Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 9.

That was the best damn fireworks display I've seen in my area in a long time.

Back on June 29th I was perusing one my local Hastings when I spied Rosario Vampire Volume 19. I immediately opened up volume 18 and saw clearly that the release date was supposed to be July. Lucky me that someone screwed up. Either Shonen Jump Advanced or Viz Media for putting down the wrong date. Or, I'm not going to say anything else about it because I don't want some hard working individual that barely makes minimum wage to get in any trouble for stocking the shelves too soon. All I need to say is thanks, dude.

Before I get into a long discussion about volume 9, I need to go back over volume 8. I started discussing several similarities I noticed between it and the anime Orphen. I didn't get too deep because of spoilers. Now it has been several months and everybody who is a fan has bought and read it. Probably has even been to the site that I get the upcoming scans from. By the way, this site has all the way through chapter 54. No doubt that a lot of people have read it all the way through. I assure you that I'm waiting for these things to come out to my local bookstores and BUYING them. (I will admit to reading several other series that are not available here in the U.S. (Better hurry, it's only a matter of time before that site is shut down.))

Continuing with Orphen, I'm only going to say one thing, but first let's look at some pictures:

Then there is the character Lycoris. A younger sister that had all her memories sealed away. Sound familiar?

I don't think there is anything intentional on Akihisa Ikeda's part at all. I have no doubt if I were to delve into my video collection I might find some of the same scenes. As a matter of fact I do seem to remember somewhat of the same things going on in an episode of Transformers and Thundercats.

However I do find this interesting:

Now let's look at Rosario Vampire Season 2 volume 9 (finally.) Graphically I noted that there seemed to be a return to the style that has been used throughout the entire series: getting occasional well drawn out and detailed scenes and more simplistic ones for the most part. While the first half is well done, the second half is back to the old style. A side note from me, while reading through the online version I noticed a distinct lack of detail as opposed to the volumes I bought.

We in the States are getting something a bit different. I wish I could show you but that would mean tearing up my $10 copy. I ain't doing that. (I guess this is supposed to be the "B" Team. More likely to be found somewhere around "X" "Y" or "Z.")

That image brings back a point I made in an earlier article: too many characters. In volume 8 Mizore was just sitting there in Moka's dream doing nothing the whole time. On top of that, characters we were led to believe were killed, weren't. If the story progresses the way I think, we're going to have about ten people assaulting the Fairy Tale headquaters. That's just the good guys. We also got badguys from a long time ago returning and joining in as well. I don't doubt the writer's ability to make it a cohesive and compelling story, I just question the necessity of it all.

Speaking of compelling story, most of the last third isn't. More of Tsukune's whining about wanting to get stronger to protect Moka. A bedroom scene between Gin and Kurumu with Mizore trying to make her mark in comedy. Then a total breakdown in training amongst the B Team. What was interesting was Kurumu. The last part really focused in on her and her love for Tsukune.

Since we're talking story, I noticed this earlier, but I can't remember if I ever made any mention of it. It's the way the writing has drastically changed. In season 1 we mostly got comedy with small doses of seriousness and character development. Season 2 has evolved into serious storytelling with punctuations of humor. I really want to see this series go back to being more of a comedy. Thinking about it further, that really was the anime's strongest point.

Now for some funny asides:

This judgmental thought brought to you by a ten twelve year girl that drools over the prospect of a three-way with vampire and a ghoul. (Oops. I would like to say a mistake like this comes about because I did this review in the span of one day; but even if I do take a whole two weeks worth of research...)

The hell? Not just here, but everywhere. When has he ever talked like this? So I did some research. Had to go all the way back to Rosario Vampire Season 2 volume 5 in which Gin actually had more than just a couple of lines. It does describe him as talking like a hick and Gin does say "ya'll" occasionally. However, taking the whole series into consideration, I really never got the notion he talked like Larry the Cable Guy until now.
 

I know I'm stepping into a mine field on this one. Plus I'm doing it without a mine detector or even a flak vest. But, I must give credit where credit is due. I have long decried the nudity and upskirts in this series. This volume was a lot different in that respect. No nudity and very few panty shots. There were many opportunaties for them, but the writer decided to start taking the high road. The rather clever use of feet, legs, and impossible skirt mechanics to cover up what a 16 year old succubus wears under her skirt. Thank you. Keep in mind, still rated "Older Teen." (What ever that is supposed to mean.)

If only Yokai Academy was a monster college instead of a monster high school. All the blood and nudity really wouldn't bother me. I do keep in mind that Hastings ain't reaching into my pockets and taking my money and leaving Rosario Vampire behind.

Overall I think I got my money's worth. I very much look forward to Rosario Vampire season 2 volume 10. Yes, I will wait and NOT read ahead.

Independence Day 2012

Krion Conquest did it first.

A rather bold statement by a lifelong Megaman fan, or more lunatic ranting by yours truly. This is me we're talking about here.

But first:

It was episode 110, Season 7-14 titled “School Lies” of American Dad in which Stan had his penis (aka pud) hanging out. Available in volume 7 uncensored. Give credit were due, in episode 97 two chicks showed their boobs. However keep in mind this is the Seth MacFarlane style of animation.

Okay, now we've all heard about Krion Conquest, I'm not going to talk about how I found a brand new copy in the discount bin of a long defunct chain store and bought it because it looked like Megaman. I'm not going to prattle on about the game difficulty is like Megaman 1, but without the pause cheat. I'm totally ignoring stuff like the lack of HP refills and the way too short a lifebar. Instead I'll shoot straight to my main point.

What exactly did Krion Conquest aka Magical Doropie (Doropii) aka Magical Kids Doropie do first? Was is the first Megaman clone? To answer that we have to define what exactly what is a Megaman clone. A stage select that is part of the game play and not an easter egg. Stage start sequence, player selectable weapons and not randomly shooting badguys to get weapons. Similar enough gameplay mechanics and maybe even graphics/sound. This is a pretty broad definition that can snare up some games like 8 Eyes which came out in 1988 a full two years before Krion Conquest. When you play the game, it is just like Castlevania.

Using the above terms that I totally made up on the spot, four games come to my mind: Power Blade, G.I. Joe, Samurai Pizza Cats and Bucky O'Hare. That last one came out in 1992. Pizza Cats according to the title screen came out in 1991. The first two are confusing. Going by the title screens, GI Joe 1990 and Power Blade 1991. Looking at the never wrong Wikipedia pages for both games it says that the Japanese version of Power Blade came out in mid 1990, months before Magical Doropie, and GI Joe came out in 1991. This one is a wash.

While Krion Conquest is clearly a Megaman clone, there are thing done in this game that would later happen in Megaman. (By the way, I will be using terms like Krion Conquest and Francesca for the most part. Mostly because I like them better, they type out easier, and to irritate purists.) Starting on stage one we are greeted by a cut scene. MM3 had a tiny one, But KC has them between every stage.

Press the start button to warp past this and we can take a look at many of the things done here that would later show up in Megaman.

Press the start button again and we have a Megaman 1 and 2 style weapon select. Different from Megaman is the fact that Franny is running on it and her color changes as you scroll through the weapons. Which we would see in Megaman 5. (I decided not to post images of this, because of the major pain in the ass it would be to do so.)

Starting off, let's see what Fran can do:

 Holding the fire button lets you charge up your shot. A technique later employed by Samus Aran.

According to the unused sprite sheets for one of the fighter games, Bass could shot up with his normal weapon. Interesting how Megaman originally could only look up in the game that came out afterwards and only while red.

Frustratingly enough, badguys can still fly through walls.

Now to do some more talking because once again it will be a real pain to get some of the images. When you encounter a stage boss, you are presented with an alert message. Starting in Megaman X4 you would get a waning siren. Bosses would enter the battle room in a rather unique fashion and not just appear or float in. Megaman X and Megaman 7 would do this as well. When the boss is defeated he would disappear in a series of explosions like in Megaman X.

I think I'll digress from my main point and discuss my theory as to why Magical Doropie was radically changed into Krion Conquest. All the cut scenes were taken out as well as the ending. Most views I have read state that Vic Tokai thought that the American audience wouldn't like a game that was text heavy and had a strong female lead. I disagree because you look at Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and Ninja Gaiden. All text heavy, all very popular. On the second point, most people I knew preferred playing as the Princess in Super Mario 2 and Metroid has always been well liked.

Nintendo of America had a no religious symbol what-so-ever and a no blood policy in any game well into the 90's. I think after having spent so much time editing out the hexagrams, then faced with removing the blood and translating the Japanese text, the programmers just gave up and cut it all out. Leaving us with the Krion Conquest.

Magical Kids(?) Doropie?

In Megaman 7 you could input a password that allowed you to play a minifight game as either Megaman or Bass. In Megaman X3 you could call upon Zero occasionally. Unfortunately Krion Conquest had the secret players removed. However, go and get yourself a copy of Magical Doropie and input the Konami like Codes on the title screen and you can play as an alternate(?) Francesca or as Kagemaru!

My theories are that this is a protoform of Francesca, or maybe this is an entirely different character. The game is called Magical KIDS Doropie. I think the idea of having a multiple player game was scrapped because of time and money constraints. The programmers barely got done with Francesca's cut scenes and said "No Mas!" and decided to leave the other characters in as an easter egg. I mean, Francesca's scenes still play even though you may be using Kagemaru.

There are more similarities to later Megaman games, but I think that is enough. You guys go and sniff them out. I'll leave you with this:

The logged in game.

I kinda discovered this neat game recently. 

I spent the better part of a couple of months checking out iPads and Android tablets. I was really wanting one. The iPad is the gold standard, but Android is much better priced. You can get a good sized one for not even half the cost of the cheapest iPad. Two things swung me to the iPad. First was the internet speed. Side by side in stores that had crappy wireless, the iPad outsped the Android by light years. Then the price drop. Still $400 plus tax (lotsa tax) is a lot to pay for what is essentially an Angry Birds machine. (By the way, I call my desktop the $1000 solitaire machine.)

I think I made the right choice. During commercial breaks I can check my email, news, Sprint Cup standings, play solitaire. THAT'S RIGHT! EMAIL!

While comparing tablets in the stores, I notice quite a few times that when I fired up the internet app, it would go to the last opened page. Which would be more often than not be Facebook, Google Account, Twitter, Yahoo, or even a realtor's spreadsheet. So I stated playing this game of simply going around to each tablet and checking to see if it was still logged into some site. Most of the time I would do whomever a favor and log them out and uncheck the “Keep me logged in” checkbox.

I do have this paranoia about logging into anything on a foreign computer. Even one as safe as an iPad. You never know who maybe looking over your shoulder or using a password sniffer app on that row of computers around the corner. I flat out refuse to sign into anything personal of mine on somebody else's machine.

In the div preceding the previous one you might have noted I said, and I quote: “Most of the time...” Well, sometimes I'm not in a good mood. I just set the tablet back down thinking that person is a total dumbass and they'll have to learn their lesson the hard way. Then once or twice, an email is sent to a lucky individual informing them that they have just been logged out.

Flag Day 2012

That whole two pixel thing, again.

Now I've calmed down since the last time I tried to talk about this. However there is one more thing, but that will keep by me for the time being. You see I'm trying to get video of it happening. Weirdly enough it never seems to occur when my camera is out.

Okay, so what's the big deal over this two pixel thing? It's the way I do the speech boxes in my comics. I just simply use the shape tool to draw a box around the text. I did try doing it the way everybody else does, but that was too much work and in some text heavy comics it would become confusing as to who is saying what. So I decided to pick a color that is either dominant or very obscure to the character speaking. Then I would draw a two pixel wide box around the text and when I highlighted it all and placed it onto the comic there would be a single pixel white line around that as well.

I came up with the two pixel measurement because I could see it. That's how I base everything, can I even see it at normal magnification? I found that one pixel was too small and three was too fat. Two turned out to be just right.

With Windows 7, thing got screwed up. 98, XP, and Vista version of MS Paint were okay, but in 7 Microsoft added in a bunch of stuff we didn't need and took out things we did. Like the option of drawing lines two pixels wide. I had to keep using XP Paint because of this. Then I found out I could resize the shapes after I drew them in 7 Paint on the fly. Previously I had to draw the box and then highlight sides of it to bring back towards the text to tidy it up. Now I could draw the box, and size drag the sides to where I wanted them. I could finally retire XP Paint.

Frustration still set in because I had to draw two of theses things. Meaning something that originally took 5 steps now took 10. Where as if I only still had that two pixel option. Now comes a brain fart.

There are three basic steps I use in making my comics: backgrounds, characters, text, and miscellaneous. When working on the character step, I hit “Ctrl +” to double the size them. A very important thing to note because it makes it them easier to see.

Now mind you, not every comic I do I find interesting. Sometimes they bore me to tears. Then my mind starts to wander around. Of course I forget what step I'm on. One day I was working a comic that really made me wanting to instead go watch some TV. I was on the text phase and drawing the box shape around it the text when I brain farted and thought I was on the character step and I hit “Ctrl +.” That doubled the size of the box. I froze. Took a closer look. Yes the lines were two pixels wide. I could also grab the highlight box and resize the whole thing to were I needed it. On top of that, the next time I drew a box it was two pixels as well.

Now that's fixed. How about fixing those random transparencies and disappearing rotations?

Memorial Day 2012

How to use Rosenkreuzstilette patches.

PATCHES! We don't need no stinking PATCHES!

Yes we do. The game was originally made back in 2007. In the days of Vista. We have come along way since then, so must the game. Erka:es has endeavored to fix bugs and make sure it runs on modern systems.

Why am I discussing this? Isn't there plenty of other sites that go through this? Well, people are asking how to, and they are clicking on my sites, but not finding the answer. So here I go.

(By the way: I am using a version of Rosenkreuzstilette I bought off DLsite many years ago. I really don't want to spend any more money just to see if the version there has ever been updated.)

Before you start: Make a copy and only screw with that copy. Always save an original.

When you click on the 106b patch you will see this:

I'm somewhat sure that this is asking do you really really (say it like the Miz now:) REALLY want to do this? Click yes.

 

Click the two question marks at the side of the white box and that while open up a drill down menu where you have to find the game.

Next click okay.

Finally click "???(C)" and you can play your upgraded version of Rosenkreuzstilette.

Remember what I said about making a copy? Make another copy of the original 105c and apply the English patch. (I'm not going to show that because it's exactly the same process.) Now copy the "scenario.dat" file from English 105c and paste it into Japanese 106b. Now you have a somewhat fully enjoyable version of Rosenkreuzstilette.

Most Obnoxious Aspect of Karaoke.

It's not the fact that it is mispronounced. I originally heard it as kerry-o-key. Then I started watching Japanese Anime, subtitled. I would listened to the original Japanese voice actors and became quite fascinated at how much the American writers would deviate from the pronunciation of names. That I still find pretty distracting, but hearing ka-ra-o-keh doesn't. Hey, why bother, not going to change anybody's mind.

People “singing” karaoke doesn't bother me. It's usually easy to avoid. That is until Bob and Tom play clips from American Idol worshipers. Since I listen to their podcast, I can fast forward through that. I wish they would play these clips during the last couple of minutes of the hour instead of the middle of the show so I can just hit the next button.

I did get roped into visiting a karaoke club once in my life, once. On my second vacation to Korea, I met up with a Katusa friend of mine from the previous vacation and he dragged me along to sing karaoke with him and some friends. T.M. Revolution they weren't.

So what is it about karaoke the gets my teeth a grinding? Makes my blood boil? Want to eat ball bearings and crap barbed-wire?

Backing vocals.

Yes.

Backing vocals.

One of my great passions in life is music. I admit I couldn't carry a tune even if it had handles, but I do know what I like hear. Looking at my music collection you will find Slim Shady, Chisa Yokoyama, Phil Collins, Foster the People, Taco, Jay and The Americans, Bon Jovi, Cold Play, Cheap Trick, Owl City, U2, Garth Brooks, Masami Okui, and on, and on. I like individual songs, I couldn't even begin to tell you why this is. A song strikes my fancy and it must go in my collection.

Sometimes I like a song so much, I must have as many different versions as possible. Original, official remix, cover, remix cover, techno, dance, and karaoke. Or more precisely, the instrumental version. I would like to give the band a listen. I want to appreciate the guitars,drums, saxes, and cow bells. What frustrates me is that I can't find the original. I have to go to karaoke CDs. These are often cover versions, and that is a total crap shot as to how good it is. Also It is often not labeled as to if backing vocals are used.

Backing vocals in the original version with the singer do not bother me, it's when the backing vocals  is talking over that great drum solo in a song that I thought was supposed to be an instrumental. That is what makes me feel that I just wasted ten bucks. I know why this is: there's no demand for pure instrumentals of popular music. I'm one of a only a few, and more likely the only one, that wants these. I am probably the one guy that bought the single CD of "I Love You Always For Ever" that had about five or six different versions of the song on it. It did have an instrumental of the Sylk 130 version, but no instrumental of the regular album version.

However I have found some solace. There is a type of music that about 50% of the time will provide me with my desired instrumentals: anime sound tracks.

Anybody got a problem with show tunes?

I thought not.

Even then the hurdles are high. Almost impossible to find the original albums. I want to support the artists, but what am I to do when iTunes, Amazon, or even CD Japan don't have it? Then on top of that the words “instrumental,” “karaoke,” and “off vocal” are used interchangeably. So you may wind up with somebody yammering over the guitar riffs in Forever We Can Make it, but finding Yellow Vacation makes it worth my wild.

Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 8.

I hadn't planned on saying anything more about RosaVam until about the end of the year, but a little birdy shouted in my ear that I might want to say something more. He reminded me about how fortuitous it was to talk about some obscure Japanese video game when I did and it might behoove me to talk more about our favorite multiple personality complex vampire chick.

Talking about this issue let's get the one thing I didn't like at all out of the way first: the gore and viscera. One of the things that has made me kind of queasy through out the entire series is the blood. I understand that this is a monster manga but for the most part it's focus was romantic-comedy. Lately we have been treated to a big heaping doses of story telling. Along with that the realism has been getting more and more detailed. Now it is getting to a point that maybe going over the line even for me. There's a scene in which Moka's mother, Akasha, is cut in half and rather graphically depicted. Then later we see her laying down with some spilled guts. 

I had mentioned several times before that I had considered dropping Rosario + Vampire from my reading list. There were several reasons I had been considering this action: kinda boring, no character development, occasional inappropriate sexual explicitness of characters younger than 18, in Yukari's and Koko's cases much younger than 18, and the occasional explicit blood and gore. Well, after 18 volumes it's kinda hard to just call it quits. If I do I more than likely in a few years I will just wind up going back and buying the back issues anyway to get caught up.

I'll tough it out a little while longer. Now let's get into some de ja vu.

To talk about that feeling I have seen it before I need to go back to Rosario to Vampire Season 2 Volume 17. I forgot to mention about this the last time, so I'll do it now. There's a scene where all the main characters are wandering around Fangfang's mansion. It's empty and they're trying to figure out where everybody else is at and it seems to be haunted. Other than most episodes of Scooby Doo, I kept having this feeling I had seen this before, but I couldn't remember where. I was going insane. (Going?) I knew I had seen it just within the past month of this issue.

Then Suzumiya Number 11 came in.

Well, Rosavam did it again. It's only been a couple of weeks since it's release so I won't do any spoilers as to what happens in this volume that set off my de ja vu detector. However that doesn't mean I can't talk about a now twelve year old anime that may or may not be similar. The final episodes of Orphen Season 2 had a big battle with an ancient beast that absorbed sorcerers to increase it's powers to escape a prison. The final episode saw two people, father and daughter, impaled by some tentacles and drawn back into the monster's prison to help protect a girl that had her personality subdued and replaced.

That comparison came to mind right away only because I had just watched Orphen a couple of weeks before. It was on sale for about $20. That's the way I run things now. I just wait for stuff to show up in the used video stores or for the super saver compilations. Guess that also shows just how interesting Suzumiya is to me.

The similarity of event between Rosavam and Orphen I think is purely unintentional. Just two great writers that happen to come up with same idea many years apart.

 

I've talked down on Rosavam enough. What stood out the most was the attention to detail. Most of this issue was very well drawn throughout. As an example close ups of characters mouths had a sense of depth. As in you were looking into their mouths and not at a painted on hole. The flower pattern on Aqua's dress wasn't just a stencil, it looked like each petal was carefully planned out as to what the flowers would actually look like depending on the pose. A scene of Akasha flying backwards in which we get a sorta upskirt that reveals the cage holding her skirt. You can even see the rivets holding the bandings together. We finally get to see Kurumu use her succubus powers.

 Which leads to a final question: of the three chosen characters to go inside Moka's mind, why Mizore? I understand Tsukune. Tohofuhai, I guess because in these things you have to have an old fart of a guide with you that knows everything. Mizore? Reminds me of the final chapters of Sailor Moon when the four asteroid named Sailor Scouts get told the entire story. Why them? Was Kurumu or Fangfang to obvious? Did it come down to a coin flip between Mizore and Yukari? How many licks does it take take to get the center of a Tootsie-Pop?

Now to answer some questions that other people have been asking. I know you have because I hired Kurumu's mom to peak inside your dreams.

“What chapters of Rosario Vampire have nudity?”

This particular volume has nudity in it. The typical non-detailed stuff that can get on Japanese broadcast TV at later times. This volume is rated older teen, but what does that mean? Is that 17, 18, and 19? A friend of mine said no way would he allow such a thing in his house. He doesn't mind it personally, he just doesn't want his kids to see it. I remind him that it was his son that told me about the site that I got all these manga scans from. Boys will be boys.

You'll note that I make sure NOT to give the name of the sites I got these scans from. I believe in supporting the original artists as much as possible. You can go to Amazon, Hastings, or Borders to find your own copy of Rosario Vampire Volume 18. Of course I have no qualms about using someone else's time to save me an extra $10 and a day or so of ripping up a copy and scanning it.

Though I will say thank you and I do appreciate the effort put forth in some people's buying the original Japanese volumes, ripping them up, scanning, and translating them.

“Is Rosario Vampire too explicit?”

Depends on your point of view. Look at the ratings. Though that can be entirely misleading. Which is one of the reasons I ranted so much last year about nudity. I have planned further ranting about that for a later date.

You have to look through it yourself and make up your own mind.

“Why did Yukari say old farts in episode 6 of Rosario + Vampire?”

I went back and watched both episodes 6. I never heard her say "old fart." In the English dub she called Kurumu a “moo-cow.” I think it was added in by the English writers to better fit the mouth movements and to play off the rivalry between the two.

Addendum January 23, 2013: In doing research for the third article I have been watching the anime. And I have discovered that Yukari did indeed say old farts. It was in episode 7. After having been dumped in the lake, Moka, Tsukune, and Kurumu are in the News Paper Club room wrapped up in blankets sneezing and bitching about Mizore, A.K.A. "Frosty the Snow Skank." In that situation it makes perfect sense to call them "old farts." Have you ever been in a retirement home?
 
Unfortunately that's all the questions. Ageha got pissed because she caught me ... er...uhm... someone dreaming about Tsurara, in bloomers. I ..er...That person is alright but will have to use his non-dominant hand to type out blog entries for awhile.

Global Warming/Climate Change: Whatever.

Over the past few years there has been heated debate over global warming/climate change and how much is contributed to it by man, and how best to alleviate this burning issue.

I said awhile back I try to be non-partisan and stay away from more scorching issues. I certainly do recognize it is very hard not to get all boiled over this subject. So I'm not going to get into a blazing debate over the red hot facts here, at all. Instead I'll just post this photo I took the other morning and let y'all make up your own mind.

Brain fart solved the two pixel problem.

But first, an addendum.

Remember awhile back when I was bitching about going slower than the posted speed limit? I got my panties in such a wad I forgot a few things. Like getting stuck at red lights because of these slowpoking dumbasses. I haven't done any scientific surveys to see if I stop at red lights more often when doing the speed limit or when I am being held up below the speed limit. What I do know is that it is it is extremely frustrating when I am forced to stop when the guy in front of me seems to think that slower is safer.

States spend incredible amounts of my tax dollars to figure out the maximum safest speed for all the roads. More than likely the speed limits are much lower than they need to be, but that is beside the point. However there are those that think if 55 is safe, then 50 is safer. If 50 is safer than 55, then 45 is safer all the more! That is unless there is a guy yapping on his cell phone, adjusting his radio, texting, sexting, eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner and might actually be doing the speed limit coming up behind the guy thinking that 35 is the safest of all.

This really is insane: once again I am coming to a light that is in the process of of turning red. It's bright orange for all the world to see. I'm going to stop of course, I have plenty of space. The light turns red and the guy in front that caused me to have to stop at the red because he was going much slower than the posted speed limit blows right on through.

That's one for the Huh? Files.

This too has me scratching my head: guy was doing 45 in the 55, we come up to a section of road that is now 45. He slows to 40. I would like to get around him, but can't because some other non-driving pinhead passed by me, caught up to and then slowed down and perfectly matched speeds with Ax. A few more miles down the road Smash decides to make a turn and I can finally make my great escape. At this particular moment in time the speed limit is dropped to 35. I drop to 35 thinking that the guy will drop to 30. Seems logical. He was going 45 in the 55, then 40 in the 45. No, he continues to do 40 blowing right past me.

Now this is the pièce de résistance: Once again I'm behind some bitch doing 40 in the 55. I can't get around him because it's a two lane highway and there is plenty of all the oncoming traffic. Of course I get stuck at the red light. So does Crush. This particular intersection is usually my salvation. It splits into five lanes. A center turn lane and a right turn lane. However this right lane can also go straight across, but it ends and remerges back into the left lane about a block past the intsection. Many the time I have used that lane to get my marry ass down the road. Not this time. The light turns green and I floor it, so does asshole. He blocks me from getting around him. Were up to 50 by the time the lane ends so I have to drop back down to prevent him from wrecking me! He then he slows right back to 40. MOTHERFUCK!

What was that about two pixels? Screw it, I'm all pixelated now. Some other time.

Hey! People! That's NOT a turn lane!

There seams to be quite the enemademic as of late. As I write this, a couple of days ago I'm driving up to an intersection. This particular road is four lanes one way, I'm in the far right lane about half a block away and I can see a guy in the left lane next to mine stopped at the red light. I can see that the cross traffic lights are changing, I travel this road almost everyday so I know that by the time I get to the intersection my light will have turned green. So I keep doing the speed limit which is thirty-five MPH. My light turned green about a couple of seconds before I got there. The guy in the left lane decides to make a right turn right at that moment. Just before I pass by him.

Granted, none of these lanes are marked as turn or straight through, but stupid me, I rely on common sense. Common sense tells me you can't turn from an unmarked lane that far away from the corner. Common sense tells me I should just go down to the next intersection to make my turn. Common sense tells me to be in the correct lane long before. Common sense tells me to check this nifty new invention called a rear view mirror.

That was the inbound downtown lanes, a couple of hours later I'm a block over on the outbound downtown lanes. It happened again. This guy, I 'll grant him maybe he's new and not familiar with how the traffic pattern goes, must have figured he was in the wrong lane and tried to get into the correct lane at the last moment. However in doing so he left his ass hanging out in my lane. So I have to stop two car lengths away from the light AND have to wait for him to move all the way into the his lane BEFORE I can go when the light turns green. The light turns green, I watch him move all the way into his lane, then make a left turn at the intersection cutting across a lane of traffic and almost getting t-boned.

There were two more intersections that could have been utilized to make that turn.

A few months ago I'm coming up to a red light. I'm in the straight across only lane and a guy is in the left turn only lane. I'm thinking that my light should turn green right about...NOW! And, it did as I was right behind and to the right of the guy in the left lane who changed his mind and pulled into my lane.

About a month earlier I need to make a left turn. These lanes are clearly marked as left turn only, straight across only, and straight across or right turn. The light change pattern almost always goes like this: first the turn lanes go green, and then straight lanes. It can mix up depending on if there is any traffic sitting at the lights. Say for instance there is no traffic across the street, all three lights will turn green on one side. If there is no turn lane traffic, then just the straight lanes. This day, as usual, all the lanes on each side of the intersection are fully loaded.

My turn left only light goes green and I take off, the guy next to me takes off too and cuts in front of me. I'm on the horn warning the guy I'm about to t-bone him. He's on the horn too, apparently warning me that it was his turn to turn. That I was the one in the wrong. You see, that's the thing that bugs me most: these people really must think that it is the job of everybody else to move aside for them. Their attitude is such that if they get hit, it would have been my fault. They make no move what-so-ever to avoid an accident.

In each instance my overwhelming desire to NOT wreck my vehicle took over and I avoided having to spend hours on end filling out police reports and insurance paperwork. I like my vehicle, it's almost paid off, and I'm not interested in getting another to replace it. Also, I have more than one ready to go, and I have family that can loan me an extra car or truck.

My driving philosophy is that I don't just drive for me, I drive for everybody else. I try to anticipate what is the stupidest possible thing someone can do at that moment. I have to admit I am constantly caught off guard because there are those whose mission it must be to out-stoopid even my predictions.

Because of this I have full coverage, accident forgiveness, and new vehicle replacement.

All 3 Signs Say “Speed Limit 55.”

There's this section of road I drive down most everyday. What drives me nuts is the fact that there are a bunch no driving idiots that can't seem to do the speed limit. I'm not talking about the Speed Racers that do do 65, 75, 90 MPH. That's a story for another time. This fire breathing rant is for those morons doing about 45 MPH.

One thing I noted is that most speed limit signs today don't have the initials MPH anymore. My thought is that government is trying to save money by cutting that bit off. Of all places for government to save money. Then they spend that savings for overhead reader boards that are never turned on. Like that one day I drive under three of these things. Then go around a bend in the road and am presented with several inches of packed snow and ice. No warning what so ever. The guy in front of me slows form 65 to 30. I was about a hundred feet behind him, that was barely enough space for me to slow down in. About a mile up the road there were a couple of cars that got tangled up and all kinds of wreckers, cop cars, and fire trucks are on the road. In my mirrors I see coming up behind are some big rigs. A couple of them I had passed earlier with long trailers and doubles. Fortunately a couple of more miles up the road the road cleared right up.

So the government saved that tax payers money by cutting off the “MPH” on the speed limit signs. My first thought coming up behind the slow pokes in front of me is to say “Hey! The sign doesn't say 55 KPH.” Looking at my speedometer I find that can't be the case. 55 KPH is right across from 35 MPH. The idiot is doing 45 MPH and we're on a section of road in which you can't pass them.

Now to set up how frustrating this is I need to go into a few details of how this highway is constructed. It was built back when the population of my state was equal to what the population of my county is now. The highway starts out as a two laner, but you can't pass by anyone because there is so much oncoming traffic. However it is pretty rare to get behind a slow poke in this section. For some reason most everybody find it capable to do 55.

Then the road splits into three lanes. One of which is a center turn lane. In my state it is illegal to use the center turn lane to pass someone. Right at the point where the road splits is a sign that say “55.” The guy in front of me slows to 45. It's almost always 45. Sometimes it's 40, but rare occasions it's 35. (No comment about coming from a metric country because this person was doing 55 a few seconds ago.) You may say that these people probably turned off one of the cross roads and they didn't see the speed limit signs. Getting caught behind a slow poke that did join traffic from another road is common, but those roads are all 35 MPH. These dumbasses insist on doing 45. Even though we have just passed yet another “Speed Limit 55” sign. Remember we are in a section with no hope of passing. Unless he decides to make a turn by slowing to a complete stop and then getting into the center turn lane leaving his ass hanging out in traffic.

Now comes what you would think be blessed relief: a four lane split. Two lanes in my direction, I can now pass the turd munching moron. I move into the left lane and as soon as my back bumper is equal to slow poke's front bumper, all of the sudden shithead wants to do the speed limit. Sticks right there blocking me from moving back over.

Or becomes a total asshole by suddenly speeding up to a whole lot faster than me and speeds down the damn road. Or in some cases becomes a motherfuck by slowing back down below the speed limit when I move back behind him.

The Huh? Files: Wrathing things up with AVG.

About three months ago I let it be known my disappointment concerning the anti-virus app AVG. To refresh I had bought and installed a brand new copy AVG 2011 only to have it expire a short time later. This week I got an interesting little email. It said that my license key was “mistakenly” invalidated and a new one was included that extended my service through to the same time next year.

How thoughtful to do this two months after the original key was set to expire and long after I had already went out and purchased and installed a competitor.

Mayan Miscalculation.

Rosario Vampire Volumes 16 and 17.

Rosario Vampire, why am I still reading this? I'm not too sure. It's not the best, but it sure ain't the worst. While I try and figure that out, let's talk Season 2.

The anime. The animation was much improved, the writing very much improved. I like how it deviated from the manga with some original stories and characterizations, and when stories were directly lifted from the manga, they were actually just as good as the original. However the constant upskirts and nude transformation sequences distract in a negative way from what was a vastly much better series. I do look forward to Season 3. I know, these things have a tendency to be forgotten about after about 26 or so episodes. There's still a lot of story left to be told.

I expand on a point made in the previous paragraph: deviating from the original source material. I used to be one of those perfectionists that wanted movies and such to be letter perfect to the original book. Well, think about 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie is boring enough, now imagine watching the movie after having read the book. I imagine that there were some howls of protest because Discovery went to Jupiter instead of Saturn. How much more boring, and much longer would the movie had been if the slingshot around Jupiter had been doable in 1968? I hate to imagine that. Now think of the sequel: 2010. It was pretty close to the book, but there was stuff added. The whole conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Once again the strict constructionists probably howled in protest, but I say it helped make for a more complex story and sped things up.

Now I try and judge each book and movie based on its own merits and try and not to compare the derivative story from the original source material. Sailor Moon anime sucked not because it was nothing like the manga, it just sucked period.

Speaking of things that suck: Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 7. I'd swear reading about this particular plane ride from Japan to China took longer than an actual one. Then we're introduced to a rather complex relationship between two of China's top monster crime syndicates. To top it off the main antagonist of this season, Fairy Tale, is somehow involved in the chaos that ensues at the home of one of the crime families. I'm thinking we really don't need the involvement of Fairy Tale again so soon. We just came off of two intricate story lines let's give it a rest for a while.

I did find a couple of things interesting in this volume. The first was the juxtaposition of the two Mokas. In the previous volume Inner Moka was allowed out for the day with the predictable result: we're stuck with the broody, violent, doesn't like anybody Inner Moka permanently. She can't transform back into dear, sweet, innocent, loves everybody Outer Moka. My point to make here is that I think the names are reversed. Keep in mind that the silver haired Moka was what everybody else knew before the creation of the pink haired Moka. So the people who know Moka now call sweet Moka “Outer” and Super Vampire Moka “Inner.” It's really just the opposite. I can't possibly know if this is what the author intends, or is something I'm reading too much into.

One thing I've noted is that of the four vampire sisters, Moka is the only one to get a personality swap when sent to the outside world. I wonder if there is any real particular reason behind that.

The other thing about Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 7 I find interesting was the development of the character Fangfang. I was not happy with the introduction of him and his Sister Lingling. I was thinking we really don't need them. We see that in this volume Lingling seems to be slowly written out because now she is being treated like Ruby. You know, when we need a character to fill a certain role: pilot, mechanic, dress shop worker, butcher, baker, liquor store guy, etc, etc, Lingling, like Ruby, will be there. (It's easier to draw a character you know than to draw one from scratch.)

Fangfang on the other hand. I was against him for various reasons. The first one was because I thought he was going to be a gay foil to the girls. I'm not into boy/boy manga, I like chicks, real chicks (chicks who are chicks since birth.) Plus I was afraid that the one gay male character was going to be a negative stereotype and get treated to endless rounds of ass whuppin by the other girls. Then that's completely forgotten and he's turned into a perverted lolicon fetish type, and then just someone to get the crap kicked out of him at inconvenient times.

Anybody remember Gin?

In this volume Fangfang's character came into being: a best guy friend of Tsukune. That is something that this series, and many other harem manga/anime is missing. Sure it's great to be surrounded by chicks, but it's also great to have a bud sitting next to you enjoying the big game. Tsukune and Fangfang become inseparable best friends. Nothing sexual about what-so-ever. Just a couple of dudes out having grand adventures, drinking some beers, beating up the bad guys, beating each other up, and will always have each other's back. There are things men will do and say that they will never do in the presence of a woman. The reverse is true: woman will do and say things with each other, but not with a man in the area. I'm hoping that the buddy/buddy friendship of Tsukune and Fangfang is explored with great detail down the road.

Rosa-Vam Season Two Volume Six I found interesting not for any real great story advancement, but for the the fact that many of the hack premises that are usually done at the beginning of a series are being done this late. We have: bloomers, sports day, fate of the hero, lunch box/bento picnic, body measurements, and Freaky Friday. With some twists. The girls make a big deal out of the gym shorty-shorts. Usually on sports day the good guys are missing the main hero for the most part, and then have a miraculous last minute come from behind victory. In this chapter the heroes are there, but are getting the asses soundly handed to them, until the calvary shows up: moms. (Would have been nice to see them in bloomers.) While the moms are evening the score, Moka and Tsukune are having a picnic. Of course the picnic is ruined when the bad guys trample it and sports day is ended in a Dusty Finish when Moka and Tsukune are disqualified for their revenge tactics and everything degenerates into a Royal Rumble.

I mentioned Freaky Friday. In this movie a mother and daughter switch minds for a day. This plot has been used again and again. Most notably in last year's movie The Change Up. The plot will often center around two people who either envy or hate each other. Somehow their lives are swapped then at the end they realize that things are not always as they seem and gain new found respect for each other. Rosario Vampire did it a little different, you would think that it would be say Moka or Kurumu, Kurumu and Yukari, Tsukune and Mizore getting the switch up. Some mind swap that would cause the most commotion among the gang of friends. Yukari and Fangfang. I was doing what you're probably doing now: “Say what?” Those two? How is that supposed to be provide some insight or even hilarity into these characters. There's no conflict between these two. Well, conflict comes about because now Fangfang decides to peep in on all the girls and even himself in Yukari's body during the whole body measurement sequence.

The real insight comes to Yukari. Normally on mind swaps the person gets a major insight to the person they have taken over. She sees herself from the outside and has the shock of her life. Her view of herself is completely destroyed when she finally realizes that she is a little girl with lots of growing yet to do. Of course, we can always count on Tsukune to tell her what her friends really think of her. So we can have that reset to zero by the next chapter.

I do have to point out something of a retcon that occurred: Mizore saying she hated the way Yukari talks. I can't seem to recall any instance of Mizore even hinting at that. Of course, that whole bit is forgotten by the next chapter.

In closing, I am enjoying the Rosario Vampire series. I like the way the characters are being developed. Each one is clearly defined. The artwork is not overly complicated. I can easily tell what is going on in each panel. The translation is been pretty good and smooth.

When I first picked this series up, I had considered dropping it almost immediately. I'm glad I stuck through and look forward to Rosario Vampire Volume 18.

By the way, is it Rosario Vampire, Rosario Plus Vampire, or Rosario To Vampire?

In Reality, I'm a Bitter Partisan Hack.

I don't arrive at my hackiness too easily. I take the time to study an issue from several angles to come to my own opinion. However, I am not so embittered that I can't change my mind. If new facts, or old facts surface, life experiences, or maybe I just made a mistake to begin with can make me reevaluate my opinion.

One of the things I had to change was tone of the partisanship in the comic. In 2004 I made the decision to go from making comics for just me to publicly displaying them. I had to decide on whether to continue doing current event politically themed stuff like I had been doing back in the 90's, or to try and to get as wide a spectrum of audience as possible.

I made the decision to keep political leanings to myself.  No shouting about how I'm a conservative Republican because that would drive away all the liberal in the audience. No shouting that I'm a progressive Democrat because that would drive away all the...the... hmmm. Okay, seriously doubt there's a whole lot of Republicans reading a comic strip about a guy trying to hook his wife up with another woman. (There's several names I could drop as a joke, but hey, by the time this is posted, who will remember?)

Several things made up my mind to be non-partisan and to avoid commentary on current events with the comic. If you look back through the blog there is a lengthy article about how politically themed comics quickly become irrelevant. People come and go so quick that everybody tends to forget about them. I don't want people reading though the archive to have to click on Google to find out what it is I am talking about. (I do realize that in the Army Comics I used a lot of jargon, and I'm thinking of adding a quick reference dictionary to some pages so people will know the difference between a M9, M16, and a M916. (I also realize that in most cases Google can't even help figure out what it is I'm saying.))

There are two comic strips I occasionally read: Doonesbury and Mallard Fillmore. Both of these are fine comics, though I do like Doonesbury better. Both of these comics are published in the Op/Ed section of my local paper. That right there tells me everything I need to know about them. (Take a wild guess as to which side of the page each is printed on.) There is more you need to know. While both come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, they share several faults.

The first most obvious fault: the almost relying on current events for story fodder. While poignant at the exact moment in time, it can really bite you in the ass in short order. That happened to Doonesbury a couple of years ago. A series of comics were published about how a soldier was chaptered out of the Army for being gay. A short while later Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed. Nice timing.

This next one is mostly Doonesbury and not Mallard, and only because Mallard has one main character. Most, if not all, of the permanent characters tend to share the same opinions as the cartoonist. While Doonesbury has very well thought out and developed characters; and massively well scripted story lines; I just find it odd that soldiers in Iraq watching a Don Rumsfeld press conference are reacting to it the same way Michael Doonesbury would.

My memory is of only one soldier I knew running on and on about Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.The rest of us were rolling our eyes and thinking: "Quit your bitching. It's a 130 degrees, we're in full battle rattle, and the incoming mortar alarm has just gone off. You're not doing anything to help the situation. How about complaining about those two trailers out there? You know, the one that has a couple of flat tires and the other has blown hub seal and no flat tire?"

This one fault is shared by both in boatloads: characters that have a point of view that disagrees with the cartoonist are stereotypical caricatures of the real people and their opinions. It's like, “Instead of going and getting the information from the person first hand, let's just copy/paste what other people say about them.”

I look at this and try and to figure out how to avoid it. Do I succeed? Once in awhile. I try to interweave my personal opinions into my characters without it seeming like I'm making a blatant political statement. I try to instil some complexity by adding some opinions that I may disagree with, but not be stereotypical about it.

An example of this will be coming up in a another month or so. A character of mine will be saying some things that are rather not good about anime. While writing it out I thought about conversations I've with people who didn't like anime. Why didn't they like anime? What was it that turned them off. What was the stuff that I saw that I didn't like? I tried to mix it all into to a character that had only seen an episode or two. (Those episodes had to be Dragon Ball.)

I try my best, I admit that I often don't succeed. I have a lot going on inside my head that I never get a chance to fully explore in the comic. Often as I'm pasting together a comic I'll have a dozen other ideas and I have to decide which ones are worth doing. I often choose the wrong ones. If I don't write it down I'll forget. (I have a voice recorder that I use for my ideas. I can now remember all the good ones, I also now remember all the bad ones.) This will lead to many inconsistencies bordering on in coherent. But hey, life is inconsistent and incoherent.

I have to admit that I desperately need to write up a character bible. I can't rely on what's inside my head. That would solve about 99% of all my problems. I know I really, really need to get to the point much sooner than I do. Jeeze, the time frame of the comic is still the week before the 2009 Daytona 500; and I need to get to the big reveal of the rather odd marriage arrangement between the staunch Irish Catholic David Bell and the rock-ribbed Southern Baptist Penny Bell.

Is it me or did the temperature just go up a degree or twelve?

Zook the Hero Z.

Korea has been in the news a lot lately. With the death of Kim Mentally-Il to the rise in power of Kim Jong-Unstable. I think about the friends I knew over there: Lee, Lee, Lee, Kim, Lee, Lee, Kim, Lee, Oh, No, and Ju (This poor guy got that “Achoo” line from Robin Hood: Men in Tights said to him all day long. I loaned him my tape so he would know what was going on.)

I'm not too worried for them. I worked along side many a KATUSA they do get very good training. I have also been privileged to witness the regular morning PT session with the ROK Army. I'm glad I'm on they're side. I have confidence that when push comes to shove, Korea can handle its own.

Let's slide away from that political stuff there.

I learned many a lesson while on my Korean vacations: One, keep a hand on your drink at all times. A drinky girl will come by and gulp it down causing you to have to buy another one. Never buy a drinky girl a drink unless she is on your lap. They will gulp down their glass of fruit juice real fast and demand another $5 or $10 drink. (I'm so far removed I don't remember how much they were.)

Always, always, test drive that video game before you buy it.

Lot's of games to be had, but did they actually work? I did buy a few PSX coasters. Those 100 in 1 carts? Mostly Bomberman, Mappyland, Pacman, Popeye, Tetris, Dr. Mario, Yoshi's Cookie, etc. That would be the first twenty five games with English titles. The next set of 25 would be the same games with Japanese titles. Then 51-75 would be in Korean and 76-100 was in Chinese. Same boring games. “No Repeats!” As the box would say.

Most stores would let you test drive the games. If they didn't, I would just hand it back. I made sure that bootlegged copy of Rockman Complete Works 4 was good. (By the way, that is the only one in the set I have been unable to buy a legit copy of. Actually, I think I do have it on Gamecube or X-Box. The PSX version is better though.) Wow, that really is Mario in Tiny Toons Adventures; and in Sonic the Hedgehog. I bought that one.

This was a real treat:

Then one day I found this:

“Oh, so they think they can trick us with a badly edited label of Rockman 4 pasted over Rockman World 4?” Not so. I opened the box and was surprised to see an instruction book. I flipped through it and was very shocked to see it was in English. For an English instruction book, it was very detailed and in color to boot! I wasn't going to be fooled. I stuck the cart in my Gameboy that I always carried with me on these trips downrange. I was very, very shocked to see Zook the Hero Z boot up. It had a long drown out prologue, and rather outstanding graphics for a homebrew bootlegged gameboy game.

At this point I would like to give a full on review of the game, but I can't. I have been unable to locate the game in storage. I haven't had any luck locating a rom image on the net. All I have are my memories of this thing from a long time ago. I do recall never completing it because halfway through the six maverick stages you have to fight through a sub fortress. Two thing would always happen: there's a long section with few badguys to kill for power refills, and lots of electric beams that will hit you no matter what. So you run out of life and die. Or. There's spike pit you have to air dash over and grab the ladder. I missed the ladder most of the time. When you die in this stage, you went back to the beginning. I always died about three or four minutes in. Pretty frustrating to have to replay all that again and again and again. I usually had something better to do.

I do remember being pissed at Capcom over Megaman Xtreme. This professional company that has millions in backing made a game crappier than some homebrew bootlegged gameboy game? The only thing that MM Xtreme had on Zook Z is that I was able to complete it. Hell, Zook's sprite set was better than X's.

I can't find the cart, but, I have had the instruction book staring me in the face all this time. I have been meaning to talk about on the Capcom forums for ages, then all the big Megaman sites, and even mine since I first started it back in 2004. However this place called “outside” beckons. Filled with a substance called “fresh air.” Everything is brightly lit by this thing called “The Sun.” What's that over there. Is that a woman?

I gets distracted really easy.

Any-hoo, here's some scans of the instruction book. My little contribution to what little conversation can be found.

 Wake up you misbegotten metal miscreant. Mr. Mean is making mayhem!

 From what I've read elsewhere, the Chinese characters for "Zook" can be translated as "Luke." I've noted how some places will call this Luke the Hero 2. As in the number two. I don't have the foggiest where anybody gets the number two from the letter Z. It is clearly shows up as "Z." 

If this is Luke 2, what about Luke the Hero 1? Is it like Leonard Part 6? Is the first game such a national treasure that it has to be kept a secret?

We've all seen this before. In about every damn game.

 Wait, what's that? Can we get a closer look?

 The Only Mega Man X game I've played since 7 is the PSP version. Can anybody tell me if X has ever been given this ability?

I gots nothing to say about this.

The programmers kinda gave up at this point and spliced in whatever they could find.

What do you do when Golem gets wrinkly?

 What is it with Asians and putting buckets on the heads of snowmen?