My Love For Life Review

It is sad for me to know of Michael Jackson's death this morning. The World has lost one of its greatest performers. The following is a Reuters news article detailing the incident:

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but whose musical genius was overshadowed by a bizarre lifestyle and sex scandals, died on Thursday. He was 50.

U.S. pop star Michael Jackson speaks during a news conference at the O2 Arena in London March 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

Jackson was pronounced dead after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest, Los Angeles coroner Fred Corral said. The cause of death was not known and an autopsy would likely take place on Friday, he said.

Jackson's sudden death had been reported earlier by U.S. media including the Los Angeles Times and the TMZ entertainment website, which said he was taken ill at his home and rushed to the hospital by paramedics who found him not breathing when they arrived.

Known as the "King of Pop," for hits that included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," Jackson's dramatic, one-gloved stage presence and innovative dance moves were imitated by legions of fans around the world.

His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, made him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

But Jackson's belief that "I am Peter Pan in my heart", his preference for the company of children, his friendship with a chimp, his high-pitched voice and numerous plastic surgeries also earned him critics and the nickname "Wacko Jacko."

Jackson, who had lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation, had been scheduled to launch a comeback tour from London next month.

Quincy Jones, who helped arrange the music on the album "Thriller" and produced the "Off the Wall" album, told MSNBC: "I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news."

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

PARAMEDICS UNABLE TO REVIVE SINGER

TMZ said on its website that Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest on Thursday afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. "We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back," the site said.

The Los Angeles Times said paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the singer's home before taking him to the UCLA Medical Center hospital.

Jackson had been due to start a series of concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

There were concerns about Jackson's health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

Outside the hospital in Los Angeles about 200 fans and reporters gathered on Thursday, waiting for confirmation of Jackson's death or condition.

Some fans were crying and hugging each other, and others were climbing atop fences to get a better look at a microphone stand where a news conference was supposed to take place.

"I hope he's gone to God, and I hope that he's free of all the troubles he's been plagued with," Tonya Blazer, 50, who said she had been a fan going back more than four decades to his days as a child star.

"I just feel like I'm paying tribute to him," said Dawn Burgess, 42, a fan who said she had posters of Michael pinned to her bedroom wall when she was a child.

CHILD STAR TO MEGASTAR

Jackson was born on Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released "Thriller" in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999. The couple never lived together.

Jackson has three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

New Yorkers and tourists in the city's Times Square were shocked at the news of Jackson's death.

"I don't know what to say. It's sad, it's really, really sad," said Nicole Smith, an 18-year-old student from Brooklyn, New York, in Times Square. "My mother was a fan. I listened to his music."

"I'm shocked. I thought someone was lying to me when I first heard it. I was a fan from when he was a little boy and then he got weird," said Sue Sheider, 51, a teacher from Long Island.

(Additional Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles and Michelle Nichols in New York)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters"

Last week has not been a kind week for me. I developed some hip pain at the back area of my right kidney last Wednesday afternoon. After visiting the medical centre, the Dr prescribed some painkillers and antibiotics for me in addition to some alkaline syrup. I spent most of my weekend bedridden with a throbbing headache. Luckily I got a little better on Sunday. My cousin came by and we did our Sunday routine, watched the season 5 finale of Lost followed by a couple of movies. This is one of the movies: How To Lose Friends and Alienate People.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is a 2008 comedy movie based on Toby Young's 2001 memoir of the same name. The movie features a star studded cast including Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson and Megan Fox. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People caught me off guard in a pleasant way. Being British of origin, the movie managed to break free from all the norms typically associated with a British production. The on screen humor are universal in nature, and the characters are well portrayed by the cast members.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People movie trailer


In a nutshell the movie's plot is about a small time British journalist Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) and how he made his way up to be in the glamorous world of celebrity only to realize that it was not what he wanted. The movie gives viewers an up close and personal look into the social circles and life of a celebrity journalist, something which proved to be interesting to watch. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is generally a feel good movie with some romance thrown in to the mix. My Love For Life Movie Review rating for How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review

Continuing from my previous TT Hongli Tieren Ground Type Gundam model kit assembly review, this is the review of the complete assembled model. For size comparison I use an empty soda can which is 12cm in height. The HG Tieren Ground Type is slightly over 12cm in height.

Tieren in standby pose view
Rear view
Direct frontal view
Right diagonal frontal view
Left diagonal rear view
Left diagonal front view
Closeup of upper body
Closeup of chest area. Notice the foil stickers for the golden yellow as well as the shiny silver parts. In case you are wondering the pink eye is also a fold sticker.
Closeup of main canon weapon. Notice the white foil sticker for the canon part.
Closeup of the head
The head helmet can be taken off and the eye of the Tieren can be rotated via a gimmick.
Rear backpack view
Tieren's melee weapon housed on the back skirt armor
Left side shoulder armor view
Closeup of right leg
Closeup of the Tieren's feet. Notice the details on the underside of the feet.
Left leg armor view. The armor part can be mounted on either leg and can swivel about 30 degrees front and back.
Amazing articulation of Tieren's arm and leg.
Tieren's shoulders can move forward by 30 degrees.
Closeup view on the Tieren's legs connector
The Tieren's legs are connected to the hip via double joints which enable the amazing articulation range of the model.
The Tieren balancing on one leg
Super high kick! Amazing articulation of the leg clearly demonstrated here.
The Tieren's upper body and lower body is connected via a waist joint part. Be careful as the lower and upper body can come off easily as the connector joint is quite loose.
The connector joint also enables the Tieren to pan up and down around 30 degrees each way.
Another ridiculous stunt pose only possible with the Tieren's double jointed leg connector.
Tieren's "taking a crap in the jungle" pose front view
Tieren's "taking a crap in the jungle" pose rear view
Tieren's feet are quite posable as well and provide adequate support to prevent it from falling over
Closeup of the right foot
Tieren shooting pose frontal view
Tieren shooting pose left side view
Tieren shooting pose right side view
Tieren shooting pose rear side view
Front view with canon retracted
Side view with canon retracted
Tieren's squatting kung fu pose front view
Tieren's squatting kung fu pose side view
Tieren's squatting kung fu pose rear view
The canon can be mounted on either arm and by mounting it on the left arm, the canon can be placed on top of the left leg armor.
In this position, the left leg armor will double as a shield from incoming enemy fire
Squating firing pose frontal view
Squating firing pose side view
The Tieren's melee weapon can be attached to the left hand via a peg that is to be inserted.
Tieren now holding its melee weapon on the left hand and the canon mounted on the right arm.
Closeup on the canon
Closeup on the melee weapon
Top side view of the Tieren holding its melee weapon
Tieren's attacking stance frontal view
Tieren's attacking stance side view
Melee weapon attack stance top frontal view
Melee weapon attack stance frontal view
Closeup of Melee weapon attack stance
Tieren box art stance frontal view
Tieren box art stance side view
Tieren box art stance rear view
Closeup of Tieren box art stance
Tieren box art stance frontal overview
Tieren box art stance side overview


Overall I am quite pleased with TT Hongli HG Tieren Ground Type. My Love For Life gundam review rating for TT Hongli HG Tieren Ground Type: 4/5


My Love For Life Review

After waiting for more than 12 days my new Dell Mini 9 netbook finally arrived at my doorstep yesterday afternoon. This is going to be my first ownership of a netbook. Dell has been known to ship their products with high levels of customer service and the packing box that I received is quite sturdy.

There is a brief system specification label attached to one side of the box. It is blurry but my Dell Mini 9 comes with 8GB SSD, making harddisk capacity an issue for me.
Lucky for me, the security seal on the box was still intact when I received it.
Here is the complete view from the side of the box with the specification label attached.
The service tag label. I think most if not all Dell products are made in China now due to the lower production cost.
From this label "For Singapore", I think Dell's Asia pacific focal point is at its Singapore office.
Finally, the actual unboxing process begins. Again, Dell has impressed me with the sturdy packing material giving ample protection to the Dell Mini 9.
I have removed the layers of protection and position them for an overall view. If you look carefully you can find the actual Dell Mini 9 still wrapped in white plastic in the lower middle.
The power adaptor of the Dell Mini 9. Most laptop adaptors have an operating lifespan of over 1 year before problems start to develop. I hope this one will last me for at least 5 years. Wishful thinking...
The setup guide booklet for the Dell Mini 9. Most people would just ignore this as it contains generic instructions on how to operate the netbook. But it is wise to give it a glance through.
The warranty support information leaflet. My Dell Mini 9 comes with the 1 year limited warranty. Again, I hope it will last me at least 5 years without troubles.
The 4 CDs packaged with my Dell Mini 9. The Windows Home SP3 setup disc, the drivers disc, the Dell applications disc and lastly the McAfee Security Center setup disc. All these programs and drivers are preinstalled so the CDs are only used if you want to do a reinstall.
My Dell Mini 9 out of its first layer of plastic protection.
My Dell Mini 9 with lid opened. Notice how I haven't remove the plastic cover for the 8.9" LCD screen. They main keys on the keyboard look ok but I hope I can adjust to using shrinked Shift, Capslock and Tab keys.
My Dell Mini 9 fully unwrapped. I like the overall design and color scheme. From this picture you might mistaken it for a full sized laptop without any size comparison.
I have placed my right hand side by side with my Dell Mini 9 for size comparison. Generally I am happy with my purchase so far. All netbooks do not come with a built in optical drive so if required I might buy an external slim drive in the future.

The only thing that Dell can improve upon is actually including some sort of protective sleeve or case to house the unit. Now I need to source elsewhere for a sleeve or case to protect my Dell Mini 9 when I carry it around. My Love For Life Experience review rating for unboxing Dell Mini 9 netbook: 4/5.

Future plan for my Dell Mini 9: install OSX on it! Currently doing some research online on how to accomplish that. Might do a review on that in the near future.


My Love For Life Review

I watched Bride Wars with my boo on Monday night. It was either this or The Spirit. I insisted on Bride Wars because I know that my boo will fall asleep halfway if we watched The Spirit. Bride Wars is a 2009 romantic comedy movie so I thought it would be much more interesting to my boo.

Bride Wars is directed by Gary Winick and stars Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Candice Bergen. In brief, Bride Wars is about two best friends, Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) who share the same dream of getting married at the Plaza Hotel. Things go awry between them when the assistant of New York's most sought after wedding planner, Marion St. Claire (Candice Bergen) made a huge mistake by scheduling both their weddings to be on the same day, June 6th. Each tries to sabotage the other's wedding plans through mischief and trickery.

Bride Wars Movie Trailer


I think the Bride Wars will definitely appeal more towards the fairer sex with its two leading ladies and the wedding scenario. It is nice to see Candice Bergen back on screen again as I was a minor fan of Murphy Brown. All in all I would recommend Bride Wars if you are looking for a romantic comedy movie to spend an evening with. My Love For Life movie review rating for Bride Wars: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review

I ordered an item on ebay more than a week ago and the seller told me he has shipped my item. I tracked the parcel and found out it has arrived at my local post center on 3rd June. Today it has been more than a week and it has not been delivered to my home address. I took some time off from work and decided to check on my parcel this morning at 9AM. After much searching the friendly postman finally found my parcel in the delivery van as they were going to send it to my house later today. From the first picture, the parcel looks ok...

But when you view it from the side, tell tale signs of damage is evident. I think some heavy load must have been placed on top of my small parcel.

The squashed parcel box looks much more obvious from this side.

My precious Shakugan no SHANA Second figma finally revealed out of the parcel! From this frontal angle the figma looks ok...


But when viewed from the side, the damage is clearly shown.

From the back you can see how badly squashed the box is.

The best angle showing the damage done to my poor Shana figma.

Luckily my Shana figma is still intact inside the box. Might do an in depth review of in the future. My Love For Life experience review rating: 2.5/5 the damage done to the box cannot be undone.


My Love For Life Review

Shallow Hal wants a gal. Ring a bell? Anyway Shallow Hal is the second movie that I watched or more accurately, re watched during my stay in a budget hotel while on a business trip. Initially released in 2001, Shallow Hal is one of those rare movies that I do not mind re watching once a year.

Shallow Hal is a Farrelly brothers' romantic comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black and Jason Alexander. It centers around Hal Larson (Jack Black) who tries in vain to woo beautiful women based solely on their superficial outward appearance. One day, through a strange twist of fate, Hal finds himself trapped in an elevator with the famous American life coach Tony Robbins. After hearing out what Hal has to say about his perspective of women, Tony Robbins decides to bestow Hal a wonderful gift: hypnotizing him to see people based on their inner beauty instead of their outward external appearances. So the story goes... you just have to watch it yourself to find out what happens next.

Shallow Hal Movie Trailer


Shallow Hal is a wonderful movie to watch. The storyline is good, the characters are interesting and the casting is nicely done. Shallow Hal is already part of my personal DVD collection. If you have not seen it, do yourself a huge favor and watch it. My Love For Life movie review rating for Shallow Hal: 4/5

My Love For Life Review

I was outstation for work a couple of weeks ago and luckily the budget hotel I stayed in had a movie channel called Star Movies. And during my stay I managed to catch a couple of movies. The Comebacks is one of them and here is my review on it.

The Comebacks is an American comedy movie released in 2007. Directed by Tom Brady, The Comebacks is a spoof or parody of the sports movie genre. The Comebacks tell the tale of Coach Lambeau Fields (David Koechner) who has the reputation of being the worst coach in sports history. The Comebacks main plot follows the course of events on how Coach Lambeau Fields stumbled his way through to guide the Heartland State University football team to victory and win the 2nd Annual Toilet Bowl Championship.

The Comebacks Movie Trailer


There are a lot of crude humor in The Comebacks which includes the stereotype cross dressing dad of Lance Truman (Matthew Lawrence) the quarterback, the love relationship between the coach's daughter, Michelle Fields (Brooke Nevin) and Lance as well as the female Indian kicker for the Comebacks, Jizminder Featherfoot (Noureen DeWulf) who managed to strip down to only bikinis during a rock song rendition on stage. Most of them are funny but some of the scenes are seriously out of whack!

All in all The Comebacks is a spoof movie which one need to watch with a pinch of salt. It does not stand out in its genre but it does deliver as your average sports movie spoof. My Love For Life movie review rating for The Comebacks: 2.5/5

My Love For Life Review

My cousin is a war movie buff. He is into historical war movies like Patton and Apocalypse Now. So when he came by to spend the evening on Sunday, I offered to watch Valkyrie with him. Valkyrie is a historical thriller movie set during World War II. Tom Cruise stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the key persons who plotted a coup d'état to assassinate Adolf Hitler and execute Germany's national emergency plan, Operation Valkyrie to take control of the country. As history has it, their coup d'état was a failure but Valkyrie provides an interesting insiders perspective to the chain of events which transpired.

Valkyrie movie trailer


Valkyrie is filled with dialogues and conversations in the first half of the movie which I find too draggy. My cousin was ok with it as he paid attention intently but I ended up taking a breather by cutting my finger nails and toe nails in another room. After 20 minutes I returned to my designated seat only to be in a half awake state trying my best not to doze off. Luckily Valkyrie kicked into high gear during the second half of the movie which depicted the execution phase of the coup d'état attempt. From there, you can see that one of the major factor to the failure of the coup d'état was the lack of determination and vigilance from key personnel involved.

Valkyrie is a good movie but the subject matter is not to my liking. The production quality is good and the characters are well played by the cast members. My Love For Life movie review rating for Valkyrie: 3.5/5

My Love For Life Review