Sunday, February 18, 2007

So Much to Do

Where to start today? Oh I know, on the convention plans, I still haven't gotten to the university/college sites yet, I've just been so tired since I got up around midnight. When I'm done updating here, I'll get right to that since I wnat to have that part done. I won't really know anything else about starting a club or getting a convention together till I put myself in contact with other animé fans in the area. Worst case scenario is the idea could flop, but I think even if I don't succeed in getting a convention off the ground, I'll plant the idea in someone's head to do it, and that'll be fine with me. I've got a couple angles on the drawing board so I'm not going to give up just yet. There's more than one way to peel a banana. I didn't get around to all the sites, I didn't forget, I just didn't have the time to get to them all. I do try, but even I can only work so fast. Oh, if you have Singingfish bookmarked, AOL's finally taken over that search engine, all you get is garbage for search results now. Go ahead and delete the link if you have Comments: Magnus Lensherr I posted that one at an oddball time during the day. I've been posting at oddball times during the day lately. Knowing how to do it, and actually getting it done are two different things, but knowing is the best place to start. Yeah, getting a college animé club involved would certainly solve the venue problem (If they'd go along with hosting something like that), I did think of that, which is part of why I'm looking in that direction. Yes, good news in this whole ordeal is a great thing. necury I hope you've seen the article. I'm not sure if someone suggested it to me, or if that was one of those "eureka!" moments I had while tripping up the stairs as usual, but it seems a sound place to look. I know several people here suggested I try to contact other fans in the area because having a group put together the conention would go a lot more smoothly than just having one person try to do it all. I'm liking that concept so I'm rolling with it. when I have more energy, I'll sit down and watch Howl's again in review mode. Grave is is great film and it's one any animé fan should see. Well, I've had personal encounters with paranormal entities, and I'm a bit of an amateur paranormal investigator, there are certain things my overactive imagination does not need to have implanted in it before I do investigative work. Sessy514 Hope you checked it out, the news is good, and thanks, I'll certainly try. death alchemist03 Anime Vegas was the other hard hit group that helped out that [insert choice explitive here] AnimeFF con. Theyr'e a big group apparently, but when my research told me they started out with only 9 people, that did me some good. Because, if one group can start off small and turn into a monthly meeting plus a yearly convention, then I'm sure if I do it right, I can have similar (though not as large scale) results. The news that came last time is good though, it's very good. the real yojimbo Research is only fun if you find out hat you want to know. NyakeSan There are a few colleges near me that I'm going to check out, even the local extention of WVU has a Japanese language class, so there just might be some fans there. sikaurai I hope I'm going the right direction, I won't know till I get there if I'm in the right place. timechaser I have no doubts that Adam is doing more than just chasing down those consoles. If I know anything at all about him from keeping up with his blog, and reading all that AnimeFF news, I know he's looking to help out the Susan G. Komen Foundation too, because he said he is. I happen to have the mailing address, the address where to send donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which can also be found here. Even if only 3,000 members of TheO/MyO sent a single dollar to the foundation, it would certainly add up. Imagine if every one of those members sent in five dollars, or even ten instead of just one. Now imagine if instead of just 3,000 members, that number was 6,000, or 9,000, or 20,000, or even 100,000. It doesn't take much to see it could really make a difference. I don't really have a "major" city close enough to me for it to be significant, but I will keep that in mind, it never hurts to try. This thing of mine is more than just face-to-face meetings with others who share the interest, it's about getting that chance to interact with the animé industry the same way people who get regular conventions in their backyard can. If you look at it, there are a couple spots in the US that are neglected by the industry because there's little or no convention coverage, the midwest, and the westerm mid atlantic states. Yeah, I hope I find it too. Outlaw Melfina: I'll need it. LGA775 I'll need the luck and I certainly try. Shonigoneyes93 It's good news to see someone stepping up and helping out after such a devestating attack on the animé community like that. Adam does what he can because this is his site, he built it from the ground up, so it's no surprise he's doing what he can for it. AnimeFF has a lot more to worry about than one site posting the truth about what went on back in January, they've got some real serious matters to contend with having used the name of a charity to commit fraud. If Karma, faith and justice exist, those guys will have their butts handed to them on rusty old trashcan lid platters. KanuckGrrl Yeah, we were long overdue for some good news on that fiasco, it's a boost to morale here on site that was really needed. At least when I get mine together, I'll be doing it right and by the book. I can take pride in the fact that I will be honest with anyone I approach on the subject, and through the whole process. I think that will be my best tool to get anywhere with this. My sister has seen Spirited Away, she said the best thing about it that I couldn't have put in better words myself, she said simply "You get lost in it. You forget you're watching a movie." I'm working my Mom through all the ones I have on DVD, I want her to get used to the Studio Ghibli style a little so I've shown her Totoro, and Whisper of the Heart, then she'll see The Cat Returns, Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Grave of the Fireflies. The thing most people forget when they see animé if they're not used to it, is that the culture which created it is very different from our own. You can't watch anime with a Western mindset or you won't understand it, and it will seem very strange and "weird". I certanily will. It's a challenge that I can't ignore. Actually, I might try to make it with Oolong tea, the kind you'd get in a Chinese restaurant. I still run into that a little bit, but I kind of came on the net when people began to take expression seriously again and that netspeak was considered annoying for the first time. If a person can take the time to type that nonsense, then they can certainly take the time to type out a normal word. I've only really been in few places where animé can be discussed without some board troll spamming and flaming the threads. Yensid: This year it'll be May 25-28. If I were out on the West coast, I'd try to get to that convention too. They're doing a good thing. I tend to get out of sorts when I'm tired, so after a little rest and a fresh look things always seem better. Until I exhaust all my leads, I'll try to keep my spirits up about getting something going in my area. InuYashaFan4-ever It certainly is good news. Really, that would be the convention to try to get to if you could manage it. the guys over there at that convention deserve a face-to-face thanks for their help. I'll need the luck, and I hope I find something, but I doubt the high schools here have antyhing like that. If it's not one of the core sports, they just don't care about it too much. Animé Dreams!

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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Saturday

I just saw some wonderful news over on the main TheO page that I thought I'd bring over here. It's great to see something so good happening after being barragd with all that negative stuff the past few weeks. I don't want to spoil the surprise for you all so I'll just send you over to the article. Click the akanbe to the left, and it'll take you right to the piece I'm referring to. It's things like that which restore my limited faith in humanity, that's all I'll say for now. I got a couple little feelers out into the local market, and since I haven't checked my e-mail yet, I don't know if I've gotten any results yet. I'm going to do some more legwork on trying to find people. I've put some thought itno this, and I don't think I'd be able to do anything without having a group of people here locally to work with. Some research on Anime Vegas prompted that, Anime Vegas is a monthly thing that screens various anime, and they also have the convention every year. It started out with only 9 people, and grew to what it is now. That gave me a bit of inspiration, and I have to admit that everyone who told me to start small, you were right. starting small is a wiser choice. Shoot, at this point I'd be glad to get a loose association of animé fans together just to talk about anim&3233; in a form other than text on a screen. We can work up a convention later on. So from this point, I'm going to look at college and university web sites, to see if I can find any hint of animé clubs in the local college scene. If I can find those people, then I know this convention has a chance. I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'll cut this short for once and get to the good stuff. Comments: necury Well, I won't know how good I am at this till kind of planning something comes of it or doesn't. I'll have to watch the film again when I'm actually in "review mode" to be able to do a review of it, but I'll get to that. Red River, I knew it! I can't watch horror films so I'll have to stay away from that one. Kiki-tink The snow never does that to me, I love the snow. The cold maybe, but never the snow. I'll get over it and move on. The review will have to wait for another day, and I saw at least one of those videos, my computer hates to load too many of those things one after the other so I coudln't watch them all. the real yojimbo Meditation has always helped clear my head. Kuroi Akurei It's a good movie, one that never made it my local theatres (reminds me I need to add something to my Yahoo! group's mission statement). Meditation always has worked. sikaurai Miyazaki has a way with characterization, though don't forget Howl's Moving Castle is based on the book by Diana Wynn Jones. I haven't lost mind, I know exactly where it is. It's on a prop table at a school where I attended a theatre convention in High School. There are certain things strike that "snap" chord with me, knowing what things do that (you know at least one already) is a good way to figure out the kind of creature I am. Well, at this point I think doing anything solo would just be doomed to failure, that's why I put some feelers out to try to get some others in the area interested in the idea. If I can get a group of people interested in this thing, it'll probably happen. Shonigoneyes93 The meditative mood was brought on by the shortening temper, not the other way around. I have this really bizarre way of wording things in a hindsight perspective. I'll say sommething like "this is where I am now" the I'll go into the why's from before. Once in a while I have to remove myself from the chain of reality to get my bearings, but most of the time I do all right. Actually, the convention project is to bring in one, or establish one, for the Mid Ohio Valley where I currently live. I'm just a little tired of seeing all those conventions everywhere else (Even Alaska had a convention this month), and none even remotely close enough to where I live that I can attend. So I figure if no one else is going to get a convention going here, I'll do it myself, with help, however, but there will be a convention here. Give me a moment to process the "never heard of " Howl's Moving Castle part, that's a little odd to me. Okay, I'm good now. Howl's Moving Castle isn't horror it's animé and it's a very good film. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it considering it did hit the theatres when it came to the US, but if it didn't make it to your local one, it's possible you couldn't have missed it. Well, it wasn't in the theatres where I am either, but I hope to correct Regal Cinemas on that discrimination big time with my animé convention (nothing like trying to get exclusive presentation rights for films to make arrogant know-it-all boors stand up and take notice of something important). Yes, it is your first visit, I hope you've enjoyed yourself, and please come back often if you can. I've been on MyO here since long before those social networking sites were cool, and I'll stick with this one because I like it. I don't have a Facebook thing, MySpace, or anything like that, the people here are good enough to me that I don't have to go anywhere else. MyOtaku is actually a lot like MySpace, Deviantart, and any number of other site types all blended into one, it's a social network, a portfolio, news, blog, entertainment site and more. The only thing that's missing from making it a true "web portal" for animé enthusiasts is the username [at] myotaku.com e-mail address. So very true but opportunities are often missed if one isn't reminded of them. NekoMimi16 I have figured out a few of the things I need to know, and I can't really move on till I get a few more things assembled. I'm hoping I can get people, local people, on board for this thing, and that'll make things go a lot smoother. I think in terms of getting some guidance and support from the convention scene itself, well, that probably should wait a little bit. You'll have to try to get it, it's a good movie. I don't express it enough, so it was long overdue. Shireishou To be honest, I don't know how I'll do planning this thing. Little family gatherings are one thing, something that's going to have a couple hundred (wishful thinking) or more people at it is somethng I've never done before. Video CDs never caught on here in the US, but I have seen one or two. Of course, I can remember my neighbors back in the 80's having a laserdics player (the really big probably 12" CD looking discs) which was strange to me then. My how technology changes. Sorry, lost myself there. So the price is a good one in terms of per episode stuff, that's good to know. I'd love to try out to do voice work myself, but they don't really do a lot of that kind of thing here. I've heard of some of the dubbing studios doing stuff like that at conventions, but since there's no convention here in WV yet, well that's all non-relevant to me. I don't think it's possible to do that kind of thing for FireFox. Firefox requires the Quicktime browser plug-in to play midi files, the problem is, Apple Quicktime does not play files with the extentions .mid or .midi even though it has the ability to be associated with those file types. So, till the developers of FireFox actually add midi support to the download actions (where you can have it open with something other than that mal-ware Apple Quicktime browser plug-in), embedding midi files on pages and expecting them to work in FireFox is a no-go. When I use FF I can't even play the midi on my own page here (the button under my Avatar) because I will not associate the midi file type to a program that cannot play them properly. Quicktime Also hates MP3 files by the way, another association it has in it's MIME settings which should be removed by the Apple developers. KanuckGrrl It's a good movie, do try to find it. I know that feeling. Funny, Anime Helps me that way a lot too. Animé is an extention of my personality, so my family appreciates it for that, and they find that when they watch it, they like it too. My Mom loved My Neighbor Totoro, she was amused by the Catbus. and she was interested to find out both Speed Racer and Gigantor, series she remembers from her youth, were early forms of animé My sister likes a few different things, but she really laughs when she sees Session #17 of Cowboy Bebop (That's Mushroom Samba). We're all in it together here, which is kind of nice because I don't have to hide the reason I stay up all night. They both start with E, which is enough to make anyone slip up a few times, not to mention Ed is a really, really, I mean REALLY bizarre character with a very plain sounding name whcih makes things a little funky too. Sure thing. Ugh, that's okay, I think I can make my own non-cancer inducing version here at home. A homemade soda is a 6:1 ratio, six parts carbonated water to one part flavor syrup, so I just need to make my own green tea flavor syrup which is as hard as brewing the tea, sweetening it with a little honey, then reducing the whole thing into a syrup. Now see what you got started here? I'm going to have to make that just to see if it's possible, and if it tastes good in the end. If it works out, I'll let you know, and tell you how to make it. Once again, I will not speculate on that, and will react honestly when the time is appropriate. Adam's doing what he can, and that's why I'm keeping some of my questions off the table right now. I'll ask them when things settle down some more and those details can be covered with less potential for volatile or abrasive responses from the members here. Actually, I could have done one better and said "calling those things scum would be an insult to amino acids everywhere" but I don't think the reference to the evelotionary theory's explanation of how life formed in the primordial ooze millenia ago would have been appriciated quite as nicely. Minor therapy? This is my substitute for hundreds of dollars in psychological counselling! I jest, but it is good fun and nice to have people to exchange ideas and opinions with in such a way that's open, honest, and leaves people respecting one another in the end even though they don't agree all the time. My civility toward humans is hit-or-miss at best, and the more I have to deal with ignorants in the real world, the more I find MyO here a better place to be. It's sad but true. I mean, I got out and apply for jobs, being myself, being honest, and I get ignorant crap in return. I come here, people actually speak and think intelligently, on a level I can relate to and keep up with. NyakeSan It's calmed down quite a bit thankd for the concern. timechaser It's a good film, see it when you can. The way I see it, I can approach this thing a couple different ways. I've got a couple feelers out there now to test the waters a little, and try to get some local attention, if that goes somewhere, I'll be doing something, if it doesn't then I could fall back on approaching one of the major conventions (that's not too far away) and see if the people running it would be interested in setting up an offshoot of their main convention closer to where I am. I'm not ready to give up on it just yet. but I am only one person, I have no financial resources, I have no backing, and I have no connections, so I'll only be able to ride this thing so far if nothing stirs up. Hop-Frog It's something I don't like about myself, but I am working on it. Wanting it, and actually getting it are going to be two wholly different things. I've gone the route of trying to get other people involved on the local level. I'm going to start checking college and university websites to see if I can find out about any animé clubs any of them might have, if there are animé clubs, those are the people I'd need to get on board for this thing to really work. Mot of the waiting now will be waiting for people to respond to the messages I've got out there. Miyazaki did like Cars when he saw it, just to let you know. I've heard that the movie strays from the book, I'd like to get the book to see how much it does. Like you said though, Miyazaki has a way with characters that's fun to watch. Still, from my perspective, it doesn't hurt to remind my friends how much I do appreciate them now and again. Then you probably like todays mood pic way back up there. I still have to capture some more, to cover the many moods of me, but I'm off to a good start. Animé Dreams!

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

The Big V Day Comes and Goes Quietly on the Desert.

I'm in a meditative mood today, not really sure why. I've noticed my temper is shortening a little again, seeing people post about injustices being handed them has really set me off lately, and I don't like going into that mode where I type without even being aware of typing. I scare myself back to reality, end up having to change what I've written, then go right back to typing logically blinded again. I guess I just want to take some time to clear my head of all that I've been exposed to lately. I guess I want to step back, look at what's before me, and try to assemble the loose bits into something. I want to try to salvage that convention project of mine, I really do. Every time I look at what I've got put down on paper, every time I see the marks and notes I've jotted telling me what I need to do, I hesitate. I've never done this kind of thing before, I've never planned something beyond small family functions. I've never been put in a postition where I want something this big so badly I'm willing to build it from the ground up myself even though I know there's really no way I can do that. In the animé convention scene, I'm nobody right now, and with the whole AnimeFF thing still pretty hot, I'm torn between trying to move ahead, or just giving up on the whole thing. Every time I've gone to rewrite those letters to ask people in the convention scene where do I begin, I just can't do it right now. I can't bring myself to impose upon the community that way. It's a decision that I don't want to make lightly, nothing that's important should ever be decided on a whim. I have much thinking to do on that. In lighter news, I finally, FINALLY watched Howl's Moving Castle in Japanese, I'd promised long ago a review of that movie, after I watched it in Japanese. I don't have the review yet, but my initial impressions (of the Japanese version) were very good. I still like Billy Crystal as Calcifer though, I think that was an excellent casting choice for the English dub. While I am here today, I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for all my friend here on MyOtaku. You've been there for me when I needed you, you've put up with my rants you've given me a lot of helpful advice, encouragement, and direction. You've welcomed my input on various things, even when it wasn't helpful, you've welcomed me as I am, a simple, daydreaming, dragon who loves animé and the company of good people even though I say I don't like people. No words at all can express the appreciation, the sense of kinship I have with you all. You all mean the world and so much more to me. I don't say that kind of thing often enough, I don't thank my friends for being my friends often enough, so with all my heart, I thank you. Comments: InuYashaFan4-ever It was all right. Root beer, Birch Beer, Ginger Beer, Ginger Ale, Sasparilla, cream soda, things like that are all good to me. Magnus Lensherr You got to bring it up somewhere. I've seen mood icons and emoticons and such being used by people here for a while now. I thought I'd get into that too since I do like the idea, and the "custom" emoticon thing on the add post page hates my smiley links. iTunes does have a UK store, but I'm not exactly sure how video content is handled. In theory, if you have a credit card, you should be able to buy music from any of the stores (you can switch stores right in iTunes), not just the one for your country (the prepay cards only work for the country in which they were bought, ie a US card would only work in the US store, and so on). Whether that applies to video content or not I don't know since Apple's support is completely useless and don't have any info on that. I guess no one important on their user forums has asked that question yet. Sessy514 It was all right. Hope yours was all right. Kuroi Akurei I hope you had a good one too. Kiki-tink Same here. NyakeSan I guess they had to do that to make marketing their video iPod more sucessful since not everyone who owns a computer does their own video editing. It is a good idea in theory, but I'll wait to see how well it works before I jump on it myself. There are a few questions I need answered about the whole process. I only took notice of iTunes when they opened their Japan store. I'm still not to keen on their inability to make the prepay cards work internationally though, not having a credit card really sucks. death alchemist03 Same to you. They don't have FMA up yet, they have Desert Punk, Samurai 7, and Speed Grapher up, but I expect they'll add more. I can keep checking their iTunes channel and let you know. We all have off days, that's all right. the real yojimbo If it's a video iPod, that would be a great use for it. Almost makes me want to go out and buy one myself, almost. Shireishou If you buy the whole season its's like 38.99, which is about the price of one or two DVD volumes (depending on the series) here in the US, maybe a discounted box set would be a little more. It is a good price on a per episode basis. I hopeto see a lot more content like that show up there, it's the kind of thing that would make me rethink my stance on certain products and services. Mozilla doesn't treat the alternate text tag (alt) like IE does. Firefox doesn't pop it like a tool tip, it uses the alternate text in place of the image if the image doesn't load. There is a tag I learned that both IE and FireFox treat the same way though, popping them like a tool tip, and that's the "title" tag. Since I'm switiching back and forth between the two browsers all the time, I like to use things that work in both. Now if I could find a plug-in to play midi files that's not that mal-ware Quicktime. Hop-Frog That's the truth, I'm easily amused too *stares for hours at clacky-ball thing(Newton's Cradle) on desk* Yeah, it's looking like a good thing I put multiple posts on the main page here. Those of you who don't get around every time can still keep up for the most part. Life happens so I understand that some people can't get on as often as others. The fact that you come around when you can means something to me. It shows that you value me as a friend, that you want to know how I'm doing, and maybe that you value my input on things you mention here too. As for the Mountain Dew thing, well, that deserves it's own mood pic, so there you go. Hope you had a good Big V day. timechaser Since I needed to set up the new modulator for my DVD player (it's one of those DVD VCR combo units that oddly doesn't have a modulator built into it), I took the time to watch a movie I've been meaning to see again. Howl's Moving Castle, I watched it subtitled this time, wasn't in the review frame of mind so all I can say it it was pretty good in Japanese, but I still like Billy Crystal as Calcifer. Yeah, I'll probably call them all kinds of things, like shots, badges, and so on, but those little shots are going to be an indicator of my mood at the start of a post. Normally, I won't have multiple ones in a post, but when I'm in a good mood, I'll probably have a few posted. By all means you have to see that movie. It is a great film. Seeing anime reach out to newer audiences is wonderful, it means those of us who've been fans for years now can actually take pride in being fans from before it became "cool" if you know what I'm trying to say. Basically, we're the ones, and the ones that came before us (the anime fans from the 60's 70's and 80's) are the ones who, in keeping up with the genre, and spreading awareness of it, have, in no small way, gotten it to where it is today, and it's nice to see that. We can't stop now though, we have to keep on being fans and spreading the word of anime to the masses. If the prediction made in The Day After Tomorrow becomes true, that really will be the start of the Artic Circle. NekoMimi16 No Pocky, but I did have a lot of Hershey Kisses (the dark chocolate raspberry kind - Mm!), and I did see an anime movie so I got that covered. I thought it was a neat idea to add more interest to the site rather than plain old text all the time. Yensid: You're talking some good stuff there. Real ginger has great effects for an upset stomach, it's a pain reliever too (I learned that recently) and it has that bite to it that you can't fake. I haven't had a good ginger ale in a long time. Real cream soda is so good too, but it's hard to find. You can tell a good cream soda by the color. If it's a light yellow-gold color, that's a good sign, the vanilla that's used to flavor the soda actually colors the liquid like that, if it's clear, if it's red, blue, green, orange, or darker brown, chances are it's been colored, which means the vanilla flavor probably isn't natural either. In thinking about it, a 24oz bottle of Mountain Dew has the caffeine equivalent to 5 cups of coffee, I think I'll take the coffee thank you, because I never drink 5 cups in a day, shoot I don't even have cofee on a regular basis (like once or twice a month maybe). Funny thing with me and energy drinks though, they put me to sleep. I've tried several brands, including the Mountain Dew one, Amp, but not a single one has kept me awake or made me feel peppy. In fact, I was wiped within five minutes of drinking the Amp one. I've heard of that phenomenon before, that makes sense on many levels. In thinking about it, I didn't notice my hat wasn't on my head until I went to take it off. Up till then, my mind beleived it was there, so it felt like it was there. Even though I couldn't see the bill hovering at the top of my vision. It also makes sense as to why some of us aren't as inclinded to be in the public spread (which I'm going to have to get over really quick). It was okay, hope yours was too. KanuckGrrl Well now I can't condone that kind of thing, and my ISP don't take too kindly to people doing it either, so I don't do it myself either. Right now iTunes only has three shows, but I expect to see more to come. I would think you can use the US iTunes prepay card like you would for music, you shouldn't need a credit card, but don't quote me on that. If I can get one of those cards myself and try it, I'll let you know. I can't get a credit card myself because, well I don't have a job, and I already have some black marks on my credit history, so I look at prepay options all the time. They'll be popping up often, so keep your eyes out for them. Though I may pull double duty with them (applying them to more than one mood that they fit), I think it's a great idea to give you all a visual representation of my mood. Ein is the dog, Radical Edward, or just Ed, is the girl. I think I got that capture from the Bebop movie, opr I found it online, I'm not sure anymore. It is an amusing pic that I can use for many different moods. Well, okay, Here you go. I'm not really looking for anyone at the moment either. Why should I try to support someone else when I can't even support myself? I'm sure the right person will come along, at the right time, till then I'll be content with my own company, and that of my family. The "never found" kind of lost bothers me, especially so when it's important items like cell phones and keys. But , I guess we're the few proud people who're supposed to lose stuff right in front of our faces. Carbonated green tea? Is that something I can get somewhere, I want to try it. I like tea, especially green tea for it's flavor. I know it has some anti-oxidants in it which is part of why it's becoming a popular recommendation for healthy people (like dark chocolate in moderation). Never sweeten tea with anything but honey, and your tea will thank you for it by giving you rich flavor every time. All it takes is one or two teaspoons of honey if the tea needs sweetening (not all teas do) and you're golden. Aspartame, Saccharin, (trade names such as Nutra-Sweet, and Sweet n' Low) are both artificial sweeteners, neither leave a pleasant taste in the mouth, and both kill people. I have tried some things with Sucralose, (trade name Splenda) in them, that's a sugar derivative no-cal sweetener that's not too harsh on the palate. Generally though, I'll stick to natural sweeteners, like honey or raw sugar for my tea, coffee or other drinks, it just tastes better. I hear tell that the art was put on posterboard, beyond that I know nothing since I wasnt' there to see it. My picture is on an 8.5"x11" piece of manga paper, it would be nice to see it at double, or triple that size though. We know for sure eight of the pieces that were featured, and right now I think that's all were going to get. Yeah, I'd like to know every piece of art that was featured too, but (I can't believe I'm the one saying this since I was one of the loudest people wanting to know stuff way back when) I think Adam would be smart not to tell us what art actually made the gallery until this whole thing settles down a little. Think about it, if Adam posted that list of featured art, and it turned out to be a poor representation of the entries(like say half the total number or less), even with people knowing what AnimeFF did, and that it was their fault, there would be some ruffled feathers and hurt feelings. How would I react if I learned my piece was in the gallery? Well, I'd be relieved and want to know what the total number of votes it got was (for my own morbid curiosity). But, how would I react if I learned my art wasn't featured? Well, that's not something I can answer until I experience it for myself firsthand. You know, calling Jeff and his associates scum would be an insult to protozoa everywhere, so I don't even do that. Soulless, inhuman garbage is just that in my book, they lost the privilege of personification. They are not people, they are not creatures, they are not even demons or spirits to me. Animé Dreams!

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The big V

Just yesterday I got one ofthe best e-mails. FUNimation now has a couple anime series available for download on the iTunes Store. They run about $2.00 per episode (techncially $1.99), and are in the US store, but I followed up on that and I've seen the episodes listed myself. It's nice to see anime is finally coming into a sort of recognition here in the US on the mainstream digital media scene, it's been a sort of sub-mainstream thing for so long. Hopefully this exposure will lead other licensors to follow suit and put some of their offerings up too. Only time will tell, but just seeing that made my day, probably about the same as when iTunes opened their Japan music store, I think it's been two years ago now. Since I started the mood shots (hover your mouse cursor over the picture to see the mood, should work in IE and Firefox, not sure about Netscape or other Mozilla builds) I've been meaning to mention that if you see one you like and want to use as an avatar or something, let me know. I can get you a larger size, better quality one without my initials ghosted into it somewhere. I'll be happy to do that for anyone. I still have a few more moods to capture yet though, but I have the basics well covered for now I think. I won't know I don't have the mood till I go to find it and it's not there. More bits on the main page and in Adam's blog to mention. Even though I'm cutting back on my overage of the whole thing, I do feel I still owe you all the courtesy of posting info as it comes, because I did promise. Oh, NekoMimi16 (link below) also posted her experience at the con too. It's a nice written snapshot of the event from the eyes of one attendee. Anyway, it's Valentines day, and rather than post pics of flowers, candy, hot guys and gals for you all to look at, I'll just wish you all the best. I hope you're contented, whether you share the day with a special someone, spend time with friends, or take some time to yourself. For the record, I'm not spending the day with anyone myself, and I think I like it that way for now. Comments: Magnus Lensherr It's not the first time I lost something like that, it probably won't be the last. I'm not sure anymore,but in her case, the stress of being in and out of stores for most of the monriing probably affected her mind. Yeah, it gave us a story to tell later on when we need a laugh. So far, the storm hasn't been bad, but it could change at any time. We had rain last night, but now it's snowing again, which means all that water on the ground is now ice, and ice underneath snow is never a fun thing to encounter. KanuckGrrl Funny thing about me, a couple years ago I went to bed one night, so tired I could barely think straight (this was prior to any Mountain Dew mental issues, and I hadn't had any all day). Well, I went through my routine, and laid down in bed watching the TV, fell asleep. When I woke up, I couldn't find my glasses (I'm Myopic - near sighted). Thinking they had fallen off the shelf, I looked for them on the floor, under the bed, on the table that was on the other side of my bed, I looked absolutely everwhere but couldn't find them. After about half an hour of looking, I gave up and was going to go the day without them, and try to find them later. I was downstairs i the dining room getting ready to do something when I needed to itch my eye. I'll bet you know where this is going. I reach up and smack, my hand runs into something clear and hard, the lens to my glasses. Turns out I had fallen asleep with my glasses on, and oddly, they stayed on my face all night. I had apparently been so tired when I first woke up (not uncommon for me, I'm a very slow-witted, very grumpy dragon when I first wake up), that I didn't realize I was seeing things way too clear to not have my glasses on in the first place. I tell people I'd lose my head if it wan't fastened on, and that's the truth, I lose things that are right in my hand, in my pockets, sitting right in front of me, and even right on my own face in front of my eyes. I'm glad I got the hat back too, it's one I've had for a while, so it's broken in nicely. Regular Mountain Dew doesn't have aspartame in it, that's in the diet last I knew. No one in my house can stand that nasty aftertaste aspartame leaves in your mouth anyway so we stay away from stuff that has it. Yeah, it's some seriously nasty stuff, go figure it poisons people so the FDA approves it. I didn't know it had anything in common with ethanol, that's just sick. High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is in jst about everything, is apparently cheaper to make than regular sugar, and something in the way it's chemically modified isn't good for the body either. I'm not sure why Mountain Dew's taste is different now than it used to be, but it is, It's way sweeter than it used to be, it's actually got a bit of an oily texture to it as well which is kind of funky. It's not the same Mountain Dew I used to like way back when. I'd like to stop, but it's hard to convince the grocery shoppers in the house to pick up good stuff like juices and teas (I love tea, especially green tea), and stuff without all those bubbles. I do try to have a plain water now and then too. Cold water on a hot day is really good, I mean good. Well, one can dream can't one? I think Disneyland would be a real stretch, but you guys who won do deserve something other than a link on the site saying you won. Yeah, that whole thing could have been handled better, but that's another failing of AnimeFF, not Adam or anyone else involved. One thing that I'm wondering though, is what happened to all that artwork? After the con was shut down, who took the art, what did they do with it? I'd actually pay to have mine (if it was even featured) shipped to me, just to have it in that state. I should have thought of that sooner though, no chance anyone would know at this point I'd bet. NekoMimi16 Yeah, that's pretty much what I concluded. I have to stay away from the stuff. I read your convention report on Anime Tour for the Cure, it's nice to have different persectives of the event, from people who helped put it together, to the people who attended. I still want to see pictures though, so if you know anyone who took pictures there, please let me see some. death alchemist03 I have to wear hats in the winter for two reasons. My scalp suffers from Psoriasis and gets really itchy when exposed to the cold for too long, and two, the head is one of several point of the body wherre heat is lost the most, so, covering the head keeps the body warm. Outlaw Melfina: I'm beginning to think that's a good idea. Sessy514 From my last post on, I'm not drinking the stuff either. LGA775 We all have them, some of us just get the mworse than others! I comment when I can, I can't promise a comment on every post, or every picture, but when my heart moves me to, I'll speak my piece about something. Kiki-tink I don't get hyper, I proved that with a double fudge brownie and a bottle of Dr. Pepper at school one day. Settled the argument about how hyperactivity is as much a mental thing as it is a physical one (My thesis for the unofficial experiement was "if you tell yourself you won't get hyper, you won't get hyper"). Mountain Dew has made me jittery though, like those TV specials where they get a bunch of losers to go into a haunted house and show them jumping at every little thing that ticks, creaks or moves. If you need the anti-Dew badge (the graphic I posted) for anything, go ahead and take it. the real yojimbo If you say so. ~_^ sikaurai There was a study done a couple years back, it showed that of all brands, of all flavors, Mountain Dew had the most caffeine in it. I think they said one can (12oz) had the same amount of caffeine as two and a half cups or more of strong coffee. I don't drink anything with caffeine to wake up either, but I do get the headaches if I go for a day without at least a little. I'm more of a tea person, but I do have coffee now and again, Irish coffee that is, which in reality isn't any better for the mind, but it sure tastes good! I can't speak for others on that. The stuff used to taste better, it was never as syrupy, oily and sweet as it has been in the past few years. It used to have a little bit of bite to it when you drank it, and it was lighter in the mouth. Yeah, if you haven't already, read my response to KanuckGrrl up there, about my losing my glasses once. That kind of thing is par for the course with me. InuYashaFan4-ever My only problem with the Lemon-Lime sodas is that they get really nasty when they lose their fizz. Of all my favorite sodas, I like a good, real ginger beer. It's like root beer only made with real ginger. Most of your main label ginger ales use cayenne pepper for the bite now. Birch beer is also good. I like those ambiguos sodas with beer, and ale in the names. It was fun in retrospect, but at the time I was out of my head. beyblader Hm, I just checked and I did miss a few misspelled words, but other than that the writing was okay. Were you tired when you read the post? I know my eyes do funky thinkg to me when I'm tired. I used to say I've never met a mountain Dew I didn't like. So far, the only one I know of that don't frag my head is the Baja Blast one that you can only get through Taco Bell (they did the same with the Code Red for a while too when it first came out). So while I do like the stuff in terms of taste, I don't like what it does to me and that's enough to make me stay off it for good. timechaser I don't remember if she had any that day or not. I don't think so. I have gotten the headaches, and the pains that are kind of like a cramp from the stuff, so yeah, I should have known better than to keep crinking the stuff a long time ago. The only6 reason I used to keep drinking the stuff is that my Mom does when she shouldn't, it affects her blood pressure and her doctor told her to cut her caffiene intake. I can't do that anymore and I'm the only other person in the house who can stomach the stuff. It's only this year that were in the artic circle, any other year we'd be getting icy cold with no precip (very boring) or 60-70°F weather in January/February, and that's just not natural! I used to live in down Texas, andI liked it there. The heat in the summer was dry heat (humidity is bad for the body when it's hot), and the winters were mild. It snowed once when I was down there, I think we got an inch at the most. The rain that followed it, coated the snow and trees and grass with ice. It was spectacular to look at. Animé Dreams!

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Manic Monday?

It was one of those days today. You know they kind, where you go out of your mind and even simple things don't make sense anymore. Some people blame stress for those days, others blame people, or events, Me, I blame Mountain Dew. I've mentioned here before that one particulart soda actually affects my mind, that being Mountain Dew, and what happened yesterday is proof of that. My Mom and I were out shopping because we're supposed to get hit with some snow and freezing rain today, Anyway, we're out and we decide to stop off and get a bite to eat before going home because shoppig was a disaster (the people in the stores were nuts!). We go into a Subway (the sandwich restaurant) get oursandwiches and sit down to eat. Now, I always wear a cap when I go out, especially in the winter (keeps the head warm), and I've gotten in the habvit of taking it off when I sit doewn to eat, it's rude to wear a hat at the table, that's just a me thing I think. Anyway, we eat, get up and leave, and come home. I go through the proces of hanging up my coat and putting my gloves away, that's when I notice my hat's missing. I retraced my steps from the back door all the way to where I'd gotten in the house, and couldn't find it. My mom couldn't figure it out either because she saw me with it when we were out at the car unloading it. We check the car, all the way down the sidewalk to the back porch, everywhere. Unable to find it, my Mom gets the idea that we should go backup to the Subway and check there, even though we both knew I had the hat on my head when we walked out. We go up there and guess what's sitting on the bench where I was sitting earlier. The hat. Needless to say, I picked it up and we came back home. Sine the only thing I'd had to drink yesterday (up to that point) was the FDA approved LSD that is Mountain Dew, and I already know it does seriously messed up stuff to my head, I've sworn off the stuff since it had to play a major role in my being so immensely mental that I'd go for about a ten minute stretch thinking a hat was on my head that wasn't there. As much as I like the stuff, I'm going to have to completely stop drinking it. I need my mental faculties intact as much as possible. That said, I think I'll wrap this up and try to get some rest. Comments: Magnus Lensherr Yeah, the repercussions from this will reverberate throughout the anime community for a long time to come. I'm not going to let it stop me from trying anyway. Who knows, I just might get the right the attention of the right people in the process of doing this, and that woudl be a big help. I doin't think you'll have to worry about that aspect as much as I will, but one never knows, so I don't want to sound like I know what I'm saying. Thanks for the luck, I'm going to need it. I like to pull a surprise out of my hat now and again. InuYashaFan4-ever I'm on the same page with you there. Those [Insert string of appropriate profanities here] have done a real number on the whole anime community. I'm going to need the luck, I really am. Sessy514 A wise choice, one I've been exercising to a degree through the whole thing. I'll let myself go when all is said and done though, that's going to be an interersting post. Thanks, I need it, and I'll certainly be keeping in touch as always. the real yojimbo That's a piece of advice my Mom would appreciate. Yeah, and there are an unknown number of others in my position who'll be affected by this, one way or another. If I can get this thing to work, hopefully I'll be able to inspire others to try as well. Yensid: It actually occurs during the latter portion of the war, and funny thing, I don't recall any indication of the Atomic Bombs being made in the film, but I'll have to watch it again to be sure I didn't miss anything. Studio Ghibli films are really good about that, you have to see them more than once to appreciate the subtle bits you miss the previous time through. It's a heavy film in terms of the emotional experience, but all the same it is a great work. Hm, I'll have to try to find that film, I love to expereince animation from other countries and cultures. The story does sound interesting too. It's unfortunate, but it's how thing will be from here on. I'll have to make the best of it, and keep on trying. Thanks for the offer, but at this point, even the advice is a big help. I'm not in college myself, but there are countless colleges around that I could check with to see if any of them already have an established anime club, and put myself in contact with them on this project. I will also keep the option of establishing my own club open too, but I don't think my town has a local "community center" to work from, but I'll look into that too, see what my options are. the letter is a long way from being how I want it, but it's started. I'm sure it'll work out for the best. KanuckGrrl I have been an anime fan for probably close to 7 years officially, and in that time, I've had countless people on message boards and what-not tell me there's one film I had to see as an anime fan, and that film was Grave of the Fireflies. I have been wanting to see that film for years myself. It is a profound, yet simple film it's really moving. As for how to find it, I had to buy my copy from Best Buy (the gift cards work on the website, and those are poppiing up in stores like Giant Eagle now), I've never seen it on a store shelf. Don't worry about comparing your process and delivery to mine. This whole thing is a fun little hobby project to encourage the exchange of ideas. Since most people relate to movies, I figure why not do a review exchage. It'll be fun to acutally see how different people assemble their reviews. Thank you for the compliemtn on my review though, I just write from the heart, and let me tell you it wasn't hard to put that one together. You know, now that I've pulled back from really covering (if posting links can be called that) the AnimeFF thing, I'm finding myself in lighter spirits. That whole thing is really emotionally chaotic. It stirs up so many things that it's disruptive to normal thought. I just came off a break, so I dont' want to take another one so soon, but I may have to stay offline for a while, just to regain some level of serenity to my troubled mind. Adam has said that the winners have been understanding of the situation as it's unfolded, and that's great to hear. Whether you like it or not, I have the feeling he's going to try to do something for you all, but that's just a hunch on my part. I'd like to see this thing wrap up soon too, or gain some major media attention which would expedite the frauds being caught I think. the death threats don't help anything, they hurt it actually. This isn't the kind of situation where you can go off half-cocked, this is one of those times when you have to take the same approach the scammers used. Sit back, watch how things play out, then, when you know everything, that's when you strike. And you don't have to lash out physically, there's other ways to fight battles. The pen has always been mightier than the sword. Well, I may have tasted a little bit of the sour right now, but when life throws lemons at you, you make one butt-kicking Hot Toddy. I'll be all right I think, I just have to make sure I know where I'm going is all. I'll be the one having to provide the written assurances that I'm not a fraud more than I'll need to worry about getting such things from the big boys in the industry, but I expect that. It won't be easy to get an establish convention's backing, there aren't any really close enough for that to have a significance, if I could get the backing of a major convention from anywhere in the US though, I think I would be all right. death alchemist03 That's all right, no hurry. Thanks, I did try to do it right by my standards and criteria. MillenniumChaos Yeah, I've heard that a couple times, and I'm thinking that's going to have to be the way to go. My biggest technical hurdle is going to be funding no matter what size the first convention is. I'm just an individual, unemployed, nobody (in the convention scene) so I don't have the money to put up for this kind of thing on my own, or the means to borrow the kind of money I'd need. I don't think it's wise to approach potential sponsors cold either, so I need to have something organized and ready for presentation before I go out asking for money to run a convention that no one's ever heard of before. It probably would be more feasible to try running a low-level mini convention to start out with, because the losses, if any would be incurred, would be lower than if the thing was supposed to be a huge event. As for finding local vendors, there aren't too many in the anime field around me, but I will try to find some, because I do like the idea of getting locals involved as much as possible. As much as I hate where I am now, I do appreciate the value of contributing to the community economically. As for the community center, well, I'd have to see if I even have one. I know of a couple places that have "conference" rooms which might be worth looking into if there's no "community" center. Animé Dreams!

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Monday, February 12, 2007

Thoughts Are a Dangerous Commodity on the Desert

I've pushed off posting this part for too long now. My Movie Review. A couple techncial notes before you click that link. It is a PDF file, if you do not have a PDF reader (like Adobe Acrobat reader et.c) do not click the link it will give your computer headaches. If you do not have a PDF reader and would like to see the review, Here is an alternative format for you. Oh, and because I know someone will want to see a better copy of the image, Here you go. That's the image that I used in the review. I probably should point out that I did my review cold. I had not seen it before, and I knew very little about it other than the name and that critics seemed to like it (I never put much stock in "professional" critics). On another note, this whole AnimeFF thing is really affecting me more than I expected it would, more than it should really, so I'm going to break off the coverage for a while to let myself get some bearings and resituate my thinking. Keep on checking the Main page, new stuff has been added quite regularly, but I have a feeling we're going to be seeing the end of information about this thing here sometime, I don't want to say soon, but I feel it coming. Some of today's information is just ridiculously insane. It might actually make you laugh. Not goingto direct link it, but you know where to find it. I didn't fully realize the difficultly of the situation I'm in with planning my convention until a very valid point was brought up in the Anime Pulse podcast the other day. They mentioned that something like what happened with Tour for the Cure would make people in the convention scene more cautious of unknowns who are trying to start a convention. I happened to be, among other things writing the first draft of the base letter I'm eventually going to send out when that part came up in the interview. What it means to me is I'm going to have to change my methodology, because I'll now have the burden of establishing my own credibility to those I approach for information, and assistance. I don't expect that to be an easy feat given that I am unemployed, have no financial resources, and have no contacts in the industry (the Unholy Trinity of establishing oneself). I've been wrestling with this concern the past day or so, but I didn't really know how to put it in writing, that's part of why yesterday's post was like that. I need to look at the situation, and figure out the best way to move forward. I need the advice and input, but I know I have to tread carefully to get it without compromising my efforts. Basically, I now have to redraft the whole letter that I was writing. Since it'll be my first contact, I have to communicate the right message. Guess I'll go get started on that now. Comments: necury Sorry I put it off twice, it's there for you now though. the real yojimbo That's a lot easier than it sounds when you get hit by the ton of bricks that is the brutal reality of a difficult challenge ahead. All the same, I manage though. KanuckGrrl I would like to see those people who scammed the animé community brought to serious justice myself. I'm keeping up with this thing because it affects all of us who use this site whenther we want it to or not. Adam's a New Yorker, like I mentioned before, you don't push a New Yorker and not expect to to be pushed back harder. I admire him for diving head on into this fight and finding out those details that aren't easy to come by. It's only a vacation if you enjoy the time off, and right now, I'm not really enjoying myself. Magnus Lensherr It makes sense since I do have a consistent number of less frequent, but regular visitors, I may kick it up to 5 if it becomes necessary, but three will do for now. Planning the con will be the easier part of this whole thing. Because of that jerk's con game, establishing my credibility to get everything together, that's more likely going to be the nasty part. Tell you what, if I get this thing off the ground, I'll send you some tips so you can maybe put one together for where you are. InuYashaFan4-ever I thought that was a good idea when I changed it. And thanks for the luck too, but I'll need more than just luck to get this thing going. BlackMagicianGrl Thanks. And I'm sure I will. Even though I may complain about it, I'll probably have fun along the way too. Yensid: I thought it was a good idea too. The feedback I was getting indicated that having a quicker access to previous post information would be a benefit, so in testing the waters I think the three post spread on the front page is a good call. Yeah, and as much I rag on the podcasters for being insensitive at times (the reason I stopped listening to the TheO podcast), they brought up a very valid point their interview with Adam that I see making the process for me a lot harder. Basically, they brought up the point that the established convention scene is going to be leary of an unknown (people like me) trying to get a convention going. I wish you the best in your moving process (I always hated moving), and hopefully you'll be able to get out to that con. beyblader It's been one Hell of a week for me so I might have read more into it than I should have. To me, Reality TV has lost its luster, it's a fad that needs to quietly fade back into TV obscurity. That's my opinion, and that's the last I'll speak of it. I'll also say I'm starting to think you're right about the AnimeFF coverage. This whole AnimeFF thing is really wearing on me (part of the rough week) to the point it's affecting my concentration, and even offline things now too. That's never good for me. I tell you I'll be glad when this whole thing is over, it's just insane. I'll even celebrate the conclusion of it all with a theme change for my site here, something a little more positive is in order. sikaurai Yeah, I have a few visitors who don't get on as regularly as others, so I'm going to keep the three post spread up. Shireishou that's kind of what I was thinking of when I went with this spread. It would be easier to see stuff, and you won't have to fight with the archive loading. Yeah, it probably does make it load slower though. One thing you can do to help the page load faster, You use Mozilla FireFox Right? In the Tools menu, find "options" then slect the "content" tab. About halfway down is a checkbox "load images" uncheck that. Images take up a lot of bandwidth, so not loading them should make the page load up faster. MillenniumChaos I've kept up with it because I wanted to know how the con (I think I'll refer to legit conventions as conventions, and this AFF thing as simply a "con") went. I also promised that I would keep everyone I could informed about things back when Adam made some unsettlingly out of character posts. I can certainly see now that he was being tame when he made those vague posts. One bad apple isn't going to spoil my limited trust in humanity, and Karma is a funny thing like that isn't it? BASH I've already hinted at what the review is about, but I'll let you read it for yourself to see. It will be the first of several reviews I plan to do if this one goes over well. Seems that's a popular choice, and I've already decided I'm sticking with it, so I'm glad it's a welcome improvement to my page. Animé Dreams!

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Sunday, February 11, 2007

   . . .

First off, there's more news over on TheOtaku, I'm really not feeling up to direct linking everything tonight, I have a lot on my mind about a few things relating the convention I'm trying to plan. I changed my format up a little, I've got three posts showing no to give people who don't get to me often (or are new to my site) a better look at what's going on. If it don't work, or you don't like it, let me know I'll go back to the single post view. Comments: Sorry, I'm not really up to individual repsonses today, if you'd like me to address something you said in your last comment, give me a shout, I'll have it covered. I'll also have my movie review up next time I post. That project is just supposed to be a fun little information exchange anyway, so it's not really important. Animé Dreams!

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Saturday, February 10, 2007

The Interview, and Coming Projects

The podcast is up on Anime Pulse. It's right there at the top of the main page. The second half of the podcast is the interview with Adam, and he provides quite a few details on the whole thing with AnimeFF. I promised you all the reason why I asked you those questions last time. There was a good reason for them. See, I asked you those questions to make you aware of the criteria in which you judge movies yourselves. I asked, because I have a bit of a challenge for you all relating to them. I want you to take the criteria you're now aware of using, and next time you see a movie, any movie, apply your criteria to it, then write up a review for me. Don't think for a moment I'm going to ask you all to do something I won't do myself, in the next few days sometime, I'll have my first anime film review ready for presentation. I have to put things in order with it first, otherwise I'd have had it up today. Comments: the real yojimbo I do the best I can and deliver the information as I become aware of it. We're similar that way, I don't like to see a point-by-point plot summary in a review, it's just supposed to be a little blurb. A Ten scale is also easier to guage the subtleties of the reviewer's evaluation process, and doesn't need half steps. The technical information is always great to have too. KanuckGrrl The links is up there. You'll notice in my review (not posted yet), I have one, maybe two sentences as the plot overview, that's all it's really supposed to be. The idea is not to spoil the whole film for the review consumers, the idea is to share an opinion of the overall impression of a movie, and let the reader decide to go see it on their own. Of course in the case with mine, it'll be a matter of getting the DVDs, because well, most anime films don't come out in theatres, and many are at least a couple years old. Technical information is always a good indicator of a serious evaluator, I learned that in theatre, but there should be room for a little editorial comment on the film as a whole too, because the ewmotive impact of a film is certainly something worth communicating to the audience. Angel Slayer: Good luck with that, 30 minutes to memorize a speech (whatever happened to notecards?) is brutal. Kiki-tink Yeah, and the real twist with all this is, Jeff's gone and done the very things he was so critical of others doing. Talk about a hypocrite, that's the definition right there. death alchemist03 And I saw someone else actually mention the digging one's own grave sentiment in one of the comments, so that seems to be a growing opinion. Since I don't really go out to the movies all that often, I rarely pay attention to reviews myself, that's why this whole project is difficult for me. Because I don't know what I'm really doing. timechaser Well, I did the homework on Copyright, and there's good news on that front. If sketchrob were to register the copyright on that artwork before March 20 (that's the 3 month anniversary of date of publication), then, not only would the courts consider that Prima Facie evidence of the copyrights validity, but it would also mean that statutory damages and attorney's fees would be available in court actions. I asked if anyone was looking into possible fraud charges against this guy in a comment, but no one's answered, so maybe that means they are. Technically though AnimeFF didn't falsely represent themselves as a charity. The Susan G. Komen Foundation does in fact exist(Note it's also listed as the Susan B. Komen foundation on some websites). AnimeFF's mission statement was that they were going to donate the proceeds from the cons (there were supposed to be more than one) to that foundation, they had the lofty goal of $250,000 if I recall the their no longer functioning website correctly. I'm going to look into the fraud and false representation angles as best I can over the internet, just to see how this thing can play out. It also explains why he (Jeff) hasn't turned up to sue anyone he may have threatened either, because if he did come out hiding, he just might have to face criminal charges. I'm not too fond of plot spoilers in reviews either. I've said it already once today, but I think a plot overview should be only one or sentences, that's an overview. Anything more detailed is usually too much. I think in terms of numbering, I prefer the 1-10 with no half steps (you don't really need a _.5 if you got from 1-10) myself, because that gauges the revviewer's process as much as it does the movie. And having a feel for how the reviewer rates things is a good thing sometimes. I just got finished listening to it, you do want to hear it. Thanks for the compliment, I took all those photos myself, can't get a night shot like that anymore, they put a big old spotlight on the statue, bah, I like the gold look. You were born in 81? That's neat too. beyblader It (this AnimeFF, Jeff Borncamp thing) is a nasty quagmire of greed, filth, and corruption, and feel free to quote me on that. I'll keep the information coming because I hate to go back on a promise. Music Review is outside my realm of expertise. Generally with music, you like it or you don't no matter what other people say about it. I like the oldies, Culture Club, and Barry Manilow, things some people have ridiculed me for, but it's good music to these ears. Duly noted. I haven't seen that movie yet, so I can't say anything about it specifically, but Critics are usually unkind to good movies, and they find the most ridiculous stuff to call the best sometimes (Titanic, anyone?). At least they got it right with Grave of the Fireflies. BASH It's getting to be nuts, and I don't mean the good, silly nuts either. I'm glad to keep the info coming. There's nothing like facing a situtation and not knowing what's going on with it. Some people like more details with the plot, that's what's neat about the review process. All the different types of reviews to read and see. I don't like those details because if I knew them ahead of time for some of the films I've watched, I probably wouldn't have watched them, and missed great works as a result. Shireishou I don't think so, I don't go out of my way to read film reviews from other countries myself. A lot of reviewers do talk over their audience with big words, and that defeats the purpose of the review process in my opinion. Yeah, a rating system without a set of objective criteria is nothing more than a number really, it doesn's say much. Animé Dreams!

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Friday, February 9, 2007

Podcasts and Movie Reviews

Here is another piece of the puzzle, it doesn't really cover much, but it should be read to keep things in perspective. (link posted on theOtaku.com. On top of that, Adam posted some more information that'll probably make you react like I did with the "Is this guy for real or did he go out of his way to dig his own grave?" question. There's a bit of a quagmire with the news bit on the con's logo being one of the contest entries used without permission. I'll get the bits of Title 17 of the US Code, and the US Copyright office's statement on registering works for copyright up here, so you can see what I mean when I say, it's a really mess to bring copyright infringement into the fray. On a related note, Adam will be heard in the next edition of the Anime Pulse podcast, I'll listen to it when it's up and go from there. Some questions for you all: What do you look for in a movie review? Is there a particular area you like to see featured? Do you like to see plot summaries, or do you just want information about the film on a technical level? And which type of rating systems do you prefer? A number based system ( 1-3, 1-5, or 1-10), with or without half steps, a graphical system of up to 3 or 5 symbols (usually stars), with or without half step increments? There's a reason I ask these questions, you'll understand more fully why I'm asking them later. Comments: Magnus Lensherr Wave those banners high, and stretch them far. Don't take my statements as serious legal insight, I'm not a lawyer, I don't play one on TV, and I have nothing by way of legal training. The possibility of a lawsuit is very real, but if the guy's character really is as questionable as it seems from all the infomrmation available, he's better off hiding away somewhere and not raising too much fuss, because he would have to come out of hiding to plead his case, which would not be smart for him. At any rate, he'd be stupid to come forward especially if there's a likelyhood he can be charged with fraud, which, as I mentioned earlier, I'm looking into. We had snow like that twice since I lived here, most other years we hardly had snow at all. The 3 inch range is normal for this area, so we're on track. I just hope we don't get slammed in March again, that was when we got the eighteen inches of snow the one year. Kiki-tink It's ironic that he himself said in a newsgroup post “As the old business adage goes . "Make 1 customer happy and he might tell 1 friend. Make 1 customer angry and he will tell everyone who will listen".” If Karma is indeed real, he'll get what's coming to him, history has always looked unkindly upon hypocrites. It's a neat little thing to play with, though it don't always export the PNG files cleanly, it's still a lot of fun. the real yojimbo You're one of a few readers here who keeps up with the main page. I post the links to keep the promise I made to inform my readers of what was going on with Tour for the Cure, AnimeFF and that whole thing. I made the promise when no one was talking about the con, and I intend to keep it til lthe whole thing is settled. Mine struggles with it more than a little too, but if you can get it to work, it's a fun little diversion. Yensid: Nice to see you stopping by, even if it's just for a moment. Those articles are things every member of MyO should read, but take your time with them, they go down like bad egg salad sandwich, slimey, disgusting, and brutal on the stomach. That is if you take them all in too fast. 60° sounds wonderful to me right now. It's been in the teens/low twenties the past few days (single digits at night). Give me the rain too, I'll take it. I love the rain, there's just something serene about a gentle rain that's hypnotically calming to my nerves. beyblader Yeah, it's deep stuff. Credit where it's due I always say, even though it takes me a while to give it sometimes. Animé Dreams!

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Thursday, February 8, 2007

Generic Newpaper Type Headline Here

As promised, continuing coverage of the AnimeFF story. Tonight's featured news bit from the main page at theotaku.com, Investigation 03: Jeffrey Borncamp. From reading his own words in the linked newsgroup posting, I have to say he's quite a character, but who am I to judge, right? Now for the obligatory stuff I neglect every time I post an image. Credit for the M&M "eye candy" pictures goes to M&M Planet's Character Creator, located here. It's an "all flash" site, so if your computer has issues with flash, browser beware. And as always all my images are hosted by Photobucket. Any image editing that needed done was performed with Pixia. Comments: Magnus Lensherr One expects that kind of thing to happen in a blockbuster movie, the set-up is perfect for that, but when it happens in reality, it's unsettling. Adam's got solid facts, Jeffrey Borncamp, though, well he's still hiding somewhere. Legal action may not be smart for him, because he'd have to come out in the open again. It looks like a lot, but it's only, well, probably in the three to four inch range, it's not that deep. To get an accurate forecast in my area, you have to half or double the amount they predict. They predicted one to two inches, we got three to four, if it had gone the other way we'd have a dusting or about half an inch. The one year (1995, I think) they started with a base prediction of 6 inches, then when the snow didn't stop, kept saying one to two more inches, we ended up with 18. Now you know why I don't think three to four inches is deep. If those temps you gave me are Celcius, that's cold. We got a little ceramic heater in the cubbord under the sink now, so those pipes won't be cooling off again any time soon. If you've got metal pipes and a hair dryer, you've got nothing to worry about, put that sucker on high and blow hot air over the pipes till they thaw. I use a heat gun on plastic pipes, not recommended, and certain precautions have to be taken so the pipes don't melt. Kiki-tink I hope it warms up too. Nothing like clearing snow off the walk in 15°F weather. I'm happy the camera didn't choke on the shot, it hates night shots, but it took that one which looks absolutely stunning. Yeah, I thought the eye candy thing was funny. BASH I promised I'ed keep you all informed, since many of you don't get over to the main page to see it first hand, and I intend to do that till the whole thing is over. I love the snow too, it makes having cold weather so worth it. The pipes will be all right, heaters an insulation are in place. I like the way the shot turned out, and yeah, I do better landscape work than just about anything else. I wish I could get out to the tunnels on the rail trail and shoot them in the snow, those would be breathtaking. sikaurai That's right you're further north so when it's cold here, it's the icy opposite of Perdition up there. Try to stay warm up there, and maybe have a snowball fight too, those are always fun. death alchemist03 There's not a lot of controversy, but there are a lot of very irate people, all focusing it in one direction, which has to say something. I hope things settle down soon too, Adam needs to put his attentions to other things, and having to deal with this for too long won't be a good thing. I'm glad to be back, I kind of missed posting here. scorchbird12: I'm not really sure what to suggest. I know clicking on the ad banners on site will boost the revenu of the site, which will help out a little. Other than that I'm on the same level, I don't really know how to help the cause besides doing what I'm doing and keeping you all informed about the situation. Yeah, it got cold here. It wouldn't be so bad if the wind chill didn't put temps into the negative range. I'll keep as warm as I can till the spring. All right, I'll admit that was a bad joke, but I thought it was funny at the time. the real yojimbo Chalk that up to my twisted sense of humor, and too much rum in my Strawberry Daquiri. Really, that cold huh? I can't stand the cold normally, but I'm all right with it now because of the snow. It usually warms up here around late February early March. If I can get some pictures around the neighborhood of the Tulips and Daffodils blooming, I'll post them. That's one thing I like about the springtime, the flowers come out and things look absolutely wonderful. Animé Dreams!

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