The cartoonist whose satirical drawing of Mohammed caused him to be vilified by Muslims the world over has been the subject of an Islamically inspired assassination attempt; he escaped death, though his assailant was shot several times by police. Kurt Westergaard’s depiction of Mohammed, published in a Danish newspaper in 2005, infuriated Muslims the world over, with many demanding that Denmark censor the cartoons. Dozens were killed in violent protests against the “blasphemous” caricatures, and Danish embassies throughout the Islamic world were attacked. The religion of peace soon inspired numerous fatwa against Westergaard, and a million dollar bounty was placed on his head.

Westergaard was driven into hiding but defiantly emerged years later, albeit under heavy police protection. However, this proved useless as a 28-year-old Somali Islamist was able to break into his home with a knife, vowing to kill him. Westergaard fled to a panic room with his infant granddaughter and summoned his police guardians, who apprehended the assassin; he resisted arrest and was shot in the knee and shoulder by police. His injuries are not said to be life-threatening. Police previously arrested three Muslim immigrants for plotting to kill Westergaard, but this is the first time he has been bodily attacked.

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Now so the story is this danish cartoonist had drawn a "satrical" image of Mohammed, key word "satire" if you don't know what that means look it up. Anyway this was 5 years ago, however when it happened it had made the islamic community of the world very, very angry. So angry in fact that whey were violent protests where quite alot of people were killed, and then he got a million dollar bounty put on his head, and so he also gets professional assassins coming for him.

Now I understand that what he did is very, very wrong and if it offends anybody you do have the right to kick his ass, however you do not have the right to go and kill him and all his known family and friends. 5 years later its 2010 and yet another islamic extremist is at his door step ready to kill him. Good thing he had a safe room so his granddaughter could be safe. Can you believe after this many years, he is still hated? my gosh hes not god damn hitler is he.

Now this guy in all intensive purposes of the word is intense! There are a few swords in fiction that if you make them, and I mean make them really well, then it is already more then enough sign to show people that you have got a serious set of skills under your belt when it comes to swordmaking. And the first sword I saw that for me, achknowledged that fact was his Genesis Rapier for Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core. Long has this sword been a challenge for even the best of swordmakers but when I say him make this sword, completely out of wood, and I mean completely, there are WIP's to prove it, I was simply flabbergasted. In propmaking, when you make a sword of complete 100% detail its a perfect prop, but not a perfect sword. A perfect sword would not only need 100% perfect detail but perfect construction and materials. And this guy has done just that and every sword he produces is really intense when you just simply look at them.

So it was Comiket 77 not so long ago the worlds biggest anime convention and the birthplace of cosplaying! If a cosplayer wants to make their big break and become known on the national stage they must head to Comiket! They must do so even if it means harsh winter winds but however, there is another danger they must beaware of. So anyway in the first picture we can see a cosplayer, and a famous japanese one at that, (Anybody know who she is actually cosplaying from?) And she is doing what cosplayers do best! posing for the camera.

As a cosplayer when the camera is pointed at you, it's go time! you get into character and pose to your hearts content. You endure the photographers even if more start coming over. However, this is a great example of when critical mass has been reached for the photographers. In the second photo we see an army of photographers surrounding her, taking photos of every corner of her body. Notice how many, many photographers are taking photo's of her chest and lower back.

Well anyway long story short this cosplayer is pretty brave, I mean if your a cosplayer reading this, can you handle the pressure of hundreds of photographers breathing down your neck, surrounding you from all sides cutting off escape, taking pictures of every single angle known to man of your body? Well thats what some japanese cosplayers have to deal with at comiket.

Saiyuki was first created as a manga by the author Kazuya Minekura and it was written as a loose adaption from the famous chinese story "Journey to the West". The manga first began in 1997 and then ended in 2002 with only 9 volumes in total. Though Saiyuki is actually 5 series in one, and besides the first one they are "Saiyuki Reload, "Saiyuki Reload Blast", "Saiyuki Gaiden" and "Saiyuki Ibun". Then the animation studio "Studio Pierrot" decided to animate Saiyuki into 3 different Anime TV series which were called "Saiyuki" with 50 episodes, "Saiyuki Reload" with 25 episodes and "Saiyuki Reload Gunlock" with 26 episodes.

"Saiyuki is the story of four anti-heroes: the monk Genjyo Sanzo , the monkey king Son Goku, the half-demon Sha Gojyo, and the man-turned-demon Cho Hakkai. They have been dispatched by the Sanbutsushin to travel to India to stop the possible resurrection of the Bull-Demon-King, Gyumaoh. Along the way they are beset by inept assassins, bad weather, and their own tragic personal pasts. Meanwhile, the villains, two unlikely confidants, Gyokumen Koushou and a mad scientist, Dr. Ni Jianyi, continue their attempts to restore the long-dead king. These experiments, a forbidden mixture of science and magic, spawn the "Minus Wave", infecting all of the demons in Shangri-La with madness, shattering the fragile peace that once existed between humans and demons.

So when I was reading the first series of Saiyuki I was introduced with a very simply storyline to get myself into. It was simply 4 heroes who had to travel to the place where the final boss was being kept and defeat him. Along the way the heroes encounter many fodder villians and kill them, only the main evil villian characters ever survive. It seemed like the manga was focusing more on character development, which was true in the second series Saiyuki Reload. In the second series things became much more serious and emotional, where quite alot of events were about their own character pasts and how they have overcame them. Then there was Saiyuki Gaiden which for me was by far the best of the 3 I had read. It all meanings of the word, it was a tragedy, and it was beautifull written and really well executed so, overall I would say it's pretty great.

Genjyo Sanzo: He is the main protaganist out of the group and he is a young, blond Buddhist monk. However he smokes, drinks, gambles, swears, and generally follows his own path instead of bhudda's path because he is badass like that. Regardless of that he is actually one of the highest ranking priests in the bhuddist world as he carrys the Maten Sutra, a sutra he carried on his shoulders that all the villians want. Though he carrys tremendous power, second to only goku he rarely uses it, instead he relies on his Smith and Wesson revolver. Though funnily enough, you almost never see him reloading it, and he always seems to get headshots no matter what the situation.

Son Goku: Goku is the Seiten Taisei or Great Sage Equaling Heaven, he did somthing really, really bad up in heaven, and so as punishment he was sealed in a rock cave for several hundred years. However when Sanzo came along, they made a small bond and then eventually the other two came and they became friends. Out of the group Goku would probably be the strongest because when his limiter is removed, as pictured on his forehead he would go berserk and have intense strength and speed to overwhelm his enemys. However when he does have his limiter on he is his normal self, and when he is normal, he is always hungry and always makes it a point to tell the others about it.

Sha Gojyo: Gojyo is both a youkai and a human because there was an issue with his step mother, and then his father sleeping with a human women and such and everything went to hell. So when he was a child he relied alot on his brother Jien. Well anyway he has blood red hair and eyes, and these are signs that he is a halfbreed and is very uncomfortable about people talking about them. He wields the Shakugetsujou, a metal weapon staff with a sickle and chain, as his primary weapon. He always seems to have constant fights with Goku because he has a quick temper, but in times of great need he does not simply stand idly by while his friends are getting into trouble.

Cho Hakkai: Hakkai is the demonslayer because in the past he killed quite alot of demons because they killed someone he lived. I sid he killed quite alot, but he actually killed close to 1000 by simply travelling to all neighbouring villages and continuing his epic youkai killing spree. However ignoring this past event in the present day he is the most mild mannered and level headed member of the group. He is the neutral one within the friends because he does not really favour one side and he rarely displays anger. He does not use a weapon like the others but he is very well capable of manipulating chi and so he can heal wounds really quickly and throw out these chi beams.

I will admit that in the first series of just "Saiyuki" the art quality was pretty damn terribly, because the shading of the panel's was poorly done and so it kinda looked like a "smudged" effect when your reading it. However as the manga progressed the art quality started to pick up nicely. Then when moving onto Saiyuki Reload the art quality started off much better when it first began and ended in the original saiyuki. Then we move onto Saiyuki Gaiden, it was not like the art quality got even better, but it reached it's prime where it has no reason to continue to be better, because everything is clear and well shown on the page. So I satisfied with that and it is indeed good. Though I think where the art really shines is, and this time it is not the battle scenes, which is almost every time for every other manga, but no, it is the hair! The characters hair is drawn really well, throughout every panel you see them in! wierd but noticeable.

At first I thought that Saiyuki could be a manga that could be finished up in just one series. However as I kept reading the manga it seemed like the plot, well was really moving slowly, I know it takes a long time to travel by foot from east asia to west asia, but they made it seemed like an eternity! That is when I noticed that this manga was not about the plotline as a core aspect. It was actually the character development, here we have 4 characters, and their is 5 series so we are in for the long haul in reading this manga. So we have all that time to just focus all our attentions on these 4 characters on their journey. The back storys, the character develpement, their emotions, they were all shown so that they were not simply 2Dimensional characters. And in that aspect I think they were successfull and this manga is pretty great for that reason!

2009 is done and dusted and we welcome in the new year for 2010, the new decade is upon us and we look back to the last 10 years. What happened in the past 10 years? well there was alot of good stuff however we must never forget the great tragedys that have occured. So we pay our respects to the 9/11 Attacks, 2003 Iraq War, 2004 Asian Tsunami, Death of the Queen Mother, the Death of Pope Jhon Paul II and much more. So lets hope the next decade will have less disasters. Anyway if your in the happy new year mood then comment in the layout I have below, like I have done in the title!

Happy New Year! from (state/county/province) , (country)

Okey so 2009 is coming to an end and 2010 is coming around the corner in a few days. As citizens of planet earth we need to make New Years Resolution so that we may take a major step forward in becoming a better person! However before we go any further 40 of you watchers had revealed your New Years Resolution last year! so I ask of those 40 people to talk about whether they achieved those goals or not! you can find it here:

Click here for your previous 2008 New Year Resolutions!

Work hard to pass my exams and get into university

I got my required grades from my Exams and got into Oxford Brookes University

Actually revise enough so that I will be able to pass them

I revised pretty hard, but not as much as I wanted, but I still did great!

To get my driving liscence before I go to university

I failed my driving test twice, I failed big time and have a phobia of it now

To actually find a suitable job this year for money

I have never actually once gotten any kind of part time work/job, ever

Becoming a much more mature gentlemen

I feel I was much more of a mature gentleman back in 2008 then now hmpth

Also a good idea to get into shape this year

when I meant get in shape I meant muscles, however I have up too easily

Hope to make enough swords before I go to university

In the end I made 16 Bleach Swords instead of 18 but thats okey for me

Try to successfully sell my swords this time round

I have made such a killing on selling my swords literally hundreds!

So from analysing my 2008 New Years Resolution, I think I did okey, though I could have done alot worse, I mean alot worse, however I successfully pulled through in the year, and so all that is left is to make up my 2009 New Years Resolution!

Successfully pass the first year of my Architecture Course

Successfully pass my driving test and get my damn liscence

To join a sports club and discipline my mind body and soul

To actually get a part time job this year, anything really

To get a girl friend this year, almost impossible reality

Make the final Level 3 advanced swordmaking tutorials

Try and actively go out more and meet more new people

Properly organise myself into a routine to sort life out

Right those are mine, now you must reveal yours, even if you only have one or two everybody commenting in this journal will atleast browse some peoples New Years Resolution!

Now suprisingly enough I did not meet this guy here first on DeviantArt, nope it was a completely unrelated site, it was actually a forum! So I was browsing this forum then one day BAM! in the Bleach "Fan Art" section he posted a sword! and all I thought at that time was "Damn what a shame, he would really make it big on DeviantArt" and then several months on I discovered he finnally came on DeviantArt, and I knew from then that his path towards glory had begun. This guy is like a programmed swordmaking machine, just look how precise all of his swords are, there all so damn well perfectly well made! If you really spend alot of time to make sure that all of the details are perfect, they you have already achieve a extremely high quality of art and an almost perfect replica. He has a swordmaker has acomplished this goal, and I am sure this will not be the last.

Fate/Stay Night was originally and "Adult" Visual Novel Game, which was rated 18+ for some kinky sex stuff which was released on January the 30th 2004, for the PC. The afterwards a manga was produced by the author Type-Moon that started in December the 26th 2005 and is still currently ongoing with 9 volumes. Then the animation studio Studio Deen decided to adapt Fate/Stay Night into a 24 episode anime that began airing in January the 6th 2006 and ended in June the 16 2006. A film will also be released in January the 23rd 2010.

Shirou Emiya lost his parents in a fire when he was young and was later adopted by a sorceror by the name of Kiritsugu Emiyalthough he was full of admiration for his adopted father and yearns to become an ally of justi. Ace, Shirou has limited powers and was unable to become a strong sorceror like his father. That is until one fateful day, he was drawn into the Holy Grail War and had to summon a female "Servant" known as Saber in order to protect himself. It turns out that the Holy Grail War involves a series of battles among powerful sorcerors to fight for the possession of a relic that will grant one's wishes, the Holy Grail. The story revolves around Shirou and his entanglement in the Holy Grail War."

Now here is the thing, I am only rating the plotline as okey because I think the anime kinda ruined the ending a bit. I know it ended quite okey for the anime, but it had so much more potential to become somthing greater, however it did not really do it for me. Well anyway, the plotline was pretty solid where we have all these servents with different historic backgrounds fighting it out in the modern world trying to get the holy grail. However the anime, and well the overall plotline took a route which was expected but I dislike heavily. And that was it soon became a harem genre basically, this was not really evident in the anime thankfully, but in the manga yes. When you only one one male character, who is not a servent, and 5 or more girls living with him, it becomes too much like the "Adult Visual Novel it was in the first place.

Shiro Emiya: Shiro is the main protaganist of the story and he is a very hardworking and honest teenager. He has unique hobbies like fixing broken things and cooking and cleaning. He was first very confused about the holy grail war, however he soon came to grips with what was happening when he died multiple times, and sometimes by the same enemy! What I disliked about him at first was his reluctance at calling saber into battle to fight for him. Maybe it was because Saber was a women and he felt he needed to protect her, this logic got him killed a few too many times. Well anyway he soon comes to grips for the war and lives in a large house full of women.

Saber: Saber is suppose to represent the great historical figure we all have come to know as King Arthur, but wait she is a women! well that problem doesn't matter for some fans as long as she is good looking. Well anyway she is very emotionless and really, really wants the holy grail, though that does not mean she is not kind or anything. She just does not know what life is like as a girl, and some episodes are devoted just for that. Well anyway whats intresting about her is her really epic battle abilities like excalibur the sword or legend and limitless power that disintegrates her enemys in a golden sparkling light that rises to the heavens.

Rin Tosaka: Rin is what you can say the model student at the same school Shiro attends. She is both beautifull and intelligent and unlike Shiro she has intense knowledge on the holy grail war and can use magic herself to a great degree. Her father was killed int he fourth holy grail war and so she decides to train really har to fufill her fathers wishes. She had originally wanted to summon saber as her servant because she was one of the strongest, but she got archer instead. However it was good that she got archer because they both wear red clothing and so their colours contemplate eachother.

Archer: Archer was actually the first origin of the word "GAR" that discribes a character so full of manliness at chuck norris levels. This was derived from the phrase "Gay for Archer". But anyway Archer is of course, and archer bet you didn't see that coming. However he uses swords mostly, now I bet you didn't see that coming! he has very sharp eyesight and is well profecient in swords. However when he really needs to get serious then yes he can summon his bows. Archer kinda does parallel saber in alot of ways because he is witty and very slick while saber, is none of those things.

Well the art animation was decent I guess, I have not seen Fate/Stay Night in a long time but I think that the animation quality was pretty solid I guess. Alot of it was shown at night, because for some reason, all the masters and servants like to fight at night so as not to be seen in public at day. Well anyway same story like all other animes, that if they have lots of night scenes it means they have to work harder on the animation! which they have thankfull done well to create a nice atmosphere and mood for things to come. The battle scenes are okey I guess, pretty much towards the end of the anime it all involves using energy beam related attacks and alot of flashing lights but thats nothing to nit pick about.

Now what was the most memorable scene in Fate/Stay Night! well of course it had to be this scene of course! and don't anybody dare spoil it for others what happens about the episode! well anyway Archer being all badass and stuff has this final ability, a great and powerfull ability that all should be feared. He first starts speaking english, and for a japanse voice actor it is actually an incredibly difficult task, however in this anime they actually did it successfully! hats off to him. Well anyway long story short, he manipulates reality and transports himself and the enemy to a world, a world with two floating gears and swords. In this land there is an unlimited number of swords, and for me, thats pretty damn awesome. In this world only one person will escape, and if the other person has an unilimited arsenal of swords then your screwed dammit!

Fate/Stay Night is a really, really popular anime, seeing as how it only had 24 episodes and I am sure all the people who have watched it have not really read the manga, nor have even played the original Adult Visual Novel. However in my opinion the anime was okey, I guess the servants abilities were nice to see and such, but it's just that you have seen this kind of plotline before so many times between masters and servants fighting for somthing or someone. The real fandom of Fate/Stay Night is geared towards saber, for a reason that I cannot comprehend, but that alot of male fans adore her. It started off good when only Shiro had 2 girls living with him, however now every female character in the show lives under the same roof, and some were bitter enemys before! Bah this anime I guess rounded itself off good by avoiding this ending but it lost out on some decent plot progression.

Since I don't know what will fully happen tommorow, and because of time zone differences as well I thought I might as well post the journal today of wishing everybody a happy holiday. Seeing as how christmas is not the only holiday that is occuring at the end of the year, saying merry christmas would only effect the majority of people. For people who dont celebrate christmas, because it has kinda become commercial we should give them a warm message of hope for the new year. So from me to you, and everybody else:

So anyway I made a DA account into the Sword Sanctuary Club last year ago as an attempt to organise all the swords made on DA in one place. However it was horribly organised and I abandoned it. So now with the recent release of DA Groups I turned the old account into an official Sword Sanctuary DA Group!

This club will aim to have all 150 members of the League of Swordmakers, and including ALL of their swords! if you like swords and swordmaking then why just watch a few swordmakers, when you can watch all of the very best on DA! I will guarentee you we will show you the best swords throughout DeviantART that has to offer! Also it will hold every single tutorial and guide on swordmaking if you want to learn!

However this club isn't just for swordmakers as well! it will also soon contain all manner of sword arts! This is basically when a person designs or draws a sword, that can or cannot be your design or not. The only rule is that the sword must be drawn alone and not held by a character or such. So why not join as a member to show off your epic sword drawing skills?

I am currently in the process of inviting all 150 swordmakers all throughout DA and currently only my swords and tutorials are up there. But I will say now, if you really like swords, then please watch the Group and you will see the very best! It is time for people to realise that swordmaking is an artform and I would like everybodys help to make it reality!

PS:Also if it is not too much trouble, can someone please make up some designs for our new Group Icon? it's 50 x 100

You know not everybody makes swords the same way as like another swordmaker would, that might sound pretty obvious, but that is because some swordmakers can make swords that you would have never dreamed imaginable, and he is a great example of that. When you look at this guys swords, the first thing that might catch your eye is that they look pretty damn realistic! maybe it is the perfect curve of the blade? or maybe it is that the blade does actually look like steel? or maybe even the perfect tsukamaki?, I would call him an illusionist also than just a swordmaker. This is because some of his swords, if not all are made of ice cream sticks! I kid you not he has developed away through countless hours of experimentation and construction to build a realistic sword while using tinfoil or aluminium leaf to wrap the blade to give it a shine only steel could produce!