Manga Artists Cheer Japan On!

A few days ago, Takehiko Inoue (creator of Vagabond and Slam Dunk) showed his support for the rescue efforts of the recent magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan. These were inspirational sketches to cheer up the people who suffered great losses and cheer on the efforts made for each prefecture to recover. These images were drawn for inspiration and encouragement with an iPad/iPhone app called Zen Brush. 

 

These are some of the prefectures that have been hit the hardest by the earthquake and tsunami (the shirt names are the prefecture names).

A semi-annual art exhibition held in Japan was postponed due to the recent disasters but the chairman of the exhibition suggested that artists post some art in support of the hardships Japan is now facing. If you search for the hashtag #newday_GEISAI, you'll these submissions on Twitter.

Japan In My Prayers

 "But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first but the end will not come immediately.” Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famine and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven." ~ Luke 21:9-11 NKJV ~

Many things are happening in the world these days. More and more chaos breaks out among the people of various countries and the earth itself is becoming a bit chaotic. Things within the atmosphere and beneath the surface have been going a bit crazy since last year...snow in Miami...increasing heat globally...earthquakes over magnitude 9...earthquakes creating monstrous tsunamis...

Everything that's happening in Japan is heartbreaking. I've been watching the footage online and on the news and it's all so incredibly devastating! People are doing their part in donating and helping out in whatever way they can for those suffering the most.
Here are some places you can donate to: 

• AMERICAN RED CROSS
• GLOBALGIVING
• SAVE THE CHILDREN
• SALVATION ARMY
• CONVOY OF HOPE
• INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
• SHELTER BOX

People are so great to show their support in whatever way they can, whether it be by music...

Or by honking a car horn...

Those are some of my favourite videos from people I'm subscribed to. If you have any great heartwarming ones to share, please do so in the comments! =]

Japan and its people are in my heart and prayers. I wish the country a speedy recovery and hopefully no radiation exposure.

I'm In Control

I'm sick! I think I caught one of those little viruses floating around the hospital. No big deal though. It'll be gone by tomorrow because I'm just healthy like that. I'm not one to get sick very often...it's a bit of a rare event to occur. I'd like to think that I should congratulate myself on taking such great care of the health of my body...or at least the immune system. I've got a butt-kicking immune system. No denying that. =]

People often say that you can't help getting sick sometimes but that's such fobey. I take all the supplements I need and I'm as healthy as a pickle. I'm totally in control of my health. And you are too. Always remember that! You're in control of your health and your life. Never think differently =) I must be using strange words and phrases because I'm sick. My head feels funny. Well, I'll have a lovely cup of herbal tea today with my lunch which I'll be eating at Novel Teas!

Speaking of which, I took a visit to Novel Teas for the first time yesterday. I've been curious to know what it's like in there and it turns out...I love it! It's a new addition to my short list of places I love in Barbados. It's got a great atmosphere that I find relaxing. I felt like I wasn't really in Barbados anymore...it's got that sort of environment...that's the kind of environment that I like...places at home that don't really feel like home. Strange, I know.

The people there are so friendly and nice and the owner was quite talkative. He was pleasant. =) It's a great place to go to when you want a change of environment and a choice of what seems like almost a hundred different types of teas...herbal and normal from all over the world. Today, I think I'll have an herbal tea from China. Yum. I'm so happy to have found a healthier place to have some lunch now.

AnimeKon: What are you looking forward to seeing?

If you were there last year, you may have been a tad disappointed with how AnimeKon turned out. I'm sure some people were happy and satisfied but it just wasn't good enough for me. It's easy to have high standards for big events that you aren't planning yourself. If there's anything I've learnt from being on the Medical Students' Association over the past year, it's that. 

So, here's what we've got to look forward to:

~ TWO days of anime, comics, games goodness ~

~ TWO days of movie goodness in the larger, all-anime theatre ~

~ TWO days of competition goodness ~

~ TWO days of cosplay goodness ~

~ TWO days ~

Did I mention that things are happening over a period of two days? This sort of information is very important for busy folks like myself who felt cheated because they arrived in the evening and missed out on all of the day's events last year. It's two days this year. Two days = A whole weekend.

July 2 + 3 Mark those calendars! I've marked all of mine.

I said in my previous post that I'm pretty much volunteering myself to help out however I can in the success of AnimeKon this year. Omar and Melissa are the great people that I've been chatting with over the past months and they highly value the wants and needs of the anime community. They'd love to hear your thoughts about:

• What movies would you like to see in the bigger all-anime theatre? Last year there were 5 movies...this year, there'll be more!
• What are some really good series that you'd suggest be shown on the AnimeKon screens? The really good stuff that you've been watching recently and want people to see...popular or not.
• Who would you like to see be cosplayed? Whether it be a character from Marvel or anime, who would you like to see? And are you going to cosplay too?
• What is it that you would like to see most at AnimeKon? It might not be too late to get in a suggestion! If it is though, I'm sure it'll be saved for the planning of the 3rd AnimeKon Expo!

Comment on this post with your thoughts and opinions about what's in store for AnimeKon 2011! There's a lot of other super awesome, super top secret stuff happening this year that you'll just have to find out about when July comes! ;)

You can also contact the organisers personally here.

Remembering The Anime Fangirl In Me

A few things have been running through my mind lately.

1. I haven't made a video in 2 months! That needs to be remedied.
2. I'm months behind on my favourite ongoing manga series. *cry*
3. AnimeKon is gonna be here in a matter of months...it's practically right around the corner!

I will indeed try to fix this problem with my lack of vlogging...2 months gone already? Wow. It was just Christmas! As a matter of fact, I need to fix this problem with fun. Period. I don't have very much pleasures in life anymore. No more anime, no more manga, no more video editing. Sigh. I think the last thing I watched was...Kanon (2006). That was good.

My last frustrated-about-life-and-school post in which I said little tidbits about my recent lifestyle changes didn't include my fun life. My fun life is almost virtually nil. The hospital is a fun-sucker. Fun. Sucker. Psh. I want back my fun.

Remember this video from June last year?

Oh, yeah. Those were the days. The days of fun. I'm such a critic when I want to be (though I'm usually not).

This year, I'm very very very much looking forward to what the organisers at AnimeKon have in store! Thanks to that very honestly opinionated video I made almost a year ago, those lovely folks contacted me. That's not sarcasm...they're actually very awesome people. And I chose to help them out in whatever way I can...blogging and vlogging (maybe).

So, somewhere around 7 months ago, I made this video...

...to which I got very poor response. =[ Only two people really cared enough to answer one of my questions and they both wanted the same thing: amv contests. What would your answers be? (P.S. Important people at the high end of the AnimeKon hierarchy might just read up on your comments! Your opinions are everything =])

It's now a new year with a great new AnimeKon coming up beyond the horizon. Are you as excited as I am? If you aren't yet, you will be!