Feb/0935
HTPC woes
Some might have caught on that I have recently spent time building a HTPC and set it up to replace the old machine I had which couldn't run 720p with more than one line of text at once. Gundam 00 karaoke was fabulous and Marina's song was ten times as annoying since the whole episode started lagging. But no more! I can now run 1080p with 20-30% CPU usage while crunching through a billion torrents. Although... I've had to file a ticket with the motherboard creator, since I can't get sound through HDMI no matter what I do. I've tried about everything I can think of now, and the latest event was me getting a reply from a technician at XFX, handing me a beta BIOS. Still not working, so we've had to run 2-channel sound through analog outputs instead. Sure, there's sound, but I'd rather have it running digitally over HDMI.
I'm now furiously trying to figure it out together with the XFX technician. I've cross-checked with other TV sets and confirmed the audio working over the cables and to the inputs on my TV using my XBOX 360. So what gives? Any ideas?
Jan/0915
Nijuu-Mensou no FFFFFFFFF
I was forced to watch yet another episode of the story of Hirano Aya still not being able to voiceact properly in an anime about a boring girl. Episode 21 felt like an ending to the show, FINALLY, yet there's an episode 22. I don't even... this show has again and again frustrated me with how it was damned cool with a really cool concept from the first few, is it five episodes? And then they just killed the cool crew Chiko hang out with. And the whole concept of a gang of thieves doing ridiculous thefts like in say - Ocean's Eleven - just vanished, and Chiko met up with all kinds of fucked up characters and especially that goddamned annoying maid and COITUS SHUNKA. Akechi was cool though. But I hated that fake detective with my every being and you were supposed to feel for this guy and sister complex.
And then it just went down the drain, really. Characters modifying their bodies, a mecha woman lusting for OJISAN, some other weirdo that looked just like the mecha woman lusting for OJISAN and those fucking kids and then the doc has molded himself into OJISAN? Topple all that with that song Hirano Aya so wonderfully fails at singing and then they're making Ion Cannns and I don't know anymore. I can't wait for episode 22 so I can finally say I managed to watch through this show and that I can rate it so low that I will forget it existed and announce how it managed to be worse than Evangelion. And from my point of few, that is a seriously major feat - and Evangelion doesn't even have Hirano Aya!
Jan/0933
My XBox 360 is fixed; a new challenger appears
I got my 360 back yesterday. I also confirmed the imminent death of my PC the same day, as if though the 360 decided that it now wants attention instead. I am now saving up funds to get a new one since I can't be arsed to get a new PSU for the old hog. The 360 did work just fine though, since I finally was able to play through the Mirror's Edge demo, which was the initial cause of the crashing before Fallout 3 did the death strike.
Question now is whether I play or whether I do something else.
Jan/0936
I still don’t like Hirano Aya
My housemate saw Yes Man this weekend, and confronted me on my thoughts on the acting history and hilariousness of Jim Carey. I presented my point of view where I laugh well at his roles where he is allowed to do his batshit thing where he just goes all the way out with his faces and weird remarks and whatnot, especially in cases like Ace Ventura and The Mask. However in cases like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, what were they thinking? Putting a leash on Jim Carey isn't how you do it, you rather take a different actor. By returning him to his glory in the Yes Man, my housemate was as happy for this as I would have been if I got to see Hirano Aya do her thing again.
So I think this is the case with my misgivings with Hirano Aya too. I'm so pleased with her roles as Haruhi and Konata, that hearing her earlier roles and more recent roles just seems so wrong. I can understand the seiyuu market in Japan where you have to take <some role> every season to make a living, yet while being a seiyuu doesn't really pay your bills - and at the same time I can see that there aren't enough explosive types of characters out there to use her on - she's getting roles she's not really fit for. I'm not really one to say here, but I don't think she's really liking these roles, is she? With her success using her explosive voice she can't be all to pleased with getting shit roles like Minato in Akasaka, Ayumi in Hyakko or goddamned Polka in Eternal Sonata. Can't you just let her do her side-jobs instead, Japan? Please don't ruin more characters by not letting Hirano Aya do her thing. Other seiyuus can do better, and riding on her popularity will just last you that long.
Dec/0812
Christmas loot
My parents are awesome and completely endorse my hobbies, and thus have given me a hugeass two meter tall glass display for figures. Pictures later.
Dec/0812
Getting cultural enlightenment from translation
In my endeavors in translation of colloquial Japanese in common-day situations, I always end up stumbling over references made to literature, god deities, TV shows, and all kinds of imaginable commonplace things that your everyday Japanese person would know of if they are actually watching anime. For me, who's living over in cold Norway, I haven't had the chance to get indulged in these cultural tidbits around me while growing up and thus having a parental unit to ask about what the hell is going on and why it is funny. Instead, I have to do research with the mighty force of Google in Japanese behind me, reading up and trying to figure why it is funny or why something makes sense to say, and sometimes I end up wasting quite a lot time on it too. Not only is it on references, but on things that guys would never know of unless especially interested or if they got kids, and I have to say some of the things I have learned from translation is rather funny.
