Delicious Library

First of all, I’m very tired from staying up late last night from studying, then finding this program.

Delicious Library is a catalog program for OS X which allows a person to scan pretty much anything with UPC code relating to books, music, video games, toys, and a few other groups. All it does is put the products into it’s groups for record purpose. To input data, you can either input the UPC then it AUTOMATICALLY looks for the product and puts it in to the database or for the Mac users, you can use your iSight camera to get the computer to read the barcode. Of course iSight isn’t perfect, but for the most part where the UPC code is pretty big, it works. Delicious Library seems to be working with Amazon.com to grab cover art and information for the product, along with ratings, synopsis, and reviews for the product from Amazon.com.

Other things with this program is to publish your collection into HTML format and upload it to a website. There are also options to upload directly to a .mac account, ftp, or iWeb.

Here’s an example of an uploaded Delicious Library made catalog for HTML.

Another feature it has is the ability to loan an item out and record it. This feature I haven’t tried myself.

The few problems I’ve encountered was the iSight camera and the inability to read a lot of UPC codes because it was too small. The iSight camera was never good for capturing photos in general, but for the most part it took most of the things in the example. This includes bar codes of figures imported from Japan. Another problem was the program itself unable to locate some of the items correctly. Some of the Halo books I scanned came up as some Anne Rice’s, “Interview with the Vampire.” The UPC code is apparently the same, but the ISBN number is different.

If the scanning doesn’t work, you can manually find the product using the UPC code or ISBN number. One thing to remember is if you are finding the items manually, select the item you’re inputting, otherwise it would not find it.

This program is by Delicous Monster.

Unfortunately, this program is mac only; however, my windows side says, “anything a mac can do Windows can do too.” Since google is your friend, Mediaman it is.

And….The Package

Alright the package is here from Play-Asia, and thanks to that, I’m going to put off much work tonight. Why?

-The package included all the Idolm@ster stuff except the PSP itself in the pic.

I’ll post more later. This then stuff in my real life…like studying, if I can stay awake from the long day at work.

Play-Asia (UPS)….GEEEEZ!

After two days Play-Asia’s package finally came! Kudos to play-asia, err UPS, and their fast shipping, okay it was a bit expensive, but it was here in 2 DAYS! Better than EMS that would’ve taken at least a week.

AND…here’s the tracking. I’m still confused about the Anchorage, Alaska departure, maybe it stopped there to pick up more packages.

Partial Up

The site is partially up after a week of file corruptions and other annoying factors. All con photos before 2008 are up; however, it’s left in archive style for now. All photos after 2008 are located different area. Everything is still being fixed from broken links to testing the integrity of the modules on the site.

Play-Asia Shipping Test

A few weeks ago, I ordered a small package from Play-Asia.com and chose UPS shipping. According to their site, their expensive $19.90 shipping through UPS will take one to four days. As of this morning the item has shipped from Hong Kong and is on it’s way to the East coast of the United States.

-Method of payment is a credit card, so no slow approval of mailing a check or pay pal approval stuff.

Katsucon 2009 – Jam packed of fun, literally!

Many con attendees had many questions going into this year’s Katsucon. The convention has moved from the Crystal City location due to the increase in attendees and size. The Omni was a great location for size but for some reason, Katsucon returned back to Crystal City. How crowded will it be? And will Katsucon returning to Crystal City also mean the return of “Snow-Con”?

To answer the first question, the convention was packed. Crowded. Over-filled. Even the registration line involved having everyone go underground to the garage, to the bottom floor of the hotel, up the escalators (in groups), all the way up to the line in the lobby. The minute you enter the convention, you are overwhelmed with the vast amount of people everywhere. Kudos to the con staff for trying their hardest to keep the escalators and pathways free. They may have seemed rude at times but they had to do what they had to do to keep the paths free. But yes, everywhere you turn, it was PACKED. By early Saturday, they were no longer allowing new registrations due to the con hitting the attendee limit.

This year, two new features were added to the lineup of events. The Maid Café was an excellent idea offering folks to dine in on while also enjoying an anime experience. The idea was very successful judging by the line that never shortened all weekend and here’s hoping that this trend continues!

Another addition this year was the Valentines Ball. Valentines day fit perfectly in the middle of the con and love was in the air. A fairly set dress policy set the standard (though it seems some people were able to sneak in without proper attire) and the music was great. Low beat, soothing, and just right, the DJ did a great job. Yet, there were a few faults, one of which, was rather a major fault. The lighting was a bit dark for a ball (great for a dance) and the music wasn’t very ball-like (but once again, great for a dance). The major issue was that the room was filled and could only allow so many people in. This led to people waiting in line for well over an hour (almost up to two for some!). Luckily this won’t be a problem next year (Katsucon is moving to another hotel next year, more on this later in the report) 

One thing Katsucon has always exceeded in was the masquerade. This year did NOT disappoint! Honestly, Katsucon just seems to host skits that are just amazing… and this year was certainly no exception. Anyone who saw the Pokemon skit that was up knew… that… was… AWESOME. The displays, the characters, the choreography, this skit had everyone up and cheering for great reason. This was one of the best laid out skits I’ve seen. The Axis Powers Hetalia skit was simply adorable, the Gundam walk off was one of the best nods to Zoolander, the Mario Kart love song was so cute, (#)%*#)*% I could go on and on. What is the magic in Katsucon’s masquerade? Maybe its that the presenter does such a fun job every year? Maybe it being one of the earliest cons of the year? Who knows? And another to note was the last skit. Seeing a Macross Plus skit, pulled off beautifully with the background video and beautiful costumes, was so spectacular. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful Katsucon 2009 masquerade.

An exciting new topic for Katsucon is that they are moving for 2010! And where are they moving to? To the Gaylord National hotel in the Inner Harbor, Maryland! Having been to the Gaylord Texan (in Texas), the best word to summarize how this hotel is “EPIC”. http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-national/ Please, look up the website, find pictures online, anything. You will be amazed. A huge welcome to 2010 and we will all be looking forward to this new place!

Katsucon 15

Even though I did not make it to this year’s Katsucon, two members of Quadrain.com was able to and cover the convention. The report will be by Kyo as usual and the photos are by Tony. The photos are up on the site so you can check them out.

White Album

This series was originally created by Leaf as an H game for the PC back in the late 90s, recreated for early 2000s, and finally as a Playstation 3 game was announced for 2009 recently. The series is finally not a game where you get a girl and go along with it, but rather you start off being a college student how already has a girlfriend named Yuki at the beginning; however, she becomes a rising pop idol, and you deal with a lot of drama ranging from another idol, local school “friends,” to the manager of your girlfriend.

The anime does follow somewhat of the path of the game, but not really. So far the first five episodes has started to build upon a train wreck, similar mood to the last few episodes of School Days.

Back to the story Toya is the main character that was hooked up with Yuki before she became a pop idol with Ogata productions. As she became an idol, the communication between the two starts to break down; however, Toya and Yuki tries to stay in contact as much as possible. The relationship does not seem to end during the first five episodes; but things do get nasty when some of the Ogata production folks try to break up Yuki and Toya for to avoid any problems with Yuki becoming an idol. This includes Rina trying to get the manager to take Toya’s heart or mind to get him away. Things do seem to break down in the fifth episode when the phone calls start to go unanswered and contact is limited. Are things going to end? Who knows… The main goal is for Toya NOT to lose his relationship with Yuki and do whatever it takes to hold on to her.

Along with Toya’s relationship issues with Yuki and himself, an anime series modeled after an H game is not completed without the main character having too much on his plate. This goes with his other female friends how is hinted to like him. This goes from Haruka a friend, who seemed to have hooked up Toya with Yuki back in High School; Mizuki who is a colleague of Toya at the college they go to; Rin Ogata who is already a known idol under the Ogata productions, who is hinted to liking Toya.

So far so good with the series since it doesn’t involve a lot of drag or action, kind of a good in between lay back and watch series. The drama isn’t too sobbing like Kimi Ga Nozmu Eien to the point you want to shoot yourself in the face, but it shows a relationship struggle that a person can stand to watch and try to understand in the circumstance. Okay not really, it really starting to get screwed up.

Continue reading White Album…