No, I’m not dead

I’m just lazy.

I should have written about GSC’s Moka when she arrived 2 weeks ago but I haven’t.

I should have written about this season’s new animes, but doing episode reviews really suck, especially the way I do it, with screen caps etc. I have to go back and fast forward through and entire episode multiple times to get the caps I want.

I should also write about my new SyncMaster 2494HS, but meh.

I WILL write about GACC, which is next week. Despite the H1N1 scare, me and the TFMers are still going. Live hard die young.

Lets hope I start updating again eh?

Bon Odori Shah Alam 2009

It was hot, crowded, and the air was hazy with the sand the crowd had whipped up. Somehow the grass were all dead and the top soil was loose.

I bought 112 ringgit of Asahi beer, and found out that many TFMer’s don’t drink. I drank 3 cans and still have one in the fridge. Sheesh, kids nowadays. At least this year I didn’t drink alone. Many a KANPAI with Quaz, Valho, Haruji, Aiko and Sq. Not so much with Kuzu, and not at all with Loon. Booo!

Looking back, its only been less than a year since TFM became such a tight knit group. Looking forward, well, here’s to many more o-bons together.

No group pic because the photogs took half an hour to setup the camera. By the time they were ready the RELA volunteers were chasing people out of the stadium. Bleh.

DaiCon day 2

Day 2 posts are up at Quazacolts. Still no pictures, but my walls of text are easy to digest. I swear!

Here’s the one pic I have for you guys: TFM and friends group shot, with the very lovely Ryukku/Annie (she’s the RM9 Al Azif). Thank you for sticking around while the boys played with their cameras!

that, my friends, is the (by now) fabled Minorin bottle

Damage

The loot:

gotta love lolis in pantsu

H! I! N! A! HINAGIKU HAI HAI!

Mio badge. love this circle’s work

DaiCon first day

Very tired. Went early, woke up earlier because its a 40 minute drive there, and after getting home at 9pm I worked on day 1’s writeup, which you can view over at Quaz’s. I’ve also transcribed Minorin’s Q&A session as best as I could, and its here. These post will be devoid of photos til later, when Quaz gets back from the Den of Evil (Aiko’s house lar).

What else? I bought two shirts at KKnM – Strike Witches 501st Joint Fighter Wing shirt and Hinagiku Girls be Beautiful shirt. Awesome! Am wearing the Strike Witches now still (wore it at DaiCon. It may smell, but shit smells and it got Jamal Amitabh Bachchan’s signature, so…).

Anyway I’m gonna go sleep. Day 2 starts in 8 hours, and like I said its a fucking 40 minute drive there. See you guys tomorrow!

DaiCon is tomorrow!

While most TFMers went today to set up the booth, I couldn’t get away from work, so I’ve yet to see the hall. I’ll be there tomorrow and on Sunday, guarding the chicken coop. If you see a guy reading a book at the TFM area do say hi.

I may also be live blogging at the event, if I can borrow a laptop and there is wifi. Blogging on my Omnia isn’t something I want to try.

K-On! 11

Better late than never.

This years school festival is just around the corner, and of course the K-On girls are all excited about performing. However, it wouldn’t be K-On! if the girls don’t face a few obstacles along the way. And so…

1. Ritsu and the forms

Ritsu is a bit like me. She tends to ignore bureaucracy and does things at her own pace. The thing is, this world is ran by bureaucrats and people like her and I have no choice but to bow down to their overbearing power.

YOU JUST GOT SERVED RITSU

2. Deciding on a name for the band

Well what do you know, the K-On girls actually don’t have a name for their band. With people like Yui around, even a simple matter like this becomes a crisis.

how about ‘Mio, Ritsu, Mugi and the Idiot’?

3. Yui

Yes, Yui is a crisis. More like a disaster actually. The following exchange brought tears to my eyes.

them = the strings

oh snap

So the girls pay a visit to the guitar store to service Yui’s Gitah (oh yes, she fucking named it). Having the store worker call it a vintage after a year of usage says a lot about the abuse that poor Gitah has been through. After the servicing, Yui causes further disturbances in the force when she realizes you have to pay for services rendered and that she doesn’t have enough money.

yes, stupidhead, you do

Of course, times like these you abuse your relationship with other, richer friends who happen to own the guitar store.

Mugi to the rescue!

Incidentally, Mio goes completely gaga over the left handed bass guitars on display, which leads to Azu-nyan making the following observation.

no shit. I hope you’re not talking about Jimmy Hendrix

Can a bass guitar actually be strung and played in reverse? Now I’m curious. But I digress. Back to the crises (crisises? crisiss?)

4. Ritsu being jealous of Nodoka

Since Mio and Nodoka are in the same class while everybody else is in another, its only natural that the two grow quite close. This causes Ritsu to get jealous, and she barges in during lunch and drags Mio off to practice.

Ritsu, wanting to practice? hah

Ritsu being mean to Mio. hang her! hang her now!

5. Ritsu falling sick

Yes, even idiots catch colds. Hmm, but Ritsu actually has a fever. Meh. At least this solves the jealousy issue.

friends are awesome. wish I had some

Of course, Mio isn’t the only one who pays a visit. The rest of the K-On girls do too, but it is Yui who gets the most intimate with Ritsu.

because she’s Yui, Mio

6. Ritsu and the forms

Wait, wasn’t this the first crisis?

typical

Pandora Hearts OST 1

I’ve been a Kajiura Yuki fan far longer then I’ve known her name.

A long time ago I used to leech my anime songs from Khang. From him I got both the .hack OST and Noir OST, and both became favorites of mine. Stylishly gothic, with sweeping string arrangements accompanied by techno beat, it was a sound i grew to love, although I didn’t realize that both OSTs were by the same person.

Later on, in college, I fell in love with the track Akatsuki no Kuruma from Gundam SEED (although I would for years call it ‘the song where Freedom reaches out for Justice while they head to space’). FictionJunction became a favorite, but I still had no idea who Kajiura was.

It wasn’t until I started listening to the Kara no Kyoukai OST that I found out about Kajiura Yuki. I wiki-ed her and was surprised to find many of my favorite OSTs/songs to be her work. I became a Kajiura-fag. Or rather I found a tag for my obsession.

With that back story out of the way, lets talk about the Pandora Hearts OST. Who better to score the show where a gothic killed rabbit rampages around with a scythe? From the start you know its gonna be kick ass music.

the cover

And it is.

Right from track 1 (Pandora Hearts) we are treated to WAKANA’s vocals accompanied by a cool strings-and-techno arrangement. I guess its typical Kajiura, but it works for me. Track 2, aptly titled Foretaste, is a slow, string laden piece that slowly builds up, culminating in a violin filled crescendo, giving us an idea of what the rest of the album will be like.

A few notable tracks: Another Dimension starts of slow and creepy, with the chime part that embodies befuddlement, before the strings kick in. Bloody Rabbit is a fast, chant filled track. Possess is the mind-fuck tune, with a 7 beat rhythm that gets repeated through the tune and a saxophone lead. Contractor and Will are the battle songs, and both share an awesome string arrangement that makes me want to whistle along every time I hear it.

Daydream is a slow song that features a solo chime. Parting Song is a sad, piano laden piece. The penultimate track, Turn, is the track that is featured in the preview segment of the show. The album closes with Melodie, which is the tune that plays when the pocket watch is opened. A worthy successor to Noir’s  Melodie (both tracks share the same name. Limited grasp of English I guess?).

Overall, another awesome OST from Kajiura. 5/5, 10/10, you get the idea.

Oh, and OST 1 means there’s gonna be OST 2. Yay in advance.

Whoops I did it again…

neglected my blog, got lost in my work, ooo baby baby…

But enough of that. K-On! ended and I’ll be posting my review of the final few episodes soon. Basquash! 13 aired which was easily one of the best episodes this season, so I’ll post some thoughts on that as well.

Maybe a post season look at most of the animes I watched, if I have the heart to do so.

A big FINALLY for Medicom’s Shikinami Asuka Langley, which is now available for preorder. After 2 months of checking daily for preorders, sheesh. The things I do for love.

Finally, DAICON is this month (in a fortnight’s time actually), and I’ll be there with the TFM people.

More Sanya

Moeyo has a preview sample! Click here.

Interchangeable propellers like Alter’s Miyafuji. No big surprise there. The Striker Unit doesn’t look half as good as the one on Alter’s Miyafuji – maybe due to the lack of panel lining? Sanya’s unit is black so I guess there’s not much Kotobukiya can do about it. I wish the propellers looked liked the ones on Miyafuji though, and not so plasticky.

Surprisingly, the rest of the figure is quite an accurate depection of Sanya. All the decals are there, including the star on Sanya’s tie. Her lil brown pouch is also present. Whatelse? The Fliegerhummer is suitably massive. And of course there’s that camel toe, that Moeyo terms ‘a dynamic V-shaped opening’.

/facepalm

Too bad the face is still disappointing. Ah well, can’t win them all.