SKI Computer Expo

So MSKCC had a pretty cool computer expo today where a bunch of tech vendors came in to show off their new products that could help our hospital and research facilities. I was relegated to the registration table where I attempted to teach all these genius cancer-curing expo attendees how to click a mouse to sign in. After the morning crew rush, I had some time to browse the expo myself and I saw some pretty cool stuff.

First off, I had some stress inducing fun with Lapsim, a very neat virtual surgery training program. Even in a simple simulation, the pressure to succeed was absolutely enormous and I, along with pretty much everyone else who tried out the thing, would panic during any accidental tear of some vitally important tube and the blood would just gushing out like a fountain and and...oh man as the clock ticks, you try to save the guy by working faster but you just end up stabbing him in the gut with your clamps and scissors or stapling his lung to his heart or whatever. Surgeons sure do have it tough.

Next I checked out some neat MRI imaging thing. I had no clue what the rep was talking about and felt kind of stupid among all the lab-coated nodding heads, but huge pictures of spinning brains and their cross sections are always fun to look at. Then another rep came and did a presentation about 3D models of cells, DNA, and other structures. Luckily I read Genome back in 8th grade, so I at least had some idea and was generally able to play along with "yeah..telomeres."

VENDORS! Microsoft was pretty generous with the gifts. I stood there for a few seconds watching a guy explain Excel and suddenly I found my arms filled with MS branded frisbees, stress balls, an extremely nice and expensive-looking pen/pencil boxed set, and a letter opener. Google, who was set up directly at the next table, gave out post-it pads. They also ignored me and didn't say "hi" when I wandered past the table.

HP/Compaq. I hear that they have a pretty crappy reputation among the nerds on the internet. I would like to say that this is probably outdated or not true, at least for the professional line. I don't know about the home line, but at MSKCC we use HP workstations, and servicing for us has always been easy. Since I was shopping around for a tablet, I checked out what they had to offer. The newer compaqs are pretty sleek looking if you ask me, and they're not too expensive.

IBM salesmen are pretty cool. Apparently, part of their sales routine just involves them abusing the shit out of their laptops and PCs (punching, throwing, jumping on - the guy was at least 200 pounds), and then turning them on to show everything working perfectly fine. They also boasted about the cooling benefits of "oooooh titanium casing." It's probably a load of bollocks, but I found myself tempted, especially by the super small S series. The X41 tablet is also extremely sexy and now I want one. Too bad it's two grand at even the lowest configuration.

There were lots of other vendors too selling some stuff, but I forgot their names and I didn't have that much time to look around anyway. Later on I heard Apple was there too, but somehow I missed it!!! At noon I had a free pizza lunch and then returned to manning the registration tables for the afternoon crowd. Finally at the closing ceremony we raffled off a couple of prizes including two iPod Nanos donated by Apple, an XBOX donated by Microsoft, a DVD burner and graphing calculator donated by HP, and some Symantec software. IS employees aren't supposed to participate in the raffle so I just watched on the sidelines while stuffing myself silly with cookies. After everything was cleaned up, the rest of the expo staff went out drinking, while I, being my poor under-21 self, rushed back to NYU to attend my IAG meeting.

Today's stock was ETLT.

Posted by Paranda at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

Interview with the Akihabara Queen

It seems my cries about horrendous weight loss were a wasted effort. Momoi looks as healthy as ever in her brand new interview feature on Excite's Anime Seiyuu Jouhou Portal.

The "Akihabara Queen" discusses her fears after the UNDER17 breakup, her struggle with confidence while she grew as a solo artist, her opinion on "moe", her current direction (We can all rest easy. Momoi will never stray from the denpa song), and her latest achievement, WONDERMOMOI. There are several hilariously cute and sappy moments where she has such passionate and idealistic answers you can just imagine her delivering her lines as some noble monologue with a raging ocean/rock backdrop.

Here she is, cute as ever (I'll write off the cover pic as a case of makeup/lighting/airbrushing) in her signature CD holding pose. Seriously, she should just copyright this pose.

Read the full interview at Excite.co.jp

Posted by Paranda at 11:37 PM | Comments (2)

Holy Weight Loss

A rip of the Wonder Momoi and some scans were released by LonE today, so I grabbed them to take a look until my package arrived. Here are the jacket pictures.

Jeez Halko got wayyyyyy too skinny. Oh my god where did her cute squishy face go? She needs to smile to bring out the cheeks. But I have no complaints with the songs. Or the angle on the lyrics page.

edit: now with OMG CHATLOGS. Because they make me feel better.
[23:11:29] ******: o you know what it is
[23:11:33] ******: its the angle they took the picture
[23:11:38] ******: but she did get stick skinny
[23:11:43] ******: now i must go on a diet too
[23:11:59] ******: and her makeup made her face look longer
[23:12:16] The Paranda: oh wow you think it's the makeup too?
[23:12:23] The Paranda: makeup can do that?
[23:12:29] ******: im a girl...
[23:12:30] The Paranda: i mean..it looks like the physical dimensions actually changed
[23:12:42] ******: its the angle and the makeup
[23:12:48] ******: youre not looking at her from the front view
[23:13:14] The Paranda: yeah but..i've seen her from this angle before.
[23:13:42] The Paranda: and that arm..it appears to be getting thinner as it travels up
[23:13:46] ******: the red blush made it seem like her cheek bones arent sticking up
[23:13:53] ******: and notice that she isnt smiling
[23:14:02] ******: or barely
[23:14:11] ******: well thats what happens when you lose weight
[23:14:22] ******: i want arms like those
[23:14:25] ******: :(
[23:14:30] The Paranda: :(
[23:14:48] ******: or maybe this is because she is getting old
[23:14:49] The Paranda: i want my momoi to eat more burgers and icecream again

Posted by Paranda at 11:07 PM

Sale date for Wonder Momoi

Yeah...

Should arrive in a week.

Posted by Paranda at 5:43 AM | Comments (0)

To Heart 2

I am going to watch this because I watch shitty uninspired anime based off gal games and like it. Or, I am going to watch this because the PS2 OP is awesome.

Or, I should really be studying for my accounting midterm that I have in 15 minutes.

Posted by Paranda at 7:45 AM | Comments (0)

Komugi is done.

Ugh two obituaries this week. Well this one is a little late, but I didn't check until today. This is because after watching Komugi Z episode 2, I had an uneasy feeling. That is...too much stuff happened. Closure stuff. It felt like a series finale. Sadly I was right.

Halko has confirmed that the Komugi series is done. Finished. There will be no more Komugi OVA, radio dramas, anything. She had fun with the series, and is now moving on. She also wrote about it on October 7th in momoi.com but I didn't want to believe it.

Thanks for the good time.

Posted by Paranda at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)

The passing of Momoihalko.com

One of the best Momoi web resources in Japan has been retired. This month, momoihalko.com went down permanently, for reasons not explained by the author. The index page has now replaced by the following text:

2002年6月に開始した『桃井はるこにくびったけ』ですが、管理人の個人的理由により閉鎖することになりました。
申し訳ありませんが各種リンクなどに登録されてる方は削除等の処置をしていただけると助かります。

たった3年と短い間でしたが、もうすぐ50万HITという大勢の人に見ていただき本当に感謝しております。
見づらいし情報も遅くたいしたホームページではなかったですが、BBSに書き込みとかメールとかありがとうございました。

イベントチケ取りのヘルプとか情報を教えてもらったりとかイベントで一緒に盛り上がってくれたりとかほんとたくさんの方に助けていただきました。
こんな結果になってしまい申し訳ありませんでした。今までありがとうございます。

この4年間色々目立った活動をしてまいりましたが皆様にはご迷惑をかけて申し訳ありませんでした。
俺はもう表立ってファン活動をすることはないですが、これからもはるこちゃんが元気に楽しく幸せに過ごせることをいつも願っています。

サーバーの契約が再来年まであるのでとりあえずメールは届く状態です（＾＾；
何か御用のある方はこちらからよろしくお願いします。

最後にほんとうにいままでありがとうございました。
言いたい言葉はたくさんあるけれどキリがないのでこれにて。

えん☆きよ＠管理人

-- http://www.momoihalko.com

It was one of the premier sources for Momoi news, run by a dedicated individual for over 3 years. The hard work is appreciated, and I'm sure it will be missed by all Momoi fans who found value in such a well maintained site. As a fellow fan, I would like to use this post to pay my respects.

Posted by Paranda at 2:35 AM | Comments (0)

Komugi Z needs to be subbed!

Since absolutely nobody in the world appears to be subbing Komugi Z, I decided to just cave in and watch the raw. They went to town on this one. Pokes fun at everything from fanboys to virus video games. There was also a hilarious gattai scene with copyrighted characters that were cleverly censored.

I for one am glad to see this OVA picking up the pace again to match the hilarity of the original Komugi series after a somewhat dull first episode. More screens below.

Hahaha, signing the shirt for a putrid otaku. Who then sniffs her signature.

What a horrible feeling to be an idol. The look of disgust is perfect.
Komugi does what she can to please the fans. Here she is catering to the masochists.


Some more screens. Koyori unleashes virus on unsuspecting computer users. Oh look, it's Dokuro-chan!

Komugi's secret identity is revealed to Kyosuke.

The humor in the second screenshot is lost in image form.
Combine!

I cannot stress the awesomeness of how Komugi defeats the Puyopuyo virii.
Bona-su pointo.

Posted by Paranda at 1:34 AM | Comments (4)

More Wonder Momoi anticipation

Only 6 more days until Wonder Momoi is on sale. Here is a shot of the cover. WONDER-MOMO COSPLAY! BRILLIANT!

Tracklist:
1. WONDER MOMO-I-NEW RECORDING-
2. ONCE UPON A TIME-FAIRY STORY-
3. WONDER MOMO-I-NEW RECORDING-
4. ONCE UPON A TIME-FAIRY STORY-

Posted by Paranda at 9:06 PM | Comments (0)

No, not marketing midterms!

After throroughly studying and applying concepts and possibly acing the test, I realize that few of the marketing rules apply to me, and thus I fail on all levels as a rational consumer.

Posted by Paranda at 11:20 PM | Comments (2)

Aria 1

Aria the animation has started airing in Japan. It is based on the manga created by Kozue Amano about a native Earth girl, Akari, who is starting a new life on Mars as a gondolier. Aria is one of my favorite manga, because it is just so laid back and all about enjoying new experiences. It also reads a lot like a travel guide for famous or unique areas in the world today. I am looking forward to seeing this show and how the directors can translate the calm and peaceful feeling of the manga to animation. I wonder if they'll keep all the cute super-deform moments.

Chiwa Saito and Tomoko Kawakami are also good reasons to watch this show.

Official Aria Website

Posted by Paranda at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

Wonder Momoi countdown

Hello friends. I am here again with some good Halko news. WONDER MOMOI release is only two weeks away. The cover art is still undecided, but we are fortunate enough to have something even better to satisfy our curiosity until release date. Despite not updating her website for over a month, Halko Momoi is still very much alive and still keeps fans up to date on her radio show instead. Last weekend on URAMOMOI, she gave us a preview of the upcoming single! I finally found some time today to check it out, and if you don't already listen to URAMOMOI then here is your chance to do the same:

WONDER MOMOI, Uramomoi version.

This song caused my brain to explode. This song exhibits what made me a Halko Momoi fan in the first place, before I even knew what she looked like or became entranced in her moe-moe mannerisms: the voice talent! She frigging changes modes mid-song and goes from one spectrum allll the way to the other. It's almost like there are two people singing. In fact, to someone who hasn't listened to her a lot they probably thought there WERE two different people singing. I was already on the edge of cracking when she starts going "rabu rabu momoi", but when she just shifts from hypercute and goes all opera-style near the end, I just lost it and started hooting. This single is gonna be good. So so good. ~Wowowowonder Momomomoi~

Posted by Paranda at 2:18 AM | Comments (0)

A wise man once said

"w00t"


4 hours of work right there. Thumbs sore. Taking it easy.

Posted by Paranda at 2:17 PM | Comments (0)

NJTransit sucks

What the fuck is this "no buses on Sundays" shit? In short, I was not able to see Yoko Ishida today. Now I am going to go cut myself. Or play more Katamari. Bye.

(Luckily it was ONLY Yoko Ishida and not Halko...although if it were Halko, I suppose would not even be having this problem because I'd have camped out the day before)

Posted by Paranda at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

I've Girls Compilation 6

Why yes, despite all my Momoi love, I AM still partially an "I've" fanboy, so I have not forgotten about them. I haven't written about them much lately, but that's because it's been a while since "I've" last released something big. Now is finally that time.

A little background: I've stands for "I love, I live, I leave" and was founded by Kazuya Takase in 1998. Like UNDER17, their gimmick was to generally make G-rated songs for, well, X-rated games - with the exception of MIKI's "FUCK ME" - where the hell did that come? They also do a lot of trance work independently, although you can often hear instances where their trance influences their pop. Recently, their songs have gotten a more serious and harder feel. According to Lina, some duded named Yasutaka Ippoushi was also involved but I have never heard any of his work under any I've label EVER so I can only assume he dropped off before it was formed.

"I've"'s success is mostly thanks to a single singer, KOTOKO (Totally understable - she is the best :heart:), whose explosion of popularity earned "I've" much well deserved recognition. However, "I've" has actually had many many singers including AKI (runnerup for best, but sadly appears to have disappeared from the face of the earth), Kaori Utatsuki (lol replacement AKI. Cute, but AKI is a tough act to follow), Eiko Shimamiya, SHIHO, Mami Kawada (new runnerup after the realization set in that AKI is probably not coming back), MELL, MOMO, LIA (who is now part of Key), and a few others. They have even made songs for Hiromi Sato and Marina Ohno. The singer talent is rather varied, but voice talent doesn't matter because the music is almost always good.

Why? I'VE's true value is in the composers, who make the awesome JPOP/trance beats. Kazuya Takase and Tomoyuki Nakazawa are absolutely insane. You can always rely on them to come out with something ridiculously addictive no matter what. Even their solid trance outshines most of the others. For me, they are the two most important members of I've. The only I've member that can even come close is C.G. Mix. Seriously, how the hell do they come up with some of these tunes?? Atsuhiko Nakatsubo (FISHTONE) is also responsible for several gems but he tends to pull out turds way too frequently to receive the same amount of adulation. For a more complete guide to I've, you should check out http://www.ivesound.jp/ which happens to be the absolute best I've website out there, period. Even if you can't read the moonspeak, it is probably more useful than some random blog (such as this one :p) or any outdated low-content pitiful poorly written english fanpage (also such as this one if, say, you swapped 'Momoi' with 'I've' :p).

Anyway, they released I've Girls Compilation 6 yesterday. I have managed to obtain a copy through Winny, but I have yet to listen to it, so I will hold off my review until I get around that. I believe there is also a torrent on TokyoTosho if you look hard enough. Currently, there is no way to import a real copy of this, because Amazon.jp decided to list it as software (just like all the 5 previous compliations before) and their crazy restrictions mean software doesn't ship overseas. They did this with AkibaPop too, and it is one of the little things that Amazon likes to do for the sole purpose, I think, of being annoying and also because they enjoy the feeling of losing out on potential customers. Somebody please drop a comment if you know another place that will ship this to the U.S. at a REASONABLE PRICE.

Here is a link so you can look at it with envy.

Posted by Paranda at 1:30 AM