Past News Archive: February 2008
February 26, 08
Had been sick this past week, but feeling a bit better now. I actually got sick on the day I started my two days off. That was really stupid. Started my work week with a bad throat which would lead to a cold later on. On top of that, our house had some renovations on the flooring on the top floor & a room. It was a busy week really.
Notice anything new? I've added images on the left menu frame for visual improvement. Not really big stuff, but I got something going at least. I plan to change some of the image buttons a bit since they are kind of weak; particularly the Link button. Now to figure out something on the right side of this home page.
Another thing that I talked about in improving this place was deciding to add a mini gallery for some of my collectables. I decided to give it the green light. In addition to that, I'm thinking to make some wallpapers on some of them as well. The mini galleries will be based on the figure & will be placed in that figure's review. As you may have seen, I've already upload some of the collectable reviews in the new format which is somewhat similar to this home page. The gallery will be placed in the right side of the review. Because of the possibility of space to put the pics up without wrecking the page format, I may put up a small number of them only. Plus, they will be made as thumbnails in low resolution quality as usual. If I become too much of a shutterbug, I've got plan B.
Plan B is to get another website (free, of course) for the extra pics. That site will solely be used for pics of my collection & possibly hold some files for the download section. I've got one in mind & it has 50MB of space. The pics will be in higher resolution since I'm getting more space & those free image upload pages can't go for image files that are big. But I don't know if 50MB will be enough as high resolution pics take up a lot of space. Plus, I don't know how nuts I would go with the shutter button. Nevertheless, now I need to use my creative side of my brain to make the gallery & wallpapers. Haven't used that side of my brain for a long time. But, I've started on one figurine already to see how it works out. Looks "bleh" at the moment.
Another thing I'm thinking of adding is a guestbook & a forum section. The guestbook has been thought of for a long time & I think I may give it a beta run this week. Notice that it's got no pics for them. I'll see how well it goes. If it's all good, it'll stay. If it goes bad or too spammy, it's going off. As for the forum part, I was think of piggyback with my web store's forum, tamago toys. However, I plan to shutdown the store this summer when my contract expires & don't plan to renew it. I was thinking of keep it & turning it into an anime/manga toy user review. But managing two websites that are similar to one another is a hassle & waste of time. So, I'm thinking of making a forum here instead. But I don't know if it will be good. Despite the fact I have found a couple of free forum places, I don't want to manage it if it's going to have a low number of members & gets filled with junk members & postings.
Enough of my future plans, here's this weeks updates. Again complete anime reviews & it's small this time. Got up sola Special & Nodame Cantabile. This takes care of the complete reviews that has been sitting in my to-upload list for a while. Speaking of sola, Bandai Entertainment recently made an announcement that they have licensed it. Brief anime reviews will be up next & that should get me back on track in getting this place up to date with the newer anime shows. As a bonus, I got the Chocola 2002 up in the Artbooks & Illustration Books section. Still thinking if I should reformat that section as well.
February 19, 08
Last week, I brought my first Queen's Blade figurine. It was Nyx. Got it from Sakura Media as it was strangely cheap. Reason why was that it's the Asian version. It had the Bandai-Asia sticker on it. Since the Asian versions are the exact same as the Japanese version, I went for it. Plus, the figurine is hard to get at the moment like most Queen's Blade figurines.
As I'm currently redesigning the site, I've been thinking if I should do a mini gallery section of my collectables. For some collectable items that is since some of them are fragile/warped or no longer in my collection. Also, some of them are still in boxes or bags. I've somewhat managed to understand my Sony digital camera a bit in terms of how to take stable pictures. My problem was trying to get my pictures not to be blurry without worrying about my hand being unstable & holding my breath. I had to become a statue to take my pics properly. Now that I managed to understand how it works a bit, I may think about getting more pics. Galleries of anime toys are popular & almost a must these days.
My dad always wanted me to get into photography as a hobby interest as it's his personal hobby/interest as well. He took photography classes before. Plus, he's been trying to get me into it for a long time since I was in elementary school. But I don't think he would want me to take pictures of my stuff like that. Since almost everyone in the world is on high speed, massive loading of pics shouldn't be a problem now. But, I'm going to think about it first. I don't have an interest in photography & time to take a lot of pics. But I should think about it as learning new things should be a good experience. Aside from that, it should make me help me understand a bit more about webpage designing as well. Two for one learning. I think I should do something on that right side of this page as well. But, I think this place is getting cluttered as it is. I think too much.
In anime news, FUNimation got Claymore. Nice choice, but I'm not picking up the DVDs. Got no more room for them now. Plus, I want to go for something a bit better than that show.
Speaking of anime, I've uploaded some complete anime reviews. This week, we have ARIA the OVA ~Arietta~, Moyashimon, Saishū Shiken Kujira, & Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei - Preface - Zetsubo Girls Collection. Was going to have some collectable reviews up, but I'm holding out on it for the time being. Cause they are still being revamped & the idea of creating a mini gallery for them is currently being looked into. Hopefully next week I will think of something to do to improve this place a bit & add more images to it to make it more appealling.
February 12, 08
Forgot that last week was the start of Chinese New Year. This year is the rat/mouse. To people that celebrate it, Gong Hey Fat Choi! Coming in a couple of days is going to be Valentine's Day. Whoopie....
Recently, I've been going back to the PVC figurine track again. I know that I have put up restrictions on how I buy them, but they are getting easily met/broken. A lot of PVC figurines are looking too nice. Keep in mind that I'm not going for them because of the cast off features. I keep my figurines fully clothed, thank you. I may have to remove the exception parts of my requirements & tighten them. The closet is overflowing with boxes again. I stopped with illustration books too as my shelves are full now.
Updates for this week is mainly complete anime reviews again. Up are D.C. II (Da Capo II), Gift ~ eternal rainbow ~ OVA, & Kamichama Karin. I'm currently redoing the collectable section now. This is a big section. Once that's done, it'll be the PSP section I guess.
February 5, 08
New month with January 2008 entries in the Past News Archives section now. Let's start the new month now, shall we?
In anime news, Bandai Entertainment licensed Shigofumi & True Tears. I was watching those, but I guess I need to dig somewhere for them now. What surprises me is that Bandai will released them in North America in May 2008. That's very quick. But the way they will be sold will be slightly different. It will follow a similar format as R2s. Some of the volumes will has around two to three episodes while one volume will have one episode only. What's more is that they will only have Japanese dubs. I don't know if people will like this approach here as one 30 episode in one DVD can sound expensive.
In PSP news, Sony releases firmware 3.90. In it is only the Skype software & this firmware is for PSP slims. Phat PSP owners like me will have no luck at all. This news is in the PSP News, Hacks, & Secrets section.
Recently, I received an email in regards for my order for the 1/7 Ignis the Black figurine (the HJ exclusive one). Turns out that the figurine has been delayed yet again. From end of December to end of January, now it's mid February. Not sure why that one is being delayed a lot since the other two versions (WF version & original version) have been released for some time now. I don't see why it's being delayed. My guess is to fix any problems that the original version may have had. But, I got my Mega House Punit Collection Rozen Maiden Träumend Shinku Figurine in the mail yesterday. But it's going to the closet for the time being. Probably a long time.
Updates this week include an collectable review. Not really a major one since I sold that item away & never got the chance to play with them. It's the K-T Figure Collection DX Dead or Alive Trading Figurine Set in the Dead or Alive collection section. As for anime reviews, got up complete anime reviews of ef - a tale of memories, NANA (finally!), Nanastuiro Drops, & Zegapain. Saving the rest for next time.