Ras-a-frassin' @$%#&"! *grumble*
I should have taken the Photoshop class back when I had the chance. This "learn-by-doing" isn't going as well as it did with AutoCAD.
1
Oh, come on. You think that's bad, try "learning while doing" Flash! (Someday I got to go back and wade through the tutorials. I'm sure I'll learn all kinds of useful things.)
Oh, I've read your epic struggles attempting to wrangle some functionality out of Flash. It allows me to marvel at people who can put together stuff like this.
I wish I'd been blogging back when I was teaching myself how to use the editor for the Unreal franchise of games. It would have made for an interesting case-study of a decent into madness.
Posted by: Will at April 08, 2008 01:50 PM (WnBa/)
3
I have a lot of the same problems with Photoshop. I can use it to do most of what I need to do, no sweat; that's because most of what I need to do is "paste a layer over another layer and line them up".
But some things are just impenetrable in the interface. Today, for example - I was working on Lucky Star, a caption where Akira's holding a sign upside-down humorously. Naturally, the client has requested that this sign be subtitled upside-down, which is fine as that's how I was doing it anyway... But for whatever reason, I -cannot- find the function that says "take the selection and flip it upside down". I ended up just rotating the entire canvas instead and dragging the sign to where I wanted it...
I get the feeling that if I knew enough to write some basic scripts in Photoshop, I could save myself a significant amount of carpal wear (that volume of Lucky Star meant, literally, hundreds of subtitles copy/pasted over each other). But I have no idea where to start...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at April 08, 2008 07:45 PM (LMDdY)
I use MS Paint and MS Digital Editor 2006 for most basic things... most of my screenshots are resized, cropped, and color-fiddled using Digital Editor, Paint is used if I have to scribble on the pic.
I use them because I know how to use them. P'Shop is a great program, very useful for a lot of things, but there are times where having your head run over by a main battle tank would hurt less.
But if you really want to learn the meaning of 'pain', try to teach yourself how to use Adobe AfterEffects. I've been trying to do just that for the past six months or so, and I've barely gotten to the point where I can get the main editing screen set up the way I like it.
That might be one reason why I haven't gotten much done, editing-wise recently.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 09, 2008 07:05 PM (ccSyJ)
Posted by: J Greely at April 11, 2008 02:30 PM (2XtN5)
7
No, I knew Paint had that capability. But the reason I'm using Photoshop is that the files have to be maintained to a very certain image specification or they won't work on the DVDs; part of that is "absolutely no alpha layer". Photoshop won't put one in there if it doesn't start with one; practically everything else will... ;_;
J, I'll give that a whirl when I get home, see how it works.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at April 14, 2008 09:23 AM (d2LNE)
Life, the Universe, etc. ~ Part Deux ~ Now with More FAIL
Boy, almost a month without anything new here. I didn't have a resolution to keep or anything, but I had planned on every few days getting at least something up.
Settling in is settling in.
The box containing a number of my anime DVDs (including my still-wrapped Shingu boxset) appears to be lost/missing/stolen. The first run of bills are rolling in with all the pain of various "setup" fees attached. As much as I would love to run out and spend the money on the various big-ticket items that would really get me up to speed living in the place, small nickel-and-dime items are what has me running to Wal-mart every other day it seems.
The softball team had a mediocre regular season. We finished 8-4, with those 4 losses came in a row during the middle of the season. We're seeded 4th in the Tournament that starts this week.
In a couple weeks comes what amounts to a "softball team" camping trip. I've been looking forward to a little "cold weather" camping, but it's always been difficult getting more than a couple people interested. I'm curious to see how it goes. I need to get a good 0º bag because nothing I've got right now is going to cut it at 7000'.
Shortly therafter comes a wedding to attend. I've got to figure out where my nicer clothes are in this mess. A polo and jeans is not appropriate wedding attire.
Lemme see... lemme see...
Oh, got notice of my ten-year high school reunion in the mail, only to discover they're charging $89 for a ticket. Thanks, but maybe I'll organize a counter-reunion for people not of a mind to waste perfectly good money just to meet people who are rapidly becoming strangers all over again.
Wow. That was bitter. I'm going to blame stress and lack of fresh anime. The winter season has tapered off. I won't even bother with any spring shows until a couple weeks in and some of the chaff has been shaken out.
Well, the big move is finally over. Almost. There's still a bit if stuff in the storage room and garage unit at the apartment to haul over, but otherwise, the transfer is complete.
7 hours after work on Friday, 19 hours straight on Saturday, and another 13 hours on Sunday mean I'm dead tired.
In those three days I feel like I've fallen way behind on a lot of things, anime being one of them.
Things don't look likely to let up in the near-term either. I need to get a washer and dryer pronto, and I need to start cleaning up the apartment for moveout inspection. I've heard so many horror stories about renters trying to screw people over on the tiniest things. It's making me a bit neurotic. The vertical blinds on the backdoor of the house need replaced (and I hear tell that the size I need is going to be hard to find). I don't have much in the way of respectable furniture. The more I look at the situation, the more it looks like I'm going to need to do a lot of side-jobs to get this place up and running properly.
Because of the way the schedules fell, I'm actually getting dinged for a full month of overlap between the apartment and the first mortgage payment. It will be interesting to see how bad things really get at the end of this month.
Oh yeah... taxes... gotta get those filed sometime soon. Suddenly that $230 million Powerball drawing on Wednesday is looking real nice.
Baccano! ~ The love-child of Snatch, Pulp Fiction, and the Godfather.
Yeah.. I got nothing at this point... I think I need to go watch that again. This time with lots of notes to keep track of the 45 HOJILLION THINGS GOING ON AT ONCE!!1!!!11eleventy-one!!1!11
God... who knew buying a house and moving would be such a chore?
Well... it's been a long month. Signing is coming up some time next week. I need to get my taxes filed.
But at least I have shows like Minami-ke to keep me sane(?).
There's just so much right in that Nico-Nico... Kana's just loving life and living large... Haruka's a little embarrassed, but otherwise enjoying herself... and Chiaki is completely lost and wondering how she got talked into this little performance.
1
Congrats on the new home purchase. The only thing that's more torturous than escrow is 9 months of pregnancy.
Posted by: pajama momma at February 22, 2008 11:49 AM (f3xJa)
2
What's made the process more onerous than it really needs to be is dealing with all the extra bullshit involved in an FHA loan. It basically doubles the number of forms you have to sign. Otherwise, I can't say the purchasing process has been all that bad. It's all the secondary stuff like packing and arranging utility transfers that's been more trouble.
Posted by: Will at February 22, 2008 04:36 PM (P2D1U)
3
Ok, Will, when do we get to see the house? I'm getting antsy! Nothing like a nice drive to the edge of the earth
Speaking of which, how as the drive to work from home been?
Posted by: TheRightWife at February 26, 2008 06:52 PM (uS+aN)
4
I'm not in the house yet. Sellers move out this weekend, then I've got to get my stuff over and clean up the apartment. So I haven't had a chance to really test out my new commute. Unless you're actually referring to my current commute, in which case, it's a hell of a lot better than driving to the West Side.
Posted by: Will at February 27, 2008 01:53 PM (WnBa/)
IKnight has been working on a series of posts laying out the basic concept of GAR, and it got me to thinking about how Moe and GAR in many cases are opposing sides of the same coin.
Things are going to be a bit disjointed, and I'm sure there will be many things that get left out. I'm not writing a thesis here. Hell, I should be working right now. I'm assuming a level of familiarity with current anime characters, but I'm also going to be working from a set of ideas drawn from this essay. Take a minute or 20 to read through it, because I believe somewhere in the metaphor of the sheep, sheepdog and wolf lies a clearer definition of moe and GAR.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 07, 2008 12:22 PM (+rSRq)
2
Given what few bits of DBZ I've seen, I'd say yes. DBZ is way off most anime blogger's radar, but if it were coming out now, I think he would be classified as GAR.
Posted by: Will at February 07, 2008 01:55 PM (WnBa/)
Overall, I think this is a really interesting piece. Although I'm not sure where it applies when the lines between "heroes" and "villians" are much more blurred. It seems that the sheepdog/wolf analogy would rely on a hero who doesn't doubt what he's doing is virtuous, which would then mean that the character is inherently simple. Or at the very least is a fanatic. But a fanatic that the audience can agree is in the right.
Posted by: Cameron Probert at February 07, 2008 04:25 PM (+Xvl6)
Well, I didn't mean to imply that the hero's thought process is necessarily as simple as that of a sheepdog. Kamina may be single-minded, but he's not simple. He has a dream all his own and pursues it with resolve, knowing that many others hope for the existence of the surface, but don't share his knowledge/faith in its existence. In our culture where individuality resonates, Kamina's behavior comes across as both virutous and righteous, while in his own culture, it was something to be shunned (until he proved himself right).
Simon isn't simple either. He's fighting the virtuous and righteous fight to defend Spiral beings from annihilation and to win back his woman from the Anti-Spirals. His judgement is somewhat questionable given that, in the face of the knowledge that continued use of Spiral Energy will induce the Spiral Nemsis, he fights on anyway banking on humanity somehow finding a way around it. It certainly won't happen in his lifetime, so it's not really his problem. But he's living is life by the mottos of the Gurren-dan. "Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb."
Krelian from Xenogears would be an interesting case study. He's a goodguy who looses his way and goes bad, but never resorts to violence himself. Would Simon be GAR if he carried on the same fight from behind a desk like Rossiu?
Ultimately, I think it comes down to whether the character's actions eventually bring a "boon to all" (all being a relative term ) If they do, he's a hero and GAR. If not, he's a villain and simply a sociopath.
What I was really trying, and failed, to get at is that moe and GAR draw on and play against similar primal instincts in the viewer. On one side of the coin you have the passive protector in times of peace, and on the other you have the violent warrior/defender in times of strife.
Good grief... I should have just made another post. I'm not going back through that to check for typoes or coherence.
Posted by: Will at February 07, 2008 06:01 PM (WnBa/)
5
You're missing some of the elements of the essential nature of gar. ;p Keep in mind that the archetype is Archer.
One of those elements is self-confidence. Not mindless egotism, but the manly state of mind where the person knows his abilities and isn't daunted by tasks that fall within them, or potentially anything at all - but gar isn't compatible with stupid. If your character suicide-charges the enemy to buy everyone else time to get away, and he knew he was toast going in, and he's smiling when they bring him down, that's gar. Losing when you thought you had a chance is never gar.
The gar man doesn't question himself. He has a set of morals and an objective and doesn't flinch from them for a moment. If the rest of the world doesn't keep up, too bad for them.
Gar is not above a bit of grandstanding. Gar is better than those around him and knows it, and isn't going to apologize for it. But it's only gar if gar has the goods.
It's a post-modern state of mind, with at least a wink to the public figure that the character is cutting. The gar character is not above dropping a quip. Importantly, the truly gar character never explodes in rage. Think Kenshiro - he doesn't get mad, he just makes peoples' heads explode and moves on.
I don't think Goku is gar, really. He's slightly too simple - he's not acting cool because he's aware of the importance of being seen to act cool. He just doesn't care about cool (and, well, he can blow up planets, so he doesn't have to.) He also loses that cool, and while there's something to be said for erupting in white-hot hair-growing world-shattering fury, it's not gar.
Protecting someone has nothing to do with gar. Think Akagi - walking posterboard for gar, but he's never out for anything but his own thrill, and he makes no bones about it.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at February 07, 2008 07:04 PM (LMDdY)
Well now it sounds like we're talking about several distinct strains (or maybe levels, hmm...) of GAR. IKnight layed out in part 1 (and expanded in part 2) that he thinks GAR is comparable to virtus, an admiration of a superior warrior in your cause. Which means it has a lot to do with the impression the character leaves on the viewer. Do I feel compelled to get up and stand along-side this character in their fight?
In the very act of standing up and fighting the fight, win-or-loose, you become GAR. If only just a little. Increasing levels of competence and self-confidence can add to your GAR. Even losing can still be GAR, if it's done with honor. As for Goku, I would submit that not giving a damn about cool and just going out to win is as GAR as all the bragadocio in the world. Maybe even more so. A competent man can brag about his abilities, but a master doesn't waste his breath. The truly GAR character goes about slaying his (and our) villians in the most efficient manner possible, gives them no quarter, and doesn't bother with quips.
And your assertion that GAR never looses it's cool flies in the face of hot-blooded characters everywhere. They go crazy right up until the bad guy bites it, then they immediately regain composure. A lot of my impression of GAR comes from the character Richard in The Sword of Truth novel series. He goes blows by cold-blooded, bypasses sarcastic, shoots through hot-blooded, and settles right into the region where white-hot rage becomes a fine-edged scalpel with only one mission, "cut." As a warrior for your cause, in all things, "cut."
As for the "protecting," don't get too caught up in the metaphor. The sheep that the sheepdog is protecting could be a myriad of causes or reasons to fight, as long as they are righteous and virtuous in the eyes of the viewer.
That's why I don't think of characters like Akagi as GAR. I hold no admiration for them at all.
I think I need to get into Excel and layout a spectrum or something...
Posted by: Will at February 07, 2008 08:10 PM (P2D1U)
7
Yeah. Uh, but that's not gar, just generic bushido. Those hot-blooded characters are not what we're talking about here.
(cue Shiraishi talking about tsunderes)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at February 07, 2008 10:08 PM (LMDdY)
8
Hmm @ the linked essay. I agreed in part, but I can't imagine someone from my country writing it. When did America lose the Protestant assumption that saying anything good about oneself must inherently be wrong? Not that said assumption is a good thing . . . anyway . . .
I think the sheep - sheepdog - wolf metaphor neatly encapsulates the power relations I'm trying to establish regarding GAR and moe, yes. But I think in my conception of GAR there is less of a sense that protectiveness is a sine qua non. Hence Akagi can be admitted to be GAR - just as certain Romans were generally acknowledged bastards, but remained possessors of virtus (I must point out that /A/nonymous, not I, invented the virtus-to-GAR connection).
I lack the time to delve deeper, though I would point out to Avatar that, while we can begin with Archer, a lot of characters have been declared GAR since him, and each one has altered the concept a little. Archer is a good place to begin, but a bad place to end, as it were.
Posted by: IKnight at February 08, 2008 03:46 PM (9gYNt)
When did America lose the Protestant assumption that saying anything good about oneself must inherently be wrong?
How I answer that question depends entirely on whether you're asking the question in wonder or regret.
I'm beginning to regret using "protector" in the essay, because it's leading everyone to think I'm only talking about defensive action. I got a little closer to the mark in comment #6. For a character to be GAR he must fight for a cause that we find righteous and/or virtuous. I have to include the "or" because to do otherwise would leave out a lot of anti-heroes. Vengeance can be righteous but is rarely virtuous, and there a lot of GAR characters that live simply for venegeance of a wrong. (And if they just happen to beat the big-bad and save the world in the process, righteousness is an added bonus)
Posted by: Will at February 08, 2008 04:37 PM (WnBa/)
Without prior knowledge of the relationship between these three sisters, this episode would probably seem rather strange.
With that said, I spent the better part of this one cackling maniacally at the palpable dread and crescendo of terror and panic Chiaki and Kana experienced as the end drew near. You don't break Haruka-banchou's things and live to tell. Serious-business faces popping up left and right. Fujioka the teddybear-samurai was a bit odd, but what isn't in this show?
It's amazing how much fun a show based on a very simple premise, without any high-tech hardware or magic, can be.
Hokay, so I dropped some change this last week on:
1)Vandread, knowing that further delay could mean never getting it.
2)Shingu, because I'm a sucker for a sci-fi story even if the box art is a less than stellar.
3)Planetes, because hard sci-fi has a place in my library too.
I've got my eye on the Haruhi LE bundle, but I'm holding out to for when Robert gets the Gurren Lagann OST in stock to bundle it all up.
Actually, I'm a couple episodes in to Vandread, but not far enough to give an honest assessment of the plot. Gonzo's been real hit-and-miss with the character designs so far. Characters' proportions swing pretty wildly from one scene to the next.
The art style in the second episode of Vandread really drifts a lot. It's common in this kind of show for the primary production house to farm out animation to other studios, and I think that episode was done by someone else.
Regardless, they didn't get any more work. The rest of the series the art style is quite consistent.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 04, 2008 03:45 PM (+rSRq)
2
Didn't anybody ever tell you that putting shit on a credit card right before you close on a house = bad?
Posted by: TheRightWife at February 04, 2008 04:05 PM (uS+aN)
About a month and a half ago, I linked a Gurren Lagann AMV that made good use of Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. It had a few problems. The timestamp was in most clips, subs showed up in a few places, and there was no footage from the second half of the show. It was obviously a rushed and rough draft.
The following video is not the final draft of that project. It's a MAD (different/Japanese way of saying AMV) done by an entirely different person with clean clips, a longer version of the song, and it includes footage from throughout the series. It's a marvel of editing and craft.
My warning from last time still stands. If you intend to watch Gurren Lagann at some point in the future and hope to get anything out of the experience, don't watch the video inside the spoiler tag.
Actually, where's Garren come from? Can't say I've heard that one before.
Posted by: Will at January 30, 2008 04:21 PM (WnBa/)
3
I actually think there's a teenage mutant ninja turtle with the name of garren. But I have a family name of Guerin so I just changed it up a bit.
Posted by: pajama momma at February 04, 2008 11:16 AM (f3xJa)
4
You lose ten geek cred points. The TMNT's are Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 04, 2008 01:51 PM (+rSRq)
5
Garren Guerin. How old is this particular young one? While I know "unusual" names are less and less unusual these days, I can't help thinking the kid's gonna need therapy
Posted by: Will at February 04, 2008 02:01 PM (WnBa/)
You posted a couple comments on the other blogs I'm not sure if you posted it on mine or the hostages and when i tried to de-spam them I either deleted them or the got sucked into a blackhole somewhere.
Posted by: pajama momma at January 25, 2008 03:14 PM (f3xJa)
Yeah, when I tried to post this to the comments at Hostages, it went into moderation, but wordpress didn't tell me that. So I tried posting the exact same thing a second time in case it was a fluke and just vanished into the ether. That time I got the "You've posted this already dumbass" message.
Then I thought maybe there was a keyword getting trapped in the filter, so I reworded things and tried a third time. All the while these comments are getting to the moderation que without me knowing. Now the comments are showing up at Hostages (on original submission order no less) after the de-spam. Must be something in the URL that was on the blacklist.
Posted by: Will at January 25, 2008 03:27 PM (WnBa/)
So far I'm really enjoying Spice and Wolf (or Wolf and Spice, or Spicy-Wolf, or whatever). The banter between Lawrence and Horo keeps you paying attention through what would in most shows be simple throwaway scenes.
Rosario + Vampire is sitting firmly on the far side of my fanservice comfort zone. If they insist on keeping this up (and all signs point to "YES"), I'll end up dropping it. It's a shame, really. I find the characters and premise at least entertaining, but the upskirt shots in the third episode are way beyond what I'm going to put up with.
Still keeping up with Kimikiss, and I still think Mao is one of the better female leads I've seen. Sure she likes Kouichi more than as a simple neechan-from-another-mother, but she knows that Yuumi makes him happy and is trying mightily to keep from butting in.
It's nice to see Shana II escape the rom-angst funk it was in for half a season.
Shugo Chara drips so much sugar and cheese it's hard to turn away. It's like a gingerbread trainwreck.
Still waiting on the first DVD of Gurren Lagann to release. I haven't itched this much for a show to hit since... well, ever.
There're a few other shows that I'm keeping up with that either don't deserve comment at this time, or I haven't seen enough to really form an opinion.
Posted by: Wonderduck at January 12, 2008 06:34 PM (VsLqr)
4
Well the music certainly got my kids running to the computer, but I had to make them go away because I was unsure of the content. My kids are out of luck because I can't go thru 6 minutes of that to see if it's safe for them.
Posted by: pajama momma at January 14, 2008 02:08 PM (f3xJa)
5
There's a little inuendo here and there, but otherwise nothing you can't explain away in kid logic.
Posted by: Will at January 14, 2008 04:23 PM (WnBa/)
6
Ha, well that's good. I spend a lot of time in kid logic land.
Posted by: pajama momma at January 15, 2008 11:36 AM (f3xJa)
7
The fact that PattyAnn recognized Lucky Star when she saw it speaks to a deeper geekiness than she lets on.
Posted by: Will at January 15, 2008 12:18 PM (WnBa/)
8
*sniff* Well I had a crush on Speedracer when I was a kid, does that count?
Posted by: pajama momma at January 15, 2008 01:54 PM (f3xJa)
9
No, because, while Speed Racer has been around in the US since the 60's (and there's a live-action movie coming out that I will not be seeing), Lucky Star hasn't been (legally) released in the US yet. That kind if knowledge requires a bit more than a passing acquaintance with anime (or associating with people like me).
Posted by: Will at January 15, 2008 02:21 PM (WnBa/)
Ok, I take it all back. You are definitely a geek, because for all the hobbies I have that qualify as "geek", I just can't bring myself to play any kind of MMORPG.
Posted by: Will at January 15, 2008 03:05 PM (WnBa/)
12
I couldn't get anymore off topic when I ask this question, but uh, what's the location of your header if you know? Arizona? Southern Utah? Mt. Baker, Washington?
Posted by: pajama momma at January 16, 2008 02:02 PM (f3xJa)
13
All of the banner pics are from the Red Rocks area around Sedona, AZ. It's a neat place to visit.
Posted by: Will at January 17, 2008 07:48 AM (E3UGR)
14
Will, I have an advantage. My aunt's husband goes to Japan at least 3 times a year and he always brings stuff back to me.
I've been watching all of it I can since the early 80s. Lucky Star was new to me.
Speed Racer was a crush for me, too, PJ. *sigh*
Posted by: PattyAnn at January 18, 2008 04:15 PM (vHK44)
Lucky you. I've wanted to go over there for quite some time. I applied for JET right after graduation, but regardless of what they may say, they're more interested in hiring Japanese majors than engineering majors.
Given a few years, I'm sure I'll have the cash reserves for a trip. It just sucks having to wait.
Posted by: Will at January 18, 2008 08:44 PM (P2D1U)
16
You know you're a lifer when you see the girls' "alternate costumes" at 1:39 and instantly recognize them as Shana from Shakugan no Shana, Rin from Fate/stay night, Mikuru from the Haruhi Suzumiya series, and Akari from To Heart.
Posted by: Andrew F. at January 19, 2008 09:52 PM (sUicM)
Posted by: Will at January 20, 2008 09:37 AM (P2D1U)
19
Well, when she gets mad her ass starts burning and emitting embers, so I'd say she's almost there.
Will, I've never been to Japan, and I'd guess my uncle's been 30 times and he says going there will never get old. I hope we both get to visit someday.
Posted by: PattyAnn at January 22, 2008 05:18 PM (02v5h)
Well, when she gets mad her ass starts burning and emitting embers, so I'd say she's almost there.
Don't they make a cream for that?
My dad was stationed in Okinawa long before he met my mom. Many years later, he picked up this book somewhere, and I found it in the bookcase when I was very young. Growing up in the Sonoran Desert, seeing amazing pictures of ancient shrines and cultivated gardens really gave me the itch to get over there and see some of those things with my own eyes. I easily see myself spending my time over there scouring the rural contryside looking for out-of-the-way shirines and everything but the craziness of urban Japan.
Posted by: Will at January 22, 2008 10:00 PM (P2D1U)
About the time I went through two cases in a little less than a week, I knew I had a problem. I couldn't function without it. I felt myself craving it at odd hours of the day, and the effects it normally induced had decreased because of my abuse.
I speak of course about caffeine. Four cans of Pepsi a day might not seem like a lot to some people (I know I'm not anywhere near the addict that some are), but to me it seemed a very unhealthy level of chemical stimulation.
Lunch on Saturday was the last time I had any caffeine. It was no big deal until about 5:30 Sunday afternoon. Usually if I haven't had at least some caffeine by 3:00 pm, I start getting a splitting headache that won't go away until after I go to bed (once the headache sets in, no amount of caffeine or pain-killers will make it go away). But this last weekend something was off. Instead of the normal headache, I just felt really really sluggish. My eyelids weighed a metric ton and my thinking was very foggy.
I decided to take a quick nap, and the next thing I know, it's 9:00 pm and I don't feel one bit better. Nothing felt normal. Quick change into something better for actual sleeping and it's back into bed to shake off whatever's kicking my ass.
2:00 am I'm wide awake and wondering just what the hell is wrong with me. My skull felt like there was an extra 20 psi inside it (but no real pain, just the sensation of pressure) and at the same time I had the sensation that my eyes were trying to suck back into my head (a sensation I get whenever I get a sever fever and a bit of dehydration).
I check my temp, and it's all normal. So I get a glass of water and wait to fall asleep again. Five minutes later whatever woke me up has passed and I crash again until 7:00 am. My head's still packed with wool and it feels disconnected from the rest of my body. I spend all day Monday at work in this state, but I've already figured out I'm suffering withdrawls (though I can't discount that the strange Sunday afternoon may have been brought on by something else already long gone).
The withdrawl symptoms subsided Monday night, and I've been making a point to avoid anything with caffeine. The bizarre part is that it hasn't really affected my sleep pattern at all. I still wake up and go to bed at the same time. I thought I would at least feel tired earlier, but that hasn't panned out.
I guess I'll keep going with this for now, if only as an experiment.
1
I accidentally didn't go cold turkey when I went cold turkey. Who knew that Sunkist orange soda had caffine in it? Anyway, it saved me from withdrawl symptoms... now to get rid of the last cigarettes...
Posted by: Wonderduck at January 10, 2008 07:04 AM (ccSyJ)
2
It's at a point where you actually have to look for a caffeine-free label on things just to be sure. I've been using oj, milk and clear sodas as a substitute. Most root beers don't have caffeine, but wouldn't you know Barq's (the stuff I like) has caffeine put it in it.
Posted by: Will at January 10, 2008 07:34 AM (E3UGR)
3
You know, Josh and I have given up soda now. We weren't trying to quit caffeine (although I had mostly given up caffeine with the pregnancy) as much as we were trying to stay away from the nasty shit in diet soda (aspartame). When Josh quit drinking diet pepsi right before we got married, he ended up losing close to 25 pounds and all without actually reducing his caloric intake. I'm thinking diet soda is the devil.
Caffeine - well, I guess everything in moderation, right? There are studies showing that caffeine can help prevent Alzheimer's. All you will find in our house now-a-days is home brewed ice tea and water.
Oh, and for the record, you are far too straightedge
Posted by: Kerith at January 19, 2008 03:10 PM (uS+aN)
Well my little experiment didn't last long. I managed about a week before I ended up needing something out of the machine at work, and the only thing available was caffeinated. I haven't regressed completely though. I don't have any soda in the apartment either. Lemonade mix and milk is about it. On the other hand, I am back to my old ways when I'm outside.
Posted by: Will at January 19, 2008 07:48 PM (P2D1U)
Never has an article needed writing more than this one right now. With each new season, it becomes more difficult putting up with borderline pRon to get new programming more interesting than the tripe on American TV.
If this trends continues, there will come a point where I can no longer justify watching anime based purely on moral/legal grounds. Attempting to separate the wheat from chaff just won't provide enough material to make it worth my time.
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So don't. There's plenty of reward in being the patient guy who doesn't tackle a show until it's been talked to death by everybody else - nobody says you have to be the one to break trail.
At the same time, keep in mind that a lot of that stuff is bread and butter for the Japanese fanboy that keeps these companies alive. It's always easier to write something conventional and try to sell it by putting in more of this, that, or the other. Bigger and bigger breasts, until you get Eiken. More and more maids, untill you get Hanayuko. Lolis everywhere, until you get Kodomo no Jikan. All three at once, until you get Gravion... Of course, the very element that they're counting on to draw in viewers has ruined the show well before you reach that point, but someone's buying this stuff...
It's okay to be a little snobby. I watched some Ninomiya-kun at the prompting of a friend, and honestly, there ain't no there THERE. Yes, yes, the girl is cute and busty yadda yadda. Gimme some story! And a good one, too.
That said, why do you feel the need to "justify" watching anime? Especially on "moral/legal" grounds? If you wanna watch a show, watch it, if you don't wanna watch it, don't. Just because you watch some Moyashimon or some Dennou Coil or Legend of the Galactic Heroes or whatever doesn't mean you have to wade in to the whole fan-service-laden genre. (That's left for slobs like me who need to know the references to work on other shows!)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at January 03, 2008 08:24 PM (LMDdY)
What I mean is that, it seems like with each new season, anime gets closer and closer to what is (animated or not on this side of the Pacific) basically kiddie pron. It used to be easy to find shows that didn't feature busty koukousei and chuugakusei popping out of their clothes left and right. Now it's so common it's a cliche, and I personally am just not okay with that. I don't find panchira interesting in the slightest. Maids don't make me hot under the collar. Lolis are children.
I've got more respect for myself and respect for women (both real and fictional) than to put up with much more of it. I've been able to tune it out, for the most part, for quite a while. I've been able to enjoy shows that feature a lot of mindless fan-service by just ignoring it. But as the raunchiness and overall quantity of this crap keeps getting dialed up, it's getting harder to walk away from a show without feeling soiled.
I want to enjoy fanciful and imaginative shows that American TV writers are too dull to think up, but it's this arms race of immature shit being inserted into shows to appeal to pathetic emasculated Japanese males that's driving me away.
Posted by: Will at January 03, 2008 10:25 PM (E3UGR)
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Heh, well, that's something I've noted. Focusing laser-like on the otaku audience is just driving people who aren't into the narrow fetish crowd away from anime - ironically, making them ever more dependent on the otaku, ever more desperate to out-do the last show.
I mean, hell, I've been working on Nanoha for a while now, and while it's still a good show, you can't really get away from the fact that, at some level, it's calculated to appeal to the pedophile. Yes, yes, they bothered to make it good anyway, and it's not so prevalent that it's impossible to ignore, but it's still there and it doesn't go away. (Also makes showing it to new people possibly awkward. ;p)
I don't know that things are necessarily worse, though. It's been pretty bad for a few years now, and it might just be that you've caught up with all the oldie-but-goodies and now the new stuff is where your new shows are coming from.
At the end of the day, most stuff is crap, Sturgeon's Law applies to anime too, and there's no helping it. But so what? It doesn't all have to be good. The shows that don't rely on panty shots for their plot development are out there, you hear about them, you watch them. We can sit around and say "damn, wouldn't it be cool if every show was cool and witty and didn't need to descend to perv-ville in order to get a viewer's interest," but it ain't happening. The good stuff that's out there, though, is still just as good. A bit of work to sift out the crummy shows, a bit of patience, and definitely don't make it your only hobby - erudite tastes in anime means you can't watch it 24/7, that's for sure. But what isn't like that?
Or maybe I'm just jaded. Tonight is the last of Nanoha A's. This weekend is Aika, which may not be a five-bladed razor of panty shots, but is at least four and a half blades plus gel strip. Next up is Lucky Star, which had the sexy fan-service exacted with a scalpel. It all pays the bills...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at January 03, 2008 11:09 PM (LMDdY)
Yeah, it's a pedophilia arms-race, and I think a large part of my ire is driven by the fact that I can't share this stuff (and it's driving me off). I'm basically the "dealer" for our weekly anime nights, and when I start looking at the recent material, I can't honestly see any of the people in my group getting past the fan-service to the meat of a show. It's just too far beyond the lines of good taste.
Back in the Usagi, Sakura, and Pretty Sammy days, the amount of skin shown in a transformation sequence was pretty minimal. A quick flash of an innocuous bit of skin between outfits, and maybe a quick pan up. I started watching some of the Shugo Chara last night (picked it up based on word of mouth) that's been on my drive for a while, and the 5th grade protagonist flys around the screen stark-naked for 20-30 seconds in the middle of her sequence before putting some damned clothes on. For the studio it's win-win. They can pander to the otaku while also burning up screen time on something other than original frames and decent writing. For me, all that time was spent thinking, "Is this really necessary?"
And no, anime's isn't my only hobby, but it's the only one I currently get any chance to share with friends. I'm the only one in my circle that rides ATVs. Nobody else hunts. I don't want to spend money on MMORPGs. It's almost impossible to get anyone to go out shooting. I basically hibernate for the winter with anime, and I already dread what next winter is going to look like.
Posted by: Will at January 04, 2008 09:11 AM (WnBa/)
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I recall from somewhere that a lot of the older, less-explicit transformation scenes were cleaned up from the Japanese originals. Pretty Sammy in particular jumped out at me as "edited for content".
They're definitely pushing the limits every season, though, the same way that the adult-video producers in Japan are using ever-more-precise mosaics to meet the letter of the law while showing more detail. Both markets are driven by their hard-core (coughcough) customer base, the ones who reliably spend money on DVDs and merchandise (even if the DVDs end up ripped and resold to Traders within a few days).
As for the "pedo" angle (using the word to cover both young teens and actual children, which seems to be the common meaning these days), it's not going to go away, unfortunately. Two things I saw in Japan convinced me: first, the fact that the "junior idol" DVD section at Traders was at least as large as the nearly-nude-adult-woman section; second, the fact that men's magazines like Bejean and Beppin School are considered tame newstand fare, and freely mix adult nude models with panty-flashing school-uniformed girls as young as thirteen. And you know they're thirteen, because the magazine comes right out and tells you.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 04, 2008 02:00 PM (2XtN5)
I'd be interested in seeing the editing information, if you can recall where it come from. Sammy was meant to be a mild satire of mahou shoujo, so going above and beyond what was the norm back then would make some sense. But that still doesn't mean it approaches anything like the nonsense showing up in more recent programs.
The rampant "pedo" side of Japanese culture is part of why my urge to visit the place has been waning. And it's also why I mentioned in the comments over at your place a greater desire to see rural Japan than the urban chaos of places like Akiba.
Posted by: Will at January 04, 2008 06:18 PM (E3UGR)
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Ah, found it. The uncensored Pretty Sammy transformation is an easter egg on the region 1 DVD.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 05, 2008 11:55 AM (2XtN5)
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I'll have to try that out when I get my DVD player set back up. It's been in a special caryying case I set up for traveling to friends' houses for anime night.
Posted by: Will at January 05, 2008 11:15 PM (E3UGR)
I've never thought I'd have much need of a Wii, but if they ever go somewhere with this guy's little tech-demo, I could definitely see myself buying one in the future.
(Though, I don't think it's techincally a proper turbojet without having the compressor linked to a turbine. In this case it looks like compressed air and oil are injected into an automotive turbo. The turbo then feeds compressed air into a burner.)
Here's a micro turbojet for hobby use.
And this one makes me think of those "Wanna get away?" Southwest Airlines ads.
Oh, and at some point I'll have to get myself one of these.
Don't worry. It's not one of those stupid "stare at this until a creepy picture and loud noise pop up to scare you" tricks.
I'm really curious what makes it work. I think it maybe be etching color info into the cones of the retina while somehow not affecting the rods. Then when they switch to a black and white image, your eye continues to over-compensate for a split second, filling in the colors of the image.
I'm reminded of this other optical illusion brought on by color fatigue in the cones of the retina. Stare at the black cross, and watch what happens to the purple dots over time.
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The image you're staring at is the inverse of the hue and saturation with all the brightness removed, and yes, the point is to induce a color after-image. Then they remove that and replace it with the B/W image, which effectively gets modified by the color after image from before.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 12, 2007 04:03 PM (+rSRq)
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Which means I could pretty easily do something similar on my own with Photoshop. I'll have to play around with it a bit later on tonight.
Posted by: Will at December 12, 2007 04:25 PM (WnBa/)