I'd like (and by that I mean constant refreshes at Jpopsuki for new stuff and stalking Oricon for new music) to Jpop and hence I have a feeling that I've missed out a TON of good stuff. So, I would like you guys to recommend me some music that you think I would like or that deserves to be on the list. [Guidelines]
As always, I love cracktastic pop. If the song is insanely happy and cheery, then I'd be likely to love it.
Otherwise, it would be good if you could recommend me songs with a very strong melody line (the basic rule of thumb is if you can hum the song without sounding like a retard, then it's good).
Please only recommend songs that were releases in 2009 January onwards. I don't care if it was released in the last week of December and it charted all the way till March or whatever. If it's not released in 2009, it shouldn't be on this list.
Please only recommend Jpop songs. I don't need help with Kpop, and am not interested in all the other stuff.
Generally avoid recommending Jrock, because I don't really like it anyways. Milder stuff such as GLAY and L'Arc~en~ciel might be okay.
Please only recommend SONGS, not SINGLES or ALBUMS.
Please include the title of the song, followed by the singer of the song. If possible, do give me a Youtube link as well! :D
The song you've recommended might not get on the list, so please be understanding.
Please do not recommend me songs from: AAA, Hirai Ken, Koda Kumi, Hamasaki Ayumi, AKB48, Big Bang or Tegomasu. I've heard their stuff already. :D
Just to give you a little clue to help you know what to recommend me, here are 3 of the chosen songs (these songs might get taken off the list later on if I find something better)!
Perfume - One Room Disco
Kobukuro - Niji
mihimaru GT - Switch
Oh and before any of you get excited and recommend me BoA's latest song Bump Bump, I've already heard that too. :D
Leave them recommendations in this post! Any help is greatly appreciated!
I went to the Korean store near my workplace today after lunch in search of more Caffe Latte. While I was trying to decide which flavor to buy (there was Caramel Macchiato, Cafe Latte and MILD Cafe Latte, whatever that means), I spotted him staring up fiercely at me.
SO I BOUGHT TWO! MUAHAHA. One to drink (it tasted like water, with a teensy bit of sugar, and then some peach juice dumped in there just for the sake of) and one to keep as it is. :D
HAPPY. Hopefully they'll stock the other flavors soon!
Anyways, new post on Wednesday, so look out for that!
If you hate it, too bad, because I love it and I think it is AWESOME.
17 random banners this time! Will add more when I have the time, I've got to work tomorrow and this took way longer than I'd expected.
I spent about 3 days on this. D: But it's worth it!
Some new things you'll notice are buttons for SQS and Q4R. I've removed the 2007 and 2008 purchase buttons since I figured no one really cares anyways.
I'm quite sure my blog loads correctly in IE, Firefox and Safari. If you use some other browser and see a problem, take a screenshot and leave it in the comments! If you use some other browser and think it loads fine, let me know as well! :D
(And if you're wondering, the banners no longer contain AAA members and Kanjani 8 members, because I was too lazy to go hunt for appropriate pictures. I'm still working on a Mukai Osamu, Ikuta Toma, Son Dam Bi and Tackey & Tsubasa one. If you have HQ pictures which you think are suitable, please leave them in the comments for me!)
Yes, there will be a Q4R post tomorrow, so look forward to that!
In the meantime, here's some purchases I've made lately.
Issey Miyake's L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Summer Eau de Toilette
...Whatever that means but IT SMELLS AWESOME. It took a bit of getting used to but now I love it to bits and pieces. Issey Miyake's colognes used to smell sour on me for some odd reason, but this one smells really really refreshing. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT.
Caffè Latte - Double Cinnamon Cappucino
Admittedly, I only spent two bucks on this tiny cup of coffee (200ML?!) because Big Bang is endorsing it...
(Big Bang coffee picspam because I love it.)
The one I got was rather nice though! A bit too much for everyday drinking (it is cinnamon after all) but I suppose it's a nice indulgence on those tough days.
This is a totally irrelevant rant so you guys can just treat this as some bonus joke for this week or whatever.
*clears throat* *takes a deep breath*
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD. WHY IS IT THAT WHEN I'VE DECIDED NOT TO BUY SO MANY CDS THAT ALL THIS SEXINESS COMES OUT?
WHY YOU TELL ME WHY.
WHAT IS THIS SEXINESS YOU TELL ME. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME KENKEN. WHY.
(Random note: Drunken scruffy Kenken sets off a totally feral instinct in me, which is very bad.)
AND THAT'S NOT EVEN THE WORST OF IT.
I still have these to buy:
WHAT. WHY. NO. THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. MY MONEY.
And even THAT is not the worst of it!
KENKEN IS COMING OUT WITH A NEW DVD IN JUNE.
And how much is it?
$82.75 USD.
WHAT. WHY. NO.
I HATE ALL OF YOU STUPID JPOP COMPANIES YOU HEAR ME. HATE. GO AWAY.
*still melting at the sight of scruffy disheveled Kenken*
I'm still very amused at the strange coincidental timing of events. Just ONE day after I blogged about why I think AAA is breaking up, THEY ANNOUNCE A SINGLE. How many times have such Avex-related-stalkerish behavior happened on my blog! I am thoroughly freaked.
*is nervous suddenly*
Um um, Max Matsuura is so sexy! 8D I wanna have his babies.
(Just so you guys know, I'm splitting all these up into 2 or 3 different orders. I need to have them all. I'm still the shopaholic that everyone knows.)
(And also, updated the video thingy on my blog! Now there's 2 new videos! The first one, Lotte Duty Free 2009's song "So I'm Loving You", is sexy as hell. Guys in suits, what's not to love!)
A few minor updates to my blog! And a few updates on my life.
Updated the Online Merchant Guide. Some rather drastic changes to HMV and YesAsia's info. Read to find out more.
Split the top menu bar into two! :D I changed "Welcome to Raid My Minibar" because seeing 2 "Raid My Minibar"s (one in the randomized banner) in such close proximity to each other somehow feels kind of narcissistic. Not that I'm not narcissistic but you know, it's always good to pretend to be all spiritual and shit.
I've also enlarged the video so that it'll distract you even more. PERFECT! I can blog about rubbish and no one will notice! 8D
Updated the links to the best of my ability. If you've linked me, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I will definitely give you a link back. It's only fair. :D
No, I DID NOT remove the Arashi banner. It was a joke. Stop asking.
My internship at some rubbish place starts in 2 weeks. I am depressed. No actually, I'm more nonchalant about it but still. I am pretending to be depressed. It's all part of my spiritual act.
I'm already done with this week's Q4R post! I might add a few more questions because it seems kind of boring as it is right now. But there aren't enough scandalous questions. D:
I'm sleeping well! Be happy for me!
Some of you might remember that I've bought a Nishikido Ryo Uchiwa early last year.
Well, I left it on my table after taking a photo of it a few days ago (I'm trying to sell it) because I had to rush for school and my mom happened to feel like cleaning my room while I was out.
I was bored and thought this up. SCHOOL IS DRIVING ME NUTSACKS.
1. You shall have no other genres before it!
No listening to American/British/Chinese/Taiwanese/Korean/Thai/Cantonese/Whatever other language music! Jpop is the one and only way!
2. You shall not make for yourself a fake genre!
Like Anime. Anime is not a freaking genre of music! Anime is a CARTOON. SINFUL ALL YOU ANIME-TAGGERS! SINFUL!
3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of Jpop!
No saying you like Jpop just to get into the pants of that Japanese girl! (Exceptions given if the girl is from H!P and if the "girl" looks suspiciously like a JE boy.)
4. Observe every Wednesday with reverence!
It's the day when all Jpop singles/albums come out! WHAT OTHER DAY CAN BE MORE IMPORTANT! STALK THE ORICON CHARTS RAWR!
5. Honor your father and mother!
In this case it's father and father. You can choose between Max Matsuura, Tsunku and Johnny Kitagawa. We know you hate them three most of the time, but let's face it. Without them, there'd be not much Jpop to go crazy over.
6. You shall not kill precious Jpop time with frivolous things!
No eating, drinking, watching anything, reading anything, studying, showering and all that! LISTEN TO JPOP 24/7! RAWR! (So now you know, I'm a stinky old man with a beard that reaches the floor and armpit hair braids.)
7. You shall not commit adultery!
Which means if you like Ayumi, STICK TO HER. Jumping ship is just skanky. Unless it's Kumi you're jumping to. Then I approve. *nods*
8. You shall not steal!
If someone else has AKame or RyoPi as their OTP, no stealing that away from them! GO FIND YOUR OWN OTP! (Mine's Shuta X Urata, Osamu X Uchi and Kamei x Kato BTW. SHOO.) No stealing of other people's weird fandoms!
9. You shall not bear false witness against a Jpop star!
No spreading rumors like Leah Dizon is getting marrie.. oh wait. I meant no spreading rumors like Ohno and Nino are fuc.... Oh wait.
Ah you get what I mean.
10. You shall not want your neighbour's Kpop stuffs!
Although the boys are hot with sexy-as-hell bodies and great dance moves and appear on cracktastic shows, YOU SHOULD STILL JUST STICK TO JPOP. EVEN IF IT IS BORING. BECAUSE YOU ARE A JPOP FAN!
(Disclaimer: I did not write this, it came mailed mysteriously to me in a big red envelope with Akanishi Jin's uchiwa stuck to the back of it. Akanishi is watching me NOOOOOOOO! In fact, I do not follow any of these. Except 1, 7 and 9 that is. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't either. RAWR!)
More than 180 posts Countless hours of blogging 70+ Subscribers 37000 Visitors 78000 Pageviews 1 epic year
Gee, it's only been a year? It seems like an eternity since I've started blogging! Over the past year, I have learned a lot as a blogger. I've learned to never give up, to be frank as hell and I've learned that I love comments like an addict would cocaine. It's bad for my health.
I've blogged about all sorts of things people wouldn't even think about. A list of things I've blogged about includes:
Menses Dresses
Lesbian Sluts
Leah Dizon fucking Akanishi Jin
Naked Hirai Ken
Naked Uno Misako
Naked Sueyoshi Shuta
Naked WaT
NEWS exploding all over each other
2 girls 1 cup
Nipples
Pants bulges
Dildoes
Tackey & Tsubasa naked in a tub
AIDS
Virginal idol figures
Gay love
Amniotic fluids
Scary Nakashima Mika
Scary boyfriends
Fashion disasters
Product placement disasters
Orgasms. Loads of it.
I think I've pretty much covered all the taboo topics.
I started this blog only expecting like less than 10 people to give half a damn. I didn't expect it to be what it is right now. I love blogging most of the time and I love that at least someone out there loves reading it too. To all of you who've given a damn about my crazy blog at some point or another, thank you. You all are great.
Thank you Ray, for mentioning my blog on IWota back when it was still boring, sub-par and when nobody cared.
Thank you Kimitsu for mentioning my blog to Ray and for being such an inspiration (at times, or rather, rarely xD).
Thank you Angelia for being my friend.
Thank you Ottidax for getting me into Jpop and keeping me up-to-date on silly Jpop topics.
Thank you Mandy and icy, for all the fun we had in the A'dAA forums.
Thank you Wu and Broomhead, for posting about me at IWota when no one else does.
Thank you Jamie, Blackmager, Ethan, Michael, and even Nao for commenting so much on my blog. Your comments make me smile.
Thank you Liling, Danial, and Jans. It's nice to know that there are other Singaporean Jpop bloggers out there. (Especially Liling - HSJ AND BOYLOVE FTW! Stop ogling MasuPance!)
Thank you Wotachat, for all the madness.
Thank you to anyone who's ever commented. Each and every comment means so much to me, because I'm such an attention whore. Know that you've made my day at some point or another.
Thank you, you who reads my blog, for making this past year so much more fun for me.
I've never really kept to anything for such a long period of time, so I'm hoping I'll be able to stick to it till the 2nd Anniversary!
From now on, please continue to feed my ego and continue to read my blog! It's been a great year.
Subscribe to me. Follow me. You know you love me.
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