A Maker of Mischief

:3

2008-07-21T11:30:02Z

Today in the mail I got doll eyes and a doll shirt I thought were lost forever, since I bought them like... back in May. It gave me an excuse to pull Nikki down off the shelf and change her pink eyes to green ones again (14mm, not used to it, looks a bit odd but... good, in a way) and to put the stripy pink long-sleeved top on her. It's a little ill-fitting but it was cheap, and with her frilly DollHeart skirt and her eyes turned slightly to the side, her head tilted as she looks at me... I'm reminded of how bloody darling she is. She was my first, she is my only girl and so often she sits on the shelf for long periods at a time... I occasionally need a nudge to remind me that she's beautiful and I adore her. I could so easily spend all my money on spoiling her rotten, and have done so on occasion >_>

I sat here on the couch, huddled up in blankets with her perched on my knees while I brushed her hair and pinned it back and plucked stray strands out of the way, feeling awfully girly while doing it, and I'm so glad she's mine.

Also...

I found it looking for an old photo of Nikki. It's grainy and dark, but for some reason I really like it. It was Esper and Kuja, at Melbourne University, remember? There's just something about it that makes me smile.

~ Ryo

_

2008-07-17T11:24:06Z

I. Love. This site.
I found it by accident while searching for steampunk taxidermy to show friends, and I keep finding myself hovering over to it again.

Some of my favourites:
Winged kitten
Two-headed rat
Black Griffin
Capricorn

I keep staring at the two headed rat and going ';___; waaaant...' but there's no way I can justify the $500 price tag.

Time waster~

2008-07-16T08:36:06Z

The upcoming anime poster, ganked from annie_chanwho ganked it from zalem.

Interested in a few of these, including the Hells Angels OVA, Hakushaku to Yousei, Ga-Rei Zero, Casshern Sins and Bihada Ichizoku. Downloading random anime has worked for me in the past, but... well. Here's hoping they're worth the download 8D

I've also has the random urge to download and watch all of Desperate Housewives, since I stopped watching it regularly halfway through the second season @__@

I'm in an internet cafe on Bourke St right now, I only needed to get onto Facebook to grab Tash's new mobile number, but it was half an hour minimum so I may as well use up what I paid for ($2 lol). This place is awesome, all rigged up with camo netting and with a wall of mirrors on one end to make it look twice as big as it actually is XD if only it had online games that I actually play (um... only Requiem, really), I might come back more often.

Now I'm going to Gingerboy because it's Gary's last day on Friday and I can't make it then because I'm going to see The Dark Knight with mad_hatter__and co. Mmmmmm.... yummy foooood....

curses

2008-07-11T08:01:21Z

SIGH.

Bah. And because I'm over the 45 day deadline by five days (I didn't know it was a 45 day deadline...) I can't file a dispute and I've lost US$110. Kick. Ass.

~ Ryo

P.S. I've left my phone at work, so don't bother trying to contact me on it this weekend 8D

This made me lol.

2008-07-09T09:43:41Z

Ganked from Laevi.

40 THINGS YOU’D LOVE TO SAY OUT LOUD AT WORK:

1. I can see your point, but I still think you’re full of shit.
2. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ll bet it’s hard to pronounce.
3. How about never? Is never good for you?
4. I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
5. I’m really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way.
6. I’ll try being nicer if you’ll try being smarter.
7. I’m out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
8. I don’t work here. I’m a consultant.
9. It sounds like English, but I can’t understand a damn word you’re saying.
10. Ahhhh .. I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again.
11. I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid.
12. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
13. I have plenty of talent and vision; I just don’t give a damn.
14. I’m already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
15. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
16. Thank you. We’re all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.
17. The fact that no one understands you doesn’t mean you’re an artist.
18. Any connections between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
19. What am I? Flypaper for freaks?!
20. I’m not being rude. You’re just insignificant.
21. It’s a thankless job, but I’ve got a lot of Karma to burn off
22. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
23. And your crybaby whiny-assed opinion would be?
24. Do I look like a people person?
25. This isn’t an office. It’s Hell with fluorescent lighting.
26. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
27. Sarcasm is just one service we offer.
28. If I throw a stick, will you leave?
29. Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.
30. Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
31. I’m trying to imagine you with a personality.
32. A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.
33. Can I trade this job for what’s behind door #1?
34. Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
35. Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
36. Chaos, panic and disorder…my work here is done.
37. How do I set a laser printer to stun?
38. I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted a salary.
39. Who lit the fuse on your tampon?
40. Oh, I get it…like humor…but different.

Weekend post~

2008-07-07T11:04:50Z

Friday:
After work, Jen, Tash and I got together at home to plot our outing to the abandoned asylum in Greensborough. I don't know the name of the place, but from the sign Jen managed to 'liberate', I believe it was called Lednural. I brought by camera to take photos, but it crapped out a few photos in.

As you can tell, the place was entirely ransacked, and it was pitch-black; we were armed with torches, and my camera flash is amazing which is prolly why it drained the battery so quickly, or whatever the hell happened to it. The place is about three buildings as far as I could tell, and we went up and down two of them; the biggest was the best, and we found all sorts of little cell rooms, medical rooms, a brilliant bathroom that was completely bare except for a bathtub right in the centre of it. It had a wonderfully spooky air about it, the photos are too bright to convey that creepiness... but because we had a bunch of other people with us which ruined the atmosphere a little, and my camera died so soon, we'll be going back there. Prolly on a less cold night. Anyone wanna come?

Saturday:
We only got back home from the asylum at about 2am but I still woke up at 8am and got up to browse the net and stuff. After being by myself for about two hours, I headed into the kitchen and cooked breakfast for the household, yelling for everyone to wake up and barging into their rooms to plonk toast and eggs in front of them when they didn't get up right away. It was appreciated XD

At 2ish, Tash and I headed into the city for karaoke! We went to KBox on Latrobe Street, and I was there for almost four hours @__@ it's the first time I've ever done karaoke, and I had a great time. I think my greatest achievement was singing Hyde's Countdown quite well... I used the hiragana on the screen a fair bit :3 helps that half the song is in Engrish.

After karaoke, I dropped by at Gingerboy to give Gary more Battle Royale manga, then I went down to Frankston to see my family, and I stayed the night there.

Sunday:
Saw Hancock with my mother and brother, Ramon. Not as good as I wanted it to be. I'd say to wait until it's out on DVD... the plot went in an odd direction, and it wasn't necessarily a good one. It had its moments, but yeh... not that great. I can't wait until Dark Knight though... and aside from Hancock, not much happened on Sunday ^^; I headed back home and pottered around with my usual lethargy.

I didn't like going to work again today ;__;

Blahblahblahstorywriting

2008-07-07T10:43:58Z

Mordecai Salas and Zetharsis Carcelin locked gazes in the hour just before dawn.

Mordecai, a drow warrior, had come above ground as part of a hunting party. Hunting parties to the surface were few and far between, and it had been an honour for the swordsman to be a part of it, as he was not a member of a particularly high-standing house. They had come up to hunt surface elves, and the party had split up after a while in twos and threes to cover more ground, but confident Mordecai had gone on his own.

It was almost time for the drow to return to the entrance, and he had been headed back to the opening of the cavern that would lead down to the Underdark when he had come across Zetharsis, the Kruxena blade-wielder.

At first, Mordecai had thought the other was also a drow; obsidian skin, pointed ears and a shock of white hair, but it only took him seconds to notice the differences; the other’s skin had an odd wet-look shine to it, more like scales rather than skin, and the other warrior’s eyes were jet black rather than the usual white, with ice-blue iris’ rather than the crimson that was the most common in the drow race. A glance down showed him that both the warrior’s legs and one of his arms were either very well armoured, or actually made of glittering steel, and the feet were cloven, as if those of one of the other surface creatures, fauns.

Whatever it was, this was not a drow.

Zetharsis appraises the drow in much the same way, every muscle tensed as he regarded the man across the clearing. Jet-black skin, red eyes, long white hair... So similar, and yet so different. Almost like a mix of the Kruxena and Turan—the race also known as humans. Zeth’s hands flexed at his sides, ready to seize the handles of the twin claw-hook weapons at his belt.

Mordecai’s sword was sheathed at his side, and his arm bore a round shield, which he gripped tighter as he kept his gaze locked with Zetharsis. There were two things to do... fight, or run. Drow very rarely ran.

‘What are you?’ Zeth asked in a suspicious growl, catching Mordecai off guard. The drow didn’t understand the Kruxena’s language; although it had the same silken quality as the drow language, the vocabulary was completely different. It was enough to stop the drow from drawing his weapon though, and instead he regarded Zeth cautiously with narrowed eyes. When he didn’t answer Zeth’s question, the Kruxena repeated it, and still got no response.

‘I don’t understand you.’ Mordecai replied in his own tongue, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his sword. Zeth arched an eyebrow at the elegant speech of the drow, he’d never heard it before, but it sounded complicated. Realising he wasn’t getting anywhere, Mordecai repeated the same phrase in elven, and then in human.

Zetharsis’ eyes widened at the human speech. ‘Turan!’ he spat, also changing his language, though his Kruxena accent was thick. He knew that language well, and he hated it. ‘Filthy Turan creature!’ Certainly, this figure was unlike any Turan he’d ever come across, it looked almost like what a cross between Turan and Kruxena would look like. As if such a union would ever occur... it was no secret the two races loathed each other.

Mordecai had taken a step back in surprise at Zeth’s recognition of the language, and his hand gripped the sword hilt tighter at the aggression the man suddenly displayed. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he snapped. ‘I’m a drow. I’ve never seen your like before; if anything, you’re the filthy creature.’ He didn’t like speaking the human tongue, it was coarse and primitive, but if that was the only way to communicate, then he didn’t have much of an option. ‘What are you?’

‘Kruxena, class A4871, Zetharsis Carcelin.’ He fired it off like a military command, short and sharp, his suspicion not diminished, though there was a hint of pride at his class number; the Kruxena were a scientifically created race, and the batch Zeth had come from was one of the more elite. He had been given a lot of knowledge, but didn’t know what a drow was, only that it looked dangerous. He didn’t back off, and neither did Mordecai on the other side of the clearing.

‘And what part of that is your name, exactly?’ the drow drawled patronisingly.

Black and pale blue eyes narrowed further. ‘Zetharsis. Who are you?’

‘Mordecai Salas, drow swordsman, part of an elven hunting party.’ It was a subtle warning; if Zetharsis attacked him, there would be a group of drow nearby to help. Though really, Mordecai wasn’t sure just how near they were. He didn’t doubt he could win, he had faith in his skills, but... he didn’t know what this creature was capable of.

Zetharsis shifted his weight from one leg to the other, tense, ready to leap—then, abruptly, he couldn’t see.

Mordecai launched his attack as soon as he’d cast the globe of darkness around the Kruxena’s head; he’d noticed the tension in the other man, and if there was going to be a fight, he was intent on winning it. The sound of steel rang out as he drew his sword, and Zeth cursed as he unhooked his dual clawed weapons from his belt, ready to do his best even if he couldn’t see. Calling upon his magic to try and dispel the blackness that surrounded him his finely honed instincts helped him parry the sudden thrust of the drow’s blade with one of the claw-hooks. His magic tangled with Mordecai’s, and in the next instant he could see again as the darkness fizzled out.

Mordecai felt the impact jar through his arm as Zetharsis retaliated to the drow’s attack and slammed one of the claw-hooks against his shield, but the drow gritted his teeth and made the blow glance off by turning the shield, then stabbing at the Kruxena in return.

Zetharsis twisted out of the way of the blade faster than the drow had ever expected. A claw-hook came down, caught the sword’s blade in its intricate pattern, and with a twist of his wrist, Zetharsis disarmed him, the weapon clattering to the ground some distance away.

Drow did not panic, but Mordecai knew he had greatly underestimated his opponent. With a defiant cry, he thrust out a hand and called upon a powerful fire spell. He wasn’t a wizard, but he did have a few tricks up his sleeve... what he didn’t know, was that he wasn’t the only one. Even as fire spilled from his fingertips and gathered with a roar, it was disappearing... drawn to Zeth’s weapons—the claw-hooks were enchanted, and nullified the spell as if it was nothing.

The Kruxena was stony-faced, and did not look as though he was making much of an effort at all... which was probably the worst for Mordecai. He didn’t have much time to reflect on it though, as a sudden impact to his shoulder sent searing pain through him. Through the agony, he saw Zeth was only holding one of the claw-hooks now... the other was embedded deep into his shoulder, and it felt like the whole left side of his upper body was on fire, no doubt because of the spell the weapon had absorbed. He stumbled as he saw the Kruxena dive for him again, and brought up his shield as he began summoning another spell.

Zeth’s right arm, that which was made of the silver metal, seized the edge of the shield and wrenched at it with impossible strength. Mordecai felt a bone in his arm snap. Compared to the searing agony from his shoulder, he barely noticed.

Lolth help me, I’m not going to win this...

The Kruxena retrieved his weapon by wrenching it violently from Mordecai’s shoulder, doing more damage on the way out than on the way in. He went about it with a cold, businesslike calm, and raised the claw-hooks for a final strike as Mordecai’s shield hung uselessly at his side from his broken arm.

At that moment, dawn came.

The white-hot blaze that went through Mordecai’s head at the brightness of it, so drastically different to the cold blackness of the Underdark, completely distracted him from the pain in his body. He thought, wildly, that he had gone blind. He did not even think of the Kruxena bearing down on him. He cried out at the agony of it all; even closing his eyes brought no relief.

Zetharsis stopped with his blade inches from the drow’s heart, watching in startled bewilderment as Mordecai cried out from a blow he hadn’t dealt the fighter. He watched as Mordecai dropped his sword and covered his face with his hand, and he suddenly understood. Turning, he squinted into the sunrise, his dark eyes mostly unaffected; unlike Mordecai, he lived on the surface, sunlight was nothing new to him, even if the places he mostly inhabited were somewhat dreary and overcast. It startled him a little to see the dramatic effect it had on the drow.

Zetharsis was a cold killer, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to kill a fighter so similar to himself, who was now blinded and utterly helpless. There was no sport in that. There was no glory. He slammed the hilt of one of the clawed weapons he held against the drow’s temple, and Mordecai dropped to the ground like a stone, unconscious.

‘Sleep it off.’ He snorted as he turned away, hooking the clawed weapons back into his belt. ‘Come back when you’re worth fighting.’

~

I gave up halfway through writing this, I think you can tell.

Mememememe

2008-07-06T09:27:19Z

Doll meme I stole from Bec who in turn stole it from someone else.

1. Hello! Please introduce yourself.
I am Ryo of Victoria's western suburbs. I am a little loopy.

2. How many BJDs do you have at the moment?
Three, one SD and two MSD's, though I'm not sure Joshua gets enough love to count at the moment o__o;

3. Do you prefer girl or boy dolls?
There are different things I like about girl and boy dolls, honestly I like them both. If I had to choose, I'd say probably girl dolls; Nikki was my first BJD and I love making her dresses; the last thing this world needs is another cross-dressing male doll, no offense to all those who have one.

3. What’s your favourite size - tiny, MSD, SD?
I really like the tinies, but only other people's... my favourite size is MSD, and as I said earlier, I have two of them. They're big enough for nicely detailed clothing, but not too big to be travel size :D

4. What’s your favourite BJD company? And how about the least favourite one?
I guess I like ELuts and Dollmore best, Dollmore for the clothes, and Eluts for... well, stocking everything else. Not to mention that's where I bought Esper. If you're talking about actual dolls, though... well, I like dolls from all over the place :P

5. Do you consider yourself as a typical BJD hobbyist?
No. I don't think I do enough to warrant that description; I occasionally sew for my dolls but haven't in some time, and annie_chan does their face-ups. In my opinion, I'd have to do their face-ups, sew quite often and take a lot of artistic photos to call myself a 'typical BJD hobbyist'.

6. Do you visit BJD forums? Which one(s)?
No. They're full of wank and drama, like all trend forums.

7. Do you have a website for your doll hobby?
Only this LJ.

8. What do you enjoy the most in this hobby?
Sewing clothes for my dolls, though I only really do so for the MSD's, Esper has almost all his clothes bought for him (though I'm still endlessly proud of sewing this by hand).

9. Got a pet peeve in this hobby?
People who take really dodgy photos and post them oh-so proudly, ditto with the bad face-ups.

10. Are your doll characters based on something or are they original?
Original characters, though I'm still planning on getting a doll for Froud, who is a character from Lamento: Beyond the Void.

11. What kind of characters are your dolls anyway? Angels, elves, normal humans?
So far all three are normal humans. If I end up getting Froud though... um. I don't even know what he is. I call him a demon.

12. Do you take commissions on anything?
I would if I had the motivation to 8D

13. And last, name one doll you would like to steal for yourself! It can’t be your own.
Definitely annie_chan's Ireth. He's hawt.

~ Ryo

8D

2008-07-04T11:18:55Z

This made me happy after a shitty day at work.

Now we're off to take photos of the abandoned cottage and asylum near here. Later!

Blergh...

2008-07-03T09:53:37Z

Been drawin'.

I came home to an empty house tonight. Haven't come home to an empty house since Tash has been staying with us, looking for work... it's depressing. I wish I'd gone out. I have two episodes of Zettai Kareshi I haven't yet watched and I don't have my J-Drama buddy to watch them with me.

My computer speakers don't go loud enough for my music. I need to get external speakers.

I'm so bored.

Art dump.

2008-06-29T08:23:03Z

On my way to attempting a new comic, maybe?

Liea:

I took Liea's name from Lia of Le Chevalier d'Eon and Lieam of Mouse Guard, and she's my Turan girl, a magic wielder and healer. She's the first of my three Requiem characters that I drew, and as with most initial character design pics, I'm not too thrilled with the outcome, but have forgiven myself because it's the first time I've ever drawn her. Practice makes perfect, and if all goes well I'll be getting in a lot of practice.

Terramus:

Terramus is my Bartuk warrior, and he's causing me no end of frustration *shakes fist at him* because the Bartuk are huge, muscled creatures with light fur around their shoulders, wrists and calves. Not only am I having trouble making the fur look half decent, but I sure as hell am not used to drawing stout, muscled men. This is something I definitely want to change though, because I love muscled characters and want to do Terramus justice. So I'm going to have to study his screenshots and anatomy somewhat more @__@

Zetharsis:

I hate this pic of Zetharsis, my Kruxena warrior. It was the first ever pic I completed of him, and so I was trying all sorts of things, and the end result was very... meh. There needs to be a lot more marker shading, which I may still add in, since ever time I look at this picture I wince a little.

But then I did this one:

I am so unspeakably proud of this picture, you have no idea. The proportions suck and the scanner ate all the highlights in the shading but I still look at it and go; 'Wow. Why haven't I drawn in so long?'

All pics were sketched out in pencil, inked with a 005 and 0.5 fineliners, and shaded with a mix of ink shading and Touch markers (similar to Copic markers) in three different shades of grey. I still have to draw Terramus and Liea in full, but I'll get to that.

~ Ryo

8D

2008-06-28T11:36:07Z

What with the cross-dressing hero/heroine, the Marilyn Manson-esque philosopher, the Vayne Solidor-esque king, the (very) Abel Nightroad-esque alchemist (who's hilarious), and the Russian lance-wielder whom I don't have anyone to compare to, I didn't think the manga of Le Chevalier d'Eon could get any better.

'Nuff said.

~ Ryo *waiting anxiously for the next volume*

Loot.

2008-06-28T06:51:11Z

Went to Alternate Worlds comic sale. My loot, in no particular order:

Manga:
Wild Adapter vol. 5
Bride of Deimos vol. 2 *
Nothing But Loving You *
Angel Nest *
Le Chevalier d'Eon vol. 3 & 4
Tokyo Petshop of Horrors vol. 2
Speed Racer vol. 1 *
Vampire Hunter D vol. 1
Ragnarok vol. 6, 7, 8 & 9 *

American Graphic Novels:
The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Geppetto's Frankenstein *
Witchblade vol. 1 & 2
Dioramas: A Love Story *
Doctor Who magazine: Special Comic Issue

All the ones with * beside them cost me $5 each. FIVE DOLLARS. I'm a happy girl. I have a lot to read, although it's all in my Excel catalogue already. I really should put that up here one day... hell, I should start a library.

I'm really curious about the American graphic novels I've snagged, especially the Witchblade ones; all I've seen of Witchblade are the dreadfully skanky anime statues from the anime & manga based off this series, but the original series itself looks to be really freakin' awesome. They were also pretty cheap, so I picked them up. The original colour GNs, though, not the black & white tankobon versions.

I have a loooot of reading to do.

Crap.

2008-06-18T12:34:41Z

My laptop's left mouse button is fucked. By that I mean if I use it, it'll go onto, like, permanent double-click and will highlight/drag everything until I bash the crap out of it (as I do) to make it stop again.

~~This means I either double-tap the touchpad to do anything, or~~ scratch that, I just checked and my touchpad's not working anymore either, so I'm using a normal mouse. I am using a normal mouse since gaming with only the touchpad is simply not practical. I'm going to have to get Kieran or someone to have a look at it, because I can't remember the last time I used a mouse other than the touchpad, and though it's right there next to the laptop, my hand automatically gravitates back to the touchpad instead.

Requiem was dead tonight. Everyone was asleep or working or just... not online. Couldn't even get a four person party to go into the Prisoner Camp. Blah. When my mouse died I gave up and just mucked about on other things instead. I'm level 17. Yay. I should be drawing, I haven't done so in ages...

Yay, new icon. Need to make a better/less grainy version of it, though.

YAY

2008-06-17T13:26:31Z

Requiem's back online for the paid accounts!! *slobbers all over it* All the cheapo F2P players have to wait until Friday.

I need a Requiem icon.

o__-

2008-06-16T20:45:33Z

Annie, since I have not received a reply to EITHER of my SMS's (*shakes fist*), I'll post here as well; please let me know if you got Sweeny Todd safe and sound and if your brother is happy to play Requiem for me today. Server's not open as I type this, so I can't recreate Zetharsis for you, but you can refer back to this picture for which hair and face to use. Then call him Zetharsis. I texted you the account details. LET ME KNOW IF YOU GOT TEH SMS PLZ.

Zetharsis is a dual sword wielder, or a dual claw wielder, and relies more on brute strength than magic but tell your brother he can use whatever weapons he likes for levelling up, as long as he keeps claws and dual swords.

8D

2008-06-16T12:54:24Z

Lawl. Writing is fun 8D

2008-06-15T10:20:49Z

Mordecai Salas and Zetharsis Carcelin locked gazes in the hour just before dawn.

And again!

2008-06-13T03:46:28Z

Ok gaiz 8D Speed Racer 10am session at Hoyts Melbourne Central.

A little early for you weekend late-risers but the movie's worth it, and since it's a little over two hours long, I don't want the day to be cut in half by it; the next one is 12:50pm, you see.

Annie! Come along, and invite Pao and Joshua? We're catching the 8:56am train.

GO, SPEED, GO!!

2008-06-12T13:20:06Z

The (best) Speed Racer trailer for those who haven't yet seen it:

It's late so I'll keep it short.

Okay, so the ninjas weren't exactly a core part of the movie, but they were there. Made me O_o; a bit, but yeah.

Everyone I'd spoken too said it wasn't very good at all, which made me sad. I went into the cinema really wanting to like this movie. Really wanting to like it. And normally when I begin with that phrase, I end with 'but I didn't'. Not this time.

I had to warm up to it, but oh lord I had a great time with this film. I had a hard time seeing Roger Allam as anything but V for Vendetta's 'Voice of London', though, as his characters are quite similar. Emile Hirsch is perfect for Speed, and although I was trying to place where I'd seen him before, it was only after I visited IMDB that I realised I'd seen him in Lords of Dogtown. Of course, I fell madly in love with a character who was only in it for, oh, a minute? As far as I can tell from the one time I heard it in the film he was called Kenji Teppagama(?) and was played by the sexy Joon Park. My 'real' favourite was Speed himself, followed closely by Taejo Togokahn (mmm, sexay)... At the same time though, I did not like Christina Ricci in her role at all. She seemed very out of place.

Okay, enough with the actors.

Speed Racer is filmed in a really bizarre technicolour style, and the cartoony backgrounds mixed with real people didn't agree with me at first... it was a bit weird. I stopped noticing it after a little while though, it only took a little bit of getting used to, and soon I was really enjoying it. The races. Oh. My. GOD. The number of times I was sitting trembling in my seat, fists clenched to stop myself from leaping up and yelling 'Go Speed!!' at the top of my lungs... *shiver* I think the Casa Cristo race had to be my favourite, the start was mindblowing, although the Grand Prix was also fantastic. I really didn't care that the plot was thinly strung together (WTF, Racer X at the end? Unecessary!), the races eclipsed all. Hell, the races were all I really wanted to see, and they didn't disappoint.

Either did the cinematography. The Wachowski brothers did some very clever things and made the whole thing look quite impressive <3

Ugh... I really have to go to sleep, I'll write more tomorrow. For some great Speed Racer pics, go here.

Wheeee!

2008-06-12T01:56:06Z

Speed Racer at Melbourne Central Hoyts tonight at 6:40pm~

I'm going to be home late, housemates. If anyone's free to come with, text me or comment here (up until 5pm) so I know to meet you. I'm still gonna go even if I'm on my own, though :P I've been waiting for this movie, and tonight's opening night.

I don't care if all my American friends hated it. I'm staying positive.

Requiem babble.

2008-06-09T11:35:17Z

So I apparently like this game enough to spend money on it.

Unless you haven't been reading my journal, you'd know that I've been playing Requiem: Bloodymare in open beta for a little while now. But the dates have been set; on the 12th June, open beta will close, and a character wipe will occur. The servers will remain closed until 19th June, and will then reopen to a paying public; US$7.99p/m for a basic package, US$14.99p/m for a Premium package. And I just paid for a Premium package.

Packages	Costs	Experience Points	Item Drops	Death Penalty	Region Chat Function	Item Mall Benefit
Free	$0.00	Default	Default	4%	N/A	None
Basic	$7.99	+ 20%	+ 10%	3%	Available	+5% points
Premium	$14.99	+ 50%	+ 30%	1%	Available	+10% points

So... yeah. I like this game enough to spend money on it. I don't know why I could never get into things like Guild Wars, or WoW, or... well, any pay-to-play MMORPG, but somehow I was sucked into the dark world of Requiem, I grew attached to my Kruxena warrior, Zetharsis, and character wipe or no, I want him back. He's inspired me to write again. I'll put that up later.

Buying a pre-paid monthly package lets you into the servers 3 days early, so on 16th June, prolly 17th here in Aussieland. The three days leading up to the official opening will have bonus exp + item drops, but since it's a weekday I may need to get someone to play the majority of those three days for me to take full advantage of it. Jen? Wanna play a pretty-boy Kruxena while I can't? :P

Kruxena priiiide!!

Anime

2008-06-06T23:54:43Z

I think the last anime I watched was... Moyashimon? And that was only because somehow an episode had ended up on my laptop, and when I discovered the weird cuteness I was kinda hooked. But that only went for 11 episodes, and then I got onto live-action stuff. I haven't really watched any anime since then, and now I've been watching two.

Opinion tiemz.

Ganked from Wiki: Itsuki "Ikki" Minami is a student and a delinquent. Also known as the "Unbeatable Babyface". Ikki is the leader of the youth gang by the name of "East Side Gunz" (Hikatsuganzu). Upon his return home after being humiliated by a Storm Rider team called the Skull Saders, Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by his benefactors, the Noyamano sisters. The sisters belong to a group of Storm Riders who go by the team name of Sleeping Forest. In the anime, learning the sisters' secret angers him and he steals a pair of Air Trecks, abbreviated as "AT". (In the manga, the sisters give a pair of ATs to him and invite him to skate with them.) Ikki eventually settles his grudge with the Skull Saders, but in the process he receives more than the simple satisfaction of revenge. Determined to experience the sensation of "flight" for as long as he can, Ikki is quickly engaged in the mysterious, irresistible world of Air Treks.

Air Gear is getting better now, but it's almost over. I'm up to Trick 17, where Ikki and his boys are up against Behemoth, and I have to say my initial skepticism has died down a little. The series has made me laugh out loud several times, which is extreme bonus points in my book; any series that can make me laugh, or cry, or both, is special.

I guess what I don't like about the anime is it caters too much to the fanservice; there is fanservice in the books, but nowhere near the level they dish out in the anime... it annoys me, because for every minute wasted on fanservice, they could be showing more AT battles. Half of one episode is dedicated to a wrestling match between women, for example. But now that the main problem of fanservice, Shimuka, hasn't shown up for ages, I'm actually finding that I'm enjoying the series, for all its battles and intensity. Millie; I do like Agito. Not Akito, so much, but I reeeeally like Agito. I don't think I've ever heard a character say 'fuck' that many times, not even Hiruma.

I'm still listening non-stop to the Air Gear soundtrack, because it kicks ass, and now I recognize all the music as it comes on in the show XD I figure I'll finish watching the anime, and then go read more of the manga which is better than the anime, as far as I can tell.

Ganked from Wiki: Kiba's main character is Zed, a 15-year-old boy who lives in a place called "Calm". Frustrated by his current situation in life he feels that somewhere out there is a place where he can live more fully. One day, at the invitation of a mysterious wind, Zed dives into a space-time crevasse (portal), seeking the answers that might be there. Riding on the wind, he is transported to a war-torn world where magic users called "Shard Casters" fight endlessly with each other, using spells in the form of marble-like "Shards".
With the power of the Shards, the Shard Casters are able to use spells and control monsters called "Spirits". Fascinated by that power, Zed aims to become a Shard Caster. However, he still doesn't know that residing in his body is "Amil Gaoul", a mighty Spirit with the power to influence the world's future. Amil Gaoul is one of the "Key Spirits" that, when together with the other Key Spirits, can destroy or save the world. There are a total of six Key Spirits: Amil Gaoul, Pronimo, Sachira, Monardi, Jumamis and Shadin.
Zed undergoes countless trials in order to find out who he really is and what is most important to him.

Kiba struck an interesting chord with me right from the opening theme, because the way the summoned spirit monsters of the show aid their masters in battle remind me of the Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. But at the same time, it's nothing like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and more like YuGiOh in the way they're summoned. And then maybe there's a bit of Pokemon or Shaman King in there, as the little balls containing the spirits can be taken by other Shard Casters. In fact, Kiba seems to have taken a bit from every kind of battle anime out there and mushed it together, but it's not necessarily a bad thing... in fact, I'm quite enjoying the show, from the three episodes I've now seen.

Ganked from Wiki: The series is more violent than other trading-card-game-tie-in animations with many characters being killed. According to Hiroshi Kamishina, the show's director, the show "absolutely will not have any plot elements that curry favor to children". The producers of the show has also commented that Kiba will not be the type of show to put "human drama" on the back burner while concentrating on promotional tie-ins.

See now, I like that. I was sick of shows like YuGiOh being butchered when they became anime because of the whole 'child-friendly' thing, and of course the merchandising ploys behind it. I can't remember the last fantasy anime I watched that I actually found interesting, since fantasy anime has never really been my kind of thing, but I'm greatly enjoying Kiba. I found this series while looking for something completely different, and it's the best find I've had in a long time.

I've also been listening to the Kiba soundtrack, which is equally good as the Air Gear soundtrack, but in a completely different way. Where the Air Gear soundtrack is boppy and electronic and happy, the Kiba soundtrack is very melancholy and instrumental, absolutely beautiful music rather than 'fun' music. It's odd to listen to one, and then listen to the other.

Yeah... so check both out if you can, especially Kiba, but only check out Air Gear if you don't mind senseless fanservice and a female teacher who thinks waaay too much about doing naughty things with her students. Lucky for me that quit after a few episodes, or I would have been put off the show.

~ Ryo

...no comment 8D

2008-06-03T09:24:33Z

We-eeell...

2008-06-02T12:08:52Z

From the two episodes I've seen, I was right about the Air Gear anime; it just doesn't compare to the manga. Mainly because it hastens to get into the core of the story, the main action, which means if you haven't read the manga you'd have NO idea what was going on. That, and the animation's just not very impressive. But I'll keep watching it, even though I'll be more interested in collecting the manga.

What this series does have, is one HELL of an awesome soundtrack. Download it, seriously. It's jazzy, and poppy, and electronic, and awesome. Almost Eurobeat-ish.