June 30, 2009
Month-end figure arrival
Haven't listed any new figures in a while. Don't worry despite the tragic loss of a few favorites in "the great fire" (R.I.P. 1/8 Milfa, 1/8 Ilfa, 1/8 Pastel Ink, and others), I'm still getting them regularly. Kaitendo's 1/6 Tamaki (blue box behind) delayed my order for a month and a half, but everything finally arrived today. This 1/4 Nanoha has some great details (clear lines even on the fingernails) but the plastic feels cheap and weighs so little that I'm afraid to pick it up without snapping it in half without the support attachment. It's definitely one of those figures I have to handle with kid gloves.
When scaled to 1/8 Nanoha, she appears to be a bit on the short end. How can a 1/4 adult be only twice as tall as her 1/8 child self? I might just be spoiled though. My first 1/6th figure being Magical Girl Rin set artificially high standards for everything else because that was basically a 1/4 figure molded out of solid steel but mislabeled as 1/6 PVC.
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1/4 Fate, the partner in crime, should arrive in 5 months (Don't look at the same page on amazon.co.jp if you don't live in Japan, it will only make you sad).
Also, checking my orders today though, I realized I missed the first press *Dreamy Maple Crown* Blu-Ray. Somehow I thought I already preordered it when the newsmail first came out, but I apparently didn't. Slightly pissed off about that one, especially because the 1st press DVD taunts me by being not sold out yet.
Posted by Paranda at 1:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
June 27, 2009
I suppose it was inevitable
When you hang around Momoists a lot, you get infected by the camera nerd disease.I decided to go with Nikon, since as another fan put it so simply, "we need another Nikon guy."
With the seed planted in Hawaii this March, and watered thoroughly at Fanime last month, the initial whim to start playing around with DSLRs has finally come to fruition.
Today, the last piece of a recent string of photo-related purchases arrived to make a usable, if not hastily assembled kit that I intend to carry around for my upcoming trips. It consists of: one Nikon D700 body, two very basic lenses (Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens), a Gitzo GT3541LS tripod, and a Really Right Stuff BH-55 head with Pro II clamp and RRS D700 quick release plates. This seems to be what was most recommended by others. Of course, while getting "recommended" gear is cool and all, I'm still aware that as a beginner amateur, the biggest limiting factor will be my own crappy skill so I probably won't really appreciate it until a few years down the road.
I also plan to get Nikon's 14-24mm if I do decide to go to Japan this summer for Comiket and Animelo 09, as I would use it heavily in the week between while hiking Mt. Fuji and doing other stereotypical tourist stuff (with less time devoted to buying crap this time around).
Animelo is up in the air right now since I am a little tempted by a few other certain events. I do plan to get the 70-200mm VR whenever Momoi comes to the states again though (next year please - because everyone seems to think it's going to get refreshed with a better version).
In the short term, I have a big batch of figures arriving soon, probably Monday, including the giant 1/4 Nanoha which I will use to test-drive the long end of the Tamron.
Posted by Paranda at 2:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
May 30, 2009
Death curry?
Went out and tried some ridiculously hot curry with a few friends at Brick Lane the other day. Only I and one other guy ended up doing the Phaal challenge. This is that infamous restaurant with the gas masks. I usually have lots of vindaloo but this thing was pretty damn intense. I could barely finish it and I'm lucky I ordered paneer instead of lamb.
As Komugi is my witness, I'll never eat anything that hot again. This is "seeing lights in the corner of your eyes" level hot.
I got this little certificate for completing it.
Posing while in lots of pain
I do wear my Momoi T-shirts even in NYC for completely unrelated stuff :) If I had a bit less shame I probably would have brought my Habanero-tan figure to the restaurant table as a mascot too, but alas I keep my otaku tendencies on the down-low here limited to innocent looking apparel and Suara phone straps.
Also I should probably write my Fanime report soon too. It was pretty nice though, and I finally got peer-pressured into signing up for flickr so I already uploaded some items there. Also signed up for a twitter account but I haven't tried it out much yet (3 days too late now since I COULD have been updating at the convention). We'll see how things go...
Posted by Paranda at 1:48 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
May 21, 2009
One day left
Hopping on the 6pm flight from JFK to SJC. Looking forward to seeing the usual group, and also any new Momoists we haven't met before. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself.
Gonna enjoy trying to get this through airport security as a carry-on.
Posted by Paranda at 2:24 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
May 14, 2009
Fanime schedule posted
http://www.fanime.com/schedule.html
If you only care about Momoi's events and don't feel like parsing through that huge pile of unsearchable jpegs though, you should read tenton's summary here instead.
Dude, 2 and 1/2 hours...
Posted by Paranda at 1:03 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
May 6, 2009
Momoi is bringing her live band to Fanime
Announced by Momoi on her blog
Benefits of live:
1. She can improvise or extend performances at will tailored to the audience response.
2. Live versions are specially made to be performed during a show, so they sound refreshingly different from, and sometimes better than, the karaoke versions.
3. Due to the staff involved, a concert is likely to be longer (unlike 30 minutes in Hawaii).
4. The last time Momoi brought a guest to AX, it turned out to be Manzo who performed during the intermission.
5. If Taiwan can have a live band dammit so can we!
Posted by Paranda at 2:21 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
