-- *FrIeNdShIp* -- Full Metal Alchemist

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I know this blog is filled with lotsa webs.

Gonna close this blog. Visit here from now on:

http://mystical-priest.livejournal.com/

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 12:56 PM Sunday, September 02, 2007

Dear everyone,

please help to do if you take protein beverages and pass this survey on to anyone who also takes them! XDD Please do not do the survey if you don't take at all.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xdnfyRBCZTQuMcPqURE4fg_3d_3d

It will be great help to our final year project. Thanks!

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 10:51 PM Saturday, September 01, 2007

Had a humorous time with Dian today! Once again, thanks for the Mickey Mouse polo tee! It's very nice. =)

Dian's mum drove us to Funan IT mall in the early afternoon. I miss her huge merc car. XDDD Anyway, we walked around to search for a suitable present for XJ. What we got has to remain a secret for now.

Then, we took a train down to Tiong Bahru to check the timings for Ratatouille. The GV cinema didn't have a good timing for us when we reached, so in the end, we settled for the 6.30 movie. Dian paid for the tickets with her Citibank credit card and it was TOO late when we spotted the little HSBC credit card advertisement at the counter. You get 1 dollar off and a popcorn combo discount if you use HSBC credit card. Dian has it and we kinda regretted, hahaha.

Meanwhile, Dian's Mum drove us to their house to touch up on *ahem* the belated birthday surprise. I think our ideas are crazy, original and hilarous! After the crappy preparation, we surfed the net to check out the courses offered at New South Wales and Melbourne University. Dian is going to New South Wales next year to do her medicine course and after we found out that they do offer a food degree, she started psycho-ing me to admit in there too. XDD Well, I will think about it.

After a delicious home-cooked dinner at Dian's house, it was time for us to catch Ratatouille. There's many kids in the theatre this evening, haha. It's a cute and enjoyable animated movie, bringing humour as how Pixar films always do. The storyline is also kinda interesting - Rat talented in cooking! I give it a 4/5. Go catch it if you haven't.

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 11:01 PM Sunday, August 26, 2007

Thursday, 23 August, 2007

This day marked the end of our exams. =D

FDPROB was alright. I didn't know how to answer a few questions but i'm just glad it's over.

Went to CCK Kbox with Jia Xin, Yi wen, Hanni, Desmond and Yuan Hoe.

We sang a lot of songs and all of us were quite high. Yi wen and I were made to sing 猪你生日快乐 and another birthday themed song. (forgot the name) I only know it is a sad song and tells about celebrating alone or something. It is totally not linked to us. =S

Mao and I were trying to compare the appearances of the girl actress from Jay Chou's The Secret and from FIR's 我们的爱. We think she looks quite different, XDD And, this time round we didn't sing One Night in Beijing, awww.

Friday, 24 August, 2007

Went shopping with my mum. =D I haven't shopped with her since before ITP. Bought one pair of short pants from I.P. Zone, another pair of short pants and a cute anime-patterned top from Newbie. Eh, I'm throwing away my purple pants soon...hahaha. Jed keeps saying it's faded. XDDD

Saturday, 25 August, 2007

Went to the Japanese Summer Festival at Japanese Primary School with AJH and Ming wei. This time round I didn't got for the Yukata changing cos' it's troublesome. There's many people as usual and the queue for shuttle service was super long. The interchange was really hot. After a long wait, we managed to reach there at 6+pm.

The layout of the whole thing is different this year. They had all the stores indoor and the game stores reduced a lot. There's only 3 games - Golfish, yo-yo and basketball. The yoyo is the Japanese hand-made water yoyo. We firstly used up our main dish coupon and got the ibari sushi set. Jia Hui kinda regretted getting this. Actually it was my choice but they were clueless and just queued up along. =X We walked around after eating.

There wasn't anything interesting at first but I spotted this Japanese soda bottle at the drinks store. It has an interesting design and there's a ball on the top of the bottle. (omoshiroi!) I bought it and it is now sitting at the kitchen table. XD I also saw many people buying the festive masks. Most of them are kawaii and I was tempted to buy. But it costs $6 so it's a no-no. =( And not to forget, i saw many kawaii Japanese girls and Kakkoii Japanese guys. XDD

Before we meet with the rest of the volunteer team at 8.30pm, we went to play the fish-the-yoyo game. This time I managed to get 2 but one of them wasn't tied up properly, I guess. The air was coming out and the size of the yoyo decreased so quickly. I just threw it away on the morning..haha.

The volunteer work took longer, compared to the one I did at yr 1. I saw Pei Wen during the meeting but didn't get to chat much with her cos she's with her friend. We had to clear up many tables and took 1 hr+ to finish. At the end, we managed to take a pic with sensei. =)

Can't wait for Waseda Opening next month!

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 12:10 PM Saturday, August 25, 2007

Exams are over and I'm back with more Odex news!!!

Read this Straits Times article, Odex 'failed tough standard of proof'. Posted on Xedo-Defense Forums by Alex

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/okuni_chan/Others/newsarticle_odexandpacnet.png

The article might be a little small to read. Anyway, be sure to read the small brown box to see why Pacnet wins the case, but not Singnet and Starhub.

Read this article posted on CNA webby, Odex had "no right of civil action" against illegal downloaders.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/295902/1/.html

It's basically a summary of the Odex vs Pacnet case.

Japanese Blogger Support?

A Japanese entrepeneur, Joi Ito, wrote a commentary on how fansubbing is 'good' for the anime community. The news is really old though. Read here:

http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/05/10/fandom_shows_that_file_sharing_can_create_gained_fans_not_lost_customers.html

I like this: Some will argue that this is niche stuff, but I talked to a marketing guy at TV Tokyo and he said that they are now focused on niche.

Overseas Media Coverage on Odex Saga

According to a user at Xedo-Defense forums, the Japanese animation companies are watching the case closely. One of his/her contacts who is an industry insider mentioned that one of the bosses in GONZO is following the saga via the local anime blogs. The people in Sunrise are aware of the case as well.

There are some Japanese articles posted online but the links don't seem to be working now.

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 12:08 PM Monday, August 20, 2007

A reader's comment from today's TODAY newspaper...

It is appalling to learn that customers' information can now be disclosed by Singapore's Internet Service Providers. This is a breach of the individual's right of privacy and with such a precedent in place, this has paved a way for future lucrative business opportunities whereby companies just issue fines instead of sticking to their original trades.

A letter by another reader, enquiring on the dubious points of Odex's actions, was also published today.

More clarity is needed with regard to important issues relating to the Odex case. Yes!

Read the rest from TODAY if you are interested.

*Scroll down to read the edited part about Odex Revolution/Odex-Rebellion. I'm sorry if my points were misleading initially*

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 12:42 PM Sunday, August 19, 2007

This blog owner emailed ODEX some time back and had contact with one of the directors. He did an interesting analysis of the whole fiasco. (positive to anime fans)

Read the latest blog entry dated August 19th.

http://www.darkmirage.com/

Scroll down for other links.

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 10:51 PM

A nice thread at HWZ forums. It's about alternative anime sources. Users recommend HMV Japan.

http://forum.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1693572

Prepare to spend money though.

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 9:12 PM

THE ODEX FIASCO

It has become big. What are the foreigners going to think of us? I don't understand why ODEX have to carry out such unnecessary actions. As everyone knows, they have become a public enemy and are seriously boycotted by the whole anime community in Singapore.

Latest news: Black Ribbons project started by the Odex Revolution. (See first link AND READ THE WARNING BELOW)

Messages they want to bring across:

Promoting personal privacy

Resisting threats from organizations without any written legal proof

Resisting against abuse of power and threats of legal action taken without evidence

Against intrusion of personal privacy for commercial benefits and/or gains

For better lawful / commercial / action taken towards minors aged 16 and below

Against Odex's actions taken towards the general knowing and/or unknowing public

--- Links ---

As the name tells. A blog set up by Odex Revolution.

Are we going to see half of the population with black ribbons this coming week?

*Please note that I provide the link solely for news bites. It is still not known if their actions would be accepted legally so please consider carefully.*

http://odex-rebellion.blogspot.com/

New website set up to help fight corporate tyranny and the broken IP system. I'm not sure of their movements so please take note too.

http://xedodefense.org/

Read a post by an enraged anime fan...

http://textfiend.net/zerohero/index.php/2007/08/15/odex-goes-to-hell/

It looks like our story has gone up to a global information source...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odex_efforts_against_file_sharing

Read a neutral article...

Journalist Andy Ho is reasoning out why anime fans might not be wrong downloading after all. Cheers.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_148784.html

LETTER OF UNDERTAKING TO BE SIGNED?!

http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showpost.php?p=25132169&postcount=11

Watch 'Xedo Holocaust'

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B3nztQHSlX0

PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 7:08 PM