Pat Payne

Tell that to the publisher of the CD. It's probably a karaoke disc, but it's still inexcusable. "Rayra, got me on my knees, Rayra, beggin' dahring prease, Rayra..." Now I've got images of inebriated sararymen singing that at the top of their lungs...

He's not that bad... No, really, he's not...

The Buddhist symbol is the mirror image of the Swastika. I believe it's also normally portrayed as if it was sitting flat on one side, rather than tilted, right? Not really. The Nazis used the swastika both "flat" as well as at an angle. The clue is actually in the direction of the arms. Although the Nazi symbol is exclusively counter-clockwise, the Buddhists and other ancient cultures (it was amazingly widespread, surfacing in Europe, Japan, India, Native America and Africa, among other places) depicted it both clockwise and counter-clockwise.

It is indeed the famed shimmering Toho logo. Sans Godzilla, of course

If you don't mind spending a bit of cash and are close to a Japanese bookstore (Kinokuniya or Asashiya) you can ask them to special order it. It's not subtitled, but Hurin in another thread on this forum has set up some excellent subtitles for the disc.

I never manage to spell it right! *lol* Lawry's Lawry's Lawry's! Just wanted to make sure he doesn't go to a restaurant that actually has the misspelled name and go "WTF? This is awful!" Book Off is kind of hit-and-miss these days. As of a year or two ago they started to jack the price up for items they know are popular, sometimes the used ones sell for the same price as the MSRP (actually more after you factor in the exchange rate) while you can get brand new ones from Yahoo Japan auctions for far less. I just came back from Book-Off in Gardena today, and I don't quite see what you're talking about. Most of the manga I found were a dollar (Patlabor and a Megazone 23 film comic from '85), and even the Lupin III Y wideban was running about two dollars (give or take a dollar depending on exchange rate) under the MSRP on the jacket.

I guess I'll field this one, since I admit I was one of the people who went nuts with (IIRC) RTH's Nazi Valk custom a few moons back. A lot of it was the method in which the Nazi symbols were being used. I build quite a bit of Axis armor and aircraft, and don't have a problem usually with the swastika symbol in that context. (or even in the realm of anime customs -- I'm dragging my heels on a Nousejadoul-Ger in German "What if?" markings) What set me, and I assume the other objectors, off was the egregiousness of his use of the symbol -- gaily colored red with a swastika on both shoulders and other places and doing a Fascist salute to boot. If I got some details wrong, I apologize for unintended libel. We may have been the ones with the problem, but it just seemed at the time to break the bounds of propriety in our opinion. Yellowlightman, you're right that much of the Zeon design ethic seems to be inspired by Nazi Germany, and I don't have a problem with that, because they keep it in the realm of influences. The Zeons aren't "space Nazis," they just happen to share a few sartorial and vexillary traits with them.

Not as hardcore as Nozawa. Sit at the bar, and he'll almost never let you order. He personally goes to the market every morning, and makes what's good. If you're at a table, or at the bar, don't think of trying to order a California Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, or anything like that, as you'll be booted before you know what happenned. Wonderful -- it's the Sushi Nazi! "No Sushi for you!"

I dunno Keith. I've got their release of Castle of Cagliostro, and I have no complaints.

Oh, come on, Exo, we're not that bad...we've only got the third largest number of homicides in the country... Ignacio...for question one, definelty go to Kinokuniya on Onizuka St. Also, there's nearby the Japan Village Plaza, and they have a number of stores where you can score anime/Macross stuff. One store I recommend (even if they're a bit pricy) is Anime Jungle. Also, check out gaming stores in the area> I remember one in Torrance (sadly no longer there) where I found a copy of Perfect Memory and a CF 1/60 VF-1. As for other things to do, I don't think anyone's mentioned the Disney Hall, or LACMA. Also Hollywood's not terribly far (if you're driving), and neither is Santa Monica. (Santa Monica used to have a Mandarake -- that originally was in Torrance's Yaohan -- but it shrivelled up and died. *sigh*) Anyway, Velcome to Cahleefoania, as our Governor would say

And now for the hentai portion of our competition: from Anime on DVD.com (not known for illiteracy, so I'm secure in the belief that they transcribed this faithfully) this back-of-the-box blurb from a hentai DVD -- and bear in mind, this is a region one (US/Canada) disc : If anyone can make sense of that, please let me know... I'm sure that many more things than "Forbidden Past" happen in Japan every day. [me] Who was the murder? What for? [God] It was probably something you did. [Apathulu] Meh. [Evil Ninja] You want the answer? *ziiiip* (apologies to the webmaster of masterninja.com) Anyway, here's the AoD link: http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/4243.php

According to the Anime News Network, Samuel L . Jackson is going to star in a GONZO-produced anime series called "Afro Samurai" airing apparently simultaneously here in the States and in Japan. Here's the release on ANN

Are you sure you don't mean Chris Claremont?

I bow before your more powerful tool, my lord.

They did? It'd make sense...

That's a good question, Arrowyn. Of course, the UN can use all the PR help it can get these days here in the US as it's been plagued by a series of scandals that have blackened the organizations' eyes. But Robotech -- especially the later installments -- is pretty damn obscure these days. If I had to choose a TV show to do one of those spots, I would have picked a familiar property like Star Trek. The fact that they seem to be going with some of the Cowboy Bebop Actors, as well as Chase Masterson and Mark Hamill in there is a halfway heartening revelation. Ain't still gonna watch it, but at least they've given Tony Oliver (who cannot hold a candle to the late Yasuo Yamada, BTW) the heave-ho.

It aired on a satelite channel, not broadcast television. Ah...never mind then...

I believe Max pulls out a gun that looks remarkably like that out of his cockpit when they abandon his valkyrie during their escape from the Zentraedi. H I dunno...that looks suspiciously like a gunpod from the Takatoku/Bandai Valks... And Zentrandude: Any closer, and we'll be straying into ManFaye territory. Please don't make me have to whap you with the 2X4 of Learnin'

After seeing the webpage -- I cannot believe it's actually in English, for crying out glaven -- I'm surprised that it ever got on Japanese TV at all...although they've got things that would make Michael Powell's head explode, I still thought that animated coitus was still a no-no... or am I wrong?

Congrats, Noriko :thumbsup: ! (Shawn/Graham, can we have that smiley back, puhleez?) And, actually, I know about those medal snafus also, although not at first hand (I was never in the military myself) My grandfather on my dad's side had fought in WW2 as an infantryman in the Pacific and was involved in Guadalcanal. He apparently (I say that since he was very reticent about his experiences in the war) saw a large amount of combat, and at least enough to earn the Combat Infantry Badge. After the end of WW2, the US Army had instituted rules that said that any soldier who had earned the CIB prior to (IIRC) September 2, 1945 was automatically entitled to wear the Bronze Star. Many vets, including my grandfather, never knew that they were so entitled to wear the decoration. We're also unsure of what medals he did recieve during the war (with the exception of the CIB) as his medals and uniforms disappeared on his way back from the Pacific and his records were destroyed in the US Army archives fire in St. Louis in 1972.

A very elegant answer, Dark Phoenix. Here's one of my own -- (I'd send it, but I don't trust the e-mail address. I've got a remarkable run of no spam in my box ) "Contrary to popular belief, the man with an arrow in his eye on the Bayeux Tapestry is not King Harold of England. It is actually Vin Diesel. What the tapestry doesn't show is that after pulling the arrow out, he casually flung it and skewered three Norman knights like a massive shishkebab, and then took the throne of England for himself. William the Conquerer only won England from Vin in a game of high-stakes poker on ESPN."

So, which was it?

You know, Roy, now it all makes sense. I was wondering why Michael Jackson was so interested in playing a Jedi in Ep. 3!!!

I've started to put my Macross discs in Memorex Thinpack DVD cases...they say that they're supposed to prevent DVD cracking...any truth to that?

I remember people were using Hacker Cyrillic when I was in high school...and that's closing in on ten years ago now!