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The ''buy or steal'' debate resurfaces...

2007-06-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

Over at Chizumatic Steven has brought up the fansub debate once again.
In a nutshell, he hates 'em. In the past it was 'because of the long lead time between Japanese and US releases we fansubbers are providing a service by bringing a title to US fans long before they could get it legitimately' (occasionally it's the only way a title becomes available at all).
Supposedly when a title does 'go legit' it disappears from 'the fansub community'.
But the truth is once a title appears on Bittorent, forget it, it's pretty much there forever. If you want to verify that for yourself just punch the name of a popular series into the search box of a torrent tracker. Chances are you'll find an active share (or several).
The only thing that stops it is torrent death (no one seeding a whole copy for an extended period of time). In other words it reaches the saturation point among the pirates.
Now I can't call myself 'mr. pure' here, because while review sites are helpful, the reviewer's tastes may not be mine (and vice-versa). Usually I DL a series (or an ep or two), watch about 10 minutes of the first episode and base my decision to buy (or not) from there. If I luck out and find a sample on Ifilm or YouTube I'll preview it there and not even bother to DL it.
As a rule of thumb if I were to place an order for DVDs and launch a torrent for the same thing most likely the delivery of the DVDs will happen before the torrent finishes.
It's also likely the reason that things have become rather stagnant in Anime lately, the studios are puzzled as what to do next.
IMHO they've grossly overpriced their (Japanese) home market. That's why if they attempt simultaneous Japan/US release at similar prices the US market will likely reject it.
As Robert notes; ''The business practices at work here taken as a whole are sound, yet terribly flawed.'' and I agree. The Japanese studios have painted themselves into a corner here, if they were to adopt the US movie industry model (domestic release first, worldwide distribution in relatively short order at approximately the same price) they would have to cut the domestic price to the US market price. Becuase typically they make a single episode to pitch the project based on the potential revenues first on Japanese TV then Japanese DVD sales (premium price) then international (discounted price) DVD sales the whole budget structure changes dramatically. Stuff that would get 'green-lighted' under the current structure might not under an international DVD release/pricing structure.
Another issue is culture clash. Usually a minor issue, there are times when it can be a significant problem. By adopting an 'international' distribution model Anime would have to be tailored to be acceptable to a worldwide audience.
A prime example is Kiddy Grade, if the studio had thought of the non-Japanese market it would have either not been made at all or it would have been made with Eclair as an adult character. Mind you, that would not have not been much of an improvement. It would have still been a stupid story poorly told.
I've already proven that Popotan had to be 'edited for international distribution' (to avoid running afoul of laws outside of Japan). How this would change Anime I cannot speculate.
From Steven's post:

So what are the choices for the studios? Let's look at them:

1. Release DVDs close to simultaneously in Japan and North America. The problem is that this will undercut the Japanese business, because Japanese fans will start importing region 1 DVDs, paying $10 per episode instead of more than $25. Or if they try to charge Americans something like what they currently charge in Japan, titles will flop. No one here is going to pay $50 for a 2-episode DVD. (Bandai is about to prove that.)

2. Release DVDs in North America after a long delay. But as the fansubbers get more efficient and the fansubbing processing and distribution bandwidth grows fatter and fatter, there's a real concern that by the time DVDs are released here a large percentage of the potential customer base will already have the show and won't buy.

3. Kiss off the North American market entirely. But they can't do that; it's already worth too much for them, even with the problems.

I hate to say it but I think #3 is the more likely scenario. The Japanese studios will cater to their domestic market and any sales internationally are merely 'icing on the cake'.
Steven says ''But they can't do that'', I say ''that's pretty much what they ARE doing, like it or not!''. It's a facet of Japanese culture, if they can market their products internationally they will. Note the fact you can now buy Pocky at Wal-Mart (I can). The truth is Japan is a very insular culture that deals with the rest of the world on it's own terms. Always has.
The concept of a professional baseball game ending with a tied score is 'foreign' to Americans. Even when nightfall (the Chicago Cubs before lights were installed) or weather intervened the game would be resumed at a later time.
In Japanese pro ball regular season games that are tied at the end of the 9th inning (or are called off due to weather) END TIED. They deal with the rest of the world on their own terms.
I RESPECT THAT...

Yeah, I know...

2007-06-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have no problem saying Pokemon the cartoon sucks. Nor do I care about the card game.
That said I can't say I hate Pokemon completely, I love the GameBoy RPG's.
I've played 'em all from Red/Blue/Yellow to the newest release; Diamond/Pearl.
My opinion so far, better (non-battle) graphics than Ruby/Sapphire. I also like the REintroduction of 'real-time'. GameBoy Color has a real-time clock, something that Nintendo decided they didn't need to include in GameBoy Advance.
So far all I've done is set up my avatar and established my default pokemon. I was hoping the first battle would be slightly challenging, but not is the case. A few attacks and it's over. I can understand making the first battle easy, BUT THAT WAS BRAINDEAD!!!
Now to go catch some pokemon to set up a starter team...

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...

2007-06-12T02:32:00.000-07:00

Remember ''The NEW browser wars'' (IE 7 vs. Firefox 2.0 vs. Opera 9.2)?
Well, The Ipod Company now officially has a dog in this fight. Safari 3.0 Beta for windoze XP/Vista.
Just DL'd it. At the next reboot I'll install it.
UPDATE: Installed and given a qwik once over. It's beta for sure, can't set a homepage (it defaults to apple.com) doesn't block popups/popunders and has rendering issues.
It ignores css width settings so it thinks this blog is 'wider' that it actually is. Only a minor demerit. I should be able to fix it when I have time to. The Ipod Company touts the speed in page rendering compared to IE or Firefox and that's true, it renders pages faster than either IE or Firefox.
I took note that The Ipod Company did not compare Safari to Opera. Nor should they, Opera is better at both page rendering and speed compared to Safari.
I do give The Ipod Company credit for not forcing iTunes or Quicktime on me in order to try out Safari. Perhaps The Ipod Company has learned its lesson.
More Here...

OK, this is creepy...

2007-06-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

What is this? A video display designed to be placed within 1 inch of the surface of the human eye.
It's supposed to simulate a 30 inch display at 3 meters (roughly 7 ft.).
I have no way to test it myself so I don't know if it works as claimed.
Assuming it does, this is actually not a good thing. I can picture someone using this behind the wheel.
Watching, say, last night's episode of ''24'' on the commute to work for example. If you think driving and talking on the phone is a problem, just wait.
Yes, your computer can deal with multiple things at once (multitasking) but the human mind doesn't work that way. It focuses on a main task and gives the rest short shrift.
That's fine if you ignore the radio to focus on driving. It's dangerous to focus on the phone (or TV show) and ignore driving...

Proof of the coming Apocolypse...

2007-06-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

Did you know that ''Tamagotchi The Movie'' is coming just in time for Christmas '07? Me neither.
Can't say I'm surprised, Pokemon, that god-awful cartoon (calling it Anime is an insult to even really bad Anime) was turned into several feature-length films.
And NO, I've never seen any of them, nor would I want to.

How Tamagochi will be turned into anything even remotely watchable as a movie I cannot fathom...

''We are not amused''...

2007-05-31T00:57:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought so-called ''performance art'' could get much stranger along comes someone to prove you wrong:
Artist eats corgi in royal fox protest stunt
And the guy is British! Did he go to a Chinese restraunt for the recipe?
Money quote time:

McGowan said the dog, which died at a breeding farm, tasted "really, really disgusting," and added that [Yoko] Ono "looked a bit strange" as she also tasted the dog.

Dude, she's always looked a bit strange. But it's her concept of ''music'' that's ''really, really disgusting''...

Like we don't have enough problems...

2007-05-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Popped over to The Register to see what's up lately and found this: Florida battles rats the size of cats. Talking about Gambian Pouched Rats. They were imported to be sold as pets.
NIIIIICE, Like we don't have enough rats here already! Uncle Sam did get off his duff and banned further importation of them thankfully! (did I mention they spread monkeypox?)
Not seen any here, they're down in The Keys (so far). But like the walking catfish, trust me, they'll spread. BTW, walking catfish ARE here, and yes, they CAN breathe air. So it's not enough to merely catch them to kill 'em you have to snuff them after you land 'em! (and they don't taste any different than any other wild catfish)
Figured I'd better know what they look like when they start showing up here:

They're big ugly suckers aren't they? So what will I do when they start showing up here? Same as any other rat, pop a clip of ratshot into the 'ol .22 and pop 'em of course.
Then I clicked on the Comments link in the article and saw some rather interesting ones.
Like this:

dinner-based solution to rat problem...
By Gerald
Posted Friday 25th May 2007 15:10 GMT

Curious, I googled for a picture of one of these rats - one of the first pictures was this one:

http://www.grist.org/etc/gristlist/2007/01/12/cuy-asado_180.jpg

yum! and a leg for everyone at Christmas...

Gerald Morgan

MD

ReadyPeople IT Recruitment

(having some rare Friday-PM downtime!)

Probably tastes like squirrel, tough and gamey.
And found some rather unsettling ones like this:

Moral dilemma
By Mike Richards
Posted Friday 25th May 2007 15:29 GMT

We can only save one - but which one? Giant plague-ridden marsupial rats from Gambia (a story for which the world is not yet prepared) or the bug-infested, torrid, swampy, banana republic known as Florida?

Nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure.

HA, HA, HA, very funny dude. Tell me, where does the UK launch IT'S spacecraft from?
Ooooh sorry, I forgot. The UK doesn't do that sort of thing. But that's OK, we do.
And this one:

But Then Again!
By heystoopid
Posted Saturday 26th May 2007 08:33 GMT

But then again ! , it's only Florida , and who gives a rats breakfast about them weirdo's that live there!

But when global warming finally kicks in , the conveyer belt dies and the seas rise seven metres or so , end of problem! , as most of what is Florida today will be under water!

As Nelson would say Ha! Ha!

The poster's name 'heystoopid' and his spelling of 'weirdo's' says it all.
UPDATE: http://www.theregister.co.uk/ hails from Britain and does like to bash FL whenever it can. But guess who's eagerly buying real estate here?
I guess Paul Revere was right...

Comments on comments

2007-05-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Looks like Steven is diving fully into the realm of blogging again:

20070518.1950: Well, what the heck. I started messing around with a blog on Pixy's site. I just made it unhidden. So far it's just test posts, but I'm thinking of running a sort of hybrid, where TMWs and reviews would remain on this server, but day-to-day posts would go over there. That would, at long last, give people things they could link to, and it would also permit comments. I say that last with great trepidation, but it's worth experimenting with. What the hell.

As you might notice, I permit comments here. On this post and any other. I discourage swearing but feel free to say whatever you'd like there. In a previous post I mentioned that I (ab)use Blogger as a blog host. I'm basically a cheapskate and free is my favorite price. I don't have a problem letting Google ''do the heavy lifting'' for either of my blogs.
With one exception of course; The comment system. I won't hesitate to say it, Blogger's comment system sucks out loud. It's truly awful, there are folks that won't even post a comment on blogs that use it. I tend to avoid using Blogger's comment system whenever possible myself, it's truly that bad, it makes people jump through a lot of hoops just to give their 2 cents worth.
Myself, I recommend HaloScan. It's uptime history is decent (99%), it can be easily integrated into any blog format (including Blogger), it's free (they sell ad space there, which I have no problem with) and I've never seen 'comment spam' there. That's right, never. And I've used it for over a year now (and others longer) and it doesn't force people to jump through hoops to post comments. It remembers commenters ON ANY blog that uses it. For example, pop over to Bane Rants and tell him off. Then come here and tell me off (Yes, this blog looks like his. And he knows it). Your ''name'', email addy (does not appear in comment) and URL (which if you choose to provide one, does appear) comes with you. No 'comment spam', no captcha, and it just works.
Good enough for me...

Time for more celeb-bashing fun...

2007-05-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

Stopped by the MyEMBARQ™ homepage and saw a news item that deserves to be picked on:
Manson's Failed Marriage `Destroyed' Him

NEW YORK (AP) — Marilyn Manson says he was devastated over the breakup of his marriage to model and burlesque dancer [translation: stripper] Dita Von Teese.

"I was completely destroyed. I had no soul left," [Um, MM, didn't you sell that to Satan already? Just curious] the 38-year-old glitzy goth rocker [I'll buy the ''goth'' part but not the ''glitzy'' or ''rocker''] says in Spin magazine's June issue, on newsstands May 29. "I define myself as a person, a human, an artist, as someone who makes things — writing, painting, music — and I couldn't do anything." [MM, you just barely qualify as a human. Deal with that, OK?]

Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, married Von Teese in November 2005. She filed for divorce last December. [and who doesn't love those tales of showbiz romance? C'mon, it lasted a whole year!]

"She said she had tolerated the lifestyle because she hoped I would change and threatened to leave if I didn't," Manson says. [a stripper couldn't handle living with that freak? What, did she think it would have the breast implants removed? Would she have removed hers for it?]

"I was sleeping on the couch in my own home. [that pretty much defines the word pathetic] I was no longer supposed to be a rock star. [it was supposed to be a rock star? I call BS on that one] I was someone who had to be apologized for. [Ding! Ding! Ding! Bold and italics mine. That tiny little nugget of wisdom is what people like me call ''the money quote''] I wasn't prepared to be alone. I came out of this naked, a featherless bird." [Um, yeah, whatever]

His outlook changed when his friendship with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood turned romantic. [could be worse, at least it's into (the word ''romantic'' means the word ''into'' should be taken literally) teenage girls. That does make it superior to michael jack-son] He tells the magazine he was impressed when she said she would die for him. [considering she's a seriously messed-up chickie, it's quite likely she means it. Future life expectancy: 18 months]

"It might sound strange, but this made me want to live," [Nahh, doesn't sound strange at all. It's (legally) banging a teenage girl like a screen door! Sounds like a reason to live to me] he says.

Wood, whose screen credits include "Thirteen" and "Running With Scissors," was quoted in the story as saying, "Boys in eye makeup are the greatest thing ever — that whole androgynous thing." [Ding! Ding! Ding! That would be ''money quote'' number two! I see a stint in rehab in her future. Or dead before age 21, flip a coin]

Manson's new album, "Eat Me, Drink Me," is slated for release June 5. [and MY new CD, ''BITE ME!'' is slated for release June 6^th]

I hope Sony Records is his label. Anyone that buys any of it's ''albums'' deserves the free rootkit included! I've heard it's so-called ''music'' and take my word for it, DON'T DOWNLOAD IT! It's just not worth the meager effort to do so!
Don't waste your hard drive space on it...

You never know where the internet will take you...

2007-05-18T01:25:00.000-07:00

Paid a visit to Chizumatic just now. And found this:

20070517.2355: These are really cool: Zoomquilt and Zoomquilt2. Some (well, a lot) of the art is pretty eerie, but it's a neat idea and executed well.

I clicked the Zoomquilt link and got a 404 page from a company that many people have never heard of: EMBARQ. In certain locations it's the post-Sprint/Verizon merger name.
That's why I recognized the name right away, they send me the landline/DSL bill every month and it's promptly paid (They have indeed provided me with excellent service).
When I clicked on the ''Why am I here?'' link on that 404 page it lead me to the customer service page. It didn't really explain why I got that 404 page but it did tell me that they have quit contracting Earthlink for ISP services and are now doing their own. A pleasant surprise indeed, I quit using Earthlink for email due to poor service and had to go to yahoo mail and all the handicaps that 'free email' entails (like no POP/SMTP and lousy spam filtering).
I'll giving EMBARQ's email the beta run [qwikhitz AT embarqmail DOT com] and I'll let you know how it goes.
UPDATE: I did indeed check out Zoomquilt2 (that link worked fine). If you like trippy, Eicher/Daliesque art (as I do) it's well worth a visit.
UPDATE II: Not all of us have a desire to DIY when it comes to blog hosting Steven:

20070516.1100: Hold on there, pardner! Bob's blogspot blog is gone, which is unfortunate. But the Blogspot 404 page that comes up is in Japanese, which is extraordinary! (Did Virginia become part of Japan without my noticing?)

UPDATE: Bob writes:

Blog's not gone. Google, for some reason, flagged it as a 'Spam Blog'. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion, but there were a bunch of verification steps I had to fill out to get it reactivated. I'm told it should be back up within 24 hours. Perhaps I should rethink hosting it there. I'm not too fond of their v2 Blooger engine, which makes formatting posts very time consuming (IMO) - one thing I do not have in abundance.

Blogspot is a lot like training wheels for a bicycle. A lot of people find out about blogging and decide they want to try it. They may make a few posts, and then lose interest in it. Blogspot is a good place for someone to try blogging out, but if they turn out to be serious and to really want to keep it up, then they should move on, because in the long run Blogspot is worth what you're paying to use it.

And we still don't have an explanation for why Google decided to replace Bob's blog with a 404 page written in Japanese.

I've seen Google put blogs ''under review'', to me it looks like they're doing some ''housecleaning''.
They've not bothered either of my blogs (as of this writing) which is rather surprising.
Apparently they consider removing the ''Blogger Bar'' at the top and replacing the address bar icon with one of my own is not a problem to them. Nor do they FORCE advertising on me. They encourage me to run ads but they allow me the option to decline them.
As far as the Blogger 404 page in Japanese is concerned, I'm as baffled as he is. They have an English-language 404 page after all...

Well at least he didn't beat up a transvestite...

2007-05-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another episode of ''Former child stars - where are they now?''
Remember Married...With Children? Meet the newest member of the washed-up child star club;

David Faustino, AKA 'Bud Bundy'. After bopping over to IMDB, it turns out he's still an actor and doing movies! Some of his starring roles include Puff, Puff, Pass ('06), High Hopes ('05) and of course, Killer Bud ('01).
He was New Smyrna Beach, drunk and fighting with his ex when the cops show up. And guess what they find in his pocket? I expect a very bright future for this up-and-coming actor...

The Twilight Zone is real...

2007-05-04T02:06:00.000-07:00

It's Japan:

A 'Virtual Dog-Walking' videogame (NO, NOT dog wokking, the Japanese prefer seafood).
I admit, I'm not a ''dog person''. I'm a ''cat person'' so I don't know if this is pathetic or merely surreal. But the idea of dropping a coin in a coin slot to walk on a treadmill ''walking'' a ''dog'' makes no sense to me.
There IS a way to make this game worthwhile however, turn it into Pokemon on steroids.
Make the dog ''a ''virtual pit bull'' and instead of trying to prevent ''Fido'' from harm, you ''battle'' it!!!
I can even see an advertising tie-in here!!! Your ''avatar'' dog is:

THE TARGET DOG!!! For those playing along at home that would be the one on the left.
You begin the game calmly walking ''Target'', until you happen to come across a battle. Then it goes to Dog vs. Opponent. In true Mortal Combat style.
You're likely thinking ''OK, so it's Pokemon with a pit bull as a 'monster', SO WHAT?!?!?''
Look at the 1^st photo, the actual player is on an actual treadmill. USE THAT!!!
The treadmill is your only way to restore 'health' to your 'avatar' dog. At the beginning of the game a few steps forward by the player will be enough to fully recharge 'avatar'.
During ''the final showdown'' the player will have to run like hell on that treadmill just to keep 'avatar' ''alive''...

Dear God, NO...

2007-04-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

Remember Speed Racer? That cartoon series pretty much introduced Anime to America. It was cheesy back when it first appeared on American TV about 40 years ago. Myself, I first saw it around 1976.
Perhaps because of that (and it's unique style compared to American cartoons of that era) it became ''a cult favorite''. Well, after many attempts, (and likely bribes with cocaine and hookers) Vince Vaughn managed to get WB to 'greenlight' it as a live-action movie.
From ANN:

WB's live action adaptation of Speed Racer has been canned by the studio several times in the past.

Aren't you just eager to see this? Me neither. It's supposed to hit the big screen May 2008 apparently as a medium-budget film. I doubt this will go well, often when a cartoon is adapted to live-action it often sucks. Unless it's about a superhero (and even that is no guarantee of being a decent flick. Batman and Robin as well as Superman Returns come to mind).
I'll be honest, by today's standards, Speed Racer was not all that great. I use Pokemon as a good example of lousy Anime. Both Speed Racer and Pokemon share the same trait of telling pretty much the same story again and again and again. And in both cases there isn't much of a story to tell. If you've seen one episode of either you've seen all of them. There is nearly no overall story arc.
In fact that's why I hate Pokemon as an Anime series, the games have an overall storyline (that continues from game to game) that the Anime has little of. The thin plot works for the games but does not work for a long-running Anime series.
So if you take a thin, simplistic story that is only functional for a single 22-minute episode and stretch it to fit a 75-120+ minute movie what will you get? Filler. And lots of it.
It's why Star Trek: The Motion Picture was so bad. Take a story that would have worked as a single 45-minute episode and try to make it fit a two and a half hour movie.
The only way to make Speed Racer work as a film is to pretty much write a whole new story from scratch. Pirates of the Caribbean (a Disney World attraction converted to a movie) took that approach and it worked. Disney also tried that with Country Bear Jamboree and it utterly failed.
My opinion? Speed Racer: The Motion Picture will likely be 'dumped' during next year's ''March Madness''. Hey, it got TMNT the #1 for two weeks. Even though it most likely sucked.
Will I watch TMNT? I might, after it's released to DVD and it appears on Bittorrent. I learned my lesson with Idiocracy. I paid $20 for it when I could have just as easily DL'd it via Bittorrent.
I won't flush another $20 down the commode.
I'm glad I DL'd Onagai Twins (HEY, I actually liked Onagai Teacher). I watched that whole disaster hoping it would improve. It never did. I'm just glad I only paid for my mistake when I hit 'play'.
BTW, Onagai Twins is Bandai. Yet it has the patented Gainax ending. It began poorly, continued worse and ended by crashing into the wall. Good artwork, good audio and ample fanservice didn't help it in any way. But it follows the ''one bathing scene per episode'' rule (and that's been done better elsewhere). The whole plot of Onagai Twins is a boy and a girl that are twins. That would make them fraternal twins. Basic 'birds and bees'; two different eggs, two different sperm make two babies in the same womb. Yet the series continually tries to make the point that the boy and girl(s) are twins due to the fact that they all have blue eyes. By that nonsense, I would be a relative as well.
UPDATE: I forgot to clarify the basic plotline here, girl #1 shows up at Mike's (the central character) home bearing a photo supposedly of the two of them as toddlers. Mike also has a copy of said photo. Then girl #2 shows up also bearing a copy of said photo and also claiming to be the long-lost sister. They dispense with the idea of doing a DNA test by calling it unaffordable. So it muddles on for a dozen episodes trying to sort out who is the actual sister and who ain't. To save you the effort of subjecting yourself to this disaster it's girl #2, the mousy one that often faints. And they come up with a very contrived way of discovering this fact. If you want to sit through 13 episodes of angst, be my guest, just don't tell me you weren't warned...

He's GOT to be kidding...

2007-04-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Over at Chizumatic Steven sez:

20070420.1935: I don't know jack about Ted Nugent. Don't even know what his music sounds like.

But he's my kind of man.

Considering the song 'Cat Scratch Fever' has been getting radio play for oh, 'bout 30 YEARS now, I find that difficult to believe.
BTW, One thing this past week that pissed me off were TV tards that show a pic of a so-called ''assault weapon'' while saying the perp was using a Glock 9. I own a Glock 9, and sir, that is no Glock 9. I also have a FL CWP, but I usually carry it openly.
Many states have reciprocity for the FL CWP, but Oregon is not one of them. Someone needs to do something about that...

I got mail...

2007-04-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently someone read my early (in this blog's beginning) posts about Popotan. I didn't doubt the that the Hentai game existed, I just thought the series may have actually come first.
Well someone emailed me with nine screenshots where only one of them could have even possibly been from either version of the series. The rest are quite plainly from the game.
From my reply:

Uhh, thanks, I guess.
I never doubted the game's existence, just whether the series actually came first.
NO, I'm NOT going to post any of those. Nor will I keep them or pass them on.
I really wasn't even interested in seeing them. AND PLEASE DON'T SEND ME ANY MORE...

For the curious here are some Q & A about them:
Q: Are you sure they're from Popotan? A: Character design and art style match exactly. There's no doubting it.
Q: Are you sure they're from the game? A: With one exception (Ai, nude and without glasses, surrounded by steam. Could have been from one of the many bathing scenes) ABSOLUTELY SURE. They are Hentai pics, not merely eechi.
Q: Is the 'avatar' character in any of the pics? A: Yes, and there is no character in the series that matches him. A few resemble him, (Keith and the older character from the 'prequel' sequence) but no exact match.
Q: So is the object of the game is to do ALL of them? A: YES.
Q: Including? A: YES, and they made her 'bi' as well. Mii seems to be, shall we say, the 'busiest' character in the game.
Q: Did seeing those screenshots change your mind as to what was created first (direct question from the emailer)? A: Yes. It explains Mii's fascination with breasts in the series. It also explains what I can only call ''the cow scene'' in Episode 1. THAT scene DID creep me out, and if you ask me it could have AND SHOULD HAVE been deleted. Now I realize that they were subtle references to the game that spawned the series.
Q: So, could you show us what you are talking about? A: NO WAY. I forwarded it to Yahoo as ''abusive'' before I replied to it without the attachments . Then I flushed Win XP with CrapCleaner. They're gone, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM AGAIN!
Q: Where did it come from? A: ''eric20779'' (possibly MD)...

In everyone's life a little rain must fall...

2007-04-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

My posting will be even more sporadic this coming week. Starting Wednesday, I'll pretty much be offline until Saturday. I'm being temporarily evicted from my home, again. It happened Aug. 2002 as well. The owner of my home (I rent) decided that my home 'needs to be tented for termites'.
It IS what it sounds like, a circus-sized ''tent'' is assembled over the entire building that I call home and VERY POISONOUS gas is pumped into it for 48 hours.
Considering that this gas is quite lethal to plant life (and anything else) I'll have to live in a motel for 3 days. It won't harm my computer, but it will be powered down and offline (my DSL has to be shut off as well, the building that I call home has to be electrically 'dead' before the gas is pumped in).
So I'm burning DVD's to take with me when I have to literally ''bug out''.
Don't make suggestions, the timeframe doesn't work. I've bought and I've downloaded, and one takes as much time as the other.
I don't watch TV. NO, SERIOUSLY I DON'T. The Super Bowl was the last thing I actually watched on TV (on the infamous ''Local 6''. IT IS an actual TV station, and I can pick it up with ''rabbit ears'')...

Farewell Johnny Hart...

2007-04-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

Although the Slantinel dropped the strip many years ago (Florida Today still runs it). I've always enjoyed ''B.C.'' by Johnny Hart. He passed away today.
According to Fox News; "He had a stroke," Hart's wife, Bobby, said on Sunday. "He died at his storyboard.". If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, nothing will.
I couldn't find the Easter (April 15) 2001 strip that produced so much controversy, but I did find the Easter (April 8) 2007 one:

This might be the last. A worthy farewell...

Answering the question...

2007-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Someone asked ''How do I get IE7 to stop asking this?'' reminds me of an old joke:

Patient: Doctor, when I do this it really hurts!
Doctor: THEN STOP DOING THAT!!!
Myself, for general use Opera 9.1. For Blogger and various other sites that that don't play well with Opera, Firefox. Absolute last resort (such as streaming audio from radio stations) IE.
Want to know why I avoid IE whenever possible? Neither Opera nor Firefox support ActiveX, only IE does. Google ''activex security issues'' to find out why it's good idea to avoid IE...

OK, So who had Florida in their brackets...

2007-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, sure you did. This guy did:

He got ONE of the Championship teams right. Florida vs. Ohio State for the title (sounds familiar).
Bend over OSU, Bobby Knight said it best;

1988 - In an NBC interview with Connie Chung, who asked how he handles stress, Knight says: "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." He explains he was talking about something beyond one's control, not the act of rape.

UPDATE: At least they tried so they didn't get stomped this time around.
But losing the title in two sports to the same school in 4 months has got to be really humiliating...

Uhh, Yeah...

2007-03-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have no idea if this is a real weapon or a toy:

Dymphna (Gates of Vienna) thinks it's so cute.
But to me, firearms should not be 'cute', that's just not the point.
But it would fit in here...

You're not going to belive this...

2007-03-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Kevin Federline (Brittany Spears's ex) hired a webmaster to create an Internet search engine. I could probably do it if I were paid to. If you'd like to hire me for that task, IT WILL BE EXPENSIVE!!! ($2,000,000.00 minimum. Cash up front, take it or leave it)
No, I'm NOT kidding, I wish I was. That offer of ''search the web and win'' doesn't interest me.
I don't base my decision to patronize anything based on ''my chance to win'' anything!
*WHACK*! Homey don't play dat! Or the FL Lottery. If you're into gambling, there are a multitude of places you can go, but I'm completely uninterested. Not my style.
So ''K-Fed'' if I want to search the Internet that's what Google is for.
BTW, I guess I'm becoming a geek!!! Switched to 'Edit Html' three times on this post. Guess I'm getting used to dealing with ''raw HTML''...

Yeah I did...

2007-03-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

I went over to Bane Rants and guess what? His blog is screwed up again!!! No blog 'main' links work above the final 'archive' (in the sidebar) link.
TSK, TSK, TSK. Yet I can 'rip' this template from the 'Page Source' of his blog, set it up, put it in place and got it fully functional is less than 48 hours. And created it's own icon (I even told him how to adopt it. Select 'Page Source', I really made it that easy).
I guess ''Wendy'' has her work cut out for her. I agree with her Bane, don't mess with your template. I know how to play with fire...

Carnak puts the evelope to his forehead and says...

2007-03-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

NOPE!!!
Inside the envelope was:

20070320.2350: A new TMNT movie, all rendered, opens this coming weekend. Think there's any chance at all that it will be any good?

The studio is 'disposing' of it. Everything I've seen of it so for looks like the studio knew they blew it.
And are releasing it now to cycle it through theaters before ''the summer season''. IF THEY'RE LUCKY they'll manage to break even on the DVD release in October.
If you think I'm kidding, ask yourself this: Where's the product tie-ins? It's a well-established product line.
UPDATE: Whoops, just checked the calender. It's being aimed at grade school 'spring break' in the hopes the kids will put it in the top 5 for opening weekend. I doubt it, but it might actually work. But it still looks like it was intended for a late June release. Complete with a Mountain Dew and a [insert national pizza chain here] product tie-ins. My guess is it tested poorly and they rushed it to theaters in a lame attempt to salvage it.
My hunch is don't even bother downloading it, not worth the effort...

Okaaaayyyyy...

2007-03-20T02:49:00.000-07:00

On British Airways, in order to upgrade from Coach to First Class I have to die in-flight.
Looks like 'frequent-flyer miles' just don't cut it anymore...

Just in time for St. Pat's day...

2007-03-17T17:48:00.000-07:00

That's Orange County, FL (Orlando) if you're wondering.

Gotta give 'em props for creativity!

I've been known to consult ''Wackypedia'' from time to time...

2007-03-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

But don't always count on it being accurate. The ''stand-up comedian'' formerly known as Sinbad was reported by them as having died of a heart attack last week. One problem, he's neither dead nor funny yet.
Uh, Whackypedia, that was Richard Jeni. And he Cobained.
Well, at least they don't bash VLC. Must be an 'East Coast-West Coast' sorta thing.
BTW, Whackypedia is also based out of FL, St. Pete to be exact.
MOI? Well, you got the St. and the FL right. But not Pete.
More unintentional comedy courtesy of Whackypedia:

On March 6, 2006 , St. Cloud introduced "CyberSpot", a program which gives all residents free high-speed wireless Internet access.

A year later, I'm still paying for DSL. I'm not exactly a big fan of the ''CyberSpot''.
Take my word for it, ''free high-speed (not much faster than dialup) wireless Internet access (if you can even get it to work at all)'' is grossly overrated.
UPDATE: I continued to rant against ''CyberSpot'' over at YIH. While doing so I went to YouTube and found an easy way to test your Internet connection:

Yep, it's Night of the Living Dead. The entire B&W '68 version. It plays smooth as silk on DSL.
On ''CyberSpot'' I can't even make it to 2:00 before it pauses to ''rebuffer''. At 9:18 the connection is lost.
The jury has returned. The Verdict is in favor of the Defendant (DSL) against the Plaintiff (''CyberSpot''). No award is nessessary, the online service continues with the Defendant.
Case Dismissed.
UPDATE II: Quite clever of YouTube, they don't put the {/embed} tag in the HTML code they provide. So Google (Blogger) chokes on a straight HTML 'cut and paste'.
Gotta admit it keeps the n00bs from posting YouTube to Blogger. For me, merely an annoyance...

This was just too funny...

2007-03-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

Steven sez:

20070316.2120: I wish I could post some screen shots for you from Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan! The art looks really nice; clean lines, nice backdrops, attractive character designs, appropriate amounts of CGI that don't grate.

I wish I could. Alas, the file is an "MP4", and even with a "universal codec" pack installed, PowerDVD doesn't have a clue what to make of it. Still, there's VLC. And it's Open Source! Yay!

It's got a "snapshot" function. I don't have a clue as to what it does. When I choose it, I get a temporary thumbnail of the current screen in the upper left corner that fades out. But where does it go? It doesn't go into the VLC installation directory. It doesn't go into the Windows scratch pad. I can't find any configuration choice for it in the setup frames.

I found a configuration page for it, and it tells me that it's currently set up to store its snapshots as PNG files. But it doesn't say where they are stored.

YES IT DOES!!! When that thumbnail is on the screen, it also overlays the path to the .png of the screengrab. I don't like the fact that both the the thumbnail and path only last about 3 seconds. But if you are on 'pause' you can select ''screenshot'' as many times as you like without creating additonal files.
BTW, it defaults to putting them in ''My Pictures'' complete with a helpful filename like ''vlcsnap-1084142'' (from Popotan):

And THIS is why he bashes ''open source'' software? YIKES! It took me all of a minute to do a demo grab from Onagai Twins (for some reason, it shows up first in my DL directory) and locate ''vlcsnap-2560543'':

Because I uploaded them to Google (Blogger) I didn't even bother to change the filetype from .png to .jpg .
After writing the above I discovered that Wonderduck also informed him of this.
There is one question I have for Steven; So why'd you quit Macs anyway?
UPDATE: A little tip for Wonderduck: SEE ABOVE
UPDATE II: There is a reason I went through hell to install Haloscan here!!! It just works. It keeps the spam out without preventing legit commenters from doing so. And your nick, email and URL transfer from blog to blog (that use Haloscan) with no problem.
BTW, the reason I went through hell was not Haloscan's fault. Blame Google (Blogger), they changed Blogger and I had to adjust to it (difficult but not impossible)...

The official cat of QWIK HITZ! has arrived!!!

2007-03-10T02:40:00.002-08:00

NOTE: this is cross-posted to Your Image Here
Now multi-catting as well (pronouced 'dose gattos', translates as two [male]cats).
Haven't snapped a .jpg of Whitey yet, but this'll do in a pinch:

Not an actual pic of Whitey, but it matches. He naturally wears 'snow camo'. If I were to put him out in the snow, he'd vanish. Luckily for him he lives in Central Florida where snow is quite rare.
He's about 6 months old so it's possible that snow has occured in his lifetime (we had light flurries just before Thanksgiving '06).
Sam is less than happy about the new member of the family, but they've not fought each other.
But I've got a small bucket of water handy if nessesary. Trust me, it'll stop a catfight immediatly, and it will quickly teach them not to fight. So far, I've not had to resort to ''the water option'' and so far I've not needed to.
Julie (who also loves cats) said in the online chatroom that we both participate in ''You don't adopt cats, cats adopt you''. Pretty much describes how Whitey became ''not homeless''.
The house I live in is up for sale. Yes, I'm looking into buying it but Real Estate transactions are a very complicated process that I will not discuss futher at this point.
My Landlord ran a tour of the property (it annoys me, but he has every right to do so) and apparently Whitey came in with the prospective buyers of this piece of Real Estate. After the tour of my home ended Whitey stayed. Whitey had been hanging around here for months and apparently came in with those who were touring my home and fooled my Landlord and his prospective buyers into thinking that HE's the cat that lives here.
Although if push comes to shove (ONE cat is allowed on the Lease) Sam stays, Whitey goes.
Whitey is the newcomer. If it becomes nessessary, he's ''the last hired, the first fired''.
Reality sucks, but you have to deal with it anyway.
But that won't stop Whitey from becoming the official cat of QWIK HITZ!
2 blogs, 2 cats, I can deal with this...

I may not live in England...

2007-03-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

But I LIKE throwing sharp-pointed objects at the wall while drinking beer. And I perfer not to do it at home:

Although nylon-tipped ones are OK as well. So what am I doing for St. Pat's day?
Thanks for asking: http://www.odohertypub.com/.
I might even bring my laptop and try 'live blogging on location' just for the hell of it...

Ahh, Nostalgia...

2007-03-08T00:43:00.000-08:00

Fifty years ago there was a big scandal in radio known as ''payola''.
That's how this guy's musical career got it's start:

And now look what's become of him.
If you thought it went away about the same time tailfins on cars did you'd be wrong. Now you know WHY ''the hottest artist's hit'' on the radio gets played again and again and again and again...

Never underestimate American ingenuity...

2007-03-08T00:27:00.000-08:00

My solution is much simpler however. I merely take my hand off the mouse and grab a cold one out of the mini-fridge next to it.
But you gotta give this guy props for putting his new Engineering degree to good use...

Being the mechanic...

2007-03-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well, if Bane doesn't know by now what just happened he never will. I told him what I did in his comments, complete with link. I liked that template so I stole it and made it work.
It's not 100% of what I want it to be so I'm putting in diaganostic aides. They're visible if you look closely enough.
UPDATE: Haloscan you ask? Haven't installed it yet, I'm getting right on it.
UPDATE II: It was simple to get Haloscan to work on Your Image Here. Getting it to work on QWIK HITZ! is not so simple. ''The New Blogger'' (which I created QWIK HITZ! with) is rather tricky.
UPDATE III: ALMOST lost all that hard work trying to install Haloscan here. I got lucky, my source was in another tab. Now I have backups.
Haloscan will work, I already know it does. I'll either solve this puzzle or say ''screw it, let Blogger handle the comments for QWIK HITZ!''.
UPDATE IV: That's better, Haloscan is now functional on QWIK HITZ! I didn't like having to rummage around in YIH's code to find the answer to my quandry, but I did and that is why Haloscan now works. I WILL clean up the mess, BUT I NEED A BREAK!!!
UPDATE V: I had to make sure, so I posted a comment to this using Haloscan. It worked.
UPDATE VI: Bane knows. And he's afraid to mess with his template.
So I'll play with the fire so he doesn't have to.
FINAL UPDATE: Haloscan is properly installed and operates as intended. NOW I can crash. Goodnight everyone...

On fansubs...

2007-03-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

I won't get on my high horse about whether they are right or wrong.
I've DL'd fansubs as ''a free preview'' and if I liked what I saw, I went ahead and bought it.
I can't say that's a good way to make the decision on ''Buy or Not Buy'', but for me it usually works.
That's how I chose to buy Hanaukyo Maid Team La Verite. What I saw as a fansub made me bring out the credit card. Same for Hand Maid May.
This method of pre-screening Anime doesn't always work however, I went ahead and bought Onegai Teacher (which, if you can make it past the first five minutes, is actually good!) and it's sequel Onegai Twins (which is both a waste of time and money).
But it IS helpful in avoiding tragic errors. Kiddy Grade comes to mind, I'm damn glad I saw it before I bought THAT disaster!!!
J Greely's review of it was more entertaining then watching the whole series would have been. Yes, IT IS THAT BAD, here's a just a taste:

It doesn't get any better than that. It's downright awful.
That said, I see DL'ing fansubs as a way to sample something. Sorta like the lady (sometimes guy) at the Sam's Club offering me a bite on a toothpick and saying ''You like it? You can buy it over there''. That's how I see fansubs.

When you're hot, you're hot...

2007-03-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Like the new look of QWIK HITZ! ?
Wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. In less than 24 hours I openly stole this ''new'' Blogger template, created and set up an icon for it and began to customize it.
YES, I DO KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE A BLOGGER TEMPLATE!!!
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. I don't have many years left, and I didn't want to spend another one making one from scratch. So I went ''QWIK and dirty''.
You can call this cheating, but I won't lose any sleep over it...

COMING SOON...

2007-03-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

A preview of coming attractions for this blog:

BTW, While I like the song, the singer needs to do something 'bout the head lice.
REALLY...

I understand...

2007-02-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

I used the time codes in this NOT SAFE FOR WORK page as a suggestion only! I played through each scene from 1-2 minutes prior to 1-2 minutes after. THAT'S how I made my comparisons. Yikes!
That did not work after 1:04:13 on disc 3. The scene at 1:23:19 does not appear at all! No possible match whatsoever. Not even a foul tip, a complete swing and a miss.
''Bob says he's going to be talking to someone at Geneon soon (for other reasons), and will ask about this when he does, so I guess we'll get the official word on it all in a week or so.''.
We're not talking about JetBlue here folks, Geneon is not going to confess that they released something that may or may not be legal in America and could run into legal problems in most of the world. As in Oregon, it's legal. Take it to Vancouver, Canada maybe not.
I can see a Canadian saying: ''But Your Honor, I bought it online from an American distributor!'' and the Canadian Judge saying ''That does not matter, it violates Canadian Law: Guilty''. Guess who else would be facing charges under Canadian Laws!
The idea of facing prison time would be enough incentive for me 'to fix it' alone. As Steven said in his review: ''Complaints: I guess the best way to put it is this: if this series had been filmed with live actors, owning it would be a felony.''. In Canada (and many other countries) it IS a felony. The fact that it's a cartoon changes nothing.
In America I can only say that legally it's in a grey area. It could be legal or not depending on how American Law is interpreted in a particular case.
If I ran Geneon I would err on the side of caution. And I sure would not admit to this mistake. Sweep it under the rug and walk away hoping I don't get caught later.
I will talk about my Employer in this regard (This is way too close to Rule #1 for comfort, but I can document what I'm saying. And I have plenty of witnessess). A reporter asked The Company Spokesman if there would be layoffs at The Company. The Company Spokesman confirmed it to the reporter. The reporter did his job and published the story. It got transmitted to newspapers everywhere. A local paper to me picked up the story and because it involved a local employer, went to print with it.
The Vice President of The Company had to fly to the closest major airport and drive to My Employer's facilities, gather a mandatory meeting of all Employees to say ''What you saw in the paper this morning is not true''. But it was true. The Company Spokesman issued the press release, and it was filed as a report. What was reported was accurate. That's all I am going to say of this subject.
Note: NO, I will not name my Employer, A.K.A. ''The Company''. It is my current Employer, therefore it cannot be named. That's ''Rule #1; Don't bite the hand that feeds you''. I made the details of that story vauge for a reason. I can document what I say, but will not at this time.
UPDATE: This is the first time I've had to remove an already published UPDATE:
But it was nessessary due to the controversial issues at hand. I now understand how those Danish cartoonists feel. It is speech, but it's not nessessarily free. Not even in America...

Singing the Opera...

2007-02-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is my first post to QWIK HITZ! using Opera 9.2. It's my favorite browser, but it has funky coding that makes it incompatible with various websites. Most work just fine but now and then I come across sites that Opera chokes on. ''Townhall.com'' is one.
A minor bug, it just means I have to cut and paste the URL to Firefox to see it. Considering that I seldom go to ''Townhall.com'' anyway, I see it as a speedbump on the information superhighway.
Blogger (editing/posting mode) is another site that makes Opera flinch. The finished page is not a problem however. Any blog on Blogger works just fine. Just to get the text editor to work at all was tricky!
But not unsolvable. 95% of the sites I visit work fine, the other 5% can be problematic in one way or another. But then again, there are websites that only work properly on IE *&^%$#@!!!
UPDATE: Looks like either Blogger or Opera are still not playing nice with each other. Not suprised, nothing new. I'll keep using Firefox for posting...

The next day...

2007-02-24T15:07:00.000-08:00

Let me put it this way; I'm not interested in watching Popotan again anytime soon!!!
While it was enjoyable sleuthing out the question ''ARE there two versions''? (see below, the answer is YES). It was also work, it was draining on me to go through 3 DVDs comparing screenshot to screenshot.
That said, I find myself in the classic ''Which came first the chicken or the egg?'' dilemma. My opinion is the series came first with the hentai game being a sequel to it. I don't discount the possiblity that it's the other way around. Which would make the series a prequel to the game.
Anime HAS been spun off of games before (perfect example: Pokemon). And the series hints at that possiblity in doing an execellent job of suggesting a possible prequel for itself. With Mea having the same role and casting a 20-something man in Ai's role (the origin of Keith perhaps?) and a boy of about 10 in the role(s) of Mai/Mii. With a tragic ending of the house burning down and perhaps one or both dying in the fire or being abandoned to a (pre-WWII) point in time.
BTW, I'm not convinced that each ''jump'' is 5 years. That was only explictly stated when Mea and Mai missed returning to the house to ''jump'' and the house teleports to the same spot 5 years into the future. I tend to think that location and time shift are a pair of varibles that are random until fixed as constants. As in Daichi finding the house as a boy and later as an adult. Purely a roll of the dice. It was clearly unintentional that the aliens would have allowed that to happen. Because Keith tried to kill the adult Daichi to preserve the secret of ''The Quest''. If there were any planning involved, Daichi would have only come across the house at only ONE location and point in time.
That's what I base my reasoning of the future Popotan on. The aliens did not know what they were teleporting into until they did it. Unlike Star Trek where exact coordinates are set before teleportation is initiated. And location is scanned to determine where a safe place is to teleport to.
In other words, the aliens have no ''crystal ball'' sight into the future. They pick a time and place at the spur of the moment, lock it in, and go. Not having any idea what they are going to find when they get there. With location being a random spot in Japan and time point also being of random length. Think ''Near Osaka, 3 years into the future'' as locations in time and space, lock those into the teleporter, and click on ''yes'' when the computer displays ''Are you sure? (Y/N)''...

'Popotan'; My takes...

2007-02-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: A tip of the hat to Steven. He confirmed what I'd suspected was true for some time. THERE ARE INDEED TWO VERSIONS!!!
The early release has the numbers 12343, 12344 and 12345 on ''the shiny side'' of the discs themselves. The later release has the numbers 12343, 12344 and 12346.
That is the version I have. When I saw the screenshots that are NOT SAFE FOR WORK, I compared them to what was on my DVDs. There are differences though not as many as I initally thought, but they are indeed different.
On the 3^rd disc I can't even match the time coding!
For those playing at home, I used VLC running on XP MCE to watch DVDs.
NOTE: VLC makes screenshots a breeze, but it outputs them as .png files. Load the pic into your favorite editing software (MS Paint will do in a pinch) and resave the pic as a .jpg .
Everyone will thank you for doing so. I make mistakes so you don't have to.

I had no influence on changing Steven's rating of it from 'one star/thumbs down' to 'two and a half stars/thumbs up'. He did that on his own.

First I need to clarify what Steven got wrong in the development (and marketing) of the series. It was plainly developed for Japanese TV first. He claims in his review (and other writings) that the series was derived from an X-rated hentai game that's not available in America (and VERY likely won't be).
In a recent post about what is quite possibly from the hentai game Steven says ''Still no explanation of that wrecked spaceship though.''.

Here's your explantion Steven: The footage makes perfect sense for a sequel.
In the series, the overall plot arc spans between 1970 to roughly 2005 (the house not only jumps from location to location, but from point in time to point in time). In any sequel the story would have to move into the future.

This is likely the ending of a potential sequel of some sort.
Here is my guess on how the story would go: Somewhere in Japan in roughly 2035 the spaceship teleports into Earth airspace to teleport (''jump'') the house. Tragedy strikes in the form of the spaceship teleporting directly into the path of a large rocket or (more likely) an airliner. They collide, and the spaceship takes major damage. Unable to either teleport the house, teleport itself out of Earth airspace or even counter gravity, it falls to Earth.

As noted, it's immense.

Something that huge coming down would likely have the effect of an (at least) 7.0 earthquake.

This also explains the different house.

Viewed full-screen these buildings show cracks consistent with the effects of a serious earthquake. The Christmas shop was likely destroyed under or near the crashed spaceship. In the series Mea's job was not only to maintain the house/Christmas shop but to protect the girls as much as possible. (BTW, I'd say Mea is a cyborg) Figuring out something has gone horribly wrong she is duty-bound to evacuate the girls to safety. And does so. The different house is their new residence. With the overall story ending with Mea and the girls coping with life where ''The Quest'' is most definetly over.
I'll let others speculate as to what occurs in the hentai game itself.
As noted above I'm quite convinced the TV series came first but for the DVD release it was likely decided that it needed to be ''spiced up'' to encourage sales (to give those in Japan a reason to buy what has already been broadcast. As in ''COPS: too hot for TV''). Likely at the same time the hentai game was produced to use the nude scenes for both releases and also to take advantage of the marketing for the DVD release.
When it was decided to licence it for region 1 Genon took the DVDs that were already being sold in Japan, subbed it, dubbed it and shipped it to America. The version Steven saw plainly should not have left Japan.
Genon got wind of Americans reaction to what Steven calls ''the lolicon aspects to it'' and realized ''UH, OH, we gotta fix this!!!'' (simply to avoid legal issues). I'm guessing they pulled the early release from the market, inserted footage from the original TV show (removing most of the nude scenes) and re-released it for export out of Japan. That is the version I got for Christmas, watched and quite liked. And DO recommend.

So what does God think of this...

2007-02-18T04:55:00.000-08:00

Well you should go to his blog and ask him...

I'm not accustomed to XML...

2007-02-18T02:31:00.000-08:00

I'm comfortable with HTML. That makes turning off the ''blogger bar'' and bringing my icon here a bit tricky. But as you can see, NOT impossible...

Buh-bye, ''blogger bar''...

2007-02-18T02:03:00.000-08:00

Didn't take me long to remove THAT. It really IS such a simple hack.
I couldn't let my new blog wear a ''Blogger bar'' for long could I?
I HAD to shut it off right away...

Why I did it...

2007-02-18T01:29:00.000-08:00

Because Blogger made it too easy. I can access and edit either blog from the Blogger Dashboard.
That's what ''sold me'' on this idea. So far I am able to switch back and forth from Qwik Hitz! to YIH with no problem whatsoever. I can have both open in different tabs using Firefox.
I've not tried it with Opera yet. Opera and Blogger don't get along with each other that well (for blogging, I use Firefox, for general web surfing I perfer Opera).
I'd rather not speak of IE because I can't do so without swearing. There are times when I have no choice but to use it, BUT I STILL HATE IT!!!

OOPS, I did it again...

2007-02-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my mind works so fast that even I can't keep up. I was thinking of creating another blog and dadgummit, that's exactly what I did. I was thinking ''I wonder if 'qwikhitz.blogspot.com' is available?''. As of 2/18/7, NOT ANYMORE!!!
Right now it has a ''generic blogger'' template, ''the Orange B'' icon, and no Haloscan.
Not a problem, all of these are quite fixable. Time consuming, but fixable.
Your Image Here just gave birth to a new blog, now let's see what kind of parent it will be...