Notable Indifference

Update 28 - 8 - 08

2008-08-26T02:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Updating 7 blogs at once =/= easy. That comes out of laziness and why I update twice a year.

My Sec 2 schoolmates have started playing IaMP - now to get them to start on SWR. Shun Git, for some reason, has StB. This totally scares me because very few people bother with StB due to its non-shmup nature.

So, me and Bowie popped by today.

Completely owned.

IaMP: Bowie vs. Shun Git [Patchouli vs. Sakuya], 2-1
SWR: Me vs. Edward [Reimu vs. Aya], 2-0
SWR: Me vs. Edward [Yukari vs. random], 2-0

I lold.

Update 30 - 6 - 08

2008-06-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

I'M GONNA UPDATE HOLY SHIT!

I'm not gonna random spam images because I decided to end this update here. Whoops.

Some other time six months down the road. See you again.

Update 11th March 2008.

2008-03-11T04:06:00.000-07:00

You know, if this thing actually got any traffic at all, I'd probably update a lot more often. Possibly on the same scale as my DeviantArt account.

Went to Kinokuniya yesterday with my Mangacom team members Zhang Quan and Bowie (Mangacom is an ACS Life Sciences competition where each team creates a manga based on the theme "Man, Molecules and Machines". We got the merit award, worth $100 in Kinokuniya vouchers. Pretty good for a rushed job). There was a 20% off offer for Kinokuniya members, and we just happened to have a membership card and $100 in vouchers between us, so...

My haul for the trip.

The total cost of the five books you see above was $26, plus a few cents.
Items:
1. Lucky Star volume 5 (Kadokawa Comics) - $7.82 (before discount)
2. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni [Onikakushi-hen] (Ching Win Comics) - $6.63 + $6.51 (before discount)
3. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni [Tatarigoroshi-hen] (Ching Win Comics) - $6.55 + $6.54 (before discount)

No, I haven't finished reading them yet. Lucky Star is complete - that's about it.

In other words, my shipment came in yesterday. S$81.20 of stuff you will never find in Singapore. I immediately ripped it apart - then put it back together to take pictures.

EMS box - notice the "Japan" stamped all over the box.

The EMS box the shipment came in. Nothing much to see, but this very box took almost an entire week to reach my house. Actually, it took an entire week, 7 days exactly from when I sent in the payment.

Item came wrapped in a Japanese newspaper. Pretty standard fare.

Bubble wrap inside as well. I'm pretty sure nothing broke, what with the cardboard outside, the newspaper and now the bubble wrap.

Items were just as expected. Nothing more, nothing less. But it still felt pretty epic - I was finally in possession of something I've been looking forward to owning for a year.

Pretty cool. Two game CDs and one music CD.

Items purchased:
1. 東方妖々夢 ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom (Team Shanghai Alice) - US$17.99
2. 東方文花帖 ~ SHOOT THE BULLET (Team Shanghai Alice) - US$14.99
3. 蓬莱人形 ~ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise (Team Shanghai Alice Music Collection Vol. 1) - US$9.99

At the moment, I haven't actually touched any of the items, aside from Shoot the Bullet. Just the feeling of having it is epic.

Then of course, there's the art column I always have. Today I'm featuring... myself.

Ho Wei Rong
howeirong.deviantart.com/

Syameimaru Aya - Digital + Traditional
I guess it's because I never actually bother to properly advertise this place, but my DA gets more traffic than anything else I have on the Internet. This most recent piece is for my submission to Another Dream, a Western Touhou doujin release. It might form the cover, and it might not.

And that concludes the update for today. Let's seriously hope someone reads it. If you do, 谢谢.

Posting of Pastimes.

2008-01-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

Title completely unrelated.

Miraculously no homework today so I can update my blog.

Then I realise something.

Watch the Flash below.

Now you get the point, so here is Walfas' latest Touhou Flash update - priceless.

2007-12-16T03:31:00.000-08:00

I just bought a new MP4 player - the Creative ZEN Portable Media Player.

Yay.

Obviously I'm not going to bother taking a picture of a square block of plastic just so I can put it on this blog, so just go to the Creative website or something.

Currently transferring my entire collection of Touhou images to the MP3 player. Time taken? 10 minutes and counting.

Will update again when I actually use the player.

AnimeEOY@Expo 2007.

2007-12-15T04:06:00.000-08:00

I went.

Because I decided to split my posts between four blogs, I have dedicated my Wordpress blog to anime stuff in general. Thus visit that place for further info on EOY 2007 (if you didn't go, updates for you. If you went, you can compare how you felt with how I did.)

http://howeirong.wordpress.com/

There were numerous cosplayers, good and bad. I shall not further elaborate on this blog.

Something Beautiful.

2007-12-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

Updating a blog has got to be the most irritating thing ever. Unless you are the type of person who likes displaying his rather mundane life on his or her blog for everybody in the world to see. Well, those with an Internet connection, that is. And access to a computer. Think about it, though - unless you lived your days moonlighting as a stripper in a club or a DJ or something, it's not going to be much different from the lives of everyone else. It's exactly the same as seeing a post concerning almost exactly the same subject matter on a dead blog halfway across the world, in America or something. Heck, maybe he plays Touhou too. Unless, you WERE, of course, a stripper in a nightclub. Maybe the posts might be more interesting.

My Hope is You - off the Terragen website.

I, honestly, am not a good blogger. My posts have close to no superficial substance, the little snippets of life that others enjoy putting on the blogs, the very same little snippets that other people leading the same mundane lives enjoy reading. The kind about the cheese on your rice not being cooked enough, or your offerings about the suffering of animals across the country. Maybe about leeks. And spinning ones, at that. There isn't much climax to my posts, either - you read it, you fall asleep, you hit your nose on the table and navigate to another blog with blood running down your lip.

Something Beautiful - by zemotion.

Maybe, the only thing I can say that I have different from quite a few other people, is my obsessive hoarding of images. Loads of images. Enough to cover every single wall of my house if I were to print them and paste them somewhere. Enough images to make up 3.5 GB of my hard drive.

Glacier V2 - by nuaHs.

So they are what drive my blogposts. Seriously. I just throw in random, sometimes related, pictures and hope people are interested. Maybe someday I'll learn the fine art of blogging. It's just not today.

This time, no anime pictures. Deviantart is ownage.

AIR.

2007-11-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

So I managed to get my hands on a (pirated) copy of the game.

Not everyone's rich enough to import stuff from Japan, you see. Plus I would probably have been motivated enough to get Standard Edition. Y'know, the one with the scenes and stuff. Then I would probably die.

So I have the All-Ages Version. )= Currently one hour into the novel and still stuck at the third day.

I managed to find a partial English patch, enough to get me through Misuzu's path. But that's about it. Doing my best not to diverge from it. At least, until the full patch is out.

Screenshots:

This game is pretty fun.

No, seriously. They give you three options or two and you choose one. It's exhilarating.

Sometimes you get nice options like these too.

And the guy who created the patch has great spelling. Not that I'm complaining.

Koenigsegg CCR

2007-11-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

Today, in response to the tag by Terence on his favourite cars, I today feature the car that broke the 12-year world road car speed record held by the Mclaren F1 in my preceding post, but broken barely a month after that by the current world record holder, the Bugatti Veyron.

That's right, the Koenigsegg CCR. A mouthful to say but oh-so-elegant. I still think the Mclaren's better, though.

My first (and not-so-good) experience with public broadcast of my knowledge of the supercar was during the Police Knowledge course when there was a breaktime game going on. Most of you should know the fuzzywuzzy game. One of my statements was, "fuzzywuzzy likes Koenigsegg but does not like Lamborghini". Or something along those lines. Quite understandably, I was met with confusion from both the host and the rest of the audience, which I took to understand that no one knew this wonderful car brand and subsequently replaced with Ferrari and Mitsubishi.

The Koenigsegg CCR, in a power-to-piston comparison, trumps both the Mclaren F1 and the Bugatti Veyron with its V8 producing 806 bhp, compared to the Mclaren F1's V12 with 605 bhp and the Bugatti's V16 producing over a thousand. Its speed tops out at 387.87 km/h around a banked track, which beats the Mclaren F1's 386.7, but understandably enough it has the capability for much more if tested on a straight track, as was the Mclaren and Bugatti on Volkswagen's 9km straight. However, I do not possess much else knowledge about this relatively unknown supercar, aside from the fact that its steering is sub-par, with severe understeer needing the steering wheel set at a sharp angle of 30 degrees at its top speed around the banked track.

And that is all for today's post. Tata!

Next post: Featuring an all-too-famous vehicle from the guys at Maranello. Take a guess.

Best Cars in the World - #1

2007-11-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

So I decided it's time for a weekly post to celebrate (in my opinion) the best cars on the planet. So for this first post today... I'll start off with the first car (duh).

Now, the first car is... the Mclaren F1.

The Mclaren F1, first produced in 1991, is considered the "Ultimate Driver's Car" in certain circles. It seats 3, with the driver in the centre, and is thus suited for driving on both left-hand and right-hand drive roads (if you can afford the hefty price tag). Only 100 units of this car were ever produced, but it was (and still is) an extremely beautiful car with status to boot.

The Mclaren F1 can reach a top speed of 381 km/h, a record unmatched until merely a year ago, with the advent of the Koenigsegg CCR. Which now brings us to the issue of speed.

In a battle between the Mclaren F1 and the Bugatti Veyron, who would win? Ultimately the Veyron wins with its almost 40 km/h higher top speed, but this is to be expected when the car has almost twice the amount of horsepower as the Mclaren F1 - a very imbalanced trade-off for an extra 40 km per hour. Also, if you compare their fuel economy, the Mclaren sips fuel compared to the thirsty Veyron, energy needed to move that large mass and power the thousand horses in the engine. Even if you look at it, the Mclaren F1 has a sleeker, swifter look than the Veyron, which is all that matters when your onlookers can't tell the fastest car in the world from the Nissan Sunny next to you.

(for the original wallpaper in all its 1600x1200 glory, contact me or find the really nice website.)

The Mclaren F1 really is one of the most well respected supercars of all time, ranking way up there with respect for the Ferrari F40. It's body crafted entirely from carbon fibre is technology out of the new millenium, but almost 10 years ago. Gold plates the engine cover, as it was the best reflector known to man at the time of manufacture.

And as you expected, THIS is my favourite car of all time. And now you know. (:

Worldly Wonders.

2007-11-08T23:29:00.000-08:00

Archive from October 21st, 2007:

I seriously can't believe I wrote this.

Sometimes I think that I’m meant for greater things. But then the real world catches up with me and I go crashing down to earth.

Has one ever considered the concept of life? It is almost utterly pointless, as we on Earth are but one little microcosm situated in the vastly uncharted Universe, which even the best of scientists do not know enough about to banter about the existence of other sentient lifeforms on other planets, let alone the existence of other Universes, or even if things like wormholes will ever see a future in interstellar space travel.

If you think about it, life in general is but transient, an eventuality of extinction awaiting every single one of us, whether intelligent or primal, in a universe where the only constant is change.

With thoughts like these, is it no wonder I spend so much time sitting at my table in class being utterly silent as others communicate, staring a hole in the floor as I immerse myself in my inner thoughts? It is as if my existence is split in half: My world, and the rest of it.

Or maybe all these thoughts may just disappear as my headache disappears.

Damn this shit.

2007-10-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

You know, I hate this shit.

Blogging seems to come naturally to most people. It's like writing in a diary, or so people say. "Oh, I just write about anything that comes to mind." Yeah, everyone loves to read about your daily nuances and stuff. It's mindblowing to know what you ate for dinner, WHOAAA. So why do I always take over 2 months to write one post? Because, y'know, not everyone is smart enough to use their daily lives as FILLER to intersperse all the nice happenings going on, or the sudden bursts of inspiration that occupy a certain number of posts.

Yeah, I've been wanting to say this for a long long time. Really really long. So I'm actually putting effort into emphasising certain phrases that I think should be the key parts of this utterly useless and flush-it-down-the-fuggin'-toilet post.

Everyone should just go smoke or something.

My source of inspiration.

Sometimes I think I was meant for greater things, too. Yeah, but the world doesn't think so, so LIVE WITH IT. Laugh it off, shake your fist in its face, flip it off, whatever.

Yeah, this works great too.

You know something? I love all of you. Especially those who visit this blog. Because it shows I've got viewership. Oh wait, THERE'S NO ONE. Yeah great. Thanks. Love ya lots.

I suck at blogging.

2007-09-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, really.

Because I have close to nothing I actually bother talking about and no one bothers visiting this blog anyway, I suck at blogging. Such a revelation. (Actually, I don't suck as much as this guy, but since he gets so much traffic in the first place, I guess that means I still suck.

Something was just released 2 hours before today. Guess what - and all those people who don't have exams to study for are now busy clambering over themselves to get even a touch of the hallowed game that finishes the series that started 6 years ago.

No, I'm not one of them. I don't have a 360.

On a side note, I |-|4t3 1337 5p34k and so does every other sane person who realises that the letters on the keyboard are there for YOU to use (get that in your head, Taylor). I'm not going to bother telling those who use it what its original purpose was for, because general knowledge is something that can be searched for on this very interesting site, so use it.

My blogskin needs to be changed soon. I think people can't find my tagboard, it's such a sad thing - no one tags me anymore. ):. (Maybe it's because no one visits, but no, I'm never going to admit that. Even though it IS true.)

And if you were wondering what I posted all this random stuff for, it's because I haven't blogged for over 20 days and I don't intend to make it a pastime. Don't think you can find juicy anecdotes on my personal life or interesting insights into my daily processes, because I, unlike so many out there, DO NOT TRUST THE INTERNET. It's a f*cking black hole of everything where the difference between a national political website and a pornography palace is the suffix.

I hate blogging, btw.

Random Image of the Day:

Look to the left and you see a yellow wall.

2007-09-04T03:33:00.001-07:00

And like the other blog I post on, I do a tour of my house today. Except it's more of a tour of my room because there is more stuff in my room than the entire house (excluding my room) combined.

And so this is what you see when you enter the front door.

...
Admittedly not very unusual. Perhaps you thought you would have seen an Xbox or a larger TV or something. But no - that's an aquarium with a very bad record (50% of the fish in it have died in 2 years), and a Flat Bomba. From many, many years ago.

This... is our display "cabinet". Note the St. John's trophies added as an afterthought at the top.

My workstation, where stuff is supposed to get done. Though there's not a lot of space to get stuff done. I need a fourth storage shelf, dammit.

LOVELOVELOVE. Try to identify the website.

SABER. Weird stuff hangs around my desk.

...like a huge assortment of stationery and paraphernalia. Like three combs.

...when did I ever have this thing?

And my sacred haven - all bow down! Not very messy, though. Not very sacred either. A feat of stuff-keeping that my mother had done - that is, until you open the cabinet behind the door. Very ordinary stuff, except for that Naruto poster up on the shelf.

The wall above the bed. Finally something you might expect to find, eh?

The stuff that's on the shelf. Well, most of the display stuff, anyway.

And where my library is. Over $300 of comics, in completely mint condition. I love my shelves.

At this point, I sit down and wonder:
I just wasted 45 minutes of my life taking pictures and posting them online.
...time perfectly spent. xD

ODEX: really just stupid? And this isn't just about them.

2007-08-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm updating again. Previous attempts having been plagued by frequent disconnections, etcetera. It's as if the blogging gods (if those even exist) are trying to stop me from throwing out one of my reviews. Well, this time, the subject of discussion is the much-b****ed about company in the online anime community, ODEX.

" sure,while anime DL is illegal and what the company is doing is right in some sense, but, getting ISP to reveal over a thousand IPs, forcing each violaters to pay up 5000 dollars or face Court charges is NOT THE WAY TO HANDLE THIS CASE. furthermore, a 9year old kid had to pay 5000 dollars for illegial anime DL, A F***ING 9 YEAR OLD. what would his parents feel. like f***s! thats right.

the company way of handling things is just out of hand, hell do we even know where all this money goes too? I would speculate the company is gonna bag all the money into their banks....."

-NCH, a Singaporean deviator on DeviantArt who does not download anime and WAS maintaining a neutral stand until this happened.

ODEX HOLOCAUST by =NCH85 on deviant ART

"Odex Burning Ceremony on August 25th @ Youth Park CHANGED TO CD RECYCLING DRIVE."
What some parts of the community think.

"I actually have nothing much to say about the whole fiasco of ODEX since it has been over run by so many people lately including me during the past two months. However, the latest blog entries surrounding this issue about Stephen Sing reeks of mere punitive naive flaming."
By Impz. His post here.

Now, I think this whole thing is kind of stupid. It is pretty obvious to the lawmakers that the anime community has pretty much shot themselves in the foot by ILLEGALLY downloading anime, but it appears that they are shouting furiously against the matter by saying that ODEX sucks, ODEX is shit, ODEX is a dictatorship, Stephen Sing is a bloody arsehole, etc. This does not help their case. It's obvious who is in the wrong: The community, having downloaded anime in the first place, is considered pirating and infringing copyright laws, and this is pretty much obviously not in our favour when brought up against ODEX. Heck, if they were the ones in the wrong, would it have been possible to obtain a court order in the first place? There's no law against shoddy work or whatever, so we can't do anything about it. Wearing a black ribbon and trying to obtain funding to go up against the company won't do anything, they've got the upper hand.

Of course, ODEX did shoot itself in the foot by trying to kill off the local anime downloading community. Of course, they have a list of licensed stuff that they search for, and send out those lovely little letters (now nationally recognised as "The Odex Letter"). Anything outside that list would be spared. Basically, if you had paid, even bought DVDs from overseas as do most of our local high-profile anime bloggers, and downloaded only those that are unlicensed and impossible to find, then you would be pretty much safe. They're pretty lenient in that aspect - they're only protecting intellectual property rights. Now, I'm not saying that what they're doing is right - the oft-stated example of fining a 9-year old for downloading anime when he probably did not know sh*t about copyrights pretty much means you're off your rocker. Also, if you've got the telcos fighting against your advances, it might be time to check your actions.

Now, I download anime myself, I admit that. I enjoy my stuff. But I'm not an idiot to think that I can go up against ODEX just by arming myself with a black ribbon and proclaiming war on them when the whole case is obviously against me. Burning their stuff may be a way to show them what the community thinks, but the money's in their pockets, we're just making a loss by burning off the product that we paid cold, hard cash for. Some guy making a comment on a local anime blog said "I would rather buy American R1 DVDs than buy ODEX DVDs, no matter that it costs double." Shit then, BUY IT. Don't just spout out remarks that you aren't going to work on, that's killing your own credibility.

Our community is quite fine in thinking it can boycott ODEX. It's been doing that for a long time. However it is tiny, naive and stupid in thinking it can fight its way against international copyright laws, overseas companies, and most of all, the Singapore Government just through willpower and a few thousand dollars. The difference here is that the people running ODEX know that by taking the legal side, it can gain the upper hand. We people are useless against them, but people don't understand that. Just face the truth, we can't fight it. Even if we can blow holes through ODEX's case, remember this: In any debate the side that is on the opposition of any "do not have the right" motion only need to prove one point and justify it to win. This is the sort of battle that is going on now.

Face it. ODEX is smarter than us, and that is not going to change. Putting Stephen Sing's face on a WANTED poster is definitely not going to change that.

No idea.

2007-06-13T07:47:00.001-07:00

Nothing much has changed recently, except that I started on Jigoku Shoujo for some reason and that I'm bored. So, on to the intros!

	Y. Sanau (http://ysanau.deviantart.com) I found this really good deviator through some random linking from others. That was when she still had around 450 pageviews (current count around 15,000 and rising). From the first deviation her standard was already of this kind of standard, soft-cel shaded and all. Which is why I admire her stuff so much.
	Arehandora (http://arehandora.deviantart.com) A very, very good anime-style artist. Inuyasha fans might be familiar with one of her works, "Kagome in the Wonderland", which was frequently mislabeled as official art, much to the chagrin of the artist. Have a look.

No idea.

2007-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Update: Anime and art.

2007-06-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'm kinda off anime at the moment, except for Lucky Star because it's done by - who else? - Kyoto Animation. Currently I've dropped Hayate no Gotoku because I am not really interested in continuing with it, but I've started with Nagasarete Airantou, which has the basic premise of a guy stuck on an island of girls, with the normal stuff ensuing.

So now for the introductions!

Kuridoki (http://www.kuridoki.deviantart.com).

Singaporean who (if I remember correctly) won Mangaka 05 (check the '06 posters, they feature one of her works). This is her latest featured deviation, Saber from Fate/Stay Night, which apparently will go on sale at future anime conventions (I believe one convention is Cosfest). Featured once in the Straits Times, through a letter submitted by her father(?) after the featured LifeStyle article on manga (which I still have in my cupboard somewhere). Check it out. :)

ml-11mk (http://ml-11mk.deviantart.com/)

Apparently, from the random remarks I heard by people in AEP (namely seniors and the teacher), this guy used to be from AEP in my school as well - or rather, is in the JC section now. Of course, I felt greatly depressed for a while after that. Of course, from what you can see in this picture, his digital painting is great stuff. Some of these really great people come around once in a while - the person on top flagged this digital painting as a must-see. Go see his other stuff.

These are, once again, top-of-the-line (in my eyes) deviators who deserve the recognition they are getting. And as you might have noticed, I do actually look for stuff other than anime.

Newest updates.

2007-05-11T05:59:00.001-07:00

So, it's been just about forever since my last update. Of course, knowing the nature of the internet, once you're gone, you're gone and your popularity has waned. Giving that I was not very popular in the first place. >.>

Anime Update: Still watching Lucky Star. Also trying out Hayate no Gotoku, waiting for CLANNAD due fall and trying to complete homework. Lucky Star is still very funny, and Hayate no Gotoku is a riot.

Main Update:

LOOK AT THIS GUY'S ART. (Hotlinked off DA)

Done by http://murasaki-hoshi.deviantart.com/.

This guy is stationed in Singapore and freaking imba. Of course, there are other better people around Singapore, or about the same standard (those I have no shortage of), but I like his style.

SECOND GUY! (once again, hotlinked off DA.)

Done by http://toounit.deviantart.com/. Complete ownage.

This guy (actually not really sure about his/her gender) is stationed in Malaysia and has really good skills with Copic markers - and really deep pockets as well. Each marker costs $5, and he easily has over a hundred of them. Well, when you've got skill, money's no matter, right? xD

Update for today - complete. Off to play Fatal/Fake. :3

::BLOGPOST ARCHIVE:: April 24th - Anime Review.

2007-05-11T05:44:00.001-07:00

[ARCHIVE - drafted but unpublished.]

And of course, everyone hails my frequent postings. >.>

Today I will be reviewing a new, currently all-the-rage anime: Lucky ☆ Star. :3 Reason being? I'm too busy to watch anything else.

First Impressions!

Lucky ☆ Star is an anime based off a 4-koma strip (basically, the manga version of your average dailies). Animated by Kyoto Animation, who did, of course, Full Metal Panic!, AIR TV, the ridiculously popular The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Kanon 2006, the expectations for this are also, of course, ridiculously high.

Firstly, the animation style is very different - it's a style that suits the subject title, but most people see it as a degeneration in production quality. Personally, I feel it's just a different style, because the proportions and frames animated are pretty consistent, which of course, cannot be a degeneration of quality.

And now, for the OP - a very, VERY hyper opening to the whole series. Major caffeine boost, I would say.

(Images off http://randomc.animeblogger.net.)

And that's just the opening scene of the opening. Of course, for sheer quality and hyperactivity, the OP scores almost a perfect 10. That in itself values it a must-watch. So go watch it. (This is merely a cut-off so I can go do my homework.)

Update - Regarding St. Valentine's Day.

2007-02-17T04:32:00.000-08:00

This was a post written on the 13th of February, just before St. Valentine's Day.

St. Valentine's Day: A simple yet painful reminder of the loneliness one experiences when without a partner to share joy and sadness with. It is absolutely mortifying if you think about it: People around you recieving gifts one after another, and you sitting alone, with nothing to pass you by but a few token yellow roses of friendship.

Come to think of it, St. Valentine's Day is indeed but a moneygrabbing scheme, where various non-living objects take on new prices to widen that already large hole in your wallet, still smouldering from exertions over Christmas. St. Valentine's Day may hold significance to the lucky few in relationships, but for the rest, it is but an ordinary day with no special meaning, except perhaps an enhanced sense of loneliness. Of course, if I were to recieve a gift, I would be very happy. =)

This was a post written on St. Valentine's Day, 14/02/07.

An absurdly uneventful day, if you are talking in terms of St. Valentine's Day. The only thing that reflected what occasion it was was Terence going around giving out free hugs and proclaiming "Happy Valentine's Day", and an interesting coincidence in that I happened to read the chapter detailing St. Valentine's Day in the seventh book of the Suzumiya Haruhi series today.

In fact, I felt nothing on the matter - I even forgot entirely about it, until I saw some girls going around with roses in hand. So I must say, the points I raised in my previous musing have come to naught - I spent more time today pondering the beauty of the stark difference in shadow and light cast by the evening sun, which was not quite dim enough for a sunset, but enough to generate wonderfully soft shadows and contrast between the light and the dark, so beautiful one could paint it. Observing sunsets, I must say, makes for a pretty interesting hobby, if somewhat weird; it is never possible to tell what you might get the next day. Oh, and best of all, it's free.

And that concludes my St. Valentine's Day musings.

Update Sunday 04/02/07 - Best.

2007-02-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Is there really something anyone can be good at? People say that my drawing is good, but if you look at the artists and painters of the past, is my work even of ten percent the standard they exude? Even if you narrow it down - my friend said I'm good at manga and cartooning - but even then, the numerous examples of good artists on Deviantart bring me down to my knees. See below, Notes 1.

I am extremely conscious of my shortcomings - one of them being unable to put heart into close to anything at all. Why would this be so? That's because you can never be the best at anything. Wherever you look, there is always someone bound to be better than you. Though this may spur some on to try to become the best, in the end, everyone comes to the same bitter conclusion - there is no such thing. In everything, there are styles - different styles that get the job done in different ways. It may not neccessarily be the best way, though - because there cannot be a best. There is no such thing because everything, at higher levels of skill, branches out into different genres, with different styles. Different artists and writers have their own individual styles that appeal to certain people - in a way, everyone is the best at everything they do, which is to say no one is.

So, when you can't ever be the best, why bother in the first place? It's completely irrational to stress oneself over something that you can never win at. Why not just live life as did the grasshopper? The ant may have survived the harsh winter, but is spending your entire year working just so you can live for another year of work really meaningful? Why not just have fun, enjoy yourself, fornicate or whatever pleases you, then disappear from the surface of the earth? That way, it would be better for everyone - Mankind would have more space, animals would have more forests and less polluted seas, the Earth would be less squeezed for resources - and it would be a much better life for all.

Note 1:
http://kuridoki.deviantart.com/
http://arehandora.deviantart.com/
http://lasaro.deviantart.com/
http://kaze-hime.deviantart.com/
http://damashii.deviantart.com/
http://phantom-paranormal.deviantart.com/

About more stuff.

2007-01-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hello guys.

This is the first time I've drafted out a blogpost before submitting it, but I believe a lot of people should do this as well because not everyone is interested in the fine points of your life, unless you're blogging about what you did with your boyfriend/girlfriend last night - and have pictures to show for it.

Now, about my AEP project. I have to work on a compulsory AEP (Art Elective Programme) project for Projects Day (equivalent of IRS), which I am doing together with two other people (from Mediatech, thus owning). Now, there is one emo scene in this video that I am submitting for my project. Actually, I'm doing all the scenes, but the emo scene is specifically by me since the others chose me to do the emo scene. Or rather, I am storyboarding it. However, my choreography is very time-based - I really like sunsets, and one of the scenes requires a heavy downpour. So it's like, emo scene in the sunset. A major side effect of watching too much emo anime where they can paint the background (Kanon, to be exact). But, BUT, I've seen the sunsets in Hwa Chong. They are beautiful (if you have very little clouds). Combined with the looming expanse of the school, it sets a scene for beautiful stuff to happen.

Now, to anime. Do you know what a trap is when used as an anime term? (If you do, good for you.) It's a person who looks like a girl, acts like a girl, dresses like a girl, heck, sounds like a girl but is actually a guy.

That is a guy. Jun Watarase from Happiness!.

Terence (Tsang) describes traps as "bad for the heart". Of course, this is only possible in anime, unless you go for plastic surgery to reconstruct your entire face and probably body stature as well, after which you might be able to pull it off, and possibly even look more appealing than actual girls (it's been done, but you must be able to act well as a girl first. Really well. Being gay helps.) Then gain endless amusement from their faces when you tell them you're male.

(insert emo facial distortion here)

This will add a whole new perspective to harems other than the Itsuki class. Lol. All harem guys beware. (Except for Shiratori, who was himself the trap. Wtf.)

About harems.

2007-01-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it be nice to have your own personal harem? (I'm directing this at guys here, but it can apply to girls too. However, examples are less easy to find - excluding Ouran High School Host Club, which I do not watch. Therefore this applys to guys only. Lol.)

For those unfamiliar with this term, it means a single guy with a load of cute, pretty and very skilled females. Hilarity usually ensues - at the expense of the male lead - unless you are watching Kanon or Air. Or Fate/Stay Night. Upon which hilarity still ensues, albeit at the expense of other characters. Lol.

Of course, having your own personal harem means that you would have a group of really cute girls lusting over your guts. Makes you smile just thinking about it. (Maybe though, if you're Keitaro, you might want to run.) Then again, maybe they aren't really lusting after your body, but then the second type of harem comes into play, and you become really good friends with the same group of really cute and skilled girls, much to the chagrin of your fellow male classmates. (One of these is Yuuichi, who is an idiot because he cannot appreciate the fact that all of the girls he met seven years before are really really cute and adorable and just waiting for him to sweep them off their feet. Or maybe he's gay.) Of course, you could also fall into a harem with REALLY skilled and REALLY cute girls lusting after your guts, which is usually your gain. I envy you, Kyon. But Itsuki is kind of a problem there. (Your face is too close.)

If I had a personal harem though I'd be very happy about it. Then I could spend less time staring at anime and more time going out and having fun. Unless you're Yuuichi or Yukito, on which other hand you would be all sad and stuff from various parts of your harem leaving for various reasons, death etc. Very sad indeed - less cute girls to hang out and have fun with. But of course those harems are outliers - the girls are incredibly cute and have tragic pasts. Complete vulnerability, but because the guys are idiots, they do not take advantage of that fact. Normal guys, on the other hand... never mind.

Concluding, I REALLY WANT A PERSONAL HAREM. Lol. I am such a dreamer.

Happy New Year, whatever.

2007-01-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah so it's three days late, I KNOW THAT.

The arrangement of the furniture in my home has been changed to allow for extra space in the study area and for a better flow of feng shui in and out of the kitchen and dining areas. However, after all this shifting and all, the computer is still in a common area and not in some personal place even though only I use it now. Basically, it's so I can't log on and play in the middle of the night.

I am a boring person, therefore I have nothing to blog about, be it outings, movies, games, funny weird happenings or such. Unless, of course, you consider taking about twenty pictures of the same sunset at three different levels of exposure, different zooms, and in colour, B&W and sepia tones to be interesting - if which I would tell you to go get a book on digital photography basics and go start your own photo studio.

The only thing I have ever blogged about is anime and I do not intend to change that anytime soon. However, there is nothing anime-related to blog about at the moment 'cos:

Kanon episode 13's sub has not been released yet, DAMMIT;
Negima!? sucks and Death Note is really boring;
I have not yet watched Shakugan no Shana;
I finished watching AIR about half a year ago;
Fate/Stay Night is long over;
I have no intention (yet) of watching anything else.

Spring 2007 also brings several new series that have recieved quite a bit of publicity, but nothing that interests me (there's a lot of yuri, incidentally). I don't think there's going to be anything good until hopefully, Summer 2007, or at least Halo 3.

So, until I've watched Shana, don't expect too much from me since I don't go out anyway.

Maintaining the Balance.

2006-12-26T03:53:00.000-08:00

lolol 1337 5p34k 1s 4 F*CKING PIECE OF CRAP.

Just felt like venting, that's all. Hey, at least I censored that.

1337 5p34k is a language that was created last time for people to converse without being regulated (for whatever reason) - but nowadays people use it freely for absolutely no reason other than to supposedly sound cool. Other words in this class are abbreviations like "lmao" and "lol" which have made their way into common everyday speech - which means, even if something is not funny or exceedingly funny, you can never tell since everyone is just saying "lol" or "lmao" instead of laughing or staring at you half-liddedly. What emotion can be expressed from a flat one syllable word? So please, try to refrain from "loling" all over the place, and instead try to LAUGH.

Another matter on hand are plastic bags. The next time you go to a supermarket, try bringing along reusable bags instead - and if it's just one object, request not to have a plastic bag and carry it in one hand. Unless it is, of course, something too big, like a car, which on the other hand you wouldn't need a plastic bag for and can just DRIVE AWAY.

And no, the subject header is not related to the post. Thank you, and goodbye.

Signing off, Corporal Ho Wei Rong

Spreading the Word.

2006-12-21T04:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's related to anime again.

Yesterday was the NPCC Annual General Meeting - a really boring thing where people sit around and go through stuff about the previous year. However, everything was very half-hearted and most of the powerpoints were about three slides long. I spent most of my energy trying not to fall asleep.

Well, at least there was no marching. It ended prematurely, about one hour earlier - which I took advantage of to spread anime, my favourite hobby. Target? Taylor Ong Yik Sin, someone I had previously got to watch Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu.

The anime I chose was Kanon, which is what I've been blogging about for the past two months. I made my way into the 2M (now 2B) classroom, which had not been locked since school closed. All needed equipment had been predetermined and was in working order. I then proceeded to show it on the projector, and there you had it: Thirty minutes of DVD quality, Not-Available-In-Singapore animation.

His reaction was expected - he found the girls undeniably cute, especially Nayuki, who is the most popular character at the moment (and I have to agree on that point, she is really very cute). He said he would watch it on YouTube - success.

Signing off.

Update 19/12/2006

2006-12-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

This is the first post I am sharing between my LiveJournal and Blogger accounts. I think I will be continuing this in future.

Picking up from where I left off, Kanon 2006 episode 11 has just been released. Which is actually not all that big news, since like only I watch it. Why do I watch stuff that no one else does? And counting in the fact that half my contact list on MSN watches anime, that proves how big the show's fan base here is. Which is, coincidentally, not very big. Which is why I am valiantly giving my best effort to spread this wonderful anime - but nobody wants to watch it (Except angsty emo sadistic character-focused people - which Singapore is devoid of).

On another note, I have three AuditionSEA accounts now - if you have one please PM me if you see me online. They are Melvin334, Earthspace and Hitoel.

Currently my favourite quote is from AIR - and was used in a Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu fan comic.

"Yukito-san... like a leaf from a tree..."

Random and very fun. It's the scene where Michiru runs headlong into Yukito's side with Misuzu looking on, in case you've forgot - unless, of course, you have not watched it, which is more probable.

Back to Kanon 2006 - since Makoto is now gone the focus, of course, has to turn to someone else. And this time it happens to be Mai. Now, the preview looks really interesting, so now I am just waiting for episode 12 to come out - the episode that marks the middle point in the anime. Now, it's been two months so I think the show is going to span four.

And just for info, I am going to elaborate on the characters now. Please skip the following parts if you hate anime, for which I do not understand why you would be on my blog at all.

Aizawa Yuuichi

The main male lead. Mysteriously, he does not seem to have romantic links with the other female characters, which is the norm in anime with a significant gender difference.
Minase Nayuki

The first girl Yuuichi meets, and his first cousin. In the style of anime Nayuki has a hair colour which significantly distinguishes her from the other characters - in this case, blue - and a hairstyle that would require a fortune in hair wax to maintain. One of the more popular characters of Kanon for her lightheadedness and character. She tends to talk slower than the other characters.
Tsukimiya Ayu

The second girl Yuuichi meets, and with the least complicated hairstyle (i.e. could actually be natural). She has a fondness for taiyaki and has a childlike nature. Her hair colour is light brown, and she has a red hairband which apparently serves no purpose other than as a hair accessory. Has a habit of saying "Uguu~", which has become a very famous catchphrase - the most famous of Kanon. She has been friends with Yuuichi from seven years ago, and has been waiting for all that time.
Misaka Shiori

A girl who first meets Yuuichi by having snow falling on her. He later has frequent liasons with her on the school grounds, which she tends to loiter around during school times. She is a first year student at the same school, but does not attend due to an apparent illness. Her hair is blackish-brown, a similar colour to Kaori's hair colour, and is another of the more natural hairstyles.
Kawasumi Mai

A very silent girl, reminiscent of Nagato Yuki, and Yuuichi's senior. He first meets her during an accident involving Mai, Sayuri, Nayuki and a flight of stairs. She shares a connection with him from seven years ago, but this has not yet been mentioned so far in the second anime adaptation. Her hair is dark blue-black, and is tied on the back with a blue ribbon.
Sawatari Makoto

A mysterious girl with seemingly no past who attacks Yuuichi out of the blue. She also shares a connection with Yuuichi from seven years ago. However, her part in the story is completed near to halfway through the episodes, and subsequently disappears physically from the anime. Her hair is reddish-brown, and is tied up on two sides with ribbons.
Minase Akiko

Nayuki's mother and only parent. She is seemingly familiar with the supernatural nature of the town, and knows how they apply to Yuuichi (which is a lot). One of her defining features is that she will give responses to questions within one second of being asked, and also her jam, which is greatly feared by Nayuki and Yuuichi.
Misaka Kaori

Nayuki's best friend and classmate along with Yuuichi, Kaori mainly features in Shiori's story and is introduced early on in the anime.
Amano Mishio

Exclusively featured in Makoto's arc. Mishio is familiar with the supernatural nature of the town, and possesses experience with it. After Makoto's arc is concluded, she seems to have changed somewhat, becoming much more open and expressive, or at least to Yuuichi.
Kurata Sayuri

Mai's best friend, and features in only Mai's arc, playing no part in the others.
Kitagawa Jun

Yuuichi's good friend, and one of the only other named male characters. Mainly serves as a plot device.

Oh, and someone should make some quiz about "Which Kanon character are you?" or something. This now is my most favourite anime because everything is just so darned cute. -.-||

Another update.

2006-12-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

Like yay going for a badminton game with Wilford and a few others tomorrow.

Currently I am bored and don't really do much besides watch anime (which incidentally I do very well). But watching it is no fun when you are the only one in a group of like, 100 people. That's because there's no one to discuss it with: Anime in this category for me are AIR, Kanon 2006, Zero no Tsukaima, Mahoraba, Maburaho, and a few others that do not fall into conventional categories that those who actually watch anime rarely watch. Those that like 5 out of 100 know of include Gunslinger Girl, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (which coincidentally is incredibly highly rated), Negima!?, and a few others I cannot recall temporarily. Of course, I do watch mainstream anime, but these have plots that mainly focus on fighting. I mean, doesn't anyone like character development? Relationships and all that? Anime that fall into this category are Bleach, Naruto, Gundam SEED Destiny and Full-Metal Alchemist (which differs in that it actually posesses good plot). The only redeeming point of these kind of anime (besides Full-Metal Alchemist which, coincidentally, has quite bad animation [even though everything seems pretty bad once you've seen Kyoto Animation]) is the action. Of course, there are the anime that everybody knows about, but the problem is that these totally suck and some aren't even considered anime. Anime in this category are Inuyasha and Pokemon (which is considered by some to not be an anime but a game). Inuyasha is pretty okay but Pokemon is pretty poor. The plot of each episode focuses around six main points that you can find in detail on forums and the anime itself serves nothing more than as a money-grabbing scheme.

Okay, we end it there. Now I just watched episode 10 of Kanon 2006, which admittedly is the only anime I watch right now. I heard that most people cried when they watched this episode since Makoto disappears in this one, but I felt nothing much else than a slight tingle. That's what social conditioning and NPCC do to you. Maybe it's a good thing, but really good anime should be able to make you feel the agony of the characters which means you're really into the story, and which also means the characters are as close to human as possible. So far the only anime I have seen that come close are based off Key Game material, but even those made me feel not much other than a tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach and slight bouts of quietness afterwards. Even playing one of their games, or rather the visual novel Planetarian, didn't do much more. Maybe it's good for tissue saving, though. Problem is that anime based off their material, though made by Kyoto Animation, is not mainstream because it focuses so much on character development and is, as some would describe, "f***ing unbelieveably slow", and thus are known by, say, 1 in 100 people. The anime are AIR and Kanon 2006, incidentally.

Now for those people who actually recognised most of the anime names up there and can say that they know the plotlines, PM me. For those who so totally want me to screw off for wasting precious server space on this, PM me too. For those who don't give a damn, keep to yourselves or post your views on the little tagboard on the side.

Another update.

2006-12-04T23:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so now after a really long time I am updating. Wow.

Kanon episode 9 is out. As is episode 9 of Negima!?. I have watched Kanon episode 9. I have ignored Negima!? since episode 5. Death Note was out since episode 2. Perhaps my interest in this area is waning - perhaps going to manga instead. Which does not help much.

Actually since I can't play much anymore my interest in the computer and gaming is waning. So is my interest in watching the TV and playing games on the Xbox. Unfortunately, interest in my homework has not gone up, but down 20%. I'm even losing interest in drawing. And guitar. So I have all these fabulous skills and stuff to do that I am starting to dislike. Basically, at this point in time, life sucks because there is nothing I am interested in (I'm losing interest in blogging too. And I am really hungry right now but I'm too bored to get up and go and get food).

My life is dead as of 5/12/06. Wish me happiness in futility.

Lalala.

2006-11-27T05:45:00.000-08:00

Today while playing squash I saw a young mother pushing her child in a pram, coming to a stop and watching us. Expectedly she told her child, "Look, it's a ball! It's bouncing, it's bouncing! Ooh it came so close!"

So what's so unexpected about it? Well, nothing. But, have we ever considered what the toddler might be thinking?

For all we know, the toddler might be responding mentally with a "Yes you idiot I know it's a ball and I know it's bouncing. Now all I want is just for you to tell me why the laws of physics act in such a strange way on the ball." Maybe now a child points at an Xbox controller. What is he thinking? The mother, bathed in joy that the child is taking an interest in objects, exclaims, "Well, look! That's a game controller! You use it to play GAMES."

"Yeah shut up and turn it on so I can play Halo 2."

"See, this controller has BUTTONS. They help you to..."

"Look, my GamerTag is gonna expire soon if you don't turn it on. I purposely stole your credit card for this so don't waste it."

Yeah, whatever.

Oh my heck.

2006-11-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

I had the weirdest meeting online today.

Thanks to the efforts of Si Hui (thank you very much, yes I know you found my blog), I managed to meet Ian. Who is he? An anime fan as well. Albeit one who knows what TYPE/MOON is, has actually heard of Kanon, is interested in Gunslinger Girl, had a passing fancy for Ai Yori Aoshi, has a display picture of Belldandy, likes Shakugan no Shana, and (get this) can draw well.

Besides all this, he lives less than 100 metres from me.

Seriously like wth. I never thought this day would come.

2006-11-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

Back for another post that barely anyone will read.

After screening randomly through the various blogs that I link to (I don't actually read blogs on a daily basis), I have determined that the number of people who actually use proper English (read: Full sentences, complete words and punctuation and capitals) in blogs is of a phenomenally tiny amount. Though of course there is no need to actually use it, seeing as how online netspeak has gotten so popular. I, however, still prefer standard English online for some unknown reason.

There is nothing anime-related to blog about at the moment, as Kanon 2006 episode 7 is not out yet, Negima!? episode 5 is still in the wings and chapter 154 of the manga is still being subbed. I guess the majority of the people who actually visit and bother to read are happier at this.

And Key is really, really good. My Planetarian download completed recently and I slowly clicked my way through the kinetic novel over the span of three days (English patches open these games for the masses). Great ending but yes, kinda sad as expected of them. And somehow I am guessing that the majority of the people who actually read this blog do not actually understand any of this.

I need a new hard drive.

Melvin's Weekly Update.

2006-11-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm going to make this short because the computer hanged on me after I wrote a 500-word long essay. Hoorays. -.-"

I started watching Kanon 2006 on October the 6th, when the first sub came out. Now I'm on episode 6, and for the moment it's still looking very good. Compared to the 2002 Toei version, which I will not emphasise on, the character design, animation and backgrounds have significantly improved. The gals are that much cuter and Yuuichi has undergone a makeover. Kyon = Yuuichi, anyone?

Yuuichi is one sarcastic guy.

Shiori is looking much cuter. <3

Is it just me, or does everything look so much better when it's done by Kyoto Animation? Now, Key's material has all been done by KyoAni. Joy. <3

Late now, signing off.

The Boredom of ....

2006-10-31T05:54:00.000-08:00

I am bored.

As usual.

I did a fanart of Hikaru no Go and Shaman King for a friend today... turned out pretty well. It's on my DeviantART account at the moment.

This day sucked. I have no reason to stay on the computer because I am freaking bored and have no anime left that I want to watch (or rewatch for that matter). I cannot play games (like wow yay). I am allowed on the computer four hours a day (hey like freakin yay). The whole bloody system is screwing with me and I don't like it (that was just random).

Wilson's RP forum was updated (Wilson from Tao Nan and not the NCO Wilson for fellow NPCCers). I posted too yay. URL is http://s15.invisionfree.com/Alpha_Damage for equally bored parties.

I have started changing my display picture in MSN to a new one every ten minutes because. Just because. I'm bored remember?

There is no spoon (pure randomness).

Heard of this game called "Planetarian ~Reverie of a Little Planet~"? There's a PS2 version out this year called "Planetarian ~A Dream of a Small Star". It's totally in Japanese. But for the PC version there's an unofficial English patch. Key is like so totally pwnage and my torrent download is going at over 20kb/s so I really don't feel like turning off my com anytime soon I hope this seed stays online a while longer.

I hope it won't be so boring tomorrow oh crap it's been ten mins gotta go change my display picture 'kay bye.

Bored.

2006-10-29T06:20:00.000-08:00

I'm bored again.

Today was kinda screwy... I can't play tennis. I'm bored of drawing (like wow). My half completed picture is so damn boring to continue. I have no wish to watch any more anime since I don't know what to watch anyway. No one's going out anywhere. I finished all my manga, I think I'm going to go ballistic this holiday since I can't play any games that I'm interested in. My parents only allow me to play strategy games on the computer... of which we have a nice big zero. And I don't want to play chess. Screw it, this holiday is gonna suck.

Does anyone have any anime (or manga) to recommend? I'm done with all of what I have even a remote interest in. I went to the comics shop today and came out after thirty minutes with nothing... If you have something nice, please tag... So far I've watched or read (or do not want to watch or read):

AIR [one of my favs xD]
Agatha Christie [sucks to me]
Ai Yori Aoshi (Bluer than Indigo) [kinda boring]
Bleach
Burst Angel [this kinda sucks to me]
Cardcaptor Sakura [xD]
Chrno Crusade [bah]
Death Note [nice but boring]
Fafner [Is this good? Someone tell me, I saw a bit]
Full-Metal Alchemist
Gundam SEED (Destiny)
Gunslinger Girl [one of my favs]
Hikaru no Go
Initial D [fav cos of the cars]
InuYasha
Kanon [one of my favs too]
Love Hina [one of my favs]
Maburaho [one of my favs as well]
Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ [my most fav one]
Mahou Sensei Negima [one of my better favs]
Monster [nice but boring]
Mythic Detective Loki [I don't see why it's so bad]
Naruto
Shaman King [Don't really like it]
Slam Dunk [I don't like this either]
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
The Melody of Oblivion [This is okay but reviews are bad]
Zero no Tsukaima

Most of these I like quite well but I'm not the kind who likes the shonen stuff like huge swords or hugely kickass people. My most favs are zero violence romance kinda stuff (in other words shojo), excluding Gunslinger Girl (which is kinda philosophy, like Monster). Please recommend. (This list is not exhaustive).

Look around.

2006-10-26T02:40:00.000-07:00

Totally revamped the layout of my blog. The pictures were copied from ashen-ray, but the layout was done by myself through the use of div tags and whatnot. Now you can stop the music if it can even play since I included a Quicktime controller, but it's not playing for me now. D:

Which layout is better - new or old? Either ways I'm sticking with this one because it took me three hours to complete.

Waah.

2006-10-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

I seriously feel like killing myself. D:

All these pro ppl from Singapore who can do art stuff better than me are killing me D:

http://damashii.deviantart.com/ - What's with her bloody CG?
http://nch85.deviantart.com/ - Look at his animation, dammit!
http://mushopea.deviantart.com/ - Connections, connections. Oh and she happens to draw a few hundred times better than me. D:

I should just quit DA until I improve a million times over. D: ||mopes in corner||

And as usual I don't appreciate cynical comments.

Gragh.

2006-10-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Did my first 158 bpm finish move on Monday night. :D Who else Auditions?

There's this really good person on DeviantART who is actually a professional manga artist. Webby: http://www.ashen-ray.com/

Currently trying to burn Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu to a DVD+RW, to no avail. My AVI to DVD Converter is screwing up on me. If anyone has any good suggestions, please post it in the comment box. Thanks.

Negima?! and Kanon 2006 are really good in terms of animation and drawing. For all those non-cynical people who actually like watching anime and don't screw around with people for watching it, this is a must-watch, as the Negima manga is a must-read.

I don't like updating when I don't feel like it. Maybe another update later (if you don't care, you don't need to tell me. I don't care what you think if you don't care what I think).

Exam results are back.

2006-10-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the exam results came back today and yesterday... So far I don't know English and History yet (and I have a feeling I don't really want to know). So far...

Maths: C6
Chinese: B4
Literature: B4
Geography: A2

Well, for a start my parents weren't too happy about the results. So I got a wonderful 45 minute lecture, during which I had quite a few thoughts about the whole education system and everything. Parents say they want their children to study so that in future they can excel in the global market... but has anyone ever wondered why? Is it even possible to excel in a market where everyone studies the same syllabus and has the same knowledge? It's like mass production, a mass production of young students who have never really experienced the joys of life. So what if you don't do so well in school? The reason why people excel when they do is because they have knowledge that nobody else does, like a chef has a secret family recipe, and like a person knows how to repair vehicles. The reason why Microsoft excelled is because of that little knowledge about coding that let the creator create Windows. KFC excelled because it had a secret recipe for making chicken that no one else could. So why would studying the same syllabus and the same subjects in the same schools and getting the same knowledge let you beat the rest? No one has ever considered that. Think about it.

WAAARGH

2006-10-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hi guys. First things first,

I'M NOT A BLOODY EMO KID. :D

'Grats to HCI and NYGH ppl for passing exams le, gd luk for RI guys urs are just starting >.< Playing whole day, AuditionSEA and MapleStory getting boring... Halo 2 also v. boring le. All my games getting boring... haizz.

So I turn to reading my manga. Currently I'm reading some two series by Ken Akamatsu, Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima (if you follow anime and/or manga trends you should know how famous these two are ^^) and looking forward to Kanon 2006... already seen the first episode. The animation's top-notch, fitting of the animation company that brought you SHnY and Inuyasha, and my fav series AIR! ^^;; Go KyoAni! Bring us more quality works in future! (hope they are doing CLANNAD by Key Game ^^) Maybe I'm going overboard here.

There, I updated. Maybe a better update in future that isn't so anime-related. Signing off.

Singapore's screwing up.

2006-10-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

Guess what, Pollution Standard Index (PSI) has reached record levels.

The PSI has reached 130 based on three-hourly readings taken based on PM10, the main cause of pollution in this case. People are advised to stay indoors and refrain from vigorous activity.

The smoke is getting in my stomach. >.< If this goes on much longer I don't think my brain can take it, I've been feeling the pressure for quite a while now.

Good luck, Singapore. Indonesia needs more luck now though - if my sources are correct the PSI there is 500.

I can screenie now!

2006-10-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

Final post before exams probably.

Exams are here by Friday and ending on Thursday (when I can finally play again). However, that isn't stopping me from surfing the Net and finding various means of evading study which I have done for so long and cannot seem to stop doing. That is because my studying is in all essentiality finished and I have no reason to continue.

In other news, I finally found out how to take screenshots in Windows Media Player. Now I can bring all my favourite anime moments to school for all those blinking idiots to see (I cannot think of any other terms at the moment).

Haruhi Suzumiya is teh pwn.

Halo Wars is coming out!

And that is all for today.

Website.

2006-09-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of a new project: The creation of a website utilizing various mediums to accumulate ACE points for the fulfilment of the Infocomm Studies ACE limit. I will be obtaining the help of various sources, besides the Infocomm Studies teacher, to help us with the fulfilment of this task. This project will be done in conjunction with another student, Justin Salim, and will guarantee maximum ACE for our final grade. This will in turn make our parents enamoured and satisfied. The drafting process has been designated to Justin, proceeding which I will then go through a second vetting process, and then proceed to the final stage of creation, coding. I will utilise a combination of Hypertext Markup Language, Cascading Style Sheets, PHP Hypertext Preprocessors and Javascript, as well as Macromedia Flash, Fireworks and Dreamweaver to obtain a final product worthy of this grade.

I have no idea what the above paragraph means and I have no intention of understanding either. Even though I wrote it myself.

"Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu" is complete. Now for Kanon Tv. 2. :|

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

2006-09-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone seen this anime before? It's called "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", or "Haruhi Suzumiya no Yuutsu" in Romanized Kanji. Also being animated by Key Animation, it was stopped at episode 14 because staff had to be rerouted to the Kanon remake. The first (read: second) episode is already crazy enough; I can't imagine the rest. -___-;;

New background.

2006-09-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Notice the new background for my blog? That's from AIR. It took me all of fifteen minutes to complete it and another fifteen to get around Photobucket's cranky uploading problems. Somehow, I prefer this over the previous one.

Audition.

2006-09-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

I just realised I've spent close to a hundred on anime and manga. >.<

Been playing Audition today, I've gotten quite good at it. Sync-8, anyone? :)
Level 9 now, but there's no one to play with... I've been practising Chance and Sync-8, but it's still very screwy (Chance, not Sync-8).

AIR is almost done. Once I'm finished watching it, I might go back to Zero no Tsukaima or Gunslinger Girl. Or maybe both. >.<

Cheerio.

Air.

2006-09-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

Spent most of today at home, though I went to school for maths remedial. Simultaneous linear equations however is not really my cup of tea. I basically slacked through the whole of this rather uneventful day, unless you consider watching Air eventful.

Air? Another anime. Made by Kyoto Animation, the same company that is now working on the Kanon remake, it ran from 6 January 2005 to 31 March 2005 in Japan, ending off with the recap episode at the end of the 13-episode series. It, however, has not been released in Singapore. Which is where YouTube comes in. >.< It isn't licensed!

Air has three arcs: the Dream arc, the Summer arc, and the Air arc. Currently I have only seen the Dream arc, which focuses on four people: Yukito Kunisaki, the male lead of this arc, Misuzu Kamio, the first girl he meets and possibly the main female lead, Minagi Tono and Kano Kirishima. Because I highly doubt that anyone actually reading this will want to watch the anime, mainly because it isn't very action-focused but more of a fantasy comparable to Kanon's supernatural elements, and a very weepy anime, I will not write anymore about it until I finish watching it. Wikipedia is your friend. >.<

HWR signing off. Once again, this is highly recommended: I place it up there along with Kanon.

Kanon.

2006-09-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ayu from Kanon. xD The remake is coming out October 5th or 6th - can't wait. It looks way better than the 2003 version. With an extension from 13 eps to 25, maybe the story can be better executed instead of the 1-episode-per-side-story execution of the original animation.

Animation rights this time have been handed over to Kyoto Animation, the team responsible for AIR. I've seen AIR - this time round I think all those people who were balking at the original's character design will be able to appreciate the story.

A very good plot-driven anime, even though it did come from a Key game eroge dating sim >.< You don't get many plot-driven dating sims around though. Kanon was THE best dating sim when it came out... xD Wiki it. It's still popular with fans of the genre.

Highly recommended.

Misc.

2006-09-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

30 questions, stolen from Yi Yong. xD

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
I look tired.

2. When is the next time you will have sex?
*First time. Probably many, many years from now.

3. What's a word that rhymes with "DOOR"?
Four.

4. Favourite planet?
Zalaswe, revolving around Spatius in the Omega star cluster five thousand million lightyears away.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your mobile?
(no number)

6. What is your favorite ringtone on your phone?
Songette. Loud, irritating, the "wake you up" kind. Also the "will-get-it-confiscated-during-assembly" kind.

7. What kinda shirt you have on?
Tee.

8. Describe yourself in one phrase.
An absolute pain in the ass.

9. Name the brand of shoes you're currently wearing?
Soleofthefoot.

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Very bright.

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
A great artist. xD

12. If you're alone in a room with two beds, which one do you sleep on?
Both. More mattresses = more comfort. xD

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

14. What did your last text message say that you received on your mobile?
"Lol wei rong you owe me thirty cents because ring world overdue thirty cents XD" - HZX. I guess I'm not starting Term 4 off too well.

15. Where is your letter box?
Basement carpark 7 floors down.

16. What's a word that you say a lot?
"What". "What the h---", "What the s---", "What the f---", "What the-", "What the f---ing h---", "What the f---ing k-nin-b-ch--c---b-- are you f---ing doing?!" etc.

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
Look, a yellow-spotted whale!

18. Last furry thing you touched?
An air pistol lead pellet.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
ENOUGH TO BLOW YOUR F---ING BRAINS OUT.

20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?
None, it's the DIGITAL AGE.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
2 billion because that's when I have more money than Bill Gates.

22.Your worst enemy?
THE PENCIL ZOMG. Or Maths.

23. What is your current desktop picture?
"Gunslinger Girl". Featuring five under-thirteen girls staring into deep space.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"What".

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly?
I'll choose the 150mm Paladin howitzer, magical powers, fifteen billion bucks, Microsoft AND be able to fly.

26. Do you like someone?
"liekz omg wuff u lawl" -Quote. Like I don't know wtf that means zomg lawl

27. The last song you listened to?
"The Light Before We Land" - The Delgados

28. If the last person you spoke to was getting shot at, would you jump in front of the bullet?
If I can move at speeds higher than Mach I, I'd just pick up my mom and run. Then shoot the guy with a Dragunov.

29. If you could punch one person in the face who would it be?
YOU LIEK ZOMG WTF >=D

30. What is the closest object to your left foot?
MY FIVE TOES. OMG IMPOSSIBLE! -_-"

New background.

2006-09-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I changed my background. If you don't mind can you tell me if it's hard to read? I'm pretty sure it is, but having some opinion from outside sources does help.

Prize.

2006-09-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

Art comes in many forms: For me, it's mostly manga. xD I am such a lamer.

I went to the Home Team Academy today to recieve a prize for second place in an art competition... details exactly? "Ministry of Home Affairs: HomeFront Security Month Poster Competition". It's a national competition where any secondary school can enter (Ngee Ann sent in the most entries but Hwa Chong owned). So I got second place. First place went to a Sec 1; third to a Sec 3. It follows an order, lol. $400 Borders book voucher; so far spent $67.15. Wtf, yeah.

And what was the main focus of my drawing? Well, the people were all done manga-style. There were two vehicles in the picture: the SCDF pumper and the SPF SOC Riot Control Vehicle. It was only until someone presumably in the upper echelons of the Total Defense structure mentioned casually that the two vehicles were the new ones did I realise that I had just drawn vehicles that were not yet released to the public, down to every last detail, including registered number plates for the respective number of the vehicle.

In other news, the new anime/manga I'm hooked on is Gunslinger Girl (which is coincidentally rather old). The main character is Henrietta, a young pre-adolescent child who is incredibly cute, self conscious, has a crush on her mentor and carries a Fabrique Nationale P90 in a violin case. Why? Henrietta is a member of an elite group of Government agents (all coincidentally young, really cute and disarming girls) who have been mechanically enhanced and brainwashed to do the Government's dirty work. They wield guns with deadly precision, and like all normal people specialise in certain weaponry (Henrietta uses Fabrique Nationale and is more of a close-quarters person, though she does use a sniper; Rico is a more experienced sniper). Of course they are very good at making people let down their guard; though professional killers, they still make really good children, apart from the fact that they carry weapons in violin cases, are near oblivious to pain and have more strength than your average weightlifter. A great story, but with such astronomical prices ($9.15 for 1 book), I'm not sure I want to start a collection.

Offline.

2006-09-01T03:42:00.000-07:00

Went out for quite a while today... First I went to Parkway and had lunch with my sister, then walked around for a while, after which I proceeded to Century Square to buy Gunslinger Girl 2 and 3 (at this rate my savings are going to be wiped out real easy.) Really bored now though... reason being?

AuditionSEA is in the process of being patched. For over 18 hours now.

In an amazing feat of time management and efficiency, this patch has somehow taken over 18 hours and counting when the stipulated end time was actually eight. The administrators must be really tired now... Maybe someone keeps tripping over the server cables and they have to restart the entire process. Or perhaps they have internet connection problems lar...

Hope it comes up soon lor...

Girls with guns.

2006-08-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

Decided I wanted to buy a comic today, so I went to the Comics Connection in Bedok and bought Gunslinger Girl vol. 1. I've known about it for quite a while already (since like before June) and was planning to get the manga 2 weeks ago, but in all honesty I didn't know the price - and for good reason too. One book - Chinese version - costs $9.15 (Compared to less well-known ones which go for about half the price). I'm going to totally wipe out my savings if I want to make a collection.

But it is GOOD. The drawings are like "whoa!" and the guns are very detailed down to the last notch on the side of the Fabrique Nationale P90. But the story is the best part. xD But I can just see my money disappearing.

That's all for today.

Hiatus.

2006-08-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

I have not posted for a year already (I went off blogs a year ago). As proof that I am still alive, besides totally recreating my blog, I shall now post as I deem fit.

My current theme is, most unfortunately, not cross-browser. Once I have found the problem I will then tackle it and attempt to make it cross-browser compatible (seeing as IE sucks).

Go for Opera or Firefox. Honestly.

NPCC sucks now - ironing the freaking uniform is tedious, putting on the buttons is irritating and the worst part is pinning on the badges. Great contrast to that post down there.

DeviantART still rocks, though they changed their theme. Now it's more streamlined and makes for easier access.

Well, what have I done in the period that I was away? Well, mostly I got hooked on anime... though it's not really the more popular ones like Gundam Seed (well, I'm hooked on that too.) What I do like are more of the romantic kinds... xD Something's wrong with me.

More info on my favourites:

Maburaho - harem/magical girl genre

A guy, Kazuki Shikimori, with a real limited magic capacity finds himself the object of affection for three sweet young things: Miyama Yuuna, Rin Kamishiro and Kazetsubaki Kuriko. Nothing new here besides the underlying theme of magic. Still, the character design and effects are pretty good.

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ - romance genre

One of my favourites, Mahoraba is about a guy, Shiratori Ryuji, who moves into an apartment in Tokyo to enrol in an art school. This apartment is Narutaki-sou, a charming little villa that looks very out of place surrounded by the skyscrapers of modern Tokyo. Here he meets the landlady, Kozue Aoba, whom he takes a liking to, and the other eccentric tenants... very refreshing storyline, but the male and female leads are REALLY boring. But that's why I like them, because they so resemble real-life people. xD

Kanon - supernatural, romance

Actually a relatively old anime. The original story came from an eroge by Key games, but it is actually very good in terms of plot. The main character is Yuuichi, a guy who returns to Hokkaido after fourteen years, and moves in with his cousin, Nayuki, and her mother. Along the way he meets other girls, most of them having met him during his last visit fourteen years ago. Slowly as his memory returns, he finds out that most of these girls harbour secrets he never knew about. A very moving anime, and the main character is not at all boring, because unlike male leads in most female-dominated casts, he actually has a personality and a tendency to be rather mean. xD

AIR - romance genre

Still in progress. xD

Zero no Tsukaima - romance/magical girl genre

Set in a alternate world where there is such a thing as magic, Zero no Tsukaima centres around the two leads, Saito and Louise. Still in progress, actual screening hasn't even finished yet. For more info just Wiki it.

Other animes that I watched:
- Gundam SEED Destiny
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Ai Yori Aoshi
- Naruto
- The Melody of Oblivion
- Monster
- Ragnarok: Mythic Detective Loki

Remember, Wikipedia gets you anywhere. xD

NPCC ROX!!!

2005-08-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a few months already. Well, haven't really been feeling like blogging anyway. but I'm blogging again...DUH! Well, stuff hasn't been going rather well recently. NPCC third-class drill test...whee! Better polish my boots and practice my commands...and straighten that uniform a bit...

See ya soon!

2005-06-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

Flying off today for China. 7 days, won't be around anytime soon. I wonder what Hong Kong will look like. Goodbye!

Dead Poet's Society...

2005-05-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Gosh.
Found out that the movie, Dead Poet's Society, has a blog that mentions it, and is based on the exact opposite. Check out the Live Poet's Society at http://livepoets.blogspot.com.

Funny site

2005-04-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

Found a rather interesting site here. Some may find it stupid though, and some will find it familiar.

Ho Wei Rong was
a Great Dragon Slayer
in a past life.

http://quizme.stvlive.com/pastlife/quiz.php

My Halo story

2005-04-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

Yesss!!! My story is finally on Halo.Bungie.Org! But it did not recieve very good comments...oh well. I'll have to improve on it then.

About this blog

2005-04-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be my personal blog. I will post personal messages here. My other blog will be for the Halo story that I am working on right now.

The New Blog

2005-02-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

This is a new blog. My previous ones all had over 300 problems. Haha.