STGCC Media Preview 2018

STGCC Media Preview 2018

Friday, September 7, 2018 / No Comments

"Get your geek on"

Is what it says on the piece of paper I was handed when I arrive at the STGCC Media Preview with Max. Get your geek on, I always get my geek on no matter what, so get your EXTRA superduper geek on is what this meant for me. 

We are ready for it!

The Media Preview starts and we sit down on the stairs of the new Funan Showsuites and listen to their presentation. I am super excited about STGCC so this is a nice little warm-up before the event. But being able to meet these people, it is more than just a warm-up, it was like a main event on itself!

Our media friends occupy the staircase.

This particular moment stood out to me. As a huge Game of Thrones fan, I am thrilled to take pictures with the Night King! And free hugs for those who come dressed as Tormund! I will be your Brienne! (lol)

After the introduction talk, the guests came to the stage one by one.

I wasn't loud enough to get the whole group's attention

A special shout-out to Olivia Mears aka Avantgeek for looking FABulous as always

After this it was time to check out the merchandise and more importantly: the Lego Hogwarts Castle! Some of the highlights for me were the tokidoki x hello kitty collaboration, the Lego Charmander, the Lego Howarts Castle with all the little details and the general art. The Lego Voltron wasn't there, so I am looking forward to see that one.

Working hard, working hard! To get that perfect shot! Lol

 While I was checking out the merchandise, Max managed to snap some shots of Olivia Mears in action

 Spooky merch! Tiny ghosts are too cute and don't scare me (I swear!).

 Unicorn!

 This is my Jammmm, I see what they did there.

 The popcorn with the little kitty-chan is adorbs!

Hmm, nope, never enough unicorns.

Loved this charmander lego figure!

The details!! So awesome. Although the left one looks more like Tormund from Game of Thrones

The creators sketch their gifted wares

Getting some yakitori from the buffet on my plate and some orange juice, I casually approach Simone Legno to ask him about his brand Tokidoki. I asked him what's new and he said he will finally, after many years of going back and forth (52 times, he has been counting.. lol), settle in Japan with his family. That will be closer to where the 'magic' happens - new up and coming markets, China, and etc. Licensing is still an issue he mentioned, and sometimes he even gets business because of wives/daughters whom are big fans, teaching 'papa' about tokidoki! That was funny to hear.

Simone mentioned he was based in L.A. and comes several times a year to Singapore as well. I was curious where he finds the time with all that traveling all over the world to actually sit down and make art. Knowing myself, I need to have my own space and music, and the right atmosphere. He mentioned he works wherever he can, for example in hotel rooms, airports, airplanes, hearing this I had the utmost respect for him as I have the attention span of a frog and could never do that. He came to Singapore yesterday jetlagged and all, worked in his hotel room before meeting up with a friend. Back in L.A. there are 30 people working in his office so he has never a quiet moment to design he mentioned as well. We talked about how art runs in the family, his as well as mine. His brother also has the gene and even his little daughter draws now, cute faces mostly he said. Finally, Max asked Simone for advice on how to expand the popularity of his OCs since Max himself is a creator/concept artist.

Group pic with Max Wong and Simone Legno, his hat is SO AWESOME though! Apparently his favourite, I can see why.

We also strike up a little chill conversation with Riku, a cool Caster/Gamer hailing from the Philippines. She was invited to cover on the new Good Game Experience (GGXP) which will debut as part of STGCC 2018. Last year, the games section in STGCC was already huge. With this new GGXP concept, I guess this is gonna be a "Level-Up" for the gaming scene in Singapore. Riku further shared with us about her plans to go to Tokyo Game Show and it was possible because she got so many gaming fans whom supported her! How cool! For the entire time, it was EXTRA chill because we were siting on beanbags on the 2nd floor, from which I admittedly had a hard time getting out/up from. Afterwards Max and I adjourned to The Coffee Academics @ Cityhall to get some coffee and discussed our tasks and plans for Milkcananime.

All in all, a great afternoon! And can't wait for tomorrow, see you all at STGCC!

~Written by Devi~

Relaxation and Rehabilitation

Relaxation and Rehabilitation

Thursday, September 6, 2018 / No Comments

It has been about a month since I ORDed, where I am now a NSmen. Finally, 2 years of national service was over and I’m left with 10 cycles of reservist. I took a few weeks off, relaxing and enjoying my moment of freedom but at the same time looking into parts for building my very own PC.

After consulting my friends who had experience in building one, as they build theirs, we head to Sim Lim Square to scout out shops which offered parts in my budget range. Circling the floors, browsing through the shops and eventually we head to the shop that my friends bought their parts from. I'm going to be honest. I am not a tech savvy person. I understand some jargon but I have no idea how it comes together. I was told to pick out the parts that I want and see how much it cost and from there, cut out what isn't necessary. The initial price of the parts that I picked out was $2k, which was way over my budget that was $1.5K. I had to compromise on some parts of the PC but it must be good enough to be able to edit and game, so basically a PC that is for work/play. I do not have a monitor so the price went up quite a bit.

In the end, after having discussed between ourselves and the shop assistant, I managed to get parts for an above average PC, much to the envy of my friends that accompanied me. For your information, the following are the parts:

CPU: Ryzen 5 2600

GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060

Motherboard: Asus Strix B350F Gaming

PSU: 600W Super Flower

RAM: 16 GB DDR4

SSD: 240 GB SANDISK

HDD: 2TB TOSHIBA

Monitor: LG 24MK430 24” FHD IPS LED

Total Cost: $1540 (w/o monitor: $1381)

I had nothing in my bank account thereafter.

We head over to my place and spent a few hours piecing it together, as we were confused where some wires go to, why won’t it fit etc. I didn’t know there was a Gijinka of Radeon and Ryzen. I got to say, the PC was worth it.

The cable management could use some work but at least the computer works very well. It took me a few days to transfer my files and documents from my MacBook and hard drives into the PC due to the different format and OS being used.

A week after, I bought a keyboard and mouse to replace the ones I had that were old and also a card reader to transfer footage over from SD cards. Yes, I had to take a “small loan” from my other bank account. I still, at the moment, do not have a proper desk as right now, my monitor is precariously placed near the edge of my small computer desk. The monitor is 60cm wide. It couldn’t fit into the desk’s shelving. But until then, I’ll enjoy playing games on it so that at least if the monitor falls, I’m there to catch as it is right in front of my face, or… my face will.

I’m currently playing a few games I did in the past on my MacBook and newer ones that I either wanted to try out but couldn’t as I am using a MacBook or ones that interest me from Steam.

I played through DDLC again and it is still as creepy but at the same time funny with all the puns by Monika.

I also started back OW as I had not played it for more than a year on the PS4.

Yes, I know. Overwatch has become very toxic that it has reached cancer level. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it. I faced worse in my National Service so I am quite immune to it. It is very fun when you play with friends and the weird shenanigans we come up with when playing. All the delicious salt, the savoury toxicity, the cancerous characters and coming up with hilarious but workable metas. Let’s go all support. Now go all tanks. Hey, I even made new friends playing the game.

Another game I have been playing and probably never will stop is Fate Grand/Order.

I spend way too much money on that game. No way will I ever stop (It’s also why I’m broke). I am playing the NA edition of it so yes, it is 2 years behind. And yes, why did I spend money on NA and not JP. I like to understand the story of a game I’m playing so I’m sticking with NA. I did start a JP account but I’m playing that on my PC as the JP server is very slow on the phone. Haha. Playing phone games on a PC. What am I thinking? It is way more efficient in a way than using my phone and I’m playing this as F2P so I got nothing to worry. Though I’m quite salty that I didn’t get Caster Illya from the Prisma banner. Neither the servants not the CEs for that banner came home. So now I have a lonely Chloe von Einzbern without the sister.

Here are the servants that I've made contracts with

Time to save quartz from the Nero event for future banners.

I didn’t just play for the month. I had tag along with my friends to help out on their shoot. Compared to what I did in my unit previously, this was much more draining as this was kind of what a proper one would be like. I didn’t really do much. My main goal for that day is to get out of the house as well as adjust myself back to how it was in my poly life. A refresher in a way.

A month of relaxation and rehabilitation I would say. Celebrate my freedom, caught up with friends, made new ones, unwind with some games, learning new skills, practice back the old ones and I also enrolled into driving school. Since I had obtained my military driving license, I expect it to be easier.

Now to find a job.

Written by Zwei