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(Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 10:01 a.m.) On this week's episode of The Amazing Race, this leg was the grossest ever. The teams went to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. There was confusion in the canals en route to the next route marker. When they finally found the Detour, most teams opted for 15 feet of cow manure (Eeew!), while Reichen & Chip and our ATCs walked on wooden clogs while bringing in 500 kilos of cheese. They were then led to an even ickier Road Block: handling 25 live eels and putting them to a box -- using bare hands. Most of them went through, but sadly, our ATCs were not fast enough for the Tangerine Team (who argued earlier in the canals), and are now eliminated from the Race. Here is the leader board as of the end of this week's episode:
Digimon Tamers is finally over with (not exactly) the most exciting turn of events when the Tamers and the programmers turn the tables against the D-Reaper. Though the D-Reaper was successfully defeat, it also has its side effect: the Tamers' Digimon degenerate and were returned to the Digimon World. But the now rookie form Gillmon promised Takato to see each other again. That may materialize for them. But alas for us, we'll never see that happen as last Friday's episode was final one. The final installment of the Digimon series, Digimon Frontier, will be shown starting next week. But I don't know if my job schedule (once I find a job) would allow me to watch it. Galaxy Angels is on again, yet currently on season 1. You know the drill: Millefeuille Sakuraba, Lanhua Flamboise, Forte Stollen, Mint Blancmange, and Vanilla Hache, all looking for Lost Technology. Don't forget the ever pesky and almost human computer Nomad (residing inside a stuffed toy). I hope that AXN South East Asia will broadcast seasons 2 & 3. I can't wait to see it. ...And Ranma ½ is back, this time on AXN. Nostalgia? If I'll ever see the entire English dubbed version again, that would be nostalgia; but what I saw was a subtitled one. I already endured the Mandarin and Filipino versions by pressing the mute button, but not this time. Megumi Hayashibara? She has a singing voice that is better than her off-screen acting voices. Guiness tidbit: MOST TATTOOED MAN Around 99.9% of Tom Leppard's (UK) body is tattooed.Tom's tattoo portrays a leopard-skin design--dark spots on a yellow background. He estimates that he spent over £5,000 ($7,000) on his stunning bodywork.Unfortunately, how about his money's worth now when he is currently living a hermit life in Scotland? Appearances in TV shows? Ja! (Posted on Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 03:25 p.m.) Last Thursday night, my most valuable and reliable blue uploading floppy disk suddenly fouled up and after re-scanning the disk, most of my files stored in that diskette were lost! And that was after the incident where my laptop's floppy disk drive suddenly acted up. For a few minutes, my "blue disk" was working fine until the disk can't read a few minutes later. After the disk was scanned on my PC (after confirming that the disk suddenly had errors) I discovered that most of those files were gone! I scanned the diskette again twice, but the same result came. Most of my reliable files were lost because of that! Among those that were lost are:
<space> tag used exclusively by Netscape (IE doesn't support it).So what can be done to make up for the lost files? Most of my contributions either were submitted already, had been written on paper in advance, or both, so I don't have to worry. So goes for the Japanese Keyboard Driver files as they are already installed in my laptop. I have to make a new leaf for the ninth Anime Survivor Grid. I did have copies for the first three on paper, but not the other five (I never printed them) as I already forgot the circumstances behind them. Five installments of Anime Survivor in just two months! I already forgot the circumstances on the fourth alone! Only the names on the lot jar I use can tell me about them. To make up for that, a file called "Colors" was just made to remind me of what colors each "tribe" has. I also have to turn a new leaf for a new blog template; however I have to download the blog banner (which I uploaded) as it is the standard for all the templates. I don't have interest on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, so why make another Money Tree template? (I haven't even updated my WW2BAM site for months now because I can't access it myself!) For everything else, I have to make new files from scratch. In fact, this entry was stored in a new "blog entry" file, which is made all from scratch. Great incoveniences indeed! This week's episode of The Amazing Race, there was the usual bickering and backstabbing among teams as they travel westward to France. But this is the first leg of all time where the Road Block (in Le Mans) went before the Detour, which is Ropes-Slopes one. (One of the legs in AR3 also had a Ropes-Slopes Detour where Flo freaked out while she was about to rapel.) Fortunately, Chuck's claustrophobia overshadowed Millie's asthma. After some parking problems in Marseille and some of them getting lost in finding the Detour, they all got past Steve & Josh, which I haven't seen for the last 15 minutes of the episode. The father-son duo, who never seemed to get along with each other, were eliminated. Here is the leader board as of the end of this week's episode:
Where to next? It seemed that they will not leave Europe yet, but the producers will not tell us. Just watch out for the next episode. Like I said in the last update, there is something ugly behind Jen (or Juri/Jeri) who came home to the real world was really a part of the D-Reaper. But aside from that, there are many other things that happened. Takato, Henry, and Rika finally met each other's parents. A girl named Alice gave them the power to digi-volve to Mega Level in the real world. Impmon reunited with his owners, but separated with them again just to help the other Digimon. Ken, Kyle (or Kazu), and Suzie finally had proven themselves as Tamers. Calumon found the real Jen with the help of Impmon, a.k.a. Belzemon. And Rio and Cyberdramon can merge into Justimon. But there are many other questions remain. Who was that girl Alice? And why was she wearing black? Will the others find the real Jen like Calumon did? And how will the Tamers finally defeat the D-Reaper? These questions would be answer as Digimon Tamers concludes this week. Finally last week, I finally saw part two of the finale of Joe Millionaire. I always knew Evan ended up with Zora (I read it last February). But I never knew about the twist Paul Hogan promised: the $1,000,000 check he gave to the couple. I hope those two end up together, long after the show ended. Guiness tidbit: Most arrested person By 1998, Tommy Johns (Australia), had been arrested nearly 3,000 times for being drunk and disorderly in a public place. (sic)If that guy was arrested 3,000 times, how did he got out of jail in each time? Ja! (Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 at 10:38 a.m.) This was supposed to be posted last Saturday. But uncontrollable circumstances cause this delay. Gomen nasai!! Out of Italy and into Austria, with a trip to the sewers, a bungee jump, and a scamp for tags on the fliacres in Vienna. Most of the teams decided to find bear the weight of the double basses and find Mozart's home rather than get lost finding a little known home of Beethoven. Our ATCs Steve and Dave knew they were in last place en route to the Pit Stop in a town called Gmunden. But Russell and Cindy made a very big and costly mistake. They asked for a train to Gmunden, but the man at the ticket counter thought they were going to another town called Gmünd. So they took their time and realized their mistake later on at a travel agency. Wrong train, wrong time, big mistake; our ATCs went in front of the dating friends without the ATCs knowing it until they reached the Pit Stop. Here is the leaderboard as of the end of this week's episode:
Finally, as of yesterday's episode of Digimon Tamers, Calumon, our Tamers, and their Digimon (after Renomon and Rika, a.k.a Ruki, helped Impmon get back on his miserable feet) did made it to the Ark and finally found themselves home in Tokyo. But when Takato decided to take Jeri, or Jen as she is called in the Cartoon Network version (the Japanese call her Juri), to her parents, you would notice that just from her eyes that something's not right with her. You would notice that she was becoming more like a robot. Later, after returning her to her father, Takato was surprised to see on TV that Tokyo was being sucked by the dreaded Red Liquid. Whatever was plaguing Jeri and whatever will happen on next Monday's episode, both of them would be very, very ugly. As a side note, what was plaguing Jeri was a side effect of the accumulated trauma she had while in the Digimon World, including Leomon's "death." It may be the same trauma that made Impmon digi-volve into a very powerful, very aggressive, yet domineering Digimon who seemed to hate the world. (I forgot that Digimon's name, though.) MO-MAN-TAI? I hope so. Guinness Book tidbit: Most costume changes in a film for a character While playing the lead role in Evita (USA, 1996), actress and pop star Madonna (USA) change her costume 85 times, wearing 39 different hats and 45 pairs of shoes. All the outfits were designed by Perry Rose (UK) and were based on originals owned by Eva Peron, the former wife of the Argentine leader Juan Peron.Elizabeth Taylor, who played the title character in the 1963 film Cleopatra, used to hold that record, changing costume 63 times. I wonder how she felt when that record was taken away from her? Ja! (Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2003 at 10:45 a.m.) I haven't prepared anything again! Well, here is a little update: Finally on as of yesterday's episode of Digimon Tamers, Calumon was finally rescued. Now the only thing left (as of today's episode) was to get out of the Digimon World. Remember when Takato merged with Gillmon to become Gallantmon? Henry and Terriermon and Rika and Renomon did the dame thing. I didn't remember the name of the Henry-Terriermon combination, but the Rika-Renomon one is called Sakuyamon (complete with high heels). One thing I discovered late: I saw today's episode this morning at 8:30. This mean that what will be shown tonight is just a replay! I finally saw the first episode of CSI on another channel, and I was surprised that some of the familiar characters, particularly Warwick Brown, look different back then. But I have to watch the second episode next week. Luckily, the channel where I usually watch CSI will feature some of the best episodes from the first season for six hours this Saturday. I can't wait! Ja! (Posted on Saturday, June 7, 2003 at 10:43 a.m.) It was a tough leg, with the teams moving into Venice this time. But I can:t believe that almost all of the teams who went in first in Cortina came close to last in Venice. In fact, one of those three teams who left first, the dating couple Amanda and Chris were eliminated. They almost overtook one of my favorites, Monica and Sheree. The culprit: the Road Block where a member of each team has to find one of four people out of multitudes wearing masks on a masquerade party. Lucky for the old ATCs, Steve and Dave, to take a very humorous Fast Forward, and go to the Pit Stop without doing the dreaded Road Block. Here's a recap as of this episode.
Pardon me for my typing. My laptop got itself right this time now that its layout is the Japanese 106-keys one. But this one is different to the 101-key US QWERTY keyboard that I've used to type more often, as symbols like the quotes, colon, asterisk, etc. are not where they usually should be in the 101-US keyboard. That's what you get when your laptop comes from Japan. Mine is an IBM ThinkPad 380XD with Japanese keyboard layout. I'm almost halfway to the Chobits series, but I haven't seen Episode 13 yet, but give me time as many real world activities are howling me one again! And I'm still having to check the info about Shaman King and Shamanic Princess. Must be too much of Santana's Shaman lately. Guinness Book tidbit: Most NBA titles The Boston Celtics have won more NBA Championship titles than any other team. They took the title in 1957, 1959 to 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, and 1986.That teams is trying to do that this season, but they aren't lucky to get past the conference semi-finals. Speaking of the NBA, which team do you want to win the NBA Finals: the San Antonio Spurs or the New Jersey Nets? Ja! (Posted on Tuesday, June 3, 2003 at 10:50 a.m.) I didn't have time to write full comment report on The Amazing Race, but already I have bets: Monica and Sheree: Though they're wives of two Atlanta Braves players (I don't know which two), they can kick but like their husbands did in the NFL. Steve and Dave: ATCs. Let Ian and Teri be their inspiration despite their age. Jon & Al: Clowns. I hope they can lighten up despite the races seriousness. On the other hand, I don't like Reichen and Chip to win the race. "Married"? Asia generally accepted their relationship. But on this episode, it was the fat couple Debra & Steve who were eliminated. Maybe they should lose weight before getting into another race. Ja! (Posted on Friday, May 30, 2003 at 10:12 a.m.) Well, since the time I went back of vacation, it was raining almost non-stop. Four straight days! The last entry was even written on a rainy day. And all because of a typhoon called Linfa. Here, that typhoon is called Chedeng (which reminds me of how the locals call a Mercedes-Benz car).But when that comes to Japan, it would be called Typhoon # 4. But whatever caused the rain, I hate it. In fact, I hate rainy days because the rain forces me to bring an umbrella (which is very bulky to me) and worry about my feet whenever I'm wearing leather shoes. Also, like many people, I have to stay indoors, even if it means being trapped by floods. On one hand, the rain was a blessing. It had been a long and hot two months, with temperatures reaching up to 36 °C. But then again, four straight days of non-stop rains was too much. Well, the rains may have been reduced to drizzles now, that may no be the last of this year's rains because June is officially the beginning of the rainy season; there's more of those rains where those drops come from. I'm still looking for a job that would actually enhance my writing skills more. But if I haven't found a job printed in this Sunday's classified ads that would suit me, then I have no choice but to take the plunge on the job I'm hesitant to take: one in the call center business. That is, for now. It bothers me on the Filipinos going gaga recently on the Taiwanese boyband F4 and their drama series called Meteor Garden. Based on the anime Hana Yori Dango, it is about a girl named Shan Chai, a girl from a middle-class family, going to a school populated by "rich kids." After resisting threats and traps from the school's handsome bullies, she evetually falls in love with two of them" Hua Ze Lei and Dao Ming Zhi (I forgot the names of the other two and the actors who play them). This drama series became so popular, the actors who play the fictional foursome because a boyband known as F4. Being a world music advocate, it bothers me: why only F4? There are so many Mando-pop talents waiting to be heard in the Philippines, including Stephanie Sun, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Faye Wong, Coco Lee, and even Jacky Chan (in case you don't know, he can sing). On last night's episode of Digimon Tamers, Calumon was found by Rika. But later on, he was kidnapped... Guinness Book tidbit: LARGEST TV AUDIENCE FOR A REALITY SHOW On August 24 2000, for the final episode of CBS's Survivor program in the USA, about 51 million people, or 41% of America's viewing public, Richard Hatch (USA, above left, win the $1-million (£666,000) prize money.Complete with picture with Rich, Rudy, Sue, and Kelly. Which reminds me... Today is the day the fourth edition of The Amazing Race would start. I can't wait where would the teams go and which teams would be eliminated first! Ja! (Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 at 10:15 a.m.) Sorry. I was about to write something long last Saturday, on but on short notice the night before, I decided to have a much needed break. But since, I already forgot about what I'll gonna write already! Just thinking aloud! Ja! (Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 10:15 a.m.) Last update, I talked about a gathering RavenStrider's gang. I'll tell all about it in whole. It was actually called "The Resonance Gathering" because everybody who showed up (including myself) are members of a forum called Resonance, a gathering of former members of the now defunct Anime Grapevine forum. Our locations are proximate, which is why we communicate more through the forum, e-mail, and SMS. Last Saturday was the gathering in SM Megamall. I happened to be first on the scene because I wanted to be there earlier than the appointed time of 11 am. (I came a little before 10:30.) But RavenStrider and his sister came more than thirty minutes late. (I gave the description of where I was at the time, and what I was wearing.) The other members, most of whom I met for the first time, came soon after. We then agreed to have our lunch at a Japanese restaurant called Rai Rai Ken, where I myself ordered a big bowl of Chicken Ramen. While we were eating, everybody talked about all kinds of things, which including me showing them (in the flesh), the Assorted Anime Tarot decks, as well as the anime playing cards I've been writing about in this blog. After that (including paying our bill), we went to an arcade called Encore Encore to do some playing (though I didn't play much there). We then proceeded to another Japanese restaurant to talk to the VIPs whom we wanted to talk. At around 2:30 is when we parted. But before that, I gave them parting gifts, since we don't get to see each other very often. They were the cards of my anime playing deck, only that they came from a misprinted sheet, so-called because the size of the cards printed on that sheet are not poker-sized (2½" x 3½"). That sheet contained what would have been the aces and the deuces. The black aces went to the box, while the leftovers became the one that would be given away. So when I showed those cards to them, they took four of the six cards. What is still on my hands were the black deuces. Initially, RavenStrider asked anybody interested to watch the movie Matrix: Reloaded. I didn't go because I don't watch movies very often (the last movie I watched in any theater was Scooby Doo). The others didn't go also because of personal reasons. You can read more of what happened next on his blog, complete with pictures. I admit that I'm still looking for a job that would actually enhance my writing skills more. I was asked by my sister to take a job, for the meantime, on the call center business, but I'm hesitant to apply because that would require to do some good communication skills in English. That is my Achilles' heel. I rather waste my brain cells on my writing than on my speaking. I was supposed to get one at the start of this month, but I'm still hesitant. But I'm sure that I'll start finding one starting either this week or the next, now that I bought the books I habitually buy, one of them being the paperback version of Guinness World Records 2003 (published by Bantam Books). Now that I have this year's edition of the Guinness Book, let me share one of the records listed in the book: Most popular country level domain According to NetNames Ltd, as of March 2001, the most popular country level domain is .uk (Britain), with over 2 million domain registrations. Britain is closely followed by Germany. The USA has the most internet sites, but few of them use .us in their URL.But I think if the .tv domains will really flourish, the Pacific nation of Tuvalu will benefit and surpass Britain. After all, Tuvalu actually owns .tv; its government just loaned it to everybody. Except for a rumor about the "27th episode" of Chobits, Calumon's abduction, the Zoid called Berserk-something, ELIE-3173, the post-Survivor euphoria, and a Taiwanese boyband called F4, I have nothing else to talk about. Ja! (Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 at 10:10 a.m.) Nothing to talk about today. I forgot what I'll gonna type. Survivor's over, so what now? I can tell you about the gathering with RavenStriders's gang. He knew me well, so as a part of his gang, I tagged along. (He came from the same uinversity as I was.) He has pictures of what happened in his blog. But I won't tell you which one of the people in the pictures is me. Ja! (Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 10:20 a.m.) When the announcement of the final episode of Survivor was about to be shown yesterday insted of this Friday, I looked forward for that episode. And when it came, lots of surprises went popping out. First, Jenna was immune twice in a row. And on both cases, she eliminated both Butch and Rob. The night when Rob was voted out by Jenna, the challenge was similar to the standing challenge, but it is a torture test at the same time. And before that, Matt, Rob, and Jenna went out on a plane to explore the Amazon from above, decorate themselves as warriors, and immediately went to Tribal Council. No "In Memoriam" ritual was held during that march. The next day, after Rob was voted out, Jenna and Matt wrote their names, marked line # 39 on the day counter, and made their own "In Memoriam" ritual by painting the name of each Survivor voted out on one of the crates. Matt then burned the boat, parts of the shelter, and the Tree-Mail statue. Along with the usual bits, questions, and snickers in Tribal Council, I thought the vote was decided on Matt's side. After all, Christy and Deena were at odds with Jenna. After the votes were cast, there was the usual waiting. For Jenna and Matthew, it took them five months. For viewers in Asia, like me, who watched its live feed, they waited fifteen minutes, because the connection to CBS International was temporarily cut off. By then, our patience already ran out. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the vote was decided on Matt's side. The next Survivor will be held on the Pearl Islands (a.k.a. El Archipiélago de las Perlas), off the coast of Panama. What's interesting is that the two tribes would live in islands of their own. I'll be looking forward for that by mid-September. For now, I'm looking forward for the fourth edition of The Amazing Race. Except for some lapses, job opportunity offers, and the occassional forum chatting, I have nothing else to talk about right now. Just the occassional time lapses because of the early Survivor finale. Ja! (Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2003 at 11:08 a.m.) These are the highlight in this week's episode of Survivor:
For now, I'll say that as I said in the last update, I'll bet my money on either Matt or Rob. But Butch has potential, and Jenna will try anything just to keep herself on the Final Three. Too early to tell, but let's wait until next week. I recently added CSI: Crime Scene Investigation to my favorite non-anime TV shows list. It is about the "works" of the some of the people of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, led by Gil Grissom (I forgot the guy who played him). What these people do is to investigate the evidence on the crime scene to solve any crime that occurs in the vicinity of Las Vegas. To be exact, they're forensic scientists. This is why the actors talk like scientists, because that is what their characters do. I watch CSI because it reminded me of Medical Detectives, a program I religiously watch on the Discovery Channel. The difference between those two programs is their genre. CSI is a police drama, while Medical Detectives is a documentary program. CSI tackles fictional cases; Medical talks about real cases. But I watch CSI because I missed Medical after my cable operator pulled out Discovery Channel from its channel line-up. (Since then, my recently favorite docus programs are from the National Geographic Channel.) I can't elaborate this further because I forgot who the other agents are and who played them. But all I can say is that CSI is entertaining, yet informative. It is so good, viewers would feel that they are part of the action. I know it has a spin-off called CSI Miami, but it'll be some time before it would be shown here. For now, let's enjoy CSI. Tidbit: Joe Millionaire is hosted by Paul Hogan. He is Australian, but I think he's not the Paul Hogan who played Crocodile Dundee. This Paul Hogan is a bald, chubby man who had been a butler for forty years, if I'm not mistaken. As with the recent entries in my blog, this entry was prepared on my bed, using my laptop. Do you think I'm starting to look like Kenny when using Dizzi the laptop? (Dizzi doesn't exist in the original edit, BTW.) This should be an anime-related blog, after all. So I wonder why I'm starting to talk more about Survivor than anime. You think about that. Ja! (Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2003 at 10:36 a.m.) These are the highlight in this week's episode of Survivor:
IIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! *sigh* Sorry, but she was my bet. She even cried when she was saying her final words. Let's hope that her wish of not letting either Jenna or Heidi win the million dollars will be Butch, Matthew, and Rob's command. Now as the game gets closer to the end and Christy is now out, I now bet my money on either Rob or Matt. They played the game well, using tactics, deceit, and, if necessary, function. But that would depend on the next episode. In the last post, I talked about my new anime deck of playing cards. I even showed you pictures of the cards themselves, and the pictures of the aces. If you look on the picture of the cards on the last post, you have slight idea on what characters I picked on three of the other cards. As I already mentioned on the very first post that I talked about the deck, I chose Gokudo and NieA as the Jokers. In the table below are the characters I chose for the rest of the deck (including the aces, although I already mentioned them in the last post). In the case of the face cards (King, Queen, and Jack cards), characters with an asterisk in their names mean that their own Queens, (or in the case of Lime, her own King), are also included.
If you also noticed, I have a motif in the selection of the characters for each of the numbers (I disregard suits in this case). Aces include my characters from my most favorite anime, deuces were my most favorite anime duos, sevens my favorite non-human characters, tens my favorite male-female pairs (with one exception), etc. There are some motifs I did not notice right away, but I hope you'll get the picture. Like I said in an earlier post, the creation of this deck was inspired the new deck of card depicting 52 of the 55 most wanted Iraqi officials hunted by Coalition forces. I will show you all of the cards themselves (in JPG format) in the future, hopefully on where my former Akazukin Cha Cha website, The Cartoon Network Akazukin Cha Cha Homepage used to stand. (Its remnants are under the Assorted Anime Tarot site). Speaking of the war on Iraq, that reminded me not of the consequences (I'm not a militant), but of a Filipino rap tune that used used Saddam Hussein's name as a pun. It was a long time ago, but if I'm not mistaken, the refrain goes something like this: Sa-sa-Saddam-mi ng problema natin/Sa-sa-Saddam-mi ng .../ Sa-sa-Saddam-mi ng kaguluhan/Sumasakit ang ulo ng mamamayan. I hoped you like the blog's new layout. The old white and light golden rod edition is now in the archives. Ja! (Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 10:26 a.m.) Rob was faced with a dilemma. On one side were his allies Alex, Jenna, and Heidi. On the other side were Matthew, Butch, and Christy. It was the Final Four question that had Rob jump to the other side of the ship and vote against Alex. Alex was voted out because of that. Knowing where the four Alex votes came from, I'm sure Heidi and Jenna will hear a lot from Rob in the next episode. Because, if he won't be immune on the next episode and unless Butch, Christy, and Matthew stick to his side, he would be a sitting duck! Just as I promised, I have the pictures of the new deck of cards I was talking about in the last entry. Below is the picture of the whole deck:
Ja! |
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