Ebuddy Gadget Added

I was at work and I frequently use the ebuddy web messenger because I want to stay in touch with people who needs to contact me. And I found this.

Apparantely, I can add the ebuddy sign in page to my blog on the side, you can use this site as your portal to web messenger ! xD

To be honest, its pretty useless, but since as a maker of the blog, my homepage is set to here. So I guess its more convenient for me. But thats probably it. Lol.

Anyway, you can add me to your msn at pakhinlaw@hotmail.com

Feel free to send questions and requests this way. With my lack of knowledge in html and javascript, I hope I can answer them!

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How to Distinguish Real and Fake Touhou Figurines from Griffon Enterprises

My mom recently returned from her visit of her parents in Hong Kong. And as we probably all know, no expedition is complete with out a souvenir. Since I've been a Touhou fan for a while and since its DIFFICULT to find any goods from them, I asked her to help me look for some. Judging from the title, you will probably have the idea on what she bought.

It was a fake Marisa figure from Griffon Enterprises. Not being there myself in Hong Kong to do the purchase, I have no idea what the environment of the store was like. So I can't say that I blame my mom for such a purchase. If anything, I should be grateful, it allowed me to make a post about it.

*Note: The "real" one that I assume to be true was bought in Akihabara on my Japan trip last summer, in a store called Gamers"*

So let us begin this investigation.

First of all, we should start at the box, since that is the first thing you see when you think about buying a figurine.

There is nothing much I can really say, the box is made to mimic the official box from Griffon Enterprises. Since I don't own an official player 2 colour Marisa figure from them, I can't compare the numbers and other details. Although the box looks nearly identical, there are several things that sets them apart.

*Note: for any of the images uploaded below as a guide, the same images are also available in the gallery.*

1. The colour of the paint on the box is poorer than the official product, that is usually the case which allows the product to be sold cheaper than the original goods. However, that isn't something you can easily tell if the original box is not present.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

2. In the original box, there was a sheet of paper that presents the other Touhou figurines that Griffon Enterprises was releasing along in the same batch. However I do not know if that is restricted to the mass produced models (1P colours) only. Since again, I don't have an official 2P colour version of Marisa to compare with, that is the best I can do at this point.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

In terms of other features about the box, I could not tell you how to differentiate them. If you do happen to be stuck in a situation where you think it may be fake, do advise before you buy it. Or you can read the next section which talks about the differences in the figure itself.

The 2 figures changes significantly when inspected. This was not a real shocker because I didn't expect them to be anywhere near similar (as seen here). Here are what you should pay attention to:

1. Take a GOOD look at the base of the figurine, that is where you'll see the MOST difference. The official figuring has a name plaque that looks like metal and bolted onto the plastic base with 2 nuts. However, in the fake one, it looks like a sticker. Also, notice the spelling mistake.
*Note: I do not think it will be possible to see the base when the box is unopened, so this may not be helpful if you are at a store.*

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

2. The base connectors to attach the figure on looks different between the real and the fake, both securely fasten the figure on the base, but they still look different.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

3. The fake figure tends to be more glossy, that applies to pretty much everywhere. The main distinction is from the face, arms, legs (skin area), the white apron, shoes, and hat. This seems to be a trend amongst knockoff products (refer to nendoroid petit comparison post, here)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

4. The broom doesn't fit into the hand socket. Therefore the broom moves around in that general position.

Notice how the fake figure has the broom touching the base, thats because its not tightly attached to the hand (via bad mold)

5. The head position of the fake Marisa is straight while the real one is slightly bent to her right.

No, it actually looks like this. I hope you can notice the difference.

6. The fake figure is generally made with lower quality plastic or PVC (or whatever that is made with)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

7. The crack at the head is much worse on the fake figure than the real one (but this might be different from one to another)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

Final note: It would probably be easiest to identify the authenticity of the figure by holding it near a good light, because the main noticeable difference would be the glossy finish of the fake which would differentiate it from the real. This might be a little troublesome because of the plastic that protects the figure and keeps it from moving inside the box.

For those who are in a hurry. Though I highly encourage reading the whole thing incase I missed anything in the summary.

Summary:
- Fake figure has a glossy coat whereas the original does not
- Fake is generally lower quality for the box, the figure material
- Fake has horribly sloppy base with a sticker name tag instead of metal and has spelling errors
- Fake has a straight head whereas real has a bent one
- Probable best method to distinguish authenticity would to be bring it near a good light to check for glossy coat

*Note: In the photos with 2 items, the left is always the fake one whereas the right is real.*
Gallery: Here

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Mind Blowing Light Art

I came across this at Gizmodo so I thought I would post it.

Truly amazing work in my opinion. I have no idea how it works. I am guessing there are a bunch of lights on tracks which can move and rotate to give different perspective lighting.

Link: Here [Gizmodo]

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Happy Day, May 13, 2010

This post won't be posted on May 13th, 2010. But it was written for that day to announce to the world 2 events worth celebrating.

The first is, I passed my G Driving Examination! This means I am fully capable to be on the road with a car (Atleast thats on paper, I am allowed to). I did take the test at an easier course, there was no need for lane changes on the highway. Also, the highway was 80km/h instead of the standard 100km/h. It wasn't a 400 series highway.

But nevertheless, its over! All the delaying is finally put behind me. I don't have to worry about driving liscence ever again. Only need to renew every few years. But no need to start again from G1 ! Which I would have had to if I had let it expire July of this year.

The reason why I am not posting this until probably 2 weeks later or so is because my parents kept pestering me about the driving test. So out of spite (and because I'm a terrible boy) I decided to deceive them and saying I didn't have an exam and it was all just a scam (a mean one at that, as they've kept pushing and bothering me to get my G liscence done). Do you ever feel like you want some privacy and some space but no one gives it to you? I don't know why, I get it alot around my family. But lets not talk about the sad stuff. I can give you all the gory details if you so insist. But let that be for another day.

With that said, that was the first good news.

The second was I got my iphone replaced. I noticed a crack at the dock connector. People told me about Apple's "great" customer support. So I looked up my case, and I found out other articles online mentioning that Apple would replace the phone for such cracks. So with that in mind, I booked an appointment at 3:50pm of May 13, since I had already taken the day off due to driving examinations.

I got there a bit early, like 1:30, so I asked if I could move my appointment forward, since there was a free spot at 1:40, I was bumped to that time and my 3:50 appointment cancelled.

So the Apple genius greets me, I greet him. I told him about the crack. He said that the crack was so small, normally they wouldn't do anything but they'll make me a special case and replace my phone anyway. So I said "Ok" since that was expected. (Though I don't believe the "I'm a special case" thing since large or small crack, a crack will only get bigger, so he might as well replace it now, since my warranty still has about 2 months to go).

So he took a "new" (from what I can tell, its a refurbished phone, serial starts with 5K, and the box is a white box instead of the genuine iphone box) iphone 3GS, put in my sim card, then have me sign a sheet of paper saying that a replacement iphone was removed from their inventory. And I was left on my way.

Service was quite fast, I never looked at what he was doing with his genius iPod touch. (Maybe database information, ie how many refurbished iPhone 3GS are in stock?) Well, it is regrettable that the phone wasn't brand new, but as long as I don't get any problems and the case doesn't crack again, thats all that matters to me. Probably less than 15 minutes to complete the whole process.

With that said, if anything were to happen, let it occur before the 90 days from May 13th. So I can get another free replacement without applying for additional warranty (which I have no plans to).

On a plus note, my warranty was extended by about a month!

This encounter with Apple was definitely positive. However, I would not yet feel ready to give them my life (computer). I am still very much going to stay with a windows computer unless something major happens.

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Window 7 Anime Commercial & UW Secret!

This is pretty good. Lol! Source: SankakuComplex (NSFW)
I am proud to be a Window 7 owner now. Genuine.. of course! ;)

UW Secret after the jump!

For those who goes to the University of Waterloo (UW), just so you're not missing out, you are entitled to a free copy of Window 7 Professional!

Please check out here. Then once you're ready, you can go to here to sign in and download!

I've had known this place from my friend Tim. Many thanks to you!

If you're a University of Waterloo student and do not require the free liscence keys for the OSes available to download, feel free to send them over here! :D

you can reach me at tomabackspin@gmail.com, or msn pakhinlaw@hotmail.com

Happy downloading!

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[Griffon Enterprises] Flandre Scarlet PVC Figure Review

While at home for the past week, I was able to take photos and inspect this figure thoroughly (aside other things, here and here). Full review of the figure Flandre Scarlet by Griffon Enterprises below.

Lets start off with here I got this and at what cost. I paid 6560 yen which was equivalent to $74.78 CDN at the time of purchase. I had put in a preorder request at Amiami months in advance because I wanted it alot. (More about purchasing with Amiami here). I will point out in the gallery link at the end of the post, you can see the type of packaging Amiami uses.

On with the actual product.

First of all, the picture on the box, in my opinion, looks terrible, and at first I thought the figure itself was bad also. But when I opened it, that wasn't the case. The box itself and the plastic packaging in the box was no surprise to anyone. I hadn't expected it to be either.

The base looks normal also. I will point out a specific detail to the base though. I personally thought nothing of it except maybe a little smile at how neat it was. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Look harder!
HARDER !!
...
<-- Click But that is such a small thing, can't possibly use that as an excuse to say whether its good or not. So lets move on. Lets talk about the Lævateinn... if you're a Touhou fan, you should automatically know what it is (or maybe if you know a little about Flandre, you would know). To put bluntly, its her weapon. You know how shes kinda crazy and likes to kill everyone? That "double-edged trident" is PRETTY DAMN SHARP! You can seriously hurt someone! And I kid you not. Its comparable to a toothpick, and probably even sharper. I poked myself cause I wasn't careful.

Who thought owning figurines wouldn't hurt?

That hat and the rest of the figure can be blended together, since there was nothing unique about the hat which deserved its own analysis. I found the figure to be very well coloured, atleast in regards to the shading. The pose is also very dynamic and strikes you nearly instantly. (I don't really like dull figurines where they're just standing there to look pretty). There are some imperfections to be seen in the close up pictures. But those are understandable.

I should mention, the hat, like Marisa's, does not magnetically clip on like the Hiyori Pixie's pumpkin hat, but despite this, it is very easy to put on and once on it doesn't wiggle on the head.

The clothing on this figure looks top notch, just like Marisa's. The shading on the skirt successfully captures the motion that it is taking. I would even say Griffon Enterprises does the best shading jobs that I've seen in all the figures I own.

Lastly, I should mention the wings (OMG!). It was one of the main reasons why I bought it, Flandre Scarlet is cool, but everyone has their charm points. For sure, it has to be her wings (unless you're attached to her destructive aura, which is perfectly fine, whatever floats your boat). But the wings were very well done. Very clean. Best of all, it doesn't feel flimsy like it will break from simply blowing at it. I applied some force on the "jewels" to see if it was poorly built, but it held sturdy. I am going to see what happens when I shine light on it, I wonder if it'll reflect in different directions like a precious gem. (Probably not, since its PVC, polyvinyl chloride, some unreactive material). Sadly, again some imperfection can be seen, its not a big deal, but theres a droplet of red paint on the orange jewel. (>:)

I would surely recommend this to both Touhou fans and to people who likes to collect quality figures. Of course, I have never actually built one myself (I'm referring to those resin kits where it comes unpainted and unbuilt). I think it might be fun to buy one someday and attempt to build/paint it. But if I don't even paint my Gundams, how can I succeed in painting a figurine?!

Oh well, thats another story.

And there you have it, my take on what tries to be a review for a figure.

On a closing note, it was made in China.
...
...
Is it still worth buying? The quality of one does not equal the quality of all.

Gallery: Here

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Chako Korean BBQ Review

On May 1st, 2010. The night before the trip back into Ottawa, my friends and I went to a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant, called Chako, for a get together dinner. I haven't seen them in forever, I personally had no opinion where to eat. But I took some pictures of the food and the restaurant inside and compiled a short review.

Location: Plaza Northwest of intersection of Midland and McNicoll Ave.

Good:
- Nice looking exterior and interior (Great presentation)
- Has a choice of some Japanese sushi aside from standard Korean BBQ choices
- Good sushi

Neutral:
- Meat were very well marinated (ie. Lots of flavour/unhealthy/thirsty)
- Their tofu appetizer had a sweet sour sauce (different from standard where its dry and somewhat tasteless)

Bad:
- Long wait time (~20mins)
- Quite noisy (though it can't be helped with over capacity and not meant to insulate sound)
- Expensive (after tax and tip it was around $25 CDN per person)






Conclusion:
I felt it didn't taste much different from other korean BBQ restaurants. Because of the expensive price, about $10 more than normal, I would not recommend this restaurant for most people, unless you desire a nicely decorated restaurant for such an occasion, like, I don't know... proposal (though, you should probably use an english restaurant for that, where its quiet).

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