Goin' ta cal...Texas

Image by ukon

Aights peeps. I be leaving early tomorrow morning with my sights set on the land where everything is bigger! That is of course, good ol' deep south Texas. Yeee haaw. Anywho, I won't be regularly updating my blog like I have been for the last few months, racking up a good 60 posts in a day? Actually, I had 59 in June, since it's a little past 12.

Anywho, I'll be computer-less for a while, so if you catch me on the blog or on msn, I'll probably be on my PSP or my Touch mooching internet off of the unknowing neighbours. Muahaha.

I'll be in a land where they spell colour without the U, where barbeques run wild, where steaks are as big as an I Beam, where you can fry an egg on the sidewalk in the mornings. WHERE I WON'T HAVE INTERNET OR A COMPUTER REGULARLY. I'll only suffer severe boredom, internet withdrawal, and perhaps a bit of home-sickness, due to the lack of the usual humming of my computer. Anyways, au revoir, sayonara, see ya later, peace out, later. I'll miss them peeps up in the 604 =(

Super Bored @ Vancouver

Image from Wrongwroks

So hooo. My last day in the wonderful 604, and what do I do? Go with my brother down to the Super Bored shop over on West 4th and Pine! Nice place, and cool stuff. My parents weren't too keen on us going, since we're going shopping in Texas anyways, but hey. When the brands @ Super Bored are exclusive, you ain't gonna find'em anywhere else. And so, we were there. After a long bus ride and an equally long walk, we ended up at the shop. Woo hoo. There was a sale going on, anything items for $100. Sound expensive? Could be. If you got 3 $30 shirts, you'd be losing $10. If you were like us, and got 3 $40 items, you just saved yourself $20.

So I got a nice lookin' tee that my parents will hate me for wearing, while my brother got a cap and a retro-lookin' Outerspace shirt. Lots of the shirts I wanted had medium all sold out, so bah. Was a sale on Saturday and Sunday that we couldn't go to. Sad face.

Anyways, my brother went off to a party on his own while I traveled back on a very long busride accompanied only by a persistent headache that plagues me to this very minute. Anywho, I've got photos of the tee that I got, so here they are!

Super Bored's website here.


They've got nice bags there. I bet I looked kinda funky carrying this around.


All the stuff you buy comes in one of these ziplock bags. Nice little thing, because I can throw stuff in the bag without worrying too much about the merchandise.


Awwww yeeee. Awesome tee that my parents will hate me for wearing. Probably couldn't wear it during highschool. Probably would be deemed "distracting".

Summer Series Preview 14 - Kanamemo

Title: かなめも, Kanamemo
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life

Airs: 07/05 25:30
Animation Studio: FEEL
Total Episode Count: 13

Kenn's Comment: Can't go wrong with a series like this. Probably will be a nice light hearted comedy with cute girls. Toyosaki Aki, who voiced Yui in K-ON, stars as Kana, the main character in the series.

Summary from ANN: The story centers on Kana Nakamichi, a middle-school girl who had already lost her parents and just recently lost her only remaining relative, her grandmother. As a result, she ends up living and working at a newspaper delivery office. Everyone else living at the office are all charming, self-assertive bishōjo. The manga follows Kana’s daily life in the fast-paced yet joyous environment.

Trailer:

Summer Night Market! 5 + Extra Stuff

Image by knucklecurve

Hoo! Yea, so I pulled an all nighter two days ago playing Project DIVA, and didn't really eat anything for that day. Don't try that at home, or anywhere in that case. So anyways, went off to work down in the Nightmarket. Manning the stall were me, my brother and my cousin. Unloading and setting up the stuff was a bit of a challenge, as I'd normally be unloading, not setting up, so I didn't have too much to work off of. Once it was set up though, it was a bit easier. I manned sandwiches, salad rolls and salad, which was quite the task. My brother took my job of toast and grill, while my cousin stuck to his usual. My promotion came with quite a bit of work.

The first hour or so was busy. People came by and ordered non-stop. While no bread was really flying at that point, everything else sold fairly well. Then it died down. Another chair was broken, and stuff like that. It never really picked itself back up. Business that is, not the chair.

Izzy came by. Thankfully she didn't make a scene like she said she would. She should've bought more. Would've made me happier. xD

And now for the extra stuff.


Complimenting perfectly with this week's Hayate no Gotoku, Ivy gave me her birthday present. I convinced her, after a few chats, that cookies were fine. She made them...on Friday or something. They're a bit soft, but that's probably due to the time that they've been sitting around. Anyways, they're nice and it's satisfied my want of re-enacting a scene from an anime or manga. I am SATISFIED! *munches on cookies*


Her need for aesthetics is apparent in her wrapping. Very cute :3

Currently Playing...3

Title: 初音ミク-Project DIVA, Hatsune Miku - Project DIVA
Developer: SEGA
Genre: Music, Rhythm
System: Sony Play Station Portable

Vintage: 07/02/09

Kenn's Comment: It's fun, it's really big and expensive, and it's quite difficult. With the notes all over the screen over top of a dancing Miku, it's hard to keep track of the notes. Clearing a song is quite difficult too. The tambourine, while slightly annoying, I find is quite useful in getting the timing right. The World is Mine is actually quite a difficult song, despite being the first song on the list...

Manga of ze Week - Triple Feature!

Since I'm leaving for Texas on Wednesday, and will be there for a month, I figured that I probably wouldn't be able to get a computer weekly to put up the manga of ze week. In anticipation of that, I'm putting up 3 series this week to make up for what I won't next month. Anyways, all three have the same subject material, so the similarity makes them seem like good matches with each other. I could write an essay on them actually.

Like YKK, My Girl and Usagi Drop probably need a certain level of maturity to truly enjoy. Maybe it'll awaken those dormant maternal instincts in girls.

My Girl



Title: マイガール, My Girl
Author: Sahara Mizu
Genre: seinen, drama, slice of life
Serialized in: Shinchosha Comic Bunch
Total Volume Count: 3 (Ongoing)

Kenn's Comment: The first of the three series today. What can I say? This manga is really great. The art is beautiful, and the story is bittersweet, and has such an innocent feel to it. It's not in your face either, which gives the series that warm fuzzy feeling. The author is wonderful too. Her work usually very realistic, in that the characters interact with humanity itself. Think of Solanin from a while back. The realistic portrayal of life in manga form.

Summary from MangaUpdates:
Kazama Masamune - a single 23-year-old man...has a kid? During the season of cherry blossoms, his beloved passes away. He happens to meet a little girl outside work and realizes she is his daughter who was raised in secrecy by his lover. The worst spring of his life is transformed into a painful yet vivid spring.

Otaku no Musume-san



Title: おたくの娘さん, Otaku no Musume-san, An Otaku's Daughter
Author: Stu-Hiro
Genre: Seinen/Shounen, Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Kadokawa Shouten Dragon Age
Total Volume Count: 5 (ongoing)

Kenn's Comment: The second series. It's alphabetical by the way. It's the lightest of the three series. The story had potential, but compared to the other two series of the three, the plot is lacking, and the characters are quite as deep as they could. Perhaps it's because it's listed as Shounen. Nevertheless, it's a nice light-hearted slice of life.

Updates from MangaUpdates:
Kanau Yukimura is nine years old and she's meeting her father for the first time. However, he turns out to be an otaku! The two of them start living together in the same apartment, next to a lot of interesting neighbors. Unsurprisingly, things don't always go smoothly for these two...

Usagi Drop



Title: うさぎドロップ, Usagi Drop
Author: Unita Yumi
Genre: Josei, comedy, drama, slice of life
Serialized in: Shodensha Feel Young
Total Volume Count: 5 (ongoing)

Kenn's Comment: More light hearted than My Girl, less so than Otaku no Musume, this series is somewhere in between the two series. That's not to say that it's similar to the other two. It's a slightly different situation, and has a different target audience. Unlike Otaku no Musume-san, the comedy comes from the interactions with other characters, rather than gags and situational comedy. It's a heart warming series that everyone...,okay not everyone, can enjoy.

Summary from MangaUpdates:
Returning to his family's estate for his grandfather's funeral, thirty-something bachelor Daikichi is floored to discover that the old man had an illegitimate child with a much younger lover! Needless to say, the rest of the family is shocked and embarrassed by this turn of events, and not one of them wants anything to do with the little girl, who refuses to say a word. In a fit of angry spontaneity, Daikichi decides to adopt her! But is living with an overgrown teenager who can barely take care of himself the key to making Rin come out of her shell?

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Augustyn of Dusk

宵闇のアウグスティン


GUMI's out!! And so, I decided to put up a song by GUMI. Her voice is similar to a mix between Luka and Miku's, but sounds the most realistic. Or maybe it's just because I'm used to hearing Ranka...Anyways, I prefer when the composers use Rank-GUMI's lower voice, same with Luka. Anyways, enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Kenn!

image by moonknives

That's right! I'm legal, baby! Turned 18 yesterday. I don't really care about my birthday, so I really didn't tell anyone about it. At my folk's restaurant while we were eating (refer to prveious post), only Ed, John and Jason knew it was my birthday. Told them to keep quiet about it. It's not biggy for me. One year closer to death!

Anyways, Ed nearly turned me into a human candle while we were walking to ze theatre. Was walking when I heard Jason laughing, looked down, and found a lighter pointed at me. What fun. Stayed away from him after that.

Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen

image by spooky

Alrighty, so yesterday we (Jason, Jason, Darren, Keith, Sam, Calvin, John, Ed, Me), went to watch the latest Hollywood rendition of the mecha classic, Transformers. We got okay seats, front pit back row. Still, me and Keith thought it was too close, because all the action scenes were kinda funked up for us. Stuff moved fast, and big, and ended up blurred because of an sensory overload. Other than that, it was good. The story was oh so stereotypical. Typical Michael Bay? The action and stuff was good, but that story...

Anyways, we caught the 7 pm screening, but bought the tickets at like 5:40. We killed time in Sam's car. Ed and them were playing cards in the trunk, while Keith and Sam and Darren played cards in the front. I was playing games on my Touch, as well as going through yearbooks with Sam. We went into the theatre a half hour early, and there were still no seats. Bah.

We got out at 9:30ish, and proceeded to go home. There was a massive back up on our way back, so we had to take an alternate route. Luckily Jason Choy was with us, the human GPS! No, it's just that his memory and sense of direction is 1000% better than mine, and the other Jason's. Long drive in the dark while listening to Michael Jackson songs. Rest in peace King of Pop.

And to make a rather dull entry less dull, I shall include some entertaining quip from Izzy.

` izzy: KENN
` izzy: dude
` izzy: i saw transformers
` izzy: and i freaking
` izzy: jizzed in my pants
` izzy: dude
` izzy: megan fox
` izzy: SO HOT
` izzy: like
` izzy: FUCK
` izzy: did you see that ass?!

Last School Days...

Aights, so after 2 hours of annual signing, Sam hunting, and Calvin bugging, we finally left the school. Destination: Green Lemon Grass restaurant in Richmond. My family owns and runs the place, so we went there. Ed, John, Keith and Darren left hours earlier so they had to wait for ages before we got there. Anyways, I went with ballin' Sam, Calvin and two Jasons. Gary and Johnson were in the car too, but they went home. They live pretty far from DT.

The drive there was meh. Nothing really cool happened, other than being stuck in traffic and learning that Michael Jackson had just died. Anyways, we got to the place, found John and them standing in the parking lot, and got in. There were 9 of us. Got a table, no, 2 tables reserved. Me, Jason and Ed had Rice with Beef Satay & Spring rolls. Keith had the same, except with Chicken satay, while John also had rice, but with beef short ribs. Sam was a virgin in a sense. This was his first time eating Vietnamese cuisine. In a sense then, I popped his cherry ;D. Anyways, Sam had hu tieu, Calvin had...something I don't remember, Darren had a rice dish too. The two Jasons also ordered Vietnamese sandwiches. I can make them too, but ya.

Filling meal, but as things go, I get hungry in about 2 hours after completely stuffing myself. Bah. More to come later.

Lasting Memories Part 4 FINAL

Image by Itou Noiji

Alrighty, so today was the very last day of my mandatory school days. It's seems like it was only yesterday that we started. Actually, no it doesn't. Yesterday I played lots of games. Anyways, looking back at my life now, it seems like everything up til now went by like a flash. Back then, every year that passed by was slow. Living life in the moment is what I do, and will continue to do. Soak in the fun of everyday, and live life to the fullest!

Anyways, got our yearbooks (annuals) and it's in FULL COLOUR! For some reason, my Add Image button isn't working, so adding images are a real pain right now. Anyways, yea. The Yearbook team was awesome this year, so we got an awesome book. Better than last year anyways.

So this is the cover of our book. I rotated it on Photobucket, but it seems that it didn't stick. Anyways yeah.

The back cover of our book. It's got our school's coat of arms. Our quote is funky. Nos quoque exploremus. "Let us also explore". Note that the school's named after David Thompson, the explorer who mapped and discovered this region.

Pages and pages of signatures and messages. Gave an effort to get as many people as possible, but still couldn't get everyone. Zelos called me a lolicon. Damn him.

Ivy "page raped" the book and took up a good chunk of the back page. Her writing is very neat. Girls have nice writing in general though.

Anyways, those are all the pictures I've got. I'll put up some more stuff, but as long as the image button isn't working, it'll be a real pain...

Crashing with Kenn

image by sutagu

Aights, so Jason, Sam and Christ crashed at my place for a little bit. Sam wanted to see what my house looked like. He's been to my old house, but not my new one. Anywho, Sam's worse than John. John might have touched a lot of stuff, but Sam played with stuff. >( He changed the positioning of my Gundams. Grr.

Anyways, Christ and Sam playfully wrestled on my bed, and I tried to snap a shop of their intertwined bodies, but my camera's too slow. Sam looked at my monitor, noticed a conversation window with Helen was there and proceeded to type in Canto. Didn't tell him she's mando.

Joked around for a bit, as they went through all my stuff. Grad photos and stuff.

On another know, I've got about 2 hours to decide what I want for my birthday. Ivy called me this morning to notify me that I have to think and tell her by the end of today. It's hard when you don't want anything in particular, and you don't want people to be spending money on you. So difficult.

神のみぞ知るセカイ OP

Awesome stuff man! The World God Only Knows would make an awesome anime. It's got every possible fetish out there, minus guro, injuries, and the really extreme stuff you'll find. THE NORMAL FETISHES, like glasses, or tsundere. Probably not enough chapters yet, but I CAN SEE THE ENDING!

Piano Reunion

Image by maru54

Aights, so today I met up with friends from piano whom I haven't seen in about three years. I got there first, and met up with another friend, who I chatted with while waiting for the arrival of the rest of the people. The usual chat, asked him what he was doing now, stuff like that. Talked about law related stuff. Deanna showed up out of no where and was sort of dragged into the conversation. She seemed out of place. She was. Anyways, decided to go into the shop (TeaWorks) where we found Robyn inside. Apparently she walked in without us knowing. Ninja she is? Still had to wait for Alexis who was running a tad bit late, so we talked at the table. Lots of talk about school and stuff. Alexis got to the place, we put our orders in and chatted more. I had a Green Tea Milk Tea (with Grass Jelly). Very green.

We did lots of chatting. Lots of catching up. Talking about our grad and stuff. Robyn's still a few years off, but the other three of us are done. I had the worst grades there. Not fun. Brought up stuff from way back then that I don't really want to remember. Sexual harassment from a guy is not fun. Especially one 4 years your junior. Not fun. Anyways, the girls made a bunch of jokes and poked fun at me with that. Ahaha, it's been a while since we've all talked. Haven't seen them in forever, and apparently, like everyone says, I haven't changed. Watch me be the same 10 years from now. That'll be scary.

Anyways, we parted ways, and left for home. I was broke, so I walked home. Alexis offered bus fare, but I opted to walk. It's only 23 blocks (about 2 km). Took me an hour. Worth it though. Burnt off some calories.

Summer Night Market! 4

Aights, so it was a chilly day. The wind picked up a bit, blew around some Styrofoam dishes, and generally lowered the temperature by a few degrees. I wore a long sleeve shirt this time around, so the oil from the grill didn't get me this time. The grill did though. Anyways, toasted bread, grilled chicken, and stood around and looked pretty. Business was slow...slower than usual. Got free deep fried ice cream from our neighbors. It was good. Not for my health anyways. Anyways, that's pretty much what happened.

I'm in despair. Ivy though I was gay for the longest of time. First impressions have left me in despair.

Manga of ze Week - YKK

Title: ヨコハマ買い出し紀行, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, YKK
Author: Ashinano Hitoshi
Genre: Seinen, Slice of Life, Drama, Science Fiction

Total Volume Count: 14

Kenn's Comment: I think this kind of series takes a certain level of maturity to truly enjoy it to it's fullest. People who stand-by generic-high action shounen will probably hate this. It's a great series, and is up in the high ranks of manga, along with GTO.

Summary from MangaUpdates:
This is the story of Alpha Hasseno, an Alpha 7 M2 series robot. Left by her owner, she appears and acts fully human while running a small coffee shop named Cafe Alpha. It is a light-hearted story about the people Alpha comes into contact with behind the backdrop of a futuristic country-side in Japan. As we meet Alpha, she makes a shopping trip to Yokohama.

Summer Series Preview - Anything Else

Click the thumbnail to enlarge.



Sorry guys, but a bunch of the series didn't have the trailers up, so you'll have to make do with this. xD It covers everything though, so it's a bit redundant.

That's the list provided.

00:00 うみねこのなく頃に(Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
01:30 CANAAN
02:02 東京マグニチュード8.0(Tokyo Magnitude 8.0)
02:50 大正野球娘。(Taishou Baseball Girls)
03:16 懺・さよなら絶望先生(Zan: Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei)
03:32 宙のまにまに(Sora no Manimani)
04:46 かなめも(Kanamemo)
05:37 エレメントハンター(Element Hunter)
06:37 よくわかる現代魔法(Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou)
07:08 冬のソナタ(Fuyu no Sonata)
07:35 プリンセスラバー(Princess Lover)
07:53 青い花(Aoi Hana)
08:25 うみものがたり(Umimonogatari)
09:15 化物語(Bakemonogatari)
10:04 生徒会の一存(Seitokai no Ichizon)
10:17 狼と香辛料Ⅱ(Spice and Wolf Ⅱ)
10:23 GA 芸術科アートデザインクラス(GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class)
10:29 NEEDLESS

Summer Series Preview 13 - Element Hunter

Title: エレメントハンター, Element Hunter
Genre: Education, Sci-Fi, Action

Airs: 07/04 18:00
Animation Studio: NHK, HeeWon

Summary from ANN:
The anime will be a science-fiction adventure aimed at children to teach chemical elements.

Trailer:

Tour Kenn's Room: Part 2

Alrighty folks, I'm back with the second part of Kenn's Room Tour. It's been a while, and my room's changed since I took these photos, but overall, it's still the same. Anyways, let's get this show on the road, shall we?
My closet. As you can see, it's stereotypically quite messy. Even if porn was hidden in there, I doubt even I'd be able to find it. Stuff from last year is still tucked away in there. I've got everything from a hidden cache of dried foods, to pieces of wood shoved in there. I try not to put too many things in there.
This is my drawer. It holds everything fro, clothes to stationary, games to books. On top of it is my filing thing, chock full of papers relating to piano and my
My lovely set of plushies. I made the lobster at the front five years ago. It's got terrible stitching, but I really like it. The octopus is from my brother, and the two air planes are from my sister.
My Gundams. There used to be 1/144th scale models here, but I replaced them with 1/100 scales. Maybe when I get a MG, I'll have it up there too. If you can't see them, its the Graham Flag Custom, 00 Gundam, and Red Astray Frame.
My two plants. Shortly after I took this photo, my bonsai was infested by gnats, so it's not there anymore. I've got a wax plant now, so I still have two plants. My fern has a new pot too.
A close up of my bed. My mom thinks my blanket is really feminine. Is it the orange floral design? You can see my plushies on there, as well as my totally awesome lamp to the right of the photo.
A close of up my awesome lamp. It's kid safe, so I can throw it around and stuff. It's on top of my rolling drawer, which holds school materials and stuff like that for easy access when I'm working.
My beloved electronics. Don't know what I'd do without them. They go with me everywhere to chase away them boring times. Aside from my computer, these two are the most expensive electronics I carry.It's my watch. It's quite expensive, $440 to be exact. The clasp is bent out of shape, and the people at the nearby watch repair shop say they can't repair it. They say to send it to a specialist.
Sad face.

And that's a wrap! I'll probably do an entry on my electronics, but that's another story. Later!

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Melodia

Aights folks, it's that time again! This week's song is a nice song by piapro. The verses are similar to another song...but the chorus is quite different from the song I have in mind. Anyways, enjoy!

Currently Playing... 2

Title: Fate Unlimited Codes Portable
Genre: Fighting
System: Playstation Portable

Developer: Capcom
Vintage: June 2009

Kenn's Comment: Fun game, but the button combinations are hard to input. It's been a while since I heard all the characters of F/SN, so this is a nice treat. Haven't tried ad-hoc yet because my brother doesn't play it that much.

Kaihaku!!

For those of you who haven't noticed yet, my blog mascot, Kaihaku, has gotten three new outfits! In addition to the previous batch, she's been updated with a few more. Plus, I drew two pictures of her! They're not the best, but hey, it's a drawing. xD
Kaihaku in a cheongsam/qi pao. Thought it'd be good to have some sort of ethnic dress. She's saying "Ha Gao", or at least that's what I'm hoping she's saying.
Goth-Loli outfit. An annoyed look on her face because someone make a quip about her flat-chestedness.

She's in shock because she doesn't know when I drew her.A drawing of Kaihaku by yours truly. It's only her head though. Can't draw bodies.A cute little picture by me again. A simplistic drawing of Kaihaku. Simple, but cute nonetheless.

Anime Evolution 2009

Aights, while I didn't go this year, I had friends who did, and friends who took photos, and friends who shared them photos. And thus, here I present them photos. Staaato desu!
This could be seen as a political statement...I'm sure Miss California wouldn't like it too much.
Tidus and Yuna cosplay. Would've been awesome if Yuna wasn't a guy. Kudos to the guy for pulling that off. His biceps are huge.

Awesome ANBU cosplay. Love the masks. Especially like the Haku mask (second from the left)
Not exactly anime...but funny. I suppose events like these are celebrations of the media arts and internet.
A nice cosplay of Yuffie. Probably better than a lot of people who cosplayed.

A really nice cosplay. Can't tell what it's supposed to be of though. The hat reminds me of Pandora Hearts though.
The first thing I thought of when I saw this was "I'd hit that." It fits too. Not in the way you're thinking of.
Nice cosplay of KH. Must've been a tad bit warm for Sora though.
Shameless self advertisement by Naomi and Kevin. A very nice Soul Eater cosplay (Soul & Maka)
Assassin Cross (Ragnarok Online) cosplay by Naomi and Kevin. Looking awesome as usual guys! Grats again you two!

Credits to Izzy and Naomi for the photos. Thanks!