Checkmate

Ani-Com and Game Fair (Hong Kong 2006)

Today was fairly uninteresting... except for the Ani-Com and Game Fair (Hong Kong 2006). :P

It's basically an anime-manga and games convention that is held annually at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. This year, it runs from July 28, 2006 to August 1, 2006. Over 460,000 people are estimated to attend.

I got there around noon and walked around for a few hours. There were a bunch of cos-players but due to the amount of people, it was often difficult to get a good look at one. There were also a lot of anime and manga for sale (did I mention cos-play stuff, too?)! Although there were some tempting items, I didn't buy anything (mostly because almost everything was translated and/or dubbed in Chinese and not Japanese, and the cos-play stuff for sale were not particularly high-quality).

Oh well, I had a lot of fun looking the stuff. I was a bit surprised that Nintendo and Sony were a no-show; Microsoft owned the console section there! There were also several interesting Chinese/Japanese games being developed, judging by what I saw, but I have no clue what they're about. They just look really cool. *lol*

Also, the Hong Kong International Film Festival was there too. There were two movies I was interested in but I couldn't find the original Japanese versions (along with English subtitles) for Stormy Night (あらしのよるに) and Doraemon: Nobita's Wannyan Space-Time Legend (ドラえもん のび太のワンニャン時空伝). If anybody knows where I can find these two movies (in Japanese with English subtitles), it would be much appreciated!

You can also check out all the photographs I took at the convention by clicking here. The photographs aren't great but they'll give you an idea of what it was like.

I'm hoping to attend the big anime-manga convention near Toronto in the future as well. I still have to check the dates and location but that should be pretty fun as well and will probablyhave more of the stuff I'm looking for. ^_^

What is your Ice Cream Flavour?

Cookies 'n Cream!

Smooth and creamy with a few rough bits mixed in, you are a real treat! You are probably very popular amongst your friends. Remember too much of a good thing is not always good! Don't lay it on too thick!

What is your Ice Cream Flavour?

Hope and Fear

I'm going to provide two ideas from Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. I find these two ideas somewhat true and quite funny in the right context.

Hope: "It couldn't happen. It shouldn't happen. But, you never knew... this time it might. You knew that the man running the Find The Lady game was going to win, you knew that people in distress didn't sell diamond rings for a fraction of their value, you knew that life generally handed you the sticky end of the stick, and you knew that the gods didn't pick some everyday undeserving tit out of the population and hand them a fortune. Except that, this time, you might be wrong, right? It might just happen, yes? And this was known as that greatest of treasures, which is Hope."

Fear: "It's hope, turned inside-out. You know it can't go wrong, you're sure it can't go wrong... But it might."

While it's quite obvious that the ideas presented by Terry Pratchett aren't entirely accurate when actually applied, it is still nice to note that there is some measure of truth in what he writes. I've actually been thinking quite a bit on what an actual philosophical definition of Hope and Fear would be but all my ideas seem to have an underlying flaw. I'll work on the ideas some more (along with several others from the past) and try to discover something. ^_^

Other than that, I have just under two weeks left of my internship. No more early mornings! :P

What makes you happy?

Perfection will bring you the happiness you long for. Well, well... you sure are a dreamer. Whatever you do... you want it to be flawless and brilliant, you just refuse to settle for less. Failure isn't an option, it can only make you more ambitious, strong and capable to overcome any kind of difficulty for the sake of your dream. However, your dreams are a bit utopic, you should really cool down your fantasies and limit them with reality, after that (the hard worker that you are...) it'll be just a matter of time until you reach your goal. Your greatest gift is your imagination. You're artistic, probably like to draw/write/sing/dance. You notice details that usually don't catch the eye much. In love - happiness can be brought to you only by that ONE special person you'll be looking for all your life. He/she'll be romantic, mysterious and fun to be with. (Yeah, I know it'll be hard to find him/her, but if you would only widen the range of your search, you'll be quite surprised with what you'll find.) Good luck.

Take this quiz!

Over the Hedge ROCKS!

I finally got a chance to watch Over the Hedge at the theaters today. The movie is just good clean comedy with some interesting ideas. The story is fairly linear with R.J. (the raccoon) making one big bear extremely unhappy. So, R.J. has a week to get the bear off his case... by any means necessary.

Anyway, they picked some great voice actors for this movie (e.g. Bruce Willis) and the animation was fluid and unless you really think about it, the animals don't seem extremely fake. It all flows together really well.

I highly recommend this movie to all! 4.5/5 Chips! ^_^

(Yes, I know I never give detailed reviews. Who cares? Go watch this movie!)

Nintendo DS Lite

I just got a Nintendo DS Lite today and the screen is extremely bright! I could probably use it as a flashlight in an emergency. *lol*

Anyway, I only have Animal Crossing at the moment so I haven't been able to try out all the nifty stuff you can do with the Nintendo DS Lite. I'm planning on getting at least Nintendogs: Best Friends and possibly some other games but that can wait.

This is the only interesting bit of news I have today. On another note, I'm watching Over the Hedge tomorrow. That should be pretty awesome. :P

I'll post again tomorrow.