Making a New Blog

Damn you Yulyang (Scions of Fate)! Why do you always make this game addictive?

Oh, well, going to make a Yulyang blog, just for any SoF people out there and telling them about my latest journey.

Quote of the Moment - "Prisoner breathe new life into Michael Jackson classic" - Yesterday Metro's headline. Erm...

EDIT: I finally made my Yulyang/Scions of Fate blog, which you can click this very blog here. And it's called 'Across the Border of Order and Chaos'. Ugh, I should have made the title better.

W00T! 100th Post!

And also...

DO NOT DISTURB ME!

As I'm going to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I'm on up to chapter 10 as of now. And no, I'm not giving any summary, as I couldn't be bothered writing this down. So, haha!

And no, Quote of the Moment this time. I knew Baileys with strawberries was a bad idea. D:

Gonzo's Making Mark AnthonyXCleopatra!

Okay, I lied. It's actually RomeoXJuliet that I'm going to watch (no good thanks to my younger sister when she told me about this), since I read (and studied in Secondary or High School if you're not British) the original William Shakespeare play (which is Romeo & Juliet), then watched the 70s film (which has some medieval clothes in it) and finally my favourite out of the two films, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (which, thankfully, has kept the original dialogue, even though this takes place in the modern version of Verona), as well as flicking through the UK manga version (which was surprisingly better than I first thought) of the tragic star-crossed lovers.

Well, it all started when my younger sis told me that Gonzo's own version was a lot different than the original play, I couldn't believe, so thankfully, I sat down, download a few episodes and I can come up to the conclusion of what I think about:

• The setting takes place in Neo Verona that has full of winged horses. Yes, you heard me right, winged horses.
• Capulet gets overruled by Montague (through killing) and has full control of Neo Verona. Hey, wait a minute. Where's the frickin' Prince?! He's supposed to quell the fighting between the two.
• Years later and somehow for some odd reason, Romeo and Juliet had swap role reversal, with Juliet being the main focus instead of Romeo, even the fancy dress ball scene.
• Hey, what happen to Mercutio? Isn't he supposed to be the more eccentric friend of Romeo? And since when did he filled Tybalt's shoes?
• The opening song really is something similar to what that stupid Irish pop band, Westlife, had sung not long ago.

But despite my constant bickering that Gonzo went off-tangent from the original play, I still find it a very interesting take on Romeo and Juliet and I like the animation, as well as the characters and storyline, so I'm continue to watch this show and find out if Gonzo's going to take the tragic ending, like the original play, or just gone completely different in a way that would either delight people or just enraged Shakespeare fans further more (which I doubt, since there's not a lot or young fans ranting about this). I'm also delighted that Gonzo put some homages and references to Shakespeare plays, including William himself (though I don't remember him, being blond).

Quote of the Moment - "Why isn't Gonzo going to make Julius Caesar?!" - Me in thought that the chances of getting my favourite Shakespeare play (which I studied as part of that GCSE English literature exam) turned into an anime is going to be slim.

Gorillaz + Saiyuki - Three Good-Looking Men = Monkey

Last night, I went to see Monkey in the Palace Theatre in Manchester (England) with my cousin and what we watched as really amazing. At first, he and I thought this opera might not have the appeal to many young people and children, but once we found our seats, I was surprised to see that so many of them were waiting to see this collaboration by the makers behind Gorillaz (aka Jamie Hewlett and Damon 'Blur' Albarn) and Chen Shi-Zheng. And once the curtain draws up, the intro started wonderfully as our main hero, Monkey was born out of the egg (via stone) with wonderful animation and really amazing music that blends Western orchestra with Chinese traditional music and under the 'Gorillaz' music.



So, what are the bad points? Well, because the all of the songs were in Mandarin Chinese, I had a hard time trying to look for the subtitles (and it was below, dammit). However, that was only the bad point I've ever come across.



Now that the bad points out of the way, it's now time for the good points. I really love how this production mixes live-action with animation (that's really some great animation I've ever come across, plus it's British!) and I love the set and costume designs. I just want to hug Jamie Hewlett for producing this wonderful design, as not only original, but very charming indeed.



And then there's the music. It's really endearing and wonderful to listen to the performers singing Chinese harmonically with his [Damon Albarn] compostion and in actual fact, I want to get the soundtrack ASAP. No, really.



And what about the performances? The most important factor of them all and safely to say, they were wonderful and surprisingly funny. I love how Monkey is the star of the show and how the actor portrays him as a very comedic character (and I lol'd when he said about the Smoking Ban in England). I just love the acrobat and the action scenes that were choreographically spectacular (and better than the musicals I've ever come across).



I won't spoil the ending for you, but here are some pics of the programme that I picked up; with beautiful artwork by Jamie Hewlett.

Just click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you want. Whew, that's done, so now I'm going. For some odd reason, my favourite character happens to be Sandy. Not sure why.

Quote of the Moment - "The catchy chorus makes it a perfect attention-getter at karaoke parties." - Newtype USA's Climax Jump review. Now, how did this Toku opening from Den-O got to a mainly anime and manga magazine is beyond my knowledge. No, really.

Me Going to See Monkey Tomorrow

Yes, Riku-kun. You heard Rena-san right. Can't wait to see this interesting collab 'Circus' Oprea tomorrow at the Palace Theatre with my cousin (in Manchester, England of course), because it has the makers of Gorillaz did most of the music composition and art for this and I'm a fan of these two men.

Quote of the Moment - "When you put that way, it's a strong weapon. But, a skewer?!" - Johnny Garland from Shadow Hearts: From the New World. Aah, good ol'Nautilus. Still as crazy as ever with those final weapons. Though a rocket-launcher-flamethrower-shotgun-inside-one-guitar would always be my favourite unorthodox weapon. What?

OMG! Lil' Sis is RIGHT!

So there is a Tesco in China! And it's in Shanghai?!

What?

Quote of the Moment - "The British chain has become the latest foreign retailer to enter the fabled gold-mine of China." - BBC.co.uk - News Section. Though, I'm not really sure if a Tesco Bus in China ever existed...

Sisterly Tough Love

My little sister got pissed today. She wants to know why she didn't tell me that the Disgaea 2 manga's out now and now she wants me to buy it, when I know that the Manchester's Forbidden Planet and Travelling Man had sold out due to stock, but I either said that I refuse to get it for her or she would have to go by herself and order one from these two stores.

To be honest, I felt rather please on taking the role as her older sister, because I act like one and giving her the more tough sisterly love shows that she would have to stop relying on me to get her own desire by giving money to me, so that I could buy for her more and start going out more to do some more social stuff to enjoy herself and do something for herself.

Otherwise I have some fears that she would be isolated from her friends than anyone else in the world and instead of going out to enjoy herself (mentally and physically), she would choose to stay at home doing absolutely nothing (this is going to be worse when Summer arrives, as well as her taste as an university student in September when a lot of new friends came be made) and start relying on other people just to get things that she wanted and give money to me/him/her when she would have just do it by herself (yeah, I'm not much of a trustworthy sister to her, but I might have fears that other people as well as me, would just use her money just to buy his/her/my own desires and have some lies telling her and she would believe one bit).

*Sigh* I just want to teach her that she would only rely on me when things get serious on her and I have no choice, but to help as a sister or when she desperately want to get some emotional help.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to research on this anime called Lucky Star (and finding that damn manga!).

Quote of the Moment - "It's a love 'Y'!" - Will Powers talking about the Nickel Samurai's storyline from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attonery Justice for All.

All Things in Pirates, Court and My Enemy - Hayfever

YOSH! FINALLY! I got the first Phoenix Wright game and yes, Manfred von Karma is on my favourite lists of villains. He's a really cool (OMG! Headbang!) and yet at the same time, scary prosecutor who wants to get anything to have a guilty verdict. And then there's Damon Gant - *shudders* seriously, he's one really scary Police Chief when you meet him.

And then recently I watched Pirates of the Carribean 3. And although the movie had some cool fights, characters and managing to fill up the loose ends to the last two movies, the storyline was pretty much weak (a wee confusing to me, even though I watched the last two Pirates) itself, only being saved by Johnny Depp's performance on Jack Sparrow and cameo appearances from The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Chow Yun Fat (Dammit! Why did Sao Feng had a *CENSORED FOR SPOILER'S SAKE* appearance?! He was such a cool Pirate Captain!).

Eurgh. June...I hate that month, because there's only one thing that Ladymercury didn't have in her nice home in Flordia, while I'm suffering from - Hayfever. I hate that month, because whenever I go outside and see flowers everywhere, my nose would increase the sneezing by about ten times from normal and then follow the 'itching' inside my mouth (just don't ask) and sometimes rubbing my eyes (until I rub them too much).

Just give me July...I would do anything to make the Hayfever stop coming to ruin my life evey year!

Quote of the Moment - "Elizabeth: This is madness!
Capt. Jack Sparrow: This is politics!" - Pirates of the Carribean 3: At World's End; on about that even Pirates have their own Organization and not just going around at sea looting and killing random people.

Oh, look! A Spam in My Comment Box

-_-; Yeah, right. I may a great spiritual faith in my body and soul, but I don't exactly follow the Pope's rules! Eurgh. One sentence to Jehovah's Witnesses:

LOL! YOU NEVER GOING TO WIN PEOPLE'S MIND! JENOVA'S WITNESSES WILL TAKE OVER YOUR ORGANASATION AND WE WILL RULE THE WORLD BY SAYING THAT SEPHIROTH IS GOD AND YOU MUST WORSHIP HIS GOOD LOOKS AND LONG PLATIUM HAIR, ALONG WITH HIS DEAR OLD MOTHER! LOL!

(Oh, yeah. To people who have a good sarcastic sense of humour and are really pissed at seeing Jehovah's Witnesses coming to knock your door, Jenova's Witnesses does not exist and if there is one (yeah, right. Prove me wrong), I doubt anyone would worship a popular villain with his mother who really doesn't look like a popular villain.)

Quote of the Moment - "WE ARE ALL DOOMED!" - My thoughts of seeing a typical Jehovah's Witness.

Yay! \^_^\ Good News /^_^/Yay!

Ladymercury had just finally opened the Takeru Sato Fanbook Project/Fanlisting site! If you're a fan of the star from Kamen Rider Den-O and PuriPuriD (that's Princess Princess D for curious-minded girls or men who wouldn't want to go to crossdressing), then I strongly suggest you should visit this website that took the webmistress more effort than me trying to work out the differences between JavaScript and Flash.

m u l t i t a l e n t e d: A Takeru Sato fanlisting + fanbook

And for added bonus, she also added a Kamen Rider Den-O fanlisting for any fan to join and say you like Den-O (and for the fact that you like the main characters and supporting characters more than Souji 'Asshole who Walks the Heaven' Tendou!

catch the wave...a kamen rider den-o fanlisting

Eurgh. Tomorrow, I'm going to move back to Manchester, which means I only got a few hours to watch the next RAW episode of Den-O. T_T Damn.

Quote of the Moment - "Oh no. Not another Big Brother shite show!" - Me getting angry that Big Brother's coming to ruin UK television screens, yet again.

Reggae, Reggae...

Just today, I went food shopping and thanks to Levi Roots and his catchy song over at YouTube, I managed to buy...

Reggae Reggae Sauce! XD Heehee, I'm going to have my tastebuds a nice kickstart and after a nice pop into Sainsburys, I went to the Post Room to get some mail and look at what just have arrived...

A John Barrowman autograph! \(^_^\ /(^_^)/ Oh yeah! Let's celebrate! And in case you don't remember, John Barrowman's Captain Jack in not only Doctor Who, but also in its spinoff series, Torchwood! Gotta thanks BorgmanJayce for bringing such a nice autograph to me after the 'Doctor Momo' incident over at dA and the HJU Forums. Oh yeah! To celebrate, I'm going to cook Bacon sandwich with...Reggae Reggae sauce!
Quote of the Moment - "Put some music in your food!" - Levi Roots and that catchy Reggae Reggae Sauce song! ^_^

Paint and Nomura

Blegh. Today, I had to paint the walls and fill some holes in studio. Got really tired, but in the end, it was all worth the effort. Except for that Polish bitch who acts so arrogant and thinks she can rule the world with her fist.

Anyway, this picture is going to either make my younger cheer or cry, because of this (excuse the Kintaros pun):



At first, I thought an illustration of Zidane from Final Fantasy IX looked like it came from one of Tetsuya Nomura's portfolios, but when I looked at the source, I found out that this IS one of his character designs. Still, at least he didn't add any extra accessories on him. BTW, this is from Dissidia: Final Fantasy and it's like a beat 'em up, only with more Super Smash Brothers into it or something.

Quote of the Moment - "Zzzz...." - Me sleeping after having enough of reading volumes 10 and 11 of Death Note.

Goodbye Zero, Hello Degree

Well, here it is. A photo of me, saying my last farewell to the studio that I've been here for some months or something and when September comes, then my dream is coming true! 3D Design and Concepts here I come! And yeah, I recently bought a DS Lite along with a couple of extras and a copy of Hotel Dusk and Children of Mana each, hence the hands position holding this white box.

And before the walls are going to completely covered up them with a lick of white paint, here's a picture of my wall drawing of a random girl. Man, my drawing styles did change for the better, huh?

Quote of the Moment - "My final project involves a little girl, a sheep and a rabbit." Me, saying on what my final project for the exhibition that I'm supposed to do.

Catholic Manga

Is it just me or is the UK Catholic Church now going to the manga scene? Yeah, don't stare at me like that, as a manga, anime, video game and TV fan for around 6 years or so ago, as well as being a Catholic for all my life; I'm pretty surprised that even manga has spread the Catholic Church too.

Hmm, if I see a Catholic Manga coming out in print sometime on the shelf, I might take a flick arond the pages and see it they can keep up with actual Japanese mangas. The Alex Rider manga was good enough, because it actually has Japanese artists; so I'm intrigued to see on how the UK Catholic Church take on this format. (Haha, to Pope Benedict XVI and the folks over at the Vatican. Why haven't you come up with a plan like the UK one?)

Oh, if you don't believe me, here's the source.

Quote of the Moment - “We have chosen the Manga cartoons for the 2007 campaign, because we hope it will appeal to young people under twenty as well as people in their thirties.” - Fr. Paul Embery, Director of the National Office for Vocation

Reflection on an Unlucky Rider

ARGH! That's it. It's official. I think I ran out of steam when it comes to do anything for University. Yeah, what's worse is that I have to do this exhibition work this year and already, my brain has had enough for me on to work (and that includes portfolio work on the course that I really wanted to do so badly! T_T). I had enough of having some advice to my female Level Zero Art and Design teacher and I'm going to take an Easter Break, to get my brain refresh.

In other news, I just love Takeru Sato's (or the guy who's portraying Ryotaro Nogami from Kamen Rider Den-O) blog. Always witting and sarcastic and yet; very mature and calm at the same time; unlike Hidenori Tokuyama's blog (or that guy who portrayed 'Kick Hopper' Yagurama from Kamen Rider Kabuto), whose entries are just full really random hyperactive stuff on his views on everyday life, anime and manga (though I suspect that he should get the Ryutaros part. I just somehow knew that his 'Yotsuba' personality should be perfect for Ryutaros' voice. What? I'm just saying...) But this particular entry, how should I say it? Just beautiful and emotional (I nearly shed a tear on that). Though I laughed a bit when I found out that he always sleeping in class and got told off by his teacher; which is exactly like mine (my chemistry 'Pike' teacher always told me off for sleeping in class for example, and another is when I was in 2nd Year of secondary school, where I fell asleep in History lesson for 5 minutes, until my friend woke me up and I had to catch up big time)! XD

And for an extra treat for those who are Takeru Sato fans, you can read the interview and discover why he has cat pictures on his mobile/cell phone. I've got to thank my Toku friend and HJU'er (Surprisingly, I'm also a HJU'er too!), Ladymercury, for translating on the Kamen Rider actors' blog, even though they're not 100% accurate! Now, if you excuse me, I've got to dash off for this crappy Contextual Studies lecture, where I'm going to ask people in front some silly questions that came from either trivia things or the 'Book of General Ignonrance' (thank you QI, Stephen Fry and Alan Davies).

Quote of the Moment - "All the people I made friends with. I have to realistically consider it'll be difficult to gather everyone again, though I will be happy that if they haven't changed (over the years)." - Takeru Sato on how he's going to miss his friends after graduating. Cheer up, boy! I'll be supporting you all the way! And thanks Ladymercury for the translation. Where would I be without you?

OMG! SUGARBABES!

I only just realised now, but for some reason, looking at the Britpop group, Sugarbabes , is like looking at JPop group, Morning Musume.

Similarly, both of them has some member change, which is somewhat reasonable enough to realise now.

Quote of the Moment - "YOU DAMN TURTLE!" - Momotaros from Kamen Rider Den-O, after being drugged by Urataros. What?

Insert Monty Pyhton Joke

Oh yeah! There's going to be a Life of Brian Musical soon!

After watching the Monty Python movie twice (one on rented DVD and the other on New Year's Day with my lil sis), I can't wait to see if that 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' bit is still intact and let's face it, it wouldn't be a complete Life of Brian without it. That, or the now-infamous line of 'He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy'.

As for what I'm going to do for my art project, hmm, well after seeing some rather grim pictures of wooden warp sculptures and stuff, I think I'm going for the Yotsuba&! path and blend it with some art satire where I take the piss out of my Level 0 art and design teacher. Heehee, that'll teach her when it comes to observation and declare it as art.

Quote of the Moment - "Be careful. Each word is a hundred hooks, a thousand meanings and ten thousand lies." - Urataros (Smexy-Glasses-possessed-Ryoutarou) from Kamen Rider Den-O; probably the best quote for ages IMO, since Godot from Gyakuten Saiban 3 (aka Phoenix Wright: Ace Attonery) came up with the coolest lines.

Why did I imagine that Ryutaros and Jan make Great Friends

Argh! I can't get my imagination out of my head, but seriously. I think that Ryutaros, a.k.a that purple Gun Form Ryo (when in Ryotaro-possessed mode) from Kamen Rider Den-O and Jan Kando from Jūken Sentai Gekiranger would make great friends (well, Momotaros was the alternative choice, but even this punk Imagin wasn't as crazy as Ryutaros), because:

• Both of them really have a mind of a mischevious child, who wanted nothing, but shear mischief and fun to the environment they live in.
• They're both difficult to control themselves down and both giving the main cast of Den-O and Gekiranger a hard time to deal with.

The only difference I can think of is their appearances, but that's about it. And if both of them should meet each other up and hang out together, this is my imaginative scenario...

Ryutaros: Hey Jan, wanna hang out with me and have some 'fun'?
Jan: *Nods head very cheerfully with a devil's smile on his face and speaks in a 'Jan' language ir whatever*
Ryutaros: All right! Let's dump this place!

*Several minutes later and Tokyo becomes from a clean city, to one hell mess of a place, where lots of Rinseries, some famous previous Kamen Rider Kaijins are running amok, with buildings on fire, people running and screaming all over the place and with the main cast members' faces from Den-O and Gekiranger varied from Hana's mouth wide open in shock to Ran and Retsu's expressions to shear horror.*

Ryutaros: *Laughs like a complete idiot* That was fun, wasn't it, Jan?
Jan: *Grins very happily*

*Then the main cast of Den-O and Gekiranger appeared from behind them...*

Everyone (including Ryotaro's voice, whose body is currently possessed by Ryutaros): NO, WE'RE NOT! YOU'VE RUINED TOKYO FOR JUST SHEER FUN!

And that's about it. XD I so want to see this as a good crossover bit, like the one in Kamen Rider Kabuto/Boukenger bit, where BoukenRed enters into the cafe in Kabuto with Tendou and let the hilarious interaction take place. And I'll say one more time: if Jan from Gekiranger was asked on what his best friend other than a panda is, it would have to be Ryutaros from Kamen Rider Den-O. The chemistry between the two in terms of friendship would be hilarious and horrifying, depending on the characters' view, as well as the fans.

Quote of the Moment - "He was scouted by Scratch because he personifies the "Body" (体, Tai^?) of a Gekiranger: he can be pinned against the ground by a big log with no harm at all." - Gekiranger's Wikipedia entry on Jan. At least, unless someone changes it...

And I thought Blackpool's going get it...

Great. I'm feeling under the weather, my throat hurts and it seems the flu caught me, but that doesn't stop the surprise news to me.

It all started when I was going to the toliet and then suddenly as I 'went there', at the same time, the radio announced that Manchester has won the bet to have a super casino. And this is my thought about this:

EH?!

Of course, I was born and lived in Manchester (though I now live in Stoke-on-Trent for university purposes), but this is very much surprising to me. I thought that either Blackpool or Greenwich were getting it, but since Blackpool is part of the North West region and Greenwich already has the Olympics to worry about, I guess it makes sense. But now, I'm starting to worry about the gambling addiction or something. Oh well, if Manchester's super casino doesn't have an arcade with at least one DDR machine, I'm not going in!

BTW, if you want to see the whole news, you can at least click here.

Quote of the Moment - "I hope this show stays on track." - One of the messages from some Henshin forum, where they are making some Kamen Rider jokes (oh come on, what's wrong with comparing Densha Otoko?)

God! I love this cute, yet really weak Rider!

Just watched a RAE episode of Kamen Rider Den-O and by God, not only it was funny and nicely serious at the same time, but I'm starting to <3 that Ryotaro guy! OH come on, guys, at least it's a nice refreshing change from the previous Kamen Rider series that I've seen (ok, I only watched a bit of Ryuki (until I put off after 3 episodes, as I couldn't stand Shinji's character), some Blade (argh! Now why do I have a crush on that Undead Rider guy?) and most of Kabuto (Grandmother says: "I forgot that line."), though not Faiz or 555 or whatever, as well as the other older Kamen Rider series)! And I think there are some potentials in the show, like for one scene, where the 'Punk possessed' Ryo started to kick really big ass on the bullies, only that 'wimpy' Ryo actually 'stopped' him from doing so. He may seem to look like he's a wimp physically, but mentally, now that's what I called strength!

Urgh, I have to do some art stuff and I think my female art tutors, as well as that damn lecturer are starting to hate me for this....

Quote of the Moment - "H-h-henshin!" - Ryotaro Nogami from Kamen Rider Den-O and yes, he IS the unluckiest and weakest Rider in history...BUT it's impossible to love him! I want a Ryotaro plushie!