The Western World

Wonder Festival

Went back to Makuhari Messe for the first time in a couple of months (yeah, a long stretch I know) to check out the Wonder Festival with Danny Choo.


Unbelievable how many people there were.  Lots of industry booths with all the major Anime/Otaku goods related companies hawking their wares.
Saw tons of Anime figures, dolls, model kits, cosplay, and who  knows what else.









Also had a successful test of my livestreaming gear.  Currently I am running a Logitech Orbit webcam mounted on top of a gorillapod tripod. This is run through a Sony UX microtop computer with a bluetooth headset for audio.  Streaming video to Ustream using my eMobile Pocket wifi worked great and allowed for a very stable video platform and gave me access to all the chat logs.
I am concerned with the power however as the battery on the computer only lasts around an hour while doing all this.  Also would love to have something that can run Ustream producer so will have to look into other microPC options for something with a bit more power and juice.

Still it was a fun time.
More pics are here on my flickr.

New entry level 4/3 Pen Camera from Olympus

Wow! More and more toys that I really want!
Olympus has announced their third 4/3 format pocket DSLR camera. The PEN E-PL1 also adds a flash.

Looks very tasty, but I think I still prefer the Lumix GF-1.

DPReview POWERFULLY SIMPLE: INTRODUCING THE INCREDIBLE OLYMPUS PEN E-PL1 CAMERA

Model Photoshoot

Been working on cleaning out a lot of my work backlog. One of the big things on my to do list is to finish the post processing on this batch of photographs I took last year for a model photoshoot.

Back in August, a few photographers and I gathered together to shoot some pictures. Since then we've all been kind of swamped so we haven't been able to edit the pictures that we will plan to publish into an iPhone app. Not that Appliya Studio has an easy publishing system, I hope to get things on the road, so I sat down today to work some of the post processing on the shots I have.



Next up we'll need to gather together to decide on out favorites, then send the lot off to the model to get her edits. Hopefully the app should be available in the next month or so.



To see all the pics from my editing session, check out this slideshow.

CGM Night #6 Cospa-Mania

Another great meetup last night with CGM Night #6. After a brief hiatus, CGM Night returned with a special Otaku edition.  CGM (Consumer Generated Media) Night is the brainchild of Danny Choo and Andrew Shuttleworth as a place for creative people and media companies to gather, network, and celebrate content creation.

This time, the event was held at the HQ of Cospa, an Anime/Otaku focused company that makes costumes and goods for the discriminating anime fanboy or fangirl.  In fact there were a bunch of cosplayers at the event and after a short presentation by Danny and Cospa CEO Hashimoto-san, the evening devolved into a cosplay photoshoot free-for-all.

Here are some of the highlights, and I posted a ton of photo's on flickr here if you want to check them out.

1080p comes to YouTube - and it's Muppet-tastic!

Just a week since YouTube made the announcement of 1080p uploads and we have an entry.

A super fantastic entry that is. 

Amazon Kindle Comes to Japan

The long wait is over, the Kindle has finally arrived in Japan. Or has it?

As soon as I heard that a new Kindle model with an international roaming would be avail, my pre-order went in. I've been an avid eBook user since my Rocket eBook many moons ago. As a heavy traveler, the ability to carry a library around with me is a must have. Since that first book I have used Sony and iRex readers of varying sizes and capabilities, but the Kindle has always taunted me with the holy grail of mobile readers: wireless updates.

Well, I have had my new Kindle2 International Edition now for over 24 hours, so I guess it's time to see how it matches up.

What's in an "s"? My first look at the iPhone 3Gs

iPhone 3Gs Launch events in Japan.

I think I might be sick. Mentally, you know?

Did I need a new iPhone 3Gs? Nope.

Did I need to stay up all night to wait in line to get one? Definitely not.

Was there a problem with my old iPhone 3G? Not really.

Do I have so much money I need to just throw it away? No way.

So that leaves me with the fact that I have a problem.

oh well. On with the review :)

So obviously I stayed up last Friday night at the all-night Softbank iPhone 3Gs launch event/party. To be honest, I had a pretty good time. Got to spend time with some good friends and meet lots of interesting people. I got to participate in a totally geek centered event that boosts my ego (always nice to know for sure that you are NOT the geekiest person in the room). Enjoyed the presentations, and even managed to win some cool stuff. And of course, I finished things off by taking my brand new iPhone 3Gs home with me.

Since I was mostly asleep when I first posted about this event, I'd like to start over and detail the events of the evening.

I started off my iPhone Night by first stopping by the Softbank store in Omotesando. I got there around 4PM and quickly ran in to reserve my iPhone. Had waffled for several days on the decision, but finally broke down and decided to go for it. Here are the things that led me to my decision.

So scary because it is true

You could ask the question, "Do companies think that their customers are all complete idiots"?

You don't really want an answer to that question do you?

iPhone 3Gs launches in Japan. I lose sleep.

Today marks the official launch of the iPhone 3Gs in Japan.

A bit later than the US launch, but still close enough that I don't feel too left out. Still, my schedule these days conspires to bring me to my knees. After a full day of meetings, I popped up to check the line at Omotesando for the Launch Party event sposored by Nobi and Denso. What did I find when I got here but Free pokening and hugs!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen opens in Japan! Tokyo Transformers Night

Wow.

Just got back from the opening night of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Seriously had the time of my life!

Gathered a group of Die-Hard Transformer fans including @dannychoo @jonnyli @iMorpheus @fvbock @tamegoeswild @drzuco @mikamika59 @frankiebit and @ripkin. We all trucked down to the brand new IMAX theater in Kawasaki.

IMAX Digital just started in Japan today with the firs three theaters opening with the Transformers opening night. Kawasaki is the most convenient being only about 15 minutes from Tokyo station by express train so I will definitely visit again soon.

OK. Fanboy coming out now so you might want to plug your ears.

This movie rocked my world! Lots of robots beating up other robots. Lots of cheezy jokes. Lots of robots shooting other robots. Lots of cheap cheecake shots of whatername. Lots of robots exploding after being shot with missiles by other robots. LOTS OF ROBOTS!

They really seem to have the CGI down for robots as this time I think they had 3X the robots as last movie. And much more action.

Movie did slow down a bit as they actually tried to put in a plot this time. But at over 2.5 hours they actually managed to squeeze in a lot more. In spite of all the advance press I read there was still a lot of stuff I wasn't expecting.

Basically I was transported back a few decades and managed to recapture a lot of my delight from my original exposure to the transformers. Not a bad plot. Lots of action and very good special effects. Mechanical designs amazing. Drama (what they did to my precious Audi R8!). I have to say that the feeling I had through the movie was immense satisfaction.

If you can see the film in an IMAX theater, it is definitely worth it. If you can see it with a great group of friends, even better.

Before checking out the movie we stopped by the BIC Camera nearby and played around a bit with the new Transformer toys. I might have to check out one or two.

Highly recommended movie. May not be for everyone. But if it ain't for you, don't want to know ya.