Fun Stuff

On the radio

Kaijuu — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:18:00 GMT

Whew, it's been a while since I've had really something to write about: it's been a busy and tough couple of months, but I'm still here-re-re-e. (echoes, as my two readers have been gone for ages)
I've been doing all sorts of things, keeping tabs on the new house (the builders got it watertight right before the snow started and are close to finishing the outer walls), built a model of it in Lego to play with the colours and furniture, and have been working my job. :)

Not much on photography I'm afraid: while I have been shooting stuff, it's mostly been work shoots (which I can't share here) and private stuff (which I won't share here).

Big news on other fronts: we managed to secure an honest-to-god real Japanese band for Anime 2011, Niels has been keeping up with anime series to put the video programme together and I have been tinkering with thin clients and LED-panels.

Now, I have told you guys about my radio days in the past. As far as I'm concerned, those stay in the past unless I get to do it full time, but now and then, I'm getting a little bit of radio spotlight.
One of those moments will be come Friday, as I will be one of the first candidates at a music quiz during Stenders Latevermaak on Radio 3fm.
I'm really looking forward to this: not only am I getting a vast opportunity to see the 3fm-studio's for real, I also get to meet a few of my radio heroes. :)

One thing though: the Zeroes-week starts on Friday evening, so here's hoping the Quiz won't be covering Zeroes only.
I've never been a big fan of the music from the Noughties, so I'll be really embarrassed if that's the case. :)

You can hear AND see me making an ass of myself on the radio and through 3fm.nl on the webcam in the Social Radio-pages.

Cheers, K.

On J-popcon 2010

Kaijuu — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 11:42:00 GMT

Wheh, back home yesterday after a tiring but fun weekend in Denmark.
We (Niels, Michel, Matijs and I) were invited by the organisation of J-popcon to do a Quiz on anime, manga and Japanese culture in general, as well as doing a panel on foreign conventions together with some of our colleagues fron Germany and France.

On Friday, I saw a live peformance of Haruko Momoi; a Japanese singer and voice actress. Her concert was great, and I took some pictures.

The next day, our Quiz was held, with questions made by Morten and us.

It was a little undercrowded, but that's mostly because the quiz was pushed forward on an earlier time slot at the last minute, making it hard for people to know when to go where.
In the end, 46 people participated.

It was the second live run of our Quiz setup, and we managed to build it all up in just 60 minutes with 6 people. :)

After that, I went to Haruko Momoi's panel, where I managed to snap some pics, had my picture taken with her and asked some questions about her roles in The Soultaker, Komugi-chan and Popotan.

The Cosplay Show this year was a mix of many brilliant and some avarage performances, but all in all, the Danish proved once again that they can perform. (still, us Dutch ended higher in the English EuroCos finale ;)).
We went for dinner afterwards, but due to various circumstances it was well past midnight when we finally managed to get some food. I hope I don't have to endure that again.

On Sunday, the panel on foreign festivals happened, and we got through OK, I guess. A lot of people in the halls told me afterwards that they liked the panel. :)

The Danish AMV-competition apparently runs into the same problems as we do; many, many submissions. Fortunately, they managed to do a pre-screening, filtering out what the judges think is the top ten, and go from there afterwards.

I had a lengthy talk with J-popcon's Tech Crew, swapping war stories and hearing what the others do to solve specific problems. Also had a good look at their kit, and got some ideas for Anime 2011.

I tried to get something from Humon Comics, but I missed her on Saturday, and by the time she arrived on Sunday, her table was very crowded, and we needed to go back home.

Michel and I went by car to carry the Quiz setup to Copenhagen, which meant roughly 800km of motorway, spread over 9 hours of driving (including breaks, ferries and whatnot). It was fun, though; Michel and I share the same tastes and we're very good friends.

Thank you J-popcon for having us, I hope to return in 2011.

Cheers, K.

On Tech support

Kaijuu — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:26:00 GMT

It's funny, because it's true.

Cheers, K.

On funny stuff that lasts

Kaijuu — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:14:00 GMT

Japan churns out a lot of anime and manga each year; on anime alone, over 30 series are started annually.
Most of it is outright bad, just fluff or just mildly interesting; only a very few of them are worth their salt to see again.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a few episodes of Azumanga Daioh again with a friend of mine while we were waiting for the ferry to arrive. It then occurred to me that Azumanga Daioh is one of those series that seemingly never bores me, no matter how many times I see it.

But why?

AD isn't very elaborate; it's just a slice-of-life series showing a group of six girls making their way through three years of high school.

The emphasis lies in the funny aspect of those three years; no overt drama, love triangles or sad girls in snow here.
AD does not have great jokes either; many of them are announcing themselves light years ahead and you'll need to have a good grasp of Japanese language and culture to catch them all (though there are translator notes available if you don't).

However, for a series based on a yonkoma-type of comic (yonkoma is a four-panel type of comic, like in the newspapers), they really managed to make it into a nice flowing anime, which makes you laugh almost instantly due to the sheer bizarre-ness of it.
The music helps as well; a light-hearted soundtrack with up-tempo tracks as well as slower ones.

The cast is a well-balanced group, consisting of the six aforementioned protagonists, some schoolmates from different classes and three teachers with very different personalities.
It would be wrong to say that the cast is representing real people, but that doesn't really matter; they're just there make you laugh and it's therefore a great stress reliever.

There are only a few series that really stick, but Azumanga Daioh is without a doubt one of the best purchases I ever did, both in manga and anime.

Cheers, K.

On drum sticks

Kaijuu — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

I went to see the new show of Osaka Dadadadan Tenko this Wednesday; Tentekomai. I've been to one of their shows a while ago and absolutely loved it.
So when I heard they would be playing at the Theaterhotel (the same location of Anime 2010, mind you), I ordered the tickets right away, therefore I've had tickets for this since June last year. :)

Again, it was a fun and cool show, where they show their prowess on the drums once again during a typically Japanese show with all the trims and dressings, including a performance of actor Isaya Mondori. Very nice.

Pictures were not allowed, but hopefully they are when they play in the Nieuwe Luxor, where I'll be seeing the show again next Monday to celebrate Niels' 37th birthday.
I bought a set of drum sticks and got them signed, and I'll need a new Suica. ;)

Cheers, K.

On coffee vessels

Kaijuu — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:15:00 GMT

Today, Thomas pointed me to this lovely tumbler, modeled after one of Canon's flagship zoom lenses (I happen to own the regular 70-200 L IS USM; this one is the new and improved version).
A brilliant lens, and to make a coffee mug in its image is just totally cool; I'd like to have one if I can. :D

Unfortunately, this gadget is kind of hard to find; it's probably a junket gift or something like that.

Still, a guy can dream. ;)

Cheers, K.

On tall orders

Kaijuu — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:54:00 GMT

In a literal sense, quite a tall one. :)
Back in January 2008, I met with a couple of good friends in Tokyo. We visited Namja Town, went shopping and had some ice cream later on in Nakano Broadway. We agreed that we would spread out and meet at the parlour at a given time. Since I was 5 minutes late (lost track of time), one of them insisted I had the parlour's Big One and ate it all without spilling.

You see, there is an ice cream parlour in Nakano Broadway's basement, which sells eight flavours of soft ice cream. You can have your cone filled with three, four or even all eight varieties, which is the Big One.

That cone, however, pales compared to this:

It's the World Tower; a 3kg, 1m tall (or 1m30, for the Olympic Tower) sundae, ringing in at at snip under 5000 yen (about €40).
I wonder how many people actually finish it on their own...

Cheers, K.

Enka versus Anime

Kaijuu — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:30:00 GMT

As some of you may know, the Japanese have a few musical events during New Year's Eve, one of them being Kohaku Uta Gassen. In this show, two teams compete against eachother by singing popular songs of the year, both traditional and modern.
This year, an alternate version of KUG is planned for New Year's by BS11; consisting of songs from anime!

I'm kind of in the middle about it; I like anime, but I reckon this will be a little too much for me. :)

Cheers, K.

Super Mario Bros. on 8p

Kaijuu — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:46:00 GMT

Not exactly high resolution, but fun nonetheless; some guy named Brad has made a Gameboy clone with a 64 pixel RGB-screen. What does he play: Super Mario Bros. obviously!

Very cool; fun to see that even in that kind of resolutions, SMB is still recognisable.

Cheers, K.

Joking around with speed cameras

Kaijuu — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:29:00 GMT

A small stunt was pulled yesterday in honour of Sinterklaas; people covered speed cameras with wrapped boxes:

Picture ©ANP

I LOL'd. :)

The police's reaction was somewhat bemused, but they didn't comment on the consequences in case the culprits were to turn themselves in. Well, it wasn't me.

Cheers, K.