I Really Wonder If You Know How They Live In Tokyo

It's been a weird month; the semester has technically ended; with the one exam left on the 14th; and as there are no classes.. whats' a boy to do? I've recently got the entire A Better Tomorrow Trilogy and Nintendogs (although have yet to finalize my dog's name; it's like a hard epic battle between Kelly and Rachel) and although it should mean enough entertainment for a long time; we've finished the trilogy in almost one night and well, I can't really start on the game until I've figured out a name. So; as demonstrated in last night's ordeal; what we ended up doing was watching the Tokyo Drift DVD extras; followed by the movie, and then the movie again, then looping it on the laptop while going to sleep. Waking up to sounds of tyres squealing is surreal; but then again, it really isn't the first time I've done that. Then if you look closely at the bottom picture, yes that's two 360s in the house at the moment (none of them mine); which equates to enough processing power to topple even the mightiest of PS3s; if only it worked that way. Anyways, going to sleep. Need to catch up on that. Ciao.

Welcome Back, General.

The past few weeks have been pretty much this scene. Ever since the sudden Command & Conquer: Generals craze hit off that faithful day, every other day has turned into a raging battlefield filled with er...battles and a sudden overuse of the words Colonel and Burton. That has temporarily stopped at the moment; mainly because most of us have gotten a bit sick of it, and in partial because I had tons of assignments due last weekend; and more to come.
So what's been up? Well, all I can say is that it's mostly been something to do with food, or something to do with alcohol; namely the sudden beer drinking fiesta that started a few weeks back (could it be Generals related?) and yeah, it's been good and bad at the same time. I do miss the simplicity of home life terribly, not to say that I'm not starting to really like drinking at 5pm on a Tuesday evening. At 15 degrees. Outside. Without a jacket. It's great. The weekend's really almost stopped existing. Everyday can be weekend material; although there might be a price to pay the next day. Which is fine if you don't have weird assignments due the following day. I'm getting used to writing 1,500 words with referencing desperately in about 5 hours but have yet to get used to actually doing it a week before so that I wouldn't have to. And the DS lite if finally into it's second battery charge at the moment as I type this..not really big news but well...yeah..Oh! and I finally got around to getting that new YUI album..she's so brilliantly cute and her music has just evolved into some really brilliant stuff but sadly the shop didn't have any extra posters this time around..I was hoping to get one of the promo ones like when I got the Mika Nakashima album a month or two back. Oh well; such is life (pardon the pun). Can't really think of anything else to say at the moment; so I guess that's it for now...

The Food Issue..With Chef Justin "Jamie Oliver" Raymond

First off, there's this, a Twin Chicken Chop With Separate Sauces, which consists of brown and mushroom sauces respectively. This was inspired by the neverending quest to find chicken chop here in Melbourne. Like they say, if you can't find it, make it! Below are the other tasty specials that the masterful surprise has cooked up!















Macaroni With Braised Steak & Onion. A lovely serving of macaroni soaked in ox-tail soup tasting sauce with juicy steak and onion bits. A local favorite!















Pasta With Braised Steak & Onion and Baked Crumbed Fish. The beautiful helping of pasta encapsulated with the aforementioned special home-made steak & onion joined by a helping of tastefully baked crumbed fish to delight!















Bruschetta ala Corleone'. The house classic special where specially prepared garlic bread is topped with juicy fresh tomato, onion and oregano!















Meat Pie With Mashed Potatoes, Baked Crumbed Fish & Brown Sauce. Beautiful combination of three lovely tasty meat pies, butter-soft mashed potato and our special baked breaded fish: all topped in a sexy brown sauce!















And in true Kim Gary fashion; Omelette In French Fried With Brown Sauce! Oh what a name! Delicious like crazy! You try! I try! I like!

1m02s

Every Friday seems like a battle with academics. The last time around I had to work 12 hours straight to get everything done with about 30 minutes to spare. This time around it was 1 minute 02 seconds, an adrenalin filled end to Assignment 1 for Interactive Games Structure as internet connection had to be boosted significantly to send the file through to the internet dropbox. Let's hope I get the next one done at least a day before. It's getting crazy.

Let's party.

The Return Of The Masterful Surprise

Not that soon, not that soon...but it will happen, and I do hope it happens according to plan..in a brief burst of nostalgia mixed with a heavy dosage of will to make it coupled with the fact that it's actually 5:08 in the morning, and Jay Chou's been looping on the laptop (Eh?), it suddenly becomes clear what the whole plot is. It's a very different plot from that originally planned (okay, so maybe the fundamentals are the same; but the outlook might be a bit different..), and with that whole project kay becoming a distant memory; along with the original plot pretty much vanishing out the window the moment I set foot on that bus that got all of this madness going in the first place. The past month(s) (has it really been that long?) have been a confused, weird thing really. It's hard to tell which part of this is reality, or indeed a very long dream that I just cooked up from one too many late night snacks. I have trouble believing what I've gone and done. I have even more trouble actually believing it actually happened. It's just gone by too fast. It's just one surreal picture that does not include any room for error. Losing the plot was really an issue. Partly because losing the plot that held up all this in the first place is a very dangerous thing to do. I would like to clarify that the plot is not conventional, nor is it what you think it is. It really is a messed up thing, something that I really don't want to note here. Though I really wasn't clear of the plot to begin with, or what it involved. Which makes losing it kinda hard. That's what The Masterful Surprise really is all about: the ability to astonish, or in this case, the ability to lose something you never had in the first place. However, I think I'm beginning to shape together a new one (a plot that is..); and the funny thing is, the new plot really doesn't really differ from the fundamentals that always was the driving force behind it all anyway.

On another note, (and I think I already told Ian this) it's funny what you miss when you're far away from home. And now, now, most of you ready to say I told you so; then pointing at the ability to have mamaks or whatever normal people miss when they leave home will be very wrong. First off, I do not miss the food. I only miss the chicken chop; simply because the idiots who portray it as western food when it's really a recipe cooked up by some hainanese back in the day gave me no warning of this. Chicken Schnitzel is NOT THE SAME THING. Secondly, I would like to point out, for some very weird reason, I miss driving 180km/h on the NKVE and Federal Highways. I really do. I think about it almost everyday. It's annoyingly weird. I also miss Hartz Chicken Buffet, but that one is understandable..so...but annnyways... there might be a couple of things I miss about home, but those are the main ones..it's weird how they have excellent chicken rice here (and I mean absolutely stunning) with equally excellent waitresses to boot..AND NO CHICKEN CHOP.

Anyways...it's getting late...back to stalking that beautiful japanese girl I keep bumping into in the elevator (cue Harold & Kumar moment minus the nice bits at the end)

The "Wow" Starts With Hypocrisy..

After weeks of campaigning on how Windows Vista is so completely and utterly rubbish, I have gone back and installed it simply because it's so pretty, and a sad realization that I'll eventually have to use it anyway, so why not start now?

As you can see from the screenshot, it's really very pretty; and I hope the system stays pretty much stable. I still blame Bill Gates appearing on The Daily Show for nudging me into my decision to using the Vista CD I have kept stashed away somewhere in the room. As much as I still maintain that he is the work of pure evil and that Microsoft is the end of all things free and lovely for computing as well as the internet, (and your very soul perhaps?) but he seemed like a pretty okay guy. Jon Stewart really did poke fun at him though, and the fact that if The Daily Show did in some weird off-key way promote Vista...it surely can't be THAT bad...or can it? Either ways, it's 4:08am, and the PC's pretty much set up... (I started all this Vista marlakey at 11am) so I gotta go...oh and by the way, to all you avid readers of TMS, we would like to wish you HAPPY EASTER!

Ciao.

Somewhere, Somehow, Someone...

The Masterful Surprise is back. It's been an incredibly hectic 24 hours; with 2 major assignments due, and tons of stuff in between. Now it's easter break, so hopefully it'll be a bit more relaxing.

It's just been one crazy week.

Will post more soon.

+Photo Update

Motorshow Pics Pt.1

Due to connection constraints, we are only able to upload 2 pictures. Individually both very sexy cars, they are made even more so by the fact that they are posted on this interweb!

Incredible! On other news, we at TMS has gone for the Moomba festival @ Melbourne Showgrounds and watched Hot Fuzz amongst other incredibly talented things.

This post might be the last one in awhile as we set up our new office and get the interweb sorted.. so don't worry too much!

We'll be back.

Citations

I'm supposed to practice my citation skills, so I'm going to go ahead and cite Clarkson from his new column.(though in a very wrong format, totally in random, and to be fair it's not really even a citation; more of a quote: but the surprise is masterful, and being masterful also means never being wrong...)

"Yes, you can go round a corner two miles per hour faster in the Ferrari F430, but while doing so, you'll be wearing a rather serious, Autocar test driver face.In the Lambo, you'll be playing Vertigo, at full volume and grinning like a Halloween night pumpkin."

"At petrol stations, people always say to a Ferrari driver, "Ooh, I bet you don't get many miles to the gallon out of that" or "I can get more luggage in my Maestro". But if you have a Lambo, they'll say "My God, it's got orange seats" and "Can we have sex in it?"

Anyhow, I'm at the library again; steady internet connection still evades me like a plague, and seriously having some trouble getting top gear 9X05 (already got 06) because we went and pissed off some cybercafe owner last night who kept insisting that "NO NO NO P2P PROGRAM HERE! YOU SLOW DOWN ENTIRE CAFE! YOU NO NO P2P!"; he looked Korean. I believe I had more right to be in Chinatown than him. But anyways, good thing torrents are resumable, as I got it from another cafe down the road. But really man, you're a bloody internet cafe. That means you sell internet. Those bastards playing WOW or whatnot don't need the bloody bandwith (I might be wrong on that one), but seriously; what else is more important than Top Gear? Poor deluded Korean fool. But 200kbps+ is amazing.

That out of the way, I'd say for some stupid innane reason I've been playing U2's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" on repeat. Maybe it's the nice euphoric feeling of the instruments. Maybe it's Bonio's echoing voice. Maybe it's just more accepted here. But then again, eternal flame's playing on the ipod at the moment. So then again...maybe not.

The Masterful Surprise at the motor show!

The Masterful Surprise will be attending the Melbourne International Motor Show tonight. We will be giving out nods and kisses to the beautiful honeys all night around; so catch us while you're there!

Remember; the surprise is MASTERFUL!

The Gig In The Sky

The Sun newspaper (UK) has today (Thursday) printed what is an accurate report and interview from the Gig In The Sky and not what was put together by the Mirror newspaper on Wednesday.
"If I was a taxi my light would be off this year. I just want to be doing ordinary things, things I don't get to do like go to the pub or go shopping. I am a free agent which is a nice position to be in. There have been other offers, but there are so many things to consider. We'll investigate a new record label but for now we're busy rebuilding the studio at home."
Talking about the performance on-board the flight he said:
"It was the weirdest thing I have ever done. I have been known to stand up and stagger around on planes but that is usually when I am inebriated en route to Santiago."

Don't Stop.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but honestly, these pictures don't describe much. Finally got hooked up to the internet connection at uni (am at the library now) and can finally get some of this blog stuff sorted.

Right. So what's been happening? Well the 599GTB on the top of the is basically on display at Crown Casino, some 60th anniversary Ferrari gig. The second pic is basically the sunset view from the southbank apartment (where I was staying for the past 2 weeks or so; am now relocated to Surrey Hills until the 12th where I hope to get to my new place opposite Melb. Central. Lovely!

And oh the T-800 is just a random pic of something I saw. Oh and found blue /yellow gazelles! It's the closest thing I can get to the Oregon JKs. Still haven't found anything close to an Oregon here.

Dammit. Either ways, nothing much else to report I suppose. Girls here are amazing though. Amazinnnnggg..

The Ego Has Landed

It's friday.11pm local time. Haven't had any net connection for the past week, which is like ten years; if you're a dog. After the whole 26 hour ordeal on monday/tuesday, I think it's safe to say all's gotten slightly more stable, though I have yet to do what I came here for.

Not much time left. Have to download Top Gear.

THE ULTIMATE HOUDINI pt.1

It's 4pm here at Changi airport (yes...in Singapore), and it's been pretty smooth so far, minus the little cigarette incident that occured at customs earlier. Aaaanyways....the first half of the surprise went as planned, however the second leg of the journey is still to be seen. Oh and Quantas was nice enough to give me an additional 5kgs! SORTED! It's green lane all the way as I dumped the PS2 CDS after copying them all to HDD.

26.

My name is Justin Raymond. And this could be the most different 26 hours of my life.

Right. Gotta go. This thing is time limited. The bastards.

SSM LAUNCH IN ETA FOUR DAYS

Jamiroquai's Telling Me Something..

Can you dig it
Something in the air tonight
Got a one way ticket
Baby, don't you wanna ride
Got to make it
Make it to the other side
I've got demons
Snapping at my heels tonight

I just want to runaway
[Turn me loose]
Got people around running me down I cant stay
I just want to get away
[I just wanna get away now]
Get them off my back today

Can you feel it
Im stuck inside in a hurricane
Chasing rainbows
Can't you see I'm going insane
I wanna be a free man
But I'm spinning on this crazy wheel
I'm jumping for the high bar
Can't you dig it
No longer know what I feel
Can't you see

I just want to runaway
[Turn me loose]
Got people around running me down I can't stay
I just want to get away
[I just wanna get away now]
Get them off my back today

I just wanna runaway
Turn me loose, turn me loose
Turn me loose, turn me loose

Got to make it, got to make it
Got to make it, got to make it

I just want to runaway
[Just wanna runaway]
Got people around running me down I can't stay
[Can't stay no longer]
I just want to get away
[I just got to get away]
Get them off my back today

I just want to runaway
La la la la la la
Just want to get away
La la la la la la
Turn me loose, runaway runaway
Got people around running me down I can't stay
Runaway, runaway

I just want to runaway
La la la la la la
Just got to get away
La la la la la la
Turn me loose, runaway
Get them off my back today

The Funk Odyssey Begins..

2007.It's about time.

It has begun..

To be honest I started my 2007 with a bit of skepticism, and since 2006 was a somewhat dreadful year for me, I was really counting on a miracle to make this new year a much better one. However, it appears that 2007 has all of a sudden shown me a preview of what's to come (entertainment wise, of course). To begin it all, Top Gear returns on the 28th (a big yay!) with Entourage soon to follow. Ian will probably have the rest of the OC, so no worries there. However, there is one worrying thing. I've just popped by Deep's to piss all over the place (another story for another time) and discovered what a little beautiful, beautiful gem of a series Las Vegas is. Molly Sims is incredibly gorgeous, but Vanessa Marcil, oh she melts me into the puddle of drool I have become. Pictures don't show much I know, but oh so incredible in real life (I personally call it the Rachel Green syndrome); well moving anyway. Sad but true moment of the day; there's 4 seasons as of now, and I've barely gone through the first, let alone purchased/have some sort of access to the rest. I'm contemplating the box set, as torrents for the first season are so incredibly hard to find. If that isn't it, there's further excitement from Pirates 3 AND Die Hard 4 coming out somewhere this year.. C'mon; you have to admit...Keira, Captain Jack and McClane all in one year?

Things are starting to shape up.

Ladies & Gentlemen, introducing the F1-2007.

This is the new contender from the Scuderia that will wipe the smile off Flavio's previously "lucky" team. 2007 is the return to form for the scarlet carmaker. 19,000 rpm my friend. 19,000 rpm.

Some cars are made to perform.

Others, to compete.

This one is made to become a legend.