Category Archives: General

Yay, my camera is back

Yep, I had to send my recently acquired Canon 40D back to the seller due to a problem with the backup battery. Basically, it didn’t work >_<  Every time I took out the main battery to charge it, the camera’s date/time would be reset since the backup battery didn’t take over.  This caused the main battery to be constantly in use (even when the camera was off) to keep the time.  The main battery drained faster and then I had to remove it again to recharge which reset the time again!  OK, I didn’t want to keep doing that so I sent it back to the reseller who, surprisingly enough, had a warranty program for their used cameras.  After about a week at the seller’s, I get a camera back.

And, yes, I did buy it used.  This model came in out late 2007 so it’s not exactly brand new but buying a new retail kit is still pretty pricey.  On the other hand, since it has been out for over a year, considerably cheaper, used 40D’s can be found.  The original camera I bought was in decent shape but clearly in used condition.  The camera I got back was not the same camera I initially had.  In fact, it’s nearly brand new :D  I ran a shutter count check on it, and it had only been clicked about 500 times.  In the life of a DSLR, that’s really young.  So, you could say I’m pretty happy.  I paid about half the price of a new 40D and ended up with a nearly new one in the end.

Now, back to taking more photos of cute figures ^^;

Nishimata Aoi’s 西又葵です

cover

This little book arrived today.  It’s by the popular illustrator Nishimata Aoi of Shuffle! fame.  She works at the company Navel which makes eroge (I wonder why female illustrators do this…).  In fact, she worked along side another famous illustrator, Hiro Suzuhira, who is a long-time friend of Nishimata-san’s.  If you’ve seen their work along side the other’s, you may notice a similarity in style.  That’s not a bad thing though, as they both have a knack for drawing very moe characters :)

So, what’s this book about?  Well, it has some nice illustrations but it’s really more focused around a collection of essays by Nishimata.  The book is about herself (hence the title),  her childhood, her work, etc.  It has about 20 illustrations, some taking up 2 pages.  The whole book is 130 pages long with essays, her illustrations, and some pictures of herself (and cat sometimes).

I mostly ordered this book to find out how much BK1 charges for a single book shipped via SAL and how long it takes to arrive in Indiana.  It turns out it’s pretty cheap and takes about 2.5 weeks.  Much cheaper than Amazon’s shipping though no where near as quick.

Some sample images:

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Name change

Just popping in to announce a name change for the blog.  The original name was just ‘The Anonymous_object’ which is kinda boring since it’s just my nickname >_<

I have decided to rename the site to ‘Cool & Spicy’ as tribute to the excellent Shugo Chara! series ^^

Also, I know I haven’t posted much lately… I’ve been getting distracted lately.  Hopefully I will get the motivation to put up some new content soon.  Until then, this Amu-chan can hold you over.

Hayate no Gotoku! Summary

This show is labeled as a “Love comedy” with a ridiculous premise of a high school boy, Hayate, whose parents rack up 150,000,000 yen of debt and then desert their son, leaving him to fend off the “とても親切な人たち” (Very Nice People) debt collectors… i.e. the yakuza trying to harvest and sell his organs.  While running away, he meets a hot headed little rich girl, Nagi Sanzenin, alone in a park.  While scheming a plan to kidnap and ransom her, he witnesses real kidnappers trying to capture Nagi and can’t resist chasing them off.  Nagi, unware of Hayate’s plans, thanks him for saving her.  As repayment, Hayate tells Nagi he wants her to “Go with him” and he “wants” her (for ransom). Continue reading