E3 2006 - Duong's Second Day - 5-10-2006

The hordes that are waiting for the Nintendo Wii

Stand in line to play a demo of any DS lite game and receive a complimentary DS lite case! (IMO, this was the best freebie at E3.)

A giant Sony PSP at the PSP booth.

Play your PSP in the train booth.

I think the girl on the left was the hottest booth babe there. o_0

Some reporter was interviewing these booth babes about their outfits. One of the girls is checking out her own boobs. o_0

Call of Duty booth babes.

BLIZZARD's World of Warcraft booth statue. His eyes were green and glowing.

The N-Gage booth. As you can see it was pretty empty. The booth babes were bored so they started dancing. How sad... nice booth though Nokia~

Exhibitors get to come in first, so I was already in the convention center... but when I stepped outside to go back to the 1UP booth, I was faced with this sea of people.

I like the girl on the right. What game was it for? Oh, that doesn't matter.

Hudson booth babes. I pick number 2 or number 3. :)

Trauma Center Booth babe. Some retarded G4 dude was interviewing and mocking her before I took this shot. What a jackass (the G4 guy).

E3 2006 - Duong's First Day - 5-9-2006

Outside the main entrance.

Another shot outside the main entrance.

A shot of Nintendo's Booth Babes (they were doing a roll call).

Unfinished Sony PSP booth. Some lady yelled at me because I took this pic. ~_~

Imagine walking through this. Cranes, machines, hot radiating plasmas and lights, plastic, it was like a warzone.

Wooooo... The OC and a Paris Hilton Game? (BTW, Paris will be here!)

Inside the hall... very empty.

Good God... Attack of MySpace

This sucks ass. I always wondered why people were so addicted to MySpace, now I know why! I am one of the recent victims that's been sucked into the evil downward spiral of MySpace addiction. This is not good for fansubbing... LOL.
Somehow I did manage to release IWGP episode 3. But it was a grueling battle between editing/typesetting and MySpace. In the end, IWGP came out victorious.

Anyways, add me on MySpace if you have an account there!
http://www.myspace.com/amrayu

See you guys there!

Fansubbing Slump

Wow, it's been awhile since I last updated this blog. Anyway, these days I don't feel like fansubbing anything at all. At some points I wonder to myself if this is worth it all. I wish there were more time in the day so I could get enough sleep, work, write, fansub, play games, read manga, read books... The list goes on and on. Did I mention that I also have a personal life to contend to?

For the past 2 weeks I've been running some back-end admin stuff for SARS-Fansubs. I would like to get back into subbing, but the drive is not there. I guess I'm feeling a little bit jaded with everything that's been going on in my life. When I visit D-addicts now, I have no desire to communicate with other members in the forums.

First you have the leechers that complain about everything from font size, font color, file size, resolution and everything else in between. Then you have the mini-moderator wannabes, that jump at all the newbies that visit the site. There's also the crazy kids that start 1,000 new threads a day--everything from your favorite color to what did eat today? To me this is all SPAM. I don't even care at this point anymore. Finally, there's the growing trend of fansub ego maniacs. Those that fansub for those stupid "Fansubber" banners. I think this is the cause of the increase in the "fast-food" mentality amongst leechers and fansubbers alike. End rant.
Maybe I'll get back into fansubbing today after work.

Travelogue Day 11: Farewell South Korea!

Day 11:
Well, it's my last day in S. Korea... and I feel a little bit sad that I'm leaving. I personally wouldn't mind living there. It's such a fun place to be at... technology runs rampant, millions of people cramming up every inch of the sidewalk, and buildings that stretch into the sky as high as I can see. I bid farewell to my friend's family, her mom, grandma, sister and dad. They liked me very much and told me to come back next year. My friend's mom said that she would pay for my plane ticket if I ever wanted to come back.
I wave to my friend through the glass window, when she saw me off at the security check in. But what do I do for another hour? Explore! During my exploration, who do I see again? Yup! Daniel Henney advertising for Daewoo cars. There was an actual life-sized cut out of him this time. I took some footage of the lamborghini-like sports car that Daewoo was featuring. (Will post pics or video later).
I still had a lot of time left to kill so I went to a book store... and I found Full House comics! My korean isn't that good yet, but I decided to buy the first 4 volumes in hopes of furthering my Korean, it was also cheap (3500 won per comic). But damnit, that means more store to lug back home.
Hm... more time to kill. There were a bunch of duty free shops that carried K-drama goods. I guess it's a last ditch effort to entice the Japanese fans before they leave to Japan. I saw Bae Yong Jun and Lee Byung Hyun calendars and A LOT of K-drama themed overpriced jewelry, cell phone accessories and key chain holders.
I finally board my flight but along the way there was this lady who was scared to get on the escalator to board... which was annoying and funny at the same time. Anyways, she held up the line and it irritated me.
For a straight 10 hours I have an asian movie marathon (Shinobi, April Snow, and a HK flick that had a cute actor). So, I'm jetlagged as hell right now. I wasn't so much jetlagged in Korea when I arrived though. But anyways, I'll be posting more pics during one of my late night insomnia/jetlag attacks.
All in all, it was a fun trip! I would recommend visiting S. Korea!

As you can see, I had fun! (I'm on the left)

Travelogue Day 10: Wax Museum at COEX mall

Day 10:
So, we finally wake up early enough to go to the COEX mall to see the Wax Museum exhibit today. Outside of the mall (I might have mentioned in my other COEX visit blog post) advertisements for Bean Pole with Daniel Henney (cutie from My Name is Kim Sam Soon) are everywhere! There's also an oversized cell phone that shows commercials of Daniel Henney and Kim Tae Hui. When we got to the mall, we were greeted at the entrance by 2 mascots! One was a monkey and the other was mouse or dog? But it's always fun to take pictures with mascots! I dunno the act of taking pictures with mascots makes me smile for some reason.
Caption: See what I mean! I'm beaming!

FUBU is pretty popular in S. Korea. It's kinda weird seeing asian people wearing FUBU, because from what I know FUBU is For Us By Us (for African Americans basically). But it seems like it's pretty popular despite the fact. We also walk by a comestics store called "Etude." Apparently, Song Hye Gyo is their main spokeswoman because her face was plastered all over that store and outside. Okay, I get the picture. LOL.
Anyways, on to the Wax Museum... outside of the exhibit, there's a wall covered with famous faces--which makes you believe that all of these featured people had wax exhibits in there... WRONG! I really wanted to see Jessica Alba but such false advertisement made me wanna cry. Ahn Jae Wook's (from Oh! Pil Seung) face was featured as well, but again false advertisement.

1. Me standing in front of a Song Hye Gyo Ad. 2. Me posing like Angelina Jolie (my belly isn't really that big! I stuffed my front pouch with a long wallet >_<). 3. Me with Abe Lincoln. 4. That's Nic Cage! You know he married a Korean girl. 5. Me with Jackie Chan (yah, doesn't look like him).

1. That's Bi! Notice his right hand, there's song fingers missing. (I'm guessing a rabid fangirl took 'em). 2. My sweetheart So ji sup. 3. Me kissing So ji sup! 3. Me with Jang Dong Gun 4. Me leaning against my dear Brad Pitt.

After the wax museum, we go to my friend's mom's bar and drink our asses off while helping out customers. Some drunkard friend of the mom's was infatuated with me and kept asking my friend about me in korean. He had won some money at the races and kept giving us money and buying drinks. Luckily, my night wasn't all spoiled by the drunkard... because the cute young korean boy came to say bye and help out also. Afterwards, we go out to karaoke and sing till our throats are hoarse. The nice lady gave us extra minutes, which was very kind of her because in the Oakland karaoke bars that never happens! While trying to catch a taxi back home, I see my first korean drunk fight between 3 ladies! LOL! It was an amusing thing to see, I should've took a picture but I didn't want them to see me.

Yay! A pic with the cute korean boy.

Travelogue Day 9: Young and Cute Korean boy

Day 9:
Today we were supposed to go to the wax museum exhibit at the COEX mall, but we woke up a little bit late and just went to my friend's mom's bar. But beforehand, we meet up with one of the workers from the bar and he shows us around this mini-department store called CT Lex (I forget the exact name). Interesting thing about korean department stores, every floor is something different and there's also a fast food floor and a grocery food floor! (I think it's the same in Japan also). Also the escalators going to other floors was flat, which I thought was unusual.

Since I work for a game site, my interest for games has increased so I was curious to see what games and prices they offered games at the department store. Boy! Koreans got it tough over there. A slim PS2 model with the bare necessities runs for roughly 249000 won ($249.00!) I just recently bought mine a couple of months ago for only $150! Another unusual thing is that the Nintendo DS isn't really popular in S. Korea. Because they only had 3 or 4 games for the DS out on display...
Well after our little tour of the department, we go to my friend's mom's bar, eat and hang out. And my friend invited her brother's friend to come. I didn't see any cute S. Korean boys during my trip yet, but I thought I hit the jackpot when he showed uP! He's across from So Ji Sup and some other actor that I can't put my finger on yet. His engRish was horrible but I had a great time flirting with him.

Travelogue Day 8: Changdukgung Korean Palace

Day 8:
Yippee! Today we get to go somewhere and I felt excited! Today's trek was to the ancient Korean palace named "Changdukgung" (I think that's how you spell it). The train ride was extra long but the entrance fee to the palace was only 3000 won (3 dollars). You would think that there wouldn't be any visitors but I was surprised to see over 20-30 people lining up for the Japanese tour of the palace. The english tour was a little smaller probably 15-20 people.
We had a funny little korean lady as our english tour guide. But I couldn't help stop laughing at her accent (it was across from a british accent and a korean one). Her intonations just sounded very strange.
I heard that some of the older style k-dramas shoot scenes at these old palaces! Anyways, it's better if I post pics of the actual castle rather than type something up about it.

After the tour, we headed back home but... along the way we see a korean clown! He was walking on stilts, performing balloon tricks and talked very funny! I'll be encoding some video and posting links here so you guys can see for yourself.

Travelogue Day 7: Trying new things is good

Day 7:
My friend is a little bit burnt out from taking me to places everyday, so we're on a break today. For lunch, we ate Korean-style pizza. The pizzas looked the same, but it tasted a little bit different. First, there's corn on the pizza. Second, the pizza sauce was a little bit bland but had a slightly sweet taste to it. Third, the pizzas came with a side of sliced pickles...that didn't taste so good. Our pizzas were delivered, and Koreans don't accept tips! (I remember another time when my friend ordered 3,000 won--$3.00 black spaghetti for me and the moped delivery guy didn't accept tips either. He also had to come back to pick up the bowls!).
Afterwards, my friend takes me to a mini-mall and we just look around for a bit till we head to her mom's bar again. Business was a little slow, so we head to the PC bang and play for an hour. After the hour was up, we went back to the bar and business got mad crazy. So, I decided to go back home by myself! With my limited Korean, some spare change, and a T Money card I head to the bus stop. I was a little bit nervous but luckily no one spoke to me (except for the random food stand guy that was passing out free roasted chestnuts to people). Yay!

Travelogue Day 6: Lotte World

Day 6:
Today, we head to Lotte World! The train ride is a little bit longer than usual and we have to transfer once or twice. Lotte is a big conglomerate here in Korea and in Japan. They mostly produce snacks (like candy, chips and soft drinks). But here in Korea, there are Lotte Marts, Lotte Malls, Lotterias (Hamburger joints), and Lotte World (a big indoor and outdoor amusement park)! Lotte World even has it's own mascots--Lotty (a male raccoon) and Lorry (a female raccoon). If you've watched Stairway To Heaven, then you've already seen a part of Lotte World! Many scenes were shot on location at Lotte World, like the ice rink, the merry-go-round and the famous wall painting.

I had a lot of fun riding on the Bungee Drop, the Loop, and Bumper cars. But my most favorite thing to do is to pig out on junk food! I ate a churro, cotton candy and Dippin' Dots in one seating. I'll have to work hard to lose this weight when I get back.
It was also exciting to be in the same place that Kwon Sang Woo and Choi Ji Woo shot Stairway to Heaven. And being a drama addict like most of you guys out there, I geeked out and took a dozen pics of the popular hot spots. Also when I was getting onto the carousel, I tried to grab the same horse that Kwon Sang Woo and Choi Ji Woo shot Stairway to Heaven studio promo pics. Unfortunately, some biAtch grabbed it before I could reach it. The carousel ride played the "3 little bears" song (the same one that is featured in "Full House").

I bought a Lotty themed hat which is the same as the Lotte World workers' and wore that the rest of the time there and on the train as well. And yes, I got some weird stares from people because of the hat. But I didn't care because I was tired and the hat kept me warm.

Last pic: I <3 Cotton Candy!