Sakuracon 2008 – Over

This marks the first west coast con for quadrain.com and since it’s over some of the photos are up. Another batch of photos will be up later including a report too.

Strawberry Panic Vol. 1 DVD

In the general sense, Strawberry Panic is about a girl name Aoi Nagisa who attends the St. Miator school on Astrea Hill. St. Miator is part of three all-girls schools on Astrea Hill, with the others being St. Spica and St. Lulim. On the first day of attendance, Nagisa arrives on the campus and as excited she is seeing the new campus, she comes upon a beautiful student named Shizuma Hanazono who is known as the Etoile of the three campuses. Immediately Shizuma falls head over heels for the new transfer students and the story goes from there.

Now to the DVD, because there’s nothing else. After buying the DVD this morning, I immediately came home and stuck it in the laptop and ran a side-by-side test with the fansub I got a long time ago. The first impressions for the DVD is, “Why is the quality bad?” During the playback, the DVD was clearly uncut and unedited, aside from presenting the sponsors in the fansub, and the sound quality was just as good as the fansub (maybe slightly better). The MediaWorks DVD doesn’t have dubbing for the series (thank goodness) to save costs; however, their cost saving maneuver does show throughout the DVD.

One example is the title screen where it’s a plain goodness for the DVD. During the title screen, like some anime DVDs out there, the first intro is on a loop during the whole time.

Now for the good stuff. There are some of the scenes from the DVD with the respected scene from a fansub I got a LONG time ago.

For the “Special Features,” it includes a textless opening and ending. /golfclap

There’s one nifty thing to this DVD and that’s the cost. I found this for $15.99 at the Best Buy (cheaper than some of other DVDs), that isn’t the closest to my house (grr Cary, NC). But luckily thanks to a $10 certificate, it made the DVD somewhat worth of a buy. Okay there went my lunch money. I just wish DVD package was like the Japanese special edition releases where it comes with a phone strap.

Putting Off Anime for a Mobile Digital Scribe

One of the hardest thing while in college is tho choose what you want to buy. Being a student, it’s even harder because of the limited cash on hand.

Recently I’ve been putting off buying anything new related to anime and concentrated on other things. One being a Mobile Digital Scribe from IOGEAR. This little device caught my eye when I saw videos on it demonstrated at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show. This two-piece device allows a person to turn their computer into something similar to a Wacom tablet. Without any special paper, the receiver picks up the position of the pen from anywhere within an A4 size area and positions the pointer on the screen. The pen comes with two inserts for the pen: one blue ink and a dummy insert for mouse or tablet use.

One of the main things about the Mobile Digital Scribe is the ability to use it without a computer. I got this right before I left for class; however, reading the directions wasn’t a hassle, since the quick guide was only four sections of a brochure. Recording was an easy task by attaching the receiver to the top of the paper and start writing. Once you’re done writing on the page, you simply press the button to save the page and make a new one. Apparently the receiver can save up to fifty pages, but I don’t know about that yet (I believe more). All I know is, after using int physics class, I was pretty amazed how well it copied my crappy hand writing.

Downloading the notes was a little hassle, because initially the computer (Windows Vista) recognize the device and treated as a mouse; however, I could not find the notes. After unplugging the receiver, plugging it back in, then clicked the refresh button in the MobileDigitalScribe software, my notes were ready to be downloaded. The options for downloading a note is in the proprietary “.pegvf” or the standard “.jpg” format.

Using the device as a mouse was a bit fun, since it’s pretty much an invisible tablet for your PC (like using a Wacom tablet as a mouse). Since Windows Vista added tablet support, the Mobile Digital Scribe takes advantage of this. Finally Ink Ball is fun to play with.

Another feature about the Mobile Digital Scribe is the receiver being able to switch from mouse mode to note mode by pressing the button on the receiver when it’s connected to the computer. When you engage the pen, a clipboard style program comes up and you can start writing. The OCR software that comes with it is called My Scripts Notes 2.1 Lite.

So far the scribe works pretty well in Windows and the applications like Photoshop ans such; however in OS X, there’s not much support for it yet. The mouse feature DOES work on OS X, but I’m still trying to get the “Ink” program in OS X to do some magic. What Photoshop in Windows can click and drag curvy lines with a pencil tool, the Photoshop in Mac only creates straight lines with the same tool. Come on IOGEAR and Apple, make out and make drivers!

Alter – Caren Ortensia

I’m going to try to stick this post in real quick while I’m at work. I need a vacation (not another con either).

This figures was one of those figures where I wanted a long time ago, but didn’t get it because there was something I needed to get rather than want when it was released.

Caren is from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (sequel to Fate/Stay) and in this figure, she is in her standard outfit in the game sitting on top of a pedestal. The red ribbon around her is removable for those who doesn’t like the extra detail (even though it’s her weapon in the game). The beret is also removable for those who have a hair fetish. Like many removable head pieces for a figure, the beret is molded to fit the head in the correct position.

This figure have been around for a while now; however, it was the last to be released in December 2006 after Griffin (September 2006), and Good Smile (October 2006). The Alter version is also the smallest of the three being a 1/6th scale (compared to the other 1/6 and 1/7).

Full figure Continue reading Alter – Caren Ortensia…