It's no secret that I want to make my own graphic novel, someday.

It's also no secret that I can't draw shit to save my ass.

The key is to practice, practice, practice. So that even if I end up with shit at the end of it, it'll still be better-looking shit than I started with in the first place.

I'm starting small-- I'm trying to sketch something different every day. Little things. Baby steps.

As it has already been established that I am not too good at the character-design thing, I will start with drawing other people's characters first. Once I get better at that, I will give drawing my own characters a go.

So, first up: Lockon Stratos.



Hmm. Consistency issues here and there. He looks too young in some of them. I am also really bad at drawing frontview faces-- took me many, many redraw efforts to get the face shape to look right (and still not too happy with it). IDK why I find 3/4ths view so much easier-- probably something to do with perspective being an anchor I bet. And lack of symmetry. I am very bad at symmetry.

OTOH I like the hair. Hit and miss, when it comes to me and drawing hair. But I think I'm getting the hang.

Must work on more expressions.


(P.S. Should I keep posting these?)

It is no secret that I am disgustingly materialistic. I buy stuff on a whim more often than is healthy for me (or for my wallet). I always have a list of things-I-want (which often translates into a list of things-I-end-up-getting).

Here's the current list. As expected of me, it consists purely of shiny gadgets, books and clothes.

#1
Dude, what else can I say? I've been lamenting my lack of an iPhone ever since I lost mine in February and SingTel's anal iPhone policies wouldn't let me buy a new one until the no-upgrade lease in my contract was up.

And then the 3G S was announced to launch in my country one month before the lease expires. With video capability and cut-and-paste and all that fancy shit that I wished the first phone had, but didn't. Sweeet.

I am counting down the days to August when I can finally get my hands on one. So I can get back to Twittering on the train, IMing while crossing busy traffic junctions, incessantly checking my e-mail, and having tons of kick-awesome music at my fingertips.

And this time, I'm getting a chain to keep it with me always.



This completely cracks me up and I don't know why

iPhone 3GS
Price: Unknown, I'm guessing about SG $500+ with a plan
Status of acquisition: August, August, so far awaaaaaay

#2
Earlier this year my producer (who has since left the company) turned up to work in a pair of these, albeit brown. Since then they've been haunting me with their delicious retro juice and their big cups fitting snugly over ears blocking out the noise of the world.

I wanted to get a pair, but since I'd lost my iPhone and no longer had a proper MP3 player, it seemed a little silly to.

Then I went to Japan and I saw people wearing them everywhere: on the streets in the trains everywhere. Desire was rekindled.

I began looking for headphones online and eventually located these (which were produced by Panasonic, and not Audio-technica as I was originally led to believe). Sweet green cans with a brown headband... a color combination apparently now only available in Japan. Fuck the wha-!?

After a brief stint of kicking myself in the ass for not thinking of going to look for them when I was actually in the country, I finally arranged to have them delivered to me from Amazon Japan via vPost (as Amazon.co.jp doesn't ship this out of Japan).

As a matter of fact, while talking to my colleagues about my purchase I managed to somehow also talk two of them into getting the same headphones, just one in black and one in white. They are all shipping together, along with this fella, surreptitiously hitching a ride. Yun Kouga's naked space Tieria Consolidated shipping costs FTW!

Our evil plan is to simultaneously wear all three pairs in the office after they arrive, since we all sit around the same area. Yes, I know. We are undeniably awesome.

Panasonic RP-HTX7-G Headphones
Price: ¥4,482 (about US $46)
Status of acquisition: In the process of shipping

#3
I've been fascinated by Lomo cameras for a very, very long time, ever since I read about them in a news article years and years ago. In particular, I like the Colorsplash, the Horizon, Diana F+ and Lubitel cameras, for various reasons (mostly that they take pretty pictures that no amount of post-processing in Photoshop can emulate).

But they are, like all things novelty, rather pricey for something not much more than photographic conceit. And they are analogue film cameras, a format I pretty much haven't used since the turn of the century. I wondered if there was some sort of 30-day trial period for Lomo cameras.

And then I discovered that since the last time I checked, they've made these funky one-time-use disposables that come with a color filter each. That don't cost a million dollars. (And can actually be reloaded, according to the instructions that came with the box) Bingo.

After scouring the web for a while I managed to find a good shop online that sold them separately and shipped to Singapore by priority mail. I got one with a yellow filter, which was schlepped over by UPS in time for tomorrow's stayover night of drunken debauchery that my girlfriends and I have planned. We will take crazy photos (24 of them, to be exact, as provided by the single roll of 35mm film). I will then somehow get it developed. And then I will decide about the other cameras.

Lomolitos
Price: US $40 for a pack of 4, but I got one for $13 and shipped for $35
State of acquisition: I has a Lomolito at the moment. Still thinking about the actual fancy cameras themselves.

#4
I first heard of Modofly as the people who took Moleskines and laser-etched their covers. However they apparently stopped the practice after finding out that Moleskines have PVC in their covers and it's dangerous to etch them because of the tosic fumes.

So they've moved on and become an outfit that makes custom-printed, gorgeously designed notebooks and (apparently) sketchbooks. There are tons and tons of designs on their site, and a good chunk of them are incredibly lovely.

Not gonna lie, thirty-six US dollars is insanely pricey, even for a pretty fabric-bound high-quality sketchbook. It's probably not worth getting any of the designs featured on the site, even if they're really pretty.

What's interesting about them is that they do completely custom printed books. Since each of their notebooks is only printed when it gets ordered anyway, there's no difference in the charge between one of the books in their store, and a book printed with a design you supply yourself. So you could get a book printed with something you drew yourself. Or printed with an awesome crazy photograph and given as a totally unique gift to a friend. Suddenly-- gosh, it sounds like a good idea.

But if I had to pick any of the designs from their site, it would be this one. Absolutely gorgeous.


Modofly books
Price: US $36 for a large sketchbook
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

#5
I stumbled across this artist's work on, of all places, ontd_political (my LJ home away from home). I can't even remember what the post was about, but I do remember homasse posting gifs of this guy's works and me going "OMFG where did you get those from?!?!" So she passed me a link to a shop that sells his artbooks-- hoo boy.

Basically, if you can't already tell from the photo, Takato Yamamoto specializes in dark sensual Ukiyo-e style paintings of beautiful, scantily-clad, somewhat androgynous young men and women, which are sometimes hard to tell apart from each other.

Needless to say, I am absolutely and utterly in love with the artwork.

(Duh.)

There are a whole bunch of artbooks that he's produced and Scarlet Maniera is the first of the lot. I don't know which of them is better than the others so I figured the first book would be an ideal place to start collecting. If I do start collecting. Much as I wish I was, I am not actually in the business of printing money.

(Why could I not have discovered all these things before I went to Japan? Why!?)


Takato Yamamoto's Scarlet Maniera
Price: ¥3,150 (about US $32)
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

#6
Alright, I haven't bought anything from Threadless in a long, long time. While I love their designs, I've come to prefer long shirts with huge graphic designs that cover half of the front, which Threadless doesn't do often.

This, however, is different. I love the design. I love it. It's striking, it covers most of the shirtfront... and it has UV ink ghosts that only show up in bright sunlight. How awesome is that? Plus, it's on sale for only $12, instead of the regular $18.

On the other hand, I need to spend more money on clothes like I need a new hole in the head. So I don't know if I should. Even though it will look awesome with my wardrobe.

Also, it's been as while since I've bought from Threadless (as I've said), and in the interim they've started printing shirts on their own house brand of tees. I've not had any experience with their tees so far-- does anyone here have feedback on it? Is it light and comfy? Anyone?

"Secrets of the City" from Threadless
Price: US$12
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

I have taken this from one_hoopy_frood, with encouragement: the LJ equivalent of a Twitter repost.

I (me, June) have been following the Iran elections & subsequent protests for the last two days, over Twitter, ontd_political, and the blogosphere. It has been a harrowing experience: the tension, the photos, the reports that have come trickling out from the tightening grip of the Iranian government has been both heartbreaking and terrifying. There's something about following the updates of a student getting shot at by armed militias that just tears at you.

Fixed where we are a world away, the best thing we can do is to stay informed and help get the word out. Let those who are fighting for their freedoms know that they are not alone, that others are hearing their cries.

REPOST!

---

If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.



They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with ferver as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Amedinejad.


On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmedinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmedinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite; websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmedinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.



Mousavi requested that they government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. (Personal note: I've heard reports that it might have been 3 million-- but nothing is confirmed at this point). Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. Women are being brutally beat.

Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran, no older than I. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.

For more information:

PICTURES:
Here - from Boston.com
Here - on Flickr

NEW INFORMATION:
Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish - near constant updates
ONTD_political live post - Collated information, pictures & etc in the comments

ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi
@ProtesterHelp
@IranElection09
@IranRiggedElect
@Change_For_Iran <-- no tweets for a while, which is worrying :(
@NextRevolution <-- absolutely heartbreaking

ETA: SIGN THE GLOBAL PETITION! 25,000 signatures and growing! http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protest-against-the-june-2009-coup-detat-in-iran.html

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

---

HTML Code for reposting:
<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/3631625904/" title="289ahjm by jyyang, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3338/3631625904_a2b02c4399.jpg" width="500" height="328" alt="289ahjm" /></a></center> If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now. <center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/3630812085/" title="xku5xj by jyyang, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/3630812085_56fa7ffcec_o.jpg" width="420" height="300" alt="xku5xj" /></a></center> <strong>They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. </strong>For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with ferver as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Amedinejad. On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmedinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmedinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick. The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. <strong>Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite; websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country.</strong> At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. <strong>While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed.</strong> Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmedinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/3630812525/" title="bhm9aw by jyyang, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3630812525_0b8fc7d7b4.jpg" width="500" height="328" alt="bhm9aw" /></a> Mousavi requested that they government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. <strong>At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there.</strong> (Personal note: I've heard reports that it might have been 3 million-- but nothing is confirmed at this point). Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. <strong>Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. Women are being brutally beat. </strong> Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran, no older than I. Tonight there is a Green Revolution. <blockquote><font size="+1"><strong>For more information:</strong></font> <strong>PICTURES:</strong> <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html">Here</a> - from Boston.com <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388/sets/">Here</a> - on Flickr <strong>NEW INFORMATION:</strong> <a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/">Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish</a> - near constant updates <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/3331425.html">ONTD_political live post</a> - Collated information, pictures & etc in the comments </a><strong>ON TWITTER:</strong> @StopAhmadi @ProtesterHelp @IranElection09 @IranRiggedElect @Change_For_Iran <-- no tweets for a while, which is worrying :( @NextRevolution <-- absolutely heartbreaking <b>ETA:</b> SIGN THE GLOBAL PETITION! 25,000 signatures and growing! http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protest-against-the-june-2009-coup-detat-in-iran.html</blockquote> <center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/3631626120/" title="v6u8hw by jyyang, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3631626120_8b3270470b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="v6u8hw" /></a> <font size="+1"><strong>دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند Tell the world how they have stolen our election</strong></font></center> (original post by <lj user="one_hoopy_frood"> <a href="http://one-hoopy-frood.livejournal.com/10678.html">here</a>)

Repost this in your own LJs or elsewhere if you must-- spread the word! CAN'T STOP THE SIGNAL!

Well, now that I've been back from Japan for more than a week and have gained both distance and some sort of perspective on the entire affair, I think I'm finally ready to write a few summary-and-reflection posts. After hanging around listlessly doing nothing-in-particular all of last week, my previously-absent writing mojo is starting to return to me.

The problem is, there's just so much I could write about. I have a whole list of things I'd like to talk about, but I could really use some direction, or at least some inspiration that will lead to some semblance of direction (the wishy-washy-words, they are strong with this one).

So, as usual, I will do things by way of public appeal. Dear friendslist, what part about my trip to Japan would you like to hear most about? Top 10 lists, specific questions, personal reccs, etc.? Anything you want to request, I will consider. Give me an idea on what I should be focusing on! :D

In the meantime, I'm still (slowly) cherrypicking photos & videos from Japan and (slowly) uploading them to my Flickr account. I'll do a final streampost when they're all done.

Giant music-sharing-and-request post coming soon. Hurrah, I guess?

Haven't been blogging Japan because a) tired, and b) figured I was boring most of my friendslist based on the dwindling number of comments. So no full blogposts from me. Instead, have the Flickr photostreams.

Most of the streams aren't too detailed because time spent shopping == nothing particularly photograph-worthy, but I did put in some lengthy explanations on some of the photos I did take, so they're worth checking out if you're interested (particularly the Washinomiya day).

Tomorrow we head to the Tsukiji fish market in the morning so that might be something more interesting. The day after that I fly back to Singapore.


Day 6: Ikebukuro
10 photos


Day 7: The Lucky Star shrine (Washinomiya)
44 photos


Day 8: Shibuya
7 photos, 3 videos





I'm tired and I want to go home.

AIKBA! A day spent navigating up and down one cramped, crazy multisensory, multifloor store after another. Akiba, the venerable Mecca of otaku the world over, was a long street filled with tall skinny buildings all trying to outshout each other as throngs of geeks made their way down it, occasionally vanishing into one of the shining, gaping maws that awaited them. Was it an eye-opener? Most certainly. Would I want to go again? I'd say yes, but my wallet is sitting in a corner screaming "No! No! NO!" You figure it out.

We spent the day there, going in succession from Kotobukiya, K-Books, Gamers, Asobit Chara City, the @thome maid cafe, Toranoana, and Animate. Each of the shops was overflowing, absolutely overflowing, with varying portions of CDs, DVDs, games, manga, doujinshi, hobby kits and character goods. The madness didn't end where the merch did: the walls, the stairs, the gantries, even the interior of the damn lifts were literally plastered over with posters, ads, prices, and more anime than the eyes could stand. I didn't take many pictures of the places we went: where the hell would I start? Akihabara is not a place, it's an experience.

The absolute best part of our day was the time we spent in the maid cafe. We weren't actually planning on going, but we needed to find a place to sit down and sort through the stuff we'd bought, and we had been given directions to the place by my sister's otaku guy friend, so we decided to give it a try. What we found inside was a delight: the maids were cheerful and friendly, who held a rock-paper-scissors game for all the patrons, taught us to do a little "MOE, MOE, KYUNN~" handsign-and-chant thing before tucking into our sweets, and talked to us despite our general failure in speaking Japanese. One of the maids serving us saw us sorting through the b00bies doujin we'd bought and told us she was a fan of the series too (she liked Lockon and Patrick). When she saw the Tieria-centric ecchi doujin menelvir had bought for me, she said "Banshi ni attai suru!" Which was the title of the doujin, but left us all in a fit of senseless giggles anyway. menelvir asked another of the maids about the ring she was wearing which was this little thing with a faux macaroon on it, because she wanted to see if she could buy one like it. But it turned out that the girl had made it herself, and then she insisted on giving it to menelvir. Oh man! We left the cafe feeling slightly guilty about it, but also completely bubbly and giggly-- it gets infectious. I highly recommend visiting this cafe if you're ever in Akiba, it takes up several floors on a building on the left of the first big cross junction after coming out of the station. (@thome cafe's website)

The worst part of the day, if I had to say, was probably our time in K-books while we were browsing through the used CD section, which was also in the doujin and character good section. That place just gave off... weird vibes, from the body pillows on sale to the shelves of hentai stuff all over, and the men there who were giving us all sorts of strange looks. We three were the only girls in that entire half of the store, and it felt really skeezy in a way that the normal, non-yaoi hentai doujin part of Toranoana didn't (even though the latter had ginormous nipples on display everywhere you looked. Everywhere, I assure you). Maybe guys would have been comfortable hanging up, but we certainly weren't.

What else can I say about Akiba? By the end of the day we had bags filled with anime merch of all sorts, gotten entirely sick of the theme songs to K-on (they were playing in every shop we went into. EVERY shop), and spent more money than we had capacity to not feel guilty for. I'm just thoroughly glad that I'm not a huge fan of any of the anime series that have come out this year, or I would be much, much poorer.

( Pictures of the shops, and my swag! )

And finally, a catalogue of the stuff that I couldn't take out and photograph in public. I have no idea why I thought making a video of it would be a good idea, since I hate my voice and how dumb I sound when I talk, but there you go.




Today's flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/sets/72157618685353139/

Tomorrow: Ikebukuro, and a butler cafe!

Our first full day in Tokyo passed in a madness of shopping and elbowing through crowds of people. I went to Harajuku intending to spend money, and spend money I did. Something like six tops, two skirts, a bunch of leggings, and a whole plethora of accessories to go along with. Packed ¥30,000 (about USD300) into my wallet and spent almost all of it. Along the way, managed to grab some good food, meet some of Tokyo's more outrageous denizens, and have dinner with dilettantka and hinoai. Sugoi.

The main attraction, for us, was Takeshita dori, the little street that could--crammed from end to end with shops hawking clothes and bags and accessories for the trendy kids of Tokyo. And it's got benri--convenience--down to an art: get off the train at Harajuku, follow the big bright signs that say "Takeshita dori", and bam! The street is right in your face the moment you step out of the ticket gantry. No maps needed. Just cross the road and you're on your way to a day's worth of browsing the colorful, beckoning, overflowing stores down its maybe-hundred-and-fifty meter length.

Here's a very brief pictorial recap of our day there-- mostly I was too busy buying stuff to take pictures.


One of the places we patronized hugely was this shop called ACDC Rags, which had multiple outlets around Takeshita dori. They sold all sorts of punk apparel, frills and checkers and skulls and metal studs. I bought a pair of boots and a sling bag from them.


( Cosplayers, and madness )

Here's a little video of Meiji-jingu-mae, where my sister wonders about the nose strip popularized by (I believe) the Gazette's Reita.

Tomorrow we head to Akiba: Otaku heaven!

Day three had been reserved for traveling: from Kyoto back to Tokyo, and then bashing around Tokyo until we'd finally located our hostel, and then riding on the Yamanote line like crazy bastards getting used to commuting in Japan.

It went sort of something as planned.


We walked back to the Kyoto Tower to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. And while we were there, we saw something quite unusual--or perhaps quite usual, by Japanese standards:


Then it was Shinkansen time, back to Tokyo. We ate bento we bought from the station, as well as a few mementoes we got from Kyoto:


We got to Tokyo and onto the Yamanote line without a hitch. That wasn't the hard part of our trip. The hard part... was to come later.


( Getting lost in Tokyo! )

And here is the video of the day: the Ameyoko open air market. Deliciously crowded and lively.


Here's the flickr stream for Day 3. As usual, bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos later-- I will probably upload more after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

NEXT UP: HARAJUKU AND THE WALL OF PEOPLE... or so I've heard about the conditions of Harajuku on a Sunday. But we must catch the cosplayers and the Goth Lolis in action!

P.S. I know I have a metric shiton of comments to get back to on the previous posts-- sorry! I will get to them... eventually. A bit short of time here, I am.

We got up early and hacked our way to Kyoto station, where we caught the 8:04AM Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Our destination: the A-bomb done and the memorial park.

Luckily for us, there is a electric streetcar that goes from the Shinkansen station to right in from of the A-bomb done. The station's even called Genbaku Dome-mae.


The dome is the beginning of a series of interconnected parks and memorials around the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which documents the bombing.



( Memorials and okonomiyaki )

Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo and settle in. In the meantime, here's a video I took of the Shinkansen arriving at the station in Hiroshima:

pkyyr and menelvir were trying to stick their fingers into the shot while I was filming >8(


Here's the flickr stream for Day 2. As usual, bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos later-- I will probably upload more after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

So! Day 1 in Japan with pkyyr and menelvir. After a long overnight journey which was so empty I got to sleep across a row of chairs in cattle class, we arrived in Japan, and spent the next six hours shuttling from highspeed train to highspeed train until we finally arrived in Kyoto.

Kyoto/Hiroshima is the scenic leg of our trip, all culture and scenery and sane, not-at-all-brain-melting things. Or at least, as un-brain-melty as it can get when it involves people like my sister and I.

A brief pictorial recap!


We arrived in Tokyo in the morning, struggled out of the airport and somehow managed to not only buy our passes, get our tickets and locate the train, but also do so without getting lost. 2 years of Japanese language studies have paid off, apparently!



I did some Japanese studying on the train journey there, which was a rather cramped and uncomfortable affair for someone traveling with 10 days' baggage. I was up to the eyes in stuff, and I kept elbowing the poor salaryman in the seat next to mine everytime I tried to retrieve something from my bag.


It took us a bloody long time (and a lot of trekking, 10 days' baggage and all) before we managed to locate K's House Kyoto, shoved into a small side street. After checking in, a sort-of lunch and a quick shower, we set out to explore on foot and search for Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)-- the love shrine, and I don't mean the dirty sort. It's old, it's famous, and it's also right on top of a hill overlooking the city.

( A bajillion pictures of Kyoto and Kiyomizu-dera )

And that's my very brief recap of the day. I leave you here with a video I shot while we were walking through the tiny back streets of Kyoto. I call it "The Trouble With Tomare". JSYK, "Tomare (止まれ)" means "STOP!" in Japanese.




Here's the flickr stream for Day 1. Bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos of Kyoto-- I have tons more, which I will probably upload after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

Up next: Day 2, Day Trip To Hiroshima! Hopefully, I'll be able to get some blogging done tomorrow since we apparently arrive back at the hostel fairly late. If not, you'll hear from me on Saturday when we finally get back to Tokyo.

PinkDot! My Very First GLBT Event was a blast, I ran into people I knew, I met a whole bunch of people I hadn't known. I met up and had dinner with an old secondary school classmate whom I hadn't caught up with in years, and whom I just found out was gay today. That was awesome. Hung out or met up with ataraxistence, forochel, renovak, htenywg, glazzal, malyntine, the usual #awaresg folks (@missbossy, @ctham, @bruincoffee, @bionic_creative, @Wolfgang_, @wynlim, etc.), plus a whole lot of other friends-of-friends and assorted folks, including someone I'd hooked up with on OkCupid (hi Kai Er!)

In other words, it was awesome. A great day spent in the company of many like-minded, open-minded and/or openly gay folks. I can't really put the scope of it into words, so I will let my photos (and videos!) do the talking.



( PHOTOS, 20+ OF THEM )


And now, I will leave you with this. Due to my abominable videography skills, and the fact that I tried shooting all my videos by waving my camera above my head and hoping I would get something good, all the videos I took turned out disjointed, random, and worthy of Blair Witch-eqsue motion sickness fits. So I tried to salvage the scraps by snipping them together and pasting music over them. At 1AM. On iMovie. A program that I actually have no idea how to use.

I was tempted to use "Free" by the Lighthouse Family as a backing track, but the Glambert won out in the end.

My Flickr set for this event (with larger versions of all the photos here)
ETA!: The actual Pink Dot! Via Twitter
Son of ETA! Official PinkDot video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9gDazG4cC0 I'm in it @ 00:28 -- check out the stupid face I made!

Okay guys, THANK YOU so much for all the supremely helpful tips to my OMG JAPAN post, I promise I will get around to replying to all the comments there. This is just a flyby post to express my UTTER RAGE.

Background: Singapore's Nominated Members of Parliament are up for nomination again. These folks are not democratically elected, but rather, selected by the Parliament from various walks of life (not necessarily political), to sit alongside elected Members of Parliament and offer alternative opinions during parliamentary debate.

Current NMP Siew Kum Hong, who was the nifty guy who did his legal advice to the AWARE Old Guard (pro bono!) is up for renomination. Unfortunately, he appears to be the target of an astroturfing effort to smear his reputation and hurt his chances of re-nomination.

I got wind of this and left a comment supporting NMP Siew on the Government's online outreach board. It was a horribly phrased, terribly cliched little thing that sounded like a sixteen year-old wrote it for their O-level argumentative essay. Nevermind that. Half of the comments on that page were illogical, fear-mongering anti-gay screeds anyway.

Then I hit a particular stinker of a comment on that same page and totally lost my cool. I quote verbatim:

Jose Rodrigo
13 May 09 , 16:36 PM

Please stop demonising Christianity. Its not just Christian values, its Asian Values. One we grew up with in this country. Values that teach us love and family respect. Not everyone who oppose this evil are christians, we're decent, harworking, STRAIGHT Singaporeans who don't want to see our country corrupted by these buggers and see our children turned into sexual deviants.They're decent Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, Hindus etec. They take a stand against this insidious evil called Homosexuality.
It is not intolerance, its right and wrong. We refuse to co-exist with these degenerates, just like a flock of sheep cannot co-exist with a wolf in the flock.

That said, an NMP who speaks for this alternate lifestyle cannot, and MUST NOT be supported.

WHAT. THE. FLYING-- WHAT. WHERE DO YOU EVEN BEGIN TO-- NO. NO.

Half a minute of finger-shaking rage later, I finally managed to compose myself enough to sit down and type out this reply:

JY Yang
13 May 09 , 17:08 PM

Dear Mr. Rodrigo,

Have you heard the words that are coming out of your (figurative) mouth? "Evil"? "Degenerates"? These are PEOPLE you are talking about, fellow human beings who just happened to have been born different from you. You are veering dangerously close to hate speech, my friend. Gay people are not going to eat your children, take away your job, or strip you of your right to marry. Why do you feel the need to persecute them so? If you want to talk about demonizing, I suggest you look in the mirror first.

Comments like yours perfectly exemplify why we need reasoned voices like NMP Siew's in Parliament, who speak up for those who would otherwise be dehumanized and stripped of their rights by the bigotry such as you are espousing.

I'm still angry. I'm still fuming, seriously. Asian values... Asian values my ASS. As @missbossy said on Twitter, ask him to go read Dream Of The Red Chamber and stop talking out of his ass. Or this bit in Wikipedia, particularly about early European explorers being shocked by the open acceptance of homosexuality in Asian cultures. Also, I'll note that Buddhism & Hinduism, both major Asian-origin religions here, do not consider homosexuality a sin. Unlike the Abrahamic religions imported from the West-- and even then there's not always consensus. Not even gonna touch the rest of the hate and the ignorance in that comment. Just--

FLAMES. ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE.


I'M GOING DOWN FOR PINKDOT COME HELL OR HIGH WATER

It's just hit me. It's just hit me. I'm flying to Japan next week and I have not prepared anything for the trip yet. I blame recent... events for distracting me, but the key thing is that we'll be headed to Japan in a week and I haven't even given it more than a cursory thought.

Or, to be more accurate, we're going to be in Tokyo for six days and we have NO IDEA where we're about to go. Other than vague notions of "Okay, we'll spend a day in Ikebukuro, a couple of days in Shinjuku & Harajuku, some time checking out Akiba..." We're not taking any guided tours, we've never been to Japan before, and as a matter of fact I have a sinking feeling we'll spend most of our days there lost and peering at our maps and trying to figure out which intersection we're at and how many miles away it is from where we actually want to be. GOD HELP US.

Well, actually, maybe you guys can help us. If you're familiar with Tokyo, or have been there recently, maybe you might have answers to these questions!

1. What are good places for budget clothes & accessories shopping? I want to throw out half my dowdy old wardrobe to repopulate it with fancy shirts, cute skirts, stockings, boots, belts and various shiny accessories. At the same time, I don't want to spend a fortune. Anyone know of a good place to get cheap but fashionable stuff?


2. There are tons, and tons, and tons of otaku places to go in Japan. We definitely won't be able to visit them all. Anyone got reccs for the best you-can't-go-to-Japan-and-not-go-here places to get manga/doujin/anime merch?


3. What's the availability of free wireless like? Especially in K's Hostel where we'll be staying. I ask because I know I'll need regular access to email for work purposes. (The computer will be with me in Japan, yes.)


4. Because food in Japan is so expensive and we need to save costs, we'll spend our trip subsisting on peasant ramen and discount bentos. We're planning to limit ourselves to ONE good meal at a decent-but-not-too-fancy restaurant. Food reccs, anybody?

And finally, anyone want me to help buy them something from Japan? This is entirely dependent on cash flow issues and luggage space, but I can probably afford to help people buy and transport small items costing ¥2000 or less. Like manga or gashapon figurines or Pinky dolls. No guarantees I'll actually be able to find the stuff, but I can try!

(For those who will inevitably ask: We are spending a couple of days in Kyoto, taking a day trip to Hiroshima, and then spending the rest of the trip, six days in total, in Tokyo. We have Kyoto and Hiroshima more or less worked out, but the Tokyo leg of the trip is a huge blank. And we're flying off in SEVEN DAYS. HALP.)

---

Now, for something entirely different (and completely Singaporean). A plug for Aware! There's a fundraiser running from the 27th May to the 30th May in the form of Caryl Churchill's award-winning classic feminist play, Top Girls. I would love to go, but I WILL BE IN JAPAN. D'oh. Tickets range from $25 (for students), to $40 (for adults), to $80 (for the 30th May Gala night, which includes a reception that I assume involves food and wine. How can you say no to alcohol?)

Here's the pimp post I wrote for the revamped We-Are-Aware site that has more information about the play, the venue, and how to get tickets. If you're in Singapore and you have an evening to burn, why not go for this? It's for a good cause, after all.




...honestly, while I don't begrudge my trip to Japan, I'm a little bitter that I'll be missing out on so much good stuff while I'm gone. This play, my monthly writers' meetup, my company's quarterly social event in the form of a BBQ, the goddamn AMERICAN IDOL FINALE ASFDJKLA. Dangnabbit, life! Augh!

Last night I attended the first ever #awaresg_tweetup, which was also the first ever tweetup of its kind in Singapore. It even beat out the planned first-ever Singapore tweetup scheduled for next Thursday (sorry, guys, but we got there first, hah!)

As a tweetup should naturally be, this was a spontaneous event that was conceptualized and organized entirely on Twitter one night before (with its own hastag!) We met up at a beer place by the river, had laughs, beer, some food, more beer, some really good conversations, and then a little more beer. Topics of conversation ranged from MOE's suspension of Aware's CSE to our favorite #awaresg tweets from the EGM to how various American TV shows not just lost the plot and jumped the shark but also slaughtered it and made shark's fin soup with the results. Jokes about what a letdowns we all were, actually spending all our time talking to people instead of incessantly tweeting about the tweetup. A sudden inexplicable flurry of "PLEASE FONDLE MY BUM".

Did I already mention that there was a lot of beer?

Of course, it wasn't all beer and skittles, we discussed Important Stuff too. Stuff like migrating/transitioning the We Are Aware website post-EGM, now that it's no longer a Hub For A Revolution--and I will keep folks posted on that, as I have volunteered to helping out with it in my capacity. We are Serious People, about Serious Business (bum-fondling notwithstanding)!

Finally, as night marched towards next-day, we showed off our stunning math prowess by collecting so much excess money to foot bill that we ended up with a impromptu $70 donation to AWARE, as accepted by Martha, the exco member who joined us. ("Are you guys sure about this!?" "...er, yeah, we have no idea who's supposed to get that money back, so keep it, it'll help towards the $90,000 dollars.")

It was good times. It was really good times.

And here's the amazing thing about it. A month ago, even two weeks ago, I had no idea who any of these people were. I didn't even get to meet any of them during the EGM. All my interaction with them was through that baffling, delightful and often overwhelming you've-got-to-use-it-to-get-it phenomenon, Twitter. Yet within five minutes of meeting each other we were talking and throwing around jokes like old friends. We had so much in common, so much to talk about.

Looking at it now, it was almost as though Twitter and its hashtags had magically drawn together a whole bunch of people who were alike in spirit, and plonked them together IRL. Like the Internet has been doing since the dawn of its creation, but on a much faster, 140-character sized scale. Instant community, for the instant gratification generation (not defined by age, but by mindset). Just add beer.

If we were ever to invent rainbow sparkles that magically bestow the power of telepathy to all in its radius, I imagine the result would looks something like the Twittersphere.

After all, we can all appreciate a bum-fondling joke or two, can't we?



From top to bottom, L to R: @Scubear, @hanifn, @bruincoffee, @ctham, Jac, @gtuckerkellogg. Then @missbossy [the ringleader], @bionic_creative, yours truly, @germaine, Yen & Martha. Had to put on the flash because poor lighting required much steadier hands than the poor waiter had (it takes a lot of practice to figure out my camera on no flash)


ETA: And just because I can! Aware-related linkdump!
Callan/@ctham's tweetup post
How to win an EOGM and win lotsa friends An old post, but still full of delicious, delicious lulz.
Aware saga on Reuters!
Aware saga on the Economist!
Our Feminist Mentos featured on RollOn Friday, a UK blog for lawyers Got to love droll British humor-- sorry, humour.
Dogemperor's post on the WayangParty site (P.S. dogemperor, you were mentioned at the tweetup! You're famous in Singapore now! Ha!)

I have decided that, come hell or high water, skipped Japanese lessons and what not, I will be going for PinkDot, the local Freedom To Love! LGBT support event that's happening next Saturday. It's not a protest, it's not a demonstration, it's just a gathering of people who want to show they believe that people should be free to love whomever they want, regardless of sexual orientation.



I want to do this, badly, and the reason is several-pronged. I suppose I can trace it back to the Aware saga, a large part of which became about homosexuality, and the acceptance thereof. I was heartened, really heartened, by the groundswell of support from people who came out to say that yes, there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, yes, we should be telling our kids in school that it's not a bad thing to be gay.

At the same time, I'm disheartened by the number of voices that I've heard saying that it's wrong to teach children about homosexuality, it's wrong to imply that it's not normal, it's wrong to even bring it up for discussion in the first place. It's not part of our accepted social fabric. Bringing it up will disturb the status quo.

That, at least, seems to be the line echoed by the establishment here. After the Aware EGM was over, after the ruckus has settled down a little, the Ministry of Education suspended all its external sexuality programmes, including the contentious Aware one that was accused of teaching "pro-gay" values. Its official reason, given in a letter to the press, was that part of it was inappropriate. In verbatim, I quote:

In particular, some suggested responses in the instructor guide are explicit and inappropriate, and convey messages which could promote homosexuality or suggest approval of premarital sex.

Promoting homosexuality. Just like promoting being Chinese, or being black. It's not a choice, but lots of people here don't get it. They think that by shielding their children from the fact that homosexuality exists, they will be able to protect them from catching the gay virus, or whatever they think it is causes people to be gay.

It's the sort of thing I can't stand. The misconceptions, the refusal to know all the facts, the "let's sweep this under the rug and not talk about it because it makes me uncomfortable". I cannot really blame the ministry for doing what they did, because that is the way a lot of people think.

But that is why I must go for this. To reaffirm to myself that there are lots of people here who aren't like that. To comfort myself with the knowledge that no matter how uphill the battle for acceptance seems to be, we are not alone. We will be taking steps. Baby steps.

I will be wearing this pink #awaresg shirt there, and will most probably be meeting up with a few others from the #awaresg Twitter hashtag-turned-channel-thingamajig. 4.30-6.00PM, Saturday, Hong Lim Park, FOC, all are welcome regardless of orientation. Can I convince any of you guys to come with me?

ETA: Some blogs.
From Catherine Lim, writer.
Open letter to MOE, written by a very eloquent student
Alvin shall not be ignorant about homosexuality anymore (click on the 'l' to read the post)

Back again! The shenanigans never come to an end on this journal.

First off, I have to link this lovely video that's been going around: a summation of Saturday (the events of which I'm still slowly getting over, btw). It captures a bit of the movie-ending feel I got when I was at the EGM myself, IMHO.



Thanks to everyone who left comments on my Aware-related posts-- I know I haven't gotten back to them, even though there weren't a lot of them. I fail that way! I'll reply to them when I can. In the meantime, though, the madness continues...

According to some links dug up by discerning local netizens, the crazy that is Thio Su Mien has apparently far greater than we've given her credit for, and I'm not even talking about her running a creepy basement church from which she apparently cures cancer or something. Forget "I'm on page 73", according our self-styled Feminist Mentor, the SARS virus was apparently divine punishment for the use of abortion. Taken from an article from The ElijahList, verbatim:

Last February, a USSPN Washington Regional Coordinator was present during a report given by an international lawyer from Singapore, Thio Su Mien (Su), who is gifted in prophetic intercession and healing. She shared about some of the things going on in the area of Indonesia before the tsunami.

She explained how the SARS virus hit Singapore a year prior to the earthquake/tsunami. The Lord alerted the intercessors and told them that if they did not get on their faces and repent on behalf of their nation's involvement in abortion as the contraceptive of choice, that the land would suffer from His hand of judgment.

Because they saw how devastating the SARS virus had been, the intercessors immediately took action to seek His mercy and forgiveness. Singapore was not touched by the earthquake disaster.

Hear that? THE FEMINIST MENTOR SAVED US FROM THE INDONESIAN TSUNAMI! And not, you know, the Indonesian peninsula or physical geography or anything! It's a miracle! Hallelujah praise the Lord!

This, however, perfectly explains why she could go on record at a press conference basically saying that gay women are gay because their daddies touched them when they were kids. It's not because she's a power-hungry fanatic trying to stir up fear and disgust, it's because she's plain BATSHIT INSANE!

Aren't you guys glad someone who thinks that the fucking SARS virus was a result of WOMEN HAVING ABORTIONS isn't in charge of the biggest women's rights group in this country? We dodged a fucking bullet there, my friends.

(Also, counting down until she starts saying that swine flu is the result of those OMG EVIL LESBIANS and their unrepentant supporters at Aware. Just you wait!)

Well, it could be worse, at any rate. She could be like this guy who openly admitted to fucking a mule on national television. And a watermelon. And thinks it's normal behavior for everybody who grew up on a farm. And... no wait one motherfucking second HOW THE FUCK DO YOU FUCK A WATERMELON JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST. Oh screw it, forget, how, WHY WOULD ANYBODY EVEN WANT TO FUCK A WATERMELON?!





I got nothing, man, nothing.

So, by now, everybody who's been following the Aware issue is already I don't think there's anything more I can contribute to the Aware reports that aren't already out there. There are excellent transcripts from Wayang Party, videos and coverage from The Online Citizen, blog posts from everyone, and tons and tons of videos, photos and tweets all flying around the Internet. I can't possibly add anything more useful to that.

What I can do, however, is write a long-winded, hyperbolic, needlessly-dramatic and certainly very backwards-looking-rose-tinted photoessay-cum-personal-account of my day at the EOGM, complete with photos randomly taken in black-and-white because I was having too much fun with my camera's color filters.

So have at it!

THE LONG ROAD IN
I met thurisaz83 sometime around 12.30PM, half an hour after registration had opened. By that time the queue had already snaked its way through the fourth floor of the Suntec convention center, folded itself into crenulations, spilled down the stairs and crept across the third floor. Hundreds had shown up to join the queue hours before the counters were open-- typical of Singaporeans!


The queue just got longer and longer as it got closer to 2PM. In the end, the EGM was pushed back to 2.30 just so that everybody could be seated. All in all, the estimate was that some 3,000 or so people turned up. It was a massive, massive event. Supporters of the Josie Lau's exco were in red shirts, while volunteers from We Are Aware were wearing white shirts, and handing out signs, flowers, and bottles of water.

There was a separate, shorter line for people who wanted to sign up on the spot and then join the EGM, a route which htenywg took. Not sure how many new members Aware got that day but I figure it must have been a few hundred folks at least.

We managed to get into the hall somewhere around 1PM. By then the front third had already filled up, and there were still hundreds more to be seated. The non-voting associate members--men, non-Singaporean/PR women and girls between 15-18--were separated from the voting members on the far side of the conference hall, and given hard white plastic chairs to sit on (instead of the plush green ones that we got). We thought it was rather unkind, and one of the first things the old guard did after declaring Josie Lau's exco ousted was to invite the associate members over--to enthusiastic cheering on both sides.

( INSIDE THE HALLS )

( PUSHING FOR THE VOTE )

( THE LONG WAIT )

( VICTORY! )

ETA: Forgot to add, and perhaps am too late with this, but bigger versions of each photo are available @ my Flickr photostream. Enjoy!

It came, it went, and things will never be the same again. In other words, it was epic. EPIC.

For those who are not in Singapore and wasn't following the news, here's a quick summary of what happened:

• The EGM drew a couple thousand people and lasted about six hours!
• The new exco were voted out 1414 to 761(ish)! And the old guard was nominated in to take their place.
• Many, many awesome people--both women and men--stood up and made their intelligent and passionate viewpoints heard.
• #awaresg made a #1 trending topic on Twitter :D :D :D It even beat out #swineflu and X-Men: Origins!

Personally, I had a great time. I was there with thurisaz83 and htenywg, and I ran into people I have not seen in years, it was amazing. It's days like these when I have to go "God damn but it's really a small world here in Singapore!" (I think the high turnout of young graduate women helped a lot. Lots and lots of NUS alumni there.)

I have never been prouder to be a Singaporean woman than this day and this night.

Photos, videos (maybe), and a more in-depth account of it tomorrow. For now though, I will retire to bed to rest my aching eyes and head, glad and proud that justice, civic society and common sense have prevailed.

Alright, for a change, here's something completely unrelated to the ongoing Aware saga. A photoshoot of my Pinky St. girls!

I have 7 of them at the moment: the first two whose photos I've already posted, then the three that I adopted from shinrei_24, and then finally the two who arrived last week. I'm thinking of getting two more: the one of the kid from The Sky Crawlers and this one named Caine.

Yes, I am rather obsessed with collecting these, it is clear.


Here's a couple from an older shoot of Ana-Marie and Collette, when they were the only two I had. Yes, they are a couple.


(The rest of the girls are just friends. ;))

Now this one is specially for pigtail78:

And poor Matt's all, "I guess I'm not getting any..." Bawwww.

OMG WHY AM I SLASHING AI CONTESTANTS NAO WTF JUNE WTFF