George's blog

The old switcheroo.

Panasonic HDC-HS300 Handling

This will be one of my first purchases this coming September. Not Canon? That's right. Earlier this year I was going to buy a camcorder, but the new lines weren't coming out until mid to late April. Now that they are out and the reviews have hit camcorder.info (and other places), I was able to read up on them.

I initially was looking forward to the new Canon HF S100, the follow up to last years Canon HF11, the camcorder that ruled all camcorders. It still does, actually, when it comes to price. But I want a good all around camcorder with the newest technology, and this year's competition was surprisingly fierce. Not only did Sony and Panasonic give Canon a run for its money, but Sanyo's mid-range camcorder kicked everybody's ass in terms of low-light filming. It sucked in most others, but only when compared to the high end models, which is what I was looking at. Another thing the Sanyo VPC-HD2000 had going for it was the 60p recording, which is unheard of in consumer camcorders, so it had possibly the smoothest recording out of all of them. Pretty impressive for a mid-range camcorder. If anybody is looking for something around $600 - $700, check this one out.

But the Panasonic. The HDC-HS300 is the 120 GB hard drive version of the HDC-TM300, which has a 32 GB flash memory built in. Both camcorder have an additional SDHC slot that can hold up to an additional 32GB flash card. Flash is the future, because you can shake the camera all around and not worry about moving parts breaking, like the hard drive. I didn't want a hard drive model because of this, but with the inclusion of the flash memory, I can use it for potentially shaky times while falling back on the hard drive for main recording, because really, 120 GB can hold up to 15 hours of video at the highest quality settings. And that's fantastic. Each flash card, by comparison, can hold about 4 hours, which is not bad at all. Honestly, I may just buy the TM300.

Panasonic HDC-HS300 Vanity

Both models are the same under the hood and scored decent to (mostly) high on all video performance tests. What I'm very happy about, and what sold me, is the fact that it's low-light sensitivity is up there with the Sanyo model, and I know I'm going to be using this guy at night, or during karaoke, when it's dark. Finally, a perk that I wanted to enjoy was the very high shutter capability, at 1/8000, which will allow me to take some cool slow-motion shots. The Sony has a function for it in short bursts in the seconds, but this one is continual and only requires a bit of editing (Sony's does it on the fly).

Now that I've picked one, all that's left is to find a vendor that has an affordable but good warranty. Anybody have suggestions? I love Dell's warranties, but they don't carry this model. =/

Obvious bad guy is obvious... or is he?

SMT: Devil Survivor - Cutscene

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor recently came out. It's a new game in the series made specifically for the DS. The Megami Tensei series is most popular, at least here in the States, for the Persona games. I haven't played a single one because I've heard that they are tactical RPGs with battles of strategy that I'm just not attracted to. I am not one for lengthy battles in my games, and it sucks because I know I'm missing out on some good stories. I hear the Megami Tensei series of games have some really good stories in them, too.

So when I casually came across some information on a DS game in the series, I became a bit interested. The Megami Tensei games have been on the PS2, which I no longer have, so I never really even had a chance to try. But now that it's out on the DS, and I have a lot more time available to me, I thought I would check it out. I've been jonesing for a game to play. I tried out The World Ends With You, and the concept it awesome and I hear the story is very good (which is the biggest draw for me), but damn the battle system had such a steep learning curve for me, I just kinda gave up.

So I tried SMT:DS and interestingly it's a mix of strategy and traditional RPG gameplay. The battles are layed out in strategic fashion, but when it comes to actually engaging an enemy, it turns into traditional battles, which I enjoy.Honestly, I think it's a perfect game for me to get my feet wet in tactical battles without scaring me off.

SMT: Devil Survivor - Battle Screen

Granted, the "tactical" part of the battles aren't nearly as intricate as other games known for it (like Disgaea), but that's the point: the mix is complex, but not overdone. Battles last longer than I would like, but they're fun, so it doesn't drag.

I just started, but the story is interesting. I know there are going to be some hard choices that force me to change the course of the story, which I hate. I prefer linear storylines. I'm not a multiple-endings kind of person. I prefer to be able to get 100% completion through one sitting of the game. I think replayability is overrated, and should be left to shooters and platformers. Yes, my love for Chrono Trigger goes against everything I say, but I actually don't like the multiple-ending aspect of Chrono Trigger. I simply love it for it's main storyline.

Anyway, so far SMT:DS is great. It may be the game I complete for my list of things to do this summer. I hope the story stays as interesting as it is so far.

Bad June, bad!

June Celebrity Passings

I haven't really said much about the passing of all the celebrities. It's gotten way out of hand this June. First David Carradine passed under questionable circumstances. I used to watch the second coming of Kung-Fu back in the day. Then Ed McMahon joins David. My generation knew him as the Publishing Clearing House guy, but obviously he was more known as the sidekick to Johnny Carson, the position Andy Richter has taken on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Anyway, the first two have led pretty full lives and in seeing them go, while sucky to hear, have long lives to celebrate. Then Farrah joins them at age 62, which is old but not passing old. Shortly after, and vastly overshadowing everybody else, Michael Jackson passes at 50. His life was far from normal, but damn he left one hell of a legacy. There's no doubting how huge he was. Of course I listened to his stuff back in the 80s, although being a kid not as vehemently as the young adults and such. He was the world at the time. Also passing at age 50 is Billy Mays, the popular salesman behind OxyClean and a ton of other products. This last one is somewhat surreal, because he was just a few days ago on the Conan O'Brien show. He looked totally healthy and fine. Crazy.

Animation nerds

Carl & Ellie

I'm a big fan of Pixar. Or Disney·Pixar. But more specifically, the Pixar team. It's easy to root for a winning team, but after watching The Pixar Story by Leslie Iwerks that comes with the Wall-E Blu-ray it is interesting to see that the team that has cranked out ten hits in a row are a bunch of people who are probably their most hard-nosed critics. They are all huge fans of animation -- passionate about their work in 3D but fervently respectful of 2D animation as well. My favorite films so far are their most recent: Wall-E and Up. To me, this simply means that they are getting better and better. Then again, I haven't even seen Toy Story 1 and 2 yet, and I should since 3 is coming out next year.

What I liked about Wall-E was that it had heart. It was the characters that sold it for me. Not only was it visually stunning, but the music was spot on. In the beginning when the "camera" pans out through the arid heaps of trash, the score is ominous, foreboding, but flecked with subtle hints of hope. It's among my favorite movie scores (my favorite is the "Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra," aka the motorcycle chase scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Up, too, had a lot of heart. In fact, the opening montage that essentially introduced Carl was one of the most poignant and touching five minutes I've seen in any movie. Needless to say, I can't wait to get this movie on Blu-Ray. I want to see it again in theaters one last time, though. Without the 3D glasses.

To confront my childhood horrors...

Disney's Return to Oz

Every so often I find myself explaining to people that I'm scared of three things: clowns, dolls, and mirrors. There are reasons for each one, and all three stem from my childhood. I have several vivid memories of my childhood that still reside in my mind, so vivid that I recall exactly what they look like. To prove it I decided, in my movie-watching escapades this summer, that I would return to the things that scared me so much in the first place.

When I went to see Transformers: Return of the Fallen last night I saw posters for the new Alice in Wonderland that's coming out next year. Alice in Wonderland is one of those vivid memories. Not the 1951 Disney animated movie, but the two-part made-for-television movie in 1985 that covered both novels -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking Glass written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, otherwise known as "Lewis Carroll." Yeay pen names.

Near the end of the first part, Alice returns home all happy, only to find a house that is completely empty. This alone scared the crap out of me (thanks to Muppet Babies, I have quite the imaginasheon). The fear would return to me in a game called Wild Arms, in which a town you once visited that was bustling with activity later would be completely empty with some of the most lonely (and strangely eerie) music I've heard in a video game. The concept just freaks me out. Just think about it -- you come back from wherever expecting your family and friends, and nobody is there. Not even eerie music. Just silence. Crazy.

Anyway, as Alice is looking around the empty house, she hears her cat. She cannot find it, however, until she looks into the mirror perched above the fireplace. She spots her cat sitting on the carpet that she just passed. She turns around, and the cats not there. Oh hell no. This is the birth of my fear of mirrors. She sees her father and mother come down the stairs in the mirror, but again turning around reveals nothing. She pounds on the mirror to get their attention to no avail. She gives up. But the fun doesn't stop there.

Scary "Alice Through The Looking Glass" Scene

Brandi was asking what a Jabberwocky was. I didn't know. And now I know why. I blocked the shit out of that image. I totally forgot what the Jabberwocky was until I looked it up. When a frustrated Alice sits down after pounding the mirror, she reads the poem of the Jabberwocky. I will not say more. Instead, I will post the link to the YouTube video. It's no big deal now, but when I was a child it scared the living shit out of me. I seriously remember me pinching the biggest fucking loaf evar when the Jabberwocky appeared. Okay, not really. But apparently a lot of others felt the same way judging by the comments on the video. I'll be watching this movie tonight.

A side note with Jabberwocky -- Adam Sandler started his song out, "Dip Doodle," with the word Jabberwocky. His entire song, like the Jabberwocky poem, is mostly nonsense with some sense thrown into it. Yes, it's a comedy album, but interesting nonetheless.

Another movie that scared the crap out of me was Return to Oz. This Disney film (which I had no idea was Disney and/or I blocked that out, too) was the 1985 sequel to The Wizard of Oz done by MGM in 1939. It is now apparent that 1985 was a bad year for me. Anyway, the film featured people with wheels for hands and feet that threatened to tear Dorothy to shreds, a princess that took the heads off of beautiful people to use as her own, a desert where people died by turning into sand once stepping foot on it, and living rock that ate people (see above picture). So yeah, terrifying to me. I never saw it again until now. It is not very scary anymore, but damn I had the light on for days if not weeks when I first saw the movie. After watching it, I'm actually impressed with the stop-motion animation. It was pretty freakin' good for movie in 1985. The detached talking heads were kinda laughable, though.

Maybe some other time I'll go into why I hate clowns and dolls.

Feather dusters can be fun!

Cat Toy

Best cat toy evar. Two of my cats (this one is Scrappy) go after it like crazy. The middle cat, Licorice, only goes after the other end, which is simply a black handle. I guess he likes more of a challenge or something. Still, Scrappy and Honey must love the feathers. Honey goes especially nuts for this toy. Then again, he also chases shadows...

Is there Viagra for CPUs?

Smplayer

I've been freaking out the last few days because I've been trying to play .mp4 files (H.264) that are high resolution (equivalent of 720p and 1080p) with no success. I tried several several codec packs, tweaking the filters in each one with a trial and error method of narrowing down what slows things down, to no avail. The H.264 codec at high res (1920 x 1080) cannot be played on my laptop. I thought my laptop was capable of these videos, but apparently I was wrong. I can play the same resolution with other codecs, such as DivX and xvid, so I'm guessing that is has something to do with the compression algorithm. I know for .rars and .zips that the more you compress files, the more strain it puts on the system, which makes perfect sense. But damn, I expected more out of my laptop.

The best I could get was not using Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPCHC), but a different player altogether called SMPlayer, a shell for a command line executable called MPlayer. It manages to play the same high res H.264 files for a longer time before it starts getting choppy. Not perfect, but it's progress. But what I like about it is that it's more of a combination of features I like in two separate applications -- MPCHC and VLC Player. The interface is clean, and there are several options that VLC can do that MPCHC can't. Between the three players, I can pretty much play anything my system can handle. The only thing I don't like about SMPlayer/MPlayer is that to play files with out-of-country filenames (like Japanese character sets), you need to turn on a switch that plays files using the DOS filename (8.3 characters). No big, until you want to use subtitles. When it tries to find subtitle files with the same name it can't because it's looking for a subtitle file with the 8.3 scheme. For example, I have two files -- "MR.BRAIN EP01 (Xvid1.2.1 1280x720).avi" and "MR.BRAIN EP01 (Xvid1.2.1 1280x720).srt" -- but when you pull it up in the player it reads the first file as "MRBRAI~1.AVI" and looks for the subtitle file with "MR.BRAIN EP01 (Xvid1.2.1 1280x720).srt." Kinda sucky. You can manually bring up the subtitle file, so it's not that big of a deal, but damn convenience eludes me once again.

"There's somethin' wrong with his medula oblongota."

Mr.Brain - Ep3

I dunno how they can get so many stars on one series. I hope this turns out to be a trend, but I somehow doubt it. With the amount of sponsors they show for each episode, it seems like there is a ton of money put into just one. The ratings so far are very good, well into the 20s, but there have been other dramas that have received similar ratings but do not seem to have nearly the budget this show has. Regardless, the winners are indeed the viewers and it definitely has me watching every episode without too much time in between.

I read on the d-addicts.com forums, though, that there are a lot of plot holes and obvious oversights that make the show less than realistic. But really, doesn't every Japanese drama do similar things? Even American dramas don't cover everything, especially sci-fi. And in the end it's all about entertainment, with the focus being more on the characters than actual plot. Yes, it's all important for the success of the shows, but there are varying weights to it, depending on who stars, what the writing is like, et cetera. I don't even see these things people are talking about, but then again, I may be more focused on the subtitles to notice (although to me it doesn't seem like it).

I'm having a lot of fun watching this series. It helps that I'm a Kimutaku fan, I'm sure. =)

Creepy Tom

Creepy Tom

It's creepy Tom! The Fonz doesn't look to concerned, either. Conan is awesome.

"... but I'm the Kool-Aid man."

Meat Loaf: Literal Video Version (Anything For Love)

A friend posted a link in Facebook for a literal version of the video for the song Total Eclipse of the Heart, which I thought was pretty funny. Being new to this "literal video" thing, I started looking around for more. Unfortuntely, most of the were pretty retarded. One of the first ones, done for Take On Me, was okay and had its moments. My favorite one so far is the one for I Would Do Anything For Love. The voices suck (as they do in all of them), but the point is the humor, both derived from the video literally and some inserted in as an afterthought. Regardless, funny stuff.