The new generation of Prince of Persia

The new Prince of Persia game hit stores early this month and have been received well by the critics and fans alike. IGN gave the game 9.3 score out of 10 while Gamespot gave it 8 score out of 10. However, there are some negative feedback about the game. Some that I've read is about the game difficulty. While some of the gamers may appreciate the hints and commands that were given during the game, the hardcore gamers may find it annoying as they are looking for more challenge in playing the game.

The game introduced a new Prince (different than the Prince from the Sands of Time trilogy), a new character, Elika, a new story and a new world. I have yet to play this game (and you should know why if you read my profile :-P) but from the trailer, I can tell that the game has beautiful visuals. The new world looks so gorgeous and characters are drawn like painting which they said was more like cel-shaded garphics but with more details. And the soundtrack sound fabulous too! I love it very much.

Here's the trailer for the game. Thank you IGN for it and also for the pics. Enjoy!

Ayumi Hamasaki Best 2 ~White~

My favourite Japanese singer is Utada Hikaru, and coming close in 2nd is Namie Amuro. So where does Ayumi fits in? Somewhere below the list of course. Although Ayumi Hamasaki is the "Empress of Pop" in Japan, she still didn't manage to capture my heart. Don't get me wrong, I like most of her songs but I love Utada and Namie's songs better.

So why did I bought this album? Two reasons; 1, my youngest sister is an Ayumi's avid fan, and 2, I want to give Ayumi Hamasaki a chance to prove that she's worth my money. Besides, some of the singles that I love are in this album, so I gave it a shot and bought it. It's quite cheap because you get 1 CD and 2 DVDs for only RM50. It's hard to find Japanese album with that value in Malaysia.

So is this album good? For hardcore Ayumi fans, this album would be great to add to the collection. For a not-so-hardcore fan like me, it was kinda good too. There are some of the songs that I like and some that I don't. Evolution, Real Me, Inspire and Step You are some of my fave while Greatful Days and Voyage are the songs that I didn't quite like. My top 2 favourite songs in this album are Ourselves and Moments, love them!

The 2 DVDs in this album are the promotional video for the singles and another one is the Countdown Live 2006-2007 concert. For the promotional videos DVD, not all of the songs are included. Songs that are left out are Independent, Unite! (only a short clip), July 1st and A Song Is Born. I think all of the songs that are not included in the DVD do not have their own promotional videos, that's why they are excluded.

The 2nd DVD, the Countdown concert, was AWESOME!!! I think this DVD alone is worth the money that I paid for the whole set. Although I did mention that I don't like some of her songs, but seeing her performed them, it made me suddenly fall in love with the songs! She's got a strong stage presence and her performances are great. I really love this DVD. I felt like I was there in her concert, I can almost taste the excitement from the crowd.

So even if you are not an Ayu fan but you do like Japanese songs, I think you should try this album. Afterall, there must be a reason why they call her the "Empress of Pop".

The true face behind the mask

YuYu Hakusho Vol. 9 starts off with the result of Yuusuke Vs Zin the wind master. Who won it? The host announced that Yuusuke was the winner but the organizer has a dirty trick up his sleeve. He claimed that Yuusuke was out of the borders far too long and the host count was too slow. So it was a tie.

It seemed like Team Urameshi had lost because Yuusuke and Kurama were defeated and Hiei and Mask were detained for so-called injuries. And all the fighters in Team Masho had lost except one, their leader Risho. So it means that Team Masho won right? Wrong! They forgot about Kuwabara! He was unconscious before but now he was awake and ready to fight. He was badly injured from the previous fights (between Team Dr. Ichigaki) but he insisted to continue the last match because he was their only hope. He can't even use his aura-infused sword and almost lost to Risho. But he didn't give up and kept on standing back after beaten to the ground. Then, something happened. He spotted Yukina (his crush!) in the crowd and hit Risho so hard he was thrown away from the fighting arena. It was indeed the power of love (the scene was funny and I had fun reading it). And so Team Urameshi will enter the semi-final of the Dark Tournament.

For those who have been reading YuYu Hakusho, you guys should know about the egg right? In the beginning of the series, Koenma, the son of the spirit realm ruler, gave an egg to Yuusuke. It fed on Yuusuke's spirit energy and will eventually hatch into a spirit beast and will take form based on the energy that it had consumed. If Yuusuke had bad evil energy, it will hatch into a monster (that what Botan was afraid of). And the egg hatched in this volume! And it turned out to be a cute bird-like creature. So Yuusuke didn't have bad spirit energy afterall. They named it Pu.

Then, back to business. Mask called Yuusuke to a secluded place and revealed herself, she was Genkai! She passed on her spirit energy to (her successor) Yuusuke but the spirit energy was too powerful and Yuusuke's body started trembling and bleeding. If Yuusuke can survive this, he will have the power but if he don't, he will die. It's more like a gamble to me. But they had no other choice, Genkai was old and she needs to pass on her power. Furthermore, in his current state, Yuusuke would never win against Toguro.

The semi-final day arrived. With Yuusuke still struggling (and suffering) with his new power, and Genkai waiting for him, the rest of the team members went to the stadium to begin the fight. This time they will face Team Otogi Ura. It's 3 Vs 5, can they win this?

Hiei fought in the first 2 fights. The 1st one against Makin Taro was quick, but he struggled in the 2nd match against Kuromomo Taro but managed to win it too. The 3rd round was between Kurama (yay!) and Urashima Ura. Urashima tricked Kurama and used an evil device to produce smog to turned him into a baby and kill him. Fortunately the smog turned Kurama into his former self (before he infused himself into a human body and became a human), the infamous thief Fox Demon Kurama!!!

Urashima Ura was in deep trouble. We will find out what happen to him in YuYu Hakusho Volume 10. Overall, this volume had a lot of good fight scenes and my favourite in this volume is the match between Hiei and Kuromomo Taro. Hiei had such great techniques! But will they survive this round? Until next review....

Smile with your eyes ladies!

This will be my last review for America's Next Top Model Cycle 11. I will wait until they announce the winner for this cycle before I resume my review. Well, I know by now they should have already crowned the winner but the latest episode aired in Malaysia was when there were Top 7. So to avoid any spoilers, I've decided that I will stop visiting their site until the last episode air in Malaysia.

This is actually my first time watching the reality show without knowing who's going to win it. In previous cycles, I always checked who'll win for that cycle first through their website. I know it's not fun that way but I was too curious. So this time I want to be in the dark. It's kinda fun not knowing who's going to be eliminated next, it's kinda bring the suspense to the show.

So let's continue from where I left off. Here are some of the photos that I like from episode 5.

Clark

Analeigh

To be honest, I didn't quite know how to judge this episode's photos. Of course the obvious one are easy like Clark (beautiful!), Isis (dead eyes) & Joslyn (same dead eyes) but the rest...mmm...I don't know. I mean, they all look nice. So I picked 2 that I think I like most, Clark & Analeigh. Although I didn't like Clark previous pics, but this one just blown me away. She can take good pics afterall! Good job girl. Analeigh was in the bottom 2 in previous episode but she step up her game and finally impressed the judges this week. I always like this girl. She's beautiful, nice, soft-spoken. I hope she can go far, I mean post-ANTM.

There are double elimination in this episode. Hannah was eliminated after the challenge while Isis was eliminated during panel judging. In this week challenge, the girls had to do a runway show blindfolded. Hannah can't really walk so it was even more difficult for her to walk blindfolded. I think her elimination was kinda cruel because it was so quick and Tyra weren't even there to console her. I hope she was alright.

Isis elimination was expected because her pics were getting bad to worse. I know she can model but it was bad luck that the first few episodes they had to shoot pics in swimsuits and pool. If not, I think she can go far. Well, you gotta be comfortable in your own skin to be a model. Maybe she's not ready yet.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Analeigh now. I like her. Really hope she can go far.

Hannah

Isis

Klaatu & Gort are here

The remake of the 1951 film, The Day The Earth Stood Still, will open in Malaysian cinemas and several Asian countries on 11 December 2008 (that's tomorrow!). And I think there are several cinemas that are showing the movie today, so if you want to be one of the first to watch this movie, please check the time lists of the show and rush to the cinema okay.

This movie tells a story about an alien, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), and a robot, Gort, who land on Earth to make a crucial decision; whether or not to wipe out the human race from the surface of planet Earth (!!!). Well, they have a good reason to do so, it's because human have done a lot of damage to Earth and with humans gone, the Earth will survive. As simple as that! So it's up to the humans especially Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) to convince Klaatu that humans are worth saving.

Here's the trailer to the movie. I really like the soundtrack that accompany the trailer. I hope it will be featured a lot in the movie coz I think it really suits with it. Initially I want to share with you the international trailer which was really cool but it was stated at the end of the trailer that it cannot be shared and it was meant for personal use only. So I post here a different trailer. However, you can check the international trailer at IGN and you can download it too.

To know more about the movie, please visit the official site, just click here. And thanx to Movieweb for the posters.

Enjoy the trailer!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha to all Muslims!!! This festive is all about sacrifices so I hope we all had made all the sacrifices we need for all the right reasons. And don't forget to enjoy the food. Peace all!

Gwen Stefani Embraces Motherhood

Tending to her motherly responsibilities, Gwen Stefani was spotted out and about yesterday (December 4) with her two sons Kingston and Zuma, as well as a nanny.

The “Hella Good” songstress began the outing with a trip to a pharmacy to pick up a few items before heading over to a nearby park for some active quality time. Gwen even changed a diaper at the top of one of the slides!

As for her husband Gavin Rossdale’s latest album Wanderlust, it seems Stefani is a bit annoyed that he included a duet track that she sang on.

Rossdale recently told press that he felt it was “cool” to have her on the track “Some Days,” but that she was still bothered by it. “She told me she had an idea and offered to sing, which turned out great.”