First blog post from my Nexus 7

This is me testing my Nexus 7 out. this is the 16gig version and the Nexus 7 is currently WiFi only. I still need to get use to the keyboard but I must say it is nicer than the keyboard on the Samsung s2. The predictive typing is much better too.

I have also started using cloud storage since this device is only limited to 16 gigs. That's why i am using this post to test attaching a photo from cloud storage to a blog post.

K.... that's it for now.... I just delivered a shot to dallies and am waiting for feedback. Now I would like to do some tutorials and training stuff so I don't want to be blogging for too long at all.

Later... :)

PS. That photo is a photo of my awesome homemade lunch from my very cool mum. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Nexus 7

And to top off this incredible day.... the Nexus 7. :)

I asked if I could leave work a little earlier today to pick up the Nexus 7 tablet from a redemption centre near the financial district. I received this for free because I decided to re-contract our broadband for another two years.

I never expected my Raspberry Pi, Kalafina's Hikaru Furu singles, Kalafina's 2013 calendar and the Nexus 7 to come into my possesion on the same day. I didn't expect my shots to clear today too.

Yeah.... it kind of feels like Christmas today. :)

K.... that's it for now.... am fading.... I don't even have time for my new toys.... now.... my bed calls... oyasumi :-)

posted from Bloggeroid

Kalafina's Hikari Furu, 2013 calendar have arrived

This is shaping up to be a rather good day.

The wait was killing me but my Kalafina stuff has finally reached me. I'll shoot my usual unboxing photos within these two days. So happy :) .... next time... I think I may just go with Fedex. :p

Also.... my prep shot and roto shot from last week got approved. :) I am particularly happy about that prep shot because I really struggled with it. So when I got the email notification that both the shots have been approved.... I wad sooooo happy. :)

This morning.... my Raspberry Pi finally arrived too.... months after I ordered and paid for the thing.

Yup.... it had been a pretty good day so far..... fingers crossed that it'll be good to the end of today.... heck.... the whole week too. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Raspberry Pi

Finally after months of waiting, my Raspberry Pi has arrived. I indicted interest in the product in late May and placed my order one month later with RS Components in June. I was told that I had to wait 12 weeks for it but in the end had to wait probaby 14 to 15 weeks for it.... not too bad I guess. :)

Now I just have to figure out what monitor to use with it. I was going to use this old monitor I had lying around but idiot me forgot that the Pi doesnt have VGA out. So I have to try and get a HDMI to VGA converter or a new monitor.

I'm going to check out monitors and stuff after work today before I decide how I am going to set it up.

I am really excited about it. Growing up, I always wanted to try programming but we we only had one computer in the house and my parents would have killed me if I screwed that up. I tried to join the computer club in school but they didn't have any more room for new members. Then school and other stuff got in the way and I just never had the chance.

I could have installed linux on my Win7 workstations but there were expensive computers that I paid via hire purchase and I really rather not muck them up.

Then the Pi came along and the whole thing cost me less than SGD 100.... even if I screwed it up.... it won't be crazy painful on my wallet. :)

Now I can fulfil yet another one of my childhood desires. :)

Yes.... I know.... I am a little geeky .... but I like being geeky. :-)

posted from Bloggeroid

manga fu camera ~ android

This is me just testing out the relatively new Manga Fu Camera. The previous version of it was called Manga Generator but the makers of this application have stopped work on Manga Generator and took most of the tests they did on that app to create Manga Fu Camera.

Manga Fu Camera still needs some work of course but it is better than Manga Generator in one very big way. When you take a photo with Manga Generator, you just shoot and kind of hope it sort of works for the background and filter you hope to use. With Manga Fu Camera, when you turn on the camera, the words will show up on the screen but the rest of it will be clear and you can see what you're shooting. It makes it easy to compose your shot.

Kinda neat .... I hope they continue to develope this app. Hopefully in the future they will give you an option to input your own text. Meanwhile.... I should try and familiarize myself with some of the katakana "sounds" used in some of the backgrounds in case I use them incorrectly. :)

K.... time to go to get ready for work. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Mahou Shoujo Madoka ~ AFA12 ~ got my tix

Its been really tiring at work lately. Lots of really late nights and although I am really really happy to learn stuff and do prep.... but I can't help feeling kinda tired...

But one thing did give me a huge shot of dopamine today. :-) As I knew that I would be very busy today, I asked my friend if he would help buy the Mahou Shoujo Madoka tickets today. And we secured the "early bird" tickets to both the Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies that will be screening at the Anime Festival Asia in Singapore this year. :)

Yah!!!! Super happy about that. :) Now I am super hungry... going to have to find something to eat after I reach home. :-)

posted from Bloggeroid

Kalafina CD sale at CDJapan

Ahhhh.... looks like in celebration of Kalafina's new single's release "Hikari Furu and Yui's new album release, CDJapan is holding a Kalafina and Yui sale at their website. :)

So if anyone is looking to pick up some stuff, now is probably a good time.  They have Moonfesta DVD and Blu-ray editions at 30% off and first press is still available.  I wish the regular edition is included, I might have picked that one up.

Anyway, take a look.. this is the link to the list of stuff on sale... click me. :)

a non-Kalafina post for a change :)

Ahhhhhh.... I am feeling so much better today. It's late, I haven't had dinner and I am really tired but I feel so much better now.

Towards the end of last week, I had to do a prep shot I just couldn't get done. I asked several of my seniors and everyone had a different method and after a while I was so confused and nothing seemed to work. I put in so much OT but by the end of Friday I still felt that what I had done sucked.

So I spent the whole of the weekend with that shot on my mind and even dreamt about it twice.  Yeah.... although I had fun and went out etc.... that shot was always hovering somewhere at the back of my mind.

Today, my supervisor went through the shot with me and there were tons of problems of course. But he showed me a bunch of things and I began to understand stuff and I learnt how to do even more stuff from him. Happy!!! My super is a good guy!!! :)

I managed to finish another version of the shot with more advise from another senior. Although I am not sure if it's good to go up the pipeline, at least I don't feel that it's rubbish and I am happy i learnt more interesting stuff today.

Now I hope I manage to remember and apply all of this better and better with each new shot. :)

K.... time to try and take advantage of getting a seat on the train and sleep a bit. :-)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka screening info ~ AFA12

OMG OMG OMG!!!! Yes... very big fan girl moment for me. =)  Details for the screening of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies at the Anime Festival Asia 2012 in Singapore have just been released on AFA's Facebook page and it's better than I expected.

Non-crazy fans may find it a expensive. The early bird special is SGD45 for a two day screening.  Usual price SGD52 and one day screenings are SGD28 per day.  The first movie screens on Saturday, day 2 of the festival and the second movie screens on day 3 of the festival.  Only one screening on each of those days.

I'm okay with the price because this isn't just a normal screening, it's a special screening with the special collectibles which I was salivating over while looking at them at the Mahou Shoujo Madoka official website.

Details are at AFA's website (click me) and if you click on the picture, you can get a better look at the details too.  Early bird buyers get an additional A2 poster too, in addition to the price discount.  I hope it's the key visual for Singapore and has the Merlion in the background. :)  I'm going to try for early bird. :)

I would like to write more but I acutally have stuff I need to get done.  I'm just really happy and I really don't mind paying the additional SGD45 because I was wishing I was in Japan so that I could have gone to those screenings in Japan picked up those collectibles.  Now, I can do it in Singapore!!!!! :)

K... later y'all. :)

P.s.
Oh..... since we are talking about Madoka... there maybe more after the 3rd film screen next year... click this link to read about it on AnimeNewsNetwork.... click me.  Interesting... what Urobuchi said about Kalafina's "magia".

Arrrrgghhhh... no time... gotta go... need to stop looking for new on Madoka!!! :P

Update:
21st Oct 2012
AFA said, in an answer to a question, on facebook that the A2 poster will be the key visual for Singapore... meaning the one with the Merlion in the background. :)

Lisani Vol.11 ~ Madoka / Kajiura Yuki / Kalafina

I found something else today.  :)

Some time ago, I received an announce in my email that the movie versions of Mahou Shoujo Madoka will be the featured anime on Lisani! Vol.11 (リスアニ! Vol.11).

Hence, I started  checking CDJapan and Amazon Japan etc periodically to see if there was any cover art etc and today, I found it on Amazon Japan.

CDJapan has no listing yet.  I'll probably order it when it does get listed. When it does list on CDJapan, I will amend this post with the product link.

Hmmmm... that reminds me... I don't think I ever did my planned Lisani! Vol.9 post. Fate/Zero was the featured anime then and the magazine had pages dedicated to the anime, Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina.  I think I always meant to shot better photos of it.  If I remember correctly, my original photos sucked.  Hmmmmm... must try and remember to do it.

update:
Here you go... CDJapan has finally listed this item.  Here is the link to the product page. :)

Kalafina's Hikari Furu ~ 1st press bonus cover art

Oooooo.... I just noticed that CDJapan has uploaded Hikarri Furu's First Press release's "another jacket"'s cover art.  It's another photo of Kalafina.  It's one of the photos from the same studio shoot for the cover art of this single.  This time though, it's not Keiko in the centre, it's Wakana who's in the centre.  And interestingly, we have Hikaru separated from the other two vocalists by a ray of light.  Usually, if I remember correctly, it's usually Keiko who sits a little apart from the rest in a photo with this kind of composition.

Also... unfortunately, it looks like it'll be the same "another jacket" for all 4 versions of this release.

Hmmmm... I still prefer the cover art on the RE, the blu-ray LE and the dvd LE.  This composition is really a little odd.

Ah well... I won't turn another photo down, so it's cool with me :)  Alrighty... time to go... I've had a very long week at work... I just want to kind of surf the internet without thinking too hard right now. :)

Oh.... before I go... I would like to do two things... one is to say... YAY!!!! My Kalafina 2013 Calender has shipped.  I picked Registered SAL so it'll take it's time to get to me... I'll probably shoot a couple of photos of it when it gets here. :)

And here is a larger picture of the photo all the online stores have been using on the calender's product page.  I didn't realize that Amazon Japan had uploaded a nice big one, so here it is.  Yay. :)



Also... here are the product links for Hikari Furu again.  Yes... again... and again... plz buy if you can afford it.

Hikari Furu [w/ Blu-ray, Limited Edition / Type-B]

Hikari Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Pressing (Anime Edition)]

Hikari Furu [Regular Edition] 

Hikari Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type-A]

Okie dokie... now it's time for me to go be a zombie... :)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica KEY ANIMATION NOTE Vol.4 - review

Looks like I'll be moving on to another project starting tomorrow and I was told during the briefing today that we might be looking at some late nights and weekend work.  I'm okay with that but I thought I should try put up at least one more of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Key Animation Note reviews before I run out of time.

It's taken a while but here is vol4. :)

As has been the case with the vol 1, vol 2 and vol 3 releases, this comes with the illustrated card and a bonus item.



The bonus item on this occasion are the storyboards for the OP/ED of the anime.  Several replicas of some of the key cells used in the OP were already included in vol.1 of this release.  This is the storyboard of OP, hence, the drawings in this will naturally not be that pretty.  But for those who studied animation or those who studied film/t.v. or those who are in the industry, this is quite a neat bonus item.  Who draws up these stroryboards depend on the structure of each company, the industry, what the final product is etc.  I've had to do them before and I completely suck at them but for my company's purposes, my stick figures wit poor proportions and lack of perspective drawing was good enough. :)  So yeah... I like these storyboards mostly because I appreciate them. :)




These bonus item is nice.  It doesn't feel cheap at all.  The cover has a nice texture to it and the paper quality is pretty good.



The OP and ED storyboards are differentiated by the color of the paper.  The above are sample pages.



This volume features Kyoko Sakura and ep7-9 of the anime.  The dust cover is nice and shiny as usual and has a nice illustration of Kyoko Sakura that stretches all the way across when the dust cover is laid out entirely.

The drawing on the actual book cover is yet another nice illustration of Kyoko Sakura and the binding is the standard binding.

Below are more sample pages from vol.4.  You have the silhouette of the featured character in white.  Then an pull out illustration, key visuals and sample cells.



That's it for this release.  It a really nice release and I've so far been very happy with the Key Animation Note series of releases.  While I still think that the Production Note is a better buy for most fans of this anime, for those of us more devoted fans and for those who have studied animation, these Key Animation Notes are worth considering.

For those who wish to get this art book.  Here is the direct link to the product page on CDJapan where I got it from. :)

K... it's super late now... I need to sleep. :)

Good night!!! :)

Mahou Shoujo Madoka - cm w/Mirai & Hikari Furu / movie 3

Check this video out. This was posted on Crunchyroll two days ago. These are new CMs using Kalafina's Mirai and Hikari Furu. I must say I really like how moving the second CM is. Hikari Furu and the visuals worked really well together and I'm now even more excited about the release of the single on the 24th. :)

I think it's no secret that besides being a huge Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina fan, I'm also a huge Mahou Shoujo Madoka fan. So I'm wondering how in the world I missed those CMs and this on SGCafe (click on the link to read the post) on the 13th Oct. The 3rd movie in the series will be called Mahou Shoujo Madoka ~The Story of Rebellion.  It sounds really good... go read what SGCafe has written regarding the 3rd movie. :)

Also... I didn't know this but apparently, each city that the Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies will screen in will get a key visual specific to the city itself.  Hence, Singapore gets the Merlion. :)  Cool!!! :)  Initially I had thought that the AFA folks just put it together themselves.  I didn't realise it came from the makers of the anime. click me to read.

I'm really looking forward to AFA12 now... T.M. Revolution... Flow... Babymetal and Mahou Shoujo Madoka!!!! :)

If only Kalafina was one of the invited guess... sigh... I was hoping they would be down to promote the movies... but no luck there.

Still... I'm happy the movies are screening in Singapore. :)

Before I go... (hoping the servers are back up at work).... let me once again give you guys the link to the Hikari Furu singles.  Yes... I know... again... but please buy them if you can afford it.  If you can't it's okay but if you are a fan and you like the music and you can afford it... please buy the cds in support of Kajiura Yuki, Kalafina, the anime and the Japanese music industry. :)

Hikari Furu [w/ Blu-ray, Limited Edition / Type-B]

Hikari Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Pressing (Anime Edition)]

Hikari Furu [Regular Edition] 

Hikari Furu [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type-A]

K.... back to work... the servers are still down but I think I should go back to work anyway.  cheers :)

amend:
20th Oct 2012
- unfortunately, Sony has asked youtube to take those CMs down... so that youtube link no longer works... I never understand this... it's just CMs... why they don't allow them to be played globally is completely beyond me... it's free advertising dudes!!
 - also... I got it wrong.. those special Madoka key visuals are not city specific... they are COUNTRY specific.  If you want to see what the others look like click me.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies at AFA12 - confirmed

 Yay!!! Really quick post for now... I have several things I need to get done before I go to bed tonight... but I wanted to write this real quick because I'm really happy about it.

The organisers for the Anime Festival Asia confirmed via Facebook and on their website that the Mahou Shoujo Madoka movies will screen at the AFA12. :)

I've already bought tickets to both days of the festival because I have anisong concert tickets for anisong day1 and anisong day2 which means I have tix to the festival and stage events for AFA day2 and day3. :)  I'm hoping that the screening timings won't be too horrible and that I will be able to get in to watch these movies as I think these screenings would be quite popular.  Hopefully they'll screen them in the theatres too, then if I can't get in at the festival, I can still try and catch them at the theatre. :)

Perfume in Singapore - got my tix :)

Yay!!!  We managed to secure our VIP tickets to Perfume's first live performance in Singapore. :)  This was by no means an easy feat as we actually started queuing on Saturday afternoon and two of my friends queued over-night at Scape to get us these tickets.  It was worth it in the end because the line kept building and building and sometime in the early part of the morning, some people in the queue were reporting on FB that there was something like 40 people in the queue.

Given that each person can only buy 3 tickets and only a limited number of tickets were available at the AFA shop at Scape itself, 40 people in the queue is quite a significant number for those who hope to be in the first group of 50 that will enter the Warehouse on the day of the concert.  The Warehouse at Scape is not a big venue at all.  The official maximum capacity for the Warehouse @Scape is 500 sitting and 700 standing.

J-Live announced weeks ago that only 50% of these tickets will be available for purchase on the 14th Oct at the AFA Shop.  The other 50% will go on sale online only on Monday 15th Oct at their website.  Hence, this would mean that only 350 tickets, at the very most, would have been available this morning, since the Perfume live is a standing only live.  Of that 350 or less tickets, no one really knows how many of them are VIP tickets and how many of them are GA tickets.

I think by 9am or so this morning, the queue reached the Gongcha bubble tea stall at Scape.  I'm not sure how many people that is but I figure maybe at least a 100 to 150 people by then?  In any case, J-Live announced that all the tickets available for sale were sold out in 2 hours and someone of the J-Live FB page said that VIP tix sold out by 1130am and GA tickets sold out a short time after that.

WOW!!!!  I'm really new to all this.  The first time I lined up for hours to get into a concert venue was for the J-Live A-Sketch Special Vol.2 live with Weaver and flumpool.  This is only the second time that I've queued for so long.  Lucky for me, I didn't have to stay overnight.  Luckily for me, only six of us wanted tickets so I didn't have to stay but I was in line for ages and ages too but this time, I had a little more experience and it wasn't as bad as the first time when we queued.  Of course, I wouldn't want to do this for every concert.  If Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina should ever hold a solo concert in Singapore, I hope they would sing at the Esplanade concert hall or maybe at the new auditorium at Star Vista.  Those are bigger halls which means it'll be less crazy trying to get hold of those tickets because if they came down and I didn't manage to get a ticket... I think I'll cry... :*(

K... time to go to bed... tomorrow... or more likely the day after... I hope to talk a little bit about Kalfina's appearance on Niconico Live.  I couldn't watch the live stream because I was still on my way home from queuing for the Perfume tickets but I did make a booking to watch a delayed telecast which I finished watching tonight. :)

I rather like "Hikari Furu". :)  I would have tried to talk about it today but ended up discussing Kajiura Yuki, her OSTs and Keiko's "Kaze no Machi e" on FB with a friend so.... I've run out of time.... this whole week, I will be doing Prep shots at work so I will need to sleep at reasonably early times... at least reasonable for me. :D

I hope I have time to get to everything I want to do on the blog this week so that I can move on to some personal projects that are non-music, non-anime and non-blog related... for now tho'..... oyasumi :)

edit 16th Oct:

Hmmmm... Perfume's latest single is selling at a 20% discount at CDJapan... first press still available... comes with a B2 poster.... hmmmm.... I wonder if I should get it for a friend who's a big fan of Perfume.