Mosiac Image Generator

From time to time you stumble on something cool on the web... today it's Wil Wheaton's blog from a day or two ago: here.

Here's my mosiac using the 249 (as of tonight) photos in the database:
Add your own today! ^_^;

Boxing Day Haul

Quick post more to do with the excitment of discovering a new game than the actual shopping (although that was cool too). I gave my brother a bunch of Star Wars Miniatures "Starship Battles" for his non-denominational annual year-end gift (aka a X'mas present in some circles). Yes, I was going a little nuts with the spending, but in my view, it was kind of half for myself anyway since... well, it takes 2 to play anyway. And did we play - I think we squeezed in 3 games as of today. And the great thing is, since it's a relatively newly launched game, there aren't that many rules to worry about (and even less errata published so far).

Ref. the following:
about clone strike

My brother and I hit the local gaming shop this year as we do every year for our Boxing Day ritual and found that the store was able to get in a case of the old Clone Strike expansion. My brother bought a few boxes. Found a few cool characters including Yoda, young Anakin, and a couple of Jedi who appeared in Episodes 2 and 3 of the films.

But the big "best buy" this year was a case of the "Bounty Hunters" expansion set. The store owner, who is on a first name basis with my brother, pointed out that he had cases to liquidate... and since I was ready to buy 2 or 3 at $20 apiece anyway, it was a no-brainer at only $80 a case (that's like getting 2 boxes free). My brother and I split the cost (sort of, but I'm not counting - it's the holiday season after all).

Finally, I also grabbed a new Warhammer tank model to add to my alien army. It's been something I've been putting off forever. And I think I've reached a point in my WH40K hobby where I'm just collecting the army models just for completeness since I've grown weary of experimenting with failure-inducing army construction... "stick with what you know" is my motto these days.

SF: Later Years 3

Collegehumour.com posted the newest video in their series!! Here it is (click the white space below):



If you missed them, here are the previous chapters.

I'm Power Girl Dammit!!!

Blinky's been busy - anybody remember that Powergirl fan-film I posted a while back? Yes, BlinkyTV has shot a sequel...

Don't forget to check out all the other neat-o stuff he's been up to as well!

Transformers Teaser 2

Depending on how you look at it, this is actually "teaser 1" because well... the first teaser that was released earlier this year didn't really have anything to do with anything...

Anyway - Yahoo Movies has it HERE. So check it out.

I'm not particularly excited - still no action footage but well... kinda neat. We'll see. The full trailer ought to do more for me to get me excited.

little gems in JLU

This isn't a review in the strictest sense, but I should mention that I'm loving the boxed set DVD for Justice League Unlimited. The packaging says "season one" on it, but it's actually the third season of the long-running "Justice League" show that started 2001 (after it underwent a slight reformatting and a title change). In fact, depending on who you ask, this box contains either just 1 season of 26 episodes, or 2 seasons of 13 episodes.

One thing I especially like about it is that it strikes a particular balance with its light-hearted moments such as in the Mr.Miracle episode... The show reintroduces the Flash after a very conspicuous absence in the early episodes. He's confiding with Elogated Man about how "they still treat[him] like their teenaged sidekick!" (this is, BTW, a nod to Wally West's history as Kid Flash back in the 70's). "Do you think I'm immature?"


Camera zooms out to reveal......that The Flash and Elogated Man have been engaged in Rock'em Sock'em Robots the whole time! "Not a bit," says Elogated Man. ^_^;

Wallpaper: "World's Finest"

A couple of years ago DC revisited the "World's Finest" concept by launching a new semi-stand-alone title teaming up their two biggest icons. The book didn't even have a name and featured the Superman logo surrounded by the Batman logo... officially tho, it was called "Superman Batman" - I still like to call it "World's Finest."
After I started to let Superman Returns grow on me (and Batman Begins didn't need any such probationary period) I, like a million other fanboys out there) starting dreaming about a team-up with the latest movie interpretations of these icons. So here's my take on the "World's Finest" logo. Yeah yeah, I just threw it together real quick. Just a thought.

reaction: DOA movie

Yes, it's out. No, it's not available in North America. But it is all over the web if you know where to look for it.

Lower your expectations and you'll be just fine. They weren't kidding when they said they were going for "Charlie's Angels." It's a billed as an "action-comedy" (which sadly also means the supporting cast were much more entertaining than the starring B-list cast giving C-list performances)... Seriously, some of this dialogue belongs in an episode of Power Rangers.

Watch it for the eye-candy, don't watch it because you're a hardcore DOA video game fan.

Better than: Street Fighter starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
Not as good as: Mortal Kombat starring Robin Shou (who happens to have a cameo appearance in this movie)
More accurate adaptation of a game than: Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hoskins.

Happy 8 Auditions End!!

It's official - the 8th generation of Morning Musume will be Mitsui Aika (I've been rooting for her since the beginning). I don't know if it was her braces making her face like that, but she had the cutest smile of the 8 finalists...

Anyway, here's the Sanspo News site's article (if you can read Japanese)

And the fan-sites are already popping up. They posted a clip from the weekly Hello!Morning show showing when the winner was announced and the rest of Morning Musume's reactions. They must've just finished filming an "Aruiteru" performance because they're in their goofy "marching" costumes and hats.

Anyway, a hearty good luck and "gan-ba-te" to Aika!!

life-sized Lego dark lord of the sith

Just thought I'd post this since I had my USB cable on the phone handy...
This is a pic I snapped at the mall this weekend. And yes, it appears to be made entirely out of actual Lego bricks. Not the most accurate shapes in the world, but then who's checking (except me?). It's just cool.
It kinda looks like it was originally intended to be prize for a draw (that box thing next to it had what looked like an empty slot for tickets or something).

Chrysanthemum: Instant

I'll be honest with you up front... I'm not particularly experienced with traditional Chinese drinks. I like them enough but don't ask me for advice - I'm no medicine man. But I have been told by those wiser than myself that chrysanthemum tea is supposed to be good for me and has anti-biotic properties. Is this true? I don't know... but it does soothe my sore throat in the winter time. At least, this instant variety does.

Presented in a typical silvery foil packet, this is a single serve product that makes a decent sized mug of warm tea (although, it would also have you believe that you could serve it cold). Logic would dictate however, that hot water desolves any drink mix better than cold water would.

The content of the foil packet is sweetly scented; so far so good – the ingredients seem rather straight-forward. It listed simply chrysanthemum then sugar and honey. And yes, it does smell very real. But like I said before: I'm not big on genuine Chinese herbal drinks so I'd be hard pressed to tell you if that's really chrysanthemum extract I'm drinking.

It's enough to say that I'll take their word for it. It does taste and smell like a sweet flowered tea (a little bit like jasmine). In any case, I can't get over how good it feels. I have a feeling this'll easily replace my taste for hot chocolate on a cold day.

Maid-Cafe - I'm almost ashamed

I never thought I'd live to see something as tacky as this (and yes, its ranks up there and even surpasses the whole Hooters concept).

http://www.imaidcafe.com/

I never thought I'd see the day when somebody would have the nerve to build one these in the middle of uptown Toronto (Markham to be specific). I'd go, but... then I'd feel like an even bigger loser than I already am.

about clone strike

I still haven't been back to a comics shop since last week (I will go to a different one tonight on the way home). But if you read these two posts I found floating in the ether, you can sort of put two and two together...

http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=20989
In this post the guy says there was some f*ck up with the European branch of WotC - seems the general rule is you never reissue an out-of-print expansion, but then nobody stopped WotC Europe from doing it. This was back in April.

http://holonet.swrpgnetwork.com/showthread.php?threadid=234048
Then in this thread, somebody else in North America (besides myself) claims his local comics shop tells him there's a full-on reissue happening. If you ask me, I suspect WotC turned around and tried to cover up the mistake from WotC Europe and make the reissue an official release...

Personally, I feel the secondary market for these things is ridiculous. Some times it feels like I'm the only one who actually PLAYS with my Minis - which makes reading material like the "Ultimate Missions" supplements very frustrating when they make reference to playing pieces that I not only have but are also going for $50 on eBay apiece.

Street Fighter-The Later Years

Floating around the Internet is a bunch of stuff produced by amateur film-makers... Watch and laugh at the nostalgia:

Click the white space below this line...


Then click the white space below this line too...

Essence of Chicken - is it soup?

I just took a swig of the what could be the weirdest Asian product I've EVER tried. Apparently it's "perfect for gift giving" if one were to believe what my mother tells me (and in fact, the bottles she gave me to try were regifted from my Japanese aunt)... if anything this is not just a Chinese thing then.

The packaging would have you know that this is all-natural and is made of the best quality chicken ever (KFC, this is NOT). This "essence of chicken" come in a small bottle of only a few of ounces - just as well as they also mention that once opened, it stays fresh in your refrigerator for only 24 hours or so.

One cool thing tho is that the stuff comes in a pretty snazzy unresealable container. It's glass but instead of a twist off cap, it's a metal ring that holds a seal in place - then you use the ring itself to give yourself leverage to pull off the cap. Weird.

Anyway, as for the drink itself... it taste exactly like what you'd think something called "essence of chicken" might taste like: sort of like an unseasoned chicken soup... I'm told they sort of boil chicken - bones and all until all the solids are completely liquified. Well, that sounds just about like making a soup to me. The only thing particularly strange is that this particular brand (called "Brand's" by the way; kind of the reverse of NoName brand, don't you think?) also added lingzhi... which, if you'd believe a Chinese medicine man, would pretty much infuse you with invulnerability or perhaps even render you immortal or something. Unfortunately, it also gives the concoction a bitter taste (like every herbal additive). Just as well, I didn't drink the whole thing and I'll polish it off tomorrow.

Maybe Super Mario was onto something after all, what with all those Mushroom power-ups. I don't recall him ever boiling whole chickens before in the games though.

Reaction: Wonderful Hearts Land

Well there it is - I missed the initial pre-order on this ...er... tourbook? Photobook? I dunno. I'd compare it to a souvenir program you'd get at a fancy play - only much thicker and ridiculously expensive. It was backordered here and didn't even ship out until 3 weeks after I'd placed my order! And after all that waiting, I still wasn't 100% sure what it was I had just ordered.

The first treat I was pleasantly surprised with was a couple of neatly folded posters tucked into the front cover:

And here's a look at a typical set of pages. As you can see, beside a bunch of different shots of the Morning Musume members, each member also had a set of pages devoted to them. Starting with a studio shot of them in costume from the opening number (some kind of pseudo country-western theme), then pages with smaller shots of the actual performance (including the occasional candids from rehearsals), and finally another studio shot on their other major costume from the Morning Musume segment of the show.

That would be Gaki-san, if you recall her back in DOM5

There was one thing that surprised me about the book. Wonderful Hearts referred to a small subset of Hello!Project acts (the younger ones) during the 2006 touring season. In fact, although they did headline the concert, Morning Musume was only one of the acts appearing at the summer concert tour entitled Wonderful Hearts Land. This book however features only Morning Musume. And depending on your point of view, is both a good and a bad thing.
First of all, I really don't have much interest in seeing photos of the "munchkins" that make up the kid groups like Berry'z Koubo or C'ute. However, I'm still very much taken by Ishikawa Rika who, as a member of Vi-yu-den, also makes an appearance in the concert... and is sadly relagated to only a few behind-the-scenes shots in this book.

Still, it's one of those treats for my personal guilty pleasure. Take the concert at face value - we're talking tons of lip-synching going on. Lots of "we're Japanese so we suffer together and fans want to see us crying over Konkon's graduation speech." But hey, that's all part of the Musume experience, right? LOL! ^_^;;

DVD: Superman Returns

Just thought I'd post this since it does have something to do with anything:
The Futureshop site is just damn confusing (and wrong). For those of you still wondering, the item listed here is actually the two disc set.

The reason I'm sort of peeved at the confusion is that Futureshop Canada had also done an exclusive deal for X-Men The Last Stand with a similar metal case... designed for 2 discs... even though Fox never put out a 2-Disc set. Yeah, looks kinda dumb when you open up the case and find that empty slot for a non-existent second disc.

Oh, and by the way, yes, BestBuy Canada also has an exclusive release - they also have snazzy packaging but with a bonus 64-page booklet. But it also costs a few bucks more. I happened to like the metal case better at Futureshop.

Of course, for those of you interested in the super-duper boxed set with this movie and all the Christopher Reeve films also... well, all of the above is a moot point. Thanks for bearing with me. But anyway, I highly encourage you to grab the 2-disc version because there is indeed a single-disc release floating around out there that's a little cheaper but also very barebones with no features at all. Naturally, your mileage may vary so be sure to shop around. The steel-case 2-disc set was only $6 more than the single-disc regular version, for instance.

And as for the film? Well... my initial reaction here. Six months later... well, I've learned to go with the flow, so to speak. One thing that hasn't changed? Heh - that denouement sure seems to last forever... The epilogue reaches nearly "Return of the King" proportions.

The Happy 8 Audition finalists!!

I'm a day late but here you go...

http://ikimasshoi.jphip.net/index.php/?p=724

Ikimasshoi News has posted a round-up on the 6 finalists in the running for the 8th generation to join Morning Musume!

It's odd that the screen-caps posts are a little misleading - you really don't get a feel for the girls unless you go see their clips posted on Youtube. But a little training and they could all be great. The youngest one, Satou Sumire, however, could use a dose of valium... ^_^;

Reactions: comics round-up

Alright, have a bit of time on my hands today so I decided to get caught up on those new issues I picked up yesterday... Admittedly I'm sort of on a high right now because I just put down a really great issue of Wonder Woman (yes, it was worth waiting for)... so my mood is pretty good right now - the other titles ought to be thankful!

First up is the newest release of Ghost in the Shell in English. Old-hats like myself is remember fondly how confusing Shirow Masamune's masterpiece cyber-punk thriller was the first time they read it. Well, time has aged me and for the most part, I look at Shirow's narrative a little differently now. Either that or Frederick L Shodt's translations have become much smoother. The foot-notes are much quicker to digest than before (and funnier too). The artwork unfortunately seems to be frozen in time and has not evolved - I blame that on the actual time of production tho. These are "lost chapters" published many moons ago in its native Japan. I'm loving it though. It's an all-new story and well, we've been waiting ages for material about Section 9's exploits.

What? You didn't think I forgot, did you? Supergirl sure too its sweet time getting its feet wet and finding itself. Trouble is, it was caught launching last year in the midst of the Infinite Crisis event and then blown sky high thanks to the wake of that event (it participated in the "One Year Later" deal where everything skipped forward in narrative. Worked for some DCU titles... didn't work so well for others. In this title we spent a lot of time fumbling around with what should've been a tie-in with the "Legion" title but never really addressed that. And then a couple of stand-alone issues (which for the most part have been excellent. This pulls a Tarantino-esque non-linear plot but ends up with with a wacky cliff-hanger. And everything was going swell up until that last page... *sigh* At least we got to see hot bodies in bathing suits. If nothing else, the cheesecake was alright (and is it just me or do I smell shades of Danger Girl in the designs?

Ah yes, the grand finale to volume 2 of the Fathom series. Y'know, it actually did it well. Plenty of closure. Not sure if it was worth the wait tho. After 11 issues, I never really warmed up to Turnbull's art. Say what you will about Turner's incorrect anatomy, but he did faces well. Turnbull's faces... not so much. I mean, he's alright, but he hasn't really captured the sensual lines that make up the characters who populate the Fathom universe. The plot... well, the bad guys got what was coming to them. And Aspen and her boyfriend go off to live happily ever after. Which is in itself a good thing because despite being predictable, at least, didn't piss me off in the end.

And finally, I get to the issue that prompted this post. Y'know, I haven't warmed up at all to this idea of a bi-monthly release schedule - it makes the series feel very disconnected. In fact, when I saw this cover on the stands, I almost didn't get it because I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the previous issues. But the saga continues as Diana debates over whether or not to retake the mantle of Wonder Woman from her protege, Donna Troy (currently moonlighting in the WW get-up). The story raises some very interesting soul-searching questions: what is the significance of the Wonder Woman, does mankind need a hero as such? And what about the person-on-the-street? Who is their champion in tough times? Do these people need a super-hero at all? The Dodsons provide a fantastic issue as always - Diana looks great even out of that crazy WW costume and in more conventional business attire. Plus we've got plenty of badguys and guest-stars. And then there's the villainous mastermind behind the attacks in the first few issues revealed. Oooh... the plot thickens. I'm loving it.

Sunday haul: procrastinating

Now that I'm in the 'burbs, heading into town for the old hauls isn't quite the same anymore. I used to be able to make a whole day of walking into downtown from my apartment. Now it's... different.

Here's a pic of one of the goodies I decided to grab tho. It's new school on the old school. Patlabor remains one of my all-time favourites and the design of the Ingram is something that will stick with me forever. So when I heard the latest "Revoltech" craze of tiny collectible figures with a revolutionary joint system for articulation was going to include some mecha from Patlabor, that was a $30 already spent. ^_^;
So far I'm loving it too considering how long ago it was that I built those MG class model kits (they had loads of moving parts like opening compartments and all, but hardly the same story). I hear the company behind these are also going to do a Type J9 Griffon mecha as well and perhaps a "unit 2" Ingram also. Sweet. Did I mention how affordable these are?

You might also notice the shiny new wireless router behind him in that photo. Grabbed that today too. Not to sound like a frickin' advert, but Staples is having a huge sale on netowrking hardware (don't know how much longer it'll last, today might've been the final day). At $55, the price was right for a 108Mbps wi-fi unit. Now I can sit in my "throne room" and surf the web using my PSP! Plus my brother doesn't have to hog my PC when he visits - he can just log into the router on his laptop.

And no haul list would be complete without a pile of comics to entertain myself with. Haven't read them all, but I'll be sure to mention these later on:
Ghost in the Shell 1.5 #1 - the "lost" chapters of the GitS saga - the story reads like an episode of the Stand Alone Complex series. I'm liking it so far. It's got me thinking I should dig out the GitS manga I collected a few years back and rereading those too.
Legion of SuperHeroes #24: I don't know where this series is going, and I'm actually considering dropping it if this Supergirl angle doesn't resolve itself soon. The questions have been dragging on too long, IMHO. Will blog this later.
Supergirl #11: yes, it's actually last week's issue but like I said, I haven't been to the shops in a while. Again, lots of unanswered questions and there's hardly any continuity between issues in this series... WTF is happening in the DCU?
Wonder Woman #3: ah - yes, where were we? Oh yeah, there was that appearance of the DCU's version of Hercules in the previous issue... 2 months ago. I'm not really liking this bi-monthly schedule. The series started out really promising but... geez, that was back in July!
Noble Causes #25: this series hasn't disappointed me in forever. Looking forward to reading this extra-large issue!
Fathom #11: suffered from Wonder Woman syndrome for a while... I don't even remember what was going on in issue #10. But I'm glad it's finally over. Also can't wait to read this one.

Anyway, sorry, but I STILL haven't taking photos of that Morning Musume book I talked about before... Sheesh, I suck.

Star Wars: something else forgotten

Hey y'know what I discovered tonight? My television was calibrated to THX standard! And that probably means neither is my computer monitor.

See, I was one of those folks who've been complaining that my 2004 boxed set of Star Wars had the weird "rectangle frames" over the TIE-fighters during the escape from the Death Star (you remember - the scene where Luke and Han sit in the turrets of the Millenium Falcon and shoot at the passing Imperial fighters). Yeah, that scene. If you're tv is too bright, you start to pick out this awkward "bright square" that trails along each frame with a TIE-Fighter craft. It's kinda hard to explain...

Anyway, I was goofing off with the different settings on my TV tonight on a whim switched over to the "Movie" setting. Then it occured to me that I should watch that scene and see if making the switch made any difference (see, the "Movie" setting is a preset with darker contrast and slightly sharper colours). As it turns out, the hidious squares suddenly disappeared. Huh - go figure... I'll never say I had "too many settings" about my hardware again.

Backlog of items to blog about

Several goodies at the new house I haven't had time to photograph/scan or otherwise log in to blog about.

1) Morning Musume's "Wonderful Hearts Land" tourbook. Got this photobook in the mail last week. My folks were here - didn't think to blog it at the time. Over a hundred pages of Japanese cuteness - both in studio and on stage. A few behind the scenes too!

2) Guitar Hero II for PS2. Got this on the long weekend after I got my environmental certifications on my car. Figured, if I wasn't going to have to spend money on repairs, I may as well have a little fun with the cash. I rock hard. ^_^;

3) Voltron Collection One. Not sure what they have in mind with making the packaging theme of the first collection as "Blue Lion" (or the 4th lion, if you know from what). But this is a really slick DVD set. Dolby surround effects are in full force (almost overwhelming) as Voltron was one of the first tv shows ever mixed in stereo. Video has been completely remastered and looks cleaner that it's original broadcast. Comes in a beautiful embossed tin case with a fold-out card sleeve of 3 discs. Lots of behind the scenes material too. Really amazing.

More details later!!

50 questions

ok - I lied, I'm not particularly productive on a Friday afternoon so I've filled out the meme instead of leaving it for the weekend...

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
"I look remarkably well considering the head-cold I'm suffering."

2. How much cash do you have on you?
a couple hundred ...it's kind of a long story (I don't normally carry this much).

3. What’s a word that rhymes with “DOOR?”
Al Gore

4. Favorite planet?
Earth ...I haven't to any others.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
My cousin.

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
The one I have right now (a Mandarin pop song).

7. What shirt are you wearing?
The free promo T-shirt that came with one of the Ghost in the Shell DVDs I bought last year.

8. Do you “label” yourself?
"geek"

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing?
Brooks (they're actually my running shoes; but I haven't had it in my to run lately).

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Bright, please.

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
I like to think we'd get along.

12. What does your watch look like?
One time, somebody asked if Batman wants his watch back. (It's an Oakley Detonator).

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
My brother was telling me what time he got home that day...

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
I dunno - it's not a common brand hereabouts - I think there's one on the main strip a 5km from here.

16. Whats a word that you say a lot?
"dunno"

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
My mommy.

18. Last furry thing you touched?
A friend's dog when it came up to sniff me.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
3, I think (coffee, Nyquil and Dayquil).

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
none - been digital for years now.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
I like to think 18 ...but right now's pretty good.

22. Your worst enemy?
Time.

23. What is your current desktop picture?
Ryu from Street Fighter II - I was on a "Udon Studios" kick for a little while after I met the artists in Toronto a couple of months ago.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"No trouble." (in French)

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
Flying is really tempting, but hardly practical in Canadian climate... so I'd go with the million.

26. Do you like someone?
Of course.

27. The last song you listened to?
A Japanese pop song from the 90's (but I don't remember which).

28. What time of day were you born?
Close to midnight, I think.

29. Whats your favorite number?
8 (and not because I'm Chinese).

30. Where did you live in 1987?
Sherbrooke Quebec.

31. Are you jealous of anyone?
From time to time.

32. Is anyone jealous of you?
If there is, I don't know about (and I wouldn't understand why, either).

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?
In my cubicle - most of us didn't even know what was going on until we got home and saw the non-stop television coverage.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
I curse myself for trusting my money to a mindless automaton.

35. Do you consider yourself kind?
I do.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be?
If I HAD to? Probably my shoulder - high enough that it could be hidden by a T-shirt sleeve.

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?
Japanese - so I could enjoy all those downloads I have without reading sub-titles, etc...

38. Would you move for the person you loved?
I'd like to think so... but it's kinda hard to say without actually being in such a position.

39. Are you touchy feely?
Not really - I had a bad experience with it in my youth.

40. What’s your life motto?
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
my glasses, my watch, underwear.

42. What’s your favourite town/city?
Right now it's Montreal - it's always exciting.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Last night's supper (I was lazy so I ate out).

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
I don't remember - years ago I wrote a letter to an old friend ...but I don't think I sent it by mail.

45. Can you change the oil on a car?
I like to think I can. I've topped out my motor oil and know how to check my dipstick and where the filter goes, I've just never had to do it myself before.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
Out of sight, out of mind. I don't remember what I last heard of this person.

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?
My grandfather was adopted ...but I do know my great-grandfather is buried at Mount Royal Cemetary in Montreal.

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
Starfish's wedding... I wore my favourite navy blue suit.

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
A constant itch in my nasal passage (I think it's an effect of that Dayquil I took).

50. Have you been burned by love?
I think so... but then... who hasn't?

Reaction: Captain Atom "Armageddon"

I have mixed feelings about Captain Atom: Armageddon, but not in the love-it-hate-it way I have with most collected editions. Rather than being disappointed that it read too episodic or feeling like I walked in on the middle of a grander adventure I could not understand (it's HAS been years since I was into Wildstorm comics), I spent more time curiously drawn forward in the story flipping through the pages to discover more and more of the WSU's vast cast of characters. And in most cases, that's a good thing. Publishers who engage in these cross-universe events have one ultimate agenda besides telling a cool story: they want to sell you more titles, and cross-over events allow readers of one product sample the other product making up a potential for future sales of that other product.

So what's the deal with Captain Atom?

Nathaniel Adam is a lesser-know second-string character inhabiting the DC Universe along-side top-tier powerhouses like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. He's a former soldier blasted forward through time from the 1950's (I could be wrong on this one) and encased in a invulnerable metal skin that contains his nuclear powers. Admittedly, he's actually a remake of another comic character from DC's purchase of Charlton Comics lock-stock-n-barrel in the 1970's.

What's the setup?

Having a personal crisis of faith, Captain Atom attempts to sacrifice his life in a Bruce Willis-esque mission to blow up a kryptonite meteor within the pages of the "Superman/Batman" comic... The meteor is destroyed sending fragments showering Earth with debris (but that's another story we're not concerned with). The point is that his quantum powers kicked in at the moment of his apparent death and sent him off again – but this time instead of jumping through time and space, through to an alternate universe. Thus begins Captain Atom's encounter with the ruthless and brutal cast of the Wildstorm Universe.

Quite honestly, I loved this book and read it almost in one sitting (I would've too except for the part where I had to go to bed and get up for work the next day). Characters were at once familiar and yet still new to me – all major players in the then-current WSU were lined up. In that I mean I was vaguely aware of the turmoil brewing in the WSU when it morphed from a series of X-Men styled super-heroes into the gritty style of relentless morally-questionable anti-heroes of the late 1990's... but I hadn't really been reading those comics (not since before "Stormwatch" became "The Authority." But I knew just enough to enjoy what was going on with those maniacs that Captain Atom was dealing with.

So where is the serious problem?

I suppose I won't be spoiling anything now, but up until now WSU continuity was pretty solid. It's not like Stormwatch changed into The Authority for absolutely no reason. WildCATs go from an underground team to a multinational corporation overnight... the comics had a logical evolution through the years of stories that were published. But now the plans were in the works for a new reboot. And this mini-series featuring Captain Atom finding himself trapped in said continuity (combined with Mister Majestic's recent adventure in the DCU and meeting Superman) was meant to be a springboard towards that reboot. So what's an event comic to do? Well, you can guess what that means to the status quo of the WSU by the end of the mini-series...

It's odd to know that I finally got around to reading a WSU title only to find that at the end of it all, none of what I was reading amounted to much because it would all be different by the time I got around to reading any new material coming out today. Now there's two ways of looking at that:

First, WSU got the raw deal... I will not likely ever get motivated now to ever go back and find collected editions of all the material that lead to final status of the WSU (heck it's been something like 10 years!).

Secondly, the complete opposite – by rebooting with such fanfare, new readers have a better chance of jumping on now than ever before. I admit that one of the factors that kept me from jumping back into WSU when I started reading comics regularly again in the early 2000's was the fact that the WSU looked nothing like I remembered it. It was around the time I dropped comics altogether in the late 1990's that a lot of the changes were occurring. I had tried to pick up WildCATs 3.0 but was lost withing the span of only a couple of issues... and the same happened with Stormwatch Team Achilles. Who were these folks? What had happened to my old favourites? The WSU was hardly recognizable anymore.

The final verdict?

The collected edition of Captain Atom Armageddon does its job rather well – you get to say goodbye to a continuity that took years to create and it does it with the most tragedy that could only come from knowing that the maniacs running around in the WSU (at the time) had all deserved their fates considering the way they handled themselves even right to the end when confronted by someone as traditionally pure as a DCU hero character.

memory fragment: heap

S'funny that the other month I was at Walmart (don't ask, my presence there is a shameful episode in my life), but I stopped in the video section to browse what had come out lately. Apparently "Droids" is now out on DVD... seems to be a complete set of the episodes too but I'm not sure.

I have a horrible memory sense for logical stories from things I watched as a kid. Sure I watched the A-Team but I barely remember anything when a co-worker buddy will say something like, "yeah, and remember they had to break Murdock out of the mental hospital before every mission?" And I'd say, "they did? Hmm..."

Well, I barely recall anything from Droids except that as a kid, I loved seeing Threepio and Artoo bumbling around the galaxy on their misadventures. Back then it was hi-class entertainment. I wonder how I'd react if I were to watch it now. I did not buy the DVD as my curiosity was just not that powerful.

All I do remember VERY vividly was a made-for-tv movie version of the series entitled "The Great Heap." I was so excited to learn of the hour-long extravaganza that I even taped it. Today all I can remember is the herald for the sentient trash-compactor creature announcing in a shaky squealy voice, "The Great Heap!"
I really don't remember anything else from this...

pocari sweat

I just wanted to quickly mention (in spite of my personal crisis of faith - as usual, check the other blog for my long-winded dissertation on the matter) that I finally downed the rest of my bottle of Pocari Sweat.

"Japanophiles" will recognize this funny-named sports drink. It's a white sodium-filled solution that came out in Japan around the same time as Gatorade became popular (let's say 1980s) - and was quite possibly the first ever entry on Engrish.com - a more serious article on it is found at Wikipedia.org as usual.

What did I think? Like all Japanese foods, it rapidly turned my stomache at first. I remember my first time having a plate of chicken terriyaki on rice and the sauce was so light it felt as though it slid down into my belly and wanted to float its way back up. It was a weird feeling. Of course, I grew to like it. And I think I'll grow to like Pocari Sweat too... but come on, with Gatorade readily available when I go for a run outside, as if I'm going to go out of my way to purchase a bottle of Pocari Sweat (probably a Taiwanese distribution at that; like I'll actually ever find an authentic Japanese edition bottle).

And on top of that, a large glass of orange Gatorade doesn't make my insides feel like they want to do somersaults either. That's really too bad because I really wanted to like this drink right off the bat.

On recutting a CD

It's funny that from time to time I dig out a CD that I didn't even realize I had (that is, I never even listened to it in its entirety after I got it). This goes for the first soundtrack to the Ghost in the Shell TV series.

But it's not for lack of trying. I got this CD as a pack-in bonus when I bought the DTS edition of the first volume of Stand Alone Complex a couple of years ago. But you know, this is the only audio CD I have ever seen in my life that was this badly authored. Go to the bottom of the review at AnimeOnDVD to see what I'm talking about! I mean, tracks are cut at the wrong place! What the heck? I don't know about the guy who wrote the review (he doesn't mention this) but on my pressing, there's actually an extra 19th track of nothing but 38 seconds of silence. And yes, I checked it using a sound editing program - it's silence, not a track with an extremely low volume or something hidden at the very end.

Anyway, while packing up discs, I came across this disc and decided it was time I finally ripped it to MP3 and editted it. I recut the tracks into their proper lengths and merged the track that was mistakenly split into two parts. I'm just wondering if anybody besides me and the guy at the review place has seen this particular disc. I mean, for the record, he's in the USA and I'm Canadian - was it the whole batch? Was it pure luck that we both got these error-pressings? Perhaps it's only the pressing that was produced to be packed in the DVDs and the regular editions sold seperately were okay?

Score! Piranha Team found!

Alright, if you're one of the few diligent readers who've kept up with both of my major blogs, you'd know that now's probably not the best time I should be thinking of grabbing new kits to build (buying a house and getting ready to move has something to do with thinking that way). But well, being back home for the weekend and just relaxing with my brother, we hit the local hobby store with nothing in particular on our minds but to see what was around... And I had it in the back of my head to get one of these if I saw one:

Allow me to introduce the Tau Empire's newest addition to their arsenal, the "Piranha." It's a Fast-Attack category unit intended for hit-and-run tactics (the model shown here is equipped with a fusion cannon for quick shots at heavily armoured opponents like vehicles).

But before I get into exactly what happened to me this weekend, a little history:
I learned something earlier this year. Turns out that when new stuff comes out for a particular army type, Games Workshop does something special for the hardcore early adopters. They will pick one of the new models and package them as "teams" in very limited quantities. I didn't know this when the Tau (my army of choice) had their big new-release this year... I passed on what I later found out was a limited edition package-deal for 3 Piranha models at a retail value equivalent to "3 for the price of 2."

Naturally, it's been a sore point for me ever since I discovered that. But this weekend, I don't know where it came from, but that local shop just happened to have one more box on the shelf, nearly half a year since they should've been sold out. "That's a no-brainer," my brother remarked. With single-model boxes selling at $36 and this 3-pack marked $63, I was inclined to agree.

You know, tho, the one downside to buying this 3-pack? I got bored fairly quickly. I tried to make it interesting by pretending I was in an assembly line and putting together all 3 hulls before moving onto other components in the instruction manual. But not matter what, the fact is, I'm still building 3 of the same damn thing. But hey, what a great deal it was.

Warning: Feed all wacky

I just thought I'd mention that there's been something weird going on. If you read my other blogs or have seen me on a BBS, you may have noticed that I use Feedburner to advertise this blog. One of Feedburner's options is to generate an animated GIF with all the headlines of an existing RSS feed (in the case of Blogger, that would be an ATOM XML you can turn on and off in your control panel). Anyway, I just noticed that my graphic on other sights has been showing weird headlines from all over my blog (some of those articles are over a year old!).

I've finally figured out what's happening: Everytime I go back to edit an older article (like adding a "Label" or something) it counts as "republishing" the article. That means the feed picks it up as though it were newly published and it gets a new date of publication.

Just thought I'd warn my fellow bloggers out there who also switched to Blogger Beta.

A long meme

This one's a long one - stolen from Hemlock...

1. My roommate and I once: I've never had roomies unless you count times I bunked with people on trips… even those instances were dreadfully uneventful.
2. Never in my life have I: wanted anything but LOVE! :)
3. The one person who can drive me nuts, but then can always manage to make me smile is: I have bipolar relationships - I either hate people or I like them.
4. High school was: Awful. Simply awful.
5. When I'm nervous: My mouth goes dry.
6. The last time I cried was: It could've been yesterday but I held it. It was actually last month when my folks' visit came to an end and left on a Sunday afternoon.
7. If I were to get married right now, my bridesmaids/groomsmen would be: Definitely EvilTwin and JET… probably Starfish …maybe my brother.
8. Would you rather run naked through a crowded place or have someone e-mail your deepest secret to all your friends? I'm not sure - if the naked thing were legal and they were all strangers …I'd consider it.
9. My hair: Black …spikey. Kinda.
10. When I was 5: I was a smaller version of myself - I had a serious case of self-doubt (I'm told).
11. Last Christmas: was really quiet (and I liked it that way).
12. When I turn my head left: I will instinctively turn all the way to the right too just to stretch my neck.
13. I should be: Going to bed.
14. When I look down I see: a mess of envelopes I should've discarded days ago. And a pair of socks - still clean enough for a few more days (assuming I don't go running in them!).
15. The craziest recent event was: Starfish's wedding reception - I never knew what a great dancer he was.
16. If I were a character on "Friends" I'd be: Ross. There aren't enough words to describe what a horrible record my love-life life is.
17. By this time next year: My Acting Senior-Systems-Analyst term comes up for renewal (and my mouth will go dry).
18. My favorite aunt is: The banker: we've always been close (and I'm not just saying that because she's facilitating my mortgage either).
19. I have a hard time understanding: jerks.
20. One time at a family gathering: I met a branch of extended family we didn't even know we had (descended from my great grandfather who came to Canada almost 100 years ago).
21. You know I like you if: I haven't made any smart-ass comments about you to your face yet.
22. If I won an award, the first person (people) I'd thank: mom and dad for getting me out there.
23. Take my advice: The world is your oyster - just shuck it.
24. My ideal breakfast is: smoked salmon on a bagel …and no, I haven't had that in years.
25. If you visit my home town: you'd enjoy the view - then get bored a bit.
26. Sometime soon I plan to visit: Montreal - because there's where EvilTwin and JET live and shame on me, I haven't been in touch for a while. I also want to see Hong Kong again… that's been way too long.
27. If you spend the night at my house: I will freak if you touch my toy collection.
28. I'd stop my wedding if: Not sure about that - I'll go with Hemlock's answer - the one with the medical emergency.
29. The world could do without: racism (and all discriminatory variations thereof).
30. I'd rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: eat one.
31. The most recent thing I've bought myself is: Funny, I really don't recall buying anything lately because I've been so obsessed with minimizing my move. Oh wait, I think it was that DVD 2 weekends ago.
32. The most recent thing someone else bought for me is: a meal (my dad paid for lunch on Sunday).
33. My favorite blonde is: UG, I guess.
34. My favorite brunette is: (assuming we're still talking about the ladies) it's RallyGirl.
35. My car must have a sign on it that reads: "Caution: May Contain Idiot Driver"
36. The last time I was drunk: at Starfish's reception (well, I was buzzed, does that count?)
37. The animals I would like to see flying besides birds: snakes …maybe by plane.
38. I shouldn't have been: so scared of success.
39. Have you ever shaved your pubic hair? Yes… well, trimmed it. Not shaved bare.
40. Last night I: Vegged out in front of the boob-tube (see my other blog).
41. There's this girl I know who: has the worst luck with men.
42: I don't know: where I'm going from here.
43. A better name for me would be: Anakin (because I never really learned to grow up either).
44. If I ever go back to school I'll: probably be really desperate by then.
45. How many days until my birthday?: I dunno - about 335?
46. One dead celebrity I wish I'd met is: Christopher Reeve - he always seemed like a stand-up guy. Besides, he was freakin' Superman! Nobody touches that.
47. I've lived at my current address since: May 1999.
48. I've been told I look like: crap …every morning.
49. If I could have any car, it would be: A Prius, I think. I used to hate the look but it's grown on me - plus it's a hybrid and we all need to do our part for the environment, right?
50. If I got a new cat tomorrow, I would name it: dinner. No j/k! Um… I would call it Nancy. Close personal friends of mine will know there's an in-joke involved here.

DOM9!! Reina!!

My brother once said that Tanaka Reina reminded him of a porn star. He said, "I don't know why, it's not like she looks slutty or anything - just something about her face that makes me think, 'hmm, is she a porn star?'"

I wasn't sure if I agreed with him or not, and besides, she wasn't one of my favourites anyway. But I eventually came around. I watched more concert footage and it occurs to me she always seems to be one who plays to the fans the most - frequently shouting "yay-YAY!" and doing her signature hands-to-face pose (a variation of which she's using in the photo I chose).

One thing's for sure, her wacky-looking widely-spaced eyes, although certainly very tempting, also creep me out a little. ^_^;;

Reaction - GitS2nd Gig - 7th DTS Volume

A while back (a long while, actually) I posted a short picture post about what EVERY DVD publisher should be learning from... especially if they want to curb the piracy running rampant in North America they would like to have you believe (and believe it could be a lot worse - trust me, I know; I'm Chinese). ^_^

Anyway, here's the link to that older post about a Ghost in the Shell volume I bought back then.

Back then I didn't have any idea what Bandai and Manga Entertainment had in mind with those crazy tin cases with the circular window on the front. I did however like the goodies they came with - sometimes being music CDs, sometimes being little collectible knick-knacks. I did however appreciate the full-colour artwork printed on the back of the tins...

Well, the final volume is out and like the first season, it came in an oversized tin. I won't rehash what AnimeOnDVD.com had to say, but I'll say this much - I'm very impressed with their packing solution. This is arguably the coolest keep-case for a DVD set I've ever seen - it's particularly impressive after the rant I had given CPM for not even bothering to release Patlabor consistently after only 1 volume. Here're some pics:

As you can see, Manga Entertainment did not dismiss the individual cases - the final tin includes the 7th tin and had padded slots to fit all of the previous 6 volumes - very stylish. And it was a nice touch that the followed up with the circular window thing on the side. How cool is that.

As for the show itself - I dunno what the reviewer on AnimeOnDVD was on at the time, but I can say it was an amazing ending that featured a great send-up of the opening scenes from the classic 1994 film adaptation of Shirow Masamune's masterpiece. I'm glad I stuck around these past couple of years it took for the DVDs to all come out.

Washing media

Scott's comment reminded me of this one story my mother once told me.

See in Cantonese, the word for "erase" or "delete" is the same as "wash" and there was this old dude who my mother knew in her youth that attempted to "erase" an audio cassette... with soap and water.

...ah the shortcomings of adaptive linguistics. ^_^;

PSA: clean your machine

The other day I was at visited my folks and they asked about the anti-virus software I had previously installed (I reassured them that the pop-ups and all that activity were perfectly normal and that the software was just doing its job and probably caught something malicious).

Which further reminded me to come home and run a spyware check since I hadn't done so in a while. 220 days, to be exact, according to Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. I tend to believe I run a fairly clean machine. I don't visit new web-sites very often. I don't install a lot of demo software (and when I do it's from a reputable source like Gamespot). In general, I haven't had any attacks in years.


But oh I was in for a surprise - turns out that not only did Ad-Aware pick up something, but so did Spybot. Most were cookies, but there were a couple of cases classified as "critical." The point is, don't become a spy-ware snob like I did: run the scans every few months. It doesn't take long - maybe 15 minutes at most. That's like saying, let the scans run while you go take a shower and get changed or something. Really, it's not that big an effort to put in to keep the dangers of lost performance or bandwidth at bay.

Wildstorm #1 (and the last)

I don't know if I hate when they do this or not. But DC saw fit to publish one of those "guide" books to preview upcoming projects for the Wildstorm universe revision. And I picked it up thinking it was actually a part of the yet-undisclosed "big event" that's been talked about forever.

So what is it? It's a series of 1 or 2-page pin-ups with short blurbs about each of the new titles coming in the next few months. I have 2 problems with that.

First, the artwork isn't particularly representative of the regular artwork to expect from said titles. This is a problem dating back to the early 90's when Wildstorm was still on the independent Image Comics circuit and putting out the occassional pin-up book (which were chock-full of hit-or-miss art). I mean, I would've prefered seeing a pin-up by Jim Lee himself for the WildCATS write-up.

Second, as for the blurb - these bits of info I could've already picked up from various sources on the web. Face it, the days of running around between friends and the local comics shop for info are long-gone. We're in the information age and people get their hands on complete movie scripts long before the movie comes out - it's no different for the comics industry.

On the bright side, there are 2 short-stories that set up the latest Stormwatch title and a new title and overall were reasonably entertaining. Plus it has the gorgeous Art Adams cover I posted above (I wish it didn't have a speech balloon on the actual printed cover). This will likely get bagged, boarded, and never read again.

Gen13: Not the I.O. I recall

I seriously cannot remember thinking International Operations being as f*cked up as this.

No really, back when Wildstorm was still something only the most hardcore of us fans will remember as "Aegis" IO was introduced a government agency with questionable motives at best. But I don't recall them selling to the highest bidders who chat on-line like teenagers. Not sure where they're going with this (but I have high hopes for both Gail Simone who did wonders for Birds of Prey andTalent Caldwell who reminds me a little of Joe Maduira in his X-Men heyday). What they have accomplished so far is to make me absolutely hate IO - which is probably the point.

I mean, erasing their own operatives when their "terms" are "up?" Brutal. If you ask me - there's two types of violence in media - the kind that's visual and the kind that knots your stomach... this book was the second kind. And that, in its own way, is actually a good thing - the same way Gundam is chock-full of military-themed violence (well, the oldies, not the new crap that's on nowadays).

The big question - is it a remake? Sorta. We've been promised for months that it wasn't a complete reboot of continuity. I'm the sort of reader who's willing to roll with it. For now, I'm giving the new Wildstorm a tentative thumbs up.

As a side note, I did read Wetworks last week. It was great to see Whilce Portacio at work again - I've missed his erratic "sketchy" pencil-work... it's almost delicate. The new series, unlike Gen13 seems more sequel than remake so... I'm really curious where this will all go (especially since Whilce himself blogged earlier that some of the confusion stems to real-life developments such as botched shipping schedules). *crosses fingers*

WH40K Tau experiment

So I played a "quick" game of Warhammer yesterday with my brother. Quick is that I threw together an army of less than 1300 points and didn't bother to double-check what options I gave my units (such as forgetting to add extra drones, or multi-tracker hardware, etc). But I played Tau - the army I'm most familiar with against his new Imperials. It was a grand experiment - he played with more Troops than ever before, while I attempted to make a fast-moving hit-and-run style army (a single Hammerhead tank and no Broadside battlesuits to speak of)... believe you me, I was having second thoughts when he started bringing out all those tanks and transports.

As it happens, I was fielding a freshly built Pirhanna model - it's one of the new unit types for this year's expansion. Kinda like a jet-bike, it's meant to be fast and be able to bypass terrain... the catch, I was stupid enough to pass on it when it first came out. Yes, yes, there was that 3-pack for a limited time and I kick myself everytime I remember deciding I didn't want 3 for the price of 2 for some strange reason.
So it was a single unit... and was blown away on its first turn... by a huge Landraider tank. Great. Lucky shot.

We played a recon scenario - the goal: to get as many scoring units into the oppoenent's deployment zone as possible within the 6-turn limit. I held him off from advancing thanks to some agressive deployments covering as many firing lines as possible. But Sentinel walkers tied up both my Hammerhead and Devilfish... leaving them frozen for most of the game (the Pathfinders escaped the burning transport wreckage and as luck would have it, I decided to field the rail-rifles this day... they spent the rest of the game taking pot-shots at the Sentinels.
The Hammerhead in the meantime, having been reduced to a "immobilized unit," took shots at pretty much everything on the field within its ridiculous 72" scale range of fire.

But as turn3 rolled around, things were looking bleak. My Stealth team was laid to waste and Kroot mercs were dying by the boatload... they had tried to rush a forested area where a unit of Stormtroopers had been holed up for most of the game thus far.

However a series of lucky rolls turned the tide of battle. A group of lucky shots from my Hammerhead, the rail-rilfe-carrying Pathfinders, the Devilfish's remaining Seeker missile... both of the Sentinels were down, an Exorcist went up, and a Chimera transport fell to pieces. And the poor troopers who poured out of the disabled transport? Fodder for the Firewarriors who I had advanced earlier hoping to outflank everyone - was it luck or strategy at work? I prefer devine intervention for the way things worked out.

When turn 6 finally came to an end, the official score was 1 to the Imperials (he had a witchhunter retenue dropped off in the scoring zone from earlier in the game - my Firewarriors were in position to score but I think by the book, they were just a few inches shy of being in the scoring area). But the real result of the grand experiment? Well, both sides were thoroughly decimated even tho I'm quite surprised I lasted as long as I did (I was about ready to call the game until that string of lucky hits).

As my brother pointed out, perhaps we really are playing smarter. The Sentinels aren't meant to be tank killers - just annoying, tying up the big guns with a constant barrage of lascannon fire. Kroot teams have to keep moving... no matter what. Stealth teams need to Deep Strike to get the best hiding positions to snipe from... The things you learn.

The DL irony

Well, the book is closed on the mystery of the Nero Dual-Layer burn: I finally found a set-top machine that will play back my "failed" discs. And of course, it's the cheapy no-name brand my father had purchased from (of all places) the grocery store.

Its brand is actually "Accura" and has all the feel of a made-in-taiwan POS. The tray is this heavy-set affair that opens up after what feels like an eternity. There is no LED read-out on the front panel and the only sign of life it will give you is the red light that comes on when you press into the hardwired power switch (no, the remote will not turn it on and off). To its credit, it does have an optical cable for digital sound output. Video signal is limited to RGB component cable. And wow, you can actually hear the drive spinning up the disc (listen to that sound of power). ^_^;;;

As babou said to me, "go figure."

downloading music - if it worked

Been to EBGames lately? Yeah - the signs are plastered all over their stores - buy a used game and get a PIN for 10 free song downloads. The on-line store turns out to be Puretracks. Dunno if you also buy frozen pizzas or anything like that but from time to time they give out coupons for free songs too ...and yes, those are also from the same subset of Puretracks.

And for the most part it's a great idea for publicity. But the problem is that as a subset, I hardly ever find anything of interest. And worse - I walk away with the distinct impression that that's all there is that Puretracks can offer me. Now I could be wrong (I'm not going to waste my time going to the actual Puretracks.com site to prove myself wrong), but that's their own damn fault for pissing me off.

And on top of that impression - I also have cultivated a distinct hatred for the web server engine there. Puretracks just damaged the reputations of all online music stores in my view. That is, if one store can't get their shit right, what's to prevent other stores from having the same buggy software running the show? I just spent an hour browsing their meager offerings attempting to find 10 songs I was remotely interested in. Mind you, this was for free music - imagine if I were looking for something to pay for? And then I went to click on the Checkout icon everything went south - firstly at one point the cart wouldn't refresh (switching between a full cart and an empty one). Then clicking checkout revealed that the store had tallied the full 35-track double-album I had previously accidentally clicked (and thought I had removed). Then upon logging in a second time later in the evening hoping to rebuild my shopping cart, clicking on the Checkout icon this time dropped me back to the main home page and zero items in the cart!!

What the hell - they can't even give this shit away. I'm not even imaginative enough to make this shit up, either.

The DL failure

Alright - gonna wrap up this topic for a little while because I simply give up at this point. I don't understand how I got a stable playable burn on that movie for my buddy last night and cannot do the same for the ISOs I downloaded.

Short of using the decryption method (which is used only for the ripping the test disc), I followed the same steps in CloneDVD including the "Clone" option - which performs its own reencode of the VOB set (which as far as I could tell, were identical anyway). In fact, the ending didn't suffer the mystery cut-off glitch that was in the test burn.

Sadly, as things would turn out, my concert disc still freezes at the layer change with my player unable to find the corresponding continuation on the second layer. And the rest of the disc is filled with glitches.

I got a successful (moderately) layer change in my PS2 drive so I'd like to say it's the fault of my old set-top box but that still does not explain why the test burn played fine. The fact is, the test burn and my final ISO burn, despite being on the same discs, coming from the same hardware, and created with the same process, yielded very different results - one playing very smoothly on my old Pioneer DV-333 and the other completely grinding it to a halt.

The DL conspiracy continued

Well, I have my answer - this whole time Nero was apparently not burning dual-layer format correctly on my discs. I don't know what the nuances behind the problems are; the discs work just fine on PC software like PowerDVD or Interactual Player. Nobody I know has a set-top DVD player capable of playing back a Nero burned DVD-Video format DL disc.

So I decided to take turns eliminating the differences between my burns and my buddy's Serenity burn (and I in no way endorse piracy, I'm just saying, it made for a good testing situation). And the first difference was when he admitted to me that he hadn't been using Nero after all (he'd confused himself, he'd later admit). He told me to look up CloneDVD for my ISO needs.

The result: a test burn worked... sort of. Because I was adamant I would follow the example from Doom9 to the letter, I even used the "clone" command in CloneDVD to actually reencode the VOB files I previously ripped to my hard-drive. The glitch was that for whatever reason, CloneDVD's re-encode is missing a few seconds at the end of the final title (including the "goback" chapter that tells a DVD player to return to the main menu when its done).

The follow-up: I tried to burn the concert again, but this time without a re-encode. The disc is better than the Nero attempt in that it plays (more or less) in my living room. However, it has a tendency to glitch a lot with pops, freezes, and skips on the second layer to the point of being unwatchable. Hmm...

The DL experiment

The saga continues with the grand Dual-Layer experiment.

Thus far, my old trusty Pioneer DV-333 set-top box is unable to play either Philips or Fujifilm brand DVD+R DL discs burned on an LG GSA-H10L. A buddy from work however loaned me one of his pirated discs - a Verbatim branded DVD+R DL and it was just fine (could watch the movie, could navigate all menus).

The variables I need to consider:
1) Can it be my burner is not quite right - a problem with the LG drive itself?
2) Can it be my technique is not quite right (frankly I don't see how anyone could go wrong with the simplicity of Nero Express 6.
3) Can it be that quite simply Verbatim discs are just better than Philips and Fuji?

There's actually a very specific case made at videohelp.com with an identical setup - this fellow has the same burner and had heaps of trouble with the Fuji discs. Hmm...

PC: of new drives and old drives

Well there she is: a shiny new black drive sitting inside of Zero Prime's black box. For those of you just joining us, I'm talking about the LG drive at the top - it replaces a Pioneer DVD-ROM drive who's only crime was being beige. Now I need to figure out how to paint that floppy drive at the bottom... Hmm...

You can't really tell by the resolution, but the second optical drive is also a burner. Why did I buy a second burner, you ask? Just because it was my birthday (I won't say when exactly - I value my personal privacy despite the amount of blogging I do). Secondly, I had several MoMusu-related concerts sitting on my hard-disk. They were full 7Gb ISO images and well, I decided I wanted to do away with down-converting them with DVDShrink.

There's a third reason - it involves my brother discovering that his new spindle of DVD blanks he bought are somehow incompatible with his own burner... so guess who got "free" blanks to test with?

The results are a mixed bag and put me in an awkward position. Firstly, I've learned that the discs are indeed compatible with this new burner (and with the old single-layer one too; except in a read-only capacity, of course, duh). There were a couple of oddities...

First, the Nero (the famous burning software) seemed to think my ISOs were for CD and refused to burn them to the DVD (this in spite of the fact that the ISOs would've required something on the order of 26 individual CDs to contain the sheer size). Never mind that - I went back to my trusty DVDShrink to extract the ISO into its component VOB files. Then I burned those to the disc...

Nero performed the "verify data" routine without a hitch. The trouble came when I brought the disc out to the living room. Seems my old Pioneer set-top player doesn't particularly enjoy the second layer. Chapter-skipping ahead is sort of okay (once it gets going). But forget menus or the chapter that actually bridges the layers. Which is sort of disappointing because wasn't the whole point of this execise to get minimum compression from my PC to my living room home theatre? Mmm... I think I smell is a cheapy new DVD player in my future.

labelling my nuts

So I brought a bag of trail mix to work a little while ago - it was huge, like on the order of a pound. You know the kind with some weird outdoors-y name like "Sierra Mix" that came out of a bulk bin.

The label reads...
ING: Raisins, sunflower seeds, pink-skinned peanuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, canola oil, may contain nuts.

Now I'm all for proper labelling because so many poor souls out there are alergic to just about anything (you name it, somebody's gonna die from it eventually). But I argue that this label is inaccurate. This bag does not carry a risk of nuts ...it IS nuts! And so it this label.

Reaction: Dark Crusade demo

Relic is at it again stretching the life of their 2004 Game of the Year winner, the RTS "Dawn of War" set in the richly detailed universe of Warhammer 40'000. The latest salvo is the upcoming "Dark Crusade" expansion which in a stroke of genius can be installed as a stand-alone product (for new players to get in on the action, of course). So basically, what Relic has done is released a sequel with the same game engine as before. However, qualifying it as an "expansion", the package also contains unlockables like new units for existing armies, etc.

Check out videos and stuff here at IGN.
And of course download the demo here at download.com!

The demo follows the same tutorial as usual but with a few tweaks to the narration explaining what differentiates the Tau. Unfortunately the Necron are not available in the demo (not that it alters anything - this is enough to give us a taste of the game). The demo also includes a couple of skirmish missions to play with. But you won't get very far.

Firstly the demo is crippled - some Tau units are outright unavailable. You are limited to a SkyRay missile tank for vehicles. You can check out a Crisis Suit but only one at a time. And if I understood correctly, one of the two tech trees are completely cut off (that's one of the new features for the new Tau race - you get to choose a strategy mid-game and then build one of two resources that leads you down differing styles of play - offensive or defensive).

Secondly, there's a new win-scenario (or new to me anyway). The AI seems a lot smarter and faster and takes advantage of a capture-more-than-50%-of-resource-points. I was seconds from winning with "Annihilation" rules but the countdown for resources timed out on me - I lost the skirmish because I hadn't been capturing enough resource points!

Anywho I'm excited. A little biased because I play Tau in the traditional table-top version of WH40K. It's again more of the same, but those little tweaks promise to refresh the DoW experience all over again for the 3rd year running.

noodle review: tonkotsu

The package this time was a rather plain deal but it did feature a somewhat creative demo image on the front. That is, it sort of resembles what one might do at home with a package of instant noodle - you would make the instant noodles and then just throw some meats or veggies on top.

My research revealed that Tonkotsu is actually ...wait for it... a type of ramen. That's right, tonkotsu is actually just a style of ramen. So labelling a package as "tonkotsu flavour" is a little silly. It's like having a potato-flavoured chip or maybe a beef-flavoured steak.

On the other hand, I'll hand it Nissin for making an effort to make their version of tonkotsu taste at the very least, interesting. And it starts with the intriguing soup base that comes with it:

Not sure if you can make it out in the photo, but there's actually sesame seeds in the powder mix. And the smaller "seasoning packet" this time contained something resembling actual seasoning oils (as opposed to that white gooey substance that comes with the roast-beef style packages). Indeed, for such a generic "flavour" the final result looks pretty good with those onion bits and sesame seeds floating around in there.

That white powder mix at first tasted very much like the generic "chicken" flavour. It's kinda salty but not biting. According to my research, real tonkotsu soup is supposed to be "thick" and is made by boiling crushed pork bone to obtain the broth. Since you can't well make "instant pork bones" Nissin did the next best thing: the soup has an almost creamy consistency. I hesistate to call it "thick" but this'll do. And on reflecting over what pork should taste like, I have to say, ok, it sort of did taste a bit like pork. I'm even going to guess that perhaps if I actually went to the trouble of buying some roast pork in Chinatown on the way home, this might have been excellent together.

Would I buy this again? Maybe.

minor on-line orders

I admit it: I'm a junkie when it comes to collectible knick-knacks. I won't spoil it but I just came from mail ordering something cool yet amusing (or is it the other way around). Your mileage may vary.

Anyway, the topic I wanted to discuss was: the world would run a lot smoother if everyone subscribed to the theory of "all go or no go."

I was surfing on Sunday when I decided to place my order. And that online store is also a brick-and-mortar so I understand that some times you have trouble balancing the load. But if you're going to have an online presence, I wish store managers would take it seriously and give it the same attention as the physical presence. The info page said if you choose Paypal as an option, they'd send you a payment-request "the next business day." But today's Tuesday.

Look, if you can't prioritize your virtual store, don't promise me you'll get in touch with me "tomorrow" - just be honest and tell me you'll get in touch "within a few business days" - at least then I won't be losing sleep over it. It was just annoying to get home last night and not find anything in my inbox.

I'll take pictures when "it" arrives.

The hunt is back on

I just read an odd FAQ about an upcoming expansion to one of my favourite RTSes (second only to the classic Starcraft by Blizzard), Dawn of War. Now, if you scroll down a page or so on that link above, they've provided the system requirements for the new expansion. Pardon me, but isn't an expansion supposed to use the same game engine as the original. What the heck is going on? Used to be that I blew the requirements for DoW out of the water, now the expansion is set to blow me out of the water.

Anyway, if there was one thing that motivates me, this would be it, then.
I'm back to scouring eBay for that processor upgrade I wanted months ago. See, Zero Prime has always been a little buggy, ever since the barebones upgrade kit from, well, I'm not even sure when I built it. Somewhere along the way I renamed it too so I'm not even certain how much of it is still Zero Prime. ^_^;

Oops - went off on a tangent there. I meant to say that some time a couple of years back, after being frustrated long enough with an unreliable and very lemon-like motherboard, I bought a new one. In fact, I bought what was at the time top of the line for this particular generation: an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe (which sadly was soon completedly abandonned by ASUS as several promised upgrade modules never made it off the drawing boards).

So here I am: a top-end final-generation socket-A mobo with a bottom-end first-generation Athlon XP 1700. *sigh* eBay here we go again.