the workspace

Because somebody asked... here is what my work area currently looks like.
What you don't see is that on the left is a series of piles of sheets which would look like a mess if you didn't know what my filing system was (but yes, I go through each pile every day, so it's quicker to leave everything out than to clean it up ALL the FREAKING time). And no, that's not some fancy screen-saver, that's me obscurring what I realized was sensitive information on my screen AFTER I took the picture (damn, even cheap cameras these days are hi-res!).
A recent addition is this avatar-like Mighty Muggs Lando Calrissian. He's always happy. Even when I'm stuck filling out SYNCSORT statistics reports. The resemblance to his movie-sake is uncanny:

stolen meme

1. What is your occupation right now? "Federal Agent," get it? ;)

2.What color are your socks right now? barefoot (white earlier today)

3. What are you listening to right now? The Forcecast podcast.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? potato chips (ketchup flavour)

5. Can you drive a stick shift? according to Gran Turismo 3, yes. according to real life, who knows??

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My mother

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I stole it... pretty much.

8. How old are you today? 31

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? hockey

10. What is your favorite drink? Coca-Cola

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? no

12. Favorite food? at the moment it's poutine from Lac St.Jean

13. What is the last movie you watched? Hellboy 2

14. Favorite day of the year? April 1st

15. How do you vent anger? I curse under my breathe even in socially unacceptable settings.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? The G.I.Joe VAMP jeep.

17. What is your favorite season? Fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries taste better... but then blueberries don't have pits

19. Do you want your readers to try this? not really

20. Who is the most likely to respond? DJ-Specs ...he'll probably comment that this being long.

21. Who is least likely to respond? Napoleon ...as if I don't know he's reading my blog.

23. When was the last time you cried? an hour after I closed on the house (had more pent-up stress than I thought)

24. What is on the floor of your closet? boxes of... stuff.

25. What did you do last night? Played Metal Gear Solid 3

26. What are you most afraid of? being really alone

27. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? cheese

28. Favorite dog breed? Husky+Labrador (Starfish's first dog)

29. Favorite day of the week? Saturday (morning, specifically)

30. How many states have you lived in? None, but I've visited the New England area.

31. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds

32. What is your favorite flower? Guy Lafleur

Another one coming up...

Looks like Good Smile Co.'s FREEing brand is going to take another shot at tempting us all.

Good Smile is announcing this for September of this year at a suggested retail price of 11800 yen (works out to be about $112CAD; but in reality, either be it inflation at my local comics shop or shipping through eBay, it'll probably be a lot more than that). Be sure to click-thru for more views of the figure!

Kid Nemo also has a few additional images available to view.

My question is... along with Ryoko, Good Smile is also listing a re-release of the original Suzumiya Haruhi and Asahina Mikuru for September as well; I wonder if the crazy eBay prices will drop back to reasonable levels with the new supply coming to the market. Just curious...

Being shelved

This entry started out as another rant about my silly adventures trying to get to the local postal outlet and easily devolved into my lament over not getting to deal with Post Office Girl anymore. So instead, I decided to go with a shelf-examination of my collection. And quite simply, the last photos I posted were some 3 years old...

Here is the latest arrangement on the top shelf. (Hey, some people arrange flowers... I'm allowed to arrange figures).
Yes, that's a Kid Robot "the good" keychain in front. My latest acquisition is the FREEing version of Haruhi in her bunny outfit by Good Smile.
Here's something I haven't blogged previously. I got the "Subcasts" Spider-man by TweeQim from Upper-Deck and Marvel on my trip to Toronto last month.
Here's me trying to be artsy with my photography... Mikuru is the poor victim whom Haruhi recruited to be her school club's mascot.
Before I go, here's a bonus screen from the actual anime. So yes, these crazy bunny-costumes ARE in continuity!

Reaction: Hellboy 2 'The Golden Army'

Giving my usual harshness over genre movies a break, I want to simply say, this was a fresh interpretation of the Hellboy mythos. The Golden Army is lighter than its predecessor by a long shot. It kicks off with a flashback to a young Hellboy being told the tale of the Human-Elvish war and the legend of an artificial army constructed to end the hostilities. And of course, said army will obviously rise again...

What really leapt out at me was the stunning visuals. I know, too often movies devolve into eye-candy, but I thought it all made a lot of sense. A buddy of mine who watched the first film recently for the first time told me he was dissappointed how few of the "weird creatures" we got to see on screen in that adventure (and it's true, really they fought the same monster throughout as it respawned and multiplied). In this one, we get to see a wide variety of beasts as the gang travels to a troll market and ancient catacombs. It's like Del Toro used last year's Pan's Labyrinth to test-drive new creature ideas after the distinctly non-treat that was the first Hellboy movie.

I also need to mention however, that hardcore fans need not apply. While I much prefer a good movie rather than a carbon copy transfer of a book (I'm looking at you, 300), I'm told my fellow movie-goers that this film "didn't feel like" the comics. Granted both films changed things around to suit a one-shot adventure, but I'm told the first film captured Mignola's style better than this one. In the end, does it really matter? Let me ask you this: is the sight of a demon and a fishman drunk and singing songs of heartbreak worth the price of admission? Damn straight.

Weirdguy makes me eat

So there was this one time I received a very vague delivery notice at my door. The notice said, "for pick-up today after." None of the usual time boxes were checked off (my local mail person must be exceedingly lazy). I was debating this with Weirdguy via IM that evening and he convinced me to give it a try if the postal outlet wasn't too far.

That evening led to the following post:
Mikuru in Red

A couple of things made that day very cool. Besides finally owning my first FREEing figure, I also learned that sometimes the time marked (or lack thereof) on the card wasn't necessarily accurate. And I also received a very cryptic message from Napoleon following that post saying, "is it wrong that I want to do stuff to that figure?" Surely a quote for history. Thankfully he's spoken for and can therefore "make sexy time" as he pleases (I think).

So anyway, today was an OK day which had potential to be a Freaking Sweet day. I got another notice at my door today. And being that I've learned sometimes I can take a chance, I went over to the postal outlet. The guy at the counter says my box wasn't there yet. Oh well. Sadly, the worse news is, I can't go back tomorrow because I'm busy all evening. So I'm kind of pissed off to know that I won't get my goodies until Wednesday.

I blame Weirdguy for learning me an unreliable lesson. To make myself feel better, I stopped at the grocery store for my supply of fruit... and a McCain frozen cake. Which in turn I also blame Weirdguy for. Because I saw one at his house the other day and suddenly I have the temptation for. Yeah, he's a bad influence to be sure.

O_o;;;

Reaction: Hancock

Despite the inevitable comparisons to the other super-hero films flooding the cinemas this summer, Hancock has something unique about it. No, I don't mean a convoluted history (everyone knows what happens to characters who have 50 years of publishing behind them: they get retroactive-continuity to reboot the franchises). I was going to say that considering how this film was stuck in development-hell for a decade, it's amazing that a movie with as much coherency as it has came out at all... and that's not saying much.

I saw Hancock this week just like everybody else in the mainstream world: oblivious. So I think I'm a fair person to be judging the final product that made it to my grubby consumer paws in the form of a ticket at the local theatre. So what was my experience like, you ask?

Firstly, like everyone else, I saw the initial teaser which sold the film as a comedy. And I groaned. I mean really, MIB comes around once in a life-time (MIB2 proved that much). My point is, I saw a straight-up presentation of a film that would likely become a failure on the part of "we so want to be funny." And we had the typical plot about an unlikely team-up (in this case, Justin Bateman as the human publicist to Will Smith's anti-super-hero). But then something weird happened...

Internet buzz started... and the rumours circulated. I didn't pay much attention to the buzz because I "knew" it was going to suck anyway.

...then something even weirder happened. I saw a new commercial on television... and it looked nothing like the comedy teaser I had seen a few months earlier. In its place was a serious film about a man trying to redeem himself in the face of adversity and trying to protect people who hate him... in a black leather suit.

It was just a very surreal thing to see - as though the brainiacs in Hollywood got wind of the 'netizens' voices and suddenly caved, wanting to present an about face.

So there, I finally found myself sitting in the theatre and for about half the movie, it was exactly like the first teaser. And then came the second half following a really bizzarre plot twist (which I won't give away). But suffice to say, Hancock suddenly turns into a one-man X-Men movie (and I'm talking about one of the good ones, not "The Last Stand"). There are moral dillemas, consequences to the comedy from the first half, responsibilities to friends and family that must be dealt with...

So what went wrong? Why can't I recommend this? Well, a quick search on Wikipedia reveals the awful truth. This movie was like a Hollywood worst-case-scenario horror story. The script had been rewritten multiple times, changed directors several times, studio execs interfered with development and editors were forced to trim the movie down. In fact, if there was anything glaringly obvious it was that the film was simply missing parts. Cuts seemed flow unnaturally like there should have been a little something more going on beneath the surface that we, the poor uneducated masses in the audience were not meant to comprehend.

As a result, there was what could have been an incredible movie experience. In the hands of the likes of Spielberg or Jackson or even Singer, this might have been the big one this summer. But instead it was chopped to shreds and simply could not stand up on its own. I can however recommend renting it. It's a great story (if poorly executed) and if the cosmic justice be served, there ought be a Director's Cut DVD on the horizon.

Back to Square 1

Well, I didn't want to hear this considering the nature of my hobby - acquiring a collectible is only the second half the challenge... The first half is actually finding it.

Anyway, to cap off the story here my I got a refund in my Paypal today. The source just didn't have stock any more. Too bad - they were the most promising lead I had.