| USB Cat |
[Dec. 13th, 2008 | 12:27 am] |
Must-have software: USBCat.
Does exactly what it sounds like it would do: plays a sound that a cat would make when you connect or disconnect a USB device or drive. Comes with about 7 cat sounds included, and is more fun than should be possible. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 10th, 2008 | 04:47 am] |
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クレクレクレ くれって くりゃるか くりゃりんこー 何でも欲しがる クーレクレタコラー♪ |
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| Space Invaders Extreme: A Guide to the Aforementioned Game |
[Jul. 31st, 2008 | 12:07 am] |
I have been playing a lot of Space Invaders Extreme on the DS lately. It is an excellent game. What I enjoy the most about it is that, in addition to polished graphics, sound, and control, the game has incredible appeal both as a casual game and as a very in-depth game. Simply put: It is as casual as you want it to be.
One of the most pleasant parts of playing it is that there are so many little touches. Even now, I'm still noticing new little quirks and techniques. Some of them I would not have noticed without looking through several forums. I'd like to present this material here.
( Read more... ) |
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| Chipotle! |
[Jun. 13th, 2008 | 10:23 pm] |
Just got a thing in the mail for a free burrito at Chipotle.
That's good! Because for a long time now, I've been Chipotless. |
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| Slapfight |
[Jun. 12th, 2008 | 06:53 pm] |
If you keep up with internet flash video game news (who doesn't!) you'll probably already be familiar with Rose & Camellia (薔薇＆椿), a Japanese flash game that takes the Victorian "ladies confrontational slapfight" routine to parodical heights. And if you didn't hear about it before, there's a chance you've heard about it recently, as it just had a sequel released. The sequel isn't really very different, and is accessed by playing and beating the first game at the above link.
It's a (very) simple game, but can actually be pretty hard if you're not very accurate with your mouse. The concept is pretty funny, but actually playing the game can be a little bit tedious.
But it's simple enough that I could quickly rig up some custom mouse actions and blaze through the game. I put up some videos of it on YouTube, just for fun. A neat little project for the day. |
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| Front Mission 2089! |
[Jun. 1st, 2008 | 01:30 am] |
It was just released in Japan for the DS. Although only 3 of the games were released in the US, it's been a fairly successful series in Japan, this being it's 2089th title.
Seriously, though, I guess the game FM2089 was originally a cell-phone title that was redone for the DS. There were two of these, FM2089 and FM2089 2. I haven't seen anything which says whether both titles will be incorporated, or not. I also don't know what extra content there may be, although it doesn't matter much to somebody who was completely unaware of the first game.
Trailer. Looks like the game includes some expanded battle features, like later games. In any case, it looks like it won't always be the 1-on-1 attack & counterattack scheme from the original SNES game. No mention of multi-player/wi-fi means probably no multi-player/wi-fi. Admittedly, not a franchise strength.
Screenshots and art. I guess I played FM 1st Mission even though the art was terrible, but this doesn't really look much better. There's only one equip screen shown, but it looks as though it's using the exact same SNES sprites. Frowny face. I'm sure there's at least some new ones. Maybe? Portrait pictures also only so-so.
The 'where do you want to go next?' screen also bears the clear mark of cell-phone-ization. I guess it's not a deal-breaker, but I'm also not sure it's an improvement.
On the other hand, speculation about an English release isn't entirely pessimistic. So that's encouraging. I played 1st Mission, and 2089 can only be an improvement. |
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| OUTLET! |
[May. 29th, 2008 | 09:07 pm] |
Outlet, by Randy Taguchi. A bad book...? Or... the worst book? Judge for yourself!
( Read more... ) |
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| Super Dodge Ball... Brawlers! |
[Dec. 22nd, 2007 | 07:39 pm] |
Hey, another super dodge ball/kunio-kun game coming up!
This one's for the DS, and will be called Super Dodge Ball Brawlers, at least in the US. Looks good, maybe?
They say it'll be $30, and that it will have customizable characters & teams. New gameplay includes more super shots, sans-ball violence ("punches, kicks, and even weapons"), and a super gauge that will be usable... somehow. Also, claims to support play with up to 8.
I hope they do a good job with the music. |
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| Hatsune Miku |
[Dec. 10th, 2007 | 07:14 pm] |
Old stuff here (over a year old), but I just found out about it.
Hatsune Miku is a software package for Windows for sequencing music. It also has synthetic voice capabilities. Japanese is a very simple language, phonetically, which probably helps. Here are some clips of it.
Here we see a man dancing in a self-made music video involving Hatsune Miku, the mascot character of the software program of the same name. Miku is frequently seen in the company of green onions (or leeks, or shallots...), and has a trademark tendency to shove them into computers. This is, I am guessing, a result of being associated with the Loituma/'leekspin' flash animation early on in her career.
This is the clip that made me look into it: Hatsune Miku + Megaman 3 = Hatsune Miku + Megaman 3! Wow.
A Hatsune Miku version of Konayuki ('powder snow'), which is a popular song by Remioromen. (Original song)
Hatsune Miku sings The Magic Flute.
Anyway, there's tons of this crap out there. Just search for hatsune miku. |
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| Fingerprints |
[Nov. 21st, 2007 | 02:12 am] |
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We've all seen this (old) video about how Japan is going to fingerprint all foreigners, right? Still a keeper. |
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| Ticket update! How's that for progress! |
[Jul. 11th, 2007 | 06:20 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| | good | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | Do As Infinity - 10W40 | ] |
Looks like I have myself a ticket. I was successful in getting the day switched - I now have a ticket that leaves on 7/25 at 5:00 pm, and arrives at 9:39 am at the Sea-Tac airport (Flight UA876).
I also have a bus ticket from Takamatsu to Tokyo, leaving 7/24 at 9:52 pm, and arriving in Tokyo at 7:30 am or something. There really aren't any other times for that route. Kinda sucks, but I can probably get my utilities canceled on 7/24, then leave that night, which is convenient. It also lets me take out garbage on Monday and Tuesday, which helps.
All that's really left is to present my fait accompli to my supervisor. I'm going to go see him in half an hour....
And it looks like it's a go! Check one thing off the list. |
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| Ticket update! Painfully little progress! |
[Jul. 10th, 2007 | 05:43 pm] |
| [ | Mood |
| | okay | ] |
| [ | Music |
| | Asia - Heat of the Moment | ] |
I got my ticket sent to me today (at 5:10 pm exactly), a whole day early. Yay!
I called the company back, and they told me to call the ANA english line.
After waiting on hold for a while, the english line lady told me to call the travel agency.
I called the travel agency and they told me it was past 5:30, so they'd get back to me tomorrow.
So, closure has not been reached, but a little progress has been made. They'll get back to me tomorrow, and I'll know exactly how panicked I should be when I talk to my supervisor. I'll also know the exact best day to get all my utilities cut off, so I'll be able to call those people. Woohoo.
Sent a box today, too. Might have one more, might have two. I also have to send an m-bag of books, but I wanted to see if I could find a couple more that I'd want before I sent them all off. |
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| A mountain of garbage |
[Jul. 10th, 2007 | 12:16 pm] |
Here it is. A week and a half left in Japan, and I'm doing my best to get it all wrapped up. Here's my current progress.
1. Still no ticket. Hahaha. Ha. It's all screwy. Board of Education got a reservation for me (for a 7/22 flight), and my boss gave me that on Friday night. I went in to the travel agency on Saturday morning. They told me to come back Monday. I went back Monday and paid for the flight. They said they'll get the ticket to me on Wednesday or Thursday, probably.
I don't want to leave on 7/22, because that is kind of like hell. I have school up until Friday (7/20), and I would like to have at least ONE fully free weekday I can get stuff done on (going to the bank, etc.). So I'd like to get the ticket changed for a later day. I don't know if I will be able to, especially this late. If it comes down to keeping the ticket and putting my nose to the grindstone or forking over $1000 or more to get a new one... I'll buckle down and get things done... somehow.
2. Packing is tough. I have another box ready to mail today, and I'm going through all the junk I've piled up. I will probably have another box to send before I go, maybe two.
Throwing things away is also kind of a pain. This monday was the last day for crushable/hazardous garbage (unless I can stay until 7/23), so I'll probably have to ask some people to throw things away for me. It's going to be embarrassing how much, I expect.
3. I have a successor? I have thought (for some time!) that I didn't. My supervisor never mentioned one, and has told me to remove *everything* from my apartment.
But when I was talking to my landlord, she says that the prefecture is renting out my place again for a girl named Jenny. That would have been good to know, but oh, well.
Anyway, I've got a date with my supervisor for Wednesday night, so hopefully I'll be able to straighten some of this out then. |
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| I Climbed Mt. Fuji |
[Jul. 2nd, 2007 | 10:43 am] |
This weekend I went with Lee, Jim, Deverly, and Adam to Tokyo, where we met up with Dave. Then we all went to Yamanashi to climb Mt. Fuji.
The basic plan was to head up to Tokyo on Friday, and get a good night's sleep. We got up early and headed to Fuji-Q (Japanese site).
We got there pretty early, and rode the Eejanaika roller coaster. It was great (possibly the greatest?). Then we went to the hospital-themed haunted house, which was the best haunted house ever. Company makes a big deal for one of those. Don't go through a haunted house with Jim unless you want to hear 'Well, that's not very scary, is it?' every time a blood-drenched zombie doctor comes crawling out of a smashed ambulance or something.
Then we got in line for the Dodonpa, which is a roller coaster known for being fast. The lines had gotten pretty long, so it took about an hour to get to the front. Unfortunately, it started raining, and they stopped all the rides.
We ate some pizza, and went to a nearby onsen. The onsen was really great. We took quick baths, and then slept for an hour.
Then it was 6:45, and we caught a taxi up to the fifth station (2,300m up) of Mt. Fuji. Normally we might have caught a bus, but the mountain didn't open until Sunday, so it had to be a taxi. The visibility was incredibly poor on the way up; we could probably see about 10 or 15 feet in front of the taxi, maybe less. We started walking at 8:30, I think, after getting a few more layers on, using the bathroom, and waiting to get used to the atmosphere.
It rained off and on while we were climbing, and despite our raincoats, most of us got pretty wet as we went. Only one of the stores along the way up was open, probably just by coincidence. We went in and each drank a cup of hot cocoa. We reached the peak at about 2:30, I think. We were pretty cold. We waited at the top until a little bit before 5:00 to watch the sunrise before heading back down. A lot of people started turning up at sunrise. Presumably these people had slept somewhere on the mountain the night before, since we hadn't so many on the way up. The sunrise was pretty incredible. Mt. Fuji is 12,388 ft. tall, and looking down from the top is like looking out from an airplane. We were dying of cold, though, so we started heading down.
It took me about 4 hours to walk down, since we couldn't find a different path down (or they weren't open yet, or marked as open). Adam and Lee got there a little faster than me, and the rest of them spent an extra hour or so coming down. The busses were running again, so we slept a little, then caught the first one (11:00 am) back to Tokyo. We ate some food, went to an expensive onsen in Shinjuku, slept for an hour or so, and headed to the airport. I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off. When I got back to Takamatsu, I walked back to my apartment, checked my email, and fell asleep. I barely woke up in time to get to school. |
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