Bruno is now at the bottom!!

Jerksblog!

Date-Based Archive Funkytown

Meme ripped off from here. Thanks to Maggie for pointing it out.

• Things which I must be made to do:
  • Move
    
  • Move on
    

• Ideal conditions of town to which I am moving:
  • Right for me
    
  • Keeps me
    
    • movin'
      
    • groovin'
      • with some energy
        

• Things which I talk about:
  • It
    
  • Movin'
    

• Places to which I request to be taken multiple times:
  • Funkytown
    

Other good ones: Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage", Queen's "We Will Rock You".

Posted by erin at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Things and Other Things

My spring jacket, I've realized, is now horribly worn out. It's bordering on the "homeless" look, which might be OK for Hal, but not for me. I should get a new jacket, but I have no idea where. I only know what I don't want in a jacket (normality, great expense) and I have no idea what I DO want. Anyone got any non-joke suggestions on where to find weird jackets?

I'm also trying to think of uses for my old iMac. I don't want to give it up for some reason. I don't want to make it into a fish tank either. Maybe I can use it as in additional monitor, but it's incapable of running OSX, soooo... yeah. Could I use it as a monitor? Is that even possible?

Also P.S. my hair is now blonde. I tried to dye it back to brown but the brown dye didn't work out... so now it's similar to my brother's hair color. Most of you have never met him, so I guess it doesn't matter to you.

Posted by erin at 04:05 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Inspector Gadget Lyrics

Thanks to a post by kind stranger lauren_lief I was able to find the lyrics, at least written in French, and thanks to babelfish I was able to translate a bit:

Eh la qui va là [Inspecteur Gadget] Eh la ça va pas [Ouh ouh] Oh la je suis là [Inspecteur Gadget] C'est moi que voilà [Inspecteur Gadget] Ca va être la joie [Ouh ouh] Au nom de la loi [Moi je vous arrête] Je vous arrête là [Go go] Gadget à main [Flash] Gadget au chapeau [Hey ho] Gadget au poing [Oh la] Elastico-Gadget Les bandits sont là [Inspecteur Gadget] Ils n'échapperont pas [Ouh ouh] Si l'inspecteur fait gaffe [Fait gaffe aux gadgets] Qui marchent ou marchent pas *** Break musical *** Refrain : [Go go] Gadget à main [la-haut] Gadget au chapeau [Go go] Gadget au poing [Oui c'est] Elastico-Gadget Et puis patatrac [Inspecteur Gadget] V'la le chef qu'est là [Ouh ouh] Salut chef c'est moi [Inspecteur Gadget] Ca n'en finit pas Eh la qui va là [Inspecteur Gadget] Eh la ça va pas [Ouh ouh] Oh la je suis là [Inspecteur Gadget] Oh la oh la loi Refrain Et puis patatrac [Inspecteur Gadget] V'la le chef qu'est là [Ouh ouh] Salut chef c'est moi [Inspecteur Gadget] Ca n'en finit pas *** Break musical *** Refrain Eh la qui va là [Inspecteur Gadget] Eh la ça va pas [Ouh ouh] Oh la je suis là [Inspecteur Gadget] Oh la oh la loi C'est moi que voilà [Inspecteur Gadget] Ah ça va être la joie [Ouh ouh] Au nom de la loi [Inspecteur Gadget] Je vous arrête là

Eh which goes there [ Inspector Gadget ] Eh that does not go [ Ouh ouh ] Oh I am there [ Inspector Gadget ] It is me whom here is [ Inspector Gadget ] Ca will be the joy [ Ouh ouh ] In the name of the law [ Me I stop you ] I stop you there [ Go go ] Gadget with hand [ Flash ] Gadget with the hat [ Hey Ho ] Gadget with the fist [ Oh it ] Elastico-Gadget The gangsters are there [ Inspector Gadget ] They will not escape [ Ouh ouh ] If the inspector pays to [ Paid attention to the gadgets ] Which go or do not go *** musical Station-wagon *** Refrain: [ Go go ] Gadget with hand [ up there ] Gadget with the hat [ Go go ] Gadget with the fist [ Yes it is ] Elastico-Gadget And then patatrac [ Inspector Gadget ] V' it it chief who is there [ Ouh ouh ] Hello chief it is me [ Inspector Gadget ] Ca does not finish any Eh which goes there [ Inspector Gadget ] Eh that does not go [ Ouh ouh ] Oh I am there [ Inspector Gadget ] Oh the oh the law Refrain And then patatrac [ Inspector Gadget ] V' it it chief who is there [ Ouh ouh ] Hello chief it is me [ Inspector Gadget ] Ca does not finish any *** musical Station-wagon *** Refrain Eh which goes there [ Inspector Gadget ] Eh that does not go [ Ouh ouh ] Oh I am there [ Inspector Gadget ] Oh the oh the law It is me whom here is [ Inspector Gadget ] Ah that will be the joy [ Ouh ouh ] In the name of the law [ Inspector Gadget ] I stop you there

Posted by erin at 03:46 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive A Mind-Blowing Discover of Unprecedented Importance

MY GOD PEOPLE!!

Did you know that the Inspector Gadget theme songs had different lyrics in French?! All of those parts of the song that go "da da da da DUM Inspector Gadget!" actually have French lyrics sung by Gadget himself! I don't speak French, so I can't tell what they're about (except "Viva Superstar!")

I present to you both songs, for comparison. Right-click to download and change the extension from "eef" to "mp3".

The U.S. Inspector Gadget theme
The French Inspector Gadget theme
A random song from a French Inspector Gadget album (Instrumental)

N. and I found the French Gadget opening on this page while we were searching for the opening of Dirty Pair, which we did find, but only in irritating Real Audio format. We also watched the French opening to Fraggle Rock (Le Fraggle Rock) and Cities of Gold (Cites D'Or) on the same site. I recommend checking out the same author's Ulysse 31 page, and the opening found therein, which is filled with what I can only describe as late '70's glory heavily influence by the band Journey.

This page is also worth checking out, for its cover art of French '80's cartoon albums, where we learn that the Snorks are "Les Snorky" and the Carebears are "Les Bisounours".

Posted by erin at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Library Search Squad

Mahou Sensei Negima, which means, of course "Magical Teacher Negima," is not a good show by any stretch of the imagination. For ecchi about a Harry Potter clone teaching in the JET program, however, it is pretty funny. It's by that Love Hina guy. I've only seen one DVD of Love Hina, but I'm on volume 6 of the manga, and so far I think the anime is better.

In the above scene from Negima, we get a mysterious introduction to the Library Search Squad, which seems to involve speluncking! I'm in favor of that, as N. would say! Click the picture above for more images.

Posted by erin at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Reading is Fundamental!

From the offices of singingraisin

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences in my comments and/or on your blog!
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Here goes:
-----

From "Avid Xpress DV Users Guide"

Click OK to close the dialog box and put the new setting into effect. Click cancel to close the dialog box. The change you selected but did not apply does not take effect.

From "Ghost in the Shell" - the Dark Horse graphic novel version:

Major: So who is he, chief?
Chief: During the war, he was army colonel Akagi, the expert who controlled the old intelligence division... Frankly without him I wouldn't be where I am today.

Posted by erin at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Steamboy

I saw the subbed Steamboy this weekend and liked it a lot!

Without any spoilers, I'll try to give you my brief opinion:

Basically, if you like movies where people are pulling levers and turning valves, and pipes are bursting and gears are flying everywhere, you'll love Steamboy. Likewise if you love shocked Englishmen, and steam punk adventures, you'll love Steamboy.

If you're expecting bloodspray and violence and beheadings, forget about it. There's a conspicuous lack of blood in this movie. There are violent situations galore, and plenty of opportunities for scalding burns or lost limbs that just don't happen. That's why reviewers (and myself) are confused as to whether or not this is a children's film. For the lack of
bloody violence, it seems like it's meant for a younger audience. It's almost as if someone is holding Otomo back. In scene after scene thick metal cables snap off and whip around and ought to sever people in two, but it just doesn't happen. I didn't really mind the lack of gore, since there were plenty of other good things happening in the film, but it does
weigh heavily as a lack.

That said, throughout, Steamboy seems like a pretty ideal film for 10-year-old boys. I like a lot of 10-year-old boy stuff, so this film really appealed to me.

If you're looking for a strong morals though, don't bother. Steamboy is a ridiculously amoral film. None of the characters are "good". At best, some of them are chaotic neutral (or lawful neutral). You get the real sense that Otomo is jealous of Miyazaki's amoral villains and has tried to do something along those lines. I can't say much more about this without spoilers, but it makes for a great discussion after the film, to say the least.

The film is also lacking a great score. Akira had a magnificent score (that I've listened to way more often than I've seen the film), but Steamboy has a weirdly generic score. It doesn't really stick out enough to be bothersome, but at the same time you feel the lack of a wonderful soundtrack. Everything else is so well done that you can feel the composer dropping the ball.

Akira had a lot of moments of confusion (for me as a viewer). Steamboy has some things about it which are a bit confusing and weird, but whereas Akira lumps most of the crazy at the end, Steamboy has laid out the crazy in a thin layer paced well over the course of the film.

In many ways, Steamboy seems weirdly like a predecessor to Akira, in both it's historical setting and also in terms of Otomo's restraint. But it is a worthy predecessor.

Steamboy has a lot of really terrific spectacle. The backgrounds are wholly magnificent. 2-D and 3-D mesh nearly seamlessly. The first 20 to 30 minutes of the film have a spectacular action sequence that made me do cliched things, like "sit on the edge of my seat" and say it "took my breath away" and all that.

I can't say that the entire film kept up the pace of the first 20 minutes, or that the ending was 100% satisfactory - indeed, it seems to run a bit long. I thought for sure it was well over two hours, even though it wasn't that long. But I was never bored... in fact, I think I'd feel gypped if the movie was any shorter.

Posted by erin at 07:32 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Super-Secret Wedding

Maggie sends along this link. I think this belligerent Craigslist post really drives home the point that while around the office, you should keep your wedding as secret as possible. You should also keep your baby as secret as possible, lest it become the non-stop conversation topic.

In fact this gives me the brilliant idea to not tell anyone about my wedding, perhaps not until just days beforehand. That includes N. I think he'd prefer that.

Posted by erin at 05:16 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Pig, Cube, Gorilla, Megadeath

- Porco Rosso is much better than I remember it. Watching a VHS fansub on Rick's 7-inch TV in a crowded dorm room didn't do much for the film. Last night I watched the recently released Disney dub with some work-friends (and their small child, thus the dub) and the dub was pretty darn good. Also some questions I had from my first viewing of Porco Rosso were cleared up when I wasn't reading a 6-point font covered by bad tracking. It may actually move up on my list. It's darn good Miyazaki, without all the environmental messages he usually packs in there.

- The Cube is Missing from Astor Place. It's gone for cleaning. I walk by it almost every single day and I may not have noticed it was gone the first day or so. Someone has replaced it with a smaller, plastic pipe cube.

- Yes, your humanity and identity are defined by your cell phone (at least in Japan). I've been reading the Cromartie High School manga, and holy crap it's really funny. Even N. laughs outloud at it and proclaims it's funny. In one issue the students are worried because it appears that a gorilla is attending their school. They debate whether or not it's just a very hairy human - and conclude that since it's wearing a watch and using a cell phone, it might very well be human.

Later I was watching the new Peach Girl anime, and a boy is fooled into thinking an evil girl in disguise is actually his girlfriend. He can't tell by hugging her that she's the wrong woman - the giveaway is WHEN HER CELL PHONE RINGS AND IT'S THE WRONG RINGTONE!!! So in Japan, clearly your cell phone ring defines you more as a person than your height, body shape, or even your breast size. (They were making out, for god's sake!)

-- Star Trek Episode or Megadeath song? I got only 62% correct, my brother got 92% correct. We both complained that there was a Voyager title tossed in there. Screw Voyager!!!

Posted by erin at 08:12 PM | Comments (3)

Date-Based Archive Two Funny Things - and some odd coincidences

1. Gizoogle. I recommend typing cnn.com into their URL box for humorous results.

2. When my aunt was visiting she mentioned she'd come up with a brilliant idea - She knows as well as anyone who knows me that I hate bridal showers and baby showers and all that girly tripe that goes along with it. So she said when I choose to get married, (quoting Lisa Simpson, "No, wait, that should say if I choose to get married,") instead of having a bridal shower with me in attendance my aunt(s) and my mom can throw a shower in Michigan, my mom skims the good gifts off the top and sends the rest to me! I don't even have to be there. That's freaking awesome.

Coincidences:

I ran into a coworker in the elevator who'd stopped at a music store during lunch. I asked him what he bought and he said "Physical Graffiti". I thought about that for a while, there was something important about it that I couldn't place - then I remembered! I used to live in the Physical Graffiti building pictured on the cover of the Led Zepplin album! That building is 96-98 St. Mark's Place:

There's a vintage clothing store called "Physical Graffiti" in the basement - or there was, it might not be there anymore. That was the only thing betraying the landmark. Also I heard a Rolling Stones album was shot on the stoop.

In a second coincidence an old friend found me on Friendster. We wrote back and forth a few times and I said where I work now, and she said she knew someone there - and indeed, she did! He's a new guy in the storyboard department. This old friend doesn't work in animation, so it was kinda weird she knew him.

Posted by erin at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Anime Cons I Hope to Attend This Year

In chronological order:

Anime Boston, Boston, MA, April 29-May 1st, 2005

(Saturday Only) Anime Central, Chicgo, IL, May 13-15, 2005

(Saturday Only) Anime Next, Secaucus?, NJ June 17-19th, 2005

Anime Expo, LA, CA, July 1-4th, 2005

Otakon, Baltimore, MD, August 19-21st, 2005

(Saturday Only) Onna!, Newark, NJ, Oct. 8-10, 2005

I've been to most of these cons before - expcept not Anime Expo (AX) or Anime Central. Onna is a new con that combines Yuricon and Shojoucon, but I attended both of those so it's as if I've been to Onna, sort of. Anime Next is in a new, bigger space, and not just this year's Ubercon hotel.

I guess potential stalkers should take note!

Posted by erin at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Anime vs. Animes

I have seen online and in conversation the words anime and manga being pluralized to the words "animes" and "mangas". I'm curious as to what you think:

Livejournal Poll

Part of the confusion here is that "anime" and "manga" are Japanese words, and Japanese has no plurals (and no future tense! Who knew?). One could argue that here in America, the word "anime" has a different meaning - when we say "anime" we are referring to Japanese animation specifically. "Anime" in Japanese refers to all animation - it can be from any country.

I think when a lot people in America refer to "manga" they think of manga in it's book form - chapters of manga collected into novels called "tankoubon". Tankoubon are the equivalent of graphic novels - you could collect the individual issues of (for example) Sandman, or you could buy the issues (leaflet comics) collected and bound into a graphic novel. In Japan there aren't leaflet comics - there are big anthology magazines that contain individual chapters from dozens of different manga series. A tankoubon contains many chapters from just one series.

For book publishers in the U.S., "manga" means a book of a certain size whose content they have not bothered to check. They tend to use the term "manga" as a format and do not consider the art inbetween the covers. American fans, unfamiliar for the most part with anthology magazines, are almost always referring to tankouban when they say the word "manga".

My point here is, I don't usually pluralize "manga" and "anime", but other people do. And that MIGHT be legitimate, but it might also drive me up a wall.

Posted by erin at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive The Best Damn Quiz I've Taken in a Long Time

Thanks to Rose.

I particularly enjoyed the disclaimery thing on the answer page:

This survey is completely scientific. Despite the mind-boggling complexity of mankind, the billions of distinctly different personalities found on Earth can easily be divided into seven simple categories that correspond to the five Platonic solids, a pseudo polyhedron, and whatever the hell a d100 is. The results of this quiz should be considered not only meaningful but also infallible, and pertinent to your success as a fully realized individual. If you feel the results of this examination do not match your perceived personality, you should take whatever drastic measures are needed to cram your superego back into proper alignment, as described by the quiz results.

And if you believe that, we have some really great critical-hit insurance to sell you.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

The description of d100 personalities:

"There's two ways to end up with this result. Either you picked the silliest possible answer to each question, or you answered honestly, and happen to be hyperactive, manic, loon. Assuming you answered honestly, your profile is as follows: You are the 100-sided dice, also known as the legendary Zocchihedron. You are the bit of data that registers so far off the chart that the average person doesn't even know you exist. You are desperate for attention and will get it any way you can (for example, by dying your hair blue). Your jokes have the lowest laugh ratio. Once you get started on a pointless tangent, it takes a group effort to bring you back to reality and make you shut up. You are a distraction who is permanently distracted, and hangs out with girls named "Maggie". You consider yourself silly and entertaining, but everyone else complains about how lame and annoying you are (particularly about your obnoxious hair color). The one secret they aren't telling you, is how they sometimes actually miss the noise when you're gone."

Posted by erin at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Yo-Yo Anime

This entry is just a placeholder for myself...

Anime:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1276
http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=animelist&adb.search=spinner&do.search.x=24&do.search.y=8

Manga:

http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/wshosea.cgi?W-NIPS=9972154513

Like the Clouds, Like the Wind
http://nausicaa.net/miyazaki/k_kondo/kumokaze/

"White Reflection" music video
http://www.hikarinokiseki.com/releases.php?id=8

Anime Kerry should watch and no one else would like:
http://animenewsnetwork.com/reviews/display.php?id=708

Posted by erin at 09:22 AM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Hilarious Revenger T-Shirt

The thought of thousands of pre-teen Japanese boys wearing this around makes me crack up:

It's from this Japanese store. Notice the terrific misspelling in the URL.

For those of you who haven't seen Naruto, here's some insight: Early in the show a teacher asks his students (at the ninja academy) why they want to become ninjas. To paraphrase their answers:

Naruto: So I can eat as much ramen as I want, and also become Hokage.
Sakura: Because I love Sasuke!
Ino: Because I love Sasuke and hate Sakura!
Rock Lee: To prove that someone with no chaakra can become a ninja!
Gaara: To kill everyone who isn't me!
Sasuke: To kill one guy who killed my entire clan.

So Sasuke is, as the T-shirt tells us, a "Revenger".

Posted by erin at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Kindred Spirits

"Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."
- from Ann of Green Gables

That line, which ends chapter 19, pretty much sums up how I feel about my post-college experience, and, to a certain extent, some of my time at college, and certainly my time at Curious, but my certainly none of my time at ISO.

Today I screened Don Hertrzfeldt's animated short film "Rejected" after the end of our big Friday meeting at work where we watch completed episodes of KND. I was a little worried it might not go over well, since I didn't ask for permission so much as announce that I would be showing it. I was also worried that my boss might find it a little objectionable, since one of the major jokes in the piece is basically a character screaming "My anus is bleeding!"

But it did go over well, and a handful of my coworkers had seen it in the past, and my boss really liked it. I mean, he said as much, and said he was glad I'd shown it.

It wasn't until I read the line from the book on the way home that I realized that in my ISO days I wouldn't really have even dreamt of showing "Rejected" to 99% of my coworkers there. I wouldn't even TELL them about it, because none of them would even care, I'm sure.

The above line also applies to going to anime cons. It's such a relief to see lots of other people around my sort-of age group who really like the same things I do. And so many of them! It makes me feel somewhat normal for a change.

Certainly a heck of a lot more normal than I felt in elementary or high school. It's a great relief!

My first set of terrible roommates at NYU were - weirdly enough - three sorority girls from Penn State staying there for the summer. I had nothing in common with them at all - they owned more shoes than I will ever own, for example. I used to sit quietly and read comic books while I ate breakfast in our common area. One of them said, after a couple weeks, "I have a cousin like you. He doesn't talk much, but he like to read a lot of comics."

She had no idea about what it means to be a dork. That's why I like all my current coworkers so much! They know Wednesday is new comic book day! On a list of recommendations (too long a story to go into just now) one of my coworkers wrote, under the section titled "Recommend (non-comic) books":

"Read thin! Those other books are for squares!"

Posted by erin at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Auuug!! Name Voyager!

Holy crap check this out:

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/ Name Voyager!!! Someone has compiled the data I'm obsessed with. Type in "Beaulah" and watch how no one was named that after 1920. Hepsibeth doesn't make the list, or Shilough. Sorry Hepsibeth. Which I almost mis-typed Hepsibether. Kinda like Hepsi-heather.

Posted by erin at 08:03 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Superman is a Dick

Although you might all be wondering how much longer I can deny you my glowing review of the new show "Robot Chicken" - I must first pass along this website that was going through the office this morning. I'm sure many of you have already seen this hilarious collection of old Superman comic covers, but for anyone who hasn't, your face will hurt from laughing:

It's from Superdickery.com.

On an unrelated note, I've visited most states:

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Posted by erin at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)