Tuesday, December 02, 2008

-- Nokia N97

N96 was never meant to be Nokia's flagship phone with its mediocre feature upgrade from N95, always sitting on a wobbly throne.

At last, Nokia unveils the "dethroner" - an N series ofcoz, S60 5th edition (touch screen os, like 5800 Xpress Music), and a slide-out keyboard.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Now THIS, is the introduction that should have been, for a Nokia touchscreen. Not like the crappy 5800 ones.



I like the fact that Nokia chose the path of making the main screen a desktop-like experience, with its widgets (clock etc) and to do stuffs, more like Windows Mobile than say, the rows of icons of iPhone.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

As an N series, you can expect the usual stuffs (and better) since N95. So i won't bother mentioning all of them. Notable ones however are...
  • 360 x 640 pixels, 3.5 inches, 16M colors touchscreen
  • Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
  • 32 GB internal memory
  • 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9-18.3 mm
  • 150 g (beefy as expected)
To be release on 2009, Q2.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Full specs at >> http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n97-2615.php

And... ofcoz, some pre-prepared "hands-on" video...

-- Mapple

The Simpsons' latest episode parodied everything Apple - from Steve Mobs, to Mipod, Mytunes, Myphone... and their legion of fans. It's so true till i have to smack...





The screen crash is a parody of Apple's own Mac ad, back in 1984...


The irony is, Apple really does have a legion of mindless humans now, who suck up everything Apple... oh, what a dream come true.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

-- YouTube widens (Edit: Nov 27)

YouTube videos now display in widescreen (16:9) aspect ratio. To be precise, it's 640x360 resolution (thought the height might be resized to fit the original video's height).

[On another note, there's also a HD 1280x720 resolution version for a while now. NO, it's not HQ, it's much better. And clicking on the HQ link won't get you this either. More info on this at the end.]

About time I'd say, black bars at the top, and too much wasted empty space at website's sides. But to tell the truth, most videos still aren't widescreen (esp home videos). But professionally produced videos like movie trailers, game trailers, n most animes are in widescreen now... so it's better to move on.

Announced here >> http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=0i22UDAOfj8

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

But one more thing... the embed code still defaults to 4:3 aspect ratio. shakehead
So... what to do but manually adjust them... though it's not exactly 16:9, hehe.

And to commemorate this, i've digged out these 4 MVs that are available in HQ.

02 给我一首歌的时间 (Spare me a song's worth of time)

This one reeks of Usher... ugh. But his moves were smooth and the song itself is my favorite. Female lead is the same one from 阳光宅男 (Sunny Otaku).

03 蛇舞 (Snake dance)

The "Queen" is Lara from 南拳媽媽. Also duet-ed with Jay in 珊瑚海 (Coral sea). I expected this video to be "hotter"... oh well. Check out the "蛇" character when it appears at the beginning and the end... haha, very cute.

06 说好的幸福呢 (Where is our promised happiness?)

Poor female lead had to run around barefooted in the cold weather (a storm was approaching when the filming of MV took place). Gotta love the decos around the piano.

11 稻香 (Paddy fragrance)


And so far only 01 龙战骑士 (Dragon Warriors), 04 花海 (Flower ocean) and 08 流浪诗人 (Wandering poet) are left without MVs. The others are readily searchable at YouTube.

Check out...
  • 05 魔术先生 (Mr. Magician) and 10 乔克叔叔 (Uncle Joker). They are "back to back" MVs, since these two follow the Magician vs Joker theme, and share the same stage in the MV, literally. Watch Jay flirt with chicks in 乔克叔叔 and also dressed up as a clown, swinging around.

  • 07 兰亭序 (Preface to the Orchid Pavilion) is a disappointment from 青花瓷 (Blue and White Porcelain), 发如雪 (Hair like snow), and 东风破 (East wind breaks) due to its simplicity. White background!! Simple sets!!? nooo...

  • 09 时光机 (Time machine) is another interesting one. Featuring the main characters from Doraemon (except the robotic cat himself) and the drawer time machine. VERY cute!!

YouTube HD

To link to a video that is HD 1280x720, just append "&fmt=22" to the end of a YouTube link. And for those who don't know yet, add "&fmt=18" to link to HQ.

For example...
Some notes though...
  • Most videos aren't 1280x720 ofcoz, adding "&fmt=22" won't give u HD, and it will default to the low quality ver.
  • Watch these videos fullscreen!!!
  • Older processors might struggle with playing these videos.
Below is an embedded Mobile Suit: Gundam 00 OP in HD (same video as the 3 links above). Let it load, then play it in fullscreen.



Just look at the Japanese characters when fullscreened, they don't lose any details at all. It looks better than normal divx/xvid .avi version. THIS, is the result of using H.264 codec.

And how about... zombies...? Left4Dead's AWESOME intro movie from the game itself, in HD. Turn off the lights, plop in your headphones, watch it full screen!!!!



Oyeah.

Friday, November 21, 2008

-- Lil update on myself

Got lazy to update for a while... since there's just so many things to do during the holidays... tongue


Reason 1, Company of Heroes: Gold Edition (which includes the expansion).
Original... and... only Rm39.90!!??

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

You don't get it this cheap anywhere else!! Even on Steam it's $29.90.
It's only 1 year old, and it's one of the best RTS out there... can't get any better than this.

The distributor for this is Replay Interactive, a Singapore company. How did they managed to convince THQ to reduce it to this price is a wonder to me...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Have it delivered to you by...
PC Game.com >> http://www.pcgame.com.my/product_info.php?products_id=2243&osCsid=1c1688d0fdea76ca569f998bc5e239be (where i bought) or
The Software Boutique >> http://www.tsb.com.my/product.cfm?id=522


Reason 2, Left 4 Dead.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usA zombie apocalypse game, where you and 3 other mates (AI or real human) wade and gun through zombies to get rescued.

The DEMO itself is already so addictive that i managed to clock lots of hours a day from it's 7-day only demo release. The co-op online play is just amazing...

From the makers of Half-life - VALVe.

But the actual team amongst VALVe that developed it is Turtle Rock Studios, i think, which are the original makers of Counter Strike.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
The 4 Survivors. Bill, Louis, Francis, and Zoey.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Back facing a wall is better than back getting ripped by zombies...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Zombie "boss" - Witch.
Nicknamed - emogirl, coz you can hear her weep when approaching... together with creepy music.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Zombie "boss" - Hunter.
Leaps from faraway and pins you down, and rips your guts out... literally.


Reason 3, I'm designing a new look for this blog tongue. About time.

Friday, November 07, 2008

-- Windows 7 (edited Nov 9)

Windows 7 is the next windows after Windows Vista, which will probably be available late 2009 or early 2010.

If you're thinking it's too soon for a new one, it's just that the period of development till the release of Vista from XP took too long (7 years). Try thinking back to the Windows 95-2000 era... oh yeah.

So what's to be excited about Windows 7? Think Windows Vista done right, not Vista SP3 (Vista SP2 will be released next year). Lots of juicy details was revealed about the next Windows at PDC 2008 (Professional Developers Conference).

Images taken from:
Neowin's PDC coverage >>
http://www.neowin.net/news/category/live/pdc (videos too) and
Paul Thurrott's Windows 7 previews >>
http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/



If you're expecting heavy visual changes like XP to Vista, then no, it's not happening. Windows 7 is mainly focused on polishing up Vista on the surface, as Vista already brought major changes under the hood too (which brought many compatibility issues).



Revamped Taskbar and Notification Area (system tray)

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

As you can see from the image above, the major visual (and usability) change is the taskbar in Windows 7. It's thicker, and uses icons only, and comes with an improved system tray.
  • From a purely Windows user perspective, the new Taskbar is some sort of a Quick Launch + classic Taskbar + group similar taskbar buttons combined.
  • For Mac OS users, the new Taskbar works like a Dock, but with a very well thought out window previews (improvement from Vista) as you will see later.
    (to be more specific, there are no widgets and magnify ofcoz)
  • For Linux users, the thickness makes it looks very much like KDE... and the similarity ends there, lol.
While i myself STRONGLY prefer the old taskbar (cause i can see all open windows at once with text), there's lots of nifty addition to it that make things better.

Edited: 9 Nov. Partly as a reply to WenDi,

Just to show how un-docky the taskbar is (it's dubbed the Superbar now actually), here's how it can look like.

Small icons, with text labels. You wouldn't notice it's the new taskbar wouldn't you?
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Other than the window previews, there's a progress bar integrated into the icon "box" too.
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Definitely not a blatant dock copy.



Start button and menu

Let's take a look from left to right, starting with the Start button and menu.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
The Start button gets some animation. The 4 colors actually "glows out" when moused over (there's a video of this later under Jump List).

In Windows 7's Start menu, you can now add your own shortcuts to the RIGHT SIDE (the blackish transparent part), like Videos for example (which went missing in Vista).

The Search function in the Start menu now displays the results in the whole Start menu, instead of just at the left side in Vista.



Taskbar icons

And to (simply) clarify the next few icons to the right. Icons without borders sit at there like Quick Launch shortcuts. But once started up, there is a border to indicate it is a running application (akin to the blob under the icon in a Dock).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
And in a case of multiple opened windows, the border becomes layered as seen directly above. And in Internet Explorer's case, multiple tabs.



New Window Previews

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Here are the window previews brought over from Vista (which is one of Aero's features), but improved upon.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usSince windows from the same application are grouped together now, there is a need to differentiate them from the taskbar.

>> In Vista, if "group similar taskbar buttons" is used, when you hover your pointer, you get this stacked thumbnail (seen on the right). Which is useless and makes it hard to manage the grouped windows (and why i don't use this option).

In Windows 7, there are multiple previews as seen above. And to differentiate more, there are text labels above the preview. AND... the thumbnails are there to be clicked on.

And as you can see at the example above, it's Internet Explorer (IE8 to be exact) with multiple previews, and those previews are taken from IE8's opened tabs, not because of multiple IE8 running. Nice integration... which hopefully Firefox can make use of. (though i question what will happen if there are more than 10 tabs opened, which is normal these days).

These certainly eased my worries of ditching trusty old taskbar into something dock-ish... which IMHO, is more suitable as a application launcher only. And well... it gets better than this!!! a continuation of Window Previews below...



Window Previews with Aero Peek

In Vista, Aero was clearly underused (the most useful being the live previews). With Aero Peek, Microsoft made good use of transparency together with the window previews. Which is...

Pausing over the thumbnail brings the window forward. Ofcoz, best explained through the video, below.



Really well thought out i must say.



Jump List

A new feature to Windows 7 is Jump List. Jump List contains commonly used features or in Paul Thurrott's words "commonly-needed actions that are associated with the object you're clicking".

Windows 7 -savvy apps (like WMP12 down there) are able to put in more specific applications task while non-savvy ones still get a default list of actions. I'll have to see how this one turns out for normal apps.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

To pull up a Jump List, just right click on an icon. Jump List are also available at the Start menu (it expands into the right side of the Start menu) and System Tray too. Take a look at the video below.





Taskbar Colored Hovering

And adding on some subtle difference when hovering over the icons...



Pretty cool.



Windows Media Player thumbnail toolbar

Less reason to bring up WMP, but useless for those already using WMP taskbar toolbar and those that don't use WMP.



I'm hoping Microsoft allows other applications to add in this kind of feature.

Though if you can't wait for Windows 7, you can shuffle the buttons NOW with this free app here >> http://nerdcave.webs.com/taskbarshuffle.htm. Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/95/98 supported.



Taskbar buttons sorting allowed (at last!!)

You can now sort the icons around according to your liking. I thought I would be able to sort around taskbar buttons in Vista... pfft... it's a wonder how this feature didn't struck Microsoft's mind earlier.

Though if you want sorting of taskbar buttons are tray icons NOW, grab Taskbar Shuffle >> http://nerdcave.webs.com/taskbarshuffle.htm



Notification Area improvement

[The official name for system tray is Notification Area... believe it. But for the sake of familiarity (myself included), i'll use system tray instead.]


Since connecting to a network is very much a part of our lives now, there's now a Jump List for quickly connecting to a network instead of needing a new window to select.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Also, to clamp down on system tray icons cluttering the taskbar. There's only 4 icons by default - Action Center (new to Windows 7, which is used to troubleshoot problems), Power, Network, and Volume. New icons are not displayed by default.

The option to change the behaviour is at "Control Panel > Notification Area Icons", where you can choose to - Show icon and notifications, Hide icon and notifications, and Show only notifications. You can also choose to display all icons as before ofcoz.

I'm liking this. Check out the short video below.






Desktop Gadgets

Vista's Sidebar is no more, and all the Gadgets are dropped on to the desktop straightaway (not that you can't pull the gadgets out of the Sidebar and on to the desktop already using Vista). Good riddance. Sidebar eats up too much precious workspace... but i still won't use it even if there's no Sidebar.

Windows XP users who want these kind of gadgets on their desktop can use Avedesk.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

But to tell the truth, I wish Microsoft could've given a choice to hide gadget in another layer, like Mac OS's Dashboard. And Dashboard sure could use an option of leaving the gadgets on the desktop.

Now that the gadgets are at the desktop, there's a new feature to "peek into the desktop". Just mouse over the vertical rectangle beside the time and date...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

...and the opened windows goes transparent. Click on the rectangle, and it'll "Show Desktop".

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Just a fancy way show the desktop, but i think it's less jarring to have the window borders still there just take a peek, as opposed to Win-key + D keyboard shortcut.

Peek into Desktop in action...



I wish the fading animation would take longer so that it's less jarring.




And at here, i got lazy to write the other new stuffs coming to Windows 7, like...
  • new "My Documents" which will be called Libraries (e.g. Pictures Library, Videos Library), together with the new Homegroup for easier file sharing across a network.
    (Yes, it'll be a pain in the arse for those who just learned Vista's folder structure)
  • Device Stage, so that I don't have to use NOKIA PC Suite anymore.
  • new lightweight WMP12,
  • improved and added features for Calculator,
  • Wordpad and Paint gets the ribbon called Scenic Ribbon, like Office 2007.
  • Native multi-touch support and also improved hand writing recognition (think writing down a calculation and it'll calculate for you), which will give more power to tablets.

very excited about it already.



Snap to Side

Talking bout native multi-touch support, there's this really useful feature called snap to side that is demonstrated together with touch in this video.



If it's not clear enough, this is what happened - drag a window to the top of your display, and it maximizes ; drag a window to the left of the display and it "docks", eating 50% of your screen ; drag to right, and it'll eat away the other 50%.

Really useful in some work related scenarios.



Aero Shake

And there's this little feature that wasn't demonstrated at all at PDC 2008...
Grab an active window, give it a shake, and all other non-active windows will minimize away. Hopefully there's a keyboard shortcut for this like Mac OS.



And as you can see in the video, you can have text beside the new bigger taskbar icons too, once launched.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

-- F***king click!

Looks like dumping dedicated buttons on the new MacBooks was a bad idea. Some people are reporting that the click is not registering, or it being inconsistent.

I myself thought it was brilliant having such a huge touchpad... but meh... i was wrong.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

>> http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/05/apple-probably-prepping-a-patch-for-mysterious-clicking-issue/

On the other hand...

Justin Long at a table with piles of cash on it.
MAC: "I'm sorting out my finances. Mock Vista, mock Vista, mock Vista... fix launch problems. Mock Vista, mock Vista, mock Vista"
PC: "It seems everything you've launched this year has had problems."
MAC: "You're right - I'd better put it all into mocking Vista"

[Justin Long is the Mac guy in the Mac vs PC ads if you didn't know. Joke from a poster at Engadget. Brilliant one i say]

Monday, November 03, 2008

-- Thank Glock!?

YEAH YEAH YEAH!!! Hamilton brought it home!!! And he's the youngest driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship!!!

[Two edits done to this post after initial post]

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Seeing the Ferrari pit crew celebrating thinking Massa won was a big LOL!!! Poor mechanic had to break the news to them.


[grabbed from a forum tongue ]

Why did they? Cause it was REALLY CRAZILY intense during the last moments...
  • Everything looked fine for Hamilton to bring it home in the last 5 laps until the stupid ****ing rain came down. (he's in 4th place, while 5th place is all he need to win)
  • Then came the decision to change to wet tyres or not.
  • The front runners switch to wet... except Timo Glock (who was at 7th or 8th, i forgot), which put him in 4th and made him mixed in with the front runners.
  • Hamilton's position became 5th with Sebastian Vettel very very close behind.
  • Hamilton can't find the grip in his car and Vettel passed him!!!!! (shit moment for me)
    [based on this report >> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article5069249.ece, it was the team that actually asked Hamilton to let Vettel through, as they had predicted that Glock would slow down, WHAT A GAMBLE!!]
  • And everything came to an end for McLaren fans with 2 more laps to go... (NOT!)
  • Massa passed the finish line in 1st place and with the WDC in his hands... for a moment.
  • Timo Glock was slipping around with dry tyres in wet conditons.
  • Hamilton and Vettel passed through Glock at the last corner.
  • Hamilton wins the WDC in 5th place!!!!
The championship switched hands in the last few seconds... OMG. My heart was seriously pounding.

Catch all the action through this video, which is right after the pits with Hamilton still in front of Vettel... (Ferrari pit crew and Massa's family celebration included)
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkdvj42Ss54

And the funny thing is...
  • Sebastian Vettel didn't know his position when he was passing Hamilton... and the consequences ofcoz.
  • Hamilton didn't know he won the WDC when he passed the finish line.
And to point things out further
  • Glock didn't do Hamilton a favor, but his "stay-out-in-dry-tyres" strategy gave some last hopes of Massa winning actually.
  • Glock would be the next to last person that would help Hamilton. Think Alonso-Hamilton's relationship... Alonso being the last person to help Hamilton..
And right at the end, Hamilton lined up behind Jensen Button's Honda which was catching fire but no one came to put it out... what a finale... lol.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Oh ya. I woke my mom up at about 3am with the shouting...

Thursday, October 30, 2008

-- BigDog Beta

Still remember the rather creepy but amazing quadruped robot - BigDog? If not, here's a reminder how cool it balances itself in complex terrains and situations.



How did they manage to do that? Let's take a look back at BigDog Beta, with some early testing footage.



Pretty amazing isn't it? hahaha. Check out RHex, also by Boston Dynamics... feisty little thing it is.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

-- Mac vs PC : Musical

While Apple's "Mac vs PC" ads serve to fuel the fanboys war, how about a musical... yes, musical, that brings a message of "What can't we just get along..."

Beware of heavy gore before cuddles... NSFW.





Though admittedly, amongst the 3 new "Mac vs PC" ads, these 2 are rather funny... haha




(this one is kinda ironic actually, think about it)



Those 2 above are direct attack at Microsoft $300 million ad campaign... featuring these 3 ads below. 300 million!! yeap, hence the 2nd ad above. And try to listen out for the word "Vista" in the 3 ads below... lol.


(clearly, this ad in itself is to counter Apple's earlier "Mac vs PC"ads)

The next two ads feature, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld (which aired earlier than the one above). There's no clear message from these Seinfeld ads though, interpret them as you see fit... but they are kinda funny in itself (if Seinfeld comedy is your taste).







And I just have to mention this if you haven't noticed yet - Apple's ads are Microsoft/Vista bashing (instead of focusing on Macs or Leopard's good points), while Microsoft's ads are... well, redeeming itself. But that's not to say that the ads aren't effective.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

-- Peace be with the dove...


New peace symbol, Plummeting Dove. shocking


There ya go, revenge from the birds... clap. Nice timing! lol

fail owned pwned pictures
Email signatures FTW! smack

fail owned pwned pictures
Yeah, what the pic said... *smacksface*

More fails at http://failblog.org/ if lolcats or loldogs aren't giving you the lulz anymore laugh. And do check out other ICanHasCheezBurger sister sites too.



Meanwhile, theStar reported...

Cops: No MILF hiding in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police have dismissed reports that MILF fighters are seeking shelter in the state.

State Police Commissioner Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim said such reports about the Philippine-based group were untrue.

“Based on our present operations along the border area, there have been no unusual activities,” he said after the distribution of Hari Raya cakes for police personnel serving at forward bases around the state.

He said police were monitoring international boundaries and also smaller isolated islands between Sabah and the restive southern Philippines.

>> http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/25/nation/2114296&sec=nation
(sry, i took a chunk of words out :P, link for real story)

Friday, October 10, 2008

-- Kratos, Old Snake, Sephiroth, Sacked

Still remember Little Big Planet coming to the PS3? It's shaping up really nicely now as one of (the few) PS3's must have titles... (combined with Hachune Miku "awesomeness" :P)



But still, only backdrops... meh. My dream of seeing or controling a Hachune Miku running around in the world will never be fulfilled...

But Kratos... hmm...



Yeap, Kratos gets the Sackboy treatment.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

But why stop there!? Rope in Old snake and Sephiroth too...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

And also Nariko (Sackgirl here) from Heavenly Sword...

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

...so you can deal some MASSIVE DAMAGE in Little Big Planet too.



Sry, just a little Internet meme there on Heavenly Sword tongue (which made it into the game itself).



>> http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/10/08/tgs-08-sackboy-solid-snake-and-sephiroth-to-join-littlebigplanet/
>> http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/08/05/littlebigplanet-pre-order-goodness/

Friday, October 03, 2008

-- Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Nokia has officially unveiled their first S60 touchscreen phone. And if you still didn't know, you've most probably seen it first in Batman: Dark Knight, when Morgan Freeman's character used it as a jammer.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

At the core, it's the same old OS - Symbian S60, but 5th Edition (my N82 is S60 3rd edition, and they skipped no.4 due to us Chinese, ahaha). However, lots of tweaks has been done to make it suitable for finger-based touch, like button and icon size increment.

The height and width is exactly like my N82, but thinner. So it's not exactly very small either. Ah, but it's lighter.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

The display is 3.2" with a good whooping 640x360 resolution (not as high as Touch HD, but definitely better than iPhone). And it comes with all the features you can expect from a Nokia, like Wi-fi, A-GPS, 3.2mp Carl Zeiss camera, 3.5mm jack...

Specs wise, this phone is very good for its price. At about RM1300+ before tax (direct convert, so i expect RM1500), you get all those features. Compare that to other touch based phones...

And note that this is NOT Nokia's flagship touchscreen phone, it's actually a mainstream phone. Which is why it's a XpressMusic, not N series.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Input can be done via finger, stylus (as seen above), or the plectrum. Stylus is used for handwriting input, while plectrum can be used if you're too lazy to pull out the stylus or don't want to smudge your screen.

If you're wondering why didn't Nokia dump the "old-fashioned-stylus", it's because Nokia's market is not US of A (iPhone land), but EU and Asia (where handwriting recognition is still used).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Anyway, head over to Jen's buddy's site >> http://symbian.smashpop.net/ to get some videos on some finger navigation. Let's just say, it's no where near as good as iPhone, but this is their 1st S60 touch afterall, and i think it's a job well done.

Or here's an official demo by Nokia themselves... which doesn't help make it look easy to use...

Thursday, October 02, 2008

-- Jay's Magic Leaked

10 days ahead of Jay's 9th album official release date, and leaks of all 11 songs appear on Chinese websites.

Mainland China's pirates are the one to blame again, and their weak distribution control (IMHO). But I don't see them as loss of sales - people who don't want to support ori won't buy ori, no matter what. Really unfortunate.

Oh well, i myself end up as one of the downloaders, coz I won't be getting mine until next year's CNY (when my sis comes back). All titles except Paddy Fragrance (稻香) are fakes like last year's leak (and they don't fit well with the songs except Clown (小丑)).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

From what i have been listening, the good songs outweight "bad" songs 10 to 1, which means there's only 1 song that I didn't really enjoy (there's a reason for it).

Love songs, there are 5. And all of them are great or really good.
  • “女儿红” - R&B love song. And i love this kind of love songs the best, like 我不配.
  • “红楼梦中” - slow and sentimental type. Strongly reminds me either Blood+'s (anime) 1st or 2nd ED, which i like very much.
  • “失落非主流” - also slow and sentimental type, but with accompanied by piano and other instruments like violin and cello.
  • “从新爱” - the 中华风格 ("Chinese style") song in this album, not as oustanding as 青花瓷 though.
  • “ 达芬奇的画布” - the happy love song, gives off a happy feeling like 甜甜的. Funnily, it starts off with an engine starting up... and a take-off!! (though not as ear-piercing as 开不了口)
As for the non-love songs
  • “魔杰座” - rock song, with a dramatic opening and Arabian style mixed into the bridge (which i'm guessing is the album's "magical" portion)
  • “东方之殿” - Arabian and Indian style mix hip-hop rap song, which definitely gives off a "magical" feel. The chorus is handled by a girl.
  • “失戀的青蛙” - very very very happish song (i think this is another clown song, but i can't decipher Jay's mumbling again. But the fake title says "Lost in love Frog", which is even more off). Starts off with a conversation of Jay's friend making fun of him, then yodeling, then a verse with melody/lyric/singing fit for 5 year olds, a nice pre-chorus and chorus and 牛仔很忙 thrown in.
  • “大灌蓝” - sang mostly in 台语 (Taiwanese language, which is Hokkien to us) like 火车叨位去, but together with a friend i assume. The only part i don't like is the language, but i like the melody itself.
  • “小丑” - the crazy laugh fit for a wacko clown gives away that this is the clown song (plus the chorus). But it's a slowish R&B with rap, and more along the lines of 迷迭香. And it's actually a rather sad clown song...
  • and 稻香
Looking forward to the real title and full lyrics!!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

-- 魔杰座 Capricorn

Jay's 9th album, 魔杰座 Capricorn, will be released on Oct 8.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usIn Chinese, the title is actually a pretty cool pun.

Using the Zodiac sign 摩羯座 (mo2 jie2 zuo4, because he's a Capricorn),
but changing the 1st and 2nd character to 魔杰座 (still pronounced the same),
and you literally get...

Magical-Jay (Zodiac sign)... laugh.

Also, why magic? Cause he's always been interested in magic (tricks), and always showing it off to others...

This album will contain lots of love songs (which i don't want), not the sad type, but "healing/morale booster" type. Very obvious from the album single.

There's also the mention of a song based on magic and clown/joker. Hopefully it's good.


Pre-order should've started by now in Malaysia (but not last Sunday, when i went out... tsk). If it's the same as Taiwan, the pre-order version would come with a table calendar and rubik's cube (only from music stores).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usI'm guessing Malaysia's version would not come with the cube... but i don't really mind. But the calendar's design is quite nice, looking like oversized playing cards (image on China's website wouldn't load finish).

Would've been really cool to come with a deck of cards!



The design this time is based on magic ofcoz. The poster below is actually a "showdown" between a magician and a rather spooky looking joker (check out the tear).

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

...but the most important thing, the songs. So far only the single has been revealed (usually by now, a few song would've been leaked out).

Titled - 稻香 (dao4 xiang1), Paddy Fragrance. Written and composed by himself.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Just a normal soothing song though, nothing outstanding. The lyric's about appreciating what you have, picking youself up if you fall, not giving up and some childhood memories thrown in. There's a mention that the song is kinda dedicated to the Sichuan earthquake victims.

《稻香》
词:周杰伦 曲:周杰伦

对这个世界如果你有太多的抱怨
跌倒了就不敢继续往前走
为什麼人要这麼的脆弱 堕落
请你打开电视看看
多少人为生命在努力勇敢的走下去
我们是不是该知足
珍惜一切 就算没有拥有

还记得你说家是唯一的城堡 随著稻香河流继续奔跑
微微笑 小时候的梦我知道
不要哭让萤火虫带著你逃跑 乡间的歌谣永远的依靠
回家吧 回到最初的美好

不要这麼容易就想放弃 就像我说的
追不到的梦想 换个梦不就得了
为自己的人生鲜艳上色 先把爱涂上喜欢的颜色
笑一个吧 功成名就不是目的
让自己快乐快乐这才叫做意义
童年的纸飞机 现在终於飞回我手里

所谓的那快乐 赤脚在田里追蜻蜓追到累了
偷摘水果被蜜蜂给叮到怕了 谁在偷笑呢
我靠著稻草人吹著风唱著歌睡著了
哦 哦 午后吉它在虫鸣中更清脆
哦 哦 阳光洒在路上就不怕心碎
珍惜一切 就算没有拥有


Full song, radio broadcast.


2 minutes MV.


Full MV starting at 2:27.


The making of Paddy Fragrance's MV.


Paddy Fragrance
Lyric: Jay Chou Music: Jay Chou

If you have too many grievances towards this world,
Having fallen, you lose the courage to go on
Why do people want to be so weak and fallen?
Please turn on the television now and see for yourself
So many people bravely fighting for their lives
Shouldn't we be content,
Cherish all we have, even if we don't possess them

I still remember you said home is your only castle
Following the paddy fragrance, the flowing stream, I continued running
Smile, I know the childhood dreams
Don't cry, let the fireflies take you away, escaping
You will always find serenity in folk songs
Go home, return to the sweet past

Don't give up so easily, just like what I said,
If the dream can't be reached, then just follow another dream
Add bright colours to your own life
Paint LOVE in your favourite colour
Smile, fame and success isn't the aim
Be happy. That is the whole meaning
(Just like how) I finally found my lost childhood innocence

What is happiness? It's chasing dragonflies in the fields barefooted till we're exhausted
Tried to steal fruits but suffered so much beestungs until i am scared. Who's snickering (at me)?
Leaning against the scarecrow, enjoying the wind, singing songs till I fall asleep
Oh~ Oh~ In the afternoon, the guitar chords sound more crisp amidst the cries of the insects
Oh~ Oh~ The sunlight shines on the road so there's no need to fear a heartbreak
Cherish everything, even if we don't possess them

Translation from
>> http://www.jay-chou.net/forums/showthread.php?t=278945