Monday, November 17, 2008

What Was, What Is, and What Shall Be

I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it.
'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such
thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look
to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without
the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.
- Margaret Thatcher

Greetings All! I am not sure exactly what it is that is prompting this odd surge of postings. I guess lately I’ve had a desire to post. I don’t have a problem with that though. After all, the more I post the more you know about how things are with me, and the better I feel about the things that are actually going on. If there are things worth posting about then my life is not as boring right now as I sometimes make it out to be. So… HUZZAH! ^_^

Arkansas Anime Festival
This past weekend (Nov 8-9) was the Arkansas Anime Festival. This is the third occurrence of this particular convention, but its second year in operation. It’s a smaller convention that was started as a bet-like-thing between two competing anime stores in the area. Currently it is the only anime convention in Arkansas, but it still continues to be a small convention, which speaks volumes about the status of anime fandom in this state and surrounding areas. Unfortunately, this convention also happened to be the last convention I'll be able to attend for a long while. You might be thinking that I already said that about AnimeFest in September, but you'd be wrong. I said AnimeFest was going to be my last major convention. The Arkansas Anime Festival is hardly what I'd call major. But, it is my last for a while. The next convention I have the remote chance of being able to attend is A-Kon in June. I should be back in the states through June and should be able to attend if I can somehow get myself to Dallas. That'll be the real challenge.

Anyhoo, despite being a small upstart convention, the guests it has managed to pull this year are of extremely high quality. Samantha Inoue Harte, who’s panel on the state of the American anime industry last year inspired me to stop my support of fansubbing altogether (which included deleting my entire fansub library from my computer), returned and brought with her an American animator whose name I cannot recall. She’s a wonderful person and I always enjoy her panels, whatever they are. But, the really big name this year was Johnny Young Bosch. Johnny is a voice actor whose credits include Vash the Stampede from Trigun, Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, and Renton Thurston from Eureka Seven. He also brought with him his currently unsigned rock band, Eyeshine, of which he is the lead singer and guitarist. They’re a highly talented group of individuals whose songs are quite good. And they were a very nice group as well! They performed two concerts, one a full rock concert on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning they did an acoustic performance (you can see some of the acoustic performance here). Then, on Sunday afternoon, they had a panel that was supposed to be instructional, but ended up being a song-writing panel. By the end of it they had written a completely new song that can be viewed here (I apologize for the bad, off-key singing from behind the camera. The entire panel wrote the song together, so the rest of the room is singing along as well.) It was fun to have them at the convention, and honestly was the highlight of the entire weekend.

But, for me, the convention was historic in the fact that I, for the first time in three years, was able to cosplay as Shugo from .hack//Legend of the Twilight. After my first day wearing this particular costume at A-Kon three years ago, it was accidentally destroyed. It has since been remade and was finally unveiled on Sunday. I hadn’t even cosplayed at a convention in two years, so getting to cosplay again was a treat in itself, but the fact that it was a costume that has been my favorite for a while made it even better! I can’t wait to wear it again and I send my deepest thanks to Kyle for his help in completing it. There is but only one problem with the costume, and that is that I am technically dressed as two characters. Y’see, Shugo, in the anime, received his character design in a contest. The original character design is of a character named Kite, from the .hack// video games. So, more than Shugo, people will say “Hey! It’s Kite!” This is a problem because I have to roll with it and I don’t know anything about the Kite character because I don’t own a PS2 and have not played the video games. I need to do some research into his character so I can more accurately portray him when somebody comes up thinking that that is who I am dressed as. It’s an irritating problem, but hopefully one that can be mended with little effort on my part.

Surprise Reconnection
Back in high school I was given the amazing opportunity to sign on with a government program called People to People. The program creates what they call “student ambassadors” and sends them to countries around the world to learn about the culture and connect with the people. The year I went, the group to which I was assigned was sent to Australia and New Zealand. We spent a week and a half in each country. The first part of the trip was in Australia. Near the end of the Australian side of the trip we stopped in a town somewhere between Brisbane and Sydney (Toowoomba, I think it was called) and spent the day going to class at a local high school. Each American student was assigned an Aussie student escort who we spent the day with. The girl who was assigned to me is named Megan. She was extremely nice and we became fast friends that day. We exchanged contact information at the days end and continued to write back and forth to each other for a while. Unfortunately we fell out of contact and I haven’t heard from her in a few years.

Last week I was going through my emails at the email address I now use as my junk mail address (in high school it was my primary address) and was surprised to see an email from Megan! I don’t know why, but she had decided to try to resume contact with me. I was thrilled about this! It was just so unexpected to see an email from her, and honestly it made my week. I responded immediately, of course. Like I said, she is an amazing person, and she has my deepest respect for trying to resume our conversation. I just hope we can keep in contact this time. ^_^

Clarification on the Matter of the Election
It has been brought to my attention by a very trustworthy and outspoken source (thanks Mom) that my treatment of the issue of the election in my last post was a bit less than honest. This is true, but that was the most civilized and cordial response I could muster. Let it be known that I do not agree that Obama was the best candidate for the Presidency. If I had been able to vote I would have cast my ballot for McCain (the reasons for me not being able to vote will not be elaborated upon for the sake of time, though I assure you that they are legitimate reasons). But, unlike many who cast their ballots for McCain, do not think I hold even the slightest amount of animosity against those who voted Obama into office. On the contrary, I hold pity for them. They were simply taken in by the exceedingly well-executed campaign strategy employed by the Obama camp. The man did a great job! He used all the right words and did all the right things to get his name into every American household, and even households around the world.

As a graphic designer with a high interest in advertising, allow me to approach Obama’s campaign from a purely analytical perspective. For it is his campaigning, not his stance on the issues, that got him voted into office, because, let’s face it, our government can’t even be trusted to effectively maintain the interstate highway system (have you ever tried driving through Missouri? Oklahoma? It’s a nightmare!), the educational system, or even the national debt. The national debt is close to 11 trillion dollars now! So, do we honestly want to put our health care into their hands as well? Doesn’t seem like a very smart choice. Our country is too big and too poorly managed for that to work. No, it is not the issues that got Obama elected. So, what did?

First of all, the Democratic primaries took much longer than the Republican primaries. John McCain was effectively the Republican nominee by early March, but it wasn’t until June that Obama was chosen as the Democratic nominee. That’s three full months in which very little news about the Republican side of things was reported. All reporting centered around the Democratic primaries. Obama simply had more news coverage during this time. His name was kept in the forefront of American minds, while McCain’s name faded into the background. This set Obama up, from the start, with a natural advantage.

Moving on, Obama chose wisely in his campaign to use single, highly emotional words as catchphrases and slogans. Change. Hope. Progress. Who doesn’t hope to see change or progress in government? Everybody does. The real question is what change is Obama vying for? Most people never thought that far ahead. McCain on the other hand didn’t have one slogan but many, the best of which being “Best prepared to lead from day one.” Really rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it? Yeah, that stuck to my memory like Velcro on wax paper. Even Obama’s logo was more catchy and memorable than McCain’s. A nice sky-blue O with the red stripes of the American flag arcing across the front giving the whole thing the look of a bright morning sun rising over rolling hills. Very pretty! I love the logo. McCain didn’t really have a logo per se (this is what he calls a logo). Obama used a logogram, a symbol to convey deeper meaning. McCain had what graphic designers refer to as a logotype. A logotype is exactly what it sounds like, a logo purely made up of type. It’s hard to convey a deeper meaning this way, and McCain’s logo didn’t even try. It looked very official, very governmental, but was “hip” and “cool” because it used a sans serif font. Simply put, Obama had a better logo. And what is more memorable than a logo? I say golden arches and you think McDonalds, a yellow scallop with a red outline and your mind should go to Shell gasoline, an apple with a bite out of it… do I even need to point out the company that one belongs to? These things are memorable and connect you to what they are advertising. Obama’s use of a logogram did just that, while McCain’s attempt at a logo fell far short.

In addition to his slogan and logo, Obama beat out McCain again in his creation of posters. Obama created a few posters all using his signature one-word catchphrases (the other two posters can be viewed here and here). But, what really made the posters amazing was their iconic nature. They remind me of war propaganda posters. They are highly emotional, simple, and are very memorable as well as being aesthetically pleasing. But even more important than the physical look of the posters was the paper on which the posters were printed. Every single one was printed on a cream-colored paper as opposed to the standard white, or, if the paper was standard white, a cream color was used as the background for the image. This did wonders for the posters’ marketability. With all the emphasis on the environment and “going green” that America has been experiencing lately, a cream colored paper conveys a more elemental feel. It looks more natural, more friendly, more environmentally conscious. People latch on to this on an almost subconscious level and the posters are more effective because of it. McCain’s poster had no such feel (see?). Rather, McCain’s poster was boring. It felt contrived, forced, bland, unoriginal, and wasn’t even that appealing. And, perhaps putting fighter planes in the poster wasn’t the best of ideas given the national belief regarding our war in Iraq. Fact is, McCain’s poster didn’t do the job it was supposed to, but Obama’s went above and beyond.

Clearly Obama’s marketing campaign was better than McCain’s. The men behind his campaign strategy obviously understood that marketing the candidate rather than allowing him to win on the issues was a better plan. And, it worked. He marketed himself like he was selling detergent or cars. If the goal was to make me want to buy the best looking brand, then I choose Obama, it’s as simple as that. But, even apart from his ingenious marketing strategy, Obama was a more pleasing candidate from his physical appearance alone. He is an attractive man. He is fit, tall, young, and charismatic. Honestly, I look at him and I get the feeling he is a very likable individual. McCain looks like a chipmunk. He is old, saggy, unfit, and appears awkward in front of a camera. America is tired of a president who doesn’t present himself well, and Obama is the stark opposite of Bush. And, to top it all off, he’s black. He is a walking symbol of American progress and individuality. It’s quite a thing to say we have finally elected a black president while even 50 years ago blacks were still having to drink out of separate fountains and sit in the backs of busses. It’s hard to say no to progress like that when it stares you in the face and says “vote for me.”

This is how Obama won. It was not his stance on the issues, it was not what he believed in or even his experience in government. No, it was his marketing campaign that won him his presidency and I applaud him for it. That is why I pity those who voted for the man. Because they did exactly what his marketing managers wanted them to do. They fell for the hook, the look, the brand, the idea. They voted for him because he looked more appealing. There are other men in history who won for similar reasons. Kennedy won because of this as well. In contrast to Nixon, Kennedy appeared more likable on TV. He was younger and more relatable. Hitler gained power by marketing himself like this as well. Don’t think that I am calling Obama Hitler, I’m not, I’m merely using Hitler as an example. Hitler was young, attractive, highly charismatic and played on people’s emotions. He even had a marketing campaign and a logo. It was a very appealing logo at that. High contrast, bright colors, simple shape, easily memorable and it has proven to be able to capitalize on people’s emotions even now. He gained the support of the people this way and Obama has simply followed suit. It works. This has been proven.

So, as I stated in my last post, I pray the man makes the right decisions. I pray he does what is right for this country, it’s people, and the world as a whole. Because that is what is at stake… the world. Currently America is the only superpower. What we do, whether we like it or not, affects the rest of the world. Let’s all just pray and “Hope” that this “Change” is a good one and that we as a country don't "Progress" down the wrong path.

On a Lighter Note…
And by that I do mean a physical note. As I stated in a post not too long ago, Dido’s new album is coming out this next week and I am greatly looking forward to that event. There have been a few songs released from the album already, and I have listened to two of them. One of these songs, “Don’t Believe in Love,” has already been made into a video of exceedingly high quality. It’s a beautiful video and a beautiful song and I present it for you now. Unfortunately, the official video did not have a link to embed in a blog, this feature was disabled at Dido’s request, below is another occurrence of this video on YouTube, but if you want to see it in higher quality, then go here. Enjoy the video!

With that I conclude this post. I hope you have all enjoyed it and I hope that I have not offended too many people, but if I have please hold no reservations in telling me so. I love to get responses to my posts. ^_^ Have a great day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Hail to the Chief

Let us hope ... that by the best cultivation of the physical world, beneath and around us; and the intellectual and moral world within us, we shall secure an individual, social and political prosperity and happiness, whose course shall be onward and upward, and which, while the earth endures, shall not pass away.
-Abraham Lincoln

The Deed is done: Barack Obama is our new President. Regardless of my own feelings on this matter, this man has been entrusted with the highest office in this wonderful country for the next four years. So, for our new President I offer up my blessings. May he rule this country with wisdom, with discernment, with sound mind, with a clear head, with good judgment, and a clean conscience. When he is under pressure may he not falter and when he is under stress may he not break. May his actions be for the betterment of this great country, its citizens, and for the world as a whole. May peace and prosperity flow through his leadership.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Not So Much

Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
- William Shakespeare

Greetings All and Happy Halloween! It is now time for what has become my monthly blog post. Honestly, I’d post more often if there were a sufficient reason to make a post. Unfortunately, life in college this semester is exceedingly boring with very little excitement or activity to speak of. Oh, I wish I could say things were different, I really do, but alas they are not. I am stuck, frozen, static, and have been trying my best to break that monotony when possible. The best way I have found to free myself of boredom is the weekly Anime Club meeting. But, even in that there is monotony, for the weekly Anime Club meeting has become routine as well. But please, take not my woes as complaints. Rather, I ask you to look on them as incentive. They are an incentive for me to persevere. After all, I have little more than two months left here in college, then I am free. With that freedom comes change and with that change comes the unknown and with that unknown comes excitement. For us both this is good news. Something worth posting is rapidly approaching… ETA two months (and therefore two uninteresting posts) and counting.

Bad Karma or the Like Thereof
About a month ago I was asked to help a friend of a friend move a carload of possessions from one apartment to another. Halfway between the old place and the new, the “check engine” light on my car came on. Never is this a good sign. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the new place and get them all moved. I decided to head for a gas station where I could get some light to look under the hood (this move occurred at 10PM for some reason). I had almost made it to the gas station when my car started behaving like my last car did before the transmission blew. I started panicking. I made it to the gas station, but my car never moved again. It died there in the parking lot, perpetually stuck in park. A friend had to drive out from school to pick up my friend and I. A tow truck hauled the car to the nearest transmission shop.

I was now limited to two modes of transportation, my bike and my legs. The bike didn’t last much longer. The day after my car died, in fact it wasn’t even a full 24 hours later, the rear wheel on my bike quit spinning as I was on my way to Anime Club. I carried it the last half mile and after anime club a friend agreed to take a look at it for me. We discovered quickly that the bearings in the rear wheel had completely shattered. This was unfortunately no easy fix. According to the guy at the bike shop, it was going to be $60. I could almost buy a new bike for that price, so I did. Or rather, my parents did when they drove out to Arkansas with my replacement car. That’s right, a friend of theirs out in Tennessee had an “extra car” which they gave to me free of charge. That’s about the only silver lining to this tale. My parents drove it out to me about a month ago now and it has been running wonderfully. My deepest thanks goes to the Masseys who will be receiving a cordially worded note from me in the very near future.

About East Asia…
My move to Thailand is getting all nailed down. My dad was able to get in contact with a couple dentists over there who gave quotes on price and duration of treatment regarding the issue of my teeth. Unfortunately none of the treatments seem possible or promising, so I’m going to be putting off the medical portion of my trip to a later date. I’ll just tear my food for the time being, biting it will come later.

But, this hasn’t put a brake on the trip as a whole. I still plan on going to Thailand early next year to do graphic design work. It’s a job, it gets me out of the country for a while, and keeps me active until my hopeful trip to China in August. I’ve been in the application process for a while now and have only to get a couple references submitted along with my transcripts. The transcripts are still trickling in, but I have no idea what to do about the references. One of them has me downright puzzled. The application asks for a reference from a pastor at my church who knows me well. I don’t currently have a church and even at my last church none of the pastors knew me all that well to begin with. There is only one woman I would consider asking for a reference, so lets hope that works out. As soon as the application is done, which it looks to be within the next month, I’ll have a short personality survey and an interview between myself and a ten-month trip to China. It’s so close I can feel it!

The Firefly Syndrome
Six years ago a phenomenal sci fi show called Firefly was cancelled prematurely by the Fox network after it had received bad ratings. This is primarily due to the fact that Fox pulled all advertising for the show a full two weeks prior to the series premier as well as not airing the episodes in the order intended by the producers. Another of my favorite shows looks to be coming down with this same fatal disease. Pushing Daisies, a beautifully made dramedy on ABC which received wonderful ratings last season before the writers strike, has been receiving below average ratings this fall and looks to be one of few shows that is going to get dropped. I’ve never seen a show like it. It is highly stylized, hilarious, and has unique and charming characters with a story to match. Nothing about this show deserves to be canceled, but due to poor advertising on the part of ABC (I didn’t even know the show was back on the air until two weeks after the premier) it looks to be ready to push up a few daisies of its own. An unfortunate fate for a show that deserves so much better. Catch it while you can.

What I’m Looking Forward to in the Rest of 2008
To end a bummer of a post on a happier note, I figured I’d share with you a few things that I am looking forward to before the years end. First of all, in the area of music, three of my favorite artists are scheduled to be releasing CDs. Not necessarily are they all going to be released this year, but the mere prospect of their release has me all giddy. Dido, Kate Havnevik, and Imogen Heap are all working on new albums. Dido’s new album (of which two songs have already been released) is scheduled to hit shelves in two weeks and I will be there money in hand when it does. Kate and Immi are in their respective studios in Europe working hard to put out new albums as well. No release date for either one has been made known, but I am looking forward to both with great anticipation.

On the movie front there are a few flicks that have caught my eye. The new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace is nearest in its date of release. A few friends and I plan on attending the film on opening night dressed in suits and ties with martini glasses in hand. ^_^ It shall be fun. Other films in my scope of vision include the Oscar buzz-worthy Doubt, the Israeli animated film Waltz With Bashir, the English-language samurai western Sukiyaki Western Django, the 70s drama Milk, and the new Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man. Each of them looks promising and I can’t wait to see ‘em. A couple are already out, actually. I think Waltz With Bashir and Sukiyaki Western Django have already made it to the U.S. but neither are playing in Arkansas. I’ll probably have to rent them.

In other news, I’m sorry about the graduation countdown clock not working for some people, so if you can’t see it just know that as I type this there are exactly 50 days left before I am free of my undergraduate life. That’s definitely worth looking forward to. There have been a couple instances where it didn’t look like I was going to be getting out of here, but those have been resolved and all is okay with the university. Against their wishes they will let me leave. ^_^

Lastly, I am planning a ski trip in late December. It has been two years since I was on the slopes and since I have a free round-trip flight to anywhere in the U.S., I figure I’ll used it to go skiing some place I haven’t been… some place expensive. I’m thinking some place like Vail would be nice. Or perhaps I can avoid Colorado altogether and go somewhere out in Utah or Wyoming. I’ve never been skiing out there before. So, options are open to me. Since I effectively have my own snowboard (my dad can’t use his anymore and it fits me) and I have the free flight, all I’ll have to pay for is a hotel room, food, lift tickets, and transportation to and from the slopes. Yes, it’s still an expensive trip, but without having to pay for transportation or board rental, it is a lot cheaper. It’ll be a great way to end the best year of my life thus far.

Well, with that I’ll call it a post and be done. I hope I haven’t depressed you all too much and if I have, I’m sorry. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Monday, September 15, 2008

And the Boredom Ensues

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist,
but you have ceased to live.
- Mark Twain

Greetings All! Unlike the last post, this one has very little content of any real interest. Life is boring in school, for the most part. I go to class, I eat, I do homework, I go back to the apartment, I sleep. That’s about the extent of things. But, as usual, I will do my best to squeeze as much content out of my life as possible for the sake of the post. To start off, I am posting this wonderful blog on the day that I have been looking forward to since Spring. This evening is the season premiere of Heroes! Oh, how greatly I look forward to what the writers will do with this show. Last season was an unfortunate step down from the first. The first season had mystery, action, a great story, and fun character development. The second season had action and an okay story with much less of the mystery and development of characters that the broad audience did not find appealing. The creators have promised that this season will be a return to what made the first season great, and I hope they hold to that claim. Anyhoo, on with the post.

AnimeFest ‘08
By far the most interesting thing that has happened to me since I returned to school is AnimeFest. AnimeFest was the 10th convention I’ve had the privilege of attending and it was the last major convention I will ever attend as a college student. That’s a bit sad if you ask me, but I made the best of it.

In a previous post I spoke of a couple things that were to make this particular convention a memorable one. One of those things was the fact that all of my best friends were going to be there. That ended up falling through rather dramatically 48 hours prior to the convention. Two of my very best friends who I met when I was going to school down in Texas told me they would be attending and assured me of this fact. But, right before the convention I found out through unfortunately roundabout ways that they wouldn’t be coming. I was frustrated more than anything. I was trying to plan this convention to make it as affordable as possible, so when somebody drops I’ve got to call people and let them know of the jump in price. But, neither of these friends of mine bothered to inform me personally of their absence. I heard one of them wasn’t going to be attending in a phone message left by a mutual acquaintance of ours. The other didn’t tell me at all and I had to hear about it when I called him the night before the convention to see when he would be arriving. “Never” wasn’t the answer I was expecting to hear. Both of them had perfectly legitimate excuses why they couldn’t attend, and thus I don’t hold their absence against them, but next time I’d like to hear about such things a little more than two days in advance.

The other thing that was going to make this convention memorable was the reintroduction of the Shugo costume I created for A-Kon three years ago. After that costume got destroyed in the wash one of my friends offered to remake it using the old costume as a pattern. He was supposed to have it done by Ikkicon earlier in the year, but didn’t. Then, he was supposed to have it done by Otakon, but since I didn’t end up attending Otakon I told him he didn’t have to worry about having it finished until AnimeFest. He didn’t have it done in time for Otakon and then he didn’t have it done for AnimeFest either. So, I didn’t get to wear my Shugo costume to this convention like I was so looking forward to doing. Even if he had finished it, I wouldn’t have been able to wear it anyway because I forgot the gloves for the costume back at the apartment. Thankfully, it should be done by the last convention I get to attend coming up in November. He’s gone ahead and admitted that he’s never going to finish it but says that he’ll teach me how to sew on a machine so I can do it myself. Thanks, dude.

Apart from those two minor negativities, the convention was a wonderful one. I got to see friends of mine who I haven’t seen in ages, I got to go back to Dallas for the first time in a full year, and the convention itself was amazing as well. Probably the highlight of the convention was the premier of an anime called Freedom which will be released on Blue-Ray in November (it won’t be on DVD until next year). The anime is about three friends who live on a lunar colony with the rest of humanity a few decades after the evacuation of Earth due to a third world war. One of the kids discovers that the lunar government is hiding the fact that earth has become inhabitable once again and decides to travel to earth himself using an old Saturn 5 rocket. That description is pretty pitiful, but it’s the best I can do without spoiling the entire plot. The story and character design are by the same man who created the movie Akira and it is fully 3D animated. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and the story is top-notch. The director and the screenwriter for Freedom were two of the industry guests the convention invited to attend. I attended all of the panel discussions with these amazing artists, was given a promotional poster for Freedom autographed by both of them, and beat the screenwriter, Dai Sato, in a match of rock, paper, scissors to win a promotional booklet for his creative collaborative called Story Riders. There are some amazing illustrations in that little booklet.

I spent very little in the dealer’s room. All I bought in there was some wonderful-smelling loose-leaf green tea, a keychain of Miyuki fromLucky Star, and two pieces of art, one of them an original work and the other an InuYasha fanart. All in all that probably cost about $30. The real expenditure from the convention happened on the last day at the charity auction. I never win anything at the charity auctions at conventions. There are always too many people there with very loose budgets. But, for some reason, the charity auction at this convention was sparsely attended and nobody there was being terribly generous with their expenditures. I managed to walk out with four items: a piece of original anime art, a 20-year-old X-Men poster in mint condition (I’m not much of an X-Men fan but the poster was a good value and it looked cool), and autographed photos of both Brent Spiner as Data and James Doohan as Scotty, both from the Star Trek franchise. Amazing stuff! Everything I bought at the convention totaled out to right around $100 which is amazing given the amount I’ve spent at conventions in the past.

Other things I did at the convention include the dance at which Greg Ayres dj’d, a few anime screenings including Shion no Oh, Moon Phase, Genius Party, and my favorite Bamboo Blade, and a few random panels. My favorite panel actually had nothing to do with anime even remotely. It was put on by an artist and voice actor guest named Bruce Lewis. The panel was called “Reality 101” and it consisted of Bruce answering any question anybody felt like throwing at him, any question at all. The question that opened up the panel was “what is reality?” I also attended an InuYasha panel, the panel for the other Japanese guest, Akiharu Ishii, and a couple industry panels by Funimation and Bandai. Both Funimation and Bandai have some fun stuff coming out soon. I’m looking forward to seeing Bandai’s The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Blade of the Stranger. Both are movies and both look amazing. Anyhoo, there isn’t much else to say on the subject of AnimeFest. It was a wonderful convention despite the snags and I will miss going to it.

Classes
Since I haven’t actually posted on how my classes are looking this semester, I figured that was necessary. I’m taking 15 hours of credit and my array of classes is varied. I’m taking Graphic Design IV, Digital Darkroom (essentially a photo editing course), Ethics, Irish History and Culture, and a course entitled the Arts in Western Culture offered through the music department. They are all fine classes and I’m enjoying them all so far. Digital Darkroom is turning out to be the most boring of all. It’s a bunch of data at this point and the instructor himself has told us that the class is completely useless because any company we end up working for is going to have their own way of doing this stuff. So… I feel like I’m wasting three hours of my life every Thursday night, but I’ll do the work anyway. At this point I just want to graduate.

Winner!
As a requirement for my Arts in Western Culture course, I am to attend at least one artistic or cultural event. The gallery openings on my university campus satisfy this qualification, but when my professor passed around a sign-up sheet for a drawing of tickets to the Tulsa Ballet’s performance of Don Quixote I figured it wouldn’t hurt to put my name down. I never expected to win, but I did. So, in two weeks I will be attending the Tulsa Ballet with nine other students. It should be fun!

Calling Again
Phonathon started back up this weekend. I went to training this past Saturday and will start my first shift on Tuesday night. This year the university has finally hired a full time staff person to handle Phonathon. This new guy is coming in and making changes, cutting pay, making hours harder to get for Phonathon veterans, and basically making this year a bit more difficult. At least this is what I had heard from a couple of girls I worked with last year. I went and talked to Chad, the new Phonathon coordinator, on Thursday last week to hear the truth from him personally, rather than from a couple of disgruntled girls. Everything I had heard is pretty much baloney. Yes, he is cutting pay for the time being until he can get a grip on who deserves the pay. I don’t fear that I’ll make my pay back in no time, in fact after our training session on Saturday he assured me that I’d be sure to get my old pay grade back. Also, there is no fear that I’ll get all the hours I need. We have a lot of people this year, but not enough to overbook every shift, especially on the shifts I’ve signed up for. Tuesday is notoriously a low shift and so is Saturday. So, I’ll be sure to get at least two shifts a week with no problem. It’ll be good to start making some money again. I hate not having a steady income. I feel like a hobo. So, I’m looking forward to getting started again and I have no doubt that Chad is going to do a great job. He’s a really nice and understanding guy and having a full time Phonathon staff will make it a much better experience. So, on with the moneymaking!

That’s all I’ve got. Have a great day all!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Monday, August 25, 2008

Humor of Life

The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
- Horace Walpole

Greetings All! I come to you this fine day with much news of varying importance and nature. These past couple of weeks have been quite eventful and I have much to say. This is always a good thing because I hate having to stretch to fill a blog post. Granted, sometimes my ramblings can be enjoyable for all involved. Sometimes writing out a ramble of a post is quite fun. But not today! No… today you will get a real blog post with real content. Enjoy that content while you have it! ^_^

Unresponsive
With the new semester starting up more sooner than later, I’ve been in the process of acquiring permissions from the various American anime distributors so the Anime Club has some actual content to show. After initial research, this process didn’t seem too terribly difficult, but it has become so. I have emailed most of the companies whose products we have chosen to show asking them for their permission and giving them their required information. Of those six companies only one has responded. I sent out those emails a month ago. All my research tells me to be patient, but it also tells me that it shouldn’t take more than ten business days for these companies to process my request and get back to me. Now I’ve actually got to be an irritant and call them. This shouldn’t be so difficult… grrr.

Homeless
Four days ago I got a call from my would-be roommate for this, the last of my undergraduate semesters. He informed me that the management of his apartment wouldn’t allow him to have a roommate. They had known I was going to be moving in for a very long while, but three days before I was go leave to back to school I am told I have nowhere to live. I was essentially homeless. Many ideas were thrown about among my parents and I over dinner as to my potential living situation. Living with a married couple who are both good friends of mine, reapplying for on-campus housing, and even pitching a camper at a local RV park were some of the ideas we conjured up. By the end of the day I had no real plan and thus put an ad up on the university forum asking if anybody had a room or a bit of space where I could lay my head for four months. It was about all I could do. I still thought I could talk the apartment manager into letting me stay, but that was a gamble. By divine intervention it seems, my ad was answered. One of the social studies professors and his family are going on a semester-long trip to Ireland with some students, and he wanted somebody to stay at his newly remodeled town home while he’s gone. He saw my ad and figured he’d take advantage of my newfound hobo state of being. I graciously accepted his offer. These accommodations will end up being the nicest of my college career. 2 bedrooms, fully furnished, washer and dryer, and only $200/mo plus utilities and internet. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Car in the Lawn
Thursday morning was an odd one. I woke up when I heard a loud crashing sound. It was an unnatural noise and my semi-unconscious mind decided to dismiss it as something unknown and therefore not worthy of its attention. That conclusion wasn’t allowed to live on for long, for shortly after I rolled over in attempt to catch a few more of those illusive Zs, the doorbell rang. I threw on my pants from the day before and put on a hat. This was the best I could do to make myself look presentable at my current state. At the door I was greeted by the sight of two men standing in my front lawn, looking quizzically in the direction of a bright white and orange blob which, after my eyes had the chance to adjust to the sudden brightness of the morning, turned out to be a truck. The truck was leaning against our north retaining wall at a very acute angle. The story is as follows… the house across the street from ours has been having remodeling work done for a few weeks now. The truck belongs to one of the carpenters working on the house. He had parked it up the street and apparently the parking brake gave out. Our street is quite steep, so when the parking break gave out the truck just started rolling. It rolled itself right into our front lawn. Thankfully nobody or nothing was damaged. We filed a police report and the carpenters paid for the tow truck to come drag the poor thing off of its perch and out of our front lawn. All was well and good.

Bangkok or Bust
This past Friday was my last day of work at Clumpies Ice Cream Co. in Chattanooga. It was a wonderful job, it paid mildly well with tips calculated into the earnings, my coworkers were extremely nice and sociable (for the most part), and I got to eat phenomenal ice cream on a daily basis. It was a job I liked and it honestly didn’t feel like work even though I was there almost every day of the week. Having worked my last shift I can safely say it was the best job I ever had, if you don’t count my internship in Japan of course. That wasn’t really a job to me. Anyhoo… with Clumpies out of the picture it is time for me to move on to bigger and better things..

I’m entering the last semester of my undergraduate studies and with that comes a great deal of worrying about what sort of job I will look for upon graduation. Most students go into their last semester having no clue as to what their life after college will hold. If you had asked me even a month ago what I thought I would be doing in a year, I couldn’t have answered you with any real certainty, but that be not the case any longer. Yes, I inform you with immense joy that I have a vague notion of things to come post-convocation. One thing is certain: I will be in Bangkok in January.

My mouth needs considerable repair and Bangkok is where I can get it done the cheapest. I know that sounds like a really odd reason to go to Thailand, but that’s the truth. I can’t bite down in a good portion of my mouth and there is a procedure called “cosmetic reconstruction” that can provide me with a good bite. Basically the dentist will put permanent crowns on many of my teeth so as to build up my mouth where I can bite down like normal. I am getting it done in Bangkok because I can get there for free (thanks, Dad, for the frequent flyer miles ^_^) and the cost of the procedure is close to one quarter of the $40,000 price being quoted by my dentist here in Tennessee. Not to mention I have over $9000 stashed away in an account somewhere that has been reserved for just this occasion. So, the only thing under question is my accommodations while I’m there in Bangkok getting the procedure done. It’s no simple thing and requires multiple visits. I can’t afford to stay in a hotel for so long, so that is where the next bit of news comes into the equation.

I have been offered a 3-month graphic design opportunity in Bangkok. An organization called United World Mission is looking for a graphic designer to create “wrap sheets” for each of the Thai provinces that they can use as ministry tools. It’s no small task and it sounds like a challenge. I’ll have to raise support in order to get paid, but that doesn’t scare me much. They already have a living space ready for me and eagerly await my help. I figure it’s only sensible to take the offer. I need this dental work done, it’s a job, and it gets me out of the country for a while. After all, the new president will take over in January, and anyone with any sanity at all wouldn’t want to be here when that happens no matter who it is who takes the Oath. HA! Seriously though, this seems to be the perfect opportunity for me. It’s even better that it’s a short-term opportunity because I have decided that I will pursue an international teaching exchange program. I am going to apply to both ELIC and JET and hopefully one of them will accept me. So, as it stands I don’t plan on being in the US for much of 2009, I just don’t know where I’m actually going to be yet. ^_^ Wish me luck!

Well, I’m out. I wish you all a wonderful day and I’ll see ya ‘round!

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Life Decisions

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
- George Eliot

Greetings All! Today I pose a question for your little minds to ponder. Why is it that life must be so difficult to plan sometimes? Some plans just fall into place sometimes with little preparation at all, like planning a convention trip, but others require so much thought and contemplation it makes my head spin. I ask this question because right now I am in the midst of trying to decide what I want to do with myself after I graduate from college in a little more than 4 months. I have many options and I have to say making up my mind would be easier if I knew what it was that I wanted to do with my life. Truthfully, two different professions continue rising to the top in my mind: designer or teacher. I think I would be satisfied doing design for a living but at the same time, I have thought about doing teaching since high school. Also, I’m fairly certain I don’t want to dive straight into the workforce right after college. I want to take some time for myself before the rest of my life gets spent doing things for the good of an organization of people I care nothing about. This is where I am currently.

I stand with two options before me: I could pursue a masters degree (a path my parents strongly suggest and I agree with to an extent), or I could start the job search. Having difficulty making this decision, I went to my current U.S. History teacher to ask her opinion since I don’t have many other people to talk to. I asked her about the masters degree path and she agreed with my parents saying it was probably the best thing to do if I knew where I was going with the degree. She said that of the people she knew in the graduate program, the ones that did the best were the ones who had taken time off of their education before embarking on the graduate degree path. She said they entered the degree with a sense of purpose that those who entered the degree path right out of college simply didn’t have. That little bit of information right there was the most valuable thing she said.

Yet again, her comments have started my mind to contemplating an English teaching exchange program to Asia. There is one program in China that I learned about during my trip in March called ELIC, and there is one in Japan, called JET, that I have known about for a couple years now. The two programs are quite different and I am currently doing all the research I can to learn about them and try to choose between them. If I were to take some time off before going into the workforce or into a masters degree path, one of those two programs would probably be the way to do it. My dad has said he’d let me go on a trip through Europe to achieve this purpose as well, and I haven’t counted that out either. The advantage to the English exchange programs would be the fact that I’d be able to learn if I want to do teaching for a career or not. If I don’t like the teaching, then I forego the education route and concentrate on finding a graphic design job, but if I like the teaching then I go through a masters program, get my teaching license, and start the search for a teaching position. Beneficial all-around! So, as much as a tour across Europe would be fun, it wouldn’t do anything to help me prepare for the rest of my life.

So, as you can see, many questions have arisen and I need to decide where I want to go within the next couple months. The deadline for application to the JET program is November and for the ELIC the application deadline is either the end of this month if I plan to leave in February and the end of Februrary if I plan to leave in July. If I want to go into the workforce I’ve got to start my job search ASAP. So… I ask for your prayers for my sanity and wisdom as I embark on the hardest set of decisions I’ve ever been faced with.

Caesar1280's Anime Ticker

.hack//Legend of the Twilight, Air, Air: The Movie, Akira, The Animatrix, Appleseed, Aquatic Language, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, Beck, Black Lagoon, Blame!, Blood the Last Vampire, Bokurano, Burst Angel, Castle in the Sky, Cowboy Bebop, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express, Egao, FLCL, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala, Gankutsuou, Gatekeepers, Genshiken, Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Gin-iro no Kami no Agito, Grave of the Fireflies, Grenadier, Haibane Renmei, Hellsing, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance, Hikaru no Go, Howl?s Moving Castle, Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Jyu Oh Sei, Karas: The Prophecy, Last Exile, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Midori?s Days, Milennium Actress, Mushi-shi, My Neighbor Totoro, Naruto, Naruto: The Movie, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth, Ninja Scroll: The Movie, Other Worlds, Paprika, Perfect Blue, Pet Shop of Horrors, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Prétear, Princess Mononoke, Read Or Die, Read Or Die: The TV, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Seven, Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal, She and Her Cat, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Tide-Line Blue, Tokyo Babylon, Tokyo Godfathers, Trigun, Voices of a Distant Star, Witch Hunter Robin, Wonderful Days, Wrath of the Ninja, X

Anime I've Seen - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - .hack//Sign - 5 Centimeters per Second - Air - Air: The Movie - Akira - The Animatrix - Appleseed - Aquatic Language - Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Baby Blue - Beck - Black Lagoon - Blame! - Blood the Last Vampire - Bokurano - Burst Angel - Castle in the Sky - Cowboy Bebop - Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express - Doorbell - Egao - FLCL - Fullmetal Alchemist - Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shambala - Gankutsuou - Gatekeepers - Genius Party - Genshiken - Genshiken OAV - Ghost in the Shell - Ghost in the Shell: Innocence - Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society - Gin-iro no Kami no Agito - The Gokusen - Grave of the Fireflies - Grenadier - Haibane Renmei - Happy Machine - Hellsing - Highlander: The Search for Vengeance - Hikaru no Go - Howl's Moving Castle - Innocent Venus - Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Jyu Oh Sei - Karas: The Prophecy - Karas: The Revelation - Last Exile - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi - Midori?s Days - Milennium Actress - Mushi-shi - My Neighbor Totoro - Naruto - Naruto: The Movie - Nausicaa - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth - Ninja Scroll: The Movie - Other Worlds - Ouran High School Host Club - Paprika - Perfect Blue - Pet Shop of Horrors - The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Prétear - Princess Mononoke - Read Or Die - Read Or Die: The TV - Samurai Champloo - Samurai Seven - Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal - Serial Experiments Lain - Shanghai Dragon - She and Her Cat - Spirited Away - Steamboy - Tekkonkinkreet - Tide-Line Blue - Tokyo Babylon - Tokyo Godfathers - Trigun - Trinity Blood - Vampire Hunter D - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - Voices of a Distant Star - Witch Hunter Robin - Wolf's Rain - Wonderful Days - Wrath of the Ninja - X Total: 93

Anime I Haven't Completed - .hack//Roots - Ah! My Goddess - Angelic Layer - Avenger - Baccano! - Bamboo Blade - Basilisk - Binchou-tan - Black Cat - Bleach - Blood+ - Boogiepop Phantom - Case Closed - Le Chevalier d'Eon - Chobits - Chrono Crusade - Code Geass - Coyote Ragtime Show - D.Gray-Man - D.N.Angel - DearS - Death Note - Dennou Coil - Desert Punk - Digimon - Dragon Ball Z - Ergo Proxy - Eureka Seven - Excel Saga - Fighting Beauty Wulong - Final Fantasy Unlimited - Flag - Freedom - Full Moon - Gantz - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Gintama - Glass Fleet - Great Teacher Onizuka - Gundam Seed - Gundam Wing - Hayate the Combat Butler - Hellsing OVA - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - Ikki Tousen - InuYasha - Jigoku Shojo - Kage Kara Mamoru - Karin - Kino's Journey - Love Hina - Loveless - Lovely Complex - Lucky Star - Makai Senki Disgaea - Marchen Awakens Romance - Meine Liebe - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Mononoke - Monster - Moon Phase - Mr Stain on Junk Alley - Naruto Shippuuden - Negima?! - Negima! - Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion - Nerima Daikon Brothers - NHK ni Youkoso - Night Walker - Ninja Nonsense - Noir - Peacemaker Kurogane - Pokemon - Prince of Tennis - R.G. Veda - Ragnarok - Rec - Red Garden - Robotech - Romeo x Juliet - Rosen Maiden - Rurouni Kenshin - Saikano - Sailor Moon - Samurai Deeper Kyo - Sci-fi Harry - School Rumble - Scrapped Princess - Shin-chan - Shingu - Shion no Oh - Shuffle! - Shrine of the Morning Mist - So Long, Mr. Despair - Solty Rei - Sousei no Aquarion - Speed Grapher - Spice and Wolf - Super Milk Chan - Tales of Phantasia - Tenchi Muyo - Tenjhou Tenge - Texnolyze - The Third - Tsubasa Chronicles - Urusei Yatsura - Venus Versus Virus - Welcome to the N.H.K. - Winter Cicada - X-1999 - Xenosaga - XxxHolic - Yu Yu Hakushou - Yume Tsukai - Zero no Tsukaima - Zipang Total: 116

Manga I've Completed - Cowboy Bebop - FLCL - Manga Messiah - Manga Metamorphosis - Q*Ko-chan - Saiyuki - Shirahime-Syo Total: 7 Manga I Haven't Completed - .hack//Legend of the Twilight - Black Cat - Blame! - Chobits - D.Gray-man - Darkside Blues - Death Note - The Demon Ororon - Desert Coral - Disgaea - Eureka Seven: Gravity Boys and Lifting Girl - Fruits Basket - Getbackers - Hayate the Combat Butler - Kamunagara - Legal Drug - Love Hina - Loveless - Megatokyo - Naruto - Negima - Read Or Die - Rurouni Kenshin - Tactics - Trigun Maximum - XXXHolic Total: 26

Anime I'm Currently Watching
Samurai 7, InuYasha, Samurai Deeper Kyo,
Boogiepop Phantom, and Shrine of the Morning Mist

Manga I'm Currently Reading
Read Or Die, Hayate the Combat Butler, and Megatokyo.hack//Roots, .hack//Sign, 5 cm per Second, Ah! My Goddess, Angelic Layer, Avenger, Basilisk, Binchou-tan, Black Cat, Bleach, Blood+, Boogiepop Phantom, Case Closed, Le Chevalier d'Eon, Chobits, Chrono Crusade, Coyote Ragtime Show, D.Gray-Man, D.N.Angel, DearS, Death Note, Dennou Coil, Desert Punk, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, Ergo Proxy, Eureka 7, Excel Saga, Fighting Beauty Wulong, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Flag, Full Moon, Gantz, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gintama, Great Teacher Onizuka, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, Hayate the Combat Butler, Hellsing Ultimate, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Innocent Venus, InuYasha, Jigoku Shojo, Kage Kara Mamoru, Karin, Kino?s Journey, Love Hina, Loveless, Lovely Complex, Lucky Star, Makai Senki Disgaea, Marchen Awakens Romance, Meine Liebe, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mononoke, Monster, Naruto Shippuuden, Negima?!, Neon Genesis Evangelion: End of Evangelion, Nerima Daikon Brothers, NHK ni Youkoso, Night Walker, Ninja Nonsense, Noir, Ouran High School Host Club, Peacemaker Kurogane, Pokemon, Prince of Tennis, R.G. Veda, Ragnarok, Rec, Red Garden, Robotech, Romeo x Juliet, Rosen Maiden, Rurouni Kenshin, Saikano, Sailor Moon, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Sci-fi Harry, School Rumble, Scrapped Princess, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu, Shuffle!, Shrine of the Morning Mist, So Long Mr. Despair, Solty Rei, Sousei no Aquarion, Speed Grapher, Super Milk Chan, Tales of Phantasia, Tenchi Muyo, Tenjhou Tenge, Texnolyze, The Third. Trinity Blood, Tsubasa Chronicles, Urusei Yatsura, Welcome to the N.H.K., Winter Cicada, X-1999, Xenosaga, XxxHolic, Yu Yu Hakushou, Yume Tsukai, Zero no Tsukaima, Zipang

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Thursday, July 31, 2008

The Rut of Summer

“There is no formula for success except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” - Arthur Rubinstein

Greetings All! In the wake of Japan, little can really seem all that interesting, but I’ll try my best to squeeze out the most interesting stuff that I can. Life hasn’t been all that eventful since Japan, though. I’ve had to find ways to make my life interesting. Currently I am working on the new poster for the anime club at my university. My advertising campaign last year shot our club attendance up 50% from the previous year and I hope this year it will do the same. I’m working on a poster using an image from DeviantArt.com as a base. The artist is Mou_S and the piece is called “Into Nothing” (it is the piece of art I chose to put with this post). It’s a wonderful piece of art and Mou_S was gracious enough to give me her permission to use it in my poster. A good friend of mind, Noe, suggested that I increase my advertising campaign by not only creating a poster but creating a smaller black and white flier to go on the tables in the cafeteria and student center. Brilliant, I say! This year no student on campus will be able to miss our ad, and with the club now being official by university standards, I can see nothing but growth. So, onto the new year with some flare!

A Sudden Lack of Complacency
Have you ever felt like you’ve missed your calling? For the last couple weeks I’ve been feeling that way. It is all due to this summer school class I am taking: US History. It has come to my attention that I really lov