Fingernail time...

This morning I turn on WebTV, and it connects to the ISP. Then lo and
behold - There's an update available for our terminal! Ok.. whatever,
let's do the update. I hate updates.

I tell the terminal to go ahead and do it. So it begins... gets to
somewhere around Part 10 and loses carrier. OMG~!! NO!!

So, ok, anywho, I check the phone connection here, and then get it going
again. I watch it dial out... It's connecting through our ISP.
Previously updates were done through WebTV's toll free number and came
directly from their computers. Or at least that's how it seemed.

So finally, it gets Part 16, and it's done. I have it connect. It dials
the ISP, does something, then it starts over again dialing toll free
with the service, then dials again connecting to the ISP and voila. It's
up again.

Question: When it dropped carrier at part 10, why couldn't it just
re-start with Part 10 and finish from there? It knew where it was when
it stopped... And why not get the update off the toll free number? I
don't know why it lost the connection at all.

Still a little shaken up... I don't see anything different, and the
email the main account got said you wouldn't. Just one of these times
they should make the browser signature reflect as Internet Explorer 5.0
or something to keep snobby webpages from dumping the terminal off.

Argh...

Ok, so a posting I made yesterday doesn't show up until today when I
re-send it, then I get both original send and the resend posted..
grrr... Usually these things appear right away or that's what they
did...

Anywho, lost one of my Anime pins on my hat. It's the Hououji Fuu pin...
I've had that one a long time, but since she fell off today, I should be
able to find her. The pin's gotta be at the store somewhere since I
wasn't anywhere else. As long as I have some luck on my side, Fuu should
be findable.

I have since checked some of my other pins and found them just waiting
to fall off as well. The rubber pinbacks don't seem to be any better
than the metal ones for long term use. I thought using super glue might
help them stay on, but I was wrong...

Until further notice, all my pins are off my Sailor Moon hat. I lost the
Princess Serenity one but was able to replace her. I lost the gachapon
Rabi En Rose pin but replaced her with another of a different design.
One that pissed me off losing was the Furuta made Ruby Moon from Card
Captor Sakura. Almost impossible to replace. The Fuu pin I don't like
losing either, but if I can find her, all the better, but she can be
replaced by another of her. There's a good chance I can replace her.
Same character but different design.

I forget if I lost any others. I stopped using my anime keychains for
the same reason. I lost _3_ friggin Sailor Jupiter keychains, 2 right in
a row of Super Sailor Jupiter - 1 of these never made it home!!!
AAARRGGHHH!!

A year since...

I can't believe it's already been a year since Tabbytha passed away. I
still remember how I felt when I got the details of what happened as
Jenny was trying to get someone to look at Tabbytha at the vet's office.
I'm a little angry about that even today. I kinda wish I had been able
to take Tabbytha down myself since she had become attached to me. She
loved us all in the family. I have so far been unable to get ahold of
Liz so she can somehow contact the one Japanese girl who Tabbytha would
not leave alone and asked for a picture with her camera at our house.
^_^ Tabbytha had been so noisy in the basement months prior to her
passing - I don't know if she was letting us known something was wrong
or what. Damn, I miss that cat.

I think it was a bit of a miracle that on December 4, 2003, we were
found by an orange male cat we suddenly adopted and called Marmalade. It
was a Friday and it was the big start of the snowy weather for the
winter. I had a hell of a time driving home after work. I'm not sure
where he came from, but the still visible tracks he left originated
around Mom's car and up and around the house, where at the back door he
proceeded to make a lot of noise. Mom thought it was Griz, but instead
it was this orange cat from outside! I'm glad Ariel made friends with
him for the 2 months before she died. Marmalade is a very good kitty and
I'm glad he found us. But I still miss Tabbytha and Ariel.

Close calls and other stuff

Something I've had on order for one of my penpals in Japan finally
arrived!! And my "Grimlock" figures of Nekomimi Rei and Monkey Asuka
also arrived unexpectedly...

However, my relatively easy day on Saturday wasn't as easy. I had a
nagging and raging sinus headache that refused to go away. Nice parting
shot for my cold or whatever it was. I woke up this morning without the
headache or the slight raspy gurgle while breathing out (still waiting
for that to come back anyway)...

Plus, well, I'm glad my brakes worked, but no thanks to the idiot in the
van who pulled out when he shouldn't have... So anywho, I'm one street
away from visiting my guy for manga. I had to stop for one van in front
of me and he's stopped on Tuscawaras in front of the pet supply store,
because for some annoying reason, the driver feels they can't get their
van into the parking lot because there's another vehicle trying to
leave... Eventually the boovin trying to leave does leave, the van
trying to enter does enter, but!!! While I see it clear, and that ANYONE
LEAVING A PARKING LOT ONTO A MAIN ROAD HAS TO STOP... ANOTHER IDIOT IN A
VAN DECIDES TO IMMEDIATELY DASH OUT ONTO TUSCAWARAS AT THAT DAMN MOMENT
FROM THAT SAME EXIT AT THE PET STORE!!! I must have come at least 3 or 4
feet from plowing into this idiot. I'm lucky nobody hit me from behind -
nor was I going all that fast. That JERK!!

I get home to find a call that someone in the neighborhood where we used
to live was referred to me for computer help... O..K... gotta find out
who did that. The name of the family has a son who I didn't really get
to know or get along with. I have friends who do though. Maybe it was
them. I've no grudge against them, but my nagging sinus headache made it
impossible to call them back right away or do this.

What the...

I sent 4 posts to my blog, 3 bounce, and then the 4th one shows up, then
the page looks different. Dunno why, but the bouncing thing and then the
change both are unexpected and annoying.

second try: bounced - So Anywho...

Actually, the last 3 attempts to post finally bounced... Grrr..

It's been a while since I put anything up. Been busy, been getting over
whatever invaded my sinuses. Odd smell and flavor when I blew my nose or
coughed up stuff and spit it out. At least I hope the worst is over.
It's almost like the thing I'd get when school started back up in the
fall. I'd have a raging nose infestation of snot, then it'd clear out
completely with one good nose unload and it'd be over and it wouldn't
come back the rest of the year... A nose unload would be blowing my nose
into paper towels or whatever and a huge big glob of snot would come out
all at once. It sounds more gross than the relief it brings when it
finally decides to leave.

Been storming like crazy (again!!). I don't try to get email when it
storms.

Wednesday night I'm trying to do stuff and we get a phone call. As it
turned out, it was my older sister on her cell phone (with crappy
Verizon reception there), and she's on the phone apparently trying to do
something on the net with some teenaged girl, I imagine she's still
staying with that one guy she met some time ago, and he's got his
daughter with him. Anywho, since my sister figures what they're trying
to do could somehow be helped with something from me, she asks to talk
to me... (some nerve - but that's beside the point). So anywho, she says
they're doing some sort of RPG thingy online, but she doesn't know what
RPG means (role playing game, in this case - in computer terms, it's a
programming language called Report Program Generator ^.^), and they need
a name. I suggest a couple like "Sakura" (it's taken), then Eisha (from
Outlaw Star), but the one that got a reaction from the girl was "Zakuro"
from Tokyo Mew Mew - "Oh!! I love that show!"

Interesting how she knows about that, even though later she says she
doesn't want to see it subtitled. My god the English dub is butchering
it, people MUST see Tokyo Mew Mew uncut and subbed!!! tonikaku, maybe
she's read the manga?
I had hoped to make some arrangements (she wanted to see some Sailor
Moon as well. ^_^) with her to send some tapes, and I told my sister to
give her my email address and we could do that.

Oh no.. She couldn't do that. She'd email me.

I know how anime fans are, rabid ones desperate for stuff, so it's best
I have a direct line to this girl, even though she's a teenager (I've
talked to many in email, and I see my role merely as a mentor - nothing
more), it's best she communicate directly to me, not filtered through
someone who doesn't "get it".

I was really insulted she wouldn't give my email address to the girl,
and her reaction over that made me feel like I was being depicted as
some pervert or the like. I am not, nor have I ever been, anyone like
that. I've got 3 nieces I try to love most of the time (except when
they're being nasty brats). This and that are the same thing.

Anywho, I don't know what's going to happen. I've yet to receive an
email from my sister about what this girl was asking me for, but I feel
it may not happen because when the girl found out I had Tokyo Mew Mew
episodes subtitled, she sorta made the comment she didn't want to see it
that way. But it's the only way I'll share it with people, because
that's the show people know, not some dubbed garbage. She was interested
in some Sailor Moon, so I've got that, except for the last episode which
I have raw... If I get the chance to send her something, I'll make sure
she finds my email address in some way. I have my methods.

Phone line fixed!

Not more than 30 minutes after the phone company technician came out did
I find out the line was fixed. As it turned out, it was the main line
across the road from us that was about to snap apart, and the static we
kept getting was from the ends of the wires rubbing together.

The main line is across the road from us. I wonder why no one else on
this part of the phone network didn't call to complain about the
noise???

The problem wasn't inside the house after all, as we knew. I'm just glad
it didn't take very long or cost us anything. Just think though - if the
wires had snapped, I'm sure we wouldn't be the only ones without phone
service. I'm glad we reported the problem!

Phone line problems...

The random static on the phone line continues to be a problem. What's
odd is that I was on this morning and until 9 am I really had no problem
with the phone line. Then around 9:30 that's when the static started up
again. I can't see anything different with connections inside, and since
the Ohio Edison guys were here a couple weeks ago to move the electric
line to a new pole they installed out by the road, we've had this
increasing problem of phone line static.

Even though the phone company says the problem must be inside the house
according to the system tests the person my mom spoke to on Saturday
ran, we can't seem to find the problem. No matter which phone jack we
try (and there are 3, I suppose the 4th would be the connection for the
satellite box), there's static. I've ruled out static from the satellite
box plug. It has to be between the pole and the house, or at least the
box on the side, and that's old.

I think I'm almost over this cold, finally. still some crap to cough up
and spit out, but it's looking good.

Oh My Goddess to change format...

I hope to put this here until I can post on the boards at Dark Horse.
They use the same board software as my friend does on his site, but
clicking on Submit with WebTV just gets a stupid stare...


Well, first off, I can't say that I like hearing about the issues
ceasing. Viz already did that with all the stuff I used to buy, and I
think we have Tokyopop to thank for popularizing the $9.99 manga book in
the first place.

I would miss seeing those monthly issues, and I'm sure the title itself
benefits from the regular shelf exposure it gets.

Seeing the manga unflipped would be a big benefit to the artwork.

However, DH has to compete with other publishers for my manga dollars,
so they can price it whatever they want as long as it's $9.99 to $10.99
just like everyone else. I'm not going to fork over $15 for a book
anymore - I think the market has gotten to the point where it's viable
to sell a volume of manga as a graphic novel for $9.99 and it'll sell.
ADV tried offering Nuku Nuku manga, but the first book was listed for
$14.99. As much as I'd like to see that manga, I ain't paying $15 for
it. Fuggetit.

Del Rey has some manga out at $10.99, so their $1 more in price isn't
that bad. But $15? Come on. That's not funny anymore.

I'd rather see Oh My Goddess! continue in an issue format. I don't think
the change would be due to sales figures - hey, how about offering some
sales figures? So many other manga and anime companies who bring out
product here are so loathe to providing actual sales figures. I know
they're not publically held companies, but still I think this info is
available for stuff in Japan, so it's not like it's going to help or be
viewed badly as bragging - when fans see their favorite titles selling
well, it feels good to cheer them on, ne? Well, we can't, and have only
statistics provided by things like Diamond in Previews to show any
indication as to what's selling.

Anywho in summary

I'd rather see the (monthly) issues continue.

Unflipped is good.

Price the English tankoubon at $9.99 so fans can still afford it,
because everyone else is coming out with mostly $9.99 books, too.

yoroshiku onegai shimasu nyo

Phone line troubles

I don't know what's been going on with the phone line lately, but when
mom finally called the company to see what's up, the person at the other
end ran a check and somehow their system determined the problem to be at
our end.

We've had a rather annoying and unusual amount of static on the line
lately. This plays heck with modems and computers. So anywho, I come
back from getting my stuff and go out to check the box, after leaving
only the cordless phone on the line, unplugging the Dish Network box,
and I hear static still. So I open the big box - it's the box installed
when Grandpa had Primestar. Why's this still here? Anywho, I check out
the little box next to it - that's the phone company box. Ah. This needs
replaced. Anywho, I do what minor fiddling I know to do safely since
voltage does run through those wires. Put the cover back on, check the
cordless again.

^_^ Clear as it used to be. Minimal background static, as it should be.
Yeah, it's the box, not inside the house like that one person said it
likely was.

Mom gets on with her 'puter and does what she can, since for some reason
the dialup networking keeps freezing. Going to have to figure that out.

So I go downstairs and check that hookup. Clear, too.

And so I do this. ^_-

This past week: Visit to Lent's, new rule about toads

For some reason recently, our ISP has been dropping carrier for no
reason. I mean, WebTV is designed to work with call waiting, but when my
mom's online with her system and the line hangs up, then it's definitely
the ISP's servers going wonky. Irritating...

tonikaku, we now have a new rule around here about my 2nd niece and her
fascination about toads. This came about because of our dog looking at
or behind the refrigerator because she knew something was there. Then
next thing mom knew - Plop! - it jumped on her foot! The dog had been
picking it up in its mouth and spitting it out. Anywho, it surprised mom
to no end...

(had a hangup - and I heard line noise... I hope the electric people
moving the pole and all didn't futz up our phone line, too... Grrr...!!)

So she called my sister and told her about it and they had a general
discussion with my niece.

Went to visit a friend yesterday. Had been after him for a copy of a CD
we had played on our way up to Anime North, and got that done. I sent
him a copy of my AN2k4 footage for stuff I had promised a couple of
people in exchange for stuff they sent me. I hope the copy comes out
fine because Lent's VCRs were known in the past to not be all that clean
and reliable for recording, but maybe he's got that taken care of.
Crossing fingers as I play the tape soon.

But one thing I really wanted to do was visit the Asian food store near
his house. I was out of curry mix and I wanted to get another
Okonomiyaki mix as well, and a couple of other things that looked good.

Finally got to understand the difference between regular curry and
"Vermont Curry" which has a touch of apple and honey flavoring. I'll try
it, but I'm not that keen on additional sweetness in stuff. I hate
candied yams, for example. Potatoes are not meant to be eaten in any
sweet state!! Period!

Then we went for Chinese takeout. I love Chinese and Japanese food. I'm
still fighting this stupid cold, so I decide to order "Curry Beef" (as
opposed to Beef Curry - the lady at the counter repeated "Curry Beef" -
so I guess we've all been saying it wrong all these years... ^_^;;). And
a small order of vegie lo mein and 2 egg rolls.

The Egg Rolls at this place are AWESOME. They're at least twice as big
as other rolls I've gotten. But the curry wasn't as hot as the first
time we'd been there, which must have been.. 6 or 7 years ago? The
Monkey Wards store nearby was still open then. I ordered Curry chicken
if I remember right, and I made the mistake then of finishing my drink
before the food was done. As it turned out, either the curry this time
was plenty hot or my cold has my taster on the fritz. I mean, even after
a mouth full of that hot food, I couldn't taste a mouthful of pop I
swalled after it to wash away some of the burn. "I can't taste my pop!!"
Maybe we should have hit a Korean place for some mega hot Kimchee spiced
stuff. I tend to think Kimchee is Korean for "burn your tonsils off the
back of your throat" because it nearly accomplishes that. When you make
Korean instant noodles, beware of the stuff in one of the packets that's
all red, or more correctly blood red. That red color is a warning. Heed
it and go sparingly.

Whenever I get a cold, I test out the hot stuff I wouldn't ordinarily
touch at all. Red peppers have capzacin (sp), which is a form of a pain
reliever, similar to aspirin. If you're allergic to Aspirin and similar
stuff, avoid red peppers.

I didn't get to do all I wanted, but what we got to do was enough. I get
to follow through on a couple of promises at last. ^_^

I was going to write about...

Recently, I got ahold of a couple of tapes of the old Candy Candy anime.
Yesterday at work, I thought about doing a write up for a friend's
website about Candy Candy.

Then I looked up info on Candy Candy and its authors, and the material
I've gotten.

Now, I knew of the legal disputes over ownership of copyrights, the 2
authors, Mizuki-sensei who created the story, and the original manga
artist, Igarashi. It's likely the original 9 book series of the manga
will never be re-published because of the legal disputes, nor is it
likely the original 117 episode anime will be re-released on DVD.
Original laserdiscs might probably be had used.

Igarashi is seen by many Japanese fans as an evil person who broke
contracts with Mizuki-sensei and Toei Animation, and had companies
create "illegal" Candy Candy merchandise that omits Mizuki's name on the
items because she had them produced without Mizuki-sensei's permission.
The 2 authors had signed a 20 year agreement on the rights. It looks
like even before or maybe just after that agreement expired, Igarashi,
even though she lost the final legal battle over who owns the rights,
still claims she solely and outright owns the rights to Candy Candy. She
also screwed over the writer for another manga series called "Georgie."
I think the fans are the real victims here.

(One webpage went overboard on some issues that I won't go on about
here, mainly because those issues aren't the main issue of what I was
looking up, and I also happen to disagree with them.)

Mizuki-sensei has begun to write new Candy Candy novels, and it might be
that there could be a new manga series, and maybe Toei will get involved
in new anime. That's still to be seen though. Mizuki-sensei can continue
to write non-manga novels for Candy Candy and Igarashi can't do anything
about it. ^_^

Anywho, the upshot of this is that I've been able to get ahold of some
Candy Candy footage. Get this:

The first 2 episodes of the original TV series dubbed in English,
subtitled in I think Dutch. The source on the video was produced in the
Netherlands. That's followed by a bunch of Candy Candy footage dubbed in
French, but the person who made that copy didn't adjust the tracking.

The other tape I've finally identified.

OVA 1 - haru no yobigoe - The Call of Spring

OVA 2 - Candy Candy no natsuyasumi - Candy's summer Vacation

There's a 3rd OVA that I already have. Most of the info was on pages in
Spanish that I had Google translate.

Fansubs of the TV series are somewhat hard to find. It ran for 117
episodes in Japanese, and because Toei won't deal with material whose
authors break contracts and have a general level of hatred from fans as
well as refusing to deal with those properties that have those problems,
they've not rebroadcast it and it doesn't look like it'll get a DVD
release. Some fan groups are using alternate language dubs for their
subbing, such as one group using Spanish source material, which is an
exception since getting the original Japanese source is proving to be
almost impossible.

I thought just within the past 2 years or so that the issue of who owns
the copyrights to Candy Candy was decided by the Japan Supreme Court,
and that Mizuki and Igarashi were to own it 50-50. One page said it was
all decided in Mizuki's favor. I don't know which report is correct, but
settling the copyright dispute should conceivably pave the way for the
original material to be republished, shouldn't it?

TV programs I could watch all day...

Recently, I've begun to notice that much of the time I watch BBC America
off our Dish Network thingy, it's usually one of those home remodelling
shows. But they're really good!

There's Changing Rooms (ripped off by The Learning Channel as Trading
Spaces - which is 1 hour long and has lots of boring bits - ie it's too
long at 1 hour), where 2 couples, hopefully friends, go into each
other's houses and remodel 1 room in 2 days, with a budget as allowed by
the show. I don't know who pays for this, but it makes for good TV. Only
a few times did one couple not like what was done, and in 1 episode was
there a disaster, such as a bunch of shelves hung from the ceiling on
wires and they snapped. The tragedy of it all was the lady's tea pot
collection, some of which was ceramic.

Then there's the clever House Invaders. One designer, 2 handy builder
guys, and the couple's leftovers, such as wood, paint, fabric, and
anything else that can be re-used, and the items in the design kit. They
go through 3 rooms and give them touch ups in only 1 day!

Then of course there's the popular Ground Force. In 2 days the crew
comes in and just makes over the backyard aka "garden" of someone's home
and surprises them. Amazing job they do. There's Ground Force America,
which is 1 hour long, and I wonder where that one gardener guy is
because he's not in some of the episodes I've seen recently. Is he in
the British half hours only?

I noticed that if you can get all 3 shows to come to your house, you can
get 4 rooms re-done and your backyard, and all you have to do is 2 days
of labor in exchange. ^.^

Of course there's a couple shows here I like to see. Monster House on
Discovery is great, though I hate the shows where one or more members of
the build crew start fighting. Guys with big egos just need to stay
away. 5 days and you can have a new home!

ABC has "Extreme Make-over: Home Edition". They usually look for
families that can really use a home facelift, which is great. I don't
think they've selected a family that didn't deserve it. One week, the
family goes on vacation courtesy of the network, and the home is gutted
and rebuilt. It's amazing what can be done in a week with a crew of
hundreds. ^_^

Aaaaaah...

After a night with a bowl of my famous onion soup laced with garlic and
more onion (which doesn't taste all that good if you can taste
anything), I actually feel much better. It also helped to get some
ibuprofen and pseudophedrine (sp). I think I should be able to finally
get over this stinking cold or whatever. Everyone else says it's a sinus
infection and that I should go to a doctor or someplace for antibiotics.
Oh yeah, like I got money to do that. Anywho, I've toughed it out and I
decided to fight the cold my own way. I've had more than I care to
remember since we had to move out here. I hope the basement's not to
blame, but instead my nieces who keep sharing colds. And surprisingly,
onion soup helps a lot, especially if you can get most of the bowl down
and then go to sleep soon afterwards. Keep warm and if you have cough
drops, use them. Sore throat spray doesn't hurt.

Now to get my right ear unplugged...

Vindicated on "Reine" Devilla ^_^

Well, this past week was when Viz shipped its own 7th volume of Wedding
Peach manga, the book they called "Young Love", which is what they call
the often overlooked stories of Wedding Peach, done by Yazawa-sensei for
Shougaku sannen-sei magazine.

I've not read it in depth yet, but it seems at first glance to be a
general retelling of the Wedding Peach series in one book. And man this
is a thick book for your $9.95.

It suffers from the typical Viz-itis, like Fuuma Yousuke's name is just
"Fuma Yosuke" which is very incorrect. It's Viz-itis, and it's going to
happen in their own stuff anyway, annoying as it is.

However, it brought me back to the problem with Devilla's full name. I
couldn't find anything that I could remember in Secret File that
supported her name being "Rain Devilla" as opposed to "Reine Devilla." I
kinda remember Barbara or someone saying the first part is a phonetic
spelling in kana of the French word for Queen. ^.^

I checked to make sure using AltaVista's Babel fish thingy. (I have a
badly beaten up French dictionary around here in a box... Can't find
it..) So I plugged in "queen" and selected English to French.

The result was "Reine" as I thought it would be. ^_^

I don't know where in Secret File it states where part of her name is
queen in French as I didn't do the entire book, but it's probably in
there.

I mean, even though Pluie is French for shower or somesuch doesn't mean
Devilla's name is related in part.

I wanted to settle this little thing once and for all since getting that
book of Viz manga, and unless emailing Yazawa-sensei turns up anything
otherwise (she does speak English btw), I'd say it is finally settled.
The main recourse I have is getting white out and covering up "Rain". If
I ever get some Deleter Black, I could use the Maru tip and letter in
Reine at some point. ^_^