Kill Bill is on TV right now. It’s on the TBS network. The current network slogan for TBS is “Very Funny“, and they like to portray themselves as being a comedy network. Now, Kill Bill is awesome and it certainly has its funny moments, but I don’t think it’s a comedy. But it is “Very Funny” how edited it is. I started watching just out of curiosity to see how it would turn out after being pasteurized and reprocessed for television consumption. It’s still pretty bloody, all things considered, but some of the cuts are rather obvious. I kind of wonder why they even bothered. Interesting how, a few months ago, Kill Bill Vol. 1 ran on the CBC in Canada, pretty much uncut from what I could tell. This is obviously because Canadians are much more hardcore than Americans.

Speaking of which, the CBC is now airing Arrested Development on weekdays at 5:30 p.m. after The Simpsons. This officially makes the CBC cool, because Arrested Development is totally great. In fact, it really ought to be on TBS too, when you think about it.

Sayonara.

This is a message to the person who chooses to be known as “Reoccuring Former Jerk“.

I am honored that you continue to scroll through my gallery even though my artwork “bugs” you so much. One would assume that if my artwork were so unsavory that one would simply, you know, not look at it anymore. But since you have made return visits, I can safely claim that my artwork is successful, regardless of what you perceive the quality to be. After all, I just want people to visit my website, and you are helping me accomplish that by visiting again.

Now, if you continue to insist on undertaking the next-to-pointless task of critiquing artwork that was made 7 years ago, then it would certainly benefit you stance on the matter if you stop being such a bloody coward and simply tell me who you are. Leave a name. Leave an e-mail address. Send me a proper message instead of leaving your long rants in my guestbook where they do not belong. It’s not like I don’t already know who you are. I do! So just stop with the charade and come out with it.

Your critiques are interesting, and perhaps there is something to be learned here, but you have given me absolutely no method to respond or explain anything, and that’s not fair. A person who believes in what they say is not afraid to stand by their opinions with their name. Be a reasonable person and let’s have a reasonable conversation. So it’s all on you to make a difference if that is what you want to accomplish. If you refuse then it’s no sweat off my nose, because I, in turn, refuse to listen to anonymous criticism of my work, even if you can spell.

Speaking of which, you spelled “Reoccurring” wrong. Not trying to start a spitting contest here, but still, just throwing that out there.

Sayonara.

Along with the new Transformers Classics line, Hasbro is also releasing a bunch more Minicons. These Minicons are all brand new, not recolours from Armada or anything like that. The packaging unfortunately makes no mention of the term “Minicon”, but make no mistake, they work exactly the same as previous Minicons and plug into compatible larger Transformers. While we’re still getting more cars and trucks and the sorts of things we’ve come to expect Minicons to transform into, we’re also getting beasts! This is pretty cool. The first wave has hit Canada, and during a sale last week I picked up the set that appealed to me the most: Dinosaurs!

I ask you, what is better than little dinosaurs? Little dinosaurs that transform into little robots! The robot modes are actually pretty bizarre looking, and I’d rather keep them in their beast forms, but I think it’s neat that they are experimenting with these tiny guys. They add some variety while still fitting in well with the rest of the Minicons.

“Ok, buddy, we can take this guy! I’ll go high and you go low!”
“Yeah right! He’s got freakin’ Dinosaurs on his legs! FORGET IT!”

In other news, the full trailer for next summer’s Transformers movie is now online. This movie really seems to be coming together! I’m impressed. It looks awesome. Maybe not as awesome as having little robot dinosaurs on your legs, but still pretty good.

Sayonara.

So, the word got around at some point earlier this week that the local Best Buy was going to be getting a shipment of Nintendo Wiis for sale this morning. I went to scope out what the situation was going to be like at around 12:30 a.m., just so see if there was a line. There, in fact, was already a line, with some people who had been there since 7 p.m. Thursday. A sign was outside the entrance that said they had received 15 Wii units and 8 Playstation 3s. So, I decided to stick around for awhile to see what would happen. The crowd was well organized with a list of the 15 people who were going to get a Wii for sure, crossing off the names of people who left and didn’t come back after too long. By the time it was firmly established that the people who were there were not going to leave, I was #16 on the list, meaning I was going to walk home empty handed. Ouch.

Someone in the line, who was pretty much just a scalper, asked me a couple times if I wanted to buy his spot in line for $100. I would have paid maybe up to $50 or $60 tops, but it’s not worth that much to me. So I kept waiting on the off chance that someone would have to drop out of the line for one reason or another, but at about 3:30 a.m. I called it a night. No Wii for Ninja today.

The experience was quite interesting though. The people in line were all very friendly, and there were all sorts of folks waiting there. In addition to the usual batch of gamers and scalpers, there were a few parents, one pregnant woman, and one guy with a British accent who had just gotten off a flight from Montreal and went straight to the mall without explaining to his family why he didn’t go straight home. We had some fun conversations out in the cold air. Everyone was very helpful, offering snacks and picking things up for others. I kind of would have liked to have stayed in the line just because it was kind of fun, but there was really no point in staying if I wasn’t going to take home a Wii. When I left, some people were nice enough to offer to give me a phone call in the unlikely event that a spot would open up, which was a very cool thing to do. But, like most of the other things that have been going on for me over the past several months, it didn’t work out.

So, I am still wanting for Wii, but not badly enough to pay scalper prices for one. I will continue to use my patience.

Funny thing is that when I had left the line, there were still a few PS3s left unspoken for! Heh!

Sayonara.

For whatever reason, I have just gotten such a charge out of taking Japanese lessons. Of course, I’ve been interested in all things Japanese since I was 10 years old, but actually taking the time to learn the language properly instead of relying on the little bits I’ve picked up from watching anime and listening to music is probably one of the best things I’ve ever done. Maybe I should have done this a lot earlier, but it has otherwise been a pretty rough time as of late, so having this going on right now is likely a good thing. It has really become the highlight of my week.

Not only have I taken to the lessons themselves, but over the past few weeks the class itself has really gelled together and become a very fun environment. Some of us are at different levels, but we all have a good time and have gotten to know eachother a little better. While talking about Japanese movies during the break at class last night, one of the other students, who is an older gentleman, mentioned that in the 60’s he had the fortune of meeting the legendary actor Toshiro Mifune! That was pretty incredible!

One of the students asked about the proper Japanese verb to use regarding using the Internet, and so I asked if they say “Surfing” the Internet, since I had seen a TV show where a girl asked a guy about his hobbies, and he says Net Surfing, and she misheard him and actually thinks he likes surfing.

“Ahh, Densha Otoko?” said my sensei. Of course, I was indeed referring to that very program, and I think it’s just so cool that she had seen it too.

I saw one of the other students with a sketchbook that had a bunch of sketches by professional comic artists that he likely collected at conventions over the years, along with some of his own work. I jumped in and took out my colour portfolio with some of my own artwork, and soon it was being passed around the whole class. When my sensei took a look she was pretty amazed that I had drawn all of that, and she recognized some of the anime fan art I had done. But when she got to my Black Jack piece she stopped and said that she loved that character! Then we started talking about Black Jack and other classic series like Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999. My sensei is so awesome!

Next week’s class is the last one of the year. It seems like it’s ending way too soon for me. But another, more advanced class is going to start in January, and I will totally be there.

Sayonara.