2 years of blogging

Yay! We’re celebrating 2 years of my blogging! XD

Today is January 5th, 2010: that’s mean i have been blogging for 2 years. Started this blog with its first post at exactly 2 years ago. It’s pretty great experience i had with this blog in this 2 years.

I found this pic from searching Gelbooru with tag: vacuum. XD

Too bad, the 2nd year is filled with around 2 times vacuum period. Although i managed to post all my received haul and loots, i did some figure reviews too late. Just like Teana Lanster, i received her in February, but posted the review in July. And not only Teana, the other figures have fallen victims of this lateness. In the end, the figures starting from Mikuru Gekisou haven’t even reviewed yet.

The number of posts also dropped around 20%. In the first year, i posted 109 posts. But in the second year, i posted only 74 posts. Pretty drastic result. Also, in the 2nd year, i missed 1 month: November. I left that month with no post at all. Glad i could make it back in December. I even succeeded in filling this blog with at least one post per day (except 27th December 2009) from 22nd December 2009 till today.

The old photos… At least i can make my own signature back there.

I also want to highlight my improvement in figure ph oto posts. Back around the first post, i could only post some “low quality” figure photos. I was still looking for a post pattern back there, and i did need more photos for sure (just as what ron~ said back there), i did realized that after looking back at Kureha post.

The new photos… Looking good!

I think i started to found my pattern in Movic’s Teana Lanster post, with 1-3 nice full / half body photos, and continued with details photos. Then, i improved it again later with more nice artistic full / half body photo around the upper part of the post, and more “weird / fun” photos in the lower part of the post, just like Airi post or Haruhi Gekisou post.

Learning? Studying?

Yeah, people will grow and learn. By keep looking forward i grew and learned new things, but i know I’m still far behind. There’s a lot of bloggers / photographers who’re just so far beyond me. Some of them even released a figure photobook, that’s just way too cool!

I think I’ll take web development as my final project.

Well anyway, I know I’ll be starting my final project around February, so I’m gonna be totally busy. Since I’m pretty ambitious with my project and that’s gonna be though for myself. But still, I do hope i can go better in this year compared to last year. And that’s it for now. See you!!

Utada Hikaru - This Is The One

Close-up photo of her face as the album covers, just like the previous albums.

I know it's the first time i posted about songs, but well... I'm a fans of Utada Hikaru songs and i think i should post about this. Actually, i can't say I'm a real fans, because i never try to stay update with news about her and her songs. While everyone is busy hearing K-ON singles, i kinda stuck on this album.

Recently my bro told me about Utada Hikaru new hit song called "Come back to me", i tried and checked, and i found out about this. Her new English album: This Is The One. FYI, Utada Hikaru launched 2 types of albums, English and Japanese. I already followed Utada Hikaru's songs since First Love, Deep River, Ultra Blue, Heart Station, and Exodus. I really like her voice!

Oh... and not to forget, i don't know much about music, all i do is just enjoy the music if it's a great song, so please forgive me if i'm wrong on giving a personal thought about the music. And oh yeah... don't expect download links here, just google it somewhere else.

So here's the complete track list, also with my personal thought about the song:

1. On and On [3:19] : pretty much cool, she sings this with somewhat whispering voice effect.

2. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence -FYI : you know, FYI in the title is really part of the title, and she really sings it "FYI... we're gonna be up all nite" (i think that's the lyric). It's a nice song, but i still don't know what's the meaning of the title. Anyway, the intro really deceiving, i thought it was AIR OST XD .

3. Apple and Cinnamon : "Chemistry is like Apple and Cinnamon", well... that's song for you. I don't really like this song, but oh well...

4. Taking My Money Back : "now i finally see you were using me, now i taking my money back", still don't get it... and no, this song's still not in my "like list".

5. This One (Crying Like a Child) : in this song, you can feel Utada's low pitched voice which is cool to hear.

6. Automatic Part II : i don't know if this a continuation of the old Automatic, but i know this song is still as cool as the old Automatic, except it's not as energetic as the old one.

7. Dirty Desire : in this song, you can really hear Utada sings a song with ero effects added to her voice. Well.. just as the name implies, dirty desire.

8. Poppin' : enjoy Utada's high pitched voice here. It's a pretty cool song.

9. Come Back to Me : the best song in the album, started with a cool piano, and then the real song start. In this song, she cheated her lover and asked her to come back to her and let her make up for her mistake. This song is my favorite song in this album.

10. Me Muero : the last song before the bonus track, it's pretty much normal, but not in my "like list".

The next 2 tracks are bonus tracks. You'll here 2 version of remixed Come Back to Me, and they're really cool! You should try it.

Well... that's all for a somewhat short post for today. Find it and get it (by downloading it or buy it), listen to it, and let me hear how you feel here. See you!

This weekend...

What's inside a lens.

From Thursday to Sunday, eventful things happened. At Thursday, me and my project team members were working on System Analysis and Design project. One of my friend have enough curiosity to open up my broken lens, and look at what's inside. So the photo above is the result. At first i didn't want to agree with his action, but i have my own curiosity, so yeah, i took a screwdrivers set and got my friend open this lens up.

The green round PCB is actually at the top of the layer. I think it contains IC and microprocessors stuffs to calculate range, focal length, and send EXIF data to the body. There's a wire connected to a motor, and i think that motor works for AF function. And the rest is lens body, i couldn't get the glass out of the lens body yet.

At Friday, i met ron~. Yeah, at last we met, and played Soul Calibur 4. Well, we got nothing better to do. I learned so many things from him, not just SC4, but things about otaku, Japan, Comiket, figures, PSN, etc. We actually also learned the same field, that is IT. Even though it's just a 2 hour meeting, because i had to attend my Oracle Administration Workshop training later after that, but i had fun with him. All i can say is, see you at your next vacation ron~ :D.

The (not so) new Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens, ready to use.

Saturday, i met my friend who got involved with the lens problem, and he got me a replacement. I'm very grateful for this replacement, because with this, i can continue on getting more photograph. I think I'll do photo session for Nanoha this Friday, depending on my left works. I hope that most of my works already finished before this Friday.

And for Sunday, there's nothing special in this day. I couldn't touch my PS3 because at Thursday, my brothers ordered PS3 game, Ratchet and Clank Future : Tools of Destruction ~ the best edition, arrived and they played it all the time, and i didn't have a chance to play anything. Well, at least i got their NDS on my hand and beaten episode 5 of Phoenix Wright : Ace Attorney in this whole day.

Also i noticed something with my random image widget, Haruhi X Mikuru and Kanu docking images were deleted by Photobucket (They doesn't allow adult contents). Damn!!! Photobucket doesn't allow the hottest part of this widget shows up! Well, this posed a bigger problem: almost all image hosting gives us a randomly generated address, while Photobucket gives us a static address that supports my random image script, so changing image hosting won't solve anything. That's why i have to stick with Photobucket and upload images that still allowed by Photobucket.

Anyway, i already downloaded some of "symmetrical_docking" tagged images in danbooru, too bad i left all of them in my bro's computer (which is not in my house right now). So, there won't be any new image here for this week (maybe).

If you, by any chance, know image hosting service that gives static address AND allow "adult content", please tell me and I'll upload my pics right away! That's it for now...

Figure display rack

New looks in my room.

It's a common sense for a figure collector to prepare a rack, shelf, cabinet, or whatever the place to put their collection on. Real otaku must be willing to spend some money to secure a rack, or shelf, or cabinet, or whatever things to put up the collection. The worst thing for a figure collector / otaku to do is put some of their figure (mostly old figure) back to the box, and rearrange the placing for the new figure.

Those racks looks like a shop racks, not really an elegant display cabinet.

I'll set the arrangement like this for now. Newest figure will be put on speaker and computer desk, so i can still look and play with them at the moment i used my computer. As for figma, they must be put on the desk no matter what, so i can play with them easily. Anyway i already planned this thing a long time ago, just before Elwing and Fate arrived. I already read some review about Fate Testarossa, and i know her cape will eat up space. So she'll be the only one on the subwoofer.

The rack parts.

I spent around IDR 800000 (around USD 90) for those 2 racks and 4 (1000 x 300 x 5mm) glasses. Each pair of sticks cost around IDR 110000 (USD 14), a handle cost around IDR 36000 (USD 4), and the 1 m x 30 cm x 5 mm glasses for IDR 22500 each (USD 2.5). I bought 2 pairs of sticks, 16 handles, and 4 glasses, you can count on the total yourself. It's rather expensive i guess, you can buy 1-2 figures with this much money.

After i got my Elwing and Fate arrived, i couldn't really open them up yet. I opened them up after these racks completed, exactly at last Thursday. Well, with this i don't really have to worry about space for some long time. That's it for now...

NanoFate.net

This is total WIN.

Allright!!! This is the heaven for yuri fans AND/OR Nanoha X Fate fans. I AM fans of yuri and CRAZY fans of NanoXFate, and this place is a heaven for me.

Link:
http://www.nanofate.net/

This site contains some goodies like NanoFate doujinshi, NanoFate images, and also has a NanoFate Image Board (too bad it doesn't support thumbnail yet). Just visit it, NanoFate FTW XD.

Completing a Game

Completing a game isn't just beating a game and that's it.

What i mean completing a game is, 100% completion of a game. And here i'm talking mostly about RPG, since RPG has so many things to do including secrets.

Last Monday night, i managed to beat Atelier Iris 3 : Grand Phantasm and i realized that completing a game 100% it's really hard thing to do.

This is the normal task you have to complete for 100% completion game for RPG:
- Beating secret bosses
- Completing subquests
- Collecting secret items

Atelier Iris 3 itself is quest oriented RPG, so subquests have to be listed in quest list. But in the other RPGs you have to find your own way to the subquest.
And i have to abandon subquests in AI3 and strive through last dungeon to beat the game because the latest subquests i got are beating a couple of annoying secret bosses. Starting from poisonous mushroom, dragon with devastating power, magical pot that can summon unlimited bodyguard, etc.



Hey, i managed to beat 100% completion for Kingdom Hearts 2, with level 99 at end game. And all i got is very short secret ending, which people believe as a sneak peak to Kingdom Hearts 3.

Not only subquests. Item collection is essential in 100% completion. In Kingdom Hearts 2, you have to collect certain number of items, especially material items which you can get randomly from enemies.


Aside from RPG, another genres such as: racing, action, fighting, etc are as hard as RPG to get 100% completion. You have to complete every mission, every stage, every race, getting every characters, or whatever you can achieve. Even worse, you have to get max rank in a mission if the game have ranking system.

It's easy to beat a game, but it's hard to reach 100% completion. How many games you've completed with 100% completion?