Entries Tagged as 'J Culture'

Cosplay events, Alodia, and looking for a photo hosting site

Ok so I haven’t updated in a while…

2 weeks ago I (my girlfriend and a friend) went to SMX beside Mall of Asia for the Mangaholix Mangamania 2008. I was there just to see a glimpse of the cosplay event. I attend conventions and events like these just to take videos and photos of various cosplayers of all ages (and also as an excuse to see kawaii girls in anime outfits).

Anyhoo… Alodia (one of the Philippines top cosplayer) was there as one of the judge for the cosplay event. She was wearing a Lili outfit from the video game Tekken. I didn’t got a clear shot (photo) of here because (1) she was surrounded by *lots* of bodyguards; and (2) my video cam’s battery was empty, and so was the digital camera, all I used was my mobile phone’s camera, which unfortunately was blurred because there were so many people and I couldn’t hold it steady enough. If you are her friend in Multiply (in which I am too), you can view photos of the event and photos of her.

Last Saturday was another event I went to. It was (7th) ToyCon 2008 at SM Megamall. Another reason to go there was, yup you guessed it, a cosplay event. Alodia, was one of the shows host. She was wearing a red-witch (I forgot the name, but it is from Guilty Gear) outfit on Saturday. And on the next day, she was wearing a school girl uniform holding a katana. I was there on Saturday for the individual cosplay event, but didn’t go there on Sunday for the group cosplay.

During the final minutes of the event my video cams battery ran out *again*. Sheesh… I really have to charge the thing longer. It was a brand new Energizer rechargeable battery, but it wasn’t keeping up with the camera’s usage. At least the digital camera was up and running till the later part of the event. I have a lot of photos from the event.

I’m also planning on uploading the photos, not here, but on a dedicated photo hosting service. I haven’t decided where to place it but here are my options.

  1. Flickr (Yahoo!). One of the popular photo sharing and storing service. The downside is that, as a free user, there is a limit on the number of albums you can make.
  2. Picasa (Google). Other popular choice. The downside is that I need to download a client to upload photos.
  3. Photobucket. Another promising photo storage site that I’ve been using for years. The downside is that it doesn’t have a comment system.
  4. Multiply. A good choice as it has a user comment system, and has tons of storage and category space. The downside is that you have to be my friend to view photos. I just don’t want the whole public to view my mutiply page. The photos are ok for public viewing, just not my profile.

I still haven’t decided where to place all the photos I got from the various cosplay events I’ve attended every year. If you have a good recommendation on where I can store lots of images without sacrificing (I’m looking at you photobucket!) photo size and has a comment system in which the public can rate or comment the photos, then just leave a comment below.

If I like what you’ve suggested, then I’ll try it out and place all the photos I’ve got. If it has a video option (like Flickr) then it is much better. YouTube is blocked here in the office anyway.

Gekisou Concert featuring Hare Hare Yukai

Here is a nice video of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou Concert featuring the song (and dance) Hare Hare Yukai. They did the full 3 minute version of the song, so you can listen and watch it here. Aside from the song, the Haruhi dance was given tribute.


(YouTube)

Hirano Aya (Suzumiya Haruhi), Chihara Minori (Nagato Yuki), and Goto Yuko (Asahina Mikuru) perform and dance to the song during the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou Concert that took place on Sunday, March 18, 2007 in the Great Hall of Omiya Sonic City.

Also check out the dance in snow and the one where the cops shows up.

Bioshock in anime form

Bioshock is one of the horror-suspense games most played today. If you combine a touch of anime on the popular game, you can expect to see something like this.

Bioshock Anime
(image source from konachan.com)

The horror is out and cute, innocent looking girls are in. I also wonder what Resident Evil or Silent Hill would look like if it were portrayed as anime.
[Read more →]

Nagasawa, Masami

One student that stood out from the J-dorama, Dragon Zakura, was Mizuno Naomi played by Nagasawa Masami. I already had my fill of school dramas, but I endured watching the series because of her. She acts just like the way her character should be. However, after finishing the series, I’ve already forgotten all about her.

Nagasawa Masami
(screencaps from Proposal Daisakusen)

The second time I saw her was at the popular series, Proposal Daisakusen (Operation Love). You will first encounter her wearing a bridal dress and getting ready to get married. At first I didn’t realized it was her, not until I saw her profile at Jdorama.com. She starred for the second time with Yamashita Tomohisa on this series (both of them are also at the school drama, Dragon Zakura). Although I have to admit that she is much cuter on the ‘time-slip’ portions of the series, rather than at the present time when she is already getting married.

And now it’s time for introductions…

Nagasawa Masami

Nagasawa Masami (長澤まさみ) born on June 3, 1987 in Iwata, Shizuoka. She has performed in many famous movies and television dramas including Crying out Love, In the Center of the World, Nada Sousou, Dragon Zakura and Proposal Daisakusen. She graduated from Horikoshi High School in 2006. She is also known as “Ma-chan”. She is the daughter of Kazuaki Nagasawa, former manager of the J. League team Júbilo Iwata.

Nagasawa Masami

She won Best Actress in the 11th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix (Apr-June 07) for the series Proposal Daisakusen. In Summer 2007, Masami was ranked 9th in 2007 Most Influential People In Japan, the order is as follow: Kimura Takuya, Kitano Takeshi, Suzuki Ichiro, Matsui Hideki, Mino Monta, Akashiya Sanma, Katori Shingo, Matsuzaka Daisuke, Nagasawa Masami, Nakai Masahiro, according to magazine Flash. She is also the only female on the ranking.

More photos…
[Read more →]

Haruhi dance scatter

I know that there are a lot of Hare Hare Yukai (Haruhi dance) videos on YouTube. But I like to post the ones that are somewhat funny or different from the normal videos. Here is another video clip featuring lots of cosplayers doing the Hare Hare Yukai. Watch the girl in front and the one wearing blue, see where they run off. The clip is short because it was interrupted… by cops.

Enjoy the dance… :)


(YouTube)

If you like this one, check out the dance in snow.