Night Head Genesis

I've decided to do another scheduled entry because I foresee myself being busy as of late. Not actually doing anything super-productive, but things that needed to be done anyway.

So on Friday I went out again to KL to take the visa application form from the Saudi Arabia Embassy, after getting the approval from the kingdom to enter it. Planned to celebrate my first raya with my family at Saudi Arabia. I had shopped for two sets of Baju Melayu and a songket sampin this year after not getting any last year, so my Raya preparation is officially over even before Ramadhan begins. Had to beat the crowd, and I saw what I wanted so might as well got it before other people get them. Went to the embassy, took the form, and scanned the prerequisite stuffs. Let's see what do I have to get.

• 2 Saudi Visa photos - Check
• Meningitis shot and letter from doctor - Check
• RM200 Bank Draft - not yet
• Get the number on the internet - hikks....not yet as well, the whole day today terlupa. Will do so after this.

It was still way too early to go back to Puchong so I went to Suria KLCC. My first stop was the TGV to check out whether they have new movies on air. Decided on watching Strangers, which is a total waste of money, and that wasn't just because of the giggling-whispering airheads that seemed to converge for this movie, probably because the male protagonist was that guy from the Underworld movies, and Liv Tyler? Bah, renowned actors apparently don't guarantee a movie being good. I should have watched Wall-E! I have refrained from buying the Wall-E pirated DVD just because of the movie characters are currently used in an anti-piracy campaign...but I am just about ready to swear off going to cinemas for now because I'm afraid that my future trip to cinemas will be ruined by these bunch of airheads who can't seem to stop gasping and giggling after being shocked for about a second. Hmph. But The Strangers is based on a true event in US and the ending is just a bit different from other slasher films so you might want to still give it a go, hopefully you won't have to deal with the airheads like I did.

Next up was a stop at Kinokuniya bookstore. I don't know what's up with me, I seem to be craving for storybooks as of late. Probably after being constantly deprived of them for the past 6 years with only fanfictions as a substitute. And I'm still in the mood of reading more Malay literature so I located the area using the computer and headed there without anything specific in mind.

Akademi Gemilang - Jejak Kuasa Alam is a sequel to a book I've bought earlier, so I grabbed it to follow the story further. It's a book targeted for a group 10-15 years younger than me, but I did learn some new words from it too. After leaving secondary school my written BM has deteoriated so might as well slowly improve on them.

Awang Vampiro I have read online, but I liked the story so much I decided to grab its paper-and-ink twin for keepsake's sake.

aA + bB is something I've read online before via the author's blog. I thought that the penname was familiar and it took me a while to recall it before the name rang the bell.

Cinta Gadis Pontianak I have no idea what it's about, but I wanted the RM10-rebate voucher so this completes my bookshopping for the day. :P

Here's my actual activity for the past three days whenever I'm not learning how to drive or eating or sleeping or merendek around. I have mentioned Night Head Genesis anime in an entry before, and upon watching the first episode I got hooked. It's a psychological thriller anime (really, since when cartoons have psychological thriller genre?) about two brothers who are gifted with psychic powers.

The older brother Naoto is a powerful psychokinetic whose telekinetic powers can throw off objects and people up to causing mass destruction of a town, while younger brother Naoya is a gifted teleempath-clairvoyant who is cursed with the inability to touch other people in order to not being invaded by the thoughts, emotions and past histories of the people he touched. They were sent off to live in a science lab by their parents who are scared of their strange powers, and for 11 years they remain there bounded by a force-field set up around the lab's parameters. Then one day, the force-field is lifted and the brothers are free....only to find themselves in a midst of a grand scheme called the "Upheaval" and various psychic villains all dead-set on eliminating the brothers, for apparently they have something to do with the destruction of the world. However, whether they actually cause the destruction remains a question to be answered.

What I liked about this anime is the animation which is not cutesy, thus implying on the serious theme it has. The show can get a bit too graphic in terms of violence and gore and also exposure, but not so much to get it banned (even kid animes like Digimon require some censorship before America deems it safe for the kids) but Night Head Genesis is not targeted towards the kids. The story has a bit of the 'Supernatural' feel of it, which also has the themes of brothers and psychics. The mood is dark, set way early in each episode just by the opening clip alone.