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Like usual, nothing happened today. =3=
Image by kanikama
Not much happened. Played some Demon's Soul in the morning, got the piano tuned, watched a movie, and ate. =3= Livin' the dream?
Image by mameshibasan
Had a bit of difficulty deciding what to put up this week. Double feature's have been eating through my reserve list. Some of the series coming up might be not as great as past ones. ごめなさい。
Picture isn't of the manga, though it's definitely related to one of them.
Title: バーテンダー, Bartender
Author: Joh Araki (story), Nagatomo Kenji (art)
Genre: Seinen, drama, slice of life
Serialized in: Shueisha Super Jump
Total Volume Count: 15
Summary from MangaUpdates:
The story of the Sasakura Ryu and Eden Hall, a small cocktail bar in the Chiba area of Tokyo, where troubled customers come for the "glass of the gods," which with Ryu's assistance helps them to resolve their often highly emotional problems.
The above is the synopsis of the anime. In the manga, Ryu starts out working in a bar called Lapin.
Kenn's Comment: I get the feeling this, like Black Lagoon, though on a completely different plate, is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it kind of manga. People who really into action and fanservice might not find it too palatable, though slice of life enthusiasts might love it. It's definitely better than it sounds, and the synopsis doesn't really do the series justice. Give it a try!
Author: Yoshino Satsuki
Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Square Enix GanGan Powered
Total Volume Count: 1 (ongoing)
Summary from MangaUpdates:
As a punishment for punching a famous Calligrapher, young handsome Calligrapher Handa Seishu is exiled on a small island. As someone who has never lived outside of a city, Handa has to adapt to his new wacky neighbors, like people traveling on a tractor, unwanted visitors who never use the front door, annoying kids using his home as a playground, etc. Can this city guy handle all the crazy hardships? Find out in this wacky island comedy full of innocence and laughter!!!Kenn's Comment: Duuuude, I love this manga. It's got a nice feel to it. I suppose you could almost compare it to Yotsuba&! It's really cute, and all the characters are really fun. Give this one a try for sure!
Image by oryou
Uneventful day. That is all. Keep reading though.
Anyways, didn't do much in the morning. Further tortured myself after a grueling 6 hours of criminology yesterday with some Demon's Soul. It's kind of like having a math test right after a physics test, just not.
Our dog ran out when my mom was pulling into the drive way. We have an automatic gate, similar to a garage door, so it has to open for her to get her car into the drive way. It takes a while, and is a wonderful opportunity for the dog to escape. He never really runs very far. Usually less than a block before he'll stop. This time around he was pretty much next door. He makes the cutest growling sounds though. Can't really tell if he's angry because he growls but doesn't do anything else.
Anywho, went out to get some stuff. A new mouse, since my old one was starting to die, and a floor protector. The wood under my chair was starting to chip, so I wanted to keep the floor in one piece. Got the floor protector from Ikea. ^^; It's name was Kolon. Got a cheap mouse from Staples on the way back.
That's a slice of soursop. Like the Sugar Apple that I had in my previous Day with Kenn post, it's chock full o' seeds. It's kind of stringy like a Jackfruit, but definitely is much more moist. My brother doesn't seem to like any of the Asian fruits lying around. He's definitely much more white washed than I am. I'm probably the vestigial Asian of the family.
Image by suou sakura
=3= The song title isn't AVTechNO! He's the producer of the two songs. Good ones too.
Acid NEL (初音ミク)
It's a remix of NEL by AVTechZO! The original is pretty good too. There's a Luka version of the original. All credits are on the video.
DARKNEL 鏡音リン·レン
A remix of Rin's NEL I think. Again, remixed by AVTechZO!. Credits on the video. It's such an awesome song.
Image from Danbooru
=3= I should be working hard, but at the moment, I'm hardly working.
My copy of Finale came to the door step today. Delayed by a day because I didn't fill the order form out right. Need to put myself through various tutorials to figure out how to use it, and how to input notes using a MIDI controller. Customs charges was $52. About 20% of the cost of the program. ;o;
And for those who are wondering, "Why didn't you just buy it in Canada?". For all I know, I don't think I can get an Academic discount from a store that sells it. The academic discount cuts the price almost by 50%, making it that much more affordable.
Lunch for Kenn. Fit for a king. ^^; Spaghetti in the middle, 糖水(tong sui) on the right, red rice from Chinese New Years above it. A sweet pastry of sorts on the left of the spaghetti, and a Sugar apple at the top.
The pastry was beautifully packaged though. I love the box. Don't know where it's from. My dad probably got it as a freebie from one of the customers who worked at a bakery or something. Happens quite often. It tasted something like a honey castella with an orange jam filling. It was in a plastic wrapper inside the box, but I believe that it looks much more appetizing without the plastic.
The Sugar apple. I know Izzy loves, and I also know that she shouldn't be near a computer for the weekend because of an outing, so I'll put these up just to torment her when she gets back. On the left is a partially peeled sugar apple. On the right are it's remains. Lots and lots of seeds, and pieces of it's outer skin. Probably will devour the soursop today. I'll remember to photo it.
On the other hand, I'm still working on my Criminology stuff. So much to do, and I don't feel like doing any of it. Why did I even take Criminology. =3= I should get back to hardly working working hard.
Image by teriyaki
Another double feature this week. Deciding whether to keep the double feature until the end of the Olympics or not.
Title: Here It Goes Again
Artist: OK GO
Genre: Indie Rock, Pop
Album: Oh No
Single: Here It Goes Again
Vintage: 25/09/06
Awesome music video. Won a Grammy for best short-form music video in 2007. Also got a few other honours. Their dances are usually choreographed by one of the band member's sister. Saves them a lot of money, I guess.
Title: Hard Rock Hallelujah
Artist: Lordi
Genre: Rock
Album: The Arockalypse
Single: Hard Rock Hallelujah
Vintage: 19/05/06
The video is for Eurovision Song 2007. They've got a regular music video for it, but I can't find it. Plus this one is just so epic. I think I've talked about it in a previous post with the AMV for Black Lagoon. The band is from Finland by the way. You might figure that out nearer to the end of the video where people are waving flags.
Image by name
Feel like I've used this image before. Not sure. Spent my day in the library. Fun stuff.
Breakfast for Kenn. Woke up way too early this morning. Got hungry, so I downed a bowl of mueseli. Mueseli is a fairly popular European thing, originally concocted by a Swiss doctor for his patients. I had it with milk, but I figured it'd look a tad bit more appetizing not soggy.
Much to my surprise, the library was nearly deserted. Only a few people were in the library, contrary to my belief that there would be lots of people. I guess people don't want to give up their extended reading break?
Image from Danbooru
(*°∀°)=3 It's so cute. As usual with MSLN (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha) doujins, it's got the usual yuri pair, probably not safe for work, but definitely not porn. For the most part, it's safe for work.
Well, as cute as it is, it hasn't been updated in at least a year, so I was deciding whether or not I should use it. But Vivio is so cute in it that I just had to use it. Plus it saves me the trouble of having to explain Touhou characters.
Image by Lin+
No photos today. Nothing worth shooting.
Anyways, had breakfast / lunch and then headed up to practice my pieces for piano. I feel that I've definitely been hitting the chords too hard on Allegro Barbaro. Probably shouldn't practice in full forte. My hand locks in the chord position for a bit after. Not a nice feeling.
Jammed with my cousin and his friend for about an hour after that. Jamming to one of his original songs, 'Puppy love'. It was me on the piano, his friend, on the violin and my cousin on the guitar. Sounded awesome, though I definitely need to acquaint myself with the song. Improvising the whole way, and I don't even know what part of the song their on. I don't think I've ever successfully done the song. ^^; I've got time to work it out on paper though.
Been practicing Gackt's Last Song on the piano too. It's difficult to try and sing and play at the same time. As a Classical pianist, I'm not used to doing stuff like that, let alone improvising and the like. As a composer though, I really need to get better at that.
On another page now, I'll congratulate Maelle Ricker on her gold medal finish for Women's Snowboard Cross, and Canada's second gold medal. I'd also like to congratulate Team Canada's first win in Men's Hockey, dominating Norway 8-0.
Patrick Chan's performance wasn't the best, though it was still good. I believe that he still has another run on Thursday. Let's wish him he best and hope that he wins gold!
Image by usakou
Mondays. （￣へ￣）
Breakfast for Kenn. So Asian. Leftovers from yesterday's Chinese New Year hotpot that I didn't take a photo of. On the right is bánh tét, sticky rice spotted with various beans, and a banana going through the middle. It's cooked and wrapped in a banana leaf. It's a traditional New Years food. Bánh tét is popular in South Vietnam, while Bánh chưng is something you'll find more of in the North. My folks grew up in the south, so we more or less aways have bánh tét.
In the bowl is a bit of a sea weed salad, some prunes, more of that odd chinese sweet thing, Rambutan, and a date.
In the bowl is a bit of a sea weed salad, some prunes, more of that odd chinese sweet thing, Rambutan, and a date.
Izzy asked me how much I got for my 红包 (Lai See). While I won't say how much I got, I will say that I got two pockets.
The red one on the left is from my aunt and uncle, while the one with Snoopy is from my parents.
Image from Crunchyroll
Well, actually the title isn't Pavane and tea. They're parts of the titles of the two series this week.
Title: 亡き少女の為のパヴァーヌ, Naki Shoujo no Tame no Pavane, Pavane Pour Une Fille Défunte, Pavane for a Dead Girl
Author: Koge-Donbo*
Genre: Shounen, Drama, Fantasy, Historical, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural
Serialized in: Mag Garden Comic Blade
Total Volume Count: 4 (ongoing)
Summary from Syuura:
During a field trip to the imperial capital, Tokyo, Kaga Nanao overhears the beautiful melody of a violin and immediately becomes captivated by it. In order to meet the mystery violinist, Nanao learns the violin and defies her father's wishes by attending the Marianne Music Academy for girls in Tokyo. Upon arriving at the school, Nanao comes across her mystery violinist who turns out to be Sagami Takenomaru, the violin prodigy and adopted son of the famous violinist, Sagami Chougo-sensei. However, Takenomaru isn't just a regular person, he's determined to complete a mission and fulfill a contract...
Note: "Naki Shoujo no Tame no Pavane" means "Pavane for a Dead Girl" and is a wordplay on the Japanese translation of a solo piano piece, written by French composer Maurice Ravel in 1899, called "Pavane pour une infante défunte" - Naki Ōjo no Tame no Pavane or Pavane for a Dead Princess.
Kenn's Comment: Well, it's Koge-Donbo* so you might as well find some tissue before reading this. She always has such tragic stories. I've only read about 4 chapters so far, but with only those, plus her past series, I'll assume that it's quite something. I think I might have read somewhere that it's slated for an anime adaption sometime in the future?
Image from here
Title: 飴色紅茶館歓談, Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan, Chatting at the Amber Teahouse
Author: Fujieda Miyabi
Genre: Shoujo-Ai, Comedy, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Ichijinsha Comic Yuri Hime
Total Volume Count: 1 (ongoing)
Summary from MangaUpdates:
Kenn's Comment: Very cute characters with a rather calm and equally cute setting and story. As I've stated in the genre, it is a Shoujo-Ai (Girl's Love), or romance between two girls. If you can't take that, then I suggest you probably won't like this (although it's not lesbian porn mind you).Set at a shop called The Amber Teahouse, this is a very heartwarming story that focuses on Seriho, the proprietor of the teahouse, and Sarasa, the high school student who works there part-time. It'll set your heart aflutter!
Image by Mina m
I know that saying 'happy holidays' is usually for Christmas, but saying 'Happy Chinese New Years and Valentines day' is simply too long. Anyways, photo heavy post ahead.
In Vietnamese, we say "chúc mừng năm mới!" to others. It means 'Hapy New Year', quite literally. At our house, we celebrate the lunar new year in a rather unique way. It's a mix of the Chinese and Vietnamese customs, so we might have characteristics of the two traditions. We don't usually say it at home, but 农历新年 is 'Gong Hay Fat Choy'.
Here's a platter of fruits. I've got photos of each fruit.
This is Rambutan (chôm chôm). They're quite sweet, though their seed is a bit woody. The fruit's shell looks kind of funny too. Put three in the photo because two might have a bit of phallic imagery.
Sapodilla, or xa-pô-chê. The seeds of these are killers. They've got a hook-like thing on them that'll catch in your throat if you swallow them. The fruit has an interesting taste though. Tastes kind of like a malt. If you eat one that's not ripe though, it'll not only taste bad, but it'll dry your mouth out. Figured this out through personal experiences.
This interesting looking fruit is a water apple. Kinda looks like a cross between a bell pepper and an apple. As their name suggests, they have a very high water concentration in them. Can't remember how they taste though.
There are lots of names for this one. Sugar Apple, Sweetsop, and mãng cầu ta in Vietnamese. Interesting fruit, and super, super sweet. Eating too many of these might leave you in a sugar coma. It's skin comes off in pieces, revealing a pasty white flesh chock full of seeds.
I only know this by the name of Soursop. It's mãng cầu Xiêm in Vietnamese. Like it's name suggests, this one is pretty sour. Like the sweetsop, it's got tonnes of seeds in it. It's quite soft too.
Now, on to Valentines day, or what I'll refer to as 'Singles Awareness Day'. You can see why:
The photos will look better if you enlarge them. Had to use a different camera because my camera's batteries died twice in the process.
Well, this one isn't exactly a Vocaloid song. Discotheque by Mizuki Nana. Covered by Luka and Arata-P. Luka because she looks the most like Moka. ^^; Pink hair, large bust. She's almost the same.
Two songs this week. Discotheque isn't one of them.
太陽と月のロンド
A really nice song by Polyphonic Branch. Art by BUZZ and PV by Mieno-hito. Sung by Luka and Miku.
Meteor 36.0
I'm not actually too sure about the title of this. Either it's spelt like that on the video, or the PV has a typo. Song by Lamaze-P. Sung by Yuki.
I believe. Go Canada!
That picture is probably at Capilano Suspension bridge. Afraid to go across it despite it being in relatively close proximity to my school. Heights and Kenn don't mix.
Well, the games are now under way with quite the opening ceremony, despite that mechanical failure.
The floor was awesome. My favourite part of the ceremonies would have to be when they had the orcas (killer whales) swimming. That was absolutely logic defying. Nice to see all the Aboriginal people represented. Especially because it's here in B.C., home to some of the awesome-est of the Aboriginal people. ^^; What other people could hunt whales in canoes?
Here's a friend's video of the flame coming to Simon Fraser University.
Here's a friend's video of the flame coming to Simon Fraser University.
Dude, I am so Asian. Breakfast consisted of fried rice noddles slathered in Hoisin sauce and Sriracha, red tea, and some sweets.
I'm not actually sure what some of these things are. For starters, plums on the bottom, grapes at the top. As for everything else in there, I haven't the foggiest. Tasty though. Could be cyanide for all I know.
Surprise. Lunch. I actually had these noodles for every meal of my day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Another look at my workplace. I'm juggling two Criminology assingments, a group project, and a research paper. Using both computers to multitask. Not energy efficient.
I'm also working on composition. The laptop travels with me, though I'm still waiting to purchase Finale. Going to be a pain in the butt to put myself through the tutorial. Maybe I'll do it in the summer. =3=
There's a drum set over in that room. It doesn't look like one at the moment because it's pushed to the side to save space.
As much as I'd like to, I can't play the drums. I can however, clone myself.
In other news, I'm planning on ordering a horse's head mask sometime soon. Yes, a horse's head mask, and a few other masks. Not many places sell them, and they all seem to be in the UK. Maybe I'll start making YouTube videos once I get them? ;D Who knows.
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