Archive for the ‘Hosts’ Category
long long long long long time no see everybody!!! i am quite sorry for my long absence. a dear friend of mine pointed out to me that i have been lagging it on my posts… to which i argued that i wasn’t because i was never consistent with them in the first place. Anyhowz… sence the last time i posted it has been… a very long time and yet not much has happened at all. sad day. but yet not really because this sence of calm… is quite nice. but with midterms coming around the corner… its time to actually start doing stuff again. =P off to study!!!
Why? Been busy with life. … But also I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas so I’ve been spending time with an old friend, Gaming.
Other stuff too, but nothing really worth talking about. Cons, road trips, watchin’ anime, etc. Other stuff coming up. Well ok, maybe some things are worth mentioning, but I guess I’ve just been busy. I’ll continue to post when time permits. I want to make sure I have enough time to accurately convey the things happening in my life.
Well I guess that’s the gist of this post. Been busy.
I love Christmas. I said that already. But for me, this might be my favorite time of the year. It baffles me as to how people turn so negative at the sound of that stock Christmas music being played at every shopping center. “Oh did you heeeeaar? They’re plaaaaying Christmas music at the maaaaalll~! They’re trying to put me into a joooyful mood~.” How dare they!
I don’t get it. I really don’t. Me personally I love that music.
I mean, it’s not like that music is played any other time of the year. Only like 3 weeks out of the 52 or so weeks in a year. That’s it. And let’s say musically, you just don’t think they’re good songs. Are the songs they play, at the malls, the rest of the 49 weeks any better? I say no.
And it’s not just the music. I see people become so negative around this time of the year for different reasons.
You know what? Forget about all that. It’s all about the idea that comes along with the Season. It’s a time where people shouldn’t be selfish. It’s a time for people to show each other they care about one another.
Thankfully though, there are still people out there that get it. I mean, obviously, otherwise no one would put out any effort. I for one, am enjoying the Season
Well these blogs have been kind of dead for the past week. I guess that’s just a sign of how busy we all are at AniMaid Café. Not just with Café related business but with our personal lives. So I thought I’d drop in and give a quick update on what’s been going on on my end.
Personally, among other things, I’ve been busy with my martial arts classes. This past week I had to take part in 2 different belt tests. One for Jujitsu and the other for Hapkido. I aced both pretty easily, but I think I shined on the Hapkido test. Well I guess I didn’t have much of a choice, as I was the only taking it. If I were to make an error it would be pretty apparent. But luckily at this point these things are almost second nature and I finished without much trouble. … Ok so I made a few mistakes and I think I still have a lot to work on, but if I were perfect at it then it wouldn’t be as much fun as it is.
Yesterday I advanced to my 3rd red (half red, half black). I don’t even know the proper term for this belt but I do know that it’s one belt away from black. March will be the next test and my test into black belt. I think this test is going to be, in many ways, much more difficult than my previous ones. Well that’s what my instructor says, and he hasn’t lied to me yet.
March isn’t that far away if you think about it, but I think I still have a long way to go.
So another convention has come and gone. This past weekend was the Pacific Media Expo otherwise known as PMX. What is PMX? Well it’s an expo that features media .. from the pacific. … Yeah, I can really paint a picture.
If you’re into anime, j-rock, lolita manga or anything related to the Japanese culture, chances are they’re going to have something there for you to enjoy.
PMX is a small convention, but it’s size both hurts and helps it. Because it’s small there isn’t a whole lot for you to do, but also, because of it’s condensed size it’s a perfect convention to just hang out with some old friends or even make some new ones.
There weren’t a lot of cosplayers there, but what it lacked in cosplay it made up for in lolita fashion. .. Or maybe it just seemed that way because of the people I was around during the Con.
They even had a lolita fashion show. .. Which I attended .. Yay …
Angelic Pretty Lolita Fashion Show – PMX 2009
I only shot the Angelic Pretty portion of the show, because they also had a shop set up at the Con, and we had to zip over there to be the first in line after the show. Luckily we were, and Maiyu managed to get the dress she eyed at the show. I was given the privilege of snapping the first photos of her in her new dress.
Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:
It seems to me that the lolita craze is becoming more and more popular, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. Me personally I don’t mind it. In fact a part of me rather enjoys it. I get to take photos of girls dressed as dolls, and they have fun doing it.
I didn’t get to experience every aspect of the Con. There were a few minor details that slipped passed me, but what I did get to experience, I had fun with. Again; the con isn’t very big, but if you play your cards right it can be a very enjoyable experience. It’s a con that is very much what you make of it.
.. Oh and if anyone can tell me how to embed video onto hear, that’d be great.
8 hour days suck, but today at orientation I learned a lot about people with a mental illness. They’re people too. I’ll post a poem that one of them wrote when I bring it home.
un-edited Journal continued:
9/17
Ditched my plan today. Went to Osaka Castle. Its just like in Alex’s videos. The park itself though is huge. I didn’t take pics of the forests because they would’ve sucked. Got lost for a bit then trained to Osaka-eki. Crossed the st. to a 8 story mall. Tons of stuff everywhere! Toys, games, phones, art. Its kind of scary being alone here, but oh well. Sucks that my Japanese sucks..
Found a cool okonomiyaki places called “Fugetsu”. They cook it for you @ ur own table. I thought I would make it myself but I’m wrong lol. I ordered large but it looks normal sized to me (saw others) looks tasty. Cost me $12 but it has squid, pork, shrimp. Its sooo good. Breakfast was carboriffic but only $5. On second thought I’m gonna be full. Taking my time, my feet hurt. I’m not even sure if I can cover Umeda in 1 day. I guess I will though.
Failed. I got lost a whole bunch in the underground area. Later I walked to the station on foot & got an idea of whats around. Found an underground food area. They sold everything from eel to hot wings & dessert. Need to go back and explore later…
9/18
I missed the train to Hakata, so I’m going to Hiroshima instead. Ate at the museum cafe. Omellette & salad. The salad was good. They eat lots of carbs here in Jpn. At least the egg had some protein. Tons of kids here on field trip. Looks kind of nice, not as much as Osaka castle though. Found a ramen shop where u order from a machine. I got… well I find out when they bring it. Really, really wish I was fluent in Japanese. Servers here are cute. Apparently I ordered shoyu ramen, plain. Its almost as good as Daikokuya, but soy sauce…. not as good as pork. Went to Hiroshima Castle. They recreated the rampart and ppl can go inside. I saw a big temple but didn’t know wat to do, so I left… Central park was mostly grass, stopped by a mall on the way back.
Got stuck in a smoking car, all the cars are full! After the first stop, I got a normal seat but was standing between cars for a good 15 minutes. Better than being smoked to death though. Cute girl 2 seats over. Want takoyaki. Days in Japan w/o Sushi: 2. Its getting foggy for some reason. Girl 2 seats over not so cute. Hope I can charge camera. It only uses USB. Next change I get, I will play Border Break. Looks fun. Have lots of bug bites on one leg. Wtf? I’m dreading switching hostels. The other one is near a subway not covered by JR pass. Need to use ticket machine. My suitcase is not heavy but is large and unwieldy. Hope yuri & Tina & kaz actually want to see me, former 2 can’t say no, its too direct. They do that “its not convenient” thing that 日本 ppl are known for. Yes, I wrote 日本 in my journal instead of “Japanese” even though it should’ve been “日本人”. I guess I’ll see when the day comes, eh?
Stopped at takoyaki shop near osaka stn. They have 5 kinds, hope I ordered the right one (squid). 12 for 4 bucks. No sauce =[ really hot/fresh. Soft... wish it had sauce though.. Squids very real though. They have soy & vinegar but it isn't as good as okonomiyaki sauce. Its a popular place though. Everyone works super hard in Japan. At least at restaraunts & stores... & trains &gardeners.. Kind of like Americans before the 90's... Saw a notebook like mine (its small and green!) I wrote in it! Guy next to me wolfs them down. No sauce or anything. Hes mad!
Met Jim, and 2HK girls. Had fun talking with them all. Matthias left. I checked out but am staying an extra night in secret. HK girls share a bed. Met matt & Diane from CND [Canada]. cool ppl.
Well Halloween’s come and gone and we can no longer play make believe .. well not until the next convention or opportunity to cosplay that is. This year Halloween seemed a bit underdeveloped. I can tell there were people that were excited for it, but for the most part people didn’t seem to care. Anyway, I had a great Halloween and a great month in anticipation of the day. Every year I like to imagine what it’d be like if that one Simpson’s: Treehouse of Horror episode “I’ve Grown A Costume On Your Face” were to come true. You know? The one where the witch wins the costume contest but it turns out she’s actually a witch so she can’t technically win. She get’s angry when they take her title away and then she cast a spell that causes everyone to become the costume they’re wearing.
I’d always end up as something cool. … Hey wait. Why was she offended when they took her prize away but not offended when the entire town thought her regular everyday clothes was fit for a Halloween costume? .. Whatever.
So this past Halloween was spent trick-or-treating then later parting. I didn’t take many photos but I did take some.
Anyway here are some costumes.
Maiyu as Cover Girl
Momo as Sailor Moon
Mokona as Rabi En Rose
Night as Soul
Leon as .. um .. what?
Your's trully as Beachhead
Yo Joe!
I saw Blair Witch Project a total of one time. At the time I was amped up to see it, but was quickly disappointed after finding out there was absolutely no truth in it. Now, at this point I can look back and say that it was a decent movie, and good for being the first of it’s kind. The creators took a chance and did well for it. There’s a certain charm to the move and the scary parts are scary in a way that your average horror movie isn’t. There’s no real jump scares or gore of any kind. There’s a lot of little nuances that pick at the viewer and the movie in a whole is a more psychologically scary than anything else. The movie is good in it’s way, but I only saw it once and don’t really plan on seeing it again. I don’t regret seeing it, in fact I’m glad I saw it. I’ll just probably never watch it again.
Jump to 9 years later and another movie in the same horror movie sub-genre is released called Cloverfield. The marketing for this movie was phenomenal. The audience is left wondering what the heck is going on, but given enough information to be curious for more. The problem with this is that it was hyped up beyond belief and when I actually went to go see it I left the theater trying to convince myself that the movie was better than what I just sat through. I was on the fence but as time progressed I began to not like it. After TF:RotF came out I now realize just how bad a movie can be and now that I think about it Cloverfield wasn’t bad. In fact, it’s a movie I wouldn’t mind watching again.
Which bring us to the present and the movie in question is Paranormal Activity.
More like Paranormal CRAPtivity. Am I right folks?
I’m just kidding, the movie isn’t that bad. The marketing technique was similar to the one used for Cloverfiel. It gave you a taste but no real information. The movie itself shared more resemblance’s to Blair Witch. Very small cast to begin with only two of the characters are faced with the actual trials of the movies plot. I won’t go into budget for any movie, because I believe the only real elements you need to tell a good story is a person who is able to tell a story and tell it well, but also, maybe more important, is a person willing to listen. For me, budget doesn’t matter.
That being said; This movie is eeeh ok, but could have been better. They did a good job of letting you get to know the characters before anything major happen but they took a bit too much time doing this. Also, it almost hurts the movie in that. By the end, it turns out I didn’t really like the character of the bo friend. He’s just an unlikable guy. I get that he reacted in a way that a real person may act when being put into this situation, but it is still a movie and it’s important to like the characters, especially when there are prominently only two characters in the whole movie. Also, through his actions the story line was able to progress, so I guess he can be forgiven.
Every horror movie needs some way to get across the rules within that movie. Something that says “this is how things work” and “this is why things are happening.” In Blair Witch, it was done through interviews from the town folk and through some research, which worked because it was about some kids investigating the lore of the Witch. In Cloverfield the rules were revealed as the story progressed, which also worked because the people in the move were finding things out as we were. In this movie the rules were literally expounded by a hired psychic .. and that was his only purpose. He told them what was going on .. and that’s it. Well he told them what they should do, but only so that when they did the exact opposite the audience can scream at the screen “No don’t!”
Non of the really good parts happen until the end and even then they aren’t that really scary. I was expecting to see some kind of apparition but, nope. A lot of the scares really on jump scares, which is kind of a cop out, in my opinion. When I was a kid I used to sneak up behind my grandma and go “BOO!” and startle her but I never considered myself scary. To really be scared by this movie you have to be of the mind set that this could possibly happen. Which I believe it could. But again, there are things they could’ve done in the movie, but simply didn’t. The ending itself is almost predictable but also pretty sad.
Would I recommend it? Wait for it to come out on DVD, and watch it late at night. Alone. With all the lights off.
At this point I don’t really care about it. I don’t dislike it. I just don’t care. A few years down the road I may feel differently about it.
Halloween is less than one week away and I am ready to party. Got my costume all set and my Halloween spirit is almost topped off. The only thing I haven’t done is carve a pumpkin. Lame, I know, but maybe I’ll get some time in before the big day.
One thing I did manage was that I was able to go to Mikey’s Trick-Or-Treat Party at DCA this past weekend with a few other AniMaid Caféers (is that right?), which was all kinds of fun. We all went as Characters from The Avatar. Maiyu went as Katara, Momo was Suki, Sentence dressed as Sokka and yours truly was Zuko. Eh, sorry no pics as of yet. Zuko was probably the most comfortable costume I’ve worn and the burn scar looked amazingly good, might’ve been the best part of the costume. I’d definitely dress as him again at a future con.
I don’t think I’ll ever not dress up for Halloween. It’s just too much fun. And if you don’t wanna go through the trouble of getting a new costume, then just zombifie and existing one. Superman this year? Zombie Superman next year. Bam. There, now you just multiplied your costume stock by 2. Your welcome.
I think maybe I’ll try and fit in another horror movie or two before the day. Perhaps Paranormal Activity. I hear mixed things about that one, but I gotta admit, my curiosity is peaked.
So yeah, I’m all set of Halloween. You ready?
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Update: Photo!
Zuko, Katara, Sokka & Suki
I FOUND AKAMARUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! my mum stole him… *steals him back* =]