New Video Card

Bought a new video card for my PC yesterday, a PNY GeForce 9600 GT. Had some problems installing it, because it was a lot larger than I expected. In order to get it installed I needed to more one of my hard drives to another bay. Simple right? You would think.

Here's where the major problem occurred. The CPU fan was keeping me from putting the hard drive into the new bay, so I went to remove it. Problem was the cooling grease had formed a pretty tight bond between the fan and the CPU. When I pulled the fan up it pulled the CPU out of the socket with it breaking 3 of the pins off the CPU. After a bit of prying the CPU finally came free of the fan and I was able to reinstall it and everything still works. So what I thought would be a quick simple install turned into a big headache, but luckily nothing was permanently broken.

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Watch Naruto and Win

Starting Fri. March 27th Viz Media will start a weekly Watch and Win sweepstakes on the offical Naruto.com website. Each week through September a new subtitled episode of Naruto Shippuden will be streamed on the site for free. Viewers can enter weekly drawings by answering a trivia question about that weeks episode. Prizes include action figures, apparel, and video games.

Source Animenation News Blog
Image from Fidele

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Alter Kos-Mos Ver 4

Got this Alter Kos-Mos ver. 4 a few weeks ago. I was able to get her from Sideshow Collectables for only $30.00 thanks to them being out of stock on another figure. Back at Christmas I had gotten the Iron Man collectors DVD set from Best Buy which came with a 50.00 gift card for Sideshow Collectables. The thing with Sideshow's gift cards though is you can only use them on select merchandise. So I kept watching their gift card page to see if they added anything I wanted and could afford after the 50.00 was deducted. Most of the stuff listed that I was interested in at Christmas when I got the card would of still been 100.00 or more after the card.

More after the jump....



Finally back in February they added Ikki Tousen's Ryomo Shimei to the gift card eligible items. She would of only been $15.00 with the gift card. So, I place my order and then after 2 weeks I get a email saying that unfortunately Ryomo is out of stock and that I can use the credit for the gift card on any item I want to order not just gift card eligible items. So thanks to that I was able to get this $80.00 figure for only $30.00


I tried something new when doing the photo shoot for Kos-Mos. At first I tried taking some pictures like I normally do with the light in my room on, but the pictures didn't really look to great. So I decided to turn out the lights and just use the flash on the camera. I think they came out fairly nice. I know there are a lot of shadows, but I don't have any small lamps to use for lighting. I plan on getting some eventually for future photo shoots.


This is an very beautiful sculpt of Kos-Mos. The sculptor Yagyu Toshiyuki did an amazing job. And I really like the stand, which is a lot more interesting than the large flat rectangle that came with my other Alter Kos-Mos. Plus it doesn't take up as much space as the other Kos-Mos's base.




Something I didn't notice while playing the Xenosaga games. Kos-Mos's eyes get bigger as her body gets upgraded.


This version of Kos-Mos is defiantly worth a rating of 10/10.

You can try to find Kos-Mos or other great figures at these fine retailers.
J-List
Play-Asia
Right Stuf
AnimeNation
Entertainment Earth
Sideshow Collectibles
Kid Nemo
Hobby Search
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Movic Yue and Nodoka Gashapons

Just got in the last two figures I needed to complete this set. I had been looking for Yue and Nodoka for awhile, but could never find them being sold by themselves. So I broke down and bought a complete set giving me extras of Asuna, Konoka, and Ako which I am selling on Ebay. I decided to spruce up my pictures by taking a shot of the figures in front of my Negima 200th chapter Pactio Card set. Ako didn't have card included in the set so I left her out of the picture.

More after the jump...



Yue and Nodoka are two of my favorite Negima characters. And these gashapons capture their Pactio card designs wonderfully. Only thing I don't like is Yue's witch hat. I think they could of made it to fit lower down on her head like how it looks on the card. As it is the hat falls off her head very easily.


While putting Yue together I inadvertently broke the peg that holds her spell book. Luckily after a couple hours of searching I was able to find the broken piece. I put the broken piece into peg hole on her arm before trying to glue it back together. It was a really tight fit so it's no wonder it broke.


This is an example of how detailed these gashapon figures are. They even gave Yue her side tie panties that she wears, since she has to take her panties completely off when she goes to the restroom.


Nodoka's figure looks really cute, although there were some scratches on the paint of the book to her right. Nodoka is probably my favorite character of all. I like how she went from a shy, insecure girl who was afraid of boys, to probably one of the strongest characters in the series. She's not physically strong like Negi or Asuna, but she's willing to do what ever it takes to help out Negi and the rest of her friends despite having no offensive abilities like them.

This is a really great set of of gashapon figures, and I wish Movic would make some of the other characters. Maybe a couple different versions of Chisame in some of her cosplay outfits she makes from her Pactio card.


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Haruhi-chan 7 and Churuya-san 4 are out

Just noticed that Haruhi-chan 7 and Churuya-san 4 were released a few days ago. This episode of Haruhi-chan was really good. Churuya-san wasn't as good as the previous episodes. In Haruhi-chan Kyon shocks Haruhi with a sudden confession that you just have to see.

Haruhi-chan 7
Churuya-san 4

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L: Change the World to Show in US Theaters

The sequel to the Death Note films, L: Change the World chronicles the last 23 days of L's life after he writes his own name into the Death Note. Show times will be 7:30PM on April 29 and 30th with tickets going on sale March 23rd.

For his final case he takes on a bio-terrorist group, and must also save the lives of two children who have no one else to turn to.

EDIT: Just realized I typed March 29 and 30th. Movie is April 29 and 30th. Think since advance tickets go on sale in March I transposed the month to the air dates. Sorry.

Source Death Note Films
Image from Asian Horror Movies

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Harry Potter and Star Trek Trailers

New trailers for both Harry Potter and Star Trek are out. The new trailer for Harry Potter confirms my fears that we will see more smoke cloaked figures flying around instead of actual magical battles. The new Star Trek trailer though has me really wanting to see this one. Hopefully they fire the director and get someone new to do Deathly Hollows part 2, unfortunately it's to late to get someone new for part 1.

Anyway you can check out the Harry Potter trailer at The Leaky Cauldron and the Star Trek trailer at Apple - Trailers

Source Ain't It Cool News

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I Watched the Watchmen

I went to see The Watchmen today. It was a really good movie, and very different from your typical superhero film. I've never read the comic it's based on, so I was able to go into it without any preconceptions of what it should or shouldn't be. And now having seen the film I really want to pick up the comic, especially since I've seen some reviews mention the movie ends a bit differently than the comic.

More after the jump... (Spoilers)


The movie opens with the death of The Comedian which leads fellow Watchmen member, Rorschach to believe someone is out to kill masked vigilantes like them. The real reason for The Comedian's death turns out to be more sinister than that. As Rorschach tries to convince his fellow Watchmen they are in danger he gets closer to the truth. Eventually being framed for a murder he didn't commit landing him in jail and hopefully out of the way.


His stay in prison leads to one of the best lines in the film. Having put many of the people in the jail their to begin with one of them tries to get revenge only to have hot oil thrown in his face by Rorschach who shots as the guards subdue him, "You've got it wrong. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!"


Eventually Nite Owl and Silk Spectre come to break him out, and head to get Ozymandias' help to find the mask killer. Unable to locate Ozymandias they check his office finding the true reason for The Comedian's death. Ozymandias wants to stop the impending nuclear war by killing millions of people and making them believe Dr. Manhattan did it. And to prevent Dr. Manhattan from stopping him Ozymandias forces him to flee the Earth by manipulating Dr. Manhattan's slipping connections to humanity. Rorschach and Nite Owl head to stop Ozymandias at his Antarctic headquarters where the face off for the final showdown to stop the death of millions. But they soon learn saving the world isn't as simple as taking down the villain.

Having not read the comic I can't really say which is better, but I do recommend watching The Watchmen if you get the chance. They do a good job of letting you really get to know most of the main characters so you actually feel for them at the end. The only ones who didn't get a lot of background time were Nite Owl and Ozymandias which hopefully might be included in an extended cut DVD. The ending is unique for a superhero film in that the good guys don't necessarily win. I'd give it a 9/10.

If you've seen The Watchmen what was your opinion of the film?

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New Wolverine: Origins Trailer

MTV has a new trailer for Wolverine. After watching this trailer it looks like the movie's going to be pretty good. It also shows that a young Scott Summers (Cyclops) is going to be in the movie. Besides Cyclops, Sabertooth, and Gambit I'm not sure who the other mutant characters featured are.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Source Ain't It Cool News
Image cover from Wolverine Origin comic

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Daft Punk to Score TR2N

According to UpcomingFilmScores blog Daft Punk will be creating the score for Disney's upcoming sequal to 1982 film TRON
.

Daft Punk's Interstella 5555

I love Daft Punk's music, and I think they are perfect for scoring a movie like TRON. I just hope the movie is as good as the music is sure to be.

Image from Manga Fashion
Source Ain't It Cool News

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Bandai To Release Lucky Star OVA in US

Bandai Entertainment announced at WonderCon that it has acquired the distribution rights to the Lucky Star OVA. I'm glad they decided to license it, because after the cancellation of the Limited Edition version of Lucky Star Vol 6 I thought they might not.

Anyone else looking forward to the release?

Source AnimeNation News Blog
Image from Shiroi Hane's Anime Blog

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New Anime Loot

I probably shouldn't have spent the money, but I decided to take advantage of Best Buy's half off anime sale clearance. I picked up quite a few titles. Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy Season 2, Happy Lesson, Shana, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Negima!? Spring and Summer Specials, Negima!? Part 1. I've already seen all but Shana, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Voltron vol 6 (below) but have been thinking of picking them up for awhile now.

Cartoon Network's He-man and the Masters of the Universe, Spawn, and Voltron Volume 6

I had some problems when purchasing these three. Although they were displayed in the anime section they did not ring up at 50% off. And while I can kind of understand He-man and Spawn since they are US animated titles. Voltron is a anime that was merely edited and re-dubed for US audiances. But if they don't consider them anime then they need to display them in another section of the store, especially with signs all over the anime section proclaiming "50% off all anime". Luckly they didn't give me alot of trouble and altered the prices.

Did anyone else take advantage of the Best Buy sale? What all did you pick up?

If you don't have Best Buy near you that is participating in this sale then you can check out Right Stuf who have a ton of their ADV videos on sale for $3.00-8.00

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Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li Review

Went to see Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-li Friday. It was an ok movie, but not great. And the only thing it really had in common with Street Fighter were character names. So if your looking for a Street Fighter based movie this isn't it. In fact it's best you forget it's even supposed to be based on the game before watching it.

More after the jump... warning spoilers.



The plot of the movie consists of Chun-li's father being abducted by Bison when she was a kid. Years later her mom dies and she receives a mysterious scroll that points her to Bangkok where she must wander the streets until a guy named Gen thinks she's ready to be trained to take on Bison.

Bison is the leader of the criminal organization Shada'loo. Apparently he was orphaned as a baby in Bangkok, grew up in the slums there, and somehow developed an Irish accent. Wanting to rid himself of a conscience he transfers all his goodness into his unborn daughter by ripping her out of his wife's womb with his bare hands. Because of this his daughter is supposed to be his only weakness, but then they don't really do anything with this in the film except to introduce the daughter and then have Chun-li and the police kidnap? her just before Chun-li's final fight with Bison.

Balrog and Vega also appear in the film. Balrog is Bison's right hand man and has the most screen time of the two. Vega has has very little screen time, and his fight with Chun-li is practically over before it even begins.

There was only one scene which seemed even remotely Street Fighter related, and that was when Chun-li went to a night club in a blue dress with her hair up in buns. She wanted to get information out of a woman that worked for Bison, and during her escape she did the technique from the game where she spins around on her hands kicking her opponents. The rest of the movie barely resembled anything from Street Fighter.

At the end they hinted at what the next movie would be about, IF another movie even gets made. Gen shows Chun-li a flyer for a Street Fighter competition and says he's heard good things about this fighter "Ryu something"

If your interested in seeing this movie I would probably wait until it was on DVD and rent it, or go to a cheap theater if you have one in your town.

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