Huge Anime Shipment

Huge package from Rightstuf.com came today. First time my whole order has come at the same time. I got:

Burn-Up Scramble DVD 1 (Hyb) + Artbox + Magnet [Limited Edition]
Ikki-Tousen DVD 2 (Hyb): Historic Battles
Kiddy Grade DVD 4 (Hyb): The Present Future
1 of Last Exile DVD 1 (Hyb): First Move + Artbox
1 of Lupin the 3rd TV DVD 1 (Hyb): The World's Most Wanted
1 of Lupin the 3rd TV DVD 2 (Hyb): Love Heist
1 of Stellvia DVD 1 (Hyb): Foundation I + Limited Edition Artbox
1 of Vandread DVD 4 (Hyb): Pressure

Yea, it's a lot, and pretty much broke my bank. Just got caught up with the Geneon studio buy 4 get 2 free sale, along with a daily deal and a weekly deal.

Interesting though that Ikki Vol 2 ends up having a different cover than the one I saw on rightstuf. Maybe it's reversable. It's a less risque looking one than the one on the site. Oh well. Got a lot to watch now. ^_______^

Cowboys: Week 6 & 7

Week 6 results: 0-5
L vs Pittsburgh 20-12
Eddie George 18 car 36 yds
Billy Cundiff 4/5 fgs

This was perhaps the turning point for the Cowboys season. We finally played a good game, and didn't make big mistakes. 1 INT, that wasn't taken advantage of by the Pittsburgh. The only bad thing, was that we couldn't convert in the red zone, having to settle for fieldgoals instead of touchdowns. Couldn't stop Pittsburgh on their last drive that led to the touchdown and the 8 point deficit. Game ended on a 4th and goal slant pattern to Keyshawn that went incomplete in the endzone with :30 remaining.

Week 7 results: 1-5
W at Green Bay 23-20
Vinny Testaverde 13-25 147 YDS 1 TD 1 INT
Eddie George 25 CAR 60 YDS
Quincy Morgan 10 REC 123 YDS 2 TD

Easily the Cowboys best game of the season. We held the Packer's offense in check, and was able to deliver a steady running game to ease the passing pressures for the Qbs. Vinny is out for 4 weeks, got knocked out of the game, but Henson did an admirable job in relief. The only reason for the close score were these 2 unbelievable interceptions the Packers defense did, consecutively that both were returned for TDs.. Both were tips, that bounced to a free defensive player. However our defense was on today, and held steady, giving Henson one last opportunity and he succeeded with the game winning drive TD pass to Quincy Morgan, who pretty much equaled his season marks in this 1 game.

Black Friday Shopping

Well, for the second consecutive year, I woke up early yesterday and trekked out to the stores with the rest of the early birds in hopes of reeking the benefits of the day after thanksgiving sales. I went to Best Buy first, and picked up Chappelle's Show Season 1 for $10, Prince of Persia for the PS2 for $10, a retrocon controller for the PS2 for $10. The lines at best buy were horrible, waited like an hour in line. =[

Then stopped at Target and picked up Family Guy v1 for $17. Such a good deal. Also later on I went to my comic shop, mostly just to get cheap TPBs for christmas, since if I leave it to others, more often than not it's the wrong thing. I also picked up some regular monthlies since they were on a bit of a discount as well. So I spent 5 hours that morning out.. but it will be worth it when Christmas comes around.

Cowboys: Week 4 & 5

Week 4 results: 0-3 Bye Week. Nothing really to add, I signed the fullback after the third game, so I just hoped for a better performance against the Giants.

Week 5 results: 0-4
L vs the Giants 48-21
Vinny Testaverde 15-37 195 YDS 1 TD 1 INT
Ron Dayne 22 CAR 170 YDS 2 TDS

Even though the score seems lopsided, and I'm disappointed I didn't pull it out. We're getting there. Our best offensive performance, we just need to cut down on the turnovers, our 2 INTS both were returned for TDS, and 2 mistakes on D resulted in two long runs by Dayne (22,80) for TDS.. Right there is 28 points. At the end were some fieldgoals only due to us failing to convert on 4th down.. but if we cut down on the mistakes, we won't be down, and won't have to throw every single play. The running game has to be a factor. George will continue to start, but if by game 8 he hasn't gotten going, I may bench him for the much faster Jones.

Cowboys: Week 2 & 3

Week 2 Results: 0-2
L vs the Browns 27-21
Vinny Testaverde 7-11 103 YDS 1 TD
Drew Henson 12-32 104 YDS 1 TD 4 INTS (4-20 Second half)

I didn't put down any Browns stats because the Cowboys just gave the game away. We were up 21-0 at halftime, and proceeded to lose. Vinny got knocked out of the game, as usual early in the first half, but Henson did well at least in the first half. Also there were a lot of bad calls in the second half. The Browns were given a TD, when it was clear the runner's knee hit the turf before crossing the goalline, the Browns got a catch on a long third down when in actually the receiver wasn't in bounds, and of course the phantom fumble on the last drive where Henson doesn't give the George the ball on a run play and then fumbles it when tackled.. Unbelievable things in that second half. Terrible loss.

Week 3 Results: 0-3
L at Washington 50-10
Mark Brunell 25-34 324 YDS 4 TDS
Clinton Portis 21 CAR 191 YDS 1 TD

We just got blown out. We're not a very good road team apparently. Our limited running game, really went no where in this game. Our leading rusher was Henson who scrambled for 11 yds on 1 play. Testaverde actually had a decent game, just the defense could not stop the Washington offense, and we couldn't get first downs on numerous 3rd and short, 4th and short plays. Also what's an all-madden game without the bad calls from the AI.. Lets see, after my Henson scramble.. where I ran out of bounds.. THE CLOCK KEPT RUNNING. O_O And then of course, once I've calmed my offense down, *POP* fumble, I get it overturned, next play INT! And it was impossible for the CB to change directions like that. He's guarding Keyshawn on a post, so I go across the middle to Witten, only for the CB to veer off Keyshawn and pick it off.. I couldn't believe it. God.. It's tough watching the routs.. but I'm gonna stick with it.. And get better I hope. Oh, and I just signed a fullback.. Lee was just terrible, he cant catch, ain't fast. and no wonder, when I signed the fullback, I notice now that Lee was a 58... That obviously wasn't helping me. =[

Prevention

I'm sort of going back to the past, and started my own strip on stripcreator. Showing off the humorous points of my day, whether it be in real life or in conversations. This is probably the beginning of something grander, once I have the time to make my own characters, but till then I'll use stripcreator's resources.

Anyway, today's comic is titled "Prevention":
http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/paq/258814

The Goat

Friday Night, perhaps arguably one of the worst scenes in sports occured. During the winding last minutes of the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers game, Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace as he went to the hoop. Wallace took exception to the foul and proceeded to deliver a two hand shove to Artest's chest. Wallace continued towards Artest while a referee and Coach Carlisle tried to get inbetween them. Artest was backing away towards the scorer's table, benches cleared. As the referees and Indiana coaching staff were starting to calm things down, an irate Wallace continued to incite the crowd by throwing a towel at Artest. Artest continued to show restraint as he stayed back, laid on the scorer's table waiting for the insanity to cool down, when it happened.

A fan decided to make the scuffle interactive with the crowd as he threw a cup towards the court, hitting Artest directly in the chest. Artest jumped into the crowd immediately towards the vecinity of the throw and brought down a man who seemed all too pleased with what had just happened. The Indiana Pacers followed Artest into the crowd trying to protect their teammate from the crazed crowd. As Artest was being held back, another fan threw liquid towards his face, causing Stephen Jackson to throw a few punches that way. Slowly they were able to pull the Pacers and Pistons back onto the court. As the Detroit Fans continued to show their ugly side, throwing stuff onto the court, towards players, a few got onto the court and confronted Artest, only to get a few punches thrown their way from Artest and O'Neal. As the players got taken to the lockerrooms, the fans continued to throw liquid and food at them. The game was called with 45 seconds remaining, the Pacers winning by double digits.

On Sunday, the punishments from the league were handed out. Artest is suspended for the rest of the season, Stephen Jackson got 30 games, O'Neal got 25, Ben Wallace 6, Anthony Johnson 5, and various others got 1 game. I was speculating the punishments before they were announced with a friend, and I expected to see Artest gone for 25, Jackson 20, O'Neal 15, and Wallace 5. So I was shocked to see these extreme punishment. Even the Comissioner, David Stern, admitted that Artest's previous history was included in deciding the punishment, and I think this was wrong. If you look at his previous altercations, they never involved a fan, and weren't anything incredibly major. Artest is being used as a scapegoat, thus the title of this column. He didn't start the player's scuffle, Wallace did. He didn't incite the crowd, Wallace did. He didn't start the interactions with the fan, that fan did when he threw the cup. Yes, he stepped over the line by going into the stands, but it is not solely his fault and he should not have gotten such rough of a deal.

That's just my opinion.

Hakusho Personality Quiz

Nice little quiz I got off a Toon Zone thread. Off the series YuYu Hakusho, depending on your answers is the result a character you are the most like. I ended up with the result of Kurama. And like I said in the thread: Great fighter, great intelligence, great looks and a legion of fangirls.. Not that bad of a comparison. ;]

More of Tech TV disappearing

Well, I guess it shows you what happens when you're like me and get into one of those ruts where you don't really go to all the places you usually do online, and watch all the shows you like, as I have been lately been busy playing NBA 2k5, or Madden 2005 on my PS2 and talking to my buds on mIRC. So I was shocked to check out the blogs of Sarah Lane and Kevin Rose, hosts of The Screen Savers, a show I've been watching since the ZDTV days to find out that several people were let go by G4 last week. The new co-host Alex, the mod guy Yoshi and the Fuu were let go not to mention various behind the scenes people including Paul Block. Also Unscrewed was cancelled, kicking Martin Sargeant and the Swish to the curb. Some G4 original shows also lost people and were cancelled, but this move really took a hit from the few tech TV holdovers. The Screen Savers hasn't been cancelled and is coming back 11/29 and is rumored to have been merged with the leftovers of the Pulse, another G4 show.

I was just shocked to hear it, although as much as i like watching Kevin, and Sarah, the new TSS just didn't have the same feel as the original. Not enough emphasis on tech and computers, everything seemed to lean towards Gaming and sillier stuff. It would've been a lot more attractive to watch for myself had they kept the same tempo the original had even though Leo and Pat were gone. Now, with the rumors of the Pulse being merged with it, I really fear what TSS is going to look like. I'll tune in the 29th for sure, but it just won't be the same.

Also there is speculation that G4TechtV is planning a relaunch in January to just G4, so it indeed looks like the purchase of Tech TV was mostly to eliminate competition and gain their audience. Well I have news for G4, most of what I watch on that channel are from Tech TV. I really didn't like Unscrewed, it just didn't seem properly executed, so I'm not surprised by it's demise, although I did like Martin Sargeant and it's too bad he can't join the TSS cast. It's hard to believe that these shows are leaving, the cast members are gone and just more pieces of Tech TV going down the drain. Now if only G4 was smart and get Leo's Call For Help to be shown on the US channel. Leo = ratings.. I hope. =] Anyway, I doubt they'd do that, so those Canadians are lucky for another reason.. (Attractive women is the other ;])

Some interesting places to get info on this sad event:
http://samureye.blogspot.com
Thread on Leo's board, a comment from him on page 5

Also just check out Alex's blog occasionally. He may have not been like Pat or Leo, he was still a pretty good guy and I'll miss him on TSS. Those were 2 great months Alex.

Deja Vu Madden

Well.. once again, I've restarted my madden 05 franchise. =[ This time however I've gone the way my friends suggested, the all-madden difficulty. And I'm going to stick with it this time, and get better at that level instead of settling for the comfortability of the all-pro. I chose the Cowboys, since they're one of the few examples in the league of a team that needs to be rebuilt and I'll really be able to mold the team in future seasons.

Week 1 results: 0-1
Loss at the Vikings 45-14
Dante Culpepper 25-33 458 YDS 5 TDS 1 INT
Drew Henson 5-9 77 YDS

Dante just threw it all over our defense. Vinny got hurt in the 4th after throwing 3 INTs giving Drew the opportunity to drive down the field and get our only offensive score of the game on a 1 yard Eddie George TD plunge.

Anime $_$

Anime is a very expensive hobby should you get deeply into it. I am deeply into it. I never really got into the Manga aspect, I have gotten a few volumes of various series but I just went through them too quickly to really warrant future purchases and I didn't really re-read them. The only real manga flavor I get is the monthly US Shonen Jump magazine, although I'm behind on a few issues as they just stack up on my desk. I'm hoping to get to them soon. I'm debating about whether getting a subscription to NewType USA since that's the only affordable way to get it, but I don't know if it's worth it.

Anyway, back to anime, since it's always very pricy, save for older anime that get put together in a boxset and eventually find a low price, I only buy my anime from RightStuf and also only from their deals. Most of the times it's their weekly deals, sometimes it's their studio deals and occasionally I dabble with their daily deals. The only catch with the affordable deals is that this place seems to have them so often that it soon becomes a pricy venture as you take advantage of the cheap prices. Like right now I just did my last large purchase from rightstuf for awhile, they had a Geneon buy 2 get 1 free deal or a buy 4 get 2 free deal. I chose the latter, and ordered Ikkitousen Volume 2, Last Exile vol 1 w/box, Stellvia vol 1 w/box, Vandread vol 4 and am getting Lupin vol 1 & 2 free. Also adding to the order was a weekly deal, Burn Up Scramble vol 1 w/box, and a daily deal Kiddy Grade vol 4. So it became quite a large order.. At least it'll go on next months' card statement so I have some time to alleviate the financial strain. ^__^