Daily Item: Smaller Monkey Plushie

Hey jammers! I'm sorry for the late post courtesy of my awful dilatory. I really should have tried harder to get up and type this. I mean, really, it is not that hard to stop lying around and walk to my desk. I already knew what the item was and...

I'll end this rant before it gets too mind-numbing.

I might as well tell you what "DILATORY" means, too...

And while we're in the subject of English, here are some other words...

The More You Know.

I really should stop lollygagging and actually show you the new item. This is an Animal Jam blog, after all.

Signified with 3/4 of a ticket symbol, this is sold in the plush prize shelf at the summer carnival. Cute, isn't it? But it's like they compressed the larger monkey to some small, pear shaped thing. Or put it in one of those weird bags that suck the air completely out. But to do that, the plush would probably have to have it's mass made up of mostly air. And the larger one doesn't really look like it's mostly inflated.

Still cute, though.

Anyway, here are some notices that you're probably all dying to hear...

• A new Berry The Koala entry will be posted very soon.
• I'm starting Buddies of the Month back up this Augus–wait august is tomorrow. NO. NO. IDONTWANTTOGOBACKTOSCHOOLNO. Sorry.
• I put up that new pointless poll to the left because I made a new AJ account that I'm going on more than DoomyPanda. If you say you're fine with me changing the blogger name, on that new AJ account I guarantee that I will accept all buddy requests until my list is full.

Well, that's all for now. TIME TO GET ALL OF THE CHICKEN SMOOTHIE EVENT PETS UNTIL TIME RUNS OUT!

–DoomyPanda

RIM: Musketeer Boots

Hey jammers, happy monday! The Rare Item of the week is sold in Jam Mart Clothing.

Kind of cool. The colored ones look weird and it's not my cup of tea, but they're neat. A bit expensive though, don't you think?

In other news, in the 'Return of the Phantoms' adventure in the difficulty level, there was a mention of Mira!

This is definitely good. With so long without a single mention of the name 'Mira' this is great news! In case you're wondering I wrote up a post a while ago about Mira's gradual disappearance. It had gotten to the point that Maroongamer told me that they had taken the part about Mira out of Liza's introduction to Jamaa! 
Maybe AJHQ is going with the "Empress Great Heron" thing that I thought up, who knows?

Also, the large rattle snake plushie availability has been corrected. They're now just for members. R.I.P. brief all-jammer availability.

That's all for now, see you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

The Jamaa Art Gallery

Every update, drawings digital and traditional are sent in by jammers to the AJ art gallery in hopes of them being displayed in Jammer Central. Very few get in, of course, there being close to thirty slots and over ten million jammers playing. 

I like looking at the art gallery, and have noticed many patterns in what gets in through the time that I've been playing. 

When I began AJ in February, 2012, there was a combination of detailed sketches, digital drawings that weren't half bad, and the occasional why-is-this-here drawing. (i.e. self portraits, fairy princesses, anything with barely anything to do with AJ.) Lots of Warrior Cat drawings, and starry-eyed, hair-covering-one-eye cats and dogs. There was also some art plagiarism.

Now, currently, take a look at the gallery. Probably 90-96% of it is digital, mostly drawn in the Art Studio. An example here: 

 

Nothing complicated. Simple shapes, quickly drawn. Usually about the alphas or whatever relative to them.

Where are the more detailed drawings?

I think they're accepting only these Art Studio types of drawings because they think that only those are drawn by kids. They could be not displaying more detailed drawings to not make jammers feel like they can't draw. 

Why are these drawings usually only about alphas/animal jam rocks/member animals/etc. ?

To advertise in a way. Maybe their idea was that a nonmember would see those "adventures rule!" drawings and that would make them want to buy a membership so they could do the member-only quests. Or see a drawing of a leopard and buy a leopard. 

How do I get into the Art Gallery?

There is no definite thing that you should draw to get into the gallery. If you really want to get in, I suggest...

• you take a look at the current gallery to notice patterns. 
• You draw something in relation to the main feature in the most recent update. Since Tunnel Town came out recently, you can try to draw a tunnel town bunny.
• Submit your drawing on the second to last/last day before the new update. I'm not sure, but when I got my Summer Jam-a-Gram entry in, I made it on the 2nd to last day before it ended. Same with my News Crew article for protecting the environment. This is optional.
• Use the Art Studio. I submitted around 20 pictures I made with an app on my iPad and none of them got in. Again, this is just a hypothesis of mine that you should do this. It's optional.
• Even if you desperately want to get into the art gallery, still draw the things you WANT to, not the things that you think you SHOULD draw. If an original drawing of yours gets in, it will be better than if your "animal jam rocks" drawing that you did just to get in, gets in.

Thanks for reading, Jam on! :)

–DoomyPanda

Daily Items: Turquoise Jewelry

Hi jammers! The new items of today are sold in the green orb of Epic Wonders.

Cool right? If I could buy it, I would definitely. That shade of turquoise goes well with the dark ochre necklace cord very well; it looks natural. Overall, it's very pretty and eccentric.

Aside from the item, there are a couple new things today!

Firstly, a sleek new thingy has been added whenever you hit "play now" on the homepage.

Not needed, but alright nonetheless.

As with all of the new lands/journey books, there is a new hint on the Daily Explorer blog for animals struggling to find all of the creatures native to Kimbara. 

"...platypuses are amphibious mammals, which means that they can often be found near water."

Ah, the platypus. One of the most magnificent creatures alive on planet Earth. Lets take a look at it's quick biology.

Yeah, that's right. A DUCK-BILLED, BEAVER-BODIED, VENOMOUS AQUATIC MAMMAL WITH A SIXTH SENSE. I love platypuses. 

Another fact, grammatically the plural is "platypuses," not "platypi." If anyone tells you otherwise they're WRONG. 

You may see an additional post about the AJ art gallery later.

Until then,

See you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

Error?

I think there's been a sort of error. The blog post I made today was deleted completely! I'm sorry if you didn't see it yet, I'll try to type it up again.

–DoomyPanda

Sorry! I figured out the problem. I accidentally posted it to Emmanuel777's blog instead of AJ Stream. Wow, I am sure careless. ^^;

I'll do some editing and put it back here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

–DoomyPanda

Daily Items: Owl Plushies

Hello jammers! There are two new items today. One is for everyone, the other... not so much. Of course that probably gave away enough hints for you to guess that the items are carnival plushies! 

If you guessed that, you are correct. *sparkles*

Cute little owl plushies for you to put in your den. Lots of tickets though.

In other news...

The adventures are not over yet!

Could this be a new journey of exploration, or a battle?

Or, could be something entirely different?

What do you think?

Comment below!

–DoomyPanda

How to Make Friends on AJ

Making friends on AJ is easy. Log on one day with 15 users on your buddy list, log off with 42. But of course that's usually after your first few days of playing. After a year or six months, it's pretty hard to actually maintain some sort of a friendship.

At least that's me. But I'm pretty antisocial so I'm probably wrong about you.

Either way, here are just a few tips if you want friends.

• First of all, if you really want an actual friendship (as close to one AJ can get) you may want to drop the "I'll only buddy people who ___." rule if you have one. If you want friends, keep an open mind.
• If you're a blogger, you should accept that buddy request that one of your viewers sent you. I've done that before and made AJ friendships that have lasted to now.

Sorry, that's all that I know. But it's helpful, at least for me! 

Thanks for reading! :)

–DoomyPanda

The Kimbara Outback

Hey jammers! Another two weeks have passed, making way for the update. However, this is no ordinary, four-paged-Jamaa Journal update. It is at least one of the largest updates of 2013 that's filling up all of the servers! Why? Because after over a year, there is finally a new land!

Koalas have returned, and there's finally a new Journey Book page! The conservation museum (previously the Animal Museum) has taken the cat statues off of the stands and replaced them with kangaroo. I hope they didn't replace the big cat gem donation thingy. Well, go check it out! :)

Let's see where Kimbara is on the ma–

WHAT

Okay, so it wasn't where I predicted, which is a slight disappointment, but look at the map! 

I have to say that I like this new design. It's a reminiscent of the Beta Testing period's art. Of course it will take time to get used to the slightly off placement of the lands.

But I predicted it would be an outback, and I was right. YAY. *streamers*

Sadly, I've tried close to all of the servers and can't seem to get into the Kimbara Outback, so I can't get pictures. You can go check it out for yourself when the servers clear a bit.

No new adventures yet, but you can play a difficult version of Phantoms' Return now! :)

That's it for now. See you at the Kimbara Outback! 

Oh, and don't forget to comment! :)

–DoomyPanda

Daily Item: Tiny Shelf

Hi Jammers! The new item is the fifth continuation in the 'shelves' theme. 

Nonmembers always seem to get the tinier items. No space ship command boards, no rose gardens or mira statues. We only seem to get items on less of a grand scale; small tomato plants, barrels, necklaces, etc. That is further proved by today's new item.

As all of the shelves, this one is sold in Jam Mart Furniture. 

This probably can hold just as much as the previous "small corner shelf." But they're for a low amount of gems, so you can buy them in quantities to get more space to hold things up. But regardless of size, I like this item! :)

In other news, the chosen Adventure articles have been published on the D.E.!

You can go to AJ's official blog to read them all. :)

Well, that's all for now. See you at the adventure base camp!

–DoomyPanda

RIM: Baseball Cleats

Hi jammers! This week's rare item is sold in... somewhere. I can't seem to find it. All I know is that it's a pair of turquoise and purple baseball cleats.

This is probably in Jam Mart Clothing, as the original of this item was sold there too. Not my cup of tea, but it's something, right?

Some quick notices for today...

1. The Buddy of the Month will probably happen later this month. I've been lazy and forgetful, so sorry about that.
2. I've put up a new poll on the blog asking if I should delete one of the pages and replace it with one on Item Rarity (rare items.) Don't worry, if I delete one I'll save it as a draft in case you want it back.

That's all for now, see you at the Adventure Base Camp!

–DoomyPanda

Daily Item: Friendship Bracelet

Hello wolves, bunnies, and other animals! How are you doing? 

Though there are few interesting things to tell you about, there is a cute new item in Jam Mart Clothing. And guess what! 

...

...

...

Guessed yet?

...

I'll tell you.

The item can be acquired by nonmembers!

How long has it been since there was last an item for all players? Probably not long, AJ has been releasing more and more for nonmembers due to popular demand. Thats a good thing.

This is a small turquoise bracelet (it comes in other colors, though) that you can share with your friends.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say.

So...

See you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

Tunnel Town Is Available!

Hello Jammers! With this early update, the title says all. Tunnel Town is now available for iPad, iPod, and iPod Touch!

I may not get it because (I think) to download any new apps I have to upgrade something on my iPad to make it run. Of course I'm pretty unwilling to do that, because it involves deleting a lot of apps already on there. I WILL NOT LOSE MY NYAN CAT: LOST IN SPACE HIGH SCORE OF TWO MILLION SEVEN THOUSAND IT'S ONE OF THE FEW THINGS THAT MY FRIENDS THINK IS COOL ABOUT ME NOOOO.

Yeah, it took me a bit to get it that high.

Anyway, this is all the mini-update changed. Still no word of the new land, but it's sure to come next week. See you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

Small Corner Shelf + Mira?

Hey jammers! I apologize yet again for my inconsistent daily posting, to be honest, me being careless is one of the main reasons why some days I don't post. 

Usually, the case is me thinking, "I'll post at __ o'clock," then getting on the internet and ignoring the time until four hours later, when I think "I better post soon." Then I go get a snack, come back, and go back on the internet and have the lurking feeling that I have to do something, but I ignore it until some time later. 

I'm not a very serious AJ blogger, as you can tell.

Anyway, the new item of the day is (thank goodness) a nonmember furniture item that's sold where else, but Jam Mart Furniture.

This lives up to it's name of being small, as it can really only hold about one figure/plushie/small decorative item. If you want to put more things up, you should of course buy more than one shelf.

In other news, the design on the membership gift cards has been updated.

(Photo credit to Animal Jam Spirit and possibly other sources which are not me. Over 98% of electricity produced in Norway comes from renewable energy. Now you know.)

AJHQ is certainly centering the spotlight on the shamans a whole lot. The adventures turned out to be not much at all of a big deal, and though there possibly may be more to come, I'm wondering if they'll add some more of the original Jamaa characters back. 

By original characters, I'm talking Mira and Zios. They were pushed to the sidelines probably because someone wasn't comfortable with there being a "creator" of Jamaa and associated a spiritual creator with an assumed religious cult in the game. It wasn't a digital cult at all; it wasn't even something to add "meaning" to the game. It was just an addition of a character like the shamans, only a bit more mysterious.

While Mira was technically a spirit, the fact that she was had nothing to do with "religion" or "witchcraft" or anything like that. To rephrase, she was just a character. Animal Jam's content is fairly scientific, aside from the phantoms and talking animals and stuff. 

I'm not taking any sides, but it would be nice for Mira to be brought back. They could do something like they did changing shamans to alphas, maybe refer to her as Empress Great Heron or something that everyone agrees with. 

What are your thoughts?

See you at the Adventure Base Camp!

–DoomyPanda

Item of the Day: Tall Shelf

Hey jammers! I hope you read my post yesterday about wild tigers. If you have not already, you can just scroll down to the post below this one.

The new item of the day is sold in Jam Mart Furniture.

The perfect place to show off your rare plushies and whatnot.

In other news, AJHQ just started a new News Crew contest. With the new adventures in mind, this one requires you to share your and other jammers' thoughts on them.

Entries are due on July 17th. Thats not a lot of time, considering today is the 14th. If you aren't a fast typer, have the time, and want to perfect your article, I say that you should:

• Interview today.
• Write up a first draft tomorrow.
• Revise it on the 17th.

You don't have to follow those exact guidelines, but it's a good idea if you really want to win.

That's all for now, see you in the Adventure Base Camp!

–DoomyPanda

Save The Tigers

Hello jammers, it's been a while since I've done one of these informational posts. This one won't include the new item, so if you want to know what it is, you can check AJ. 

Today I will be telling you about the current state of the tigers in the wild. There are very, very few left and are on the borderline of being considered critically endangered. The estimated population is only a frail, dwindling 3,200.

How many is 3,200?

It's not very big compared to the rapidly expanding human population, a staggering 7.097 billion people. 3,200 goes into that number an estimated two million one hundred eighty seven thousand five hundred times. 

Stating the obvious, it's a rather large difference.

With the population in mind, humankind is continuing to eat away at the habitat that the tigers used to own, forcing the cats into the shadows to hide from poachers. 

Every day, an average of 274 animals are poached, many to have their parts sold on the black market. 

Many species go extinct as well. Mainly from habitat loss, and global climate change. If the average global temperature rises 1.5 to 2.5 Celsius, approximately 20-30% of all animal life will go extinct. Even ten percent is a large amount.

This is all due to humanity's unsustainable methods of production and consumption. City expansion, pollution, deforestation, and global warming all play a part in the deaths of millions of animals. 

The habitat loss the tigers face is turning their world smaller and smaller. The former king of the jungle's natural prey is far out of reach now, forcing them to rely on the domestic animals in nearby human communities. Close to all attempts in hunting there end in either the cats' death or serious wounds.

The tigers are not at fault for it. If cities stopped expanding, if deforestation halted or at least slowed, and poaching was at minimum (or better yet, gone) then the wild tiger population could grow, and not be forced to attack the animals of nearby settlements.

Rare blue maltese tiger.

Donate to wild life, the tigers need all the help they can get. 

And remember, you aren't alone on planet Earth.

–DoomyPanda

Item of the Day: Silver Ring!

Hey jammers! The item of today is nothing too glitzy, but still something new and cool.

Sold in Epic Wonders, this item is pretty simple. A shiny silver ring worn on your animal's paw. The picture to the left shows it on only one of the panda's claws, so it is worn unlike a bracelet. This item is thankfully for nonmembers as well as members! :)

Meanwhile, in Coral Canyons...

Thats all for now, see you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

July 2013 Tunneltown Update!

Hello jammers! Another two weeks have passed, bringing us a new Jamaa Journal and a long awaited update.

Everyone can now defeat the phantoms from doing... whatever they're doing, tunnel town is coming to the appstore for more countries, and it looks like a new land is coming sometime next update!

The new item of today is sold beneath the waves...

Sold in Sunken Treasures, Kani Cove.

If there's something I missed, feel free to comment!

–DoomyPanda

Item of the Day: Painted Pot!

Hello jammers! 

The new item of the day, a returning rare, is now being sold in Jam Mart Furniture...

This doesn't come in more than one color, so if you want to buy it you will have to cope with lavender. There are a lot of other lavender/purple-colored den items around though!

That's all for now. See you in Jamaa!

–DoomyPanda

Stars, Moons, and Rubies

Hello jammers! I am back from my one-day break and ready to begin posting again. The items are sold in the carnival clothing prize shop.

The new items today are continuations of the small item collection I have dubbed "Creepy Spatial Elements." 

Luckily, the person who thought these up decided to tone down on the creepy. But for all I know, there may be a fourth addition of an ominously smiling asteroid coming up. 

AJHQ recently made a post about the July birthstone, the ruby.

More ruby facts: 

• In ancient times, rubies were thought to ward off misfortune and sickness

• Rubies are associated with the planets Mars and Pluto.

• In healing, it was thought that you should wear a ruby against the skin of a troubled part of the body. It has something to do with the magnetic field of earth, but this method isn't yet proven completely.

Before I go, I just want to thank you for reading the stuff I write. It really means a lot to me that you check my blog once a day, or even look at it at all. Thank you. :)

–DoomyPanda

Item of the Day: Evil Sun Hat?

Hi jammers! The new item of the day is a summer carnival prize. One which I predict will not be very popular.

Did the person/s in charge of thinking up the new items purposely make this one the creepiest item on AJ? Something tells me yes. 

This mask is two letters away from being "Evil Sun Hat." Coincidence? I THINK NOT! 

Haha, seriously though...

A few notices for today...

First of all, I may not post tomorrow. Weekends this summer are filling up for me and getting eventful. I will probably not have access to a computer.

Secondly, just so you all know, there will be a new Berry The Koala entry posted every week. Not a specific weekday, but once every week. Usually not on saturday or sunday.

Happy belated Freedom Day! *sparklers*

–DoomyPanda