The new semester started on the 10th [oh, alright, the 11th] of August, and I haven't stopped studying since. I get back from class at 10-11pm, and start studying for the same class next week, rinse and repeat till the next different class. Today I caved and emailed a lecturer about an IVLE parsing error rendering his newly updated syllabus unreadable; I'd been eyeing it for the past couple of days since his announcement, figuring that he must have had countless emails about it. Apparently not; apparently I might be the only one in the least bit interested in what has been updated about the syllabus. It all appalls me. I hate the thought that I might be that student, depressingly keen*, who says "it's on the second page, halfway down, third paragraph" when the lecturer makes a reference and the others go bzuwhat? I did actually say this on Monday. I'm going out of my mind. From my academic induction at 2 to 23, I've never really bothered to study, relying mostly on wits and a good eye for speed-reading. Last year, in the 2nd semester of my M.A. it was like a switch got flipped - I went through five highlighters a month, I who have never so much as annotated a line without the enforced urging of some teacher. It has served me reasonably well since, but I don't know who I am anymore ^TM and I am certainly going mad. Especially since I know none of these extra readings will help me when it's finally time for the Qualifying exam and the thesis Board presentation… By the by, this is my seventh year in NUS; I got the M.A. early this year.

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM HERE ABOUT. NO, I AM HERE ABOUT TANGLED. Three weeks late, I know. TANGLED IS BACK! And you either already knew about it, or don't care, so, uh, sorry. stereophilic made me do it.

This CSS-only revamp was started three years ago, and I must admit if not for the constant unceasing pushing of stereophilic would never have seen the light of internet. I am useless with coding and am saddled with the task simply because M is even worse. This may look simple to you [as it is] but just figuring out how to make sure it is centered in all resolutions blew my brain. If you've seen M's panicked pronouncements on the matter you'll know that naively we coded it in IE, and I did just about cry when I couldn't figure how to work it in Firefox until I eventually cheated and recoded my way around it.

If you look at only ONE thing on tangled v.2, look at the character profiles - they're all newly condensed, and Yana's is a basically a TROLL page. If you look at two, look at the 'new' photostory arc, which was supposed to have been done three years ago is currently in progress and was newly updated today with part 4.

Fig 1.2 An excerpt from the latest update: domestic child labour

* courtesy, I realised with a start, of Terry Pratchett.

I don't know what's keeping me awake - this lacerating ulcer tearing at my gum, or the simple fact that, now college has started, I am screwed, so very screwed in every way imaginable. *flips Auden and Dante*
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BJD-wise, I'm fairly pleased. :] The various eye matters resolved quite quickly and satisfactorily, and all that remains is for the Dreamy Green Gumdrops to please be right for Tea when they come in November, or she is NEVER going to get introduced into tangled... [Current estimation puts her at a Christmas debut, since Chai is the next big thing to go up after tangled is relaunched.]

Since the Olive Green Mystic didn't work out for Tea, we were quite relieved that the Albino did work out for Yanagi. Pardon the quick and dirty shot that Mae snapped right after opening the post, plonking him down in the fading late afternoon sunlight :

[ please click for bigger version ]

I know that everyone and their gramma have Albino Mystic, but we've been meaning to get pure red eyes for Yanagi for a bit - and how could we ever pass up the chance to intensify his agony. *snicker* Now to make him bunny ears...

Poor Yanagi. Wielding what could conceivably be ultimate power over the cosmos - looking ever so unwillingly like a delicate little girrrrrrl. Having said that, as much as he'd like to look like a normal male kid just for once, he'd probably laugh incredulously and derisively at you if you suggested trading his precious prescient knowledge of the stockmarket for it.
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Now here comes the bit you all have come to fear - football!

( Today, lj-cut for your fleeing pleasure - Midweek Premiership. )

The next round comes in the form of Liverpool v.s. West Ham and Man U v.s. Watford on Saturday, and Chelsea v.s. Blackburn on Sunday.
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Next up: how much I regretted ignoring Auden in favour of typing this post at 6am Saturday morning as I scrambled sleeplessly to meet deadlines! :D

So sorry for springing a surprise on you all! Seeing as Ruka was the worst-kept secret in the world, we'd thought we'd try to do better this time. >D [Well, actually I gave rather complicated faceup instructions, and wanted to see how they turned out before announcing anything concrete. ^^;;] Hopefully it was a fun! and exciting! surprise! ^___^

So, say hi to our new Tenshi no Sato MSD FCS boys - Sanada Mikado [F08 fleshskin longlegged H05 hands] and Yanagi Mikoto [F03 snowskin H04 hands]! They arrived one week ahead of time and whipped us into a frenzy trying to get things ready [then drove us crazy by arriving a day later than announced. XDD] - I was too busy with college to help, but Mae rushed out the yukata in two nights. We've planned for them for a long time now, but decided to order them earlier than planned during the Domuya anniversary discount period after serious discussion. Now they're here, and we love them beyond words. Their faceups, despite my painstaking and complicated instructions, were done with incredible skill and artistic foresight, and they arrived looking perfectly as they should be.

I am sooo in love with them. T___T They make me squee. A lot.

tangled web, obviously, has been updated with their full profiles [and the big boys' profiles have also all been updated to varying degrees], and there's a full photoshoot in the Gallery section devoted to both of them and the other new FCS arrivals [Mainey's Kazumi and Kim-san's En]. Go see! Go see! Even if you always ignore our update notices, you must go see!

Here're a few selections...

Sanada Mikado



"Highly responsible and stoic to the world, Sanada is often found hard at work in his various positions of responsibility. Yet beneath his serious veneer, he is in truth often anxious, worried about the many decisions he has to make, and, even, wishy-washy. XD In addition, he is quiet and terribly shy around people and will often freeze up in uncomfortable situations. Nevertheless, he tries very hard to fulfil his duties, and often does so well enough that most people never realise just how awkward he really feels. He tends to look towards Yanagi as a sort of guide through life, though most would have surmised their relationship to be the other way round from appearances alone, and would find himself hard-pressed to survive in an unfamiliar situation without his best friend..."
- click here for full profile!



[in the only pair of 14mm eyes we have – Volks greygreen metallic acryls]

For all the detail I put into Sanada's FCS faceup description, I could never, or never dared, actually concretely visualise him in mind. I wasn't at all sure they could get his expression right. But once we caught sight of his face, bam! We were like : that's Sanada alright. XDD His faceup is terrifically rendered, the minute strokes are impeccable, and the shading and colour of his features are, remarkably, at the perfect contrast for us - in fact, his colours are almost identical to Sei's as his are now, and Sei's faceup tones were only achieved after a gradual period of much self-modification, especially darkening and emphasis. His expression is the best bit...XD;; To comply with my request to try to make him not look like he's smiling, they drew his lipline just a wee bit lower than then actual moulded lipline. So now he tends to either look serious, or like he can't make up his mind whether or not he should be smiling and is making a valiant attempt. XDD Intent and awkward, just perfect! The only thing is - he desperately needs 14mm eyes. >_< Not only can we not see any white with 16mm...his Zoukei eyes are much smaller [overall size] than the usual 16mm Zoukei eyes, and still they don't fit properly in his eyewells - they're that small. So now I'm desperately searching for dark green to moderate 14mm glass eyes. Even so, I adore him as he is. ^^;; At the time of ordering, we'd never yet seen a confirmed F08 head [though I had my suspicions], but I was sure that if there was any head that could be Sanada, the 08 head was it. And it's perfect. I love it and am pleased as punch. ...For those of you who are looking at Sanada and reconsidering your decision to get an 08, don't worry. XD;; I daresay an 08 with a less character-intent faceup would look rather different...he bears very little resemblance, for example, to Candy's Mickey...

Yanagi Mikoto



"Yanagi is a solemn and serious little boy who regards life and its people with their appropriate transience. In other words, he appears much an old soul, is unpertubed by much, and rarely appears to concern himself with many individuals or even affairs. Though his delicate features and dark eyes often give him a look of vunerability, his core is of steel. Pragmatic and intelligent, there is little he cannot resolve quietly - but he will not seek out matters to resolve if they do not concern him. Similarly, any duty assigned to him will be swiftly and impeccably fulfilled, but he rarely volunteers for and duty, if ever - though, due to the former, often duties are assigned to him anyway, and he handles all without complaint or difficulty. His strong friendship with Sanada is the sole abberration of his detachment. Despite his general lack of interest in human affair, they have quietly become inseperable, and Yanagi is skilled in discreetly pointing his friend in the right directions when the latter is overwhelmed by his numerous duties..."
- click here for full profile!



[XDD In the Luts *girl* police-type uniform [full-length pic in gallery] that we bought way long ago. He's not too pleased...]

It should be pretty obvious that Yanagi is my indulgence. ^^;; I had some rather specific instructions for one part of his faceup, and no prizes guessing which part. ^^;;; First, about his headmould - while I did feel that Mario and Mari didn't exactly look flattered in the official Volks pics, the first time I saw an owner-pic of Mario, I was struck HARD by what a solemn little boy it could make, and what a delicate headmould it was. Thus began the obsession. ^^;; I've always always wanted a Mario head boy. When MSD FCS came out, I was overjoyed. I was intent on getting a snowskin F03 that I already had the character all plotted out for. He would be my greatest indulgence, snowskin, redeyed, that red eyeshading that I love so much. And here he is. I still melt into a fawning incoherent puddle every time I look at his face. ^^;; I actually attached a clip of a photo for the idea of what I wanted for the eye makeup, and looking at him, I'm astounded at the pains they took to fulfil my request. It wasn't just controlled airbrushing of pink-red for the sides of his eyes, it was the delicate cut-in of black at the inside corners, and incredibly, the very diluted soft stroke of black on the inner sweep of his upper eyelids. That was indeed part of the photo clip attached, but I'd only specifically mentioned the corners of the eyes - I was very awed and pleased to see their effort. His lower eyelashes are extremely faint and delicate, and his eyebrows are very delicate - I did ask for that, but I didn't really expect them to do so much. ^^;; There was only one area where they deviated from my instructions, and I'm terribly glad they did. I'd specified liplines for both Yanagi and Sanada, and while Sanada has wonderfully done liplines, Yanagi doesn't have a single one, not even for the line of the mouth. Instead, the artist'd applied a pale pink and glossed the area with a gloss that glistens so...er..glisteningly, that I keep thinking it hasn't dried [while Sanada's are more half-glossed, which is much better for lips as dark as his]. The effect is fantastic, and, really, I realised after sending in the order that lips that were too done up would have cluttered up his face, especially with such distinct eye makeup. I was uber-relieved to see that the artist took appropriate artistic license - I'm mad about his lips. And everything else. Actually, when I first took him out of the box, the first thing I thought was 'uh oh'. But then I melted immediately, so, so much for that. The reason for the 'uh oh', really, was that he was all girl when I first saw him. I had to take the pastels I paranoidly brought to Domuya to his eyebrows within 10 minutes of opening the box to salvage some semblance of maleness from his face. But only a smidgen, and the situation improved dramatically after. ...I can't really say he looks exactly like a little boy now... *considers* ...but he definitely looked girlier before. ^^;; He's perfect now, and I hope I never have to touch his faceup again. XDD

Here, I'll say something about the new MSD body : it can do anything. The end. It is unendingly amazing and wonderful. And beautifully sculpted to boot. The one-touch system is really uber-handy, and talking about handy, their hands~~ Their hands are exquisitely carved and delicate, and also terribly cute and lovely. XDD

[That's a blurry shot grabbed in a dimly lit Chinese restaurant, but I thought their positions looked cute. ^^;;] Of course, they can't technically kneel sitting down - but even throwing their knees out joint drastically [as we are in the pic], they balance rather firmly on their own lower limbs and can keep this position rather well. Also - they can kneel *perfectly* and very firmly upright, and look cool doing it too. XDD

[Yanagi says hi to Airi. XDD] The above were only a sampling of what we have in the photoshoot! If you want to see more of Sanada and Yanagi, and the others present, click here for the full page, or visit tangled web right now~ for their profiles and photoshoot pics! ^___^

Ah, and...

...the family resemblance was not intentional. XD [No, none of them are related...]

…Brownie points for those who can tell us which two series their names are referenced from. XDD

[P.S. I'm going to crosspost this at DoA [for once!] and Domuya, so early apologies for those who will get to see this around thrice. ^^;; I hope that doesn't put you off our boys...]

...introducing tangled's newest residents...



Yanagi Mikoto and Sanada Mikado

Stay tuned for more information and photos...