IRC is the mind killer

(tags IRC, blog)

Just now I got stuck reading my own blog. Man, this guy is totally interesting, and I wish he wrote more. ;-) Heh.

Ever since re-joining the IRC life after meeting some IRC friends IRL (ooh scary). I have not been writing many posts. I suppose I must prioritize my limited free time but its just so easy to derive satisfaction from sitting in an IRC channel and bouncing non-sequiturs and off-the-cuff rude remarks. "Yer mom". Then again sometimes I learn about new things like new games and new Internet usage techniques. Communication is important! Says the hermit who refuses to turn on comments on his blog.

Now that I figured out how to log in my IRC client and how to keep a client session up longer (run it on my always on PC, duh), I can still participate, but perhaps I shouldn't pop in every day. Let's give that a try. Greetz and howdy for a new habit.

Nanoha cross-media uppercut

(tags game, movie, なのは)

I thought my Nanoha fandom died out after ignoring the third TV series, but I got swept into this weekend's one two otaku-targeted cross-media punch: Nanoha the theatrical movie and Nanoha the PSP game. Below is the instant when my fandom re-ignited, mostly raw and unedited. I want to expand on certain facets of it in separate posts, but give me a night to polish (and collect pictures eh heh).

Written around 2010-01-22 Friday evening:

Nanoha the Movie 1 starts tomorrow. Wanna watch it. Then again its 1500 yen and no special goodie with ticket because I was too slow to pre-order. The movie is showing at Cine Libre Kobe (シネ・リーブル神戸) which is this artsy almost-independent place that sometimes shows anime. Also starting tomorrow is the Fate/Stay Night movie but I'm not into that. Well, that's two "Fate"s in one day (the other is Fate Tessterosa from Nanoha, ha ha).

Yesterday, there were many limited edition copies of the Nanoha PSP game to be had, but the regular edition was either sold out or just not in yet (or stores are forcing the sale of the expensive version first).

A Xbox 360 Holiday full of deals

(tags game, Xbox 360)

I spent the Xmas and New Years holidays playing the daily deals trickling off Xbox Live. It was called the Xbox Live Holiday Deal. I watched the daily unveiling through the Cheap Ass Gamer post. The Japan region had different deals from the US region, so I watched it through ホリデーカウントダウン.

I picked up all the free stuff. I also picked up Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Castle Crashers, Battlefield 1943. Only Castle Crashers held my attention longer than a day. Actually the first day I played it, I logged into a game and some high level total strangers helped boost me. I then played the game with some closer aquaintances and got a complete Achievement from it. That was fun.

Acutally the Deal of the Week was Shadow Complex, which I played to completion on Hardcore the first time. That was pretty fun but I don't feel like playing that game a third time through.

Finally I picked up A Kingdom for Keflings, which was the following Deal of the Week. I like this game a lot because of the building and resource collecting. I even purchased one of the DLC packs which is just two extra maps. I'm feeling the tinge of boredom with it now, but the first time I played it was a 5 hour straight session.

Xbox 360 don't fail me now.

My Avatar movie experience

(tags movie)

"Do I really have to do this now?" "Yes while it's still fresh."

Avatar hasn't moved me to write a screed. But it reminds me of earlier last month.

I was digging through my stash when I found this old DVD of Terminator 2, with burned in letterboxing. Unlike other DVDs I owned, I felt the need to watch it right then and there. Two hours flew by, and I had new found (refound) respect for this James Cameron work. Remember when the T-1000 rammed the truck through the bridge barricade? This was the point of the movie for me where I know the bad guy (and the production crew) wasn't just messing around. That was movie magic.

So with that Terminator 2 fresh in my mind, and the buzz and hype from blogs I read (I mean skipped over) and other Internet friends, I decided to watch it on a theatre discount day. The weekend before was also a discount day and I watched the sequel to Tinkerbell there as well, which I hoped was a good as the first but unfortunately was forgettable Disney moralizing and deus ex machina.

I announced my intention to watch the movie to my IRC chat buddies at #insertcredit and most of them recommended the 3d version. I was set on watching the 2d version with subtitles but after some rumination (you can't duplicated the experience at home) and seeing the price difference (only 300 yen more, so it was still a good discount), I decided to give the 3D "IMAX" version a try. BTW, I always thought the "IMAX" thing was the distorted 180 degree bubble screen. I think that was the last time I ever saw anything called IMAX.

I arrived at the theater one hour before, intending to watch the 13:10 but it was sold out. Was this the result of the discount pricing? The second showing was at 20:10 but I didn't hesitate. Coming back again, I decided to get popcorn and drink with this movie, hoping the movie food would suspend my disbelief. Buying overpriced snacks at the theater is a rarity for me. I felt dismayed when the admission lady handed me the required 3d glasses though.

Still I sat throught the whole 2 hours and 40 minutes not wondering when it would end. I also spent the whole period wondering what is CG and was wasn't. Technically speaking, the 3d effect is not very impressive and has turned me off to the 3d display push now happening in the consumer electronics arena. All it does is make the background blurry. Maybe I need to have my eyes checked, but maybe only young people can enjoy this 3d effect. Not me.

After the movie ended, I had to walk home uphill 30 minutes during a winter midnight. At least the weather wasn't too bad. My brain was stuck on processing the movie, but nothing of eloquence or insight came out. It was just as if I've seen Terminator 2 full of awesome visuals, but with none of the satisfaction of thinly-veiled moralizing. The story played with my emotions bouncing them in obvious ways. Too much happy end and deus ex machina. Because of that, I unfortunately don't think this one will stick in my brain. It will be a year or 10 before I feel the urge to watch it again.

I'm not saying that this movie is bland, but perhaps that watching all this anime, reading science fiction and playing fantastic backdrop games, etc etc, its standard fare for my imagination.

Okay now onto the web to read all the other reviews I skipped.

Happy New Year 2010

(tags greetz)

Greetz and Howdy for the 2010 year.

With that out of the way maybe I can write some random blatherings.