Salón del Manga de Jerez 2006

Hola hola,

Pues ayer fuimos al salón de manga de Jerez. ¿O debería ser Salón del Cómic? Había cosas de Marvel y cine americano también, al fin y al cabo.

Íbamos en grupo: en cuanto a disfraces, estábamos:
- Nuriko en plan cortesana, como cuando sale por la primera vez (de Fushigi Yuugi). Traje complicado donde los haya. La pobre Carmen se tiró prácticamente 30-40 minutos para cambiarse.
- Kyoko Otonashi con su delantal de Piyo-Piyo y su escoba de caña (mi hermana). Una pena que no la reconoció mucha gente (¿o sí?).
- Kai Suwabara de Yakitate! Japan (yo mismo), en versión sin mandril ni rodillo-katana. Es un disfraz made-in-Makro: uniforme de chef + dos picos de cocinero. Añades chanclas, calcetines blancos y un pantalón azul marino y hala, listo. Me hace sentir un poco tramposo xDD.

Adjunto fotos de la entrada (arregladita para quitar arrugas y sellos de tinta) y del panfleto del Ouendan (応援団), el grupo de animadores que participó (con mucho ahínco) en el karaoke.

Qué porquería de acústica la del IFECA. O por lo menos, de la forma en que habían puesto el escenario: ¿no podrían haber usado el fondo de uno de los pasillos de la "U" que forma el IFECA? ¿Es que hay alguna prohibición de que cojan más espacio para que la gente (por ejemplo) coma y demás?

Seguramente mi hermana se ocupará de ampliar el informe. Mata aou! (Tuxedo Kamen en el Club de la Comedia me marcó)

Switch to Spanish

We've decided that, from now on, all posts will be in Spanish. After all, most visitors we get are Spanish. It makes sense, doesn't it?

No comment XD

Which File Extension are You?


Which OS are You?

File extensions and OSes

Which File Extension are You?


Which OS are You?

Heehee. I liked the OGG bit... err, but what about Windows XP? I like Ubuntu better. No, switching to OpenSUSE didn't make one bit of a difference. :grumble:

Still, I'm not switching any time soon. Mendoukusai. That's what it is. So troublesome to switch Linux distro. And besides, Dapper won't be done till June, so hey.

My anime top 10

While having lunch with Lauri and Carmen last week, we decided to write a top 10 of our best manga/anime series in our blogs during Easter. I've just been reminded today, how could I forget? So I've been pondering on the subject for a long while, and I've decided I'll settle with this list. This is not say I am sure I'm not forgetting any others I love, and then ranking is dead hard, so I'm ranking them as objectively subjective (!) as possible. Might I feel different about them some time from now? I might. But it is something at least.

Then also, I'm listing complete series. I am struggling to list more than 5 manga series, I'm more into anime watching after all, plus some of the series I follow faithfully (FB and Inuyasha) are still being published in Japan. So it goes for some of my fav animes, like Naruto and Yakitate!! Japan. So I'll be listing those I really like from those I remember, shall add more, hopefully up to 10 as the kami instil some inspiration unto my soul :P

And so, the winners are...

ANIME

1. Ranma 1/2. I'm pretty sure about this one. Not that many animes are so consistently brilliant. I still laugh my head off remembering favourite bits. And I did support the canon couple Akane/Ranma. I do pity Ryouga, though...

2. Fruits Basket. I only wish it were as long as the manga. What brilliant characters, such cracking scenes, moving bits and such awesome voice actors. Shi-chan, in his becoming kimono *sigh* The otouto and I are still hoping to one day release a video collage of our fav bits. One of those projects we never get to do! Highlight the following for a spoiler: OMG, Akito is a WOMAN!!!! And she was sleeping with Shigure-san!! (how can he, the girl is nuts!) Gosh, I just had to write it. I bounced into my brother's room one friday night just to tell him that - it was such a shock to learn that at the time. I spoiled it for him, but he's not following the manga and I just HAD to tell someone.
I must add, though, the series has one of the dullest opening themes EVER.

3. Inuyasha. I WANT TO CHAAAAAANGE THE WORLD.... he he he. Takahashi sensei is just my most favourite mangaka ever - yep I love CLAMP and Watase, but no one beats her in creating the maddest plots. I'd need to add Maison Ikkoku and Lum, but I had to choose, you see. I couldn't choose a favourite character, they are all brilliant. Osuwari!

4. X 1999. See? CLAMP. The movie was a very depressing bit of work but the anime was really good, and the ending not too bad considering. Kamui dies *sob*, but what did you expect of a good uke-ish bishie? Sacrificing himself for the world and such trifles is in his DNA. Carmen would rather have KamuixKotori, but I definitely support FuumaxKamui. Ah yes. Somewhat tortuous and bittersweet, but oh so beautiful. I'm also with Carmen and my brother in SorataxArashi. He's not your average bishounen, far from it, but he's got an endearing personality - notwithstanding the hideous yellow coat!
On this post, one of the manga illustrations I love best. The only anime poster in my room (the rest are XIXth century art and Harry Potter film posters). Isn't it nice or what?? Notice their outfits are actually different though they look similar - I still need to decide what's that improvised canopy on their heads - Kamui's jacket?? Send answers in a postcard, please.

5. Full Metal Alchemist. What a wonderful story, one of the best pieces in anime. None of your easy-peasy lemon squeezy, complete suspension of disbelief plot. It still is fantasy, but it is all rather plausibly explained in its own terms. Great art, too. Am I the only one who loves Ed's costume? And the long braid? Cool hairstyle - there should be more men in the world wearing them (and sober coloured kimonos, with those straight waists *swoons*). But no I don't fancy him. It is really moving approaching the end - I can't wait to see the film. That was a nice twist to get their ancient dad into the story. Oh yes.

6. Yami no Matsuei. Oh dear. What beautiful art, what an intriguing story, oh why, why is it so short? I like a good story with touching scenes that can still make you laugh every now and then. I also love the coupling TsuzukixHisoka. Best s-ai couple in my list - because none of them is def an uke or a seme. Both can be rather strong and vulnerable at once, both rescue each other. No need to worry about how power struggles spoil the relationship. And they are both oh so beautiful. Hisoka is somewhat girlie, but just in the right degree. And no matter how often I watch it, I always cry my eyes out at one of those last scenes when Hisoka rescues Tsuzuki from the terrible flames, as he lies stunned, having lost the will to live (or something like that, he is not technically alive, is he?) - if you have nothing to live for...then live for me! Gosh, people know I'm not much of a drooling romantic, but I am really moved by that bit. Muraki's harassing Tsuzuki is also great fun, what sort of villain goes around lusting after the good guy? LOL

7. Great Teacher Onizuka. Yoroshiku! Very nice story about how one can find kindness and warmth in the oddest places, and a good instructor is not necessarily the brightest crayon in its box. Onizuka's rather inspired approaches to problems are rather er, original, but he really grows on one. They've spoiled that wonderful creation in the live drama, where he's portrayed as a pretentious, self-confident git full stop. Nothing endearing about him. But the one in the anime - what about his imitation of Hokuto no Ken? Dear me.

8. Jungle wa itsumo Hale nochi Guu. Surrealistic but still such fun! Franctic Hale witnesses the oddest acts by Guu - what is she, an alien, a spirit, a demon? Don't miss her version of the magical girl. And that laughter! And that youkai obachan running after that doctor like an avid predator. And the soppy couple fighting and reconciling in the most overcloying (if such a word exists!) way ever. Oh dear. I love the opening theme - TO-RO-PI-CA-NA!

9. Pita Ten. Childish, yep, but such cute art and such a funny story. A demon girl will not plot against people in order not to annoy them, and bakes biscuits for her angel flatmate, a klutz who never gets any of her miracles right. I love that mad kid shouting "Mononoke!" after Shia-chan. He he.

10. Rose of Versailles. Oldie but goldie, in spite of the crappy title. I really want to be like Oscar-sama when I grow up. The ending is appropriately sad, and the story is really nice, though not particularly historically accurate, but what did you expect. I love the opening theme.

And I know I'm missing my manga list, but I still haven't made my mind up!

Not my money please... NOO!

Sheesh. I have to get a new power supply for my computer now. The poor thing finally failed: it's darn hot, the fan isn't working at all and I've had a few sudden power failures lately.

Oh well. I was looking at the stuff in PCBox (nice store by the way), and they've got this Tacens Valeo 460W. Looks like a pretty good bang for the buck: 64 euro still, but I haven't seen a single bad review from them. Everyone's going "ooh aah".

It's also got some nice stuff, like built-in surge protection and a thermo-regulated fan which actually goes off when the comp's idle to reduce noise (it'll be always on in my case anyhoo). The fan seems to be bigger than usual: 135mm (I _think_ the normal ones are 80mm fans). Usually, bigger fans need less RPMs to achieve the same performance, I believe. Like most PSUs, it's also got support for both old-fashioned ATX 20-pin and the newer 24-pin ATX jacks.

There's also 2 SATA plugs, two +12V wires and support for dual core CPUs. This PSU might just outlive this computer LOL. For my currently relatively modest box it might seem overkill, but I really want something I can rely on for 3-4 years (after all, I'd like to turn my computer into a sort of light server). And who knows, maybe in the future I'll need those SATA ports if I want to install new drives. Not yet: IDE drives are still being sold (gah @ the 500GB Hitachi drive: that's just TOO much!).

The only thing it doesn't have is modular cabling, but that was a no-no with my budget: any modular PSUs were 80 euros and beyond. I wanted to stay in the 60 euro price range, where you can actually trust manufacturers to use good parts.

I've heard stuff about leaky capacitors and other mishaps due to El Cheapo PSUs. Sorry, I'd like to have a durable computer, thank you very much. I might just throw in a round IDE cable to improve the air flow in my case a little. Plus, they're much easier to handle. They're only like 3-4 euros after all.

And an UV light... na~nte sa! (Just joking!) I don't want a "I'M GAUDY!" sign on top of my comp.

Oh and honestly, I'm not EVER going back to the computer shops in Puerto Real. A waste of time. Thank the Kami they were only 5 minutes away. One had two generic PSUs (both looked horrible), and in the other, the shopkeeper said something like "oh, we've only got generic ones, but they're GOOD ones, we use them in our comps!".

Sorry?! Are you Tom's Hardware or something for me to trust YOUR judgement? Do you guys stress test your PSUs or something? Keh.

By the way, about Tom's Hardware: they do really stress test most PSUs they get. They've been getting awfully commercial lately, though. Hmm. Oh well, it's not like the 'net is going to run out of computer sites. XD

OpenSuSE 10.0

I almost feel kind of sorry for leaving Ubuntu after trying Hoary, Warty and Breezy, but this time I had a good reason. Actually, a few:

- Epson C42SX printer didn't work. At all. And if it did, print jobs went awry when paper was missing or anything of the sort.
- Scanner didn't work either. This didn't surprise me though.
- Bad integration among programs.
- SCIM acted all weird. Emacs had its own input system, Firefox 1.5 broke when trying to use SCIM, and every Breezy update broke SCIM, so I had to regenerate the input method module files every time.

So I went over to The Compatibility Distro, OpenSuSE. Not bad at all!

- Printer works, and continues jobs properly after errors.
- Has Adobe PDF, Macromedia Flash Player and Real Player preinstalled
- NVIDIA drivers out of the box. Working fine after a little tinkering.
- Samba network working fine after looking into it a little too.

Actually, I've added some more stuff, like proper shortcuts to the Windows apps I use within Wine, like Wakan or eMule. Also installed some Windows games, everything seems to be working fine.

Now if I could get my scanner working, I could get rid of Windows once and for all. Tsk.