Animeseijin

February 8th, 2010 omo

Why do I follow Mako’s silly excuse of a blog?

Because she post pics like these.

It’s not exactly a secret, but I can’t read Japanese. So why do I read Japanese blogs? I’m subscribed to Makkun’s blog, out of some misguided sense of duty–the same reason why I buy almost every solo CD she puts out I guess.

I also follow ItoShiz’s blog, but because she usually posts some interesting pictures and she doesn’t post much anyways, so it isn’t as if it makes a difference.

I follow a few other Japanese blogs for non-informational purposes, but they usually have some actual utility even if I can’t read it.

(BTW this post will get crossposted to omonomono.com in a slightly different form.)

Tags: blogging, japanese

Posted in Anime, Social | No Comments »

A New Challenger! PAX East

January 27th, 2010 omo

My friend is running a group and a room to PAX East. Traveling is cheap enough. Hotels is not bad, given I will be there only for 2 days.

PAX East would be fun, but it could also be just a waste of my time. It is slotted in early April, so if Japan were to happen this will not, and vice versa. But either is sufficient for idle amusement, tho PAX is much affordable.

Boston also means I can meet up with some folks. Steve, Alex, Wah. Whoever.

I guess I have to make a call in the next week at any rate.

Tags: pax

Posted in Games, Social | No Comments »

Japan in March

January 25th, 2010 omo

Yes? No?

Drilldown to pro/con:

Pros:

• Hang out with Moy (and others?)
• Maaya’s big concert
• TAF?
• Cherry Blossoms
• [new!] UBW, Eden, Nanoha, MacF films on screen!

Cons:

• BAD for budget constraints, really bad.
• May not have enough vacation days, need to survive on boss’s graces
• Going now means means no fun for later on in the year, and I can always just go later on in the year when the cons are not so … con.

The exact date range is going to be late march to early april. Maaya’s show is on 3/31, and TAF runs to like, April 3rd or so.

Maria and JP already set their travel plans for the last 2 weeks of March. I know I can probably run into Dave if I try. If fortune shines, maybe even Seizo. If I feel daring, maybe Taguma. Or Qix.

Tags: japan

Posted in Social | 1 Comment »

2010 Cleaning

January 11th, 2010 omo

I suddenly found myself at a slow work day, so I’ve finally migrated the current omonomono WP theme over to 2.9 usability. Probably it is better if I spend more time investigating pre-existing themes to avoid reinventing the wheel, but this was pretty quick and painless. The only thing that I might have problem down the road is the static page mouseover things, as there are dynamic versions available… Not that it matters, omonomono is unlikely to go through a design change anyways. Even visual, let alone topical.

If you know any good (meaning very simple) single column themes (no sidebars!) that offers page templates like “archives” and “links” etc and must have a dynamic mouseover page link implementation, let me know.

Another 2010 thing is I joined a gym. Because it was $20 a month and they have a pool. Now it’s just a matter of seeing if I can make the time to go. I am plenty motivated if the facilities are good, actually.

Maybe I can squeeze in some time to actually migrate this thing today. Or perhaps a blog post…

Tags: blogging, wordpress

Posted in Admin, Social | No Comments »

Yankees 2010

December 23rd, 2009 omo

Well, at this rate they’ll drop the two players I watch the Yanks for! I know the odds are not zero, but by non-tendering Chien Ming Wang yet tendering to Mitre and Gaudin it’s bad news. Of course, Wang’s price is higher than those other two, and he probably won’t be ready to pitch until May at the earliest…

More importantly, how many 19-game winners can you find on the market at the price Wang was paid? This is why free agency is most likely going to rob him from another year playing for the Bombers. The only thing is that he is in mid-rehab, and there’s no way to tell if his injuries since 2008 has permanently changed his game, and if his climb back to his number one game will happen, and how soon it is going to be. 2009’s free agent market is relatively soft, so this means supply for this kind of a pitcher is low (especially now that the Braves have dealt and we’re probably done with the blockbuster pitcher trades this season). This is what the other 29 teams have in store for them if they want to poach him. In some ways, those two 19-win seasons are what is keeping him in this limbo, but playing for the Yanks means you have to perform, after all.

Certainly my hopes are that Wang sticks with the Yankees via a incentive-based contract, but it’s more likely that a team like the Dodgers will pick him up at this time, especially Vasquez resolves their rotation problem. There’s just no space on the roster for Wang.

Less can be said of Hideki Matsui’s tenure. Everyone knew he was gone even before the end of the post-season and he isn’t going to stick around, so that cut was clean and it ends his career in pinstripes(thus far!) on a very positive note. Good luck Godzilla.

Oh, which Yulin is this? Taken from here.

Tags: baseball

Posted in Social | No Comments »

Facebanned

November 30th, 2009 omo

Somehow my Facebook account has been suspended. I sent an email to their redress email address but somehow I’m not expecting a response or any action on their part. I was also kind of rude in the email I guess.

I wonder if this is due to some kind of perpetrated virus or something.

Tags: facebook

Posted in Social | 1 Comment »

Shure SE 115

November 17th, 2009 omo

Long time no post.

So my trusty Shure e2c has finally breathed its almost-last breath. The plastic shielding over the post-Y-splitter portion (the stretch of cable between the ear buds to the splitter) has gotten to the point where it’s too brittle to be stored, and the eventual breaks in the cable lead to too much lost of power to the buds that it is not working out of one end. That means it’s time for a new pair of earbuds. For postmortum, I’ve had these since 2005 and I bought them as open box from Circuit City via their eBay store. No, I didn’t take the utmost care with them either, especially in the final years of it.

So, Shure SE 115. I had a chance to pick up a pair of SE 110s for $50 (after cash back) but I passed it on for a sale on the 115. That sale never really came, and I was pressed to get a new pair, so I blew a bunch of Amazon gift certs. The problem with 110 and 115, from a brief google, is the lack of bass response. Supposedly if you go up to a SE 210 (about $100 more) you can win-win with both more fun dynamics and more “flat” response but lol.

The actual kit, if you’ve set foot in an Apple store, comes in this long box. It contains a carry pouch which beats the little circle thing the e2cs has, even if it’s like twice as big. Like all of Shure’s new earphones, it is separated into the extension cord portion and the earphone portion. Not sure I like it, but it works. Shure e2cs have bigger ear bud attachments–something not a problem for me but nonetheless I noticed, so it’s a problem for some users. The 115s come default with foam buds that are in a semispherical shape, but the usual array of optional buds of different shapes and sizes are present (as well as the removal kit) so it’s all good.

As to the sound quality? It’s definitely pretty bassy for something like this, but the frequency response is flatter than the e2c near the high end. What it does better is clarity and volume. Mid and low mids are notably clearer and louder, which is probably a good thing for most people, depending on the type of music you listen to the most.

I picked mine up for $68, black, from Amazon. It comes in 3 other colors. I think it’s a good deal.

Posted in Reviews, Social | No Comments »

Ugh

October 21st, 2009 omo

I feel kind of under the weather but I’m at work. Had been.

Lots of stuff happened, but let’s talk about one thing–Google wave. I’m on it. It’s interesting, but I’m not sure if it is intuitive enough as is.

I’m sure I’ll find a use for it, once people bother to decentralize it and have better clients.

Tags: google wave

Posted in Experimental, Social | No Comments »

LOL FCC x BLOG

October 6th, 2009 omo

So the FCC finally got its advertising rules for blogs straight. Or gonna.

To me it’s hardly a surprise. But if I didn’t shop around for ad services for my blogs I probably would have been surprised. There are, to say the least, ethical grey areas in the way some of these services operated, getting paid by post and only when the advertisers are happy about it…

But my question now lies how free samples work. I think in most of the instances that I’ve read, all reviews tend to mention where they got the stuff from. For example if I review Crunchyroll I will say I bought it, because, well, it’s part of the consideration for it. However if I review Strained I will have to say something like “Funimation’s promo copy” or some such. But this is different than people who are otherwise paid for their writing beyond the sample.

That said I think Jtor needs to have a giveaway policy. Right now it feels too much like people are treating the samples like part of their perks for writing for it :x

Tags: blogging

Posted in Anime, Social | No Comments »

Binge Buys

August 18th, 2009 omo

I really shouldn’t be buying all this crap, but damn, Microsoft.

1. I ordered a HDD and a mouse from Newegg, thanks to the 10% Bing cashback deal. Bing used to be called Microsoft Live, but it’s the same thing. Wait 60 days and your money can be requested to be sent to your paypal account, or in a check. I was so tempted to just deck out one or three more Fujitsu Spinpoint 1gbs. But no. The HDD I got is a Hitachi 2.5″ 320gb, to be inserted into the PS3. After rebate and cash back I think I’m looking at a $17.50 saving, which knocks the total down to $57.50 before shipping. The mouse I got because…we need a mouse, so I got an intellimouse 1.1 for $16, or something like $15 after cashback. Shipping was something like $6.

2. In the past 2 weeks I ordered 3 figures. Two were  from HLJ and the other was from eBay. HLJ was giving away 10% off coupons at Otakon, for any in stock, non-sale items they had. The coupon doesn’t apply to pre-orders, but still there were a few figures that tempted me. One figure was just tempting and I’ve had my eyes on it for a while now, even if it’s kind of “tempting” in the indecent kind of way. The 10% makes this 1/6 figure actually quite affordable, after SAL shipping. The other figure is a preorder of a popular character, so there’s not much I can do about that besides HLJ’s normal early bird discount.

3. The eBay figure was discounted by Bing’s cashback for eBay, which is currently 14%. The discount value varies all the time, but I guess I caught a break. This figure is a well-rated figure that sold out quickly, so auctions was the only way I can snag it. I think after Bing  cash back (which is instant for eBay) I paid about $107 total, including shipping. The retail price of the one was 7810 yen… wow, I actually made it out close to even! What is interesting is that the figures I got from HLJ are definitely cheaper, despite being slightly bigger in scale, but only because I do math in yen. Once I convert it to USD it doesn’t seem that different.

4. And yeah, I bought a DS and an acekart. The acekart came in already, where as the DS lite is scheduled to arrive sometime betwee 8/15 and 9/15. Weird. The retailer for the acekart (and many other DS “illicit” crap) is good, I recommend them. The retailer for the DS, well, is Amazon/Target. So that’s that.

At any rate, the whole point of this rant is that I need to stop spending money. But the sales! They are so good!

Posted in Anime, Social | No Comments »