Blake's 10 second Japanese lesson!

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Nijo ga Taki:

Ni = 2
Jo = Unit of mesurement
Ga = linking article which I can't explain
Taki = Waterfall

That will be $20 please!

Tsuna at Nijo ga Taki

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Despite what you might think of me, I didn't push her into the rapids and then over the waterfall. I guess acting resposible is a sign of my old age and incipent demise

On robots and bakas...

This is not a real review. I don't think I could properly review
something in a language I don't completely understand. You could
consider this a recitation of cool stuff I liked.

"Evangelion 1:0- You Are (Not) Alone" is about hands. Whether it is
Shinji reaching out to grasp Misato's hand in Central Dogma, Rei
reaching out to Shinji in her shattered Entry Plug or
Hideki Anno recieving the massive product placement cheque from UCC
coffee and Pizza Hut, the main theme of the movie is (gasp!) the
title- people realising that they're are not alone and reaching out to
the people around them.

I didn't know what I was going to get when I went into the movie-
I've been staying out of speculation threads on anime forums and my
participation in the fanfic community had dwindled down to nothing.
All I knew was that it was going to be a pretty rehash of the first 6
episodes, and that I wasn't going to understand more than three words
of it in Japanese.

The movie kicks off with quick shots from the end of the series- the
Sea of LCL and a chalk outline of a Eva surrounded by shattered
skyscrapers. Flash back several months to Episode 1, where Shinji has
arrived in the deserted Tokyo III at the same time as the 3rd Angel .
The first half of the movie recaps the events of the first four
episodes- the Angel fights are better animated but there's no little
new material, beyond the creepy Eva simulator which they dug out of
the Eva Graveyard or Unit 01's useless chain gun (I hope the guy who's
car was crushed by the bullet casings had insurance. Heck, I hope
everyone in Tokyo III has insurance)

The second half concerns Shinji and Rei and the 5th Angel battle,
which has been 'reimagined' from the the original series. What was a
boring floating diamond now only _seems_ to be a boring floating
diamond. But when it is under attack... well, any more would be mad
spoilers. The battle itself is where we get some extra character
development as to what makes Shinji and Rei fight, even after the
first sniper blast goes astray.

Fangirl favourite Kaworu is introduced in the last 30 seconds of the
movie. His scene is more foreshadowing than anything else- it's a long
walk from the moon to Tokyo III.

Was I happy with the movie? The answer is (obviously) yes. There were
several scenes that were worth the price of admission alone. Where
there things that I wish they had differently? Once again, yes. The
movie is by no means perfect, but overall it accomplished what it set
out to do- restart the Eva franchise on the bigscreen without
diverting to far from the source material.

As for the Evangelion 2.0... after the credits there was a short 'next episode' trailer for the
sequel, where Anno seems to be chucking out the canon with the
bathwater. We'll be getting new characters, new angels plus Das
Redhead- so the road ahead is murky and dark

Eitherway, if I could preorder my ticket for the second movie now, I probably would :-)

-Blake

"Blake has Problems" Episode 12

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The new Evangelion movie is out in Japan! To celebrate, I put all the Eva merchandise I have collected this year on my desk and took some group photos

I guess my problem could be diagnosed as "Blue Fever"...

Oliver

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

My dog, Oliver.

He is to Shitszus what royalty is to base peasantary

It's drinking the water!!!

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

Even stone kangaroos get thirsty in the scorching Australian winter sun :-)

Birthday party @ Outback Steakhouse, Sakae

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Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

A very, very good night. The steak I ate kept me full for the next three days