I Am Cyber-Loafing While On Night Duty

Before i start cursing and swearing at the people who saddled me with two reports to write by daybreak on top of my regular duties, let's attempt to answer this question:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MCCAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ............ reboot.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken!

LEE KUAN YEW: I am telling u that the highly paid chicken should cross the road first. It is our right to cross the road..

LEE HSIEN LOONG: Gantry points have been set up. All chickens wanting to cross the road are advised to top up their cash cards first.

ABDULLAH BADAWI: We have to be fair to all chickens. Some want to cross over the road, some do not. ........ Zzzzzz .......zzzzzz ....... Now what were we talking about? Ah yes, chickens. We will form a Royal Commission to decide whether it is right for them to cross the road.

MAHATHIR: Now even the non-bumi chickens want to cross the road? How can they disrespect and disregard the bumi chickens? We must be allowed to cross over first. It is our right! ANWAR: We have enough chickens waiting to cross over in September.

SHAHRIR: All foreign chickens are welcome in Malaysia but they must not cross over the road within 50km of the border.

Wong Kan Seng: I am sorry that the chicken was allowed to cross the road. It was an HONEST MISTAKE. Lets move on.

(Note: Not my joke. Too sleepy to think of any.)

ToyoGumi is Cute, No?

Random interview I came across somewhere. Translated it as a little exercise for myself, learnt a few new words too. I tried not to misquote her, but can't help but guess outright for one particular paragraph (i'll point it out later). Do check out the original and point out any mistranslations.

豊口小姐是什么时候开始观看动画的呢？从小就憧憬声优这个职业吗？

小学高年级的时候开始就经常看动画。 被邻家的小孩问道：“你没看吗？”，而开始追看《七龙珠》， 从而迷上了动画。

我成为了扮演“饮茶”的古谷徹先生的粉丝，到处找寻由他出演的作品，终于邂逅了命运中的作品《Dragon Quest》。主角Abel由古谷先生配音。

之后非常喜欢这部作品，简直到了可以模仿登场人物声音的地步（笑）。就在和志同道合的朋友玩模仿的当儿，萌生了“当声优真有意思”的念头。那是中学二年级的时候。

原来如此。豊口小姐喜欢上动画的契机是《Dragon Quest》啊。其他喜欢的动画呢？还有，学生时期有没有热衷于其他的事物呢？

说其他的应该就是《美少女战士》吧。果然还是古谷先生出演的作品。

那时期，动画以外的节目我几乎完全不看。那时流行的音乐也不太记得了（笑）。不过，由声优主持的广播节目我倒是听蛮多的。因为是深夜节目，我老是得用录音带录下来。

听说豊口小姐中学毕业后就认真地踏上了迈向声优的道路，这是真的吗？

没错。中学毕业后便向父母说要上声优校。结果被老妈理所当然的骂了一句“给我上高中！”，于是暂时就上了高中（笑）。

高中快毕业时，我再次向老妈提出要上声优校，这次她却说“上了声优校也未必能当上声优吧”……. 我也奇妙地就接受了。

原来是这样啊。在双亲的反对下贯彻自己的志愿需要很大的勇气吧。 但是，就算如此还是没放弃声优的道路是吧？

暂时是放弃了当声优的念头，想想还是希望能从事和声优有关的工作，便报读了专门学校的音响艺术科。

因为常听广播，所以想成为电台工作人员。但是，刚入学便通过了试音！

豊口小姐成为声优的契机是试音？

中学，高中时报名参加了不少试音，不过总是没通过（笑）。我是抱着“这是最后一次”的心情应征了文化放送的广播节目《広井王子のMulti天国》中的火星Girl。

节目中的广播剧因为即将做成Game，为了给游戏宣传造势而公开招募火星Girl一角的配音员。

我就在这次中了大奖。之后在节目中成为Regular，踏出了配音生涯的第一步。

正式作为声优的出道作品是什么呢？

出演动画之前是有为广播剧，游戏配音。第一次接到动画的工作是在加入声优经理公司81 Produce 之后的事。

那部动画是NHK的 《Alice SOS》，我的动画出道作。

《Alice SOS》也是通过试音才接到的吗？

是的，这项工作是通过试音才接到的，老实说我从头到尾都搞不清楚状况就完成了试音。

太紧张了吧~。试音不管经历了几次感觉还是一样的。

声优这行，所演役的角色常常会被定型吗？

可能是这样吧。我演的“阳光少女”比较多，不过最近也诠释了较成熟的角色。

随着年龄的增长而角色有所演变，我对这点感到庆幸。

谈到值得庆幸的事，除了碰上好角色外，还遇到了不少贵人。

第一次接到的工作是《広井王子のMulti天国》真是太幸运了。“就算不行也得尽力”之类的想了好多。

虽然没人开口教我怎么做，不过身边有好多可以学习的榜样。指路的向导好多啊。大家全都是Professional， 想追上他们…… 不，就算只想接近他们（的水平）一点就已经很不得了了 （笑）。不过，把目光放远有助于自己的成长吧。

如果起初轻易地就进了声优校，我觉得对待工作的意识会有所不同。

那么， 在什么时候会让你感到“当声优真好！”？

我身边的朋友多数都已经结婚生子。这么一来，可以直接从他们的小朋友口中听到对我演出的感想。

还有，亲戚朋友的小孩会在幼儿园炫耀说“我的妈妈是小光的朋友哦！”。

听到时好高兴哦。 Btw, “小光”是我在《Pokemon Diamond & Pearl》里的角色。

小孩子都很直率，我的演出也不能作假。不努力不行啊。

Btw, 去年为电影配音了吧。和声优的工作有什么分别吗？

为韩国电影《两百磅美女》的女主角配了音。基本上工作是没什么分别，只不过给电影配音时，听得见音乐，效果音，还有演员原来的声音，给动画录音时则是在无音的情况下进行。

电影配音说到底只是为登场人物配上声音，动画方面则可以作为原役者而有更大的发挥空间。

给电影配音时，会带上耳机听原声，习惯了平常的无音状况，耳朵里听得见声音感觉上有所不同。

不过，听得见音乐也让我能更容易地融入剧情。配音字面上的意思虽然相同，可工作时的感觉却全然不同。

海外动画的制作方式，和日本有什么分别吗？

海外动画多数是先录音后作画，也就是所谓的“pre-scoring” 日本方面，则是作画与录音同时进行，怎么说还是对着影像配音较多 (“after-recording”）。

因为配音时得把时间掌握得准确无误，日本声优在这方面的技艺较佳也说不定。

(Note: Examples of anime which used the pre-scoring technique include Kurenai and the new Eva movies. It makes for more natural conversations, as can be seen in the seamless banter among Murasaki and gang.)

去年为电影配音, 今年五月也首次参与了舞台剧吧。

一向来都很想参与舞台剧，演出决定下来的时候好高兴。可是，真正试过以后才知道站在舞台上演出其实一点也不简单。

声音的大小得依据剧场的规模而做出调整，平常演绎动画角色时也不需要肢体动作，但在舞台上却非得靠动作表演不可……。

此外还不能不面对各种媒体。真让人觉得作为演员不能干可不行啊（笑）。

舞台可是活生生的是吧。不过、独一无二的现场演出中的那种Live感很棒吧。对于演员来说的舞台又是怎么样的呢？ (i'm guessing)

从身体状况开始、co-star的tension、到看官的反应、天天都不一样。站在演员的立场，再次体会了舞台上现场演出的感觉。正因如此、it reached the point where I want to watch more theatre for the sake of learning.

那么，豊口小姐所尊敬的女演员是谁呢？

本田美奈子小姐。曾经观赏过一出她出演的音乐剧，本田小姐不论是演技还是歌艺，总而言之好Power。

真的是我好欣赏的人。想到再也见不着了实在是很遗憾。

（Note: 本田美奈子逝世于6 Sep 2005，享年38。）

最后，请分享一下你今后想挑战的事。

至今广播，动画，Event, 电视，配音，种种工作都尝试过了。

今后，我想将其一一巩固。

还有，这十年来，我承蒙不少人的照顾才走到了这一步。为了能报答他们，我要更加努力。

Reasons why Lucky Star OVA was a good laugh:

1) MMO party
2) The Legend of Tsunderella (Look out for Tohsaka Rin)
3) Tsuakasa-in-a-net
4) “今やみゆきさんは銀河の歌姫。MOTTEKE 違いんなんだよね…”

I was just waiting for the Sheryl Nome reference. Didn’t understand what the Lulu lines were doing there, but loved them all the same. Guess KyoAni did not disappoint.

Good Job!

It was a good day to die

Yesterday was a good day.

Firstly, I managed to pass me Eye Pee Pea Tea with flying colours.

万歳！

Secondly, I just told a big fat lie. As far as flying colours are concerned, I flew about as far as the crazy chicken girl in True Tears. But a pass is a pass, and I did set a few all-time personal best scores, so some celebratory Lucky Stripes strips are due. Well, as soon as I think of a knockout punch line that fits neatly into the fourth frame, of course. Alternatively, we can just hang on for a few days for the Raki Suta OVA on Friday, which does actually sound a lot better then some half-baked doujin strip.

Thirdly, somehow a day off from work kind of fell out of the sky and into my lap. Amazing nonsense. Now I’m known as the first to get awarded a day off for writing an imba report, which ironically has been praised as an example of a balanced analysis. The thing is, I didn’t actually write the report bcos it’s been edited so many times I no longer recognize it. Awesome, no? Let’s show them the kind of balanced analysis I’m truly capable of.

“Kagamin has a big head, but she’s totally 2D, so that balances things out.”

What a piece of totally awesome balanced analysis!

I shall now award myself a day off from blogging.

"Are you thinking what I’m thinking, R1?"

"I think I am, R2."

"It’s Seiyuu Mutilation Time!"
"It’s Seiyuu Mutilation Time!"

バニーガール

Decided to sneak a peek at Rierie's blog before catching an episode of Yakuwhatshername Ryoko and ended up writing this instead.

Well, the first thing that greeted me on the page was バニーガール理恵 (who features in this month's copy of some seiyuu magazine i'll never cough up the cash for). Thanks to people with scanners and internet connections, that's no longer news to me. Actually i'm still undecided as to whether i like the pics or not. Somehow i feel bad staring at Bunny Rie.

Moving back one post, we get Rierie looking smart in a mansuit. Koyama Rikiya is in the pic as well but i don't think anyone cares. No, they're not trying to fuel a scandal (google "kakihara+noto"), they're pairing up to host a new seiyuu variety show called Club ATX Double R (Rie & Rikiya) which starts on 5 Oct. According to Rie, they're suppose to be a pair of aliens who go around abducting random seiyuu guests everyweek for some seiyuu mutilation fun.

This show sounds like it was inspired by the latest Gintama arc, where Monkey Hunter-crazy alien gamers abduct everyone and modify random body parts into screwdrivers so they can fix their PSP. Poor Gintoki got his penis upgraded into some kind of socket wrench with which he used to screw the aliens quite literally in the end. As far as i can see, Double R has got all the plot points covered, down to the Mon-Hun fanatic alien. Sounds fun, but I dun think anyone will be interested enough to upload the raws, much less sub it. I mean, mention Club ATX and all Kagamisumi can think of is Yanagino Reiko.

After about 137 posts, I realised that trying to write a proper conclusion to a piece which is essentially about nothing can be quite hard.

So let's just spam yukata pics. This is Rierie, btw. I think. If it's someone else, that's fine too. I'm a free thinker, which means i'm free to worship all the 女神 i want.

Gotou Saori, who plays Random Operator A in Zettai Karen Children. She's got the looks for an idol seiyuu, but me thinks her micky mouse voice kind of lets her down. Hasn't had any memorable roles either. Actually i'm paying so much attention only because we share the same birthday (and i think she's cute). Oh well, 後藤さん 加油！

That's 3 languages in one sentence, bcos i feel like i'm being outdone by Kagamisumi recently in the trilingualism department.

Enma Ai, ie 地獄少女 aka Mamimami. To side track somewhat, i made a typo in the previous sentence and ended up with 地獄処女. Let's sell them that idea for season three, might just give the series a much needed shot of epinephrine. To get back on topic (if there was one to begin with), Mamimami is cosplaying Enma Ai - in a way. Maybe she didn't mean to, since it's so easy to look like the character as long as you have long straight hair with bangs chopped straight across, wear a kimono and sound like a ghost. Guess we'll never know for sure.

I really should start with the title next time

I had the privilege of devising more Truly Asian school exam papers over the weekend, which was a lot of fun since I didn’t have to do it for a living and could afford to sneak apparently innocuous anime references into the questions. For example:

Error Identification

1) Lulu was upset that things did not go his way.

Can you spot the grammatical error in that question? Fans of Code Geass are probably at a disadvantage. =p

Wish I could share the rest of my handiwork here, but it’s an exam paper after all. Even if no one reads this, it’s probably a bad idea. Btw, I still find it amazing that someone who blogs in broken English can get asked to set grammar questions.

(Psst.. here’s a hint for those kids who are lucky enough to randomly come across this post: “The trap had been broken…”.)

Oh well, Lucky Star OVA coming soon on 26 Sep I think, the same day Rierie’s New York gig starts. There’s a nice trailer floating around somewhere on the net. Loved the bit where the gang were in some MMORPG of sorts. And Hatsune Kagamin as well. Can’t wait.

I’ll just spam photos of LS-related seiyuu since cute pics are pretty self-explanatory.

That last one is the best Konata cosplay i've ever seen.

Dearth of HDD space

So, nowadays my computer is quite disk space-challenged, so unfortunately, couldn't really do much stuff on it as the import for the new drive is taking ages. Anyway, I've finally finished ef - A Tale of Memories. A pretty fun ride, the show raised quite a few interesting concepts and questions such as the the flow of memory and time, and how we take our brain for granted sometimes without thinking of some implications if it ever fails us. Ah oh well, as usual, my favourite character has to be Miyamura Miyako. Adorable, cute, some whackiness and funny voice. Only problem she has is that she kept running away. Why?

[SPOILER]
However, 大将 said that the ending was GAR. I didn't really find it to be gar... thought the ending was rather weird because while Renji's actions were quite... gar, if Chihiro could have just recalled and remember all the stuff to keep it within the 13 hour limit, well, I guess a diary wouldn't have been that critical to her and the novel would have been very much more achievable. I always thought the premise of the show started with Chihiro strictly having a 13 hour limit and thus the story unfolds.
[/SPOILER]

Anyway, I just acquired some pictures from Rie's blog and would like to invite anyone here to play a matching game. Match the hand to the face!

Faces from A-D

Hands from 1-4

I Think Some Otaku Ghost Is Haunting My Workplace

Ghostly Encounter Number One

One fine morning, as I was settling down in the conference room for our daily brief...

I heard a whisper.

“Bible Black”.

WTF?

Well, of course the phenomenon can be explained by the relatively high concentration of horny adolescents in my workplace, but it’s spooky nonetheless.

(Btw, I don’t belong in the horny group.)

Ghostly Encounter Number Two

Imagine my shock when I saw these headlines:

Air Force Command Institute fosters new-type air commanders

So the Human Reform League has been conducting Newtype experiments after all. Gosh, Sunrise must secretly have the best intel network in the world. Now that the PLA has got Allelujah and Soma on their side (not to mention maybe Char, Amuro and Killer Yamato), Taiwan is so going to get pwned. They should just scrap the F16 deal and go build some Zakus instead.

Ghostly Encounter Number Three

Conference room again, morning brief. Me walks in half-asleep, plonks my ass on usual chair, open eyes.



Two Dangos starring back at me from the whiteboard.

Scary, no?

Oh wait.

Forgot I had drawn the Dangos while on nightwatch. =p (Accidentally in indelible ink too.)

Despite valiant attempts to destroy them, the insoluble Dangos have been regular participants of all meetings big and small for the past two weeks.

Other Miscellaneous Ghostly Encounters

Voice of KOTOKO issuing forth from someone’s car radio; C.C. appearing in my mailbox; hushed murmurs of “Geass”; me developing the ability to sing the tongue twister of a song that is Northern Cross overnight (albeit only the first few stanzas); the mysterious copy of Gunslinger Girls in the guardhouse; bahasa-dubbed Yugi-Oh suddenly streaming on the video wall; someone humming Koi no Mikuru Denstetsu… Wait, I think that last one was me again.

The Ultimate Spooker

All the above spooky incidents culminated in the ultimate shock this evening - when I least expected it.


Shit.

WHY RIE WHY!?!

アリソンとリリア ドラマCDI

This drama CD rox. I'm about 2/3 way through the first track and i'm hooked already. I've always thought the best parts of the show were the light-hearted portions where Allison tries to jump Wil, and the first track of this CD happens to be 17 mins of Allison doing just that.

This short story is set during Fiona's wedding with the hero dude. Allison, inspired by the rabu-rabu mood, schemes with Fiona to, you know, ensure the anime gets an extra 12 eps featuring Lillia. Best of all, the sound-only medium creates some really interesting effects:

Alison: Wanna touch me?
Wil: Alison?
A: It's fine. Look, just go ahead.
Fiona(presumably hiding in the bushes): YES! He's reaching out his hand!!!
W: Here i go...
A: Wil's hand is on me...
W: Here?
A: Yes... Right there...
W: Ah... it feels so soft...

You can imagine the rest.

But knowing Wil, i think you can roughly guess what was really happening. Mamimami's Fiona sounded hilariously 三八 in this episode too, her running commentary under cover is definitely worth a listen.

The CD includes a second drama abt loli Alison enslaving shota Wil but i've no time to go through the whole track. (Got to get back to the office a bit earlier today to clean up the trail of muddy footprints leading from the gate straight to my desk before the RSM gets in.)

There are 2 other songs as well, by Mizuki Nana (Alison) and Kumai Motoko (Wil). Mizuki's song is more to my taste, but not very memorable actually. Grab this CD for the drama. Trust me, it's fun.

First Post Of September, i.e. I'm Rushing Off For Night Shift So There's No Time To Think Of A Proper Title

Somehow, I don’t feel like writing about anime nowadays. I’m still enjoying my daily dose of cartoon pron though; it’s just that nothing has really made me go nuts enough to churn out a post. Things like Nogizaka Haruka’s dad being connected to Mossad cracked me up, but that’s probably a side effect of daily exposure to bad military puns like Exercise Cold Bra and US Marine Corpse. If you look to the right, you’ll see Merry Time Security right above Rierie.

By the way, it’s the first day of September, and at the point I’m writing this I’ve got 42,647,113 seconds until I complete my service and fuck-off. The ORD date is 5 days after Rierie’s 31st birthday, which happens to be this miko’s 23rd birthday.

Some other random January babies here, I love January babies, especially the ones named Rie and Yukana.

Since there seems to be a glut of pics of stocking-ed seiyuu lately, I was planning to put up a Zettai Ryouikki post. But jimone said she was going to do one, so I’ll wait for it. Definitely wouldn’t mind more stuff like this:

That’s Inamura Yuuna.

Actually I’ve never heard of her till now, the number of shows I’ve watched with her in it can be counted on the middle digit of my left hand (she’s got a bit part in Shigofumi). She’s been around for a while though, which means I’ve still got a long way to go in learning about seiyuu appreciation. But don’t ever believe the teachers who tell you that learning is a life-long process. There’s an obvious conflict of interest here as they’d be jobless if you were done learning.

Anyway…

Quiz time!!

Name the following DFCs:

1st row: Kugimi, Hirano Aya, Kadowaki Mai, Tamura Yukari, Someone who looks really familiar but I can’t quite pinpoint who it is
2nd row: Nonaka Ai, Toyoguchi megumi, Horie Yui, Mizuki Nana, Nazuka Kaori
Dunno, Kitamura Eri, Mizuhashi Kaori, Is she the twin of the first person in the row?, Dunno
3rd row: Dunno, The Miko, Dunno, Dunno, Dunno.

My Score: 12/20
Whew, just made it. To be honest, I cheated on one question so it was really 11/20. I would have said Suara if the words "Nazuka Kaori" weren’t plastered over the pic. =p

Don’t you think they look alike?

(Just in case Kagamisumi is confused already: Suara is a singer whereas Nazuka Kaori is Nunally vi Brittania.)