Real Bout High School- Mired in Mediocrity
I usually am pretty good at picking out Anime that is going to be decent. However, every once in a while, I fall flat. This was one of those times. At one instance of Fanime, I was browsing around, and managed to catch an episode of this show, which seemed to be pretty good. I was rather amused, and decided that at some point I had to watch the whole thing. Unfortunately, the rest of the show didn't hold up nearly as well as the small portion I had previously seen.

Real Bout High School plays out like Tenjho Tenge Lite... if you decide that by lite, you mean light on humor, interesting characters, and meaningful plotlines. The show centers around Ryoko Mitsurugi, the "popular girl" at Daimon High School, a school where everything is settled by a good old-fashioned brawl. Ryoko is the reigning champion of what is called the K-Fight, or a general tournament for deciding conflicts at the school. K-Fights can apparently happen anywhere, at any time, for any reason, and Ryoko's day is mired in pointless, heavily one-sided brawls. However, this changes when she receives some legendary artifact called the Fuma Stone, which somehow allows her to be teleported to some magic parallel universe, gain superpowers, and fight demons. (Yeah, I was confused too.) Along the way, she apparently meets up with Shizuma Kusanagi, a wannabe badass with some flashy techniques, and Keichiro Nagumo, the legendary creator of Daimon High's K-Fight system, and actual veritable badass. Somehow, they end up stuck in a conflict with demons, evil gun-toting agents in black suits, and of course, each other. Meanwhile, there's some feud between Ryoko and one of her classmates over some kind of love interest over the head of their Kendo Club, Tatsuya, which never actually goes anywhere. Then, all of a sudden, there's a huge climactic battle, and the show's over. None of our questions are answered. Loose ends are left untied. The show... is over.

At first glance, the show is so stunningly girly that I was wondering what possessed me to get it in the first place. However, despite the overwhelming feminine vibe that the show puts off, there's a couple heaping helpings of gratuitous violence, pointless fanservice, and scantily clad women. Honestly, I don't even know what the target audience was for it, only that it didn't seem to be aimed at me. Furthermore, the show was confusing. Not mysterious, but confusing. There's a point at which unexplained mysteries become random plotlines that lead nowhere. There are references to random characters that we are never introduced to, Keichiro Nagumo randomly appearing from time to time, and an epic villain that appears three episodes before the end for about fifteen minutes, then is vanquished by our heroes. The show was amusing at times, but spotty at best, downright confusing at worst, and obviously trying too hard.

I really wanted to like it, but it never managed to hold my interest. Ah well... better luck next time. I've got Berserk coming, and it seems pretty awesome at first glance. I'm always looking for new stuff to watch, so if you have any ideas for me, feel free to hit me up. My email is willraus@sbcglobal.net, and my AOL Instant Messenger is xXWillRausXx. I'd love to hear from you. Until Next Time...
03:47 PM PDT Permalink |

Everything Old Is New Again- Rewatching Some Old Favorites
Every once in a while, I just get the feeling that I need to go back and watch some of the things that I haven't seen in a while, and this is one of those times. Now that I have a decked-out room that I can watch DVDs on, I've started watching my old Anime a lot more during my spare time. Combine this with the rather meager offerings on Adult Swim, and I've been able to go back to a lot of cool stuff that I'd forgotten about.

Steel Angel Kurumi- I've said it before, and I'll say it again- SAK is honestly one of the funniest shows that I have ever seen, and no matter how many times I watch it, it never gets old. From the naive exuberance of Kurumi, to the shy, wishful Saki, and especially bitter, profane Karinka, Steel Angel Kurumi always proves itself to be an awesome watch, no matter how many times I see it.

Noir- On the inside, Noir is an excellent tale of reconciling past filled with disaster and tragedy- on the outside, however, Noir is a brutal, violence-filled look at two assassins trying to find out their place in the world. With compelling characters, amazing action, and a body count above 400, Noir is a great, if oft overlooked show.

Elfen Lied- Like Noir, Elfen Lied is a show that uses violence en masse to propel a tale of self-examination and forgiveness. However, unlike Noir, the show isn't all about the violent aspect. It's about inter-personal relations, and how to build a new life after an old one has been destroyed.

Cowboy Bebop- A show for the ages, Cowboy Bebop is one of the few shows I know that can truly be classified as a "classic." A funky fusion of jaszz beats, western-style plotlines, and intergalactic bounty hunting, Cowboy Bebop is easily one of the best Anime I've ever seen, if not one of the best period.

And last, but certainly not least...

Inuyasha- WHY CAN'T I STOP WATCHING YOU! I'll say this- Inuyasha is basically an animated soap opera, except a bit more violent. It's cliched, it's repetitive, it's sappy to an extreme, and it somehow never stops being entertaining. Well into its eighth (!!) season, Inuyasha still holds strong. I think the only reason I watch it is so that I can see how it ends and finally, FINALLY, put the darn thing behind me.

I'm always looking for new stuff to watch, so if you have any ideas for me, feel free to hit me up. My email is willraus@sbcglobal.net, and my AOL Instant Messenger is xXWillRausXx. I'd love to hear from you. Until Next Time...
03:09 PM PDT Permalink |

Errant Netflix- A Bump In The Movie Line
As I've mentioned in many of my other blog entries, Netflix is probably the greatest invention of the internet since eBay. I use Netflix to get all the anime that I've ever wanted to watch. Right now, the current show I'm viewing is Real Bout High School, which I had always been interested in since I read the first volume of the manga. I watched the first two volumes, and was notified that I had volume 3 waiting for me. However, when I got home, my arrival was nowhere to be found.

Turns out that my mother's viewing of Northern Exposure provided the interference. She managed to place one of her discs of Northern Exposure into the envelope of my Real Bout High School, sending the two back together. The end result? I only have volume 4 right now, meaning I don't have the middle volume. Unfortunately, that means it'll be a little longer before I can review it, so bear with me.

Until Next Time...
03:35 PM PDT Permalink |

300- Greek History, Frank Miller Style

Every once in a while, an epic movie comes along that has everyone mesmerized and talking about it long after it has left the theaters. This time around, that movie is 300, a retelling of the real-life Battle of Thermopylae, during which a very small force of Greeks, led by 300 Spartan soldiers, held off the massive Persian army led by King Xerxes that was quickly overwhelming city after city. While the battle was eventually a failure, it can be said that the defense of Thermopylae managed to whittle down the massive Persian army, as well as demoralize it and slow it down enough that it could eventually be defeated.

As epic and fantastically unbelievable as Frank Miller's 300 is, it actually holds far more historical accuracy than it seems. Many of the oft quoted lines aren't fabrications, but actual quotations from the battle of Thermopylae. It is true that when the Persian messengers arrived in Sparta, their demands for earth and water were answered by being hurled into a well and told to "dig it out themselves." When the Persian army arrived, their threat to blot out the sun with their arrows was truly answered with "So much the better, for we shall fight in the shade." And when the Persians demanded that the Spartans lay down their weapons, the Spartans replied "Come and get them!" which is used to this day as the motto of the Greek First Army Corps.

The tactics used in the movie were also accurate, as the Spartans fought in an organized phalanx, which was a wall of shields lined with spears, and the Persians were unable to breach it. The second day of the battle actually did include the Immortals, and while brutal and morbid, the Spartans bolstered their defense by building a sloped wall of Persian corpses which served to demoralize the Persian army and create a box-like area where everyone who entered would be killed without a chance to retreat.

The movie 300 was incredibly engaging, with epic action and an interesting narrative style that made sure you were up to speed and not lost in any of the violence and mayhem. Everything is larger than life, emphasized in an over-the-top style that made 300 excellent. Especially good for anyone who liked Sin City, another one of Frank Miller's works. Until Next Time...
02:03 PM PDT Permalink |

Getting My Driver's License- Mobility +1
College is coming up, and since my college is an the complete opposite direction of where everyone in my house goes, the time has come for me to be able to secure my own methods of transportation. On Monday, I begin my college career at Sonoma State University. Originally, I was going to take the city bus for the first two weeks until my 18th birthday, but Sonoma has some of the worst bus logistics I've ever seen. Every single connecting bus misses the connecting bus to Sonoma State by 5-10 minutes, making it impossible to take the city bus to SSU. With time drawing short, it became obvious that I would have to get my driver's license before school.

Our first attempt was met with slightly less than success. I took the two remaining driving lessons in order to go to the local DMV on the next Monday. However, my dad was given a major piece of misinformation. Apparently, the person at the DMV told him that he didn't need an appointment to take the Behind The Wheel test, but when we got there, we were informed that we DID need an appointment, and thus, my plans for taking the driver's test were thwarted.

Over the next week, Dad scrambled to find a place I could take my test, and after a number of appointments, we finally found the one we would settle on- Novato. I had never driven around there, so I wasn't really sure how it would go. However, it turned out that the place wasn't bad at all, and I passed easily. It's certainly nice to be able to drive around and not have to bum rides off people constantly.

Until Next Time...
03:18 PM PDT Permalink |

Kingdom Hearts and KH2- A New Twist On The Old Classics
I tend to lag behind the gaming curve a bit due to my limited resources, as well as general lack of interest in a number of titles. There are few games that truly catch my eye and demand my attention. So it's no surprise that I lagged a bit behind as well when it comes to one of the best RPGs for the PS2: the Kingdom Hearts series. Regarded as childish by some game critics and gamers, Kingdom Hearts and KH2 provide hours of captivating gameplay, a rich storyline, well-developed characters, and an altogether amazing game experience.

You play as Sora- a youth from the laid-back beach world of Destiny Islands. Along with his friends, Riku and Kairi, Sora lives a care-free life. That all changes when the island is besieged by dark, shadowy creatures called the Heartless. While Riku takes the attack as an opportunity, entering the darkness to find a passage to new worlds, Sora resolves himself to fight, and finds himself wielding an odd and unique weapon, the Keyblade- a key-shaped weapon with the power to destroy the Heartless that plague the land. Heartless are spawned when a person loses his heart due to anger, greed, and hatred, and they become a mindless creature bent on stealing the hearts of others to multiply. Suspecting that Riku has some sort of tie to these creatures, Sora must travel throughout the many worlds, defeating the Heartless and those who lead them, in a quest to find his friends and return home.

Kingdom Hearts 2 adds another element of threat to the mix- the Nobodies. Created when a heart leaves a body to become a Heartless, Nobodies are bodies that lack a heart, but still retain memories of their original form. However, leading the nobodies is the mysterious Organization XIII, which seems to have ties to the Heartless, and seem to be manipulating things from behind the scenes in order to fulfill their unknown plots.

One of the interesting things about the game is that you get to wander through the worlds of all the classic Disney movies, from Wonderland to Halloweentown to even the computer world of Tron. In each world, you get to meet all of the famed characters, battle against the classic villains, and uncover a long and winding plot that travels far deeper than you would have expected. In addition, you get to interact with many of the more famous Final Fantasy characters, including Cloud, Aeris, Cid, Tifa, and Yuffie from FF7, Leon from FF8, and the Gullwings from FFX-2. You even get to do battle against the greatest villain in the history of gaming, Sephiroth, who is far from an easy fight.

All in all, the Kingdom Hearts games are top-notch, deserving the utmost of praise. Until Next Time...
04:20 PM PDT Permalink |

Red Vs. Blue: War Is Hell...
In 2001, the first major hit for the Xbox was released: Halo, the first person shooter that changed the face of gaming and quickly became one of the best first person shooters, as well as the game that sparked the massive popularity of the Xbox. However, its popularity spawned a number of parodies, the most popular being Red Vs. Blue by Rooster Teeth Productions. A long-running series of videos crafted using the in-game engine of Halo, the series Red Vs. Blue is an absolutely hilarious side-story of the Halo saga.

In the multiplayer maps of Halo, there have always been a number of oddities. One of the largest was the map known as Blood Gulch. It was a canyon with two bases on either side, and the map had seemingly no entrances or exits. It had no caves, no resources, and nothing of relative importance at all for anyone. However, apparently, the Red side and the Blue side have some sort of use for the canyon, and constantly dispatch soldiers to defend each base. For the Blue team: Church, a wisecracking and seemingly sadistic soldier; Tucker, a (sometimes) close friend of Church's; Caboose, a continually inept and failure-wracked soldier, whose only purpose seems to be making things harder on the Blue team; and Tex, a former special ops solder, freelance mercenary for hire, and Church's former girlfriend. For the Red team: Simmons, favored soldier by the commanding officer; Grif, Simmons' friend, fellow soldier, and verbal punching bag of the commanding officer; Sarge, CO of the Red Team Blood Gulch Outpost, Lopez, a robot stuck on the Spanish Language voice setting, and Donut, ill-treated new recruit often mistaken for a girl due to his pink armor.

A series that truly has to be seen to be believed, Red Vs. Blue can be downloaded off the Rooster Teeth Productions Website, but for the full viewing experience, buy the DVDs off of the Rooster Teeth store on the same webpage. Until Next Time...
05:17 PM PDT Permalink |

Hellsing- Fighting Fire With Fire
There are some series of Anime that I keep hearing about but never actually get to watch. Hellsing was one of them. While it always looked awesome, I never got to actually see it... until now. Man, it lived up to every word of hype that was breathed about it. From start to finish, Hellsing was an awesome series, deserving of all the praise it had gotten. Full of style wit, grace, and more than its fair share of blood, Hellsing ranks in my Top Ten favorite Anime series.

In Hellsing, the threat of vampiric attack looms over the world constantly. To combat this threat, the English government employs the aid of the secret Hellsing Organization. Headed by Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, the daughter of the the famous vampire hunter and last of the clan, Hellsing is dedicated to stopping unruly vampires before they can spread and wreak havoc across England. However, Hellsing has its own secret weapon: Alucard, one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in existence. He serves the Hellsing family in order to rid the world of the many vampires that shun the ways of the old vampires and instead cause destruction across the country. Joining the cause is Seras Victoria, a former young police cadet and rookie turned vampire by Alucard after being mortally wounded in the hunting of a rampaging vampire in the countryside. However, England will need all the help it can get after the discovery of a device called the "Freak Chip" that turns normal humans into bloodthirsty inhibition-less vampires.

There's a ton of violence, a fair bit of gore, and foul language abounds (especially during the saga of the Valentine Brothers, Jaan Valentine in particular), so those easily offended might want to stay away. However, anyone who likes good action, well-executed horror, and a great storyline, will love Hellsing.

Until Next Time...
07:36 PM PDT Permalink |

Megatokyo Volume 5: The Arrival

A couple weeks back, Fred Gallagher went to Australia and New Zealand to attend a couple conventions that he had been invited to. However, his trip coincided with the release date for the fifth volume of Megatokyo, as well as the release of his first official Megatokyo cast poster. The problem? Fred and his wife, Sarah, singlehandedly manage their Megagear shop. since they're off in Australia, they wouldn't be available to ship the new merchandise out.

The solution? All books and posters that were ordered from Megagear while they were in Australia would be shipped signed when they returned. I hopped on this, buying Megatokyo Volume 5, and the .N1T3Z poster as well. Both arrived just recently, and both are just as cool as I expected them to be. The signatures are nice, and they're both great merchandise.

Both the Megatokyo Manga Volume 5 and the Megatokyo .N1T3Z Poster can be bought online at Megagear. Until Next Time...
09:48 PM PDT Permalink |

Anime 101 Continued- More Titles
A continuation of the last piece, I'll be mentioning more titles that I believe to enrich the anime-watching experience.

Ghost in the Shell and Stand Alone Complex: Not only an amazing Anime movie, but one of the best movies I've ever seen. More than just simple animation, Ghost in the Shell looks at a world becoming more and more dependent on technology, and wonders what happens when A.I. becomes more and more advanced, and the line between human, cyborg, and computer blurs. When computers can emulate humanity almost perfectly, memories can be backed up or rewritten, and cyborg technology creates a new breed of humanity, what does it mean to be human? Stand Alone Complex continues the tradition with a perfect combination of an excellent story and a number of stand-alone episodes that reveal the intricate details of the lives and personalities of Section 9.

Trigun/Gungrave: Two amazing shows by Yasuhiro Nightow, Trigun and Gungrave are some of the best shows I've seen to date. While in the beginning, Trigun seems rather light-hearted, juvenile, and rather lacking in depth, the second half takes a far more serious tone, centered on the importance of life, loyalty, finishing what you start. Gungrave is rather similar, but it takes on a much more serious tone. It has a lot of action, and also has a number of amazing characters that you actually begin to care about. It also shows the transition from a man that simply wants more out of his life, to a man willing to discard everything for power. Both amazing series, Trigun and Gungrave are not to be passed up by any means.

There's really plenty of good Anime out there, but most of the excellent stuff isn't really in the mainstream. You have to go searching for it. It's easy enough to get by on what the networks give you, the Bleaches, the Inuyashas, the Narutos, but it's an entirely different thing to put yourself to finding quality. And in my opinion, that's what makes the difference between your average "anime fan" and going the extra bit farther.

Once again, if you have any comments whatsoever, feel free to send me an e-mail at willraus@sbcglobal.net. Until Next Time...
01:14 PM PDT Permalink |

Anime 101: Expanding Your Horizons
Whenever I ask people about Anime, or bring it up in a conversation, there are generally four different reactions that I get:

A: "Anime is juvenile and stupid." Conversation over. There is generally no convincing these people, and I don't even attempt to try. It's just about as pointless as arguments go.

B: "Oh, I don't watch Anime." I might suggest some stuff, but generally, I don't try and persuade people too heavily.

C: "Oh, you do? Me too! Have you watched (insert series here)? " These are the best types of conversations, and they go on quite well.

However, most of the time, I get this response:

D: "Anime is great! I watch Bleach/Naruto/Inuyasha/other overhyped TV series here, and it's great!)

A great deal of what I would call "anime fans" falls into this last category: the "underexposed" fan. These people's main exposure to anime is through Cartoon Network/[adult swim], and rarely extends beyond these series. First, let's examine the series' merits. Inuyasha is basically a glorified soap opera, full of pretty girls, prettier boys, and flashy action befitting a series of its type. Naruto is okay, but it suffers from a combination of being overhyped and taking way too long to get through story arcs. The manga is good, but the anime just takes too long to get anywhere. It's just a step above DBZ with ninjas. And don't get me started on the logistics of being a ninja and wearing a huge baggy orange jumpsuit. The two are basically mutually exclusive. And while I haven't seen much of Bleach, it's just seemed like it's cliched, boring, and once again, takes too long to do anything. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't seem to see much in them.

However, all such aside, this is mainly the fault of the TV Executives, who would rather fill the space with stuff that they know is popular and/or long enough to last multiple seasons. However, there's plenty more excellent stuff out there, and I'd like to point some of it out. First off, I'd like to say that anything featured here is easily acquired by the miracle of Netflix, which I maintain is the greatest invention of the internet by far.

Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo: Created by Shinichiro Watanabe, these two series are amazing pieces of animation, easily among the best I've ever seen. The two themselves are very different, but are linked by common ground that makes them rather similar once you realize that they're both made by the same guy. Cowboy Bebop is about three bounty hunters that roam space looking for a quick buck, and often come across more than their fair share of trials, troubles, and general mishaps. Every episode is independent of another, and filled with style, action, and humor. Samurai Champloo, on the other hand, is about a mismatched trio consisting of a pair of fighters wrangled into the service of a very ditzy waitress looking for a lost samurai. Both are excellent series in their own right, and while Cowboy Bebop is slightly more serious and Samurai Champloo slightly more action-packed, they both deserve equal helpings of praise.

Elfen Lied: From its gory opening to its amazing ending, Elfen Lied is one of the best series I've ever seen. While on the surface, it may just seem like a bloody and brutal show that only cares to show off its gore, at the core, it's all about people trying to find a place in the world regardless of flaws or oddities that would restrict them from society. It's an amazing and deep show, and at only a half-season, 13 episodes, it doesn't take as much time to watch through as other shows.

As this list has a lot more to it, I'll continue this discussion with next week's blog. If anyone has any suggestions, protests, or general comments, I invite you to contact me through my E-mail address. Drop me a line if you've got anything to say. Until Next Time...
07:57 PM PDT Permalink |

The Webcomic Revue
The internet has given the online community an unprecedented ability to produce creative works and spread them to the general populace much more efficiently than the older forms of media. One of the biggest upsides of this is the phenomenon known as the webcomic. Webcomics are comic strips that are published exclusively on the internet, almost exclusively as a profit-free side project of a person with way too much free time and creativity to let go to waste. Now, while it's easy to make some stupid comic and throw it up on a page, but it takes another thing, a special combination of artistic talent and wit, to make a truly charming and fun webcomic. The following are my daily servings of humor, which I check up on whenever they update.

Sinfest: I reviewed this one quite recently, so if you're interested, check it out. Sinfest is a great read, drawn and authored by Tatsuya Ishida, an incredibly skilled artist, who manages to craft a new and hilarious comic every day, and has been doing since the beginning of 2000. It's a great read, and while irreverent at times, it makes fun of everything equally, and never fails to give a laugh.

Toothpaste For Dinner: Toothpaste For Dinner isn't really about anything. Basically, its author a man who goes only by Drew, draws a tiny little comic featuring his own odd style of art, and matches with it whatever he's thinking about that day. They rarely make much sense, but that's the charm of them. They take no effort at all to read, and they always provide a chuckle. Check out his whole work in the archives, as they're sure to guarantee a laugh.

Megatokyo: This one is much more in-depth than the previous offerings, but still excellent in its own right. While it started off as the side-project of two bored guys, it has morphed into a complete in-depth story of two guys, Piro and Largo, who find themselves inserted into a culture that they are entirely unprepared for. It's been fun to watch it come from its roots as a stupid little side-project meant only to prevent the waste of money on an already existing domain name into a huge project that has allowed Fred Gallagher to even quit his job in 2004 and shift entirely to comic writing. It updates on a tri-weekly basis, and while confusing at times, it's a great read, and I've always found it fun.

Cyanide & Happiness: Cyanide and Happiness is sort of like Toothpaste For Dinner, but with a sort of a darker side. C&H combines semi-crude yet somehow charming stick figure drawings with sometimes crude, often provocative jokes, in order to create a unique and humorous experience for its readers. Cyanide & Happiness relies on the joke you didn't see coming either because it's completely off the wall, or because it's offensive enough that you figure they wouldn't dare do it. While they often rely on the shock element of their jokes to elicit a strong response, the comic is almost always funny, even if it's in the realm of dark humor. Not to be read if you're easily offended.

Hope you enjoy the unique assortment of entertainment that only the internet can offer. Until Next Time...
05:06 PM PDT Permalink |

Tenjho Tenge- Not Your Average High School Drama
Once again, I have to say that whoever invented Netflix is a genius, as it has allowed me to watch so much Anime that I never would have been able to see otherwise. The latest addition to my odd repertoire of is Tenjho Tenge, an Anime series about a group of students at Todo Academy, a fictitious school where students come to study and learn about the martial arts in an attempt to get stronger. An amazing series, Tenjho Tenge was a lot more than I expected of it.

Tenjho Tenge actually played out sort of similarly to Gungrave in its plot structure. It starts out with what seems like a simple tale. Souichiro Nagi and Bob Makihara are two of the toughest kids in Tokyo. They make their bones wrecking schools and taking out anyone in their way- or at least they did. Then they came to Todo Academy and found that there are plenty of people there, specifically Maya Natsume, who are more than adept at stomping them into the ground. Befuddled, they decide to seek training with the Natsume Sisters, and through them, they become entwined in a years-old feud between Maya Natsume and the Executive Council of Todo Academy, a student government run by the toughest fighters in the school. Nagi and Makihara find themselves pulled into the fight, and find that they're nowhere near top around their new kicking grounds, as they delve into the history of Maya Natsume, her deceased brother Shin, and their old friends Mitsuomi Takayanagi and Bunshichi Tagara. However, stubborn as he is, Nagi refuses to give up, fighting at incredible and impossible odds for pride... and something else.

This Anime is home to one of my favorite characters in the history of any series- Bunshichi Tagara. He appears to be an unassuming person, rather laid back and easy going. Normally, he's a prankster that dodges responsibility and doesn't really seem to care about anything. However, when he's needed, Bunshichi is a devastating fighter packing incredible power nearly unrivaled. He loves to put people in their place, and is instrumental in maintaining Mitsuomi's loose grip on reality. An amazing series, Tenjho Tenge is great fun, and has not only jaw-dropping action, but an excellent storyline and characters you can really get to care about.
04:10 PM PDT Permalink |

From Fansub to DVD
My new computer has the boon of a DVD burner, which allows me to write data to a DVD disc. However, sometimes, I'll download a fansub, and not really want to watch it on my computer, with its small monitor and subpar sound. It just can't match the TV. Ever wished you could throw them onto a DVD for use on your TV/DVD setup? Well, I've picked up a program that allows me to convert all my video files to DVD video that can be burned onto DVDs and played on a TV.

The first series that I intend to test this out on is my fansubs of .hack//SIGN. Not only is it one of my favorite Anime series, but it's locked on CDs that a friend of mine gave to me. I want to make it so that I can watch it on my 36" TV that I have in my room. As good as my computer setup is, my sound setup isn't that great, and it also helps if I want to watch it at someone's house, or anything like that, since it doesn't need any special codecs.

Another cool thing is that with the new Matroska Video media system, or MKV files, you can effectively burn complete DVDs. See, MKVs are special files that are specifically designed to mimic the capabilities of a DVD. It has chapters, multiple audio tracks (different dub languages), and multiple subtitle tracks, allowing for full DVD capability once transferred. A lot of new fansubs come like that, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.

Until Next Time...
04:36 PM PDT Permalink |

Graduation- End of an Era

Just this past Friday, I officially graduated from Vintage High School. It was a momentous occasion, no matter how draggy and boring the actual ceremony was, and it was a great day for me. I'm going to miss a lot of people, especially one of my best friends, Zayne Hennagin, who is headed off to Basic Training for the Army on the 14th of this month. However, a lot of my friends are sticking around, and some are even going to be living quite close to me, so we'll be able to hang out a lot, especially if I can line up my schedule for college right.

I think that the thing I'm going to miss the most is Choir class, as it is home to my favorite teacher of all time, Mark Teeters, the incredibly talented choral director of Vintage High School. We've shared four great years together, and of all my teachers, he's the one I'm most sad to see go. Of course, I'm still going to see how often I can show up and give him a hard time, just like all of the other various alumni that come and hang in the Choir room even after their time has passed.

In any case, I'm looking forward to college. I'm headed to Sonoma State University, which is a very good school in many respects, and I live quite close to it, so I'll still be able to live at home. Until Next Time...
01:27 PM PDT Permalink |