Category: General

Outlaw Star was the first complete anime series I bought on AMV and still remains one of my favorites. I finished the Outlaw Hearts AMV just in time for the Anime Central AMV Contest, but with nearly 140 other entries competing for a spot in the finals, the odds are kind of long. Still, I have a lot of fun entering, and hopefully raising my skill level. I had to change to Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 late in the project because Magix Movie Edit 11 refused to export properly. So I had the usual drama getting a project done. I think the results were worth it though. I love the song and it goes well with the story from the anime, imho. Oddly enough, after a year of making AMVs, this is the first one I’ve made that used a song in English which turned out to be more of challenge than I thought it would be!;_-

I saw my first pink haired guy on the street a few days ago and it actually looked good on him!^^ In addition to pink, I’ve seen deep cherry reds, blues, and greens. And I’ve also seen a guy with a blonde streaked mohawk wearing denim and leather. One of the nice things about this rainbow of hair colors is that the ladies and gentlemen really looked good that way. Bravo!

The so called ‘D.C. Madam’ was found guilty on all counts of running a prostitution ring. Perhaps this comes as no surprise, but the thing that really rankled me was part of the prosecutor’s closing remarks.

“When a man agrees to pay $250 for 90 minutes with a woman, what do most men expect in that time?” prosecutor Daniel Butler asked during closing arguments Monday. “In that context, it’s pretty clear. Most men want sex.”

Now I know there are plenty of men out there who can easily spend that much money on a woman for a regular date. A nice restaurant, dancing, movie or show can add up quickly. But despite that, the woman is not obligated to have sex with him. I know that a lot of women certainly feel pressure to do so, and plenty of men feel that they are damned well entitled. So it really bothers me that the prosecutor has basically taken this and declared it as a universal fact in supporting his case. So careful ladies, if a guy spends a lot of money on your date, you just became a ho.

A new Harris poll finds that the Bible is America’s favorite book. People are such liars! If the Bible really was America’s favorite book, the way we treat each other and the world would be significantly different! I have yet to see anyone outside of a church casually thumbing through the Bible on a bus train or in the park. But everyone knows the right answer to these polls, even if it is not the answer in their hearts.

I always hated the fact that during college, spring break always came during usually foul Chicago area weather. And now I’m reliving that with my kids who have also inherited this dubious scheduling that probably has more to do with union contracts than a realistic attempt to schedule the break during some truly spring like weather.

So it was with some envy that I spied the many tourist out on Michigan avenue yesterday during what had to be the first nice day of spring. I actually had lunch outside in the park! Apparently, a lot of private schools are having their spring break this week following Easter. There were so many moms with cute, American Girl Doll-like girls out yesterday that the flowers themselves would have been jealous, that is if there were any blooms yet!

Of course, all pleasure must come with some pain… Today it’s snowing!

Edison Chen just went up a notch, his now infamous laptop is in fact a customised pink Macbook! Hey! It’s alright for a guy to like pink. My DS lite is coral pink, and some of my favorite shirts are pink. Pink looks good against my skin, so it’s nice to wear. So kudos to Edison Chen, at least on his taste in laptops!

I ran across this Yuri Ebihara ad for Sega while doing some research for my Ebihara Shinji-kun AMV. I thought about putting it on my PSPStuffnJunk site, but I think I’ll just put it here for now. Kawaii des! Why don’t we ever get cute game ads like this in the US?

I’m watching the pre-race show for the Daytona 500 and just saw not one but two ads for some law firm by none other than William Shatner! Why Bill, oh whhhhyyyyyy?!!!!

Sadly, campus violence is becoming so common now that when I initially heard about the shootings at NIU yesterday, I figured that the shooter would fit the usual profile. He’d be some quiet, withdrawn person who was probably off his meds…blah blah blah… Now it appears that Steven Kazmierczak was anything but that. While the story is that he had stopped taking his meds, he was otherwise a pretty normal and engaging guy according to those who knew him. [more from NYT]

Many of the medications prescribed to treat mental disorders come with suicide warnings. I’m told that the critical times tend to be either going on the medication initially or coming off of it. For now, I’ll assume that the vast majority of people taking these drugs are better off with them than without. But what if a “normal” person were taking this stuff? Generally in the US any drug must go through a battery of clinical trials before being approved for a particular use by the FDA. But these trials don’t always include testing the drug’s effects on normal controls, sometimes for ethical reasons. And it is no secret that billions of dollars hang in the balance depending on whether or not the drug is approved. This is a strong disincentive to doing any more testing than necessary to win FDA approval.

Without more information, this is pure speculation. But I just wonder if Kazmierczak, and obviously his victims, would have been better off without the meds in the first place.

I guess it was inevitable, but Polaroid film and instant cameras are going away! I haven’t used mine in many years, but I still fondly remember the fun of taking those photos that maybe you didn’t want the pimply faced photo guy to see before you picked them up! Perhaps Edison Chen wouldn’t be in so much trouble now if he had just used Polaroid!

As millions prepare to watch the Super Bowl on TV today, what am I doing? I’m just being amazed and inspired by the artistic creativity of my youngest daughter. Here is the cover she made for a school report on Topeka Kansas. I love the composition, color, and the energy in her work! And now, perhaps, I have the inspiration I need to finish the music video that I’m hoping to enter in the AMVJ competition. As for the Super Bowl, meh, I may watch a quarter or two. Go Giants!