Manga Monday: You're My Girlfriend

Monday, September 19, 2011





You're My Girlfriend

    AKA Kimi wa Girlfriend; キミはガールフレンド
Downloaded from Goldlily's Media Gallery  ~
Mangaka Minami Maki
Genre(s) comedy, romance, school life, shoujo
Year 2005
Volumes 1
Summary  taken from Baka-Updates
It's about a girl named Hatsune with a "bad mouth", for lack of a better description. She's kind-hearted, but her mouth spews the total opposite of what she means (which is probably due to the fact that she grew up with only male influence). And so she is seen as an arrogant, vulgar girl at her school, but all she wants is a boyfriend. Well, that is, until she gets accepted at the Maidens' Club, where she meets a guy named Kirie, with a somewhat unique habit that happens when a girl comes within a foot of him. And everyone says he's gay, even Hatsune. How will these two fare? Will Hatsune have a boyfriend at last? Will he be more than just a friend?

Scanlated by Entropy
Translation A+
Scan Quality A+
Editing Quality A-

Review
The summary for this manga isn't accurate at all--the real plot is that Hatsune wants a girlfriend, but has never had a friend in her life because of her big mouth. It's far cuter than the summary makes it sound! Most characters are either already nice, or are jerks that need someone to sooth their injured heart or something, but Hatsune is a nice girl that is a jerk by accident and out of nervousness, which I found endearing. The romance aspect still plays out in a very standard and unimaginative way, but the characters are cute, and that's what makes the manga enjoyable.
Story      
Art         

Sims 3: Portal Posters

Friday, September 16, 2011

I'm totally one of those jerks who randomly screams "The cake is a lie!" and "Space!" like it's somehow clever. Mostly to myself, alone in the dark. Space!

Only two of these don't have text, so I apologize to those Simlish-only folks, but you're pretty much out of luck. They're all in one file, and will cost your Sims §7.




Mesh Credits
• Gothic poster made recolorable by sleepless_angel at Ashtray Sims

Art Credits
01 ~ official art - Get one!
02 ~ Ron Guyatt - Get one!
03 ~ ezBadfish
04 ~ official art - Get one!
05 ~ levi88
06 ~ Alice0fSpades
07 ~ The-3rd-Design
08 ~ BearAndRobot - Get one!
09 ~ rylanfrancis
10 ~ BearAndRobot - Get one!
11 ~ linkitch
12 ~ The-3rd-Design
13 ~ ameba2k
14 ~ osanai1
15 ~ Xerone
16 ~ wd.farmer
17 ~ official art - Get one!
18 ~ Kiyi-chan

Sharing Policy
As long as you're not claiming credit or putting it on a paysite, I don't care. Including it in a lot is perfectly fine with me, though a link back here would be nice.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Date

Thursday, September 15, 2011

[ source ]
Poncho and I love shabu shabu, which, if you don't know, is a type of Japanese hot pot restaurant. Basically, they give you a bunch of raw food and a pot of boiling water and you do everything yourself. Sound lame? Well, it is so very not lame, and, in fact, is fabulous.

There are lots of places like this popping up around Southern California. The first of its kind popped up in Little Tokyo, and is called Shabu Shabu House. The one we usually go to, our favorite, is called Shabu Shabu Bar. Last time we wanted to eat there, though, it was closed for the holiday, so we decided to try out California Shabu Shabu.

Yeah, the names aren't very creative. And, for the record, our favorite place is still Shabu Shabu Bar, though Shabu Shabu House has the most authentic atmosphere. California Shabu Shabu was okay, and Poncho liked it better than Shabu Shabu House, but... anyway, that's not what this is about!

So Poncho and I are sitting at the bar eating our food, and we've been together for over a decade, so a lot of our dinners are dominated by companionable silence, especially since we hadn't really been apart for more than an hour or so in several days. Words aren't needed, and I assure you it was a lovely date.

It also afforded us the opportunity to shamelessly eavesdrop.

So the couple to my left was clearly on a date. The way the female was caking on her makeup when I saw her in the bathroom had me guessing she really liked this guy, and their early conversation was very lively. I was just thinking how lovely it was to be on a date with these two when the guy said "I woke up thinking about you this morning." How sweet!

And then the girl responded with something about her boyfriend's uncle dying. Uhm, what?

The awkward silence that followed almost made me itch. After several minutes of silence, the guy asked, "So... what should we talk about now?" to which the girl replied, "Tell me about your girlfriend!"

He did not have much to say about his girlfriend, and changed the subject. She tried a couple more times to get her obviously trying to get in her pants date to talk about his girlfriend, but he deflected with super-smooth comments like "I think we were made for each other," leading her to do the playful push with a high-pitched, "You're in a relationship, silly!"

The best part, though, was when she called her boyfriend, said "I love you" four times, and made him give her "kissy" on the phone. And by "made" I mean she gave him "kissy," and then said "Now give me kissy. Give me a kiss! Yes, give me kissy! Give me kissy!" while her date just kind of poked around his bowl of rice.

So, yeah, moral of the story: If you go out to dinner with a guy you don't really know when you are both in relationships, so that you can... I don't know what her motivation was. Free dinner? (Yes, he paid.) Get attention? Whatever. Either way, that girl was a jerk and that guy was a jerk and the moral of the story is don't be a jerk or I listen in on your entire conversation for the explicit purpose of mocking you later.

Clean cup, clean cup. Move down.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Walmart has flower pots shaped like giant teacups. Walmart has flower pots shaped like giant teacups. This is exciting because 1) I love teacups, and 2) I love things in sizes that they are not usually in.

So of course I bought one.


It's obviously a ridiculous thing to buy, so I almost didn't... but then I did. Because, when you have the opportunity to turn a large-sized teacup into a small-sized Disneyland teacup, you do it. So I did, and so should you.

This project is fairly simple, if not a little time-consuming. I just did a little bit at a time, over several days, since there's a lot of waiting for paint to dry between coats. With all the coats you have to do, trying to do this in one day, I imagine, would be very frustrating. Also, being that it's fairly easy to copy, I'll try to keep the steps brief.

Materials
  • a teacup
  • a teacup design
  • spray paint in your base color (I used white)
  • acrylic paint in the other colors
  • paint brushes
  • a compass (not the directional kind)
  • painter's tape
  • glossy spray-on sealer

Steps
1) Spray your base coat in several thin layers, letting the layers dry in between coats. If you try and do one thick layer, you will have drips of paint all over the thing. I did four layers.

2) If your inside is a different color than your outside, paint the inside. If not, skip this step.

3) Paint the saucer, the rim of the cup, and handle. There are a few ways to get straight (well, circular) lines around your cup: to draw lines on the saucer, I used a compass (first picture); to draw the line around the inside rim, I used a compass a slightly different way (fourth picture); to get a nice, crisp line around the outside rim, I made pencil marks 1/2" from the top, and used those to guide painter's tape around the outside (second and third picture). I did between two and five coats on these parts.

4) Tape off (or use the compass to draw guidelines) the second line around your cup and paint it. Be careful with metallic paint--it tends to dry rubbery, and can peel off easily. In fact, I might recommend you draw lines with the compass, rather than tape it off; I had some difficulty with the tape. I did five coats here.

5) Trace on your pattern and paint it. You can use my stencil if you'd like, or create your own. I just printed it on regular paper, and cut off each heart after I traced it.

6) After it's completely dry, spray it with some kind of glossy outdoor-appropriate sealer. One coat should be fine; I did two just to be safe. When it's dry, it's done!








After mine was all dry and done, I planted some junk mail from Google in it. Yup. I'm excited.

Manga Monday: Goggle (Oneshot)

Monday, September 12, 2011





Goggle (Oneshot)

    AKA ゴーグル
Downloaded from Goldlily's Media Gallery  ~
Mangaka Toyoda Tetsuya
Genre(s) drama, seinen, slice of life
Year 2003
Volumes 1
Summary  taken from Baka-Updates
A stubborn young girl comes tumbling into the barren wasteland of the lives of these two men. She can't take off her goggles, and the reason is...

Scanlated by NCIS
Translation A
Scan Quality A+
Editing Quality A-

Review
Most oneshots are either a quick shot of smut, or have a nice story, but are really too short to pique your interest. Goggle is one of those very rare oneshots that is just right the way it is, and I thought it was a really sweet little story. I admit, I'm a sucker for stories where a young adult and a kid become attached to each other. It's a simple story and definitely predictable, but it's not trying to do too much in its 58 pages, and so I say it's just right.
Story      
Art         

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