May draws to a close

Tomorrow would have been mom's birthday. She would have been 48.

Somehow, remembering occasions like these brings back all the pain. Just this afternoon, when I was alone at home and playing the drums, images of that dreaded day flashed in my mind.

Images of mom's funeral.

I ask myself where she is, whether her heart is still with me, or whether it's all gone, and never to be seen again... I pray God, give rest to her soul ! :'(

On another note,

tomorrow, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days will be released in Japan.

Yay. Here's to another episode with Roxas ! (P.S. He's voiced by Jesse McCartney ! :DDDDD)

There's still a long way more to go before we can see an international release. We don't know who will be voicing Mickey Mouse for the English version this time (the third voice actor, Wayne Allwine, died this month), and we know how Square Enix and Disney insist on the best voice cast most of the time (I said most of the time, not all the time). Since I'll be away from the Kingdom Hearts Wiki for more than three months due to exams and National Service, I'll have to count on the rest of my friends to provide the data for me - hopefully when I return, I'll be there to see it all.

The one sad thought that creeps into a Wikia editor's mind

Wikimarkup can be deadly.

No, I mean it, Wikimarkup can be deadly. I've been pulling my hair out, I've been having fits of anger, all for a stupid page.

One of the weirdest (but most refreshing) conversations on KHWiki

The conversation took place at Kingdom Hearts Wiki:Pages for Deletion, and the article in question was "Across Two", a grammar error for "Two Across", one of the weapons in the Kingdom Hearts game. Usernames will be used (as this is a conversation done entirely in jest).

Ultima The High Seraph : No content on this page, and I'm sure it's got nothing to do with KH.
Evilgidgit : I think it is a mistook grammar error for the Keyblade, Two Across.
troisnyxetienne : I feel it is so...
BebopKate : Deleted is article. Hard is talking backwards !
troisnyxetienne : That had to be done by you, right ?
BebopKate : ^_^ About talking you're what know don't I.
troisnyxetienne : Backwards talking meant I. Count didn't voice passive know didn't I.

I can't help but laugh when I see this conversation every time I pass by the Deletion discussions.

That's one of those things which actually does make my day. Thanks, guys.

A black crown in place of nothing

Thanks guys, for voting me.

I'm now officially a moderator on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki.

Take away all the depressing bits, and we have...

Life's been pretty mundane lately. Perhaps I've nothing to talk about. All I do know is that sooner or later, I'll have to e-mail DK and ask Fabienne Ricordel about what I can do for the Francophonie celebrations, which are from the 1st to the 5th of April... Maybe that might keep my spirits up, even if those people at the French Embassy are said to be a complacent lot. (I said "said to be" based on hearsay, although I'm sure there's some greater good in those people.)

On another note, remember the promo I did for KHLegacy - our fan sequel to Kingdom Hearts ?

The white, tiled Kingdom Hearts II logos and the Roxas (Drammatica) theme were too depressing. Now that I finally received my administrative powers, I went to the site editor and revamped the layout. Now, it's fresh, it's black, blue and white, with memories of Riku and Kairi gracing the pages (the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades), and an edit of Neverland Sky (Drammatica) is the background music.

When I looked at the final result, I smiled to myself.

Siegfried and I had a chat before I turned in to bed.

troisnyx* : Hey, I just revamped KHLegacy. It's fresh, black, blue and white ! And plus, it makes me smile. Wanna take a look ?

I assumed he did take a look, because he was rather pleased with the result.

Siegfried : Looks great ! Fresh theme music, by the way. I was getting sad of hearing that (Roxas) theme over and over again. What is this, the Neverland Clock Tower background music, orchestrated ?
troisnyx* : Yes - it was actually an edit of Yoko Shimomura's "Twinkle Twinkle Holidays" from the Drammatica album. The track originally comprised "Happy Holidays" and "Neverland Sky". A YouTube user cut out the "Happy Holidays" part and looped the "Neverland Sky" sound so that it'd sound like this. Fresh, eh ? At least I have a reason to smile.

Well, I just hope the other members smile when they see this...

That partly explains my purpose in life : I search for happiness, love and excitement - and not only that : if I do find excitement, I love sharing it with other people. When others are happy, I'm happy.

Oh, my poor cracked head...

All this while I was actively making edits on Kingdom Hearts Wiki. It came to pass on one of those random days... a new user signed up for KHWiki. He turned out to be the administrator, the creator of Kingdom Hearts Wiki France. After he found out that I speak French, he struck a conversation with me on my talk page.

I knew he needed help with edits on KHWiki France, so I joined the fray not long after.

Because I had absolutely no experience of the French version of the game (all this while, I was playing in either English or Japanese), what I did was this : in a bid to complete the character pages, I translated the info from KHWiki and added it into KHWiki France.

Now, User:Unbirth would do periodical edits to my work - and every time I took a second look at the article, I was awestruck. The language was awesome, to say the least. When all this while I was writing in passé composé (the usual form of past tense) and imparfait (imperfect tense), he used passé simple (simple past tense) – which can only be found in really good written pieces. I didn't know whether to laugh at myself or cry....... And not very long after, I got a message on my talk page - my flaws in the language were very obvious.

These days, as I attempt to translate well, my head aches. Sometimes I despair because I can't find the proper word or phrase to put in. When I'm forced to (for lack of words and plot elements), I watch the French clips of Kingdom Hearts on YouTube, but doing so has its drawbacks - primarily slow connection, so it'd take ages to actually load one video. And imagine I'm translating the plot elements, people and events that link to Roxas' story : this process requires several videos, not just one. I used to be fast in my writing - not anymore.

Oh, my poor cracked head...

I can easily place the fr-4 userbox (near-native French indication) on my KHWiki user page, but right now, as I have nine months to the C2, I can't possibly be stuck at fr-4. I need User:Unbirth's level of French ! Otherwise, au revoir la réussite !

P.S. Well, at least that guy called me troisnyxetienne and not trois like most other members.

Yet another favour for another friend =)

Because life isn't always the way you want it to be.

Because sometimes, there is chagrin.

Because darkness is contagious.

Because ultimately, friendship conquers all.

If Kingdom Hearts paints an idealised picture of human life (that, of course, minus the Keyblade, the Heartless and Nobodies and the Disney characters), KHLegacy paints life as it is. Of course, there are some moments to be treasured, some thoughts to be pondered upon. Despite the fact that many Kingdom Hearts plot elements are retained, the focus is on people. I'm one of the main writers of this fan-made sequel to Kingdom Hearts... and I want it to be more than just a fan sequel, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts. I want it to be a sequel that touches hearts and enlightens people about the plight of humanity.

So, join me.

Pick a character (or be your own character), and come partake in our story.

This project was started by a guy who calls himself Saule. Sigfried, Noah and I joined in later (just so you'd know, all four of us use our own characters). The community is growing - but for a close-knit relation between the members, we may have to consider limiting them (otherwise it'll turn out to be like YouthSays.com and YourSpins.com - packed with people, cluttered, where one doesn't have time for the other). KHLegacy isn't social networking - that's why we'll have to limit it. It's a site where a story is going to be seamed together.

Brokenness makes us stronger ?

Fragmented versions of comments on my first post on a fan-made sequel to the Kingdom Hearts series, KHLegacy :

Xiggie : Wow, is there anyone here who hasn't lost a friend/family member ?

troisnyxetienne : I guess we're all acquainted with loss, to varying degrees. I've already had three losses in my immediate family. On the surface of it, we may appear to be cool and able to maintain our composure, but inside, we're all broken. Suffering is inevitable, of course, but it makes us stronger. When we do write the plot in KHLegacy, somehow or other, this brokenness will surface - and we have to make readers/members aware of it. I want it to be more than just a fan sequel : I want it to be a story that touches hearts.

While some people dismiss Kingdom Hearts as a cartoonish game because of the presence of Disney characters, I look at it from the Square Enix point of view : the emotional viewpoint. I take a stand where I can view and dissect every form of human interaction. My knowledge of English literature (or any form of literature, for that matter) makes me appreciate life more, and it is through this appreciation that I play or visualise each scene, second by second, I replay that scene (or I picture it again), and I ponder upon the emotions of each character, as well as the thoughts that may have crossed their minds.

There was one episode in the Olympus Coliseum where Auron (from Final Fantasy X) had been controlled by Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and his soul was placed in a statuette. Sora, Donald and Goofy set out to find it - and when they did, they actually got to feel Auron's thoughts - oh, the horror they felt ! I played Final Fantasy X so I can imagine what the real Auron would've felt. Picture this : Auron journeyed with two of his best friends, Jecht, and the summoner Braska, in a quest to seek the truth about their homeland, Spira. Jecht and Braska were both killed. Auron had almost lost the drive to live. Those thoughts would've played in Auron's mind in that particular episode in Kingdom Hearts II. One loss is devastating enough ; what about two ?! And Auron tells himself "You must live !" no matter how broken he is inside.

On another note, take one of my previous posts where I wrote about Goofy's apparent death. No matter how cheesy the person may be - ultimately, if that person is kind and has done a great deal, he will be sorely missed. Donald, Sora and Mickey could have, at some point in time, been turned off by Goofy's... er... goofing around. The English version shows a dejected Sora (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) saying "This is not happening. It can't be happening... it can't..." while the French version makes it more emotional : we have Sora (Donald Reignoux) almost crying.

Now, to take this story of losses to a personal level : I've suffered three losses. Many a time I've felt that I was at the end of my rope. I confided in my best friends Kiran, Adoravelle, Kimberly and Nithya - and all of them, no matter how they put it, somehow seemed to tell me the same thing :

Brokenness makes us stronger.

I forgot who it was who wrote the poem "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" (I don't even know if that's the right title even), but he did mention that the sufferings of the poor man and the sufferings of the rich man are all the same. We are born, we lose our celestial light, we are accustomed to the practices of our ancestors, we attempt to survive (out there, it's a survival of the fittest), we build relationships - and they are broken, we lose loved ones, we do not gain enough for our efforts... Some stories end happily, some stories end in despair. All of us want a happy ending, a reason to die for... to make life beautiful.

Xiggie (Sigfried) lost his father. And I know quite a few people who have lost a parent in their teens (or in their childhood). My heart goes out to them - and while writing for KHLegacy (and while writing my songs, in the meantime), I want to spread a message about the suffering of humankind.

While I'm not critically assessing Kingdom Hearts.....

All the gossip on upcoming characters.
Critical apppreciation of KH elements.
Have your say on the characters you love !
See KH like you've never seen it before.


Minus all the formalities.
This is Kingdom Hearts taken to a personal level.


http://khxiggie.blogcentral.is/

P.S. Favourites thumbnail coming soon.

Probably one of the most mature scenes in an E-rated game

Goofy dies.

Or so we think.

This scene is one of those scenes in the entire Kingdom Hearts series that actually moved me to tears. Not only because it was an all-emotional moment, but... Goofy is my Limit Command partner !!

Well, I tell you, I was relieved to find out that Goofy was only knocked unconscious.

Here's a thought though : Goofy and Sora are of the same height. Mickey might have been knocked by that rock. But it hit Goofy on the head, not in the chest : if Goofy hadn't been there, Mickey could've evaded it by say, a few centimetres ? After all, Mickey is the most agile of the four (by four, I mean Sora, Donald, Goofy and Mickey), and he is a Keyblade master himself, with more experience than Sora, I'd say.

Maybe Square Enix and Disney wanted to emphasise the fact that Goofy gets hit on the head practically all the time. I daresay that "killing" Goofy off for those few instants was a bit too dramatic. Unnecessarily dramatic. I mean, it did shock us for a moment there, but the drama should've been saved for the part where Ansem the Wise died after his own machine blew up on him.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to search for this clip in French, and I wonder if I'll ever find it. I think I might.

I had a tiff with a user over one measly line

It was on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki. The character in question was Zexion.

Yes, and you could imagine how trivial the tiff was.



The line according to Kingdom Hearts : Re : Chain of Memories (as you can see at 0:34) is "Don't I even warrant a hello, Lexaeus ?"

Now, the line was placed in the article as "Don't I even get a hello, Lexaeus ?" - the 2004 Game Boy Advance version of the game. I thought it would do no harm to update that line, considering that Re : Chain was released in English about a month ago. And so, I did. I changed the word "get" to "warrant", just as it would sound in Re : Chain.

Some hours later, I received an e-mail : the Zexion page had been changed. I went to take a look, and the line had been reverted to "Don't I even get a hello". I thought, maybe this person might not have been aware of the change. So I changed it back to "Don't I even warrant a hello, Lexaeus ?"

Again, within a few hours, the line was reverted.

I changed.

Another user reverted.

And this went on for days !

I went to the Zexion talk page, where people were discussing his character etc., etc., etc. and I put a notice linking to the video, as well as the ORIGINAL Re : Chain line. And soon enough, I found out who had been reverting Zexion's line to "Don't I even get a hello" - so, not to create commotion, I thought I'd confront that person personally. All I did was type a question. The user didn't have the decency to reply me or to even post a message on my talk page - he just removed all that I typed - markup and text and everything that came with it.

(By the way, my talk bubbles are yellow, they have an image of Larxene on the side, and they're signed Troisnyxetienne.)

Looks like now, the issue's been resolved. The Admins are now taking care of that page.

Here's a thought : I come across all types of users - nice ones, snobbish ones, users with language issues (grammar and expletives), but that's all none, I suppose. I especially cannot tolerate people with attitude problems and people who say I have attitude problems - because I know I don't have any. And when I confront someone, I usually do it calmly. If anyone gives me harshness when I give him/her a calm confrontation, I have no regards for that person.

And I believe that by saying this, I make myself clear.

Ahem.

Adoravelle and I are pretty much excited about turning 18. It's the age where we can legally do most things, anyway !

Well, I did tell her most of my celebrations are gonna be toned down this year.

But what if.....

...one year, I hold a Kingdom Hearts-themed party ?

Well let's see. I have a Re:Chain-based game which I created, Chain of Misfortune. That one's gonna take a bit of work because I've gotta create cards.

I managed to find a recipe for Sea-Salt ice-cream, the ice-cream made famous in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain and Kingdom Hearts II, thanks to Kingdom Hearts Wiki. And yes, rest assured that if I do have a KH-themed party, I will get my hands dirty and work on the ice-cream.

I have half the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack with me (including remixes of Sanctuary and Simple & Clean by Utada Hikaru).

Whatever print publications I do (invitation cards etc.) have to be relevant to the game itself. Any single main character from the series can be used.

Anymore ideas ?

I'm keeping one piece of 2008 with me

The dearest piece of 2008, which I wouldn’t want to give up, would be the C1 exam.

I immortalised it in Kingdom Hearts : Re : Chain of Memories.

Re : Chain uses a card system – all attack/magic/items/whatever are called using cards (yes, the ones with crown heads, like the pictures I recently created). There were three decks to fill according to one's own needs. As most Re : Chain players would do, I created one magic-based deck, one offence-based deck, and one reserved for boss battles. And then, I had to name them. (If you're reading the names aloud, drag the R's in, do not push them out like you normally do in English !)

I named the first one Esterel.
The second one, I called Ricordel.
And the third, Fonterel.

I called the first one Esterel because to me, it was a magical place. It’s the name given to one of the rooms in the Alliance Française in KL (methinks it could be a French surname ; correct me if I’m wrong). Despite the fact that I spent four excruciating hours (and so did my invigilator, the attachée linguistique), it all paid off. I also developed a tune while the attachée linguistique wasn’t looking. :D

The second one – the offence-based one, and my favourite deck – I named it in honour of the attachée linguistique, Fabienne Ricordel. Yeah, from what I saw, she was one kind, sympathetic person, even at the point where I was exasperated with all those consecutive tests. (Merci, Mme Ricordel, pour l'autre jour !) :)

And the third one – well, I happened to hear of the surname Fonterel somewhere. I think it was in one of my audio files – while I was preparing for the C1. Also, I had to name it with something that ended with “-el” so that there’ll be uniformity.

Esterel, Ricordel, Fonterel.

All these have a connection with my C1, and I won't be changing these names for a very long time.

Sora and Kairi sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G !

Merde happens, more often than not.

If only this could happen.

Kairi and Sora look like they've been rendered from Square Enix (there're no changes in the way they officially look), but Square Enix has never given us any hint of Sora and Kairi kissing. To be honest, I'm not sure if this is an official picture. Methinks it could've been Photoshopped. But all the same, if only we could see Sora finally showing affection for Kairi... From the very first Kingdom Hearts it's been obvious that Sora and Kairi are affectionate towards each other, but it's often Kairi that gives the hugs and it's often Sora that makes the promise.

Well, if Sora and Kairi were to sit on a tree they'd probably be sitting on the same tree they sat on in the first Kingdom Hearts.

C'est parfait.

It's perfect.

Perfect.

Perfectly infuriating !

(and then troisnyx* bursts into flames like Hades)

Square Enix and Disney Interactive have driven me and many Kingdom Hearts fans up the wall by releasing a prequel to Kingdom Hearts II i.e. Kingdom Hearts : Re : Chain of Memories at such a time ! The original Re : Chain, which was in Japanese, was released in 2004 - couldn't those two developers have released the English version about a year later ? Say, 2005 ? So that Kingdom Hearts II would've come in the right time ? No, they had to mess things up and guess what, they finally released the English version of Re : Chain in North America a week ago.

And if Re : Chain had to come in other versions (especially French), chances are that they'll be out late next year. Yes, their release patterns are quite predictable. And infuriating. And yes, Re : Chain will only reach Malaysian soil next year.

I'm pissed with Square Enix and Disney. Because here I am, stuck with a complete Japanese version dating back from 2006, and the only characters I can read are katakana and a few other characters derived from Chinese. That's all. I know that "hikari" means "light", "kokoro" means "heart" and "yakusoku" means "promise", but that's all.

Aw man !

I'm having class with DK in half an hour and I just can't wait to see the expression on his face when he comes over !!

Now, it's official that I've got 19 out of 25 for the production orale.

I'll be celebrating... while awaiting his arrival. Singing, dancing, partying as if there were no tomorrow, watching Kingdom Hearts vids in French... what more can I think of ? As long as there's something to drive me crazy before the class actually starts, I'm game. :)

P.S. At the same time I'm kinda pissed with Square Enix, because it's AFTER Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + that the English version of Kingdom Hearts Re : Chain of Memories is released. And here I am, just like most people over here, stuck with the full Japanese version (because Final Mix + comes with a Japanese version of Re : Chain), and I, like many others, have to depend on the official English clips on YouTube for a translation. That's a real hassle ! Never again will we fans have you commit this mistake.

A mundane week with a little bit of Sora

Apart from the fact that yesterday's scene at the French exam gave me some excitement, today just seems..... blah. There are clouds everywhere in the sky, and I don't even know if it's gonna rain or not.

But no, that isn't really the focus of this post. Fine, this day may be a drab one but I just found a video which I 'remixed' around last year.



The song, “Tempête”, was by Alizée (in 2003 while she was still under Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat). The rationale behind the song was such : Alizée was born in Ajaccio. So was Napoleon Bonaparte. Could they have one similar impulsiveness, could they have been lovers ?

And here I went and turned it into a Kingdom Hearts trailer.

Of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy

Watch both the vids, and tell me what you think. I made these fan FMVs myself.

Never thought the second video would actually make people cry.

If you ask me, my favourite among both these videos is Jusqu'au Bout. Still, everyone has different tastes. Do tell me which you like the most.

So now you have two originally rendered videos to watch. The other one can be found on my YouTube page. Do tell me how they are ! Meanwhile, I will be posting more on my YouTube page if I have the time.

I heard that Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + Ultimania is scheduled for release in the USA somewhere in autumn (beginning September 2007). So it wouldn't be long before I get my hands on the final Kingdom Hearts game for PS2. I can't wait !