Fujifilm Instax Mini 50s "Cheki" Piano Black - Somewhat of a Review.

Hello again. Where is everyone, busy studying? =( Well anyway, I'm here to introduce you to my most recent toy, something I got as an early Christmas present...

Ta da!

 For those of you who don't know, this is the "new" instant camera. Remember Polaroids? Well Fujifilm took that concept and made newer versions, including Instax 210 (takes wide polaroids), Instax Mini 7s and Instax Mini 50s (takes mini polaroids). This one I got, is (or should be) the newest release. I believe it came out in early September this year.

What's so special about it?

Well, it's black. LOL. The older ones were usually white or silver with some other colour combinations, so this was different. Also, this one has a timer, allowing you to take decent group photos. Another nice feature is the shutter speed, which adjusts according to the lighting. In other words, it can now compensate for low lighting so your shots don't look weird (err, I'm summarizing the Fujifilm site description here LOL. I only had this thing for a day, I don't know everything yet...DON'T JUDGE ME -_-).

So here's what came with it...

Camera, batteries, a "close up" lens.

I haven't tried the close up lens yet. In fact, I only took one picture so far LOL. I didn't want to waste film on pictures of my cat, so I'm sort of waiting for a get together with friends to try it out with them.

What the camera looks like with the lens on. And a picture of Mikayla with her mommy and uncle!

Obviously this thing is smaller than the 7s cameras. But there is a drawback to it (to me at least). Instead of using 4 AA batteries like the 7s, this uses 2 CR2 batteries. Yes it's smaller, which means lighter weight, but I already have a stack of double and triple A batteries that are rechargeable...now I need new ones x_x. Time to hunt down sales for batteries again...lol.

One pack of film. Costs about a dollar per polaroid lol.

In terms of film, they have quite a large selection now. There are the classic ones like what I have above, and TONS of Disney ones! There're all kinds of pretty designs like Winnie-the-Pooh, Mickey Mouse, and also Sanrio ones like Hello Kitty :)

Of course, a downside to the patterned ones is that you can't write on it...

I prefer the classic ones, feel more like polaroids =). The Pooh one was taken with my friend's camera.

Some people wonder why they sell these things when you can just print any picture of your choice from your digital camera, or even just buy a portable photo printer if you crave that "instant" feeling. It's cheaper!

Well, it's really not the same. These fujifilm cameras feel more nostalgic. It's so retro =D. Taking out your portable printer doesn't have the same effect, trust me.

By the way, I bought my camera from Pacific Mall, BlueWave (I think that's the name). You can also find it on eBay or here.


Let's hope Pearlie will post something soon =)
---San.

The Secret of Nail Polish.

Hey everyone, our cute and bubbly friend Alex is now blogging <3 She's so adorable, I guarantee you'll fall in love with her instantly. But don't fall too deeply in love with her or someone will beat the crap out of you =D (nono, it's not me this time haha). Visit her here!
Okay here's what I really wanted to talk about today. I was incredibly bored the other day (bored from doing so many ass-ignments) so I did this crazy thing:

Wow, it actually looks HALF decent here. Sweet!

Loving this "freakishly long and demented fingers" look.

Polka dot nails! And on one hand only, because I was too sleepy to do the other. Here's the interesting thing. I went and showered/washed my hair with this on. Keep in mind that it was fully dry by the time I got in the shower...

This is how it looked after.

WHOAAAAAAAAAAA. Yeah clearly I scratch my head pretty hard when washing my hair lol.

Clearly, the black polish stayed mainly intact. After I took this picture, I literally removed the entire pink and white nail polish from my finger in one piece! And the black wouldn't even budge! (Okay, I forcibly scratched off a bit of the corners but that's about it). I was SO shocked by this. You know why?

The white was Sally Hansen. The Pink was L'Oreal Paris. The black? FREAKIN' WET 'N' WILD! That makes absolutely no sense! I was going to throw out that old bottle because I thought Wet 'n' Wild (like Bonne Bell) sucks! Who still uses this line of polish?! Holy...

I'm gonna need some time to get over this.

That is all.
---San.

My Kagrra, story.

This is quite a depressing post. I recently found out my favourite Jrock band is disbanding (they like to call it their "demise" instead of disbanding, which is weird lol) so  I decided to dedicate this post to them.

Just a bit of background info on them based on my memory. Not going into too much detail, you can just google them for more info... (all Kanji characters copied from various jrock forums lol)

Kagrra, pronounced 'kagura' 神樂, is a neo-japanesque rock band that mixes traditional Japanese lyrics and music with rock into their songs. They started out around 2001 (prior to this, they were known as CROW) as an indies rock band. They were classified as 'Visual Kei' in their early days, but later shifted away from that. Even though they toned down on their appearance, they still maintained a hint of traditional Japanese style throughout their career.

Early days of Kagrra, (Taken from limezutto.wordpress.com)

Kagrra, today as of their latest single Shiroi Uso (Taken from www.soundfans.com)

The band consists of five members. Isshi (一志) the lead vocalist, Akiya (楓弥) the guitarist, Shin (真) the second guitarist (also plays the koto), Nao (女雅) the bassist and Izumi (白水) the drummer.

Left to right: Izumi, Shin, Isshi, Akiya, Nao (Taken from visualscandal3.blogspot.com)

My Kagrra, story...
It started in 2005, late October/early November. My brother went on a trip overseas so I had his computer all to myself, which meant faster downloads! Woohoo!
At the time, I was really into mp3 rotation sites. They were sites where people post around 5 random songs per week for download. On one particular site, all the songs that week were Jrock/Krock which I NEVER listen to. But, I was curious (and there was nothing interesting to download that week) so I gave it a try. Kagrra,'s Satsuki (their newest song at that time) was among them.

My mp3 player back then was suuuper old. It was this USB stick thing that only had a wheel at the top to change tracks/volume and a light that was green when on, and red when battery was low. Lol it was so ugly...XD
Anyway, I was in bed listening to this thing. When suddenly Satsuki started playing. My first reaction was.....
"WTH? This is SO WEIRD....what IS that? A guy singing? A manly girl? Whaaaaaaaaat, I'm confused..."
Yep. I really didn't like it at first. It was so strange. Probably because I was expecting it to be very Jrock, which it wasn't. But it definitely wasn't Jpop either. It was such a bizarre style. I definitely wasn't used to it.

So I just took it off my mp3 player and ignored it for a couple days. Among the songs I downloaded was also The Trax, which is a Krock group (at that time anyway). They definitely had that 'heavy' sound to them. The song 'Paradox' was pretty...crazy. I didn't like it either -_-"

But one night, while I was lying on my brother's bed waiting for shows to download, I started listening to Paradox again. I become so engrossed by it. I wasn't really trying to make sense of the song I usually do...I was just listening to the music. The vocals, the guitar, the drum and bass. And I somehow enjoyed it. I don't know how or why...but it grew on me. At this point, I was still ignoring the Kagrra, song that I downloaded. I was somewhat into The Trax now though XD.

I started searching online for various songs that were similar in style. I don't know how this happened, but I stumbled upon the PSCompany site for Kagrra,! The name didn't ring a bell at first. I just saw how pretty their homepage was so I navigated through it. They had the promotional layout for the San album at the time...(Friends, do you recognize that SYMBOL ON THE GIRL'S ARM??)

San 1st press limited edition album cover. (Taken from www.japan-discoveries.com)

It wasn't until the Satsuki chorus began playing in the background when I realized who it was. The forgotten song in my mp3 stash! Let me tell you, it sounded like a completely different song this time. It was an upbeat song that was incredibly soothing at the same time. Everytime I listen to it, it feels like I'm in some far away place surrounded by beautiful green grass and a gorgeous view of the mountains. I was so in love with the song after hearing 30 seconds of it on the site. And so, my love for Kagrra, grew.

Did I mention the artwork for their albums/concert DVDs/etc. were always BEAUTIFUL?!

From my old computer (sorry, forgot the source?)

From old computer

Taken from soundfans.com

Taken from orble.com

Taken from japan-discoveries.com

I went and dug up every single song by Kagrra, soon after. There were A LOT. And let me tell you, I listened and loved every single one of them. I always picture each song telling a different story (which I will not tell you because some are pretty embarrassing lol).

Some of my all time favourites, if you'd like to know what they sound like...
(for those from 4shared.com, you can preview/listen to it rather than download)
Satsuki
Arishihi no bishou
Kotodama
Nanagatsu Nanoka
Uta
Ouka Ranman
Sarasouju no Komoriuta
Uzu (Shin plays koto!)
Tsuki ni Murakumo Hana ni Ame (skip to 2:51 for song the song)
Utakata (Shin plays koto again...my favourite of favourites)

Anyway, I listened to their songs and never once saw their music videos until...I found a site that had their first music video (for Kotodama) available for download. I was soooooooooo curious...
It was quite an experience. I fell asleep and woke up at 2am to watch it. I always found Kotodama to be one of their scarier songs...and the video was pretty creepy (partially because I was alone in a dark room and everyone else was asleep already). They were still very Visual Kei back then, so their make up was nuts. The video was very dark...almost felt like a Japanese horror movie. But the traditional ones with demons and all that. It gave me nightmares...hahahaha.

My stash...?

...consists of one DVD with a poster. Lol

The (back of) t-shirt I got as part of their international fan group. I couldn't do anything as a fan outside of Japan, so I got this to make myself feel better XD

I picked Akiya! (This was at the bottom corner on the front)

Akiya or "autumn" in different languages (this was on the right breast of the front side)

=)

They were never a band that I loved because "they're soooo cute and hawwwt" or whatever. This band really opened up the Jrock genre to me (i.e. Alice Nine and The GazettE) and I think their music really changed me. In a way, my encounter with Kagrra,'s music is what made me into the me today, so it's definitely sad knowing that they won't be around much longer...

Kagrra, Sacra photobook. From my old computer.

Anyway that concludes my Kagrra, story. Their last album will be released in January 2010 and their last tour will end in March. The saddest part is that I won't be able to see them perform as a group. Now, watching all their old videos and listening to their music makes me tear up. I'm going to miss them so much...

To those of you out there who love a group/band/singer A LOT...go see them while you can. You never know what'll happen =(

---San (nahhh, this is my real name...I didn't take it from their album lol)

Kao Liese hair dye in Chestnut Brown - Review.

First off, I have no pictures (aside from ones of the box). I bought the dye, did the dying, but not on me XD. So, I had no permission to take pictures of the before and after comparison...but I still felt the need to review Liese. You'll find out why in a sec.

So I mentioned before that Liese is the same as Prettia. They share the same company, same selection of colours, same price. Only difference is that Liese has instructions in English and Chinese, while Prettia is Japanese only.

I bought this hair dye at Pacific Mall with a 10% off discount. In fact, all the stores there had Liese on sale...only Liese. Which was weird, because I swear it was the same as Prettia. Since price was an issue for this person, I bought Liese for her.

Her hair prior to using Liese dye?
It was a deep red. Not as red as mine was before but more like a deep plum red. Something like this...

Taken from your-hairstyles.com

Her hair after Liese dye...
In my opinion (and hers), it sucked. SO BAD. It looked almost black! It was weird, because I left it on for an hour. She had thin short hair so we piled on more than enough of the dye on. So I REALLY can't figure out why in the world it turned out so incredibly dark. It looked about 2 shades darker than the top swatch on the box in the second picture above. Sort of like this.

Taken from beautytiptoday.com

I know it says chestnut brown, but it really looked more like a dark chocolate brown. When it's under the light too. Indoors, it looked completely black o.O. Okay it didn't look dyed black (like SUPER BLACK) but it certainly looked like "natural Asian hair" black. Wth??

My verdict?
I honestly don't know. It certainly covered the previous dye job pretty well, but the fact that the colour result was much darker than expected was so disappointing. I can't say Prettia is better than Liese because both boxes of Prettia that I tried were light colours while this one is dark. All I can say is, if you want some colour to show, go one shade lighter in their colour selections, just in case. You can always leave the dye on for a shorter period of time. Hope this helps =)

---San.

New name...

Just made an alternate URL because the stupid blogger one is so long XD it's the-red-bow.tk
Nothing changed (the blogger URL still works), it's just something that's easier to remember since some friends are too lazy to bookmark it and keep forgetting what it is -_-"

---San.

Snap of the Day #14

Tired. Really confused about my assignment @_@. Hungry for green peas. LOL. Anyway, on with the snap of the day...

What a boring Halloween it was...STUDYING FOR PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW! =(
Ew I sound so boring now...all I talk about is school T_T Ugh. I'll come up with something to blog about when this assignment is done. Hopefully. -_-" Pearlie and I need to stop using snap of the day as an excuse to be lazy and make short posts lol.

---San.

Carnage and Psylocke comiquette

They are here! More pictures on the aDDiction blog. Give us claps there if you like them!

That's all.
---San.

Preview to..."I FINALLY got my JYJ Limited Edition Album!"

I was originally going to make this short post into a "snap of the day" entry, but I figured that it might sound more interesting this way....sooooo I decided to say its a "preview" instead HAHAHA xD. Well back on topic....I finally received my limited edition copy of JYJ's album titled The Beginning and it's so pretty like packaging wise and of course the eye-candy photos of the three members inside...LOL!

A badly taken photo of me and the HUGE box for the album, but you should get the idea that I'm smiling like this xD (though I look like a zombie T-T).

So, I'll be making a longer post about this album later because I really don't have much free time at all right now (and until after exams I believe ><"), which is why this is only a "preview" hehehee...

---pearlie

New hair again?

Ahh, I hate studying. Especially when it's for History of Psychology...AHHHHH. Too many names to remember...T_T. Anyway, I wasn't going to make a post until after I'm done my test and assignment but that would mean no posts from me until Nov.21st hahaha. Soo, I'll try my best to slip in some simple posts here and there.

So on Thursday night, I was drying my hair and I realized how gross it looked. I REALLY couldn't take it anymore -_-" I needed a change...any change. And so, I grabbed a pair of scissors (that weren't even hair cutting scissors, because it was too late at night to sneak into parents' bathroom...) and chopped off my bangs. Yep, here it is.

Half my nose is gone! Lol. I toned down my hair colour in the picture, the lighting in the hall made it SUUUPER red -_-"

Okay that's all. XD Please bear with us as we try to survive through the final weeks of this school term plus exams =( I finish off this post with something completely unrelated to hair...

She highlighted all the key points for me. Only study partner I'll ever need =)

---San.

Alien or Predator?

Dear reader. This post is not for those who can't take somewhat scary and possibly nightmarish images of alien creatures. Consider yourself warned!

So last Friday I watched Aliens. The day before that, I saw Predator (instead of doing my readings, heehee). Today I felt like writing a post on both of these nasty yet cool looking...things. So enjoy =D

Honestly, last week was the FIRST time I watched both movies from beginning to end. The first time I saw these two creatures (and learned about them) was through the first AVP (Alien vs. Predator) movie. Yeah okay I see you rolling your eyes saying what a sucky movie it was. I DON'T CARE...it was cool to watch aliens fighting each other. And it was especially satisfying to see humans feel completely insignificant in comparison =D. That's probably why I really liked both the original films even more...both sort of started out with people underestimating their opponents...and then they end up running away screaming for their lives while they get killed off one by one. In the craziest ways possible. WEEE~

Don't misunderstand. I do not like scary horror films where people die. In fact, I got scared watching that crappy teen horror movie with Paris Hilton in it. OMG how embarrassing to admit that to you all T_T. But it's true...it's veeery easy to scare me. Yet, I find myself drawn to sci-fi horror movies...especially when a super-powerful-scary alien is involved. Maybe because I know it's less likely for one of those things to be hiding under my bed rather than a serial killer who loves making wax figures. Oops, getting off topic here...

I like this pictuuuure. Taken from impawards.com

Anyway. Let's move on and talk about the Predators first. I sort of favour them over Aliens because they're more technologically advanced, and have a super cool mask. But I never really liked how Predators looked under the mask...

Predator. Taken from zedomax.com

Don't know how accurate this is, but it seems pretty close? Taken from 40konline.com (forum)

Predator's face reminds me so much of those damn annoying head crabs from Half Life. Yeah I know...the Alien facehugger is more related to the head crabs from HL, but I still think the Predator's mouth (when open) looks like a head crab lunging at your face. And another thing...even though the invisible armour is really cool and I love the claw-like weapon, the self destruct bomb felt really cheap to me. Just like how I hate self-destruct moves in Pokemon. It feels so, "I DON'T LOSE. IF I DO, YOU WON'T WIN EITHER." I guess some people consider that smart, but mehh. I don't really like it >___>

Okay let's stop talking about Predator for a while. What about the Alien? I kinda like that "little head inside the head" thing. It's SO ugly...but it's also unexpected, so it works with the whole scary alien idea. ^_^ Even though they don't have all that fancy technology like the Predators do, the acid saliva/blood stuff sort of like the Predator's self destruct bomb...even if the Alien loses a fight, they still kill/injure their opponent. At close range at least. Like when those guys tried to blow off the Alien's head in the movie, the acid got on them and they were meeeeelting.That's sooo cheating (but still cool to watch) XD!! And I dunno....the shape of the Alien looks like a gigantic bug. T_T. Creepy.

I think this is the Hot Toys figure. Taken from doonsdungeon.blogspot.com

Alien queen, according to the site. Taken from fiveorama.com

From what I've said about them up to this point, it doesn't really feel like I like them right? Well...I can't explain it either, but I guess there's something about ugly aliens that appeal to me. They're so scary it's just too cool. Like the Half Life aliens. Or VENOM AND CARNAGE. Especially Carnage ♥

Pretty awesome shot =D. Taken from aggrogamer.com

Okay so I've either amused you (because you think it's funny how a girl actually likes these things) or grossed you out (from the predator's face hahaha) by now. What am I getting at, really?

 ONE. I can't get enough of either of them. I don't care how crappy the movies are getting nowadays...(AVP, AVP2....the PREDALIEN?! Yeah, still looks kinda cool to me...HEHEHE) I still like to watch them tear stuff apart. So, it would be wise to buy the Alien Anthology blu ray box set, Mister D.

Looks SO COOL. Go look at it here

TWO. I like them so much that I feel the urge to collect their figurines/statues/whatever else they have. Yes, that's right. Hint hint to you, Mister D.

Only because the mask is there. And still removable. Taken from sideshowtoy.com

I am very much attracted to this Alien somehow. Taken from sideshowtoy.com

THREE. I don't know, I just felt like sharing my love for these two alien creatures with all of you. By the way, I'm just kidding about buying all that stuff for me, mister deeeeeeeeeeeeee. XD


THE END~ 

Oh one last thing. If you've made it this far into my post without turning away in disgust (ladieeees XD), you won't mind answering to my title. Which do you prefer? I wonder if anyone will actually reply to this hahahaha.

Until next time!!
---San.

Snap of the Day #13

Hmmm...I was bored the other day (uhh...more like I wanted to take a break from schoolwork :P) and I needed to drain the last bit of the battery in my phone before charging it, so I began taking random photos with this camera app that I absolutely loveeee :D. The name of this app is "Retro Camera" and its name is quite self-explanatory because in this app they provide you with five different camera styles where the various styles are all inspired by rather old-school cameras, such as the Holga camera, the Polaroid, and the Diana camera. And here are a few of the random ones I took:

Hahaha...my snoopy phone! xD

A pretty box from a wedding LOL!

JELLY BEANS...but the flavours inside are nasty, so the box is still pretty much full ><"

Ahhh...I have get back to studying now T-T, but I shall come to update with another short post soon hopefully -__-".

---pearlie

San's Ever-changing Hairstyles (picture heavy)

So I decided to post something light today because I don't feel much like typing. And also partially because I'm busy playing Pokemon hahahaha XD. Here, I've compiled some pictures of how my hair has changed over the past few years. Enjoy!

Boring boring...4 years ago. Everything older than that is equally boring o.O

Long black hair and straight bangs 3 years ago

Typical long hair Asian two years ago, summer time

Chopped it all off a couple months after that summer ^

Less than two years ago (haha how accurate am I?) I turned ninja and went super short with uneven sides.

Grew out...dyed ends red.

This is just funny, had to post it. XD

Red fades as hair grows out...one and a half years ago

Cut it again, no more crazy red hair.

Went nuts a little over a year ago and had a bold cut.

Tried to make that bold cut look Asian-y cute. That lasted a couple hours before I ditched that look. Lol

Then I went all Tim Burton-ish.

Hair kept growing...bangs grew out completely

Dyed it red and added curls =D (We're at early this year now I think)

Hair is getting quite long now, tried something new this summer.

Experimented with hair bands that same summer.

Went all "Hairspray" 70s near the end of summer (one time only though lol)

And then dyed it right before school started

Dyed it again in early October.

And now, I haven't done anything yet, so it looks like it's on its way to looking typical Asian hair soon.

 Well, there you have it. My hair. I was thinking I should go back to black and make it all curly ...like this

Yubin of Wonder Girls, don't remember where I got this from, it's been too long ><

I don't know. What do you think?

---San.