CookieDude 2332's Blog

Angel Beats!

2010-06-26T09:55:00.006+01:00

So I just finished a series called Angel Beats!
Here's the Plot summary (Sourced from Wikipedia):

Angel Beats! takes place at a high school acting as a Purgatory, where students learn to give up any lingering attachments they still have from life before continuing to an afterlife or reincarnation. While the injury or cause of death are gone, those in the afterlife school can still feel pain or other things as they did when they were alive, as well as dying again, only to awaken with no injures several minutes later. The story follows the main protagonist Otonashi, a boy who lost his memories of his life after dying. Upon awakening in the afterlife, he meets a girl named Yuri who invites him to join the Shinda Sekai Sensen (SSS) (死んだ世界戦線, lit. Afterlife War Front), an organization she founded and leads which fights against God for the cruel fates the SSS members experienced in life. Their only enemy in the world is the school's student council president Angel, a being with supernatural powers who fights against the SSS. Yuri believes that anyone who follows Angel's orders and behaves like a normal student at the school will eventually disappear and pass on to Heaven. However, those who fulfill their dreams in the afterlife will pass on as well.

My Views on the Series:

I found this series had a big impact, story wise. I'm usually attracted to animes that are easy to watch and are more comedy than story. But as I got further into Angel Beats, I found myself attached to this series, its characters and story.
I also found that this series had many areas that were fairly depressing when you found out about the characters story before they were at the school. This was one of the key areas that I thought made the series differ from others.
The production qualities of this series were amazing. The animation is smooth and clear with beautiful artwork. As well as this, Key (the production company) also made some great music in the series that complemented the artwork perfectly during the Concert scenes.
The only down side was the length of the series. Many characters that were introduced, but were never expanded and we weren't shown their stories. But i can argue that i don't believe that the series would have had such an impact on myself if it had been 24-26 episodes long. I believe that some stories are better left unanswered.
Overall, Key created a tearjerker series that had great artwork, great music and a fantastic story.

My final words:

I recommend this series to anyone who wants a strong story based series with parts of comedy and great music.

Thanks For Reading!

London MCM DC.com/Figure.fm Meetup!

2010-06-01T11:24:00.010+01:00

The Figure.Fm Crew!

So the London MCM expo has come and gone too quickly!

Had a great time with everyone and would like to thank all those who attended the event.

Due to miss communication and weather, some people were unable to find or meet us but lets make sure we can meet in October! ^^

Special thanks to:

@CloudIncarnate,

@ddotark

@mshaw_uk

@AMGitsKriss

@Hammy

@PockyKai

@GabrielIVH

for making this year especially good! Haven't had quite as much fun as i have this year at MCM and I'd like to thank everyone for this.

Here are the photos!

Clearly some photos have gone Backwards!

The Main Hall itself on Sunday.

GabrielIVH and his Lovley Daughter! ^^

Sundays Figure.Fm Meet was smaller but we still had a Daughter and some smaller figures there!

Misao lookin all cute! (My newly aquired figma!)

Pyramid walkin about.

mshaw_uk and I spent pretty much most of Sunday dominating the Blur stand. It even convinced him enough to get it the same day. I also bought it the day before. :P

ddotark, AMGitsKriss and mshaw_uk sittin there chattin about how much Daughters cost. (£600!!!)

This is compensation for mshaw_uk being cut outta the main photo. :P

Here's my Organisers pass.

More of the Lovely Daughters. (Really tempted to get one myself!)

The whole collection of Figure.fm users Daughters and Figures.

The long ass Queue on Saturday morning at about 8:20AM.

The original group I came in with. :P Sorta lost them half way through the day. Thanks to them for their contribution to an awesome day. ;)

Sunday morning. Pretty much empty. Got there pretty late cos I was tired and I also accidentally went to London City Airport. XD

Thanks for reading.

The Past Year

2010-05-25T21:31:00.001+01:00

I am somehow reflecting on how this past year has changed so drastically. I remember this time last year, I was actually grindin in revision cos i though 6th form was the only way to go. But now I look back on this, I feel quite naive to have actual thought this. I thought that there would be no where for me to go in today's ever growing civilisation without the studies and grades. Which is why I thought that 6th form was the only way for me to go. But due to my grades, I inevitably failed my attempt to get to 6th form and was in the of depth depression for that week following the results. I didn't eat, sleep or really do anything that week because I felt that my dream to work in Japan in a profession I'm good at had all but shattered in my head. Until my brother suggested I go to college. I didn't think about college but that is where the real change began. I met new faces, places and actually studied something I was pasionate about. Computing. The one thing I'm fairly good at.
Today, I am top of my class doin a B-TEC Software development course at Hertford Regional College.

This, is where I feel my dream can continue on strong and I get finally achieve that dream of workin with computers in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Thanks for Reading.

- Posted via iPhone.

Otacool 3!!!

2010-05-02T15:24:00.003+01:00

So the first Otacool was Otaku bedrooms. I got a mention in the last few pages and i didn't want to enter for Otacool 2 which was Cosplay.
This year though is Otaku Workspaces and I have already posted my entry on Figure.fm.
Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/2vp9k9w

I intend on getting on either the cover or a double page spread as i was fairly dissapointed when i got just a mention in Otacool 1.
I'm goin for gold!!!!

Thanks for reading. ^^

Danny Choo at SOAS!!! 13/4/2010

2010-04-15T11:24:00.005+01:00

I recently went to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) to see Danny Choo talk about "Creative Industries in Japan."
The talk consisted of how Danny got to where he is today which then followed about what he plans to do the future. These include DCTV and Chinka. Now he progressed further into the talk about how anyone gets to Japan. Now i found this area particularly important as I too have that dream to one day live and work in Japan. The one place that has made me into the person i am today just by influence of Anime, Manga and other Otaku related goods.

He finally ended by talking about what anyone would need to get themselves to the land of the rising sun. These included knowing the culture, mastering the language, building a complimentary skill set and finally, staying passionate and focused. This is something that i plan on doing.
After that, we had a networking session that included talking to "light minded people" which was quite good as those who brought their Daughters and other girls then got to display them. Rin of course was with me that day.

Nearing the end of that night, i finally got my chance to speak to Danny and i got some well needed advice which i am extremely grateful for.

Thanks for reading.

Gadget Show Live

2010-04-14T13:09:00.006+01:00

So,
part of my course is about knowing about today's current software and hardware. So there is no better way to find new gear but to go to a very nerdy convention. And that's when we got an offer from the college to go to the Gadget Show Live event.

For those who don't live in Briton, Gadget show is a fairly large tv program that airs on Channel Five on Monday nights. It pretty much does what it says on the can. The show is about gadgets but the show is really popular over here as it usually shows all the newest gadgets and other gadgets that you wouldn't have otherwise really been interested in until they show you how it works. The show has 4 presenters and every week, they always have some form of challenge that requires them to use a certain type of gadget.

The event i went to was only a preview event as the main days were filled very quickly so i got to go on the preview day instead.
The day began with me lugging around my backpack and my camera bag to college which were quite heavy due to lunch and my camera. This was then followed by a 2 hour bus ride to Birmingham which i then spent playing DJ Max Clazziquai as usual.
As we arrived, it became extremely clear that the place was a very large exhibition center but i couldn't really tell if it was larger than excel.

As the day progressed, i saw many new bits of kit, tried out the new NVidia 3D system and also got to play the almost complete Split/Second.
However, the best part of the day was the Nikon photography masterclass that i attended. I learnt how angle shifting photos are taken. They used 30 Nikon D700 Pro range DLSR cameras. Photos of a model were taken in Sequence with 0.15 seconds between camera shots. This allows for a panning shot of the object.
This i feel was the highlight of the day and the rest of the day was pretty good too.

Thanks of reading.

K-ON!!

2010-04-07T09:42:00.004+01:00

Hey guys,
For those who don't already know, i'm a big fan of anime and recently, the new season of my favourite anime of all time has just started.
Heres an overview of the series.
K-ON! is a slice of life, music, comedy series which revolves around a club called Keion! (or けいおん! which directly translates to Light Music Club) and its 4-5 members. All the characters have their funny points and cute points (as most animes do) and I find this particular series to have the MOE-factor over almost ever other series.
The main characters include,
Hirasawa Yui - The clumsey, happy go lucky, easy going character who is extreamly childish.
Tainaka Ritsu - The ambigous yet upbeat character in the group who is also the self-proclaimed president of the club.
Akiyama Mio - The rather adult character of the group who is at times rather embarrassed easily and can be quiet an easily frightened person.
Kotobuki Tsumugi - The easy going, rather childish person of the group. She is the rich girl of the group but it is never clear that she acts like one even through polite exterior.
Nakano Azusa (Azu-nyan) - My favourite character of the group, Azusa is the extremly cute final member of the first season and is known best for being dressed up by the rest of the group as a cat and is the most popular character of the group.

Well, thats a breif overview of K-ON!'s main characters.
I'm off.
Check K-ON! out if you haven't already done so.

Ja Mattane~!

MacBook Pro 15"

2010-04-06T12:16:00.004+01:00

So, Due to the recent release of the iPad, I have been checking out Apple MacBook Pros as i feel that the performance of my laptop is really out dated for the things i want to do. I've been reading up on the 15" 2.8GHz model and i find it to be perfect for what i'm looking for as i'm looking for a decent MacBook that will last me through my University years however, I don't know what i'm doing for University yet so i'm still deciding on what to get. Ever since my older brother got a MacBook Pro (13"), i found it to be really accessible for any user and also found it to be a much lighter that my current 17" Dell Precision. I find that if i had a lighter laptop, it would be with me everywhere. So i'm currently stumped on what to get but a MacBook Pro is at the top of my list at the moment. Which should i BUY!?

Cookie's Games from Everywhere

2010-02-23T17:34:00.005Z

Ok. So i decieded to make a new series called Cookie's Games from Everywhere! cos i thought that it would be pretty cool to go to loads of different places looking for games regardless of Arcade or home consoles.
When i was much younger (back in Malaysia), i used to go to arcades straight after school with my older sister. Many places back in Penang like One Stop were my favourite places due to the Cyber Cafes and Initial D machines. So in the recent decade, Arcades have gone from super popular to almost extinct due to recent console boom and as a result, arcades are almost dead in England. But due to the lack of arcades, there are still 2 or 3 good ones in the country and London's Trocodaro is no exception.
So i paid a visit to Trocodaro with CloudIncarnate due to the Chinese New Year Celebrations and also i found out of a new DJ Max game that was just recently brought there. Now for all those who are unfamiliar, DJ Max is an extremly fun music game developed in Korea by a company called Pentavision Entertainment. The aim of the games was quite simple. It was just to hit the notes as the music passes but due to songs and their backgrounds, thousands of people got addicted to it. I started following this series since Portable 2 and have really enjoyed every single installment since.

Heres a Link to the Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJMAX

Heres a link to one of the Songs in DJ Max Portable Clazziquai: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVmM75Dv5s

So back to the game. DJ Max Technika was made in 2008 but was never really brought over to the UK till 2009 when they brought out the English version. So i had a quick go and i though to myself that this could possibly be the best DJ Max game ever due to touch sensitive screen. For those who have followed DJ Max, Technika has many great tunes from all of the games but has my favourite tunes from both Portable 2 (Lady Made Star & Miles) and Clazziquai (Melody, Clear Blue Sky & I Want You). The game also allows for those who are in the Platinum Crew (you know who you are! :P) to access extra songs and also access online challenges. For those who do not know, Platinum crew is the official IC cards that you can use to store your stats and details of your DJ on Technika and allows for exclusive access to some songs. These cards were sent out in many Limited Edition ver. of the other games like Black Box, Clazziquai and Fever.
Its a shame that games like this will soon stop being made as arcades are all but dead in many countries around the world. But games like this, do bring a lot of hope for those countries who are just able to keep arcades for the next few generations. I feel that arcades have really change the way many of us today play games but its a shame that arcades are goin down and the next few generations won't ever know that places like this were what influenced their parents when they were younger. I like to think that i wouldn't be as influenced in games as i am now if i hadn't had arcades back when i was younger.

Thanks for reading and check back soon for more Cookie's Games from Everywhere!

First post!

2010-02-15T00:23:00.001Z

Here's the start of my new Blog! Just to let you know, my blog would consist of loads of things ranging anything from game and figure reviews, all the way up to full on trips to expos or different countries.
Keep checking back for more Otaku goodness!