This journal is mostly locked to a select group of friends for personal reasons. All other entries will be available for public view and comment to members of Livejournal (no anonymous commenting). Feel free to add me to your friends list; however, please understand that I will not add you back unless I already know you in person. Thanks a lot.

This journal is used mostly for fannish rantings (current fandoms: Macross, Final Fantasy, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Gackt. Er. Is Gackt a fandom?) and links to things Chinese, Japanese and general Asia-related. If you're looking for my fanfic, head over to seraphitus for my fic journal. ^_^

I do weapons and small props commissions for cosplayers!

Yay! Turkey and pie!

I'm thankful for all my wonderful friends and family who have helped me navigate through a very hectic year. You guys are the best <3

An aquaintance of mine is looking to get a domain name/hosting for her website, and I was asked if I have any preferences for a good host. I've been using the same hosting company for pretty much the last 10 years (NoMonthlyFees.com) and I love them to bits, but they do require paying the entire year in advance (er....obviously, that is why they are called No Monthly Fees.)

This may not be a problem for her, but I'd like to give her a variety of webhosting choices nonetheless....any hosting services you guys have used and loved? (or hated?)

Shane and I have been plowing through FY...we are halfway done now and Amiboshi is about to fall into the river and "lose his memory"

Out of curiosity, I went looking on the internet for the history of ryuuseisui and found this.

Ryuuseisui in action (telekinesis optional, sorry):


This one is even better (ignore the cheezy Chinese music):


Pretty cool XD

Shane by the way is a HUGE Nakago fan.

This is a song, not a video, but I had to post the YouTube "video" because I can't find it on imeem.

This song brought to you courtesy of irish_ais.



LISTEN TO IT NOW.

They're making The Lightning Thief into a movie. I liked this series a lot, so I hope they don't screw it up as a movie. Then again, it's more likely than not that they will.

I'll still probably go see it though.

I just picked back up my copy of The World Ends With You after about 8 months of not playing the game, and it took me a little while to remember what I was doing. I'm not very far into it, almost at the end of the first week, I think? But since playing it for about 15 minutes last night, I remember a couple of questions that nagged me about the game that I never got around to asking since most of my playing was done on the plane.

1. Is it possible to change pin decks in the middle of a battle? For instance, if I am using my deck #1, decide that I want some new attacks, and want to switch to my lightning pin that's in deck #2, can I do that? Or am I stuck and have to equip my deck before each battle?

2. Anyone got any tips on making it easier to control Shiki on the top screen? I'm used to turn based RPGs, so the real time battle is kind of a challenge for me, plus I'm still trying to get used to all the different pin attack styles. I can't seem to tap, slash, drag, blah blah blah on the bottom screen while matching up stuff on the top screen. My brain doesn't work fast enough XD Is it ok to let the computer take over, or do I get more exp if I always do manual mode on both screens?

3. Fusion attack is just a limit break, right? I don't have to do anything special while it's happening? I can just watch?

Game kinda makes me miss Shibuya.

How the hell does Gaara's gourd attach to his harness and stay perfectly at an angle?



Studying this picture, I can see vaguely how the two harness straps wraps around his waist, then around the gourd, then is buckled around his chest. But I'm puzzled as to how to make the gourd stay at an angle without flopping around and not using any more straps than are pictured here.

(I know, anime physics. But I'm trying to translate this as best as possible to cosplay and I think it can be done, just not sure how yet?)

An evening with Final Fantasy's composer Uematsu Nobuo, from Wired. This was AWESOME. Uematsu is one of my RL heroes, and I'm so glad he's back with Square Enix.

I'm a little sad that we couldn't make it to the Distant Worlds concert, but the closest venue was Baltimore, and there was no sense in driving to and from Baltimore for that when we were going to go 2 weeks later for Otakon. But Uematsu says he wants the Black Mages to do an American tour. If this happens, I will be first in line with tickets.

heeeeeeeeeeeheeeeheheheheheheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The most terrifying Chocobo remix in existence:

I FINALLY have the airship in Final Fantasy X! Good lord, that was an ordeal. I was stuck on Mt. Gagazet for a couple of months because I was so busy with cosplay and didn't have time to play FFX, and also because ifotismeni had such a hard time with Seymour Flux, I have to admit I was kind of intimidated.

But in the end he wasn't that hard, so ha.

ANYWAY! It's sidequest time. As with all FF games, FFX has a big grind* and it's blitzball. Sadly, I never got around to playing any blitzball before the option got greyed out at the save sphere, so all I have under my belt is one win at an exhibition game. I have my heart set on getting Wakka's celestial weapon, so I'll have to play 450 games of blitzball or whatever, so yay. I'd like to break it up, though, so....

Poll #1428740
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

What should I do next in FFX?

*by grind, I don't necessarily mean it's not fun, however! Because I greatly enjoyed myself at FFVIII's big grind, Triple Triad. I could play Triple Triad alllllll day every day all year and never be sick of it, because it is awesome. However, card games don't last as long as blitzball games. Blitzball games are kind of long >.>

Happy Independence Day, USA!

I'm kind of embarassed to admit that I don't have much more to say than that. I wish I had time to do a scout of the Freedom Trail or something similarly patriotic, but as usual these days, I'm hunkering down at home to get ready for Otakon. I didn't even do anything for Patriot's Day this year. Next year, when I am not so busy with OTAKON my wedding, I shall do more patriotic and historical things to get ready for the holiday(s). Also, next year should mark the return of the Awesomesauce barbeque and its traditional "guess the obscure Revolutionary War hero" contest.*

I think, though, our "Founding Fathers" would be proud of where we've come today, no matter what. (even if you kind of hate the term "Founding Fathers," as I do, mostly because of the mythos it steeps them in, where they were just ordinary people. But perhaps that's a good thing. Everyone needs heroes.)

Also, have a cool article about Thomas Jefferson, a cryptologist, and a 200-year uncracked code.

*it's traditional cause I say it is, okay? XDDD

My favorite songs from Macross Frontier:
Diamond Crevasse
Seikan Hikou
Lion
Ao no ether
Infinity
Aimo O.C. (I can't seem to figure out what O.C. stands for..."original"...something??? CULTURE?? XD)
Iteza Gogo Kuji ~don't be late~
NINJIN LOVES YOU YEAH XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Also, when Ranka started singing Ai, Oboeteimasu ka at the end of MF, it made me blaw ;____;

I only wish they'd thrown some Macross 7 songs in there. I really want to hear Ranka singing My Friends - or I think Sheryl would do a kickass version of Holy Lonely Light.

Also, it always amuses me in an insulting way when people try to review soundtracks for Macross - see this one for another review where the reviewer doesn't think May'n or Nakajima Megumi's voices are "suited to the Macross series." I have to wonder what he DOES think is a good voice for the Macross series....considering all the Macross singers so far have been female jpop singers except Fukuyama Yoshiki, and May'n and Megumi are actually IN TUNE, which I can't say for the girl who sang Myung in Macross Plus or Ishtar in Macross II >.>

(...or Sakurai Tomo and Hayashi Nobutoshi for that matter, but they only sang for bits during the show)

My summary of Macross Frontier:

Sheryl: I AM AWESOME OMG.COM
Ranka: I AM NOT AWESOME OMG.COM BLAW
Alto: *is emo and indecisive*
Sheryl: I WILL BE THE MOST AWESOME SINGER EVAR
Ranka: I WANT TO BE AWESOME BUT I CAN'T
Alto: *is emo and indecisive*
Ranka: *gets randomly famous*
Sheryl: I AM JEALOUS OF HER RANDOM FAME. BLAW
Grace: *is evil*
Alto: *is emo and indecisive*
Ranka: I WILL SAVE THE GALAXY! EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T BECAUSE I AM NOT AWESOME
Sheryl: I AM AWESOME OMG.COM
Alto: *is emo and indecisive*

The end.

*conspires with Anoni to get NM to watch Macross 7*
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

For safety_caesars:


(The perspective on this is a little weird so it makes the dagger look stunted.)

Rest of the set (5 new pictures) at my Flickr, as usual XD

I should be finished with this by....probably Thursday.

Macross Lesson 14098235023: Macross characters should avoid pineapple at all costs.

Me: there's pineapple in this episode. I wonder if he's going to die.
Shane: probably.
Ozma: x_x *blood pooling in chair*
Me: I CALLED IT
Ozma: *doesn't die*
Me: ....darn.

- The battle version of "Aimo" sounds much like Sharon Apple's "Wanna Be An Angel" from the Plus movie. This isn't so apparent till you get to the part in major key towards the end of the song.

- I think Klan Klan might be my favorite female character in Frontier. I have a bit of a problem with both Ranka and Sheryl. Hmm...Ranka is a bit too Ishtar-ish combined with Mylene cluelessness, which is a little grating in large doses (i.e. when she is a main character) and Sheryl is too self-absorbed, even at the end, like a human Sharon Apple.

- I think that's my biggest problem with the main trio in Frontier - all of them are so self-absorbed. One of the main themes of Macross is letting go of yourself and your own desires and instead serving the good of the universe, through music or piloting or whatever. None of these three seem to understand this until like the last 2 episodes. Even then, they're no Minmay or Basara.

- I enjoyed all the nods to 7 as the series progressed. It seems like the first third of the series was more of a tribute to Zero, the middle third a tribute to SDF, and the last third a complete tribute to 7. w00t

- Ai-kun O_______________________________O he got REALLY BIG!!!!!!!! so cute

- I would like to know what happened to the VF-23. They completely skipped over that one from the VF-22 straight to the VF-24, and now the SMS has the VF-25. I was fairly amused at the mention of the VF-171:

Shane: THE VF-171??? THIS NUMBERING IS GETTING RIDICULOUS!!!!!!
Me: XDDDD actually, it's just an upgraded version of the VF-17 from Macross 7.

(no upgraded VF-17 will be cooler than the Fire Valkyrie however)

Macross Frontier notes, episodes 1-14

- The animation in this is very good, as to be expected. I keep forgetting how sophisticated anime has gotten nowadays. When Macross Zero came out, I remember thinking "this animation is way too good for Macross!" But I think the animators for F did a really good job keeping the animation clean but kind of retro at the same time. Case in point: the episode with all the Zentradi on Galia. Not only did the animators keep the rounded corners of the original 80s animation intact, they even animated the main Zentradi characters to resemble Britai, Exedore, and Kamjin. This made me REALLY HAPPY XD

- TOTSUGEKI LOVE HEART IN EPISODE 2 OMG OMG XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DECULTURE!!!

- the rest of the Macross series cliches/cameos/tributes I've seen so far haven't hurt either. The juice machine! The Miss Macross Contest with Miranda Merin! Formo Shopping Mall! The fake Daedalus and Prometheus on the high school! *_* Watashi no Kare wa PILOT! Nyan-Nyan!! References to Planet Eden are always a plus. OH YEAH AND TOTSUGEKI LOVE HEART IN EPISODE TWO

- Music = Yoko Kanno enough said. Oh yeah. This BGM may very well be the best Macross music ever, to rival Macross Plus's soundtrack (which she also worked on, so uh, that's a compliment in itself)

- Episode 10, where they're filming the movie. FIRST OF ALL, the overarching theme of the episode is a HUGE tribute to Macross 7, where they shoot the movie with Basara as Hikaru and Mylene as Minmay. ^O^ And then, the scenes itself cut from Zero were epic. Recycled footage ftw though. I actually did start laughing, though, because I had re-watched Zero the night before starting Frontier, so it was like HEY IT FEELS LIKE I JUST SAW THIS FOOTAGE YESTERDAY! OH WAIT. I DID.

(I have to mention here that watching Zero REALLY depressed Shane. I've never seen him react that way to an anime before. We finished watching it and he was like T___________T and then after Episode 10 he was like T___________T!!!! ;_;)

- I am a big fan of Ranka's ninjin song and her Valkyrie backpack.

- Catherine Glass is like an even MORE uptight version of Hayase Misa with a massive guilt complex.

- Does anyone else think the markings on Brera Stern's face look like the markings on the faces of Gabil and Sivil from 7? I doubt this is related, since I don't think 7 figures at all into Frontier, but I found this interesting. (if I am mistaken and there is a connection, don't tell me cause I am only halfway through XD)

- Not surprisingly, I am not a huge fan of Alto. Macross heros are known for being clueless (see: Ichijo Hikaru), but they're not so much known for being emo. Alto is the hugest emo whiny Macross hero ever, and I don't like it. I suppose you could say Shin from Zero was whiny, but compared to Alto, he was downright cheerful. I maybe can draw some parallels between Alto and Gamlin pilot-wise, which is cool, but Gamlin was a million times more awesome. As such, the love triangle interests me not so much as in 7 or SDF.

- Michel's sniper VF-25 is made of awesome.

- The intro to Sheryl's song "Iteza Gogo Kuji ~don't be late" sounds EXTREMELY like a Fire Bomber song. I always get confused.

- Would like to see some more references to Macross Plus. I know F is mainly a Zero continuation, but a nod to Plus would be nice.

- Since Frontier came out, the number of Macross cosplays on cosplay.com has exploded. I have NEVER in my life expected to see so many people interested in Macross. I'm really really happy about this, as it seems that Frontier has managed to "modernize" the franchise and bring Macross into the forefront and drawn in fans who maybe have never seen any of the previous Macrosses and/or weren't interested. Macross is good like that, though. Each series is so different that the entire universe has accessibility to a wide range of fans. Zero was beautiful, but much too esoteric if you hadn't seen SDF and maybe 7. Frontier continues the story of Zero but is good for even for people who don't know anything about Macross.

I usually don't read threads on Macross forums because of the Macross 7 bashing that goes on there.

But this is the best thread ever (scroll down to the bottom, Anoni XDDDDDDDDDDDD)

Watched the first 13 or so episodes of Macross Frontier this weekend. Review forthcoming. Overall, three thumbs up! (Four thumbs up is only reserved for Macross 7, sorry)

I wanted to use this icon.

That's all. XD