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__THISRES__100357.jpg "Trick or Treat by °chanelqueen17 1 month 2 weeks ago")
^nat
After months of work, chanelqueen17 has created a gorgeous scene of Alice and Oz from Pandora Hearts, using scans that didn't even feature both characters together. Even after spending so much time on matching the details of the characters to their new looks, chanelqueen17 didn't stop there and went all out on the background too! This wallpaper definitely needs to be seen!
ShoutBox
$Loftydreamer
7 minutes ago
Are you sure you want bacon. Bacon seems to be more of a man's meat. Wouldn't that betray you as a trap Aki?
:3CloudGer
10 minutes ago
Huzzah!
`akiranyo
20 minutes ago
Too many unknown people and no bacon at all.
~yuukiXshiki
48 minutes ago
^^ shiki..... where are you?
~kingstone1945
58 minutes ago
Anywhere...anytime...say 'he-yo'<hello and yo> to everywhere...
~Crimsonwill
1 hour 32 minutes ago
Hello =]
☆Bantam
1 hour 36 minutes ago
Hey guys 
$Poey
1 hour 50 minutes ago
; )
~kingstone1945
2 hours ago
XO
~bloodthirsty09
2 hours 10 minutes ago
XDDDD
Vista Vs. XP
2 years 3 months ago
"I personally don't like Vista for the following reasons:• So many "editions". Please just release one, we don't need 1,254,698 to the power of 4 in different versions of the same freakin' OS.
• Too many unnecessary UI changes and rearrangements - every time I use Vista, I can't help but ask myself, "Why the heck did MS change that?" about something and am constantly searching for things because they aren't where they used to be. Don't get me wrong - change is good in a lot of cases, but here they were 100% unneeded.
• Requirements to run Aero smoothly are too high and artificially push hardware progress. Both Mac OS X Tiger and OS X Leopard Beta (yes, I have an Apple Developer account) are both fully capable of everything Aero offers but takes only a fraction of the requirements - I've run them both on my old 1Ghz iMac with a wimply little 32MB nVidia GeForce4 graphics card and 768MB of RAM and they run almost as smoothly as silk. Heck, Tiger even runs on my 400Mhz iMac pretty well as long as it has 512MB+ RAM.
• Aero took the whole glossy bit too far. After using Vista for more than 15 minutes, my eyes start to become strained from everything being shiny. At the very least, MS should have included a toned-down more matte-based skin so I can look at a decent modern UI without completely switching off Aero and going back to the dinosaur Win9x/Win2k look.
• Under the hood changes really aren't all that major. While some were rather significant, they were nowhere near as great as MS seems to indicate and certainly aren't worth $150+.
• Microsoft is using Vista to push their super-proprietary DirectX crap even more. I personally hate DirectX with a passion and wish MS would abandon it and start putting effort into OpenGL, just like how Apple dropped QuickDraw 3D long ago and started developing OpenGL.
• Thanks to Microsoft not enforcing UI standards on Windows developers, quite a bit of Windows software looks like utter crap under Vista because it has the old Win9x interface but has the Aero frame around its windows. Feels very cheap and "tacked on".
• Microsoft is too concerned with backwards compatibility. Stop building on the same old base! Things like the registry are extremely archaic and should have been abandoned long ago. They should have just forgotten about backwards compatibility completely, actually produced a REAL modern OS with a completely new codebase, and forced developers to come up to the new standard. They also should have had a "Classic Mode" ala OS X that allows Win2k to run in a layer above Vista for old software.
• Vista goes after its ancestors and still has everything hooked into everything else. As has been demonstrated time and time again before, that means one hole in a completely unrelated area can yield full control of something else. This major flaw could be fixed if Microsoft changed to a more modular, area-independent design (similar to BSD/various Linux flavors/OS X).
• This is pretty minor, but it still bugs me. "Vista" is a pretty tacky name - more creativity please, lol.
So yeah... whenever I have to use Windows, I'll be using XP and not Vista, at least until nothing runs on XP any more, or until MS decides to scrap the current crap codebase and start something new."
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Online Design Jobs as a Teenager
2 years 3 months ago
"After searching all over the place, I'm beginning to think it's a pipe dream. Although I have adequate skills and have even designed for a company over the internet in the past (which was a result of dumb luck), I have almost no chance of competing against other artists for work since I haven't been through college and as a result, don't have a degree.I am currently 18 and plan to enter college in January, and would like to be able to use my skills to earn myself some extra money both before and during college attendance. I have been working with Photoshop since 2001 and have a 9x12 tablet, so I'm quite familiar with the necessary software and even have the tools necessary. Take a look at my gallery here and my site if for examples of my work.
So do I stand a chance or not have one at all? If I do have a chance, where do I start? One thing a few people have told me is build a portfolio, but that's awfully hard to do when you have no customers...
Thanks in advance for any input on this matter, and I sincerely apologize if this sounds like some sort of advertisement - that certainly isn't the case, I'm just looking for advice."
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What do you think of youth nowadays?
2 years 3 months ago
"Well, as an 18-year-old who had parents who tried as hard as possible and did everything in their power to discipline me and raise me properly (which I am inexplicably thankful for), I have to say that I believe it's a combination of many factors.1. Parents these days either do not care for their children or are too busy to properly care for them, which kills any possibility of the parents forming bonds with their children and ensures that the children will not even learn the very basics.
2. As a result of factor #1, parents are throwing their kids in school as soon as possible. Why, you ask? Well it's quite simple, really. Free babysitting! If their kids are in school, the parents don't have to worry about them for 3/4th of the day.
3. Once in school, kids immediately pick up and imitate the bad influences in the class, since they had no good influence from their parents to take up the same spot. This is compounded by the fact that kids will feel the need to fit into the crowd. Because of this, the kids grow up without any sense of responsibility and their conscience never develops.
Once all of the factors combine and the children reach their teenage years, the natural rebellious nature of the teenager takes over and they refuse to listen to anything their parents say since no bond was formed when they were young. Then, since they have no sense of guilt or responsibility, they do whatever they want or whatever someone else tells them to do.
It's quite sad, really. All that would be needed to stop this madness is for parents to actually start giving a damn about their kids and put some effort into teaching, loving, and caring for them, because then, even if the "bad eggs" of society try to sway the will of teen whose parents care, the teen will know better an have the resolve necessary to simply say, "No.""
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Art isn't cute
2 years 3 months ago
"So "real" art can't be cute, eh? To me, it sounds like your teacher needs to loosen up some - being serious as a heart attack all the time isn't healthy.Art has such a broad definition that there is no one true set definition for it, other than "a creation that appeals to the senses". What one person considers art may be trash to someone else. For example, although Picasso is looked to and respected almost universally by artists, I don't find anything interesting about his work at all. Does that really make his work any less "art" than the work of an artist I'm a fan of? I think not.
And besides, if your teacher thinks all anime is cute then she needs to wake up. Tell her to go watch Ghost in the Shell or Akira and then ask her what she thinks."
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Full Metal Panic - A Bright Future
2 years 4 months ago
"Heya!I just got finished "vectoring" the characters from a scan for my wallpaper and I am now having trouble finding what I need to complete its background.
Click to Enlarge
In the wallpaper, Kaname, Tessa, and Sosuke are standing on the roof of a building in some city. That's where the problem comes in - in order to make the desk look as I just described, I need a cityscape stock photo to vector and put in the background. I have checked several different sites and searched the internet over and I can't find a fitting free stock photo to base the background on. Sure, I could buy a stock photo for it, but I really can't afford that at this point.
Any suggestions on where I might be able to find an appropriate photo? Thanks!
P.S. - Don't worry, I'm not finished with the roof that they're standing on. The final product WILL be more than just slate grey, I promise :P
EDIT: Fixed broken link."
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Piercings and Tattoos
2 years 4 months ago
"I don't have any tattoos or piercings and don't really want any - not only because I don't think it looks all that great at my current age, and because it looks/sounds painful to put in/on, but just think: they're gonna look absolutely horrible when you're 50+ years old and all wrinkly."View
My latest work
2 years 4 months ago
"Not bad at all, although I agree with the previous posters' suggestions about the color and lineart. The Lineart needs a little more cleaning, and some of the colors need to be more saturated. Also, while it might be asking too much, I think some soft shading on the characters would help out too."
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Athlon vs Celeron
2 years 5 months ago
"Well, while I'm certainly no expert on the subject, Celerons have pretty much always been a joke, even from day #1. That's not to say all Pentiums are bad - Core Duos are pretty nice.In this case though, yeah, go for the Athlon."
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Smoking
2 years 5 months ago
"About the last bit there... Please try to keep in mind that non-smokers are much more sensitive to smoke than smokers are, sometimes close to hundreds of times more sensitive - for example, I don't smoke, and the least little bit of tobacco smoke can get me choked up and teary-eyed. Those that appear to be unreasonably coughing may actually be having trouble.
As for my opinion on the matter, I will never smoke, ever. The stinky, nasty habit killed my mother a few years ago and I have learned well from that. While I won't force my decision on others, I do beg other smokers to return that politeness and not blow smoke my way if I happen to be passing by."
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Most Kawaii Anime Character~?
2 years 8 months ago
"How anybody can talk about kawaii anime characters without mentioning Aoi from Ai Yori Aoshi? Seriously...And yes, Chii has a certain high ranking on the cuteness scale..."
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Yeah so i purchased Windows for the First time....
2 years 8 months ago
"Agreed. That way, even if you don't like it, it didn't cost you anything.
If you have any technical knowhow at all, though, you might come to prefer it."
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What anime made you cry?
2 years 8 months ago
"I haven't watched very many sad animes, but a few episodes of FMA, Cowboy Bebop's ending, a few parts in Ai Yori Aoshi ~Enishi~, Chobits' ending, and part of Scrapped Princess' end made me cry.While not quite tear-jerking, there were some really sad parts in Fruits Basket and another anime which I can't think of at the moment (possibly Neon Genesis Evangelion)."
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Anime: Entertainment or Art?
2 years 8 months ago
"I believe that any good anime is a mixture of both art and entertainment; a good anime won't focus only on its artwork and ignore the story, and vice versa. The animes that fail to blend both at least fairly equally don't hold much value for me. For example, if the series is filled with amazing art, but a horrible storyline, I can't make myself watch it. While less extreme, the same is true if the anime has a great story but looks like it was drawn by retarded monkeys - sometimes I can watch it, but I really do prefer that the show in question have a nice balance of both artistic value and entertainment value."View
Apple ads seem to be having an effect, Kid throws PC out window
2 years 9 months ago
"I could just be my opinion, but people really shouldn't have to perform regular stringent spyware/virus cleanings and backup every other day. Backing up is good, sure, but I only do it every two or three weeks.But yeah, this kid was a stupid brat. If he wanted a Mac so badly he should've gotten his lazy butt up and worked to earn it."
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Do you smoke?
2 years 9 months ago
"Yes, I see what you're saying, but really the small amount of pleasure obtained from smoking (if any, ugh), not to mention the cost, is not worth the risk. I would much rather die young never having smoked than to die old smoking the whole way.
"
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AI?! LOVE?!
2 years 9 months ago
"Love, whatever type it may be, is certainly necessary to us as humans. We were not designed to be solitaire; we were meant to live with some sort of companions and around other humans. At a deeper level, all of us have a desire to care for someone and to be cared about ourselves.A good way to put it into a single line is as written in John Donne's Meditation XVII, even though it's in different context: "No man is an island, entire of itself...""
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Do you smoke?
2 years 9 months ago
"Me? Smoke? Hell no. It's a nasty, stinky, ugly habit that would end up driving me broke and killing me. In fact, I hate it so much, that if any of you guys ever see me smoking in real life, I'd like you to give me a hard slap in the face."View
Why do people just have to tell evryone that they hate dubs?
2 years 9 months ago
"So, if I read correctly, you wish to discuss the pros and cons of subs vs. dubs without our feelings on dubs injected?"View
Which do you like, watching old classic or new anime?
2 years 9 months ago
"I don't really prefer one over the other. Some of the classics are simply amazing, and the same can be said of newer anime. One thing that newer anime generally has over older, though, is more crisp/vibrant animation and audio. That's not to say that some of the classics had bad animation, though - there are some classic that have animation that is better than modern at times."View
Imac
2 years 9 months ago
"Not too sure about the academic part, as I've never purchased as a student.One little thing I'd like to comment on, though, is the amount of RAM you're looking at purchasing. Do you really need 3GB? I have 2GB in my older 2Ghz iMac G5, and I've had a LOT of stuff going all at the same time on it - we're talking video editing in Final Cut Pro, bunches of large pictures open in Photoshop, music playing in iTunes, several web browser tabs open, along with smaller apps such as an AIM client and a text editor open - without any noticable slowdowns at all.
Also, I'd advise buying the iMac with the base amount of RAM and buy the rest elsewhere then install it yourself. This is because Apple tends to overcharge for RAM pretty badly.
As for Leopard, I could be wrong, but I seem to remember a voucher coming with my Mac that gave a discount on the next release of Mac OS X. I could be completely off, though :P"
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Vista Vs. XP
2 years 9 months ago
"I have yet to find an antivirus program for any version of Windows that doesn't impact performance negatively in a signifigant way... Even AVG slows Windows down considerably, even as much as by 15 percent a clean W2K install.Is this the case for Vista as well? I haven't had the chance to extensively test antivirus software with Vista yet."
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How do you watch Japanese anime ?
2 years 9 months ago
"It just depends. Although I obtain most of my anime via BitTorrent, I watch some of it on Adult Swim (namely Trinity Blood, Bleach, and Eureka 7).As for dubbed/subbed, it just depends. In my opinion, Japanese with English subs ISN'T universally the best - I found that Cowboy Bebop, Fruits Basket, Vision of Escaflowne, and a few others were actually more enjoyable and easier to understand with an English dub. There's some stuff, though, like Love Hina and Naruto in which the dubs are despicable freaks of nature that I just cannot watch no matter how hard I try..."
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Meaning of Youe name
2 years 9 months ago
"My name is John, which means "God is Gracious" or "Gift from God". The name's roots are Hebrew, even though my parents were a mix of german and welsh (father) and Irish and misc. (mother)."View
Dont you hate it...
2 years 9 months ago
"Well, I don't mind if a good anime ends somewhere between 50 and 75 episodes (examples include Full Metal Alchemist, Eureka Seven), but if a good anime ends at around 24-26 episodes it really makes me mad. Good examples of anime that fit this criteria would be Fruits Basket, Cowboy Bebop, and Chobits. Their endings left me really, really wanting to see more of them. The only good anime that I've seen that ends well in only 26 episodes is The Vision of Escaflowne.While it's a rarity, and I haven't actually seen any of them, I think I'd enjoy a long anime that managed to keep it quality throughout 100+ episodes. Bleach is looking like it might be that way; I'm currently at episode 20 and so far it's been pretty good."
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do your parents say you watch weird things with anime
2 years 9 months ago
"I usually don't have any trouble with it. Occasionally my dad will make fun of mismatched dubs (characters moving their mouth after speech has ended) like the old Godzilla movies from the 50's whenever he sees me watching a subbed anime, but it's not all that bad and I find it kind of funny."View