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Random J in Japan: In old town

Random J — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:45 +0000

Our first night in Asakusa was pretty disheartening. Filled with the pains of leaving ‘our home’ and then wandering around for hours lost in the rain looking for our place of stay – it’s safe to say Asakusa wasn’t winning us over much. Thoughts that tended to fill our minds consisted of “This is shit”, “It’s raining”, “I wanna go back to Osaka” and “This is it?!”. But our first day in Asakusa was a turn around a corner for us all. The sky was clear, it was a damn nice day and the niceness of the locals shone through every person we came across. Asakusa is a pretty old town. Much like the kind of place where you might want to retire to, or a place you’d like to vacate to when you’re in your 60’s. Lots of convenience stores, cheap 99 yen stores, markets, Onsen’s, cheap restaurants, temples and no chronic hustle and bustle.

It’s easy to see the attraction to Asakusa when you truly open your eyes and look beneath the lack of neon signs, girls in knee high socks, arcades and electronics stores. There’s something really nice and warm about Asakusa that feels inviting, non-threatening and homely. The only problem with Asakusa, is that at times it can feel so warm and sedate that you tend to get complacent and forget you’re on a holiday, and that you’re in Tokyo at all!

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Read the rest of Random J in Japan: In old town (380 words)

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 , Holiday , Japan , Journals , Personal

2008, Holiday, Japan, Journals, Personal

Soapbox Saturday – Halloween Anime Cosplay Party

Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:44:00 +0000

(Please excuse the one-day-later post but this couldn’t wait another whole week). *Ahem*. . . Hello there, fellow Dark Diamond readers and friends, and welcome back to another one of my very well-received coverages about events that gather our one similar trait; that what makes us wake up early on a cloudy Saturday to be ready just in time to assist the one event you’ve been waiting all year long: The -anime- Halloween Party (because most of the other parties . . .just don’t cut it).

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Read the rest of Soapbox Saturday – Halloween Anime Cosplay Party (930 words)

© Velcor for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anime , Cosplay , Soapbox , Videogames

Anime, Cosplay, Soapbox, Videogames

In Case You Missed It: The Month In Review – October

Sol — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:59:52 +0000

As we wrap-up another hectic month, in true Halloween fashion, we had a scare of our own. Nahu and Velcor were down with a sickness by the H1N1 bug. Thankfully it was only temporary, but while they celebrate dia de los muertos, the rest of us get to don our favorite costume idea, eating candy and watching horror movies. What did you do for Halloween?

The posts this month seem be all across the board, but here’s what got you talking the most:

Modern Warfare 2: The Elusive Banned Video
When you’re guaranteed to sell a bagillion copies of a videogame, you have to up the ante. When does it go too far? rbk3ai tells it to us straight: can i say you all are a bunch of P***YS its a game.

Windows 7-tan: The Whole Nanami Madobe Voice Clips
Nahu provides us with with his take on the Nanami Madobe Window 7 theme: it turns errors into features and nerd rage into a moe-induced trance.

Kirsten Dunst’s Cosplay Was For A Movie: Akihabara Majokko Princes
While snaggletooth Dunst was playing dress-up for a music video, it seems part of a larger project highlighting the Akihabara culture. Thankfully the film is in the hands of Takashi Murakami. I’m sure we won’t be let down.

Did You Know: There’s A Triforce In The Dollar Bill
You know where you hear stories about the founding father’s being part of a secret society? You can find traces of the Illuminati in the pyramid, the seemingly insignificant spider in the corner, and now the Triforce hidden in the “e” of the $1 bill. Sleuthing fenixdown110 says: There’s Hyrulians among us and high up enough in the government to influence the printing of money. Conspiracy!!!

Movie Night: “The Dumbass Who Stumbled Through Time” Edition
The movie night for this month involved pudding, and lots of it. Pudding so good one would travel back to the moment after they ate it, just to eat some more…this was certainly a love story… Angelywind cries: OMG I can’t cry more TT.TT… oh wait… yes I can T^T so sad and so fun, that I love it.

Well, there you have it. We are looking ahead for what November will bring. You guys have any suggestions? After all we are here to serve the DDN community.

Monthly-Review, Wrap-up

Sound test Saturday: Tekken 6 – Fallen colony

Random J — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:40:10 +0000

Tekken 6 isn’t the series’ best soundtrack. I don’t think Namco are ever going to touch the awesomness that was Tekken 3’s soundtrack. But 6 is certainly the most varied of the bunch sonically. Each piece is completely different in style and tone to the last. Many of them you wouldn’t associate with a Tekken game at all.

Amongst the various styles that the Namco sound team play with, “Fallen colony” is my pick of the bunch. It’s just a bad ass piece of music. Distinctly Japanesey, yet with many musical styles thrown into the mix. Live drums, kickin’ guitar solos, strings, chants, trumpets, percussions, drum ‘n bass, synths and several bars of awesome.

Dishing out cans of whoop ass to this song feels incredibly gratifying. More so if you manage to smash your sucker of a victim through the glass floor of the stage this music features on, and then juggle their arse up off the floor. Good times…good times.

Listen: Fallen colony

Tekken 6 OST
© 2007 Namco Bandai

For the mp3 players: Fallen colony

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beat-em-up , Music , Namco , PS3 , Sound test Saturday , Tekken , VGM , Xbox-360

Beat-em-up, Music, Namco, PS3, Sound test Saturday, Tekken, VGM, Xbox-360

Random J in Japan: The final night and day in Osaka

Random J — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:52:32 +0000

The day had come. Where we’d say goodbye to the place my friends and I had affectionately referred to as ‘our home’. It’s insane how much of a connection we all felt to Osaka. Especially seeing as many of us felt very little towards the place before we got there. Not that we’d heard anything bad about the place. But we all had this idealistic image in our minds that Tokyo would be the best thing in the world ever, and immediately paled every other place in comparison to it. So we were more than a little surprised that Osaka turned out to be such an amazing place which we did not want to leave.

We were sure to see ‘our home’ out with a bang though. Albeit it an unplanned one. Said bang consisting of: heading to an Irish pub, then to a tiny little bar which was packed to the walls, and then onto to a nightclub to drink and dance our sorrow’s of leaving away. It seemed to do both the trick and make us feel worse. Because the night was so good and we’d met and made so many random friends on this one night, that we were ever more reluctant to leave.

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Read the rest of Random J in Japan: The final night and day in Osaka (449 words)

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 , Holiday , Japan , Japanese Culture , Journals , Osaka

2008, Holiday, Japan, Japanese Culture, Journals, Osaka

Random J in Japan: Of the empty orchestra

Random J — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:48:18 +0000

You go to Japan. You gotta do some karaoke. It’s an unwritten law. After all, Japan is the home of it (depending on who you speak to) and nowhere else in the world quite revels in it like Japan. Whilst the full on karaoke experience in the Western word is rather expensive and only of real value if you go with lots of people – in Japan it’s affordable and won’t burn holes in your pockets. Well…if you ease up on the food and drinks it won’t anyway. Everybody from school kids, to salary men, to part timers can just wander into a Big echo to drop some karaoke un-planned and scrape together some Yen to belt their Nihongo classics, the Oricon’s chart toppers and the Eigo hits.

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Read the rest of Random J in Japan: Of the empty orchestra (320 words)

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Post tags: 2008 , fun , Holiday , Japan , Karaoke

2008, fun, Holiday, Japan, Karaoke

Dark Diamond Exclusive: Interview with Rhianna Pratchett

Sol — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:17:23 +0000

Self-described as a narrative paramedic, Rhianna Pratchett is most known for her work on the Overlord series with additional credits in Mirror’s Edge, Heavenly Sword, and Viking: Battle for Asgard. I had the opportunity to interview Rhianna about her creative approach to writing, general thoughts on videogame development, and emotive storytelling.

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Read the rest of Dark Diamond Exclusive: Interview with Rhianna Pratchett (1,725 words)

© Sol d-_-b for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Education , Features , Interview , PSA , Writers

Education, Features, Interview, PSA, Writers

Sound test Saturday: Shin megami tensei: Persona 4 – Your affection

Random J — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:51:00 +0000

One of my good friends is a Persona freak. He loves the games and owns every single PlayStation release of the series. A few days ago he’d got himself a copy of Persona 4. He was opening it as I was talking to him on the phone. “Oh, it comes with the soundtrack!” He put it on and as he skipped through the tracks, I caught a whiff of some J-Pop. “Stop. What song was that? Go back!” “My affection”. I have a soft spot for easy breezy J-Pop that are so sickly sweet and happy-go-lucky that it’s enough to make you sick and vomit an ice cream cone with a side of rainbow. And “My affection” has buckets of sweetness. All it took was the “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeeeaaah”’s and I was on the song like a fly on shit. It’s just a really nice song. It isn’t a main theme or a major centerpiece song or anything. It just plays when you’re wandering around a town! I love it. I’ll probably get too sick of it eventually. But for now, it’s my pleasure that I’m not even guilty about. The entire Persona 4 soundtrack is pretty spiffy. In the realm of RPG’s, many tend to forget there are other hot composers other than Nobuo Uematsu.

Now if you’d excuse me whilst I go sing my shit. “Your affectioooooooon! Your affectioooooooon! Take it for coffeeeeeeee!”

Listen: Your affection

Composed by Shoji Meguro
Performed by Shihoko Hirata
Shin megami tensei: Persona 4 original soundtrack
© 2008 Aniplex

For the mp3 players: Your affection

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: J-pop , Japan , Music , Persona , RPG , VGM

J-pop, Japan, Music, Persona, RPG, VGM

Movie Night: “The Dumbass Who Stumbled Through Time” Edition

Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:04:18 +0000

Wow, you guys made the 2nd movie night a complete success once again! Thank you all for coming. For those that couldn’t make it, you have some explaining to do! Now it’s time for you to voice your comments on the movie, that is, if you’ve stopped crying. Whatever you want to discuss, whether it’s pudding, fixing your bike’s brakes or the intricate workings of nut-based time travel. Let us know what you thought of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Anime, Movie Night, Movies

Movie Night: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time @ 7 pm PST

Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:45:34 +0000

It’s Friday and its the movie night! Same as last time, the theater is here, do join us a bit before for some chatting and random videos. The movie starts at 7 or a bit after, be there!

Anime, Movie Night, Movies

Random J in Japan: All hail the pr0n

Random J — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:37:43 +0000

Whilst wandering around Nipponbashi, my friend and I couldn’t help but notice certain sights every 6 shops or so. At first we thought it couldn’t be. It had to be a ruse. We were goin’ crazy. Surely not on main streets, in broad daylight and clear view of everybody?! But turns out it was so. Porn shops. Lining the streets like any other shop. Unobtrusively. Just there in clear view of everybody who happens to wander past. Some of stores lucky enough to have forward thinking merchandisers even had HDTV’s set up at the front of the store with videos playing of big breasted Japanese ladies skipping, running through sprinklers in slow motion and bending over to music – all in 1080p. My friend and I figured: we’re guys, we are in Japan and people pounding the pavements didn’t seem to care or be objective and judgmental of the sex shops one way or the other – so we wandered into one or two…or three…maybe five. Okay, six!

It truly was surreal. There were other men wandering around in the shops with shopping baskets like they were walking down the aisle of their local Family Mart, which begged the question: How much porn do some buy in one go? I guess buying in bulk saves trips. It was funny watching other men mooch around like they were in HMV. Shop attendants aren’t as helpful as they are in HMV though. These stores are all about anonymity. The store attendants only acknowledge you if you approach them, which is fair enough. I guess no dude wants a store attendant creeping up behind him yelling “Irasshaimase! What kind of DVD are you looking for? We have a buy one get one free on guzzling and bum sex today!” A couple of the stores have till points where a piece of non-transparent plexiglass or a curtain is placed between the cashier and the buyer, so the transactions were faceless. Again, adding to the anonymity, and also killing alibi’s in cases where a husband is buying porn when he should be buying his family that new rice cooker or heated toilet seat instead.

Sex is a weird thing in Japan. It’s still a bit of a taboo subject, yet it isn’t at the same time. But it sure is funny.

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 , Funnies , Holiday , Japan , Japanese Culture

2008, Funnies, Holiday, Japan, Japanese Culture

Movie Night: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Wins!

Ivan 'Nahu' Lozano — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:27:56 +0000

It’s official now! The Girl Who Leapt Through Time wins as our next movie night feature. The movie night will be this Friday, Oct 2, and same as last time those who are subscribed to our RSS feed or daily emails will get a heads up on the details much sooner than everyone else. We’ll start at 7 pm PST so check a bit earlier for the details.

Bring popcorn, you cheapskates!

© Nahu for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anime , Feature , Movie Night , Movies

Anime, Feature, Movie Night, Movies

Random J In Japan: Big Signs In Little Nippon

Random J — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:36:26 +0000

So, a wander through Den Den town, across several pedestrian crossings, some wrong turns and a couple of shopping districts later, my friend (the chugokujin) and I ended up at Dōtonbori. Dōtonbori is only a small area. It’s pretty much just a bridge, but it’s a busy ass bridge. Dōtonbori interconnecting several of the area’s busiest points (many of which have shops and malls) means it attracts quite a crowd and there’s always something to see.

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Read the rest of Random J In Japan: Big Signs In Little Nippon (339 words)

© Random J for Dark Diamond, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 , Holiday , Japan , Travel

2008, Holiday, Japan, Travel

Anime Reunion? Here’s a good start.

Abraham 'Velcor' Duarte — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:48:17 +0000

An ominous sun spread its rays on the misty city where I’m living right now, probably warning me of terrible events that were going to happen more soon than later. . . but since I’m such a distracted fellow I didn’t mind much and proceeded to the anime reunion I was so eager to assist since 2 months back. . .

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Read the rest of Anime Reunion? Here’s a good start. (931 words)

Anime, Soapbox, Videogames

In Case You Missed It: The Month In Review – August

Sol — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:13:14 +0000

We learned a little bit about one another this month; some shared personal horrors, others gave virtual kisses or made wild assumptions about fantasies. With so many opinions flying around we wanted to bring the DDN community together for a movie night. Now if we can only choose the movie…

Here’s what got you talking:

Soapbox Saturday: How Not To Do An Anime Reunion For Profit.

Relive Velcor’s otaku hell: It was dark. It was cold. I was cold. I was uneasy. I was deprived from the glee that normally went along with my Saturday. I was angry.

Let’s Watch A Movie! Vote For Your Favorite!

We needed a break and thought what better way to enjoy ourselves than to be with friends. We’re still tallying the votes, so make sure yours gets counted. josh says: I want A True Mindfuck i havent had one in at least a month:)

Mameshiba: Its A Dog, It’s A Bean & It’s going To Ruin Your Day

Knowledge bombs as told by small bean-dogs amounts to some unnecessary trivia. “Don Juan” Nahu has the moves:

Is that how you romance the ladies? “You know when people kiss 200 million bacteria get passed around each second… but not all bacteria is bad” *wink*

Japanese Girls Flock To Their Mobiles To Buy Yaoi

The title speaks volumes, however it appears it’s not just the Japanese that go for yaoi. “Head in the clouds” yaku says: We women can be just as nasty or more than men.. – I’d like to put that theory to test.

Comic-Con 2009: Shameless Consumerism At The J-List Booth With Peter Payne

While covering this year’s Comic-Con, Nahu had the opportunity to speak to J-List’s big boss, Peter Payne. Like all conversations where us men are involved it took a turn to sex. FemFriend Estelle fantasizes: Everyone loves it when men submit to men!… Except for probably the straight ones… But everyone knows that they have a curious side waiting to be probed and dominated and humiliated and just plain fucked senseless by another man! <3 – Yes I had to include the whole quote.

So there you have it; another month passes us up. As the summer ends, you’ll either go back to school, graduate looking for new horizons, or just live your day to day activities. Just make sure you visit us everyday, keeping us informed while balancing work and play. You’ll also want to watch out for our movie night. We’ll let you know where and when it’s showtime. All you frequent commenters better be there!

Monthly-Review, Wrap-up