Friday, 30 April 2010

Cosplay Documentary

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Okay, this is not a video pimp (at least its not out yet xD). But just thought I’d help spread the words for #WorldCosplay’s upcoming Cosplay Documentary.

Yeap, someone’s thinking of filming a Cosplay Documentary =) I hope the website has more information but alas it doesn’t have much so I can’t really say anything more. But nevertheless, its still an exciting project to support and keep a look out for =)

Words from the people themselves =)

On May 2nd, 2010, at 11am, Cosplay: The Documentary will be officially kicking off its production days!
We'll be starting in Orlando, Florida and making our way across the United States, interviewing cosplayers and visiting conventions!


Be SURE to look for us at:
Anime Next
Otakon
CTConn
AWA


and [funding providing] Anime Expo, for your chance to make it into the film!
Visit our website: [link] ! Keep checking back for updates as well! We could be coming to your city!
And be sure to check out the Support Shoppe - it's the only way we're able to fund the project, through your support!
All-in-all, it's a cause for celebration! Thank you to the powers that be for helping this first production weekend take place! Also, special thanks to Full Sail University!

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Visit their website here! I’m sure the wait for the video will be a long one but let’s all look forward to it! I’m sure it would be awesome xD

Thursday, 29 April 2010

Kinokuniya@ Liang Court Discount!

Hi peeps~!

To celebrate its 10th year of running, Kinokuniya @ Liang Court is giving 20% discount to its Kino privilege card members.

The offer starts from 29th April – 1st May! And only available at Kinokuniya @ Liang Court 

Maybe its a good time to get this. Joudouyi na~(?)

Offer only available at Kinokuniya Liang Court !

 

Liang Court Store

177 River Valley Road
#03-50 Liang Court Singapore 179036
Tel: (65) 6337-1300     Fax: (65) 6338-1278

(Opening hours: Daily - 10.30am to 9.30pm)

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

OTACOOL 2

Much thanks to Evilneo’s early birthday gift, I got myself a copy of OTACOOL2 !!

P1110608 If only KOTOBUKIYA gave every contributor a copy of the book as a token of appreciation. that would be so cool. But maaa, guess logistically that would be difficult to execute since everyone’s spread out across the globe. And if they give everyone a copy then those in the book won’t bother to buy the book themselves. *pouts*

KAR1079 high res copy

Haruhi pouts because she can’t get things her way!

Anyway, first impression of the book was “Wow, its thicker than I thought!”. Yeap, the book has over 120 pages and all in full colour on glossy paper.

P1110610 How many local Cosplayers can you spot in the back page XD?

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The content page

P1110647I was pretty surprised when I went through the book. I was expecting more of a photobook but turns out there was actually some word content.

And despite the “Worldwide Cosplayer” tag, the focus was still very much on their local cosplayers and comparing the different cosplay cultures in Japan and worldwide. P1110648

The first section was dedicated to showcasing a few outstanding Japanese cosplayers. Mostly a 2 page interview with the cosplayers and photos of their costume.

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Of course, everyone’s beloved Saya is inside too hehehee.

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I got to say, the interview with the japanese cosplayers got me a little …how do I put it… disappointed. But I guess I’ll abbreviate more in another entry.

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Kaname gets 4 pages for himself. Lols. Special treatment is special xD

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The photographs selected for the entire book was great but as expected, of too similar genres. I particularly noticed the fact that most of the photographs selected were cosplays of female characters. There was very few crossdress pictures to be seen.

And very very few male cosplayers. Did the guys not submit anything? *shrugs*

P1110624 
Haruhi approves!

And then there’s the surprising (or not) “Singapore” section. I’m amused and thankful for the special mention (for our little island). Though at the same time a little sad I don’t see photos of some of my favourite local cosplayers.

Overall, the OTACOOL2 book is a pretty nice book for people who have never tried cosplays before to get some insights and for those who are feverishly into the hobby to collect and enjoy in years to come.

Monday, 26 April 2010

Pwning Meiko

This is too funny to not share xD Real updates soon son soonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~~

Sunday, 25 April 2010

The Hitachin twins in Singapore!

Kaoru: Reiko (http://gk-reiko.deviantart.com)
Hikaru: Decadence (http://koshinaka.deviantart.com)
Haruhi: Kaika (http://elpheal.deviantart.com)
Video: Kaika

The super posh twins have decided to explore a more unique holiday destination: the tropical Singapore!
Hahaa, another random video we took last september when we had our photoshoot xD.

My reaction at the end was totally unscripted and unintentional. I'm sorry for freaking out! I didn't expect such a sudden confession from such a bishie Kaoru XD!!!

Random updates


Ahhh so sorry for the lack of updates recently. Been really busy with life and having fun doing non cosplay related stuff.


Promise to update soon!!

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

OTACOOL 2 scans!

OTACOOL 2 Official website: http://www.figure.fm/feature/en/otacool/

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Much thanks to Zeratul for sharing this link! Finally, we can all have a preview of this much talked about and drama inducing book!

Originally uploaded by Akitafuki at Flickr is the 27 pages of OTACOOL 2. Before anyone blast us for spreading piracy, let me defend ourselves a little.

Firstly, I believe visual evidences are necessary to spread passion and interest. Secondly, passion and interest are necessary to cajole and ignite interest in purchasing the book. Thirdly, I personally think Akitafuki was conscious enough to not upload high resolution photos of the book. It is at the size that is enough to drive interest but not enough to overtake the book.

Without further ado, view the slideshow here!!!

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Feeling the trills now? Buy your own copy of Otacool 2 at the online retailers below!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Hatsune Miku - Rolling Girl (COSPLAY PV TEASER) - VOCALOID

Everyone’s doing a Cosplay PV now! I blame this on readily available location, fairly economical equipments and media savvy skills!

Hahaa…oh man, I just made it sound like a bad thing. Which is not . Anyway, our dearest Cvy and Kanasaiii (fans of the duo please cheer naos) have presented us with a Cosplay PV, like finally.

Okay, not really the PV yet but a teaser. Either way, enjoy it and be marveled by the aftereffects!

The lyrics are profound, but I could relate a lot to Akiakane's interpretation. Watching it stirred all my bottled chaotic emotions.
A girl who tries, who makes mistakes, who fails, but who will never stop, losing herself in the midst, exerting her extreme limit, wounds started to surface and to the point she wanted to stop breathing. (And a guy came to save her but of course, a fairytale ending is always nice D:)
There were many effects and transitions in the original PV, if I have not watched it frame by frame, all the little nitty-gritty wonders would've been missed. The more I looked into it, more I appreciate all the hard efforts put in.
The original PV affected me mentally, and inspired me technically. So I made the first 30secs and released it as a teaser first :) But my version will not be exactly the same. - Cvy
+++
Movie made by Cvy [cvy.deviantart.com]
Photos taken by Songster [songster69.deviantart.com]
Miku: Cvy [cvy.deviantart.com]
Guy/Savior: Kanasai* [kanasaiii.deviantart.com]
Many help from Xiaobai [xiaobai.deviantart.com] and Kaika [www.youtube.com/user/elpheal]
+++
Original PV credits:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm9989443
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDxKR...
Lyrics: wowaka
composition: wowaka
arrangement: wowaka
Voice: Hatsune Miku
Illustration: akiakane
Movie: yama_ko
Font: fub-koubou
Originally produced by Genjitsutouhi-P in 14th Feb 2010

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Tcc is on Twitter!!!

 
Yooooo~~ with much encouragements, I have decided to start a twitter account for TCC!
Follow me on twitter here !

Tsundere Cafe!

We've seen and gotten used to Moe Maid Cafes that treats you like a princess or a master. but have you seen one that throws straws and serve you coffee beans? Watch below xD



Such a big pity I can't understand what they are saying T_T. Any translator?

Through out the video I was so worried that the guys would lose their patience at some point and punch the cute maid in the face haha ^^;;;.

Do you think this cafe would work in Singapore or your own country? Leave a comment and share your view XD!

Tsun tsun ne!

Friday, 16 April 2010

WCS 2010: Skip Beat Journey!

And so with procrastination and life, this entry comes unbelievably late. I really ought to have posted this before the guide to korea.
Anyway, just thought that even though we didn't win, I should still chronicle and share our wcs journey. Afterall, it is part of my life journey too =)


So gin and I only decided on the series a month or so before the competition. In fact, we only thought of joining the competition roughly around that timeline too. Gin wasn't super keen but with 'cosplaying skip beat' as a bait, i managed to lure her in. Muahaaaahahaa *kaika evil spirits loiters* After that, it wasn't until another 2 more weeks before we started our actual script details and practise.
25032010930<<-- My ultimately not used “Fuwa Sho“ Poster
The delay was due to our over imaginative ideas in the beginning. A lot of time was spent conceptualising the script and figuring out how to do the special effects without any stage ninjas. We had many big ideas for the script and we brainstormed endlessly for a solution to solve the technicalities.
For one, my initial idea was to create a 'spirit hand' , well, kyoko's famous spiritual power, and grab gin with it. We also thought of creating gravity defying spirits like how it should look. But they all had to be scrapped for obvious reasons. Sigh.

You know, sometimes its really challenging to only having 2 cosplayers in the skit. There is just so much storyline limitations!!!  And telling a story to a group of audience who probably don't know who the heck you're cosplaying is .... Just "Icing on the cake".
And seriously, choosing to cosplay Skip Beat in a competition that judges very much on your costume is suicide. Yes, we know… but we couldn’t resist the urge to cosplay a series both of us so dearly loved. And having the chance to acted out a skit AS the character was another offer we couldn’t turn down. So we choose to overlook our chances of winning and go ahead with Skip Beat. And I guess reality has showed how wrong(results) we were but… overall, I’m still really happy we did Skip beat.
Off tangent with my rants again, sorry.     


After altering the script to have lesser or no 'special effects' . The next step was voice acting and audio mixing. Gin came over to our place and recorded with my pc microphone which i then mixed together. After getting the first audio draft out, we started working on the props and acting.
We tried to paint the signboards but it didn’t work out so we just got them laser printed.

26032010933Gin’s ultimately not used “rugby ball”  (lower left)
In the skit, there was a 'stripping' scene where gin will hide under a big black thrash bag and change under it. We had spent a lot of time decorating that bag with wordings and kyoko's spirit so that when she shakes the bag, the spirit tail will sway too. Sadly, we forgot to highlight that to the stage crew and the thrash bag ended up facing the wrong direction ToT.
P111030721032010909-0012103201090827032010952-001It was a very very upsetting part in the skit.... After all, we didn't spent so much time on those props to have it hidden. But what's over is over =(

A lot of time was spent fine tuning our skit actions. We wanted to make sure we performed everything to perfection so every time we rehearse, we'd film it down and review later on.

Bruise on my knee from all the falling at 3:04. I love how Zeratul’s video angle captured the impact of the grabbing most xD


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Argh the wig >.<

Almost every gesture, every movement and every expression was scripted/planned. Like the change from 'happy' to 'angry' mode at 1.00, i specially choreographed my body to tilt at an angle and have both arms lifted up to my face area so as to enhance the dramatic-ness of the arms dropping and dangling.

imageI like how Gin did her arms and face expression at 3:04 to match her voice over. Her disgust for the “Love Me” section and Kyoko (my character) is portrayed so interestingly xD

YOU CANNOT ESCAPES!MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love Gin’s acting here XD 
3:50 has got to be one the most fun part to act out xD I truly enjoyed intimidating Gin here MUAHAHAHAH. It took us some time to figure out how we should position and move our body posture here. In the actual manga, Kyoko was supposed to rise from hugging Kanae’s calf and then caress Kanae’s face with her hand.

But obviously we couldn’t do that here because I’m 2meter away from her. So we decided to go for a ‘side tilt intimidating’ effect .
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Disgusting dance ahahhahaa . Well, I had to do something to distract the audiences while Gin changes into her uniform right XD?
_o_
\|_
   
image Can you spot Kyoko’s spirit and curses on the thrash bag T_T?
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Marionette wahahahhaa
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This still is really comical to see. Kyoko looks so freaking happy while Kanae is shocked outta her mind xD
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Lalalala ~~ *prances around the summer field*
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Marionette 2. GUAGUAGUA XD
We found it hard to synchronise both our actions at this section. So we decided to let Kyoko take the lead and turn Kanae while Gin (kanae) will just allow herself to be turned around :D
Argh stupid wig and pouch kept running around =_=
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We wanted to highlight Kanae’s OTLness so we designed for Kanae to lean over to the sides to look like she’s dying/fainting/spirit coming out from her body.
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Blah! I had too much fun screencapping. Sorry for flooding you guys with our fugly and caught-in-action pictures. I just HAD to caption and share them xD.
Apologies for being off topic and going on non stop about the little details. Hope you guys enjoyed this entry nevertheless. Leave me a comment and share your thoughts ne ^_^?
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NE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wednesday, 14 April 2010

MYNT, Singapore’s first Anime girl group?

Okay, I have something not exactly cosplay related but still interesting nonetheless to share.  Introducing Singapore’s first Anime Girl group; MYNT (Miyake, Yoshimi and Tomomi).

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Okay, maybe they’re not supposed to be anime group. But in my opinion they are pretty close =P Especially with their cosplaying and “Meido” background. Plus the fact that they are produced by Sozo who well, does events like AFA.

The group is made up of a trio of cute and young japanese looking babes (but totally made in Singapore hokays!)  From my understanding, all 3 of them were part of the Moe Moe Kyun maids during AFA2009.

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I’ve heard about them talking about the group in their previous blog posts and etc but nothing beats having an official website to announce the official news(pun intended).

With such cute looking faces and overwhelming moe-ness oozing out of them, things sure look bright and sunny for them. The only thing they have to do now, is wow us away with their talents.

When a friend first pimped their website to me, he/she appeared very unimpressed. To which I asked, “ You don’t like them?”. And his/her answer was fabulously simple but totally relatable. He/She said “I don’t have any reasons to”

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Haha, obviously words spoken with an intelligent mind and eloquence. I’m so not going to debate with a mind like that. Plus I’m sure this friend of mine is not alone in his/her opinion. Seems like MYNT will have a tough job of proving themselves. 

Ah, don’t take me wrong, I’m not against them. In fact, I’m somewhat rooting for them because I see the group as an amazing by-product of the prospering Cosplay and Anime community. Their existence is a concrete prove of the consumer power and liveliness of the local community. Well, I guess they also have their management company to thank too.

So yeah, I look forward to their PV and look forward to being wowed(hopefully?). Because ultimately, its still talent and entertainment that will win the hearts and loyalty of people.

Anyway, I found some performance video of them during AFA. Check them out and have a preview of these girl’s abilities!

 

Visit MYNT’s homepage here. And read Ani-Culture’s article of them here!