mahou shoujo madoka bluray vol.4 unboxing

This is going to be yet another short post.  Work has been v v v v busy and I just managed to get a bit of respite today.  I spent it watching 2 more episodes of Toda Erika in Keizoku 2: SPEC and totally loving her performance. :)  And then I spent a little time taking photos of the unboxing of Mahou Shoujo Madoka bluray special edition with bonus CD.  YAY!!!  This time, it's Vol.2 of Kajiura Yuki's ost for this series.  While this isn't my favourite Kajiura ost, my current favourite is probably music from Kara no Kyoukai, still I like this ost plenty.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase and put up the photos.  Then I need to go get some shut-eye.




Just a few more things before I go.  A few days ago, Kalafina announced that they will be releasing their new album, titled "After Eden", in Sept.  Yesterday, they announced that that date has been fixed.  The new album will be released on the 21st Sept 2011. :)  Yay!!!!!  It seems like Sony will also release through Sony Magazine, an official yet to be titled Kalafina book.  This book will contain photos of the 3 Kalafina girls, interviews, a report of the Spring "Magia" Tour and Kajiura Yuki's commentary on all the tracks (I presume only those written for Kalafina and not including non-Kalafina related songs).    This book will be released on the 16th Sept to commemorate the release of the 3rd album.  This sounds EPIC to me!!!!!!  I just hope I translated it correctly since my Japanese is still kinda "下手".  I hope this book will be easy to pre-order cuz I am so getting it.

Back to the album, there will be 2 versions as usual.  One is the regualar edition and the other is the limited edition.  The limited edition will contain a dvd with the PV of "symphonia", which I think should be the theme song for the latest season of the NHK documentary Rekishi Hiwa Historia (歴史秘话ヒストリア), as well as live video footage and documentary footage about the trio's trip to the Anime Expo 2011 event.  In addition to the DVD, there will also be a 40 page pamphlet.  According to CDJapan, the end theme song for the 2nd season of Kuroshitsuji (Kagayaku Sora no Seijaku niwa) and Magia (the end theme for Mahou Shoujo Madoka) will be included in this album release.  I'm thinking "symphonia" maybe included too since the PV is included.  I've already pre-ordered the limited edition of course. :D

Meanwhile, if you have money to burn and are starved for some Kalafina products, according to the Kalafina website, the just published 「リスアニ! Vol.06」 (Risuani Vol.06) has a little bit about Kalafina's trip to the Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles recently.  I checked out the cover of Risuani Vol.06 and Kalafina isn't mentioned on the cover.  So I think it's most likely not a very long article... chances are it's just a one page... hence, I'm hesitant about getting it.  I did get Risuani Vol.05 cuz Madoka was one of the features.  But if it's just a one page... I think I'll pass and save it for that official yet to be titled Kalafina book. :)

K... that's it... I need to sleep.  Till next time... take care y'all.

Nuke!!!

Super super super tired these days.  As usual, work has taken over my life.  Even my Japanese studies, doramas, anime, music, photography and Bones have to take a back seat.  But I'm not complaining. :)  This time, unlike the previous times when I was frustrated because I didn't see myself going anywhere, I am really quite happy to put in OT... at least for now... and probably for quite some time yet.

Currently, we are getting some on the job training on The Foundry's Nuke and this software is awesome.  It was really intimidating at first because my background is all layer base software like Avid, Adobe Premier Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro etc etc.  Nuke is a node base compositing software and at the end of the day, the script looks like a flowchart and looks complicated and confusing.  Jumping from AE to Nuke was not easy at all, especially in the beginning.

I literally spent nights at the office in the past month trying to understand the principles behind node base compositing and at one point I was so frustrated... I think I would have sold my soul to "kyubey" for genius type competency in Nuke.  Hahahahaha... ... ... altho' this reminds me that I have yet to watch ep 11 and 12 of Mahou Shoujo Madoka. :(  I think I just don't want the anime to end. :)

Anyway.... last week, one of my seniors gave me a series of really good lessons on patching and camera projection and I really enjoy this kind of one-on-one session because after that... after I tried to do what he thought me etc, I finally think I understand the basics.

Today, I handed in my first clean-up shot.  It's so exciting!!!  Hahahaha... sounds silly but seriously, this is way more challenging then roto and altho' I don't dislike roto, still... sometimes, I want something that will stretch me further and Nuke is doing that right now.  Armed with the principles my supervisor and my senior taught me, I was able to work my way through the shot and I think it was a decent effort.

This afternoon, I tried to work my way through some example scripts my supervisor and given us and I was also relieve and really happy that I was able to figure out channel shifting from just messing with his script.  =)

K... that's if from me for now... I m tired and I'm contemplating if I should just call it a night and forget about "edge mattes" and 6 weeks worth of Japanese homework and just go to sleep. :)

mahou shoujo madoka bluray vol.3 unboxing

My copy of vol.3 of the madoka bluray set arrived via courier
yesterday.  Yay! :)  I managed to shoot a few photos for the blog before crashing on the couch.  Too much OT in the last 2 weeks... am glad that the end of the week is approaching.  I took a day off on friday to take my parents out to the museum and probably a nice lunch or dinner, depending on the schedule.  Am totally looking forward to the end of tomorrow. :)

For now, please enjoy the photos of the unboxing of vol3 of the bluray special edition of Mahou Shoujo Madoka, one of my favourite anime of all time.




Oh, before I go, I just want to say that I am totally looking forward to the release of vol4 of the set.  The special edition of this set will include vol2 of Kajiura Yuki's OST.  Yay! :) I didn't expect that. I thought it would be packed in vol.5 or vol.6 but I am not complaining. :)

K, till next time... have a good day everyone. :) Meanwhile, I will be listening to the madoka drama cds at work today. Yay!

The Green Corridor

Usually, I don't post up these things on my blog but I really think this is a great idea for Singapore.

This is an idea from the Nature Society in Singapore to use the old dis-used railway track to create a "green corridor" through Singapore for biking and walking. And if this is linked up with the Pack Connectors, it could be very awesome. I'm totally for this idea cuz I really do like nature, biking and hiking.

So if you support this idea... show some support for it on Facebook or going to their events etc.



Once again... not a long entry from me... have stuff I need to do... and I would like to get some sleep too. :)

cheers

12 more days

Yoohoo... here's another one of those short nothing posts I occasionally make just to remind myself that I keep a blog. :)

Recently, as you probably can tell, I have added Mahou Shoujo Madoka to my long list of obessions. :)

Lately, I downloaded a countdown app for my android phone.  It's a countdown app to remind the user of each impending release of the dvds / blu-rays for the anime.  This is something only fans of the anime will enjoy. :)  The picture changes at random.  The above is of one of the magical girls, Tomoe Mami.  The other characters like Kyubey, Homura Akemi, Kaname Madoka and Miki Sayaka will take turns to show up on your screen to accompany the graphic stating the number of days left to each release.  If you tap each character's picture, they'll also spit out one of their lines from the anime.  It's kind of cute. :)  The only thing I'm not sure about is if Sakura Kyouko is included.  She may be, I just don't remember when I cycled through it to check how the app works.  I hope so cuz she was a pretty cool character, although she comes in later in the series.

K... next up, I will try and post on the latest addition to my toy and figure collection. :)  Meanwhile have a good day everyone. :)

mahou shoujo madoka bluray vol.4 box art

The box art for vol. 4 of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka anime has been out for several days but I have not had the time to post it up till now.  I'm not sure what special cd will be packed with the limited edition set but  I am not holding my breadth for vol.2 of Kajiura Yuki's ost.

Been very busy lately at work.  Lots of tough shots and we've also started training to do prep annd clean-up work at work.  I'm still not familiar enough with Nuke, so am feeling a little stressed about it.  Must gambarimasu.  Today, I did finish my first dust busting shot.  It's only a training shot but I'm very happy that we all get to do it and it's on the job training too.  So cool. :)  It was pretty interesting and I can see just how all this info would have been useful when I worked on my hero shot and demo reel shot.  Even in after effects, this info would have been useful.

K... if I have a bit of time later, I might write another post about the newest addition to my toy and figure collection family. But for now... bye. :)

mahou shoujo madoka bluray vol.2 unboxing

Once again, this will be a short post.  Really busy these days. So blogging has to take a back seat again. :(

Yesterday, I received Mahou Shoujo Madoka bluray volume 2 in the mail.  This volume is of much interest to fans of Kajiura Yuki's music because it contains vol.1 of the Kajiura scored OST for the anime.  I plan on listening to it in the office as I work today. :)

Here are pictures of the unboxing.  The formatting of this post maybe kind of ugly for a while.  I have less control over that when I mobile blog and correcting it on my mobile is possible but a little tedious, so I prefer to do it when I am on my PC.  So bear with it for a bit. :)  k. Enjoy. :)

27th May 2011 8:05am
p.s. I've fixed the formatting, now the photos line up better. :)

p.p.s.  Oh... and I did listen to the OST several times in the office yesterday.  It's fantastic.  Exactly the kind of stuff I like, which is why I love Kajiura's stuff so much.  I wished it was longer but ah well... there is always Vol.2 of the OST to look forward to. :)  Once again, I've very happy with my purchase.  :)

They have also announced what special CD will be packed with Vol.3 of the bluray and as suspected, it will not be another Kajiura OST.  It will be this "虚淵玄監修オリジナルドラマ「サニーデイ　ライフ」.  Which is translated into something like "Sunny Day Life", an original Drama produced by Urobuchi Gen, who is the scriptwriter for the Madoka anime.  Cool... I can't wait. :)  I sometimes listen to Drama CDs at work too. :)