Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Great Teacher Onizuka


Mitch's TV Rating: (M)

Mitch's Recommendation: 9/10 (BUY!!!)

This anime I actually own, it was the first anime I bought, and while it was rather pricey I enjoyed watching it so much I just didnt care.

GTO is about a 22 year old virgin, Ex Biker Gang Leader, Eikichi Onizuka, who realises that teachers are around young girls all the time they are at work, and he wants in, now I know alot of people at this point may think this anime is distasteful, and yes at the start it is, however as it pans out Onizuka gets put in charge of middle school kids rather then high schoolers, which ruins his whole plan.

The class he gets put in charge of is the worst class in the entire history of japan...I could probably make an addition and say the world here, and by worst I dont mean bad grades, I mean "hazard to your sanity", As it seems the kids were betrayed by a previous teacher and are out for blood, they try to send all their teachers insane, and have a pretty good record of doing so.

The story follows Onizuka's journey to win over all his students, and teach them valuable life lessons while he is at it, even if he uses rather unconventional methods to achieve his desired effect. its a blast of a comedy, and I highly recommend it, even if it is just to count how many times Onizuka survives throwing himself off buildings to rescue people.

Ghost Hunt


Mitch's TV Rating: (M)

Mitch's Recommendation: 8/10 (Buy)

Ghost Hunt is a great anime, and the title pretty much sums up the series, a small group consisting of a Monk, a Shrine Maiden, a Spirit Medium, an Australian Priest, an Onmyoji, and 2 seemingly normal people, this small group travels around to places and basically Excorcises ghosts that haunt areas. Funnily enough what they are hunting rarely turns out to be a simple ghost yet in the end they always manage to succeed, a great deal thanks to Kazuya Shibuya and Mai Taniyama (the 2 seemingly normal people) Shibuya is the brains, and Mai seems to have visions that give her insight into whatever their case may be.

This anime is a horror, but only one of the story arcs is anywhere near what I would consider a horror, though the anime is still enjoyable by anyone and everyone, the (M) it gets is only for the one "horror arc" the others are all pretty kid friendly though I would suggest having a parent in the room, as little kids may find some things rather creepy.

Utawarerumono

Utawarerumono

Mitch's TV Rating: (M)

Mitch's Recommendation: 10/10 (Definite Buy)

Utawarerumono or rather "One Being Sung" (its Translation) was originally a H-Game, which means it was a game created for adults, as it contained some nudity, and possibly sex scenes, HOWEVER the anime has done away with the adult side of the story, and made it more family friendly, infact were it not for the violence I'd give this a TV rating of [PG].

The story starts following a man who has awoken from what was possibly a coma due to severe injuries, he wakes to find himself with no memories of his past, and his only worldly posession seems to be a bone mask that covers the upper half of his face, the mask also seems fused to his skull as it resista all attempts to remove it.

The story continues to epic proportions as Hakouro (the masked man) fights to uncover his identity while protecting those who have now become his family, to explain anymore would give too much of the plot away, however I highly recommend this anime as one of the best I have ever seen, the only downside to the entire anime is that alot of the fight scenes tend to just repeat old animations just with different backdrops. But dont let that deter you.

Anime Reviews


In my free time I tend to devote a large portion of it to watching anime, and since I have very little else to write about I have decided to start reviewing some of my more favorite series from the multitudes I watch.

Anyway first things first, some of you are probably scratching your head and asking "What is this 'Anime'" and to answer that question, it is a style of animation/cartoon that was developed by the Japanese, and almost if not all japanese cartoons are Anime. Of course there are some debates when it comes to this topic, as Americans have tried to take and adapt anime to their ways, I and alot of others do not see "American Anime" as anime.

Enough sidetracking, my Reviews will be layed out with an overview of the story, and my rating out of 10, and a rating I'd give it for TV (G, PG, M, R, X) because most of the anime has yet to be licensed here in Australia I am working mostly of fansubs until these Anime are released in Australia.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Google Reader

Google Reader is an online web based utility that handles RSS feeds similar to the way Flickr handles pictures, or Del.icio.us handles bookmarks, and that is that it groups them all in one place for greater ease of use for the user.  

Google Reader also allows the user to share his/her RSS feeds with friends, add tags, and group them so that each addition to the feed is separate  but under one heading, like a type of "categorisation" 

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a utility that allow users to subscribe to sites on the internet that update regularly, so rather then checking sites for updates, the RSS feeds will inform you the moment an update as occurred which will save time for the user.

RSS feeds are not limited to sites, for example Itunes also use RSS feeds for a lot of podcasts and such that allow listeners to download podcasts at their leisure with ease as the Feed will produce a type of "shopping list" of downloads that have been uploaded to that feed.

Counters

Counters are handy little add-ons to web pages that allow the owner to view the traffic to and from his webpages, basic counters may only provide a numerical counter that shows how many hits the site has received.

The problem with the basic counters is they do not discern whether it is 10 people or 1 person that reloaded the page 10 times, while this may not bother the owners, it will detract from the overall accuracy.

The counter I installed on my blog only displays how many hits the page gets, but upon logging into my account on the providers site I am given a full report on how many unique pageloads occured and how many of them were returning visitors, aswell as a total amount for the day, I  am also able to view the amount of time they spent on my site.

Monday, May 5, 2008

FTP

FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a system that transfers data over a network, such as the internet, and as such is a highly valuable tool that has become part of our daily lives. After reading wikipedia I realized the system was simple yet very technical making it almost overwhelming to people new to the field, and thus creating a downfall in itself.  

There are benefits to the system however, 1 of which is the fact that the system does not discriminate against operating systems and can be used both by Macs and PCs. Another good point is it is usable over any type of network, making it very versatile

With every good there comes bad, and with FTP there  are several security flaws that pose fundamental threats to users, possible the biggest flaw is the fact that basic FTP transfers passwords and personal details in plain text, making it extremely easy for people to steal private information FTP does however counter this with protocol enhancements that are available, however not everyone maw no this.

Another downfall is that because FTP uses multiple connections to transfer data, it may confuse firewalls causing the system to be blocked by the firewall, or cease working altogether.
My view on FTP is that while it is a handy tool we can use, it must also be used with caution, as it is easy to have information stolen among other problems that may arise.

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Past 8 Weeks (Assessment)

Over the past 8 weeks I've been taught how to use a range of web tools from blogs to well even google docs, which I used to write this very post infact. I'll now go through them in turn. (note: the links in the titles of each section link to my sites on those subjects. I.E click the "Blogger" link and it will take you to my blogspot) 


Blogger was perhaps the first tool we were taught how to use, to those who dont know, Blogger is a weBLOG site that is similar to a forum, with the exception that comments are not displayed on the front page of the blog. We also learnt the basics of HTML in tandem with blogger, as they are integral to each other. 
click Here to go to one of my blogger posts 


Flickr Flickr is an image hosting site that I had not heard of until class during week 4, which is odd as I use image hosting sites a lot, Flickr is pretty much the same as all other image hosting sites I have seen, you upload images and can link to them, since I have an account on other image hosting sites I havent been too fussed uploading massive amounts of images to flickr, and as such I only have 12 individual images, and 2 sets. Here are my favorites: 


Del.Icio.us Delicious is a bookmarking site, a concept which I found rather odd at first, especially when Damien first announced that we would be using a site to create bookmarks, I mean dont most internet browsers already have that capability? Regardless I started using Del.icio.us and while I can see how it is useful, you can access bookmarks from any computer, I also find it a little useless actually, if I have a site bookmarked on my internet browser it is through sheer laziness, as I usually memorize everything I bookmark anyway, bookmarking just allows me to click instead of typing the web address, where as with del.icio.us you need to go to the site, then sign in, then find the link you were after. Of course that is just my opinion I'm sure other people may find it more useful then I do. at the moment my Del.Icio.Us has 21 links, of them I use these the most. 


Other Items of Interest
As I said before we  are learning HTML, the main internet  source language code that can be used to create websites and thats barely scratching the surface, with HTML we have been experimenting with out Blogs and coding them.
I have also been experimenting with the Templates provided by blogger to achieve better aesthetics and have decided on two that I like, "Dark Minima" which would make any space graphics of my own that I upload seem to fit in, and "Rounded 4" is a smooth layout with a more organic yet organized.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Other Web bookmark sites

Del.icio.us is not the only web bookmarking site out there, infact there are probably dozens of them, I searched for a few of them and found several quite easy, here are some of them.
Stumble Upon is a bookmarking site that randomly chooses sites, videos, and images that are based upon previous favorites, which eventually makes the random display of sites more suited to your tastes.
Digg is another site similar to stumble upon, however it it seems to be a smaller community that isnt as spread out, however without joining I may be misjudging the site.
This site is another bookmarking site, however this one is different, rather then hosting your bookmarks itself, it emails them to you so that you are responsible for your own bookmarks.

Del.Icio.us

Del.Icio.us is a useful tool that hosts your favorites online, so if ever you are on a different computer you still have access to your bookmarks all in one convenient place. it also allows you to share favorites with other people rather easily, not to mention browse tags to find sites with similar interests.
here is My Del.Icio.us

Flickr

Flickr is an image hosting site much like photobucket, it allows you to upload pictures in digital form that can then be distributed through hot links, you can also join groups and organise your pictures, overall a useful tool.
Here is My Flickr

WELCOME

Thank you for viewing my blog, over the coming months I'll be posting updates about university life and I'll be posting graphics or links there of, graphics that I have created.
My main influence for my art at the moment is Greg Martin, a well reknowned "Guru" of space art, he captures many celestial bodies in immaculate beauty.

you can find his gallery at: Greg Martins Gallery
Note: Flash is required to view most of his artwork
other inspiration I get is also from an artist community called "Deviant Art" this was originally the place where I discovered Greg Martin, however he has removed his space art from the site.

you can find Deviant art at: Deviant Art

Hopefully you enjoy my art and the art that you may find on those websites, I leave you now with one of my favorites from Greg Martins collection.