Animations, Illustrations

OTAKON 2006 in Baltimore

2006-08-04T00:41:00.000-04:00

Otakon 2006 program in pdf. http://www.otakon.com/pdf/schedule-2006.pdf

Otakon 2006 website http://www.otakon.com/default2.asp

There will be Otakon 2006 (a conference for anime fans in the US) held in Baltimore from Aug 4th to Aug 6th. I wanted to take a look what it was but I'm not so enthusiastic to pay $60 to go there for three days.

Interesting guests include Yoshiki (singer from Japanese rock group "X") and Yuuki Nobuteru(an illustrator and animator, "Escaflowne" "X" "Five star stories"). Also Karaoke (hopefully anime song karaoke) venue will be open for many anime fans for the whole day and anime product dealers will present their product.

Those anime fan conferences are very popular nowadays in Korea and Japan (birthplace of anime fan conventions, I think) but I've never seen one in north America until I hear about otakon from Valardur. I might convince Valardur to come with me to Baltimore on Saturday and see if we could get in without fully registering the conference.

Eva Theatre: Human instrumentation project

2006-06-15T01:06:00.000-04:00

I drew these cartoons for three days, scanned and colored with Photoshop. :)

Taking introductory Spanish class in summer

2006-06-08T00:29:00.000-04:00

I registered for an introductory Spanish class in Prince George's Community College for the summer. It was only $130 for 8 weeks, 2 hr and half min for one class. I had been looking for a Spanish class but I couldn't find a group class in private language institutes in DC or MD or VA with an affordable price. Later I found out the "continuous education program" in PG community college. I was very happy.

The class is on every tuesday. Our instructor could not make it to the first class so we had a substitute teacher who was the instructor of the intermediate Spanish class (and he was our instructor's brother). Anyway the class was very fun. I learned many useful things.

The followings are "Preguntas(questions)" that were given to the class for homework. My answers are written in blue.

1. Como se llama?
Me llamo Rosemund.

2. Como esta usted?
Bien, gracias.

3. Donde vive usted?
Vivo en College Park.

4. Donde trabaja?
Trabajo en U of MD.

5. Cual es su profesion?
Mi profesion es estudiente.

6. Cual es su color favorito?
Mi color favorito es amarillo.

7. Viaja a menudo?
Si, viajo.

8. Cual es su pais latino favorito?
Mi pais latino favorito es Colombia. :)

9. Tiene amogos latinos?
Si, tengo.

10. Mira television en espanol?
Si, miro.

11. Escucha la radio en espanol?
Si, escucho.

Please feel free to give me corrections if there is any mistake. :)

The Da Vinci code (2006)

2006-06-01T23:24:00.000-04:00

I finally watched the controversal "The Da Vinci Code" movie. I had to go to the movie during weekdays because it was so popular as expected. (I tried on saturday but the tickets were sold out) As I didn't read the book, I didn't have too much expectation on the movie beforehand. However I knew about all the controversy that the movie had created and religous groups in the world were not too happy about the movie.

The movie was fine but it was not the greatest movie so that I became so excited after I walked out of the theater. (Again as I did not read the book) I don't know how closely the movie described the original text. One thing I know was that the book was the bestseller read by almost 40 million people. Considering this, the "impact" of the movie to me was not as strong as I expected escpecially after all those controversy debates and media coverage. Maybe it was not a fair game for "The Da Vinci code" movie in the beginning. Since the movie drew such a huge attention even before the movie was released, there was no way that the movie was going to exceed those expectations of the viewers. In my case, what made me really want to watch the movie was the movie preview where Langdon (Tom Hanks) was giving a public lecture about "symbolism". Because I had personal interest in that subject, that scene was fascinating and I hoped that the movie would have more materials on semilogy or symbolism. However, all the puzzles and tricks introduced in the movie were nothing new.

In spite of the dissappoinment, I still think that "The Da Vinci code" is worth watching just because of the casting - Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Betanny, Jean Reno, Alfred Molina. When will you have a chance to watch a movie with these great casting members again? Ian McKellen was fabulous; he was Teabing himself. Paul Bettany as Silas did a great job and many people say he did the best performance in the movie. Seeing Alfred Molina (as Bishop Aringarosa) in the movie is always delight. Audrey Tautou who I didn't recongnize on the first sight because her image as Sophie was so different from Amellie, played a curiuos, intelligent and strong young women who fits to her role as an important figure very well.

I may even purchase its DVD when it is released. If you expected a spectacular thriller movie or an adventure digging deeply in secrets of the christianity buried for 2000 years, I would like to tell you that you shoud not expect too much. Without too much expectation, maybe you will be able to enjoy the movie better.

Ayukawa Madoka from Kimagure Orangeroad : Sketch

2006-05-10T00:17:00.000-04:00

This is a sketch of Ayukawa Madoka, a heroin from Kimagure Orange Road. I drew yesterday and am thinking about what will be the best way to color it - computer(Corel Painter) or human (me using markers).

To see it in bigger size, click the drawing.

How I buy anime DVDs online

2006-05-01T19:51:00.000-04:00

First I always search the best price of the DVD I want to buy from the price comparison website;

www.dvdpricesearch.com

This website have several suggested online DVD shops but not all of them. Usually www.dvdpacific.com or www.discountdvd.com give a good price for aniume DVDs.

If you want to buy a second handed anime DVDs, go check www.secondspin.com or www.amazon.com market place.

Here's the list of the Japanese anime DVD lisence holders in the US. (However I usually don't buy anime DVDs from these company unless there's special sale event going on. )

ADV films www.advfilms.com
: I guess this is the biggest anime company in the US.

Bandai Entertainment www.bandai0ent.com
: This is American branch of a Japanese company, Bandai which is the creator of famous Gundam series.

Geneon www.geneonanimation.com
: It's a branch of Pioneer. Also Geneon sells lots of anime OSTs.

Central Park Media www.centralparkmedia.com
: If you are looking for maniac anime DVDs, take a look at the catalogue of Central Park Media.

AnimEigo www.animeigo.com
: This company is well known with its release of Region 1 "Kimagure Orange Road" series.

Manga entertainment www.manga.com
: A company famous for "Ninja Scroll" DVD and "End of Evangelion"

This is the list of Japanese anime information sites.

Anime News Network www.animenewsnetwork.com
: This website has largest data on Japanese anime even if the anime is not introduced in the US.
Its also useful to see a license for which anime goes to which company.

Anime on DVD www.animeondvd.com
: As said in the title.... :)

Let me know if you find incorrect information.

Review on Mandarake: Online anime shop

2006-04-28T18:46:00.000-04:00

I bought a very rare vintage(?) anime CD box set from Mandarake online last week, which is "Kimagure Orange Road Singing Heart 2". It's a soundtrack of the TV anime series, "Kimagure Orange Road". The anime series was aired in TV in Japan in late 80's and very popular among teenagers. Especially its trendy theme songs of the series were favorite of anime fans and still are widely listened by fans until now after 20 years that the anime series finished. The CD box was sold only for limited time in 1993 only to people who preordered. This had premium value ($$$) and I had a hard time to get the CD box (took me several years).

Mandarake is a used anime goods shop established in 1987 in Japan. They have several branches in Japan now and very well-known among anime fans. Mandarake opened an online shop for anime fans outside of Japan recently. The online shop has menus in English, Spanish, Korean and Japanese. I used their English site.

The service was fantastic. I ordered the box on 18th and they sent the box to me from Japan on 19th by express. I got the item on 23th. It took 5 days. The condition of the item was extremely well - almost new one. I was very satisfied with their service and the item I bought.

If you are a big anime fan, and if you want to buy vintage anime goods, try Mandarake.

www.mandarake.co.jp

Official Webpage of "Space Adventure of Cobra"

2006-03-31T15:11:00.000-05:00

www.buichi.com

This is Terasawa buichi's official webpage. He drew "Cobra" and many other comics. It has an English page as well so don't be afraid.

I have several drafts that I haven't posted yet. After I finish revising my journal paper, I'll post them soon!! So stay tuned!

Ans: Evangelion and Space Adventure Cobra

2006-03-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

About Evangelion;

I think the best choice will be collecting the individual "Platinum Edition" of Eva DVD. The individual versions have booklets and bonus materials in thei DVDs. Check

http://www.advfilms.com/CatalogFilms_Detail.asp?ID=3879

It has a review on the individual Platinum Eva DVD. :)

About Cobra;

"Cobra" was released as VHS in 1999 by Urban Vision (www.urban-vision.com) but I don't think they released its DVD version yet. I watched Cobra when I was kid even though it was absolutely not a kid's material. However I remember I was fascinated by the beatiful female figure cyborgs and the graphics. I would like to watch the series again. Let's keep on eye on the anime news network...

Evangelion Platinum complete DVD box set: review

2006-03-19T15:30:00.000-05:00

Evangelion Platinum DVD BOX front

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Platinum complete
DVD box set
(by ADV films)

"Evangelion" was one of the biggest selling Japanese animation in the world that changed the idea of what animation should be in Japan. The year 2005 was the 10th anniversary of "Evangelion" so Gainax (the creator of Eva series) opened many events and released special products/action figures to celebrate the birth of Eva.

The DVD box set of Evangelion TV series was released in 2002 in the US by ADV films. In 2004 ADV films released a "Platinum" version of Evangelion TV series DVDs. The Platinum DVDs have Digital dolby 5.1 soundtrack in both English and Japanese, new commentaries from English cast and crew.

The "Platinum Complete" is a Platinum DVD box set. The box has Rei and Asuka on each side, metalic finish and very well-printed. The box set has all 26 episode plus four director's cut episodes in 6 DVDs. The four director's cut episodes are so called "Death and Rebirth" played in theaters in Japan in 1997. As far as I know, Manga entertainment has released"Death and Rebirth" and "The end of Evangelion" as a DVD. I don't know how different the two "Death and Rebirth"s from ADV films and Manga Entertainment. One thing I know is the ADV version of "Death and Rebirth" didn't have the original endings, "Kanon D-dur" and "Tamashii no Refrain". The complete Evangelion Movie Box (containing "Death and Rebirth" and "The end of Evangelion") by Manga Entertainment is ~$24.95 (in deepdiscounteddvd.com). For more information, check Manga entertainment website (www.manga.com)

The reason why I bought the box set was that it was cheaper then individual ones. Amazon.com sells "platinum complete" in $ 46.26. One bad thing about the box set is there is no extra material what so ever while the individually released platinum DVDs have commentaries and booklets. Also the previously released "Evangelion Perfect collection" DVD box set (~$160) has 4 different language channels - English, Japanese, Spanish, French but this new "Platinum complete" box set only comes with English and Japanese soundtracks.

The case design came from original Japanese Eva DVD covers but the individual Platinum DVDs has more similarity to the Japanese version than ones from the box set. The Japanese Eva DVDs are total 8 discs which have Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko, Kaji Ryoji, Nagisa Kaoru, and Gendo as their covers. However, the US versions didn't have Ritsuko in the individual release (the individual platinum Eva DVDs have seven volumes) and didn't have Ritsuko and Kaoru in the box set. The DVDs in the box set are in thin cases and there is no extra booklet inside. The DVD disc design was also rather plain.

If you are a big fan of Eva, I would recommend to buy the individual release of the Platinum edition of Evangelion DVDs with all commentaries and extras. If you miss the Spanish or French tracks, the original "Perfect collection" of Eva DVD box set is now $74.99 in Best Buy. I'm overall satisfied with my "Platinum complete" but I will buy the "Evangelion Movie Box" to have the new ending songs for "Death and Rebirth". I have also heard that "Manga entertainment" version DVDs have unedited screens/features as they are in Japanese original version. Not bad thing to compare two companies' approach for editing.

Busy days with fixing the fridge

2006-02-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

For those who are wondering about how I've been doing... :)

I've been fixing the fridge and writing a journal paper. On top of that, I had one of my college friends moving to Maryland to work at NASA, I also have been shopping with her for a couple of days. So I was pretty busy for the past couple weeks.

I bought many anime DVD box sets: Utena, Neon genesis Evangelion platimun edition, Spirit warrior (Kujaku oh - the peacock king), Zeta Gundam vol.2 and 3. Now I'm watching Utena. It's an anime that has a cover of a shojo manga (girls' comic) but beneath that, it has a very pungent message about human beings - people. It's not a typical girls' comics that usually focus on relationships. I highly recommend to watch it.

I'm planning to post the reviews of Utena in my Korean blog; Since it doesn't take much time to translate, (actually I'm writing in English on the same subject basically. I won't translate my own writings!) I'll post the reviews here as well. Stay tuned! :)

P.S. By the way, folks (A, JM, G), how was Zeta Gundam vol. 1?

2006-02-10T16:10:00.000-05:00

Rei and Relena: sketch

Ayanami Rei and Relena (1998)

2006-02-10T01:27:00.000-05:00

Rei and Relena

This is one of my drawings from 1998 when Evangelion and Gundam Wing were very popular in korea. I drew this picture for an illustration going in a booklet of a special music CD made by "Animation music lover's club". It was an online-based small club for people who enjoy listening to songs from Japanese animations. Rei from Evangelion and Relena from Gundam Wing were those of members' favorite heroins. The picture drawn with pen w/ ink, design markers. The special effect(?) by Adobe Photoshop.

Opened my blog in English

2006-01-26T00:47:00.000-05:00

This is my second blog pairing with my Korean blog : rosemund.egloos.com in Egloos.

Because I speak English for most of the time and have many friends who I talk to in English, I wanted to have those English-speaking friends be able to read my blog as well.

After I discovered that blogs in Egloos can not display menu in English, I opened my 2nd blog site in E-blogger by Google. There is not a particular reason to choose the Google blogger except when I tried to look up free blogging websites in Google, E-blogger by Google showed up on the first line. --;;

Anyhow at least I'm satisfied with the blog page design in E-blogger which I found resembled Egloos'. However some of the blog management functions are inconvenient for me. For example I had to post my profile picture as a new posting first to refer to the picture in "Edit profile"menu because I could only link the picture from some website for my profile photo. Also to do this, I had to download "Hello", a program to send pictures from my computer to my blog. In Egloos, all I need to do was just to download the picture directly from my computer.

Maybe I'm just not used to a new stuff.

Well I'm not a native English speaker. I still need webster.com to write this short posting and to proofread it for a couple of times. Probably my writing style might not be English at all. But I'm hoping that I will be a better writer by writing in English often.

You are welcome to comment on my writing style, grammar, choice of words, spelling, etc as well as ...uh ..... anything.

P.S. The blog management menu displays in Korean. Cool!