The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug the Talkative and Long-Winded

For those of you who recall, although I really looked forward to the first Hobbit movie adaptation (An Unexpected Journey), I didn't enjoy it as much as I wished to. That being said, the sequel- 'The Desolation of Smaug' was thoroughly enjoyable- despite (or due to, perhaps) the departures from the source material.
Now as I'm too lazy and tired (it/s 4.30am at this point), I'll just list down the thoughts I had throughout the film:

Thor's Game: Buttering the Path to more Elvish Deviance, and Philosophical Discussions with Pigs and Trees

The story so far: the god of mischief Loki, bored with nothing to in his Asgardian prison cell, fills his time by manipulating the human race on another world into fighting a war with an alien race colloquially known as the buggers, because what could be better than some sporting buggering, after having been buggered to the throne by a well-meaning if rather beef-brained brother? Said brother still manages to save the day though, by throwing his electrical hammer into this paragraph which is composed of nothing but nonsensical drivel due to the fact that the writer is simply stalling for time while trying to think of something to say about either film which somehow makes sense- pauses for breath- while being somewhat entertaining, and... where was I again? Moral of the story: keep your sentences short or you'll lose track of where you were going. Now if you've somehow managed to stick through the above drivel because you're curious about why I've glued two movie posters together, tousle your hair like how a senior citizen would, taking pride in the amazing achievement known as patience- here's why I did so. I'm too lazy to do two separate reviews, and I simply don't have the confidence that I'd have enough to say about either movie to warrant a separate post for each one, so short that they'd be better off being posted on twitter in 10 separate posts in intervals of 10 atomic minutes.

Cambodia (Siem Reap) 2013: Jolieing in the 51st State

A trip to Cambodia practically dropped out of nowhere. To be more precise, my usual sponsors had time off and wanted to go, but only if I was available to join in and provide logistical and organizational support. My workplace happened to be closed as well, and after weighing the options: staying at home to rot in bed, or a chance to knock off another country off of my travel list, I chose the latter without much thought. If you're a literary as well as statistical type, you may be asking hey now, shouldn't that be afterthought, and not thought?" In a scenario such as this one afterthought is more common, or so I imagine. Afterthoughts wouldn't be accurate here though, since I have now just remembered that I decided to go along with it, and justified the decision after.

私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い! (Watamote): A Love Letter of Sorts to a Miserable Girl, and that little bit of her in all of us

Kuroki Tomoko (Picture stolen from somewhere on the internet. Credit to whoever's responsible for it.)

Preface: I wasn't sure how I should go about this post. Perhaps as a serious review of the anime, an episodic summary, or my usual smattering of random thoughts, mixed with a dash of pedantic social commentary. Or perhaps as a love letter of sorts, to a person who would never be able to read it because she's really just a fictional character- and yet to everyone out there who identifies with her. Watashi ga motenai no wa dou kangaete mo omaera ga warui! (私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い!, literally 'no matter how you look at it, it's your fault I'm not popular')- otherwise simply known as 'Watamote', continues the trend of  having a ridiculously long title. It also has the honor of being one of the most negative shows I have ever watched.

"Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl" (2006): In Which I Pretend to be a Raging Social Anthropologist

Osaragi Hazumu (center), Kurusu Tomari (right), and Kamiizumi Yasuna (left)

I set out to watch "Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl" with the express intention of watching a show with gender-bending being a major part of the theme. In case you're a puritan, gender-bending is generally understood to mean the switching of a character's gender within a story. Why a gender-bending tale, then? My choice was largely random, though I suppose my having completed the ultra violent Black Lagoon a while ago left me needing a dose of hormonal re-balancing, but I wasn't ready to go for all-out romance (I'm looking at you, Amagami) just yet.

...I stepped away for a glass of hot water, and now that opening paragraph makes a lot less sense than it did while I was typing it out. Come to think of it, it rather feels like a liability if employers were to google for my name and read this instead... oh well. Less self-destruction and more inconsequential proselytism, then.

World War Z(ucchini)

The Z in World War Z, I presume, stands for "zombie", and not, contrary to what you may have found yourself doing throughout much of this film- "zzzz"- the onomatopoeia for snoring, in case the first thing you think of is mosquitoes, in which case I'd advise you to get a pet frog and keep it by your bedside.

Japanese Film Festival 2013: The Great Passage / 舟を編む

2013 is the 10th year the Japanese Film Festival has been held in Malaysia- partially sponsored for the 2nd time in a row, if I'm not mistaken, by Mitsubishi Corporation- I can't help but wonder if the reason for this is that Mitsubishi's top man here is currently president of JACTIM (Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry Malaysia). Now, to turn the spotlight away from the former zaibatsu's charitable advertising and to yours truly, this year marks the 10th time I've attended the Film Festival- it's now a minor tradition for me to attend and collect the film program- which has me feeling rather old now. Oh well.

俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない(Oreimo): How to abandon a harem, amongst other things

I suppose it's about time I said something about "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga nai!" (Oreimo) now that the show is finally over, and while the memory of it is still fresh. After two seasons and 31 episodes, it's finally over, and I'm feeling somewhat... underwhelmed.

Sri Lanka 2013: Yet another place that could benefit from temporary recolonisation by the Brits (hopefully this doesn't earn me a spot on someone's death list)

For our second annual vacation of '13, Sri Lanka formerly known as Ceylon, ended up being chosen by process of elimination. Australia was out of the question on account of having been to Sydney and Perth already, New Zealand was kicked out of contention due to the distance, Europe simply too far, China in the grip of Summer (at time of writing), and radiation fears ruled out Japan- a pity, though I myself wasn't keen on going there during Summer. Funnily enough the rest of South East Asia was not considered, but Sri Lanka was probably foreign enough to be worth taking the time to fly to, I guess. I'll do a speed run for this one- hopefully I can cover it all in one sitting.

The Wolverine (2013): Finally got it right, bub.

Lop it off! Lop it off!

I walked into The Wolverine knowing next to nothing about the film. It turned out to be a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which I missed out on, but which appears to have been universally panned. If I'd had any clue about the aura of negativity surrounding it's predecessor, I would have been apprehensive about paying for a cinema ticket, but luckily I got to go in without fear. Although I have to question the logic behind showing the movie trailer for the show you're about to watch directly before the movie itself- talk about last minute spoilers. Oh well. Without further ado, my thoughts, in point form (minor spoilers ahead):

ねらわれた学園 (Nerawareta Gakuen): Great expectations should come prepacked with free insurance

Nerawareta Gakuen, literally 'Targeted School' had me feeling expectant for a few reasons- I'd just watched Kotonoha no Niwa, which was absolutely brilliant (see previous post); the art in this show looked fairly pretty; and finally, the summary seemed promising enough, mentioning a conflict between psychics and normal students for control of their school. Unfortunately it just didn't live up to its advertising. Major spoilers to follow since I'm not particularly happy with the show- you have been warned.

言の葉の庭 (The Garden of Words): for which I am at a loss

Fact: If there's one thing I enjoy about blogging- never mind that the term itself seems to have fallen out of vogue- it's that I give myself the opportunity to come up with the oddest, most peculiar, sensationalist, and yet strangely relevant titles I can think of. Except when I'm burned out from typing the entire piece and just want to click on the 'publish' button. For Kotonoha no Niwa though, I get the feeling that tacking on more words would be a disservice to the film. And no, in case you're wondering, I am not overcome by sloth. Not at the moment, at least.

とある魔術の禁書目録2 (A Certain Magical Index II): Nuns are generally evil, but twirly eyes are good for the soul

I finally got myself to watch 'A Certain Magical Index II'- probably a year or more after completing the first season. I couldn't remember much about the plot of season one at all, apart from the bare essentials- that there was something going on between a scientific civilization and another dependent on magic. It's no surprise that I was completely scrambled, though my eyes didn't turn into kaleidoscopes like Misaka's (pictured above), when inter-church rivalry and samurai popes showed up on the scene.

Man of Steel, winner of the "unintentionally came off as a comedy, but wasn't very funny, actually" movie of the year award

Movie review time. Excuse me if it seems more like a bashing though. 2013's Man of Steel was the highly anticipated (by Supes fans at least) reboot of the Superman franchise. With Batman, Iron Man, and the Avengers having financially paid off for their respective producers- even the recent movie length Sony commercial starring a certain friendly neighbourhood Spider-man was passable- it didn't take long for the the big daddy of costumed superheroes to jump into line.

Star Trek's missing boobs, Olympus without Titans, and a spot of matrimonial simulation

Movie review time. Well, two movies, and some pointless stuff that should really go into my diary but won't, because my hand is too lazy to write (isn't it awesome how I'm blaming my hand as if it's the decision maker here) and in the first place I don't really have much to write about either movie. Ahem. Moving on.

South Korea 2013, Pt. 2: A barometer for the times (and the times, my dear pup, are most grim)

Welcome to Part 2, which hopefully will be the final part of this travelogue, assuming I don't get lazy halfway through and end up ditching it for something else entirely. Anyhow, picking off from the previous post. On our x-th day in Seoul, out of x days. Putting an x in place of a number makes the paragraph look mathematical (and distracts the reader from an important fact). Moving on.

The beginning of my very own little Cold War

Let me get this straight. As I may have said elsewhere, I blog out of no particular self-constrained obligation to do so, but only when I am intensely annoyed or pleasantly amused; or when I've decided that I've procrastinated for long enough. Demand and supply has absolutely nothing to do with it, although in some cases the two do seem to misleadingly coincide (in the case of a Doraemon movie review I did which unfortunately derives most of its hits from paedophilic search terms).

Blurring the Lines between Reality and Fiction: General Election 2013 / Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke

In case the image above doesn't load for whatever reason (copyright infringement, sour grapes, etc), 'losing sucks', doesn't it? I wasn't planning on typing out this piece, but I suppose I should since the state government inadvertently gave me (and many others) a weekday off by declaring Monday to be a state holiday for people to relax after the general elections.

RG: Gundam Mk2, Titans Version (and some random, inconsequential statements)

Filler post while I do anything but type out the continuation of my Seoul travelogue. Recently I came close to getting a free trip to Hong Kong, but ducked out for reasons I will not elaborate. Had it gone through, I would have gained the license to make use of the self-defeating Malaysian joke (really just disguised desire) "I took a flight to Hong Kong just to yamcha/for breakfast, and came back after that". I didn't though, and as such escaped having to come up with yet another travel post.

South Korea 2013, Pt. 1: Waffling It Up.

Free waffles. Temporarily my phone wallpaper.

Well I suppose I have to start somewhere. The destination for 2013's Lunar New Year trip was made by majority vote, and heavily influenced by pop culture such the mostly pointless variety show Running Man, food and travel shows on the tube, and I suspect, the opportunity to ogle plastic women. I had the pleasure of abstaining from the vote, mostly due to my 'if it's free, count me in' stance, though I admit to wincing quite often.

Rurouni Kenshin: Shin Kyoto-hen (Limited expectations might be of great help here)

Allow me some time to blabber before I begin the review: I have to wonder why they even bothered making this two episode OVA. Was it to just to show that they can? Or to milk the popularity of the best selling series? Or perhaps as an indirect promotion for the live-action movie (I'm not entirely sure which came first- If I'm not mistaken, the 1st episode of this OVA came out before the movie)... or perhaps this was meant to drum up interest for a complete reboot of the series? That last possibility is definitely enticing, but no Ruroken fan would ever go along with a reboot if it ends up like this OVA.

Interim Post: In which I wonder what happened to February, and ponder on bits of plastic

So much for my never once verbalized promise to myself for maintaining a consistent blog as a platform from which to launch myself into a sudden unprovoked state of literary acclaim. What ever happened to the month of February? 28 days went by without a single posting. I've been lazy, albeit with good reason...

To make up for that laziness, I'm making this a double post. Not the type you're used to seeing in buggy forums or the occasionally messed up Facebook Chat, but two posts in one: in which I talk about random stuff and kill off the gunpla reviews I've meant to do but never got around to doing. Which makes the photos here totally relevant. I swear it wasn't an afterthought. Well it was premeditated, if that makes it any better.

Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse (Total Harem would be more accurate)

Despite knowing next to nothing about this show, I had high expectations for Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse. All I knew was that it involved mecha- to which I have no objection, with a cast of pretty girls (again, no objections, for obvious reasons). I was not disappointed on both counts, as should be apparent from the illustration above, but still...

Filler Post: Horns and Cyclops (RG Aile Strike and Char's Zaku)

Well, now that we're pretty much half-way through the new year, how about another post? Not much text in this one. Here I'll basically show off my latest gunpla builds/purchases, and brag about how I got them at a discounted rate... oh wait, I don't have much left to say. Anyway. Let the pictures do the talking, then?

[とある科学の超電磁砲] "A certain Scientific Railgun"; otherwise known as "A certain Hormone Rebalancer"

'To aru Kagaku no Railgun', otherwise known as 'A certain Scientific Railgun' markets itself as a side story to 'To aru Majutsu no Index' (A certain Magical Index)- a show which was first screened in Q4 of 2008, long enough for me to lose (almost) all memory of the main show.