Luna and Battle-Cat are dating
Quote of the day, from websnark.com: “We watch He-Man, Sailor Moon, and other magical girl shows for the stock footage and the monster smiting.”
Now I will have Shojo Universe Master He-Man running around in my head all day. “Greyskull Power Sword Transform!!”
Things I am thankful for today: The alarm clock did not wake me from the midst of a dream, so my head actually made it into second gear by the time I had to drive a car. My body kept trying to slip back into reverse, though. Also, it is sunny today and going to be 70 degrees. I need that right now.
Quick review of the Duran Duran concert from the 8th, before I let it slip any further: That was one excellent evening, and I can’t thank stephaniesmom enough for giving me her extra ticket. It was absolutely worth leaving Fairfax at midnight to drive home. They performed every 80’s song I liked, not just the hits, and some of it was interestingly remixed a bit for live performance. We even had pretty good seats! The only downside was that my ears were quickly overloaded by the concert speakers, as usual, so it was a lot easier for me to follow the lyrics of the familiar 80’s material than the newer stuff. And boy, was I tired by the time I got home!
Wednesday afternoon ponder
70 degrees and sunny outside today when I can’t go out and enjoy it for a couple hours, and it’ll be 45 again this weekend when I can. Poo. At least I’ll be back in western Virginia and might be able to catch up with some people.
The iPod is so nice. I’d forgotten how good that really-loud on-demand Jean-Michael Jarre could be for my moods.
Robotech.com mentions this week that there will be a Robotech CCG this summer, and that Robotech: Shadow Chronicles is in pre-production as we speak. Yeah… I will believe in them both when I see them, and wait the same period before I trust in the quality of either. The CCG especially – designing an entertaining CCG with staying power isn’t the cakewalk a lot of companies think – and they take a *lot* of money to support.
I haven’t been real focused the last week or so, and haven’t gotten many things done that I’d hoped to. Have to reign myself in on that.
Switching to Fighter mode
There’s a cross-platform flight simulator called X-Plane which is quite competitive with the well known MS Flight Simulator. It’s extensively modifiable, playable over networks, and has an amazing amount of third-party material available.
Today I found the VF-1 Valkyrie file! Custom cockpit, swing wings, and even details like gear doors and vectored nozzles operating perfectly. It doesn’t transform, but that would be asking a lot. And you can even fly it over the deserts of Mars! There’s a nice movie of the fighter running in X-Plane too.
There’s also files for the Space Shuttle, the Marine Dropship from Aliens, and somewhere (haven’t found a link yet) Thunderbirds 2 and 3.
Foamy Flash A-Kon
A little bit of Flash video, where Foamy the Squirrel of Ill Will Press opens the recent A-Kon 15 anime con.
(Parts of this may offend some folks. I think that’s what the animator was going for.)
The visible parts of the letters read *what*?
Discovered last night the hard way that certain fansubs are built on computer to be viewed on computer – in other words, the subtitlers added the dialogue to the very bottom of the video image, an area which doesn’t completely display on many tube-type TV sets. Growl.
The most noticeable downside of this new job is that I have plenty to do simply keeping people’s computers running, and am not involved in the game creation process at all. The conversations I hear while doing yet another re-install sound so interesting, too! But then, I probably get paid more than the entry-level creative people. Oh well.
Downtown Norfolk is quite toasty today – at least the second floor air-conditioning is finally up to snuff this afternoon.
Downloadable music and costume changes
The iTunes Music Store is evil, especially their offerings of import albums unreleased in the US (or at least unobtainable in Roanoke). Authors such as Shonen Knife and Jean-Michel Jarre, to pick two *completely random* examples.
I’ve known for a few months that they made a live-action Sailor Moon series. I’ve seen an episode or two, and it’s entertaining if you have the odd brain structure necessary to be entertained by such things. (Yes, I do.) Now I’ve found out there’s a live-action Cutey Honey series being shot, and I have to wonder if they kept in the half-second of nudity when she summons a new costume. (“Honey Flash!” being both a battle cry and a cross-language pun.)
On a loopy Tuesday
I remember all the summers I spend, back in my school days, sitting around the house and reading because I had no friends to go anywhere or do anything with. Today, for the third time in the last few days, I’ve been invited to something I can’t do because I have a prior social commitment. My modern social life is an improvement over sitting around, but I sure hate to miss some of these parties.
Thought of meiran Friday night – we were in Best Buy (I was checking out the shiny new Macintosh retail goodness) and I saw an English version of the “Read or Die” anime in the DVD section. Might have to rent that eventually.
So: 1) I picked up some virus or something which knocked me flat on Thursday… 2) was still feeling kinda sick Friday, but went out in the evening with raininva and enjoyed her company… 3) still had a cough and some weakness Saturday, but we drove down to South Carolina to see some friends, and stayed up all night gaming… 4) still coughing and a little off Sunday, but I walked all over an amusement park in 90 degree weather and 95% humidity, and rode a few rides – then got drenched to the skin by a sudden downpour, and stayed up late attending a Weird Al concert… 5) got up way too early Monday to drive 5 hours from S.C. right into work… 6) got up way too early this morning to drop Rain off for work, then headed in for my weekly 13-hour shift. This all adds up to 7) if I can still stand up by the time I get home tonight, it will be a minor miracle.
Plot a course, Mr. Arex
Today was video day… finally watched the Miyazaki DVD raininva purchased for me, “Spirited Away” – very good, much superior to “Princess Mononoke” in my opinion. Not sure if I like it better than “My Neighbor Totoro” or “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. but it was a good way to spend two hours.
Also, I acquired all the episodes of the Star Trek animated series, so I was treating myself to some good mid-seventies flashbacks. That show was definitely ahead of its time – weak animation and writing compared to much modern anime, but compared to the Saturday morning cartoons it was aired against, it was solid stuff. Besides, animation can do much wilder aliens than all the latex forehead bumps in Hollywood.
I even got some dishes and laundry done, so I’m all productive and stuff today.
Go Me
Once I take care of a remaining piece or two of WizKids paperwork, I’ll be approved to carry a loadout of 12 tons of armor, a particle cannon, 6 lasers, two machine guns, and a six-missile launching rack. However, I may not be allowed to appear in public thanks to the lawsuit over Dougram/Macross images.
My first poll
While assembling my new Chobits “Chii” figurine for my monitor top, I realized that the figure can be assembled without her skirt, leaving her standing underneath an umbrella in the rain in just her sailor shirt and panties. With a pleased look on her face, for that matter. With that in mind, here’s a poll:
