- It’s always the person behind the camera first and equipment second. Better equipment can make things easier, but a creative mind can work around it. Experiment, experiment, experiment. You saw how I worked. The failure rate was high to get the effect I wanted (sort of). Then again, everyone has different interests in photography genres. Shoot what you like to refresh your batteries before re-attempting your weak areas. Try to incorporate elements from your favourite genre into it if possible.

- My income is average and I do not take into account how much I save monthly, but I do take note not to succumb to impulse buys. Read up on minimalist living websites. Falling out of the rat race doesn’t mean the end. You’ll learn to make do with less.

- Filial piety is a harsh mistress. If your parents are infirm and cash strapped, it’s much harder to break free. If not, monthly tributes and frequent visits will make do. Too many people are trapped in a depressing state for the sake of filial piety. I’m not saying that you have to be a bastard, but divide the responsibility with your brother.

Hope you read this once you’ve returned from your reservist. Happy servitude.

In actuality, the whole animé fan community’s lifestyle is surrounded by mucky brownish-gray legal loopholes in which only through enforcement of common mutual points/codes of conduct, will the situation not degenerate into a free-for-all killing fields. That was something Danny Choo do not want the subculture to devolve into.

My opinion still stands, though: the power of attorney is still lie on the content owners/creators’ hands, and sooner, rather than later, they will push the “red button.” Then whaddaya gonna do, change a new hobby?

It does seem amusing that the OEG crew regarded the Singaporean “otaku” as blind adherents to Danny Choo’s cult of “otacool.” F***ing hilarious, and righteously deserving.

Just read the Q&A and I retract my 2nd last paragraph.

There was a similar hoo-ha regarding creative commons being a loophole in copyright content rights or something. I’m not sure of the exact outcome but it was along the lines of flickr, deviantart, etc being able to monetize from your works. The whole cosplayer claiming copyright thing left me facepalming though. Guess they haven’t done modeling jobs before. Something new to learn everyday.

It does seem that Singaporeans love cosplaying and Danny Choo with regards to that post. I won’t comment further though lest I open a can of worms.

This is not cool. Profiting from another person’s work ( and without permission at that) is as good as giving the creators the finger and farting in their general direction while laughing all the way to the bank. Places one on the same level as those pirated game/software/movie dealers in days of yore. (For Singapore anyway)

>> I certainly hope that anal copyright owners don’t start a movement against cosplayers. More importantly, I hope that anal cosplayers don’t stimulate the copyright owners to take action.

Hmm… anal… stimulate…
Erm, I mean, that’s like a torrent site response arguing the fact that exposure will result in sales (true to a certain extent. I do buy stuff that I enjoy when I have the means, even if it means leaving them in their shrink wrap) But I’m not sure about job prospects for photographers and cosplayers resulting from the “exposure”, especially since they are all on pro-bono basis. (I guess) DC’s not sore since he isn’t a content creator and doesn’t know how it feels to have your creation stolen. (I don’t know what he does exactly. Something to do with databases and e-commerce and stuff?)

On a final note, the cover page of Otacool 2 left me in stitches. It’s like playing, “Which item doesn’t belong in the set?” LOL.

Well, a major rethinking should be done for this blog: having 10 more months’ worth of web hosting to go.

But I digress. I think I don’t think I like the change that the anime subculture has gone through, but otherwise, we wouldn’t have anime shows nowadays. I will quietly wait on the sidelines, and see if there is light at the end of the tunnel.

… Holy shit you actually played I76 b4!