Last Posting Before 2014

Yes! I've made it! Year 2013 shall not go down in my blogging history as the laziest. But I have to say this has been a close one (well, statistically by one entry). For some reasons I haven't been blogging as much as I should. Even though, ironically, and thanks to Spambot, "Monday Morning with ..." has, allegedly, recorded quite a lot of eyeballs lately (this month has been pretty astonishing!). *snigger* who cares, really? I just love blogging cos it lets me vent and *** bad language alert *** it lets me get my own back on some moronic blogger retard (new word learnt this year: "fucktard") who talks shit (about yours truly). Hey, fucktard, just because you blog, it doesn't mean 1) you can write or 2) have an opinion, let along an intelligent/valid one, or 3) you can slag off other people and think you can get away with it. But hey, free world/society, so whatever ... 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to 2014. I'm not going to make any New Year resolutions just yet, though high on the list, I'm sure, will be to up my tolerance level of fucktards ... I swear, they are taking over the world.

Happy New Year!

Two More Entries ...

First of which will be about my yoga practice. The Hatha class I took several days ago was surprisingly effective despite it being quite a gentle session. We did do some core exercises, which left my core, well, sore today. Maybe it's just that I'm unfit (!?) Anyway, cos my hip flexors are also feeling a bit sore I was a bit worried that I might have torn my hamstrings (again) ... but given I haven't been practising the (half) split I doubt they are torn ... and sure enough, they aren't (phew) ... so maybe I just need some rest before this weekend's practice (which promises to be extremely challenging...)

Oh, did I mention that I've decided to take teacher's training next year? Not that I really want to teach but I'm just curious what that entails and whether it would help me with my practice. Today I looked into the mirror (something that I really seldom do) when doing a wide leg forward bend, and I noticed my lower back/spine instead of "folding", it was curving (which didn't look right). I had to lift myself up to stretch my spine (which is more the point of the pose). But my hips just don't rotate/tilt forward far enough to allow my lower back to fold, that coupled with my tight hamstrings ... I'm wondering if my inflexibility will be a major issue in advancing in my yoga learning & practice??

Spambot VampireStat

I mean, how stupid is that? Apparently this vampire thing has been leeching onto my blog ~ no wonder it has recorded some spectacular spike in its page-view figures lately (!) But you know what? I don't really care cos it makes this blog looks, like, popular! The only thing is, DO NOT click on its link or else, it's, like, inviting it into your house. Sheer horror. Oh, and I just found this in some forum talking about these spambot:

Kayla G: "They don't gain anything. From what I've read, they are bumping your blog view count simply because they want to make you curious about them. If you see that something called vampirestat has read your blog 40 times in one day, you might be curious about going to their website through their link on your stats page. Then, when you get there, viruses download themselves onto your computer and they can either control it or simply destroy it. They are really there just to cause trouble. Some people are just mean."

Agree. Well, suck it VampireStat, I ain't gonna click on your stupid link but thanks for boasting my page-views all the same!

More on Final Fantasy X-2 HD (Part Two)

Have been making some cool progress in this fun game and have just found out how the "Coliseum" works. One of the many appeals of this game is that it's just so ... vast! Other than the main story (split into, like, five chapters) there is tonnes of side-quests and missions to do and battles to fight. I'm sure there is more to be discovered so more reports later.

Meanwhile, I think its theme tune is beautiful...

PS yes, with two more days to go, I think I'll have enough blog entries this year to make 2013 not the laziest in its four-year history ...    

The Hobbit

Hello, dinner

I do wonder who actually like this film series/franchise other than the people who made it (I don't know, maybe not even them). Just watched The Desolation of Smaug and thought, what a lot of bollocks it was. Did I just spend, like, almost three hours watching a bunch of bearded men (dwarfs) looking and acting like a bunch of idiots? But they ARE (!!!) Pray tell, where is the story? It was SO tedious. Basically the movie version of this J.R.R. Tolkien classic is, like, one very, very, very long (and did I say tedious???) tale of this, what, talking dragon that, in the first instalment, goes to sleep; then in the second, wakes up; then ~ and I'm ONLY guessing here, folks ~ in the final, dies. Like, wtf. I'd rather watch paint dry than sitting through this literally very dark tale of nothingness (if I only knew!) If I had the patience, I might read the book, which am sure is more interesting cos I probably have a more vivid imagination than the director. Actually, did I imagine it or the dragon Smaug (sounding terribly regal and English?!) became, like, Disney-fied at some point? Oh look, there is a slight tilt in the mouth corner that suggests it might be, like, smirking (in that wicked and English sort of way)? 

There are, of course, other sub-plots peppered throughout the epic but they kinda got lost and drown in the ... boredom of it all. Gandalf the Grey kinda drifts in and out of the narrative like a warning bell, ringing caution and all the dread to come ~ the same dread that he himself cannot escape as he gets consumed by this ... eye (or is it something, more, err, sinister and even sexual???) The romance is kinda moving ~ and interesting ~ as interracial relationship obviously gets the thumbs up here, even if it's between a messy (but unusually tall?) dwarf and a clean and no doubt gorgeous-smelling she-elf.    

Maybe The Desolation of Smaug suffers from what is known as the middle-child syndrome: the second of a trilogy, the-one-that-precedes-the-final-movie, is always plain and boring because the filmmaker saves the best for the last. (We all remember the Harry Potter movie that precedes the last one, in which Potter and his mates go on this terribly whingy, yawny and long camping trip that it threatens to kill he-who-must-not-be-named before his number is up...) 

At the end of Desolation, Bilbo the protagonist asked ominously: "What have we done?" Yes, I wonder that too; howabout: just wasted three hours of people's life?

Anyway, I hope the last Hobbit movie, There and Back Again, is more interesting and, yeah, kill that bloody gold-proof dragon already. 

More on Final Fantasy X-2 HD

This is what I just posted on a game forum re: my first impression of the game:

"Okay, so far so good!! Taking a bit of getting used to deciphering the language but it isn't that big a deal (sure, it requires extra effort but it's worth it!).The quality is quite superb; since I've also been looking at YouTube clips of the PS2 gameplay, I'm sure SE'd tweaked the graphics and made imrprovements. I'm surprised how simple the command execution is (just like FFIV, which uses the same ATB system). The fun part is, of course, the "dresspheres" but have yet to work out exactly how the garment grid and dressphere work together ... so will continue to explore that (with help from the English walkthroughs!) Compared with, like, type 0, this is FF on saccharin; the tone is light and it's very bubble-gummy (if not girly), which is fine as it feels like a breath of fresh air. Can't wait to learn more about the unique gameplay features! One thing I'm quite disappointed though, is that the game doesn't really make use of the Vita (hmm, if there are features that require the use of the touchscreen, I haven't discovered them yet!) Also, to navigate around, all you need is the left joystick so basically I don't get a 360-degree view of the enviro, which sucks BIG time cos what's the point of porting it to the Vita if they are not gonna exploit its capabilities (??)" It's all Japanese to me Abroad Celsius Yuna ~ so tiny in front of a save point

Yuna ~ from Final Fantasy X-2 HD

Yuna in FF X-2

O.M.G!!! The wait is over! Final Fantasy X-2 HD was released last night (well, on Boxing Day) and I don't care if it's in Japanese (the localised version will not be available until March). I Just. Want. It. Since this is a remake, it already has a walkthrough in English so at least I can get all the basic info there. But first, I didn't even know the difference between Final Fantasy X and X-2 (FF X HD was also released last night). Since I've played Dissidia before, I vaguely know FF X features Tidus and Yuna, while the latter is very popular among FF fans, not the same can said about her boyfriend who comes across as a complete brat. Anyway, I chose X-2 simply because I love Yuna (her being a Summoner) ... though, to my dismay, after I started downloading the game from PSN, I realised there is NO summoning in X-2. The game, however, does have, apparently, a fantastic gameplay, which I shall be testing tonight :o) The game did take some 12 hours to download (stupid PS Vita paused in the middle of the night) so didn't have a chance to start playing it until after work (then I had to re-install Final Fantasy IV the Complete Collection onto the Vita cos, me being totally anal, I want all my FF games on the same memory stick).  

Anyway, it was well worth waiting for. The graphics of FF X-2 is really good and I love the turn-based battle system and, finally, I'm getting the PS console experience on my handheld. The only thing is, of course, the language ... but apparently this game is not exactly cerebrally challenging so I should be okay. 

Okay, off to replay the opening sequence (I missed some items at the beginning so I wanna go back and get them!!!)