It's the Malaysian F1 GP this weekend.
Being in Malaysia it's another one that's on at weird times, which I tend to find is a bit of a double-edged sword. It does mean that I can basically watch it at my leisure, but it also means there's a very good chance that the results will be spoiled for me. Football seems to be the only sport where they warn you the results are coming up.
I don't actually remember whether the Malaysian GP is usually a good one or not. My general feeling about most of the new circuits is that they tend not to be very good race, but there are a few exceptions.
I don't really have many other plans for the weekend. It's a bedsit cleaning weekend, so that in combination with the GP and the usual walking and scanning stuff is likely to absorb most all of my time. Part of me is hoping that the warm weather persists into the weekend, but another part of me is hoping it doesn't get warmer.
With all the sorting out and re-arranging of stuff I had to do I decided to put all my summer clothes and summer bits (like desk fans and the gubbins for my air conditioner) out in the shed. The idea was to operate a swapsy system where when it comes warm I can put stuff I use in winter out in the shed instead.
This is okay in theory, but with Easter being so late and the sudden-ness of the shift to warm weather, I've ended up with the annoying situation of having my winter clothes in the warm weather. I was debating as to whether I should go through the boxes this weekend instead of waiting to Easter, but I'm not sure I'll have the time or that I can really be arsed.
I guess an important point to note this year will actually be that I'm going to throw away quite a lot of my winter clothes. I've lost sufficient weight that most of them are too big, but many of them are also in pretty bad shape. Buying clothes is not something I do a lot of, not least of all because sizes big enough to fit me (eventually that'll be "the old me", I guess :/) are not cheap.
I'll probably be hanging on to t-shirts the longest, I think. Hugely baggy t-shirts will look daft, but at least they won't fall down like hugely baggy trousers. Thinking about it, I'll actually be able to start using all the old printed t-shirts I used to buy but that never fit me.
But also thinking about it, I've a feeling I may have to buy some shorts - there are obviously shorts in my stash of summer clothes, but I'm guessing they will also be rather loose. This whole weight loss thing could become expensive - I guess it's the flip-side to the reduction in cost of my weekly food bills. But at least when I get down to more normal sizes, regular clothes can be bought pretty cheap, thanks to the sweat shops of the world. God bless unrestrained capitalism.
Friday, 8 April 2011
Thursday, 7 April 2011
not so disappointing
In last week's weight update post I was disappointed at a 1 pound loss.
The disappointment was mainly due to the fact that I'd pretty much stuck to my diet and done the exercise I normally did, yet I'd only lost 1 pound.
However, I continued with the same basic approach, sticking to the diet and doing my usual exercise, but this time the weigh in revealed I'd lost a huge 5 pounds.
I'm clearly very pleased with this, but again more than a little puzzled as to why this same pattern keeps happening. The pattern I'm referring to is that one week I only loose a little bit and then the next week I loose a lot.
I noticed this happening last year as well, and I don't know that I'm worried about it, just puzzled. It's odd, and suggests there's some sort of two week cycle to things, but what things I don't know. Especially since in the week I lost 1 pound it felt like I'd lost weight, but then last week when I actually lost 5 pounds, it didn't feel like anything changed.
I'm actually tempted to switch to weighing myself fortnightly, but I also know I couldn't go that long without checking.
Still, I guess an average weight loss of 3 pounds a week is pretty good, even if it comes in the form of a week disappointed and a week delighted.
The next major event on the horizon is the Easter weekend, the other bank holidays and the holiday I've got booked. This is a major event diet wise as my next target is reaching 19 stone by my birthday. With the 5 pound loss I'm now back on schedule to reach this, but it might be close.
However, this is also important as I'll have the opportunity to do lots of walking, which will hopefully help me kick-start my attack on the next target. It's not a proper holiday in the sense of going anywhere, it's more a much-needed break from work and an opportunity to do stuff like sort the shed and give the bedsit a spring clean.
The disappointment was mainly due to the fact that I'd pretty much stuck to my diet and done the exercise I normally did, yet I'd only lost 1 pound.
However, I continued with the same basic approach, sticking to the diet and doing my usual exercise, but this time the weigh in revealed I'd lost a huge 5 pounds.
I'm clearly very pleased with this, but again more than a little puzzled as to why this same pattern keeps happening. The pattern I'm referring to is that one week I only loose a little bit and then the next week I loose a lot.
I noticed this happening last year as well, and I don't know that I'm worried about it, just puzzled. It's odd, and suggests there's some sort of two week cycle to things, but what things I don't know. Especially since in the week I lost 1 pound it felt like I'd lost weight, but then last week when I actually lost 5 pounds, it didn't feel like anything changed.
I'm actually tempted to switch to weighing myself fortnightly, but I also know I couldn't go that long without checking.
Still, I guess an average weight loss of 3 pounds a week is pretty good, even if it comes in the form of a week disappointed and a week delighted.
The next major event on the horizon is the Easter weekend, the other bank holidays and the holiday I've got booked. This is a major event diet wise as my next target is reaching 19 stone by my birthday. With the 5 pound loss I'm now back on schedule to reach this, but it might be close.
However, this is also important as I'll have the opportunity to do lots of walking, which will hopefully help me kick-start my attack on the next target. It's not a proper holiday in the sense of going anywhere, it's more a much-needed break from work and an opportunity to do stuff like sort the shed and give the bedsit a spring clean.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
animu fansub catch-up
No DVD rental this week either, so I'm posting a fansub viewing summary thing.
Having been focusing on crunchyroll I've been building up something of a backlog of fansubs so I tried to have a few session where I focused on them, as the hard drive I use to hold them was getting a bit full. The good thing about the rise of legal streaming is of course that a lot fewer shows are only available via fansubs, although it can be a bit puzzling as to why certain shows don't get picked up. OAVs are perhaps the most obvious thing that streaming doesn't lend itself well too, so a lot of the fansubs I've got are OAVs.
Anyway, I've done one of my summary thoughts things on the sample of eps I watched.
Freezing
I have to say I'm not sure I quite see what all the fuss was about. I'd been given the impression this was going to be full of balls-out Guro (I think that's the term - fetishization of violence and gore), but actually it's just a slightly more gory version of Ikki Tousen or Queens Blade. It didn't massively appeal to me, but equally I'd probably watch it if there was a cheap box set.
Infinite Stratos
This seemed to receive quite a drubbing in the initial reviews I read of it. I can kind of understand why, because it was very generic stuff filled with all sorts of stuff I've seen loads of time, but even so, I didn't hate it. I think the difference here compared to Okami-San or even Rio: Rainbow Gate is that the stuff it's rehashing is core to the sort of stuff I generally enjoy in anime - action, mecha fighting, fan-service. Not that it was great, just distinctly average.
Fractale
I've only the one episode to go on with this, as it was announced for streaming by Funimation very quickly and a) Funi's streaming is appalling; b) the rights don't cover the UK anyway and c) fansubbing licensed shows defeats the point. I have to say I had mixed feelings - the artwork was lovely and the fantasy world created seemed interesting, but it did smell very much like a remake of Laputa. Now Laputa is obviously great, but I dunno, seems a bit lazy.
Okami-san
If I was guessing, I'd say this was based on a light novel. I can't be bothered to actually check, but it has those hallmarks of re-using tired old clichés and an overly familiar tsundere main character. One thing I did really hate about it was the use of a narrator who talks over the top of the onscreen characters, which is just horrible to read in subtitles. If it were available via streaming, I'd probably watch it, but I wouldn't buy it.
Kuragehime
This one seemed interesting. It appears to be very much a girl's story and had the feel of being quite predictable, likely involving the ugly duckling main character finding love with, well, it would be a bit much of a spoiler to say with whom, but despite what familiarity I could enjoy it. All anime seasons are awash in shows that are aimed at men, so stumbling across the ones aimed at girls can sometimes give me a rose tinted view due to the contrast, but this one did seem like it would be good.
Bakuman
I've actually started reading the Bakuman manga. It's by the same team that did Death Note, which I both loved and hated. So far I've been enjoying the Bakuman manga more than I thought I would, so I was expecting the anime to be good too. I wasn't disappointed and if anything I think it improved slightly on the manga. Because of the style of the writer, the manga tends to be very wordy, and animation really helps even this out, plus they've made a few tweaks that do genuinely improve things.
Star Driver
From what I watched Star Driver seemed to be a very typical shounen show. It also seemed to be infected with a type of problem I hate, where all sorts of bonkers fantastical stuff happens and everyone just accepts it. This can sometimes be ironed out by having a narrator essentially explain it's an alternative world or by having the other characters explain everything to the main character, but here it just dumps you in without even bothering to try to explain stuff. Also, the main character seemed to win his fights so easily it made you wonder why the bad guys are even bothering.
Seitokai Yakuindomo
If you know what a double entendre is and whether you find such things funny, then you'll pretty much know whether you'll like Seitokai Yakuindomo. It's essentially a gag anime (I've not checked, but it feels like it was probably based on a 4-panel comi - it's certainly structured in that style) where the characters twist everything so that it becomes a double entendre. Well, and one of the characters is very small, so there's lots of gags about her being confused for a grade schooler.. What kinda makes it work is that the idea is that it's about a boy going to a school that used to be all girls and is now co-ed, so they're all girls and they're fixated on sex. As I say, if that sounds like your cup of tea, you'll like it (I broadly did), but otherwise probably not something to check out.
Megane na Kanojo
Megane is Japanese for glasses. I've no idea what the Kanojo bit means, but the first episode was about a girl with glasses and according to the description of the series I read, the other eps are too. The ep I watched was rather short (less than 15 minutes) and I'm not sure it's meant as a taster for a proper series, but it seemed okay to me. It was essentially a romantic comedy, but I get the impression each episode is different. About the only thing I didn't like was that the boy didn't like girls in glasses, which is diametrically opposed to my own viewpoint, but there was a good reason he didn't like glasses, so it wasn't a biggy.
Having been focusing on crunchyroll I've been building up something of a backlog of fansubs so I tried to have a few session where I focused on them, as the hard drive I use to hold them was getting a bit full. The good thing about the rise of legal streaming is of course that a lot fewer shows are only available via fansubs, although it can be a bit puzzling as to why certain shows don't get picked up. OAVs are perhaps the most obvious thing that streaming doesn't lend itself well too, so a lot of the fansubs I've got are OAVs.
Anyway, I've done one of my summary thoughts things on the sample of eps I watched.
Freezing
I have to say I'm not sure I quite see what all the fuss was about. I'd been given the impression this was going to be full of balls-out Guro (I think that's the term - fetishization of violence and gore), but actually it's just a slightly more gory version of Ikki Tousen or Queens Blade. It didn't massively appeal to me, but equally I'd probably watch it if there was a cheap box set.
Infinite Stratos
This seemed to receive quite a drubbing in the initial reviews I read of it. I can kind of understand why, because it was very generic stuff filled with all sorts of stuff I've seen loads of time, but even so, I didn't hate it. I think the difference here compared to Okami-San or even Rio: Rainbow Gate is that the stuff it's rehashing is core to the sort of stuff I generally enjoy in anime - action, mecha fighting, fan-service. Not that it was great, just distinctly average.
Fractale
I've only the one episode to go on with this, as it was announced for streaming by Funimation very quickly and a) Funi's streaming is appalling; b) the rights don't cover the UK anyway and c) fansubbing licensed shows defeats the point. I have to say I had mixed feelings - the artwork was lovely and the fantasy world created seemed interesting, but it did smell very much like a remake of Laputa. Now Laputa is obviously great, but I dunno, seems a bit lazy.
Okami-san
If I was guessing, I'd say this was based on a light novel. I can't be bothered to actually check, but it has those hallmarks of re-using tired old clichés and an overly familiar tsundere main character. One thing I did really hate about it was the use of a narrator who talks over the top of the onscreen characters, which is just horrible to read in subtitles. If it were available via streaming, I'd probably watch it, but I wouldn't buy it.
Kuragehime
This one seemed interesting. It appears to be very much a girl's story and had the feel of being quite predictable, likely involving the ugly duckling main character finding love with, well, it would be a bit much of a spoiler to say with whom, but despite what familiarity I could enjoy it. All anime seasons are awash in shows that are aimed at men, so stumbling across the ones aimed at girls can sometimes give me a rose tinted view due to the contrast, but this one did seem like it would be good.
Bakuman
I've actually started reading the Bakuman manga. It's by the same team that did Death Note, which I both loved and hated. So far I've been enjoying the Bakuman manga more than I thought I would, so I was expecting the anime to be good too. I wasn't disappointed and if anything I think it improved slightly on the manga. Because of the style of the writer, the manga tends to be very wordy, and animation really helps even this out, plus they've made a few tweaks that do genuinely improve things.
Star Driver
From what I watched Star Driver seemed to be a very typical shounen show. It also seemed to be infected with a type of problem I hate, where all sorts of bonkers fantastical stuff happens and everyone just accepts it. This can sometimes be ironed out by having a narrator essentially explain it's an alternative world or by having the other characters explain everything to the main character, but here it just dumps you in without even bothering to try to explain stuff. Also, the main character seemed to win his fights so easily it made you wonder why the bad guys are even bothering.
Seitokai Yakuindomo
If you know what a double entendre is and whether you find such things funny, then you'll pretty much know whether you'll like Seitokai Yakuindomo. It's essentially a gag anime (I've not checked, but it feels like it was probably based on a 4-panel comi - it's certainly structured in that style) where the characters twist everything so that it becomes a double entendre. Well, and one of the characters is very small, so there's lots of gags about her being confused for a grade schooler.. What kinda makes it work is that the idea is that it's about a boy going to a school that used to be all girls and is now co-ed, so they're all girls and they're fixated on sex. As I say, if that sounds like your cup of tea, you'll like it (I broadly did), but otherwise probably not something to check out.
Megane na Kanojo
Megane is Japanese for glasses. I've no idea what the Kanojo bit means, but the first episode was about a girl with glasses and according to the description of the series I read, the other eps are too. The ep I watched was rather short (less than 15 minutes) and I'm not sure it's meant as a taster for a proper series, but it seemed okay to me. It was essentially a romantic comedy, but I get the impression each episode is different. About the only thing I didn't like was that the boy didn't like girls in glasses, which is diametrically opposed to my own viewpoint, but there was a good reason he didn't like glasses, so it wasn't a biggy.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
i forgetted
I forgot to post a blog post yesterday.
No particular reason. I did get wrapped up in some stuff at work, but I could probably have made the time, I just forgot.
It was a very bitty weekend, doing all sorts of odds and sods that generally didn't take very long but also aren't particularly interesting.
For example, I put a bunch of stuff on e-bay. This meant taking it out of the shed and sorting through it and taking and editing photos and writing the description and posting them up. None of which, as I say, is very interesting, but it took quite a while to do, all told.
I also spent quite a while editing together scans with photo stitch. I'm not sure I'll actually follow through with it, but I had the notion of processing all the scans I've done so far. I basically scanned the last magazine that means I've now finished two thirds of 2010. Or, to put it another way, I've done up to the end of august-2010.
This seemed like a fairly good point to stop and do all the stitching together. I've already done quite a lot of it, but despite spending several hours at it I probably only got through about a quarter of what I've got to do. I was pleased that photo stitch only threw one wobbly during that time, though. Why it worked fine for so long I still have no idea, though.
I also watched a lot of telly. In fact, I basically watched all of the recorded telly I had saved up. Well, actually I've still got the entire third series of Being Human to watch, but I'm deliberately leaving that for the Easter and other holiday period at the end of this month.
The amount f new telly also generally appears to be thinning out a bit. I'm very hopeful that the summer will be minimal in terms of telly worth watching and I'll use the time to watch animu.
At the moment, while I'm watching a lot of stuff, most of it has been via crunchyroll. I've also been downloading a handful of fansubs as some series either aren't available in the UK as streaming (boo) or nobody has them for streaming (double boo). I'll probably do a round up of fansub stuff tomorrow.
So yeah, bit of a rubbish, bitty weekend. To be honest, I think I did a bit much, as I felt knackered all yesterday and am tired today too. I also didn't go for my afternoon walk on Sunday as I was feeling knackered.
No particular reason. I did get wrapped up in some stuff at work, but I could probably have made the time, I just forgot.
It was a very bitty weekend, doing all sorts of odds and sods that generally didn't take very long but also aren't particularly interesting.
For example, I put a bunch of stuff on e-bay. This meant taking it out of the shed and sorting through it and taking and editing photos and writing the description and posting them up. None of which, as I say, is very interesting, but it took quite a while to do, all told.
I also spent quite a while editing together scans with photo stitch. I'm not sure I'll actually follow through with it, but I had the notion of processing all the scans I've done so far. I basically scanned the last magazine that means I've now finished two thirds of 2010. Or, to put it another way, I've done up to the end of august-2010.
This seemed like a fairly good point to stop and do all the stitching together. I've already done quite a lot of it, but despite spending several hours at it I probably only got through about a quarter of what I've got to do. I was pleased that photo stitch only threw one wobbly during that time, though. Why it worked fine for so long I still have no idea, though.
I also watched a lot of telly. In fact, I basically watched all of the recorded telly I had saved up. Well, actually I've still got the entire third series of Being Human to watch, but I'm deliberately leaving that for the Easter and other holiday period at the end of this month.
The amount f new telly also generally appears to be thinning out a bit. I'm very hopeful that the summer will be minimal in terms of telly worth watching and I'll use the time to watch animu.
At the moment, while I'm watching a lot of stuff, most of it has been via crunchyroll. I've also been downloading a handful of fansubs as some series either aren't available in the UK as streaming (boo) or nobody has them for streaming (double boo). I'll probably do a round up of fansub stuff tomorrow.
So yeah, bit of a rubbish, bitty weekend. To be honest, I think I did a bit much, as I felt knackered all yesterday and am tired today too. I also didn't go for my afternoon walk on Sunday as I was feeling knackered.
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