Halloween. A time for candy and costumes... and the Librarian and the Wonderduck will NOT disappoint!

Stay tuned for writeups on the Pocky... and COSTUMES!

UPDATE: We made it through about half the Pocky flavors. Writeups and pictures will be available probably 11/1/06.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 49 words, total size 1 kb.

...everybody's favorite incredibly cute anime series, Bottle Fairy.

And who better to do it than the legendary AMV creator Dokidoki?

Here lies HELLo FAIRY.

Steven, if you ever watch an AMV, make this be the one. Hey, it's got Max Headroom in it, how can it be bad?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:48 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Part of the problem is that I am very leery of P2P programs. I don't understand how they work in detail, for instance. I know that while I'm using one of them, I'm hosting uploads as well as doing downloads, but I don't know what controls just what someone else gets from me. Does it mean my disk is wide open for plunder? The one I was using (which I got from Pixy Misa back when) didn't tell me.

I also know that P2P programs are a really good way to get your computer infected with all kinds of marvelous malware.

And in any case, music videos collectively and AMV's in specific just don't do anything for me. It really doesn't interest me at all; there just isn't any spark when I watch them.

Sorry.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at October 29, 2006 06:47 PM (+rSRq)

2 I know you're not much interested in AMVs... we exchanged e-mails regarding that a year or so go. *shrug*

For what it's worth, AMV.org isn't P2P, they do straight download from their servers ('local download', they call it). Which is what makes it such a great thing: no virii of any sort.

Also FWIW, I've used P2Ps for a few years now, and have yet to catch any ickware, virii, whatever. As far as HDs open to plunder, you tell the program what directories are open to be d/l'd from, and that's all it'll look at... in theory. I've seen no sign of that being untrue, but I'm no software expert.

Practice safe surf.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 29, 2006 06:55 PM (fEnUg)

3 I use P2P a lot. I'm one of those people that "file sharing afficionados" hate. I installed the software and set it so I can download but that it is never to share anything from my machine (ever)! I've never been good at sharing... ask my sister. I believe in the virtue of selfishness! And yes, unless you're running some kind of anti-virus/adware/malware software on your machine... P2P is a wonderful way to catch all kinds of stuff. It's the casual sex of the computer world.

Posted by: madmike at October 30, 2006 01:05 PM (P1mII)

4 SDB's reservations about P2P reminded me of this news story from a few months back.

Having previously dealt with malware-infested computers as part of my job, I'm pretty wary of P2P networking software myself. The only exceptions I make are for BitTorrent (which doesn't really count as a P2P network) and Winny (which has raws of obscure shows and other stuff you can't get anywhere else).

Posted by: Andrew F. at October 30, 2006 04:07 PM (zkbOu)

5 Andrew, could you explain why BitTorrent doesn't count as a P2P? Is it because of the 'distributed' nature of the downloads?

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 30, 2006 05:30 PM (0Co69)

6 BitTorrent is P2P but isn't a P2P network. Every file shared using BitTorrent is basically its own standalone network. That's why I like it. While I'm downloading file X, I'm sharing that file. When I stop BitTorrent, I'm not sharing anything at all. On that basis, it's no more dangerous than FTP.

Meanwhile, I seem to have lost the login for the AMV account I created after I lost the login for my AMV account when all my computers died at once.

Meh.

And I even donated money, so double meh.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 31, 2006 02:13 AM (sWLEp)

7 If I could get him to watch just two, it would be CCS/Silent Lucidity and AL/When Angels Deserve to Die (and I'd have a DVD in the mail tomorrow if he'd let me .

And yeah, AMV.org is its own host. Some of the videos linked there are stored offsite, but it makes it pretty clear where you're d/ling from. It's one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread--and has gotten me into at least a half dozen series that I would never have watched otherwise.

Posted by: Big D at October 31, 2006 12:16 PM (2wI5S)

8 Uh, Pixy just about covered it.

The only thing I'd add is that it's almost impossible for a single malicious individual to effectively distribute a virus using BT. Most P2P viruses spread by making themselves available for P2P download from the victim's PC, as with the Antinny virus mentioned in that article. They have the potential to spread exponentially--if a machine infects n other machines, each of those could itself infect n others, et cetera ad infinitum. With BitTorrent, however, there's still only one torrent no matter how many machines get infected, the survival of which depends on the willingness of victims to actively continue sharing the file that infected them.

Posted by: Andrew F. at October 31, 2006 12:29 PM (zkbOu)

9 "...it would be CCS/Silent Lucidity..."

A fine video... takes itself a little too seriously, but a fine video nevertheless.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 31, 2006 04:21 PM (Eodj2)

10 Yeah, Pixy is right. BitTorrent is different. HOWEVER, you still can get in trouble if you use a malicious client. For that reason I only use the mainline and Azureus. Mainline allows me to run downloads disconnected, with all computers shut down for the night except the server where btdownload runs. And you can rebuild them from the source if you want.

Andrew got a point too. Since the checksums are stored in the central tracker and are reasonably strong, it's not possible to modify contents of a torrent. But I'm not completely sure that it's impossible to spread viruses over torrents. The key component is some kind of torrent publication service. Virus authors would need to incorporate postings to TorrentReactor or TokyoToshokan or something. I thought about possible attack vectors a bit, but they do not come out universal enough.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at November 03, 2006 02:38 AM (9imyF)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Here's the lineup of Glico products (and one Meiji product) for PockyPalooza II: Electric Boogaloo on Halloween (UPS willing... the order from Robert's is scheduled to arrive Halloween morning at the Duck U. Bookstore):

Pocky G
Men's Pocky
Almond Crush Pocky
Coconut Chocolate Pocky
Custard Fondu Mousse Pocky
Wheat Milk Chocolate Pocky
Pineapple Cream Pocky
Mild Chocolate Mousse Pocky
Strawberry Bits & Chocolate Pocky
Choco Custard Poare (A 'backwards Pocky', where the coating is on the INSIDE of the 'biscuit')
Caramel/Cocoa Pretz
Salad Pretz
Cheese Pretz
Meiji Chocobaby

Thanks to Vaucaunson's Duck for the Pretz, the Chocobaby, and the Coconut, Men's and Almond Crush Pocky!

Though I'm concerned about the Salad Pretz...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:02 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 118 words, total size 1 kb.

1 What? No pork? Porky Pocky! YUM

Posted by: Librarian at October 28, 2006 10:29 AM (aTcoe)

2 Ladies and Gentlemen, The Librarian has visited!!!

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 28, 2006 10:31 AM (vFS/o)

3 Dude, I think I'm lost, and uhm, what's with the ducks?

Posted by: librarian at October 28, 2006 11:13 AM (aTcoe)

4 Dudette, they just moved in on their own. They don't even pay rent or anything.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 28, 2006 03:49 PM (GIL7z)

5 So how was the salad pretz, anyway?

Posted by: Vaucanson's duck at October 30, 2006 07:03 AM (oplPK)

6 Dunno yet, Vauc! PockyPalooza II:Electric Boogaloo is on Tuesday.

And yes, it's been hard keeping myself from ripping into the stuff you sent!

The Chocobaby has been opened, I'll admit... not bad, for little not-quite-chocolate stuff.

Posted by: Wonderduck at October 30, 2006 10:31 AM (jnjCa)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Thanks to the good graces of Vaucanson's Duck, who lives within walking distance of Little Tokyo in San Francisco, the next Anime Night will see the return of Pockypalooza.

Though, technically, it should probably be called Glicopalooza, since there will also be tastings of three different styles of Pretz, and something called Chocobaby, which looks like chocolate-covered tictacs.

I'm considering placing an order with Robert, as well, just to make it a full-fledged event.

Thanks, Vauc!!!

UPDATE: Order placed, PockyPalooza II: Electric Boogaloo is a GO!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 90 words, total size 1 kb.

So The Librarian and I are through 10 episodes of CCS now, and we're even MORE amused by the show than we had been. Again, I'm entirely sure that CLAMP knows exactly what they were doing, but here's some thoughts we've come up with regarding the show:

*Li is a preteen transsexual Hannibal Lechter-wannabe. "*long stare* A sharp blow right at the base of the neck, and OMIGODOMIGODOMIGODTHERE'SYUUKI OMIGODICOULDJUSTDIEOMIGOD..."

*(after Sakura swallows an entire loaf of bread in one bite) "She's going to be popular in a few years..."

*"DON'T hit pause. Just don't. Let it go." "But..." "Just don't."

*"So Tomoyo has a rubber AND catgirl fetish. Kinkyyyyyyy... yet strangely arousing."

*"Whoa. WOOD got back."

*...and WAAAAAAY too many times to note: "Bow-chikka-bow-bow!"

Seriously, seriously funny stuff, even if CLAMP didn't mean it... but they did. This is a great, GREAT show.

Yes, we're laughing at it, but it's more 'laughing WITH it,' because there's no doubt CLAMP intended this. It's a wonderful story, WONDERFUL characters (except Li Shioran... so far, I really don't much like him) but so far the best part is the (non-existant?) subtext.

If you've seen CCS, you know what I'm talking about.
If you haven't seen this yet, why not?

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:12 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 210 words, total size 1 kb.

You may remember that recently I watched the pile of catgirl droppings known as Dokuro-chan. This experience, which left me wanting to claw my eyes out and left my eyes begging to be clawed out, scarred my anime-lovin' soul, leaving it a small, flinty cinder.

Then my friend The Librarian came over for Anime Night. After a pleasant hour of dinner 'n' conversation, we decided to pop open the 19-disc MegaStack of CardCaptor Sakura, and watched the first five episodes.

My soul is restored. I'll talk more about it down the line, after I've seen more than 1/14th of the series (70 episodes!), but so far there's been absolutely nothing about the show I can complain about... even the unintentional comedy is pure gold (though that might just be because of the shared sense of humor The Librarian and I have:

"...and they all die."
"The End."

You have NO idea how funny that exchange can be when it's well-timed, though that's hardly what I'm talking about when I say 'unintentional comedy'. I'm talking more about things like Tomoyo filming upskirt shots on Sakura as they're crawling through the Kinomoto house, though knowing CLAMP they knew exactly what they were doing).

Anyway... Boooooo, Dokuro-chan.

Hooooooray, Cardcaptor Sakura!!!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 217 words, total size 1 kb.

"20061017.1535 We can skip Dokuro-chan (unless we're stupid, like Ubu Roi) and love Haibane Renmei and get the best of both worlds."

UPDATE: AAAAGH! AAAAGH! Yes, I meant Wonderduck, not Ubu Roi! AAAAGH!!! I'm the stupid one for botching up a joke like that! AAAAGH!"

I may be stupid, Steven, but at least I don't set up an easy joke and then pee it straight down my leg. *heh* more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:47 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

Right, I admit that I said, after viewing the OP, that watching this show was "too horrible to contemplate."

But I watched it anyway.

That's about the worst thing I've ever inflicted on myself. My GOD, that was awful. Horrible. Terrible. EVIL.

As Steven DenBeste puts it, "I'm not nearly afraid enough of the Japanese."

I'm not even going to get into details. If I can sandpaper that chunk of memory out of my brain, I will. With a powersander.

Learn from my mistake: DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW. EVER.

Eiken is better than this. And that made me want to pour battery acid in my eyes, then into my eyesockets after my eyes burned out.

Dokuro-chan is worse than that.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:17 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

An AMV, like any anime, is subjective. What I like may not be what you like. However, the AMV that is being given the Wonderduck Greatest AMV of ALL TIME! award is one of those rare things that everybody I've shown it to has liked (maybe 40 different people), and has a huge rating at AMV.org.

Friends, allow me to introduce the AMV of all AMVs: Odorikuruu.

I've seen many, many, MANY AMVs. Odorikuruu has been on my hard-drive for close to four years and was one of the first ones I ever saw... even though it wasn't on The Org for some time (back then, I used KazaaLite). To this day, I can click on the viddy at any time and just lose myself for four minutes in complete mindcandy. It's got a catchy tune ("Mamboleo" by Elissa), uses clips from 34 different anime (though some get a total screentime of one second), and is very tightly edited. It's very much a shame that the creator, Aokakesu, stopped making AMVs after this... or, at least, making them and listing them at The Org.

No, this isn't the 'Citizen Kane' of AMVs... but it may be 'The General' of them, and that's at least as good.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 215 words, total size 1 kb.

My friend The Librarian sent me an e-mail today.

The e-mail contained a link. THIS link.

Click only if you won't miss your sanity.

Go ahead, I'll wait. When you're done, click below: more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:35 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 212 words, total size 1 kb.