"idk, my bff Jill.."

Since this commercial was such a huge hit in the States, most of you should have watched this commercial before last year when it was aired and released on youtube. For the benefit of those who haven't, watch it for yourself!

Cingular Commercial - 'bff jill'



and its sequel!
Cingular Commercial - 'bff rose'



OMG, tli,du?
[translation: oh my gawd, totally loved it, did you?]

Japan 2007 - Food Report I (Osaka)

Having spent my holidays in Japan for close to a month, I've decided to break my trip into a few parts, starting from the food section first! ^__^ This post would be about all the food that I've tried and are worth trying out if anyone is going to Osaka.

OSAKA - FOOD Report Part 1

The first and No. 1 recommended place to go if anyone is going to Japan would be this sushi shop (stupid me forgot to take a picture of the shop's name!) at Tenmanbashi-me.
Although the shop is quite small, it is REALLY popular! Its always best to go either before lunch or after lunch, so that you can get at least a seat.
They sell delicious sushi at really low prices!! Basic sushi such as tamago and maguro only costs 100 yen per plate (2 pieces), salmon etc for 200 yen and the really good ones such as Jo-unagi for only 300 yen! It is really worth the money. Check out the pics for yourself!

Curry Cheese Instant Noodles
This has got to be the best instant noodles EVER! I would be willing to eat this everyday without complaints if they sold it here in Singapore!

Delicious
Reiko and I walked past this confectionery around 4am one morning (they were still not opened) and the smell of freshly baked pastries was enough to make us salivate immediately! The next day we managed to buy a box back to the dorm and finally had a taste of their well known orange cheese cake, apple strudel and strawberry shortcake! DELICIOUS indeed!
HIGHLY recommended! Its around Onohara.

Osaka Castle
If you do go to Osaka, you CANNOT NOT try their tako yaki because tako yaki is Osaka's specialty! However, do not get them at Osaka Castle or any other touristy areas because they are very expensive and not as nice as those you find at the road sides. Nonetheless, it was still good, beats tako pachi back here in Singapore ANYTIME!

Yodobashi @ Umeda
Highest Level of the building - The crepes were really really good. The whole floor was lined with dessert shops and we were spoilt for choice, but we ended up with these irresistable ice-cream crepes!

MacDonalds @ Carrefour
McPork was sooooooo good! The last time I went to Japan, I tried the black pepper McChicken and it was super yummy, thus when I saw the McPork version, I HAD TO GET IT! Macs in Japan is really quite expensive and they don't provide you with chilli or any other condiments, if you want them, you gotta pay! My meal cost me about 450yen!!

It was dessert at Baskin Robbins after that. OMG the ice cream was heavenly!!! yum yum!

Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Canteen Food - good and cheap!
Curry rice made by Reiko!! I couldn't afford to eat out everyday since I still had a few more weeks in Japan! XD

Mister Donut & KFC Buffet @ Onohara
Mister Donut was having a promotion in conjunction with the Simpsons Movie and I bought myself a tray of Mini Donuts! With all the donut craze in Singapore, I was thrilled to find a donut shop! ^_^
I bet none of you have heard of a KFC buffet right? I was surprised too when Reiko told me about this KFC buffet at the outlet near her school. The buffet wasn't exactly very cheap so thank goodness for YJ's parents who treated us to the buffet lunch! ^_^ The buffet was nothing spectacular but it was worth the experience, plus it was my first time trying a KFC buffet! And no, we did not just eat chicken, we actually had spaghetti, soup salad and wedges. (second pic)
Apparently there are only 2 outlets in the whole of Japan that serves this buffet, one of them being Osaka of course. I'm not too sure where is the outlet but if anyone knows, do let me know!
I think the buffet was around 1500yen. Only worth it if you are either a KFC fan or a HUGE eater!

Umeda

Lets call this Panda Panda because the black and white reminds me of a Panda. haha anyway, its a white and dark chocolate coated puff with custard filling inside! The shop is at the Umeda train station itself.

Albar Pasta restaurant
I LOVE Japanese fusion pasta. I can never get enough of it! Ever since Pasta de Waraku was set up in Singapore, I could never get enough of it. I always thought the pasta at Pasta de Waraku was the best I have ever eaten, but boy was I wrong! The ones in Japan were even BETTER!!
I ordered the seafood pasta that cost me only 830yen and dessert was only 380yen! And as you can see from the many dessert pics that I've put up, Japan is like the land of desserts! Taste, quality and appearance is never disappointing!

Some ramen shop around the area at Onohara too.
House specialy and gyoza! Cheap, good and huge servings! Ramen costs about 700-800yen and Gyoza was 300yen I think.

Shindax Plaza
Shindax Plaza is actually a karaoke place but if you do have a chance to go singing here, please make sure you order their fries! It is by far the best fries I've eaten in my entire life! I swear! Its at the foot of the hill where Mister Donut is.

AND make sure you try their strawberries from the supermarket! Its fresh and super super sweet! I heard that the reason why their strawberries are so expensive is because the Japanese throw away all the ugly looking strawberries and only display the good looking ones!
I bought a box of about 6-8 for about 450yen. Slightly more expensive than those in Singapore but worth buying it to try!

Délices du palais
A high end shop that sells freshly made tarts on the spot!
Beautiful and quaint! Tarts are affordable too ranging from 600-1000 yen.
Great place to hang out for high teas with alot of rich Japanese housewives. XD
Its near Osaka Muse, so just walk around the area and streets. There are alot of other confectionary cafes as well that are worth going in!
Highly recommended!

Universal Studios Japan
Lunch at Snoopy land!
Sun/moon/star fries with Prawn patty burger and Snoopy pastry for desert!
And a santa bun for dinner! XD SUPER CUTE! o>_

to be continued..

Madonna ft Justin and Timbaland- 4 minutes

Damn! Madonna never grows old huh. Really love this Music video and collaboration between these three. Awesome vid and contagious music. haha!

Madonna - 4 Minutes (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Download the song HERE

Michael Jackson & Slash Live - Beat it!!

woohoo!! Stumbled upon this vid featuring our King of Pop and SLASH!! OMGG!!

Michael Jackson & Slash - Beat it Live
Uploaded by pi-xo

The world's first eyeball tattoo!

Tattoos are becoming an up and rising trend nowadays for many people, especially with reality TV shows such as Miami Ink and L.A. Ink. For some, tattooing is a form of expression while some just love art and want to show how much they appreciate it. So how far would you go to express yourself in terms of tattooing?

I was recently shown an article about the world's first eyeball tattoo. What came to my mind immediately was 'How is that even possible?!' well well, looks like it IS possible and the images I would say would haunt me for the rest of my life! I cannot imagine why would anyone want to take the risk of losing your eye just to express oneself. Madness!!

so anyways... here's presenting to you some of the images.

WARNING: Not for the faint-hearted / Squeamish readers! >_<

scroll down for a screen shot and link to the article
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Taken from The Sun

Rock Band, Guitar Hero & Karaoke Revolution!

I've been a faithful RPG (specifically Final Fantasy) gamer all these while, most of the time not bothering to spend more than one game sitting on any types of game genre such as Grand Theft Auto or Metal Gear Solid. I mean I do make an effort trying them out but they usually get thrown one side pretty quickly. This pretty much changed when I got.....

THIS!

Yep, I received a wireless guitar from the KC babes for my 21st birthday last year. I had the game for quite awhile for my PS2 but it wasn't really fun without the actual guitar controller. I was elated when I received it and before I knew it, I was HOOKED onto Guitar Hero II by Redoctane. Oh and have I mentioned about the fantastic rock songs featured in this game?

The game play
Press the coloured buttons on your fret boards according to what you see

I was then introduced to another music genre game for PS2 by Val. She had apparently bought this karaoke like game online with the microphones and she invited us over to her place to try it out, and I quote " you have to try it! It's damn fun!!" Not doubting her of course and looking forward to this whole new form of entertainment rather than our usual hanging out sessions such as watching movie or going for dinner, we eagerly went to her place. AND thank goodness we went because we had a BLAST singing at the top of our voices and not caring if the whole neighbourhood heard us. So I found out that these exciting karaoke games were Konami's Karaoke Revolution and American Idol! I swear I've never had this much fun at karaoke than with these 2 games.

Watch the video below to see how the game is played.

So because the group of us enjoy playing both Guitar Hero and singing Karaoke Revolution so much, we usually don't know which to play because we only have 1 controller for 1 game on 1 console. Therefore, could you imagine our excitement when news of the new game called Rock Band was released last november on the PS3 and Xbox?? You must be wondering what is this Rock Band that I'm talking about, well its basically Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution combined with an addition of the drums!! Its totally awesome because you can have all 4 players involving themselves in the game at the same time! Each player taking up the roles of the vocalist (microphone), guitarist (guitar), bassist (guitar) and drummer (drums)!

The controllers: Drums, Microphone, Guitar

Check it out yourself!

And since we are on the topic of Guitar Hero and games, here's something that I can't wait for my DS!

Guitar Hero: On Tour on Nintendo DS!!!



Can't imagine? Now you can play Guitar Hero wherever you go!!

Best of 2007

2007 has been one of the most memorable year for me. It was the year where I laughed alot, CRIED alot and experienced quite a no. of "first times". XD

I started off the year with a Chinese New Year Cosplay shoot, with the four of us (Reiko, Ka, Kaika and myself) cosplaying characters from Bleach. We wanted our photoshoot to be held at the Japanese Garden, unfortunately it wasn't open and so we settled for the Chinese Garden.

Featuring..

The Captains
Reiko as Toushirou Hitsugaya (10th Division)
Ka as Byakuya Kuchiki (6th Division)

The Vice Captains
Kaika as Rangiku Matsumoto (10th Division)
Myself as Abarai Renji (6th Division)

A few of us were then called to attend this event at Zouk called Eazy Peezy Very Japaneezy for the Onitsuka Tiger Launch. The theme was well as you can see anything Japanese and so I guess they needed cosplayers like us to just mingle about. Although I think the only reason why they called us was because of free labour. But nonetheless, the sushi was good. haha. So here we are, camwhoring outside zouk before going in.

Reiko as Bunta
Myself as Niou
from
Prince of Tennis

Before B1 (reiko) left for Japan in April, the bananas, B1 (reiko), B2 (myself), B4 (Sammy) and Michies went to Sentosa for our last outing together. We had a blast, doing nothing and just lazying around at Cafe Del Mar.

Red Bull

Being a mobile energiser for the Red Bull Wings Team is still one of the best job ever.

Left column:
Together with Becks at NUS beach Fiesta,
Pearl and myself in the office,
Michelle and myself at Pasta de Waraku

Second Column:
Myself with the Japanese racing girls @ Shenton Way,
Michelle and myself at Pasta de Waraku,
Redbull unite at the WCG 2007 @ Suntec

Picture of Tannessa and myself with the old Red Bull Beetle

The Muttons from Perfect 10!
I had to tag along to give out redbull to the hardworking students preparing for their exams

Swissotel's Vertical Marathon 2007
Alaina and I at the roof of Swissotel. BEAUTIFUL view from up there!

BUNGY BAR

This was one of the "first times" for me. It was my first time working at a bar. Despite the disapprovals from my parents, I still ended up working at Bungy Bar from June - November. In this case, it wasn't the job that made it so memorable, but the people. The amount of fun that we had during work and after work made all the long tiring days of work worthwhile.

Clockwise (from top left)
Myself, Eddy, Doranne, Suresh and Ayid
Eddy by the bar
Vanessa
Doranne

Not forgetting our crazy and well-missed Monday Movie Nights.

We got along so well that all of us went for a trip to Tioman in July together! Sun , sand and sea!

Another "first time" - Fishing!

The next major event of the year was my 21st Birthday! The theme was Film Noir and it was held at NSRCC.

The day before the party, Eddy busy setting up the DJ table.

The party day!

On my actual birthday, 6th August, the bungy peeps gave me a suprise birthday celebration at Bungy Bar! The cake was HUGE

Made new friends with a whole bunch of arty farty peeps.
Wan, Ayid and Sarah!
Superb photos using the Nikon D40x and Canon 400D

Haha and the closest I got to being a DJ was appearing as a guest for the Muttons @ Midnight's Catch of the Week. It was an unforgettable experience! Justin and Vernon were great hosts and are really wonderful people.

Yet another "first time", going visiting on Hari Raya in a kebaya!
It was super rush after that because we had to change for the Halloween party at Zouk!

AND! THE BEST AND UNFORGETTABLE CONCERT OF THE YEAR..... LINKIN PARK!!!!
I am soooo glad rice and I managed to see them live at the indoor stadium only about 8-10 rows from the stage! Now how close is that! It was great despite all the moshing and smelling of sweat after. Unforgettable!

This date was very memorable and it was also my first time up the hot air balloon!

And last but not least, ending my Year 2007, was a 24 days trip to Japan! (Photos of which I will post them at a later date). I hope my 2008 will be as good as 2007! XD

I think this post must have been my longest post ever in my blogging life. ha