wait wait wait WHAT it was released on March 30th and nobody told me?!

I don’t care if it’s $35 that’s like half-off R2 price and it’s 5 episodes so it’s technically quarter-off!

brb telling Omo so that he has a working link instead of that dead link to the predecessor of this post two years ago and maybe Pete but Pete has R2s already soooo

Looking at my last post, I realize:

1. It’s been a month and a bit since my last update.
2. My last update was about a storm so crazy it turned 101 into a parking lot.
3. It’s only been a month and a bit since we’ve had weather this crazy, where “crazy” includes but isn’t limited to rain pouring so hard I swear the heavens are shooting Super Soakers at us earth-bound people; cherry and peach blossoms blooming waaay earlier than expected; and 75-degree high temperatures in the midst of winter’s grasp. Oh, and there was a lake in the middle of the frickin’ road as I was driving back home. Sorta like the aforementioned 101 incident, except it’s not 101, so it doesn’t matter as much.

I’m not sure what to think of the weather here in California anymore, except for the fact that somehow, it manages to surprise me every year. I’d say “every season”, but in retrospect, summer always comes just the way I thought it’d come, which is let’s break out six table fans and point them all at my body hot.

Oh, wait a minute — there was a time in the middle of July last year where the highs suddenly dropped into the 80s, huh?

Yeah, like I said, I’m not sure what to think of California weather anymore.

The Story So Far:

• The current arcade release of pop’n music comes in the form of pop’n music 17 THE MOVIE. The current console release is that of pop’n music 14 FEVER!, which was released two years ago. Usually, the timeframe inbetween console releases is a year (in which case the console version of pop’n music 16 PARTY♪ should’ve come out by now).
• About half a year ago, Konami attempted a downloadable web release with Beat’n Groovy, for the XBox Live Arcade. It failed horribly with both Western and Japanese audiences.
• Konami, not too far back, released an enquete about home versions of pop’n. This fueled speculation that a new version of pop’n might come – perhaps they would find a way to toss pop’n 15 and 16 onto a PS3 disc, and make it work with existing peripherals (PlayStation pop’n controllers that mimic the arcade are at least $200!)
• This month’s Famitsu has a little corner that denotes pop’n coming to the Wii, along with a screenshot of Mimi, falling pop-kuns, five buttons, and Miis, wrapped up in a rather shiny, not-really-pop’n interface. Text below the screenshot suggests that you shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in time with the music, and confirms multiplayer play.
• Said Famitsu issue also has a thing in the back denoting a release date for said pop’n game – August 6.
• Prior to that, Konami registered for a United States trademark on pop’n music on May 20, which covered “game software” alongside “cell phone program”.

Now, in the ever-continuing saga for the next console version of pop’n music, Konami, today, released a information page for the upcoming release of pop’n Wii that confirms the relatively radical makeover. Along with what we already know, it also denotes online connectivity, and downloadable content (through the red Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay to Play emblem on the boxart).

There are plenty of people in the English pop’n music fanbase who are alienated by this decision to move to a next-gen console with half of the actual gameplay of the arcade version. Unfortunately, to Konami, the only people who play pop’n music are Japanese; other countries aren’t supposed to be able to import it in any flavor. It’s actually a pretty smart decision by them to keep people coming to the arcades to increase revenue, as opposed to releasing console releases in order for them to die out faster.

It might be part of the reason why arcades haven’t died in Japan: because you can’t replicate the modern Japanese arcade experience anyhow else.

So, today, I’ve taken to linkhopping between convention reports while getting hyped up about the one I’m actually going to go to.

One such report was that of Anime Central (ACen) 2009 from The Fan’s Point of View, and aside from me getting kicks out of the everlasting everchanging ticker at the bottom, the real kick came to me in the form of a report on a car show that ACen held.

To which I say, what the hell?

So KFC came to partial consciousness and halted their promo…for a time. They’re not stopping the promo, they’re pretty much pausing it. That’s actually not that bad compared to the ability of people to hop from KFC to KFC collecting boxes – instead it’s just one raincheck, for one meal.

The best part is the video that shows the prez of KFC absolutely convinced that the reason people went to KFCs was primarily to try out the chicken, and not because it was free. Did someone hypnotize him or something?

Everyone and their mother knows about Oprah’s free Kentucky Grilled Chicken deal that it’s just getting to become more and more amusing with every day that passes.

I walk into my own local KFC to see whether or not the coupon would actually work by itself (I saw no catches, so I was really, really curious) and at the counter, two cashiers are folding up a handful of papers just like mine.

So I go up to them, and ask, “So, you’re accepting these?”

They reply, “Yes, we accept them.”

While ordering my own two-piece meal, I hear from the cashier about how everyone who walked into the restaurant that day hadn’t had a coupon (which was, of course, not surprising). On top of that, apparently there was a family who came in and tossed the cashier eight coupons – to which the cashier, at first, refused, until she saw that there was a huge line. (Huge lines are apparently common; one of my friends also passed by a KFC and reported one helluva line.)

As she finishes ringing me up, a middle-aged Asian man comes in with the coupon. The cashier asks, “You want one too?” The Asian man cracks a grin on his face: “Of course, free!” By that time, I had been handed the bag with my meal to go, and wishing them a good day, I open up the door to head home, and in come three more people with coupons (the last one had two).

I think perhaps this takes the cake for best (and worst) promo ever – not because of the chicken (the chicken’s certainly tasty, but not as tasty as their mainstay, and, on top of that, they seem smaller than their fried varieties), but because of its entertainment value.

Oh, Golfland.

Even if you’re lying about the presence of laser tag and bumper cars, you still hold a place in my heart.

And speaking of In My Heart, hurry up and get Technika already. Thanks ♥

Seattle-based Sakura-Con staff sure are, uh, spirited when they do their promotion videos for the con.

Doing a search for GIRUGAMESH! and Sakura-Con on the AnimeBlogger Antenna returns no results ranting about their latest piece. I’m sorta disappointed.

I’m also rather surprised they turned this out after their previous year’s commercial, which is much, much better than this year’s ad, Girugamesh Guy notwithstanding.

click to expand

You know something amazing’s going down when you and two of your friends, having been burnt out by a game of Settlers of Catan, decide to play Scrabble diagonally.

You also know something amazing’s going down when the first round consists of the words “vhat” (46 points), “Ngage” (15 points), and “vhatdat” (64 points).

And for the record, the person who played TaQ was not me.

The Dragonball Evolution trailer is, to be honest, quite well-done. It’s certainly not Dragonball as I know it, but the trailer seems okay thus far.

The best part, though, has to be cue 1:15, where someone gets kicked in the face in slow motion for no reason whatsoever.