The Benefits of Not Blogging!

There are benefits, real benefits, to not maintaining one’s blog. I’m not talking about the time it takes to maintain one’s blog; oh no. I’m talking about money. Maintaining a blog, even a “free” blog hosted by WordPress, is an endeavour that ends up costing you money. Real money.

 

The sweet sweet fate not blogging "Saves" you from.

I’ve gone in a past post on my figure purchases up until that time (back in September 2009). It came out to $374 back then, and well, it’s gone considerably higher since (especially with the purchase of a limited figure such as Saber Alter Maid version by Alter, reviewed here). Anime also takes time, even if it’s something I find enjoyable. So the blog also costs you time (and this is aside from time spent on it!).

Baka to Test – That Little Extra Thing Called Charm

Image via Wikipedia

Well, you know how if you go by a check-list you sometimes end up not knowing where the wonder had come from; how you cannot really put your finger on what separates the great from the mediocre, but you do know that it’s there?

Well, that’s the case with Baka to Test (to Shokanju). If you would try to compose a check list of what “Light-hearted anime comedies” should include in them, you’re probably going to mark most of what appears in this series. Well, it’s likely also going to appear on a list of many lewd jokes…

(This is a “Things I Like” post, and as such covers more my thoughts, and is less focused as an actual bona fide review. There will be next to no spoilers in this post.)

We have the flat-chested tsundere, we have the buxom girl with a soft personality (Did anyone notice how “soft” is often tied to being well-endowed and being “hard” is tied to being not as well endowed in anime?), we have the voyeur who is even addressed as such by everyone (and the accompanying nose-bleeds).
We have the yandere who wants someone who doesn’t want her, we have the guy who is too cool for school, with great black and white line-art scenes where he convinces the eponymous character to trust him, and he always gets burnt, we have the trap boy who everyone addresses as a girl, and the butt of jokes closet yaoi boy.

[TIL] How to NOT Watch a Series – A Certain Magical Index.

This is going to be a shorter editorial style of entry, about the anime known as “A Certain Magical Index”, or “Toaru Majutsu no Index“. Well, it is more about how I watched it in a manner very much unlike my usual manner, which had resulted in my not finishing it, and enjoying it less. It’s not that this technique is “bad”, it’s just not the one for me.
You can see my progression of watching the show (or lack thereof) in the monthly Media Consumption posts.

Misaka Imouto is shocked that I didn't finish watching the series.

So, before we get to how I’ve watched this series, let’s talk about how I usually like watching series. I like to blast my way through a series as if I were Kamina from Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann. I sit myself down and watch a show, 8 hours, 12 hours straight. This usually “slays” most series, but sometimes it takes me two days to go through a series. Yes, this does mean that I don’t let my emotions nurture over time, but they do for me spring up quite forcefully, and I can remember and engage with the world the series is in as if I’m living inside it.

Figure Friday Feedback Edition.

This is not actually a Figure Friday post, but a post where I talk about Figure Friday a bit and ask for your input.

As you may have noticed, the last time a Figure Friday post was written covered October 16th-22nd, and there had been a couple of major causes for that, which can be summed in one simple word. Time.

There’s an upside and a downside to this being an issue of time: The downside is that I am a full-time student, and if I have a busy semester or busy week at school there simply cannot be a Figure Friday, and even before we sometimes had the post delayed (ok, after a certain point it was almost always delayed). The upside is that should I find ample time again, I could just go back to writing these posts. I expect the upcoming semester to be slightly easier on my time, BTW.

The other point is that I doubt most of you understand how much time it takes to write a Figure Friday post. While I love having these posts written (and not just for the number of comments and views, which is much higher than usual for this blog), but I liked the accomplishment of having completed such a post. But how long does it take to get a Figure Friday post up, you want to know? From the time I begin working on it until it is published, well, let’s call it about 6 hours.

Six hours. I go to Neko Magic and Kumo’s blog, and find and open all the interesting figure pages, then I try to whittle it down to the best and the worst, and sometimes the most interesting, I try to limit the number of pictures I use for each figure, so there’s more indecision and option-weighing going on. I write down my thoughts on each figure and then I try to find a place for you guys to reserve it, sometimes adding notes on how to go with special stores and deputy services, etc.

And of course, the adding of the images. After I finished everything else, adding the images from Flickr… it used to take me about 3 hours or so, but I found a way to take it down to “only” an hour, an hour and a half. Getting the images to be about the same size, not too big, centered properly, etc. It’s such a headache, it’d truly be easier if I were to only post one or two images…

And after it all, I go over the figure sales I find on eBay, various sites, the restocks, the new releases, the news of conventions, and this takes some time as well. Not as much as other things, but it all adds up.

Options:
So now, here comes my musing about the options, things I could be doing to help get Figure Friday more on track. And yes, I know I promised Figure Monthly and it’s not out yet… I hope to get at least November and December, if not also October, next weekend (semester break begins, and I have a relatively small number of tests, on account of having numerous large assignments instead, whee!).

Month in Review – November 2009: Purchases and Media.

Well, it’d please you all to know that while I’m not sure what’s going on with Figure Friday, there will be Figure Monthly rolling out next week, for October, and shortly thereafter November, at the very least. This very entry should have gone up earlier this week, but school is putting the crack down, as well as dealing with the public beta of the Hordes wargame which is currently ongoing.

Read on for last month’s media consumption and purchases, which had been relatively light, due to both school and a new girlfriend taking away from my free time. Also, happy birthday to me

Media:

Media Month in Review – October 2009.

So, it’s time to cover what-all I’ve watched/read during the month of October. I’ve went to Icon 2009, the largest Israeli convention of the year, which might get a post of its own. I’ve also begun my third and final year of my B.A., which had been helpful in reading more books.

I am considering every so often perhaps making a post where I give one paragraph to several movies/books I don’t want to talk about at length, but want to give more than a sentence. Opine below.

Uninhibited Media Consumption? Click picture for source.

Read on for my media consumption of lastmonth, which had been quite significant, though I’m not sure if as significant as the spending list. Then again, buying takes less time than consuming what one buys!

Figure Friday Addendum – October 2nd-15th.

As promised in the main post, this post will cover the amazingly large number of news, re-stocks, delays and such that had occured within the span of the two weeks from the 2nd of October to the 15th.

News:

• MegaHouse’s Mega Hobby Expo 2009 autumn. I really liked the Gintama pucchi school setup, which sometimes appears in the series.
• Tokyo Game Show 2009. Slightly too many figures from Square Enix of the upcoming FF XIII action figures, but I like the angel-winged girl and the samurai armour next to her.
• Dengeki Character Festival 2009, wherein the Dengeki magazine characters are shown.
  • In part 1, we see many cute nendoroids, Black Rock Shooter with her cape off, and other neat figures recently announced.
  • Part 2 seems to have many HoiHoi based Plamos, some anime-painted cars, and some art, for the most part.

Read on to discover why this picture of my cat is here!

More news, restocks, etc. after the “More” tag!

Figure Friday – October 2nd-15th.

This is the weekly Figure Friday post, covering the figures released, announced and such during the past two weeks. There will be the best figures of the week and the worst, as well as news, delays, releases and re-stocks.

As always, click on the first picture to go to a site with more information on the figures, and the pictures after the description for the Flickr page (you must be logged in, due to some photos in the set being R18), where bigger photos can be had. As always, post is NOT entirely safe for work, be advised.

In personal news, felt crummy yesterday, thus no post, and tomorrow I’m beginning the final year of my B.A.!

Five Hot:

1.

Touhou Project Hakurei Reimu figma 055 action figure by Max Factory

Best figma ever. The joints are not too noticeable behind the skirt, poseable, good quality looking. GREAT faces, and the drunk face is so priceless.
It’s a minor hassle to obtain; while not a limited edition, you have to order it from one of several stores that will sell it exclusively, so you’ll have to use some sort of deputy service, but it’s not a limited release, at least.
I am so getting it
January 2010, 140mm, 2,800 yen with tax.
Get her from NicoNico where you can also get the Reimu and Marisa nendoroids. Direct Reimu figma link.

 
 

 Follow the “more” tag to see the rest of the figures, again, not all safe for work.

Month in Review – September 2009. Purchases and Media.

Since September was a slightly weaker month on the purchase department, I’ve joined both sections together for this post: Both the media I had consumed, and the things I had purchased.

For those who are wondering, this week Icon-2009, Israel’s largest convention is taking place. Today I’m only going for one lecture, and tomorrow I’m not going at all. I must tell you, the ability to not spend all day every day at a convention and to return home every night does wonders to one’s ability to enjoy the convention.
You will get a con report later on, and perhaps a post on conventions in Israel, in a week’s time or so.

Anyway, before we continue (after the “More” tag), I want to share with you a hauntingly beautiful song from a movie I’ve watched yesterday at the convention. The movie is called “The Secret of Kells”, and the song is called “Aisling’s Song” (pronounced Ashlynn).

Media:

[TIL] 07-Ghost; Realm of the Slow Bromance.

Well, it’s been a while since our last “Things I Like” post, so now we’ll cover 07-Ghost, a new anime that just ended its first, 25 episode long, season last week. It’s a slow-moving series, based on a still-running manga, but overall, it’s worth it.

Protagonist and antagonist of the show.

This is a “Things I Like” post, and as such, it’s not a review per-se, but my thoughts on the series. Spoilers should come as no surprise, but this post will have relatively few if any.