Don’t Judge a Book By It’s Cover… Genre, Summary, Premise, Author and/or Series July 3, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Books, Random Info.add a comment
Although we all know the beginning of the above phrase all too well, at one point or another, we’ve all bought a book based on it’s cover. I know I have, and I’ve also bought books based on each one of the following words in the post title. Cover (Yamato), Genre (Socerer’s Stone, not HP), summary (Santiago), premise (Arthur Series), Author (the Dragon Crown Series) and series (Robotech). However, of all those, the most interesting is Santiago.
I originally bought Santiago because the name I use in Bolivia is Santiago (my middle name is James). My brother Mark showed it to me, and I immediately bought it. However, upon reading the summary, I was pleasantly surprised. I have copied it below.
Sebastian Nightingale Cain: Bounty hunter. You can call him the Songbird — but only once. He’s after Santiago.
Virtue MacKenzie: freelance reporter. She never gives up. She wants an interview… with Santiago.
The Swagman: He collects art — at gun point. He wants a few pieces currently in the hands of Santiago.
SANTIAGO
Bandit, murderer, know to all, seen by none… has he killed a thousand men? Has he saved a dozen worlds? his legend is as large as the rim itself, his trail as elusive as a wisp of starlight in the empty realms of space. The reward for him is the largest in history.
SANTIAGO
Do you dare to chase him?
To clear a few things up, I think Resnik is a good author, he’s got a lot of books under his belt, and I’m not making fun of him. Just the summary. And, for the record, I am going to read the book (and maybe the Return of Santiago too).
Breaking Down Barriers June 30, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Comics, Geeks.add a comment
There are two things people notice about me when they get to know me a little better. The first thing about me is that I love routine. I read one X-Men, one Pokemon and one FMA a day, and no more. I play certain games on certain days, and I read a specific amount of pages in my book a day, and no less. Most people probably think that I’m a little OC. But, I’m not, really. 
The other thing is, I’m a geek. And a rather large geek at that. I like Star Wars, Star Trek, Pokemon, Nintendo, Final Fantasy, and above all, I’m a big super hero fan.
Being a geek, the natural progression of my state would be getting into the comic book world. While searching for a Nintendo magazine down here, I happen to see an issue of Superman: Birthright, but in Spanish. I decided not to get it. Then, a couple of days later, I bought it. I’m a huge Marvel fan, so getting a DC comic was a little hard. But once I ripped into (carefully opened, so as not to damage) the plastic sleve, I loved every second of it. I’m planning on buying the whole series (of 12) before I go back to the States. And at less than $2, it’s a real bargin.
I never thought I would get into comics, but since I did, I actually find myself liking it more than anime and video games. I’m planning a weekly visit to a store that sells comics (I know of three, but I’m not sure if any of them are really “comic book stores”) so I can combine my two favorite personality traits. All in all, I can heartily recommend Superman: Birthright, after reading almost half of it, and thouroughly loving it.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood – First Impressions June 25, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Awesome.2 comments
I started the FMA manga a while back, and I absolutely love it. It’s one of the best stories I’ve ever read, and the characters are excellent. I originally started it because of a couple of episodes I had seen of the anime. Little did I know, the anime and the manga aren’t very close in their storylines. So when I heard a new FMA anime was coming out (with the manga being used as a “script”) I was thrilled. I got my hands on the first episode and watched it. My reaction: simply amazing.
Story: I’ll do my best not to spoil anything, but who knows… Instead of simply starting at the beginning, the anime starts before the beginning, giving us a nice introduction of all the main characters and some villians. The only problem I see in this and the second episode is that some elements are revealed a lot sooner than the manga. However, this might be a good thing for anyone who is going in without having read the manga.
Animation: Honestly, what I thought after watching the first episode was that it reminded me of an OVA or movie, not a series. The animation loses a little something from the manga, but not enough to be noticable. The action, especially, was really great, and was nice to see, as manga can’t portray it as well.
All in all, FMA: B looks to be one of the best animes I’ve seen, and definitely one of my favorites. Plus, I’ve never watched an ongoing anime every week, so I want to catch up and start one for the first time.
My Half-Year Resolutions (And a Short Shopping List) June 20, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Geeks, Random Info.add a comment
Although I didn’t set any resolutions this year, and I horribly failed last year’s, I do have a couple of things I want to do (and get) this year.
1. Master C – My original goal for his year was to master Python, and I can safely say (while trying not to sound too prideful) that I’m pretty good in it. C, however, is going to be a lot harder. I’m planning this feat in two stages. First is my List Program and second is my PMRL.
List Program is a simple non-Windows program with an xml database (need to read up on xml again) that basically just records lists (or lists of lists). PMRL is a simple Pokemon game that is a hybrid monster raising, stadium battling, and rogue-like game. Planned versions 0.1-0.5(ish) will focus on raising; 1.0 will introduce battling; and 2.0 and onwards will feature dungeon gameplay.
ETA (Estimated Time of Accomplishment): 2 Weeks to finish the basics, up to 3 or 4 months for the programs.
2. Upgrade my laptop – I’m eventually going to buy a new laptop (there are some beautiful ones under 500 bucks floating around the internet tubes), but until then, a couple of good upgrades are going to be required.
First off, I desperately need a DVD burner (less for the burning itself, and more for the drive’s speed). My current drive is very slow, a normal show (350 megs) takes around 3 minutes to copy to the HDD (USB 2.0 gets it done in less than 20 seconds). The second upgrade is Linux. I’ve been wanting to make the move for a while, as I’m rather sick of Windows. Once I get some codecs going and a comic reader, I’ll be great. The third and final upgrade is a new battery. Hopefully that’ll increase my unplugged life (but at my current 20 minutes, anything is going to be good better).
ETA: Linux, less than a month. Others, up to 6 months, most likely.
3. Finish Gundam – Remember my goal of watching every Gundam ever made? Well, it’s almost come to fruition. I’ve only got Seed, Seed Destiny, G Gundam, Turn A Gundam, and Gundam 00 S2. Granted, that’s 175 eps and two movies (planning on watching Turn A movies), but it’s a lot more than half way. I’m planning on doing some discussions based on the various Gundam (and perhaps Macross) universes. I’m really loving Seed, anticipating Turn A and dreading G.
ETA: End of the year.
4. Get back into reading – I’ve hit a dry spell in reading, but I’m hoping to get back into it. Starting with Hitchiker’s Guide and its many sequels. Hopefully I can find another series to quench ny thirst once those are done.
ETA: 3 Months or so.
5. Buy Crap! – My shopping list is rather long, and my shopping currency… well, I have no money.
Zombies!!! (Board Game)
X-Men Alert! (Board Game)
Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (Comic collection of giant size X-Men and the frst ten issues of the Uncanny X-Men)
Pokemon Ruby (GBA game, to follow the manga)
PS2 or WII + a buttload of games (for PS2 mostly Gundam)
ETA: Whenever I get a job…
Well, there you have it. My resolutions and shopping list. Tune in soon for my completion posts.
X-Men Alert! for Zombies!!! Are Coming June 12, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Geeks, X-Men.add a comment
I’m currently in a zombie mode… again. So recently, I’ve been playing all the zombie games I can get my hands on (Resident Evil, Flash games, board games, etc.). After finding and downloading the excellent PnP game, Zombie Plauge, I looked around for some decent zombie minis. This is when I stumbled upon the board game Zombies!!!
Zombies!!! is known for a number of different qualities. The positive one is that it comes with 100 plastic zombies and 6 plastic “shotgun guys”. The other, less appealing quality is that the rules are not the best, and sometimes cause game sessions to be several hours long. It’s also known for having a buttload of expansions.
However, a few changes to the rules results in quicker game time, and best of all, it’s only 20 bucks. But, since I’m a collector/painter at heart – not a gamer – I’m very excited about the 100 zombies to paint as I see fit.
I’m also in an X-Men mode right now, and I’ve been looking around at the various collectable minis games that feature the X-men, trying to pick one. Marvel Battle Dice was my original choice (due to the fact that it’s not full of repeats like the HeroClix game), but according to some sources, the scale is not consistent over the line. HeroClix is my choice right now (despite the repeats), but I’ve also found a new love. X-Men Alert! is an oldish board game (haven’t read a lot of reviews, so I can’t really opine on the quality) that comes with 18 unpainted X-Men figures, including Professor X. Prime candidates for me to colorize!
All in all, Zombies!!! is my first $20 choice and X-Men Alert! is no. 2. Be on the lookout in the future for my reviews and painted figs.
Get Rich Quick Online! June 9, 2009
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Geeks.add a comment
No, really. In my quest to make $20 (more on this in a later post), I’ve gone through most of the ways to make money online. Some are more useful than others, while some are absolutely worthless. I’ve decided to share my experiences here to enlighten anyone who might be interested in spending hours making no money. (Note that this is not a list of links, but a gathering of my insight)
Online surveys
Most people who use the internet have seen the ads: share your opinion to make easy money. Filling out surveys is actually one of the few ways to make real money online. The drawback? Most sites require you to be in the States. Sites that offer international surveys e-mail you when a survey is available; and the e-mails are few and far in between (note that this is also the case with some State-side sites also). It’s not going to be a full time job, but it’s definitely a good way to make some cash in your free time.
Tips: First off, find a site that pays in money, not in products or deals, unless that’s what you’re after. Second, sign up for multiple sites at a time. The frequency in which you get offers will multiply if you’re on more than one site.
Ad Viewing
Ad viewing is simply going through a list provided by the Ad Viewing site, and viewing another site through a frame. If you’re not cheating with multiple open windows, then your account will get credited. However, these sites can be very decieving. The rates you start out with are very high (sometimes up to $0.25 for a 30-second view of the ad), and then drop to even a cent after the frst day; or in the case of one site I tried, they stop crediting your account altogether.
Tips: Number one tip is if you’re alone, don’t try this, it’ll most likely be a waste of your time. If you should try one, make sure they pay through a well known service (translation: PayPal), just to be safe, and to know you can actually acess the money.
If you find a genuine site with good referral rates, it might be worth it to get together a group of friends and work together. ($.10 per referral view, 10 friends and 10 ads per day = $10), in five days, each of you has 5 bucks for 25 minutes work each (it seemed like it was going to be a lot more before I wrote it down). But, it’s most likely a waste of time.
Blogging For Cash
Blogging for cash consists basically of reviewing products or services for a small reward.
Tips: Sign up for multiple sites, and see if each site allows you to have multiple blogs. This will increase the amount of offers you’ll recieve, and in turn, the amount of rewards. This is the area I have the least experience in, as I’m still waitig for my first offer.
Selling Pokemon Cards
Yes, I played Pokemon when I was younger, and I still play the games and read the manga. I’m a fanboy. However, back in the day, a Holo Charizard was worth $27, so I decided to see how much my cards might get me. I got my stack of holos and promos (about 50) and headed over to a site that buys the cards. My most valuable card, an Ancient Mew promo, was worth $2 (and I know I must have had around 15 of ‘em, I just don’t know where they went…), and altogether, I would have gotten a total of $10 for my holos (Holos not on their “wanted” list were going for $.20). Adding all of my other cards, I might have gotten another $5 (normal cards were going for $.01), so it just wasn’t worth the hassle. However, if you have a good amount of cards, check around on some sites to see what you might get (remembering that it might be more profitable to sell it on Ebay).
Real Job
This is the most stupid one on the list. Go out and get a real job (remember, this post is about making money online, so I don’t literally mean “go out”). This is a very profitable area if you possess any computer skills. The bulk of the money is going to programmers (and the buku bucks are in Flash Game Development), so if you’re any good in that, you’ll have an easier time getting a job. Besides programming, anyone with some kind of certification or degree in a wide array of fields will have an easier time also (examples are Web Development, translation, etc.) However, if you don’t possess any skills like those, or they are too new, be prepared to get pocket change for working long hours.
Tips: GetAFreelancer.com Period. It’s the site I always use, and it’s a great place to find a job, or someone to do a job for you. You can search through jobs yourself, see them in categories, see them in an RSS feed, or even have them sent to your inbox. The first thing you need to do is set up a nice looking profile, complete with a small description of your skills and whatever else you think pertinent. The most important thing in this area is honesty. Be honest, do a good job, and you’ll get good feedback, speeding up the job hunting process a little. (Should you need an alternative, there’s a UK GAF, elance, and rentacoder to name a few).
This Month’s Picks (Nov. 2008) Part 1 – Anime – Part 2 November 18, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Random Info.add a comment
Here’s the lowdown on some anime that I’m currently watching and some that I forgot about the other day. Well, technically it’s my Birthday as of now, so I’m going to make this short. Enjoy, and remember there’s huge spoilers here.
Afro Samurai: Just finished it, and it’s amazing. For the record there are a few parts that need to be skipped over (I just cut them out of mine), so be warned. However, I strongly recommend this anime to anyone, as long as you don’t mind extreme, exaggerated violence. This anime makes the Gladiator movie look like a Disney movie. You’ll see heads getting cut in half, limbs flying everywhere, and weapons just going right through bodies. However, the excellent talents of Sam Jackson and Ron Pearlman (two of my favorites) make this one even better. The story is great, the action awesome and well-thought out and the voice acting is just amazing. Grab your copy today.
Blassreiter: Although I’m not a big fan of the religious and demon elements, Blassreiter is one of the best anime I’ve watched so far. We’ve got zombies, motorcycles, mecha, and some great character design. If you can get around the occasional fan service, the show really sticks out. I’m about half way through the show and I really love it.
Macross F: Great show, sublime ending (minus the “I’ll take the sky” part), amazing characters, and okay plot. The only part that really got me was when Michel died. I remember my stomach jerking and getting some dust in my eye right then. I probably won’t rewatch it, but I’m very anxiously awaiting the movie.
Transformers G1: I’m taking it slow for now, but I’m really enjoying the old-school anime. I find myself constantly telling Clarita “Well, in the original Transformers….”. But she doesn’t really care.
That’s it for now. Tomorrow I’ll be talking about some of the TV shows I’m watching.
New “Destroy All Humans” Game, Contest and Giveaway November 14, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Random Info, Video Games.add a comment
Path of the Furon is the game I’m talking about. The newest game in the “Destroy all Humans” series takes place in the 70’s, and is coming to the XBox 360, PS3 and Wireless platforms. As you control Crypto, you’ll fight new enemies, including a new very dangerous enemy: Crypto’s own species. So as we fight the humans (obviously), the aliens, we’ll also have acess to certain powers learned from the Kung-Fu Master.
So head on over to CryptoEnhance and enter the contest there for a chance to win a freaking 32″ HDTV or a $50 GameStop certificate! And, since you’re there, you might as well check out the trailers and free downloads including wallpapers and AIM icons.
But that’s not all! If you get the game, then take your Proof of Purchase to your local (participating) GameStop and exchange it for a BobbleHead! Get over there before supplies run out.
This Month’s Picks (Nov. 2008) Part 1 – Anime – Part 1 November 13, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Random Info.add a comment
After yet another long absence from posting, I’m back, hopefully for a little longer this time. In the two months I’ve been gone, I’ve watched a lot of anime, so I thought I would start with that. So without further… rambling, here we go (don’t forget the spoilers).
Ar Tonelico: It’s a Fantasy/Steampunk anime that is basically a promo for the game of the same name. The main character lives in the highest part of a mysterious tower, and due to his recklessness, falls down to the lower levels where he meets the female part of the main cast. It’s a great concept, and the magic and signing mixed is great and somewhat old-school. The main problem is in the length: it’s only 24 minutes. So basically we have a world and relationships that should be cultured over multiple episode that are slammed together in the short amount of time. My ruling? If you’re not going to or haven’t seen the game, don’t watch the anime, it’s missing a real story, character development, and much more – when seen on its own.
Mospeada: Mospeada is a somewhat odd anime. Not the characters, not the mecha, but the plot line, but the actual episodes themselves. Aside from the last two, the episodes are small, self contained stories. So, besides the characters and some overlying plot elements, each episode starts and ends its own story. It’s a great idea, but don’t get me wrong, there is a plot, it’s just rather simple: the main characters join up and have to make it to the “Reflex Point” where they will fight the final battle. Mospeada has some great battle scenes, awesome character design and development, but a pretty bad ending. I don’t really like the whole “the bad guys are really good, it just depends on how you treat them/look at them.” But, if you like Macross, you’ll love Mospeada, just don’t go looking for a great bloody ending.
Macross 7: And it’s multiple spinoffs. I might have been negative about the first two, but be prepared for a slew of negativeness about 7. In a nutshell: it sucks. Now, for the long explanation we have a problem. The character design is great (Gamlin is one of my favorite charaters in all anime, plus he’s Takehito Koyasu), the plot is actually really good, and the mechas (the few that there are) are very well designed. What was the problem, then? The show could have easily been a short OVA or even a movie, but yet it was stretched over 50 episodes. 50 painful episodes. Let’s take the final story arc in account. They finally get to the enemy home planet, then they go back home for a few episodes, and they decide to go for one last run at the home planet: totally unnecessary, and slightly ridiculous. Another example. How many episodes did we have to hear Basara signing to Sivil in the freaking forest. Wake her freaking up and get it over with! I know that someone with a little skill in video editing could cut the 50 eps down to 2 hours, and we wouldn’t miss a beat. The saving grace? Fire Bomber is really awesome. My Soul For You? Oh yeah. Also, the movie sucked, the OVA was crap (let’s sing to whales…), but the special Encore was pretty good. So, yeah avoid this crap.
Uchuu no Senshi (Starship Troopers): Simply amazing anime. I just read the book, and it’s nothing like the Roughnecks or the movie, or even the anime… But, who would watch a show that played like the book? To be honest, I really loved the book, it’s classic, just a little heavy. I’m tired, so sufice to say, the show is awesome, and really deserves a watch-a-year. The best non-Mecha I’ve seen so far.
Patlabor: Now this is what I’m talking about. If you don’t mind silly animes, then you’ll love Patlabor. It’s short enough to get into if you don’t want to watch the show, but long enough to get it’s point across. The show is an interesting twist on the mainstream anime in the genre, as we’re dealing with the Police now, not the young pilot that accidentally gets control of the robot. I watched the OVA, but I plan to soon watch the TV show, I just hope they focus a little more on the training aspect of the characters. My only beef: The should have switched 5&6 with 7, as the show gets a sort of Conpiracy/all-out-war feeling in 5&6, and it’s completely lost in 7. But, if you agree with my, you can totally do it, you won’t lose anything, or notice anything out of place.
Tomorrow we’ll have some anime I’m currently watching and some more I might have forgotten.
Just a note: I’ve currently watched 9.76 days worth of anime… For those not so skilled in math that’s around 224 hours of anime. Yes, I have no life whatsoever.
This Month’s Picks (Sep. 2008) Part 3 – Mahita & Python September 10, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Digimon, Geeks, PC, Python, Update.add a comment
This time around we’ve got some junk about my site and my programming. I’m really focusing on Python, trying to learn it really well, and hopefully, it’ll help me get a decent job some day. As for Mahita, it doesn’t really help me do anything, I just really enjoy sharing very insignificant stuff with a very small group of people. So, without further… never mind, just read.
Tag Cloud: As I posted a while back, I made my own little tag cloud to cover up the fact that the old one didn’t work like it was supposed to. The only real problem is that it looks like crap. I’m planning on making one more like the official one, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’m planning on making a small Python script that scrapes the categories and number of posts on my blog (most likely from my dashboard) and makes a nice little list of tuples. It’ll then calculate the amount of increase in font neccessary for each one and print out the correspoding HTML. Now that I have a little more free time, I’m going to work on this. The hardest part is thinking up the formula…
Banner: Back in January of 2007 I got my current banner (which is still awesome). But, it was my original plan to cahnge the baby out every year. I desperately need one now, and I’m in the process of thnking whether I want Gundam, Macross, Mospeada, or Digimon. I’m leaning towards Macross or Mospeada; I guess I’ll let fate decide as I look for a nice render.
DigiFind: As I stated in an earlier post, I found a new love in the newest Digimon game, Digimon World Championship. One of the main goals is to collect all 200+ Digimon. However, this is harder than it sounds as some you have to evolve these monsters, and the requirements vary from type to type. So, borrowing the info from the Evolutions Guide from the GF board (Thanks so much BitZero!!) I threw together this program. You simply enter in any Digimon’s name and it compiles a list (a wx TreeCtrl) of all the Digimon’s possible descendants. It works like a charm, and if I can get some permission from BitZero, I’ll be posting the source and the binary in the future.
FireFox Add-Ons: I’ve always been interested in Add-Ons, and since my RSLF didn’t really work out, I’m planning to trying to convert the idea into an Add-On. The basic idea is to search a text for any RS, MU, FU, etc. URLs, and add them to a list in the sidebar from which the user can then open them up in tabs. This saves us the hassle of having to drag the links to the tabbar (or whatever it’s called) when the people are too lazy to make <a> tags. I know there’s probably a similar addon out, or one that makes URLs into <a>’s, but I still want to get into addon designing. More on this if I ever even get around to it.
Well, that’s it for this month, tune in tomorrow for a Gundam 00 Review, and Friday for a Castlevania: DoS review.
