Bring in the New Year... with a new monitor

(tags anime, New Year, photo-expose, otaku, ヲタク)

Happy New Year! Let's celebrate!

A "my waifu" picture, with cast members Sugar, Rozen Maiden glasses, Rozen Maiden placemat, and Gamers/DijiCharat plate. And a new LCD monitor LG L1952 (19 in, 1 DVI, 1 VGA).

Visual Studio 6.0 cannot install onto Windows XP SP2? (resolved)

(tags programming, open-source, Emacs, Windows, installer, bug, workaround, resolved)

I am compelled to write a post on compiling Emacs on Windows using the Visual Studio 6.0 C++ compiler (cl.exe), because I figured out how to do so, despite the lack of documentation. (Perhaps my Internet searching skills are wavering?) But before I do, I want to explain my problems just trying to install Visual Studio 6.0 Professional on my Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 development environment.

If you can install Visual Studio 6.0 on your Windows XP computer without fail, that's great. In fact, in a number of cases, it worked for me without incident on other computers. But unfortunately on my personal computer, I get this error message every time I "Autorun" my MSDN provided CD-ROM or run \Setup.exe:

It seems to be a common thing. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

As luck would have it, I got more information by pressing the Debug button, but that's only because I succeeded in installing Visual Studio 6.0 C++ before writing this blog post.

I found some attempts at a solution:

• Running \Setup.exe in various Compatibility modes (Properties->Compatibility Tab)
• Installing the Microsoft Java machine (available in the Internet Explorer 4 (!) directory as \IE4\MSJAVX86.EXE on the same CD) because WinXP SP2 blocks the installation of Visual J++ 6.0 (MSKB:299764)
• Making sure my %SystemDir%\system32\{autoexec,config}.nt are properly configured.
• Making sure my system is "clean" to install VS6.0 (MSKB:248347)
• Disabling DEP (activated by Windows XP SP 2) globally (MSKB:875352)

... didn't help at all. There's also more:

• Disabling key "performance" in the Registry (MSKB:192731)

... but I didn't try it. Finally I come across a post that mentions to run the \setup\acmesetup.exe directly, with some required fooling with some Registry entries at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\6.0.

The command to directly run the compiler/IDE setup is (explanation at MSKB:250343):
D:\SETUP\ACMSETUP.EXE /T *.STF /S D:\ /n "" /o "" /k "YYYYYYYYYY" /b1

The needed Registry entries came from another computer's successful installation. I pared it down to just the following: <<EOF
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\6.0\Setup\Visual Studio 98\SetupWizard]
"aspo"=dword:38395356
EOF

Success! It works at least with VS6.0 Professional (US English) and Enterprise (Japanese).

Now do I install Service Pack 5 or Service Pack 6? 6 FTW, but look at that, building Mozilla 1.x or FireFox <3.0 requires Service Pack 5!?! Bah I don't need to compile Mozilla or Firefox for myself.

Anyway, VS C++ is in and it feels like 1998 all over again. Tune in next time for some Emacs compiling love.

im in yer terminalz, fix'd width gamin!

(tags emacs, Macintosh, game)

Emacs in the mainstream news always puts a smile on my face. Games in Emacs making news? Well that's linkable. "Hidden games in Mac OS X" (thanks Joystiq). The standard Emacs bundled with the Macintosh OS comes with text based Tetris. Yet another thing that Emacs has over vi. Har har har.

BTW, the title is in the style of that "Cats in ur stuff doing things". Very cute.

Ikaruga "bash"-ed!

(tags Ikaruga, humor)

While slogging through the toilet humor that is bash.org (the premier IRC funnies collator), I finally found something game related, #37144:

<[SA]Jibaku> Guys, by what voodoo does ikaruga compress to a scant 17 megabytes?
<HentaiTentacleDemon> The good voodoo
<[SA]MofoTPG> The magic of "incomplete download"?

But it's true, a "rip" of the Dreamcast version of the Ikaruga game weighs in at less than 20 MB compressed. I know because... um. Yeah.

I looked at the English version of the Wikipedia "Ikaruga" entry, and my own words made it (through Greng's site now defunct, but it was here) to the "Reception and Criticism" section. Seriously, I wrote about the Famitsu and home sales part (originally at Shmups Forum), but in retrospect home sales don't mean squat in comparison to the arcade reaction, the pure emotion, the... I'm waxing nostalgia, aren't I?

Warning: Do not look into "mouse" with remaining eye.

(tags mouse, Windows, hardware, laser, Japan)

At the beginning of this month I bought the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000. It has supplanted but not replaced my aging Microsoft Intellimouse Optical, which I still tether to each of my machines. It has been an on-again, off-again love fest these last few weeks.

Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 (2006)
vs
Intellimouse Optical (2001)

(photo courtesy of Microsoft Photo Gallery: 「PressRoom 画像ダウンロード ～Microsoft(R) Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 他～」)

There's millions of mice on the market, so why do I use these?

5 buttons: With the old Intellipoint 4 software, I could set the additional 4th and 5th keys to Enter and Backspace. These keys are power user's main tools in Windows apps like Explorer, IE, and any text boxes or dialog boxes.

Symmetric design: This is more of my preference than any "objective" merit.

But then, why did I buy this new "Presenter" mouse?

It's new and "wow-factor cool". It doesn't glow. It's got five buttons. It's Bluetooth wireless. It's got a slick carry case. It's got a laser pointer. There's volume and slide control for Powerpoint presentations. The two AAA batteries lasts for the mouse function for at least two weeks, even at highest sensitivity. However the same battery for the laser function conks out at perhaps 5 days of "gee it shoots lasers" usage.

Not all is roses, since I still keep my Intellimouse Optical handy. The Presenter mouse is wireless, which means it sometimes skips during tracking movement. There is sensor "startup". But then it works like silk sometimes and I have no idea why. Definately this is not my FPS mouse. The middle button is hard to press as a button, I use it all the time when browsing, so it's annoying. The horizonal wheel movements are useless and not customizable. The wheel is too sensitive, it's like that iPod wheel. I don't care that the mouse wheel doesn't have bumps like the older models, I actually got used to that. It's a shame that none of the new buttons can be remapped to other functions. (Can't you tell I'm a button freak?)

And finally, I couldn't map that Backspace key to any of the mouse buttons. That is why I kept the version 4 software around even though Intellipoint version 5 was teh hawtness. But though the problem isn't fixed in version 6, there's a workaround. When using that version, set that 5th button to "Gaming Toggle". This new function allows you to define any keyboard sequence (multi-key press up to 16). Unfortunately I have to set up the key sequence on every boot, but it's no biggie.

I mentioned that laser. I could probably strap it on a frickin' shark and make it lethal. Turns out that the laser is forcing Microsoft to halt the shipments of this mouse in Japan, according to their own press release:

2006 年 12 月 22 日 (Japan)
製品に関するお知らせ: 「Microsoft(R)Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000」、および 「Microsoft(R)Presenter 3000」一時出荷停止のお知らせ

　マイクロソフト株式会社 (本社：東京都渋谷区) は、プレゼンター機能付き ワイヤレス レーザー マウス「Microsoft(R)Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000」(2006年 12 月 1 日発売) および レーザー ポインタ付きプレゼンター「Microsoft Presenter 3000」(2006年 12 月 8 日発売) について、日本国内で販売する消費財を対象とした消費生活用製品安全法の定める携帯用レーザー応用装置技術基準の適合の確認に向け、両製品の出荷の一時停止をいたします。（省略）

Didn't Microsoft already test this laser with conformance to the Japan Portable Laser Technology Standard? Well it still meets (does not exceed) "Class 2 Laser Product" standards (IEC 60825-1 2001/08). According to the ITMedia article, the government urged the stoppage, and Microsoft complied, although they want to resume selling (a fully compliant version?) in Spring 2007.

Just this topic caused me to look up laser safety. Please, if you have this mouse, do not look at it with your remaining eye.

(edit: Added photo courtesy link)

Back into Aba games: Titanion and the MTV interview with Kenta Cho

(tags game, Windows, open-source, freeware, shmup, interview, English)

Kenta Cho (aka "Saba" or 長健太) of Aba Games released Titanion last month, an open-source high-quality Windows shmup in the style of Galaga crossed with Mushihime-sama. I've got to say that it comes pretty close to dethroning my other favorite game from Aba games, Parsec47. Almost, but not quite. But other people who love that Cave feeling of disappearing bullets when you turn up the tension should download this immediately. Cho mashes the idea of antagonizing your enemy (instead of the other way around) with a "capture beam", into releasing lovely oh so 2000s danmaku curtain bullet fire, while creating a level memorizable blast fest. He even adds a hit rate stat, something that Galaga fans should appreciate. This is another masterpiece that should attract the "Classic" and "Modern" shmupper alike.

But the big meat of this post is the linkage to the Kenta Cho interview in English by MTV Japan and reporter Stephen Totilo (thanks insert credit). Look for "Multiplayer: Best Of The Rest, 2006 ? The Kenta Cho Interview" on date "12.18.06" (2006/12/18) for the text and video (click on "click here to see the footage", if this link doesn't take you there). A good quote: "I create the games that I want to play. And if some people want to enjoy my games, I give my game and code to those people." (emphasis mine)

I think in the video they were hinting to Cho about that hobbyist level Xbox 360 game development environment called XNA Game Studio Express. I think what they wanted to say is that perhaps he could start writing games there, if not at the commercial level. I don't see it being likely, and I'm not just saying that because of the interview.

Have you seen how he produces his games lately? Most of them are created with the programming language D by Digital Mars and utilizes OpenGL and SDL, two open-source frameworks for graphics and music/sound, respectively. I go into more detail in "PSP got rRootage" and "Geometry Wars knockoffs hit the PC". None of this stuff is supported by Microsoft's Xbox 360 tools. I don't doubt that he can go back to "archaic" C++ and program whatever he wants, it's just that I think he likes working with and evangelizing D. (BTW, D hasn't reached "1.0" status yet, but just like Cho's games reach maturity at "0.2", it's no big deal.)

I was totally surprised to see him being interviewed in English. Do they give him that fawning level of respect in Japanese? I hope so.

The fate of Japanese: Christmas

(tags Japan, anime, Christmas, otaku, ヲタク, criticism)

Christmas is an economic event in Japan. It's also brings lots of chicken, and for me, "with my waifu" pictures. In an email I got a bunch of photo-expose links about how fellow anime/moe character fanatics are celebrating their Christmas 2006. So many about the same thing: "with my waifu" pictures: a display showing your favorite anime/moe character, and in front, a glass of champagne, a wing of chicken, and perhaps a cake or cookies, optionally surrounded by moe figures.

WTF is up with that?!? Christmas does not mean chicken, people?!? Oh well, Japan, Japan.

I tried to emulate this behavior, but I got the wrong date and custom. See if you can figure the 7 things wrong here:

1. No chicken.
2. No champagne.
3. No wine glass.
4. No cakes.
5. No figures.
6. It's daytime.
7. It's not Christmas, New Years, or Valentine's Day.

Okay this is not fun anymore. Instead of obviously lonely single males doing their Christmas offering to their 2d lover (how come they only pour a glass for themselves and not to their significant other?!), please send me a picture of a woman otaku (fujoshi?!) doing the same type of thing. Or do they do something different?

And just today I was reading the BBC about how Japan's population will be decreasing significantly in the coming decades.

Ack I need to get a grip. I'd be in the action too if I had a bottle of champagne around.

Sudoku comes to the iPod, but not Japan

(tags ipod, game, Sudoku, license)

I was excited to hear that Sudoku came to the iPod, according to Kotaku. It's not like I keep that iTunes on the advertisement page so I didn't get the memo. But unfortunately, because Sudoku is trademarked in Japan, that Sudoku game (which was probably not made by a Nikoli Sudoku licensee) didn't make it over here. Ah well, I didn't think control with that scroll wheel would be any fun. Heck I'm not even playing the Majjong game right now because of the control.

December brings Karashima's "Life Goes On (Live)"

(tags Japanese pop, Midori Karashima, live, DVD region 2, telephone card, anime)

While on lunch break today, I saw Japanese contemporary/pop music artist Midori Karashima (辛島美登里) on live digital satellite TV. Whenever December comes around, I think of "Silent Eve" (「サイレント･イブ」), which is her breakaway hit from 1990. I suppose she was on a TV special because she's symbolic of Christmas love songs, just like George Michael's "Last Christmas".

Did I mention I am a Midori Karashima fan? I'm a card carrying member of her fan club, Greenfields.

Recently, it seems she switched online shops. In fact, just last week I was able to pick up her latest (only?!) live DVD and concert telephone cards, from the online shop Gyoen Market (株式会社ＭＳエンタテインメント ギョエンマーケット).

Am I ever going to see her in concert? One of these days... maybe next time she comes over to the Kansai area?

For this post, I looked her up in Wikipedia for the first time. I didn't remember that she sang an opening theme song "Egao wo sagashite" (「笑顔を探して」) for the (big hit manga converted to) anime Yawara! just before her big break. Here's the September 1990 8cm single, which I amazingly found within 5 minutes in my room:

Heh, my favorite non-anime artist had some humble beginnings in anime. Ha.

Movie magic: Animal Crossing: The Movie (劇場版「どうぶつの森」); bought The Sims 2

(tags movie, Animal Crossing, Japan, character goods)

I wasn't planning on watching Animal Crossing: The Movie (劇場版「どうぶつの森」), even though I picked up the uchiwa last summer. On a whim I bought the official fan book for the movie (shown below) because of the included vinyl DS Lite pouch and there was section interviewing the voice actors and actresses. Who voices the main character, "Ai"? Only the seiyuu goddess, Yui Horie (堀江由衣). I'm there d00d.

So I went to my favorite movie theater for the very first showing on opening day. There were people waiting to get in the theater line, but as I figured out later, it wasn't a full house. Since this was a kids' movie, families and packs of pre-teens youngsters filled the seats.

As it was a kids' movie, it was very cute kawaii. But it was also vapid, illogical and unmemorable. It's not as bad as The Wizard (Super Mario Bros. 3 promotional movie, I also watched this one in the theater, ugh). In the beginning I kept wondering what plot device was going to move the story, since the game is so open-ended. Thankfully the movie makers designed to run with their own ideas. The central theme was finding one's own dream ("cherry-pie" in the movie), even if through working on other projects (Tom Nook! and one more), which properly ties into the game.

Of course, all of the default animal cast, music, and even dialogue (e.g. the initial cab ride in) from the game was faithfully rendered (and thankfully not overused). But there were some surprises. That K.K. Slider (とたけけ) part is a riot. With a potential cast of hundreds from the game, they missed some of my favorites, but I was satisfied with the kawaii cat character "Bouquet". But the friendly affection between "Ai" and "Sally" is the rewarding (and frustrating!) part of the movie.

So will this movie sell more DS systems or Animal Crossing games? I doubt it. I think the movie relies more on the kawaii cuteness and unique personality of the characters, whereas the game would give you a town full of animals and ask you to babysit them. Face it, you don't write letters to your townfolk for camaraderie, you do it to keep them in your town so that you can grab their furniture. Also the movie was aimed at the pre-teen girl, whereas the game would appeal to the kid in all of us. I don't think this would motivate people over the age of 14 to start playing the game.

And at the end of the movie, there was a tantalizing message: "See you on the Wii". Who couldn't see this game series continue onto the Wii? But this is the first time I've heard it from an "official" source.

Next post on this topic will be about how I got the ticket and a character goods photo-expose report.

As an aside, I was able to pick up the English version of The Sims 2 for PC (as The Sims 2 Holiday Edition) for cheaper than 3000 yen, w00t. Finally I can explore this Animal Crossing-like game, and maybe figure out for myself if that Will Wright (this game's designer and the current game designer hawtness) is any good.

Over the hump

(tags game, GameBoy Advance, Dual Screen, PlayStation 2)

Despite the "Akihabara" posts I have been playing some mainstream games. I just want to record them here before I forget:

I did finish one scenario of Princess Princess - Watashitachi no Abunai Houkago (プリンセスプリンセス - 私たちの危ない放課後), after an annoying  trial of bad end, restart, bad end, restart. It's not bad, but I gotta finish this quick before the last anime DVD comes (and my enthusiasm wanes).

Let me not forget that I picked up Brain Age, the US version of that Dr. Kawashima created DS game. For the Sudoku. I must admit that writing out the numbers is more intuitive. The ability to write all the number as a scratch is better as well. However, I am still used to double tapping to highlight numbers and also unlimited undo. I'm passing these at jet speed.

Lastly, I'm trying to get back into Sword of Mana (新約聖剣伝説). I already broke open the GameFAQ since it's not really that fun. At Sofmap there's the DS version of the series Children of the Mana at 2000 yen, but maybe it's not worth it.

Japan's 1Seg: Digital TV on PC

(tags television, Japan, PC, hardware)

While in Akihabara, my partner in crime Mr. Alvin showed up and took me on a whirlwind tour of his playground: the PC hardware stores. The target: a USB 2.0 digital TV tuner for the new 1Seg (ワンセグ), which is Japan's free digital television broadcast format, mainly for mobile devices. Unfortunately the desired tuner was sold out all over. After scoping more stores than I could count (and my mental map of Akiba turned inside out), we finally found found one copy, his copy. As we were exiting that store, we overheard some other d00ds saying "it's gone!" Ha.

Lucky for me, he let me borrow it for evaluation. I'm probably one of last ones to jump onto digital TV, so I don't know diddly. Plus I don't watch much Japanese television, if any. Probably I've clocked more minutes watching Japanese swiped shows on YouTube than through my analog TV in the last year.

The above picture is a sample of the quality and service: near QVGA size images, channels and TV program names available for checking, subtitling. With this software for this particular tuner, you can record videos for timeshifting. Maybe I'm not with the times, but this is pretty cool. Unforutunately, it sounds like there's some pretty hard DRM on this thing. The USB tuner doubles as a hardware dongle, etc. Oh well.

Acutally, from my apartment, I have no problem getting the 8 channels shown above. I had to put the extra antenna at a high location (the top of my rack), but didn't have to go outside with it. Unfortunately for Mr. Alvin, he couldn't use it in his room or veranda. But he could get Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) on the first try with a better antenna. Some guys have all the luck.

I had the idea of watching more Japanese TV so I could improve my Japanese listening and vocabulary. I have been listening to too many animes and game dialogs. This 1seg may be in my shopping basket before long, if I don't tire out watching Japanese commercials. Boy they are strange and entertaining.

Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo and Danny "Stormtrooper in Tokyo" Choo

(tags figure, photo-expose, blog, convention, Tokyo, purchase)

Well I finally sit myself in front of the keyboard to type out my thoughts on the Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo, but luckily I found Danny "Stormtrooper in Tokyo" Choo's impressive photo-expose blog posts (Bishoujo Figures, Papermoon Dolls) of the event. So instead of boring you with my droning text, I implore you to just jump to his site and gawk at his higher quality photos.

BFC2006 was nestled in Kamata, which is conceptually speaking between (Japan Railways) Shinagawa station and Haneda Airport in Tokyo. It's not near the main "otaku" convention halls, Tokyo Big Sight (Comic Market) or Makuhari Messe (Tokyo Game Show). The building was Ota City Industry Plaza. I totally forgot that I was here in 2004 for the Hakurei Jinjya Reitaisai Zun/Shanghai Alice Event (2004/4/1). The draw was official licensed pre-built (as opposed to hobby/garage kit) figures of recent anime and games, either for sale or for demonstration.

I attended the event in order to buy the Yujin Rozen Maiden "Suiseiseki and Souseiseki" set, which I will review later. The only other figure that I wanted to get was the Kotobukiya Moetan figure convention-only set which was a cheap 1000 yen. I didn't know about it though, so I missed out.

I was disappointed with the size of the event as well, only about 10 booths, but the event still had hundreds if not (low) thousands of people. Most booths were marred with (intentional?) poor lighting, the buy-it-now atmosphere and sold out signs (完売!). But the PaperMoon Special Exhibition area was the only place that had a convention atmosphere with proper lighting.

I'm actually in one of Choo's Papermoon Dolls photos waiting to get inside the space, though I didn't meet him and I didn't see any obvious Stormtroopers. As a candid shot, I don't think I look too bad (not otaku enough?), but I wanna look like I'm having fun, so here I am:

I'm telling you the bunny suit figure really kills me. Ha. ^_^;

That PaperMoon Special Exhibition was a surprise and it really made the trip worthwhile. This level of figures must be out of reach for the casual hardcore, so to be able to take pictures of these sub-million yen figures was exciting. Personally I'm satisfied with the anime look (especially the painted eyes). The hair is an excellent touch. This corner of the exhibit seems to be the newer section, which was maid dress-heavy. Must be that maid cafe boom. The other areas had some figures from older anime series and the difference in quality (figure technology?!) was discernable.

I didn't spend all my time at the PaperMoon area, but I went there 3 times. Ha. As for the rest of the booths:

The Milestone booth was selling that Monsieur Bome's Dead or Alive Kasumi figure series for about 2000 yen (50% off) per color variation but blue is so played.

There was a ton of Suzumiya Haruhi series figures at the Atelier-sai booth, and yes I didn't go for the Pink Bunny Suit Mikuru. To Heart 2 and Fate/Stay Night stuff was also in full effect. That Saber swimsuit with penguin figure is cute compared to her serious look in other figures.

Another booth, CM Corporation, had a huge line for purchases of the limited edition Mai Hime Otome figures. I felt sorry for them because most of them had to wait outside, and they probably waited over an hour or two while other booths had much better line speed.

My favorite booth had to be the Good Smile Company, because they had that Pangya Arin figure and a Pieces Pieces figure that was totally cute but with more skin showing that I would have liked (for a purchase). Actually the latter reminded me of my own Sugar figure (「ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー 1/1スケール コールドキャスト完成品 - シュガー」，see below) because of the color scheme, white, lavender, and purple.

A neighboring booth, Solid Theater, had the "rocket" take on Arin in three different colors. A little too sexy for purchase yo. I'm more of a moe fan, no really.

I was glad that Happinet and 3D Design Figure are continuing the Ichigo Mashimaro (苺ましまろ) excitement but really this Ana Coppola figure is too big (30cm?) and too expensive (13000+ yen). Isn't this the size of that New Super Bros. Mario "Mario" figure? The lack of mouth reminds me of those smaller Pinky:st figures, which I am avoiding. Besides, wasn't it Matsuri-chan the one with the cat ear cap in the manga? IM figures, I got 'em but I skipped this one.

I consoled myself with just taking snaps of upcoming and already released figures. Most other guys also had cameras at the ready. I filled my memory cards, heh. But alas my consumer digital camera doesn't compare to real cameras. In fact, the quality is closer to cell phone cameras, which depresses me to no end. Should I spend at least a thousand dollars on a camera? I can feel the pull but it's out of the question for now.

Though most of the convention was about bishojo figures, there were some other non-bishojo figures like the upcoming Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 game) set by Kotobukiya. But I didn't waste my precious memory on that.

One more post on BFC2006, sure.

I'm going to spend some more time at Danny Choo's website. On many levels (English/Japanese integration, navigation, photo-expose, foreigner in Japan, Star Wars Stormtrooper cosplay!), it's an inspiring and educational way of doing a professional-level hobby blog. Then again, as a former Amazon Website Manager Stormtrooper at Microsoft (!), it's not much of a surprise at all.

You just wanna appreciate the figure: Figure "Mikuru Asahina (Bunny Suit)" (limited edition "White")

(tags figure, sexy, anime, purchase, telephone card)

What was that Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo? I'm still not going to go into it totally right now, but here's a sample. BTW, if you don't like sexy plastic figures, feel free to skip this post.

But before I go totally horn dog on ya, I wanna hit you with the cuteness first, one doll admiring another:

Here I removed the head of the figure in order to remove the plastic protecting the "hair" from the "body".

What is this "head" and "figure"? It is "Mikuru Asahina [Bunny Girl]" (～涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱～ＰＶＣ製塗装済完成品 『1/6 朝比奈みくる バニーガール』) sculpted by ??? (no sculptor credits?!?) and sold by Atelier-sai (（株）アテリエ彩). There is an official page for the figure, mentioning vital statistics such as the 1/6 scale (26 cm!) and over-15 ages and of course price. I ordered the Chara-Ana Limited Edition "White" version because I like white over red and black and it just came today.

Mikuru Asahina (み・み・みらくる♪みっくるんるん♪) is the toki wo kakeru shojo/time-traveling sexy mascot from the 2006 popular anime/book Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱). The voice actress for Mikuru is Yuko Goto (後藤邑子), which I repeatedly mention because I'm a voice actress fan.

Before I actually show you the whole figure, I want to show another Haruhi related item, the telephone card set from Animate. I knew from the popularity that there would be some telephone cards, but I didn't expect to be tens of them. Over the summer, a couple of magazines such as Megami Magazine and G's Magazine and a new one called Heroines had so many to order, that I gave up on trying to collect them all. But this one from Animate summarizes my approach to the series. Mikuru and Bunny Suit FTW.

So I've successfully pushed this part of the post off the screen.

Now please enjoy "Mikuru Asahina (Bunny Girl)".

4.5 stars out of 5. Then again I always fall for the bunny suit. It's not perfect because the hair has some discoloration. For more explicit photo-expose, please visit Moeyo or eg or kansaitei.

I think my room was already "can't invite visitors over" way before this post, but I suppose this cements the situation.

Just a wack old thought: Bell Biv Devoe interview track on the "WBBD-Bootcity!" album plays in my head: "[y]ou just wanna appreciate the figure. But what's a cut on a woman without a pump on her feet? [laughs] ... Put a pump on there to cut up the figure." Fine words from 1990, eminently relevant.

At that Bishojo Figure Convention 2006 Tokyo, they were selling one more color variation of this figure: Pink. P-I-N-K. Exclusive only for this convention. I didn't pick it up because I ordered the white one months in advance. Bah.

There will be one more Mikuru figure (waitress and gun version) from the same makers, but I think I have enough Mikuru to tide me over.

(edit 2006-12-26: added the kansaitei link)

If I could find a way to impel paranormal powers to ignite in ones body enableing them to do incredible feats, I would be ecstatic to the point of bliss.

(tags book, science fiction, short story)

Reading Raymond Chen's "The wisdom of seventh graders: What to do with a time machine"  (part 1 and 2) reminded me that I have been reading a lot of time travel stories as of late.

I bought the book The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time edited by Barry N. Malzberg. The title of the book pretty much gets you started on thinking why the book isn't the best. I don't recommend it for purchase because I just don't find it stimulating. Well there maybe one or two short story gems, like "The Battle of Long Island" by Nancy Kress and "On the Nature of Time" by Bill Prozini, because these stories reflect more about human nature than fantastic plot devices. But most of it didn't fill my "science is good for humanity" quota. Or maybe perhaps I want more wish fulfillment ala Back to the Future or Star Trek "time travel".

I think a really good short story (one page!) on "time travel" is Ted Chiang's "What's Expected of Us",  because it urges us to be hopeful.

The title of this post is shameless copied from a seventh grader's essay in Chen's post. I suppose this is the kind of time travel science fiction I want.

(edit: The Blogger software doesn't allow [sic] in the title, as in "If I could find a way to impel paranormal powers to ignite in ones body enableing [sic] them to do incredible feats, I would be ecstatic to the point of bliss.")

Rhythm Tengoku Appreciate

(tags Rhythm Tengoku, GameBoy Advance, game, rhythm)

I haven't said much about it, but I've been playing Rhythm Tengoku over the last couple of months during my commute. It has really changed my perspective on music. Before I was a music slob (not snob, because that would imply I think I know something about music) but now I'm a music slob that listens to the drums, too.

Anyway I now regularly visit the game's "coffee shop" in order to know which mini-game is going to hold a "perfect" competition. I'm clearing a lot of mini-game at high-level or even perfect. I feel the healthy stress of trying to get a perfect on mini-game. 2 minutes of no-miss, it's scary. I even play around with the drum studio just to practice the beats of my favorite songs.

I never miss an opportunity to p1mp this game to other people. "You have a DS? GBA? Try this game!". The save game system is one person per cartridge though, so I can't really lend the cartridge to other people.

PostgreSQL database fixing up

(tags database, programming, PostgreSQL, SQLite, blog)

I've been gaining some confidence with databases using SQLite, so I started to revive my PostgreSQL sandbox. Since I am also trying to get into Ruby on Rails I am also adding unique keys to each of the tables I used in my old blog. I'm learning database "best practices de jour" through trial and error. pgAdmin is helping me visualize what is acutally in the database.

I upgraded from PostgreSQL 8.0 to 8.1 but it seems like 8.2 will be just around the corner (whoa already released yesterday but no japanese version yet, WTF is in the Japanese version?). Since moving from minor releases requires a dump and restore, it's annoying.

I had the idea of converting one of my database tables from EUC to UTF8 because Rails doesn't do EUC FTW, but this post is messing me up because there's unconvertable characters. Funny that, a post about a corrupted email corrupts my blog post.

Remember, Garbage In, Garbage Out.

Dijiko is the Akihabara Kanban Musume; Winter Garden

(tags anime, commercial, advertisment)

One last post to remind me that I was in Akihabara just two days ago. (Ack I wanna go back!)

Gamers has at least two big billboard signs, both of them sporting Dijiko, one of my favorite mascots. The newer one that I haven't seen before shows a Winter Garden (「ウィンタガーデン」) anime screen shot.

Winter Garden is supposed to be another Dijiko anime but the animation style isn't so off-the-wall. Personally I like the change in the character design. It reminds me of A Little Snow Fairy Sugar.

Back streets of Tokyo: the retro alley

(tags game, retro, purchase, ECsite, failure)

Before that Tokyo trip, I found my Yar's Revenge / Asteroids / Pong GBA cartridge. On the bus I played Yar's Revenge, game type 3 and it was really fun until the stupid difficulty level ramped up too high. Hitting the fast moving tempest thing with the dumb missle thing is pretty cool, especially with game type 3 because your "fly" has to collect enough "nectar" and then go all the way back to its base (left side) in order to make the tempest-destroying missle. When I really think about it, Yar's Revenge was the best game on the Atari 2600 for me. I can't recall the others that I wanted to play. (Maybe Vanguard, ooh, shmup).

Then I got to Akihabara and checked out the import shops. I bought the Capcom Collection 2 for the Xbox at Messe Sanoh Chaos. I'm finding that the Capcom Collection 2 just isn't as much fun. I wanted that side-scrolling fighting fun but Captain Commando has cheap difficulty. I wanna play those other Capcom side scrollers like Alien vs Predator, or even the Konami-made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ah, arcade memories. There are a bunch of games I never heard of, so it's not likely I'll even try them. Heh.

I only know two import stores in Akihabara, Messe Sanoh Chaos and Game Hollywood. Perhaps there are more, I want to know. The latter has the selection but also has the outrageous prices. It seems the former took over Trader's turf. In fact, MSC is on the first floor while Game Hollywood in the next building but on the 5th floor and less visible. I did buy the Gamecube (after-market modded) VGA cable from GH though, no problems there. That little alley is just retro in my mind.

I almost bought a gang load of retro titles on GBA re-release such as the Legend of Zelda (US), Zelda II (US), Activision Atari Anthology (US) and Spy Hunter / Super Sprint (US). There was also the Unreal anthology, the PC FPS collection of Unreal, Unreal 2, Unreal Tournament, and Unreal Tournament 2004 in one box (2 DVDs). OMG OMG hyperventilating. There was even Starcraft there so I could do my own research. Luckily I exited the store to think about all of this (because shoot, I probably have a version or two of each game already) and I promptly forgot. I swear I would have probably have 5 minutes of fun with River Raid and Pitfall before giving up and putting back the Sudoku.

Seriously, going retro is only fun for the fumes of nostalgia.

Quotes capture my feelings

(tags quotation, blog, game, collecting)

On blogging:

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Mark Twain

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

Arthur Schopenhauer

If you believe everything you read, better not read.

Japanese Proverb

No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you'll see why.

Mignon McLaughlin

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we have of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.

Quentin Crisp

As I grow older, I regret to say that a detestable habit of thinking seems to be getting a hold of me.

H. Rider Haggard

Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, and lessens the frictions of social contacts.

Clare Booth Luce

They always talk who never think.

Matthew Prior

On collecting (games, anime, goods, stuff, etc):

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

Mary Wilson Little

Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you--if you don't play, you can't win.

Robert Heinlein

I just need enough to tide me over until I need more.

Bill Hoest

Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.

John Ruskin

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

Dave Barry

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.

Bertrand Russell

My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.

Penn Jillette

(with linkie thanks to The Quotations Page)

Visited Kamata for Bishojo Figure Convention Tokyo 2006, stayed for the Akihabara

(tags convention, Tokyo, figure, Akihabara)

I took the overnight JR bus from Kobe to Tokyo, in order to attend the Bishojo Figure Convention Tokyo 2006. More on this later.

I couldn't resist making this an Akihabara trek as well.

One of the things that struck me was the proliferation of free maps. I don't know for sure, but I don't think they had so many before.

Also since the new Yodobashi Camera and Cross Field building opened up, the area seems to have changed into an entertainment area for all ages, instead of just for the subculture or even the electronic fan. Which means there are actually places to eat around there now.

But that doesn't mean that there aren't anime fans who will dance, scream and fist-pump in time to singer/seiyuu hopefuls on sidewalks, belting out covers to anime songs playing on portable tape decks. Akihabara, nice.