Hey, ever heard of Human Pets?… If you haven’t, it’s a community which was born within the Facebook network, where humans buy, sell, feed and pet other “human” pets (or themselves), and have a fun time being animals, lol. But because this is gonna be a weird multi-topic post, I’ll leave the “Human Pets” for last, haha.
Category Archives: Friends & Family
Blog 145 > Vegas in July
Sorry folks, no anime or figures this time, lol. But like I mentioned in Mimi’s blog, my ex-wife’s little sister Lisa has been successfully living (and thankfully paying rent) at my house for the last 6-7 months. More recently, her Boston Terrier named Guiness was moved from her ex’s place and joined us last month, lol… So I thought, since it’s about that semi-annual time of year to post some self-portrait shots, why not? Here’s a big batch of photos taken on July 4th and today July 31st… Enjoy! I’m pretty sure, Miko-chan will, lol. ^_^;
Blog 136 > Logos for Christine Toledo
Another unusual story… So on Tuesday, 03 June 2008, my friend Melánie asked me out-of-the-blue to design a couple of logos for her friend Christine Toledo, the #1-ranked Muay Thai fighter in the USA and #3-ranked in the world. So for a free Thai-food lunch and a free T-shirt, why not? LOL ^_^; And so…
Blog 127 > Vinyl-Inspired Wackiness
Vinyl bowls?… Yup, once more, just one day (Feb 10th) after her gun photoshoot in Blog 126 (Feb 9th), Lisa appears in yet another impromptu photoshoot! This time, she’s in my kitchen, heating old vinyl records in the oven to mold them into funky-looking bowls for gifts… Not only that, thanx to Lena and her amazing night-club photos, I was inspired to attempt my own HDR (high-dynamic range) photo-editing experiments… What do you think? Enjoy the rest of the vinyl-inspired wackiness, lol.
P.S. Yeah, I know, it’s been ages since my last anime-oriented entry. Unfortunately, more life-important work-editing, friend-helping and house-hunting activities have shifted my priorities around into a routine 5 hours of sleep per night… But hopefully, I can cram a figure photoshoot sooner than later. ^_^;
Blog 126 > Skirts, Boots & Guns!
Hahaha, Lisa returns in another impromptu photoshoot! Killer skirts, boots and guns, lol… Wrapped in her vintage dress from the 1950s, donning her favorite bright-red cowboy boots, and gripping my favorite Tomb Raider air-gun, Lisa finds some time to breathe before her Saturday night date (again), lol. Totally unscripted, flawlessly unplanned and unexpectedly cool!… Enjoy the rest of the shoot!
Blog 125 > Awww, Paper Snowflakes
Awwwww, thanx Anna!… After sending her Christmas card on December 21st (Ukraine celebrates Christmas on January 7th), it traveled overseas from Kiev to Vegas, and was finally delivered to me 3 weeks later on January 10th. Despite being a bit late, it was such an unexpected surprise! Plus 3 hand-made paper snowflakes!!! Thanx again, Anna, this was the sweetest gift I received (besides telling me I look 27, hehe)!… And now, here are 7 of the photos I took on January 17th. Enjoy!
Blog 124 > From Frumpy to Loli
Yep, “Lolita” is the word she used (whereas “Loli” is a more Japanese abbreviation)… In less than 24 hours, Lisa transformed from her stay-at-home “frumpy” look (in Blog 123) to her carefully-selected “Lolita” outfit for her date with (I believe) another English Lit professor, haha. She tells me she’s read Nabokov’s original novel, but she’s never seen the 1962 nor 1997 film adaptations. Though she does seem fascinated by the Loli-esque relationship between Marilyn Manson and Evan Rachel Wood… So here’s Lisa a bit more anxious than usual, intensely checking her messages just a mere hour-and-a-half from her scheduled date.
Blog 123 > Frumpy Orange Photoshoot
Frumpy! Yep, that’s what Lisa called herself, haha… Hey, remember my Blog 120 > Orange Christmas photo-post? Well, back in early December, due to various circumstances, my ex’s sister Lisa asked to move in with me as a housemate. Actually, I’ve known Lisa since she was a 12-year-old brat in 1994, so she’s not totally unfamiliar. But after a full 5 weeks of moving and assembling her stuff from 2 or 3 other places, and fulfilling her first-month’s rent to me, last night (Wednesday the 16th) was her first night staying over. Which somehow included an impromptu photoshoot in her new orange bedroom and “frumpy” stay-at-home outfit!… Consequently, here are 13 of the better shots. For more of Lisa, she can also be found at MySpace > EvieVanCovet. Enjoy the odd and orange frumpiness!
Blog 121 > August Cover Girl!
Ah, finally! My 2008 calendar finally arrived last week: The first edition of the “Canada’s Hottest Girls” Calendar, Ottawa Edition. And in it, one of my dearest friends Annie appears for August 2008! (I wonder if they knew her birth month?)… In fact, if anyone’s interested in purchasing the calendar: (1) Click this link to Canada’s Hottest Girls. (2) Choose the city: Ottawa. (3) Are you supporting one of Canada’s Hottest Girls: Yes. (4) Please select the girl: Anouck!… But now, here are a few photos of the hot calendar and the stunning Annie, hehe.
Blog 111 > Toying with the Treadmill?
Hmmm, why am I posting about my treadmill? Well, I guess it was to better explain my routine to my kewl California friend Megan (and to myself as well), but it seemed to fit my blog better than my website. For a quick background: Despite owning the treadmill since 2000, at the end of July 2007, I finally started to bump up my simple walking to a partial-running treadmill workout. Then on August 4th, I finally got a real set of running shoes — NIKE Air Max TL3’s — which without question fired up my workout. So comfortable yet light!
Now, after two months, at the end of September, I’ve hit the treadmill — with an action-packed DVD to keep me entertained — for a very consistent distance of 3.0 miles in 45 minutes (averaging 4.0 mph, while ranging from a walking 3.5 mph to a sprinting 6.0 mph, depending on the pace I prefer at various points in a film). And on a near-nightly basis! Not bad at all! So today, in anticipation of somehow taking this up another notch, I bought myself a second pair of the same running shoes! Who knows? I might even be brave enough to try some of the treadmill’s CRAZY training programs below! =)
Blog 110 > Urban Vinyl Toy Survival!
Photo 0671 by Megan | Click to enlarge
Those funky rabbit-shaped “dunny” designs!
When my kewl new friend Megan mentioned her “Urban Vinyl” toys for the first time (Sept 12th), I had no idea what she was talking about, lol. Were they made out of vinyl? Japanese toys? American? But after a bit of Google research — such as finding MillionairePlayboy.com and KidRobot.com — I gotta say: Whoa! That UV style is literally wild! If I’d have to compare it to a cartoon I’ve seen, I’d say “Ren & Stimpy”, very exaggerated, very brightly colored, like “comics on crack” (she liked that metaphor, lol)! But apparently, this toy style has gotten so wild that some designs can sell for hundreds of dollars! Is that possible? Well…
Blog 109 > Meez, Myself & I
Avatar by Lena | Click to see her post
My awesome MEEZ avatar, hahaha! Thanx, Lena!
Guess what? After waking up this morning, I checked my email to find that Lena (my kewl photographer friend in Russia) had designed a perfect MEEZ avatar of ME! HAHAHA, I told her it was awesome! I mean, the avatar had my shaved head, my glasses and goatee, my T-shirt and laptop, even the wood shelves, movie posters, widescreen monitor and high ceiling! Not only that, I ALWAYS squat on the floor when I use my computers! Definitely much better that those Yahoo avatars! Thanx, Lena! Next, click below to see how close she came!!!
Blog 107 > New York City!
Hey folks, I’m back! Sorry for the 2-3 week absence, but I’ve had tons of New York City photos to resize and organize for my website. While the wedding photos are protected behind a login (I’ve given some of you the login info), here are two of the photo sets I can show you, haha! These photos were taken in the morning and afternoon, mere hours before my brother’s wedding, at the Apple store, Nike store, and a Japanese bookstore. So enjoy the NYC sunshine!
Blog 100 > Another Dental Vacation!
Hahaha, yup! Another 6 months, another dental vacation! For those on LiveJournal who remember my Post 446 > Dental Vacation? back in January, you’ll know what I mean, lol. Damn, today was even more fun! Besides Jana’s easy cleaning of my teeth which started at 10am, most or all of Tiffani’s patients cancelled, so I was able to goof off with them till 12 noon! Talking about everything from losing weight, to Jana’s and my ex’s and best friends, to frames and LensCrafters, to getting more photo-boards and taking photos, to opening my laptop and visiting each other’s MySpace pages, to dating and finding people on Match.com, to joking about Tiff’s obsession with the owner of the Palms Hotel & Casino, hahaha!
Blog 092 > Otaku or Not Otaku?
A few days ago, my close friend Vanessa and I entered into an intriguing (almost heated) discussion regarding dating, relationships, and eventually my anime blog, particularly my figure photoshoots! In a nutshell, she was notably concerned about how my figure photos — typically of scantily-clad anime girls — would look to the random or casual blog visitor (especially a Westerner) not familiar with anime and its unique influence in Japanese mainstream culture. While they carry artistic value, she noted that the photoshoots could still be mis-interpreted as “creepy” or “perverted”. Fortunately, she knows me well, and understands that this is a common Western stereotype of anime fans (or otaku). But I admit, she does makes a good point that most visitors don’t know me so well, especially if they might include potential employers or recruiters or yes, even a new non-otaku girlfriend!
Needless to say, I value Vanessa’s opinion very highly. I can still enjoy anime, experiment with anime photoshoots, and blog about it, but I can do so without plastering and magnifying those images throughout my entire website. Consequently, over the last couple days, I’ve reworked my website in several ways. (1) I’ve restricted my anime header images to only a few specific anime sections. (2) I’ve moved the full photoshoots away from my blog posts and into these anime sections, behind a low-level anime login. (3) I’ve also set this anime login to protect any blog access from my website (i.e. front door), while keeping the direct blog address open (i.e. back door). (4) Similarly, I’ve also moved more-sensitive non-anime pages behind a friends-level login.
By implementing these changes, I hope to accommodate not only my otaku friends and acquaintances, but also my non-otaku friends (like Vanessa) who may feel awkward or afraid of forwarding my website to their own friends, and lastly, the random non-otaku stranger who may be a potential new friend. For a non-Japanese citizen residing outside of Japan, does this social sensitivity make me any less of an otaku? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I guess it depends on whether an otaku is supposed to possess any social graces to begin with, haha!
Blog 087 > Japanese Cuisine & Comedy!
One or two weeks ago, as part of her ongoing HTML studies, Vanessa suggested a weekend study session followed by lunch at the Osaka Japanese Restaurant on Sahara Avenue (Las Vegas). She later decided to skip the library, and on Saturday (yesterday), we finally went to the restaurant! Due to circumstances, I reached the place about 45 minutes before she and her sister Arlene did. But during the wait, I recorded a little video (at the bottom of this post) to pass the time, lol…
Blog 083 > Another Tease & An Act?
Oops, I lied in my last post! I lied about posting my anime-figure photoshoot NEXT. But not really, since I’m posting the next TWO posts at the same time, haha. So to continue the anime teaser, here’s another figure shot above!… And below, here’s a Dr. Pepper photoshoot I planned to show Anna…
Calling Dr. Pepper? LOL, okay, only my best Ukrainian friend Anna (a.k.a. The Real One) will get this “inside joke”. But for a couple of months now, she’s been missing “that f*cking Dr. Pepper!” When she first mentioned Dr. Pepper a couple of weeks ago, I told her I hadn’t had it for ages! Did I forget the taste? So last week or so, I bought a six-pack, and despite the initial weird flavor, it was easy to get used to, lol. Not bad at all. Soon enough, it’s pretty good! :)))… And now, my 9-photo reaction…
Blog 082 > A Tease & An Invite?
Hahaha, sorry about the anime teaser! But rest assured the figure photoshoot I postponed last week is being posted next!… Instead, here’s the photoshoot I promised weeks ago to take for my brother Joel. He’s getting married this September 1st, and this is my simple but effective step-by-step capture of “unraveling” the invitation as designed by his fiancee Christy. Nice, huh?
Now slipping into review mode (lol): While some may proclaim a lack of crispness or boldness, this horizontally-oriented lower-cased invitation definitely conveys an unimposing elegance which reflects the wedding location at the Japanese-styled Kitano New York hotel. The maroon, leaf green, and gold color scheme also works. But then, if I’m going to be a groomsman, why do they want me to wear a navy blue suit? Gahhh, lol. Okay, let’s get to the dozen-photo unraveling…
Blog 077 > Vacation Days 5-6 of 6
At last, the final post of my East Coast Vacation! These 70 photos range from our house to scenic waterfront to elementary school to international airport, from the outdoors to indoors to vehicles to FOOD, lol. Enjoy!