Bit later in the week than I would normally post about it, but last weekends weigh in revealed a further two pound loss.
If I'm totally honest I was actually slightly disappointed with this. But I don't really know why. I dunno - it's odd, but after I'd weighed myself I saw the new weight and for some reason I was convinced I'd actually put on weight.
However, when I fired up my spreadsheet I use to keep track of things, it actually turned out to be a two pound loss. But weirdly, this didn't change my outlook - part of my brain didn't seem to accept I'd lost weight and instead remained convinced I'd gained.
It's very odd.
My only guess as to why this is that I'd been thinking out the amount I hoped to loose that week and it was three pounds, rather than two. Or, to put it another way, I'd been hopping I hit a certain weight at the weekend and I think I got confused that it was my weight from the week before.
So, when I saw my new weight was 1 pound over this, I thought I'd gained weight, where in fact I'd just forgotten what my weight had been before.
I must say that the pace I've lot weight at I have become confused on more than a few occasions. Especially in terms of how much I've lost. If someone asks me, I really struggle to think about it, because I've not been tracking it in that way.
To me, I've been logging and thinking about my actual weight - especially in terms of what it is now and what it needs to be in the future. So I'd have to go and look at how much I'd actually lost.
Which I've just done and it turns out to be a total of 42 pounds, which it turns out is exactly 3 stones. I hadn't planned that as a milestone, but it just shows you how much I've lost so far.
And I've really not that far to go to meet my target- a further (checks spreadsheet) 9 pounds, which is only just over half a stone. So given my ultimate goal is to hit that weight by the new year, which is 5 weeks off, I'm well on my way there.
Indeed, I don't see why I won't make it even with the slippage I'm allowing myself over the Christmas period. Which should all be good things to think about, but as I say, I still cant' shake this nagging disappointment over last week's result.
And does definitely worry me for this next weekend's weigh in is the terrible weather. It's been a real struggle not to eat more and to eat more warming winter foods, and when you add in the fact I've really struggle to do the walking I should be doing because of the bitter cold I'm not expecting this weekend to go well.
Friday 3 December 2010
taking the good with the bad
Delayed from yesterday, due to snow!
And here's the continuation of the manga catch-up:
Something I really should drop is Asu No Yoichi: Samurai Harem. This is another series engaged in artificial story extension, and it's also making a real bad job of it.
I mean we've just been through a whole thing of the main characters joining the dram club at school and putting on a play. The whole section was dull and uninteresting and after a chunk of chapters ended up with them leaving the drama club. So, in other words, the whole thing was essentially pointless!
At least the fanservice has stayed away from being creepy. Well, what fan-service there's been - it's noticeably tailed off over this recent arc.
I really should drop it.
Anyway, on a brighter note, there's been some really good news about Tenjho Tenge. Basically, Viz have announced that they've picked it up after CMX dropped it - http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-15/viz-adds-tenjo-tenge-school-fighting-manga .
Overall, I'm really pleased, although it is tinged with a bit of annoyance. See, famously (or I should really say infamously), CMX's release of TenTen was really heavily edited. And Viz have announced that they will be releasing the series uncut.
This is great in that we get to read the proper series, but annoying because it means I will have to buy the whole thing again. This is slightly tempered by the fact that they will be releasing the series as double-volumes, but then that's undermined by the fact that I now need to e-bay the entire series and I bet it will be really difficult to sell, because everyone knows a better version will be coming out soon.
So yeah - real mixed bag of feelings.
But not really any good news for Moyashimon, which I'm pretty sure is yet another series I was enjoying that Yen Press have dropped. To be frank, their serial offending on this front is really starting to piss me off. A bit of commitment on their parts would not go amiss.
And okay, I know they tend to release quirky, niche titles, but seriously, if the business case for putting them out is so weak that they get dropped after only a few volumes, I'd rather they didn't bother in the first place.
A new series that I've picked up but that I've got a strong feeling won't work out is Cross Game. The ray of hope is that the show is coming out via Viz, who are bigger and more able to cope with poor sales. Also, they're putting it out in three-volume collections and there are only 17 single volumes, so they might be able to sneak the whole thing out before anyone realises it's a Baseball manga.
In actual fact, it's hardly a baseball manga at all. Really it's a coming of age and slice of life type series that happens to feature baseball. It' also really good, although perhaps a little slowly paced. I think it deserves to do well, but that not the sort of thing that means it won't.
The other new series I started is Omamori Himari. I picked it up because I quite liked the episodes of the anime I watched. However, while the plot seems to be the same, I have to confess I think I prefer the anime.
The manga is... I dunno, oddly drawn. The artwork isn't bad as such, it's more that the character design is very reminiscent of that generic porn game/dating sim style. It's difficult to explain, but it's just not a style I particularly like. I think I'll give it a few volumes, but I may well simply watch the rest of anime (it's another one on crunchyroll) and leave it at that.
What certainly doesn't help is that the story is extremely generic instant girlfriend harem type stuff with a rather dull and uninteresting protagonist. If it had had more going for it than that I think I might have overlooked the art, but to be frank, the artwork was most of what I liked about the anime and it's radically different to the manga.
And here's the continuation of the manga catch-up:
Something I really should drop is Asu No Yoichi: Samurai Harem. This is another series engaged in artificial story extension, and it's also making a real bad job of it.
I mean we've just been through a whole thing of the main characters joining the dram club at school and putting on a play. The whole section was dull and uninteresting and after a chunk of chapters ended up with them leaving the drama club. So, in other words, the whole thing was essentially pointless!
At least the fanservice has stayed away from being creepy. Well, what fan-service there's been - it's noticeably tailed off over this recent arc.
I really should drop it.
Anyway, on a brighter note, there's been some really good news about Tenjho Tenge. Basically, Viz have announced that they've picked it up after CMX dropped it - http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-15/viz-adds-tenjo-tenge-school-fighting-manga .
Overall, I'm really pleased, although it is tinged with a bit of annoyance. See, famously (or I should really say infamously), CMX's release of TenTen was really heavily edited. And Viz have announced that they will be releasing the series uncut.
This is great in that we get to read the proper series, but annoying because it means I will have to buy the whole thing again. This is slightly tempered by the fact that they will be releasing the series as double-volumes, but then that's undermined by the fact that I now need to e-bay the entire series and I bet it will be really difficult to sell, because everyone knows a better version will be coming out soon.
So yeah - real mixed bag of feelings.
But not really any good news for Moyashimon, which I'm pretty sure is yet another series I was enjoying that Yen Press have dropped. To be frank, their serial offending on this front is really starting to piss me off. A bit of commitment on their parts would not go amiss.
And okay, I know they tend to release quirky, niche titles, but seriously, if the business case for putting them out is so weak that they get dropped after only a few volumes, I'd rather they didn't bother in the first place.
A new series that I've picked up but that I've got a strong feeling won't work out is Cross Game. The ray of hope is that the show is coming out via Viz, who are bigger and more able to cope with poor sales. Also, they're putting it out in three-volume collections and there are only 17 single volumes, so they might be able to sneak the whole thing out before anyone realises it's a Baseball manga.
In actual fact, it's hardly a baseball manga at all. Really it's a coming of age and slice of life type series that happens to feature baseball. It' also really good, although perhaps a little slowly paced. I think it deserves to do well, but that not the sort of thing that means it won't.
The other new series I started is Omamori Himari. I picked it up because I quite liked the episodes of the anime I watched. However, while the plot seems to be the same, I have to confess I think I prefer the anime.
The manga is... I dunno, oddly drawn. The artwork isn't bad as such, it's more that the character design is very reminiscent of that generic porn game/dating sim style. It's difficult to explain, but it's just not a style I particularly like. I think I'll give it a few volumes, but I may well simply watch the rest of anime (it's another one on crunchyroll) and leave it at that.
What certainly doesn't help is that the story is extremely generic instant girlfriend harem type stuff with a rather dull and uninteresting protagonist. If it had had more going for it than that I think I might have overlooked the art, but to be frank, the artwork was most of what I liked about the anime and it's radically different to the manga.
Wednesday 1 December 2010
cod: black ops
This weekend there was no DVD rental, as there occasionally isn't due to how my package works out. So for this week's mini review I thought I'd give some thoughts on the recently released Call of Duty: Black Ops.
I've actually been buying and playing CoD since the beginning. I believe the only entry in the series I haven't played is the third one, because I seem to remember that was a console exclusive. Back then the original CoD was a PC-only first-person shooter that put you in the thick of the most interesting battles of WW2.
From the beginning there were several interesting ideas in CoD. One was that although you always played the allies, you switched between different factions. So, sometimes you'd be playing as an American, sometimes a Brit and other times as a Russian.
Another interesting idea was that of pre-designed set-pieces. At certain points in the game, control would either be rested from you entirely, or you would essentially be ferried down a particular path. Sometimes these were like cut-scenes, but interactive cut-scenes, and at others more getting to be in the really cool moments from films. In fact, sometimes these were clearly just scenes from films that they'd made part of the game, but that was always part of the appeal.
Another interesting element was vehicles. Rather than the approach of some games where you would jump into a vehicle when you wanted, CoD's approach was more that at certain points you transfer into a section that is a vehicle-based level or part of a level.
The reason for this is because CoD has always really been a guided path shooter. There's very little exploration in CoD games and enemy attacks are planned and involve random spawn points. In the modern gaming world these are very old-fashioned techniques, but CoD has pushed through because it's generally has a good, engaging story.
And on the whole I'm glad to say that Black Ops is more of the same. It maintains all the familiar CoD aspects of guided paths, random enemy spawning, interactive cut scenes, playing moments from films and a well thought out and interesting story.
If I was to make one criticism on this front it's that they've taken things a bit far. At times it can feel a bit like you're not really playing the game so much as pressing a key in order to let the game continue. There aren't too many of these, though, and there's lots of fun to be had.
Another thing that is a little confusing is how quickly and how much you jump around. It's a result of how they're doing the story, but it can be a little disorientating going from the North Pole straight to the jungles of Vietnam. And it's also a little odd how the same black ops people seems to get involved in just about every conflict since the second World War.
And there are some fundamental flaws in the baddies plan, which I won't discuss for spoilers. But overall, as a game, it's good and enjoyable - especially when you get to duel-wield, which works really well. It also looks amazing and you even get a bonus zombies game, which is surprisingly tense.
So yeah, I enjoyed it more than MW2 and it's certainly longer to play, although perhaps not perfect.
I've actually been buying and playing CoD since the beginning. I believe the only entry in the series I haven't played is the third one, because I seem to remember that was a console exclusive. Back then the original CoD was a PC-only first-person shooter that put you in the thick of the most interesting battles of WW2.
From the beginning there were several interesting ideas in CoD. One was that although you always played the allies, you switched between different factions. So, sometimes you'd be playing as an American, sometimes a Brit and other times as a Russian.
Another interesting idea was that of pre-designed set-pieces. At certain points in the game, control would either be rested from you entirely, or you would essentially be ferried down a particular path. Sometimes these were like cut-scenes, but interactive cut-scenes, and at others more getting to be in the really cool moments from films. In fact, sometimes these were clearly just scenes from films that they'd made part of the game, but that was always part of the appeal.
Another interesting element was vehicles. Rather than the approach of some games where you would jump into a vehicle when you wanted, CoD's approach was more that at certain points you transfer into a section that is a vehicle-based level or part of a level.
The reason for this is because CoD has always really been a guided path shooter. There's very little exploration in CoD games and enemy attacks are planned and involve random spawn points. In the modern gaming world these are very old-fashioned techniques, but CoD has pushed through because it's generally has a good, engaging story.
And on the whole I'm glad to say that Black Ops is more of the same. It maintains all the familiar CoD aspects of guided paths, random enemy spawning, interactive cut scenes, playing moments from films and a well thought out and interesting story.
If I was to make one criticism on this front it's that they've taken things a bit far. At times it can feel a bit like you're not really playing the game so much as pressing a key in order to let the game continue. There aren't too many of these, though, and there's lots of fun to be had.
Another thing that is a little confusing is how quickly and how much you jump around. It's a result of how they're doing the story, but it can be a little disorientating going from the North Pole straight to the jungles of Vietnam. And it's also a little odd how the same black ops people seems to get involved in just about every conflict since the second World War.
And there are some fundamental flaws in the baddies plan, which I won't discuss for spoilers. But overall, as a game, it's good and enjoyable - especially when you get to duel-wield, which works really well. It also looks amazing and you even get a bonus zombies game, which is surprisingly tense.
So yeah, I enjoyed it more than MW2 and it's certainly longer to play, although perhaps not perfect.
Tuesday 30 November 2010
full metal manga
Last week I was going to do a round-up of some of the manga I'd been reading but ran out of space and energy, so I though I'd go though it now.
First off, as I mentioned, I've been reading my way into Fullmetal Alchemist. I don't think I really need to explain what FMA is, as it's one of those ubiquitous shows that everybody's either seen or read. Well, except for me.
I've seen a couple of episodes of the Brotherhood version and will probably buy that somewhere down the line, but although I knew of the show it never really crossed my path. But then I decided I should get it, bought the first volume, which I thought was good enough to pursue, and so bought the rest.
Obviously I was therefore in big scale catch-up mode and there are now 23 volumes released in English, so I've quite a bit to get through in order to be current. I'm up to book 10 and I'm generally enjoying it.
I have to confess I have been a bit struck by my traditionally feeling of "Is this quite as good as everyone proclaims it to be?"
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying, but I'm not sure it's at the top of my favourites list, shall we say. One thing I do think is clever is that it has a consistent, ongoing narrative that advances at a decent pace. With a lot of manga like this you get artificial story extension (I'm looking at you, Naruto, Bleach and DBZ), but here, while that is definitely going on, it's handled in a much more intelligent and well done way.
It' snot so much artificial extension, as sensible, well considered extension.
Next, a couple of ongoing series I'm still enjoying. First there's Kimi Ni Todoke (From Me to You). I'm definitely still liking this, but I think this is also engaged in story extension and I'm not sure it's being handled in as good a way. It struck me actually to be having a similar issue as Kare Kano.
In that manga, the main characters were really interesting and it was a clever story, but really that story resolved itself within a few volumes. There was then a big middle section that mostly focused on the (less interesting) peripheral characters before coming back to finish off the main character's story.
I'm pretty sure Todoke is going to do the same and we're just switching focus to the other characters. It's still well done, so I'll stick with it, but part of me wishes it had just wrapped itself up in a few neat volumes.
The second ongoing series is Natsume's Book of Friends. Weirdly, having just complained about story extension of a main over-arching plot, my slight criticism of Natsume is that it doesn't really have an overarching plot.
The series is essentially a collection of short stories and it works well at doing that, but it can make things feel very bitty. I still love the book, though, and dearly wish someone would license the series for DVDs. It's actually on crunchyroll, but is region locked to the US :(.
Next I though I'd mention Toshokan Senso: Love & War. I was seriously considering dropping this, but the second volumes was a lot better than the first. I think part of the problem was that because the first volume covered what I saw of the manga, but radically shifted things about, this disconcerted me. Now that it's into stuff I haven't seen I think it's easier for me to understand, though it still has the problem that a lot of shoujo has of poorly flowing speech and panel layouts.
Okay, as usual when I do one of these catch-ups, the post is getting huge, so I'm snipping it in half and I'll post the rest later.
First off, as I mentioned, I've been reading my way into Fullmetal Alchemist. I don't think I really need to explain what FMA is, as it's one of those ubiquitous shows that everybody's either seen or read. Well, except for me.
I've seen a couple of episodes of the Brotherhood version and will probably buy that somewhere down the line, but although I knew of the show it never really crossed my path. But then I decided I should get it, bought the first volume, which I thought was good enough to pursue, and so bought the rest.
Obviously I was therefore in big scale catch-up mode and there are now 23 volumes released in English, so I've quite a bit to get through in order to be current. I'm up to book 10 and I'm generally enjoying it.
I have to confess I have been a bit struck by my traditionally feeling of "Is this quite as good as everyone proclaims it to be?"
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying, but I'm not sure it's at the top of my favourites list, shall we say. One thing I do think is clever is that it has a consistent, ongoing narrative that advances at a decent pace. With a lot of manga like this you get artificial story extension (I'm looking at you, Naruto, Bleach and DBZ), but here, while that is definitely going on, it's handled in a much more intelligent and well done way.
It' snot so much artificial extension, as sensible, well considered extension.
Next, a couple of ongoing series I'm still enjoying. First there's Kimi Ni Todoke (From Me to You). I'm definitely still liking this, but I think this is also engaged in story extension and I'm not sure it's being handled in as good a way. It struck me actually to be having a similar issue as Kare Kano.
In that manga, the main characters were really interesting and it was a clever story, but really that story resolved itself within a few volumes. There was then a big middle section that mostly focused on the (less interesting) peripheral characters before coming back to finish off the main character's story.
I'm pretty sure Todoke is going to do the same and we're just switching focus to the other characters. It's still well done, so I'll stick with it, but part of me wishes it had just wrapped itself up in a few neat volumes.
The second ongoing series is Natsume's Book of Friends. Weirdly, having just complained about story extension of a main over-arching plot, my slight criticism of Natsume is that it doesn't really have an overarching plot.
The series is essentially a collection of short stories and it works well at doing that, but it can make things feel very bitty. I still love the book, though, and dearly wish someone would license the series for DVDs. It's actually on crunchyroll, but is region locked to the US :(.
Next I though I'd mention Toshokan Senso: Love & War. I was seriously considering dropping this, but the second volumes was a lot better than the first. I think part of the problem was that because the first volume covered what I saw of the manga, but radically shifted things about, this disconcerted me. Now that it's into stuff I haven't seen I think it's easier for me to understand, though it still has the problem that a lot of shoujo has of poorly flowing speech and panel layouts.
Okay, as usual when I do one of these catch-ups, the post is getting huge, so I'm snipping it in half and I'll post the rest later.
Monday 29 November 2010
winter clothes
So if you are a fellow occupant of the UK and assuming you don't live in some sort of hermetically-sealed, climate-controlled bubble, I'm sure you've probably noticed the rather sharp downturn in the temperature of recent times.
Or, to put it more succinctly, Holy Mary mother of Jebus H Chrimble it's been cold.
Even though I believe we are now technically in winter (I always loose track with the seasons) it's not normally until after Christmas that the really cold weather bites. It's like even though I think summer starts in June, it's normally August that's the hottest month - or something like that.
Anyway, the point is that it's been really properly cold over the last week or so. And that means I've been re-introduced to the problems of excess clothing.
Well, not excess clothing, but the problem of having to put on lots and lots of clothing.
See, the real issue is that where I work seems to be really bad at retaining heat. It's okay up to a certain point every year, but then after that it never really seems to warm up. I think the reason for this is a combination of factors.
Firstly, it's a big, open plan office, making it difficult to heat. Second, it has a lot of big windows through which heat can escape. Third, the roof insulation is inadequate, again, allowing heat to escape. Fourth, the central heating provision is inadequate, so there's not enough heat provided. And lastly, the boss tries to save money by setting the timing to the minimum we can get away with.
This means that the office is normally cold during winter, so I have to wrap up in lots of clothes. Specifically I end up wearing the following:A vest;
And this all creates the problem that getting dressed in the morning takes at least an 10 minutes and is a total pain. Especially since I also wear a baseball cap, gloves and a coat when I'm outside.
It all becomes a bit tedious eventually. And what makes this even more annoying is that my flat can get really cold as well, so I end up wearing jumpers and extra clothes there too.
I've always said as a general principal I enjoy winter and colder weather, but I think really, I enjoy winter from the perspective of being toasty and warm inside and looking out the window. And in my current work/living circumstances, I don't spend enough time in that state.
Or, to put it more succinctly, Holy Mary mother of Jebus H Chrimble it's been cold.
Even though I believe we are now technically in winter (I always loose track with the seasons) it's not normally until after Christmas that the really cold weather bites. It's like even though I think summer starts in June, it's normally August that's the hottest month - or something like that.
Anyway, the point is that it's been really properly cold over the last week or so. And that means I've been re-introduced to the problems of excess clothing.
Well, not excess clothing, but the problem of having to put on lots and lots of clothing.
See, the real issue is that where I work seems to be really bad at retaining heat. It's okay up to a certain point every year, but then after that it never really seems to warm up. I think the reason for this is a combination of factors.
Firstly, it's a big, open plan office, making it difficult to heat. Second, it has a lot of big windows through which heat can escape. Third, the roof insulation is inadequate, again, allowing heat to escape. Fourth, the central heating provision is inadequate, so there's not enough heat provided. And lastly, the boss tries to save money by setting the timing to the minimum we can get away with.
This means that the office is normally cold during winter, so I have to wrap up in lots of clothes. Specifically I end up wearing the following:A vest;
- A T-shirt;
- A jumper;
- A second pair of socks; and
- My suit jacket.
And this all creates the problem that getting dressed in the morning takes at least an 10 minutes and is a total pain. Especially since I also wear a baseball cap, gloves and a coat when I'm outside.
It all becomes a bit tedious eventually. And what makes this even more annoying is that my flat can get really cold as well, so I end up wearing jumpers and extra clothes there too.
I've always said as a general principal I enjoy winter and colder weather, but I think really, I enjoy winter from the perspective of being toasty and warm inside and looking out the window. And in my current work/living circumstances, I don't spend enough time in that state.
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