At the Kluang Station, The Curve.

Since the two precious loves the indoor playground located within the Power Centre, The Curve, I had been bringing them to Kluang Station for breakfast nearly every Sunday. I am addicted to the Hainanese Chicken Chop and Roti Bakar with thick, gooey caramel kaya and thick slabs of cholesterol laced margarine they serves there. Chloe loves the fries dipped in the sauce although I encourage her to take more fish porridge instead, while Dylan just couldn't let go of the half boiled eggs.

Dylan - Pinochio.

...Dylan paying full attention to his current favourite movie, Pinochio.

Chloe...

Chloe has been making various "expressions" for the past few weeks.

Evisu No.1 Special ~ 20oz 20th Anniversary Version.

...the package arrived. Evisu No.1 Special in 20oz version. And I could not believe my eyes when Hide-san said over his email reply that yes, indeed it was still available. This is it. A nice, overall very satisfactory way to cap off 2010 denim purchase (err, the only pair btw for 2010, coz I missed The Flathead Lot 3005 re-issue with proper arcuates and red tab. I am seriously cutting down my denim budget...with newfound obsession over 1/6th plastique). Like mentioned before, I got this coz a) its an anniversary edition (I just couldn't wait another 10 years), b) it comes with a that cinch back ~ must be the "thickest" cinch I ever seen, just like what I seen previously on Yamane's Lot 1947. This is perhaps the lamest excuse I gave myself to get it (and subsequently burning larger and larger hole in the pocket). All characteristics of an Evisu are here as usual for a Made In Japon Evisu so I wouldn't wanna go through it again 'cept for a) the label is made of cloth instead of the "beef jerky" standard leather, with "20 oz No. 1 Special" stamped on it b) positioned on the middle instead of the usual right (thus partly hidden by the slanted mid belt loop, darn it!), c) personal specification of white paint of "kamone" on left back pocket and "man" 男 on right. A curious note on the hand painted designs, the "kamone" is thicker comparatively, and the "man", wow, what an elegant kanji strokes it is! Which makes me almost wanna cry knowing that couple of washes later, these paints (as they naturally should be), would eventually fade and come off.

Hot Toys MMS 117 ~ The Terminator 2 : T-800.

Sarah: 3 billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare, the war against the Machines...

....................

John: Holy shit! Now don't take this the wrong way, but you are a terminator, right?
T-800: Yes. Cyberdyne Systems, Model 101.
John: You're really real! I mean...you're like a machine underneath, right? But alive outside?
T-800: I'm a cybernetic organism. Living tissue over metal endoskeleton.
John: This in intense. Get a grip, John. Okay, you're not here to kill me... I figured that part out for myself. So what's the deal?
T-800: My mission is to protect you.
John: Yeah? Who sent you?
T-800: You did. Thirty years from now you reprogrammed me to be your protector here, in this time.
John: Oh, this is deep.

....................

Sarah: Will these heal up?
T-800: Yes.
Sarah: Good. If you can't pass for human, you're not much good to us.
John: Does it hurt when you get shot?
T-800: I sense injuries. The data could be called "pain".
John: How long do you live? I mean, last, whatever.
T-800: A hundred and twenty years with my existing power cell.
John: Can you learn stuff that you haven't programmed with? So, you can be, you know, more human and not such a dork all the time?
T-800: My CPU is a neural net processor, a learning computer. The more contact I have with humans, the more I learn.

....................

T-800: Why do you cry?
John: You mean people?
T-800: Yeah.
John: I don't know. We just cry...you know, when it hurts.
T-800: Pain causes it?
John: No. It's different. It's when there's nothing wrong with you but you hurt anyway. You get it?
T-800: No.

....................

Sarah: Watching John with the machine it was suddenly so clear. The terminator would never stop. It would never leave him, never hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him or be too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there and it would die to protect him. Of all the would be fathers who came and went over the years, this, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.

....................

John: It's over.
T-800: There's one more chip. And it must be destroyed also. I cannot self terminate. You must lower me into the molten steel.
John: No!!!
T-800: I'm sorry, John. I'm sorry.
John: No, it'll be okay. Stay with us. It'll be okay.
T-800: I have to go away.
John: No, don't do it. Please don't go.
T-800: I must go away, John.
John: No, wait! You don't have to do this!
T-800: I'm sorry.
John: No, don't do it! Don't go!
T-800: It has to end here.
John: I order you not to go! I order you not to go....
T-800: I know now why you cry. But it's something I can never do. Goodbye.

......................

Sarah: The unknown future rolls toward us. I face it for the first time with a sense of hope. Because if a machine, a terminator can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too...

......................

Finally, the iconic T-800 from T2 is here. Whoa. The figure itself is solidly built, articulative (unlike Predator's Major Dutch) and is worth it. Except I was hoping for a more complete accessories, like a minigun and a grenade launcher from the scene whereby they were assaulted at the Cyberdyne Systems building. Arnie reprises his role as the killer cyborg T-800, except this time round, he is the protector, not the terminator (that role now pass to the T-1000, which I hope Hot Toys will consider to release, and while we are on this, the first Terminator and a re-lease of the endoskeleton as well). The accessories may not be up to measure but something about this figure that makes me like it alot. Oh, you can swap the left arm for the "expose endoskeleton" scene. I swapped it with care, afraid of breaking it, as it was quite tight, and the endoskeleton itself is quite fragile. Comes with additional black tee, of which the T-800 originally wore but I am too lazy to swap it. Also the flowers. What do I with it?

Enterbay ~ The Storm Warriors (风云II) : 1/6th Striding Cloud (步驚雲).

Name : Striding Cloud i.e. Bou Keng Wan (步驚雲).

Alias : Fok Keng Kok (霍驚覺).
Nickname : The God Of Death Who Does Not Cry (不哭死神).

Martial art skills :
The Immeasurable Strokes of Condemnation (摩訶無量)
The Cloud Splitting Palm Stance (排雲掌)
The Three "Ba" Palm Stance (三雲十掌)
The Ultimate Heaven's Path Stance (天道無極)
The No Entreatment Stance (無求易訣)
The Enduring Fist of Mountains And Seas Stance (山海拳經)

Weapons :

The Sword of Ultimate Superiority (絕世好劍).
The Kirin Beast Arm (麒麟臂).

Swordplay styles :

The Fok Family Swordplay Stance (霍家劍法).
The Sword 22 Stance (劍廿二).
The Sorrowful Swordplay of Nameless (痛悲莫名)
The Three "Ba" Swordplay Stance (三雲十劍).
 

DiD : Battle Of Stalingrad 1942 ~ Vasily Zaytsev

"For us there was no land beyond (the) Volga."

This city... is not Kursk, nor is it Kiev, nor Minsk. This city... is Stalingrad. Stalingrad! This city bears the name of the Boss. It's more than a city, it's a symbol. If the Germans... capture this city... the entire country will collapse. Now... I want our boys to raise their heads. I want them to act like they have balls! I want them to stop shitting their pants!

~ Nikita Khrushchev.

Vasily Grigorevich Zaytsev (March 23, 1915 – December 15, 1991) was a Soviet sniper during World War II, notable particularly for his activities between November 10 and December 17, 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad. He killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 6 enemy snipers.
Prior to November 10, he had already killed 32 Axis soldiers with the standard-issue Mosin-Nagant rifle. Between October 1942 and January 1943, Zaytsev is claimed to have made 242 verified kills, although this is impossible to verify due to exagerations. Zaytsev himself claims to have only become a sniper on October 21st, after the intensity of the fighting had waned, how he managed to get so many kills remains a mystery. Zaytsev was nearly killed by an enemy sniper. His military rank at the time was Junior Lieutenant.

Zaytsev was born in Yeleninskoye and grew up in the Ural Mountains. His surname is based on the Russian word zayats (заяц) meaning "hare". Before serving at Stalingrad, Vasily served in the Soviet Navy as a clerk in Vladivostok but upon reading about the brutality of the fighting in Stalingrad, volunteered for front-line duty arriving in the city on October 21st, 1942 (after the most brutal fighting had already concluded). Zaytsev served in the 1047th Rifle Regiment of the 284th Rifle Divisionheaded by General Nikolai Batyuk. He is notable for having been elevated to a virtual status of hero via the use of propaganda and served as an example and inspiration to other soldiers. There, his skill as a sniper allowed him to establish a snipers' training school in the Metiz factory; it was run by Zaytsev. Zaytsev trained apprentices were nicknamed zaichata, meaning "leverets" (baby hares). Antony Beevor wrote in Stalingrad that this was the start of the "sniper movement" in the 62nd Army. Conferences were arranged to spread the doctrine of "sniperism" and exchange ideas on technique and principles that were not limited to marksmanship skills. It is estimated that the snipers Zaytsev trained killed more than 3000 enemy soldiers.
Zaytsev took part in the battle for Stalingrad until January 1943, when he suffered an injury to his eyes from a mortar attack. He was attended to by Professor Filatov, who is credited with restoring his sight. On February 22, 1943 Zaytsev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He then returned to the front and finished the war on the Dniestr River with the military rank of Captain. After the war, Zaytsev managed a factory in Kiev, and remained in that city until he died in 1991 at the age of 76 just 10 days before the final dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In 2001, a feature length film, Enemy at the Gates, starring Jude Law as Zaytsev, was loosely based on the Battle of Stalingrad, most notably displaying an fictional ongoing rivalry with a Nazi marksman, Major Erwin König. Although Zaytsev really took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, the movie was mostly a work of fiction. It is unlikely that a three-day duel between Zaytsev and a talented German sniper actually took place. Although Zaytsev himself indicates that a three-day duel did indeed occur in his own memoirs it was without a doubt written with the aid of Soviet propaganda experts. Most telling of all is that there is no evidence of a duel being reported on by the Stalingrad Front political department which would have capitalized on its usefullness as propaganda. There is no evidence that any Major Erwin König ever existed, despite the claim made by the Armed Forces Museum of Moscow that they are in possession of his telescopic sight, which remains there to this date.

In recent years within the notebooks of Vasily Grossman, a war correspondent present at the Battle of Stalingrad, has revealed an interesting passage concerning Vasily Zaytsev. Grossman had an interest in weapon specialists and interviewed Anatoly Chekov, another famous sniper from the same battle. Within Vasily Grossman's notes the following passage was found:
"Murashev and medical orderly Zaytsev had been sentenced to be executed. Murashev for shooting himself through the hand, the other, because he had killed a famous pilot, who was coming down from parachute from a shot-up aircraft. [The sentence of] execution was commuted for both of them. And now they are both the best snipers in Stalingrad. (Murashev is nneteen"
Considering that Zaytsev was the only well-known sniper of that name in Stalingrad Grossman may have been the only person to record this story about Zaytsev before the Soviet propaganda machine rewrote his life. We may never discover the truth concerning this passage.

~ Wiki.

Ah, finally the famous Soviet marksman arrived from HK shortly after his nemesis. Honestly, I think I am hooked on selected DiD stuffs, most likely due to the accesorries they churned out with each box. Heavy metal and wood. The only setback is when I am required to change the uniforms, buttoning it up and so forth. Only dainty little fingers can deftly apply those darn little buttons and drawup strings and what not. Causing aches to my manly fingers for countless days ;). Head sculpt, again, is nearly there, but not true to the pics I had been seeing on its boxes and promo pages. Come to think of it, Jude Law, whom the HS is based upon from that, sigh, Enemy at da Gate movie, kinda look like a villian by DiD. Maybe because of the arched eyebrow. Currently I am having a fun time re-imagining how he would end up in Kerberos alternative history universe. Would he survive the Wehrmacht onslaught and would he confront the Panzer Heavy Division's Wolfpeltz armor during his duty on the front line? Hhhmmm.

Evisu No.1 20oz 20th Anniversary Edition.

#2001（No.1デニム／20オンス／尾錠付）

We all know that Yamane gonna drop us a surprise or two (or maybe three) as 2010 is after all Evisu's 20th year in the replica denim business (technically, the 20th anniversary should be next year, as it was founded by Baldy-san in 1991). The first version of Lot 2001 in No.1 denim but 20oz (as in 20th anniversary lah...) was quietly put up for retail online couple of months back. I gave it a miss as I was bowled over by the more exciting No.0 purchased then. Then on Monday, the second version came out, with a cinch back. Now, I love cinch back, irregardless of how impractical it is in real life, I thought of ordering one but darn, like those Ashley Wood/3A toys, it sold out less than 12 hours! Hopefully more versions will come out as this is a chance to own some of the archived last 20 years release from the seagull catalogue (No. 0 Special Lot 1999....;P).

Frank Frazetta : Feb 9th, 1928 ~ May 10th, 2010.

Fantasy art illustrator extraordinaire, Frank Frazetta died yesterday due to stroke at the age of 82. Frazetta is most well known for his fantastic depiction of muscle bound Hyborian warriors rescuing scantily clad women from the clutches of monsters and wizards. He had previously illustrated for comics like Li'Abner, Flash Gordon, various EC Comics titles as well as covers for Buck Rogers in the 50s. By the 60s, Frazetta begun to contribute his talent to several adult theme comic strips and Mad Magazine, and most notably, for the movie cover of the 1965 comedy, What's New Pussycat?. But perhaps amongst his numerous paintings, the one which arguebly propelled Frazetta into the limelight would be his output for various sword and sorcery/heroic fantasy genre paperback covers, most notably for Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Edgar Rice Burroughs books, including Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. Later, Frazetta also begun to contribute to album covers for late 70s hard rock/metal bands like Molly Hatchet (which incidentally features The Death Dealer, another popularly identifiable work of Frazetta) and Nazareth. I did not know who Frazetta was until the age of 15, back during the Penang days, the art teacher (whose name escaped me, nice fella who has a knack for dozing off while leaving it to me to complete whatever art assignment I was having that day. I remembered him driving an old hatchback Civic though) was going through this book which featured scantily clad women with leopards, monstrous apes and barbarians. I was hooked from that moment on (though it escaped me how I managed to ask the art teacher to loan me his book as it featured lots of nudity with playful bawdyness to it! The Giantess sketch and Cat Girl painting are particularly memorable). I searched in vain for one (then at the long gone Times bookstore at the intersection somewhere along Macalister Road/ Dato Keramat Road...not sure). Years and years later, Amazon came by and off I purchase his art books online. Frazetta's art, I am not sure how to describe it but it somehow possess some sort of omph to it, and that's what makes it special to me.

Brother Production ~ Blade Hunter : Revenge of the Replicant.

android (an'droid) adj.

Possessing human features - n.

A synthetic man created from biological materials.

Also called humanoid. (Late Greek androeides,manlike: ANDR(O) - OID.)
~ THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1976)

android (an'droid) n, Gk. humanoid automaton. more atrobot./

1. early version utilized for work too boring, dangerous or unpleasant for humans.

2. second generation bio-engineered. Electronic relay units and positronic brains. Used in space to explore inhospitable environments.

3. third generation synthogenetic. REPLICANT, constructed of skin/flesh culture. Selected enogenic transfer conversion. Capable of self perpetuating thought. paraphysical abilities. Developed for emigration program.
~ WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY New International (2012)

"Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced Robot evolution into the NEXUS phase — a being virtually identical to a human — known as a Replicant. The NEXUS-6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-world as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS-6 combat team in an Off-world colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth — under penalty of death. Special police squads — BLADE RUNNER UNITS — had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicants. This was not called execution. It was called retirement."

"Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores; burning with the fires of Orc."

~ Roy Batty, a deliberate misquote of William Blake's America : A Prophecy.

"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave."

Tyrell: I'm surprised you didn't come here sooner.
Roy: It's not an easy thing to meet your maker.
Tyrell: What can he do for you?
Roy: Can the maker repair what he makes?
Tyrell: Would you like to be modified?
Roy: I had in mind something a little more radical.
Tyrell: What seems to be the problem?
Roy: Death.
Tyrell: Death. Well, I'm afraid that's a little out of my jurisdiction, you...
Roy: I want more life, father.
Tyrell: The facts of life: To make an alteration in the evolvement of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once its been established.
Roy: Why not?
Tyrell: Because by the second day of incubation, any cells that have undergone reversion mutations give rise to revertant colonies like rats leaving a sinking ship; then the ship sinks.
Roy: What about EMS recombination?
Tyrell: We've already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate is an alkylating agent and a potent mutagen. It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the table.
Roy: Then a repressor protein that blocks the operating cells.
Tyrell: Wouldn't obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication so that the newly formed DNA strand carries a mutation and you've got a virus again. But this - all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you.
Roy: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly, Roy. Look at you. You're the prodigal son. You're quite a prize!
Roy: I've done questionable things.
Tyrell: Also extraordinary things. Revel in your time!
Roy: Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain.Time to die.

Replicant (M) Des: BATTY (Roy)
ID : NEXUS-6 N6MAA10816
Incept Date: 8 JAN., 2016
Func: Combat, Colonization Defense Prog
Phys: LEV. A

Mental: LEV. A

Got this one as I thought it would complete the Rick Deckard figure, as well as both being central to the cult hit sci-fi noir film's storyline and themes. Comes with a PVC trench coat (except it looks kinda short comparatively) with built in wiring for action pose (just like Deckard's trench coat), Roy's "underwear" (as well "wires" "protruding" out of the "crotch guard", I really do not know where to place them!), Converse sneakers like shoes (in the scene where Roy stepped into Eye World, Hannibal Chew's lab, he seemed to be wearing a pair of leather shoe, whereas only during the climatic final, he wore the ones similar to the figure. It is also much more proportionate to the figure now, unlike Rick's original ones), alternative "battle damaged" head sculpt, a separate hand with inserted nail (removable), as well as tattooed body (which I did not realised or noticed though having watched the movie countless times). Now, according to BRmovie.com, Ridley Scott was quoted in Future Noir (the bible of BR), the mysterious tattoos on Roy's body was a half-developed idea of which Replicants being "built up" from parts (inspired by Jean "Moebius" Giraud creations), which eventually does not fit into later storyline development. Due to time constrain, they developed another idea of which the tats denote the plug in points for a space battle suit. But this idea was abandoned as well and the tats end up being served as some sort of curious details for the sharp eyed audiences to ponder. The sad part about this figure is that the neck joint kinda loose, it's hair looks like a pile of whip cream or too much mousse, Roy somehow decided to shave off it's eyebrow totally, the hand that comes with inserted nail is a tad too long when attached, not unlike the hand of a gibbon. The pigeon is nice but how come I feel that Roy is about to eat it rather than gonna release it symbolically like in the movie? Overall, with the price paid, the figure's alright afterall. Ahh...now I can be at peace with BR figures since it is now "complete"...until they decided to release the ladies (Rachel, Pris, Zhora) or even Leon! Until then, bye BR!