Anime Festival Asia Part 2

マクロス　ダイナマイト

Pics will be forthcoming, provided by an unnamed source. (!?!?!??!?!?!) Only cosplay though.

I arrived at around 12pm or so. After camping around for some people I needed to meet, we went straight to the main stage for the K-On Live Dubbing session. It was around 1pm when we went in, and the event was slated to start at 1.15. So we started to squeeze around to find a good position. We managed to squeeze almost up to the stage, since there was this little space for people to stand right next to the main seating area.

And then as we were getting comfortable, they dragged the voice dubbing machine onto the stage. And they had invited random audience to use the machine. When we arrived, two girls were on stage, and amazingly, they went for SUUPAAAAAA INAZUMAAAAA KIIIIIIIIICKU!!!! I WA SHOCK! Next was these two dudes... and they picked the scene from Getter Robo Armageddon with Hayato yelling CHANGE GETTA at the end. YOU WA SHOCK! And to top it off, I just tried those scenes yesterday. WE WA SHOCK! I almost expected someone else to appear and do that Athrun self-destructing Aegis to kill Kira scene from Gundam SeeD, but it was not to be. It was time for the K-On live dubbing event!

...And we waited pretty long before they finally showed up. So first they came up and introduced themselves. I'm actually not very familiar with K-On (because I haven't watched the anime), but if I'm not wrong everyone appeared except Mio's voice actor. And true to Japanese form, they had ridicuously high-pitched normal voices. No one spoke at a lower pitch than their character's voice (tl;dr version: normal talking pitch >= character's voice pitch). A bit nuts if you ask me. So they voice acted two hilarious scenes from the early episodes (one involving band practice and cake, another involving Yui getting her guitar serviced and not knowing she had to pay for it), then settled down to a Q&A session. Then after that I zoned out here and there. Incomplete question list:

1. Do you find any similarities between yourself and your character?

I totally can't remember their answers for this.

2. Was it difficult to portray your character's voice.

I'd say no for all of them, but I zoned out there too, so I shall not put words into their mouth.

3. What's your favourite line for your character?

The line Yui's seiyuu picked was hilarious. ANTAN ANTAN ANTAN Everyone laughed. The next person picked a more serious line. Something about a promise. To another band member. I guess it's only awesome if you watch the anime. I totally couldn't compute the third member's line. And the fourth person picked N-nyaaan~ which set everyone off laughing with a dose of MOE!!!

4. Do you think your character resembles you in any way when you were still in school?

IMHO it was a pretty standard response for everyone, so I didn't bother remembering. Or I just plain don't remember.

5. If you weren't a voice actor, what job would you pick?

Also somewhat standard; everyone said they always dreamt of being a seiyuu. And two of them stuck to using the voice to do something. If I recall correctly, the third person ranted a bit about a pretty interesting range of jobs, then ended off with "But the bottomline is I will keep changing jobs." Chuckle-worthy. And the last person said "Detective." Ahh.

And that was pretty much it.

You know what? I totally know nothing about K-On. So read other person's blog here. Ok? Ok. Scroll down, yeah.

Good part about the K-On thing was that I met two interesting people there: There was that guy who was watching us when we sang "TOBE! GUNDAM" yesterday and then all three of us hijacked the machine for Nekki Basara goodness; he was out in front, trying to tape the conference. The AFA crew didn't let him though. In fact they were pretty harsh on photography today. There was this guy behind me just sending a message, and this huge guy shone a torch straight at him and asked him what he was doing and demanded he keep the phone. Scary stuff. Then there's a guy from some international school who likes SRW, loves JAM Project, and is also going to the concerts. Yes. And he was gonna take photos. But I haven't heard from him, so I'm not using his. :X There's also other interesting stuff about him, but let's move on...

I thought of going to the Maid Cafe, but long queue and confirmed expensive food put me off. So we went to hijack the karaoke machine again. We tried to sing Ai Wo Torimodose (YOU WA SHOCK) but we couldn't because it was supposedly copyrighted. =3= The dubbing machine got pretty damn good publicity when it was onstage just now, because suddenly all sorts of fanboys hijacked it, picked the Super Inazuma Kick scene, and started inserting lines from other mecha anime in (very prominently Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. I must have heard GIGA... DORILL... BUREAKAAAAAA at least five times in 15 minutes or so). Of course, there were the *normal* people who actually voiced that scene, and other scenes. Anyway, we managed an "Eien ni Amuro" with a lot of wrong lyrics. Then some dude picked Dynamite Explosion and we sang with him. On the bright side, some dudes gathered eventually and all sang Tobe! Gundam together. Ahh. And some Fire Bomber songs. Whoohoo!

Anyway, after that I went to buy a sword... I tried to buy Urahara's sword (Bleach dude) but I didn't know which one it was and no one else knew. :/ Not that I like Bleach; I need to buy it for my club's Urahara cosplay. So in the end I bought a boken (wooden sword). It's no bokuto, but it's pretty stylish since it has a sheath and all, and is much lighter compared to bokuto I've swung. Of course it probably means it's more fragile.

After that I found the graffiti wall... I'm lazy to upload the three pics I took (including two of my own pictures), but of note were:

1. Huge Mudkip/Marshtomp feature. So I herd u liek Mudkips and All Your Base (are) Belong To Mudkip. Yeah.

2. Miku screaming "MY EYES THEY BURN". Of course there was more Miku, and cuter Miku.

3. Horde of awesome drawings from anime I don't know.

4. In katakana accompanied by a mangled steamroller drawn lightly in pencil: ZA WARUDO! TOKI WO TOMARE! WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

5. Huge Cloud in blue ink with the caption: CLOUD IS EMO KING

6. NCH's trademark cat, obviously drawn by someone else, with caption: I see no NCH

7. Cool-looking dude's head and shoulders drawn by some guy, then blue marker dude continues it and gives him a ballerina dress and pose. That fag.

8. Huge-Onizuka lookalike that I don't recognise.

9. Someone copied the K-On! Live Dubbing advertisement off the Festival Brochure and damn it looks close.

I added Nimue screaming Giga Drill Breaker (I got influenced by the fanboys) and Jorryn being stoned and denying that she's a Yellow (from PokeSpecial) lookalike. :3 Hey, she actually has chest. There's one big difference. [/pervert]

After that, because we wanted to see the stage clearly later during the concert, we started queueing. Even at 4pm, a good amount of people had started queueing. Lucky us. We sat down and played on our DS/PSP respectively, and the other people wandered around more. The concert was due to begin at 6.30pm. Meh.

Eventually we got in... And *then* they tell us they're selling albums of all the performers at the AFA booth. Damn. Can't get out of the concert now... It's my own fault for not going just now. ;_;

Concert start!

Only two people today: Yoshiki Fukuyama (JAM Project member), and May'n. Totally looking forward to Fukuyama: I've listened to him a lot in JAM Project songs as well as Fire Bomber songs and of course assorted other songs. Strangely enough, I have more of his songs than anyone else's. This guy is forty-seven and going on but he sings like he's freaking twenty. Every time you listen to a JAM Project song and think "That guy sounds screamo and twenty-odd" you're listening to Yoshiki Fukuyama's voice. As for May'n, I don't know much about her other than that she's the singing voice of Sheryl Nome of Macross Frontier (and I haven't even watched that yet). Considering plenty of people are going for her (apparently she pulled in even more people than Aniki last year >_>; yes she was here last year as well, but I didn't know about Frontier then). Anyway, two Macross singers. Duet? You betcha life on it.

In true adrenaline-pumping fashion, Yoshiki Fukuyama pops onto stage singing King Gainer Over! There was no space to do the Monkey like in the actual OP, but with the words Love and Courage, we could feel Power. [/reference to the lyrics] After that he sang something I didn't recognise... And then after that he pulled out his acoustic guitar and started on a rampage. He started with Makka na Chikai, and we all went "O~h O~h DAT DARA DARATDA!" together, and it feels so good to not be drowned out by electric guitar. Awesome sauce. And fun. Then he went on a full-on Macross 7 rampage, starting with Remember Sixteen. I haven't watched that far into Macross 7, but it's not an energetic song. Something to soothe the nerves. Totsugeki Love Heart (TOTSUGEKI RABU HAAAAAAAAAAAA~TO!) was next. It really sounds different on acoustic. He messed up one of the first few lines in the song by singing the corresponding second verse line over it, but I forgot exactly which one it was. And then after that the audience started calling for Angel Voice, and he said "That one will have to wait a moment," and launched into Try Again, Basara's final song in the original anime run of Macross 7. FLY AWAY! FLY AWAY! TRY AGAIN! TRY AGAIN! In my opinion, it sounded better the the acoustic, but it could just be the way he sang it today. Yeah. It was still nice and loud during the chorus, and all of us who don't know Japanese yelled out the Engrish. FLY AWAY! TRY AGAIN! After that he settled down more, and sang Angel Voice. It's really soothing. Pretty apt considering it was used to calm space whales. I mean in the anime. There are few other songs that contain that much hot-blood and energy but yet are good lullabies. WAAAAOH WAAAOH WAAAAAAOH

Man, you can tell Fukuyama's getting old though. His vocal range isn't nearly as ridiculous, but it's really good nonetheless. He coughed a bit here and there, but didn't take much water. I guess that could be why he coughed. :x

After Angel Voice Fukuyama split, and May'n came on stage... After like five minutes of either no one being on stage, or only her dancers dancing or stoning. And then when she finally appeared on stage, she started singing her new songs... that are not anisongs. For a guy that pretty much came for Macross spam, I got pretty bored, and I'm sure a lot of people were the same as well. People started stoning. She even went backstage for a costume change after one song. Until she finally started singing Macross songs. Then everyone was happy. I'm no Macross Frontier geek, so I'm relying on outside sources: Northern Cross, Lion, Iteza Don't be Late, Welcome Fanclub, Infinity. I only remember Lion, mostly. So I'm going to talk only about Lion. The people at the karaoke machine ruined my image of it. It's actually a pretty good song. Lion is powerful ^w^ (I'm referring to the lyrics again).

Then "encore". INCOMING DUET But it was just two songs. Fukuyama brought out his acoustic again and played back-up singer while strumming and May'n sang Diamond Crevasse, which was pretty damn good ^w^ Then Fukuyama abandoned the guitar, and we got DYNAMITE EXPLOSION DUET. That song is too infecticious. It really helps that the chorus is in English, so EVERYONE AND THEIR COUSIN CAN SING ALONG. DYNAMITE! DYNAMITE EVERYDAY EVERYNIGHT EVERYWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

And that was the end of the concert. It ended on time, which sort of sucked, but at least I could still get those albums since it was only 8.30. Or so I thought. The guys at the AFA booth were packing up and refused to sell me the albums. I was sad. D: Still angry at myself for not checking out the booth at all. >_<

After that the rest of my day went downhill. We wanted to go to a friend's house, but my annoying friend refused to take "You can't come" as an answer and kept following, so in the end we had four people in the back of one car to go to the guy's house. Pfft. And in addition to the usual trouble-causing antics, he went ahead and broke my boken by swinging it. ._. I got pretty angry. I must have cussed about 50 times before I got home. At least superglue fixed it, and he's paying me back for some of it.

It wasn't as fun as Day 1, but at least it was pretty close. Heh.

Anime Festival Asia Part 1

ああ、疲れた～

Wow, Anime Festival Asia Day 1 was awesome.

...I don't have pictures. Go away.

While waiting for my friends to show up, I glanced at the floor below... Lots of cosplayers. Looking all nice. Quick count: 2 or 3 Hatsune Mikus, a couple of Vampire Knight Yukis; one Rosette from Chrno Crusade; a bunch of girls dressed up as various Prince of Tennis people; another bunch dressed up as the K-On! main characters, complete with instruments; one Suika from Touhou; 2 Narutos (surprisingly, no Sasukes were spotted); 3 Ichigos (Bleach); a couple of Cloud Strifes (Final Fantasy 7)... I don't really remember anything else. OMG I remember that plump woman cosplaying as Franky from One Piece. Oh, that was lulz.

On to actually going in.

First thing I saw upon entry was the Gundam exhibition booth. Lots of display cases with Gundams. Perfect Grade 00! ...Perfect Grade of lots of other stuff! 1/40 scale Gundam! Gundam SeeD VS SeeD Astray series of mash-up Gundams! Where are my Super Robots... oh. Okay. Let's move on.

We went around for a while and checked out the shops. Lots of figurines and model kits. And of course there's the T-shirts. And then there's the really out-of-place stuff like the tour agency booth. I took a major double-take when I saw the booth. Serious. There was a booth for a recently held drawing competition, and there were quite a few people sitting in front of a tablet and drawing. In fact apparently you could try to challenge the artists there. Wow. There was a maid cafe, but I didn't go. Long waiting queue and expensive food probably. Yeah.

Now for what I found the most fun!

There was an Animax booth. At first I thought they were trying to sell subscriptions, but actually they were letting people try out dubbing :o They only had 4 roles: Edward from Full Metal Alchemist, Ichigo from Bleach, Kagome from Inuyasha, and Yui from K-On!. I went for Kagome. The guy after me was cosplaying as Roy Mustang and was shooting to wreck the minds of anyone watching Inuyasha after hearing his dub, as he announced to his friends (one of them was Riza Hawkeye, interestingly). I told him I was going to do it first. He said, "Shit."

I missed nearly all the cues and went too fast and made Kagome sound like a little boy. Eheh. FAILURE

So we wandered over to where people were mass-spamming God Knows (as in the Haruhi insert song) and it was actually a karaoke booth. Free-of-charge. Awesome. People were getting really sick of God Knows. But there were a bunch of people queued up. So we went to the adjacent booth. Oh, it's another dubbing booth, but only in Japanese and even more scenes/animes/characters. The scenario was geared for 2 people at once though. There was the translated script for all the scenes, but I winged it and read the lines in Japanese off the screen. We totally messed up the Gunbuster scene because we are guys and can't really manage the hot-blooded screams of females, and then my friend totally screwed up his lines for our Shin Getter scene (and admittedly I couldn't read a kanji and slurred it, as well as messing up a cue), then after that we did a three-line Gundam SeeD scene, and in my humble opinion I made Athrun sound way more eager to totally wreck Kira. Which I think was what he was trying to do, especially since he was berserking and trying to kill Kira in that scene as revenge for his friend who Kira killed by accident. Confused? Uh, forget it.

After that we went for the concert. Line-up: Shouko Nakagawa (wildcard), Hatsune Miku (yes the Vocaloid) and Ichiro Mizuki (ANIKIIIII). The queue for the public audience had gotten really, really, really long, and we couldn't cut the queue (eheh) so we had to go to the back of the class. After making it in, we were blocked by hordes of tall guys. *bleep* On the upside there's all the people trying to film the concert (pretty blatantly too considering it was "prohibited"). Thank you poor suckers for holding up the camera to film the concert for us. Hehehe.

Shouko started with Cruel Angel's Thesis, the Evangelion opening. People were happy. And she was really hyped. Pumping her fist in the air and shouting "Hey!" during instrumentals. She was infecticious. Next was Sorairo Days, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann opening. She was pretty pumped. And then a lot of people were pointing at the sky. That's "breaking through the heavens with drills" symbolism for you. After that was a couple of songs I didn't know. Upbeat mostly. After those, she asked us if we knew Pokemon. Resounding "YES" echoing throughout the hall? Check. It wasn't just me, it was everyone. Then she asked if we knew Pichu. And proceeded to sing a song from the Arceus Movie. Which I watched in English. Apparently she voice acted the Pichu in that movie. Damn, now I so want to watch it again in Japanese. After that she told us she was going to spam more Gurren Lagann, and she gave us three more songs. I only recognised the first: happily ever after. The other two... One was an insert somewhere, and one I didn't recognise at all. :o Are you sure that's from Gurren Lagann...? After the Gurren Lagann song she sang a song that sounded oddly familiar, talked some more, made all of us point to the heavens and someone took a photo, and she left. Eheh. She even posted it on her blog: http://ameblo.jp/nakagawa-shoko/entry-10393680698.html She's awesome.

Next was Miku... I was going to cover my ears, but it wasn't so bad. Miku was cute. She sang her character song, then sang two or three actually pretty nice songs. Apparently one is pretty famous. Some guys were yelling out the beginning lyrics. Something about the world ("sekai"). Blah. Anyway, my friend was telling me the quality sucked compared to the Japan one some time back, which was really, really crazy awesome apparently. And worst of all the screen lagged near the end of the performance when snow effects popped out. Eww. Bad Miku showing. 15 minutes of bad Miku. People were disappointed. And you could tell a lot of people were around just for her, since there was a small crowd disappearing after there was no more of her.

Lastly was Aniki. He walked in singing Bokura no Mazinger Z with a shiny silver coat. Which I don't really know. But it's a nice song. It's Zetto's ending song. Ahh. And then after that he gets going with Mazinger Z no Uta. MAZIN GO! PAIDA ON! Instead of singing the whole song, he sang the first verse twice and tried to get everyone to sing along. I guess it was because last year he tried to get people to sing along for the whole song, but not many people knew the lyrics for the second verse. Yeah. And the translator promised us a horde of Super Robot songs from Aniki. And he delivered. Cue "DASH! DASH! dan dan da dan~" as he starts singing Ore Wa Great Mazinger. Sweet! I just memorised this song last month. And I love this song. It's so awesome and cute and funny at the same time. Immediately after that was Combattler V no Uta. Which is one of my favourites. V V V! Victory! Chodenji Yo~yo! Chodenji Tatsumaki! Chodenji Spin~ Then next was Getter Robo Armageddon's Ima Wa Sono Tokita. Aniki's Change Getter was as cool as ever. The song itself was nice. Then he threw Tornado from the Mazinkaiser OVA. Which actually went over weird. He changed his rhythm for quite a few parts, and kept gesticulating the meaning of what he was saying. Later on the translator/MC explained that he was trying to let us understand the meaning of the song that we might actually all be from the same place. (FROM THE WIND, as the song goes.) Then after that he kept drinking water because he was feeling unwell and singing a bunch of tokusatsu show songs I didn't recognise. And then he tried to make jokes when drinking water... His real name is Hayakawa, and apparently there's some composer with the same name. Um, okay. And then there's the genuinely funny one where he compares himself to the water, then slugs it down. (Water = mizu in Japanese. Aniki's name is Ichiro Mizuki[水木 一郎]) I laughed. The language barrier was truly a problem here... It was awhile before he sang some Kamen Rider. Then I finally had something to go on. Then I can't really remember if he sang anything after that, then he went backstage after the MC told us what he was trying to do just now. We shouted for encore, of course. It came.

Out walks Aniki... In a red coat! That trademark red coat! It's time for the concert to start up again! He went straight for the kill with Kotetsu Jeeg's OP. Build-up! da da dada Build-up! da da dada After that he went on with a hot-blooded Gekiranger song (don't know what title though). Then there was some more talking. Then I'm not sure if there was another song, but screw that, he asked if we should call Shouko out, and we did. She came out. More pointing at the sky. They talked by themselves for awhile in Japanese (which I still am bad at) and the MC was left kinda useless at the side. Then Aniki said duet. Everyone's ears perked up. Then Shouko agreed. Awesomeness start! They started with Shouko's favourite sentai song, which I think was Time Pink's character song from Mirai Sentai Timeranger since Shouko loves that character and that show. In fact she's an otaku, according to Wikipedia. Then after that they talk some more. I think they were deciding on a song when someone yelled "CROSS FIGHT!" They heard. And they agreed to do it. And so there was a period of epic awesome with two awesome singers and an awesome song! Cross Fight~ CROSS FIGHT! atsuku Atsuku ATSUKU TATAKAE~ Dangaioh~

And then after that song, everyone decided it was time to wrap up for the night. And we just have to do it with Mazinger Z no Uta. MAZIN GO! Everyone sang along, and looks like a lot of people came prepared for that second verse. Ahh, bliss. Sure is a nice change to hear a girl sing that song though.

And that was it. Yay.

Today was totally, totally awesome. w00t.

I gained a lot of respect for Shouko today. I might become a fan. I thought she was just some singer. Now I know they weren't wrong to pick her to sing songs for a Super Robot show. I mean, she was so hyped and enthusiastic. And if you voice-act in Pokemon (especially anything in the Pikachu line) you gain an auto-win in my book. Rawr.

I really enjoyed today.

Huzzah.

Hopefully tomorrow can match today.

There's a postscript: I did some research on Shouko, and I found out she's basically an otaku. :x Yeah, the comments related to the wiki link was in retrospect. And I went to peek at her blog. And holy crap she posted 5 posts on her blog while she was backstage between her performance and her encore. And then immediately after the concert was like 3 posts outta nowhere. Even more hilarious was that one of the posts was related to her Pokewalker. Now I know why she was moving that much on stage: Earning steps for her Pikachu (OMG PIKACHU SQUEE) to gain EXP. She got an extra 4000 steps from moving that much while performing. This is conjecture though. :x I can't really read that post...

Shouko Nagakawa is awesome.

Reading her blog will help me learn Japanese.

I will doit.

Post 23

To not break tradition, I'll have the real title here: MINDFUCK IN PIKA.

I try to pretend to be a Pikachu.But I am not.
I pretend to be confident. But I am not.
I disguise myself as one who knows no shame, but I always feel shame.
I have no peer, but I cannot escape my own shadow.
I try to be someone I am not, all the time.
They are not real, they are masks, but they have sunk in, penetrated deep into myself, and now they stick on like parasites. I cannot remove them. I cannot remember who I am because they are there to make me remember what I am not.
What can I say? It feels good. I am protected. It is like a challenge, to find a person who will release me. Just like a person trapped in a tower. A damsel-in-distress like Rapunzel.
I search outside to find something that is inside.

All that I know is that I am human in the end. Imperfect in every way. Humans live and humans die. Life and death are intertwined. Humans strive for perfection in light of their imperfection. it is an ideal. It does not come true, but we becom better. Maybe one day I can shed my masks too. But it feels too comfortable living with them. I am afraid of what lies at the end of the journey. What will I discover? What slumbers beneath the lies? A god or a devil?

YES! YES! I'M WRECKING YOUR BRAIN FIRMWARE! HAHAHAHA

Post 22

情非得以 - 庾澄庆歌词
作詞：張國祥　作曲：湯小康　編曲：jamie wilson　演唱：庾澄慶

难以忘记初次见你 一双迷人的眼睛
在我脑海里 你的身影 挥散不去
握你的双手感觉你的温柔
真的有点透不过气 你的天真
我想珍惜 看到你伤心 我会失意
看到你受委屈 我会伤心

只怕我自己会爱上你 不敢让自己靠的太近
怕我没什么能够给你 爱你也需要很大的勇气
只怕我自己会爱上你 也许有天会情不自禁
想念只让自己苦了自己 爱上你是我情非得已

难以忘记初次见你 一双迷人的眼睛
在我脑海里 你的身影 挥散不去
握你的双手感觉你的温柔
真的有点透不过气 你的天真
我想珍惜 看到你伤心 我会失意
看到你受委屈 我会伤心

只怕我自己会爱上你 不敢让自己靠的太近
怕我没什么能够给你 爱你也需要很大的勇气
只怕我自己会爱上你 也许有天会情不自禁
想念只让自己苦了自己 爱上你是我情非得已

什么原因 我竟然又会遇见你
我真的真的不愿意 就这样陷入爱的陷阱

只怕我自己会爱上你 不敢让自己靠的太近
怕我没什么能够给你 爱你也需要很大的勇气
只怕我自己会爱上你 也许有天会情不自禁
想念只让自己苦了自己 爱上你是我情非得已

愛上你是我情非得已

什么意思，自己去想吧。=）

Also, Miles Edgeworth: Great Revival in Orchestra is awesome.

As is the other Gyakuten Saiban Orchestra pieces. And then the Jazz Soul editions.

Also, watch Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged for lulz.

hehe.

Post 21

Yes, GaoGaiGar Episode 30 is SAIKO!!! Like the SAIGO YUUSHA ROBOTTO GUNDAN! PROJECTILE X! TAKE THIS, PASDAR, FOR ALL THE CRAP FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS! HIKARI NI! NARAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

GaoGaiGar: It teaches hot blood, bravery, determination, and how to blow up stuff in epic style. Oyoy Mamoru, a member of 3G shouldn't be crying like that!

On a side note, I realised how much a Shonen Jump series has influenced my outlook on life. It's Shaman King. Yoh is an extremely unique character. Yoh generally seems easy-going, and dumb, like Luffy from One Piece. What seperates Yoh from Luffy is the level of insight Yoh has. Yoh knows exactly where the limits of people around him are, and doesn't like to push limits if it means losing his personality in the process. Yoh generally remains perfectly calm and passive until one of his friends gets wrecked really badly, then he gets angry.

It's so hard to be Yoh because Yoh is such a peaceful-type of person. I always like to pick fights. But then Yoh always advocates being yourself too. So I like to be myself. Maybe too over the top with it, but I am myself. I think.

Now that I'm reading the Shaman King manga after watching the anime eons ago, I realise that I have well and truly lost myself. Am I quiet? Or should I be loud? Or am I already schizophrenic?

Only one thing is for sure: From this confusion, a new Hero will be born!

Post 20

Here's my essay passing off as copypasta. The topic is: "Can art be valued just in financial terms? Discuss."

Two centuries ago, during the years of the Post-Impressionist movement, a certain Vincent Van Gogh's paintings did not sell very well, leaving the artist barely able to get by. Today, any one of his paintings easily sell for over a million US dollars, with one of them, the famous "The Starry Night", going for over six million dollars. Why is there such a large difference between then and now? Is there something more than purely money involved in valuing an artwork? What then, of other art forms such as theatre or musical arts? Do such wide differences appear as well? For the purposes of this discussion, such areas will not be included as the scope will then be too wide to be explained in detail in the time given for this essay; instead, we will limit ourselves to paintings and sculptures. Also, financial terms will be defined as price, which, defined in economic terms, is an indication of how much people are willing to pay for something, which will be used here as the definition.

First of all, the value of art pieces such as paintings or sculptures can be found in their decorative value, as well as being an indicator of status, as throughout history, only the rich are able to afford the finest art works. People have bought paintings and sculptures to complement the decorations of their homes, and art pieces have by and large been highly sought after items, causing their price to soar, and thus only the rich can afford more famous pieces of art, such as the aforementioned "The Starry Night". Strictly speaking, is there much of a difference between a vase of flowers and a painting of the same vase and flowers? Even if one would argue that the painting might be one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers series, it can easily be countered that the vase could be an antique vase that Charles Darwin or perhaps any other famous person had owned. Therefore, pieces of art can be definitively priced in terms of being a decorative item, as they can be compared to other decorative items.

Another determinant of the value of an artwork is of course, sentimental value. Was it specifically commissioned by the owner? Or perhaps the owner had a part to play in producing the artwork (one example is posing for a portrait)? Or perhaps the painting is a family heirloom? The possibilities are seemingly endless, as sentimental value can vary widely from individual to individual and even within an individual over time. A painting of oneself by a lover might be highly treasured, but should one day one's love ceases for the lover, the painting instantly becomes worthless in one's eyes and it is promptly disposed of. Such is the uncertainty of the human heart, and thus sentimental value can almost never be definitively priced as sentimental value is very rarely definitive. Thus, art cannot solely be valued in financial terms because it is an inadequate valuation of its true worth.

Underlying themes or purposes in art can also serve as a factor involved in the pricing of the work. Art, like writing, can also be charged with the artist's purposes, be they political or otherwise, and their works may be unappreciated due to such themes. Consider Auguste Rodin, who believed in having deep and pocketed surfaces on his sculptures to show emotion. His work was then quote literally thrown out of an exhibition because it was deemed unfinished, as the norm at the time was to have smooth surfaces and textures carved into marble. Also, during China's Cultural Revolution, there are plenty of stories about ancient and important books and pieces of art being mercilessly destroyed by the younger generation under Mao Zedong's command. Yet today, these items are given actual prices and not deemed worthless, and in Rodin's case exorbitantly high ones. The point here is thus this: Underlying themes or purposes cause the value of artwork to change along with the value and belief systems of society; societal "winds", so to speak, and thus the price fluctuates along with it. Financial terms are thus inaccurate estimates of the value of an artwork as they are subject to the winds of change present in every society, and should not be used as the sole valuation basis of art.

"One man's meat is another man's poison." This phrase is oft quoted to represent the idea that what one person likes, another dislikes. In this context, we want to convey the idea that what one person considers as creative art, another thinks that it is utter rubbish. The best examples come from modern art. Let us examine Andy Warhol, a famous American pop artist. Andy Warhol was one who glorified in repetition and also the distortion of colour within those copies. It is rather easy to tell how he does his art: Take a stock picture, say for example the face of pop culture superstar Marilyn Monroe, replicate it into a sort of stamp, and start changing the colour in each stamp, such that each one is different only by their colours. This is extremely simple work that a five-year-old can also execute, but it is considered art. As different people read through this example, some may shake their heads or be outraged, and some may object heavily to the tone of my previous sentence. This is the essential point of how creativity in art influences price: What one takes to be art, someone else might not, and thus the price will fluctuate from person to person, or to take a wider scope, society to society. Thus, financial terms are unable to fully represent the value of an art piece, and cannot serve as the sole valuation basis of art.

To end off, let us recall our definition of price and thus financial terms: Price is the amount of money people in the society are willing to pay t obtain something, which is actually its definition in economics. This would of course mean that the price of anything is heavily determined by how valuable it is to people. Once again, let us take van Gogh as our example. By this logic, it is obvious that when he was still alive, his work was not very well-valued. Fast-forward to our age, and voila! A hefty price tag attached to the same man's work. This is firstly because they are good specimens of Post-Impressionist art, and also because they are hallmarks of that period. While it would be right to conclude that any work of art can be valued just in financial terms as price, it is far more logical to conclude that the factors discussed above: Creativity, underlying themes and purposes, as well as sentimental value, excusing the factor of decorative purposes as it can be definitively priced, set the value of an art piece because it is these indefinite factors that give rise to the price of a piece of art and not the other way around and thus one can conclude that the statement in discussion is by and large correct.

Post 19

I have a severely autistic friend. He is noisy. He phones me ceaselessly. He plagues me with Chuck Norris jokes: The good, the bad, and the ugly. He takes all the memes I love and contorts them.

Even so, he is a good friend to me. Whenever I call, he is there for me. I cannot count the number of times I have felt so lost and went off to sit in his house, mess around with him for a bit, before going home. We tease each other ceaselessly. He is my right-hand man, and I am his as well.

Studying him closely also reveals some rather interesting things. He practically lives in his own world. This is probably because his parents dote on him very much for whatever reason: The most plausible ones being that he is the only male child in the family, and his parents feeling guilty for having brought him into the world mentally unsound, in a sense. You may be thinking about how being pampered links to being in your own world. Generally, he tends to behave as if he is the center of the universe and all other things revolve around him, and this is further aided by the fact that both parents and teachers tend to give way to his wants. Fortunately, he has his sisters and of course, myself, to slap him back into what the majority perceive as reality by opposing him at many points along the way.

Living in a world of your own is not totally bad. He possesses incredible amounts of courage with strangers. It is common for us to just walk into a shop and strike up a conversation or two with the shopkeeper (however, it is rare for us to walk into a shop). If we need to ask people questions, he always willingly does the asking. It's really useful, since I'm a little shy. I wish I could be like him sometimes. I guess I did make the transition one day, when we were selling his extra tickets to an event together. He was shy, so I got the ball rolling and eventually he managed to find the courage to start asking on his own.

He is generally happy-go-lucky, and keeps losing his things, as well as being very rough with them. He wore down a stylus for his Nintendo DS into nearly nothing after two weeks. That's some crazy stuff. He also somehow managed to break the L button on the same DS by playing Mario Kart DS; so badly, in fact, that the whole button is now detached from the motherboard and needs extensive servicing. However, it does feel good to be able to shrug off everything since someone will probably end up helping you settle it (i.e. his parents).

One thing that was brought up to me by a teacher is that for him, first impressions are very important. When I first met him, we were both nutty about Pikachu (and still are) and we made very horrendous plans about spreading Pikachuism and generally had a good time together, and he doesn't really mind that I abuse him pretty badly sometimes. On the other hand, he's really antagonistic towards a guy in his class that had taunted him pretty badly at the beginning, but later on became a lot nicer to him (supposedly). I don't think that's a very good thing. I hope it's not something that's inherently wrong with his brain to be unable to associate that. I wonder if I'll ever be able or willing to attempt to talk about philosophical things like this to him. Yes indeed.

I find that I have learnt so much from associating with him, and I can foresee that I will continue to learn many more things from him in the future. Cheers to my good friend, if you ever see this.

Post 18

I remember when I first started watching/reading stuff pertaining to high schoolers. At the tender, tender age of thirteen, I was amazed that people behaved pretty immaturely at the age of 17 upwards. I wasn't put off at all, though. I wished I could be in that kind of environment when I reached that age. Then we could all do some really random and stupid things together. Which is always good. Deep inside me, I always thought it was just pure fabrication though.

Now that I've reached that age, I realised that those materials were perfectly right (minus hordes physically well-developed females). I still think it is good, but not that good. We can all do random things together, but nobody seems to want to do them when I'm fired up and everybody is fired up when I'm not.

Is there an inherent flaw in the makeup of my brain or what?



As for puzzle solvers, here are some good phrases from Professor Layton and the Curious Village that will aid you whenever you get stuck with a riddle.

"Critical thinking is the key to success."
"Every puzzle has an answer."
"Puzzles are all about perspective."

Post 17

Sometimes, english songs fit the bill too.  They're nice songs, and it does justice to my feelings, so why not?




Send someone to love me
I need to rest in arms
Keep me safe from harm
In pouring rain 

Give me endless summer 
Lord I fear the cold 
Feel I'm getting old 
Before my time 

As my soul heals the shame 
I will grow through this pain 
Lord I'm doing all I can 
To be a better man 

Go easy on my conscience 
'Cause it's not my fault 
I know I've been taught 
To take the blame 

Rest assured my angels 
Will catch my tears 
Walk me out of here 
I'm in pain 

As my soul heals the shame 
I will grow through this pain 
Lord I'm doing all I can 
To be a better man 

Once you've found that lover 
You're homeward bound 
Love is all around 
Love is all around 

I know some have fallen 
On stony ground 
But Love is all around 

Send someone to love me 
I need to rest in arms 
Keep me safe from harm 
In pouring rain 

Give me endless summer 
Lord I fear the cold 
Feel I'm getting old 
Before my time 

As my soul heals the shame 
I will grow through this pain 
Lord I'm doin' all I can 
To be a better man

-Better Man by Robbie Williams



Risin' up, back on the street 
Did my time, took my chances 
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet 
Just a man and his will to survive 

So many times, it happens too fast 
You change your passion for glory 
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past 
You must fight just to keep them alive 

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight 
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival 
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night 
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger 

Face to face, out in the heat 
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry 
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street 
For the kill with the skill to survive 

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight 
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival 
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night 
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger  

Risin' up, straight to the top 
Have the guts, got the glory 
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop 
Just a man and his will to survive 

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight 
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival 
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night 
And he's watchin' us all with the eye of the tiger

The eye of the tiger~

-Eye of The Tiger by Survivor for Rocky III

Post 16

Just today, I found out the reason why a group of friends that I am sort of a part of dislikes a someone I know. Why? Because she's desperate for a guy friend. How so? Because she took the initiative to start a relationship with some fat dude, and because she flirts with about every guy she comes across. Um... so? Let's break this argument down into bite-sized chunks. There are three parts to the proof:

1. She liked a fat guy.

2. She flirts with every guy she comes across.

3. She took the initiative.

Let's start with 2 because I say so.

The dictionary definitions of "flirt" differ slightly in their wording, but the best in this context is:

noun
1. a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men [syn: coquette] 
2. playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest 

verb
1. talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women" [syn: chat up] 
2. behave carelessly or indifferently; "Play about with a young girl's affection" [syn: dally] 

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/flirt

The keywords here are:

1. playfully (or without serious intention, if you please)

2. amorously (or anything else related to love)

The question is this: Where do you draw the line for amorously? While we're at it, we can question what is "playfully", but that is an easier matter to define. In my personal experience, that person has never exhibited behaviour anywhere close to amorously, but that could be because I am a blockhead. So, I'll just cross out this point out of personal experience.

Let's go back to point 1. I shall assume that one is lazy to look up at this point, and just restate it: She likes a fat guy. Now, just where does the problem lie with that? ......Yeah, it doesn't exist...... So what if the guy is fat? Or not good-looking, if you want to extend it? Loving people for their appearance is a very... shallow thing to do. A pretty face cannot make up for a flawed character, but a good character can make up for a bad appearance. You can have plastic surgery for your face, but it takes a very long time to have good character. And honestly, that fat guy IS a nice guy... From what I've seen anyway. He's willing to learn, and he's not a bad-tempered or selfish guy. Yeah.

Lastly, there's 3. Which is, in longhand, "She took the initiative to start a relationship with the fat dude." Okay, this is the point that it is the hardest to come to a consensus to. There are two ways you can look at this:

1. Go girl! We are women, hear us roar! (a.k.a. more power to the females i.e. equal rights for females to pursue own happiness, which includes being able to go after people they like)

2. That girl is horrible! She violates social norms of the girl waiting for the guy to get her! (among other questionable areas of such practice)

The problem lies in that I don't know which perspective I really believe in. Both perspectives are valid, as I'm sort of a feminist myself, but I do find it slightly objectionable for a female to take the initiative. Oh, problems, problems.

It's up to you to view the situation, but really, the points against disliking that acquiantance outweigh the points for condemning the person (for me at least), so yeah.

Good food for thought, no?

Post 15

Dynamite Explosion by Fukuyama Yoshiki for the opening of Macross 7 Dynamite Explosion OAV. All you singers should take a good look and sing it out loud. 

Lyrics

Concert version sung by the man himself.

English lyrics here for you lazy people.

Once I start singing the beat rocks my thoughts
Misplaced some time, some place, for some reason
Here I say goodbye to lukewarm everydays
Yes Noone can stop my passionate thoughts

Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Everyday everynight everyWAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It's an endless journey I wanna feel the moment
While looking forward to a stronger fiercer heart
If the reason to keep running be not on this earth
Yes Let's fly even to the ends of the faraway galaxies

Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Everyday everynight everywhere~

If you believe
you can reach it! Ooooooooooh!

Once I start singing the dream is no longer a vision
I want to make sure of it, some time, some place
I don't care what's there in the place we're headed
Yes Now is the moment of my journey

Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite
Dynamite explosion once again
Dynamite Dynamite

Everyday everynight everyWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA



Go ahead and spam it everywhere you go. :D

Post 14

Due to not-so-popular demand, I have decided to explain the reason why the majority of the very small amount of posts on this blog are obscenely, obscenely long. Almost like LongCat.

To begin with, this blog was never actually meant to be any ordinary blog. Most blogs fall under two categories: Journals/Diaries and Civilian Journalism. How is this different? For one, this is not a diary. This doesn't really cover actual events in the real world as well, so that's out as well. What this blog aims to provide is food for thought, or rather things to consider.

So far I haven't touched on anything particularly controversial as of yet. Which is sad.

I'm driving this, but I still have no idea where this is going.

Ah yes, while I'm at it, I shall talk about an interesting use for 4chan memes.

For the uneducated, 4chan memes are basically copy-and-paste material that is spammed all over 4chan, more specifically /b/. /b/ is the most dangerous area on the internet to date. Its one rule: No child porn. Everything else goes. This includes non-child porn, spam, trolling, and whatever else you can think of. The place is evil, but the copypasta (i.e. copy and paste-able material) that spawns from it is famous. Anyone who has spent decent amounts of time on the internet would know of at least one. Such copypasta is known as memes, usually spammed on certain occasions.

In the course of spamming 4chan memes in real life, I have realised something very interesting. In keeping my ear out for things to use a meme on, I have begun to take notice of more things around me. All the small, little things in life are suddenly being dissected to ascertain if a meme can be shoved in (and usually it can). Over Nine Thousand happens to be applicable in Over Nine Thousand situations if you're willing to just throw it out anywhere the three words can make sense. Also, being a fan of Phoenix Wright games, I have taken to yelling Objection. Which means looking for things to object to. Oh joy, now it's easier to concentrate on my lectures so I can pick apart the lecture.

Sometimes it's good to adopt the call of Slowpoke and slow down. Slooooow...poooooooke...

JAM Project

I've decided to devote this post to my favourite band, JAM Project. JAM stands for Japan Animation Music, just so you know. They are so awesome, it wouldn't do to just have Post 13 in the title fighting for space with their name. Individually, they are Over Nine Thousand. Yeah. JAM Project has about 100+ songs credited to their name, which you can find somewhere on the internet as "JAM Project Complete Discography" or something. Yeah. On to the members.

Mizuki Ichiro is a founder of JAM Project. Yes, you're reading right, aniki is a founder of JAM Project. Wait, you don't know who aniki is? Oh phooey. Mizuki Ichiro is one of, if not the most famous anime song singer there is, due to him being one of the pioneers of the anime song industry (thus earning him the "aniki" (i.e. big brother) nickname). He also sings for live-action Japanese shows (a.k.a. tokusatsu). To date, he has over 1200 songs to his name. Hot stuff. His most prominent song to me is Mazinger Z no Uta, which is the famous opening theme for Mazinger Z, the first ever Super Robot show. MAZIN GO! MAZIN GO! MAZINGA... ZED!!! He recently sang in Singapore at AnimeFest Asia, and it was awesome to see him performing, simply because he is so lively and awesome and action-y. More singers should be like Mizuki Ichiro. Over Nine Thousand is a meme that cannot even begin to describe his win-ness. I vividly remember during AnimeFest Asia, when he was singing the theme for "Hundred Beast King Go-Lion", instead of inserting Go-Lion where it should be, he went "GO! GO! MER-LI-II-YON!!!" It was awesome. It really was. :D GO! GO! MERLION! He's easily recognisable in songs with his deep and rich voice, capable of awesome shouts too. :P

Linky for an interview about AnimeFest Asia

Wiki (LOL Wiki)

Next up is Kageyama Hironobu, forever remembered by DragonBall fans as Mr. DragonBall Z because he sang nearly all the DragonBall songs, including movie themes and all. He is rather prolific, with hundreds of songs to his name, and a boatload of DragonBall songs (can't stop harping on that). CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA, the first-ever opening theme for DragonBall Z, is probably his most famous song, given the immense popularity of the show, and that fact that it showed up in a Taiko no Tatsujin game proves that it is truely a household song (considering the fact that all the other anime songs that get put into Taiko no Tatsujin are all household names as well, with stuff like Uchiuu Senkan Yamato and Odoru Ponpokorin and Doraemon and Touch showing up). He is currently the formal leader of JAM Project, as well as one of the founders. He's been singing since 16, so that's something for you aspiring singers to mull over (he's now 48, by the way). He's one of those singers that get better and better over time. There's a world of difference between the CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA he sang years ago and the ones he sings now. His voice is pretty hard to distinguish from Endoh Masaaki's, but his voice is slightly higher.

Wiki

Endoh Masaaki is not nearly as famous as Kageyama or aniki, but if you want somebody to shout something, he's your man. His most famous song is the opening for Yuusha-Oh GaoGaiGar, Yuusha-Oh Tanjou, which just demonstrates how awesome he can sing. There's not much information that can be found about Masaaki on the web, and I can't read Japanese at all, so boo, but he is one of the founding members as well, and also an old-timer, singing Super Robot Wars songs with aniki and Kageyama. All three are permanent staff at the annual Super Robot Spirits concert, proving just how incredible he is. He's my favourite singer though, with all the super manly awesome shouts. GA-GA-GA GA-GA-GA-GAO GAI GAR!!! He also has plenty of songs to his name, but nothing really sticks out at me beyond Yuusha-Oh Tanjou and a cover of the English Power Rangers theme. (Yeah, he sung that. :P) His voice is slightly deeper than Kageyama's, but nowhere as deep as aniki's. Yeah. Maybe it's just me, but I feel that Kageyama and Masaaki sound really close to one another. Doesn't help that they tend to sing together.

No links because most of them that pertain to Masaaki alone that are in English are uninformative. >:(

Matsumoto Rica, another founding member of JAM Project, will be immortalised as Ash Ketchum from Pokemon forever, being his voice actor all the way from EP1 till now. She has sung an entire horde of Pokemon songs for the anime, the best of which in my opinion is of course the first opening, Mezasei Pokemon Master. She is also a voice actor with a massive number of roles. The way it is, it's hard to tell if she started voice acting or singing first. Anyway, more women should sing like Rica Matsumoto. She sounds kinda tomboyish, probably because of the sheer amount of hot-blooded awesomeness that she pumps into her voice, and it doesn't help that her voice is naturally kinda low-ish. She also generally plays young boys in anime as well, so... yeah. Her voice is really easy to tell out: You can tell instantly it's a woman, but it's low enough to blend in with the male voices.

Sadly, she kinda withdrew from JAM Project since April 2008, but she'll probably be back, because she's so win that JAM Project needs her and JAM Project can't do without one of its four cornerstones/founders. :o

MORE WOMEN NEED TO SING LIKE RICA MATSUMOTO. >:O POKEMON! GETTO DA ZE!!!

Fan translation of her site

Wiki

Eh, no more founders.

Fukuyama Yoshiki is an extremely popular musician, and is pretty awesome, since he sings and his wife composes. HE GETS THE POWER OF LOVE!!! [/Gong reference] He's been with JAM Project for about five years, since about 2003. He's pretty famous for singing all of Nekki Basara's songs of Macross 7 fame, and boy are they good. He's sung for a pretty long time and has plenty of songs to his name, so yeah. He did the opening for Busou Renkin, Makka Na Chikai as well, so don't mind if he sounds familiar. He didn't really get into anison till Macross 7, so yeah, but for stuff outside of anison, he's good. Listening out for Fukuyama Yoshiki is so easy it's not even funny. He's the guy who sounds like he's really young, and he does the screamo parts. If you want screaming to be done, look for him. STOP THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~ Really, he can shame all those teenage aspiring screamos at the age of 47. Just listen to Dynamite Explosion or Hagane no Messiah.

Surprisingly, the Wiki is detailed on him.

Kitadani Hiroshi... If you watch One Piece, you've definitely heard him before. Yup, he's the guy who sings the first-ever One Piece opening theme, We Are! Other than that, there's not much info on him, like Masaaki, made worse because he's not so obscenely famous like Masaaki. As for his voice, you can pick him out easily if you keep listening out for a voice that sounds refreshing like a spring breeze or something. Don't bother trying the older songs, since he only joined JAM Project in 2003.

No links because I can't find any good site. D:

Masami Okui's voice should be familiar if you follow Yu-Gi-Oh enough, since she sings the second opening theme, Shuffle. She's rather talented, and her voice is real good stuff. She really stands out in JAM Project songs mostly because the only other female voice is Rica Matsumoto and as already mentioned she sounds guyish, so when you hear a high-pitched woman singing you know it's her. For all her fame with rock+dance+anison, she can do hot-blooded too, which is definitely awesome in anyone's book, but she doesn't do it as well as Rica. Again, don't try to look for her in JAM Project songs from before 2003, since she only joined in that year with Hiroshi and Fukuyama.

Once again the Wiki is pretty detailed here. Wow. :o

Now, what makes JAM Project so special? Simple. Because they burn with great passion, and they sing with so much hot-blood that stuff should explode from their awesomeness. They truly believe in their dream, and together they have so darn many awesome songs that have so much pure, unadulterated emotion in them that if you listen to them everyday, you just can't seem to stop burning with the same emotion they put in. You might not understand their songs of friendship, courage, sadness, chivalry and most of all, love that conquers all, but you can feel their song resonate with the passion burning in your soul! Now blaze up hotter hotter hotter hotter hotter!!! ALMOST DANGER!!!

More links to JAM Project:

Click on the JAM Project link. Short article about the band and their participation in SRW themes.

Wiki

Official site for those who can read Japanese

lol I found the link to the Discography

MORE WOMEN SHOULD SING LIKE RICA MATSUMOTO

Yeah, that's it. If I get anything wrong or if you wanna add something, just shout in the chatbox or leave a comment. I don't mind turning this into a full-fledged reference for JAM Project v2.0 (i.e. current JAM Project, consisting of Kageyama Hironobu, Endoh Masaaki, Fukuyama Yoshiki, Kitadani Hiroshi, Okui Masami and sometimes Mizuki Ichiro [he demoted himself into part-time member as of 2004]) seeing as how the Gate of Magus page is perpetually stuck on JAM Project v1.0 and only updates with SRW songs instead of really keeping up to date with changes in the band.

Post 12

I have to type this before I forget all about it.

The time I have left is so little and the things I have to do are so much.

I love you. I love you so much. If only you would just be with me for a day.

There is so little time before I have to drop everything and go.

Drop everything and make my face a mask.

The mask that hides my pain.

The pain that eats my heart.

The heart nobody knows.

Oh cruel, cruel time. Jikan nai...

Ah, my friends, all my friends will be gone. All that I treasure will be lost. A new, cruel, unforgiving terrain lies ahead, the rite of passage that our souls will be forged anew, for better or for worse.

I can only pray for strength...

Post 11

Some stuff that I just wanted to throw out for some time, but only got the time to do it now.

Psalm 23
A psalm of David. 
 1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 

 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
  he leads me beside quiet waters, 

 3 he restores my soul. 
  He guides me in paths of righteousness 
  for his name's sake. 

 4 Even though I walk 
  through the valley of the shadow of death, [a] 
  I will fear no evil, 
  for you are with me; 
  your rod and your staff, 
  they comfort me. 

 5 You prepare a table before me 
  in the presence of my enemies. 
  You anoint my head with oil; 
  my cup overflows. 

 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me 
  all the days of my life, 
  and I will dwell in the house of the LORD 
  forever.

Romans 13:9

9The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,"[a] and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b]

1 Corithians 13

 1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing. 

 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 

 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Plenty of good for reflection. :P Yeah, that's it. We need to spread the love.

Post 10

A lot of things have happened since my model kit hijinx. Now they're sitting on the shelf doing nothing because I got a Nintendo DS and am spamming Pokemon Pearl, Mario Kart, the two Taiko no Tatsujin titles available for the DS as well as Castlevanias Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. The key to thrashing stuff in Ecclesia appears to be spamming rapier glyphs. Mmm, rapier glyphs. If you spam good enough, it looks like Hokuto Shinken (i.e. ATATATATATATATATATATA). And then there's Super Robot Wars W, which I play when I need some Super Roboty act-shun. BROKEN! MAGNAMU!!!

Interestingly enough, the boss Zephyr in Dawn of Sorrow is a reference to a beloved character from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. ZA WARUDO!!! TOKI WO TOMARE!!! -throws knives- TOKI WO UGOKIDASU!!! PAIN!!!! OwOofUghGahDo'ohGackUff

No WRRRRRYYYYYYYY though. :P

And I've stopped my "internship" at this company that sells water. It sucked. Sure the pay is decent, but the hours are long, and then once I got taken off my data entry job to be shoved into receptionist, it sucked. I have zero people skills and I'm horrible at multi-tasking. Add on some laziness and voila! Disaster zone. Rrrrgh. I got about over a thousand out of it, but some of it went to my Nintendo DS and my mom took the rest and left me with a coupla hundred. Ewww. Still, I don't have much to buy. Hooray flashcart.

And now on to moar serious stuffs.

Again recently, a...for a lack of a better word, friend of mine came to me, rather distraught about a supposedly evil thought in his/her/its life, and asked me for advice. Erm... you just asked a nutcase for advice. So I just threw the possibilities around, up to and including smashing your head against the wall, having a gaming marathon, and doing gymnastics/becoming a contortionist. Naturally said entity wasn't too thrilled about those. Then after that I got curious about just what my friend was so distraught about, and then I suggested that he/she/it should speak to a friend. A close friend. I backed it up by saying that I confided in PE2K members halfway across the world (half-true, one of the guys I talk to regularly is some kiddo that lives in the same country as me). He/she/it was all "But my close friends would own me if I tells them" so I told the entity to confide in soft toys, and then praying that he/she/it would reject that suggestion and decide to tell me instead.

God answered my prayer, and I kinda feel bad about it, because I just manipulated someone into telling me their dirty little secret without them really knowing about it. It's like, suggestive manipulation. When I was told I was on cloud nine. Now I have nothing much other than guilt. On the upside, I can really call this entity "friend" now. Meh.

And camp. Oh my god camp was screwed up. The second song for the mass dance caused me to WRITHE IN AGONY INSIDE ME. When they were spamming the mass dance, I was standing there and resisting the urge to claw my insides out. AWW GAWD. Then there was assorted faggotry while we were having a treasure hunt on the beach. I started shovelling sand backwards and this bunch of dudes started digging behind me and yelled for me to stop flinging sand back. Fine. Turn around and continue. Then these other dudes come outta nowhere and complain about the sand too, and I get totally pissed off because I'm sleepy and I'm roasting alive in the sun and I cuss loudly at the guy. Then the other bunch I bothered before are all "STFU" and I respond with something a lot less vulgar than "Just GTFO of my way and lemme do my job" and I got yelled at by the peeps in charge and was hauled to another spot to dig. I guess I was the biggest faggot there at the moment, but still.

Then there was the game section during the "campfire" segment. I thought it would be some PG game when I volunteered to play. Turns out that the games are suggestive enough to warrant a PG-13, if not a PG-15 rating. One male and one female participant from each group. Basically the game was that the guy sits in the chair with a balloon on his lap and the girl sits on his lap to burst it. The first thing that went through my mind when they told us the game was "IT'S A TRAP!!!111" Worse, the girl I like is sitting right in front of where we have to do this. Three rows behind front row, but still. I just focused on bursting the balloons. Good thing the EmCee told all the guys to keep the balloons between their knees to make it easier to pop and obviously to keep it below R. My pair got first mostly due to me being a cheaterbug and using my ass-long fingernails (half a centimetre long, fer gawd's sake) to pop the balloons when the girl sits down. On the last balloon, I got so excited I popped the balloon before the girl sat. There was a lot of angry shouts from the audience, then I quickly grabbed another balloon and got ready. Whew, that quick thinking sealed my group's victory, especially when the EmCees were nice enough to shave a second off for the time we were stunned for. Yes, victory is victory, and it is sweet even if I was a cheating arse and was breaking the balloons with my nails, but I can't shake off the feeling of being violated by that game. I wonder what the girl I like thinks about this. Does she think I've given up on her? Please don't let that be the case...

That game and that song totally ruined my camp. Sigh. I just couldn't work up enough energy to steamroller the camp, and I was feeling shitty after like, day 1 already, by the last day I was all gone. Meeeh. The only good thing that came out of it was that I am now known as Pikachu. Ah, just like old times.

I have begun to worry for others. During the camp, before an event, I couldn't see the girl I liked anywhere at all, and I totally freaked out and messaged her to respond with her location if she's still okay/alive. I found her later anyway, and through an accident while we were moving, she caught sight of me, so I guess she already knows there's no need to respond. She's ignoring me a lot more now though. Meh. She doesn't even respond when I wave to her now. ;_; Pfft.

Well, I'm all tuckered out after that camp, so I shall venture into dreamland. G'night all.

...Yes, today was the last day of that camp.