Anime opening/ending top 100 (part V)

Time surely flies fast! My mind has been probably everywhere the last few months, except on my blog. There's so many things I want to write, but I can't find the time to work around them. My anime opening and ending top 100 is probably the one that requires the most work though... It's because of that I decided to change the format a little and just leave the descriptions out for now and add them later, after all, most of the openings and endings are excellent conveyers of the look and feel of the actual show.

So there you have it, without further ado, here is part five!

Festival Summer: Rock Werchter

Rock Werchter is probably the most known festival in Belgium, and probably one of the oldest as well. I’ve always evaded it up 'til now, but this year there were 2 acts I wouldn’t dare to miss. The first one being the synthpop band HURTS, the second being Linkin Park, whom were finally performing once more in Belgium after a long 10 years. (and who knows when they’ll come back again?)

Rock Werchter

Location: Werchter, Belgium

Date: 30 june 2011

Getting to Rock Werchter was a whole different thing though. Public transport was available from and to the festival site and was quite well organized, yet it couldn’t foresee in the huge amount of festivalgoers which were drumming to get inside the busses. Also, the busstop wasn’t exactly close to the festivalarea. The path was well secluded and auto free, but after a long trip in the scorching heat one could ask if it was too much to get a busstop next to the festivalsite. After another half hour I was finally inside, and it was huge! Certainly for a mere 2 stages.

Line-up

MAIN STAGE

01:00 - 02:30 THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS

22:35 - 00:15 LINKIN PARK

20:35 - 21:50 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

19:00 - 20:00 ANOUK

17:30 - 18:30 THE HIVES

16:15 - 17:05 SEASICK STEVE

15:00 - 15:50 OFWGKTA

PYRAMID MARQUEE

00:55 - 01:55 HURTS

23:10 - 00:10 BEADY EYE

21:25 - 22:25 EELS

19:50 - 20:50 JAMES BLAKE

18:15 - 19:15 ALOE BLACC

16:45 - 17:45 TV ON THE RADIO

15:30 - 16:20 WARPAINT

After strolling around a bit I went to see Aloe Blacc in the Pyramid Marquee. Even though the style of the music didn't interest me that much I was very impressed by the quality of Blacc's voice: the man has got some serious soul. Of course everyone sang along with his big hit (at least in Belgium) "I need a dollar", but also the song "You make me smile" left quite an impression as Blacc asked everyone to grab a random stranger/friend by the hand and shout out his or her name. "[insert random name here], you make me smile!".

After that I went to meet up with a friend at the mainstage and missed out on James Blake (Limit to your love) at the Pyramid Marquee. I guessed Anouk (Killerbee, Nobody's wife) would make up for that loss at the mainstage but I was sadly mistaken. Sure enough she sung many of her known hits and her voice was nice, but it looked like she was standing there against her will and didn't really convince me and sadly... not a lot of other people either.

After Anouk it was time for the Queens of the Stone Age. Stoner rock is definately not my style, but I decided to stay because Linkin Park would be up next and I was sure the mainstage would get packed by then. All in all the Queens of the Stone Age didn’t interest me that much, but I can't deny that the lead singer had lots of charm, or as some others would say: he was one badass mother*bleep*.

Nostalgia and emotions

After the break I succeeded getting through the front gates of the secluded front area close to the mainstage with some of my friends to get a good view of the fine men of Linkin Park. Apparantly lots of people had the same idea as we got squeezed together, I just had about enough room to stick up my hands. The good part was that no matter how tired you were, the people next to you kept you in place, so snuggly! With 45 minutes tardiness the moment was finally there. The screens lightened up with stunning visuals and the first notes rocked through the gigantic speakercolumns. The band had lots of catching up to do for the past 10 years and they got that idea quite well. Even though they played a fair share of their new songs, loyal fans were rewarded with their most known hits of their first albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora... I think I died back then and went to heaven. Together with my friends I sung and screamed my throat soar until I was almost “Numb”. How could you not after hearing this?

       

                                                               Nostalgia, I love you.

With all the energy drained out of me from the performance of Linkin Park I stumbled back to the Pyramid Marquee, only to find it overcrowded with people. Slightly dissapointed I nestled myself on the ground outside to watch the big screen right before the entrance of the marquee. Totally cold. Alone. And in the rain. I saw that HURTS brought a small delegation of backgroundsingers and musicians with them to support the songs. Theo Hutchcraft looked also as slick and refined as ever. Chills ran down my spine as he sung “Silver Lining” and of course my favorite “Wonderful Life”. It made me a bit warmer. Well, inside at least.

The Chemical Brothers closed the mainstage with their "Block Rockin Beats", but it was a bit too cold to stay until the end. With my last energy I managed to get on the bus to the trainstation again after lots of waiting and managed to catch the earliest train home 2 hours later. Of course it was packed with people so I couldn't wait to get into my warm, comfortable bed again.

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The next and last review of my festival summer will be Tomorrowland, I hope you will look forward to it as much as I did to attend it! :)

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part IV)

With the end of the month passed it's time for the fourth installment of my personal anime opening and ending top 100. Because of the large amount of work I had previous month I couldn't update in time, but as of now things should be back to their normal pace. :)

Festival Summer: Summerfestival

With the start of the summer vacation the festival season has officialy been launched in Belgium. I plan to go to quite a few this year (and I've already been to some) so you can expect a lot of music inspired reviews this and next month!  

Summerfestival

Location: Antwerp, Nieuw-Zuid, Belgium

Date: 25 june 2011

Summerfestival was the first festival which I attended all by myself, luckily the music promised to be quite worth it. And you know what? I didn’t regret it one bit. Summerfestival lives up to its slogan “the best way to start your summer”. Although… the summervibes were long gone with the weather. Thick clouds were looming above the festivalsite, waiting to rain upon an unsuspecting audience. Some were smart enough to bring an umbrella or a rainjacket, but most  people ran around on flipflops, bermudas and hotpants hoping the sun would break through. Too bad that didn’t happen.

But on a brighter note there were a lot of artists and DJ’s I wanted to see. I made a personal timetable to know where and when I needed to be at a certain time, but over the course of the day I strayed a bit from my original plan. (Thank goodness, otherwise I would’ve missed the best part of the festival!)

As soon as I was through the main gate I decided to explore the festival area and the many different stages and tents. There were about eight in total. Because my line-up was sort of predetermined I didn't watch every stage, and some I only visited briefly to get a quick impression on the style of the music and the mood of the audience.

Stages I did watch:

 Pepsi Max Mainstage

Genre: various/house/commercial 

 

  

    DJ Licious, Oliver Ingrosso, Adrian Lux, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, Funkerman, Don Diablo,  Basto!, 

    Far East Movement and Regi.

I probably was running around the most on the main stage. I stood about everywhere you could stand, in the middle, at the side, right in front of the dj and everywhere in between. The design of the Main Stage was simply stunning, with a large phoenix towering above the stage for the performers and two screens visible, one in its eye and the other one cut out as a heart in its chest. I've been a bit spoiled since my first time at Tomorrowland concerning the visual style and design of a festival, but Summerfestival certainly lived up to its standards. Anyways, onto the music!

I only knew one of Funkerman's songs (Speed up) as it was in the Belgian music charts for a while, but it was enough to convince me to watch him. I was surprised as he brought a more rougher sound, but nevertheless he played a nice set. It got my legs moving! 

After Funkerman it was time for Don Diablo to take over the turntables. In Belgium he's probably most known for his hit "Animale". I really enjoyed the first part of his set which was more house influenced, but I didn't like the second part much where he went experimental and even played some dubstep. I have to give him some credit for trying though, his sound probably varied the most of all the things I've seen that day.

Basto! was probably my most favorite DJ on the mainstage. He didn't have the typical looks of a DJ (more like an IT-technician) but wow, he could spin some records! Like every DJ that day he closed his set with his most known track being the lovely "Gregory's Theme".

The crème de la crème of the evening was without a doubt the act of the stylishly clad gentlemen and lady of Far East Movement. And to think I would've skipped them if the MNM Summer Club tent wasn't so full, I'm glad I remained at the Mainstage! They really got the crowd going and ready to sing along with some of their most notorious songs like “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer”, but they weren’t afraid to overstep their boundaries. For example they brought their own version of Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer”. Something I, as I listened a lot to Linkin Park in my youth, could really appreciate. All in all Far East Movement was a blast and I hope this wasn't their first and last gig in Belgium.

MNM Summer Club

Genre: dance/house/commercial 

     Siege, M.O., Rebel, Robert Abigail, Wout, Laurent Wéry & MC Six, F.R.A.N.K., Lasgo, Peter Luts,

     Freemasons and Alex Gaudino.   

MNM Summer Club had a pretty impressive line-up, but most of the time the tent was too overcrowded to see anything at all, and not to mention incredibly hot. Because of this I missed more dj's and dance acts than I had expected, but in the end it didn't matter much. I managed to pick up Alex Gaudino in the evening right before leaving and that was good enough for me, as I had seen all the others before.

Bass Events Hardstyle Outdoor

Genre: hardstyle

    

    The Vision, Da Tweekaz, D-Block & S-te-Fan, Coone, Zatox, Isaac, Headhunterz, Wildstylez, Deepack, 

    Frontliner, Psyko Punkz, Korsakoff and Darkraver.     

It was obvious that most of the people were only at Summerfestival for the Bass Event stages. Most likely one third of the festival population didn’t even care to watch anything else. Hardstyle is getting more and more popular in Belgium and Summerfestival tried to cater to that need. A job well done one could say. 

Besides oggling at the beautiful outdoor stage (it reminded me of Mayan art) the only thing I was interested in at the Bass Event stages was DJ Coone. I usually don't like hardstyle, but I like some of his tracks as they sound more like hardhouse. (The Return and Protect the Innocent to name a few) 

Too bad I didn't get what I was coming for, Coone only played more recent tracks. Ah well, in the end it wasn't that bad, I even could experience the atmosphere that was present at the Bass Event stages, and believe me, it was massive. Hardstylers are some crazy people!

Trance Town

Genre: trance

 

     Treadstone, Airwave, Nash & Pepper, Fast Distance, Ferry Tayle, Leon Bolier, Marcel Woods and

     Kristof Van den Berghe.

The amount of people in Trance Town was surprisingly low. It’s like trance doesn’t get the love it deserves, at least not at Summerfestival. I guess the trance family will be more present at Tommorowland… But although the attendance was small, I could feel the love of my fellow trance enthousiasts and got many friendly nods and winks as I was standing there underneath my umbrella, twirling it to the music in the rain.

Miami Pool Party

Genre: house/groove/lounge 

    
     Greg Bouvin, The Twins, Raffa Ciello, Guy'Do, DiMaro, Roma, Stereoclash, Dimitri Wouters, 

     Rockstarz,Yves V, Dave Lambert and Sakso.         

The second stage I visited the most was without a doubt the Miami Pool Party. With a big pool in the middle, some lovely dancers (the nerdy dancer with the sport socks and the sweet brunette with her umbrella were my favorites!) and some great house tunes to go with the whole package, fun was garantueed. You could also make your own Mojito at the Bacardi stand, which I did. I was lucky enough to have a patient bartender who explained and showed me every step because I surely was a difficult student! The result was almost as good as the original, but I think I'll leave it to the professionals if I ever want another one ;)    

I was happy to see DJ Roma again, I sort of discovered him by pure luck at Laundry Day previous year and was pretty much impressed by his set. Back then there weren't much people at his stage, a real shame! Luckily on Summerfestival his audience was notably bigger. He will also be playing on Tommorowland this year so maybe, just maybe I can pick up another set of him there.



Red Light District

Genre: house

    Romeo Blanco, Amro, Ralvero, Quintino, Nicolaz, The Opposites, Vato Gonzalez & MC Tjen, Mystique, 
    DJ Daddy K and The Partysquad.

I actually thought the Red Light District was really good, but sadly there were too many other things I wanted to watch. If I had time enough to discover something new, this would surely be the place. 

  

Stages I didn't/couldn't visit, or not long:

Bass Events Teknology Zone

Genre: hardstyle/tekstyle

     

    Mode Seven, Def Toys, Jones, Teka B Live, Demoniak, Transformers Live, iTraxx, Junior Waxx Live, 

    Gave, Bestien, Davoodi, Dr Phunk, Ruthless, Mark with a K, Lethal MG and Fenix. 

Blacklight Arena

Genre: electro/techno

    Mr Magnetik, VNNR, The Oddword, Harmony, Science, Syndaesia, AKS (DJ-Set), Blame feat. Quest One 
    and Murdock feat. Quest One. 
       

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Summerfestival was a great way to start my summer and was, for me at least, one of the better dance festivals I've attended in Belgium. Hopefully I'll be able to convince some friends to go with me next year and have the sun on my side!

Pokémon Special: Global Link continued

It's been a while since I wrote an article about various aspects of the Pokémon Global Link and the Dream World. Now that I have played some more, I've discovered a few interesting things I'd like to share as I wasn't that thorough on some parts last time. The Pokémon Global Link has so many things to offer that I'll probably forget some things again but I'll try my best! Also, I might update my previous post about it with more and cleaner pictures. :)

Sculpting a Scolipede

Lately I've been in a serious mood to pour some of my creative spasms into something different than paper, this time, sculpture clay was the victim. I've made a few things out of clay before, such as a sweet little piglet for someone's birthday as can be seen below.

But a few days ago, I was up to a bigger challenge: creating one of my favorite Pokémon out of clay. The thing is, I have a lot of Pokémon I like, but not every Pokémon is as easy to translate to a sculpture. *sniffles as she really wants to make a vaporeon* After a lot of searching and thinking of how to make it, I've decided to go with Scolipede.

So what's a Scolipede?

(From Bulbapedia) Scolipede is a centipede-like Pokémon, with bright magenta coloration interspersed with purple rings spaced evenly along its segmented upper body. Its horns, extending from its head in a similar way to antennae, are long and slightly twisted. Purple banding decorates its horns, as well as its similarly-shaped dual tails. It has four pairs of purple-tipped forelegs, capable of injecting poison. Its legs further down its body are longer, with curved black patterns and black tipping on the extremities of the limb. Scolipede are very aggressive, and will chase down its enemies with its horns. It gives no mercy to its opponent until it strikes the final blow.

That's cute... right?

After setting everything up I took a good chunk of clay and started sculpting the main body, which was more or less a big sausage with a big round end and a small narrow end. I've made lots of balls in different sizes to flatten and stretch them for the plates of the body. After that I just needed to press them on. The horns and tails were also made seperately and pressed onto the main body, but without support so they are a bit fragile. The hardest part was without a doubt the legs. They are just so narrow at the bottom... I just couldn't pull it off! Right now they are a lot bigger. I even reinforced them with cardboard, but to no avail. In any case, my sculpture was finished!

Too bad I'm not as patient as some to let the sculpture airdry, so I took our hair dryer and gave the clay a full load of hot air. (at a safe distance of course, I didn't want it to break!) 7 minutes later the Scolipede was ready for some paint.


Luckily I still had lots of paint left from the piglet, so mixing colors to get the right ones for scolipede was fairly easy. I started with magenta for its upper body and didn't bother too much to paint it with precision. After all, a darker color was needed for its belly and accents, so it would mask the red easily.

After painting the belly and accents dark grey I applied a generous amount of yellow on the bottom half of its eye. Sadly at this point I wasn't really having a steadfast hand anymore so the painting overlapped at some points, but I couldn't be bothered, it was so close to being finished! With some mixture of magenta, cerulean blue and a bit of white to tone down the color I've added the remaining markings and poison points ( I was too lazy to sculpt those, afraid they might break too easily anyway) and added the pupils with the tip of my brush. Et voila! My scolipede was done.

 

 

 

Oh hai!

Being all proud of myself I took it downstairs to take some pictures with it featuring my mother's fancy plant in the background. (The color just matches you know?) ^^

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Until next time!

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part III)

Wow, it has been a little while since I last posted something. I suppose preparing for my finals and finishing tasks for school has taken more time than I'd like to admit... For now I'll probably post a bit less frequently until my finals are over.

What doesn't change is that it is that time of the month again, today number 80 until number 71 of the anime opening/ending top 100 make their appearance on this blog. It's a bit of a shame that since the making of this list I've watched and completed other anime with likeable openings and endings, so if I were to make the list again some things would surely rank lower or higher. ^^;;

But, as rules are rules I won't change the list until it's fully published! To make up for it I'll probably make a spin-off post when the list is finally completely online.
Anyways, we're almost nearing the point where it became hard to choose and find something negative to put it lower on the list, exciting!

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part II)

The end of the month is near once more, so it's time for another batch of anime openings and endings! If there is a link that doesn't work, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll try to find a replacement as soon as possible.

So on to the list... I never thought it would be this hard to actually number my favorite openings and endings, there are some that could've possibly scored higher or some that could've scored lower, but I think most of them are justified. It's a mix of the sentiments I have for the anime in question, the catchyness of the song (Major point! Sometimes songs can be irresistable) and  how the opening or ending matches the anime's general feel plus the originality of the video.

Pokémon Global Link and the Dream World

A few days ago I got an e-mail in my inbox with a notice that the Pokémon Global Link had been launched. Eager to check it out I made myself an account and after surfing the site for a few hours I can say I was literally godsmacked!

Pokémon Global Link is an online (and not to mention free!) service for Pokémon fans around the world. By connecting your copy of Pokémon Black or Pokémon White to the Pokémon Global Link you can tuck in one of the Pokémon in your game and make it appear in the Pokémon Dream World online, where it can befriend Pokémon, grow Berries, collect items... and the most beautiful part, bring them back to your game! You can also check out the Global Battle Union where your online battle stats are kept and play mini-games for Trainer Tokens, which you can you use to buy items for your avatar.

To enter the Dream World the only thing you need is a Pokémon Trainer Club account, a copy of Pokémon Black or Pokémon White and a wireless internet connection. When you've secured those things you can login to the Pokémon Global Link and the fun can start!

Setting up your Global Link connection
 Beware for an image heavy blogpost!

I still love the 90's

Once every year there is a party in Belgium that takes my breath away and makes me feel like I'm a little child again running around the kitchentable screaming "I like to move it, move it!". If you're wondering what I am talking about... I'm talking about this:

 

I love the 90's is a party concept with (as you can guess) 90's music. Much of the music that blows through the speakers can be described as dance, retro house and occasionaly a bit of alternative music and rock. It is held every year around the same time, namely the second week of april. 

I love the 90's was a big hit in Belgium and over the years many other organisations have held similar parties hoping to share its success. But, as perhaps many others will agree, I love the 90's still feels authentic and is the best party of them all ;)

Keep the spirit alive!

With the title Keep the spirit alive! (a sentence of the song "The Spirit" from Fiocco, a belgian dance formation from the 90's) the line-up promised to especially make your heart pound this year. As a result the line-up was pretty impressive and even 2 Brothers on the 4th floor (Never Alone, Black & White) made a reappearance, being the most asked group since the first edition. DJ Ward, the "house-DJ" of I love the 90's, started with a lovely warm-up at 8:30PM and left the crowd jumping for joy until it was time for Astroline (Feel the Fire) to get the party started.

                                                         Can you feel the fire?

After Astroline Absolom (Baby Boomers, Secret) entered the stage bringing a few of their dance classics and a brand new themesong for I love the 90's called "Remembering the 90's". With DJ Ward at the turntables to keep the crowd entertained with the best hits of the 90's between the acts you were sure to not get bored even the slightest moment.

We shouted along with the Outhere Brothers (Boom Boom Boom, Don't Stop Wiggle Wiggle), raised a brow at the controversial E-Rotic (Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex), bobbed our head to Haddaway's What is Love and dreamed away with 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor (Never Alone, Dreams, Come Take my Hand).

At 2:00AM it was finally time for Vanilla Ice (we even got free vanilla icecream at the entrance to celebrate!)

He rapped the whole place into oblivion with a few of his new songs and made the crowd go wild as the first notes of "Ice Ice Baby" blew through the speakers. To close his performance he brought a song of his newest album WTF (Wisdom Tenacity Focus) called Turn It Up. This little partygoer was left impressed.

                                                                Turn it up!

Regi and Jan Vervloet from Fiocco closed the party with impressive DJ-sets and were without a doubt the crowd pleasers of the evening. (Insomnia, Thunderstruck, Lift U Up and many, many more to name a few)

At 4:30AM it was time for us to go home.  We had an incredible evening and I'm already looking forward to next year when I love the 90's will celebrate its 5th year of existence. It seems that the 90's still have a special place in the hearts of many, and that makes me happy because I know... I'm Never Alone.

Sketchpage!

As some might or may not have noticed I've added another feature to this blog, namely a page gadget. This allows me to create individual pages (next to my blogposts) which can be about anything. I decided to add one for sketches since I like to doodle and I thought it might be better to collect them on a seperate page. ( just bringing a little structure into this blog ;) ) I might add more pages in the future.

The links to the pages can be found on the right menu, or you can click here to directly go to sketch page.

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part I)

Ladies and gentlemen, hereby I proudly announce my very first top 100 of something I really like and I enjoy: anime. More specifically, my favorite openings and endings.

Sometimes an anime series can have an uninteresting story or blant art, but somehow the music of the opening/ending theme keeps haunting your mind. Of course it can be the other way around too, making you want to skip it as soon as it appears on your screen... And then there's the anime that is just amazing all around with fitting openings that make the series even more complete. I want to pay a homage to all of those, as they brought me so much joy and share them with you.

Pokémon White: Descending in the region of Unova

Aaaah, Pokémon, you never fail to keep me entertained. It’s been 11 years since I’ve met you, but I still adore you so much. You’ve given me a lot to love too, 649 monsters and 15 games (from the many, many more) to be exact.

It’s almost unimaginable that Pokémon is still around after all those years. Together with the graphics a lot of the gameplay and storyline has evolved as well. The basic idea is still the same, but it seems like Pokémon is slowly growing up.

Onto the 5th generation

Pokémon Black and Pokémon White boxart.

I was a bit reluctant at first when I saw all those new Pokémon getting released one after another. They looked… so different from what I was used to. But now, after playing the game, I can say I came to love them just as much as the previous ones. I felt a bit sad though that the Legendary Pokémon mascots for Pokémon Black and White seemed to have switched around. I really wanted White because the version exclusives and premise suited me better, but then I had no chance of getting the oh so pretty White Legendary. After a lot of contemplating I still picked White. (I’ll just have to find someone crazy enough to trade legendaries, meh!)

Luckily choosing a starter Pokémon was a lot easier.
Then again… I always picked the water starter. This time the grass starter tickled my fancy, that smug face was just so hard to resist!

Who's a cute lil' smugleaf? Yes you are!

After a few resets I got myself a female Snivy. Unlike the other games I growed a habit to catch every new pokémon I encounter, providing they have the right gender. I always give every Pokémon a nickname, so the gender sort of has to match, you know?
Most of the time I have a clear view on which pokémon I want for my party, but Pokémon White just has too many awesome looking Pokémon! I already have my favorites, but they're just too much in number to narrow down to six.

I was lucky enough to catch a Victini.Victini is a legendary Pokémon which is not directly obtainable in game and is only obtainable through events or Wi-Fi. Since Nintendo still hasn't fixed the problem with WPA connections, Wi-Fi events like these are only downloadable with a WEP-connection. And let that be something I don't have. :( 
Luckily there was an event in Belgium on the second day of Pokémon Black and White's release in Europe and I managed to download a "Wondercard" which gives you access to Liberty Island, where Victini can be found.

As of this moment, I have 4 badges and the following party:
 

                                    Servine      Herdier     Munna    Victini      Zebstrika   Panpour
                                    Kirara        Charlie      Minna      Vinny        Kaina       Mizuki
 
My party might change after I've progressed some more in the game. The only reason I still have my Panpour is because I can't find a suitable replacement. (there's a lack of cool water pokémon in Pokémon White anyways.)

I'm also taking my time to explore the game this time, I literally run through every area I can find to look if there's something I might've missed. Something I also really enjoy is the Pokémon Musical. It must be because you can collect so many accessoiries for your Pokémon... In any case, I'm really enjoying it to the fullest.

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That's it for this time, all this talking has made me eager to play some more! You can expect another post as soon as I've progressed a decent amount further.

Back to work!

Rango

So, Rango came out 2 days ago in the theatres here. Having watched the trailer on TV a few times I was sure I needed to check out Rango soon. And boy, I was not dissapointed.

The trailer didn't show much of the actual story itself, and though it was funny, there were many other great moments in the movie which made me chuckle. Because of this it didn't feel like the trailer only collected the wittiest moments to catch your attention and leave you with nothing special to watch in the theatre. (like some other trailers tend to do)

                                                
                                           Have a little taste of what you can expect.

The name is Rango
The story starts when Johnny Depp's chameleon falls off a pickup truck and finds himself in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave desert. After receiving directions from a roadkill animal and having a dangerous encounter with a hungry eagle, he meets the female lizard Beans. (yes, you heard that right, apparantly her daddy had a thing for beans) Beans is on her way to the city of Dirt, hoping to talk to the major to ask for some water to save her ranch.


You better run Mojito!

Arriving at Dirt, our nameless chameleon quickly notices that the citizens are not so fond of strangers. But, with his fine acting skills and after lots of bragging he manages to convince the suspicious citizens that he is Rango, the most fearsome beast of the West. When the eagle he met before is terrorizing the city he manages to kill it with one bullet, tipping over one of the coal reservoirs onto the birds head. Living up to his selfmade name, he gets promoted to the sheriff of Dirt.
 

The bank is suprisingly empty.

As can be expected in the desert, it soon becomes obvious that the water in Dirt is very scarce. With the big tap to the water supply being broken and the reservoir in the bank running dry, many of the citizens are getting restless and it's up to Rango to fix it. While struggling between keeping his act up and finding water to keep Dirt alive, Rango discovers that there just might be more going on than meets the eye...


Beautiful graphics
Being made by Industrial Light & Magic and the same director from Pirates of the Carribean, Rango is not necessarily targeted at children. Although not explicit, there are many adult themes and the humor has an adult edge as well. The story might be a bit cliché when it nears the end, but Rango has enough good elements to keep it interesting.


One thing that can be said is that the animation is just stunning. The movements are very fluent and the details are simply amazing, from dirt in the animals' fur to every single particle in the eyes, it's all there. Not even one animal looks alike, but that is one of the main reasons they have so much character. The environment is also breathtaking. Many times I was wondering if it was animated or real.

The voice actors also did an excellent job, I thoroughly enjoyed Johnny Depp and Isla Fischer (Beans) in particular. Every voice matched his or her respective animal and gave the character much more depth.

Those eyes!

All in all, I really enjoyed Rango. Although not the best I've ever seen, Rango is a visual masterpiece and certainly worth the watch.

Into the digital space

With one more day to go before my vacation starts I finally got around setting up this blog. The idea has been floating around in my mind for quite a while now but I wanted to make sure I knew what I should let loose upon the world. (and trust me, it's alot!)
Of course I'll post whatever I see fit, but I wanted to keep a few main categories in mind that describe myself the most. Let me give you a quick overview of what they are:

• Graphic Design: I've been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil. After finishing high school I decided I should do something where I could let my creativity run free and finetune my abilities. It was then that I really became interested in Graphic Design, hence I'm studying a similar course in college.
• Music: I love listening to music, it's what keeps me going and makes me tick. I'm particularly fond of Trance, Dance, House and 90's dance music. (I blame it all on being born in the 90's!)
• Games: It all started when I got my first Gameboy game, which was Pokémon Blue. I came to love the adorable (and less adorable) critters and still do until this day. At the age of 15 I discovered MMORPG's. My first MMORPG was Ragnarok Online, which I played for about 3 years. After that I became immersed in World of Warcraft and its lore.
• Anime & Manga: With Pokémon I started to develop an interest in anime. It gradually evolved and became a real passion of mine. I like to watch as many titles as possible and collect almost everything I like.

This is only a small grasp out of everything you can expect, so I hope you guys are up to the challenge! :)

Nele over and out!