$japan_cost = $japan_cost - $1500;

Chicago -> Osaka. Under $250. Enough said :)

Small program for some people

Well, last FNM I finally decided to do a little program that I've seen a need for, so I built a program for DCI Reporter that gives you the final standings sorted by pod.

[ link ]

It's not done, any bit simplified in-code, or overly functional, but right now it does exactly what it says: input a file from a tournament and output a sorted list of the pod's standings. It also gives tiebreakers, since I needed to calculate those anyways... (they're a good bit more confusing than I thought when I started this)


This weekend's mostly been a bunch of "I was bored..." moments; I also whipped up a quick program so that I could do rating adjustments quickly on my own. Nothing too special.

Wasn't bored enough to start work on a macro-ing program that I've been thinking about...

Weekend notes...

- I'm finally getting a break after 4 days of work + umpiring, and I'm just bored.

- I got a quick question from someone yesterday asking me about how their rating would be affected in a MTG event after a match, his was nearly 2000 and his opponent was (approx.) 1600. I got bored and just built a quickie program to handle something like that, but I answered him using my "in-head" method of guesstimating point swings:
> Take K-value * 50 (or K / 2 * 100 if you want something easier to do in-head). In this case, it was 400 (8 / 2 * 100). If you are ahead by more points than that, you won't gain anything by winning. (conversely, if you're more than 400 under, you won't lose anything by losing)
> If you're both even, then a win/loss will bring your rating up/down by 1/2 the K-value. If you add the above to that, you can just cut the remaining ratings into sections. i.e...
> > You are +100 rating = a win brings you + 3 points
> > You are +200 rating = a win brings you + 2 points

Yeah, it's a little complicated.

- I've been getting questions from family about if I've gotten a Wii yet; I've been looking for one pretty much continuously since last October.

Well, for me the reason was simply because of Smash Bros. Brawl. I always knew that I would love the console, and I still feel that I would. The issue now is that I also knew that I'd eventually also get a PS3 for some games, specifically FFXIII, GTA4, and LittleBigPlanet. Now I've hit a 4th game in a little game called Mirror's Edge. Seriously, watch this trailer.

I don't play FPS games, and I really don't like anything that's a Halo derivative, but I do have some games that I like from branches of the genre. (Portal, enough said) There's something about a game like that that is about technique as much as any combat that just makes me want it. It's like watching the LittleBigPlanet debut again for me, as it just has that "charm" as something different, but just something that seems so fun. I think I'll be describing it as "GTA if instead of running on the ground you needed to jump from rooftops".


- Still nothing on Japan, and I hear enough about it. I've gotten to the point where I start conversations asking if they know that I'm going, just so I can get it out of the way. I'm still not thinking about it that much, as I still have better things to do.

- Random trivia, just because I really am that bored right now. If you've heard of "Caramelldansen" or "the U-U-Uwa-Uwa Dance" (this thing), there's an interesting story as to the origin of that dance. It comes from a Eroge ("dating sim" is the easiest, though mild, way to sum that genre up) video game called "Popotan". It has an anime based on the game that I heard is very good, and I may look at it in the future. From what I've looked at in reviews, it's like Elfen Lied to Americans in that the series is actually pretty good, but because there are things in it unacceptable by american standards, you'd never see it here. If you want to see the origin of the dance, it's here; NSFW warning: It's got a lot of stuff in it against US "standards".

Evangelion Returns...

I recently found a copy of the new NGE movie, You Are (Not) Alone. It pretty much covers everything from the series from the first scene, stopping right before Asuka's debut. Some thoughts I've had...

- It feels just like Evangelion. Many of the scenes are almost exactly the same, though they do take away a good portion of the filler. I've heard some people complain about things missing like enough development time of characters or lack of drama for the sake of moving through the story. I agree that some parts feel rushed, but there was a need for the pace; if I try to not think of it in terms of the previous story, there are some odd choices of scenes (it'll probably be explained once the other films come out) but it still has most of the core to the story.

- I first watched NGE in about '02, before I even cared about Japanese culture, so one scene I never really understood in the dub was when Shinji first got to Misato's place and said "I'm home."; it makes so much more sense now that I know some about Japanese and the ただいま/おかえりなさい (tadaimi/okaerinasai) exchange.

- They've kept a lot of the random moments that you remember from the series, for those that pay attention like that. The bathroom scene (where they're talking while the camera goes across the line of stalls) still has the "Out of Order" sign on one of them.

- The CGI in here is a little overdone in some places. It may just be the nature of the style that comes with the series, but there are occasions where either it wasn't needed or it was too overdone. (2 exceptions: the Ramiel battle and the movement of the city)

- As one of those people that is used to be someone intending on being a music major, I really appreciated the music here. Many of the scenes used remixes from the old series, taken into more modern levels; the tracks have a sense of suspense on occasion, both by the nature of the tracks and what I expected from them. When you know the music, and you've heard it for a long time, the movie makes adjustments on those themes that you have heard for so many years, and the suspense increases greatly there.

- If I had one major complaint here, it's that there are scenes that are just plain too dark. You'll go 15 seconds hearing all kinds of things going on, and knowing that there are things going on, but you won't see anything going on. I've tried on both my monitors, at night, with all the lights off; you can't tell what the hell's going on...

- The Ramiel fight scenes (6th angel...the blue one that's shaped like a Octahedron with a hell of a sniper shot) is easily the best Evangelion set of scenes I have ever seen. The angel is around for the last 40 minutes of the film, and all you can say is ... damn. You just wish they could've done what they did in this film in the first series.

- I do think that this movie is better than the combined 6-7 episodes. You lose a lot of the theme work done simply because there are time restrictions here, but in return you get something that is genuinely a good watch. It's like watching a clip show of the best of Evangelion, but it's seamless, provides some great fight scenes, and still maintains what is the essence of Evangelion.

The new top dog (in anime) (tie, that is)

[ side note: I use this site for keeping track of anime I watch and want to see. I use it mostly to remember what I want to watch, but I also use it's "top 5" as a way for me to occasionally think about what I consider the best ]

Well, just a couple days ago I finished watching Haibane Renmei for the second time. The first time became a marathon run, just like Elfen Lied was, but this one was a bit more interesting to me.

When Tech TV was still around, they aired an anime series called Serial Experiments LAIN. I never thought this series was the greatest thing ever, but I thoroughly enjoyed it when I watched it. I remember biking to the first Magic store I regularly visited, passing by a power substation and hearing the sound, then even going so far as to trying to incorporate that note and the idea behind that note into some music I was writing. I just watching the series, but I always didn't like just how empty it was. You needed to really pay attention to go through the series, understanding everything. Some people like that kind of thing, but I tend to like listening to anime and being able to move my attention around if I need to.

Haibane Renmei's main designer is the same as LAIN, and the story shares a similar style to LAIN (very thematic, large amounts of allusion). However, the story is much deeper and conversational than LAIN, bringing the discussions between characters into light as a route to expression. It seems like I'm trying to grasp at little things here to explain the differences, but you really need to watch the two series to see just what is different about them.

But what I loved abou this series the most was just how good it was for "easy watching", like one of my other favorites, FLCL. It never pressed itself to you and forced you to pay attention, though watching it closely would mean a deeper understanding. You can just sit back, let this go, and just love the entire series for what it is.

The other thing about this series, though, is that this is the second series I have watched in recent months (the other being TokiKake) that I genuinely thought "Hey, this is a series I could use to introduce other people to anime." My mom's seen me watching a good number of series, and sometimes I get the feeling that she gets the wrong impression of why I watch anime. (I think most of this comes from when Ghost in the Shell was on [as] regularly, as that's usually when she stopped by my room when she went to bed) My older brother currently has my copy of FLCL, as I thought he'd be interested in a series that is like that. (He suggested Paprika to me, and they feel kind of similar) I never could really think of a series my parents would be interested in seeing, though I was looking at TokiKake for this summer among a couple other possible candidates. This one, though, will probably be first.

Next ones I'm looking at running through: Air, Gurren Lagann, and finally starting up xxxHolic. I may also restart Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei...

Getting ready for baseball

For most of the umpires I work with, the season started 2 months ago, when high school started up with their spring leagues. I don't start my umpiring until school ends, which will be 2 Mondays from now, but I get into it pretty fast, with 48 games so far this summer and a probable 25-40 more. If you want an interesting hour of surfing, checkout the videos on youtube for baseball umpires; there's a bunch of videos of blown calls, some of the San Diego chicken, a few "what is the correct call" ones, and a few angry parents thinking their kid was robbed when they really weren't.

It made me remember of one of these calls from last year, which was my first real "injury" situation I've ever had as an umpire, but also was one of the most controversial calls (apparently) I ever made:

I was field umpiring, with an old friend and respected umpire who umpired games I played in being at the plate. There was nobody on base and the batter hits a pop-fly behind the pitcher, at the grass. I focused on the runner for first-base tag (expecting the plate umpire to make the catch/no catch call), but also turned my head to watch the catch myself. (my philosophy here is that if I have nothing immediate, it's always a good idea to just have 2 sets of eyes on a situation, even if one is just glancing) I watch the second baseman have position, but collide with the shortstop while making the catch in the air. 2B drops to the ground and lands on a leg funny, falling to the ground in pain; I call time immediately (another philosophy thing, no matter the level I don't keep play going with an injury) and check on the player. Eventually, we feel it's best to call for an ambulance and get the player off the field that way.

Here's the controversy, though. I go to grab his glove after the whole thing settles down to bring it back, and the ball is still in it. The player came down with the ball, threw off his glove, and the ball was still inside it. Neither myself or the plate umpire made a call on the catch, and in the end I make the call that it was not a catch, the runner gets 1st base. The reason for this is that I took a strict interpretation to the rules on a catch: under the rules, he never made a "controlled" release of the ball from the glove, so it isn't a catch.

I learned later that this had made it to some umpiring lists and that this actually became quite a conversation. I'm surprised that the end result of opinion was that it should be called a catch.


Wonder what's in store this year...