Day off

An article by Don Quixote    5 Comments

So I took the day off today. It’s been a while since I had one, and I put in a long week in (new student move in at St. Francis, so lots of comp-time hours). It’s been kinda nice. I slept in until almost 7:30 (yeah, that might not seem a lot, but when you’re used to 3 am, it totally rocks), so that was good. Got the house power washed, and it looks much better. The house hadn’t been clean since it was built 14 years ago so it was time. I did a little reading, got the boys from school, played some Tigris and Euphrates, and now I’m taking some time out to blog.

All in all, not a bad day off, come to think of it, I might even take some time off tomorrow and go see Napoleon Dynamite. My next official day off will be Sept. 3 when I head up to Lansing to see Tom and Nathan. Somehow though, it went from being a chance to hang out with Tom to suddenly now I am “Demo” guy at Tom’s store teaching new board games and advising Tom on what one’s he should carry. What’s up with that, I don’t even get a commission, however, I was promised all the water I could drink while I was there, so I guess that’s not a bad deal. So if you’re in town, want to play some board games or gawk at the Bob The Web Guy, drop Tom an email and he will schedule you a viewing.

So let’s see, what other mindless crap can I tell you about. Oh yeah, the weekend.

Friday I worked until 7 doing new student move in (a lovely 15 hour day), Michelle and I had lunch with my parents at O’Charlies, so that was a good time, then we went over to Best Buy and got my dad a new track ball (it’s the only kind of mouse that he likes to use) and I picked up some more anime to check out. I’m totally getting into it. I love the moral stories and the cutting edge artwork.

Saturday I worked at the newspaper, and then worked on the IDEAL project (which is my main job at the University of Saint Francis), and watched some anime.

Sunday was another 15 hour day as I worked at the paper and then did new student move in until 7. I’m telling you (and I am sure Eric can back me up on this), some people shouldn’t be given a computer. Plain and simple.

So this is what I watched:

Akira

When it comes to anime, this is it. This, I believe and correct me if I’m wrong (no really, please do), this was the first mainstream anime project to hit the states. It was pretty cool. I recall seeing parts of it on day at Great Lakes when some guys were watching, but that would have been back in the day. The artwork was very well done, and I thought that the way they did the tail lights on the motorcycles was just amazing. Oh, a little tip, the kid dressed in red on the red bike, he’s not Akira.

Record of the Lodoss War

Several years ago there was a new comic book out (I think it was from image), but one day while at Best Buy, Scotty Johnson said, hey, this is the series that the comic book is based on. Well, like many other bits of trivia that friends pass along, I store those away in the back of my head and pull them out when needed. (See, most of the time you think I’m just ignoring you, but no, really, I’m listening). In any case this is fantasy anime with elves, dwarfs, clerics, and knights. Totally my thing, and unlike every other anime I’ve watched thus far, this is one that I can watch with the boys, so that’s been a lot of fun.

Texhnolyze

No matter how many different anime I put into the DVD player, I am always amazed at the differing styles of animation and story telling. The first episode (30 minutes) had almost no dialog in it, but the sound engineering was amazing. It had so much atmosphere. The art work was very washed, but the use of color was amazing. Once I post this, I am going to capture a screen shot and post it to share. I’m totally digging this series.

Saiyuki Vol. 1: The Journey Begins

I’m a little uncertain about this series. The animation took some getting used to as it’s not as polished as what I’ve seen thus far, but the humor and the moral platitudes in it are very interesting. So the jury is still out on this one.

Twilight of the Darkmaster

How’s that for a nice sounding Christian name? A common theme in all anime (well, al the anime that I’ve seen thus far) is man’s struggle with demons. Almost every mythology has that same common factor, that man is at war with demons. However, there was just something about this one, that just really didn’t sell me. So I think I’ll pass on anything else from this series, or story tellers.

Okay, so now that all that mindless crap is over, here is the one parting thing you should be interested in: I tried FIJI water today. It was pretty good stuff. I think I am still partial to Deja Blue because of it’s faint sweet taste. What’s your favorite water?