fear the digital contents: iTunes/iPod misbehaving

(tags music, iTunes, ipod)

I was about to rip Apple a new one, because the games I bought for my iPod more than a year ago didn't sync. I think it had something to do with a firmware update that I've been prolonging. But later on this week it fixed itself. It probably had to do with me manually authorizing this computer.

Moving Ballads: Midori Karashima and Carrie Underwood

(tags music, Midori Karashima, Japan, USA, country)

This week I swung by the Tower Records Kobe to pick up my anticipated Bouquet Garni (ブーケガルニ) CD by Midori Karashima (辛島美登里). Unfortuately it wasn't prominently displayed in the eye-catch racks. :-/ And yeah, I already like the new track (no. 4) "dakishimite" 「抱きしみて」. And the lovely revised version of "anata no ai ni naritatai" 「あなたの愛になりたい」, is an update of the song from her 1997 album. It totally reminds me of my spelunkering and puttering around Tokyo at the time. Geez, 1997.

While I'm talking about her, I may as well mention that I found the YouTube video of her song for the Yawara! television anime, called "Egao o Sagashite" 「笑顔を探して」. I never watched Yawara! though, even though I got the CD single. 8cm CD! Geez, 1990.

I drifted over to the other half of the store which was foreign music section. I checked out some favorites, but Carrie Underwood's (newest?) CD stood out. I passed on Trisha Yearwood, sorry! I'm now entranced by her rendition of "I Told You So". I first heard this song through Randy Travis, which has to be my favorite from him. Geez, 1988.

Idolm@ster step 3: Play one round, "Haruka"

(tags Idolmaster, game, Xbox 360, games-of-chance)

Okay so I "finished" one scenario with the good (normal?) ending. Haruka is happy. I, on the other hand, had to replay and restart from save points to avoid bad results, which makes me frustrated.

The last part of the game is essentially roulette. Infuriatingly difficult roulette. Luckily I was able to push this last production to a "Success", but just barely.

So I scored a B- for the whole thing. B-! Grumble grumble. I thought I was doing pretty good. But I didn't get my idol to A rank. Maybe I'm not taking enough risks? Or since this is the first time through, everything is hard?

Well this time, since my Producer rank went from 1 to 2 I can now produce two idols at the same time. I couldn't pick that from the start. I bet you if I go through the game again I can pick three! Bet you can't buy that for a million dollars.

I can't believe I've been playing for a month and this is all the progress I have. "52 weeks" doesn't seem like a lot of time when I was mainly putting my idol through Auditions. When could she train? When could I get some heartful communication with her? As it is, it seems pretty impossible to excel in all these areas. In fact, there just wasn't enough time for interaction to get to know about "Haruka". It was just "Ohayo gozaimasu" "Audition, hai!" "Audition WIN!" "What's my idol rank now?". :-(

The last song I used for my Auditions was the signature "Go My Way", which is still pretty fun to listen to. In fact I can see the dance in my head pretty much, given that I've done this for Audition/TV about 9 times.

I can only get the special audition types if I go online. Some auditions are one winner only so if somebody else shows up, it's guaranteed I'll lose. There are not many newbies playing this game now.

Yes, one of the auditions is called "Make Dog". Haha. This is a easy free win for those who have a win rate of 20% or lower, but you don't want to be in that place, right?

So there it is. I think I spent about 13 hours on this game, but a month realtime, and it doesn't feel like I've many much progress. In fact, I haven't gotten any Achievement Points out the whole thing! Well I still have 9 other idols, pairs and triples to master and other stuff. Maybe if my producer rank goes up it will become easier?

Right now I dread playing these roulette games and timing games that don't give me a chance to practice. And truth be told, buying the DLC doesn't seem very useful at all, especially since I may want to turn off the "TV sessions" to speed this game up. And DLC stuff is only visible during TV sessions. :-(

I've already started my second season, but I'll save that for Step 4.

Release! Really watching Card Captor Sakura DVD now

(tags Card Captor Sakura, anime, DVD region 2)

I really mean it now. I'm going to watch Card Captor Sakura on DVD. "Release!"

Recently I've come across bunches of people naming Card Captor Sakura as their favorite anime of all time. Okay okay.

So I started from the beginning to make sure I got into the mood of the anime. Unfortunately I kept on comparing it to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (魔法少女リリカルなのは)! I was disappointed with the Nanoha second season, so I really must excise Nanoha from my memory before it taints CCS. I suppose this "magic girl" mystique with the revolving halos or magic circles and books and cards is an anime tradition that extends before CCS.

Trading Figure Collection? TFC Shooting Game Historika

(tags shmup, figure, 200802)

Deeply nested among figures and robot models in the Miyazawa Model Convention 2007 Fall report part 3 by Moeyo Akibajin was this gem. "Trading Figure Collection Shooting Game Historika SP" (「TFC シューティングゲームヒストリカSP」, FIG-COL-0167) by Yujin Figure.

According to the ECsite AmiAmi, this collection includes ships from Gradius V , R-Type, Darius and Gradius 2. I was hoping that red one was a RayStorm ship but alas. Check out the detailed pictures at AmiAmi. Even the Options are shown prominently. Sweet.

Wonder Momo dress DLC

(tags Idolmaster, cosplay, video, seiyuu, game)

I was discussing Idolm@ster DLC prices on #insertcredit and "Cortana" mentioned the "Wonder Momo" costume was worth my while. Intrigued because this person bought the Ace Combat 6 DLC Idolm@ster "Miki" plane, I looked it up. It's in the fourth catalog as the third "Extend" costume, for 1000 points.

I had no idea why this was included, but then a video url showed up. Halko Momoi (桃井はるこ) does a rendition of "Wonder Momo-i".

I couldn't stomach the audio in this video, but it was interesting and cute nontheless.

Still I was clueless, but as always the Wikipedia (en, ja) was useful in telling me that Namco released an arcade game (1987) and the corresponding PC-Engine port (1989) called Wonder Momo. Hm, a beat-em-up where she kicks high and she has to watch out for fan-service camera kozou (カメラ小僧). And your boss in Idolm@ster claims to have managed Wonder Momo in a previous life. It's a tenuous connection strictly for the old-school Namco fans, but at least they aren't forgetting their heritage.

Idolm@ster DLC sale part 2

(tags game, Xbox 360, cosplay, bishoujo, purchase, Idolm@ster)

Idolm@ster has a second DLC item sale, "Platinum Collection Celebration Part 2" (「アイドルマスター」のプラチナコレクション発売記念第２弾！！), starting from 11-28 to 12-24. See part 1. This time, 17 items are discounted. It's Mr. Driller cosplay time! Of course, we must tabulate the "savings".

As you can see, you save 2650 Xbox Live Points if you buy all of the discounted items next month. Or, rather, coming from my perspective, the sale items will cost 2450 XBLP.

I have yet to get through enough Idolm@ster to figure out if I need the first sale's items, and time is running out. Is it going to be a Idolm@ster weekend? haha.

At the same time, the eleventh catalog is maid dress (meido). But the stockings are FAIL. They should be plain white. Yet again Dengeki Online with the best pictures:

(photo from 「「アイマスカタログ」第11号のEXTENDはカラフルなメイド服！」2007-11-22)

I just noticed this pose is the same as the 8th catalog "China Dress" goods. Miki again is very kawaii.

Firefox just got better: Tree Style Tab

(tags browser, Firefox, customize)

For years I have been using Sleipnir just for the hierarchical tabs, but now Firefox has this functionality in multiple different ways. Earlier this month I started using Tab Kit, but it was just a disorganized mess because it was trying to handle both the tree-view and the normal tab list, with nonsensical grouping options and no manual rearranging. But then I found Tree Style Tab (ツリー型タブ), which is pretty much what I want. Hierarchical, manual tab group rearranging, fast. Now I will be opening Sleipnir less and Firefox more. Coupled with the del.icio.usBookmarks extension, the Session Manager extension and FEBE user setting/extension backup extension, I finally will enjoy Firefox more.

Over too quickly: Portal

(tags game, Windows, Portal)

I want to hate on Portal. It was over too quickly. The puzzles were mediocre at best. I didn't get a headache. The main character walks too damn slow.

I've already played the game 3 times and finished all of the bonus maps. The Achievements show I've completed 64%. Now I have to do the 6 puzzle maps 3 different ways, finish one minor Achievement, and then I'll be done.

I played this on my ol' Project Sugar (Windows XP, 2004 spec) and I had to turn off all the eye candy, play it on 640 by 480 mode, and turn off some background services. At least it was smooth most of the time.

I wonder if it is really hard to create maps that are fun and make sense. If Valve couldn't come up with more content given its multiple year development time, I wonder how effective the game community will be.

Finally joining the Portal hype

(tags game, Windows, FPS, Xbox 360, Idolmaster)

I started off this weekend in the Idolm@ster mood but a couple of hours with the Xbox 360 game leave me cold. Seriously. :-( "Haruka" is a winner but I can't tell if I'm winning or losing. Yes, I don't even feel like I'm making progress. Perhaps I've become more and more impatient.

So I'm buying Portal over Steam, right now. Single player FPS is what I've had the most fun over the last couple of months, and I love puzzle games. I guess I can't stand Mr. Alvin telling me about how much fun it is and me missing it.

Old man habits win the war: Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster)

Got up this lazy Saturday morning at around 0800. I quickly tested the buy link, and it was golden so I got my pre-order through. The end of February will be posing madness! :^)

The 2ch thread (permanent copy) showed that the service started working again at around 0400. Good I didn't try to stay up that long. One puzzling thing is that they mentioned a pre-order count. I don't see a number anywhere. The last person's comment is especially appropriate: 「昨日仕事休んで挑む必要なかったwwww」 but I wanted to take a day off anyway.

Idolm@ster Birthday Goods "Miki" Figure Pre-Order Battle: YOU FAIL IT

(tags ECsite, figure, game, Idolmaster, failure)

Don't bother reading the whole thing... I lost the battle. :-(

----boring details----

1755: I prep my browsers for the online purchasing. Turn off the proxies. Turn off the bittorentting.

1758 and 40 seconds: I start a Rubik's Cube session.

1759 and 52 seconds: I almost finished my Rubik's Cube solve, but last minute panic makes me lose my concentration. Just one more move, but my hand starts moving toward the mouse.

1800 and 1 second: My browser was sitting on the pre-order link, so I click it.

oh it's in my cart! ...waiting...

1815: Um, is this thing on? I try resetting my browser's proxy setting, sending a ping to the host, etc. No go.

1823: http://www.happinetonline.com/ is not responding. It's the proverbial "slashdotting". shop.765.jp/idolmaster which is the referring link is also down. :-(

1827: I start blogging this post to past the time in between pressing F5.

1833: let's see if 2ch have any other people complaining. I never use 2ch so I just do a search. Yup. Only one person gloating about it.

1845: Oh, i was able to get it into my cart and start putting in my billing info. But now it's not responding again. :-(

1904: Still not responding. From 2ch: 「無駄な一時間だった」 Yer. I'm wondering if I'm going to spend another hour on this. Heck, why not.

1914: I've already started a JNetCube session and finished two solves. Still no response from the browser windows. Some people are already "giving up", but that's not going to deter me.

1923: Response, billing info input, submit...! no still not responding.

2014: Response... no its down again.

2045: Billing requires you to put in the equivalent of a ZIP code but when it goes out to that server the session times out... Still pressing. Maybe I should have registered as a Happinet luser?

2110: getting tired of typing the same thing over and over. I tried to register, but it dies in the same way. Grr.

2122: It's teasing me now, because the cart display is fast, but the billing page is timing out

2132: Now it's totally dead again. Hm. I need to eat something. I've bookedmarked the "add to cart" and "become a member" in both browsers' link bar.

2136: 「ただ今、ハピネット･オンラインは大変混み合っています。」 An actual replacement message for the whole store is now up. Naw that's just the message for saying the servers are slagged and they've taken the whole store offline, muhhahah. Uhh. Now I can get something to eat.

Manabi Straight DVD 7: static pictures FTW

(tags anime, Manabi Straight, DVD region 2)

The seventh and final DVD for the anime Manabi Straight (まなびストレート) is a nice 30 minute Summer vacation episode. Summer is good for swimsuits (but school mizugi? ugh.) and onsen yukata, thank you. It's chronologically out of order, which makes this episode's cliffhanger scene pretty wierd. There is a lot of static picture panning. As far as an anime is concerned that's pretty terrible, but I love the quality of the pictures anyway.

Check out that zettai ryouiki, yeah right. This anime really flirts with skirts around the fan-service/panty shot. There are low angle scenes but never even a glimpse. I think the anime is better for it without. Then again, I'm commenting about naked leg shots and puni puni moe. :-p I could have all the panty shots I want if I bought the Manabi figures (Manabi airboard, Manabi & Mika blue and white, Mutsuki & Manabi blue and red), but strangely enough, I didn't buy them exactly for that reason.

Manabi Straight marks the last DVD series (anime or otherwise) I have actually bought and paid for. Perhaps I realized that my "stack" of unwatched DVDs is sickenly high, or that writing out my budget/expenditures (kakeibo, 家計簿) makes me re-evaluate purchase values, or last weekend's cleaning reminds me of the weight of tons of discs. No matter, Manabi Straight was fun, optimistic, kawaii cute, and surprising critical. In short, a good purchase.

I don't know how far this work goes, but for me, there is still the DVD bundle games to play (cleared: 1, 2. to go: 3, 4, 5, 6), the anime CDs to rip, the manga to read, the PlayStation 2 game to play, the ending animation's figure pictures to post, the telephone cards to enumerate, ...

Evil revisited: my second binder for Stick Posters

(tags stick poster, poster, anime, gal-ge, zettai ryouiki)

As I said, I was cleaning my bomb shelter and I unearthed my Stick Poster Collection binder (pictured left). I celebrated by buying a second binder. :-/ I forgot who did the cover for the right binder, but its one of those Leaf/AquaPlus illustrators, right? Zettai ryouiki FTW, rawr.

The second binder was marked down to 2000 yen. Basically I bought it for the inserts, because they DON'T fsckin' SELL refill inserts (at the shop). Where do I get refills?

Remember that Stick Posters (スティックポスター) are an AquaPlus invention that measure 182 mm by 515 mm (B3 paper size divided in half). On the same page, lots of interesting illustrations come out for the format. Personally I hope Stick Posters die a fast death, but it seem Mobile Suit Gundam will appear 2007-12-20, which will float this troublesome collectable a little bit more. Hm, do those Gundam heads go for paper? I thought they go for model kits and video game demos.

I will slowly posting pictures of my stick posters collection, so keep the label "stick poster" at the ready. Too bad my hand is not steady and my digi-cam is Sony quality.

Idolm@ster step 2: Strip the plastic and put it in

(tags Idolm@ster, game, Xbox 360)
(originally written 2007-11-07)

Listening to lovely Chiaki Takahashi's Asuza drama CD pushed me over the edge to open the game. I am going past the title screen! "Go my way" indeed. I have already completed the training week.

Though the game looks like text and stat adventure, it's really stressful on my reflexes and my Japanese reading ability. The first prompt was to read 3 different subtitles within 5 seconds. I must admit my Japanese reading skills are better than my speaking or listening, due to my manga and gal-ge. But, I must be pretty slow compared to a native speaker/reader, because I can barely get the "right" answer. Still I got a Perfect Communication one time (get all the subtitle selections right). The reflex games use the Xbox controller's colored buttons, which I haven't yet memorized. This reminds me of Jak and the mini-games that use Square, Triangle, Cross and Circle, or even Angelic Concert. This will take some practice.

But OMG the characters are moe kawaii!!! I know that I would be clearing this game multiple times, so instead of picking characters that I know about like "Asuza" (seiyuu Chiaki Takahashi) or "Iori" (seiyuu Rie Kugimiya), I picked the first girl, "Haruka" (seiyuu Eriko Nakamura, 中村繪里子). She's optimistic and energetic. I dressed her up in a "cute & girl" yellow strapless knee-high skirt with matching sunflower hair pin and angel wing boots. Though in the audition time she was wearing her regular training clothes, she wore the fancy getup on a TV video segment. Most of the photo-snaps I took during her video really look good, but she kept on tripping for no apparent reason. WTF. Later I recieved "angel wings" so I changed to a white dress with the wings attached. Wow, my idol angel.

You can only "save" 5 pictures. WTF. :-( I'm going to have to get a video capture card like Mr. Alvin says I would.

I checked the "worldwide" records, and there are some crazy dedicated people out there, as always. I now know that there are 1000 Achievement Points in this game.

The first time I did an "Audition", I myself got nervous, which was a weird feeling. It was only my "third day" and my idol was already going to audition for something? What did she practice and when? Also, Audition seems to be the online component, where you battle your reflex skills in a convoluted game of Vocal, Visual, Dance stat grab. I made this part of the game offline only for now. I don't fully understand it yet but I suspect I'm going to be spending a lot of time Auditioning.

Yes the game is cute and all but the interactive gaming part is not very addictive or fun because I don't understand the nuances of the Audition. I bet you this is what I feared, which could be the reason I didn't want to try it out sooner. This is going to be a work-like game for me.

edit 11-11: I seem to like blogging about Idolm@ster and other topics more than playing the actual game! :-/ Tonight I'm going to start playing some, but still I gotta blog about...

Idolm@ster step 1.9: "Azusa Miura" is Chiaki Takahashi is Tomoko Ishibashi

(tags idolm@ster, seiyuu, voice actor, game, CD)
(originally written 2007-10-07)

I don't boast my voice actress recognition skills because I don't have any. I can't pick out the difference between seiyuu A and seiyuu B if I don't have at least their names. It doesn't help when seiyuu change their name.

Take for instance, Tomoko Ishibashi (石橋朋子). I loved to hear her voice Mizuki from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. I looked her up in the Japanese Wikipedia and her career seemed to be stalled in 2005. But an #insertcredit regular, kyouji, pointed out that the English Wikipedia version of the page linked Tomoko Ishibashi to Chiaki Takashashi (たかはし智秋). Foreign Wikipedia editors FTW. So that woman that I considered the strange finger-point dancing sidekick in Aice5 is one of my class A favorite seiyuu. Huh.

When I figured that out a couple of weeks back, I first thought, ugh, I'm going to have to buy the Aice5 music, ha ha. But no, the Idolm@ster works have plenty of Chiaki Takahashi. She is one of the regular hosts of the Idolm@ster Radio (アイマスレディオ):

(Pictures swiped from Geemaga blog: 「ゲーマガblog: アイマスレイディオ・舞台裏中継」)
(10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4)

I don't make time to listen to web radio so I bought her character CD instead:

She sounds just like the Tomoko Ishibashi I want to hear. WIN! I like most of the songs on this CD except that her singing seems a little coarse at the high end. For example, she did a cover of the PS2 game Final Fantasy XII song "Kiss me Good Bye". While her start sounds excellent, in the end I prefer Angela Aki's original version. She is killer great in dialogue, and the CD's drama parts had me melting. It also helps that my favorite tsundere voice Rie Kugimiya (釘宮理恵) guest stars on this CD.

And this also puts to rest who C.T. Veronica was in the duo Exige. I bought the Exige single because of Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実), but C.T. (Chiaki Takahashi) Veronica sang so good I wondered who this "gaijin" was. Hehe.

Still, learning that my "hero" has resurrected from a 2005 "death" is great. Now to find more of her work, on the cheep. More fun links: "elder sister Chiaki Takahashi info site" 「elder sister たかはし智秋さん情報サイト」.

What if I ripped my DVDs? (And how about a pony?)

(tags DVD region 2, DVD region 1, DVD region 3, computer, storage, hardware)

While cleaning up my totally disorganized cave, I contemplated ripping my DVDs. For my music, I don't even do FLAC just 192 Kbit CBR MP3s, so this whole excursion is out of character. But let's just calculate. I am assuming that if I rip the DVD, I can play it back on some software DVD player, with all the subtitles and niceties intact.

Let's say I had 400 of DVDs. WTF! I just realized I don't have a complete list of the DVDs I got. The CD (compact disc audio) situation is even worse. And I don't want to even think about all the game discs and other stuff I can't copy. :-(

One DVD holds at most 4.37 Gib (Gigabits SI notation). I suppose I have some dual-layer DVDs but let's skip that for now. I know I don't have more than 5 dual-sided DVDs, so I'll also skip that. So! I'm looking at 1.75 Tib of raw DVD data.

On 2007/08 I bought a 500 Gib hard drive for about 1_2800 yen. So without any redundancy it will cost me 4_5000 yen just to keep stuff I already have, but with more convenience. I assume that compression won't get me much because this is already lossy data. In terms of a 12-13 episode anime (in Japan), that's about 1.5 sets.

Would I want to RAID it? Probably, and at RAID 5. This would probably entailing buying another computer and buying cards/switch for Gigabit Ethernet, and budgeting 1_5000 yen per year for electricity. I would also wish to encrypt it. Or I was thinking of doing the single HDD swap trick with those fancy eSATA or "USB 2.0 to SATA" connections, which is risky, right?

Sounds expensive. I think I'll just let them sit in my cave right now. Or maybe I should get rid of some? :-/ I can't "beam them up" where I'm going.

Idolm@ster "Birthday Goods" series

(tags game, Idolm@ster, figure, ECsite)

The last time I bought the Idolm@ster limited edition game, I missed out on the concert (raffle) and the good looking Miki Xbox 360 faceplate. This time I'm determined to be up to date on these goods.

That means keeping a eye on the Official Goods Shop. While researching the last post about the upcoming L4U game, I stumbled across the latest of the "Birthday" series (「バースデー記念企画グッズ」シリーズ), which is this fabulous "HappyBirthday! Miki! 11.23" promotion (星井美希リミテッドドール)

Excellent! This "Miki Hoshii" posable figure has a really cute face. Idolm@ster is really about playing with figures, polygon or otherwise, isn't it? I don't like the hinges on my figures, though. I can't seem to mentally block that out.

This is a online shop promotion for the limited edition game bundled with the figure, which makes it 2_6040 yen. Thus, the figure itself is around 1_6000 yen plus. The company who makes the figure is none other than Mega Hobby, who makes the "Action Figure Collection" posable doll series. I did get the Tsukuyomi "Hazuki" AFC posable doll (AFC 「月詠-MOON PHASE-　葉月」) for about 1_5000 yen retail about a year back, so that makes the price... understandable?

Talk about overpriced useless crap. (/me orders two)

Actually, only 3000 of these sets will be available. Since Idolm@ster fans have money, lots of money, and this figure is more decent than the Azusa Miura figure, I expect that the pre-order system which starts 11/16 next friday 18:00 will crash and I will be robbed, again. Maybe I should take next Friday off, because a salaryman shouldn't be hitting refresh 16 times a second from the company network.

Idolm@ster time limit: 2008-02-28 "Live For You!"

(tags game, Idolm@ster, Xbox 360)

I better get started with Idolm@ster now. The next game Idolm@ster Live For You! (L4U, アイドルマスター ライブフォーユー！) is coming out 2008-02-28. That's like 111 days from now. At least the limited edition thing is not going to be a big box this time.

This time around it seems you get a 84 page pamphlet, anime DVD, and a sparkling sleeve with the case. Also as a shop incentive, you get a "new song download card" which allows you to buy the "first set of new music data!" for free, huh (「L4U!新曲第1弾配信データ」).

Thanks Senaka Otaroad blog.

Cube otaku? Conversation killer/starter

(tags rubik's cube, practice, Japanese)

My Japanese teacher introduced me to the Nakaji-kun article. However she rolls her eyes whenever we discuss the Rubik's Cube. I try to at least make it palatable by not discussing the technicalities, but about how I feel when I do the cube. You know, share my human experience, don't be a bore. It isn't working though. Last time, I asked her to give me a copy of the article and I decided to quickly change the topic. Still she explained a relevant phrase: 「たかがキューブ、されどキューブ」 == It's just a cube, but it's deep.

Sometimes when I'm cube-commuting, elderly people try to spring up a conversation with me. Its funny to hear in a roundabout way how Nakaji-kun gained the spotlight. The conversation quickly degrades to "which country did you come from", oh yeah.

I don't want to feel slow: Avoiding the right side initial blue cross

(tags Rubik's Cube, practice)

The initial step to solving the cube using the LBL/Fridrich method is assembling the edge pieces of the first layer, which makes a cross pattern. Beginners like me make this first layer the Blue side. I put the Blue side facing left because as a right hander, it should allow my right hand to place the pieces into position. I continue this orientation until I finish the second layer.

However I tried putting the blue cross on the right. Boy was that a new feeling of slow. Moving stuff around using my left hand showed I had some unconscious habits with the right side. I suppose it would better to face the blue cross on the bottom, because in the endgame all of the moves are on the top (white) face. (White is on the opposite side of the blue). Unforutnately I can't seem to remember the order of the colors, still.

For now I'm going to concentrate with the blue cross on the left.

Idolm@ster step 1.5: Remind myself to open the case

(tags Idolmaster, game)

See that Idolm@ster book there in the last post? Yes I'm making more progress. I'm dog tired though, so I'm not going further than that today.

I put the plastic case right next to my monitor so I can look at it every now and then. Oh, hey, I never realized this is a CERO C (ages 15 and up) game. Ehehehe.

(incf practice-cubes) ?

(tags Rubik's Cube, practice, Common Lisp)

According the article on Nakaji-kun, he has 20 cubes. I don't yet see the reason why you need more than a main cube and one backup. Do cubes have a lifetime? Actually I only have one cube right now, so maybe I should get one more? I recently bought another Speed Cubing Kit (SCK) as a backup. But, I need to readjust the screws and re-lubricate the main cube I got.

I recently subscribed to "THE ART OF RUBIK'S CUBE" blog who mentioned his favorite things about the SCK back in 2007-08. I now know the meaning of otona kai (大人買い) which means buying by the armful. If I want to buy by the armful I can head off to Toys R Us because they've got a sizable bunch in stock. He linked to a nice photo-expose of the SCK by Planet Puzzle (80 pictures). Now I can throw away these plastic boxes.

Off topic: (incf practice-cubes) is a statement in the Common Lisp programming language for increasing the count of practice-cubes variable by 1. Get your free Common Lisp tutorial here! SEO measures on "Common Lisp" "tutorial". Yes I've been reading the PDF of this 528 page Practical Common Lisp book on and off.

Idolm@ster step 1: Open the box

(tags game, Xbox 360, Idolm@ster)

I don't understand why I haven't played Idolm@ster within the month I got my Xbox 360. I mean, look at all the stuff I blog about. I should be all over this moe cosplay kawaii loli teen idoru anime-like (date-sim?) music dance manager-simulation game. I thought this weekend would be the weekend to start. The truth of the matter is I've got other hobbies (yer rite) and I rather "shoot things" than "train idols" right now. I dread watching uncanny valley polygons creepily rock back and forth to look life-like, and the stat-up treadmill of a sim.

But! I am slowly but surely moving forward. I explored the downloadable contents (DLC). I bought an Idolm@ster related CD (definately going to blog about this). I am scoping the Yahoo Auctions for anything I want and boy there are some.

I suppose I need to continue these small steps. Today I am taking the game case out of the box. (picture above) Tomorrow I might continue by unwrapping it from the plastic.

Regret Xbox 360: Faceplate

(tags Xbox 360, hardware)

I tried removing the faceplate of the Xbox 360, but it was a no go. The official documentation is at the Microsoft Help and Support as article KB907331, though this four step process doesn't alleviate my fears of snapping the faceplate into pieces.

Midori Karashima new album "Bouquet Garni" out 11/21

(tags music, artist, Midori Karashima)

I'm in the music artist Midori Karashima Greenfields fan club and I was excited to see that she's coming out with a new album "Bouquet Garni" (ボーケガルニ) next month. It's suprising that a bouquet garni is something you add during food preparation to make something taste better, but you ultimately take it out. Is this really a good name for an album?

I went to one of her live events but I couldn't see much. She dedicated a song to a newly married couple, but it was amusing to hear directly from her that she doesn't have many happy songs. She proclaims in the article above doesn't have many heartbreak songs since her breakaway hit "Silent Eve". I'd like to hear more upbeat stuff from her, really I do.

Crackdown breakdown

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS, grotesque)

Crackdown is a big colorful sandbox. The entire capital, which probably takes 2 minutes to traverse by car, finally fits fully onto my screen.

Just taking a nice southernly swim. I wondered how far the simulation went, but it turns out the game teleports you from the boundary to a few meters back. I was making progress, or so it seems, but the stars never lie.

That dream where I found the last of the agility orbs? Well it didn't look like this. In the dream I was at the top of a majestic skycraper, looking up into the awaiting orb perched on top of an antenna. In reality, this was at the low corner of a forgotten, dingy two story warehouse roof. And I did it without FAQ-support, woopie me.

As far as the Hidden Orbs are on concerned, I've got 3 more left, but I'll leave it to FAQ-support. The less time on the game, the better.

Frustration with the orb hunting made me snap last night (or is it stomp? :-]). Instead of finishing some achievements, I was researching the blood spurting algorithms and Peacekeeper/Bystander AI. o_O It's disturbingly grotesque to throw, stop, and kick lifeless bodies against walls or in front of other people. Still I made time to take this picture, which features a lovely target, cleverly hides the "press b to lift body" dialog and includes indifferent bystanders, so what does that make me?

Quick hero: Nakaji-kun

(tags Rubik's Cube, Japan)

Still the backslapping and national pride is continuing with "Nakaji-kun", ie Yuu Nakajima (中島悠), the Japanese youth who won the Rubik's Cube normal event at the World Rubik's Cube Championship 2007.

(from Asahi Shimbun, 2007-10-21 Sunday edition)

Recently I read an article about him in the newspaper (above). He practices 4 or 5 hours a day, for at least 2 years and he knows 500 moves. In comparison I practiced probably 40 minutes a day (on a concentration-robbing commute) for the last 3 months and I know only 7 moves. That is the difference between 12 seconds and 90 seconds.

Also, more recently he's been awarded a special commendation by the mayor of Kushiro city (Hokkaido, Japan). (Thanks Rubik's Cube Diary (ルービックキューブ日記), Hokkaido Shimbun, Kushiro Shimbun). It's great to celebrate local heroes.

Pop crazy: What it is and why am I encountering it now?

(tags rubik's cube, practice)

Last sunday morning I enjoyed the sunshine at the local park, and I brought my Rubik's Cube (a speedcube). I spent probably about an hour grinding away since the sunshine was so pleasant for a mild October day. I kinda felt fast, because it was the middle of the day, I was sitting still and upright, and there was natural light all around me. However, sometimes when I scrambled my cube, an edge piece would pop out. This is the right definition of "pop". I confused this with unnatural sound of faces snapping together.

Since it wasn't during a solve, I thought it was just my rough and coarse turning habits. I think its just that my hands are getting stronger but not elegant. In any case it's not happening during my commute cubing time. I fear losing a piece on the bus and the embarassment of searching for it on all fours.

Pikachu cute quota filled: Pokemon Dai-suki Select shop news 11/3

(tags goods, kawaii, Pikachu)

There's a reason why I subscribe to the HTML version of the Pokemon Center online store Pokemon Dai-suki Select Club Shop Mail Magazine. The pictures are killer kawaii.

The above is from 「【だいすきクラブ限定（げんてい）グッズが3アイテム登場！】ポケモンだいすきセレクトショップNEWS★11月3日号」 mail message. It is a bit Pikachu heavy. I like it that way!

Turn away but I'll be back: Ace Combat 6, Kyon no Imouto figure

(tags game, ECsite, Xbox 360, Wii, figure, anime, sexy, loli)

Yesterday evening I had a chance to pick up Ace Combat 6. Though I love the trailer and demo, I finally decided not to pick up the game due to a short comment from destroy tokyo. Besides I haven't played a flight game (not sim) in a long time, and my idea of flying is AfterBurner II. Also I like the 2D freedom of FPS like Halo 3 and Crackdown.

The Super Mario Galaxy demo movie which was playing at the new arrival area (thanks Senaka Otaroad) stopped me for a couple of minutes. There's just something about flying through space hanging low over a lava planet that looks spectacular. Galaxy Force II, anyone? But I don't have a Wii and I won't buy one just yet. Plus it made me feel guilty about not finishing Mario Sunshine.

I have to go to the shop again. I waste too much time just loafing around shops looking for things to buy. Stupid me. Anyway, I guess I have to pick up the Famitsu Xbox 360 magazine since it's selling out due to Ace Combat 6 and Idolm@ster special info. As an aside, I am looking at Idolm@ster auction goods and tickets for an upcoming live in Osaka and/or elseshere go for 2_0000 yen plus. If the Xbox 360 was cheaper I bet you it reign with Idolm@ster alone!

And the shop must have my pre-ordered figure "Kyon no Imouto" from FREEing. It's a 1/4 scale figure of Kyon's little sister in a bunny suit, part of the FREEing series, and based off of the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsuu anime. I totally forgot about it and Akiba Blog reminded me (also Senaka Otaroad). As FooBarBaz puts it, it's cute but "pretty immoral". Um.... 9000 yen. You know I'm all about the bunny suit.

I suppose I need to balance this out by buying the other figures in the series (official pages: Mikuru, Haruhi, Tsuruya-san, Kyon no Imouto, Yuki), but the only other ones I want are the "Mikuru" and "Yuki", and even still, they are not smiling which is :-/ (sentence ends here).

Sleeping a dream about you: Crackdown

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS)

A day or two ago I was sleeping and dreaming that I found the 500th and final Agility Orb in Crackdown. In reality I have 499 orbs. I can almost taste the Achievement Points.