June 2011

The Chaser Review

by Kal on June 27, 2011

The Chaser 추격자

Title: The Chaser / 추격자
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Running Time: 125 minutes
Year: 2008

Plot: An ex-detective turned pimp who is in financial trouble because two of his girls disappeared without clearing their debts. While tracking the first girl, a client called asking for a girl and then the pimp noticed that he was the same client who’s been with his missing girl.

Review:
The Chaser is a Korean crime movie directed by Hong-jin Na. I’ve seen a lot of Korean movies, and most of them are well-made, but The Chaser was something I’ve never expect. The directing of the movie, producing, and the brilliant actors made the movie one of the breathtaking thrillers I have ever seen from the Asian movies industry. Joong-ho Eom the ex-detective done by Yun-seok Kim flawlessly; he would make you believe that he was a bastard pimp once in his lifetime or in some other life he lived before, you would witness the harsh and rough boss who doesn’t care about how his girls are feeling in this dirty business as long as he gets his money. In the same time, he does somehow care about them, and these emotions what you get from him through out the movie: selfishness, greed, guilt, compassion, and responsibility. All of these are demonstrated by the genius acting of Yun-seok Kim.

Jung-woo Ha, on the other hand, is the dark side of the story. He’s the typical psycho killer who enjoys murdering girls for the sake of his lust. I got the feeling of jumping on screen and punch him so darn hard! His character is so irritating that makes you think, is there a soul inside this shallow body of his? Goose bumps is what you get when he stares at you, and cold whenever he smiles. What does that mean is Jung-woo Ha nailed it and did his role perfectly.

In conclusion, the movie has a breathtaking chase and the director was brilliant too, but the cast as I believe made the movie far way interesting than I ever imagined. What I get after watching it is, how stupid the law system is, how breakable it is, and how fragile the rules are. If you are a fan of the Asian movies then it’s a must to watch, if you are not a fan then it’s the best choice for you to start the journey with.

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Mada WiMAX

by Kal on June 25, 2011

Mada Communications (formerly known as Arab Telecommunications Co.) is the newest Internet Service Provider for individuals in Kuwait with the latest WiMax technology. With all the recent fuss about the Data Caps in Kuwait by the well-known current and bloodsucking ISPs, Mada seemed as a decent solution for me because of all what the other ISPs are planning to do, Mada offered their WiMax services, UNLIMITED (which is everybody’s right) for 3 months/KD60 and the router for free. After the 3 months they might charge you for the caps and their services might be limited as well. Therefore, I thought it would be a good opportunity to use it for these upcoming 3 months with my really heavy usage of the internet. I’ve been using it for 2 weeks now, and so far everything looks not bad, considering  and comparing the options we have in Kuwait. Despite the fact that Mada still not fully covering all of Kuwait provinces with their promised 10Mbs, and specially my area Surra (I’ve been also told by Mada that my area still not fully covered), thus it has a stable 1.5Mb to 2.5Mb, which is kind of good for me.

mada router

Configuring the router needs no brainer, it’s a matter of plug and play. After plugging the router, it will blink for few seconds and then you’ll see the Mada network in your Wi-Fi scanning result, put in the Username/Password that can be found underneath the router itself, or just use the 2 meters ethernet cable that comes along with the product. To access the router configurations page, browse to http://10.1.1.254/ and enter User as the username and password; you can change the password once you log in into the administration page.

mada router

Now, one crucial thing must be provided with my internet connection, that is Peer-to-peer. The first two days it was working fine with no problems whatsoever then it was hell for me, my downloaded torrents weren’t moving that fast at all, I was really disappointed and thought Mada gave up to those Leeches’ pressure (the other ISPs), as I heard they declared war against Mada. Till I read Mark‘s tweet saying that Mada has an issue with their Uplink, and that took approximately 3-4 days to get fixed, after that I was unleashed again to the P2P world.

mada router kuwait

Bottom line, the service is great, and they’re willing to improve their WiMax soon to cover all Kuwait’s areas eventually and equally. So far it’s the right choice unless your area isn’t fully covered yet, again, Mada is covering all of Kuwait, but its coverage varies from one area to another so before subscribing make sure that your area is included in their priority list so you’d know what to expect when purchasing their services. To really grasp what I’m getting from Mada, once I was downloading my iTunes/Mac OS X update, few P2P files were active too, and playing Black Ops online with no issues to notice!

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Remembering My 90s

by Kal on June 23, 2011

Izumi Sakai Zard

Zard is J-pop group established in 1991 and led by the vocalist Izumi Sakai who died at age 40 in 2007 from cervical cancer. The song below is called “My Friend” released as a single in 1996 and was the ending theme for Slam Dunk the anime series.

I dedicate this song to my friend @Kenshin187

R.I.P. Izumi Sakai

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Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Manga to Anime

by Kal on June 22, 2011

Mobile Suit Gunda The Origin

Now, this is a good news, since the announcement of Bandai’s newest project Gundam AGE, fans all around the world showing their rage against the new animation because of its kiddy approach. If you don’t like Gundam AGE either, like me, then this will cheer you up, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is a manga adaptation of the first Mobile Suit Gundam anime by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and that manga is to be animated. Leaked pictures from the August issue of Gundam Ace magazine revealed the news and it will be Sunrise‘s first Gundam anime.

Gundam Ace revealing Gundam The Origin anime

Via: Crunchyroll

 

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Char’s Counterattack Review

by Kal on June 22, 2011

char's counterattack review

Title: Mobile Suit Gundam: Char`s Counterattack / Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char / 機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア
Type: Movie
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Drama
Themes: Mecha, Military, Piloted Robots, Space
Year: 12.Mar.1988
Running Time: 124 minutes

Plot: In the year Universal Century 0093, Char Aznable, leads the rise of Zeon with his Neo-Zeon forces and declares war against the Earth Federation in his pursue to turn Earth uninhabitable by dropping the Axis asteroid on Earth. His greatest rival Amuro Ray is the only one who could stop him and Earth’s last hope.

Review:
Char Aznable, the Red Comet, can’t digest the idea that Zeon is no more exist in this universe that’s why his inability to live with that fact is becoming so distressful. His loyalty Zeon, space colonies era, and to Newtypes grew to a point where his idealistic society becomes a devastating obsession that must be fulfilled. To achieve that, Zeon must rise again, and Zeon fundamentals were established once more again in the Neo-Zeon by the Char as the leader.
In this movie you’ll see the bad side of Char’s personality, the extremity of his plans, and he’ll demolish anything that stands in front of his way, even if he needs to drop a colony on Earth, or collide two colonies to each other. There’s only one name that irritate Char even more to the level of craziness and that’s Amuro Ray. His old and greatest rival, you’ll feel the grudge they had ever since their first fight in Gundam the first, and one thing was in common, they both loved the same girl Lalah Sune where she was killed in a battle between Amuro and Char, and as it seems they can’t get  over it even after 14 years. Her existence is back in this movie and ignited the rivalry once again between those two. The movie has fair fight scenes which make it easily to fit in the Action genre, and the drama is intense too, and those two different genre combined so good in this Sci-fi movie!

Char's Counterattack Nu Gundam and Sazabi

Now, in terms of the animation, it’s just superb, I mean watching such an amazing well-done, directed, designed animation back in 1988 must be heaven. It’s a big hop the way it was directed and the designs of both the characters and mecha from its preceded Gundams series (First Gundam, Z Gundam, and ZZ Gundam). Although I pray for a retouch just to go well with the new technology and that is the Blu-ray resolutions and audio, but nevertheless the edition in the market is awesomely produced though. One more thing makes Char’s Counterattack stand out as one of the best in the Gundam world, which is, its Mecha designs. The mobile suit featured in this movie considered as the toughest, best designs, and most acquired model kits ever! The RX-93 ν Gundam or aka Nu Gundam obviously piloted by Amuro is my favorite Gundam ever besides Zeta Gundam (the black one); it’s so powerful and uses new weapons which will be used more often later like in V Gundam, and it’s still a prototype! My other favorite mobile suit is MSN-04 Sazabi or just known as Sazabi piloted by Char, I honestly just love it, the design is just brilliant and looks a badass indeed which suited Char perfectly in this movie.

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The Flying Ball

by Kal on June 22, 2011

flying ball robot

The Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) in Japan succeeded in creating the world’s first “Flying Ball” robot. The flying ball can reach a speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour (about 40 mph), it can fly in narrow corridors and hover invariably.
Via: Kirainet / Cool Robots

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Singi Houtou as Hatsune Miku [Cat Food]

by Kal on June 20, 2011

Hatsune Miku Cat Food

I posted about Singi Houtou‘s astonishing work as a professional cosplayer before when she cosplayed in different versions as Mari Makinami. And in here, she’s cosplaying as the well-known vocaloid Hatsune Miku in her song Cat Food. A lot of people is confused her with Megpoid Gumi in that particular look, hell I was confused and thought it was Gumi‘s look for sure!

Anyway enjoy the brilliant Singi Houtou as Hatsune Miku – Cat Food

Click for the photos of Singi Houtou as Hatsune Miku [Cat Food]

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Charlie Sheen Sends Message to Japan

by Kal on June 15, 2011


Who said Charlie is an insane drug addict man who’s completely unfriendly with the media? Well, a Japanese TV crew traveled to the US just to prove you wrong! They waited hours at the exit of one of his stand-up comedy shows and get Charlie’s attention they’ve made the reporter to wear a Samurai uniform and holding a big sign that says: ” Hi, charile came from Japan to see you, Give your message” charile=Charlie, lastly they have hired a hot blondie to stand beside the reporter!
Via: Japan Probe

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Iron Man in China

by Kal on June 14, 2011

iron man in china

A Chinese man called Kang did an amazing job constructing the original Iron Man costume from “urethane foam” (I don’t even know what that is) but looks awesome.


Check out Kang’s blog for his next project!
chinese iron man
Via: Danny Choo

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Gundam AGE PV

by Kal on June 13, 2011

Gundam AGE PV trailer

Mobile Suit Gunda AGE Promotional Video

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