Check out my #ChallengeforChange idea and help me improve the lives of fellow Malaysians.

Check out my #ChallengeforChange idea and help me improve the lives of fellow Malaysians.

印象：遠い世界2012マレーシア

It all started when Yuki told me Distant Worlds is coming to Malaysia a couple of months back. WOW! Distant Worlds is coming to Malaysia? Hell yeah I'm going!

For those whom are in the dark, Distant Worlds is an orchestra concert series conducted by Arnie Roth, based on arrangements of music from Square-Enix's Final Fantasy series (mostly composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu). The concerts' music arrangement mostly follow the 20020220 concert held in Japan (that was conducted by Taizou Takemoto, performed by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra).

In a nutshell, the current concert is a mix of arrangements from Distant Worlds I, II and Returning Home, performed by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Az Samad as guitar solo, Dithyrambic Singers for the choir, Stephanie van Driesen for the solo vocals (soprano), Ho Chi Mei, James Long and Mak Chi Hoe as the soprano, tenor, bass opera solos respectively.

The musical journey kicks of with the all-important Prelude (a variation of "The Final Fantasy Song") you usually hear in most of the title background music in the FF series. Listening to the brief harp solo entrance really gives me the goosebumps - the experience is nowhere comparable to listening to FLAC recordings (or maybe just my DAC sucks).

This is immediately followed by FF8's overture - Liberi Fatali, accompanied by a variation of the FF8 overture FMV, with the choir performing remarkably, though voice texture a bit thinner than recording. The arrangement is exactly the same as the previous Distant Worlds concerts, except with a very slight variation in tempo and attack (performed by humans after all).

After a brief introduction by the composer, "the most important song" must be played - the classic Victory Theme 9 seconds short (not in any particular FF variation).

After that came the Final Fantasy 2010 Medley, a collection of music from the classic series (FF1, 2 and 3). This is very similar to the Final Fantasy 2002 Medley, with a few song replacements, notably the removal of Chocobo tune and introduction of more music from FF3, and the others which I couldn't recall with just a single pass of listening in the live concert. 

To Zanarkand from FF10 was very beautifully performed. You could witness how well it was performed by the wet eyes of my friend sitting beside me. =w=d

Epic Memoro de la Stono - Distant Worlds from FF11 was epic, the entrance by the choir was superb, though I have no idea what Latin gibberish they were singing. The first movement of this piece is one of my favourites of the entire concert. Stephanie's voice is slightly different from the recording (of course, they're different people; recording is sung by Susan Calloway, silly me)

No Distant Worlds concert is complete without Mr Desperado - Laguna Loir's battle theme - Man with the Machine Gun. No surprises here - it sounds very similar to the recording I listened N-times, except a bit of variation in placement of instruments and difference of timbre in the jazz drums (first music with jazz drums in this concert by the way).

Another classic from FF5, used in the NDS remake as the introduction music - Theme of Love, slowing the excitement down with a bit of romance, with FMVs from the NDS remake as the final icing on the cake, portraying Cecil's path as a Dark Knight towards Warrior of Light.

An unusual appearance of You're not Alone, a piece never before performed on previously, in place of the usual A Place Called Home (which I prefer more), both from FF9, caught me completely off guard.

Roth said we seemed to have missed something before the interval - Chocobos (!) and gave us Chocobo Medley 2010 (a mix of Chocobo theme from FF14 and Swing de Chocobo, said to be both Roth and Uematsu's favorite), with a cute and amusing animation of chocobos across the entire FF series.

After the 20 minute interval, the original opening of FF7, along with live performance of Opening: Bombing Mission is performed. To be honest, the percussions and brass did slack a little bit in this one. If you like this piece, I recommend listening to the recordings.

Dear Friends from FF5 came right after a brief introduction to the solo guitarist, letting the audience catch some breaths. Unfortunately the usual guitar timbre you get from recordings goes unnoticed with the hall's set-up (naturally). Az Samad played it safe by following the recording's style of playing faithfully.

The real deal is finally here - Vamo alla Flamenco from FF9, whereby Zidane played a mock sword fight on stage in attempt to please the queen. There was a bit of confusion between the solo and the rest of the orchestra, leading to a bit of dissonance due to going out of synchronization. Az Samad yet again, played it safe by following faithfully to the previous Distant World's recording, too faithfully, which in my opinion, was an inferior one compared to 20020220 concert - a few technical bars of the piece was mysteriously slowed down for no apparent reason, which in my opinion, sticks out like a sore thumb.

The only non-Uematsu piece in this concert, Lightning's battle theme - Blinded by Light from FF13, composed by Masashi Hamauzu was greeted by a roar of applause. To a usually infinite-loop battle theme, he orchestra arrangement gave it a twist in the ending,

I'm surprised by the sudden silence, with Roth staring at the screen and sudden audio output from the usually-mute video. An excerpt from FF8 in Deling, during the evacuation, followed by a battle sequence... and the orchestra came into life with the de-facto battle theme - Don't be Afraid took the audience into a high trance. I would've yelled "YEAAAHHHH" if I was allowed to do so. There was one thing missing in the orchestra though... A bag of rice or something that was in the recording.

We were greeted by another battle theme - Clash on the Big Bridge of FF6. Personally I don't quite like this piece, maybe it's just me.

Things then slowed down with Aerith's Theme from FF7, with summary of how Cloud met Aerith, up to her final moments in the shrine praying for the ultimate white magic. Don't worry, the "bad" scene was somehow censored. The piano was a bit too bright for this piece though.

Initially I thought Opera: Maria and Darco from FF6 was boring. The vocalists trio exceed my expectations - they were many times better than the dull and old sounding voices in the recordings. Kudos! Now I feel like playing FF6 (using an SNES emulator of course) =P

El-classico credits (similar to the original FF6 introduction credits) rolled as Terra's Theme (Tina's Theme in Japanese version) played in the background - a very nice touch to the usually boring credits indeed. This final piece marked the end of the concert... or not.

Roth hinted us with an encore piece of Sephiroth, but he played us (one of my favourites in Distant Worlds) Suteki Da Ne from FF10 instead. If you've listened to the vocal entrance sung by Susan in the recordings before, you wouldn't settle for anything less. Though Stephanie's rendition was very good, Susan still has my vote for this one.

What could be a more epic finale than One Winged Angel from FF7? Roth even invited the audience to sing (more like yell) "Sephiroth"! HELLL YEAHHHHHHH! It was so epic some girl sitting behind me start chanting the entire lyrics of this piece loud enough for me to experience surround sound. =w=d

So that pretty much wraps up Distant Worlds 2012 Malaysia folks! RM122 well spent, but I'll get a seat 5 rows or so behind next time (next year maybe?). 

Final note:
Don't trust public transportation in Malaysia - they close earlier than what they've published. If it weren't for munchkin, I'll be camping in KLCC for the night =w=d

Vsonic GR07 MK-II

Now that I’ve lost my last surviving earphone (an unauthorized ownership transfer, if you get what I mean), I’m no longer accompanied by my Westone 3. Still, a portable pair of earphones is needed, as bringing full-sized headphones out is a no-no for me.

Designed and manufactured in the land where most of our stuffs are made, Vsonic’s GR07 has a surprisingly good reputation in the audiophile community. Those who seek this pair of IEMs are mostly looking for the best bang-per-buck ratio available in the market.

In a nutshell, the GR07 is a dynamic IEM (as opposed to balance armature, or BA drivers gaining popularity lately). What makes it stands out from the rest is the use of bio-cellulose diaphragm, for increased sound quality, as well as its (patented) variable angle adjustable nozzle, for a better fit.

The MK-II (usually pronounced as mark two) is the latest product revision for GR07 – spotting cabling made out of 40 strands of silver (yep, Argentum) core for each of L/R channels, and 82 strands for ground.

Packaging

The GR07 MK-II comes in a minimalist white box (ala Japanese products). What’s interesting is it came with a self-sealing synthetic leather carrying bag, in place of a zipper pouch in the previous version.

The bag is generally more preferred over a pouch due to its ability to fit inside any standard sized pocket, in exchange for lower protection of the contents inside.

The GR07 MK-II comes with a generous amount (15 pairs) of ear tips, which one of them is Comply foam, and 3 pairs of hybrid foam-filled silicone eartips (interesting…)

Build

The jack a standard L-shaped gold-plated 3.5 mm TRS jack with strain reliefs. One must be extra careful with L-shaped jacks as putting it inside your trousers would strain the cables.

The silver cables are insulated with soft silicone, which doesn’t seem to offer much protection against tugging and other kinds of physical torture. Extra care is advised when handling the earphones (bah, I broke even Kevlar wrapped cables last time, boo-hoo).

Sound

Now, to the interesting part of this review – the sound. At the time of writing, I have yet to complete the recommended 300 hour burn-in, so the following perceptions might vary with a pair of fully burnt-in GR07 MK-II.

The sound stage is kind of standard for an IEM, slightly bigger than Westone 3 in my opinion, but definitely a no-match to a pair of full-sized headphone.

Treble extension is surprisingly good for IEM of this price (less than 1/2 the price of Westone 3, just to let you know), I do not perceive any difference in extension when compared to (my memories of QwQ) Westone 3 -  the highest of highs are finely reproduced.

The only complaint I could give to the treble response is the instability when it comes to the sound of crashing cymbals – they are very harsh and grainy to my ears. “Sibilance” is perhaps the term that I should coin here.

The mids are very smooth with just the right amount of clarity, making this pair of earphones perform exceptionally well in vocal tracks. No complaints here!

Good extension is achieved in the bass, the GR07 MK-II is able to deliver the deepest of bass without a hitch. As for bass quality, “natural” is what I put it – not as tight as most BA drivers which lacks the timbre of good ‘ol bass, but all within good control.

Bass-heads will probably not be satisfied with the bass quantity, as this pair of earphones is designed with neutrality in mind, which is a good thing especially when listening to classical instruments. For a phatter bass response there is always an EQ away, anyways – as the GR07 MK-II will not fail to deliver if you really demand it.

Conclusions

“No surprises” is what I would give if you ask me for a verdict. It’s definitely a good pair of earphones – cheaper ones like Fischer Audio Silver Bullet would not even come close in terms sonic accuracy, but then again, they’re just around 1/3 of the price of GR07 MK-II =P

For a pair of IEMs at half the price of Westone 3, it came with only one drawback related to sibilance, I would say it really gave an awesome bang-per-buck ratio.

Recommended.

シフト！

No, it doesn’t necessarily go faster when you step harder on the gas pedal, unless you’re (a lucky kid) driving an automatic or simply afford a kick-ass engine.

On a 1.1 ton body equipped with a very modest 1.3 litre powerhouse, shifting technique could make it between totally un-drivable to a arguably fun-to-drive machine.

Driving an ICE requires gradual shifting, jumping queues (unless you know what you’re doing) will not get you anywhere and might even stall it.

Driving with the throttle wide open, unless in very specific conditions, will not go any much faster than an optimized throttle, but burns fuel like igniting a bucket of petrol.

There are two types of shifting techniques – early shift and power shift.

(all techniques are based on Mitsubishi 4G13 SOHC EFI on a 1.1 ton chassis)

Early Shift

This is the most economical way of shifting, suitable to be used in city driving conditions where it is unnecessary to accelerate rapidly. It exploits the low RPM torque of the ICE, right before the torque dip.

Basically has the following mappings on flat terrain:

1. 0 – moving slightly
2. moving slightly – 30 km/h
3. 30  – 40 km/h
4. 40  – 50 km/h
5. 50 km/h and beyond

In the case of congested traffic, reduce all numbers by 5 km/h.

Power Shift

This is to get you moving as fast as possible, suitable for sprinting from toll booth into the highway and overtaking. It is also the most fuel inefficient method (besides bad shifting).

Mapping on flat terrain:

1. 0 – 40 km/h
2. 40 – 60 km/h
3. 60 – 80 km/h
4. 80 – 100 km/h
5. 100 km/h and beyond

Throttle Levels

For congested traffic, keep your throttle at 10% or less. 20% throttle for city driving and normal highway acceleration. 50% throttle in highways if you don’t plan to burn your pocket. If you reach 80% throttle and you’re below 4000 rpm, you’re doing it wrong. 100% throttle when you’re doing it at near redline at 5th gear.

Increase throttle only when you feel the RPM is rising with the opening of throttle (responsive). If it doesn’t (sluggish), either keep your throttle that way (if you’re comfortable with the speed), or try downshifting (if you’re trying to accelerate).

Additional Notes

Shifting and throttling heavily depends on the vehicle. My numbers are based on everyday commuting of 100 km for a year while monitoring the fuel consumption.

Beyerdynamic DT 880 PRO

Once upon a time I ordered for a modified pair of Fostex T50RP (Thunderpants) from Smeggy. A year later it was still nowhere to be seen, and Smeggy vanished from the depths of the Internet.

To-date, all that is left in my earphone collection is my trusty Westone 3, which survived multiple cable breakages. It was time to search for a Thunderpants replacement, until it arrives (or not).

In the end, a good deal caught my eye - a brand new pair of Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro (250 ohm version), with GoVibe Peak desktop amplifier selling cheaper than what I paid for my Westone 3 last time. A quick search on Google suggested this pair of earphone was once the top 3 gems before the era of Sennheiser HD800 series.

Packaging

The DT 880 PRO came with a soft padded case, a very long (3 metres) coiled cable, and convertible (3.5 mm <-> 6.35 mm) gold-plated TRS jacks. A "just-nice" package, nothing too fancy.

Build

The pads are made out of soft fabric, probably filled with some sort of soft sponge. Unlike leather, the pads are quite breathable, so wearing it for extended periods will not cause discomfort due to heat build-up.

The weight of the headphones leans slightly towards the heavy side - they can not be worn in a manner that will not mess up your hair. The (also padded) upper band must sit on top of your head; choice, there is not.

Sound

When paired with the GoVibe amplifier, the DT 880 PRO sounds strangely similar to Westone 3 in terms of brightness, resolution and bass extension, except the fact that being a pair of full-sized headphones, it has a wider and deeper sound stage.

The only complaint I have for Westone 3 regarding the highly congested sound, as if the sound of everything being forcibly pushed into your head, does not apply in the DT 880 PRO. Music sounds more relaxed, more spacious, more natural, leading to a more pleasing experience when listening to heavy rock music.

As I am used to the sound signature of the Westone 3, treble and mid-range on the DT 880 PRO are no stranger to me. The bass on the DT 880 PRO however, is not as tight as what is on the Westone 3 - but this does not mean it is loose - on the contrary, everything about it ranging from the extension, the speed, the impact feels just right, while bass on the Westone 3 could be a bit too dry and sterile sometimes.

For the bass configuration on the GoVibe, it is in my opinion not recommended to provide additional bass to the DT 880 PRO - unless your music is so badly recorded till you need boomy bass to drown the noise.

The use of amplifier is highly recommended for (shitty) sources like the iPod Touch - the infamous bass-shy signature of iPod touch is effectively eliminated with the GoVibe. As for portable devices with decent amplifiers such as the Samsung GT-I9000 (Galaxy S), the use of external amplifier is optional if you have the Voodoo Sound driver.

 

Being a semi-open headphone, the noise isolation capability of DT 880 PRO is negligible. Furthermore, sound would definitely leak out, giving a false impression you are listening to music at very high volumes (which might disturb people around you).

Conclusions

The Beyerdynamic DT 880 PRO is a good buy - definitely better than *cough* Beats Audio *cough* in terms of sound quality and value, but falls short in the fashion department. For me, I wear my IEMs when I'm on the move, while leaving the bulky headphones at home or office - so I have no problems wearing a pair of headphones even if it is designed after a toilet bowl.

23歳まで

Today marked the end of my 22nd year since I joined the ranks of the earthlings.

Throughout my 22nd year in this world, there were many little, yet important milestones made, and I figure now is the time I list them down permanently into the persistent fabric of the Net.

 

June 2011 – MDeC Undergraduate Training

This is a government-sponsored soft + technical skills training for undergraduates, which I think was very inspiring and somehow showed us a glimpse of what we’re capable of.

 

July 2011 – [First Time] Got Spoon-fed by a Girl :P

It was Bryan and Joseph’s idea. I’m innocent, really :3

 

August 2011 – [First Time] Road Trip with (only) Friends

Including the camera man (shown below), the lamest possible combination of friends you could possibly find. The result? Awesome time :D

 

August 2011 – [First Time] Hiking with Friends

And this is the origin of the awesome photo above. Met with two tan chi gui (shown below) that later on became a big chunk of my life.

 

September 2011 – [First Time] Officially Joined a Company

My first full-time job – as a software engineer. First time working in Cyberjaya too :3

Learned quite a lot during the course of working in this company, especially on smart card and government multi-purpose card as well as their related technologies.

 

October 2011 – Graduated with First Class Honours

Got selected to present a short speech in front of 2011 KBU-SHU graduates.

 

November 2011 – [First Time] Road Accident

Had my first accident during a heavy downpour between Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. Got fined RM 300. Moral of the story: drive slow when it’s raining – you’ll never know if there’s a pool of water right in front of you.

Well, that was the only moral of the story, before I got rammed from the back on the next day by another car while my (mom’s) car was perfectly stationary during a jam in LDP.

 

December 2012 – [First Time] Beijing Business Trip

Went on a business trip with boss to Beijing to finalize system designs with China counterpart. No time to go for sightseeing, yet still a very fruitful trip :D

 

December 2012 – [First Time] Wrote Software for the Government

Wrote MyKad initialization and personalization SDK for JPN. Besides that, setup and deployed the new MyKad KMS, and conducted my first UAT with JPN.

 

January 2012 – [First Time] Baked a Pizza

Though there were numerous attempts of baking something before this, this was one of the first attempts of baking unassisted (there was cookie, but I’m too lazy to post that) :P

 

January 2012 – [First-Time] Earning Bragging-Rights on the eGenting Programming Competition

Sweet, sweet victory… Finally.

 

February 2012 – Second Prize in IBM Smart Cloud Camp

Accidentally drank invisible potion on that day.

 

March 2012 – [First Time] Being on TV (Animax)

Attended Animax Carnival 2012 and got interviewed (along with Shi Hao) by Animax. I was told we made it on TV, but I didn’t get to watch it myself. Aaaand no, that’s not me inside the Beelzebub costume.

 

March 2012 – [(Might not be) First Time] Publicly Humiliated Myself

… by playing Microsoft Kinect in a shopping mall.

 

May 2012 – [First Time] Birthday Cards from Friends

I had fun on that day. The card and cake were super-awesome too :D

You guys are awesome ;’D

 

25th May 2012 – [First Time] Celebrated Birthday with Colleagues

And our admin lady’s birthday falls on the same day. Happy birthday Habibah!

Thanks guys :D

バカチキ

Saw a dog lying helplessly beside LDP this morning. It was impossible for it to cross the road without getting rolled over by an incoming vehicle. This is not the first time I see dogs lying beside the highway.

Though, this is indeed the first time I see a collared dog brought into this terrible fate caused by human civilization.

Every time I see a dead carcass on the road, I think of how human civilization has impacted the living things around us.

But then again, I didn’t stop my car and carry the dog to safety. The thought came across my mind, but overcame by selfishness – worry about my time, worry about my own safety.

Have I lost my humanity?

The words I speak have been missing emotions. The things I do have no soul. I feel like I’m losing the human in me, turning into a cold machine.

A life without dreams, without aims, without directions…

Am I losing myself?