Animu, Games, Words about Nerdery
Crap. Looks like I won’t be playing for a few weeks. I think that it must have seen me ordering a Japanese PS3 and gotten angry. It’s one of the Australian launch batch, though not purchased until 6 months after launch, so it’s surprising how well it’s lasted.
So, due to an interesting alignment of circumstances my father somehow ended up getting given a brand new camera, which he passed on to me since apparently I’m the only one that didn’t have one. Additionally, my Alter 1/1 Scale Reinforce Zwei arrived in the mail this morning so I had something to test it out.
What can we tell from this? Given that it’s pretty much the only half-decent photo of a set of about 30, we can assume that a) I am terrible at photography, b) the camera was free for a reason (though it’s not terrible and if I can figure out how to get it to stop compressing the damned images it’ll look nicer) and c) I desperately, desperately need new curtains. And also a new cabinet to store all these things in, they’re taking over my bedroom and my cabinet’s been full for months. I actually still have a couple in boxes because I don’t have space.
If I’m getting a reputation for angry rantage, then I wouldn’t be surprised. Today’s subject of my ire: The Rightstuf, International. The ‘International’ part being a joke if you actually buy from them internationally. I’ve purchased stuff from them five or six times now, always large packages with a pile of stuff in them. They charge absolutely insane prices for shipping - roughly double what my usual retailer does - so I usually only bother when they’re having clearance sales.
So, what does that super-expensive shipping get you? Well, what generally happens is that they fuck around with your order for two weeks or so, then finally ship it. About ten days later you’ll get an invoice in the mail. 2-3 weeks down the track you get your box of goodies. Despite TRSI being based in Iowa or something, the box will be postmarked Malmo, Sweden. And the box will be really, really badly damaged. I don’t know what’s going on, but every box I’ve gotten from TRSI has been in an extremely poor state. The corners bashed in, the cardboard ripped… But usually they have structural integrity so I don’t really care (except for the fact I’m paying double the price for shipping that takes twice as long and apparently has handlers that play rugby with my packages).
We were running a hopelessly outdated (v2.1) version of Wordpress. Now we’re running 2.3.1, however the old Sakura theme is old enough that it’s broken. I’ve switched to the bog-standard Wordpress default until I’ve got a chance to switch us over to a new theme that I’ve got cooking.
I have to admit that in the last couple years, my fondness for the Anime News Network has waned considerably. While I appreciate its editors giving me an opportunity to become a published writer, and remain a big fan of their work with Protoculture Addicts (the only anime magazine I’d willingly read), the website just isn’t what it used to be. However, it’s not without its occasional strokes of genius, and yesterday saw one of those by way of an editorial by ANN founder and former owner, Justin Sevakis. Titled “An Open Letter to the Industry,” the editorial covers a number of topics relating to the struggling anime industry, both domestically and in Japan. With the failure of major player Geneon earlier this year and the recent increased Japanese hostility towards fansubs, the future of anime both here and abroad has been a much discussed topic of late, with many greatly differing opinions. But what makes Sevakis’s analysis stand out so much is that unlike most other industry insiders, he doesn’t engage in an overly defensive and dismissive tirade against the evils of video piracy, and unlike most fans, he doesn’t blindly point fingers at domestic anime distributors for being greedy capitalist pigs. Rather, he fairly points out the broader problem as it concerns all parties involved, and uses his informed position to devise a possible, viable solution.
And if you ask me, he couldn’t be more right.