race. and absurdity.

January. 15. 2011

[Rants by: hello?]

I know I’ve said this about a gazabajillion times, but I just hate this word. Now I’m not gonna talk about I don’t like racism….maybe in another paragraph xDD but yeah, this word just….makes me feel like diversity is a sin, like it’s disgusting. No, I think diversity and the many different countries ethnicities we have are a blessing. Diversity is beautiful, although I wouldn’t mind if we all ended up to be one “race”, either. That would just make us realize how we’re all just similar and probably came from one “race” anyways. Just going back to the way we were. BUT, if a few different ethnicities still existed then, they’d probably be looked down on….=_= ugh, humanity…..

And while I’m at it, I wanna talk about words in general. I hear a lot of people say things like “oh they’re just words, what does it matter?” and my response is fairly long and boring: “Humans created words and gave them meaning in order to communicate and express. We put patterns and rules and thus, languages were born. We created words for a reason. So to say that mere words don’t have any meaning contradicts the fact that you’ve spoken your whole life and meant any of those words.” Yeah that’s right :P

On a completely different note, I’d like to share THIS with you:

I will admit that it’s pretty and all, but let’s forget about the fact that I hate gold and diamonds since that would make this so biased. I just can’t understand how someone would be willing to pay $122k for a case when their phone was like what, $300? $400? Cases for the iPhone are expensive already as it is. The most I’d spend is $30. Not that I’d have an iPhone in the first place, but that’s kind of besides the point. I love carbon fiber like the geek I am, but I’m not paying $112k for such a thing =_= this is probably what the rich people are buying with all the money they have from not paying as much tax as we middle-to-lower class people do. That, too, is bullshit. Ahh, the things I could do with that money ….like HELP SOCIETY cause it already sucks and needs help.

Sorry for that. This is ashiiya, signing out :P

[by the way, some of you might know me as Ciel Kyoukino and that's just fine XD I'm pretty inconsistent with names so call me whatever you want]

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Kaiba: What’s so great about this kid?
Joseph: Well, when he grows older, he’ll be able to raise the dead and cure the sick and the lame. And walk on water.
Kaiba: Yeah, but does he have a jet in the shape of a Blue Eyes White Dragon?
Joseph: Umm….no.
Kaiba: Hah. Kaiba: 1, Jesus: NOTHING. Happy Hanukkah.

[Rants by: hello?]

I find it funny how I’ve been talking about nothing but anime *coughygocough* and I don’t intend on stopping~!!! But this time, it’s different and it’s not gonna be just about anime haha (alleviated, are we?)

Let’s kick this off with CCS :D this is a CLASSIC~!! You just can’t hate this anime if you’ve watched it way back when. Sure, I grew up with the dub, but they cut it off before the whole series could end…..cause apparently the second season was not appropriate enough for children due to the fact that its main focus was Sakura and Syaoran’s relationship development. Damn you. A few years after that though, I turned to the Japanese version in order to kickstart my Japanese and I fell in love with it all over again~ and now I am proud to be in the possession of the Sakura Cards:

Speaking of which, I tend to compare the Syaoran from CCS to the Syaoran from TRC. Just cause it’s fun XD I personally like the design of CCS better, just cause he looks stubborn and serious. And when guys look stubborn and serious, it’s just that much cuter when they do like someone ;D it would’ve been so awesome if the whole animation style of TRC was the same as CCS T__T the manga animation style makes him look all cool (cause CLAMP does WONDERS with that stuff) but….AAHHHH …ok this:

If they wanted to make him look more mature or something, that’s already been done, even in the old CCS style >.< goddangit why'd they have to change....

When I got to the end of TRC, I started thinking that even CCS was somehow tied into this TRC/XXX story but nah XD that's like saying even Chobits was linked to it, but of course it's not. It just seemed that way since when the clones were reborn, I thought Sakura was in her middle school uniform or something and I swear I thought I saw some of her old friends from CCS so I was like "wait are the clones the same characters from CCS" XD nah, it's not that complicated. If you have the time and you like twists, go for TRC~!!!

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I just wanna throw something quick out there. I gave YGO 5Ds a chance……AND I LIKE IT. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. But it’s definitely better than GX. I can say that each protagonist from all three series are pretty different and that’s good, but Yusei is just really awesome. But enough about Yusei, I’m more focused on JACK XD

He has the Kaiba role of being a rich and stuck up rival, but the stuck up part doesn’t stay for long since his character develops pretty quickly. He’s still a generally serious person who cares a lot about strength (hence why his deck is a strength deck). His main weakness is Carly, the boys, and cup ramen. I find it funny how he sometimes prioritizes Carly over the boys xD

One thing I find interesting about him though is that his main monster, the Red Dragon Archfiend has…well, a red color scheme xD and Yusei, the main character, has a blue themed monster, the Stardust Dragon. You’d think that since Jack wear’s blue+white, he’d have a generally blue dragon but noooo >___> seriously though, JACK x CARLY FOREVER~ xP I ship them all the way. Carly’s so weirdly adorable, I love her :D she’s even more awesome when she was all evil as a Dark Signer :D

This is the moment where Jack’s all like “NO CARLY, I’M GONNA SAVE YOU!!”

I’m surprised 4Kids loosened up for this series and let all the lovey dovey stuff pass through O.o they even let all the physical violence show. That’s some improvement XD well the kids who enjoyed the original YGO are old enough (OBVIOUSLY) to watch that now anyways >_____>

Oh and here’s the cosplay version of that scene……well technically, this is the scene where he talks to her before the hug but whatever, IT’S STILL BEAUTIFUL!

Cosplay done by the awesome Ex-Shadow and this girlfriend malindachan. They always cosplay together and the boyfriend is the textile genius. That’s right. He makes all these clothes. Check out his and his gf’s deviantart accounts to see the beauty. I actually cried while going through his pictures, that’s how beautiful it was. I’m trying to teach myself how to make awesome clothes like this but that dream seems a “bit” far out…..I MUST TRY THOUGH!!! I can’t half-ass anything anymore!! AAAHHHH I hate myself >O<

Oh and just for fun, here's Jack all pimped out during some weird party:

Now that that’s settled, onto the next matter on the non-existent agenda. PHONES. Cause I just had like a reload of tech new today and now I’m all high and hyped from it XDDD

The new MyTouch for T-Mobile. That’s without the 3G in the name. Yeap. It basically looks like the last line of MyTouch with no QWERTY keyboard and….wait, what’s so different about this one XD oh yeah, it’s capable of that new HSPA connection. It’s apparently as fast as 4G….apparently.

A similar phone has been release by T-Mobile called the G2. This one does have a QWERTY keyboard and is available at Wirefly for $100 with a new contract. I am so totally not advertising in any way.

The HTC Desire HD is just a slightly better version of the Evo 4G and probably won’t be coming to the US for that very reason. It should be available online unlocked, though.

Now for Virgin Mobile, which we all know is a low-end carrier, is being given the Samsung Intercept. Oh yeah, and all these phones are running Android. Just wanted to point that out XD for once, Samsung hasn’t tainted the Android UI with their TouchWiz. This phone has an optical trackpad. Yeah. And thank god the microSD card slot is on the outside. Camera is only 3.2mp though, but….has flash. No QWERTY, I’m afraid.

For T-Mobile again is the LG Optimus T. It’s also running Android and it’s entry-level….but still a smartphone. This also has only a 3.2mp camera =__= but it has wifi, if you like that. I know I do. I don’t know how LG’s doing on their touchscreen smartphone game, but it sure as hell wasn’t great back then. It’s running Android though, so any problems you’ve faced with LG devices before shouldn’t be as bad anymore. Let’s all hope to God that it’s not.

Coming to Verizon is the Motorola Droid Pro. It’s surprisingly a global phone = compatible with CDMA and GSM networks. It has a kind of candybar formfactor with that QWERTY keyboard and a small touchscreen above it. Also running Android. It’s an Androidfest. BUT it has a 5.0mp camera with dual LED flash :D

Sprint’s present this year is the Samsung Transform. QWERTY keyboard + Android. That’s all you need to know XD doesn’t look that stunningly different in any way. NEXT!

The Casio G’zOne Ravine for Verizon – Casio’s new military-specified phone. Meaning that’s it’s shock resistant, waterproof and all that jazz. You can go batshit insane one day, get stressed out and just fling this mofo at your wall all day and it’ll still be working. I should probably get one.

And finally, even Satan gets a little gift this time – it’s the Motorola Flipout for AT&T. And yes, I refer to AT&T as Satan. But nevermind that, let’s talk about the phone. Of course it’s running Android. Even Windows Mobile phones are dying out. Even the Blackberry is pretty outdated. If the Torch is the best thing they got, well…..they better start coming up with something better XD the Flipout is a brother to the Flipside….only cause of the names. I recall there being a phone similar to this one but I forgot what it was called. When closed, this basically looks like a little square and the screen is touchscreen, of course. Then you flip the screen and “voila” a tinyass QWERTY keyboard. Not good if you have big hands though, that shit is all scrunched and there is not much space for the keys. The Flipside on the other hand is your standard QWERTY keyboard that slides out from the side. Both running MotoBlur.

Of course, I got all this from CTIA Fall 2010. Man, it’s that time already XD I feel too lazy to get anymore pictures (LIES, it’s cause it’s not anime related, YOU SUCK!).

Now this is some infuriating news time. Get ready for some bitchyass ranting. If you wanna skip, go right ahead, you’ll se a little /rant thingy XD

GLENN BECK, FUCK YOUUU. How dare you say that the firefighters were right to just stand there and watch a family’s house burn down?? They lost all their belongings, their memories, their pets, EVERYTHING! The reason why? Just cause they didn’t pay a goddamn $75. Hell, that family was willing to pay more than that on the spot and they STILL didn’t put the damn fire out!! It was only until the neighbor’s house caught fire that they decided to do something, but they still didn’t put out the fire of the initial family’s home. Nope. FOR A FUCKIN $75. This is what America has become. It’s disgusting, it’s despicable and these people claim to be Christians. You know what I, a Catholic, would do? If I was a firefighter there, I would’ve told all my mates to put out the goddamn fire before I threw them in there. If I was the neighbor whose house also caught fire, I’d tell the firemen to put their fire out also. Seriously, they literally just STOOD there, watching everything burn to a crisp. Now there’s no home, no pets, no nothing. WTF MAN? IS THAT WAS REPRESENTS AMERICA? GLENN BECK, YOU CAN BURN ALONG WITH THAT POOR FAMILY’S MEMORIES AND BELONGINGS, RIGHT IN HELL.

/rant

Sorry for that XDDD one more bit of pointless news. I now have a new nickname. Nicknames just come flying at me like dust X.X it’s Ciel. Too bad that when I hear Ciel, I think of Kuroshitsuji Ciel XD this one came from the letters “CL” from “crimson lotus” and when you say “C L” fast, it sounds like Ciel XD it’s weird how half my nicknames have to do with the wind or sky, that element xD like one of my first Japanese nicknames used to be Shiryuu Kazemi and the “kaze” means wind. Later on, there was SYK for “shiryuu yamiko kazemi” which later turned into SKY xDDD OMGGG and cause of that people started calling me Sora (whoever knew Jap at the time). And then there was a recent Italian nickname, “Luce DiCielo” =__= WTFFFF XD so yeah…..I’ve also been called Tsuna cause my birthday date is the 27th. And when I hear Tsuna, I think Hitman Reborn. And what element is Tsuna? That’s right. The SKY. THE FREAKIN SKY xD

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WATCH THIS.

[Rants by: 2 people]

Yeap, the new gen is finally here with a “new” line of Touches, Nanos and Shuffles. Since the Shuffles are the cheapest, let’s start with those.

Here’s what it looks like on the front. That’s right – THE BUTTONS ARE BACK. The last Shuffle was a joke >_> seriously, that thing was smaller than a battery. This is basically the 2nd gen Shuffle without the extra space. Everything else about it is pretty much the same and the voiceover feature was also thrown in this one.

And there are the only other buttons you’ll ever see. From left to right: headphone jack, indicator light, voiceover button and on/off/shuffle.

Moving along, we have the Nano. AHHH, the Nano…..that last one was already feeling like a piece of brittle volcanic rock, but this one just……takes it.

Seriously? I don’t hate it, but this isn’t a Nano, this is basically a Shuffle with a touch screen…..you do get a built-in FM radio, though…..if that means anything xD wouldn’t use this at the gym though since you can’t feel the controls. Better off with a Shuffle. So yes, you can see that the icons and all basically look like an iPod Touch. No, you can’t change the wallpaper.

I’m getting deja vu here X.X;; the buttons are pretty self-explanatory although I can only guess the big one on the right is a power button. And no, there is no mic so you still have to use special headphones to voice record, but you can use any headphones that have a mic built in…..apparently.

read more?

[Rants by: 5 people]

This is just a quick rant, nothing special – about the new feature Google has put into Gmail – the calling feature. I don’t even know what it’s officially called, if it even has a name. I checked my mail a few days back and saw THIS shenanigan:

WTF IS THISSSS this is so pointless gahh *epic face ripping maneuver*

Ok I wouldn’t say it’s completely pointless since you can basically make free calls from your browser which sounds nice. Maybe other people will find this “exciting”, but it’s eh to me. On top of that, everyone’s saying that it’s gonna somehow replace freakin SKYPE. I do not understand – gigantic question mark. I guess I kind of do, since the idea of both is to make free calls, but Skype is its own program with a lot of features…..unless you’re so desperate to make a call that you just can’t wait to install a program and you would rather call from your email (…..??). I believe calls in and between US and Canada are free (yeah, they’re right next to us, no point in charging us for that pft) and international calls are at 2¢/min. That’s not that bad actually, but I’d rather use Skype where I can call people everywhere for free xD well the only difference here is that Gmail is calling actual phones, not just another computer. You can also do that with Skype, but I forgot what the rates and stuff are = .=; not that bad, though.

All in all, I doubt this new Gmail feature will come anywhere close to beating down Skype. NEVAR!!!!

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read more?

[Rants by: one person]

Oh yeah. I got sucked into this. The whole SoulSilver thing xD only cause I have a personal attachment to Lugia >__>

Yeap. That awesome thing. It’s better than I thought it’d be. I first played it on my computer with an emulator to check out how it was. I liked it better than Diamond. Surprise surprise so I bought it today xD it’s a pretty awesome remake of the old GBA games hehe and the new Pokewalker they got is actually making me exercise a bit more XD I need all the help I can get haha. I thought the Pokewalker was just to up your pokemon’s friendship but you can do a crapload with it, I’m actually impressed xDD I just wish the DS’ screen wasn’t resistive T_T oh wells……god speaking of which, they released that new DS that’s freakin HUGE O.O I mean I’d get it if I could, but most people won’t like it XDDDDD I’m just guessing here. I do like the bigger screen and all and it’s basically a monster-sized DSi, but still O.o I’m happy with my Lite xD

Back to the main point, I’d definitely recommend this for the regular fans xD or even the people who played like just one pokemon game and never got back to it. This is a pretty different experience, I must say :DDD

[Rants by: one person]

If you don’t know what a smartphone is in this world, people would pretty much think you’re an idiot. Almost everyone has one and if you don’t, some people -surprisingly- laugh at you. I will admit that they’re pretty awesome inventions that can do a great amount of things. It’s like a swiss knife deshou. Besides calling and messaging, you got internet all over the place with people going crazy for apps. You can stay connected and if you’re a business person, you can basically work wherever you are. They have their many uses, but a lot of this is abused and cause people to be lazy, as with a lot of advanced technology.

I love technology and all, I just don’t love it when it’s being used like drugs or something. People of all ages have their heads buried and is the cause of many deaths (and as you know, many bad grades). This “swiss knife” idea for these smartphones have caused people to expect a little too much from any device that’s similar. For example, if you have two completely different smartphones that are for different things, many people will compare them and say that one sucks because there’s too many buttons or that it’s a bit slow. I for one think that buttons are necessary, but that’s besides the point.

I bring this up because I was just watching a short little Korean thing on smartphones and how amazingly uber awesome they are and how rich and famous people need them in their lives, too (and is basically poking at you to get one). Funny thing is, the only phone they really showed is the iPhone, but that is also besides the point (or is it). These people were like “oh no, I can’t possibly live without my smartphone, it does everything for me and it’s such a time killer”. Yeah, I love time killers, too. Here’s the interesting bit: “When I moved from America to Korea, I didn’t have to bring my home phone with me since I have my smartphone. In the future, since smartphones can already act as a tv and computer, you wouldn’t need to carry around tvs and computers with you, it’s such a hassle” (and if you need to know, this was said by JYP). It sounds so convenient~ ….=_____=;; I mean, the thought’s not bad, but it just sounds like people are trying to get around life even more than they are now, making it “more comfortable”. If you think about the less fortunate in other countries now and told them that, they’d think you’re spoiled and ridiculous, which we are. I’m lucky to be typing on this computer now. I didn’t even have my first phone until last summer. Maybe that’s why I’m so egh about this.

Either way, point is, people take tech for granted and although they’re awesome, it’s just way too much =_=

[Rants by: hello?]

The first decade of the millennium has already ended…..I just had to say it the epic way XD but really, a whole decade has already gone by and I’m in college now I feel so olddd ToT I remember when it was 2000, I was like what, 4th grade? GAAHHHH XD

Forgetting about the new year for a while, it’s time to look back on the past decade and see what we’ve accomplished. Let’s see…..a pointless war, lots of paranoia + xenophobia, and many celebrity deaths around the whole freakin world. Can we look at the positive things for a moment =.=” well we’ve advanced in technology as if we went through a time warp. Like seriously. Even in like 2004, cell phones were monochrome, fat and all with antennas. Now we got touchscreen smartphones popping out left and right. Macs back then were cutely round and colorful desktops. Now they’re seen as the epitome of computers. MP3 players had like 256mb (or whatever the number was) of memory, was bulky with no color screens and the like. Now we have things like the iPod Touch with 32GB stalking us. It’s been tech-crazy this decade.

Moving away from the techness, at the end of the decade, we have elected our first “black president”. I’m not going into the whole technical thing about how he’s not all completely black, it doesn’t matter. Honestly, how many people would’ve known that? Even I didn’t know before until people started yelling it out as if they were protesting…..bunch of losers *rolleyes* seriously though, the “majority” of America has finally looked past skin color. Racism is seriously an old habit and is just UGH now, but that’s a whole other rant for another time x]]

In terms of fashion, that’s certainly been a fun house, too. 80′s fashion is creeping around again and Asia has officially gone awry with ideal boyfriends being a guy that’s prettier than his girlfriend. Which I don’t mind. It’s funny, actually. My only complaint is that girls have become rape magnets but that’s their problem, not mine.

Now in terms of music, it’s just gone DOWN. In the early 2000s, music was mad good, even in America. But now, not so much. Unless you’re like those rock bands *cough cough Linkin Park cough* or like Lady Gaga (also gonna be another separate topic), you just aren’t gonna stand out. Some of the long standing artists like Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce are also respectable and still going strong with worthwhile songs. But the new artists popping up are just like ugh stop making my ears bleed. Even in Asia, they’re resorted to nothing but repetitive club and ballad music. They don’t really praise (or just even accept) things like rock. I’m not just saying that cause I like rock (it’s the BEST XD) but in general, a country made up of nothing but dance and ballad isn’t really that great. You need diversity in music, too~~ a great mix is always awesome ;P I just don’t understand why Asia (alright, well…..KOREA to be more specific, since China and Japan are like rock rockkk) doesn’t like rock so much. I mean, they act all “excited” when there’s a rock band, but really, none of their faces really say “I’m liking this”. And there are some really great rock artists in Korea that I love. It’s really a shame and a waste =.=;; what these people really wanna see is more pointless girl groups and club music that has no meaning whatsoever.

Getting off topic xDDD ….but yeah. From my point of view, decade hasn’t been the best in general, like global-wise. As for my personal life, it’s been the time in my life that had the most change cause it’s when all the graduations happened and when all the core friendships were made and when I went through all the teen drama XD life-wise, it was awesome ^^

[Rants by: hello?]

Haha if you’re a camwhore, then this camera is DEFINITELY for you xDDD

Yeap. It’s a beauty. I don’t remember every spec of it but it’s 12.2MP (or something very close to that) and it has a nice 3″ touchscreen (or was it a little over that xDD) for those of you who like that stuff ^^ as I saw it, it’s menus were a bit complicated cause there’s like icons galore but I guess as with anything, once you get used to it, you get used to it.

Now there’s the TL225 model and the TL220 model. They’re basically the same, the only difference is the build quality, which affects the pricing. The 220 is made of a plastic housing rather than the 225′s aluminum housing which makes it a good bit cheaper. I’d get the 220, screw that xDDD

Now the key selling point of these cameras is the extra display in front of the camera. Acts as a portrait mirror and is also touchy touchy so just tapping it will activate it. It will also display a countdown when you’re taking timed shots. Very handy deshou ;]

Don’t know EXACTLY what the price is…..I guess if you get it from reliable online stores, it’ll be a bit cheap. Like B&H BWAHAHAHA. Advertising them much xD it’s very recent though, so good luck on that xDD but yeah it’s a very worthy camera. Even I’m thinking about getting it to replace to crappy camera on my phone x3 I take too many pictures to be using this~!!!

[Rants by: hello?]

I know a lot of people have trouble with their .ogm files because most media players don’t support this. It’s either .avi or .mp4 and there aren’t many good programs out there that can convert this for free. But FormatFactory is pretty good. Most free programs limit the size of the file you convert, but I just converted a whole anime movie with this XD yeap. It’s a Chinese program, but it’s free AND it doesn’t have one of those annoying watermarks that tell you to purchase the full version. It’s all legit and it does everything well. It doesn’t just convert .ogm, it can convert between almost any video and audio file you can think of. You can even tweak the conversion settings and all.

The conversion quality’s pretty good compared to other stuff I’ve tried (although there’s almost nothing else to try =__=). It was pretty clean and frame rate was pretty good too :DD so all in all, if you want something that’ll convert almost anything for you, here it is. GET IT GET IT GET IT XD

[Rants by: one person]

After a day of using it, I absolutely LOVE IT~! But of course, there has to be some things that aren’t good about it XD

My biggest complaint was the EmoDio software that you have to get =___= I mean, you don’t NEED it persay…..unless you wanna get pictures and videos onto your player, THEN you need it. You have to convert and everything which I don’t mind, but the program is a tad bit slow o.o strangely. Maybe it’s just me. But I really don’t like it XD sadly, I need it =___=

One other complaint was that the headphone jack was right next to the charger. When you want to disconnect the player, you need to press the sides of the USB to get it out, but you can’t do that with the earphones in the way…..you have to take out the earphones, then unplug the USB and then plug back the earphones again =___= oh speaking of earphones…….DO NOT USE THE EARPHONES THAT COME WITH THE PLAYER xDDD hell, even my Skullcandy earbuds sound better than it xDDD

Now the good stuff……it is SERIOUSLY responsive. Maybe it’s the upgraded firmware, but it’s A LOT more sensitive and responsive than I thought it’d be o.o pages move really smooth and it detects gestures really well. I’m actually impressed. And there’s a lot less mispresses like when you’re touching the screen to do one thing and it accidentally does another. It doesn’t do that anymore :D one sad thing is that it didn’t come with the Sketchbook widget T^T I really wanted that……

It loads pretty fast and the build quality is what I expected. All metal and glass. The hairline finish on the back seriously is GORGEOUS. I never thought I’d like the silver version, but hell I LOVE IT. It’s not too heavy but it’s not light enough to make it feel like you’ll snap it if you drop it.

I also didn’t find the volume buttons on top to be too much of a problem O.o cause when you’re holding it and using it, your hands are automatically gonna hold the entire player, not just the bottom part, so getting to the volume controls weren’t much of a pain as I thought it’d be.

Recording quality was also AWESOME. It’s more real and clear than most mp3 players’ recorders I’ve used, thanks to Samsung’s awesome audio chip ^^

And the haptic feedback is awesome XD I don’t know why, but it’s so fun xD

It did freeze sometimes, but when you press the power button, it actually shuts down and then reboots itself so you won’t be needing to press the reset button too many times *^^*


So yeah, that’s the P3 in all its pwnage godly glory XD I did take some pictures of it, but currently too lazy to put them up xDD