Ze Toronto Trip of ‘o9!

Ze Toronto Trip

DAY ONE.
We (Ed + myself) got to the airport at 7 in the morning, and we got on the plane at around 9. :D

The movie showing on the plane was the HANNAH MONTANA MOVIE, I shit you not. Rather than burning my eyes out of their sockets, I played Pokemon Platinum for the wholeeee flight. I also listened to music and went into trance-like states. I’m not crazy. )8
Ed read his Harry Potter book and took blurry pictures. Eh heh hehh.
We also had a creepy old guy sitting next to us on the plane — well, next to Ed — and he pretty much dozed on Ed’s shoulder the *whole* way up.

We didn’t take any pictures on the first day, aside from a few random ones on the plane, but, oh god. it. was. funnn.
We ~surprised~ Mai at her apartment, since us visiting in Toronto = a birthday present from her parents to Mai. (Hence why I never mentioned it before) And even though she had her little suspicions (I KNOW WE SURPRISED YOU, DON’T GIVE ME THAT), she was still ecstatic. We were all bouncing off the walls, it was crazy. I was *shaking* with excitement. I’ll never forget it. Her mother picked us up from the airport, and when we arrived at the apartment complex, she left to get the video camera to record the "OMG WHAT R YOU DOING HURR GUYZ" moment. Ed and I had to stand in front of the elevator, *perfectly quiet* as to not alert Mai of our noisy presence, for 3 minutes. Every 10 seconds, I poked Ed in the shoulder and asked, "ED DUDE CAN WE GO YET." And Ed would push me and say, "NO WE STILL HAVE x SECONDS." We hopped around silently for the 3 minutes, then sprinted down the corridor once it was up. It was brilliant.

The rest of that day was spent parading all over Toronto like a bunch of druggies.
→ Ed, Mai and I went down to the lake, where we chillaxed for the entire afternoon.
→ Ed karate-chopped a fly, RIGHT IN HALF.
→ We ate tons of pizza AND sushi. I have a light appetite, so I didn’t eat too much, but Ed pretty much died afterwards, since he ate… a plate of sushi and 3 slices of pizza. Plus ice cream and a shiteload of drinks.
→ Robin arrived at 11 that night, Robin and Ed watched some pointless gory horror film which I was *strongly against*, as I HATE that sort of thing, whilst Mai and I watched some Skins. PRETTY FABULOUS. Afterwards, we all watched Knowing together, it was pretty good. |D But the ending was a little, uh, woah.

THAT WAS DAY ONE. ♥

Day 2 = Warped Tour. My very first, to be specific. It was pretty fabulous, I don’t have much to compare it to (since only a few worthwhile bands come to Trinidad, and the crowd is always terrible), but still. A BLAST.
AND I GOT INTO NO FIGHTS THIS TIME. GO ME.

= Mai, reading out the list of artists we were gunna check out.
The majority of bands on the original lineup bailed out (;o;), but we ended up watching tons. UNFORTUNATELY, we did not get to see Jeffrey Star. DO NOT JUDGE ME, I WANTED TO SEE HIM. oh well…

After The Devil Wears Prada, we checked out 3OH!3. o3o I don’t like them that much, but it was fuuunnn. Please observe mohawk guy #345961 and his bright pink ears

CUE PICSPAM OF WARPED

ahahaaa


STORY TIME.
Mai smooshed her diet coke, and then Ed put it next to his. Then everyone was like, "it’s so TINY. omg it’s JAMIE!" And they lined up all the drinks. The other coke is mai and the water is Ed. I have dubbed Robin as the miscellaneous pouch in the corner, because she IS ALWAYS LAYING DOWN.

idk what she was trying to do
ed and robin xD

Robin, myself, and Mai. We were waiting for Antiflag to come on o3o

And they… were epic. I WISH we rushed into that crowd, but we had really awesome seats on some miscellaneous railing, so w/e. THEY PLAYED A SONG BY THE CLASH. )8 We all sang along (badly), but eh. 8D

We went for cotton candy afterwards.


facial…hair…?

blue lips :D

After that, we left.

Mai took some other exit, so we ended up having a fence splitting us apart. We made a big commotion out of this, naturally.

Mai’s mother was going to pick us up due to our lack of having a car, but uh. Something came up, and so, we were stranded by the highway for a good while. Like, 2 hours maybe?
oh, and that’s me kicking something impressively as ed "tsk tsk"s.

IT WAS HERE, we were stranded just across the street (and a little up) from here. xD;;

See? always laying down.

Mai had to pee, so we bugged a security guard to let us into this weird theater-esque building to use the loo, rather than the fire hydrant.

This is what I do when I’m bored

I bought shades at a miscellaneous booth at Warped. :>

I annoyed Mai by taking this picture, plus other variations of it
BUT IT’S SO CUTE

We went to the Hard Rock cafe afterwards…

I could not tear my eyes away from this bass. IT’S SO EPIC OMG. ;;

THAT WAS PRETTY MUCH DAY 2. Warped and Hard Rock, and later that night, we went back to the lake (pictures are after Day 3, I explained why there) and when we got back we all watched Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist ♥! It was sososo good. ;; I bought the DVD later on. o3o

Mai and I went for a midnight stroll afterwards, walking Ed back to his hotel, in our pajamas. It was sort of cold, but eh. As we wandered, we saw a gay couple holding hands, they looked like they were 20 or 21? Anyway, we decided to stalk them because we were creepy and hyper, so we did for a while. Idiocy aside, it was really cute. In Trinidad, no one does that sort of thing, since everyone here = homophobic. So if anyone did, they’d probably get hell for it. Or hurt, which would be even worse. It’s a shame, and it pisses me off, but who cares; 2 more years and I’m *hopefully* out of here.

NOW, DAY 3.

walking…

also, we’re wearing our OMGMATCHING Warped shirts (it was unplanned, I SWEAR. and mine was "Small," but SO BIG FOR ME LOL.)
people kept coming up to us and asking how the Tour was. This included a scruffy hobo holding up a sign saying "money for weed."

also known as "heaven on earth." or something close to it.

more walking

AND SHOPPING.
Mai danced dirtily with that for a while. Ed got some stuff, and I bought 3 shirts and some more bracelets. o3o Robin bought 2 shirts, I think.

effective advertising |Db

olol

We splurged at a candy parlor, then saw "God’s Garden." Of course, we *had* to go bum around in there. )8
God’s garden is littered with cigarettes, btw.

From behind, this statue looks like a very saggy… man-part. We were behind it, and we kept speculating on what it * actually was*. Ed was the one who got up and investigated. He took a picture to show us, because we were too lazy to move.

Robin’s white thighs… xDD

Mai dozing

This was actually not posed at all

FAIL ON WHEELS. Robin = gopher, Jamie = chipmunk


"EEEEDDD STOP TAKING PICTURES OF MEEEE D<"

My "bling," according to Ed

Later on, we went to see a Shakespeare play in some random park. We got lost 5 times on the way, and we took no pictures during it. It was pretty good, though♥ Afterwards, we were all fkgdfkghyper like woah, so, uh.

We wrapped Ed up in a blanket, he began calling himself "Voldemort" and screaming "EXPELLEARMUS" like a crazy person, and we all. guffawed. So hard. People stared. They stared a lot. )8

d’aw

possibly the most geeky picture of the entire trip…
…ed fell over after that one 8D;; We all went crashing down.

Okay, this is where the timeline breaks. We went to this lake every night throughout the entire trip, so it’s impossible to tell which lake-picture was taken on which day.
SO I’LL JUST LUMP IT ALL TOGETHER. xD

We took Voldemort!blanket with us… this was the night of the Shakespeare play

Robin is *still* laying down

I hate flash. xDD DEER IN HEADLIGHTS

We were stalked by a strange man during our second lake-visit. He sat under a tree, straight behind us, for the entire time we were there, just staring. it was sort of creepy, but we didn’t care. 8D;;
We had more “DRUNK ON LIFE~!” fun there. People must’ve thought we were total nutters or something. xDD

OKAY, BACK ONTO THE TIMELINE.

After the Shakespeare-Lake-Night (wow, what a title), we went back to the apartment at 11:30, and I was hungry, so I bought a hotdog from a stand which was SOMEHOW still open. We called it the ~midnight hotdog~. It was delicious. ♥

FINAL DAAAY.
We went to Ontario Place.

We ate lunch and sat by the… rocks next to some body of water.


Robin kept dropping her fries, and so this seagull kept attacking us for them. Ed declared it “his mortal enemy” and engaged in several brawls with it.


I-I WAS EATING, AND ED WAS ANNOYING ME FOR PICTURES, SO I WAS ABOUT TO TELL HIM OFF. but it was too late, and this picture is the result, lmao
To make matters worse, he stole my fries afterwards

We were stranded (again) in some other area next to the parking lot for an hour. IT WAS FUN, not as fun as the one at Warped, but still fun.

Anyway, we didn’t take any pictures after this, because Robin left the day after and Ed and I went to my Uncle’s house, but.

The day after
→ we said bye to Robin
→ got sniffly in the car
→ played with cheap, noise-making McDonald happy-meal toys
→ Mai, Ed and I went to my Uncle’s.
→ We saw a run-over squirrel in the road, which we wept for.
→ I got my ~LG ICE CREAM~ — my new phone — and dear god, it’s sexy.
→ Said “TTYL” to Mai~

And the day after *that*, Ed and I went shopping for a bit, where I got a pile of CDs and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness…
And then we went on the plane at midnight and came home~

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE TRIP.
All in all, it was epic.
It just had so much ~freedom~ and. God. It was so much fun.
There’s so much I can’t include, because half of the brilliance was just us being stupid, but still. EPIC. ♥
I’ll never forget it; when THE CORE went to Canada. What a way to start off Summer!

More Music?! x3

I recently signed up on last.fm, and I have to admit, I like it.
I tried using it a while ago, then dubbed it as “epic fail” and carried on with life. However, this time around, I synced it to my iTunes… thus, everything which I do on iTunes comes up there.
And while it’s a little bit scary, here are the top 10 artists/bands which I listen to…along with how many times I’ve played them.
Mindless Self Indulgence (462 plays)
Paramore (107 plays)
Danny Elfman (95 plays)
The Killers (91 plays)
Atlus Games (88 plays)
Shiny Toy Guns (65 plays)
Hellogoodbye (48 plays)
Coldplay (45 plays)
The Ting Tings (31 plays)
PlayRadioPlay! (29 plays)
I think it’s pretty interesting. xD And sort of weird, since I had no clue I listened to Paramore that much. o.o I think it’s because I had a Paramore-Marathon a few months ago. xD;

Last.fm also lets you compare your music taste with others — from “Very Low” to “Super high.” Through it, I’ve learnt that tons of my friends and I have really similar taste in music. Plus, you can listen to previews and even download some songs for free. It’s pretty awesome — I really reccomend it. ♥

“Listen to the Sound of the World, Don’t Watch It Turn”

Confession: I still like Avril Lavigne.
She’s not the same person she used to be back in Let Go and Under My Skin (Let Go specifically), but c’mon. Ignoring The Best Damn Thing‘s general fan-base, which has the potential to make me lose faith in humanity as a whole, it’s pretty awesome. It has that “chick rock” feel, and it’s oozing with self-confidence (maybe a little too much? xD) and general wildness. I don’t really LOVE it, but I don’t hate it. …Of course, this is blasphemy to many of the people who I associate with. I think listening to Girlfriend is like a guilty pleasure.
Then there’s Decode by Paramore. Ignoring the fact that it was in Twilight — which etiolated it for me, since I can be shallow like that — it’s an amazing song. I listened to it over and over this morning, and I have to say, the lyrics are brilliant. Paramore’s amazing, I don’t think it’s even capable of disappointing me. The fact that they support organizations like To Write Love On Her Arms only sweetens the deal. Their name is rather clever, too — Paramore → “paramour,” which is basically a love affair, or “par l’amour,” for my love. PRETTY COOL.
The band which has been on repeat on my iTunes ever since Spring Break began is… *drumroll*… The Killers. This River Is Wild, Bling (Confessions Of A King), Bones, all of it. Is there even a song by them which I don’t obsessively fawn over? The lead singer’s voice is so unique! It’s something that’s rare in general, not just nowadays. Most of the bands these days have lead singers which sound exactly the same. And the lyrics which they come with are amazing, too.
Flyleaf and I have such a love/hate relationship, it’s not even funny. x_x Sometimes I love them, and at other times I think they’re melodramatic and that the lead singer sounds as if she’s yodeling. What’s This?, which they did in Nightmare Revisited, was pretty epic though — it took a while to grow on me, seeing as it’s so different from the original in The Nightmare Before Christmas… it’s more toned down, more mystified, a bit more depressing. The original was in awe, excited, dance-like. Both work though.

I can’t stand the All-American Rejects. I don’t even want to talk about my hatred for them. They just…fail. Miserably. I don’t like Fall Out Boy that much, either — but that’s only because of Pete Wentz, I think. He thinks he’s hot shit, and that’s pretty much the BIGGEST TURN OFF for me. ): I like some F.O.B songs, but only a little. They’re reeeeally overrated and overplayed, and as much as I’d like to say that I can ignore that aspect of their music, I can’t. Blleeeeh.

Yiruma makes me shed tears. That’s how beautiful his piano sounds. I recommend Do You, it’s simple, soft, and gorgeous.
In contrast to this is Mindless Self Indulgence. They’re crude, they’re vulgar, the lead singer is probably mentally unstable… but agh. Their music just makes me want to DANCE, not in the cutesy way, but in MY way, which is basically jumping around and letting your inner demons loose. They perfectly balance hardcore with electronica, and the results are deliciously evil. …Some of their songs make me feel like vomiting, though… I usually ignore their lyrics and focus on the beat, but sometimes the lyrics get waaaay too prominent. xDD; They’re so not for the faint-hearted. .__.;
The Birthday Massacre’s sorta like MSI, but they’re way less vulgar and more electronic than hardcore. Still, they’re pretty damn awesome.
Hellogoodbye makes me so happy. More electronica. Happy beats, happy lyrics. Plus, they have a song called “Dear Jamie…Sincerely Me,” what’s not to love? xD “All Time Low” is another favourite. Another good electronic band is Freezepop (“I’m Not Your Gameboy” is SUCH a cool name for a song…) …I listen to too much electronic stuff, so I’ll stop rambling about it xDD

The Ting Tings are more mellow, but they have this jazzy sound to them which made me fall in love with them from the first song. Traffic Light, Fruit Machine, and Be The One are my three favourites — I have to look more into them, but still! So much love.
Sticking to the mellow thing — Coldplay. Who doesn’t like Coldplay? ‘Nuff said. Lenka’s pretty brill, too — she’s soft, but not in a sickening way, in a sweet way. Her “Like A Song” is my favourite, along with “The Show,” which STILL MAKES ME THINK OF JUNO. It should so be on the Juno soundtrack! Errgh.
Speaking of soundtracks (segways ftw!), there’s Danny Elfman. I LOVE HIM AND I NEED MORE OF HIS WORK. Then we have Shoji Meguro (who did both of Persona 4’s + Persona 3’s), is incredibly capable of balancing electronica, rock, and classical. I crave his music, even though I cannot understand a word of it, since it’s in Japanese. (Then again, I have tons of jRock. There’s the Gazette, Alice Nine, An Cafe, D’esparis Ray, Girugamesh, LM.C…)
I heard Aqualung’s “Strange & Beautiful” SOMEWHERE, I think it was on a fanmix for one of the anime which I like… so, technically, it’s not considered part of a “soundtrack” (is it?). That aside, it’s so sad. Unrequited love, combined with a sad little piano? Do you want to make my heart melt, Aqualung? Jeez. ;_;

Anyway, it’s time for me to go download more stuff — specifically The Ataris, who I think I am falling in love with. My friend sent me an album of theirs, and god. ♥

“What a TEDious fight!” ~ Jamie’s Persona 4 Review

This post is epically long, but I guess it makes up for my lack of posting, right? xDD I’ve been meaning to write a Persona 4 review for a while. Sorry if it’s a bit redundant, and if you don’t want spoilers, you may not wanna read it. xDD

The sixth in the Persona series by Atlus; Persona 4 can be described in one word: “epic.” If you know me personally, you know that from late January (January 27th) to early March (March 1st), I was inhaling this game as if it were a source of life. (Okay, maybe that’s a little bit of an exaggeration…)

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (ペルソナ4) was released in America in December, 2008. It had incredibly high expectations; since Persona 3 was a massive success. It’s a role-playing game; meaning that you have full control over who your character associates with, who they befriend, and who they generally ARE; i.e: the noble hero? The shy kid? The cynical ass who probably should actually be the antagonist but somehow isn’t? You also have control over who he dates, if anyone at all — where he works, what his name is, everything. You have semi-control over who your group is — 7 other people make up your “team,” (one being support-based, so you don’t battle with her) but you can only choose 3 whenever you take part in the actual gameplay.

But now I’m rambling~ So, I’ll give you a rough outline of Persona 4 — or really, what it’s about. xD

Persona 4 takes place in the fictional, rural Japanese town of Inaba. It has one high school, a lonely shopping district, one MASSIVE department store which you never really enter (save for the store’s foodcourt — it ends up becoming the group’s secret base of sorts xDD), and, of course, various housing areas and an inn. It lies among the floodplains, too. You’re character is a transfer student from the big city — upon arrival, you learn about “The Midnight Channel;” an urban legend which states that when you look at television on a rainy day at midnight, your soulmate will appear.
Naturally, this is all a bunch of crap — the Midnight Channel is actually an insight into “The Television World,” who’s origin I won’t tell because it’s a HUGE spoiler. If any common person looks at it, they can see the events going on inside of the Other World — however, they won’t be able to enter it, and (prior to the events in the game) are usually greeted with a technicolour screen.
Certain individuals, however, have the ability to reach into any television set and enter the Midnight Channel directly. These individuals have Personas — a powerful form of themselves, sort of like a weapon, which is “the facade used to overcome life’s troubles.” However, in order to enter, they must be able to fit through the set’s screen, or else they’ll just reach in and nothing’ll happen.

Each television set leads to a different area of the Midnight Channel. The weather conditions inside the Midnight Channel are the opposite of what exists in Inaba — a thick, nasty fog naturally exists in the Midnight Channel. Anyone who enters it without proper gear suffers from severe nausea and head pain, which results in a comatose state.
However, after a long period of rain, a thick fog sets in to Inaba — due to the ying-yang aspect which Inaba and The Midnight Channel have, this causes the fog in the Midnight Channel to disappear. Sounds like good news? Well, it isn’t — it’s HORRIBLE NEWS and just THINKING ABOUT IT is annoying me. Once the fog disappears in The Midnight Channel, the “Shadows” (sort of like the “monsters”) that reside in it get all hyper — they get stronger and are deadly. Anyone inside fog-less Midnight Channel has no hope in hell — they get killed by the Shadows. Instead of their corpse deteriorating, it is transported back to Inaba — dangling among telephone wires. CREEPY MUCH? One of the reasons why the game’s rated ~M~, I suppose.

Now, The Midnight Channel is pretty harmless — once no one messes with it. Normal people don’t have the ability to enter televisions — however, one guy gains this ability, and through tons of complex manipulation, he manages get normal people tossed into the Midnight Channel. Thus begins the GRAND MURDER MYSTERY, the base of the game — the ~investigation~.

Once you learn the basics about the Channel, you learn that people thrown into the Channel are killed by their “Shadows” — unlike the normal monsters dwelling the Channel, these “shadows” are the darkness which conceal people’s inner Persona. In other words — it’s like the darkness of your heart; the hidden part of yourself which you don’t want to reveal to anyone, the part which you put a facade over and reject. When saving victims who’re thrown into the Channel, you have to confront their Shadow-self. Afterwards, if the victim clears their head and accepts the Shadow as part of themself, the Shadow will purify and manifest itself as a Persona, thus granting the “vicitim” the ability to enter the T.V. world and kick ass. Oh, and you have to save them before the fog rolls in to Inaba — which is roughly once a month. If it rolls in BEFORE you save them, you’re given the option to either return to the title screen and continue from where you last saved, OR you can go back one week in time. Missing the deadline is BRUTAL, because most of the heavy training is done in the last week. Therefore, if the victim is killed, you’re taken back one week before the fog and must train all over again; this time managing your time more pro-actively.
Furthermore, the game has a total of 3 endings: One “Bad” Ending (the result of accusing the wrong culprit), One “Normal” Ending (people usually get this; it’s if you stick to the default storyline), and the ultimate “True” Ending, which is a bit more complex and features one extra dungeon which is BEAUTIFUL.

As for your character: You’ve just transferred to Inaba during this time of madness. While in Inaba, you stay with your uncle, Ryotaro Dojima, a police detective who’s usually out doing work due to the murder cases (little does he know that his work is for naught, seeing as the crimes are taking place in another world) and Dojima’s six-year old daughter, Nanako, who’s SO adorable and SO sweet, and has managed to take care of the household chores for her father.

Aside from the main storyline, you’re a normal high-school student. You DO have to pay attention to the random facts given out in class (talking to plants really does make them grow faster — also, moustaches excrete toxins), lest you totally bomb the midterm exams. You snag a part-time job and you can join a few clubs, too. You socialize with characters who aren’t directly related to the storyline, and you can “intensify” your relationship with them by talking to them regularly.

The key theme of Persona 4 is “facing yourself”; accepting you for who YOU really are; letting down your facades and revealing your true power. It’s also about “seeking the truth” — where the murder mystery comes in — but it also sort of overlaps with the first theme: seeking your true self. Thus, every character which you interact with in the game has a unique backstory, and if you choose to be close friends with them, you help them… come to terms with it. xD

Anyway, I guess I’ll talk about the characters now. Here’s where you’ll find the actual spoilers.

Soji Seta ~ You. Your character. The MC (main character). You have total control over him, pretty much. I think I’ve said enough about him already. xDD He’s pretty cool. OH, DID I MENTION THAT HE’S A SILENT GUY? You choose anything and everything which he says. I ♥ Silent Protagonists. The MC doesn’t formally face himself as a Shadow — how he gets a Persona is a key point of the game.

Yosuke Hanamura ~ Born and raised in the city, he recently moved to Inaba, where his parents manage the MASSIVE department store which puts in peril the local economy. As a result, he’s sort of unpopular and looked down upon by townsfolk. Clumsy, outgoing, and sort of stupid — but passionate and serious about the investigation. He’s a total sweetheart. You cannot hate Yosuke.
Yosuke’s Shadow isn’t that dramatized — it’s basically just said that it doesn’t give a crap about anyone or anything; that it was glad that people were dying because the investigation gives him something to do. Yosuke’s “dungeon” isn’t really a dungeon, either — it’s a thrashed shop in the Shopping District. This is prolly because he’s the first boss you encounter; it eases you into things.

Chie Satonaka ~ Chie has the most vague background (or, at least, the most normal life) of the group, although we know she is passionate about Kung-Fu and martial arts. She’s Yukiko’s best friend; they’re always there for each other. She’s also a total tomboy. My personal opinion of Chie is sort of non-existent… she’s really just there for me; she doesn’t stand out that much… her voice, however, was REALLY good.
Chie’s shadow takes the form of some form of dominatrix; it’s a woman with a long, pointy hat, covering her face. It sits on a cloaked surface, like a chair, but under the cloak is a bunch of faceless schoolgirls, holding Shadow Chie up. It represents her jealousy of Yukiko’s feminine side and her talents, as well as her wish and need to maintain control over Yukiko. It also says that Chie truly doesn’t give a damn about Yukiko and that the only reason why she associates with her is so that she can stand out more. Chie’s dungeon is a sublevel of Yukiko’s, which further enhances what the Shadow’s saying.

Yukiko Amagi ~ Yukiko is the daughter of an innkeeper — the Amagi Inn is the most popular area of Inaba. She’s quiet, calm, and apparently beautiful (I don’t see what’s so gorgeous about her, but I guess she has that ~special charm~), but she has insane laughing fits which tend to go on for hours. She’s a pretty alright character, though~
Yukiko’s Shadow takes the form of a massive, gaudy, pink bird, held in a cage. Before going into that mode, her shadow is dressed as if it were a Princess — with a pink and white dress and crown. Her dungeon is a pink castle. Yukiko’s Shadow is obsessed with “finding her prince” who’ll take her away from Inaba and her “destiny” — i.e: inheriting the Inn. Her shadow’s one of my favourites — its dialogue is AWESOME.

Kanji Tatsumi ~ Son of the owners of Tatsumi Textiles, he harbors the street-punk style… although in truth, he only hurts those who deserve it (i.e: Biker Gangs who wake his mom up at night with their noisy engines and crude behaviour).
Kanji’s character is the most complex of all the group. Kanji’s actually gay; one of the very first uber-popular game characters to be out so openly. Despite his rough outer appearance, Kanji actually loves sewing, animal crackers, and cooking.
He grows “interested” in another one of the characters — Naoto Shirogane. However, this was before it was revealed that Naoto’s actually a girl cross-dressing as a boy — which results in Kanji questioning himself even more than before. Later on, though, Kanji comes to terms with the side of himself that was attracted to Naoto, snapping out of it and being able to act normally around her. If you choose to develop your character’s bond with him, Kanji later on admits that “his shadow really does resides in him,” which implies that he accepted his sexuality.
So, it’s kinda obvious that Kanji’s Shadow is a stereotypically gay man. His shadow’s true form is a huge, muscular creature, which looks like a massive body-builder. Out of it is Shadow Kanji’s normal self, which is surrounded by a heavy layer of pink flowers — thus representing Kanji’s struggle to “be a man” yet still true to himself. It also represents his resentment of having his softer side and his artistic abilities ridiculed, as well as his fears of being rejected by society. Kanji’s Midnight Channel dungeon is a men’s bathhouse (teeheehee).
FFFF KANJI’S MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER. I love him. As soon as I got him, he was in my party permanently. He’s kickass in battle, too. 8D

Rise Kujikawa ~ Rise (aka “Risette”) is a former idol, who recently retired from the show business world due to stress and personal conflict. She moves to Inaba, where her grandmother owns a Tofu Shop; Marukyu Tofu. Rise’s cheerful and giggly — IMPOSSIBLE TO HATE. D8
Rise’s Shadow is a colorful pole dancer which looks like Rise; i.e. it has her brown pigtails. Her Midnight Channel dungeon resembles a strip club, including stages with poles, curtains, and sexual-looking Shadows. Rise’s shadow represents her anger with being stereotyped as an indecent, airheaded popstar, represented as a sex symbol . However, her true motive was a desire to find her real self-identity — which is pretty much the reason why she left show biz and moved into Inaba.

Naoto Shirogane ~ Nao-chan is young, serious, and has an androgynous appearance; almost always wearing an officer’s cap, conveying an appearance not unlike the classical gakuran school uniforms of the late 19th century. A well-known detective and somewhat of a child prodigy, Naoto was dubbed the “Detective Prince” by the media, though still attending Yasogami High.
Naoto’s Shadow is a robotic doppelganger, equipped with large, toy-like laser guns, rocket feet and a jet pack. This form represents Naoto’s resentment towards being treated as a child by the police (since she’s a renowned detective). It reveals that Naoto is, in fact, a girl who’s pretending to be a boy in order to gain whatever scraps of respect she can from the police force.
Naoto’s Midnight Channel dungeon is a scientific military complex based on Japanese superhero shows for children, filled with mechanical shadows and falcon symbols.

and finally…
/
Teddie ~ Teddie is a weird, yet ADORABLE, stuffed-bear-like creature with blue fur and a red/white jumpsuit. He lives in the Midnight Channel. He makes tons of horrible puns on the words “bear” and “teddy;” mostly on bear, though. (BEAR-SONA!, what a TEDious fight!, I’m the M.V.B!, I can’t BEAR this anymore! etc). He is often used as comic relief, and he really lightens up the entire party’s mood. Teddie’s human form later in the game is a young blond guy. He’s very innocent, and he usually makes a lot of “suggestive” comments without realizing that he really shouldn’t. xDD
Teddie’s Shadow is a larger form of his bear costume coming out of a hole in the ground, with portions of its face missing, revealing a void underneath, + it also has REALLY FREAKY EYES. It represents Teddie’s fear that his existence is superficial and “hollow”. The Shadow also hints at his forgotten true identity – that is, the fact that he is a shadow. He learned to speak human language and became friendly with humans, taking his bear-like form so that people would like him upon meeting him. Teddie eventually takes a human form upon acquiring a persona so that he can be with others in the real world~

AND THAT’S IT FOR THE (playable)CHARACTERS.

What I absolutely adore about P4 is the realism of things, the rawness of it. Chats teenagers would really have, playful bantering, situations that could really happen (even though there probably isn’t a Midnight Channel…this game will so make you believe that there is.), and realistic reactions to pretty much everything. It’s amazing. The voice-acting enhances this, of course. Perfect voice casting, I swear, PERFECT — save for MAYBE Yukiko, but eh, it works. xD Rise’s voice is my favourite, along with Kanji’s.
With great v.a comes awesome music, and Persona 4 also has this… thanks to Atlus’ Shoji Meguro~! The game comes with a free soundtrack, so you have access to all the songs without having to hunt the Internet. They follow a constant theme; electronica with classical undertones. Makes a horribly addictive combo. xDD (I’m actually listening to it now on my iPod, haha)

The gameplay in battles (LOL WOW I didn’t even mention this before xDD) is really awesome. It’s simple; turn-based tactics. Om nom nom. If you’re close enough to your party members, they’ll even take a mortal blow for you by jumping in the way of an enemy’s fatal attack. IT’S PRETTY AMAZING. + If you’re even closer, you get “bonus turns” where your bud will perform a special “critical hit” attack with a fancy name, like “Atomic Smash” or something. Really useful~

And that’s it for my “review”! I could really talk about it for ages, eh heh heh. P4 is a seriously dazzling game. It’ll catch you; hook, line and sinker. It restored my faith in good gaming, seriously. One of the best storylines which I’ve ever played. EVERRR. I highly recommend it! xD

The Building Blocks.

Music is my lifesource.
Whilst I don’t exactly play any instruments — save for a little piano — I constantly have a song in my head, I’m constantly on the lookout for another good band, and my iPod is always with me.
I listen to just about every single genre, however the majority of hiphop, rap and r&b doesn’t exactly appeal to me. I can’t be all stylish and say “I don’t like songs which don’t have meaningful lyrics,” because, seriously. If you heard some of the songs which I listen to, you would ask me just what the hell I’m smoking. (not to mention the assortment of japanese rock on there. I don’t even know what the lyrics mean. They could be singing about dancing cows and I wouldn’t know.Oh well.)
But yeah, I have a broad taste in music. Zappy, hyper electronica, loud, in-your-face punk, and deep, magical classical — I listen to it all. It’s a pretty good mix of the lesser-know, underground-esque music and normal mainstream favourites.
I think that through music — just as with any Art — anything is possible. In fact, I think that music is what opened my eyes to Art in the first place. Watching bands peform live, with their over-the-top style and complete and utter lack of self-concious..ness, is like watching freedom on a podium. It’s amazing, it’s breath-taking, it’s everything.

Lyn-Z of MSI

I haven’t seen any of my favourite bands live — I’ve only been to one show, in fact — however, that’s bound to change. (i.e. next Warped Tour. With Mai. In Canada. It will be brilliant.)
But, as I was saying before… music is what opened my eyes to endless possiblities and to Art in general. It pretty much explains how I live today, and it definitely formed my idea of fashion. You will not catch me dead in a plain white shirt and jeans. I swear, the day you do, I’m probably off to do some epic Art project or something messy like that. Likewise, you won’t find me clad in the latest trendy fashion which hundreds of other people worldwide are drooling over. I don’t dress to impress — I dress to kill. Through my look, through my music, and through my art, you see me, the one & only Jamie. I don’t write, draw, create or dress to satisfy anyone but myself — if it doesn’t make me happy, I won’t do it — regardless of what other people might think. If I’m in the mood to go out in my neon-pink skinny jeans, I’ll go out with my neon-pink skinny jeans. In this world, being an individual means having individuality — and if you don’t have it, you might as well just be nothing.