Otaku, une marque française

Howdy Y'all!

My name is Lt. Mowgli, a friend of the La Tenoli. She has given me the privilege of guest posting on her blog. I am also a Japanophile, age 21, live in the Washington DC area, and have a background in the Japanese, French and Spanish Language.

This is my first blog post so I hope you enjoy this entry and others to come.

Let's get started shall we?

Bonjour tout le monde! Comment allez-vous?

Today's topic is Otaku, a French clothing brand, une marque française (discovered via MaterialKillers)

みんな、聞いてください！Tout le monde, écoute s'il vous plaît

日本に「おたく」or "Otaku"があまりよくない言葉ですよ。The word "Otaku" refers to people who are obsessed with anime, manga, video games or all three. While the term is basically used to call someone a "fan" of particular interest or hobby, it generally has a very negative connotation, which many Japanese people would not like to be associated with and may even be insulted by.

The name "Otaku" alone is quite striking for brand when knowing this background information. Despite any negative associations with the word, Otaku has released fresh fashions targeted toward video gamers.

Otaku was featured at Japan Expo last month, in July. Similar to how Otakon of Baltimore, MD is a a large anime convention, Japan Expo is an annual Japanese pop culture convention in Paris, France that started in 1999.

Check out the video of the Expo below!

JAPAN EXPO 2010 : visite du stand OTAKU T-shirts
Uploaded by bertrand_amar. - Click for more console and PC gaming videos.

Their 2010 fall and winter collection is now available at several retailers so swipe your t-shirts asap! (check out the designs on their blog!)
Although their website has not yet launched, you can subscribe for when it does and in the meantime follow them on twitter.

Till next time!

Lt. Mowgli

Hideo Kojima's visit to UNIQLO (SoHo, NY)

Yesterday I attended the KONAMI X UNIQLO event at the Uniqlo in SoHo.
Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the famous Metal Gear Solid games, was there to sign autographs coinciding with the release of 8 limited edition MGS Peace Walker T-shirts to be sold at Uniqlo.

There's a rule I came up with after my first Jimmy Eat World concert proved slightly disappointing; I couldn't even snag a setlist. You have to think like the craziest fan. And although I knew the craziest fan would either sleep outside Uniqlo ( which was rumored to have happened ) or get there EXTREMELY early ( 8 AM? ) I still couldn't get my lazy butt out of bed fast enough. The originally planned 9:30 arrival was pushed to 10:40 and by that time Mr. Kojima's fans totaled over 300+ !! ( Mind you, the event didn't start till 12 ) I stood online till 2:00 when it was announced that the autographing was done. Needless to say I did not get an autograph or win a raffle prize, but I did get the T-shirts! :)

(Left To Right: Mike, John, Richie, Pedro, Jose)

The guys were extremely hilarious and made the 3hr and 15min wait a lot more bearable! 

Although I'm not a proud PSP owner, I did get a chance to play the Peace Walker demo last year at the Tokyo Game Show. Co-op was a lot of fun, and you know it means something coming from me, because I'm not a shooter type gamer.  So for all you PSP owners who are still skeptical - go find yourselves a friend who's got Peace Walker and check out the co-op mode; I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend! 

Stay tuned for this week's Tenoli Tuesday post; it's going to be a good one :3

La Tenoli

"Tenoli Eats A Canoli"

"Tenoli"
"Is that Italian?" / "It reminds me of the word 'canoli'"

They rhyme, but it's not Italian. Although I really can't say I mind the "canoli" association, afterall, I'm a tenoli canoli-lover myself. Can't remember the last time I had a canoli, so image my excitement when I find a stand at Rochester's Annual Lilac Festival that made fresh canolis! ( * o*)

 A rather sexy canoli, if you ask me.

I gotta say though, I was slightly disappointed that I had to hunt down the lilacs and that upon arrival to the "lilac area" most of them were dead - Nevertheless I was still able to find a few bright purple and in full bloom. (They smelled so good!)

 

Graduation was amazing - "surreal" is probably one of the only ways to describe it. I have yet to upload the pictures from my sister camera onto my computer, but when I do, rest assured I will update and bombard you with some : )

******************

In other news - for those who love Japan & Jazz - check out this group I found Nippon Jazz NYC Meetup Group Who would have thunk it? They have a meet coming up this Sunday at 9:30 in the Blue Owl Cocktail Lounge - Check out their page for more info.

By now most of you already know about Japan Day (Sunday June 6th @ Central Park), but here are two more events that those Japan lovers in the NYC area might want to know about.

• First off, Tigresaa informed me a week ago about the event happening at UNIQLO (SoHo) on June 11th - Looks like MGS fans will get a chance to purchase exclusive Peace Walker Tees and meet the genius behind the game, Hideo Kojima. Fans will also have the chance to win a PSP Peace Walker Bundle!~ So for more details on that, check out Spawn Kill's Post.
• Yesterday or the day before (graduation has messed up my sense of time) I found out about the NY JapanTown Festival which will come just in time to take care of our post JapanDay withdrawal! It's basically 3 events spread out more or less a month apart with 3 different themes and held at 3 different locations! (via @Wendy_Tokunaga) Check out the official blog hea!

I'm excited about all these events and I hope to get some video and photos on camera to share with all of you! So stay tuned - this summer is looking more and more exciting every minute! (^ o^)/

BAI バイ

La Tenoli

Triumvir Super Street Fighter X Collection

Another fail for La Tenoli this week with a lack of Tenoli Tuesday updating - senior week/graduation is keeping me a little TOO busy. Post-graduation plans aren't finalized so it's been a crazy two-three weeks.

Enough of that. Let's get on to the good stuff!~

Yesterday was my first time seeing the Super Street Fighter IV commercial - I was really impressed with the style of the art they used which was very reminiscent of the opening of the game.
Roaming around my Tumblr dashboard, earlier today, I stumbled upon some news of Triumvir's Super Street Fighter X [T-shirt] Collection (via MaterialKillers)
With all the hype surrounding the game, the work will do itself.
I checked out the site, where it is said you can pre-order the tees that will be available at the online stores and selected retailers the first week of June. 

Here's a screen shot of the thumbnails for the t-shirts.
I personally love the sketchy drawing style of the art and the accents of color.  All the t-shirts are available in black and white, which depending on the character, I think makes the graphic a lot more interesting.

I'd love to cop an Akuma tee for AtomSk and a Chun-Li one for me, でも I haven't figured out how to pre-order, lol. So hey, if any of you figure it out, hook a sista up! : )

Oh and check out the M.Bison poster - Did you know his Japanese name is Vega? WT--?! (Learn something new, and confusing, everyday.)

Looking forward to a special guest blog from my good friend Tigresaa in the near future.

Till next time Tenoli-lovers!~ :D

La Tenoli

Monokuro Boo - The NDS Game!

Monokuro Boo - I love you!

Current Desktop Background.

His name's "Lil' Baby Dan" - Don't ask, lol.

I've got the plushie. I've got the wallpaper. And now I've got the DS Game! X3
(I haven't played much yet, but it's basically a Fat-Tenoli-Piggies version of Bejeweled - lol)

Kakitori kun // かきとりくん

Just recently bought this game.
It's was made for elementary school students to gain more practice with Kanji. It helps you learn the stroke order and gives you the meaning and examples of words it's used in - however you might have to use an additional English dictionary since there is NO English in the game.

There's a challenge mode that offers several options - "Change from kanji to furigana" "Change from furigana to kanji".
I haven't played it enough at this point to really criticize it.
This is available for sell on ebay, but it's pretty expensive.

SO - I'm not sure how many of you would be interested in this game, but if you are, and can let me know within the next two weeks, I can buy you a copy and ship it out to you once I get back to the states. The cost will most likely total $20 (game & shipping) The used copy of the game costs ￥1,500 here.
So if you are interested, send me an email to mydearlybeloved1 [at] gmail [dot] com