ultrakoichi

Kick-Ass

2011-02-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

I watched this movie back in late december 2010 so don't remember the whole story but it's about this comic book nerd turn into a real life super hero. He was a skinny kid but he kept on training him self and gained some experience while he faced near death accidents. He covers himself with pathetic green and yellow spandex suits. He's only active during the night and one knight he saved this one particular man in front of convenience store from the thugs and some kid video taped him on mobile phone and uploaded on YouTube channel and he gained some kind of cult status. Then story goes more complicated involving many real life super hero wannabes. It was one of the best film I've seen in last few years and it's pretty good and there's already a plan for the 2nd series...

Watch it if you are into Marvel or DC comic super heroes. If not still watch it cos it's still funny in some parts of this film.

EarthBound

2011-02-13T09:48:00.001-08:00

This is a Nintendo release for SNES and in Japan it's known as Mother 2. Mother is the original title for NES release.

I don't know when this game came out and played and completed it while ago so I don't remember much but I will write full from my memory.

All I know is that this is the official nintendo game and it's RPG (Role Playing Game) like Ultima and Wizardry... Or Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) or Final Fantasy etc.

The reason I do not play much RPG is that it take too bloody long to play and that's what I don't like about it. Good thing is that story is deep and it's like reading a book. Also it does make you think to progress further in the game and when you are fighting against the enemies there's lot of strategy and depth in these games.

Anyways this mother is more realistic based RPG rather than typical European history or fantasy/folklore story. Like King Arthur Legends etc.

Why it's realistic because the main character uses baseball cap as a helmet, for weapon baseball bat or cricket bat to damage the enemy and use a lid as a shield to defend your self etc. And then when you need some cash withdraw money from cash-machine etc.

More story progress you meet your pals and join your party and then eventually you fight against alien boss. You can also use psychic power to fight or heal your wounds.

Nintendo don't make much crap games and I would recommend this if you want to play RPG.

Denmark v England

2011-02-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

I did sorta kinda watched the game because I was doing something and it was only a friendly against boring Denmark side (No disrespect) but it wasn't really exciting to watch but I did see all the goals. Danish player scored first and then Bent scored the easy tap in and then Ashley Young slotted the winner. So 2-1 away win for us. There's more interesting matches like Germany v Italy, France v Brazil and Argentina v Portugal etc. Clash of giants. Germans drew against Italians 1-1 then French won 1-0 and Argies won 2-1. And that's about it. Saturday back to usual domestic Premier League game and Rooney scored the cracking overhead goal with extreme power. I wish he would do that for his country rather than his club Man Utd!! Next match is against Wales away European Championship qualifier near end of March...

In memory of Gary Moore

2011-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

I just want to pay my tribute to a great guitarist GARY MOORE... He passed away last sunday in Spain while he was asleep. I love his music and he was a nice bloke. His gig Wild Frontier 1987 tour was my first ever gig and I will never forget it. He was a fantastic guitarist who can express emotion and feelings to guitar and I've never heard anyone sounding like his trademark clean and high tone guitar. Last year we've lost DIO battling with cancer but with Gary he just left us suddenly.

I hope he'll be gigging up there with DIO, Cozy Powell, Randy Rhodes and his best mate the mighty Phil Lynott.

I also want to say good bye to Phil Kennemore who played bass with Y&T... I didn't know he was gone!

I want to say belated Happy New Year!! Chinese one that is... 3rd of February, the year of the Rabbit!!

It's sad but their legacy will stay forever!!

Asian Cup 2011

2011-01-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

I am half Japanese and not really a fan of Japanese national team (I am half English and born in London so obviously my 1st choice is Three Lions!) but I do follow their results. I didn't see most of their matches but I want to congratulate Japan for winning the Asian Cup in Qatar for the record 4th time. Asian Cup is not most people's cup of tea because of poor football standard but it does matter to people from this parts of the world so don't diss it! lol

I did watch the highlights of semis against South Korea and the final against Australia. Apparently Aussies dominated the shots but Japan took the only chance with stunning volley from Tadanari Lee. It was a beautiful goal and great cross from Yuto Nagatomo on the left. With just that goal scene alone I think they deserve to win.

Well done!!

Lamb to the Slaughter

2011-01-30T12:40:00.000-08:00

Okay another music review. It's less known band... teN. teN is formed in mid 90's in Manchester by Gary Hughes. This Gary Hughes guy started his career with his own solo more like soft AOR ish rock music which I'm not so keen of. Then he gathered Dare (Thin Lizzy's keyboardist Darren Wharton's band) musicians like Vinny Burns and Greg Morgan. Then more people were added like guitarist, bass player and keyboardist.
I found this band on Classic Rock magazine. When I lived in Cambridge I started to buy this mag because they have coverage and articles about my sort of music. Old rock music. Review says they've got some influences from Whitesnake, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden etc. That can't go wrong!! I thought their music was great and hooked. I like Vinny Burns play. His play reminds me a lot of Gary Moore. Their music has lot's of contrast like hard rockin' songs and ballads mixed. I don't really like ballads so I often skip 'em and never listen but harder stuff they are really good and I like it a lot. I decided to review because just recently they released new album called "Stormwaning". Most of members are gone but still no different to older stuff cos it's all written by Gary Hughes. His hair is now receded and hair line has gone up. Like Alan Shearer!! lol

If I'm going to let people listen to teN then it's got to be "The Robe" and "Babylon". These two are awesome and I always listen to it over and over. Other stuff has too much ballads and not so much killer rocker songs so I'll strongly recommend these two. I think you don't need to listen.

Notable note... Apparently they sold lot's of records in Japan.

Light and Space

2011-01-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's nearly end of January... I've moved to a new home in Hackney from Stoke Newington since my 32nd birthday in 2nd of January 2011...

We all like the new home and like the area. We've been without a telephone and internet but now back on line since 26th of Jan.

I am now working and earning some money as well but to be honest I want to change it ASAP because I am not happy with current work and move onto better things.

Anyways today I will resume review and going to review a band called Threshold from Surrey, UK. They are progressive metal band and just simply brilliant. In my opinion they are the best progressive metal band and better than Dream Theater. I don't know too much about Their earlier career from 1989 because I can't judge not owning any albums with Damian Wilson etc. I only have the compilation album called "The Ravages Of Time"and on this compilation very few songs from old albums.

So I'll write about Mac (Vocalist) era. So progressive rock is long, complexed and atmospheric rock music. And metal is just fast and furious heavy rock music. So if you combine these two you'll get Progressive Metal music. Let's say Emerson Lake & Palmer + Metallica = Threshold. If you know what I mean. This band's main leader is Karl Groom who plays guitars and also produce other bands albums not just his own Threshold. Mac is longest and most successful vocalist in this band and he has simple and plain vocal style but can stretch it well. Bit like Peter Gabriel from Genesis. Typical progressive rock singer. But it's clear. Guitars are very technical, heavy, tempo change, aggressiveness and lot of complex melody. Bass is bass you don't hear it much in metal!! lol Keyboards creates atmosphere and add colours to their music. Drums are played by this short black guy who is just brilliant. Well timed and does lot of double bass drumming.

Production is top notch. Crystal clear modern sound. No one do better jobs than Karl Groom. I would strongly recommend "Hypothetical" album and "Subsurface". "Clone" and "Critical Mass" are alright but it hasn't got much killer tunes. After "Dead Reckoning" Mac left and old vocalist Damian Wilson returned and they've been pretty quiet but I think they are still active. They should stay active because if they don't it'll be waste of talents. These guys makes me feel worth following metal and progressive music.

If you are going to listen to Progressive Metal then you better listen to Threshold first then maybe Queensrÿche, Dream Theater or Fates Warning or whoever.

Just before January ends...

2011-01-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

Back online since this wednesday 26th! Before it's too late, belated happy new year 2011! And watch this space...

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T03:59:00.000-08:00

We wish you a Merry Christmas!! Yes another end of the year... It's been extremely tough and hard and difficult year for me. 2010 has been plenty of transitions... I faced too much disappointing down time so I am hoping next year will be plenty of UPS!!

Seven Hours...

2010-12-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

It's still quite chilly here in London... I'm having really stressful time (Around mid November to now) and always, every seconds is very frustrating... Anyways I found this band while I was reading ICON reviews on heavyharmonies and I immediately checked their music and I thought wow, bloody good for an Americans. I thought Americans can't really do this kind of sophisticated and sensitive rock/metal music. Usually most their 80's stuff is really upbeat and simple and not too technical rock/metal music and boring but this is one of rare gem from USA!! They've got this neo classical influence from Europe and vocalist has good rock voice. This band only released 2 albums in 86 and 89. 1st self titled album is more simple traditional metal and similar to Pretty Maids. 2nd album is little bit commercial with promo video it's called "Time Will Tell". Shame they disappeared so quickly. Short lived...

Apparently they are active again so if you are interested check FIFTH ANGEL!!

Frozen Britain

2010-12-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

All over the UK is covered with thick snow last weekend and most people weren't coping well and some of the transport system has stopped including the airport! Mad.

I'm still frustrated with many things in life and hoping things will be fine near future. It's been pretty awful year...

War Machine

2010-12-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

I met my great friend and employer from Tokyo Mr. Habu last week and also I met the TANK and KILLERS (Paul Di'Anno) legendary guitarist Cliff Evans. I'm honoured and made me happy!!

Where's Wally? The Ultimate Travel Collection

2010-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

I don't usually read books but this isn't really a book either!! lol It's a children's book and it hasn't got much text on it!! It's more or less puzzle game book. All you have to do is took look out for red and white striped guy called Wally. In US his name is different and called "Waldo" instead. Don't know why. I always wanted this book and finally I got it!! I found it in Yokohama, Japan's Village Vanguard shop and looked everywhere for this copy but couldn't find it but since it was written and drawn by British author Martin Handford it is easier to purchase it here in London. More you turn the page it's going to be difficult and I enjoy searching all these strange characters and objects. Also it's smaller compare to normal sized book so easy to carry. Smart!! Get it if you are interested. Great and well detailed art work!!

No Stranger to Danger

2010-12-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Okay and here's the 2nd Thrash Metal review!! It's Lääz Rockit!! I heard some of their stuff on "Leatherface" Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 soundtrack and most recent album "Left for Dead". I quite liked their music so I decided to check older materials. I'd say from "Know Your Enemy", "Annihilation Principle" and "Nothing$ $acred" is great. Probably their peak in career. On these albums this mascot character appears on it. Chip Hazard look alike from Small Soldiers movie!! Maybe Chip Hazard was copied/inspired from Lääz Rockit album sleeves?! Who knows. They always had this war theme songs. I'd say this band has little melodic edge. Not melodic as Megadeth but can be little bit thrashy rock 'n roll. In my opinion they are better than well known bands like Slayer but most metal fan would probably disagree but I'm entitled to my opinion!! lol I'd say "Nothing$ $acred" is the best album. Also they had secret album just in Japan. They changed their name to GACK and released "Fix". Good 90's thrash metal. Listen to the blood splashing "Leatherface"!!

Over the Wall

2010-12-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm going to do quick thrash metal double bill... First... Testament!!

Dunno too much about them but all I can say is very good crunchy technical thrash metal with good rough vocal. This band has famous singer called Chuck Billy. He's easy to identify because of his large stature. Big fat mean looking native American dude. He looks like wrestler from telly. He's got good vocal. I think his presence in this band is big. Also they've got relatively well known guitarist called Alex Skolnick. He used to be in Savatage as well. I think he was also a big part in this band's creativity. I haven't listened to this band's music properly but I would like to listen more and get into it. I would recommend their debut and latest "The Formation Of Damnation".

Go Go Ackman

2010-12-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Another SNES/Super Famicom review again. I finished playing Go Go Ackman and I'm now near completing Go Go Ackman 2 and then when I'm done with that I will play Go Go Ackman 3. This is short comics character created by Akira Toriyama of DragonBall/Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) fame. It's about demon kid v angel but their position is rather opposite. Demon is just a demon trying to do their job. Taking dead people's soul but Angel is trying to save people but somehow he manage to kill so many innocent people and do demon's job. So angel has so much grudge towards demon even though he hasn't really done anything bad... Twisted cartoon... I found 2nd one is much harder than the 1st one. Game it self is rather average but playable.

AVGN

2010-12-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

What's AVGN? What does it stands for? It means Angry Video Game Nerd! I've been watching him on YouTube for last couple of years but this guy is genius! I think he's great because he reviews many shitty games from various consoles and his reviews are pretty fair from my point of view. He's commentary style is rather offensive but he's doing it on purpose and that makes his reviews rather more exaggerated style. I would say his reviews are very good and spot on really. It became so popular AVGN has created many imitators such as Happy Video Game Nerd, Irate Gamer and JewWario. Happy Video Game Nerd are good and Irate Gamer is bad. Because he's a blatant rip off of AVGN. JewWario is more or less tells and teaches how to play retro Japanese Games for foreign audiences. He kinda gives instructions really. Nowadays AVGN doesn't do much game reviews due to his biography movie project. So I am excited about that. But I do miss his regular game reviews. He only makes 1 video game review per month!! Before it was like 1 video games review every 2 weeks. I wish James Rolfe and Mike Matei well and hope they will produce more great videos.

If you are interested check Cinemassacre

p.s. I actually wrote this blog back in 2nd of October 2010 but never get to finish it until now! lol

Blind Guardian

2010-12-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

I've got so much music in iTunes I've decided to give a listen to old Blind Guardian catalogue. It's not bad really. They have distinctive style. First two albums were just simple plain thrash metal then they added some of their Uriah Heep and Queen also some progressive rock influence to their thrash metal sounds. Their music definitely improved and more grandiose. They are from Germany and they are now known as power metal band. But I would say first and second album is definitely thrash metal. They had stable line up till their 8th "A Twist in the Myth" album. Their classic line up is Hansi Kürsch on vocals (ex-bass), André Olbrich, Marcus Siepen both on guitars and Thomas Stauch on drums. Stauch left the band in 2005 and joined other bands. I'd say their albums are cheesy but interesting and probably best on will be "Imaginations from the other side". Really thrash yet grandiose. So that's it. Latter albums are kinda machine like because over dubbed recording style and it's not raw enough. I known this band in early 2000s and they were rather well known in continental europe and south america as well as far east, Japan. This kind of genre "power metal" was rather over looked and weren't that popular in north america and in the U.K.

Being a band from Germany wouldn't help either. In music business you need to be either British or Yank otherwise music will be seen as crap or not get any attention for not being a native English speakers. Anyways they are good band and I think they should never be over looked. Now they are relatively known band in metal market.

Longer Route

2010-12-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

This one is about just over 5km distance and tonight I managed to run within 27:43 I think it's okay. Not that bad. Tomorrow is very important and hope I can bring the positive news back home!!

World Cup Hosts 2018 and 2022

2010-12-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

It's been won by Russia and Qatar. I don't mind bid was won by Russia but the only 2 votes to England's bid was disgrace and BBC and the Sunday Times's article about corruption in FIFA has certainly damaged our reputation and bid. How on earth free country, free press stupid attitude?! I don't understand. It's pure madness.

2022 going to Qatar is mad. Small oil rich country with small population without no history in football, never qualified to any major international event gets to host the biggest sporting event in the world is mad. Well Japan was same like Qatar back in 1996 never been to World Cup but they managed to qualify 98 and has been regular and steady competitor in World Cup tournament. But it's all about money. But positive side is that World Cup is going to the place where football is still developing and not so popular so that is good. Spread the football for good cause. So it's not all that bad but I think big nation like England contributed to football so much and I think we (Obviously me being English man and little bias) deserve to have one more tournament here.

It's very controversial.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention this before but congratulations to Nagoya Grampus for winning the J-League title for the first time in 18 years and well done to cult Serbian legend Stojkovic.

Mighty Morphin' POWER RANGERS

2010-12-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

I recently did the SNES game review and this is the 2nd one. I completed playing 2 games and there's 3 Power Rangers SNES games but I played 2 of 'em. Power Rangers are Japanese TOEI's "SENTAI SERIES" franchise and it's been shown all over the world since the mid 90's. Basically man in a costume and do actions and cheap Godzilla like B or C miniature building sets and enormous robots and monsters etc.

Anyways let's get back to the main review. The game is very good, it says it was made by Bandai but it was actually developed by Natsume same as The Ninja Warriors Again. Graphics are good and smooth control. What I really liked was that the first Power Rangers games were simple platform fights and latter part of the game was Street Fighter 2 style fighting game. I don't remember much about the MOVIE EDITION game but I think it didn't feature any Street Fighter 2 style fight games. But all in all good game.

There is FIGHTING EDITION but I decided to give it a miss. Not really my cup of tea but graphics were good.

Walthamstow Marshes

2010-11-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

I walked to Walthamstow Marshes today. I had some problem at home so I decided to come here. I walked and walked for few hours. Today there's snow and all over UK was frosted. Walthamstow Marshes are historic place and there's wild life, beautiful nature and a river. There's some bridges so you can across to the other side. Then I bought a bag of potato snack by Watermint Quay. It's a Jewish grocer and most of their product were written in Hebrew. Don't know what it says but it taste fine and it was cool to see some Hebrew text. Then I walked toward Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale and I returned home. I haven't done much run recently but I got the time 20:52 I hope to go faster next time.

New jogging route in London

2010-11-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

I have been doing occasional run from my mum and sister's flat from Stamford Hill to Manor House station and the distance is nearly 4km. I run this distance within space of around 21 minutes-ish. Last week I managed to run in time of 21:22. I would like to run this distance in 20 minutes or something like that.

It's simple course but it's not bad.

England v France

2010-11-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

I hardly watched the game... I was too busy looking for work and attending some interviews etc. I'm getting pressurised due to not getting any work and I need it quickly. I need to get out of my mum and sister's small flat and I got to get some money to the house. I'm going to give another 4 or 5 days or else I have to pick this sales work. Anyways from what I know England lost to France 1-2 at home, The New Wembley and played awful. The usual physical, long ball towards big man like Andy Carroll etc. We just don't have good players and we have best club manager like Capello but no progress and it looks really depressing but the good news is much delayed Burton project will start from next year and should all be complete by 2012. St. Georges Park the first England's National Football Centre. And then we can develop and train the new coaches and players. It's sort of famous French Clairefontaine of English version.

Anyways I've been back for 2 weeks and half and I need to sort everything quickly... I think my wife and son likes London, England a lot. My wife don't like the weather here but apart from that all good really. My son smiles a lot since he moved to London so that's good.

The Ninja Warriors Again

2010-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

I played this game yesterday and managed to complete it!! It was produced by Taito but actually it was created by Natsume. Again... it's because there was old one called The Ninja Warriors!! Dunno much about it cos I haven't played much but this 2nd game is really good for a 16 bit game. Great graphics, great music and good action. It's basically about a dictator trying to take over the world and opposition politician created this special ninja robots to destroy this dictator. I'd say play it cos it's worth your time!! If you like Final Fight then you'll love it!!

The war drags ever on!!

2010-11-14T15:37:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to Tank the NWOBHM band a lot. I only had their debut album "Filth Hounds of Hades" and it sounds like poor version of Motörhead but from the 3rd "This Means War" they become more Metal and faster and heavier. I really like their 4th "Honour & Blood" and it's bloody good!! I love it. They were rather on and off but now they are active again without their main man singer/bassist Algy Ward. They are back with Scottish singer Dougie White (ex-Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen etc).
New album is good but it's kinda reminds me of Saxon. Dougie's voice is similar to Biff at times and music is also bit like recent modern Saxon albums but it's a great comparison to have. I hope they carry on cos they are great band!!

Back in UK!!

2010-11-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

I took my family to London, England. It's been nightmare but now it's all over but I still have to do many things. Took me about 9 months to sort out marriage, spouse visa, birth and my son's passport. It costed me dearly. I went through very tough time.

It's been 10 days since the arrival but seems like my wife and son is very happy to be with my mum and they like the city of London.

I much prefer being here because Tokyo was extremely crowded, busy, so narrow and everything was so small and no grass field to plays football. Not so much nice environment. Concrete jungle...

Tokyo has great theme parks, safe to be at night and lot's of shops open late at night, very convenient but not for me really.

I learnt to appreciate nice people from Japan and they are precious people. I will miss them. I also enjoyed my job. I lived in Tokyo for 5 years and that's quite longish time.

I met my beautiful wife and had lovely son and gained so much.

Thank you!!

My journey start from here again!!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat!! It's time of Pagan tradition... the celtic Scots and Irish invention... Samhain as known as Halloween!! Japanese people are very obsessed with Jack 'O lantern despite not being Celtic people!! I see pumpkins everywhere!!

JAM

2010-10-13T02:08:00.000-07:00

That's what my mum call him! Jammy git!!

3.5km Jogging 2

2010-10-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Best time so far is 15:19:16...

Also yesterday I climbed Takao Mauntain in Tokyo. Shame about not seeing much temples due to it was for a school trip. I was looking after 9 years old kids!!

England v Montenegro

2010-10-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen the match yet but having seeing the 0-0 result at home was extremely disappointing.

Run For Cover!!

2010-09-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

OK so last time I wrote about John Sykes so this time I'm going to write about Gary Moore the guitarist from Northern Ireland. He's often to mistaken to Irish. He probably is Irish but he was born in UK so I'd say he's British guitarist. He's been around for quite long time. His first recording were called "Grind Stone" in 1973. He's a close friend of legendary Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy and he had few stint with Thin Lizzy too like "Black Rose" album. Then he did another solo "Back To The Streets". Some weird compilation called "Spanish Guitar" with original song "Spanish Guitar". Then he formed G-Force. After G-Force he had relatively stable solo band. What can I say about this guy. Jaw-droppingly good! Deserve the knighthood title, SIR GARY MOORE! His guitar play is just awesome really. Brilliant! Super technique! Not just the guitarist but also a great singer. Very very talented and influential musician. I think he's also very versatile as musician too. His style is very varied. Not necessary hard rock/metal. Nowadays he's known for Blues (since the beginning of 90s) but before he changed he was a great rock musician. My mum's friend Bob Daisley played bass with Gary Moore! His guitar tone hits really high and sounds very clean, heavy and fast yet very melodic and emotional. Some war themed lyrics make you think that peace is necessary. Even to this day PEACE is needed/wanted!! I did compare him with John Sykes and I'd say John and Gary are sometimes similar but I don't really think they are the same. Gary's been around so much longer and John admires and influenced by Gary so no surprise there. They are both great guitarists and they are in my top 5 really. I'd recommend his albums "Run For Cover", "Wild Frontier" and "After The War" trilogy. Best 80's Hard Rock. No doubt about it. If you like guitar music or traditional hard rock/heavy metal then I'd strongly recommend his music to you!!

Bless!!

My SON!! 2

2010-09-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've been rather busy visiting my wife and our baby Justin. Both of them are doing fine and I'm pleased. I run again today but shorter distance 3.5 km. My time was 15:48:67. Not too bad I think.

My SON!!

2010-09-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

He's born today at around 1:05 this afternoon! Weight is 3.6 kg. I feel great becoming a father!!

Bless you!!

5.1km course 4

2010-09-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

My time is getting better each time. Yesterday I managed to run this distance within 26:43:25 very pleased indeed! And the big news is that I'll be a father maybe tomorrow...

We All Fall Down!

2010-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's into middle of September 2010... Hot weather is fading slowly but still pretty hot here in Japan. August and September so far only few rainfall in Tokyo. Anyways I've been watching films a lot but I'll write about music here. I'm going to say something about John Sykes the English rock/metal guitarist. He's 51 now! Time flies... He's 20 years older than me! Lets go back to main subject, he's often compared to Gary Moore, in a good way or bad way. I like both just as much and can't pick who's better. It's like McDonald's and KFC?! He started his career just after I was born (1979) and played in a NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band called Street Fighter but they've never recorded any materials I think. Then he joined famous NWOBHM band called Tygers of Pan Tang from Newcastle, North East of England. Then he left his mark with great guitar play and they also had good singer Jon Deverill. I think Tygers of Pan Tang peaked after "Spellbound", because their music wasn't good anymore. Then Phil Lynott asked John to join legendary Thin Lizzy band to record mega heavy "Thunder and Lightning" album. He revitalised lethargic group like them and beafed up the music to more hard and tough, metal sound rather than good hard rock music for what they were known for, then he joined David Coverdale's (ex-Deep Purple vocalist) Whitesnake. Coverdale wanted to hire Sykes to break into US market. Whitesnake had orthodox and subtle blues/hard rock feel to their music but with Sykes they can toughen their image as well as music and he eventually joined. I think somewhere between Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, John played for John Sloman's (Lone Star/Uriah Heep) band called Badlands (He also did some solo called "Please Don't Leave Me" and one instrumental for a Xmas album - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). I got the demo tape on mp3 format but not very good really. Whitesnake released "Slide It In" and "1987" with John Sykes on guitar and I'd say it's there best material. "1987" is one of the all time best hard rock/heavy metal really. Sykes left the band after a row with Coverdale. Not just Sykes but all recording member had left the band. Coverdale is a great singer but he's a egomaniac, dictator and control freak and he only care about image and money!

So he formed Blue Murder with Tony Franklin (The Firm) on bass and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra etc) on drums. "Blue Murder" self titled album and "Nothin' But Trouble" both great albums. Latter album had unknown Marco Mendoza on bass and Tommy O'Steen on drums. But the band didn't get enough recognition and John dropped the band name to simple Sykes.

With Sykes more or less same line-up from above mentioned musicians and some guest and he released "Out of my Tree", "Loveland", "20th Century" and "Nuclear Cowboy". And then he hasn't released anything for a decade now! He does occasional live gigs but only play Thin Lizzy tribute stuff with main members from original Thin Lizzy members but really bit dull to be honest. I prefer his solo stuff.

I really love John Sykes and he's one of my all time favourite guitarist ever. Not just the way he plays his trademark old and battered Black Beauty Gibson Les Paul guitar but he's a great singer as well as song writer and music is great. Melodic yet fast and aggressive. It's really rare to find such talented musicians really. He deserve a knighthood really. He should be called Sir Sykes!! He's often under rated but I would put him very high. And great thing is that every time you listen to him live music sound different but each one is great. He has released quite a few live albums too but it's all brilliant. I can't praise him more.

Lucky I've seen him once live in London! I hope he'll release more solo albums!

His best albums are... "Spellbound", "Thunder and Lightning", "1987", "Blue Murder", "Nothin' But Trouble" and "Out of my Tree". I think these albums should be enough!

5.1km course 3

2010-09-12T08:31:00.001-07:00

Last night my time improved by more... 27:10:66!!

I'd like to run this distance within space of 26 minutes!!

Well done me!!

5.1km course 2

2010-09-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

I checked my time again cos I run same distance. It did improve little. Time was 27:51:44 not bad. I think if I was fitter I could do better...

Satisfied!

Brüno

2010-09-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

This is the 3rd comedy sketch by Sacha Baron Cohen. He's a Jewish/British comedian and I've seen him on Channel 4's programme called The 11 O'clock Show. At first I thought his sketches are rather funny and these characters he play are based in real life. He plays 3 characters. 1st one was a British Wigger (Check urbandictionary ) called da Ali G. 2nd one was a Kazakh called Borat and finally the 3rd person is the gay Austiran Brüno. It was funny but after a while Sacha Baron Cohen's characters become very repetitive and boring at times and I didn't find it funny later. But having left UK for 5 years I found it rather fresh and interesting to see these films. Actually he didn't really play that much Brüno. Anyways this film is basically it's about Brüno the gay Austrian fashion journalist gets fired from TV presenter job and moves to LA in US then develops this desire to become famous in US, Hollywood etc. There's plenty of sick gay f**king scenes and very graphic, including a scenes like bicycle machine converted to dildo poking machine and it goes Brüno's ass in and out. 360 degree rotating anal f**king with a little south east asian man. It was horrible BUT if you like these extreme sick jokes then you'll love it. Also he auditions for an interviewer for the TV and he tries to interview Harrison Ford then he says "F**k off!" then there's this penis full on TV screen and rotating and talks! It was outrageous! Latter part of the film he discovered that to become famous he needs to be straight and he opt for conversion. But he fails and can't remember how it ended... I think I would spoil it so I won't write it. I'd recommend this movie if you can take graphic gay jokes and someone with strong stomach.

Easy Livin'

2010-09-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

Yes this is a famous song title by Uriah Heep. Amazingly their career has lasted for over 40 YEARS! This year the band has been active for 41 years under control of Sir Mick Box! There career started from late 60's under name of "Spice" then changed the band name to Uriah Heep from Charles Dickens novel. Their musical style is heavy hard rock with progressive rock twist with folklore based theme. Their album covers always had folklore based children's book look. Very arty. I forgot to mention it but Uriah Heep are one of the pioneers of hard rock/heavy metal genre with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. They are like deities of Metal. They had distinctive high pitched, charismatic singer called David Byron, keyboardist/guitarist, the main songwriter Ken Hensley and main man Mick Box on guitar. They were quite successful at beginning of their career but by the end of 70's there popularity kinda declined. They also had many line-up changes but the classic line-up was above three and Gary Thain on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums. Best albums would be difficult to choose because they released 22 studio albums to date. I think "Demons & Wizards" and "The Magician's Birthday" are great David Byron era albums and "Firefly" is good for John Lawton era and I think "Abominog" is great. Pete Goalby is great singer. The band nearly disbanded in 1980 after the release of "Conquest". Everyone has left the band apart from Mick Box and he decided to carry on. What a WILL!! Since then he managed to keep very stable line up. I should mention current members: Barnie Shaw on vocals, Trevor Bolder on bass, Phil Lanzon on keyboard and Russell Gilbrook on drums.

Last saturday

2010-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot to write/type about event held in Yoyogi Park last Saturday. It was a 5th annual Brazilian Day event. I went there with my wife and soon after my friend joined. We drunk Acai juice, Caipirinha and ate beef known as Churrasco and some sausages as well. It was very hot and we saw some famous Brazilian celebrities and musicians. We saw a group called Kid Abelha. Not really my cup of tea but it was alright.

Last night I run 5.1km distance and time was 28:35:76. This is my excuse but I think I could run little faster if my stomach was in better condition. My best was like something like around 27 minutes.

So I'm running 1km within space of 5 minutes +. It's not great but it's not bad either!

Wednesday there was heavy rain in Japan with typhoon arriving and caused some flood and landslides but it didn't effect Tokyo. It was tad cold but today is pretty hot again. It was nice to have rain for a change.

That's it.

5.1km course

2010-09-08T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is the running course for extended run that I sometime do. I usually run just 3.1km but when I've got enough time then I go this way.

I manage to run this distance for about 27 to 30 minutes. I will count next time.

My mac history...

2010-09-08T03:55:00.000-07:00

I've been using apple mac computer for quite a while now. I don't really use them fully like some expert does but I think I am alright for using certain applications. My mother bought a Apple performa desktop first back in 95 or 96 I think. I was like age of 16 or 17 at that time. It was for family use to make some attractive documents etc. Then we had the slow dial-up internet connect with motorola modem. I remember using internet for the first time and after a month or so I got caught for over using it. You know young lad would use internet for viewing dirty stuff. I was caught because of the bill. Then couple of years later my mum bought a new iMac. It was like round television box or something like that. It looked more like modern interior. Then I left UK and my father bought me a iBook G4. I think iBook G4 was rather crap and couple of years later I'm using this MacBook Black 250G. I'm really happy with current MacBook because it has lot of memories, built-in webcam etc. I payed half for my wife's current new iMac. Mac is great but expensive...

Switzerland v England

2010-09-08T03:43:00.000-07:00

I woke up today around 8 o'clock in the morning because I had to take my wife to hospital and I found out on BBC news that we beat Switzerland away 3-1. It was good to see the good results BUT still far away to EURO 2012. Rooney, Adam Johnson and Darren Bent scored the goal. Goal from Switzerland was awesome though. Rooney had tabloid speculations and he was in trouble. I don't know if it's true or false but it didn't effect his game so it was alright. Hope it is false though. Good to see Adam Johnson scoring 2 goals in 2 games for the Three Lions. He might become a new young hero for England.

England v Bulgaria

2010-09-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

I just woke up about hour and half ago and read the results 4-0 and saw the highlights on footytube.com website. I must say all the goals scored by Defoe (Hat-trick) and Adam Johnson was awesome but this is only weak team like Bulgaria and we've all seen how good they were in world cup 2010 qualifications. I'm not too convinced yet. European Championship 2012 qualifications has just started and still long way to go. Interesting score from other matches were Portugal v Cyprus 4-4 and France v Belarus 0-1! I thought Belarus weren't that bad in World Cup 2010 qualifications against England but French also have great players. Maybe French are having bad patch. International football can't be estimated... Even how shit and small they usually are at club or individual level. I might watch Japan's game tonight after Brazilian Festival in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya. They've got a new manager Alberto Zaccheroni.

Anyways it's a good start for us and well done Defoe! Next game against Switzerland.

Rebel Yell

2010-09-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is the last one for today! Blond, spiky haired, twitching mouthed, leather clad punk called Billy Idol! Despite his intimidating looks his music is quite pop. Popular new wave from the 80s. He sometime sings hard rock and some punk. He's a Englishman and started his career with a band called Generation X and then he went solo and cracked the big time and popular and famous in the 80s. He disappeared for while and made a comeback around mid 2000s and he's old but more powerful masculine physique. I first discovered him on TV or radio I think. Can't really remember but liked his old promo videos like "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell". His partner is called Steve Stevens. I think he's been good with creative side and fun guitar play. I think his first couple albums were good but I think late 80s and 90s materials are s**t.
His Greatest Hits albums were really good in beginning but mid to late tracks were awful. But overall he's good musician!

Improved time!

2010-09-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

My jogging/running time has improved to 15:26:36!

3.5km Jogging

2010-09-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

My best time is 15:59:09! Start from home and back to home!

*Batteries Not Included

2010-09-03T04:51:00.000-07:00

This is a warm hearted family oriented science-fiction movie made in 1987. It's about building/cafe owner Frank and Faye Riley and their tenants were asked to move by evil shopping complex building/property building managers called Lacey. The Latino called Carlos who was hired by Lacey causes trouble by threatening them with gangs and destroying things and forcing them to take dirty money etc. Frank almost gave up but one night strange UFO like machine aliens save them with magic. I've seen this movie ages ago and I quite liked it and I downloaded it couple of days ago and watched it. It's really good. I liked when that little none functioning baby UFO came back to life by accident. Steven Spielberg don't make much crap movies and you are almost always guaranteed with good movies.

SD Gundam

2010-09-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

SD Gundam is cute little robots created by Bandai the large toy company from Japan. Gundam is a science-fiction, animation series from Japan and story is rather complicated and appealed to more older audience rather than small and younger kids. Cartoon with war and political theme. It's about a rich royal family up in space created an empire called Zeon and decided to take over the whole world both the outer space and the earth. Earthlings are opposed to Zeon and fight against them and they are called Earth Federation. That's it really and I haven't really pay much attentions to character's drama side and only interested in robot fights. Rather more like War Machine (Not the one from Ironman!). So anyways let's get back to main subject.

Bandai owns Gundam franchise so they created this SD thing. SD stands for Super Deformed. Deform means to change. They just created these Gundam robots to extremely small cuddly characters. First it was designed by an illustrator called Koji Yokoi and also Susumi Imaishi. I used to like the Yokoi's illustrations because he was the originator and I was reading his comics on monthly BombBomb magazine. But now I prefer Imaishi's illustration because he's technically better illustrator and well detailed and well drawn. So with bit of time opinion changes. Also the toys were better quality with Imaishi's drawings.

This SD was so popular many cartoon and live-action characters were turned into Super Deformed format. SD Gundam was the most popular and it was massive back in late 80's to early 90's. Don't know too much from mid 90's cos I wasn't in Japan then. I literally had hundreds of SD Gundam toys and cards. As I get older I took interest in proper original cartoons instead of these little cute ones.

I decided to write about it cos I occasionally play games about SD Gundam.

I will leave a picture here and you'll get an idea!

Launch of new umbro England home kit 2010

2010-09-03T03:50:00.000-07:00

I think umbro (nike) and FA decided to release this new kit because of disaster in last word cup this summer. Just to forget the bad memories and it's a new start. I think it's good because all the countries release new kit just before the major tournament. Also I personally hated the previous all WHITE kit. Because of the colour of the shorts. England aka Three Lions always had a white shirt, navy shorts and white socks. So we should keep the tradition. I hear some idiots are saying that St. George's Cross is white and red so should be white and red but the AWAY kit always had that red shirt, white shorts and red socks so I don't want bloody red in it. FFS.

I personally want adidas to supply England kit because I just don't like nike being american and when I was younger no one was wearing nike. Nike started to become big around mid-late 90's. Before always umbro and nike, sometime Kappa, Puma or Reebok etc.

Anyways I personally wouldn't buy this retro classic style kit and not so much difference to previous home kit. I'd prefer modern style kit...

Hope England will beat Bulgaria tonight!! COME ON!!

Difficult time...

2010-09-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

I'm struggling with life now and people are suffering out there like war torn countries, minors trapped underground in Chile, flood in Pakistan etc. So it's not just me and my family who are suffering, but there's so many people better off having luxury life too! Life isn't fair indeed. Hope my/our life prosper quickly.

Seems like little by little things are getting sorted and heading to better way...

I'll stop writing about Club Football... Sunday...

2010-08-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

It's nearly end of August and tomorrow will be my 5th anniversary since my return to Japan. 31st of August 2005... Yesterday was my rare occasion to go outside (hanging around with my friend/s). I hooked up with my french pal in Shibuya then we walked to Yoyogi Park. Shibuya is a centre of Tokyo and it's a place for where the youth spend their time. I used to go to Shibuya occasionally but I find it rather expensive, little far and not that many places to go. Other places are slightly cheaper I think. Don't know.

Anyways it was good to see my friend and I will see him next Saturday as well. There will be Brazilian Festival in Yoyogi Park this coming weekend.

I actually did wrote about Chelsea's results twice on this blog but I actually don't really care about club football. For me International football is far more important and I want to see THREE LIONS (ENGLAND) play. And I couldn't be bothered typing about it. I feel like a fool and I am not a news reporter! I do like Chelsea a lot but what I want from them is not domestic little titles at home, I want to see them the big ones like UEFA Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Then I'll be a proud Chelsea fan. It means that they achieved everything they need, all the international club titles. What I don't like about English football is that we tend to deprecate competitions like Olympic football and FIFA Club World Cup like it doesn't mean anything, mickey mouse cup etc. It means a lot. Just because English are crap at it you don't need to deprecate it. Stupid. Let's go back to original subject. I did watch Chelsea's game against Stoke City. It was entertaining 2-0 and plenty of hitting the post and cross bar situations but that's it really. It was actually first game I watched. I didn't watch the first and second league games. I had enough with football after the World Cup and it really was shocking and upsetting to see how crap we were at the World Cup. Devastated.

Anyways seems like this hot climate will continue...

This guy is an artist from Congo. Met him at Yoyogi Park. Zebra drawn by Biro...

Chelsea 6 Wigan 0

2010-08-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Another great display from Chelsea FC! Easy win over lowly Wigan 2 goals each from Anelka and Kalou as well as 1 goal each from Malouda and Benayoun. 12 goal difference and top of the league BUT, still long way to go.

Under The Gun!!

2010-08-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write about the band called ICON. This band is my recent favourite and it's rather obscure band. People knows their metal knows about them. This band is from Phoenix, Arizona USA. Having listened to their 1st and 2nd album I liked it a lot. Especially the 1st album. They follow the text book from Judas Priest especially the "Screaming for Vengeance" and "Defender of the Faith". Their 1st self titled debut album is a basic in your face traditional 80's metal and most of their songs are slow but chest thumping, anthem-ish yet very heavy. Good bass and drum beats with great harmonised riffs. Their singer Stephen Clifford has very powerful voice. Vocals are very tough, rough and raw and it does fit into this kinda rock/metal music like a glove. Very similar to Surgical Steel and Racer X's Jeff Martin. Reminiscent of Jeff Martin is there but Clifford's career is before Jeff Martin. In my opinion Clifford is slightly better. He makes me want to scream and sing! The leader of the band Dan Wexler is very talented guitar player also, him and his partner John Aquilino the skinny black hair dude is just like K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton from Judas Priest. They don't play rock/metal like most of Americans do. They have British style of play. They have great harmonised twin guitar melody and it's beautiful. Reminds me of Thin Lizzy or something like that. Bass and Drums are very good. Especially the drums. Good beat and rhythm. After the 1st album they changed the direction to slightly pop and more acceptable to mass of people. They've been labeled as glam but not with 1st and 2nd albums. Music are catchy and cheesy. I mean cheesy in a good way. Some of the songs they wrote it with Bob Halligan Jr. They released 2nd album called "The Night of the Crime". Best songs from 1st album I'd choose "(Rock On) Through The Night", "Killer Machine", "On Your Feet", "World War", "Hot Desert Night" and "Under the Gun". 2nd album I'd pick "Naked Eyes", "Missing", "Danger Calling" and "Raise the Hammer". Under the Gun is really heavy and mid tempo hard rock/metal tune and Danger Calling is really catchy and sweet rock/metal song. Brilliant stuff. The "1984: Live Bootleg" is not bad and this live album contains some of the songs that didn't end up on actual albums. After the 2nd album Clifford left the band with not too clear reason and band declined. I didn't even bother listening to last 2 studio albums cos it was S**T! It's unfortunate they end up getting covered in dust because this band was really talented. If Clifford had stayed I think they'd be very big or had potential to be big. I swear. I just love the 1st and 2nd and live albums. If you like it just dig it. I'd strongly recommend the 1st and 2nd albums. ROCK ON!! THROUGH THE NIGHT!!

Laro Shiflin

2010-08-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Laro Shiflin is a famous film music composer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He composed music for classic films like Bullitt, Enter the Dragon, Dirty Harry, The Amityville Horror and Rush Hour. Also for TV series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible and Starsky and Hutch. According to Wikipedia he compose Spy music (Don't know what a hell it means...), Bebop and Rock. I quite like these 60's and 70's Bebop (Faster jazz music) and I often listen to his music. Really good stuff. I don't know any musician from Argentina apart from him and he's probably one of the most famous musician from South America. I'd recommend people to get hold of "Most Wanted 1968-1979" compilation album. Or just watch above mentioned films and see if you like it or not.

Superbad

2010-08-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

This is a comedy from 2007 and watched it bits and pieces. It's about usual American college kids trying to lose their virginity before the college finishes. These films has been made way too many (i.e. Porky's and American Pie etc) and I don't know what to expect but it was alright I guess. My favorite part was that this fat guy called Seth drew so many pictures of penis. Cock, cock, cock... Penis goes on forever... I also liked geek getting laid with hot chick. Hilarious.

Mould Killer aka Kabi Killer

2010-08-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

It's still very hot and scorching in Japan. Last weekend and this weekend I've been cleaning our room, bath room and toilet with my wife as well as plenty of washings needed to be hanged dry outside. There's lots of mould especially on the walls and bathroom ceiling. So I had to bring this Mould Killer and spray it all over it. It was horrible because while I'm scrubbing and scraping the mould with a brush, Mould Killer bleach creates this toxic gas and made me feel sick and dizzy. It was awful but in the end my hard work payed off and everything is clean...

2010-2011 Premier League KICK OFF!

2010-08-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the big Premier League kick off and my club Chelsea FC beat West Bromwich Albion 6-0! Hat-trick from Drogba. Malouda scoring 2 goals and Lampard scored 1 goal.

Donald Land

2010-08-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

I'm so obsessed with side scroller or platformer games. Yes this is a McDonald's game! The famous two golden arch! Mackie D's! I can't remember when but I borrowed this game from a school mate and played it through and it was pretty good. I must be around 10 or 11 something like that. It's not too difficult as well as not too easy. I think for a 8 bit game graphics was very good and music is alright. This game was released by Date East aka DECO in 1988, it was released only in Japan. Basically Ronald McDonald save his friends from the evil and he throws an apple bomb. I don't know but only in Japan, Ronald McDonald is called Donald. It's kinda confusing with Disney's Donald Duck having a same name. So you go through the stage beating them enemies with an apple bomb and meet a boss in the end and when you defeat the boss you get to rescue the likes of Mayor McCheese, Birdie, Fry Guys and Officer Big Mac. I like these characters but they have similar resemblance with the characters from H.R. Pufnstuf (It's a live-action kids show from late 60's to early 70's featuring an English actor Jack Wild and Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo.) and Sid and Marty Krofft company successfully sued McDonald's and won it. And my thoughts on McDonald's fast foods... Despite having high sugar and oil in nutrition I love it. I don't eat them often but it taste good and cheap. It fill your stomach as well so I'm not against McDonald's. I have seen Super Size Me documentary as well. My favourite food is Big Mac Meal. I also like Cheese Burger. In Japan it's called Value Set. That's it!

Kenny G

2010-08-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge Smooth Jazz fan but I quite like his music. I know nothing about Jazz music. He plays Saxophone. His music reminds me of dentist, restaurant, department store in Japan. Because these places plays a lot of Smooth Jazz. It's good music to calm and chill if you know what I mean. He's a Jewish American.

England v Hungary

2010-08-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

After the disastrous World Cup campaign England is back in action. Half the squad has been changed to younger, hungrier English players. i.e. Theo Walcott, Adam Johnson, Michael Dawson and Joe Hart. I watched the first half 4 o'clock in the morning in Japan! I was tired and decided to sleep. I got up and watched the highlights and read the news and we won 2-1 thanks to two great goals from Steven Gerrard. But this is just a friendly and don't know what's gonna happen to England's future...

John Carpenter's The Thing

2010-08-12T04:27:00.000-07:00

This is the remake of the classic science-fiction/horror film"The Thing from Another World" 1951 by John Carpenter and it was made in 1982. It was a novel written by John W. Campbell Jr. and it's called "Who goes there?". Starring Kurt Russell. I've never read the novel and also never seen the original film so I can't comment but all I know is that John Carpenter wanted to remake the film with updated special effects because older special effects are inferior with less technology. John Carpenter is a famous B-movie director specialises in horror/science-fiction genre. He employed young Rob Bottin as special effects make up artist and these guys came up with gory aliens. Story is about an American scientific research group in Antarctica was attacked by an angry Norwegian, who was chasing a dog through the sky, riding a helicopter. Norwegian was shooting rifle randomly and Americans managed to stop him by killing him with a gun. Dog was kept in the American base and one night monster appeared from the dog cage with a nasty scream, killing several dogs and this dog turned into a huge grotesque alien monster. Research group members somehow managed to kill the monster but it didn't stop there. This alien can transform himself blood-like red liquid and transfer to other human while they are asleep and they can imitate that person. So it's really hard to trust each other because you don't know who is an alien, to find out you have to take a blood test by burning the blood. One by one members dies and in the end few of 'em survives the terror. This movie was a cult movie but for me this film remain classic science-fiction horror.

Here's the gross Norris Alien!

GeoStorm aka GunForce II

2010-08-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

I had a go on this game yesterday and I must say it was brilliant. Side scroll on steroids! I had to control this guy and he gets targeted by enemies and gigantic machines. It's very much like Contra and maybe probably little bit better because it was made tad later than Contra. I read that this game was based on Metal Slug series. And having played Metal Slug before I can tell the similarity between GeoStorm and Metal Slug. It's almost the same! This game was released by Irem in 1991 and speed and graphics are awesome. Top notch! Few disappointing things about this game was that it takes so many shots to kill the bosses and it's nearly like 2000 or 3000 shots to kill'em! No lie! So obviously it's going to take long time to get past the next stage! And also this game ONLY have 5 stages and there's no conclusions. Yes there's no ending sequence! I was disappointed not to see what happened to our hero. But other than that it's a bloody good game. Full of adrenalin and your stress will disappear after killing them evil army!

Screaming for Vengeance!!

2010-08-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write about the METAL GODS known as JUDAS PRIEST. They are LEGENDS! They just come right on TOP of pile of METAL. Like Black Sabbath this band is also from Birmingham, England and highly influential. I think Judas Priest definitely defined the style of music. They also added speed to music and made it more faster than slightly older metal band's music. They have a charismatic vocalist Rob Halford who has extremely high pitched voice could shatter a glass. Very talented. Also great two guitarists Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Their aggressive guitar play with harmonisation are great. And you have quiet Ian Hill on bass and various drummers. Since 1990 Scott Travis kept his position and it has been stable. Judas Priest released their first album "Rocka Rolla" in 1974 and gradually with time they progressed more and more heavier music direction as well as their image. Back in the 70's all rock bands had same image. Typical long hair, a shirt and flare jeans! But after the release of "Stained Class" in 1978 they adopted to motorcycle gang image with leather, chains and studs. This image gave them more hard edge and since then every metal bands copied. The band also adopted permanent new logo with "Stained Class" album. In 1980 they released epic "British Steel" and more great albums were released such as "Screaming for Vengeance", "Defender of the Faith" and "Painkiller". In mid 90's Rob Halford already had left the band and replaced with young talented singer called Ripper Owens. In 1997 they released "Jugulator". This is my first Judas Priest album and this album had elements of old skool metal, modern death metal and thrash metal influence. The guitar sound was down tuned, distorted, fuzzy, so heavy, so low, so razor sharp could cut anything! Great stuff and listening to Ripper Owens voice was absolute pleasure. I got into Jugulator album a lot and obviously listened to that album. Great thing about Judas Priest is that they are very flexible as musicians and do take little bit of an influence from what's in from time. They don't sound the same like some bands tend to do i.e. AC/DC, Iron Maiden to name but a few. In 2003 Halford returned to the band after some solo materials and decade of absence and rather controversial court case about subliminal message James Vance and Raymond Belknap in early 90's. Most recommended recordings are "British Steel", "Screaming for Vengeance", "Defender of the Faith", "Painkiller" and "Jugulator". These five albums are essential for all metal fans all over the world. They deserve to have a title of Metal Gods because they play the major role in this genre of music! Defender of the Faith!

2010 Football Pre-Season Summer Friendlies...

2010-07-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

After the disappointing England World Cup campaign, the usual Club pre-season summer friendlies has began. What was so disappointing was that the squad of players been together for quite a long time and Premier League has been seen as the best league in the world and top club's star performers was mostly English and when you put them together they just don't perform. It's so strange. They failed to qualify for Euro 2008 then predecessor Steve McClaren left and Fabio Capello came in and him and the team did extremely well in the World Cup qualifying matches scoring 35 goals and losing just once against Ukraine and destroying Croatia. Wayne Rooney scored 9 goals and was top form for his club Manchester United. So the expectations are obviously high. But they all flopped at actual World Cup it self. So we all bash them like always. There's been heavy criticism towards the FA and the Premier League and Youth is the future and they need to be coached the right way. England doesn't need to copy or play just like Brazil or Spain but they need to take some of their elements. Anyways World Cup is over and won by Spain. Spain was underachievers but this time they ain't. First World Cup win for them. Now it's a summer friendly time and season will start very soon. Due to economic downturn, the recession only Manchester City is capable of buying new players. Most teams haven't brought much new players. Premier League is very successful and one of the best league amongst Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A now but I'd rather prefer to see stronger national team because I'm sort of patriotic person and never seen us winning the World Cup for the 2nd time. It means a lot to me and all English people. Club football has proved that you could buy success with a lot of money and kinda getting tired of it... Still nice to have strong club football but am I asking too much?!

Final Fight

2010-07-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's bloody hot today! Last couple of weeks in Tokyo, Japan has been hot I mean really hot. Sun is rising high and temperature is sky high as well. I like it but sometimes I don't cos it's so humid and sticky in this part of the world. In other parts of Japan there's been heavy storm causing mudslide.

Anyways let's get to the main topic. I'm gonna write something about this game called Final Fight by Capcom. It's an arcade game released back in 1989 and it's a scroll type action game like the classic Double Dragon. But this one is better cos of better and bigger graphics. It's simple, story is to rescue Jessica Haggar, a daughter of Mike Haggar ex-wrestler, now a mayor of Metro City a fictional city in the US. Who's been kidnapped by Mad Gear gang group a crime organisation. So you pick one out of three characters, Mike, Cody or Guy and just beat the shit out of the criminals and beat them all! Go through the slams, underground, inside of factory, bay etc. I play this game a lot and never get bored of it. It's definitely a classic game! Give it a go if you are interested!

RoboCop

2010-07-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

This film was released back in 1987 and I watched it quite few times. It was directed by Paul Verhoeven the Dutchman and it is a rather violent film for a science-fiction movie. Starring Peter Weller and Nancy Allen. It's about a police officer called Alex Murphy who dies while chasing nasty criminals and he gets caught by criminals and murdered by criminal boss Clarence. Then OCP the large corporate company who also owns the Delta City (Where story is based somewhere in Detroit US) revive Alex Murphy by transplanting his near dead brain into new robotic body. It's a birth of RoboCop. He catches many criminals efficiently just like machine. But one day he gets his memory back and recovered as previously as a man Alex Murphy and reminding him about previous life such as his family moving away from home, about his death, the deadly criminal group but the good thing was that he teams up with his old partner Lieutenant Anne Lewis. Then Alex and Anne go and catch the true boss behind the Clarence and his clan who works for the OCP. There's a big robot called ED-209 is in this film and it's pretty awesome. It's like Walking Machine Guns. This is very good science-fiction film and obviously sequels was made. 2nd and 3rd. 2nd one RoboCop fights cool drug addict called Cain and like Alex Cain's brain gets transplanted into updated type RoboCop. 3rd RoboCop film was the worst one. RoboCop fight against Japanese Ninja Robot and he gets special weapons like fire gun attached to his arm and jet pack behind his back so he can fly... Very silly... But first one is definitely a classic sci-fi film!! Highly recommended!!

Super Mario Bros.

2010-07-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is the game I played to death. Simplicity at it's best! I played this game when I was about 6 years old and to this day occasionally I still play. It was released back in 1985 by Nintendo for the Famicom release and basically it's all about the Italian plumber called Mario and Luigi go and rescue Princess Peach/Toadstool from Bowser/Koopa army. Mario and Luigi's adventure begin at the Mushroom Kingdom. Back then console like NES had very few buttons to their control pads, so it was simple and easy to play. All you have to do is jump and run fast. Stump on the enemy, get some coins, get some magic mushrooms, get some flower, throw some fireballs etc. That's all you have to do and get past to the next stage. This game also had some glitches like you can gain extra 1ups by stumping the koopa troopa turtle aka NokoNoko at the stairs million times. Going through the walls, warp drain pipes etc. So much fun. And the design of the characters were unique too. It's revolutionary game and essential to all TV Game and I'd strongly recommend people to play!

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath!!

2010-07-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write about Black Sabbath. This is the band who pioneered the genre of Metal along with Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep around the late 60's to beginning of 70's. And they were all British. Without this band Metal wouldn't exist. The famous four is from Birmingham England. Their lyrical theme was things about occult and their sound was heavy with heavy guitar tones. They took a name from a horror film called the Black Sabbath. Vocalist Ozzy Osbourne is a crazy man and great entertainer if not good vocalist, Tony Iommi the master of Metal came up with great riff and Geezer Butler played bass and Bill Ward on drums. Famous songs were like Paranoid, Iron Man, War Pigs, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Symptom of Universe etc. They ruled the 70's all over the world and in the end of 70's Ozzy left the band and Black Sabbath declined little... Replacement for Ozzy was Dio the American singer and brilliant comeback with Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules and Live Evil albums. Then Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple fronted the band also Tony Martin and various musicians came and went... They are very very important part of music history.

Seibuen Amusement Park

2010-07-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so hot I sweat like an ice cream melting fast! Really humid and got tanned. Red... I took my wife outside and went to swimming pool. It was half price. This amusement park was full of people when I went there more then two decades ago but now you won't hardly see people. Maybe it is busy during the weekend... Who knows. It was like zombie amusement park.

Important notice...

2010-07-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

I just want to note that I got married to my wife in 26th of May 2010 and I will have baby boy in 18th of September 2010.

Resuming the blog...

2010-05-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

A lot happened in past year and if I write it it's going to be a hell of a long story so I won't write it but I'm going to write about things I like. Like small critique about music, games, football and art... Stay tuned!

I'm knackered...

2009-05-04T08:01:00.001-07:00

It's golden week here in Japan and people are getting block day offs... So basically I've been doing lot's of exercise i.e. running, football and frisbees. Been asked to go to drink with old skool pals and it was rather boring. Not much decent conversations. Just getting pissed. And today I was asked to go to Asura exhibition in Ueno then we had some beer, eel and rice. After the meal we walked from Ueno to Okachimachi then took the JR train to Shinagawa and had some coffee and went to Shinagawa Blue Pacific Hotel for the Tomoko Kuwae's gig on the 30th floor which is top floor. We decided to leave around 10:30 or something. And I'm totally knackered and got some blisters on my knee didn't heal so the suits is ruined and it need to be washed.

To be continued...

St George's Day

2009-04-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Saint George's day and it's a national day of England so I will celebrate my Englishness!! Everyone should be proud to be ENGLISH!

It's been a while...

2009-04-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Just came back from running... about 2km... I'm sweating like a pig... It's like just after the hard fucking!! Booyeah!! Anyways I've got a new jobs with city councils directly hired as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). Not really an assistant. I'm running the show almost 90%. I'm kinda lousy getting jobs so some of the things I'm not too happy about but things are fine so that's alright innit!! Hehehe. I'm still doing bit of footy practice and kicking the ball with little Japanese kids. Running occasionally, wood carving etc. That girl has disappeared for a while but e-mailed me again... I'm hoping to meet this bird. Cos I need some company and I got to have some fun. You know what I mean. What else... still listen to same old good metal music. Love it. I think the world is going mad over the recession... The rich haven't got that much money to spend and it effect our lives. I think I'm more organized as person. Bought some folders to keep the documents and things like that so I feel as though I'm little bit maturing. Bought some suits too and just printed the professional look business cards!! Booyeah!! Shamooooone!! Love the Chelsea and England!! I'll be re-update my website a little too so stay tuned you mofos!!

Footy!!

2009-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Here's the video of me doing the keepy uppy challenge!! There's 4 mini cones on the floor and going past it and bang!!

One more...

2009-01-06T07:45:00.001-08:00

Here's some of the pics from the new year's eve!!

Extended Course and happy new year!! 2009!!

2009-01-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

Happy new year

and hope everyone is well despite the massive recession/credit crunch crisis and it's effecting my bloody wages as well!! CRAP!! There's a bloody war in Gaza Strip... The world is never a happy and peaceful place.

Recently I've extended my running course to roughly 7.2km almost 4.5 miles and the best time I've got so far is 39:06 minutes. Usually my time is 40 minutes and something seconds... Worst time is 43 minutes and something seconds...

What did I do for this winter... I didn't do much for the christmas, went to Nagasaki Elementary school's Bonenkai (End of the year party), date with Maiko in Ikebukuro, Planetarium in Sunshine City, drinking with Martin and other guys, drinking with Sano sensei and Shimizu sensei. on new year's eve my computer teacher Pip came to visit Tokyo for couple days so that was cool. He brought his girl friend called Sinead. They went around New Zealand and Hong Kong. Went to Shinjuku and Harajuku's Meiji Jingu.

On New Years Day I did nothing just sleeping and next day it was me 30th Birthday!! Went to Tsurumaki Onsen and went to the SPA. It was my very first time and rather bizarre seeing these Japanese asses and cocks!! Weird baths... Most weird one was the electric bath and you really do feel the electricity!! SHOCK!! I'm not so tough in sauna... Too hot!! On the way home had some few plates of belt conveyored sushi!!

On 3rd I hooked up with Sano sensei and Toda san from the wood carving class. We met in Asakusa. One of the most famous tourist spot in Tokyo and well packed!! Full of people... We went to posh blowfish restaurant and I'

ve had blowfish for the first time. Nice fish. It's very expensive though. Then went to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro... Then played football at the park and that.

Now I'm doing some graphic work and playing the NES game called Star Tropics. Great game by Nintendo and never released in Japan!! Nintendo always makes great games. Like Capcom, Konami, Taito, Namco, Sansoft etc.

Anyways

to me!! and Happy new year 2009!!

Breaking the record!

2008-11-21T05:52:00.000-08:00

My personal best time has been bettered again I managed to improve my time by 27minutes and 43seconds!! 27:43! Hope to improve more!

28:31!

2008-11-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

My running time is getting better so I hope to break the 28th minutes barrier! I am happy to see the England beating the Germany in Berlin. I was rather impressed with them not having almost no 1st choice players i.e. Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ferdinand etc. and we are still capable of beating Germans comfortably 2-1 away win. Capello is doing fine job and I really do hope he will end our 42 years of hurt and dream of winning the 2nd WORLD CUP in South Africa! Well done to Upson and Terry! Football encourages me to keep fit! COME ON ENGLAND!!

28:37!

2008-11-14T05:12:00.000-08:00

Hers's my new time 28:37! Same old 5.1km run! I want to keep on this record and run faster!

Well done me! Knackered!

New Record!

2008-11-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

I've been running for the last couple of months... Distance of 5.1km and that's 3.2 miles. I weigh 91kg and that's 14.4 stone. Last time when I checked my record time it was 29:00 minutes exactly but I beat my own record. It's 28:39 minutes! Great achievement I reckon and not bad for someone bit heavy...

Halloween... and the new beginning!

2008-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've decided to write blog with new Blogger website... It's because the previous blog.co.uk got rather crap and difficult to write more stuff on it. I've written way too much details of my life. I'm too open! I think I've had an awful year 2008 but gradually things are moving better way.

I've been living in Japan for just over 3 years now but the life seems really a roller coaster.

This year I got dumped by ex-girlfriend soon after became ill with rare Bell's palsy, job wasn't renewed, working at shitty Japanese primary schools... I could go on but at same time I started to do lot's of exercise like running for 3.1 miles and playing football or futsal. I do cooking as well. I've made few new friends and recently started wood carving.

So not all that bad.

To be continued...

First post!

2008-10-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Testing testing! What's up to you all!