BeNippon's New Affiliate Program

I am officially signed up for it. More information after the jump. Lets get along, dear readers. ^_^

It works basically by giving the person who refers people to their website (Notice the hyperlink with the ID 191, thats my ID) some money based on the buyer's paid amount. It works by us bloggers signing up on their website then having a banner or two with a hyperlink that has your unique ID for the affiliate program. When people buy items using the link on your blog, you get some money.

Sounds good ! Though I highly doubt I will really make any money from this. But the banner on the right side has been updated with my ID. I'm not going to start spamming banners all over my blog. Don't worry about that.

Heres what it looks like. Exactly the same as the one on the side.


Aside though. BeNippon was my first online vendor for Japanese goods. Maybe because what I bought was extremely expensive and big. I thought the shipping charges was relatively heavy. For that reason, I haven't been using them since I found hobbysearch and amiami. But unlike hobbysearch, it is possible to find Touhou goods there. Atleast last time I tried, I could.

The site is unique for the ability to buy used goods. I never tried though. I prefer to preorder stuff. Though you always have a chance to be disappointed because prototypes always tend to look better than real products.

I won't say not to shop at BeNippon, but I think its generally more expensive than other places. But thats only for figures (which is what I solely look for). Books and stuff, it might be a good deal buying there. I think they stock stuff aside from otaku items too. Like Japanese goods, similar to Rakuten. Every store has their special charm to them. Thats why they're still alive. So if you never heard about BeNippon, give it a shot. At the very least, browse what they have and maybe you'll find something rare and affordable!

Hope you've learned something new. Lets work hard to get some extra spending money.

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First Pangya Self Design Bottom

I had to make a matching skirt for the Hatsune Miku top I made previously. As a first attempt, while doing it, I learned the ropes of the editor. The hardest part for me was trying to make the skirt appear to have a zigzag design while the actual skirt was perfectly flat. I used shadows and shading to try to get the effect. Thoughts for future work below.

All in all. Hard work, especially since I had to use a laptop touch pad (yes not even a mouse). But the track pad isn't too bad. About the same difficulty as a mouse. I'm not perfectly pleased with it. For some reason, it didn't turn out as well as the picture I used to do it from.

I have already thought of the next work I'll be doing. Meruru from Ore Imouto. Because the newest Pangya character Nell, looks alot like it. Pictures soon.

Source Picture (What I'll use as reference):

Nell's ingame picture:

Here is the video of Meruru from Ore Imouto

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Free Offer: $100 coupon for Google Adwords

Again, I got another one of these ad words gift cards. This time from Vistaprint. For those who are interested, send me an email at tomabackspin@gmail.com. In the email, please include your opinion if it were to cost $10 dollars for the next time. Would anyone still be interested? Don't worry, I am not going to charge you yet. I personally want some more spending money. You MUST include this in your email to be considered eligible for the free offer. Thanks. Offer is on a first come first serve. Expires Jan 20, 2011. Editted Dec 24: The coupon code is given out. Please try again another time.

For those who don't know what adwords is, read below. There are more information below.

It is a service by google where they would host a banner for your website, and it costs you money whenever people clicks it.

Here is what the letter says.
"Dear ___,

We'd like to thank you for being a loyal Vistaprint customer. To help you promote your business online and attract even more customers, we're giving you $100 worth of advertising with Google Adwords- for free.

Just go to www.google.ca/ads/vistaprint100 before January 20, 2011, and enter the code printed on the enclosed gift card.
Your first $100 of advertising is on Google.

Not familiar with Google AdWords? You simply create ads that appear next to relevant search results on Google.com and its network of partner websites. Potential customers see your ad at the exact moment they are searching for you. When people click on your ad, they're connected to your business.

Getting started with AdWords is easy. Just choose the search terms your potential customers are likely to use, write your ad and decide how much you're willing to pay per click and per day-it's that simple.

Here's why so many people like you are using Google AdWords to promote their business:
- Pay only when people land on your site. Google Adwords is performance-based, so you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
- Control your budget. You decide how much you're willing to spend on advertising each day-and how much you're willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad.
- Target just your town, or the entire world. With Google AdWords, you can focus your ads on just your neighborhood, or to people worldwide.
- There's no minimum term or commitment. You can pause or cancel your AdWords campaign at any time. Once you use up your $100 in free ads, you can continue runing your campaign, or not. It's your call.

Get started today. Just go to www.google.ca/ads/vistaprint100 before January 20, 2011 and follow the enclosed step-by-step guide, using the special code printed on your gift card. But hurry-the $100 offer ends soon.

Sincerely,
____

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First Pangya Self Design Top

Modelled after Miku from Vocaloid. Whom I have an unexplained hatred towards.

I basically took a fan art of someone's drawing of Miku and did the top while following general trends of the shirt. Its too bad the type of shirt isn't quite the same. And drawing in a tie which doesn't stick out is.. well not really correct. But I even added some sort of shading of black and white to try to make it somewhat vinyl. Kinda...

And for some reason, my tablet refused to work =_=. It works with the touch (works like any normal mouse) but when I use my pen, the cursor went crazy like the calibration area was out of whack. So that was done by mouse. Boo...

Whether I make another or not will depend. I don't have any intentions of selling them and both points and pang is very limited for me (surveys for points, poor gameplay for pang) lol.

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Tokyo Anime/Manga Ban Passes!

Uh oh. Is this a bad omen? Quote from Sankakucomplex (NSFW),

"The revised law now demands a restriction on sales of anime, manga or games which “improperly glorify or emphasise” illegal sexual acts, such as rape, groping, BDSM, voyeurism, exhibitionism, etc., by extension including underage sexual activity as well."

So that basically means animes with suggestive themes that air normally or similar mangas that sell without an adult only restriction now either has to stop completely, go over series revisions, or be attached with an adult only sticker and be sold accordingly.

According to sources, this will have a huge impact on the Japanese anime and manga industry (As one would expect). Good thing is the law doesn't kick in until July of 2011.

To read the full news on sankakucomplex, follow links here, here, and here.
To think, this all started with amazon.com posting Rapelay. Forgot how many years ago that was though. Anyway...

Thats the end of the news.
Read below if you want to hear my monologue about my opinion.

I may be an otaku to some degree, but I'm still human. Although I am against the idea of "banning" all together as I already know it solves nothing. The idea behind it is justified. One big problem is the low birthrates in Japan. This maybe because alot of japanese people like to stay indoors (hikikomori). Why do you think they stay inside? Because they find better things indoors than outdoors. As a person of similar nature myself (meaning I stay inside alot), there are always regrets that come with it. I first noticed it when I was working.

As you know, working isn't just about working. You make connections with your immediate supervisors and coworkers. That way, promotions and other benefits are easier to obtain. However, when I've locked myself indoors most of my life, how do I start a conversation with those people? "Hey the weather is nice today?" Not going to work. Trust me, here in Canada, you won't get very far by talking about anime and games either. Especially in the adult stages, its mostly about sports, music, and movies, and anything between them (including actors, etc). No, japanese pop doesn't work either. ESPECIALLY if you don't even understand japanese yourself.

So the baseline for this ban is. GO OUTSIDE. Totally agreeable. How the ban works is limiting the joy you get indoors so the incentive to go out is greater. Great! Except that shouldn't be how it works. You should work on increasing the incentive to go outside. Not decreasing the amount of indoors. But I don't write laws. Lets end it at that.

About the anime industry. Although in my anime history of shows watched. They aren't great with high score animes from good producers like Ghibli Studio. My kind of shows has always been comedy/romance. I do watch others from time to time but I get bored of them fast. But even in the specific genre I've been watching. Anime seem to be going downhill. There is an increasing number of sexual suggestions. If you look and compare Kanon to Clannad and now to Ore Imouto. Kanon had nearly none. Clannad had very few. And Ore Imouto has lots of them. Sure, none of them had actually any sexual content. But thats what they are banning. Anime do not have to have those to be funny or enjoyable. Yet, of the late, thats all the creators were able to think of. And yes, I know the sources for those 3 animes are different. But they still have a plot in common. And no matter which source its from (eroge, visual novel, manga), a plot is still a plot. Animes have become filled with "fan service". I especially hate when animes I watch now have been just exposed pantsu every few minutes or tripping over and falling on girls at every intersection. There is a limit to how many we can see in a lifetime. I am well past it. Not impressed.

Its time animes turned back into the glory they used to be.

Lastly, this is something to say why I am against the ban. It all started when the Western people (Americans) saw Rapelay on amazon.com. Thats when the whole eroge conflict came about. It later developed into child pornography. Now its become a broad anime and manga ban. It all happened because people feared children were being compromised. But I personally do not think that is the case. It is true that when you see something you want to do it. Most people have probably already felt this one in their lives. However, what matters is not what they see. It is the mindset and the knowledge their parents and guardians taught them. I loved my upbringing. I can't remember it. But I am sure I loved it. And whats better? I can identify what is right and what is wrong. Isn't that what parenting is all about? You don't just stop your child from seeing those things. You tell them after they see those things. That they are bad. You should not do it. Over long periods of time. You will automatically know its bad (kind of like propaganda, hahaha...). If you just don't let them be exposed to it, when they finally do at a greater age, they will go to their best source of information (their friends). And thats when things go hare-wire. You know peer pressure? Im sure you've been there. Killing, robbery, that kind of stuff happen BECAUSE of peer pressure.

So what I'm saying is, if this ban was for the sake of the children? I say, f*ck it. You're digging your graves.

Oops, forgot one last thing. Its about the creativity in animes. Or maybe the content. This is what I find interesting in animes. The ability to watch things that I cannot perform myself. I watch animes because I cannot write one myself which can look anywhere as good as what they air in Japan. I play games because I cannot write a better game than the ones available. I view art because I cannot draw one as competent. I listen to music because I cannot compose. And the list goes on. Think deep down, isn't that also a reason because you do something?

Sure, my expectation for anime/games/art/music/etc can never be fulfilled, that is why you continue to do those things until this very day. And when it does become fulfilled, you stop playing games, or whichever. But you do those things because it makes you in awe (and maybe because you enjoy it, but how can you describe the act of enjoying? You can't.).

Isn't that what animes are all about? If you ban certain aspects of animes, some people are going to lose their favourite genres, themes, aspects, and so forth. The anime industry is going to suffer (from people, they say it is already suffering). Because you couldn't do those things in your current life, you want to read or view about it. And thats what mangas and animes are for. (Sorry for the sudden use of this inappropriate example but I feel it is neccessary). Take a look at the number of rape mangas and animes there are. There are ALOT. Why I know this? Don't ask. It is because Japanese people don't want to commit this crime (makes sense, I don't either). But there is the desire to be relieved. So what to do? They draw ero-mangas for it. Or ero-animes for them. Although the relevance isn't completely there before I don't have any data on me. Japan has the lowest number of reported rape incidents in the world. Before you go totally believing what I say, it is also true that Japanese girls are more shy and therefore they may not report all the cases. Which leads to a decreased number of reported incidents. But I strongly stand by what I said.

Because of the time it took me to write this, I've already forgotten what I wrote in its entirety. Therefore there won't be a summary. Lol. Sorry.

Thank you for reading through to the end. If you have any comments or questions. Feel free to ask them below. I am heavily affected by this ban and feel deeply connected to it. I may be still an otaku so I am hurt deeply by this ban. But at the same time, I am human so I want the best for my Japanese friends who I have not met and is currently indoors and wasting their life away. Do take an opportunity to learn about the world. Outdoors is not as secure as your 2D life (expect depressions and despair) but it is the only thing that is real. So although it sucks. You have to bear with it. You were born a human afterall. This ban is going to hurt the creativity in the anime industry and people's appreciation of it. Causing it to go severely downhill from this point. I don't think this ban will serve much good. As banning something is never a solution to begin with. Education is the key. Ultimately, we may just see backdoors. As with pirating. As with illegal drug/firearm imports. Trying to stop something just makes more criminals. Sorry Japan. Do try again.

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EssenceRO Christmas Loading Image Submission

Whether I win or not, atleast I've put the wacom to good use. LOL !
The image is after the jump.

I have renewed respect for artists now. Drawing is HARD! I mean, seriously. Not even the thinking and planning part. That was kind of easy for me. But to put the stuff in my head onto paper. WOAH SLOW DOWN ! Even though Im submitting it, I think its full of problems. But I'm disregarding those since I might stop playing essenceRO soon anyway.

I wanted to try to use this as a motivation to draw. But I see from this experience, drawing isn't for me. It took me way too long to do and the result wasn't that great. I wonder how people can draw so well?

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Japan 111R Twelfth Class

Last class !!
We had presentations and learned just 1 lesson from the textbook. But somehow still took the whole class time...

We began by learning the last lesson. It was on the 3 verbs, ageru (to give), morau (to receive), and kureru (to receive). We were taught on its usage and when is it grammatically incorrect.
Of course, we learned how to conjugate those 3 verbs, but the same rules were used from previous lectures. (All part of putting it together)
eg/
I received candy from my friends.
I, from friends, candy received.
watashi wa tomodachi ni okashi wo moraimashita. (Is grammatically correct)
watashi wa tomodachi ni okashi wo kuremashita. (Is grammatically wrong)
tomodachi wa watashi ni okashi wo kuremashita. (Is grammatically correct)

Thats all we learned in this class. Then we had our presentations.

There were 5 presentations in total. The first one was a gameshow. Second was a puppet show except the puppets were paper drawings. Third was skit for news. Fourth was my group's skit, a comedy gameshow where unsuspecting victims are pranked. And 5th was a recorded skit with a questionnaire at the end.

In general, I think the presentations got better as it went from the first to the last.

The teaching assistants (TAs) also did a skit of their own. They portrayed a japanese person living a hard life in Canada because of some of their words. The skit was performed in a restaurant setting where the japanese person would use words like "hamachi" for some fish which I can't remember. But it sounds like "how much?". And so the english speakers would give them the bill when they really wanted to order some food. There were other words besides that one.

After that, the professor gave us her thanks for interest in Japanese and said she had a good time teaching our class. She also told us that the exam will be 2 hours in duration and 6 pages in length.

I personally enjoyed the class. It was the only class at university I've been in where I actually enjoyed it. I felt like it wasn't much like a university class, more like highschool. Where you could speak out and no professor or anyone would be shouting at you. In any of my other chemistry classes, if you spoke (other than raising your hand and asking a question), the professors would scowl at you. Here, I could just say some whatever is on my mind (supposing its appropriate for the situation), no one would care. Heck, sometimes people would laugh or the professor would make a follow-up remark.

I will be trying to enroll in Japan102R. Since Japan111R is in direct conflict with the technical elective I need to take. I hope it will be just as fun. If I get in and you're enrolled in it already. Please do say hi to me. Name is Pak Hin Law.

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Japan 111R Eleventh Class

Today was our second last class. Next class will be just an hour or lecture then presentation!! I'm worried sick !

At this point, our script isn't done, we haven't rehearsed, we have no idea on our props. We pretty much haven't done anything!

But looking at it another way.
We have the script made, just need to translate it from english to japanese. And then we just need to memorize the lines and get together and practice. We should be able to do that over the weekend. So it should turn out fine.

On another note, the midterm was disastrous LOL. I knew I missed a few questions but LOL. 81%? WHAT? *SHOCK*

Whats done is done. Just gotta do better for final. Nothing much I could say about it. Careless mistakes and just a few questions which I got it wrong.

Today, we learned how to conjugate the 2 types of adjectives to their past tense forms.
For "i" adjectives:
ookii desu (present tense)
ookikunai desu (present tense negative)
ookikatta desu (past tense)
ookikunakatta desu (past tense negative)

For "na" adjectives:
shizuka desu (present tense)
shizuka dewa arimasen (present tense negative)
shizuka deshita (past tense)
shizuka dewa arimasen deshita (past tense negative)

For "na" adjectives, they are nearly treated like nouns. ie. kuruma desu (its a car).

But thats all we learned. We played some game where I forgot the name. Something similar to slap jack. TA calls out a hiragana character, we gotta find it on the table (scattered).

Things learned:
- Conjugation of adjectives for past tense and past tense negative
- for both "i" and "na" adjectives

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Free Offer: $100 coupon for Google Adwords

I got another offer for $100 of Google Adwords money. Updated Nov 18, 2010: Code Given.

Just like before. Email me at tomabackspin@gmail.com if you want it. First come first serve. Only have 1.

Offer expires Dec 17, 2010.

Here is the original message from Google.

Dear AdSense Publisher,

Did you know there's an easy, effective way to generate quality traffic to your site? Not just more people, but the type of visitors actively searching for the type of product, service or content you offer?

It's called Google AdWords, and for a limited time, we're offering $100 worth of advertising* to show you how AdWords can drive the type of traffic you're looking for. Just go to www.google.ca/ads/adsense before December 17, 2010, and enter your unique coupon code.

You're probably already familiar with AdWords—the 3 line text ads that appear next to Google search results. Getting started is easy: just create your own ad, choose the terms your ideal visitors are most likely to search on,
and your target geography. That's it!

• Pay only when people land on your site. Google AdWords is performance-based. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and connects to your website
• Spend your free $100 your way. With Google AdWords, you control how much you're willing to spend per day, and per click (the higher your bid, the more people will see your ad)
• Target the whole world, or just your neighborhood. Google AdWords makes it easy to advertise to your town, country, region, or to everyone

Start attracting new visitors today, for free. Just go to www.google.ca/ads/adsense before December 17, 2010 using the coupon code displayed above.

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Japan 111R Tenth Class

We had our midterm !! And with it came lots of tears.

Hopefully I breezed through it. I did mess up something, so I'm sure it wasn't perfect. Forgot what "cleaning" it was "souji" D: !

Aside from the midterm, alot of new material was taught. Actually the only new material was adjectives. A whole sheet of them. We also learned how to conjugate those adjectives to their negative forms and "adjective" forms.
eg/ kirei (pretty) [exception 1 (even though it ends in "i"), type na adjective]
Declarative form
sono neko wa kirei desu ne.
(that cat is pretty, right?)

Negative form
ano hito wa kirei dewa arimasen.
(that person over there is not pretty.)

"Adjective" form
kono kireina e wa totemo takai desu.
(this pretty drawing is very expensive.)

Likewise, we learned the same for the "i" adjectives.

Another fun class. I think.

Kyou no kurasu ha tanoshii deshita.
(Today's class was fun.)

Things learned:
- Adjectives
- group "i" adjective
- group "na" adjective
- Conjugation of adjectives (both types)
- "ha dou desu ka" (question that usually result in adjective response)

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Japan 111R Ninth Class

As far as I know, today we learned nothing fundamentally new. Just continuation of the previous class.

We got a few more verbs in our knowledge bank now. We also learned more nouns as well. But thats all. A boring lecture (atleast in terms of knowledge).

What we learned:
- Nothing much
- more verbs and nouns, no new fundamental rules

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Japan 111R Eighth Class

Unlike last week, this week was much less work. I guess things balance out.

Several major things happened today in class.

1. We got our groups for the final presentation
2. Midterm date was pushed from Nov 10 to Nov 17
3. We had our oral test
4. Verb quiz is next week

In terms of teaching, we went over verbs again.

A lot of time was left to us to decide our groups and start brainstorming an idea.

What we learned today:
- Difference between "de" and "ni" for location marker
- "de" is used if the verb is an action verb
- "ni" is used if the verb is imasu or arimasu
- I just restated what the professor said, I am still not so sure about it.
- Frequency words
- such as mainichi, maiasa, maiban, maishuu

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Writing on the go: Extremely Heavy Fog Today

In Waterloo, Ontario.


If you're driving today, becareful.

It's also quite cold.



- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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Writing on the go: Black Rock Shooter Origin?

Found that at some cartoon store in Ottawa many months ago.


What do you think that is?

Looks kind of like Black Rock Shooter, no?

Colour
Clothes
Name

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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HobbySearch was Hacked!

I just found out today when I read it on Nekomagic. The source will be linked to after the jump.

The good news is that paypal users were unharmed but if you used a credit card on HobbySearch, you might want to check your statements or contact the card company. Just for safe measure, I will check my own card as well. Make sure theres nothing going wrong.

But on a side note, I haven't ordered from HobbySearch for a long time now. Amiami has all the stuff I need. And at a better price (most of the times).

Source: Here.

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Japan 111R Seventh Class

Today was probably exceeded the majority of the class' learning capability! I mean, its ALOT of new material ! Even I am worried. And I haven't worried before in class =(

To begin today's class, we had a quiz, about the days of the week and counting months, of course. Aced! YES!

Then we were reviewing the relative locations material, left, right, beside, etc

We did some other reviews, like asking where something is at an airport, or in someone's house, etc. All oral practice, professor says its important. And I agree.

Then came our break.

We were told that we were ahead of scheduel so I was expecting the class to be pretty relaxed for the time being. However, after the break, all h*ll broke loose !

Professor went on to the next lesson. About ordering foods. And what good is ordering food without first learning the verbs, "Tabemasu", right? RIGHT?!

You bet thats right! But she didn't stop there... Ohhh... no.... She went onto a list of 30 verbs. YES 30! Including what is known as the "u" verbs and "ru" verbs including the irregular verbs!

Holy crap! Thats too much. Seriously. But we were told we did have 2 weeks to cover it all. Thank goodness. Though, I bet most of the brains in the class already snapped.

But lets think of the good side. With these many verbs, we'll be able to engage in meaningful chatter in japanese! Right? Cause clearly verbs like migaku (to polish) is important... right...?

But seriously, on a plus side. The prof is going into the conjugation of verbs! YES ! I've been waiting for this day since day 1. I don't know how much she will teach, but any is better than none.

Yes, thats right, we're not just learning the -masu form for those 30 verbs ! but the -ru form as well. Isnt that cool? Thats like... 60 verbs! YAY!

We previously covered the negative and past tense and negative past tense also, so we'll put it all together now.

Oh, and for your interest, for "u" verbs, which are verbs not ending in "iru" or "eru" though there are exceptions where some "iru" and "eru" verbs fall into this category, but you will have to memorize those, the conjugation rule for -masu ending is:

Convert the _u to _i then add masu.

For example,
kaku -> kaki -> kakimasu
nomu -> nomi -> nomimasu

For the "ru" verbs, which are verbs that must end in "iru" or "eru", the conjugation rule for -masu ending is:

Drop the last "ru" then add masu.

For example,
miseru -> mise -> misemasu
neru -> ne -> nemasu

So we have a whole new bunch of words to practice in our free time. Of course we still have that presentation next week. Also we just got our final project today. Now I need to find some group members then decide what to do. Busy class... for a first year course =/

Heres what was learned today:
- Difference between "ya" and "to"
- "ya" is used for if there are many things more than just what you listed, for example, you use it when you want to say there are pencils and books on a desk with several other things as well. Tsukue no ue ni enpitsu ya hon ga arimasu.
- "to" is used if you are listing out everything on in that environment or system, for example, you use it when you want to say there are pencils and books on the desk which only has pencils and books.
Tsukue no ue ni enpitsu to hon ga arimasu.
- Verbs, 30 of them
- Learned their -masu form and -ru form
- Learned how to conjugate them between forms
- Learned the groups of verbs, 1 for "u", 2 for "ru", and 3 for irregular

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Interesting Video: Largest Gummy Worm

Heres an interesting video I found. The video is quite funny and the product is... well... a joke. At best. Read below for the source website.

The largest gummy worm!

It packs 4000 calories and a year long shelf life. I don't know if its real or not, but its quite an accomplishment. I don't think its practical though. We'll let you decide however.

Oh, it comes with different flavours !

Source: Here.

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Interesting Video: Crazy Accident

Crazy video I thought I would show, rather its real or not, I can't say for sure. But I will assume its real. Thank goodness he made it out ok.

I've never been in a serious accident myself. Got rear ended a few times while I was still a passenger. But nothing serious like that.

Remember kids, look both ways before crossing the road ! (or intersection)

Source: Here.

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Japan 111R Sixth Class

Today, we continue to learn verbs and nouns. We're up to 5 verbs now! And nouns just keep piling. I think we'll be able to carry out a proper conversation soon.

We were suppose to play bingo today but we missed it for some reason. It got pushed to the next class.

Surprisingly, there was no quiz today ! But there will be a quiz tomorrow. And the class after that, an oral quiz... Boooo!

The quiz we should have had but didn't was going to be about counting months and days, such as;
Nichiyoubi, Getsuyoubi, etc
Ichigatsu, Nigatsu, etc
Tsuitachi, Futsuka, etc

Tough stuff. I studied for it too. Oh well.

As for the presentation quiz in 2 weeks. We need to memorize a paragraph of about 8 sentences. Say it out properly, at a good speed and audible (can't say bengoshi as be-n-go-shi, gotta say it smoothly). Also we will be asked a question or two about the paragraph we read. Such as what certain things means (translation question).

I hope I don't mess up. I am terrible at presentation.

We learned quite a lot today, list below:
- Verbs imasu, arimasu
- Past tense of those words
- Negative tense of those words
- Difference between emphasis of subject and not
- Using "ha" and "ga"
- Ordering the sentence if there are many things like "_ de", "_ ni", etc
- Directional words
- ue, mae, soba, etc
- Location words
- book store, phamarmacy, station, etc
- How to ask what something is using "_tte nan desu ka"
- "yo" and "ne" and when they are used

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Japan 111R Fifth Class

Another day another dollar... another 50 cents after tax.

Uh... nevermind. We had a test on our 5th class. It was brutal. We did a bunch of other stuff too. Full listing below.

First thing we did when we got to class was write a test. It was called a quiz. But it was 1 page both sided. Whereas our normal quizzes were 1/3 or 1/2 a page, single sided. It wasn't too hard. I definitely, didn't get perfect. But it wasn't easy either. It was alot of writing for one thing. It was no wonder alot of people didn't finish.

I got out of that test first. Yep, was pretty confident too, but then I started noticing things I did wrong. Like for the hiragana "ru", I pierced the bottom... LOL damn. Amongst other errors. But that was the worst of them.

In terms of learning. It wasn't much different from any other day. We did sing some song though. Using the melody from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the lyrics were replaced with stuff like "a" "i" "o" "u", etc. It was about learning Hiragana.

Alot of stuff was learned today. Going to take a long time getting this stuff down. Especially the days of a month.

All the things learned today:
- more nouns (meeting, park, places, today, tomorrow, etc)
- Going to places
- first 3 verbs, ikimasu, kimasu, kaerimasu
- including present, past, present negative, past negative
- Time
- today, tomorrow, next week, last month, etc
- monday, tuesday, etc
- 1st day of the month, 2nd day, 31st day, etc
- particle "ni"

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Trip to the Cheltenham Badlands

Its a somewhat unique place in northern Toronto. Around the Brampton area. It was special because of the red soil and the rolling hills. We drove there by ourselves without any guides, other than a GPS. It was just on the side of the road, as you can see to the left side of the picture above. Its a nice scene. I'm not much of a guy for scenery but I do like looking at the sky. The vast sky makes me feel calm with the cloud cover and light diffused throughout the landscape. I would love to be able to star openly into the distance. Except school and work calls. And they take breaks for no one. Continue reading for the gallery link and other links.

Going there to the badlands, showed me something new. Although I personally didn't find it to be that interesting. There were alot of other people though. In the pictures in the gallery, its nearly impossible to not have someone photographed. There were THAT many people.

Since as you know, I photograph my pictures for figure reviews and what not. I am slowly picking up photography. Like going from auto mode of the camera to manual mode. Controlling aperture, shutter speed, etc. And one of the main skills I need to take pictures of figures is macrophotography. Since its important to show people the fine detail in any product to give it a thorough inspection so you may decide with lots of knowledge whether or not buying the product is worth it. And what are the pros and cons in doing so.

Yes, the overall product, is important, because you don't exactly stare at it closely 24/7. It just sits in your room somewhere. I fully understand that, but why would you buy something which has hidden flaws? So you can be disappointed later? That just cannot be right. Therefore, I want to be able to give fair assessments so the reader can benefit from my reviews. I know I don't do alot of them.

Two reasons for that.
1. I just don't have money to buy everything and give you a review.
2. I don't have the time either, nor am I ever at home. I am currently in university. Last year, research project. Its going to be tough and VERY BUSY. Sorry if updates slow up on the blog.

Anyway, thats my take on this issue. Whatever that may be. I lost track while I was writing it. Didn't want to erase what I wrote since then if you opened up this post to read on, you would only have 2 links. More information and gallery.

Information link: Here.
Gallery link: Here.

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[T's System] Kochiya Sanae Figurine Review

Recently, I bought another figurine from Amiami, I tend to use them more than HobbySearch or BeNippon (Previously shopped at, online retailers).

Its mainly because selection is good and I've only looked at some Touhou goods. But I like Amiami's service. Its quick and its done right. Not that I've had any problems at any retailer thus far. All I needed were a paypal account and an account for their website. Full review below.

Lets start like always with the box. Nothing too special there. Its a very plain box. By very plain, I mean, VERY PLAIN. As you can see below.

The front of the box. All there is, is the company which sells the product and a hole to see the front of the figure.

Same with the back, just a couple of words like where its made, who the sculptor is, and a couple of warnings.

Personally, I don't mind the box, since its just a box.
The insides are whats important.

The base wasn't that great. Like the box, it looks plain. Though that can be said for most figures. Atleast the Griffon Enterprises Touhou figures has a nice name tag on them. The T's System's figures doesn't have anything on the base. Oh well, thats just too bad.

As plain as you can get.

The 4 dots are there to make sure Sanae is nice and snug. Wouldn't want to be bumping left and right. Right? They fit nicely into the shoes of the figure. As expected. Though the leg had to bend slightly to fit. I don't think its a problem though.

Moving on.

The figure itself was well done. It felt like any other professionally made figures. I've never bought anything from T's System so that was my main worry when ordering this. I love the face on this Kochiya Sanae. Also, its not like Griffon Enterprises made any figures of her either.

Cutest/Bestest face ever!!

*Aside

Kochiya Sanae is a shrine maiden in the Touhou Project games, similar to the main character Hakurei Reimu, but the shrine they each belong to is different. Sanae serves as shrine maiden of
Moriya Shrine. Serving the gods Yasaka Kanako and Moriya Suwako. You can read more about her at the Touhou Wikia. Where you can get more information than you ever need. Thats not in the scopes of this review, so I will just give you a link.

Touhou Project is originally a shoot em up game made by Team Shanghai Alice. But has seen been expanded to include music, doujinshi, and doujin games. You can find them all over the web. Just search Touhou.

End of Aside*

I think the figure looks great. It was the reason why I bought it even though it costed quite a bit more than any Griffon Enterprises ones. It looks calm, a good representation of who Sanae is. Though in fan fic, shes seen to be excited with robots. Lol. I'm excited with robots myself. GUNDAMS ! Can't wait for PG Strike Freedom. Though thats completely irrelevant.

Love the face and pose. Its got a calm aura about it. Maybe it will make me feel less stress from school and work.

The figure feels heavy, atleast it feels like its a product for sale. The details on it seems appropriate and professional. There were few errors with paint or other things. Something completely different from Orchid Seed. The two figures I have from them both have some sort of imperfection. This one from T's System is much better. No scratches, no junk stuck on the figure.

The snake looks well painted.

As the shoes. Not to mention the nice details.

And on the hairpin.

Mmmm... I like this angle :P The wrinkles adds nice depth to the figure.

The paint and decals on the dress are well done as well.

I also love the hair. Long flowing hair is so alluring. Damn.

Long hair *_* !

Theres 2 things which I would have liked more. Because you know, nothing is perfect.

1. I wish the finish could be more transparent. Im not saying that its not good as it is. Because its pretty faint. The lines that shows the different PVC pieces used. Or whatever those lines are.

Weird lines? Or are these showing me that they used several pieces of PVC to make the dress? Either way, if it wasn't meant to be seen, I would like it if it didn't show up. But its great nonetheless.

2. I wish there were some things I could do with the figure, I don't mean moving hands, or legs like those figmas, but more in terms of castoffable or even some things you can put on and off, like the Marisa and Flandre figurines from Griffon Enterprises.

But I like the figurine alot as it is. Of course, more never hurts.

Oh, and the head comes off. I haven't figured out why it comes off, but it does. Here are some pictures. If you have any idea, feel free to express your opinion in the comments below. I'm guessing, maybe its for swapping heads of other T's System figurines. But that would be bizarre.

The headless Sanae O_O... Wah?

Finally, its a size comparison with something else I own. A 1/144 HG Double 0 Gundam. I never bothered measuring the figure, but it felt pretty big. Though when I put it with my other Touhou figurines, the size wasn't too much bigger. Maybe I should get real measurements someday. It is suppose to be a 1/6 scale figure though.

Notice the 00 Gundam's stance. (Hehe, no, Sanae is not that young, wikia says "mid-teen")

I quite like posing the HG gundam, because they balance easier and they have less parts. So even if they fell and broke apart (pieces still intact), its relatively easy to rebuild. While for the MG, they are difficult to pose and some of them (my ZZ and Unicorn) are extremely feeble.

In case you were wondering what Sanae wears underneath her skirt. Two NSFW pictures below.
Here and here.

I am very happy to have bought this figurine. One because I'm a Touhou fan. Two because its of high quality and looks nice to have on my display case.

After this instance, I can trust the quality of T's System. If you, the reader didn't think this post was any use to you, atleast know that theres one person who owns something from T's System and that their quality is comparable to other big name companies in this industry.

Gallery link: Here.

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Japan 111R Fourth Class

Another day. And another quiz. This one was about numbers and time. I think I aced it. I also got all my previous quizzes back. 100% YES ! Anywhere, heres what happened today.

A standard day, nothing out of the ordinary like the Japanese Bingo last week. Several presentations where I had to speak a few lines from the textbook. Other things are like following what the teacher says and repeat after them.

All in all, a normal day. So far now, we had a quiz every class. Next week will be different because it will be a TEST. Its called a quiz in the syllabus, but its going to be 30 mins instead of 5. Also, I hope I do well in it next week. I'll be studying and working on my other assignments. Busy busy.

Oh.. There is one thing special. We finally used our first verb ! Misete!
However, we did not talk about the word at all. In fact, the professor did not even say it was a verb. She just linked it with -kudasai and told us that was how you say "please show me". orz

FYI, misete is from the verb miseru (to show)

Anyway lets wrap it up here.

What we learned this week:
- More nouns
- "to" for saying one thing with another, watashi to isshou = "I with everyone"
- Learned counting, hitori, futari, hitotsu, futatsu, etc
- Learned the word "ikura" and how to ask how much something is
- Learned the word "kudasai" and how to use it
- Briefly learned "-demo ii desu ka?", we learned from the example, "'card' demo ii desu ka?" for can I use a card?, this phrase is used to ask whether or not you can do a certain thing.

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Interesting Video

This is an interesting video.

The source claims to be a Cebu Pacific airline. Instead of the standard boring safety lecture, they turned it into a dance.

If you didn't like that video, think about it this way.

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Writing on the go: Ancaster Gem Show Volunteer

Hello, today I got to school early to do volunteering. I was at school at 7:00 and there was no one!! More info below.

It was so amazing!

The volunteering work started at 8:30am but we left at UW at 7:38am.

The location was at Ancaster, close to Hamilton.

I was basically volunteered to be a tour guide for a group of 4th graders from a specific school. I was in charge of The Lady of Lourdes.

It was a great experience. The kids were great, so lively and happy. One kid wasn't so great though. Disturbing the class when a presenter was talking.

There was a shopping hall, I bought about 18 dollars of stuff. Pictures of the place below.


My job was to lead the kids around the building to the events and to make sure that they followed a preset schedule. Easy work. After the class left, it was all free time for me to shop.

We left at 2:38pm or so. In fact I am writing this on my iPhone while sitting in the bus.

PS. I bet my mom is real jealous.

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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Japan 111R Third Class

Here we are, already at our third class, 1/4 of the way through the term. Full details below.

Like always, its has been just alot of repeating after the professor and occasional presentation of a couple of lines between my partner and I. The presentations are getting more difficult with new words learned and the need to memorize. Of course, the professor still helps you with the words, if you get stuck. But I try not to.

As for the difficulty, it has definitely gotten harder. We're at a point where there are actual things I hadn't known/studied before. For example, that when you say minutes, sometimes you use fun, other times is pun, all depending on which number is said right before it. For example, 1 = ippun while, 2 = nifun.

More memory work !! argh !!

We did do something interesting today though. Although not that great. We had something called the Hiragana Bingo. Yes, its bingo, instead of numbers, we picked our own hiragana and put them into a 3x3 and 4x4. We played Bingo twice. Winners got some Japanese chocolate. I didn't win. Boo.

Finally, here is what we learned today:
- How to use ano/sono/kono
- How to read time (hours and minutes)
- Ask what time "nan ji"
- Learned kara/made, for "from"/"until"
- More nouns
- Events (meeting, working, partying, etc)
- Places (Department store, super market, restaurant, etc)

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Japan 111R Second Class

Here we are at the 2nd week/class at Japan 111R. Continue reading for the details.

When class began, we had a short practice of hiragana then we had a quiz on the hiragana characters.

We had a few practice where we had to walk up to the board to write/erase stuff. Otherwise, we just sat there and repeated what the professor said. Or talking with my partner.
Things learned:
- Lots of nouns (jobs, places, household items)
- Numbers (practice with phone numbers)
- Particles: mo, de, no
- Question words (doko, dare/donata, nan)
- Position words (koko, soko, asoko, kore, sore, are)

Closing statement, another easy course except for the mass overflow of nouns. This makes it difficult to learn because they're not in sentence or anything, just a huge list of nouns. Atleast a picture is included, that helps...

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Review: Dragon Dog...?

I was at UW yesterday, attending classes. I dropped by my favourite lab instructor for a chat since thats what I like doing... talking. And somehow we got to a conversation about foods and he mentioned a DRAGON DOG at the Davis Centre cafeteria. Told me to try it. So now I have and whats what I thought.

First of all, there are several choices with your dragon dog. As seen in the picture below.

You can choose your sausage, topping, and sauce.

The one I had was,
Honey & Garlic sausage
Crispy Cabbage topping
Cheeky Chilli sauce.

It was surprisingly good. Of course, I have never heard of the topping or sauce. I've had plenty of honey garlic sausages while I lived away from home in Ottawa. But they just microwave the sausage then put it on a grill for a few more minutes. I boil my sausages in water then pan fry them. Not sure which is better.

Although it was great, the cost was $4.50. Not quite the most affordable considering its a hot dog... with different toppings. Hot dogs are $2.50 or something.

I greatly enjoyed the sauce and the topping. The sausage was ok too, but I never had deep fried cabbage before. It was crispy and tasty.

This dragon dog is suppose to be hot, atleast thats what my impression is considering the name of the toppings and sauces. Although there was the Black Pepper sausage that I could have chosen, my configuration wasn't very hot. It was hot, but not hot enough to make me drink water. If its not hot enough for me, then its probably pretty weak in terms of spiciness. For example, a few people I know can handle spicy on a whole higher level than I am. I think I'm one of the poorest people when it comes with dealing with spicy flavours.

But the bottom line is, that its tasty. I don't think its worth the money, however, if you got some extra change and want something for a change. Definitely drop by the University of Waterloo Davis Centre for a taste of the DRAGON DOG.

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Japan 111R First Class

I was so excited ! Since its my first time officially learning the language through an institute (UW in this case). I got to class about 30 mins early >w<

The teacher is a pretty old lady, shes fluent in Japanese (as expected). No weird accent when speaking english either. Great news. I can't stand those Japanese accents when speaking english =(. It sounds too weird to me.

Anyway, to my dismay, this course seem to be more for the busy people, because the book is called Learning Japanese for Busy People. Boo. Meaning, it'll probably be more like teaching you phrases and things, instead of getting to the bones of Japanese.

Well, if thats the case, I expect to ace this course. Since I've already done a few CD lectures in the past. On and off. Been at it for a long time too... on and off.

What we covered in the first week.
- Talked about the Hiragana characters
- all 46 of them
- including the "ba" and "pa" alternatives of "ha", and the "da", "za", "ga", etc also
- small "ya", "yu", "yo"
- double vowel (aa, ii, oo, etc)
- double consonant (ikko, etc)
- How to write Hiragana
- the 4 ways to end stroke (stop, hump, sweeping, loop)
- We did several short skits where we had to speak Japanese
(I aced it of course, other people, not so much, Talking to yourself helps (hahaha) )

Homework included
- Writing hiragana for each of the characters 8 times (a,i,o,u,e -> n)
- Writing hiragana from roomaji words

Needless to say, this week was easy.

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Photoshop Tutorial: Adding Lightning

I decided to play around with a photo taken by my friend at mosaika. The pose is supposedly from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, from Kamina. "Your drill will be the one that pierces the heavens" or something like that. The lightning has nothing to do with anything, but I just made it anyway.

The steps aren't that difficult. I remember doing something similar to this back in grade 10 highschool. So I roughly remembered how to do it.

I started with a photo like this one (resized).

"Your drill will be the one that pierces the heavens" (Kamina)

- First, open the photo in photoshop.
- Then start a new layer so you could work without impacting the original image.
- Set your colours to black and white
- Make a gradient of black to white horizontally (left to right) or diagonally
- Basically the line where the colour changes is where your lightning will be
- Go to filters -> render -> difference cloud
- Go to adjustment -> levels
- Move the black triangle to the right or adjust the triangles to get a crisp lightning shape
- Go to adjustment -> hue/saturation
- Check the "colourize" box, this will give it a colour
- Change the hue to the colour you would like
- Now change the layer type from normal to screen, the lightning should appear on top of your original image
- Move the lightning via "free transform" to where you want it to be, rotate if needed
- Using the eraser, remove any unwanted lights in the lightning layer
- Take the smudge tool and go to the end of the lightning and smudge it so it doesn't look like it was cropped, smudge tool is the finger icon, in the same place as the sharpen tool or blurr tool

- Now I added a lens flare to the start of the lightning at the finger of the image, it makes it fit a bit better than without
- To do that, make a new layer, paint it black
- Go to adjustment -> render -> lens flare
- Set the size to a small size, this can always be changed later with the free transform adjustment
- Change the layer type to screen
- Move the lens flare to where it should be
- Readjust size with free transform if needed

And voila, you're done !

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Free Offer: $75 coupon for Google Adwords

Hi again, this is the same thing as the previous.
Updated Sept 9.

Got some money from google to advertise for a blog or a website, I don't need it. So I'm throwing it out there for whoever is interested.

The offer fully expires on Sept 30, 2010. So if you're interested, please contact me before then, at tomabackspin@gmail.com or pakhinlaw@hotmail.com (msn)

Thanks.

Google Adwords is a service for advertising a website on google advertisements, money is deducted from your account on a click by click basis.

Update: The money has been to the first email response I received at 7:42am, another one at 9:46am, and at 11:05am.

Many thanks to those who were interested. I'll post another one when I receive them.

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With that, my final coop term ends.

The goodbye was a sad one, lots of tears were had. Except they were all held inside.

"Good luck in school and your future career"
"Thanks, take care of yourself too"
...


With that marked the finale of the past 8 months of work at National Research Council (NRC).

Without a doubt, it was at this place I learned the most out of all my previous workterms. The people were educated and helpful. The tasks were intriguing and challenging. NRC had it all.

Aside from all the technical skills learned, great memories were carved there also. The times with these special people would be remembered forever. Atleast it will be written on this blog so even if I may ever forget, I shall remember once again when I read this passage.

I couldn't say these things when we parted because I am bad with giving speeches. So let me write it out here after I had to time to think and compose myself.

Thank you Martin for the wonderful guidance,
for without you, I would have sat in silence.
Also thanks to Cameron for helping me fit in,
it made asking questions not feel like a sin.
The wonderful solutions Alex suggested,
were so brilliant when I had tested.
Your abilities made me felt kind of weak,
but Pier's kindness showed up when I had seek,
turned my feelings upside down,
for there was a grin from a frown.
Lets not forget about Malgosia,
without you, there would be no fire.
You are the soul of our department,
with years of experience and commitment.
Thank you Lisette for the useful email,
keeping us in check so we don't fail.
It keeps us aware of our situation,
even if that means no more vacation.
The people there are always working,
but its all work and no singing.
That was why I started a noise,
it was called "delicious and moist".
I hope you enjoyed reading this script,
I had a tough time, my paper's all ripped.
Too many mistakes during compilation,
but now its nearing the completion.
With that I bid you all farewell,
we'll meet again, I swear upon my spell.

*staring*
*spell coujuring*
*spell conjured*

On a completely different note, my landlady also requested a poem, so I wrote this one here.

Oh where, where, where do I live?
Work at NRC starts on the fifth.
Without a shelter, death is certain,
but Marina had an open curtain.
She took me in, like a kind mother,
of a lost cat, when others didn't bother.
I felt for once there was warmth,
it was then, that I had sworn,
I would pay back her good deed,
500 monthly, if she need.
Thank goodness she accepted,
or else I would feel neglected.
Thus began my new life,
including home cooking with a knife.
There was a cat, her name was Cannelle,
around her cuteness, my composure fell.
I wanted to hug her so many times,
if it cost money, I'd have lost many dimes.
Eventually we became close, but now we must part,
my heart just froze, then pierced by a dart.
It pained me much, to have to separate,
but don't worry, I'll come another date.
Thats what I told myself when I moved on,
this memory shall never be gone.
Let us part for now, but its not the last,
we'll see in no time, since time moves very fast.

Unless someone wants to tell me, I suck at this, I think I might have a knack for writing poems. Atleast rhyming ones, all the other ones, I got no clue.

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Interesting Video: Kyoto Subway

The video above is the Tozai Line in Kyoto. Its regularly looking and sounding right?
Well, look what the inhabitants of Nico nico douga did. Results below.



I must say, I'm impressed, not just the creator/creation, but Japan as a whole. This isn't the first "remix" of anything done by nico nico douga. In fact they've done a whole lot. Here are some examples.











Most of their work involved replaying some lines over and over again with a specific background music. Accidentally it becomes quite addicting.

They even have a theme song. Its basically a whole bunch of songs linked together from many series (and games, ie Touhou). Oh its over 10 minutes long.

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Friend came over for weekend, tons of fun.

On the weekend of Aug 13-15, 2010, a friend came over to visit me from Toronto. For privacy issues, I will just call him Kev (yeah, sure, THAT Kev). I didn't exactly had any plans for the weekend. Heck, I had no idea he was coming !

He told me a few days ago prior to 13th, he was going to tell me if he was coming or not. Since I didn't get a response until 13th (I didn't ask for a response since it was a far ride, I'm not the person who would force people to spend lots of money), I thought he wasn't coming. Then all of a sudden, I got a text saying, "I'm on the bus". WHAT REALLY?! HOW?

Anyway, he took a cab to the place I was living at and he stayed over for the weekend. It was lucky that I didn't let my landlady know that he WASN'T coming, or that would have been hectic. I just left it in the air, was going to make up a story if he really didn't come, since I had told her that he was going to show up. Anyway, worked out fine nevertheless.

So basically now that he was here, what to do..?

Sitting at home and playing games would be boring, yes? YES ! We should all go out more, even though I'm not the person who should be saying this. (As I spend alot of time inside)

We dropped by the Ottawa Museum of Nature, the military parade "Fortissimo", and the light show "Mosaika".

Since my friend had the camera, and he took a ton, he couldn't send it all to me, even though I would like to have a collection for myself. He does have facebook, except I don't use facebook either than games and refuse to spend any of my (un)important time on it. PS. I don't play any facebook games anymore. The moral behind it is bad. The TLDR version is,

You play the game so you don't feel the shame.

I refuse to play something thats not about being fun anymore but preventing yourself to be embarrassed.

I am waiting for the collection of photos, if you are reading this, KEV !

Anyway, the museum of nature was pretty normal, the interior and exterior looked fantastic though. There were a few paranamic images but again, I don't have them. Parts of the structure was newly renovated, although some of the antiquity was lost, the new glass tower was magnificant. The interior had 9 show rooms, featuring mammals, dinosaurs, birds, amphibians, rocks, fishes, insects. Although it was completely understandable since it was a museum, I found them rather lacking in interactivity. Maybe I am just expecting too much or maybe I didn't really have much interest in animals.

As for the reason why I went to the museum of nature? I had heard from several people that it was a nice museum to visit. So I thought I would drop by with my friend. By the way, entrance fees were $10 for adults and $8 for students. Yes university student counts, as long as you have your student ID and it is before the expiry date.

Perhaps I should try a science museum...

Fortissimo... zzzzzZZZZZ...
I personally didn't enjoy it. For one, we were sitting on the grass, it wasn't very comfortable. Second, it was just a bunch of bands playing music. There were a few good songs here and there. But the majority wasn't to my taste. The cannon firing and gun firing was cool though. Admission was free for this one.

I loved their uniforms though, and when we asked around, some of them were volunteers for the summer. Cool !

Mosaika was probably the best event that day. It was the lightshow on the parliament building. It talked about the history and eventually got patriotic about being Canadian. Which I don't exactly believe in, I mean, patrioism is kind of like propaganda put into nicer words. If someone says its patriotic to kill someone, people are going to do it, be it jewish (Germany in WWII) or chinese (Japan in WWII). Anyway, I don't feel the Canadian pride in myself. I think people should just believe in themselves. They should think freely and act on their mature judgement. They should not be held back from doing what they should do because of what your country tells you. But should you comit a crime, you should be expected to pay the consequences. A crime is something which is hurtful to another, such as robbery, or killing, or whatnot.

...I was told by someone to shut up during the national anthem though, even though my friend and I were talking to communicate urgently how to navigate to meet up with us. That felt... strange.

Yes, a friend of a friend from the university of Kev came over also. She arrived at the end of Fortissimo which Mosaika was right after. Fortissimo was at 7:00pm and Mosaika was at 9:30pm. After watching Mosaika, we had a drink, and then we went home.

My finger will pierce the heaven!... wait.. what?

Gallery: Here

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Interesting Fanmade Video

Something I found while surfing the web. I thought I would post it. The fanmade video is above, the characters in there are from Touhou. After the jump is the original version.



The original is from an eroge called 魔界天使ジブリール4 or Makai Tenshi DJibril 4 in Romanji. The maker is FrontWing (NSFW). I never played it and probably never will. It doesn't really have a good story. The first and 2nd of the Jibril series were put into an anime (of course, its for 18+).

On another note, I thought the fan made video was very good and professional. So I thought I would help spread the word.

Video Explanation: I will try to explain as much of the details on the video so you can comprehend the effort put into this.
- All the background pictures were changed from the original to a more Gensokyo like theme, with old era buildings. PS Gensokyo is where the Touhou world exists.
- Character animations were changed, as were the still pictures.
- The weird pink logo at 0:27 is Youmu's ghost half, Myon
- The title got changed to Meikai Kenshi Yoyomu 4, and Myon is written on top of the "4"
- ZUN is the Touhou creator. He started it all.
- The characters in introduction order:
Konpaku Youmu (spelled Yomu in the video) (Gardener)
Hakurei Reimu (Shrine Maiden, and main character)
Kirisame Marisa (Ordinary Magician, 2nd main character)
Saigoyoji Yuyuko (Manipulator of Ghosts, is one herself)
Yakumo Yukari (Manipulator of boundaries, a Gap Youkai)
Cirno (spelled Chiruno which is how its spelt in Japanese, since they got no "r") (Ice fairy, the Strongest, she is labelled as 9 for "baka" or stupid because of this pic, legend at bottom says 9 is "baka")
- The tree at 1:00 is the Saigyou Ayakashi, it holds a significant important to Saigyouji Yuyuko, who happens to be Youmu's master (or mistress).
- Twin BBAs probably refers to Twin Baabaas, for twin old ladies. They're not twins, but they are expecially close, video here. Also, they're called old because the majority of the girls in Touhou look like children. But their ages are mostly all in the hundreds because they're considered Youkai (monsters, if you will)
- The picture of Reimu at 1:27 is her with a donation box. Fan works always make her seem poor and asking for money. There is alot of fanpics of her donation box with other people as well.

And there you have it. Those are all the things I can point out, but if you're a Touhou fan, you might find out more than what I have. I've only been a fan recently. I admire the music greatly, especially a few groups like Silver Forest and Liverne.

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Anime North 2010

Unfortunately, I was not at Anime North 2010 which took place during May 28-30, 2010. However, my friends went and took pictures in my place. I will post a link to the picasa gallery.
Updated August 19, 2010.

From what I could tell from asking them, it was pretty much the same as the previous years. Perhaps not as good. During Anime North 2008 and 2009, those same friends and I would go on all 3 days, but this time, they only went on Friday and Saturday. But they claimed to have been "sick" (flu-kind or bored-kind, I don't know). But its fine.

I personally don't know whats there to do at anime conventions anymore. As you all have already realized, I do my shopping online at one or more of the links on the side of the blog. Those sites provide much more recent figures with a good state of mind that you don't get fake products unlike here. Also, the prices are not that different after considering shipping and other fees. Though, at places like Anime North, there are a bunch of vendors (alot more than G-Anime), so the chances of discounts are higher (competition). And also, because you can bargain for lower prices. But generally, the prices don't vary say more then $20 CDN. Some stuff you can get dirt cheap at anime conventions though (like wallscrolls, wallpapers, and old figurines).

Mainly because I heard that most wallscrolls you buy which are cheap, are not "real". Or in otherwords, someone had a printer and took a high quality picture and printed it out. How I know this? I asked some vendors, also, I've been to danbooru often, I have a good idea on whether the wallscroll picture is real or not.

Here is something to help you with that (although not 100% correct, nothing ever is).
- Generally real wallscrolls would only use official art from a series. If the picture looks like a fan art, its most likely printed by someone else other than official manufacturer.

- The feel for scroll texture feels more paper-like for the fake wallscroll as opposed to fabric-like

However, that is not to say the least my friends didn't have fun. They went on a shopping spree, one of them spent around $150 CDN. They also took alot of pictures.

I heard there were Touhou goods (not just the games) at Anime North. Whether its true or not, when I asked my friends about the details, they couldn't give me much details about it. But thats fine, I already found a vendor for my Touhou needs.

Gallery: Here

Updated: Second Gallery: Here (Thanks Jonathan)
Ooooh, Remilia!! (wikia)

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