Lately I've been hooked on Soul Eater and Fairy Tail as my source of entertainment. Though there's certain things that do bug me, such as obvious plot twists, dry jokes and over-exaggerated characters, there are still things that I thoroughly appreciate - which may be why I have watched nothing but children anime for the past 6 months.
Fairy Tail
Rather than making perfect characters, the series creator make sure that each character has a flaw that they have to overcome - which we assume they overcome as they grow with age. This makes it really easy for us to side with the character and cheer them on as they overcome their imperfections.
Black Star from Soul Eater
Another thing about the protagonists is that they aren't hit with the cautious and hesitant nature of adults. They follow their hearts and go at things full throttle.
What I've noticed is that they establish certain roles and relationships that we the audience take as absolute. Examples of these are: Gray and Natsu fight but will always be best friends, Erza is dependable and will always be in the eright, Professor Stein is Shibusen's greatest asset. After making these clear, the series challenge these notions through different events and plot twists. This is a really good way of keeping the viewer engaged.
Igneel from Fairy Tail
The last thing I am going to talk about is that each of these series have a end=point which will signify the end of the narration. For Fairy Tail, it is when Natsu finds Igneel. For Soul Eater, it is when the witches, kishin, and Shinigami end their war. This doesn't necessarily mean that this is how the story will be resolved - it could end with no resolution (i.e.:Natsu accepts that he will not find Igneel) or minor resolution (i.e.: Shibusen beats Arachne but the war can start again in years time). But the magic with this is that there is an end point - we are assured of avoiding a never-ending anime loop that only makes episodes to generate gross income. This is really important for me personally. I appreciate series that focus more on the storyline than stretching episodes or creating a season hit.
Now if you excuse me, I need to watch this week's Fairy Tail =P
Made cute and lovable by Hello Kitty and then trendy by Lady Gaga - the hairbow is a hairstyle that will not only make you adorable and cute, but fashionable and stylish.
Here is a video done by Cutie on one way to make it.
Basically the steps are as follows:
The first time trying it may take you half an hour or so to get the feel of it. But consecutive tries are much faster. My last attempt at the hairbow only took me 10 minutes and it was my second try at it.
My hair bow
I highly encourage you to try it. It's easy and I got nothing but compliments from it
(Yusuke Yamamoto - Tumbling, Hana Kimi, Atashinichi no Danshi)
(Haruna Kawaguchi - Yankee kun to Megane chan)
The cast looking really good - look for this on July 22nd
So a really big conference is just around the corner in Human Computer Interaction. To kick things off, a fellow grad student organized a Hack-a-thon (all day hacking marathon) for many of the conference attendees (including myself). One of the things I ended up making was a Cyborg Kitty which is what you would get if you mixed these three characters:
You can make your own cyborg kitty with:
You basically build the clay body around the 9V battery. Make the head with clay, leaving two tunnels for the eyes. Solder a negative and a positive end of each LED light to make them in series. Connect the remaining free negative end of the LED to the resistor. Place lights in the tunnels and complete the circuit by soldering the positive wire from the battery clip onto the negative part of the resistor and the negative wire of the battery clip to the positive end of the other LED. The clip acts as the neck connector. The longer your wires, the more headless and fun your kitty will be.
And here is my kitty. I have to hold the head in place or otherwise it would be dangling off (intentionally to add more oomph)
With the summer coming just around the corner, I thought it would be good to do a post about make up that accounts for the heat and doesn't cake up or oil up. A look that is really popular in Japan and Korea is the natural look. The goal of this look is to look flawless but not overly made up. Two actresses who are known to rock this look are:
Erika Toda and Horikita Maki
These looks have a few key features:
Not being a make-up guru myself, I rely on vloggers such as xteeener, Michelle Phan, Catalina and Bubz. All have a tutorial on how to achieve this natural, healthy look but out of all of them, I have to say that my favourite has to be Bubz, which is embedded below.
After watching this, a lot of you may be thinking "Gosh that's a lot of highlighter!" And I honestly think it depends on what you're using. For bubs, the highlighter spreads really nicely and is absorbed to the skin so it is like putting on lotion with a bit of tint. For those of us who may not be willing to spend that much money for a Yves Laurent Radiant Touch, I recommend using a slightly lighter concealer and applying it with a small brush. As I am against buying more products than I need, I am currently using Benefit Erase Paste in No. 2 and applying it sparingly using a small angled brush. When that runs out, then I will consider buying a real highlighter.
The next concern is that a lot of the products used by Bubz is exclusively in Asia. If you are hesitant about buying make up online, this may cause some issues. I think in terms of concealer and translucent powder, you can definitely go for North American brands (assuming you are living in North America of course, if you live in Asia, laugh at my misfortune and go buy the products in the video). The key thing that you really need is the BB Cream. This is the key factor in keeping your skin looking like your own. Sephora has just started selling Dr Jart's BB Creams. Though many have stated it to be a bit on the pale side. If you are like me and have a bit of a darker complexion, you will need to find a BB cream that has a few more shades. Living in the highly asian-populated city of Vancouver, I have been fortunate enough to find a store that sells Korean Cosmetics (they are the leader in BB Creams). Many who live in Toronto, New York, or San Francisco should also have no issues finding an Asian store. I wish you luck on your BB Cream journey!
What I would use to achieve this look (some from the video, some from my own personal likes):
What do you do to achieve the natural look?
With my second semester of graduate school done (at officially 8am today). I am free to get back to what I love and that is blogging about my Otaku sensibilities. <3
Durarara started off as a Light Novel in April 2004. It was then adapted into a manga in 2009 and an anime in 2010. This post focuses on the anime since that is what I have been exposed to.
A still of by far my favourite scene in the series
What has gotten me thinking is the origins of memory and how it connects the brain to the heart. These thoughts were inspired by the character of Celty Sturluson, a headless rider from Ireland. She is in Japan in search of her missing head. She senses it to be in Ikebukuro and has been living there for 20 years as a transporter. Because of her disconnection from her head, she can't remember events prior to having her head stolen. She believes that obtaining her head will give her a greater sense of who she is.
Celty and Shinra, another character in the series.
Having taken a class on Cognition and Perception, I have been fortunate enough to read introductory psychology on how memory works. Basically, the brain takes information from the senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing) and interprets it based on similar experiences that has happened in the past. If it a completely new sensation, the brain still tries to tie it to the closest similar past experience as a means of trying to understand it. It is like when people eat frog and claim it as tasting like chicken.
Since Celty is a supernatural being, we are allowed to ignore how she perceives the world without the use of a brain. We are even allowed to ignore how she stores information of events from the past 20 years. Despite this, I keep thinking about what about a headless body makes someone soulful and human. And the obvious answer at first is the heart. But upon coming up with this conclusion I come to wonder, How does the heart exactly tie to emotional connotations? Its literal function is to pump blood throughout the various organ systems. Why does it hurt when we're sad or feel light upon happiness? Is this simply a trick achieved by the brain because this is how we are expected to feel? I leave this thought to you, the reader, in hopes that you come up with the answers I could not. :)
In terms of the anime itself, I highly recommend it. The character development is excellent. The plot line isn't painfully linear. The art itself isn't too stylized but sophisticated. As show above, it also makes you think.
Rating: 4.5/5 -> simply because I am not done the series
