Author: blueZhift

Categories
Media and Entertainment

Jealous of My Boogie: Thanks!

On Monday, RuPaul’s Drag Race crowned its best “woman” for season 2, Tyra Sanchez. I didn’t like Tyra that much at first, but over the course of the show, she really changed and grew up. So I’m totally okay with her winning. Honestly, I thought Raven had the inside track because she consistently raised her game every step of the way. But in the end, Tyra’s performance in the final Lip-sync for Your Life was just amazing and pushed her over the top. So Raven didn’t lose the crown, Tyra really earned it.

One thing I’ve liked from the very beginning is having the shows and extras available on the web. In particular I’m really enjoying the final version of the music video they were shooting as part of the final episode. Now I can’t get Jealous of My Boogie out of my head! Thanks RuPaul and all of the queens for such a fun show! (^_^)

Watch Gay Video & Lesbian Movies
Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 8 Arrives Early

I’d been waiting for this a long time, so I was quite happy to find Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 8 on the shelf at Borders in the Loop on Tuesday, a week earlier than expected. So I bought a copy and quickly digested the double volume sized manga. It did not disappoint. It’s full of the same fan service, taboo busting, cross dressing goodness that anyone who’s followed the series has come to expect. This is not for kids, each copy is shrink wrapped for very good reasons!

This volume actually contains Japanese volumes 8 and 9. And the series has already reached its conclusion in Japan earlier this month. I wonder if that might have been the reason for moving up the release date here in the U.S.? Scanlations of the series up to chapter 69 have been around in the usual places for years now since the series went on hiatus. The new TokyoPop release covers chapters 57 through 74. With the series coming to an end in Japan, there may be new interest here, so moving quickly is probably a good idea before everyone reads it online. Even if you’ve read the scans, please show your support for Tomochika-san and the industry by buying a copy!

After two years waiting for volume 8 and now four years since I started reading the series (my 2006 post here), I’m happy to have this fat little volume in my hands! Thanks TokyoPop! ^__^  I hope I won’t have to wait as long to see the conclusion.

Categories
cosplay Media and Entertainment

RuPaul’s Drag Race

The last few weeks, I’ve become a regular viewer of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I learned of the show from an ad on a CTA bus stop in Chicago’s Loop. So I decided to give it a look and got hooked on it, because all of the episodes are on the web after broadcast on Logo, catching up on the show was pretty easy.

In short, I love this show! I’m not a big fan of so called reality shows in general, they mostly leave me flat. But this one hooked me on a couple of fronts, one, the cosplay element, and two, the crossplay/crossdressing elements and all of the creativity that goes into them. The closest show I’ve seen to this previously was Project Runway. Once I saw that the Queens had to create their own stuff with limited time, this cosplayer was totally onboard. It’s a bit of Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model mixed together with some RuPaul secret sauce thrown in!

Up until last week, I don’t think I had a favorite. I knew I didn’t really like Tyra very much, because, well…she’s a bitch! Sorry, that slipped out. Seriously though, if you close your eyes and just listen, you can’t tell the difference between the Queens and real genetic women! Open your eyes and a lot of times, you still can’t tell! They’re that good, really. And as a crossplayer myself, they’re a bit of an inspiration. My cosplays don’t require much flashy make up, but the attitude of the Queens is something I’ve been missing. You’ve got to really own your characters and show that you’re having a great time to make the best pictures. This is something I hope to take with me to ACen in a few weeks.

After last week’s Rocker Chicks performances, I’ve found my favorite, Pandora Boxx! She’s been sort of flying under the radar, but over the last few weeks just gets better and better. Funny, smart, and wow I loved this outfit! The singing wasn’t the greatest, but her presentation and attitude more than made up for it. She looks great and I really think she has a shot at winning it all!

Watch Gay Video & Lesbian Movies
Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc cosplay

Belated Ohayocon 2010 Aftermath

Don’t think I’ve ever been so late posting a con report, but here it goes! After a two year absence, I finally got back to Ohayocon, but it was not easy. I’d been looking forward to going back for a long time, so I planned ahead. But as is all too often the case, things did not go entirely as planned.

First, I had to get a new car. My old car, a 1998 Camaro, had over 100K miles on it. It had been a good car over the years and I took good care of it. But I know from experience that after 100000 miles, some components just start disintegrating. So when the car start running poorly just a week before the con, I knew I wouldn’t be able to rely on it to make the Chicago to Columbus trip. I’ve never been stranded on a convention road trip, and I did not want to start now.

I had hoped to put off a new car purchase for at least another year, but I didn’t want to miss the con, so I went shopping to see if anyone would be crazy enough to give me a car loan. My credit is good, but in this bad economy, I did not hold much hope for  getting a loan fast enough. Well, silly me, I’d forgotten that car dealers want to eat too, so in a few short hours I got a call from a Chevy dealership that was quite interested in my Camaro trade in. I’m still a gear head at heart, so their enthusiasm swayed me, that and the possibility of getting a 2010 Camaro as a replacement.

Long story short, I got a 2010 Camaro with a little “building lockdown due to possible gunman sighting in my office building on the day I need to pick up the new car” drama thrown in for good measure. Oh, and while all this is going on, I’m feverishly finishing up a new costume and tweaking a couple of older ones. I ended up finishing up my maid outfit at the con, derp da derp…

So Friday morning I hit the road, two hours late, in a hot new car. Funny thing is that as much as I wanted to, I never really opened it up all the way. I don’t think I ever exceeded 90 mph. Just too many police out there and states hungry for money to take too many chances. So, for the first time on any con road trip, I actually used the cruise control to keep my speed a respectable 5 to 10 mph over the limit.

Once I found parking, the con’s first challenge was the elevator. This never improved the whole weekend and I ended up climbing an descending a lot of stairs. Brutal! And being hours behind schedule, I had to, gasp, spend a lot more time in normal clothes than usual. These days I feel almost naked at a convention when I’m out of costume.

The first thing I noticed was that Ohayocon was using a lot more of the convention center than the last time I was there. And there were a lot more people at the con than two years ago. Last time, I missed out on karaoke, not this time though. I had a lot of fun singing and enjoying the singing of people I’ve come to know on the con circuit. The combination of karaoke and cosplay is one of the things I enjoy the most about going to anime conventions. (^_^)

I also enjoy dancing my ass off, in costume no less! We also got a preview of a new Pendulum song, courtesy of Greg Ayres. Friday night I didn’t get back to my room until after 3am, a new record for me. The next night I smashed that record and didn’t get back until dawn! XD

The AMV contest was pretty good, and I got to a few panels as well. The one that impressed me the most was Greg Ayres panel. He talked about the heart attack he had last year and how his life had changed since that time. I was really impressed and inspired by his resolve to do what needed to be done to go forward.

As always, I took a lot of pictures of cosplayers which can be seen here. I’ve also put them into a tasty slideshow format with some appropriate theme music. I listened to a ton of I’ve songs on the drive! Needless to say, I had a ridiculous amount of fun at Ohayocon and can’t wait to return next year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_F99WLrgY4

Categories
Games and Sports

Square-Enix Epic Fail: Goodbye Final Fantasy XI

I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XI on and off since the US launch and I’d wondered how it would all end. Would I ever max out any jobs, or see end game content? Would I be there when they finally turned the lights off? Well I got my answer when the the stupid Secure-Code payment system would not allow me to use either of my credit cards to pay for the game!

I refuse to jump through hoops to pay for a game. So good bye Final Fantasy XI, it seems that my money isn’t good there anymore…

Categories
General

Rough Ride

Whoa! It’s been forever since I updated this blog! I went to Ohayocon 2010 and had a great time and have had a bunch of stuff going on since then. Now I’m gearing up for Anime Central and need to finish the AMV I put off for Ohayocon. And, of course, I’ve got costumes to make and/or tweak. Got one request for Domo-kun that I’ve gotta plan.

So it’s been a rough ride, but that just reminds me that I’m still very much alive!

Categories
Media and Entertainment Tech

Oh Facebook! How Cheeky You Are!

A few days ago, I noticed in my emailed Facebook status update notifications, that I could now reply to them via email. That is, I could reply to a friend’s status update without having to go to and login to Facebook. I thought it was interesting, but could not see the immediate benefit to me. Nevertheless, I started using the new feature.

Later, after talking with someone about how Facebook has become a popular vector for PC viruses and how many companies are beginning to block Facebook access for workers, it struck me! Being able to reply to a status update or comment on one via email is a way to get around the block. Keeping people from sending email to certain addresses is a thornier issue than blocking access to a particular web site. And it is highly unlikely that mail from Facebook itself poses any kind of security threat. Still, people are supposed to be working, right? Facebook you are so cheeky!

Categories
General politics

Virtual Naked Air Ready for Take-off!

In the wake of the failed Christmas day bombing attempt by a Nigerian man, there has been a renewed called for the expanded use of full body scanners at international airports. The Dutch have already announced they will use these scanners for all U.S. bound flights. And Nigerian officials have made a similar announcement. These millimeter-wave and backscatter X-ray scanners essentially strip away clothing to reveal things that may be hidden underneath. Privacy advocates have likened their use to virtual strip searching and have strongly resisted their deployment in the United States.

I think it’s high time for Americans to get over their problems with the nude human body. Not a single one of us came into this world with a stitch of clothing on. Do I really need to care that some TSA staffer I don’t know will see me naked in some scanner? No I don’t! Department store changing rooms have been monitored for years to prevent the far less than fatal crime of shoplifting.

There’s nothing shameful or offensive about the naked body. But I do take offense at the twisted, charred, and often naked, corpses in the aftermath of a successful airliner bombing.

Categories
Media and Entertainment

End of Free TV? Yaaaaawn!

While I might complain about Yahoo!’s new home page, on the whole, they’re still a good portal. Just ran across an AP article there that speculates free over the air broadcasting could come to an end due to shrinking advertising revenue.

It’s no secret that the television viewing audience has a lot of choices now as to how, where, and when they get programs to watch. I haven’t paid much attention to over the air network shows for a long time now. Part of that is because the shows I like the most aren’t on the networks anyway. And even many of the cable shows I follow can be downloaded legally or otherwise at relatively low cost. If free TV disappears, I’ll hardly notice or care. And if some of the shows I do care about go away, well, that happens. I’ll watch something else or read some books. Or, hey, maybe I’ll make my own entertainment and share it on the web.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The entertainment industry seems to be undergoing a long overdue correction. For one thing, the television rating system has never been exact meaning that advertisers were probably overpaying in a lot of cases. Actual viewer counts can be much more precise for a web delivered show than anything broadcast. And the ads themselves can be much better targeted. So it’s no wonder the ad dollars are flowing in the web’s general direction now. In the end, the huge media conglomerates are either going to have to learn to live with smaller profits or bring something new to the table that their customers want.

Categories
General Tech

Dear Yahoo!, Your New Home Page Sucks!

I know I probably should address this to Yahoo! directly, and I probably will once I figure out how. But for now I just wanted to register my disapproval of the new Yahoo! home page. It’s really not all bad, but those left side panel mouse over pop up/slide out boxes are the most annoying web page feature I’ve seen in a long time!

Every time I hit the Yahoo page, I invariably get the annoying pop up/slide out box on my way to something else. Mouse over actions beyond simple tool tips are IMHO, a bad idea. People will always trigger these without wanting to and sooner or later they start to stay away from your pages. As it is now, I dread visiting Yahoo because of this annoyance.

Categories
Tech

Enabling Wireless in Windows 7 x64 in Mac OS X Snow Leopard Bootcamp

After finally getting 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate running on my unibody MacBook under Bootcamp, the most vexing thing to deal with was nonfunctioning wireless. Being tethered to CAT-5 cabling when booted into Windows was a real pita. Googling turned up little help or clue to this until today. I found a forum post in which someone made it work by unpacking the BroadcomInstaller64 file from the OS X install DVD and running the installation from the local hard drive. This is essentially what needs to be done but leaves out a lot of details. So I’m writing up what worked for me.

  1. Copy BroadcomInstaller64 from \Boot Camp\Drivers\Broadcom to the local hard drive somewhere like C:\Broadcom for example.
  2. Use 7-Zip (or similar program) to extract the files in BroadcomInstaller64. Right click on the file, select 7-Zip, then Extract. I extracted these to a subdirectory called BroadcomInstaller64.
  3. Open the Windows Control Panel, then open the Device Manager. Under Other Devices, right click on Network Controller. Then click Update Driver.
  4. Click, Let me pick from a list of device drivers. Click on Network Adapters.
  5. What you see here will vary. In my case I clicked on Broadcom and then chose one of the wireless card entries. I don’t think it matters which since we’re just going to select the drivers on the local hard disk.
  6. Click on Have Disk and browse to where the unpacked drivers are located, in my case C:\Drivers\Broadcom\BroadcomInstaller64
  7. Double click on the bcmwl6 setup file you’ll see listed.
  8. From the list of adapters double click Broadcom 802.11 Multiband Network Adapter (there are also g and n listed)
  9. Windows will warn you that the driver is not signed or something for compatibility. This, I think, is why the install fails when using the installer directly. Choose to install the driver anyway.
  10. If all has gone well you should now be able to set up your wireless connection in the usual way.

So there it is, that’s what worked for me. And in fact, this blog post is being written on my Mac using that very same wireless connection enabled using the steps above. So far, I’ve had not troubles with it. So I hope this will be of some use to others who’ve had this problem.

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc cosplay Tech

Youmacon 2009 Cosplay Slideshow Is Up!

Actually, I finally got around to putting together my traditional post convention slideshow last week, but I want to give the WordPress 2.9 improved video embedding a little test. The slideshow is the first video I’ve made on my Mac using iMovie. iMovie is okay, if you haven’t used other, more conventional, video editors. But I found it a bit confusing at first and later too limiting. Still, for a simple slideshow, iMovie is fine. But I’ll be sticking to Sony Vegas 8 for my bigger projects. Yeah, it means booting Windows, but I’m not in the mood to spend a lot of money moving to a native Mac solution and having to learn a new tool. I still hope there will be a Mac OS X version of Sony Vegas some day.

Anyhow, here’s the slideshow!

Hmm, in the end I still had to put in the object code by hand to embed the video. Just putting in the link only gives a link… Well I’ll look into it some more later… Maybe it doesn’t like Chrome.

Categories
General

The Absurdity of Parenting

It suddenly occurred to me this morning that it is totally absurd for me to be parenting someone else while having so many unresolved issues of my own. Nevertheless, I suspect that is the situation with most parents… No wonder the birthrate is dropping more technologically advanced parts of the world.

Oh well, call me Captain Obvious.

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc Tech

Bought My First eBook: Japanamerica

A couple of days ago, I bought my first ebook. I bought Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.. I bought the Kindle version for my iPhone and so far, I’m pretty happy with it. As a life long book lover, I’m both pleased and surprised at how this came about.

Reading digital books was not the reason I got an iPhone. And while the Kindle, Nook, and other book readers are attractive, they just weren’t a top priority item for me. Digital books are a good idea and long overdue, especially for heavy laden school children, but I was in no rush to get there. But now that I’ve slipped in through the side door, I’m glad I came. The iPhone screen is pretty much perfect for the extremely casual sort of reading I would be doing on such a device and so far at least, I’m not seeing any downsides to this at all. Of course, that’s bad news for anyone trying to sell dedicated book readers, unless they get a lot less expensive.

I ended up buying a book because I was in an adventurous mood and decided to try out the Kindle reader for iPhone. I was hoping there would be some free books available like the Barnes and Noble Reader had. And I wanted to compare the two readers. There weren’t any free books, but there was a sample available of the Japanamerica book. So I downloaded that and started reading, got hooked on it and bought it. Ultimately, the content made the sale, and since I usually buy books from Amazon anyway, it was easy for me to buy one more.

I still like physical books, and have no plans to stop buying them, especially since some, like manga, wouldn’t be good on the iPhone’s screen. But from now one I’ll definitely be looking for a digital version.

Categories
General

The Sands Are Running Out

I still can’t get over the feeling that time is running out. Of course, that’s probably because it’s true. There’s only a finite amount of time left in my sojourn on Earth and I have no idea just how much of it is left. I suspect that most people just ignore this and carry on, but I just keep having these feelings that I need to try new stuff before I run out of time.

Even though I believe that there is more than this life and that God has a purpose for all of this, I still want new experiences in the here and now. Is that bad? I’d like to think that this is all preparation for whatever role I may have in the next life. But I have no proof of that, and it seems likely that’s it’s all my own depraved thrill seeking.

Oh well, none of that changes the fact that the sands in my hour glass are running out. I don’t think my faith has been shaken, I just want to understand all of these feelings better.