Hunting the Elusive

Some of you might notice that I took leave from work during the previous week (although I didn’t say much about it), but did not post up many/any new releases until today. There’s a reason for that, and it’s because aside from some cosplay photoshoots, I was helping my sister and her fiancé take some photos which they will compile into an engagement-period album for their wedding. In a complete reversal of the normal situation, it just so happens this weekend is entirely free (while the week was pretty much filled up with shoots), so that has allowed me to catch up on some organisational work at home, and I am anticipating a dump of load when I return to company work as well. Still, here are some photos looking at the past week.

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Cities, like photographs, are four-dimensional. Cities, unlike photographs, change along the axis of Time, and they do not revert. Memories, stained by nostalgia, tinted by dreams and tempered by maturing thoughts, smooth out the grit, erase the dirt, and retains the sun’s rays where there were none. Places of the past now belong irrevocably in an era we cannot reach, only remaining as fragments in the form of unreliable memory and shakily-taken snapshots. A happier place, from a time when we, insulated by ignorance and childishness, had a small world made of candy and walks and toys. We cannot return.

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The last time I came back to Hong Kong, it was on the way to Japan. We used Hong Kong as a base of operations to purchase winter clothes and supplies before heading off to that wonderful land.

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Normally I put my photos on Pixels, but today is a bit more special, as it was my birthday (yesterday, by the time I post this). While my family had mostly completed celebrations prior to the actual day, today I went out with my sister and cosplayers Madara and Nadleeh for an afternoon and evening of low-key celebrations. Definitely one of the best birthdays I’ve had so far, and thank you to everyone for their well wishes! As it’s also the start of my holidays, I felt quite festive as well.

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“Shantiti & Ne-jyu” is a pair of figures released exclusively by Etsu Magazine. Previously covered here, the figures came out pretty much on schedule, though I held off on a shipment until last week. As to who the characters are, they are originals from an illustration that Tinkle had done for an earlier issue of Etsu. Scale is 1/8, sculptor is the prolific Miyagawa Takeshi (T’s System, 宮川武), manufacturer is Clayz. Cost: 7800 yen each, 15,000 yen bundled. Each figure came with a base, which, true to the original drawing, has “crystal” structures growing out of it. The package also came with a boarded drawing by Tinkle, and a background of a starry night, presumably for use when taking photos of the figures. I chose not to use this, however. [Gallery]

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Animania Sydney ran over the weekend, 5 and 6 September 2009. It was held at the Australian Technology Park (I scoped the place in May, see the last four photos in this gallery). This is I believe the second year that Animania has been held at this venue, and it looks like it is working out well, because the space easily deals with the crowd, with only the female toilets seeming a bit stressed, and the dealer tables having to deal with crowds in that section due to popularity. As one of the larger anime-dedicated cons for Sydney (if not THE largest), Animania presented a large range of cosplayers of great quality, though an acquaintance suggests Manifest’s cosplay quality is of a higher calibre. Remember that this post is just a summary of shots, so check out the full galleries: [Gallery Day 1 | Sub-gallery: Day 1 Shoots] [Gallery Day 2]

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The White Lion set by Chocolate Shop/CHOCO was released at Comic Market 76. Since then, a number of retailers have had their own store-exclusive colour versions for sale, similar to what happened with CHOCO’s GL trilogy of doujin + figure bundles. The White Lion is a significant release because this is CHOCO’s first since his premature “retirement” from the doujin scene a few Comiket ago. The book itself is 16 pages, full colour, with three spread illustrations, and approximately half the volume dedicated to information about the design and figure for the female character. The PVC half-figure is made by Clayz, sculpted by Takeshi Miyagawa and Toshikazu Karashima. BTW, jump click warning: no nudity, but might not be safe for work. [Release][PNG][Photo gallery]

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SMASH! 2009 (anime convention in Sydney) was pretty awesome. While not commanding the numbers that Supanova did, it was still very big and has definitely grown in size, quality and execution since I first went in 2007 (which was the first time it ran). The first day was full-on, while the second was more relaxed, but still pretty good. I had a hiatus from the anime convention circuit in 2008 due to surges of anti-social sentiment on my part, so I was in a pretty good position to evaluate the changes to the scene since two years ago, and I am happy to report that most/all of these changes have been positive. As usual, because of the sheer number of photos, I have just put a summation on this blog, and the main body of images can be found on the Pixels on Pireze gallery site: [Day One | Prince of Tennis] [Day Two]

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Well, all the photos for the 2009 Sydney Supanova convention are now online at Pixels on Pireze [Day One] [Day Two] [Gundam 00: Day Two]. I must say I took much less photos on Day Two (which was a bit less crowded/intense compared to Day One), but still managed to catch quite a few great cosplayers. Overall, I thought Supanova was a great success. Organisers were able to efficiently manage the crowds, and the interests of all the pop culture groups (anime, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) were catered to in nicely separated areas.

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While I am not in the habit of bringing the rest of my life into this blog, I thought I should just share four photos I took today (treating my DSLR as a camera phone) covering a typical Friday for me.

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