This Month’s Picks (Sep. 2008) Part 2 – Anime September 9, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Digimon, Gundam, Update.Tags: Gundam, Macross, Mospeada, X-Men
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Although I promised this post for Saturday, it’s coming today, and I really doubt anyone really cares. Anyways, anime has become a big part of my life recently, as most of my free time is spent watching it, and most of my free DL time is spent getting it. Here are some of the shows I’m watching, plan to watch, and have recently finished, but not gotten around to reviewing. And, even though I shouldn’t have to say so, watch out for spoilers.
Gundam 00: Although the show isn’t “over”, I’ve finished the first season, and am anxiously awaiting the second. At the end of the first we have the death of Allelujah, the assumed deaths of Setsuna, Graham and Lockon, and the seemingly fake death of Tieria. I watched the end sequence a couple of times, and assume that’s Tieria and Lousie on the elevator, and Graham walking down the hall in an iron Char-mask. I’m not sure about this, but in a few minutes I’m going to look up the (I think they’re real) PVs for the second season. I’m really excited about this.
Macross 7: Haven’t watched it in a couple of days, not sure why. I just got to the part where the story starts to actually be cool and not suck. the whole Spiritia and singing thing is coming together, and hopefully soon the story will stop being so repetetive.
Gundam Wing: I watched most of the show (maybe half) a while back when it was on CN in a Spanish dub. I really, really loved it. I watched it back then for the action, but this time around I’m seeing a little bit of a story emerging, and even if it’s very exaggerated and unrealistic, I really enjoy the show. I can also see some of the bases for Gundam 00 here.
Digimon Adventure: Like Wing, I only watched Digimon in Spanish, but I never caught the show from the first season. I saw Adventure 02 and Tamers, and I really loved them; and I was very much in love with both World 1 and 2 for the PS1 (even if I basically sucked at both). So, to get back to the roots of the Digimon experience, I’m watching the original show in the original language. I like it a lot better than before, and I’m hoping the fansub groups will finish at least the first two seasons for me 
MOSPEADA: Son of a motherless goat! This anime looks really great. I’ll be posting some pics of one of the collectable actions figures I’m picking up for Christmas, it’s so cool. I love the bikes, and the whole idea of them. I wanted more Macross, and here it is with a twist.
X-Men: Not anime, but still similar. I’m trying to get me some of the original X-men cartoons, as I think I really like them. I’ll post more about this when I get them.
That’s it for anime for now. Tomorrow I’ll be going over site improvements and some Python crap, along with my first finished program! Stay tuned! Not literally, of course, just wait for the post or the RSS feed or something… Geez.
This Month’s Picks (Sep. 2008) Part 1 – Games September 5, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in DS, PC, Update, Video Games.add a comment
Each month I plan on reviewing the stuff I’m spending time with, including games, anime and my site. This helps me out to not only push myself to work on the last area, but it also gives me three free posts a month Anyways, here we go.
Digimon World Championship (DS): This game supposedly returns to the “roots” of Digimon. Some supposed this to mean World for PS1, and in part they were right. However, we have more of a return to the roots of the Digimon as in the V-Pets. Basically, you’ll train your Digimon all day then do some fights that you have no control in. Don’t get me wrong: I love the V-Pets and I had the first three that came out. I love this game, but you just have to take your time and don’t feel pressured, otherwise you’ll constantly get killed. Also, if you happen to pick up the game, print out the Evolution FAQ found on the GameFAQs board, it’ll really help you out. In fact, I even wrote up a quick and dirty Python script to help me out in this area (more on this Sunday).
Castlevania: DoS (DS): I really love AoS, and DoS is everything I wanted in a sequel, and more. I’ve beaten the game twice on easy, once with 100% souls. Right now I’m working on the Julius mode, then Boss Rush mode, and finally one last playthrough on Hard. I don’t know what it is about Castlevania games, but I just love them. After this, I’m going to look into Portrait of Ruin (or Sortrait, as some say and definitely… the new one, can’t remember how to spell the name.
Hitman: Codename 47 (PC): Playing through it again. Find myself not wanting to be stealthy, and instead just kill people… If I find I really like the game, I might check out the sequel, but I doubt it.
The Shouboutai (DS): One of the newer games in the Simple DS series, we have the Shouboutai. And for those of us that don’t speak any Japanese, that’s Firefighter (I guess). We have a third-person game that pits our characters against fires, hazards, etc. All the while trying to save the people trapped. It’s a really good game, I’ve just placed it on the back burner for now until I finish Castlevania.
That’s all I have planned for this month. If I finish DoS, I might go ahead and pick of Portrait, but I want to take a small brake so I won’t get sick of the games. I’ve also tried Gundam 00 (missing something for me), and Bangai-O Spirits (suck at this type of game) for the DS, but decided not to get them.
Tomorrow is Anime.
Victory Gundam (Anime) Review August 20, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Gundam, Reviews.Tags: UC 0153, Victory Gundam
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Story: Without a doubt, V Gundam is the saddest Gundam story to date. And before anything else is said, I think it’s worth a mention to say that a lot of people die, and most of the time for no good reason at all. That aside, I have to say I really loved the storyline. However, some of the story arcs in the middle could have been left out, and the story would still be intact; a lot of the time during said arcs I found myself wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing. There’s not a lot of narrative glue to stick the parts together, and to keep one interested during some of the low parts. But, overall it’s a nice story, with an emphasis on death, and at least during the last arc, a huge emphasis on the beauty of life.
Art: Very good. V Gundam uses a very simple art style to convey the characters and the Mobile Suits; which is both good and bad. Most of the Suits are very similar to each other, and are very rarely any unique. Characters however, look very nice, and some are just too cool for words, while others are just meh. Battles are everything you would expect from a mecha show, and although somewhat exaggerated at times (or almost all of the time), they’re mostly very good. The simple style works here to make the art very nice looking even today.
Sound: Not much to say here. There’s an excellent cast of actors working on the voices, and the mecha sounds are great, but nothing really stands out in this category.
Characters: We’ve got a cast of mostly children and women, with the main villain and one of the main characters being male. The rest of the male cast are either lesser characters or very old men. I can’t quite remember why the cast is like it is, but it brings a fresh look on what might be a stale storyline. It also has the effect of removing almost all romantic involvement between the main characters. There’s a peace-loving-battle-scarred boy, a princess girl, and a group of what seem to be orphaned children. Interaction between them is what really pushes the story along. Without a doubt, Oliver and Captain Gomez were my favorite characters, both of which received little screen time, but both of whom were very central to the story.
Overall: No where near as good as First Gundam, V Gundam is nonetheless a very nice looking, anime featuring a somewhat lacking storyline that’ll get your emotions running if you’re not prepared for it. Definitely recommended if you’ve seen the other UC animes, however, the story is completely separate from the main meta-plot.
My review from MAL.
Tag Cloud August 18, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Update.add a comment
As you may or may not know, I’ve always hated the fact that the tag/category cloud doesn’t work on my theme. I’ve been screwing around with the CSS to see if I could fix it, but to no avail. So, I thought I would just make my own
I made a new Text/HTML widget and made a simple tag cloud. It’s not the best way to do it, but it’s good for me now. The only problem I can see with it now is the formula used for text size. It’s currently base 12px with an increase of [number of posts]% for each category. It’s not the way that the real widget does it, but it’s a quick fix. I’ll be messing around with this a little more to perfect it, but I’m very content with this for now.
Giant Robots With Wilford Brimley Faces! August 18, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Awesome, Random Info.4 comments
First comic in a long, long time that has made me laugh out loud.
Now making a new avatar…
Edit: Can’t see it 
You’ll have to Right Click > View Image in Firefox to see the whole thing. Sorry about that.
MechAssault: Phantom War (DS) Review August 14, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in DS, Reviews, Video Games.Tags: Mecha, MechAssault
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Concept: MA Puts you in the shoes of MechWarrior Valen, and pits you against the evil enemy faction AMS. During your campaign against these traitors, you’ll fight mostly in large mecha (with a third-person view), but you have the abilty to leave it at any time. Should you do so, however, one shot and you’re dead. Some missions have you in your Battle Armor (a personal armor, a lot smaller than a mecha), which has very low combat abilities, high jumping capabilities, and the skill of being able to latch onto walls (to scale them) and enemies (to hack them). And some missions (only a few) even force you to fight without any type of armor, and only a “pilot bomb” as armament.
Before each new area, there is normally a short (but sweet) cutscene, and the whole game features a great voice over (No text dialog whatsoever).
3 Ways in Which Geekdom Can Hinder Christianity August 11, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Christian Discussion.add a comment
This is a serious post, besides the word Geekdom. I’m not really sure what the correct term is, but as a geek myself, I’d like to share the three main areas in which being one has hindered my Christian life.
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (Anime) Review August 9, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Reviews.Tags: Macross, MAL, Robotech
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Story: The main story is split up into two main arcs (from 1-27, and 28-36). While the second arc might not seem very necessary to the story itself, it closes up the loose ends left behind from certain character relationships. The story is very fluid, pretty deep, and all around well-planned. It’s unique, and I never found myself wondering, “Now why are they doing this again?” like in other animes. The anime has a starting point and an ending point, with very little fluff in the middle. Every episode has its purpose, and it’s basically very well thought out.
Mospeada Sneak Peak August 6, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime.Tags: Mospeada
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Although my Anime plate is rather full at the moment with Macross 7 and Frontier (trying to watch them all before Ace Frontier comes out on the PSP), and V Gundam and 00 Gundam (want to watch the latter before I crack out the import 00 DS game), I couldn’t resist sneaking a small peek at this anime. Mospeada is the third anime used in the Robotech mesh, but I finally got my hands on the original subbed version, before it was even considered for RT. I’ve only watched the first episode, but I thought I’d share my thought on it here.
My First (Real) Program August 1, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Python, RSLF.2 comments
After having been absent for a while, I’m back with a small update on my programming. Remember back when I wrote about a program that extracts RapidShare links from a site? Well, after cleaning out my Python folder from one tutorial to another, and cleaning out my Downloads folder (by deleting extracted Rars), I emptied my recycle bin… Along with my program. So, I busted my butt to write it again, but this time using wxPython, and this time in its own separate folder. Here are my results for the RSLF (RapidShare Link Finder) v. 1.01
