Me! MiNdBOx - Waiting for you...

Another morning, another tune in my head. Keke, looks like the jukebox in my mind aka MiNdBOx is programmed to start each of my day with a tune, thus I've decided to post them up so you get to enjoy some nice songs as well, though love it or hate it... you decide for yourselves

The song today is Waiting For You by Hu Yan Bin (Anson). I do not how to read/write in Chinese (save for some super easy words, also my name) so the lyrics' gonna be in han yu pin yin only okay LOL.

jin se de wu xie
ban zhe yin yue
Baby ni de yan jing shi yi wen shen sui de hu shui

er hu ming hu mie
yan cang bu ke si yi de mei
rang wo yun xuan
zai xuan ya bian
shu zhi yi zheng yan jiu bu jian

(Chorus)
Waiting for you I'm waiting for you
Waiting for you kiss me at tonight wei he ni Cinderella
liu gei wo yi wang wu ji de si nian

Waiting for you I'm waiting for you
Waiting for you come here to my dream

qian zhe ni bu duan xuan zhuan
yi zhi dao hei fa bian cheng le yin xian
Waiting for you waiting for you
zhi dao yong yuan

My Rating:

Me! MiNdBOx - For love

Woke up this morning and this one tune just kept playing in my head...guess it's a sign for me to share it out =P

Awan Yang Terpilu by Ning Baizura. The part spinning in my head is the chorus and it's quite nice actually..hehe..so enjoy!

Kerana cinta
Aku kembara
Bagai camar
Melintas laut
Mencari pohon
Untuk berteduh


Kerana cinta
Aku kembara
Ikut lagu
Bisikan hati
Mendamba kasih
Paling setia


(Korus)
Sepasang sayap tak terlihat
Umpama mimpi yang tersimpan
Jadi rintik-rintik hujan
Menciptakan Awan yang terpilu


Puisi ini
Tercipta lantas
Tak kesampaian
Hajat meronakan
Gelora rindu
Ku kepadamu


(Bridge)
Ingin sekali
Aku ungkapi
Isyarat jiwa
Dengan sempurna
Biarkan kau mengerti
Biarkan kau sedari
Keadaanku yang memujamu

My Rating:

Do dreams come true?

I love adventure games (especially those with awesome graphics) and I've played quite a number to date. Here's a few from the top of my head..Escape From Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Keepsake (read my review here), Uru... Played the first two during college years (thanx to Raiden), the third just last year but still waiting for the installation CDs to the 4th from a friend who'll only be back in Sept or so he said (LOL, if you read this, don't forget the CDs!)

However, these kind of games can take up a lot of time (each game requires 2 installation CDs/1 installation DVD so you do the math =P) and when you don't have that much time to spare, it's either you burn the midnight oil (and get bloodshot eyes to work/class the next day), or glue yourself to the front of the monitor during weekends just so that you can finish the game. (Trust me, when you are hooked, you will do both LOL)

OR... you can play Dream Chronicles.

Dream Chronicles is the casual cousin - casual as in you can finish it in half a day (may vary depending on expertise ); cousin because you still get the same wonderful graphics (mixture of fantasy and magical), interesting storyline (involving fairies), downright easy puzzles to puzzles that will have you squeezing your brain juices (but nothing you can't manage since it's supposed to be "casual" ) - that can serve as a quick fix to your gaming addictions.

In Dream Chronicles, the story begins when Lillith, the Fairy Queen of Dreams cast a sleeping spell over Wish, your village, which affects everyone except Faye (you) thanks to Fidget, Faye's husband. However Faye wakes up to find her husband missing, and her daughter, Lyra in a deep slumber. There's no one around to help you save for Fidget's diary that details his past and what you will need to do to break the spell. You'll learn more from the diary as the story unfolds, scene by scene, with narratives to guide you in between.Like all adventure games, your goal is to solve one or more puzzles in each scene to advance to the next while collecting valuable items along the way (which in this case are dream jewels that helps to increase your score when the game is over).

As mentioned, some puzzles are relatively easy, where all you need to do is click on objects (can be anywhere on the screen) and placing them at the correct spots to advance. Dream Chronicles makes it much more easier such that when your mouse hovers over a particular object/location, its name or description will pop up, thus you'll know whether it's the right object or location. Also, if you have a hard time locating some objects, they do glitter once in a while making them easier to find. An example would be the very first puzzle where you are stucked in your bedroom with the door covered in ice. Not only do you need to locate the key to unlock the door, you'll also need to set up a fire to melt the ice. All items picked up will be stored in the tray at the bottom of the screen thus you don't have to worry about forgetting the items that are currently in your possession.

Some puzzle are harder and requires a bit more thinking not to mention time. Such puzzles might need you to arrange items in a particular order, do some math or use objects 'on' another in order to obtain necessary results before you can proceed. In one location, you will need to reproduce blinking lights in a specific order so that stair steps will appear to allow you to go to the next storey. In another instance, you'll need to get the right objects in terms of their weights before you can unlock the main gate to go beyond your village. All in all, the puzzles are nothing too mind boggling...just a little extra attention and everything should fall into place

In short, Dream Chronicles is a very engaging game, nothing you'll get bored of easily, though I find it to be a tad too short. There are also a few shortcomings such as you can't retract your steps to previous locations - in my case, to get screenshots! - but these are all very minor and do not affect the overall gameplay. At the end of it, I found myself hoping for more - more breathtaking scenes, more puzzles to think over, more secrets to uncover. Well, can't complain too much I guess since it is meant to be a short adventure game. The sound effects are great too as it brings to life the fantasy world. And to wrap it up, a sequel will most definitely be a dream come true

My rating:

Conquer the world with CHOCOLATE!

They say Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get.

I say what if you can determine what kind of chocolate goes into that box, whilst making a name for yourself along the way? Cool, huh? And now you can - virtually, at least - when you become a Chocolatier .

The game is set in the 19th century (1880), where you start out as an apprentice (aiming to become a Master Chocolatier) to help Evangeline Baumeister, a famous chocolatier, to not only restore her chocolate company but to grow it into a worldwide empire. From travelling to the four corners of the world to acquire recipes and ingredients, to setting up factories to produce these tasty confections, and to selling of chocolates produced to whichever stores giving the highest price, you are involved every step of the way.

Want to learn the recipe for Chocolate Bars with special Trinidad Cacao? Sulawesi Cacao Lemon Macadamia Truffles? Cherry Chocolate Infusions? In order to acquire these recipes (64 in total), you'll need to take on missions given by dozens of characters you meet along the way. You'll also deal with merchants to mass purchase the finest of ingredients such as sugar, milk, all sorts of beans (e.g. coffee, cacao,) spices (e.g. vanilla, cinnamon,) assortment of nuts (e.g. cashew, almond, macadamia) and fruits (e.g coconuts, lemons, raspberries), even bargaining with them for the best prices - prices change according to market trends - to ensure no hiccups to the operations of your multiple factories. Any interruption and you'll be seeing red lights blinking on your dashboard. Yup, there is a dashboard to allow you to keep track of things (bank balance, inventories, factory statuses) easily.

Productivity of your factories depends directly on how good you are at firing the correct ingredients into rotating machine slots. It might seem easy at first, that is until the machine starts to spin faster and faster, and you find yourself holding on tightly to your mouse trying to steady your aims, as well as from simple recipes requiring only 3 ingredients, you'll soon own recipes that requires at least 6 unique ingredients! A slot containing all required ingredients is grabbed by a tweezer-like machine to become a case of chocolate. The number of cases you are able to produce will be the factory's productivity per day though you are allowed to change it anytime by going through the shooting exercise each time.

Like any entrepreneur, you would want to brand your products, and LOL you get to do that too here. There are a few logos to choose from, together with a name you come up with, align it however you want, and voila, christening done. What more, all your factory sites will bear huge signboards of your creation. Proud, eh? kekekek....

With wonderful graphics (the chocolates look really, really delicious), lovely animations, and interesting game-play, I found myself addicted to the game in no time. And now yours truly is a Master Chocolatier LOL. So the next time you have a craving for chocolates, remember to look out for CHOCOYUMMY - the yummiest chocolates the world has ever tasted!

My Rating:

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix ... the Movie

With the on-going Potter mania and my recent reviews of Book 6 and Book 7 respectively, I guess it won't feel right if I skipped the review of the movie - 5th in the heptalogy

I watched this last Wed (cheap movie night ) with Peen, and though the effects were good, I felt as if everything was in fast-forwarded motion in order to cramped the underlying plot into a 2 hour 15 minutes show. One moment, we were at Privet Drive with appearance of Dementors, and next we were at Grimmauld Place (HQ for the Order), then back to Hogwarts where Umbridge took over as headmistress, DA (short for Dumbledore's Army) formed secretly to learn Defence against the Dark Arts, Harry-Cho's kiss (rather forgettable if you ask me), Harry's visions through the connection to Voldemort's mind, Occlumency lessons with Snape as well as Thestrals, a giant and centaurs thrown in along the way ...yup, we sorta "jumped" from one scene to the other, like snapshots taken randomly from the book.

Before you know it, we had arrived at the Ministry of Magic. This was the highlight of the movie as finally the speed slowed down just nice, and we learned about the prophecy between Harry & Voldemort ("either must die by the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survive",) arrival of Death Eaters bend on snatching the glowing crystal ball that contained the prophecy (notably Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange), a fierce battle ensued with awesome effects put to good use (shelves of prophecies collapsing, curses in the form of colored lights flying everywhere,) and we thought all was lost as Harry's friends were captured in the Death Chamber and Lucius threatened to kill them unless Harry handed the crystal ball over. Our hearts leaped with joy when Sirius (Harry's Godfather) and other members of the Order arrived to save the day (or night) and battle continued. Just when we thought victory was within grasp (Harry stunned a Death Eater while Sirius knocked Lucius into a wall) Bellatrix appeared and "Avada Kedavra", the killing curse, hit Sirius who fell into an archway in the middle of the chamber, disappearing forever...

See what I mean when I said fast-forwarded mode with perfect pace, enjoyable & exciting mode?? If you had not read the book before watching the show, or if you had not been following Harry Potter since the very beginning, this movie will most likely cause scratching of heads, raising of eyebrows, questions marks or worse, heavy eyelids (seriously, one of my colleague experienced that.) Of course there are people who enjoyed the show just as much, with some even experiencing near "heart-attack" moments (you know who you are LOL.) For 6 bucks, yeah, I guess it's worth it..

(Oh, and "disappearing forever" is not the end just yet. To find out what happened, read the book or watch the movie LOL. I recommend both to get the best of both worlds - complete events & detailed descriptions with the former, great audio visuals with the latter )

My rating: (compared to the book)

Victorian Week - Final

All right, here's the final installment since we're entering a new week, LOL. This time, let's learn stuff about Christmas, famous buildings/structures, and Victorian fashion ;)

Note: Words in italic will link you to sites with more information, if you are interested.

Did you know...?

1) Decorated Christmas trees were a tradition brought to England by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert from his native Germany.

2) In German tradition, Christmas gifts are said to be brought by the "Christkind," the Christ child. In pageants, the Christkind appears in the tradisional outfit as seen from the image. In some regions, it is spelled "Christkindl," from which we get our "Kris Kringle."

3) Preparation of the Christmas pudding began with "Stir-up Sunday," with each family member making a wish as they stirred the mixture. The pudding was a porridge typically composed of fruit, raisins, sugar, spices, and breadcrumbs. It was shaped into a ball, wrapped in a cloth, and then steamed in the largest pot available. Finally the pudding was doused with liquor and set ablaze, then served topped with a holly sprig. The placing of charms in the Christmas pudding is an English custom with pagan origins. The charms have various meanings; the ring symbolized love, a boot foretold travel, and the little pig denoted the glutton at the table.

4) The custom of sending Christmas cards began in Victorian England, thanks to the inexpensive "Penny Post" postal services and the advent of the railroad.

5) "Big Ben" is not actually the name of the clock, nor the tower, but the name of the largest bell in the tower.

6) St. Paul's Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1673. Amazingly, it survived the Blitz with little or no damage, partly through the devoted efforts of a crew of live-in firefighters.

7) The lower sections of Tower Bridge were raised to allow passage of ships, while the upper section was a walkway for pedestrian traffic.

8) Street market like New Cut and Covent Garden were where the lower class went to do their shopping.

9) Designed in 1811 by John Nash, Regent Street was a residential quarter for an increasing number of affluent Londoners.

10) Hyde Park Corner, the grand entrance to Hyde Park, is an impressive triple arch and colonnade over 100 feet long.

11) When Eleanor finally got over the anullment of her engagement to William, the first thing she asked was for something sweet (she hadn't eaten in days), and one of the dish brought to her was the "Canary Pudding." However, no worries, no canaries were harmed in the making of the pudding. This old English dessert is named for its predominantly yellow color from lemon rinds, one of the main ingredients.

12) A fashionable Victorian era waist size was 18 to 20 inches. The corset, with its stiffening steel or whalebone, was the means of achieving that. The invention of metal eyelets enabled corset to be tightened more without damaging the fabric, which led to excesses - people were known to swoon from shortness of breath. The practice of "tightlacing," in which severely tightened corsets were worn for extended periods of time, gradually fell out of favor towards the end of the Victorian period. (Phew..that must surely had been a relief LOL)

That's it! Hope you're more knowledgable now than before =þ