It should not be that much of a surprise for anyone reading this, if I were to say that a lot of depictions regarding the use of CPR on TV and in movies (especially Hollywood) are inaccurate...to different degrees, admittedly. But seeing it done properly is a huge rarity, and that isn't just because ikka doesn't like watching TV. I'm exposed to the idiot box on a daily basis due to the presence of TV addict/s in the household.

One common use of this is the "Kiss of Life" thing in which Person A does something (usually not very intelligent) in an attempt to get a "kiss" from Person B (usually the love interest). Outcomes are usually one of the following:
1) A not getting CPR done on him/her by B, but some other person, who might also be repulsive-looking/have bad breath/is another love interest
2) B performing CPR on A, where it is handled as if it is equivalent to a real kiss (which, as anyone who's done it before will say, is as far from the truth as you can get)
3) A's attempt gets him/her in trouble or danger, due to the circumstances that would cause him/her to need CPR in the first place.

Off the top of my head, the only instance of CPR being done properly I can recall is in Lost...because the person performing it was a doctor. And yet, a lot of shows/movies that focus on doctors/medicine seem to prefer showing the *GREAT DRAMA!*, *POWER STRUGGLES!* and what-have-you, instead of doing just that smidgen of research to not make people that know what's going on cringe horribly. Non-medical characters who can be expected to have relevant skills fall prey to it as well - even 007's CPR in a recent movie wasn't performed properly. Isn't it sad?

It occurs in animation as well. Watches of Mai HiME might recall Mai's "CPR" on Mikoto at the start of the series, or the rather...unsavory (?) idea that popped into Nina's head during the tentacle monster episode in Mai Otome. I'm pretty sure Western animation brings it in too, but have limited knowledge in that field. TV Tropes has a Code Lyoko instance on it, but don't expect me to have seen that show in the past, present or future ☆

There are many how-tos on the Web with regard to the correct way in which one goes about performing CPR, which may have slight differences but generally will involve the use of removing any possible blocks to the airway; head-tilt-chin-lift; rescue breathing and chest compressions. These are also the areas in which I have seen CPR being done wrongly: the casualty may still have water/liquid in their mouth, the head has been tilted too far back or not enough, rescue breaths are too long/short/spaced inaccurately, and my biggest personal peeve: incorrect chest compressions due to not "locking" the elbows or "pressing" on the chest with the hands' strength alone, rather than accurate positioning of the upper body.

Of course, one might look at this from a producer's point of view. The fact remains that there is a sizable part of audiences who have not undergone CPR training before, and that most people would get the idea that CPR is going on when the "appropriate" visual cues are provided. As such, the actors doing "CPR" (note the quotation marks) need not have the necessary skills to actually perform it onscreen, and the people in charge of artwork do not have to draw it to absolute accuracy if they don't know exactly what to depict. Of course, there's also the extra costs incurred if the actor would have to go for CPR training or if extra footage/animation would be needed, especially if the whole process (which can be much longer than usually depicted) is shown. Factor in the suspension of disbelief that goes into watching any fictional show, and you have a situation in which correct CPR isn't always needed.

Nevertheless, ikka can't help but wonder if there might be a lower mortality rate for the big and small screens if the characters involved actually knew just what they were doing (though they might be thought of as such, but that's another story). Has there actually been any instance in which a character fails to save a casualty because he/she lacked the appropriate skills? The only one that comes close, in my limited knowledge, is the Spielberg film Empire of the Sun...and even for that, also not quite.

DAS FEEN REICH! DAS FEEN REICH! DAS FEEN REICH! *loop*


Okay, now that my proclamation as a shinmin (臣民) has been made...time to talk a bit about the PV. Unlike the Schwarzer Sarg post some time ago, this post will have no pictures beside the one up there as Youtube's picture quality is you-know-what and no DVD rips are floating around yet. (sorry Tachibana-san!)

Been trying since the single's release to find the audio tracks online, but to no avail. Schwarzer Sarg was leaked even before it hit the streets, too...oh the unfairness! Even if I could buy the CD off Yesasia or wherever, there's no means to play it with, too...due to the dead optical drive...>_<

Public holidays are good. Just saw the PV on nico (in HQ sound quality too, yay). Here is some random (no particular order):

1) ikka still doesn't know if the tattoo on YUI's left arm is real or cosmetic, despite having seen it so many times...if it's a real piercing, her irl alter ego would get busted quickly if people saw it on her, I reckon

2) There were some commenters on nico talking about YUI's age...never mind, I'll just go with her claim of being over 300 years old...who cares if she's 3-x- already.

3) The PV opened with a distorted version of some lines from the last Hades track, Hades: The rise that was on metanoia. Listening to it through the static, beeps and whatnot doesn't tell me what the exact lines are, though they might be the same as those that followed immediately after, that is to say -
"罪と罰の支配裁く革命
生に背く魅惑苦楽悪性
苛烈　破滅　破裂　ハデス覚醒
罪裁く刺客九の惑星"
- which were done in a different way from the The rise version but equally enjoyable.

4) I apply double standards. A couple days ago ikka was making noise about Mizuki Nana and one of her costumes in Live Fighter...but there's two guys in this PV wearing outfits suspiciously similar to the same kind of thing. This is because the images being portrayed by these different set of musicians are totally unalike, so I'm alright with those two guys...

off-topic: Arika-san of alipro donned a military getup for Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis' PV, too. Same thing about their image.

5) YUI should do something about her English...or rather Engrish...the first time I watched the PV, the comments were turned off, so I didn't see the accompanying lyrics and only caught the "Hades: The Bloody Rage!" at the end. No, actually that's not totally true. I only caught the words "bloody rage".

The cries of "HADES!" (um, hah-daze...same difference) at points in the PV should have alerted me, really. Maybe ikka's ears are just obtuse to the Yousei Teikoku brand of Eng(r)lish, there was a time when the "I am a martyr. I am a believer. And I just believe the fairy" bits in Patriot Anthem didn't form comprehensible words when they registered in my ears/head =_=|||

6) Tachibana-san's armband, which carried the symbol of the Reich (I think. The camera never stopped on it), kept reminding me of Suzumiya Haruhi's Danchou Armband (tm). Unintendedly funny wwwwwwww

7) More on clothes: YUI'S LEGS WAHAHAHAHAH *insane*...if ikka was a legs person, the keyboard would be swamped by drool.

8) Just about every time the word "mune" was used, YUI's hands, in her fit of passion, were trailing near her chest. Her rather flat chest...rofl
Doesn't change the fact that YUI is tha hawtness, flat chest or no. Dang that fairy and her ero skillz...

9) I think the i/c over at Lantis realized that Tachibana-san's guitar magic actually makes quite good footage. That would explain his increased airtime in the PV...or maybe it's just me and his airtime is the same?

Feeding sparse scraps to my starving-to-death pet project Attempting to write a bit more of Wind Beneath Her Wings. ikka is taking time for this entry since she's gotten distracted already. This is just something that's been stewing in me for a while.

Now please keep in mind...

that all of this is entirely my own opinion. Almost everything comes from my experiences reading and writing fanfiction.

( This is not an essay and should not be treated as such )

...isn't this more like a rambling rant, actually? lol

Happy Lunar New Year! Let's look forward to things turning positive if our fandom has loads of bad fic and hope the good things don't go :)

-image used without permission. Property of original creators, etc.

Plagued by various negative issues including mods' alleged anti-MSLN, the controversial decisions on vote-adding, the Prince Fate phenomenon (well, it's been around for awhile, just got more...on the wrong side, and on a larger scale, around the contest period) et al, this tourney was lagged for quite some time (the first contest ended in December IIRC).

There were certain upsides of course, such as the bonding between supporter group members and the love-filled posts and threads that were posted every day. Leoheart-san's almost-one-man crusade must have won him much respect from members, and one of them is yours truly.

ikka must admit to having a lot less enthusiasm for this tournament this time round---there are many reasons for this, a major one being the considerable drop of overall standards at 300. For quite some time, the only thought I had regarding it would be "just get things over and done with, please" (even if I did vote on a semi-regular basis, especially when the rounds involved characters I liked).

Even so, this tournament's final is going to be interesting no matter the result. Just cast my vote, and the contestants are more or less tied, with Shizuru having a small lead. Things may change though, there is still a ways to go before the conclusion.

Would personally wish for Shizuru to win, not only as a fan of hers, but also because she deserves this after placing second last time and getting the Zwei treatment.

祝靜留武運昌隆，一手抱得美人歸、一手抱走冠軍之座。Wishing Shizuru all the best, and may she return from the field with her lady in one arm and the champion's place in the other.

*goes back to homework*

Now is not an appropriate time, but someday I shall sing the praises of this doujin over and over again in what might be called a review.

OMG. It was of such high quality that my heart felt like it was being squeezed over and over again...*tremble* From the time when I read the raw, I was already touched by it once (FAAATE~), then those wonderful folks went and scanlated it...*weeps in joy*

Now that an English scanlation of ThunderBird has been released over at Animesuki, I urge everyone with the available means to find this amazing sequel. The art enough makes it all worth it, man. And reading it in Japanese creates a greater (artistic) impact...even if one isn't able to comprehend it fully.

Right now I feel so fortunate to be able to read Chinese. ^____^

Was feeling a bit ill (still am), but reading this made me so freaking happy. Fate, you go girl! *clenches fist*

Dang, all this giddiness must be getting to me. xD

I want to blame Eagle-san for this, but that would be awfully mean...and the story idea was ikka's anyway. *sigh*

Kyrie's setting would be probably a city much like any other, but with elements of sci-fi, the supernatural, etc. A bit Get Backers-like, though not really...

This story was first conceived in October under a joke title of "SLB Affairs" (after Infernal Affairs) but the characters had too much fun and ran away with the just about non-existent plot, leaving very much changed ^_^;;; These notes are based mostly off the character concepts scribbled down then.

( somebody teach me how to come up with cool/meaningful titles... )

Even though most of the time there was spent interacting with pupils from various schools, I have remarkably few shots of those institutions...not that the experience wasn't worth it, but because of my personal reasons..heh. And universities are generally the same whatever country/state it is, anyway, just huge blocks with greenery and whatnot...*prepares to be flamed by those who think otherwise*

ikka has decided to put the scans of the cards bought in separate posts, to make things simpler.

Fake preview: fandumb exists everywhere! xD





Tired after staring a the monitor screen for so long (wth this entry took 4 hours?!), will go rest now. Will put up the card scans asap, they've already been uploaded so it should be soon...I guess.

Finally back from the TW-HK trip! Picture spam will probably be up tomorrow.

Been trying to catch up on all that I've been missing, what with the constant lack of computers and internet...TT^TT A (whimsical?) search turned up a clip which has most likely been making its circles for some time now---Arika-san and Nana together on stage.



To be honest, ikka has been fervently looking for something like this ever since she learnt that they had performed together...and wow. Just wow. Watching the awesomeness of this made me wish I had been there. *sighs*

A source revealed a bit more about the performance, which had a conversation between the 2 singers that were left out of the Youtube clip I think?


Watching the performance, I got the feeling that Nana's voice is actually kinda close to that which can be heard on some of Arika-san's more recent performances, when her vocals were less high as compared to alipro's older days.Though this can be nothing more than a feeling, since ikka ain't musically trained or anything. I still like Arika-san's vocals, and found her deeper tones as compared to the TV-sized/CD recording equally nice. (is looking forward to Grand Finale)

If these two don't duet again next year, the producers are so going to owe the two camps of fans (and those like ikka who like both). *crosses fingers*

好久沒有寫 LJ 了*被巴* 不過這裡似乎沒有人知道/看的樣子，無所謂啦

剛剛去亂逛 Std 2 跟某些某某的 blog...話說沒有人因為我在上個拜五去完 BSP 研討會後在 RT 時像瘋狗亂吠而感到不爽...應該慶幸才是吧...自己都覺得好像太過頭了，一整個下午要罵的份量竟然一次過 45 分鐘裡全用了 *自我反省*
昨天 (是昨天吧) 早上開始不能再作 FD 了。 懷疑是像 Mr Teo 等訓導會的老師看不過我們老是差點趕不上升旗禮的關係。
現在早上會合時間改到 0740 了，希望她們可以準時到...還有會記得帶筆記和筆...還有還有還有...(ikka 是不是開始 C 某化了啊)

然後去 300 文學區看了一下...坑大多仍是坑 (←沒有資格講人家)
看了一篇手機自殺預告的同人文，意外的喜歡...雖然內容主要是跟 18x 有關...ikka 糟糕化了 XDDD  (謎之聲: 那已經不是新鮮事了!)
遲早有一天我也會寫中文同人的。 大概吧。

明天還有 circular measure&linear law 的測驗...話說我只會 y=mx+c! 難道分數只會拿一半...?
啊啊啊   一半都已經很不錯了吧...今年只及格過數學測驗一次...
下午還有 SMC 會議，又要遲回家了...*嘆*

Life is filled with difficult questions that have multiple answers.

It has rained on and off for the past few days, heavily or not.

I wonder constantly if I should use a poncho or umbrella, if there is a need to bring a jacket. At home, I'm deciding whether to wear shorts (more comfy and easy to move in) or long pants (keeps me from cold).

It's kind of nice to walk in the rain sometimes, but then it gets annoying when it's one of those drizzles that are barely there.

I don't mind rain (mostly), just the cold.

Yeah! Back from JNCO '06 (actually it was a few days ago ^_^|||). I have much to say, but it can't go public. Hahaha.

One thing I must write before I forget, though, is that I kept losing focus and dropping off. Not only was it embarassing, my image probably was knocked quite a bit too. Sighs.

Today I went to get my identity card made...it'll most likely arrive at school in February. At times like this I rather dislike being born so late in the year...I WANNA FIND A JOB DAMMIT.

Made cookies with .dot using instant mix we bought last night. Because we misjudged the amount of butter and egg we were supposed to make, the lumps all melted into a flat cake-like substance after we put them in the oven LOL ^^;;;;; Or maybe we should have put only half of the egg in Goes to show box instructions can't always be followed ei?

Well now, here is a to-do list for myself...just to make my life a bit more miserable...In order of importance (decided by ikka):

-finish my Kouya and Shizuru fanarts
-post said fanarts
-do fic/pic dump on LJ
-finish watching Rozen Maiden Traumend and Ouverture (second half)
-get to yet untouched holiday homework (←拖出去斬)