Ghost Train

I think it's just common sense, even if you don't believe any of the science, that dumping sh!t-tons of CO2 into the environment will probably have some sort of detrimental effect. To deny this is to reject the idea that greenhouse gases keep the Earth warm and suitable for life. As a troll, it's good to be able to argue the other side too. If you don't believe in the science of climate change, a suitable argument would be to claim that other gases such as Methane, and the dreaded super-evil Oxygen Dihydride in its vapor form also have a greenhouse effect yet receive substantially less press.HENCE IT'S PART OF TEH EVIL LiBRAHAL AGENDA.

That's awesome news. I held out on getting a Kai due to the McDonalds-factor discussed in the other thread, but I'm definitely not passing on this one. Also, who here thinks that in the spirit of brinkmanship we'll see a Yamato 1/60 VF-19S announcement in a few days ?

Final Fantasy main character coolness died when Tidus' sense of fashion transcended parallel universes and caused all subsequent male protagonists to dress like they came out of the circus.

To be honest I really hated 0080. It's my least favorite UC Gundam. The last time I tried to explain my view to UC purists I got flamed pretty badly . There were some cool things about the show - namely that I liked the mech designs. In fact, my favorite MS is the RGM-79 Sniper which I think makes its only appearance in that show, and Gundam Alex is a nice mix of old & new. However, it just tries too obviously frakking hard to be tragic for the sole purpose of being tragic. If I wanted that, I'd go read Oedipus Rex, or Hamlet.

I believe the giant elephant was called a Shoooooopuff. Wow, can't believe I still remember that.

Example of good dub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Buu7zGsHk

In the latest GI (read at Dentist's office, not a subscriber - need to clarify that), there was an interview with the FFXIII designers. They thought that the static turn based system would have looked awkward on the current generation consoles, and to take full advantage of the hardware improvements since XII, they decided to go for a faster paced action&rpg hybrid.

The real question is - with high quality intellectually stimulating and thought provoking shows the likes of Strike Witches, Chubra, Kampfer (just to name a few) - is spending a lot of time ensuring an accurate translation whether through voice dubbing or subbing all that important ?

I agree with both of your tests, but is this really a correct analogy to describe a person watching TV or a computer screen? The use of focal points to describe vision is not completely accurate in my opinion - though it's a decent model. An eye is not really similar to a pointing optical device made by man like lenses, scopes or whatever, it is actually more like an array of sensors that send data back to the brain. In this case, the sensors are the photoreceptor cells in your eyes - namely the cone and rod cells. If you need proof of this, consider the following - a focal point is just a theoretical point in space, mathematically it could be as small as a spec of dust, yet when I focus on an object I'm not limited to just 1 pixel of it, but I can see the totality of the object pretty well. Perhaps I need some math here to illustrate that your eyeball is not rotating so fast, that you can see steam coming out 1) Let's say that you sit 50cm from your monitor, I think that's a reasonable distance. 2) The human vision has approximately 120 degrees of vertical coverage, with some simple trig and an asessment of what your eye can see, you can validate this number, though it varies a little bit from person to person it's a good average vertical field of vision. 3) Now, my math sucks so let's divide the 120 degree vision cone into 2 X 60 degree right triangles and then merge the results later, you basically get this: (Pardon the crap drawing - the low quality is probably a distraction ) Basically, to solve for the far edge of each triangle, you do: tan(60) X 50cm = 86 cm. I have 2 triangles, so I multiply that by 2 and get 172 cm. So the maximum viewable vertical range is about 172 cm (or 68 inches in Imperial units). This implies that you will be able to see stuff 172 cm high sitting 50 cm away from it. Now you can't see the stuff that's near the edges of that range really well, but the stuff that's in front of you appears clearly. So here is my theory basically: Unless your monitor/screen is 1.72 meters tall, you will probably not have issues reading subs that appear near the bottom of a screen. As long as it's within a reasonable angle of that 120 degree arc, the brain will deem it to be understandable and ok. In other words, because it's in the optimal zone not a lot of effort is invested in quickly scanning the subs and therefore detracting from the video. If you have a 14 inch screen (a pretty average sized monitor), and assuming 16:9 ratio, your screen is about 8 inches tall or 20 cm. 20cm is only 12% of your total field of vision, so odds are it is in the "optimal zone." But I do agree that experiences and mileage varies, as each eye is different. Even if you don't agree with my math here, consider that anime/foreign film distributors have obviously thought about this problem in great depth, and since it costs money to put subs too, they must have reasoned that there will be sufficient interest to recoup their sub costs.

The problem with your test is that you're asking me to look down then back up on the screen (unless I misunderstood you), which is not something you would do when you're watching TV, a monitor, or any type of screen, unless I was multitasking, say reading a book and watching TV at the same time. I don't really hyper-focus on every letter of every word. Even if the word on the subtitle were misspelled I know the meaning - which is proof that the brain is only trying the bare minimum effort to understand what that word is. And if the bare minimum is used, more bandwidth is focused on the action on screen. My objective is not to pick out spelling errors, but just doing the bare minimum to quickly scan the sub. I concede there is a loss of focus, but the effects for most people are less pronounced than what you make it sound like. Likewise, your argument is self-defeating. Say, you're watching Macross Zero which is absolutely gorgeous and contains rather high levels of details. If I'm watching a dub, and say I'm focused 100% on video now... I go "wow, that cockpit is neat!" I will thus loose focus on the other 100 things that are going on on-screen. What about your cat/dog sitting at the corner? Your noisy neighbors? The hum of the computer? They're all distractions that can supposedly detract from my non-English video viewing experience, but they don't really. Empirically, I know I'm right, the vast majority of anime fandom has no issue with subs... in fact, I'd argue that the cringe produced by crappy dubs is far more distracting than quickly picking up a few words on screen, at least for me. Of course, good dubs are good, but those are rare.

I've never had issues with subs, or felt that I have to "scroll" my eyes up & down, and I only started using English extensively as a language when I was 13.... so if I don't have a problem, no one really should. Perhaps I'm just too right-brained and can read fast... or y'all need to work on your reading skills (jk)

The Railgun finale totally exceeded my expectations. For a show that never treated itself very seriously, everything from the non-canon filler came together quite nicely at the end. I'm really looking forward to Majutsu or Railgun S2, either one of which will inevitably come in my opinion.

New rather unexpected twist in the ongoing tanker drama: Potential Russian Bid

Sazh's 4th attack is awesome. Like wolfx said, very much like Gundam Cherudim indeed.... he even wears a green coat to match.

Solution to MCP problem. 1) Get dog lost in V-world unable to return to host body. 2) Copy dog 3) Cylon Army, ready to serve. 4) (Just for fun) Copy Phil into dog's real body. And they will be angry at humanity and all cuz Dr. G. made mecha-Zoe shoot him. What lies beneath the cold metallic exterior of a cylon? ... A cold blooded ninja killer:

The dog is not a real... only Greystone and Mecha-Zoe can see it.

Joseph "teh noob" Adama has his first taste of PvP in this week's episode. Like with any virgin-PvP'er he does what every noob does... freak out and panic. Fortunately, his skilled partner turned what would have otherwise been an easy gank in favor of the duo but at the risk of almost de-resing. After a quick discussion on vent about "what went wrong" Adama seems to have stepped up his game. After being kicked out of the club, he makes sure to buff AHEAD OF TIME before planning a raid in the bar (which is run by a genderbending player... you know the guys who play as girl characters, but this guy just goes for the drag route instead). With Haste & Quickdraw cast, he knocks out a nice portion of the bar before continuing on his quest. Almost 15 minutes later, the flame wars on New Cap City Forums begin, with calls of, "OMG H4X LOL IF U DONT USE STIMS I BET U SUCK LOL" ... some even suggested to nerf Tauron as they now seem overpowered class after Adama's raid. On a more serious note - I liked the dog scene, it was a good way to convey Daniel's increasing frustration and desperation.

Not a Vocaloid expert by any means but from the time I've wasted on youtube, I'd say that I like Megurine Luka better.... though some songs sound better with certain vocaloids.

RDM's magic formula: Step 1: Take Spanish Telenovela Step 2: + guns, knives, vipers Step 3: Insert controversial RL elements and issues concerning religion, gender, etc. Step 4: Schedule it for Friday night, b/c we all now nerds don't have anything lined up Step 5: Profit.

Dear Lawd..... chocobo song has lyrics now.

Damm.... it looked freakishly UFO-like stable when it came to a full stop.

Perhaps it will be a crossover where Virtual Baltar and Six visit the alternate universe of Galactica 1980, and convinces everyone to jump into a star. Hi-Five....

I have not actively followed rasslin for a few years now, but it's quite amazing that TNA can recycle those old WWF/WWE athletes from another era and that they can still perform given they are all close to collecting social security: Sting is 50 years old Hogan is 56. Flair is 61...

The best animu space opera is Irresponsible Captain Tylor, no arguments .