Well, back to Blogger anyway. (think this site was a bit above my  computer literacy level- sorry!)

See http://andy-janes.blogspot.com/ for all future posting

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Wow, didn't realise has been over a week since I lasy posted.

Had an active weekend, Biggin Hill airshow Saturday (no Vulcan- boo!) and Brothers birthday lunch Sunday.

Biggin wasn't as good as previous years, as well as the lack of Vulcans there was no Red Arrows and Sally B had engine trouble too. Still, finally got to see a Eurofighter put rhough its paces, plus my favourite jets (Sabre and Hunter) in the air at the same time. (photos to follow if I can work out how to do so)

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 09:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In other news, was walking round the town centre this afternoon and saw possibly the most bizarre thing this year (and considering I went to Aki in April thats something!)

It was some local theatre group, not sure if they were fundrasing or promoting something. What really made me stop and stare was a guy dressed as a nun, riding up and down the high street on a motorised piano, on which he was playing and singing (badly) kumbya!!!!

Whatever they're on, I want some!

And now I'm off to an engagement party

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 05:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yay! not only did the nice postman bring my Kanon dvd (and my credit card bill- not so yay), but Miad guy 7 was finally available this morning.

First thoughts- Wow they're really trying to top Kanokon in the nudity stakes. Plus I want a Maid guy badge.

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 05:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Is it due to the bank holiday/labour day weekend? It seems the internet has failed me this week- still no Maid guy ep 7 fansubs (No Kyoran Kazoku Nikki either). Kanokon 8 was up, and frankly not worth the wait (is very much a train wreak IMO, very poor plot and badly written, but still worth watching. Am hoping foxgirl finally bangs kouta and he undergoes a 'Kevin the teenager' transformation, but into a total player!)

On top of that my Kanon volume 3 dvd still hasn't arrived either. Very frustrating

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 09:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Was a rather depressing documentary on Channel 4 last night.

The basic premise was, 'what would happen if humans became extinct. The prolem for me was that their scenario imagined everyone dead, but no other animals affected and no damage to buildings, etc. This seemed rather unlikely to me, what exactly could kill 7 billion people and affect noting else on the planet (a virus would be my best guess, but even that would take time and the panic it would cause would result in riots and other damage I'd imagine)

T other big nitpick was how they didn't mention what would be the longest lasting human artifacts- the Voyager and Pioneer probes (though to be fair the focus was more on the human mark of Earth, and they of course are far off in interstellar space). What was really depressing though was the number of talking heads who seemed to think this would be a good thing; the worst (IMO) was the a guy talking abut how Central park would go wild and spread thoughout Manhattan, 'hich would be great' (paraphrasing slightly).

I think I prefer New York full of people myself

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh. My. God.

Don't think anyone (certainly not the organisers) expected such a turnout. I got there about 11:15, and didn't get to the front of the ticket que for nearly 2 hours!

Also by the time I got in I'd missed the anime panel, and just got into the auditorium in time for the Galactica panel. (this could be the reason for the crush; as it included Edward James Olmos, in his first appearance at such an event). There was also Aaron Douglas (Cheif Tyrol), Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta) and the presidents cylon aide (whose name escapes me). The panel was quite interesting, no news as such (if you're up to date that is- good job I'd seem last weeks episode). Olmos gave an anti-bush rant for a good five minutes (which seemed odd, as I imagine Adama would be quite a hawk)

Anyway, afterwards I wandered around but the crowds were annoying, plus all the good deals seemed to have gone already. But I did meet Danny Jon Jules (AKA the Cat in Red Dward) and Colin Baker (6th Doctor). Plus were lots of Cosplayers, some of which had plut a lot of effort in (did see a couple of Men in sailor suits, which was a bit disturbing).

Overall an interesting day, not as good as the last one though as was jsut too busy. Hopefully the nest one will have more space and more ticket sellers!

Update:

Forgot to mention my chats with some of the industry people. The one guy who was left from ADV UK (now employed by their new independant distributor) was rather pessimistic about their chance of survival, and how this is the worst time to have no money for new licenses, and since most recent series were too niche for international viewers (ya think?) the competition for the ones which would sell well had lead to them being too expensive for them.

On the other hand  the guy from MVM (who used to distribute Geneon's titles was more optamistic, saying they were looking to release the back catalogue and stuff they hadn't done before and were looking for other options (maybe Media Blasters will finally get a UK rep?)

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 09:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bank holiday this weekend. Have a few plans, is the MCN expo this weekend, plus a friend is having leaving drinks before going to Australia for a year tommorrow night.

Plus I got paid today, so have ordered Kanon volume 4 (still waiting for 3 to arrive though). No doubt I'll end up blowing a hunk of cash at the Expo, but these things have to be done.

Night

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bandai Visual, the company trying to sell DVDs in America at Japanese prices, is to be liquidated. Damn shame...

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When I got in last night I found my Lucky Star vol 1 DVD waiting for me, yay! (I wrote that last post round my parents)

I was slightly nervous about watching the english version-this is the first time I'd seen a show in Japanese first- but thurned out unfounded. All the cast were very good, was good to see they kept the casting similar (Sam Regal, who did Taniuchi in Haruhi did Minoru Shiraishi. Though think they should have saved Michell Ruff (Nagato) for Minami rathe than Tsukasa). Kari Wahlgren was very good as Kagami, though am still not sure about Karen Strassman as Miyuki.

What I found more distracting was the differences in the translation for the opening sequence (compared to the fansubs I'd previously watched)

As for the episodes thenselves, well they aren't the best in the series but introduce the characters and style well. Roll on the next volumes!

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One of the good things about where I work is that occasionally we et sent e-mails offering free theatre tickets. I havn't taken up the offer before, but this week they had Avenue Q.

I did find it a bit bizarre at first (the actors are walking round on stage holding the ouppets, I'd imagined they woyuld be hidne behind a desk or something a la the sooty shows I remmber seeing as a kid), but after a while it seemed perfectly normal.

Was definitly similar to Team America, in a 'Lets see how rude we can be' way (the puppe sex scene in Team America was much funnier, IMO)

Overall I did find it very funny, some of the songs were priceless (my favourite being "Everyone's a little bit racist"

Nearly the weekend now, and my Lucky Star DVD still hasn't arrived

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 06:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just spent ages typing out comments on tonights viewing and accidentally deleated it all. Oh well, will try again later in the week (going to be out the next coupl of nights)

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 09:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When I got back from my trip to Japan last month, I set myself a budget of £20 (ish) an month for anime dvds. Already the plan is unraveling.

Last week I ordered Lucky Star 1 and Kanon 3. This week Volume 4 comes out, as does Welcome to the NHK 4 (I still need to get 3) Which to go for first?

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 09:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A quiet weekend overall. One of the advantages of visiting my Mum's is that I get to catch up on the latest sky one programmes she'd taped for me.

I therefore spent an enjoyable afternoon watching the following:

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 08:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Anyway, the reason I wanted to vent today was Gordon Ramsey's idotic comments on the news this morning. I was beaten to it by Samizdata:

The TV chef said it was "fundamentally important" for chefs to provide locally-sourced food. "Fruit and veg should be seasonal," he said. "Chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu. I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December. I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown."

(bangs head against wall) Just because you don't want strawberry's from Kenya in March doens't mean nobody wants them. If you don'twant to serve them in your resturant, someone else will. I really do despair how little freedom of choice is valued in the UK today

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 07:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ok, so I've spent the last 20 minutes or so fiddeling around with the settings, and I still haven't worked out how to set up a blogroll, header or categories. Am I being thick or something?

(PS I haven't a clue when it comes to coding- the last time I did it was for my GCSE in Information systems, over 10 years ago!) 

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 07:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is my third attempt at blogging. The first time I stopped was because I moved out of my parents house and didn't have an internet connection, the second (only a few months ago) when I discovered the wonderful world of anime fansubs...

Anyway, Today I wanted to vent some spleen so thought would give it another go.

So, what's been happening with me the last few months? Well am in the middle of moving house (possibly not the best time to be doing so), have been to Japan (more of that later) and have watched a lot of strange and bizarre things. Which deserve commentry!

Posted by: Andrew Janes at 06:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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