Battle Stations Online

Your friendly neighborhood Robot Collector's been through a bit of a revamp, folks. As of two days ago, I installed Windows 7 on my main machine, and she's running excellently. The Aeroglass feature isn't too bad, really. Very shiny and slick, with translucent windows and a whole lot of polish it seems. I've heard from everyone else who uses it that they love it, with only minor issues with Steam (Online game client for the laymen out there). Overall, it's a great OS.

Anyway, I feel that I've neglected the collecting aspect, that is to say, all the wicked figures I've gotten since the start of the blog, so I'll give some links and a list now of what I have amassed.

From Sakuracon, I got a model of my favorite mobile suit from the United Century Gundam universe, Sazabi. Char Aznable's personal Psycommu mobile suit, and it packs a beam shotrifle. At least, that's what the box says.



The next figures I've gotten are official Godzilla figures. They're both of Gigan, one of my favorite Godzilla monsters of all time. Below is my favorite of the two.



There are others, and I'll do those ones in another post when I can get decent pictures.

Update and Wow, did I just see that?

Robot Collector here, reporting to you from my new academic haven, PSU. University life is excellent, I can tell you that much. Right in the heart of downtown, much closer to my place of residence, and the people are better. I'm a junior, seeing as I was able to transfer every single one of my credits over, making it so the only classes I need are for my history degree. Being a history major's fun, really. I get to read a bunch of cool books about a bunch of cool subjects, and all the class content fascinates me.

On to the "Wow" report.

The other day on the bus I saw a very large man, I'm talking clinically obese, sitting in a motorized chair wearing a propeller ball cap. He had a Big Dogs shirt stretched over the back of the chair which had said Big Dog standing behind a bar, a pint of beer on either side of him. The shirt read "ATTITUDE SERVED HERE" in bold, black font. Classic.

Weekend Update and Library Stories

So The Robot Collector's been busy this summer. Busy with what, you may ask? Well, I've been working at the Ledding Library in Milwaukie, right near my house, for the past few weeks. I shelve things there, mainly. Books, CDs, VHS and DVDs, magazines, manga, you name it, I've put it in alphabetical order. I've been somewhat of a hero down there, as I've been going in on Sundays and Mondays. Sundays are the absolute busiest, most hectic days, and those are the ones where I end up shelving a whole cartload of DVDs. The carts for DVDs are pretty big. They come up to just past my waist and they're fairly long too. They have a divider splitting each shelf in two, making for two shelves on 2 layers. I usually take a full or almost full cart (Usually no more than 3 shelves) every day I go in, and in 20 minutes I have them organized by the first letter of the title. I must say, I love working there. It's my element, and I'd love to work there for money.

Time to change subjects abruptly.

Here's an interesting thing I ate yesterday. So I'm at a friend's birthday party, and we went to the Izakaya Kaiten sushi restaurant at Milikan Way in Beaverton. A kaiten for the record is the Japanese term for a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt system around the table that you pull sushi off of and pay by the plate. While I was there I ate some damn good sushi, but there was one that was just unbeatably awesome. Bacon Sushi.

Bacon sushi is apparently cucumber with crab stick wrapped in bacon. Yeah, you heard that right, goddamn BACON. Now, bacon is one of the most excellent, tasty, and popular meats. I mean, they have Baconaise and bacon salt and bacon everything. But I never thought they'd make bacon sushi. And I never knew it would be so damn delicious.

Con Report:: Sakura Con

Greetings, my treasured readers. It's been quite some time.
Now that I'm free from the whirlwind that is school, I can update more frequently and better entertain your curiosity about what crazy things there are to see in the world.

On April 9th I set off for Seattle for Sakuracon, the Pacific Northwest's largest anime convention.

Why, Robot Collector, that's fascinating, what exactly IS an anime convention?"
This question may be fresh in many of your minds, so it is my duty to inform you all. An anime convention is a massive gathering for those who like Japanese animation, comics (referred to as manga from here on out), and video games. It's much like a scifi or comic convention, just a different sort of crowd. Anime conventions are some of the most fun events I've attended in my life, and for good reason. It's right within my element, and damn it, I love anime and all that it entails.
Typically at anime cons, one will "cosplay", a combination of costume and play that the Japanese use to describe dressing up as a character from a series or game. I myself went as Rorschach from Watchmen, and there are pictures, that will be uploaded later. In essence, the trip was a lot of fun, and for the outsider, it's a fantastic experience in people watching, as well as a crash course in the culture. It's hard to explain just what one will see, but in essence there's just one thing you'll notice: people bonding.

You see people getting along, people sharing the same interests, and you see for once that when you get a lot of folks who like the same thing together, they can peacefully coexist. Now this isn't to say that a convention is free from drama, or strife, or any of that. People are people, and as such, they are subject to the hardships and faults people deal with every day. But it's a damn fine way to get away from it all. It's nice to go to a con, make new friends, and just forget about the economy, or disasters, or even just the daily grind we all face every day. It makes you feel alive, and that's why I love it.

Until next time.

Adventures in Snack Smuggling

So I saw Watchmen today, which was quite good. It has its flaws, it's not for everyone, most definitely rated R, and overall a solid, enjoyable 8/10. I recommend the graphic novel more, but the movie's decent. Anyway, on to tonight's post.

Now, I enjoy going to theaters to see movies. Great for a hangout, lots of fun, more intense than a DVD rental, and all around a great experience. However, my main axe to grind with the theater is the price of concessions. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. You pay $7.50 or more for a ticket, which is already a considerable investment. Toss in popcorn, which is roughly 3-5 bucks, and a fountain drink for about the same, you just added almost 10 more dollars. This, my friends, is preposterous. Now, the most obvious solution here is to sneak your own concessions in. But how? Well, I'm answering that question right now.

Wear coats with deep pockets, preferably long coats. If you buy the right things, you can pack more into them. Don't get anything too awkwardly shaped. Empty popcorn and small, bite sized things into sandwich bags. Or, you can do what I did and go to an Asian market.

Asian markets are a lot of fun, as there's stuff you just can't find at your standard Safeway-type grocery. Aside from the strange new world of far Eastern foodstuffs, you can find a wealth of inexpensive, low profile concessions for your cinematic outing.

I myself spent roughly 6 dollars and got some candy, a few cookie-ish items, two small canned drinks, and a bottle of cola. This adds up to twice or thrice what I could afford at the theater's stand.

At Asian markets, a lot of the canned drinks like coffees, yogurt drinks, various fruit nectars and the like, run about 78-88 cents a pop. They're tasty, especially if you find the right ones, and more importantly, they're either short and no larger than a standard soda can, or they're taller and much more slender. I fit two of them along with the Hello Panda cookies in one pocket. In addition, a lot of Asian snack foods are packaged with much less bulk than American products, so your contraband can be stashed much easier and in greater numbers. When it comes to buying outside goodies, Asian groceries are a monument to efficiency, affordability, and deliciousness.

So there you have it. Go to Uwajimaya or Fubon, or your nearest Asian specialty grocery store and shell out 5 or 6 bucks and get a wide variety of easily concealed, perfectly tasty snacks. You'll be glad you didn't spend it on one bottled beverage and a package of Skittles.

Obamarama, etc.

First and foremost, our nation is looking a lot brighter. Congratulations, Barack Obama. Here's a brofist for you. A Brobama fist, if you will.

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Also, I saw a bearded man running barefoot down 39th with a pickaxe on Sunday.

New Year, New Term, New Prospects

Currently the Robot Collector is reporting from Psych 101 class. So Nerding Up The New Year was a lot of fun, and a happy belated New Year to you all. Nerding Up The New Year is a Milwaukie based gaming event put on by some good friends of mine from high school, and it's one hell of a blast. Lots of fun, cheap cover charge ($5), all around good time. I'll remind people later in the year about it. Check it out at http://nerding.org/

So, that aside, I've thrown yet another new feature onto the blog: I'll be doing some more reviews now and then, and will include film and game reviews, as well as possible anime reviews. These will be sporadic at best, and will give just a bit more insight into my world as it is. Mind you, the blog is disorganized as usual, but I've decided that my New Year's resolution is to increase my output of amusing, fascinating, and high quality posts on this blog. I shall recount past stories, updated ones, and things will be better. So get ready for new stuff.