The UFO Kaitou

last modified: Friday, November 06, 2009 (1:17:06 AM CST)

I'm sitting in the gate at Narita International, ready to board my flight back home.

I decided to head back to Japan this year after visiting last year. I really enjoy the fall colors, and this year did not disappoint.

I always love to have authentic experiences when traveling abroad - the kind that you're not really expecting to happen, especially if you don't speak the language and there's no way you can blend in with the population. Last year, it was being pushed into the overcrowded train in Tokyo during the commute period. This year, it was being kicked out of the UFO game store.

Yes, I was kicked out. And not because I was a misbehaving bunny.

Most of the Pachinko and UFO/Game stores around here are owned by the Yakuza. It's a great set-up since both are, in one way or another, a form of legalized gambling. The House doesn't want to lose and if it views you as being too skilled, it'll make sure that you leave quickly.

If you've never been to Japan, then, the closest that you might have gotten to the Japanese style Sega version that are located in various movie theatres across the country. The claw that grabs the toys is two pronged. In some games, you need to pick up the toy and then drop it into the chute. In others, you need to push it so it will slide or punch it until it will fall. The set-up depends on the toy, the machine and how badly the House wants to make a profit.

Your best bet when it comes to UFOs is to go for seasonal items, especially if the holiday is about to end. Most places won't discount items once the holiday is over, and if the item doesn't sell, it will simply be destroyed. I happened to be in Japan on Halloween, so, I was able to take advantage of this. Additionally, the older an item is, the better chance you'll have of winning it. "Old" items, ones that everyone else probably has by now, are not highly desirable. That means that you can take advantage of special features of a machine, such as 3 chances to win a toy for 200 yen.

A few days ago, the UFO arcade near the hotel I stayed at in Tokyo began putting up their Christmas toys. One of the machines featured a mechanical set of Disney Christmas plushies. The set, featuring Minnie, Mickey and Stitch, are all dressed up in holiday attire.

The way that the arcade set it up was that the toy was perched flat, balanced inbetween a piece of plastic and a flexible wire. As the toy is soft, the way to win is to use the claw to maneuver the back of the head to the right side. Once the toy is positioned diagonally, you then move the claw to the middle and push the toy through the slot.

Thanks to the machine's set-up, I was able to get 8 turns for a 500 yen coin. I won the Mickey and Minnie dolls the day before fairly easily, and yesterday, I went back to obtain the Stitch one(they were all out when I was there). With 4 500 yen coins, I managed to win four more of these dolls. At one point, I had quite a crowd around me, watching me as I won the items. It made me feel like that "Game Machine Joe" character from Sailormoon.

Anyways, the employees weren't too happy, especially since each one of the dolls aren't cheap. It got to the point that they refused to put any more of the dolls into the machine. They also removed other items from the machines, in the event that I attempted to win those too.

So, I was kicked out.

In terms of the UFO prizes, I was a little disappointed this time around because I was hoping to win "Japanese" items. What I mean by this is that the majority of toys(upwards of 90%) are American characters. And while I expected an overmerchandising of Disney characters, I wasn't expecting the same of Care Bears or Popples. I also didn't appreciate many of these machines featuring gripping material on slots where the toys are about to fall. I guess they figure that people are really foolish enough to play machines where the odds are strongly stacked against them.

Well

The Village(photos) Idiot

last modified: Saturday, October 24, 2009 (5:12:43 PM CST)

If samurai believe their karma is to reborn a samurai, then I hope hackers believe their karma is to reborn as a computer-illiterate person whose computer has been struck with a virus.

My lastest project with my gallery is to make short clips of all the sequences where my artwork is featured. My initial thought was to give some context to the artwork, rather than just give a background synopsis. Pictures say a thousand words, right? For the most part, I've been pleased with the results.

But what I haven't been too pleased with(or at least in the past 12 days) is my image host site, Villagephotos. Last week, the site was down for extended periods of time due to the installation of new equipment. But this past week, whenever you go to the site, your computer will receive notice of a Trojan virus. Fortunately, most up-to-date protection software picks it up before it can do any damage. This appeared to be fixed last night when I was able to upload new items, but now, it's not working again and the Trojan virus appears to be back on the site.

I've often wondered why people go out of their way to create computer viruses. Do they wake up and simply want to be an assclown to others? Is it because they don't get any action? Or maybe both? I might be a bit more sympathetic if these hacker-types went after the Kim Jong Ils of the world, but, I can't see where anyone would get any benefit from going after Villagephotos.

Another thing - whenever a company like this has some maintence issues, why is it that affected customers go into overdrive? I read on the E-bay forums of villagephotos users demanding that Paypal refund their money back. That seems a little drastic.

I'm hoping that this will all be resolved soon. I wanted to do a twin Mistress 9 update with Ginga too, and especially before Halloween is over. Somehow, it just doesn't seem to have the same impact if I update with her artwork in any month but October...

Matsuri Mess

last modified: Friday, January 16, 2009 (2:19:08 PM CST)

While I was in Hida, Japan, I purchased a small set of Lunar New Year animals dressed as Sarubobos. Sarubobo, or 'baby monkey', is the trinket that many people bring home from Japan and the Takayama region. Since I celebrate the Lunar New Year, I thought I'd put each of the animals into the 12 slotted "memory" frames, and hang it on my wall.

But I wanted something to go with it. The animals were cute, but, a small animal trinket in a big frame...well, it needed some ornaments to accompany it.

So, enter the Hina Matsuri mess.

Hina Matsuri, or Girls' Day, is celebrated in Japan on March 3. Most Japanese couples who have a daughter will purchase a Hina Matsuri set for their child. While the size of the pieces and the number of dolls featured in a Hina Matsuri set will vary(I've seen some that consist of 5 while the large ones have 15), they all feature accessories.

I thought that pairing the Hina accessories with the animals would be rather cute. After not finding much on US auction sites, I headed to YJ to purchase some Hina accessories.

Hina Matsuri sets can be expensive, and elaborate dolls generate elaborate fees. The large Hina Matsuri sets, depending on the quality, can easily reach into the thousands of dollars. Even the items that accompany the set can be rather pricey.

So I found an auction starting at 1000 yen, with poor, grainy pictures and the following description:

"This item was found as leftover stock in an now closed shop. All but the diamond cakes are included. Please refrain from bidding if you are expecting this item to be in a perfect state"

I wondered if the "Car driven by the little old lady..." adage applied in Japan. I figured, for the price, that these accessories must be the smaller ones made for smaller sized sets. And for 1000 yen and with 14 pieces, my little animals would be happily hanging on my wall with cute, small Japanese trinkets.

Or so I thought.

Today, the accessories arrived in a big box. Hoping that the item was just packaged really well, I opened it up to see that what I purchased were the larger accessories. Sadly though, they're a tad too large for the animals. But the detail on these items is absolutely incredible - the doors on the drawers all move, the lacquer and gold leaf inlaid work is absolutely breathtaking.

So, I'm off to take pictures of these items, and perhaps pair them with some acquired artwork...

16 Minutes on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line Part 2

last modified: Monday, November 24, 2008 (3:14:58 AM CST)

About 10 minutes later, a woman came up to me who spoke English and asked me if I needed help finding the Toei Studio. It seems that Mr. Policeman had been asking passerbys if they spoke English and could help me out.

Police in Japan are so cool!!

The woman told me that it would be a little further on the road, and then I would turn right. She didn't know the street name(names for streets are generally not posted at intersections in Japan, but a few hundred feet before the intersection). Honestly, it wasn't much help, but I figured, if I head right, eventually I'll find it.

And I did.

The Toei Animation Studio is a huge complex, with a TV studio on its left and a voice training academy across the street. Yes, there actually is a school where you can learn to speak in those ubber high pitched 'kawaii' voices. As I walked down the street, I saw a huge sign with Puss N' Boots and "Toei Animation" underneath. I headed to the opening, signed my name on a guest pass(the security guard didn't talk to me as he figured I wouldn't understand) and in I went. Admission to the museum is free, and, judging from the guest book, no one had visted for three days.

The museum portion is on the first floor(the sign tells you that you can only go to the first floor). It's a small room in the back and is connected to a few other rooms. The museum rotates its collection four times a year, and it was currently showing artwork from two anime that Toei had released several versions of - "Himitsu no Akko-chan"(Akkochan's secret) and "Mohretsu Atarou".

When you head in the small room, there's a sign in sheet for your name and address, some film reel bookmarks and a packet of information concerning their recent exhibit that consists of copied settei. I took many pictures of this room, and all of them can be seen(with captions) by following the link at the end of the entry.

In the next room on the right were lots of glass cases with resin models of popular Toei characters. However, because of the issues Toei has recently had with Naoko Takeuchi(Sailormoon), all the toys that Toei owns were piled in a corner, facing a window with full light exposure. The collector in me cringed when I witnessed the damage the sun had done by warping and bleaching the colors off these items.

But beyond this, lie the real treasure - Discarded cel production machines.

What an honor it was to see machines that probably were used in the making of my favorite anime. The room looked like it had not been used much, and no one said anything about being in there. The lighting was poor to non-existant, so my pictures aren't too terrific.

In the corner, there was a large cut of cels from Dr. Slump that you could play with. You could put them on the machine and make your own sequence. I was tempted to take home one of the cels because I did not want to see it preserved in such a fashion.

As I left the museum, it had slipped my mind that they had given me an ID badge to wear while at the museum. As I was buying a drink across the street, the guard came up to me and yanked it off my chest. I guess simply pointing to the badge was too difficult, and really, I apologize for being so absent minded.

So remember, everyone, if you visit this studio, give back your ID badge.

You can find my Toei pictures here: http://cutiebunny.rubberslug.com/gallery/album.aspx?id=513

16 Minutes on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line Part 1

last modified: Monday, November 24, 2008 (2:51:01 AM CST)

And with those directions, I headed off in search of the Toei Animation Museum.

What I later found out was that '16 minutes on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line' is about the equivalent of telling someone that the place they're looking for is in Oakland, California or Queens, New York City. In other words, not a heck of a lot of help.

But, as I ventured out for the Toei Animation Museum on October 21, I was full of high spirits. It was a free day on the tour, and I planned to make the most of it. I would head to the museum, then to Harajuku to see the Meiji shrine, then off to Nakano, where I would spend like a madman on dollar cels at Mandarake.

But, as any wise traveller can tell you, things never go as planned.

Thanks to a helpful tour aide, I had pinpointed my exact stop for the studio as being the "Oizumi Gakuen" station. At the Seibu line station in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, I noticed that the route had several trains - Express, Rapid, Semi-rapid and Local. As my Japanese is quite poor, there was no way I would be able to read the sign and figure out what station each train would stop at. But a helpful train conductor pointed to his Rapid train as stopping at the Oizumi Gakuen station. So, on the train I went.

When I arrived at the Oizumi Gakuen station, I asked the employee where the Toei Studio was. He didn't know. But instead, he gave me a little map of the area and a 'Good luck Gaijin' smile. The map, of course, was written in kanjii.

I headed to the main street near the station, Oizumi Gakuen-dori. 'Dori', as I had quickly learned, meant 'street'. Fortunately, the signs are written in English characters and in Japanese. So, memorizing the characters for Oizumi Gakuen, the map showed that I would follow this street until I reached an intersection. So, I walked.

And walked...

After fourty five minutes of walking down the street, I started to wonder if this really was a good idea. Then, I noticed a local bus whose mascot was Kimba, the White Lion. Well, certainly a bus with Kimba on must take me to the studio.

So, I stopped the bus with the number 42 on it. But the bus driver told me that he doesn't stop at Toei.

So, I waved another bus with the Kimba mascot, number 18. But the bus driver told me that she doesn't stop at Toei either. Nor does the bus with "Toei Animation Studio" written on it, which makes regular runs from some clandestine location to the studio every 15 minutes or so.

And then I waved another city bus down, but that driver told me the same thing. What I later found out, though, is that the town of Seibu has a baseball team whose mascot is Kimba. So, all public transportation has the Kimba character on it.

So, I walked.

According to the map, I would turn right when I reached an intersection with a 'video store'(so glad I invested in katakana books..) and a police station(koban). As the map looked as if it were an nth copy, I figured it was likely out of date and, if anything, the police station would be the best marker to look for.

But, guess what? The police station had been replaced by the premier 100 yen store in Japan, Daiso. It took about 30 minutes for me to figure that one out.

The nice thing in Japan is that, with so many drink machines around, as long as you have 110 yen in your pocket, you'll never die of thirst. So, with Daiso drink in tow, I turned right at the interestion. This was affirmed by the Toei Animation bus turning down the same intersection.

Half an hour later, and I run into a police man. I ask Mr. Policeman where the studio is and show him the map. Mr. Policeman goes on at length in Japanese about the location. The two words I pick up in the conversation are 'ima'(which I figured meant straight) and 'migi'(which I knew meant right). So, go straight and turn right..somewhere. Mr. Policeman knew I did not grasp much of what he said, but I thanked him anyways for his help.

So I continued to walk. And about 10 minu

Blueberry & Margarine sandwiches...

last modified: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 (6:35:44 AM CST)

Guess where I am?

Japan...

Yes, I am currently in Japan, which means that every dream cel will likely be availble on Yahoo Japan while I`m here.

Yes, it has been quite an experience here, especially with food. The Blueberry and Margarine sandwich is no joke..they sell them here and they are quite popular in the convience stores. They also have paired peanut butter with margarine as well.

I`m a real sucker for marketting, and the anime food product tie-ins are no exeption. Today, I found One Piece Snacks, each pack features a spiffy One Piece card. I got the Luffy one, and for a buck o` five(cheap Team America reference), I will be heading back for more. I love getting prizes with my food, and Japan is definetely the place to make that happen.

But I do have one complaint about this place....the ability to seriously underestimate the amount of time it takes to get anywhere. One minute is really 5 minutes, and a trail that apparently is going to take you 1.5 hrs to get down will actually take you 6 hrs.

Speaking of which...there`s the issue of the Toei Animation studio to talk about. But I`ll save that exciting story for later, especially when I format all the pictures. I think I`ve taken around 800 so far.

Well, my time is getting short on the hotel pc and there`s exciting Japanese soap operas calling my name....

Ja ne!

Hunting the Image Hunters Part 2

last modified: Thursday, October 02, 2008 (8:19:40 PM CST)

Well, things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser...

Here's a copy of the e-mail I received from the owner of the site:

"If you search the web you will find many copies of the Mona Lisa. The Louvre in Paris owns the original, just as you own the original cels. However what is posted on PnP is a copy and it is no more improper to post that than to post the many copies of the Mona Lisa and other art works owned by individuals or museums.

I added credits to your site for the ones which you found on PnP. I will add credits to your site for any others that you might find; you need only to email me with a link to any so I can find the image and add credits.

What we do at PnP is act as a master repository for thousands of images. Many of the images on PnP are from sites that have disappeared from the web. Were it not for the images preserved by us, the images would be lost to moonatics forever. This is why we have the policy --
"Under no circumstances will any image be removed.. We will be sure to credit the originator when known.
If you know who made this image or what website it came from, email Gallery Super" --
which appears on every image page....

sincerly,
xxx"

Do you have your tissue handy? Are you feeling sorry for all the lost images that will never been seen? Are you panicking that, in a similiar fashion to Wall Street, everyone's gallery at RS and elsewhere will magically dissapear overnight?

Well, you know I'm not one to rest on my laurels about this. So here's my response ^_^




"Hello xxx,

This is in response to the your email regarding the theft of my images.

While the analogy concerning the Mona Lisa is cute, it's definetely not accurate. The last time I went there, the Louvre charges a fee for you to see artwork in their museum. Either the museum, or a patron of the museum, owns the artwork and has allowed the piece to be displayed in the Louvre. The key word here is ALLOWED. In my case, no permission was asked nor was it given nor implied.

When you see a copy of a piece of museum art online, it is generally a scan from a postcard, poster or of similiar ilk. The museum was likely compensated by either selling the print to a vender, or in the gift shop in their museum. Either way, the museum and/or its owner received an initial compensation either through the item's purchase or through a small fee for admission.

The problem is that your site charges for usage. While many members may be paying for use of the poetry portion of the site, there are, regardless, many people who use the site to look at images. While I'm sure that the bulk of your costs may go towards webhosting, I strongly doubt that you are paying Toei, Naoko Takeuchi nor any other copyright owner any royalties for displaying their images. I'm sure you could say the same for any cel collector who owns an online gallery, but, the difference being is that no cel collector that I know operates a website where a user must pay in order to access the pictures. I make no profit from my online cel gallery and display my artwork because I enjoy sharing my gallery with others.

Thanks to members such as the one that posted my images, I have disabled everything on my site to prevent further image theft. Instead of helping preserve images from this anime, you have only managed to do the opposite.

I am more than willing to continue to upload high quality screenshots from the anime of all the cels I own and any other scene you could possibly want. What I ask in return is that scans of the cels belonging to me not be posted on your site without my written permission.

I am very much a fan of Sailormoon. I have opperated a trading card index and a cel gallery for years, and I have never had a problem. I would appreciate your timely cooperation in this matter.

Thank you for your time"


Stay tuned...

Hunting the Image Hunters

last modified: Thursday, October 02, 2008 (4:04:44 PM CST)

Or hunter, in particular.

I think I mentioned it before(on Beta, likely), that when you collect from a popular show or one with lots of female nudity, you can expect people to take your images...frequently. Even if a cel or sketch is watermarked with your name and/or website, there's always someone that's going to take your image and claim it as if it were theirs. While there are many collectors that don't mind if their images are copied or hotlinked, I'm not one of them.

To combat this, I've gone to great lengths to prevent this. I've disabled right clicks, larger image viewing, marking my items and I've spread high quality screenshots of the items that I own on big, well known image sites. I do this in the hopes that, by making it a hassle to get my images but providing high quality screenshots in a readily availble location, those who want my images will gravitate towards the easiest option. And, for the most part, it's worked.

I've been monitoring another large image site lately, perusing it to see if any of my cel scans have been taken. It goes under the guise of a poetry site, but has an extensive Sailormoon gallery(about 10k images). The site also charges a yearly fee for its members to use the site. So, while many of these members may be paying to use the poetry portion, there are also some that are paying for the priviledge of seeing the Sailormoon images. And many of the images on these sites are cels owned(and watermarked!) by Luna-Art, Dee, Ginga and I.

Distributing my images and those of other collectors without permission is one thing, but charging a fee to view them is another. Making a profit off images that are availble publically is a deplorable act. While this is troubling enough, the perpetrator happens to be a moderator of several of the image galleries. I've politely written to this moderator to remove my cel scans from this site.

Perhaps, we, as a community, should send this site some emails concerning our disgust at the image thievery, especially as the site 'sells' our images?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to deal with a site similiar to this, that receives a fee from taking scans of artwork that others own?

Ichigo's Worst Nightmare

last modified: Friday, May 23, 2008 (3:06:59 PM CST)

I get a lot of weird phone calls at work to the point that I have serious questions concerning the average American IQ. It seems that, when it comes to immigration issues, people just throw out all logic and operate on a system of idiocy. Whether its complaints from Americans as to why they need a US passport to travel to other countries(I imagine that it's pretty obvious that you're an American when you go around in a Hawaiian shirt and an obnoxious attitude) to whiny girlfriends sobbing about their child porn-loving boyfriend being deported, I've pretty much heard them all.

I'm also accustomed to people giving me false names, especially when they're in the US illegally. Calls from "John Smith" generally evoke snickers from "Officer Pocahontas".

So, last night's call, really, should have come as no surprise for me. But what this person was unaware of is that, I, happen to be an anime fan.

Below is the transcript of my phone call with the Russian-accented man. My thoughts will be in parathesis minus the cute little agency identification intro in the begining.

Caller: Uh, hello. Um, I'm Japanese...
(Mmm...kay.)

Caller: And..and.. my name is Ichigo Kurosaki.

(The stud from BLEACH?!....About to lose professional restraint...must resist...)

Me: Your name is not Ichigo Kurosaki.

Caller: Uh, ...Wha....what...?

Me: That's the name of a character from Bleach.

Caller: But...But my name is too Ichigo!

Me: Nonsense. No Japanese citizen in their right mind would name their son "strawberry". Now, get to the point.
(Although, in America, there have been children called "Apple"....)

Caller: Uh, well...my friend is Mongolian and um, I want to know why he's being sent home.

Me: Sorry, I can't give you any information by law. But when you friend gets back to his country, he can fill you in with all the details.

Caller: Uh, oh, ok. What was your name again?

Me: Uryu Ishida.

(click)

Ok, so, I'm a meanie. But, really, if you're going to falsify your name, give some thought to it. Otherwise, you give me ammunition for a bunch of jokes...and, of course, the rare RS post.

Do-over week

last modified: Saturday, January 12, 2008 (8:17:01 PM CST)

It seems like the last two weeks, the universe has decided that, since I have a relatively stress-free existence, that it's time I make up for my lack of drama. Part of me feels bad complaining, especially when I open up the newspaper and see people dying and whatnot all over the front page, but..I need to just rant.

My pre-New Year's Resolution was to start cleaning out all the anime stuff I've acquired through college. As I might have said earlier, I used to collect Japanese Sailormoon cards, and, in the process of collecting, managed to acquire lots of extras. The goal this year is to get rid of them. I listed about 170 near mint to mint condition cards of a certain set on E-bay. No questions were asked about the auction by any potential buyer and the price ended for more than I expected.

The next day I get an email from the buyer telling me that the price of the item is too high for him and that, surprise surprise, he will be unable to pay. I wrote him a polite, but stern e-mail informing him that he chose to bid on the item for the amount that he did, and he must hold up his end of the bargain. After 5 days of whining about how he never thought the auction would end so high and how it's Christmastime, he manages to find the money and pays. Then he writes to ask if I have any cards from a certain set. I tell him I do and give him a price. He writes back complain that the price is too high, and then asks if I have cards from another set, but, to let me know what the prices are first because, if they're too high, he won't buy. Annoyed with his rude behavior, I tell him that I will send the item out the next day.

After a week, the buyer writes and tells me that he's received the item. But, he examined all the cards under a magnifying glass and a high powered light and has found tiny scratches in the glossy layer in less than 20% of the cards. This damage is not noticeable unless otherwise viewed in this manner. So he decides to file with Paypal for a full claim because the 20% of cards that have this insignificant damage were the ones he really wanted. He actually writes that I should have known that he wanted these specific cards. Normally, Paypal is pretty quick with these decisions regarding refunds(and generally decides on the part of the buyer), so, perhaps that is good news on my end.

Oh, and then I go for my dentist check-up and I have the makings of a minor cavity. As it was my first cavity ever, I was shocked. There goes my dream of dying without any cavities...sniff, sniff. Then they offer me candy at the end of the procedure. Part of me still can't decide if that's the nicest or most twisted thing ever. I wonder if there are any cardio surgeons that take their patients out to lunch at Burger King afterwards.

...Would now be a good time to use the Office voodoo kit one of my coworkers gave me for Christmas?

And then today...I laughed at a passenger too. A little kid. Who looked exactly like Rock Lee, right down to the spandex green suit, bowl-like hair cut and bushy eyebrows. I'm a horrible person, yes, and I'm going to hell for this. I just know it.

..Ok, well, glad I got most of that off my chest. I wanted to personally thank everyone who sent me something for Christmas. I know it's a little late, but, thanks again. And thanks also to everyone who voted for my artwork during this year's Beta Awards. I really appreciated it. Hope everyone's weekend is going well.

Daiso!

last modified: Thursday, August 23, 2007 (8:54:22 PM CST)

For those of you who might have met me at AX this year, you might know that I tend to carry a lot of Japanese snackies with me. If it's availble in the US, it's likely that I have it or I've already sampled it. This is because I live in a predominantly asian area with lots of asian supers.

And...I had thought life was pretty good. Every few weeks, I'd head to my favorite store in Union City, California - Marina Market - and peruse the aisle. And I'd buy candy, not really to eat, but more to share at work...well, except for the prizes. Those are always mine.

But, a new store opened up called 'Daiso'. Daiso is a huge chain store that retails Japanese goods. The store mainly sells a lot of Japanese home goods including cabinets, dishes, shampoo, stationery and things of that ilk. Think of it like the IKEA of Japan - except that, everything is, more or less, $1.50.

The problem with dollar stores is that, if you're not careful, you'll end up spending more than you really intended to. You go in, see something that you think that your Aunt Flo might like, debate about it, but realize that since it's so cheap, you're not really out much if she hates it. So you pick it up. Then you see something your neighbor might like. And you pick that up too. And before you know it, you're paying $25 for stuff that you really never intended to buy but thought others would like. And you forgot to buy the milk that you originally intended to buy there.

But I resolved to be stronger than this, oh yes. Let's put an emphasis on the resolved part. I was good, really good. Until I discovered...

CEL BAGS!

Yes, super nice B4 size cel bags. One pack for a $1.50. And you can bet all I bought all 8 packs.

Then I found the hard files that Rinkya generally sends with their goods. Wow! No more saving up cardboard in the event I actually sell a cel.

They even had file folders for storing cels. And nice caligraphy pens.

....Ok, so the candy section was really meager. Too meager for my tastes. But I can't really complain - it's like a high end dollar store at my fingertips full of things that I'll never have a need for but if I could, I could buy anything without breaking the bank.

And speaking of cels, I should probably update. But who has the time. Of course, seeing how I've done so much overtime this year that I'm about to max out, it looks like September will be time for a sizeable update. Who knows...I might get around to putting up the AX goods....I'm what...the last one here to do so?

Odds and Ends

last modified: Monday, March 26, 2007 (10:52:21 PM CST)

I couldn't think of a snappy title. That's what I get for not being a Journalism major.

So, a couple of things I'd like to write about. First, I'd like to give a big thanks to the deputy user who returned a cel that I purchased. I can't imagine what it's like to receive a wishlist cel only to be told that it was sent to you in error and that you have to send it back. I appreciate your honesty and for sending them item to me. Expect something in your stocking around Christmas ^_^

Second, a small gripe. I love to buy backgrounds and I have amassed a sizeable collection of images that I like to share with other RS members. I get a kick out of seeing what cels others have paired with them when I look at their galleries. It gives me a warm, happy feeling seeing that others enjoy my backgrounds.

However, I do not appreciate people pairing some oddball freebie cel of an arm or whatever with one of my backgrounds, selling it on an auction site and making a big deal about the background. "Oh! this background is a must have for all fans of X anime.". This is not to say that I don't like seeing my backgrounds paired with cels to be sold on auction sites - I'm perfectly ok with that. But when the sole focus on your auction is just to sell a copy of a background I own, a background that anyone could easily download and print from the shared gallery, I have a little issue with that. For those 1% of people that are doing this, please don't ruin the purpose of the shared background gallery for the other 99%.

Meh. Enough negativity.

Cel-wise, I've been keeping with my vow that I'll greatly limit the amount of artwork that I'll buy this year. I originally thought that this would be difficult, but, the selection of Sailormoon cels has greatly declined in the last few months. I'm sure it will pick up around the summer - I have to fund my favorite seller's vacation, you know.

Anyways, I updated my gallery with several additions - 2 additions to the SM douga, 1 hanken, 1 stellar background used for the "Twinkle Yell" attack in the Bank Cels section, four background added to the backgrounds section and one dynamite cel from the Sailormoon R movie in the OVA section.

Enjoy ^_^ V

A Tale of Two Otakus

last modified: Thursday, December 14, 2006 (9:48:28 PM CST)

Tuesday night - 1600 hours.

The redheaded inspector with gun belt sits at her desk, ready to dive into her $10 burrito(that they charge this much for a burrito should be a crime in the state of California, I tellya!). Since she has an hour and a half to kill until the next flight, she opens up her desk drawer and grabs a copy of one of her Cardcaptor Sakura disks. She pops the CD holder of the computer and places her disk inside. As the inspector takes a large bite out of her burrito, she's greeted with the campy introduction. Sakura's gonna catch the Mirror card. It's going to be a good night.

Halfway into the episode(and burrito), another inspector stands over our fearless redheaded inspector.

"What are you watching? Rayearth?!" he asks.

The redheaded inspector turns to the newcomer, realizing that he must be quite knowledgeable to be able to identify the "CLAMP" style at such a distance."It's actually Cardcaptor Sakura."

"Oh," he grumbles. "I've seen it at the anime club at my college."

The redheaded inspector shrugs, uninterested. After all, there remained a burrito to be consumed. Our heroine pauses and then sinks her teeth into the rice and bean filled sandwich. But, the inspector that interrupted her tasty meal isn't finished professing his admiration yet.

"I thought I was the only officer that liked anime."

The redheaded inspector's teeth miss the bean and instead clamp down on her lip. "Yes," the redhead realized. "This is the kind of vague comment that warrants a verbal answer. Damn you for ruinning my meal!"

But instead of responding with such bitterness, our redheaded heroine politely replies. "There are several officers here that enjoy anime, but, most of them are closet fans."

If minds came complete with their own soundtracks, one would have just heard the the angels on high gush with 'hosannahs'. The little fanboy begins to sing with praise, spilling out his own obsession for the exotic art. Mandarake. Studio Gainax. Madhouse. AX2006. Cels. There appears to be no end to fanboy's occult obsession.


Just as the redhead inspector is about to indoctrinate the fanboy to the dark side(aka Rubberslug), fanboy loses all his bearings and walks away. The redheaded inspector, still holding her now cold burrito, sighs. She was robbed of her minion.

Such cards the hand of fate has dealt her!



Everything sounds better with its own narration, doesn't it? ^_^


Oh, finished sending out all the Christmas goodies. There are several packages on their ways, including my "Santa-in-training" package. I've donated to "Toys for Tots" and, I'm done with both my holiday shopping and mailing. Please let me know when they arrive ^_^

Confessions of a Crappy Candy Giver

last modified: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 (10:14:47 PM CST)

Now that I'm an adult(well, that's what the ID says, but the jury is still out with a decision), the meaning of Halloween has drastically changed. While I once would don a suit and run around all my neighbor's homes for a piece of 'fun size' candy, now I find myself in the position of handing candy out.

Perhaps it's born out of resentment of only filling up 1 McDonald's "Happy Meal" Halloween Bucket(how many of you remember this?) a year while the rest of my classmates would bring in pillowcases of the chocolate confections, or maybe because my parents decided that, upon turning 12, I had grown out of Halloween...I don't know. But, I've become very protective of my candy and I only give out the "crummy" kind.

Now, I'm not cheap when it comes to this holiday because I know that, if I have any left overs, I'd want to eat good candy and not some dinky lollipop. I buy "Almond Joy", "Three Musketeers" and "Kit-Kat". I pour them in a bowl. I tell myself that I'm going to be a good hostess and equally distribute the candy.

Ha.

What always invariably happens is that I give out what I like least first. If I purchased "Snickers" or "Babe Ruth", those would be the first to go. I don't care if you have peanut allergies - Thou shall not touch my precious Almond Joy! I'll give them a handful of these, especially if I know that I'm going to have very few patrons that night. Then, the second line comes...my "not so favorites, but they're still Ok". I'll hand these out in quantities of two to three. I tell myself that I'm helping the parents out. After all, they're small children and who wants a hyper sugar-fed child running around at 11pm?

...But then, if I run through those...desperation strikes. I look at my favorites. I get queasy. And it feels like I'm comitting an act of treason by handing them out. Those insipid cutiepies in their costumes come and I hand them, one, only one, of my preciouses. I sniff and sob after they leave, marking the departure of another of my most favorite treats. When the bucket reaches to 5 of my sinful snacks, I happily shut off the light and proceed to tear into my candy. I deserve something for my sacrifice.

Yes, I know I'm going to have to explain this one before I enter the "pearly gates". I've already accepted this. I'm going to pull the "But I'm generous to everyone on other holidays" pout-route.

I doubt if St. Peter has heard that one before.

What the monkeys won't do

last modified: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 (2:38:46 PM CST)

God, I love lawyers.

So, yesterday, I was involved in a case at work. An Indonesian lady sought admission as a visitor for pleasure, but she had illegally sought and found work while on a previous visit to the US. Basically, you can't seek employment in the without the consent of the US government to do so. If you return to the US after working here illegally, you're inadmissible.

So, after dealing with this woman constant lies concerning her employment(even though I had business cards with her name on them), she finally "broke" and I was able to take a statement. After a few hours, I had finished the case...but no sooner had I put the finishing touches on it, we get a call from a lawyer.

This laywer claims that he is an immigration lawyer and that he wants his client(the person that I interviewed) to re-answer some questions a certain way in order to receive relief from the immigration procedure that had already been done. We "politely" tell him to go walk off a short pier since he has no legal jurisdiction in our affairs.

So, as I go to work this morning, I find that the lawyer has been trying to do more damage. He faxes a letter saying that we have "harassed" his client and have coerced her to admit to unlawful employment in the US. Riiight. It's a shame that, under swore statement, she claimed that she gave the testimony on her own free will. In fact, he's still calling and trying to get us to talk to him - too bad I just happen to be in control of all the incoming phone calls. Mwahaha!

Fortunately, the service has already backed up my case and my statement, so, should this lawyer really want to pursue it, I'm more than happy to deal with him. It's a sad statement, but, in my line of work, if you don't ocassionally get these laywers harping in on your work, you're not doing your job. Other than a gross desire for money, I can't really understand why most immigration lawyers would give a darn in these cases. Yes, I could understand if the person had been abused by the officer or some other gross negligence case - but when we're talking about people who are ILLEGALLY working in this country, shouldn't the citizens of this country be happy that there's now another open slot for one of them to gain employment?

Americans need to wake up and smell the humus - If you want cheap prices at Walmart, you're going to have to deal with the fact that, unless you have a college or higher education, your wages will be so incredibly low due to illegal immigrant competition. But, if you'd like most blue collar work to come with a decent salary/medical plan, then you need to accept that America is no longer a country that accepts immigrants, and instead kicks them back to whence they came.

The generic cel rant

last modified: Thursday, November 03, 2005 (8:38:40 PM CST)

So, I'm on a roll today. You can thank my dentist for deciding that having a coffee break was more important than making sure my gums didn't bleed during a routine cleaning for this spiel.

Now, before I start, I'm not saying that all people are like this. It's just a generalization based on a lot of experience. If it offends, perhaps your nerve is sore for a reason.

I'm getting rather annoyed by people who, in "desperate need" for cash, offer up some of the more expensive cels in their collection and demmand to get exactly(if not more) the same price they paid for it.

Now, I wouldn't mind paying a large chunk of money for a quality cel; I'm not going to waste your time and offer you $2.00 for a nice piece of acetate. But, considering how frenzied bidwars can be(and how many bidders cast bids just to make sure they can deeply gouge a rival's pocketbook), if the cel in question ends for an excessively high amount, I think it's preposterious to expect that someone will compensate you for your rash foolishness.

Of course, I realize that it is their cel and they can do whatever they'd like to with it and I don't have to buy from them. What a boring argument. But to hold out until someone offers you the amount(and bitterly post that no one has taken you up on your generous offer!) is rather farfetched. You obviously must not be too desperate for funds if you aren't willing to accept a decent offer just because you went wild as the auction drew to a close and overspent.

So, the next time you decent to launch into the "six yen figure" amount just to make sure someone else doesn't snipe it from you using the same deputy service, give some thought to whether you'll actually be able to resell it for a similiar amount should you become "in desperated need" of cash. There's always someone around who will jack up the price to the outrageous bid you've placed(I'm guilty of such a crime), and in the end, you're going to be footing that bill....regardless of whether you choose to sell it or not.