tap into the free of mind
A type primer , a book recommended by one of our lecturers at design school. This book in particular is the most treasured amongst all the books I own. I bought the book through the teacher in around 2006, I guess? Then put it in the drawer and never touched it. Completely forgot I had such a niche book at the time but eventually took a thorough read a couple years later. All these years have…
I feel like no one’s sharing their hobbies anymore. Probably because I hardly check on anyone’s blogs. Or perhaps because someone started World War III? Killing manys to preserve peace . How noble. The “s” I put in ”manys” is not by mistake. Wait, what do I know? When I worried about my mental hygiene, I made stuff. I wanted to tie up the loose ends of the work I left behind forgotten last year.…
Solving crimes and mysteries with actual logic and deduction taking place is all I wanted from the “detective adventure” game, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles . I couldn’t ask for more table slamming and yelling objections in courtroom proceedings. Directed by our homie, Shu Takumi, could these two games have what it takes to compete with the original Ace Attorney Trilogy (2001-2004)? My learned…
Never would have thought playing a video game could compel me to look into the language I read and speak everyday. I handpicked around 300 words specifically out of 4,721 commonly used characters. Many of which are easily mistaken for one another. One should know already by heart, who didn’t? “The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” Unlike the Romance languages , you don’t spell a…
I’ve been doing quite some reading lately. Millions of words and characters. Picking up a lot of words I once knew but have forgotten how to write because of years of relying on the computers. Input method provides you with suggestions, and word spellings can be autocorrected. With technology, you’re trained to be dumb , ain’t it? And by writing, I don’t mean “A to Z.” Any learned person should…
I love watching movies as much as playing video games. Over the years, I’ve watched many films. But not enough to make a good list. Knowing too little while missing the real good ones. Some of them I enjoyed in the cinema. Most of them I watched more than once. But only a few (100) I think I liked them enough to be included on my list. They all have a scene or some bits, dialogue or even a little…
I’m having a lot of fun building my vault . In the past couple weeks, I was digging deep into my video gaming history dating far back to the late ’90s. I discovered some long forgotten games along the way when making my lists. “I remember this! I played that game!” Can you name three games you played in 1999 ? I know, I’m a certified manchild beyond saving. My obsession with lists is becoming more…
Do you miss the good old days, the old internet, those who once had the genuine passion for talking about hobbies and sharing it online? I want to stay away from the negativity for now; rather, to celebrate the goodness and to savour it. Let the joyous moments linger in the air. Near end of the year is here. This time around, I want to roll my own “best ofs” awards. And, yo, happy winter solstice.…
I built my backlog /vault/ for my physical collection. Making something supposedly so simple and easy took longer than I thought. The more time I spent on it, it became a rabbit hole. You fixes something, and more issues arise. I had a great time tackling those. This is more of how I design than code. Here, I share my thought process and the challenges along the way. And hey, what I’m doing is…
Never would have thought I could read such a large amount of text in near end of the year. It actually topped the record of reading altogether in the past decade combined. We’re talking about at least—roughly—five million words. I devoured them across two months or so. Despite the figure being estimated, which is already being modest. Those books were borrowed from a local library.…
No point in comparing two manga series, The Kindaichi Case Files with Detective Conan . So, it might be unfair if I were to put AI: The Somnium Files series side by side with the Ace Attorney series. Nirvana Initiative is filled with wacky characters, clunky gameplay, awkward filthy jokes, fanservices, and follows along with an absurd murder case. I was annoyed by the gameplay but it’s saved by…
I stumbled upon a blog post sharing about making a database for physical media . This is something cool. Building my own library for my collection would be a good side project to keep myself busy on my dayoffs. Keeping track of whatever I own and making it into a list somehow sparks a bit of satisfaction. Read post
新居抑或舊居；由裝修、傢俬、衣物，電器，到心愛藏品， 就算樣樣講究， 任憑你如何珍視， 大火無情，一把火過後重要也統統變為不重要。 Read post
Trails in the Sky the 1st is undoubtedly a great JRPG that not only long-time fans will love; it’s a newcomers friendly, and a delightful and memorable experience you don’t want to miss out on. This is a faithful remake that respects the source material and polishes it with modernized features and gameplay changes. The developers have set the par high up for this remake! Don’t worry, the essence…
Pretty much everyone on the internet is raving about the Steam Machine. It’s a rare case that it even raises my curiosity when I’m just too dumb at hardware and specs. I’m not trying to spoil the hype, but it’s obviously digital only. My interest dropped to absolute zero faster than lightning. Read post
Wanted to do this for so long. I admit this is not going to win any awards. And I think I have some sort of obsession with typography and grids. It stuck with me for decades. Most of my books related to design are either about branding or stationery design. I appreciate the aesthetics, the precision, the alignments, the colours, the cleverly designed applications, the textures of papers, print…
I went on furniture hunting across a few weeks. Before making my purchase at IKEA, I did my research. They’re doing a sale at 10% off if my orders over a certain amount of money. I browsed through their products online, and searched for reviews on YT. Of course, visiting the store to fact check in person. I was a little shocked about how popular IKEA is in the US and anywhere around the world.…
Searching. You constantly search for literally anything. You become the know-it-all. You’re feeling in control. You can condescend to someone who isn’t as tech savvy as you. You’re superior, above it all. You held the upper ground. You’re invincible. Your phone is your melee weapon, whereas your computer can perform long-ranged attacks. You can diss or snark at people that you don’t like online…
I’ve been tempting to do a redesign since forever. But I cannot keep up with the latest modern CSS whatnot. In fact, I never did. Hell, I even struggle with display: flex , for the hundredth time browsing through StackOverflow and MDN. Revisiting my “ancient code” almost feel like reading an old grandpa who’s still rocking float: left , float: right and clear: both . I realized I’m not a dev,…
Often feel like whenever I try to talk about something, I’m always out of my depth. The feeling’s strong when I reread my older posts. Talking about subjects that I probably shouldn’t. Nothing’s my forte, unfortunately, except for slacking. What am I supposed to talk about then…? Look, let’s rewind the clock back to the early 2000s. One day, I got to “look after our home alone.” My parents…
Frugal living in an analogue life surrounded by digital media in modern day 2025. The key is to consume less in both realities. There are constraints that one simply cannot change, but must adjust themselves and adapt. Depends on what you need and want; finding the right balance without compromising the quality of life is quite like art. How frugality actually works and how it can be translated…
I’d say this is not my best work. The hard part was not the layout, composition or alignments; it’s not the typography either. I struggled with the most was the wordings. All kinds of creative works always start in the writing. Always. It makes the idea grounded and solidifies it into something more concrete. You’ve an idea, you write it down and develop on that. Lacking the text feels like…
I thought about that a lot during my commutes. Following the same routine for days, weeks, months, years, and decades; repeating the hustle and bustle everyday—I can’t breathe. Oftentimes I feel like I’m trapped in a cage; both my mind and my body. I desperately need more space. Living in a flat no larger than a tinderbox, I’m so convinced that I need to work a job to sustain my…
The digital world doesn’t necessarily align with the Reality. What the internet says often feels like the exact opposite in where I live. Is it me or the internet itself so out of touch? The “ideas” that I learnt from the Fediverse seem too good to be true. Stay away from Big Tech, reduce digital footprints, avoid mainstream social platforms, and even own a personal blog. In a way, I…
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue is a classic JRPG at its pinnacle. This sequel surpasses the first game, and it reaches absolute peak. From the characters, gameplay, and aesthetics, which I consider the hallmarks of the genre for why it was prefixed. I know I might sound like I’m extremely biased towards the two games. But it isn’t just about my favouritism; I’d say it’s more of my true appreciation. This…
Tokyo Xanadu is an action RPG released in 2015 on PS Vita. A handheld title from Falcom that was neglected by many. I thought it was kind of lacklustre at the time and never got around to playing the game. Despite being ten years late to the party, I visited the said game recently nonetheless. I’m not disappointed by how Falcom shaped the characters and gameplay. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ feels…
It has been too long since I first played Lunar: Silver Star Story . Despite my memories of the game have become pretty vague, I slowly regained my conscious of the game upon replaying it after all these years. Overlooked by many, this was the JRPG amongst all JRPGs. One of the genre-defining classic RPGs that earns its prefix alongside titles like Chrono Trigger . A story full of cliche that is…
Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue is a fan-orientated action platformer featuring characters from the anime Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror (2023), a spin-off of the Love Live! series. It offers a rather standard gameplay that you can easily expect from a Metroidvania. The gameplay is solid despite the simplistic action aspects, but it falls short because of how lacking the…
In terms of JRPGs, if the Trails series is the longest running franchise, then the Xenoblade series would be, no doubt, the largest with their worlds. Nihon Falcom is well-known for making a continuous story lasted for two decades and is still going on; Monolith Soft excels at creating worlds—universes that are bigger than massive for their stories to take place. Not only their map sizes;…
I’m in dire need of playing UFO 50 to fill up the void. A library of 50 games designed with unique gameplay mechanics and distinct art styles bundled into a single game and a narrative to go along with it. Developed by a fictional company called UFO Soft for a made-up console, FX, experimenting in making retro-new games through the ’80s … In After the Storm (2016), Ryota’s in his fifties,…
Miles Edgeworth taking the lead role was actually something we have experienced before in one of the chapters in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy . Playing Edgeworth as a prosecutor carrying out investigations along with many familiar faces really brings a lot of nostalgia. Read post
Atlus’s Metaphor: ReFantazio was one of my most anticipated JRPG titles in recent years, seconded to Kai no Kiseki . It has a great art style, loveable character design, featuring a ton of anime cutscenes, alongside a banger soundtrack. I absolutely adore its gorgeous artistic direction. But the gameplay falls short on how similar its structure and combat mechanics are when compared to other…
Revisiting The Last of Us feels like watching a film on Blu-ray again when I’ve already experienced it on DVD years ago. I still have some fond memories of the story and characters. Many people talked about the title over the years. The gameplay with its cinematic storytelling definitely hold some weight. Read post
There’s a certain thing that cannot be bought and owned. In no way can you claim it or carry it over from anyone. It’s not even fucking up to you to say if you have it. It might take decades to develop it, and by then you might as well have acquired it. But only very few people in the world can truly possess them. One has to “live it out,” when your life earns it. Those who keep…
Those who abuse swearing to weaponize themselves are the weaklings. It’s not big of a deal if one spit a curse word or two from time to time. But relying on it too much only proves that you lack confidence. If one picks their words wisely, have the Virtue of Eloquence. Read post
I read people. I see through those ill-intended, malicious thoughts in people. Reading them makes me learn of what a person is capable of with their bad thoughts. If one can endure and forgive, they encompass the Virtue of Tolerance. Read post
There’s always someone in your life who wants to talk you down. Whatever you do, it’s not to their likings. They want to nitpick you, belittle you, and turn what you’ve done into something bad even when it’s not. The worst part of it all, would be them playing the one who’s “better” than you. They lack the Virtue of Sincerity. Read post
There’re people who live on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. The gap between the two is huge. If life’s a game, I play on hard mode. It never was easy if I were to do anything at all. If one can try the best they can even when they’ve failed many times, who bears the Virtue of Diligence. Read post
You’ve the freedom to express yourselves on social platforms. Sure. But on the other hand, it’s like vomiting your thoughts, publicly. The worst part is ain’t no one is going to clean up the mess for you. Why are we always wanting to yap about all sorts of things to avoid the awkward silence? So much noise, too many opinions. Could we just enjoy the peace? Read post Comet | My Notes · Dojo…
Kai no Kiseki: Farewell, O Zemuria ’s ending leaves us a cliffhanger. The hype reaches climax for the series as a whole. But it’s not the ending just yet; it steps into its final chapter for the Calvard arc, but there’s more to Van’s story. As the curtain falls, the gang from Arkride Solutions Office faces a massive tipping point for them. It might be divisive to many, but no matter if you love it…