WinXP: is it a known bug?

I'm just throwing this out there... maybe someone will read this and it will ring a bell with them. But I for one have never encountered as many problems as my parents have on my own system.

My folks are running WinXP (of questionable origins that neither myself nor WGA will attest to *ahem*). And they are pretty computer illiterate so I can only assume that from time to time they will allow the auto-update to function.

All I know is that at one point, after grabbing a bunch of updates and attempting to reboot, I got a "Windows cannot boot because the following file is missing" (and I'm just paraphrasing because it was at least a few months ago)... and IIRC, the file in question was some DLL or something (a config.-something). Well, anyway, it prompted me at the time to foolishly run out and buy them a new harddrive and in the process accidentally destroying any backups they had of... well, everything... I won't get into that now.

So anyway, the last time I debugged it I got it down as far as a bad PSU (which thanks to a co-worker buddy who had an old derelict lying around, I got to replace for free). And then the following morning I narrowed the problem still further to faulty RAM (at least I suspect it of being faulty because as soon as I pulled it, the system booted without any further problems).

Now we're about a month since the last time I looked at that damn thing... and it's got that "missing file" problem again. And since it's Thursday, I'm assuming that some time earlier today, WinXP attempted to update itself and something (again) corrupted the system files.

And since I'm no tech support specialist, I can't really talk my technically-challenged parents through running the Windows setup... In fact, I'm kind of toying with the idea of buying a new PC (for myself) and giving away the one I'm typing this on right now to them. Because really, in its 7 year history, this PC has never had any of the problems they've had with theirs.

Reaction: Doctor Strange OVA

Marvel digs into its second-tier cast for their latest Lions Gate animated production. I don't know much about Doctor Strange other than that he is the Sorcerer Supreme and that he fights a demon called Dormammu... and that Stephen Strange is a former surgeon who stumbled on the mystic arts when he couldn't practice anymore... and he trained under "The Ancient One." Oh alright, maybe I knew a bit more than I thought.

The Doctor Strange movie is basically retelling the origins of that mythos in the Marvel Universe. Marvel has decided to populate it this little corner of their universe with a secret society of magic users. It's actually pretty cool that there are just enough character moments that you think there's more to them than being token casualties to die in the line of duty (and for plot purposes).
In fact, if I remember my comics lore correctly, the movie actually fleshes out the tale and tackles why Strange comes off as a jerk. We are introduced via flashbacks to Strange's personal history. He was once a caring happy young man and a personal loss drove him to learn all he could about neuro-surgery. He's also surrounded by a cast of characters who, despite his rough treatment of them, seem to care about him. Fate, however, would lead him away from medicine and into mysticism. Strange must deal with classic themes such as jealousy, betrayal, self-discovery... I might argue that as far as one-shot stories go, this was the best remakes Marvel had put up yet.
I think the Marvel Animation team has been gradually improving since their first outing. Clocking in at 95 minutes, it stretches a little bit more than Iron Man did, but it felt just right thanks to perfect pacing. It hits the ground running and doesn't stop until Doctor Strange's ascension to the position of Master of the Mystic Arts.
Marvel and Lions Gate give us that same glossy metallic slip-cover again just like Iron Man. The only thing that bugged me was having a completely irrelevant sidebar in the bottom-left corner. The disc does contain a new documentary looking back at the origins of the character. But the best part was a montage of concept art overdubbed with snippets of music and dialog from the finished film. And if you were smart enough to grab your copy from Wal-mart, the package also included a digital comic about the Marvel Illuminati. That cost a whole 70 cents more than if I'd gotten it elsewhere.
Get it now.

Noodle Review: Sapporo Ichiban "Beef"

It's been quite a while since I last did an instant ramen review.

Today we're looking at a Sapporo Ichiban. I first need to admit that I've been so stubbornly loyal to Nissin's "Take-Out" brand that that the only reason I bought a case of "Sapporo Best" was because the local market didn't have any of the Nissin "beef" flavour stuff. You know, it turns out to be not-so bad.
The immediate thing to let go of is the plainly English lettering on the front. I've seen Sapporo Ichiban in western grocery stores as well as the local Asian market. So I developed a habit of turning up my nose at it thinking it was some kind of inferior westernized product cheaply made to cater to western taste.

Actually, the packaging is kind of ugly, if you ask me.

Opening the package reveals something very interesting however: really authentic looking dried ramen. A note about cooking instructions on the back... It says to boil it for 3 minutes as opposed to the Nissin recommendation of 5 minutes. Not sure if that is why, but the noodle ends up a big more chewy than the Nissin stuff.
So this is what it looks like. I am all turned around on this Sapporo Ichiban stuff. It costs about the same as the Nissin brand stuff but the noodle is way better. While the soup is nothing to write home about, the ramen noodle has great texture (feels a bit like chewing on an al-dente spaghetti). I doubt I'll be going back to Nissin for my beef-flavoured instant ramen. I am giving it my Thumbs-Up!

DC Direct - Justice League of America

Not one to pass on a chance to squeeze us fan-boys for a few more bucks, DC has commissioned yet another line of their action figures this time based on the hit "Tornado's Path" relaunch of the Justice League of America (takes place after the latest Crisis and One Year Later business when the Big Three resurface from hiding).

I was saying elsewhere that I don't normally collect domestic stuff (it's just not the same aesthetic as the Asian goodies). But well, I was tempted. Plus, they have a Black Canary who looks half-decent this time around (I prefer her Birds of Prey/Identity Crisis look when she wore her hair up, but really, the figures that came at the time looked like crap to me).
Actually, what really drove me to post today was that I was so pleased with my little repair job. See, Black Canary's fishnets are obviously not real stockings... Unfortunately on my sample, the net material wasn't secured into her boot cuff to maintain the illusion of fishnets. I had to do a little knife-work to pry open the gap a bit and gently hide the ends of the nets into the seam in her leg. While I was at it, I also shifted the entire piece of net a little in order to better hide the seam in the net that runs along the length of her leg.

As for Superman... well... not much to say. I'm just happy he looks a little younger (ageless) than the previous action figure I own. The last time got a Superman, the mullet was still popular on the character ...perhaps the least handsome interpretation of the Last Son of Krypton, I must say. The cape is also interesting - it's a molded rubber affair and features a very nicely stenciled "S" insignia on the back.

Reaction: Babylon 5 The Lost Tales

It's a love letter to the fans. But not quite the Serenity of B5. The first "OVA" B5: The Lost Tales anthology came with fanfare all over geekdom... but little recognition elsewhere. I'm actually having trouble finding it around town and resorted to getting it via Amazon.

I liken it to anime "OVA" because really, it's all-new material available direct-to-video and is a testament to the power of fan outcry and the success of the franchise. B5 has been off the air for a decade, and for the awesome support shown through sales of the DVDs, it's a rare case of a show which was always on the verge of cancellation making such a return.

Now I've purposefully stayed away from other reviews because I want to avoid two things: spoilers (because I knew I'd be watching it myself soon) and colouring my own review of the matter. So let's get started.
The far future of the B5 universe is mapped out. We've seen hints of it before during the series. We know that Sheridan eventually dies. We know the station eventually is destroyed. What we don't know are the moments in between. Those moments are ripe for harvesting stories out of. "Voices in the Dark" is a collection of two stories set simultaneously roughly a decade after the conclusion of the TV series.
In first segment the DVD tackles what might have happened to religion in the far-flung future. Colonel Elizabeth Lochley has sent for an Earth priest (a Christian variety from his appearance) because she's encountered a phenomenon she cannot explain but to accept at face value that this is a case of demonic possession. It's a fairly straight forward ghost-story and essentially sets the tone for the project. The camera is close-in on Lochley and less is more.
In second segment we have President John Sheridan dealing with a moral dilemma. Galen the Technomage appears to him and tells him that trouble is brewing and he can stop it all if he'd only murder an innocent young Centari prince. Things all fall into place right up to the perfect opportunity for assassination. Again, there is a lot of teasing with quick shots of the President's cruiser but the camera keeps following Sheridan around. We're given a small 30-second clip of an epic space battle but not much else.Overall, it's one of those oddities in the universe. This DVD certainly stands on its own merits: it's two stories that do not over-reach themselves and give the audience a taste of what else the B5 universe had to offer us. But on the other hand, it'd be shame if this becomes a failure because it works on the proof-of-concept level. A whole bunch of short 35-minute episodes would be a fantastic addition to the B5 world.
As for the DVD presentation, this is why I call it a love letter to the fans. The disc is full of behind-the-scenes goodies, interviews with the stars, tours of the set, and the best part - memorial presentions for the late (great) Richard Biggs and Andreas Katsulas. In fact, that further reminds me - my absolute favourite "nice touch" - a voiceover from G'kar for the openning introduction to this film. Like I was saying, a love letter for all of us.

n00b observations of wh40k

Played Warhammer40k tabletop with my brother on Saturday night. We called it a game at the end of turn 4. It was a take-and-hold scenario we played and by then (about 1am), it was obvious my army was being slaughtered with no chance of capturing enough winning flags. Any "under-dispute" flags consisted of two or three of my guys standing against tanks. Er... no thanks. I'd rather just go to bed.

What was cool, however, was knowing that I built the army from scratch using the old pen-and-paper method. I didn't use Army Builder so the experience of costing my units based on information I actually had to read was very enlightening. And it made the game run a lot smoother too because I had a fairly good idea how each unit reacted to an attack. This totally unlike clicking a whole bunch of options in software just because I had points to spare and then having to look through the print-out during game time to find out who had what. That said, I've also learned that I need to be more consistent to avoid confusion. All vehicles should have the same defensive counter-measures, or all troops should be given the same Target-Lock abilities, etc... Because I wrote up the army over the span of a few days, there were instances where I forgot to add the same upgrade to a particular unit, etc...

That said, for the game itself I learned what goodies I need and what goodies I don't need. Counters - I don't need. My brother happened to have some stock pieces we used as resources... a barrel, or an unmarked chest, or a tank of "fuel." Really, I don't see the purpose of ever spending the money on a counter set for the Cities of Death line. What I would like are vehicle damage dice.
As our armies have grown, we've started fielding more and more vehicles in our games. And checking the dice cross-references in the book becomes a monotonous chore. And since WH40K is slow enough as it is, every little time-saving gimmick is useful.

On a final note: I need to start collecting buildings. Reading the Cities of Death expansion book has got me all excited to try urban warfare... It will be a somewhat expensive investment but relative to everything else, it's small to be able to breathe new life into the games.

Reaction: The Bourne Ultimatum

First thing's first, I'm not going to say it was "the best one yet" because I absolutely can't stand when people compare an instalment with previous instalments (sorry, Ally). Instead, I will just give it a thumbs-up and say "it lived up to its predecessors."

I feel a franchise should be made up of building blocks rather than disjointed stories. In the Bourne saga, this is very true - each film gave us more pieces of information building up the bigger picture. There is a steady progression: who is Bourne and why was he found floating in the ocean? Where did he come from (what is Treadstone)? And finally, how did he get involved in Blackbriar to begin with?

In that sense, I loved this movie for following up threads from previous chapters. Matt Damon gives us a man who is the best at what he does and hates it. He's the world's most dangerous man and yet he and others like him are just pawns: they are never called "agents," only "assets" (or in Bourne case, a liability, perhaps). Bourne is the ultimate killing machine ...flawed only by being human.

Just a couple of other points I wanted to touch on: I'm not a huge fan of handhelds. I understand its builds tension and "brings the audience into the room." But it was just a tad overdone in this film. I liked it in the war-room, but I disliked it for shooting the close-ups during 1-on-1 discussions.
And as for Nicky... I haven't read the books so I'm grasping at straws: I think there's more to her story. I suspected this since The Bourne Supremacy. How is it that she keeps turning up wherever Bourne is? The little, "you were the hardest one" and "you really don't remember" gives us a little hint as where she's from and where her loyalties lie... Heck, if director Kramer was ready to string up Landy for a fall, no wonder they were so quick to task their "asset" Desh with eliminating Nicky...

...get ready for the next sequel... The Bourne Romantic-entanglement? ^_^;

Reaction: Divergence Eve

What has Evangelion wrought upon the anime world? I'm 4 years late to the game but I finally checked out Divergence Eve for two big reasons: I read a very hostile review about it (which pretty much raised my curiosity about a thousand-fold) and secondly, the local shop had the slim-pack DVD set for only $40.
Well, about a week later, I've gone through all 13 episodes and I have this to say... look at the image above and tell me if you are offended or not? If you are, this anime is not for you and you will also have a hostile reaction. If you think it's a fun image, you will probably have a hostile reaction but for entirely different reasons.

I reference Evangelion because that was probably the big turning point in the early 90's when anime became a forum for metaphysical discussion. I figure since it's 15 years removed from the debut of the Eva series, I'm not spoiling anything by telling you the series ended the human race as we know it in the finale. It's pretty hard to beat that when it comes to f*cked up story endings. Divergence Eve comes pretty damn close. The universe gets destroyed, I kid you not.

The story basically follows a cadet named Misaki (the one in the blue uniform) who's come to Watcher's Nest to join the elite mech-jockeys stationed there, charged with protecting the secret that there is an alien presence trying to invade our dimension. Through the story, we are treated to bits and pieces of the invaders' history up until the ultimate reveal of Misaki's true nature... So either, you got distracted by her huge disproportionate breasts, or you wish anime was back to the simple good-guys-win-in-the-end format of the 80's, either way, you'll probably be hostile.

But then when you're done, you look back on the series and can't help thinking, "what a ride!" And I guess in the end, that's all that matters. I'm definitely going to look up the sequel series "Misaki Chronicles" which features Misaki back at the academy as a fresh recruit. Yes, you read that right: it's a sequel, not a prequel. It'll all make sense when you get to the end of this series' finale.

Revo: GR-2

I have gone retro retro-anime. Some of you may be old enough to remember Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot. It was a dub of a tokusatsu show actually called Giant Robo. Well, back in the early 90's (just a couple of years before anime hit it big in mainstream North America) Giant Robo was remade into a retro-styled anime with martial artists doing impossible stunts and larger than life robot smashing action. Revoltech paid tribute to this 7-part OVA with Giant Robo and his nemesis GR-2.

Actually, as I blogged before, I had Giant Robo a full two weeks ago (and it's been out for much longer). But you know, until today, it didn't make the jump from moderately interesting all the way up to "total coolness." That's because GR-2 actually comes with an additional piece of the most memorable scene from the Giant Robo show...

...but before I get there, here's a closer look at GR-2...
...and that's about it, because, really, GR-2 is a rather plain action figure.

The scene I'm talking about was that after several episodes of crazy robot fighting, we had already seen Giant Robo fire storms of rockets and missiles. We had seen that Giant Robo was studded with enormous cannons. But that wasn't all there was... fans were treated to his ultimate weapon: his flight-pack turned out to be a gigantic bazooka!

I distinctly recall watching this in a darkened room at the University of Quebec in Montreal with members of Club Animate. And although everyone had their personal favourite (including people who didn't necessarily like Giant Robo), the crowd erupted with thunderous applause and laughter and cheering. I mean, really, that was on the level of watching the Death Star blow up for the first time.

Anyway, without rambling on further, here's a closer look at the extra pieces that came with GR-2 that make for the "deployed bazooka":So anyway, here's a final photo of what Robo looks like stock for comparison:

UFS: Chun Li (set 4)

Just a thought - I'm still a relative n00b when it comes to UFS. But I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the contents of the starter box I picked up today. Chun Li is perhaps one of the first fighter game characters I ever played (if not the first) and I've always liked her speed and relative ease to play (who else had such an easy throw?).

Well, for the deck, it's the usual sort of thing to expect - a playable mix of cards, some from the "The Dark Path" expansion, and some exclusives. I wish I knew which were the exclusives but since I don't know off hand, I just scanned a couple of my favourite cards from the box. Of course, besides the character card, I chose to show a card based on the artwork more than anything. And really, you can't go wrong with licensed work by the guys at Udon Studios.

The card I'm showing off has the amusing title "Strength and Beauty." It's one of those hit-or miss cards that played at the right moment could turn a regular attack into a devastating one. I haven't taken the time to check how many Reversal cards are in this particular box yet but if it's anything like the Terry Bogard box, then there's a good chance this card could come in useful.


On a more general view, without actually playing the deck yet (since I have no-one to play with until I meet up with my brother next weekend), I remark that the deck appears fairly well balanced. Which leads me to believe I've just been the victim of bad luck when my first box (Taki of Soul Calibur 3) was severely unbalanced - it had many more Attacks than Foundations. Since Attacks tend to have lower control check values, it was proportionately more difficult to play the Foundations... I've spent my time since attempting to rebalance the Taki deck.

I also remark that Chun Li's attack cards seem to deal less damage than the average (some of them only 2 Damage)... Not sure if it's my imagination. But I did come across an Enhance while shuffling through the deck that boosts Attacks - but only those with low damage. Hmm... I wonder... Anyway, can't wait to try it out... And we'll see how she does stock and later when I start tweaking it with cards from boosters.

Bonus: for fun, I also wanted to share this classic (classic in that it was published some 10 years or so ago) image of Chun Li by Satoshi Urushihara. Enjoy it because it was a pain looking through so many freakin' hentai images to find this! ^_^;

New Toy! Logitech MX Revolution

It seems ridiculous now that I think about it. Ridiculous in more ways than one. Firstly, I realize that my mouse doesn't work... It hasn't worked in years. The scroll wheel was buggy and jumped my pages around uncontrollably any time I touched it. Well, I learned to live without it because up until this mouse, I didn't even have a wheel to begin with. But after many visitors on many weekend stays in a row pointing out the obvious to me - that my mouse DOES NOT WORK, I decided it was time to replace that POS mouse I bought for $10...

Ultimately, the situation has improved... but the situation is still ridiculous. Yes... my mouse is now the most advanced piece of technology attached to my PC. Next to my haphazard PC case (which makes it looks sort of fast and furious), my POS computer still sports a mismatched keyboard (an old IBM Media Pro of which the driver is not even installed at the moment), and a mismatched beige monitor... my fresh MX Revolution is a Ferrari to my f*cking Daewoo computer.

But am I enjoying the new mouse or what? Still got a little kinks to work out like customizing some of the functions but this baby has the coolest scroll wheel I've ever played with. It clicks for precision scrolling, but then if I'm scrolling on an unusually long page, it automatically disengages the micro-gear and allows me to free-spin the wheel. And despite the warnings I've seen on some sites, the latest version of Logitech's "Setpoint" driver (4.0) does work with Firefox. The Docu-flip wheel at my thumb becomes and alt-tab and the forward and back navigation buttons also work in Firefox 2. And to top it off, the little auto-search button works great: it was relatively inuitive to reset it from Yahoo to Google.ca.

So far so good. Not sure if it'll make a big difference to gaming (doubt it) but it is nice to actually be able to use the zoom functions in RTS games now.

Reaction: Ratatouille

I'll start out by saying, this wouldn't have been my first choice of movie. But then, whenever I get myself wrangled into seeing a Pixar movie, I'm never disappointed and usually am very entertained. That said, the meetup group went to this last night and I have a few observations I wanted to note (these are essentially the bullets I gave them in person over dinner).

1. Love the hair effects. Hair and water are possibly the one major animation challenge left when it comes to CG work. It's subtle, but the way Collette's hair fell and the tiny little movements made it real - which is surprising considering her (and everyone else's) very cartoon faces.

2. Liked the plot device that the rats didn't "talk" to the humans in English (the humans' POV showed them only hearing frantic squeaking) - but ...well... they're still talking animals and I'm not big on talking animal movies.

3. My favourite scene also unfortunately leads into my least favourite editing decision: Our hero rat discovers a will left by our master chef that his son should inherit the restaurant (the audience knows this pretty much from the beginning). But upon discovery, the ambitious sous-chef goes on a wild chase through the city attempting to catch the rat who now has the legal proof that the restaurant will not be his. The chase was great fun... except the resolution of that scene left me slightly bewildered as to how much time passed between the chase and the revelation that Linguini was the heir to the restaurant. I was under the impression that the sous-chef had just crawled out of the water and run back to his office looking for the rat... but then the dialogue implies that some time has passed and word had already gotten around.

4. The supporting cast was amazingly fleshed out and well-designed. I've also possibly killed a man with my thumb as well. ;)

Tubes Backlog for July

List stuff I'm too lazy to put up decent posts for.

Civil War: Wolverine TPB
Got this cheap through Amazon. It's an awesome story proving that from time to time, a tie-in can be done right despite the nebulous nature of big events. Wolvie goes AWOL and does what he does best: hunts down Nitro (the guy who blew away Stamford, thus kick-starting Civil War). Along the way he also uncovers a bigger plot behind Civil War. All this plus groovy Humberto Ramos art.

Revoltech: Giant Robo
I'm on a revivalist kick lately and finally started hunting down the DVDs of "The Night the Earth Stood Still." This figure is typical quality for Revoltech - chunky PVC goodness. And the paint job is fantastic: on such a small head there are actually eyes on the facial details. Johnny Socko would've been proud.

Hellboy Director's Cut DVD
Arrived in the mail from eBay. 2004 doesn't seem so long ago but damn, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. The 3-disc set presents a new interpretation of "cast commentary." It's not a commentary track: it's actually a video for you to watch them watch the movie. Lots of other goodies too.

Bunch of Warhammer40k stuff
I don't usually do this but I'm giving a shout-out to Maelstrom Games. They're a UK outfit dealing in tabletop-games at bulk pricing and free shipping. I just got a paint set retailing $40CAD for only $20. That's a no-brainer. I also got the Cities of Death expansion rulebook so I can't wait to read it and try some urban warfare scenarios.

Monsieur Bome 22: Rin Tohsaka
I said I'd stop getting these. It wasn't bad in the beginning when they came out once every 6 months. But now, forget it. I don't have the money or space to get them all. However, I'm making an exception for Rin because... I'm in love. She's comes off a little cold in the anime version of Fate/Stay Night, but gradually warms up throughout the series. And yes, I'm such a loser.

Cutey Honey Live-Action DVD LE
I haven't had a lunch box in 20 years. But the LE version came in a tin featuring an embossed image of Eriko Sato as Honey and I couldn't resist. Loved the movie from the first fansub I downloaded years ago, but seeing it in a full DD5.1 mix is awesome. The dub was tolerable too (the mix is a little clearer in English than on the Japanese track).

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's
"Shootin' at the walls of heartache, Bang Bang!!" It's GH2 all over again but with less bonus features. However the set list is way better. It's tough to play a music game when you aren't enjoying the music. But for this edition, even when I'm not familiar with the tune, I'm still having loads of fun. My PS2 has been the longest-lasting console investment I've ever made.