eleanor

[color=firebrick] Amarios glanced upon Syft with contempt as his eyes swept over one of the only groups that stuck together on the streets of the Stiff community. Deep, tired multitudes of starving eyes looked back at him. Amarios chucked a stone at Syft's messy black hair, earning a silent look of withdrawal as the young man put the newly found newspaper bit down. "Old Mad-ears jus' got a 'ole chunk of grub," Amarios managed to spit out a wad of dirty saliva at the ground. He heard some sounds of murmuring excitement within [i]his[/i] group. "So y' all bettah ride him up like you di' last time. Heh." Small chants of 'hell yeah' and 'all right' flickered across the huddled group. Amarios grinned widely and stuck his dirty face into the group's youngest member. "Isn't tha' right, worm?" Jaft cringed as Amarios leered at him with a ugly face. "Ye- yessir." An akward silence followed. [b]Thud[/b]. Jaft's small head hit the conrete ground with a sickening bounce and his fragile body flailed up into the frigid air of the dark alley. The young boy's gray eyes rolled up into his head and lay still. "Idiots! You think th' ole' Mad-ears isa gonna fall for tha' trick again?!" A look of superiority crossed Amarios's face and he stood up as tall as he possibly could. He tried to ignore the fact that Syft was reading the newspaper bit again with a bored look. He huffed and continued. "This time, we' all gonna split up two groups. Y'all mutts-," Amarios pointed to the left half of the group, "isa goin' ta hide behind the right' wall and attack, ya see? An' y'all hide behind the left wall and attack, ya hear?" The groups' heads ducked in the fear of being singled out. Syft crumpled the newspaper bit and threw it behind him. "Ya' think yous better, Syft?" Amarios shot at Syft with a nasty look dancing in his eyes. "Don't you know...?" Syft found a bit of stone and scratched it against the ground. Curious eyes peered at the drawing: two parallel lines and a circle in the middle. "Don't you know how come we caught Mad-ears las' time?" Amarios spit at the ground. Syft drew two corners that surrounded Mad-ears's alleyway and other small circles representing the rest of the group. "There's a secret door," Syft drew a small square at the back of Mad-ears's alleyway. "...but there was a bounty-hunter raid there last week, the hunters were crawling all over that area..." Amarios had a mad look about his eyes. "But they're gone now." The last thing Syft saw was the putrid ground of the cement and then the dark-lit sky at night.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Sorry, deadlines for signing have passed. Maybe next time.[/color]

[color=firebrick] [b]Name:[/b] Syft [no known last name] [b]Age:[/b] 14 [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Race:[/b] Human [b]Class:[/b] Mage. [b]Weapon:[/b] A small, silver-lighted sphere that when summoned, can evolve into a choice of two staffs: [img]http://prodigyrewinded.250free.com/Other/staff1.bmp[/img] [img]http://prodigyrewinded.250free.com/Other/staff2.bmp[/img] [b]Partner:[/b] Kurian Argonath [doukeshi03] [b]Personality:[/b] Syft can be social and good-mannered when he chooses, but is usually seen keeping to himself. He has a bit of a ruthless streak in his personality when angered or during physical training. He is subject to violent scenes when put under enough pressure, but most of the time musters enough restraint to be seen as a composed, silent young man. Often, his silence is taken as anti-solcialism and hostility and is avoided by many. Syft is talented in his works, and definately knows the fact that he's better than most people he's seen. However, the thoughts of being aloft are kept down by his feelings of sensitivity and the fear of being shunned by others. Syft is quick to judge people and quick to reach decisions, sometimes being irrational and seeing only 'black and white'. [b]Appearance:[/b] Gray hair and green eyes. Syft is the average length for boys his age [5' 8"] and can sometimes be interpreted as a weak person because of his physical attributes. [i]Clothing[/i]:[img]http://prodigyrewinded.250free.com/Other/syftclothing.bmp[/img] [i]face[/i]:[img]http://prodigyrewinded.250free.com/Other/syfthead.bmp[/img] [b]History:[/b] All memories that Syft has start when found as a boy of around 10 years old by a weathered and aged mage. He was taken in by the mage, soon to be called Attijun by Syft, and lived with him as a father and son relationship. Attijun personally taught Syft all he knew and helped him cope with violent tantrums. Syft was shunned as a child by his playmates and spent most of his time in the forest and keeping his thoughts to himself. He has only just met Kurian in the town and is slowly taking to his personality. Syft and Attijun's relationship is extremely intimate and affectionate, and has taken a toll on Syft for Attijun is currently dying by an unknown disease. Syft just recently received a necklace from Attijun; made of a strong string, and has three tiny wooden poles tied udner each other before reaching a large cross. In the center can be found Syft's weapon. [/color]

[color=firebrick] Because some bullies really are cowards in a sense. They're too scared to keep confronting you if you have the self-esteem to defend yourself. So they call on their homies or whatever...crazy schmoes. It does bite, but it's best to just keep to yourself and silently kill they guy in your mind or something. But anyway, the people who come around and support the first person are looking for something that will put them above other people. They're like evil gummi bears that stick on to you and suck out your soul so they know that you're under their 'status'. God...how stupid. [/color] [i] So yes. At our school its mainly when you have trouble with one foreign person, you have trouble with them all and you can almost count on your fingers that you wont get away with it. So that gives them more confident so they can act like smart *****, their gang will beat you up anyways and everyone knows that. [/i] [color=firebrick]Yeah, that's painfully true. I don't know about other races but a lot of Korean kids in American schools hang around in giant groups and will practically destroy you if you make fun of one of them.[/color]

[i]They definetly get that out of Barbie dolls. Thank God my mother didn't let me have them when I was younger... [/i] [color=firebrick] *gasp* No Barbie dolls?! [I think she just broke up with Ken, lol. Now her boyfriend is some Austrailian dude...] Me: I'm either hyper [immature], silent, or mature whenever I want to be. I'm usually hyper when I'm with one friend but I realized she can be dead personality-wise at some points as well yesterday. *coughs* My self-esteem is actually pretty low when I'm by myself, but it doesn't bother me when I'm with friends. Hence, my silence. Don't mistake silence with maturity; people think I'm ultra-smart and ultra-mature because I don't talk in class, and it's very irritating. Other than that, I actually think I'm more mature than a lot of people my age but still irrational when I'm angry enough. I'm like...secretly arrogant so I can get pissed off at a lot of things. There's no difference in how I act URL and live, except that I'm rarely hyper online. I'm actually pretty boring when I think about it, I tend to suck the happiness out of a lot of internet conversations. =_=.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Very sorry for the delay, everyone, I've been insanely and unexpectedly busy since Friday. Pyrophobic: ^_^, that's fine. Any format will do, really. But please try to make the picture good-quality instead of random quick sketches. Well, today marks the beginning of the [b]Original Art[/b] category. The time limit for this category is [b]one week[/b], which means all art is due [b] March 7th, 12:00 AM.[/b] [/color]

[color=firebrick] I live in Georgia, too, but I was sort of surprised that it had snowed. All of our teachers insisted that there was a rare chance of snow or ice. *sticks tongue out at them* Good thing that today was a snow day, I didn't do any of my homework. I wasn't surprised that school was canceled, but it was stupid to do so. The roads were fine and everything...I'm not complaining, though. The sixth grade orchestra at my school was supposed to go Festival today. I sort of feel bad for my orchestra teacher. *shrugs* *mumbles* Crazy kids...how can you be playing videogames when sleep is so [b]good[/b]? My mom forced me to get up...=_=[/color]

[color=firebrick] Parappa the Rapper, haha.[/color] [i]DDR just gets dull really fast for me and I can't stand 95% of the US music selections.[/i] [color=firebrick] What else did you expect? Lol. It'd be cool if you could put in your songs...somehow..O_o. *shrugs* I think it's fun when you're with your friends of something, playing it alone seems a bit boring to me.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Ok, unfortunately, I can think of several people who didn't turn in their artwork. So far, these are the contestants: K.K.C Chabichou Bio Megumi Pyrophobic Klinanime1 Thank you for your artwork! ^_^. Sorry, the rest of the contestants are now disqualified. [b]Ratings[/b]: [i]Chabichou[/i] [b]8.5/10[/b] - Nice job, the artwork is very much like the official; try to work smoothing your shading out. [i]K.K.C[/i] [b]8.3/10[/b] -O_o. You can draw GIR! [mad propz, lol] [i]Bio[/i] [b]8/10[/b] -The face is a bit odd, but the clothing is really excellent. [i]Megumi[/i] [b]8.9/10[/b] -Your picture sort of reminds me of pastel-like drawings. It?s very soft looking. But, your mimicking of the real picture is great, you?re just sort of missing the hat and some of the shading. [i]Pyrophobic[/i] [b]9.9/10[/b] -I?m guessing that the first one was the fanart, here. Excellent job. Was it done on the computer? [i]Klinanime1[/i] [b]8/10[/b] -That?s a pretty picture. :toothy: You got the basics down, but some of the proportions are off. Chabichou: Sorry for any confusion. ^_^;; I?ll do it date-wise now.[/color]

[color=firebrick] A company name doesn't necessarily mean that it will only specialize in that area. 'Burger King' sells lots of chicken sandwhiches. Yeah, they art is similiar, although manwha and manga are usually distinguishable is they have the right characteristics. I'm not saying [i]all[/i] manwah artists draw a certain way, it's just that many of their manwhas have people that are pretty lithe/tall and feminine in a way. *shrugs* From what I've seen, anyway. Tokyopop might specialize in Japanese work, but Korea and China has its fair share of good comics, too. But there is one difference people really should recognize, manga=Japanese and manwha=Korean.[/color]

[color=firebrick] That is where playing an instrument is oh-so-helpful. :toothy: Unfortunately, I don't have the game and I was at the arcade for about ten minutes. :([/color]

[color=firebrick] Yeah, I guess she looks...turned on. O_o. Er, anyway, you have the proportions very well drawn and the coloring is also great. ^_^. I really like her hair. I can't find anything to complain about, lol, which is rare for me. Hope to see more of your work! ^_^.[/color]

[color=firebrick] ^_^;; I'm very sorry, I meant: You don't get anything counted off. You're very much still in the contest.[/color]

[color=firebrick] No, you can tell if a comic is Korean or Japanese. Korean names are always only three syllables long, while Japanese names can be as long as...whatever. *shrugs* Common Korean names are like: Lee, Kim, Chung, Young, etc. Japanese Names: Tatsuya, [enter ten million syllables], etc.[/color]

[i] Please have mercy....lol.[/i] :toothy: [color=firebrick]Heh, no, you don't get anything counted off. SaiyanPrincessX: Um, if you still want to participate you could trade in the original for fanart, so you turn in the fanart at the next deadline. *shrugs* To the remaining contestants: Please remember than the picture is due today by 12:00 PM.[/color]

[color=firebrick] I apologize for bringing up the whole thing, it actually really didn't have anything to do with the article in the first place. It started out silly, I guess. If G3 cell phones are so popular [which I know they are], I'm subjected to believe that the technology and little add-ons will stay the way they are for a while. I mean, taking pictures to tracking locations, what else can possibly cram into a tiny cell phone? At the moment, I can't think of anything else to add onto cell phones. ...Unless it's supposed to give people a live hologram of the person they're talking to in the future or something. O_o. [actually, I'd buy that if it were available.] P.S. *coughs* I'm not a guy...:( And unfortunately, I'm not good friends with any of the mods here.[/color]

[color=firebrick] The movie still reminds me of the book 'The Bell Jar'. Well, personally, I loved the movie. It was extremely well done in the aspects of psychology/insanity and the story was portrayed well. I still need to get the DVD, though. =_=. If you liked this movie, though, you should check out 'Millenium Actress'. It's made by the same person and I actually think it's better than Perfect Blue.[/color]

[i]From what I've seen (as in looked at, not actually read), characters in manwha tend to be much more slender and androgynous (sp?). The eyes are generally wider and smaller, and the hands more feminine. Though I'm sure built characters will have less dainty hands, the art seems to follow this trend.[/i] [color=firebrick]Yes, yes...makes guys seem very hot...:p Korean manwha art is distinctive at times, but there are also many manga artwork that follows the same trend. But, you're still right. Most of them are like good-looking stick people walking around with giant feet.[/color] [i]This may sound like a technicality, but it's surprisingly important. Flipped series tend to look worse than regular manga, not through any fault of the artist, but rather because the artwork simply isn't meant to be viewed that way.[/i] [color=firebrick]I have no idea why they want to flip the books, it's not like we Americans are stupid...! *cough cough* j/k. But yes, I tend to dislike flipped manga/manwha books. They're so...flipped, right? XD Sometimes when a person draws an angled face, it can look sort of mangled when flipped around, and I guess there are more examples. [/color]

[i]Yes, that happens during reproduction...[/i] [color=firebrick] :o Sara, you made me spit soda out![/color] [i]I can't listen to music while I'm doing stuff anymore, or I won't get anything done. I'll unconciously stop what I'm doing so I can have my full concentration on the music; before I know it, I've spent an hour listening to a CD when I was supposed to be doing homework, lol. I pretty much only listen to music when I'm riding in a car or on a bus now. >.>'[/i] [color=firebrick] Yeah, that happens with me, but I'm a bit wierd. If I'm in a certain mood I have to listen to the music with my full concentration but other times I don't even know what song I'm listening to. I sort of look up and then realize I'm listening to music. *shrugs* Helps me with my work, though. :p[/color]

[color=firebrick] Chabichou: Just the fanart is due. ^_^. SaiyanPrincessX: Please post the original official picture as well.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Japan= 10 times bigger than Korea. Japan= Way more people than Korea. On other topics, I also think it's nonetheless pointless if all the cell-phone industry is going to do is add in little gadgets and small 'cool' things. I seriously do not see what is so great about picture phones, and it was the top seller in the US when Christmas time came around last year ... even though I think the 'invasion of privacy' debate can get pretty stupid. Am I going to buy an expensive cell phone in the US and use it about every five months to send someone a picture? Not really. [/color]

[color=firebrick] Oh, dude, you're ego [i]should[/i] be inflating. Awesome beat and flow, the poem is really great. It's original, and I particularly liked that 'clean sword' line for some reason. ^_^. You have skill, my 50% Buddhist.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Nice little writing you got, trying to create anxiety within your readers as well is sometimes a hard thing to do. One thing I'm bothered about it is that you try to fit in a whole lot of information into a sentence, which does not work when you're trying to write something that creates tension or nervousness. Try writing in short sentences when writing this kind of thing, and keep the information minimal. Short sentences, dahes, and single words can really do a lot when you're trying to make an atmosphere of tension. ^_^.[/color]

[color=firebrick] "Darkness" -At the beginning your pattern was AAAABBBB, and you did use the word 'before' two times, and it was a little boring and monotonous. [i]Sitting in the heart of darkness Brooding like the sunset below Send in the graves to get me I'll be haunted like Marlow [/i] I think that part had good flow, sort of a natural ryhming. You should try and use that more often, it's not as obvious as ryhmes such as 'cat' and 'hat', so many poets and writers prefer it. Of course, the fifth stanza was my favorite. Nice poem. Was is based off the book? "Fell in Love" [i][b]I fell in love with a girl But my heart wouldn't stop And my eyes kept bleeding[/b] ?____________________? [b]She's in love with the world But the world wouldn't stop And it kept on spinning[/b] ?____________________? Everything she loves Is right in front of me But it's really funny It's considered cheating now[/i] I really started out liking the bolded lines, it was very much like the beginning of a song and has a very nice beat to it. Now, the fourth line was sort of iffy since it didn't really connect with the third line. Maybe if you added a new line and made the rest of that stanza a new one... Same goes for the second part of the poem. I'm sorry if this is making you feel like I'm destroying your poem...^_^;; It's just only my personal preference. Nice poem. I really like your poems, Shinmaru, they're actually the first pomes I've really read on OB and I'm very pleased. I would suggest that when you're writing the poems you keep in mind sort of a rythmic [sp?] beat of some sort. Hope to see more. ^_^.[/color]

[color=firebrick] Thank you to everyone who has turned their art in; it all looks great. ^_^. But, to remind everyone, [b]you must turn in a picture for every category.[/b] I just had a contestant quit because of it, so I didn't want any other confusion.[/color]