Picture Perfect Paranoia

Finally, I has a post!

Seriously, though. By now, regular readers of this blog may or may not get used to intermittent updates like this, but it’s a fact of life. Like fellow anime blogger Michael, I’m an official medical school student. Thus, updates like this.

Anyway, just to show you how out of the loop I am in the anime blogosphere: I have just heard/read that Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, it’s good to be back.

After a lot of angst and rage from the sidelines, I decided to look back at the community that I have felt close for the past 5 years or so. Lo and behold, I have been left behind.

Some of these posts were taken randomly based upon my own interests, which were slowly crawling back at the moment the Source of Great Stress arrives. Yes, I’m talking about medical school, which will start in three weeks or less. Whoa is me.

With the workload probably dumped onto me from the first week onwards, I need a great stress reliever, and what better medium that what I have missed since turning my back for the more accessible other. That other is manga, and what I missed was anime. They is relevant to my interests.

Yes, I strike back. Even if no one remembers me anymore. Ha ha ha!

Dang. It’s one thing after another, isn’t it?

By the time you’ll be reading this post, I’ll be away on a trip to the US to get my VISA passport renewed. For three weeks I’ll be weaned from the Internet, supposedly to “condition” me to a life of no vices and no hobbies. I will have the mindset of a doctor not on my own volition, that’s for sure.

Unfortunately, I won’t be around, either, to witness the fourth anniversary of his hobby blog. Kinda ironic, since I was looking forward to it, yet I won’t be around to witness it. As you see from the paucity in posting rate, I am already conditioned to not think of trivial things, and focus on the goal of the “family”, not mine. I am being indoctrinated, for a lack of a better term. It’s not helping me at all.

Sigh. What can I do, you ask? I’m a human with free will, right? Well, I’ve been taught that it is theoretical, that is, it does not apply universally. To specific cases/conditions/situations does the “free will” exert its force, and in my case, the ability is invalid. Such is the tragedy that befalls my identity. I am the doctor of the family, “Dr. Brion M.D.”, and not who I am. My existence is sorely underestimated.

So much for celebrating an anniversary of what would be an impression I wish to make on my own, not on what others have taught me to be, but on my own personal will. It’s depressing.

I already planned ahead this time, for this month. I was supposed to finish sprucing up my long-overdue summary post of the Kimikiss anime, which has long been finished (and apparently licensed). I decided however to withheld doing just that. I mentally cursed myself for such a decision, but that decision is not without justification.

Within less than a month, the medical board exams will begin as scheduled. As such, my mental faculties are not yet primed for such an event. For that justification I mentioned, this blog will go on hiatus, again.

Apologies for dragging personal issues into this hobby blog.

This post will serve as a checkpoint. I intend not to let this blog die, yet.

There was a recent brouhaha over at Dynasty, and it’s about scanlations. Again. It’s an issue ad nauseum.

Read the rest of this entry »

I owe everyone an apology for being inactive for a week or so, at least. I guess being not excited about anime can do that to you. Plus there are other issues that demand my attention. They are all after the end of the old and the start of the new, if you will.

During the Holidays I haven’t ate much, which would result to me not being plump. That’s all I have to say about that.

Where were we? Oh yes.

It’s been way… too long since I’ve last updated. So long, I wonder if the people still come to this site. Or worse, if they do, but they just don’t remember me.

Anyway, with me applying for med school (sorry to drag these things that are too personal, but it’s true…), I haven’t got much time to catch up on things that I should have been, or drafts that I haven’t finished since a year or two, so this blog being quite is a testament to it.

Now that this has been updated, back to RL I suppose.

As you can see from the posts quality which I’ve been chruning on this blog, I need a break. Guess that’s pretty short and sweet.

Yeah, that’s the gist of it. I don’t want to go into the gritty details of how I came to this decision, and neither should my readers… I think.

Expect me to lurk more.

Bush Signs Law Creating Copyright Czar | Threat Level from Wired.com

President Bush on Monday signed into law legislation creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the nation’s drug czar.

Two weeks ago, the House sent the president the “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act”(aka “Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act”), a measure the Senate approved days before creating a cabinet-level copyright czar (Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator or IPEC) charged with implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy and “report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.”

As if the Financial Crisis of 2008 isn’t depressing enough. Now we have the Internet Police being created.

I suggest rewriting this in Simple English so that even the layman consumer can read and comprehend what this law says about “copyright infringement”. Those are two big words right there.

Playing baseball with tanks and rocket launchers - JapanProbe

Last night, NTV (link) attempted to determine the speed of a baseball fired from the barrel of a tank. To conduct the epic experiment, they enlisted the help of the Cambodian military, which saw the TV show as a means of spreading PR about how Cambodia is now a peaceful nation with a professional military.

Cambodia’s military initially responded to NTV’s request by suggesting that the experiment be conducted with a rocket launcher (RPG) instead of a tank

Epic? Well, that’s a surprise.

Next thing you know, other countries might be interested in launching things other than baseballs and rockets into launchers unto unsuspecting audiences. Would that lead to a conflict rising? XD

Remember this?

Confused by the the title post? Well, you’re just as confused as I am now.

If you’ve been following this rather unimportant issue, read on.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s official folks. After months of speculation, Taro Aso has become the new Prime Minister of Japan. I said before that Total Otaku Support would be grossly exaggerated (Mark Twain’s rolling in his grave by now lol), and oh boy, I’m now eating my own shorts. I was wrong. There’s no doubt now that this choice of the citizens of Japan will bear witness as Mr. Aso takes on the lead.

Other bloggers that lave lend their voices:

• AkibaBlog
• Black Tokyo
• JapanProbe
• Kitsune’s Thoughts
• Sankaku Complex

LOL. Talk about unknown.

With the rate this “vanity page” is being set up, Alodia may have been known by now.

And here is a “notable argument” by one of the voters:

An appearance and a corporate sponsored award in one episode of a cable TV show does not merit notability. And do we really need a list of what character she cosplayed according by event and year? Most of these events go unnoticed even by the general population of Filipino anime/manga fans. Going by the rules of of (sic) WP:BIOL she has not won or been nominated enough times for the awards featured in this page (which i repeat are not notable enough by themselves).

See where this is going? I’d laugh myself off these fanboys and notability experts.

Looks like the Japanese will never run out of wacky ideas to think of.

Casio Exilim puts “makeup” on your picture - ForeverGeek

Take for instance the new Casio Exilim cameras that feature a “makeup function”. This new feature recognizes the face of the subject then automatically adjust the focus and exposure. Pressing a dedicated button will basically make the subject’s face look softer and smoother. It also softens the shadows that appear on the face. If I’m not mistaken this feature is actually a first and we should see future cameras coming out with this feature.

Notice the difference in the two pictures in the link above, and you’ll see some “touches” on the photo taken. Undoubtedly, people who are either conscious of how they will appear on still camera, or are simply vain, will find this camera feature a must-have.

This is an advanced notice that I won’t be around the intranets for about 2 weeks due to Finals Week coming up.

See ya next month, folks!

Apologies for showing this late gesture of appreciation (due to RL), but many thanks to those who have participated in the survey I’ve created 9 days ago. Now let’s look at the results.

My parents…
	Response Percent	Response Count
Are a bigger Otaku than I am!	2.7%	1
Also read manga. We talk and share the stuff~	5.4%	2
Don’t know I read manga at all. Shhh, it’s a secret hobby	10.8%	4
Know I read manga, but it’s not something we talk about…	62.2%	23
Know I read manga and are repulsed by it and trying to convince me to stop	8.1%	3
Doesn’t know what manga is even though I tried to explain it a million times	0.0%	0
Thinks all manga is for children	10.8%	4
answered question		37
skipped question		0

It would seem that the majority of the respondents are at an understanding with their parents, apparently keeping their interest something not to be talked about in the open. I understand where you’re coming from. Especially when you live in a country that looks as a medium like manga as the Japanese equivalent of an American comic book. Sure, some of the manga that were being pandered ti the mainstream contain comedy, hentai moments, and the like, but a deeper probe into the subculture unearthens a yet to be discovered wealth of possibilities. They have been used:

• as a medium to introduce and familiarize the young generation with the Scriptures of the Bible
• as a medium to tackle the sensitive issue of teenage pregnancy

These and other uses suggest that manga already penetrated mainstream culture, but has yet to be freed from the stigma of being “just another import”.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.