Good Smile Company new english site

Picture courtesy of dannychoo.com

As a loyal member and supporter of dannychoo.com, I'm helping Danny to spread the news around regarding the launching of English Good Smile Company (GSC) website. The English GSC website is powered by new version of Mirai Gaia, a platform for e-commerce purpose that is built by Danny which is being used by some of his clients in Japan.

So, who is this Danny Choo we are talking about?

Well, many of the readers should know who I am mentioning about. However, if you still clueless, please visit Danny's site by clicking on this link. Actually, you can also click on the Danny's RSS feed on the left-side of this blog. Since there is a link to the site, I'll skip the introductory part of Danny as you can read them yourselves in his blog or through this link. By the way, Danny is also on Good Smile's International Strategy team. According to Danny, his mission is to make their products widely available across the globe.

dannychoo.com mascot, Mirai-san (right); Danny Choo (middle); Danny in trooper suit (left)

As for GSC, it is the worldwide leader in Japanese hobby products and service including the design, manufacture and marketing of Japanese character figures. There will be a section on the webpage which is called Danny's Corner, where Danny write exclusively for GSC. For more information or if you are interested in the products, please visit the GSC website by clicking on here.

Personally, I'm really impressed with the website design of GSC. Danny did a really great job with template designs on the site. Anyway, I'll be waiting for the new version of DannyChoo.com which will be using the latest version of Mirai Gaia.

I guess that is all for this post. I'll try my best to update this blog.

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid to post this entry. I only post ihis because I'm a fan of Anime and anything related to it.

Mapping a Location

Okay, I've been on hiatus for more than a month due to busy schedule. Man, that's quite long for being absent from the blogging scene.

It has been a month plus since I started working and the working life is kinda mundane and I'm still in the process of learning everything from the bottom. Well, it is a good learning ground for me and thus, I won't complain much regarding my job as a marketing executive for that company. I'm just waiting for my opportunity to travel abroad which will soon be a reality which was supposed to be a mere dream in the past.

Besides my job, I did a little side project of mapping for a website. However, this project is more of a interest-oriented rather than money making opportunity. Hence, I'm currently mapping the state which I'm living and have spent the 24 years of my life in (oops, I've accidentally revealed my age), Malacca. The map will be incorporated into a travel guide for the mentioned state.

Recently, Malacca has been recognized by UNESCO as one of the historical cities besides George Town, Penang which is located at the north of the peninsula of Malaysia. The announce of both cities as a historical cities was in fact a very welcome news to the local government as it will boost the tourism sector and thus create more development to the state. Thus, the travel guide would definitely be handy for all travellers who wished to visit this historical landmark with a history of more than 600 years.

Back to my little project.

I'm using Photoshop CS3 as my tool-of-trade for this task. This proves to be a challenge since designing a map is not as easy as it seems. It requires many stages in order to complete it and for each stages has multiple layers to be done. It is a daunting job, but it a welcome challenge to test my skills in Photoshop.

Here is the framework for mapper. And guess what? I'm way behind schedule. Luckily, the partners didn't rush my to meet my deadline, like the loan sharks. For that, I'm grateful ;)


I guess that's all at the moment. I'll try my best to post as much interesting topics and news as soon as possible. Thank you to those who still supporting this blog by visiting it at a regular basis.

"Honto arigato"

PS: I might show some of my mapping work in future posts. So, please stay tune.

On Hiatus

(Picture Source: Sasuya, DeviantArt)

Will be busy with my current job loads. Therefore, this blog will be on hiatus. Please be patience and wait for my future post. It won't take long time till I can say "I'll be back". Just like what Arnold, The Governator said in Terminator.

Your support are much appreciated. Thank you everyone.

Malacca, A Historical City (Prologue)

The symbol of Malacca, the A'Famosa Fort. (Picture taken from Malaysia On Map)

Malacca is a small city located on the southwestern coast of Malaysian Peninsula, which was once a glorious country during the 1400s when a prince from Palembang (Indonesia) founded the land where a mouse deer gave his dogs a welcoming gift by sending them to the river. Inspired by the courage and bravery of that mouse deer, the prince decided to built an empire on the very same land which a mouse deer is capable of defeating dogs. He considered this as an omen (the weak is capable of overcoming the powerful) for him who was oust from his homeland by the empire of Majapahit.

Never ever mess with this little guy over here. He kicks* (Picture taken from Palawan Council for
Sustainable Development)

In collaborations with the locals, the prince was able to built an empire named Melaka or Malacca (after the name of the tree under which he had taken shelter). It later turned into an international port by compelling passing ships to call there, and establishing fair and reliable facilities for warehousing and trade till early 1500s. In 1511, the Portuguese invaded this empire due to role it played as a spice (a very precious commodity at that time) trading centre. After the Portuguese, came the Dutch who which to expand their influence into the Southeast Asia region as well as the rest of the world. However, the Dutch traded this country with the English in exchange for Bengkulu on Sumatra island. When World War II broke loose, the Japanese took the opportunity to conquer Malacca due to the absence of the English military as the British are at war with the Nazi's.

Tonnes of bomb are being discharged during the World War and claiming millions of lives. (Picture taken from Lust For Life)

Malacca was returned to the English after the Japanese surrendered and the German was defeated in the Second World War. Malacca along with Singapore and Penang was assimilated into the Malayan Union, which later became Malaysia. However, Singapore decided to split ways with Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent country. Malacca from that moment onward, became one of the thirteen state of Malaysia till this very day.

Malacca town as it is developing. (Picture taken from Britannica)

Mirror's Edge, Enter Le Parkour

Mirror's Edge, an upcoming FPS video game from EA DICE, a Swedish video game developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series. The game will be release for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC this late 2008.

The game was announced by Electronic Arts on July 10, 2007. Unlike Battlefield: Bad Company which was powered by DICE own Frostbite Engine, Mirror's Edge will be powered by the Unreal Engine 3 with the addition of a new lighting solution, developed by DICE. The game uses Epic's Unreal Engine 3 rather than DICE's own Frostbite Engine because the development of Mirror's Edge began before Frostbite's development was complete. Beast, a new lighting system developed by Illuminate Labs in association with DICE, was added to the Unreal Engine in order to accentuate the different art style of Mirror's Edge and allow for the reflection of colours as well as light

What really interest me wasn't the realistic environment but rather the gameplay. According to senior producer, Owen O'Brien; Mirror's Edge aims to "convey the strain and physical contact with the environment and and to instill a freedom of movement not yet seen in the first-person genre. This is achieved not only with moves inspired by parkour and free running, but also by tying camera movement more closely with character movement, such that the rate at which the camera bobs up an down increases as Faith builds up speed while running and the camera spins when she somersaults. [The Wikipedia]

Here is the video trailer of Mirror's Edge on SCEE Playstation Day.

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Parkour

Well, from this game I learned Parkour, which is also abbreviated PK (not Player Killer) or l'art du déplacement (literally translate as "the art of movement"). Parkour is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves. The obstacles can be anything in one's environment, so parkour is often practiced in urban areas because of many suitable public structures, such as buildings, rails, and walls. [Free Parkour]

I first saw this art during university through a video clip on youtube if I'm not mistaken. I was flabbergasted by the movement done by these bunch of Parkour practitioners. Male practitioners are referred as traceurs while the female practitioners are referred as traceuses. They were able to perform acrobatic stunts which seem impossible unless you are in a Jackie Chan movie, such as jumps (arm jump, gap jump, precision jump); vaults (dash vault, reverse vault, dash vault); roll, drop and the list goes on.

Parkour was founded by David Belle, a physical educator, stuntman and actor. His military training and early athletic, climbing, gymnastic, and martial arts training acted as the foundations for the discipline he has developed.

Here are some amazing pictures of Parkour practitioners doing their stuff.

Shadowplay [cerce84]

... [Laurent Filoche]

Frosti Backflip 2 [tysoncecka]

Vaulting [Not "THE"Richard Heathcote]

Parkour Flip #2 [cerce84]

Mentos & Diet Coke = Trap

Most of us already knew bout the combination of Mentos and Diet Coke. Well, imagine using this combination to trick friends or family with it. And the result? Screams and cursing from the victims followed by the scream of the perpetrator being beaten up to a pulp.

Here is the instruction video to set up the trap by rigging a bottle of Diet Coke. Have fun trying this at home on your friends or family ;)

How To Build A Mentos And Diet Coke Booby Trap

[Instructable]

Microsoft Japan RPG Press News

Square Enix and tri-Ace's latest Star Ocean series is coming to the Xbox 360 was announced in the Microsoft Japan RPG press. The title of the game is Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope. The game will be released in 2009. Star Ocean 4 was first announced back in 2007 at the Square Enix Party. Since it is announced that this title will be released on the Xbox 360, the thought of this latest title being a PS3 exclusive is now no longer valid. No word regarding it's appearance on the PS3.
(Official site of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Japan)

Besides that, another Square Enix published, tri-Ace developed Xbox 360 title; Infinite Undiscovery has been dated for North America on the September 2nd, Europe (September 5th), Japan (September 11th) and Asia (September 11th as well).
(Official site of Infinite Undiscovery - North America, Japan)

Also, the upcoming Square Enix role playing game, The Last Remnant will be getting an Xbox 360 release before the PS3 one. The game will get a simultaneous Xbox 360 release in Japan, North America and Europe at the same time this winter while the PS3 version will arrive later.
(Official site of The Last Remnant - North America, Japan)

Below is a trailer for Squeenix & Tri-Ace's Star Ocean 4.

Here is the trailer for Infinite Undiscovery.

Here is the latest trailer of The Last Remnant.

Not Another Photomosaic?!?!

The Mischievious Suzumiya Haruhi (2980 x 1850 pixels)

Everybody's favorite otaku, Izumi Konata (2960 x 2220 pixels)

Apparently, I'm still not done having fun with photomosaic since it is kinda addictive for a person who loves messing around with pictures XD. The situation the same as giving liquor to an alcoholic. However, this time not only did I produced one photomosaic but rather two of it. Guessed I was kinda bored at that time.

Well, I assumed that mostly everyone who are reading this entry should know who is the famous voice behind the characters Suzumiya Haruhi and Izumi Konata. That person is none other than Aya Hirano, whom I had already abused hundreds of her pictures to create the photomosaics on previous entries. :3

Anyway, could anyone tell who is in the in picture tiles which create this two photomosaics of Haruhi and Konata? ;)

However, no prize will be given to those who guessed the correct answer. :p

A picture of Aya Hirano which I manipulated to look like this. Don't remember what technique was used to produce this effect. (=_=")