Fairy Tale Illustration

For this project in my Figurative Communications class, we had to pick a fairy tale and create an illustration for it. We had a one week sketch to finish deadline. The tale I chose was “The Ogre of Rashomon” which you can check out here. I did a drawing in pencil, scanned it, and applied some digital color. I think it came out nice, but the color on the Ogre is waaaaay too saturated. I was attempting to overcompensate for a crappy Kinkos print, but it printed pretty true to these colors.

Digital

[Via http://ryanfortney.wordpress.com]

Theme Song Album - Seventh Heaven

Download: Seventh Heaven [DVD付期間生産限定盤]/ カラフィナ(Tak)

Seventh Heaven

# 商品番号: SECL-763

# メディア: アルバムCD

# 組枚数: 2

# 発売日: 2009/03/04

# 価格: 4800円(税込)

* 内容

劇場版『空の境界』主題歌プロジェクトとして、梶浦由記プロデュースのもと複数の歌姫の個性を駆使し、オリコンチャートの上位に食い込む活躍を見せた Kalafina。そのKalafinaの第一期集大成とも言うべき1stアルバム。期間生産限定盤は、劇場版「空の境界」第一章主題歌「oblivious」から第四章主題歌「ARIA」までの全てのシングル曲のライブバージョンと、第五章主題歌「sprinter」、第六章主題歌「fairytale」、第七章主題歌「seventh heaven」のビデオクリップを収録したDVD付き (「oblivious」「君が光に変えて行く」「傷跡」「ARIA」のライブ映像+「sprinter」「fairytale」「seventh heaven」のビデオクリップ収録)。スペシャル40Pブックレット (Kalafina撮り下ろしPhoto、劇場版「空の境界」場面写＋全七章イラスト、奈須きのこ氏による劇場版「空の境界」全七章主題歌書き下ろしライナーノーツ)、「空の境界」イラストワイドキャップステッカー、同時発売シングル「Lacrimosa」とのW購入特典: Kalafinaプレミアムライブ招待応募ハガキ封入。特殊パッケージ仕様。 ※2009年4月末までの期間生産限定盤。

【Artists】

Kalafina (アーティスト)　

【曲目】

1. overture

2. oblivious

3. love come down

4. 夏の林檎

5. fairytale

6. ARIA

7. また風が強くなった

8. 傷跡

9. serenato

10. 音楽

11. 明日の景色

12. sprinter

13. 君が光に変えて行く

14. seventh heaven

[Via http://ihobby.wordpress.com]

Lala Does Tokyo: Food

As promised, here is a little glimpse of the things in the Japanese capital that I thought were interesting/funny/amusing/plain weird.

As we know, the Japanese are a very organized bunch and this is none more true than when it comes to their fast food. While there is not much of a personal touch when it comes to ordering your food over the counter, the process is smooth and the food handlers never have to touch dirty bills and coins because you place and pay for your order through a vending machine…

So you pick a picture of what you want to eat, punch it in the vendo and get your…

which appears on the blue side of this monitor…

And when your number appears on the pink side, that means your order is ready and you can claim your…

Not bad considering this was just at a truck stop between Narita and Tokyo.

Check out their Coke bottles in these lovely silver aluminum bottles…

On our last day, we had lunch at a food court in Aeon Mall. They had a similar food ordering set up with the vendo machines…

…but instead of a screen that would tell you if your order was up, they gave us these…

Beepers!

Very cool, I thought. No shouting out orders, no standing and waiting. You can find your table and just go to the counter when the thing sounds off.

In Ginza, the glitzy (read: not suited to our budget) commercial area, we entered

Mitsukoshi Department Store

to use the toilet.

And on the way out, I spotted…



Laduree!!! Right after I took this, some guy told me I couldn’t take pictures.

But the true heartbreak was that I decided to try just ONE macaroon. I wanted to buy a whole Y8,000 box to bring home but figured that if I bought it then, the pastries wouldn’t be so appetizing 4 days later in Manila. I was hoping we would be able to go back there but we didn’t!!! I will never forget my first encounter with a Laduree macaroon. It was caramel. Crunchy, flaky outside but moist and cake-y as your bite closes.. and the the sweet just gooey enough caramel in the middle… worth every damn cent, I swear. I was so entranced by this single pastry that cost about P250 that I forgot to photograph it. Annoying.

I know you’re dying to know about the sushi…

Does this look like it could disappoint?

Well, it didn’t.

The tuna was soft without a trace of that fishy smell. The toro was delightful and buttery but I ate it sans the raw quail egg yolk but the most surprising for me was the unagi. Just looking at it, you know it’s different from what’s served here. We’ve come to clasify unagi here as slightly chewy and rubbery and sweet but in its land of origin it’s very fine and somewhere between soft and flaky and it is not loaded with sweetness.

I also had the kani sashimi. As you can see there’s a freaky dab of grey mush on it. But being a fairly adventurous eater, I went for it and to my absolute satisfaction, I found that the grey stuff tasted somewhat like anchovies or think maybe of a stink-less, “clean” japanese bagoong. Awesome combination.

And last but not least… park food!

It deserves special mention because you know how I detest park food but at Tokyo Disneyland I was happy. They had interesting things like “butter and soy sauce” popcorn which I didn’t get to try but here’s what I did get:

The sandwich was smoked salmon and shrimp with a drizzle of wasabi sauce. It was yummy even when cold (because the wouldn’t heat it for me and it was like 6C out! Still, it was so much better than the crap in the States which was all fried tastelessness. Then I ended it with a melt in your mouth and not too creamy strawberry/angel food cake trifle/parfait dessert.

Burp…

[Via http://kikiandlalaland.wordpress.com]

To ARU MAJUTSU NO INDEX archives

【介绍】

Download: 「とある魔术の禁书目録」ARCHIVES 1.mp3

商品番号: GNCA-1204

メディア: アルバムCD

组枚数: 1

発売日: 2009/03/25

価格: 2940円(税込)

[内容]

原作累计440万部突破の大人気ライトノベル原作のTVアニメーション「とある魔术の禁书目録(インデックス)」。その世界観を表す企画CDが発売!! オーディオドラマ、キャラクターソング2曲(インデックス、御坂美琴)を収録。

【Artist/Cast】

阿部敦 (アーティスト)　井口裕香 (アーティスト)　

佐藤利奈 (アーティスト)　伊藤静 (アーティスト)　

谷山纪章 (アーティスト)　胜杏里 (アーティスト)　

こやまきみこ (アーティスト)　新井里美 (アーティスト)　

インデックス(井口裕香) (アーティスト)　御坂美琴(佐藤利奈) (アーティスト)

【曲目】

1.オーディオドラマ・1stパート/ 阿部敦

2.”ありがと”の経験値/ インデックス(井口裕香)

3.オーディオドラマ・2ndパート/ 阿部敦

4.私らしくあるためのpledge/ 御坂美琴(佐藤利奈)

 

【介绍】

Download: 「とある魔术の禁书目録」ARCHIVES 2.mp3

商品番号: GNCA-1205

メディア: アルバムCD

组枚数: 1

発売日: 2009/06/10

価格: 2940円(税込)

[内容]

原作累计440万部突破の大人気ライトノベル。その世界観を表す企画CD第2弾が発売!!

大ヒットライトノベル原作のTVアニメーション「とある魔术の禁书目录」。そのオーディオドラマとキャラクターソングを収录した企画CDが登场!

〈オンエア情报〉 MBSにて毎周土曜26:55より、tvkにて毎周土曜26:30より、チバテレビにて毎周土曜25:35より、テレ玉にて毎周月曜26:00より、 CBCにて毎周水曜27:00より、AT-Xにて(木)13:00/23:00□(月)17:00/27:00 〈配信〉【PC】バンダイチャンネルにて毎周金曜日更新予定 【ケータイ】ムービーゲートにて毎周金曜日更新予定 〈収录曲〉上条当麻(阿部敦)&姫神秋沙(能登麻美子)のキャラクターソングとオーディオドラマを収录

【Artist/Cast】

阿部敦 (アーティスト) 井口裕香 (アーティスト)

佐藤利奈 (アーティスト) 上条当麻(阿部敦) (アーティスト)

くまのきよみ (作词者) 三浦诚司 (作曲者)

姫神秋沙(能登麻美子) (アーティスト) 大渕桃子 (作曲者)

大久保薫 (编曲者)

【曲目】

1.オーディオドラマ□1stパート

2.ゼロからの逆袭 /上条当麻(CV.阿部敦)

3.オーディオドラマ□2ndパート

4.终焉はどちら /姫神秋沙(CV.能登麻美子)

 

【介绍】

Download: 「とある魔术の禁书目録」ARCHIVES 3 .mp3

商品番号 GNCA-1206

メディア アルバム CD

组枚数 1

発売日 2009/07/24

価格 2940円(税込)

[内容]

原作累计440万部突破の大人気ライトノベル原作のTVアニメーション「とある魔术の禁书目录(インデックス)」。その世界観を表す企画CD第3巻が発売!! オーディオドラマとキャラクターソング(神裂火织&ステイル=マグヌス)を収录。

【Artist/Cast】

アーティスト/ キャスト

阿部敦 (アーティスト) 井口裕香 (アーティスト)

佐藤利奈 (アーティスト) くまのきよみ (作词者)

渡辺刚 (作曲者)

【曲目】

1.オーディオドラマ・1stパート / 阿部敦

2.under the cry / ステイル=マグヌス(谷山纪章)

3.オーディオドラマ・2ndパート / 阿部敦

4.Salvia farinacea / 神裂火织(伊藤静)

[Via http://ihobby.wordpress.com]

Japan-Slovakia 6-3

Team Japan has really improved their form during the course of the World Floorball Championships in Västerås.

On Thursday they took their second straight victory when Solvakia was beaten 6-3.

Japan has won over a lot of hearts during the championships with their attitude and never say die mentality.

Against the Slovaks Team Japan came back from a 1-3 disadvantage in the second period to win.

This means that the Japanese team will end in 17:th place.

Japanese goal scorers against Slovakia:

Yoshiko Sato x 2

Asami Morimoto

Hisako Tsuzuki

Miho Nakagawa

Keiko Nakata

[Via http://zathletica.wordpress.com]

Get Your Fresh Crab Eggs Here

One dear friend sometimes says, “Those Japanese – they’ll eat anything!” Although, we do eat a lot of (what Americans would call) strange food here, I have heard many Japanese people say, “Those Chinese – they’ll eat anything!” Everyone has a different perspective, don’t they?

Well, back on task: presenting a reason for my friend’s sentiment – eating crab. You maybe scratching your head now and thinking, “Eating crab is not so strange.” Indeed many Americans enjoy a nice Crab Louie or some boiled crab legs or some other delicacy; however, the crab consumption goes down a little differently here.

Photo number 1: A Crab. This variety is fairly common here and quite tasty; however, it is a little small which means more work getting at less meat. Most Japanese people are not deterred by this – sometimes even skipping over all but the largest leg sections – and the reason will become clear soon.

Photo number 2: A Crab with Egg Compartment Exposed. Crabs carry a tremendous number of eggs in a very small pocket on the bottom of their body. Turning the crab over reveals a lid with a tab, making it easier to open the crab than your average Tupperware. Significant numbers of Japanese people consider this something special to eat. Significant numbers means “not everybody”, much like the arguments in Norwegian families about whether Lutefisk is tasty or not.

Photo number 3: A Crab with Body Opened. Similarly simple is the process of opening the crab’s body. We call these contents kanimiso (蟹味噌) and most people consider this a delicacy. Some folks refer to this as ‘crab brains’ because the crabs head and body are the same thing. Actually, this is all of the organs necessary to run their body. There are two main consistencies to this material, either one being very easy to consume by spooning out from the shell.

Kanimiso is high in fat and protein giving it a rich flavor, plus it typically outweighs the meat in the legs. Along with ease of access, one can understand why the smaller leg sections might be ignored altogether. Would you eat these?

[Via http://shinbikkuri3.wordpress.com]

Capturing the Asian (Innovation) Opportunity

From s+b

See Strategy+Business article

“One thing Asian companies are not reducing is their interest in innovation. (See “Profits Down, Spending Steady: The Global Innovation 1000,” by Barry Jaruzelski and Kevin Dehoff, s+b, Winter 2009.) Asia’s emerging economies, particularly India and China, are following the pattern originally set by Japan and Korea. They, too, were once known for low-cost manufacturing and mimicry of Western design. Over the years, Japanese and Korean executives deliberately built up their companies’ design and manufacturing skills and became global innovation leaders in everything from cars to mobile phones to plasma televisions. Now, the Chinese government’s five-year plan includes a similarly deliberate emphasis on creating an innovation-oriented economy. India’s innovators, although they have less government support, are active in such fields as health care, finance, agriculture, and public–private partnerships. (See “The Innovation Sandbox,” by C.K. Prahalad, s+b, Autumn 2006, and “Not Just for Profit,” by Marjorie Kelly, s+b, Spring 2009.)

Innovation is usually born of need and opportunity. And Asia has some of the greatest unmet customer markets and societal challenges in the world, with its vast rural areas, huge demands for natural resources, significant environmental problems, and aging populations. Many Asian governments will rely on private-sector innovation to help meet these challenges. For example, after paying little attention to air quality during its initial burst of industrial development, China has announced a plan to become the leading producer of hybrid and all-electric vehicles by 2012. Companies whose capabilities dovetail with this green strategy could find a lucrative welcome. Meanwhile, Toyota is developing personal-care robots that can perform housekeeping and nursing chores, which it intends to target to Japan’s growing senior citizen population. For the same reason, the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Kowa has set up a joint venture with Teva, an innovative Israeli drugmaker, to bring 200 new drugs to market by 2015. If such innovations succeed, other companies may follow.”

[Via http://newperception.wordpress.com]