The Tentacle

Yep, you got it. Â And you're up.

Okay, my turn. Â This one's a little harder since it's an older title but it's such a classic I'm sure someone will recognize it: [img]http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/images/bex/pako_2baka.jpg[/img]

Oh man, I played this back on 1up.com once. Â Awesome game. Okay, this one's a no-brainer. Â It's [b]Neon Genesis Evangelion[/b]. Â

I saw the trailer last weekend at the opening of TRON. Â I'm pretty stoked about this one actually. Â Not only am I a huge fan of the pirate genre but of Blackbeard in particular. Â As a North Carolinean Edward Teach is somewhat of a local hero around these parts so of course I'm interested in seeing him portrayed in a modern day theatrical production. Â

Cursive is not only dying but I've always felt like it NEEDS to die. Â I don't care how pretty a page written in cursive looks. Â The point of the written language is to clearly communicate to someone without using words. Â Most of the hen-scratch that passes itself off as cursive that I've ever seen makes this almost impossible. Â I always write in plain block letters. Â It may not be pretty since my handwriting has always been paniful to look at but it's clearly legible. As far as this lady's concern that our society is losing our skill to communicate with the written word I'd say she's full of BS. Â If anything our skills are improving by leaps and bounds. Â Sure text messages written in IM Shorthand aren't exactly literary masterpieces but they're certainly a step up from those dark ages when people used their cell phones to TALK to each other. Â Back then keypads were only used to enter the number of the person you were calling. Â All of the texting, blogging, tweeting, etc. that's going on these days only serves to improve one's skill with non-vocal communication. Now you might say "but we're talking about using our hands to write out words instead of typing them". Â Again I say "BS". Â Mobile devices are a step up from pen and paper the same way pen and paper were a step up from scrolls and ink quills. Â Does anyone bemoan our lack of ability when it comes to sharpening the tip of a feather and using it to scratch words onto a dried roll of parchment? Â I think not. Â If anything technology will advance to the point where handheld word processors replace notebooks entirely. Â Ink and paper will become obsolete as messages are typed out and delivered via wireless services. Â The technology already exists. Â It's just a matter of it progressing to the point where everyone uses it and the pad & pen are completely phased out.

I agree with JamesMay completely on this subject. Â Personally I'd prefer to view nuclear weaponry as a "Doomsday Weapon" rather than a viable military strategy. Â I can't imagine many world leaders wanting political strife to lead to worldwide nuclear fallout. Â Just having the threat of it happening will hopefully be enough to keep things civil. Â

The biggest draw for me, and what ultimately made Ergo Proxy worth watching, was the concept of a manmade being such as an android becoming not only self-aware but also gaining the equivalent of a soul. Â This is a pretty big existential theory that I like to wrap my brain around every so often and Ergo Proxy did a lot to mirror my own thoughts on the matter. Â

Well [b]Patlabor WXIII[/b] didn't suck so much as it just didn't to have much to do with Patlabor.  If you treat it more as a side-story or standalone movie it's actually awesome, possibly moreso than the other two movies.  Anyway back on track.  I'm watching [b]Canaan[/b] right now.  Its along the vein of [b]Noir [/b]or [b] Madlax [/b]but thus far it's a little more lighthearted than either.  It's still a little early in the series for me to give it a final grade but so far, so good. Also, I found a good deal on ebay and I now own the entire collection of the [b]Dirty Pair[/b] anime.  Sadly it's not the original dubbing with Lara Cody & Wendee Lee playing the girls so I'll be watching this one in the OJ.  Really can't wait to watch [b]Project Eden[/b] again after so many years.

Dude, I have the entire [b]Patlabor[/b] series on VHS and it's easily my favorite anime to date. Â If you like the OVAs even a little you'll love the television series. Â It's not really your run-of-the-mill giant robot show though. Â Patlabor is mostly a character-driven comedy. Â The mecha designs are quite well done though and very memorable (to me anyway) even if they're glorified construction machines rather than space-age super Gundamechs. Â Individual episodes are all pretty entertaining but the setting and situations therein play into the show's events a lot so the television series is a lot more cohesive than what you're seeing in the OVAs. Â Plus there's an underlying plotline that comes into play part of the way through (although you'll come to realize seemingly stand-alone events are actually a precursor to this). Â The tv series spans around fortysome episodes with sixteen more contained in the "New Files" that are a direct continuation of the tv series. Â There are also three movies but these have a totally different vibe. Â They're more serious and, in the case of WXIII, the original cast is reduced to little more than a cameo appearance.

He's right.  Ergo Proxy was more cerebral than what I'm used to.  Plus I found it to be morbidly depressing. There was only a hint of the backstory supplied so it was very easy to get confused unless you were paying close attention the whole time.

What kind of additions are we talking about here? Â Changes to the original versions or just additional footage (as in a "directors cut")? Â Also, I've never heard of this holiday edition. Â Where'd you find it? Also, on one of my sojourns to the local bookstore I found yet another spinoff manga featuring the NGE cast. Â I find it disturbing that there are so many of these coming out so frequently and yet the original manga is still ongoing after so many years. Â You'd think they could belt out one or two more of those and just be done with it instead of producing a half-dozen assorted spinoffs, alternate reality, dating sim, etc. mangas while the original that spawned them all languishes on the back-burner.

I just finished up [b]Birdy the Mighty: Decode[/b] and I'm a little bit disappointed.  Not that it was a bad series or anything.  But I waited for years for this show and I'm shocked that it didn't hold a candle to the orignal OVAs that came out way back in the 90's.  Oh well, there's no school like the old school I guess. Then again I'm watching the original [b]Dirty Pair [/b]television series right now.  It isn't quite as impressive as the OVAs or movies that came out nearly a decade later.  Maybe the 90's were just a good decade for anime.

Do flash games count? Â If so then I've been playing [url=http://games.adultswim.com/mountain-maniac-xmas-twitchy-online-game.html]The Mountain Maniac Xmas[/url] a lot recently. Â Not really sure why. Â I think it's the principle of the thing.

I would like to have a [url="http://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2009/01/12/19/59/1988_ferrari_testarossa-pic-36301.jpeg"]Ferrari Testarossa[/url] even though it's hardly my style of vehicle. Â I think a [url="http://www.supercars.dk/cars/hummer/wallpapers-hummer-h2.jpg"]Hummer[/url] would be more my style. Â If you want to know about my actual "Dream Machine" I'd like a customized job similar to this one: [img]http://www.buckmasters.com/myspace/images/bus223.jpg[/img] Mine would be jacked up like that but it'd have big smokestacks like a semi's and a pair of bull horns mounted on the hood. Â Naturally there'd be a custom pain job to go along with it. Â Flames on the hood and the words "The Short Bus" written across the side. Â

I can't believe I never thought to add this guy to the list: [img]http://www.nautiljon.com/images/perso/0/2/8/chouji_suitengu_820.jpg[/img] Suitengu from [b]Speed Grapher[/b] is one of my all-time favorite anti-villains.  He spent nearly all of the series being a total douchebag that I couldn't help but dislike him.  He came off as the typical filthy-rich power-mongering criminal mastermind. But slowly I was given bits and pieces of his backstory until I had a grudging respect for the guy.  It wasn't until the very end that I learned what it was he was really trying to do and then I realized what a total badass he was. Â

Hello and welcome to the OB. Â I'm a fan of Trinity Blood so I think I'm qualified to answer that half of your questions. Â Sadly my artistic expressions are limited to crude stick figures so the issue of resolution should be left up to someone more artistically inclined. Personally I'd like to see the entire cast in the wallpaper. Â I'm somewhat partial to villains since they're just as important to a good story as the hero. Â As far as the font goes I'd stick with the traditional cursive font but maybe add some sort of secondary baner elsewhere in the gothic style. Â Something like "Merry Christmas" in red cursive at the top and then some witty follow-up like "And a Bloody New Year" at the bottom in black gothic. Â (Okay, that wasn't witty but you get the idea). Anyway, I hope that helps.

I'm still into the series but none of the spinoff stuff. Â Angelic Days and the Shinji Ikari Raising Project don't really appeal to me. Â Sadly the manga adaptation of the original series is still ongoing after so many years. Â I'm up to volume 12 with updates trickling in at a rate of about 1 per year. I'm pretty stoked about 2.0 or .22 or whatever the first version to be released is. Â Really digging this remake. I do admit that I'm a little hazy on certain details. Â What exactly does "Rebuild" entail? Â I've seen the artwork for the new plug suits and a lot of pics of a female pilot with ponytail and glasses but I've never really bothered to look into the issue. Â Can anyone clue me in?

I've been into anime for nigh onto 20 years now but I can't really say that my tastes have changed much. Â I tend to go with anime over manga and I stay far away from a lot of the "mainstream" stuff like Naruto and DBZ mostly for the sake of being an iconoclast. Â I usually prefer sci-fi and fantasy series but I'll watch the occasional samurai or slice-of-life show. Â The one change in my tastes that I can note is my willingness to try out niche titles like Mushishi or Kino's Journey. Â

I'll probably sleep through Christmas again this year. Â Is Dreamland a valid destination for this topic?

I've got the entire R.O.D anime/manga series and I can tell you that the events of the television series are set after the events of the Read or Die manga so you may want to look into that one first. Â Otherwise you will miss a few pivotal events. Â The Read or Dream manga is more akin to side-stories than an actual sequel so you can read it at your leisure.

[quote name='Shinmaru' date='27 November 2010 - 12:09 PM' timestamp='1290877749' post='702215'] Now I'm watching [b]GaoGaiGar[/b], which is often hailed as [b]Gurren Lagann[/b] before [b]Gurren Lagann[/b]. So far that's a bit inaccurate ... not really because [b]GaoGaiGar[/b] is [i]bad[/i], but more because [b]Gurren Lagann[/b] is a loving tribute/parody to super robot series, while [b]GaoGaiGar[/b] [i]is[/i] a super robot series like those from way back when. It's fun, but also sometimes kind of repetitive and dull. I'm told the second half is where it really shines. [/quote] I forgot to ask before but is this show any good? Â I took an interest in it before because someone compared it to [b]Gravion[/b] but the footage I saw looked more like a Saturday morning cartoon for kids. Â How does GaoGaiGar stack up to other robot shows? Most of the titles on my wist list after the last big purchase fall into the "to be announced" category so I'm thinking about adding a couple of box sets to my list. Â GaoGaiGar is one of them but if anyone has any recommendations I'd appreciate it.

Pretty much every day is Humbug Day in my dismal little world. Â Except Eggnog Day. Â That one will be pretty epic.

Your movies were a childhood staple of mine dear sir. Â You will be remembered.Â

At the moment I'm rewatching [b]Ragnarok: The Animation. Â [/b]I've never been a fan of MMORPGs but the anime based off of this one in particular is better than most sword & sorcery series I've seen. Â Once that's over I'll be digging into the phat stack of DVDs I just ordered from Amazon. Â I got the second half of [b]Xamd: Lost Memories[/b], [b]Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha[/b], [b]Kurokami[/b] #4 and [b]Canaan[/b] in the mail today [b]with Hell Girl - Three Vessels[/b] #2 and both volumes of [b]Birdy the Mighty: Decode[/b] coming by the end of the week. Â The first volume of the [b]Original Dirty Pair[/b] rerelease has also bee preordered. That'll keep me going for the rest of the year maybe.

[quote name='Pleiades Rising' date='24 November 2010 - 11:18 PM' timestamp='1290658682' post='702165'] I read, and then read some more! Seriously, it's almost pathological. The last time my e-net went bye-bye (lasted around a week, I think?) I just spend most of my free time (hahaha!) reading. If I could read all day, I would. But nowadays, I [i]try[/i] and keep up with some anime I'm watchin', in addition to reading. My books beside be are giving me a guilt trip at this moment, so I must go now. [/quote] You will henceforth be known as Pleiades "The Paper" Rising. I guess if I lost both the internet AND my DVD player due to a power outage I too would fall back on reading. Â The material would most likely come from my equally obsene collection of manga though. Â