VGL in Malaysia - 17th Apr 2010

Note : Wrote this yesterday because I was afraid that I'll forget, lol and posted this after 24 hours? Haha.

Before my I start sleeping  and all, (because I'm kinda bleary after the whole day), let me blog about my first ever VGL experience which was held in KL Convention's Centre, Plenary Hall today. My mom and I attended the afternoon session which started at 2.30 but  we went there early just to be safe and I wanted to check out the booths (don't want to miss the merchandise!). And I have no idea why the smallest shirt looks like it's catered for oversized people.

Entered the hall at 2 because it was already opened by then and we were told that the cosplayers would enter the hall before the show starts. So here's the hall before the crowd came in, stage isn't that big, so is the hall itself. It was comfortable though, not too cold. 

Cosplayers came in about 10-15 minutes before the concert commenced. Sadly, not many cosplayers turned up. My seat was far away so this is the closest picture that I can get. Surprise, 2 Final Fantasy characters! What's more surprising, if you look closely, you can see a girl who cosplayed as Hope from FFXIII! I'm gonna give her the credits for doing so, it's not a very wise choice, in fact, it's risky. First of all, FFXIII has been hated ever since its release and next, Hope isn't a very likeable character but nevertheless, I think she did well (a bold move indeed!) What's even sadder, the crowd looked confused when she introduced her character's name, only a handful few clapped, including yours truly. The guy on the far left emerged as the winner, it's obvious which game character he was cosplaying as; thus, the victory.

Parodies of video games and a bit of anime were shown to excite the crowd. They started off with a tribute to classical games. Throughout the whole song, there was a video montage of those good old games including 8-bit ones! The crowd was overwhelmed with nostalgia! Imagine those who grew up playing those games. Listening to the music being played live will surely evoke memories, be it good or bad. 

Tommy Tollarico introduced himself and his group of performers, including our  very own local National Symphony Orchestra and the conductor, Jack Wall if I'm not mistaken. Tommy talked a lot throughout the afternoon, gave many interesting or funny remarks. Many interactions took place. He talked about how many people out there think that video games are only for kids, video games music is nothing but just beeps here and there and how video games are blamed for violence and bad influence. When he was listing down these points, we boo-ed and there was one guy who said, "Kill them!", followed by laughter and agreement from the crowd. The irony.

After a pretty long tribute to classical games, the next song was Metal Gear Solid's main theme. A short clip of Hideo Kojima was shown before the orchestra team started playing the song. Bloody hell, I was so happy. Here's a video that I've recorded. Video quality ain't that good but audio-wise, it's tolerable. Check out the box, you'll appreciate that part if you've played MGS games. 

I can't really remember the exact tracklist but if I'm not wrong, God of War's theme was played next. The female vocalist, Laura Intravia did a fantastic job! The audience was in awe, my mom kept praising her. Little did we know she was also a flutist, this was eventually revealed when she performed music from Zelda, heck, she even dressed like one. Tommy invited one of the audiences to go up to the stage to play Space Invaders while the musicians play the theme song. A 43 year old guy volunteered and he did a pretty good job, we were all cheering for him. His movements were tracked so he had to move from right to left while using some kind of controller to attack the fiends. It was amusing. He didn't win the main prize though but he got a goodie bag.

Not sure what exactly was the next song but it should be music from Legend of Zelda  or Super Mario, followed by Shadow of Colossus and Megaman. It's quite difficult to remember the order of songs because I was utterly entranced. To be fair, I'd say the volume wasn't loud enough, there wasn't much "surround" effect that you'd expect to experience when you listen to this kind of music in a hall. It lacked the "oomph" so my mom and I were complaining throughout the first half of the concert. It was a waste because they played really well and the video footages complement the music.

What's great about this concert, it's actually educative! Tommy explained to us the origins of video games, the genius behind the whole concept, Ralph H. Baer! We were shown a black and white video of Ralph introducing the first ever Pong video game and after that, he was connected to us via Skype. I'm actually skeptical about that being live since videos like that could be timed but still it was pretty cool how we clapped and he told us to enjoy and waved at us. 

We had a 20 minutes intermission for toilet breaks and my mom actually went to speak with one of the performers. She complained about the volume but the violinist said he couldn't do much about it because his task was only to play the violin, not controlling the overall sound so too bad but it's weird because the volume during the second half was increased and it had more "oomph" as compared to the first half. My mom was being smug about this, I'm not sure myself whether it was a coincidence or what. Nonetheless, it was more heart pumping during the second half, maybe it was also because Tommy joined in together with his electric guitar so the distortion or gain gave the extra kick.

When Jack asked whether there was any Disney fans, we immediately knew that the next song would be a piece from Kingdom Hearts! They played Hikari, I was literally fangirling throughout the whole song for several reasons. Yes, KH was an enjoyable game but Hikari has a very special place in my heart (for the record, the original song is performed and also composed by my one and only J-Goddess, Utada Hikaru). This rendition sounds really beautiful when performed live, I was close to tears.

Tommy also invited the winner of Guitar Hero competition that was held earlier on before the concert to play with him on stage. Van Halen's song was played. That little boy has leet skills on that fake guitar thing! I swear it's harder to play on that toy than a real guitar, (even Slash said so himself!) At first he was only required to play on Hard mode but he insisted on Expert to show off his skills, quite a cocky boy ey? But really, he was quite amazing except for the solo part, he screwed up a bit. 

Other tracks include music from Sonic the Hedgehog, Warcraft/World of Warcraft, Halo. As if one MGS song wasn't enough to satiate the fans, we have Norihiko Hibino who specially flew in. He's the man behind Snake Eater which was used for Metal Gear Solid 3. One of my all time favourite video game songs, not to mention MGS3 was the first MGS game that made me a MGS fan that I am today. I kept replaying Snake Eater during my final terms break back in Form 1/2. Mr. Hibino performed Snake Eater on his saxaphone and oh boy, that rendition was really sexy and even more melodic than the original one. It reminded me so much of my secondary school years.

When Tommy said that the next song will be from a game by Square, it instantly hit us that it'll be a Final Fantasy song. Everyone was stoked and he kept asking us which Final Fantasy will it be. Everyone shouted their favourite FF and guess what, some shouted FFI, FFVI, (Terra's theme would be so epic), FFIX (this one has the most, I mean in quantity, great music out of all FF games) and most shouted FFVII (as expected-duh! fanboys never die). Guess which one they selected? As predicted, it was FFVII and before he could finish saying the composer's name, we shouted Nobuo Uematsu! Damn, that guy is REALLY an icon in the video games music industry. Hail Uematsu! (lol) and so my dream came true after waiting for ages, I was able to witness the profoundness of One Winged Angel live! Holy shit, I had goosebumps. Definitely an overrated song but it's just so sinfully addictive to listen to, especially the parts with choir.

When Tommy and others made their disappearance, we all kept cheering  or an encore. Soon enough, they came out and was ready to deliver more yummy songs.  Castlevania's song was played and it had that rock or a bit of metal edge to it, I really love it even though I haven't played this game throughout 19 years of my life. (yeah, yeah, I know how much I'm missing out) He also had us sing Mario's Overworld theme together, it was ridiculously stupid and cute.

Before the evening came to an end, music from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross was played and apparently, this was due to so much demand from fans all over the world. I'm glad they actually considered what the fans want because Chrono Cross has such beautiful music though I haven't finished the game, put it on hold when I received FFXIII, lol. It started out soft and tranquil withJack and Tommy on the acoustics, and suddenly the tempo took a turn. The ever-talented flutist and Norihiko joined in and so did the rest of the musicians. One word to describe it-- EPIC. Oh my God, it was easily one of the best piece delivered. All the instruments blended together so perfectly. Even my mom kept complimenting this piece after the concert was over.

The concert lasted about 2 hours 30 minutes long, I was beaming as I was walking out of the hall, in other words, I was ecstatic. Like I said earlier this month, it was like a dream come true for me, the opportunity to listen to video game soundtracks played live. Paying RM 153 was definitely worth it,  you get such a different experience that you won't be able to get from attending usual concerts.  Imagine all gamers who truly appreciates video games and the music gathered together in a hall, all with the same purpose, to just have fun and enjoy the music like how we've enjoyed the games. But I might be wrong because I saw people in their 40s - 50s as well, perhaps it'd be more precise to say that the same purpose is to have fun and enjoy the music! :D

Oh yes, video games music is just like any other good music. In fact, they're better than some shit that they play on radios these days. You can actually feel it when you listen to video game soundtracks. This applies to certain animes/dramas/movies soundtracks as well. Video games music has evolved to the point where players criticize or refuse to play certain games just because of the music composer. Fanboys and fangirls can be so faithful (lol). If you haven't listened to video games music before, I'd suggest you do so because you're really missing out a lot, I'm dead-serious.

The only drawback was the audio system, they could've done better. Do realize I'm not referring to the skills of the musicians, they played well and the co-ordination was great, the choir members especially. If only they raised the volume. I do not have much knowledge about acoustics and all, perhaps it's the material of the walls or the positioning of the speakers. Either way, if this was improved, it would've been flawless.

And if they were to drop by in the future, I'd relinquish RM 200++to get front seats and hopefully by then they will play music from not so popular games such as Persona and Max Payne. Someone actually shouted Persona when Tommy asked what song to play next. Besides that, I was actually hoping to see Martin Leung but too bad he wasn't there because I really dig his rendition of Tetris's theme. Oh well. :)

VGL happening for the first time in Malaysia!

Presentations and assignments are finally all done for this final semester so for the time being, zest is in the air! 

One of the reasons why I'm so happy and driven now is because VGL will be happening for the first time in Malaysia! (and all the while I thought of how I'll just die without witnessing the greatness of video games' music live because after all, this is Malaysia) It's certainly shocking that they've decided to include Malaysia in their tour. About time! I know there are many enthusiasts out there, those radical ones especially!

If you're still scratching your head and don't even have a single inkling about VGL, you're really uncool. Scratch that, I know how "many" gamers actually visit my blog or gamer friends. Was just kidding. Just because you do not play video games, it doesn't mean you should miss out this opportunity to attend this amazing concert! 

Who the hell's performing? It's difficult to answer, there are many involved, from the choir to the electronic percussionists, solo performers, etc. Picture the ambience when you witness an orchestra live, then combine it with something electronic, jazzy or rock-ish once in a while. A perfect blend of various genres, making the music come alive right before your eyes. The synchronization coupled together with beautiful visuals such as the lights and video games clips are utterly engaging, to gamers or non-gamers. Anyone who enjoys symphonic tracks or put simply, soundtracks or instrumental stuff will definitely find this a worthwhile + enjoyable experience. If these reasons are still not convincing enough, I'm hoping the price of the tickets will--- from RM 83 to RM 253! That's way fucking cheaper than your Super Junior concert which I think is totally crap. Sorry, my fingers tend to  move on their own sometimes.

I know people will still be hesitant (that is if my dear readers are actually bothered to read all these in the first place). Here are several videos that I got from YT, to exemplify the magnificence of VGL! Bear in mind all these are user-recorded; thus, the quality but they still rock.

One Winged Angel performed in Paris.

FF Medley on Piano performed in Taipei - the word beautiful explains it all.

How often do you get such cool people touring Malaysia anyway? This is totally incredulous. Someone slap me please, HARD. All these envisioning is making me more excited by each second. This is almost like a dream come true for me. Music that will be performed obviously includes those from well-known titles or classical ones. Good examples are Final Fantasy, Chrono Cross, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Mega Man, Warcraft, Super Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Zelda, Dongkey Kong, Castlevania, just to name a few that I know of. 

If anyone's interested in joining, here are some important details of the concert.

Date : 17th April 2010

Time : First session at 2.30 PM , Second session at 8.30 PM

Venue : KL Convention Centre, Plenary Hall

For more information, here's the official website -- Video Games Live. Ticket pricing is available there, as well as ordering of course. 

the evangelion impact

 Photo from blog.rage.com.my

I am utterly ecstatic after watching Evangelion 2.0 at Cathay earlier this evening! Due to transportation problems, I had to go there about 1 hour before the movie starts so you can picture how mundane it was for me. Fortunately the particular hall was opened early. Early by 10 minutes if I'm not wrong. Surprisingly I wasn't the earliest one. A few hardcore EVA fans were already inside, sitting in the dark. There were only stationary ads with annoying radio tunes being played. Soon, the crowd came. Mostly teenage guys. There were very few girls. There were also mid age guys. To my surprise, there was this family with a few kids. Very young kids, most probably around 5. Poor kids, I hope they grasped the movie and were able to tolerate the violence. For the record, I sat between 2 late 20s/early 30s guys. Both came alone and of course I went alone as well. Speak of the Eva spirit!

The vexatious ads and previews were distressing. Impatience was obvious and you can't blame us. It has been how many months since the release of Evangelion 2.0 and it took dog years for it to reach our shores but I'm not gonna complain. Honestly, I feel so blessed that this whole thing is actually taking place. To watch Evangelion 2.0 on such a huge screen with brilliant sound effects! 

It was virtually 2 hours long but it felt like nothing. The battle scenes especially were engaging. There were changes in the storyline as compared to the original series. So far I think it's okay. It was very intriguing to see how they replaced Suzuhara with Asuka during the scene where Shinji was compelled to terminate Unit 03. I prefer the original scene more though because it was more emotional, I can still recall how much I cringed on the night when I watched that episode. Amazing like hell. Ayanami Rei has more emotions. Heck, there's even an obvious love triangle between Asuka, Shinji and Rei which I find to be pretty odd. It seemed as if it's too fast for that considering the facts that Asuka actually loathes Shinji and Rei is too robotic and too in love with Shinji's father instead of Shinji himself. Sick.

Since it's a Rebuild, the CG effects are much better. Even though the art style seems a bit outdated for today's anime, their hairstyle especially, I still think it was beautifully done/retouched. Plentiful additional scenes make it easier for Eva fans to understand the enigma of Evangelion but if someone were to just walk in watch it, there's  ahuge possibility that they'll start getting bored, worse, deride the anime. The soundtrack is truly superb. Love the classic songs and incongruous battle themes. The instrumental version of Thanatos really enhanced the impacts of the fights. Not to exaggerate but I had goosebumps all over during a few scenes, heh, "the evangelion impact".

When the movie ended, most viewers left except for me, 2 guys and another group of teenage boys behind me. I guess we're the hardcore ones. Waited for the credits to finish rolling. I'm not gonna lament about the credits because that is the part where Beautiful World by the goddessUtada Hikaru plays. I love both the original and the acoustic rendition of this song. I have no inkling whether they stayed for the ending song or for the preview of Evangelion 3.0 but I reckon it's the latter. The staff must be exasperated, they switched on the lights and our asses were still glued to the chairs waiting for the preview. Haha!

My notion is that the whole Rebuild of Evangelion thing is mostly fanservice but it's okay since Eva geeks are incredibly loyal and fucking enthusiastic so for sure lots of profits will be generated in Japan. As for little countries like Malaysia, it's a blessing that we have the opportunity to watch this. Once again, millions of thank you, hugs and kisses to the fans who petitioned so hard for this to happen. 

I'm so extremely delighted today because of this. :D

And I'm also glad I didn't download the CAM version of this, else it would've spoiled the fun and excitement.

ramenbox's little self indulgence

Friday has been the happiest day of 2010. 2 amazing events took place and these moments are really going into my "Best Moments of 2010" list. Let's start off with the minor one. Behold, the movie, Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 : You Can (Not) Advance is finally being screened in Malaysia! At last! I remember I came across news on how Facebook Evangelion fans petitioned for this. Great job to those ardent fans out there. Too bad I'm an inactive FB-er, else I could have contributed a bit. I missed the first one which was back in 2008 but I'm definitely missing this! Exclusively shown in Cathay or TGV Sunway. The ads in the newspapers are  mere black and white, pretty pathetic, but who gives a damn? I've already bought my ticket in advance and they actually claimed how you can not advance. The irony. Heh. Can't wait for tomorrow evening to come.

The next big but not so big thing, the time I spent drooling over a PS3 has come to an end because yours truly  has finally purchased one for herself. Once again, I'd like to stress how money makes the world goes round. Surveyed the prices in OneU but in the end decided to buy it from Sony Style, The Curve. I'm gratified with my final decision because it came with freebies, not to mention the free Milo and warm service from one of thoseguys there. It was a bit difficult to ask about the availability of certain games though because the guy isn't a gamer. Perhaps they should start assigning staff to appropriate sales sections. Nevertheless he was being as helpful as possible.

 Days of frequent visits to the Sony shop just to caress the PS3 are over.

Freebies - A not-so-stylish oversized windbreaker. I wanted a black but apparently there's no black. And a Sony multi-reader.

 

My first ever original video games. Not new releases but hey, quality matters and no one gets bored of Solid Snake.

Personally I feel that it was a good bargain. At least the freebies are both practical things. In fact, the windbreaker is currently with my mom who has just left for Australia. Hopefully a free windbreaker will be enough for the mild weather. Wanted to get GTAIV instead of MGS4 but in the end went ahead and bought MGS4 because it's a PS3-must-get. Elder Scrolls was also reasonable because it includes the expansion pack together with the initial one. How lovely. can things get? It was difficult to choose my first few games but I settled with these both because 1. Dragon Age is still quite expensive for the time being. 2. Final Fantasy XIII Eng Version isn't out yet so these will be more than enough to keep me busy until mid March.

Yes, it's not the hot version with Lightning's super sexy face on it. I guess it's okay but truth be told, I still dream of that limited edition. *sigh* be grateful with what you have, Crystal. :)

For my mom who must be checking in now, wishing her a safe and wonderful journey. Will be missing her for one week. Who wants to cook for me this week?

my ashtray heart

 Photo from www.budiey.com

 Get your tickets here! 

The picture above pretty much sums it all up. Anyone's interested? I doubt so but I'm just doing this because I'm desperate for people to accompany me. I have a feeling it might be filled with many Malay guys, no, I'm not trying to be racist. Drop me a msg if you're interested. Judging from the ticket price, it's pretty reasonable and I'm actually very surprised that they decided to drop by Malaysia. Of all places!? I mean, oh come on, radio doesn't even play their songs. MTV does play their new stuff like Ashtray Heart. I'm not sure whether they've played their older hits before but is it me or the band isn't really famous in Malaysia? There's hardly any promotion except for the small little posters in Rock Corner.

Have not been a fan of them for long but the music that they make are pretty good, the lyrics especially can be quite provocative. Molko's quite an interesting person, same applies to the other band members. If you like androgynous looking guys with lots of eyeliner, this band is highly recommended. And also if you like provocative lyrics, like what I just mentioned, listen to them.  Curiosity is the driving force here, I really want to see how well they perform live. 

like this and that

Last weekend was quite fun. Went back to Ipoh for Anugerah. I think the school is a TAD cheapskate. I'm not badmouthing the school, just stating the obvious. Why can't they give the student a trophy that they can keep at home? It kinda sucks when you can just hold the trophy when you go on stage. Pure lameness. Oh wells, at least those were moments of bliss. And I can't believe someone overslept. Thus, her mom came to represent her. Amazing.

Went to Parade after that to meet up with Ken-Ann. Also met Audrey there. This is the part where my anger kicks in. Bought Strawberry Panic and FFVII : CC OST. Seriously, I find the packing for the anime really shitty, so I did some online research and found out that practically every single anime in Malaysia are bootleg ones. Yes, all those anime you see in Anime Tech, Friendly Records, and even old-time Speedy are indeed FAKE ONES. FAKE. Have you been buying most of your anime from there? If you have been doing that, you're fucked and I'm surprised how you can understand those shitty subtitles.

Don't ask me why I know they're fake because it's so damn prominent that they ARE FAKE. First reason, how can they fit so many episodes into 1 single DVD? It's impossible unless you really compress the frame rates, res, and so on. This explains why I used 2 DVDs to burn the same amount of episodes. Next reason, the subtitles are absolutely horrendous. They don't make sense at all. Thirdly, the box sucks. Originals are always comes in nice neat packaging. Not like these cheap ass ones. And forthly, the price, it's quite cheap. I used to think because it's localized but the reason why is because they aren't originals! How depressing. If it's like that, let's all stick to fansubs! Fan subs are better in every way. Higher quality, great subtitles (they even include explanation when it's too hard to understand the proverbs, etc) and they even have subtitles for the OP and ED!!! Most of all, it's free.

Fuck. Fortunately the ratio of my downloading to purchasing genuine stuff is 999 : 1. So far I've only got 3 so called original anime.

Bought this a few years back. I was skeptical back then but I choose to ignore those thoughts of mine because of the TULEN sticker.

This one is the worst, they recorded the anime from one of the anime channels. I've forgotten the name of the channel.

And this will be the last time I get scammed!

Seriously, this is extremely disappointing. I've heard crap like battling piracy. Is this the way Malaysia plans to battle piracy? I don't know how many people are being cheated out there. Can you believe that they are actually selling bootlegs with a TULEN sticker there? Geez.

life is wonderful

Met up with Audrey and Lucas at 5 plus and we had dinner. After that, dad fetched us to Stadium Negara. Sadly there wasn't a toilet there so we spent some time looking for one nearby and after that, we shopped for t-shirts. Entered at 7 ++. Concert supposed to start at 8 but of course, stars are always late so we waited till around 8.30 - 8.45.

There wasn't any opening act. Not that I bother anyway. Even if there was one, bet it'll be something crappy. Mraz started off with the song Make It Mine from his latest album. I can't really remember the songs in order but I do remember most of them. Next song was The Remedy. Other 'mainstream' songs that he performed includes You and I Both, Lucky, and I'm Yours. I think a local female artist duet with Jason during the song Lucky but fans couldn't really recognize who's that artist. The crowd was ecstatic when he performed Geek in the Pink. Classic JM song really. Other songs include If it Kills Me, Life is Wonderful, Dynamo of Volition, and Live High. The audience kinda know the lyrics well because everyone was singing along during most of the songs, even though during those not so mainstream songs, which I think is a great thing. There was an encore and he was wearing an "I Love KL" shirt. The last song was Butterfly.

The concert was overall really fucking fantastic. Too fantastic for words. What a wonderful experience. It's proven that he sounds much better live. People, face it, Mraz has practically perfect pitch. There was only one song that certain parts sounded a bit weird. During the ending part of Butterfly, other instruments (saxo, trombone, etc) were playing a key higher but Jason was still sticking to the initial key. (That's if I'm not wrong) Anyway it didn't sound really obvious unless the audience really paid extra attention. There was a lot of interaction and it was really damn enjoyable. There was one statement that he made which makes sense, "Don't let your mind stop you from having fun". He was trying to tell the audience that we should all dance and enjoy ourselves even if our dance moves don't fit our looks and outfit. Mraz said that it was the first time for him to perform in KL but definitely not the last time. Hope to see you soon in years to come. xD