Ghost Train

Here is a quick update on my Spartan GM. It's now standing on its own 2 feet which will be promptly disassembled for painting. At first I did not really like the bulky feel of the kit, but it doesn't seem as bad now that it's fully fitted. I can't wait to start work on that sniper rifle. I'm on vacation this week, so I pretty much spent the past two afternoons working on modeling... doing so in plain sunlight just feels weird and abnormal .

I know nothing about firearms... but the Glock is awesome in Counterstrike, burst-fire ftw even when I start off as CT I always try and salvage one during round 1.

The original short film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813999/, which takes place in 1990, is a critique of South Africa's apartheid (racial segregation) policies which ended in 1994. Presumably District 9 has a similar twist, but it's probably been hollywood-ified to remove "hard to understand and controversial elements" from the movie... it also seems to have an actual plot as seen by the interrogator asking the alien about the weapons, whereas the original was 100% short documentary. ... and I hope Will Smith makes a cameo in a F-18... we got super-hornets now son!

On the heels of my GM Sniper Custom, I've begun work on the GM Spartan... thinking of a special feet modification to allow it to kick zakus down an endless pit more easily (jk ) . I'm using left-over parts from an MG RGM-79C, MG Nemo, the spartan conversion kit itself, and some assorted pieces of resin. Giving it the same color as the Sniper II's from 0080.

This is actually a feature length version of an earlier short flick also by Neil Blomkamp, . Though the original seems to be more mock documentary oriented. Both the original and the new D-19 film is a veiled sci-fi story that actually explores apartheid.

Remember to recruit a pet (preferably a dog) before the outbreak. During the zombie survival ordeal, it will serve you greatly in tracking the menacing brain eaters as well as provide you with company. In addition, a pet is needed for the inevitable super dramatic scene where it gets infected by the virus and becomes a zombie, and u will have to break its neck or contend with a zombie German Shepard, cat, or iguana that knows where you live.

Better start mixing those red+green herbs guys lawlz

I'm so so sick and tired of this whole pig-flu crap and how in typical CNN-fashion it has turned into a minority-witch-hunt. Our own US homeland security director has stated that the effects of the illness are comparable to that of the normal influenza strains that afflict almost everyone during infectious seasons of the year. Yet we continue to treat this like it's the freaking end of the world. For some reason, the past 3 times I've been to cnn.com in the last few days, I've seen with 100% certainty on the front page a photo of some Asian guy wearing a surgical mask... now that is not to say that showing the photo of a Mexican person with a mask helps/makes the situation any better, but this is clearly another attempt at that piece of sh!t so called news network to once again put Asians in a negative light - like it has repeatedly done in the past decade. Today, on Lou Dobbs, the first story that ran was how the evil Chinese government is quarantining certain Mexican citizens in China for showing symptoms of the illness... OH NOW U R FRIENDS WITH TEH MEXICANS!!! HELL HATH FROZEN OVER. He must be extremely happy to see his 2 favorite targets at odds with each other.

Wow, that girl seems to be on enormous amounts of caffeine or other mood-enhancing substance... you can never pay me to be that enthusiastic about anything (even valkyries )

<Reboot, Restart, Rebrand> = <milking, igotnonewideaslol, plagiarism>

Really interesting... I can't wait to see the final result. I too somewhat liked the mech designs in Geass, in particular the rebel/Japanese units, the Guren, Zangetsu, Akatsuki... all good. I hated the elite Britannian knight units, they all looked like Gundam wannabe's .

They feel that as "artists" (lol) they need always need to add a pinch of their own genius to something that is already good in some other media. Only problem is that is that it's not "genius".

I think the fillers are a necessary evil though... the anime just catches up way too fast to the manga.

I stopped watching the anime version a while back, I still follow the manga though. I will admit that the Karaku-riser fillers were quite amusing

The funny thing is that the normal influenza virus here in the US kills thousands of people each year , I agree that there is disproportionate attention in the media due to the fact that it's "foreign" in origin.

This is just an aside... but strains of cold / influenza viruses can live for prolonged periods of time (some up to 2 weeks) outside a host. So yes, it's possible to get a "dirty" VF-11 from HLJ

Afro Samurai 1S was ok - some interesting character design concepts and ideas: Giant Teddy bear mecha samurai, a proper mecha samurai , Ninja who speaks in modern "urban vernacular", a gunslinger as the final boss. The story seems to be lacking some soul, as the action pretty much flows from "Violent Scene A" --> "Violent Scene B." I wouldn't say it's bad, but not terrifically good either. It's worth watching at least once.

I'd also like to add that in terms of toxicity (from least to most), I have been told that the order is: Acrylic < Enamel < Lacquer You need really decent ventilation for Enamel and Lacquer though ideally you just want excellent ventilation period. Because I can't afford a spray booth and don't have a fume hood I stick to airbrushing with acrylics. The solvents from Tamiya Spray (which is like their synthetic lacquer) leaves a very very strong scent of acetone ... never a good sign

I use modelmaster Acrylic for almost everything. On occasion I'll use Tamiya sprays if I'm feeling lazy, but the results are nowhere near as good

I saw bits and pieces of it, it's an improvement in terms of quality for US animation. I might watch the whole thing if it's rebroadcasted.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention. If the critique is that people in the US fear artificial intelligence in general (after all a robot is a tool, AI is its soul), you only need to look at the list of prominent scientists who have contributed to the area of robotics and AI to realize it's just a myth: Link You will find on that list quite a large number of non-Asians, mostly Americans and Brits, who have actually contributed to research. To suggest that somehow there is a cultural fear of AI/mecha/robots is ridiculous.

You are all analyzing this too much. It's really just a coincidence. And as it has already been pointed out, there are plenty of examples of "good" toasters er... I mean artificial life-forms. Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned Data - the ultimate goody 2 shoes android. The OP's argument is flawed. Sure, the hero is a mecha/robot, but so is the villain . Then by definition, since the villain is also a robot or observed piloting a mecha, then doesn't that mean that the Japanese are also afraid of robots ? Furthermore regarding how this all stems from fear of loosing jobs, I am from Detroit, the city that has been most affected by outsourcing, overseas manufacturing, and home to the Fail-Three automotive. Believe me... there aren't any factories at least belonging to the major automakers that still build stuff by hand. It's all robotic too. It's been that way for a long time. We are a generation behind with respect to hybrid vehicle tech, but not in the stone age.

Correction, Full Frontal is "A Char":

I think the "wheels" is what ruins it, not necessarily the quadro-configuration. If they were long stalks instead of wheels (like a real insect), it would have been better and a lot more menacing looking... now it just looks like an armed handicapped EVA.

I can't wait to see it myself. Mari looks cute (lol Shinji's harem grows), though EVA-05 just looks bizare. I wonder how she will contrast with Asuka and Rei.