Renato

Don't forget "HBAR HBAR HBAR HBAR" and "Lying Macross Purists".

Yeah, it was reported that some abnormally high radioactivity was detected in Tokyo today, but that may have been just temporary. The readings by themselves (I won't quote them here because I don't remember and I don't want to confuse things if I get them wrong) have no health effects, but it all depends on how long these particles kept flowing around, and if they increased over time or tailed off. Since the last readings at the site of the plant showed a marked decrease after that huge surge at the time of the last explosion, I would say the high readings were high, but thankfully brief. Let's hope the situation at the plant remains under control.

Some regular programming like anime and variety shows are returning to television gradually, which I suppose is a good sign. Everything up to now has been non-stop news updates due to the nuke-plant incidents/tsunami warnings/earthquake announcements/food-shortages/power outages etc. that have pretty much destroyed everyday life. I guess slowly but surely, we are stumbling to return back to normal. I feel horrible for those just northeast of here, though.

Japan and its people has treated me very well over the years despite some annoying bureaucracy things which you just have to deal with. I think once this is over, society will be wiser and stronger than before. One thing that I forgot was to express my sincere awe and gratitude to the guys in the plant making the ultimate sacrifices for the safety of us all.

Hey all, I'm out here in the western Tokyo suburbs, and convenience stores and supermarket shelves are empty. There is not much for us in the capital to do but wait it out, conserve energy an supplies (but preferably not overly hoard) and learn to build some kind of routine around the power outages. It's difficult to say when things will return to normal, though. I didn't get any sleep after that quake last night at 4am. I don't even know how big that was, but it was either on of the bigger aftershocks, or the epicentre was very near Tokyo. I think it was the latter. Plus this nuclear reactor crap just gets from bad to worse every time I turn on the TV. But I feel selfish guilt when I think about that, because there are people who have nothing left, in a much worse situation. So I think the best thing for people in the capital, like I said, is to remain calm and wait it out. Not that I blame people who are leaving the country at all, that's perfectly sound if it's an option. I admit it did cross my mind.

For gods sake, studio nue is not an animation studio and youre confusing animefriend with starpro. ive been repeating myself for years.

The containment building's roof blew, injuring some workers. it has just been confirmed that the inside has not been ruptured and no radiation is leaking. just in case neighbouring areas are evacuating.

Phones aren't getting through in many areas. I could hardly sleep at all last night because of all the aftershocks, but at least I was safe at home, and had a home left. I really feel just horrible to think that just a few hours north of here all hell is breaking loose.

Doesn't transform: doesn't count.

That's not what I heard... Yamanote line and other JR lines are all down for the rest of the day, with subway lines "hoping" to get back online but no promises. Most Shinkansens are grounded for the day. As I type this, MW member Alex is stranded, but safe. Just cold, I guess.

Im ok, posting with psp now. this was really bad, im glad i was at home (about to go out) cos it seems everyone is stranded... my gas is out but i have power and my house is standing, so im lucky. hope everyone else is ok

That's lovely. You know, I don't like blue cheese but I'm not going to go out of my way to ensure it is wiped off the face of the earth. Those that like it are free to enjoy it. As fruitless as this petition may turn out to be, what's the harm?

Some pics are blurry, sorry about that. Here's a close-up of one of the HALs: Kawamori lecturing: Here is the Kawamori-designed mini avatar-type robot. These are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and can be controlled through interface with a HAL robot suit: Unfortunately, we never saw videos of these in action, only photos. So you can become a tiny robot and experience life in a community of insects. Panel discussion and presentation: That's me on the right getting my blood examined... without the need of a sample extraction.

The HAL robot suit was of course the main star of the show, since the CEO of Cyberdyne is Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai of Tsukuba University, organizer and host of the entire conference. Those who watched the special TV show which accompanied the Deculture edition of Macross Frontier back in Christmas 2007 would have seen him talk about HAL and the EX-gear. Anyway, here are the different HAL types, on display at the lobby outside of the main hall.

Indeed. I believe he was the genius who came up with the infamous (hell, near-legendary) epithet "Lying Macross Purist". Maybe he just put that on his resume and HG hired him on the spot, no interview no nuffin'.

I was there, it was a really great symposium. Most of the talks were centred on applications of new robotic technology -- primarily the famous HAL suit -- in the welfare sectors, etc. As expected, the main issue is Japan's graying society. Some of the robots are already being used in rehabilitation exercises at hospitals, nursing homes, etc. Many of the presentations were extremely eye-opening. Kawamori himself discussed possibilities of Avatar-like robots, that is, the combination of manual slave (remote-controlling, as seen in MacF with the EX-gear and 25) functions and sensory feedback technology. Basically, you could be in a classroom at school studying biology, and as a practical, you could control a tiny robot to communicate with bugs and things, to experience the ecosystem first-hand, from the perspective other than that of a human. He gave many examples, obviously the ultimate goal here is to raise awareness of deforestation and other forms of environmental damage, albeit from within our affluent society, thus making us realize that it is not some distant issue. The most extreme example was when he suggested an integration with nanotechnology, where the "extended-self" robot you controlled could be the size of a white blood cell and thus you could inject it into yourself and witness (and participate in) the attack on a virus yourself. Good stuff. I have photos which I will upload sometime later.

Don't remember. Max said it, though.

That's such a cop-out. Yeah, so what's the point of collecting tune points, then? What's the point of the Nyan-nyan Shop? You might as well suggest "if you're finding Triangle too easy, the solution is simple: Close your eyes and play it!"

He's the protagonist of "Macross 7 Trash".

I think he is referring to Kawamori's teenage years during the 70s.

Well, I'm bored of it, and I think I'm not the only one since that thread has been a desert for days and here we are back at home in the Ultimate thread, still going strong.

Firstly, he IS a professional. Secondly, his hardcore fans are the minority in terms of audiences for TV shows. Thirdly "read somewhere"... yeah, don't put too much faith in the net. He made most of the story, he drew the storyboards, Ishiguro was just there to mostly give advice and make sure they were doing what they needed to be doing (which is not to minimize his importance at all, of course, he is the authority on the whole show). Macross 7: Kawamori was "only" (again, not to belittle his influence) the supervisor on that show. He was mostly busy directing Macross Plus with Shinichiro Watanabe at the time. I don't enjoy everything he does, but.... man. But OK, you're entitled to your opinion.

Actually, I think you're thinking of somebody else. Yeah, I did hear about that guy who saw it six times, but the "No.1 Macross Fan" (whose name we all KEEP FORGETTING SOMEHOW) actually hadn't seen it yet! Even Tenjin was shocked by that. Actually it was funny when he asked who hadn't seen it yet and he was checking around because it was mostly the usual suspects. Remember he was like "Et tu, Gimlet??" (Not in those words, of course!) The Macross hardcore fan community is pretty close-knit, I would say. We had people coming in from afar that day. By the way, how can this thread have "11 replies" but "0 views"??

Triangle sucks; Ultimate forever!!!

It IS good. I can say I enjoyed it. Yeah, there are still some things where I was face-palming myself thinking, "oh, god, really??" but I guess some people like that kind of thing. Overall, really good entertainment, and visually excellent. Tenjin outdid himself: all the mecha, especially the large ships, look incredible. Not just by themselves, either, they look great in the way they're framed in the screen, etc. There are a few very memorable visuals that I thought I would like to have as a desktop background, and I was thinking this while watching it! I don't have a Blu-Ray player, so I'm glad I watched this on the big screen. Recommended. I was actually expecting this movie to be better than the first one anyway since I thought that one was just boring for the most part (I'd seen most of it on TV, I felt ripped off), but I can say that they outdid themselves with this one. Negative points? The story is really convoluted. I don't think people who haven't seen the TV show will get what's going on for the most part. Not that it follows the TV plot, but I mean you need to watch the TV show to understand the elements, then see how they're interpreted here. That's my attempt at a summary of impressions without giving anything away.