Valacielo

2011: What I Learned, Realized, Discovered + More ✿

Kari Avalon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:02:42 +0000

Hello again! Last post primarily chronicled the media I’ve indulged during 2011. This time, this new post will make note of significant events, remembrances, and anything else as this post’s title details. Like last year, I felt that 2011 was kind of uneventful so the need to document as much as I can (without chronicling minute details on my feelings of that time) recall becomes apparent. Because I’m mostly recalling this from memory and some quick reflection, I think this post will be edited frequently despite being posted in public online. Having a published incomplete post is kind of bad… but then I cannot help but share what I have as soon as possible.

The image above is my 2011 art summary of some major works and a few doodles or drawings that I like that’s often in favor compared to completed works (original template from here). ヽ(゜∇゜);;ノ The art summary was first posted on my deviantART so it has a few more remarks about it. In general.. I wish I had drawn more works (whether completed or just mere doodles), but I’m a poor time manager and often a subject to my own whimsies and habits of idleness so I guess I did what I could. 2012 surely should be different though! Especially on the last bit I wrote in the [life] section that marked the end of 2011′s notable chronicled [life] events.

Without further ado.. the bullet list of 2011 starts beneath this cut.

Games/Anime/Entertainment:

Specific listings and titles are in this post.
Compared to 2010… I read a lot more! Of course, that’s when you count YA, light novels, and marketed children’s literature where the language and often larger font size is a lot easier to read.
Music wise.. I don’t think I listened to new artists much. If anything, I dug up more works of artists I continued to enjoy listening and just listen to those (along with bolstering my music library haha).

Thanks to introducing my friend and continuing to express much interest, I listened to Sound Horizon music frequently. However, I’m far from being a respectable laurant since I’m not nearly as informed or knowledgeable in many earlier albums/CDs prior to Elysion.

Oh! A notable movie I watched that wasn’t listed is Disney’s “Tangled.” Some dialogue and scenes felt a bit too.. cheesy? But otherwise, it’s a stunning movie and I quite like how the movie progressed.
The only notable live drama I watched in 2011 (as far as I can recall to be honest) was “Ouran High School Host Club.” I sadly didn’t finish it due to procrastination though. I plan to finish it soon since unlike most dramas, the episodes are only approximately half an hour long.
Oh yeah! I bought a number of artbooks this year! Though I have yet to use them frequently.. they are very nice to have especially since I hardly purchase miscellaneous items anymore to support what I enjoy. The titles I bought are…

Atelier Official Chronicle
Ar tonelico Visual Book
Toccata (self-published artbook by Shilin)

.. I believe this is the most expensive, yet thinnest artbook I’ve purchased ahaha ;;. I’ve enjoyed marveling her artwork for years so I instantly bought it when it was up for preorder. I don’t think I’ll do this for another artist anytime soon though. I don’t think I can bear the pricey shipping costs for wonderful artbooks like these. （　´_ゝ`）

Shigenori Soejima’s Artworks SC

I was about to cancel my order.. but it was too late and it shipped earlier than I thought LOL. After a few shipping and copy mishaps… I ended up keeping the book. The clean lineart and simplistic yet powerful presentation is nice to marvel at once in a while.

D.Gray-man: Noche

I purchased this for $5 after using a $10 credit from purchasing my brother’s Christmas/birthday gift. While the rest of the artbooks are wonderful… I feel like this one’s my favorite simply because I find myself flipping and looking at it more frequently than other artbooks since I got it. After all these years.. I finally got an official D.Gray-man item to own. If I remember correctly, I followed this series back in 2006 at least? I recall I got into the series before the anime adaptation was announced.

Valkyra Chronicles: Design Archive

I honestly haven’t finished reading the entire artbook. It has a wealth of information aside from the numerous character models, artworks, sketches, concepts, etc.

Oh yeah.. back in February 2011 or so.. I bought a few volumes of discounted manga and a couple of random volume light novels. It’s still in a Borders bookstore bag since I lack proper shelf space though. Hm.. I’m thinking of reselling the books perhaps.. but I don’t know if I can when I’m still fervently in want of parting away my older items.

Speaking of my item sale post.. my Magical x Miracle manga set (6 books), Kamichama Karin manga set (7 books), and the complete first printing of the D.N.Angel anime set got sold!! I’m very glad for that~~ ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

Like in 2010, I finished 2010 off by watching the 62nd Kohaku Uta Gassen program. Well, I watched it while working on finishing up my holiday picture.

Art:

While my commission amount isn’t as great as 2010′s.. the value of each and effort put into it increased quite a lot. If anything, I’m very thankful for the continued support. (o∇o)
Sadly, I didn’t get to draw even one new character profile for my original series called Time_Less.
.. but I finally drew proper profile images for my fictional Kingdom Hearts story Lament of Hearts.
My drawing style is becoming more.. how do I put it.. consistent? I also found it easier to like my recent works even after a considerable amount of time has passed. And needless to say, I think it’s an essential component for me to even think about making prints.

Sadly this makes me think of many works prior to 2009 as not-so-good.

I think it helps that my anatomy’s improving and that it’s evident in my works. However, I can still use a lot more practice with it.
The ratio between original works and fanart is slowly becoming a lot more even due to personal appreciation works and commissions.
Notable series I drew fanart for are: Ar tonelico, Mana Khemia (Anna Lemouri), Final Fantasy (1st fanart for V, IX), Touhou (1st fanart), Sound Horizon (more crossovers than original though), Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Vocaloid, and original works not of my own. Umineko fanart sadly declined so badly ahaha. Only one was a majorly edited one and the other a chibi Ange expression sheet in commemoration of Episode 8′s release.
Finally drew a number of giftart (mostly for birthdays) for some of my friends~~
It’s not wholly art related, but I took the time to retag a lot of illustrations and sorted them by year in Valacielo’s gallery section.

It makes it easier to see how I progressed through the years.
I even added a few older artworks I’ve long since removed from my deviantART.
If I remember correctly, I also added new buttons to make the gallery section more inviting.

Translation/Japanese:

LOL work for this declined significantly. I believe it’s due to the lack of new courses for me to take in school.
I finally was able to receive lyrics to a song I wanted to translate for a long time!

Alas, due to poor hearing and poor kanji comprehension.. it’ll take a while for me to transcribe the lyrics. However, if my on-the-spot translation was correct.. the song is very moving.

Speaking of lyrics.. I never finished transcribing some fan-created Umineko songs. I have a file for Wingless where I only transcribed half of the lyrics with fragments here and there. I’m sorry about that ;;. I totally forgot it!

Accounts:

Got several Dreamwidth accounts in December 2011 to join with a friend who also joined there. I don’t know how often I’ll use it.. but I’m pleased with the interface/appearance and its amazing and wonderful maintainers of DW. LJ took a nosedive during the same month sadly.
I also got a tumblr! ..At which it took over whatever illustration/doodle post that Valacielo was once reserved for orz.

Life:

In February 2011, a friend surprised me with a trip to Disneyland and my first visit to California Adventure. o:

This is one of the major highlights of my year~~
We didn’t ride in many attractions, but rode on some of the more exciting ones such as Space Mountain (which I never been to previously.. so it was a must-go). .. though I kind of regret that I forgot that I wouldn’t mind riding the Pirates of the Caribbean ride to see it’s renovations haha.
Stayed till closing which was marked by the “World of Colors” (I think that’s what the show’s called..) fireworks and light show in California Adventure.
I could have sworn I wrote a report about this incredibly memorable trip somewhere.. I’ll have to go and find it and link it here.

Ah.. also during 02/2011 but also eclipsed a month later or so.. I made use of the Wayback Machine of Archive.org to dig up a fair number of remnants of my early adolescence. As in.. anything that had to do with me making drawings on oekaki (all the while being oblivious to photoshop) and following a bunch of people by making my own series of websites. Wayback Machine even archived about 90% of one of my websites. Amazing.

Needless to say.. I went and dug up as much remnants as I can, reconstructed some that I was able just to kind of have it, or just dusted them together in a bundle.
I even went and retouched some of the old code *shudders* just to make it work with newer browsers. I doubt I’ll reupload these remnants.. but I’m kind of pleased that my archive of 2005+ was able to have several past years behind it now. (￣∇￣)~✿
This post elaborates more on this bit.

2011 Summer was the first time I didn’t sign up for a course. Of course, it was due to my indecisiveness but I also wanted a summer break for once (the past few years always involved taking courses).
Ended up using the metrolink quite a few times just to show my mom how to use it and to enjoy visiting Chinatown and Little Tokyo.

Took a weekend trip to visit a museum and traipsed around Chinatown and Little Tokyo via walking and subways. I went with my brother and I must say, I enjoyed the trip despite the pretense of a art history assignment.

I recall running around a lot just to catch certain subways hahah.
I got to admit that was kind of fun. It almost feels like I’m adventuring almost.

Two train trips or so were delegated for visits to Universal Studios in the summer. My family hasn’t been there for years so my mom insisted on going to see what new things/attractions are there.

Unfortunately, it was very easy to canvas the entire park in one day because there wasn’t a crowd to line up to and that a lot of things still remain familiar.

I still haven’t resumed practicing playing piano. My skills must be so abysmal by now ahhh.
Oh yeah, this year had me (often reluctantly at first) go out for more mandatory field trips (2010 Fall’s was Griffith Observatory for Astronomy).

Attended a small free local concert for Music Appreciation and write a report of it. (Spring)
1st time visiting the Norton Simon art museum for Art History to get a receipt and look at the actual piece in person. (Fall)

Fall semester involved many filler courses orz. I think I intended to use that semester to settle my options and get a lot of things planned out.. but that totally didn’t happen at all haha.

I enjoyed the PE classes though! After high school I stopped exercising diligently so I took this opportunity to take some courses.
Oh, I also joined the French club during that semester. It was rather fun and I was super appreciative of it not charging member fees.. even though I thought it should since once in a while they provide food for its members.

Despite being in a club, I was rather quiet and reserved.
Joined the cheese tasting party though~ most of the cheeses weren’t to my tastes sadly (in fact, I think most are acquired tastes to begin with). I did like Brie though.

I also dined in a French restaurant for the first time for the French club as well. It turns out I had the best attendance. I even won a raffle there too. The food was pretty good.. but I wished I chose the other available item since the Croque-Monsier Sandwich was rather plain ahaha ;;. The dessert was yummy though! It was a variation on red velvet cake where it had ice cream within it.

I think I became more anti-social? loool I’m naturally inclined to glean towards the back (being quiet and meek) than to start conversing and in combination with my desire to get as much schoolwork done as possible on campus (being hardworking).. I’ve grown distant as a result. The end of fall semester kind of forced me to reacquaint with socializing though. o:
Tried to execute [project digital archiving of old coursework to make room] during late Fall/early Winter. Not only it was slow and tedious.. I only got to scan perhaps 1/6 of the intended pile before the end of the year.
This is the first year where I consciously wanted to send Christmas cards~~
Secured a AM^2 convention artist alley table before the special price deadline ended!

What a way to end the year.. less than 6 months till I make my artist alley debut. ;A;

And.. that’s all for now. I’ll add more points later when more things come to mind. If anything, I ended up writing up the more happier and apprehensive stuff than the downsides/negatives. I’ll fill in those blanks later.

Happy New Year! +2011 Books Read, Shows Watched, Games Finished List

Kari Avalon — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:51:32 +0000

Hello! Happy New Year!!

It’s been a little over two months or so since I last posted an entry. I’m sorry! I didn’t know what kind of post to make since I didn’t have anything new of significant to say at that point (… and so much for at least a post per month thing). Well.. I probably could have posted something a few days ago regarding the state of my holiday picture and how much it was frustrating me… but I think I’ll save that for later once I finish with the basic shading and flats of the abandoned top half of the image.

Just like last year.. I want to compile together several lists of what I’ve done and felt during the past year. However… writing out all of my feelings at the moment could take some time so I’ll just settle with reposting the lists of books I’ve read the past year. And fortunately for me.. many are dated so I can take note of the times where I read for a length period of time. C:

Note: This list will be updated from time to time- especially with the manga I’ve read. Unlike the literature which was made of 90% of the time, I somehow end up not documenting much of the manga I read so it’ll take some time for me to remember that I’ve read such manga during 2011.

Manga:

This list is quite incomplete because I hadn’t paid much attention to record every manga volume I read this year orz. But I’ll try to list them in the order I’ve read them though. If I wasn’t occupied or procrastinating.. I probably would have put up a few reviews, thoughts, or opinions on the manga I have completed but alas, I hardly have the time to write reviews. If I have though.. I’m quite likely to nitpick on the manga I didn’t really enjoy so perhaps that’s a good thing?

Oh, I’ll probably skip adding the manga I’ve been diligently following since I don’t keep track of the actual volumes being read overtime.

Ouran High School Host Club Winter Special
xxxholix (last volume)
Vampire Cheerleaders/Paranormal Squad (V1)
(03/??) Chi’s Sweet Home (V5)
Sumomo Momomo (Volumes 1-2)
(03/??) K-On! (V2)
Otomen (V10)
Gunslinger Girl (Volumes 1-3)
Hakobune Hakusho (V7)
Pavane for a Dead Girl (V1)
The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan (V2)
Bunny Drop (Volumes 3-9)
Nabari no Ou (V6)
Chi’s Sweet Home (V6)
(07/07) Puella Magi Oriko Magica [Volumes 1-3; read and completed while being serialized]
(07/??) I Am Here! (V2)
(07/??) Code Geass: Tales of an Alternate Shogunate
(07/??) Code Geass: Queen (V2)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (V1)
Otomen (V11)
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan (V2)
(07/1?) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (V2)
(09/13) Sailor Moon (V1)
(09/14) Ar tonelico 2 (Volumes 1-3)
Tales of the Abyss: Asch the Bloody (V1)
Nabari no Ou (V7)
(09/1?) Codename: Sailor V (V1)
Gunslinger Girl (Volumes 4-6)
Amazing Agent Jennifer (V1)
(10/1?) Yotsuba&! (V10)
(10/17) Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni (V1)
(10/1?) A Bride’s Story (V2)
(10/1?) Dracula Everlasting (V1)
(10/1?) Gunslinger Girl (Volumes 7-8)
(12/07) Sailor Moon (V2)
(12/1?) Nabari no Ou (V8)
(12/??) Legend of Zelda and the Minish Cap
(12/1?) Tales of the Abyss: Asch the Bloody (V2)
(12/20) Tegami Bachi [Volumes 5-12; I essentially went through a marathon with these]
(12/21) D.N.Angel (V15)
(12/2?) Vampire Cheerleaders/Paranormal Squad (V2)
(12/28) X (Volumes 1-3)
(12/28) Chi’s Sweet Home (V7)
(12/31) Codename: Sailor V (V2)
(12/31) Gate 7 (V1)

And uh.. here’s a list of manga I’ve read starting in 2012. I’ll remove these and repost them into another proper post later.

(01/02) Secret Agent Jennifer (V2)
(01/02) Phoenix Wright! Ace Attorney (V3)

Books:

While the list below looks extraordinarily long.. it’s because there’s hardly any distinction between marketed children’s novels, light novels, YA, short stories, and classic literature. What they all have in common was how I largely read these for pleasure and leisure. Still.. it’s rather amazing that I’ve read this much though. It’s almost frightening that the amount I read may have been a result of how I spent my time…

Emma by Jane Austen (with 1/3 read prior to 2011)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival (9)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village (7)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill (4)
Tales of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
A Wonder-Book for Boys & Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Tanglewood Tales for Boys & Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Death Note: Another Note by M
Death Note: L Change the World by M
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning (1)

Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room (2)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window (3)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austre Academy (5)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator (6)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital (8)
Series of Unfortunate Events: Slippery Slope (10)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto (11)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril (12)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The End (13)

Toradora by Yuyuko Takemiya (V1)

Toradora Volume 2
Toradora Volume 3
Toradora Volume 4
Toradora Volume 5
Toradora Volume 6
Toradora Volume 7
Toradora Volume 8
Toradora Volume 9
Toradora Volume 10

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Narnia: Prince Caspian
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Narnia: The Silver Chair
Narnia: The Boy and His Horse
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
Narnia: The Last Battle

Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Kieli: Prisoners Bound for Another Planet (V3)
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
(8/02) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

(8/03) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(8/04) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(8/07) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(8/10) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(8/13) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(8/18) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Big Four by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Good Wives (sequel to Little Women) by Louisa May Alcott
(8/28) Kasha / All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/01) Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/04) Book Girl and the Captive Fool by Mizuki Nomura (V3)
(9/13) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
(9/13) Ico by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/16) Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie
(9/16) Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie (short story)
(9/17) Shadow Family (R.P.G.) by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/21) The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie
(9/24) Crossfire by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/27) Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
(9/30) Murder at the Mews by Agatha Christie (4 Poirot short stories)
(12/20) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
(12/2?) Digimon Adventure (V1)
(12/31) Spice and Wolf by Isuna Hasekura (V5)

Miscellaneous Reads:

Some titles could have sorted into sections like the manga or books, but when I think about it.. they don’t really fit into the scheme.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Final Fantasy XIII: Episode I
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
(9/15) The Beedle and the Bard by J.K.Rowling
(10/??) Twilight: The Graphic Novel (V2)
The Invention of Hugo Cabaret by Brian Selznik
(12/20) D.Gray-man – Lost Fragment of Snow (short story from light novel)
(12/2?) FFVII – The Maiden Who Travels the Planet by Benny Matsuyama
(12/31) The Sigh by Marjane Satrapi

Anime:

I originally decided to denote this post strictly for “books” I’ve read.. but then I decided to incorporate the rest of the media entertainment here to avoid making a new post just for it. Compared to some of the books.. I hardly dated this and if anything, most titles seen this year are largely due to increase exposure in following new titles as it comes out.. which is quite the difference compared to 2009 or 2010 where part of the shows watched were older.

A Channel – Random Episodes [courtesy of my brother]
Hanasaku Iroha – Episodes 1-26
Natsume Yuujinchou San – Episodes 1-13
.hack//Quantum (OVA) - Episodes 1-3
Hetalia World Series – Episodes 1-48 + 49
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kira (OVA) - Episodes 1-2 [of 4]
Ikoku Meiro no Croisee – 1-12
Ikoku Meiro no Croisee Special – 4.5 (OVA)
Kimi to Boku – Episode 1 [dropped; might pick up again]
Kuragehime ~ Jellyfish Princess – Episodes 1-11
Kuroshitsuji II OVA: The Making of Kuroshitsuji II (OVA)
Kuroshitsuji II OVA: Alice in Wonderland 2 (OVA)
Kuroshitsuji II OVA: Tale of Will the Shinigami (OVA)
Kuroshitsuji II OVA: Spider’s Intentions (OVA)
Mirai Nikki – Episode 10 [not part of my watch schedule but that of my brother's]
Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa
Otome Yokai Zakuro – Episodes – 1-13
Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Episodes 1-12
Spice and Wolf – Episodes 1-12
Spice and Wolf OVA
Spice and Wolf S2 – Episodes 1-12
Spice and Wolf S2 OVA
Tegambachi Reverse – 1-25 [if I remember correctly; part of it was from 2010]
Tales of Symphonia ~ Tethe’alla (OVA) – 1-4
The Epic of Zektbach – Chapter 1: Shamshir Dance
Toradora! – Episodes 1-25
Toradora! Bento no Gokui (OVA)
UN-GO – Episodes 1-11
Usagi Drop – Episodes 1-11
Usagi Drop (OVA) – 1-4 [5 minute shorts]
Working’!! – Episodes 9-13 [incomplete; watched due to it being on brother's laptop lol]

Games:

Ahaha.. might as well include this list as well. Due to spending time away from consoles and using portable devices apart from gaming.. I ended up not finishing many games in 2011. I don’t know if that will change later on.. but it looks like for now, gaming takes a backseat.

FF: 4 Warriors of Light
FFX International (07/25)
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded (10/08)
Mana Khemia II (06/27)
Tales of Vesperia
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni: Requiem of the Golden Witch [...technically a sound novel]

Obligatory October Post / Rambles

Kari Avalon — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:13:18 +0000

A recent commission of Homura (Madoka Magica) as Phi (Moira; Sound Horizon)~

(´・ω・｀) It’s been a while…

If you haven’t noticed yet… I changed a few cosmetic elements of this blog/website.. mostly in effort to match the new rotating banners and to fix up some things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

As usual, my tumblr has a good foothold of my art posts, but I still periodically update the galleries and post that it has been updated through the daily news sticky above.

Unfortunately.. I noticed that most of my blog’s traffic is for my translated lyrics (lool).. which I haven’t translated a new one for many, many months (it’s probably a year since I last translated one orz).

I don’t know if I’ll get back to translating lyrics (as my work for it was once stemmed by newcomer’s interest and by having a language course taken at the same time).. but I might consider polishing my current translations because no matter how you look at it.. most have unpolished, too literal lines and poor transitions. I think it helps that it’s kind of mortifying that despite my multiple warnings.. some lyrics still drift into use elsewhere loool. It’s kind of funny and sad at the same time because I know there’s plenty of translations (now) that are far better than mine.

In any case… blogging here might still be scarce from my end unless I find something worth posting (that I honestly don’t feel like posting elsewhere). Because of that.. I’ll try my best to keep up a post a month at the very least~~

Months 08+ 09 Readings

Kari Avalon — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:34:17 +0000

AHH it’s been a while since I posted! ;A; .. so here’s a crosspost of a fanart chibi of Idoko!Sasha.

Like I said in my previous post, I came to like tumblr a lot and post stuff there than here. I also thought of crossposting, but that felt kind of redundant. So.. if you’re interested in following my artworks.. please follow my tumblr (though you can still follow here too, of course. I still update the [daily updates] sticky after all).

Furthermore, late July to August is pretty much a very ennui period for me.. orz. I wish I spent my time better during that time.. but I shan’t dwell on that now. I should do better this upcoming autumn from thereon! Oh yeah.. this semester isn’t that much better either.. but it’s an improvement! I’m taking some physical education classes (so I usually get 4 days of 1+1/2hrs of exercise yay) and taking a random course to reteach/refresh another foreign language I partook several years ago. After the semester ends, I’m plan to enroll into a good number of rigorous science courses to put me back on track towards my finally ascertained major.

Anyway.. here is a books-I-read listing. I’ll update September’s growing list here as well since it’s convenient.

Manga (completed volumes) read in August:

Otomen V11
The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan V2

I’m still amused by some of the parody elements. However, I didn’t imagine that this gag/parody/alternative retelling series has a few more volumes after V2 and V3 (which I haven’t read it.. and felt reluctant to read it because of how long it took to read V1 and later V2).

.. don’t remember what other volumes I read orz.

Manga (completed volumes) read in September:

(9/13) Sailor Moon V1

LOL I finally got to read it and laughed at how much corniness this volume contained. Oh, the other thing I was slightly bothered with was how the translation could use some editing. Faithful as it is.. the pacing kind of suffers due to the dialogue’s wording. Needless to say though, I’m delighted that the manga’s back in print and hope to read more as more volumes are released.

(9/14) Ar tonelico 2 V1-3

The manga version of Ar tonelico 2 had some pretty nice artwork and retains most of the general plotline. However, there’s a ton of mincing and glossing over in order to have the story contained in three volumes. Not only some characters weren’t introduced at all, the concept of cosmospheres was omitted or simply not mentioned whatsoever. As a result, Luca’s profession as a dive therapist wasn’t mentioned nor her profession’s use in helping out frenzied IPDs.
Even major events that took place in the game such as the singing of method_implanta (healing from the hymn hibernation) and vienna (clearing of the tower’s skies, its defense upward, and exposure of the actual path upward) were spliced out of the story and/or simply combined a lot of events together. It worked pretty well, but wow, that’s quick pacing right there.
What made Ar tonelico 2 notable to me was how for a while, there was a buzzing of malicious feelings imbued by the two leading reyvateils- there was hardly any of it. Even Luca’s notable and supposed motives for latching onto Croix’s venture to Pastalia was considerably toned down. In a way, I’m kind of biased towards Luca because I feel that her confession was given under much emotional turmoil and instability (from rationality anyhow), but I definitely noticed that it wasn’t as.. terrible? I still can recall the backlash Luca received due to her confession in the jail.

Books read in August:

The entire Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

(8/2) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(8/3) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(8/4) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(8/7) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
(8/10) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(8/13) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
(8/18) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

A few mysteries by Agatha Christie

The Big Four
Murder on the Orient Express
The A.B.C. Murders

Good Wives (sequel to Little Women) by Louisa May Alcott
(8/28) Kasha / All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe

Books read in September:

(9/1) Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe

I enjoyed this a lot and found the budding romance near the end very sweet. It’s not as.. intense as All She Was Worth.. it was still largely enjoyable and very easy to read (all due to a smooth translation and editing).

(9/4) Book Girl and the Captive Fool [V3] by Mizuki Nomura

I still have yet to read V2 though… I missed a lot of details/connections between Inoue and Kotobuki that is likely covered in The Famished Spirit. ~~I wonder if the other Barnes & Nobles has it…~~ it doesn’t have it either. D:
At first.. I assumed that it wasn’t going to be as rocky as the first (the only previous volume I read).. but wow, I was certainly wrong and made a huge swerve near the end. It basically caught me from dragging slowly midway through the book.

(9/13) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Admittedly, because the story felt a bit droll midway, I decided to read a summary on Wikipedia. However, what I ultimately spoiled to myself was how the narrator was definitely not he seems to be. In other words, not only medical professionals should be singled out when it comes to scrutiny. Ample information was supplied, but it was still rather crafty. It’s too bad the overall motive felt weak in comparison to the process of committing the murder and concealing said tracks by pinning it to another highly potential suspect.

(9/13) Ico by Miyuki Miyabe

I never played the game… but from what I briefly read about the game, it looks interesting.
I enjoyed reading the book though! From what I heard, there’s hardly any backstory prior to Ico being inserted into the castle so that’s something.

(9/15) The Beedle and the Bard by J.K.Rowling

I realized that I never read it formally so I decided to read it one day when I saw it at the library.

(9/16) Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie

This was pretty enjoyable~ as enjoyable to read as the Murder on the Orient Express.

(9/16) Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie (short story)
(9/17) Shadow Family (R.P.G.) by Miyuki Miyabe

The ending seriously caught me by surprise! I let my guard down after the case seemingly began to close near the end.
I also read the entire book in one day. o:

(9/21) The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

I like the pacing in this mystery novel.
I also like the plot twist in the end regarding Anthony Cade. He was a most amusing character to read about.
A few strong female characters is a nice change of pace too.

(9/24) Crossfire by Miyuki Miyabe
(9/27) Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

I didn’t realize this was a sequel until I looked up for more information.. but I still finished it anyway. I might backtrack to the prequel later perhaps.

(9/2?) A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

Uh.. this is my first reading of Miss Marple. Hmn.
.. and I had to return the book to the library since the deadline was looming close by.

(9/30) Murder at the Mews by Agatha Christie (4 Poirot short stories)

On a unrelated note, Happy Birthday Mom!

June + Early July Readings, AM2 Report, etc.

Kari Avalon — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:44:44 +0000

I might consider regular crossposting from tumblr since I’m apparently a lot more active there than my original blog. ;u;

To spare this post.. I included a chibi lineart I’ve done recently. This is Kaname Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It looks fairly nice here… but the high-res scanned showed some jagged lineart enough to dissuade me from coloring this and save that effort for the future set.

I haven’t linked it in my sidebar or anything yet… but here’s a link to my tumblr:

lalacielo

Lately, I finished playing Mana Khemia 2 recently and started playing FFX International (JP Voice edition) thereafter. Some comments on MK2 after the cut.

Oh, and after the short commentary is my list report of my very first con (!! very long) and a list of books I’ve read in June and what I’ve started going through in July. Sadly.. I’m going to avoid uploading photos since I’m not in the mood to spend more time on the report.

(11/07/23) EDIT: I fixed up the first concert’s setlist, con experience details, attached a picture file of what I had drawn on Saturday and Sunday, and added new books I’ve read this month since this entry kind of serves as my primary July post.

Some of my comments on Mana Khemia 2:

Played in JP voice; the English translation is very faithful to its source. Very good! Despite being naturally unrealistic conversations and therefore is not preferable to study/reference upon… it was still a nice way to test my comprehension skill level.
The English dub takes quite some time to get used to. If NISA ever considers bringing the PSP port over, I might leave the voiceovers as it is than to search for a way to patch it up.
Out of curiosity.. I tried playing some character endings with the English voiceover. There’s none! Only the true ending has a voiceover track so that’s a bit disheartening when the first game had voiceovers for all of the endings anyway.
Uh… because I played the game on a emulator… I wanted to use some cheats to avoid heavy grinding since I don’t have much expendable time like when I was a teenager. Needless to say… I ended up playing the whole game without any due to not figuring out how to implement any and my sheer laziness in making some since there aren’t any.

AM^2 Mini Con Report / July 2 & 3:

I actually had this written in my dA journal first… but I decided to cross post it just so I can have a mirror here. Plus, it’s easier to add notes along the way if I happen to suddenly remember something relevant. Oh, this means that I can elaborate more of my con experience than what I’ve lightly listed in the dA journal version.

I just want to say that I had fun at my first con~ *u* In particular, I enjoyed the “Kanon Wakeshima + kanon x kanon” concert a lot~

For privacy sake I suppose.. I omitted names of the people I went and shall refer to them by their titles like ‘club president’ and ‘my brother.’

Saturday: Club president, club member, brother, and I attended.

Here’s a condensed story of how I was able to go to AM2…

My brother won a raffle at his high school anime club for a AM2 passport. He didn’t tell me it was for AM2 so I assumed AX right away since it’s one of the biggest cons in this state (as I live in California) during the summer.
My brother didn’t tell my mom earlier of it so when the day drew nearer.. he tried to get me to help him convince my mom. I refused since it was his own affair and that he should learn how to persuade. Well.. that didn’t work out and my mom didn’t like the idea of him being out all day at a place she didn’t know. In the end.. I ended up providing all of the details and was further reassured when my brother said that I could come since his friend and high school anime club president invited me.
Basically.. I was the deal sealer for my brother being able to go.
Originally on Saturday.. we (the group that’s going plus me) were going to squish ourselves into the club president’s car. However.. one bailed out on going which is fortunate since squishing would be a pretty disastrous affair, I think.
Oh, the club president was the only one who cosplayed; he cosplayed as Kurogane from Tsubasa ~ resevoir chronicles. It was pretty good despite the mishaps that involved repairing his costume due to the pretty poor job of the tailor he bought from on the internet.

Now here’s some random bits of my trip:

Attended July 2 and 3 as a free attendant. That’s a huge plus!

Because the overall con experience was enjoyable and relaxing… and since my brother’s still in the club.. I might attend again next year.. whether its through the president again or by my own volition somehow.

We didn’t bring much food… the club president bought two different flavors of pringles that served as lunch lool. He later spent a bit of money for some snacks that served as dinner. What a nice president~

His mother is even nicer! She bought us some McDonalds after she picked us up.

I was very excited and enamored (for a while) to see cosplayers~~ a number of them were pretty good! It made me want to cosplay very much.

Since I didn’t cosplay.. I obviously didn’t have pictures taken of myself. However.. there was one casual keyblade master cosplayer who took a photo of club president Kurogane and everyone else. 8D;
I thought about cosplaying a older cosplay of mine on Sunday… but I decided against it because I remembered that I retired it for the sole reason of having a need to get it altered and such.

Exhibit/Dealer’s Hall was pretty small? I kind of expected bigger… but I later learned this was a brand new con so it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of stuff I liked… but they were horribly expensive.

Bought a Puella Magi Madoka Magica clearfile for sister.
Pitched in $5 for a grab bag of 4-5 things. Needless to say.. all I got (that I generally liked of all of the things) was 4 FFVIII collectible cards which were from a set of collectible cards released in 1999. I coaxed myself to be grateful that AM2′s admission was free and that I was brought here for free.
I ended up testing out some copic markers~ I love them! However.. I don’t foresee myself getting some anytime soon due to my circumstances.

Artist Alley was even tinier! There was only two rows of several tables and some where empty. I hovered at.. 2-3 particular tables but didn’t buy anything because I couldn’t make up my mind on whether I should get anything or not. I’m sorry for being a prick, but I couldn’t help but awing at those tables since I want to be able to try doing this someday. >w< Anyway… for those who I met and remembered me.. I hope you did well!

… I think 2-3 tables opted to just sell their artist alley goods at the dealer’s hall instead.
I recall one very nice table with a mini-Madoka Magical art fanbook and Vocaloid-themed art fanbook, posters, laminated cards.. and that’s all I can remember ahaha ;;. I think they were a Taiwanese circle since the text in the text in the books’ prefaces were in Chinese.

There was a small designated hall for Japanese summer festival games. I thought of playing them… but I decided against it because my wallet felt more precious Sorry ;;.

I understand that the proceeds went to Japan for recovery aid.. a lot of the games didn’t look all that amazing or attractive to garner many players.

After the concert… I went to a Gaia Online panel. Only approximately 1/3 of the seats filled up and I don’t know.. but I didn’t feel like I can fit very well with the majority of the crowd. I think there was a Rina cosplayer since she consistently went around passing out surveys, pens, and item/gold tickets.
I attended the masquerade afterward. I saw some great acts and dissolved my assumptions of seeing a number of poorly done acts. Unfortunately.. it was short and had about 13 performances? Before judging.. the whole thing lasted half an hour approximately. I heard that there was a lot more on Friday.

Kanon Wakeshima dressed up as Marisa Kirisame (of Touhou) in the masquerade. That was pretty cute~
There was a mini-musical regarding censorship (ie: 4 Kids) which was particularly entertaining and well sung.

Afternoon Concert Report: I enjoyed “Kanon Wakeshima + kanon x kanon” concert immensely! It helps that most of the time the audience remained seated. Only the last song had everyone dancing due to a concert suggestion of otage (definition in interlude) audience participation.

There was a notable amount of gothic/sweet/country/etc. lolita that attended the concert. If anything… I’m inclined to believe that many of them attended AM^2 solely for Kanon Wakeshima’s guest appearance and concert.

Oh! July 2 was Kanon’s birthday. I wished I heard the announcement earlier so I could properly wish her a happy birthday with the rest in the concert.

Setlist from what I can remember:

Kanon Wakeshima:

still doll
kuroi torikago
suna no oshiro
lolita libretto ~storytelling by solita~
Marmalade Sky
Princess Charleston

Interlude: kanon x kanon character speech + Otage video tutorial with “Mr.Alien”

otage/オタ芸: someone who dances.. often with glow sticks to the rhythm of a song at a concert

kanon x kanon:

Calendula Requiem
The Doll House!
Renai no Susume
Sailor Moon: Moonlight Densetsu (surprise anime song cover)

And during Moonlight Densetsu.. Kanon (of An Cafe) paraded around the stage as Tuxedo Mask (hat, cape, roses) LOL. He (and later Kanon in Koi no Doutei) tossed some glow-sticks to the audience. From hearsay, he apparently threw some roses to some lucky listeners as well.
None went into the region where I sat orz. I sat in the right side.. and most of the glow sticks tossed mostly went to the center (passport paid; preferred seats) and left side lool (non-passport/day ticket holder).
Even though my brother has a passport pass.. he sat way in the back. That’s some dedication of the passport holders to arrive earlier than 1hr and a 1/2 for the concert.

Koi no Doutei

I remembered this as the last song since it involved otage. I already mentioned the definition of this term before kanon x kanon’s first US appearance.

~~I’m not sure if it’s correct.. but kanon x kanon also sang Renai no Susume?~~ (11/7/22) Ok, I looked around the internet and found what the missing songs from the setlist were. Yay~ oh, here’s a link that had the full setlist and even photos from the events featuring Kanon Wakeshima and kanon x kanon.

Apart from Kanon Wakeshima.. I’ve never heard of kanon x kanon until the concert so I’m not sure if that’s all the songs that was sung. I listened to various kanon x kanon songs late Saturday when I arrived home from the con.

I think it’s worth mentioning.. but because I didn’t do any previous research… I actually thought kanon x kanon were different performers that ended up sharing the concert setlist with Kanon Wakeshima. It was during Calendula Requiem that I finally put the two together since her voice sounded familiar (some of the singer’s range was slightly similar to what was seen in Kanon Wakeshima’s act) and how she used her cello midway the song. kanon x kanon’s announcement about themselves made me feel really excited lool.

Sunday:

I almost didn’t go.. but I went again anyway. Club president, his girlfriend, my brother, and I went this time.
Food was a lot better~! Sandwich supplies and various chips were bought ahead of time. That served as lunch, snacktime, and dinner.
Like yesterday… I pitched in for 2 more grab bags. The item offerings improved at least~

CLAMP no Kiseki V11

…the only decent thing I was fine with. Although the Kurogane chess piece was surrendered to the club president. Oh, I forgot to mention that he cosplayed Kurogane again today.

V2 of Kashimashi manga

It beats random figures and near ownership of a pretty poorly and plainly painted Fruits Basket figure of Shigure. Club president said that he would repaint some of it and maybe resale it. I hope that goes well!

LESSON: Avoid buying grab bags unless you’re in need of having a small item souvenir bought from having attending a con because that was my dilemma for I didn’t want to carelessly spend what little money I have brought with me.

I once again hovered at some of the tables in the Artist Alley.

My brother bought two postcard sized Persona 4 prints (of the protagonist and Naoto) and got two freebies. One was really hilarious since there was a laminated chibi!Cloud and chibi!Sephiroth that got overlapped by Ouran HS Host Club’s Renge. Poor Cloud has the worst bit while Sephiroth barely scraped by. I’m contemplating on rescuing them later.

I also watched the Cosplay World Summit contest.

It was pretty short as only about 5 groups performed? 3 of them were CLAMP based series (X, xxxholic, Tsubasa ~ Resevoir Chronicles).
xxxholic won~ regardless, there was clearly a lot of effort put in each performance.
Oh, the other two groups were Chevalier D’Eon and Vocaloid: Cantarella. Those two were spoken skits.

I personally think that Vocaloid: Cantarella would sound a lot better if there was the accompanying original music to the skit. Even an instrumental of the actual song would have been fine.. but that’s just my opinion.

Attended a charity auction that is said to have a great percentage of the proceeds to the Japanese Recovery Aid and the children’s hospital in the county.. if I remember correctly.

LOL the tokyopop Princess Ai stuff were poor sellers ahaha ;;. I wonder how many people that attended (which isn’t much) knew of the series and/or had previous opinions on it.
The Mai Mai Miracle items felt like it could have been sold more… if the MC had elaborated on the people who made it and what notable works they have worked on. I think that would have earned more bets~
The much coveted items like a drawn illustration of Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon by Miho Shimogasa (director for a few Sailor Moon series)… I think that’s the one that went up to $2000. The Powerpuff Girls Z illustration that is also drawn by her went upward to $1800 if I remember correctly. The betting battle was pretty intense.

Evening Concert Report: I attended the last main event of AM2: the SCANDAL concert. As for overall enjoyment… it wasn’t as enjoyable as yesterday’s concert. I think it’s because I hardly listen to their music, only have basic knowledge, and I think it’s just this time around… but the vocals weren’t as appealing/charming as Kanon Wakeshima and kanon x kanon’s.

Some songs were hit or miss to me.. and nearly everyone stood up and stayed standing lol.
I think they sung more songs than yesterday’s concert… but it might be because I wasn’t as moved or impressed as I was from yesterday’s concert.
Before the concert, my brother’s friend and high school anime club president mentioned about leaving the concert if he ended up not liking what he saw based on the first three songs. That never came to happen and saw the entire concert.

Last Notes:

Oh, I guess the two concerts above were the first few concerts I’ve ever went to~ >w<

A few years ago… I have seen some concerts.. but they weren’t ones that I choose to go personally and weren’t packed into performance halls such as these.
Or to be specific.. these were the first concerts I ever went to that had performers that came from Japan.

Of the things I could draw in the con.. I sketched and inked a day after of one of my newer, still unnamed character. Of course.. because I was lazy.. I didn’t touch up on it until several days has gone by.

I also drew a chibi of Madoka Kaname (Madoka Magica) on a blank index card as you see above this post. And lastly… I tried to draw chibi Luka Megurine.. but I failed miserably on Saturday LOL. I’ll redraw her later.

And that’s all that’s worth mentioning.. I think.

June Readings:

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

I heard Agatha Christie’s mystery novels are quite interesting to read.. so I gave it a shot at the first free ebook that can be downloaded from Project Gutenberg. It felt boring.. but then it picked up quite a bit later on during the book. I hope it’s not a regular trend found in many of her novels.

.. I could’ve sworn I’ve read more than that..

July Readings (shall be updated as the month goes by):

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Woo.. this book made me realize that some of the elements in this book were used in some modern pirate films LOL. So.. it was a pretty fun read overall.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I decided to read this next because I recall Umineko having plenty of homages to this book. I must say.. there was a lot of homages in this book. There was a popular manga I’ve read a few years ago that has a character inspired by the culprit in this book if I remember correctly.
Ah.. I looked up some basic information on this and was pleasantly surprised to hear that this is the best-selling mystery of all time. Hm… that explains why the elements seen in this story are referenced by other media.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

I thought it was kind of boring, but gee, I was quite wrong. I felt kind of dumbfounded at how I ended up having deduced the wrong people LOL. I’m definitely not cut out to be a amateur detective.

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

A bit lengthy… but the sequence of events were interesting. The investigation part took a while… but the pieces fell together quite quickly as the story drew to a close.

The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
The Big Four by Agatha Christie *currently reading*
The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle *currently reading*

May’s Slight Improvement

Kari Avalon — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:33:35 +0000

Ahh I’m not too surprised, but my tumblr has indeed taken the spot for convenient artwork uploading. Of course, I try to upload the same works here in order to keep the galleries up to date.

Despite that however.. May has been a pretty dry month. The only notable illustration I’ve done is the Ar tonelico fanart commission. Otherwise.. anything that came after that was just full of sparseness. I hope to remedy that this month since the semester is nearing its end and all.

Oh yeah.. my Atelier Official Chronicle, published by UDON entertainment, arrived in the mail yesterday~~ I was so happy~

However.. I can’t help but notice that a few common typoes were left unchecked. For example, in the description for the Atelier Marlone game, which is early in the artbook, has a typo lol. The very informative interviews in the back of the book also has some typoes ahaha ;;. At this point, I think they kind of rushed production because not only the typoes were evident, some character names weren’t exactly the same as the localized ones. That point’s debatable since some players have their own naming references/conventions. Another is how one of Pamela’s profile illustration was duplicated twice instead of having a varying expression just as everyone else has. I don’t know if that was in the original or not so I can’t comment too much on that. But overall, I enjoyed the book vastly and shall await for the next one to arrive (Ar tonelico Artbook yay)~

Gallery Updates:

Changed shutterbox to lightbox (finally~!)
Resorted Fanart & KH: LoH with years instead of sections
Uploaded a few older fanart (ie: Persona 3 tegaki, gift art)

Hm.. not as many books read as the previous month.. but I still read quite a bit:

Narnia: The Silver Chair
Narnia: The Boy and His Horse
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
Narnia: The Last Battle
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Kieli Volume 3: Prisoners Bound for Another Planet
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (unfinished; will probably do so later this month)

April Happenings

Kari Avalon — Mon, 02 May 2011 01:02:14 +0000

.. actually.. not much activity in April. I think May will bring more activity from me, I hope.

I haven’t properly mentioned this, but I got a tumblr (currently asakari) and posted a few light doodles/works over there. At this end, I merely updated them into their respective galleries. I tried incorporating the posts here once.. but it looked fairly disjointed with the rest so I didn’t incorporate them here.

Like last month’s post.. I have a list of what I spent my time on that isn’t schoolwork or art.

If needed, I’ll re-update this post with more details.

Books read so far:

Toradora Volume 5
Toradora Volume 6
Toradora Volume 7
Toradora Volume 8
Toradora Volume 9
Toradora Volume 10
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Narnia: Prince Caspian
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Games:

Tales of Vesperia (story finished)
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (finished)
Final Fantasy: 4 Warriors of Light (halfway)

Most of March

Kari Avalon — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:31:34 +0000

Ahh I hardly drew anything this month ;;. I miss drawing.. but other obligations got in the way of that. ;u; I’ll work on a doodle later.. probably.

So.. here is a blog post instead.

School continued to pick up speed and despite being a few weeks in, I’m struggling to keep up with the schedule. I have a early morning class on Mondays + Wednesdays. That isn’t bad at all, but I often have to wake up earlier just to take my mom to work. Afterward, I would go back to sleep for an hour and a half. Tuesdays and Thursdays gives me more time to sleep in… but during the evening, around 9-10PM, I have another chore of picking up my older sister from the campus. It’s tedious, but I don’t have much of a choice on that matter. *siigh*

Reading:

Anyway, while I’m not drawing, I end up reading a lot instead.

Frankenstein
The Three Musketeers (almost 1/5 read so far)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning (1)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room (2)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window (3)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austre Academy (5)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator (6)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital (8)
Series of Unfortunate Events: Slippery Slope (10)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto (11)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril (12)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The End (13)
Toradora Volume 1
Toradora Volume 2
Toradora Volume 3
Toradora Volume 4
Toradora Volume 5 (currently reading at the moment)

Toradora was a lot more entertaining than I thought~ fufu~

I may consider watching the anime later perhaps.

I also decided to finish reading the rest of the Unfortunate Event books since they were also pretty entertaining to read.. despite the miserable chain of events that occur ahaha ;;.

Anime/Manga:

I still regularly follow my anime/manga release schedule and catalog it in “Current Followings” found in the Miscellaneous tab.

Anyway, the only anime series I watched from beginning to completion this month was Otome Yokai Zakuro. Their clothing is prettily designed and the battle sequences are nice to watch- especially when the 4 half-spirit members are together~ the story has a acceptable closure at least.

Tegamibachi Reverse, on the other hand, had a pretty lackluster sequence for the final battle. It just.. happened. Plus, many answers were left unanswered. Despite that, it leaves room for future continuations I suppose and the series closed in a good, happy note.

Uh.. let’s see if I can make a list of manga tankoubans/volumes I read this month.

Gunslinger Girl Volumes 1-3 (omnibus)
Hakobune Hakusho Volume 7 (lool I need to find V6)
Pavane for a Dead Girl Volume 1
Nabari no Ou Volume 6

I’m pretty sure I read more than that.. but that’s all I could remember at the moment.

Games:

Oh yeah, while I haven’t gotten into playing games for a while, I recently (actually, that was yesterday) returned to Tales of Vesperia and finally finished/conquered the dog map. *A*;

If I had known sooner, I would’ve kept a checklist on the different regions I had already slept in ahaha ;;. It was such a pain orz. I also got most of the final in-game dugeon cleared out and got 3/8 of the characters to participate in the 100-man melee lool. I’ll probably play more of it today. *w*

The day before that, I played a little of FF: 4 Warriors of Light. It’s very cute~ >w< I can see how it sets itself up as a homage to the original style of playing haha. I named the characters with random, made-up names because I find doing that very fun to do. I named them (in the order you name the characters): Helfam, Ademanti, Chalotte, and Diavella. lol, I might reuse the names for some of my future.. minor characters probably.

Asa-Alter

Kari Avalon — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:08:41 +0000

lool the original sketch for this was from August 2009. That’s pretty old ;;. Because of that, I decided to finish this once and for all haha.

I don’t quite know what happened, but this isn’t my usual style. This is still pretty cute though.

This was supposed to be the accompaniment piece for the previous post by the way. I ended up spending a lot more time on this piece than I thought, but I like how it came out. I’m sad that it’s low-resolution again though ;;. Another Asashikka themed drawing I liked wasn’t high-res either. ;u;

A performance w/heavy effects

Kari Avalon — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 08:05:07 +0000

.. I wanted (or rather, spontaneously planned) to finish a second doodle today to accompany this one.. but I didn’t manage my time at all so this is all I have.

She’s supposed to be Asashikka.. but I’m not so sure since she looks a bit older than usual. I can make an excuse and say that she’s in a costume and dancing with effects in a show + performance held by the troupe she’s attached to. If not, then she’s another fellow member of the troupe Asashikka performs with.

…

This following list is totally unrelated.. but I want to start documenting books (literature) I’ve read or am reading thus far this year.

In no following order:

Emma (with 1/3 read prior to the new year)
The Little Prince
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival (9)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village (7)
Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill (4)
Tales of Tom Sawyer
Peter Pan
Final Fantasy XIII: Episode I
A Wonder-Book for Boys & Girls
Tanglewood Tales for Boys & Girls
Death Note: Another Note
Death Note: L Change the World
Frankenstein *currently reading*

I feel like I should have read a lot more than the above though.. I think it’s because I deliberated too much on what I should read next.

And, it goes without saying, but I still read a lot of manga too amidst of it such as doing a marathon to catch up with Bakuman lol. I also marathon’d the Spice and Wolf anime just to refresh what I’ve read.. including previous fan-translations. It was surprisingly well done and I got used to the animation style in no time.

Also.. while it’s kind of a lengthy time waster.. I went ahead and re-visited traces of past websites, especially of my own creation and a few friends’ sites, on the Wayback Machine. I was hoping to find more traces of pre-2005 material I had created.. but they’re so few and far in-between. You see, a few years ago, I decided, for some reason, to purge away some of my works that I thought to be worthless to remember. Lately, however, I felt a sense of regret for that because nowadays, storage is hardly an issue and I ended up having a case of nostalgia over my childhood/preadolescence. I think I’ll work on another post for that in the near future once I come up with some new material to display in comparison to the old (oh dear.. xD).

I understand that I cannot recover much of my purged.. oekaki.. but I was hoping I could salvage some of my MS paint pixel work at least. I only managed to recover a paltry amount of what I apparently did back then lol. I’m still trying despite having gone over many time-machine’d websites. .. maybe.. but it’s wishful thing.. perhaps someone saved them? Backed them up? lool that would be nice if that were the case.

Heehee, it’s rare for me to write a extended blog post.. but I enjoyed this one~