jinyo

http://www.jffla.org/?page_id=4
I'll probably be too busy to go to this, but I figure that a lot of you guys might be interested.

The Japan Film Festival will run in downtown LA April 11-17. 
Then it moves to Irvine April 18-20.  Sort of. 

In LA, they will be showing their full menu of 22 feature films and 3 collections of shorts. They will show five different films (or collections) per day. Then when the festival "moves" to Irvine, they will show only 5 of the films from the festival. So really, the full festival will only be in LA. 

They will be showing a broad range of Japanese films, including feature films, indy films, documentaries, classics, and yes, you freaking nerds, animation.

( Movies? What movies? )( . )

Two words... Condition: PINK.
If you don't know what SakuraWatch is all about, check out this post.

I stopped by the Bielensen today. There were a lot of ducks.
There was also a prevailing pinkish hue over the sakura trees! These babies are pregnant, and they're about to pop.

( On to the Sakureport! )
( . )
As I said last week, the way things look right now, I'd say that the weekend of March 15 seems like a good bet. The weekend of March 22nd, there will probably still be enough flowers to get good photos from the stragglers. But it probably won't be the main event.

Thank goodness I'm finished making my sakura cosplay! Or rather, I've barely begun.
What? As if you're any further along than I am!

EDIT:
slave_to_anime, photographer extraordinaire, will be hitting the park this weekend for a bit of sakura watching of his own.
Here's his schedule. And where he goes, so go the cosplayers (at least the ones who really want good photos).

A new trailer for the upcoming Iron Man movie is online!
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29294971

It's about 2 1/2 minutes long, and it has a lot more footage of the suit, and clips of Tony Stark's dialogue. It looks pretty freaking cool, as eye candy goes.

Almost cool enough for me to forgive the incredibly offensive scene in which Iron Man smashes a Shelby Cobra.
Almost.

Oh snap! Another one!
If you don't know what SakuraWatch is all about, check out this post.

It was pretty warm and clear today. A perfect day to check on the State of the Bielenson. In short, the trees are coming along. Things seem to be tracking closely with last year. Maybe a little bit behind, but not far.

( On to the Sakureport! )
( . )
The way things look right now, I'd say that the weekend of March 15 seems like a good bet. Maybe the weekend of March 22nd. But the way things are developing, I'd guess that the sakura won't be peaking yet by the weekend of March 8.

So how's that cosplay coming along?
;D

It's that time again!
And if you don't know what SakuraWatch is, check out this post. Basically, it's the countdown to the two weeks or so out of the year when you have a chance to get photos like this, and this.

( On to the Sakureport! )


Take this as your wake-up call.
From the looks of these trees, I would guess that the sakura are more or less on schedule with last year, and will likely be at their peak on the weekend of March 15th, and possibly as early as March 8th or as late as March 23rd.

I'm sure that someone will correct me if their opinion differs.

Here it is:
http://www.indianajones.com/

Click "Video" on the top menu.
The trailer has actual footage from the movie!
There are also a bunch of behind-the-scenes videos, which will probably end up as extras on the eventual DVD release.

In other movie news, Star Trek's release date has been pushed back to May 8, 2009, one week after the scheduled release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman of course, and one week before Angels and Demons, the next Da Vinci Code movie.

The Apple Market is on one side of the main building. Contrary to the name, it is not a fruit market. Rather, it is a hall where an individual can rent a "barrow" or a stall where they can sell stuff like arty craft items, fashions, and accessories.

( Shopping! )

( . )

For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."

This Saturday morning I'll be going to FIDM.

The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising is having their annual exhibition of movie costumes. They are displaying over 100 screen-used costumes. This will include costumes from last year's Costume Design Oscar winner, Marie Antoinette, as well as the nominees for this year's Academy Award: Atonement, Across the Universe, Elizabeth, La Vie En Rose, and Sweeney Todd.



There will also be costumes from 16 other films from 2007, including Lust, Silk, Enchanted, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Stardust, 3:10 to Yuma, and Blades of Glory.

The exhibition is free, and runs until April 12.
According to the guy I spoke to on the phone, no photography of any kind is allowed, per their agreement with the movie studios who are loaning them the costumes for the exhibition. But I may bring my camera just in case he was mistaken.

If you wanna check out the exhibit tomorrow, maybe I'll see you there!

I was in London as part of a summer abroad programme. The students in the programme stayed in Commonwealth Hall, a dormitory a few blocks away from the part of the University of London where we took classes.

( Welcome to my home from home. )

( . )

For my other posts of the UK, click on "uk" up above, where it says "Tags."

Just to be paranoid, I called Star Trek: The Tour to make sure it was okay to come in uniform. Of course, Trekkies were among the first cosplayers, so it's pretty much assumed that fans will show up in costume. (As the woman on the phone told me, people have been showing up in costume since the moment they opened.) I just wanted to make sure they didn't decide to act like Disneyland and prohibit fan costumes.

Anyway, she said that costumes are just fine.
So if you've been thinking of making a Starfleet uniform, now is the time! I plan to visit the Tour in uniform.

And remember, if you're not a fan of the Starfleet look, there has been a broad range of costumes worn on the 725 episodes of the six series. They've met characters who dressed in a variety of period clothes, including caveman, 1920 gangsters, 1940s soldiers and civilians, 1960s of course, and more contemporary clothes. Odds are you could throw together something that fits Trek, if you tried.

This past summer, I went to London. I did some sightseeing, some touring around the island. I took more than 2000 photographs. With the winter holidays, I have finally had some time to finish going through all of my pictures and put them into some order. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some of my pics (not all 2000), to share with you some of the sights I saw and some of the aspects I experienced while living in London for a few weeks.

I kicked things off a little while ago with a preview of some of my pictures of the United Kingdom.
It's over here, so have a look and refresh your memory.

( What could be more British than tourist photos? )

( . )

Star Trek: The Tour will be in Long Beach from Friday January 18, to Sunday, February 17.
It's open 10-10 on weekends, 10-8 on weekdays. Tickets are $35 ($30 on weekdays), but unless you go to the box office in Long Beach, you will have to get tickets via TicketMaster, which means ridiculous "service fees" which means you'll probably end up paying close to $42 per person.

There will be costumes, props, and reproductions of sets from the shows and movies. There will also be a motion simulator ride and of course lots of Star Trek merch and food for sale. Plus an audio tour for $6.

I'm thinking of going on Sunday, February 3, but I'll keep it open for discussion.

I just discovered that one of my best friends, rurouni_jedi, is the featured interview on Cospod!

If you don't know Cospod, it's an hour-long podcast centered around the peculiar hobby of cosplay. It's fun and nerdy, and stars the delightful lillyxandra and Diana.

*goes to listen*

I've traveled back in time to November 5 (ooh, Guy Fawkes Day!) to tell Sho to listen to Shea's interview on Cospod.

Go, Sho!

Got a Disneyland season pass?
I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow.
Who else wants to go?

Just thought I'd take a break from reading the new Harry Potter book (chapter 8, woo! OMG R.A.B. IS KREACHER!?! WTF! I didn't see that one coming.) and give you a glimpse of the midnight sale here.
( No spoilers, just pictures )
( Can you say 'Excess Baggage Fee?' )

I found more Harry Potter stamps today, as you can see here.

In addition to the seven stamps, each of which depicts a book cover, they have also released a "miniature sheet" containing five stamps: the Hogwarts crest is on the center stamp, and each of the other stamps bears one of the House crests.



Here's a better look at the house crest "miniature sheet."

The UK just released Harry Potter postage stamps today!
I know, not quite as cool as Star Wars stamps, but still pretty fun!
The UK is somewhat behind in their postechnology, as their stamps are still the kind you lick, not the self-stick kind we use in the US. But you fangirls probably have no objection to licking Harry...

They're 34p, standard first-class mail, which is about 75 cents US per stamp.

As Duke Leto Atreides said, "a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." This is why people travel: to experience new things, and thus to grow.

So I will begin my series of travel reports on the UK with an overview of some of the new things I've experienced. Too often, when people travel to the United Kingdom, they just post pictures of the same old stuff you see on the travels shows, like the Eiffel Tower, the Acropolis, and Mount Rushmore. Well, you're not going to see any of those in my reports!

This report will focus on some of the ways that the UK is different from the United States, things that I have encountered on a day-to-day basis. I believe that they will show how...

Britain is an Exotic Foreign Land
( and the biggest bitch you will ever meet. )
( . )

Dude, seriously, what was up with the rain? It pretty much rained all weekend. On Sunday there was an hour or two when it looked like it would be nice out, some blue sky showing through the clouds, some sunshine warming things up... but no, this was just a trick to try and get you to leave your umbrella back in your hotel room. Because next thing you know, more rain and wind.

8000 miles west of me, a bunch of weirdos were dressing up like cartoon characters. 150 miles to my east, central England was experiencing mad flooding. I spent AX weekend safe, but wet, in North Wales.

The highlight of my visit was Portmeirion, a unique little resort exquisitely designed in a Mediterreanian style. Portmeirion (pronounced "port Marion") was also the site where the 1966 cult classic television show "The Prisoner" was filmed, with the picturesque little resort standing in for The Village, where people were sent who knew too much for their own good.



As you can see, I'm wearing my #6 pennyfarthing bicycle pin, purchased in the Prisoner Shop in Portmeirion (yes, they have a shop solely devoted to Prisoner stuff).

The Prisoner on Wikipedia

Portmeirion website

Shout outz to... um, nobody. I didn't see anyone I knew all weekend.

In other news, someone drove a flaming car into the airport in Glasgow. That should mean I'm safe if I wanna hit up Edinburgh next weekend, right? I mean, what are the odds of them hitting Scotland twice?

HA! This is great!
Nearly my entire flist is either away at AX or otherwise occupied! I'm able to go away for an entire weekend, and come back to almost no lj to catch up on.

I feel like a single voice in an almost empty room. XD
What's up, reyrey?

I logged onto LJ tonight and half my FL is announcing that they have joined CosSpace.
So I must ask: why?

What is Cosspace, and why is everyone joining it all of a sudden? Is there a point to it, or did someone slip something into the Kool-Aid? Who runs this thing, and how did this become this weekend's big fad?

Here we are at Celebration IV, the official Star Wars convention! scruffyrebel and I both debuted our brand new Star Wars cosplays. One cool thing was that the convention center had, not one, but several of the new R2-D2 mailboxes, all in good condition. I'm sure we were only two of many who took pictures with mailboxes this weekend.



She obviously dressed as Slave Leia, and I dressed as Clone Army General Obi-Wan, based on the realistic-style maquette from Gentle Giant, which was inspired by the character in the Clone Wars cartoons.



So anyway, we got to the con late a lot, missed a bunch of stuff we wanted to see, and hung out with rurouni_jedi, g_mal, chase_the_bunny, bobbarker (good to meet you, had a fun time hanging out with you), Dave & Joe, satoru_, and saw the imperial twjudy (who is catty on my behalf), aimeekitty (beautiful Japanese-style jedi), ajmeow (sexy Slave Leia and hawt stormtrooper), and scrawnysquall (glad to see Luke, since I only caught a glimpse of this cosplay at Comic-Con) & Winston.

Celebration Europe, here we come!

Went to Disneyland with scruffyrebel on Tuesday, here's a brief rundown:


scruffyrebel stands between Cinderella's castle and the Murderhorn.

( The Happiest Post On Earth )

We both had a great time! We combated the monotony of waiting in line by listening to the Star Wars radio show on scruffyrebel's iPod. There were lots of people and the lines seemed to average close to an hour, but I suppose it was better than going on a weekend. Afterward, we went home and pretty much crashed, which was pretty satisfying.
Best amusement park day ever!

Which reminds me, I may have to put together another Magic Mountain day sometime in early-to-mid June.


stephachu sang the theme song for ChibiFest, in Vegas! Get the CD on her website.

If you're going to SakuraCon this weekend, be sure to check out tristencitrine's panel, 6th Floor, room 609 10:00-11:00am Saturday!

burmecian_stormis doing photoshoots for Fanime and AX!

Things are really looking good at the park right now. The Santa Anas are blowing in warm air and desert dust, but sweeping the clouds out of the sky. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend to do some shooting. Which is exactly what slave_to_anime, chase_the_bunny, talonomega, kamuishirou1999, and the other kameko of i360 along with photo whores such as myself, scruffyrebel, sana_chan, richiied, rurouni_jedi, and solaria.

I hammed it up in front of the cameras, but I managed to snap a few pictures myself, so I could keep you apprised of the state of the sakura.



( Ooh, look! Flowers! )



( Photographers... always lying down on the job. )



( But wait, there's more!! )

I think the park looks great right now. So much so that I'd consider going to the park tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) to do some photoshooting if anyone wants pictures. This would be good for those of you who live nearby and are too busy on the weekend. Also, there are bound to be a lot fewer people at the park on a Tuesday afternoon, which will make photography easier on everyone (and less embarrassing for cosplay, if that sort of thing concerns you).

So if you want a photoshoot with me at the park tomorrow, let me know as soon as possible. I should be free by about 2 PM, and the sun should be up until around 7 PM. Weather forecast is totally clear skies, temperatures in the high-70s, low-80s.
There might also be a chance that I will be available to do photos Tuesday afternoon of next week, too.

Totally jacked from scrawnysquall! Thanks for the heads-up!

This has been a rumor, now photographically confirmed, for what it's worth:


As part of the 30th anniversary celebration this year, the US Post Office is joining LucasFilm in the festivities by releasing these decal'd mailboxes!
Can you believe it?!

BTW, I tried going to uspsjedimaster.com, but no site was up yet.
I'm expecting Star Wars postage stamps next! Man, I haven't even used up a fraction of my DC Comics Superhero stamps yet... time to send more mail!

More pictures and details at
http://www.theforce.net/topstory/story/R2D2_Mailboxes_Confirm_Rumors_104142.asp

Also, here's a tidbit of news about the upcoming Star Wars TV shows, directly from the lips of George Lucas himself. It's an audio clip of him speaking at a recent event, and he talks mostly about the CGI Clone Wars animated series, but a little about the live action series (further down the road). I could tell you more, but you'd probably rather hear it from George.
http://www.starwars.com/meta/rd/expand/video.html?world=clonewars&url=/clonewars/about/news/audio/paley_gwl_sw01.mov&mw=600&mh=30&ww=600&wh=25&ap=true

I made my inspection at the park today. Things are progressing at quite a pace! There certainly are a lot of sakura trees at the park, something you don't really realize until they're in bloom. "Wow, lookit! I guess those are cherry trees too... and so are those... and those over there." And most of the trees were in bloom.



( Ooh, look! A flower! )

In conclusion, I'd say that the sakura blossoms have yet to really peak. But there are definitely enough flowers there to make for some wonderful photos this weekend, especially if you have a talented photographer. And lucky you, one of the best will be heading over this weekend. No, I don't mean me (for once). Jason Nishi said he'll be checking it out this Saturday, and if he likes what he sees, he may be back on Sunday. So if you want to set something up with him, contact him directly. Or you could always take your own pictures.

Since my last look in at the park was rainy and overcast, I thought it would be a good idea to drop in again yesterday, with a camera and a team of observers solaria, arkadia, and scruffyrebel.

Here are our findings:



( Ooh, look! A flower! )

So, when will the sakura be in full bloom?
My prediction is, they will be at their absolute peak sometime in March.
Or April.
Or May.

I've been keeping an eye on the Lake Balboa - Anthony C. Beilenson Park in Van Nuys lately. Why? To be ready for the awesomeness.
Because if you miss your chance to get shots like this, you're going to have to wait a whole 'nother year.

( The Sakureport, now with pictures! )

So, a little progress so far, but no pink quite yet.

EDIT: When will they bloom?
A bunch of you commented to ask me when they will bloom. The answer is: I don't know. I'm not a botanist. Hell, I don't even cosplay a botanist.
But Jason, who knows more about this stuff than I do, guesses that they'll be peaking in 4 weeks.

You people in San Diego need to go find some cherry blossom trees down there, and keep an eye on them. My Googling leads me to believe that there are cherry blossom trees in Balboa Park. So you guys need to find out where they are, and how their location would be for photoshooting. And they'll be on a slightly different timetable from the ones up here, so keep an eye on them and post your reports.

Also, there is an annual "Cherry Blossom Festival" in Barnes Park in Montery Park. This leads me to believe that there may also be cherry blossom trees there. There are also supposed to be some sakura trees in Victory Park and San Rafael Park in Pasadena. So we need a SakuraWatcher to check those out, see how their location would be for a photoshoot, and examine the progress of the flower buds.

Photos courtesy of my camera phone.

COSMODE Vol. 15 is on the stands, containing the fruits of November's photoshoot at the Los Angeles Anime Gamers store by Cosplay.com's Admin, Kyle Johnsen.



I just picked up the magazine this afternoon, and I don't have any scans because I'm not at my scanner. But I'll describe what's in the magazine so those of you who were at the shoot can decide for yourself whether to drop the $18 to see yourself in Japanese print.

( Character Style OVERSEAS Anime Gamers/CosMode Collaboration Snap! )

Thanks Kyle, Anime Gamers, and CosMode Magazine!

EDIT: Someone has scanned the issue, with links in this post.
Enjoy!

Now on eBay: copies of CosMode Vol. 15 with Jinyo's autograph embroidered on the cover!
Get yours today!
XD

Jinyo Goes To Hollywood

For Christmas, I bought myself the season 2 DVD set of Entourage. Not because I am a fan of the show, I don't have HBO so I don't watch it. (Though I may start now that I have the DVDs.) No, it is because I am a narcissist and I wanted a good DVD copy of the episode I was in. It's the 17th episode, the 9th episode of the second season, and it's called "I Love You Too." Yes, that's right, I bought the whole season for the entire half-second I was on the show.
What's your point?



If you don't know about When Cosplayers Invaded Hollywood, you can see my report and pictures on the JinyoNet. To summarize, Entourage is a show about an actor who becomes the latest hot star in Hollywood. It's about how he deals with fame and showbiz, and his group of buddies (his entourage) who come along for the ride. At one point he is up for the latest hot role, starring in a superhero action movie as Aquaman. So back in May 2005 they did an episode in which he and his entourage go to the San Diego Comic-Con. One distinguishing feature of Comic-Con and many conventions of its type is the presence of cosplayers. So the show's producers decided to recruit real cosplayers to be extras, or "background," on the show. Monty was the guy who, as far as I know, was in charge of recruiting cosplayers. They brought in some people from SGCommand.net live action cosplayers who do Stargate and other stuff. They also brought in Sailor Jamboree, who were responsible for bringing the anime/videogame crowd. The episode wasn't shot at the actual Comic-Con, but they took a hotel in Marina Del Rey (in LA) and made up a hallway and a couple of ballrooms to look like a comic convention. They had a lot of professional extras working on the episode, many of whom were stuck in the most random assortment of costume bits and pieces. And there were us, the real cosplayers.

Anyway, I thought some of the other cosplayers who were on the show, who weren't quite narcissistic enough to buy the DVD set, would enjoy these screencaps. Feel free to add funny captions, turn them into avatars, whatever. I tried to get a frame of every shot with a cosplayer in it. As such, a lot of you will be blurry. Deal with it.

Being on the show was a great experience, one which I treasure not so much for the chance to be on national television, but for giving me the chance to hang out with a bunch of wonderful cosplayers without the distraction of a convention getting in the way.

( Ninety-two screencaps. SRSLY. Don't click unless you've got bandwidth to spare. )


Puss In Boots and Kikyo are cable premium channel stars... for about half a second.

( . )

If you know a cosplayer who was in this episode, and they're not on my flist, feel free to link them to this page. These shots are for them, too!

On Monday I had my last final.
So WOOT! I am free for a short time (less than three weeks).
Afterward, I went and stuffed myself on all-you-can-eat sushi. That was good.

A few weeks ago, I got a new roommate.


Quarter added for scale.

( More pix of Robo Hamster... )

=)

Some of you poor losers have sadly failed to catch this season's television sensation, HEROES. I feel sorry for you. With about one-third of its television season completed, HEROES is shaping up to be the new LOST. But luckily for you, you're getting a second chance to not be quite such a loser.

The SciFi Channel is going to have a HEROES marathon on Wednesday, November 29. From 6 PM until midnight, they will show the first six hours of HEROES. So set your VCR. Those of you too dumb to set your VCRs and that's about half of my close friends... man, I need to get some smarter friends, well, you can lead a horse to HEROES but you can't make it drink.

Here's the tricky part:
So far, there have been nine episodes of HEROES broadcast. So if you tape the marathon, you will catch the first six. But by the time the marathon airs, they will have broadcast episode 10. So what you need to do is tape episode 9 on Monday, November 27, at 7 PM on SciFi (this is the re-broadcast of ep.9), then tape episode 10 at 9 PM the same day (Mon, Nov.27). Then save them until you've taped the marathon on Wednesday (Nov.29).

This will give you episodes 1-6 and 9-10. As for episodes 7-8, I guess you can try to catch them on BitTorrent or YouTube or somewhere. (And it just so happens that I still have #8 on tape...) But this will give you 80% of the series so far, and you'll be caught up enough to understand what the hell all the cooler nerds are talking about. So don't miss it.
And if you do miss it, don't expect me to bail your dumb ass out. I did my part.

I just heard this announcement, and I thought I'd share with you guys, in case you're interested:

Dir En Grey is coming (back) to Los Angeles
They're playing the Wiltern on Friday, February 23, 2007 at 7:15 PM.
Tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster tomorrow at 5 PM.

I don't think I'll be going, for a variety of uninteresting reasons. But I just wanted to share.

Regarding my last post, a few of you wondered if that was a homework assignment or a midterm or something. Actually, it was just an outline of the stuff I have to know for class. The actual exam problems are more like this:

sana_chan was a cosplayer in Southern California. She had been cosplaying for a couple of years, and was beginning to receive attention from cosplay websites and organizations around the world. There were even suggestions that she might be in the running for a job as a cosplay model for a well-known cosplay company in Japan. hybrid_twist, another cosplayer in the area, was jealous of the attention that sana_chan was getting. In fact, he believed that he was the better of the two cosplayers, and it was only because sana_chan was a woman and attractive that she was getting the attention.

A week before Anime LA, sana_chan received a message from hybrid_twist saying that sana_chan might be interested in something that hybrid_twist had uncovered. When he AIMed her, hybrid_twist told sana_chan that he found out that sana_chan had been an adult film star before becoming a cosplayer. hybrid_twist told sana_chan he intended to leak this information to the cosplay websites unless sana_chan resigned from cosplaying. hybrid_twist gave sana_chan one week to make her decision.

Through the whole week following that exchange, sana_chan kept replaying the scene that she had with hybrid_twist, and the thoughts of losing her favorite hobby and the embarrassment that this would cause her family. She could not sleep or eat because she was so worried about what to do. At Anime LA, when she saw hybrid_twist pass by her hotel room, sana_chan picked up a seam ripper that was on her desk and followed hybrid_twist to his car. His back was to her as she walked over to him. sana_chan stabbed hybrid_twist in the back with the seam ripper several times. He fell back bleeding. hybrid_twist later died from the injuries sustained.

Discuss a possible charge of Murder One and Murder Two.

Taken from an actual exam. The names and facts have been altered for a nerd audience.

In the exam, I would then have to take what I know (from the previous post) and analyze the facts given me above. I would have to talk about how I would argue that sana_chan is guilty of the respective crimes, as well as how I would argue that she is innocent (or at least that she is only guilty of a lesser crime). It's important to find the best arguments for both sides, because if I am, say, the prosecutor, I will need to be able to guess how the defense attorney will respond so I can come up with a way to counter those arguments. And of course, if I am sana_chan's defense attorney, I will need to be able to guess what the prosecutor will say in order to prepare a strong defense.

In analyzing the case, I would have to assume all of the facts in the story are true, and I wouldn't be allowed to add any facts. So I wouldn't be able to say "well what if she wasn't actually the one who stabbed him" because it states that she did stab him, and I couldn't say "she was hypnotized into killing him" because that's not in the facts above.

Ultimately, the conclusion I reach as to her guilt is immaterial. What I will be graded on is the manner in which I analyze the facts.