Author: blueZhift

Categories
cosplay

R Dorothy Comes Calling

At last I have gotten the go ahead to create an R Dorothy Wayneright costume for my wife for the upcoming Anime Central. That is, she agreed to wear it if I make it! ^_^ I just got the shoes today! Willowbrow is not a big anime fan, but she does like Dorothy, so I’ll have to do my very best. And if I’m lucky and don’t run out of time, I hope to have a Roger Smith ready to go with her!

I’m really very happy to get a chance at this because for all I know I’ll never get the chance again. This is going to be a lot of fun! I’d better get a wig order in soon too, because I’m sure that dying her hair is right out! Don’t want to push my luck…

Categories
General

Cheaters Swings Both Ways

During some semi-random channel flipping last night, I came across an episode of Cheaters on G4. In this “reality” show, they follow around a lover/spouse that the other thinks may be having an affair with another person, that is, cheating. As near as I can tell, the entertainment value rests in the usually violent reaction the cheated on significant other has toward the cheater. Then shortly before I could flip away, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before, the cheater and the cheatee were both guys!

Since this was clearly not something I would have expected, I decided to watch the show and see how it all turned out. It was pretty much the same as you’d see for a heterosexual couple. The guy being cheated on was very upset, and crying his heart out. Regardless of what you might think of homosexuality, you couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy. The cheater, as is often also the case, seemed pretty clueless about what he’d done. And, of course, the cheated on significant other immediately lunged for the interloper his lover had been cheating with. Also, the cheater always seems to find someone who looks remarkably like their current lover to cheat with. The only thing that was a bit different was just how brazenly unrepentant the interloper was. That guy was a real little bitch! :3

So there you have it. Whether men cheating on women, or men cheating on other men, it all makes for some delicious trash TV! I guess it doesn’t matter as long as the ratings targets are met.

Categories
cosplay

Mature Sewing Revelation

I was home sick today, damn damn DAMN! Despite the pain and suffering, during some more lucid moments I did manage to get some work done on my second costume for the upcoming Anime Central convention. It was during this work that I had a revelation.

If I’m going to be home all day, I usually don’t bother to put in my contact lenses. I just wear my glasses around the house (yes, I’m a vain man, and admit it) which I learned comes in handy for sewing. Why? Because focusing on nearby objects is getting more difficult as I *ahem* age. With my contacts in, it is nearly impossible now to thread a needle. In that situation, I’m usually doing it by feel and luck! But with my glasses on, usually I can thread the needle without too much trouble. And in a worst case scenario, it is easy enough to just take the darn things off and stick my face right up against needle. Can’t miss at point blank range!

So from now on, the contacts come out for sewing. One of these days maybe I’ll get some reading glasses, but vanity simply won’t allow it yet! >.<

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc Tech

Fix For Windows Media Player AVI File Problem

During the course of creating my first anime music video, I finally found a solution to a long nagging problem. The problem was that a while back, Windows Media Player stopped playing AVI files. Opening an AVI in Windows Media Player (WMP) would result in a blank screen and nothing. I scoured forums and web sites, and found nothing except the possibility that it was a codec issue. It was particularly frustrating that Microsoft itself did not have any useful information. Afterall, if anyone has the the resources to find and resolve conflicts with Media Player, it’s Microsoft.

Finally something said in a forum concerning this problem lead me to a solution. I noticed DirectVobSub would run when trying to play AVI’s in WMP. So I figured that maybe it needed to be updated. I updated it, but the AVI’s still wouldn’t play. So I installed ffdshow and uninstalled DirectVobSub, still no luck. But I noticed that a copy of VSFilter.dll was still in Windows\System32. It was apparently an old copy from the earlier DirectVobSub installation. Once I deleted this, AVI’s would now play in WMP!

So I can only guess that VSFilter.dll and Windows Media Player do not get along well together. I haven’t had any more troubles with WMP since getting rid of the offending file. I hope this will be useful information for anyone else who is having problems playing AVI’s in Windows Media Player.

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol 10 Is Out!

After a very long wait, Neon Genesis Evangelion Volume 10 is finally out in English! I was pleasantly surprised to find it on my lunch time stroll to Borders. They probably had about 6 or 7 copies on the shelf, and perhaps more in the back, but after such a long wait, I didn’t want to take a chance on missing it. So I picked up a copy today rather than wait for a coupon I have to activate later this week. But, being the cheapskate I am, I did use my Borders shopping day for 10% off! ^_^

It’s hard to say exactly what the appeal of Evangelion is to me. It’s certainly more than giant robots, curvacious babes, and the end of the world, which alone are pretty good hooks! LOL For me it’s mostly about being able to identify with the feelings of many of the characters, particularly Rei and Shinji. My school days are far removed from me by this time, but I still remember the alienation, trying to be perfect, falling in love, and being angry with my father all too well. I learned to cope with it all, and turned out pretty well, I guess. ;^_^

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

My First AMV!

After about 3 weeks of work and learning I finished my first anime music video! Yay! Last night I bundled up and uploaded my entry for the Anime Central AMV competition and now only hope that it will at the very least be shown at the con. It would be nice to win something too, but my whole reason for doing it was a love of the song and the anime, which I won’t name here, at least not yet. One of the most important things I learned from the process was that you’d better really love the song because by the time it’s done you’ll have heard it a lot! I mean a whole lot!

After the con, I’ll put the video up on YouTube. Three weeks is a long time, but with what I’ve learned, I’m hoping to produce one more entry for the competition before the April 20 deadline.

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

Perfect Hair Forever! WTF! April Fools!

It looks like Perfect Hair Forever has taken over Adult Swim tonight. I’m guessing now that this is their now annual April Fools joke on the viewers. I suppose this is better than last year’s farting noises during Ghost in the Shell.  Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk! I never got into the Perfect Hair thing, so I’m using the time to catch up on some of my web forums.

Categories
General

My Sweet Lord Canceled

Radical Islam, meet Radical Christianity! Complaints from Catholics and death threats directed at the artist, Cosimo Cavallaro, have lead to the cancelation of the My Sweet Lord exhibit which featured a nude Jesus sculpted from chocolate. This is just silly. There’s nothing wrong with a sculpture of Jesus posed as if on the cross made of chocolate. And as for being naked, well in all likelihood Jesus was naked when He was crucified. That was part of the shame and humiliation of the whole thing. Cardinal Egan should know better than to be a part of the kind of fanaticism that can only chase people away from Christ rather than lead them to a relationship with Him. Oh well, I guess he thinks that chocolate bunnies for Easter are just fine, but a sweet chocolate Jesus is just too much to bear!

Categories
SciFi and Fantasy

Battlestar Galactica Brings On The WTF!

Okay, this is your only warning.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

Now let’s get this all out the way right now. Col. Tigh, the Chief, Starbuck’s husband, and the President’s Chief of Staff, are all Cylons! Damn! Didn’t see that coming. Oh, and Starbuck’s alive and is going to show them the way to Earth. Of course, I suppose that is if they manage to survive the massive Cylon surprise attack that ended the final episode of the season.

Whew, that’s a lot to pack into the last episode, but it is all soooo deliciously cool. I haven’t had this kind of excitement since the cliffhangers of Babylon 5. Sadly, we won’t see how things turn out until 2008. I’m glad that, for the moment at least, it appears that Starbuck is alive and in the flesh, not in someone’s head. And I would even say, that maybe, just maybe her appearance with the Cylons is not just a coincidence. Maybe she brought them, and maybe they aren’t there to attack. And with 4 or the final 5 Cylons revealed, will the final one really turn out to be Admiral Adama, perhaps activated upon reaching Earth? Nah, that would be too easy.

Click here to join the fun in the Battlestar Galactica forums!

Categories
Games and Sports

NASCAR Car of Tomorrow Today at Bristol

The Cup race at Bristol is always something I look forward to, but today is doubly special because NASCAR is debuting the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol today. The CoT is the redesigned racer that NASCAR claims will be less expensive for teams to run, safer for the drivers, and improve competition. Well, not that I don’t believe them, but talk is cheap, let’s race! Aerodynamics don’t usually play much of a role in racing on a short track like Bristol, it should be a good test of the general handling of the car. And knowing Bristol, the body shops will be getting to know these cars quite a bit better after the contact sport that is Bristol is finished today. I wonder if there’s a redesigned Dent Hammer of Tomorrow too!

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

Making Anime Music Videos On The Cheap In Windows

Inspired somewhat by the anime music videos I’ve seen at conventions and on YouTube, I decided to try my hand at it and create an entry for the Anime Central Anime Music Video competition. Being a cheapskate, as always, I really didn’t want to buy anything new or expensive, at least not until I really know what I’m doing.

So I got started by gathering the free tools referred to in VicBond007’s Guide to Working with DVD Footage on AnimeMusicVideos.org. I then used this very good guide to create my AVI clips. I read the rest of the guide which describes how to edit the video with Adobe Premiere, but since I don’t have that, I had to fend for myself and use what I had handy.

I ended up using Windows Movie Maker 2.1 to import the AVI clips and music. (Note, I used Audacity to convert the MP3 music file to an uncompressed WAV file since the guide warned of synch issues using a compressed music source.) Windows MovieMaker could only save my video to WMV format, so I then used NeroVision Express, which came with my DVD-RW drive to create a DVD that I could play in the living room.

The end result, though, at this point, is still a rough draft, looked really good on the TV. So I’m hopeful I’ll have something that everyone will enjoy!

Categories
cosplay

Blue Wig Day

The Kaname Chidori cosplay project is officially underway! I just ordered the long blue wig, and the shoe painting last night went pretty well. And on an unrelated matter, I finally got my chocobo whistle in FFXI! ^_^ I love these costume projects, it usually takes a while to get started, but once underway, I can usually really go at it. I had originally intended to debut Chidori at Otakon, but if I can get it done soon enough, I’ll debut it at Anime Central. I didn’t make the ACEN Idol cut 🙁 , so I’ll have more time to work on cosplay projects.

Categories
General

Kaiju Big Battel! Google vs Viacom over YouTube

The big battle we’ve all been waiting for has finally commenced, as Viacom sues Google over copyrighted content on YouTube. If the two sides don’t wimp out and settle, we may finally have an answer to the question of whether or not YouTube can be held responsible for the fact that its popularity is largely founded on the presence of use uploaded clips of copyright protected content.

I’m not a lawyer, but I would guess that as long as YouTube has not explicitly stated in any way that their business plan depends on or benefits from illegally uploaded copyrighted content. They’ve probably been fairly careful about this consciously at least. But there is little doubt that Viacom will try to subpoena thousands of internal emails (the subconscious if you will) in an attempt to show that YouTube and Google did acknowledge the dependence on what Viacom alleges is an illegal business model. In the absence of any smoking guns like this, a judge may find him/herself having to decide whether to serve the letter of the law (Google wins), or the spirit (Viacom wins).

Categories
Games and Sports

FFXI March Update Woes: Time To Leave Vana’diel?

For the last several days, since the Final Fantasy XI March Update, I’ve been having connection issues with the game. I’ve been getting R0’s while in Dangruf Wadi. Since I’m soloing there and don’t want to lose a lot of XP by getting killed, I’ve had to logout when these connection losses start happening. A lot of players have been having these issues and so far Square Enix has not been willing to own up to them, preferring to blame the ISPs. But clearly, the timing of this problem points to something that SE did in the update. I still love FFXI, but that isn’t of much use, if I cannot play the game. Perhaps it’s time to give World of Warcraft another try and maybe recycle that 40GB hard drive in my PS2. I could reclaim a lot of hard drive space in my PC and 360 too.

Categories
General

NerdTest: Because I Have Nothing Better To Do…

Just screwing around before I watch Adult Swim. Am I surprised, not really, but I wasn’t even trying very hard.

I am nerdier than 94% of all people. Are you nerdier? Click here to find out!