Random Musings

It's the eve before July 4th, and as per usual it's gonna be a noisy, drunken mess.  Tomorrow my good friend Hung is throwing a BBQ party at his house, so alot of us will be heading that way, beers in hand.  Happy 4th to all of you voxers (and non-voxers) who live in the states!

So last week was a no show and I terribly apologize.  Unfortunately I was being a bum as usual, and true to form I was off doing other things when I should have been posting.  It's entirely my fault.

...I recently started cutting my own hair.  It's kind of a fun experiment, and I was spurred on by a friend (who happens to be the most popular hairstylist at his salon).  I was always curious as to who cuts a barber's hair, a question which oft goes unanswered -- or answered with a puzzling look of "wtf"?  But I digress...

７月からの新アニメ『CANAAN』試写会に行って参りました！＋リン・レンいよいよ発売なのです！！｜グッドスマイルカンパニー勤務 あさのんブログ【毎週土日更新！】
Starting in July, Figma will be showcasing new figures from Canaan, along with Kagamine Ren and Rin figures!  Jeez, these guys never let up!

Lifehacker - Dress Up Your Ties with the "Merovingian Knot" - Fashion Hacks
Show off your geekiness with the Matrix-inspired Merovingian Knot.  Only for the hardest of the hardcore...

闘劇 -S.B.O.- (TOUGEKI) on Twitter
Hi there!  SBO is using Twitter!  Wtf!?

新世代「鉄拳」本格始動開始！！　PS3／Xbox 360／PSP『鉄拳6』が正式発表 - iNSIDE
More images of Clamp's extra outfit for Jin Kazama.  Looks a little unwieldy...

Creatures from the Sewer | Deep Sea News
You gotta see this.  Looks something like a viral vid, but apparently it's a real thing...

Flickr Photo Download: Resume infographic
(from Digg) All resumes should look like this!

Fancy Fast Food
Too cheap for that 5 Star restaurant?  Make that special trip to Wendys and serve up some gourmet dishes lol

ダッチワイフがタッグベルト挑戦！！！ part1‐ニコニコ動画(ββ)
Somewhere out there in the Pro Japanese wrestling circles, a single man has partnered up with a blow up doll challenging the world stage...

「ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版：破」公開記念！同時多発的「EVAcafe」開催！
Meet the evangelion cafe.  Some of those dishes look quite tasty!

Anime News Network reports that Bandai Namco is preparing to release anime songs onto Apple's popular iTunes music store with songs from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu and Lucky Star, as well as JAM Project and other artists.  While not a new thing, it certainly marks an interesting precedent for Anime moving along into the mainstream conscious.  Perhaps it has a bit to do with Hollywood's latest movement into anime re-adaptations?

Anime can already be found on iTunes -- a few searches through the podcast section and you can find tons of people willing to share their favorite songs and playlists. 

In related news, Exit Trance recently released their newest album SPEED アニメトランス BEST 7 on iTunes and Amazon.com.  I'm not particularly a fan of trance music, but they do have a variety of music from popular animes such as Zamd and (my personal favorite OP track) Rideback.  Here's a sample:

It's...loud.  I can't say if it's better than the original ED theme, but hey, maybe someone out there will love it.

BANG BANG, BANG BANG BANGGGGG!

...but seriously though, if you get one of these off, you should just win automatically.  Just...stop.  Throw the controller down.  You've already won, my friend.

By the way, found a very very cool looking new game that I'll post a review up tomorrow, soon as Vox stops being a bully and lets me upload these damn photos.  Got tons of screenies I wanted to share, so don't miss it!  You won't regret it! 

Or this song will haunt you in your dreams!

Sugeno's Blog (Official Site)
Vector Download Page (Japanese)

Here's more drool-worthy pics for your pleasure:

So far the bid is up to $124 bucks, although not sure if it's an actually working lightsaber.  I'll be damned if it actually does work -- aren't selling weapons on eBay illegal?  What if the Dark Side gets a hold of this!

It's been a long time coming and finally BlazBlue is available!  I had the opportunity to sit down with the game for the first time yesterday, and boy oh boy there's tons of stuff to write about for this game.

BlazBlue is very solid -- I've yet to see a 2D fighter that has so much stuff in it.  It's not the fast-paced, frenzied action that it's predecessor Guilty Gear was, but in it's place is a more interactive, "tit-for-tat", back and forth fighter that's more seasoned and more in-depth.  There's a pretty large amount of game mechanics info that needs to be memorized at first, but once mastered you'll be BlazBlue-ing it up like a pro. 

Unfortunately, the roster is pretty tiny (Only twelve characters? Really?).  It felt fine at the beginning, but after an hour of gameplay it felt just a wee bit...lacking.  Having just twelve characters does lend a bit of balance to the game, but as one person commented yesterday, maybe it's only balanced because every character has some kind of cheap gimmick to use against the others? 

I did some digging, and maaaaaaan...there's a ton of cheesy bullshit in this game.

Take for example the new "drive" system.  It functions in the same vein as the Arcana system in Arcana Heart, with each character having access to a unique drive with differing levels of actions and properties.  For example, Carl Clover's drive controls his companion robot around the stage, bringing a type of duality that would usually require the work of two people playing in tandem.  Mastering his drive equals mastering placement around the field, which is something that isn't present in games like Street Fighter.

As a matter of fact, Carl's drive is so powerful it can do stuff like this:


Just to be clear, you cannot escape these combos.  On top of that, every time Carl throws you the damage scaling is reset, enabling 100% raw damage at all times. 

I'm told only the premium version is on sale now, and it comes with an introductory DVD that includes character strategies and commentary from well known U.S. players (Peter Rosas aka Combofiend has a small piece, as well as Mike Z who did a hilariously bang up job introducing Iron Tager).  It's no training / challenge mode a la Street Fighter 4, but it's just as helpful if not more. 

Too bad it doesn't look as nice as the 1080p eye candy the actual game delivers, but it still has a lot of value to the uninitiated.  But you do get this nifty soundtrack with lovely art on it.

 

For more info regarding individual character strategies to tier lists to general video link farming, check out these links:

BlazBlue Guide
Dust Loop Forum
Shoryuken Forum

Holy crap, it MOVES!  If you listen closely, you can hear missles and bombs going off in the background -- unbelievable!  I said it before and I'll say it again, robots are going to take over the world, starting with Japan!  This will be the death of us all!

Anybody get a vanity url for facebook?  I got mine!  I won't tell what it is, but if you know who I am, well...it's pretty much a no-brainer.  I'm not too terribly crazy about facebook, but it is a bit easier keeping up with friends and such.  E-stalker anyone?

It's odd that nowadays all of my correspondence within my social circle stays within the online world of facebook.  I don't get too many phone calls, although I do get occasional sms texts from buddys. 

But looking back, I wish I had been a little bit more creative before settling on my name.  I did a few searches on facebook and saw some really, really, really creative stuff!

Christine Shipley - San Francisco, CA | Facebook
I don't know code -- can someone explain this one for me?  Pretty clever nonetheless!

Michael Smith | Facebook
Another clever facebook vanity url!  But it has that weird code behind it too...

Nikki Landon | Facebook
Best url ever?  Ladies and gentlemen, we might have a winner!

Facebook Finally Catches Up To MySpace In The U.S.
Die MySpace, die! 

P.S. Triple's Page on 1UP.com
Meet Triple, the ficitional anime version of the PS3.  Comics available exclusively on 1UP -- in English!

THE GRIND: SOCAL EDITION (SF4 TRAINING & SBO QUALS) - iPLAYWINNER FIGHTING GAME NEWS
One of the best tournament write-ups I have ever read.  I don't usually read long posts, but this one had me riveted all the way to the very end.  Having videos helped out too!

Hayao Miyazaki to Appear in S. California on July 28 (Updated)
The legendary filmmaker is set to speak at U.C. Berkeley -- if you live around the San Fran area, I'd highly recommend buying tickets to see him...although they might be sold out already...

Alice and Kev
Meet Alice and her father Kev -- two homeless characters living out their dreams as best they can in the world of Sims 3.  Funny stuff!

Slashdot Science Story | NASA To Trigger Massive Explosion On the Moon In Search of Ice
What the hell?  Why do we need to blow up the moon?  Crazy scientists -- they'll be the death of us all!!

MTV True Life Wants to Know - Are you Addicted to Gaming? Casting Call
I don't think I'm hardcore enough to join, maybe someone else out there will sign up?  Might be a blast to watch too, who knows?

CLAMP To Design Special Costume For TEKKEN 6! « SDTEKKEN.COM – Tekken News Resource!
They had the same thing for Tekken 5, so it's pretty nice to see them trying it out again with 6.

ブレスレットケータイ？ソニーがリング型の携帯電話を発売か - GIGAZINE
Is Sony planning on making a bracelet phone?

It's bad enough I have to keep shelling out money for "hidden fees" in my phone bill, but now they have them in traffic tickets as well?  Why in the world is the law enforcement training fund $19 bucks, and yet the training fee for Judges is only a measly .50 cents?  I didn't agree to pay for their education!

How long has this been in place?  I haven't had a ticket for years, so it's unbelievably disturbing to see these short fees pop up in the receipt.  What's a DV program?  Why is there a court technology fee? And why is the standard traffic costs not INCLUDED with the standard fine?

I plan to call them, asking what these fees mean and ask why I can't just pay for the fine itself.  This is so jacked up.  And for what it's worth, running a stop sign only sets you back $86 bucks compared to a stop light, which is double the fine. 

Great.

Out of all the anime shows that came out this spring season, Basquash! was perhaps the most colorful piece of work to grace the genre in years.  With big names like Shoji Kawamori (legendary mecha designer) gracing the staff, I had hoped that the artwork would maintain it's opening quality.  I say hoped in the past tense, because after I watched episode 10, it looked like the animation got hit with the ugly stick.

The story seems lost as well.  Don't they have some kind of manga to back up the story?  Oh wait, they don't. 

Uh oh.

I guess all of the problems stem from the director getting sacked (as well as various other staff members).  I wish I knew why!  The show was doing pretty well up to episode 9, although it did kind of feel like it took forever for the "basquash" part of Basquash! to start kicking in.  Perhaps that's the reason?

In other anime news, Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) is getting not one, but two movies.  TWO.  It's great news, but it's kind of hard to get hyped when nary a word is being released about it.  Could it be a possible ending to the series, a new kind of plot, or some kind of spin-off?  Having two movies makes it that much harder to predict what's going to happen.

At any rate, the summer season will soon be upon us, and I'll be able to feast my eyes upon Canaan!  Oh, and that new Suzumiya Haruhi show too!