An unforseen future nestled somewhere in time.
Unsuspecting victims no warnings, no signs.
Judgment day the second coming arrives.
Before you see the light you must die.

Forgotten children, conform a new faith,
Avidity and lust controlled by hate.
Never ending search for your shattered sanity,
Souls of Damnation in their own reality.

Chaos rampant,
An age of distrust.
Confrontations.
Impulsive habitat.

Bastard sons begat your cunting daughters,
Promiscuous mothers with your incestuous fathers.
Engreat souls condemned for all eternity,
Obtained by immoral observance a domineering deity.

Chaos rampant,
An age of distrust.
Confrontations.
Impulsive sabbath.

On and on, south of heaven

The root of all evil is the heart of a black soul.
A force that has lived all eternity.
The never ending search for a truth never told.
The loss of all hope and your dignity.

Chaos rampant,
An age of distrust.
Confrontations.
Impulsive habitat.

On and on, south of heaven

Tom Araya

Waterstones Recon

On wednesday evening, the Waterstones chain in my city was holding a recon. And funnily enough, I have never actually gone to a convention of any type before. But it was a fun experience, it wasn't substantial but socialising with Akatsuki members, Kilik and Voldo from Soul Calibur, Kiba, Teresa of Claymore and many others was pretty interesting. I came up with my cosplaying idea quite late and simply went as an ANBU ninja or more like Kabuto with a black cloak. Flipping heck, the black cloak was ridiculously emo when I wasn't wearing the mask! The weirdest thing being at that recon was the fact that the majority of people were young teenagers; I have never felt so old! But anyway, I look forward to going to MCM Expo when I will do some quality cosplay along the lines of Gintoki Sakata of Gintama and I am actually going to bleach my hair for it. It's going to be freaky!


Way hey, it's good. Yesterday I purchased a wall mount and screwed it into a long piece of wood which was then shunted against the wall by the back of my desk. And now, I have an LCD mounted above the desk as opposed to stood on it. It is fantastically cool and the most amazing thing is the change in my habits simply due to the screen being 30cm higher; the desk is clear and I can do work without getting distracted. Perfect!

Star Ocean 4 - The Last Hope

I was downloading Star Ocean 1 on the SNES when it suddenly occured to me - is there going to be a new Star Ocean 4? Checked it up on google and hallelujah! It is coming out on Xbox 360 (exclusively I believe) and sounds like it is going to be absolutely fantastic. The developers actually ventured back into some Star Ocean Second Story elements including private actions. And of course, the main reason why I play Star Ocean games is the real time gameplay...and that has not changed either. Just with the addition of amazing graphics. Agghh! I cannot wait! The picture above seems to be a screenshot and hell I must say, the bow has always been the prefered weapon I'd see a girl using, with its grace and speed. So from everything I've seen so far, it is going to be heaven. Imagine online play too!

Shorinji Kempo Blogs

I was looking around blogger searching for Shorinji Kempo and found a few pages of interest. The first page had a rather impressive youtube video by the Moscow branch which has some pretty fast Sotai forms. The last kick looked like it made an impact but I'm sure that the black belt took it well.

The video is from a Spanish blog.

I also found a blog which has a few philosophical musings by someone who mentions a quote from Doshin So of Shorinji Kempo. He may not be an actual practitioner but he has some good thoughts on the subject of martial arts and seems to have followed a similar approach to Doshin So.

A phrase from another blog:

ningen no michi wo akiramette,
ookami no michi ni shitagatte.

Abandon the way of humans and follow the way of the wolves.

Minamicon

As a fervent fan of anime, I reckon it is always a good idea to blow the flames in the right direction. So basically otakuism is best applied in a convention. So I apply to supposedly the best convention in the UK. What do I get? A 180 person long waiting list. Maybe they need a bigger venue? A couple of extra square metres? A lot of otaku end up twiddling their thumbs at home watching their dailys while a few enjoy the fantastic convention which must make them tremble in excitement. Yes...
I have seen the pictures.
I think Expo will be more interesting than some hotel conference room stuffed full of tables, chairs and boards.

Exams Season Procrastination

First off, the dissertation got handed in and was entirely made of a single wikipedia article. Never expected to end up doing that. I have to go to a viva tomorrow and answer numerous questions circling the issue of why the dissertation is generally so shit. Yay.

And after that, I have to continue my revision for exam season which mostly consists of making a Naruto ANBU mask which is turning out really well. So more ANBU masks will be made in the future to addorn my room and occasionally for ANBU cosplay. Another thing about the mask that I'm making is that it has a handmade feel to it, ie. it is not completely smooth and level like plastic but enough to look perfectly normal a metre away. So it feels really authentic to me. Besides, there is only one official naruto mask so I don't really feel cosplaying with that. Plus, my ANBU mask is going to be pretty unique.

Massive Dissertations/Always san chome no yuhi

Mid October to January the 5th: the available time in which to do a dissertation. Available time allotted to me? January 3rd to January the 5th. Of which 100% of the fault is mine. Oops.

On a brighter note, I watched 'Always san chome no yuhi' a few minutes ago and enjoyed the gem of looking into Japanese working life following the post war era. The architecture and customs still never fail to amaze me.

At this point, I should narrate my actions immediately after I wrote the last paragraph. I stood up and proceeded to hit my fists against the wall, grunting in frustration. My ambition for the moment is to go to Japan to teach english as part of the JET scheme. I could always do post graduate work as well if such a thing was possible. But at the rate my university work has gone, I may fail my third year (as failing my dissertation is highly likely for the moment). It isn't that failing and redoing my third year would prevent me going to Japan; I would take 4 years to do a degree whether or not it was a bachelors or masters. But being aware of the 'work hard' ethic of the Japanese only makes me feel more guilty of neglecting my own work. The work ethic I was reminded of in Always san chome no yuhi.

But hey, in a couple of days time I will probably be drinking in celebration of superb insomniac working ability and posting on this blog while drunk: "Life is so hilariously stupid isn't it. You'll see.