#editor notes

chanelling new years excitement into action, polka dots, setting trends, faux natural aesthetic + faux natural glam incorporating nyx coldbrew lip liner, new habits girly quiz, britney spears, chunky french tips with minimalist charms, low rise bootcut jeans, more niche + more obscure...💬🎀

finally got a working blu ray torrent for Volume 9. The BD torrents were all raw blu ray file dumps rather than pre-made remuxes. Which was odd, but hey, I got to learn more about how blu ray discs are structured file-wise.

You have to run 'playlist' files to obtain the correct 'stream' to render episodes from the disc to .m2ts format. Then change the container to .mp4 or .mkv with ffmpeg in the command line depending on your needs. Interestingly, the anti-piracy ads are separate videos but all languages will be rendered into a single video, at least with the method I was using.

In Vol. 1 I came across a small note of nicknames for the main characters, by Hino herself, her editor and assistants.

For Yuuki: Yukkie (By Hino) Yukkie-chan (By Ms. M. Okuda)

For Zero: Zerorin (By Hino) Jero, Jerorin (By her editor)

With Apple's recent US$250M court settlement just behind her misleading AI fiasco, I do sincerely hope this will only cascade outside America for the justice many worldwide customers seek against the smoking AI mirrors Apple casted.

I, for one, have remained skeptical to the more empty promises made over WWDC 2026, with me resorting to get my iPhones 16e and 17e in China instead. The advantages are two-fold: cheaper pricing (compared to outside China) while ensuring Apple Intelligence remains disabled for these China variants.

On the front of my Apple tablets, the clash of rising hardware cost over an ever-limited iPad OS software can only mean a clear resolve on my end not to replace my aging Apple iPad Pro 12.9". It's clear that Apple will rather pivot her entire computing solution towards the more capable Mac OS from 2026. The recently-announced Macbook Neo proved this argument, with that verdict to be quickly reaffirmed by the soon-to-be-announced touch-enabled laptops she will launch later this same year.

The switch-out from what remaining mileage the iPad OS has left is already happening on my end. The weighted response to choose an Apple Macbook Neo over another iPad Air 13 (before Apple executes her confirmed price increase later in 2026) is not only saving me over US$650 but also enhancing my overall mobile productivity!

Yes, my Apple iPhone 17e and Apple Macbook Neo combo will be field tested in Japan next week!

UPDATE 3 JULY - The Macbook Neo was put through the paces of my various workflows in Japan, mainly covering my Steam game libraries, research work and basic electronic communication. Just to be clear, it struggled with some game titles, and scrape by with some other AAA titles like XCOM 2, while performing bearably better on less complex applications like Pages, DxO Photolab AFTER a slew of optimization was performed with the use of Mole. It was also intentionally upgraded to Mac OS Golden Gate 27 Developer Beta to further provide a further performance boost.

But the 13" screen was still noticeably smaller than my MacBook Air, with the absence of keyboard backlighting and lack of true-tone as somewhat of a letdown to me. Perhaps, it gave the promise of an iPad Air 13 replacement but at the end, failed to deliver neither the convenience of an iPad nor the capability of a more powerful laptop.

In the automated world of ours, speed pretty much reign supreme as the reference metric we use to measure just about everything we live by. We drive faster. We eat faster. We shoot faster...seemingly to no end.

But again, is there merit today to perhaps, do photography slower? Exclusive body manufacturers that led this exodus like Leica continued to have her cult following, in advocating what many hailed as the purest form in photography. Its compactness in product designs, build quality and mechanical independence, all converge to emphasize skills, photographic eye and timing...something most modern photographers lack these days.

One thing's for certain in this kind of photography - the significantly higher level of engagement of you to the environment you are connected with. The proximity of your subject that requires the right focus distance. The ambient lighting condition that demands an optimal ISO. The rate of movement in it that warrants an ideal shutter speed. And so on.

But with practice, and then, more practice, the above soon becomes a stimulus response, to what I would call them, who possess such skills - MLS (Master Light Shapers). Yes. They are a unique breed these days, almost like a polar bear rare. Very often, iconic works mark their legacy.