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I've just been hiding underneath airconditioning doing as little as possible for the last week or so.

Part one of ARIA the NATURAL arrived complete with a cute Aria-shacho vinyl figurine and a very pretty colour booklet for the episodes. Oddly, the makers went with a 5th extras disc rather than spreading them out across the 4 discs for the 13 episodes as they'd done for ARIA the ANIMATION. Go figure.

DVI cables rock - switching from the VGA to the DVI seriously boosted the resolution on the separate monitor. Or, rather, boosted the visually comfortable resolution.

Now all I need to do is work out a way to connect the laptop to the amplifier. Unfortunately there are several generations of connectors between them. My Denon amp is still a nice piece of kit but I have had it for almost 10 years now and the connector panel on the back reflects that.
 

arcadiagt5: (Airborne!)
This time [livejournal.com profile] stephen_dedman  has provided the questions (and question 4 rocks!):

No, really, question 4 was good. More people should ask that one... )
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
arcadiagt5: (Open Road!)

Courtesy of [livejournal.com profile] dalekboy  comes the interview meme so without further ado on to the questions
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on... 

Q & A )

 

arcadiagt5: (Default)
PC Market have an order tracking facility - you type in your order number + email address and you get a list of things happening with the order.

From which I can tell that my 22" monitor has been processed and will soon (as in possibly today) be handed over to Australian Air Express.
So,  there may well be bouncing tomorrow once I have the combination of large monitor and digital TV tuner working with the laptop...

(Oh, and I downloaded BS Player + Codecs yesterday so I can watch anime on the new laptop too!)
arcadiagt5: (Default)

At least I hope so: The live-action Cowboy Bebop with Keanu Reeves in the lead...

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Well I've just seen the entirely predictable ending to ARIA the ORIGINATION.

And it was great.

Life is good - pity I have to go to work tomorrow.
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[Error: unknown template qotd]Oddly enough I've been on a bit of a crossover fanfic binge recently. Obviously this is an area where personal mileage varies (a lot) but I have to say that some of the shipping that goes on makes me go "ewwww". I've seen enough of this recently to have a personal rule: stop reading as soon as it goes beyond the ratings level of any contributing universe.

Another problem for me with shipping is that the fandoms I might be interested in reading about usually have well visualised relationships that are firmly grounded in the characters. So messing with those relationships tends to trigger a "No, no, no! X would never do that! And Y would run away!" reaction. This tends to kill my interest in that story stone cold dead.

I did run across a fabulous, if regrettably unfinished, BtVS/Firefly crossover that made better use of Xander than much of the original material did. It didn't seem to be shipping Xander with anyone though.

arcadiagt5: (10000!)
...A reminder that I have a handy list of my anime reviews here and that I'm always happy to discuss the reviews or take requests.

*Yes, both of you. You know who you are. And that guy over there in the corner... :)
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There is a fascinating post and discussion about a proposed anime panel for next SwanCon going on in [livejournal.com profile] alias_sqbr 's journal right now.

Alas it has already aged off my friends page and I want to keep track of it. :)

Among other things I'm having an exchange with [livejournal.com profile] penchaft  (who I don't think I know in person) that has been quite entertaining thus far. We obviously have very different tastes in anime but the discussion has remained pleasant and courteous.
arcadiagt5: (Default)

Lawsuit Launched over Proposed Live-Action Voltron film.

I hardly know where to begin. Snaffled from the Anime News Network.

arcadiagt5: (Open Road!)

It was all good basically.

Read more... )
arcadiagt5: (Anura)

The Right Stuf have started sending me apologetic emails about not shipping ARIA the NATURAL yet.

I expect that I'll get about 13 more of these between now and the January release date...

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No riding other than a groceries run but good company on Saturday and a relaxing solitude today.

WARNING: Links after the cut lead to spoilery wikipedia pages!
People interested in bad news should go away now. Only pleasantries after this point. )

Woot!

Oct. 18th, 2008 09:31 am
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The US commercial release of ARIA the NATURAL has been announced for January!

I've already pre-ordered it...
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I've been really enjoying the ARIA the ANIMATION DVDs. One of the really nice extras is two sets of interviews with the voice actresses - one with the actresses for the main characters (the apprentice Undines) and one with the supporting characters (the Primas). 

The Primas interview mentioned that the actresses all received complete sets of the manga when they were cast in the roles. It is clear from the discussion that this is not normal practice - apparently "buy your own" and/or photocopies seems to be more common.

It struck me that this may be why, to me at least, ARIA the ANIMATION has such a soul. The creators of the anime were seeking to capture the spirit of the manga and wanted the cast to share it before the recording started.

And it started me wondering: what other little things did the creative team do behind the scenes that I'll never see, never know about, but that nevertheless contributed to that sense of wonder that, in the words of one of the Primas, "heals the soul"?
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First the good news: ARIA the ANIMATION arrived today! Yay!

Now the bad news: I lost my jolly roger from the trike and I don't know where! Boo!

Yay!

Oct. 2nd, 2008 07:49 pm
arcadiagt5: (Anura)
Quote from an email received today:

"We are pleased to inform you that your order has shipped. Unless we contact you regarding a problem, you can count on your shipment leaving our warehouse within the next 2 business days."

That would be ARIA the ANIMATION. Now, I wonder if they're listing ARIA the NATURAL yet...
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One song I, ah, acquired from [livejournal.com profile] rdmasters at Christmas was an anime theme track called Midnight Blue but not the track of the same name from the Patlabor TV series. I absolutely adore this song but not knowing where it was from was starting to bug me so I finally googled the damn thing.

It turns out to be one of the Slayers themes. Which means that, inevitably, it is sung by Megumi Hayashibara. :)
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Vexille is the last of the 2008 Madman Reel Anime season. Another CGI outing it has the same problem of alienation* that beset Appleseed: Ex Machina though less so. Partly because I didn't have preconceptions as to the characters, partly because the animation and character designs were better.

The story is competent enough, the characters reasonably believable, and I enjoyed it whilst I was watching it. Having said that the almost-obsession in anime and manga with the definition and limits of humanity makes this a well travelled road, and one that is hard to truly impress with.

Worth a look but probably not a keeper.

*Apparently the term for this is "the uncanny valley" although I note that the theory is subject to a considerable degree of criticism.
arcadiagt5: (Default)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is the best of the three Reel Anime releases I've seen thus far.

A reasonably thought-provoking story of time travel on a personal scale that in many ways recalls Groundhog Day, with engaging characters and a gentle romance.

As with The Vision of Escaflowne, the heart of this movie is about personal responsibility and maturity. As such it is well grounded in the characters and this provides the strength of the movie. Recommended.

EDIT: Added link to a spoilery wikipedia page. Turns out to be something of a franchise/sequel with the implication that one of the supporting characters in this film is the main character from the original.