I swear I didn’t get into (and write about) Quiz Magic Academy on New Years’ on purpose…
Happy New Year’s Eve!
With that said, here’s my resolution: by the end of the year, I want to be able to play Quiz Magic Academy confidently. And by that, I mean “man I can actually read Japanese to the point where I can play online and not look like an enormous gaijin by missing obvious questions I’d get if I could actually read”.
Trying to play Quiz Magic Academy DS (single-player, of course!) while I’ve only got not-even-a-3-kyuu’s worth of Japanese language knowledge is interesting. A lot of the questions I get right are the ones that are heavy on the katakana, because they’re references to Western (pop) culture –
Q: In the movie ‘Star Wars’, what’s the name of Mark Hamill’s character?
1. Luke / 2. Knight / 3. Bishop / 4. Mark
– or are pretty simple Anime & Game category questions like the following:
True or False:
Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) has a character named Heart, who is female.
I figure QMA would be a fun game if I knew how to read the Japanese it throws me, which is most often heavily draped in kanji, unlike the original equivalents of the two examples above. When I can read the questions, it’s an enjoyable experience. When I can’t, it’s a less (but still somehow) pleasant experience in guessing.
That, and the fact that I’ve wanted to get into QMA for a while (I played it once two years ago during a visit to Japan, and never again, for that meant that I would actually have to play against people who could actually read Japanese!) combine to make this New Year’s resolution.
And, lastly, as an aside, it only helps that Aloe, the character I chose, is voiced by Ochiai Yurika. Which makes sense; the script changes according to character, and Aloe’s is all too reminiscent of ToHeart 2‘s Konomi. Too good!
Amusingly enough, I’m celebrating the birthday of a girl who’s supposed to be born in 2018, but if you set it relative to the series’ end (meaning it was 2037 two years ago), she’s 21 and thus legal to drink alcohol in America! Although, of course, she’s only studying in Oregon for one more semester…
Other character birthdays I celebrated this month (albeit without this much fanfare) were those of Nayuki Minase (12/23) and Kuga Kokage (12/19).
Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates them!
And I’ve gotta study for this on top of writing about an obsession with Helvetica. Woohoo!
So I donated blood last week. The little divot that they’ve made in my left arm has yet to go away, but it’s subsiding.
I donated my blood to one of (?) the major blood donation organizations in my area, the Blood Centers of the Pacific, which has a point program for donations. It seems I get 200 points for every appointment I show up to: 100 for donating, and 100 for keeping the appointment.
One of the things I can do with my points is obtain a coupon for a free fresh pint of Baskin-Robbins ice cream. That’s 200 points.
I’ve made two donations thus far.
Be right back, increasing my blood sugar level and my calcium intake while munching on a quart of ice cream in chilly weather.
The Tokyo Game Show is currently happening, and with it comes a new flood of information – new game announcements, newly announced delays for huge games ’til Spring 2010, and new trailers, of which Final Fantasy XIV recieved one, which you can see here (Joystiq).
If one of the Tarutaru Lalafell PC’s abilities is to sit on a table, I’m probably gonna reprise my role as a Taru. But the Mithra Mi’qote look hype, too…!
image credit richard masoner
Here’s a fun fact: Nowhere on any article about any portion of 101 on Wikipedia does the term “rush hour” exist. However, 880 does. For people who know how bad 101 can get around here, that’s somewhat amusing. Wikipedia does mention briefly in a passage on transportation that the fabled Bay Area rush hour indeed exists, but doesn’t expound on it.
I intend to. If you’re curious — read more…
iTunes is sometimes useful. Yeah, I know, I hear ya, it’s a piece of bloated thing of music management, but I quite enjoy the concept of cheap and instant gratification of legal music purchasing.
Like, say, downloading the Loosey Goosey single, a Halko Momoi song used for the opening to Yurumates (which was quite the fun watch), for just a buck.
Looking through their selection of anisongs, though (because Loosey Goosey itself is tagged with the genre “Anime”; I was curious), they have a number of artists that have things on the JP iTunes Music Store, but not on the American one. They pop up regardless.
The above picture is one instance of where Apple (or Lantis?) fails me. There are plenty of Hidamari– I mean, Sunshine Sketch fans here in the US…!