Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter Leçon 2

Whoa! Yet another very late review (blame procrastination for that). But never mind that, given that I’m having my semester break now, I have lots to catch up. First up, Nodame Cantabile Paris!

Michiko to Hatchin episode 5

I know our welcome bit says ‘this blog is children-safe and no misdemeanor acts here’, so the reason I’m posting this picture is so you can see how much Michiko has changed over the years.

Not all that much!

Vote for the Best Picture!

Z over here is giving away a still-new in box R-Gun Powered from Kotobukiya’s SRW OG line-up.

The catch? Take a picture of your favorite/best Gundam model in the best pose you can put it in. Best one wins as decided in a poll.

So go over now here and give your vote! To ensure fairness, I will not reveal which of the 6 is mine =3. I’m so good.

Anime Festival Asia May’N Concert in Singapore [Constantly Updated]

Well so, I didn’t managed to borrow the DSLR due to the loss of the camera’s battery by my friend’s dad but nevermind, we managed to catch May’N first international live debut, at Singapore no less!

As expected, we were asked to keep all our recording devices, cameras and handphones aside. The most front portion of the crowd complied ( I wasn’t in front =( didn’t have the magic VIP diamond pass). However, being behind, brave souls begin to whip their camera handphones and SLRs and started taking photos and videos. Meanwhile, please take a look at the only pathetic shot I took from far.

Galleries: You can browse this gallery and this for pictures until I put mine up. Videos of May’N in Singapore up as well. This gallery (oops the link is removed! By me!) has so many shots of May’N even I am ashame. Uhm, what happened to no camera rule? One or two grainy shots for fun sure, no harm done I guess but rapid shots right in front…not complaining since we get to relive that night but still…hope this doesn’t affect future concerts.

Bloggers on AFA 08:

More blog posts about May’N concert here by Soshi, by Setsuna-san who came over from Malaysia, by AK and ume who has translated most of May’N’s latest blog posts (She loves Singapore. Yay!)She actually went to Takashimaya to shop, wonder if any otaku spotted her.

Drama mama over May’N:

Interestingly, due to cultural differences or ignorance of japanese culture, certain fans were upset about minor stuff really not too happy May’N didn’t sign their autographs on the spot. There’s even a nutcase from Malaysia which is the kind of fan that makes security go on high alert. Barge in gungho and bow for a autograph despite having the specially autograph white board version which is a first for May’N. Hai. The world doesn’t revolve around you dude, get a life.

Dorama hits climax:

Ok ok. It doesn’t matter I wasn’t the one who recorded the videos, doesn’t matter May’N can’t even be seen clearly in the videos but still a rule is a rule right? Yea I linked it. No, I didn’t upload. Fine fine, they have been removed. Go find them yourselves if you desire to. In the meantime, let’s see what’s moving and shaking over at the high profilers Singaporean bloggers. The outcry by say upset ‘fans’ have set off these bloggers into joining the fray of dorama. Ok so…this means you will get to see the BEST photos I have of May’N!! Or not.

Dorama simmers and fizzles:

Dorama has ended. Expectations blown, anger raged and it’s time to await AFA 09+STCC? Hmhm, I hope not though, got to have two events to buy more stuff! This particular piece of news came about after reading 0ne’s post who is part of the local industry of animation. Go over and check out AFA 08 from an industry insider’s perspective. Here’s a special May’N coverage from a Diamond VIP point of view, go read!

Otakus from all over Singapore gathered and gave their ‘May’N’ cheer over and over again. Even groups far behind were hopping up and down. Needless to say the crowd right in front sang together with her.

An overview of Anime Festival Asia 2008

Well so after my horrible paper, together with VP PY and Noel, we cabbed down to suntec for Anime Festival Asia 2008. Since I am in the NUS Animations and Comics Society, my one and only task was to take photos of the prize giving ceremony of our annual Graphite Competition which has certain categories such as Short manga strip, Digital Art and etc. The ceremony was over in about 15 minutes or so and thus, 15 minutes of photography granted me free access to the whole AFA 2008 saving me $8/day.

Not committee but whatever. Free access!

Opposite the entrance.

On to more pictures and what lies within AFA 2008. All photos were taken using Nokia 6220 Classic. The photos were pretty ok until I started tempering with the exposure and ISO settings ^^;; sorry for the noise in some pictures! Very picture intensive after the jump.

Anime Festival Asia 2008 coverage [To be updated]

Any otaku worth his salt in Singapore would be heading down to AFA 08 at Suntec either today or tomorrow or both. Unfortunately, all university students in Singapore are currently having their freaking final term examinations but who the hell cares! May’N IS HERE!!! The creator of gundam is also here to give out his autograph only to the first 20 who purchase the MG Gundam RX78-2 ver 2.0(I’m guessing the MAN himself insisted on only 20 because he’s probably sick of signing every tom dick and harry’s gundam…or worse).

Doors open right about now, 1000hrs in Singapore. So why am I not there? Because I have a freaking paper today from 1300 to 1500hrs but I digress. There’s going to be lots going on during the event and I would be heading down after the paper to take pictures on behalf of my club as well as to oggle at the collectibles brought down by Bandai and others. Certain bloggers have signed up previously for their Blogger media pass at the AFA 08 website such as 0ne, LianYL(someone did it for him) and Soshi, thus their ability to conjure up a preview of AFA 08. Do head over and check out what’s going to be present at AFA 08. A rough timetable grabbed from Soshi as below:

Overview of AFA 2008

May’N Live Concert at AFA 2008

And so it begins, the bandwagon has taken off and woe befall those who miss it

It has begun. Japanese companies are getting into the real world. Crunchyroll, Joost, Hulu and the like are becoming the places to go if you want your anime fix. With every passing day ANN brings in more news about shows being streamed legally. Gonzo and Crunchyroll started but it’s only now that it’s becoming more apparent rather than a topic if you happened to like Strike Witches.

But now the bandwagon is catching speed. Skip Beat is a fantastic acquisition. I’m not mad on the show but many shojo fans love it. Naruto was an even better catch as it influences the younger audience, plus it’s probably the most watched show across the entire anime sphere (this includes all those other streaming sites where you wouldn’t hear about the numbers).

But the most significant outcome from all of this is the response from Dattebayo. The fansubbers are going to stop subbing. It’s not like they are dying out. It’s just the anime companies have started doing exactly what the fansubbers have wanted them to do.

What this bandwagon needs now is to get now is to get the next critically acclaimed, widely popular show. And there are two sitting there, soon to be released that, if they get them available legally, the bandwagon will have enough speed to see it out to the end.

And what are these 2 anime? Sequels obviously. Full Metal Alchemist Season 2 and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2.

 

The bandwagon has taken off and woe befall those who miss it

::Edit:: So long as this isn’t another bleeding troll ::Edit::

Boosting your torrents in XP and Vista

Ever notice that after patching XP Service Pack 2 or switching to vista that your torrents are crawling or not meeting expectations? Imagine having 1000 seeds in the swarm and yet you can only connect to a few.

This is all because of Microsoft implementing a upper-bound limit on number of simultaneous half open outgoing TCP connection attempts in Windows XP SP2 and all future and new versions of Windows in order to slow the spreading rate of virus infection and malicious program and reduce the ability for computer to launch DDoS or DoS (Denial of Service) attack. Read on to find out how to go beyond the boundaries and go for a LIMIT BREAK!