The new phone

I know it's just yesterday that I wrote the previous post about taking you to a certain mall responsible to my career revival, but if you READ that post, you know that this post is the spiritual successor to that.

This is my old cellphone: Nokia 3110c. This cellphone is mine for years starting first grade of my Junior High, which means this cellphone has been on my pocket for more than six years. At my second grade of High School, I've got Nokia N95, a better phone running on S60v3 system, and it's a slide-phone. I used N95 for more advanced this like watching my downloaded videos, music player, and browsing at high definition, and the former two were thanks because of its "Memory Card Hot-swap" feature which you can swap your MC without having to remove the battery, unlike the 3110c I have.

However, its fate ended after a pushover happened when I watched a soccer game, causing my right foot to bleed, then receive stitches, and finally, the N95 that has to begone from this universe. It was a shameful moment for me, but months afterwards, I'm still with my old phone.

Which, until now, has to meet with my new cellphone.

We can assure that 0 Gundam, my first Gunpla, is the mascot of mine. Ironically, I wished for RX-78-2. Here, it makes my new phone's entrance look epic. It even doesn't care about what kind of cellphone it's going to demolish.

Yup, the cellphone that my Gunpla is riding is the new Nokia C7-00. It's far better than N95 in any way, yet it's no better than Nokia N8, which I wished but stopped wishing it because of its hefty price. A touch screen phone, social network-ready, USB On-the-Go support (which ironically didn't packed with C7-00, but I found one store that sells it, so not kinda disappointed), et cetera. It can even play my favorite Ovi Maps Racing (to be honest, I like the kind of game where you're racing a track that's location based and enables you to create a track from your location)! A lot of my friends and relatives once asked if I should use a BlackBerry phone, but that's an overrated choice. What's more, there are lots of teenagers misusing it for taking pics while they're posing inappropriate face expressions (no, not porn, damnit!), oh wait, that's also what teens misuse the 12MP cameras for. But the TRUE reason is, BBs have no broader feature than Nokias have.

It's got two cameras, both 8 Megapixels, social networking, e-mail checking, GPS, FM transmitter that enables you to play your music on radio (Don't be jealous, BB users!), and many more. Marginally better, like a boss.

So, as the rite of passage...

We can assure that the old 3110c is done for.

And that my Gunpla has done its job...

Inside Mal Parung - The one responsible for my 3DX+ career's revival

Hey guys, it's Rendy again. I guess it's been a long time since my last post due to less interest + lack of views. I was trying to resist the Rule XXX of "If you want your X to be seen, don't hound" I learned from my experience at a pixel car RP forum. Guess looking at the condition, I couldn't have any choice. And considering I'm posting this at a fasting month aka Ramadan, this post should be 3 times cooler (oh wait, that's Char's Rule, not mine)

And now celebrating my first Ramadan post and the revival of my Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+ career, now I'll take you INSIDE Mal Parung, a new shopping center that's opened at 29 July. There are interesting things that got my attention: The 3DX+ Cabinet. "Will I see MT cabinets at that place?" is my top-priority question, considering that I'm depressed of MT cabinets being located at shopping malls far from my home that I quitted for awhile.

At first, at the time of its construction, I don't have a thought about this place being a shopping mall. But now, it IS a shopping mall, and it's opened on 29 July. Days after its grand opening, I went there to see the amusement center which is located at the underground floor. And then I found this...

Yes, that's MAXIMUM TUNE, bitches!

A little info about this game: This game's based on the anime and manga Wangan Midnight by Michiharu Kusunoki which is about racing in the highways of Tokyo, particularly C1 and its surrounding areas. It's about Akio Asakura's adventures with his Devil Z (a dark blue Nissan Fairlady 240Z with aeros) he found at a junkyard, and it's known for its numerous accidents. The game takes you and your car (that you choose) into the WM storylines and you get a tuning of either Power or Handling everytime you win. You can also win Dress-Up Parts by playing Ghost Battle Mode against the cabinet's resident "ghosts" of other players. This game is popular due to its physics, its Dress-Ups, and its use of magnetic cards. It even kicks Initial D Arcade Stage's ass in terms of popularity.

I've started my MT career back then when it was in its second installment, and it was at Supermall Karawaci, the first place where I played MT. Days after days, Maximum Tune evolves, and so does my card: the loyal Bayside Blue Nissan Skyline GTR R34 that has been my MT partner until this day of the posting. The game is very great, but what I can't stand is that I want to be the best like hundreds of the players whose cards reached 800HP+ DG full tune. Thank goodness, I've reached 800HP a long time ago, and I did my return to this MT world by the time I went to Mall Cinere.

The 3DX+ cabinet here was worth 2 COINS at the time of its opening days. The cabinets were crowded with little kids of elementary age, yet none of them, including the teens of the same age as mine, have cards, leaving me with the "Bojongsari's Fastest" title (Actually I made that up, but hey, I played it for 6 years and running!). I might not as fast as the players from Jakarta, or even other malls far from downtown Jakarta (such as Cinere, Depok, etc), but hey, I'm returning! Now the cabinets are worth 3 COINS, just like other malls do, except that it's a little bit pricier than some areas'.

Other cabinets found in this mall are two popular Cardass games, Animal Kaiser and Hero of Robots. Both are known for their hefty price a play (6 coins) and in the Cardass universe, is competing against the likes of Gacchu Guts, Elemental Lords, and Naruto Ultimate Ninja where available. I will not pertain to Cardass game in this post, but expect me to do it in future.

Its price's a bitch, but it's so damn popular. A fighting game with real-life animals that sets them afar from other Cardass games

 

 Hero of Robots, the newcomer to the Cardass market by game developer IGS is in its second version. Notice that the other Cardass game on the right is the Naruto Ultimate Ninja game, which I forgot to take the picture of.

But wait, do those pictures are clearer than the other pictures you saw on the previous posts?

Do I sense a new development here?

Or it's just one of those borrowed things I'm using?

The next post would surprise you...

The Final Exam

Starting from 16th of April, 2012, comes a destiny-challenging fight of destiny in which the students from high schools across the nation battle to determine their fate: to pass, or not...

This is where in every year, the battle is fought in six different subjects: with three being Math, Indonesian, and English, and three being the different subjects depending of the high school's major...

It is called....

FINAL EXAM

(cue an epic intro music)

Yup, it's the final exam for me and my friends at school. It was a "four days full of destiny-determining fight", and we had a very great experience in this... Me and my friends had our ups and downs in getting through this. The only things that worry me are: Do I Circle This So Neatly?, and Will I Get The Score Above 5,5? Well, only God who knows the answer, and OUR FATE will be announced at 26th May.

In this blog, however, I'd like to review what I've been through. Expect the shortages on sentences here, but I really want to make it really quick and painless, so maybe I'll start this immediately.

BASIC RULES

Before I go with the subjects, things to notice are:

- Unlike last year's Final Exam, the "Packet" given to the students are different in each subject. So, if in Indonesian you got the packet A, the next subject has you get either packet B, C, D, and E. Additionally, some of the questions are different for each packet.

- The questions are much tougher compared to the last year's (2010-2011).

- Your fate's determined in this way: the Final Exam score contributes the final score by 40% while the rest is the Report Card's scores. You get to pass the score 5,5 and not below 4.

REVIEWS

Indonesian - The first day of the Final Exam pitted me against the local language. Notorious for the questions which require us to read through 500+ words of story or whatever, I tested my "Indo-Sense" here. I used my logical thinking to get through those, and some of the questions were quite easy.

English - The second day's first part was this. Despite English is my specialty, I had difficulties. Some of the questions' choices were manipulating, thus forcing my brain to think harder. The Listening section was quite relaxing though, and I love the female's voice.

Physics - This was the second day's second part. Some of the questions were horrendously hard, unforgivingly, like hell. So hard, I had to fight through it and when everyone left, I was still there, circling the un-circled answers, though they were dotted because they were my guesses, since I had doubts for this.

Math - In third day, Math faces YOU. Notoriously known for hellish questions, the questions need a Math Master's Discretion. We were having troubles, but thankfully we knew the concepts of each questions, so I hope that we achieved our best.

Chemistry - This Fourth day first half was a bit relaxing. Some of the questions were easy, but need an extra care handling the formulas for each subject. Our memories on the subject's theoretical questions were also tested in a way never done before since last year.

Biology - This Final Exam finale was tough, I have to think harder considering that I didn't studied Biology last night before the day came and focused too much on Chemistry, but thankfully the short-but-precious 30min break helped me remember the things needed in this test.

With the Final Exam reached the end, the only thing we're anticipating now is the results, which will determine our fate of continuing our journey towards the success or stay here in disgrace at 26th May 2012.

Al-Hasra High's ALAXII+ SQUAD (The 5th Generation), AND OTHER 12TH GRADERS AT THE SCHOOL, WE HOPE THAT WE CAN PASS THE EXAM TOGETHER WITHOUT ANYONE BEING LEFT BEHIND!!!

Hi-v Fandom @ Animaku no Hibi 3, or how to tingle my otaku-ness inside.

Finally after all that confusion and delay, I've finally here at last, bringing you the newest share of yours truly. This time, I will tell my experiences about me attending "Animaku no Hibi 3: Fuuto no Kaze" at Kampus STAN in Bintaro, Jakarta (25th March 2012)

MY JOURNEY STARTS WITH...

It was actually well-planned: Me and my otaku friends (from 10th and 11th Grade, no otakus seen from 12th Grade except ME) were planning about with what we will get there, and the submission ticket is only IDR 5000 (less than a dollar). Days later, we finally get there soon and it doesn't take longer than half an hour to get there, but it's worth it.

WHAT'S IN THERE?

Selling: Merchandises.

 

STAN's Animaku no Hibi event is, to be honest, your ordinary otaku event where there's a lot of hobby store branches, snack stands, and live J-musics put together into one. What I was looking for is a Gunpla: A plastic model of Gundam. Out of my expectations though, there's only one Gunpla sold there. Even worse, it's a Tieren High-Mobility Type from Gundam 00 which means that it's not on my favorites' list (shoot, should I go to "that" place again?).

The snack stands though, their snacks are definitely worth of trying! There are lots of food stands there if you want to take a glimpse of Japanese snacks like Takoyaki (octopus balls), Okonomiyaki (Japan's equivalent of pancake with a variety of topping), Kakigori (shaved ice with syrup), Dorayaki (a cake that's very popular because of Doraemon), and more.


Speaking of competitions, there are many: one of them is a Dorayaki eating contest where you have to eat five Dorayakis within three minutes. The fastest to eat all of the Dorayakis from left to right wins. One of my friend DID joined, but he DIDN'T win, but who cares?

In the end, you can find several J-merchandises here. They're ranged from your favorite characters to your favorite characters, like Miku, Dragonball Z, One Piece, and so on. You can also buy past issues of a specific anime magazine there.







A J-FEST WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT COSPLAYERS, RIGHT?

Yes, in fact, most of these cosplayers choose Tokusatsu characters, notably from Kamen Rider series. The Cosplay competition is held at 1pm, exactly after the Otaku Quiz competition. Here are some of the contestants in action.

That Rider beat a crap outta that green villain

The Green villain's counterattack!

Yet there are cosplayers who take Game and Anime characters, the most notable is being this one:

This Ezria Erza Scarlett cosplay, albeit the revealing appearance, is definitely one of the best.
Seriously, it embraces her true self.

And we aren't forget to have a chance to take pics with the cosplayers!

The guy with the plan (right), a Rider, and a...?

"Nah, I don't care if you're a Green Villain."

"This blade is so great, I'd like to steal it from you"

The only non-Rider cosplayer whose pic made it to here

IN CONCLUSION


Although the event itself is a run-of-the-mill Japanese Festival, but the climax lies in its nighttime events, where there were fireworks and stuff. Yet, we couldn't watch that because we had time constraints, and we had to finish our businesses for the day after (guess what). Though it was fun, and if there's an invitation to join a J-Fest again, I would love to. No wonder that I do have an otaku self lying within me.

The Wind Wasn't Friendly Last Night

Yesterday, 19th March of 2011, exactly around 10pm, the wind at the night wasn't friendly. The wind blew hard at that night and the wind made several people panicked.

It all actually happens at afternoon. I was at school, and there was a rain with a quite strong wind. Those who wanted to go home couldn't walk their way home because of this. The rain lasted for hours.

Then, the aforementioned night comes and the wind blew hard. Few of those who notice are panicked, since it was 10pm and several people in my neighborhood were sleeping at that time.

We don't even know when that strong wind will hit here again, God knows when.

- Rendy

Gundam for Galau People

Bayangkan kamu adalah anak yang suka Galau, kamu punya segudang masalah di pundak kamu. Udah nilai jelek pas ulangan, diputusin pacar, hidupmu sedang ancur *PLAAK!*, iya kan?

Dalam waktu yang sama, negeri yang kamu sedang tinggali sedang berperang melawan organisasi jahat dari luar angkasa berhuruf depan "Z". Kamu si Galau mau kabur, tapi PUNYA keinginan untuk bertarung untuk men-counter kegalauan kamu. "Gue gak mau perang!" katamu, "Militer gak pernah, kemampuan gak punya. AKU MAU JADI APAAAAAAA?????" /Lebaymodeon /bigham *PLAAK!*

Tiba-tiba kamu langsung nyomot prototipe robot yang lagi nganggur di markas Federation. Kamu secara tidak sengaja melawan mereka (musuh) dan langsung keterusan. Apa yang kamu nggak ketahui adalah YOU'RE THE NEW GUNDAM PILOT. Artinya, selamat! Anda telah menemukan definisi "Gundam" menurut anak-anak galau :)

Destined ones and their robots

Secara singkat, "Gundam" adalah dimana anak galau/emo/broken (?) berdiri menjadi pilot dari Gundam tersebut dan menyelamatkan dunia dengan melawan pasukan yang dipimpin oleh orang bertopeng. Kemudian anak galau tersebut digembleng menjadi MAN OF DESTINY (Bocah yang Ditakdirkan) dan langsung melawan penjahat bertopeng tersebut.

Pertarungan Gundam ini dilakukan baik di bumi maupun di luar angkasa. Kebanyakan pertarungan fokus pada luar angkasa, tapi di bumi gak kalah serunya.

"One must always plan a few moves ahead in battle" - Char

Penjahat bertopeng ini namanya Char Aznable aka Mas Topeng. Mas Topeng punya banyak saudara... (source: http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com)

Inilah saudara2 dari Char Mas Topeng: Pak Topeng Carozzo Ronah, Chronicle Asher, Full Frontal si clone Char, Harry Ord si UNIVEEEEERSEEE!!!!, Schwarz "Meikyo Shisui" Bruder, Rau Topeng bin Le Creuset, Zechs Merquise, Neo Roanoke, dan Mr. Bushido aka Graham Aker jadi orang Jepang. Mereka adalah Char di seri mereka sendiri (berurutan: MSG, F91, V, Unicorn, Turn A, G, SEED, Wing, SEED Destiny, dan 00) (source: http://tvtropes.org)

DAFTAR ANAK GALAU YANG MENJADI PILOT GUNDAM

Amuro Ray (Mobile Suit Gundam) - Pertamanya dia nggak mau terima dirinya berperang, tapi mau nggak mau pasukan Zaku Zeon makin banyak, dan ia tidak punya pilihan lagi. Setelah di-Brightslap sama Bright Noa, ia membuang ke-galauannya, dan akhirnya bermusuhan dengan Char Aznable. Kejadian dimana Lalah Sune melindungi Char dan Amuro "tidak sengaja" membunuhnya berbekas dalam benak mereka, sampai2 hal tsb dibawa sampai seri Char's Counterattack. Tentunya selama ia ada berada di organisasi Karaba (Zeta Gundam), dia sudah menjadi dewasa.

Kamille Bidan (Zeta Gundam) - Orang ini gak suka kalau seseorang mengejek kalau namanya itu kedengaran "perempuan" sekali, terutama yang ngejek dia adalah Jerid Messa. Bersama Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG), dia bertarung melawan Titans (Earth Federation yang udah korup) dan para kroni2 nya, khususnya Paptimus Scirocco. Dengan menunjukkan ke-laki2annya dalam hal mendesain Mobile Suit-nya, Zeta Gundam, dia bertarung sampai akhirnya menusuk MS-nya Scirocco dan Scirocco menyerangnya balik karena dia tidak mau mati sendiri, dan ia ingin membawa jiwa Kamille bersamanya.

Kira Yamato (Gundam SEED) - Kalo orang ini memang awalnya nggak suka peperangan, tapi melihat teman semasa kecilnya, Athrun Zala, masuk ZAFT (organisasi huruf Z yg menghancurkan Heliopolis), Kira masuk ke GAT-X105 Strike Gundam yg nganggur, tapi yang menjadi pilot adalah Murrue Ramius. Sejak Murrue melihat kemampuan pilot Kira yg bisa mengubah OS dari Windows jadi GUNDAM (*PLAK*), Murrue menginginkan Kira utk menjadi anggota Earth Alliance. Beberapa episode kemudian ia tahu kalau ia harus berhenti ber-galau ria dan hasilnya? Dia mengalahkan Andrew Waltfeld, Trio Macan Doping (*PLAK*), dan Rau bertopeng bin Le Creuset.

Shinn Asuka (Gundam SEED Destiny) - Walaupun saya kurang tahu mengenai orang ini karena ane sendiri blom nonton SEED Destiny, tapi ia adalah member ZAFT yang paling galau dan suka complain, bahkan ia adalah versi Cosmic Era dari Kamille Bidan.

dan masih banyak yg lain...

KESIMPULAN

Dari artikel ini, kita bisa simpulkan bahwa bahkan mereka yang awalnya suka galau bisa menjadi seorang pahlawan yang bisa menyelamatkan dunia dari kehancuran. Kita bisa menggembleng diri kita sendiri, dan kita bisa menjadi orang yang ditakdirkan, asalkan kita niat dan rajin. Bagi saya, Amuro Ray-lah yang bisa dijadikan role model anak2 galau untuk menjadi pahlawan.

- Rendy

A new Chapter, A new Start

Welcome to the new RENDY'S BLOG, the Hi-v RENDY'S BLOG aka "This new RENDY'S BLOG isn't just for show!". If you've visited my old blog, you'll know that I've moved and now start anew. There are logical reasons why I created another new blog.

Firstly, I couldn't update anything I've done to the old RENDY'S BLOG because I have no desire for it. Having no desire since I was using net cafes to play internet, my time was limited to hours. That is why after the last post about the lyrics and translation of one of Eyeshield 21's soundtrack, there are no posts. After sometime, I've decided to not write any blog post since it's too random, and isn't neat enough.

Secondly, my activities. As you know, at that time after that last post, I was busy preparing myself for the final semester exam of the 2nd High School Grade. As a Student, I can't forget that I have to study in order to be better at school. Turns out I was so busy with formulas, theories, and new vocabularies that I can't update my blog. Aside from school activities, I have other activities. Months after the last post, I have a new brother. He's still one year old at the moment, but he's funny, and I love to interact with him. With that, my brother has already a 2nd grader.

Finally, short on imaginations. I can't even think what I have to write in that blog, either a silly theory, silly story based on my babblings, or anything in common. I just can't... *thud*

"SO THEN WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF THIS HIGH NEW BLOG?"

This new blog, aside from its name which originates from Amuro Ray's mobile suit in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, RX-93-v2 Hi-v Gundam, and the quote "This v-Gundam isn't just for show!" said by that character, is an "evolution". While my friends retain their blogs, easily posting things on their blogs, either showing something special or just average, I couldn't able to update it like my friends do. Now with a modem, a computer (+ a laptop if something goes wrong on my PC), and a good 'ol browser, I am happy to start anew, which is exactly what the true motive behind Hi-v Rendy's Blog is, which is to have me updating my feeds of something that everyone wants to know, but I have to decide which of them are post-worthy or not.

"AND SINCE THIS IS A HI-V BLOG WHICH ISN'T JUST FOR SHOW..."

Some of the articles will be posted in INDONESIAN! Jadi jangan kaget yah kalo beberapa postingan di blog ini berbahasa Indonesia :), namanya juga blog bi-lingual, lagian juga saya perlu memperluas target audience di negeri sendiri dong :). (boleh kan???)

To top it off, the posts will, like the successor, consist of game-related things, recommendations of television shows, and et cetera. I would also like to write new things that I haven't done before (like game walkthroughs, fan fictions, doujins, drawings).

"AND WITH THAT BOMBSHELL, I HOPE YOU READERS WILL ENJOY YOUR STAY HERE!"

- Rendy