June
1, 2001-Is It Just Me, or Do I Sense Impending Doom?June
1, 2001-Is It Just Me, or Do I Sense Impending Doom?
Booyaka! [No wait! Do NOT use that term in the premises! It reminds me of...*shudder*] Ahem- I mean, hello...and good evening. *glances around* I guess that was a bit too formal. Anyway...let's start with the updates, but first...let me introduce this month's artworks. All three are anime portraits drawn by PirateBurn and colored by me. ^^ On the left, with the nice, Christmasy background is my best friend FalconIce. I drew the kawaii snowman in the picture [You gotta love Major Glory eyes]. Up next is PirateBurn with the mountain cliff scene. Note the realistic looking grass [it's not cut and pasted; I really made that with Photoshop]. And bringing up the finale is LavenderRose, looking splendid in a lavender Chinese outfit [this time, the cherry blossom background was cut and pasted ^^;;]
Before I go on with the updates, I'd like to make an announcement. Due to inevitable circumstances [such as the approaching start of the school year], I am reducing the time spent on working on my website in favor of prioritizing my academic activities. Which means that instead of updating my site every two weeks, I will be updating every two months. Not to mention, mail will be checked only once a week. So, if you have some business with me, or you wish to submit something, I suggest that you do it NOW, since it is still the opening of classes, and my schedule is still lax because the power-hungry, bloodthirsty, torture-happy teachers haven't shoveled paperwork and projects on top of us yet [they do the shoveling sometime near December ^^;; What a Christmas present...] Like I said, send whatever you want now; otherwise, you'll have to wait a longer time until your stuff gets posted. Or...you could wait until Christmas break ^^.
I got rid of the Fushigi Yuugi and Rurouni Kenshin shrines, because 1) I lost
the interest and motivation to build them; 2) I don't have much fics
and character info to start with, anyway; 3) I'm a lazy bum ^^ I am planning to
replace them with a Gatekeepers shrine and something else [could you suggest
something?]. Meanwhile, the FF7 fanfiction archive is beefed up at 71 with GW at
40, FF8 at 25, WK at 17 and TOF bringing up the last with...one. I've added two
chapters to "The Mark of a Slave", to let readers know that the fic
hasn't died yet ^^.
I've also noticed that no one has claimed the 2000th visitor position yet. Last I saw, my counter was 1800+, and I never returned to my site since because I have this morbid fear of becoming my own 2000th visitor. So, I don't know what the counter says now. But if it's already past 2000 right now, then I'm open to fanfic requests from anyone. First three e-mailers will get my devoted attention. Just make sure to title your mail "A Fanfic Request", and include your name, request, preferred star characters, genre and (optional) a plot suggestion. And please ask nicely. ^^ I am not a fanfic slave; I will not accept threats and demands; and I cannot churn out a fic in an instant. So please be patient. I am only an abnormal human being suffering from brain damage. ^^
Guess what? I actually finished FF9! And my bottom line is...IT SUCKS! Seriously, the game was not even significant enough to register in my "Great RPGs Finished" memory. And what is with Squaresoft and romance? No offense to inspired romantics out there, but honestly, who plays stuff like these? Girls? [<== stereotypically defined] A little lovelife couldn't hurt the hero's adventures, but to focus the entire game on it?! That's another story. Look at FF9, FF8 and possibly, FFX, too. The plots have degraded from thrilling adventure...to downright mushy sap. And it sickens me to see the lead male and lead female ALWAYS in the public spotlight. TOGETHER. Are they trying to emphasize the romantic side of the game?
Take FF8, for example, when it was yet to be released. Every game review site
you go, it's always Squall and Rinoa, and Squall and Rinoa, and some wicked
witch, and Squall and Rinoa with their unknown ragtag team of heroes. Even the
beginning movie screamed of Squall and Rinoa and mush and romance, etc. Let's
have another example...FF7. Most of the previews showed Cloud [with his giant
meat cleaver ^^] with the AVALANCHE, or with Sephiroth, or with Aeris
[sometimes]. When you play the game, you can see 
the
romantic facet of the plot, but not too much of it that it makes you puke...or
worse, sigh with sap. There was a Cloud, Tifa, Aeris love triangle, but that
ended when Aeris died. And there are other nice love stories too, like Vincent
and Lucrecia, and Cid and Shera. There's just a right amount of romance to
balance all the action and adventure. But on FF9's part, it was too much, and it
upset the scales of RPG balance. Forgive me for being so cynical about love, but
I have seen the horrors unleashed upon those who have fallen in its
snares.
Right now, I'm playing Breath of Fire IV. It's a great game, although, it's not comparable to Breath of Fire III [in my opinion]. The field graphics are great, but there's something wrong with the 3D rendering that Capcom boasts about. I know they're not Squaresoft, but I expected something at least decent. The 3D graphics [especially with the dragons] are HORRIBLE! The 2D graphics are great; kawaii, even. But the 3D is just UGLY! And those character pictures they put at the side of the dialogues? They're AWFUL! Really! But I'm just criticizing the visual side here. The game itself is fun and action-packed, the plot is intriguing, and the characters are well-expounded and established. It's just the dragons! They look like insects! And worms! And deformed blue whales! They're abominations! I mean, just compare it with BOF III. Though the dragons are 2D and all, they're magnificent. But either way you look at the BOF IV dragons, they're stiff, and rough, and urgh!...I ran out of the right adjectives.
...Ugh...the exasperation is getting to me. Must go find something to cheer me up...
[About Me]
I'm surprised you actually got down here 0.0 Anyway, what you'll find here are miscellaneous stuff, like birthday fics, original fics, artwork...mostly stuff that are mine and my friends'. But then, other people have decided to pitch in, too. Oh yeah, you'll find MY ani-gif gallery here. Feel free to browse around (but if, for some weirdly uncanny reason, you wish to post them somewhere else, mail first!)
Ani-GIF Gallery- This is MY animated gif gallery. All of them were drawn by FalconIce, except for Youji, who was drawn by PirateBurn, and colored and animated by me. ^_^
Kasa no Miko's Birthday Fic- FalconIce wrote this for me on my birthday (Sept. 8!), but it's too short! *weep* Want more... NOTE: Zaknafein and Cyrus are both characters from our collaboration fic, Stranger Things. I'll post it up sometime.
Danger From The Sky- FF7 Fanart by Nguyen Ha Tran.
FalconIce's Birthday Fic- This time, I wrote this for FalconIce-chan on her birthday (Nov. 22!) and it's much longer. I really enjoyed writing this, 'cos I was tormenting FalconIce with the many OOCs.
Harry Potter Chasing the Snitch- Drawn and colored by me.
Kawaii Duo- Drawn and colored by FalconIce.
Reeve and Cait- Drawn by FalconIce, colored by me. A Valentine's special.
Reno- Drawn and colored by me.
Sanosuke at the Beach- Drawn and colored by FalconIce.
Turks- Drawn by FalconIce and colored by me.