CONVENTIONS: Ozine Fest 2014

Last weekend I attended Ozine Fest, the biggest summer anime convention held every year. It's a three-day event held once again at SMX Convention Center in Mall of Asia. It started Friday, April 25 and ended April 27, Sunday evening. I went Saturday morning to pick up the Nendoroids and redjuice REDBOX artbook that I reserved with Onegai Onii-chan Hobby Shop. Thank you again, OOC, especially for the recently sold out artbook! I thought I'd never find a copy anywhere anymore. Anyway, I'll reserve my comments on REDBOX for my review next week so be sure to come back here to the blog. ^__^

Ozine Fest 2014 was my third convention attending as a solo photojournalist?  a photoblogger? (lol I'm not really sure what I am...) but definitely no longer the regular convention-going student I used to be. There were lots of new costumes this year, mostly from the latest anime series like Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) or Kill la Kill; this title only reminds me of Kill Bill haha. I only took a few photos this time because I had to leave early for an afternoon photography seminar courtesy of my mom's friend. Still, I'm happy with the pictures I have, especially after seeing fem!Sherlock and fem!Watson. You can see their pictures and other cosplayers after the break. 

Pigeon Roosting

The other night there was a tapping noise outside my bedroom window. It went tap then a scuffle or rustle. At first I ignored it, thinking it was the wind or the trees or something. The curtain was down so I really couldn't see what caused the sound and I was too lazy to move from my desk. Later I came back to room and my sister was on her bed, reading. There was another scuffle. My sister looked at me and said, "It's been going on for quite a while."

"You didn't check it out?" I asked. Nope. So I went over to the windows and drew the curtains apart. Beyond the glass, I stared into the darkness then over to my neighbor's house. There were a few lit rooms but I couldn't see any person. There was no wind so the trees weren't moving. Actually, they were too far from my room. So what could've made those noises?

I decided to open the windows and look outside. There was nothing to my left but when I looked over to the right, I saw a young pigeon resting on the sill. It was lying (sitting?) with its wings tucked it. It cocked its blue head towards me and observed me with its wide black eyes. It didn’t fly away but it was probably worried about the huge creature staring back at it. As the documentary enthusiast that I am, I got my phone and blinded the creature with the flash from my camera. Then I apologized with goodnights and tucked back inside my room. It shuffled on throughout the night.

The following day, the pigeon was gone. I thought it flew back to wherever it came from. Later that afternoon though, it came back to roost late again on my window sill. There it slept for two more nights, leaving early in the day and coming back before dark. I thought I had a new "pet."

But sadly, some new "pets" don't always settle in their temporary homes. Just the past Monday night, I peeked behind the curtains but the pigeon wasn't there. It still wasn't around late that night. Dad said it might've flown away with one of the flocks of migratory birds he saw earlier. Ah well, I do hope so. I'd rather think it found new family. Pigeons are better off hanging around other birds anyway.

Of Blood Moons and Lunar Tetrads

If you're like me and you live in the Eastern part of the world then you missed out seeing the "blood moon" eclipse last April 15, 2014. The Americans and a handful of smaller countries were able to witness the spectacular event. Unless they were asleep at that time.

What's a blood moon, you ask? Well quick trivia explains that a "blood moon" occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the moons completely in line with the Earth's shadow and particles in the atmosphere scatter sunlight all over the place. Did you get it? No? Well, a more accurate and scientific explanation about the total lunar eclipse can be read on the Earthsky.org website http://earthsky.org/space/why-does-the-moon-look-red-during-a-total-lunar-eclipse

So two days have already passed since the night of the eclipse. Imagine my family's surprise when we saw the dark orange moon rising over the mountains while we were having dinner. The moon wasn't as round anymore and neither was it as red. But a dark orange moon glaring at you through the darkness of the starless night has roughly the same effect. With the only camera I had, I captured several photos of the moon and hoped it would turn out okay.

Yep, a moon that strange..you can't miss it.

But the friends that I told to look at the moon either had cloudy skies on their side of the city or were occupied with other reasons so they missed it. Although a remnant of the total eclipse, the colored moon was still a beautiful and terrifying phenomenon to see. Sometimes though, I believe that unusual events have significant meanings as well, no matter what "coincidences" other people say. Earthsky.org has an interesting trivia about the 2014-2015 lunar tetrad here http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-blood-moon-lunar-eclipses-2014-2015.

Another eclipse is predicted to come about in October. In six months time, maybe I'll be able to see the red moon better.