The Kametsu Informer: Issue 6

The newsletter will now be a monthly publication, posted on the first of every month, until Java and I get settled into new jobs and we are no longer on the brink of starvation.

If anyone is interested in taking up the gauntlet for midmonth issues, I can walk them through the processes and provide a template for PDF versions. Also bear in mind you would have to edit submissions and write articles to fill quota (twelve articles per issue).

To somewhat make up for the loss, I’m going to relax the word count requirements a little.

Articles can now be as large as 750 words. This is about fifty words more than most people appear to recommend, and obviously 250 words more than our current target length. If it needs to be expanded further, it will be considered. The 100 word buffer will still be in place, meaning you can actually write articles as long as 850 words.

To be clear, the absolute word count range is 100 - 850 words. No less, no more.

Articles are now due on the 20th of each month, with a grace period lasting until the 23rd.

The new timeline should hopefully be of use to folks who may find the two week deadline too restrictive for a free publication.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please send them up!

I’d also like to address something. I read all of these articles several times (a minimum of three times—once for editing, again while I make the PDF, and again while I make the forum thread).

As such, I recognise when pieces of one submission are reused in another article. After dealing with attempts to submit plagiarised works, this kind of thing is both disgraceful and disrespectful. This may be a free publication, but it should be a quality publication. Please have respect for both the editors and your own talents by refraining from submitting low-effort articles.

All that grim business aside, in case you hadn’t noticed yet, the new superlatives are up. Please submit your votes by the 25th! More details can be found in the superlative thread itself.

I hope you all had a great spring and that summer will treat you well. Keep hydrated!

[ PDF Download ]

† *Emotional Outlet* · May 31, 2013

Productivity Software

Emotional Outlet

Most of this will be primarily of interest to writers, but it’s easily useful for anyone who might need some boosts in productivity on the computer.

Fullscreen Applications

FocusWriter

gottcode.org/focuswriter

Free

If you just need a simple fullscreen writing environment, FocusWriter may be what you’re looking for. You can set timers so you know when to take breaks, set goals, set themes (backgrounds and colours), and even have it play nifty little typewriter noises so you can feel like a real old-school novelist.

ZenWriter

beenokle.com/zenwriter.html

Free trial, $9.95

ZenWriter has a different set of bells and whistles. In addition to typing noises, you can select background music (saving you the effort of having to ALT+TAB over to your media player of choice and potentially getting distracted). There are some interesting things you can do with it, like create a table of contents and get an estimate of how long it should take readers to complete your document.

Dark Room

jjafuller.com/dark-room

Free

Dark Room, as mentioned on the site, is essentially a clone of the Mac application WriteRoom. If you think FocusWriter and Zen Writer have too many buttons and settings to play with, Dark Room is even simpler. You still have basic stats like word count and the like, but that’s all you got. It’s just you and your words now.

Timers

It’s important to take breaks! Work never really stops or pauses, so you have to be the one who stops for a moment. Take care of yourself and avoid overworking.

focus booster

focusboosterapp.com

Free

It’s just a timer. You can set session lengths and how long your breaks should be afterwards. The app also keeps track of how many sessions you’ve done, and if you don’t want to download it, there’s an online version that’s exactly the same.

pomodairo

code.google.com/p/pomodairo

Free

Another timer built upon the same principals as focus booster. This one has a few more features, like assigning a number of sessions to specific tasks. If you like to make to-do lists, this might be more your style.

Strict Workflow

chrome.google.com/webstore/category/apps

Free

So maybe the timer isn’t working out so well for you and you keep opening up Facebook, only to discover you’ve whiled away your entire 25 minute session. No worries, maybe Strict Workflow can be what you need. It blocks distracting websites like YouTube and Facebook, and does its level best to keep you on track.

Note Taking

wikidPad

wikidpad.sourceforge.net

Free

It’s not very pretty, but it gets the job done. It creates WikiWord links as soon as you type them, you can make to-do lists (there goes that list thing again), and it keeps all your separate documents together in a single Wiki project.

Tomboy

projects.gnome.org/tomboy

Free

Tomboy is less Wiki and more organised sticky notes, but the functionality is essentially the same. You can link together different notes and make use of a few add-ins. It’s a bit prettier than wikidPad, but lacks the tree structure.

===

Flu Shot: Hard Drives

Minkseru

Welcome to this issue’s Flu Shot.

Today we will be discussing that silent brick in our machine, the hard drive.

The first thing to note is that there are three kinds of hard drives: internal, external, and portable.

(Note that just because a hard drive is external, that does not necessarily make it portable.)

The biggest thing to note are how the motherboard transmits the information.

With the external, portable or not, you are running the hard drive from a USB port. meaning that you are going through two parts to the motherboard to transmit the info: hard drive to USB port to motherboard.

With internal hard drives, you are going directly from hard drive to Motherboard.

The non-portable external and the internal hard drives can both be used for most operating systems, but the speed and reliability of an internal drive begs it to be used for your main operating system.

On the more technical side of things, digging into what makes a hard drive work was kind of cool. (Did you know the first hard drives were the size of a double-door refrigerator?)

The easiest way to explain a hard drive is to think of an old-school vinyl album player.

You have discs that the album head magnetises in order to store data. This makes the "bumps" that the album headtop will read. I will admit that after this point I do not understand it all enough to actually break it completely down for you, kind of like the magic we call a printer.

Thus, for now, we will use this to explain it simply: it is an advanced album player that plays the memory it reads.

Selecting a hard drive can be simple. Here are some guideline questions for you.

If you are going to run an external hard drive, can your motherboard/CPU recognise it as a bootable device?

Can you fit everything you are running on the computer within half of the drive?

This latter bit is important for speed efficiency and for partitioning, something we will cover later.

This has been your Flu Shot.

† *Emotional Outlet* · May 31, 2013

Mach Speed Trio Review

AxelVIII

For those who want a multi-purpose music player, or for those who want a sort of watered-down iPod, I have a "not well-known" MP3 player that just might fit some of your needs.

The name of this piece of Tech is called the "Mach Speed Trio T2810C 4GB Media Player".

Price: $40 USD. (Prices may vary.)

This MP3 player comes with the following features:

2.8" touch screen (includes a stylus for when you find it difficult to put your finger on the screen).
1.3MP camera and video recorder for those who like taking photos and video, but don't want to carry a bulky camera.
Built-in speaker to show others your music, if you don't want to deal with the hassle of headphones.
Micro SD card slot supporting up to 16GB (this is in addition to the 4GB of onboard memory).
Memory can hold up to 2,000 songs, or 8 hours of video time.
8-hour battery life (rechargeable via USB).
Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, and WAV
Photo Formats: JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, and PNG.
Video Formats: WMV, FLV, and AVI.
Digital Voice Recorder for those times you need to record a quick message or reminder.
E-book reader (.txt)
Notebook feature: leave yourself a written note, or, if you don't know how to put it in words, you can write a message for others to read.
Calculator.
Stop Watch.
Date and tme located at the top left section of the screen, and you can change the time to go from local time, to world time
Finally, a feature I have been awaiting to be added to an MP3: Dual headphone jacks!

Now I will go over the pros and cons for the device. This will include many of its features.

Pros:

+ Long-lasting battery life.

+ Built-in camera and video recorder. I enjoy taking pictures while I'm out, but didn't like carrying my personal camera around all the time.

+ 4GB memory you can augment with a 16GB SD card, making a max total of 20GB.

+ Nice misc. features such as the Calculator, Stop Watch, and Notebook. Just means less for you to carry.

+ Dual Headphone Jacks. I cannot stress the awesome part of this enough. People who have tried to show their friends music using headphones will know such issues like having them ripped out of one’s ears by accident.

+ E-books, if you enjoy reading on the go.

Cons:

- The more you take the stylus out and put it back, the more it lessens the grip the MP3 player has on it, making it more likely to fall out and be lost.

- The stylus has a habit of sliding on the screen, making it difficult to unlock the device.

- The screen doesn’t recognize finger input most of the time.

- The clock. I don't know why, but on most occasions I turn off or plug my MP3 player in, it resets back to 1/1/11. Whether it's just mine, or all of them, I do not know.

- The MP3 auto-lock feature locks about every 3 minutes without use, and you can’t turn this feature off either.

I would rate the product a 7/10. I use it every day, and I enjoy it.

===

Most Popular Girls in School

Emotional Outlet

A word of warning--there’s a lot of strong language (every two seconds someone drops an F-bomb, I’m pretty sure) and there are some moments of cartoon violence. Obviously not something to show the kids with wild abandon, as they may wonder what a “mouth date” is. If strong language is a major strike for you, this series doesn’t seem like it will get much better in terms of language.

Maybe you’ve seen some GIFs of foul-mouthed Barbie dolls. Maybe you heard someone cursing someone named Ashley Katechadourian (she was supposed to be watching the door). Maybe you even watched an episode and had no idea what was going on.

Let me tell you about, how you say, Most Popular Girls in School.

It’s a stop motion Youtube series currently sitting at 24 episodes and two seasons. The channel updates with new videos every Tuesday. It’s about high school girls. Popular girls. Perhaps the most popular girls in school.

Described as a cross between Mean Girls and Robot Chicken, MPGiS features characters like Deandra the New Girl, known for her voracious appetite and even larger bowel movements; the Van Burens, a family with a legacy of head cheerleaders, a streak broken by middle child Shay; and the cheerleaders, headed by Mackenzie Zales, who is Head Cheerleader, homecoming queen, and part-time model.

The first season revolves primarily around the rivalry between the cheerleaders and the Van Burens, with Deandra caught in the middle. She plays both sides against each other, operating somewhere between purposeful manipulation, and almost single-minded focus on finding nice places to poop and consuming food.

It is worth noting that there are some problematic aspects to the series. Whether the depiction of POC, non-heterosexual relationships, and teenaged drama sits well with you is something you’ll have to evaluate for yourself.

For example, there are two canonically gay characters on the show--Tanner and his boyfriend, Tristan--and another character who is very likely in the closet about his sexuality--Jonathan, or rather, ‘Than. Tristan is a campy character, and ‘Than can be pretty offensive with his accidental-on-purpose innuendos (sometimes they are not even innuendos, they are explicitly sexual acts of a homosexual nature) and denial of his sexuality (while still coming across as more gay than Tanner).

Another point of possible contention is the pregnancy plotpoint of the second season. One of the characters discovers a positive pregnancy test in the girls’ bathroom and immediately punches one of the other girls in the stomach. Later a third party arrives and, upon being informed of the situation, promptly punches the same girl in the stomach, unaware of the previous assault.

Obviously this is a comedy series and these things are played for laughs (the girl is not pregnant, even before the punches; the football team tolerates ‘Than’s offensiveness because he appears to be sincerely ignorant of himself), but these things can be unsettling.

Ultimately, it is a hilarious series. It’s quotable to the max (‘I want to poop here”), the voices are fantastic (most of the people on this series are improv artists, which means there’s also high levels of creativity), and honestly, it’s stop motion Barbie dolls and they do a great job of conveying emotion through the eternally smiling dolls.

Give it a try if this sounds like it’s up your alley, the first episode is glorious!

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Bride Episodes 7 and 8

lolrawr

Image Sources: FFFansubs.org

Keiji spends most of the seventh episode trying to get Juubei back to normal. Being in her current state is dangerous to her body since "she's like a bike with its engine on full throttle." So they continue Qi training so Juubei can master it and return to normal.

It ends up not working, though, and Juubei passes out, meaning Muneakira has to give his Qi to her to save her life. She returns to normal just in time before the Dark Samurai come and try to fight Juubei. After that Keiji decides she has helped enough and leaves.

I guess those exercise balls are harder to balance on with your eyes closed.

Aww, is Gisen blushing?

Oh no, if Juubei doesn't get any Qi, she might die!

That's right, Muneakira. Take it! TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!

Be a little more honest? Wonder what she means... Her feelings towards Muneakira perhaps?

The eighth episode starts out with a mysterious Slayer who attacks Yukimura and Matabei. This leads to Matabei and Hanzou feeling insecure about themselves since they are not Master Samurai. Juubei also befriends the more reserved dark samurai, Inko-chan, and they spend the day together. Near the end the Slayer attacks again, but is mysteriously attacked and defeated by someone. Was it Inko-chan? (Ed: Yeah, probably)

Creeper crow gonna creep.

Juubei and Sasuke down for the count!

dealwithit.jpg crow

Aww, it looks like Inko-chan made a new friend.

Oh boy, another cliffhanger! Guess we'll find out next episode.

===

Dreaming Anime Reviews: Nightwalker

Dreamcastor

predederva.wordpress.com

Synopsis:

Shido Tatsuhiko is not only a private eye... he is also a vampire with no real memory of his past. Joined by Yayoi Matsunaga, a female government agent, Riho Yamazaki, an orphaned teenage girl working as his girl Friday and Guni, a little green imp, Shido must face demonic creatures known as Nightbreed. Meanwhile, Cain, the vampire who made him what he is now, is seeking him… [MAL]

Review:

This anime aired in the year of 1998 as a 12 episode series. Its all about the vampire Detective Shido and his three companions: an orphaned teenager, Riho; the female government agent, Yayoi; and the little green imp named Guni.

Guni has been with Shido since his previous run-in with Cain, his creator who has a obsession with Shido. Riho came along when her parents suddenly turned into demons, and since Shido was somehow involved, she kind of just attached herself.

Yayoi is a bit more complicated. Shido ended up helping her with some "family" problems when a demon became involved a few years back. She basically acts as a food source for Shido.

Anyways, Shido's job is basically him going around solving "weird" cases for Yayoi's government… sort of. It's complicated. Saving lives and trying to stop the newest diabolical plan Cain has come up with are just a few of the things that happen in this short series.

Plot: [5/5]

This series may be a bit old, but sometimes the older ones are the best. The storyline was done pretty well. I was engrossed throughout the entire series and compelled to watch until the end. Though, at some points you can kind of figure out what's going to happen next. The really throws you for a loop by throwing in a surprise twist for the last episode.

Characters: [5/5]

This anime may not have a whole lot of characters throughout the entire series, but that also helps. Sometimes it is better to watch an anime with fewer characters because it makes it easier to really understand and get behind their roles and stories.

Art: [4/5]

The art is good for its time. It may not compare to some of the much newer anime, but it has a very unique style art. I love gothic and darker type anime.

Sound/Music: [5/5]

The voices really match the characters, which is always a huge plus. The music really fits the anime. The music is deeper and a bit darker than normal music.

Awesomeness: [5/5]

This may be an old anime but it is very good. Its and older anime that just love watching over and over again.

Trinity Blood

Synopsis:

The background is in the distant future after the destruction brought about by Armageddon. The war between the vampires and the humans continue to persist. In order to protect the humans from the vampires, the Vatican has to rely on other allies to counter the situation. The protagonist, Abel Nightroad, is a traveling priest from the Vatican and a crusnik, a vampire that drinks the blood of vampires. He is a member of the "Ax", a special operations group led by Cardinal Catherina Sforza. He encounters a young girl called Esther, who decides to go with him to Rome and train at the Vatican. Soon after he meets her, the order of Rozencreuz, led by Abel's twin, Cain, tries to continue the war so they can rule the world. It's up to Abel and the AX to try and stop them. [MAL]

Review:

This anime centers around Abel Nightroad, a seemingly idiotic priest. The story is about vampires and humans trying to coexist and those who would try to destroy any hopes of gaining that peace. Abel is one who is trying to gain that peace, but later you find that his real agenda is to completely take down is evil twin brother, Cain.

For the most part Abel acts like a total clueless idiot, but when it comes to a fight… he is someone you definitely don't want to see in a dark alley… or anywhere else for that matter. He is actually a Crusnik, a vampire who feeds off the blood of other vampires. In other words, he is at the top of the food chain along with his brother and his sister, Seth.

Also helping Abel along the way is Esther, an orphan nun whose family was killed by vampires and later discovers her destiny lies in Albion. She originally hates vampires but as the story progresses, she wishes for peace between the races.

Ion, a prideful vampire who serves the Empress that was sent as a messenger to the Vatican. Whilst trying to deliver the message, he is betrayed by his best friend. He hates all Terrans (humans) but his friendship with Esther changes his views.

And finally we have Tres, a battle android that wields two guns. His speech is devoid of any kind of emotion and he says very little. Despite all this, every now and then there are instances where he displays some emotion.

Plot: [5/5]

This series has an amazing plot I found this series to be quite unique for a vampire series. It is full of suspense and action. It also has hilarious moments that make you wonder what is going on. All of this provides an excellent story.

Characters: [5/5]

This story has a wide variety of characters you just can't get enough of. Some characters will relate to you at some point. The mixture of characters is perfect and really adds to the anime.

Art: [5/5]

All I got to say on this is BEAUTIFUL! The artworks is one of the most beautiful artwork I've ever seen used in an anime. This one that makes me really strive to improve. It is beyond outstanding.

Sound/Music: [5/5]

Like the art, the music used is also very beautiful. The voice actors are amazing as well. They really fit the characters so perfectly.

Awesomeness: [5/5]

This is an absolutely amazing series that I highly recommend. I would actually rate this as 10/5… it's just that great!

Vampire Knight

Synopsis:

Cross Academy is an elite boarding school with two separate, isolated classes: the Day Class and the Night Class. On the surface, Yuuki Cross and Zero Kiryuu are prefects of the academy, and attempt to keep order between the students as classes rotate in the evenings. As the night class is full of utterly gorgeous elites, this can sometimes prove to be a bit difficult. It is completely necessary, however, as those "elites" are actually vampires. Yuuki and Zero act as guardians, protecting the secrets of the Night Class and the safety of the ignorant day class.

As the adopted daughter of the academy's chairman, Yuuki takes her job with a serious and energetic attitude. It also allows her to interact with her secret crush and savior, the night class' dorm president, Kaname Kuran. Zero, on the other hand, has a deep-rooted hatred against vampires, and at times, does not hesitate to kill.

Can vampires and humans co-exist, even in the strict setup of the Cross Academy? Only time will tell. [MAL]

Review:

The story centers around Yuuki Cross, the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy. She remembers nothing before she was found by Kaname, the head vampire of the Night Class, who helped the headmaster set up the school in order to help humans and vampires coexist.

Yuuki is deeply in love with Kaname. However, she started to let Zero, a childhood friend of hers and a vampire hunter whose entire family was destroyed by a vampire, drink her blood, hoping it would save him from the madness that is trying to consume him.

Yuuki’s weapon, “Artemis Rod", is an extendable staff she received from the headmaster to work against vampires who break the rules.

In the second season, Vampire Knight Guilty, you get a lot of your questions from the first season answered. A new problem threatens to destroy the very foundation of the school, including its students, as both human and vampires become victims.

Plot: [5/5]

This series has an amazing plot where you just never know what is going to happen. I found this series to be quite unique for a vampire series. It is full of suspense and action, and it loves throwing curveballs. It also has hilarious moments that will make you laugh. All of this provides an excellent story you just want more of. Both seasons are so very amazingly well done.

Characters: [5/5]

Art: [5/5]

The artwork may not be as amazing as Trinity Blood, but it is still amazingly well done.

Sound/Music: [5/5]

I love the music they used for this series, especially for the OPs and EDs. The voice actors are also amazing as well. They really fit the characters so well.

Awesomeness: [5/5]

This is an absolutely amazing series that I highly recommend. Definitely watch Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty.

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

Dreaming Gaming Reviews: The Sims 3

Dreamcastor

The Sims 3 is an awesome simulation computer game that came out in the summer of 2009. The Sims 3 is a continuation of The Sims franchise.

Electronic Arts once again delivers once again with another outstanding game. The Sims 3 has several upgrades, which have made this simulation game the most amazing yet.

Graphics is one of the biggest changes to the series. The graphics in this game are amazing and very realistic. Plus, there are loads more expansions and stuff that take The Sims far beyond anything else done in this series.

My favorite thing about The Sims 3 is the designing features that upgraded in The Sims 3. It is are way more advanced than the other two. This one lets you color and pattern any way you want, which the previous two Sims games didn’t. There are also more traits, jobs, opportunities, and other stuff. The options in the Sims 3 exceed all that has ever been done before in the Sims.

The newest expansion, Island Paradise, allows for something that has never been done before... underwater exploring, scuba diving, boat houses, and discovering undiscovered islands in the middle of the ocean you can build on. This expansion will bring The Sims to a whole new level.

Gameplay: [5/5]

I just love the gameplay in The Sims 3. It’s super easy, especially using cheats, and not a game you simply lose at. Even if all your Sims die… you are able to just continue on with a new Sim. There are so many interesting things to do in this game, I’ve spent hours playing it. I’m a designer, so I love the designing features.

Graphics: [5/5]

I love the graphics in The Sims 3. They are far superior to the previous Sims games. Though, with all the new expansions, the requirements of your computer to see it at its full capacity are higher.

Sound: [5/5]

This game has some pretty good, random music included, but it also give you the option to add your own music, which is very cool. The sound effects are very good at matching the actions you Sims are doing, and if you have the Seasons expansion, you can hear the amazing sound effects of all the weather. The funniest sounds are, of course, Simlish talk. Hearing the Sims language can be absolutely hilarious.

Features: [5/5]

The features in this game are outstanding. There are so many options to this game it is unreal. To think they are going to be adding even more… mind-blowing.

Overall: [10/10]

This game is simply amazing. if you like games that are easy and you don’t lose at, then this is definitely the game to play.

===

Pixie Haven Reviews: Wrath of the Lich King

Minkseru

nvate.com

Welcome to this issue’s Pixie Haven Review on World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King.

Bar Standard: 1 out of 2 Pixies.

Up until this point in the series, we have been keeping a couple of things very stable. You have to do the right dungeon layout or your team dies. Gear is extremely helpful, but not so much that you can't go in with a player equipped with slightly less effective gear, so they can start earning their gear. Finally, strategy is pretty thoroughly involved.

It does not quite get that second pixie for near end game, where most everyone is cookie cutter.

Graphics: 1 out of 2 Pixies

I felt this game could've really made a better choice on graphic style. In regards to the pewter cast styling that they used, also seen in a lot of miniature games (hence why I call it pewter cast styling), this game keeps true to the style.

It is overall a very smooth effect, but there are a lot of graphic glitches. For instance, when warlocks wear dresses and ride their felsteed, the dress cuts through the horse.

The areas all seem fairly different. The blood elves area is all high-tech, elegant magic structures, while the undead area has sickly green water.

Gameplay: 2 out of 2 Pixies

Every class actually seems to have a unique approach to their roles.

For instance, druids seem to have a decent bit of heal over times, while the paladin has single target spike heals. Rogues do single target DPS, while warlocks can do instant speed dots.

Level of Difficulty: 1 out of 2 Pixies

The first run through the game can be a bit difficult, but after you get to around level 40, you can generally take on things 7 levels or better on you. Maybe not multiple at a time, unless you're a paladin, but in general you can survive things well above what you should.

Sound: 2 out of 2 Pixies

Oftentimes, when I play games, the music, action sounds, and voiceover speeches make me want to punch the screen, but overall this game does not really grate my nerves. The overall music in the game changes depending on where you are, and is passive enough that you don't really feel a need to change it.

My overall rating for this game is 7 out of 10 pixies.

This has been your Pixie Haven Review.

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

Idea Theft

Emotional Outlet

Often I’ll see people say they want to talk about their ideas, but are afraid someone will steal them. Sometimes they worry about sending manuscripts to publishers because they’re afraid of theft.

If you’re approaching publishers who are so shady you have to worry about them stealing your intellectual property, you should probably go somewhere else with your work. Publishers have nothing to gain from stealing your work. They get so many manuscripts in a day that if there are any warning signs--like an overly paranoid writer--the manuscript can be rejected without ever being read.

Why would they even consider theft? They have no way of creating more content of that calibre without resorting to ridiculous and convoluted plans worthy of a sitcom. It would be more profitable, and easier, to simply get you into a legal contract and have you writing for them.

People come up with ideas all the time. Spend any amount of time on the Internet and you’ll see there’s always a constant influx of ideas and concepts. You may experience this influx yourself! After all, it’s unlikely you’ll have but a single good idea in your entire life.

Some people have great ideas that never come to fruition--maybe they’re easily caught in paralysing perfectionist traps or they think if they just wait a while longer and gain more life experience, they will be better equipped to write that story.

There is no perfect time to write. You may well end up finding more reason to put it off than actually do it, and if you can’t come up with a final marketable product, it doesn’t matter how original your idea is.

People tend to have more ideas than time and energy. I bet you have a friend who has a lot of great ideas and sits on them jealously, even though they never seem to do anything with these ideas. You might even be that friend. (I am that friend. Original character, do not steal.)

Not to mention it’s almost guaranteed there’s at least one other person who already came up with a startlingly similar idea. In fact, there may well be a successfully published story similar to your idea, making you the “thief”.

If ideas themselves don’t matter, what does matter? Execution. The weaving and mixing of details. Think of it this way: we’re in no danger of running out of FPS games. Ever. So what makes one worth playing over the other? Gameplay mechanics. Aesthetics. Music. Weapon choice. Setting. Plot. Multiplayer modes.

It’s the same for writing. There’s no shortage of romance novels, but some of them are about vampires, some feature polyamorous relationships, some are set in middle America, and some don’t end happily ever after.

While you can pull individual ideas and premises from these novels and draw comparisons, it’s the product as a whole that makes it original and worthwhile. A toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich is similar to a cheeseburger with onions and bacon in that they are both edible and feature bread with something between the slices. They’re still two disparate foods.

Don’t despair if someone has an idea similar to yours, and don’t feel like you’re a criminal because you have an idea similar to an already published work. As long as it’s the idea, and not the actual execution of the idea, being “stolen”. you’re golden.

===

Let's Read "Perfect Strangers"

Emotional Outlet

We left off on Lia about to confess something big to the girls at the sleepover.

===

“I… I… No,” she said firmly, taking a deep breath. “I am not straight. I am bisexual.”

The room went quiet again as the others took in this information. Some were clearly disturbed, and moved slightly away from her. It began to drive Lia crazy, so she began to pick at the loose strings on the pillow. She kept her eyes down, though she could feel some were staring at her as if she was a circus freak of sorts, someone that wasn’t a part of normal society.

In addition, it was true—the fact that she identified herself as someone who felt attracted to females, to someone with the same body as her, made her a social outcast. She hated it, loathed that people were quick to disqualify from many social activities because of that one difference. It drove her crazy that people would be so close-minded.

Who, Lia often thought, in their right mind would believe that just because I am bisexual, I am attracted to all females on this planet? It was something that bothered her, something she kept hidden in the back of her brain until it decided to show itself and plague her.

[You can see I’m setting up a bunch of strawmen my feeble teenaged mind can mow down. There are better ways of playing up the tension of discovering something like this, and it would have been easier if I didn’t have eight hundred characters to deal with.

Instead I ended up treating the other girls as a singular entity, driving me to focus more on Lia’s inner thoughts, which didn’t help the atmosphere much. It looks more like Lia is interpreting the scene a bit differently than the others.]

“Well,” one of the girls said uncomfortably—it was clear, however, through her discomfort that she at least had the nerve to break the heavy silence, unlike the rest who were too mortified by this discovery. “Who do you have a crush on, then, now that we’ve got that little fact out of the way?”

Glad to move on, Liathita said with her normal exuberance that she had a crush on the new girl, Gaelen Calian. The Calians had moved into the neighbourhood a few days ago, with their two daughters and son. Liathita had noticed they moved into the house she used to live in—she was walking through the area, trying to clear her head, when she saw the trucks in front of the house, the two parents carrying boxes and bags into the house from the SUV.

“Ooh, I think I have seen her when I went to the school Saturday. She’s pretty.”

[A lot of that information could have been conveyed through the conversation itself, rather than a flow-breaking paragraph infodump. Not that there’s much of a flow to begin with.]

“Yeah,” Liathita said, smiling. While she did not believe that her friends still accepted her now that they knew she was bisexual, but at least she knew they would not abandon her because of something like that. It was what she liked most about her friends—how they were willing to let something slide when it went against what they normally knew or believed in, how they were willing to understand there were differences and there was nothing they could do to change it.

[Here we have more infodumping and Lia making assumptions about her nameless friends.]

===

We’re almost done with this scene! Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion!

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

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† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

Happy Saturday! Be sure to read the announcement about changes to the newsletter!

Sorry for the unusual delay, last night while I was working I felt really dizzy and had to lie down for the night.

Anyway, as usual, thanks to our writers and editors for all their hard work, as well as to our donators for keeping the place afloat. If you appreciate the existence of this forum, please consider dropping a few bucks in the tin!

**Koby** · June 1, 2013

Why is all the anime reviews always 5/5 or near 5/5 in everything of every issue? lol.

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 1, 2013

I personally prefer to avoid reviews with ranking systems. It's just easier that way, haha.

Breathless · June 1, 2013

I was thinking of reviewing an anime that I didn't like before, but I find I don't really have any knowledge regarding them, since, I'm simply not interested in them. haha.

Anywho~ Another nice read this issue. Well done to the writers and editors, and everyone else between.

Dark_Angel13 · June 2, 2013

Good read this issue, forgot about it a little bit actually, will have a bunch of new articles soon but =)

Kinara Uzumaki · June 2, 2013

I've watched one episode of Vampire Knight in English and I can tell you that the dubbing was absolutely horrible. I did come across many similar complaints but I don't know if they were rectified later in the anime. Also the anime art doesn't do justice to the manga.........I know it is hard but somehow I felt that it was a letdown.

Nice reading anyways.

lolrawr · June 18, 2013

Why is all the anime reviews always 5/5 or near 5/5 in everything of every issue? lol.

I give this issue 5/5.

ALSO. That explains things!!! We're going to be monthly now. I can probably fit in another Samurai Bride episode. Then again there's only 2 more left so I'll hold off until next-next issue.

Anyway here are my thoughts.

Mach Speed Trio - Wow that is a small touch screen lol.

Samurai Bride - Ohhhh it's so lovely. o3o

Vampire Knight - Not sure if the "character" par was left out or they were meant to be just the score.

The Sims 3 - The 12th expansion with be EA telling you to buy Sims 4.

Idea Theft - "Think of it this way: we’re in no danger of running out of FPS games." Weeeeell I wish we would... But that's another topic for another day haha.

Perfect Strangers - Oh wow we almost done. That was quick.

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 18, 2013

Yeah, monthly until Java and I have jobs!!

Almost done!! Are you kidding, there are 50k words. We are far from finished with that monstrosity, hohoho.

I'm not an FPS person, so the amount of mileage that concept gets surprises me, even though it shouldn't. I know there are differences between the different games and people feel very strongly, but it all looks the same to me. Which rather demonstrates my point, haha.

The character commentary for Vampire Knight was removed because it was word-for-word the same as Trinity Blood. Since it was something I noticed even in a half-sleepy haze, I imagine it would be just as, if not more, evident to others.

If the past three Sims base games are any indication, Sims 4 base game will be mind-numbingly boring and will stay that way until they finally start rolling out expansions. In another life, I wouldn't follow a series that requires me to shell out hundreds of dollars for a product that isn't necessarily worth that much (seriously, the Sims is so buggy it's almost unplayable without third party hacks) from a company that doesn't respect me.

Alice · June 19, 2013

If the past three Sims base games are any indication, Sims 4 base game will be mind-numbingly boring and will stay that way until they finally start rolling out expansions. In another life, I wouldn't follow a series that requires me to shell out hundreds of dollars for a product that isn't necessarily worth that much (seriously, the Sims is so buggy it's almost unplayable without third party hacks) from a company that doesn't respect me.

I will agree that the Sims 4 will probably astronomically boring and not worth it til expansions...but even then I doubt that I'll play it. I rather love the Sims 3. Thou, I don't agree with the buggy part. My Sims 3 game as never really been buggy, At least, not that I have notice or wasn't due to my own computer. Thou, I heard the first expansion was extremely buggy. But I never got it. I've never had much issues with the game.

† *Emotional Outlet* · June 19, 2013

The Sims has been a buggy mess since almost the start, but it wasn't until TS2 that I started having to deal with gamebreaking bugs (like jump bugs). And then I learnt that the patches they'd release would sometimes be completely useless and occasionally introduce new bugs. To say nothing of EA's proclivity towards releasing buggy games in general.

When I got Seasons and the love letters were introduced, I'd get so many love letters and gifts that it bugged my mailbox into unusability. When I used debugging cheats to look at the mailbox inventory, there were dozens of stuck letters I couldn't delete. I eventually had to disable love letters altogether in order to keep my mailboxes functional.

There's stuff like too many cars will populate in the world, slowing the game to grinding halt, all because of some bad logic. I need a mod to delete the extra cars (some people reported seeing up to 165 extra cars in their neighbourhoods). I'll get random CTDs, saves will get corrupted, Sims will freeze or glitch into stuff. I had one problem where no one could go to work--I'd try to send them and they'd jump. It was a relatively new hood too.

The game can actually ruin your graphics card.

A lot of people have reported they don't hit the majority of their bugs until the third or fourth generation, which kind of flies in the face of the game's purpose.

I think what I hate most sometimes about the Sims community is how I'll run into people who legit think "don't use mods, they break the game!!!" The only thing keeping my game playable and stable are mods from Pescado and Twallan.

Which isn't to say that I hate the game. I obviously don't. I've been playing since the original game and I don't intend on stopping. But the reality is the game is pretty dang buggy straight out of the box. The upside is you can debug the game yourself and there are talented folk who know how to squash those bugs.

Pinkie Pie · June 23, 2013

Amen to that EO. I love the sims but it's a bit problematic. And that community wow. I was in it hardcore for a while, but I left because it was really back-stabby and if you weren't a big name creator no one really spoke to you. I hate that kind of elitism anywhere.

Alice · June 23, 2013

The Sims has been a buggy mess since almost the start, but it wasn't until TS2 that I started having to deal with gamebreaking bugs (like jump bugs). And then I learnt that the patches they'd release would sometimes be completely useless and occasionally introduce new bugs. To say nothing of EA's proclivity towards releasing buggy games in general.

When I got Seasons and the love letters were introduced, I'd get so many love letters and gifts that it bugged my mailbox into unusability. When I used debugging cheats to look at the mailbox inventory, there were dozens of stuck letters I couldn't delete. I eventually had to disable love letters altogether in order to keep my mailboxes functional.

There's stuff like too many cars will populate in the world, slowing the game to grinding halt, all because of some bad logic. I need a mod to delete the extra cars (some people reported seeing up to 165 extra cars in their neighbourhoods). I'll get random CTDs, saves will get corrupted, Sims will freeze or glitch into stuff. I had one problem where no one could go to work--I'd try to send them and they'd jump. It was a relatively new hood too.

The game can actually ruin your graphics card.

A lot of people have reported they don't hit the majority of their bugs until the third or fourth generation, which kind of flies in the face of the game's purpose.

I think what I hate most sometimes about the Sims community is how I'll run into people who legit think "don't use mods, they break the game!!!" The only thing keeping my game playable and stable are mods from Pescado and Twallan.

Which isn't to say that I hate the game. I obviously don't. I've been playing since the original game and I don't intend on stopping. But the reality is the game is pretty dang buggy straight out of the box. The upside is you can debug the game yourself and there are talented folk who know how to squash those bugs.

Hmm...I've never had any of those problems. I've honestly never experienced any game-relate bugs. So I can't say that I agree with you. I have all the expansions[except World Adventures, heard a lot of bad stuff about that one] Plus, I have all the stuff and store items and whatnot...and also the nraas cheat things. Never seen any of those bugs. The only one I have noticed is that sometimes a Sim will get stuck in a fountain or staircase.

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