#the rest of the wps gang know what is going on but act like they didn't

[cyellolemon]

eepy wps hirorei :))

[teatime-scans]

WPS Chapter 6 Text Translations

Hey guys, here are the text translations for Wild Police Stories Chapter 6! We’ve had this chapter in our files for a while and decided to upload these translations while we slowly work through TLC’ing all the other chapters in our ZTT backlog. For reference here’s the rest of the series: https://mangadex.org/title/41916/wild-police-story. Enjoy! TL: Manaphy TLC: Holmes/Spimer

Page 1

Upper text: CASE.6: Without reserve Original Work: Gosho Aoyama Artist: Takahiro Arai

Side text: What is “justice”...? And what is “Strength”...?

Date arc final chapter!

DETECTIVE CONAN Police Academy Arc

“Wild Police Story”

Page 2

Robber: Stop being so slow… Left sign: Bank ATM Front + Ground signs: Delicious and healthy - Deposit now

Robber: Hurry up and move it!

Robber: How much is left? Robber: Around 400-500 grand...

Robber: Now listen up! Every time one of you makes any noise… We’ll kill you off one by one!

SFX: Slam

Side Text: If you aren’t stronger than anyone else, you’ll never be able to enforce justice… Furuya learned the true meaning behind Date’s words. Now, those two are in a predicament...

Page 3

Date: Shit! First of all, I gotta remove these cable ties… SFX: Rustle Rustle

SFX: Slip

Date: I see! With the frictional heat generated by rubbing the shoelaces against the cable tie…

SFX: Rub Rub

SFX: Snap

Date: Not bad, Furuya! SFX: Rip Amuro: Please untie everyone else too!

SFX: Clatter

Amuro: As I thought, it’s locked, huh…? Date: But what is the culprits’ aim?

Page 4

Amuro: It's the money meant to restock the ATM! Amuro: For security purposes, no one is told when the ATM will get restocked… Amuro: ...but by checking the transactions made at the ATM from its surveillance footage, it can roughly be predicted...

Amuro: If they let their friends continuously take money out when there’s less than one million yen left… Amuro: ...someone would rush here to restock the ATM from the bank! Date: Now I see… It's a crime they can't commit without the clerk as an accomplice...

Date: But why aren’t they hiding their faces? Date: The clerk isn’t even wearing sunglasses…|Amuro: They’ll probably want to kill us all when they’re done…

Customer: N-No way… Even though I just came here to buy some water... Customer: I-I came here to buy snacks for my daughter... Date: Don’t worry! We’ll do something!

Date: Anyway, we’ve got to think of a way to escape from here… SFX: Plunk

Amuro: The switchboard!

Amuro: This might do the trick!? Left sign: Bank ATM Front + Ground signs: Delicious and healthy - Deposit now

Page 5

Matsuda: Sure enough...

Matsuda: ...if a thing like that happened, it’s no wonder squad leader Date thinks that his dad’s a wimp…

Hagiwara: Yeah… A policeman on duty knelt down in front of a criminal, after all… Matsuda: Well, it’s not like I don’t get how the leader feels, though…

Matsuda: After all, when my dad was falsely arrested for suspicion of murder… Matsuda: I was continuously called the son of a murderer, and was on the verge of hating my dad too... Sticker: “Murderer”

Matsuda: Although in my case, I was told to “believe in my dad and wait” by the guys from the gym… Matsuda: which helped me go on without having my feelings getting hurt... Hagiwara: Heeeh…

Matsuda: So, Morofushi… Matsuda: I dunno what happened to you in the past, but…

Matsuda: If you tell us about it, our worthless advice… Matsuda: ...might end up being of some help to you, y’know? Morofushi: H...

Page 6

Morofushi: H... Morofushi: E… Morofushi: L… Morofushi: P…

Matsuda: What, right now? Morofushi: T-That’s not it! Morofushi: Look!

Morofushi: The light from the convenience store’s sign… Morofushi: That’s further ahead...

Morofushi: Just like Morse code... SFX: Shoom Sign: NOWSON - Bank ATM

Morofushi: ...it's switching on and off... SFX: Pop

Hagiwara: Oi oi, that’s… Matsuda: ...not really… Matsuda: ...an impression...

Page 7

Woman: Eeeh? No waaay! Sign: Delicious and healthy - Deposit now (mirrored)

Woman: Under renovation!? Man: It can’t be helped, let’s go to another store! Label: Under renovation - Our deepest apologies for the inconvenience. Shop manager

Robber: Looks like the security company’s car passed the traffic lights… Robber: You can go rip off the “under renovation” label anytime now! Robber: Yeah!

SFX: Screech Car inscription: Integrated Security Signs: Delicious and healthy - Deposit now

SFX: Whirl

SFX: Clack

Page 8

Gang: Wassup? ♪

Hagiwara: Oi, seriously? Hagiwara: Ain’t that a rifle? Matsuda: Don’t fret, dude! Matsuda: That’s a fake used in shootin’ movies or somethin’ like that, I’m tellin’ ya!

Morofushi: Hey, hey, what kinda movie ya doin’? Morofushi: Let us take part too! Robber: Ah, no…

Matsuda: A cop role or the likes for me, pop! Robber: A weird trio just barged in… Robber: They’re only three people! Robber: It doesn’t matter, wipe them out!

Page 9

Girl: No way, they’re really shooting a movie!? Girl: That sounds so thrilling, no joke! ♪ Robber: Whaaat!?

Hagiwara: Hey, everyone! They say they’ll let you take part as extras! SFX: Yeaaah

SFX: Thud thud thud

Date: Hey... It’s becoming extremely noisy... Date: What’s going on? SFX: Yeaaah

Morofushi: Sorry for the wait, Zero! Amuro: Hiro! SFX: Ker-chak

Date: H-How? Morofushi: We received the Morse code message from the signboard and came to apprehend the culprits! Morofushi: Not with power...

Page 10

Morofushi: But with numbers…

Amuro: I see now, you made the students from the police academy act as customers and had them gather here… Date: With this, we’ll get another good scolding from Instructor Onizuka tomorrow...

Matsuda: Well, we only did what your dad tried to do back then, leader… Matsuda: Ain’t that right? Hagi! Date: Eh? Hagiwara: Yeah!

Hagiwara: In fact, when your dad was beaten up by a guy looking like a yakuza… Hagiwara: I was in that convenience store too! SFX: Thump Thud

Date: Y-You were there!? At that scene!? Hagiwara: You were preoccupied with your bloodstained dad, so you probably didn’t notice, but… Hagiwara: After that, several friends of that guy entered the store…

Yakuza: Oi, what are you doing!? Yakuza: The cops are coming! Yakuza: Run away! SFX: Wee woo wee woo

Page 11

Hagiwara: Your dad had noticed that a lot of that guy’s accomplices were lurking in a car close to there… Hagiwara: That’s why, even if he had restrained that man… Hagiwara: If his accomplices had come in as reinforcements, he’d have had no chance of winning either…

Hagiwara: If a brawl had started inside the shop, and by any chance they would have been barricaded in there... Hagiwara: The other customers who were inside would’ve been in danger…

Hagiwara: Back then, there were a lot of people… Hagiwara: Like me, who was a kid… Hagiwara: As well as pregnant women, some old people and some female students, after all…

Hagiwara: The police arrived pretty soon, so… Hagiwara: Your old man probably contacted them…

Hagiwara: And wanted to stop the man at the front of the store, without him coming further inside, until the reinforcements of the police arrived!

Hagiwara: So kneeling down was... Hagiwara: ...Not a plea for his life, but… Hagiwara: Something from here, leader... SFX: thump

Hagiwara: Something that nobody can hurt by any means… Hagiwara: ...the heart of a police officer...

Hagiwara: ...made him do that, don’t you think?

Page 12

Date: Hello, dad… Are you alright? Date’s dad: Wataru…? Date’s dad: Why are you suddenly calling me…? 

Date’s dad: Eh? There’s a lady you want me to meet? Date’s dad: So you reached that age too…

Date: I’m 22 already… Date: We haven’t seen each other for a while, so I bet you forgot…

Date’s dad: Aside from that, how is it going? Date’s dad: At the police academy… Date’s dad: Do you think that you can become a great policeman? Date: Yeah...

Date: Although I won’t come close to you, Dad... Date’s dad: Hmph… Date’s dad: Stop spouting nonsense...

Side Text: Date got to know about his father’s “strength”. Starting from the next issue… Detective Conan, the original story, resumes!

Left Side box: End of Chapter #6

Bottom box: We will announce the next publication issue in the advance notice of the front page and on WEB Sunday. We are counting on you for “Detective Conan Police Academy Arc ‘Wild Police Story’ ” from now on as well.

[dakilanglaagan]

Work from home is not everyone’s cup of tea. While many have succeeded with their home-based jobs, there are those who are still struggling on how to keep the balance between personal and professional life at home. This transition brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has undeniably changed everything that we have been accustomed to – and somehow affected not only our personal life, but as well as our mental and social balance.

 For months, it has been a personal struggle of mine as to how to keep up with life. As a weekend traveler, it was totally difficult to live a life within the walls of our house for almost five months now. That means no more hikes on weekends, no more major climbs, and no more flights and long bus rides.

Traveling was my personal brand of therapy – an escape from workloads and all the shits of this life. So, imagine having no escape for months. A total scuffle.

Mental Health Support

But you see, not all battles are meant to be faced alone. There are those that you can actually share and fight together with along with your friends.

So my friends and I decided to meet up online once a week, listen each other’s sentiments, and just be there for each other. We launched this activity that we fondly call as Fridates – an online meeting where we get to eat together, pray together, and do crazy games and activities. So far, for more than a month now, we have successfully consoled and entertained each other through our faith sharing, trivia, and kwentuhan.

Zoom Activities that you can do with Friends to support Mental Health

To spice up your online video chat and somehow make you feel at ease with whatever you are going through these days, here are some activities and games that you can try on Zoom, MS Teams, FB Rooms, Messenger Room, Google Meet, Skype, or whatever platform you choose to see each other.

Quarantine Kwentuhan

On our first week of Fridates, we just allowed each other to share whatever that is that we are feeling, what emotions have surfaced through the week, and what primarily triggers our emotions. Each one was given a chance to pour out whatever is bothering them. The rest of the group was just there to listen – no pieces of advice required. Because sometimes, we don’t need immediate solutions to whatever that is that we are feeling. We just need a space to blurt it out.

At the end of every sharing, provide a minute of reflective time to honor the sharing of your friends.

Trivia with Kahoot!

Another way to somehow entertain each other is to host a trivia night. During our Fridates, we assign a trivia master who will prepare a 15-item quiz (easy, moderate, and difficult round). The trivia master usually align the questions with the theme for the meeting, but he/she can always prepare informative and education fun facts to share.

Trivia Night with Kamote Club

Unsolicited opinion: Some of our trivia include categories on Kdrama, Asian Culture, Online Conference and Social Media Fun Facts.

Online Videoke

One of our Kamote Club members, Jacque, brought her singing career to the next level. She introduced the online videoke to us. As a facilitator, she created her own album with list of songs that we had to choose from and explain how such song resonate with what we are feeling. The twist? Those songs were actually real songs that were just tweaked. After explaining our song choice, we had to sing and complete the missing lyrics of the song to win the game.

Click here for sample Album Playlist

      Imagine us battling with internet connection but still singing along to Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive, Frozen’s Into the Unknown, MYMP’s Kailan, and many other songs included in her album. That was a hilarious night!

Kdrama Dub

Knowing how we have been infected by the Hallyu wave, our next facilitator asked us to dub some of our Kdrama favorites and create scripts that would allow us to rant our feelings for the week.

So try to imagine Captain Ri of Crash Landing on You ranting about quarantine, Moon Gang of It’s Okay not to be Okay complaining about government subsidy, and Kim Shin of Goblin whining about the lockdown.

Unsolicited tip: This is best done in pairs for dialogue. You may use Zoom’s breakout session to give time for each pair to practice.

Online Travel

Surely, there’s a number of cancelled trips because of the pandemic. But if you’re creative enough, you can still travel with friends online! We even made it international!

Kamote Club goes to Thailand!

One fun way to spice up your zoom meeting is to agree on a certain theme. On our fourth and fifth week of Fridates, we agreed to go to South Korea and Thailand. The hosts shared informative input about these countries and even asked us to speak like locals!

Online Bingo!

Did you know that you can actually play Bingo online? Simply generate cards that your members can use and then maximize Google Random Numbers to draw. The thrill is actually real because of the internet connection and believe me, everyone’s actually competitive without you knowing it.

Bring Me!

Who’s not familiar with Bring Me? No one. This is an all-time classic party favorite. But did you know that you can actually play this online? On one of our Fridates, we were tasked to find anything that we can use for a bracelet. Pressured with time, we had to look for whatever that we can find at home. And guess what, it was totally fun to see what each one got through their search.

Unsolicited advice: Once everyone was able to bring whatever is asked of them, let them relate to their life whatever that is that they have brought. Believe me, the wisdom of your friends will get too deep.

Charades

If you can’t say it, act it! Charades is another way to make your online meeting livelier. The internet will get crazy with your friends guesses.

Another variation of this is Pictionary, Pinoy Henyo, and Read my Lips.

Online Dinner Date

No need to have a girl/boyfriend to be able to get on a date. Eat together with your friends! On our Fridates, we actually dinner together. If opportunity permits, we agree to have the same dish and share tips on how we prepared our meal (or where we ordered them). On our previous meetings, we had Barbecue Night, Milk Tea Meeting, and Samgyupsal Online!

Faith Sharing

More than anything else, I hope that your online meetings also give you time not only to talk, but most importantly, to pray for each other. Every week we assign a prayer leader who introduces us various ways of praying.

Once we had a song reflection, then we had a guided Eightfold Path meditation, Bible verse sharing, and Virtual Friendship Bond Prayer. Even a simple prayer for each other will do.

More than anything else, we have to establish our online community in order to support each other these trying times. We have to normalize conversations with regards to mental health because suppressed feelings can lead into anxiety… or worse. Remember that: What you can’t say owns you; what you hide controls you.

Let’s be there for each other! Plan your Fridates with friends now!

Support Mental Health: Creative Zoom Activities to do with Friends Work from home is not everyone’s cup of tea. While many have succeeded with their home-based jobs, there are those who are still struggling on how to keep the balance between personal and professional life at home.

[airoasis]

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[wolfwordfall]

[WP] You have taken a dare to sleep one night in a defunct subway station. In the middle of the night, you are awoken by a homeless man shaking your shoulder and saying, “the train is coming, do you have your ticket”. You find an odd looking ticket in your pocket.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

The last thing Markus expected was to be awakened by a stranger, he felt his body shudder back and forth as a strong grip shook him to consciousness. "Hnnnggg", his eyes cracked open. He was met by a rugged white bearded man in a grey flat cap and a well-worn brown coat. "The train is coming, do you have your ticket?!", a creaky, high voice uttered. Markus grumbled and stumbled away, thrusting his hand towards the ratty hobo, "Get away from me old man! I don't want any trouble!!!". Now blinking sleep away quickly he rose to his feet and dusted his hoodie, hoisting his backpack to his shoulder, Ugh, this bet was so not worth it! He thought to himself, it was a useless dare. His friends seemed so mystified by the stupid abandoned train station that they dared him to sleep in it for the night. He didn't get the point, not believing in superstition or spook stories, it was just an empty lot with nothing to offer...except money bribes apparently. The night was pretty boring and not worth it though, but the lunatic bum was the breaking point, and it was time for him to shove out of this place.

"Do you have your ticket!?" He repeated and Markus rolled his eyes "No! Leave me alone already!", the old man thrust a gnarled, pale finger to him pointing to his back jean pocket, "Right there, see?". Markus whirled around reflexively to look at the point of interest, and despite all odds found an object in his pocket he didn't recognize. "What the hell?" he said as he plucked it out and stared down at it clasped in both his fingers. It was, in fact, a ticket. He could tell because it was a thick red, oddly large carnival-looking ticket that said nothing but 'ticket'. No specific identifying details just...'ticket'. He took the ticket in one hand and pushed it up in the air towards the bum, shouting "When did you slip this in my pocket, what is wrong with you?". The old man put his hands to his head in exasperation, "I don't have time to know why you're treating me this way brother, we have to get to the train!! Come now!" he gripped Markus arm to try to pull me forward to his direction.

Markus screamed "Oh hell no I'm calling the cops! Let me go!" he jerked his arm away "There's no train you psycho, it's empty! Nothing is going to-", and just like his jaw dropped as a bright light came from the pitch black of the old train tunnel, once left to dust, the dust was now brightly illuminated as if the air snowed within the underground trainway, and he could hear the louder and louder booming sound of a train as it began to make it's way towards the station, the two men ran towards the entrance as it flew by and grinded to a screeching halt, letting out a wheeze as its wheels stopped.

The elderly man took Markus arm, "Come now, watch the door and watch your step, Abe". Markus has little time to react, "No stop, what are you-", he was pulled onto the train as his state of shock was taken advantage of, he struggled but it was no use, they were on and the doors to the train slid shut. "No!" Cried Markus, banging his fists on the door "Let me out! Let me out!". The gentle, somber voice of the old man followed, "Abe please, what's going on? Why are you acting this way?"

Markus whirled around like a heavily breathing deer staring into headlights, "What's going on? What's going on? You tell me old man? Why was I kidnapped on this train?", he whirled his head around. It was a largely average train with seats and poles, but no people but them. The man walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder "Abe, you seemed to lost your mind, I can't understand why you suddenly have forgotten our normal routine trip. This is unlike you, but I fear our old minds may be taking a toll on us. But if I must remind you, we've got to go downtown before dark. The sooner we get to our resting grounds, the less we travel at dark". Markus remained confused as ever "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not Abe I'm Mar-" he caught a glance of someone else nearby and they turned to meet his eyes in sync.

The person he met was another old man, similar to the one standing next to him. He had a shorter beard though in gray rather than white. This must be the confused man's old brother. More shocking was the man wore the exact same thing he did, a dark hoodie and jeans and his backpack. He blinked an the old man blinked back, and that's when it clicked and his stomach dropped. His wide eyes met the distant man and they walked towards each other in unison. They met face to face and their facial expression was eerily similar. He touched the glass and so did the old man...it was...a mirror...

Frozen in horror, Markus realized he was no longer himself he was Abe. It turns out HE was the insane one. "Oh god...I'm Abe?"

"Come brother, our stop is here" The kindly old man took his brother's arm and led him out. 'Abe' was shell-shocked and didn't resist, "I..." he followed the old man into a newer, more crowded subway with many people going about their business. They seemed to treat the entire scene as normal, nothing unusual, not like an entirely empty subway train in bustling hour only released two old homeless men into the world. Abe was aghast, and he silently followed the man as he led them through a bustling city-scene similar to his own world. Yet despite it's similarity, he felt it as a warped sense of different. Buildings were of different shape, slightly off color, in different locations. Signs read similar things but one word changed or a different picture. Abe was completely dumbfounded by the disparity he felt in his own mind between who he thought he was and what he knew.

They came to an empty city park, uninhabited as the night drew near. "Come now Abe, let your mind rest. I'm your dear older brother Ephraim and I promise I will care for you! I promised your wife, all those years ago...", the old man's eyes had genuine compassion in them as he laid Abe on a park bench on his side, having pulled a blanket from under the bench and lovingly wrapped Abe's body in it. Warmly wrapped in blanket, Markus felt embarrassed that his initial reaction to this man was that he was deranged, he didn't know why he was in the body of this man's apparently senile brother Abe, but he was clearly a caring older brother who rushed him to the local park to sleep for the night.

As he was finished being tucked in some raucous laughter came from a distance, both their eyes wandered to three figures who were walking towards them. As they drew nearer he could see the worry marked in Ephraim's many wrinkles of his face. The three distant silhouettes drew closer, and he could tell they were three teenage boys. One of them, a smug teen with a shaven head locked eyes with them. With a wry grin he said "Well boys, looks like we got some human shitstains in our park!". Abe froze, he recognized these boys, the second boy was a gangly teen with wispy brown hair and freckles, and the third...the third...

A black-haired boy with blue eyes, a stone cold expression, a black hoodie with blue jeans. Abe was looking in the mirror again, but this time the mirror was not real.

The brown haired boy laughed with the pack leader, "God, I love finding these dirty hobos! Got any coin, dustbags?"

Ephraim's face paled "I'm sorry, I've never seen you boys in this place, we've been sleeping here for months. Please...please...it's all yours we don't want any trouble." he began to hoist me up to my feet, "Come on Abe, it's time to go." A stone cold chill went through Abe's spine, he recognized this scene. The old man's face suddenly became familiar, this wasn't a stranger, they met before. They were meeting right now.

"Too late old man! We don't give warnings, we only give beatings. Maybe that'll teach you this is our place now! And we'll take whatever you got while we're at it!" He cackled and the brown haired boy had a sinister grin beside him, Markus just glared and stepped coldly forward with the other boys as they closed in on the men.

Abe watched in horror as he watched himself begin his threatening approach in pace with the other boys, Abe reached out a hand. "Markus no!!! Don't do this! Please!!!", his cries seemed to go unheard as the ringleader boy went and shoved Ephraim to the dirt floor. "Ephraim!!!", Abe desperately tried to help his brother up but was pushed aside, the boys began to kick the old man repeatedly, Ephraim screamed and thrust his arms up to his head to cover it, "Ephraim!!!! EPHRAIM!!!! BROTHER NO!!!!!" Abe watched helplessly as his murderous stone cold self withthe boys violently ganged up on the man, blood started to come from the various areas of blunt trauma.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

Markus woke up, back in the subway. His eyes bloodshot, body sweaty, breath gasping. He wasted no time and grabbed his backpack and ran out of that subway, up to those steps and into the grassy wilderness a ways off from the city. As he curbed a bush he quite suddenly ran into a human form in the darkness.

Another mirror image. He was looking into the face of his former self, Abe.

Tears streaming down the wrinkled, distraught visage of the man's face, he wielded an axe that glinted in the moonlight. "This is for my brother! FOR EPHRAIM! YOU MONSTER!" Markus could barely scream as the axe was raised high and swung down at his face. A sudden jolt of lightning went through his entire consciousness and then he was nothing.

[sgpubcrawl-blog]

Pub crawls are always a good time to hang out with good friends, to meet lots of new people and hey, you get to get drunk, which let’s face it helps to make anything a good time. The only problem is that a pub crawl can turn into a logistical nightmare, with people getting lost, separated from their friends, chasing each other down all night and wandering all alone, drunk in the middle of the street like a hobo.

Well, we’re here to make sure none of that happens with these eight tips for surviving a pub crawl. You’re welcome, Singapore. You’re welcome.

1. Pace Yourself

This one is very important. You don’t want to be the guy who blows his wad at the very first stop and gets too drunk to continue. That’s no fun for anyone. Your friends either have to decide to stay behind with you, which ruins their night, or leave you in the care of an annoyed bartender who will probably spend all night fantasizing about smashing a bottle upside your head and then dumping your body in the dumpster in the alley out back. Sure, doing a line of tequila shooters might sound like a fun way to start off the night, but this is a marathon, not a sprint and you don’t want to be the dude cramping up before the end of the first mile, do you?

2. Don’t Get Bogged Down

The best way to pace yourself is to make sure you don’t get bogged down in one bar for too long. You don’t want to park yourself on a stool – or worse, in a booth – because pretty soon you won’t want to get up. You’ll just want to sit there and drink. And the thing about that is that it’s hard to gauge how drunk you really are without moving around a lot. Just remember that you’re there to get experience lots of different bars, not just one. Look at it like casual dating. You’re just looking for a good time, not trying to get married.

3. Don’t Be in a Rush

You don’t want to get bogged down, but perhaps even more importantly, you don’t want to be in such a hurry to get to the next bar that you don’t take the time to relax a bit and enjoy the one you’re already in. That’s a surefire way to kill a pub crawl. It’s a delicate balancing act. You want to experience as many venues as possible, but you want to actually experience them, not feel like a tourist on some walking tour of the city’s pubs. It’s important to be in the moment while maintaining an agenda for the rest of the night in the back of your head.

4. Have an Exit Strategy

Before each venue, talk about the general plan. Figure out how long you want to stay, how much you want to drink, and maybe even coordinate some signals that you can shoot each other across a crowded room to let each other know that it’s time to move on. Again, though, it’s a balancing act. You don’t want to be too specific or else you’ll just spend the whole time staring at your watch. That’s too rigid and nobody will have any fun. Leave some wiggle room so that you can get a feel for each place – some will be better than others, and naturally you’ll want to stay longer in some places – that way if you find someone cool you want to get to know better, you can manage that without feeling like you’re speed dating. So have an exit strategy before you go in, however keep it chill and casual.

5. Give Your Friends Their Space

A common mistake in a pub crawl is running around in one big herd. You look like a gang of tourists or scared gazelles huddling together for protection. At best, you’ll look standoffish and no one will feel comfortable intruding on your group. At worst, you’ll look like a bunch of Singaporeans. Spread out, talk to new people and don’t worry too much if one of your friends gets bored and splits early for the next place. That’s what the game plan is for. Again, don’t be afraid to be in the moment.

  6. Don’t Get Too Separated

As important as giving each other space is, the worst thing you can do in a pub crawl is to get too separated. Once this happens, the whole night becomes a frustrating exercise in phone tag and hide and seek. Give each other space to do your own thing, but keep one eye out for each other too. This is where signals come into play and a game plan and exit strategy become vitally important. A good idea is to never let yourself become separated by more than one venue at a time. So if you do see a friend split early for the next place, you don’t have to rush out after him but remind yourself to wrap things up at the current place sooner rather than later.

7. Don’t Mix

This is a general rule of thumb whenever you’re drinking but it’s especially applicable in a bar crawl, where different bars have different specialties and different deals. Do not mix Tiger beer with liquor. Just don’t do it. Unless, of course, you plan on the world ending before you have to wake up the next morning. But even before then, mixing can have disastrous consequences. If you start off mixing, chances are you’ll be vomiting in the street before you even get to the last place on your crawl.

  Beerfest Asia Pub Crawl

8. Enjoy Yourself

Everything that’s already been said takes a backseat to this one golden rule. Enjoy yourself. Everything else should be in service to that one thing. All these other tips exist just to make sure that you get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of your crawl, and the moment any of them start to seem like work, it’s time to take a step back, relax and allow yourself to have fun. Do not make this harder than it has to be. Just use common sense, keep these helpful hints in the back of your mind, remind yourself to have fun and you’ll be fine.

8 things you should know before going on the Singapore Pub Crawl. Pub crawls are always a good time to hang out with good friends, to meet lots of new people and hey, you get to get drunk, which let’s face it helps to make anything a good time.

[thegeekdevil]

Send in the clowns…

It’s the late 80’s in a small New England town. A group of bullied and abused kids band together to fight an ancient evil that’s hunting the children of the town, disguised as a clown called ‘Pennywise’…

“How do you solve a problem like Stephen King?”, asked no-one ever. One of the worlds most popular and successful living writers, King has provided a rich seam for film and television producers over the years, who have often sought to adapt his phenomenally successful work at the first opportunity, with varying degrees of success. On the one hand, there are acknowledged modern classics, such as ‘The Shining‘, The Shawshank Redemption‘ and ‘Stand By Me‘, as well as cult classics, such as ‘The Dead Zone‘, ‘Christine‘ and ‘The Running Man‘. And there’s also a good helping of tripe as well, chief amongst them the barely coherent ‘Dreamcatcher‘ and the recently released ‘The Dark Tower‘, a movie based on Kings most epic work that was years in the making, only to be released to scathing reviews and tepid box office. Indeed, the epic nature of much of Kings work means that it more often finds a more natural home on television in the form of a miniseries, where the many complicated plot strands have more time to develop naturally. ‘The Stand‘, ‘The Tommyknockers‘ and ‘The Langoliers‘, along with many others have been produced this way, and like the cinema adaptations, some are very good and some are not so. Falling into the ‘quite good’ category is the first adaptation of ‘It‘. Produced by ABC in 1990, the series was a big hit on it’s original broadcast, and retains a loyal following to this day, primarily due to the incredible performance by Tim Curry as ‘Pennywise The Dancing Clown‘, the primary manifestation of It throughout the story. Curry’s performance is rightly lauded as one of the all-time great horror performances, and has probably done terminal harm to the birthday party clown industry (which can only be a good thing), but as is the way with Hollywood a new adaptation of ‘It’ has been on the cards for a number of years. Originally being developed by first David Kajganich and then Cary Fukunaga, who got as far as casting Will Poulter as Pennywise, the movie has finally reached the big screen under the guidance of Andy Muschietti, an Argentinian director mainly known for the underrated 2013 Jessica Chastain starrer ‘Mama‘. Has Muschietti done a good job? let’s find out…

  The first thing I’ll say is that, considering he wasn’t involved from the beginning, Muschietti has done an excellent job in bringing his vision to the screen. Although the script is still credited to Fukunaga (along with Chase Palmer and Gary Dauberman), it’s been widely reported that significant revisions have taken place (mainly by Dauberman and Muschietti), including the removal of one particularly controversial scene that readers of the book may be familiar with that, even in todays ‘enlightened’ times, would be difficult to film without upsetting lot of people. What remains is relatively faithful to the source material, although the setting has been updated from the ’50’s to the late ’80’s. As such, this has also resulted in some minor alterations to the storylines of some characters, with the very ’50’s based fears of the original novel replaced by more up-to-date ones. These manifestations of It are brought to the screen using a combination of live-action and CGI, and it mostly works very well, with the twisted painting that terrorises young Jewish kid Stan Uris an unpleasant stand-out. All these creatures, however, pale into insignificance compared to It’s most famous form, that of Pennywise. If you already have an issue with clowns (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) then his appearance here, all long limbs, weird angles and an off-kilter smile, will do nothing to help you deal with it. And if you’re one of those foolish people who claims that they are completely okay with clowns, then this should put paid to that resilience. I’ll talk about casting later, but suffice it to say that Bill Skarsgard (son of Stellan, and cast after Will Poulter dropped out), is superb as Pennywise, using all of his gangly 6ft 4in frame, along with an incredibly creepy make-up and costume job, to convey all of the malice and sheer evil of a creature that eats children in the same way you or I might eat a biscuit, namely often. Put simply, he’s bloody terrifying.

The setting for these horrific events is key to the story (like most of King’s stories, it all takes place in a small town in Maine), and this is another area where the film does well. Taking place in the fictional town of Derry (although actually filmed in Port Hope, Ontario), the picturesque town is as much a character in the story as any of the kids, or even Pennywise himself. It’s a beautiful place to look at, with tree-lined avenues and well-kept colonial style buildings nestling alongside majestic forests and rivers, giving the impression of a perfect town, and the ideal place to raise a family. And of course, it’s all a complete lie. Despite it’s beauty, despite it’s seemingly welcoming nature, Derry is a town with a dark tragic past, where great disasters occur with frightening regularity (roughly every 27 years), children go missing, never to be seen or heard from again, and adults act like nothing is wrong, desperately trying to ignore the evil in front of their eyes. Not-to-mention the fact that there’s a centuries-old demonic entity from another dimension living underneath the town. I don’t think even Kirstie Allsopp could convince you that moving here would be a good idea…

It’s why, when something resembling heroes are required, It falls upon the children of the town to step up. And these are not the cool kids either. Much like in ‘Stranger Things‘, to which you feel this owes a fair debt, these kids exist on the edge of things, bullied, abused, poor, or just ignored, no-one’s idea of saviours. Which is why they’re perfect for the job. While things are initially deeply personal for group leader Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) after his younger brother Georgie is taken by Pennywise he, along with the rest of The Losers Club as they come to call themselves, gradually realise the size of the fight in front of them, and the true scope of the evil underneath their town. The adults either don’t know or don’t care, and the other kids in town, personified in mullet-sporting bully Henry Bowers and is gang, are too busy being horrible to the main characters to help. Considering their importance, the casting of the Losers Club is tremendously important, and Muschietti has come up trumps. Alongside Lieberher we have Jeremy Ray Taylor as overweight introvert Ben, Finn Wolfhard as joker Ritchie, Chosen Jacobs as African-American outsider Mike, Jack Dylan Grazer as hypochondriac Eddie, Wyatt Oleff as thoughtful Stanley and Sophia Lillis as Beverly, the one gal among the guys. Although relatively unknown (Lieberher featured in indie sci-fi ‘Midnight Special‘, while Wolfhard will be familiar to fans of the afore-mentioned ‘Stranger Things‘), all of them are excellent, infusing each character with individual quirks and traits that will be a real challenge to whichever actors get the job of portraying these characters as adults. A particular mention should go to Lillis, who is at times heart-breaking as Beverly, dealing with all the problems of adolescence as well as a Father that takes a little bit too much of an interest in his daughters well-being. Her friendship with the boys provides relief, and the moment she finds the strength to break away from her father may well have you punching the air. If most of the adult characters don’t really register, well that’s sort-of the point. Parents, teachers, librarians, policemen, all are next-to-useless in the fight against Pennywise. As for Pennywise, although he’s been covered earlier, it’s worth repeating that Skarsgard is superb as the clown, literally, from hell. He’s neither better or worse than Tim Curry, he’s just different. He’s thoroughly weird-looking, completely out-of-step with our world, and just about the most unsettling thing you’ll see on screen this year. I look forward to people dressing up as him for many Halloweens to come…

Some people were keen to write off ‘It’, long before it made it to the screen. Delays caused by issues with script and budget are never a good sign, and that’s before you consider the esteem in which the previous adaptation was held (well, Curry’s performance anyway). All of this taken together could’ve resulted in a minor disaster, but happily that’s far, far from the case. The delays simply meant that time was taken to make sure everything was done properly, while everyone involved is keen to stress that this is not a remake of the 1990 series, just another adaptation of the novel, and that’s the only way to look at it (and what’s more, it should finally kill off that ludicrous notion that clowns are all about fun and happiness). Put simply, ‘It’ is an excellent film, full of great performances, with a creepy, unsettling atmosphere that frequently gives way to moments of genuine terror, while Skarsgard should join Curry in the pantheon of great horror performances. At the same time, special praise should go to Andy Muschietti for taking on a project that was so closely linked to another director, and making it his own in every way. Although it’s not been confirmed, I certainly hope that he comes back for chapter two. Following this will be quite the challenge. Let’s hope he’s up to it…

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‘It: Chapter One’ Review Send in the clowns... It's the late 80's in a small New England town. A group of bullied and abused kids band together to fight an ancient evil that's hunting the children of the town, disguised as a clown called 'Pennywise'...

[epicurioustraveler]

The morning started like most all others have the past four months. Hostel rooms seem designed for vampires and my reluctance to get out of bed is powerful each morning. Light barely creeps in and with the cool weather and no heat in the room, your desire to stay warm and cozy usually wins out. But knowing I was needing to be in the queue at the Palace of the Alhambra by 09:00 and still needing to book a flight or train to my next destination, I was out of bed by 06:45. Taking a seat on the couch in the reception area and powering up my Dell laptop I quickly, but thoughtfully, planned my next adventure’s locale. I honestly did not yet know where I would go next in Spain. Looking at prices for transportation and weather reports I had made up my mind. Destination? Barcelona!

With that decision made and flight booked for the following morning, I still had to visit the Alhambra (“the red female”) that dominated the backdrop of this amazing city. My ticket (advice – buy at any Caixa ATM, this will save you a lot of headache) to enter the Palaces was set for 9 AM and you have to be in line at that time in order to be granted entrance. I set out from the hostel around 08:15 to give myself time to walk to the entrance of the Alhambra. Meandering through many streets I had ventured down during the week I then began my uphill climb. It’s a fairly steep climb with many steps from the route that I took. Arriving at the entrance gate, sweaty, the gate attendant told me I only had 10 minutes to get to the Palace entrance and “it’s a 15 minute walk” he told me. How did I manage to make up the time? Simple. Everything ‘time’ in Spain is over budgeted. Countless times I was told something was a 30 minute walk, that only took 15 minutes. But perhaps their estimates of time is predicated upon walking a slower pace to take in the Spanish architecture or scenery, but most likely to have a cerveza or copa de vino. I made it with time to spare, of course. Entering the Palace and walking through its intricate interior, with many archways, beautiful lush gardens and gorgeous scenery overlooking Granada, one begins to easily understand why this is one of the most visited tourist site in all of Europe. There were hoards of people milling about everywhere with tour group after tour group affecting my photos. Once you exit the Palace you can’t return so take your time and realize the tour groups are on a tight schedule so they rush through generally. I was inside for about an hour and a half enjoying all the history and detailed tile and glass works. Not to mention many times to stop to look out of its many windows at the city of Granada below.

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Leaving the grounds of the Palace, I made my way up to the Alcazaba and fortress complex that were originally built atop Roman ruins in 889 AD. The palace’s were constructed, along with the renovations of the fortress and surrounding buildings, in the early 13th century after centuries of being ignored. From the top of the fortress, the Torre de la Vela, you are blessed with amazing panoramic views stretching from the snow capped Sierra Nevada’s, across Granada city and up to the Iglesia St. Michael (which is worth the hike up to for its amazing views – more on that below). There are still some of the ancient Moorish homes that still partially exist (the structure at least) inside the fortress walls.

The Generalife and gardens that surround the Alcazaba, the Palace’s and fortress grounds lead to beautiful fountains and one impressive stairway structure where water flows just above where the handrails would be on either side. Every 10 steps or so is a landing platform to break the climb/descent. There is a fountain in the center of each platform and the water running along the handrails here moves around the circular platform on each side in a crescent shape ( o ), then continues in a straight line until the next platform. In all there are about 4 or 5 platforms. So your walk up or down is harmonized by the sound of moving water and fountains at each platform to rest. It’s a gorgeous setting to relax here, listen to the running water and be surrounded and cooled by the shade. This is a great way, in my opinion, to end your Alhambra tour as it’s also not too crowded here.

Departing the Alhambra I took another route down which leads more or less to the Albaicin and a more direct route back to the hostel where I checked out of earlier that morning.

Collecting my bag I then headed to check in at the other hostel where I would stay for one night, Oasis Backpacker Hostel in the Albaicin. Unpacking my things I met Denny who was just checking in as well into the same room. A Costa Rican now living and studying in Germany, we made fast friends and agreed to meet up downstairs with a couple of other people, Fabian and Alice, to go to have Tapas together. The first place we arrived at was closing in a half hour so we only had time for one cervaza and tapa there. Leaving there we found another great place just around the corner. Taking a table outside we would enjoy 3 or 4 cervezas and equally satisfying tapas. It was turning very chilly with wind picking up to cool things further. We all headed back to the hostel, added some warmer clothes and then to buy a couple cervezas before making the climb up to Iglesia St. Michael to watch sunset. The climb up is a long one with a stair climb that would make runners of the Santa Monica stairs jealous for its length and amazing views.

Traversing through the Albaicin, steadily climbing higher along cobblestone streets and narrow passageways, we arrived at the point where I had finished my descent from St. Michael a couple days before. The view from the top is breathtaking. You have unobstructed views over all of Granada, the incredible Alhambra situated perfectly atop mountain cliffs and the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. After having had quite a few beers and food, the gang didn’t want to make the climb all the way to the top. I knew a great half way point where luckily no one was sitting or standing. Only about 1/3 of the climb up as well which made everyone feel better. Settling in we positioned rocks to act as our seats for the next hour or more and I could tell this was going to be an amazing sunset. The cloud cover was just right, the Sierra’s were exposed in clear blue sky and once the lights of the Alhambra are lit this sunset would be magnificent. Fabian took out his Bluetooth speaker, connected it to his phone and then he requested that we each choose a song to play. We would take turns but I only requested one turn. I was enjoying the music that Denny, Alice and Fabian were playing and my one song (Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam) would complete my day as perfectly as it was. Popping open our first tall boy cerveza of San Miguel (in the shadow of St. Michael, fitting huh?) we watched the sun dance a slow slide into goodbye but it left us all wanting more. I can honestly say this was the most beautiful sunset I have ever experienced. And as my best friend, Cecil, could tell you we have seen a lot. The only sunset that rivals this one, and it is very close, was the one Cecil and I saw in Koh Samet, Thailand (inserted below) on our first night on the beach there. The cloud cover over the ocean as the sun set behind the hills of the island were simply amazing on that night.

With some long periods without words being spoken, we took in the majesty that was her sunset that night. I recollected on all my past journeys that had led me to this very spot meant to be at this very moment with people I hardly knew, yet who seemed so familiar to me. The four of us come from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and for me, a different generation, as the three of them were all in their mid to early 20’s. I’m in my ‘middish’ 40’s. Is 43, middish or younger? However, the magnificent thing that traveling and encountering different cultures and foreign lands breeds is a commonality of communication that seems to bond us all together. In those 2 hours we enjoyed together, there wasn’t any jealousy, nor greed, nor envy. What did occupy the space inside and outside our circle of rocks upon which we sat was a respect for one another, an equal sharing in the joy of laughter, the feeling of connecting each story told somehow to our own lives, and also the sagacious understanding that it’s truly moments like these that last a lifetime.

My paths with these three youthful souls may never cross again in the physical sense. However, the events that day unfolded the way they were destined to leading me to intersect with each of their lives at the perfect moment in time. The incredibly beautiful sunset that closed out a perfect day will always bring me back to each of their smiles, their laugh, the music played and the connection we had, if only for that one day.

Thank you Denny, Fabian and Alice for allowing me to be a part of your lives if only for just a few hours. It’s a connection that will endure a lifetime.

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The Sun May Set Over Granada, But The Memories Light My Journey The morning started like most all others have the past four months. Hostel rooms seem designed for vampires and my reluctance to get out of bed is powerful each morning.

[sgpubcrawl-blog]

Pub crawls are always a good time to hang out with good friends, to meet lots of new people and hey, you get to get drunk, which let’s face it helps to make anything a good time. The only problem is that a pub crawl can turn into a logistical nightmare, with people getting lost, separated from their friends, chasing each other down all night and wandering all alone, drunk in the middle of the street like a hobo.

Well, we’re here to make sure none of that happens with these eight tips for surviving a pub crawl. You’re welcome, Singapore. You’re welcome.

1. Pace Yourself

This one is very important. You don’t want to be the guy who blows his wad at the very first stop and gets too drunk to continue. That’s no fun for anyone. Your friends either have to decide to stay behind with you, which ruins their night, or leave you in the care of an annoyed bartender who will probably spend all night fantasizing about smashing a bottle upside your head and then dumping your body in the dumpster in the alley out back. Sure, doing a line of tequila shooters might sound like a fun way to start off the night, but this is a marathon, not a sprint and you don’t want to be the dude cramping up before the end of the first mile, do you?

2. Don’t Get Bogged Down

The best way to pace yourself is to make sure you don’t get bogged down in one bar for too long. You don’t want to park yourself on a stool – or worse, in a booth – because pretty soon you won’t want to get up. You’ll just want to sit there and drink. And the thing about that is that it’s hard to gauge how drunk you really are without moving around a lot. Just remember that you’re there to get experience lots of different bars, not just one. Look at it like casual dating. You’re just looking for a good time, not trying to get married.

3. Don’t Be in a Rush

You don’t want to get bogged down, but perhaps even more importantly, you don’t want to be in such a hurry to get to the next bar that you don’t take the time to relax a bit and enjoy the one you’re already in. That’s a surefire way to kill a pub crawl. It’s a delicate balancing act. You want to experience as many venues as possible, but you want to actually experience them, not feel like a tourist on some walking tour of the city’s pubs. It’s important to be in the moment while maintaining an agenda for the rest of the night in the back of your head.

4. Have an Exit Strategy

Before each venue, talk about the general plan. Figure out how long you want to stay, how much you want to drink, and maybe even coordinate some signals that you can shoot each other across a crowded room to let each other know that it’s time to move on. Again, though, it’s a balancing act. You don’t want to be too specific or else you’ll just spend the whole time staring at your watch. That’s too rigid and nobody will have any fun. Leave some wiggle room so that you can get a feel for each place – some will be better than others, and naturally you’ll want to stay longer in some places – that way if you find someone cool you want to get to know better, you can manage that without feeling like you’re speed dating. So have an exit strategy before you go in, however keep it chill and casual.

5. Give Your Friends Their Space

A common mistake in a pub crawl is running around in one big herd. You look like a gang of tourists or scared gazelles huddling together for protection. At best, you’ll look standoffish and no one will feel comfortable intruding on your group. At worst, you’ll look like a bunch of Singaporeans. Spread out, talk to new people and don’t worry too much if one of your friends gets bored and splits early for the next place. That’s what the game plan is for. Again, don’t be afraid to be in the moment.

6. Don’t Get Too Separated

As important as giving each other space is, the worst thing you can do in a pub crawl is to get too separated. Once this happens, the whole night becomes a frustrating exercise in phone tag and hide and seek. Give each other space to do your own thing, but keep one eye out for each other too. This is where signals come into play and a game plan and exit strategy become vitally important. A good idea is to never let yourself become separated by more than one venue at a time. So if you do see a friend split early for the next place, you don’t have to rush out after him but remind yourself to wrap things up at the current place sooner rather than later.

7. Don’t Mix

This is a general rule of thumb whenever you’re drinking but it’s especially applicable in a bar crawl, where different bars have different specialties and different deals. Do not mix Tiger beer with liquor. Just don’t do it. Unless, of course, you plan on the world ending before you have to wake up the next morning. But even before then, mixing can have disastrous consequences. If you start off mixing, chances are you’ll be vomiting in the street before you even get to the last place on your crawl.

Beerfest Asia Pub Crawl

8. Enjoy Yourself

Everything that’s already been said takes a backseat to this one golden rule. Enjoy yourself. Everything else should be in service to that one thing. All these other tips exist just to make sure that you get the maximum amount of enjoyment out of your crawl, and the moment any of them start to seem like work, it’s time to take a step back, relax and allow yourself to have fun. Do not make this harder than it has to be. Just use common sense, keep these helpful hints in the back of your mind, remind yourself to have fun and you’ll be fine.

8 things you should know about a Pub crawls are always a good time to hang out with good friends, to meet lots of new people and hey, you get to get drunk, which let’s face it helps to make anything a good time.