Holiday Aftermath

Its been an up and down holiday period, up cos i got a nice x'mas present in the form of my most coveted object probably in a decade, a 40GB iPod. My mother actually called me to ask if I didn't mind the U2 special edition one because I'd have to wait to collect my normal 20GB one. I told her quite plaintively how much I thought the U2 special edition one was a piece of junk and my needs far exceeded just 20GB, persuaded her to get the 40GB instead.

Being an avid media Kaizoku, my poor hard disk was chugging up to its neck in about 30GB of mp3s. Now, I can bring my precious treasure trove of digital music along with me wherever I go, skip free. In stark contrast to my old discman, severely in need of repairs, with controls that didn't work and a screen that didn't show anything. Now its a simple scroll and I can go from David Tao to David Holmes in a sec.

Also, I've "discovered" 2 interesting "new" animes/mangas. Overhearing a conversation between 2 ACJC students about Naruto and One Piece on the MRT, I decided to check out what these young geeky guys from my alma mater were talking about. To my delight, I find two charming Japanese anime/manga about chasing your dreams. Wenhui's going nuts over One Piece as well, singing the theme song every time we watch the show... "We Are!"

I actually watched One Piece on cable tv once or twice and caught more glimpses than anything else. I was actually more fixated with Rave, another Japanese anime running on AXN at the time. Turns out One Piece is much better than I expected. Creative character ideas and great use of the pirate genre to weave a tale of a young man who follows his ambition of becoming the pirate king.

I also love how the characters seem to be super flat, super undetailed. Take Luffy, the main character for instance. He's the simplest character drawn, which somewhat seems to indicate his character, straightforward and blunt. His special rubber-man abilities ala Mr. Fantastic literally and metaphorically stretch his capabilities in reaching for his goals.