I have finally managed to acquire all the l33t-raws episodes; those last two just weren't being seeded, but some kind soul appeared Wednesday afternoon who had a big tube and the episode I needed. Went from 56% d/l'd to done in less than an hour.

Wish I had broadband at The Pond, but at least I have access to it at times.

Also, the tune has been purchased on CD, ripped at high-quality, and ready to go.

Clipping has started, though with work and life, it's going slower than I expected. Saturday should be a good day for that sort of thing. Hopefully I can start stitching things together sometime in the very near future.

More updates on the AMV as warranted.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A little over a week ago, a concept for an AMV snaked its way out of the depths of my brain and positioned itself, fully formed, in front of my face (metaphorically, of course).

I said to myself, "hey, that could work! All I need is the RAWs of all the episodes of Kanon 2006, a copy of the song, and learn how to use Adobe Premiere, and I'm all set! Oh, and how to create clips for use in the vid, can't forget that."

...with dialup, to boot. Yeah, it looked doomed from the very first step. But then a miracle occurred: using two different computers that had broadband, I managed to snag 22 of l33t-RAWs' episodes of Kanon. I still need those two missing eps, but I can at least start making clips!

Except I still didn't have a clue how to do THAT. That's where the ubercool Jeff Lawson of Hop Step Jump! came into play, as I fired off a quick e-mail asking for his help.

He came through with a long, detailed e-mail explaining the whole procedure to me, and an offer to help with any questions I had in the future. SOMEONE's gonna be inducted into the Order of the Honorary Duck when this is all said and done...

So. As if my life wasn't cluttered enough, now I've got this project beating me about the head and neck... and it's one of those things that will NOT go away until I finish it, I can tell already.

My first AMV. I hope it doesn't suck...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:43 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Here you go, Steven, just like I promised (well, sorta...)! more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Remember when I said that "I had a post on the back burner until something specific happens?"

Well, it just so happens that the specific something happened tonight: The Librarian and I celebrated her birthday (a little early). Her present? A copy of the first of two live-action movies of the manga/anime smash Death Note. She's a big fan of the book/show, so I knew this would go over well... and it did; she loved it.

So, what about the movie itself? Death Note, for those of you that haven't seen the anime/read the manga, is (at it's core) a police thriller. more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Dammit. I hate it when a show makes me cry.

If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, this picture isn't a spoiler.

(Update: In comments, able reader Will pointed out that the original picture COULD have been a spoiler... and the second he pointed out how it was, I slapped my forehead in disgust and changed the picture to the one above. I also edited his comment to remove the spoiler in question.... If you want to see what the original picture was, CLICK HERE. Good catch, Will!)

But now for something completely different (includes a small episode spoiler): more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:23 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I would be remiss if I didn't thank Don of "Beware the Kawaii" again. Taking pity on a bandwidth-disabled duck, he has, again, sent a few DVDs up to The Pond.

The original Kanon, KyoAni's Air (including the movies), something called Mahou Shoujou Tai (which I'm weakly familiar with under the name 'Tweeny Witches', from this AMV, where it's used on a monitor screen). Also in the discs are some Ozama Tezuka (remember Astro Boy? That's him...), "Pete's latest infatuation," Manami Straight (which I've seen the 1st episode of, and was pretty turned off by the chibification of everybody under the age of 20), and a metric assload of other things, to boot.

Beware The Kawaii has already been named a member of the Order of the Honorary Duck, and I considered adding an Oak Leaves Cluster to the award, I realized that would just be silly. He's already an Honorary Duck, it can't get any better than that for you non-duckish types!

So again, I thank Don with all of my feathers, and heartily suggest that y'all go over there and read his stuff. He's a pretty darn good photographer, too.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 02:52 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I didn't want to have to do this. While I freely admit my somewhat twisted enjoyment of the original Ikkitousen series, I really hoped that someone down the line would have realized that... well, it just wasn't good, and that a sequel would be a very, very wrong thing to do.

But the lure of money brought in by the first show (just take a look at all the figures from it that are out there... heck, I even have one) was too strong. And thus, Ikkitousen - Dragon Destiny has been whelped and let loose upon an unsuspecting public.

Maybe they moved away from their tried-and-true style? Could they have possibly turned this into a GOOD series without us being aware of it? more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:28 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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SDB, talking about the upcoming release of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, sez: "Bandai and Kadokawa have decided to compromise by releasing the series both in chronological orderand in broadcast order. The broadcast order version will come out as Special Editions, without dubs. That means that completist fanboys will have to buy the series twice, yielding more revenue."

Well, yes and no. According to Robert, the Supreme Ruler and Usurper of the Anime Corner (does anybody else get a chuckle out of the inflated titles he gives himself in his weekly e-mails?), the "Special Edition" releases will have both the chronological order AND the broadcast order discs in them!

Unfortunately, that DOES mean that you'll have to pay more (and Bandai's releases are on the pricey side to begin with) for the S.E. versions, of course, so it may very well work out to paying the same price as if you bought two discs. But hey, you get a collector's iron-on! *eye-roll*

The broadcast order dvds will be, as noted, without dubs, which is okay with me, since I haven't watched a dub version of a show that's in my collection in *coughcough* years. I just have a problem with the voice acting in dubs, particularly if I've seen the show subbed beforehand.

There HAVE been a few dubbed shows recently that don't drive me screaming for an icepick to insert forcefully into my eardrums: Cowboy Bebop's was particularly good... in fact, I've yet to see the subbed version. Ghost In The Shell: Stand-Alone Complex was decent as well, though I still prefer the subs.

I've heard nothing to make me think that Haruhi will be worthwhile in dubbed form, though Bandai has done some good work in that area before. Go ahead, Bandai, surprise me!

Actually, what really surprises me is that there was a discussion about releasing the episodes in chronological order to begin with. The broadcast order may be a little confusing (particularly in the first, oh, third of the series), but the whole thing tells the storyline in a very smooth arc. By the time you hit the last episode, you've gotten the whole package in a way that keeps you intrigued the whole time.

In contrast, the chronological order gives you the meat of the show ("Melancholy" I thru VI, plus the 'movie') at the very start, and then tacks on seven episodes that, while good in their own right (particularly "Day of Sagittarius"), feel like filler when viewed chronologically.

Put it this way: you could make a fantastic OVA out of the 'meat', lose the other seven episodes, and you'd STILL have a smash hit on your hands.

But in the broadcast version, you learn more about what's happening in Haruhi's World (it's her world, she just lets us live in it), albeit in flashback/forward form... and it makes sense, and it doesn't feel like something's tacked on that way.

My take: KyoAni broadcasted it the way they did for a reason, it worked, and it worked WELL. Why mess with it?

(UPDATE: the original version of this post said that Geneon was the distributor, not Bandai as is the case. This has been changed, and the entire continuity department has been sacked. The management of The Pond regrets the error, and will fully refund the money you paid for this post.)

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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