Of Geodes, Geology, and Gempak

Sure is G around here...

I'm not sure how many of people my age are still reading Gempak magazine, and from that number, I'm sure the number geologists there would be at an even smaller number.

Reason why I mentioned geologists is because of a recent ep in a ass-kicking chicks with some amount of pantsu shot comic series:


(Full page could be viewed here)

If you've been following this blog for a while, you would remember the mentioning of geode not too long ago. So what is exactly a geode?

The great (but not really reliable in terms of writing a proper report) Wikipedia define geode as:

Geodes (Greek γεώδης - jē-ōds, "earthlike") are geological rock formations which occur in sedimentary and certain volcanic rocks. Geodes are essentially rock cavities or vugs with internal crystal formations or concentric banding. The exterior of the most common geodes is generally limestone or a related rock, while the interior contains quartz crystals and/or chalcedony deposits. Other geodes are completely filled with crystal, being solid all the way through. These types of geodes are called nodules.

Or to put it simply, beautiful crystals inside plain looking rocks. So far I don't think I've found a geode on my own, but when you consider the nature of the rock, I guess it's not so surprising: after all, who would have thought that very bland rock could hold those magnificent crystals.

But it seems that those gemstone selling people do know where to find them, as shown by all those big geodes displayed in their shops (This strike you as familiar? It should be):


Here's a geode at our own department, although it isn't as good as the one above (the bad lighting is partly to be blamed):


By the way, the purple coloured crystals of the geode you typically see in the shop are called amethyst - I'm assuming the comic artist there have taken certain liberty in giving the name for the crystals. Or maybe it was a typo lol


Speaking of Gempak, I've recently hear comments on how the magazine isn't as good as it used to be. How it is losing it's 'gempakness'.

This is the old fags at work, of course.

Dat bald yellow guy

In addition to that, I would also like to point that the comics there are becoming more anime/manga oriented (which might not sit well with those who are supportive of the local style comic). And then there is the case of censorship as well, which are, honestly, a stinking pile of rubbish. Nonsense.

And as for the information on anime/manga/games? They're just 'ehh'; nowadays, you could search for information right off the bat. Perhaps they should be do it like what the rest of them otaku bloggers are doing: i.e. analyzing a series, with some dose of fanboyism/fangirlism. More fangasm? Heck, I dunno, I'm better off reading what all the bloggers are saying than to rely on the magazine.

So at the end of the day, why do I still bother to buy the mag when the info are not really informative, and when the comics are so-so? I guess for that, I'll have to say that there's no other mainstream magazine which really focus on the local otaku culture (if there are others, I'm not aware of them). Besides the blogs, this is the next best thing that I can get my hands on.

Hmm, this remind me of this slightly relevant quote:

"Yeah, but it's the only game in town!" - Canada Bill Jones