Syk3

I appreciate you moving the thread, Dagger, but I don't think that linking wallpapers will generate any type on discussion, especially in a forum that thrives on critiquing an artist's work. If you wish to find anime wallpapers (I don't suppose that you've tried [url="http://www.animewallpapers.com"]www.animewallpapers.com[/url], have you?), please refer to google or another search engine. Thread closed.

[QUOTE=Annalisse][color=darkslategray][size=1]Then there is Syk3's area, that would be a hassle. Although, there still is the PM way. New members look around at threads, are able to post in exsisting threads, and they see who can/cannot do graphics. They can always PM a person. But we all know how the PM system goes; it doesn't, it usually ends up as spam. So I don't know. If I were desperate enough for a banner or avatar, I'd PM someone who knows what they're doing (I've PMed Syk3 a few times). Then again, that's just me. I tend to use that "common sense" trait.[/size][/color][/QUOTE]Well, that's the thing. When you get down to PMing, that narrows the request to one person. Most of the time, I imagine, the specific person may not have time or feel like making a banner and avatar set. The threads allow people to work to their own pace without being pressured into making someone a banner, which I can tell you first hand can be rather annoying, lol.

*notices that all but one person who has posted ("It's brilliant") is a moderator* Gotta love the publicity. :p I agree that this very well may prevent some problems that the forums have always had, and other concerns that I noticed have already been addressed, so I'll get to the point of my post. This solution is likely to work best in areas that encourage thoughtful discussion and topics, such as Otaku Lounge, Anime Lounge, Play It, etc. But with my area in particular, I don't see any problems with new members posting artwork that they have made, or more importantly, requesting artwork that they could use as their banner and avatar. If we do end up not allowing them to make threads for the first 50 posts, this may pose a problem if someone is not very good at graphics but would like something to put in their signature that they can call their own. A potential solution that I can see would be to make a big sticky for newbies requesting artwork, but it would quickly become cluttered and possibly very confusing. Is it possible that you can leave certain forums to allow them to make new threads or is this out of the question in terms of actual options with the site? All or nothing, so to speak. EDIT: And I'm sure I probably don't need to tell you this, but there are always exceptions to all of these bad threads. New members can make decent threads such as this one - [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=45154"]Careers: What's more important to you?[/url] - without even reaching 10 posts. And if we deny these exceptions, then we may be limiting the full range and extent of possible discussions. I dunno, just something to think about.

[quote name='NashvilleDream']This thing kinda died there didn't it -_- lol[/quote]Yes, yes it did. Now let's just leave it in its grave and not bring it back. ~_^

I do plan to have kids one day, but I don't really care whether I have boys or girls or a combination, at least at this point. As I grow older, I may come to prefer to have one over the other, but at this point, I think I can do fine raising either one. I did find it interesting, however, that my mom has told me that she was glad that she had two boys, rather than girls. lol As a woman, aparently she understood the amount of work that it takes to raise a girl, and felt that boys would.. I dunno, be easier maybe. :p

Aha.. I've been waiting for you to post. XD It just goes to show how much I like to talk about Samurai Champloo, haha. I didn't really mind most of the talking during the Kenshin fights. When they needed to just get to the fight, they did so, and pretty well, in my opinion; otherwise, it pushed along the story, and especially with something like Legend of Kyoto, this was interesting stuff. But it comes down to preferences, really. The two fights that you mentioned were the ones that stood out particularly strong in my mind as well, and to a lesser extent, Kenshin/Soujirou and Kenshin/Aoshi fights. I probably value intensity and emotion in fights the highest (especially when it gets to be a personal matter), and enjoy watching samurai fights where they're really giving it everything that they've got and more. Fluidity and style really helps in Champloo, but I think that they were constructed well enough in Kenshin as well. Make no mistake, though, if Samurai Champloo were to have an intense fight like one of those mentioned from Kenshin, I have no doubt that I'd probably end up prefering the one in Champloo. :p I can't say anything about Peacemaker, since I've only seen a few episodes, but Samurai X was certainly excellent in terms of samurai swordfights. The seriousness and emotion of it all pretty much had me enjoying it more than most of the series, and that's saying a lot. One of the reasons I like Kenshin so much, though, is because its sheer length allowed them to cover so many bases; if it had just been 26 episodes, I probably wouldn't have liked it quite to the extent that I do. I probably won't be buying the OST. I don't normally do so with anime series as it is, and even if I did, I'd probably go for Bebop first. And if it's like you decribed, it might not really be worth it anyway.

[QUOTE=Boo][color=gray][size=1][url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=32738"]Constructive Critisme (please read before posting)[/url] Does anyone even take a look at that thread?..[/size][/color][/QUOTE]Probably not, but I think it's issue of laziness. :p [QUOTE=Morpheus]Good: Colors, Avi looks cool Bad:Blurry, Text on Banner is really bad.[/QUOTE]Morpheus, please attempt to write your comments and critique in complete sentences. If it's not worth your time to write it, it's not worth it for the artist to read it. :/ [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=32738"][size=4][b]READ ME[/b][/size][/url][size=4][b].[/b][/size]

I think that I tend to act a little older than my actual age, 17. People have told me this before because of how serious my outside "shell" is, and even when I'm goofy I only really do it to an extent. I mean, I enjoy having fun, but I don't go out and do stupid crap that's going to mess me up in the short or long term, which a lot of immature kids around my age tend to do. Especially when it comes down to things like my stand on relationships, I understand the viewpoint about how you're only young once, but I don't want to waste my time screwing up and not doing something that is going to benefit me in the long run. It just doesn't make sense to me. I weigh even the tiniest decisions carefully to study the concequences and such, and I make every attempt to look at something with very little bias, so I'd say that I'm pretty mature about most things. Most people seem to classify me as acting about five or so years older.

[quote name='Japan_86][color=navy']My parents keep changing their mind on what they will allow me t do.[/color][/quote]Maybe they need to just let go and let you decide for yourself. It's your future, after all. Such a strong grip spreads seeds for rebellion. ;)

I haven't posted in this thread in a while, I believe, if I ever posted in the first place. And someone wanted to see my desktop anyway, so here goes.

[quote name='Yami Marik']That's realy good, I love Mortal Kombat! :eek:[/quote]Hi. ^_^ Please try to add a little more to your post in terms of critiquing the actual artwork, rather than commenting on the subject matter. Thanks! [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=32738"][size=4][b]READ ME[/b][/size][/url][size=4][b].[/b][/size]

I'm planning on graduating high school this May, so this seems like a good topic for me to reply to, lol. I've obviously been doing a lot of thinking about this topic lately, after all. [quote name='wrist cutter']For those of you not out of high school yet, where do you see yourselves going, and what do you see yourselves doing after it?[/quote]My plan after graduation is to go on to a four year university, followed by a two year graduate school, and then start working depending on what my major is. The details are kinda fuzzy at the moment, but that's a pretty broad description of what I want to do in terms of studies, I think. I also hope to get married by around 25. :p [quote][i]What colleges are you looking at, if any?[/i][/quote]I've been looking at two colleges in particular, of which I've applied to both a couple weeks ago, and haven't heard anything from. The one I'm leaning more towards is University of Maryland in Baltimore County (UMBC) for a number of reasons, but most notably the location, which is a suburban area that's on the high population side. My safe school is Salisubury University, which is where I wanted to go for a long time before I visited UMBC; it's a nice school, but more of a low-end suburban that's known as a party school. [quote][i]Is it near your house or will you be moving?[/i][/quote]UMBC is only 45 minutes or so away, but I'll still be moving into a dorm. You really don't get the full college experience if you commute to college, in my opinion, even though it's admittidly quite a bit more money. If I don't get into UMBC, Salisbury is about 3 hours away or so and is located pretty close to the beach and about the same distance from our beach house as UMBC is from our regular house. [quote][i]Are you paying for college or are you going to mooch off your parents?[/i][/quote]I'll definitely be mooching off my parents, haha. They'll probably end up making me pay for some of it though, at least, since my dad is pretty cheap. :p My parents signed up for the Maryland pre-paid tuition thing a couple years ago, and that's supposed to provide somewhat of a discount, I believe. [quote][i]And, once in college, what are you thinking you'll study? Presumably your major will be related to the career you're planning on pursuing.[/i][/QUOTE]Yeah, I.. have absolutely no idea. I plan to take my basic classes my Freshman year and get those out of the way, and pursue a subject that takes my interest from there. It's going to be one of those things where I'll figure it out as I go. And from there, my job after college will obviously have something to do with my major.

That's great news. ^_^ ..for promoting the anime, I mean, since I'll be doing my best to keep up with the DVD releases and I don't watch AS very often as it is. As for Paranoia Agent, I've been hearing good things, so maybe I'll make an exception and take a look, heh. :p It's also exciting that American broadcasting in general is really starting to catch on and air a series shortly after the DVDs are released, which are in turn being created at a faster rate after first premiering in Japan. I know a lot of "elitist" people may not be excited about this news that anime is becoming more and more popular, but I'm all for it. And obviously a lot more people tune into AS than TechTV, so this makes it all the better. I find it strange that I haven't realized this before.. but at this point in time, my two favorite animes are Cowboy Bebop and Rurouni Kenshin. Samurai Champloo is something of a mix between these two, so I suppose that me being so excited even after just the first DVD is rather justified. XD In fact, I've gone through the episodes about three times so far, and plan to watch it at least a couple more times over the weekend, haha. I'll probably end up writing character biographies and episode summaries for fun.. because I'm just weird like that. At this point in time, however, I am willing to admit that some of the things that Champloo has shown so far have been done better in a few other animes. The sword fights in particular, while very cool, don't quite reach to the standard that Kenshin has, but even Kenshin didn't show an amazing fight in the first few episodes, so I'm content with waiting. Even so, it's an interesting thing to take note of and look out for. They also haven't put too much of an emphasis on the hip-hop quite yet, in my opinion. The show is very modern and has the feel somewhat, to be sure, but the background music really hasn't stood out to the extent that nearly every Bebop episode was able to do. Again, though, I'm willing to hold off on saying anything definite before I watch some more of the series. But for every negative thing I find about Champloo, there are about five positive aspects. The animation, the dialogue, the few side-stories I've seen, the modern touch to history.. all top-notch, in my opinion. The characters are all amazingly likable in their own ways, and I'm eager to learn each of their backgrounds (like in the first episode when Mugen was said, [spoiler]"I don't give a rat's *** about your common sense.. because I come from Ryukyu, pal."[/spoiler]).

I've been in a sort of Samurai Champloo mood lately, and I made some avatars the other day to help with remembering all of the characters. Then I noticed that the board didn't have any Champloo avatars, and I figure that this thread is still the best way of giving them. I sure hope that the administrators are still checking it. :p [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Fuu.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Fuu [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Governor.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Governor [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Heitaro.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Heitaro [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Ishimatsu.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Ishimatsu [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Jin.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Jin [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Momo.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Momo [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Mugen.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Mugen [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/NamelessSamurai.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Nameless Samurai (I don't believe they ever said his name..) [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/O-Ryuu.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: O-Ryuu [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/O-Suzu.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: O-Suzu [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Oniwakamaru.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Oniwakamaru [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Rikiei.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Rikiei (I'm pretty sure that was his name) [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/RyujiroSasaki.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Ryujiro Sasaki [img]http://dg369.250free.com/Avatars/Sousuke.jpg[/img] [b]Category[/b]: Samurai Champloo [b]Name[/b]: Sousuke

[quote name='Dagger IX1']Mugen is usually the one who gets compared to Spike, probably in part because he does look sort of like a rougher, scrawnier version of him. What struck me is that Jin & Mugen are what you would get if you split Spike into two separate people and distributed his personality traits accordingly. They're opposite ends of the same spectrum, basically. Jin, for example, has Spike's Zen-like attitude and his ability to totally internalize strong emotions.[/quote]I suppose that I can sort of see that. Afterall, Mugen is much crazier than Spike ever was, and enjoys to go around and pick fights a lot of the time. Like Spike, Jin is rather calm, but I still say that there are more comparisons to draw with Mugen, heh. [font=Verdana][size=2][quote][i][/size][/font]And you haven't even gotten to the good parts yet! :)[/i][/quote]Yeah, from what I've seen, I think I can expect many good things from this series, and I can predict that it'll be hard to choose between this and Bebop at the end of the day. I thought the voice acting in general was pretty good, but from someone who typically watches anime in his own language, it would have to be pretty bad for me to find the acting horrible. Other than that, I can live. And for those of you interested in future release dates, they listed them on the back of the chapter selection sheet in the first DVD. Volume.02 March 29, 2005 Volume.03 May 31, 2005 Volume.04 July, 2005 Volume.05 September, 2005 Volume.06 November, 2005 Volume.07 January, 2005 [I think they meant 2006 XD] I just preordered the second DVD a few minutes ago. :p Hopefully I'll get some more time tomorrow to post about the series.

[QUOTE=QuincyArcher]Just picked up my copy last night. the artbox is probably one of the best looking ones that i've seen, and the artwork on the dvd case is really cool. Theres not much for extra's on the dvd aside from trailers, but i really don't care for extras anyway. The bandana is pretty cool too.... but yellow.... i was kinda hoping it would be red to match the box. Overall it's an excellent package and on top of that, i was able to get it for $19.99 at my local Suncoast :D[/QUOTE]Dear God.. $19.99 at [i]Suncoast?![/i] That's insane! Every time I've been there, they try to rip you off. >_< But you're right, the artbox is incredibly cool, not to mention surprisingly high quality. It's a hard cardboard that makes my Eva box feel like crap, and it's all nice and fuzzy on the inside [wait.. my mistake, that was my senses playing tricks on me when I first touched it XD]. ^.^ And then, of course, the outside looks and feels awesome on its own. I like the DVD too, but not quite as much since there's a bunch of stuff going on that's kind of bundled on the cover. I agree that there's not very much in terms of extras on the DVD itself, but I love the bandana and was wearing it for hours yesterday. XD I'm such a dork. Anyway, onto the content.. ..wow. Just.. omg. lol I knew from the trailer and commerical that the animation would be amazing, but you just have to see it while watching the anime to grasp how amazing it really is. It's just so smooth and high quality, definitely taking anime to another level, which I think Bebop did on its own with detail. And speaking of Bebop, I really find myself comapring both of the series, because of the director and everthing, and I seem to find a lot of similarities. Like the main characters.. Mugen and Spike. Well, for one they have the same voice actor, so that kind of gives it that mindset right off the bat, haha. But when you look deeper, you can tell that they both are rather.. erm, stubborn. o.o They live for themselves, follow orders from no one, and are proficient in what they do. Both are also rather untraditional in their field; perhaps moreso Mugen, who's sword fighting style is in sharp contrast to Jin's, but Spike also does a good job of just doing whatever the hell he feels like without being restrained by the norm. I've also noticed that neither one seems to care if a bad guy threatens to kill someone else, lol. Such badasses. :p I'll post more about my thoughts on the series later on, but for now, I'll leave you with this.. Samurai Champloo = close favorite with Bebop. :O We'll see in the coming episodes.

Please try to avoid posting requests that could easily be done with help from google. This forum isn't for people too lazy to find a picture, it's for people that actually need something [i]made[/i]. -.-

[quote name='Dark Hayden']I was looking at some of the submitted wallpapers and i could swear that some of the pictures in them are taken from offical wallpapers...so does that mean its ok to do that as long as you have added your own personal touches?[/quote]I'm going to merge this with the Destop image thread, because it's a good question.. but I think it would fit better if asked in there rather than as a seperate topic. ^_~ I for one don't even make my own wallpapers anymore because I know that I'll find flaws in them, and I don't want to have to be ticked off when looking at it every day. lol

[QUOTE=ArunueShekamari]Really? I got more of a nutral contentment :/ 8/10 good job[/QUOTE]Please try to expand on your opinion of the picture a little bit more. ^_^ Explain specific things you liked or disliked in order to give the artist feedback to improve.

This belongs in Art by Request. *nods* I'll let it slide this time, though. ^.~

Modera[b]tor[/b], Panda! Not plural! ..so lonely in here. :( Seeing as this is just one post, I'm just going to close it and not bother merging it with the other thread. As Panda pointed out, we already have a very similar thread going dealing with desktop backgrounds, and you can post yours there if you like. ^_^ You can find the thread [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=43211]here.[/url]

I'm not really sure how many experts you think you're going to find here, but for those of you interested in helping out, you can now find the thread in Art Request. Also, please try to avoid double posted by using the Edit button. ;)

[quote name='Altron']And I think it's just me, but it annoys me when people who've watched a few animes all of the sudden want to learn Japanese, just because it's anime's mother-tounge. Just like the people who want to go to Japan just because it's where anime came from. It's so annoying. And then they start studying Japanese, learn a few words and characters, then throw in the towel because it's oh-so-hard! Well, duh, it is! It's proven that if your mother language is latin-based, it'll be alot harder to learn any Eastern language. And vice versa. [/rant][/quote]In general, yeah, English and Japanese are probably considered two of the most difficult languages to learn. I'm not going to lie -- anime is, to an extent, an incentive for me to want to learn the language (maybe it might help with subtitled anime, haha), but over the years I've really had the chance to come to an appreciation of Japan's culture and history, and would really enjoy learning more about it. And I think if I ever did go to Japan one day, which my friend wants me to after he went last summer, it would help to learn the language at least a little bit. It would just give me satisfaction, I think, though I am aware of how potentially hard it can be.

[quote name='Panda']My parents will speak to me in Japanese and I end up answering them in english! Oh well.[/quote]Hahaha, that's so awesome. I just think it would be so cool to watch one person talking in one language, and someone else replying in a different one, just holding a conversation like that. And then maybe switch halfway through. XD I suppose understanding Japanese (as opposed to necessarily speaking it) really helps when watching an original anime. ^_^ I took Spanish for about.. six years, starting in an after school program in third grade, skipping a year in sixth grade, and finally taking Spanish III in ninth grade. And yet, after all that, I only remember the basics of the language. You'd think that starting early would have really helped, but I really didn't have any motivation to learn it. I saw the after school programs as a bother, and being in elementary school at the time I would look out the window and day dream about playing on the blacktop and jungle gym outside. My parents put me in there to start the language early, of course, but I agreed to only because my friends were there too, I think. After skipping a year of it in sixth grade, I started up in Spanish A and B in seventh and wasn't doing too bad. The idea was that we would learn A during the first half of the year and B during the second half. Well.. I moved right smack in the middle of the year, lol. And this new school had Spanish A [b]or[/b] B, so I had to choose between them. At first, I chose Spanish A, but at this time I wasn't too bad at the language, and the class turned out to be much too easy for me, so I switched to B. So I go into this class which is already proficient at Spanish A and has been doing B for a whole half of a year, and I was lost from the beginning. -.- Add that onto the fact that I don't think that the teacher liked me very much, and I believe that this is where I went wrong. The following year, I was in Spanish II with a teacher who really didn't care about teaching us anything, lol. And not only that, but she gave us a lot of hard work as if we were expected to know it, bleh. By the time I got to Spanish III in ninth grade, I had just about had enough and only wanted to do it to get my credit for the class out of the way. No incentive to learn the language + moving + evil teachers = ..no good. With my parents on my back about it, really studying hard, and even getting a tutor for after school, I was able to pass the class with a very low D average. That was it. No more. I'm really hoping now that I don't have to take a foreign language in college, but I think that might depend on the college. If I do, I'm not going back to Spanish; I'll try something that I'd actually be interested in learing, which is, of course, Japanese. :p

I actually came about three and a half years ago looking for Dragonball Z pictures to draw, haha. Back then, I was really into the show, and loved to draw various characters, so I typed something like.. "dragonball Z images" into Google and this page kept coming up. I ignored it for a while; this was covered in words, not pictures! How could I possibly find something to draw? After a while, I was starting to get really desperate because of lack of good images elsewhere, so I clicked the link which took me to the Dragonball forum on this board. Looking through, I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did stumble across many topics which I was eager to reply to. Somehow I managed to register to the forum under.. what was it now? I think it was something like.. gohan_rules#1. XD!! This was on June 6th, 2001. I was quite the spammer when I started out, being the DBZ fanboy I used to be. In fact, I went to the very beginning of the Dragonball forum and tried to answer every single thread that I could, and eventually the members made a thread trying to stop me, haha, because moderators really didn't do anything back then. I've obviously come a long way since then. :p