My blog was down for awhile coz it exceeded the 8GB bandwidth. I’m quite sure it was the doing of spam bots as I receive tons of spam comments and all my pictures and embedded videos are hosted elsewhere. As much as I like the sound of thousands of page views, I prefer if actual people are reading and not spam bots.
I had to upgrade my plan coz of this problem. Not that I really wanted to in the first place…boooo…
Any idea how to prevent them from even visiting my site?
I got my first birthday present of 2014 in the form of watching Alma Mater return to her pedestal via the very cool Alma Cam. She was taken down in 2012 for restoration.
After years of braving the rain and snow, she had obtained a shade of green. This was how she looked like when I graduated.
I began checking out Alma Cam on the morning of 9 April, but due to the time difference, all I saw were drunk people passing by. At about 7pm (8am there), I got excited coz I noticed someone taking measurements. The action only began around 9.30pm (10.30am there).
Note: I didn’t think of taking screen shots earlier, so I only grabbed some when they were beginning to return her to her pedestal.
Prepping to lift her…
And she’s in the air!
Putting her down gently…
I couldn’t watch the final adjustments coz it was already midnight and I had to turn in. I suppose there was some sort of ceremony as there is supposed to be a time capsule put in her to be opened in 10 year’s time.
And here’s what I saw this morning…
Alma’s back in business with a nice bronze shade!
Tolerance. Something that not everyone has. Sometimes I wonder why we allow society to shape how we think or act.
“The only thing wrong in this little girl’s world is the people who won’t accept her for who she is.”
Jazz was not allowed to play girl’s soccer coz she’s biologically a boy and they are afraid she’ll hurt the other girls. What bullshit! Look at her. She walks and talks like a girl! She is most definitely a girl.
Watching her swim in her homemade mermaid’s tail is just incredible and sad at the same time. She loves mermaids because they have nothing between their legs to define which gender they are.
I have nothing to say except that she is awesome and that she gives hope to transgender people. I also think her parents are awesome for not conforming to what society wants us to think or act.
Yet another film adapted from a manga series. 僕等がいた (Bokura ga Ita) is a high school romance story about a girl named Takahashi Nanami who fell for the popular boy, Yano Motoharu. Always the same trope but I never get sick of such stories. Haha.
I started out watching the anime series and liked it so much that I continued reading the manga. The anime series ends where Yano moves to Tokyo, leaving Takahashi back in Sapporo. That’s about halfway through the whole story. A lot of things happen after that. (No spoilers.)
I had high hopes for the movie, but was a teeny weeny bit disappointed. They changed a couple of scenes to fit the flow of the movie. Other than that, they managed to capture the essence of the story in two parts…kind of like an extended movie. Part one was their high school days and part two when they grew up. I thought the choice of actors was quite accurate.
Toma Ikuta played Yano, a character that has a playful streak and also a serious side. Was kinda happy that I watched this movie with Toma taking the lead role. I’ve missed seeing him on screen. Toma and YamaP came as a pair in Johnny’s, but as they grew up, YamaP overshadowed Toma. When NewS formed, I was crushed that Toma wasn’t in it. Eventually, Toma just faded away. He didn’t even debut in any group.
Yoshitaka Yuriko played the timid Takahashi. I’m not too familiar with this actress and at first thought Miyazaki Aoi would have been a better choice. After all, Takahashi is supposed to be a cute girl. But as I watched the movie, I felt Yuriko was fine.
Higa Manami played Sengenji Akiko, Yano’s Tokyo high school classmate. Akiko is the cool beauty with long black hair. What makes this character so appealing is that she has both the brains and beauty. When Manami appeared in the movie, I felt “Yes! She totally fits the Akiko character!”
Takaoka Sousuke played Takeuchi Masafumi, Yano’s best friend who also holds a torch for Takahashi. I’m ok with the choice of actor, just that I felt he looks a bit old for a high schooler. Incidentally, the actor is the ex-husband of Miyazaki Aoi. Hmmm…coincidence…
The movie ending was quite like the manga series. There is not much of an elaboration of after they got together again, yet the story does not end abruptly.
I’m the kind of person that likes to watch and read the same series to compare the treatment of the story in different mediums.
今日、恋をはじめます (Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu) is another film adapted from a manga series about plain jane Hibino Tsubaki who gets teased by the popular guy in her high school, Tsubaki Kyouta but eventually falls for him. A very typical high school romance story line. The ending for the manga was pretty good…the usual happily ever after ending after the protagonist goes through hardship. There was an OVA for the manga series which had pretty choppy scenes and ended only somewhere in the beginning of the whole story.