| Still here. |
[Oct. 2nd, 2008|10:05 pm] |
Well, it's a week short of a month since my last post, so I thought I should probably say something.
First of all, happy birthday to Hogan! It's pure coincidence I checked LJ today, but hey. :)
Secondly, I had a brief webcomic relapse, but I'm apparently out of it again. I still check a couple, and I keep planning to catch up on the 100 or so of the best ones I used to read, but I just can't find the time.
That's mostly because my anime craze is still going strong. The summer shows are just about done, and the fall ones are just around the corner... I'm not as psyched about any of them as I was for some of the spring or summer ones, but I'll give most of them a chance. Who knows, maybe a few will turn out to be new Amatsuki or Wagaya no Oinari-sama?
And finally, the second reason my time is lacking: I got a job. And this time, it seems to be a real, actually-paying job, for a well-established company.
I work in a warehouse, loading and unloading stuff from trucks and vans, sorting it out, and putting it into different trucks and vans. It's quite hard for me, because months after years of doing nothing has left my physical condition in shambles... but after three weeks, I'm still alive, and apparently getting used to it. But I'm still pretty much going from bed to work and back to bed...
So, there you have it. Will Mravac Kid make enough money to finally buy those 3 years of Walky&Joyce backlog? Or the Melonpool books? Will he manage to save up for a *gasp* NEW COMPUTER? Or will he once again be limited to working for fuel to get to work? Stay tuned to find out.
P.S. Itazura na Kiss is a wonderful anime. It's the first one I've seen that shows what happens after the highschool couple actually gets together... |
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[Sep. 7th, 2008|07:50 pm] |
... umro je Dino Dvornik.
Ne mogu vjerovati. :-/
Koliko god mi njegova glazba ne paše, toliko poštujem njegovu ulogu na hrvatskoj glazbenoj sceni, i stvarno je bio jedna od onih "besmrtnih" ličnosti...
Ne mogu vjerovati.
Clarification for my English-speaking friends:
One of the most influential Croatian musicians in the last 20 years or so, Dino Dvornik, has passed away... and even though he lived a true rockstar life, he was a larger-than-life character, one of those you'd expect to live forever.
It's a complete shock. |
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[Aug. 28th, 2008|06:17 pm] |
I saw her at the beach today.
I almost didn't recognise her, and it took me a few moments to realise it's really her, as I didn't expect to see her.
She's still every bit as lovely as she was -has it really been 12 years ago?- with an added more mature air about her.
Once again, I didn't say anything to her other than a greeting.
I will graciously accept any swift kicks in the pants you think I deserve. |
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| The end of an era |
[Aug. 6th, 2008|07:10 pm] |
I just finished watching Aria the Origination.
It showed glimpses of the life behind the scenes, and there's so much more to that world still left to see... I don't want them to ever stop making it :,(
But man, such a lovely ending. |
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| Success! You gain 35 XP! |
[Jul. 27th, 2008|08:37 pm] |
The 2008 edition of Liburnicon has come and gone.
This time, fortunately, the technical catastrophes were decidedly minor in comparison to last year's powerlines meltdown, only some computer screens failing.
The con was a smashing success, it was chock full both Friday and Saturday evening, people were delighted with our games, and the "At the edge of the end of the technological society" talk show involving Kresimir Misak, one of the coolest Croatian TV hosts, Korado Korlevic, the leading Croatian astronomer (and all-around brilliant person), and Vladimir Paar, one of the greatest Croatian scientists, was so crowded there was barely any standing room left... I'm pretty certain the hall where the talk show was has never seen so many people before. And it was a great show... even though it lasted around 2 hours, people were still asking questions and discussing the subject after it ended.
The presentation of manga for the Croatian market was also quite interesting, though it was a lot less well attended (about 8 people were there, which is about 1/4 of what the small classroom can hold). I was amazed how well Mr. Ken Kusumoto spoke Croatian, no problem at all... I hope I can do the same with his language someday. He spoke a bit about the plans for bringing manga onto the Croatian comics market, which is pwned by dubious-quality (and way overextended) Italian comics, and the plans sound rather nice. I hope it happens, as there's a few titles I'd very much like to have in my possession (Aria, anyone?). Even the price is quite cheap, 35 Kn (cca. $7) per volume (Croatian edition follows the Japanese format very closely, no turning around or dividing the volumes into smaller parts).
After the presentation, he gave away a few copies. I was divided whether to choose Blade of the Immortal or Peach Girl, but as there were two copies of Peach Girl and only one of Blade of the Immortal, I took Peach Girl leaving the other to a girl (weird, huh? I take the shoujo manga, and she takes the shonen -or is it seinen?- one :) )
The organization was leaning heavilly towards the quality rating of "dreadful", but that's to be expected with only 5 of us holding it together... but as long as the visitors are happy, it's OK, we'll try to improve for the next one.
All in all, I think it exceeded our expectations, and though it seems unlikely we'll manage to top it next year, we're hopeful we'll at least iron out some of the mistakes and make it go along more smoothly. |
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| Once-in-a-lifetime show |
[Jul. 11th, 2008|12:37 am] |
I just returned from a concert. And not just any old concert.
Headlining were Tommy Emmanuel and Chuck Berry.
It is quite safe to say it's not very likely that such an occasion will repeat itself...
In any way, the show started off with local comedy legend Branko Djuric "Djuro" and his band Blow Up, who did a few songs from his late-80s band "Bombaj Stampa". And they were very good, had great sound and did everything right. Unfortunately, there weren't all that many people at that time, and the organisers decided to put chairs in as the show was to last 3.5 hours. That prevented people from getting into the rock sound, but it did allow us to survive the whole duration with energy levels high enough.
After them it was the turn for Neno Belan and Fiumens to do their gig, and they did an hour of their hits (and some from his solo career). He displayed some fancy guitarwork, and all in all left a good impression, though his love-song style doesn't quite fit with the rest.
Then Tommy Emmanuel took the stage. Or attacked it, that would be a more appropriate term. For some reason he seemed really aggressive, and focused a lot of that energy into his playing, resulting in an energy-filled hour that flew by way too fast. There were some sound troubles in the beginning (this will be important shortly), but they were resolved almost immediately.
After that it was time for the legend, the man who pretty much invented rock n' roll (or at least gave it to the masses with the modern sound that developed into the genre as we know it today). Chuck Berry appeared to a thunderous applause and cheering from the audience, almost a standing ovation.
And not a second after they started playing, the sound falls apart. :-/
The second guitar and bass disappear, drums lose sound, and only the vocals, piano and Chuck's guitar are left.
So, while the crew frantically tries to restore something resembling sound, he gives his all in a couple slowed down songs, and shows he can still play (this will also be important soon).
In about 5-10 minutes the sound troubles are somewhat resolved (meaning, they get the sound back, but the levels are all off, which causes some trouble to the band, as they can't really hear each other well). They start playing for real (as Chuck said, "This very moment, we're starting our show"), and do a couple songs quite well, with Chuck's daughter on the harmonica being especially well received by the audience.
But by then, Chuck can't keep up... he starts making errors, loses the key they're in, and I start feeling a bit sorry for him, having come all this way just to lose his focus with technical problems.
But he doesn't give up. He brings girls from the audience to dance on the stage, he cracks jokes, and works the audience quite nicely. He may have lost his former guitar-playing glory, but he's a great showman. And his son and daughter (guitar and vocals/harmonica, respectively) do their best to help him salvage the show.
I have to applaud the audience here. In pretty much any other concert with such trouble, they'd have booed the band off the stage or left themselves, but they cheered them on and participated in making the concert a success after all... almost everyone got up from their seats and crowded towards the stage, and I think they really gave Chuck and the band the energy and willpower to endure the whole hour.
In the end, the concert gets positive marks... to be honest, I didn't really expect much from Chuck Berry, he is over 80 after all, but I'm not disappointed. He can't play the way he used to, but it was still very nice to see him in person. |
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| What, another one? |
[Jun. 24th, 2008|05:12 pm] |
Everyone else did it, and I won't be accused of not following meme fads. :p
1. Where is your cell phone? Radio
2. Your significant other? None
3. Your hair? Long
4. Your mother? Verica
5. Your father? Boris
6. Your favorite thing? PC
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? Juice
9. Your dream/goal? Unknown
10. The room you're in? Bedroom
11. Your hobby? Guitar
12. Your fear? heights
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you're not? Accompanied
16. Muffins? What?
17. One of your wish list items? Girlfriend
18. Where you grew up? Opatija
19. The last thing you did? Post
20. What are you wearing? Clothes
21. Your TV on? No
22. Your pets? Gone
23. Your computer? Old
24. Your life? Lonely
25. Your mood? Resilient
26. Missing someone? Yes
27. Your car? Enduring
28. Something you're not wearing? Socks
29. Favorite store? plurisyllabic
30. Your summer? Coming
31. Like someone? Muchly
32. Your favorite color? ...Black?
33. When is the last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Yesterday?
35. Who will resend this? Unknown |
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| Argh. |
[Jun. 24th, 2008|05:07 pm] |
So, I signed up for CrunchyRoll, because it seemed like a good place to check on anime before getting a normal quality version through regular means.
All nice and well.
And then I get a server message:
"hey Mravac_Kid, you should upload a profile pic so ppl know who u are!"
...
"ppl"?
"u"?
:-/ |
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| Awesomeness |
[Jun. 13th, 2008|02:14 am] |
/me wantss it... yesss, preciousss...
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| Whee, sports. |
[Jun. 8th, 2008|10:52 pm] |
Well, Croatia managed to defeat Austria, though only barely so... not a good sign considering that (as always) everyone expects the team to reach high (which almost never happens).
Germany defeated Poland, while a Polish driver in a German car won the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix, and both did it fairly easily and with some great moves. Robert Kubica in the BMW scored the first win for both himself and the team on the same track where he so spectacularly flew into the wall last year, and Nick Heidfeld ensured a 1-2 for the team. Meanwhile, David Coulthard relives his days of glory by scoring 3rd. The race itself was quite excellent, with much action both on the track and in the walls. :) And Massa has shown once again that Ferrari is the car to beat, climbing from 18th to 5th.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton does another rookie mistake, and puts both Kimi Raikkonen and himself out of the race... he may be a very fast and talented driver, but he obviously does need some more experience before he can be considered a great driver.
Special kudos go to Timo Glock for reaching 4th place in the Toyota, and Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso for getting the last point by managing to keep Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren behind him, after starting the race from the pits.
All in all, the championship so far is among the most tightly contested in a long while, with drivers from several teams in with a chance and the standings changing from race to race... it's still a long way to go, though, so it can (and probably will) change. |
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| I failed my saving throw against meme. |
[Jun. 5th, 2008|07:39 pm] |
1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.
Well, Gerald gave me a P, so here's my choices.
Powerslave - Iron Maiden
Play The Game - Queen
Painkiller - Judas Priest
Prisoners In Paradise - Europe
Poison - Alice Cooper
Man, this was hard... there's so few songs starting with P. I have some 32000 mp3's in my database, and I'd be hard pressed to scrounge up 20. |
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| Best. LOLcat. Ever. |
[Jun. 4th, 2008|04:54 am] |
By mravac_kid |
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| Yay, D&D! |
[Jun. 2nd, 2008|06:35 pm] |
Well, some friends and I put in a preorder for the D&D 4th Edition core rulebooks from Amazon... 5 sets, priority mail, at $70 per set postage included. Which is a bit more than I paid for the 3rd Edition back in 2001, but not by much.
Ships June 6th, arrives around June 12th... I guess we'll have to endure the wait somehow. :) |
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| Forget Stacy... |
[May. 27th, 2008|08:14 pm] |
It's Misi's mom that's got it goin' on. :)
And just for kicks, this one's very nice too.
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| *snicker* |
[May. 24th, 2008|02:15 am] |
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