Network Updates!

Sheryl Nome fansite + 2 FLs

2012-09-09T23:56:00Z

After almost a year of leaving my update log untouched, I'd like to present my fansite to Sheryl Nome from the animanga series, Macross Frontier.

I'm glad that I can finally complete the triangle alongside the impressive Ranka and Alto fansites created by giorno and mahou respectively. Sheryl is my favorite character in the series, as evidenced by my long use of a Sheryl user icon for ages, for her fierce and confident nature. Taken with a grain of salt, she's a fiesty role model shining in a world of angsty, passive-aggressive anime females.

I also have two new fanlistings to present.

Freelance is a fanlisting to Samurai Champloo, an stylishly clever series that you can watch over and over, while finding new jokes and new insight each time. I'm grateful to mentalghost for adopting this to me. Red in the Ledger is a fanlisting for the Scarlet Witch of Marvel Comics fame. While I'm more of a DC fan overall, I am more drawn to the women of Marvel.

Lastly, I have an OBSCENE amount of personal linking to update. Seriously, piles upon piles of affiliations, link exchanges, notices of moving are scattered in my email boxes. The backlog started slowly and then built up to an unmanageable amount, with personal domain housekeeping taking a backseat to shared community work or real life work. If your linking-related correspondence with me has been delayed or misplaced, I thank you for your patience.

Fortunately, by utilizing my new smartphone and the wide array of productivity multi-platform software available now, I am developing systems to better balance the workload. Soon, I will have a more consistent schedule for updating links.

SNSD & SCANDAL icons

2011-10-10T01:12:33Z

PROJECTS: By the end of the year, I aim to have a new layout design for my Lightning fansite and maybe a couple more pages for my Rinoa fansite. After that, I will concentrate on my entry for the amassment General Series Fansite Marathon all the way through to 2012. I also have one fanlisting upcoming, and possibly more. I really need to work on resisting too.

ICONS: I never plan to icon. I just get hit by inspiration or I can't find icons of the pictures I want. This time, it was Girls Generation's recent teaser PV. Since I felt guilt for iconning kpop more, despite loving jpop/rock music most, I threw in some icons of the endearing girlie rock band, SCANDAL. If you use, please credit newtype or specialattack (on Livejournal), or Wild-Seven.Org (outside Livejournal).

[12] SCANDAL
[27] Girls Generation (SNSD)

Preview:

SCANDAL

SCANDAL1	SCANDAL2	SCANDAL3

SCANDAL4	SCANDAL5	SCANDAL6

SCANDAL7	SCANDAL8	SCANDAL9

SCANDAL10	SCANDAL11	SCANDAL12

Girls Generation

SNSD1	SNSD2	SNSD3

SNSD4	SNSD5	SNSD6

SNSD7	SNSD8	SNSD9

SNSD10	SNSD11	SNSD12

SNSD13	SNSD14	SNSD15

SNSD16	SNSD17	SNSD18

SNSD19	SNSD20	SNSD21

SNSD22	SNSD23	SNSD24

SNSD25	SNSD26	SNSD27

Updates & Icons

2011-09-27T05:08:05Z

Fanlistings: I have adopted the Lulu (Final Fantasy X) fanlisting from dark-nation.com. As Lulu has very few official images, it features fanart by a doujinshi artist. I was very nervous emailing the artist to ask to use the picture, especially since he's Japanese and I wasn't sure how well we could communicate. However, he understood and was very kind about it! People should definitely contact artists more without concern. The worst they can do is say no.

Linking: Thanks to amassment's Link Drive and Banner Trade activities, I have a new link exchanges for my shrines, as well as a bunch of shiny new linking buttons. I also finally got around to affiliating with akushiro's Cherudim.org. ♥

Marathon: Speaking of amassment, I am co-organizing a General Series Fansite Marathon! It's going to be good. Shrine fansites are so personally fulfilling, but I always need a push to get started on one. This marathon will give the motivation I needed. It's going to be a Gundam-related fansite. I think the hardest part will be making a layout, as I can't find many images from that series that suit my design style. Since I'm pretty busy academically this semester, I'm a little concerned about all my offline and online projects, but I think the full load will help me make the most of every day. :)

Icons: I have become very interested in an Asian pop group called Rainbow. It's a kpop girl group that recently impressed me with their Japanese debut. They spoke Japanese well and seem to fit in with the culture there. Japan is a huge music market, and many kpop companies push their artists to debut there quickly in order to get their slice of the profit. However, many of these crossover debuts are half-assed. They barely learn the language, about their audience, or spend much time there. It's borders on disrespectful and the songs end up sounding ridiculous to people who understand it. Rainbow looks promising so far, and I was inspired to make some icons.

Preview:

1	2	3

4	5	6

7	8	9

10	11	12

13	14

Small Updates

2011-08-09T21:37:58Z

Hello! I'm back from my 2 month long trip and ready to start working on websites again.

The Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S fanlisting is up. The Ein, Tank!, and Priss Asagiri fanlistings have been moved.

Castles in the Sky has a new layout, but it probably won't last long. I've already found another image that I want to use instead. haha. The reason why I change my fanlisting collective design so often is because I view that website like practice. With big shrines, I feel like they're so indicative of my work, that I'm a little nervous to touch them, and making them becomes a big project. But with my fanlisting collective, it's easier to just view it as a big piece of canvas to mess around on.

Vanishing Star has been renamed to Wishing Star. I liked the previous name, but I never heard back from the fanartist who coined the name after telling him about it, nor did I know if he got it from elsewhere. All in all, it was a rather impulsive choice. When I was trying out new name, I accidentally saved the flattened version of the layout PSD, with Wishing Star as the title. Thus, the new name was formed by chance, and I rather enjoy silly stories like that.

Wishing Star, One or Eight, and Aquarelle will be getting new banners soon thanks to amassment's Banner Trade event.

Big Music Update

2011-06-03T20:21:35Z

I present One or Eight, the extension of my Do As Infinity fanlisting for amassment's Fanlisting → Shrine Marathon. There's a new layout and oodles of new content. I'm really happy that this got done. DAI was my first fanlisting and it's been gathering virtual cobwebs with a tiny-text iframe layout for years. I'm glad that I can give it the attention and dedication my first fanlisting deserves. Plus, I've been wanting to make a non-anime/game shrine for a while and it was an interesting experience. With an anime/game shrine, the story is already there, and you have to pick it apart for the details. With a musician, you have all the details, and from that you must create the story yourself. It's fascinating, from a very nerdy perspective.

I've also opened another fanlisting for Park Bom of kpop group 2NE1. I've also started a Livejournal community called girlgroup for sharing news and graphics of kpop, jpop, cpop, etc girl groups and bands. There are big general jpop/kpop comms, and there are specfic group comms. Both are great for their purpose, but I felt like the Asian pop fandom should have something in between the two ends as well. The name is a clear one that will hopefully be self-sustainable later on.

Also, some music icons to share!

Jpop/Kpop Icons
[10] Do As Infinity
[06] Rania

Preview:

Do As Infinity (jpop)

001	002	003


004	005	006


007	008	009


010

Rania (kpop)

001	002	003


004	005	006

Itadaki Street Icons

2011-05-24T04:36:20Z

I wasn't planning to make icons today. But I stumbled upon an adorable, old icon made by my friend Mila at cieloeterno and (because I wanted more) it inspired me to make some crappy knockoff versions. Plus, my Heartilly.com shrines finally get the Icon pages they've been waiting for.

Itadaki Street Icons
[10] FF8 - Rinoa Heartilly
[10] FF7 - Yuffie Kisaragi

Preview:

Rinoa @ Vanishing Star

1	2	3	4	5

6	7	8	9	10

Yuffie @ All Creation

1	2	3	4	5

6	7	8	9	10

Credit would be greatly appreciated. LJ users can link either specialattack or newtype . Icons my be taken down from here eventually, but they are permanently up at their respective fansites.

FFVIII Screencaps

2011-05-23T21:34:19Z

Vanishing Star has been updated with screen captures from Final Fantasy VII's 3rd and 4th disc. The Disc 3 caps come from me, and the Disc 4 caps were kindly contributed by princess. I'm glad the fmv captures are done because media sections are really tiring to do.

I also put up a convenient form on my contact page.

media additions

2011-04-25T08:23:51Z

Just a couple quick items of note.

Roses Have Thorns has been updated with in-game screenshots of Lightning from Dissidia 012. These are from daisakusen and posted with their permission.
1000 Words has been updated with some 100x100 icons of Lenne, just as I was about to take down that section. These were kindly donated by Rissa of Nightroad.org.

So the theme of this update is "Donations are Great!". I'm fortunate to be part of fandoms where individuals help share and contribute to the distribution of knowledge, media, and miscellaneous goodies. Hooray.

it's secret time!

2011-03-27T04:24:23Z

Small update here. I have new fanlisting called Top Secret. It's for SECRET, a Kpop girl group that captured my attention a couple months ago. I rather like their personalities and vocals, especially since they're represented by such small recording agency, which is a big obstacle to recognition in that industry.

I have a bunch of new images and Dissidia screencaps I'm planning to put up on Roses Have Thorns. They're all ready to go, I've just been a bit overwhelmed and content updates tend to push to the backburner, unfortunately. Next update!

Rinoa Fansite Up!

2011-03-02T03:10:45Z

My old website is back! Vanishing Star is a shrine for Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII. It was my first shrine and I've been intending to revive it for a while. It only took... what, several years? D:

The site has been online and accessible for a while now. I was reluctant to plug it because all the incomplete sections are bothering me. But after being online for two months, I can't really pretend like it's not up. ^^; It's a good starting foundation.

Some of the fmv screencaps are just bad, so no need to inform me. :( Once I find better quality videos, I'll replace the current ones. I'll keep them up for now because someone out there must be in need of blurry, large resolutions. I've never been a stickler about media either. If that one person can find my blurry gallery useful, I'd rather have the low quality images up than none at all.

I'm accepting affiliates and link exchanges of any RPG video game shrines! So feel free to ask, no matter how different you think the characters are. I don't care if it's Metroid, Silent Hill, or Pokemon. It's an unusual approach towards linking, but it's consistent with my values of reaching out casual fans and strengthening the fansite community. Linking is an invaluable tool. Shrine building is a niche hobby (especially because of Web 2.0); certain video game series are niche fandoms. It's better for our survival to think of us as a shrining community or video game community, rather than be limited to specific fandoms. I already act this way in regards to personal connections, so why shouldn't my websites should reflect the same philosophy?

Up next! SECRET fanlisting; DAI shrine for Fanlisting → Shrine marathon.

C.C. Fanlisting

2011-02-15T00:59:13Z

Happy Valentine's Day! Here is my latest fanlisting: Flower of Carnage, for character C.C. from the anime series Code Geass. It's organized like a fansite, but really, it's only a fanlisting. I was so surprised when I received this approval that I wanted to add in a little more than my usual fanlists, like more information and an artwork gallery.

Also, I have five fanlistings up for adoption at Castles in the Sky. Send an app, if you're interested! Check out the Keep in Mind list as well.

camilla belle fl

2011-01-23T21:28:22Z

Awards
Roses Have Thorns was Runner-Up for the Overall Favorite Fansite award at the 2010 Fansite Pageant. Additionally, I've been named Member of the Moment at amassment. Amassment is a livejournal community for fansite designers of all subjects and all skill levels. If you're interested in making fansites, regardless if you have any or not, feel free to join and introduce yourself.

New Fanlisting
I've adopted the fanlisting for actress Camilla Belle. I rather love this layout, particularly because of the colors. It's all thanks to the beautiful textures and actions I found at DeviantArt.

FL Collective
Castles in the Sky has a new layout, but I'm not fond of this one at all. I will be adopting out a few fanlistings soon, so do let me know if you're interested in any of my FLs.

Next up: (1) Finishing Rinoa shrine; (2) Do As Infinity shrine; (3) Code Geass-related fanlisting.

New Year; New Look

2011-01-03T08:51:28Z

01. Wild-Seven.Org has a fabulously pretty new layout gifted to me from mahou! Counting it out, this is my network's 9th version. It's come a long way from tiny iframes and a .tk redirect.

02. mahou has also donated a bunch of buttons, because she understands that making graphics that tiny is hard. :'D You can find them at the Ragnarok Online FL, the Persona 3 Female Protagonist FL, the Persona 4 Yukiko Amagi FL, and the main domain itself.

03. I've uploaded a work-in-progress shrine. Completion has been slow because I became absorbed in replaying the game. And it's a really fun game. There's still a lot more to add to the shrine, so I haven't linked it anywhere yet, but it's in a really obvious hiding spot. :3

wild-seven.org

2010-12-08T07:14:57Z

01. The main collective has moved to a new location @ Wild-Seven.Org, registered for 3 years. :3 There's a new holiday-themed layout to celebrate. Honestly, I dislike the design - but I simply love this season and wanted to dress up my domain in the holiday spirit anyway! I also dislike moving, but it's better to do so now, while faintsmile is still fairly new and unlinked, rather than later when I really don't want it anymore but it has grown too much.

02. I have a new domain affiliate in reikane's Iris-Noire.Org! She's a great person with a great domain, so I'm very happy to be affiliated with her. :) Edit/ I'm now affiliated with ashe's Reflera.Org too! Score!

03. The following fanlistings have moved urls: Celty (Durarara), Circus Animal Cookies, Eevee (Pokemon), Flareon (Pokemon), Glaceon (Pokemon), Female Protagonist (Persona), Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, Ragnarok Online, Sakuya Kira (Angel Sanctuary), Yui Hirasawa (K-On), Vietnamese Food, and Xenogears. Some have new "about" information too!

No more updates until I finish my finals exams in two weeks. :/

Final Fantasy & Persona Stuff

2010-11-30T09:38:49Z

PAGEANT NOMINATIONS
Roses Have Thorns has been nominated at Destinie's Fansite Pageant! The pageant has just starting collecting votes and will continue to do so until the end of December. Roses Have Thorns is eligible in two categories - Video Game Characters and Overall. Both categories have the largest numbers of shrines nominated. LOL. so I'm definitely not expecting much considering I'm in the same group with tons and tons of great websites. But I'm honored that some people thought of me. :)

ROSES HAVE THORNS
Aside from fansite pageant news, Roses Have Thorns has a new [literal] sister site: krshys's Serah shrine, Catalyst. ♥ I also added a streaming playlist featuring tracks from the FFXIII OST in the multimedia section. I tried to keep the music selection to a small size, but if there's a Lightning-centric track that you'd like to see up there, let me know!

NEW FANLISTING
I've adopted the Yukiko Amagi (Persona 4) fanlisting from El. I couldn't resist. Fanlistings are extremely small and simple - I think that's why they're so addicting. You can get your shot of web design without trying to make something epic.

The layout for Yukiko is extremely similar to a layout for a site I actually haven't released yet. (Released? I sound like a musician or movie studio. haha.) I 'm happy with how the design came out! Here's a preview of it:

aka. "I'm working on this shrine sometimes! Really!"

Up next: A holiday-themed layout for my domain!

Heartilly.Com

2010-10-02T05:31:28Z

Heartilly.Com has an actual layout now. Woo. I rather like these simple layouts that direct you straight to the good stuff - the websites. It doesn't work for everything, but it's suitable for my Final Fantasy portal.

1000 Words has been cleaned up and redesigned too. I removed some things and rewrote a lot of content, such as video game, appearance, and the yuna connection pages. I got really cracked out on writing near the end of this week (thanks, grad school). But the end result is enough to satisfy me for now.

Aquarelle was named Site of the Month at Deep Submerge, a Sailormoon directory/resource. How could I forget to mention this before? I was so happy! xD

Adopted the Black Mages class fanlisting from petiteloutre! It inspired me to update my White Mage class fanlist with a matching layout.

Minor changes: Fixed Faintsmile.org's layout so that the header loads faster. New contact page as well.

Next up: Rinoa shrine project

Persona 3 FL; FF Affiliates

2010-09-13T07:18:41Z

New fanlisting to Female Protagonist (Persona 3 Portable), the cutest ruby-eyed hero since Rei Ayanami, but with a lot more spunk.

Roses Have Thorns has new affiliates: ordalia's Tear Down the Sky, Jinny's Lament Story, and Janice's Lilac. =)

I made a pretty purple layout for my Lenne shrine last month and haven't uploaded yet. I was having trouble trying to figure out how to revamp a shrine for a character I still liked, but wasn't as passionate about anymore. Solution: I'm going to make the site smaller. Cut out that useless fluff. The few pages I do keep will be succinctly rewritten (text) or redone (media).

On a random note of appreciation, krshys of Skyling.Net is one of my sweetest colleagues on the web. She's cheerful, doesn't gossip, and doesn't take things too seriously; I never have to be concerned with holding back my objective opinion with her because she's so easy-going. I'm so glad we got teamed up together on amassment. **hopes Anna doesn't think this shoutout is weird** xD

Yuffie redesign; Celty FL

2010-08-16T23:14:55Z

All Creation, the Yuffie shrine that refuses to die already, has a new look. I put together a paltry total of 3 image galleries as well. :O Unfortunately, I can't find my Advent Children DVD, so no movie screencaps yet. :'(

Silent Fairy is my new Celty fanlisting. She's the scythe-wielding, kitty biker from Durarara!! light novels, though many people many know her better from the DRRR anime/manga adaptations. I recently heard that in the english version, she'll be dubbed by the same VA who did Fuu (Samurai Champloo) and Ashe (FFXII). The Japanese VA gave Celty the [internal] voice of an angel that made her even more likable, so I hope this new one doesn't disappoint.

Piwik was far too complicated for me. Despite wanting to learn from this GoogleAnalytics-alternative, I admitted defeat. I switched over StatCounter and its simplicity makes me happy.

Next up: (1) Redesign for Lenne shrine. (2) Persona 3 Portable-related fanlisting.

Pretty Soldiers

2010-08-03T08:58:46Z

Here's Aquarelle, a new fansite for BSSM character Michiru Kaioh, also known as Sailor Neptune. This will probably be the last new shrine for a while. It's a 1 pager, as part of amassment's recent marathon. I was so excited to see the reveal for all the shrines, it was bordering on dorky lameness. xD Anyway, Aquarelle comes from a French word meaning watercolors, since she has ocean-based powers and she's a painter. :3 It wants more BSSM affiliates and link exchanges, so feel free to ask.

Speaking of amassment, Roses Have Thorns was picked as "Shrine of the Month" for July! *happy* Words can't really describe my reaction. To know other people enjoyed seeing what you enjoyed putting together - that's a great feeling.

FaintSmile.Org has a couple new affiliates since its opening. First is icysnowdrop's Venus-Avenue.Net. Digimon fans should check out Blush, Josephine's one stop shop for all your Sora needs. Second, we have orthoflame's Ruby-Eye.Net - a treasure trove of fansites for TYPE-MOON titles. It was her Rin site that actually convinced me to watch Fate/Stay Night!

New CSS for the update blog and new fanlisting for Selphie Tilmitt (Illusory).

To do: (1) Working on a new layout for my Yuffie shrine to throw it into archive mode; (2) Celty [Durarara!!] fanlisting

Fanlistings Update

2010-07-09T22:28:38Z

The following fanlistings have been moved to a new location. The rest will have to wait until after I finish the things I have due in July. In addition, Evolution has a new layout, as I intend to have all my eeveelutions have a matching theme, eventually.

I also have two fanlistings up for adoption.

To do: (1) Selphie Tilmitt fanlisting. (2) BSSM shrine for amassment's 1page/1month challenge. (3) New css for update blog?

New Domain

2010-06-24T19:29:51Z

Yay, I once again beat my self-imposed deadline. My new collective, FaintSmile.Org, is up and running.

Not all my websites are moved yet, but I plan to make it a gradual migration anyway. And I'm still keeping the other domains as themed domains. This is my first big layout using Photoshop. The header is quite large (hopefully it doesn't load too slowly, I knew I should have sliced it up...) and it's my first time using image maps for navigation. Castles in the Sky, my fanlisting collective, also has moved to fan.faintsmile.org and has a new layout. There's a Yuna (Final Fantasy X) theme going on because I just really love Nomura's work from that time period.

Next: Continue moving and updating sites. Inform affiliates and joinables. Maybe work on amassment's 1Page | 1Month marathon.

New Contact Page

2010-06-04T23:37:09Z

Not a big update, I just finished a new contact page for my network. New email to match. ^.^ It features the anime series Arakawa Under the Bridge, my current watch when I'm in the mood for zany, bizarre humor. I messed up with the repeating background, but for a small page like this, I don't care. :P I'm contemplating adding my AIM screenname, and maybe a few communities, like DeviantArt or MyAnimeList.

I'm also slowly moving my websites over to their new locations. Since most of these websites are in dire need of a redesign, I'll hold off on informing link exchanges & directories until that's done. There are redirects and moved pages everywhere anyway.

Roses Have Thorns has pretty linkback banners thanks to the Banner Exchange event at amassment.

Next on my to-do list: New fanlisting collective layout. My personal deadline for getting FaintSmile up and running is now July 4th.

Lightning Fansite Opens

2010-06-01T06:32:26Z

Finally, Roses Have Thorns, my fansite for Lighting from Final Fantasy XIII is online! Check it out:

I managed to finish enough by my self-imposed deadline of May 29th. This is the most effort I've ever put into a fansite's written content, and I'm really proud of it. I think it was due to the fact that I was writing down things as I was playing the game, so my fresh infatuation both fueled and inspired the pages. I'm glad I did it this way, because otherwise, I might not have made the gameplay sections. For the last couple months, I've been obsessed with analyzing battle strategies, weapons, sidequests, etc, so writing about gameplay came naturally. It was already on my mind. I can't wait to see more FFXIII shrines pop up.

In other news, I've decided to move my main collective to FaintSmile.Org. The name comes from the animanga series Claymore. However, I actually chose the name because I wanted a name that did not require knowledge of a fandom for it to make sense. FaintSmile rings a bell with anime fans, but it's also a simply lovely name for non-anime fans. At least, I think so. :) Faintsmile.org will host my main portal, fanlisting collective, and email. Heartilly.com will hold my Final Fantasy related websites. Aftercolony.org will hold my mecha related websites. Even though the relocation will be tiresome, I'm very excited that I have been able to structure my network in a sensible way, based on how my sites/interests are evolving.

Monthly Updates

2010-05-25T08:34:11Z

Here are the monthly update summaries prior to opening this Updates Log~!

- May 2010--

Two new affiliates! Welcome Emi and Sophia. ♥ Affiliation is now invitation only.

New fanlisting for Final Fantasy XIII OST: Ambiance.

I've been spending a lot of time on a new videogame character shrine. It's a big project that I'm very excited about. Look for it in June. :D

- April 2010 -

Happy birthday to me! The big 2-4 has arrived.

New affiliates! Welcome Bobbi, Rinku, and Shukaku.

Five new fanlistings to once again steal my time away from making shrines. Includes Xenogears, Yui (K-On!), and 1 2 3.

- March 2010 -

Aftercolony.org has new content in the Domain section.

Castles in the Sky has a Keep in Mind List now.

- February 2010 -

Aftercolony.org gets a revamped design and structure.

Fanlistings have been moved to their own collective, Castles in the Sky.

Two new websites: MACHINE/SOUL, a comprehensive website for the tv series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Fresh Snow, a small Pokemon fanlisting.