Advent, O Holy Advent! » The Anchoress | A First Things Blog
I shed tears of gratitude and joy that you have come round again, O Advent, to shake us from our torpor as early night comes, and the match is struck, and the message is brought home once more; that we are forever in the absence of …

First Advent Candle – Jesus Creed
Advent is a word that means coming or visit. In the Christian season of Advent we prepare for the advent of Christ at Christmas. Our preparation includes many things:• We remember Israels hope for the coming of Gods Messiah to.

Happy Catholic: Advent
So she encourages us, during advent, t take the shepherd-folk for our guides, and imagine ourselves traveling with them at dead of night, straining our eyes towards that chink of light which streams out, we know, from the cave at …

Advent! « Gabriellas Blog
Today is the First Sunday of Advent. For most, this marks the beginning of the shopping season. The department stores, like the great cathedrals of Mammon they are, will be adorned for the high holy days of the financial year, …

Advent Prayer: Behold His Coming – Prayer, Plain and Simple
By Claudia Mair BurneyThe First Sunday of Advent Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14, KJV. The word advent means coming. But the season is not merely a time to.

Advent – Jesus Creed
Advent is a season of waiting, expecting, and hoping. Beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us to prepare for the coming, or advent of the Christ child at Christmas.

Cranmer: Christmas stamps and the First Sunday in Advent
At a time the political pessimism and religious oppression, political delusion and spiritual despair, we turn to Advent in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, in anticipation of Christmas Day and the revelation of God became man …

MSDN Blog Postings » Blog Archive » Advent calendar 2009 – how to …
Last year I wrote the same test in 24 different ways as a little advent calendar for you to enjoy. This year Im going to do something similar but also a little bit different. Im going to start with a simple piece of code and then show …

Thinking Anglicans: Advent opinions
Advent opinions. Gary Anderson writes in The Times that If sin creates a debt, almsgiving creates a heavenly credit. Stephen Wang writes there also. He argues that Religious education is not brainwashing. …

Catholics or One’s That Celebrate the Advent?
London, Nov 28 (ANI): A bishop has warned that wishing people a Happy Christmas could be seen as an ‘insult’ or even an ‘obscenity’, as not all are in a position to celebrate. The Right Reverend Humphrey Southern, the Bishop of Repton, said it was a “hollow” greeting to make to those who were suffering, and that people should not “simply make a cocoon of happiness for ourselves and our loved ones” at Christmas. “This is the ‘Happy Christmas’ month. Yet to many that greeting will be hollow, coming as an insult, or even an obscenity,” the Telegraph quoted him as writing in the monthly Derby diocese newsletter. “What can ‘Happy Christmas’ mean in a family whose father has been killed in a military operation in Afghanistan that fewer and fewer people understand (still less support)? While Advent was meant to be a season of preparation and expectation “too often”, he said, “that means things like shopping and decorating: working to create a domestic cocoon in which to be ‘Happy’ with friends and family”. “But Advent is not supposed to be about ‘Happiness’ or comfort. In fact it’s deeply uncomfortable. It’s about judgement and what’s wrong with the world,” he added. Those who choose to celebrate Christmas in a cocoon and ignore the plight of others are “like the people who took their ease in the Inn, missing entirely what was happening in the Stable just around the corner,” he concluded. (ANI) http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20091128/882/twl-bishop-warns-wishing-happy-christmas.html

What does Advent and Christmas mean to you? Will you wish people a “Happy Christmas!” ?
It’s a sin I am seeing some of my friends and family declare they have christmas stitched up and I have barely started and will not get decorations up before the 13 th…can’t folk wait until advent…then the countdown starts. Does anyone else get annoyed with this?

Who puts their tree up in November and has everything wrapped and organised?
We don’t want to do candies this year. It’s always been both of us fill 12 of the little compartments with candies, and each put a small gift in the larger Christmas eve compartment. Then we take turns opening a door every other day. We kind of wanted to do all little gifts this year, but past small ornaments, I don’t really know what else we could put in there that would fit. My fiancee somehow wedged 8 demitasse spoons in the Christmas eve compartment last year, and we could almost not get them back out, so we need really little things that will not be hard to remove from the smaller compartments. We don’t have any children, so the gifts would be for 2 adults. Any suggestions? Also, it’s a wood calender, not one of the cardboard ones. The little compartments are all 2″highx2″widex3″deep, except for the Christmas eve one, which is 5″highx2″widex3″deep.

Suggestions for little gifts to go in our Advent calender?
Hi I am looking everywhere for a bob the builder advent calendar? has anyone seen any anywhere at all.. know of any sites i can get one on.. or do they ot exist? Live in uk.. Thanks

Bob the Builder Advent Calendar?
i have an advent laptop and the switch is broke so i wandered if there is any way i can turn on the wireless without the switch?? thanks

Turn wireless on without switch?
English, because of its simplicity, enjoys worldwide acceptance. With the advent of shorter form of words [like 4u,2day etc as used in SMS] the younger generation has started using this form in many places,even in letter communications. Will these shortened words replace the prevailing form of english and make the language more popular and easier to learn?

Is this a blessing in disguise for English language?
they showed the main advent be IC title match and batista comeing to ring for commontery for the main advent XD

anyone see smackdown glitch on sky sports?
I would like to upgrade the graphics card on my ADVENT 4211 (rebranded MSI WIND U100). it currently is as stock with 80gb Hard drive and 2gb RAM. i know the graphics cards in laptops are normally souldered in but can this be bypassed?

Is it possible to upgrade the graphics card on the ADVENT 4211?
this is very urgent. . .i broke my laptop charger and i found another one which belongs to my brother’s laptop but is not used anymore. . .i can’t use my charger no matter what i do with/to it so i decided since my brother’s laptop charger fits my laptop and it works, i would use it for now. but the problem is i’ve got toshiba laptop and the charger i’m using now is from an advent laptop. would something bad happen? or is it ok to continue using it?

urgent: advent laptop charger on toshiba laptop?
I have an advent lap top, it is just over a year old. The problem is if I try to plug in anything via any usb ports it just shuts down. It cannot be restarted until I remove lap top battery and put back in. Any ideas what could be wrong?Thanks for the answers so far. The problem is with all the usb ports, the lap top had a new motherboard a few months ago (when still under warranty) The usb ports also seem to have become really hard to plug anything into, which is really strange!

Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”) is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches begin the liturgical year on 1 September. The Eastern Christian equivalent of Advent is called the Nativity Fast but it differs both in length and observances.

The progression of the season may be marked with an Advent calendar, a practice introduced by German Lutherans. At least in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran calendars, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before December 25; in other words, the Sunday between November 27 and December 3 inclusive.

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming. Christians believe that the season of Advent serves a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting that Christians today endure for the second coming of Christ.

The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is often to prepare for the Second Coming while commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas. With the view of directing the thoughts of Christians to the first coming of Jesus Christ as Savior, and to his second coming as Judge, special lessons are prescribed for each of the four Sundays in Advent.

The usual liturgical color in Western Christianity for Advent is purple or violet. The color is often used for hangings around the church, on the vestments of the clergy, and often also the tabernacle. On the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, rose may be used instead, referencing the rose used on Laetare Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent. In some Anglican and Lutheran churches, blue is the liturgical colour for Advent, a custom traced to the usage of the Church of Sweden (Lutheran) and the medieval Sarum Rite. This color is often referred to as “Sarum blue”. Red is used in the Eastern churches.

The “Late Advent Weekdays”, December 17-24, mark the singing of the Great Advent ‘O antiphons’. These are the antiphons for the Magnificat at Vespers, or Evening Prayer (in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches) and Evensong (in Anglican churches) each day, and mark the forthcoming birth of the Messiah. They form the basis for each verse of the popular Advent hymn, “O come, O come, Emmanuel”.

From the 4th century, the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as that of Lent (commencing in some localities on 11 November; this being the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, the fast became known as “St. Martin’s Lent”, “St. Martin’s Fast” or “the forty days of St. Martin”). The feast day was in many countries a time of frolic and heavy eating, since the 40-day fast began the next day. In the Anglican and Lutheran churches this fasting rule was later relaxed, with the Roman Catholic Church doing likewise later, but still keeping Advent as a season of penitence. In addition to fasting, dancing and similar festivities were forbidden.

In many countries, Advent was long marked by diverse popular observances, some of which still survive. In England, especially in the northern counties, there was a custom (now extinct) for poor women to carry around the “Advent images”, two dolls dressed to represent Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary. A halfpenny was expected from every one to whom these were exhibited, and bad luck was thought to menace the household not visited by the doll-bearers before Christmas Eve at the latest.

In Normandy, farmers employed children under twelve to run through the fields and orchards armed with torches, setting fire to bundles of straw, and thus it is believed driving out such vermin as are likely to damage the crops. In Italy, among other Advent celebrations, is the entry into Rome in the last days of Advent of the Calabrian pifferari, or bagpipe players, who play before the shrines of Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Italian tradition being that the shepherds played these pipes when they came to the manger at Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus. It is the second most important tradition behind Easter for Roman Catholics.

In recent times, the commonest observance of Advent outside church circles has been the keeping of an advent calendar or advent candle, with one door being opened in the calendar, or one section of the candle being burned, on each day in December leading up to Christmas Eve.

In Anglican churches the Sunday before Advent is sometimes nicknamed Stir-up Sunday after the opening lines of the Book of Common Prayer collect for that day. In the Roman Catholic Church since 1969, and in most Anglican churches since at least 2000, the final Sunday of the liturgical year before Advent has been celebrated as the Feast of Christ the King. This feast is now also widely observed in many Protestant churches, sometimes as the Reign of Christ. The First Sunday of Advent, called Levavi is the first Sunday of the liturgical year.

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Well the general idea of this came from a conversation James and I had on MSN a couple of days ago. I was pondering over a couple of different webcomics i could do and this was one which he said I HAD to do. Although our dialogue is completely different the concept remains the same. We both agreed that both our main villian and character would not be able to lift their extremely gravity defying impossible blades without either breaking their back or losing balance (Not to mention 1 wing :\).

So yeah, nearly 500 views, we are nearly there guys, thanks for reading our randomness in the past week and i hope you got some entertainment out of it.=)

So continuing on with my epic rants I did practice 29 today. Just stage 1 and 2, my editor decided that another procedure is required in the development and i gave it a shot. I skipped it the last few times because the idea of doing that on a Photocopy paper is absolute havoc. So heres the draft: Not sure if you can see it if you cant i will need to upload to Flikir.

Done with H4. Intially your sketch has to have very solid shapes, unlike a name(stick figure drawing) of a Manga the rough draft is important it establishes what you have to do for the next section either it be penciling or penning. this is the part where you get to see the general idea of the panels and the drawings, if the panels flow and if the compositioning and the drawings are legit enough or are even good enough before you even start.

So I managed to get the pencilled version done:

Further detailing is required but not for backgrounds i dont like inserting backgrounds as it screws up with my brains… part 2 of this will be tomorrow, so stay tuned till then guyse

John Signing out lol

keeping yourself awake for 18hrs wasnt a joke, especially when i had approximately 4hrs sleep a day for the past 2 weeks. but fun always overwrite the tiredness during the event, and will only come to realised how tired you are when you knock out the moment you lie on the bed.

squeezed 2 photoshoots in a day, so i can enjoy my trip without worrying of the cosplay plans to come after i return. most importantly to have a good rest before i start work again.

first shoot took place at an abandoned carpark which was suggested by hexlord. a very suitable location for advent children indeed. the surrounding’s a little run down, as gray and concrety as midgar and there was free wind effects. although a little too much wind for tifa; i had to keep fixing my hair for each take. thanks to the photogs for being patient with me haha~

ready for the next fight

recovering the strength we had 2 years ago

i shall feature some pictures of this very awesome advent children team in this post, as i felt all of them have done a very good job and put in lotsa effort for this shoot. spoilers for those who will be camping on the forums for pics but i cannot resist posting them! good things, must be shared~

are sins ever forgiven?

the reunion is coming

my sierra, latest model!

dreams and honour

shoot did not last long as most of us in pvc are already melting to the afternoon sun, especially our dear kadaj. we moved on to have lunch at burger king, where most of us took the chance to take a short nap. we then proceed to our next location for the 2nd shoot; a beautiful, peaceful, windy place with shallow water, another perfect location for the shoot of rhode’s dreamworld.

took athensis and i less than an hour to prepare/transform from tifa into deak. walked out from the changing room and got stared at for our striking red hair haha~ started with some ‘non-wet’ shot and slowly dump ourselves into the ‘pool’. we even splash water on ourselves for 1 of the shot we took haha. it was very cooolddd, but really fun haha. sorry rescend for almost splashing water onto you and your precious, single-eye isn’t helping me much from determining what was around me that time haha.

48th+49th

忘れたか？

this shoot wasnt easy as we have to keep experimenting with the strobes and flashes to get the perfect lighting we need. lotsa thanks to photogs, rescend, psycovirus and risuchia for the awesome job; to helpers kaen and engracia for helping out in the positioning of the flash.

お休み、ラビ

tiring day ended at around 10:30 pm. worn out yet fully satisfied with the outcome of the shoot. more to come~ better i hope.

advent children photoshoot thread on the forums will be uploaded as soon as i can. meanwhile, do visit http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=66042 and have a look at the completed gallery of the「ラ」+「ビ」photoshoot.

Fading away

It’s in this wake that I find myself
Losing the will to resume this Hell
When every breath is a dying wish
It’s harder to follow the point of this

This broken place that I call my home
Has deepened the sadness that I have sown
And I can’t erase what’s inside my heart
I want it to finish before it starts

My own solution insufficient again
No false illusion, this devouring threat
I break the vessel, giving air to its red

And open my fate to the darkened sky

I’ve been fading away
I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins
Ready or not
No attention to waste
Every sorrow of the self will read my name
When I cease to exist

So now I’ve come to the final sleep
I pray that forgiveness is mine to keep
I know it’s hard to forget this man
Driving the failure into your hands

My own solution insufficient again
No false illusion, this devouring threat
I break the vessel, giving air to its red

And open my fate to the darkened sky

I’ve been fading away
I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins
Ready or not
No attention to waste
Every sorrow of the self will read my name
When I cease to exist

I’ve been fading away
I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins
Ready or not
No attention to waste
Every sorrow of the self will read my name
When I cease to exist

I’ve been fading away
I’ve been waiting on the call to reach my veins
Ready or not
No attention to waste
Every sorrow of the self will read my name
When I cease to exist

we went through time, 9 years later and reappeared as the advent children at games convention asia last sunday. everyone agreed it was much more fun cosplaying as the advent children version compared to crisis core. perhaps it’s of more actions and less emo? crisis core was a pretty sad story, with a sad ending of course. i guess we are all happy people who loves happy endings~

the advent children

tifa lockhart - zangan's disciple

we hanged around on the upper floor of the event away from the crowd, therefore there dont seems to have much photos of us take by the other カメコ. much thanks to ris for hanging out with us and for these awesome photos i’m posting here~ met yukihoshi as roxas and a yuna whom i didnt catch her name. we randomly had the idea to take a square enix company staff photo and weaponry photo haha. it was totally random indeed but fun~

square enix 'staff photo'

square enix 'weaponry photo'

we headed down to ‘gold saucer’ shortly after. yes gold saucer! the idea strucked me when i asked cloud to pose a photo with me at the ufo catcher machine. haha. it’s a game convention afterall, so we made use of the game arcade to take a few shots of the advent children having a day’s off at the gold saucer~ our moogle even had a go on the dance dance revolution machine! (which i shall not post the pic here because he didn’t have his head on haha!)

cloud: i've already spent 500GP on this tifa..

cloud: this is way too easy..

vina (who hasn’t make appearance for awhile now..): check out zack and cloud’s deviantart gallery at: http://qwerterfor.deviantart.com/ and http://u-bai-bai.deviantart.com/. their gallery are pretty much empty for now.. but i will be chasing them to upload, so fear not, you should be able to see a galore of pictures up there soon~ *evil grin*

halloween is near..

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has been reworked for its transition to high definition in more ways than the usual movie.  I say that because it actually had an additional 26 minutes added to the movie as well as some scene reworking (Hint: The final Cloud/Sephiroth battle is one).  The new scenes look absolutely amazing in 1080p; it’s probably the best I’ve seen yet out of all my Blu Ray movies.  The original scenes look gorgeous as well, but if you have a good eye, you can tell the slight visual difference between the old scenes and when it cuts to a new added scene.  The new scenes add a lot to the movie and fill in a few of the storyline gaps.  Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that it gives more back story on some of the characters.  It makes the movie seem more, well, complete.

Also, in the Japanese version, the ending theme is replaced by a new track with vocals by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way (Click here to watch the music video for Safe And Sound!).  Unfortunately (in a small sense, as the music for this movie is all brilliant), the North American version retains the Calling song.

Also included is a pretty in-depth preview of Final Fantasy XIII, which looks unbelievable and it claims to be releasing on the XBox 360 as well.  Is this the first time a major Final Fantasy release hasn’t been Sony exclusive?  I’m not playing the movie in a PS3, but I’m pretty sure there is no playable demo like the Japanese version also has.

There aren’t really any other bonus features worth mentioning, but it really doesn’t matter.  This update to the original movie gets everything right and I highly recommend it. Want to download it? You know the Usenet has it, but I would recommend buying it through Amazon – and remember – it’s Blu Ray only!

So I’m finally, really and truly, throwing my hat into the cosplay ring.  Yup.  You heard me.  No more pretending I’m going to use it to lose weight and get in shape.  No more throwing an album up on Facebook with all these characters I’d “like” to cosplay “someday.”  Someday is nigh, my friends!!  And not only is someday nigh, it begins today.

I get the feeling Ben should be scared…

But Ben’s well-deserved fear of the beast that’s being unleashed in me is not the topic of this post.  Nay, it is the wonderousness of my first ever cosplay.  I’m doing this the right way.  I’m making my own.  No ordering mass-produced cosplay online.  I’m starting from scratch and making this work from the ground up.

My first cosplay is going to be Aeris Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII.  Now, I realize that this is a fairly over-done and predictable cosplay.  But I do have reasons for doing her first.

1. Aeris is not too far removed from the way I already look.
2. Her costume is fairly simple as far as game/anime costumes are concerned and shouldn’t be terribly difficult for me to do as my first ever clothing-sewing project.
3. It’s not super-skimpy.  I’m not terribly comfortable in my own skin right now, and even if I don’t lose as much weight as I want to before the costume’s debut, I won’t be too embarrassed.
4. It’s a recognizable cosplay.  I won’t have to explain myself eighty thousand times over a three-day convention.

Last night, I bought the fabric, thread, and a basic pattern for the costume.  (I am officially in love with JoAnn Fabrics.)  Here’s a picture of the fabric and thread.

I’m really impressed with how well the thread and fabric match. The fabric is very lightweight and soft, and should make a very comfortable costume. There’s 4 yards of it there. While I should only need 3.5 yards for the dress, I got a bit extra just in case, as well as I’m still not sure if I’ll be doing flat white buttons or fabric covering the buttons with the little tabs on the bottom.

And this is a picture of the pattern I’ll be working with.

The pattern is going to need some modifications. You’ll note that the slit in the pattern is on the side, while Aeris’ is in the front. The neckline is also a tad off, but as far as things go, the basic shape of the dress is the same and the length is pretty spot-on as well. I should be able to figure out the modifications with enough patience and newspaper.

Next, some reference images!!

Her staff is going to be hard to make. Maybe I can get a little help from the wood-working Mr. Mike… I’ll see if I can pester him into it… Someone will be able to help me. I figure I can make it out of lightweight wood and then paint it with shiny chrome spray paint from an auto supply store.

This is a closeup of Aeris’ facial features. I’m going to need some colored contacts (of the proper power, as I can’t see for beans without my glasses…) to capture that vibrant, vibrant green of her eyes. Her hair, while it is a natural color, is lighter than mine. If I can grow it out long enough before the costume debut, I might be able to do the hairstyle with my real hair. Otherwise, we’re going to end up looking for a wig. (Which might actually not be a bad idea, considering that MASSIVE bow back there.) This picture also gives me a good idea for the texture of the fabric I”m going to need for her jacket/shrug. It looks like suede to me. What do you think?

And here’s a look at the total package.

Wish me luck!! I’ll keep you all updated on the progress.

Amazon is offering Blu Ray movies at up to 60% off as well as a promotion where you buy 2, get 1 free.  Therefore, these movies have been added to my collection:

Nightwish: End of an Era

Independence Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Skynet Edition)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete

Itt egy újabb vidim. Elég kezdetleges, mert még nagyon régen csináltam…mikor még fogalmam se volt egy jó AMV készítéséről. De sebaj. (Tudom..most sincs sok..^^). Nem igazán van benne effekt, leginkább a vágásokkal operáltam. Azért remlem meg lehet nézni..

 Just then the phone rang, and you noticed it came from Cloud’s office. You quickly turned your head to the doorway in front of the room you where in.

 “He’s not here anymore.” You heard Tifa saying in a singing voice. You looked at her to see she had a painful smile. “Ugh!” and she made her way to his office.

 “Cloud, where are you?” you heard Denzel asking no one in particular. You saw Denzel putting a hand to his forehead again. Then suddenly, everything was quiet.

 “Hello? Strife Delivery Service. You name it, we deliver….” You heard her say into the phone but stopped midsentence. “May I ask whose calling?” Then you heard her laugh a slight chuckle. “Yeah. I remember you.” That was all you could make out until she said, “Yeah sure thing.”

 You walked to the other room after you forced Denzel back into bed. You where right next to Tifa when she began to punch in numbers. You noticed she waited for a couple of rings and smiled. You could tell she was leaving a message since you heard no one answer.

 “You gotta call from Reno. He’s at Healen. He said he’s got work for you. Cloud…how have you been?” with that Tifa hung up the phone.

 She looked at you and smiled. She went downstairs to the bar with you in tow.

 “What’s up? You never follow me unless you want information on something other than that if your hungry,” said Tifa while not looking at you and began to wash the dishes.

 “Tifa?” you asked hesitantly.

 “Yeah?”

 “Where is he? Mr. Bigshot I mean. I need to find him,” you said while leaning on the counter bar.

 As Tifa opened her mouth to speak, the phone in Cloud’s office rang again. She went up to answer with you in tow (again).

 “Hello? Strife Delivery Service. You name it, we deliver….” Again she stopped midsentence. This time she held the phone farther away from her ear. Tifa looked at you and shook her head with a smile. And you returned it with a smile as well. She put it next to her ear again and said, “Alright. I’ll tell him, Reno. Bye.”

 You saw her dial Cloud’s number and again left a message. “Reno called again. He says to hurry. And he sounded kind of strange. Be careful okay?” with that she hung up. She looked at you and said, “If you want to find him. Go to Healen. He might be there to stop in.”

 You nodded your head and began to go outside when you suddenly stopped. “I don’t have a ride, Tifa.”

 Tifa smiled at you and nodded her head outside and you followed her gaze to see your bike good as new. You were amazed and turned to Tifa who smiled at your face. “Who–?”

 “Cid fixed it and brought it in yesterday while you were sleeping. He said Cloud brought it to him to fix. Looks like Cloud wants to be found. Huh, ____?”

 You smiled and made your way outside. You got on the bike and Tifa was next to you as she handed you a pair of sunglasses. “Thanks, Tifa. Take care of Deny for me till I get back.”

 “You know, ____. Denzel has been waiting for you to come see him ever since you left. And yet, here you are leaving him again without even a hug or a good-bye,” Tifa said with hands on her hips.

 You looked at her with a disappointed face and looked up to see Denzel and Marlene in front of the window of their bedroom. Denzel looked at you with a pouted face and narrowed his eyes at you. You smiled at him and waved since that was all you could do; for now. “Bye Deny! Listen to Tifa.” With that you took off for Healen.

——-FF to Healen——-

 You knocked on the door to find Reno with a big grin on his face opening the door fro you to come in. “Hey look. It’s ______. Say where’s Cloud?” he asked peering over your shoulder.

 “Not here yet,” you said making your way in. You made your way to the couch and sat down. Or rather lay down while putting your feet up.

 “We asked for Cloud to come, dude,” said Reno crouching down to your own eye level while your eyes were looking forward.

 “If you asked for Cloud then you asked for me too. ‘Cuz me and Cloud are partners and we do mostly every mission together,” you said making eye contact with Reno.

 “When was the last time you actually went to a mission with him, ____?” asked a familiar voice.

 You sat up and saw a man in a wheelchair covered by a white blanket. You stared and realized who it was. “Rufus Shinra?” you asked while tilting your head.

 “I’m glad you remembered, ____. How have you been?” he asked with a smile. All you could see of his face was his nose and mouth and his right arm. Rest were covered beneath the white blanket.

 “I thought you died at the accident. So why do you need Cloud?” you asked putting your hands behind you. Just then, a man in black came in with no hair and you knew who it was. “Hiya, Rude. Boy…..” you said to the man. ‘I bet I know what Cloud is gonna say to him,’ you thought.

 Rude just stood there with his hands in front of him and shook his head.

 “Just like Cloud. Always ignoring me,” stated Rufus.

 “There is a reason for that. It’s ‘cuz of you people that Midgar almost got obliterated. I mean come on. I gotta say you are most ungrateful people,” you said with hands o your hips.

 “Yes and there will be and explanation once Cloud gets here. But I would like to ask you some questions,____,” said Rufus motioning you to seat down with his good arm.

 You looked at Rufus with a sad glance but accepted once Reno began to push you down to sit. “What is it?” you asked.

 “Are you infected?” asked Rufus.

 “Um… yeah almost everyone is,” you stated while putting on a weird face.

 “Not really, dude,” said Reno. You stared at him with a questioned face.

 “You see, ____. Most people aren’t actually infected. Like Reno and Rude here. Those who are infected have had tides with Sephiroth,” said Rufus.

 “Sephiroth?”

 “Yes. You for instance were his apprentice and he was your mentor.”

 “Yeah what about it?”

 “Have you met them?”

 “Met who?”

 “Kadaj. Yazoo. Loz.”

 You thought for a minute and answered. “You mean those weird pale-faced, silver-haired, and green cat-eyed boys. Yeah I met them. They called me ‘sister’ and asked for ‘Mother’. That’s JENOVA, right? Why?”

 Rufus said nothing for minutes until Reno broke the tension. “Hey at least we know what they are looking for right?”

 “No,” said Rufus. “____, you must go and find them. Go and save them.”

 “What do you mean?” you asked tilting your head.

 “You….,” Rufus stopped by the purring engine.

 ‘Cloud,’ you thought.

 ’That’s right,’ you thought. (look at chapter one to flahback) “Um…..how long did I like sleep for?”

“Well,” Marlene said, “you slept for two days already.”
“and Danzel has been worried sick about you!!” scolded Tifa finishing Marlene’s sentence.

“Sorry but uh… where is my brother anyways?” you asked.
“Danzel is….” Marlene began. “Uh… where is he?” she asked Tifa.
When Tifa was about to answer there he was, your little brother, Denzel, sort of pushing Tifa out of the way to see his sister alive and well after so many days. On his face was the biggest grin he could manage. He ran toward you and he hugged you so tightly you lost some breath.
“I was so worried about you,____! I thought you were dead when Cloud brought you home.” He took a step a back and looked at you. “Don’t scare me like that,____! I only have you left andI can’t lose you too!!”
You smiled at his worried face and said, “Don’t worry, Denzel. I won’t scare you or run away from you ever again, okay?” you asked while putting your forehead against his.
Denzel nodded making his brown bangs sway from place to place. From this you could see his mark of geostigma on his forehead. You gently placed your hand on his forehead and frowned a slight frown.
“What’s wrong,___?” Denzel asked noticing your hand on his mark he quickly retreated from you hiding his mark with his bangs and overlapping them with his hand. “It’s nothing don’t worry about it. Marlene said it was getting better too. Right, Marlene?” He asked turning to her.
Marlene was scared about how you would react but you gave her a reassuring nod and a small smile. So she did the same to Denzel.
Denzel turned back to you. “See,__! I’m getting better as the seconds pass. I’ll be fine by a few days.”
“Um……I’ve got something to tell you, too. I have gained the geostigma as well,” you said uncovering your left arm of leather.
You heardMarlene gasp as she put a hand to her mouth amd Tifalooked at you with sad eyes. And, well, Danzel looked like he was going to blow. He was staring with wide eyes and trembling hands.
“But it’s fine, bro.Like you said it will heal in time and in days.”
“Um….. yeah sure whatever you say,_____,” replied Denzel with a sad expression.

You woke up today in a room that you could not have reconized, so you began to scan the largely spaced room full of posters and kid junk. There you found Marlene standing next to the bed you were in and she smiled at you as if it was a miracle you were alive. You were shoked to see her there and realized you were in her room upstairs of Seventh Heaven at the Edge.
“Malene?” you asked.
“Yeah?” she answered with a grin on her face.
“How did i get here?” putting a hand to your forehead.
” You don’t rememer,_____?” she asked leaning in.
“Uh….not so much.” you said saking your head.
“Cloud found you outside of town all blood soaked and beaten up,” answered Tifa standing next to the doorway.
All was coming back to you now. Your body was found out that it was carring geostigma and you went in batle with Kadaj and his gang. They found their “sister” and decided to smash you to pieces for betraying them.
——————-flshback——————————–
“Hello, sister,” said Kadaj wih his domestic grin on his face.
“Kadaj,” you said with anger and ready to shoot him with you rifle black gun.
“Now, now. we mustn’t fight or MOTHER might get mad,” said Yazoo calmly.
“Speaking of which, where is she?”
“I thought you hated MOTHER like brother did,” whine Loz.
“I do and I will do anything i can to kill JENOVA!!!” i yelled before pointing the gun at Kadaj.
But before you could do that,Kadaj dived underneath andknocked you off your bike Zack gave you for your recrutment. You rooled and you started to bleed and everything in your vision was becoming green an imidiattly you realized, you were infected with geostigma just like Denzel(your brother) and Cloud. You had to fight back and you couldn’t or your body wouldn’t let you get up to your feet.
“What wrong,___? Afraid of pain?” teased Kadaj. In the background you heard Loz laughing and Yazoo telling him to shut his trap.
“The only thing I’m afraid of is losing my only brother to a virus from the likes of your so called MOTHER!!” I bellowed and started to get up and swing my blade across his neck.
“Hey~~~~!! You made fun of Mother.” was what Loz said as he charged against you and you blocked but it didn’t help as much as you thought. He electrified you and Kadaj just laughed and cut you through at your hand and you writheled in pain.
Then you baga to spout blood as Yazoo knocked out with his gun handle.

Here is a brief summary….
Name:______(make it your own)
Age: You are at least 20
Sex: you are female
Blood:AB positive
Appearence:you have black hair but have the same eye color as Denzel(green). have an average body and wears leather like Cloud. style differs between Cloud and Tifa. you wear gloves and have boots that are blck leather form.
Sibilings enzel(you are his elder sister)
Like the others, you too are infected with geostigma.

 Oh, my friends, what a week I’ve had.  It had them making of a major Hollywood motion picture with a 150 million dollar budget.  It had sweat, it had heat, and yes, the action flew through the air like dog hair.

Or it didn’t.  Or did it?

In truth, I didn’t have quite that sort of week that would constitute adapting a major motion picture.  But, I will say there WAS sweat, there WAS heat, and yes, there was dog hair.  Let me explain, more in depth if I may.

On Saturday, I was to stay at my sister’s place through Tuesday, watching their yellow labs, Lily and Sami.  I was on my own the entire time, with nobody there.  I was alone, except for the two sweet girls I just mentioned.  One of the things that made the week unbearable was the freaking heat.  We’re talking at least 100 degrees practically the entire four days.  And NO air conditioning!!  I walked around doing stuff, I sweated.  I sat there, I sweated.  I layed down to go to sleep, and yes, I sweated.

But luckily I had stuff that, in a way, helped keep that heat off my mind, at least for a little while.  I was able to get, on Saturday morning, before the sister, the husband and their four kids all packed up to leave, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete on Blu-Ray.  Watching this thing on their (I think) 72” HDTV was pretty sweet.

Also, on Saturday, dispite the horrible heat that threatened to devour my soul and leave my body a sweat covered dead corpse from sun death (ok, I”m being overly dramatic, or just stupid) I thought I would go out and do some quick garage sale-ing.  I went to two of them to be exact.  The first one was just plain lame.  Nothing but that kind of crap people think they can actually pawn off on to others.  Cups, glasses, tupperware, some carrying bags and a random assortment of clothing.

So after a brief look around the lame excuse for a garage sale (but alas, I have seen worse garage sales.  One I honestly can’t see how they could have legally called it a garage sale, it was just a few boxs worth of cups and a few randon household stuff….it was that sad), I rode off on my bike to one of the nicer neighborhoods that I am not that familiar with, one of the neighborhoods that has alot of hills and turns, so I hope I didn’t get lost coming back, effectively getting myself trapped outside in the heat of the afternoon sun.

But I digress.  I finally locate this second garage sale, and it was by fire better than the first one.  It actually had a nice variety of things for sale.  And the good thing was they were selling the stuff for rather cheap, and I mean cheap even for a garage sale.  I automatically headed for the books.  Books are thing when I garage sale.  I rarely look at anything else.  On a few execptions, I have boughten a Backgammon, Checkers and Chess in One game, a copy of Monopoly Millinium Edition (which only came with three peices) and some computer games).

As I looked through the books I was told by one of the ladies there that all the books, hardcover and paperback, where all 25 cents each.  That’s an aweome deal, even by garage sale standards, I was drawn to a bunch of the Left Behind books.  I automatically, but silently in my own mind, squealed with joy.  What would the other people around me think if I actually did that outloud?  I quickly picked up books two through six (I already have the first book at home I got at a previous garage sale from the last year’s garage sales).  All for $1.25.  Sweet!  Quickly, I rode with my paper back treasures so I could get out of the sun, and start sweating inside the house instead of outside in the sun.

Later that day, I finally sat down to watch Advent Children.

SPOILER:  ANYONE WHO IS STILL PLAYING THE GAME DEAD SPACE PLEASE SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH IF THEY DON’T WANT THE ENDING SPOILED.  Also, during my stay, I managed to finally beat Dead Space for the PS3.  Man, that Kendra chick…I thought should would have been a good guy, because there is a trophy you can get called Betrayed.  For a while, I thought this one character who was a scientist onboard the Ishimura (the ship your trapped on) would take the only escape ships and leave us hanging to find a way off that metal coffin called a ship.  But NOOOOO……Kendra turned traitor and was deservingly KILLED by the Hive Mind.  How’s THAT for karma BITCH!!???

I did some moderate reading as well.  I read some of my book of Angels and Demons.  I already read The Da Vinci Code, so I think I should obviously read through this prequel.  At this point I’m almost done with it, and soon I can actually carry on to my Left Behind books.

What was so funny though, was throughout this entire four day stay at my sister’s place, I had this idea that I would try having a Friends marathon (they own the entire SERIES, all ten seasons!), but I only managed to squeeze in one season.  Oye.

And aside from some other extra things I did through out the four days I was there, like swimming and generally trying to stay cool, that’s about it.  Everybody got home last night at about midnight, and I’m sure that every single person in that car had to be exhausted beyond belief.  I think it was a four hour drive to where they were coming back from.  It’s crazy.  My butt would be so numb, if not sore from all that driving.

Ok, even though I am already home at this point in the week, I’d still might as well make mention of this since I’m in the blogging frame of mind right now.  I was at the store today, and got a copy of Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaro’s Treasure.  I traded in Oblivion GOTY, which netted me 8 bucks, and was able to get Zack and Wiki.  I hope that trade isn’t going to turn around and bite me in the ass!  lol.

Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve typed this much.  I really had alot of stuff to talk about tonight.  I guess I had alot of material to sort through and talk about.  Thanks for sticking through this endless rambling!

Take care you guys!  Until next time!
Daquine

Ok, this is my first icon tutorial, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Program: Photoshop
Translatable: it involves Curves and Selective Colors so I don’t think…
Action available: Yes

Download

This tutorial is involving one of my favourite character, Sephiroth <3

01. Ok, so, open your image and crop to 100×100 pixels. I wanted to get rid of all that green/bluish and give a little more color to Sephiroth

02. Duplicate your image and set to Screen 100%

03. Click on Layer -> New adjustment layer -> Curves. Choose Channel -> Green and set this values: Input 135, Output 112

04. Click on Layer -> New fill layer -> Solid Color -> #F9CDCD. Set this layer on Soft Light 70%

05. Click on Layer -> New adjustment layer -> Brightness/Contrast. Set Contrast to +40

06. Click on Layer -> New adjustment layer -> Selective Color
CYAN: +100 0 0 0
NEUTRALS: -10 0 0 -16

07. Click on Layer -> New adjustment layer -> Color Balance
MIDTONES: +10 0 0
SHADOWS: -15 0 0
HIGHLIGHTS: 0 0 -10

08. Click on Layer -> New adjustment layer -> Selective Color
NEUTRALS: -12 0 -5 -3

09. Click on Layer -> Merge visible

10. Click on Filter -> Sharpen -> Sharpen

And you’re done!
If you don’t wanna make manually all the steps, here the Photoshop Action:
http://kttns.org/mgjkn

Après les dames, les messieurs. Le choix fut plus facile, bien que j’ai eu quelques hésitations sur la fin. Il n’y aura pas de grandes surprises pour les principaux et certains seront aussi évidents que la présence d’Arcueid chez les femmes.

Là encore, ils ont tous à peu près le même profil. Il m’est également impossible de faire un classement car je les apprécie tous. Je dirai tout de même que cette liste a quand même bien moins de chance d’évoluer que celle des femmes car beaucoup de héros sont pauvres et peu charismatiques.

Sans plus attendre, voici ma liste

- Kuchiki Byakuya (Bleach): pas vraiment une surprise pour ceux qui me connaissent un peu .

- Ulquiorra (Beach): j’aime pas mettre 2 personnages d’un même anime mais je ne pouvais pas choisir.

- Guts (Berserk): un héros noir. J’adore son épée ^^

- Kiba (Wolf’s Rain): mystérieux et froid. Le solitaire dans l’âme.

- Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop): je ne pouvais pas l’oublier Cool attitude power.

- Kurei (Flame of Recca): l’un des mes méchants préférés. Très complexe dans le manga.

- Sephiroth ( Final Fantasy: Advent Children): mon méchant préféré. La classe international.

- Van (Gun X Sword): l’anti-héros par excellence, mélange de Guts et de Spike.

- Sebastian (Kuroshitsuji): le plus récent de la liste mais pas le plus mauvais. Mystérieux, on ne sait jamais le fond de sa pensée, qu’il cache derrière son sourire machiavélique.

- Hagi (Blood+): ce n’est pas le personnage principal mais j’adore son style. très proche de Kuchiki Byakuya, le violoncelle en plus.

J’aurai pu mettre aussi avec Alucard (Hellsing) et Abel Nightlord (Trinity Blood), très classe quand il se transforme en Kresnik, mais les 10 d’avant représentent vraiment ceux qui m’ont le plus plu.

akhirnya..

koleksi terbaru aku, bro cloud dri film Final Fantasy : Advent Children[aku rasa ni China mari]..tpi msi cun d mata aku..yeah..masa tguk filmnya pun aku suda angan2 mo beli figure ni..fuhhh..stylo n emo abis..kamu tguklaa bah rambut dia..teruja??..aku lagilaa..

bestnya kalau kaya berjuta2..bule jga aku beli kmudian jual berganda-ganda[huahaha smakin kaya]..koyak lgilaa bulan ni..huhuhu..tpi tiada penyesalan m8.. ..

marikucuritumpuanmu : slalu tersilap taip antara fantasy dgn fansatay..hehe..bengong.. :-p

Another sleepless night lead to a photo opportunity. Pulled an all nighter yet again doing random things ^^; as the sun came up and beamed through my window, the streak of light hit my Cloud Strife Play Arts figure. Well, i thought the effect it made looked pretty cool and decided to snap a quick photo.

What do you think?

By the time i took this one the light was moving away lol.

Como ya muchos sabrán, en el 2005 squere enix o en ese entonces squere soft lanzó la película de Final Fantasy Advent Children, la cual fascinó al mundo por su realizmo y animación, pero para aquellos que no son seguidores de los juegos, la historia fue realmente incomprensible, es por eso que la aclamada compañía de videojuegos ha decidido lanzar de nuevo esta pelicula en blu-ray agregando lo que parece ser la justificación de la trama, dejando a esta pelicula con un total de mas de 125 minutos.

Más información: VIDEOJUEGO BLOG

SQUARE ENIX

Cast of Characters –

Cloud Strife – Our hero from the video game and the hero in this movie, during which he displays a whole range of emotions; from sulking, to brooding, to scowling, all in an exciting, emo-fashion! Legally prohibited from smiling.

Tifa Lockhart – The girl Cloud should have hooked up with. Her fisting abilities make her very popular!

Barrett Wallace – The man with the silver gun arm! He doesn’t really do much other than show up, swear and shot things. He’s here to kick gum and chew ass… or… something.

Kadaj and the Crunch Bunch – A pack of whinny, annoying, always-crying, emo-ish, Sephiroth cos-players who are somehow great bad-asses. Apparently representing elements of Sephiroth’s personality, though not so you’d notice. Really, just three Oedipal losers, but scary in a Hot Topic kind of way.

The Turks – Reno and Rude are the only ones who matter, and even then they’re just pointless comic relief.

The rest of the good guys – Don’t do much, don’t really matter.

The dead – Sephiroth, Aerith and Zack were all dead at the end of the video game, so of course they are still dead and can have no bearing whatsoever on the plot. None at all. Glad we have that cleared up.

Final Fantasy VII was one hell of a game. Groundbreaking in just about every way possible, it featured a decent (if confusing), storyline, interesting characters, great music, a 3-D environment and wonderful music! It was a system-seller for the Playstation at a time when they kind of needed one.

It also knocked Nintendo down hard. See, originally the game was supposed to be on the successor system to the Super Nintendo. That was going to be a CD-based system (possibly originally made with help from Phillips), and would’ve boasted pretty much all the features that the Playstation had. Well, in the end Nintendo decided to continue with cartridge based games, which really ticked off Square, as it placed limits on them that they didn’t want. Words were said, and next thing you knew, no Square games on any Nintendo systems for several years.

FFVII was great, and left many fans wanting more. Eventually they got Final Fantasy VIII, which made a lot of people very angry, and is generally regarded as a bad move. Other games came along, none of which related to the seventh, and people still wanted to see more of Cloud and his friends.

The game remained quite popular with people at Square as well. When showing off what the Playstation 3 could do, they showed a CGI movie that copied the opening scenes from the game. This left a lot of people hoping and wondering. Could a sequel be in the works? Maybe a remake onto the PS3?

No, instead what we got was Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (or, to use it’s Japanese title, “Fainaru Fantajī Sebun Adobento Chirudoren”); a broad continuation of the story from the game, done entirely in CGI. Surprisingly it doesn’t suck and has a lot going for it, including a great soundtrack and some really well-done fight choreography. Unfortunately, it also has a muddled screenplay, very uninteresting villains and a lot to do in a short amount of time.

For this recap I watched the film with the Japanese soundtrack and English subtitles. I have no problem with the English dub on this (actually, it’s pretty good), but when watching any non-English film I prefer to hear the original language and read the subtitles (though if I ever knuckle under and watch Incubus that policy may have to change).

Anyhow, on with the show!

Readable titles are for losers!

We start with a nice dedication to the fans. The entire movie is, of course, blatant fan-service, and I’m fine with that. Then we get a caption indicating that what we are about to see takes place 498 years after the other events in the movie that take place two years after the events in the game. So for those keeping count, the movie happens two years after the game, this part happens 500 years after the game, and 498 years after the movie. Right-o.

From the dedication we pan down to a lovely mountain scene showing Red XIII and what appear to be young cubs running along together. Now I’d been under the impression Red XIII was the last of his species, so I’m unclear as to how he has kids, but I could just be remembering things wrong. It’s been a while since I played the game.

Anyhow, Red XIII runs up to the top of a hill and howls. We look down and see some sort of ruins. I’m assuming this is Midgar or something, but the movie is far from clear on this point. Also, it’s really, really unclear why we need this scene. It just creates some vague confusion about when the game takes place and brings up the question of where the cubs came from.

Really, they would’ve been better opening it on the following scene, which shows Reno, one of the Turks, flying a helicopter while listening to reports from down bellow. Ah, Reno… pathetic in the game, not that much better here, but so, so cute… *le sigh*

Yeah, baby, hold that joystick....

Anyhow, we hear lots of gunshots and the helicopter goes down to the rescue. We don’t know anything about who is attacking, but presumably we’ll find out later. The helicopter rescues only one person, apparently, and then goes flying off.

From here we go onto another scene with some voice-over from Barrett’s daughter explaining the events from the video game. So for those keeping count, we have so far three prologues before we get into the movie proper.

This little recap of the video game also brings up something that annoyed me from the game. First, let me say that it does look beautiful, though it makes me sniffle slightly at Aerith dying. But it also brings up what’s known as Gaia Theory, and I really, really hate Gaia Theory.

For those not in the know, Gaia Theory (also called the Gaia Hypothesis), basically state that the Earth is an organism of some sort that engages in a form of self-regulating homeostasis. It’s a silly idea especially once you take it to the logical conclusion of “what does the planet do to compensate for change?” This is of course an oversimplification, but you get the idea.

In this movie, and in the video game, the planet reacts to what humanity is doing by interacting with the lifestream and saving itself and causing geostigma and etc, etc, etc. None of which makes any rational sense. It’s very silly and pointless and, yes, I know it’s just a video game/movie, but it still irks me.

Anyhow, we now move out into the movie itself, introducing Midgar and showing some street urchins hanging about, most of whom apparently have this poorly-defined illness called “geostigma”. From what I can gather later on in the movie, it’s kind of like cancer, but there’s no real explanation. For now what you need to know is that it causes a grey rash and apparently is fatal, but we never see anyone die from it.

The scene changes to the inside of Tifa’s bar, where she eventually answers a phone call with the words “Strife Delivery Service!” Yes, apparently Cloud is working as a delivery boy, thus putting him on the same occupational level as Philip J Fry.

Tifa tells the caller that Cloud isn’t around, and we go out to a shot of the cliffs above the city. Here we see the buster sword sticking into the ground. Damn stupid weapon, but I know the fan-boys love it. After that we move along to see, sitting on a motorbike and listening to his voice mail, our hero, Cloud!

Oh, Cloud. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. You’re really hot.

2. See one.

Cloud is of course looking all broody and emo, as befits a hero who saved the world. You know, once I made up a drinking game based around this movie. One of the rules was that you took a drink every time Cloud looked moody. Alcohol poisoning usually set in around the thirty minute mark.

Say, that's a nice bike.

The next scene features a wonderful chase scene as Cloud rides his motorcycle through a canyon and gets chased by the bad guys. Ah, yes, the bad guys. Kadaj and his gang of pussies.

Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz (hereafter referred to as Thing 1 and Thing 2), are the three chumps who pass for villains in this movie. Most of the time they taunt each other for crying and whine about Mother. They look interesting, kind of, and they have some decent moves, but frankly they do just come off as some sort of wanna-be Sephiroth cos-players.

Anyhow, Thing 1 and Thing 2 both ride down in the canyon to chase Cloud while Kadaj engages in… extreme cell phone conversation! Yeah!

Now the fight scene here is really well done, with Cloud on his motorbike, swinging his sword and looking exciting as Thing 1 and Thing 2 orbit around him, shooting and swinging their swords. It’s a really well-done fight with some great music, and a good demonstration of how the movie, like the game, can mix magic and science.

Of course there’s three problems with this fight.

First, they cut away from the action to show Kadaj on his cell phone. Now this is just my opinion, but I believe the movie would work better just focusing on the action.

Second, argh, gunblades are being used! These are swords built with guns inside (or guns built with swords outside). They look cool, sort of, but are completely useless. This also raises the question of why, in a world with guns, would anyone be using a sword? From Wikipedia, I see that the real-life versions of these weapons died out centuries ago, and that’s no surprise. Don’t bring a knife (or sword), to a gunfight.

Third, Cloud gets shot in the face or rather, gets shot in the bullet-proof sunglasses he’s wearing. This does no damage whatsoever. I can accept that this is basically a CGI anime and these people are basically super-heroes, but along with another scene later, this really pulls me out of the movie.

Cloud gets away and heads off to a place called Healin, where he briefly (and pointlessly), fights Reno. He goes inside a small building, and Rude confronts him. Cloud already has his sword out and ready to go, so Rude puts on a glove in a menacing fashion, whips out his sword and (pointlessly), takes a swing. No reason is given for why these two try to attack Cloud.

Menacing Glove Number One

Rufus Shinra, president of the Shina corporation (which runs the whole world from what I can tell, cause you know how megacorps roll), turns up to exposit a bit at Cloud all about Sephiroth and how Shinra is trying to make up for past crimes. Cloud tells him to piss off and leaves. Why they needed Cloud to drive out to see them for a conversation that could be handled on Cloud’s (product-placed), cell phone is beyond me.

The next bit shows Tifa and Barrett’s daughter arriving at the church where Aerith used to hang out. We find out here that Cloud has the geostigma (big surprise), and that he’s been living and sleeping here (big surprise).

A few moments later we see Reno and Rude getting it handed to them again, this time by Kadaj. Mind you, from what I understand, Reno and Rude’s group, the Turks, is supposed to be pretty bad-ass. This is apparently just an informed attribute, as we see no real proof of this here.

Kadaj and Rufus exposit back forth for a bit. There’s something here about Kadaj being just a memory, or an avatar or something, but it’s not very clear. Then Kadaj kneels in a menacing fashion (?), and his features briefly flicker, making him look vaguely like Sephiroth. I yawn.

Back at the church, one of the Things shows up. He briefly taunts Tifa and then, after she puts on a glove in a menacing way, the two start to fight. It’s a really good fight sequence, though the laws of physics are seriously wounded in the process. We also get a piano remix of the fight music from the game, so that’s pretty fun.

Menacing Glove Number Two

Tifa beats the snot out of the Thing and gives the little girl a hug. Then they hear the Thing’s ringtone which is, hilariously, the Final Fantasy Victory Music! I gotta say, the fan-boy in me just loves this! It’s a great use of the music and quite cool.

The music pulls the Thing out from under the pile of debris he’s currently in. He banters with Tifa for a moment, and then somehow gets behind her, knocks her down and is about to kill her when the little girl throws a bit of materia at his head. It’s a small piece, so he of course glares at her, kills Tifa and then grabs the girl and leaves.

Well, in fact, no that’s not what he does, though that would be smart. Instead he menaces the girl, grabs her and runs off, leaving Tifa wounded (but not in any serious way), and alive. I’m not sure why he didn’t just kill her, aside from the fact that the story needs her alive for later.

Outside in the city we see a couple kids (one of whom is carrying a stuffed moogle! Yay!), getting into a mysterious truck that is, apparently, going to take them off somewhere to get cured of their geostigma.

Now. Call me silly and all, but I’d imagine that an odd, unlabeled truck with a couple creepy guys who are rounding up kids just might attract the attention of the police. However as we learn here and later, Midgar apparently doesn’t have any police or military.

This makes no sense to me. People are people and people need policing if they are together in large numbers. Midgar doesn’t appear to be all that big (probably only a couple thousand people tops), but one would think they would have some police that might come up and try to put a stop to this. Ok, yes, maybe the police already tried and were killed, but wouldn’t that invite more police and make it less likely the kids would go off with Kadaj and the Crunch Bunch?

You know, while I’m on this rant, just how big is this world? It must be about the same size as Earth, since the gravity appears to be about the same, but the amount of land space shown in the game is hardly anything. Further, Midgar is presented as a big city, but as I noted, it seems to only hold a couple thousand people at most.

Oh, well. Enough of that.

Anyhow, Kadaj hauls the kids off to some sort of lake/temple thingy where he is, I presume, about to tell them all about thetans. He takes the kids and leads them into the water, which somehow, I think, cures the geostigma, or maybe not, since we see one of the kids with it later. The water does apparently brainwash the kids so that they become stars in the newest remake of The Bloodening.

Meantime, Cloud has heard that the kids have been taken to a place called the Forgotten City. Yes, it’s actually called the Forgotten City. First, it doesn’t look like much of a city, and second, if people know where it is, why is it called the Forgotten City?!

As Cloud is riding along, Aerith picks this time to contact him mentally or something. He sees a vision of flowers and is standing back-to-back with her. We don’t see her clearly yet, which is a nice touch, but I have to wonder what Aerith is thinking here. Cloud is riding a motorcycle, without a helmet, at high speed and she chooses then to distract him? What the fuck?

Anyhow, Cloud survives this insane moment, though only just, and finds himself in a fight with Kadaj and his cronies. Thing 1 and Thing 2 shoot at Cloud, but they apparently went to the Stormtrooper Academy of Small-Arms Fire, as they completely miss him and his motorcycle (and, amazingly, even avoid hitting something up in the air off screen which would then “squawk!” and fall to the ground).

The ensuing fight is well-staged and interesting even if it, again, brutalizes the laws of physics. Still, these are basically super-heroes in what’s basically an anime so I can bear with it, mostly. Also, we get to see Cloud use a limit break, and that’s pretty cool.

Eventually, though, Cloud starts getting it handed to him. Before anyone has the chance to off him, however, Vincent the vampire turns up in his red cloak and spirits Cloud off to safety. Vampira ex machina, I suppose. We see some footage of Cloud being even more whiny and emo than usual. Vincent exposits on geostigma (still doesn’t make any real sense to me), then basically tells Cloud to get over it.

Speaking of getting over it, Barrett’s daughter seems to think this is exactly the right moment to start bitching about how Cloud doesn’t pay enough attention to her, Tifa and the rest. Cloud flashes back to Tifa basically giving him the exact same lecture. Yes, ok, we get it. Cloud is really, really emo, but there’s a time and place. I don’t really want to see Cloud sitting around acting like Squall.

I'm Squall. I shop at Hot Topic and have a MySpace page with music by My Chemical Romance.

Cloud mumbles something about feeling guilty letting Aerith die, and really, yes, he should feel guilty about that. I mean, why the hell didn’t he just whip out a phoenix down and bring her back to life? Yeah, I know that would’ve nuked the story and stuff, but it’s still a huge plot hole both in the game and in the movie, and one well-addressed by VG Cats!

As Cloud makes up his mind, we see his Panasonic FOMA P900iV cell phone slowly sinking down into the water. Yes, that’s right. Product placement in a movie that takes place in another universe. Well done! Anyhow, it’s apparently waterproof, since it’s we can hear voice mails playing and also there a lot of air bubbles coming out of it. I mean a shitload. I’m not sure how much air these things hold, but I’m betting it’s not that much!

What, me product place?

Back in Midgar we see that Thing 1 and Thing 2 have arrived and set up camp outside a large landmark thingy. They have the landmark thingy ringed with children who are looking all sorts of creepy. Meantime the people of the city are standing there shouting curses at the bad guys, and I’m not sure why. I mean, they haven’t actually done anything yet. Yes, they’re going to, but for right now they’re just standing around. Hey, maybe they’re street performers! Maybe this will turn into a dance number! That could be interesting!

Kadaj is up at the top of a tower hanging out with Rufus, who seems to think it’s a good idea to meet with someone like Kadaj at the top of a building with nothing between him and certain splat except Kadaj’s goodwill. Rufus is apparently very stupid, but about to get stupider.

Anyhow, the Crunch Bunch summon up some demon-dog things that attack everyone as they try to open up this landmark which is, apparently, holding some clues to the location of Jenova, or possibly has Jenova inside it. Reno and Rude show up and engage in some of the strangest banter I’ve ever seen where, from what I can tell, Reno is being dissed on for being a low-level schlub.

It’s strange dialogue that gets even odder when you see Reno’s face, since it looks like’s received the greatest insult ever. I don’t know, maybe this is some sort of cultural thing, but I don’t get it, but another fight happens.

Up on the tower, Kadaj is getting all, “Have you heard the word of Jenova? Are you ready for Reunion?”with Rufus and summons up Bahamut. Too bad Tiamat hasn’t shown up, cause that’d rock. We could have a big old Monster Manual party!

Down bellow, Barrett has shown up and started to fight against Bahamut. After a bit, Vincent, Cid, Red XIII, fucking Cait Sith, and Yuffie (she’s a ninja! Believe it!), show up and join in. A huge-ass battle ensues and it is, for the most part, pretty damned impressive. Some really great fight choreography yet again, along with some very cool music. Really, it’s a nicely done scene and proof that this movie is at it’s best when people are just beating the shit out of one another and not actually talking.

At about this point, Cloud turns up, whipping out yet another sword from his Swiss Army Bike and then joins in the fight.

Elsehwere, Rude’s glasses get broken (he pulls out another pair), as he and Reno continue to fight Thing 1 and Thing 2. In the tower Kadaj continues to taunt Rufus who then, suddenly, whips out a box that apparently has what’s left of Jenova.

Now comes one of the worst parts in the film as far as I’m concerned. Before this moment, the laws of physics have merely been beaten up a bit. Now, however, they get raped, pwned and totally destroyed in a scene that completely takes me out of the film and removes my ability to suspend disbelief.

I’ve watched this scene several times, including just now and what happens is this: Cloud is jumping up into the air to put the pain to Bahamut. This is fine and dandy. At one point Barrett helps him go higher, and then Cid does the same. Then, in quick succession, Red XIII/Cait Sith, then Yuffie and then Tifa, all boost him upwards while in midair themselves.

I don’t know why this breech of physics bugs me so much. I mean, we’re dealing with anime super-heroes, basically, and it still bugs me. It’s like a scene in Superman Returns where Superman is lifting something while standing on it. I can accept him flying around, but I can’t accept that. Same here.

Anyhow, past that annoying bit, we do have a lovely scene where Cloud gets boosted his last way up by Aerith, shown as a reflection in Cloud’s eye, and that’s rather sweet. It almost makes me forget everything that just happened. Almost.

Meantime, back with Rufus and Kadaj, we pick up where Rufus threw the box off the roof. I’m not sure why Rufus throws it or, for that matter, why he was carrying the damn thing around with him to begin with. Me, I’d have found a way to destroy it or toss it into the ocean or given it to Cloud and said, “Don’t let anyone else get their hands on this.” But, oh, well, I’m a logical, reasoning, intelligent person, unlike basically everyone in this movie.

Rufus and Kadaj both end up going off the building and falling as I have flashbacks to The Matrix Revolutions (speaking of movies ripe for the recap treatment). The box gets breeched, Kadaj lands safely and Rufus is saved from certain splat by…

Trinity really looks different for some reason.

Fucking Tseng and Elena?!

What. The Hell? I thought they were dead? I thought Kadaj and the Crunch Bunch had killed them, but apparently not! They’re here to save Rufus’ bacon. Ok, whatever.

Kadaj makes his getaway with Cloud in hot pursuit. There’s another rather nifty motorcycle-based fight, complete with Cloud cutting a bike in half as it flies towards him, and then we see Reno and Rude standing on a bridge together holding bombs. They have a little talk and it’s quite clear they mean to kill themselves and take out Thing 1 and Thing 2 in the process. Cloud and Kadaj zips by, the bombs go off and that’s it for those four (yeah, right).

Reno, about to blown... er, blown up. Anyhow.

Kadaj and Cloud start having their big finale fight. They beat the shit out of each other, Kadaj whining about Mother every step of the way. God, he’s an irritating bad-guy. Sephiroth whined to, but at least he had some style.

We get a view up on Cid’s airship for a bit with the other heroes arguing about what to do with the fight going on beneath them. Eventually it’s decided to let Cloud handle it, and I have to ask: why?

This is an ongoing cliché in fiction. “Let the guy handle it, he needs to sort it out for himself, let him fight his own fight!” It’s stupid. Here these people are, facing the end of the world, and they don’t want to join in the fight in case it injures Cloud’s self-esteem?! Tough! Everyone on the airship should be down there fighting, just like they were in the game when facing Sephiroth!

Speaking of which… just as it seems Cloud has beaten Kadaj, he finds that Kadaj is transforming and he’s suddenly facing… (cue music)… Sephiroth!

Look out! He's emo and carrying poetry!

Well, ok, we all knew this was coming, but I really don’t get it. If Kadaj and the Crunch Bunch are supposed to be aspects of Sephiroth, how come only one of them turns into him? Shouldn’t all three, or shouldn’t they have to combine? Aspecticons! Merge and form… Sephiroth!

I don’t know. It’s cool and all, I guess, but how much cooler would it have been if it had, you know, made sense? Ah, well. It is rather cool seeing Sephiroth back now and, oh, look, he can fly. Of course he can.

Sephie and Cloud duke it out and it’s another really well-done fight scene! They exchange some banter, the celestial chorus sings and, in the end, Cloud kicks Sephiroth’s ass using some really impressive new limit break! Fan-boys around the world cum in their jeans and sit back and light cigarettes.

Cloud goes to Sephiroth who, it seems, has turned back into Kadaj. They have a little moment where Kadaj goes off to join the lifestream. There’s some celebration and we see that, oh, look, Reno and Rude are still alive. I wonder if Thing 1 and Thing 2 are kicking it somewhere? We see that, why, yes, they are, as one of them shoots Cloud.

See, this is one of the biggest problems I have with this movie. There’s no consequences. So far in this film, Kadaj, Thing 1, Thing 2, Tseng, Elena, Reno and Rude have all been, at one point or another, apparently killed only to turn up completely alive, unharmed and ready for action. It’s vexing. I hate it when I can’t trust movies and I know, just know, that someone shown as dead isn’t. Much as I bitch about Cloud not using a phoenix down on Aerith when she died, at least she stayed dead and didn’t turn up at the end, alive and healthy with no reason why!

So, yeah, Cloud gets shot and has a nice little near death experience where we hear the voices of Aerith and Zack telling him that, essentially, he hasn’t dealt with all his thetans, so he needs to go back to the world and smile more (and possibly get laid, though that’s only implied). A strange wolf walks up to Cloud (?), and Cloud wakes up in some water at Aerith’s church.

There’s a bit of rejoicing, all the kids get cured of the geostigma, Cloud smiles just faintly and we finally see Areith and Zack and, I must admit, this scene always chokes me up a little. Even now, just describing it, I have a reaction. It’s a really, really sweet scene and I love seeing Zack and Aerith properly.

Looking good, Zack! Looking good.

Anyhow, they walk off into, essentially, the sunset, everyone is reunited, the Ewok music from the original version of Return of the Jedi plays and we go to the credits (with some of my favorite music in the series).

The end.

I still have a soft spot in my heart for this movie and probably always will. I know it’s a bad film, but it’s a very, very good bad film. Hell, given that I own two versions of it, I can’t hate it that much.

You know, there is a lot that works in this movie. The graphics are impressive, the fight scenes are great and the music is amazing.

But there’s so much fail as well. The plot is a muddled mess, the character motivations are murky at best, the laws of physics get destroyed, death is never permanent and, basically, the film shows that too much fan-service can be a bad thing.

I do hope that at some point the powers that be at Square-Enix give us a proper video game sequel or, failing that, at least go back and remake or release the original version. The movie is what it is, but the video game is so much more, and this movie could/should have been much more than it is.

Hmmm… I wonder where I get a good Playstation emulator?