Hikari Furu ~ Kalafina's best 1st week ranking yet

It's been four years and I've finally done it.  I've finally equaled the most number of posts posted in a year on my blog since 2008. :) This is post no.168 for the year 2012 and I think this post's content is most fitting for this occasion.  Not only have I reached a milestone, Kalafina has also reached a milestone. :)  And me reaching this milestone has a lot to do with my Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina obsession. Hence, I think it's most fitting that this post has to do with Kalafina's Hikari Furu producing the vocal unit's best first week ranking on the Oricon singles charts since their debut.

Hikari Furu opened strongly at No.4 on the daily Oricon charts on the 24th Oct before managing to rank No.1 twice on the 26th & the 27th before slipping to 3rd and then rebounding to 2nd on the 29th.  Then a ton of new singles were released on the 30th Oct and Hikari Furu dropped to the 22nd position before making a come back at 18th and then at 11th on the 1st Nov.

 

Hikari Furu ended the week of the 22-28 October at no.4 which is their best showing ever for one of their singles.  The CD managed to push just over 38000 cd sales during that period beating the 24000 copies sold for to the beginning in April of this year. Their previous highest weekly ranking for a single was 7th for Magia which is also a song from the Mahou Shoujo Madoka franchise.  All this means that this is the best start for any single that they have released to date.
(source: Oricon)

While I really don't know if this will be their best ever selling single or if it will outsell to the beginning but this is certainly a very good start and Mahou Shoujo Madoka's international movie run hasn't even gone into full swing yet.



Kalafina's performance on the chart has been so good this year that it's also earned them a nomination for Animation Artist of the Year 2012 from Billboard Japan.  I really don't know what their chances of winning are.  Naturally, I would like them to win but there are a ton of names on that list and Kalafina's not the biggest name on that list, so I'm not really holding my breathe here.  That said, a nomination is very good.

Kajiura Yuki-san, Kalafina-san... omedetou!!! :)

Finally... before I go to bed (gosh... it's past 3am!!!).... let me just post up Hikari Furu's links... yes... once again. :P  You're free to use these links or any other links but if you can afford it... please support Kajiura Yuki, Kalafina and the entertainment industry by buying.

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]

I will attempt to do the Hikari Furu unboxings tomorrow.  For now... time to sleep... oyasumi. :)

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