Thursday, February 12, 2009
Hello. The topic for today is:
No, I'm not going to be talking about how proud I am to be a Singaporean and all. I'm going to be talking about how I'm gradually regaining my national pride instead. If you know me well, you'll know that I am not exactly that keen on remaining in Singapore the way things are right now. Over censorship, traditional point of views, and strict laws.
My parents have considered migrating out of here numerous times, and I have always been planning on moving to Japan or USA to live in a few years time, since I have cousins in those countries that are willing to accommodate me.
The major difference between countries like Japan and USA, and a country like Singapore, is the freedom. Sure, Singaporeans are given freedom, but after chatting with various foreigners in online forums, I realise that our freedom is insignificant to the one they receive.
However, things are starting to change.
Nowadays, people here are becoming more open. Laws are becoming more lenient, to a point where some laws in the USA are stricter than here. Censorship is still present, albeit much more reasonable.
Video games, movies and music CDs that wouldn't be sold here a year and a half a ago are now easily obtainable from any multimedia or specialist store. Although these products require proof of age to purchase, at least they are available here.
Movies like Wanted and Death Race are filled with swearing and violence, but they are rated NC16 here while in the US, you have to at least 17 years of age to watch them. Same goes for video games. Gears of War and Halo games are unrated here, meaning that they can be purchased by anyone regardless of age, whereas in the US, they are only obtainable by buyers above the age of 17.
Singapore is now also more focused on entertainment. Many local bands and singers are getting sponsorships from local recording companies. There are more local movies being made now than there ever were. Game industry giant Ubisoft even set up a branch here, and the first "made in Singapore" Xbox 360 game is expected to release in 2010.
Singapore also holds annual festivals like SingFest, which invites various international artists here to perform for the 2 day event. The yearly Xbox game show, which was started in 2006, while continue this year as X09. Local gamers are given a chance to get our hands on the latest games, and it is probably the closest we'll ever get to experiencing E3.
Singapore also occasionally has earlier releases for certain entertainment products. Spider-Man 3 released 2 days earlier here than in anywhere in the world. Street Fighter IV released today, 5 days earlier than in the US. Ninja Blade also released today, but it only releases in US on 5th March.
Today, I saw a figurine of an anime looking girl at a shop in Plaza Singapura. It was completely naked. Actually there were quite a few of those. For most of these figurines, the bottom was covered by a piece of tissue paper, while the top was not. So it's alright for small kids to see the top half of naked women, but not the bottom half? It's only going to be a matter of time before we see magazines like Playboy or Hustler on the shelves.
As Singapore progress on to becoming a more open and liberal country, I am slowly regaining my pride to be a Singaporean. At the rate we're going, I'll probably not have to migrate at all. The game industry here is fast becoming a major one, so I can work on my future game right here in Singapore. Then won't have to miss the local food.
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Today is Nicholas Tan Yan Ming's birthday, so happy birthday to you sexy. Since it is his birthday today, I shall call him Andrew instead of Yan Ming. I met him and Say Yin at Borders in Wheellock Place. We browsed through the books and the music for a while, then we went to look for the SkullCandy headphones at some shop there, but it wasn't being sold.
Then we walked to Plaza Singapura because we wanted to eat at Sakae. Along the way we stopped by at Cineleisure to look for Andrew's headphones. The shop selling them was very cool. They had this full turntable set up and I actually got to touch one. I really want to get a turntable set of my own, and be a metal dj like Sid from Slipknot!!
Anyways, the shop had the SkullCandy Lowrider model, which was the one that Andrew initially wanted, but he now wants the Hesh model, which isn't for sale there. We also saw a lot of cool looking computer mice. They were designed like strawberries or ladybugs. There was one designed to look like a woman's body, and the parts that you click on are her boobs :D
Once we reached our destination, we got there too early for the tea time buffet, so we went to walk around in Plaza Singapura for a while. We ate the cheesecake sticks, which are awesome. We went to the game store, and then I got a STD [spontaneous testicular detachment]. Ninja Blade was of course already on sale, since it is so widely advertised that the game is out today.
But Street Fighter IV also happened to be out. 5 days before the international release date. That why I had the STD. The Xbox 360 version costs $90, which is really expensive for a 360 game, which usually cost $60. At first I thought that it was an early release imported directly from Japan, but the shopkeepers said that it is the official release.
After thinking about it for a while, I finally figured out reason behind the high price. It is a Capcom game. That's the reason. Among all publishers, Capcom sells its games at the highest price. All three of my Capcom games, Dead Rising, Lost Planet, and Devil May Cry 4, all cost more than $90 when I bought them.
My elation from my breakthrough quickly turned to despair when I realised the number of Capcom games coming out this year. There's Street Fighter IV of course, then there's Resident Evil 5, followed by Bionic Commando, and finally Dark Void. Capcom is my favourite publisher and I would really like to support them, but the prices are a bit too steep if each game costs more than $90.
Anyone wants to get me Street Fighter IV as an early birthday present? I will love you forever :D
Once it was time, we went to Sakae and ate the buffet. Believe it or not, this was first time in my life that I actually ate at a sushi restaurant. We ate and ate until I felt full, but Andrew and Say Yin are imba so they could still eat. After that we went to Serangoon CC to play basketball for a while, then I left.
I went to Tiong Bahru Plaza to get a bunch of feather roses for several girls, then I went home. Once I got home, I played Lord of the Rings Conquest with my brother for a while, then I watch TV. After that I went to look for Valentine's Day card ideas and I found a unique one that uses moving panels to change the message on it. I can't really figure out how to get it to work though lol.
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I finally know how to make .gif images [animated pictures for the tech illiterate] to work on my blog!! I am so happy. Here are two .gif images for you to enjoy. The first one is funny, while the second on is just fun to look at:
Ok, I'm done for today. Thanks for reading. Ending off, see you tomorrow.
posted @ 11:32 PM
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