This is a Kaleon request of a Kodomo no Jikan Rainmeter skin. I’ve downloaded your pictures, man, and I can’t use them since they are jaggy and in low resolution. Therefore, I decided to use mine, instead. This Rainmeter skin is rather special since there is two Rin Kokonoe pictures. There are Rin in kimono version and Rin in police officer version. To toggle, just click the character and it will change to the other picture. Enjoy.

Skin Name: Rin Kokonoe Calendar Rainmeter

File Size: 201 KB

Color Theme: Pink

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/hwwinzmkz3d/RinKokonoeCalendar.rar

Note: A Rainmeter application can be downloaded in my previous post. Don’t forget to extract and move the folder to your Rainmeter skin directory. Happy downloading!

美鳥の日々
8/10 — Worth watching. Filled with humor and cutesy shojo romance. (But still shonen.)

An absolutely hilarious and charming anime. While it is shojo, the series includes plenty of nudity, occasional vulgar humor, and fight scenes for the male audience, as well. Studio Pierot does a good job of poking fun at the magical girl style anime that they helped popularize, while still creating a sincere series. The recognized demographic for the series is shonen; although, I would hesitate to call the series that: it rides the border of shojo and shonen.

Let’s make a quick run thru the basics:

Voice Acting: 9/10 — Consistent and believable.
(This concerns the Japanese vocal cast.)
The voice actors pull off a wide variety of conflicting emotions throughout the series, and never does that voice acting get in the way. Even the voices of the lesser characters, such as those various gangmembers always lookin’ to take Sawamura down, fit into the goings-on without interrupting the flow. Shojo often requires female voice actors to go from complete calm to flipping out at a moment’s notice, and this does happen, and the voice actors pull it off quite well. The voices add to the characters effectively too. Both Sawamura and Midori are given greater personality by their actors’ performances.

Animation: 8/10 — Good quality and smooth.
So the animation won’t knock your socks off, but it is quite good and the frame rates are consistent. Nowhere does it feel like animation was left to the last minute or that maintaining the benchmark of quality was knocked off the priority ladder. Not only does the animation achieve the day-to-day events that it is meant to portray, but it also displays the entirety of fights without panning away between punches. We see the movements! That’s a big deal to me, especially in a series where fighting may be pertinent to the story of a character, but it isn’t pertinent to the overall story. This was not an action anime, but when fights came up, it may as well have been.

Music/Sound Effects: 7/10 — Somewhat generic, but enjoyable.
The opening is “Sentimental” and the closer is “Mou Sukoshi… Mou Sukoshi…” (or “A Little More… A Little More…). Despite the lack of openers and closers (the show is only 13 episodes), we also get two songs that crop up during episodes in order to enhance the emotional atmosphere: “Small Letter” in episode 7, and “A Single Drop” in episode 8. I think the 4 songs cover the space of music necessary for the series. While the songs are somewhat generic, they do fit directly into the events of the series and coincide with the characters’ feelings. The actual sound effects in the series are there, and like the voice acting they fit right in and don’t get in the way.

Story/Script: 7/10 — Original, though rushed finale and some cliche elements.
The story is fairly original in that a girl becomes a guy’s right hand. From there on in the story does maintain a level of originality with the crazy sister, Ayase’s dreams of hooking Seiji, etc. We do get the typical bad boy turns good, etc. that we might expect in a shojo anime; however, the way in which these things are carried out are much more splendidly written, with an eye towards humor, than almost any other similar series. The ending is incredibly rushed, as the series wraps up in an episode rather than across an ending arc. The last couple episodes do seem to build, but it’s a bit of a stretch. The level of closure at the end is also somewhat unsatisfying as other characters’ fates, besides the central two, are left mostly unexplained, and it is only the beginning of the main characters’ real relationship, so to speak.

Bad reviews I’ve read of this series often compare it to the manga, and while manga are often better (and I have read and enjoyed several volumes of this show’s manga), I try not to cross-compare. I do believe this series stands well enough on its own.

The Technicals:
Directed by Tsuneo Kobayashii, and produced by Studio Pierot. It originally aired on Animax from April 3, 2004 to June 26, 2004. And it is based on the manga by Kazurou Inoue that was published in Shonen Sunday from September 25, 2002 to October 18, 2004.

Episodes:
1: “Right Hand Girlfriend”
2: “Our Memory”
3: “Days of Discovery”
4: “Our Secret Revealed!?”
5: “The Power of Love”
6: “Shiori’s Love Love Plan of Attack”
7: “First Date”
8: “Right Hand Seiji”**
9: “Takki Days”
10: “Distance of the Hearts”
11: “Fated Reunion”
12: “Sudden Parting”*
13: “The Days of Two People”

*favorite episode
**least favorite episode

Tendremos más Saber y Rin para rato...

Para promocionar un poco la película que está próxima a estrenarse en el 2010, Type-Moon ha anunciado que lanzarán 2 OVAs recopilatorias de la serie de 60 minutos cada una; las cuales recopilarán en cada una, 12 capítulos de la serie de anime.

Estas OVAs saldrán el 22 de enero de 2010 y además incluirán una remasterización y edición nuevas de los remakes, incluirán secuencias nuevas de opening y ending, y una nueva versión del popular opening “Dissilusion” interpretado por Sachi Tainaka y nuevos temas de ending para cada volúmen.

Life scientists’ information use – one size does not fit all, posted by Sarah Gentleman on Nature Network, November 2, 2009. Excerpt:

Key findings from the report include

• Researchers use informal and trusted sources of advice from colleagues, rather than institutional service teams, to help identify information sources and resources
• The use of social networking tools for scientific research purposes is far more limited than expected
• Data and information sharing activities are mainly driven by needs and benefits perceived as most important by life scientists rather than ‘top-down’ policies and strategies
• There are marked differences in the patterns of information use and exchange between research groups active in different areas of the life sciences, reinforcing the need to avoid standardised policy approaches

See also: Patterns of information use and exchange: case studies of researchers in the life sciences, Research Information Network, November 2, 2009. Excerpt:

The report was developed using an innovative approach to capture the day-to-day patterns of information use in seven research teams from a wide range of disciplines, from botany to clinical neuroscience. The study undertaken over 11 months and involving 56 participants found that there is a significant gap between how researchers behave and the policies and strategies of funders and service providers. This suggests that the attempts to implement such strategies have had only a limited impact.

…..

If you’d like to contribute to the discussion, join our forum on Nature Networks and follow our hashtag on Twitter #casestudieslife

Found via: Patterns of information use and exchange: case studies of researchers in the life sciences | Research Information Network, posted by Bill Hooker to FriendFeed, November 8, 2009.

Comment: Found from an informal and trusted source of advice (with the help of a social networking tool, FriendFeed ).

Hoje irei falar sobre um anime que eu amo. Na verdade, pretendo analisar alguns personagens da trama, até porque para quem já conhece o anime sabe a quantidade blogs e sites que falam sobre ele. É claro que irei comentar um pouco sobre a história ate porque o anime é perfeito, da história aos personagens.

Tudo começa quando Kagome é sugada por um youkai e levada para a Era Feudal e encontra um garoto preso a uma árvore desacordado. Naquele mundo estranho, ela descobre a existência de uma jóia chamada “Jóia de Quatro Almas” que pode dar poderes inimagináveis para quem a possui, no entanto, ela desapareceu com a morte da sacerdotisa Kikyou que foi morta pelo mesmo garoto que está preso à árvore.

História vai história vem, e descobrimos que a jóia estava escondida dentro do corpo de Kagome e que num acidente, a jóia é quebrada e todos os seus fragmentos são espalhados pelo mundo. A história central gira em torno da procura pelos fragmentos da jóia por Kagome e Inuyasha.

Anime que recomendo, historia muito engraçada e bla bla bla… vamos aos personagens.

Inuyasha é um meio Youkai, ou seja, metade humano, metade youkai que deseja ter a Jóia de Quatro Almas para se tornar um Youkai completo. Agora falando sério, o cara é completamente tímido, apesar de tudo ele acaba se apaixonando pela Kikyou que o lacra, de acordo com ela por ele tê-la traído… mas enfim. Acredito ele é uma pessoa que esconde seus sentimentos. Ele é apaixonado pelo Kagome também, mas não a diz abertamente e sempre escolhe a Kikyou porque acha que sua morte foi culpa dele. Apesar de tudo, das grosserias, que quem já viu algum episódio sabe do que estou dizendo, ele é uma cara que sabe ser fiel aos amigos, sabe proteger aqueles que ama, um pouco indeciso, tudo bem, mas apenas um homem que sofreu por ser o que é num mundo onde ser um meio-youkai é o mesmo que nada, a escória do mundo, um lixo, alguém que aprendeu a não se apegar as pessoas porque querendo ou não, elas sempre vão embora, alguém que se machucou tanto que precisa desesperadamente de alguém que cure de suas feridas e é aí que entra a Kagome…

Kagome é uma colegial que tem sua vida mudada quando um “demônio” a puxa para dentro de um poço que fica no templo onde mora e é levada para a era feudal, onde conhece Inuyasha e começa uma jornada para procurar os fragmentos da Joia de Quatro Almas que ela quebrou na tentativa de matar um youkai que a havia roubado. OBS: ela descobre que é reencarnação da sacerdotisa Kikyou. Kagome para mim é uma pessoa forte, consegue lidar com os problemas em seu mundo e toda a aventura que acontece na era feudal. Inicialmente ela e Inuyasha não se dão muito bem, em parte porque ele não consegue lidar com o fato de ela ser tão parecida com a sua querida Kikyou, em parte porque é o jeito como ele lida com as pessoas. Ao longo da história, percebemos a aproximação dos dois que é quebrada, em minha opinião, , com a volta da Kikyou #maldita. Ao descobrir seus sentimentos pelo meio-youkai ela fica confusa, porque sabe que é impossível, até porque o cara gosta da Kikyou, mas conforme vamos avançando no anime, vemos que ele gosta tanto dela quanto da Kikyou, em minha opinião até mais, só não percebe.

Temos a vadia da Kikyou que em minha opinião tinha que continuar morta e enterrada que após lacrar o Inuyasha acaba morrendo e levando a Joia de Quatro Almas junto com ela. Num dos episódios uma bruxa, #feipragarai desenterra seus ossos e a traz de volta a vida, sem falar que rouba a alma da Kagome, enfim aquela piranha, além de atormentar o Inuyasha rouba os fragmentos da coitada da Kagome e entrega ao Naraku, sendo que ela também quer matar o cara, então eu pergunto, ela é o que, bipolar? Não entendo o porque daquela mulher não enfia uma faca no coração e morre de vez, afinal ela tava morta mesmo, não ia fazer diferença… bom ia sim, o casal principal iria ficar junto. ^^ Enfim, não gosto dela, se ela tivesse MSN eu bloqueava, se tivesse Orkut eu denunciava e se tivesse twitter eu nunca daria RT. ¬¬

Shippou é um youkai raposa, filhote, que é acolhido por Kagome logo depois de perder seu pai numa batalha contra os irmãos relâmpago. Como todo youkai, ele tenta roubar os fragmentos da jóia de Kagome, mas por motivos nobres, ele queria vingar seu pai. Shippou e Inuyasha são como duas crianças quando estão juntos, brigam como irmãos, mas no fundo no fundo se amam. Ele é fofo! ^^

Miroku é um monge safado e mulherengo que acaba entrando para o time depois que rouba os fragmentos da jóia de Kagome e pede para ela ter um filho dele. Eu gosto demais desse personagem, porque ele faz esse pedido quando você menos espera e apesar de ser mulherengo acaba se apaixonando pela Sango. Parte muito legal do anime é quando ela é pedida em casamento por um senhor feudal e ele simplesmente diz que não vai fazer nada para impedir, que ela tinha que tomar a decisão, isso me fez amá-lo mais ainda. O cara tem uma maldição, sim, não basta ser perfeito, tem que ter algo que o transforme em um mero mortal #falonada. Seu bisavó recebeu uma maldição do Naraku, o Buraco do Vento, que depois de um tempo o suga, assim como aconteceu com seus antecessores. Sua missão é matar Naraku e acabar com a maldição.

Sango é uma exterminadora de youkais que perde toda a sua família numa armadilha de Naraku. Sendo enganada por ele, ela ataca Inuyasha acusando-o de massacrar todo o seu vilarejo. Ferida, quase morta, ela luta com ele, mas acaba sacando que é uma armadilha e entra no grupo para se vingar do Naraku. Sango é uma pessoa de grande coração que ama seu irmão e faz tudo por ele, apesar de ele só está vivo por causa de um fragmento da Jóia de Quatro Almas. Se apaixona pelo mulherengo Miroku e, espero, realmente que ela fique com o cara, ela merece, sofreu pacas. Tudo o que ela quer é se vingar de Naraku, pela morte de todos os seus amigos e conseguir que seu irmão se lembre dela.

Começa que Sesshoumaru é um tesão, é o odiado irmão mais velho de Inuyasha e quer porque quer a espada do irmão a Tessaiga. Um youkai sem coração que despreza o irmão e faz de tudo para matá-lo. Particularmente eu o acho muito gostoso, um cara que não deve ter sido amado pelo pai, já que tá praticamente na cara que o Inuyasha era o preferido e deve sentir invejas dele. Ok, o Sesshoumaru tem uma espada legal e tal,a Tenseiga, afinal ao invés de matar, ela trás de volta a vida as pessoas mortas. Tem como seguidores, (não, ele não tem twitter, mas se tivesse eu seguiria) a pequena Rin e o Jaken . Acredito que conforme o anime avança ele meio que vai criando compaixão pelos humanos, temos como exemplo a fofa da Rin.

Rin é uma garota linda #achilindinhadamamae que encontra Sesshoumaru depois que tomou o pau do irmão, todo ferido, na floresta e cuida dele. No entanto é morta por youkais lobos. Desesperado… ops, nunca que ele ia está assim, enfim, Sesshoumaru ao sentir o cheiro de sangue dela, revolve testar sua espada e a traz de volta a vida. Desde então a garota o segue e é protegida por ele. Inclusive, ele a protege tão bonitinho, não pude deixar de falar. ^^

Kougar, ou lobo fedorento, como é chamado pelo meu querido cara de cachorro, digo Inuyasha é o líder dos youkais lobos, sim aqueles mesmos lobos que mataram a Rin, mas ele não é uma pessoa má. Ele possui dois fragmentos da jóia, até onde eu vi no anime e seqüestra a Kagome (sim, ela é uma pessoa muito fácil de se seqüestrar) depois de descobrir que ela tem a habilidade de ver os fragmentos. Adoro ver o Inuyasha e ele brigando, quase me mijo de rir quando os dois estão juntos, principalmente porque é quando o Inuyasha fica com ciúmes da Kagome já que o Kougar se apaixona por ela e declara em alto e bom som que vai matar o cara de cachorro para que ela se case com ele.

Vamos agora ao ultimo personagem, não, não coloquei todos, escolhi os meus favoritos e escrevi sobre eles… ok, Kikyou não conta, mas enfim…

Naraku é um intriguero, o cara odeia o Inuyasha e faz de tudo para que todos o odeiem tambem. Fala sério, eu adoro o cara, ele é inteligente, sabe como mexer na ferrida das pessoas e como faze-las se odiarem, o cara é um genio. Originalmente ele é um humano chamado Onigumo que queria fuder com a puta da Kikyou e deixou que youkais comessem o seu corpo e entao nasceu o Naraku, ou seja, o cara é um meio-youkai como o Inuyasha. Ele  tomou a forma de Inuyasha e atacou Kikyou fazendo com que ela odiasse-o e tentasse mata-lo, isso tudo para poder corromper o poder da Joia de Quatro Almas. Agora ele procura pelos fragmentos… bom nao tenho certeza, mas gosto de pensar de seja para ser um youkai completo (sintam a semelhança dele com o Inuyasha).

Enfim, adoro o anime e recomendo!

“Oi, eu sou o Inuyasha! Naraku eu vou acabar com você usando o poder Nerd”.

Taberna Nerd, onde o assunto fala por si só.

This entry may be a delayed one but its meaningful even if its hitting the creation of Tim Berners Lee late.The week of diwali ( the festival of lights celebrated in India) will be remembered by me for various good reasons.

I was fascinated by the way Star Vijay satellite channel rewriting the concept of festival programs. The tradition had been having special programs lined up on the day of festival with business organisations being the title sponsors of those programs. But the drawback in this model had been the effective audience will be spread across different channels and hence there is not much value addition the reason being only a certain fraction of viewers watching the program at any given point of time. As different people have different taste and given the choice of choosing the channel and program they want to watch they would easily migrate to other channels and hence at the end of the day only a fraction of viewers watch any program. But this year Vijay tv came up with a host of programs lined up for the entire week of diwali thus capturing the plum of viewers attention during the prime time. What they did?

They had done good homework long time back and it was evident in the line up of programs and the timing of those programs. Their promotion strategy for their programs was thru’ two mediums mainly. Through their own channel and thru’ posters (which is unconventional wherein one media is publicising its programs throu’ other media (thats the world of Out Of Home )) in the city of chennai.

The program Kamal @ 50 was running for more than a month and the final climax took place on 28th of September. But Star Vijay screened this program on the week of diwali. Thus opening the week of diwali with huge blockbuster.They had promoted the program heavily and this was evident when the rival Sun TV network doing a last move to dampen it by advancing its daily primetime movie in K Tv from 8 p.m to 7 p.m with a super star movie. This move might not have yieded much gain as Super Star Rajinikanth himself was present in the program Kamal @ 50 and he was the center of attraction. With two giants in the Tamil filmdom rubbing shoulders in the dais its a rare opprotunity to miss.

The title sponsor for this event happening to be HUL’s Rin detergent. HUL suffering from poor sales and having increased its advertising spend had chosen a good program to associate with. Star Vijay telecasted this program for more than 8 hrs on Oct 12th and 13th. Thus this program would have tilted the audience attention in favor of Star Vijay. The other programs on the week of diwali also were special like Super singer contestants and judges coming with their families and on 15th it was the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire in Tamil would have made the viewers keep coming again and again.

It was a clean sweep by Star Vijay and no other channel would have been prepared to face this blitzkrieg…..

Star vijay is emerging to be a contender in the fort of Sun Network. With innovative program content, Good thought out strategy, programs to woo different audiences, understanding the viewer’s pulse and appropriate timeslots for the programs its going to be Star Vijay atleast as of now till the competition wakes up. At the end of it its going to be a treat for Viewers and advertisers….

Dcal and Kodomut organised a meet-up for us – Zh3us, ScorchNRoses, Nyanko-senpai, XS27, Lennard and Yukito.

We decided to set up our base camp just on the left of the temple as shown in the picture.

Apparently it seems like some people wanted to have fun with some old men.

I remember playing checkers a lot during my primary school days. Good times!

What’s that weird thing on the window? Looks like some kind of wooden doll.

Hi I’m lego-ghost, nice to make your acquaintance.

I don’t really understand why I did this.. But anyway,
Domo-kun – Attack!

Double the Drossel, double the love.

I just love this bear which belongs to Dcal, has magnets as it’s backbone! Awesome stuff.

I believe Zange shouldn’t sit so far out. *-*

What is she doing..?

Since it started to rain, we took shelter at the Red Dot Museum.

My my..

I wonder..

When will this rain ever stop?

Are the insides of me like this too?

Dcal thought she had been cooking for half the time, but the fact was that she had been cooking the whole time! Hahahah. The rest around my table only did the flippies. Dcal is a great cook!

Dinner was incredibly fun! So fun that it was unsafe to leave your cameras lying around. Hahah!

Today was indeed an enjoyable day, even though it rained heavily – It created a nice mood for dinner. ^^;;

Good Smile Company’s popular Rin and Len Nendoroids are now in stock!

Vocaloid Kagamine Rin

Vocaloid Kagamine Len

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HC Note: Please state which one you are interested. Rin or Len (or both?)

Price: $70 NZD each

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Today, my friend’s class held a major outing. Seeing that I had nothing on for the day, I decided to tag along.

The weather was warm, but I think it was better than before. I guess it was because of the clouds covering the sun.

From where I was eating, I could spot the Esplanade of just a few minutes walk away.

Right beside it, were some infrastructures.

I can also spot construction going on if I were to turn a little more – Weird building shape, no? Looks like some giant clip.

That,

Is our destination.

Thought I would try something like this.. Looks weird O_o;

Yellow worm?

Rin then decided to take a walk outside of Marina Square.

Trip and fall – You should always look at where you’re going!

Quieten down! What if a monster jumps out from there?

Drossel decides to use the slow and steady approach.

Anyway, there was more to this.. Unfortunately, the desired ending couldn’t be taken as I found a colony of ants inside. When I stepped out, I brought out around 5 ants on my foot. Ouch!

So red, so pretty.

I would love to own one of this. DX

Ended the day with dinner at Popeyes. When I saw it, I was immediately reminded of Kodomut’s post on his encounter with Popeyes.

To why it was not a good day, I couldn’t finish up what I started and I injured my leg for no apparent reason which caused me to limp a little all the way back home.

It was not a good day, but not a bad day either.

We all have dreams.  We all have something that we want to pursue, something we want to accomplish in life.  Some dreams are loftier than others, but they are all significant.  Sometimes, people try to persuade us that our dreams are nice to strive for, but they are merely fantasies.  Those people make me sad.  It’s not a matter of being realistic or grown-up, it’s simply looking for something to motivate you, something to strive for.

I make it a habit to make my dreams come true.  It’s not easy, but it is so very fulfilling in the end.  It’s taken a great deal of work and a great many beat downs, but finally things are coming together.

Let me start from the beginning.

I grew up listening to popular music.  My dad would play Beatles records at night, and since my bedroom and the living room share a wall I would hear the music as I fell asleep.  When I started playing violin in fifth grade, I never understood why the orchestra couldn’t play songs people recognize, so I harped on my orchestra teachers throughout high school to program music people would like, things they would cheer for.  My youth orchestra, the great BYO (Brookhaven Youth Orchestra, defunct since 2003) fulfilled that need.  We played classical music as well as pop stuff.  Only now have I discovered that practice was rather unusual for a youth orchestra.

It was in BYO that I met some of my dearest friends, one of whom introduced me to the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  Immediately I wanted to do the same thing as TSO, combine orchestra and rock.  So many people thought it was silly.  I didn’t care.  I thought it would be cool to play with a band.

I went to college for music, and there I trained with the dream of becoming a performer of popular music and movie soundtracks.  I got a lot of flack for it, and was told on numerous occasions that I wasn’t good enough to be a performer.  I realized that the music industry is not about how good you are.  It’s about how long you are willing to wait and how many chances you’re willing to take to get where you want to be.  During a particularly low point in college (buried in work and dealing with my first real breakup) I discovered a band that gave me new life.  They are X Japan, my all-time favorite band.  I was particularly enamored with their drummer/pianist/leader, Yoshiki, who became my musical idol.  As college ended and I had to figure out the next step, I decided I wanted to work for Yoshiki in his L.A. studio.  In order to do that, I had to be in L.A., so I set out on a search of graduate schools.  I even went to California to appear for auditions in person.

Through my music business class, I got to attend one day of the NAMM show.  I wandered around, looking for electric violins to find the one that I would play if I was in a band.  I found a booth with strangely shaped instruments, including one violin that strapped around the body and supported itself.  As the assistant hooked the strange but really cool violin to me, I looked around and saw a poster for Trans Siberian Orchestra.  I was in the booth of Mark Wood, violin maker and solo violinist for TSO.  Later in the day I got to meet him, and to this day I’ve wanted one of his instruments.  I felt it was a good omen for auditions, and it reminded me of my dreams.  The first time around the audition circuit, though, I failed to get in, and after graduation, I did what many college grads fear and returned home.

Determined to get into grad school and out to the west coast, I practiced harder and found a new teacher to continue my studies.  My mom gave me a special present at this time.  One chilly day in December, we went into NYC and saw Trans Siberian Orchestra play at Madison Square Garden.  During the spectacular, which included not only a full performance of their Christmas Eve and Other Stories, but selections from Beethoven’s Last Night, the album which got me into them in the first place.  Towards the end of the concert, after lots of cheering and drooling over Mark Wood and his Viper, TSO’s leader told us a story.  He asked, “How many of you are musicians?”  I raised my hand and screamed.  “How many of you are parents of musicians?”  My mom raised her hand.  “Well, when I was in high school, I wanted to be in a band, and I told everyone that I was going to play Madison Square Garden.  All my teachers and guidance counselors tried to convince me otherwise.”  He paused, looked around, then shouted, “WHO WAS RIGHT?!”

I auditioned and got rejected AGAIN.  I felt so insignificant, like the universe was trying to tell me something.  It wasn’t that I shouldn’t be playing, because there had been too many instances where people thought I COULD do it and were very surprised when I did not get in the second time around.  As I pondered my next step, I received word that Yoshiki, my idol, would be the guest of honor at Otakon.  I immediately registered for the convention, made arrangements for hotel, and in the end I met my idol.  At the same time, my friend in California needed a roommate, so I moved cross-country with nothing but a dream.

It took three years, numerous gigs, connections, and twists of Fate, but I’ve finally started to get where I want to be.  I got in to grad school, and during a very tumultuous year had the opportunity to see the reunited X Japan (with Sugizo, my other musical idol) on a trip to Japan.  I figured, if THAT could happen, ANYTHING could happen.  Even though I constantly got told that I don’t play well enough, that there are people better than me, I refused to believe that I don’t have a place in the music world.  And what happened?  I got connected to the Golden State Pops Orchestra and get to perform movie, television, and video game music on a regular basis.  This past weekend, I became a member of Avery Watts’s live band as the violist in the electric string quartet.  It was an absolute dream come true, and I’m hungry for more.

I sound like I’m bragging.  My apologies!  I’m just really excited that something actually worked, that something has come from dreaming and reaching for the stars.  It pays to never give up, it really does.  It’s not easy, but the end result is worth all the pain that it takes to get there.

Good Smile Company’s new Vocaloid Character Charms are now available for Pre-Order!!~

Names: Toeto Pirori Miku Piro Rin

HC Note: Please mention which of the three you are interested in when posting/emailing an order.

Price: $12 NZD each

Arrival Date: 01/10

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The Research Information Network (RIN) recently published a report on the effects of measures to evaluate the worth of  research upon the publishing and citing behaviour of academic researchers. The report, “Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings“, finds that many are confused as to what the various funding bodies expect of them in terms of communicating their research.  Most would appreciate better guidance as to how this will impact upon any assessment of their work.  

• What factors influence decisions on the timing of publication and dissemination of research? Is it better to publish in the high status journal or to communicate more directly with the people most interested in the topic of the research? 
• How do patterns vary across the disciplines?
• What place have the perceived requirements for research assessment occupied in the full range of factors that have influenced publication and citation behaviour? 

A variety of methods, including focus groups and online questionnaires, were used to consider these and other questions. The report found that many reserachers are apparently considering citing their colleagues’ work more often because of the introduction of bibliometrics. Some researchers also said they felt they were being pressurised into publishing too much, too soon.

Had to get my lazy ass up early in the morning, around 06:30, to attend a photoshoot gathering organised by Openthetoy. The few who went were ScorchnRoses, Yuki-to, Zh3us, XS-27, Kyouran Kyodai, Dennis and Hexlord.

I was greeted by this sun before I went to take a bath, took 2 pictures of it.

Our meeting location was at Liang Court’s McDonald. When everyone was present, they decided to take a few snaps inside of Mac. Before that, I was busy trying out Monster Hunter. =P

Drossel believes one should always be squeaky clean.

Flossing is recommended.

Then, we head down to Clarke Quay to take a few photos, a few mishaps happened. Such as Openthetoy loosing one of his figurine’s hair, me dropping nendo Saber from a height of approximately 80cm, and also, me almost loosing Drossel’s hand forever in the deep blue river.

A jungle?

Curiosity killed the Rin.

Front row seat.

I spy………..

“…”

Adorable nendo Saber will invade your mind with overwhelming cuteness from here onwards.

Sure was hot!

So cute~~

Embrace the flowers.

Taking photos of her in this position sure was fun! My heart skipped a beat whenever there was a gust of wind though.

I think Saber looks really sexy in this picture. XD

Aim – Fire!

No fear!

Purple flowers are nice.

We made our way to our last stop – Raffles Place.

Dangerous girl with guns.

Mr Clay Man: Who the hell is that behind?!

AAAAAARrrrrrrr!!!

Pirate Saber,

Takes a rest after safely mooring her vessel.

We will see you next time!
What are these pink balls?!

Sup? I guess I need to launch another wallpaper pack of Vocaloid series since I downloaded quite a ton over the past 2 months. Also, I’m sure you’re itching for new wallpapers of Vocaloid. So, here you go and happy downloading.

My friends dragged me to Iluma, it’s a shopping center located in Bugis in Singapore. It’s rarely crowded even during lunch breaks, maybe it’s just because it’s a weekday?

Since my friends were crazy over Korea, they settled down for lunch at a Korean restaurant.

Being not a fan of Korean food, I settled for puchis for lunch instead. However, they awoke as soon as the waitress approached us.

The waitress left something red behind which intrigued Yutaka.
*Touch*
Cold!

What are these weird white stuff? Will it taste good after I put my leeks in?

*Poke*
Are these green stuff friends of Mr.leek?

While Kagamiku was busy identifying the food, it seems like Rin have encountered something different!

Why are they white? Have they grown old?

Just.. Just a bit more!

Took this shot for fun, then decided to do the following. ^^;

I went to take a bit of fresh air with nendo Rin. After that I decided to pay attention to what my friends were talking about. ^^;;

Figure.fm post.

This is second part of the transcript of  ”Kamal 50 years  in Tamil cinema in Vijay tv”

Thanks : Indiaglitz

For first part of transcript please refer the link below

Kamal 50 years Vijay tv part 1

Video link at the end of the page
All the big shots came and showered their praises on Kamal Hassan today.
Following is just a small transcript  of the function

Vivek : “I hold the record  of not sharing the screen space with Kamal Hassan for a long long time, and he is also holding the same .Its good that it didn’t happen so far because had I acted with him then I’ll be one among the hundred people who acted with him , where as now I can say proudly that I’m on among the thousands and thousands of Kamal fans”
Like every time he came up with a poem, man it was damn good this time also. That guy is having a witty knowledge I tihnk thats why his slapstick comedy is not that famous, cos he is not a ‘no-brainer ‘

Next , dance performance by “Ungalil Yaar adutha Prabhudeva ” team. It was quite good.

Parthiban :  ” I asked the organizers ‘Why  only film people should talk about Kamal,why not his fan’ and they said’ then you please go and talk ‘ .. well I’m here . The problem is Intelligent people are Kamal’s followers, so I’ve to prove that i’m also  intelligent”

Director Shankar: ” During the shooting of Indian ,I prepared myself very well before each shot ,because I’d the fear that Kamal will ask some question in the shot and will become unhappy if I dint reply him properly,but luckily he dint ask any questions, after the shooting was over one of my assistant who was close with Kamal went to him and asked ‘Sir, we expected atleast some place you will interfere us , but why you dint do that ?” he replied ‘ you people were doing your work properly ‘.I’m really happy to hear that.. Thanks Kamal”

Sruthi Hassan then dedicated a song to Kamal (Nee partha paarvaikku .. Hey ram) , but I wonder wh she changed the tempo of that song so badly , for other songs it worked, may be this particular song dint go well with that Tempo .

Prakash raj : ” If you fall down from sky, fall as a seed, then you can grow tearing the soil apart ,Kamal had done it , I got national award for best actor this year,national award for an actor in year you can get it even if U act in one good movie where as if there is any award that has to be given for century actor then it should be given to you sir.Hats-off “

Ramesh Aravind : “I acted 4 movies with Kamal , one in Kannada remake of sathileelavathi , which I directed,Kamal had donned  the similar role what he had done in Tamil,but in Kannada he asked me for tough accent ,like the Kongu accent he used in the original movie, then I said Hubli accent, Kamal used Hubli accent so perfect  that even the real Hubli people cant differentiate him “

Venkatesh : ” In my college days in Chennai I used to enjoy his movie … “

Mammooty : “Kamal and I are right now tied in the national award winning race with 3 each, lets see who is gonna first win it…. “

Mohanlal: “Over all it was really a pleasant crowd to see”(I missed his part mostly )

Illayaraja: Came and sung a song, nice one, and also said “Kamal may not believe in God, but God believe in Kamal”

Arjun :”He came to Kuruthi punal after some operations even after that he performed his stunts so well , so I ‘ve tell that he is real action King”

Prabhudeva and his father performed a dance for Kamal

Yugi sethu’s special touch was missing today , I dono , he invited Rajinikanth to talk

Rajinikanth :Like the Climax in Kuselan , Rajinikanth delivered a emotional speech(Vasu Impact…  :) )
“During Avargal shooting I went out , then KB sir came and asked me ‘where you went out, for smoking? go and see Kamal’s acting scenes inside the set,then atleast you will learn some thing’ .People like Mamooty ,Venkatesh,Mohanlal or even Amitabh Bachan, Rajkapoor and all wondered how come a guy like me famous in the cine field where Kamal is acting , my reply was ‘I learnt acting  from him directly’”.

“In 1975 Kamal hassan was more famous than what he is now, at that time I was entering into Cine industry, and Kamal recommended my name for the movie ‘Ilamai oonjaladugiradhu’ , like I said Kamal was very famous, he could ‘ve easily told any director/producer that dont put Rajini in my movie, instead he recommended my name”.

“Later when our movies where very famous, Kamal came and told me ‘Rajini this is the time , we should go in separate ways here after as this Cine industry is having the tradition of giving the movies which we can do together, so there wont be any Identity for us’.I follow what he tells me, we separated and then I also became famous, because I dint take the route what he has taken, I know I cant win him, so I used my brain taken a different route,I succeeded in it as well”.

“Kamal used to tell me ‘Rajini ,Sivaji and MGR are not enemies but Cine Industry and their fans created enmity between them,so we have to make sure that, it shouldn’t happen to us,You work with the directors, producers, technicians whom I work with , I’ll do the same for the producer, director whom u work under’, we are still following it “

“Everyone knows that Endhiran (Robot) was made for Kamal Hassan , but later because of date problems Kamal couldn’t do it, so director Shankar came to me I told him ‘Sir,you’ve written the script with Kamal in mind, so don’t expect me act like him ‘ he replied ‘ sir Am I such an Idiot?,I’ve made enough changes in script for you ‘ .Later when we started shooting the movie, some shots went up to 7 or 8 takes but Shankar wont show any reaction, so I called him again and said ‘Sir please erase from your mind it is me acting in the movie and not Kamal Hassan’ “

Welll Rajini did justice to his Kuselan role in real life as well. Rajini and Kamal proved that bid people are always big people

It really was so touching .

Then finally the Man himself came and said lotta thanks and sorry he received all  the love from audience.. and gave a special Peck to Rajinikanth ..
All I can say was he was visually moved..

For Kamal’s interview on NDTV please follow this link

Kamal 50 years- NDTV Interview

For Videos please follow the below link

http://tamil.techsatish.net/file/ulaga-nayagan-kamal-part-2/

I’m not even ANYWHERE close to getting my ass to Japan or Korea, and I already know what I will be spending ALL my money on: fashion, marimo, and phone straps. xDD

Since I am such a BAD yaoi fan, I had yet to watch ANY of Junjou Romantica, well, until about 4 hours ago . . . **is totally 8 episodes in and hooked** the second season is downloading as I type . . . >_>

Point is, in episode 8, Misaki and Usagi go to Hokkaido and Usagi is all crazy obsessed over buying MARIMO. The minute I saw it said “green algae balls”, I was like “OMG MUST HAVE BALLS OF ALGAE!!”

So I used my magical (trans: google) powers and looked it up~ OMG I STILL MUST HAVE BALLS OF ALGAE!!!

You can keep them in TAP WATER! Duwaaaaah! So coooool~! O;

And, in the googling, I happened upon this adorable item:

Replica!Marimo phone straaaaaaaaaaaaaaps!!! And I ADORE phone straps!!

So I just kept looking and looking for more . . . none of the ones I liked have been ordered, though, because I need the money for cosplay!!

Speaking of which, my current projects are these:

Rin for me, and Len for my dear friend Jacob~

Miku for my BFF~

And, last, but in no way easiest–in fact, it is probably the hardest T^T :

Yoko’s gun from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. I am both excited and not to work on this thing . . .

Well, I’m off to covet marimo and phone straps~ <3

Vijay Tv has recently held a grand function for marking Kamal Hassan’s 50th year in Indian Cinema.

I came late from office , about 45 minutes, I’m sure nothing more would have happened except for the red carpet welcome.

I dont have any videos, so I’ll just put down some transcripts of the first part.

The show was basically designed in such a way that famous movie clippings of every decade was shown and Important persons of that era came to stage and showered praise on Kamal hassan.

1960 : AVM Saravanan

” Kamal came to me  and told  that he want to act in a movie, I took him to my father AV Meyyappa chettiar(AVM), after seeing that Kid, he moved the Lamp to his face and said ‘ this guy is going to act in our next movie’,so my father was the one who shown light to Kamal first”

“I admire Kamal and Rajini for their comradrie”

Saroja devi:

“He is my handsome kid………”

1970:

K Balachander: “He keeps telling me that I’m his guru , but even if I dint take him in the movie Arengatram also he would be  a star by now, he is more like a Yugapurush, none before, none will come in near future. “

Sivakumar:” I’m really happy and proud for my brother ,I pray the almighty to wish him all the very best and for the next 5th year celebration as well “

1980:

SPMuthuraman: “Kalathur Kanamma was my first movie as assistant director, and Manorama Achi’s movie as a female comedian , so we can proudly say that its our 50th anniversary function as well.When he was a kid I use to take him walk around the sets showing this is lighting, this room is editing room, this is set.. but after these many years this guy is taking me and showing his collections, this is world cinema, this is how it was shot, really happy to see him “

Prabhu : ” More than me and my brother Ramkumar, Kamal was the one who spent more time with my father, so I can say that Kamal is the real heir for my Dad in acting “

Jayaram : “I can proudly say that before Tamil industry finds Kamal as a hero material we were the one who introduced Kamal as Hero.In my college days I used to do some mimicry , even I got my first award for doing a mimicry like Kamal.I got a chance to act with him in 4 movies so far, I’m really proud of that “

Next came the real show stopper Radhika.. I never expected her to be this much talkative, she didn’t bother about anyone or anything on stage, she was the show stealer so far.

Radhika : ” All are prasing Kamal is this and Kamal is that , can any one dare to  say that, without heroines like us, will any one say that Kamal is ‘Kaadhal Mannan’?… no chance. I acted as his partner after my  10 years in Tamil cine industry ,  every time I see a movie or  movie still with Kamal romancing a heroine I always believe that Kamal loves that girl in real life also, but after acting with him only I came to know that , he can even act sincerely  like he is loving a buffalo(its a compliment ) . I like Kamal Hassan’s eyes very much its so gracious ” after saying that she called upon all heroines on stage .

I like Kamal and Tabu conversation a bit

Tabu :I learnt a lot while working under Kamal, especially how to sit patiently while doing make-up, because he will be sitting in make-up room continuously for 5 hours”

Kamal : Dont worry Tabu, You dont need a make-up

Goutami  : ” I’ve acted only 4 movies with him , after these many years I wanted to say only one thing to him ‘THANKS’ “

Goutami’s speech was too sentimental , Radhika kept introducing her as real life compliemnt for Kamal Hassan.

After receiving the compliments from all heroines Kamal said “I can bravely say that, even with Goutami on stage,(???) ‘I LOVE YOU ALL ‘ “

Radhika with her don’t care attitude surely set the function the cheer tone .

Then SPB and Hariharan made a wonderful , stalling performance on stage , they sung a dozen Kama lsongs. The way they both complimented each other was too nice to hear and see, and the Pianist also enjoyed the improvisations by Hariharan and SPB,it was a perfect Jugal Bandhi

Gopinath Vijay tv compere also used his trademark language and kept the stage alive.

It was really good to see all the big shots of all Industry, who and who of South Indian film Industry came and attended it it really was a multi star extravaganza “

Few of my opinions

May be after spending much time with our CM , he also like people complimenting him on stage may be.

Waiting for tomorrow’s part 2: Hope my onsite coordinator  or my manager dint give me any work tomorrow till then bye

For the Second part of the show

Kamal 50 Vijay tv part 2

Some guy has updated latest Video at

http://www.tmclipz.com/tv-shows/3122-vijay-tv-ulaga-nayagan-kamal-50-12-10-09-part-01.html