Construction Taking Place

So please stand by; we will return to Almost A Hero’s (ir)regular blogging as soon as possible.

Economic Crisis: Akumetsu hates on dem banksta’s, dawgs

I know what you’re thinking – anime and assets? Manga and mortgages? Figurines and the Federal Bureau? It will all be explained in due course.

Perhaps you don’t want it explained in due course, but want answers now. Understandably so; you’re feeling a little tetchy, what with the global economic crisis that looks set to sweep most financial institutions off their feet with a firm roundhouse kick, although there are some notable exceptions.

Interesting is the response, with many governments announcing bailout plans for the banks: a motion which seems paramount to medieval Europeans attempting to halt the Black Death by overfeeding vermin cheese until they perish in bodily explosions of gluttonous ecstasy.

Shylock: lolis loathe bankers; yea, verily, they chase them through the streets for their unmoeness.

I somehow doubt that the higher-ups who got us into this mess are going to be the ones to suffer the repercussions of their “financial mismanagement”, which is a nice, politically-correct and euphemistic phrase that basically means, “Duuuurrrrr you done gone and catched us, but you cant dooz nothin’, we gonna fuck your shit up and we’re gonna need more (your) money to fix it, kthxbye newbs.”

Wise fwom your gwave!

Mist swirls torpidly on the disused floor of the crypt, tinged with a emerald iridescence from the faint glowing moss on its walls. Undisturbed, unchallenged, it slithers over fallen stone and pillars, caresses eroded steps and the feet of defaced statues of deities long passed. The ground is littered with the detritus of a bygone era: books of obscure and likely obscene origin, their titles barely legible through the mildew and dirt crusting their covers; round, reflective discs of unknown purpose strewn and shattered throughout the tomb. “Battle Vix-” reads one manuscript, the rest of the title cut off by rot and frayed edges. “lmost A He~” scrawled on one fragment, before being enshrouded by the mist once more. No life stirs in this place except the occasional scurrying of vermin, no sound save for the steady drip of water.

No. No, there is more. For from the raised sarcophagus in the centre of the room – all epitaphs long since scoured away by time – there is a scratching from beneath the slab cover. Suddenly, it rises, tips to one side, and slides off, the crash reverberting across the tomb. A hand – oh, what a hand, bone and knuckles claw-like, diseased – grips the edge of the sarcophagus, lifting a frayed and tattered shape, the form wreathed in darkness.

A deep exhalation rattles the air, the thing’s throat emitting dry choking gurgles with the dust of centuries.

“I live… again!”

Complete silence meets this declaration. Thunder fails to roll in the distance. A cricket chirrups from underneath one of the rocks. The figure waits a little, just in case; when nothing transpires, it begins muttering peevishly under its breath -”Drop in melodramatic standards…uld have had flickering torches on the walls, by God…” lifting itself out of its last resting place, it dejectedly begins to pick up the scattered texts.

Well, now I feel part of the living once more. The blog has seen little action since – well, a long time ago, really – and I thought it was time to resurrect it. I’ve got some time on my hands now that work is out of the way, so I’ll be scribing some posts shortly, sans obscure retro gaming references.

Please be patient while Chiri unearths my blog’s unhallowed corpse.

Lovecraft, Anime Relics And A Love For All Things Micro

Phwoar! Bit of a long trek around, but I’m back. A number of things have prevented me from making any posts, and I have not bought any new figurines for reasons that are soon to be revealed. Consider this a mini-update of some of the things that have been keeping me occupied and a hint of things to come.

Pretentiousness in Coffee Shops

I finally feel like I have become one of the techno-elite, that I have earned just a little Bohemian street cred. What wonderful event could have transpired that granted such a boon? While I would like to say it is due to my dazzling wit and unconventional lifestyle, the horrible truth is that I bought rather than earned this status like a dirty materialistic capitalist.

Pwned by Akismet: Why your comment may not have appeared on the blog

It has come to my attention that the WordPress spam filter, Akismet, has been a little queer since… well, since August last year apparently, according to a number of WordPress forum threads.

I’ve been receiving a ton of spam message notifications, but Akismet has not been keeping them for moderation. I have a rather sinking feeling that a number of valid comments being made by readers may have been labeled as spam and promptly eradicated. And, unfortunately, there’s not way for me to turn it off: being on the cheap-seats option of WordPress means it filters all of my posts regardless of whether I want it to or not.

If you have posted comments in the past, and feel slated that they haven’t appeared on the blog, please don’t think I’m rude – it’s more than likely that I just didn’t get it.

For now, if you want to comment, feel free to email me; I’d like to hear from you if you’ve enjoyed a certain post or you have something to add or even to tell me how lame I am. I’ll try to come up with some solution in the meantime.

Animax reportage continues

The Star entertainment supplement Tonight wrote a piece on the five new channels in today’s newspaper, with Animax being touted as the “Big Drawcard”. The only bungle was that they showed a picture of Speed Grapher above the little blurb for the TV show Hex, but anyway.

Overall, the article is fairly complimentary of the new channels, and Animax specifically. Particularly interesting is Ross Hair’s (SPTI Senior Vice-President of International Networks) comments concerning local content. Clearly, he heard my silent plea: he states that indigenous content will be sought initially to act as bite-sized fillers between shows, featuring “local personalities”.

“So we would look at short-form programming, which we already do worldwide, whereby we look at the music and fashion of anime, for example, or the technology and gadgets that the 15- to 29-year-old anime-watching audience is interested in.”

While the technology and gadgets bit sounds a bit like consumer-whoring, these fillers also carry the potential to turn into half-hour or full-hour length shows in their own right, so that’s a bonus.

Champions? Champions!

I’d just like to say, booyah, South Africa! And all that.

So, the Rugby World Cup 2007 is over. Euphoria (and drunks) poured out all over Johannesburg, goodwill to one’s fellow man is at an all-time high, and many people will – in a couple of days – wonder why they paid R700+ for tshirts emblazoned with a peculiar species of gazelle. For those who haven’t heard of the sport, it’s kinda like American football, only for MEN.

We managed to pull off a very clinical win against England with a final score of 15-6. Since I never really watch sports unless it’s on a grand, international scale (vis-a-vis World Cups, the Olympics, etc), when I eventually do draw myself away from the confines of my cave, it had better be entertaining. Tries, brawls, over-the-top tackles that make me wince in sympathy, snide remarks – in short, DRAMA.

However, a win’s a win, so congratulations to the Springboks, a worthy effort from that little island across the way (cough), and now I can finally tune into a radio station without rugger banter clogging the airways.

To celebrate, I tried to locate some rugby-tans, but it seems like this is one particular event the Japs haven’t got their moe mitts on. If you know of any, let me know. You’ll have to content yourself with a sketch from the amazing Crybringer over at DeviantArt.

Needless to say, image is ©2006-2007 crybringer.

Goddamnit

If I hate anything more than having several tasks to perform which require me to visit several retail and government branches, it’s spending six hours on said chores and achieving NOTHING due to bureaucratic bullshit on the part of said branches.

“Signed in triplicate?” This is how I sign in triplicate, bitch!

So, yeah. Later, my initial impressions of one of these strange moving picture thingies that’s sure to leave you in despair.

Let me tell you a story.

Welcome to the second post of Almost A Hero, the first being the obligatory “Hello world!”

They say the greatest form of flattery is imitation. I have been an avid reader of many of the popular and/or excellent anime blogs for a number of years now, and finally felt the need to start my own. The act of creation can be said to be the final stage of any fan – following your initial wonder and a long period of consumption (read: OMG WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ALL MY MONEY?!). You want to contribute, in some tangible form, to the medium that has held you in its sway.

Hence, Almost A Hero, where I shall scribble my thoughts and reviews on anime, manga, games, figurines, light novels, comics, films and other interesting facets of the “otaku” lifestyle. Of course, this has been covered to the n^th degree by the multitude that has come before me, but I hope that you will find my musings interesting enough to warrant repeat visits.

This is merely an introduction: I’ve prepared something quite unique and original for you fans of figurine photo-shoots out there as my curtain-raiser. It’s an established photographic technique, but this will be the first time (at least, that I am aware of) that it will have been applied to anime figurines. Look forward to it!

~ Almost A Hero

Hello world!

program New;
begin
  Writeln('Hello world!');
end.