Okay, Gentle Readers, here’s my first batch of vacation pics and vids, set in chronological order! During the 5-hour flight from Las Vegas to New York’s John F Kennedy airport, I met a funny blond kid, about 12 years old, named Ethan, not only a self-proclaimed expert on Africa (except the cities, lol) and the solar system (except the moons, lol) but also the future husband of Britney Spears’ little 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, lol.
Blog 067 > Return from East Coast Vacation!
Hey, I’m back from my 6-day East Coast Vacation! Over 300 pics! Nearly 2 hours of video! So give me a few days to sort the whole mess out, lol. Meanwhile, here’s one pic taken by me, and one taken by Mom, at the Long Island Chinese restaurant “Palace of Wong” where we picked up some dinner after my parents picked me up at John F Kennedy airport. My first day back in New York! But now I have a question…
Blog 066 > Ikki Lolitas!
Finally, a new figure photoshoot! Nearly a month since my last photoshoot! This time, I’m presenting my 1/7-scale gothic-lolita “Ryomou” (standing) delivered back on January 1st, 2007, and my 1/7-scale gothic-lolita “Kanu” (kneeling) delivered back on December 5th, 2006. Both characters appear in the sexy martial-arts anime series Ikki Tousen (4 of 5 stars, my maximum for half-season!).
While the 9-inch-standing Ryomou was sculpted by Hiroman, and the 4.5-inch-kneeling Kanu by Satoshi Ishiyama, both PVC figures were manufactured by Orchid Seed in the frilly black-and-white “Gothic Lolita” style. (Additional recolored versions are available in the pink or striped “Alice Lolita” style.) As an added bonus, Kanu’s white top is detachable to reveal her fullness. I haven’t detached it yet, lol. For this Canon photoshoot, I saved 50 shots, then narrowed it down to these 35 shots. Enjoy!
Otakurl it! >>
My Anime Figure List >>
Click for Full Photoshoot (35) >>
Blog 065 > Tutoring Vanessa = Chowking!
Definitely not your typical Mother’s Day Sunday! At a very-early 8am in the morning, Vanessa and Darrell visited my house, so I could help tutor Vanessa in HTML and Photoshop for her Web Programming class. Meanwhile, with his late nightclub job, Darrell decided to crash on my couch, lol. The original plan was 7am, but they were running late, and even then, a few hours wasn’t enough.
Fighting her allergies and our insurmountable hunger as I guided her on the details of table coding, hex coloring, image editing, inline framing, hyperlinking, and general layout according to her basic but elegant design, Vanessa didn’t finish her website project until 1pm! Five hours! But on the plus side, she tells me it saves her five weeks! Take a look at her website design in the following screenshots…
Blog 064 > Stuffed Pocky?
Hmmm, what does the American men’s magazine Stuff have to do with the popular chocolate-covered Japanese treat Pocky? Well, not much, lol. That is, until this past week, while having some breakfast before work… when I turned to page 58-59 of the Stuff March 2007 issue. In the first pages of the “SPEND” section — “SNACK ATTACK!” — Pocky is actually featured as choice “A5”, lol. Check out the following close-ups of what the magazine says…
Blog 063 > Another Alias?
A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that “Vanessa convinced me to start watching her Alias (2001; Jennifer Garner) in exchange for her watching my Dark Angel (2000; Jessica Alba), lol.” Well, after having watched the first five episodes of Alias Season 1, one thing became exceedingly clear: Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow looks A LOT like my ex-sister-in-law Lisa!!! So to demonstrate their strong resemblance, I’ve put together several side-by-side composites, including two more below… Maybe you’ll agree?
Blog 062 > Seven of Nine
+++++ Star Trek Voyager – Season 4 (1-26) – Started 07/15/06. Finished 05/05/07. My speed review: “DOUBLE-WOW! The Borg! Seven of Nine! Still one of the best Trek seasons ever!” (5 of 5 stars!)
As I might have mentioned in previous posts, I finally finished Star Trek Voyager, Season 4 (1997) for the second time, after starting it nearly ten months ago! (The first time was back in 1997-1998.) I should probably blame Battlestar Galactica for breaking me away from anime moreso than usual, lol. But clearly, the most outstanding feature of this already remarkable crew was the introduction of Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan. Her character combines the most recognized features of the Star Trek universe: The Vulcan-style “logic” and full-figured “femininity” of early Trek, fused with the greatest innovation and most-elaborate adversary of modern Trek — the Borg Collective — first introduced in The Next Generation.
In Voyager Season 4, Seven not only further defines the series via the complex relationship between Borg and human, machine and man, but also as a substantial adversarial foil for the convincingly quick-witted Captain Kathryn Janeway. Intriguingly, their friendship is reminiscent of the Kirk-Spock emotional-logical contrast, an absent Trek element that isn’t quite missed until it reappears with Seven-Janeway. Add to that, Jeri Ryan’s visual and vocal beauty, and her memorable assimilation is complete, lol!… 5 of 5 stars! I hope to start Season 5 (1998) again soon!
Blog 061 > Just Eleven So Far
In 2006, I watched 58 anime series in 8 eight months, or 7+ series per month! Sadly, in 2007, I’m off to a pathetically slow start: Just 11 anime series in 4+ months. The reason for this: Amazing live-action series like the new Battlestar Galactica – Season 3, new Smallville – Season 6 and rewatching the older Star Trek Voyager – Season 4 (1997) which introduces “Seven of Nine” (Jeri Ryan) for the first time. And now, my best bud Vanessa convinced me to start watching her Alias (2001; Jennifer Garner) in exchange for her watching my Dark Angel (2000; Jessica Alba), lol.
So now, in an attempt to catch up with my anime, it’s time to give my long-delayed reviews of the 11 series I’ve seen so far this year, ranging from the super-cute 1992 series Sailor Moon to the ultra-violent 2006 series Black Lagoon – The Second Barrage … I hope you enjoy the ride!
Blog 060 > The Filipino Experience!
Most of you have heard of the “Star Trek Experience” thrill-ride at the Las Vegas Hilton, right? Well, today was quite a “Filipino Experience”! Weeks or months ago, when my best buddy Vanessa first mentioned the Filipino fast-food chain “Jollibee“, I was pretty skeptical. Apparently, it’s quite popular in California as well as the Philippines of course. But the “McDonald’s” of Filipino cuisine? Fast-food spaghetti? Hmmm, I wondered if it could be like Panda Express, but yeah, skeptical…
Blog 059 > Enter the Construct!
Whoa! After more than 3 years (sparked by Trialia’s inquiry), the dead Constructfic.org has been resurrected as ConstructFic.com, home of the best Matrix fanfics on the net! While it’s still in a state of reconstruction (maybe 25% so far), rest assured, The Construct will be fully online as soon as the Real World allows. Hopefully, in a matter of weeks. Enjoy!
Blog 058 > Anime Voices Carry!
This past week, I’ve been watching the post-apocalyptic anime Innocent Venus. And after 4 of 12 episodes, it rocks! (So far, 4 of 5 stars!) But one thing that caught my ear, was the voice for the blonde-but-deadly “Lenny”. In fact, her dark throaty voice reminded me of the just-as-beautiful-but-deadly twin-gunned “Revy” from the amazingly brutal anime Black Lagoon (5 of 5 stars for both seasons together!). So I checked, and guess what? I was right, the same voice actress: Megumi Toyoguchi! But that’s not all…
Blog 057 > Frames Per Second!
Well, here are the new DK frames! Following up on Blogs 055, 053, and 050, I got the call Friday afternoon and after work, I picked up my Donna Karan clears and Ray-Ban sunglasses. However, after driving home with the RB and wearing both frames that night and the following morning, I still had a few issues. For example, the RB sunglasses felt a little too big and didn’t fit my face as well as the DK frames. Luckily, it’s still well within my 30-day try-out window. So I went back to Lenscrafters about noon or so, to give them my new instructions as follows…
Blog 056 > In-N-Out!
Yesterday, Thursday, while Vanessa’s car was in the shop for some major axial and AC repairs, this time she actually decided on a specific lunch destination! So I picked her up from her office, and we headed north on Dean Martin Drive till we hit Tropicana. “In-N-Out Burger”! It’s been a while since I’ve had their tasty burger and fries, and it was a change to sit at an outdoor table under the Vegas sun.
Blog 055 > Crafty Indeed!
Well, as my second follow-up of my eyeglass frames post, I finally went to LensCrafters on Saturday the 21st. And yes, after 6+ frames, 4 assistants, 2 hours (from 11am to 1pm), and $750+ (six-month 0% financing) later, I ultimately decided on a Donna Karan clear-lens frame and Ray-Ban sunglasses frame, neither of which were my initial choices, lol.
Blog 054 > Colorfully Cute!
Damn! Almost a full month since my last photoshoot! But I’m back with the green-haired 1/8-scale “Solty Revant” and golden-haired 1/8-scale “Rose Anderson” from the colorful retro-sci-fi anime series Solty Rei (5 of 5 stars!). Both sculpted by Kouichi Katsushima (Mine) and manufactured by Organic, Solty kneels to a modest 5-inch height, while Rose smiles at a playful 7-inch height. As an added bonus, Solty’s red top is removable to reveal her black skin-tight undershirt, while both Rose’s pistol and skirt are removable to fully reveal her white cotton panties.
As of this post, Rose is still readily available, while Solty is a bit more difficult to find outside of eBay. In this Canon photoshoot, I saved 31 shots, then narrowed it down to these 25 shots. On April 22nd, decided to take 5 more, narrowed it down to 3 more shots.
Blog 053 > Getting Framed!
Ringo from Air Gear | Image from Google Search > HappySoda.com
Well, as a follow-up of my eyeglass frames post, I went to my eye appointment yesterday (Tuesday) morning. To make a long story short, got there 9:30am and left about 11:30pm without much waiting at all! The visit could be broken down into three parts as follows.
(1) Took my visual field (or optical coherence tomography “OCT”) test. Basically, I stuck my head in front of a white semi-spherical projector contraption, and while I focused my eye on the central point of yellow light, I’d click the clicker for each time I detected another dim point of light anywhere else in that semi-sphere. Then after 5 minutes, the other eye.
Blog 052 > Holy Frak!
My speed review: “DOUBLE-WOW! Unparalleled sci-fi drama, depth and power!” 5 of 5 stars!
Holy frak! Last night, after finishing the 20th and final episode of Battlestar Galactica Season 3 in three weeks (almost once per day), I was totally blown away! At the end of Season 2, the series radically fast-forwarded the story one full year later, and Season 3 continued from there, a wild and turbulent roller-coaster ride colliding with intense flashbacks to fill in bits and pieces of the past year. Ground wars, clashing loyalties, boxing matches, ancient temples, surviving babies, radioactive tragedies, supernatural visions, crumbling marriages, legal spectacles, and scattered destinies! Then in the season finale, not one but TWO mind-fraking twists involving a missing comrade and revealed identities!!! But damn, Season 4 won’t arrive till 2008! Frak!
Blog 051 > Spirit of the Matrix!
Pretty uneventful day, except for one thing: The Matrix. Some 3-4 years since the height of the Matrix hype, a fellow fan of ConstructFic.org and member of the Hardline message-board community popped out of the blue on my LJ: Trialia. She wondered whether I’d ever complete Construct 2.0, the half-finished resurrection of the defunct ConstructFic.org from 3 years ago. Well, I only lost interest because everyone else seemed to, but if she and others are interested, why not?
Blog 050 > Eye of the Beholder
To those who don’t yet know, I’ll be going to my regular eye checkup in about 10 days. Even if my eyes haven’t changed, I’d like to get a prescription for some new lenses. Yup, the perfect opportunity to update my frames! So today, I visited the LensCrafters.com website, and browsed through the men’s selections. Pretty decent! So here are the 7 styles that caught my eye, for both clear and sunglass lenses. Which one should I get? Opinions?