Agenda 1 - I lose webhosting at the end of the month. My friend Anthony who has been ever so kind as to give me this space and bandwidth has finally realized that unless he's going to use the space and bandwidth himself, he ought to stop paying for it. Thank you though Anthony for supporting me in this fashion for so many years. Seriously, I owe you a free copy of the nerdcore CD. It exists the way it does because I could build my own site around it, and I could to that because you gave me the space and bandwidth to do so. You gave me a canvas on the Internet, and nothing could have been more valuable, even if I've wasted it at points.

Agenda 2 - This losing webspace thing means I'm in the market for a cheap/free host, preferably one with PHP/MySQL backing. If anyone knows where I can track down a cheap/free host with that qualification, I'll be ever so thankful. I need some place to put the new music, and I'd rather it be on a personal site. No worrying about pesky legal agreements between me and the distributor ruining me. Push comes to shove, I guess it's back to ampcast though, as they are an honest bunch. I'm still gonna have proper hard copies made though, just like the last nerdcore CD. Well, if I make this next CD.

Agenda 3 - This losing webspace thing meant I had to back up the site. In the process, I read through all my old entries. I'm nauseous, embarassed and appalled. No, really. Well, there are some good moments, but still, ugh.

Agenda 4 - In non-losing webspace news, I fixed up an old computer to give to Charlie at Anime Kingdom. This is because she's cool, and she's gonna be stuck in Middle of Nowhere, South Carolina for the summer, far from even the basic necessities such as bookstores and friends. I figure it's better for it to be used by someone in need than sit in my room doing nothing. She can write fanfic in uninterupted in her own room.

Agenda 5 - When/if I ever this site back up, it'll be on new blog software, etc, etc, etc. Part of me would be pretty content though just putting a page that said goodbye though. If my prior blog entries are any evidence, I shouldn't be allowed to talk about my life, ever. I should probably rework it as a strictly business site. If I'm going to have a journal, I'll get out a pen and notebook and emo in there. There is already enough garbage on the internet, and the last thing I ever want to be accused of it contributing to that element.

Agenda 6 - If any of you readers, for some bizarre, perhaps totally-insane reason, actually want to archive something out of this site: music, images or words, now might be the time to do it. I won't trust that I'll ever get the stuff back up on the new host, if there is a new host. This could be it, forever. End of era. See ya if I see ya.

Social: Been focusing on the album, so I really haven't been doing much in this aspect. I did hang out all Tuesday at Anime Kingdom, but that's cause Zoe was sick and she called me and asked me to keep an eye on her just in case she suddenly felt worse. As all I really had to do was the album, I figured I might as well go help a good friend. Not like the album is going anywhere. Not often you get to help out a friend though, especially me, cause it's not like I've got much skill that's of use. My computer skill is surpassed by a lot of the other folks in the AK circle, and my music doesn't really cure illness or pay for lunch or put up shelfs or whatever. Anyway, I hope Zoe's feeling better. She was looking better at the end of the day, but not all better.

Anyway, today myself and my bro got pizza then we went by AK and I picked up the Jubei-chan figure that they got in on Tuesday. It's very cool looking. Well priced at 27 bucks too :)

Music: Nothing more done really, just some tweaks to the existing stuff. Might do another vocal or two within the week. What I really need to do is write more lyrics.

Anime: Watched the first disc of Jubei-chan 2. Freakin awesome. Great emotion, insane animation and very nice music. Y'all should buy it.

so long kids lofi preview alternate vocal version

I can't decide. I think I may need to do a round three.

So I went to Zoe's birthday party yesterday. It was chalk full of awesome. Great people, great food and generally awesome goodness. Brain Donors, FLCL, Home Movies, Dead or Alive, Halo 2, Zoe's #1 Special Homemade Cake, Pizza, Zoe's #1 Special Homemade Macaroni, Card Games and enjoyable conversation? Ain't no party like a nerdcore party. Well, nerd party. Whatever, it was an excellent time. Special shout out goes to Greg for biting a styrofoam cup in a comedic fashion that spawned one of the craziest, energenic conversations I've had in a while. Who knew how much fun you could have making fun of Captain Planet?

Meanwhile, I sold a CD a week ago, and I think it's to what is now my #1 fan girl. However, I should note she's 12...

No seriously, one of my aquintences at college had to bring her little sister to school because the little sister didn't have school that day, and I jokingly freestyled a few rhymes about anime while a friend of mine played guitar, and before I knew it, I'd sold one of my nerdcore CDs to a 12-year-old girl. That was about over a week ago. Apparently she's been listening to the album every night all night since then. I know, I'm surprised too, (blatently bleak humor) but I figure as long as it doesn't spawn a suicide or a school shooting, it's alright. (/blatently bleak humor) BTW, if you're reading this #1 fan girl, thank you very much for your support. I'm glad atleast one person other than myself really enjoyed that album. Not to put down anyone else who has bought or enjoyed it, but this is the first report I've had of someone regularly listening to my music.

Random recommendation: Flower of the Deep Sleep by Yuana Kazumi. Bought it on a whim today, and it turned about to be a short, well-written manga with nice, unique art to back it up. It's only two volumes long, and it's worth your 20 bucks by my estimation.

The Good: The Concept and Some of The Execution.
The Bad: Some of The Other Execution.

And that's about all I've got to say about that.

Because I've been busy. I've been seeing plays and nerdcore mcs live, though not at the time. Zoe was in a production of "A Midsummer Nights Dream" which I saw twice (once with friends from Anime Kingdom, once at midnight pretty much by myself.) Very good production, or atleast the players were good. Their Bottom was comedy freakin gold. So hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, the mc chris show in Seattle was very, very funny and very, very cool, outside of a couple of idiots in the crowd (who were thankfully ejected from the crowd.) Otherwise, pretty much was everything was perfect. The sound was loud enough to enjoy, but not enough to deafen permanently, mc's interstitial bits were very funny and warped and generally it was just very cool, almost arresting experience. Besides, he did like 3 encores, which is just awesome. Oh, also mc chris my misspelled name on autographs so I suppose that's the one other drawback. Oh, and I forgot to bring a copy of my cd to give to MC. Ah well, I guess I'll just bring in one of the two sealab seasons I should own at that point to PAX, and I'll be bringing whatever is left my nerdcore cds to PAX anyway just in case I can make an offhand sale I guess.

PS: I beat AnimeOnDVD to the punch reviewing Gunslinger Girl. Yay.

http://www.nathanchase.com/2005/04/ghost-that-feedsray-parker-jrs.html

Real blog addicts probably have already seen that, but that's gotta be the best mash up so far this year. Spooky and kitchy? That's what I call mash up success in spades. I should burn this and bring it into Anime Kingdom, but I fear that I might be beaten with plushies.

Ended up catching the Hitchhiker's with the family, and like an idiot didn't remember that not going to Hitchhiker's with the Anime Kingdom crew meant I could catch the breakdancing show. Ah well, atleast I got to see a cool movie this weekend. Y'all should see it. :)

Between reviews, school and real life socialization. Now, if went you through all the links hidden there you'd note Gossip, the awesome bubble tea place; Anime Kingdom, my semi permanent hangout on Friday afternoons where I buy my anime and manga and other goodies; The Massive Monkees, who are doing a performance tonight that I'd be damn tempted to catch because it'd be fun and because I'm acquainted with that crew; and a link to The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy IMdb, because rather than going an awesome breakdance competition, I might catch Hitchhiker's instead.

See, this is where being both a hipster and nerdcore at the same begins to be problematic. On hand, I could check out a fresh breakdancing show, and the Massive Monkee's might even invite me up on the mic to freestyle. On the other hand, I can catch a flick I've been waiting for a while with a group of my otakutastic friends. Told ya' nerdcore life ain't simple. ;)

Anyway, I don't really have any complaints. I've been working on more nerdcore material, just waiting for my tax refund to hit so I can buy the Reason 3.0 upgrade, and I'm highly, highly looking forward to both the Gunslinger Girl release, but also to the debut of Shojo Beat, which looks to be the first proper shoujo magazine produced in America, atleast from the Issue 0 promo. I'm even tempted to pre-subcribe; it is about the same price as a dvd.

PS: I'm probably gonna archive this blog at the end of summer, and then reset up using Wordpress. Don't coun't on getting comments though. :D

I caught Sin City.

Here what I posted on a board about it:

I loved the film. I totally dug the non-linear layout (note that I have been reading a ton of modern European lit lately that is loaded with that stuff, but really, it's just a great way of giving you just the bits you need when need it as means of better catching the viewer off guard with particular connections) the visuals, both in raw quality and in layout, were outstanding, and the stories told, though very dark, were oddly moral in a strange way. Bad guys got their due in the stories; it was just through raw, unbridled vigilantism. It's Film Noir and Digital Film Making taken to a logical extreme, and undoubtly, in my mind atleast, the best comic book movie produced to date.

----

Anyway, it's an amazing flick. Definitely earns it's R rating, but it isn't rated R because it's using dumb violence, it's rated because of just how stylized and artistically shot and rendered the violence is. It's really watching a comic book unfold, and that's quite cool all things considered.

If not a little unproductive in terms of reviews (I'll bang 'em out tonight.) However, given the nice evening shooting pool with friends (yay Zoe, Lucy, Tanya and Mike 1 (as supposed to Mike A aka Mike Check,)) a wonderful April Fool's day and this, it was a pretty cool week. Now to write up a couple of reviews (short preview YAY Princess Tutu, MEH Es Otherwise.)

Outside of a screw up that resulted in my car ending up locked inside a parking garage overnight and getting nailed a 22 dollar parking charge, the Pillows/Noodles show at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle was a freaking awesome evening of music, easily worth my automobile ending up locked inside a parking garage overnight and getting nailed a 22 dollar parking charge. The local acts were quite good, but the Noodles and the Pillows punched with some outstanding sets. The Pillows' energy was especially amazing: I was sick and the club was smoky, but the music just transcended all that. I rocked out along with the music even though it was almost painful to do so because of my cold and my bum knee (thanks Target!) Seriously, if you can catch them live, do so. They rock beyond hard.

that's a from musical... I think it was Assassins or something.

Anyway...
I aced my second Anthropology Exam.
I've got two stories on Toon Zone's Front Page, namely My advance look at Madlax and my review of the scandalous but incredibly well written Koi Kaze.
I'm pretty happy right now. Life is pretty darn good right now. :)

"I think it was Anne of Green Gables who said 'I feel so lonely when I'm with other people, but I'm walking outside, I don't feel lonely at all.'" - Maho, Kare Kano Volume 10.

I need to walk more often I think. And maybe just take sometime off from socializing both virtually and physically. I've got too much stuff to do lately. Heck, my upcoming vacation will probably involve just as much writing as school has lately, maybe more so if I actually do good reviews. Ah well, atleast I get free DVDs for my trouble. Sounds like reasonably equivelent exchange to me.

BTW, thank you to all 2 people who have bought my CD online, and all 10 who have bought it in real life. 12 discs is 12 more than I thought I would sell. When/If I get around to my next nerdcore CD, maybe I'll be able to beat that. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_olson

Watch this get deleted by Admins in under a day. Meanwhile, those who know me should feel compelled to fill that wiki out more completely... or not.

Though I'll probably take this piece of humor to the grave, I felt the need to relate it anyway. Last night/morning/whatever, Zoe and I laughed until we couldn't breathe after seeing something while browsing Ebay for doujinshi (btw Zoe, if you're reading this before I tell you on Tuesday, I got my Fruits Basket doujinshi. They are clean! Yay!) that pretty much fits the headline of this article. One of the doujinshi had an illustration that sort of looked like Doug Funnie was Vash. This then led to Skeeter as Wolfwood, and Roger as Knives.

"Sometimes the answers just crash down from heaven. Honk Honk!" - Skeetwood.

Now you can see why I laughed until my cheeks hurt. That is just funny. Funnie even. ;)

So, I've got my CDs and inserts now in my possession. All I need to do now is cut the inserts down, stuff them in the case, and then I've got 50 cds that I probably can't sell ever! Expect a paypal-type buying link on the nerdcore page soon, which noone will use, ever. ;) Check back in 6 months when most of these will have been used as coasters or tinder for starting a fire in 55 gallon drum in an alley somewhere, depending on the situation. ;)

I've been led to believe that it is some kinda holiday thing today. Personally, I pay more attention to tomarrow, which I like to call discount candy day. :D

...because the cap and nozzle came off her perfume on the car ride home after a nice evening of Kinokuniya browsing (I got the Nakayosi 50th anniversary issue! yay for 50 years of uber-shoujo manga,) sushi from Uwajimaya (yay for friends willing to split a tray of smoked salmon sushi and toblerone minis with you) and some very poorly played but very enjoyable billards (though jukebox did have Queen on it, so "Don't Stop Me Now" got played like million times by us, because after Shaun of the Dead, it's just too darn perfect.) Sure, it's a nice enough scent, it's just that my sweater got semi-saturated with it, and when it comes to scent, you can definetely have waaay to much of a good thing. Yay for friends and good times, boourns for overwhelming the senses.

Ah well, it's cool I guess. In a sense, a perfect evening with friends would be less likely to be remembered than one that had atleast one amusing, effectively harmless mishap. I'd go on about that, but I've written enough about humanities' tendency towards embracing imperfection in English class, and I'm probably only gonna have more to write. I am definitely rueing the whole combined English concept to some extent, though I've not gotten to analysis literature in a formal manner in years, so it's nice to flex those intellectual muscles. Maybe I should take a Spanish course to keep that in shape too. Or not.

Now to sleep.

"You just have to stop before sadness overwhelms you" - Kei Kusangi's Sister, Please Teacher (aka Onegai Teacher, Onegai Sensei)

I'm trying to say anything by it, I just think it's a great little piece of philosophy that was somehow woven artfully and brillantly into what would otherwise be a very average shonen romance anime. Not often you get existentialist when watching a show whose intial tag is "awkward kid ends up marrying his teacher." As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to say that's pretty one of a kind. BTW, the speaker of that quote is wrong, obviously, but it comes up a lot in literature (especially the emo-kid-esque world of European Literature, as I've found out first hand in class as of late.) In fact, this is my lazy way of having that quote accessible for metaphysical debates on existence and the nature of man's state in the world. Yay for the lazy archival options of the internet.

Agenda A: I've been getting into the The Postal Service. Electroglitch alternapunkpop is a surprisingly enjoyable combination. Besides, they have good production that isn't over glossy, and they have some reasonably engaging lyrics. It's music for a near-future utopia, or something like that. Maybe just near-future.

Agenda B: Looks like my replicator will finally have my nerdcore CD for me finally. Apparently his automatic CD maker machine was messed up, so he had to make them one at a time. I feel his pain. However, this means that hopefully with in the month, my nerdcore CD will be up for sale. If you know me in real life and you want a copy, just pester me and I'll bring ya one to buy once I've got them. To everyone else on the net (which is probably noone, but whatever,) I'll be adding a paypal commerce thingy on the nerdcore page once I've the discs in hand.

A: Talking to Johnen Vasquez and the Penny Arcade guys at the same time. Granted, most of the banter was betwixt Johnen and Jerry from PA (Jerry, btw, remembered me from PAX last year, which was cool,) but they were very open in conversation and such. All of those folks are cool people, contrary to what might say on the internet (it's amazing how stuff gets blown out of proportion. Can't a guy take a break from photos and signing to take a break and eat? Sheesh.) Anyway, I guess it was worth my time and 10 bucks as such to hit the Emerald City Comicon. It was a fun and interesting experience. Hopefully SakuraCon is filled with the same goodness this year.

Part A - Working Myself Stupid:
English class is a complete grind that consumes a lot of my time. If anything, I'm still not spending enough time on it. However typing some 4000+ words in two evenings is murderous. However, I need the credit, and I'm managing to do well because of the superb education I got at ICS. It's not hard for me to look in between the lines and find the insight and evidence needed for a paper, but it's like pulling teeth for me to write journal entries about the books I'm reading. I'm past the point where I need to notate the insights I have when reading, I have been for years. However, it's work that I get credit for so, I guess I'll keep with it.

In other news:
-I finally got the Pinky:Cos Evangelion Figures. I'm one happy and pathetic otaku! Kinokuniya is the awesome as such. Now to waste hundreds of dollars on alternate outfits.
-I've come to the realization that I'm pretty darn uncool, even among my circle of geek-otaku friends. Or atleast that's how I feel lately. OTOH, it's good to have cool friends. {/EMO BLOGZZZZ}
-Boca di Beppo's is a pretty good eatery.
-So is the Japanese place above International Models and Toys in Seattle.
-I'm probably going to be continuing my habit of not properly/regularly updating my blog. My apologies to all two of my readers. ;)

Why you ask:

1. I played through nonstop parapara mode perfectly enough to get to the bonus round, and even though I didn't know that song, I rocked that one to. I need to save up for the home version, some how, some way. ParaParaParadise is too much fun.

2. I introduced Zoe to ParaPara, and I think she atleast thought the character designs were cute (which is cool cause they are.)

3. It was a fairly dead night outside of my crazy friends, so I was able to the the In Tha Groove machine, and I had fun dance and rapping along to MC Frontalot "Penny Arcade Theme" and "Which MC Was That." That game needs more Front. I'd gladly volunteer my remix of "Front the Most" for use on In The Groove.

4. Dance games and cool friends are usually a good combination. Besides, we all had dinner at "What the Pho" in Bellevue before hitting Illuzionz. Them's some good eats. 50 cent Ice Tea? Oh yeah.

However, ripping my pants playing Laser Tag sucked. Luckily, I'd gotten many years of service out of those pants, so it was alright. Getting new cargo pants at the price I got those old pants at might take some patience though (5 bucks for new pants is a hard deal to top,) and I think they've gone out style lately.

Side notes: Twin Spica is being fansubbed again, and I love it more than ever. It's a wonderful show that needs be licenced this con season so I can buy it by 2006. Come on American Anime Industry, I want to give you my money. I finished TenchiGXP which was kinda meh. I guess it was worth it. Bleach continues to be filled with awesome, and the whole "sponsored by Bandai" in the credit makes me wonder if they got Bleach. I would have thought it'd be a Geneon show what with Dentsu involvement, but what the hey, the sooner it's in America, the better.

House of Flying Daggers. Darn cool looking film. Lots of gobsmacking action and crazy fighting. However, when you have a fight that either lasts 3 months, or fastest season change ever, well, then it gets a hard to suspend your disbelief. Add to that daggers in hearts apparently not being that fatal, well, that's just silly. Anyway, it's a cool looking film, so if catch in the theaters, do it, because it's one to see on the big screen, but not buy and rewatch a lot IMO.

Anyway, I caught it with the Anime Kingdom entourage, and after watching the flick, we headed down to Red Robin for food, and loitering in front of it was some girls in odd costumes/hats and they notice that I was wearing Kuu from DigiCharat hat, and they noted my hat was like of their's, which was an old skool soviet union hat with ear flaps. I joking throw out that my hat's not communist though, they say that's because the hat's from Russia, Zoe, who was their as well, points out the obviousness of that statement and then I go into a big thing about being homies with Gorbechev "back in tha day."

Tonight: Illusionz w/ the Anime Kingdom crew.
Tomarrow: Ack mein spine!
Side Note: "Concord Down - Don't Tell Me" is Dn'B that puts hair on your chest. "Syncopix - Happy Happy Joy Joy" is jungle that's gorgeous. You should all get your hands on both tracks.

now playing: Ishida Yoko - Asu he no Brillant Road. Because Stellvia is the rock.
I got an Advance Look at Gantz. I don't get it. I'm not sure whether I want to.

School's back in session. It's ok. Boring. But Ok.

Other Noise:
-Samurai Champloo vol.1 is the greatness.
-Zoe deserves a trophy for giving me her old Fruits Basket art book, even though she could have kept it and simply sold her new copy on the Ebay. Seriously, I don't deserve it.
-Condolences to Kii-chan, the ParaPara girl, who is grounded.

now playing: Koikaze OST - Track 23. Easily one of the most amazingly impactful, eloquently-simple pieces in any anime. It captures the spirit of KoiKaze perfectly. Seriously, tracks 20, 23 and 28 alone make the OST worth it IMHO.

kiikii-sempai.deviantart.com

Above is the deviant art site of the very nice girl who I met at Illusionz on the NYE (and in notorius Karl fashion, have completely drawn a blank on name-wise. Seriously, I need to figure out why I can't remember names in a social context.) Since she's a cool person, and further still, an excellent artist, she gets linked in this post, and probably in the side bar eventually. I probably should apologize for inadvertantly subjecting her to one of my friends (hell hath no fury like an InuYasha fangirl vs. a non-InuYasha fangirl,) and I am sorry, though I should probably reiterate that in a email. Anyway, ms.artist-who's-name-I-can't-remember-for-the-life-of-me was a blast to hang out with, and since she digs shoujo, she's ok by me.

Granted, I'm pretty much cool with anyone who enjoys my otakudom. Hence my diverse groups of friends, some of which never interact, which is probably for the best (like I said, some otaku are oil and water... or maybe it's more like bleach and ammonia *_*'''.)

It's a simple equation:

Awesome Arcade + Japanese Dance Video Games + Great Friends + Bohemian Rhapsody Karaoke Right After Midnight with One of Said Friends + Meeting New Cool People + Free Food + Free Soda = One Great New Year's Eve.

So, Happy New Year everyone.

PS: I need to play more ParaParaParadise. That is the fun. And do hammy Karaoke with over dramatic posing and acting, because it's fun too, and the crowd ate it up. :D

So I'm back in Kirkland. Hurrah for home :)

Meanwhile, I've been linked in Wikipedia under nerdcore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore_hiphop_%28genre%29

Someone should add a proper entry for me. :)

However, I'm no longer #1 on google when you search for Karl Olson.
http://www.google.com/search?q=karl+olson

Someone fix that. ;)

Meanwhile, I'm still #1 on google when you search for "Karl Olson."
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Karl+Olson%22

Take that vastly more deserving people with the same name! :D

Lastly, I think I am a chump for any and all Nakayosi-serialized manga. Atleast my new found addiction to Tokyo Mew Mew seems to be evidence of that. Blast you inexpensive manga at Costco!!!

Topic 1: Costco now has manga, in bulk. For about 13 bucks they've got shrink wrapped sets of stuff like the first 3 volumes of a given series, like Cardcaptor Sakura, Clamp School Detectives, Rave Master and Tokyo Mew Mew. My mom was cool enough to pick up the shrink wrapped set of TMM when we were at Costco here in Spokane today. Once I'm back home on cable internet, I'll post some pictures up of the set. It's all Tokyopop manga, probably stuff that's not been moving or something, I dunno.

Topic 2: Happy Holidays from Spokane. I'm here visiting relatives (namely my grandfather on my dad's side, but also one set of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side.) The internet connection is terrible, but I've had time to re-read some manga (Instant Teen, Pita-Ten,) watch some DVDs (Mobile Suit Gundam,) and read through my grandpa's back magazines (Business Week, US News and World Report,) so I guess I've made the most of it. I'll probably most more once I'm back home. See ya then :D

tune back in 9 months when my voice is on a dvd maybe.

Also, Macross Zero was like Macross Evanadiarjuna. Which I guess is cool. Animation was mostly great. where it falters though, it's very awkward.

adult swim coasters
adult swim shotglass
adult swim bottle opener
aqua teen pen
brak cookie jar
a white "cuz anime is teh s uck" shirt
oh, and a VHS copy of "tornado shanks and 3 papers to sign. usual legal blah blah. if they wanna use my likeness to sell dvds, it's their financial loss, not mine. :D

SO, tomarrow, I gets my hate on. Big time. But only because it was requested by the creators of the show.

I'm so nerdcore, I upgraded my processor, my hard drive and did a fresh, legit install of Windows XP, pretty much all by myself (I called a friend for a piece of advice,) recovered the data off my old harddrive inspite of XP's "security," then setup my computer with various freeware and GNU-licence software, free of spyware and other nasty things. Oh, and Reason, Acidph1 and SoundForgeXP. Gotta have those :D

I'm so nerdcore, I finished another dn'b song right after getting everything all set up.

I'm so nerdcore...
...I'm a going a commentary on an upcoming season DVD set of Sealab. A commentary where, at the request of the creators, I get to berate, insult and belittle the show itself. A "Commentary of Hatred." And I'm doing it for free Adult Swim stuff. It doesn't much more nerdcore than that ;)

Yes, that fanart did get posted on Frontalot's website. You should also check out his new song, as not since Tex Avery's "Red Hot Hiding Hood" has there been such an inspired retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Meanwhile, I've got some very interesting projects in the works, I just can't say anything about them. So instead of talking about them, I'll just mention I've been playing a lot of Halo 2 on Xbox Live. Enjoyable stuff.

http://karlrolson.com/index.php?m=200309

after browsing through my access logs, I've come to the conclusion that september 2003 is apparently the most important month ever for me, as the above link shows up in my logs a billion times. or maybe that just because I used have chobits, pita-ten and digi charat wallpaper up on that page. surely chii, sumomo, kotoko, dejiko, puchiko, misha and kotorou aren't that important to traffic.

btw, to those in the future 6 months from now looking at this post after finding it a google search because they are looking for wallpaper to deeplink, I've taken the wallpaper down. too many people deeplinking it and violating my bandwidth. sorry. sorta. meanwhile, check out my music or something.

1. Check out the wallpaper section @ Tsubasa's CG Site. There is one wallpaper up right now (and it's of the Japanese Fan Character, Bisuke-tan,) but I did the composite on it. I'll probably be doing some more of that in the future, as Tsubasa likes wallpaper, but is busy making the actual CG art (speaking of which, check out the Bisuke-tan CG in the new Fad Character Section. It's awesome.)

2. I spent 30 something dollars for the Japanese KoiKaze OST. Expensive, but great. Lovely piano and acoustic guitar pieces. Sentence fragments.

3. Gratuitious shout outs to people who made this last week more awesome for me:
-Zoe.
-Amber.
-Samantha.
-Iliana (AKA The Negotiator, Roger Smith.)
-Lea.
-Lucy.
-Justin.
-The ToonZone.net Players.
-The BCC Fishbowl Players.
-People I'm forgetting, but who are still "omg zawesome kekekekeke (exclaimation point) (exclaimation point) (exclaimation point) (one) (one) (one) (one) (one)"

Why'd I do that? Dunno. :)

See, I was over in Spokane, WA visiting my some of my relatives for Thanksgiving. So, my birthday dinner occured in a Perkins Resturant on Division Street, and they couldn't even seat all of us together (we were in adjecent booths atleast.) I had a Chef Salad w/ Bleu Cheese dressing and a Peppermint Mocha to drink. We then picked up a cheesecake on our way back to my aunt and uncle's house, where the cheesecake was then consumed. Then we watched Elf, which my aunt and uncle had rented earlier that day apparently. Actually, I spent some of the time watching my cousin play the Sims.

Dullest 21st Birthday Ever, no?

Well, atleast I won my bid on this.

...I'd have no luck at all. Turns out the replicator wont be able to get to the Nerdcore CD until early 2005 at best, so I'm thinking about bagging it. I dunno. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this.

Meanwhile the new Dn'B CD is done. Maybe I'll just throw that online too. I love the way it sounds, probably my best work yet, but like all my other Dn'B works, maybe a handful of people at best will care.

I dunno, maybe in 2005 I'll be set to do this. Maybe. I hope. Maybe if ten readers were willing to commit to getting the CD (e-mail if you are) I'll do it. I'll take the risk on. Otherwise, I might as well just throw some nicer mp3s online, and let it be.

I just realized that my playing with other blog softwares messed with my links. Good thing media109 is a class taught in a class room w/ computers and internet access, because I was able to not only able to re-add the links that were dropped (gotta plug that nerdcore CD), but add on two new links: One for Bleedman's beautiful and brillant Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, which may well be the most genius fan work ever produced for any US cartoon, if not one of the best fan works ever, and one for Tsubasa's CG Works which is art done by a friend of mine who is quite gifted with photoshop CG, and he does fairly clean art too (hence why I'm hosting and linking it.)

Atleast not without killing all my old posts. I suppose I could setup this old b2 blog as an archive, then run with a fresh copy of wordpress or movable type, but I sure wish I could rollover. Unfortunately, none of the auto-import scripts I've been playing with want to play ball with my blog. I dunno, I'm going to try playing with the database info later this evening, but I've got a feeling that I'm just out of luck. Maybe I should just leave it be, since I'm not that interested in having comments anyway.

Inspite of killing the the links on the page to my comments section, apparently some jackanape still thinks it's a genius idea to load the effectively unaccessible to the public comments section with spam. Other bloggers out there probably have dealt with the mysterious idiot known only as lilo@suddenenlightenment.us, and I guess he/she/it's been having at my completely ignored comments section too, leaving over 200 spam messages. I think I'll have to learn to upgrade/rollover to a blog system with a blacklist. I'd love to have comments back up some day, even though noone used them, and I've got a feeling the only way to make that work to get a blacklist setup somehow.

For now, I've deleted the comments related php files off the server. I can only pray that works for the moment (not like webspace is a problem, it just ticks me off. Big Time.)

If that sounds weird, well it is, but I met an 11-year-old girl (who shall be called Tomato from here on out, as that is her nickname, seriously) into Evangelion, and gothic/elegant gothic fashion. It's strange, cool and unsettling all at the same to meet someone 10 years younger than you into anime probably 5 years too mature for them. It's weirder still when they are able to hold a fairly solid conversation about said anime.

Heck, the whole ten years younger bit is awkward enough. I'm nearly 21 (november 27th is my birthday,) and yet here I am, talking to an 11-year-old girl in the middle of an anime store. To a third party observer, that's gotta seem somewhere between sorta sad and very wrong. I dunno, maybe it's like that time with "Chie," the eerily mature girl who got seperated from her mom at Target back in 2003. Ack 2003, I'm getting old. I suppose I was fairly mature and pop-culture aware at the age, but it's still something that takes me aback when I see it now in kids. Heck, maybe I just taken aback that I'm holding a conversation with a kid. I was horrible with talking to my peers when I was a kid, so maybe I never really got used to it, and now I've been dropped into situations where it was somewhat of a necessity, ("Chie" needed to find her mom, Tomato was looking at DVDs, wondering what to get and I always try to be helpful,) and it's awkward. Sometimes you've just got to try the best that you can, and hope you're doing right by that, even if it's, well, weird.

So, while I gave her a suggestion that kept her entertained this week (she bought the InuYasha movie, as she's a fan of that too,) I'm selling Tomato my old copy of the Eva boxset next week. She hasn't seen all of Eva, she's a little too impatient for the Platinums, and I need shelf space. Everyone wins, everyone's satisfied and "God in is his heaven, all's right with the world."

Come on, you had to see that line coming. ;)

Money has been procured via the sale of my old 4-track machine. All I need is to run the cover art by a few friends of my mine, and then nerdcore album action should follow after that. I'm shooting to have released before my birthday on November 27th.

After that, I've got a Dn'B EP I'll either shop around to labels or release under a Creative Commons-type licence. Either way, it's a neat disc IMO. Probably the best Dn'B I've written yet.

Meanwhile, I bought the Delgados' "Hate" basically for one song, "The Light Before We Land," the song that was used as the opening to Gunslinger Girl. It's probably the best track on the album, though the other tracks are alright. I kinda wanted to see the Delgados show that going to be at Crocodile in Seattle on November 1st, but alas, it's a 21+ so I'm out of luck. Ah well, I'm 21 on November 27th, so I'll actually be able to see some of the awesome electronica act that only seem to play 21+ venues. It's lame though. I don't want to drink, I want to see a good band that plays music I like. Sure, Seattle has an all-ages scene, but it rarely has much in the way of the acts I'm looking for.

I guess I'm on the brink of more than a few changes, musically and temporally. Hopefully all goes well.

I've got a full course load, so I'll have health insurance, yay!

I've the job I thought I had to replace my Target job has fallen through, boo!

I saw Shaun of the Dead on Saturday and it was hilarious, yay!

One my friends fell ill and was unable to watch it, boo!

I'm back in school, and since Zoe is there, we'll probably eat lunch together often, as that is fun and interesting, yay!

The line for texts and admissions is friggin crazy, boo!

I might get a deal on replication for the nerdcore album, yay!

I might not have the money to do it right now, and even if I get them made, I'll have to setup some kinda e-commerce to ship them to what few people care, boo!

Mixed assortment of life I guess. ;)

As of the 25th/26th of September, I'll no longer be a Target employee.

And I couldn't be happier.

Even though my job working at the digital music lab isn't a lock.

Even though my budget will be tighter, and I already owe my mother for the otakon trip.

I'm free.

I didn't mind cashiering.

I didn't mind food avenue cashiering (never trained me to actually make food though, because even though they made me take the test to get a food handler's card, they lost the card.)

I didn't mind guest service (aka customer service, which they made me learn after I gave them my two weeks notice. I don't get it either.)

I didn't even mind pestering people about Target Visas. (Even when some guest berated me with words just as prerehearsed as my own.)

But those carts.

I couldn't take that any longer.

And losing my weekends and holidays all the time.

I couldn't take that any longer either.

I want to, and need to focus on school. I want to have sometime for friends and family as well. Target was in the way of that, big time sometimes.

Adios Target.

I'll miss being payed to be silly, but you didn't pay enough to deal with open disposable diapers and empty malt liqour bottles while nursing a bad leg and a worse cold in the middle of a downpour with a strong wind.

Adieu.

Itsumo Sayonara.

Oh, but I'll make sure and buy clearence stuff after holidays and stuff. Gotta love that 50%+ off halloween and x-mas candy, and clearence rack clothing. ;)

I may not be a hardcore gamer, but PAX this weekend was a blast. The gamers I met were fun, talketive people who definetely helped the time pass in the lines. Gabe and Tycho were cool enough to not only autograph my program, but when I mention to Tycho that I remixed MC Frontalot, he asked which mix, and I told him I did the Ultrastep mix of "Front the Most" to which he replied that he loved it more than the original! Props! from Tycho! So, I plugged my current nerdcore project to him. Hopefully he likes that too. The Red vs. Blue guys were really cool and nice. They were just hanging around on the balcony of the Maydenbauer Center when my brother spotted them. We go up to give some respect and, they hook my bro and I up with a free copy of Red vs. Blue Season 1, autographed! The musical show was amazing, and when I talked to Front after the show, he was quite cordial and awesome, and he was happy to meet the man that remixed him. Again, I plugged the nerdcore project.

In general, the con was a blast and I can't wait to come back next year.:)

A.K.A. all the zillions of people Rick at work refered to the site.

The pertinent info is here. All the nerdcore rap you can handle.

Anyway, I've been finally working through some of my anime in the past week, and I've even watched everything I picked up on friday. Nice to have a cloudy sunday off to kick back, and watch some Azumanga Daioh. It's just got the right tone for this kind of this kind of day. Delightfully bittersweet ambient comedy. That kind of day.

Hey everybody! It's a few Otakon pics. Mooninites! Yaoi paddles! Me looking bleh from the heat!

I'm happy to be home in the Seattle grey. Doesn't make work any more fun, but I traded out my cart shift for a cashiering shift, and I won a coke. Yay me :)

The Con = Pretty Good (I prefer SakuraCon, at least when it comes to dealer's room, guests and number of familiar faces. Oh, and 24/3 closed circut anime in the hotel.)
The People I met from the internet @ Otakon: Pretty Cool, though Solitude_1 from TZ was the coolnessest.
Baltimore Weather = Hot, Sticky and Icky. I have a new appreciatation for Seattle summers.
Overall, it was pretty cool stuff, but I'm not sure whether I'd do it again. Their just isn't enough cool stuff I think to justify it, because even though I met some very cool people, it's expensive to do this (maybe if certain cool people attend again, I'll show up.) Howver, I think I'll stick with the local con for now, but I'm very glad to have the experience as a member of the press, as a traveler and as a fan. :)

between having to get up at 4 in the morning on thursday, a 45 minute layover in philly, the subway out of Reagan to Central, and then the train ride up, I'm a little nervous about missing a beat somewhere in this little trip. However, I'll have 30 something nutrigrain bars on me for food, so atleast I'll be able to keep nurished (yay costco.)

once I get there, then I've got the fun of waiting in line for my press badge and other such stuff. however, I'm truely excited about the whole thing, so with any luck, I'll be able to handle this stuff... in theory... ^_^'''''

Huge thanks and props to Ny for doing battle with the server move and fighting around Linux getting everything up and running wonderful. He deserved a pizza, or trophy, something from Otakon. :)

Oh, yeah I am I guess.

Anyway, the nerdcore album is basically waiting for one track to get wrapped up by the producer working on it, then I can do finishing touches and ship it.

Meanwhile at work, I'm back to doing carts now that my knee is better. Bleh. I'm so outta there once school starts back up. As matter of fact, if they don't give me time off for Otakon in Baltimore (which I've got my press pass, hotel and airfare all arranged for,) I'm out of their even sooner.

BTW, expect some bloggage from Baltimore if I end up with some internet access. Else if, well, I'll post some pictures or something up when I get home.

PS: the site might dissappear for a day or two as my friend Anthony is switching to a much better host (more space and more bandwidth.)

This: http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=115201 = AnimeTVGuide.

This: http://www.karlrolson.com/nerd.htm = Ultraklystron - Revision 4920: A Nerdcore EP

And I softmodded my XBox so I can run ems and play fansubs and stuff on it. Yay!

First full day of summer vacation was today. I went out and bought a cable. Then hung out at Anime Kingdom.

really interesting, no?

Right. Not at all.

So, Zoe broke up with me. Not all that long after I wrote the first thing today. Ah well, another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. Still went and saw the movie with her and Jason (another cool guy from Anime Kingdom.) The potter movie was quite good, and I highly recommend it.

I think I'll end this with a quote, well a poem:

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
---Stephen Crane.

I'm gonna carry that weight, right through finals week.

I bought Zoe 30 bucks worth of gift certificates for Anime Kingdom (the local anime store) for her birthday, and I think (hope) she was quite glad to get them. Her birthday party was fun. We watched Casino Royale and Azumanga Daioh (any girl who is fan of both of those rocks in my book,) we ate delicious cake, burgers, salad and chips and in general had a good time hanging with a bunch of our friends. Today, the same group (more or less,) will be going to see the Harry Potter movie, which should rock. :)

Upon closer inspection, my DVD backlog is larger than I thought, as I've yet to watch GXP 2&3, 08th 3&4, Angelic Layer 3-6, Azumanga 2, Millenium Actress, Big O 3, Grave of the Fireflies, Nadesico: Prince of Darkness, Lain 3&4 and Nadia 4&5. That's 17 anime dvds to watch. 17. I might be able to half the list in the first couple days after finals week, but that'll be some very dedicated anime viewing action.

On the birthday note, today was Zoe's birthday. I wanted to get her something really cool, but all I got her was some Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex trading figures. I mean, they are cool figures, but they aren't the coolest. I really would like to get her something, but I wouldn't want her to feel guilty or needing to pay me back for them. I guess I'll try to pick up something she'd really enjoy before heading to her party tomarrow. If only I could get a hold of some cool Cardcaptor Sakura stuff on short notice. I recently got her hooked on CCS, and I'd love to get her something cool like a clow key or clow wand replica, but that'd be hard to get on short notice. Or maybe some Zim stuff. Or maybe I'll make buy her some cornbread. I know she loves the stuff, and I'm quite a fan of it myself, and she asked people to bring food to the party, so I know it'd be well recieved.

Ah well, I'll try to find something. She's an awesome person, and deserving of awesomeness.

DVD Backlog to Watch:

Angelic Layer Vol.3-6
Azumanga Daioh Vol.2
Grave of the Fireflies
Martian Successor Nadesico: Prince of Darkness
Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team Vol.3&4
Nadia: Secret of Blue Water Boxset 1 Discs 4&5
Serial Experiments: Lain Vol.3&4
Tenchi Muyo! GXP Vol.2

And I'm probably forgetting a few discs. I can't wait til class is out for the summer. Those DVDs are going to eat up some time to watch and I'll finally have that time soon.

...when you get rid of old boxes, magazines and other garbage. I really got thank Jim, Zoe and Jason (and Leia on Saturday) for helping me and my family out with the spring cleaning. The house looks awesome. Thanks to hanging out Anime Kingdom regularly, we've (my family and I) made some great friends, and I hope we stick together for a while.