Thursday 28 January 2010

Chloe - New Bicycle.




...reckoned it's time for Chloe's bike to be upgraded, having outgrown the existing ones (plastic tricycle type from Giant). Esther forbid me to get Chloe one till her birthday, but I couldn't wait, so I sneaked to the nearby bike shop where I found a simple Raleigh for kids approximately her age and kinda like the color too. Reminds me of Vespa. They have Shocking Pink and Blinding Blue but that's kinda loud, as well as general perception that pink for girls and blue for boys. Coz I want Chloe to pass the bike to Dylan eventually (sorry for the handing down rule Dylan but a) you guys will probably outgrown the bike and make it inadequate in couple of years time b) your old man had blown all his cash on impulse buying of plastics and denims and c) Dad will get each of you a nice bike when you guys are ready for it ok?

The Flathead Denim and Western Shirts.


Got myself a sorta CNY shirts for this year. All Flatheads from 2nd via the equally effective proxy (whom included a nice choc together with the package). I have always curious about having a denim shirt but I think I have overdone it this time round coz it weights at a rather hefty 12oz! The Western shirts are less thicker than the previous ones I bought, which is a good thing...knowing the "sanforising" weather this country is having on me. Now, maybe I just have to stay in the shop all day long and reduce the air cond temperature to min 18 degree Celsius when I am wearing the denim shirt,,,argh, the price of being vain. Darn.

Monday 25 January 2010

Temper Temper.

I hate myself...there's always that particular temper which I carried as an extra baggage ever since puberty...I don't want to end up being a grouchy old man scarring away my kids. I scared Chloe today, just because I could not find some toys of her's which was actually misplaced by...me. Guilty level hasn't been this high before.

Hot Toys MMS 81 ~ The Dark Knight : Two Face Harvey Dent.





Mr. Apollo (Mr. Dionysus).
I am a lawyer (I am a liar).
Yes (No).
We the people of the United States (We the acid scarred bitches of history)
in order to form a more perfect Union (of evil and hypocrisy)
establish justice (exalt criminals to office)
insure domestic tranquillity (Vietnam, El Salvador, Chile)
provide for the common defence (with lovely missiles and roaring bombs)
promote the general welfare (of the rich and the white and the pious)
and secure of the blessings of liberty (burn children and torture women)
to ourselves and our posterity (forever and ever).
Amen.
God bless (America).
- Arkham Asylum : A Serious House on Serious Earth.

A (mis) representation:

Name: Harvey Dent.
Alias: Two Face.
Age: 35 years old.
Abilities: Extensive knowledge of law enforcement; expert hand to hand combatant; expert marksmanship; intellectual; cunningness.
Std. armaments: Assortment of handheld weapons; explosives.
Current status: Deceased. 

Harvey Dent is the only son of a corrupted former cop, Harry Dent. The senior Dent, whom was obsessed with wanting Harvey to excel in his studies, frequently abused Harvey by using a coin to decide whether Harvey will go without a night of beating and food for not meeting the grades his father expected from him. Unbeknownst to Harvey at the time, the coin was double-headed, meaning that no matter which side it lands, it always results in him being beaten by his father. His father's status as a retired cop prevented proper authorities from stopping him abusing Harvey. The abuse from his father, as well as the police's failure to stop it, gave him a deep hatred of corrupt cops, which led to his pursuing a law career when he was older. His father was killed in a shootout which was later found out to be a crime gang related deal gone wrong. His mother died of cancer shortly after Harvey enrolled in Yale University to study law after securing a scholarship. He graduated from the university egregia cum laude.
After passing his bar exam, Harvey has lucrative offers from various prestigious law firms but opted to join the GCPD Internal Investigations Department instead. He immediately re-organised the entire department, and rigorously investigated incidents and plausible suspicions of law breaking and professional misconduct attributed to officers on the force. Reporting directly to the new Police Commissioner Gillian Loeb, Harvey's effort resulted in successful conviction of numerous corrupted police officers in what became known as the East Division Scandal. He also gained the support of detective Sgt. James "Jim" Gordon from the newly established Major Crimes Unit. Both had worked together during Harvey's brief stint in the GCPD SWAT. During his career with GCPD, Harvey received martial art and weapons training, thus is fully capable of handling all forms of weaponry as well as an expert hand to hand fighter.  Over the years, his hard work ethic and honesty eventually allowed him to win Gotham City's election for District Attorney. At 26 years old, Harvey was the youngest DA of the city. He was nicknamed "Apollo" or "The White Knight" by the media due to the fact that he was charming, good-looking, and seemingly untouchable. Harvey was dedicated to his job of upholding law and order. He survived the First Gotham Crisis perpetrated by the terrorist organization, The League of Shadows.
At the time of his job as a district-attorney, the worst criminal threat in Gotham City was Carmine "the Roman" Falcone and his mafia family, whose criminal empire held Gotham City in an iron grip. At one point, Gordon was seeking five search warrants for an equal number of banks, which were suspected of being holding reserves of the mob's life savings. Although as interested in shutting down the mob's funds as Gordon was, Harvey was curious as to the extent of Gordon's involvement with the vigilante known as the Batman, as the MCU made use of lightly irradiated bills in order to track down which banks the mob used, something which was not available to the GCPD. There was initially a thorn of distrust between the two men, as much of Harvey's experience and first-hand attempts to eradicate corruption within the GCPD during his time in Internal Affairs involved officers then assigned to the MCU. Dent knew first-hand that there were men and women within the MCU whom cannot be trusted, and it caused a rift between the two. It was here that Dent alluded he knew of the nickname, "Two Face" of which he had been called behind his back. Harvey nevertheless agreed to get the warrants for Gordon in order to bring a step closer to shut down The Roman's criminal enterprises.
Harvey had romantic relationship with Assistant DA Rachel Dawes, and during a dinner, Bruce Wayne happened to arrive at the same time with a  well known ballerina. Rachel was a childhood friend of Bruce. Under Bruce's urgings, the couples break bread, giving him an opportunity to get to know Harvey. It was during this time that Harvey not only defends the Batman, but also idolized him. He admitted that he perceived him as a necessity, needed during these dark times. That earned the admiration of Bruce, who offered to throw Harvey a fund raiser, promising him that he would never desire for campaign donations ever again.
Carmine, firmly aware that the MCU had shut down all other money laundering services in Gotham, ordered Mr. Lau, CEO of the Lau Security Investment Holdings, the only and primary money launderer available, to seized every major gangs savings to prevent it from capture, and moved it to an undisclosed location to ensure its safety. Carmine knew that because of Lau's international status as the Chinese Government would not extradite their own citizens, he was beyond Gotham City law, and cannot be captured or forced to testify. 
Frustrated at the failure, Harvey went to the top of the MCU office and activated the Bat-Signal, waiting for the Batman to appear. Gordon came to the scene and both began to hurl accusations to each other until the Batman appeared. It was then that Gordon, Dent and Batman hold a meeting as a triumvirate, with the objective to collectively bring Carmine down within the law, no matter what the cost. The three also agree to bend the rules if necessary, but never break them.
Bruce went to Hong Kong and through a carefully elaborated plan, with the help of a CIA personnel retrieval plane called the sky hook, piloted by Korean smugglers, the Batman managed to successfully lifted Lau from Hong Kong, and dropped him, unconscious, in front of the MCU office to Jim Gordon.
Fearing for his own life, Lau was willing to testify knowledge of all the Mafia's investments, a move which Harvey planned to use in a RICO court case to prosecute all its members. With Lau's evidence, Gordon took all members of the Mafia into custody, including Carmine himself, his family members and all other gangs which are related to them, totalling 549 people.
Before Mayor Garcia, Harvey was called to explain the extremely difficult conspiracy case. Rather than say that it was a deep stab at justice, Harvey, whom possessed skills of political maneuvering suggested instead that the case can be viewed as a tremendous break from crime for Gotham which could boost the Major's popularity vote. Even though the head Mafia leaders would post bail the middle men could not. Eighteen months would go by between appeals, giving the Mayor enough time to clean up and make considerably improvements to Gotham City. The Mayor was convinced and agreed but gave Harvey a warning that the mob weren't his only enemies. Anyone within Gotham whom took pay from the Mafia would turn against the him.
Carmine put out a ten million dollars bounty on Harvey Dent's life. There were numerous attempts to kill Harvey but were foiled by the Batman and the MCU. The triumvirate proved to be powerful. The three became close and trustful of each others. Carmine's crime empire was eventually brought to its knees. In desperation, one of the major Mafia Families leader, the vicious and ambitious Salvatore "Sal" Maroni, engaged the service of the psychopath, the Joker. During the psychopath reign of terror, the Joker forced the Batman to reveal himself to the public. Bruce caved in to the Joker's demand, and announced his intention to Harvey and Gordon. Harvey was disappointed that the Joker would had his way and screamed his disapproval as the Batman leaves.
The next day, Harvey went before a crowd of police, media and observers to explain that the Batman had offered to turn himself in and gave into the Joker's demands. But before accepting that, Harvey sincerely made a desperate plea to the people not to give into the whims of a terrorist. Despite his assertions, the people demanded that the Batman surrendered himself. Before Bruce Wayne could step forward to confess his identity, Harvey demanded that the police arrest him as he was the Batman.
In lock up, Harvey was cheered for by the GCPD as he marched towards the escort van to take him to the County. Despite Rachel's pleas, Harvey explained that in doing so, the Batman would have a chance to capture the Joker, and with a flip of his coin, leaving it with her. While locked within the van, Harvey was unable to affect the battle between the Joker and the Batman that ensued during mid-transit. It was only after the Joker had been defeated and captured that Harvey was set free. Immediately, he went on television to explain his gamble to capture the Joker until at last he was escorted back by patrol car to be driven home. Unfortunately, the car was driven by Michael Wuertz, a corrupted cop on the payroll of Sal. Rachel was also kidnapped under Sal's instruction.  
Gordon realised that Harvey never made it home. After interrogating Wuertz, the Batman sped off to save Harvey, while Gordon and the police head after Rachel. Harvey awakened in a warehouse stacked with drums of fuel. On the opposite end of a rigged landline phone, Rachel Dawes screamed for help. Harvey reassured Rachel not to panic as he began to struggle to untie himself from the chair. Rachel explained that the timer was set to detonate within both warehouses they were in. She was told it would be their friends who would have to choose which one of the two would survive. Unfortunately, Harvey's efforts to free himself thrown him to the floor and knocked one of the barrels of gasoline to the ground with him. The gasoline leaked from the top, spreading across the floor and covered the left side of Harvey's face. While Harvey struggled to stand, Rachel confessed to loving Harvey and agreed to his earlier marriage proposal. It was immediately after this that the Batman finally burst in. With no time left, the Batman immediately dashed forward and dragged the struggling Harvey away. The two made it clear of the building just as the timer reaches zero and the building exploded. The gasoline soaked half of Harvey caught fire and he dropped to the floor, writhing and screaming in pain as flames consumed half of his face. Gordon could not reach Rachel in time; she died in the explosion.
The critically injured Harvey was rushed to the Gotham General Hospital. Half his face was covered by a cloth. When he awakened, he found his father's lucky coin, left there during an earlier visit by Gordon while he was still unconscious. Remembering Rachel was the last to have it, he turned the coin over, discovering that one half was greatly burnt. A torrent of emotions enveloped him, as Harvey was overwhelmed by extreme grief on the lost of Rachel.
The next day, Gordon visited Harvey and pled him to accept medication and skin grafts. Harvey changed the subject, asking Gordon angrily what the nickname was that the members of the MCU called him. With reluctance, Gordon said "Two-Face." Harvey turned to stare at a horrified Gordon, revealing the remainder of his terribly scarred and burnt visage. But even as Gordon sincerely apologized and turned to leave, Harvey swore that Gordon was not truly sorry. He had warned Gordon about the corrupted police officers in MCU. Had he listened, Rachel would still be alive.
Awakened and in pain, Harvey finally came to a conclusion - whether or not he would exact vengeance would be based upon the toss of his lucky coin. By chance. Should the flipped coin land on the unblemished side, Harvey would accept treatment. However, should it fall on the burnt half, he would embark on a journey of revenge for the death of Rachel. The flip of the coin landed, and Two-Face was truly born as Harvey's mentally collapsed, darkness consuming light.  
Calling himself Two-Face, Harvey ran from the hospital and began to pursue those responsible for the death of Rachel. Taking pain-killers and antibiotics, he wore a black hoodie over his head, Two Face visited Wuertz, who was out on bail, and after a brief interrogation, Wuertz revealed the involvement of Carmine and the names of other corrupted officers in the MCU. Two-Face spun his coin on the table to decide the man's fate. It landed on the burnt side, and Two Face shot Wuertz on the face with a shotgun. Within three days, he rampaged through the city, tracking down each of the corrupted officers from the MCU, the thugs hired by Carmine and killed them violently. As the bodies began to pile up, Two Face hid in various places, his mind and emotions completely obliterated by his burning sense of vengeance. Gordon and the Batman, investigating the killings, concluded that the supposedly missing Harvey was the mysterious murderer the media called The Black Hood. After interrogating Edward "The Riddler" Sykes, Gordon believed the next victim would be Alberto "The Prince" Falcone, the eldest son and heir to the Falcone criminal empire. Alberto had been incarcerated earlier, and during a prisoner transfer, Two Face surfaced and shot Alberto twice in the head and killed several prison guards. The hooded gunman turned his gun onto Gordon, who could only watched in horror as he stared at the face of the man about to kill him, Harvey Dent. However, Two Face flipped his coin and decided to let Gordon go, but detonated several smoke grenades and escaped under the cover of the smokescreen. The death of his beloved son broke Carmine emotionally, and the Godfather of the most powerful mafia family in the city, died of heart attack the next day. 
Two Face, angered by the death of Carmine, thus preventing him from gaining personal satisfaction of killing The Roman personally, finally embarked on one final mission to kill the last individual he deemed responsible for Rachel's death, Jim Gordon. Two-Face forced the sole surviving police officer involved in the entire incident, Anna Ramirez to trick Gordon's family into leaving their home and to the warehouse where Rachel Dawes had died. The deed done, Two-Face chastised Ramirez for her betrayal, and she in turn pled that she only did it to save her mother, whom desperately needed the funds for her hospital fees. Two-Face silenced her with a flip of the coin and gunned her down. 
With Gordon's family as his hostages, Two-Face then calls and taunts Gordon into coming to the wreckage of the destroyed warehouse. Gordon arrives and is knocked down and disarmed. As Gordon pleads with Two-Face to release his family, the former DA plucks Gordon's son from his mother's arms and prepares to judge him, believing that in taking who Gordon loves is equal to the loss of Rachel's death. Before he could flip the coin, however, the Batman appears and reasons with Two-Face, saying that those responsible are the three of them, and that only the three of them deserve punishment. Two-Face believes this to be a fair assessment, and flips the coin for the Batman. It lands bad heads, and Two Face  shoots the Batman's stomach with a shotgun, knocking him out. Two-Face then points a .22 calibre handgun to his own head, but the flip comes out good heads, permitting him to survive his own judgement. Finally, Two-Face turns to Gordon, still intent to shoot his son. But as he flips the coin, the Batman rises and after a brief struggle, tackles him off the edge of the floor. Holding on to Two Face, the Batman pleads for Harvey to tighten his grip, but the latter stabs the Dark Knight's hand with a knife and plummet to his death. With Harvey dead, the problem remains that his murderous rampage would destroy the prosecution for good, and cause the people of Gotham to lose hope. With no choices left, the Batman, anguished at Harvey's tragic turn, proposes to preserve his public image. Gordon is reluctant, but agrees, holding a memorial service to honour Harvey Dent.
Harvey's death inspired the creation of the Internal Security Act, in which a criminal that was arrested would be denied parole, thus allowing the streets of Gotham to be clean of crime. His death also led to "Harvey Dent Day" where the city celebrates the honour of their former White Knight. More than ten years after his death on Harvey Dent Day, by then Police Commissioner Gordon attempts to tell the people about the truth behind Harvey's death, but felt that they were not ready and resolved not to. However, Gordon's speech was stolen by Bane, who read aloud the paper he holds about the actual truth regarding Two Face and the killings, causing all the inmates of the Blackgate Penitentiary to become angry and inspire them to help Bane and his army of terrorists to take over the city during the event of the Third Gotham City Crisis. After Gotham City survived the assault and reclaimed, the Internal Security Act was eliminated.
 

Friday 22 January 2010

Dead Or Alive : You Spin Me Right Round...

I dunno ziltch about this band (Dead Or Alive) but darn...this song by them is one of my favourite one hit wonders from the late 80s...the video though, left me rolling on the floor nearly dying from laughter...listening to the music and watching the vid at the same time is a truly schizophrenic experience.


Wednesday 20 January 2010

Ooe Yokufuten ~ A Star Is Born.

Hahaha...one of the (lucky) participants of the current Ooe Yokufuten's World Tour 09~10, shot this hilarious vid.


Saturday 16 January 2010

Kerberos Panzer Cop Saga - Farewell To Arms.







"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war"


...my "obsession" with Mamoru Oshii's Kerberos Panzer Cop Saga comes to an end with the completion (well, maybe not, that is if Takara comesup with a proper SSG or Type X armor and there are still Markus Von Stauffenberg (DID Cruise?), a Public Security Division agent (DID T. Becker?), a red riding hood and perhaps even a fast food grifter) of the major armored type personnel in the Kerberos alternative universe. I wanna take pics which were in the style of movie covers like "The Wild Bunch", "PTU", and "Reservoir Dogs" but looks like I gonna have to practise more. And Platz, where the heck is the Panzerjager Wolfpeltz Typ 34?


Adieu, Kerberos, it has been fun.

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Kerberos Panzer Cop Saga Kitbash ~ Spezial Sturm Gruppe.









A (mis) interpretation:

Name : Koichi Meier.
Age : 26 years old.
Armor Type : Panzer Kampfanzug.
Rank : Sergeant - Assault Team "Spezial Sturm Gruppe" (SSG); 6th Riot Battalion; Guard Division; Self-Police Force "Selbstpolizei".
Std Armaments : Rheinmetall FG42 automatic rifle, Walther P-38 sidearm.

Monday 4 January 2010

9


Watched 9 last night, an animated film by Shane Acker, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. It tells the tale of 9, and eight other, a foot tall, rag doll like creatures and how they might hold the key to eventually saves humanity from extinction. The dolls are created by a scientist whom has previously created a machine for the purpose of helping humans and gives it "life" by attaching a headgear device of some sort but the one-eyed cyclopean machine lack "humanity and soul" and proceeds to destroy humans instead (the story takes place in an alternative late 30s to early 40s European city, under a fascist rule of a chancellor). After some unspecific time, all humans are erased from existance due to the onslaught of armies of machines created by the cyclop. The rag dolls individually contain a part of the dead scientist "soul", thus one can be brave, another creative, stubborn and so forth. In the end, the remaining dolls manage to defeat the cyclop, which uses a talisman like device to absorb fallen dolls "soul", and there is a strong suggestion that the freed "souls" would "seed" the place for humanity to begin anew once more. I kinda enjoy the movie, particularly the settings, and designs which evokes strong "steampunk" trend. Most noticeable is the eerie, snake like machine which stiches up captured dolls and "swallow" them, only to regurgitate them when presenting them to the cyclop.

Sunday 3 January 2010

Chloe & Dylan ~ Lamb & Chicken Chops.



Esther made a lovely meal for dinner yesterday for all of us, a lamb and chicken chop with nice gravy and veggies...always look forward another tasty treat from her.

Chloe & Dylan ~ Hand & Feet Painting.




Bought some watercolors and drawing papers for the two precious to have some fun with.

Friday 1 January 2010

Esther & Chloe...Piggyback Riding.


Chloe and Dylan love to ask both of us to give them a piggy ride...a task which seems more difficult as both precious grow up.