Plot Summary: Armed with a metal sash that straightens into a sword, lanky swordsman Van is traveling through the desert, searching for the mysterious clawed man who killed his bride. Along the way he picks up a fellow traveler: Wendy, a young girl whose town he saves from bandits by summoning a mecha with his sword. Wendy is searching for her missing older brother, whose engraved gun she carries on her back. In their mutual quest they run afoul of more bandits and villains, a mysterious woman named Carmen99, and more mecha battles a la Wild West.

Van with his sword which is able to summon a powerful mecha in search of the man that killed his bride. Along the way Van keeps meeting people and they have their own quest which follows along with his. Its an action packed mecha anime where everything starts falling into line as the story progress. Its quite entertaining and the characters do develop, there is this silly humor going on but its part of the entertainment and builds up for one hell of a climax, and it does have its serious moments.

Link: AnimeNewsNetwork

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The comic story turned into a novel with the most enticing story, multiple plots running parallel with superheroes trying to find their way again after the last catastrophe. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are no where to be found and the Justice League is only a semblance of what it once was. There are still many heroes left but can they hold out on their own. Something is brewing between Gotham, Metropolis, and the other cities while people are left picking up the pieces. You get drawn into multiple stories slowly building up, the look, feel, and familiarity of the comic characters is brilliant. It feels like I know all of them and their habits, and the build up just keeps getting better. As things progress you get hints of what 52 is, and ideas start patching together, but I won’t spoil the story. The best part is the amazing satisfaction from this book, and you get some completed stories but you are still left wanting more. I haven’t finished a book so quick such as this and at the same time hated finishing it. An amazing novel which any comic lover would adore, and keeps you turning the pages.

Link: Amazon

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Plot Summary: A valuable artifact known as “King’s Seal” is stolen by a mysterious group of people during transport in Soul Society. Hitsugaya Toushiro, the 10th division captain of Gotei 13, who is assigned to transport the seal fights the leader of the group and shortly after goes missing. After the incident, Seireitei declares Hitsugaya a traitor and orders the capture and execution of Hitsugaya. Kurosaki Ichigo refuses to believe this, and along with Matsumoto Rangiku, Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji swear to uncover the real mastermind of the stolen seal, find Hitsugaya and clear his name. Meanwhile, a rogue Hitsugaya searches for the perpetrators and uncovers a dark secret regarding a long dead shinigami.

I have this appreciation for Bleach and tend to like Ichigo a lot, I was a bit disappointed in the first movie but this time around they did a great job. Going into the story its as if you have been watching the anime the whole time, it wasn’t a rewind, they all have the powers that they have developed and their relationships. You jump right into the meat of the story trying to figure out whats going on and it just keeps getting better and better. The best part is the full participation of a lot of characters, just seeing use their power in that way is great. 

Link: AnimeNewsNetwork

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Plot Summary: Set in an alternate history of Japan, freelance photographer Minagami Hayato returns to his hometown of Ootomo to investigate rumors of a man wearing a skull mask committing murders there. Once in the city, he discovers connections between the victims and a local pharmaceutical company, a new religious sect, and strange half human, half animal creatures. Along with a young photographer, he decides to find out who the Skull Man really is. 

 

 

“Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

 

This anime revolves around a lot of complex thoughts and ideas, a lot of Japanese animation revolves around what has happened in their history and ties into their idea of WWI/WWII. Also what happens to towns after these devastating wars, and the same has happened in this case. Skullman is not a superhero but a dark hero born out the South East Asians Wars have taken place and the creation of Ootoma City. Whats a bit difficult is that you pick up multiple plots from the beginning of the anime and trying to figure out the connecting parts. Its a dark anime which I didn’t know from the start and things start falling into place and turns into something unexpected. Its a different anime and worth a watch you really get pulled into it. A lot of people are getting into Darker into Black and I’m looking forward to that as well.

Link: AnimeNewsNetwork

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Now this was a movie was I really looking forward to, two of my favorite Eastern Actors in one movie. I’m a huge fan of martial arts and sometimes I even don’t care about the storyline just to see the fight scenes but this movie was a little different. It simply revolves around the kick who has to return the Monkey King’s staff back to him to fight the Jade Emporer, and he has to two masters to train him and help him. Jet Li and Jackie Chan are the two masters and they come from different backgrounds in China with interesting parts to them, and the kid gets the hell beat out of him. Its a funny martial arts story with a heartfelt ending, any person who likes a fun martial arts movie will really like this.

Link: IMDB

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I have been using the Gorilla Pod for the past couple of months now, around poles, around a car, and lots of odd situations. It is a high quality tripod with the a huge amount of articulation, and rubber ends which are perfect for any situation. The price of this tripod is relatively low for a good tripod, and you can pack it anywhere with you which is what you need from a tripod.

Recently they have been making some different Gorilla Pods for different pieces of electronics. Like the one for the PSP is great if you are just going to watch movies on it so you don’t have to hold it at a specific angle.

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Link: Joby

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I heard about this movie and it was something a little different then Adam Sandlers movies. Zohan is an Elite Israeli Counter Terrorist Officer who is their best fighting machine but he wants to live his life as an elite hair stylist. If you want to watch a funny movie which requires very little brain power then this it. If you don’t have thick skin then this isn’t the movie for you, they make fun of Arabs a lot in this movie, but it does have its good moments. If you have high expectations then you won’t like this movie, if you want a wacky laugh then this is your choice.

Link: IMDB

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I have been using my iPod Touch for some time now, and thought to use it with my car. After some search I found a few units, but it turns out there is an OEM unit from BMW meant to integrate with the system.

This is the break of audio controls from the BMW Audio Interface, it replaces the CD Changer menu:

• CD1 – Playlists
• CD2 – Artist Names
• CD3 – Album Title
• CD4 – Music Genre
• CD5 – Pod Cast
• CD6 – Displays a certain amount of songs from the music library

Pros:

• Excellent Sound Quality – Fiber Optic Connection
• Easily installed – Took about 50 mins
• Works with all iPods
• Relatively cheaper then other iPod integration units
• Uses BMW audio control to interface with the iPod
• Loads items relatively quickly

Cons:

• Replaces CD Changer but can easily be returned without any issues. Personally it has no affect on me since I still have 2 slots in the center console, one for DVD/Navigation and one for CD.

These aren’t the best pictures in the world, it was probably because we were cramped and it was humid outside so we just kept on snapping away and wanted to finish it as fast as possible. Now after getting it all done, I wanted to take step by step shots but we wanted to finish up and go somewhere cool.

Overall I think this is an excellent unit, easily installed and it requires no changes to your OEM system. The only real issue I have is the BMW Audio interface itself, so doesn’t matter which unit you install this is the drawback of them all, I wish it would be a little quicker or easier to go through. I do recommend this unit to anyone who wants to use their iPod with their BMW, it works perfectly.

Price: 125 KD from Dealership – $300 Online

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A series that was collaborated by HBO and BBC, a 4 episode series made to reenact the life and death of Saddam. I heard about the show from a few people so I decided to watch it. This show brought out old feelings of hatred that I remembered when I was a kid, I knew what was going on at the time during the Gulf War but it was frustrating that you are young and can’t do anything to help. The show isn’t 100% accurate and when they were showing Kuwait it was very lacking but still overall  this is show must be watched. I had this feeling of not being able to watch it because of the anger that was swelling up inside as well as happy I’m watching it, Saddam was their leader and he was insane, and at that time I don’t know how afraid I would have been to stand in front of him in his prime and many thought that way, he was a monster. A different show worth watching, don’t want to say anymore just in case I might spoil it.

Link: IMDB

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There was a time you kept hearing about Blackwater the security firm. I decided to pick up this book to see what the hype was all about. You would think that we do have an ideae about what is going on with the US military in Iraq and other areas of US military interest. As I started reading this book you get a feeling of being an insider on the plans that were being made for the Iraq invasion, but there is more to it then that. The private military industry has been riding a high tide of the Bush administration no longer a tool of the small countries but an integral part of the US military force. You are reading through this book and can’t believe that it is real and that all this is going on. It explains the reason for a lot of what is happening around the Middle East and other areas of military activity. I recommend this book to any person interested in US miltary activities and their reasoning for their approach in their aggressive foreign policy.

Link: Amazon

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