S'pore Toy & Comic Con 2008

As usual, it was friggin' crowded. It amazes me that despite getting nice large venues, the crowds still overflow every single bloody time. It still irks me time and again that everytime I tried to take a photo, someone nudges/bumps into/blocks me. GRRRRRR.

Anyway, I did manage to take some pretty clear shots of some of the cosplayers there. Yeah, yeah. Missed a whole lot more as usual.

~The Cosplayers~
The ratio of cosplayers to crowd was even smaller than usual. At first that is. I think I missed out on alot of them because of the crowds. All photos were taken by me.

Cloud in a dress was sheer ROFL. I think it was fan-spawned as with all crack ideas.

I think. I hope actually. Coz I can't imagine the Final Fantasy franchise entertaining fangirls by putting Crossdressing Cloud in the game.

The Soi Fong cosplayer was PERFECT. She had that tough look which practically emanated this meanness. It sorta made me a bit hesitant to ask for a photo initially (What if she was TOO MUCH in character?). But when I did, she just nodded mutely and struck a pose even though I might have interrupted her break time.

The pirate, btw, was actually hired by a shop to promote something. He was giving out pamphlets at one point.

~The Competition~

The cosplayers were actually spontaneous and IN CHARACTER. I think the best was Hatsune Miku, she was so genki that she bordered on annoying. I'm not sure if a VOCALOID was suppose to even have a personality to begin with, but if you want judge by looks alone....Then I guess it fits. Typical Japanese Girl character, you see.

Then the guy with the massive wing (from a game, which I don't know) had all but threatened the audience into voting for him. LOL.
Hmm...What else...The afro dude was totally hip! And Kakashi (in spite of a lack of spikes in his hairstyle) remained so Kakashi-like even when the limelight is not on him. He read porn on stage while waiting for the other contestants.

I can't remember everyone, but the one-winged cosplayer was one of the winners. Shows that threats worked pretty well, eh? XD

~The Dolfies~

The dolfies on display had a more Western look, considering their facial features and all. While it's nice to see dolfies with another type of appearence, I still prefer the Asian-looking dolfies. They look more refined somehow.
One example is the very first picture of the black-haired dolfie. His owner had very kindly permitted me a picture. The rest of the dolfies were on display at some booths.

The LEGO Patriotism

It was probably some competition on showing iconic Singapore in the form of LEGO. I was quite impressed considering that many of these works were pretty intricate (buildings and more buildings). But I preferred the orang utan one [1st one in the slideshow]. Guess which Singapore icon it represents? Ah Meng

My favourite LEGO art was this though. It was not a part of the above collection, which was a pity since they just left it sitting in a miscellaneous display shelf of Star Wars merchandise. I just found it kinda cute. It's YODA! (how could anyone not like YODA)



They had this massive graffiti wall out front of the entrances. The graffiti style...Hmm...Psychedelic?

It reminds me of the Beatles. A lot.

This are all the miscellanous random photos I took.

They had famous designers and cartoonists as guests. The range is pretty large, I have to say. The guest cartoonists included people like the Lao Fu Zi creator to modern ones like the creator of Tokidoki. This is a sample of Tokidoki art btw.


Damn cool siah.

What I liked was how down-to-earth the cartoonists were. I mean, they mingled amongst the crowds, signed autographs and did impromptu demostrations. It was cool, their lack-of-airs.

Besides that, there were THOUSANDS of figurines on display. From Star Wars to the Simpsons, it's...Whoa. I wished I spent more time snapping photos of them. It was simply exquiste!

Hopefully the next Singapore Toy & Comic Con would be more organized. And I want to see more cartoonists. And this time, do some research about time beforehand so I can get in onto the fuss. They're cool people who creates cool designs. It'll be a shame not to see them up close. Then they had veternans of the Animation industry give talks as well, but the ignorant me ended up dismissing that in favour of the cosplayeres. T_T

Ja nei for now!

S'pore StreetFest 2008 - D'J Party 2008

(This is my scrappy Streetfest booklet which got trodden on by accident, hence the shoeprint at the corner)

I arrived there late (as usual) and so, missed out on quite a number of bands.
And then I was running around taking photos and ended up missing a couple more bands. But thus far, these are the ones I've paid attention to.

It wasn't such a good idea to hold a cosplay/music event in such a small area of Suntec City (Where the CONVENTION HALLS could be used instead). To make things worse, the D'J Party clashed with some Canon promotion event. Which resulted in a lose-lose situation for both D'J Party peeps and Canon. The latter gets pissed off by the photography of cosplayers (takes up space) and the rest of us are peeved by them stopping random people to hawk their wares (takes up space). As you can see, this is the crowd AFTER the cosplay competition.
Despite a large no. of people leaving after the cosplay competition, the place was still considerably crowded.


Quis
Quis is relatively new on the scene (3 months old!). Did you know the vocalist was a former child actor? He played the character "Luo Tou" in the 1990s' mandarin drama "Tou Fu Street". In addition to that, he was a finalist in the first generation of Campus Superstar. I was kinda surprised to see him performing in a J-rock band because of all the Mandarin-related work he did.

Anyway, the videos don't do the band justice (Youtube never does). They were certainly much, much better live.

ALONES [by Aqua Timez] (Bleach)


The first cover of ALONES I've heard. These guys are pretty updated loh. At that time, ALONES was the latest Bleach opening theme.

Driver's High [by L'Arc~en~Ciel] (GTO)



Skyler

The vocalist had this uber-strong voice which is easily identified too. However, they seem to have a knack for choosing songs by artists with uniquely different voices (hard to emulate). It's great that they are challenging themselves to cover this kind of songs but they don't always work out though.

Jam [by YUI]


I like Skyler's cover of this. The vocalist's voice doesn't take your attention away from the music (which is actually pleasantly laid-back in a way) but manages to stand out anyhow. =)
YUI has this high-pitched, whiny-ish voice which sets her apart from other J-Pop songstresses, but it tends to grate on my nerves sometimes (That's just me though).

Marunouchi Sadistic [by Tokyo Jihen]


Ooh, I like the flute (Is that a flute?) solo at 2.43. And also the scat thingy she does before that. While it's a little faster than normal, I think it turned quite nicely.
Shiina Ringo (original vocalist) has one of those love-em-or-hate-em voices (with the occasional screeching and all). Just to note.


God Knows...[by Aya Hirano] (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)


I think this is a pretty decent cover (I've seen worse ones out there). Though it's kinda clear that the vocalist is quite tense. I'm not used to hearing this song being sung in a lower pitch(?). Aya Hirano has the typical Anime girl voice (a.k.a. High-pitched, squeaky-ish & annoying after prolonged exposure) and she did this song with much aplomb. So "God Knows..." is arguably a difficult song to cover. Kudos to Skyler for trying though.

Weekend [by X Japan]


This very performance led me to discover one of my all-time fave J-Rock songs. I'm partial to this cover since I saw it before the original. But once I got to know about X Japan's one, this cover version was quickly forgotten even though it is the only FEMALE cover version I've seen so far. Because once again, Skyler chose a song which is so closely tied to its original artists that anything else would pale in comparision.

X Japan is practically legendary and their vocalist Toshi had one of the more unique voices in the history of J-Rock. Attempting their songs is a whole new class of "difficult" regardless of whether you're keeping to the original style as much as possible or trying to imbue it with your own style.

Still, I like this cover enough. It's definately one of the better ones.



Crossover! - Tao Ren (Shaman King) + Sakura & Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura)


Although there were many Gothic characters around that day, this lady here caught my attention. She really stood out with her wild white tresses (complete with mask) and slender profile. For some reason she reminded me of Death from the Sandman comics. It's not the physical appearences, but the...mysterious charm they both possess.


Now this is one classy Gothic Lolita. Or should I even classify her as a lolita? She seems so much more mature than the others. The masquerade-like mask added a really nice touch to her poise.


Suzumiya Haruhi (Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi) CHIO!


Lavi (D. Gray Man)


Near (Death Note)

This young cosplayer was unfortunate enough to be the target of a teenage stalker. >_< I'm not kidding here..>_<...Fortunately, said teenage stalker didn't put him off cosplay permanently.


Reborn (Katekyo Hitman Reborn). This guy was with the KHR jumpsuit team. He's perched on Adult!Lambo's head (as seen by the turf of hair there).

Watching the team have fun makes me want to cosplay myself.
I took this short vid while they were posing


This duo from Bleach was spontaneous enough to pose for a crack picture. In an AU (Alternate Universe) situation where Yamada Hanatarou could stop Ichigo's Bankai with one finger (Like Aizen XD).

Some kind people put these lovely dolfies on display. I particularly liked the one with pink hair. He It had this detailed tattoo of the kanji word for love.


The Competitors


Crossover! - Katekyo Hitman Reborn jumpsuit team + Ryuk [Death Note]

Ryuk was the highlight of the cosplayers. With that massive wingspan forcing everyone to clear the way and platform boots to augument his height....Wow.

Everyone was swarming around him, trying to get a shot in. Needless to say, he won the cosplay competition.


The Organizers' Band [XCCJJJ]
At the end of the event, the organizers sprung a little surprise on us by forming a band of themselves and some guests from other bands. They were more professional than the others in the sense that you don't really detect any nervousness from them. Not to mention their music was a lot heavier.

Dogfight [by M.O.V.E]


Dramatic opening ;-)

I was totally confused with the next two performances. The MC said it was the same song but apparently one was done by 8-Ball feat. M.O.V.E while the other is M.O.V.E version. Which is what, I'm not sure.


Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E feat. 8-ball]


Speedmaster [by M.O.V.E] ??

This is the faster version. Speedmaster sped up.


There were many other cosplayers and gothic/punk/VK dressers. I shan't put up all the photos though. Photobucket is killing me. Btw, the pics were all taken by me =)

As for complaints...Hmm.

There was this band which SPOKE & SUNG in mandarin despite the event being all about J-Culture (Maybe they were at the wrong event...?). I don't know which was it but I was kinda put out by that. This is freakin' Singapore man. Speak Singlish English.

The sound system was whacked. Some instruments drowned out others and woe betide those who lingered near the speakers. The volume would suddenly increase and from time to time, a high-pitched squeal-screech could be heard whenever tuning or whatever took place.

The location really sucked (as mentioned before). Just crossing the stage area alone involved a hell lotta elbowing and shimmying between sweaty (Yes, even with air-con!) bodies. While I did my fair share of elbowing, it was thoroughly unpleasant. To the point that some of us left the comforts of the air-con for the sweltering outdoors.
With the &*@#$% smokers. >_<

At some point, more than half the cosplayers started to hang around outside, which effectively made it no less different from the indoors. There was photography everywhere, meaning you had to watch where you step lest you invoke the rage of the photog mob for blocking them. And some cosplayers decided to just plonk down near the entrance for their break (I don't blame them. T-shirt & pants were already enough to cook me, much less their costumes). Which then sparked off an Angry!Security Guard who started blasting people with a loudspeaker. ARRGH.

But I really look forward to the next Streetfest though. The bands were good, the cosplayers plenty. Hopefully, the location for the D'J Party would be larger. Read: CONVENTION HALL or YOUTH SCAPE PARK

On the sides, I got to visit Otaku House for the first time ever. The size of the store was disappointing =(

D.Gray Man Crack - Channel Surf Series

....Alright. It appears I fail at keeping schedules. It's been more than three weeks since Rotation #1. And I have no motivation to put up a 2ND one. Well....I shan't make any more promises then.

AS AND WHEN I LIKE, I SHALL PUT UP ANY RANDOM RECOMMENDATIONS THAT CATCHES MY FANCY.

Now, Youtube Recs. I spent a good amount of my time chancing upon videos there. Yes, chancing upon them. And my obsession then changes every other time (Meaning I can't infect share the addiction videos within that period of impulsive craze.

First up, D.GrayMan Crack!

Crack is basically a sub-genre of fandom in which lame references, nonsensical happening and character-mocking takes place. It is not meant to be taken seriously since it consists of parodies (Read you goddamn "Purists": PARODY).

Nevertheless, Crack continues to survive in every Anime. After all, we all need a good laugh (senseless or not) every now and then.
A word of warning though; Crack might lead to brain-breaking and a whole new (Not neccessarily awe-inspiring) perspective on your fave Anime Idol. But so ahead anyway.

The very first D.GrayMan Crack videos were of the Channel Surf series.
Created by Clefiea, it basically subs in the voices of random TV shows on random channels into the mini clips. I don't know if Clefiea herself actually channel-surfed to get all this, but either way, the series is a masterpiece. I reccomend Channel Surf 3 for its WTF moments!

Channel Surf #1

Tyki's name is horribly abused here. The steep cliff on which The Black Order HQ stands has been transformed into a pedophile's candy trap for kids. Allen & Lavi aren't wearing pants. 'Nuff said.

Channel Surf #2

One of the Fangirl triggers is at 2.53 (Priceless!). This is where Daisysa thinks he's a woman, Kanda finally decides to show off his hotness and Allen spends 25s cursing his Master nonstop.

Channel Surf #3

Komui had me riveted from the first line uttered. But my fave was this: "Ladies do not start fights but they can finish them"
This has the most WTF moments with someone channeling Chewbacca and one of those irritating songs which gets stuck in your head (The more you hate it, the longer it stays). Here's the link: Annoyance Level 2

There are others as well, but I'm not going to put it up here. Feel free to explore though. Perhaps you may find something in them to laugh about.

† D.Gray-Man: the abridged series Episode 1 †
† D.Gray-Man: The abridged series Episode 2 †
Simply put, this guy makes dry sarcastic comments on the episodes from the view point of someone who doesn't seem to think much of Anime. I don't quite like it, but some people find it hiliarious.
Exorcists of the Caribbean: Curse of the Innocence This would have been better if subbed video clips weren't used. D.GrayMan Crossover trailers are kinda rare...
So check out D.Gray Man Crack and feel free to post any links I missed out.




Oh, just one last thing: Today's Sunset.

And The Full Moon Before Nightfall

Close Up