Welch's Squeezable Strawberry Spread

Is it not logical that when you're making a spread that is supposed to be squeezed out of a small opening you would make a point reducing the size of fruit chunks in the spread? Well apparently that didn't occur to Welch's, as their spread as several large chunks of strawberry which cause the opening to be blocked. Quite frustrating.

Anime reviews moved

I've decided to declutter this blog; and thus I've moved my latest favorite category, anime reviews, to their own blog. Check it out and follow along at Akuyume's Anime Blog.

[ARIV] Welcome to the NHK

Welcome to Welcome to the NHK! (N・H・Kにようこそ！) No, we're not entering anything related to the Japanese national broadcaster Nippon Housou Kyoukai. This, is the Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai, although apparently by the end of the show the H is interchangeable but lets not go there.

The show follows the life of hikikomori (recluse and acute sufferer of social-withdraw and severe social anxiety) Tatsuhiro Satou. Laden with a few weightier topics, including pyramid schemes, drug abuse (only present in the anime for one character), conspiracy theories, suicide, and Comiket (okay listing that one here was a joke, laugh, I command you). With all of these themes NHK manages to be delightfully entertaining dark comedy. As all the characters have major psychological problems going on I'm tempted to compare it to Evangelion. Some have gone as far as comparing it to The Catcher in the Rye.

Character development is particularly enjoyable, maybe this is a factor of the depth of problems the characters have but nevertheless the characters do feel quite real for the length of the series. And plot clinchers were quite effective on me; and the ending of the series is full of quick twists and given the amount of dark comedy, its actually a little surprising, but I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen/read the series. 8/10.

[ARIII] Hayate no Gotoku !! Episode 1

I've had my eye on Hayate no Gotoku! for a while now and I've finally decided to check out the first episode of the second season ala Crunchyroll. Three and a half minutes into the episode and female lead finally opened her mouth; this show is definitely gonna be afflicted (in my mind, at least) with a severe case of "Hey, It's That Voice" as Nagi is voiced by none other than Rie Kugimiya, or Shana of Shakugan no Shana. Hmm and both are associated with maids with Western names (Shana's mother-like Wilhelmina and Nagi's actual maid Maria).



<rant>Three tsunderes at the beach, sounds kinda scary, and it would sure be confusing with all them having the SAME VOICE. I haven't seen Zero no Tsukaima but for some reason I've got a feeling I know exactly what Louise's voice sounds like. But lets face it, Rie and her voice are about as typecasted tsundere as Ben Stein is typecasted boring.</rant>

Back to the show now! Well at least it sounded a bit less like Shana when she only said urusai once! ... Moving on. Margery Daw's seiyu, Hitomi Nabatame, plays the part of another drunkard, one of the teachers at this strange school.

All in all, I'm not even sure what just happened in this episode. 6.5/10. Maybe I just need to see more.

Anime Review II: AIR - Episodes 01-04

Having already seen Clannad I can say that I am slightly experienced with Key's habit of tying supernatural forces into their harem/romance animes. However this time around in AIR, its definitely more prominent, at least thus far.

One thing to hit my mind is that the main character does have a vague resemblence to Tomoya of Clannad. But that's not their only similarity, as both seem to have an ability to be surrounded by strange single females whom they then help on a quest to normality. So far dinosaur-girl still says "gaou" every other line. On the other hand he seems to have fixed the girl I was starting to think might have been possessed.

Don't get me wrong, I might sound a little patronizing but I'm actually liking this show. And I like the opening theme so much so that you may have noticed I'm presently undertaking the production of my first AMV to it.

Anime Review I: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

I've been watching plenty of anime lately. The latest series to grab my attention? The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (宮ハルヒの憂鬱, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu). I'm halfway through the series and several things are tempting me to write about it. I've been watching the English dub as I tend to watch whatever is easiest to get my hands on and all the eng dub episodes of this series are currently available on Veoh (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Video Channel).
Basic rundown, its a sci-fi comedy. The plot itself has several wtf..? moments (if you don't know me, I enjoy these kinds of plots) and the sci-fi dimension goes very far out. Anyhow, the plot stays very novel, original even. Its not quite one's usual sci-fi; as for the comedy aspects, I have been ROFLing frequently watching this anime. The part that gets me is this: the graphics and artwork are definitely over top. Its simply a very beautiful anime. At this point I'm even considering checking out the manga this show is based on.

TextToWav 1.4

Text-To-Speech, whether for fun or for a purpose, can be a very useful technology. TextToWav 1.4 streamlines making WAV files from TTS input.

TextToWav, from Download.com

The Microsoft SAPI plugins can be obtained separately from Microsoft, however TextToWav's installation process streamlines the download and installation of these plugins.

Review: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

After a few minutes using IE8b2, I've got a few notes about it to share. Mostly positive changes, but this is a beta release, thus the feature set isn't set in stone quite yet. Nevertheless, I must add, I'm still posting this note from Firefox.

What's new?

• Domain name (and TLD) highlighting - The address bar now by default dims the "excess" text such as the directories and subdomains, showing the domain name of the website you are visiting with clear emphasis. How does this help? Preventing phishing; spoofs become more obvious.


• Tabs colored by where they came from - Tabs are grouped by the referrer tab, and colored accordingly. Example: You visit Google News and open a link to the NY Times there in a new tab, both tabs will be shaded the same color.


• Bookmark and history search in the address bar - For those of you who have used Firefox 3, this feature will feel very similar to the AwesomeBar. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the title of this item says it all, the web browser searches your history and bookmarks as you type in the address bar, making it easier find places you have visited without having to remember the full address.


• InPrivate - This feature, under the Safety menu to the top right, allows users to open a new window and allows the user to surf and leave a minimal footprint on the computer they are using. No cookies, no temporary files, no history. It also attempts to block third-party websites from tracking you across the web (think advertising groups). I particularly see this being useful on public computers.
• Web slices - This feature leaves me scratching my head. I feel if it takes me more than a minute to figure out how to use something, it isn't very intuitive. It looks promising, although I'm not totally sure what it's supposed to do. I'm routing for a RSS/Atom previewer, but for now I'll be keeping my fingers crossed as at the moment the only way I see to modify it is to using a Microsoft list of feeds.
• Quick Tabs - Another positive here, the quick tab button, to the left of the tab bar, gives a quick graphical view of each tab open.

If you wish to read more on the subject, I suggest visiting Wikipedia's article.