A hybrid shark as found in Australia.

They found it when its batteries started burning.

UPDATE: Later, it was revealed that the hybrid shark had received a $450 million loan guarantee from the Obama administrration.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 06:34 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Ubu has posted his Top Ten Worst of 2011 and his Top Ten (dis)Honorable Mentions.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 09:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I posted it here.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Now that I have the full series of Dog Days on BD from Japan, complete with subtitles, I rewatched the entire series in hires from start to finish. And I still love it.

It's comfortable. I think that's the way I'd describe it. This director really knows how to tell a story, about engaging characters. He did that in Nanoha A's and he did it in Nanoha StrikerS, where he was working with a scenario left to him by Shinbo. And now he's done it in Dog Days, where he was able to create his own scenario.

Each BD also has a file on it which is more than a gigabyte which features a still image plus a bunch of music behind it, that runs about ten minutes. I assume that plays behind the main disc menu, which I assume is formatted and controlled by software. (I don't own a BD player and I've never seen one.) Each of those files is different, per BD -- and the image they display is from the package art.

And they're gorgeous. Full resolution 1920*1080; they'd make great Windows backdrops if you had a display that size (I do) and like having such backdrops. (I don't; these days I find that kind of thing distracting, so I just use a plain color.)

Anyway, here they are: one two three four five six

The fourth one features Yukki and Brioche, and Yukki the ninja is even more conspicuous than usual. Sigh. The fifth one is noticeably different (i.e. there's blood) and that's because that BD is the one where the roof falls in. (To say more would be a spoiler.)

There isn't a lot on the BDs in the way of omake. If you remember, there's a concert in ep 5, and another in ep 11, with two insert songs sung by Horie Yui, as Millefiore. BDs 2 and 5 included extended length versions of those two songs, featuring video from the respective parts of the series plus certain other graphics.

What's rather jarring is that mixed in with the video from the series are a few other images like this, in high resolution -- and the contrast in terms of image quality between the two is palpable. Some of them are new, and some are remixes of parts of the above six images. Here they are: seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen

This is the full graphic potential of the BD format. The bandwidth is there, and the codecs are there, to do stuff which looks this good. And no one is using it. When you see the switch back and forth between these full-res images and the stuff from the anime, it becomes clear just how much we're losing.

I'd love to see an anime which was released in real 1080p, for which there was no DVD release, and for which there was no attempt to make it look good when downscaled to 720p. Right now the closest we've come to that is the rendered parts of Summer Wars, but even that isn't the same. (It was still tuned to look good at 720p.)

There were a couple of places in Daimaou where I could almost convince myself they were deliberately trying to use the full 1080p resolution, too. Where the images just looked crisp as all get out. But mostly they didn't in that, either, and I guess the reason is that the standard now in Japan for most people is 720p, not yet 1080p. Plus there are still a lot of folks relying on DVD to buy their anime.

I tell you, the DVD format can't die too soon. It's like a big millstone around all our necks now.

Which brings me to another rant: Funimation's big new idea is to release their titles in combo-packs which include both a BD and a DVD of the same material. I guess I understand why they're doing it (to simplify their inventory) but it means that every customer is getting something they don't want or can't use. Either they can play BD, in which case the DVD is unwanted, or they cannot in which case the BD is useless.

And it's hard to believe that the redundancy isn't reflected in the price.

UPDATE: A different point entirely, speaking of Chekhov's Gun: I wonder what the story is with that pistol Rico carries (in the third BD package art). It only shows up once in the anime, in ep 9 when Vert MCSA's Rico (after which Emilio MCSA's Vert). Rico is carrying that pistol and tries to use it to block Vert's beam, but fails.

I wonder if we'll learn more about it, and maybe even see it get used, in the sequel? If it's an energy weapon akin to Rico's artillery, maybe she can pour out something that looks like automatic weapon fire using it!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 07:08 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 I actually prefer the combopacked DVD/BD, m'self.  No, I don't have a BD player yet, nor a TV capable of such things... but I will.  And you'd best believe that when I do, I'm going to go looking for something to watch on it... oh look!  I've got Ga-Rei Zero in the combopack format!  Ooh, even better, I've got The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie in both formats!  Now, what did I do with the pocky...

Posted by: Wonderduck at December 31, 2011 07:31 PM (f/6aJ)

2 I guess that is an argument in favor of the combo packs. And as customers we shouldn't really sneer at the inventory problems of the distribution companies.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 31, 2011 08:05 PM (+rSRq)

3 Also, a lot of people have BD players at home but DVD drives in their laptops, so they can take the latter with them when they're traveling.  It's a big selling point for a couple of friends of mine.

Posted by: Dave Young at December 31, 2011 11:43 PM (ZAk0Z)

4 3D people always use the full res first, so Cat Shit One on BD would be great to see (I only have a DVD).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at January 01, 2012 12:49 AM (G2mwb)

5 Unless BD gets comparable to DVD in terms of price and accessibility (and some sort of unique meaningful feature), I don't think the DVD format will ever go away. DVD is basically "good enough" and people love "good enough".

Posted by: Jaked at January 02, 2012 04:11 PM (57j7z)

6

BDs and DVDs cost about the same now (within about 50 cents) to manufacture. That wasn't the case originally, but volume is up now and economy of scale has kicked in.

But like all software, the price charged has little to do with the manufacturing cost.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 02, 2012 06:16 PM (+rSRq)

7 PDA's were "good enough."  Try to find one now.   I grant you, there is a lack of "unique meaningful feature" to distinguish BD's at this point, but if the manufacturers see a tipping point coming at which it's no longer worthwhile, they'll artificially accelerate the changeover by making less and less DVD's. 

Posted by: ubu at January 02, 2012 06:17 PM (GfCSm)

8 For the time being, I'm glad to be able to buy the combo packs. I help run an anime club at the U of MN, and none of the classrooms (that I know of) are BD-equipped yet, so it's nice to be able to have the DVDs for the club and the BDs for me (especially since I got a BD drive for my birthday and don't have to watch them in the living room any longer).
I also tend to loan out a lot of discs, and while several of my friends have purchased BD players, there are still a few who either can't afford them or don't want one yet, but would still like to borrow things from me.
If you've got DVDs laying around that you don't want anymore (or which are part of a combo pack), you could hold a drawing or something. I'm sure another reader might be able to get some use out of them

Posted by: Jessi at January 02, 2012 08:20 PM (Xt7yj)

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I'm not sure if I should be blushing, or throwing up.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, you knew it was coming, and here it is. NSFW below the fold.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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There's a 10 minute omake on the first Maken Ki BD. And it can be summarized as "Isshoni Training with Haruko". It's her doing various exercises. To begin with the camera is a distant shot. Then it goes in for a closeup. Then we see an image of the door to the dorm room, and the sound of violence, presumably Haruko beating up the dork with the camera.

Then we go to another exercise. They duplicate that about five times. And finally we watch Haruko shower afterwards (Isshoni Bathing...). Between extended still frames with voice over and repetitive use of the exercise animation, it's really low budget, and frankly pretty much a waste of time.

NSFW shots below the fold.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Has been posted. Nothing in it that makes me change my mind about anything.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 04:24 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Ye Gods. I had two player windows going, one with the original broadcast and one with the BD, running at the same time. Sound off, subtitles disabled, but keeping them in sync meant I couldn't do any skipping. The pain...

Anyway, below is a big selection of cases where they decensored the video in the BD version. NSFW, needless to say.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 01:24 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Ready for a major-league time sink? 3 Slices is a flash-based puzzle game, and it's really well done!

UPDATE: I'm stuck on #14. Still working on it, though.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Gaming at 04:55 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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