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Gas Prices According to CNN, gas prices have gone up in the past two weeks. That's news to my ignorant self. I haven't gotten gas since Valentine's Day and still have more than half a tank left (>5 gallons). Granted, I haven't gone anywhere besides work the past few days, but yeah. So I finished up Final Fantasy X-2 Last Mission yesterday. Took a whole 24 hours of straight playing. Not bad given that I spent a Spring Break playing the original X-2 with my mattress thrown right in front of the TV and packaged food right next to it so I could sleep and eat without leaving the game. Ahh, those days are gone with my year-round work schedule. It's nice to be slob sometimes. I got to see the "Made-for-English" cutscenes. It's nice how they make the lips sing along to the English, but the new scenes and edits they made, not to mention dubbing, are very out of place. I'll describe it in the game review. That was yesterday. Today was the big clean up after being a 24 hour slob. Can't wait for the supermarkets and clerks to settle their differences. I haven't been shopping at the local grocery stores since the strike started. I empathize with the clerks who are getting shafted because the execs don't want to use their power to negotiate other companies, especially with health care, and would rather screw the easier party, the lowly workers. |
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It's that time of year again Once a year do I devote myself completely to a video game. Last year it was Final Fantasy X-2. This year it's the same game, but I'm going to do all 80 floors of Last Mission. I'm already quite far down...at a measy 10 levels. But I shall go on! Let's see, at the 10th level, Rikku explains what the characters from the game have been up to these past three months including her father, the LeBlanc gang, the kids group (子供団). I don't play to be writing any more after this. |
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!$$(*% Spent the last 4 hours of my life setting up my own webmail service. One of the toughest things about doing it is that my web host doesn't have all the new versions of anything, so I had to download, compile, and tweak everything by myself. On one hand, it's good since I'm in charge of what changes and won't be surprised when the web host decides to install something that breaks my scripts. On the other hand though, I really wish they'd keep up to date. But for the price I'm paying, I guess it's what I should expect. |
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Reviewing My Reviews If you find the reviews I have helpful, that's great. However, the stuff I've posted here are mostly for my benefit and I limit myself to a maximum of 20 minutes in writing every review. While I remember characters based on their appearance and voice, I usually have the darnest time trying to remember their names. And given that I'm reading so much, and watching so much, it's so easy for me to forget who's who. That's one of the reasons I decided to start writing them down. Once I have them down, I can briefly look over my own summaries rather than flipping through pages and pages to find names out. I may actually remember some of them if I take the time to spell them out too. Secondly, I limit myself to a maximum of 20 minutes per review, the shorter the better. The way I figure is that if it takes me longer to write a review than to actually read the book (or watch an episode), then I could have been using that time to read another book (given that I'm always backlogged). This doesn't give me a lot of time to write a complete summary or even how I feel about it during every stage of the story and so my reviews will be lacking to a large extent. However, again, it's because the primary audience is for my amnesic self. I also realize that I tend to give many more favorable ratings than the other way around. First, I buy everything that I read/watch/play, so I already have a vested interest in the series. It's a lot hard to be objective when you aren't indebited to the company selling the anime or your own wallet. Second, having been enjoying anime and such for a while now, I think I have pretty good instincts as to figuring out stuff I will like. Add that to what I read in magazines and recommendations, as well as going with familiar authors and such, I usually pretty consistent in picking out series that I will like. |
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十兵衛ちゃん２ (Jubei-chan 2) OP Single
This CD comes with the full length intro to Jubei-chan 2 and a second song, as well as the karaoke to both songs. Second song first. Listening to the second song reminds me of a few songs from her first two albums. It's not really like her to sing somewhat solemn songs on anime tracks, but I've heard a few on her solo albums. It's alright, but nothing special. Now the first track, the opening, is very good, as is to be expected since it was penned by the main songwriter for Love Hina and music by the Ai yori Aoshi composer (and Jubei-chan 1 composer too). Yui Horie has no variety, unlike her contemporary Rie Tanaka. But the strange thing is that even though everytime I hear Yui, I always complain that she sounds the same everywhere. But I also enjoy her voice at the same time. The song is upbeat, as to be expected. I still like the old theme songs from Jubei 1, but I'll have to watch the anime to gain appreciation for this one. |
Title: 心晴れて夜も明けて (A Clear Heart and A New Day) |
少年マガ (Shonen Magazine), '04 Vol 10 & ヤングマガ (Young Magazine), '04 Vol. 10
This issue features a omake comic written by the author of Rave, 真島ヒロ (Hiro Mashima). Apparently, he went down to New Zealand for the premiere, so he writes/draws about his experience there. It's a off-the-cuff and funny. I'm currently three issues behind. Futatsuki: ３口目/学食戦争、決着 (Third Taste/Cafeteria Battle, Showdown): In continuation from last week, Futatsuki is out to make hot ramen. They get a microwave and after using it to heat a pot of soup, it bowl cracks due to the heat. So he gets the idea of serving ramen in a heated bowl, a la Bibimbap style. 安曇ひな (Hina Azumi), his competitor, now holds the weaker hand as the students they're vying for have moved over back to Futatsuki's ramen. However, there are still a few days left in the challenge. Negima: ４１時間目 我に秘策アリ！？ (41st Hour, A Secret Tactic for Me!?): Kotarou is beating the crap out of Negi and Asuna. When Negi thinks he got Kotarou with a nice punch, Kotarou reveals himself as a werewolf(-ish) creature and unleashes his magical attack dogs on Aniki, the ferret, and Asuna. As he's chasing Negi down, Negi hears commands on how to avoid the attacks. He spots Nodoka with the book that has already documented all the moves Kotarou is going to make. With that advantage, they all leave Kotarou behind and flee away. Tsubasa: ３３ 嵐の夜 (33, Stormy Night): There's is a huge sand storm in the land of Clow where Touya and Yukito (like I haven't gotten enough of those names recently :) ) talk about Shaoran and how they first met. The previous ruler, Clow Reed (I suppose, since it looks like him), told Touya to believe in Shaoran. Meanwhile, Sakura, Shaoran, and gang have arrived at 桜都国 (Ooto Country), where they are greeted with rose petals. In this country, they aren't the least bit surprised that they have visitors from other dimensions. The welcoming party tells them to register at city hall. They get a place to sleep for the night, but then they're attacked by a monster. Hamanaka Ai: ０２１ バレンタインデー (021, Valentine Day): Ai wants to give her student, Masahito, some Valentine's chocolate. She makes them herself, but right before she gives it to him, she meets Misaki who tells her that Masahiko doesn't like chocolates.
Featured girl is 安倍なつみ (Natsumi Abe) who is from Morning Musume fame, I suppose. XXXholic: 38: From Doumeki, the girl takes what looks like pudding and flies away with it. Doumeki collapses. Yuuko appears and has Black Mokona summon a large bird so that Kimihiro can follow that girl, who Yuuna tells him is a ghost. |
Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 10
Title: ヤングマガジン (Young Magazine) Vol. 10 |
Goin' the 56K Route My DSL has been down since I got off work today. There seems to be a little storm in the area and I guess it knocked out the DSL infrastructure, at least for SBC. So your humble 'scribbles writer is stuck here operating from a 56K modem. Just read Ken Akamatsu's diary and in yesterday's posting, he mentioned that the US release of Negima is going to be edited for content. I can hear the fans scowl at that one. Speaking of which, I just got my Final Fantasy X-2 International today. Will be playing that for a while. Then some Memories Off...and then some Kiminozo! Ugh, this is so slow! |
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少年マガ (Shonen Magazine), '04 Vol 17 & ヤングマガ (Young Magazine), '04 Vol. 17
This week's cover girl is 18-year-old 上戸彩 (Aya Ueto). There's a new manga starting this week about Alaskan dog sled racing. You can't blame them for trying to find some unique ideas. I read the first few pages of it, but decided to skip. It's not supposed to be a long series and I'm not all that interested in sports comics. Suzuka: ＃６春嵐 (#6 Spring Storm): Suzuka seems pretty occupied and Yamato doesn't know if it's because she's acquired a liking for him. After school, he decides to wait for Suzuka, using the excuse that he doesn't have an umbrella to get sometime alone. When she finally comes out of gym, he expects her to be her usual sarcastic self saying that he's such an idiot for waiting. However, she unexpectedly agrees without altercation. As they're walking along the street, thunder sounds and she jumps into his arms. Tsubasa: ３９新たな強さ (A New Strength): After the CLAMP gang clean house with an enemy that was a little stronger than expected, Kuro and Fye come back from their excursion. Kuro sees Souma and automatically thinks she's the Souma from his own country. But, as Yuuko said at the beginning of their travel, even though they'll meet people who look like people they know, it's not really them. The gang parties, but Kuro and Shaoran sit outside. Shaoran asks Kuro to teach him some swordsmanship. Negima: ４７時間目 このかを取り戻せ！！ (47th Hour, Return Konoka!!): The Monkey Lady leaves Asuna, Negi and Setsuna a parting gift of hundreds of monsters. Negi's ferret uses this opportunity to pressure him into kissing Setsuna to make her one of his partners. He does so and leaves the two girls to deal with the monsters as he goes and rescues Konoka. Setsuna and Asuna defeat a lot of enemies, until the monsters mention that Asuna isn't wearing any underwear (remember what happened last few chapters? And yes, even though she's wearing a school uniform, she doesn't have panties this whole chapter, even for the action shots). Anyway, Negi arrives just as the Monkey lady is performing the summoning on Konoka. Futatsuki: ９口目／新しい素材 (Ninth Taste/A New Ingredient): Since they can't use flour, Futatsuki tries to come up with other ingredients and realizes he can use rice flour instead. However, it doesn't meet his high expectations. One of the kid judges comes and tells him he can't use soy sauce as that has shares some ingredients with flour. He then inhales (I think) some flour that Futatsuki's been using and becomes hospitalized. As he's walking outside and thinking, he suddently reaches to the ground and picks up some dirt. Eats it, and declares that he's found his ingredient. Hamanaka Ai: ０２９深夜の課外授業 (An Extracurricular Midnight Class): Masahiko left some of his drafting tools at school, so Nakamura suggests that the study group to to school at night to pick it up. As they're walking inside the school, they tell the typical ghost stories, except that when they do find bodies laying around, it's just the music teacher passed out drunk.
Ms. J cup as the featured girl, 20 year old 福下恵美 (Emi Fukushita) as the back page girl. Ms. J cup is my next most least desired girl besides Waka. Kinda sad this week as two series are coming to an end. "Wah, Harlem School Dormitory" by 松浦まどか (Madoka Matsuura) ends after an average run. I started subscribing a bit after this series started, so I've been meaning to catch up. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. XXXholic: 44: The older sister injured herself on purpose so that they could leave the theater, or at least that's what Kimihiro concludes. Yuuko goes on philosophizing about the power of words and how it affects people, and she brings up his previous encounter with the girl looking for her contacts as an example. The next day, Kimihiro and Doumeki talk about how they should avoid the girls from now on, but the older sister still has Doumeki's hankerchief. They go to the restuarant where the older sister confesses that she's jealous of her lively little sister. Kimihiro talks to her and gives her a boost of confidence. Minamike: ４「不満だらけ」 (4, Full of Discontent): Haruka friend, Maki wants to quit school because she doesn't like the short skirts they have to wear as uniforms and the point is driven more as she reveals her white underwear while she's reaching down to pick up the bread she dropped. The third friend, Atsuko suggests she wear a buruma underneath and it's revealed that she takes her own advice. |
Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 17
Title: ヤングマガジン (Young Magazine) Vol. 17 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 12
I did it! Looks to be a new record too, a whole series in just 4 days. More specifically, 11 books. I have to say though that rushing through a series probably isn't such a good idea. It's nice to see everything come together quickly, but as you probably can tell, there's nothing to write about when you read about the same characters and situations. Variety is good. I think that this was the perfect way to finish up the series. In fact, I thought that the events in the ending made the series a little lacking. Sometimes there are stories where the build-up is great, but the ending is a let down. This is a bit of the opposite. I don't think the story deserved an ending like this. My prior suggestion about bringing Sakura's mom back is done. What I was most surprised with is how they brought out Shaoran's confession so early. I thought it was going to be on the last few pages, but it just popped out (I had been a little inured to him being interrupted before his confessions so I was shocked that he actually said it!). Everything and everybody I wanted to see the ending of was in there. Mizuki comes back to give her thanks to Sakura. Since Eriol split his powers with Sakura's dad, he can now see the spirit of his wife. Happy end! The next day at school, Eriol announces that he's going back to England. He asks Sakura how she feels about him leaving and tells her that if someone else leaves, compare her feelings she has now about him leaving (not that sad) to that of the other person. Afterwards, Shaoran meets up with her and confesses. She's in shock of all this and tries to figure out if she really loves him or is this another type of love. She asks all her friends about what they think. Later, she finds out that he's leaving for Hong Kong. Heeding to Eriol's words, she comes to realize that she loves him too. She spends the night before he leaves making a teddy for him and catches him just in the knick of time before the bus leaves. He promises to come back. Fast-forward to middle school where they finally reunite. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 12 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 11
Just one more! What a great volume. Most, if not all the answers to why things have been happening to Sakura is answer here with some very nice artwork during the final battle sequence. Now, if the final book can tie off some issues, namely Sakura's mom, then I will be a happy manga reader. Sakura has a dream where there are two mysterious people atop Tokyo tower, so she intends to go and find out who it is. Upon arrival, she meets Eriol with Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, his counterparts for Yue and Kero. Eriol/Clow puts the world to sleep and tells Sakura that she has to break his spell to save everyone. After some futile tries, she realizes that she needs to use the Light/Dark cards. With some help of Yue and Kero, she is able to transform Light/Dark cards to Sakura cards and use them. After Eriol's defeat, Sakura's dad appears. Eriol tells her to apply some magic to the both of them. Eriol proceeds to tell her and the others why he's been giving her problems. He wanted to see her new powers, the power of the stars. Secondly, Eriol is the reincarnate of Clow Reed and her dad is the other. The plan was for him to split his powers into two since he didn't like having so much power as one person. However, he couldn't do that, so he needed someone with more power, namely Sakura, to do that. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 11 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 10
How odd, despite buying this series in a boxed set, I get the 1st pressing of this book while book 11 is at 4th printing. Not that it matters. Much more plot advancing stories. I'm always a sucker for flashbacks, especially when it's to something very central to the characters. So i particularly enjoyed the trip back to when the two guardians had to part with their original master. With Sakura's conclusion on her love towards Yukito and Shaoran's apparent bashfulness, she should have a clue. But I guess that's a recurring theme, for both guys and girls comics. Touya has weakened due to him lending his powers, but Yukito seems better now. Sakura finally confesses to Yukito that she loves him, but Yukito makes her realize that it's the same type of love as she to her father. Her real love will show up one day and reciprocate her feelings. Immediately after, they are attacked, and Sakura meets Eriol who makes her pass out and dream about the past when Clow Reed gave Yue and Kero their present day jobs and then sealed them up in the book. Later, Sakura confides to Shaoran about her experience with Yukito. From then on, Sakura becomes much more lively finally realizing her love. She makes Shaoran a Yukata for the festival at the shrine. At the shrine, they get attacked by a statue brought to life by Clow. Using Sakura's and Shaoran's combined powers, they defeat it. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 10 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 9
After a day haitus, I'm back, homefully finishing up the last four books tonight! A lot of plot advancing and relationship building material in this volume. While there is still some action and physical conflict, it looks like the story is starting to finish up. Some of the events here seem to be a precursor of what's to come. It's White Day is and Sakura gives the nervous, and seemingly love-strickened Shaoran a gift. Sakura's great-grampa forgives her father, and Yuki has times when he passes out from exhaustion. The next story has Sakura finding the Penguin playset moved and a huge hole in the ground. She flies in to explore and is buried underneath a bunch of doll-like sheep. She enhances and uses Erase, and Earthy to get out and restore the playground back to normal. It turns out that it was Eriols doing. Later on, Yue finds out that Eriol is Clow, but immediately gets his memory erased. Shaoran and Sakura have some more nervous moments when Shaoran wants to confess, but gets interrupted before he can say it to her. Finally, Touya gets to meet Yue after he informs Yukito that he's not human. Touya offers his strength to Yue/Yukito. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 9 |
藍より青し～えにし～劇盤ー’竹’ (Ai yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ 'Bamboo') Drama CD Vol. 1
Like the drama CDs from first season, this CD has a few song tracks and a few drama tracks. There are a total of 10 tracks, 1,3,5,10 are drama (the last one is a commercial for the other CDs), and 3 songs, both vocal and karaoke. The songs are sung by Tina, Miyabi, and the Chika-rins (Chizuru and Natsuki included). The first track is the standout track of the CD. It's a 20 minute episode where Kaoru appears on a parody of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" with questions from the manga. He answers various questions to reach the goal of winning one million yen. He gets three lifelines, the audience, phone a friend, and a confidential Aoi video. The best is the phone a friend. Question is, "In chapter 89, while Kaoru was sleeping, what did Tina do to him?" The phone a friend goes to the Sakuraba mansion where Tina, Chika, and Miyuki are waiting. Miyuki freaks out at the question and demands that Tina explain herself. Final Aiao? The second drama is the first out of four segments. Chika is a "has been" idol until she gets brought back in to team up with Natsuki and Chizuru to form the Magical Idol Unit, Chika-rins. The second segment has them being double booked to do an opener for the season's first baseball game with the other idol in town, Miyuki. In order to settle the score, there's a baseball game between the two magical idol factions. I never really enjoyed the Magical Chika stuff, even from first season. However, I really like their theme song, which is one of the included songs. While I don't like Chika's voice in the song, the melody to the Chika-rin's theme song is pretty catchy. Tina's song is okay, but her song from first season is a lot better. Miyabi's song sounds like she was singing at a karaoke bar. |
Title: 藍より青し～えにし～劇盤ー’竹’ (Ai yori Aoshi ~Enishi~ 'Bamboo') Drama CD Vol. 1 |
Government Day Totally. Submitted my taxes, both Federal and California, just about an hour ago. Because I only started work last September, I rank in the low income category and my tax percentage is pretty low. JPL deducts a lot for taxes, so I'm getting quite a bundle back. The second item is that I filled out my absentee ballot. So here we go: President: John Kerry US Senator: Barbara Boxer US Represetative (17th District): Sam Farr State Senator (11th District): Joe Simitian Alright, on to the fun part, the propositions. Prop. 55: YES! Prop. 56: HAI! Prop. 57 & 58: SI |
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カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 8
もっと進もう！ This volume seemed quite uneventful. While it did have one fight scene, I think the reason I get that feeling is because there's some more focus on each character. Yukito is troubled by his loss of memory (when he turns into Yue), Shaoran is starting to show some affection towards Sakura, and Eriol doesn't seem like such a bad guy. While slow at times, it still does the job of giving some more depth into the story. There's a teddy bear exchange going on. Shaoran wants to give Yukito the bear, but Yuki tells him to give it to someone he really likes. Yuki changes to Yue and Yue tells Shaoran the reason he's attracted to Yuki. Meanwhile, Sakura gives Yukito a bear which was fixed by Eriol and transforms into a giant beast. She defeats it with her new Jump, Fly, and Sword cards. Afterwards, Yukito starts wondering why he has memory lapses. Touya tries to tell him, but is always interrupted by Akizuki. The next story has Sakura sick from a fever. Despite being bed-ridden, she decides to find the source of Clow's presence. When she meets Eriol, he says he didn't know her sickness and heals her. It's now Valentine's day and Sakura makes chocolates for all the guys, including one for her great-grandfather which is delievered through Tomoyo's mom. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 8 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 7
進もう！ Susumoo! Another wonderful volume as the second arc/story begins to unfold. Rather than beating around the bush, the supposed villians are revealed doing some dirty deeds to our protagonist. Can she overcome? Does she have enough power? Things are back to normal or so it seems. But then a rain storm arrives dumping rain only on Sakura's town, so it must be a supernatural presence. Sakura tries to fight it, but it's too strong. A new student, エリオル (Eriol) transfers into Sakura's class and immediately, Shaoran has some bad feelings about him. Meanwhile, a new student appears in Touya's class, 秋月 (Akizuki) and has fallen for him. However, behind his back, she suggests to Yukito that she knows about his other personality. Kero and Yue meet to discuss the rainstorm and to fight it. It's a struggle, but Sakura beats it and earns a new Fiery card, a "Sakura Card" (as opposed to Clow). Eriol is revealed to be Clow and Akizuki is his counterpart for Yue. He also has a lion スピネル (Spinel) who's his counterpart for Kero. One night, Sakura and Shaoran sense Clow's presence and try to find him. They get attacked by Eriol (although they don't know it's him) and Sakura gets a new Sword card. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 7 |
The Theater
This is my "TV." I don't have live programming in my apartment, so all I have this for is DVDs and games. Getting an HDTV feed would be awesome, though. The screen measures a little bigger than 105" diagonal; it's about 5 feet high by 6.7 feet wide. Among the ranks of material and equipment, it's actually pretty cheap but there are some sacrifices. It's in a 4x3 layout rather than a widescreen format because most of the DVDs I have are in 4x3 (mostly TV shows). Behind the screen is my balcony. The sliding door and window that leads outside is as big as the screen itself. This poses a particular problem. With lower end projectors like the one I'm using, the room has to be pretty dark in order to get a good image, like how it is in a real movie theater. The solution was to get lots, around 8 yards if I remember correctly, of blackout cloth (which I got from Joann's at around $6 a yard). It's a type of specially treated cloth that blocks out light, completely. It also makes for a decent projection screen, as I've read from the people at AVSForum. So for me, it was a win-win situation. On one side it blocks out the sun (vampire-friendly environment), on the other, I use it as the projection screen. Because I have it free-hanging from the curtain rod, there are some wrinkles. However, it's pretty much invisible once the movie starts rolling. The borders (masking) I have are made of suede cloth. Velvet is the best material, but it costs $13.99 a yard or something like that. I got the suede cloth for about $1.99 a yard in the bargain bin of Joann's and it does pretty well for my purposes. The total cost for me was $50 for the cloth, $5 for the iron-on no-seam hemming material to combine pieces of blackout cloth, $20 for the black suede, $25 for the industrial strength velcro that I used to hang the cloth with, $20 for some rods to stretch out the cloth, $5 for the foam board that holds up the bottom of the masking, and of course some double-stick tape and binder clips for minor alterations. The system I have hooked up to project DVDs onto the screen is an Infocus X1 projector connected to a Panasonic XP-30 DVD player via component video (using DVD player's de-interlacing). It's also hooked up to my PS2 via component video (using projector's de-interlacing, which I believe is the same DCDi chip as the XP-30). The audio is fed through a Panasonic XR-45 receiver. It's the same slim size as my DVD player and has three optical inputs, one connected to the DVD player, one connected the PS2, and the other connected to a computer which pumps out music from my CD collection encoded in FLAC (80+ gigs of music in non-lossy format!). The video is accompanied by a 6.1 surround sound setup, which cost me the price of a center speaker. Everything else, the front speakers and the surrounds, I managed to "permanently borrow" from my parents. It's not a very high powered system either on the receiver side nor speaker side, but I live in an apartment complex so that's not a big deal. Despite that, I do have everything calibrated, so at least it'll sound balanced. |
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The Kotatsu
This is the table where I do most of my reading and writing. A Kotatsu (コタツ) is a Japanese style table with a heater attached to the bottom. You can optionally get a Kotatsu futon for the top which is almost like a blanket used to retain the heat and/or the bottom which makes the seat a little softer (I actually didn't need it as I have carpet underneath, but it was a matching set). The tabletop is a separate piece of wood and the futon/blanket is sandwiched between the bottom part of the table and the table top. The table is about a foot high off the ground, so it's not for the long-legged. I can manage to cross my legs under the table, but just barely. The heater underneath glows orange when it's on, but it's actually safe to touch. The grill surrounding the heater has some sort of fuzzy coating that feels soft and cool to the touch. Living in LA, I was able to procure my table from Marukai Forum, probably the largest Japanese supermarket chain in the US, even if there are only two. The table itself costs me $150 which is a lot cheaper than what you would find online. The futon set cost me around $80 and the two cushions I have cost me $10 a piece, although I'm thinking of getting new and softer (read: more expensive) cusions. There are also "chairs" for a kotatsu, which you can just imagine as a chair without legs. I opted with cushions as I can't imagine how I would get out of one. Of course, the question is: why do I need a heated table in hot hot LA? It's actually a bit chilly in my apartment, especially now in the winter. Plus, it feels good sitting under the kotatsu with shorts. I guess it's (still) a novelty to me. It would have been nice to have one when I was living in NYC! |
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カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 6
Mas mas mas! This was a really good volume in which it seems to conclude at least the first arc of the story. It seems like they could have finished the story right here and ended it, but they decided to prolong it for another 6 volumes. I guess, but they'll have to get another story going. The artwork in here has some very nice action sequences during Sakura's judgement. Everything about the different characters gets revealed, and at the end, a new mystery is introduced. Sakura and pals get attacked by Fiery (card) and she has to defeat it as it's one of Kero's attributes. Since Yukito is there, Shaoran knocks him out so Sakura can transform. She defeats Fiery, which causes Kero to manifest into his true self. She then has to defeat Earthy, which completes her collection and Yue is revealed, and it's none other than Yukito. In order for Sakura to become the true Cardcaptor, she has to defeat Yue, but she's too weak. That's when Mizuki comes in with a helping hand; she explains that's her purpose in the story. Sakura ensnares Yue and he acquiesces realizing that Clow Reed had planned for her ascention all along. She meets Clow Reed who mentions that he's going to show up later. After all is said and done, everyone returns to their normal selves. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 6 |
Almost Had Buyer's Remorse Well, I never have buyer's remorse, but I decided that I didn't need the item. So I'm trying to bid for something from Yahoo Japan Auctions. 2 Kiminozo video games in fact. I have about 3 hours left, so I decided to place my bid. However, Rinkya's system currently has problems in that it's labeling any and all auctions as "closed." So I can't bid on the item. And then I thought, "Would I really be that much happier with those games?" After all the shipping, poor exchange rate, and Rinkya's commissions, I would be out more than $250 bucks! Just for two games! And then I remembered my philosophy. If it's not going to help my Japanese, then there's always something else that will. Reading dating sims is a nice way to practice reading, no doubt. But I can always do the same with manga. And for $250, I can sure get a crap load of manga. Heck, I could buy the entire 10+ CDs/Drama CDs of Kiminozo for that much (and the reason I know is because they're in my shopping list for April, when it'll come with FFX-2 Piano Collections). And then my second motto is to let go of the past. There's so much new stuff coming out that there's not need to look back, especially if it's not at "used" prices. So it's a pass. Quite unfortunately for Rinkya in that their downtime make me change my mind, but I don't think it's just coincidence. Or at least my superstitious self believes. Maybe I can go to sleep now too...I've been keeping myself busy with the CCS manga while I waited, but there's no point in waiting anymore. |
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カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 5
Still going... A little better than the previous book. Although I didn't care much for the play, the overall plot is slowly being revealed by Kero and Mizuki. It's getting darker and darker as the pages progress. By this time, we're still not sure whether Mizuki is a good person (or so thinks Sakura) or someone evil (or so thinks Shaoran). Good stuff. The first story has the Kinomoto family, along with Yukito, going to their summer house. At the summer house, Sakura meets an affable old man and spends some time with him. It's later revealed that he's her great-grandfather. Second story has Sakura's class doing a play, Sleeping Beauty. She's the prince, and Shaoran is the sleeping beauty. During the play, she gets engulfed by darkness all alone. After some despair, she gains her confidence and the opposite card, Light appears to cancel out Dark. They tell her about her judgement day by Yue. Meanwhile, Mizuki and Kero have met and they mention Yue as well. The next story occurs in a restuarant where the main characters discuss what's been going on, including the topic of Yue. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 5 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 4
On a roll... While there was some discussions about Mizuki and Clow Reed, it really read like a filler arc just to pick up another few cards. Nothing struck me as significant, and so it was a little weaker in comparison to the previous two. 観月 (Mizuki), the mysterious new teacher from last volume bails out Sakura, Shaoran, and Tomoyo who are stuck in the maze. Meanwhile, Touya explains to Yukito how he and Mizuki got together when he was her student. Sakura obtains the Maze card. The next few chapters has the class going to the beach for a field trip. They have a trail of courage into a cave in the cliffs, and inside, Sakura discovers the Erase card which had been causing her friends to disappear inside the cave. There is also a little discussion about Clow Reed between Shaoran and Sakura. Last part has Tomoyo, Sakura, Yukito, and Touya going to a festival at the shrine. The night before, Sakura has a dream with fireflies. Kero tells her that dreams can sometimes tell the future. When she sees them at the festival, being out-of-season, she knows that it's a C(G)low Card. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 4 |
The Recruit
The movie is about a CIA trainee who learns who his real friends and enemies are. This movie is supposed to be a psychological thriller with a twist ending. While there was a twist at the end, the movie seemed pretty slow for the first 3/4ths of it. I think that's the biggest drawback. Unlike my favorite plot twist from The Sixth Sense, there's really nothing at the beginning of the movie to suggest anything at the end. Everything you need to know for the plot twist is contained in the last 30 minutes or so of the movie. Yeah, there is some build-up of the characters, but it seemed quite drawn out. It is a pretty decent movie though, but it really should have kept me interested for a bit longer at the beginning. As a side note, the way they handle computers sure has flaws. The first thing that went through my mind when Burke said they have no floppies was whether the computer had an USB port or a firewire port. Who the hell uses floppies to transfer files anymore? It's all about the dongles! Oh, if you shoot a laptop, it'll explode, not fracture like a glass window. Maybe the LCD will crack, but the plastic behind it will blow apart. Rating: 2/4 |
I've just realized that I"ve been on a Colin Farrell spree with Phone Booth, S.W.A.T., and now this. Actually, this movie was second choice for me, but Blockbuster didn't have Runaway Jury. I believe this is my 5th free movie out of ten (and then after that, I'm gonna get another free 10 rentals from Discover). |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 3
More CCS goodness in my quest to finish before March 5th. I thought this volume was a little weaker than the previous since there didn't seem to be much happening that moved the story. We already know that Tomoyo loves Sakura, so her chapter didn't add much. Probably the person with the most development is Touya as we find out that he has had a love life, as well as his ability to see supernatural things (and hence, he's very suspicious of Kero-chan). No bonuses except for a bookmark. Sakura finds out that there's someone who looks exactly like her causing trouble. Using her acquired cards as tarots, she discovers that Touya is possibly in trouble. Meanwhile, Touya discovers the fake Sakura and offers to her help her find what she needs before she goes back to Heaven (he thinks she's a ghost). Affected by his caring, she (Mirror card) allows herself to be caputured. The next segment has Sakura going over to Tomoyo's house where she finds out that a card is guarding a locked box. By capturing the Shield card, the open the box to find Tomoyo's and her mom's most treasured item. The last arc concerns a mysterious but very pretty lady that showed up as Sakura's new math teacher. She works at a Shrine and apparently, she and Touya had a run-in before. Sakura and Shaoran go to the shine to get some charms and is suddenly surrounded by a maze. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 3 |
カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 2
Like I mentioned previously, I found out that they were re-releasing the Cardcaptor Sakura on 3/5. Given that I have the entire series, but have only read the first book, I better get my cranking on this one. I bought the series as a special box set offered by Amazon Japan which was a pretty good deal since they only charged shipping as one book. That was a year and a half ago. One of the things I enjoy about CLAMP manga is that they're a lot more visual than textual. From the ones I've read so far, they're all really fast reads since the pages usually have less words than most. This is especially true of their girl's comics (compared to something like Sailormoon). This means I can read them a little faster than most manga. There aren't any bonus material in the book, although I did get a bookmark (bookmarks are included with every book). I forgot who it was. This book covered a lot of history and motivations for different characters and added a lot to the story in general. There's also a nice mix of humor, and seriousness (i.e. Sakura's mother). I hope the series can keep this up. Obviously some issues that the book deals with might rub a few people the wrong way, especially the relationship between significantly older men and underaged girls. But I think it has a lot to do with the intended audience, young girls (which I am not, in case you're wondering). Since CCS doesn't have chapter titles, I'll just mash it all together. There are a few major events that occur in his volume. さくら (Sakura) obtains three more cards, Flower, Sword, and Illusion. The relationship between Sakura's father and 知世 (Tomoyo's) mom is established, namely that she was a cousin of Sakura's mother and disapproved of the marriage. 小狼 (Syaoran) is introduced as a competitor to Sakura for the cards. The completely different relationships between Sakura's brother 桃矢 (Touya) and 雪兎 (Yukito) is reveal in that he dislikes Touya, but has the opposite feelings for Yuki. |
Title: カードキャプター さくら (Cardcaptor Sakura) Vol. 2 |
Back in Business I've finally gotten the web site fixed after my brush with calamity last night. I'm going to pin that mistake on fatigue if anything. I've been spending way too much time on the design of the site recently. When I think I'm going to stop, I look at the site and add another "feature." And those usually take me until 2am in the morning...and then I wake up at 7:30 to go to work and do some more programming. It's not that I hate it, but I need to chill. Found an interesting essay titled "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" I wholeheartedly agree with everything written. The problem I see is that people are too obsessed with money. It's probably easy for me to say, and I admit that, but when people are going to choose between passion and money, they usually choose the latter. That's why a lot of people went in to the computer business; they thought they could strike it rich doing something they didn't necessarily like to do. Do what you like to do, and everything will follow, says the optimistic me. I just found out yesterday that Cardcaptor Sakura manga is going to be re-released on 3/5. I still have all the original versions on my shelf unread. Now it's a race. Gotta finish them all by 3/5. |
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Features of 'mo Lunar Scribbles It's been a month into re-starting my online journal, or I guess they're called blogs now. Much has progressed in terms of design, but I can finally say that I'm content with the current layout and features. If there's one thing I'm guilty of, it is that I've spent way to much time these past few weeks with the aesthetics rather than content, but I guess that's part of the fun. As of this writing, I will still update the side bars, both left and right, but I don't think they'll vary in appearance. Here's a feature overview of mo' Lunar Scribbles: 1. Fully Automated Mobile Blogging
0) A cronjob that runs a Perl program to check a specially assigned email box for new messages every 15 minutes. This email box is solely for the use of moblogs. 1) I take a picture with my cell phone and send it to the email address mentioned above. 2) The Perl program downloads the message and feeds it to the modified Python program, mail2entry. 3) The Python program parses out the message, separates image from text and assigns the title and appropriate subject. My modifications to it have it call ImageMagick, a image manipulating program, to make a copy of the image with the dimensions of 200x200 pixels in size, maximum while retaining proportions (so that's usually 200x150 for 4:3 images). It also generates even smaller thumbnails (80x80 max) to serve as the rollover images on the index page. The black and white image with noise that serves as the rollover image is also generated at this time. 4) With all that done, the Python script uploads the new entry to Moveabletype for posting. Upon upload, Moveabletype re-generates all the changed pages so that in the entry, there's a smaller image with a link to the larger image, as well as text for the entry. The index pages are regenerated with the new moblog entry and the appropriate rollover code is generated with the new image (this is actually done with PHP when you load the page, Moveabletype generates the PHP code). 2. Thumbnails of Reviews with Ratings
From there, the index pages load the generated thumbnails of the last XX entries and link them with their respective individual archive pages. When you load up the index pages, PHP is used to count and lay out the entires in a nice grid. For some entries, I use the full-size image (width 170px) for added effect. There's also the "Currently Enjoying" section where I have things I'm currently reading/watching/listening to, but haven't written a review yet. Those items are entries in Moveabletype, but are labeled as "Draft" so they don't show up in the archives. In order to pull them out of the database (Moveabletype usually hides "Draft" entries), I used the SQL plug-in. Other than that, they're identical to published entries and show up the same way. Another feature along with the thumbnails is the watermarked ratings on the thumnail images. Upon generation, the entrybody gets check for a "Ratings X/4" text and it grabs the "X" number. Using ImageMagick, it loads up a little sideways banner with stars (random color) and overlays it on top of the thumbnail. Values can go from 0-4, with 0 getting something more interesting than just a blank banner. 3. Moving and Blending
Using the AniMagic Layer Dreamweaver Extension, I made it so that it would move layers depending on which category you wanted to see filtered on the index page. Each entry is in it's own layer and when it's loaded, they're all stacked on top of each other because the browser hasn't determined the length of each entry. Once it has determined the length, the Javascript will stack them on top of each other as if they were cells in a table (that's why you first see garbage on the screen when you first load the page before everything flattens out). When you choose a category, the Javascript code will hide all the layers that are not in the category and perform the animation for the selected categories to stack up at the top of the screen. Another cosmetic touch is the blending of each day's entries. Each day is denoted by different color. There are 7 colors, and to get the color for a particular date, do a mod 7 on the day of month. Anyhow, a plain and boring way of laying it out is to make the entries look "boxy" with abrupt changes in colors between different days. But given that ImageMagick can do gradients, I decided to make it a smooth transition between colors instead. So, I pre-generated all possible combinations of color transitions (7x7 = 49). In the static index pages (non-moving), the appropriate transitions are generated by Moveabletype. In the moving index pages, they're first generated by Moveabletype, but when you choose a particular category to filter on, it will change the gradient to match the next entry. One last thing, I've made the layers emulate a table as much as possible. Layers usually don't resize according to your browser size, unlike tables, but that would lead to an inconsistent design. So I had the layers resize according to the width of your browser. So hopefully, you won't be able to tell the difference between the layer page (only the index page, and only with browsers IE6+ and Mozilla) and the tables page (the safe index page as well as all the archive pages). 4. Smart Media Listing
Now for the hard part. To do the filtering for a group of alphabets/kana, I had to create my own <MTEntries> tag, which I called MTEntriesJ because Japanese kana was my main reason for doing it. So the tag works like your regular MTEntries tag, except it had a few keywords, "filterstart" "filterend" "notwithin" and "excludeprefix" and "rowwidth." These work only on the titles of the entry and a special "sort" tag I have which I'll explain later. filterstart: The first letter, inclusive, of the grouping (case-insensitive). So for example, if I wanted all the entries that started between letter "A" and "E," but without letter "B," I would do: <MTEntriesJ filterstart="A" filterend="E" excludeprefix="B">blah blah blah...</MTEntriesJ> If I wanted all titles that didn't start with an alphabet letter, I would say: <MTEntriesJ filterstart="A" filterend="Z" notwithin="1"> This goes the same for Japanese kana, so for the か～こ (ka-ko) sequence, I would write: <MTEntriesJ filterstart="か" filterend="こ"> But for those who know Japanese, this poses a problem especially when dealing with Kanji. Kanji usually has multiple readings, so I can't rely on the title alone. So in addition, I have a <sort>blah blah blah</sort> tag that I put in the Extended Entry portion. I wrote a parser to parse the Extended Entry for that tag and use it as a key for sorting. The text in the <sort> tag is what's really being sorted on, regardless of the title. Well, actually no, it does two sorts. It sorts on the text within the sort tag first and then it sorts on the title (I just concatenate the sort string and the title to get the sort key). That way, I can guarantee the position of the sort. This doesn't help much in sorting English words, but is a lifesaver in the Japanese. Now what's up with the excludeprefix tag? Well, I needed something a little more fine-tuned. For my Japanese comic magazines, I wanted them to have their own section called "Magazines." But that posed a little problem. If I gave it a title name using any of the Japanese kana, it would fit in with the other books. If I put a non-kana character in the <sort> field, it would put it in the "others" location. Therefore, I needed to make a special exception in the "others" category not to absorb certain character prefixes. So my fix is that for all my magazine entries, I have a hyphen as the <sort>. In the magazine filtering section, I have "filterstart='-'" and "filterend='-'" And in my "others" section, I have an "excludeprefix='-'" And it all works out. 5. Calendar Icons
The "unique" part comes up because I have a few topics that share the same icon (as of today). For example, "Site Info" "Everyday Life" and "Work" all share the same pencil icon. However, if I wrote on those three categories in a single day, it should show up as three pencils in the calendar. IMO, that doesn't look right. So, my hacked MTEntries takes in a parameter for the max number of unique categories to show, and then another parameter for the grouping. I can specify a grouping of [Site Info, Everyday Life, Work] and what I get back from my MTEntries is just one icon to represent any of those three. 6. Random Email Addresses Not really a layout feature, but still helpful. I've documented how it works already, so I won't mention anymore about it. So in summary, this site is very automatic. It took a while to get everything up and running, but now that it is, the only thing I need to do is follow the instructions on the box: Just add words. A lot of these scripts were done in haste with poor poor software engineering practices of documenting and generalizing code (I do proper software coding at work, so give me a break!). I'm reluctant to put them out on display for that reason. However, if you're interested in what I have, I'll try to help you out with the franken-code that I have. |
Using 
Books, Movies, Manga, Anime, and Video Games all are checked for images. Upon generation, I have a Moveabletype plugin that extracts the first image from the entry (for the categories mentioned, the first image is always the cover). When it extracts this image, it checks to see if there's a thumbnail of it already generated. If not, it generates it.
One of the things I really dislike about web programming is client-side stuff. I despise it because there are too many variables to deal with, especially browser incompatiblity. So I first started out with an old-school tables driven page. But then I had this idea of being able to filter out the entries on the index page, so the moving layers idea was formed.
Let me tell you what a pain in ass this was, especially dealing with Unicode and Perl. The idea is to have a sensible listing of books, DVDs, and CDs rather than just having a long list. First off, I 
Each square in the calendar can hold up to 3 different category icons to show what was written that day. Getting the categories to show up isn't too bad, but I had to write another MTEntries routine to get "unique" category icons, and that was a little trick. |
Dumbfuck Is me. In my home directory on this web server, I was going to remove files called "yoyo12.txt" "yoyo13.txt" and such, so I took the easy way out and typed in "rm yoyo.txt *" Note the space. So now, I pretty much deleted all the files in that directory. It may sound bad, but it isn't too horrible. Among the casualties are ImageMagick's convert for the guestbook, my random email generator script, and my script to retrieve mail for the moblog (processing is does elsewhere, somewhere safe). Maybe a few hours recovery time. But I'm hoping that the people who run the web host have backups, as they advertise. |
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Johnny English
The movie is basically a parody of your typical James Bond films where he, as the clumsy Johnny English, trying to save Britain from those evil Frenchmen. While I enjoyed the physical comedy of the movie, I think it rubbed me the wrong way. I really dislike arrogance, especially when it comes from people who don't deserve it. That was the type of character Johnny English was. Never admitting to his mistakes. I hated him right there. Rowan Atkinson plays the part very well, though. Mmm...Natalie Imbruglia. He role as the main actress an English-girl was a good choice. She doesn't seem overbearingly sexy unlike some of the real Bond-girls, but fits well with Rowan. The story was pretty weak, but I didn't expect much in terms of depth. Does the Queen of England have the right to confiscate any land that she so desires, as implied by the film? Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. But, I know that Bush and Ashcroft are seeking the same power. The movie is good for a cheap laugh, but I think there are better ones out there. Rating: 1/4 |
Being a huge Mr. Bean fan, I was interested in seeing what Rowan Atkinson was up to these days. I really hate to say it, but I think he's stuck as an actor to roles similar to Mr. Bean. He's found his rut, and I can't imagine him doing any other kind character. It's good and it's bad in a way because he is pretty good at what he does, but I wonder how he feels about it. |
So Howard Dean is Out To be honest, I really didn't know what the big hubub about him was all during summer. From what I've heard (and it's limited at most) is that he used the Internet to start a grassroots fundraising that the world has never seen before. Stuff like that makes me very wary. Anything that gets too popular too quickly makes me a bit suspicious about the reason why it's so popular, especially if the reason for it's popularity seems to be on shaky grounds. This goes for the dot-com era, and even now with anime/comicbooks (i.e. Spiderman) making a huge revival. Anything that shoots up will come down just as fast. I'm also kinda suspicious about Kerry's popularity too. How the heck did he get all those votes? John Edwards making a comeback? What a wild primary. While I'm at it, might as well mention that I applied for my absentee ballot today! Being a registered Independent/Non-partisan, I was offered a choice about what party's ballot I wanted to vote in. Too bad I can be there to vote for Clark. |
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ルナ2 (Lunar 2)
Finally a manga based off a video game that I have played before. This book has been out of print for a long time (originally published in 1998), and I was fortunately enough to find it at Kinokuniya. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with it. The character design is great (as all the stuff I choose to read). The story adheres pretty closely to what happens in the video game and having read through it again, I had a little itch to play the game over again. The biggest issue with the comic is pacing. According to the back, the original comic appeared in Fantasy DX in Sept-Oct 1998. That takes about 90 pages (chapter 1). The other 5 chapters take up about 60-70 pages combined. Whereas it took 90 pages to introduce the two main characters, the supporting cast of 6 some characters took 8 pages. All the other chapters were "original" chapters, which makes it sound like the artist just made enough extra chapters to bind it into a book. Heck, it did a faster job than my <20 minute summaries. I could give it a lower rating for that, but Lunar was one of my first RPG that I really liked and also the namesake of this blog, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. There aren't any bonus features in the book. 0. 目覚める者 (The Person Who Awakens): A very short prologue speaking about the legend of Lunar, the Blue Star, and Lucia. 1. 女神と少年 (The Goddess and the Boy): Lucia descends from the Blue Star and accompanies Hiro to find Althena. However, no matter where she goes, she cannot sense her presence. Determined to find out, she refuses to allow Hiro be involved, and so she leaves by herself only to find out that she indeed needs the help from other people. 2. 集まる者たち (People that Gather): Very fast intro of Lemina, Jean, Nall, and the antagonists. 3. 女神と人間 (The Goddess and People): Lucia starts learning about her feelings. The supporting cast all defeat their enemies. Lucia finds out what happened to Althena/Luna (from Lunar 1) and prepares to battle Zophar, the big bad guy. 4. 闇の内包する者 光を創造する者 (The Person of Darkness, The People who Create Light): Lucia gets caught by Zophar, but Hiro and gang come save her and they overthrow Zophar. 5. 未来を創る者たち (The People who Create the Future): Everyone settles down, Lucia goes back to the Blue Star. Hiro still wants to see her, so he finds a way to get to the Blue Star and is reunited with her (the epilogue ending in the game). |
Title: ルナ2 エターナルブルー (Lunar2 Eternal Blue) |
Ikari Warriors Gamespot has a feature on the former videogame company, SNK. While I was never big into console gaming (as it required a purchase of a console, which I was not allowed to have since I already had a NES), I remember the game Ikari Warriors quite vividly. I believe that's the first time I understood what it meant for a game to lack a story. So Ikari Warriors is just a simple side scroller, or rather front scroller, game where you shoot everything in sight. The game was insanely difficult, especially with my being an 10-year-old). However, I had learned through browsing game cheat books that there was a secret way to have unlimited continues (I think it was A,B,B,A, Start) and with that tip, I decided to take on the world with my lone Rambo. So I sit in front of the TV for a whole 4 hours (which at that time was outrageous, but nothing compared to my spending 12+ hours in front of a monitor nowadays) playing the game, thinking that there was some finish to the game that I could see. But alas that wasn't the case. After I beat the 4th stage, the game promptly started over at the beginning of the 1st stage. No message that I can recall. Nada. I was one disappointed kid, and scarred for life. |
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カノン (Kanon) Vol. 1
Another manga based on a video game. I think there's also an anthology comics based on this, but the Dengeki version is a full length story rather than a compilation of various short comics. There aren't any bonuses in the manga besides a color first page. The stories in here, two of them plus a small intro, do require that the reader have some background into the characters (which I do not). It would be helpful since I have no sense of why the main character, 祐一 (Yuichi) is back living with his childhood friend, 名雪 (Nayuki), and what their promise was about. But even without that, the two stories were filling just by themselves. 1. PROLOGE (Prologue): 7 years ago, Yuichi made a promise with Nayuki but he doesn't remember what. Now, he's returning and is going to live with Nayuki and her sister (I think). They meet and walk home when they're bumped into by あゆ (Ayu) who is running away from a Taiyaki cook and tells them to run with her. As they are running away, Yuichi bumps into a girl, but keeps on running. She explains that she stole because she was hungry and had no money. Back home, 秋子 (Akiko), has dinner waiting for the two of them and the story begins. 2. Shiori Misaka: There's a mysterious girl waiting outside of the school yard, the same girl who Yuichi bumped into the day before. The girl introduces herself as 美坂栞 (Shiori Misaka). She's a student of the school but has been sick so she hasn't been coming. However, it's peculiar that she's waiting for someone. At school, one of Nayuki's friends also shares the same last name, Misaka, 香里 (Kaori) Misaka. Misaka denies that she has a kid sister, but Nayuki and Yuichi put the pieces together and Kaori comes clean. She's going through extreme hardships knowing that her sister has a terminal illness that even Shiori herself doesn't know about. However, because Shiori has been having a great time with Yuichi and Nayuki, she regains some inner strength. 3. Makoto Sawatari: A girl suddenly starts yelling and screaming at Yuichi on the street and collapses of exhaustion. Had this been in private, Yuichi would have just let her be, but everyone was looking, so he had to take her in to Akiko's house. Akiko is reminded about the time when Yuichi was a kid and brought in a baby fox for care. The girls name is 真琴 (Makoto) and apparently she has lost of memory, so she doesn't have anywhere to go. They let her stay, but tensions mount when Yuichi asks her if she could help out around the house. She runs out, but then comes back with a kitten. Yuichi and her make amends and they adopt a new kitten. |
Title: カノン (Kanon) Vol. 1 |
まほらば (Mahoraba) Vol. 4
As with the other books, there are mini-comics on the covers under the dust covers. In addition, there's a bonus half chapter at the end featuring a few 4 panel comics and a one page comics with Dr. Pink (Megumi) and Burabura (Tamami). This volume includes more filler stories, all of which are entertaining. The only disappointment is that Kozue's other personalities didn't show up in this volume except for 1 chapter. Give me some more Sakaki! 18. みんなの一日 (Everyone's Day): This chapter has a few pages dedicated to each character as they spend a day. Sayoko gets lost, Asami spends a day at school, Megumi putz around, Haibara does the same, Kozue and Tamami go to school, and Ryuushi goes to his academy. While each story is separate, they all tie in at the end as they all encounter the same people. 19. いろいろ (Various): Kozue turns into the 6-year-old Nanako and wants to play with Ryuushi. Since Ryuushi has homework, he tries to stick Nanako with the other residents, but each one of them has their own reason for not want to play with Nanako. In the end, Ryuushi forsakes his homework to spend time with Nanako. 20. 広い世界の中で (In This Big World): The gang goes to the beach in Megumi's rented car. They have various strange events at the beach and Kozue tells them that she's glad that she has them as friends. 21. こわい？はなし (Scary? Story): It's a very hot day, so Tamami recommends that they have a round of ghost stories. Megumi's story is suspenseful, but not scary. Haibara doesn't get a chance to tell his, Asami's is a story about something strange, but not scary. Sayoko's story is just whacked, and Tamami's is the only one that's scary, but everyone writes it off as hackneyed. 22. 青華祭にて (The Fair at Seika): There's a fair at Kozue and Tamami's school and the gang goes. They enjoy all the attractions at a Japanese high school fair. There's an emergency where the music club has injured musicians so Megumi and Sayoko fill in as the pianist and the violinist. They pull off a perfect concert. |
Title: まほらば (Mahoraba) Vol. 4 |
美少女戦士セーラームーン (Sailormoon) Vol. 3
I feel like I'm not a true manga fan as I've yet finished the epitome of girls manga, Sailormoon. But I do have an excuse! You see, I wanted to, but they they discontinued the books until these re-releases. Plus, I didn't know Japanese back then. Bonuses in this volume are a page of stickers and a few gag comics with the author reflecting upon what she originally wanted each of the scouts to be. Overall impressions of the manga is that, geez, things happen so fast! I'm a book three, and it seems like it's jumping into season 3 of the anime already. I enjoyed all the filler episodes in the anime, so I kinda miss them in the comics. It's also pretty gruesome in the books too. I think I prefer the anime to this, just because of the pacing (actually, anime was kinda slow with *all* the fillers, but I definitely need a break between all the drama). Act 12. 敵 Queen Metaria (Enemy, Queen Metaria): The scouts manage to kill Queen Beril (sp?) so their final showdown is with Queen Metaria and Evil Tuxedo Mask. Being torn between killing Evil Tuxedo Mask and Mamoru, she decides to not have to live with the choice and defeats him. Act 13. 決戦 Reincarnation (Final Battle, Reincarnation): With Tuxedo Mask and Sailormoon out of the way, the other scouts try to defeat Metaria, but they fail. Queen Metaria's power starts engulfing the world in darkness. Some flashbacks to the time of the Silver Millenium and in present time, Sailormoon wakes up and so does Tuxedo Mask, and both receive new powers from their respective crystals. WIth that they Queen Metaria. Act 14. 終結そして始まり (Petit Étranger): Sailormoon's new powers revives the castle on the moon and Sailormoon defeats the Metaria. All is well until a little girls "drops" between Usagi and Mamoru. The girl points a gun at Usagi asking if she has the crystal. Act 15. 侵入 Sailor Mars (Invasion, Sailor Mars): The little girl, Chibiusa, hypnotizes everything making them think that she's Usagi's baby sister. Meanwhile, a new evil power has formed, the faction of the Black Moon. Rei can feel it and she tries to find out what it is. She eventually discovers them and is abducted. Act 16. 誘拐 Sailor Mercury (Abduction, Sailor Mercury): We find out that Chibiusa is looking for Sailormoon to save her mom. Ami is aso trying to find out who the Black Moon people are and she herself gets abducted. |
Title: 美少女戦士セーラームーン (Pretty Guardian Sailormoon) Vol. 3 |
くろみちゃん2 (Kuromi-chan 2)
I watched this the day after I saw the first one and have to say that it didn't disappoint. Like the first one, this DVD is also aroudn 40 minutes, region 0, and has English subs and includes a postcard. However, it also includes one of the best bonuses on DVD. So the story continues with Kuromi's boss giving her team 3 different anime shows to draw and not giving her any extra help. So along the way, her boss hires another supervisor to teach her how to cut corners on anime in order to make it meet the deadline, but she learns that that's not the way to animate cartoons. The story has more of an emotional factor that the previous one, but for the most part, it's still upbeat and funny. Now for the bonus. The producers (I guess) got the voice actor and voice actress for the boss and Kuromi to go around and actually do the job of an "Animation Runner" for a day. So they go around to various artists's house and do their collecting. The biggest twist is when they visit the director himself, who it turns out didn't know about this little stunt. Good stuff. Oh, there's also an interview with the director where he talks about the basis for the show, but having seen the other bonus first, I couldn't pay attention to the monologue. Maybe some other time. Anyhow, another winner here. |
Title: アニメージョン制作進行くろみちゃん 日本のアニメ私が作る！２ (Animation Runner Kuromi-chan, I Will Create Japanese Anime 2) |
くろみちゃん (Kuromi-chan)
A short OVA (~40 minutes) but a very funny one at that. I knew about this title a while ago, but never acted until I found out that the second one was going to be released. Of course, I can't watch the second part without knowing the first, so I got this DVD along with the second OVA. The DVD comes with the stadard inserts and also two postcards. The bonus material is a quick slideshow like movie about the making of the show. As a bonus, the DVD is a region 0 title with English subs. I didn't know what to expect when I popped in this disc. The only thing I knew about it was that it was a comedy based on the anime making process. But after watching, I think it's become one of my favorites. The show is about 大黒みき子 (Mikiko Ooguro), nicknamed Kuromi, who starts work at an animation company and only has one week to gather all the drawings for her particular project which is already way behind. The only complain I have about it is that on my setup, the background music was a little strong in that I couldn't hear what the characters were saying very clearly (I had to re-calibrate my speakers just to make sure). But besides that, everything was perfect. The character design was great, the amount of humor was just right, and given the short episode, the story covered enough of the personal history to understand the characters. The music, done by the same person who did Ai yori Aoshi, among many others, stands out in that if I ever hear that tune again, I will automatically know it's Kuromi. Title is highly recommended, and given that it's a region 0 disc and also has english subs, there's really no reason not to buy it. |
Title: アニメージョン制作進行くろみちゃん (Animation Runner Kuromi-chan) |
29% Fruit Juice Or so says my Kern's Peach drink. Had a semi-productive day. Woke up at 10am, went to Costco to buy my groceries for the next month. Came back, watched another episode of Stellvia. Watched Kuromi-chan, finished Mahoraba #4, fell asleep under my kotatsu, woke up and watched Kuromi-chan 2 while eating dinner, encoded 4 of my new CDs, started reading Kanon. What a day! Last night, I went to happy hour with co-workers and my boss. Of course the topic of what I do everyday after work came up. Being the honest person that I am, I couldn't tell a lie, however, I didn't think it was appropriate for me to say that I watch cartoons and read comic books. So I told them I watched movies. Neutral response and not a lie. Oh, wait, I did tell a lie since I said I watched it on *TV*. I got my confirmation letter from EFF about my donation. I also got my t-shirt and bumper sticker! Oh the joys of donating to a non-profit. Back to Kanon... |
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Happenings I've gotten addicted to wasabi. I used to despise the stuff, opting to eat the ginger instead and leave my soysauce untainted. But recently, I've come to enjoy the pain and the pleasure of eating wasabi. So much so that I have a tube of the stuff sitting in my fridge that I got from Marukai. One thing to note though is that wasabi doesn't go well with hot foods. Do not try eating potstickers with wasabi. It just doesn't taste right. I finally started watching Stellvia today and finished episode one since I finished the first manga. Well, that and the fact that I have the entire season (24) episodes now, unwatched. I've had the first 12 episodes for more than 4-5 months already. It was enjoyable, story very similar to the manga. I shall be writing it up soon enough. Sucks that Clark is off the ballot now. I guess I'll go with my second choice, Kerry. Anyone but Bush. Did most of my taxes today, but hit a little snag. Will describe more in a later posting. |
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ネギま！ ４月：神楽坂明日菜 (Negima! April: Asuna Kagurazaka) CD Single
The first of 12 singles cd featuring the girls from Negima. When this cd first went on sale, it hit #1 on Amazon Japan's CD rankings. It features 6 tracks, a 5 second track intro, a song that has 2 variations along with a karaoke version, a mini-drama, and then a message from the seiyuu, 神田朱未 （Akemi Kanda). First edition has an Asuna tarot card (read the manga to understand why). The single song include is very catchy, titled いつだってLove & Dream (Always Love & Dream). The regular mix is catchy, the remix has more of a techno feel. Both are something I can listen on repeat. The mini-drama a 3 minute episode where Asuna dials a psychic and gets a perverted fortune teller. It's pretty funny and is a good preview of how Asuna would sound like if (when) Negima is made into an anime. I'm not sure about the selection of voice. When I think about Asuna and her personality, I expected someone with a bit of a lower voice. Something like Yui Horie and her job with Naru (Ho-chan is already booked as another character in Negima though). But according to the message on track 5, Akemi was chosen by Ken Akamatsu himself. Without having read the manga, she auditioned for the role and was immediately picked out. I guess I should trust the creator of the manga to know his characters. 12 CDs...it'll out-do my 8 Azumanga singles. |
Title: 魔法先生ネギま！ ４月：神楽坂明日菜 (Magic Teacher Negima! April: Asuna Kagurazaka) |
Moving Entries! Spent the last 6 hours dealing with one of my most hated programming tasks. Browser/Javascript programming. I like server-side programming like perl/php/python because it's a contained environment. I know what server it runs on and I know that the output is always the same. However, you never know what you're going to get with client-side programming since everyone uses a different browser. The sliding effect I have can only been seen with Mozilla (and Netscape 6+) and IE5+, I believe. The webserver automatically redirects you to the page, whether it is the regular or dynamic based on what browser you're using. I just hope it works well enough. I really do like the effect though. |
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まほらば (Mahoraba) Drama CD
I love drama CDs, especially if it's the first one (hopefully) in anticipation for an anime series. I have the same expectations for Negima Drama CDs as well as the Ichigo 100% coming out soon. Love Hina Image Album still remains my favorite though, but I digress. The cast to Mahoroba has some familiar names, including 川澄綾子 (Ayako Kawasumi), and 清水愛 (Ai Shimizu), 豊口めぐみ (Megumi Toyoguchi, voice of Paine in FFX-2 among others), and overall, I thought their performances were very accurate given the personalities of the different and very eccentric characters of Mahoraba. Megumi and Tamami's voices were a perfect match. The background music is still stuck in my head too. If they ever make an anime of this, it'll be on my pre-order list immediately. Update 2/25/04: Anime has been announced! First pressing of the CD includes a Megumi card. I was fortunate (or unfortunate since they were closing up shop) enough to buy it at Asahiya LA for 50% off. 1. すべてのプロローグ (Prologue to All): Ryuushi explains how he ended up at Narutaki apartments. Basically a rehash of the first few chapters of Mahoraba. 2. 梢とその他１名についての２，３の事柄: (2,3 Matters Concerning Kozue and Another): Just as Ryuushi is about to introduce the CD, Megumi and Tamami interrupt and do their "Synopsis Heaven," the same whimsical intro that was drawn in manga vol. 3. They explain how Kozue really is with her multiple personalities. Afterwards, Ryuushi tries to give more information about himself, but apparently his life is so boring that he has nothing to say. 3. すき焼きパーティーは踊る (Sukiyaki Party Dance): Ryuushi and Kozue win vacation tickets to Hong Kong. They go home and tell everyone and at the news, they celebrate. Unfortunately, there are 7 of them and only 4 tickets. So after much deliberation, Tamami, Megumi, Kozue, and Ryuushi go, with the three others stay home. 4. 香港パラダイス (Hong Kong Paradise): The gang of 4 arrive at Hong Kong and they enjoy the sights, sounds, and food of China (Megumi and Tamami perform some stereotypical Chinese Kung Fu yells). In the hotel, Ryuushi has some nervous moments when Kozue wants to come in and check out his pad. She comments on his bed and his bathroom and his mind starts to go in that direction. 5. 大誘拐 (Great Kidnapping): Kozue gets kidnapped and is going to be sold off to the highest bidder. Ryuushi tries to attack her abductors, but loses (the CD changes into a videogame mode, so it sounds like the fight in a video game). After being abducted, 6. 男たちの挽歌 (The Guy's Funeral Song): Kozue changes into Nanako, the toddler personality and charms her abductor. As the hideout is being attacked, the abductor vows to protect her. But then, Kozue changes in Sakaki, the violent woman and she kicks some Mafia ass. 7. 一幕のエピローグ (Epilogue to an Act): They come back after vacation and pass out gifts. Ryuushi tells Kozue the story about a weak prince saving a princess and returning back to their castle. Then the credit call from each of the seiyuu. |
Title: まほらば ドラマCD: まほらば 旅だ、事件だ、まほらばだ！！ (Mahoraba Drama CD: Vacation, Trouble, Mahoraba!!) |
君が望む永遠 (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien) Vol. 1
This will be short as I'm not going to do a chapter by chapter wrap up. I should have figured, given that this comic is labled an "Anthology Comic." It is a collection of sort stories, usually between 10-15 pages long involving funny and cute situations with the characters from KimiNozo. Unfortuantely, I haven't played the video game so I have no background information coming into this. I was hoping the comic would give me a little insight, but unfortunately it doesn't. Heck, I'm still not clear on the names of all the characters involved. The artwork varies a lot since this is a compilation of comics drawn by many different artists. None of them are as sweet as CG graphics, but some are better than others. The short stories are mostly about the trials and tribulations of love among the characters, all of which I don't understand the basis for, but some are entertaining to read just as situation comedies. So without having proper background, I will hold this book at a neutral. That also means I won't be reading vol. 2, which is on my shelf like every other manga in publication, until after I see the cartoon. |
Title: 君が望む永遠 (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien) Anthology Comics Vol. 1 |
藍より青し～縁～ (Ai yori Aoshi ~Enishi~) Vol. 2
It's been such a long time since I've been able to sit through two anime episodes at once. This might have been the first time this year. Anyway, my general impression of Ai yori second season is that it's really is a cheap production. The artwork isn't all that great, the episodes are self-contained, they recycled a lot of music, the intro uses a lot of images from the series itself, and so on. I don't think it was a large hit in Japan, but I'm speculating that they did it because people overseas like it. Despite all that negativity, I still find Ai yori light and enjoyable. There seems to be a lot more fan-service this time around, which did become a little distracting, but overall a fun, light, romantic comedy. I remember the first episode on this disc being in the manga, but I can't place the second. Even so, I don't think these stories were in any of the recent releases of the manga, so it's still deriving episodes from the parts of the manga used for the first season. First edition bonus includes a Taeko postcard. No other bonuses are on the DVD, not even a credit-less ending. 3. 庭球～ていきゅう～ (Tennis): Kaoru has a lushious dream about Aoi and so he doesn't hold himself back. In the real world, he's groping Aoi while he's asleep. Bastard. The Ai yori gang decides to go to play some tennis. While everyone else is a terrible player, Aoi and Miyabi unlease their skills. After a long day at the courts, they come home and Aoi and Kaoru share some quality time together. 4. 怪～もののけ～ (Ghost): Taeko hasn't been with the program recently and has been fumbling around while on duty. Meanwhile at school, Mayu learns that Chika occasionally falls asleep with Kaoru and so she's determined to do the same. Later that night, Tina hears noises from her ceiling and they all investigate. Taeko, being familiar with the occult, leads the pack. After some hilarity with scary, but innocuous items and Miyabi attacking Mayu, who snuck in tonight, thinking she was a ghost, Taeko and Kaoru find old photos of the previous tenents. Taeko sees a girl who looks just like her and empathizes. |
Title: 藍より青し～縁～ (Ai yori Aoshi ~Enishi~) |
Packages, packages... It turns out that my honesty yesterday was justified. Turns out that the the bookstore changed all their pickup orders into mail orders, so I should be getting my magazines in the mail every week rather than picking it up at the bookstore. In a way, that helps me since the drive to Torrance is a bit far ~25 miles and also, it lets me keep up with the magazine better than I have been since I used to pick them up once every two weeks. But yeah, that's settled. Apparently my name is now "George Nagano" according to the address label. And yet, the bill of sales inside still has George Chang. Strange. Maybe I should give them my chinese name next time, 張偉康 (Zhang Weikang in Chinese or Chou Ikou in Japanese). Speaking of which, I got my Amazon package today which included: Manga: So, let's see, I've finish two manga in the past week (mostly due to the fact I've been working on the layout code for 'scribbles) . I've acquired 7 today. I'll never finish... |
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がぁ～でぃあん Hearts (Guardian Hearts) Vol. 1
The first of the 5 Guardian Hearts comics I have sitting on my shelf. Two things, first off, 6 of the 7 chapters, a new character, a girl (obviously), is introduced. Seems like a little overkill to basically start and end each chapter with a new character, especially for the first 6 chapters in a row. Secondly, if you want to choose a tagline, choose it so it sounds somewhat respectable. Something like "Tsuki ni Kawatte" or the likes. The one used in here "Gattsu no Na ni Kakete..." Dunno, but "Gattsu" (short for GUArdian hearTS) just doesn't cut it for me. But besides those two minor complains, the comic was fun to read. Okay, there were some fan-service in here, but not enough to get alarmed about. In this book, nothing really serious goes on. Like I mentioned before, it's mostly an introduction to all the girls. The story revolves around 和也 (Kazuya) and the girls from other planets who come and live with him. Apparently, his mom doesn't mind that she's housing all these young and pretty girls with his one son, not to mention the fact that they're all from other planets. Bonus includes a mini-comic at the end plus a letter from the author on the back cover beneath the dust cover. Front cover features a pencil drawing of the picture on the dust jacket. 1. 空が降る日に出会った少女 (The Girl I Met on the Day at Nightfall): ひな (Hina) is sent here from the Planet of Light to protect the people of earth. However, having failed before, she must not screw up this time, and this includes revealing her true identity. However, the moment she comes down to earth, she transforms right in front of 和也 (Kazuya). Not wanting to be sent back, she begs to live with Kazuya and her mom. Her mom is more than willing. During the day she attends class wtih Kazuya, during nights, she does her patrols. Recently, she's been overexerting herself, so Kazuya talks to her telling her she doesn't need to do that. 2. 始まりの時、集いし想い (The Beginning, Gathering and Memories): There's been a uniform thief at the school. Kazuya finds out that it's one of his classmates, くるす (Kurusu). However, before they can discuss anything, Hina jumps in, apparently jealous at the fact that Kazuya and Kurusu were alone together. That night, Kurusu comes over and reveals herself as person from another planet who is collecting uniforms in order to obtain a super power. This time, they get caught again by Guardian Hina and again, Hina is jealous. Kazuya prevents her from murdering Kurusu and they head home. Only to find out that Kurusu is moving in. 3. ひと時のやすらぎを求めて (Seeking a Moment of Peace): A third girl appears named 大葉真夜 (Maya Ooba) appears at the house. She's an extremely good cook, but is really cold towards Kazuya. Kazuya (again) finds out that she has a secret identity, this time being that she's a Space Ninja whose on the run. She, Kazuya and Hina duke it out a bit before Maya decides it's not worth it anymore to keep on running and tries to kill herself. Kazuya and Hina convince her otherwise. 4. いつかあんたの住む町へ (Someday to the City Where You Live): A new girl appears at Kazuya's school, チェルシー・フォークル (Chelsea Fokle???) and she has a taste for Kazuya which makes her Hina's enemy. Chelsea uses some mischief to bug Hina and make her look bad. That evening, Kazuya discovers that Chelsea is a new tenant in the house, much to his and Hina's dismay. Hina and Chelsea duke it out 5. 迷い、迷われ、迷い人 (Bewilderment, Misguided, A Lost Person): Hina reports back to her superiors and is told to be on the look out for the missing princess 琴 (Koto). After the transmission, Kazuya and Hina discover a new girl eating up all of Hina's food. She says her name is "Koto...no. Kotono." Kotono finds out that there's a Guardian Heart roaming around and asks if she can train with her, unbeknownst that she's actually Hina. She then reveals her true self and attacks Hina to take her broach. Koto gets defeated, but once recovered, she asks to stay at Kazuya's house. 6. ハコの中で泣いてた子猫 (The Small Cat Inside the Box): Hina is almost attacked by a bear and she comes home to ask for help. Meanwhile, Kazuya's mom has taken in a strange looking and talking cat. It turns out that this cat is a mascot of Chelsea's planet and belongs to Chelsea. Chelsea explains that the cat, when transformed, becomes a bear. Hina, being annoyed that Chelsea is occupying most of Kazuya's time, wants to do something to change that. The cat, "デイジィ" (Daisy), tells Hina to submit her request to a box at the shrine. After she does that, the cat becomes a bear and tries to kill Chelsea. Hina had asked for some time alone, which the cat/bear interpreted as getting rid of Chelsea. 7. ネコまっしぐら (Cat at Full Speed): Daisy remembers that she hid a weapon and asks Kazuya to help her find it before the police do. They romp around the entire house asking all the tenants. |
Title: がぁ～でぃあん Hearts (Guardian Hearts) Vol. 1 |
宇宙のステルヴぃア (Stellvia) Vol. 1
Another manga based on the anime. One of my higher priority comics to read as I have the entire season of Stellvia (The two Japanese box sets) sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched and the only thing stopping me was this (yes, I do buy DVDs even if I have minimal knowledge of the show. It's called taking a chance). Bonuses include a mini-comic on the book cover under the dust covers and a few 4-panel comics at the end of the book. My impressions of it is a lukewarm. It seemed like it was a story was about a few young cadets training in space and that's what I got. The character design is from Makoto Uno, the same person who did Love Hina anime, which I like. But besides the pretty pictures, the story seemed a little lacking. A few funny spots here an there, but nothing really to catch my attention, whether good or bad. 1. ようこそ！ステルヴィアに！ (Welcome to Stellvia): 片瀬志麻 (Shima Katase) has always to go to space, despite objections from her mom. . However, she is finally leaving for Foundation 2, Stellvia. She takes a flight on which she meets アリサ・グレンノース (Alyssa Greennorth?) who is somewhat simple minded but becomes her friend. After their arrival, they attend a welcoming ceremony. 2. とまどい Don't mind! (Embarrassments, Don't mind!): Through Alyssa, Shima meets 藤沢やよい (Yayoi Fujisawa) and 栢山晶 (Akira Kayama). They study together and prepare for the piloting training the next day. During the exercises, Shima can't control her ship and tries to hack into the ship's computer system. At the end, she gets slighly reprimanded for her poor piloting ability but her teacher レイラ先生 (Reira) admires her programming abilities. Shima earns the nickname "Shiipon" for her "pon pon" flying ability. 3. ごめんなさ～い (Sorrry): Alyssa had just invited a bunch of classmates to come over to study programming with Shima. However, she leaves and Shima's left with all the cleaning. Upon hearing a knock at the door, she hurls a vacuum attachment hoping to hit Alyssa. Who she hit was a classmate coming over to study, 音山光太 (Kouta Otoyama). While everyone's study degrades in a party, Shima and Kouta diligently work and Shima gets the idea to log into the main server without authorization to get some real data for their project. While logged in, Kouta gets a surprise and presses the keyboard which activates the alarm system in the building. 4. がんばろ (Do Your Best): Shima screws up another flying exercise. Cut to 3 of the Big Four who talk about a "Great Mission," the purpose of 6 Foundations. Cut back, Shima's friends are worried about her. Kouta gives her a pep talk and Yayoi relates her story and despite having dropped out two years ago, she's back at school. 4. 燃えよしーぽん (Burn it up Shiipon): It's the start of the Astrobowl competition. Shiipon and Kouta practice, but she's still rusty so Kouta gives her some candy to help her relax. Their first competition is against the Big 4, who are all excellent pilots. During the game, all of Shima's mates get defeated except for her (since she didn't involve herself). She takes a candy and eats it, which gets her intoxicated and she defeats her opponents. Turns out that Kouta had given her alcoholic chocolates. 5. ステルヴィア上等（前編） (Stellvia Greatness, First Part): For her excellent work in previous rounds, Shima is on the team for the finals as the goalie. In the first round, she fouls out. That night, she and her friends discuss it over dinner when the opposing team arrives at the same restuarant. They exchange some words and prepare for the challenge the next day. 6. ステルヴィア上等（後編） (Stellvia Greatness, Last Part): Shima wins the game for the home team. |
Title: 宇宙のステルヴィア (Stellvia) Vol. 1 |
Whoot! Loot!
Gotta package today! (I'm also testing if I can crash my moblog system by uploading a digicam image==larger image rather than a camera phone. |
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Chaos at the Bookstore Finished two more manga, so I need to write them up soon. Spent most of early this morning working on the listings for books and movies. It now looks pretty organized with everything sorted by their name, both in Japanese and in English for their respective sections. I believe that's the last "update" I'll do for a while. I've been spending way too much time on this when I should be spending more time readling and watching. Maybe I'll do an explanation of how it's done although I'm kinda embarassed about the coding. It was done at 2am, so you can figure how it looks all hacked together. Had an interesting encounter at the Torrance Asahiya to pick up my weekly comics. While they had my Newtype and Animage ready, apparently there was a communication breakdown and my prepaid subscription wasn't there for me to pick up. They offered me the current issue gratis right there, but I declined and told them that I can wait until next week to pick it up after they figured out what's wrong. In retrospect, I guess I should have taken up the offer for the free issues, but I've got too much honestly when it comes to Japanese cartoons and comics, which I find is very rare among non-japanese enthusiasts. What is up with John Kerry? Why the heck is he so popular? I don't mind that he's kicking ass as it's certain he's a better candidate that Bush (same goes for most of the people bidding for the Democrat vote). But I gotta say as someone who supports Clark, I really wish Clark would do better. I guess my second choice isn't bad. |
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Randomly Generated Email Addresses In an effort to curb the effects of receiving spam from I've devised a few scripts that will automatically create random email address every-so-often that will redirect to my read email account. The idea is that if a spammer harvests this email address, it (spammers are not worthy of human pronouns) will have a window of X days to spam me before that email alias is gone forever and my web hosts blackholes the message. It won't stop the spam problem, but at least I don't have to see it. Of course, I could make a email form, but that's not too interesting. The code I have below is what I've created for myself. It'll probably require some tweaking if you want to use it since I didn't spend the extra time to make it thoroughly generic, but hopefully it'll give you an idea. There are three components to this, a Perl script that runs on the server, a cron job that calls the Perl script, and a PHP script in the web page so that for every request, it'll get the latest email rather than having to wait for the next re-building of the page. Some prerequisites: even though all my pages end with .html, they're all sent through a PHP processor before being displayed. This is done with an Apache directive ForceType. Your web server also has to have a ".redirect" file available. For my host, I have a web page control panel to create email aliases, but that's just a front end to modifying the ".redirect" file. This script will access the file directly. The Perl script (I call it "genalias.pl"):The PHP script (I have this stored as a MoveableType Template named "Get Random Email Link"):#!/usr/bin/perl # Needed, download from http://www.cpan.org (do a search) use Tie::File; ### Constants # The redirect file for email aliases my $redirectFile = "/home/jupiterstar/.redirect"; # This keeps track of the previously used email addresses # so the cronjob knows what to delete from .redirect my $recordFile = "/home/jupiterstar/.oldaliases"; # Number of old emails that are valid after they've # been replaced by a new one (even though the page will # show the new address only, the previous X number of email # address will still be valid, where X is this variable) # Increasing this number means that old email address # will be valid much longer my $staggeredNum = 1; # This is the email addresses to forward to my $permanentAddress = "xxx@xxx.com"; ### Begin Code # The new email address is a random string of length 12 # domain for this address is whatever your host is my $newAddress = generate_random_string(12); my $newAddressTime = time(); # push new address and time into the $recordfile and # remove the old address tie(@recordArray, 'Tie::File', $recordFile) or die "Error tying $recordFile"; unshift(@recordArray, $newAddress . " " . $newAddressTime); my $oldAddressRecord = ""; if(scalar(@recordArray) - 1 > $staggeredNum) { $oldAddressRecord = pop(@recordArray); } untie(@recordArray); # open up redirect file and add new address, deleting old if needed tie(@redirectArray, 'Tie::File', $redirectFile) or die "Error tying $redirectFile"; if($oldAddressRecord) { $oldAddressRecord =~ /^([^\ ]+).*/; # find first item (the address, not time) my $oldAddress = $1; for(my $i = 0; $i < scalar(@redirectArray); $i++) { if($redirectArray[$i] =~ /$oldAddress/) { splice(@redirectArray, $i, 1); last; } } } push(@redirectArray, $newAddress . " " . $permanentAddress); untie(@redirectArray); # Generate Random String # (lifted from: http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/perl_randomstring.asp) sub generate_random_string { my $stringsize = shift; my @chars = ('a'..'z', 'A'..'Z', 0..9); my $randstring = join '', map{$chars[rand@chars]}@chars[0 .. $stringsize]; return $randstring; } 0 0 1,15 * * /home/jupiterstar/genalias.pl After all is said and done, I put the tag <$MTInclude module="Get Random Email Link"$> in my index template and it'll give me the current email address. |
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Lost In Translation
The story revolves around two characters, Bob Harris who's a tired Japanderer and Charlotte, a young wife who doesn't feel loved enough. Misery loves company and through each other, they find their way to restarting their lives. Like I've mentioned, I enjoyed the story. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, who play the protagonists, don't seem to fit each other too well. But that's probably how it should have been as he's old enough to be her father and they're not supposed to fall in love, but rather re-evaluate their own lives. The strongest message of the movie is that you don't need to fall in love with someone of the opposite sex for them to have a strong impact on you. Now this living in Tokyo backdrop really wasn't necessary. It was nice that I could understand what they were saying despite not having subtitles, but even with that, all the gags in the movie were trite. Hyperactive gameshows and hosts, karaoke, "Lip my stockings!" and the likes. I've never been to Japan, but there has to be more than that. Anyhow, good movie. Good date movie if I might add. Rating: 3/4 |
New this week is "Lost In Translation," I guess a romantic comedy set in modern day Japan. The story was entertaining, even if a little unbelievable, but I don't think it was really necessary that they set it in Japan if they're not going to bring out the uniqueness of the country. They could have filmed it in Bolivia and the "I don't understand what you're talking about" gags would have been the same. |
Mars-like?
The setting sun lighting the mountains behind jpl kinda makes it look martian. |
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まぶらほ (Maburaho) Vol. 1
This manga is based off the anime rather than the other way around. I haven't seen the anime yet (the first DVD is currently in U.S. customs as I type), but like with all anime that I'm watching now, I won't watch anything until I've read the manga, even if the manga came afterwards. Maburaho, in a nutshell, is a story about three girls chasing after one guy. The cover of the book features the three girls, 夕菜 (Yuuna), 玖里子 (Kuriko), and 凛 (Rin). The covers under the dust-jacket are the same except they're in shades of red rather than being in full color. It contains the first 6 chapters released and a bonus chapter at the end. Like with most manga based off the anime, they assume that you know the story already so the manga usually doesn't fill in as much. I believe this is what's going on with this book as I didn't make heads or tails about the current situation with the main character, 和樹 (Kazuki). Each chapter introduces the characters though a situation rather than exposition. As a book by itself, I think this is a serious flaw. Hopefully the anime will clear things up. 1. かずき、もとにもどるの巻 (Chapter Where Kazuki Comes Back): Kazuki has a dream about a young girl who tells him she wants to be his future wife. He then wakes up to see three girls surrounding him, all of whom he doesn't. The doctor explains to him that he has memory loss and also that these three girls, Yuuna, Kuriko, and Rin all want him because he has this magical gene. Since they're magic user's also, their progeny will be a powerful magician. Disgusted at the thought, Kazuki storms out, but is followed by Yuuna and remembers that she's the girl from his dreams. 2. りん、せいふくをきるの巻 (Chapter Where Rin Wears a Uniform): Being the traditional swordswoman, she arrives to her first day of high school in that type of outfit. She gets ridiculed and so upperclasswomen Kuriko and Yuuna dress her up in a school uniform. 3. くりこ、いんぼうするの巻 (Chapter Where Kuriko Conspires): Trying to get Kazuki alone, Kuriko drags him into a supposed inter-club conflict. She gets him alone in a room, about to make the moves on him when the plan goes awry and she's interrupted by her "enemies" and also, Yuuna shows up. 4. ゆうな、たえがたきをたえるの巻 (Chapter Where Yuuna Bears the Unbearable): Rin and Kuriko tell Yuuna that she has to behave around Kazuki. First, she has to be a good cook. Second, she can't blow her top and use her magic whenever something "distracts" Kazuki. So she endures Kazuki going through various awkward situations without reaction. But at the end, she breaks down in front of Kazuki and they make up. 5. りん、すみをここあといつわるの巻 (Chapter Where Rin Disguises Charcoal as Cocoa): In cooking class, Rin tries to make chocolate cupcakes, but burns them. Being pested by questions of who she's going to give it to, she decides to give them Kazuki who really can't say no. He eats it, passes out, and wakes up later next to Yuuna. Yuuna thinks he's such a great guy for doing that, and so does Rin. 6. くりこ、ちょうごうをみするの巻 (Chapter Where Kuriko Bewitches a Potion): In an attempt to make a slave potion disguised as a lollipop, she adds Oolong tea instead of water which makes it a love potion instead. Rather than having Kazuki be her slave, he's now completely fallen in love with her and isn't afraid to show it. At the end, her plan is revealed by Yuuna and Rin. Bonus. 三人娘、遅刻する？の巻 (Chapter Where the 3 Girls are Late?): A mini-chapter where it shows a single morning of each of the three girls. |
Title: まぶらほ (Maburaho) Vol. 1 |
Slight Distraction...
I'm even more in negative territory in my budget, but that's okay. I got a nice infusion from my tax refund (saving at least 50% of that for savings, the other half is fair game). So I spent a lot of time last night redesigning the layout of this page again. Now, rather than the segemented look from old 'scribbles, it's a typical three pane, but the middle pane (content) is now continuous with color gradients between different colors! (ooh, ahh!) Wasn't terribly difficult as ImageMagick already has the gradient function built in. I like the look, but looks don't make web journals! Content do! And so now I'm off to finish off two more manga. |
I was supposed to be out shopping for a gift at the bookstore as well as picking up this month's Animage and Newtype as I don't have a subscription due to the closing of Asahiya (although my subscription to Shonen and Young have been transfered to Torrance because I paid for a year of it up-front). Anyone, I was minding my own business nothing that they restocked dramatically since Sunday when I was there last (I was looking for those magazines, but they hadn't come in yet). And what do I behold? An artbook that Amazon Japan says is out-of-print, one that I really wanted too. So as you can see, it's mine...and the gift will have to wait until next week or later. The book is still in it's shrinkwrap (like my other 75+ DVDs, and 100+ manga) so that's why there's those white bubble-like things on the cover. |
Lessons (Not) Learned from 2004 After the 2000 Presidential fiasco, I thought the media wasn't going to predict winners until it had conclusive evidence that there was in fact a winner. And then I saw this:
Note the 0% and only 4% reporting and CNN has already picked the winner. How easily people forget. |
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Ooo...presentation toy
Us JPL geeks admiring the dual projector, pen tablet system. |
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少年マガ (Shonen Magazine), '04 Vol 9 & ヤングマガ (Young Magazine), '04 Vol. 9
All caught up! This issue features the ever so cute 小倉優子 (Yuuko-rin)! She has a new CD single, her debut album which I was tempted to get, but alas, I said I can't due to financial limits I set upon myself (I'm all budgeted out for this month). Futatsuki: ２口目/４００円デラックス (Second Taste/Y400 Deluxe): Futatsuki is offered a challege. Whoever has the most customers in a week will remain, the other has to go. The first 3 days don't bode well for him as his rival is offering a full course meal for under 400 yen. In his anger, he tries to come up with something more tasty to bring back the customers, however, as his boss mentions, if he doesn't make it with joy, his customers won't eat with joy. So realizing that he has lost his way, he tries to woo back customers with a new creation, cold ramen, which isn't a success. He is told that ramen should be hot, so his next creation will be the ever-warm ramen. Negima: ４０時間目 迷い道を抜けるため (40th Hour, Coming Out of the Labyrinth): With this new enemy in front of them, Negi and Asuna start a fight. At first, it seems like Team Negi is winning, but later, he gets his butt kicked. All the while, Nodoka has her picture diary, so she sees what happens in real time unfolding in her book (in fact, the fighting is behind her, but she's so engrossed in the book that she doesn't realize it). With some help from Chibi-Setsuna, Asuna helps Negi escape. During their respite, Negi tells Asuna that he knows of a sure way to win. Meanwhile, the enemy mistakenly charges Nodoka thinking she is Negi. He apologizes, and as he does, Nodoka slowly comes to realize he's the one beating up on Negi. She asks for his name, which is 犬上小太郎 (Kotarou Inugami). Hamanaka Ai: ０２０ 難問 (020, Tough Question): The students are looking at a question from highschool they want to go to, but can't seem to figure it out. Their head tutor is from that high school as well as Masahiko's mother. They ask the mom, but after a long lecture, she admits she doesn't know. They work together the whole night and show their tutors, but it turns out that the tutors are uninterested. Tsubasa: ３２ 終わらない伝説 (32, Neverending Legend): The kids are back safely. Sakura wakes up from her sleep and repeats what the princess told her "Someone is always watching." The Shaoran and gang take leave soon after to another world. After they leave, a fat scout appears and reports to the mysterious character that knows about Sakura's memories/features (he was in the first few chapters of the story).
Featured girl is 後藤真希 (Maki Gotou) who is 19 and less sketchy that the girl from last week. They're also pimping the Bikinies edition of Young. There's a special color page for XXXholic since they're coming back from break. XXXholic: 37: Story arc starts with it being Valentine's and Kimihiro is whipping up Chocolate. Of course, Yuuko wants a bit of it and she patiently waits until midnight, 2/14 to eat and drink. She gives some to Mokona Black to give to the Tsubasa gang and tells Kimihiro to give the last piece away. Of course it's going to Himawari. Unfortunately Himawari is sick so she isn't at school. He bumps into Doumeki, who promptly tastes and gives him a bad review for his chocolate making skills. When they're walking home, a girl appears and says she's found her chocolate...inside Doumeki's clothing. |
Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 9
Title: ヤングマガジン (Young Magazine) Vol. 9 |
少年マガ (Shonen Magazine), '04 Vol 8 & ヤングマガ (Young Magazine), '04 Vol. 8
The penultimate issue until I'm caught up! This week's issue has the 6th new series, Noodle King Futatsuki. Like I had anticipated, it's interesting to me and so it'll be another one that I follow seriously. Futatsuki: １口目/花丸食堂 (First Taste/Hanamaru Cafeteria): When he was a kid, Futatsuki Watanabe got exposed to incredible ramen which he gulped up. He learned from the chef that being able to see the bottom of the bowl (implying that the noodles were all eaten up) is the true meaning of ramen. Flash forward to present day and Futatsuki is a chef at Hamamaru Cafeteria making ramen for the Akenomori high school students, all of whom love his ramen. One day, a girl comes and tastes his creations ad quickly dismisses it, which obviously would anger the chef. The next day, this girl appears with her uncle who happened to bail out the school from debt. Since he put down the cash, he wants to reform the school. One of which is to remove the cafeteria. In exchnage, he'll bring in the best chefs from France. There's a battle between Futatsuki and the imported chefs and Futatsuki loses the first match, but he vows to live up to the true meaning of ramen. Negima: ３９時間目 めくるめく・グルグルループ・サバイバル (39th Hour, Blinding Twisting Loop Survival): Asuna and Negi make their escape, but Setsuna is still worried, so she sends a magical paper scout, Chibi-Setsuna to accompany Negi. They reach the shrine where they're supposed to meet the Western Japan magicians. When they walk in, they keep on walking and realize that it's a road that loops around. Just as they're figuring it out, they get attacked by a henchman of the Western Japan magicians. Hamanaka Ai: ０１９ 一点集中攻撃 (019, A Concentrated Attack): Ai is sick and is accompanied by he sempai (forgot her name) and Masahiko. Some suppository humor. Tsubasa: ３１ 最後の攻防 (31, The Last Joust): The dam has cracked and the castle is flooding. While Shaoran and Sakura are being attacked by "the bad guy" Kurogane, Fye and the rest of the adults take the children out of harms way. Shaoran and Sakura get chased around, Sakura gets hints from Princess Emerald about escape routes and they make it out with "the bad guy." Sakura has her feather/memory returned.
I had mentioned that I wasn't going to review Young until next week, but to my surprise, there was a special one chapter manga in this issue by Daitama Bow, the author of Mahoromatic. It's even drawn a lot like Mahoro. This week's girl is Iwasa Mayuko (on the cover). She's 16 (birthday on 2/24). That's just wrong. KissxSis: Keita has two step-sisters who love him in a lustful way and have no problems expression it (this is a Young, so I'll leave it to your imagination). They even try to out-do each other in their expressions of love. They're both in middle school and aspire to attend the same high school as Keita. However, Keita is constantly ridiculed by his parents (re-married) and his friends for his sisters. While he endures it, everything blows over one day when they come to his high school to give him lunch. He shows his annoyance at them for being so pushy, they confess their love in front of everyone at the school, and Keita apologizes and tells them that he hopes they come to the same school. |
Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 8
Title: ヤングマガジン (Young Magazine) Vol. 8 |
What Superbowl? And I thought they were trying to keep the Superbowl free of controversy. Here's a place to view the commercials. I think I'm almost done wth tweaking 'scribbles. Spent a lot of last night trying to figure out how to have the category archives sort alphabetically for some categories and sort chronologically for others. Took me a while, but with the help of this plug-in along with a little modification of the code to accept disjuctions (i.e. X OR Y), it works well now. So if you go to the category pages for Manga, Anime, Movies, Books, and Video Games, they should be listed alphabetically (or by Unicode for Japanese). All other categories should be by date. |
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少年マガ (Shonen Magazine), '04 Vol 7
According to the cover, 餓狼伝BOY (Garouden Boy) is the 5th out of the 6 new series they have lined up. I skimmed through it a bit and it seems like another fighting/boxing manga, so I'll skip on it. Next week's new series, 麺王フタツキ！ (Noodle King Futatsuki) seems interesting, or at the very least a little different. Funny how I distain sports manga, but don't mind something mundane as a ramen shop keeper. Speaking of which , that makes me kinda hungry. Anyhow, here's the lowdown. Negima: ３８時間目 のどかと秘密の絵日記 (38th Hour, Nodoka and the Secret of the Picture Diary): It's the third day of the Osaka trip and a day where there is nothing special planned. Nodoka is admiring the card that appeared when she kissed Negi and is walking around when she overhears Asuna et. al and realizes that she's not the only one who a card (she doesn't know about Negi's secret yet). Asuna learns to summon her weapon, and Nodoka imitates, at which a picture book that contains writings about Negi's recent encounters. Negi tries to leave alone with Asuna to Osaka's division of magic, but a group follows them. When the rest of the group is playing video games, Negi and Asuna escape to find the magic user's of Osaka. Hamanaka Ai: ０１８ 幼なじみの部屋 (018 Childhood Friend's Room): They come back from their "training camp" and Masahiko's mom has been housesitting for her neighbors, Misaki's parents. He goes to their house to give them the picked up mail and stays to study with Misaki. A little misunderstanding leads to Masahiko have a bandaged right hand and when he returns home, Ai has her own conclusions about why he went over to her house, given that he's damaged his dominant hand. Tsubasa: ３０ 幻の御伽 (30 Phantom Fairy Tale): Sakura finds out that the children have been digging at a feather inside the bedrock and one of them returns the feature to her. At that time, she meets the princess Emerald (remember Rayearth?), who speaks to her but is nothing more than a phantom who only Sakura can see and hear. The bad guy revealed last time finds Sakura and tries to get the feather, but Emerald says no. Shaoran and gang find them and discover the real reason why the kids were abducted, that it was actually for a good reason, and the chapter ends with the bad guy demanding the feature. |
Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 7 |
Super Bowl Sunday And I won't be watching. First off, I don't have live TV programming, so even though it would have been nice to watching it on a 100"+ screen, it's a no can do. Secondly, there's the issue of censorship by CBS. Rather than helping to keep the general public informed about issues that they affect them and their children, CBS would rather peddle to people who can't keep their dicks hard. But anyway, I got a steal today at Book-off, bought 6 comics which would have cost me 60+ dollars for about $28 bucks. Apprently, they had brand new Kodomo no Omocha re-release vol. 1-3 (all) selling for $5 bucks a piece. Had I bought it at Kino or Asahiya, it would have been at least $13. Happy day. |
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