Thursday, 29 November 2012

VOCALOID Fan Artbook & Badge giveaway

FINALLY back with another Giveaway! I seriously need to work faster on these, the pile of stuffs I stored up for you guys is getting too much to keep xD



This time I’m giving away a VOCALOID Fan Art book and some Vocaloid badges! I bought them from the Macau Comic Festival (do you guys want me blog about the event?) when I was in Macau in September. It was a sponsored trip by OMY.SG and the Macau Tourist Office , read about my trip here!

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STEP 1) To win the merchandise, do either of the below …
* Every single Like/follow/subscribe is counted as one individual entry!
STEP 2) Then come back here to post a comment with either a direct link to show that you are following me, or tell your username so I can search for you =)
Alternatively, you can submit a screen cap.
* Please make sure to leave one comment for each entry otherwise I will count it as just one entry =)* Please make sure to leave either a working email or a blog/fb link for me to contact you if you win


Deadline for this giveaway is 16th Dec 2012! I’ll sponsor up to SGD5 shipping fee but if shipping exceeds that, you'll have to top up the difference ^_^. So yessss, follow TCC on as many SN sites as you can and increase your chance of winning! Good Luck!!!!





Thursday, 22 November 2012

Movable Cat ears; Necomimi !

Personally I've never been one to have a fetish for car ears and friends would know I like dogs more. Well, except Nyanko sensei xD

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But like most of you, my eyes lit up when I saw Necomimi.

Necomimi is a product of Neurosky.  It utilises brain wave sensor technology to allow the wearer to express themselves with the neko ears, hands free! Just feel and the ears will react to your emotion xD

“Have you ever wanted to confidently express yourself without talking? Now you can show the world what’s really on your mind without saying a word!

Be the center of attention everywhere you go! People can’t help but watch in fascination as your Necomimi ears move in real-time according to your state of mind.

Do you want to know if your friends are paying attention to you? Let them wear your Necomimi and see for yourself! “
Pretty cool isn't it xD ? 
As far as I know, official sale of this product online is only available in Japan, Canada, Europe, Australia and the United States (Please correct me if I’m wrong!). So for South East Asia fans of Japanese pop culture, here's some good news!  We now have an authorised online dealer to bring this geek product to us !

 

Nekojin is a Singapore based company that focus on providing high tech niche gadgets related to Cosplay and for the general consumers. Nekojin is an authorised dealer of Neurosky/Necomimi and will continue to provide the future series of Neurowear products such as the "Shippo Tail"! 

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Each Necomimi by itself is priced at $115 (+ 7% GST).
To celebrate their opening, Nekojin is launching a promotion for the sale of the ears!
 
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Instead of the usual price of $185 (+Shipping charges if outside Singapore) , Nekojin is selling the above bundle at $150 ! That means you save $35 =)

Click here to view all the price.

The price above are only for Singapore based customer. If you’re from Malaysia/ Brunei/ Hong Kong/ Philippines/ Thailand/ Indonesia/ Taiwan then pop over to their S.E.A Pre-Order page.
 
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Easy to Use, Cutting-Edge Technology
• Be one of the first to communicate with brainwaves!
• Research-Grade Technology trusted by over 400 universities.
• Totally safe! Only two light-touch sensors on your forehead and ear.

Details
  • 4 AAA batteries (included by Nekojin)
  • For Ages 14+
  • Weight: 10 oz.
  • Conceived in Tokyo Japan
  • Designed in Silicon Valle
If you order before the pre-order batch runs out, you can even receive it by 26th November 2012! Hurry though, the last I heard there’s only 20 sets left >.<

This pair of awesome gadget will thrill any Japanese Pop Culture fan and proud Geek! So if you have a Cosplayer/ Anime Fan/ Geek friend around you, you know what Christmas present to get them xD!

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Personally I’d like a black one so I can use with my Zakuro cosplay XD Christmas gift anyone =3?

 Pop over to Nekojin to read more details!


Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Interview with Itou Noizi @ STGCC 2012

As some of you might know from reading my STGCC Day 1 report, I had the great chance to interview the character Designer of popular hit Anime “Shakugan no Shana” and “The melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. Yes, I interviewed Itou Noizi when she was in town for the Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention!

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I even dressed up as Shana to interview her. But unfortunately, she had a “No-Photo” policy so I couldn’t get a picture with her =(

Continue reading for the interview…

 
Q: You have mentioned in other interviews that being a high school girl is probably the best time in a girl's life. Can you talk more about that?

Yeah, I agree that high school which is 16, 17 18 years old is one of the best times I had. It's very fun and there's so much things to do. Whenever I draw characters with school uniform, I really enjoy it and I think its a fun thing to do. It makes me feel happy. 

Q: Would that influence her art? Like maybe the character doesn't necessarily have to wear school uniform but her character design will still incorporate some sort of sailor fuku design. 

Even though I do enjoy drawing school uniform but usually I will follow what the client prefers me to draw. Of course if the story doesn't have any school theme then I wouldn’t draw them. But if it's something related to school then I'll immediately draw something related to school uniforms haha.

Q: You are famous for your Shana and Suzumiya Haruhi and it just happens that both the protagonist are girls. What do you have to say about drawing the boy characters ?

I haven’t had much chance to draw main character that are boys. Whenever the girl is the lead, I'll make sure the boys are .. kinda not too strong in character almost ?

Like Kyon in “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi” , he doesn't have a strong impact. He’s not a character that you will have a strong impression of unlike Haruhi.

Currently I’m working on a game where the main character is actually a guy. So I’m trying to design more characteristic and special for this character. It's something a little different.

Q: I was wondering , were you involved in the anime production of either “Shakugan no Shana” or “The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi” ?

During the production of the anime I don’t really have any involvement. But whenever there is an event, I will usually be with the Seiyuus (Voice Actors).

Q: What exactly is it like to be an illustrator in Japan ?

Well personally, the job that I do is very lonely at times because I have to spend a lot of time drawing all alone by myself.

Q: So is there anything I would do to relieve that or to get inspiration ? Like keep the TV on or something like that ?

Sometimes sound or music kind of disturbs me and distracts me from doing my job so there are times where I don't play any music at all. But sometimes the music will help lift one’s the mood up and so I keep it on. It really just depends on my mood, sometimes I will have music sometimes I don't.
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In the course of the interview, many other interesting questions were asked by the other media Representatives. One most interesting one was Do you have any Seiyuu Friends?” and Itou sensei’s reply was guess who, Kyon’s Seiyuu Tomokazu Sugita XD. Just a random fact I thought I’d share with you guys xD



Itou Sensei herself was a surprisingly pretty and expectedly reserved lady. She really didn’t say more than she needed to xD Really wishing I could have her photo to show you guys! She was patient with all the questions and highlighted her disappointment of not being able to see our iconic Merlion (it was under renovations xD) lols. Since I am such a big fan of Shana, I was understandably excited and even went to the extend of cosplaying as Shana just to interview her.

But it ended up being one of my most awkward and uncomfortable interviews yet. Mostly because I was late, was an awkward fan and… was in a jarring red wig amidst a bunch of serious interviewers =_=. I didn’t get to ask a lot of the more sensational questions I planned because I ended up feeling shy/bad/guilty… sorry if the questions asked were well, boring.

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I want to extend my sincere gratitude and thanks to KY for graciously sharing the audio recording of this interview with me. If you follow me on TCC’s FB Page, you might know of how I lost my own audio recording of the interview. So I was definitely counting my blessings when I know there were other people in the same interview with me and even more thankful when KY was so ready to share his interview recordings with me. #faithinhumanityrestored !


















Friday, 16 November 2012

Iszo Circle Lens Review

As most of you know, circle lens are a vital part of Cosplays. If you don't know about it yet then educate yourself about it!

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I'm almost always on the lookout for good and affordable lenses because like I say, they are very important to cosplay. But unfortunately, they inevitably expire after a certain period. 

I'm here today to review the contact lens from iszocirclelens. The lens were kindly sponsored by iszocirclelens.The lenses I’m reviewing here are the “i.Fairy Ash Violet” and “i.Fairy Dolly+ Red

i.Fairy Ash Violet i.Fairy Dolly+ Red

Purple and red respectively =).  Can you guess which cosplays I used them on xD?

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They came tightly wrapped in bubble foam and tucked snugly inside a cute little carrier.

With every purchase of the circle lens, iszocirclelens also gives a free complimentary lens case (while stock lasts). You can select which type of Lens case you want before you check out. They have 2 option, cute animal case or unisex case. Below are the ones I received from them. 

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Purple bunny and Black Keyboard keys xD. Am I too manly to like the Unisex case better than the Kawaii bunny one xD?

Anyway, back to the lens.

i.Fairy Ash Violet

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Lens Info

Diameter :
16.2mm
Base Curve : 8.6mm
Centre Thickness : 0.04mm
Water Content : 55%
Lens' Lifetime : 1 Year Disposable

This is how the lens look like on my palm. Photo taken by Canon G12 under fluorescent bathroom lighting without flash.

 

Isn’t it pretty *_*? The black zoom-in effect on the edge looks so intricate and gothic!

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I took a photo of my eyes with and without the lens. See the difference? Granted that my right eye (with the Circle Lens) had a different eye make up but the difference in the iris size is the key.

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I'm sure I'm not the only ones who sometimes feel cheated by the Contact Lens company and their professionally taken product photos. Honestly, with that amount of studio lights shining into the model's eyes, it's no wonder the contact lenses appear so much brighter than when I wear it. So I'm going to share some casual photos of me with the lens to let you see the true effect of it.

No photoshop because I don’t want anything to affect the colour of the lens.

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As you can tell, the lens generally looks more black than purple unless really bright light is shining into it. But the Bambi doll eye effect is totally maximised by it’s 16.2 mm diameter.

In case you have no clue what the 16.2mm means, it meant the diameter of the lens. The usual/traditional lens diameter is 14mm which gives a more natural effect. But for Cosplays, we generally like getting a bigger diameter because it gives an illusion of bigger eyes instantly and makes us that much close to our 2D friends.

 

i.Fairy Dolly+ Red

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Lens Info

Diameter : 16.2mm
Base Curve : 8.6mm
Centre Thickness : 0.04mm
Water Content : 55%
Lens' Lifetime : 1 Year Disposable

This is how the lens look like on my palm. Photo taken by Canon G12 under fluorescent bathroom lighting without flash.

 

Unlike my previous red contact lens, i.Fairy’s Dolly+Red really lives up to it’s name by giving you a solid red pigment along with a Doll like effect. The doll like effect is created by it’s 16.2mm wide diameter and the black rim around it.

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Okay, I know this picture isn’t “Doll like” at all =_=. Guess I should have dropped the stare =_=|||. Above photo taken by Canon G12 without flash but in a very brightly lit toilet. Photoshopped my eye makeup and brows slightly but nothing done to the circle lens.

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Except for the first photo that was taken inside a very brightly lit toilet, the rest of the photos are taken with natural light. As you can tell, the colours are very bright even without flash. The designs on the edge of the rims really adds an extra dimension to it. 

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Overall, I’m very impressed by the lens. They are comfortable, soft and have really beautiful designs. While it is never recommended to wear coloured contact lenses for long hours, I would say i didn't experience any discomfort from wearing them longer than 6 hours. 

Iszocirclelens offers free shipping internationally and you don’t even need a minimum order D:

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My favourite aspect about their products is their enormous range and the fact that most, if not all of their lenses comes with degree/prescription. Perfect for blind bats like me! In fact, this is my first pair of red contacts that actually has degree / prescription. Awesome xD! 

Check out their wide range of really beautiful lens at their website now. And if you use the Coupon code * “KAIKA10” before you check out, you’ll even get 10% discount on orders up to $20!

* - valid till 31st Dec 2012.
  - does not apply to discounted lenses / value pack item / promotion item, or the order will be denied.

Have fun and hope you’ll like the lenses too!

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Photo by Brian Lim

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Anime Festival Asia Day 1 (Photo Pimps)

Before I knew it, it’s been 4 days since the end of Anime Festival Asia; one of the most anticipated ACG Event of the year! unfortunately for me, my life persona had other responsibilities to see to that weekend and I was only able to attend the last few hours of AFA Day 1. In fact, I went only because I promised dinner with my foreign friends ^^;;

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The event this year finally changed it’s location (see me rant about how sardine packed it was last year xD) and shifted to the God forsaken place also named Singapore Expo. Alright, alright it’s not thatttt far off in terms of distance if we compare it to other countries. But by Singapore’s standard, Expo is pretty far. It’s like the last stop before the airport.

But despite it’s isolated location, the turnout was still humongous!

Since I only reached around 4pm, I only managed to capture a few Cosplayers. Took quite  awhile to edit the photos so I hope you guys liked it!

Many people were asking why didn’t I apply for a Media Pass for AFA. To answer the question, it is simply because I.don’t.have.time.to.cover.the.event. Since this blog is a one (wo)man show, if the reporter cannot physically be at the event, how do you expect her to write anything? Thus, I decided to cut myself some slack and not do anything for AFA.

Hopefully my schedule will permit me to join a Cosplay Event soon. After such a long event hiatus, I look forward to tanking out the events with my cosplay friends again. Go back to the traditional doings of a Cosplayer xD

And then I went into the event hall for a short twirl!

Click to read more

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Pikachu!

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Yes the crowd was pretty intense, even at 5pm=_=;;

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Muse is a Merchandise company from I believe, Taiwan. They had Natsume Yuujin Chou merchandise! But I didn’t really know what to get so I skipped the booth entirely. 

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And also because the queue to enter was such a downer=_=. Here’s a pic of the cashiers. happy customers, happy booth owners. 

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Naruto booth!

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Figurines from Wave Corporation.

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The Artist Booths arena! I heard their sales were good, especially those who were selling Sword Art Online Doujin products XD

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Shana !!! Regret not taking a photo with it =(

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Then I somehow followed Rochelle from Magnetic-Rose.net to the stage area and saw members of Flow on stage! I only realise who they were the last 5 seconds before they waved good bye =__=. 

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Akatsuki Tsukasa~!
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Reika Arikawa~

The other photos I took of the other guests who came up for a short interview session turned out like crap so here’s only two to show. Yeap, you might have noticed by now how the quality of the photos suddenly dipped. My Canon Ixus 1000HS went flat on me so i was reduced to my mere iPhone =(
Then we waited a longggg time for the RCC Singles Cosplay Competition to happen. And my photos turned out like this so after a while, I gave up=_=

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That’s the winner of the Singles Category btw. Yuu/JaroukaSama from the Philippines cosplaying as default Saber ^^! Her Saber armour was gorgeous >.<! Wish I could have the chance to molest see it up close =|

Since I can’t show you guys more photos of the event, I decided I’ll share some of my personal camwhores with my friends.
 IMG_3402With Sese and Drew from the Philippines! Sese was the Philippines representative from RCC 2010! Oh, if you couldn’t tell, they were cosplaying as trinity Blood. Mighty detailed costumes  ^_^.

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With Ariki from Philippines!
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unexpectedly found Shiroin from taiwan amongst the crowd! Dude didn’t tell us he was coming xD The lady is Nozomi from Shanghai! I love how the sun shone into my eyes, made the green contacts so vibrant! My face looks distorted though LOL

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With Naoki Drachen from Thailand! She was the Thailand RCC representative in 2010 (the year I represented singapore) and 2012! Her eyes are humongous! <3 p="p">

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With Zoey~! The Malaysian representative for RCC 2010! 

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With Zephyus! My RCC 2010 partner and fellow Singapore representative ^^. So much nostalgia~~

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Rochelle and homgisuddenlyforgothername from Philippines! I went Rochelle in Hong Kong for the Animax Hong Kong Halloween treats Party in 2010. Time really flies!

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With drew (philippines) and Chris from Malaysia! Chris was also the Malaysian representative for RCC 2010! yes, it was like a mega ‘Reunion’ dinner for us that evening xD Almost all the RCC 2010 representatives were there! In this picture we were waiting for Naoki and Richfield (Indonesia Representative 2010, Invited judge 2011 & 2012) . Unfortunately eventually Richfield couldn’t join us…

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Pretty lenneth who was cosplayng as a character from K that day. Sadly I missed the chance to take a photo of her in costume >-<;

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Me with my Rurouni Kenshin Fan!!! They were giving it out for free <3 !! My head is humongous=_=

No matter how many times I think about it, I still find it amazing what Cosplay has done for me. I might not have a glorious costume nor garner the attention of the shutters but I’m just happy to be able to  say hi and give hugs to so many faces in the event. I started the hobby simply because I loved Anime/Manga and thought it was cool. I didn’t expect to make so much dear and lasting friends.

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I’m also amazed by the amount of international friends I have made in the last few years. Separated by waters but bonded by passion, isn’t that poetically beautiful!

Alright, I’m going to end this highly disorganised entry abruptly because it’s 3:30 am and I'm dying to sleep. Before I go, I‘d like to encourage all cosplayers or to-be cosplayers to put in a bit more effort to make friends in the community. I don’t know why I’m suddenly talking about these but I guess I just feel dishearten by other cosplayers who comment and tell me how lonely they feel in this hobby.

I’m not exactly the right person to preach about relationships but I’ve found that the best way to gain friends is to become a worthwhile friend. It’s not about the glitz, it’s not about the popularity, it’s not even about the money. People appreciate people who are genuine, stay true to themselves and are interested in them. Some people try too hard to make friends with people who don’t share a common interest/topic and ends up failing and feeling bad about themselves. If you’re in that situation now, let me tell you, it happens to everyone. Unless you are a born socialiser, you’re not going to be good friends with everyone. Don’t snuff out your own voice to be accepted, those ‘friends’ you gain are probably not going to last. Be true to yourself and remember your rights to have an opinion.

Similarly, if you’re on the other end of the fence. Don’t be a stuck up! Even if you might not have much to say to the person who wants to befriend you, remember to at least respect their courage to approach you.

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Something must have triggered my long ramble but I cannot remember it now. Time for bed!!!