烏鴉的小站

Games of This Year!

2010-12-31T11:19:00.001-08:00

Oh wow, it's been a new year, time for another round of Single Sentence Game Reviews!

Red Dead Redemption:

3 Endings followed by title card makes this western a classic, fucking cougars.

Starcraft 2:

Played games for 15 years, this game is the only one that made my wrist hurt.

Limbo:

Reason I busted out the 360 after a whole year of leaving it in the closet. Also, brain slugs.

Heavy Rain:

JASON! JASON! JASON??!

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood:

A Slew of epic moments from the multi-player. Made me realized I'm very good at mind fucking, and stabbing random people on the internet.

Civilization V:

One more turn… holy shit its 5 am!

Super Scribblenauts:

Microscopic vegetarian bloodsucking robotic fighter jet: this phrase clears a level.

Etrian Odyssey III:

Drawing your own map makes me want to play better games.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn:

Kirby is absolutely adorable!!! Got bored and stop playing at world 2.

Mario Galaxy 2:

Mario is not for me, wait, why the hell did I buy this again?

Bioshock 2:

Little girls and drills.

Alan Wake:

Atmospheric and enjoyable, I now carry an industrial flashlight everywhere.

Darksiders:

Obviously hates people who play it on the PC, worst key binding decisions possible.

Dead Rising 2:

I guess you don’t ride very well, CHUCK. I’m very disappointing in your performance tonight, CHUCK. I guess you hear that a lot from women, CHUCK.

God of War 3:

Finished on Titan mode, had around 300 deaths. Never played it again.

Enslaved:

Great story, setting, and characters, stuck at the boat section.

Castlevania:

God of War but with only 1 chain.

Tactics Ogre:

I love strategy, and this is a total time sink.

Metal Gear Peace Walker:

Kojima is God. Also M47 solves all your problems.

Monster Hunter Tri:

Paid beta for Monster Hunter 3^rd.

Monster Hunter 3^rd:

Is teaching my roommate Japanese, he now knows the word for “rock”.

Mass Effect 2:

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite game of the year!

Oh wow, it's been a new year, time for another round of One Sentence Game Reviews!

Mass Effect 2:

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite game of the year!

Red Dead Redemption:

3 Endings followed by title card makes this western a classic, fucking cougars.

Starcraft 2:

Played games for 15 years, this game is the only one that made my wrist hurt.

Limbo:

Reason I busted out the 360 after a whole year of leaving it in the closet. Also, brain slugs.

Heavy Rain:

JASON! JASON! JASON??!

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood:

A Slew of epic moments from the multi-player. Made me realized I'm very good at mind fucking, and stabbing random people on the internet.

Civilization V:

One more turn… holy shit its 5 am!

Super Scribblenauts:

Microscopic vegetarian bloodsucking robotic fighter jet: this phrase clears a level.

Etrian Odyssey III:

Drawing your own map makes me want to play better games.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn:

Kirby is absolutely adorable!!! Got bored and stop playing at world 2.

Mario Galaxy 2:

Mario is not for me, wait, why the hell did I buy this again?

Bioshock 2:

Little girls and drills.

Alan Wake:

Atmospheric and enjoyable, I now carry an industrial flashlight everywhere.

Darksiders:

Obviously hates people who play it on the PC, worst key binding decisions possible.

Dead Rising 2:

I guess you don’t ride very well, CHUCK. I’m very disappointing in your performance tonight, CHUCK. I guess you hear that a lot from women, CHUCK.

God of War 3:

Finished on Titan mode, had around 300 deaths. Never played it again.

Enslaved:

Great story, setting, and characters, stuck at the boat section.

Castlevania:

God of War but with only 1 chain.

Tactics Ogre:

I love strategy, and this is a total time sink.

Metal Gear Peace Walker:

Kojima is God. Also M47 solves all your problems.

Monster Hunter Tri:

Paid beta for Monster Hunter 3^rd.

Monster Hunter 3^rd:

Is teaching my roommate Japanese, he now knows the word for “rock”.

I Don't Normally, But When I Do..

2010-11-12T11:16:00.001-08:00

Is it pathetic that I laughed at some of the things I wrote 2~3 years ago on this blog? I feel somewhat obligated to write something to keep this thing alive (even if its just in my life).

I don't normally write unless I have some insight to share or some horrendously hilarious customer service experience happens.

I've been absorbing a ton of information on a daily basis, anything from the mysterious California missile (its just a contrail, guys), how the Kinnect hardware costs around 50 bucks, to more serious things like the controversy of new TSA procedures, the recent election, and OMG THEY JUST LAUNCHED A MISSLE IN CALIFORNIA.

Here's to hoping something interesting will happen so that I can write about it, something insightful, or some horrendously hilarious customer service experience.

In the mean time, enjoy a picture I snapped of a product at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Because there's nothing I rather spend my money on than to "Let my pet ride in luxury and style"

A Possible Explanation

2010-05-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

For those of you not following the saga, there is an old lady calling my phone repeatedly for the past 2 weeks with the wrong number.

Writing her off as retarded is way too easy, I seek a believable explanation through logic and deduction through the scientific method:

Scenario 1:
She is a old lady who lives in a senior home, wheel chair bound.
Her daughter fills out a form containing her contact information including his phone number. The nurse of the senior home punches in the phone number and records it as speed dial.

Every time the old lady asks to speak to her daughter the nurse hands her a phone and hits speed dial.

She never manages to convey the fact that its the wrong number because she's retarded.

Hello? I have the wrong number, Hello?

Scenario 2:
Hospital ICU, Dr.House just announces to an old lady that she has retardedalidus. She has 30 days to live. Due to her disease she is unable to press buttons on a phone. She scribbles a phone number down and hands it to the nurse to call her nutritionist to tell him he's fired. The nurse squints hard to figure out what the scrawl, and punches it into speed dial.

Hits #1 and hands her the phone

What do you mean "you're not the operator?"

Alright, I've got nothing.

From what I garner, she's hitting the damn speed dial with the wrong number and not punching in my phone number by heart every day now.

Once she figures that out, it'll all be A-OK right?
or, when she finally crosses into the next century and her phone's memory gets wiped by the Y2K bug.

But No. I was wrong.

So wrong.

Today she called me from A Different Number!!!

HAHAHA, the little shit will never see this coming!!

Because 7'th Time's the Charm

2010-04-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

[Phone Rings #1]
Old Lady: H...hello?

Norman: Hello, [Given that you are calling me from an 805 number whom nobody I know has], you probably have the wrong number.

Old Lady: Sorry... wrong number.*Click*

~15 seconds later

[Phone Rings #2]

Norman: Hello? what number are you trying to reach?

Old Lady: Hello?

Norman: What number are you trying to reach?

Old Lady: umm.. *** 1792

Norman: this is 1709

Old Lady: I have the wrong number.*Click*

~10 seconds later

[Phone rings 3]

Norman: What the hell, is she speed dialing me? *hangs up*

~20 seconds later

[Phone rings # 4]

Norman: sigh, hello?

Old Lady: hello?

Norman: you still have the wrong number.

Old Lady: sorry, I have the wrong number.*Click*

~30 seconds later
[Phone rings #5]

Norman:

~2 minutes later
[Phone rings #6]

Norman: yes?

Old Lady: Hello?

Norman: You know, continuously dialing the same number isn't going to get you the right number.

Old Lady: I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong number.

Norman: yes, I'm sorry too.

*Click*

~5 minutes later

[Phone Rings #7]

Norman:

End of Year "Comments"

2009-12-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

End of the year, time for a two sentence review for memorable games played of 2009, in no particular order!

Demon's Souls (PS3):
Most times died an unjust death. Most challenging boss fights. Most rewarding game of the year(if you are not crushed).

Uncharted 2 (PS3):
Most times of "Holy Shit" uttered while playing. Most damage absorbent main character of the year.

Modern Warfare 2 (PC):
Most civilians massacred. Most "epic" button spamming of the year.

Bayonetta (PS3):
Most entertaining, most times bursted out loud laughing while playing, worst port ever.

Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3):
Smoothest free-flow combat and counter system. Best use of boomerang of the year.

Resident Evil 5 (PS3):
Most ridiculous reasons of (IRL) political rage. Most in-game communications done without communicating in multi-player.

Dragon Age Origins (PC):
Most unbalanced class choices, Most retarded visual gimmick (full-body blood splatter). Most time spent on a single player game.

Street Fighter 4 (PS3):
Most ass-kicking received.

Borderlands (PC):
Highest amount of loot of the year. Most broken multiplayer that remained fun.

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War (PC):
Best mix of STG and RPG game of the year.

Fallout 3 (360/PC):
Most disappointing game of the year.

Killzone 2 (PS3):
Wait, Why did I buy this again?

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP):
Most high-fives during playing. Most technically complicated to multi-play ever.

Final Fantasy Dissidia (PSP):
Most fandom in a package (per cubic inch).

Personal 4 (PS2):
Most desire to continue playing and finish (I won't).

Patapon 2 (PSP):
Best rhythm game of the year. Best use of archery of the year.

Muramasa (Wii):
Most compelling reason for hardware modification. (Only before playing.)

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3):
Most visually stunning (Fantasy), Greatest visual use for useless summons.

Ninja Gaiden 2 (PS3):
Most vigorous controller waving during cut scenes.

Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3):
Most uncreative sequel of the year. Most minstrels stabbed.

InFamous (PS3):
Most seizure inducing game ever. Most power hungry main character ever.

Prototype (PS3):
Most powerful main character of the year. Most uninteresting main character of the year.

This Year's GOTY for me goes to:
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, because there isn't much more like playing with a friend.

にょろーん☆ちゅるやさん & 涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱

2009-02-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

Seems like they're finally out, side works of Kyo-Ani,

Nyoron Churuya-san & Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuutsu

Officially Posted on youtube, and Officially subbed by.. Kyo-Ani...

It's kind of hard to stomach the fact that 16 year old high schoolers can do better subtitles than professional adults.

9

2009-02-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

View My Original Post Here
________________________

I went to watch the animated movie Coraline today, I enjoyed it, but what caught most of my attention sitting in the Americana theater was the trailer that preceded the movie.

The premise of '9' to a Gamer:
Imagine a backdrop from Fallout, characters from Little Big Planet, and classes from D&D. You get the animated movie '9'.

I'm not a big fan of Youtube, so check out the Highres Clip here(1080P) or click on the post title.

This trailer really did surprise me, in a sense that it was so... nerdy.

A party of sack-people in a post apocalyptic world consisted of a Spear fighter, Barbarian, Engineer, Shaman, and a witty main character, and they fight robot mosters, that's just so... not Hollywood, and so awsome.

I'm so watching this.

超神作, 鬼觸捏它千連發

2009-01-13T01:11:00.000-08:00

在ニコニコ動画上看過只能算是"太多"的東西, 雖然都是由一些超游手好閒的天才所做出的作品, 但下面兩作基本上可以稱得上是近年所有動, 漫, 遊的精華短絮版了
不虧被tag "才能の無駄遣い"

對還有在追ACG的朋友們強力推鑒

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm5777233"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】撲殺天使ドクロちゃんopとか描いてみた&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

同位大師一年前的作品
&amp;lt;a href="http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1496003"&amp;gt;【ニコニコ動画】組曲『ニコニコ動画』描いてみた&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

2009 Shopping List, Under Construction

2009-01-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

2008 was such an awesome year in gaming, the insane November releases is still keeping me busy. It makes 2009 look bleak in comparison, with all the company cutting staff or closing doors, but there are still a few known goodies to look forward to. But first:

Games You Shouldn't Wait For in 2009:

Final Fantasy XIII & Friends
Starcraft
Diablo 3

Chances are, those are not going to be out this year, or at least they have not been announced so. As I always say, good games take time, and pulling your hair waiting for one isn't going to speed it up. So just sit back and kill some time with the other things coming this way.

Resident Evil 5	PS3 360	March 13th
The sequel to the game that revolutionized 3rd person shooters

Infamous	PS3	Q2
Might be good if they pull it off.

Tekken 6	PS3 360	Q4
Bounce Physics

No More Heroes 2	Wii	TBA
Assassins, Lightsabers, Lawn mowing. MOE

Killzone 2	PS3	Febuary 27th
Some say it lives up to the trailer

朧村正妖刀伝	Wii	TBA
The Art

Demigod	PC	Q2
I liked Sacrifice, this kind of looks like Sacrifice.

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X	All	Q1
Air combat is sometimes fun

Dragon Age: Origins	PC PS3 360	March 23rd
Spritual successor of Baldur's Gate, by Bioware

Bayonetta	PS3 360	TBA
Action game featuring Hot Chick with guns, in black leather, and glasses

Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams	All	Q3
The sequal to the game where you can shoot bees out of your hand

Things Learned When Traveling

2008-10-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

I never liked traveling, in fact, I hate traveling.

When I was 5, I got lost in an airport in San Fransisco for 2 hours. That's 2 decades in infant-time.

When I went to school, I walk to take the bus to get to the bus stop of the bus that takes me to school.

I spend 4 hours staring at streets and buildings go by the window every day.

When I fly, the airlines lose my luggage about 60% of the time, regardless of me being extremely early, on time, or a bit late.

One time I whipped out my laptop to try to watch a TV show on the plane, my laptop stopped working. Forever.

But now, I travel for work, quite a bit for someone my age I suppose. I've learned some things about life, about myself, and about the world while traveling.

No matter how many cables I bring, I always forget the most important one. Like the one that charges the cellphone, or the other one that charges the cell phone.

Driving the nice rental cars makes me feel like I drive a tin can at home.

I always forget to take care of something in my house, whether its leaving a bowl of strawberries on my table while away for 3 weeks, or forgetting to throw out the ..... oh crap...

there are just so many necessities you can't bring with along, like an awesome internet connection, or your house.

I learn new things everyday (Oregon is tax free), and appreciate the pleasure I do not get when away (Like cable that i'm paying for right now).

While being padded down at the airport does not count as an adventure, traveling is interesting, challenging, and exciting.

Not being stuck in a cubical with the same annoying co-workers is a God send.

Every place is a new start, with new weather, new food, and new topics.

Traveling ....

... man, I hate traveling.

OMG Starcraft 2 Trilogy

2008-10-11T02:13:00.001-07:00

Everyone loves to bitch.
Take one look at the gaming consumers on forums, news blogs and online, they complain.

I guess it is harder to understand why you hate the latest developer decisions and let your mouth run wild (or your fingers, for that matter).

FFXIII going multi platform, Starcraft 2 going trilogy, man, think about it in a developer's shoes.

Developing for a game could be fun, emphasis on "could", whether or not one enjoys it is one thing, it is hard work, that's a given. Do you think you have it hard waiting for 5-6 years for your beloved game's sequel to come out? think about taking that time and WORKING on it.

Here's my point of view:

FFXIII going multi platform is a given:
Money.

When your brand, your job, and your project's success depends on a little thing people call "platform loyalty", you picked the wrong fucking company, friend. It is not about a "us VS them" mentality the console warring geeks keep sputing, its about who gets to play the game, obviously, the more the better.

Square's train of thought is easy to follow, PS3 Dev -> Localization + Platform Migration -> NA Dual Platform Release.

First of all, PS3 is still first, that means nobody is actually getting "screwed".
Second, has anyone read any reviews on the Dead Rising Wii port? It is (or will be) a fucking disaster due to the simple fact that the Wii is not powerful enough to maintain the fun-ness of the original Xbox 360 game. While things may not be so drastic as when comparing the PS3 to the 360, you get my point. And in the case where the Sqaure devs did not make FFXIII utilize the extra horse power of the PS3 over the 360 while making the game easily portable to the 360, then I fear that it will simply be a disaster for all of us.
Would you have rather Crysis be runnable on Pentium II's?

I didn't think so.

Starcraft II = Starcraft x3

The lately announced trilogy decision of Starcraft 2 made some waves on the Internet.
Expanding the time and resources needed for a growing project rather than shoving it out the door any given date is a much better idea similar to not moving people into a half built skyscraper.
It takes some guts for Blizzard to really push the rabid fans back as much as they did, and they seems to be getting some backlash for it, although they can easily eat it up.

Blizzard was never about suckering the money of their fans, give me a break, stop being so selfish and think about the kind of company Blizzard is. Blizzard is like the Northern fucking star in the game development industry. Remember the Patches for Diablo 2 almost 10 years after the game's initial release?

I Think that judgement should be halted until further information comes out.
Is "Starcraft 2" going to cost $50 x 3? and is StarCraft 2 actually going to be "A Game"? perhaps not in the sense that we use to know it. Pretty sure that nobody would complain if the Orange box was sold as 3 games instead of 1, as long as the price is right.
Content wise, I'm sure Blizzard can deliver, but to satisfactory? well, when have they let us down?

Finance wise? Lets just hope that either each of these trilogy episodes are fucking awsome, or they only cost $16.33 (with tax) each.

So before you sign (or create) some retarded online petition against game developer decisions, think about what exactly is going on on their end, and think about how much of an idiot you are.

Tiger Woods is THAT Good

2008-08-21T14:19:00.001-07:00

It's not a glitch, he's THAT good.

Usavich

2008-08-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

ウサビッチ

a witty and clever series of short animated cg clips about 2 rabbits in a prison in Soviet Russia.

Conversations at Anime Expo

2008-07-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

SOS-Dan Panel, 2007

Retard Fan A: Can I be your friend Hirano Aya?
Hirano Aya: If you become a seiyuu and we work on a project together, MAYBE we can be friends.

David Hayter Panel, 2008

Retard Fab B: Can I be your son, David Hayter?
David Hayter: Sure, go clean your room.

How to Spell "Fan Service"

2008-03-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

In the world of fancy graphics and amazing amounts of free time and creativity, there is always that one guy who makes the cut.

Using the highspeed fighting mechanic that was born from the Squeenix adaptation of Final Fantasy. A well choreographed fightscene played in the mind of a fan comes to life.

This guy has got some time on his hands.

Embedded Video:

Another Ladder to Climb

2008-02-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

Creative Energy has GOT to go somewhere, I've noticed.

While still in school I've literally vowed to keep up my slacker life style, but life has its own plans.
Without all the time in the world to do all the things that didn't need to be done, I've been forced to climb yet another ladder, while it may seem like a better ladder than prior ones, I still start at the very bottom.

Times have really changed, back then I really wondered what the hell I was suppose to do with my free time, now its down to wondering where my free time actually went. I don't think that people can change from who they are, but situation and environment bend us to who we will become. Fight it, and you will snap.

I can only hope that adaptation will show its head once time and experience finished beating me with big sticks.

So far, my year sucks, really really hard, and while futile, I'm still waiting for my Hollywood twist and make things all better.

2,000 gigabytes of stuff, 4 gigabytes per disk, well, you do the math.

2007-12-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

Not Again!, Not Fucking Again!

The frustration is indescribable in words, when the blue screen of death flashes in front of your very eyes, the click of the hard drive combined with the whirl of the CPU fans restarting, and when the OS you were using, was installed anew, 10 fucking minutes kind of new.

I made a big mistake, a week ago when I reformatted. I was too confident.
I didn't put in spybot, adaware, or a firewall until I've updated all the drivers and gotten all the gimmicks and programs i needed off the web. Within 3 days, the single ad-popping spyware had infiltrated my system with so many problems, Symatec anti-virus gave me too many warnings, enough to slow my computer to a crawl.

Reboot, F8 to safe mode, drag the few megabytes of new data off the C disk before I wipe it again, and bam.
30 minutes later, a fresh new OS, albeit fake.

Without the seal of authenticity Microsoft so lovingly wants, I found that I couldn't install MSN messenger without it telling me that the update MSN messenger, a Microsoft product, had downloaded a file that does not have a trusted digital seal.
W.T.F?

The good news was, I only had to fret about the situation for 5 minutes.

After 5 Minutes, my computer flashed me with the BSoD, it was like getting raped in the face by the antlers of Santa's personal Christmas reindeer's, all of them.

So, unaware of the severity of the situation, and several more try and die attempts, I've mentally declared that particular "formatted partition" had been fucked.

Now, I'm glad, and sad, that i've been doing extremely poor house cleaning with my hard drives. Not having deleted my old OS which I chose to abandon weeks ago seemed like the smarted decision so far. Although, the nearly 2 tera bytes of data, left unsorted and possibly lost to oblivion if the hard drives decides to physically fail, is very, very dire news.

2,000 gigabytes of stuff, 4 gigabytes per disk, well, you do the math.

It's been since the 56K, when downloading went a bit at a time, (that's 1/8th of a byte), and every picture, mp3, or text file you downloaded was precious. It took me 7 hours and 45 minutes to download the demo for Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, 125 megabytes, over a 56k modem, and I enjoyed every bloody minute of that demo after it had finished, although it was a piece of crap. The download was just too precious to not love to death.

I've never ever deleted anything without burning it down, therefore reducing my computer area into piles and piles of old folders of burnt CD's and DVD's. That habbit has died down last year, but the downloading didn't stop. Since then i've diligently organized, burnt, labled, and stuck on pretty little ($14 a pack) sticker lables onto each DVD.

And Now, I'm sitting in a dark room, CPU fans whirling and DVD drive spinning, I can't find a pencil, and I'm all out of sticker lables. But still making up for the long over due house cleaning that was but only inevitable.

oh, another one's done, about 496 more to go.

Movie Weekend

2007-12-15T18:13:00.001-08:00

Over the past two days, I had my movie fills that I've been craving for a few weeks.
At a small theater somewhere in Santa Monica, me and some friend's decided to watch "No Country for Old Men" before it went off the theaters. And knowing little about the movie besides it being praised by critics, and has no recognizable star's, I went in.

No Country for Old Men was rather mind blowing. A mix of subtlety, twisted humor, and well, old men. The suspense and the chain of events of the movie kept my heart at my throat, all without using cheap scare tactics of popping monsters in your face. Just watching the characters and the plot unfold shows you how much time and effort the director and script writers put into this masterpiece. It's filled with awsomeness.

And just because of the premise, I went to watch "I am Legend" at a local theater. Now, watching movies based solely on the premise of the movie, a single survivor, (Will Smith no less) in a huge abandoned city of New York, seemed like a pretty bad idea. But I was rather pleased with the outcome. While the movie was filled with in-your-face scary surprise scenes to keep your heart racing, Will Smith does a decent job of holding the movie together. I am Legend portrays a person who has nothing else but his dog Samantha to keep him company for three years in a dangerous city, I couldn't help but be reminded of "Shadow of Colossus" for the PS2. The bond between man and beast is quite beautiful.

While I am Legend is a great movie to check out with your friends, just because the premise is pretty cool, I would still suggest finding time to watch No Country for Old Men, if your the philosophical type, and love to analyze the subtle events that happen in said movie, it is, and I repeat, filled with awsomeness.

Fresh Rebeginning

2007-12-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

Four years ago, when I got my "college computer", as most college students did, but in my case, things didn't seem to go so well.

I broke 1 graphics card, 2 power supplies, went through 3 monitor's, 4 DVD burners, and among the 5 or so hardrives I had over the years, fucked up my partition and reformatted at least 20 times.

Times were rough, even when I went to my friend's house, I told them to keep digital shit away from me to prevent spontaneous combustion from my proximity.

After 2 years, I fucking had it, and bought almost everything anew. And I haven't swapped out a piece of hardware since.

Since now.

Few days ago I just stuck in a new graphics card to fire-up the impossible-to-render-at-maximum-settings game: Crysis.

Today, I finally decided to reformat my computer, well, technically, just boot up with another OS in a different drive.

I had forgotten how fucking fun it was to install all the crap we use on a day to day basis (read:sarcasm), that windows XP just so conveniently do not supply. what the hell does an operating system do, if you can't operate shit with it?

Over the years, it seems that Microsoft is trying harder and harder to defer the installation of their product without a Windows certification, things like service packs, updates, the nifty aplocale program(play Japanese games without rebooting), Windows Media Player, and even MSN messenger.

Although everything can be circumvented relatively easily with a quick online search for cached older versions, bypasses or cracks. It really does come in handy when you eventually get your hands on a real copy of Windows, which to date, I have not, ever...

I sure hope Vista is up to snuff to handle the next few years of its life cycle.

Speaking of Crysis, I've really been under the radar for the past months, I'l be updating more on my humble little gaming and anime paths of destruction. We'll see how this takes us.

My mentality on, and for, blogging has really changed, especially after graduation, and after not having to write a personal site, actually, it probably changed WHILE I spent all my efforts on UCSB's anime club website... well, I suppose those new guys really didn't catch up on how that stuff works... how unfortunate...

Anyway, right now, life is filling with, and has been filled with, a lot of time, before I finally landed a job offer, that time was incredibly guilt ridden, but now its just idle time. Really hasn't been wasted time however, with the incredible lineup of games this past 2 months that I got to spend with: Bioshock, Eternal Sonata, Ace Combat 6, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, Crysis, the Orange Box, and I wasted a whole god damn week beating Puzzle Quest to the ground, now that was not fun, after I realized that reality had just swished by.

Well well, I suppose blogging skills can get mighty rusty too...
Till I write again.

I Want

2007-12-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

Grand Theft Lucky Star

2007-11-08T23:51:00.000-08:00

How the hell do you describe this, a pinnicle of gaming, anime and some insane "skill" is required to understand why this thing is funny.

Hearing Impaired

2007-09-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

There's been more than once when I've had to ask people to repeat what they were saying to me with the universally polite please-repeat-yourself-phrase: "Huh?"
Perhaps there's something wrong with my hearing, even before headphones were a daily necessity.

The art of communication is what makes us human, here's some exchanges I've encountered in the past few weeks.

Fastfood drive through Guy: Hello, welcome to McBurger in the Box.

thecrowes: Hi... i'd like to have a number 23 please?

Fastfood drive through Guy: what? a number 33?

thecrowes: no... ! a number 23!

Fastfood drive through Guy: what? a number 43?

thecrowes: What the... f...?? a NUMBER TWENTY THREE!

Fastfood drive through Guy: Oh, ok, would you like Orange juice with that?

thecrowes: yea, orance juice would be fine, thanks.

Fastfood drive through Guy: what? you want beer?

thecrowes: Wh...WHAT? NO!

thecrowes: ORANCE JUICE!

thecrowes: what the hell? is he high?

Fastfood drive through Guy: Oh, yea, that will be 5.17 please.

thecrowes: Jesus Christ....

=================================================

So today i tried to cancel my Verizon DSL from my house, which i have recently moved out of, it took me 5 tries to finally get it working, here's how it panned out.

Try 1:

Verizon AI Operator: Hello, thank you for calling verizon, also on the web at Verizon.com, *VA *RI* ZON~ is this the number you are calling about? 805-291-xxxx?

thecrowes: .......

Verizon AI Operator: please say yes or no.

thecrowes: no...

Verizon AI Operator: ok, so what number are you calling about?

thecrowes: 805-685-2539

Verizon AI Operator: you just said, 805-685-2535, we...

thecrowes: NOOO!!

Verizon AI Operator: do not that number does not exist in our data base, good bye.

thecrowes: FAAA!!!!!

========================================

Try 2:

Verizon AI Operator: Hello, thank you for calling verizon, also on the web at Verizon.com, *VA *RI* ZON~ is this the number you are calling about? 805-291-xxxx?

thecrowes: .......gay

Verizon AI Operator: please say yes or no.

thecrowes: ...no

Verizon AI Operator: ok, so what number are you calling about?

thecrowes: 805-685-253NINE

Verizon AI Operator: you just said, 805-685-2539, do you allow us to access your information?

thecrowes: .....yea..

Verizon AI Operator: please say YES or NO

thecrowes: ... yes

Verizon AI Operator: ......

thecrowes: ... YES

Verizon AI Operator: please hold as we transfer you to an agent to assist you, your call may be monitored to ensure quality of service.

thecrowes: ......

Verizon AI Operator: Sorry, all of our agents are currently assisting other customers, please wait on the line for the next available agent.

Verizon Advertisements, male: Hey HONEY what are you doing?

Verizon Advertisements, female: I'm trying to XXXXX but this dial up is SO SLOW~!

Verizon Advertisements, male: Why don't we switch to verizon's new FAST...

thecrowes: .........

*10 minutes later*

Verizon Advertisements, male: Hey HONEY what are you doing?

Verizon Advertisements, female: I'm trying to XXXXX but this dial up is SO SLOW~!

Verizon Advertisements, male: Why don't we switch to verizon's new FAST...

Verizon AI Operator: All of our agents are currently assisting other clients, please hold for the next available agent, this will be your last notice.

thecrowes: .........

*10 minutes later*

Verizon Advertisements, female: I'm trying to XXXXX but this dial up is SO SLOW~!

Verizon Advertisements, male: Why don't we switch to verizon's new FAST...

thecrowes: FAST MY F#&@(ING ASS! GAAAAAHHHH!!!

*beep*

thecrowes: ......?

phone: "call ended, duration: 25:16"

thecrowes: GAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

===============================================

Try 3:

Verizon AI Operator: Hello, thank you for calling verizon, also on the web at Verizon.com, *VA *RI* ZON~ is this the number you are calling about? 805-291-xxxx?

*Skipped*

Verizon AI Operator: I can perform the following operations to your account: change of services, cancelation, speak to a a..

thecrowes: CANCELATION!

Verizon AI Operator: you chose, speak to an agent....

thecrowes: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Verizon AI Operator: please hold.

Verizon Advertisements, male: Hey HONEY what are you doing?

Verizon Advertisements, female: I'm trying to XXXXX but this dial up is SO SLOW~!

thecrowes: FUCKING DIEEEEEE!!!!!!

*20 minuts later*

Female Agent: Hello sir, how many i assist you today?

thecrowes: .......z....z.......oh.. I"D LIKE TO CANCEL MY SERVICES

Female Agent: I'm sorry sir, that department is closed now...

thecrowes: what? it's only.. *glances at clock*... 6.....04....

Female Agent: i'm sorry sir, but the department closes at 6

thecrowes: what, its only 4 minutes....can you cancle on your computer?

Female Agent: i'm sorry sir, i can not, you have to call back tomorrow

thecrowes: I waited for 30 minutes, in the morning, and i got dropped, and then i just waited another 20 minutes now.

Female Agent: I'm sorry sir, you have to call back tomorrow.

thecrowes: .................

Female Agent: ............

thecrowes: ................

Verizon Advertisements, male: Hey HONEY what are you doing?

*click*

ACG, When A meets G

2007-09-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things about popularity, is the creation of fan art.
Art also presents itself in many shapes or forms.
Doujins for example, but I'm not here to talk about those.

Mario world has been known to be hackable, just like all things digital. And through clever design and alot of patience, some of the folks big into the glory 16 bit days put together some clips of how to make a Super Mario World level "Playable", without actuallying having to touch the controller.

You mix that up with some of the passionate folks who are more A than G, you get the following kick ass combination.

Mario cruising along to Hare Hare Yukai.

Be sure to turn up the video's volume.

精霊の守り人 - Seirei no Moribito

2007-08-27T05:04:00.001-07:00

Everyone once in a while, comes a good book. To the book lovers, a fine read, to the creative mind, a source of inspiration, and to the Anime fan, one awsome series.

Seirei no Moribito is an original novel by Nahoko Uehashi, spanning 10 books and two story arcs, the 26 episode Animated series that started April 07 covers the first book of the Moribito series.

The story feels like a mix of Ghost in the Shell meets Samurai 7, for everybody else, let me explain:
the premise is actually quite simple, bodyguard Barusa is hired by the second Empress to protect her son, Cha-gum, the second prince, from royal assassins to kill him because Cha-gun is rumored to have been possessed by a water demon, and is the reason to the lasting drought.
As the plot progresses, Barusa and Cha-gum flee from their persuers and try to look for a solution to Cha-gum's possession. All while the immaculate young prince leaves the palace halls to live life very differently.

Production I.G, (Blood+, Chevalier, Ghost in the Shell series) has done an extremely fine job on the direction of art, style, and setting of the entire series. The capital of Yogo is shown as a city of hustle and bustle, people left and right, and beautiful background designs that rival movie budgets.
Although Asian looking, the story takes place in an alternate world where people use the lesser known 5000 words from the Chinese dictionary for daily usage. Kidding aside, Production I.G. has a ton of cash, and they aren't afraid to spend it. Unlike Chevalier, the animation and frame rate remains tip top all the way into the high teen episodes. And the series does nothing else but draws you in further.

As I like to say about series without an original plot, they have the time and energy to invest in everything BUT the story line, often a good thing, and in Seirei no Moribito's case, it worked out of the best. The original author did a hell of a job putting together a national scale story, spanning the blooming country side of rice paddies and ragged mountain tops, to the inner sanctums of the imperial palace.

While the episodes sometimes sidestep to show time lapsing and further character development, it maintains its tense and serious tone of the matter at hand. I particularly enjoy the characters reacting realistically to events and each other. Many episodes were self contained single episode short stories that gave a greater meaning to the larger plot line, furthering character development and filling in the missing pieces in their backgrounds. Its like a freaking book!

Its hard to not get to like the cast of characters in the series, from a young prince, to an old ass kicking shaman, to the middle aged female main character. You don't see that ensemble every day. All of the characters besides the immaculate Cha-gum exude the sense of experience, that they have seen many things, and lived to tell. Even the royal palace's pursuing hunters have their time on the screen, and portrayed in a way that its just impossible to not enjoy their presence in some way.

If nothing else, Seirei no Moribito has some of the most ass kicking fight scenes in all Anime. Production I.G. once again demonstrates their experience in presenting beautifully choreographed fights in incredibly smooth animation. All while an adrenaline pumping theme plays in the back ground. How can you not love episode 3?

The 1 vs 4 sequence was nothing short of mind blowing.

So what are you waiting for? Go take a look at one of the finer series from 2007.

Check out this pre-series pilot, it will give you a good idea what you will be in for.

/Slap

2007-07-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

A Game of no Honor, no Dignity, and no Punching or Kicking.

Slapping is the way to go.

Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation, Day Two

2007-07-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Not reading this in correct Format? Go Here
Go Here if you Missed Day One
Sick of Bad News? Haruhi Second Season Announced
___________________________________

For those of you who do not know me, I am a fan, a big fan of Anime, but that isn't saying very much. I'm the host and President of the Anime Club @ UC Santa Barbara for the past three years, and I know a few things about the two A's. Administration and Anime.

Anime Expo of 2007 has left me speechless.

The following highlights "events" over a weekend spent in the burning sunlight of Long Beach at AX 2007, chasing the SOS idols.

Disclaimer: To keep this article in a rather neutral stance, it is color coded the following way:
(Please follow the link to the original article to see the formatting)

Facts: Summary, short and clear
Experience: This happened.
Quotes: "As Spoken"
What You Didn't Know: Some things happening in the background that even on site staff sometimes do not know (Note, much of this is word of mouth information that came from high up management of AX, may contain errors)
Opinion: Mine, take with grain of salt.
Rant: Block your ears.

Leave any question or comments at the bottom link.

_______________________________

The is the end of Day One, and Events that Lead Up to Day Two.

Day One, Saturday 6:10 PM, Front Walkway

The focus panel was over, and the exhibition hall was closed, and it was time to head home for the day.

"Ah! My Friend!!"
-Wada

Having lined up and sat together at the focus panel earlier in the day, we have become good friends with the Japanese fan and his friends. We exchanged greetings, handshakes, and I wondered why the most hardcore SOS-dan fan in the world, did not line up to ask a question at the focus panel, to let the seiyuu's know that he had followed them all the way here to support them, because he had more than an opportunity to nail first spot on the microphone. Note that Wada knows English only to the point of what he probably learned at school, so the conversation continues with his broken English, and my broken Japanese.

"The SOS-dan, come, here. To America. Focus Panel, for fans.... in America, so, I not line up."
-Wada

Holy crap, what courtesy! He flew, all the way from Japan, coming to the US all by himself, lines up first for the focus panel, and gets his ass cut by a group of "rule breakers", I think he deserves more than first place on the mic, and to say hello to his beloved idols. But NO. He has the courtesy to allow fans in America to run the focus panel, asking them questions that can't are not only slightly inappropriate in Japan, but lose his chance for center spotlight.

Perhaps its cultural, camaraderie among fans in Japan perhaps? This kind of stuff just doesn't happen on these shores. Once the host announced for people to line up for the microphone to ask questions, specifically requesting no punching or kicking, the room explodes and a 60 man line form with in a split second, I thought i saw someone's fist is another person's mouth. Great organization, AX, great demonstration of character, American fans.

Back to the front walkway, we ask Wada when he plans to start lining up for the autograph session scheduled for tomorrow at 10am. It seemed that even the action of asking shocked him.

".....All Night!!"
-Wada

More than a little surprised, since merely lining up for 3 hours had secured us front row seats, with the holy TICKET in hand, forfeiting sleep to line up in the morning for more than a couple of hours was beyond imagine at this point. I pointed out to Wada that he was thinking of competing with Japanese fans, and that American fans are not nearly as "hardcore" as their Japanese counterparts, who sometimes wait in line for days for signatures.

"油斷は禁物"
-Wada

His words blew my mind. Roughly meaning that one must never let one's guards down, we were then offered some veteran advice.

If the signing was to be 1 hour long, and the SOS-dan signs fast, and one signature per seiyuu, one person would perhaps finish in 30 seconds, put this in a pipeline, with no speaking, no picture taking, the process could be sped up to roughly 15 to 20 seconds, meaning that with a signing no longer than one full hour, no more than 200 could bring the trio's signature home.

Lets organize some facts.

With earlier estimation of an entire roll of tickets passed out, around 500 people are going to assume that they will be just zipping pass the line to land themselves an easy autograph.

Cowboy hat AX guy, the host for the focus panel, noted nothing more than the TIME, and LOCATION of the autograph session, which up to this point, didn't exist in the printed schedule, or even announced. Nothing about duration, or any sort of detail, and he also stated that he was unsure of the location he had given.

If you can't nail the first 50 spots in line, your autograph chances decreases dramatically the farther back you are. Assuming that the length is 1 hour, at most 200 would get signatures, if photographs are allowed, -30 people, if talking was allowed, -30 people, if customized signatures were allowed (talking required), -50 more, if multiple signatures were allowed, half the remainder.

Being at anything more than 200th in line, means that you're FUCKED!

Cowboy hat AX guy's words regarding the ticket was "priority" to those non-ticketed. And how is that going to work out? does one non-ticketed person go in every 3 ticketed? or is it half and half? Doesn't that also mean that the first non-ticketed person can go in before many of those who are ticketed?

Information regarding the signing was not poorly advertised, there was zero printed information.

If it wasn't for Wada's smack in the head, we would have shown up no earlier than 8 am.

Holding the golden ticket earned from the focus panel seemed to have "guaranteed the ticket holder a signing", which were the exact words of the person passing out the tickets, but things did not turn out that way at all.

________________________________

Day Two

Early in the morning, we clawed ourselves out of bed and started onto the road to the SOS-dan autograph session. It didn't help that the trip took an hour, all while some dumbass decided to crash and overturn his convertible in the middle of the freeway at 6 AM.

As we join the line, there are about 30 or so people in front, Wada being the first in front. I turned down his heartwarming invitation to join him in the front of the line, seeing that not only will I get mad stares for the next 3 hours, but being 50th in line was a safe bet to get a signature. I was wrong.

The staff then moved the line unto the walls, claiming that we were a fire hazard, and then lined people up, and then down some stairs.
Efficiently blocking exit from a door on the second floor, which seemed like an emergency exit.

At 9:00, the line had fattened, exponentially. The 30 that was in front of us, was now almost 100. We were uneasy, but cutting was inevitable. The probability to land that autograph has already dwindled, but more and more people I haven't seen in the line before went up the stairs, at 9:30, the stairs was packed. The people behind us, under the stairs, along the wall, and unto the bridge, were unfortunately hopeless, they just didn't know.

The line on the other side of the picture marked by the purple arrow indicates the Exhibition line starting for form again, those dumb sap's never learn.

10:00 AM

Some started to ask what was going on. The staff knew nothing.
Most of the staff who kept the line in order did not even know what the line was for, much less details of the delay.

Sometime around 10:30, a staff walks out and announces that the signing is RESCHEDULED. They then said they would hand out free tickets to the SOS-dan concert, which were around $30 retail.

I'm unaware of how many tickets that were given out in total, probably 200-300 seeing that they were in tiny paper bags. But there were a couple things overlooked.

Place in line meant nothing, I later re-encountered Wada and his friend Junichi, they were saying how even they have a 5 night stay at the hotel, they are going to spend the third night on the streets, lining up for the same thing.

If you already had a premier SOS-dan ticket, and you were first in line? Go Fuck Yourself.

So there we are, entire morning in the burning sun gone to waste, but hey, we got a free ticket to the concert that was sold out online right? I guess that wasn't so bad.

_____________________________

Day two, Saturday 3:00 PM,
In front of the Arena

The SOS-dan Live

The official rumor was that there are assigned seats. Tickets are limited, there are seat numbers, areas assigned printed on the ticket, it was the logical thing to believe.

Assigned Seats = No Need to Line Up.

There was a huge crowd gathered at the entrance of the Arena, but there was no line, and the staff were ordering people to line up at places that later were not part of the line.

at around 30 minutes before time assigned for "Seating" prior to the concert, lines started to form, serious cutting was taking place, but no one really cared, because seating was assigned, a staff member walked around with a megaphone reconfirming this fact.

1 hour later, after having our bags searched for cameras, the line was beginning to be let in.

I am completely baffled by the fact that they thought:
1. searching your bags for food/drinks/camera was at all the right thing to do
2. that the search actually stopped anyone from doing anything.

After I heard about the search, I pulled out my camera from by bag, and stuck in into my jeans pocket, and walked right through.

The only retard they stopped was this Naruto cosplaying kid that had a bag of 2 water bottles, that he was later forced to throw into the trash. What a fucking shame.

Upon entering the actual arena, the crowd was forced to make a line in front of the actual arena doors. When word comes down that General Attendance seating is first come first serve.

Those of you who believe the staff saying that seats were assigned? Staff Lie.

The crowd was highly agitated, with anyone even remotely looked like he was standing up, the entire line would shoot straight up. This line lasted for 2 hours, and the crowd was let into the auditorium at 5:30 PM, 1 hour after the show was scheduled to start.

The live was delayed for a long long time, naturally, the fans blamed AX, as it is well known for its delays, inefficiencies and various problems over the years.

Before the show started, seated audience were blasted by with SOS-dan related commercials. American commercials. They later showed a Anime review show, which proceeded to review The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the American version, if the title was not obvious.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu is licensed to Bandai in America, and Bandai employed Bang Zoom! audio studio to dub the series into English.

I have no doubt that Bandai was the force behind the invitation of the SOS-dan ladies, and they wanted to pull a publicity stunt at the show.

It can only be described as GOD DAMN AWFUL! People came here to see Hirano Aya , Goto Yuko , and Chihara Minori, not some pretend American fans rating a show (8.4 btw) they paid 30 dollars to attend a live concert of.

Hearing English dubs was painful at best, but if the show was aimed to promote Haruhi in the US, then it is understandable, but it isn't. The live is for the seiyuu's. Capitalism showing its ugly face at an Anime live, what can I say, we're dealing with Bandai.

In any case, the adver-tainment did nothing to raise the spirits of the tired and agitated fans, who were still slowly coming in.

Around 6:00, the show finally started, we have, an interpreter, along with Patricia Ja Lee as the American host, Patricia, labeled in the picture below, on the left. These two were the bridge of conversation in the whole show.

The two's performance were abysmal.

The two introduced each of the three SOS-dan seiyuu's, Gotou Yuuko, Chihara Minori, and Hirano Aya, allowed each to sing their character songs, and did a comparison voice acting with their American counter parts.

Patricia Lee, cosplaying as Haruhi took the position as the host. I am not aware whether or not she was actually trying to play out Haruhi's American persona, but she came off to the audience as a stuck up self centered bitch. While Haruhi does have that attitude, it comes off as extremely bastardizing in English.

"I Recruit all of You to the ASOS-Brigade"
-Patricia Ja Lee

The part that pisses me off the most is that she believed that ANYONE would give a flying fuck about HER, an English speaking AMERICAN version persona Haruhi. The entire ordeal was a god damn mistake.

First of all, nobody cares about the North American version. The DVD's are barely released in the US, barely anyone has heard of these horrifyingly ear bleeding English dubs, and throughout the hour, the English voices were held much higher respect to the three seiyuu's who have come all this way to perform. The reason why everybody and anybody is in this auditorium in the first place.

I Fucking hate that bitch.

The order for a voice over comparison was Japanese first, then English second.

Anyone who fail to understand the meaning behind this, you are a fool.

They played a copy AFTER an original. In an attitude as if the American voices were somehow better, newer, and more appealing to the audience.

What you Might Not have Known:
Turns out, there are more facts that weigh into the equation: Patricia Lee and all the US voice actors are basically co-workers from Bang Zoom!

This came to me as more of an extreme disrespect for the SOS-dan ladies. The treatment they had received on stage was nothing similar to the sort of professional, rehearsed and coordinated performances they are used to in Japan.

Not only is the host only describable as a crude, unskilled and jaw-dropping bad actor, but she had put the non-English speaking seiyuu's in awkward positions numerous times.

The interpreter was in no way professional, prepared, or knowledgeable towards the context she was translating for. I would not be surprised if Bang Zoom! had pulled her from their accounting department and tossed her on stage because she was bilingual. Her translations were non-existent.

The order of English to Japanese should be Host->Translator->Seiyuu
and Japanese to English would be Seiyuu->Translator->Host

However, this order was broken in the very beginning, when Yokou Gotou spoke understandable amounts of English, and could converse directly to the host and the crowd.

Chihara Minori and Hirano Aya both had moments of blank stares to the camera, when questions directed to them from the host were not translated, and the entire stage crew were looking at them. The translation was so poorly coordinated that the seiyuu's on stage were often not aware of what was even going on.

The portion of Japanese that were translated, lost all of the humor, emotion, and character when originally spoken. The interpreter was also unaware of the meaning of popular ACG phrase "Tsundere". The English speaking audience did not understand more than 30% of what really happened.

".....Huh? What... Is, Tsundora?"
-Bang Zoom Interpreter

There were also a number of technical problems at the live.

There was a mis-sync of the audio the Seiyuu's were singing to, perhaps an ear piece, and the audio that the crowd was hearing. This caused the crowd to hear roughly a 0.3 second delay in the voice projected off the stage.

The seiyuu's were not half a second off beat in singing, it was a technical problem, but they took the fall for it.

There was also electrical noise and stutter in the video feed, all of which could have been prevented. It is unknown whether this problem was caused by the AX staff, or the Long Beach Convention Arena technical staff.

The only part that might have saved the day, was the numerous parts when Patricia Lee played Haruhi's wing-it persona.

"Hey, You know what I think is a Good Idea?"
-Patricia Ja Lee

well, getting the fuck off the stage would have a good been one, but I guess i can't ask for too much, and no one answered.
She had just invited the other two of Bandai's official Haruhi coplayer trio (pictured above) on stage. Contrary to Patricia, the other two spoke in Japanese, were quite cute, soft spoken, and rather popular among the fans.

"Hey... You know what I think is a Good Idea?"
-Patricia Ja Lee

Patricia gives an evil stare at Mikuru's cosplayer.

"GRAB HER BREASTS FROM BEHIND!!!!! and squeeee..."

was the message shooting out of my eyes, but I guess that was also too much to expect from that Fucking Bitch.

Mikuru Mikuru-beamed the crowd, twice.

After being delayed for nearly two hours, the live ended in ninety minutes. I met up with a friend who was doing Press coverage for AX.

"While seeing the SOS-dan was totally worth while, The problems, the host, the interpreter, and the technical issues that occured pains me to see our idols underapreciated."

and as we dragged our exhausted, burnt and mind blown bodies back home from AX, day two, we couldn't help but debate as to how much truth lies in the cute final words of Hirano Aya, when there are much greater forces at work behind the industry sponsored convention that is nothing more than doing business, Anime Expo 2007.

"I'l Be Baaaaaack!!!!"
-Hirano Aya

___________________________

Come back for the stunning conclusion that is the Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation Saga, Day Three. Where the true reason of a near-botched signing, and the Idol's reactions to the Live concert are revealed.

Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation, Day One

2007-07-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know me, I am a fan, a big fan of Anime, but that isn't saying very much. I'm the host and President of the Anime Club @ UC Santa Barbara for the past three years, and I know a few things about the two A's. Administration and Anime.

Anime Expo of 2007 has left me speechless.

The following highlights "events" over a weekend spent in the burning sunlight of Long Beach at AX 2007, chasing the SOS idols.

Disclaimer: To keep this article in a rather neutral stance, it is split the following way:

Facts: Summary, short and clear
Experience: This happened.
Quotes: "As Spoken"
What You Didn't Know: Some things happening in the background that even on site staff sometimes do not know (Note, much of this is word of mouth information that came from high up management of AX, may contain errors)
Opinion: Mine, take with grain of salt.
Rant: Block your ears.

Leave any question or comments at the bottom link.

_______________________________

Day One, Friday 10:30 AM, Seaside Meeting Rooms

The line to register for a badge is long, winding, long, and long, arrival at 10:00 means you get your badge after around 5 hours of lining up, pre-reg.

The line for getting an AX badge has always been long, imagine a Cosco sized square room full of people, enough people that you can walk on top of their heads, now imagine that in a single line.
The staff roped off the Seaside Meeting Rooms entrance into the convention center building to queue up a line for registration.

"Pre-reg? get in the line, it starts...uhh... just keep walking that way."

-Front Door AX Staff

The queue holds around 200 people, another 200 on the other side set aside for "pre-registered" attendees, however, about 15000 more stacked into the sidewalk, parking lot, and open road miles down. There are no more than 30 volunteers working to get all of these folks inside.

30 untrained high school (on average, the girl who serviced me looked like she was 14) volunteers are not going to work up a sweat to beat their buddies in badge issueing. A 5 hour lines is not a good start for a convention.
Compare this to Fanime in San Jose, pre-reg lines is on avergae a 15 minute wait, while un-reg is around 2~3 hours. They have the same amount of booths servicing both badge types, plus, pre-reg staff have to pick out your particular badge out of a mountain of others.

AX's line was not even sorted until the very end, which means pre-reg does nothing, given the following facts: Pre-reg and No-pre-reg are serviced at the same rate, at times the staff pulls 100 of the pre-reg out of the 200 in front (which have already waited for 4 and a half hours), places them in a separate queue, and both lines enter the registration room at the same rate. Mathematically speaking, a pre-reg person placed into the seperate queue actually loses place in line and will have to wait longer.

Who the hell came up with that system?
He needs to be shot, for 5 hours.

Pre-registration gets you a piece of paper that does absolutely nothing to get you ahead of the procrastinators who did not pre-reg (besides the pre-reg who arrived late), and are they re-registering your actual appearance at the convention? Why does there even need to be a line?
Why are there no tag scanners, they scan printed paper in seconds, AX can issue stickers or pins to mark them.
Register working volunteer can't type for shit and your Unregistered?? fill out a scantron while you wait in line, they go through like plane tickets i hear.

So Why does AX not spend a couple thousand dollars to buy half a dozen machines to speed up the process but keep 15 thousand people waiting in the burning sun?

Volunteers, they're fucking FREE!

________________________________________

Day One, Friday 11:00 AM, In front of the Exhibition Hall

There is a line forming in front of the exhibition hall to enter at 12:00pm. The line follows along the long outer courtyard wall of the exhibition hall, across a sky bridge, twists into the darkness of the second floor of the two story parking lot, only to emerge from the first floor (vehicle) entrance, and wraps around the entire building such that the line folds back on the other side of the (vehicle) entrance to fit more incoming...

IDIOTS!

the line is approximately 10,000 persons long.

There is absolutely no purpose to line up once the line has crossed the sky bridge. I will explain why.
There is basically no such thing as an convention exclusive in the vendor room. North American fans have garnered enough attention from Japanese manufacturers and vendors such that anything that can be purchased at the show floor, will be available online, at other cons, or sold at local stores, as long as you have the skills to find it.

You may find some deals and madly discounted goods lying around by some unwary shopkeeper, but only if you know your prices, and the probability that you will wonder by such an item by chance in front of thousands of others? Slim.
Furthermore, know storekeepers well enough, and they will gladly sell you their goods at barely above Japanese manufacturer prices, that's around 20~30 dollars off of a high end 120 dollar figure.

If you thought a $120 figure is expensive, you wasted 2 hours, one hour for turning crispy on the concrete, and one hour for walking from where you foolishly stood, into the exhibition hall. Give yourself a badge, no, wait, just write "IDIOT" on yours.

While the long line doesn't really pose any problems to anybody, imagine the kind of problem AX will on their hands when some poor kid gets hit by a car while standing in line in the middle of the parking lot, so for their sake:

AX staff need to tell attendees that they do not need to "line up" to enter the exhibition hall, they just need to "wait", and then enter in an orderly fashion.

_______________________________

Day One, Friday 1:00 PM, Grand Ballroom

When asked if there was a line for the 4:30 SOS-dan focus panel, front door staff stated that there wasn't, but was sure that we couldn't start one on the second floor where he stood, after questioning 3 more uniformed staff members, none of them knew where the line was and where to start a line. One of them bluntly stated that

"I'm off by 4:00pm, so ....yea... *shrugs shoulders*"

-AX Line Staff

After a bit of wondering, we managed to find the head of the line downstairs, and across of a plaza outside of the building, along side of the Hyatt building's outer walkway. There were two groups already in line, no longer than 10 people. One person, a Japanese, in the second group in line was in a psyched up state. We later found out his name was 和田 (Wada). He had come directly from Japan, following the SOS-dan seiyyu's all the way to Long Beach to show them support, while his group consisted of 8 or 9, most of them came by themselves, and only knew each other from other conventions in Japan, and it was luck that had brought them on the same plane, most of them are visiting the US for the first time.

Just to make clear exactly how HARDCORE he is, he claims that he has 16 signed items by the SOS-dan, 2 of the 3 seiyuu's remember his face, and he appears on the DVD recording of an extremely hard-to-get-in concert by the SOS-dan, front, fucking, row. Not to mention he's wearing an official SOS T-shirt AND an extremely rare SOS vest, which he plans to get signed at this event. He is most definitely the most interesting and friendly person I've met this trip down south.

"Rule Breaker!!"

-Wada

Aparently, the group that was infront of the most hardcore SOS-dan fans had cut in front of them while the line was still immature and the staff confused.

only a few people were in the line, it wasn't obvious whether the line actually existed, none of the staff could accurately (or remotely) describe where to line up/the line was. Cutting, becomes a problem, and continues to be for the next three days.

One of the volunteers attempted to settle the angry Japanese fan, and proposes that he, but only him, could go in front. Wada turned it down, and whispers his feelings towards the rule breakers into my ear.

"I Dream them Killed!"

-Wada

Good fucking going, American fans, show them how you do things in the West.

ACG fans who followed epic lining up events all know what happens when fans are excited, extremely hot, dehydrated, and tired. PS3 lines are a good blueprint as to what can happen when lines are poorly organized. Cutting is basically inevitable, there's two ways to handle cutting. Either you allow cutting, or you have zero tolerance. What about the grey area? Take this scenario for instance:
Line started at 1pm, event is at 4:30.

Person A cuts in front at 3:45
Person K cuts in at 4:00

If Person A said he just got back from Lunch, and Person K had to drive his uncle to the airport?
Who do you let in if you were staff? What if the event happens at 8 pm?

Where do you mark the cut off for someone who cuts in late? What if someone had an emergency and just made it? It just doesn't work like that. And unless someone starts handing out tickets or wrist bands for those early in line, cutting will be inevitable, is 1 person cutting any less wrong that 2? what about 5. Educating idiots who are pissed because they are cut off by the people cutting in, is pretty much a useless cause.

AX needs to foresee where long lines are going to form, and either control the line, or angry mobs begin to form. Start with roping not a straight line, but a snake line, people are much more hesitant to cut those, because everybody sees you cross, and there will be less and less space to stand/sit.

At around 3:45 pm staff moved the now 500 long line into the building, up the stairs and curling around the front entrane of the Grand Ballroom. It would be the perfect time for someone to cut in line (without knowing anybody infront or behind) when the line had to move 2-300 meters up the stairs, but it just happens that the unlucky cutter decided to cut infront of me.

"Sorry sir, we're moving the long, you need to come with me"

-AX Staff

after being informed, a witty AX staff pulls the cutter out of the line with zero commotion, someone give this man a badge.

Upon entering the SOS-dan focus panel, staff passed out tickets for the autograph event, as a token to get ahead of those who did not attend the focus panel, or those who were too far back in line, I estimate that one roll of no more than 5-600 tickets were passed out.

Here comes the juicy part. Who ever came up with that one, must have thought they were smart. The front of the ticket is marked with a Staples logo, obviously a common commodity you can buy at the local store, and the signing was not scheduled within a few hours, but the next day! Also, the entire roll was given out, and the staff also kept no stubs, meaning that unless they recorded the roll's beginning and end serial number and checked it at the door at the signing, the tickets were useless.

Anybody with a car and 12 dollars can not only head to the nearest staples to pick up their own roll of raffle tickets, but scalp it to those who don't have one. The person who came up with this, is also an idiot.

Everything inside the focus panel went fairly smoothly, probably the only SOS-dan event that didn't go seriously wrong.

________________________________

Day One, Friday 5:30 pm, Exhibition Hall

Finally free from lining up in the burning sun of Long Beach, we take our first look into the Exhibition Halls of the largest Anime Convention of the year. Having been to more than a few cons, and spent more than enough to plaster our walls, tables and shelves with merchandise, we've come to be quite memorable customers at more than a few stores, and have the pleasure to enjoy some deals.

But the hall was closing down in 30 minutes, so there wasn't much point to rush and shop, since according to the previous thesis of Convention Merchandise, anything worth rushing for, would have already been bought. We arrive at a familiar dealer's island booth to check on how he's doing. And For the sake of argument, lets just call him Kevin. So Kevin, how's business?

"Business Fucking Sucks!"
-Kevin, AX Dealer

This isn't some half-assed single corner booth doujin drawing artist, Kevin's store has long been one of the largest non-industry store at the conventions he attends, and usually owns multiple islands stacked with merchandise and with business so well that he couldn't even find time to feed himself.

"I've been eating the whole fucking day!"
-Kevin

While speaking half jokingly, he was obviously very angry at the turn up.

According to him, dealers are charged by the convention to ship contents in their freights/trucks to the show floor on "platters", which is roughly the size of a shopping cart. and every year the prices have gone up. Mainly due to the location of the convention. And Electricity, Phone lines, furniture are all extra services they are required to pay for to smoothly run the business, the prices of those have risen dramatically also.

"Long Beach, as a location, and as a convention center, is not as good as Anaheim in previous years, and next year we'l be in LA, that's even worse!"
-Kevin

As the US fans become and larger and larger market, the overhead that dealers like Kevin must pay for to import goods directly from Japan are overshadowed by the large Japanese manufacturers that have started localization branches and are selling Americanized goods at a lower price. Take Nippon Ichi Software for example, they are selling their own brand products for up to 20 dollars cheaper than other stores on the floor.

Which one would you buy?
A Poster that titled "涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱" for 30 dollars?
Or The same Poster, this time titled "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya", along with a North American Bandai logo, for 15 dollars?

Do you care about the origin of the item? does that justify the higher price? are you a purist that not only must have First names last and Last names first, but also rebuke all non-Japan made merchandise? If you did care, the fact is, your a rarity.

The average fan at an introductory level, doesn't read Japanese, wants cheap goods, and loves America, and English, much more than some gibbering language he/she can not understand.

Simply look at how the SOS concert was arranged on Saturday, but more on that later.

At 6:00 sharp, Staff starts to shuffle out the loitering attendees off the show floor, which gets me started on the structural design of the Long Beach convention center. To better the efficiency of foot traffic, entrance and exits exist for solely, entrance OR exits, not both. We were forced to walk by half a dozen exits before finding one that didn't have an angry staff telling us we couldn't leave here. On the way, we saw this guy on the right.

Who is this poor shmuck? Who is this poor shmuck's fucking supervisor? Why is he holding an "Entrance Only" sign above his head?

Good Going, AX, You got a volunteer, flew him into Long Beach, gave him a hotel room, free food, free badge, and you make him hold a piece of cardboard above his head for 4 fucking days? At least give him a pole so he doesn't have to get muscle cramps in the morning!

to make things worse, there's Another one, standing RIGHT NEXT TO THE FIRST!

A simple THIS would have solved your problems, for much cheaper, and requires no bathroom breaks.

This is a prime example of the blind (idiotic supervisor) leading the blind(poor shmuck), leading the blind (retards trying to go out from the entrance).

Instead, post these fellas to the registration line, since I somehow feel like the 10,000 people waiting in the sun is a little more important than the 5 people who are trying to go out of "Entrance Only".

However, not all of poor-shmuck's work is for wrought, for the convention floor grounds IS confusing. Perhaps it was partly due to the size of AX this year, that forced everything but the Exhibit Hall outside of the giant indoor space, but the location of anything, and everything, leaves much to be desired. Upon instinct on arrival, most would head to high ground, where the sun shines, where the crowd is, but guess what. The registration booth is in a different ~~castle~~ building all together, in a tiny room in the center of the convention ground, which causes the line to start to form outside, under a giant bridge to the parking lot. Anime showings are at remote hotel meeting rooms barely connected to the convention grounds, and events are tossed all over the place, no body could find anything without asking one of the staff.

And it isn't like those highschool volunteers really know their convention floor plans either.

So after hours of crispifying in the sun, all we got today was our entrance badge, and a crumbly piece of raffle ticket, which at the end, served no purpose at all.

Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation, Day Two will continue Tomorrow.

Announcements are Good

2007-07-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Second Season of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (probably won't be Yuutsu anymore?) was announced on Newtype. Are you excited?

Gundam Head is Excited.

Although the actual season will most likely be behind Clannad, which most don't see finishing under 26 episodes, which in turn, will follow only after Lucky Star ends.

Therefore, Suzumiya Haruhi no (Second Season), Spring 2008.

Patience is a Virtue, time to practice it.

SOS-dan Invasion, Now Also on PS2

2007-06-27T23:27:00.001-07:00

Famitsu's newest issue has revealed that Haruhi is not only coming to the PSP (did you re-evaluate your PSP vs DS?), but also putting out a game onto the Play Station 2, still a favorite console to own currently, despise its age.

Gamers take the role of Kyon and The objective of the game is is to make a fantasy RPG with the SOS-dan. The art is also done by Kyoto-Ani, full of goodness.

Also, famous model expert Max Watanabe and action figure creator Masaki Apsy, is developing super-poseable action figures based on the "超勇者ハルヒ" concept, expect that to be available in a few months.

The Game is Coming Near You in January 2008, Anime adaptation PS2 games normally don't take that long to make, and hopefully this long development cycle will bring us a good game!

In other Anime related News:

Remember らき☆すた, Lucky Star?

The fans sure do, in fact, they are fucking crazy about it, 723,000yen worth of fucking crazyness.

The original artist of the Lucky Star manga had drawn and signed a drawing of the cult hit characters Kagami and Tsukasa, and tossed it onto Yahoo! Auction.

The winning bidder (I'm not sure if he really "won"...) got his loot for a whooping $5,900 US.

A pretty clear demonstration of just how explosively popular KyoAni's new Spring series is doing to the fans.

Package For Me

2007-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

This baby is packed with enough bubble foam to keep you occupied for a whole month.

Garage kits come in pieces:
Head, Check
Body, Check
Left Feet, Check
Right Feet, Check
Guitar, Check
Left Arm, Check
Right Arm..... wtf?

In the original Box, hidden under more foam, whew, almost made a long distance call to Hong Kong.

No super glue required.

Notice the Detail on the Guitar, Strings Attached!

The "stand" is wood, pink wood.

Kinky.

I accidentally snapped one of the frilly laces at the back while putting her together...
Off to buy some super glue tomorrow.

Other than that...

Awesomeness.

A Thousand Ways to Kill a Movie

2007-06-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

While nearly all movie adaptations of games have sucked hard in the past, there is always the few that can actually turn the eye of the gamer, bar the Dead or Alive katana wielding bikini babes.

The old school Hitman series began November of 2000, while rated a pretty crappy game, Hitman 2 in 2002 brought much attention to the series. The combination of finely executed stealth and brutal killing of a contracted hitman, completing the mission with no more than a single bullet if executed in perfection earned the series many fans.

More and more games are being picked up by Hollywood for a quickly, and thrown to the side after the rabid fans anal rape the resulting film for not sticking to the original. Hitman the movie will not be coming to theaters for a while, and neither will the Halo movie, nor the Gears of War movie, or the Prince of Persia movie, but it sure is the first one we'll be able to see, or not see.

Check out the Movie's Trailer:

It looks good for a game-movie standard, albeit one too many explosions.

In other news, I picked up a sweet and expensive camera today, the Sony DSC W80.

Having picked it up after a 5 minute talk with the sales rep, it was pretty much an impulse buy, but what the hell, I have no camera. While the camera came with no carrying case, I did get a kinky looking tripod with the repair plan.

Tomorrow is figure picture time.

Miscellaneous Et Cetera

2007-06-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

There is't much time left before decisions have to made for the near future to determine the far future, and I think that my vacation is being well spent doing what I have, or haven't, done.

I love sitting at home.

Free time is the definition of living, get that straight, Sony.

However, just after beginning a no-class no-work vacation, the sudden urge of mad shopping has overcome my tiny wallet, although not yet.

AX, Computer Upgrades, all suddenly look like great spending options when they weren't a few months ago.

E2046 sending me emal updates about new figures is definately not helping either.

I haven't really been in the mood to catch up on too much anime or manga as I used to, and listening to my roomate play his entire mp3 folder of Anime songs brings back not only nostolgic feelings, but also the sense of "why the fuck did i watch that series again?"...

Is it the age hitting? I really wonder, or perhaps plain laziness. I doubt ACG will rub off any time soon, and I'm looking forward to my retirement in 2040, where "Bingo" only exists in history books.

Star Crossed

2007-06-19T19:37:00.001-07:00

2 years ago, Studio Gonzo released Gankutsuou, an anime adaptation for the Count of Monte Cristo, with its tight weaved story telling and unique art style, Gankutsuou was the favorite of many fans.

10 weeks ago, Gonzo puts out another long told stories of western literature, perhaps one of the most famous love stories ever told.

Romeo and Juliet roughly follows the original Shakespeare script with its characters, but with a new fantasy world and a brand new style of hatred brewing between the Montegues and the Capulets.

The Romeo and Juliet OP was definately one of my favorates among the Spring season.

While I don't believe the series will garner much attention from the Anime community, nor will this Gonzo budget (think Microsoft, but Anime...) production retell the well known story of Romeo and Juliet particularly well.

But the vibrant characters and the overflowing love in the series will be well worth your time taking a simple look.

Signing Boards are for Pussies

2007-06-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

With AX right around the corner, and SOS-dan coming to town, there must not be any short coming of things to get them to sign, and as a pretty big fan, I've imported some delicacies from the exotic eastern lands.

shipped from Taiwain's Kadokawa bookstore to my parent's, then shipped here, these posters are huge for their price, and they are also a limited addition, with watermark.

"just think of this as an early birthday present, mom"

this is only 1 package out of the 2 that are on its way, these babies will be worth hundreds once AX runs out of SOS-related merchandise, and that will be approximately 3 minutes, and even higher once I get them signed.

The Melancholy of Death Note

2007-06-08T23:17:00.000-07:00

Fucking Awsome

Fallout 3 Teaser by Bethesta

2007-06-06T00:06:00.001-07:00

New Place, New Start, Redecoration

2007-06-03T22:25:00.001-07:00

For the past year and a half, I've abandoned my xanga page, not because I got lazy, but the creative energy and time had been spent on writing more elegent blogs for my club's website: http://www.ucsbanime.co.nr/ and now that the club is over this year, and entirely over for me, i think its about time i started somewhere else.

Administrative crap aside, last weekend, went to Fanime in San Jose.

didn't do anything besides shop. I held back a bit ths year, well, until the last day.

See, not as many bags as Last Year. but well, they're much more..... pretty...

bigger boxes, bigger content, skinnier my-wallet

Unboxed, I actually only got 8 items for myself

1.) Nerd-chan, Akiba Mascot

I'm no professional photographer, a nice (and new) bathtowle and natural sunlight is the best i can provide.

Her underwear is made of cloth! (and its removable =D)

2.) Shakugan no Shana

Shana, wearing..err, yea. Love the hair.

3.) Zero no Tsukaima, Luise

I didn't actualyl get her at Fanime, but it was recent enough.

her cloak is removable, and her book is well, there's stuff on it, a nice detail.

4.) Ikkitousen: 呂蒙子明

Awsome dress, beautifully crafted, perfect view. Gothic Lolita FTW~

as I Said...... Perfect View.

5.) 機工魔術師, Enchanter: Yukanalia

This picture really doesn't do her any justice, she's large (F, large), beautifully crafted and finished

Angle B.

Angle (pantsu!)

===========================================================

So now my "Front Deck" looks slightly different now.

There you have it.

Check back for future economic hazards.

烏鴉的小站

Games of This Year!

Red Dead Redemption:

Starcraft 2:

Limbo:

Heavy Rain:

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood:

Civilization V:

Super Scribblenauts:

Etrian Odyssey III:

Kirby’s Epic Yarn:

Mario Galaxy 2:

Bioshock 2:

Alan Wake:

Darksiders:

Dead Rising 2:

God of War 3:

Enslaved:

Castlevania:

Tactics Ogre:

Metal Gear Peace Walker:

Monster Hunter Tri:

Monster Hunter 3rd:

Mass Effect 2:

Mass Effect 2:

Red Dead Redemption:

Starcraft 2:

Limbo:

Heavy Rain:

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood:

Civilization V:

Super Scribblenauts:

Etrian Odyssey III:

Kirby’s Epic Yarn:

Mario Galaxy 2:

Bioshock 2:

Alan Wake:

Darksiders:

Dead Rising 2:

God of War 3:

Enslaved:

Castlevania:

Tactics Ogre:

Metal Gear Peace Walker:

Monster Hunter Tri:

Monster Hunter 3rd:

I Don't Normally, But When I Do..

A Possible Explanation

Because 7'th Time's the Charm

End of Year "Comments"

にょろーん☆ちゅるやさん & 涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱

9

超神作, 鬼觸 捏它 千連發

2009 Shopping List, Under Construction

Things Learned When Traveling

OMG Starcraft 2 Trilogy

Tiger Woods is THAT Good

Usavich

ウサビッチ

Conversations at Anime Expo

How to Spell "Fan Service"

Another Ladder to Climb

2,000 gigabytes of stuff, 4 gigabytes per disk, well, you do the math.

Movie Weekend

Fresh Rebeginning

I Want

Grand Theft Lucky Star

Hearing Impaired

ACG, When A meets G

精霊の守り人 - Seirei no Moribito

/Slap

Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation, Day Two

Exasperation, Exposition, Explanation, Day One

Announcements are Good

SOS-dan Invasion, Now Also on PS2

Package For Me

A Thousand Ways to Kill a Movie

Miscellaneous Et Cetera

Star Crossed

Signing Boards are for Pussies

Monster Hunter 3^rd:

Monster Hunter 3^rd:

超神作, 鬼觸捏它千連發