Bashing Younger Sibling Time!

Oh God, what is wrong with my younger sister?! Acting like she still got her 'teach-me-everything' inside her brain, always trying to be good to our mum and dad, which all adds to the absolutely opposite of me. My older sister can leave this behind as she already became an adult, but to be honest, I would rather let see my younger sister turn into a proper adult who can think for herself, rather than saying out loud to tell me my head is a size of shoe and that hers is like all things inside Wikipedia and out. And the way she told me about it was really offensive.

What I can describe best about my younger sister is that she's like a total Political Correctness machine gone berserk when it came to obeying parents and what really annoys me the most is that she's not the younger sister that I knew, since at a very young age. We were young, rebellious; always being so curious. But by the time we were old, I still have my curious trait intact, whereas my younger sister just abandoned and live in an oppressed world where your insanity is wiped clean.

In other words, this what happened last night; arguing each other to see who can have my bedroom, but I'm having none of that, because I need my bedroom to SLEEP, STUDY (well, okay not studying, but more like drawing things for University) AND GETTING CHANGED, but all that my younger sister has is that PC machine stuck in 'Nanny Mode' and trying to beat the crap out of me. And I hate that sort; younger siblings trying to turn me into them; being a emotionless git who always going to say 'yes' to my parents. Sorry, but I'm going to tell my younger sister that I do things the way I like and being an anarchist to a family is a nice change. Even my older sister was one of them. Except I'm going on to a different path. I'm going to teach my younger sister that there's always a time where you sometimes do need to break their laws and just do what you have to do. I'm going to abandon our sisterly ways and get her 'Always-Not-thinking-about-her-actions-and-tries-to-be-the-parents'-gold-star-attention' out of her systems.

Quote of the Moment - "She's crazy!" - My younger sister, *coughHANHcough*, describing about me and my personality. Good thing, my younger sister has never touched a blog and then write back on how much she's pisses me off back as I pissed her in the past on my blog entries. And better if she never started a blog account in the first place.

IT'S TOO BIG!!!

Been to Ikea in Ashton today, but let me tell you one thing...IT'S FRICKIN' HUGE! Both outside and inside! I mean look at the photo below!

And if that isn't enough, the store inside was confusing as my older sister and I were trying to find a nice desk, but it ended up like one hell of a maze. T-T Luckily for me, I know what the Ikea map system is like the last time I came (that was with my older sister and my dad at Warrington, but the size of the store wasn't that bad), but even the perils of 'Follow the Arrows' trail had cursed us with getting lost in such a huge store. And if that wasn't bad enough, the queue for the check-out is ridiculously long, but thankfully my older sister was paying by card and after some trouble (and a hot dog) we finally got what I want for (BTW it's a desk), went to the car park with no troubles on packing the boxes and went home. One piece of advice if you have the nearest Ikea store: Whatever you do, don't follow the arrows. You'll get lost easily. And go to the toilet before entering the showroom.

And just for a little bonus, here's a picture of Ryutaros laying down on some Swedish name rug. I wish I had one, but at roughly £60? Yeah, right! Hmm, all that Ikea experience, makes me want to make a Den-O/Ikea crossover fanfiction. Yeah, maybe I should make one right away!

And sorry, no QOTM. My throat's a little dry and sore.

And you thought Cat Fights weren't the only thing girls do

Today, my older sister and I have a sibling fight. Well, it's not one of those Cat Fights literally, but both of us have a really on-off relationship with each other. In fact, I love her when I feel depressed and that I needed help, but I also hate her, because she always thinks that she's the boss and that she tells me something that I disagree with her and that I would rather take things my way. And the same thing goes for hobbies, academic skills and interests. Worse still, she always tries to force me into something that not in a million years that I become her and if she still tries to make me become a better person, I rather do this myself.

And so the cat fight begins. She tries to make the offensive, I block her with my defensive skills up and manages to get away. If my older sister has read this blog entry, I would have been in deep trouble, because this blog is how I verey personally feel towards them and I'm going to have to explain, which I'm unprepared.

One thing to say to my older sister: *Raises a middle finger gesture* Me love controversy. I rather be kind to everyone and my younger sister than you. You always think of me on the outside, rather than the inside on what I'm really saying.

Quote of the Moment - "Oh shi-" Me when in deep trouble. I'm really hoping that my older sister doesn't know how to write a blog and then discover my blog.

Extremely Happy!

I am absolutely, positively happy about being successfully granted an internal transfer from Graphics to VFX (Visual Effets) in University. Now I can spend three years making my dream come true on getting into the video games industry. Just need to sort the enrolment out and I'll be set for the rest of my year.

So, You're Saying that you don't like women in real life?

Right, that's it! I'm now completely disgusted of what those men over at Rangerboard think of Hana during the Den-O discussion.

And to Black Fang and the other few men who think that Hana is useless: *Uses the middle finger on her left hand*

If you think that Hana is really useless in the last several episodes, then why do the Taros Imagin are not wrecking havoc inside Ryotaro's body, as well as outisde, if it wasn't for her keeping them in line from getting the poor boy in more trouble than he would have expected?! Or how about the time when young girls in Japan watching Den-O need a female role model, like her, so that they can be stronger in the future and stand up to them when they feel they've been hurt? Have you even thought about the kids who are younger than yourselves who needed a good role model than yourselvves?! For Christ's sake, you people should know that Kamen Rider Den-O is meant to be towards for young children, who are still learning and growing up. And you people, including Black Fang, have you got any shame that you're just being selfish towards others, including women in real life?

And if my evidence wasn't enough, how about strong women, like Hana, in dramas (whether it's Japanese or global), other Toku shows, anime, manga, video games, movies and other type of media? And here's just a few examples:

• Chun Hyang from CLAMP's Legend of Chun Hyang manga
• Rukia and Orihime from BLEACH
• Takiko from the manga; Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden
• Chun Li from the Street Fighter series
• Akira and Izm from the Akihabara@DEEP TV series
• Mia Fey from the Ace Attonery series
• Martha Jones from Doctor Who
• Osaka from Azumanga Daioh (well okay, she's not really the type of strong women, but she's the recently most influenental character the world has ever seen)
• Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII
• Fuu from Samurai Champloo (she's a bit like Hana, only she's the one keeping Jin and Mugen in line)
• Asuna from Mahou Sensei Negima
• Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura
• Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series
• Karou from Rurouni Kenshin
• Tokiko from Busou Renkin
• Jun Kazama from the Tekken series
• Zelda from the Legend of Zelda
• Lisa and Maggie Simpson from the Simpsons

And that's just more than a list. There's also girls and women, including me in real life who watches Den-O and when I saw your comment, I was deeply offended by you. So, in other words, do you hate women in real life who have very strong personalities and able to shut the men up or when they stand up for themselves to men who feel they are like second-rate citizens? Do you prefer women who are annoying, naive and weak-willed? Are you guys really one-minded if you don't like girls, who at first, look useless, only that they are very important? If you're like Black Fang from the Rangerboard forums, then I suggest you go out, take another hobby besides watching Toku, and see how you look at women in real life, as well as in fiction. There, I hope that opens your eyes men.

And as for you, Black Fang, WHY DON'T YOU WATCH ANOTHER TOKU SHOW BESIDES THE KAMEN RIDER SERIES, LIKE LION MARU G OR WECKER SIGNA OR EVEN GUYFRED?! OR EVEN WATCH AN ANIME SHOW AT LEAST ONCE?! OR EVEN BETTER, TAKE ANOTHER HOBBY BESIDES WATCHING!!! GEEZ, it's like your future is going to worse than bleak for you.

Quote of the Moment - "For thine is the high school, the home and the kokatsu, A! MEN" - The Osaka Prayer that I found on the /azu/ board.

The Problem with Nightly Prayers (or why being a Catholic isn't working for me)

Most of my family will never going to understand me of why I skip nightly prayers for most of the time (that's pretty much tradition to Vietnamese Catholic families, but I don't see my cousin's family do that or the majojrity of the Vietnamese families themselves) is because of this: My most lame excuse is that I went to the bathroom for so long, but that isn't my true reason for this - it's my struggle to accept that there is a God and that I should say some prayers to him is the one that I can't accept the fact, plus the fact that being a Catholic makes me feel un-enlighten. It's a good thing neither of my family members are going to read this blog, since none of them has got a blog and start doing some emo entries on me (well, at least my mum's not computer-literate).

Because I was brought as a Catholic, my dad (the strongest Catholic of all my family) expects me to do some Catholic things, while at the same time blend in with normal stuff. However, as I grew up and my dad wants everyone to say prayers every night, I just simply lost myself between being an agnostic or being an atheist, because when I tried to pray to God night after night, the expected results aren't always working and then afterwards, I gave up that praying isn't working to someone who neither exists nor just made-up and that I should put my faith into myself and start doing things to get the work done, instead on relying Him.

Another reason is that I have secretly got manic depression and have some suicidal thoughts in my head. Yes, I was the middle child, but neither my parents nor my older sister really cared for or how I'm actually feeling, because if I say things that's anything controversial or something to do suicidal, then they want me to get psychiatric help. But that doesn't work for me, because the specialist never thoroughly looked at me - he or she just looked what's on the outside with the body language, instead of what's really inside my mind. So I keep those thoughts to myself and only tell my darkest secrets to someone that truly understands on what I feel. The same goes for my disillusions of my spiritual enlightenment of being a Catholic.

And there's no way I'm going to convert to Jehovah's Witness (too many people say that modern medicine = No-no); Evangelical Christian (their high-energy music about how great Jesus Christ is, is just too much for me, they make me want to commit suicide); Islam (oh no, I'm not ready to give up alcohol forever); Scientology (Eeew, who would want to believe Tom Cruise and the silly little Church that has some issues with animals) or any other cult religion. They're just wanna make me commit suicide after one day of joining.

*Sigh* I rather want to enjoy life without the need of a Prayer than doing that.

Quote of the Moment - "I knew it! Cheesy storyline!" - My younger sister talking about Hoshigami Remix.

Woohoo! Got Someone Converted!

I managed to convince my younger sister to watch the JDrama, Akihabara@Deep after I told her the basic storyline and that it had some anime and manga references in there.

After watching the first episode (btw, this is a Director's Cut version we were watching), she found is very amusing and she likes it! ^_^

Oh yeah! Next stop, attempting to make her watch Kamen Rider Den-O!

Quote of the Moment - "P-p-p-p-p-p-planning Time!" - Page from Akihabara@Deep. God, I love this show more than Densha Otoko!

Why on Earth Excel and Me Hate Each Other #23232

Grrr. I hate that stupid job. It's just that, when it comes to anything to do with Excel-related and either my Dad or my older sister wants me to do, I actually drop that interest immediately. Microsoft Excel and me do not get along well with each other. EVER . It's all that jumbled ICT skill crap and Spreadsheet shit, as well as a pinch of mathematics, that made me wanna murder Excel. Literally with a knife. I hate Excel more than Word. I hate putting things that was written on the sheet.

I rather have my Dad or older sister ask me to do some graphic design on the leaflets or the shop sign, than doing this Spreadsheet crap. I hate is when either of them have never recongised my artistic potentials on getting more money for my Dad's business. Especially them. They don't really care on artistic people like me. One minute they look at an object that was created by a person who worked really hard on making this beautiful and the next minute, they shrugged and leave without a comment and instead, focus on business this, business that. Only my younger sister really does care about that. My Dad and older sister should burn in Hell and suffer for making me suffer Middle Child Syndrome. I wish I was born under a Japanese family who have artistic background.

Quote of the Moment - "I knew I should have swapped Grapic Design instead of ICT." - Me talking about my GCSE results. I got a D in ICT if you want to know.

Anothr Kind of Sentai (SPOILER!)

Been watching Chou Sei Shin Gransazer a few days and I must say, I'm crying. At first, I thought it's another Super Sentai clone, but instead, it became such an emotional series, due to the right combination of drama, comedy and action all rolled into one. Let's see, I love the suit design (no surprise it's from the guys behind Ultraman) and even the villains are likable too. Damn, I felt extremely sorry for Impactors Logia when Lucia died. Even though they're the main villains so far (haven't watched all of the episodes), they do have a heart and feelings and even Logia loves Lucia (and their suits desgin were way better than the Super Sentai that I've seen). It's like Shadow Hearts: From the New World all over again.

I want to give Logia a reat big hug. So, seriously.

Quote of the Moment - "How many...dyed?" - Rufus Shrina from that FF7 skit. I lol'd. A good medicine after crying over Lucia's death and Logia's loss.

To the People who Email Me about their Problems...

...STOP F**KING SENDING THOSE PERSONAL PROBLEM EMAILS TO ME!!! YOU, PEOPLE DRIVE ME MAD THIS INSTANCE ON EVERY TIME YOU GIVE ME AN EMAIL SAYING THAT YOU HAVE DEATH THREATS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES OR YOU NEED GETTING THEIR ATTENTION OR SOMETHING!!! IF YOU WANT TO HAVE THOSE PROBLEMS SOLVED, THEN DO IT BY YOURSELF!!! I know that it will risk your exposure, but at least it's better than sending out emails that I don't know about you!

Quote of the Moment - "17 August - 5 September" - Estimated delivery date for that Okami artbook from Amazon.co.uk. Damn.

Insert GASP! Here

Is that even the Amani Riku that I know? I thought it was just Allen Walker from D. Grayman replacing him while being kidnapped by Takao or something.

Quote of the Moment - "Can I erase you? Can't hear you!" - Ryutaros from Kamen Rider Den-O

Oh Look! Emo Girl Entry Time!

It's official. I'm now more depressed than crack. I'm one of the few Vietnamese people who doesn't act like Vietnamese at all. I mean, I know I have potential for all things creative and anything to do with art and design, but when it comes to family values, none of my family members, not to mention my ENTIRE family tree has ever done art and design as their careers, though I begin to suspect my father was regretting that he sacrificed photography for computer science (I can tell. He has a really good traditional SLR camera somewhere), which he took beautiful pictures.

And then, there's the middle child syndrome in my family. Unfortunately, when I read some articles about the middle child syndrome on the web, a lot of them are really true and it's pretty scary to see why. My parents and my sisters, they're always treating me like a second citizen or they're just ignore me or blaming me for things that I haven't even done wrong or worse, all of them above. And yeah, I never take orders from my younger sister, just because she said she's got a 'job' (IMHO, that's just her favour to help our father) and claimed she's doing it for money and she thinks she's all high and mighty and would just be a very spoiled brat on telling on what she wants as long as she's got money around. But, I always think that money has more problems than solutions *coughallworkandnoplaymakeHanhaveryveryverydullgirl*. The same goes for my older sister, though that's from a different path, but still, she never undersatnds on what I'm actually saying, as well as actually feel when my younger sister and/or my parents blame me for the wrong reasons. And the worse thing is...

...my parents have more attention toward my older sister and younger sister than me, just because I'm more creative and have some potentials that would have make such an impact to gain some profit for my father's shop. ;_; I just wish they would listen to me and understand me more by reason, rather than just looking at me straight away. And yes, I'm the oddest out of my family. I need a hug.

Quote of the Moment - "I've got suicidal thoughts in my head and yet, I always discussed with my only friend that I trust apart from my family member...my brain." - Me.

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:

More Den-O in Anime!

If you thought people in Japan just couldn't get enough of seeing more Den-O in anime, then think again!

Recently, I got interested in this manga and anime called Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (or the official translation, according to the animation staff, called So Long, Mr. Despair) and what I found while watching episode 2 was seeing Momotaros' famous catchphrases appearing on the wall and the chalkboard! XD If you don't believe, try clicking on these two links below.

'Ore, sanjou! (P.S. Look at the right hand side of the wall)'

'When I start, it's already the climax!'

Quote of the Moment - "I'm in Despair!" - Nozomo Itoshiki from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (or So Long, Mr. Despair, depending on which side you're on).

Yay! Den-O's going to be an Anime

Not! I'm just kidding, but right after I watched the RAW version of Den-O episode, I saw this screenshot from this anime I don't know. What's so surprising to me, is that for some odd reason, not only does this strange-looking DenLiner appears, but also Owner, Hana and Momotaros are in there as well! O_O What? You don't believe me, why not look at the screenshot below (and if some kindly person would tell us what anime is this from, I would be grateful).



Oh yes, before I go, even Keroro Gunsou (Sgt. Frog for those who don't know Japanese), parodies Den-O too. Seriously, I think TOEI might going to do an anime spin-off of Den-O!



Quote of the Moment - "Listen very carefully. I shall say this only once." Michelle from 'Allo, 'Allo! God, I love this show, even though it's only a couple of years old.

EDIT! I know now that the first screenshot is actually from Hayate no Gotoku (or Hayate the Combat Butler for those who have the VIZ manga).

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.

How Not to Get Your 15 Minutes of Fame

Mwahahahahaha! My Bleach fanart and even though I'm not much of a fan myself (my younger sis is and she got me into this manga and anime), I sometimes watch some episodes just to get some heartful laughs, whether it's the side story episodes, that Shinigami Colour Illustration Golden shorts or something or that Arrancar Research Timeshort Gin 'Urataros' Ichimaru hosts or something. And now, thanks to Kamen Rider Den-O (and mainly the voice actors who were in BLEACH), I have this funny dream recently about Ryotaro, Hana, Yuto and the others ended up visiting that Soul Society place and follows in really unexpected events. XD

Quote of the Moment - "Ka-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-mi!" - Tsurugi Kamishiro from Kamen Rider Kabuto

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?