That is a LOT of stuff up there.

And guess what; it’s not everything.

This is what’s in the picture:

• Rocket-punching Chogokin Hatsune Miku – $220
• AFA T-shirt MikuPa ver. – $35
• 2x MikuPa 2011 T-shirt – $50 each
• 2x MikuPa lanyard – $18 each
• MikuPa sling bag – $72
• Vocaloid pin badge kit – $35

There is also another MikuPa T-shirt not in the picture; the design consists of the official illustration by Osamu. You might remember him as the character designer of Rin/Len Append.

That also cost $50. That means everything bought on the night of the concert (that is, everything listed so far except the figure) amounted to nearly $300. Cripes.

We did manage to acquire a set of 3 ZANEEDS posters from their booth in the convention itself, which consisted of Miku, Rin and Luka in sexy outfits, the same characters in a burger, and Miku imitating our national animal, the merlion.

Sadly though, we couldn’t fit everything into one photo, and I’m actually rushing this post too, so you’ll have to use your imagination from our photo of the ZANEEDS booth. ^_^;

While Fariz was more than satisfied with all of this, I wasn’t, so I picked up this little box from the Artists’ Alley.

This box is actually a fanart set from Alice Overture in the theme of Black Rock Shooter. It doesn’t just contain an artbook though.

It comes with a pin badge, a card sticker, a bookmark and a printed microfiber cloth. The pin badge, card sticker and bookmark may have one of 3 designs each, and while they should be random, the booth was kind enough to build an entire set from scratch for me, letting me pick the designs I want. ( *A*)

The artbook contains a series of illustrations from several artists, ranging from pretty to downright gorgeous, or as Feidamu puts it, “fap-able”.

This one is a rendition of BRS by 礫音(Neptune).

Each illustration is accompanied with a piece of prose, be it a poem or a short passage. Now, I will be perfectly honest here: the grammar needs a little work. Other than that though, it’s a good attempt at showing a bit of “story” behind the picture.

One of the main reasons I bought this in the first place is that the circle actually focuses on all known aspects of BRS, including the game, the “Innocent Soul” manga and other “official” creations aside from the usual BRS vs Dead Master anime material. Here’s a rendition of BRS Beast by rosene.

Here’s a closer look at the pin badge, card sticker and bookmark. The design of the pin badge is BRS by 雪桜々, the one on the card sticker is BRS & Dead Master by Linsert.D, and the design of the bookmark is XNFE by 究.

I promise not to dirty you too much, Grey~

Finally, we have the printed microfiber cloth, which has an beautiful illustration of Grey by 雪桜々. I’m liking her art more and more. =3

Here are links to all the artists listed in the book, in order of appearance:

• 木shiyo
• feifei
• 礫音(Neptune)
• 雪桜々
• rosene (also the President of Alice Overture)
• 暴力社長の猫@主婦
• Linsert.D
• 究 (doesn’t seem to have any illustrations posted as of time of writing)
• centimetre

FYI, the set costs $40 in all. It may be a little exorbitant to the casual buyer, but I know true fandom and effort when I see it, and I think the price fits the product.

Not to mention that nearly everything MikuPa-exclusive is even more expensive.

Warning! The following post only contains thoughts of the author, and not much of actual coverage.

If you’re looking for proper coverage, you could head over to Fabrice Requin’s blog. He’s done several great posts on the convention. Otherwise, read on.

The reason I’m not going to do a proper event coverage post myself is because I’ve already attended 3 times. Say what you wish, but anything gets old after you’ve done it for a while.

(also laziness)

Now for my 2 cents.

First off, I’m not too sure how it happened, but they managed to screw up the infamous first-day queue. Again.

It may have been due to Suntec organizing 2 other major events on the same day, though, but you’d think Sozo would’ve worked out something by now. Or maybe they can’t. Maybe it’s a staple habit of Singaporeans, or events in general. Someone do enlighten me.

Other than that, AFA’11 was pretty awesome. They managed to rope in Nico Nico Douga of all things, offering streams of the convention and parts of the concert on both the English and Japanese versions of the site.

Crypton also had a presence there, though they were restricted to the Cool Japan Forum and a tiny booth in the Cool Japan Pavilion, in the back of the hall. They were promoting MIKUBOOK like no tomorrow, what with the itasha on display nearby.

Even ODEX (of all things) got into the fun, expanding their movie selection from 2 to 5, though you have to buy $10 tickets for each and watch in a separate theatre. And I’ll bet most old-timers burn the posters once they see the ODEX logo on them. ^_^;

To their credit, they did still air the 2nd Mardock Scramble movie and the 4th Gundam Unicorn for free. Only watched the latter though, but it was awesome.

Chiwa Saito came to answer questions, and also did live dubbing of Homura. Great stuff, especially when she dubbed that Kyubey shooting scene. People who haven’t watched the show got spoiler-ed lol.

It seemed that the technical issues haunting the MikuPa concert on Friday night were also present during the concerts on Saturday and Sunday, as well as some of the daytime stage events. While I didn’t attend the Saturday concert, I thought that there was way too much bass and reverb during the Kalafina portion.

Performance-wise, though, May’n actually turned out to be disappointing; she ended up singing only a few of her newer singles. Milky Holmes was meh (given since I’m not exactly a fan of the show), though I did get to see true Japanese fanboys in the act.

I think I became an angela fan after their portion though. They had the most enthusiasm and audience interaction among all the performances, and they even threw in Cruel Angel’s Thesis for good measure. Fuck yeah.

All in all, I think AFA’s really improved over the years in that they keep bringing things to the table, though I think the management needs to iron out the problems that have been hanging around since the previous conventions.

Up next, the obligatory swag post.

Also, thanks for some of the images, Subarashinki! Check out his AFA album here!

Okay, okay, I know, KK’s been dead for about…a month or so? I’m a terrible blogger, I get it.

Anyhoo, if you somehow forgot about MikuPa, it’s about to start! Yup. Right now. And I was lucky enough to get the rest of the day off for this. I do pray I don’t disconnect halfway though.

You can join the stream and watch it, and for those of you who are at the scene itself, have fun!

EDIT: It wasn’t a bad concert…but it didn’t live up to last year’s 39′s Thanksgiving Day either.

While they managed to cram 39 songs into the much shorter timespan, most of them were cut and/or part of a medley, and there was a ridiculous 30-minute intermission during which they looped a set of adverts till even the audience got sick of it.

They used a slightly different set of models this time round, and IMHO they’re an improvement over the ones used last year (which IIRC were taken from Project DIVA Arcade). While the fact that they used a screen (as opposed to a holographic projection) may be a disappointment to most, I don’t really feel the difference. The camera angles used during the stream were terrible, though.

There were a couple of epic moments though. The first was the end of one of the medleys, when they started playing Hatsune Miku no Gekishou. Miku transformed Panty-&-Stocking-style into a silver outfit and sprouted wings near the end. Avid Project DIVA players will know it’s a reference to the way the same song ends in the second PSP game.

The second was the final encore song, When the First Love Ends. I’m not going to spoiler this bit though; you’ll have to see for yourself. That is, if someone manages to leak a full recording. >_>

Here’s a taste of the concert. It’s one of the few portions that was streamed for free:

(Yes, I ended up watching it through UStream. FFFFF)

Here’s the songlist, courtesy of pKjD:

XX.) 「かくれんぼ / Kakurenbo」 – buzzG & Aizawa Mai
01.) 「Ievan Polkka」 – Otomania feat.初音ミク
02.) 「こっち向いて Baby /Kocchi Muite Baby」 – ryo (supercell) feat.初音ミク
03.) 「二息步行 / Nisoku Hokou」 – DECO*27 feat.初音ミク
04.) 「アルビノ / albino」 – buzzG feat.初音ミク
05.) 「え？あぁ、そう。 / Eh? Aa Sou.」 – papiyon feat.初音ミク
06.) 「ぽっぴっぽ / Po Pi Po」 – ラマーズP feat.初音ミク
07.) 「トリノコシティ / Torinoko City」 – 40mP feat.初音ミク
08.) 「キャットフード / Cat Food」 – doriko feat.初音ミク
09.) 「崩壊歌姫 -disruptive diva- / Houkai Utahime -disruptive diva-」 マチゲリータP feat.初音ミク
10.) 「白い雪のプリンセスは / Shiroi Yuki no Princess wa」 – のぼる↑ feat.初音ミク
11.) 「ワールズエンド・ダンスホール / World’s End Dancehall」 – wowaka feat.初音ミク＆巡音ルカ
12.) 「ダブルラリアット / Double Lariat 」- アゴアニキ feat.巡音ルカ
13.) 「No Logic」 – ジミーサムP feat.巡音ルカ
14.) 「RIP RELEASE」 – ryuuseiP feat.巡音ルカ
15.) 「Japanese Ninja No.1」 – デッドボールP feat.巡音ルカ
16.) 「ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー / Luka Luka★Night Fever」 – samfree feat.巡音ルカ
17.) 「結ンデ開イテ羅刹ト骸 / Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro」 – ハチ feat.初音ミク
18.) 「ローリンガール / Rolling Girl」 – wowaka feat.初音ミク
***30-MINUTE INTERMISSION***
19.) 「trick and treat」 – OSTER project feat.鏡音リン・鏡音レン
20.) 「悪ノ娘 / Aku no Musume」 – mothy_悪ノP feat.鏡音リン
21.) 「悪ノ召使 / Aku no Meshitsukai」 – mothy_悪ノP feat.鏡音レン
22.) 「いろは唄 / Iroha Uta」 – 銀サク feat.鏡音リン
23.) 「炉心融解 / meltdown」 – iroha(sasaki） feat.鏡音リン
24.) 「ココロ / Kokoro」 – トラボルタ feat.鏡音リン
25.) 「メランコリック / Melancholic」 – Junky feat.鏡音リン
26.) 「リンリンシグナル / Rin Rin Signal」 – Dios/シグナルP feat.鏡音リン・鏡音レン
27.) 「SPICE!」 – minato(流星P) feat.鏡音レン
28.) 「Fire◎Flower」 – halyosy feat.鏡音レン
29.) 「Packaged」 – livetune feat.初音ミク
30.) 「ハロー、プラネット。/ *HELLO, PLANET.」 – sasakure.UK feat.初音ミク
31.) 「マージナル / Marginal」 – OSTER project feat.初音ミク
32.) 「初音ミクの激唱 / Hatsune Miku no Gekishou」 – cosMo（暴走P） feat.初音ミク
33.) 「歌に形はないけれど / Uta ni Katachi wa Nai Keredo」 – doriko feat.初音ミク
34.) 「Yellow」 – livetune feat.初音ミク
35.) 「タイムマシン / Time Machine」 – 1640mP feat.初音ミク
36.) 「ARiA」 – とくP feat.初音ミク
***ENCORE***
37.) 「カラフル×メロディ / Colorful x Melody」 – ちーむMOER feat.初音ミク
38.) 「メルト / MELT」 – supercell feat.初音ミク
39.) 「初めての恋が終わる時 / When the First Love Ends」 – supercell feat.初音ミク

You can check out more photos and information from his post, as well.

There was an event on the Black★Rock Shooter: The Game website yesterday involving entering a few key codes into the page.

The key codes could only be entered after 7PM, and after the right key codes were entered, B★RS would awaken in the capsule, only to go “Who are you?” before the new trailer was revealed.

The key codes, if you’re curious, were:

1. 8313-4820-3684-6534-2257
2. 9113-3274-1289-3235-1682
3. 4124-1000-5000-6571-1888
4. 3031-8888-1467-6593-8135
5. 8251-6310-5401-3256-6147
6. 8513-2455-9314-7123-6321

I’ve no idea how one would procure the codes, so my best guess is that it was through trial and error. The codes were released by industry partners and company employees over Twitter through the course of the day. Don’t bother trying it out now; BRS has already permanently awakened, and using the keypad only displays an error message.

(Thanks for the heads up, cowboybibimbop!)

Ah, right, the trailer:

The fact that she’s one of the bosses you’ll be facing is further emphasised in this trailer, but “in the palace on the moon”?! Wow. I get the feeling there’s some reality-bending going on here.

The cast list is still the same as the first trailer, and it’s confirmed that Maaya Sakamoto will be voicing both WRS and B★RS. Stop bawling, you Kana Hanasawa fans. Maaya’s not exactly a 2nd-rate voice actress either. >_>

The trailer still doesn’t show any gameplay though, so…inb4 PV3? =3

Ah yes, the figma.

The WRS figma will be bundled with the limited edition of the game, now named the Black★Rock Shooter: The Game White Premium Box. The figma was also on display at this year’s Wonder Festival, which means more delicious snaps for us to admire.

And some official shots:

The figure is just…BAD-ASS AND SEXY. Forgive me if you’ve heard me say that for any of the previous B★RS figurines. I mean, I could tell she was bad-ass from the illustration, but seeing her in this 3D form is just…I dunno, epic? XD

Her mecha-like parts can be removed, and since she’s not shown in the trailer with them on, one can only imagine how epic the battle with her will be. Hopefully it won’t be too hard.

She’s also a skirt short from zettai ryouki, but I guess almost unzipped pants are fine, too. =3

The figma is an exclusive to the White Premium Box, so even if you just want to get your hands on this figure (and you call yourself a fan?), you’ll have to fork out quite a bit. If I recall, you can get it at Amazon for 8,826 JPY or AmiAmi for 8,560 JPY. Better get it quick though; the new trailer attracted tons more figma enthusiasts.

Yup, not regretting pre-ordering it darn early. Also, Grey and B★RS Game Version figmas WHERE?!

(Nendoroids too!)

Sources:

• 2channel
• 4Gamer: [1] [2]
• Famitsu
• Danny Choo

I’ll cut this short, since I really should sleep soon.

Firstly, the queue-before-the-gates-open. As it turned out, few knew where tp queue, and 10 minutes to show-time, the queue turned into less of a queue and more of a zerg rush waiting to happen. Thankfully the gatekeepers turned it into nothing but a bottleneck, but I expected better from AFA, being in in its third year running.

Secondly, yes, the Project DIVA Arcade machines work just fine, though you’ll have to queue for quite a bit before you’ll get your turn. The machines are in full demo mode; everything’s unlocked and free-to-play, but you can’t save any progress on your card.

Thirdly, Aki Takanori (GSC’s head honcho) announced a second BRS OVA during the Kana Hanazawa panel (which I missed FFFFF). Wait, let me reiterate that properly, lest you be skimming through this post.

BRS SEQUEL B****ES

There aren’t any more details, and heck, it’s not even officially announced on the website yet (though apparently it got a mention over at 2ch). I’m kinda glad that we were the first to find out about this. Inb4 speculation about the plot. Again.

Oh, and they’re gonna try to get huke to come over next year too! I APPROVE.

And lastly, Anisong. JAM Project and Aniki were good (though JAM Project’s performance obviously outshone Mizuki’s, judging by the crowd activity), but the Miku “bonus performance” was…horrible. They actually managed to make it worse than last year’s fiasco by simply playing back videos, as opposed to rendering it live. Here’s the songlist, for the curious:

1. こっち向いて Baby
2. 恋スル VOC@LOID
3. StargazeR

They used the PV of こっち向いて Baby found in the DVD included with the split single, and Project DIVA Arcade gameplay videos for the next two. All 3 of which a typical Miku fan would’ve already seen by now.

Total fail.

Salutations!

I know it’s been a while since I actually laid my fingers on the keyboard for the sake of the blog. Recently it’s all been Nano slaving away (and I’m pretty damn impressed with the AFA rundown post he did), so I thought I’d drop by and stuff.

Seriously though, I realize it’s pretty irresponsible of me (and my brother) to leave you guys hanging like that. No news updates, no personal rants, nothing.

My reasons are simple, though. Firstly, National Service equals less free time for yourself, and even less free time at home. I don’t need to elaborate here.

Secondly, these days when I sit in front of the PC, I’m more inclined to game, surf and watch some animu, rather than hammer away an essay-long post on the keyboard. I remember that I used to spend hours crawling the Internet to grab at almost every single detail regarding anything I was willing to talk about, and feel satisfied when I hit the “Publish” button.

Sadly, it seems I’ve lost that spark, partly from NS-stress, partly from pure boredom, I admit. I do hope that I’ll get it back though; I do miss the joys of finding out stuff few realize is just sitting in some obscure web page waiting to be discovered.

And Fariz? Well, he’s more focused on his other hobby: cosplay photography. You can check out the stuff he’s churning out, and while this doesn’t mean he’ll no longer blog, he’ll just be a lot less around than I’ll be. I don’t blame him though, he’s just being passionate about the thing he loves.

And don’t worry, he’s still the Miku Lord.

Neither of us plan to let the blog just die off, however busy we are. We promise you that, at least.

Thank you, all of you, for continuing to visit the blog. It’s good to know we’re still being remembered. =D

Anyway, the doors to AFAX open in less than 9 hours from now. I can actually go, thanks to a brilliant stroke of luck, which is all I can tell you. Hooray for SAF’s administration, for once! XD

Nano’s already done the general coverage, so I’ll just go over something he didn’t cover.

Miku at AFAX

Once again, Miku will appear again on Side A of Anisong (that’s today). It’s said to be a “bonus performance” though, so expect the fabulous quality we got last year. I really do hope they’ll try to render the performance on something stronger than an Acer notebook, though.

Also, Project DIVA Arcade will make an appearance at the convention. If you look at the AFAX map Nano shamelessly hot-linked from KKnM, you’ll see a SEGA booth in the bottom right of the festival hall. I assume this is where they’ll place the machine, so if you want to get dibs, I suggest you run there.

Oh wait, I suggest you walk really briskly instead, otherwise the security will just shout at you or something.

You won’t catch me playing it I’m afraid; if my performance in Project DIVA 2nd is anything to go by, I’ll just end up embarrassing myself. Fariz will definitely be playing it though; he’s played the machine during the previous location tests here, long enough to unlock the Miku Append module. I think I’ll just be satisfied watching him own the high scores. XD

Well, time to get some shut eye. We’ll be headed down there really early, armed with cameras (thanks for lending me yours, Hexlord!), and hopefully we’ll be able to cover the event here afterwards as well.

Hopefully. >_<

Mine and Fariz’s Twitter accounts will definitely be active during the event though, so keep an eye out!

PS: How the hell is anyone supposed to cosplay with this much space available? FFFFFFF-

EDIT: Apparently ZANEEDS is coming down too! YATTA!

Today, the 31st of August marks a special occasion for Hatsune Miku fans who celebrate her 3rd Birthday Anniversary.. It is quite a subtle yet happy moment to celebrate her birthday after so many things that happened within just 3 short years.. From a humble beginning of just being known as just a simple Voice Synthesizer program to a “World Renown” Virtual Idol, Hatsune Miku has gone where no other character does..

Although it isn’t as grand as last year where there was a concert to celebrate her birthday a.k.a. Miku FES’09, people do still remember her till these day.. Well, ever since her last birthday, Miku has gotten an “upgrade” which is the Miku Append package..

Original Hatsune Miku with Hatsune Miku Append~

It consist of six different tones for Miku; Soft (gentle, delicate voice), Sweet (young, chibi voice), Dark (mature, heartbroken-like voice), Vivid (bright, cheerful voice), Solid (loud, clear voice), and Light (innocent, heavenly voice).

Also, SEGA has finally released the 2nd game for the Hatsune Miku Project DIVA rhythm game.. It features more new songs + new gameplay mode and of course for the first time a Max difficulty for a song, “Intense Song of Hatsune Miku”.. Not to mention a few songs by Megurine Luka when there were none in the previous game..

For figurine, there are quite a number of them which haven’t been officially announced like the “Love is War” or I would like to call it the “Tower 39″.. The recent one that was announced are the Nendo Petite Racing Vocaloids [2nd Version] by Good Smile Company (GSC) and the Tony Taka Hatsune Miku by Max Factory (Below)..

Well, thats all I have for now.. It has been a very interesting 3 years since Hatsune Miku was “born” and I quite enjoyed having her as my idol.. Alot of cosplays of her had been done, not just the default one but a variety of versions as well.. I’m hoping there would be something quite epic happening before her 4th birthday next year!! XD

As for now, do enjoy these pictures~

Source: RD@ぴくセミB組 @ pixiv

Source: ソニ @ pixiv

Souce: はなの @ pixiv

Source: 夢衣@塗りが定まらない @ pixiv

Source: スだち＠ついった @ pixiv

Source: meisa @ pixiv

Source: ほりみー＠ @ pixiv

Source: 犬飼 @ pixiv

Source: おがこっつ＠ニコ生 @ pixiv

Source: 千鶴＠ついった @ pixiv

Source: 捺妃 @ pixiv

Source: ぽんず飴沢 @ pixiv

Source: Neena @ pixiv

Right after the bloggers’ party, I was invited to attend the official press conference yesterday, too.

The press conference was a little more direct, though; it was held at the venue of the festival’s launch: *SCAPE. This time, though, the conference was aimed at the press people (and bigwigs), so namecard exchanging was had.

…yeah, I really should get namecards made for the blog. ( =3=)

Anyway, apart from the juicy information (scroll past if you’re impatient), a few event trailers were screened, and the organisers presented tokens of appreciation (beach flip-flops framed in a glass panel) to their sponsors.

Also, the belly-dancing segment caught me completely off guard. >_>

And now for the juicy information!

COSMO Youth Parade

The COSMO Youth Parade is a parade, organised by Mascot Parade Limited, in which anyone can take part. It’s pretty much a continuation of last year’s Mascot Parade, so you know the drill: march from point A (*SCAPE Playspace) to point B (Mandarin Gallery). You don’t have to wear a costume to join in (though it’s encouraged).

The parade will be held on the launch day of the whole festival, which is the 3rd of July this year.

There are other non-parade highlights too, such as the following:

• Moe Moe Kyun Maid Cafe – Yep, it’s making a comeback from its AFA debut. I can’t say any more though; go poke oOgA or something.
• Bushiroad Card Game Tournament – I’d imagine Weiβ Schwarz players are looking forward to this.
• Gundam Caravan
• COSMO Bazaar – “Key retailers” will be setting up shop and selling products, attire and collectibles aimed at cosplayers and costumers.
• COSMO Costume Competition – A costume competition for everyone. There will be 4 categories to participate in:
  • Anime & Manga
  • Comics & Cartoons
  • PC & Console Games
  • Movies & TV Shows

  The top 3 winners for each category will win cash prizes ($500, $300 and $100 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively), and the top winners for each category will stand a chance to win a pair of tickets to Japan.

  Participants will also get a chance to talk to and learn from famous cosplayers such as Alodia, her sister Ashley, Reno, and Clive.

  You can find out more here (or at the SGCafe thread), or register by clicking the contest image below.

  

• Night Concert – Local anime and J-Rock bands will also make their debut while the moon is up. It’ll probably be like Street Festival previously.

Speaking of Street Festival…

U@SHINE

U@SHINE, organised by Singapore Street Festival, will be held from the 25th of June to the 11th of July at The Cathay and Plaza Singapura. It’s a little early for a festival event, but sure, okay.

It’s basically a mish-mash of urban culture performances which include the following:

• WORDS! Rap Competition
• Asia Global Bellydance Competition – I can imagine the wall of photographers.
• WOW! Band Competition
• J-Rock Band Performances
• Yo-yo Performances

The Big Groove 2010 – Year of the Champions

The Big Groove, organised by O School Limited and held at 7.30PM at the Singapore Expo on the 11th of July, is Asia’s most awaited hip-hop dance convention, and will showcase performances of Quest Crew, WCO (Wrecking Crew Orchestra), Hilty and Bosch, Joyce and the Boys, and more.

Quest Crew are the winners of the third season of America’s Best Dance Crew, while WCO and Hilty and Bosch are the winners of Japan Dance Delight. Joyce and the Boys are a local dance crew who won the inaugural Singapore Dance Delight and came in 3rd at the World Hip-Hop Championships at Las Vegas.

Specialty dance workshops will also be held from the 8th to the 10th of July at O School Studios in *Scape. Guest instructors, such as Lee (who won a Special Award from Japan Dance Delight) and Dominique from WCO, will be invited to teach anyone interested.

Community Service Projects by SMU

SMU will be taking on 4 community service projects during (and beyond) the Youth Festival. While the majority of you readers may not be interested (especially since you can’t exactly participate in all of them), I figured I’d just describe what they’re up to, just in case:

• starringSMU’10 – A carwash project held on the 24th and 25th of July at Holland Village. Tickets are priced at $8 each, and proceeds will go towards helping My Buona Vista Place.
• SMU Gives Back – This one’s an island-wide initiative to allow SMU students to help the needy at over 10 beneficiaries.
• !nspirar – Students will set out to organise a city trail along the Singapore River on the 1st of August. Funds raised will go towards the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Singapore.
• Ballooning Bliss 2 – A gigantic balloon sculpture will be erected and put on display at the Jurong Point Shopping Center on the 24th of July. Tickets will be priced at $2 each and proceeds will go towards En Community Services Society.
• Rolling Good Times – Volunteers from all the afore-mentioned projects will pool their resources and organise a fund-raising fun fair on SMU campus grounds on the 8th of August. Tickets are priced at $10 each (including a complimentary Happy Meal), and proceeds will go towards the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity.

Well, that’s pretty much it. You’ll also be getting a special pass at the event, and if you get 2 stamps on it (one from the COSMO Youth Parade, one from the Urban Beach Games, both on the same day), you’ll get to redeem a free movie pass. If you’re among the first 5,000, that is. Just dropping a tip here. ;D

Oh, and the official end date of the SHINE Youth Festival is on the 24th of July.

I’ll be posting the event schedule of the entire festival in part 3…right after I take care of a few news posts. Stay tuned!

I was invited to attend a bloggers’ party (along with nutcase and oOgA) for the event a couple of days ago.

The event was held in a Starbucks, and was a rather informal presentation on youth lifestyle and some coverage on the festival.

They showcased some home-made videos too, but I fail to recall what they were about, actually. >_<

After the talk and video presentation, the organisers let all the attendees try out dancing and cosplay. Pretty basic stuff, really.

There was a video camera set up too, so attendees could spend half a minute voicing out their views about the festival, or anything else if they didn’t feel like talking about the festival in particular.

To be honest and totally frank, there wasn’t much to see at the party. However, if you take into account that the event was targeted towards the typical casual teen and aimed to get them to enjoy trying out culture possibly alien to them, they did a good job at that. =D

The attendees (including yours truly) didn’t leave empty handed, though. They handed us a goodie bag with (get this) beach wear to go along with the “Urban Beach” event held during the launch of the festival on the 3rd of July.

I’ll elaborate on the event later (heck I’ll post the entire event schedule) in a later post, fret not. =3

You can check out The Banzai! Effect’s coverage of the event; it’s a lot less wordy and a lot more image-spammy.

I headed down to Plaza Singapura last weekend to gander at the cosplayers.

When I got there (late), the event was already in full swing.

Flickr

Flickr

I met up with TP, Feidamu, Kazearashi, malzias, yumeno, Hexlord and the rest of The Banzai! Effect team. TP was kind enough to lend me his DSLR to snap some photos, so there won’t be any iPhone bokehs in this post.

Shot by TP (Flickr)

 
Shot by TP (Flickr)

While I didn’t give the J-Rock performances much attention, they didn’t sound bad at all. A semi-large crowd formed in front of the stage (not all of them were photographers, mind you), and if the performances could drag the attendees away from the cosplayers, they must be doing pretty well.

I didn’t pay any attention to the rest of the stage events, though. I did hear a cover of Fuwa Fuwa Time by a couple of K-ON! cosplayers, and admittedly it almost made my ears bleed.

Shot by TP (Flickr)

Shot by TP (Flickr)

Fariz was at the event too, but he went roaming away from the event venue to do his own private photoshoots, leaving his poor little brother alone. =(

Shot by TP (Flickr)

Overall, the event turned out pretty well, mainly because there was ample space for the cosplayers to roam around. Even the photos here were taken at and around the event venue.

Nature threatened to drench everyone with a slight drizzle, but fortunately, it didn’t rain in the end. I’m sure the more daring photographers might have experimented with the droplets of water. =3

Shot by TP (Flickr)

Credit goes to Feidamu for this one; I’m not very good with posing other people. >_>

Shot by TP (Flickr)

Note that not all of the shots in this post are mine; TP took most of the shots. You can check out his Flickr photo set. Protip: if my name isn’t in the description, it isn’t my shot.

It was a great event, and it was great meeting everyone again. I personally think it turned out better than STARFEST. I still have a long way to go in my photography skills though; my photos are still too blurry. >_<

You can check out more coverage by The Banzai! Effect (and nutcase’s Evangelion photoshoot), and Kazearashi.

Also, if you feel that any of these shots shouldn’t be in the post, do speak up.