Here’s a pooch that may have identity issues. I can just imagine what the other dogs are saying behind his back…
wan wan nyan by islandlifer3
Source: Japan Probe
Lone Otaku
Anime, Manga, Figurines and Other Otaku Interests
Categories: Misc
Meow…. I Mean Woof, Dog With Identity Issues
Tweeting In Style
The Internet can be an addicting place. Loads of sources full of information. Some good, some bad, some accurate, others… well you know. So how to narrow some of this information down to a more manageable size is a good question. You can setup an iGoogle page with a number of widgets and links as an all in one place. But what if you prefer not to leave your browser open. (more…)
Naka-Kon 2011 Loots
Just thought I’d share a few of the items I picked up at Naka-Kon. I was pleased to find Miku, she is my first Miku figure. The 2 Evangelion figures ranged in price from vendor to vendor. I was able to talk one down to below the rest towards the end of the vendor hall time. Closing day is a great time to look for deals and talk prices. Would you want to haul all of those items back with you? (more…)
What are you listening too?
Shoutcast, it brings music and ideas from around the world and to date remains free. It may be one of the more forgotten streaming video and audio sources. I think it fun when I mention it and I get a “what is that” or “never heard of it” type response.
I think I can say without much doubt that it is to blame for my current anime addiction. It is where I first saw Elfin Lied and Samurai Champloo. I was interested in anime already and shoutcast definitely boosted that interest. A few years back, fan-subbers were using shoutcast as a means to deliver their works. Some can still be found there as well as some great audio programs. See Radio Kawaii as an example. Keep up the good work guys. Oh I should mention that to listen and view to shoutcast streams, winamp is a great choice. Mplayer can play them as well but for ease of use, I recommend starting with winamp. Happy listening.
Mystery Sound Effect
So I had this wild idea… I enjoy the work that is put into movies and television shows alike. Especially when you have good sound effects whether accurate or that fit the scene. Be it breaking glass, wood or bones. Howling wind, opening doors, walking feet. The effects person has their work cut out for them…
I once saw a program some years ago on how Star Wars sound effects came to be. One that stuck in my mind was how they made the laser pistol firing sounds. Simply by banging on the support cables that are attached to power towers. Then adjusting the sound till the desired sound was produced.
I thought it might be fun to post a bit of a guessing game here on the site to see how good you are at guessing the source. There is no prize for correct answers, just recognition for the correct answer. I there is no correct answer in a week, I’ll update the post with a clue. After 2 weeks, I’ll post the answer.
Ready?? Here is the sound…
Sound Effect
Update – 9/14/2010
Ok, ready for a hint? This may be a dead give away but then again, maybe not… In the first second or so there are some other sounds, if you are quick, you might catch them. As a hint, the item that made the noise here is something you might find where there are kids as well… I’ll post a picture hint later…
Update – 9/24/2010
And the answer is… a play steering wheel on a childrens playground. Here is a picture of the one I recorded the sound from…
Playset Steering Wheel
A simple question about viewing habits
I am trying to get an idea about how other fellow Otaku keep track of what episodes they watch. Do you write it down on a scrap of paper? Log it in a spreadsheet? Use the services provided by other sites such as MyAnimeList or Anime-Planet?
For some time now I have been tracking what I watch in a spreadsheet and as useful as that is, it is becoming cumbersome. It is large and Excel takes a bit of time to load. I have recently started writing my own application to track the shows I watch and it is much smaller and quicker than Excel. I find myself needing such tracking especially when watching a number of different series between Netflix, ANN, The Anime Network, Crunchy Roll, etc. You get the picture I think.
I wanted a place to track: Title, Episode, Where seen, Rating (5 stars), Status (own, want, seen). I hope to add a field or to more for series description, single screen shot (to prompt the brain cell), perhaps notes that could be used for blog posting.
How do you track your viewing habits?
[poll id="7"]
If you had a small portable app, what would you include for features?
Tokyo Sky Tree Lighting with LEDs
I got to browsing some more on the Panasonic site this evening and came across their “EVERLEDS Lighting” project. This will ne used on the Tokyo Sky Tree skyscraper project to be completed on 2011. The site is in Japanese but clicking on the Technology
New Tokyo Tower
link will show how some of the LED lighting will be used. Ever since I was a kid, LEDs have fascinated me. Cool burning, low power. Lately, they have become brighter making them viable for many more applications.
Here in the US, there are some LED based lighting projects but I am not aware of any to this extent. I’d love to see some if you have a link to share for US projects like this. I believe that cities could save lots of money with LEDs as the technology improves. Not sure they are up to street light brightness but they seem to do well for traffic lights.
Ok, I’ve seen loads of pictures that push me to want to visit Japan and heck, sometimes I want to move there. On this site, they have some night renderings that are gorgeous. Yeah, I know I haven’t traveled all over the US so I may be missing some things here but there’s something to be said about visiting a foreign country. If you have had the chance to travel abroad, you probably know what I mean. I lived in Bermuda for a while and I long to go back. Anyway I digress.
Awesome project to see the concept images of. I hope I can see it in person some day.
Busy as a bee
I’ve been feeling a bit bummed lately that I have not been able to post as reguraly as I would like. Work and family life has been keeping me on my toes of late. I have been able to keep up with some of my anime viewing list at least and order a couple figurines here and there. My appologies for not posting the Summer 2010 show listing. Just to busy to commit to it.
One nicely put together list can be found at Chartfag. It presents a nice easy view of the shows coming soon.
Ok, so I’ve shared some of the links I used to see what is happening in anime this Summer. What do I think of the shows so far? Well, to be honest, I have not dove into the Summer season. I’m still trying to get caught up on the Spring season. There is one series I just had to peak at and that is “Highschool of the Dead”. You could say it was like driving past a car wreck. You just have to peek. Well, HotD is NOT a car wreck. Plenty of flesh ripping, head smashing, running away from zombies. I was thinking I might pass on this series when I saw the first hints of it a few months back but instead I have enjoyed what I have seen so far. If that is your type of action, check it out.
So for a quick review using a simple method. Here is what I think of the Spring season releases.
Senkou No Night Raid – Watched one episode and decided to pass on the series…
Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan – Pretty good story line. Been watching at lunch. Like it.
Arakawa Under the Bridge – Strange, like me. I really enjoy this series for its blatant weirdness.
Giant Killing – Did not think I would get into this sports anime but now I find myself routing for the team. Good show.
Rainbow – This is a difficult one to watch. Really can make one think and can be direct at times. Intentionaly violent.
Mayoi Neko Overrun! – Fun series. Strange it seems to be more about the friends than the cat character.
Seikon no Qwaser – Umm, yeah. Blatant excuse to flash people. (Especially if you catch the directors version)
I’m ashamed, from the Winter season, I’m still watching these:
Yumeiro Patissiere – not to bad, light hearted. I watch an episode to improve my mood or after a really heavy anime.
Winter Sonata – YES, I am watching this, slowly but I am watching it. You can say it is a soap opera and I won’t disagree.
What am I reading… not much but I do keep adding to my library. In my backpack at the moment is Blood+ Volume 2 and Spice and Wolf volume 1.
Well, that’s a quick update. I’d like to do more here so if you have a suggestion or 2, feel free to let me know.
Favorites of the Spring Season
What a busy year this has been! Hard to believe it has almost been 6 months. Wow! I have not had much time to post here and I regret that because the anime world has not shown signs of slowing down. Sure, they are hitting some rough spots. We can all help by buying copies of the shows we like. Also, let the companies know what you like, see something you think would be good here, let them know. So, with that, what would I like to see distributed here? Here are some of my favorites:
Kaichou wa Maid-sama
Durarara!!
Kimi ni Todeke
I was going to add Baka to Test Shokanju to my list but to my joy Funimation has picked this one up.
Aside from the brief list above, I have a few others that I have been enjoying…
RAINBOW – while a bit violent, the story line seems to be off to an interesting start.
K-On!! – So far so good. I actually like this a bet more than last season.
Winter Sonata – Deep story. Very soap opera like but I’ve enjoyed it nonetheless.
Working! – Funny… you can see hints of other anime that this company has worked on in the style of characters.
Special A – Watching this on Video on Demand (VOD). Cracks me up. Similar humor to Ouran Host Club.
The Skull Man – Mystery adventure type. Seen the first 4 thus far and enjoyed each one. (VOD)
Mazinkaiser – Ahh, nothing like a flash back to old school style. Felt as though I was watching something from the days of Voltron, etc.
I’ve also pulled a few out of the collection as well…
Code Geass
Gundam Wing
So I’ve been watching a few, only just getting into the Spring releases… figures as the Summer ones I’m sure are about to come out. So what do I do when I’m not watching? Aside from work and family, I have been reading the occasional Manga as well.
Negima
Blood+ (the novels)
Onidere – not sure why I’m reading this one…
Cross Over – interesting how the characters look to be right out of Suzuka. (yeah, same author, I know)
Still collecting figures, thats a hard habit to break. Thanks to some other bloggers <cough>zen<cough> for poisoning me. Also watching the sales racks so I can increase my anime collection as well… Now I just need a bigger house.
End of a Season
I realize that I am perhaps one of the most infrequent posters to an anime blog. My appologies, I can only say “life happens”. But that aside, I just finished watching a number of anime shows that I thought were pretty good. I’ll list them here. (in no particular order)
Ladies x Butlers – I went into this thinking it was going to be kind of lame. To my suprise, it had a number o humerous scenes and mini story lines. I wished it was longer than it was though. There were a few loose ends left open on the last episode.
Cross Game – if I were to pick a well done anime for the season, 2 actually, it would be this one. This show follows a group of friends as they grow up. Through their losses, challenges and changes. The friends are all baseball players striving to win the big tournament. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a show with a well played out storyline.
Special A – in a similar light to Ouran Host Club, this is fun series that take a light hearted look at the lives of a group of top honor students and their inter-relationships. It is on my “buy list”.
Skull Man – mystery suspense. Just started watching this series. Looks to be a government bullies citizens and some fight back type series.
His and Her Circumstances – He and she fall in love after butting heads. Eventually come to realize they are very much alike. Both fought to keep others from seeing their true selves until they met each other and fell in love.
Glass Mask – Just started watching last night. Girl who loves plays has a life changing experience one night while working. At first I thought why am I clicking play on this video on demand feature. I even fast forwarded through some. That was when I decided to back up an see what I had just missed. The main character is so passion filled with respect to plays, she dove into the bay to retrieve a ticket she had won on a bet. It is from this point on the series begins in a different direction.
In Manga, I try to keep going where I can. IPhone and scantilations work well. Here is a quick list of what I have been reading:
Negima!
Kimi ni Todeke – long drawn out boy meets girl and live blossums story. Saw the anime, hope they make another season to continue the story.
Blood (the novel series)
Yatsuba&! – this is cute, reminds me of one of my kids. Cracked me up to hear it mentioned recently in the anime, Durarara!!
Do You Want To Try – finished and wondered why I read it.
Bamboo Blade
Onidere – why I am reading this, I’m not sure. Seems to be a repeat of the same thing over and over.
- North American Stream List: October 10-16 October 16, 2011
- Viz Media Adds Loveless, Jiu Jiu Manga October 16, 2011
- Fairy Tail's Funkist Flutist Yōko Kasugai Passes Away October 16, 2011
- Anime Magazines October 14, 2011
- Shinobu Oshino Figure October 12, 2011
- Which Mirai Oppai Mousepad Design? October 11, 2011
- Free tickets to Japan from the Japanese government October 10, 2011
- How I started to build my career in Japan October 6, 2011
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