F-ZeroOne

Asides from reading "idiot", "Baka" was also the Allied forces codename for the aforementioned "Ohka" piloted suicide bomb...

Gundam Wing is very probably not the best Gundam series, though other people might beg to differ. In fact, its a bit like Macross 7 in a number of ways; a series some people love to hate but which does have at least some merit. Speaking personally, highlights of Gundam include Gundam 0080, Chars Counterattack, Gundam Zeta (though its more or less mandatory to list this; Graham disagrees... ), and Gundam Seed Destiny (though I like this more than I did the original Gundam Seed). Gundam has a number of seperate timelines and Gundam Wing is set in one of these; it was an attempt, probably successful, to do something different with a long-running franchise. And, no, I wouldn't recommend watching Macross 7 for the mecha scenes - watch Macross Plus for that! And like I always say: the best anime is the one you like the best. Listen to others opinions, but remember Isamu in Macross Plus: you won't know until you try.

Not sure if its feminine or not, but "Ohka" is sometimes translated as "cherry blossom". However, I strongly suggest you read up on where its been used in other contexts, as you might not want to people to note the following association...!: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/air_power/ap22.htm Personally, I've always enjoyed "Hikari" ("Light"), which often turns up for female anime characters, and is also used for a shinkansen service as well.

One thing that might get a little overlooked in all the "look at Gigaflops on that!" stuff... The X-Box 360s visualiser - thats the thing that plays pretty images while you play CDs - has been programmed by something of a UK games industry legend: Jeff Minter. I'm not sure how well known he is in the US, but stuff hes worked on before includes Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar and Tempest 3000 for the Nuon (plus a load of classic and off-the-wall 8-bit games). Jeff has always been admired for his stuff, but hes generally had the misfortune of working on hardware that wasn't very successful commercially (at least on the "current" hardware platforms). Jeff has long been experimenting with things called "light-synths" - a fusion of audio and sound experience - and the X-Box 360 visualiser has allowed him and some colleagues to acheive a long-held ambition. http://www.llamasoft.co.uk/ for more information, though the servers are being hit a little hard by Jeffs loyal fanbase and so things might be a touch slow at the moment (the X-Box announcement was largely secret until today). I've seen a little of the smaller preview video from the site and I think the best way I can sum it up is "the stargate sequence from 2001 - on steroids!"

A chess craze went through my school once. Some of the players were really, really, good, and though I played a bit I was nowhere near their level. However, I did manage to beat one of them - twice. The second time, he slipped up and didn't realise it. The first time was much sweeter - he could see what was going to happen but couldn't get out of it.. But normally he would have absolutely killed me on a chess board...

Been a very long while since I played RPGs, but from I can remember... All time favourite: West End Games Star Wars. The system probably wouldn't have worked for anything else, but it fitted the setting absolutely perfectly. Kudos to: Mekton Z/Mekton Z Plus. A nice attempt for a "do anything" mecha creation system. Main drawback is that it could get very bogged down in numbers and fractions of numbers, but the core system was elegant enough. Champions: Q: how many Champions players does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Thats a GM call. Another very points heavy system, and it required more D6s than just about any other system around. But it captured the feel of its subject - superheroes - incredibly well. Call of Cthulhu: Q: How many Call of Cthulhu players does it take to change a light bulb? A: All of them! Never split the party! The system was a little clunky - an outgrowth of Runequest - but has there ever been a more atmospheric RPG setting than Lovecrafts Great Old One-haunted 1920s? Paranoia: possibly the most fun game ever made. You probably wouldn't want to play it for long periods, but seeing as it was almost impossible to even get out the briefing room without someone being shot, back-stabbed, blown up, terminated, run over by a scrub-bot, propelled into another dimension, molecule-spun by some R&D terror device, or indeed, vapourised, that was rarely a problem...

I've seen that one, but unfortunately couldn't get as close as I would have liked as they were refurbishing the USAF section at the time. Would have liked to be there on the day it was bought into the UK, though: Her Majestys Customs Officials: "Anything to declare, sir?"

The original Zeon flag from Gundam is also rather closely modelled on at least one version of a Nazi flag - I think probably the Navy version. And, of course, "Seig Zeon... "

They are sort of part of Birtish cultural heritage... basically, he did a very nostalgic kind of advert about a bread delivery boy pushing his bicycle up a very steep cobbled hill, set to some classical music (can't remember the composer, but whatever it is, basically in Britain it is the soundtrack for bread...!) Didn't Scott also do the famous Apple ad? (the hammer-throwing one?)

Don't forget the "Hovis" ads...!

The little figures that come with the various Valkyries make nice little out-of-scale companions for Macross toy collections, but the mecha suck so hard you won't need to buy a Dyson cleaner...!

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 The RawbaTek RPG lists it as, I think, a RDF laser pistol (or possibly rifle).

I attended a UK convention once shortly after Ebichu was making the fansub rounds, and you could actually tell by peoples expressions whether or not they had seen it...

Another nice touch - Rose isn't scared. At first. Just like some of the younger audience, who really might not know why they should be scared...

Its the other rotary mean machine from the 80s - the one with the mini-gun and a co-pilot named after a best-selling British brand of chocolately orange mini-cakes. Presumably, the BBC needed some footage of an aggressive looking helicopter and felt that the Armys Apaches were a bit over-familiar...

Okay, I don't think I'm going to give anything away by revealing that the Daleks returned for the latest episode - the title kind of gives it away. I have good news, and I have news that some people may well find bad. Good - Daleks got a brand new bag, and its not just to do with stairs. This is Dalek Plus, and its learnt a thing or two. Lets just say you're not going to able to run up behind it and stick a bag over its head anymore. And its even found a use for the sink plunger... Possibly Bad - without giving anything away, I think this episode is going to split people down the middle. Those that already don't like the series are probably only going to be further convinced, while those who haven't made their minds up may well go that road as well. However, if one takes a little time to think about things, then the general thrust of the storyline does fit with established Who (and a number of other SF story themes). And theres one line in particular, an exchange between the Doctor and the Dalek, which really does make you pause and think. Overall, though, a very good episode with a number of surprises. And rumour has it, we may still have not seen the last of the genocidal pepper-pots just yet... Oh, yes - next week - Simon Pegg...! PS: 80s super-vehicle show fans - keep your eyes peeled. You might just spot a familar rotary friend...

Nah, IMO best British comedy TV series would be Faulty Towers, followed closely by Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister. Graham You forgot Dads Army, Graham - the true origin of the phrase "Don't Panic!" ("Don't tell him your name, Pike!")

You're welcome, although I'll stress again I'm not an expert, just interested. I know what you mean about keeping up with news from Japan - I probably know nearly as much about Japanese baseball as I do about English football [1]...! Thats thanks to the excellent books on the subject by Robert Whiting (You Gotta Have Wa! and The Meaning of Ichiro); it says something about how good those books are because I actually have very little interest in baseball - and football - as sports...! Its fun to occassionally see names I recognise crop up on Japanese news... [1] Also known as soccer. The principle difference is that in soccer, actual foot-to-ball contact is required for the majority of the game...

I don't live in Japan, but I work for a railway company in the UK, a country whose rail network is often compared in a demeaning sense to other countries in the press (sometimes, fairly, sometimes not) - it does tend to make you slightly more interested in other countries networks, if only out of a sense of self-defence... On top of this, I'm an anime fan and am interested in Japan generally, so I keep a closer eye on the news from there. Accidents on the famous shinkansen are practically unknown; only one has ever been derailed and that was the result of an earthquake, and resulted in only minor injuries. There have been one or two eyebrow raising incidents, but in general the shinkansen are probably as safe as it is possible to be considering the speeds at which they operate. For the more "ordinary" trains, serious accidents are rare, but not totally unknown. I can only recall one fatal incident in the past five years or so, when the part of the side of a Tokyo city service was somehow ripped off. There have also been one or two fatal incidents involving people working on or near the railway. The biggest hazard in Japan, at least going by keeping an eye on the news over the past few years, would appear to be road or people crossings ("level" crossings in the UK), and people or objects being struck by trains at them. Remember all those anime scenes at crossing gates? A little while ago, there was a serious and fatal incident in the UK involving a possibly sucidal car driver who appeared to have deliberately stopped his car on a level crossing. Shortly afterwards, I found a graph that listed types of this incident in various countries, and Japan had a much higher incident rate than just about any other country listed on that graph; anyone who has visited a Japanese city probably won't be surprised to hear that. A newspaper report I saw this morning indicates that Japanese railway staff might be under rather high pressure to deliver services on time, with targets set that UK train operating companies would probably say are virtually impossible to meet without some serious investment (as Japan has done). I rather suspect that, as in most cases, this incident will be the result of a number of errors. Some more news information on the Osaka crash can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4480965.stm The very worst rail related incident in Japan, though, would have to be the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. Also, it should be pointed out, that rail travel is in general safer than road travel...

My personal preference would be for lighter - towards a whiter tone, though I realise that may well end up looking un-coloured! (I realise that Guld is that clour in the anime) I'm no artist, though - its strictly a personal preference, and I wouldn't dream of criticising such wonderful art!

Stickered, but I'm reaally bad at it - I shake too much. What I need is a little trained sticker-applying monkey in the basement...

That was in the manga too. Only Motoko wound up a man() instead of a little girl. I think it was the manga I was thinking of, now that you mention it - too many GiTs versions, thats the trouble!

My bad - for some reason I had "Dragon" in my head. Funny how you think you know things...

I bought the Intron Depot art book and was flicking through it while waiting for a train. A friend of mine was lookijng over my shoulder. I didn't know at the time that Intron Depot has the original, uncensored scene in it. I found out when I heard the sound of eyeballs getting VERY big, VERY quickly... I might be wrong on this - its not entirely clear from the manga - but that scene may have been taking place virtually, in which case the Major may have been, er, "trying" things out... However, theres further evidence from the SAC TV series (although that is a different timeline) that she is. On the other hand, considering that, at least going by the movies, its possible to transplant a cyborg brain to another body, sexuality may just not be a hang-up in the GiTs universe anymore...!

Next Saturday, BBC One, UK, 19:00, GMT. They're back. Clue: "Whats the nearest town?" "Salt Lake City." "Population?" "1 million." "All dead!" And rumour has it, stairs are not going to be a problem this time... And a few thoughts regards the new series, now that I've seen more than the pilot: I'm enjoying it. Quite a bit. I think I may have said before, that if you think about any of the storylines too much, they tend to fall apart, but you don't really notice while you're watching. One thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the pace of this series; it tends to carry you along before you have a chance to settle. In that respect, its like a ride, and like a ride, its pretty good fun while it lasts...