Flipnote Hatena Weekly News: October 9, 2009

This past week in Japan Typhoon 18 (also known as Typhoon Melor) wreaked havoc across the country. Luckily the Hatena offices in Kyoto and Tokyo were unharmed, and our servers did not get damaged so our users around the world could watch and post Flipnotes without any interruption.

Sadly, almost 100 people were injured and more than 400 houses were either damaged or destroyed by the strong winds of the typhoon which were as high as 139 kilometers per hour (86 mph). Consequently, many schools across Japan had early dismissals or days off because of the typhoon, and we had more Flipnotes posted from the Japan region than usual.

For this week's edition of the Flipnote Hatena Weekly news, we'll try to put the sadness of the typhoon behind us and post some of the submissions we liked from last week's topic "Sports Day", as well as showcase some of our staff's favorite Flipnotes from around the world. At the end of the blog posting we'll introduce our new topic for our official channel for this week.

So, without further ado here are some Flipnotes for you to check out!

Some of our favorite Flipnotes from around the world

Flipnotes from the Americas:

★ Please don't sit too close to your speakers or have your volume set too high when watching the beautifully illustrated "Gaahhh-pera." by Mendoza (id:Nintendoza), which is a nice addition to the "Illustrations" channel. Music is the spice of life, isn't it?

★ We really liked the detailed illustrations of the characters in "The Bulldog, the bug and the butterfly" by Lindsay (id:linny137). This creator has posted a number of wonderful Flipnotes, and we're looking forward to seeing more.

Flipnotes from Europe and Oceania:

★ "Running dog" by Moshe (id:Moshe-koira) is a very nicely done animated cycle, one of several impressive animation cycles by this creator that you should have a look at.

★ Enter the surreal world of "Building roots" by karafe (id:rafcka) where buildings are lifted away and replanted by a giant hand. We were impressed by this Flipnote creator's fine attention to detail and interesting concept.

★ We also enjoyed "Prologue", the first part of a series of animations created with the Nintendo DSi Camera and plastic blocks by Mattymoo (id:MonkeyBear). Just when you you think you're having a good time a couple of orcs come out of the woodwork and spoil everything.

Flipnotes from Japan:

★ We liked this interesting Flipnote titled "Cycling Road" by Izumi (id:izumi-v), where man and machine become one. (Most of us in the Hatena office commute to work on bicycles)

★ Check out this funny Flipnote by Kyabejin (id:kyabe-jin) about a shot-putter with funny characters and an unexpected ending.

The best of last week's topic: Sports Day

Flipnotes from the Americas:

★ We liked this Flipnote about a baseball game shown from the point of view of the ball in "pop fly" by redshirt (id:skyotter)

Flipnotes from Europe and Oceania:

★ We're not exactly about what lifeforms the competitors are in this short Flipnote by Overlord (id:RandomWatchMaster), but we liked it!

★ Hinto (id:Hinto) has submitted another Flipnote for this week's topic titled "The Jump". Thank you for posting great stuff every week, Hinto!

★ We liked this Flipnote by Geir (id:Geir) about basketball, with a funky original soundtrack and a well drawn overhead view of the character making a slam dunk.

Flipnotes from Japan:

★ In many sports day events at schools in Japan there is an event where competitors race while pushing a large ball. This Flipnote by Kana puts a strange twist on the event by switching one of the balls with a giant Onigiri (a rice ball often eaten as a snack).

★ Most people think that sports are only enjoyed by human beings, but that is not true as you can see in the cute and well-animated Flipnote, "Sports Day for Parakeets", by Tamakoro (id:izumiizu).


This week's topic: "Fly in the sky"

In Autumn the air becomes clear and cool and it's a nice time to gaze up at the sky. For this week's topic create Flipnotes about something related to flying in the sky -- you cab create animations of birds, clouds, space aliens, super heroes or whatever you'd like.

Post your submissions about this topic by entering the command via "Command Search" from Flipnote Hatena on your Nintendo DSi.

Check out the current submissions about this week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):

http://flipnote.hatena.com/ch/11539862960307490800

We'll introduce some of the best Flipnotes from around the world based on this week's theme in next week's Flipnote Hatena news blog.

Hatena Request Channel

Do you have any ideas about how we can improve Flipnote Hatena? Please let us know by posting a Flipnote with your ideas to the Hatena Request Channel.

You can post your ideas and feedback by entering the command to directly access the Hatena Request Channel and post your Flipnotes for us there.

You can see the current submissions to the Hatena Request Channel the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):

http://flipnote.hatena.com/ch/11538543318206102753

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