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2007-09-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

DeviantArt

DeviantArt offers tabs, some animated and some not.
Scroll down menus and a simple color scheme make it nice and simple with an advanced interface simple enough for anyone to use.

Blogger

Blogger offers tabs to navigate, yet with limited animations and scrolldowns.

Yahoo

The Yahoo homepage offers rollover tabs that give you previews of what's going on in your e-mail, messenger, Horoscope, and such. It also features an animated news preview, showing you what's new and popular in the news that day.

Website Suggestions

2007-09-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

My DeviantArt

DeviantArt: DeviantArt is one of my number one websites. I can post my artwork and writings, update a journal, and even show off a webcam image if I'd like.
The layout is nice and color schemed, of forest greens and greys, it works out nicely. It's very simple and easy to navigate, which is a primary element of a website.

Gaia Online

I absolutely LOVE Gaia Online. It's an Anime Forum community, where I can customize my own page, talk to others on my favorite topics, and chat and play games.
Even though Gaia Online is not accessible through the school server, Gaia also has a nice layout and navigation system. It recently updated their navigation system to a flash navigation bar, which is nice and easy to navigate.

Fanfiction.net

The only reason I like Fanfiction.net is that I can upload my stories and read other people's stories as well. I get reviews and critques on my stories and do the same for others.
Otherwise, I would not reccomend Fanfiction.net's navigation. Their navigation is hard to use, and you have to literally, scour the page to find where you want to go. Also, the User Service isn't too wonderful either. I would rather ise DeviantArt to post my stories rather than Fanfiction.net.

An Cafe Music Review

2007-09-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

An Cafe (Or, Antique Cafe, Antic Cafe, アンティック－珈琲店 ) is a 'Visual Kei' Pop/Rock band hailing from Japan that has taken hardcore Japanese music fans by storm. An Cafe has music that varies from the carefree sounds that relate to Do As Infinity, to the metal clashing, forever-classic chords of Dir En Grey. The new generation band came together in 2003, and has still been going 4 years strong. The band originally included four band members with Miku on vocals, Bou on lead guitar, Kanon on bass, and Teruki on drums and percussion. Though, more recently in 2007, the band replaced their original guitarist, Bou, with a new lead guitarist Takuya. Their newest member is Yuuki on keyboard.

Not much is known about An Cafe, they usually stay low and out of the media. Even the reason their original guitarist Bou has not been released to the media in the US. The band's label is Loop Ash.

An Explination of Visual Kei

Visual Kei is described in several different ways. It can be a sub-genre of J-Rock or Glam-Rock music hailing in Japan. It was a primary style of Rock music in the 80's-90's, as a definition of music and the way the band members dress. A 'Visual Kei' band is usually described as a mainstream band that usually makes appearances in heavy make-up and detailed costumes inspired heavily on the Gothic Lolita/Harajuku cliche. Very famous Visual Kei bands include Dir En Grey, L'Arc-en-Ciel and Malice Mizer.

Visual Kei has declined in the recent years, with the death of a guitarist from a mainstream Visual Kei band called X Japan, and the band broke up. Malice Mizer went on an indefinite hiatus in December of 2001, and has yet to return, as rumoured are flying that the group had disbanded due to the fact of every member's solo career. L'Arc-en-Ciel had also gone on hiatus while members Hyde and Tetsu pursued solo careers. More recently, Visual Kei has gotten a kick-start back into gear, as X Japan announced their tribute to their deceased guitarist as another mainstream band, Luna Sea announced their plans to reunite. Dir En Grey has continually been contributing, but seems to have faded out of the Visual Kei scene, declining to a usual appearance as a Goth-Metal band.

Some Pictures of An Cafe and Mainstream 'Visual Kei' bands.

The more recent An Cafe. Members from Left To right: Kanon, Yuuki, Miku, Takuya, and Teruki. Bou is not featured in this picture.

Malice Mizer. Note the eccentric costumes and heavy make-up. Please, also note that the band is made up entirely of males.

Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex for the PSP Review

2007-09-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Spawned from the original series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for the PSP is a first person shooter game set in the era of technology. With cyber terrorists and illegal organizations fleeting Japan, you must play as either of four original characters from the series, taking out major organizations and following a storyline never shown in any of the manga or television series!

Gameplay is simple. The controls are a little slow, yet, is compared to some of the major first person shooters out there such as DOOM for any console. You can play as either Motoko Kusanagi (The Major), Batou, Saito, or Togusa. Each character has their own attributes, Motoko's Agility, Batou Strength, Saito's Accuracy, and Togusa's well rounded-ness. Accompanying you throughout the game is your own Tachikoma, which you can personalize and customize with their own weapons, skills, color, and personality.

The game follows a seperate storyline that of not from the manga, novels, television series, or any of the movies.
There are some unlockable attributes, such as unlocking weapons for the player or Tachikoma. Hardcore GITS (Ghost In The Shell ) fans would not recommend this to people new to the Ghost in the Shell franchise, as some things about the cyberworld and natural settings and storylines you would not understand.

This game is rated T for Teen, and was released for the PSP in 2005 by Bandai. The potential release date makes it hard to find these days, but, I found it at Wal*Mart.com for $19.90. It is usually not available anywhere now, as it has seemingly gone out of production. The local GameStop will NOT have any new copies, but, they may have some used copies depending on where you live. A memory stick for the PSP is required to play this game.

Some screen shots are locaated below.

Image Found at Rottentomatoes.com
View of the Front cover of the game.

Image found at Ugo.com

Image found at psp3.org

Image source could not be found.

Ladies and Gentleman

2007-08-26T03:25:00.000-07:00

Hello hello again! I haven't posted anything interesting for a while, so here it is.
Quote(s) of the day:

"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, and Harry Houndini. You can't swim, can't dance, and you don't know karate. Face it. You're never gonna make it."

"I don't want to make it. I just want to--"

-Ray Toro, Guitarist, and Gerard Way, Frontman and Lead Vocals for My Chemical Romance, Featured in the "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" Music Video (2nd Version).

Today was pretty interesting. Oh, well yesterday, as I'm typing this at 12:32AM. Yesterday was mah birthday, Congrats to me. I'm officially two hands and an entire foot. Woohoo.

Me and my mom went down to Kona the other day, not necessarily yesterday, but Thursday, and we went to go have lunch for my birthday without my brother and cousin. (Yes, that's why I was absent, Mr. Shelor.) We went to this small Japanese sushi place by Domino's called Hayama's. I like it a lot. The service is great, the prices aren't too outrageous, and the food is authentic Japanese cuisine. I had a どんぶりのてりやき (donburi no teriyaki - roughly translated, "Teriyaki Chicken Bowl") which was good. My mom had the usual California Rolls (Yum!) and Spicy Tuna Handrolls. It was her treat, since we never get to eat sushi because my brother and cousin don't like it. (My cousin claims to like it, but when we order her some, she picks it apart and doesn't eat it.)

Today (yesterday) was my birthday, yay. I got a PSP. (Woo!) I actually got it a week ago, but, I ordered my game for it online, thus, my game not showing up in the mail until my birthday. All I need now is the USB cord to import music and movies into it. No more carrying around a CD player!! :) I was really happy to get it.
I also went to Borders, and got some books (obviously). I've been hearing about this book called 'Twilight' by Stephanie Meyer, so I picked up my very own copy, and am already on chapter 4. It's proving to be very interesting, I'll write about it when I'm done reading it. (and Harry Potter, which I'll be the last person in the world to finish it.) I also picked up some manga as well. It surprised me to see my friend Neko (Ariel) there, then my sensei Takkun and his girlfriend Paige showed up later on. It was really nice to see them all out of school.

My friend Cory got me this very nice Japanese jar, which I believe you are to write down wishes and put them inside. It's very quaint, I like it. I need to write him a Thank You card, as it does look very expensive. ._.;;

I hope to update my Deviantart soon, as I haven't been doing so as of late. My creative flow has come to a grinding halt, I plan to look for some inspirational reading to get me going again.

Tomorrow I need to finish my review for anime club, homework, and clean off (and around) my desk (nightmare). I need to archive this weeks art into my morgue (where I keep my finished art from being destroyed) and pretty much clean my entire room (again). I've been lazy lately, so my room has gone to the dogs.

I have a really busy day tomorrow. I should get some sleep.

Until next time.

2007-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Some Lyrics To Dwell On.

"It's 5 o'clock somewhere."
- Lyrics from "It's Five o'Clock Somewhere" Performed by Alan Jackson Featuring Jimmy Buffet

It's true. It's always 5 o'clock somewhere. Don't be afraid to take a break every once in a while. Go out and buy yourself some spiffy, expensive, fruity drink at one of those high-class hotel bars. Go out and spend your day at a spa. Relax. Life itself is nothing but work, so live a little. Use the lame, everyday excuse, 'I'm out sick.' to your boss, and take a drive.
To the negative person out there, "I can't afford those kind of drinks" "I'm not going to a spa, they're too expensive!" "And who's gonna pay gas money?" kind of person, you've been brainwashed so badly by your everyday work life, to realize the true beauty in relaxation. So what if it messes up your schedule? It's totally worth it, trust me.
Life's too short to NOT take that drive down to the beach, or go crash a party with your friends. (Just make sure it's not a super expensive party. You know, like a bridal shower? Don't crash those. Crash a picnic. Or Birthday party at the park. Not the little kid parties though. No one likes a whiny toddler. )

Until next time.

2007-08-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Day

"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houndini and croquet. You can't swim, can't dance, and don't know karate. Face it. You're never gonna make it."

"I don't wanna make it. I just wanna sing."

- Ray Toro and Gerard Way, I'm Not Okay Music Video

Quote/Lyrics of the day is up. Nothing much has happened really, in the past few days. Flossie got up and left. So, the hurricane's gone. There was a grand total of two days of school this week. Woop-dee-flippin`-do. That made my week.

So here I am, sitting in an empty condominium in Kona, feeding off of someone else's internet, waiting for some movers to bring in furniture. I'm not really moving in, we're just furnishing it.

Oh, they're here.

Well, I'll check in later.

Until then.

Hello again.

2007-08-14T21:34:00.001-07:00

Hi all. Well, as you may have noticed from the awesome noise I call music making it's way through your speakers, I've added some music to the front page for kicks. Took me forever to get the coordinates right, but, like I said, I'll have it float sometime later on after I get used to this. This page will be much easier to navigate around, I'll add some pages/external links to a directory sidebar, and all that wonderful stuff. I'll be expirementing with some HTML generators later, so this page may go poof for a while.

Above this post is a small picture of my favorite band, My Chemical Romance. The MP3 Player up top features some of their music, check it out if you'd like. Members from back to front: Bob Bryar, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, Mikey Way, and Gerard Way.
Thanks.
<3

Aishiteru Kunoichi

2007-08-14T00:36:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentleman, I give you my layout.
Of course, credits to the person who actually did the coding and the picture, I just edited some tables and the overall content of the layout.

I technically only borrowed the coding.
Because I'm not that cool yet.

>>;

If you also noticed, (and if you have the right browser that recognizes the text,) I've added some Japanese elements. The name of my blog is translated exactly to 'Izumi the Artist.'
The name of this post is translated directly to 'I love you, Kunoichi.'
Kunoichi roughly translates to 'female ninja'.

Well, anyways. Hurricane Flossie is currently making it's way out here, as a currently Stage 3 Hurricane.
Woo hoo.
My dad already had a few windows boarded up and my cousin and brother are sleeping upstairs.
My room doesn't face the wind (unlike my cousin's.) so I'm sleeping downstairs in my room where I regularly sleep.
The State DOE canceled all school on our island tomorrow. So, if it doesn't get too bad, I'll be fiddling with more of the HTML code if the cable internet holds up.
It should downgrade to a Stage 2 and barely skim our island, so, we should be okay.
The fact that a 5.1 earthquake on the other side of the island shaked that part earlier isn't helping any of the residents, in emphasis, most of my friends.
They're already freaked out because of the approaching hurricane, but an earthquake too?
Glad I didn't feel it. Or I'd be scared out of my pants with them.

All should be well by the end of the week, we have Friday off of school for statehood day, my parents are keeping me home this Wednesday because of the Severe Flash Flood warning. So, as of now, it looks like my school week is only two days long. Then the weekend-long Naruto marathon.

Besides the weather, everything looks pretty darn cool this week.

Until next time.

Blacklights

2007-08-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again! :)
Today was pretty cool.
I'm in my cousin's room right now, eating Pixie Sticks, and watching her play with glowsticks.

Me, my mom, brother, and cousin went to Wal*Mart today.
We had to pick up a few things for my auntie and some other stuff.
We got our allowances today, so me and my cousin bought beads, candy, and glowsticks.

There's supposed to be this big rave tonight on the other side of the island, but, of course, I'm not allowed to go. Oh well.
Now, nobody's on MSN Messenger, because they are all there.

Me and my cousin are having fun, though.

Usually, at a rave, people glowstick, or glowstring, which is similar to poi.
There are plenty of lights, people, glow in the dark things, things that flash, and awesome electronic music. My parents are afraid of there being drugs and alchohol, which there probably is, so they of course, wouldn't let me go.
That's alright though. I really only wanted to go for the music, jewelry, and glowstringing.
Me and my cousin are in her room with her blacklight and her strobe light on, playing with the glowsticks and making bead jewelry. Pretty much the same thing you would do at a rave, minus the illegal substances. Which is pretty cool in my opinion. Especially listening to internet radio with nothing but electronic music.

Until next time!

Woo! My new blog!!

2007-08-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

Yay! New blog! I'm so excited! I actually might keep this one up to date this time! -.-;;
Ha ha ha...
I've had a few, and I've never kept any of them.
So....yeah. >>;

My Digital Arts and Media class will be focusing on HTML codes and tags, so I'll be trying to make a really cool template with some neat GIF images, and Featuring some of my own artwork from the class, all edited in Photoshop and everything.

So, I'll be working on that in my class for the next year.
I hope to keep this neat little blog active, with my rants and such, about some of my favorite bands, artists, books, shows, and ect. Mostly music and my art.

I love art!
Love, Love, Love~!

Here's a link to some of my artwork on My Deviantart!

Check out some of my artwork, comment and rate!!

I love comments and constructive criticism.

Well, I'm off to go and mess around with some HTML tags. Hopefully I'll get a good enough understanding of what I can do and not do with this certain layout here on Blogger. So yeah!
I'll post some more interesting things soon!!

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