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| Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 | | 7:46 pm |
| | Monday, June 29th, 2009 | | 1:02 pm |
Planning a Trip To Japan
The construction of the Gundam at Odaiba and the fact that its only there for July and August has pushed me into planning a trip to Tokyo for a week. I can get the time off work, and I can afford a non-stop flight from Toronto and a decent hotel for 6 nights, I think. Things to see/do include the afore mentioned Gundam, Akihabara, the Ghilbi Museum, the Square-Enix Showcase, and the Cure Maid Cafe (because they have Eva-themed food and merch). Also, I might try to take in a showing of Evangelion 2.0, if I can figure out the theaters and show times. Now, my Japanese is almost non-existent, but I have some phrase-books and dictionaries loaded on my iPhone, along with travel maps and guides. Does anyone have any hints/tips/suggestions for me trip? I'd really like to hear from anyone who has been to Tokyo recently, as well as from anybody who is living there right now. | | Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 | | 11:18 am |
Justice League:The New Frontier
I picked up the "Justice League: The New Frontier" DVD today (along with Stargate: The Ark of Truth" and "Appleseed Ex Machina", but more on those later). "The New Frontier" is an interesting beast. It's based on a graphic novel of the same name, and is a re-imagining of the Silver Age of DC comics super heroes, with some hindsight about reality thrown in. So Superman and Wonder Woman seem more politically aware than they did back in the late 50s/early sixties, but still look like that era. The Green Lantern is Hal Jordan, not one of those posers who came later, and Batman has just taken in Robin, because, "I want to scare crooks, not children". Still, the story seems more character-driven than plot-driven, and the monster seems thrown in as an after-thought. A giant, floating dinosaur island that we're told is a metaphor for communism. Who knew? The 2 -disk set includes a number of extras, including 3 episodes of the "Justice League" TV series, but for me the most exciting extra was the previews for 'Batman: Gotham Knight". Apparently DC has handed Batman over to six anime directors, and the results will be available on DVD this summer. The character designs look incredible, and the sample animation has that fluid anime feel. I think this will be much more interesting than "The New Frontier" and "Superman: Doomsday" which are simply animated versions of graphic novels. | | Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 | | 1:36 pm |
Anime Overload
I've been watching a ton of anime lately. It's a coincidence of timing and cash flow. There's been a lot on TV, some interesting fansubs, and I've had a little spare cash to buy some DVDs on sale. So, here's the break-down: Fansubs: I've finished Heroic Age and El Cazador de la Bruja and I working on Gundam 00, Gigantic Formula, Sky Girls and Dragonaut: The Resonance. Nothing really exceptional about any of them, but they've been fun to watch. TV: For some reason, we've had a lot of anime on TV lately here in Canada. YTV continues it's Friday night line-up with Naruto, Gundam Seed Destiny, Bleach, and Death Note, but I'm not really watching any of them. And could someone please explain to me the logic behind the title of Bleach? Teletoon has finally figured out that the Japanese make animation, and they've been showing anime movies on Friday nights lately. We've had Akira, Appleseed, Armitage: Polymatrix and Armitage: Dual Matrix, all with terrible dubs. Polymatrix stands out as being especially painful with Elizabeth Berkely as Armitage and Keifer Sutherland (!?!) snoring his way through the movie as Ross. The real surprise is that Space Channel is finally showing some anime: Robotech! They've got the digital remasters too, so the shows look great, even if the scripts have that 'protoculture' nonsense and the dubs are clumsy. It was fun watching the old Macross Saga again, and I really must pick up the Animeigo remaster DVDs so I can watch the original story. The ending always confused me, maybe because Minmay is such an airhead. Especially in the last episode. She goes from "Rick, marry me" to "kthksbye" in a few minutes. I think I've known too many 'Minmay's in my life. A few of them even looked like her, long dark hair, great legs, cute figure, etc. I guess I need to look for the 'Lisa'-type, instead. I'll be better off in the long run. :P DVDs: I've completed my sets of Witchhunter Robin, Haibane Renmei, Wandaba Style, Last Exile, and Gunslinger Girls. These were all shows I've already watched once as fansubs, so it was a conscience-cleaning operation. It also gave me a chance to check out the dubs of some of the series. The Gunslinger Girls dub was impressive, given the characters they were trying to voice. I shudder to think what ADV would have done to that series, had they picked up the license. Funimation did a good job, on par with the Fullmetal Alchemist dub, in my opinion. Why didn't anyone tell me there was a second season of GSG !? I managed to hunt down a fansub of the first episode and I liked it. The animation isn't as good as the Madhouse work on the first series and I miss the Delgados doing the OP. The character designs are a bit more anime-style and a bit less realistic, but the action scenes are good and the characterization is still there. I need to find the rest of the series, which is a bit tricky for me since animesuki.com won't list it. If anyone has any sources, please let me know. Current Music: The Light Before We Land - The Delgados | | Saturday, January 26th, 2008 | | 5:21 pm |
| | Sunday, October 14th, 2007 | | 10:00 am |
Zelda, Anyone?
If anyone else has picked up the Zelda DS game and wants to try battle mode, my friend code is 343710730504 . | | Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 | | 11:44 am |
Figures
Since I've had a little spare cash on hand lately, I bought a few action figures. I picked up Eclaire and Lumiere at a comics store in downtown Toronto:  I ordered the big Medicom FMA Ed and Al from the States a few weeks ago. Sorry about the glare from the plastic, but I haven't had the nerve to take them out of the boxes yet!  I hope you can get some idea of the fabulous detail and number of optional pieces these figures have.  I'll get some better shots when I decide it's safe to unbox them. | | Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 | | 7:56 pm |
Pen, pencils etc
Nice stuff on this website Jet Pens. Pens, mechanical pencils, markers and stuff like that from Japan. The Japanese have a much better selection of writing tools than we do. Check out the site. Current Mood:  amused | | Saturday, September 1st, 2007 | | 4:29 pm |
Buried Treasure!
Or almost as good, anyway. Here's the story: ever since I moved out of the loft I was renting (*sniffle*) a large proportion of my stuff has been kept in storage in two mobile storage lockers. I thought I might be able to consolidate the two lockers into one by bringing a pile of the smaller stuff back to my parents' house. So, I borrowed my neighbour and his SUV, and we drove up to the storage location. We loaded up with a lot of boxes, but couldn't stuff the remaining items into one locker because of the size of the furniture. Still, it gave me a chance to sort through some of my old junk, price my comic book collection, and find some stuff worth eBay-ing. I also came across a pile of paper work from old jobs. One set of documents from the insurance company said I had a retirement savings plan with them worth about $4000. I couldn't remember ever withdrawing it, so I called them up to find out the status. It turns out that not only was the account still active, but the $4000 had grown to $8100 in the last ten years! And this is RRSP money, roughly equivalent to a 401(k) plan in the U.S. Yay! I asked them to send me $2500 (after taxes) so I could pay back some of what I owe my mom. With the rest of it I bought an Apple Developer Connection (ADC) membership, and a new iMac. My program is starting to sell, so getting the ADC will help with development and marketing, and the new computer is long overdue. My current machine is a Dual 450 Mhz G4 that was built in the year 2000. The fact that I can still do any kind of work at all on it is a testament to the quality of Apple's hardware and software. Oh, and I start a new job (just a contract) the Tuesday after next. Figuring out why a web application times out or only serves up some of its pages on occasion. Fun times! Current Mood: ecstatic | | Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 | | 7:46 am |
Finished it!
Okay, so first of all, Amazon.ca delivered Deathly Hallows on Monday, with a big note inside explaining why the package was so big (it wasn't). According to the note, Canada post will only deliver packages over a certain size on Saturday, and Amazon wanted to make sure I got my Harry Potter book on Saturday, as soon as it came out, and that was why it was in such a large package (which it wasn't). Probably the Post Office's fault. Anyway, I whipped through it in a couple of days, mostly so that I don't have to worry about spoilers. Not much to say, really. I can see how she set some of it up in previous books, but it really felt too much like a deus ex machina to me. I still think Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is a better series, more involving, with stronger writing and rich themes. As a 'coming of age' story, I think His Dark Materials beats Harry Potter to a bloody pulp. But that's just me. Current Mood:  disappointed | | Friday, July 20th, 2007 | | 12:21 pm |
I like any comic book store that sells Pocky. Current Mood: happy | | Thursday, July 19th, 2007 | | 7:39 pm |
Toon Time
For those of you who are into 'Space Ghost: Coast to Coast' and/or 'Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law' you might want to check out the originals. 'Space Ghost' originally aired in 1967, and the entire series is available in an ultra-thinkpak for about $25. You get 2 double-sided DVDs containing 20 episodes. Each episode contains 2 'Space Ghost' shorts and one 'Dino Boy' short. The Birdman set is similar; 20 episodes, each episode is made up of 2 'Birdman' shorts and one 'Galaxy Trio' short. The animation is really limited, and the artwork is simplistic, nowhere near the quality of 'Jonny Quest'. And, you can tell the writers didn't much imagination. Every weapon, device, or power is described with an adjective ending in 'o'. "Now, to destroy them with my destructo ray!" "It's that evil villianVultro!" etc, etc, etc. It's obvious they ran out ideas pretty quickly. The first episode of 'Birdman' has a segment entitled: 'Morto the Marauder'. The final episode has one segment called 'Murro the Marauder' and a second segment 'Morto Rides Again'. I wonder if Morto and Murro hang out in the same Starbuck's? Current Mood: satisfied | | Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 | | 3:57 pm |
On the Brighter Side
I just released version 1.2 of my program, Horizon. In case you've forgotten, it's a Mac app, runs on Mac OS X 10.4.X, and all the information is available at www.lucernesys.com. Reception so far has been pretty positive, and I'm getting some recognition for it, out there in the wilds. I've put a little Easter Egg on my site for this release. If you go to the ScreenCasts page, and look at the sub-menu, you'll see that the last item isn't listed on the ScreenCasts page. You might want to check that one out. :) Current Mood: accomplished | | Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 | | 3:59 pm |
| | Sunday, April 29th, 2007 | | 10:18 am |
From Sapphy's LJ ...
A Raven? I can live with that. But Bryanna? I dunno.
BTW, I finished all three books, then listened to the audiobooks on my iPod. Philip Pullman is an excellent narrator. I also bought a copy of "Lyra's Oxford", which is a beautiful little book, full of tantalizing clues about the world and the story. I am completely enthralled with "His Dark Materials", although I have no idea how they can possibly film the last two books. | | Friday, April 6th, 2007 | | 5:11 pm |
| | Sunday, March 18th, 2007 | | 10:31 am |
| | Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 | | 10:04 pm |
Harry Potter Sucks!
Nothing like starting with a provocative title, huh? I just finished reading "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman. Yes, it was first published in 1995, so I'm a little slow. But, Gods, this is just so much better than the Harry Potter series. The writing is better, the characters deeper and more complex, and the story just has so much more to it. There are wonderful inventions here, from the deamons, to the dust, the alethiometer (the Golden Compass of the title), the witches, and the bears. Oh, the bears! Giant, sentient polar bears who wear armour and build ice castles. I've read the Harry Potter books, and enjoyed them, and I'll read the last one when it comes out this summer. But none of them made me feel the way "The Golden Compass" did. There are passages in "the Golden Compass" that are truly heart-wrenching and terrifying. "The Golden Compass" (or "The Northern Lights" as it is called in the UK) is the first part of a trilogy known in its entirety as "His Dark Materials". I've just started on the second book "The Subtle Knife", and I am just as mystified and amazed as I was when I finished "The Golden Compass". One last thing, following in recent tradition, "The Golden Compass" will be released as a major motion picture this December, featuring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (Yay!). | | Sunday, March 4th, 2007 | | 2:11 pm |
Musical Meme
Comment and I'll give you a letter. You must then post your top ten favorite songs beginning with that letter (not counting "A" or "The") in your journal, and pass along letters to any who might ask. Maizie gave me the letter 'T', which shouldn't be too hard. I just have to remember not to include 'the'. Now, these are my top ten, but not in any order: - "Tank!" - Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack
- "Take a Picture" - Filter
- "Try" - originally by Blue Rodeo, but Jacksoul does an amazing cover
- "There She Goes" - Sixpence None the Richer
- "There'll Never Be Goodbye" - Minako "mooki" Obata, from the Metropolis Original Soundtrack
- "True Colors" - Cyndi Lauper (What can I say? I'm old.)
- "Tobira no Mukou e" - FMA Soundtrack (FMA had the best OP and ED songs. Six of them, and each one is brilliant)
- "That's Why I'm Here" - James Taylor (Told you I'm old)
- "Tempted" - Squeeze (vocals by Paul Carrack, produced by Elvis Costello)
- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonnie Tyler (I love that over-produced 80s crap)
And, the worst song to ever start with the letter 'T', "Thunderbirds Are Go" by the british boy band 'Busted'. Here's a video, if you can stand it. How they could take my favourite TV series, make such a crap movie from it, and then add a theme song with such terrible, insipid lyrics makes me just want to .... I have to go lie down now | | Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 | | 8:51 pm |
New Product Announcement
Some of you might remember I made a friends-only request for beta-testers a few months ago. My program has come a long way since then, and it's ready for the next round of testing. To see what the fuss is about, visit www.lucernesys.com and have a look. There are three short videos demonstrating the program, and a form to request a copy of the latest beta. This is a Mac OS X-only program, and it's a Universal Binary, so I invite everyone with a Mac running OS X 10.4 to give it a try and kick the tires. |
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