The final show was pretty good. Many people showed up and all seemed to have a good time. All the courses had nice work produced this year. It was great to walk around and check it all out. I think there was positive interest in my work. People talked to me about it and I saw people writing notes on my business cards. One of my friends pretty much landed herself a job so that was cool. I’m happy for everyone. We put on a good show. It was cool a lot of my friends made the effort to come and check out my work. It felt great to show my friends what I learnt over the four years at UWN. After the show it was fun to collapse with a beer and talk to some of my friends off other courses and say goodbye to a bunch of people because I probably won’t ever see them again. It’s just the way it is. I’ve definitely made some friends for life though. I guess after a short break I should be looking toward my future and whether to enter the “real world” or not.

Ahh I worked hard in University preparing my show. It all looks fairly simple but nice. I printed out some large photographs of light on a matte off-white stock and they turned out really nice. Then some of my other work is down the side. My teacher was arguing with me, he really wanted me to do something else but I think I made the right choice. He looked at it and said he thought his idea would be better and walked off. A bit childish of him I think. Anyway under my prints I have a screen with my interactive work on to view. Should be cool once it’s all tidy. I’ll take some photographs of the show tomorrow hopefully, before it gets busy with people on Friday and share them here. Tomorrow I have to get the screen working and get a ton of business cards made up. I’ll have to send some of you guys my card as it features a nice bit of work and is a nice print. Tomorrow at 5pm is the last time I complete a University project on the Graphics course. Real world is awaiting.

This is the sequel to Tokyo Raiders (Dong jing gong lüe). I enjoyed Tokyo Raiders for what it was - a fairly shallow action affair. Seoul Raiders (Han cheng gong lüe) offers more of the same. This time Lam rounds up his predictably cute girls in Seoul after he steals some money templates which are then stolen from him. He of course has to get them back and catch the crooks that are trying to buy them. Yep not much of a story but the mix of comedy and action is welcome. There’s some pointless fight scenes and some really good ones where the choreography is well thought out. The ending is typically an over the top action sequence which just wouldn’t happen in real life but who cares?! It’s just a bit of fun. You can read into Lam’s self and find a fairly dark but witty character and he’s acted out very well with fairly deep expression. Stay away if you hate shallow action affairs but the rest of us should find some joy in this.

Wow, it’s hard to accept University is about to end but my projects are submitted and have been marked. No word on grades yet but the showing of my work to the staff seemed to go well. Nothing particulary negative was said. It was mainly positive. I think they like what I have done and finally appreciated my coding skills. I’m happy the technition was there. He advised them about my skills beyond the front end visuals of my work. Very nice of him to say so. They seemed to like my object design and the portfolio was a hit. Yeah so I’m expecting to finish with a decent mark for the three years. It was great fun and I enjoyed my time there. Living at home wasn’t a problem as my freedom was still very much there. We all celebrated last night and got stupidly drunk. The night finished with a epic “Yee-haa” drinking game. Good stuff.
All that’s left of Uni is my final show. It’s opening next Friday (27th I think) at UWN, so if anyone is near come along! I have to spend the next two weeks preparing for that and making my physical portfolio.

I haven’t posted for a while. Been flat out finishing my University work. I tend to work in the Graphics studio since there is less distractions there than at home. People have still been asking me for help using Flash and I can’t say no. I’m good with actionscript (Flash programing language) but I also enjoy it a lot so when they ask for help I get really into their projects. I then have to break away and try and get back into my flow. It’s hard work sometimes. I’m confident I’ll get all my work done though while sparing time to help others. My final project is looking pretty slick. It’s light enough to be viewed on the web too, so I’ll post it for you all to play with next week. I’m alive but worn out.

I spent the day in University. I had a tutorial to begin with. It went really well. Bascially my work did not need to be critised as I seemed to have justified all my design decisions and kept it all looking good. So it was over in five minutes and I was told to carry on and finsih it all. 10 days left yo! Yeah so afterwards I helped at least three people with Flash problems. Apparently I’m the only one really adapt at it and even the tutors have been refering people to me. Hmm not such a good idea with such little time left. However, I can’t say no when it comes to helping others. Ahh the Uni should employ me to teach Flash a couple times a week. That’d be a nice part-time job. Beats retail.
Anyway, afternoon soon came and my Japanese teacher found me and had me do some tests. Ahh I may have mentioned I’ve been chosen for moderation so have to hand in every piece of homework and do every test. So he had me catch up on the missing ones. Then I basked in glorious sunshine outside before hitting up the studio again for a design sheet session. I’ve planned out all my animations for my project now. Can’t wait to finish them off. Also I walked into a door…

Japan loves cosplay… at least some of it does. This film has plenty of it! Otakus in Love (Koi no Mon, Japan 2004) is about the developing relationship bewteen two very different manga artists. One creates manga with rocks and sells few pieces while the other creates romantic comics and does a little better but due to falling sales is landing a large pile up of bills. They meet on the street and there is an instant attraction. They soon met again when he starts work at her company but already the boss has it in for him and it looks like he won’t last long. One druken night later and he wakes up in cosplay at her place. The story of their romance begins. Will their love grow or will these otakus’ just be too much for each other? The rest of the cast is suitably over the top and oddball. There doesn’t seem to be a sane character in this film! However, it works for interesting comedy with a story that is driven by romance told through otaku cliches. We have cosplay, manga events, manga bars, and a bizzare tribute weekend to some anime.
The film may be too much for some with it’s “loud” acting and bizzare comedy. However, if you can look past that (or equally enjoy it) then you’ll find a tale of romance and the complications that can arise. It’s been done before but the Otaku twist at least adds some freshness to this film. By no means a great film but an oddly enjoyable watch.

My friend gave me this whole speech last night about how I live in my “comfort zone” and that I’m unhappy there. He said I may be comfortable but deep down I’m wanting to escape to explore what else life has to offer me but I don’t because I have no self confidence. He got quite forceful with his views! I think he finally let go and said it all because we had been drinking a lot. You know what though? He’s right. I do live in a “comfort zone”. It can be percieved as selfish. I tend to do what I want and don’t make a lot of scarifices for other people because I don’t put myself in that position. As for self confidence, he’s right again. I really have very little and rely on friends to do things for me. Someone else said something similar to me and said that my “comfort zone” wrecked every relationship I’ve had. Fair enough, point it all out to me but can they tell me one thing… can they tell me how to fix it? I’ve yet to hear any examples of how I should burst out of this zone into greater things.