Saturday

Yay! I just received a copy of Midnight Club L.A. Remix for my PSP,courtesy of Yaim Chong! It's a very good game and I absolutely enjoyed every second with it. Heck,I'm nearly done with it. So sad...Anyways,last Saturday I went to Yammy's house for fun,joy and laughter. We watched Matsumoto's birthday video( NOW OPPAPI!). Funny as yam ice-cream. Then we had a sudden comic fever. Yammy wanted me to stuff a portion of his Pokemon comic collection into my small bag. Absolutely heavy. But anyways,a million thanks for the comics. So we went to the PC show. We saw a fantastic looking gaming PC by Acer,the Acer Aspire Predator. Very brutish exterior,modern-like too. Let's see the full specs.


Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (up to Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1 (32-bit option available)
2x 2GB DDR2-800MHz memory (up to 8GB of DDR2-1,066MHz memory available)
2x 640GB hard drives (up to four Western Digital Raptor 150GB hard drives in RAID 0, 1, 10 or 5)
BD DVD and DVD-RW
(MSI) Acer branded nForce 780i SLI motherboard
2x GeForce 9600 GT 512MB graphics cards in SLI
Asetek CPU watercooling
Logitech G11 keyboard and G5 mouse
Delta 750W PSU

HOLY MOTHERCAT! That's epic in computer terms! We saw the graphics and man were they incredible. Too bad the pricing was way over our budget,costing a tad lower than SGD$4k. So we went to the other vendors,looking for good deals on Micro SDs,Memory Sticks and games. Then we dropped by the Apple vendor. We saw a unique application for the Mac OS X that allows us to play music using real instruments,but the what really stands out is that the music is recorded directly into the PC and can be adjusted or manipulated in any way possible. Yammy and I took turns to play the piano and electric guitar for fun. Then we saw a huge iPhone.Rofl. We went to Mac for lunch. Yammy,the daring one,sneaked in cheese fries courtesy of KFC. LOLWUT. He wasn't feeling very inconspicuous,despite the fact he was hiding behind a huge wooden slab of wall. Then we went to Times,only to read Chinglish. LOL. A perfect example:" To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty." What in all things existant is that supposed to mean? Well,if translated properly,it should have read :"Be careful,slippery slopes."

We went home after that.


THE END

Like all holidays,I woke up at 9 AM today and spammed my PSP's GTA VCS and GTA LCS till 12.30 PM. Not very fun because I finished both game before. I had the sudden urge of owning a DS Lite and playing Pokemon. I don't know,but I think I am experiencing what is referred to by doctors as, INFLUENCE,because I kept watching Pokemon battles between Kevin and Nicholas,Cheng Yu, so on and so forth. AAIIEE!!!! I can't take it anymore... I need a DS Lite and Pokemon. I am even seeing Pokeballs flying around....

Meh.

Anyways,did my Friday prayers and went back to my grandparents' place. Yet again,I spammed my PSP AND my aunt's laptop. Watched 3 videos on Pokemon Platinum, Wikipedia'ed it as well as the DS Lite. Then at approximately 3.10pm.I took a nap. I had a vision in my sleep. To own a yellow Suzuki Swift Sport with Pokemon livery,and Pikachu's face on the front fascia...WTF?! I woke up,shocked,and had the urge to play Pokemon. Eh. I was going nuts. Spammed my PSP once more till 8 PM before going home. Right now,here in my bedroom,I am righting this post.

I see dead pixels. Just kidding. I want to sleep. The trouble is,how do you sleep when you know that when every second passes,a DS is bought by some lucky bastard,and that when a single DS is bought,one is gone from the production line,and if Nintendo had a catastrophe in the factory,the DS production line will be stopped,and when it is stopped,I won't be able to buy the damn thing because the stock isn't in. Sad,isn't it? I could almost picture it now. A certain DS is out there,crying and just waiting for me to grab and own it. I feel a tear in my eye. DS,where fore art thou?

I don't usually write about school life here,but this is an exception. Just when you thought today was just a normal day...

During English class today,Cheng Yu got into a heated argument with Loh Zhen. Apparently Loh Zhen had drawn the line of Cheng Yu's patience by messing up his table. After all,he had been VERY patient as this is Loh Zhen's 10th time doing something similar. Cheng Yu was pissed off and threw her books(surprise,surprise) out the window. They were shouting and arguing like those chumps in the stock exchange room. Ms Raj interverned and tried to cool everything down,but to no avail. She did,however,manage to get Cheng Yu to retrieve the fallen books,with Khaliesah as an "escort".

After going back up to class with the books,Loh Zhen rudely snatched the books from him. Looking nothing like his usual self,Cheng Yu threw them on the floor and shouted at her in the face. That was when Ms Raj shouted "Oh my God!". The class giggled for a very short while before the situation got tense again. Khaliesah,being the nutty one,recorded everything. Just as Cheng Yu and Loh Zhen fought near the innocent dust bin,Aiman told someone jokingly to "take video". This caused Cheng Yu to get increasingly mad and choked Aiman. That was when Khaliesah shouted and pleaded him to stop. Aiman had a pissed face on him. He shoved Cheng Yu till he released the 15 second choke. That was before Cheng Yu literally carried Aiman to a nearby table. Aiman was extremely furious and proceeded to punching and kicking him. They exchanged shoves,kicks,punches etc. That was when both were calmed down. The teacher told each of them to apologise to each other. Cheng Yu was mad and thought that the whole class was against him,so he carelessly threw a chair back to the teacher's desk without looking. And it missed our report books by inches. Talk about expert aiming!

Further arguments were ensued,but the class got bolder and told both Cheng Yu and Loh Zhen off. All the involved parties were told to apologise to each other. Then the class resumed as normal,but I'm still skeptical that that's ever going to happen for the next few days.



Quote of the day:
"I have not failed. I have only just discovered 10 000 ways that do not work."
-Anonymous

Two weeks ago,on Tuesday,Mr Chia Yaim Chong contacted me and informed me about an upcoming stayover at a fancy apartment in Newton. He said there would be a PS3,X360,2 laptops and three televisions there. Of course,the gaming consoles would be provided by the host and host's friend,a certain bloke named Ka Wai. I accepted his offer without any questions,so as not to offend him.

*Questions I wanted to ask him*
Who are you?
Are you from social services?
What is your purpose on Earth?
Is this a PS3 vs X360 debate disguised as an innocent sleepover? If so,who are you?

Anyway,on Sunday,at approximately 2.37pm,I arrived at the apartment,Orchard Scotts. I was greeted by my old chap,Yammy. We went shooting(hoops,not people),and played at the playground. After a sweaty half hour,we retreated back to our suite. A penthouse suite,to be exact. Two floors,three bedrooms,ten boys....(DISCLAIMER:Don't think sick!) I played Test Drive with Dwayne before having a one-on-one battle with Ka Wai. We were playing CoD4. After that,I wrote some viruses before sending them to my all-time enemy who was having a cuppa at Starbucks. Virus manipulated itself and crashed his laptop. Apparently it also Bluetoothed to the cash register and he was forced to pay $6000 worth or expresso and hot cocoa.

A few hours later,we went to Newton Hawker Centre for dinner. The group and I saw a Nissan GT-R,BMW Z3 and a Lambo Gallardo Superleggera. Pictures have been uploaded. Before heading for home,the rain fell in torrents,so we were forced to do a 500m dash from the centre to the apartment? Did I mention the side gate was slightly flooded? We reached the suite,played CoD4 and TDU before heading for the pool. Note that the rain had stopped already. We went for a dip in the pool before heading for the jacuzzi. That was not all! We dashed for the hot tub. All of us. Yup. All ten of us. I swear I felt warm bubbles rise from the side,and they weren't from the machine...

We went back to the suite. Actually,it was only,Ka Wai,Dwayne,Ryan and I. Yammy and his colleagues were left behind to climb 15 flight of stairs. So two of Yammy's RI friends went home after that,leaving the eight of us grown up men. We played a friendly game of "Shove-the-dude-into-the-storeroom". In the process of having fun playing that,we damaged the door. I'll send my condolences to Yaim Chong,the late but great friend. So we watched a wrestling match. I went to the bath tub for a nice bath when Ryan opened the door. He saw my *CENSORED TO KEEP THE U.S GOVERNMENT HAPPY* and blurted it out to everyone. Oh well,there goes my self dignity. We went to Newton MRT to buy food at 7-Eleven but realised that it was closed... So I thought up a brainstorm and suggested we take the MRT all the way to Orchard for BK. Nearly everybody didn't want to guy but I persuaded them and explained that they could die in hunger,surviving on each other's fingers and intestines. We rode all the way there,got our dinner,and went back. Dwayne and I recreated a certain Top Gear scene on the way.We had a good laugh. We reached home and watched Saw III. Cool but gory. Ryan was afraid he would get jellybean nightmares. Lights off at 11pm,and I slept in the same room as Ka Wai. . Woke up the next morning to find myself topless. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ryan said I removed it while I was sleeping,because he did not want to think that either Ka Wai or I was *CENSORED TO KEEP THE U.S GOVERNMENT HAPPY*. So we woke up and had breakfast. I was left in the apartment alone without my knowledge. I ran down to find out that the breakfast room was on the SAME FLOOR as the apartment suite I slept in. I had toast and cereal,with a nice cup of tea together with my pals. We went back to the penthouse,took a shower and played more CoD4,NBA Y2k9 and TDU. I played Warhawk with Ka Wai before everybody checked out of the apartment at about 5.15pm. Dwayne hung his wet clothes at the terrace the day before but it was still wet when he collected it. What he DIDN'T know was that there was BOTH a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen. Cheers,Dwayne.

We went to BK for dinner,with Dwayne pissed off because no one wanted to follow him to Taka. Surprisingly,Dwayne was happy after his $30 meal. We went home contented. Ka Wai took a different mode of transport home. Now I am going to sleep as it is 12.46AM on Tuesday.

E-ya later!





Quote of the day:
"The leader is always the first to be blamed."
-Some wiseguy who got lost with his friends in a mama shop.

So. I just got myself a nice 1/24 Tamiya Nismo Skyline R34 GT-R Z-Tune. Lovely,ain't it? Cost me $37. Here's the anti-climax part;I bought this car nearly two years ago. You heard it. Two years. I just didn't have the time to assemble it,paint it,or even give it 5 minutes worth of attention. Well,for my New Year's Resolution,I plan to complete building the car before December. You know why? Because I don't want to waste the last month of 2009 sitting at the corner of my room cracking my brain assembling the 200+ parts car(excluding stickers and metal transfers). Heck,I have my own social life to attend to,thank you very much. So. Back to the Tamiya. Got it at 178 Paya Lebar Road. It's basically two spaces rented out by Tamiya to make a mega shop house,containing virtually every Tamiya toy and accessory,enough to satisfy a hobby junkie's heart and pleasure.

Short history about the Z-Tune.
*20 used but thoroughly inspected Skyline R34 GT-R V-Specs were bought by Nismo.
*Nismo wanted to show this car at Nissan's anniversary in 2005.
*The GT-Rs were built ground up,with a 500hp handbuilt engine fitted into them.
*Bilstein and Sachs worked together with Nismo to create a unique suspension system specially for the Z-Tune.
*Nismo decided to use Nissan's corporate colours;silver,black and red.
*The Z-Tune bodykit are fully carbon fibre.
*All the custom Z-Tune parts are not reproduced anymore,so you won't see any Z-Tune parts on eBay.
*Only 20 Z-Tunes were made. All were snapped up under 4 hours prior to its debut at the Nismo Festival in 2005.


Well,I still have to buy paint for my special car,and to custom order photo-etched parts by Tamiya for that realistic look. Then maybe I'll get a mini studio set so I can take breathtaking photos of the GT-R posing menacingly with its unique Z-Tune bodykit and a comically powered Nismo Z1 engine. This is Godzilla in its ultimate form. This is Godzilla when touched by the magical hands at Nismo's factory. This...is the beginning of a new era.

Apologies

First of all,I would like to apologise to my dear readers,especially Vetster,for a slight mistake I made on the review of the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. The leaf,after all,has a completely different setup from the F150,which I had previously misunderstood. Shortly later,I am going to post a basic guide to all suspension systems and their advantages/disadvantages so I can clear up the misunderstanding that has been circulating all over the interweb.

Cheers!

P.S I still would save up $400k to buy a $280k Japanese spec Nissan GT-R and send it to MINE'S for a complete tune up. And the best thing is,all of that will still accumulate to about $91k,including shipping to and from Japan! Oh,and did I mention it clocked 57 seconds around the Tsukuba track?

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1:Yank Tank or God?

Now,as all of you should probably know by now,Chevrolet has released the most powerful Corvette ever made,prior to the release of "Godzilla",aka Nissan GT-R for the unacquainted. It has been dubbed the Corvette ZR1. Quite surprising as Chevrolet,part of the Big Three,is on the brink of bankruptcy. Now,let us take a brief review of the car itself,starting from the exterior.

EXTERIOR
Hmmm. It looks just like the Z06,save the new and fully functional bumpers,new spoiler,a carbon fibre bonnet and side air vents to channel cool air,and as to act as aerodynamic help. Overall,it looks perfectly fine,nothing to shout about but nothing to complain...until you actually nudge the rear bumper. What's this? Now this car has been fitted with plastic bumpers. And not the firm,heavy duty plastic found in supercars but just tacky,Daewoo-esque plastic that can be bought in Wal-Mart for $3. Oh dear,the future looks bleak for our American friend here...

INTERIOR
Inside the ZR1,well,it doesn't strike a chord in the interior design department! It is all to greyish and bland,typical of American cars. I see plastic everywhere and not a percentage of creativity in the interior,let alone its build quality. Thank goodness it has a stick shift,not a ridiculous AMT. The door sills creak every time I apply pressure onto it,so it is an omen of worse things to come. I say a vast array of buttons on the perimeter of the meters,neatly arranged for practicality. The seats are wrapped in leather,albeit not as comfortable to sit on. And it is grey in colour.

ENGINE
Well,it seems that Chevrolet has used an LS3 engine and modified it extensively,and finally redubbing it the LS9,producing 638 hp (476 kW) and 604 ft·lbf (819 N·m). of torque, making this the most powerful production Corvette to date.Sure the V8 is great...for straight roads. The LS9 has a sixth-generation Eaton TVS R2300 roots 4-lobe supercharger with an intercooler. The supercharger's four-lobe design offers improved efficiency over three-lobe models. Nicely done. The ZR1's intercooler is located on top of the engine,clearly shown as the bonnet of the ZR1 has a polycarbonate window that is cut directly above it. I do not understand the whole point of it because other manufacturers have done the same thing but at least shown their cars' engines,not just an intercooler with fancy engravings done possibly by two fat blokes from Kentucky.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The ZR1 is what I call a modern car with archaic components. The reason why I said it is because I could not think of any other car in production now that still uses leaf spring suspensions. Why,I could get a Honda Civic Type R that has independent suspensions! At least it has Brembo 6 pistons and Brembo 4 pistons brakes on the front and back respectively. The brakes were initially designed for the Ferrari Enzo hypercar. It has Magnetic Selective Ride Control which offers standing start launch modifications.

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS
To the next keen buyer of the ZR1,please don't. You will suffer from the following
-osteoporosis
-eye complications
-massive headaches

Firstly,the car is in no shape at all to be driven by any man,let alone a living thing. It has extremely firm suspension,and when TCS turned off,it will spin out of control,assuming you're one of those post-grad yuppies who has less than a year of driving experience. It is definitely not for the faint hearted.

CONCLUSION
I think Chevrolet has not pulled this off. Never. If it weren't for the GT-R,there would never have been this ZR1. The car looks like a typical British Leyland car,all bits hammered on by some fat geezer. The car itself is in tatters. The only people,I think,who are willing to buy this total abomination of a car,are hardcore GM enthusiasts,or just American patriots who are pretty much stupid. The ZR1 will never be in the book of revolutionary cars. It is just too vulgar and too brash This car has not,and never will,win my heart. Not even if it were to be the last car on Earth.


-iGeek™