It's atrociously out of tune. But as long as I can play it, I'm not complaining...

( Two works in progress: an untitled sketch and The Sunflower Song )

I woke up today and spent the morning with the piano in the east lounge. Thanks to the big football game this Saturday, the halls are mostly deserted. After a while I noticed that I was shaking, and that made it rather hard to play the piano. As I sat there wondering why, my stomach grumbled so vindictively that it reverberated inside my skull. I realized with a laugh that I hadn't eaten since 4 PM yesterday, and since my hemoglobin count has been dangerously low lately, I'd better not skip any more meals...

I remember when I first discovered that I could make up songs on the piano. I think I was 9 or 10. I recall it being such a terribly fascinating thing for me. I'd play for uncounted hours until I fell asleep on the keyboard. My dad would come and wake me in the middle of the night.

I wonder if I can ever afford to do things that I love like that again.

UPDATE (as of 11.20.09 1:08 AM EST) Jumei edited her journal with some clarifications of her thoughts. Thank you. And let that be a lesson to all fans and haters out there — decent behavior begets decent behavior.

The only thing I'd like to keep straight here is that Jumei jumped on an issue she had no knowledge of. In fact, Jumei knew even less about virus-ac74's painting than I initially imagined: from what she added to her journal, it appears that Jumei never even clicked on virus's art, much less read the artist's comments. If she honestly believes that "when it's Hetalia [Nazi art] is ok", then Jumei clearly did not know that virus was forced to disable comments on her art due to flamers.

With popularity comes certain responsibilities. If you have tons of watchers, you're going to have to deal with the results of what you choose to show to the public. In that sense, I believe both virus-ac74 and Jumei have a lot on their hands to sort out. /update



IM IN UR DEVARTS PRESERVING UR WANK 4 POSTERITY AND TEH LULZ

ETA. You know what? I'mma just let the screenshots/comments speak for themselves and not dig myself any deeper into the hole...

( Yes, this is about that ''Nazi Germany'' painting on the front page yesterday )

Maybe I should take screenshots? I don't know if jumei is mature enough not to go deleting her journal or hiding user comments. I mean, honestly, she just threw a hissy fit over the fact that a webcomic/anime she didn't like was popular. Way to act your age and artistic talent, missy. *sighhh*

Connie (c) mandisawesome as much as I'd like to steal him

Created with sharpie, sharpie, dead braincells, and sharpie. I swear, the fumes drove my roommate out of the room. And made me woozy and lightheaded and slightly nauseous.

I love this kid so much.

Guys, I seriously can not wait.
http://mulan.ent.sina.com.cn

Starring Vicki Zhao (♥ ♥ ♥), guest-starring China's favorite Vocaloid spunky Russian pop-opera singer Vitas.

Coming December 2009

( My expectations thus far )

( The infamous dinosaur book written and illustrated by 8-year-old nijibug & Finland )

Hey — HEY — Jurassic Park marathon, anyone? :DDD

Gift for snowp


Inspired by ancient Chinese naturalist/physician Li Shizhen. Shizhen was young and talented and daring and often tested out medicines on himself, sometimes with near-fatal consequences. His lifelong work The Herbalist's Manual remains the most comprehensive tome of Chinese traditional medicine to this day.

Sharpie marker, ballpoint pen
Penciled in his hair
Background, texture, and shading moused-over in Photoshop

Starting now until December 12, 2009...

My goal is to be guilt-free by my birthday!

I give myself one month to complete all the items on this list...

1. Pheos's fashion design contest, deadline Nov 20: info
   
2. Commission for Darth Vader's nephew. Because he's Darth Vader's nephew. And he asked really nicely. And he never nagged. And he's still waiting after all these months. orz
   
3. Art for jinglefox because I missed her birthday. Again. We've known each other since we were 8 and she's never forgotten mine once. I need to make it up to her.
   
4. Art for achiru, another friend who drew for my birthday and whose birthday I missed this year. OTL
   
5. Art for pchaness (ryouhora), same case as above. I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON.
   
6. Art for penumbra, a thank-you for the 3-month deviantART subscription. I thiiink I have a plan as to what to draw at this point x]
   
7. Art for mandisawesome, another case of a friend who always draws for my birthday whom I've yet to reciprocate. Besides, I a-dorrre her characters.
   
8. Art for snowp in return for her many wonderful kiribans.
   
9. Art trade with sheilkuroi, still waiting on details...

Trust this list to expand as I remember stuff I've forgotten...

Animation-style Eirendi

Happy Birthday, Ishida Uryuu! ♥

( Super Secret work-in-progress )

Heyyy, I've decided to enable comments on my LJ from now on. :'D ...ok, so maybe that's not very exciting. OTZ

Ask not what your fandom can do for you — ask instead what you can do for your fandom ♥

( ''And my failing consists in writing verses.'' * )

I just went through my LiveJournal and deleted all my original writing and poetry (except for a couple of earlier entries, which I locked). I've always meant to do this: I do not hesitate to say that unlike my wannabe manga art, my writing is good enough to steal and sell.

I feel that cataloging my original poetry/prose on Dwth is pretty safe considering its reader demographic and more advanced friends-locking system. That said, I do have friends & trusted readers who exclusively use LJ. Please let me know if you still want access to my writing and if you would rather I grant access to your OpenID or if you want a Dwth invite code instead (I have 2).

* from "Madly Singing in the Mountains", Bai Juyi (772-846 A.D.)

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/46772.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

October 24th is the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. On this day tomorrow, on 5 continents, in 29 countries, and 105 locations, fans of APH will be getting together to celebrate the nations of the world in the first annual International Hetalia Day.

Ann Arbor is hosting a Hetalia meet-up. I will be there, and I hope our APH fans can sing, 'cause artemis_elric and I are bringing our MKC duet that seems to have caught on quite nicely...

*sniffles happily* omg ilu world you make me so happy ;_; *hugs everyone*


....... yes I have been watching Wang Leehom sing about world peace and Gackt make soppy speeches about being one big family IS IT THAT OBVIOUS? Q___Q

WAAaaaaaghh why am I even trying I'm incoherent now

HIMARUYA FOR 2010 NOBEL PEACE PRIIIIIIZZZEE ; 0;

So where are you gonna be tomorrow?

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/45820.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

ETA: Are you guys serious?! Over 100 downloads in less than 3 hours? We were totally just messing around! XD ... But thank you, we're really glad you like this ♥ [/edit]



Since bruder won't let me post this version to the hetalia LJ comm, I'm posting it here on ore-sama no blog! >D

( Hear us in all our LUGGED, MANRY glory!!!!1 )

Ohh alright. If you want the real version, it's here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/142040896/13794284/mkc_duet.html

artemis_elric is singing primo (melody) and I'm singing secundo (harmony). For those who can't tell, since our voices sound exactly-freaking-alike, she sings the low part in the verses and the high part in the chorus, and I sing the high part in the verses and the low part in the chorus... scratch that! I realize that isn't a very accurate description either, as my counterpart melody sometimes snakes above or below the main melody. Pffft, nevermind. It's just us singing, and honest to goodness, we are two different people.

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/45488.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

( That's the sound of the world on fire )

( More APH arts as promised! Full-color China + a RoChu doodle )

So all in all, it was a pretty productive Geography lecture today! XD

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/43589.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

Quoting luminaire — "I'd pay good money if that was in the movies"



( Hetalia fans, proceed herein )

And if you guessed that I'm now going to draw more APH fanart than you'll ever want to see, you guessed right.

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/43267.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

ETA: Still no luck. I'm pretty much convinced that this is just a clever, ingenious photoshoot purposefully arranged to look like screenshots from a video. (Note how the subtitles are dialogue.)

I am desperately, desperately searching for the cosplay video that these screenshots came from (in no sort of order):

( More screenshots under the cut )

My favorite word is nakama
Which means kind of like friend
But more like comrade

And it makes me sad that the English language
Hasn't quite got a word that can translate it
Without the wrong connotations...

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Crossposted from http://nijibug.dreamwidth.org/42775.html. Comment with OpenID (your LJ URL)

Am I the only one happy that Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace prize? Maybe I'm just weird. Q_Q

Ok, listen to this (starting at 3:30) —
( Juunigenmukyoku, Twelve Kingdoms theme )
Pirates of the Caribbean, you are such a Ryou Kunihiko rip-off. (Yes, Twelve Kingdoms DID come first).

ETA: Wow. Apparently it is neither a coincidence nor a rip-off. Disney shares parts of the Juuni Kokuki soundtrack that are considered "stock" melodies (like stock images, only music). Pirates of the Caribbean also features Track 08, Fuushun as a tavern theme. (source)

ETA 2: As I said in my comment in the source post:

I can understand why composers in a time crunch would use “stock melodies” for a track. But for a main theme? The signature melody of a franchise?

Consider the Pirates of the Caribbean theme versus the Twelve Kingdoms opening title, (start listening at 3:30)

Same key, same rhythm, different intervals. Too similar for comfort.

So until I find proof that this song is stock, I will continue to uphold my claim that Klaus Badelt, who composed his version for Pirates of Caribbean in 2003, took inspiration from Ryou Kunihiko's composition, released in 2002.

._. N-no. I-it's not. I swear.
This time it isn't about a Japanese schoolgirl who gets mysteriously transported to ancient China!! But it's still a school-aged girl's shiny shoujo fantasy adventure in ancient China. It's about a girl who wants to break gender conventions, take the imperial examinations, become a government official, and help rebuild her country after a horrible revolution!

Should I watch the anime? The OP is so very pretty. Q_Q Even though it's 78 whopping episodes long and the art looks like a cross between Fushigi Yuugi and Inuyasha?
AND I PROMISED MYSELF I WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN aaaghhh

ETA: Look at me! I'm devouring the manga adaption! omg, I have got a weakness for pretty shoujo arts haven't I? *weeps* I'll understand if you never speak to me again...
/hanfu-gasm