Random photo post, because I'm finally off my first exam round but too tired to be productive and... you know, write novels.
I'll probably just post this and run off to bed to finish the second season of Deadliest Warrior, though. I love that show, it's like... it's like Animal Face-Off, BUT WITH HUMANS. Basically, the sheer definition of awesomeness turned up to eleven, over nine thousand and beyond the impossible.
Honestly, I don't care much for the actual face-offs, all I wanna see is some havoc wreaked with eight different weapons per episode. So far my favorites include the naginata, the whip chain (very reminiscent of Gogo's meteor hammer in Kill Bill, anyone remember that fight?), the emei piercers and quite obviously, the katana. The demonstration with the pig bodies, WHOA JUST WHOA.
I'd really like to see them kill the hell outta some dummy with a zweihänder, though.
I can't get over how good this looks. I still vouch for bigger hair on Noctis - à la Cloud Strife, yes, I liked his AC hair way too much -, but other than that, we're good to go. I mean, will you look at his expressions and mannerisms in the opening sequence, it's like a goddamn live action! Also, nice nose.
I'm worried about a particular aspect of gameplay, though. HP! As far as I can tell, Gladiolus has the highest, followed by Noctis, Ignis and Prompto - I mean, seriously, Prompto, 750 MAX HP, what kinda failure are you, kiddo?
It's like Squeenix's making fun of us! "Hey look, here's a cool-ass character who besides being one hell of a bishie also has an exclusive sniper mode. That's right, your very own Third Person Shooter! An expert on guns! Isn't he awesome? Oh right, but there's a catch... LOWEST HP OF THE BUNCH, BITCHES."
Pfft, thanks, Squeenix! You and your glass cannons.
If this was Final Fantasy XII - the only game I actually played back-to-back, therefore the only one in which I'm truly comfortable -, I'd put Noctis as the party leader, Gladiolus as the tank and Ignis - for some reason I'm assuming he gets the most MPs - as the back-up healer/mage/whatever. Flying foes would result in Gladiolus retreating so Prompto could join up and shoot some havoc.
But alas, this isn't FF XII, so whatever the gameplay, I'm sure I'll get used to it.
Now... just what the hell are EX-ARTS and why are they on the action menu? No attack option either? o.O And... and... Noctis dying equals instant game over? Sunday's got a solution: keep Noctis in secondary party at all times. Hmm, pretty sure they won't allow that.
Sunday also managed to come up with a terrible joke concerning Ignis and his magical know-how.
So Ignis lights his surroundings on fire? Doll, no wonder he shares a seyuu with Light Yagami!
I then proceeded to inform him that Ignis is actually not as useless as he may sound seeing as he's Noctis' strategist. Why? Because the prince needed someone to light his way, clearly.
Haha, can you image the world without Light? Misa can't!
/unfunny jokes
Anyway, there's also something else. Apparently Prompto is a foreign fugitive blah blah blah. Could he be... Stella's brother? I remember seeing this theory on TV Tropes ages ago and not paying attention to it back then... but I'm actually ready to jump on the bandwagon now. It might happen, who knows.
Unfortunatelly, still no release date. Except Mr. Nomura says we should all forget about Versus for the time being and focus on XIII-0 and Type-0.
No interest on XIII-2 here, but I actually like the epicness of Type-0, thinking it might even be worth buying a PSP just to play it. We'll see, now off!
Dear Sweethearts: This is a Final Fantasy aggrandizing post. There shall be loads of game-related ranting, probably some swooning, definitely some jaw dropping.
Consider yourself warned.
The Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier Conference - I know, long ass name - took place two days ago and I'd completely forgotten about it until Sunday IMed me with a condescending "you gotta see this".
Visually, this game looks like a badass mix-up of Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry and Yakuza - probably GTA too, if they let us drive the car. And Bayonetta, if you count that badass female boss at around 05:55.
It's dark, it's gritty, it's edgy. It's been labelled "the darkest Final Fantasy game yet", by Square Enix no less, and hell if I'm complaining. Bring it!
I also noticed Noctis' face and outfit look different from what we've seen in the previous trailer - his hair looks less spikier and his outfit a lot less bulkier, maybe it's for animation's sake.
Yeah, guess I'll have to admit the graphics in the trailer look light-years behind the ones we've seen before - again comparing to the previous trailer, but this one will soon be released in HD so I'll wait before making a point. The again, there's so reason to worry because this is goddamn Square Enix and if they can't throw me off-balance with their graphics no one can. I'll just sit back and wait for a release date for this baby.
Gameplay-wise, I'm thrilled to see the three dudes from the trailer as playable characters - and now they've got names too, Ignis for Mr. Glasses, Gladiolus for Mr. Bulk and Prompio for Mr. Blondie!
But Stella... Stella isn't playable, so what is she? A boss? THE boss? Some sort of add-on character that walks around with the party at her heart's content and throws some potions every once in a while? Questions, questions, questions!
I also love all the vehicles we're seeing here, and if my eyes don't deceive me, a few scenes here look straight out of a First Person Shooter. I remember hearing rumours about possible FPS elements in Versus, SO YES! Don't get me wrong, I'm a terrible aimer - I never use my machine guns in GTA because I fail like that, more of a baseball bat kinda thug here -, but it'd be fun to put some stealthy shooting goodness to use. With Mr. Blondie, because Mr. Blondie is my favorite character even though I know nothing about him and just learnt his name like half an hour ago.
But... right, gameplay. Dunno, it all looks like a typical Final Fantasy to me! As long as the camera's fine and the gambits are fine, I'm fine, really.
Now to the audio... do I hear Light Yagami as Mr. Glasses? I hope so.
Also, I'm pissed off because I recognise Noctis's voice - Hajime Saitou from Hakuouki, maybe? - but I can't place him and there's no official word for seyuus yet. Blondie there sounds like Heisuke, also from Hakuouki, but I'm really not good at telling voices apart when they're in that goofy range. Also, Daisuke Ono. I keep hearing Daisuke Ono - Sebastian Michaelis from Kuroshitsuji - though I'm like 99 percent sure that's not him. Because 1) there's something off about this voice, and 2) Daisuke Ono already voiced Snow in Final Fantasy XIII and I don't think they'd be this quick to reuse a voice actor.
*catches breath*
Yeah well, I think that's it.
Gah, I've never been this excited for a video game in my life.
We could blame it on raw bishonen power, but... I really really wanna play this. Play first, slash later.
Like a little kid, leaving the best to last, huh? Haha.
See how his outfit is different? That's three clothing changes for Noctis, formal, casual #1 seen here, and casual #2 seen on the trailer!
From left to right, Prompio, Gladiolus, Noctis and Ignis, coolest FF crew... well, ever?
And for good measure, here, let's stare at the first two trailers:
All done.
Now time to stop repressing this urge to kneel down and apologise to you all for always posting stuff that's so all over the place. I'm sorry, seriously, because I know most of you don't come here to read about my fairly irrelevant opinions on a game that I'll probably suck at anyway. I know this blog will never go anywhere because of my broken reader base. The only way to help this would be creating a million different blogs, one for fashion, one for movies, one for UrbEx, one for CGI flings, and honestly I can't be hassled. This will never be a fashion blog, or a photography blog, or a personal blog, or anything at all, because there's still no label under which I can store all the crap that's discussed here. I have no consistency, I know, and I'm sorry.
I'm also sorry - dang it there I am again - if I've been touching this subject too much lately, but I'm horribly self conscious about how... scattered I am, as a person. I feel it even in real life and I wish I could stop it somehow, but any attempt to limit my interests or practises has always resulted in disaster.
So that's it. I might be a good person but I'm a terrible idea of one. I'm a terrible blogger and a terrible role model and a terrible example. A terrible stereotype, too.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
This makes me wanna give up on blogging more often than you can possibly imagine. But I keep coming back because nothing liberates me as much as this... sending my thoughts out into the world is far better than locking them up in a journal. They'll help no one there. Here, somebody might relate to them. Maybe somewhere, somehow, there's a girl in my exact same circumstances who really feels like reading a blog that's all over the place, quite like herself.
Whatever, I'm rambling. Please go on staring at Noctis orgy... huh, I mean, ouji, for his skin is far far better than mine.
Farewell!
xx
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EDIT!
Seyuus are now official! Tatsuhisa Suzuki for Noctis - who you might know as Viscount "OHAI IMMA PEDOPHILE" Druitt in goddamn Kuroshitsuji. Mamoru Miyano for Ignis - no more no less than Mr. Light Yagami in Death Note or Mr. Tamaki Suoh in Ouran, told ya! Hiroki Yasumoto for Gladiolus - who plays Agni in Kuroshitsuji, bitches! Tetsuya Kakihara for Prompto - you might know him from somewhere but I sure don't, fab! Also, it's now Prompto instead of Prompio. Slightly less awkward, but still not as good as Shotgun Guy.
2011 has been, so far, a great balancing exercise. Because even though I thought I was going to lose my mind after two exams, the truth is I'm halfway through and still very much alive.
My Amazon batch arrived safe and sound a couple of days ago, and I've already gone through Tokyo: A Certain Style a good couple of times. That book is all sorts of amazing, though I wouldn't recommend it to a home décor enthusiast as much as I'd reccomend it to a voyeur. My mom will never EVER again call me up on the mess that is my bedroom. It's, huh... relatively tame, compared to those niponic dwellings.
Then to my main resolution for the year, become a better writer... well, sitting down to write has been nightmarish at best.
I keep having ideas, great ideas, I jut them down in notebooks, type them in random .txt files. The characters keep developping, the dialogue flows like hot chocolate - because flowing like water is so five minutes ago -, the settings are as real as can be before my eyes, and yet... and yet I can't write.
I feel as if I've lost my ability to get inside someone's head and write through their point of view. It's honestly cringe-worthy, reading back what I've written in these past few days. It's like I can't write anymore. Like I've lost it somewhere along the way, and the beautiful thing is... I'm fighting it. Everyday I sit by the laptop and write a little bit, just a little dialogue, just a little scene. I've even been using random images and fight sequences from my favorite movies as visual aids, because seriously, this description thing? I'm not half as good at it as I used to be. But this too shall pass, because this whole life is fleeting and everything eventually does. No, seriously.
Now to the badass good news!
Remember Mr. Publisher? Well... a second request has been made, for a bigger sample this time! :D And we're not even on deadline anymore, so imagine my quite literal shiver when I saw Mr. Publisher's name on my Inbox! I couldn't stop shaking for a good fifteen minutes after that.
This is amazing, you guys, this is... this is one step closer to a dream, can you picture it? I CAN! So it's back to writing, Self, because they're surely want a few more books after this one! HAHA, BRING IT ON, 2011!
I'm liking your guts already. ;D
Never quit your wishful thinking, loves!
xx
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PS - Also, what do we think of my 55-250mm lens? Quite... potent, huh? Guess I'll name it Yazoo!
Time for some context. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children first came out in 2005 and before that I was already craving it - that was my hardcore gamer phase. I didn't know a thing about FF VII except that it was mighty old (okay, so 1997), and featured this protagonist named Cloud and this chick named Aerith and this villain named Sephiroth and a bunch of big-ass swords. You know, typical Final Fantasy artillery.
The movie is basically an epilogue to the game, and I bought the special edition 2-disc DVD as soon as it came out. It's probably my most-watched film to date. Sometimes I'm just lounging around being bored and the idea never fails to sound entertaining: let's watch Advent Children! Just like there's not a thing Cloud doesn't cherish, there's not a thing I don't love about this film. It's pure CGI eyecandy with some of the best battle sequences I've ever seen... oh, and it's Final Fantasy, so, instant bias.
This past Chrismas break, Sunday reminded me of the Complete edition - which came out in 2009 and features a whooping 26 minutes of extra footage - and we actually planned to watch it together, but... you know, stuff got in the way and it ended up forgotten in my hard drive until like two days ago, when I decided I deserved a break from exam season.
My exact reactions to the extended edition were documented live on Twitter - please read bottom to top -, so... on with the eyecandy! (Come on, you all knew this was coming, right?)
This is a new scene. Oh Reno. ♥
This too. Denzel's backstory got me all teary-eyed.
Zack got some extra screen time too - it was his death scene, alright, but it was worth it.
Favorite fight in the whole film. Tifa vs Loz is badassery at its best.
This little snarl was so OOC that I couldn't let it pass unnoticed.
Out of all three Remnants - or Silver Haired Men, for those who haven't seen this, which I'm guessing are most of you :P -, Yazoo is both my favorite and the one who scares me the most. It's like his eyes are dead all the time but he's still an homicidal maniac who's gonna chuckle at your misery. *shivers*
Vincent Valentine IN THA HOUSE, BITCHES!
My two favorite boys get their claws out. Second favorite fight.
Kadaj's so pretty he should get shot.
Advent Children: where even the invalid are badass.
New scene, and unquestionably the best chase sequence ever.
Yes, this biker just got a lift from a helicopter. Ah you know, just another day at the AC HQ.
Breathtaking, huh? It made me wonder why there aren't more climatic battles taking place at sunset.
Yes, these two are overcompensating. Between Cloud's massive sword and Sephiroth's freaking long katana, and good Kami, this doesn't sound right at all... I honestly don't know which to pity more.
See that cat with a crown in the girl's arms? THAT'S MOTHERFUCKING CAIT SITH, now bown down!
So, have I sold you on this or what? ;D
Sorry for the hugeness of this post, you guys, but I took seven freaking hundred screencaps and they were a bitch to pick out. And I know they're not exactly perfect, but I'm still getting the hang of this... gimme a few more movies, will ya?
I'm just so in love with this that I couldn't quite contain myself. It's specially amazing if you keep in mind that the production team had no previous movie-making experience... aside from in-game cutscenes.
I just found this through Gala Darling and had to repost.
I'm always curious about the modus operandi of street style photographers - "do they ask before or after? is it candid? do they direct their subject?" -, so this video seemed to me like one hell of an Easter Egg.
Plus I'd never actually seen Scott Schumann's face, so it made for a rather pleasant first impression. This man has such a... serenity to him, such a peaceful, timeless, sharp aura. Right, and his eyes are heartstoppers. No wonder someone with these qualities is behind a project like The Sartorialist.
Then his words are as alluring as his pictures. I always enjoy listening to fashion-savvy people talk their hearts out because deep down, I still believe in the old stereotype that fashion = stupidity, and it gets proven wrong everytime. Haha, and I love being proved wrong for the better. Hearing Scott talk about his motivations and his ideals is a bit of an eye-opener, because to him, The Sartorialist, the whole street shooting experience is so much more than "oh let's photograph a slim girl and her Atacomas or Litas or whatever shoe is currently hip for the enesimal time today". He actually takes a liking to the wandering and the people-watching, and that's something that never fails to fascinate me.
So this whole insight to the man behind the camera gave me a much, much greater appreaciation for his work. Like, does he actually go out for 4 hours a day to take pictures? That's brilliant!
Now all in procession to The Sartorialist, everyone!
The last few days have been boring as heck. All I ever do is study, read manga (Di[e]ce, Seven Days and Kuroshitsuji are all highly recommended), watch british TV (Sherlock and Turn Back Time: The High Street are awesome), browse Etsy and Ebay for vintage dresses, and hope for February.
It actually kinda sucks that January is the dreaded exam season. But then again, as someone said the other day, we study hard two months a year to enjoy the other ten. So all in all, it's not so much of a Faustian deal.
Assuming I get to keep my soul after studying Michel Foucault, that is.
xx
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PS - Yup, I'm so busy I can't even clean my laptop. True story.
