I got Empowered volume 4 this week.
For anyone not in the know, empowered is the latest work from Adam Warren. Warren was one of the first American artists to adopt an anime style that I know of. He also holds the rights to the manga/comic adaptation of the Dirty Pair, who have always been one of my favourite anime franchises (if that's the right word).
Anyway, Empowered, although obviously drawn in Warren's anime-inspired style, is actually a superhero book. Although it's not a normal superhero book.
It's kinda a riff on that idea of "what would superheroes really be like if they really existed?" and a lot of the book is devoted to the personal lives of Emp, the hero, and her friends, acquaintances and cohorts.
It's also quite adult - the parental advisory sticker on the front and the shrink-wrapping is definitely there for a reason. I mean, it's not really explicit - it's not porn - but it's not for kids, either.
So yeah, volume 4 arrived at my house this week and I've been giving it a good read. I'm not sure I'd say it was quite as good as volume 3, which is my favourite so far, but it is very good. It's actually set in a shorter time period than the previous books, or it seems that way anyway - there's certainly a clear linear structure to the stories, whereas in the previous volumes there were normally at least one or two random stories that were independent of the main plot for the book.
Not that that's a complaint, it's just interesting to see Warren developing things. He's definitely layering in a lot of stuff in this volume that I'm guessing will have some big payoffs later.
Given the origin of Emp, it's not surprising that some of these are only coming in with volume 4, as he's kinda been writing it on the fly to some extent. It does add a lot of depth to the series, though I must admit I missed the purely comic side bits a little.
But then there's always the caged demonwolf to inject his own particular brand of wit to proceedings. I love the demonwolf - I mean, really, as a character it's just a disembodied voice, but the great thing Warren does is to make him more than that.
It's difficult to explain - I guess you'll just have to go and buy your own copies to find out!
And I'd highly recommend you do :).
It's going to be a bit of a busy (and expensive) weekend, I feel.
I got another letter from the post office telling me I have a parcel from Japan waiting. I'm guessing this is going to be a regular thing now as I must have gotten on Customs radar :(.
The other big expense is that my dehumidifier has packed up, so I'll have to buy another one. Looks like the cost of them has come down a lot since I bought my original one, but we're still talking ballpark £100+.
I have to have a dehumidifier where I live. It has horrible problems with damp (I think the damp course is shot) and occasionally things have gotten quite mouldy, so the dehumidifier helps to keep those nasty little spores at bay.
Plus I'm going for a few drinks this Saturday and I have to do all my cleaning and stuff this weekend too.... yeah, you're right I'm just pre-empting some sort of "I didn't manage to get x done" post on Monday :).
Friday, 14 November 2008
Thursday, 13 November 2008
... and burn
Spent most of last night doing one of the less pleasant jobs involved with being a dirty fansub user.
Fansub files can be pretty big. For a half hour show in normal res they're normally about 180-200 meg and if they're in HD then you're talking anywhere up to 400mb per episode. Now if you say most series are either 13 or 26 episodes long, on average, then you can see that each show has the potential to be several gigabytes big.
Plus of course these things are happening in parallel - it's best to keep up with them as they come out, rather than wait until the end, because normally very few people seed the entire series. So that means you're talking about lots of gigabytes of space needed.
However, my normal hard-drive I use in my regular machine is actually quite small - it's a fast raptor drive, which are blindingly quick, but they have to be small as the trade off. Plus I sometimes like to take fansubs with me. So what I'm saying is that I bought one of those smaller external hard-drive.
Basically they use laptop hard-drives, rather than the big ones, so you can basically put them in your pocket. Now this drive isn't small - it's 150 gig - but as I mentioned fansubs are pretty hefty files and tend to have a lot of series on the go. Espeically because of overlap. It's like the new october season of shows has just started, but of course several of the spring shows are still going. And that's not to mention the delays you sometimes get occasionally with the fansubbers.
Anyway, my point is that every so often I have to clear off a lot of stuff from my external HDD, and that means burning it to DVD. I generally burn the completed (or abandoned) shows I've watched which are therefore just taking up space.
It is quite a shore, though.
Firstly I don't generally stay loyal to fansub groups. I tend to find that fansubbers have the moral scrupples of a dead frog, as in practice none of them draw any line between licensed and unlicensed shows, so I don't feel any particular desire to be loyal to them.
That does mean the filenames can be all over the place, though, and my over-developed sense of tidiness means I often have to rename them all, which is freakishly tedious.
Then there's the whole burning thing. Now my drive is awesome and the software I use is pretty efficient, but there's no getting around the fact that transferring up to 4.5 gb of data is pretty slow. I mean it would be slow if I was just moving them from one hard-drive to another, let alone burnign them.
One weird thing I did find, though, is that my drive is really slow when it comes to DVD-R disks. For some reason it will only write these at up to 4x, whereas for DVD+R disks it will write them at up to 16x. I have no idea why this is (though I have to say I also don't actually understand the distinction between the two types, +R and -R).
So I spent a good couple of hours burning stuff to DVD last night, but I probably won't need to do any more until Christmas. And even then it will be more out of a desire to get ahead of myself than a necessity as it was last night.
For some reason, and I've no idea why, I've started reviewing stuff in session zero over at AP this last couple of weeks. I really am not at all sure why. I mean, I don't really need the papers, as I still have over 100,000 and people never really paid much attention to what I said anyway, and they still don't.
I think part of it is because, if I'm honest the standard of wallpaper that's getting approved seems to have dropped a little. However, the numbers are quite low, so rather than be all whinging I thought maybe it was because people aren't getting very good advice at SZ, and rather than be part of the problem I'd be part of the solution (omg, I think I'm turning into an American management executive :().
Fansub files can be pretty big. For a half hour show in normal res they're normally about 180-200 meg and if they're in HD then you're talking anywhere up to 400mb per episode. Now if you say most series are either 13 or 26 episodes long, on average, then you can see that each show has the potential to be several gigabytes big.
Plus of course these things are happening in parallel - it's best to keep up with them as they come out, rather than wait until the end, because normally very few people seed the entire series. So that means you're talking about lots of gigabytes of space needed.
However, my normal hard-drive I use in my regular machine is actually quite small - it's a fast raptor drive, which are blindingly quick, but they have to be small as the trade off. Plus I sometimes like to take fansubs with me. So what I'm saying is that I bought one of those smaller external hard-drive.
Basically they use laptop hard-drives, rather than the big ones, so you can basically put them in your pocket. Now this drive isn't small - it's 150 gig - but as I mentioned fansubs are pretty hefty files and tend to have a lot of series on the go. Espeically because of overlap. It's like the new october season of shows has just started, but of course several of the spring shows are still going. And that's not to mention the delays you sometimes get occasionally with the fansubbers.
Anyway, my point is that every so often I have to clear off a lot of stuff from my external HDD, and that means burning it to DVD. I generally burn the completed (or abandoned) shows I've watched which are therefore just taking up space.
It is quite a shore, though.
Firstly I don't generally stay loyal to fansub groups. I tend to find that fansubbers have the moral scrupples of a dead frog, as in practice none of them draw any line between licensed and unlicensed shows, so I don't feel any particular desire to be loyal to them.
That does mean the filenames can be all over the place, though, and my over-developed sense of tidiness means I often have to rename them all, which is freakishly tedious.
Then there's the whole burning thing. Now my drive is awesome and the software I use is pretty efficient, but there's no getting around the fact that transferring up to 4.5 gb of data is pretty slow. I mean it would be slow if I was just moving them from one hard-drive to another, let alone burnign them.
One weird thing I did find, though, is that my drive is really slow when it comes to DVD-R disks. For some reason it will only write these at up to 4x, whereas for DVD+R disks it will write them at up to 16x. I have no idea why this is (though I have to say I also don't actually understand the distinction between the two types, +R and -R).
So I spent a good couple of hours burning stuff to DVD last night, but I probably won't need to do any more until Christmas. And even then it will be more out of a desire to get ahead of myself than a necessity as it was last night.
For some reason, and I've no idea why, I've started reviewing stuff in session zero over at AP this last couple of weeks. I really am not at all sure why. I mean, I don't really need the papers, as I still have over 100,000 and people never really paid much attention to what I said anyway, and they still don't.
I think part of it is because, if I'm honest the standard of wallpaper that's getting approved seems to have dropped a little. However, the numbers are quite low, so rather than be all whinging I thought maybe it was because people aren't getting very good advice at SZ, and rather than be part of the problem I'd be part of the solution (omg, I think I'm turning into an American management executive :().
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
men with brooms
I watched Men with Brooms on DVD this last weekend.
It was kinda okay. I dunno. I kept getting this really weird feeling that it was sort of like a sequel, but also that it never quite got going.
It was a weird feeling like it was a TV movie that had been made after a show had been cancelled and then fan-supported had managed to get the film made. A bit like Firefly where the show got cancelled and then fan-support got Serenity made.
I don't think that was true, though - I think it was just that it was a plot that was carrying around a lot of back-story. Like they'd over-developed the characters and their relationships and then not quite explained it all in the best way possible.
Also, the film was about curling. Well, no, actually it wasn't about curling it was about relationships, which all stories should be, but this was hung a framework of curling. Curling is the sport where they chuck rocks down the ice and try and get them closest to a target.
Anyway, the point was it didn't quite explain curling properly either. There was a weird dynamic to it. It was a bit like it didn't quite know where to hang its hat.
I don't know if you've seen dodgeball, but on the one hand it was like it wanted to be like that - a piss take of those 'triumphing at sport' films. But then equally it seemed like it wanted to play it seriously and be one of those triumphing through sport films.
I dunno, it just lacked something somewhere - like it didn't quite make up its mind what it wanted to be.
Also, it had Frasier the Mounty in it from Due South (actually I think he directed it too, if not wrote it). I loved Due South and one of these days I'm going to by it on DVD - it was a great show.
It was kinda okay. I dunno. I kept getting this really weird feeling that it was sort of like a sequel, but also that it never quite got going.
It was a weird feeling like it was a TV movie that had been made after a show had been cancelled and then fan-supported had managed to get the film made. A bit like Firefly where the show got cancelled and then fan-support got Serenity made.
I don't think that was true, though - I think it was just that it was a plot that was carrying around a lot of back-story. Like they'd over-developed the characters and their relationships and then not quite explained it all in the best way possible.
Also, the film was about curling. Well, no, actually it wasn't about curling it was about relationships, which all stories should be, but this was hung a framework of curling. Curling is the sport where they chuck rocks down the ice and try and get them closest to a target.
Anyway, the point was it didn't quite explain curling properly either. There was a weird dynamic to it. It was a bit like it didn't quite know where to hang its hat.
I don't know if you've seen dodgeball, but on the one hand it was like it wanted to be like that - a piss take of those 'triumphing at sport' films. But then equally it seemed like it wanted to play it seriously and be one of those triumphing through sport films.
I dunno, it just lacked something somewhere - like it didn't quite make up its mind what it wanted to be.
Also, it had Frasier the Mounty in it from Due South (actually I think he directed it too, if not wrote it). I loved Due South and one of these days I'm going to by it on DVD - it was a great show.
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).
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.
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