One of my work colleagues has been driving me bonkers recently.
He taps his feet. Well, I say taps. It's more like he's trying to burrow his way down to Australia. It's really hard, and it's really loud.
I've nicknamed him Thumper (after the rabbit from Bambi).
He's got an interview for a contract over at Porten Down today and I so hope he gets it. I mean, even if it means I get left with more work or something, I'm almost praying he gets the contract, otherwise I may just be driven insane.
I've taken to listening to my MP3 player at work to try to drown him out. This kinda means I've been getting a bit disconnected from the happenings in the office, but it's that or I murder him. And, although I'm sure no jury in the world would convict me when they heard why, I can't be bothered with the hassle.
I think Chinese water torture is based on a similar principle to this - drip, drip, drip = tap, tap, tap.
Anyway, last night's journey home was awful.
It seems to have settled down a bit today, but the weather here has been biblical over the last few days. There are huge puddles and the river next to the A31 is massively flooded. I've only seen it more flooded when there was all that flooding the other year.
However, I'm not sure if it was because of the weather that they shut the A31 last night. It could have been due to a fuel spillage at the Hen & Chicken - that's happened before. I mean, it could have been a knock on from the weather of course.
Whatever - it meant I didn't get home till really late as I had to go the really long way around.
I got a really nice surprise when I got back though - the ne anime mags were there!
That has to be a new record. I only got the e-mails telling me they'd been sent on Monday and they were there the next day. All the way from Japan.
And I think it is basically genuine - the Japanese users on AP have only just started uploading their scans this weekend and I'm pretty sure they get their copies early (the famous Akihabara gets advance copies a couple of days before subscribers apparently).
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
tappety-tap
One of my work colleagues has been driving me bonkers recently.
He taps his feet. Well, I say taps. It's more like he's trying to burrow his way down to Australia. It's really hard, and it's really loud.
I've nicknamed him Thumper (after the rabbit from Bambi).
He's got an interview for a contract over at Porten Down today and I so hope he gets it. I mean, even if it means I get left with more work or something, I'm almost praying he gets the contract, otherwise I may just be driven insane.
I've taken to listening to my MP3 player at work to try to drown him out. This kinda means I've been getting a bit disconnected from the happenings in the office, but it's that or I murder him. And, although I'm sure no jury in the world would convict me when they heard why, I can't be bothered with the hassle.
I think Chinese water torture is based on a similar principle to this - drip, drip, drip = tap, tap, tap.
Anyway, last night's journey home was awful.
It seems to have settled down a bit today, but the weather here has been biblical over the last few days. There are huge puddles and the river next to the A31 is massively flooded. I've only seen it more flooded when there was all that flooding the other year.
However, I'm not sure if it was because of the weather that they shut the A31 last night. It could have been due to a fuel spillage at the Hen & Chicken - that's happened before. I mean, it could have been a knock on from the weather of course.
Whatever - it meant I didn't get home till really late as I had to go the really long way around.
I got a really nice surprise when I got back though - the ne anime mags were there!
That has to be a new record. I only got the e-mails telling me they'd been sent on Monday and they were there the next day. All the way from Japan.
And I think it is basically genuine - the Japanese users on AP have only just started uploading their scans this weekend and I'm pretty sure they get their copies early (the famous Akihabara gets advance copies a couple of days before subscribers apparently).
He taps his feet. Well, I say taps. It's more like he's trying to burrow his way down to Australia. It's really hard, and it's really loud.
I've nicknamed him Thumper (after the rabbit from Bambi).
He's got an interview for a contract over at Porten Down today and I so hope he gets it. I mean, even if it means I get left with more work or something, I'm almost praying he gets the contract, otherwise I may just be driven insane.
I've taken to listening to my MP3 player at work to try to drown him out. This kinda means I've been getting a bit disconnected from the happenings in the office, but it's that or I murder him. And, although I'm sure no jury in the world would convict me when they heard why, I can't be bothered with the hassle.
I think Chinese water torture is based on a similar principle to this - drip, drip, drip = tap, tap, tap.
Anyway, last night's journey home was awful.
It seems to have settled down a bit today, but the weather here has been biblical over the last few days. There are huge puddles and the river next to the A31 is massively flooded. I've only seen it more flooded when there was all that flooding the other year.
However, I'm not sure if it was because of the weather that they shut the A31 last night. It could have been due to a fuel spillage at the Hen & Chicken - that's happened before. I mean, it could have been a knock on from the weather of course.
Whatever - it meant I didn't get home till really late as I had to go the really long way around.
I got a really nice surprise when I got back though - the ne anime mags were there!
That has to be a new record. I only got the e-mails telling me they'd been sent on Monday and they were there the next day. All the way from Japan.
And I think it is basically genuine - the Japanese users on AP have only just started uploading their scans this weekend and I'm pretty sure they get their copies early (the famous Akihabara gets advance copies a couple of days before subscribers apparently).
Monday, 10 November 2008
oversleep-age
Well, that was odd.
On Sunday morning I massively over-slept. By my reckoning I was asleep for a good two hours over when my alarm should have gone off.
I say should have gone off because it didn't. My main stereo has an alarm on it and I use that. It's a bit like a clock radio. Unfortunately, it was my cock up that caused it - turns out I knocked a button when I was shifting some boxes around and didn't realise, so the alarm didn't go off.
Anyway, it meant I didn't get up until very late. It also kinda poxed my day up - it was a bit like I was in a daze all day. Plus I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night.
That's one of the troubles with lay-ins - they mess your body-clock up and mean you're not tired when it comes to bed time, so you don't get as much sleep and your routine's a bit out of kilter. So I'm a bit muggy headed this morning too.
Anyway, one thing I did get done is a lot of scanning this weekend. I did all of last month's mags (which is good as I've just received e-mails saying the next ones are on the way :/).
I also watched a bunch of anime shows while I scanned:
It's just as good, if not slightly better than the first season. The reason is that there's a slight tonal shift from the stories covered in the first season. The first season I would primarily characterise as being humorous first, serious second, whereas in the second season this is reversed.
I'll definitely be doing a review of it later.
Oh, and speaking of reviews - I've poxed up my website update schedule. I could blame the oversleeping thing, but the truth is I've just ballsed it up.
Mainly this is because I've kinda been waiting on finishing some wallpapers. As I think I mentioned the other week I've done several character vectors, but haven't quite completed the wallpapers, so updates to my site have therefore gone the shape of the pear.
Thinking about it I may actually put updates on proper hiatus until the New Year. That will give me a little more breathing room and I can also take the opportunity to watch some more stuff and build up a new stock of reviews as well as the wallpapers.
On Sunday morning I massively over-slept. By my reckoning I was asleep for a good two hours over when my alarm should have gone off.
I say should have gone off because it didn't. My main stereo has an alarm on it and I use that. It's a bit like a clock radio. Unfortunately, it was my cock up that caused it - turns out I knocked a button when I was shifting some boxes around and didn't realise, so the alarm didn't go off.
Anyway, it meant I didn't get up until very late. It also kinda poxed my day up - it was a bit like I was in a daze all day. Plus I had a terrible time getting to sleep last night.
That's one of the troubles with lay-ins - they mess your body-clock up and mean you're not tired when it comes to bed time, so you don't get as much sleep and your routine's a bit out of kilter. So I'm a bit muggy headed this morning too.
Anyway, one thing I did get done is a lot of scanning this weekend. I did all of last month's mags (which is good as I've just received e-mails saying the next ones are on the way :/).
I also watched a bunch of anime shows while I scanned:
- Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - very good. I watched one more of this show and I still think it's very good - one of the best shows of the season, in fact.
- Kyouran Kazoku Nikki - okay. This really didn't do anything for me and I just watched 2 episodes. Whilst I wouldn't say it was actively bad, as such, it just didn't really appeal. The premise was part of the problem in that it seemed so utterly contrived and daft. I also have to say I wasn't at all keen on the art-style.
- Ryoko's Case File - good. I quite enjoyed this, though the animation seemed a little cheap. It's a supernatural/cop type show and it's one of those where you've kinda seen it before, but it's entertaining nevertheless and there's a good dynamic between the lead characters (a sort of will-they-won't-they thing).
- Mission-E - good. I just watched the one episode of this, more to confirm if it was still any good. It's technically a sequel to a series called Code-E which I quite liked (though I don't think it ever sparked much general interest). It's essentially a sci-fi show. Interestingly, the sequel isn't a direct sequel - some time seems to have elapsed between the two shows. I enjoyed this first episode, so both are the potential purchase list, if it ever gets licensed that it.
- Hidamari Sketch x 365 - good. Another sequel (to Hidamari Sketch), so again I just watched the one episode. It was good. It's sort of a slice of life show, but it's got an odd, surreal humour slant to it as well. Interestingly, this sequel is unusual too, in that it actually takes place in parallel with the original show.
It's just as good, if not slightly better than the first season. The reason is that there's a slight tonal shift from the stories covered in the first season. The first season I would primarily characterise as being humorous first, serious second, whereas in the second season this is reversed.
I'll definitely be doing a review of it later.
Oh, and speaking of reviews - I've poxed up my website update schedule. I could blame the oversleeping thing, but the truth is I've just ballsed it up.
Mainly this is because I've kinda been waiting on finishing some wallpapers. As I think I mentioned the other week I've done several character vectors, but haven't quite completed the wallpapers, so updates to my site have therefore gone the shape of the pear.
Thinking about it I may actually put updates on proper hiatus until the New Year. That will give me a little more breathing room and I can also take the opportunity to watch some more stuff and build up a new stock of reviews as well as the wallpapers.
Friday, 7 November 2008
lewis hamilton & contractual obligations
Well, I can't go without mentioning the formula one world championship and the winning there of by young Lewis Hamilton.
It's been a great season this last year. I mean, there was some dodgyness and not a little controversy, but then those things always make the season more interesting, if not actually being good in and of themselves, but Lewis triumphing is a perfect end to it all.
It was a well deserved victory, and I truly think he is one of the best drivers that this country, if not the world, has produced in ages.
What makes things even more exciting is he seems to be one of a crop of new drivers coming up just recently. As much as I personally like Michael Schumacher, I can't deny that things became a little stayed while he was dominant. The sport kinda lacked for any real rising stars of his calibre.
I mean, there were a few good drivers, as there are every year, but not in the volume we seem to have good newbies this year.
I did actually manage to spoiler the race for myself by catching the end of the broadcast (I normally TiVo it so I can skip the adds) but what I didn't realise was that he only won it right at the very end by passing Timo Glock on the last or second-to-last corner. It was still quite exciting, even though I knew the outcome.
Anyway, what I also wanted to mention was that next year there are a whole raft of changes coming. Firstly, they're getting slick tyres back, thank god. Also, they're banning all these "down force aids" which a) make the cars look fucking awful and b) are also part of the reason over-taking had become difficult.
All these down force things make the air coming out the back really turbulent, making it difficult to really get close enough to get a good tow. Also, if the air is messy it hampers the effectiveness of these down force aids, meaning it was difficult to follow another car closely.
I don't know the details on that one, but I've been saying for a while they needed to sort out the down force, as it's made it far more difficult to overtake, reducing the spectacle of the sport.
Anyway, the other thing that's intrigued me has been this new energy recovery system. I hadn't got a clue what that was all about, but on the commentary for the last race they implied it was almost like an electrical version of a turbo. It sounded like, once it's built up a bit, you can push a button and it gives you a "boost to overtake". If that's really the case, it should make things very interesting indeed.
Oh, and I've been checking my contract, as a blogger, and apparently I'm contractually obliged to comment on the whole Brand/Ross thing.
I can't honestly say I give fuck.
I've not much exposure to Brand - I've heard his radio show a couple of times and it was funny, but I've seen him on telly and found him unfunny. As for Ross, I used to like him a while back on the radio, but then went off him as he (and this is an opinion I'd formed a while back, it's just a co-incidence that people have been saying the same thing) really seemed to bully his guests, especially on the chat show. I dunno - he just seemed to keep stepping over the line.
Anyway, I haven't heard the offending show, didn't use listen again and don't read the papers, so I have no idea what was actually said and therefore don't have any real opinion.
What did interest me was that, apparently, only 2 people actually complained during the show (and those were about swearing), but within 2 weeks, 30-odd thousand had complained. That just says so much, it's scary.
Clearly the intended target audience for Brand's show "got" the joke, but those who aren't listeners were not amused. Seems to me there's nothing else that really needs saying.
It's been a great season this last year. I mean, there was some dodgyness and not a little controversy, but then those things always make the season more interesting, if not actually being good in and of themselves, but Lewis triumphing is a perfect end to it all.
It was a well deserved victory, and I truly think he is one of the best drivers that this country, if not the world, has produced in ages.
What makes things even more exciting is he seems to be one of a crop of new drivers coming up just recently. As much as I personally like Michael Schumacher, I can't deny that things became a little stayed while he was dominant. The sport kinda lacked for any real rising stars of his calibre.
I mean, there were a few good drivers, as there are every year, but not in the volume we seem to have good newbies this year.
I did actually manage to spoiler the race for myself by catching the end of the broadcast (I normally TiVo it so I can skip the adds) but what I didn't realise was that he only won it right at the very end by passing Timo Glock on the last or second-to-last corner. It was still quite exciting, even though I knew the outcome.
Anyway, what I also wanted to mention was that next year there are a whole raft of changes coming. Firstly, they're getting slick tyres back, thank god. Also, they're banning all these "down force aids" which a) make the cars look fucking awful and b) are also part of the reason over-taking had become difficult.
All these down force things make the air coming out the back really turbulent, making it difficult to really get close enough to get a good tow. Also, if the air is messy it hampers the effectiveness of these down force aids, meaning it was difficult to follow another car closely.
I don't know the details on that one, but I've been saying for a while they needed to sort out the down force, as it's made it far more difficult to overtake, reducing the spectacle of the sport.
Anyway, the other thing that's intrigued me has been this new energy recovery system. I hadn't got a clue what that was all about, but on the commentary for the last race they implied it was almost like an electrical version of a turbo. It sounded like, once it's built up a bit, you can push a button and it gives you a "boost to overtake". If that's really the case, it should make things very interesting indeed.
Oh, and I've been checking my contract, as a blogger, and apparently I'm contractually obliged to comment on the whole Brand/Ross thing.
I can't honestly say I give fuck.
I've not much exposure to Brand - I've heard his radio show a couple of times and it was funny, but I've seen him on telly and found him unfunny. As for Ross, I used to like him a while back on the radio, but then went off him as he (and this is an opinion I'd formed a while back, it's just a co-incidence that people have been saying the same thing) really seemed to bully his guests, especially on the chat show. I dunno - he just seemed to keep stepping over the line.
Anyway, I haven't heard the offending show, didn't use listen again and don't read the papers, so I have no idea what was actually said and therefore don't have any real opinion.
What did interest me was that, apparently, only 2 people actually complained during the show (and those were about swearing), but within 2 weeks, 30-odd thousand had complained. That just says so much, it's scary.
Clearly the intended target audience for Brand's show "got" the joke, but those who aren't listeners were not amused. Seems to me there's nothing else that really needs saying.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
backlogs
Well, what I was afraid of appears to be happening - I've got a backlog of scans building up.
Not that I can really blame it for the backlog, but I was kinda surprised actually. The latest issue of Megami seems to have set something of a new record, in that I think I got an e-mail saying it was on its way last Friday and it was here on Monday.
This is Monday... my day off... the day when I was supposed to do loads of scanning... the day when I didn't do anything of the sort... the day when I just sort of sat watching telly and playing games all day... :P.
I have now almost totally annihilated my backlog of telly stuff, though. I've just got the last three episodes of Mutual Friends and the film Lucky Number Slevin on there - that's it. Quite a few of the things I've been watching have now stopped and some more end this week, I think, so if I can watch this week's telly live (or at least, before the w/end) then I should be able to get it all totally cleared.
And that would mean I'd have loads of free time at the weekend which I can then spend scanning... Which I'm pretty sure I've been saying for the last couple of weekends, but there you go. Maybe I'll actually do it this time. Maybe.
The other backlog I've got building up is games again. I had a few sessions some months ago where I cleared out lots of un-played games, but what's happened of course is that Chrimbo is rapidly approaching, and that's a big time for new games.
Let's see, in the last couple of weeks alone, I've got Far Cry 2, the Civ4 thing about conquering the new world (can't for the life of me remember the name :/), Fallout 3, and, most intriguingly Red Alert 3 (I've a horrible feeling I'll end up laying Red Alert 3 all weekend instead of scanning.). And I'm pretty sure there's one or two more I've already pre-ordered coming out soon too.
I guess Chrimbo is going to be quite a busy period for me if I want to clear stuff down like I've been planning.
Especially since I've been totally failing to watch anime DVDs at a rate faster than I buy them. But then if I can just stay on top of the telly stuff like I hope, I should be able to allocate a few hours to that too.
Not that I can really blame it for the backlog, but I was kinda surprised actually. The latest issue of Megami seems to have set something of a new record, in that I think I got an e-mail saying it was on its way last Friday and it was here on Monday.
This is Monday... my day off... the day when I was supposed to do loads of scanning... the day when I didn't do anything of the sort... the day when I just sort of sat watching telly and playing games all day... :P.
I have now almost totally annihilated my backlog of telly stuff, though. I've just got the last three episodes of Mutual Friends and the film Lucky Number Slevin on there - that's it. Quite a few of the things I've been watching have now stopped and some more end this week, I think, so if I can watch this week's telly live (or at least, before the w/end) then I should be able to get it all totally cleared.
And that would mean I'd have loads of free time at the weekend which I can then spend scanning... Which I'm pretty sure I've been saying for the last couple of weekends, but there you go. Maybe I'll actually do it this time. Maybe.
The other backlog I've got building up is games again. I had a few sessions some months ago where I cleared out lots of un-played games, but what's happened of course is that Chrimbo is rapidly approaching, and that's a big time for new games.
Let's see, in the last couple of weeks alone, I've got Far Cry 2, the Civ4 thing about conquering the new world (can't for the life of me remember the name :/), Fallout 3, and, most intriguingly Red Alert 3 (I've a horrible feeling I'll end up laying Red Alert 3 all weekend instead of scanning.). And I'm pretty sure there's one or two more I've already pre-ordered coming out soon too.
I guess Chrimbo is going to be quite a busy period for me if I want to clear stuff down like I've been planning.
Especially since I've been totally failing to watch anime DVDs at a rate faster than I buy them. But then if I can just stay on top of the telly stuff like I hope, I should be able to allocate a few hours to that too.
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
transformers (the US movie)
I watched Transformers this weekend on DVD.
I've got to say that, in all honesty, it was not as bad as I feared it was going to be. In fact, it was actually kinda good.
Which isn't to say it didn't have its problems.
It was far too long, was the main problem - well over two hours. Now, I've said before that I'm not a big fan of films running on for two hours. It smacks of over-indulgence, and I'd say that was the problem here too.
There was just slightly too much of everything. Slightly too much Sam Witwicky being all nerdy, slightly too much of the secret government organisation thing, slightly too much of the US military stuff, slightly too much hackering, slightly too much of the Autobots hiding scene, slightly too much transformers combat... you get the idea. If they'd have cut about 1 scene each of those, or axed some elements all together it would have been better, I think.
Not that any of them were fundamentally bad, you understand, just they went on a bit long.
Also, Megatron, who's meant to be the ultimate bad-guy in Transformers, seemed distinctly unthreatening. Partly that was because he wasn't in it until near the very end, partly they didn't big him up enough, focusing too much on the McGuffin, and also he didn't really do anything hugely evil.
I mean, he did - he ripped one of the Autobots (Jazz) in two, but I dunno, it was done in long shot and just sort of happened. It didn't feel evil. Maybe that was because Jazz was a bit-player. Maybe if he'd pulled Bumblebee's legs off it would have been better, because we cared more about Bumblebee.
Anyway, the biggest surprise for me was that in the end I didn't care about all the buggering about they did with the transformers "lore". One of the most obvious changes was that they changed what a lot of the characters transformed into, most apparently with Bumblebee.
I mean, Bumblebee is named because he changes into a VW Beetle or "Bug". But actually, I found that didn't really bother me in the end. Plus some of the changes were logical, because the toys never made sense. For example, Soundwave was a tape player that changed into a huge robot and Megatron was a handgun.
You can do that sort of thing with a toy or in a cartoon, but you can't justify taking a tiny tape machine and just expanding up a million times - it would look silly. So I can understand those changes.
They also ditched the origin story. Again, I can understand this, to some extent, though it seemed less for practical reasons. Although part of me was glad - the problem with comic book adaptations is they often end up fudged. Although I often prefer the comic origins, I think it's better when they adapt them to give the films their own separate origins. It's better, I think, if they have an "alternate universe" approach.
Plus here, they actually focused on the human characters anyway. The film was actually about Sam and Megan Fox's character (can't remember her character name, but she is totally hot) falling in love, more than it was big robots pounding each other in the face.
So overall, it kinda worked.
The only other thing I'd say is it was kinda difficult to see what was going on. This film is the first I've ever seen where you need to go high-def to watch it, I think. The amount of detail in the characters means I think you'd really benefit from the extra clarity of blue ray.
I've got to say that, in all honesty, it was not as bad as I feared it was going to be. In fact, it was actually kinda good.
Which isn't to say it didn't have its problems.
It was far too long, was the main problem - well over two hours. Now, I've said before that I'm not a big fan of films running on for two hours. It smacks of over-indulgence, and I'd say that was the problem here too.
There was just slightly too much of everything. Slightly too much Sam Witwicky being all nerdy, slightly too much of the secret government organisation thing, slightly too much of the US military stuff, slightly too much hackering, slightly too much of the Autobots hiding scene, slightly too much transformers combat... you get the idea. If they'd have cut about 1 scene each of those, or axed some elements all together it would have been better, I think.
Not that any of them were fundamentally bad, you understand, just they went on a bit long.
Also, Megatron, who's meant to be the ultimate bad-guy in Transformers, seemed distinctly unthreatening. Partly that was because he wasn't in it until near the very end, partly they didn't big him up enough, focusing too much on the McGuffin, and also he didn't really do anything hugely evil.
I mean, he did - he ripped one of the Autobots (Jazz) in two, but I dunno, it was done in long shot and just sort of happened. It didn't feel evil. Maybe that was because Jazz was a bit-player. Maybe if he'd pulled Bumblebee's legs off it would have been better, because we cared more about Bumblebee.
Anyway, the biggest surprise for me was that in the end I didn't care about all the buggering about they did with the transformers "lore". One of the most obvious changes was that they changed what a lot of the characters transformed into, most apparently with Bumblebee.
I mean, Bumblebee is named because he changes into a VW Beetle or "Bug". But actually, I found that didn't really bother me in the end. Plus some of the changes were logical, because the toys never made sense. For example, Soundwave was a tape player that changed into a huge robot and Megatron was a handgun.
You can do that sort of thing with a toy or in a cartoon, but you can't justify taking a tiny tape machine and just expanding up a million times - it would look silly. So I can understand those changes.
They also ditched the origin story. Again, I can understand this, to some extent, though it seemed less for practical reasons. Although part of me was glad - the problem with comic book adaptations is they often end up fudged. Although I often prefer the comic origins, I think it's better when they adapt them to give the films their own separate origins. It's better, I think, if they have an "alternate universe" approach.
Plus here, they actually focused on the human characters anyway. The film was actually about Sam and Megan Fox's character (can't remember her character name, but she is totally hot) falling in love, more than it was big robots pounding each other in the face.
So overall, it kinda worked.
The only other thing I'd say is it was kinda difficult to see what was going on. This film is the first I've ever seen where you need to go high-def to watch it, I think. The amount of detail in the characters means I think you'd really benefit from the extra clarity of blue ray.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
dental scrapings
So I had Monday off. Part of the reason was because I had the dentist in the morning. And yeah, I know that having the entire day off because of a dental appointment in the morning seems a bit excessive, but then I hate going to the dentist when I have work, and yesterday part of the reason why was heavily underlined for me.
He scraped my teeth. You've probably had that done - they're removing the plaque that builds up on your teeth and is a veritable des-res for bacteria. So I can see why they do it, but it doesn't stop it being unpleasant.
The problem is the plaque builds up at the bottom of your teeth next to your gums and also in the gaps between your teeth, so when they're scraping they often hit your gums a lot, especially in the gaps. I came away yesterday with lots of red bits between my teeth where the gums had been totally brutalized.
And while I wouldn't say it was anything on the level of having a filling done or that sort of pain, it's pretty damned uncomfortable. My teeth ached all day, and they're still not fully okay today.
It's made slightly worse for me as I have sensitive teeth. I use sensodyne toothpaste and it really helps - without it I can't eat ice cream, but with I'm fine. But the thing I've noticed about it is it's sort of cumulative. If you stop using it, after a while your teeth become sensitive again, and then it can also take a while to have an effect once you start again. It's like it builds up on your teeth.
So of course, when he's scraping away the plaque, he's also taking that build-up away with him. Not that I've had any ice cream, but cold water, for example, is now unpleasant.
Which, as I say, is one of the reasons I like to take the day - sitting in work with aching and bloody teeth isn't my idea of fun :/.
He scraped my teeth. You've probably had that done - they're removing the plaque that builds up on your teeth and is a veritable des-res for bacteria. So I can see why they do it, but it doesn't stop it being unpleasant.
The problem is the plaque builds up at the bottom of your teeth next to your gums and also in the gaps between your teeth, so when they're scraping they often hit your gums a lot, especially in the gaps. I came away yesterday with lots of red bits between my teeth where the gums had been totally brutalized.
And while I wouldn't say it was anything on the level of having a filling done or that sort of pain, it's pretty damned uncomfortable. My teeth ached all day, and they're still not fully okay today.
It's made slightly worse for me as I have sensitive teeth. I use sensodyne toothpaste and it really helps - without it I can't eat ice cream, but with I'm fine. But the thing I've noticed about it is it's sort of cumulative. If you stop using it, after a while your teeth become sensitive again, and then it can also take a while to have an effect once you start again. It's like it builds up on your teeth.
So of course, when he's scraping away the plaque, he's also taking that build-up away with him. Not that I've had any ice cream, but cold water, for example, is now unpleasant.
Which, as I say, is one of the reasons I like to take the day - sitting in work with aching and bloody teeth isn't my idea of fun :/.
Friday, 31 October 2008
quality
I've mentioned before that I'm a member of a site called Urbis . It's a site for writers and the basic idea is that you post your work there and people review it.
Now there are quite a few sites that are supposed to be about the same sort of thing, but what makes Urbis clever is that you're participating in a give-and-take system. Your work will only be reviewed if you do reviews of other people.
How they do that is with a credit system. So, you earn credits by doing reviews and it costs you credits to unlock your reviews. That way you have no choice but to do work in order to get the benefits.
Of course, it's all open to abuse, as all systems are, but there are some mechanisms to try to counter that. For example, you can ask for refunds if you think a review is pure drivel. The other system is that you can rate reviews as being either good or bad 'quality'.
Now, and I don't want to boast about it, but so far I have maintained a review quality above 90%. I don't want to boast about that because it's slightly unrepresentative - it's not just the author that gets to vote, for example, and a good chunk of my good votes have come via that.
Plus I've done something like 150 reviews, but only got about 50 votes (many, as I say, not from the author). Also, of those 150 a good proportion (maybe a quarter?) haven't even been unlocked, so nobody can rate them good or bad.
And of course there's always people who wouldn't know a good review if it slapped them in the face, but anyway, the point of this blog is that I like to think I've got my relatively high number because I write good reviews.
I do this by trying to focus on what really matters. In my opinion things like spelling ad grammar are not as important as the mechanisms of the story telling, for example. Also, I don't tend to worry too much about things like point-of-view unless it really badly poxes up a story.
Which isn't to say these things aren't important, it's just that if something is unreadably dull because it's all just boring telling when it could be shown in exciting and dramatic scenes, then that's what matters most.
Polishing up your spelling and POV slips can come after you make the thing interesting to read.
The other main thing I do is to offer suggestions. I think it's one thing to just rag on a piece, telling them in finite detail why it's rubbish, it's quite another to say "here's some ideas for making it better."
Now the difficulty with my approach is occasionally I run up against people who clearly think they're the next Shakespeare (or insert any appropriate well known and widely recognised writer you like). So then my review and suggestions come across rather differently - they're not seen in the light they're intended.
That's when I get a negative quality, I think. Even though I've clearly spent a lot more time thinking about my review than the people who've just spunked "zomg I r likings your drivel" below me.
It can be quite demoralising.
But the worst ones are when I point out something that's clearly just plain wrong, or doesn't work, or is illogical. For example, I might point out that some "science" they've used is bullshit, or point out that some trick they're pulling is just that - a trick and therefore a con.
Sometimes this is taken well, but a lot of the time it's taken as you might expect. If you're on a flying carpet, you don't want someone pointing out that there are strings holding it up (or, worse, pointing out it's impossible and hence causing the illusion to collapse), so you're not going to be pleased with the person that does.
Now there are quite a few sites that are supposed to be about the same sort of thing, but what makes Urbis clever is that you're participating in a give-and-take system. Your work will only be reviewed if you do reviews of other people.
How they do that is with a credit system. So, you earn credits by doing reviews and it costs you credits to unlock your reviews. That way you have no choice but to do work in order to get the benefits.
Of course, it's all open to abuse, as all systems are, but there are some mechanisms to try to counter that. For example, you can ask for refunds if you think a review is pure drivel. The other system is that you can rate reviews as being either good or bad 'quality'.
Now, and I don't want to boast about it, but so far I have maintained a review quality above 90%. I don't want to boast about that because it's slightly unrepresentative - it's not just the author that gets to vote, for example, and a good chunk of my good votes have come via that.
Plus I've done something like 150 reviews, but only got about 50 votes (many, as I say, not from the author). Also, of those 150 a good proportion (maybe a quarter?) haven't even been unlocked, so nobody can rate them good or bad.
And of course there's always people who wouldn't know a good review if it slapped them in the face, but anyway, the point of this blog is that I like to think I've got my relatively high number because I write good reviews.
I do this by trying to focus on what really matters. In my opinion things like spelling ad grammar are not as important as the mechanisms of the story telling, for example. Also, I don't tend to worry too much about things like point-of-view unless it really badly poxes up a story.
Which isn't to say these things aren't important, it's just that if something is unreadably dull because it's all just boring telling when it could be shown in exciting and dramatic scenes, then that's what matters most.
Polishing up your spelling and POV slips can come after you make the thing interesting to read.
The other main thing I do is to offer suggestions. I think it's one thing to just rag on a piece, telling them in finite detail why it's rubbish, it's quite another to say "here's some ideas for making it better."
Now the difficulty with my approach is occasionally I run up against people who clearly think they're the next Shakespeare (or insert any appropriate well known and widely recognised writer you like). So then my review and suggestions come across rather differently - they're not seen in the light they're intended.
That's when I get a negative quality, I think. Even though I've clearly spent a lot more time thinking about my review than the people who've just spunked "zomg I r likings your drivel" below me.
It can be quite demoralising.
But the worst ones are when I point out something that's clearly just plain wrong, or doesn't work, or is illogical. For example, I might point out that some "science" they've used is bullshit, or point out that some trick they're pulling is just that - a trick and therefore a con.
Sometimes this is taken well, but a lot of the time it's taken as you might expect. If you're on a flying carpet, you don't want someone pointing out that there are strings holding it up (or, worse, pointing out it's impossible and hence causing the illusion to collapse), so you're not going to be pleased with the person that does.
Thursday, 30 October 2008
lost in the extras
See what I did there with the title? It's because I've been wading into the Lost S4 extras. Clever, huh?
Anyway, bad puns aside, 'wading' is definitely the right term to use - there's loads of them, far more than there have been for previous seasons, I'm sure. For example, there are only 14 episodes, but about half of them have commentaries, whereas in previous seasons where there were twenty-odd episodes and only about a quarter of them had commentaries.
Also, there are two entire disks of other bonus stuff, which ranges from the standard (bloopers, deleted scenes, filming stuff and interviews) to the more interesting, like a documentary expose of the Oceanic Six (the description of which makes more sense once you've watched the show) and an hour-long thing on the flash-forwards.
It's loads of stuff and it should keep me busy for a good while.
I'm guessing this is the upside to having the shorter seasons. Plus there was the whole writers strike thing, so I imagine there was more spare resources to work on extras stuff than usual.
Unfortunately I've got really behind with other stuff. I've recently realised that the new megami is about to come out (and the other mags will be close behind) and I've not really got anywhere with scanning last months mags - all I've done is the posters from megami, everything else is untouched.
I really need to get my arse in gear so I don't end up with a backlog.
Luckily I do have next monday off (I've got the dentists in the morning) so I may take the opportunity to make a good chunk of the backlog disappear. It should also give me a chance to finish off last season's anime shows and maybe even tackle some of the autumn season's stuff.
Plus there's something of a let-up coming with all these TV shows I've been watching - most are coming to the end of their runs, so, assuming nothing else comes along, that should ease up some of the pressure.
Bizarrely, I've actually been doing quite a lot of vectoring recently and am literally on the cusp of finishing about 4 walls. All I really need to do is make the backgrounds, which, with me not really having any artistic talent is always a tricky part, but at least it means I won't be stalled due to half-finished vectors like I normally am.
Anyway, bad puns aside, 'wading' is definitely the right term to use - there's loads of them, far more than there have been for previous seasons, I'm sure. For example, there are only 14 episodes, but about half of them have commentaries, whereas in previous seasons where there were twenty-odd episodes and only about a quarter of them had commentaries.
Also, there are two entire disks of other bonus stuff, which ranges from the standard (bloopers, deleted scenes, filming stuff and interviews) to the more interesting, like a documentary expose of the Oceanic Six (the description of which makes more sense once you've watched the show) and an hour-long thing on the flash-forwards.
It's loads of stuff and it should keep me busy for a good while.
I'm guessing this is the upside to having the shorter seasons. Plus there was the whole writers strike thing, so I imagine there was more spare resources to work on extras stuff than usual.
Unfortunately I've got really behind with other stuff. I've recently realised that the new megami is about to come out (and the other mags will be close behind) and I've not really got anywhere with scanning last months mags - all I've done is the posters from megami, everything else is untouched.
I really need to get my arse in gear so I don't end up with a backlog.
Luckily I do have next monday off (I've got the dentists in the morning) so I may take the opportunity to make a good chunk of the backlog disappear. It should also give me a chance to finish off last season's anime shows and maybe even tackle some of the autumn season's stuff.
Plus there's something of a let-up coming with all these TV shows I've been watching - most are coming to the end of their runs, so, assuming nothing else comes along, that should ease up some of the pressure.
Bizarrely, I've actually been doing quite a lot of vectoring recently and am literally on the cusp of finishing about 4 walls. All I really need to do is make the backgrounds, which, with me not really having any artistic talent is always a tricky part, but at least it means I won't be stalled due to half-finished vectors like I normally am.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
monkey brasses
It was bloody cold last night and this morning.
At some point during the night it snowed, but it must have been dark when it happened as it was a case of opening my curtains this morning to be greeted by a blanket of the white stuff.
I love a bit of snow - it looks very decorative, but the practicalities can be a little difficult. After it had snowed it got so cold that the snow then froze, so this morning it was very treacherous going out to the car. And that's not to mention the job I had trying to scrape the stuff off the car.
It's really difficult scraping frozen snow off - it forms a sort of lattice structure that's really strong. Ordinary frozen ice is much easier to get off as you can literally just scrape at it, plus turn the engine on and melt it a bit. Frozen snow you have to sort of hack at it, and it really takes some doing, plus because it's got all these holes in and is so thick, it's less susceptible to heating.
All told it took me a good ten minutes to de-ice the car. It's things like that which make me glad I get up nice and early for work.
Anyway, I watched the rest of Lost Season 4 last night. I've just got the extras left.
It was good - don't take what I'm going to say next to mean I didn't like it - but I'm not at all sure about these short seasons.
I believe the idea behind them is so that the total number of episodes adds up to 108 (which is the sum of the magic numbers). Plus I also guess it means they get to stretch it out a little from the planned five-year arc.
But the problem is it makes these last three seasons seem more like light snacks than full-course meals, and I like my Lost to be a full course meal. Especially since I basically have to wait an entire year between seasons (thank you once again, fucking Sky).
In season 4 the pace is definitely a lot faster - all of the episodes are roller-coaster rides with very little let-up in the pace. So, for example, when they had Ben locked up as a prisoner before he was there for ages, but this year when they had him as a prisoner again, he was almost immediately out again.
Not sure which I prefer, tbh, as it's a bit swings-and-roundabouts. A fast pace can be nice, but it does tend to highlight one of the cheats they do on Lost.
The cheat in question is the size of the island. If a group heads out for another part of the island, the amount of time it takes them is totally flexible. There was a classic at the beginning of the season, where they went to a dead body and then it was the best part of a days walk until they encountered the helicopter.
But then, it apparently only took them 20 minutes to go and fetch the body and bring it to the helicopter. Well, okay, maybe the first time they were wandering a bit, but it still should have taken them a lot longer to go there and back the second time :/.
Anyway, as I say, I love Lost. Part of the reason is because it's proper sci-fi. I know a lot of people give it flack because they feel it's being made up as they go along and it never really answers any questions, but those criticisms mainly come from people who probably shouldn't be watching it in the first place.
I mean I'm glad it is popular of course, so it doesn't constantly have an axe having over its neck like Babylon 5 used to, but like B5 it's clearly really for sci-fi nerds more than it is for the average viewer.
At some point during the night it snowed, but it must have been dark when it happened as it was a case of opening my curtains this morning to be greeted by a blanket of the white stuff.
I love a bit of snow - it looks very decorative, but the practicalities can be a little difficult. After it had snowed it got so cold that the snow then froze, so this morning it was very treacherous going out to the car. And that's not to mention the job I had trying to scrape the stuff off the car.
It's really difficult scraping frozen snow off - it forms a sort of lattice structure that's really strong. Ordinary frozen ice is much easier to get off as you can literally just scrape at it, plus turn the engine on and melt it a bit. Frozen snow you have to sort of hack at it, and it really takes some doing, plus because it's got all these holes in and is so thick, it's less susceptible to heating.
All told it took me a good ten minutes to de-ice the car. It's things like that which make me glad I get up nice and early for work.
Anyway, I watched the rest of Lost Season 4 last night. I've just got the extras left.
It was good - don't take what I'm going to say next to mean I didn't like it - but I'm not at all sure about these short seasons.
I believe the idea behind them is so that the total number of episodes adds up to 108 (which is the sum of the magic numbers). Plus I also guess it means they get to stretch it out a little from the planned five-year arc.
But the problem is it makes these last three seasons seem more like light snacks than full-course meals, and I like my Lost to be a full course meal. Especially since I basically have to wait an entire year between seasons (thank you once again, fucking Sky).
In season 4 the pace is definitely a lot faster - all of the episodes are roller-coaster rides with very little let-up in the pace. So, for example, when they had Ben locked up as a prisoner before he was there for ages, but this year when they had him as a prisoner again, he was almost immediately out again.
Not sure which I prefer, tbh, as it's a bit swings-and-roundabouts. A fast pace can be nice, but it does tend to highlight one of the cheats they do on Lost.
The cheat in question is the size of the island. If a group heads out for another part of the island, the amount of time it takes them is totally flexible. There was a classic at the beginning of the season, where they went to a dead body and then it was the best part of a days walk until they encountered the helicopter.
But then, it apparently only took them 20 minutes to go and fetch the body and bring it to the helicopter. Well, okay, maybe the first time they were wandering a bit, but it still should have taken them a lot longer to go there and back the second time :/.
Anyway, as I say, I love Lost. Part of the reason is because it's proper sci-fi. I know a lot of people give it flack because they feel it's being made up as they go along and it never really answers any questions, but those criticisms mainly come from people who probably shouldn't be watching it in the first place.
I mean I'm glad it is popular of course, so it doesn't constantly have an axe having over its neck like Babylon 5 used to, but like B5 it's clearly really for sci-fi nerds more than it is for the average viewer.
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Slither
Watched Slither on DVD this last w/end. I have to say it was rather good.
It's basically a comedy horror. An alien something-or-other lands on earth in a meteorite, infects someone and then he proceeds to... well, it's a little complex to explain. I suppose the best way to cover is that he spreads the infection, but it's not quite like that.
Anyway, the guy that's infected is a jerk, but he's rich and has married this totally hot school-teacher. The local chief of police (or sheriff I think they actually call him) is in love with the school teacher, and she kinda likes him too.
So you've got a love triangle going on, which is kinda a surprising amount of depth for the type of film. Well, okay, it's not deep, as such, but the clever thing is the film never forgets about the relationships, and indeed, is kinda driven by them, which is some adept storytelling.
Especially since Slither is essentially a Sci-Fi/Monster Horror B-movie, but with a slightly larger budget. It covers everything from zombie survival to horror-classics like Bride of Frankenstein.
One of the clever things it does is to pay homage to the staples of those old B-movies, as well as making references to a lot of the classics of the genre. Some of these references are quite subtle, but others are more on the nose, and obvious.
The same goes with the humour - sometimes it's quite subtle, or quite dark, but other times it's big and obvious and others it's more of a nod towards the fans, so there's different things for different people to laugh at.
It's also quite knowing. There's definitely a wry smile or a quick wink to the audience occasionally about how silly things in the movie actually are. The best of these comes right at the end where the denouement is both shocking and silly.
My only criticism was with the DVD itself - there were absolutely no extras. Which is weird, because on the Amazon DVD listing for the retail DVD there are loads of extras listed. So perhaps it's just that the rental version doesn't have any? Odd.
It's basically a comedy horror. An alien something-or-other lands on earth in a meteorite, infects someone and then he proceeds to... well, it's a little complex to explain. I suppose the best way to cover is that he spreads the infection, but it's not quite like that.
Anyway, the guy that's infected is a jerk, but he's rich and has married this totally hot school-teacher. The local chief of police (or sheriff I think they actually call him) is in love with the school teacher, and she kinda likes him too.
So you've got a love triangle going on, which is kinda a surprising amount of depth for the type of film. Well, okay, it's not deep, as such, but the clever thing is the film never forgets about the relationships, and indeed, is kinda driven by them, which is some adept storytelling.
Especially since Slither is essentially a Sci-Fi/Monster Horror B-movie, but with a slightly larger budget. It covers everything from zombie survival to horror-classics like Bride of Frankenstein.
One of the clever things it does is to pay homage to the staples of those old B-movies, as well as making references to a lot of the classics of the genre. Some of these references are quite subtle, but others are more on the nose, and obvious.
The same goes with the humour - sometimes it's quite subtle, or quite dark, but other times it's big and obvious and others it's more of a nod towards the fans, so there's different things for different people to laugh at.
It's also quite knowing. There's definitely a wry smile or a quick wink to the audience occasionally about how silly things in the movie actually are. The best of these comes right at the end where the denouement is both shocking and silly.
My only criticism was with the DVD itself - there were absolutely no extras. Which is weird, because on the Amazon DVD listing for the retail DVD there are loads of extras listed. So perhaps it's just that the rental version doesn't have any? Odd.
Monday, 27 October 2008
square eyes
So, a partially successful weekend.
I watched a lot of telly. The list of stuff I've got recorded and awaiting viewing on my PVR went down from about 2 pages worth (so about 50 things) to about 5 things.
However, I was secretly hoping to totally clear the list, but I kinda just got sick of watching that much TV. Sunday evening I was going a little bonkers, I think.
I had pretty much under-estimated how much stored up TV there was. As such, I also didn't get that far into Lost season 4 as I'd hoped. The last 3 seasons of Lost are being done as shorter seasons - 16-ish episodes instead of the American standard of 25-ish - so I was hoping I'd basically be able to watch it all this w/end.
However, I only watched the first disk, which is 3 eps. And what I've seen so far I really liked.
There was a lot of critiscism of season 3 (which I didn't really agree with, tbh) and I think most of those criticisms have been addressed. S4 is definitely faster paced and more focused on the core characters.
I also didn't get any scanning or walling or anythign done due to the weight of TV, but I was kinda expecting that.
The clocks went back on Saturday, so we're back on GMT. I always struggle with the changes. My body clock is rigidly fixed on my schedule and it's difficult for me to adjust, even by as little as an hour.
What normally happens is that on the day after the switch, the Sunday, I basically end up running on my existing schedule. That means I have my lunch at virtually mid-morning, for example.
Then, after that when it's back to work for the next week my body clock goes completely screwy and I end up feeling tired at 8PM and wanting lunch at 3PM and stuff. It's a bit like jet-lag (I imagine, as I've never actually flown anywhere, so I don't know) and I dunno why it does this, but it always happens.
Next week I'll be right-as-rain again.
I watched a lot of telly. The list of stuff I've got recorded and awaiting viewing on my PVR went down from about 2 pages worth (so about 50 things) to about 5 things.
However, I was secretly hoping to totally clear the list, but I kinda just got sick of watching that much TV. Sunday evening I was going a little bonkers, I think.
I had pretty much under-estimated how much stored up TV there was. As such, I also didn't get that far into Lost season 4 as I'd hoped. The last 3 seasons of Lost are being done as shorter seasons - 16-ish episodes instead of the American standard of 25-ish - so I was hoping I'd basically be able to watch it all this w/end.
However, I only watched the first disk, which is 3 eps. And what I've seen so far I really liked.
There was a lot of critiscism of season 3 (which I didn't really agree with, tbh) and I think most of those criticisms have been addressed. S4 is definitely faster paced and more focused on the core characters.
I also didn't get any scanning or walling or anythign done due to the weight of TV, but I was kinda expecting that.
The clocks went back on Saturday, so we're back on GMT. I always struggle with the changes. My body clock is rigidly fixed on my schedule and it's difficult for me to adjust, even by as little as an hour.
What normally happens is that on the day after the switch, the Sunday, I basically end up running on my existing schedule. That means I have my lunch at virtually mid-morning, for example.
Then, after that when it's back to work for the next week my body clock goes completely screwy and I end up feeling tired at 8PM and wanting lunch at 3PM and stuff. It's a bit like jet-lag (I imagine, as I've never actually flown anywhere, so I don't know) and I dunno why it does this, but it always happens.
Next week I'll be right-as-rain again.
Friday, 24 October 2008
fresh from nihon
I got a letter the other day that something had come from Japan for me and was being hit for customs charges.
I don't know what it is until I go and pick it up from the Aldershot depot. Customs charges are a bit weird - generally they're actually not that hefty (£5-off in this case) but what often happens is the Royal Mail tacks on a "processing charge".
Now I have no idea what they actually mean by that. Are they just charging me for sending me the letter? Or does it mean they had to go to some place to pick the parcel up especially? Either way, their charge is in the order of £15. To me, that seems a little disproportionate with what the customs charges actually are.
Anyway, I'll find out what it actually is tomorrow when I pick it up.
I'm planning to kick-start a bit of e-baying action this weekend.
I got a bit fed up with it the last time I was doing it. Partly that was because it was due to necessity - I needed the cash (don't I always) - and so felt like an obligation, but also it's quite demoralising selling almost everything you own :(.
And that was the other reason I stopped - I'd actually almost run out of stuff to sell. Well, I say that. I haven't run out of stuff to sell at all. What I mean is that I'd run out of stuff that I'd used.
I've tonnes of stuff I know I'm going to sell, but I've not watched/read/played them yet. And it seems a little retarded to sell stuff that I've bought and have never actually got any enjoyment out of :/.
Still, I've a few things I've been through now, so I can get a few things on there.
The only other big plan of course is to sit my arse down in front of the TV and watch all the crap I've been recording (and Lost s4 too, probably). Maybe then I'll feel like I'm getting somewhere.
I don't know what it is until I go and pick it up from the Aldershot depot. Customs charges are a bit weird - generally they're actually not that hefty (£5-off in this case) but what often happens is the Royal Mail tacks on a "processing charge".
Now I have no idea what they actually mean by that. Are they just charging me for sending me the letter? Or does it mean they had to go to some place to pick the parcel up especially? Either way, their charge is in the order of £15. To me, that seems a little disproportionate with what the customs charges actually are.
Anyway, I'll find out what it actually is tomorrow when I pick it up.
I'm planning to kick-start a bit of e-baying action this weekend.
I got a bit fed up with it the last time I was doing it. Partly that was because it was due to necessity - I needed the cash (don't I always) - and so felt like an obligation, but also it's quite demoralising selling almost everything you own :(.
And that was the other reason I stopped - I'd actually almost run out of stuff to sell. Well, I say that. I haven't run out of stuff to sell at all. What I mean is that I'd run out of stuff that I'd used.
I've tonnes of stuff I know I'm going to sell, but I've not watched/read/played them yet. And it seems a little retarded to sell stuff that I've bought and have never actually got any enjoyment out of :/.
Still, I've a few things I've been through now, so I can get a few things on there.
The only other big plan of course is to sit my arse down in front of the TV and watch all the crap I've been recording (and Lost s4 too, probably). Maybe then I'll feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Doldrums
I've been in a bit of a funk lately.
It's not particularly good timing - as previous posts have indicated I've already got lots on my 'to do' list, but I've been struggling a bit with getting on with stuff.
My dad suffers with depression and he's explained what that's like and it's not that bad, but it's a bit like a mild depression. It's like it's difficult to get started with things, like there doesn't seem to be any real point.
I mean, I do stuff like my hobbies because I enjoy it, right? And I know that, but it's just getting started on them becomes like a chore. It's like instead, sitting down and just staring at the walls is far more appealing than having to do anything.
I dunno - it's a bit difficult to explain, tbh.
The risky side of it is that I can go on binges. Now that isn't the normal booze binge or something you might think, for me it would be an over-eating binge, which I need like a hole in the head, or maybe a spending binge, which would just be a disaster.
So I'm trying desperately to push myself over the hump. I'll come out of it eventually anyway of course, but maybe I can distract myself until then or something.
Lost Season 4 turned up the other day, so maybe I should focus on actively watching that and see if accomplishing watching that (eh?) will give me kick up the backside.
It's not particularly good timing - as previous posts have indicated I've already got lots on my 'to do' list, but I've been struggling a bit with getting on with stuff.
My dad suffers with depression and he's explained what that's like and it's not that bad, but it's a bit like a mild depression. It's like it's difficult to get started with things, like there doesn't seem to be any real point.
I mean, I do stuff like my hobbies because I enjoy it, right? And I know that, but it's just getting started on them becomes like a chore. It's like instead, sitting down and just staring at the walls is far more appealing than having to do anything.
I dunno - it's a bit difficult to explain, tbh.
The risky side of it is that I can go on binges. Now that isn't the normal booze binge or something you might think, for me it would be an over-eating binge, which I need like a hole in the head, or maybe a spending binge, which would just be a disaster.
So I'm trying desperately to push myself over the hump. I'll come out of it eventually anyway of course, but maybe I can distract myself until then or something.
Lost Season 4 turned up the other day, so maybe I should focus on actively watching that and see if accomplishing watching that (eh?) will give me kick up the backside.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Hollywoodland
One thing I did get done last weekend was that I watched a rental DVD.
This one's been sat on my shelf for a good couple of weeks, which isn't good. I like to get them watched as early in the month as I can so that I guarantee I get the most value from them.
Anyway, the rental in question was Hollywoodland, which starred Ben Affleck. I believe, though I may well be wrong about this, but it was heralded as something of a "return to form" following the nightmare abortion that was "Gigli" and some other dodgy movies.
I have to say that Ben was good in it. Indeed, all of the performances were pretty good, although Bob Hoskin's accent seemed a bit wobbly early on to me.
However, I didn't really enjoy the film.
It reminded me a lot of the Black Dahlia. Now that isn't to say it was that bad, it's just it was set during a similar sort of period and was about Hollywood (Hollywoodland used to be the old name for Hollywood - the sign even used to have the 'land' bit, trivia fans).
Maybe it's just me, but there's something about these two "real crime" films that I didn't really like.
I think a major part is to do with the fact they never really gave you a proper answer. Clearly, Black Dahlia had a theory as to who it was, but it was just so bizarre and stupid and made so little sense it just felt rubbish. Hollywoodland didn't really even have one of those - the detective chasing the story never really came to a definite definitive conclusion other than a sort of vague suggestion that it probably was suicide in the end.
The only saving grace for Hollywoodland is that it was clearly intended that way - the detective rediscovers what's important through investigating the murder, type story.
The other thing about them that turns me off is they feel like they're really self-indulgent naval-gazing exercises.
It's like the directors are more interested in the Hollywood of the 40's and 50's than the stories themselves. I think the intention of both is sort of to go "Here's the seedy underbelly of Hollywood."
But there are two things with that. First, we all kinda know it was seedy already, but then second there's a feeling that they don't really mean it. Or at least, maybe they do, but they're also going "Woah, cool, it's old Hollywood - great, huh?"
This one's been sat on my shelf for a good couple of weeks, which isn't good. I like to get them watched as early in the month as I can so that I guarantee I get the most value from them.
Anyway, the rental in question was Hollywoodland, which starred Ben Affleck. I believe, though I may well be wrong about this, but it was heralded as something of a "return to form" following the nightmare abortion that was "Gigli" and some other dodgy movies.
I have to say that Ben was good in it. Indeed, all of the performances were pretty good, although Bob Hoskin's accent seemed a bit wobbly early on to me.
However, I didn't really enjoy the film.
It reminded me a lot of the Black Dahlia. Now that isn't to say it was that bad, it's just it was set during a similar sort of period and was about Hollywood (Hollywoodland used to be the old name for Hollywood - the sign even used to have the 'land' bit, trivia fans).
Maybe it's just me, but there's something about these two "real crime" films that I didn't really like.
I think a major part is to do with the fact they never really gave you a proper answer. Clearly, Black Dahlia had a theory as to who it was, but it was just so bizarre and stupid and made so little sense it just felt rubbish. Hollywoodland didn't really even have one of those - the detective chasing the story never really came to a definite definitive conclusion other than a sort of vague suggestion that it probably was suicide in the end.
The only saving grace for Hollywoodland is that it was clearly intended that way - the detective rediscovers what's important through investigating the murder, type story.
The other thing about them that turns me off is they feel like they're really self-indulgent naval-gazing exercises.
It's like the directors are more interested in the Hollywood of the 40's and 50's than the stories themselves. I think the intention of both is sort of to go "Here's the seedy underbelly of Hollywood."
But there are two things with that. First, we all kinda know it was seedy already, but then second there's a feeling that they don't really mean it. Or at least, maybe they do, but they're also going "Woah, cool, it's old Hollywood - great, huh?"
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
The Saga
Coming soon to a multiplex near you...
I don't think I've mentioned this on here before, but I've been having a hell of a time with my new Egg Credit Card. Basically, they've been making a total hash of setting up the standing order that takes money out of my account.
Egg is one of those entirely online outfits - apart from the card and the t's and c's that came with it they've never sent me anything via post. Now if you have a credit card you'll know that they generally operate by sending you a statement in the post which has all your transactions and stuff and tells you what the minimum payment is, etc, etc.
Now egg does do statements, but you access them online and that's it. But what they also do is set up a direct debit with your bank account and then they'll take out either the minimum or a fixed amount, or whatever.
The reason I got the card, by the way, was because of my financial difficulties a while back - I transferred a balance to them in order to take advantage of an interest free period.
However, when I first set up the account there seems to have been some problem with my account numbers - I happened to phone them about something else and the numbers they mentioned were totally different to what they should have been. Now, I'm perfectly willing to hold my hand up and say that might have been my fault. I don't really see how, as the numbers were totally random, but okay, maybe it was me.
So, we re-did the details and they had another go.
Then the saga really started - when the next month came round I got this nasty e-mail from them saying the direct debit had failed. I went and checked various things and, while the money hadn't come out, according to the listings they had set up the DD. It's just somehow they'd failed to do it properly, I guess.
So I phoned them up again and we went through it all again, giving them exactly the same info. Then I did a manual cash transfer again to cover the late payment.
And guess what?
Same thing next month.
Nasty e-mail. I phone them up yet again. Go through all the exact same details yet again. I manually transfer money yet again.
Finally, it looks like (*fingers crossed*) it's worked.
This catalogue of balls up is hardly a glowing reference and as soon as the interest free period is over I'm seriously considering transferring the balance out.
I don't think I've mentioned this on here before, but I've been having a hell of a time with my new Egg Credit Card. Basically, they've been making a total hash of setting up the standing order that takes money out of my account.
Egg is one of those entirely online outfits - apart from the card and the t's and c's that came with it they've never sent me anything via post. Now if you have a credit card you'll know that they generally operate by sending you a statement in the post which has all your transactions and stuff and tells you what the minimum payment is, etc, etc.
Now egg does do statements, but you access them online and that's it. But what they also do is set up a direct debit with your bank account and then they'll take out either the minimum or a fixed amount, or whatever.
The reason I got the card, by the way, was because of my financial difficulties a while back - I transferred a balance to them in order to take advantage of an interest free period.
However, when I first set up the account there seems to have been some problem with my account numbers - I happened to phone them about something else and the numbers they mentioned were totally different to what they should have been. Now, I'm perfectly willing to hold my hand up and say that might have been my fault. I don't really see how, as the numbers were totally random, but okay, maybe it was me.
So, we re-did the details and they had another go.
Then the saga really started - when the next month came round I got this nasty e-mail from them saying the direct debit had failed. I went and checked various things and, while the money hadn't come out, according to the listings they had set up the DD. It's just somehow they'd failed to do it properly, I guess.
So I phoned them up again and we went through it all again, giving them exactly the same info. Then I did a manual cash transfer again to cover the late payment.
And guess what?
Same thing next month.
Nasty e-mail. I phone them up yet again. Go through all the exact same details yet again. I manually transfer money yet again.
Finally, it looks like (*fingers crossed*) it's worked.
This catalogue of balls up is hardly a glowing reference and as soon as the interest free period is over I'm seriously considering transferring the balance out.
Monday, 20 October 2008
chilly
So this weekend I got my haircut.
I went for the shorter version, with the sides trimmed with trimmers, rather than a scissor cut all over, so it's pretty short (I normally get the trimmer haircut during summer). As such I can't work out whether it was proper cold this w/end or if it was just the sudden lack of hair.
I know I had the heating on all day Saturday, although it was only on at "1 bar" - which is half power - and then Sunday I only put it on in the evening. So it could well have been just chilly but with me feeling it more because of the lack of hair.
I also did a mega-shop on Saturday.
It was so big I used one of those proper full-size trolleys. Being single I never use those - but this time I had all sorts of big packs, like six-packs of pop and water and big value boxes of stuff. As I said, I was trying to get ahead of myself with Chrimbalo fast approaching. I've got loads of pasts and rice and stuff in the freezer now, so hopefully it should be more a job of making sure supplies don't get too low before then.
Then it was back to the gaff for cleaning duties. I thoroughly clean my bedsit every two-weeks. I think that's enough for a single person, but it does take me all day, especially with all the sundries like ironing and changing my towels and bins and stuff.
Anyway, the point is that I did that and all was going swimmingly - I was really cracking on and was going to have loads of time to do stuff, but I fell into a bit of a trap. Unfortunately, it took ages for the kitchen and bathroom floors to dry (it being cold) and I was totally stuck waiting while they did... so I thought I'd have a quick go on Civ3... and it kinda poxed up the whole rest of the weekend, so instead of doing more useful stuff, like scanning or walling or making new updates for my webstes, I basically just plaed Civ3. I didn't even really clear the backlog of TV I've got.
Bugger :(.
I went for the shorter version, with the sides trimmed with trimmers, rather than a scissor cut all over, so it's pretty short (I normally get the trimmer haircut during summer). As such I can't work out whether it was proper cold this w/end or if it was just the sudden lack of hair.
I know I had the heating on all day Saturday, although it was only on at "1 bar" - which is half power - and then Sunday I only put it on in the evening. So it could well have been just chilly but with me feeling it more because of the lack of hair.
I also did a mega-shop on Saturday.
It was so big I used one of those proper full-size trolleys. Being single I never use those - but this time I had all sorts of big packs, like six-packs of pop and water and big value boxes of stuff. As I said, I was trying to get ahead of myself with Chrimbalo fast approaching. I've got loads of pasts and rice and stuff in the freezer now, so hopefully it should be more a job of making sure supplies don't get too low before then.
Then it was back to the gaff for cleaning duties. I thoroughly clean my bedsit every two-weeks. I think that's enough for a single person, but it does take me all day, especially with all the sundries like ironing and changing my towels and bins and stuff.
Anyway, the point is that I did that and all was going swimmingly - I was really cracking on and was going to have loads of time to do stuff, but I fell into a bit of a trap. Unfortunately, it took ages for the kitchen and bathroom floors to dry (it being cold) and I was totally stuck waiting while they did... so I thought I'd have a quick go on Civ3... and it kinda poxed up the whole rest of the weekend, so instead of doing more useful stuff, like scanning or walling or making new updates for my webstes, I basically just plaed Civ3. I didn't even really clear the backlog of TV I've got.
Bugger :(.
Friday, 17 October 2008
tiring
I think this week I've been continuing on with the whole being a bit tired from last week.
I was gallivanting around all over the shop last week, so it's hardly surprising, I guess. I have done a few things - most notably I've been working on a new wallpaper. It's nothing hugely complicated or clever - I'm basically just vectoring out a to love-ru scan - but it's been nice to work on a wall proper again. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish it this weekend.
I've also been reading a Terry Pratchett book called 'Thud!'. I started reading it on the train goign up and coming back from the thing last Friday (I like to read on the train, but reading manga gets you funny looks).
It's a pretty good one - there have been a few of his recently that haven't quite hit the spot, but this one was good. The only sort of down-side to it is that it's another Sam Vimes and City Watch book. Which isn't to say I don't like his Sam Vimes and the Watch books - I liked this one - but I've been wishing he'd focus a bit more on some other stuff. A lot of the recent books seem to be all about the watch.
One of the problems of this is that Sam hates magic, so some Pratchett's best characters (the witches and wizards) are deliberately side-lined, if not excluded all together.
Still, this one was good and I decided to go ahead and buy the other more recent ones I'd been holding back on... though not until I make a significant dent in my pile of unread books.
Did a little scanning last night and watch one of the shows I have left over from the last season. I also have one I watched last week that I forgot to mention on the old blog:
I was gallivanting around all over the shop last week, so it's hardly surprising, I guess. I have done a few things - most notably I've been working on a new wallpaper. It's nothing hugely complicated or clever - I'm basically just vectoring out a to love-ru scan - but it's been nice to work on a wall proper again. Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish it this weekend.
I've also been reading a Terry Pratchett book called 'Thud!'. I started reading it on the train goign up and coming back from the thing last Friday (I like to read on the train, but reading manga gets you funny looks).
It's a pretty good one - there have been a few of his recently that haven't quite hit the spot, but this one was good. The only sort of down-side to it is that it's another Sam Vimes and City Watch book. Which isn't to say I don't like his Sam Vimes and the Watch books - I liked this one - but I've been wishing he'd focus a bit more on some other stuff. A lot of the recent books seem to be all about the watch.
One of the problems of this is that Sam hates magic, so some Pratchett's best characters (the witches and wizards) are deliberately side-lined, if not excluded all together.
Still, this one was good and I decided to go ahead and buy the other more recent ones I'd been holding back on... though not until I make a significant dent in my pile of unread books.
Did a little scanning last night and watch one of the shows I have left over from the last season. I also have one I watched last week that I forgot to mention on the old blog:
- Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - very good. I really wasn't expecting much of this - the images I'd seen for it in the magazines had all suggested it a fan-service heavy rom-com, but it turned out it was a bit more than that. The idea is that the girl in it is a school 'idol', but really she's a nerdy otaku and the male lead accidentally finds this out. Now that could have gone either way, but for the most part it's actually quite good, although there's a couple of elements I'm not sure about. But it's certainly better than I was expecting.
- Mahō Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora - awesome. Now this one was also a bit of a surprise. I'd seen some images from it and I was really not looking forward to it because of the style. It has almost photo-realistic backgrounds - I'm not sure f that's just because they've been painted that way or they've processed actual photos. Now, I'm really not a big fan of animation laid over the top of photos, but once I'd kinda adjusted to the style what was revealed was a lovely story underneath. If I was to say it had a sort of studio Ghibli feel to it I think you'll know what I mean.
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Megadeth
I've been listening to a lot of Megadeth recently.
This has kinda been brought about by a "grand project" I've been attempting (more on that later), the upshot of which has meant I've had all my Megadeth CD on my MP3 player, and hence can listen at work.
I used to be really into music, back when I was in A-level and at University. Interestingly it's another demonstration of how I'm slightly obsessive. I'd buy lots of CDs from new bands and obscure bands and stuff.
My main music of choice was heavy metal - specifically thrash or speed metal, by bands like Metallica and Slayer. My favourite was always Megadeth, though. I still think Countdown to Extinction is the greatest album ever made.
The reason I kinda stopped was a triple whammy.
Firstly, once I graduated Uni my interest just generally faded. My peers were less into music than I was, so there were fewer people to talk about it with.
Second, I got back into anime and manga in a big way, so a heck of a lot of my time was spent watching and reading that. Plus of course, my money went on buying then, rather than CD.
But the other key part was that Megadeth ceased to be. My favourite band was no more, and my interest kinda evaporated with them.
The reason they stopped was that Dave Mustaine (Megadeth has always been his band) had a severe arm injury and the prognosis was that he would never play again.
However, unknown to me, as I wasn't really paying attention any more was that Dave got better and eventually several years later he released a new Megadeth album.
Now, whilst I wouldn't say I was really back into music as such I have been rediscovering Megadeth, as well as familiarising myself with their newer albums, and I've really been enjoying it.
This has kinda been brought about by a "grand project" I've been attempting (more on that later), the upshot of which has meant I've had all my Megadeth CD on my MP3 player, and hence can listen at work.
I used to be really into music, back when I was in A-level and at University. Interestingly it's another demonstration of how I'm slightly obsessive. I'd buy lots of CDs from new bands and obscure bands and stuff.
My main music of choice was heavy metal - specifically thrash or speed metal, by bands like Metallica and Slayer. My favourite was always Megadeth, though. I still think Countdown to Extinction is the greatest album ever made.
The reason I kinda stopped was a triple whammy.
Firstly, once I graduated Uni my interest just generally faded. My peers were less into music than I was, so there were fewer people to talk about it with.
Second, I got back into anime and manga in a big way, so a heck of a lot of my time was spent watching and reading that. Plus of course, my money went on buying then, rather than CD.
But the other key part was that Megadeth ceased to be. My favourite band was no more, and my interest kinda evaporated with them.
The reason they stopped was that Dave Mustaine (Megadeth has always been his band) had a severe arm injury and the prognosis was that he would never play again.
However, unknown to me, as I wasn't really paying attention any more was that Dave got better and eventually several years later he released a new Megadeth album.
Now, whilst I wouldn't say I was really back into music as such I have been rediscovering Megadeth, as well as familiarising myself with their newer albums, and I've really been enjoying it.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Drowning in Telly
I've been a bit indiscriminate with my telly watching lately.
I was trying to hold back and be a bit more selective, but I've kinda been watching a random crap. Unfortunately, this also means I'm getting a sizeable back-log of unwatched shows. There are a good couple of shows I've got sat on the PVR waiting to be finished.
But on top of that I know at the end of this month Lost season 4 will be turning up (on DVD - I don't have satellite), plus I'm pretty sure the last season of Battlestar Galactica is knocking about sometime soon.
Lost season 4 will be one of those things that always show me up as a completely lazy bastard. When it arrives I'll almost certainly sit and watch it almost non-stop. It shows that, if I really wanted to, I could plough through all my back-logs of DVDs, manga, books, games, etc, it's just that I tend to distract myself with rubbish and do things half-arsed.
But then every so often something like Lost turns up and I go through it solidly with total dedication until it's finished - probably in less than a week. So if I can do that with Lost, why don't I do it with other stuff? As I say, it's because I'm a lazy bugger.
I've not watched any of the new Battlestar yet, but I've heard good things, so I thought I should check it out. Unfortunately I think that means I need to get through 4 seasons, a mini-series and a couple of films, I think. It's a lot of stuff, especially when I've got loads of other telly stuff to watch.
I think I'm going to have to rationalise a bit. Plus I know some things are coming to an end. For example, both the F1 and MotoGP seasons must be due to end soon, plus there's some short documentary things that are near the end.
The trick is to not start anything new.
I was trying to hold back and be a bit more selective, but I've kinda been watching a random crap. Unfortunately, this also means I'm getting a sizeable back-log of unwatched shows. There are a good couple of shows I've got sat on the PVR waiting to be finished.
But on top of that I know at the end of this month Lost season 4 will be turning up (on DVD - I don't have satellite), plus I'm pretty sure the last season of Battlestar Galactica is knocking about sometime soon.
Lost season 4 will be one of those things that always show me up as a completely lazy bastard. When it arrives I'll almost certainly sit and watch it almost non-stop. It shows that, if I really wanted to, I could plough through all my back-logs of DVDs, manga, books, games, etc, it's just that I tend to distract myself with rubbish and do things half-arsed.
But then every so often something like Lost turns up and I go through it solidly with total dedication until it's finished - probably in less than a week. So if I can do that with Lost, why don't I do it with other stuff? As I say, it's because I'm a lazy bugger.
I've not watched any of the new Battlestar yet, but I've heard good things, so I thought I should check it out. Unfortunately I think that means I need to get through 4 seasons, a mini-series and a couple of films, I think. It's a lot of stuff, especially when I've got loads of other telly stuff to watch.
I think I'm going to have to rationalise a bit. Plus I know some things are coming to an end. For example, both the F1 and MotoGP seasons must be due to end soon, plus there's some short documentary things that are near the end.
The trick is to not start anything new.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
mags, hair and shopping
This month's newtype, animage and animedia turned up yesterday.
Two of them - newtype and animage - are absolutely dripping with pictures from the new season of shows and I'm very impressed. The other, animedia, is actually kinda rubbish. I sometimes wonder why I keep buying it - it's always very poor in terms of scans. But then it's not like it's reprinting other scans - if I didn't get it I wouldn't see those images. Still, as the anime magazines go, it's definitely the worst one I get.
I'm in desperate need of a haircut - my hair is really rather long and I'm starting to get that uncomfortable sweaty thing I get when it gets this long. Of course that's also a factor of being morbidly obese, but that's no reason not to avoid a haircut.
Looks like I'll have a busy w/end as I'll have to get a haircut and go shopping on top of a bunch of stuff I've got to do anyway.
I should also start hoarding for Christmas. I know chrimbalo is a long way away, but I like to get stuff like fozen food, tins and pasta all hoarded up well in advance, because shopping around Christmas can be such a nightmare.
I remember once going to Sainsburys to get some food one Christmas and the queues were so long I didn't get to the front of queue before my lunch ended. I ended up having to buy some manky sarnis at the petrol station on the way home :/. So now I like to stock up the freezer and cupboards well in advance.
Two of them - newtype and animage - are absolutely dripping with pictures from the new season of shows and I'm very impressed. The other, animedia, is actually kinda rubbish. I sometimes wonder why I keep buying it - it's always very poor in terms of scans. But then it's not like it's reprinting other scans - if I didn't get it I wouldn't see those images. Still, as the anime magazines go, it's definitely the worst one I get.
I'm in desperate need of a haircut - my hair is really rather long and I'm starting to get that uncomfortable sweaty thing I get when it gets this long. Of course that's also a factor of being morbidly obese, but that's no reason not to avoid a haircut.
Looks like I'll have a busy w/end as I'll have to get a haircut and go shopping on top of a bunch of stuff I've got to do anyway.
I should also start hoarding for Christmas. I know chrimbalo is a long way away, but I like to get stuff like fozen food, tins and pasta all hoarded up well in advance, because shopping around Christmas can be such a nightmare.
I remember once going to Sainsburys to get some food one Christmas and the queues were so long I didn't get to the front of queue before my lunch ended. I ended up having to buy some manky sarnis at the petrol station on the way home :/. So now I like to stock up the freezer and cupboards well in advance.
Monday, 13 October 2008
lazy weekend
Well I virtually did bugger all this last weekend - only the "life stuff" I can't get away without doing, like changing the sheets and putting the recycling out.
I just couldn't really be arsed - last week was so intense with visiting Dad, having to do a whole bid in three days and then going to the SPSS thing on Friday, I just felt like blowing the entire w/end on nothing in particular.
So what did I do with my time? I buggered about with Civ3... I know, I really shouldn't have as I've kinda rekindled my interest, but I didn't want to do anything that needed me to think particularly hard. By which I mean I didn't want to do anything 'new', like have to learn a new game or pay particular attention to something. With Civ3 I can almost put my brain on auto-pilot.
Speaking of the SPSS thing it was actually okay. I mean, it wasn't really hugely useful but then it wasn't utterly useless either. Bloody uncomfortable seats though. And they tried to cram way too much in - it ended very late.
I just couldn't really be arsed - last week was so intense with visiting Dad, having to do a whole bid in three days and then going to the SPSS thing on Friday, I just felt like blowing the entire w/end on nothing in particular.
So what did I do with my time? I buggered about with Civ3... I know, I really shouldn't have as I've kinda rekindled my interest, but I didn't want to do anything that needed me to think particularly hard. By which I mean I didn't want to do anything 'new', like have to learn a new game or pay particular attention to something. With Civ3 I can almost put my brain on auto-pilot.
Speaking of the SPSS thing it was actually okay. I mean, it wasn't really hugely useful but then it wasn't utterly useless either. Bloody uncomfortable seats though. And they tried to cram way too much in - it ended very late.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
giving it the hard sell
I've got to go to a thing tomorrow and basically it's going to be a company spending all day giving me the hard sell - as in trying to make me buy their product.
I'd really rather not go, but the problem is I don't want to seem overly negative. It's free and I think my boss thinks it's actually like a mini-course or something. I don't want to have that thing of me just pessimistically going "I don't want to go, it'll be rubbish." I worry about doing that as in I'm not a "team player" or something.
I mean, it may be useful, maybe I am being overly negative, but I've a feeling it won't be much fun. It also seems like a rather long day. It's up in London so I have to put up with the train journeys, so I doubt it'll really be any shorter than my normal work day.
I'd really rather not go, but the problem is I don't want to seem overly negative. It's free and I think my boss thinks it's actually like a mini-course or something. I don't want to have that thing of me just pessimistically going "I don't want to go, it'll be rubbish." I worry about doing that as in I'm not a "team player" or something.
I mean, it may be useful, maybe I am being overly negative, but I've a feeling it won't be much fun. It also seems like a rather long day. It's up in London so I have to put up with the train journeys, so I doubt it'll really be any shorter than my normal work day.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
some new artbooks
I know I kinda promised I wasn't gonna buy any more artbooks until I'd scanned the ones I've got, but I couldn't resist, I'm afraid.
One of the things I got was the latest edition of megami deluxe (volume 11 I think it is). It's the usual collection of cute girls from recent megami posters, with a few clean animedia spreads thrown in for good measure. It'll take the usual age to scan, I'm sure :/.
The other two books are a bit more interesting - they're both for Toshihiro Kawamoto, who was the character designer for things like Cowboy BeBop and Golden Boy. They're retrospective books on his career - each covers 10 years, from memory, and they're quite interesting.
It's one of those times I wish I could read Japanese as the commentary seems like it would be quite interesting. One of the big surprises for me was how much Gundam stuff he did in his early career.
I'm considering not scanning these books - they're really quite nice, thick books, of a high quality and it would be a shame to de-bind them. Also, most of the stuff in them is not big spreads, and it's almost a "sampler" book. Some shows have only one or two images.
I've a strong feeling I'll leave them as-is.
I also received the latest issue of normal megami while I was away. There's some lovely posters in it, so I'll need to scan that too.
I did some scanning last night, actually. I'm into the books that have a lot of pics in them. Last night was the Nagasarete Airantou artbook, and even though I scanned nearly 50 pages I only got half way through the book, so I'll finish it off tonight, I hope.
I also watched some fansubs while I scanned of course:
One of the things I got was the latest edition of megami deluxe (volume 11 I think it is). It's the usual collection of cute girls from recent megami posters, with a few clean animedia spreads thrown in for good measure. It'll take the usual age to scan, I'm sure :/.
The other two books are a bit more interesting - they're both for Toshihiro Kawamoto, who was the character designer for things like Cowboy BeBop and Golden Boy. They're retrospective books on his career - each covers 10 years, from memory, and they're quite interesting.
It's one of those times I wish I could read Japanese as the commentary seems like it would be quite interesting. One of the big surprises for me was how much Gundam stuff he did in his early career.
I'm considering not scanning these books - they're really quite nice, thick books, of a high quality and it would be a shame to de-bind them. Also, most of the stuff in them is not big spreads, and it's almost a "sampler" book. Some shows have only one or two images.
I've a strong feeling I'll leave them as-is.
I also received the latest issue of normal megami while I was away. There's some lovely posters in it, so I'll need to scan that too.
I did some scanning last night, actually. I'm into the books that have a lot of pics in them. Last night was the Nagasarete Airantou artbook, and even though I scanned nearly 50 pages I only got half way through the book, so I'll finish it off tonight, I hope.
I also watched some fansubs while I scanned of course:
- World Destruction - okay. I gotta say this didn't really do much for me. I mean, it wasn't actively bad or anything, it's just it felt a little tired and cliched. It appears to be based on a sega video game property, so maybe that had some impact, but it's a show I had little interest in.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
return of the tris
Well now, it's been a while since I posted on here. As mentioned that's because I've been away on holiday--I went down to Devon to visit my Dad, as it was his birthday last week.
It was a pretty expensive w/end all things considered. My new car has really great fuel economy. I can get around 50 miles per gallon if I "eco-drive" it, but of course if you're having to do around 400 miles, that still means you're going to use about 8 gallons, which is a full tank of petrol and so costs the best part of £40 or so :/.
Then there's eating on the road - unless you pack a lunch, which I can never be arsed to do, you'll inevitably have to get something to eat (the journey is the best part of 4 hours) and prices in rest stops are never cheap - I must have spent about £10, total.
Then there's the fact it's his birthday, so I spent about £35 or so on gifts. Plus I paid for a meal at the local restauranty-pub place, which was about £40.
So, all things considered that's about £125. Not the cheapest of week-ends :/.
And speaking of expensive, I've come back and seen some annoying news this morning. I've been buying the individual volumes for ADV's releases of Welcome to NHK and Red Garden.
However, a few months back, ADV essentially went tits-up. They've not actually folded, but, from what I've read, what happened was they made a dodgy move with a backer/investor in Japan. That all fell through and (for some reason) they lost all of the titles they'd licensed during that period.
Which included NHK and Red Garden.
But then, Funimation swooped to the rescue, picking up the licenses. Now it's taken them a while to catch up with stuff (they also picked up distribution of all the Geneon titles) and the announcement they've made is that they're releasing both series as collected volumes.
I must admit I was kinda expecting that as most all of the stuff they've released that they picked up has been in the form of collected volumes (sometimes as "part 1" and "part 2" sometimes as the full series) but it doesn't make it any less annoying.
I wouldn't mind so much if either series had only been at the 1 or 2 volume stage, but both were 1 volume away from completion. Factor into that the fact that the number of eps per disk always starts higher and then reduces and it means that in order to get the last 3 or 4 eps I have to not only buy several disks I've already got, but I have to pay a huge whack for just those last few eps.
It's pretty annoying, and pretty expensive too.
It was a pretty expensive w/end all things considered. My new car has really great fuel economy. I can get around 50 miles per gallon if I "eco-drive" it, but of course if you're having to do around 400 miles, that still means you're going to use about 8 gallons, which is a full tank of petrol and so costs the best part of £40 or so :/.
Then there's eating on the road - unless you pack a lunch, which I can never be arsed to do, you'll inevitably have to get something to eat (the journey is the best part of 4 hours) and prices in rest stops are never cheap - I must have spent about £10, total.
Then there's the fact it's his birthday, so I spent about £35 or so on gifts. Plus I paid for a meal at the local restauranty-pub place, which was about £40.
So, all things considered that's about £125. Not the cheapest of week-ends :/.
And speaking of expensive, I've come back and seen some annoying news this morning. I've been buying the individual volumes for ADV's releases of Welcome to NHK and Red Garden.
However, a few months back, ADV essentially went tits-up. They've not actually folded, but, from what I've read, what happened was they made a dodgy move with a backer/investor in Japan. That all fell through and (for some reason) they lost all of the titles they'd licensed during that period.
Which included NHK and Red Garden.
But then, Funimation swooped to the rescue, picking up the licenses. Now it's taken them a while to catch up with stuff (they also picked up distribution of all the Geneon titles) and the announcement they've made is that they're releasing both series as collected volumes.
I must admit I was kinda expecting that as most all of the stuff they've released that they picked up has been in the form of collected volumes (sometimes as "part 1" and "part 2" sometimes as the full series) but it doesn't make it any less annoying.
I wouldn't mind so much if either series had only been at the 1 or 2 volume stage, but both were 1 volume away from completion. Factor into that the fact that the number of eps per disk always starts higher and then reduces and it means that in order to get the last 3 or 4 eps I have to not only buy several disks I've already got, but I have to pay a huge whack for just those last few eps.
It's pretty annoying, and pretty expensive too.
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
birthdays and long week-end
It's my Dad's birthday tomorrow, so I'm going down to visit him this w/end.
He lives in Devon and I live in Hampshire, so it's a good trek--about 3 or 4 hours, traffic depending.
I'm actually going down on Saturday and coming back on Monday, but I'm taking Thursday and Friday off as well so that I can get some personal stuff done as well.
It probably means the bloggage won't get any updates for a while, as I tend to write these first thing at work. So I'll see you next week (I dunno who I'm talking too--nobody actually reads this :/).
He lives in Devon and I live in Hampshire, so it's a good trek--about 3 or 4 hours, traffic depending.
I'm actually going down on Saturday and coming back on Monday, but I'm taking Thursday and Friday off as well so that I can get some personal stuff done as well.
It probably means the bloggage won't get any updates for a while, as I tend to write these first thing at work. So I'll see you next week (I dunno who I'm talking too--nobody actually reads this :/).
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
my little angel
Well, I finished that re-cg I was working on.
You can find the finished product over at AP here. It's not a whole lot different to the preview I posted in the previous blog, mainly because I got sick of doing the wings.
I think it's probably my best vector work ever. I've used every technique I have at my command to make it and I think the results are spectacular.
The only problem is I'm not sure I can do it justice in a wall. I had a few ideas, but I dunno, I think I may wimp out of actually walling it :(. What makes this a special shame is that I very much doubt anyone else will wall it either :(.
I made an appeal for someone to wall it in the notes on the AP page and I'm effectively repeating that appeal here, I guess. I'd love someone to wall it. I can also make a wingless version available if you want to make your own wings in your wall--just give me a shout over at AP.
Eventually the vector will go up on my own site of course, but that won't be for a while.
And speaking of my own sites I uploaded the last of the previous batch of updates this last w/end. It was a review of X--ostensibly the anime, but also the manga effectively. Check it out here.
I think I mentioned it before on the blog. I struggle with CLAMP stuff and I sometimes fear it's because I'm homophobic on some level. I don't think I am, but, for some reason I can never pin down, I never really quite like CLAMP's stuff. I tend to assume this is because of their story-telling, but I dunno, everyone else seems to love their stuff, so I wonder if there's not something more to it
Well, that was surprisingly deep for the old blog :/.
I've been working on some new site updates - I've got a bunch of reviews done as I mentioned before, but I like to keep things a bit more varied, which is where things like the vectors and walls come in. It should basically mean my sites will be updated into the New Year at least.
You can find the finished product over at AP here. It's not a whole lot different to the preview I posted in the previous blog, mainly because I got sick of doing the wings.
I think it's probably my best vector work ever. I've used every technique I have at my command to make it and I think the results are spectacular.
The only problem is I'm not sure I can do it justice in a wall. I had a few ideas, but I dunno, I think I may wimp out of actually walling it :(. What makes this a special shame is that I very much doubt anyone else will wall it either :(.
I made an appeal for someone to wall it in the notes on the AP page and I'm effectively repeating that appeal here, I guess. I'd love someone to wall it. I can also make a wingless version available if you want to make your own wings in your wall--just give me a shout over at AP.
Eventually the vector will go up on my own site of course, but that won't be for a while.
And speaking of my own sites I uploaded the last of the previous batch of updates this last w/end. It was a review of X--ostensibly the anime, but also the manga effectively. Check it out here.
I think I mentioned it before on the blog. I struggle with CLAMP stuff and I sometimes fear it's because I'm homophobic on some level. I don't think I am, but, for some reason I can never pin down, I never really quite like CLAMP's stuff. I tend to assume this is because of their story-telling, but I dunno, everyone else seems to love their stuff, so I wonder if there's not something more to it
Well, that was surprisingly deep for the old blog :/.
I've been working on some new site updates - I've got a bunch of reviews done as I mentioned before, but I like to keep things a bit more varied, which is where things like the vectors and walls come in. It should basically mean my sites will be updated into the New Year at least.
Monday, 29 September 2008
will it never end?
Well, I was a particularly good little boy this w/end and I did a shed load of scanning.
In fact, I actually did a count at the end of Sunday and I'd done a total of 189 scans. This was across 5 artbooks... One of which actually reminded me why the whole scanning thing had pretty much ground to a halt: of those 189 scans, it must have had about 89 of them. In one artbook.
I mean, that's great--everyone who buys artbooks loves it when they're jam-packed with pretty colour pictures--but it also kinda makes the book feel like a chore to scan. I mean, with a book like that, you can be going at it for 2 or 3 hours and then think to yourself "How am I doing? I must be nearly finished." Then you count up how many scans you've done and got left and you find you're only half way through :/.
Anyway, the good news is that the artbook pile is at least 1/3rd, if not half as big as it used to be.
I've been continuing in my game of anime catch-up while I've been scanning. I'm hopeful that if I can stick with the scanning during the next few weeks I can clear the entire backlog of series before the new (October) season's fansubs really get going.
This w/end I watched:
These shows have confirmed that they can still produce stuff that's interesting and different.
In fact, I actually did a count at the end of Sunday and I'd done a total of 189 scans. This was across 5 artbooks... One of which actually reminded me why the whole scanning thing had pretty much ground to a halt: of those 189 scans, it must have had about 89 of them. In one artbook.
I mean, that's great--everyone who buys artbooks loves it when they're jam-packed with pretty colour pictures--but it also kinda makes the book feel like a chore to scan. I mean, with a book like that, you can be going at it for 2 or 3 hours and then think to yourself "How am I doing? I must be nearly finished." Then you count up how many scans you've done and got left and you find you're only half way through :/.
Anyway, the good news is that the artbook pile is at least 1/3rd, if not half as big as it used to be.
I've been continuing in my game of anime catch-up while I've been scanning. I'm hopeful that if I can stick with the scanning during the next few weeks I can clear the entire backlog of series before the new (October) season's fansubs really get going.
This w/end I watched:
- Special A - very good. Another from the plethora of shoujo manga adaptations that seem to have exploded forth this season. But this one is distinctly different. I mean, it's got pretty-boy style art and the premise is daft, like most shoujo stuff, but this is more of a traditional romance job. And I was actually quite impressed. It's not really new or original as such--I've seen just about everything here before--but it's got gusto and puts a nice spin on the whole scenario. And it's pretty funny too.
- Tetsuwan Birdy Decode - okay/good. It's got an interesting premise, I'll give it that. And it does generally feel like it has the potential to be quite good--the bad-guys are quite interesting, especially. But I dunno, it just felt like it lacked something. I think maybe it's because the whole Birdy character wasn't really explored much at all. I only watched my usual 3 eps and maybe it gets a bit more involved later, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
- Koihime†Musou - okay. It's basically the same idea as ikki tousen--taking the whole "romance of the three (four?) kingdoms" thing and replacing the characters with hot chicks. And hot chicks means boobs, jiggling and lots of baths, obviously. Yes, it's a fan-service show, as you can guess. I dunno--it didn't really do much for me other than the t&a, though.
- Natsume Yuujin-chou - awesome. Yujin-chou means "book of friends;" the friends in question being ayakashi, which are like spirits. It's based around that whole thing of knowing someone's "true name" gives you power over them. This was really very good indeed--it's the type of show that only anime does. Partly that's because it's routed in Eastern mystic traditions like I say, but also because it baulks all sorts of traditional story-telling structures and just does its own thing.
These shows have confirmed that they can still produce stuff that's interesting and different.
Friday, 26 September 2008
nody blackered
I'm bloody knackered.
Couple of nights ago I had a really broken sleep--it took me ages to get to sleep and then I was suddenly wide awake at 4'o'clock and I couldn't get back to sleep. I probably only got about 4 hours sleep, which is no where near enough. I need a good 7-8 hours a night and getting less really fucks me up for a good couple of days after.
I've not been helping myself, though. There's been a bit of a situation at work where I've not been able to start a piece of work that really needs to be done as soon as possible. As such, I've been doing all this prep work so that it's "ready to go" and it's been driving me a bit potty, tbh--I keep working myself round in loops :/.
I've also been getting really stuck into this new vector I've been working on. It's almost become an obsession and is really eating away what little spare time I have. But I'm literally only a few tweaks away from completing it. Here's a preview:
I've also been doing some scanning of a couple of artbooks (during the week--I know!) though they were deliberately ones with only a couple of good pics. I also sampled another of the new anime shows:
The only plan I have for the weekend are to get my Dad a b'day present and card, as it's his birthday next week. I'll probably do some more scanning, though, as I feel a need to lift that particular "burden" from my shoulders.
Couple of nights ago I had a really broken sleep--it took me ages to get to sleep and then I was suddenly wide awake at 4'o'clock and I couldn't get back to sleep. I probably only got about 4 hours sleep, which is no where near enough. I need a good 7-8 hours a night and getting less really fucks me up for a good couple of days after.
I've not been helping myself, though. There's been a bit of a situation at work where I've not been able to start a piece of work that really needs to be done as soon as possible. As such, I've been doing all this prep work so that it's "ready to go" and it's been driving me a bit potty, tbh--I keep working myself round in loops :/.
I've also been getting really stuck into this new vector I've been working on. It's almost become an obsession and is really eating away what little spare time I have. But I'm literally only a few tweaks away from completing it. Here's a preview:
I've also been doing some scanning of a couple of artbooks (during the week--I know!) though they were deliberately ones with only a couple of good pics. I also sampled another of the new anime shows:
- Sekirei - goodish. I struggled a little with deciding whether I liked this or not. It's got a huge heap-load of fan-service, which is good, animation was pretty good too, but--and I feel weird when I have to say this about a fan-service show--the plot really needed to get a shift on. One of those I'd probably buy but then sell on.
The only plan I have for the weekend are to get my Dad a b'day present and card, as it's his birthday next week. I'll probably do some more scanning, though, as I feel a need to lift that particular "burden" from my shoulders.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
i hate when that happens
I think I mentioned a little while back that I was starting to feel the old walling bug gripping me again.
I've been working on a Soul Eater wall after I found the series to me quite enjoyable the other week. It seemed to have some reasonable scans that I got some ideas for.
I've not really been experiencing wallers block--it's not so much that I've been stuck for ideas, it's more like the ideas I've been having have been way beyond my ability. Previously I'd probably have launched into them anyway, struggled for months and than been disappointed with the outcome.
Recently I've just been not starting.
But anyway, I saw some SE scans, got some ideas and started. I actually started with a simple one where I was basically just recreating the scan, just to get into the swing of things.
And someone's beaten me to the punch :(.
Basically, this wall by halcyontwilight is what I've been working on.
I mean, mine's different, but I've been doing the same idea--recreated the scan.
It kinda takes the momentum out of me continuing. I mean, one of the reasons I've often picked unpopular series to wall is because I basically know that no-one else will use the scan before me.
I'm not actually a very talented artist and have only a few skills when it comes to photoshop, so I'm very slow. That makes walling popular series dangerous, as there's a good chance someone will use the scan first.
Of course that doesn't stop me using it; it's just I always like to feel there's something exclusive or individual about my walls. I mean, heck, they're never actually any good, so at the least they can be unique on some level.
Ah well, I'll guess I'll finish it, but it's just annoying. Especially when the other person did such a good job :/.
I've been working on a Soul Eater wall after I found the series to me quite enjoyable the other week. It seemed to have some reasonable scans that I got some ideas for.
I've not really been experiencing wallers block--it's not so much that I've been stuck for ideas, it's more like the ideas I've been having have been way beyond my ability. Previously I'd probably have launched into them anyway, struggled for months and than been disappointed with the outcome.
Recently I've just been not starting.
But anyway, I saw some SE scans, got some ideas and started. I actually started with a simple one where I was basically just recreating the scan, just to get into the swing of things.
And someone's beaten me to the punch :(.
Basically, this wall by halcyontwilight is what I've been working on.
I mean, mine's different, but I've been doing the same idea--recreated the scan.
It kinda takes the momentum out of me continuing. I mean, one of the reasons I've often picked unpopular series to wall is because I basically know that no-one else will use the scan before me.
I'm not actually a very talented artist and have only a few skills when it comes to photoshop, so I'm very slow. That makes walling popular series dangerous, as there's a good chance someone will use the scan first.
Of course that doesn't stop me using it; it's just I always like to feel there's something exclusive or individual about my walls. I mean, heck, they're never actually any good, so at the least they can be unique on some level.
Ah well, I'll guess I'll finish it, but it's just annoying. Especially when the other person did such a good job :/.
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
rise of the wooden cgi 'actor'
So this last w/end I watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
As it goes it was a big improvement over the first film. Origin films are always tricky--the FF's origin especially is a bit on the ropey side, so they didn't have much to work with. Plus when you read the long-running comics the origin stuff is often quite different to how the characters are in their "steady state".
This film the FF where much more like the 'should be' as it were. The Thing and Johnny Storm especially were pretty much spot on.
Plus Jessica Alba is smoking hot (though I still think she looks weird with blonde hair--she should be less tanned to make it look better, I think).
Anyway, although it was better, the film was a little disappointing if I'm honest. The problem was the bad guys.
As the name suggests, the Silver Surfer was introduced, but also Galactus. Both were very disappointing.
The problem with Galactus was really that he was underused. Plus, being a reader of Marvel Comics I know what he's meant to look like so the way he was depicted here was just a slap in the face--he wasn't depicted. He was basically just a cloud.
The reason for that was made clear on the commentary tracks--they're doing a silver surfer film, so they wanted to leave it up to them how they depict Galactus.
Plus, as I say, he wasn't in it enough. He's there at the end trashing a planet, but they made the mistake of not showing us the planet's inhabitants--it was all done from space. That means there was nothing to really connect us to the danger.
The Silver Surfer looked spectacular and was in it plenty, but he was totally wooden. They said it was one of them virtual actors, but to me he actually looked like it was done with animatronics. His face was just totally blank throughout and he hardly moved.
As it goes it was a big improvement over the first film. Origin films are always tricky--the FF's origin especially is a bit on the ropey side, so they didn't have much to work with. Plus when you read the long-running comics the origin stuff is often quite different to how the characters are in their "steady state".
This film the FF where much more like the 'should be' as it were. The Thing and Johnny Storm especially were pretty much spot on.
Plus Jessica Alba is smoking hot (though I still think she looks weird with blonde hair--she should be less tanned to make it look better, I think).
Anyway, although it was better, the film was a little disappointing if I'm honest. The problem was the bad guys.
As the name suggests, the Silver Surfer was introduced, but also Galactus. Both were very disappointing.
The problem with Galactus was really that he was underused. Plus, being a reader of Marvel Comics I know what he's meant to look like so the way he was depicted here was just a slap in the face--he wasn't depicted. He was basically just a cloud.
The reason for that was made clear on the commentary tracks--they're doing a silver surfer film, so they wanted to leave it up to them how they depict Galactus.
Plus, as I say, he wasn't in it enough. He's there at the end trashing a planet, but they made the mistake of not showing us the planet's inhabitants--it was all done from space. That means there was nothing to really connect us to the danger.
The Silver Surfer looked spectacular and was in it plenty, but he was totally wooden. They said it was one of them virtual actors, but to me he actually looked like it was done with animatronics. His face was just totally blank throughout and he hardly moved.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
self-pimpage: chika
Thought I'd do some shameless self-promotional type pimpage today :p.
This last w/end I uploaded a new vector of the main chika from Dragonaut - The Resonance. Can't remember her name for some reason, but you can dl a psd or jpg of the vector here.
You can also grab a png version over at AP here if that format suits you better.
I used the girl in two walls, which you can dl here. The walls aren't exactly spectacular, I have to admit. The planet became weirdly oversaturated with too bright colours. I did a version without it, but that's ended up looking a little plain, unfortunately.
I was working on some site updates over the w/end actually, although they were reviews, rather than walls or vectors.
I'm trying to get a bit more back into walling, etc (more on that later), but I've got 6 reviews set up as updates, plus one more left from the last batch.
Here's a weird statistic for you - once all those seven are up I will have a total of 60 reviews up on my site. That seems pretty impressive... well, to me at least :).
This last w/end I uploaded a new vector of the main chika from Dragonaut - The Resonance. Can't remember her name for some reason, but you can dl a psd or jpg of the vector here.
You can also grab a png version over at AP here if that format suits you better.
I used the girl in two walls, which you can dl here. The walls aren't exactly spectacular, I have to admit. The planet became weirdly oversaturated with too bright colours. I did a version without it, but that's ended up looking a little plain, unfortunately.
I was working on some site updates over the w/end actually, although they were reviews, rather than walls or vectors.
I'm trying to get a bit more back into walling, etc (more on that later), but I've got 6 reviews set up as updates, plus one more left from the last batch.
Here's a weird statistic for you - once all those seven are up I will have a total of 60 reviews up on my site. That seems pretty impressive... well, to me at least :).
Monday, 22 September 2008
scannerific
Well, as I said on Friday I didn't have any specific plans, but a lot of options. I basically went for scanning and got through newtype, animedia and animage. Given that it's the cusp of a new season that meant there were loads of spreads and pics--I did over 150 scans in total, and my back could really feel it.
I also watched a few things while I was scanning:
I've never really thought of myself as being anti-yaoi or Boy-Love or anything, but I must admit I've been rather amazed by the number of series that have been BL series (or at least have had elements of it) this last season (since April).
I dunno if it's just that I've ended up watching those ones first, but rather than the usual surfeit of high-school romantic comedies / harem and other shounen focused series, this last season we seem to be drowning in BL and shoujo.
On the one hand I'm glad about that--variety is the spice of life, even if generally BL doesn't appeal to me, but on the other hand it's a little annoying. I mean, why the sudden surge? It's like they're all trend chasing, which is a little disheartening.
I also watched a few things while I was scanning:
- He is My Master: pretty good. It's not from the new season but an older show I dl'ed recently. I've read some of the manga and it was an interesting adaptation--they've tweaked it quite a bit (they being Gainax, I believe). But it's still chock full of fan-service, which can only be a good thing.
- Himitsu - Top Secret: very good. I was a bit surprised by this. I didn't know anything about it going in and was very pleasantly surprised. I've got to say the animation is a little ropey, but both the concept and story are very strong.
- Antique Bakery: very good. This I was also surprised about. I'd pegged this as yet another BL series (more on that below), but it wasn't really. I mean, it had elements of that in it, but there was more to it than that.
- Golgo 13: reasonable. Now this I did have expectations going into--those being that it would be utterly awful. And as far as that's concerned I was surprised... but that doesn't mean it was good, just that it wasn't awful. It was cheesy as hell, but I dunno, there was a certain appeal, I guess.
I've never really thought of myself as being anti-yaoi or Boy-Love or anything, but I must admit I've been rather amazed by the number of series that have been BL series (or at least have had elements of it) this last season (since April).
I dunno if it's just that I've ended up watching those ones first, but rather than the usual surfeit of high-school romantic comedies / harem and other shounen focused series, this last season we seem to be drowning in BL and shoujo.
On the one hand I'm glad about that--variety is the spice of life, even if generally BL doesn't appeal to me, but on the other hand it's a little annoying. I mean, why the sudden surge? It's like they're all trend chasing, which is a little disheartening.
Friday, 19 September 2008
choices, choices
I've no particular plans for the weekend, but a lot of options.
The only thing I do have to do is clean my bedsit and do a bunch of ironing. Otherwise I can do whatever.
There's certainly some scanning to do--newtype et al turned up at the beginning of the week, plus there's all the artbooks that need seeing to, as always. It never ends, scanning. I mean only the other day I was trawling through otaku.co.uk looking for new artbooks and I found about a dozen or so I'd like--I've not even cleared the 15 or so that I've got debound and waiting to go and I'm already planning my next purchases :/.
In the old days I would have just bought them there and then, but I think I'm learning a bit more discipline. Chopping up your credit cards has that effect on you using them :/.
Loads of anime to watch too, especially with the new season rapidly approaching. I think there's something like a dozen shows from this last season that I need to peruse--that's a good few hours there and would tie up well with the scanning.
Plus there's also all the anime I've bought. I really need to get into those piles so I can get e-baying again and generate some more 'bonus cash'.
Then there's all these reviews I've got written. I've got about 7 reviews stacked up and ready to go. By my reckoning that should take trismugistus.com the best part of the way to christmas alone.
Then there's my old scans - I should process them, get scan-city.org on track, as it's a total waste of money having it sat there doing nothing at all :/.
Plus on that front I think I might have caught a bit of a walling bug again--I've certainly got a good few projects in mind. My big stickler on walling has actually been vectoring. After that blog a while back where I was saying I really love it, the flip-side is I'm a bit of a perfectionist, which means it takes me bloody ages to finish a vector.
Which reminds me, I've been thinking about getting photoshop cs3. Well, actually I've been thinking about getting the full adobe "image product", which means photoshop, illustrate (which is for doing proper vectors) and some other programs. It's the best part of £1,000, though :/.
Plus I should finish off the Company of Heroes expansion. I should really tackle some more games, actually. Again, partly so I can e-bay some of them, but also because the chrimbalo season is approaching and there's quite a few new games I have on pre-order. Plus of course gaming is fun :).
The only thing I do have to do is clean my bedsit and do a bunch of ironing. Otherwise I can do whatever.
There's certainly some scanning to do--newtype et al turned up at the beginning of the week, plus there's all the artbooks that need seeing to, as always. It never ends, scanning. I mean only the other day I was trawling through otaku.co.uk looking for new artbooks and I found about a dozen or so I'd like--I've not even cleared the 15 or so that I've got debound and waiting to go and I'm already planning my next purchases :/.
In the old days I would have just bought them there and then, but I think I'm learning a bit more discipline. Chopping up your credit cards has that effect on you using them :/.
Loads of anime to watch too, especially with the new season rapidly approaching. I think there's something like a dozen shows from this last season that I need to peruse--that's a good few hours there and would tie up well with the scanning.
Plus there's also all the anime I've bought. I really need to get into those piles so I can get e-baying again and generate some more 'bonus cash'.
Then there's all these reviews I've got written. I've got about 7 reviews stacked up and ready to go. By my reckoning that should take trismugistus.com the best part of the way to christmas alone.
Then there's my old scans - I should process them, get scan-city.org on track, as it's a total waste of money having it sat there doing nothing at all :/.
Plus on that front I think I might have caught a bit of a walling bug again--I've certainly got a good few projects in mind. My big stickler on walling has actually been vectoring. After that blog a while back where I was saying I really love it, the flip-side is I'm a bit of a perfectionist, which means it takes me bloody ages to finish a vector.
Which reminds me, I've been thinking about getting photoshop cs3. Well, actually I've been thinking about getting the full adobe "image product", which means photoshop, illustrate (which is for doing proper vectors) and some other programs. It's the best part of £1,000, though :/.
Plus I should finish off the Company of Heroes expansion. I should really tackle some more games, actually. Again, partly so I can e-bay some of them, but also because the chrimbalo season is approaching and there's quite a few new games I have on pre-order. Plus of course gaming is fun :).
Thursday, 18 September 2008
collected volumes
I've been getting rather annoyed recently with the western anime companies.
The reason is that they keep putting out "collected volumes" almost immediately after releasing the last of the individual volumes. And guess what--the collected volumes are of course a lot cheaper than the individual volumes. I mean, they are different--the collected volumes are often thin packs and so have only one cover and no inserts, etc, but it's such a total pain in the arse.
The collected versions hack the resale potential of the individual volumes. I mean, if I buy 6 disks for £14 that's £84. Maybe you'd hope to resell at a third, so that's £28. Well if there's a collected set that's only £30 or so, then that's never going to happen, is it? You'll be lucky to clear £15, which is barely the cost of one disk.
I mean, collected volumes have always been a bit annoying for that affect, but they at least used to give it a year-or-so. Now, you can have just received the last volume and you can already buy the collected version. It gives you no opportunity to resell at a decent price.
But it actually looks like it's going in a good direction. Quite a few series are just being released in collected format to begin with--sometimes as half collections, with "part 1" and then "part 2" of a season. This is obviously a total win situation for us consumers. The collected volumes do represent excellent value for money and of course even if they're re-released as a complete collection the resale isn't so horribly impacted.
The reason is that they keep putting out "collected volumes" almost immediately after releasing the last of the individual volumes. And guess what--the collected volumes are of course a lot cheaper than the individual volumes. I mean, they are different--the collected volumes are often thin packs and so have only one cover and no inserts, etc, but it's such a total pain in the arse.
The collected versions hack the resale potential of the individual volumes. I mean, if I buy 6 disks for £14 that's £84. Maybe you'd hope to resell at a third, so that's £28. Well if there's a collected set that's only £30 or so, then that's never going to happen, is it? You'll be lucky to clear £15, which is barely the cost of one disk.
I mean, collected volumes have always been a bit annoying for that affect, but they at least used to give it a year-or-so. Now, you can have just received the last volume and you can already buy the collected version. It gives you no opportunity to resell at a decent price.
But it actually looks like it's going in a good direction. Quite a few series are just being released in collected format to begin with--sometimes as half collections, with "part 1" and then "part 2" of a season. This is obviously a total win situation for us consumers. The collected volumes do represent excellent value for money and of course even if they're re-released as a complete collection the resale isn't so horribly impacted.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
manga, manga everywhere
I'm a big fan of manga.
Manga are Japanese comic books, if you're not in the know. Manga is accepted in Japan in a way that comics aren't in the west, so it's basically okay to read manga over there, and it's very popular.
In fact, it's so popular that vast quantities of it are churned out every week. The format is different to American comics, where individual books have fairly small page counts and are published on their own. Manga comes out in huge collected volumes, with up to a dozen independent stories running at the same time in each of these books.
The books are themed, of course. So they may be aimed at young men (shounen) or young girls (shoujo). But, to some extent, the content within that varies. I mean, there are constraints, obviously, but it doesn't mean the mag that carries naruto is all about ninjas, although most its series are action oriented.
The schedules of manga can be quite punishing as I understand it--they're monthly or weekly. The weekly ones have fewer pages, but both schedules mean greater output is required from the artist than in the west, which is why they have assistants. The assistants take on similar roles to inkers and colourists (manga is black and white, so they use screen tone--probably digitally nowadays) in the west.
They also put out what are called tankobon, which are collected volumes of the particular series. These are what get translated and put out by the western companies, like Viz, Tokyopop or Dark Horse.
Anyway, the problem with these for me is that the companies are often playing catch-up when they first start putting out a series. So in Japan, the Tankobon basically might come out every six-months, or nine-months, or yearly or whatever. But for the western versions they almost never pick them up at the beginning.
Partly, or course, that's because manga in the west is still relatively knew, and with all that output in Japan you might license a series that's already git 17 tankobon out. That means you've a huge "backlog" of stuff to put out.
So they pump it out--one every other month isn't uncommon for the hit series. That can make it a pretty expensive undertaking for me.
It also means that at some point they will catch up with the Japanese manga. So, unless the series has already finished there comes a point where they suddenly change to a six/nine/twelve-month release schedule, which is then really frustrating.
What this means is that you end up with the weird situation where on my manga list I have around 20 series 'on the go'; but on my anime list I never have more than 3 or 4.
Manga are Japanese comic books, if you're not in the know. Manga is accepted in Japan in a way that comics aren't in the west, so it's basically okay to read manga over there, and it's very popular.
In fact, it's so popular that vast quantities of it are churned out every week. The format is different to American comics, where individual books have fairly small page counts and are published on their own. Manga comes out in huge collected volumes, with up to a dozen independent stories running at the same time in each of these books.
The books are themed, of course. So they may be aimed at young men (shounen) or young girls (shoujo). But, to some extent, the content within that varies. I mean, there are constraints, obviously, but it doesn't mean the mag that carries naruto is all about ninjas, although most its series are action oriented.
The schedules of manga can be quite punishing as I understand it--they're monthly or weekly. The weekly ones have fewer pages, but both schedules mean greater output is required from the artist than in the west, which is why they have assistants. The assistants take on similar roles to inkers and colourists (manga is black and white, so they use screen tone--probably digitally nowadays) in the west.
They also put out what are called tankobon, which are collected volumes of the particular series. These are what get translated and put out by the western companies, like Viz, Tokyopop or Dark Horse.
Anyway, the problem with these for me is that the companies are often playing catch-up when they first start putting out a series. So in Japan, the Tankobon basically might come out every six-months, or nine-months, or yearly or whatever. But for the western versions they almost never pick them up at the beginning.
Partly, or course, that's because manga in the west is still relatively knew, and with all that output in Japan you might license a series that's already git 17 tankobon out. That means you've a huge "backlog" of stuff to put out.
So they pump it out--one every other month isn't uncommon for the hit series. That can make it a pretty expensive undertaking for me.
It also means that at some point they will catch up with the Japanese manga. So, unless the series has already finished there comes a point where they suddenly change to a six/nine/twelve-month release schedule, which is then really frustrating.
What this means is that you end up with the weird situation where on my manga list I have around 20 series 'on the go'; but on my anime list I never have more than 3 or 4.
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
I just can't figure it
I'd never really been in to figures.
Figures (or figurines if you prefer) are sort of like half-way between dolls and models. A doll has moveable parts and is pretty much meant for playing with. A model has to be assembled, but once finished is more for decorative purposes.
A figurine doesn't have moveable parts and you don't assemble it. It's pre-moulded plastic and is assembled and painted at the factory. They're basically only for looking at.
Which is pretty much why I'd never been into them. I make models (well, I used to--I haven't done any actual modelling in years) and used to get dolls when I was a kid (well, actually, technically they're called action figures (Star Wars toys, basically) but really they're virtually the same thing--dolls for boys). But that whole "you just look at them" thing about figurines didn't really appeal.
I say didn't because I have loads of them now.
I dunno what it was that kick-started it. I think it was partly because I love Ugetsu Hakua's artwork so much, and especially his designs for BakuTen, that I wanted to get a couple of the figures. They were pretty cheap as well, I seem to remember.
Then it just sort of snowballed. I got those first figures from United Publications, but one of the sites I use the most (and would highly recommend), cd-japan, has a big section of its site devoted to figures. They also send out newsletters each week with all the pre-order figures and I dunno, I liked the BakuTen ones so much I just sort of bought more.
I like them all and I don't regret any of the purchases, but some of them are pretty expensive. Obviously, importing from Japan isn't cheap as such anyway, but some of the figures can be the best part of £100. That's a lot of money for something that you just sit and look at :/.
Anyway, I mention this because my latest purchase turned up last week--Ringo Noyamano from Air Gear dressed as the "Masked Hentai"--and it kinda occurred to me that this figure has sort of stepped past that line of displaying the figures and looking at them. What she's wearing is beyond "skimpy" and into pornographic (hence 'Masked Hentai' :/) so where can I put it that it wouldn't raise more than a few eyebrows?
Not that I specifically care what other people think about me, it's more to save them the embarrassment of seeing it :/.
Figures (or figurines if you prefer) are sort of like half-way between dolls and models. A doll has moveable parts and is pretty much meant for playing with. A model has to be assembled, but once finished is more for decorative purposes.
A figurine doesn't have moveable parts and you don't assemble it. It's pre-moulded plastic and is assembled and painted at the factory. They're basically only for looking at.
Which is pretty much why I'd never been into them. I make models (well, I used to--I haven't done any actual modelling in years) and used to get dolls when I was a kid (well, actually, technically they're called action figures (Star Wars toys, basically) but really they're virtually the same thing--dolls for boys). But that whole "you just look at them" thing about figurines didn't really appeal.
I say didn't because I have loads of them now.
I dunno what it was that kick-started it. I think it was partly because I love Ugetsu Hakua's artwork so much, and especially his designs for BakuTen, that I wanted to get a couple of the figures. They were pretty cheap as well, I seem to remember.
Then it just sort of snowballed. I got those first figures from United Publications, but one of the sites I use the most (and would highly recommend), cd-japan, has a big section of its site devoted to figures. They also send out newsletters each week with all the pre-order figures and I dunno, I liked the BakuTen ones so much I just sort of bought more.
I like them all and I don't regret any of the purchases, but some of them are pretty expensive. Obviously, importing from Japan isn't cheap as such anyway, but some of the figures can be the best part of £100. That's a lot of money for something that you just sit and look at :/.
Anyway, I mention this because my latest purchase turned up last week--Ringo Noyamano from Air Gear dressed as the "Masked Hentai"--and it kinda occurred to me that this figure has sort of stepped past that line of displaying the figures and looking at them. What she's wearing is beyond "skimpy" and into pornographic (hence 'Masked Hentai' :/) so where can I put it that it wouldn't raise more than a few eyebrows?
Not that I specifically care what other people think about me, it's more to save them the embarrassment of seeing it :/.
Monday, 15 September 2008
row, row, fight da powah!
So the big plan for the w/end was to do lots of scanning, and for once things pretty much went as planned.
Over the w/end I'd estimate I did 150 scans. But here's the thing - I didn't scan any artbooks, as such. Obviously, the first thing I scanned was the new megami, but instead of then tackling artbooks I polished a few related things I needed to do.
One of them was scanning anime and manga covers. I do this partly because I sell a lot of things off on e-bay, but also, I like to use them as pics for my reviews over at trigsmugistus.com. There were quite a few to do. Over the last few weeks I've written reviews of Ai Yori Aoshi, GUNxSWORD, Witchblade, Girls Bravo (manga), Eiken (manga) and Genshiken (manga) and they all needs pics to accompany them, which meant scanning all the covers.
The other thing I scanned was megami deluxe 10. Megami deluxe is an odd mag - it's six-monthly and collects together all the posters in megami over the preceding months, plus a few things from animedia. So you're getting stuff you've already got and they're smaller, but they're also cleaner (i.e. there are no folds).
It's a huge undertaking scanning wise--there were around 80 pages to scan, so you can see why I didn't get any artbooks done as well.
Anyway, some long sessions scanning mean I've also been watching fansubs:
Row, row, fight da powah! indeed.
Over the w/end I'd estimate I did 150 scans. But here's the thing - I didn't scan any artbooks, as such. Obviously, the first thing I scanned was the new megami, but instead of then tackling artbooks I polished a few related things I needed to do.
One of them was scanning anime and manga covers. I do this partly because I sell a lot of things off on e-bay, but also, I like to use them as pics for my reviews over at trigsmugistus.com. There were quite a few to do. Over the last few weeks I've written reviews of Ai Yori Aoshi, GUNxSWORD, Witchblade, Girls Bravo (manga), Eiken (manga) and Genshiken (manga) and they all needs pics to accompany them, which meant scanning all the covers.
The other thing I scanned was megami deluxe 10. Megami deluxe is an odd mag - it's six-monthly and collects together all the posters in megami over the preceding months, plus a few things from animedia. So you're getting stuff you've already got and they're smaller, but they're also cleaner (i.e. there are no folds).
It's a huge undertaking scanning wise--there were around 80 pages to scan, so you can see why I didn't get any artbooks done as well.
Anyway, some long sessions scanning mean I've also been watching fansubs:
- Ikkitousen: Great Guardians - fairly good. Watch the 2nd ep (the fansubs seem to end there due to licensing) and it seems to continue being fairly decent. The decision to go with an original story seems to work better that when they're adapting the manga.
- Chocolate Underground - okay. I think this is a kid's show, actually, as it seems to have educational stuff in it about where chocolate is from, etc. It was fairly decent, but not hugely engaging.
- Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief (Nijuu Mensou no Musume) - okay. I was only able to watch one episode of this, presumably due to licensing stuff, and it was also subbed in Italian (No, I don't speak Italian) :/. From what I saw it seemed okay, but as I say I couldn't really understand the dialogue, although the basics of what was happening were fairly clear.
- Gosenzosama Banbanzai! - this was awful. It's a really old show that happened to get some fansubs, but it was really poor. The problem was that the characters tended to stand still babbling on about crap for ten minutes at a time. And I really do mean ten minute stretches of them just standing there jabbering away and me falling asleep.
- Soul Eater - fairly good. I'd read somewhere this was just an animu version of Harry Potter. Now, I can't claim to be hugely familiar with Harry, having only seen the movies, but it didn't really seem that way to me. Overall, I'd probably buy it, tbh--some very funny stuff and the animation was really lovely.
- Slayers Revolution - good. More slayers, basically. Tonally it's the same stuff, character designs are unchanged. Voice actors seem different, but then I'm more used to the English dub actors, tbh. If you like other slayers stuff, you'll like this; and since I do, I did :).
- Penguin no Mondai - not very good, sorta. When I watched the first episode I initially thought I'd stumbled across a hidden gem. But after that first episode and an initial novelty factor, it really annoyed me. I think this might also have been a kids show, but what I do know is it's actually computer animation (it's filtered to make it look flat) and it didn't really look right.
Row, row, fight da powah! indeed.
Friday, 12 September 2008
28 weeks later
So I watched 28 weeks later on rental last night, which is the sequel to 28 days later.
It was pretty good. There were some good scares and it was quite streamlined--there weren't many flat points. The ending especially was quite good, a nice sting that lent an irony to the rest of the film, although it was a little predictable.
It did sort of lack a point, though. In the first film, following the initial stuff there was a clear point of trying to escape to somewhere safe.
In this second one, I dunno, I guess there was a point, but it seemed a little random. The whole immunity of the mother thing almost seemed to be wrapped up in a suggestion that somehow she was somehow keeping the infection suppressed so that she could give it to her husband & family.
When you combine that with the husband's behaviour after infection (he seemed to be consciously targeting his kids), I dunno, it didn't chime well with the infection as established in the previous film as being about mindless rage. There was also almost a suggestion that the virus was somehow controlling them to act that way, or that the virus had come up with a grand plan to infect the world.
It was a little odd in that respect. A more traditional route to go might have been to have the US military conducting experiments on the infected to see if they could use them as weapons. I'd have bought that sort of plot-line, but the "rage family" thing didn't quite work for me. Still, it was quite good as a horror film.
It was pretty good. There were some good scares and it was quite streamlined--there weren't many flat points. The ending especially was quite good, a nice sting that lent an irony to the rest of the film, although it was a little predictable.
It did sort of lack a point, though. In the first film, following the initial stuff there was a clear point of trying to escape to somewhere safe.
In this second one, I dunno, I guess there was a point, but it seemed a little random. The whole immunity of the mother thing almost seemed to be wrapped up in a suggestion that somehow she was somehow keeping the infection suppressed so that she could give it to her husband & family.
When you combine that with the husband's behaviour after infection (he seemed to be consciously targeting his kids), I dunno, it didn't chime well with the infection as established in the previous film as being about mindless rage. There was also almost a suggestion that the virus was somehow controlling them to act that way, or that the virus had come up with a grand plan to infect the world.
It was a little odd in that respect. A more traditional route to go might have been to have the US military conducting experiments on the infected to see if they could use them as weapons. I'd have bought that sort of plot-line, but the "rage family" thing didn't quite work for me. Still, it was quite good as a horror film.
Thursday, 11 September 2008
so now it's winter?
I can't figure this weather out at all--summer seemed all over the place, with some days hot enough for me to break out the aircon, but a lot of rain and cold days too.
Now I think it's meant to be autumn, but it seems we've skipped that and gone straight to winter--the mornings are really dark and it's cold and rainy all the time. In fact, it's been so cold I've considered putting the heating on occasionally, but instead I've broken out the winter jumpers.
I've been catching up with a lot of telly this week. Some of the highlights have included "the hairy bakers" which is a play on words--the series is normally the hairy bikers, but this series has been about baking, which is a subject close to my heart.
I like the hairy bikers, but the show is an odd mix of stuff. It's basically a cookery show, but the way it's delivered is almost high camp, although the idea is that these are two big hairy blokes who ride motorcycles.
Another highlight has been "mutual friends". This is a comedy drama starring Alexander Armstrong and that skinny young fella off of Hustle as well as a bunch of other people who you don't initially recognise but then go "oh yeah, that's her/him off of...". I must admit I was expecting this to be utterly awful. I can't remember the last time I saw a comedy drama that was actually any good--it's been a while.
Which isn't to say mutual friends covers any new ground as such. It's not really innovative in terms of its subject matter, but the jokes are good and it's well done.
What else? Oh yeah, the other thing has been a series of shows around surgery. The quality of the shows has varied quite a bit, but they're mostly interesting. One thing I have liked about the shows is that they're fairly impartial in their outlook.
By that I mean they're not fawning over the doctors and they don't hesitate to make the point that maybe some new technique sounded like a good idea, but clearly wasn't (or was flawed) and several patients died.
They're not for the squeamish, though--the blood really flies in some of the shows.
I got the new megami last week and just got some e-mails saying newtype et al are on the way. I don't think that means I'll have them for the w/end, though. However, my big plan for the w/end is to do a lot of scanning, I think.
There's a bit of an ulterior motive to that, though--I'm way, way behind on the new anime season. It's getting to the stage where the external HDD I keep them on is nearly full and I really need to burn some off to DVD. Plus the new season of shows starts in October, which means there will be a flood of new fansubs in some six-weeks or so.
Now I think it's meant to be autumn, but it seems we've skipped that and gone straight to winter--the mornings are really dark and it's cold and rainy all the time. In fact, it's been so cold I've considered putting the heating on occasionally, but instead I've broken out the winter jumpers.
I've been catching up with a lot of telly this week. Some of the highlights have included "the hairy bakers" which is a play on words--the series is normally the hairy bikers, but this series has been about baking, which is a subject close to my heart.
I like the hairy bikers, but the show is an odd mix of stuff. It's basically a cookery show, but the way it's delivered is almost high camp, although the idea is that these are two big hairy blokes who ride motorcycles.
Another highlight has been "mutual friends". This is a comedy drama starring Alexander Armstrong and that skinny young fella off of Hustle as well as a bunch of other people who you don't initially recognise but then go "oh yeah, that's her/him off of...". I must admit I was expecting this to be utterly awful. I can't remember the last time I saw a comedy drama that was actually any good--it's been a while.
Which isn't to say mutual friends covers any new ground as such. It's not really innovative in terms of its subject matter, but the jokes are good and it's well done.
What else? Oh yeah, the other thing has been a series of shows around surgery. The quality of the shows has varied quite a bit, but they're mostly interesting. One thing I have liked about the shows is that they're fairly impartial in their outlook.
By that I mean they're not fawning over the doctors and they don't hesitate to make the point that maybe some new technique sounded like a good idea, but clearly wasn't (or was flawed) and several patients died.
They're not for the squeamish, though--the blood really flies in some of the shows.
I got the new megami last week and just got some e-mails saying newtype et al are on the way. I don't think that means I'll have them for the w/end, though. However, my big plan for the w/end is to do a lot of scanning, I think.
There's a bit of an ulterior motive to that, though--I'm way, way behind on the new anime season. It's getting to the stage where the external HDD I keep them on is nearly full and I really need to burn some off to DVD. Plus the new season of shows starts in October, which means there will be a flood of new fansubs in some six-weeks or so.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Extra, Extra!
Something else I did last w/end was properly finish off some of the anime I've been watching recently.
Slightly bizarrely, and I'm not sure I've ever been in this position before, I had loads of extras to plough through. I mean, that never happens with anime--extras generally just run to clean opening and closing credits.
Agent Aika R-16 had interviews with original Japanese cast members and director and character designed as well as interviews with the English dub actors.
Black Lagoon had a music video and an interview with the English dub casts (all a bit light for an entire separate disk :/).
But Witchblade had the most - interviews with the original Japanese cast members and a series of 20-minute-ish documentaries talking to the Top Cow people.
Not sure about Aika, but I'll definitely be reviewing the other too, although I may roll Black Lagoon up together with Second Barrage. I understand they're not really particularly 'distinct' as seasons--more like one of those full seasons done in two parts you get with anime. Plus it's several distinct individual story-lines anyway.
Plus Funimation are pumping Second Barrage out one disk a month so it makes sense. As I noted before, it's just the Geneon release, but distributed by Funimation. I'm also hopefully about to get my grubby mitts on the last part of Gurren Lagann too.
Funimation seems to be on the verge of taking over the world. I've mixed feelings about that--if it means I can get hold of anime DVDs then it has to be a good thing, but if I'm honest I've never been that big a fan of Funimation. They seem to be the company most responsible for buggered about translations, although they are also the company that often offers the most extras/freebies and best episode-per-disk count.
If they get the last Welcome to NHK and Red Garden disks out--and they're consistent with the old releases--then I may be swayed.
Slightly bizarrely, and I'm not sure I've ever been in this position before, I had loads of extras to plough through. I mean, that never happens with anime--extras generally just run to clean opening and closing credits.
Agent Aika R-16 had interviews with original Japanese cast members and director and character designed as well as interviews with the English dub actors.
Black Lagoon had a music video and an interview with the English dub casts (all a bit light for an entire separate disk :/).
But Witchblade had the most - interviews with the original Japanese cast members and a series of 20-minute-ish documentaries talking to the Top Cow people.
Not sure about Aika, but I'll definitely be reviewing the other too, although I may roll Black Lagoon up together with Second Barrage. I understand they're not really particularly 'distinct' as seasons--more like one of those full seasons done in two parts you get with anime. Plus it's several distinct individual story-lines anyway.
Plus Funimation are pumping Second Barrage out one disk a month so it makes sense. As I noted before, it's just the Geneon release, but distributed by Funimation. I'm also hopefully about to get my grubby mitts on the last part of Gurren Lagann too.
Funimation seems to be on the verge of taking over the world. I've mixed feelings about that--if it means I can get hold of anime DVDs then it has to be a good thing, but if I'm honest I've never been that big a fan of Funimation. They seem to be the company most responsible for buggered about translations, although they are also the company that often offers the most extras/freebies and best episode-per-disk count.
If they get the last Welcome to NHK and Red Garden disks out--and they're consistent with the old releases--then I may be swayed.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Black Dahlia
Watched Black Dahlia this last w/end - rental job.
I have to say, if I'm honest, I thought it was rubbish.
Now, the whole point of a crime-thriller/drama type thing is that it's about the murder(s). Yes, there will be personal stuff about the detectives or whatever, but the focus has to be on them trying to capture the murderer.
Black Dahlia seemed to be about anything but the murder. The whole plot just seemed to be tacked on to a bunch of hugely melodramatic (and rather implausible) relationships and shags there related. There were so many sub-plots and related goings-on it just lost all focus.
And what's worse is that most of these sub-plots were utterly irrelevant. I mean, a good sub-plot illuminates the main story in some way. These were all just useless.
The biggest crime it committed though was that in the 'last real' we get a whole series of ridiculous "plot twists" that just result in a totally bizarre explanation for the murder. I mean, seriously, it's just the most ludicrous solution ever. Especially since the body was mutilated--there's no real reason given for these mutilations, and that's got to be a part of the plot. If weird things are done to the body there has to be a reason given for them.
It's not real life, where bizarre stuff happens for no real reason, it's a story--you have to answer that stuff or you're taking the piss. And Black Dahlia was definitely taking the piss.
I have to say, if I'm honest, I thought it was rubbish.
Now, the whole point of a crime-thriller/drama type thing is that it's about the murder(s). Yes, there will be personal stuff about the detectives or whatever, but the focus has to be on them trying to capture the murderer.
Black Dahlia seemed to be about anything but the murder. The whole plot just seemed to be tacked on to a bunch of hugely melodramatic (and rather implausible) relationships and shags there related. There were so many sub-plots and related goings-on it just lost all focus.
And what's worse is that most of these sub-plots were utterly irrelevant. I mean, a good sub-plot illuminates the main story in some way. These were all just useless.
The biggest crime it committed though was that in the 'last real' we get a whole series of ridiculous "plot twists" that just result in a totally bizarre explanation for the murder. I mean, seriously, it's just the most ludicrous solution ever. Especially since the body was mutilated--there's no real reason given for these mutilations, and that's got to be a part of the plot. If weird things are done to the body there has to be a reason given for them.
It's not real life, where bizarre stuff happens for no real reason, it's a story--you have to answer that stuff or you're taking the piss. And Black Dahlia was definitely taking the piss.
Monday, 8 September 2008
interweb? doesn't-ever-fucking-work-right-web more like
The internet here at work is shit.
It's impossible to go a week without the connection either grinding to halt, or just totally not working. And when it does work it's as slow as a geriatric snail.
I wouldn't mind (it's not like it's my connection) except I know the company pays a fortune for it and it rankles a bit knowing we pay so much for so very little.
Anyway, a fairly random w/end, if I'm honest. I'll do some more specific blog entries about some of the stuff later in the week, but I guess the main one following on from my last post is that I completed Company of Heroes.
My opinion is basically unchanged--pretty good game, but I felt a little disconnected. Interestingly I also started the sequel/expansion "Opposing Fronts" and this was much more personalised. You actually play one of the commanders and the briefings refer to you as that character, so I guess it must have been a common criticism.
Installing O.F. was a bit of a nightmare--there were something like six patches that it needed to download and install and all bar one of them was huge. Most were like 130-odd meg. Luckily my connection at home is a hell of a lot better than a t work so dl'ing files that size isn't hugely problematic.
But still, it was hugely frustrating. Mainly because why hadn't they rolled all the updates up into one patch? Maybe because it would have been nearly a gig, but I bet some of them overlapped.
It's impossible to go a week without the connection either grinding to halt, or just totally not working. And when it does work it's as slow as a geriatric snail.
I wouldn't mind (it's not like it's my connection) except I know the company pays a fortune for it and it rankles a bit knowing we pay so much for so very little.
Anyway, a fairly random w/end, if I'm honest. I'll do some more specific blog entries about some of the stuff later in the week, but I guess the main one following on from my last post is that I completed Company of Heroes.
My opinion is basically unchanged--pretty good game, but I felt a little disconnected. Interestingly I also started the sequel/expansion "Opposing Fronts" and this was much more personalised. You actually play one of the commanders and the briefings refer to you as that character, so I guess it must have been a common criticism.
Installing O.F. was a bit of a nightmare--there were something like six patches that it needed to download and install and all bar one of them was huge. Most were like 130-odd meg. Luckily my connection at home is a hell of a lot better than a t work so dl'ing files that size isn't hugely problematic.
But still, it was hugely frustrating. Mainly because why hadn't they rolled all the updates up into one patch? Maybe because it would have been nearly a gig, but I bet some of them overlapped.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)