Random bits: K.I.T.T., Death Note thoughts, farm husbandry, maxi singles, and Vic's CD!
I think I've been dreaming of this for 20+ years now o-O! Coming next month, you can buy a real LIVE TALKING K.I.T.T. GPS system for you car! The company even hired William Daniels, K.I.T.T.'s original voice from the 80s TV series, to TALK and give you directions! I wonder if it also has the whooshing sounds K.I.T.T.'s roving eye makes when it scans something, and does the red LED side displays animate just like K.I.T.T.? It's priced at only $270.00, which, according to my Mom, wasn't too bad for GPS systems.
Mom and I, via Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, finally watched the end of Death Note Saturday. (NO SPOILERS AHEAD!) I must say the anime's ending is a lot more poetic than the one I peeked at in the manga the day before even though the manga has an epilogue which I don't think the anime has. The epilogue was nice, but I thought the manga's ending was a bit out of character for Light. It just didn't seem to fit as nicely as the anime's ending. Since I didn't actually read the manga, that might not be the case. Mom liked the anime ending as well, but I did tell her later how the manga ended it. Mom is also glad it's finally over since she got a bit dismayed by the second story arc which she didn't like at all.
I went out to lunch with my old adviser, and we somehow ended up talking about farm husbandry for the majority of it o-O! I now know how to tell if a female pig is ready to mate or not ;b! I also learned of the wonders of the life a milking cow including when it gets old enough so that its udders sag to the point where the cow can actually step on it. We also talked about how humans were actually more similar to dolphins than apes as well as how dolphins copulated. I think this all started with a conversation of how to cook tender beef ^^;. I'm always amazed by how much my adviser knows o-o. My brain is too tiny and naive --;!
Over the last several days, I've been a bit frustrated by the deviousness of some anime soundtracks. I just realized that many of the newer anime soundtracks have either omitted both the opening and ending theme songs or included only the truncated TV versions of the opening and ending theme songs. If you want the COMPLETE and extended opening and ending theme songs, you'll either have to wait and see if they'll release a best collection of them, if the series has more than one opening and ending song, or buy the maxi single of it. It used to be that when one buys a soundtrack, it contained everything including the opening and ending theme songs. Now, if I want the complete soundtrack, I have to buy it in pieces o~O?!
This is what happened when I bought the Blood +, Trinity Blood, Bleach, Tokko, Tactics, Noein, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion soundtracks. I'm not sure about my Death Note soundtracks because they're currently lent out at the moment. For the Blood + and Bleach, there thankfully have been best collections for their opening and ending songs on one neat set. However, if you look at the maxi singles for each of the songs, the maxi singles have several extras which aren't included on the best collections including remixes, which I usually don't care for, and instrumental only versions of the songs, which I do care for and love! As a result, I've already bought quite a few of the Bleach maxi singles of the songs I like so far. I have yet to buy any for Blood +. For Trinity Blood, Tactics, Noein, and Code Geass, I'm so grateful those series were short enough to warrant only 1 opening song and 1 ending song, so I've only had to buy 2 maxi singles for each of those series to complete my soundtrack. The Trinity Blood soundtrack only had the background music and none of the songs. The Code Geass, Noein, and Tactics soundtracks only had TV versions of the opening and ending songs. The one that's really killing me right now is Tokko's opening theme song, Nothing by dB which doesn't even have a maxi single whatsoever available for sale o~O! I think everyone is hunting on the web for that one, and there are only uploads available for the TV version of it.
At the VERY least, I want a soundtrack to include the background music cues and the complete extended versions of the songs. Instrumental only versions of songs would be a plus but not necessary. When did this start happening to soundtracks?! Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's soundtracks were quite complete, but I guess that show is a bit old now. This reminds me of Casino Royale's soundtrack which was missing the main song by Chris Cornell, You Know My Name. I suppose this way, artists get more maxi single sales of their songs and a larger profit, but it's really killing me, the soundtrack fan who wants it all. It's everyone for themselves, right? AUGH! It's not fair --;!
I also finally listened to the Vic Mignogna CD, Metafiction, Lisa/taeha was kind enough to get for me and signed at the Calgary Expo this year. If you EVER get to see or meet Mignola at a convention, BUY HIS CD 8D! I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I popped it into my CD player, but I was pleasantly surprised! There are 2 hilarious songs inspired by his voice over work. One involves a western-type showdown of dodgeball involving a short shrimpy small character, whose name isn't mentioned but you can guess who he is, against a tall overpowering figure named Travis (Willingham) at a place called Risembool. If you watched Fullmetal Alchemist, you'll get the joke XD! The other was inspired by a taping session where Mignogna had to voice one of the background characters who only had one line in the script. He started singing a little song while waiting for the director to cue him, and soon, everyone started singing along, so he recorded it for the CD. I was really impressed by a couple of ballads Mignogna composed which sounded very Manilow like. I LOVED THEM, naturally ;)! Anyway, I think it's a great CD, so buy a copy if you ever get the chance! I don't think he has a website, so the only way to get one is to buy it from him personally!
P.S. EDIT Jul 14: Oops, I spelled Vic's name wrong, PLUS I found out he DOES have a website: Vic's World. He has 2 CDs on sale there, but Metafiction isn't listed =/. I guess you can try and contact the site to see if you can buy it.
Mom and I, via Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, finally watched the end of Death Note Saturday. (NO SPOILERS AHEAD!) I must say the anime's ending is a lot more poetic than the one I peeked at in the manga the day before even though the manga has an epilogue which I don't think the anime has. The epilogue was nice, but I thought the manga's ending was a bit out of character for Light. It just didn't seem to fit as nicely as the anime's ending. Since I didn't actually read the manga, that might not be the case. Mom liked the anime ending as well, but I did tell her later how the manga ended it. Mom is also glad it's finally over since she got a bit dismayed by the second story arc which she didn't like at all.
I went out to lunch with my old adviser, and we somehow ended up talking about farm husbandry for the majority of it o-O! I now know how to tell if a female pig is ready to mate or not ;b! I also learned of the wonders of the life a milking cow including when it gets old enough so that its udders sag to the point where the cow can actually step on it. We also talked about how humans were actually more similar to dolphins than apes as well as how dolphins copulated. I think this all started with a conversation of how to cook tender beef ^^;. I'm always amazed by how much my adviser knows o-o. My brain is too tiny and naive --;!
Over the last several days, I've been a bit frustrated by the deviousness of some anime soundtracks. I just realized that many of the newer anime soundtracks have either omitted both the opening and ending theme songs or included only the truncated TV versions of the opening and ending theme songs. If you want the COMPLETE and extended opening and ending theme songs, you'll either have to wait and see if they'll release a best collection of them, if the series has more than one opening and ending song, or buy the maxi single of it. It used to be that when one buys a soundtrack, it contained everything including the opening and ending theme songs. Now, if I want the complete soundtrack, I have to buy it in pieces o~O?!
This is what happened when I bought the Blood +, Trinity Blood, Bleach, Tokko, Tactics, Noein, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion soundtracks. I'm not sure about my Death Note soundtracks because they're currently lent out at the moment. For the Blood + and Bleach, there thankfully have been best collections for their opening and ending songs on one neat set. However, if you look at the maxi singles for each of the songs, the maxi singles have several extras which aren't included on the best collections including remixes, which I usually don't care for, and instrumental only versions of the songs, which I do care for and love! As a result, I've already bought quite a few of the Bleach maxi singles of the songs I like so far. I have yet to buy any for Blood +. For Trinity Blood, Tactics, Noein, and Code Geass, I'm so grateful those series were short enough to warrant only 1 opening song and 1 ending song, so I've only had to buy 2 maxi singles for each of those series to complete my soundtrack. The Trinity Blood soundtrack only had the background music and none of the songs. The Code Geass, Noein, and Tactics soundtracks only had TV versions of the opening and ending songs. The one that's really killing me right now is Tokko's opening theme song, Nothing by dB which doesn't even have a maxi single whatsoever available for sale o~O! I think everyone is hunting on the web for that one, and there are only uploads available for the TV version of it.
At the VERY least, I want a soundtrack to include the background music cues and the complete extended versions of the songs. Instrumental only versions of songs would be a plus but not necessary. When did this start happening to soundtracks?! Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex's soundtracks were quite complete, but I guess that show is a bit old now. This reminds me of Casino Royale's soundtrack which was missing the main song by Chris Cornell, You Know My Name. I suppose this way, artists get more maxi single sales of their songs and a larger profit, but it's really killing me, the soundtrack fan who wants it all. It's everyone for themselves, right? AUGH! It's not fair --;!
I also finally listened to the Vic Mignogna CD, Metafiction, Lisa/taeha was kind enough to get for me and signed at the Calgary Expo this year. If you EVER get to see or meet Mignola at a convention, BUY HIS CD 8D! I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I popped it into my CD player, but I was pleasantly surprised! There are 2 hilarious songs inspired by his voice over work. One involves a western-type showdown of dodgeball involving a short shrimpy small character, whose name isn't mentioned but you can guess who he is, against a tall overpowering figure named Travis (Willingham) at a place called Risembool. If you watched Fullmetal Alchemist, you'll get the joke XD! The other was inspired by a taping session where Mignogna had to voice one of the background characters who only had one line in the script. He started singing a little song while waiting for the director to cue him, and soon, everyone started singing along, so he recorded it for the CD. I was really impressed by a couple of ballads Mignogna composed which sounded very Manilow like. I LOVED THEM, naturally ;)! Anyway, I think it's a great CD, so buy a copy if you ever get the chance! I don't think he has a website, so the only way to get one is to buy it from him personally!
P.S. EDIT Jul 14: Oops, I spelled Vic's name wrong, PLUS I found out he DOES have a website: Vic's World. He has 2 CDs on sale there, but Metafiction isn't listed =/. I guess you can try and contact the site to see if you can buy it.