smurf4006

[smurf4006]

A long overdue concert review incoming!!

Finally watched Suede performance live for the first time in 2024. Never in my life like even once would I think it was possible. You could say I’m a casual listener. The 1st song that got us hooked was actually ‘Obsessions’ way, way back when they released the single. When we found out they were coming to our country via instagram, we were elated & excited that it was held at Zepp. It was gonna be an intimate gig with smaller crowd & great ambience. Right when they opened the ticket queue, I immediately surfed the website & bought a pair of electronic tickets with QR codes. Ah gone are the days when we had to physically line up to buy tickets. Well except BMTH, it was so easy to get it.

Historically like other veteran fans, our playlist was full of Suede songs during our university days before graduation. The only way we could get in touch with their fans >12 years ago was thru tumblr. (However it’s sad that f*ckyeahneilcodling was deactivated coz the Italian girl admin was so sweet & friendly!) Currently we subscribed to Apple Music, I’m sorry it sucks to get paid 0.000000001 cent for each stream but I ain’t got no place to store physical CDs no more :(

Back to the live performance, I came with an unfairly low expectation. Thought they're gonna play whole setlist of new songs that most of us hadn't heard of. Maybe Brett will get tired of us eventually & smash some of the front row's iPhones through Simon's cymbals? What if Neil pass out suddenly onstage coz he had MECFS? Will Mat's bass drown & ended up buried in all that noise? Richard's fine I guess, he's an impeccable guitar demigod who never seemed to make a mistake. At times during our short road trip, I joked with ageist nuance on how we were on our way to see a bunch of old men who thought they could still rock it.

Boy was I mistaken. They opened with Turn Off Your Brain & Yell & it was the most energetic performance I ever seen. I'm the most irregular concert-goer who had only attended to a few local artists, Muse, Placebo & MCR; so I might be a little biased towards Suede but they are so underrated it’s maddening.

Brett's thunderous vocals echoed through the hall & stunned us all. How did a 57-year-old bloke manage to sing with his whole heart & emotion like that? I was perplexed on how they always sound better live than a studio record. Anyway, they played a lot of classic oldies we were familiar with. I almost cried of happines ala fanatic Swiftie when they played Life is Golden coz it was sucha beautiful song. It was also the first time I saw a frontman would wade through the crowd & allowed them to hold the mic & sang? Dare you to point me at least one frontman who’d be so intimate with his crowd coz there’s no others like Brett Anderson. He’s special in his own way & is irreplaceable. The security was somewhat complacent or relaxed most likely coz the civilized crowd did return Brett’s mic after the song was finished.

It was a bit comedic seeing Neil switching instruments time to time but yet I can’t stop wondering how did he heal his MECFS? I have acquaintances with MECFS & they shared how debilitating the disease was. Made you feel more sympathetic coz decades ago most doctors would brush you off & their diagnosis would lean more towards psychiatric disorder.

Throughout the 20-track setlist, I was amazed at how the band literally came back from the dead. I’m pretty sure they were split once & I didn’t know they reunited in 2010. Maybe I was aware maybe I wasn’t ah who could remember when you were so busy with life.

Thanks again Brett, Mat, Simon, Richard & Neil, the crew, roadies whoever for making the gig a dream come true. The jetset touring lifestyle is exhausting but I knew you guys are enjoying this journey too. While I wished they play Heroine, The Power, By The Sea & The Chemistry Between Us, there’s also an array of songs that my brother had wishlisted too like Killing of a Flashboy. I did remind him that he could always drop a comment for song request on their social media like instagram? We both were never fond of Drowners, Animal Nitrate & Metal Mickey thus guessed we were the younger generation who didn’t dig the Bernard Butler era. Their hardcore fans loved it though as evidenced by the roaring crowd that night.

It was worth the half-days we took off from work. Will we go again if they ever come back? Absolutely. I’d even go as far as to suggest them to do a Vegas-esque residency .

P/s: my photos were all blurry coz I was quite afar away; we are in our 30s who preferred leatherette comfy seats on the pretentiously elitist balcony which dampened our concert spirit. At times we did wish that we were down there but I was petite like Sabrina Carpenter who could not see anything in the standing zone. Not uploading any video, there’s always youtube for those who wanted to check them out.

[smurf4006]

We just finished Part 2 of Kengan anime on netflix last Friday. I was already sleepy & never the type to binge; would rather take it slowly & watch one or two episodes a day. But noooo the husband insisted to finish in one sitting 😵

Anyway, the first few fights were almost like fillers but still interesting nevertheless. The last 4 episodes where Cosmo vs Akoya & Ohma vs Raian were the most interesting. However that Cosmo fight is almost borderline torture pr0n we couldn’t help feeling uhhh why is the ref so incompetent? I mean Cosmo did at some point lost his consciousness & thus the ref must have already stopped the match & declared Akoya as the winner but nooooo the mad police decided to wake him up & fingerbang Cosmo’s ribs over & over again 😑 Even my husband thought uh what he still wins in utter disbelief. Anyway it’s not the end yet for Kengan anime. Not too sure if netflix will continue releasing the series & I’d seriously suggest viewers to read the manga as well. There are a lot of missing important plot & points which made Ohma more human & interesting. Also the relationships of all the characters & the conspiracy behind the tournament. I haven’t finished yet the manga but oh boy it does explain a lot.

Imai Cosmo / Akoya Seishu

Impudence.

[smurf4006]

I just watched Terminator: Dark Fate. It was AWESOME!

However we missed the first 5-10minutes?? I only watched starting from when Dani & her brother off to work. Don’t wanna give out too much spoilers so here goes my review!

This is the direct sequel from T2 and apparently all the previous bvllshit Terminator instalments were a joke & probably occurred in alternate universe/timeline/imagination of some people. 😬But I still liked Terminator: Salvation where the truck chase were EPIC!

Back to Dark Fate, this film reeks T2 inspiration. Those who are familiar to T2 probably felt it was the same formula & repetitive but for young new viewers, they would probably liked it more & thought it was new. This film is action-packed & Mackenzie Davis did a great job of playing the alpha female lead. She was so badass almost as the same level as Sarah Connor! Digged the diversity of this film; reminds me of Overwatch game where we got granny Ana Amari & papa Soldier 76! The screen time of Arnie & Linda Hamilton are more than sufficient where it is what the fans have been wanting since T2.

But I can’t help noticing the incompetence of the authorities as the Terminator freely roaming around slashing people around 🤧 You will be satisfied with the amount of close combats, explosions, car chases and more grandiose actions. Skip all the trailers & teasers if you can before watching this! I had only watched a teaser before earlier this year I think?

Go & watch this in the cinema!!

P/s: I think this movie is a great testament of Mackenzie Davis’ great potentials & abilities that we thought she might lock a role someday in other giant franchises like MCU! I once thought about Richard Madden getting into MCU after finishing Bodyguard series & guess whatttt, it happened several months later! So proud & happy for their career progress!

P/p/s: I was skeptical at first thinking I should just wait for it to get on the cable tv instead, but my female friend gave a good review about it so yeah I booked tickets online straight away! Most male nerds here didn’t really like it since well, there was no typical white cismale hero which they were used to 🌚(Arnie doesn’t count coz he’s veteran LULZ)

Can your grandma do this?

Can your grandpa do THIS?

The rest of the action actresses/stuntwomen weep seeing this, feeling inferior 🤣

The villain!

Dani!

[smurf4006]

We need to talk about the new anime; Kengan Ashura on Netflix, right now.

I had watched only a few of anime on Netflix like Castlevania & Zodiac War. I’m almost a retired otaku (weebs or whatever) since I’m now married with kids. Even since my university days I kinda quit anime cold turkey but kept reading manga online on my tablet.

Anyway, my sister recommended Kengan Ashura on the release date as she said it’s similar to YuYu Hakusho where they got whole ass violent tournament on an island, fancy cruise ship, how these rich ass businessmen are behind these fighters.

I tried watching it half-heartedly just for the sake of my siblings said it was good. At first few episodes it was okay until they boarded the ship. It is soooo good! My favourite episode is Episode 8; Cosmo Imai vs Adam Dudley match as the first round. The episode had great background scores, gritty & suspenseful. Overall, it is a great martial arts anime in terms of shounen genre. The plot slowly unfolds as the story progressed; I thought Tokita Ohma was just some kind of mindless dumb fighter but he is human after all. I had never read the manga so I didn’t know what to expect. Part 1 consists of only 12 episodes so we really can’t wait for next season! The OP song fits the theme of the anime & what to anticipate. The 3D & CG effects aren’t that excessive (like ugh idk Ultraman? Can’t watch that). The fight sequences are brilliant since they have the manga as the basis. It was bloody gore & bone-breaking, not for the faint-hearted. The art quality is good, plot is there & half of it consisted of flashbacks & backstory of each character, but it was very fast-paced story-telling. It is so good even my dad watched it (he did complain it was too violent though, and this came from a baby boomer like LOL). If you dig MMA UFC whatsoevers, this for you. It definitely reignited my interest in shounen genre after so long of a drought. The comedy element was there to break the tension of such serious anime.

What surprised me was that it’s got fan service for both boys & girls. Boys get to watch gorefest fight & muscle p0rn while girls get to ogle over handsome Ohma & Imai. And some weird BL obsession between Ohma & a supposed arch-nemesis called Setsuna Kiryu. This got hella representations as well, you get to see a black male fighter, a gay androgynous male fighter, strong female secretary & presidents, some Arab fighter & so much more coz well it was almost international tournament. Wait does a NEET count as a representation?

Anyway, watch this if your heart can sustain the super violent anime! It won’t disappoint you coz I tried Baki & I dozed off in 5 minutes 😅

P/s: found out it was out on youtube as well, oh wells.

[smurf4006]

I just watched Endgame

Avengers Endgame review; freshly after watching in the theatre with my baby bro. Don’t worry it’s spoiler free if u happened to read this shitty post.

How I felt after watching it? Well, kinda unsatisfied in a sense that you’ve invested so much time & feelings in the mcu fandom. It felt rushed I guess? Some parts are cringey that I felt like screaming my lungs out “DRAMAAAA!!” But hey I don’t wanna be the noisy bitch in the cinema. The crowd was okay I guess, cheering & clapping at certain scenes. My feet cramped through the 3 hours though & oh yeah there’s no midcredit scene or post credit crap whatsoever. Don’t waste your breath, yes you fanboys I’m talking to you coz you looked at me weird when I jumped out of my seat as soon as the credit plays.

One thing’s for sure; Infinity War was way more action-packed & fast-paced story telling. Some people complained of plot holes but surely the upcoming Disney+ streaming service will cater to that? Hopefully.

Yeah this is the conclusion. Not gonna spoil anymore of the movie, but my ask is open!

P/s: I’m gonna be honest with y’all, it’s the Captain Marvel & Captain America were the best parts. I can’t pretend I cared for any other characters so sorry not sorry 😐

[smurf4006]

Captain Marvel

I’m gonna be honest with you, at first I was very skeptical of Captain Marvel. I thought I hated the movie & the actress but my brother convinced me that this is the superhero we been waiting for. Sooooo when we got back to our hometown, watched it with him & the husband... I fell in love. I fell hard for Brie Larson! I thought, damn this is probably the best superhero origins movie ever! Both the husband & my baby brother thought it was amazing! So it was kinda mind-boggling when I read twitter reviews by these overweight male nerds hating on it. They said it was too feministic, oh it’s man-hating, like??? Don’t you guys see what the plot is all about?? I fell even harder for Brie when she was so responsive & very engaging with her fans on twitter! She never reposted fanworks (unlike certain MCU actor who reposted & never bothered to give due credits); which strictly is a no-no. All she did was replying, liking & quote RT which generated a lot of attention to those talented artists. Her fanarts are so far very creative & awesome! If there was ever a sequel of Captain Marvel, I would most definitely watch it. Walking out by the end of the movie, I told my brother “Oh my God, let’s get ready to the hundreds of fanfics & fanarts of Maria & Carol ship soon!” He just shrugged to my wild fan theory how the screenwriters wanted to write Carol & Maria as lovers but since this is Disney we’re talking about & profit concern; they’re just gonna have to appear as best friends. You know what I mean, like it was subtle & hinted but never addressed clearly. Anyway, Goose was adorable. Why is it always the Garfield cat pattern made to the movies? Like Shrek’s puss in boots? Was it superstition that the cat needs to be orange in colour to be in a movie?

[smurf4006]

Avengers!

We gon watch Endgame on 24 April, night viewing from the best seating! Baby brother is thrilled! Sad that the husband can’t join coz I would never watch a movie without him 😿

[smurf4006]

I play Overwatch on PS4

Struggling as a tank & healer flex for ranked, some persistent 13-year-olds bugging me to turn on the team chat & invites ughh 🙉 I prefer solo queue; I’m pretty much anti-social. Grinding for plat from gold. I know I’m never good at this game; took more than a year for me to finally get out of silver hell.

Favorite heroes? Mercy, Winston, Torb, Junkrat, D-va, yeah yeah you guessed it all the easy ones. I sucked at aiming even with all that aim-assist gifted to a console. DPS is not my forte. But if it was out of desperation (or tilted LOL), Tracer & Soldier is my go-to heroes.

Also, Gencyyyy omg probably the only straight ship I ever supported!

[smurf4006]

I think Imma post all my movie reviews here especially from Netflix!

Cable tv sucked so bad that we had to subscribe Netflix & Prime.