Ah, what a year it’s been! For my last mega-post of 2008, I tackle another mixed bag of “Rock Band” sessions, a year’s truckload of anime speed-reviews and faves, and a sparkly sprinkle of otaku thanks and wishes. So happy holidays and all the rest. Now on with the show…
Author Archives: xjaymanx
Blog 181 > Snowy Vegas & Shining Anime
So is my blog snowing too much? Well, at least Shagh thinks it’s fine, lol. And I’m pretty sure Koshiko, Meimi132 and Blowfish don’t mind, lol. Yup, digital snowflakes, snowy Vegas and shining anime. What could be better? Hmm, maybe more than 40 photos? Including sultry Elwing? Or sexy Xecty? Why not?
Blog 180 > Snowball’s Chance – Teaser
What the frak? Blizzard in Vegas? Bakana! Like I mentioned on Puppy-Chun’s blog, I believed it snowed in Vegas only *one day* in the last *three years*! Until today. At least six hours of non-stickable snow, followed by another six hours of stickable snow. Accumulation of up to eight inches deep. The worst Vegas snowstorm in years, if not decades! Damn, after slipping and sliding on the slow-ass highway drive home, I was lucky it took only an hour, lol. More pics coming soon…
By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask this. With all the different blog types, how do you prefer to get notifications? Some blogs feature a subscribe-able follow-up email notification with new comments, others don’t. Of course, there’s also the option to subscribe to a blog’s comments via an RSS reader. But RSS comments can get annoying if the blog gets too many daily comments to follow. Then there’s Meimi132‘s clever method of commenting back, not on her own blog, but on her commenter’s blog. Yet it can be tough to string together a discussion without duplicating them on one’s own blog, lol. Or do you just use the *brute force* approach of going through all of your favorite blogs on a regular basis? So what do you do? Which do you prefer?
Like I said, more pics coming soon…
Blog 179 > Death of Mice & Expression
What? The title? Yeah, I know, pretty strange if not cryptic title. That’s what happens at 4am in the morning, haha. But don’t worry, it’ll all make sense in the end. Mice. Bamboo. Wood. Apples. Dragons. Moons. Water. Yeah, it’ll all make sense. I hope. Good luck, lol.
Blog 178 > Blog Antics & Anime Battles
Holy crap! I’ve got so much crap to talk about that I may not fit in any anime crap, lol. But I’ll try. From old layouts to new readers, from post updates to blog widgets, from shiny iMacs to blazing Zazzles, and maybe some random tunes too. But what else? Anime mascots? Seems like every anime blog is caving in with their own new mascot~ not only Mimi, but Koshiko, Dancing Queen and the latest Meimi132 too~ inspired by DC no doubt, lol. Fortunately, I haven’t succumbed to peer pressure… yet, lol. But we’ll see.
Blog 177 > Mimi’s Zazzle & iMac’s Dazzle
Oooh, a new post… Ahhh, the lazy rainy-to-sunny holidays… Awww, thanx again Mimi-chan for your gracious mention of our Zazzle T-shirts. Like I commented on your post, 50% of the proceeds will be donated to your college fund~ because MIT is freakin’ expensive! Moreover, thanx to Lindsay@Zazzle for modelling our virtual T-shirt image~ doesn’t she make the shirt look smexy?
Blog 176 > All-Night Rock Band Party!
Ahh, time for yet another non-anime post, lol… This time, it’s about the increasingly popular and addictive Rock Band 2. While I’ve only played it at 2 different parties this year, it’s pretty damn amazing. For those unfamiliar, it’s hard to describe with mere words. It’s as if video gaming, playing instruments and karaoke are all magically fused with the power of rock-and-roll into an awesome team-playing experience. Nope, not something a lone otaku can duplicate in front of the computer screen, lol. But first things first, I’ll start at the beginning…
Blog 175 > Daughter of Punk Trooper
Yup, Angsty Momo. If you’ve visited Mimi’s blog last week, you’ll recognize her pink-haired teen mascot, lol. In a nutshell, her name is Momo. An angsty 17-year-old only-child with some curious tastes. And an interstellar genius in the year 2409 EYE (Earth Year Equivalent), lol. Here are the 750×750 square and 1680×1050 wallpaper versions. ^_^
Blog 174 > Wild Anime & Final Figures
Yup, another dose of chaotic anime, scorching figures, and random personal events shot-from-the-hip, lol. Since my roommate might be moving out next month, mid-December, due to her financial crunch, here’s our first pic-of-the-post in honor of Lisa. More details below. Maybe. Enjoy the ride!
Blog 173 > The Punk Trooper – Video
Are you sick and tired of Imperial Stormtroopers who can’t aim or blast the side of a barn to save their lives? Are you sick and tired of Jedi Apprentices who can’t find peace without a Master? Well, enter the Stormtrooper drop-out, Jedi outcast, and bounty-hunter-in-black~~ “Punk Trooper”, lol.
Like I first explained in my second audio broadcast and teased again in my last post, I dressed up (or God-forbid “cosplayed”, lol) in my original character for the Halloween lunch at work. And as my video hopefully shows, it was a “blast”, pun intended, hehe.
Blog 172 > The Punk Trooper – Teaser
Just a teaser, lol. Full post coming soon… So how was your Halloween?
Blog 171 > From Drunk to Punk Trooper
xJAYMANx_broadcast 002
“From Drunk to Punk Trooper”
Saturday, 1:15am, 25 Oct 2008
MP3 Length 16:27 Minutes
- OP – “Virgin’s High” by MELL from the anime “Sky Girls” [2007].
- Second broadcast, hope not as crackly and staticky
- Jackie Chan‘s and Woo Ping’s ground-breaking 1978 Hong Kong film Drunken Master
- Got 89th figure Queen’s Gate Alice; Potter-esque “Zero no Tsukaima” (4 of 5 stars)
- Anime in a philosophical light: No art is stupid? Anime is art? So no anime can be stupid?
- Hated Metropolis, disliked Amazing Nurse Nanako
- Sent in my absentee ballot, voted for NONE of the above candidates, liberating
- Japanese street fashion, funny stuff, lol
- “Punk Trooper”, Stormtrooper or Jedi drop-out, bounty hunter in black, jack of all trades
- Katana bokken, test for Halloween costume, damn helmet so hot to wear or breathe
- Punk Trooper!
- ED – “Last Regrets” by Ayana from the anime “Kanon” [2006].
Blog 170 > Anime Rocks & Lisa Returns
Whew! Yup, this is gonna be a massive post, ranging from rockin’ anime to wacky roommates, so rest your feet and take a seat. First, let’s whip past a few anime series I’ve completed since my last post…
Blog 169 > MP3 Audio Broadcast 001
xJAYMANx_broadcast
Saturday, 9:15pm, 11 Oct 2008
MP3 Length 13:33 Minutes
- OP – “Into the Battlefield” from Crows Zero [2007].
- Stuffy nose, cold weather, Miko sick, hope u feel better
- Rearranging house, plasma TV soon, remove old wood shelves, TV stand, sit on floor
- Behind on blogs, website to design
- Mimi‘s comment on high-school classroom, feng shui?
- Lisa is home, Guiness the dog is there
- Danny’s blog, Mimi’s comment on hikikomori vs. otaku
- Behind on TV shows and anime, Harry Potter 5
- Lucky Star OVA, Sayonara Mr. Despair (Zetsubou Sensei), WTF LOL, 4 of 5 stars
- Star Wars (Clone Wars) TV, Roughnecks (Starship Troopers), good formula for kids, Yoda!
- Crows Zero, 8 Mile, Eminem, Lose Yourself, D12
- Treadmill, hours editing a blog post, pain in the butt, life of a blogger, too lazy to write up
- ED – “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile [2002] by Eminem.
Blog 168 > Crows Zero & Clannad Two
Yeah, as you can probably tell from my past posts, I *hate* to write long reviews as much as I *hate* to read them. People will like what they like, and watch what they watch. Especially if they don’t like to be spoiled, like myself. So I’m not in any rush to be the first one or loudest one to say “Hey, look at me! I watched this!” Or even worse, I’m not gonna give a pretentious scene-by-scene review of how observant or perceptive I might be. Okay, maybe one or two observations, lol. Instead, just a brief summary of my overall thoughts and emotions. So here goes…
Blog 167 > Code Geass & Dark Knight
Ah, Code Geass… Whatever anyone else says, it’s still undeniably “ambitious and wide-sweeping… still one of the most-intellectually engaging 5-star series” I’ve ever seen, ranking alongside other epic animes like “Death Note” and “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”. I finished the final episode last night, but since I’m too lazy to write any more thoughts on it, I’ll direct you to my past comments, lol.
- Blog 149 > Britannia Versus Galactica – My “Code Geass” post last month.
- Code Geass Is Like Crime and Punishment – My comment on Mimi’s “Turn 22” post.
- Code Geass R2 23 – My comment on Mimi’s “Turn 23” post.
- Code Geass R2 Turn 24 was EPIC – My comment on Mimi’s “Turn 24” post.
- To All You Evil Bastards Who Hated Lelouch – My comment on Mimi’s “Turn 25” post.
- Anime: Code Geass R2 EP25 -END- – My quick comment on Justin’s in-depth post.
Oops, sorry, I lied. I’ve got one more intriguing thought. While wandering Wikipedia, I stumbled upon a fascinating comparison. The Wiki article on Lelouch Lamperouge describes him as a Byronic Hero. In other words, as privileged yet outcast, perceptive yet flawed, cunning yet conflicted as another dark Byronic Hero ~~ Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman. Wow, never would’ve made the connection before. But yeah, they definitely share the same intense burdens of a secret identity, sacrificing personal happiness, and wielding their righteous power from the shadows. Lelouch Lamperouge’s Zero and Bruce Wayne’s Batman. Both symbols of dark justice in their respective worlds.
P.S. On a lighter note, thanx Miko for cheering me up, and for the awesome tracks! If anyone wants to listen to the Korean artist Nell, just click on the Box.net tracks which appear in the right-most column of my blog. Easy. Enjoy! >_<
Blog 166 > Asian Pride & Perfection
Saturday, Sept 27th, 2008 > Happy 39th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!… After reading Mimi’s recent blog post ~ Asians Can Be So Competitive ~ in the light of my parent’s anniversary tomorrow, I guess I wrote a reply not only to her post, but to myself as well. So please read her post first to get the full context of my thoughts below, lol.
Blog 165 > Space Pirate Blue – NSFW
Hehe, yup, more “girls with guns”!… Less than a couple weeks after my mesmerizing Fumie From Edelweiss photoshoot, I bring my latest figure photoshoot of 1/8-scale “Space Pirate Blue” from Masamune Shirow‘s Intron Depot 4 – Bullets (2004) color-illustration artbook. Pre-ordered back in June 2007 (Blog 086) and received in November 2007, I finally decided to do her photoshoot. Quite a drastic punk-edged change from the wind-blown Fumie. Bright-blue hair, slick-black leather and yup, lots of skin, lol.
Like before, for this Canon DSLR photoshoot, I used my (a) ceiling light, (b) two halogen desk lamps, plus (c) my camera flash, to collect about 150 shots in about 120 minutes. Finally, I painstakingly narrowed the 150 shots down to 111 shots (hard to choose!). To compensate for the too-warm yellowish tinge of the lamps in such a blue environment, I used Photoshop to apply a simple Cooling Photo Filter (82) at 25% density (in addition to my standard resizing and watermarking). A simple yet vivid adjustment, hehe.
That’s about it! Enjoy the shoot! Don’t forget to tell me your faves and I’ll make the 10-20 best into wallpapers, lol.
Warning > I recommend Firefox 2/3 since IE 6/7 tends to break under the photo pressure, argh.
Link to DannyChoo.com > Member News >>
My Anime Photoshoots >>
My Anime Wallpapers >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (111) >>
Blog 164 > Mimi Says
Hahaha, when I read the last line of this blog post, the words suddenly called to me, begging for a Despair poster, lol. But what image to use? So I hopped onto Google. Then somehow, I don’t remember how, I stumbled upon this random image of Danny Choo and his buddy Hector Garcia taking a break from their Imperial trooping earlier this year. And voila, this poster was born! Frivolous? Sure. Mindless? Maybe. But I couldn’t help it, hehe. ^_~