In retrospect, I must have been a really weird kid. For many reasons, but right now I'm thinking of what kind of TV shows I was watching. Like, for instance, stupid game shows with large fan bases consisting of women aged fifty and up.
But first and foremost, I'm thinking of how while other kids watched poorly-written but "cool" action series, I watched stuff like The Fugitive. Yes, that's one of the all time great classics in television history, but to me at the time it was just an old show which I happened to like for some reason. I don't think any other 12 year olds I knew at the time would ever give a decades old TV series a chance – it was in black and white, dude!
Yesterday, the newly released Season 1 – Volume 1 DVD arrived in my mailbox. The fact that they split the season in half does suck, but I'm glad Paramount finally got around to releasing the series on DVD at all. So far I'm halfway through the 4-disc set, and I'm liking it. It's not quite as exciting as it was when I first watched it 15 or so years ago, but then again – this time I already know that Richard Kimble will find the one-armed man and get his name cleared by the final episode.
But it's still enjoyable, and it looks pretty good on DVD, for a 40+ year old TV series. And it's just plain fun to re-watch all the stuff I loved as a kid. Hmm, I wonder how well Saved by the Bell has held up…
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Shonan Jun'ai Gumi
Today, I watched the fourth OVA episode of Shonan Jun'ai Gumi. Hang on for a few moments, and I'll explain why this is a medium-sized "big deal" in my little world.
I am by no means a major anime fan. I've seen a few animes, and I've read fewer mangas. Mostly because I'm too lazy to actively search out the good stuff, I guess. But there are a few titles I really like, with my personal favorite being GTO.
Also known as Great Teacher Onizuka, this utterly fantastic manga series and its not-fantastic-but-still-pretty-good anime adaption centers around 22 year old Eikichi Onizuka, former biker/street fighter/hooligan extraordinaire. Now an adult, Onizuka's goals are to find a respectable (read: well paid) job and, oh yeah, to lose his virginity. One day, he witnesses a middle-aged, fat, bald ugly high school teacher completely dominate an attractive, young female student. Upon seeing this, Eikichi sets a new goal for himself: To become the greatest teacher in the history of Japan – Great Teacher Onizuka.
Long story short: Rather than finding himself perving on 17 year old girls, Onizuka is eventually put in charge of a class of Jr. High students (who, much to his dismay, are just too young for his tastes). It just so happens that this class consists primarily of psychos who have driven away several teachers before; one disappeared and another went nuts. As the story develops, Onizuka slowly but surely begins to rehabilitate the class in his own unpredictable and crazy ways.
The manga consists of 25 volumes, about 200 pages each. The TV anime series is 43 episodes long and leaves out a lot. For starters, it stops half-way through the story and tacks on a less than satisfying ending spanning two episodes. It also tones down the naughtiness considerably (By the way, the English translation attempts to tone things down even further. Note to translators: When someone loudly and clearly exclaims the word "fuck", in English, then replacing it with "damn" in the subtitles just isn't going to fool anyone.) and leaves out a bunch of details, and changes others, along the way. Is it any wonders it left GTO fans hungry for more?
Now, then. What I failed to realize until after I'd finished watching the anime (which was my introduction to GTO, for better or worse) was that GTO is actually a sequel. It's predecessor is called Shonan Jun'ai Gumi and it's in the process of being released in English these days (under the title GTO: The Early Years, which doesn't really make sense). It's being promoted as a prequel to GTO, which it really isn't since it was created first, but never mind.
Shonan Jun'ai Gumi follows Onizuka and his best friend Ryuji Danma during their High School days as notorious trouble makers. The first four manga volumes have been released in English so far, and it's a lot of fun.
I don't remember when I first watched GTO, but I figure it must have been around six years ago. And it took me until last year to learn that an anime adaption was made of Shonan Jun'ai Gumi as well. Not so strange, maybe. There were only five episodes made, for video, released in the mid-nineties on VHS and then never seen again. And never released in America or Europe at all.
Of course, if 43 TV episodes can't do justice to the 25 volume GTO manga, then there's little hope of 5 OVAs even beginning to cover its 31 volume predecessor. But that fact won't keep a die-hard Onizuka fan from wanting to see them. Sadly, that just hasn't been possible. Until now.
Sentosha Fansubs to the rescue! I don't condone piracy or anything, but clearly the creators of this anime have long since abandoned it, so what choice does a fan have? Sentosha have made English subtitled versions of the Shonan Jun'ai Gumi anime and have released the first three volumes over the last seven months or so.
Tonight I was having a couple of guys over to watch the three episodes released thus far, only to find that Sentosha released volume four today. How's that for timing? Extended Onizuka viewing party, baby! …and that's what I was getting at with this post.
Geek moment over for now. Almost. I gotta post this clip from Shonan Jun'ai Gumi that someone posted on YouTube:
…and the darn cool opening title sequence from GTO:
I am by no means a major anime fan. I've seen a few animes, and I've read fewer mangas. Mostly because I'm too lazy to actively search out the good stuff, I guess. But there are a few titles I really like, with my personal favorite being GTO.
Also known as Great Teacher Onizuka, this utterly fantastic manga series and its not-fantastic-but-still-pretty-good anime adaption centers around 22 year old Eikichi Onizuka, former biker/street fighter/hooligan extraordinaire. Now an adult, Onizuka's goals are to find a respectable (read: well paid) job and, oh yeah, to lose his virginity. One day, he witnesses a middle-aged, fat, bald ugly high school teacher completely dominate an attractive, young female student. Upon seeing this, Eikichi sets a new goal for himself: To become the greatest teacher in the history of Japan – Great Teacher Onizuka.
Long story short: Rather than finding himself perving on 17 year old girls, Onizuka is eventually put in charge of a class of Jr. High students (who, much to his dismay, are just too young for his tastes). It just so happens that this class consists primarily of psychos who have driven away several teachers before; one disappeared and another went nuts. As the story develops, Onizuka slowly but surely begins to rehabilitate the class in his own unpredictable and crazy ways.
The manga consists of 25 volumes, about 200 pages each. The TV anime series is 43 episodes long and leaves out a lot. For starters, it stops half-way through the story and tacks on a less than satisfying ending spanning two episodes. It also tones down the naughtiness considerably (By the way, the English translation attempts to tone things down even further. Note to translators: When someone loudly and clearly exclaims the word "fuck", in English, then replacing it with "damn" in the subtitles just isn't going to fool anyone.) and leaves out a bunch of details, and changes others, along the way. Is it any wonders it left GTO fans hungry for more?
Now, then. What I failed to realize until after I'd finished watching the anime (which was my introduction to GTO, for better or worse) was that GTO is actually a sequel. It's predecessor is called Shonan Jun'ai Gumi and it's in the process of being released in English these days (under the title GTO: The Early Years, which doesn't really make sense). It's being promoted as a prequel to GTO, which it really isn't since it was created first, but never mind.
Shonan Jun'ai Gumi follows Onizuka and his best friend Ryuji Danma during their High School days as notorious trouble makers. The first four manga volumes have been released in English so far, and it's a lot of fun.
I don't remember when I first watched GTO, but I figure it must have been around six years ago. And it took me until last year to learn that an anime adaption was made of Shonan Jun'ai Gumi as well. Not so strange, maybe. There were only five episodes made, for video, released in the mid-nineties on VHS and then never seen again. And never released in America or Europe at all.
Of course, if 43 TV episodes can't do justice to the 25 volume GTO manga, then there's little hope of 5 OVAs even beginning to cover its 31 volume predecessor. But that fact won't keep a die-hard Onizuka fan from wanting to see them. Sadly, that just hasn't been possible. Until now.
Sentosha Fansubs to the rescue! I don't condone piracy or anything, but clearly the creators of this anime have long since abandoned it, so what choice does a fan have? Sentosha have made English subtitled versions of the Shonan Jun'ai Gumi anime and have released the first three volumes over the last seven months or so.
Tonight I was having a couple of guys over to watch the three episodes released thus far, only to find that Sentosha released volume four today. How's that for timing? Extended Onizuka viewing party, baby! …and that's what I was getting at with this post.
Geek moment over for now. Almost. I gotta post this clip from Shonan Jun'ai Gumi that someone posted on YouTube:
…and the darn cool opening title sequence from GTO:
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
I'm freaking hungry!
I'm starving here! Someone send me some food. Now! Oh well... I suppose I could always drag my lazy ass over to the fridge and get something. Or order pizza. That works.
I got the new Savoy album today. I realize that this will mean absolutely nothing to 99.9% of the 2 or so people who may stumble onto my blog, but if I don't talk about all the stuff I buy, watch and listen to, I really don't have a lot to say.
So. Savoy Songbook Vol. 1, released yesterday, is a sort of "best of" type deal containing two CD's. The first disc contains three brand new songs (though Karma Boomerang was released as a single a whole bunch of months ago so it's kinda old news now. Nice tune though.) as well as seven re-recordings of songs from their five studio albums. Some of them add to the originals, some of them lose something. Some lose a lot (specifically, Whalebone. One of my favorite Savoy tracks and it's only something like three years old and really didn't need to be "upgraded"). The second new song, Best Western Beauty, actually sounds pretty great on first listen. It's the type of song that will probably grab me once I've heard it a few more times.
Disc two contains 14 old songs in their original versions. I haven't actually gotten around to listening to this one yet, but since I'm more than familiar with all of Savoy's albums to date I'm sure I know what to expect. From what I understand, though, a couple of the songs are radio edits, which just plain sucks. Especially in the case of Man in the Park, which in my opinion got completely butchered in its radio version. Oh well... it's not like anyone is going to break down my door and pry the original out of my hands or anything.
Hey, where's that damn pizza??
I got the new Savoy album today. I realize that this will mean absolutely nothing to 99.9% of the 2 or so people who may stumble onto my blog, but if I don't talk about all the stuff I buy, watch and listen to, I really don't have a lot to say.
So. Savoy Songbook Vol. 1, released yesterday, is a sort of "best of" type deal containing two CD's. The first disc contains three brand new songs (though Karma Boomerang was released as a single a whole bunch of months ago so it's kinda old news now. Nice tune though.) as well as seven re-recordings of songs from their five studio albums. Some of them add to the originals, some of them lose something. Some lose a lot (specifically, Whalebone. One of my favorite Savoy tracks and it's only something like three years old and really didn't need to be "upgraded"). The second new song, Best Western Beauty, actually sounds pretty great on first listen. It's the type of song that will probably grab me once I've heard it a few more times.
Disc two contains 14 old songs in their original versions. I haven't actually gotten around to listening to this one yet, but since I'm more than familiar with all of Savoy's albums to date I'm sure I know what to expect. From what I understand, though, a couple of the songs are radio edits, which just plain sucks. Especially in the case of Man in the Park, which in my opinion got completely butchered in its radio version. Oh well... it's not like anyone is going to break down my door and pry the original out of my hands or anything.
Hey, where's that damn pizza??
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
UPS
Wednesday.
I find the note in my mailbox: Delivery of my package has been attempted. Recipient not available.
Okay. I was home the entire day, but it's entirely likely that I was still asleep when they tried to deliver the package. I call the phone number on the note, hoping there will be some way to get my hands on the package before the day is over. The guy on the phone informs me that I can pick it up at their office between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM, and I agree to do that.
at 7:00 PM, after I've failed to find their office, I give them another call and inform the lady on the other end of my incompetence. She assures me that they'll have the package delivered to my place by noon the following day.
Thursday.
I normally sleep in on vacation days, but I get up at the by my standards ungodly hour of 8:00 AM to make absolutely sure I don't miss another delivery attempt. Some time in the afternoon I call UPS again, this time to ask them just what's holding up the delivery today. I'm told deliveries are made until 4:00, so all I have to do is wait. When I call back later to make sure they really do intend to deliver it and not hold it for me to pick up, the guy tells me they'll call me back later.
At some point after 4:00, a guy calls and cheerfully informs me; "Your package is ready and awaiting your pick up at our office!" And I'm starting to wish I had just used the ordinary post service.
Friday.
Despite having arrived home late after having gone to the midnight premiere of The Simpsons Movie, I get up early again. I call UPS and ask; "Am I getting my package today?" The lady tells me that, yes, it's scheduled for delivery today.
Many hours and phone calls later, I'm still without my package and since they don't do deliveries on weekends I know I won't be getting it until Monday. Which happens to be the day I go back to work. Which means this whole UPS deal was a waste. The entire point was to get my Stargate SG-1 Season 10 DVD box set delivered while I still had some vacation days left, for which I had made no plans other than to marathon the final season of my favorite sci-fi show.
Monday.
The day I go back to work. Luckily, I happen to work the evening shift this day so I can still be home to accept delivery of my DVDs. I call UPS at 8:00 to once again make sure they're planning on making the delivery. I tell the guy on the other the end the whole tragic story, after which he tells me that in the event the package is not delivered today, I should call back at 12:00 sharp.
It's not. So I do. This time I get another person on the phone who tells me I've been misinformed, there's no way it was going to be delivered before 12:00. She tells me to call back in "an hour or two". I do, and I get another guy on the phone - I think the same guy I talked to first. He tells me they'll call me back. Frustrated and bored, I do a google search on "ups sucks". No shortage of hits there.
Another guy finally calls me back when I'm already on my way to work. He joyfully informs me that my package had been misplaced, but now they have found it and are all ready to deliver it tomorrow. "That's exactly one day too late," I tell him. "Tomorrow I won't be home to receive it." He asks if there is another place they can deliver the package.
Tuesday.
The package is delivered at work. I rejoice, despite the fact that I've thrown away $17.50 on "express delivery" when I probably would have received the DVDs just as quickly with the plain old postal service. Then I remember that I've thrown away $17.50 on "express delivery" when I probably would have received the DVDs just as quickly with the plain old postal service, and swear never to use UPS ever again.
I find the note in my mailbox: Delivery of my package has been attempted. Recipient not available.
Okay. I was home the entire day, but it's entirely likely that I was still asleep when they tried to deliver the package. I call the phone number on the note, hoping there will be some way to get my hands on the package before the day is over. The guy on the phone informs me that I can pick it up at their office between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM, and I agree to do that.
at 7:00 PM, after I've failed to find their office, I give them another call and inform the lady on the other end of my incompetence. She assures me that they'll have the package delivered to my place by noon the following day.
Thursday.
I normally sleep in on vacation days, but I get up at the by my standards ungodly hour of 8:00 AM to make absolutely sure I don't miss another delivery attempt. Some time in the afternoon I call UPS again, this time to ask them just what's holding up the delivery today. I'm told deliveries are made until 4:00, so all I have to do is wait. When I call back later to make sure they really do intend to deliver it and not hold it for me to pick up, the guy tells me they'll call me back later.
At some point after 4:00, a guy calls and cheerfully informs me; "Your package is ready and awaiting your pick up at our office!" And I'm starting to wish I had just used the ordinary post service.
Friday.
Despite having arrived home late after having gone to the midnight premiere of The Simpsons Movie, I get up early again. I call UPS and ask; "Am I getting my package today?" The lady tells me that, yes, it's scheduled for delivery today.
Many hours and phone calls later, I'm still without my package and since they don't do deliveries on weekends I know I won't be getting it until Monday. Which happens to be the day I go back to work. Which means this whole UPS deal was a waste. The entire point was to get my Stargate SG-1 Season 10 DVD box set delivered while I still had some vacation days left, for which I had made no plans other than to marathon the final season of my favorite sci-fi show.
Monday.
The day I go back to work. Luckily, I happen to work the evening shift this day so I can still be home to accept delivery of my DVDs. I call UPS at 8:00 to once again make sure they're planning on making the delivery. I tell the guy on the other the end the whole tragic story, after which he tells me that in the event the package is not delivered today, I should call back at 12:00 sharp.
It's not. So I do. This time I get another person on the phone who tells me I've been misinformed, there's no way it was going to be delivered before 12:00. She tells me to call back in "an hour or two". I do, and I get another guy on the phone - I think the same guy I talked to first. He tells me they'll call me back. Frustrated and bored, I do a google search on "ups sucks". No shortage of hits there.
Another guy finally calls me back when I'm already on my way to work. He joyfully informs me that my package had been misplaced, but now they have found it and are all ready to deliver it tomorrow. "That's exactly one day too late," I tell him. "Tomorrow I won't be home to receive it." He asks if there is another place they can deliver the package.
Tuesday.
The package is delivered at work. I rejoice, despite the fact that I've thrown away $17.50 on "express delivery" when I probably would have received the DVDs just as quickly with the plain old postal service. Then I remember that I've thrown away $17.50 on "express delivery" when I probably would have received the DVDs just as quickly with the plain old postal service, and swear never to use UPS ever again.
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