So, the feeling in the house was that we were distinctly in need of a con. We knew AnimeUSA was coming up this weekend, so we decided to make a day trip of Saturday. We also decided to give the Bear a chance to enjoy an anime con.

This is my first time to AnimeUSA. It was started up a few years ago by guys from the NVA anime club, from my understanding. It has grown into a decent sized con, enough to move into the old Katsucon hotel, the Crystal City Hyatt. It certainly brings back some old memories, back in the day when you could get import CDs from Japan and garage kits in the dealers room.

Anyways, there are differences. It is a lot more gamer oriented than most anime cons. There is a strong RPG track and it looks like some decent board game space. There is also a Maid Cafe and a Host Club set up, which I haven't seen at any other con. Also, there is a dedicated room for AMV programming, which was nice for me.

We weren't able to get there until noon because Bear had his Tae-Kwon-Do class in the morning, but we got plenty done. We went to the dealers room and I picked up the boatload of cheap manga that I usually come away with, course as usual I didn't have a list of what I owned, so I ended up being conservative in my choices. I also got decent deals on box sets of a couple of series I was interested in: Claymore and Fate/Stay Night. I've seen a few episodes of Claymore a couple years back and I found it interesting. Fate/Stay Night I became interested in after seeing a few AMVs based on it.

We also ran into Jen at her booth at artist alley and said hi while my wife bought some things from her table.

As for what we saw, my wife saw a couple episodes of Letter Bee and found it to be an intriguing series which she wouldn't mind seeing more of. As for me:

Fairy Tail: Fantasy world where wizards belong to guilds. Lucy is relatively new and is looking to get established when she meets a wizard who claims to be a member of the most notorious of these guilds: Fairy Tail. It turns out that he lied and is using that to enslave women. She gets rescued by the guy the other wizard was trying to impersonate. He invites her to join the guild, which she finds out are an odd group that mostly likes to drink and fight with each other. But, they all seem to be capable. Nothing really new here, but it is entertaining.

Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood: I'm not sure what the point of this new FMA series is, since it seems to be retelling the story of the first series in a slightly different way. I'm not sure if the goal is to be more like the manga or not. Not sure what to think of it.

It was a question going in how Bear was going to react to the video rooms, since just about everything was subbed. It didn't seem to bother him much that he wasn't really understanding what they were staying, but he seemed to have a tolerance of one hour for that before he needed to move onto something else.

Unfortunately, because of the late start I didn't get to see the AMV contest, nor could I see the awards ceremony, which was at 10PM. I did snag a ballot, tho, so I know what was shown. I did get to see the ones who didn't make the final (most deservedly so) and the AMV staff show, which showed some interesting videos that the staff made which probably made up for the fact that most of them weren't eligible for the competition. I saw some faves from previous contests plus some new ones I hadn't seen. (And I was right. The cover of "Wind Beneath My Wings" was by Sonata Arctica.)

Tags: anime, animeusa, con
Current Music: Edenbridge - My Last Step Beyond

Taking place after the defeat of the Foot clan and its leader, Shredder, Master Splinter sends team leader Leonardo to Central America for a year to work on his training. Meanwhile, the rest of the brothers try to fill their time. Donatello takes a side job as a IT help desk guy. Michelangelo works as a clown for childrens' birthday parties. Raphael disguises himself as the vigilante Nightwatcher and fights crime at night.

After getting a visit from April O'Neil, Leo decides that it is time to come back and help his friends. Unfortunately, that turns out to be a tougher problem than expected.

In the meantime, there are monsters on the loose and it seems that 4 stone warriors and the remainder of the Foot clan are working to retrieve them. For what purpose?

Overall, this is a pretty solid film, reintroducing the Turtles to a new generation. Fortunately, it isn't a reboot and they do a good enough job of introducing the characters so that you get the idea of who they are. There isn't as much action as you'd like to see in a film like this, since a good part of the film is about knitting relationships back together.

Most of what you see is what you'd expect from the series, with probably the exception of April, who is far more capable here than she usually is. Apparently in the break she had been training with the Katana and is apparently quite proficient in its use. She also apparently changed occupations from being a reporter to being an archeologist.

No new ground here, but that's fine. It is a solid adventure and the plot is pretty tight.

Tags: animation, movie, review
Current Music: Primal Fear

Ok, I'm not sure who selected the new rugs for the hallways at work, but they must have been on something. Basically it is a five color checkerboard pattern which doesn't look too bad up close. But, when you look down the hall, makes you dizzy. Unfortunately, I have no pictures.

Tags: work

...from Israeli metal band Orphaned Land for their new album...

http://www.orphaned-land.com/

From the press release:

Commented vocalist Kobi Farhi: “As people that were born into the tragedy of our region, we have always been devoted to creating harmony between conflicts, a musical heaven on earth, a tango between God and Satan. Even in the album’s artwork we combined Hebrew and Arabic, regardless of the fight between Jews and Muslims. I found a Jordanian guy, specialized in calligraphic artwork. He took letters from Hebrew and Arabic and moulded them in his art to create a symbol of peace. Same goes for our band photo, where we portrayed a synergy between the three monotheistic religions that believe in the same God and yet ridiculously have been killing each other for centuries ‘in the name of God’ and turned the holy land into an orphaned land. Naturally, we continued this idea of union on a musical level as well and the result is as always crazy, it’s a miracle — in our concerts: our Jewish fans sing in Arabic and our Muslim fans sing in Hebrew, brave friendships have spawned and our Middle Eastern metal music destroys all this political witchcraft we have been trapped in for so long. This is a musical journey of hope in lands of war, creating heaven on earth, building a new Jerusalem.”

Personally, I like it.

Tags: music

Listening to music on my computer...

"Oooh.. Star Wars!"
"No, that's Indiana Jones"
"Daddy, Indiana Jones and Star Wars sound like the same song."

Tags: family life, music
Current Music: John Williams - On The Tank

Kick-Ass

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

This looks like a fun movie, where a bunch of normal kids dress up as super heroes and fight crime. The opening actually reminded me of Condorman. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, of Layer Cake and Stardust fame.

Tags: movie, trailer

So after waiting half the day, the plummer shows up. He tells me that the problem is with the dish washer and I need to get an appliance person to come in. Course, I decided a few months ago not to extend the warranty. I feel foolish now. Anyways, that guy will be arriving on Wed, along with the Sears guy who hopefully will fix the microwave this time.

The plummer did shut off the water to the dish washer, so no leak right now. Also no hot water in the kitchen, much to my wife's chagrin. Also, still have holes in the wall of the dining room, which we will have to fix at some point.

Tags: house

In the Post Style section today, they report that the Norwigan Embassy's web site is reporting that a-ha has broken up. The Post's reaction was, "They were still around?" Not surprising since they've had zero presence in the US. (Interesting little factoid in the Post that a-ha only toured the US once in their career.)

It is unfortunate. I haven't heard the newer stuff since they came off of hiatus in 2000, but I still think the album "East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon" was one of the best albums they ever did. Unfortunately, they were relegated to an afterthought in the US by that time.

Tags: music, news
Current Music: Kingfisher Sky - Balance Of Power

Ok, plummer #2 arrived today. Ended up cutting holes in the wall to find where the problem is. Eventually discovered it was the dishwasher causing the leak. He did it for less than what FH Furr wanted to diagnose the problem. He also said that the reason for my shower problems is that the pipes are shaking and need to be reinforced. He left that up to me to fix.

Course, my wife ran the dishwasher and now the drip has returned. Bleh.\

Tags: house

I've got water dripping in the basement from somewhere in the kitchen. I have no clue where it is coming from, since I see no water anywhere in the kitchen. We called the plummer, but he wasn't very helpful. He apparently thinks it is the fridge, but that makes no sense since the ice maker connects to the water supply in a different place from where the leak is happening. He offered a "leak test" for $200 and also suggested the water pressure going into the house is too high, which of course has even more expensive solutions.

The next step right now is to bring in Sears (since we need the microwave fixed anyways) and probably have them look at the fridge and the dishwasher. I actually think the latter is more likely to be the problem, or at the very least pulling it out may give us a clue where the water is coming from.

Tags: house