First of all, major kudos to Mom. She managed a miraculous save and fixed the main part of my costume just now. I know, it's a little late, and Halloween's almost over, but I'm super happy about it nonetheless.
If you can't tell, I'm wearing Kaz's Cardinal Regalia costume (Pangya). 2 weeks of work, a little stress, and wazam!
Yeah, it's not 100% accurate, and the pants aren't even correct, but the main idea is portrayed I think. There was no way in hell I was gonna get it to be super accurate in only 2 weeks. Something like that would have taken a while summer or more.
Fabrics weren't expensive. They're super thin and were like a dollar a yard. It was about $15 for all of the cloth, a little more for the belt parts, pants and shoes I previously owned. Just goes to show you cosplay isn't necessarily expensive if you're going simply for the appearance. It takes a hell of a lot of time though, keep that in mind.
I dunno what else to say about it except Happy Halloween everyone!
Once again, major thanks to mom, she helped in a lot of this.
EDIT: Oh yeah, thanks to my sister for the pictures
Awesome party last night. Kinda wish I could have posted this earlier but my internet was bugging out.
So yeah. We talked about stuff, ate a little, and watched a little of Shaun of the Dead. I'm not too good at talking about stuff (ironic, huh?), but lets just say I had a lot of fun. The knights need to get together more.
As for the costume, I'd say I'm almost half-way done, and it's about the half-way point in time (started a week ago, only a week left). I'll probably have pictures when I'm done.
Alright, I've been meaning to explain it for a while now for those who don't know. I've talked about bits and pieces of it throughout the little posts with the Pangya label, but here goes an attempt at a full explanation.
Pangya is the online casual golf game. Its got origins in Korea. It's also popular in Japan. Here in America, it's called Albatross18.
It's online golf. While it may not sound that appealing (and honestly, it wasn't that appealing to me at first neither), it is surprisingly addicting. The colorful backdrops and characters, the simple yet sophisticated gameplay, and the overall feel while playing really makes it fun.
The settings. You can play on a battle ship, an icy canyon, a beach, a volcano, a windmill area; basically a lot of places you wouldn't normally play golf. This means the settings are extremely colorful and diverse. It's hard to get bored of the settings in my opinion.
There are the characters too. The characters are also extremely diverse: you've got your generic boy, generic girl, middle aged fat guy, handsome male, beautiful woman, cute (dare I use the term 'moe'?) magical girl, cool dark guy, and the loli (yep). Each character has a large number of costume to choose from, and being an online game, it's constantly updated.
There are lots of elements added to the game that you don't find in normal golf. The element I'm talking about is the ability to do trick shots. These shots change the trajectory of the ball, the landing area, basically, things you can't do in real golf. Trick shots also include "tomahawk" and "spike", which make the ball explode on impact when executed correctly.
I won't bother too much with explaining how the game is played. Basically, hit the spacebar one to start adjusting power, hit it again once it gets to the desired power, time the last hit to decide whether you hook or slice.
I've been caught in the marketing too. As with any free to play online game, you have to pay real money for some of the stuff. Oh, if I could spend more, I would. That's how into it I am.
A little more opinion here: what makes a good online game is the community, and so far, the community is better than any other I've played with.
I'll post a video of some of my (newbish) playing so you can get a sample of pangya. Maybe you can join me :) I'm always looking for people to play with. Sadly, I've gotten one friend to join, and he doesn't play too often.
My parents are absolutely impossible. Their unique philosophy and ways are completely unorthadox.
They believe that costuming is "make it yourself" "it doesn't have to look exact" blah blah blah
And I can't seem to get the point across, that if I want it to look like a certain character, the more accurate it looks, the more impressive the costume is.
But no, they're hella lazy. Because of that, I doubt I'll be able to finish my costume period, since I can't go out and get the materials that I need.
Is costume making really that hard to understand? Or are my parents just so thick headed they could headbutt the earth and the earth would break first?
I have started an ambitious costume for Halloween. Considering it is my first time trying, the costume I chose probably wasn't the wisest choice. Nonetheless, with only about 2 weeks to halloween (1 week until an upcoming halloween party), along with school the whole time, I've got quite the work load. Hopefully this will all be worth it in the end.
The producer is livetune. The whole CD is sung by Miku. Pretty impressive, I think this is the first commercial release album to feature Miku.
All of the songs are awesome. They've got a nice rhythm and tune, and it's a definite for people who like the electronica or j-pop genres. All songs are full length (it looks like an average of about 5 minutes per track) and are professionally produced for maximum awesome-ness It came in a really nice box. It's all hologram-y and shiny. It appears to be a first press or limited edition or something, which is super nice. I tried not to ruin the box when I opened it, but the CD just wouldn't come out easily. I managed to get it out without any damage though.
You can probably see that I'm a major Miku fan. Check this CD out some time.
I haven't posted anything in a very short while, but I feel like posting, so here
It's a cute picture of some of the Key girls together (one from each game). I don't know who made it, but it's very well done and stays pretty true to the art style.
Found an interesting picture on an image board. The artist appears to be the same one from Little Busters!
After a little more research, it appears that this isn't a Key production.
The studio appears to be mana. The series is called School Heart's. You probably figured that out from the picture though.
Whatever it is, it looks very cute, but I can't give much more info since I can't read [japanese]. Each character appears to be drawn by a different artist.
There appears to be voice samples on the site. I listened to a few of them, and they don't sound bad.
The site is giving me the impression that this is some kind of music CD or drama, but that may just be the theme of the presentation. It may very well be a game, but I can't verify that.
You can click the image on the side for a higher quality version.
I just finished the first Maximum Ride book (and about freaking time too). Amazing story, I must say. Very exciting and hard to put down once I started.
I borrowed this book from a friend last year. I guess it's about time I returned it. But that's something else.
Maximum Ride is a science fiction about some kids that went through a genetic experiments. Through this, they've gained wings, as well as various other abilities.
Yeah, I thought it was the most awesome thing ever too.
The book is a nice easy read, very not-boring. It is well paced and exciting. The plot is original and new, the characters are developed well, and the overall feel is something that can only be described as amazing.
Of course, considering the amount of books I've read, I'm probably not one to review, but I definitely recommend checking this out at the library or something when you can.
As I said, this is a really sweet series. It was just so cute and lovey dubby, but had a real sense of reality to it. There is no magic or saving the world stuff, it's just a lives of these two sisters.
The animation is crisp and smooth and some of the best quality I've seen, the character design is some of the best I've seen, and the story isn't hard to follow. It's got its sweet moments and its funny moments, and the overall series has a real charm to it.
Definitely recommend checking this series out. As far as I know, there are 2 episodes subbed. They're available on AnimeSuki. I hope to see more soon.
I got a chance to sit in on a Kendo class today (half a kendo class more accurately, most of the time was spent looking for the class).
It was really cool, super exciting. I watched both beginners and intermediate fighters, and they were quite impressive.
I wish I could have the chance to participate, but it seems unlikely. First, I have no way of transport. Second, I have no money to buy equipment with. T.T
If you want to check it out, you can go to the San Diego Kendo Bu website (assuming you're in San Diego) or just google for someplace close to you.
On an unrelated note, I think I'm the most unlucky person in the world when it comes to getting stuff I really want. I went to try to buy an Ultimate Game Card, but their systems were down so I couldn't buy them. Every other time I've tried they were out of stock or I didn't have money on me.
I finally got my Wii online, was playing Brawl with some friends. Lots of fun, though laggy at points. I lost a buncha times, but I never lost to Jeff.
I'll probably play more later. I don't know what else to say about it. I'm not giving out my friend code either. Just go to the "play with anyone" option, you might catch me some time.
A neat Ragnarok Online doujin game I found a while ago.
First, I'd like to say that I am a big fan of Ragnarok Online. I played it only for a little, but the time I had on it was awesome. I wish I could afford to play it.
I do not condone the use of illegal free servers. There is a legal free server I found, but it didn't have quite the same feeling when I played it.
Well, onto the main topic. Porindama Online is a Puyo Puyo clone. The art is super cute, the voice acting isn't bad, and the demo features mild H-content (only 4 playable characters, no CGs). The publisher is Cosplay Teahouse Soft (careful with this link, some NSFW stuff here). I have not found a place to buy it (I don't advocate for torrenting it illegally either).
The website is here though it looks like it's a little outdated. The demo appears to have been removed though. I'll post the version of the demo I have up later.
If you like Ragnarok and cute moe girls (with some H in there), check it out. That picture up there is the Kafra maid for those who don't recognize characters from the Ragnarok series.
Cosplay Teahouse Soft appears to be making a Nanoha doujin now. Similar style game (puyo clone). Looks interesting. There's another RO game, I might try it out.
Whoa, I listen to Miku too much. Well, I found two neat songs.
This とらいあんぐる☆Girl's Heart (Triangle☆Girl's Heart I think) by Shiki. I personally like this artist a lot. I wish I knew where to get a CD. That art for this video is also super cute.
This シンデレラ・ロマンス (Cinderella Romance) by Tatsh. Another great artist (who made Xepher in beatmania/DDR, yet another great song). The song samples Ode to Joy (Beethoven) for those who can't identify it (I know people who can't). Also has a very well done PV.
On a side note, I haven't played DDR in a while. I should.
Nothing special, I just found a really cute little flash of Miku. She just stands there and blinks. As I said, nothing special. But it does look really pretty
Hello. I am Jon Fawkes of Skirt Work (also spelled Skirt-Work and Skirt/Work). Striving artist, and...that's it. I can't exactly say I'm a college student alone in my dorm, or that I'm much of an otaku (or very smart for that matter). I'm interested in Japan and stuff.
This is really embarrassing. Maybe my later posts will be more interesting.
