The Mac Attack

The perceptions of what audiences are intended is one often incorrectly dealt with in children's magazines as well. My younger brother, knowing how much I love anime, reads me information in anime related articles from K-Zone, Disney Adventures and Mania. These magazines have a demographic of about 7-12 year olds. Anime is rather popular at the moment, so they'll boast many anime specials in hopes of selling their magazines, yet inspection by any true anime fan (ie. beyond yu-gi-oh and DBZ*) would reveal that they truly don't have a clue what's for what. In more recent times they've promoted series such as Initial D and Trigun, which are clearly over their audiences (the trigun article had a picture of Knives with a caption identifying him as Vash, as well). Prizes for competitions recently were also DVDs including titles like Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Licensed by Royalty and S-cry-ed. At one stage, one issue came with a Spriggan poster, which we would all recognise as being particularly violent. So, as it seems, even print media cannot grasp the idea that not all animation is for the minor audiences. They don't necessarily refer to it as "cartoons", yet it's clear they still have that kind of term in mind when the think of "anime". *EDIT: I was just using these examples as popular titles some consider the best animes around, when they haven't even viewed beyond them. I'm sure they are good shows in their own right that many an otaku can enjoy. However, a fact remains that the many children who are addicted to these shows don't really know that there are possibly [i]much[/i] more entertaining animes around.

In order from Most Wished for to least (those marked with 'available' mean they are commercially available to me): [b]Angel?s Egg[/b] - I've been quite interested by the premise of art films, and from what I hear, this is one of the best. [b]Azumanga Daioh[/b] - Having recently finished high school, I think it'll be nice to reminisce with this show. [b]Voices of a Distant Star (Available)[/b] - An anime wholly created by one man. I've definietly got to check this out. At 25 minutes, its seems as though the way movies should be. In my opinion 90 minutes to too long to sustain interest for me. I'm waiting until the price goes down because $30 Australian seems to much to pay, even considering the extras. [b]Boogiepop Phantom (Available)[/b] [b]Card Captor Sakura (Possibly Available)[/b] - After not really being thrilled by 'Cardcaptors', and hearing about how butchered it was, I'd like to check out the original. I haven't seen any 'cute' anime, unless hamtaro falls under this category. The 'possibly available means that it may not be available uncut and with subtitles. [b]Grave of the Fireflies (Available)[/b] - Many consider this the greatest anime movie ever. A lot of anime movies have dissapointed me e.g. Spriggan, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, The Boy Who Saw the Wind, several DBZ movies, so I'm hoping this can change my perception. [b]His and Her Circumstances[/b] [b]Chobits (Available)[/b] [b]Otaku No Video[/b] [b]Fruits Basket (Available)[/b] [b]RahXephon (Available)[/b] - The claim of superiority to Evangelion is one I'd like evaluate for myself. [b]Excel Saga (Available)[/b] - I want to wait a while for this one, so I would have a better chance at understanding the many references. [b]NeiA_7[/b] - After seeing some of Haibane-Renmei, I'd much like to see similar works as this, and the one written below. [b]Serial Experiments Lain (Available)[/b] [b]Tenchi Muyo! (Uncut) (Available)[/b] - We get the US Toonami version Adult Swim in Australia, and I was rather dissapointed with it. After reading reviews, however, many disagreed. So, now I would like to view the uncut, subtitled version, so see If it lives up the 5-star quality. [b]Arjuna (Available)[/b] - I found the trailer rather moving, and so I'd like to check this out. I'm hesisitant though as I've read it's blatently a "save the environment" message. I can't pass up on Yoko Kanno though. [b]Bubblegum Crisis (Available - Limited)[/b] - Being a fan of the 2040 series, it'll be nice to get back to the roots of this popular name. [b]Akira (Available)[/b] - I just want to see what everyone's talking about. [b]I My Me Strawberry Eggs[/b] - You can't go wrong with a wacky comedy. [b]Ninja Scroll (Available)[/b] - I haven't seen many decent fighting films recently, so this may have appeal to me. [b]Marmalade Boy[/b] [b]Ghost in the Shell (Available)[/b] [b]AD Police[/b] - Again, for it's relation to Bubblegum Crisis

I believe you're referring to Haibane-Renmei (I don't know why people call it by is alternate name. Maybe I'm using the wrong name). Haibane-Renmei certainly is a good show. I've only seen the first four episodes though. It's not your typical "sit back and watch" programme, as I've come to expect from alot of anime. It's a real thinker. I've become so frustrated with the show however, because the characters (so far) haven't come to the realisation about how morally awful the world they're living in is, nor have they done anything about it. They (the Haibane) have so many restrictions such as never being allowed to leave town, only wearing second hand clothes, having to work (many of them are young) and not speaking in certain circumstances. It makes you think that reason we have so many restrictions and laws in our world is for a cause, yet in their world, all these rules have no apparent reasoning behind them. As another note, this is the best dub I've seen so far. Everything I've viewed with comparison to subtitles is near word-to-word and I haven't found any english voices to be particularly inappropriate. You should definetily watch this. I've heard a lot of good things from review sites about this series as well.

Mother Abbess works out how to solve the problem with Maria (Sound of Music Reference)

[quote]2-d + 3-d = ?[/quote] Actually, I believe in this kind of art you can call it 4d, the fourth dimension being sound. At least that's what my old art teacher taught me. -The Mac Attack

"Who needs a plunger when I can use my own mouth?"

[SIZE=1] NOTE: Categories marked with "????" mean I don't know enough about that area to make a judgement on who should win. [U]General Awards[/U] [B]Overall Member of the Year:[/B] James [B]Male Otaku of the Year:[/B] Semjaza Azazel [B]Female Otaku of the Year:[/B] Queen Asuka [B]Staff Member of the Year:[/B] James [B]Funniest Member of the Year:[/B] wrist-cutter [B]Most Opinionated Otaku of the Year:[/B] Cloricus [B]Most Likely to Be Here in Two Years:[/B] James [B]Best Newbie:[/B] Terra [B]Best Oldie:[/B] James [B]Most Likely to Become a Staff Member:[/B] Poison Tongue [B]Most Improved Member of the Year:[/B] Baron Samedi [B]Favorite Banned Member:[/B] Taylor Hewitt (darn, I should have nominated sonic division) [B]Thread of the Year:[/B] The "Deal With This Member" Thread [B]Silliest Thread of the Year:[/B] I...am...lone [U]Random Awards[/U] [B]Avatar Award (Best Avatars Overall):[/B] Semjaza Azazel [B]Signature Award (Best Signatures Overall):[/B] Sara [B]Best Location (Best Specific Location):[/B] Drix D?Zanith [B]Best Otaku Couple:[/B] Queen Asuka/Piromunkie [B]Best Looking Otaku:[/B] ???? [B]Otaku Clique of the Year:[/B] OtakuBoards Yaoi/Shounen-Ai Club [B]Best MyOtaku:[/B] ???? [U]Otaku Writers[/U] [B]Poet Laureate:[/B] Mitch [B]Writer of the Year:[/B] Mitch [B]Role-Player of the Year:[/B] ???? [B]Brawler of the Year:[/B] ???? [B]RPG of the Year:[/B] Kill Adam [U]Social Otakus[/U] [B]Otaku Social Member:[/B] James [B]Entertainment Otaku:[/B] Semjaza Azazel [U]Otaku Anime[/U] [B]Otaku of the Year:[/B] Shy [B].hack//SIGN Member of the Year:[/B] AzureWolf [B]Dragonball Guru of the Year:[/B] PiroMunkie [B]Digipeep of the Year:[/B] ???? [B]Gundam Member of the Year:[/B] ???? [B]Yu-Gi-Oh Member of the Year:[/B] ???? [B]Least Disappointing Yu Yu Hakusho Member:[/B] Dagger IX1 [U]Otaku Gamers[/U] [B]Otaku Gamer of the Year:[/B] Shimaru [B]Nintendo "Mario" Award:[/B] ???? [B]Sony Award:[/B] ???? [B]X-Box Award:[/B] ???? [B]PC Gamer of the Year:[/B] Cloricus [U]Otaku Artists[/U] [B]Best Graphic Designer (Banners, wallpapers, etc.):[/B] Kinetic [B]Best "Traditional" Artist (Drawings, paintings, etc.):[/B] maladjusted [B]Best Spriter:[/B] ???? [U]Series Otaku[/U] - ???? [/SIZE]

I have watched Black Adder most recently, and while it may not always be laugh-out-loud funny, it's still a rather entertaining show. My favourites were the 2nd and 3rd. The first wasn't so appealing to me as I didn't like Edmund's wimpy character. A friend of mine has the entire scripts for all the seasons, which I had a browse over recently. Another comedy not mentioned is "Whose Line is it Anyway?". I much prefer this over Drew Carey's American version, even though the majority of the cast is the same. The American version was just so "dumbed down" in my opinion. An "Improvisation show" became "The show where everything's made up". And the joke with the points in the British version was that you worked out yourself that they had no meaning, instead of being reminded that at the end of every game. I much admire Clive Anderson as well. His jokes were always a nice touch at the end of the games and during the introduction. He, unlike Drew, was not the one laughing hardest as his own jokes (jokes which I've heard Drew repeat). Also, there is one man who deserves mention and that is Tony Slattery. He made this show what it is! His wacky touch to every game and his constant teasing of Clive made him a joy to watch every time. I'm sorry to bag out the American version so much, but I just hate it (similarly to how many anime fans will complain about a bad dub). -The Mac Attack PS: The Kumar's at No. 42 is good for a laugh every now then, especially when they pick on Sanjeev.

[url]http://www.manythings.org/midi/search.html[/url] Try the MIDI search engine as linked above. The results have not always been what I was searching for, but you may be lucky. -The Mac Attack

I find it interesting that Bohemian Rhapsody and Toys in the Attic are among people's favourites, as they're among my worst. It's not necessarily that I didn't like these episodes, just that I liked the others more. So may I ask what all you see in those which makes you enjoy it so?

Just as a quick note (as it hasn't been mentioned yet). The animation exceeds Otakuboards requirements for image resolution. If you wish to use it, some form of resizing or cropping may be required. -The Mac Attack

I enjoy reading Calvin and Hobbes in the sunday paper, and I believe your banners here are of a nice representation to the comic. I would've liked to see one, however, with the two fighting to complete the representation (or perhaps, doing something with more movement, if you understand). To me, it seems as though they're always involved in some kind of argument or tiff. I'm a bit questionable however, as to whether these are original works. They appear to be copies of images from other sites, with only minimal alterations. If this is the case, I'd recommended acknowledging the original images in your signature (if used) or create a banner encompassing more than one image. If it's not the case, then ignore this comment. Overall though, they are simple and pleasing to look at. They don't demand too much time, which is something I admire in this kind of art. Good work.

I have yet to see a superior anime, in my opinion. Cowboy Bebop still tops my list after viewing other otaku favourites such as The Vision of Escaflowne, Trigun, Tenchi Muyo!, FLCL and Neon Genesis Evangelion. What I admire most about this series are the visual techniques used by the director, as they actually entail some meaning. This was a flaw in the climax of Gasaraki. It looked good, but meant nothing. Toys in the Attic was my least favourite episode for this reason. The ending technique seemed only to be included to fill in the time. My Favourite Episodes are Ballad of Fallen Angels, Brain Scratch and Jupiter Jazz (Parts 1 & 2). Jupiter Jazz was the first "real" anime episode I'd ever seen, and while I found it confusing, it was the most intriguing television I'd watched in some time. I say "real" because I had watched the Funimation dub of Dragonball Z extensively beforehand. I enjoyed this series as well as many of the issues covered have a lot of bearing in today's society, one being the ignorance of terrorist motives in "Cowboy Funk". I also admired the use traditional dramatic techniques such as irony in Speak Like a Child ("Don't Lose Me!"). I have seen the movie as well, and I believe it isn't up to the standard of the series, as I found the plot to be fairly linear. The tone surrounding it seemed to change, as if it had become more "trendy", and so came off as a standard Hollywood action film. This opinion could just be me though, because I am generally known for my disliking of movies altogether.

This is an excellent banner. You have created a balance well with the character on the left and the text on the right. You have also worked well around a need for a border with the slight hinting of black around the edges. The background imagery is not overly distracting either with the horozontal line effect used subtly (a rare occurence on many banners). The banner itself is not so distracting either which is a plus in my books. Some banners tend to catch the eye of the viewers, taking them away from the written posts. The only thing I can't judge on, is your relevance to subject matter, as I have not seen this anime. Perhaps someone else can help you in this area. On the whole though, well done Dagger IX1.

This is a good wallpaper. However, I believe there are too many images entailed which can distract from the contents of the desktop. Perhaps you could try decreasing the darkness of the overall image to overcome this. Or maybe apply transparencies to some of the layers (if you're working with layers) The quality of your source images could be improved as well. The bottom two appear as obvious scans. Overall though, not to bad.

[quote][i]Originally Posted by FrenchTaunter:[/i] hey mac, i just checked out ur MIDI. that was amazing, very nice, marvelous, and other words that mean "good".[/quote] Thankyou. You are most gracious. If anyone would be interested in hearing more themes, please let me know.

Back in the day I was quite into music, primarily composition. I have Grade 4 AMEB qualifications in Music Theory with Honors. I tend to vary in genres, but more recently have adopted modern simple music (that is to be based around riffs and ostinatoes). And even more recently I rarely write at all. Occasionally I'll make up a little theme on the piano and then maybe enter it into the computer. The last theme I produced came about when I was trying to transcribe the Haibane-Renmei opening theme. My strongest area is harmony. I specialise in SATB choir arrangements, the structures of which can also be applied to string, woodwind and brass instruments. My next strongest area would be sequences. A sequence is where you repeat a melodic phrase at a different pitch. I'd once discovered what I considered a golden harmonic opportunity for them based on a progression of I-IV-VII-III in minor keys. Analysing almost any of my pieces would reveal this harmony used as a sequence, as I used to be quite obsessed with it. The majority of my pieces struggle to get over a minute. This is because I usually don't have the patience to stick to a project. Anyway, I've attached remnents of a song I once attempted (in a zip file). It's adapted from a Sea Shanty me and my friends made called "Can I be Your Manager?". I wont post the lyrics as I believe them not to be appropriate enough. The melodic line may sound a bit messed up in the second verse, as this is where I gave up.

Thank Christ I'm not alone. I cannot stand that Outkast song either, and for some reason Channel V insists on playing it on an hourly basis (between Robbie Williams, Black Eyed Peas and The Chemical Brothers). Most popular music is tollerable to some degree, but this song has got to be the most inane thing I've ever heard. The tediousness of the tone colour drives me up the wall as well. Although, I mostly listen to music from the Romanticism movement (late 1800s), so I may not have as much of an appreciation of this genre as eithers.

[quote][i]From [url]http://www.widearea.co.uk/designer/anti.html[/url][/i] One of the most important techniques in making graphics and text easy to read and pleasing to the eye on-screen is anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing is a cheaty way of getting round the low 72dpi resolution of the computer monitor and making objects appear as smooth as if they'd just stepped out of a 1200dpi printer (nearly).[/quote] See the attachment for elaboration. The text at the top appears smooth against the background, whilst the text at the bottom appears jagged, and by comparison is not so pleasing to the eye. I don't think it's really possible to use anti-aliased text in paint, so don't worry about it too much until you're using a more sophisticated application. The level of compression in your current images won't improve by resaving the files in a different format now. In the future, I would recommend saving in the .PNG format. Or, you could do as I do: Save the banner in a .BMP format first, and then resave in a compressed format. If I don't like how the file was compressed, I could open the BMP file and resave it again with a different level of compression. This BMP file can also be useful for making changes later on, without having to deal with the low image quality of a compressed file.

I would consider this an okay banner, because unlike many other's I've seen, it's message is clear. Many people tend to make more complex, cluttered images crammed with their subject matter. Also, you have considered the traditional artistic phrase "form follows function" by creating a banner which will not overly distract a reader from the text in a post e.g. like animated avatars do. However, there are a few instances in which you could stand to improve. Firstly, I've been noticing with your banners in JPEG format, that you use a level of compression I would consider to be too high. The resulting images are not always outwardly pleasing to look at due to the lossy compression. Perhaps you could try using PNG formatting, as the resulting images will not lose quality. Secondly, in order to create a balance in this banner, the top line of text should be more aligned to the center. At the moment it's leaning slightly to the left which disturbs the harmonics of the piece (disregard if it's supposed to be that way). Lastly, if it's possible in the application you're using, make sure you're using anti-aliased text. This creates a better blend between the text and the surrounds. I would always recommend anti-aliasing for images displayed on screen and aliased for print media.

I'm not much at writing, but I do have creative outbursts when it comes to visual arts. Just the other day I was cleaning off my whiteboard. I went to fetch a new colour and then I eventually ended up with a Cowboy Bebop motif consuming the whole board. Currently, there's a website I'm supposed to be making, yet I'm only going to work on it once I get these creative urges, otherwise the result probably won't be that pleasing. In my experience, when it comes to music compositional creativity, late at night can be the best of times. Some of my best pieces (or themes technically) were written at this time. I'm not too sure what it is about this time, but if you're into composition I suggest you give it a go.

In spite of what it may seem, I'd believe myself to be a very respectible person. All I did in this situation was assert myself as I'd been bullied by this teacher at that time. From then onwards it ceased. She knew I wasn't a bad person, just that I wasn't going to be made to be forced into things when she especially was going beyond her means (I reinforce again, she was not [i]my[/i] music teacher). I still contributed in music projects I wanted such as playing piano in the school musical band. Yet in other instances such as being made to perform in the choir and give solo piano performances at assemblies, I said no. Her and I get on well now.

Back in the day, I was a member of the school "singing group". I hated it so much for so many reasons. Firstly I was forced into it by a very intimidating music teacher (she wasn't really my teacher though, but still thought she could control me). Alot of the other members were obviously forced into it as well, and certainly weren't happy about it. Secondly, the songs they sung were of the poorest choice. The teacher had barely an indication as to what a teen student audience would appreciate. Thirdly, they were the laughing stock of the school. The performances they gave were terrible and there was always a moan heard whenever they took the stage. They only lengthened out our assemblies in which everyone wished they were somewhere else. And lastly, I hate doing things I'm not good. I'm an okay singer on the occasion, but I'd never think I was good enough to perform in front of an audience as if I was. I was only able to leave the group after consultation to the principal. I confronted the teacher and just told her then and there that I wasn't going to be in her singing group or do whatever she told me to do (she never asked). It seems as though alot of you conversely enjoy your singing groups, and I hope your enjoyment continues in the future.

Conversely for me it's usually the final episode which dictates whether I like a series or not. A series could mediocre for a majority, but have a stunning ending which can make up for all of it. One example of mine is Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. I probably would've given it three stars, had it not been for the very final scene. It may have been a little cliche, yet I found it quite moving and added an extra star to my score. An example of an ending which ruined a series for me was Dragonball Z. The means of defeating Kid Buu seemed a bit uninspired and cheesy to me. The following filler episodes were total "jump the shark" moments as well. There are some anime which I'm definitely going to see through because they had great first episodes though. They are Love Hina and Haibane-Renmei. I had never seen quite a comedy such as Love Hina and so I instantly fell in love it. I'm continuing Haibane-Renmei in the hopes that the characters realise how sad the world they're living in is, and actually do something about it. If they don't though I'm going to be extremely dissapointed.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Carr[/i] Now, I'm not an expert, but your jaw clicking sounds like TMJ, which is what I have. That's what I have to wear a splint for. It's sometimes cause by an inpact to the head.(Mine was when I knocked my teeth out.) Heh, maybe your sister thowing you into a wall has something to do with it. [/quote] Perhaps, but the dentist (sorry, did I say doctor originally?) suggested that I was better off just letting it be. This is because many people undergo expensive treatments and operations to fix their jaw, only to find it ineffective. So, in the long run I'd be better off to deal with it and eventually it may go away on it's own. The only repercussion that I've known from my sister was a bald patch that remained for years afterwards where the stiches were.