Back to Japan

I leave tomorrow morning. I've been planning this trip for a while, so here's the general idea: see some friends in Tokyo, spend some time with my host families from 1999 and 2004 in Nagoya, see some friends in Kyoto, and go down to Kyushu (Fukuoka and Nagasaki) for some sightseeing.

It's a packed trip, and I have a lot planned and a lot left up to chance. It should be a lot of fun.

I'll be gone from June 26th to July 12th. I'll be checking my email/websites sparsely, but, I will have my laptop with me and may be able to make an update. No guarantees, though.

Anyway, that's that. I need to get to sleep now. Night, and see you in a few weeks. KF

I'm Okay

First of all, I'm ok. After the DC Metro crash on Tuesday, I got a few calls making sure I was all right. I'm doing fine. For more information about the crash and people affected, however, I suggest the Washinton Post.

Now that that's settled...

Cricket Finale

   

(Source: Getty)

I'm a bit late on this, but anyway... The T20 World Cup of Cricket final was on Sunday, as Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka--two of my favorite teams (although admittedly, I greatly prefer Sri Lanka, and only begrudgingly support Pakistan when they seem to be in a downturn).

I'll keep this short, though. Basically, Sri Lanka chose to bat first (which was odd--I thought they'd have a better advantage batting second), and lost their most important batsman (Tillakaratne Dilshan) very early on for a duck. After that, it was a struggle just to put up a decent total--although they did just barely manage to keep competitive, thanks to Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews (surprising, as he's a bowler at the bottom-order of the batting lineup).

When it came time for Pakistan to bat, though, they were seriously on-point. Shahid Afridi expectedly carried much of the team, though the other batsmen carried their fair share. They managed to get an 8-wicket victory with 1.2 overs remaining by the end.

Now, I'm admittedly a bit disappointed since my favorite team lost--doubly so, since Sri Lanka (along with South Africa) were the only two undefeated teams--until the semifinals/finals of course. But Pakistan managed to shape up somewhere along the way and came back in perfect form. You generally don't see them put their every effort into a game except for the Pakistan-India matches (which I think the ICC T20 organizers were hoping for as the final, had India not lost thrice in a row and ruined their plans!).

Anyway, that's enough from me. I'm going to try and make a post Friday morning just before I leave for Japan. 'Til then. KF

First Half of Summer

So what've I been up to... In order of importance: I'm preparing for my trip to Japan week-after-next (more on that in a future post), I've been following the T20 World Cup in England of course, I've been watching a couple movies, and work has been getting busier.

I'll stick to the non-boring things for this update. Except the Japan trip; that needs a full post for it before I leave.

More Twenty20 Cricket

(Source: AP)

It never ends! Well, at least this year where the IPL is back-to-back with the T20 World Cup. Anyway, it's been pretty enjoyable so far. We're already at the semifinals, and some of my predictions have come to pass, while other things were totally unexpected. I'll just recap the main highlights:

• The first game was an 'upset', with the Netherlands beating England on their home turf. Unfortunately, that was the Dutch's only victory.
• Australia got knocked out at the group stage with two consecutive defeats! Ponting's disappointed look at the end of their loss to Sri Lanka was my favorite shot of all the group stage matches.
• Bangladesh continue to lose every match, even to Ireland. But whatever, I'll still cheer for them no matter what.
• The West Indies have been doing surprisingly well. Chris Gayle's their most valuable playet, of course, but their win against India proved that they don't need to rely on any one single player to win. (I didn't expect the West Indies to make it to semis.)
• India lost three consecutive games in the Super 8s stage and didn't make it to semifinals. What the hell happened? (I expected India to be one of the teams to make it to semis, though not the finals.)
• Pakistan's bounced back and the lack of practice in the IPL didn't hurt them any. Their bowling attack is still strong with Umar Gul, especially. (I didn't expect Pakistan to make it to semis.)
• New Zealand got hit with a different attack: several of their key players got sick or injured during the tournament. (I expected the Kiwis to be one of the teams to make it to semis, though not the finals.)
• Both Sri Lanka and South Africa have gone undefeated for the entire tournament. This was the only major prediction I made that came true: Sri Lanka's bowling is still strong, and South Africa's fielding is still (generally) great work. (I've been predicting a Sri Lanka vs. South Africa final match, and now that looks like a possibility.)
• The main loss, though? We went the entire tournament without a single India vs. Pakistan match. I think the organizers were trying to orchestrate it such that they'd face each other in the final.

Anyway, I've been lapsing on my movie reviews, so let me fit in a couple quick ones here...

Terminator: Salvation
Overall: satisfying post-apocalyptic action, better than T3, not as good as T2

Just the quick version here... Terminator 4 didn't really need to do much to keep my interest. I was expecting a good action movie with lots of fighting and explosions--I mean, it's Terminator, I'm not going for gripping drama. It definitely delivered, and then some. Plenty of action sequences, and, enough variety between them to keep things interested. (This is one thing that irritates me about some action films: when the fights look all the same--looking at you, Matrix Reloaded--it gets boring. If fighting is boring, you've failed.) Anyway, on that... They tossed in some new designs for robots, hunter-killers, early versions of terminators, etc.--the cycles and giant warmech were the most entertaining. They stuck with plenty of references to the first 3 movies, but subtly so that it didn't require seeing any of the predecessors. It definitely felt like a Terminator movie, just set in a post-apocalyptic world instead. Oh, and the cameo of Arnold Schwarzenegger's face was a nice add-on.

Enough on that. It should still be in theaters. If you have some time free, check out a matinee showing of it.

Up
Overall: Awww! Pixar never disappoints!

I'd almost written this one off when I saw the trailers. But, since I haven't seen a Pixar film yet that I didn't love, I went ahead and gave it a chance. And... wow. It's far better than I could've expected, and very, very endearing. I really can't describe it and do it justice... I mean, really, you have to see it. Oh, and... when we saw it, the theater was something like 50% children, but everyone was surprisingly well-behaved. No crying, loud talking, or anything (well, except for some sniffling at one part which was rather sad, so I can't fault anyone for that).

That's about it for now. I'll probably not post 'til next week, when I can talk about my upcoming vacation plans. 'Til then. KF

Strategy Lessons

Strategy is the theme of today's post... Weekend before last, one of my friends invited me to paintballing at AG Paintball Games out in Leesburg, VA. We were a total of 21 people, so we got to play against one another.

It was my first time trying this, but it was a lot of fun. I did learn a few things, though... (1) I'm a very good shot, (2) I'm not very good at avoiding being shot, and (3) Being good at strategy in video games doesn't translate into being good at strategy on-the-field. I do get now why some people are really into it, though. It's definitely fun, even if (like me) you're not very good at it.

Cricket Week - IPL Finale, and T20 World Cup Preview

I didn't get around to an update before the semi-final or final, as I said... Oh well. Anyway, Hyderabad, the Deccan Chargers, won the 2009 Indian Premier League. Interesting too, considering that in 2008 they were possibly the worst team in the league. This year, they managed to put their act together into a solid enough team to just barely make it into 4th place before the semi-finals, knock out the Delhi Daredevils, and win the final against the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

(Source: DLF/IPL)

In keeping with today's post's theme, strategy, and consistent strategy, was the big factor here. As I've mentioned, my favorite team is the Rajasthan Royals. They hit a groove in the middle of the tournament as captain Shane Warne learned how to best utilize his squad (particularly Yusuf Pathan), but they started faltering towards the end--they even lost to Kolkata. Meanwhile, Kolkata continued their pattern of having great players but piss-poor strategy: they put Ajantha Mendis (my favorite player) in only 3 games, and Mashrafe Mortaza (my favorite Bangladeshi player) in a total of one game. They had a bit of a luck at the end, but that was it. Delhi managed to be in perfect form for most of the tournament, but choked at the end--still haven't figured out what went wrong.

Anyway, enough on that. I really suggest you check out CricInfo's Page 2 for a much better, and more entertaining, summary of the last weeks of the IPL.

(Source: AP)

Many things throughout make you really realize how much of an international sport cricket has always been, and how it continues to be that way. You have the Indian Premier League, with many prominent players from Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, and the West Indies. It's being held this year in South Africa. And, they brought in cheerleaders from the United States (hey, we got to contribute something at least!). They pushed through the "Help Educate and Teach" initiative to support local schools, and ran a "Miss Bollywood South Africa" contest. Even the closing ceremony was pretty good. Akon performed... and Jacob Zuma gave a speech. *ehem*

All the high points even made up for some of the silliness with corporate placement ("DLF Maximum" for sixes, "Citi moments of success", and the "Fly Kingfisher fair play award). It got to the point of just being amusing by the end. All-in-all, it makes you wonder how good it would have been if it ended up being held in England instead of South Africa--I don't think there would've been near as much character to it.

But, we'll find out next week, when the 2nd T20 World Cup of Cricket begins! In 2007, they held the 1st T20 World Cup in South Africa; and in 2009, they'll hold the 2nd in England. So, we'll get a taste of how different it'll be between the two countries.

When the 2009 T20 World Cup begins, I'll try to make another post as sort of a preview of what's to come. 'Til then. KF

New Games, New Movies, New Matches

A few things happened the other day that delayed my planned post... So, I'll make this one on three topics: a new Lunar game for the PSP, first of my summer movie reviews with Star Trek, and the Indian Premier League.

Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star

   

As I've mentioned before, I'm one of the foremost experts on the Lunar RPG series. Well, just this week, Famitsuu announced a new Lunar game for the PSP--or, more accurately, a remake of Lunar: The Silver Star / Silver Star Story (the first 'story' created for Lunar) on the PSP, titled Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star.

So, this brings the total number of distinct versions to 4: TSS (Sega CD), SSS (Saturn/Playstation/Japanese & Korean PC), Legend (GBA), and now HSS (PSP). Yes, most people are sick of remakes, but many others are still thrilled that the series is definitely not dead (despite Lunar: Dragon Song, released for the Nintendo DS in 2005, doing so poorly).

So we've been abuzz with news of this since it broke. Here are some of the highlights:

• It'll be produced by GungHo Works, but developed by GameArts
• It's slated for a Fall 2009 release on the PSP; no word yet on an American release
• New storyline events will be added to the PSP remake

I've translated the original Famitsu article and posted that on LunarNET. For more information, check out the article:

LunarNET - Famitsuu on Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star

Star Trek
Overall: thrilling, enjoyable, and worthwhile for anyone--fan or no

Now, I've been a Star Trek fan since I was 10 years old. I grew up watching The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 is my favorite, and I'm one of the few who likes Enterprise. I also really like some, but not all, of the movies (notably Wrath of Khan, Voyage Home, Generations, and First Contact). So when I heard J. J. Abrams was directing a new Star Trek movie, involving the original Enterprise crew, I was definitely ambivalent. And by all rights I shouldn't have enjoyed it, but... it was really, really good, and I left the theater more than satisfied.

Spoiler-Lite Review:

The good:

• Action sequences--in space (the first 10 minutes with the USS Kelvin), on-the-ground, and in between (orbital skydiving!)
• The casting--particularly Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty
• How Spock, Bones, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekhov retained the best parts of their original character
• How Kirk, Spock, and Uhura got a much-needed upgrade to their characters
• Occasional lines and events that called back to the series ("Are you out of your damn Vulcan mind?", Sulu's hand-to-hand combat, Chekhov's trouble with Vs, the redshirt on the orbital skydive)
• Leonard Nimoy

The bad:

• The main villain, Nero, for being a genocidal monster on the order of Khan Singh, has really lousy motivations
• The interaction between Spock and Uhura
• Angle-shots and shaky-cameras. I hate these two techniques, yet why do directors insist on using them? I thought Battlefield: Earth proved how completely awful angle-shots can be.

The confusing:

• "Did that just really happen?"

Now, I saw it with two other people. One had little to no familiarity with Star Trek, and the other was, like me, a longtime Trek fan. All three of us really enjoyed it. So, if you don't know a thing about Star Trek, you'll have no problem following it and enjoying the movie all the same (they also keep it very light on the technobabble, and have basically excised all the elements of The Original Series that were rather... irksome). If you've been a Trek fan all your life, there's still plenty to love about this movie. And in either case, the bad doesn't detract enough from the good to keep you from thoroughly enjoying it.

Spoiler-Heavy Review:
(Just a warning: don't read this if you plan on seeing the movie and haven't yet.)

The more I think about it, the more I actually appreciate what J. J. Abrams did here. My guess is his thought process was something like this:

• If I make it overly 'true to the original', then there's no way to attract new fans
• If I branch out and do something totally new, then I piss of 40 years' worth of fans
• Since I'm not Gene Roddenberry, there's no way I can make it feel just like the original Star Trek
• So, I need a way to let me branch out, without being obligated to stay within the established 40-year history of the shows.

While the alternate universe / time travel deal is a bit of a trope, it ended up working brilliantly here in that it let the story take a completely different and unknown turn, without sacrificing the presence of the characters or similarity of events, and without disregarding the last 40 years. Bold move. And it paid off.

I do admit that I was upset when I first found out that time travel was a part of the plot this time. I'm really tired of time travel in Star Trek, since it forms way too common a plot device (...despite how I like both Enterprise and the First Contact movie). Reason being, time travel plots nearly always end with a "big reset button", where something disastrous happens, but by the end of the show/movie they've gone back in time and fixed it all. It's the sci-fi equivalent of a dream sequence.

Any Star Trek fan will tell you that, once Vulcan got destroyed (I said spoilers, didn't I?) they fully expected the crew to go back in time and undo those events before the end of the movie. And, when the Enterprise was about to get sucked into a black hole near the end, I fully expected them to go through the black hole, appear 25 years in the past, and undo everything that just occurred. So, imagine my surprise when the credits rolled, and I'm left thinking "Wait... Did that just really happen?"

Again, bold move. And I like how this has revitalized interest in the series. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more along these lines...

Cricket Week - Pt.2

More accurately, the last 2+ weeks of cricket, since it's been a little while...

   

(Source: DLF/IPL)

This post has gone on long enough, so I'll just summarize some of what's been going on in the DLF Indian Premier League as of late... The Rajasthan Royals aren't doing as well as they did last year, but at the very least they narrowly won a victory earlier today against the Mumbai Indians, and are now at #3 on the points table. The Delhi Daredevils, however, have been in outstanding form for this entire tournament: it appears they've learned to work together and put their talent to use. Unfortunately, the Kolkata Knight Riders are just like they are last year: lots of talent, but lousy at putting it all together into a workable team.

It should go to show you: it doesn't matter how good your players are--it matters how well they work together. You can see this with Rajasthan, how captain Shane Warne is constantly directing and encouraging the men on his team--which, I suspect, is how he manages to pull some great talent out of previously-unknown cricketers. Meanwhile, Kolkata has Ajantha Mendis, one of the greatest up-and-coming bowlers, and they've put him in something like 3 matches (out of 11) so far.

Anyway, the final is on May 24th. I'll try to make another update before the Semi-Finals, before the Finals, and after the entire tournament is over. ...if I'm lucky, I'll get 2 of those 3. 'Til then. KF

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