Japan Block Fair 2011

Yesterday was the Japan Block Fair in Astoria Queens!

I haven't been to one of these is about a year. orz

But, It's okay!

So Annie came over my house and after a long while of getting dressed and not wanting to leave my air conditioned house we left. The weather outside was absolutely disgusting. It was hot and humid. I seriously don't understand why the weather gets like this in the first place. What exactly does this benefit?

We got there and the first thing Annie did was go to every jewelry booth and took 10 million years to decide on what exactly it was that she wanted. I normally don't mind but today was super hot so I was slightly irritated. While waiting on Annie to finish purchasing her feathered earrings I ran into Elvis! He was super hot and didn't look too happy. Piyo!! Hot weather makes everyone upset!!!
So Elvis joined me and Annie and we all walked around together. So there was this lemonade stand that was selling lemonade, but it wasn't really lemonade. I totally saw the guy cutting up limes and putting them inside the drinks. Does he think everyone is color blind or something? It's obvious it wasn't a lemon, but being thirsty and only a dollar I bought one. It actually didn't taste all that bad. Kind of bitter but in a nice way!


Look at those cups! Do those look like lemons to you!?
How about he takes some of those nice yellow lemons in that basket and use them!

Elvis also informed me of a Misty cosplayer walking around so after much searching I found her and got her picture!

Misty and her lovely Namine.

Walking around more I finally got to the stage of the Block Fair. Reni did not perform this year which was slightly sad, since I had so much fun doing so last year! There was however the same group that does tricks with a soccer ball there this year so I watched them for a little bit. I wonder how long it takes for them to learn to be able to do stuff like that....







I am not good at taking pictures of the guys with the ball! orz
To make up for it though here are some random pictures from throughout the fair!!


Probably the only good picture I was able to get of the guy with the ball.








This little boy was absolutely adorable.
I wanted to take him hope!






Super balls!










So everyone at the fair was really freaked out by this guy!
But, he was naked for a reason!!
He is from the group Tokyo Circus!
For more info on them please visit http://www.tokyocircus.jp/Info.htm




The Tonton stand!! I've been waiting all year to eat this actually!! It was always sold out when I tried to eat it, but this time I got it! It was sooo nice and greasy and fatty. Everything I love in one! I also found out they have a restaurant. I want to go!
http://www.tontonnyc.com


So many people!!


The Tenshi no Ai maid cafe was also there! Please support them!
They are hosting a Pokemon picnic and tournament later in August!
For more information on Tenshi no Ai visit http://www.tenshinoaicafe.webs.com/




Doremon!


This man was painting this throughout the fair. I really like it a lot!










The saddest excuse for bootleg takoyaki I've ever seen/tasted in my life.

"Stuffed dough balls" is a pretty accurate description of the monstrosity of the taste. It was like undercooked pizza dough with flavorless boiled potatoes stuffed inside topped off with teriyaki sauce. The entire thing fell apart as you ate it. These people should be ashamed of themselves serving this to people!!


Serving up lies to an unsuspecting Grandpa.



All in all though I had a great time and saw lots of friends! Afterwards I went to Kumo with Annie, Andrew, and Cindy. The food was really nice but, the waitress was a total snob! I don't think I've ever met someone so rude! I wanted to karate chop her across the room! After a while though she softened up a little (which was more than likely due to our extremely loud comments about her) and gave a slightly more pleasant attitude.

Had so much fun yesterday and hope to do this sometime again!!

9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors

Recently I've been totally obsessed with a Nintendo DS game:
9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors.

I was in Nintendo World sometime last week and while looking at the shelves this game caught my eye. The description was interesting and another thing I noticed it was rated M. The only other game for the DS that I've seen rated M was Theresa and that game scared the living day lights out of me!!

So I got the game and have found myself spending my entire day playing it.
It's really addicting!!!


So the story is you play as "poor college student" Junpe! One night while he is coming home he is mysteriously attacked by a man in a gas mask and wakes up in a locked room of a ship. The only way out of this room is through a steel door with a big red 5 painted on the door. And to make matters even worse the only window in the room has burst open quickly filling the room with water!

Oh no!

In order to open the steel door you must first obtain a card key but, in order to obtain said key you must first solve some puzzles to get them.




As you progress through the game you learn that on the ship with you are 8 other passengers who have all just been through the same ordeal as yourself. A voice soon comes over the ship's loud speaker and identifies itself as "Zero".



In order to escape from the cruise ship you are told to find door number 9 and go through it. Sounds easy enough, right? However in order to get through numbered doors you first need to verify it on a bracelet that is locked onto your arm. Each character has their own bracelet (numbered 1-9) that they must use to get through each door. The sum of the numbers added together must equal that of the door. Everyone who verified their bracelets must go into the door. No less than 3 people but no more than 4 may enter a door. So if one wanted to get through door 3 for example you could use bracelets 4+6+2= 12 = 1+2= 3. Any number 10 and over you add both of the numbers together. So 10 = 1+0 = 1. You must work together with these other characters to progress through the game.


You find that door Junpei!




The game is a Visual Novel type game with some Puzzles. It's extremely text heavy and at some points have even found myself becoming aggravated with the amount of dialogue exchanged between the characters. The puzzles them self are pretty much straight forward although, at times can become quite difficult. Everything you find in a room that you are able to collect has a purpose, even if it doesn't make much sense. Why else would it be there?



There are up to 6 endings you are able to unlock in this game! I am currently replaying for my 5th time and have unlocked 4 out of the 6 possible endings. Hopefully this time around I should unlock the True ending. After beating the game you have the choice of skipping through any scene you have already seen before, however you must still solve all the puzzles over again which does get quite annoying at times!


From left to Right: Lotus (8), Seven (7), Santa (3), June (6), Junpei (5), Ace (1), Snake (2), Clover (4) and The 9th Man as (9).
All the characters are different and have really interesting personalities!

I absolutely despise the music in this game. It makes me cringe. I feel extremely uncomfortable listening to it, especially at night. I found myself afraid to go into the kitchen and bathroom area at work alone now. orz

The descriptions of the horror scenes in the game are also quite disgusting. The way the corpses are describe in such detail, down to comparing the smell of a mixture of feces and burnt flesh makes me want to vomit! So disgusting! I feel like ants are crawling under my skin!! The combination of the music and description are just terrible, but I assume this is what the makers were aiming to do.


Overall game play is extremely smooth and the animation is pretty simple. Just icons of said characters moving above their typed text. I slightly wished that the game could have had voice actors but it's just as fine without it. I really enjoyed it a lot and hopefully HOPEFULLY this time around I'll get the True ending and finally beat this game!! But! Until then I will cower in terror of dark bathrooms and empty kitchens in the middle of the night.




If you're into Psychological Visual Novels and Puzzle games with a slight scary twist you should totally play it!!!