Hey, so unless you’ve been living under a rock; Japan has been struck with disaster after an 8.9 earthquake shook things up and caused a tsunami that destroyed a large part of the island country’s east coast. On top of raising awareness for this via Twitter and Facebook, I really wanted to do something more than just donating. Cue my new project for this week “$5ketches for Japan”.

The idea is simple. $5 for a sketch of anything you want*. What’s gonna happen is that the totals of this fundraising will be collected via the paypal account I set up for it and send it directly to the Japanese Red Cross via Google’s Crisis Response page. All I get out of this is an oppertunity to sketch my artistic butt off for a cause.

Just like many of you fellow FFXI players, I have friends and many people in Japan that have been a big part of my life and inspired me directly and indirectly. I have nothing to gain but sketches to add to my scrapbooks, which are my pride and joy, so if you can spare the money (hey, you’re not getting billed in april!)

Thanks for your time. (You could spend it on writing letters for “HE SAYS, SHE SAYS”, too! Viki and I really wanna start recording episode 3!)

-TamTu

Links
Google Crisis Response: http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
DeviantArt: My deviantart page for my art samples.
Kotaku: Power Concerns After Japan Quake Take Down Multiplayer Servers

*Project details

. You can also email me your questions there.

…or rather, something I wanted to highlight since it’s on one of the last pages of the Census.

You probably know by now that here at HS/SS as a Community Site, we don’t really post about the various news and topic-items that are on the Playonline website, simply because every other site and their mom has it up. Chances are you see it at FFXIclopedia, Limit Break Radio or Pet Food Alpha anyway!

But check out this part about the Online Community Relations team! It’s got something to do with the player events we discussed on the Podcast Tour episode early last month with Matt Hilton and Opal Flame.

Continue reading »

Since everyone’s covering the news and trailer and website and what not, Sooraya and I are going to share our responses the way they were as we were watching the Sony E3 Keynote last night, instead.

TamTu: O_O
TamTu: ONLINE?!
TamTu: jhfsklga,fdhgas
Sooraya: HOLY SH*T
TamTu: AUS:HFSLDHGF;sdjhgv
Sooraya: Gawkdfskfs
Sooraya: dfkdlf;lpasdf
TamTu: USHFDSKhflhfskldhg;ask.ldhgas;oew
Sooraya: OMG
Sooraya: sadklfjsdf
Sooraya: omgomgomgomg
TamTu: sdjhbflhgs,k\ksd
TamTu: CALL [RETSUJO]
TamTu: [S]HE’D BETTER BE WATCHING
Sooraya:omgomgomgomgomg.
Sooraya:I don’t want to call [her]. >D;;;
Sooraya: sdkjfsdlkfsd fs OMG
Sooraya:I knew that was a Galka
TamTu: ………the eye-toy dudes are so underwhelming

What’s this going to mean for HS/SS? Well. The game won’t be out until 2010, and Sooraya and I still have a lot of stuff we want to do in FFXI. No worries about HS/SS quitting or switching to Eorzea there

I also apologize for the delayed release of episode 12. It’s been hectic, but I finally got my K-1 Visa~ and Sooraya’s visit next week has been keeping me busy and prepped, too.

I have to be honest, I haven’t explored this too much but I wanted to write about this, especially since it’s such a big theme in not just the end-game community, the overall playerbase and a running gag on the show as well.

But let’s face it; it’s not a gag when it’s making Sooraya lose interest in the game I don’t want to have to change the domain to asktamandnaj.com. (Although I wouldn’t mind Najelith hosting the show with me sometime >.>!)

Continue reading »

Hey everyone! Just a quick reminder that there’s a little under a week left to submit your emails and suggestions! Check the topic below for the details!

The e-mail address is:

Have you looked into Pet Food Alpha and Limit Break Radio’s topics yet? Check it out! We’re all very excited to get this show on the road!

Hey everyone! Are you having fun with the new Add-on? I’ve been busy farming my new amazing White Mage spells with my Hyozan homies and manage to get them all! Orcs in Jugner Forest are also very stingy and it took me forever to get a Seedspall Lux, but I’m ready to go on with the rest of the content of “A CRYSTALLINE PROPHECY”.

We’re working hard on the next episode (really) and still eagerly awaiting your entries for our art contest. But we have something very exciting to announce! Our upcoming .5 episode is scheduled to feature two very special guests to cover the topic of the upcoming and all current in-game seasonal events.

Having covered several of the seasonal events in FFXI like the Starlight Celebration and Valetione’s Day, HS/SS will be having a round-the-table discussion about the various in-game events! And this is where you, the listener, come in.

I want you to start brainstorming about new in-game events, feedback on existing events or in true HS/SS fashion, your personal stories relating to any event. It doesn’t have to be in-character this time, so if that was holding you back from sending us emails before, this is your chance!

Feel free to start e-mailing us now, but the more elaborate and carefully constructed your idea and feedback is, the bigger chance you may have! There will be some incentive for this, I promise! More on this on April 20th.

You can send the e-mails to our special show email:

Thank you for support as always!

So a few days ago, I bumped my head against the edge of the company van’s roof. Ended up with three stitches and a tetanus-shot in my shoulder. My head’s fine and I’m getting the stitches out on monday morning. My shoulder’s pretty sore and stiff, but it’s nothing I can’t handle! But I would imagine a Regen and Cure or so would be a lot nicer. Is there anything from FFXI you wish you had in real life? Discuss this topic in the forums!

Speaking of the forums, I’ve assigned our good friend and loyal writer Silent Lucidity to help Sooraya and myself moderate the forums and bring down the derailing to a minimum. Granted, I participated in far too many tangents myself, but it’s been fun enough. You CAN make new topics, you know

We’re hopefully going to release a new episode this weekend, the last one spent in Windurst before Tamtu and Sooraya travel on to….. Bastok.

…………../ma “Deodorize”