Merry Christmas!

Hi guys!

It's only one week left until Christmas!:) Let me make a small cheer of joy here: yay! I must admit I am utterly happy since it's one of the loveliest holidays which is really close to my heart! It is such a magical time of a year accompanied by pleasant wintery air that makes me incredibly positive!:) Oh how much I missed snow which, undoubtedly, brings the real atmosphere of Christmas. This beautiful season is even more important to me since it became a sign that, at long last, I am going home to see my beloved parents, sister and pets. It is such an amazing moment which maybe does not last long but it is really necessary. I am not going to lie to you I also cannot wait to taste again all of those delicious meals my mom always makes, not mentioning the sweets and pies which can literally make you drool!:) What is more is that I just adore the Christmas decorations (you can notice it is such an awe-inspiring holiday for a lot of artists!), colours and scents which are strictly connected with the season and all of those cheerful songs and carols which put you in a good mood. I must say I still love making snowmans and angels in our garden while looking at the sky covered with stars. Those winter activities make such great memories which are worth to be remembered:) Now, my dear readers, I would love to wish you a Merry Christmas, spend those days with people and animals you truly love and care about! Oh! and please do not let problems break your Christmas spirit! Stay positive, let the magic of the holiday warm up your heart and heel your soul! Since it is the last post before Christmas I want to wish you a Happy New Year as well! Remember, be careful while having fun and do not drink too much to avoid the hangover!;) It's all for today's post! See you in the new year! Bye!:)

Love on ice!

Hi guys!:)

Today I would like to affect you with my growing love to Yuri on ice, an anime so sweet and pure it makes my heart melts everytime the new episode comes out. The story revolves around Yuri Katsuki, a Japanese young man whose great passion has been ice skating since early childhood. Our main character wants to accomplish his biggest dream which is to win first place in senior international figure skating competitions. 

On the last Championships Yuri failed horribly, his performance was nothing but mistakes and missteps. The jury gave him so little points, he took the last place. Yuri, highly dissapointed with himself, completely lost the motivation and willingness to continue practicing skating. He was so pursued by the awful memory of his last performance, he abandoned the sport he loved so much. After few months Victor Nikiforov, the star of figure skating from Russia, saw in the Internet a video of Yuri's performance posted by one of his closest friends. It was the first time Yuri put on the ice skates since the memorable Championships. The video presented Yuri without cameras and audience, just a young man skating so freely and calmly, putting his whole heart in every move and figure he was making. Victor was absolutely astonished by Yuri's skills and on the next day he came to Japan to meet him and to become his coach. Yuri was incredibly flattered by Victor's proposition since the russian ice skater has always been his inspiration and role model. With Victor by his side, Yuri became much more motivated and once again he derived happiness from the sport he had treasured so much. What is really worth paying attention to is the way the relationship between those two men is presented in the anime. You can observe love slowly blooming between Yuri and Victor, so pure and sweet, full of cuddles and soft kisses.

I really recommend you to check out this anime! If you are a fan of figure skating you will be astonished how amazingly the performances are presented! The beautiful art of Yuri which you can see in the post belongs to Shiza, an incredible artist from tumblr! Please visit her blog *click here*! That's all for today! See you next time! Bye!:)

Praise the diversity!

Hello guys!:)

Since the world is slowly devouring by racism and hatred, it is important to protect and treasure the diversity. It's exactly what the creators of Overwatch do and it makes me really proud as a fan, it is undoubtedly one of the many reasons why this game is so worth loving. Michael Chu, the man responsable for lore and storyline in Overwatch, almost always stresses in interviews that the diversity plays a crucial role in the process of creating the identity of the characters in its expanded universe. However, to truly represent the diversity among the heroes, the simple information of their nationality is not enough. Michael Chu and Andrea Toyias wanted each character to speak in a way which would reflect its personality and which would be accompanied by a pretty particular accent which provides its origin. To achieve this incredibly ambitional goal, the creators chose the actors who met those requirements perfectly and whose cultural ancestry helped make the accents of the heroes natural. Michael Chu and Andrea Toyias didn't want the pronunciation to sound artificially or the characters to mock the accent of a particular nationality. The creators simply wanted them to sound real without following the cliché or any harmful stereotypes. What is even more interesting is that some of the heroes have a line in their native language! It's so amazing! Now I am going to present you some of the characters of Overwatch whose origins prove the diversity, one of the main characteristics of its universe:

• Gabriel Reyes & Sombra

Sombra is a Mexican women whose spanish nickname means Shadow in english; she also says two or three lines in spanish. Gabriel is a highly respected veteran, one of the leaders of Overwatch organisation who probably has latin origins as well.

• Hanzo & Genji Shimada  

Two brothers who come from a fictional city called Hanamura placed in Japan. Both of them have several lines in their native language, which is naturally japanese.

• Hana Song & Mei-Ling Zhou

The first hero is the youngest recruit of Overwatch of South Korean origin; her ultimate voice line is written in Korean. Second character is a climatologist whose motherland is China; the ultimate ability of Mei is accompanied by a line is her native language, chinese.

• Angela Ziegler & Reinhardt Wilhelm

Angela is a support hero whose country of origin is Switzerland. Reinhardt is German, he's one of the original and longest serving memebers of Overwatch organisation.

• Ana & Fareeha Amari

Mother and daughter, both of them are highly qualified soldiers who come from Egipt. In the game Ana says one line in her native language.

• Jesse Mccree & Jack Morrison 

The motherland of those two characters is USA. Jack grew up in rural Indiana, in the age of 18 he joined the military; he was the Strike Commander of Overwatch organisation. Jesse was one of the memebers of Deadlock Gang but later he became one of the best agents of Overwatch.

• Lena Oxton & Amélie Lacroix 

Lena is from The United Kingdom, her hometown is London. All of her voice lines are accompanied by british accent. Amélie is of French origins. She says several statements in her native language.

• Aleksandra Zaryanova & Torbjörn Lindholm

Aleksandra is one of the highly qualified soldiers of russian army. Torbjörn is a genius engineer from Sweden who, just like Reinhardt, was one of the first memembers of Overwatch organisation.

As you can see the diversity is what, without any doubt, characterises Overwatch universe. I didn't mention all of the characters, so if you are curious and you want to see the rest of them, go and check the game!:) It's all for today, see ya in the next post! Bye!:)

The magic of fanfictions

Hi guys!

Today I would like to draw your attention to the stories written by ordinary people whose unbelievable writing skills can compete with those of professional writers. The stories which I want to focus on in the post are called fanfictions. What is the most interesting, when it comes to this type of drabbles, is the source of inspiration which pushes people to reach for a sheet of paper and let them get carried away by the imagination. One of those sources are undoubtedly the characters from particular books, movies or games who captured their heart. That unrestrained love, without any hesitation, makes their creativity blossom easily. You can notice that those non-professional writers put their whole heart into the story they want to share with others. What about the plot then? How is it actually built? To answer those two questions I will use one of the heros who belongs to the Overwatch universe, namely Jack Morrison. The most popular type of drabbles are the ones whose plot is based on the original storyline to which the writers add the elements which are fictional. For instance: they preserve in their own story the fact that Jack is one of the commanders of the organisation called Overwatch but they change the status of his relationship with one of the other characters, from best friends to lovers. Those writers usually make use of the holes in the original storyline, periodes in the timeline which are not presented yet by the creators of Overwatch universe. The other type of drabbles are those in which the authors preserve only the appearance and name of the original character. They cut the hero out of the original plot and place him in some alternative universe. For example: Jack Morrison is a single lecturer who works on the University where he meets the love of his life etc. In those stories the authors can let their imagination run wild and you as a reader can expect practically everything to happen.

Here you have Jack Morrison, my lovely example:)

I must admit that I really love reading fanfictions about the characters who are really close to my heart. There are writers whose stories leave you speechless while the tears are streaming down your cheeks, the short drabbles which sweetness and fluffness can cheer you up after having such a bad day. I really recommend those of you who love fictional characters to read those kind of stories! There are fanfiction which are really worth to be discovered!:) It's all for today! See ya in the next post!:)                         

The unquestioned beauty of the animations!

Hello again guys!:)

I want to dedicate my today's post to animation which belongs to one of my greatest passions. Please do not worry I am not going to annoy you with its history and origins which I guess would put off a lot of you immediately. My aim is to blow you away with its beauty, orginality and artistery. I am going to present you some screencaps of the animations which I highly appreciate and which I chose carefully to, not ruining such opportunity, illustrate you different ways of animating. You are going to see screencaps of beautiful 3D animations and 2D cartoon-like projects. Let's start!:) 

The first screencap represents the absolutely stunning animation called The Last Bastion produced by Blizzard. For those who are not familiar with the project, it constitutes a small part of the Overwatch storyline which I commented in one of my latest posts. Now please look closer at the frame. Can you see how perfectly the nature is animated here? The realistic models of stones and trees (look at the ones whose blue figures looming in the background!), the water which softly reflects the objects placed next to it, the shadows lazily streching on the rocks, the pretty colours of the grass and sky which complete the whole scene. It's simply breathtaking. In my opinion the animators made such an amazing job, they undoubtly put their whole heart into it paying attention to the least elements to bring the nature to life, to make it looks real. Much love from me for it!:)

So my next screencap comes from the incredible piece of art, namely the animation called A New Dawn produced by Riot Games. By looking attentively at the picture placed above, you can observe the way our lovely character Ahri is animated. I am really sorry that it doesn't present the whole hero but I prefered to upload a screencap which would not let you miss the beauty of Arhi's blue eyes slowly welling up with tears, the raven hair which strands are softly sparkling in the sun, the dirt on her breast and cheeks and a little wounds placed on her lower lip and chin. What is really important in this scene and what I want you to pay attention to is the way those elements create character's facial expression. Personally speaking, the animation is so neatly made it permits you to feel the emotions of the hero. The hard work of the animators really deserves all the praises. Well done!:)

Next two screencaps represent the movie called Zootopia produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios which has one of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen. Naturally it must be a reason why I decided to present you those two particular scenes. Well, this time I want you to pay attention to the way the city and personificated animals are created. I guess it is one of the most detailed animations I've had a pleasure to watch. The animators of the Walt Disney company are, without any doubt, perfectionists:) Just look at the street, at all the least objects which the creators included to make it as close to the reality as possible. It's really incredible! Now, let me move to the characters. The thing that in my opinion is worth to pay attention to is the texture of the fur of the heros. It is such a shame I cannot show you a scene where both of them standing in the rain. You would notice how it goes wet and then dries in the sun just like the fur of the real animals. Big applause for all of the details!:) 

Now, I would like to present you some screencaps of the 2D animations which are as beautiful as their 3D siblings. This frame comes from the work called Trois Petits Points produced by Gobelins. The thing that immediately caught my eye is the unbelievably original look of the animation that seems to be subordinated to the story the creators want to share. The one you see above is absolutely one of my favourites. What is really worth to pay attention to is a carefully chosen range of colours which match with the athmosphere of the story. In the animation you can also observe the important role of the lightening and dark and also music (!!) which accompanies you to the very end of the story. This project is truly outstanding and highly inspiring which proves the not dying beauty of traditional animation. Big plus for the incredible creativity and ingenuity of the people who were involved in the project!:) 

The last two screencaps represent a really special type of the animation called anime. The frames come from the series called Naruto produced by Studio Pierrot. As you can see it's a cartoon-like animation which is highly populaire in Japan. What I consider important to punctuate here is that although the graphic looks like it is adressed mainly to children, a lot of them contain scenes that should not be seen by the little ones. In my opinion this animation is pretty remarkable, really easy to recognise which only proves its popularity all around the world. The main problem with its quality is that besides the well animated scenes the episodes are often filled with bad ones which you would love to remove from your memory. However, those who are well animated are truly beautiful as you can observe by looking at the ones I placed above the comment. The thing which I personally adore are the absolutely stunning colours. Good job!:) 

Here you have links for the three of the animations which I used for presentation:

• The Last Bastion
• A New Dawn
• Trois Petits Points

It's all for today, I hope the post was interesting for you guys! See ya next time! Bye!:)   

To the Moon!

Hi my dear readers!:)

Today I would love to present you another video game which lately has broken my heart into pieces. Ladies and gentlemen, To the Moon. A beautiful story about what does it mean to love someone with all your heart, always, to love not minding the pain, to love someone to the point you smile although there are tears streaming down your cheeks... a story about grief and longing devouring you from the inside after the one you love is gone, the memories that poison your brain in the daylight and wake you up in the middle of the night. So, what's exactly the plot? It's a story about a man called Johnny Wyles who's dying, he has more or less two days left and he asked The Sigmund Corporation to accomplish his last wish which is to go to the moon. The corporation uses a high-technology that serves to create artificial memories which give dying people who, during their lifetime couldn't make their dreams come true, a chance to feel a sense of accomplishment. The employees of the corporation, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, are sent to meet his client's request. The problem is Johnny doesn't know the reason why he wants to go to the moon so badly. The doctors insert themselves into an interactive compilation of his memories and traverse backwards through his life to gather the important informations and attempt to awake his desire to go to the moon. While completing the task Rosalene and Watts learn more about Johnny, his past and the relationship with his wife River while looking for clues that would help them to solve the mistery. One of the most important elements of To the Moon is music that accompanies you on every step in the gameplay and which changes depending on the scene and its character. Almost whole music is composed on the piano which strengthens the emotions expressed by heros. To the Moon has also a simple, pixel graphic design which some of you may not like it but the truth is it is not what is the most important in this game (in my opinion it is still really pretty). I highly recommend you to check out this game with unbelievably touching ending which will definitely make you cry. It'a all for today! See ya in the next post! Bye!:)    

Welcome to the Overwatch Universe!

Hello guys!:)

Today I want to present you a video game which plot astonished me, like literally left me speachless. I must admit that at the beginning I was really sceptical about it, the chucks of the game which I saw didn't impress me at all. I remember looking at it and murmuring to myself: 'just another shooter, nothing original' but (!) the truth is I didn't bother myself to go and check what that game really is about. Now when I recall what my thoughts were I am so ashamed of myself. My judgement was nothing but rough and unjust. I cannot believe how wrong I was. And what actually changed my poor point of view? The absolutely stunning animations, relationships between characters and the incredible plot that make Overwatch one of the best video games I have ever seen. I deeply studied the history which is presented inside the play and it really absorbed me. The concept is so interesting I would love to see a movie that would be based on it!

Now let me introduce you to the incredible world of Overwatch! (at least a bit:) The story is set about 60 years into the future of a fictionalized Earth, 30 years after the Omnic Crisis was prevented. Before the crisis the people lived in wealth, peacefully while the technology (the symbol of powerness of human's brain) was slowly reaching its peek. People achieved to create robots with artificial intelligence called Omnics which were produced world-wide in automated omnium services and also used to maintain economic equality. The problems began when the omniums released a series of agressive, dangerous robots that revolted against humans. The United Nations immediately set up an organisation called Overwatch, a group of people who had to protect the citizens, combat the Omnics and establish peace. However, after a several years of Overwatch maintaing public order, the conflicts inside and out of the organisation started to slowly devoring it. The scandals, allegations, the clash between its commanders and the outcry of citizens prompted The United Nations to dismiss Overwatch. After it the world plunged into chaos, the actes of terrorism were appearing in different countries. In that moment the first members of Overwatch decide to bring the organisation back to life, recruit new people and fight like in old times.

I highly recommend you to watch all of the animation clips (click to watch!) that were created by Overwatch team. All of them are little masterpieces that will help you to better understand the plot. In my post I would like to mention one of them called Hero (click to watch!) where the producers touched a very problematic issue. In the clip you can see a group of men who are abusing an Omnic which is lying on the ground, scared, not being able to defend himself. The men suddenly notice a little girl and tell her to join them to hit the poor robot. Seeing how terrified the Omnic is the girl hesitates and says she will not do it while the men shouting at her repeating that it's just a machine, it doesn't have feelings. In my opinion this scene is incredibly important, it poses a question: Is having feelings only the trait of humans? Do the robots, the artificial intelligence, the work of human's hands, has no right to feel pain, to love, to be scared? There are people who claim that even animals don't have them with which I highly disagree and I consider that opinion just inacceptable.

As you can see the Overwatch is not some ordinary video game. It really has an amazing plot, great characters with interesting personalities and origins and that it touchs very problematic questions that maybe in the future will be debated by people around the world. So go and check the game if you have not done it yet! You will not regret it, trust me! It's all for today, see ya in the next post! Bye!:)              

One of my biggest weeknesses

Hi my dear readers!:)

So today's subject is the most alluring man's body parts! Before you start pointing at one of my old posts - do not worry, as far as I remember it was like a 6 phrase paragraph praising the attractivness of deep male voices and in this post I would love to widen the list of male body parts which I consider highly appealing:) The first one is laugh (not really a body part but I couldn't not mention it here). The pleasant sound of a nice, warm male chuckle that makes your heart melt and your cheeks turn to soft pink, the sweet vibration that prompt the butterflies in your stomach to fly. In my opinion it's simply amazing. And when the one that laughs is the man you have a crush on - it is such an enjoyable experience:)) Or those moments of intimacy interrupted by soft chuckles of your beloved that puts a broad smile on your face - it is just beautiful!:) Really worth remembering!:)

Oh right so next body part will be hands. I always pay attention to them and I guess the reason why I do it is because they are highly associated with touch, an act of intimacy. I like when a man have nice nails that are not like bitten and I also look attentively at the skin around them. Sometimes I wonder why it is so important to me and I guess that my brain perceives it as a sign that a man really takes care of his body but it is still a big mystery to me. I must admit that I've seen only a few men whose hands were so unbelievably nice that I couldn't stop staring at them (it's so weird isn't it?;).

So the last body part is hair. I don't really care about its colour but I pay attention to its length and condition. I like longer hair which are loose freely or tamed in a nice-looking bun:) I am not going to say anything about facial hair since it is really hard for me to decide if I like it or not. Sometimes I like beards and sometimes I don't, I guess it depends on a man, I mean if it fits him or not.

So that would be all for today, I hope I did not make you bored and you liked the post:)) If you want to share your opinion don't hesitate and comment! See ya next time! Bye!:)    

Honour above all

Today's issue: samurai, ronin and why those Japanese warriors are one of my biggest weaknesses.

At the beginning I want to present you the most basic and important information about their role in the society of premodern Japan, appearance, duties and personal life. As one of the smallest group (less than 10% of the Japan population in that time period) samurai were high-ranking military class that was set up to serve the japanese dignitaries or even the emperor. I guess those incredible warriors can be easily recognize by their very characteristic look. The symbol of their position in the society in that time were a samurai sabre called katana and a short sword named by japanese people wakizashi. Wearing them was a privilage and an obligation of those unmatched warriors. What is interesting is that those two objects were not only weapon, but (according to Japanese legends) above all they constituted the soul of a samurai. This is the reason why those men were so strongly attached to them. Some of the samurai also used traditional Japanese asymmetrical bows called yumi. The long hair of those warriors was usually pinned up with the aid of ribbons.

In my opinion there is no warriors in the history who valued honor just like samurai did. What is astonishing is that most of them were boundlessly loyal to their master and they were ready to sacrifice themselves without a single thought (it is really hard to judge whether it was a positive or negative thing). Samurai who lost their master or broke the rules becames a ronin. Being a ronin was considered as dishonour and a man who becomes a ronin was usually humiliated by samurai. There is a lot of stories which praise the courage of ronin or stress their laziness.

I must admit that I love stories were ronin are true heros taking care of other people protecting them from injustice. One of my closest friends always jokes that if a movie has samurai I will definitely be into it:)) Oh! At the end I would love to recommend you a movie called 47 Ronin, it's amazing!!! See ya in the next post! Bye!:)  

Back on track!

Welcome, welcome my dear readers!:)

As you can see I'm slowly bringing this blog back to life hoping that my new posts will attract your attention and just please you;) This year I would love to write more about japanese culture (which I absolutely fell in love with), video games! and movies that are worth to be seen (answering on the question that immediately popped in your head - yes, there are games-masterpieces whose plot can really break your heart and whose creators rise serious questions about the nature of human being) and some of the issues and problems connected with everyday life which i feel urge to discuss.

So be ready for some chunks of japanese traditions ans history along with a short monologue revealing my soft spot for samurais (I hope I will manage to present you those type of warriors in the best way I can so you will not get bored), songs and animations that can really make you burst into tears and some comments on movies that can really make you think about your own actions as human being. Maybe I will write some posts that will not be connected with those categories but I am not sure yet. I hope I will make myself work harder this year and this blog will be updated reguraly;) I hope your holidays were good and you are willing to get back to work again!;) See ya in the next post, bye!;)

Dreams that are out of order

Have you ever had a dream that completely ruined your day before it even started? I have. A lof of times. It's like you wake up tired and unbelievable mad at your own brain that you wished you could punch it right in the face cerebral corex. Unfortunately the one who would get hurt in this ridiculous battle is you, not our lovely culprit (not mentioning that it would be still you who would be in pain if it was the other way round).
However, the scientists claim that it is the subconsciousness that is responsable for our dreams. So I quess that those awful ones are based on our fears, problems, etc. It's really unfair how one, single dream can put you in a bad mood when you haven't even left the bed yet. And then it haunts you all day and scoffs you from the inside while feeding you with unwanted feeling of sadness, guilt or fear. I guess the only lifeline in this situation is to do you best to make it go away. So if the bed dream plaques you try to do something that fills you with a positive energy. Do something that makes you happy and calms you down. Let the company of your closest friends help to get a bed dream out of your head. I hope this few advices will be useful for you and that they will make a good job. See ya!:)