Kiki - the most adorable cat in the world

Sup,

I HAVE A KITTEN!!!!! It's a little boy cat. Untill we visited the vet today we thought that he was a little girl cat, hence why we called him Kiki, but by the time we found out thats its a male, the name Kiki had already stuck.

We have named him Kiki after the Studio Ghibli movie 'Kiki's Delivery Service'.

As i'm writing this he is sat on my shoulder watching me type. He is ADORABLE!!!!! He's black and white and can fit in the palm of your hand. He has the cutest meow ever, tiny paws, tiny claws, and a little black mark right under nose.

Here are some pictures of her playing in the garden. Enjoy!!!







I will upload a video later.

EDIT: Here's that 'oh so cute' video...

Enjoy!!



@BenGP02

Halo 3 on a screen bigger than my house. Really.

Sup,

I have never played Halo 2 or 3. Never really wanted to. The Master Chief never really did it for me. I played Halo1 on the PC and wasn't exactly blown away.

However, Logan Westbrook, on the forums over at The Escapist Magazine posted this. Halo3 being played on the new eleventhousand square foot screen at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.



Yes, this screen is bigger than my house. Believe me, even I would happily sit down for a Halo session on that gigantasaurus. Imagine Dynasty Warriors: Gundam on there? Twould be awesome.

@BenGP02

Standing the test of time

Sup,

I like to re-watch things. In my book, things with re-watchability are generally good. When I buy things, I like to think that my purchase will not be a 'one time wonder'. I like things to 'stand the test of time'. I don't want the things I've spent my hard earned money on to sit gathering dust on some shelf. Not only will this of been a waste of my money, but I'm not getting the most out of my purchase.

On occasion, however, after either listening to a foolish recomendation, or seeing a trailer that makes something look way better than it actually is, I have let the occasional series slip through the net. In this instance, it was the old scenario of 'awesome trailer, not so awesome series'.

Enter 'Silent Mobius'.

So imagine, it's 2001 and I'm waiting for my NTSC-VHS version of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz to fall through the post box. I'd spent nearly £40 to get it imported and I was major phyched. It arrives, and like all VHS tapes there were trailers before the main feature. Silent Mobius was one of these trailers.

The trailer was basically the opening credits with a voice over and a few extra clips thrown in for good measure.



WOW! TALK ABOUT AWESOME!! Magic circles, a huge sword looking thing, lasers, guns, space ships, and hot women kicking some alien ass! All set to some freaking awesome tune. Cool? Yes sir, yes indeed.

Like a flash, I rang up the local anime shop. Ordered the full series, and like another slightly slower flash, one month later the full 26episodes of awesomeness arived. Watched it, enjoyed it, put it to one side, forgot about it.



Fast forward eight years to 2009. It's credit crunch time and the chances of buying new anime is looking pretty slim. I come across Silent Mobius in a box, lying there like a tramp in a subway, looking up at me begging for spare change, or in this case, the chance to be watched just one more time.

I made it to disk three of six. I think episode 12... maybe. I didn't care, I'd lost all interest. It was something to do the main character not wanting to face her destiny, and her father opening the gate to another world, and the recapping of stuff we'd already seen... yada yada etc etc...

This series isn't bad, because I remember it being good. But... I don't know, it's just not as good as I remember it. The characters were just a little bit shit, and the story is slow. Really, really sloooow. Perhaps I should pick up the manga?

I mean the manga was released in 1991, the TV anime had it's run in 1998, and then was released by Bandai in 2000. So when picked it up in 2001 it was already quite old, but now its almost 20 years old, and to be honest, it's just not managed to live up to what I remember. For me, I think I'm bugged by how Mobius has tried to take too many genres and mash them all together. Magic, the occult, sci-fi, comedy, romance. Silent Mobius is like taking a little bit of City-cyber: Oedo 808, a chunk of Ghost in the Shell, a smidgen of Tenchi Muyo, a dollop of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, taking out the good bits, chucking them in a blender and snorting what ever freakish concoction is left. A real bad trip.

@BenGP02

Real G - videos

Sup,

Right, unless anything else happens that is worth blogging, I'm gonna make this my last post on this subject. To read all my other posts regarding the Real-G project, click here.

A couple of videos here of the 1:1 scale RX-78-2 Gundam which has be erected in Obadia to mark the 30th anniversary of the popular anime series.

The first video shows some really nice close ups and was found at www.weirdasianews.com



The second video shows Gundam being 'powered up', as the movement of the head is tested along with the lights and sound effects.



And just for good measure, here are some amazing pictures which I found on www.pinktentacle.com but they can now be found all over the web.



The Real-G project, however over the top it might be, is awesome. It truly reflects just how much the Gundam franchise is adored by not only the Japanese, but by folks all over the world. Gundam isn't going anywhere anytime soon that is for sure. Anyways, we still got the 'UC0096 - Gundam Unicorn' movie out later this year, and next year we've got the 'Gundam 00' movie. Can't wait.

Thanks for reading

Follow me on Twitter! @BenGP02

Full Metal Alchemist S1 review

Sup,

Full Metal Alchemist is one of those anime's that came out ages ago and for whatever reason I put off watching. I'd always heard good things about it but had never really been interested, probably because at the time, I thought it was one of these new wave 'teen animes' that was only here to flood the western market and sell some dvd's to kids who'd never heard of the old stuff like Macross, Gundam and Captain Harlock. I guess I was a bit too shallow minded to give the newer stuff a try.

So the other week I was in the local HMV dvd store when I spotted the two Full Metal Alchemist dvd box sets, released not so long ago by Funimation (Dragonball, Z, GT etc...). Season 1 - part one and season one - part 2. £30 each. Bargain? I should think so.

If you know me at all, then you will know that I am a sucker for a box set. Especially when the box sets are this sexy.



Both boxes, as you can see not only come in super shiny boxes, but they each come with episode guides/ art books, one to accompany each dvd. SWEET!

But anyways, on to the actual series.

Edward and Alfonse Elric are brothers and alchemists. While trying to bring their dead mother back to life through alchemy, Alfonse, the younger of the two, has his soul trapped in a suit of armour, and Edward looses a leg and an arm. And so begins the first episode.
FMA follows the two boys on their quest for the fabled philosophers stone, which will allow them to return their bodies to normal.

A gruesome, yet engaging opening. I love it when an anime grabs me from the word go, it means that it has my attention and I'll want to watch more. FMA grabbed me in episode 1 and didn't let go untill episode 28. It was here that Funimation let me down.

Ok, so I don't mind that the story continues in 'season 2', and I don't mind that season 2 isn't released in a box set yet. I do mind when the story is left just dangling, what happened to cliff hangers??? What happened to suspense??? I also mind when seasons 1 and seasons 2 aren't actually seasons, but instead they are one series that has been just cut randomly in half, or at least that is how it seems.

That aside, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the first half of FMA. It somehow manages to get the mix of comedy and deadly dark seriousness just right. The animation is beautifully done and the characters are memorable. The dvd's are dual audio with English. I watched the dub which was very well done. English voice actors include Vic Mignogna (Aura Battler Dunbine - Neal Gibbons), Travis Willingham (Code Geass), and Caitlin Glass (Gunslinger Girl).

Now, I've only had the time to plow through this once, but I will rewatch 'season 1' again before I buy 'season 2'. I highly recommend Full Metal Alchemist to both the newcomer to anime and the hardened anime veteran, like myself.

I'm currently rewatching Silent Mobius. Boy is it a chore. It's not as good as I remember.

Thanks for reading!

Follow me on Twitter! @BenGP02

Real G - 1:1 scale Gundam RX-78-2 finished

Sup,

Its been a while since I last blogged anything, probably because I've had nothing to blog about. But today is the day, finally, after months of waiting, that the giant 1:1 scale RX-78 Gundam has been completed.

Towering over the island of Obadia in Japan, Gundam reaches a staggering 59feet. I don't know if they'll have a grand unveiling, but eventually its head and arms will move, and mist will pour from the exhaust ports.

For those who don't know, the RX-78-2 Gundam is the original suit from the very first series way back in 1979. The RX-78-2 was piloted by the newtype Amuro Ray. Because of this suit and its pilot, the Earth Federation was able win the famed One Year War against the Principality of Zeon.

For my other post on 'Project Real G' click here.

All pictures are courtesy of dannychoo.com









To enlarge the pictures, just click on them!

For more fantastic, but copyrighted images, mainichi.jp is the place to go.

EDIT: NEW PICTURES - I can't get over the detail...






Follow me on Twitter! @BenGP02