Tomorrow, 6th of January 2010, is YouTube Porn Day. Yes, 4chan’s Anonymous has once again declared war on YouTube as a reaction against perceived injustice in YouTube’s ban policies. YouTube junkies can look forward to stumbling upon some titillating surprises tomorrow.

Just don’t do it at work.

(...)
Read the rest of A Tribute to Anonymous (510 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 4chan, anonymous, youtube, youtube porn day

Up until recently, I had been under the impression that industry giant James Cameron was reduced to making a movie adaptation of this. This misconception was finally shattered when I saw the trailer for Avatar and it piqued my interest.

Fast forward to a few months later, I have watched the movie in cinema four times and now believe it to be one of the defining works of the decade. Though not perfect, (is anything ever?) Avatar is an awe-inspiring viewing experience that far exceeds any other productions of similar scale. And though it has done remarkably well in the box office, I still consider it to be a highly underrated title.

Keeping alive my tradition of writing about things only after everyone stops talking about them, here are my thoughts on James Cameron’s Avatar.

(...)
Read the rest of Avatar (2,072 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: avatar, james cameron, movie, na'vi, sam worthington, sci-fi, sigourney weaver, skxawng, zoe saldana

I missed the EOY (End Of Year) cosplay event last year as I was in Japan for a month. Little did I know that it was to be the last EOY ever, as the organizers had run out of people to keep the thing running.

Fortunately, the event name was acquired by a new group of people and given new life. Under the new administration, a lot has changed from the familiar practices of past EOY events, some for the better.

(...)
Read the rest of EOY Cosplay 2009 (476 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cosplay, eoy, national library, singapore

I just woke up with a throbbing headache. I feel like I’ve spent the past two days walking. Of course, this comes nowhere close to the time when I queued overnight in the winter rain for Comiket 73 and fell asleep on Big Sight’s ice-cold wet concrete floor. That was just crazy.

AFA 09 has finally come and gone. I went for both days of the event and managed to get a decent feel of the whole thing, though I did end up spending most of that time chatting with people and taking pictures of cosplayers outside the event hall. I also managed to catch the concert by May’n and Yoshiki Fukuyama, a pretty worthy climax for my AFA experience.

(...)
Read the rest of Anime Festival Asia 2009 (1,099 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: afa, afa09, danny choo, may'n, singapore, suntec city, yoshiki fukuyama

Having been to similar conferences in the IT industry, I didn’t have high hopes for this one. Often, it’s a bunch of really boring people in suits talking about how Asia is an emerging market and Singapore is poised to be a regional hub. AAC on the other hand turned out to be a rather pleasant surprise.

(...)
Read the rest of Animation Asia Conference 2009 (1,786 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: aac, afa, afa09, crunchyroll, danny choo, mamoru hosoda, singapore, sunte, suntec city

This is one of those rare posts I make about my personal life so that one day I may look back at this blog and realize that I was once a young and naive idealist. It is the cumulation of a train of thought that has been running on and off for the past six months and a snapshot of me at what I consider to be the first major crossroad in my uneventful life.

I was offered the Public Service Commission’s Overseas Merit Scholarship (Open) earlier this year (2009). While it was an honour to be given one of the most prestigious scholarships in Singapore, I ultimately resolved to turn down the offer. It is a decision that few of my peers (and perhaps even myself) fully understood at the time.

Seeing as we are once again approaching the end of the year and a new batch of A-level graduates will soon be going through the same things I did, I thought it’s about time I finally put my thoughts down in words.

(...)
Read the rest of Why I did not accept my PSC Scholarship offer (2,208 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 55 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: life, psc, scholarship, singapore

I find it infinitely difficult to quantify Turn A Gundam (∀ Gundam) as a narrative. After watching it on and off over the course of a few years, I finally finished all fifty episodes this week. This is probably the longest I’ve ever taken to finish a show of any length, a dubious record usually held by titles I deemed to be mostly unfit for consumption. And yet having watched most of what the Gundam metaseries has to offer, I have to say in retrospect that, in spite of all its glaring flaws, Turn A Gundam offers a special ineffable something that lands the title a spot in my heart.

(...)
Read the rest of Turn A Gundam (1,132 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: mobile suit gundam, sunrise, turn a gundam, yoshiyuki tomino

So all the cards are finally on the proverbial table. In addition to whatever was announced during the first press conference, the final details for Anime Festival Asia 09 was released this Wednesday (or last Wednesday depending on your preferred usage) during a blogging conference (hurray new media?). Being really short on free time these days, it naturally took me three whole days to write this post. You know you are getting old when you no longer care about first post.

(...)
Read the rest of Anime Festivial Asia 09 – Preview (256 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: afa09, event, fire bomber, hatsune miku, k-on!, macross, madhouse studio, may'n, singapore, tatsunoko productions, yoshiki fukuyama

My last post turned out a lot heavier than I intended. Rest assure that while it is probably not an isolated incident, it will be some time before I recharge my energy enough to churn out a similar piece.

So anyway, Animation Nation is upon us once again. An annual event organized by the Singapore Film Society, Animation Nation showcases animation (duh) from around the world to a local audience who only watches Bleach and Naruto. I kid, I kid.

Of course, Japanese animations, the elephant in the metaphorical room, are always a stable for the event and this year is no different.

(...)
Read the rest of Animation Nation 2009 (220 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: animation nation, barefoot gen, genius party beyond, mamoru oshii, musashi, singapore, singapore film society

There’s a pretty good essay on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s call for young Singaporeans to “dare to dream” over at The Online Citizen. The gist of it is that this statement is highly ironic when interpreted against the realities on the ground, much of them the results of government policy. Predictably, the comment section is filled with comments that miss the bigger picture of the issue and see this as another scheduled anti-government ranting session, with the few thoughtful comments voted down.

The government is no doubt a part of the problem, but it is the mentality of Singaporeans at large that has created a hostile environment for socially deviant dreams to take hold, and the same can be said for many Asian societies.

(...)
Read the rest of Dreams are not for Asia (1,463 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 58 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: consumerism, dreams, education, meritocracy, singapore, society