Devinquest® Melbourne Entertainment

osh10 featuring A Lighter Shade of White - "Mr Sheen"

2008-04-22T21:18:00.003+10:00

Production Date: April 20th 2008
Genre: Animation / Music Video
Animated and Directed by: Thuyen Nguyen
Music by: osh10
Length: 4 minutes
Synopsis: To mark its 10th anniversary, the whole A Lighter Shade of White web comic series is summarized in three and a half minutes to a jazzy soundtrack.

A Question of Promise #7

2008-03-18T19:45:00.002+11:00

Production Date: March 18th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eric returns safe and sound, but not before Eden enlists Erin to make a public appeal for information on national TV. They'll both have some explaining to do...

Download PDF version (4MB)

I'm in The Age...

2008-03-14T14:58:00.001+11:00

... interviewed about "Same As It Ever Was."

http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives//008837.html

Same As It Ever Was

2008-02-29T17:47:00.006+11:00

Production Date: February 29th 2008
Genre: Machinima
Written and Directed by: Thuyen Nguyen
Music by: Lackluster
Length: 3 minutes
Synopsis: Video game critics use the same arguments against gaming as they did for movies, television, music, comics, books...
As featured at: GameSetWatch, The Age, Sumea

Watch online at YouTube
Download high quality version from Archive.org

A Question of Promise #6

2008-02-13T19:54:00.002+11:00

Production Date: February 13th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eric's disappearance has Eden and Dice worried. Alvin and McMahon know where he is, but the truth is rather unbelievable.

Download PDF version (3.5MB)

Japan: Time Extension

2008-02-01T22:49:00.000+11:00

Got my visa extended for a year, even though I only asked for 6 months. That said, I don't plan to be here for that long if the wife's Australian visa gets finalized sooner.

Japan: Straight Sevens

2008-01-25T19:15:00.000+11:00

There's a vending machine near our house that is the only one that has 500ml cans of Calpis. It also happens to be the only one with the "numbers bonus game". It goes like this:

Buy any drink from the machine. In this case, 120 yen for Calpis Water.
After the drink is dispensed, the numbers bonus game starts. Like slots, four numbers shuffle randomly. If you get 7777, you win a free drink of your choice.
I got 7777! So for my free drink, I chose a 500ml can of Calpis Soda.

It was rather entertaining!

Japan: Yum Cha

2008-01-20T22:05:00.000+11:00

Yesterday, the family went to Rokko Island to have all-you-can-eat yum cha for the respectable price of 3000 yen each. The Chinese restaurant was located inside the Kobe Sheraton Hotel. The food was good, though restaurants here in Japan use mustard as a condiment as opposed to chili, and there's nothing better than shrimp dumplings drowning in chili sauce.

What wasn't good, however, was the price of the 190ml coke I ordered... 700 yen! That's almost $9! The wife said that I should have expected it, considering that we were in a hotel and hotels are expensive. Yes, but still, 700 yen! I could have bought 6 litres of coke from the supermarket for that much. Oh well.

A Question of Promise #5

2008-01-15T19:15:00.001+11:00

Production Date: January 13th 2008
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Erin has finally scored her big break as a stand-up comedian. Eden, Eric and Dice go and check out her first ever live gig.

Download PDF version (5MB)

Japan: Show Me the Beef

2008-01-10T22:08:00.000+11:00

A couple of friends from Australia came to Kobe to visit. This gave the wife and I the perfect (and only) excuse to finally eat some Kobe Beef, which is known for its marble appearance and expensive cost.

We went down to a restaurant in Sannomiya and ordered 2x160g and 2x200g dinner sets. The taste... was very good. I don't know if it's worth the money (8000 and 10,000 yen respectively), but it was very tasty. The restaurant cooks the food in front of you, so it was also entertaining.

After leaving, the wife revealed that the restaurant had charged us the wrong amount. We ended up paying about 5000 yen less than we were supposed to. We kept walking, only to occasionally look over our shoulder. Lucky!

Pip'n Xbox

2008-01-08T01:20:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post - I made a parody of an Apple/Bandai Pippin promo video by replacing every reference from Apple to Microsoft. It's on Youtube, and it was mentioned at Destructoid.

Japan: New Year

2008-01-03T23:59:00.000+11:00

The new year in Japanese brings with it some traditions. On December 31st, the family came together to eat o-sechi, which is basically a box with lots of different small-portioned food in it. Actually not that great, but it is traditional and fairly expensive.

At around 11:30pm, after the annual NHK Kohaku Utagassen singing contest finished, we ate some new years Toshikoshi soba. Tradition has it that you eat the soba and drink the soup before midnight, but you must not leave anything behind in the bowl.

New year's day, and the kids in the house got packets of money (Otoshidama). I remember getting such when I was younger and, frankly, it was awesome. Too bad no money packets are given to adults. Had azuki and mochi for breakfast, and lunch was what was left of the night before's o-sechi. All nengajo (new year's cards) are delivered on this day, regardless of when you sent them before.

Today, the wife and I, along with her friends, made our way to Nishinomiya to a temple to get our new year's fortune (Hatsumoude). You shake a tube full of sticks and then pull one out. The stick has a number which corresponds to a fortune. I got the best one, while one of the wife's friends got the worse. I don't really believe it, but no harm in trying, eh?

Japan: Why is it the Opposite?

2007-12-30T21:58:00.000+11:00

Two of the wife's sisters are pregnant, so the family went to Nakayama Temple in Takarazuka today to pray for the upcoming babies. At the temple, the mother-to-be buys a haraobi, a long piece of cloth that has writing on it telling you the gender of the baby. As all good fortunes go, the gender of the baby is actually the opposite of what the haraobi says.

The haraobi said "girl."

Japan: End of Year Trivia

2007-12-27T20:39:00.001+11:00

Christmas is a different time here in Japan. They see it as purely a commercial occasion, free of those perky religious overtones. Santa-san delivers presents and the kids are happy. Christmas Day is not a public holiday, but the Emporor's Birthday is, and it's on the 23rd. Close enough. I gave some presents to the adults in the house as I figured (correctly) that Mr Claus would forget about them.

Had to send a visa application off a few weeks ago. The main Japan Post office in Kobe is open 24 hours (which is awesome), but for some strange reason, they don't sell things that you would expect a post office to have, like envelopes. Had to go to 7-11 for them, but that wasn't a problem since 24-hour convenience stores are everywhere.

A Question of Promise #4

2007-12-13T20:12:00.000+11:00

Production Date: December 13th 2007
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Eden prepares for her cousin's wedding, but a reoccurring headache isn't making things easy. Having received some special shopping tips, Eric's pretty confident that he can help lighten her load.

Download PDF version (5MB)

Japan: Osaka Motor Show

2007-11-30T20:35:00.000+11:00

Today, the father-in-law and I went to check out the Osaka Motor Show. The star of the show was the lovely new Nissan GT-R, which was very nice in the flesh, but there's something not quite right about it for me. There's a few too many angles in the body, or perhaps I'm used to the curves of the 350Z. Still, I would say "no" though!

Spent most of the time looking at the Japanese cars. American cars weren't particularly interesting (Chrysler didn't have a Viper there), but some of the European stuff is always eye-catching (Ferrari, Lamborghini...) The concept cars were interesting, and were usually the first thing I looked for when entering an area. I liked the Nissan Pivo2, Honda Puyo and the Lexus LF-A. Biggest surprise was the Japanese Mitsuoka Orochi, which looked insane.

A good number of people there, but enough room to move around. All in all, a good time had.

DDGC - Aussie Football: Glory in September

2007-11-30T20:21:00.000+11:00

So I've finally got around to making a new game. It's a turn-based rock, paper, scissors game based on Aussie Rules Footy (AFL). I made this one as a Flash Actionscript learning project, and in that respect, it was successful (that is, now I know some). The game's not particularly interesting, but it's complete and it works. So, feel free to give it a five-minute try.

Aussie Football: Glory in September

Introducing... Benchmark Otaku

2007-11-22T20:26:00.001+11:00

I've started a web side project, and it's called Benchmark Otaku. I review Japanese PC benchmark software. Why? I have no idea, but it's fair to say that no-one else on the net is doing it - quite possibly because it's a stupid idea...

Please pay a visit if you're interested in benchmarking!

Benchmark Otaku - http://benchmark-otaku.blogspot.com/

Japan: Lost and Buy

2007-11-19T20:53:00.000+11:00

It's official - I lost my Nintendo DS. I have a feeling that I forgot to put it back into my bag at Okinawa airport after playing with it. The wife was kind enough to call two airports and the airline to see if anyone found it, but that resulted in nothing. So in summary, I lost my Final Fantasy XII Nintendo DS, a copy of Saiyuki and my Mario Invincible Star DS pouch. I'll probably buy a replacement before I return to Melbourne.

On the weekend, the wife and I walked into Seiden to check out video cameras. I was thinking of buying a "play" camera; something that I could carry in my pocket for fun. I was eying the high-def Canon HV10, and wanted the wife to give it a test drive. While we were there, however, I found a Sony HDR-HC3 for 50,000 yen. Bargain! Cheaper than the HV10 too (bigger though). So I bought it. Perhaps an impulse buy, but $500-ish for a HD video camera (and a half-decent one at that) was too good to pass up.

A Question of Promise #3

2007-11-14T19:20:00.000+11:00

Production Date: November 14th 2007
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Confused by his actions last night, Eric receives some unwanted but helpful advice. Meanwhile at home, Dice finds a way to relieve his boredom...

Download PDF version (4.5MB)

Japan: Trip to Miyako

2007-11-13T18:52:00.000+11:00

The wife and I spent the past three days on Miyako Island in Okinawa, which is a 2-plane, 3.5-hour trip from Kobe.

Miyako, like the rest of Okinawa, is very much "island lifestyle" - that is, everything is laid back and relaxing. The speed limit is 40km, the music on the radio is distinctly chill-out guitar (Okinawan music is itself a genre), and everyone is friendly. We stayed at the Allamanda Shigira Bayside Suite which was great except for the bed, which looked and felt nice, but for some reason did not give a good night's sleep (the sheets were rather loud).

We hired a car and drove around to various spots on the island for food, views and shopping. Tried to see a beach sunset on the first day but it was too cloudy, and we didn't actually find the beach. Went to three beaches on the second day and had a dip in one of them (first time I've been to the beach in ages). Went to a Greek restaurant for lunch, which is the first Greek restaurant I've seen/been to in Japan at all.

Final day, we made a couple of clay shisa, which turned out really good. They'll be sent to us in a month's time due to kilning. For lunch, went to the only(?) taco rice place on the island, where I ate too much.

All in all, our trip to Miyako Island was very good. Recommended if you're looking for a relaxing-type holiday.

PS. I think I lost my DS somewhere between Okinawa Naha airport and home, because I can't find it :(

Isabella's Big Adventure - The Patisserie Pursuit

2007-11-04T14:26:00.000+11:00

Production Date: November 4th 2007
Genre: Animation
Starring: Isabella (of course!)
Written and Directed by: Thuyen Nguyen
Length: 5 minutes
Synopsis: Isabella's prize-winning cakes are making someone jealous...
Notes: First Isabella episode done in Flash at 720p.

Download web version (5MB)

The Tuesday When Tears Fell

2007-10-20T15:17:00.000+10:00

The following is a guest post.

Ginger, my little dog, died suddenly of natural causes. She was not even six years old, which made her passing even more saddening. My heart was stung with pain; my soul was broken into a thousand pieces.

I have cried several times in my life. I cried when my parents passed away alone in their home town, a tiny village in a poor and isolate area a few miles from the Kampuchea border.

I cried for a number of my classmates who left school to join the army. As soldiers, they fought and had fallen in battles away from home. These bloody battles were part of an endless war that went on for more than a decade in my poor Viet Nam.

I cried when I received a small parcel from my wife-to-be on a cold night of late winter after the fall of Saigon. The parcel contained some dried and salty fish and a couple of sweet cakes. It was handed to me by the skinny communist assigned to the section of the concentration camp where I was held.

My wife, my first son, who was only three months old, and I cried as we sat on the white sandy beach of a tiny island of Indonesia, a thousand miles from Jakarta city. We looked at our old wooden boat. It was less than ten meters long, yet it carried more than a hundred people, old and young, determined to escape the communist regime. After six straight days and nights on the open sea, the boat had begun to sink; its walls riddled with holes.

I cried when I stood next to the coffin of my mother-in-law who passed away due to dementia after spending more than a year in a nursing home in Melbourne. I waited for the funeral worker to close the lid of the coffin for the last time.

But as sad as those tears were, they did not compare to Tuesday’s tears.

It was a misty and smoky morning on the day Ginger was buried. In the small back yard, as quiet as a night ghost, I dug a tiny hole. Her body was wrapped carefully in a black and tough plastic bag, with her two favourite toys: a green rubber ball, and a piece of ivory bone. As I prepared to lay her down, I began to cry. I sobbed uncontrollably. Tears strolled down my face, falling onto the wet soil, mixing in with the gentle morning rain that had just covered my poor little dog’s grave.

That Tuesday morning, I had lost my Ginger.

It could be said, without neither love nor hate, that Ginger was only a dog like any other dog, so there was no reason to cry. But in my heart, Ginger was not only the family pet for the past six years, but also my most cherished friend during my lonely and sad days. The continuing failures in my life throughout these recent years, despite my determination and perseverance, sometimes pushed me into disillusion and desperation. In those painful moments, Ginger came to me as a savior. Quietly and patiently she would lay next to me in the isolate room or on the wooden bench in the back yard and listen to me pour out my heart. She made me realize that life still had something worth living for. Ginger said no words but looking at her little glistering eyes and her wagging tail, I knew she understood the self-doubt that I had always kept to myself. I could talk to her for hours and in return she would listen until I stopped. I would talk to her a lot as we walked together every Sunday morning as well.

Ginger was and will always be a part of my life; a life that has had more sadness than happiness. Truly, I believe that my dear Ginger is in heaven as she did not have a single sin. However, without doubt I have certainly committed a number of sins. God will decide whether those sins are forgivable or not. If, on the day I die, God chooses to punish me; I would kneel down and beg him a last mercy. Allow me to be in heaven long enough to see Ginger one last time. At that short precious moment, I would give my poor little Ginger an eternal kiss and tell her the remaining story of my plight and a farewell word. Only then would I be more than happy to rest for ever.

Thuyen Huy

A Question of Promise #2

2007-10-13T20:38:00.000+10:00

Production Date: October 13th 2007
Genre: Comedy
Story and Art by: Thuyen Nguyen
Format: 24 pages, B&W w/ colour covers
Synopsis: Unfazed by their awkward first date, Eden invites Eric and Dice over to her house for dinner. Will this night have a better ending?

Download PDF version (4MB)

Japan: One Year Later

2007-10-08T18:11:00.000+10:00

Today is my one-year wedding anniversary. It's been a quick year, to be sure. The wife and I went to stay at Hotel de Maya on top of Mt. Rokko for the night. Nice view of Kobe at night. Food was good, the room was so-so. Woke up this morning to rain and really heavy fog.

Love you, baby! Here's to more years, hopefully :)