- Malaysia, a Sweet Trap -

Mizunaga has moved!

2009-01-18T20:20:00.002+08:00

At long last, I have moved from blogspot, and onto a better place. ^^;
I owe a big thanks to Netto who so kindly agreed to host me.

Well, without further delay, here's my new address:

Midori na Silhouette
( http://mizunaga.notcliche.com/ )

I would appreciate it if you could update your links. For now, that is the only banner I have, but I will work on making more, nicer ones.

See you there!

P.S. While I was moving, I found some extra stuff like that item in the pic way above. Any takers?

Animax Cosplay Competition @ Youth '09 Festival

2009-01-06T23:37:00.002+08:00

On the 10th of this January, Animax will be holding a cosplay competition at the "Youth '09 Lifestyle Festival". The event this Saturday will take place at the Putra World Trade Center (PWTC), between 12 pm to 2 pm.

Registration for/participation cost the competition and entrance to the event are both free. If you are interested in joining the cosplay competition, you can register here.

Source: Anime Shrine

If you want to attend this event but are not sure how to get to the PWTC, you can check out this useful page.

Looks like they have some pretty cool prizes for cosplayers to win. As of now, I am unsure if I will be attending this event. Will let you guys know via a twitter update.

If any of you readers are going to cover this event, do let me know, and I will be sure to link you up.

2009 - Open -

2009-01-01T23:13:00.003+08:00

Image source

Happy New Year everyone! ^^
あけましておめでとうございます!
Selamat Tahun Baru!

So, 2009 has come. Has everyone made up their new year's resolutions yet? ~~You know, those resolutions that would probably mysteriously vanish after a month or two.~~ Of my many resolutions, one of it is to be more active in my blogging, or, at least, put more heart into it.

Anyway, I've got some plans for mizunaga.blogspot in the near future, and will announce them when the time is right.

I look forward to an exciting year with you guys again! o/
今年もよろしくお願いします. m(_ _)m

2008 - Close -

2008-12-31T17:45:00.007+08:00

Image unrelated. Source: Danbooru

With the end of today, we will have reached a new year, 2009. Though it is sad to see another year pass by, I am, overall, pleased with what this year has brought.

A lot of stuff has happened to me in this past year. Sometime February, I decided to make this blog into an otaku/Malaysia blog. Prior to this, I had been blogging about personal matters, and so this was all very new to me.

Initially, I was a "stand-alone" blogger- that is, I never visited other blogs, forums, or even fansites. As you can imagine, I was getting nowhere at that point. One day, while searching for ~~fapping~~ blogging material, I stumbled across Danny's site, and from there I began networking. I got to know some other bloggers, like Panther, Gordon, Squee X, Fariz Asuka, and, eventually, joined Team Blue.

I would really like to thank both Team Blue and Danny for helping drive traffic to this blog. Also, special thanks to Team Blue (and to Panther, who founded TB), for you guys really helped me grow, both as a blogger and as a person (well, sort of. lol).

I do have to apologize to my readers though. As you might have noticed, in the past three months, the amount of posts I write has decreased significantly. Due to some real life commitments, I have been busy, and any free time I have left is spent trying to catch up on anime, or getting precious and necessary sleep.

Anyway, it's been a great year, and I hope to enjoy more great times with you guys next year.

To close, here's one of my favorite EDs of this year- "Changes" by Base Ball Bear (Toshokan Sensou)

See you 2009! o/

Comic Fiesta 2008 - Day 2

2008-12-25T22:39:00.000+08:00

Photo courtesy of TeeJ

Finally, it's time for day 2 coverage of CF. Having already covered the booths and convention site in my day 1 post, this post focuses on the cosplay aspect of the event ~~and my failtography~~.

I arrived later on this day, (sometime after noon) because I had some business to attend to in the morning. Upon entering the convention hall, it's straight off to snapping pictures of cosplayers.

Alfred was wearing a skirt for the day. lol

Some of the better Kuroshitsuji cosplayers there, IMO. Sebastian needs evil smile.

When Yoite was still pointing fingers, he would frown, no?

Day 2 featured the Solo category cosplay competition. There were tons of contestants- about 55 of them, IIRC.

This is how small the Krauser II cosplayer really was.

Trap Haruhi #2!

Soul and Black Star embracing each other and making a scene on stage. I lol'd

Asura cosplayer is awesome

Trap Lenalee! This is the third trap I've posted in my CF posts.

The crowd on day 2 was much larger than the crowd on day 1.

Loli Sheryl is cute!

Shinigami-sama also had a damaged mask, but I did not see him wear it.

There were several song performances by some cosplayers. Naturally, Sheryl Nome was one of them.

And strangely, Ranka Lee didn't give a solo performance. :(

Emcees playing some games with the members of the crowd. In this game, you had to be the first to fold the Foldees voucher into an origami paper crane.

This cute loli, Elsa, played as well, but she ended up folding a paper boat. ^^;

After the game ended, it was time to present the awards to the winners of the competitions. Though I did not get pictures of all the award winners, here they are:

Art Competition
Over-18 Category
Grand Prize: Roden Chong Yii Siang (Roden)
First Prize: Sinn Chun Hou (Sitomize)
Second Prize: ">Fung Kin Chew (Santa Fung)

Under-18 Category
Grand Prize: Sonia Dai (Pochi)
First Prize: Low Soon Yie (Pyromaniac03)
Second Prize: Ain Hafizah bt Mohd Saadon (Lavendra)

Comic Competition
Coffy Award - Sou (Yam Gene Group)
Tea Award - Leong Tze Lin (Noir Mystere Group)
Merchandise Award - Loo Sooyan (Meowed Group)

Cosplay Competition
Best Cosplayer: Skye (Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier)
Honourable Mention: Zend (Nemesis from Resident Evil 3)
Honourable Mention: Dusty (Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2)
Best in Hall: Pinky (Ashura from RG Veda)
Best Group Cosplay: D. Gray Man Group

After the awards presentation, they had the final performance: "Lion" by Sheryl Nome, Sheryl Nome, Tako, Ranka, and Ranka's mom.

Video thanks to swordlink93

Group photos on-stage. Because of rain outside, the roof was leaking at this point. lol

Though CF08 had officially ended, there were still some cosplayers I hadn't gotten photos of, and so I went around and ~~hunted down~~ took pictures of them.

As I continued to look for cosplayers, a familiar song started playing...

U-u-uma-uma!

And that ends my coverage of CF08. ^^

This was my first time attending the Comic Fiesta, and I must say, it was a very enjoyable event. To be honest, I had expected fail and such, but it turned out good. Definitely worth the entry fee. XD

Omake
Comic Fiesta Day 2 complete photo album

Other people who posted about day 2 of CF08:
Atarashii Prelude
-=Mystical-Era=- (Part 1, Part 2)

Comic Fiesta 2008 - Freebies and Loot

2008-12-23T23:52:00.000+08:00

As with every convention, one is almost sure to bring back some goods, be it freebies or loot. And CF, being somewhat of a comiket, was no exception.

First, let's take a look at the freebies I got:

A Foldees.com voucher, stickers by TEH Wedgie, a hp pen, hp sharpener, and color pencils, from hp!

I heard that there was also supposed to be a bag of freebies, but I did not get any. :( Not that I'm complaining though. lol

Yes, it's the CF08 t-shirt! ~~Despite it being a time of financial crisis, I still had the cash to fork out and buy this t-shirt~~ I won it by duck-walking up the stage. :D

Selling price for this was RM25.

Text at the bottom says, "i went to the event and bought this blardy t-shirt"

It's a pretty cool shirt. Black, green, and white! A nice combination of colors.

That's pretty much all the freebies I got. Now, onto the loot:

Rabbid badge (RM5), C.C. badge, and a ZETSUBOU badge (RM3.50 ea). There was also a pedobear badge, but it was sold out by the time I decided to get it. :( Admittedly, I hesitated over buying the C.C. badge, because the artwork isn't too fantastic.

Poster by Kaizeru (RM5). Before I bought this print, I was also contemplating purchasing this awesome piece, but decided against it.

Lastly, a Vocaloid print set (RM10) that I bought from Toonikun. The artwork is beautiful. It's highly detailed, and I love the way the colors of the prints go together.

Well, that's all I got from CF this year. There were some things I regret not buying (like certain interesting headgear, or some awesome t-shirts), but I hope next year will produce even more cool items.

There is one thing regarding the artwork that I have to complain about though...

There was a severe lack of C.C.! I only remember seeing about.. four items with C.C. :( And of those four items, there was certainly no good artwork of her. That's mostly the reason why I refused to buy stuff. ^^;

Comic Fiesta 2008 - Day 1

2008-12-22T23:41:00.005+08:00

Comic Fiesta! That is the name of one of Malaysia's biggest otaku events. Similar to the Japanese Comiket (but on a much, much smaller scale), CF is a place for artists and the like come to display and sell some doujin work.

As you can see in the above picture, this year's CF was held at Sunway Pyramid, on 20th and 21st December.

Was there early on day 1, but there was already a number of people waiting to enter.

I entered the convention hall through the exit (that door you see in the above picture), which I only found out was the exit on day 2 because the guard told me so. If you full-view the above picture, you can make out the word "EXIT" written on a piece of paper and stuck on top of the door where no one would see it.

The first thing I see when I'm in there is the doujin booths area.

Well, let's take a quick look at the stuff to be found at this year's booths.

The Figure Mall booth. I could be wrong, but I believe their goods were only for display, and none for sale.

I spot something familiar...

Amazing stuff, really. The artwork present was impressive. I had a hard time deciding where to place my money. ^^;

Other than the doujin booths, there were also the sponsor booths. Let's take a look at some of those booths:

Blank DVDs, for all your ~~piracy~~ data burning needs

This booth (which sold make-up, I believe) felt a little out of place at this event.

Awesome shirt!

One booth was selling bootleg goods, which was rather saddening. :(

On to the stage area. To the right of the stage, there was the screen and some artwork on display.

They were screening this awesome video

To the left of the main stage, there was a smaller stage.

They later changed the setup of this area a little by moving the chairs.

And that was basically the convention site of Comic Fiesta '08.

Let's meet the two emcees for this event.

Alfred

and Chuck

The emcees were good at keeping the crowd entertained, but their humor was rather crude, as some people have pointed out. Admittedly, I personally found them very funny, though I do agree that they should tone down on their jokes a little. Afterall, this is a public event.

VIPs getting ready to cut the ribbon for the official opening

Opening video

Being half the attraction of CF, here are some cosplayers of day 1.

Nyan~

At one point in day 1, kiDChan was having a live demo, and what you see above is the crowd that had gathered to watch her.

kiDChan in action

Trap Haruhi!

Patapon cosplayer is epic

Playing some games for prizes

... This was part of the game

V-Kei!

When I stay too long at conventions, I tend to forget which cosplayers I've taken pictures of, and so I sometimes end up with repeats.

As I was on the escalator going down, on my way to lunch, I spotted this Akita Neru cosplayer.

Since there were people behind me on the escalator, I waited til I reached the bottom, then went back up, just to get a picture of her. After taking my picture, I got back on the downward escalator, when I saw some Macross Frontier cosplayers go up.

I was like, "Why..? ;_;"

Lunch @ Mr. Teppanyaki

When I got back, the group cosplay competition had already started/was just about to begin, and so I rushed to the stage.

I only saw three groups perform. The first being a miscellaneous collection of cosplayers, then D. Gray-man, and finally Bleach.

Frankly, I didn't really enjoy the perfomances, though the D. Gray-man one wasn't too bad.

Well, that's all I have for day 1. There weren't many events going on. At one point, they even screened a full episode of Tentai Senshi Sunred, which I lol'd at, because they showed FANSUBS by ANBU.

Omake
Comic Fiesta 2008 Day 1 album here.

Other people who posted about day 1 of CF08:
Atarashii Prelude
e-jump's Weblog
I crave for seme(s).

Hannah Tan Aims for Japan

2008-12-16T19:50:00.001+08:00

27-year-old Malaysian Hannah Tan, now aims to make her debut in Japan. A singer-songwriter and TV personality, Hannah Tan hopes to make a name for Malaysia there by using her music and movie scripts.

“Japan is a leader in digital technology, so I’m trying to see what I can bring back to change the way people do business in the entertainment industry,” says Hannah.

Source: the Star

Anime fans in Asia might recognize her as the ambassador of Animax Asia.

It will be interesting to see how far she can make it in Japan. To be honest, I don't expect her to make it very far. ^^;

More pictures of Hannah Tan in the full post.

Check out those eye... bags.

Imaginary Friends Studio @ Comic Fiesta 2008

2008-12-10T23:56:00.001+08:00

That's right! Imaginary Friends Studio (IFS), South East Asia's
Premier Concept Art group, will be coming to Comic Fiesta 2008!
They'll be bringing their artbooks, conducting live demos, and will be
on hand to have meet-the-fans sessions throughout the day!

Aspiring artists should also bring their portfolios for reviews,
cause IFS will also be at the Portfolio Pavilion too!

If Art's your life, like it is for Imaginary Friends Studios' founder
Artgerm, then you won't want to miss this!

About Imaginary Friends Studios
Imaginary Friends Studios (IFS) is a regional homegrown concept art
and illustration studio. Founded by a group of established artists in
2008, IFS has 30 artists under their wings across Asia and Europe.
Based in Singapore, it also has a branch in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Most of IFS' artists were influenced by Eastern and Western
animations, games, films and comics, creating a rich diversity of
works reflecting their upbringing.

IFS has provided concept art for games, comics, cards, entertainment,
film and animation projects. The studio counts Square Enix, Sony
Online Entertainment, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Animax, DC Comics,
Marvel Entertainment, Top Cow, Radical Comics, Games Workshop, Upper
Deck, WizKids and many others on their ever-growing list of
prestigious clients.

IFS is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia and is the place-to-be
for industry professionals and talented artists from not only
Singapore but from around the world, allowing them to realize their
dreams of becoming a professional concept artist.

Article Source: Comic Fiesta

Soul Eater ED3 Single - Bakusou Yumeuta

2008-12-03T17:19:00.002+08:00

A maxi single by Diggy-MO', 「Bakusou Yumeuta」, was released on 28th November. This single contains the third ED of Soul Eater.

The first track, 「Bakusou Yumeuta」, is a bit of light J-Rap. Among the three songs, this track is my favorite. There is a nice background melody, and Diggy-MO's rapping is awesome!

Romaji lyrics for TV Size 「Bakusou Yumeuta」 here.

The second song, 「CHALLENGER」, is fast-paced, and personally, I am not too keen on this song. It is okay, but it's not a song I'd want to listen to the whole day.

Also, half of the song is in English.

「UNCHAIN」, the last song, also has rapping, but is also heavy on the techno side. There are some parts where his voice is distorted, and I think the voice distortion doesn't go very well with the overall flow of the song. This song is more on the "fail" side for me. :\

Here's the third ED to Soul Eater.

Full versions of the songs below.

Figurative Story [Night] - The Origins of Apocalypse

2008-11-24T23:03:00.001+08:00

I sat on the lowest platform on Survivor's Watch that night. Just below and ahead of me was the Fallen Arc of Apocalypse, a graveyard for the millions of lives that were lost in an instant. Both of these monuments were built by the survivors of Apocalypse, to serve as a reminder of the dreadful incident that happened six years ago.

Though these monuments were built for that purpose, there was rarely anyone who would come. But on this silent night, a lone girl stood amongst the graves.

It has been a long time since I last saw this girl. Six years ago, to be exact. Now that she's made another appearance, I began to wonder what would happen this time.

As I pushed that thought away, she teleported to a platform above me.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" She said to me.

In reply, I merely nodded my head silently.

"How've you been?" She asked.

"Busy," I said, "gathering information about you hasn't been easy. Where have you been all these years?"

"I've been to... places." She said, adding something of a giggle and snicker.

I said nothing, and jumped onto her platform. For a moment, neither of us said anything, and just stood on even ground.

Breaking the silence, she said, "I've come to settle things."

"Is that so?" I said in return.

"Here I go" she replied as she got into her battle position.

In an instant, she fired a fireball at me, and I dodged to the right.

She reacted quickly, casting an ice spell and sending spears of ice flying in my direction.

I backflipped off the platform and landed on the field below.

"Wait!" She yelled, as she, too, leapt off the platform.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she unleashed the wind spell she had prepared during her drop.

Having no time to evade, I was knocked over, and before I could recover, she stood in front of me, right hand reaching inside her sleeve.

"You know better than to move," she said, "the moment you do, I will draw a Muramasa blade. Then, one of us will have to die."

Being unarmed, I knew I was helpless then. "So, you going to kill me again?" I asked.

"No," she replied, "that would be meaningless." She then held out her hand to me. I took her hand and rose.

She walked over to a tree and leaned against it. As she was staring at the sky, she said, "Besides..."

"I can't kill the man who destroyed the world with me. Not a second time, anyway."

That's right, I thought. You can't kill a spirit.

We returned to the Arc of Apocalypse.

"What do you intend to do with me now?" I asked her.

"The only thing left to do for spirits." She replied, "I will send you to the next world."

I looked around. "Well, this is certainly a fitting place to end my existence." I said, "Good-bye, and thank you..."

As the last of my senses were about to fade, I could faintly see her figure. She was praying.

With that beautiful last image burned into my conciousness, I dissolved into nothing.

* * * * *

I know this is over half a month late, but here is the Night-theme Figurative Story I promised ages ago.

Sorry the story's so much crappier than the last one. ^^; Unlike the Beach-themed one, I took the night shots without any idea for a story in mind, so the story ended up being built around the pictures, instead of the pictures being built around the story.

As for Haruhi's clothes, I made them myself. It was my first time sewing an outfit, and the outfit is 100% hand-stitched. It's a pretty messy job, but that was because I was rushing to meet the 31st October deadline (which I never did meet). The string around her chest.. should have been thicker. :\

Oh, the shots were taken in a nearby park (this park).

Thanks/Congratulations for reading this far, hope you enjoyed this FS anyway. ^^;

Related posts:
Figurative Story [Beach] - The Day I Met an Angel

CLANNAD ~After Story~ OP ED Single - Toki wo Kizamu Uta

2008-11-19T23:42:00.005+08:00

5 days ago, the single 「Toki wo Kizamu Uta」 was released.

The single contains two songs, 「Toki wo Kizamu Uta」 and 「TORCH」. Both songs are sung by Lia, and they are the OP and ED (respectively) of CLANNAD ~After Story~.

The first song, 「Toki wo Kizamu Uta」, gives off a feel very similar to 「Megumeru ~cuckool mix 2007~」. The song has a nice melody, but I am, for some reason, finding it a little.. flat. While it is supposed to be a sad song, I personally do not feel that sad mood. IMO, this song doesn't deliver.

Either that, or there's something wrong with my ears. :\

Anyway, here's the CLANNAD ~AS~ opening:

Lyrics to 「Toki wo Kizamu Uta」 here.

The second song, 「TORCH」, on the other hand, is a win in my books. It's a happy, upbeat tune, and is pretty catchy.

While I do think it's great as a song in itself, I do have one problem with it, as a song in regards to CLANNAD ~AS~. One of the genres of the CLANNAD series is drama, and so once a sad episode ends, this happy song plays, and it kinda ruins the mood.

Regardless, here is the ending of CLANNAD ~After Story~

Lyrics to 「TORCH」 here.

Which of Lia's songs do you prefer?

You can listen to the full versions of both songs below.

Japanese Charity Fiesta & Bazaar

2008-11-10T21:56:00.000+08:00

Just yesterday, I was at a Japanese charity fiesta & bazaar, organized by the Japan Club of Kuala Lumpur.

To say the least, I was disappointed.

This event was held at Hotel Nikko, and to enter, I had to pay an on-the-spot ticket fee of RM15.

Despite being a Japanese bazaar, there wasn't really that much Japanese stuff to buy. A lot of items there could be obtained locally. There weren't even any geta for sale. :(

Entrance to the ballroom

The place was pretty packed

This was, perhaps, one of the few items worth looking into- pottery.

Being a bazaar for the public, I did not expect to see any otaku goods here, but lo and behold, there was one table that featured some old otaku goods.

There were tons of books, magazines, and supposedly limited edition GitS shirts.

There were tons of old magazines, and a lot with Evangelion at the front page. There were also some CDs for sale there, though they didn't really look legit. ^^;

There was a vast variety of items, but, as I mentioned earlier, most of it could be obtained locally.

There was lots of Japanese food too, but even the food was the kind that could be easily found like food from Jusco, Yokomon, and Beard Papa.

While most other tables were selling out, this table remained unvisited. The food here was less unique, anyway

Needless to say, the food there was pretty expensive. All I had was this strawberry-flavor coated waffle that cost me RM3.

The strawberry flavor didn't come out very well, but the waffle itself was pretty good. Overall, it was an okay snack.

Though the goods there were not really worth looking at, they had some other attractions as well, such as this-

Demonstration of how to prepare tea in the traditional, Japanese way.

There were also three games to play, though I only saw kids playing them.

Had absolutely no idea how to play these game though.

Except this one, maybe

But the best attraction was this- try on a kimono(?) for a certain price, and have your photo taken against a backdrop (there was a nice backdrop which I did not take a picture of).

Of all the girls and guys on stage, this one little fella got a lot of attention from photographers.

Overall, my friends and I agreed that this event wasn't worth the RM15 entry fee. But since that RM15 is going to charity, it's all good.

Safe to say, I won't be attending this event anymore in the future.

Comic Fiesta 2008 - Upcoming Event!

2008-11-05T11:27:00.002+08:00

Upcoming soon, is the Malaysian Comic Fiesta- an event that's organized and run by fans and volunteers.

First off, the details-

Comic Fiesta 2008
Sunway Pyramid Convention Hall
20th - 21st December 2008
11 AM to 7 PM

To enter, you will require tickets, and there are three kinds of tickets for you to get- Edu-Bulk, Pre-Order, and On-the-spot tickets. Two day tickets (Edu-Bulk and Pre-Order) cost RM25 each, while one day tickets (On-the-spot) cost RM15. If you'd like more info, please refer to their respective links.

And for those who intend to go there just to cover the event, you will first need to take a look at the ~~strict~~ photography rules and regulations over here.

For more info, you can check out their website here.

There will be cosplayers there to see, doujins to buy, and I believe some booths will be bringing figures too (I think the figures are only on display though).

So, who's going to be there? I'm still juggling with the idea, though it's pretty likely that I will be attending.

Winner of Saimoe Tournament 2008

2008-11-02T23:33:00.002+08:00

The Saimoe Tournament 2008 just ended today. For those who have not been following the tournament, the fight for the title of champion was between the Hiiragi twins, Kagami and Tsukasa.

I know there are some of you out there who have never even heard of Saimoe, so here's a brief explanation of what Saimoe is:

The Anime Saimoe Tournament (アニメ最萌トーナメント, anime saimoe tōnamento, Saimoe for short) is an online popularity contest that has been held annually on the Japanese Internet discussion board 2channel since 2002, by which fans vote for the most moe anime character of the year.

Source: Wikipedia

If you want more information about Saimoe (like how to vote, nominate characters, or past winners), you can visit this thread on the Anime-Suki forum (Thanks to CI for linking me to this thread).

Waitress Kagami <3

Back to the results.

Well, Kagami fans rejoice, for she takes the title by 61 votes!

Hiiragi Kagami - 1037 votes
Hiiragi Tsukasa - 976 votes

Source: Ando via Panther

I think I will try blogging on Saimoe next year, but we'll see how things go.

Happy Halloween 2008!

2008-11-01T04:33:00.007+08:00

I am late, but Happy (Belated) Halloween everyone. ^^

Actually, Halloween is not a recognized holiday in Malaysia, so there are no events or Halloween stories here. Is Halloween celebrated in your country?

Fullpost contains some Halloween pictures of witches.

Melissa Seraphy!

Image sources: Anime Pulse Forums, Tenka Seiha

Image Source

Figurative Story [Beach] - The Day I Met an Angel

2008-10-30T21:51:00.002+08:00

I strolled along the shore, sandflies biting me, my skin burning under the raging blaze of the sun. It was just another day at the beach for me.

You see, my job is to walk the length of the beach everyday, and make sure that no disturbances take place. A strange job, I know.

When I first took up this job, I was excited and had anticipated everlasting fun days, playing in the sand. But as the days progressed, it just got duller and duller. Nothing ever happened, and being a beach with restricted access, there was never anyone to talk with.

Except for that one day. That one day, when an angel literally descended from the heavens to be with me.

I was taking my usual walk on the beach, when I spotted an object falling from the sky. Excited that something might finally be happening, I continued to watch the falling bulk carefully.

As my gaze remained fixed on the descending mass, I noticed it was getting larger with every passing second.

Soon enough, I realized it was headed right towards me, and so I ran. I ran with all my might, fueled by the fear of getting squashed by some unidentified object descending from above. I sprinted as fast as I could, crushing shells, twigs and anything between my feet and the sand.

After gaining some distance, I turned around, just in time to see the object right before it crashed into the sand.

Upon impact with the ground, tons of sand was thrown into the air, and I was blinded temporarily.

When the sand settled, it was revealed that the mysterious object was what appeared to be a huge android. I knew it was my job to be brave when things like this happen, but I was still scared afterall. Mustering all the courage I could, I slowly and carefully walked up to the behemoth.

I walked all around it, examining it thoroughly, trying to make sense of this android. For a long time, nothing happened. I began to wonder if it was spoilt or something. I mean, it DID fall down from the sky, afterall. It wouldn't be surprising if it wasn't-

*click*

I heard a sound. I looked around to see where it came from, but save the android, there wasn't anything unusual in sight.

*click* *click* *whrrrrrrr*

This time, I was sure the sound came from the android. I figured it was better to hide myself before whatever was going to happen happened, and so I ran further up to land.

I continued to watch the android from my position. After several more clicks, buzzes, and some other strange noises, a hatch opened, and a girl stepped out.

She carried a shield on her back, and a strange-looking rifle in her hand.

I debated with myself whether to approach her or not. She was carrying a rifle, while I was unarmed. Well, it was my job to keep the peace around here, and so I approached her anyway.

I carefully crept up behind her, and, very weakly, said, "Umm..."

Almost instantly, she reacted by turning around and pointing her rifle at me.

I let out an, "Ahh..!!!" and tripped over myself, falling backwards and away from the girl. We were a distance apart, but she quickly closed the gap by throwing down her shield and rushing at me.

She stood over me, one foot on my chest, gun aimed at my head, and asked, "Who are you?" In that moment, the skies seemed so gray and dark.

"I-I mean no harm! I assure you!" I hurriedly said, fumbling over my words a little. She stood silent for a while, then moved her foot off my chest and pointed the rifle upwards. I took the chance to stand up.

"I suppose I can trust you.." she said. The expression on her face was cold, but somehow, I could sense that she was really afraid.

"Haruhi."

"Eh?" I replied.

"My name is Suzumiya Haruhi. Yours?" She asked in return.

"Oh, I'm Mizunaga. Chong Mizunaga." Not knowing what else to say, I asked, "Um.. Shall we take a walk?"

"Why not." She promptly replied.

We began walking, and there was a silence for a moment. Then, I realized, wait a minute. A girl just came falling from the sky. Why am I still acting so normal?

"Um, excuse me for asking this so suddenly, but... Who exactly are you?"

"Hm? I told you I'm Haruhi, didn't I?" She answered.

"No, I mean, where did you come from? And what is that huge.. thing?" Thinking back now, calling it 'thing' was really lame of me.

She remained silent for a moment, then said, "Alright. I'll tell you, but only if you promise me you'll keep it a secret."

If you promise me you'll keep it a secret? Sounds like something a high school girl would say. I thought. "Sure, I promise."

"Well, you see..." She then went on to tell me about how she had come from another planet, and that she had stolen a "mobile suit" to get here. She told me some other stuff too, but I would be breaking my promise if I said anymore.

After she told me her story, I curiously asked her, "But.. why did you come to Earth? I mean, there's nothing to see here. Just lots of trees, water, and sand. And not to mention, it's extremely polluted."

See? A perfect example of how polluted Earth is.

"That's not true!" She quickly replied. "The Earth is a beautiful place! You have a vast sky, the sun to light your day, and the moon your night. There isn't any sun where I come from."

A world without a sun, eh...? I thought to myself. I looked up to the sky, skeptical that it was as beautiful as she made it to be.

But as I cast my thoughts aside and set my sights on the never ending azure, I understood why she called Earth beautiful. I began to feel rather ashamed with myself for not taking the time to enjoy and notice the beauty that surrounds me everyday.

As I remained staring at the sky, something hit my back at full force. I turned around, and just some ways away, Haruhi stood, waving at me and poised to run.

"Don't space out, or I'll throw another mudball at you!" She said playfully, just before running away.

A smile grew on my face, and I chased after her, yelling, "Hey! Come back here!"

We played around for a long time, until the sun began to set.

"So this is what they call a sunset..." She quietly whispered to herself. "It's beautiful."

With nothing better to say, I simply went, "Yeah, it is."

"Well, I better go now."

"What? You're leaving already?" I didn't like the sound of that, so I tried to convince her to stay, saying, "But you haven't seen the moon yet, or the stars, or the constell-"

"If I stay here any longer, I'll just cause trouble for you." She said. She had a sad look in her eyes. "They will come after me soon. So If I don't leave, you know what's going to happen."

I sighed. After too long, I finally had some company, and to think that I could not do anything to keep that company was devastating. As she began to walk towards her mobile suit, I reached out and grabbed her hand. "Look. I know asking you to stay is out of the picture, but..." I took a deep breath, then continued, "Please. Promise me you'll come back some day."

Neither one of us made a single sound. All I remember in that seemingly everlasting moment of silence, was the sound of the waves, and the warmth of her hand in mine.

I waited for her reply, and when it came, all she said was,

"ばか" (Idiot)

She pulled her hand away from mine, and ran off to her mobile suit. I stood there and watched her climb in through the hatch. The suit activated, and dispersed some green particles, before blasting off into the sky.

Did I ever see her again, after that day? Well, let's just say she's the reason why I'm still keeping my job, and enjoying it.

* * * * *

Well, if you're wondering what this is all about, it's an event in Team Blue, to come up with "Figurative Stories" - to put it simply, figure photoshoots with stories. This FS was done around the "Beach" theme.

I took the photos on a beach in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. As you can see in some of the photos, our beach isn't very clean, and the sand isn't nice and fine, (except further up shore, where there are lots of sandflies ^^;) but instead, rather grainy.

I got a BAD sunburn from this photoshoot, because the sun was really blazing. ^^;

Anyway, I will be posting another FS, that next one being of the "Night" theme. That will be up tomorrow (hopefully).

Happy Deepavali!

2008-10-27T23:48:00.002+08:00

It's almost at the end of the day, but Happy Deepavali to all folks celebrating. ^^

Cosplayer Omiya

2008-10-26T23:36:00.001+08:00

I was highly impressed after seeing the lovely Sheryl Nome cosplay in yesterday's post, and so I thought I'd look for more pictures of the cosplayer.

This 20-year-old cosplayer goes by the name "Omiya", and her cosplaying is good! She even does well as a reverse trap. She lives in Shanghai, and is capable of speaking some English.

Sheryl Nome @ Macross Frontier

Allen Walker @ D.Gray-man

Lelouch @ Code Geass

Suzaku (left) done by another cosplayer

Mukuro Rokudo @ Katekyou Hitman Reborn!

Kyoya Hibari @ Katekyou Hitman Reborn!

Asuka (Gothic) @ Neon Genesis Evangelion

Ciel Phantomhive @ Kuroshitsuji

For me to post up all her cosplay photos would be unfair to her, so if you want to check out more of her cosplay pictures, you can visit her at either one of the following:

Omiyalotus @ deviantART
Д∵ＢlAＣK~ＬOtUＳ←

Some pictures on her site, Д∵ＢlAＣK~ＬOtUＳ←, cannot be found in her dA account, and vice versa. You shouldn't have any trouble navigating through her site even though it's mostly in Chinese. The important buttons are in English ^^; (Hint: Click on Photo)

Do check out her awesome Sheryl cosplay at her site.

Macross Frontier Original Soundtrack 3 - Nyan Tama♀

2008-10-25T23:58:00.001+08:00

Those who watched Macross Frontier, or follow the Macross series would know that it is all about the power of songs. Even after releasing two soundtracks (Nyan Furo and Nyan Tora), Macross Frontier will be getting a third soundtrack. This will be titled "Nyan Tama♀", and is scheduled to be for sale on December 3.

Source: Kazenomise

Currently, I am wondering if we will still get any songs with vocals, or if this will truly be a soundtrack (where it is made mostly out of instrumentals). As far as I know, OST 1 and 2 have already covered all the tracks in the anime, so perhaps we can expect something new (or perhaps remixes) from OST3? It would be fantastic if we could hear more of May'n and Megumi.

Anyway, enjoy some Ranka and Sheryl.

Image source

KLPF 2008 - FujiFilm Model Shoot Out

2008-10-21T20:01:00.003+08:00

Last Saturday and Sunday (October 18, 19), the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) was held in Times Square, KL.

Before this event, I had put up a poll, asking if I should go or not. You guys said I should go for the girls, and so I did.
First up, a warning- I am no photographer, and I do not know much about photography or cameras. What you'll see in the following is a mix of blur pictures, and some ~~flukes~~ nice shots. Also, because I went there for the girls, you will only see a minimal coverage of the festival itself.

A corner shot of the main booths for the festival

Well, the festival site was... pretty okay. Not as big as I had thought it would be.

When I arrived, there was a presentation going on. Since there were no girls, I did not bother listening. (LOL)

Let's take a look at some of the booths..

This was just a test shot for lighting, honest! ^^;

I want one of that..

Some camera parts at the Olympus booth

Fujifilm- the one that brought us the model shoot out. Thank you Fujifilm!

A couple of gorillapods.. I could use one of these

There were a lot more booths, but because I wanted to save my camera battery and memory for the model photo shoot later, I stopped taking pictures of the booths.

At 3:45 PM, the model photo shoot began, just ~~according to keikaku~~ as scheduled. I was a little late to reach the stage, so I was pretty far back at first. As the shoot progressed, some people left, and so I got better positions.

All the photographers waiting for the ladies. The stage area was packed!

There were quite a number of people taking photos from on top as well, though I think their objective was to get pictures of the crowd.

Some smart people were standing on chairs (that were present on-site)

After a little waiting, the first model came out. For the sake of reference, I shall label models as Model #1, Model #2, etc.

There were a total of six models, and each model had two outfits, meaning twelve outfits in total.

Model #1

Model #1 and #2

Model #2

Model #3

Model #4 (My pick!)

~~Model #5, #6, #7~~

Model #5

Model #6

Model #1

Model #1 and #6

Model #1

Model #1 and #2

Model #2

Model #2 and #3

Model #3

Model #3 and #4

Model #4 (I think she looked much better in her first outfit..)

Model #5

Model #4 and #5

Model #5

Model #6

Group photos

And that concludes the model photo shoot. As soon as the emcee anounced the end of the shoot, the stage area cleared really quickly.

Suddenly, it feels so empty

While I was taking pictures of the crowd, I realized that the photographers were gathering at one side, and taking pictures of something. I rushed there as fast as I could, and it turns out the models posing off-stage for a bit.

But they only stayed for a while, and I was in a bad position, so I got no good shots. :(

BTW- In case you were wondering, this is their changing room.

Maybe I should have rushed in? LOL

Time for the all important question-

Which model was the prettiest?

Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) - Preview

2008-10-18T11:23:00.000+08:00

A preview image for you!

After receiving 12 votes asking me to go to the KLPF for the girls, I decided that I would, and it was a good thing I did.

I have yet to sort out the pictures from the event, but my coverage should be up by tomorrow. I will not be attending day 2 of this event, as I have some other matters to attend to tomorrow.

Anyway, stay tuned for coverage (and pretty girls!).

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Gurren Gakuenhen

2008-10-17T23:51:00.004+08:00

Any fans of TTGL here? If so, this manga might interest you...

TTGL: Gurren Gakuenhen is a manga that features TTGL characters in a school setting.

It just started recently, so there is currently only one chapter. As far as the story goes, it's just average. There's nothing great to say about this manga, besides, "You get to see Yoko in sailor fuku, and Simon GATTAI with Nia" XD

You can read this manga here. You can continue reading for my review (Spoilers!)

The manga starts off with Simon praying to his mother for an extremely normal life.

But as he's praying, Kamina breaks in through the window, and tries to get Simon to be "moe" (note: moe can mean "burn up", or the otaku's expression of cute)

Then, as suddenly as he came, Kamina grabs Simon, and jumps out of his apartment.. breaking another window in the process.

They arrive at Dai Gurren Gakuen, where they meet Yoko, childhood friend of Simon.

Yoko and Kamina began to argue over Simon, when Kittan shows up, and challenges Kamina.

Kamina agrees to this challenge, and drags Simon into the fight.

But before anyone can deal any hurt, they are stopped by Rossiu.

Rossiu points out that anyone unjustifiably late for class will be punished to washing ALL the toilets in Dai Gurren Gakuen. Kamina, Yoko, Kittan and his gang quickly flee the scene, leaving Simon behind, and thus, sentencing him to wash all the toilets.

On his way home, Simon ~~runs into~~ is run into by Nia.

Nia and Simon chat for a bit, until they are interrupted by Viral.

A wild Viral appears!

Viral gives Simon two options, give Nia back, or fight him. Nia volunteers Simon to fight. LOL

Simon doesn't believe he can win, but Nia says through gattai (unite) with her, he can win.

In spite of Simon's objections, they do gattai, and beat Viral.

The next day, Nia transfers into Dai Gurren Gakuen, from Teppelin Gakuen, and says she has a husband-wife-like "Gurren lagann gattai" relationship with Simon. (WTH is that?! lol)

And that ends chapter 1.

It's nice to see them all in school uniforms, but, like I said, nothing too great about this manga. Regardless, I will wait for the next issue.

According to the scanlation team, the artist, Kikkawa Kabao, is known for his ecchi... You know what that means, LOL.

Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) - Upcoming Event!

2008-10-16T08:06:00.002+08:00

This 18-19 October, the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival will be held in Berjaya Times Square.

Source: -=Mystical Era=-

Should I go for this? I know very little about cameras, so it might be a waste of time for me to go... but it seems they will have girls! (LOL)

Should I attend the KLPF?

Otaku Stores in Malaysia 7 - Toyz N Hobbies

2008-10-13T23:30:00.000+08:00

Toyz N Hobbies- another shop on the lowest floor in Cineleisure, Damansara.

The shop focuses highly on Gundam and mechas. When I say focus on Gundam, I don't mean just Gunplas, but also stuff like Gundam War (a Gundam TCG), and Gundam trading figures.

The prices of Gunpla there range from around RM120~160, which is pretty expensive. There was also a Perfect Grade Gundam Wing Zero Custom going for RM 539. However, if it's Gunpla you're looking for, I highly recommend Time Machine in Times Square KL. They have much cheaper Gunpla there.

As for Gundam War... when I saw it at this store, it was my first time ever seeing a Gundam TCG (trading card game). ^^; I have not noticed any other shops selling this, so if you want to pick up Gundam War, this is the place to go.

Aside from Gunpla, this store also sells other otaku goods, such as bishoujo figures, and Gashapon (as you may have noticed from the first picture). No pirated DVDs and the like here.

But these "other otaku goods" are much lower in quantity as compared to the mecha goods.

As you can see, bishoujo figures on the top shelf, and mecha goods right below it.

That's one half of the store. The other half is suddenly arts and craft (like, ribbons and stuff). ^^;

Overall, I'd say it's an okay store, but there are much better places to go for both Gunpla and figures. If anything at all, come here to find Gundam War, or Gundam trading figures.

Project: Durian

2008-10-11T11:51:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the long absence ^^;

Here's the doujin, "Project: Durian" from the ACGC 2008 Finale.

Honestly, I found this doujin to be.. bad.

Intro page. ~~At least the editor's note is funny~~

This doujin contains 4 unrelated stories, with durians being the common theme.

IMHO, the quality of the stories went from: relatively funny > boring > bad > I regret this purchase.

Before I talk more about the doujin, let's take a brief look at the stories...

"A Durian Flavoured Drink" starts off introducing Sharry. No matter what he does, he is unable to ~~find a life partner~~ attract girls.

One day, after talking to "God", he is given a durian flavoured drink.

He buys more of this drink (which turns out to be available in convenience stores), and by drinking it, he manages to attract more women. However, he did not read the warning label on the can, which says not to drink it "after 10 PM sharp".

So one day, he goes to meet a girl, but he finds out that ~~she~~ he it's really a guy!

He later realizes that the durian drink has been making him hallucinate, and all the while he was dating ah quas (ah qua= slang for gay). And that's how "A Durian Flavoured Drink" ends.

Next is "Impossi-durian", the longest story in the doujin.

The story begins with the Black Suits gang being attacked and robbed by Mr. Mercenary.

Mr. Mercenary did his job for the Mamak gang, and took the box, which was supposed to be full of gold. But when the boss of the Mamak gang opened the box, all that was inside was a durian. Meanwhile, Clyde of the Black Suits gang explains that the gold is actually hidden inside an empty durian shell, and that Mr. Mercenary has taken a decoy.

Unfortunately for the Black Suits gang, Mr. Mercenary did get the right one. When he ~~RAGE'd~~ got angry and threw the durian...

It split open and gold spilled out. The Black Suit gang finally realizes that Mr. Mercenary took the right box, and starts to hunt down Mr. Mercenary.

Now being chased by both the Mamak gang and the black suits gang, Mr. Mercenary gets onto Abu Bakar's lorry, and asks him to drive, saying he's an undercover cop.

The Mamak and Black Suits gangs continue to chase after him, when Abu Bakar, a former "raja mat motor" (King of Bikers), decides to use his skills to get rid of them.

So with the Mamak and Black Suits gangs off their tail, Abu Bakar takes Mr. Mercenary to a safe place: the police station (LOL).

Mr. Mercenary is caught, and that's the end of "Impossi-Durian".

Next up, "Something Begins" (Title is parody of Batman Begins).

Kiddy, whose parents get killed one day, decides to train himself to fight evil. After training for years, he wants to choose his secret identity, when he sees a bat.

It appears that he was about to choose a bat to represent his secret identity, but then a durian falls and kills the bat.

Later, the pirate king of movies is visited by Kiddy, and we see that he chose for his secret identity to be represented by a durian.

His name: Durianman.

Forgot to rotate this image, and can't be bothered to :P

He fights by using headbutts, because of his spiky helm. But that's all we get to see him use. There isn't even a durian mobile.

In the next few pages, we see the pirate king of movies all tied up, with a durian left behind in the scene, and that ends "Something Begins"

The next story, "Keeper of the Grave", is so bad, I don't want to talk about the story. I shall let the ugly (but detailed) art, and lameness of it all talk for itself.

And I refuse to show any more than that.

This doujin was done by TeamWorks, and I purchased it for RM6. When I saw the cover, and browsed through and saw Durianman, I thought it was worth a shot. But by the time I reached the last page, I wanted a refund. I could have spent that RM6 in better ways, like buying more of Kid chan's art!

I will now be even more weary of Malaysian doujins.

New Functions Testing

2008-10-07T21:13:00.008+08:00

So, I've attempted to make some upgrades to the blog. I hope this works.

If I made the right changes, you should now be reading this bit in a separate page.

Also, the comment form should now be embedded within this page. This, of course, means that you won't have to go to another page to comment anymore (Yay).

I know these functions came out long ago. Sorry I'm so outdated. ^^;

Anyway, a big thanks to Hackosphere for the selective expandable posts, and to Blogger Buster for the embedded comments. Also thanks to Gordon for introducing these functions long ago when he was still on blogger.

Hope you guys are happy with the changes! If there's any thing at all that you think I should change to improve my blog, please don't hesitate to let me know.

~~Update: I understand the comments are currently not working. I am working on it now, so please hang on a while while I go and fix it. ^^; Sorry for any inconveniences caused!~~

~~Update: The comment form is working now. Thanks for your patience.~~

Update: Okay, lol. Now I have two comment forms. I will look up on this tomorrow.

ACGC 2008 Finale - Freebies

2008-10-06T11:38:00.002+08:00

As with most conventions, people normally walk away with at least a freebie or two. This convention was no exception, and I managed to pull in quite a bit of loot. Too bad I didn't get the panda hammer though.

Anyway, let's take a closer look at the freebies I got.

This U Mobile notebook and pen is the most useful freebie from the convention. It's a little bulky though.

Got this free PC Gamer magazine. But it's a December 2006 issue...

Got four free games. (Five, plus one more I forgot and did not bother to take pictures of) The top left game is a 2002 PC game. I have not tried it yet. The rest are MMOs.

Top right and bottom left games are Chinese games. Bottom right (Dispatch of Army) is an online FPS

On the underside of Dispatch of Army, we see Last Chaos.

And this, would probably be the second best freebie.

A Juiced Eliminator strap. Looks pretty coolsome, doesn't it?

So, which was the best freebie? IMO, it was this drawing by local artist Kid chan.

Kid chan had a booth, and after all her stuff was sold out, she had a "free sketch" session. This was one of the free sketches.

Now, let's take a look at the two posters I got- I LOL'ed when I saw this first one.

NOT my kinda game

I wonder, is this game any good?

Aside from freebies, there were also goods to be bought at the convention. I saw some interesting stuff, and here's what I bought from the convention:

The three photos you see are Kid chan's artwork. I got all 3 for RM3. A pretty good deal, for such beautiful artwork.

I believe this piece is called "Tear". Was slightly upset to see that this picture still had a watermark on it. :(

Hatsune Miku! There was also a print of Len, but I did not get that. This Miku print was the reason I decided to buy any of Kid chan's prints at all. ^^;

Just a random girl I think? But the detail and beauty of this picture made me fall in love with it

This last item, was done by Team Works. I got it for RM6

It's a doujin consisting of four stories. I will talk about this one in detail in a seperate post. ^^;

Well, that's all the freebies I got from this convention. A friend of mine went on a "freebie quest" and managed to get much more stuff.

I couldn't be bothered though. :P

There were also a few prints I had considered buying, though I've forgotten the name of the pieces now. I only remember that it had something to do with Ifrit and the like.

ACGC 2008 Finale - Day 2

2008-10-04T23:58:00.002+08:00

My vote for best cosplayer goes to this girl

Last Sunday (28th September) was the second day of the ACGC 2008 Finale. Since I already (sort of) covered the booths on my previous post, I will cover mostly cosplay in this post.
The cosplay competition was held on this second day of the convention, afterall.

Once again, a warning- I have level ~~0.1~~ 0 photography skills, and since I (usually) refuse to use flash, the following contains both clear pictures and blur pictures.

Well, if you've read my coverage of day 1, you would know that all the computers at the convention were down for a long while. I got to the convention a little later this time (at around 1 PM), but it was good to see all the computers up and running already.

During both day 1 and 2 of the convention, random computers were running CoD4 at random times

After arriving home on the first day, I looked at the pictures I took, and was highly unsatisfied with the quality. So for day 2, I decided to try different settings.

What I deemed to be the convention's "rest area" during day 1 was turned into a "cosplayer's square" in day 2

Unfortunately, trying all those new settings drained my batteries. And since I am so noob, I only got tons of blur, unusable, overdeveloped, and underdeveloped pictures. As a result, I have much less pictures to share today as compared with day 1 coverage.

All the CoD4 tournament computers properly set up this time

I realized I forgot to mention this during day 1 coverage. There were a couple of (as some of my friends call it) CoD4 clans there. Like this one clan that's supposedly one of the best: ESP (Eat Sleep Play)

Mr. Pikachu and Kitteh of ESP

Grr of SWL

Oh, remember the Panda Hammer I mentioned in day 1 coverage, and the queue it formed for the booth? Well, the queue got wayyyy longer in day 2.

The line stretched all the way towards the outside of the convention site

I had thought of getting one myself, but after looking at the massive queue, I gave up immediately

Anyway, who cares about all that? :P Let's move on to the cosplayers. Once again, I will need help with identifying some cosplayers, so please feel free to point out any familiar characters.

Not sure if she meant to cosplay as Kurauchi Anna, or if she was just wearing the maid outfit from He is My Master

This next cosplayer, IMO was the most epic of them all. XD

Gao Hai of Code Geass R2

Ran Shuuei on the left, and Ri Kouyu on the left, both from Saiunkoku Monogatari. I can't identify the character in the center

Keroro Lady from day one!

Apart from just cosplayers, there were some pretty goth-loli girls there too. :D

Girl on the right is <3

I really hope someone can help identify this character! I need to watch the anime she comes from. lol

Not sure who exactly, but some Naruto girl?

Graham Aker from Gundam 00. It's the reverse trap Gino from day 1. I also found out later that she's one of the judges for the cosplay competition

Hollow Ichigo from Bleach

At the Mo Siang booth, Runup (the company that owns Mo Siang) had a dance performance.

There was a dance performance on the first day as well, but I missed that.

In my panic, I forgot to use flash, and I even failed to get a shot of their finishing pose. So fail, me.

I also realized that I should have taken a VIDEO of the dance. Epic fail.

Spitfire (far left) from Air Gear, and Cross Yuki (far right) from Vampire Knight.

The three ~~musketeers~~ uhh... what?

Alternate costume Zasalamel from Soul Calibur (Thanks to Panther for helping identify this character)

Amane Misa (left) and Ryuuzaki/L/Lawliet (right) from Death Note

Why is L wearing shoes?

As with almost every anime convention with cosplayers, there will be a ~~Narutard~~ Naruto cosplayer or two. There were quite a number here, but I did not take many pictures of them. The only good Naruto cosplayer, IMO, was a (reverse trap) Gaara cosplayer (and I failed to get a picture of her. Yay).

There was this one booth, Gamefe, which was entirely Chinese (meaning I did not understand what their booth was about). But they seemed to be promoting some games, and a singer/actor.

The lady in the dark dress is the said actor/singer

Suigintou from Rozen Maiden

At this point, my battery died already, so now it's pictures taken with my phone. *Cue horrible quality*

Am not too sure, but I think La Corda D'oro?

Spirit (left) and Maka Albarn (right) from Soul Eater

"MAKA CHOP!!"

For the cosplay competition, there were only 8 contestants. To name a few, Spitfire, Gaara, Hollow Ichigo, Spirit, and Gao Hai.

For the competition, each contestant had to do a performance on stage (with or without aides). Spitfire did a "skating tutorial", Hollow Ichigo did a fight scene, while Spirit re-enacted two scenes from Soul Eater. Gaara, along with a few other ~~Narutards~~ Naruto cosplayers did a dance routine.. first to ~~High School Musical~~ (struck out for great justice), then to the "Ask a Ninja" theme song. XD

IMO, Gao Hai had the most epic performance. He forced a guy to hold a banana while he sang a Chinese song, then he suddenly grabbed the banana away from him and the tralala song played. XD

But as for who won the competition, I do not know. There was an hour an a half before the results were announced, and since my camera batteries were dead, I decided to head back home early.

Overall, the second day of the convention was much better as compared to the first day.

Albums: Day 1 Day 2

Day 1 coverage here.

ACGC 2008 Finale - Day 1

2008-10-02T23:46:00.004+08:00

Last Saturday and Sunday, the ACGC 2008 Finale (Anime Comics Games Convetion) was held here in Malaysia, at the Mid Valley Exhibition Center.

But before I continue, I must warn you- I have photography skills at superb as a blind potato, so what you'll see in the following is a mixture of clear pictures, blur pictures and very blur pictures.

I arrived at Mid Valley at 9AM. The convention was scheduled to start at 10AM, so I loitered around until about 9:30 AM.

At 9:30, I snuck in through the staff entrance (LOL), so I got to take a look around before the crowd arrived.

The stage where the events were held

Note that the pictures from this point on are out of chronological order.

Some games I ~~expected~~ hoped to see were Red Alert 3, Emil Chronicle Online, SPORE, Dead Space, and Soul Calibur 4. But let's take a look at the booths there...

The U Mobile booth. As far as I know, they are a 3G service provider. And they support orenji.

Poser.. =_=ll

The Mo Siang booth. Some MMORPG in English and Chinese.

Top Speed - some MMO racing game by IAH

A couple of chibis playing the game. Looked like an average racing game to me.

Being advertised as one of the features of the ACGC, here's the Nintendo booth.

The WiiFit. I did not get a chance to try this.

Aside from the Wii and WiiFit, Nintendo also had a couple of DS Lites (5 of them) for trial.

They attached the DS Lites to platforms, and in such a way that you couldn't take out the stylus to use. So while everyone was using their fingers to try and play, I took out my phone's stylus, and started laughing at everyone.. in my heart.

This booth, OffGamers, was pretty lulz. In the morning, almost NO ONE was paying any attention to it. But after people started to find out that you could get "Panda Hammers" (the thing the girl is holding in the top picture) at this booth for free, a QUEUE started to form. No other booth had a queue.

The panda hammers. They're pretty cute, no? XD

Fantagetar. Another MMO I know nothing about, and want to know nothing about.

As I moved along the convention area, I was delighted to see an ECO booth.

*BUT* all the computers were down. YAY.
In fact, just about all the computers in the convention were down til lunchtime (or later).

At 2 PM, I get back to see this.

All screens blacked out except for one, which was playing an ECO trailer.

20 minutes after that, and all the computers are playing trailers. I pretty much gave up on this booth at that time.

Later still, at 5PM, I decided to just take another look at the booth, and guess what I see?

YES!! ECO!!

But then I noticed it was all in Chinese. orz

On the outside of the ECO booth, we had Angels Online (and some other game, which I've forgotten about already).

Because it was an Anime Comics Games Convention, I had expected this (following) booth to be there.

ANIME TECH

I refuse to upload any more pictures of their booth. :(

Except maybe this poster.

Sasuke - a traine and teammate of Narut

There was this booth, Michael Soft, that constantly had people hanging around.

Their product was this system that would let your computer run without a hard disk. Not something that would normally attract many people, right?

What? Over 200? You mean it's not over 9000?

The real reason this booth could attract so many visitors, was probably because they had WORKING computers. And all the gamers wanted to leech off of that.

Towards the end of the convention site, there were the CoD4 computers.

Unfortunately for the CoD4 players, the tournament, which was supposed to start in the morning, started at 4 PM, and lasted until past 10 PM (Note that the convention was scheduled to end at 9 PM). Why?

Because their computers were rendered useless too

They ended up using only one row of computers, which really slowed down the speed of the tournament.

As one of the better booths around, there was d_code Toys & Hobby.

A figure, gunpla, etc. online store. They had some pretty cool stuff up for display.

Is Haruhi supposed to be sitting on Nagato's chair? O_O

There was also this coolsome car, which was mostly ignored throughout the convention.

At one booth, there was this SC4 banner, that made me think that I would get a chance to play the game. But noooooo. There wasn't even a single PS3 at the convention site.

For PS2 as well aye? I must get this game then

Right at the end, there was a whole row of tables that were rented to artists and the like to sell their goods.

But honestly.. Their goods aren't that great. ^^;
Not quite up to standard (unless you're talking about Malaysian standard).

X chains. When I saw this, I immediately thought of Squee ^^;

I bought this comic, Project: Durian. I will talk about it some other time.

Another doujin. The cover is.. honestly, quite a turn off.

The woman who was selling the above doujin! Keroro Lady!

Well, there were a couple other booths there, but that's all I'm willing to show. The rest were pretty minor.

Those who go to conventions regularly/have been to a convention would know that there is always at least a lady model or two, there to pass out flyers, provide assisstance, and the like.

This convention was no exception, and thankfully, there were PRETTY ladies. :D

The Wii girls were veeeewii pwiitty. *shoots self for lame pun*

As I was trying to get pictures of this cute girl, another girl at the same booth was glaring at me. I soon got too freaked out by her glare to try and take any more pictures.

This girl on the left was pretty much glaring at everyone too.

Race queens?!

She's so pretty! :D

I realized only later that I had stopped her twice for pictures. How embarrassing of me.

Even though the cosplay competition was not on this day, there were a couple of cosplayers around. I'll need help identifying them, so don't hesistate to point out a familiar character.

Kikyo(?) and Luffy

This Luffy cosplayer was a rather hilarious guy. Throughout the first day of the convention, he was taking other characters props and playing around with them.

I could be wrong, but... Mulan?

Reverse trap Gino Weiberg!

Moar reverse traps. Himura Kenshin on the right.

Yet another reverse trap. Some character from Prince of Tennis I think?

As identified earlier, Himura Kenshin.

Axel (who later "switched" costumes to become Spitfire)

Kurosaki Ichigo on the right.

Everytime Luffy tried to shoot, the arrow would drop

Ichigo's props

Wahaha

The mask Ichigo is holding belongs to Hirako Shinji. Did not see any Shinji cosplayers though.

Yaoi shot?!

Well, overall, I'd say that the ACGC 2008 Finale day 1 was pretty fail. Most of the computers, as I mentioned, were not set up properly until 12 PM+, the people there for the CoD4 tournament had to wait WAY overtime, and they had so little GOOD games to play there. I really wanted to give RA3 and SPORE a go, but this convention didn't have either. :\

Day 2, on the other hand, was much better. Stick around for a post on that.

Albums: Day 1 Day 2

Day 2 coverage here.

Mizunaga.blogspot News 6

2008-09-28T08:50:00.003+08:00

Hey guys.

Well, sorry for the recent lack of updates.. ^^; I didn't post on Friday, and yesterday, I was at the ACGC Finale for 12 hours. I was too tired to do much, so I thought I had better get some rest.

I will be going for the ACGC Finale again today, and might not be back until late at night. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I promise there will be frequent/daily posts (for at least a week) from tomorrow onwards, so stick around!

Hatsune Miku in Nokia Advertisement

2008-09-25T23:50:00.002+08:00

Was just watching Astro at a relative's place last Sunday, when I saw this Nokia advert.

So, what's so special about this advert?

Well, the concept of the advert is certainly interesting, but that's not I want to point out. When you were watching the advert, did you listen carefully to the first song? If you did, you might have recognized the voice...

Can you guess who it is?

Well, it's none other than Hatsune Miku! ^^

The advert is Chinese (though I first saw the English ver), but it's a Japanese song. The song is specially made for the advert, so, unfortunately, it might be hard (or impossible) to find an mp3 of it.

The phone being advertised is the Nokia 5310.

When I first saw the ad on TV, I was all, "Wait.. ZOMG IS THAT MIKU I HEAR?!" ^^;

BTW- if you liked the ad, there's also another one like it, but without any Miku-goodness in it. Check that other ad out here.

EDIT: Okay. I shall be honest about this- I have no solid proof that it's Miku, but a lot of people agree that it's her. But, whether you believe it's Miku or not, it's up to you to decide. ^^

Malaysian Food 9 - Ondeh Ondeh

2008-09-23T23:47:00.000+08:00

This here is Ondeh ondeh (also spelled as "Onde onde"), a Malaysian snack.

So, what is Ondeh ondeh?

Basically, it's a glutinous rice ball, with melted gula melaka in the center, and grated coconut on the outside. When you bite into its chewy outer layer, the sweet gula melaka oozes out, and brings a delightful sensation to your mouth.

A word of warning when eating- make sure you pop the whole thing into your mouth, otherwise the gula melaka might squirt out at someone/something. ^^;

Interested in making this snack? Well, there are lots of sources for recipes over the net, but here are a few.

Some people make ondeh ondeh using sweet potato instead. Here are some sweet potato ondeh ondeh recipes:

A bit of trivia: Do you know what causes the green color in ondeh ondeh? Ondeh ondeh is green because of the juice from the pandan leaves used in making it.

ACGC 2008 Finale - Upcoming Event!

2008-09-21T17:15:00.006+08:00

Remember the ACGC in March?

Well, this coming weekend (27th-28th September), the ACGC 2008 Finale will be held in Hall 3 Mid Valley Exhibition Centre (MVEC), Mid Valley. The event will last from 10 AM to 9 PM.

There will be a Nintendo Wii showcase, so if you've yet to see/try a Nintendo Wii, come on over and check out the Wii. They will also be selling the Wii at a "very special promotion price" during this event, so you might wanna take advantage of that.

Well, it's a games convention, so you can expect lots of game publishers to be there showcasing their new games (awesomeness not guaranteed). There will also be game tournaments, though currently, it's only clear that there will be a Call of Duty 4 tournament.

There are prizes for the winners of the CoD4 tournament, and are as follows:

Champion - RM500 + products
1st Runner Up - RM250 + products
2nd Runner Up - RM100 + products
Consolation - RM50 x 3

The CoD4 tournament is separated into two days, so there will be prizes for each day. If you intend to join the CoD4 tournament, you will need to take a look at these rules & regulations first.

I wonder what products they're giving away.. ^^;

The next feature of the ACGC Finale is the cosplay performance and competition. The cosplay in March's ACGC was.. pretty okay, but I hope to see some better cosplays this time.

They will also be giving prizes for the winners of the cosplay competition, and are as follows:

Best Cosplayer - Nintendo Wii
Best Craftsmanship - Nintendo DS Lite
Crowd Favorite - RM200 Cash
Consolation Prize - RM100 x 3

Cosplayer's rules & regulations are not out yet. Anyway, good luck to all cosplayers! ^^

Maybe I should try cosplaying as Mizunaga... LOL.

Lastly, there will be doujinshi booths, so make sure you bring some cash in case you see something interesting.

So, who's going? ^^ I'm definitely going to be there for both days.

BTW- Thanks to Iruka for notifying me of this event. ^^;

Hamada Shouko

2008-09-20T18:52:00.005+08:00

Meet Hamada Shouko, a Japanese gravure idol, race queen, and actress.

Click here to read more about Hamada Shouko

Batch Image Resizer

2008-09-18T23:52:00.002+08:00

Picture Resizer! This program is a simple tool to help you batch resize *JPG* images. You just need to download the .exe, drag JPG images/folders with JPG images onto its icon, and it'll start resizing the files for you. The program saves a copy of the file, instead of overwriting it.

To set the size, simply rename the program. (Example: PhotoResize500.exe will resize your image to 500 pixels, and maintain the original aspect ratio) If you want to manually set the height and width, rename the .exe as PhotoResizeWxH. (Example: PhotoResize1024x768.exe)

You can download this program at their site here.

I used to resize pictures manually, which made it quite a bother. Now with this program, things are much easier. ^^;

You have any other good batch resizing programs?

Hatsune Miku Flight Simulator

2008-09-17T23:43:00.002+08:00

Found this cute game on deviantArt.

It's a Hatsune Miku Flight Simulator!

Well, it's really just a simple side-scrolling flight simulator.. It would be awesome if it were in 3D. XD

You can play it over here. The controls and stuff are all told in-game.

Logenhaus

2008-09-16T21:54:00.000+08:00

Logenhaus is a restaurant in Taipan, Subang Jaya.

As its name implies, it's a restaurant that serves German food.

The restaurant is nicely decorated, and gives off a very western feel. But when I went there (with a couple of friends), they kept playing the same song (Colors of the wind) in the background. ^^; It got pretty annoying.

This was written on the front cover of the menu. Anyone care to translate? ^^;

Truthfully, I have no idea what a typical meal in Germany is like. But they gave us some delicious garlic bread to start out with.

They served a basketful, but we quickly chomped it down

They had several soups to choose from, but I was boring and went for some chicken and mushroom cream soup. It was pretty average.

A friend had onion soup, which was served with mozzarella cheese on top. I didn't get a taste of that, but it looked and smelled good.

The main attraction (according to my friend), is their roast chicken.

The wedges are there by special request

They only begin roasting when you order the chicken, so you can expect a fresh meal. The downside is, you'll have to wait a while for it to be done. To counter this downside, you can call them and order your chicken before you arrive at the place, so they can start roasting it early. (Phone number below)

I had a filet mignon wrapped with beef bacon.

It was succulent, delicious for the first half, but the magic of it quickly died out. It lost its juiciness, and when I tried to compensate for that by putting more of the black-pepper sauce, the sauce overpowered the taste of the steak.

Western meals normally come with some serving of potato, and this was no exception. But instead of baking the potatoes (which is a common practice in western restaurants here), they serve it differently.

I am unsure of what their potato dish (top right in the mignon picture) is called, so I shall just roughly describe it. It has small chunks of potato, and what I believe to be smaller, deep-friend bits. It was extremely salty (probably because of the oil), and I could not bring myself to like it. :\ It would've been a better choice to request for wedges to replace this dish.

Last on the meal was some tiramisu-flavored Mövenpick ice cream. While I did expect it to be a small scoop, I didn't think it would be the size of only 3 teaspoonfuls.

My set meal (soup, filet mignon, and ice cream) cost about RM 46 IIRC. That's the usual price for western restaurants. The chicken set was RM 24, I believe.

Overall, I'd say this meal was a pretty fair deal. But I do know some other western restaurants that serves equally good food, at a cheaper price.

Location: Taipan Triangle, Subang Jaya, Selangor
Address / Direction: 50, Jalan USJ 10/1B
USJ Taipan Triangle
47620 UEP Subang Jaya
Contact: 03 5635 0733

Source: Malaysia Most Wanted

Moon Festival

2008-09-14T22:12:00.004+08:00

Tonight is the Moon Festival/Mooncake Festival/Lantern Festival (Why so many names?!).

Locally, this festival is often celebrated by eating mooncakes, and playing with lanterns (though I see much less of the latter nowadays).

There are a few stories behind this festival (which you can read about here), but here's the one I think of most:

According to a widespread folk tale (not necessarily supported by historical records), the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368) in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion. Noting that the Mongols did not eat mooncakes, Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) of Zhejiang Province, advisor to the Chinese rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, came up with the idea of timing the rebellion to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival. He sought permission to distribute thousands of moon cakes to the Chinese residents in the city to bless the longevity of the Mongol emperor. Inside each cake, however, was inserted a piece of paper with the message: "Kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th Moon" (八月十五殺韃子). On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), under Zhu.

Source: Wikipedia

Do you celebrate the Moon Festival where you live?

Personally, I don't quite fancy mooncakes (with egg yolk). :\

Mizunaga.blogspot News 5

2008-09-14T21:24:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the long absence!

Let me explain my situation over the past few days for a bit. From Wednesday through Friday (10~12), I was outstation. Because I occupied with some other things, I could only push through one scheduled post (Cyber Doll), and even that wasn't done too well. ^^;

When I got back on Friday, Telekom cut my phoneline later at night. It's the same problem that occured the last time. Telekom double-charged at first, but even after the bill was corrected and paid off, they didn't update their records, and so cut off the phoneline. :\

As of now, my phoneline is still cut off. I am using a relative's computer to make this post.

Will probably be going to fix this problem tomorrow, but just in case I run into anymore problems, I have set a couple of scheduled posts to be up over the next few days.

Anyway, thanks for your continual support and patience with me (and Telekom) on this matter. Sorry again for being away for so long! I will make a Twitter update when I am back.

Cyber Doll

2008-09-10T18:56:00.000+08:00

This manhwa is Cyber Doll.

The artist of this manga is Park Sung Woo while the story is done by Orebalgum. BTW- This is the Malay translation.

Click here to continue reading 'Cyber Doll' (Warning! Spoilers ahead!)

Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA-

2008-09-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

I must be the last otaku to post about this..

「Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA-」 is a rhythm game that's currently in development. This game, created by SEGA, is to be released on the PSP in 2009.

Trailer below.

Gameplay example below.

An interesting feature of this game is the room customization. As you play, you can get points and customize Miku's room. The game will (of course,) feature music made using Vocaloid 2.

Source: Anime-Baka
Official Site: http://miku.sega.jp/ (Japanese)

So, how many of you are looking forward to this? ^^ I don't have a PSP, but I will play this game *somehow*. XD

Fairy Tail

2008-09-07T23:39:00.001+08:00

After reading about Fairy Tail from Malzias' blog, I couldn't help but go and pick up this manga. Since I started, I have been quite unwilling to stop reading ^^;

Click here to continue reading about 'Fairy Tail' (Warning! Spoilers ahead!)

Team Blue Recruitment

2008-09-04T23:54:00.005+08:00

So, the terrorist otaku group, Team Blue, is recruiting new members for its ~~harem~~ ~~conquest for world domination so we can enforce the wearing of mini-skirts at all times~~ ~~wait, what are we recruiting for~~ expansion.

Click here to find out more

Haruhi Figure with Ponytail

2008-09-02T23:33:00.005+08:00

Was at a store called Comic Paradise, when I spotted these figures...

It's ~~a little~~ very blur, but can you see it?

It's a figure of Haruhi with a ponytail ^^; And as you can see in the first picture, she is leaning badly.

But despite the leaning and the overall poor quality of the figure, I thought it was a pretty cool modification. It's nice to see Haruhi with her hair tied up.

Which brings me to my question, how come we don't see figures of Haruhi with a ponytail? Also, do you prefer seeing Haruhi with or without a ponytail?

(I know this post sucks, so to make up for it, here are some pictures of Haruhi with her ponytail)

Bonus! Long hair, AND ponytail :P

Happy Birthday Miku!!

2008-09-01T02:18:00.006+08:00

Aside from being just a special day for Malaysia, today is also a special day for us otaku to remember.

So, what day is it?

Today is the birthday of our favorite songstress, Hatsune Miku! (Who is Hatsune Miku?)

It's been a year since Vocaloid2 was released, and in that time, we've had doujins, manga, fanart, and even figures of her released. And of course, we've also had some fantastic songs. Let me share some of her songs, which IMO, are her best.

「Last Night, Good Night」

「BLACK ★ ROCK SHOOTER」

「8月の花嫁　(August Bride)」

There are lots more fantastic songs, but I will not talk about them here.

Miku has also made appearances in games and even an anime (Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei). She's come a long way, and I believe she'll grow to be even more popular as time passes.

So, as an otaku and Miku fan, I wish Hatsune Miku a very Happy Birthday!

But besides those two, someone else's birthday is on August 31st too.

I'd like to wish CI a Happy Birthday! Haven't known you for long, but it's been great so far. :D

Go over to his blog and spam him. :P