Rain Symphony

Welcome to Rain Symphony (formerly known as Forgotten Hope), phoenix's weblog/personal site. Here you will find my thoughts about my life, as well as whatever other random things I decide to put on here. Enjoy your stay.

Downtime Yesterday

Sorry about that. I have no idea what was up with the MySQL...hopefully it won't happen that often in the future.

I did update the avatars section with a bunch of Hetalia avatars (a week ago) and two animated avatars (yesterday). Unfortunately, the animated ones are rather large, so, um, I'm not sure what you can do with them...but they are pretty.

I'm in the mood to ramble a bit about Trinity Blood Chapter 47. Specifically, Cain's introduction.

At first I was all excited that Cain was going to be introduced because, c'mon, he's insanely evil and Abel's brother and all that. Then I was kind of disappointed by the manga. Call me biased by the (apparently fail) anime, but I can't get my head around a ditzy Cain. Ditzy does not equal charming. In fact, he acts like Seth, only more airheaded, and like Abel, only much more childish. I liked the anime's representation of him better--a cool, cheerful gentleman who has no problem obliterating you with a smile. I feel like this also fulfills Cain's role as elder brother better, with him being the calm one and Abel being the idiot (I mean that in the nicest way, of course. Abel is my favorite character), rather than with Cain being the dork and Abel being...I don't even know.

I can understand Seth's behavior because she at least looks like a child. Abel is just Abel. But Cain? He used to be a charismatic leader, a steady older brother to Abel's volatility. I fail to see how his ditzy behavior reflects that. Maybe he started acting that way after he went crazy, but still, it doesn't seem to fit his insane villain role to have him act like that. (It makes him seem more like a spoiled, psychopathic manchild or something.)

I also disagree with the theory that Abel and Seth are (subconsciously) imitating Cain's behavior, but that could be personal bias (again).

School is Over!

Yup, that's right! IT'S FINALLY OVER! This week's prom and graduation, and after the summer...college!

Mostly, I've been fiddling around with Corel Painter in my free time now. I really like the program, and I hope I can get a copy of it (as well as Photoshop) for my laptop. Then I'll be all set for college. Corel Painter is harder to get used to than Photoshop, but it's much more powerful in terms of brushes and simulating traditional media. (I do miss low-opacity brushes, but I probably just haven't figured it out in Painter yet.)

I'm not sure right now how much "free" time I'll have this summer (I unexpectedly got a job, and I might be away for a month...), but I hope to do a study in digital painting by myself. I tried imitating a deviantART piece last night, and I actually learned a lot (why didn't I try it earlier?). My philosophy: Though it is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation, imitation has infinite value when trying to improve one's technical skills.

On the video games scene: Oh my gosh, so much awesome news came from this year's E3! Golden Sun DS, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the first bit of news about Legend of Zelda Wii, as well as some gameplay from Assassin's Creed 2! I'll be waiting eagerly for the release of these titles. GSDS was the biggest surprise for me, as it's one of my favorite turn-based RPGs ever. Oh, and Arc Rise Fantasia came out in Japan. I should go check out impressions from those lucky people who can read Japanese...

Anime Boston!

Let me tell you a bit about it (while I'm so not procrastinating on my English essay. Ahem).

I couldn't go Friday (which turned out to be Senior Skip Day, but I wasn't informed), though I did go Saturday and Sunday. I loved seeing all the cosplayers (unfortunately, I didn't have time to make my own), as well as the Artists' Alley. I'm a bit sad because I saw these cute Hetalia bookmarks and planned to buy them, but when I went back, they were all sold out! (I ended up getting a Russia bookmark just because it was 50 cents, as Russia isn't my favorite character.)

The highlight of Saturday was definitely the Hetalia panel. It was absolutely hilarious. The panel hosts were awesome (especially Prussia :) ), and a lot of funny questions were asked. Plus, we got to see all the Hetalia cosplayers in one place, which was nice, seeing as there aren't as many Hetalia cosplayers as, say, Naruto or Bleach cosplayers.

On Sunday, we got to see the Cosplay Chess (also really funny) and the closing ceremonies, including clips of the ever-awesome Dead Fantasy.

Next year, I'll see if I can wheedle my way out of college for the weekend. I'm already planning to make a costume during the summer. All I have to do is decide which Hetalia character to cosplay as...

By the way, the avatars section got an update--animated avatars! Yup, that's right, all from Hetalia episode 18 (if you haven't watched it already, go. Now. It's random, but very, very funny). Since this is my first time doing animated avatars, any feedback (on frame delays and such) would be very much appreciated.

Apologies

Sorry for not updating for so long! (Or, well, not that long, but it feels like it's been a while.) It's not that I haven't been around--basically, I've been avoiding my work and doing tons of Axis Powers Hetalia fanart in my spare time. Yes, tons. I'm a shameless self-plugger, so I urge you to go check it out!

Recently, I watched the Twilight movie (why? I was curious...), and my God is it horrific. Worst, most artificial dialogue I've ever come across; terrible acting; weird lighting; and just the overall fact that Twilight is epic fail. I actually ran out of the room 20 minutes in; good thing I didn't go see the movie in theaters (plus, I refuse to support SMeyer financially in any way). Scary thing is, though, that my mom thought it was a decent movie. (I was all, "You like THIS #$%@ and you hated Iron Man??!)

Don'twannadoworkblahblah. I may write a reflection on my entire school experience once I finally graduate. Today I just got back my freshman letter--a letter that I had to write as a freshman to my senior self--and...wow. I must have changed a lot, even though it doesn't feel like it. (Or maybe I was just a superficial dork as a freshman.)

What Happened to No Work?

So most of my APs are over, and yet I still have work to do? Learning matrices in math? (Ew.) A deluge of art homework???

Gah, I don't want to do art homework anymore. Lately, because of my Axis Powers Hetalia obsession, I've gotten back into CGing, and I'd like to spend the summer doing a lot of digital artwork. I don't want to do any more artwork for school (sob sob).

Oh hey, I watched Batman Begins twice this weekend (once, and then my mom wanted to watch it). I really liked the movie. People have bugged me before to see The Dark Knight, but I'm a bit hesitant because I can't take a lot of violence in movies, and I saw some clips on Youtube. (Plus, more people die.)

The Site

Me

Writing

You

Credits

Welcome

Downtime Yesterday

School is Over!

Anime Boston!

Apologies

What Happened to No Work?





	The Site Home About/History Archive Link In/Out Me About Artwork Writing Fanfiction: Old \| New Resources You Avatars/Icons Wallpaper Layouts Miscellaneous Credits Image: MF Layout designed & coded by phoenix	Welcome Welcome to Rain Symphony (formerly known as Forgotten Hope), phoenix's weblog/personal site. Here you will find my thoughts about my life, as well as whatever other random things I decide to put on here. Enjoy your stay. Downtime Yesterday Sorry about that. I have no idea what was up with the MySQL...hopefully it won't happen that often in the future. I did update the avatars section with a bunch of Hetalia avatars (a week ago) and two animated avatars (yesterday). Unfortunately, the animated ones are rather large, so, um, I'm not sure what you can do with them...but they are pretty. I'm in the mood to ramble a bit about Trinity Blood Chapter 47. Specifically, Cain's introduction. At first I was all excited that Cain was going to be introduced because, c'mon, he's insanely evil and Abel's brother and all that. Then I was kind of disappointed by the manga. Call me biased by the (apparently fail) anime, but I can't get my head around a ditzy Cain. Ditzy does not equal charming. In fact, he acts like Seth, only more airheaded, and like Abel, only much more childish. I liked the anime's representation of him better--a cool, cheerful gentleman who has no problem obliterating you with a smile. I feel like this also fulfills Cain's role as elder brother better, with him being the calm one and Abel being the idiot (I mean that in the nicest way, of course. Abel is my favorite character), rather than with Cain being the dork and Abel being...I don't even know. I can understand Seth's behavior because she at least looks like a child. Abel is just Abel. But Cain? He used to be a charismatic leader, a steady older brother to Abel's volatility. I fail to see how his ditzy behavior reflects that. Maybe he started acting that way after he went crazy, but still, it doesn't seem to fit his insane villain role to have him act like that. (It makes him seem more like a spoiled, psychopathic manchild or something.) I also disagree with the theory that Abel and Seth are (subconsciously) imitating Cain's behavior, but that could be personal bias (again). Posted by phoenix on 2009-06-11 ~ Comments School is Over! Yup, that's right! IT'S FINALLY OVER! This week's prom and graduation, and after the summer...college! Mostly, I've been fiddling around with Corel Painter in my free time now. I really like the program, and I hope I can get a copy of it (as well as Photoshop) for my laptop. Then I'll be all set for college. Corel Painter is harder to get used to than Photoshop, but it's much more powerful in terms of brushes and simulating traditional media. (I do miss low-opacity brushes, but I probably just haven't figured it out in Painter yet.) I'm not sure right now how much "free" time I'll have this summer (I unexpectedly got a job, and I might be away for a month...), but I hope to do a study in digital painting by myself. I tried imitating a deviantART piece last night, and I actually learned a lot (why didn't I try it earlier?). My philosophy: Though it is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation, imitation has infinite value when trying to improve one's technical skills. On the video games scene: Oh my gosh, so much awesome news came from this year's E3! Golden Sun DS, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the first bit of news about Legend of Zelda Wii, as well as some gameplay from Assassin's Creed 2! I'll be waiting eagerly for the release of these titles. GSDS was the biggest surprise for me, as it's one of my favorite turn-based RPGs ever. Oh, and Arc Rise Fantasia came out in Japan. I should go check out impressions from those lucky people who can read Japanese... Posted by phoenix on 2009-06-08 ~ Comments Anime Boston! Let me tell you a bit about it (while I'm so not procrastinating on my English essay. Ahem). I couldn't go Friday (which turned out to be Senior Skip Day, but I wasn't informed), though I did go Saturday and Sunday. I loved seeing all the cosplayers (unfortunately, I didn't have time to make my own), as well as the Artists' Alley. I'm a bit sad because I saw these cute Hetalia bookmarks and planned to buy them, but when I went back, they were all sold out! (I ended up getting a Russia bookmark just because it was 50 cents, as Russia isn't my favorite character.) The highlight of Saturday was definitely the Hetalia panel. It was absolutely hilarious. The panel hosts were awesome (especially Prussia :) ), and a lot of funny questions were asked. Plus, we got to see all the Hetalia cosplayers in one place, which was nice, seeing as there aren't as many Hetalia cosplayers as, say, Naruto or Bleach cosplayers. On Sunday, we got to see the Cosplay Chess (also really funny) and the closing ceremonies, including clips of the ever-awesome Dead Fantasy. Next year, I'll see if I can wheedle my way out of college for the weekend. I'm already planning to make a costume during the summer. All I have to do is decide which Hetalia character to cosplay as... By the way, the avatars section got an update--animated avatars! Yup, that's right, all from Hetalia episode 18 (if you haven't watched it already, go. Now. It's random, but very, very funny). Since this is my first time doing animated avatars, any feedback (on frame delays and such) would be very much appreciated. Posted by phoenix on 2009-05-26 ~ Comments Apologies Sorry for not updating for so long! (Or, well, not that long, but it feels like it's been a while.) It's not that I haven't been around--basically, I've been avoiding my work and doing tons of Axis Powers Hetalia fanart in my spare time. Yes, tons. I'm a shameless self-plugger, so I urge you to go check it out! Recently, I watched the Twilight movie (why? I was curious...), and my God is it horrific. Worst, most artificial dialogue I've ever come across; terrible acting; weird lighting; and just the overall fact that Twilight is epic fail. I actually ran out of the room 20 minutes in; good thing I didn't go see the movie in theaters (plus, I refuse to support SMeyer financially in any way). Scary thing is, though, that my mom thought it was a decent movie. (I was all, "You like THIS #$%@ and you hated Iron Man??!) Don'twannadoworkblahblah. I may write a reflection on my entire school experience once I finally graduate. Today I just got back my freshman letter--a letter that I had to write as a freshman to my senior self--and...wow. I must have changed a lot, even though it doesn't feel like it. (Or maybe I was just a superficial dork as a freshman.) Posted by phoenix on 2009-05-18 ~ Comments What Happened to No Work? So most of my APs are over, and yet I still have work to do? Learning matrices in math? (Ew.) A deluge of art homework??? Gah, I don't want to do art homework anymore. Lately, because of my Axis Powers Hetalia obsession, I've gotten back into CGing, and I'd like to spend the summer doing a lot of digital artwork. I don't want to do any more artwork for school (sob sob). Oh hey, I watched Batman Begins twice this weekend (once, and then my mom wanted to watch it). I really liked the movie. People have bugged me before to see The Dark Knight, but I'm a bit hesitant because I can't take a lot of violence in movies, and I saw some clips on Youtube. (Plus, more people die.) Posted by phoenix on 2009-05-10 ~ Comments « \| 4 \| 5 \| 6 \| 7 \| 8 \| »