Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas in 2010!

I know you'll probably read this late but I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

This is an important time of year, where people take a moment to hopefully get past the consumer mania and remember family and loved ones. This is a time for couples, for children and for friends! Take a moment and remind someone you care about that they mean a lot to you and your happy to have them in your life. Far too often, we neglect to tell people how we feel about them because we think they already know.

From someone who struggled with severe depression for years: no, they don't know. They believe sometimes but until you make it clear, they don't know and they doubt. So tell your parents you love them or your spouse how glad you are they said yes or your children how special they are or just a random buddy that they can be pretty cool sometimes.

And remember that Santa isn't just a cute girl with blue hair who bring kids toys, she's also a symbol of humanity's collective ability to suppress the worst parts of ourselves to bring joy to others. Santa is a symbol of our ability to be selfless. Don't focus on the buying or the getting; the season is all about the giving.

Also, forget about that image of a jolly elderly gentleman as Santa. That guy retired a few years back to pursue his mining hobby more seriously (what, you didn't know that was where the coal came from?) His replacement is a lovely and refined young lady.

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See?

All last night, Santa went around the world at Mach 100, using her incredible lock picking skills to enter houses and leave gifts. Of course, she's got a lot of helpers too! Her army of elves!

Santa's elves worked for hours that became millenniums last night, just to bring joy the world. It was exhausting work!

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Fortunately, good Otaku know to treat Santa's elves with kindness because Santa and her elves are wonderful and sweet!

Also, Santa has been known on occasion to, when sufficiently angered, unleash a horde of living nutcracker soldiers that marsh endlessly and fire armor piercing candy canes.

Some still live today who witnessed the Great North Pole Civil War wherein the previous Santa launched a dashing counter-offensive against an entire squadron of Reindeer equipped with heat-seeking eggnog rockets with just himself, 3 nutcracker soldiers and a ninja. (Needless to say, Santa won that fight but the mysterious Mr. X continues to battle to turn Christmas into X-mas! Fight him wherever you can!)

Santa fights to keep Christmas as more than just a day where the retail stores bask in the glorious profits that make it possible to keep millions employed and feeding their children. Santa fights to make sure everyone remembers Christmas is really about giving and bringing happiness and acceptance to all of humanity, regardless of religion or anything. Only a kind heart is needed to enjoy the special happiness of giving to make other's happy!

Though the getting can be pretty sweet too.

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I got the first set of G-Gundam! Did you get anime too? If you did, please post about it!

If not, is there something you'd like to share about Christmas in 2010? A happy moment with someone important to you? A special gift? Please post if you want to.

Remember, the joy is in giving and spending time with those you love but most of all, it's in spreading the happiness inside you to all the good people of this world!

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Bye-ni!

18 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas everyone! I didn't get anything from anyone, well that would have to be because I'm not a young one anymore lol. However I did buy anime for myself. It arrived the 24th... lmao talk about cutting it close! I got Hellsing Ultimate, Weather Report Girl and Ellcia. :) I also bought my friend Eden of the East, Welcome to the NHK and Spice and Wolf!

    Also umm funny thing I just finally got to a backlog anime I kept putting off which was When They Cry. Last night I reached Volume 4(yeah I own the singles) so this morning I popped in Vol. 4 and yeah... it skips and I read all over the internet that Vol. 4 has bad batches. It is way past the return policy so... should I contact Funimation? Since they did take over at Vol. 4 right? What should I do? And Merry Christmas!

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  2. @Excel, I don't know if they will take returns or not. I just read online too that Funimation "liscense" of many Geneon anime is done as of now. One of which is Higurashi, so I don't know if you can or not. On a side note yay Higurashi (When they cry), if I didn't say that Bal-kun would tease me.

    On a side note, my Christmas was ok. Really didn't get what I asked for. Got no anime, but a Best Buy gift card. Have to order stuff online though.

    On a side note Birdy episode just scared me.

    Lastly I wish you a Merry Christmas everyone.

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  3. Merry Christmas everyone!
    I've been spending a very nice Christmas where my Girlfriend I'm in a long-distance relationship with came down from Connecticut to spend Christmas with me and my family. We've been having a wonderful time!

    As for what I gave people, I got my dad a nice new hat (even though it ended up not fitting... lol). I also got my girlfriend two anime series' she's been wanting to see thanks to some Rightstuf bundles. I got her Venus Versus Virus and Ultra Maniac! She was really excited to get them. ^^ (does anyone else think the Venus Versus Virus artbox is way too tight for the 3 DVD cases?)

    As for what I got, I usually end up ordering my own gifts from my dad (my dad wouldn't know what to get me anyway, lol). Most things I got were video game related, but for anime I got the 2nd collection of Xam'd and a boxset of the classic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion (the classic I have yet to actually watch...).
    I also got a Sony PS3 and an imported visual novel for it, "Umineko When They Cry ~The Rondo of the Witch and Reasoning~". I read through the beginning (yay for the text being word-for-word what the PC visual novel says), but the PS3 started having trouble reading discs and now I can't play anything on it... (leave it to used items bought on Ebay to be like that...).

    @Excel- I have the singles as well, and yeah, volume 4 and 5 (and maybe 6) are all skippy on certain players. Lucky for me I found a player that could handle them without skipping. I hope you can find a solution to the issue... it is a pretty sad issue, since When They Cry is an amazing anime (definitely one of my favorites). Hoping the second season gets licensed soon...

    Long post is long, but anyway, Happy Holidays everyone! Enjoy it! ^^

    P.S.- You're amazing for making the Azumanga Daioh joke. I burst out laughing when I read that. xD

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  4. Yeah... My Volume 4, 5 and 6 all skip. Volume 6 is BAD, skips through all the episodes while 4 and 5 only did it a few times. I emailed funimation asking where I send the faulty discs in for replacements. I hope they can send me some. The only one that is still under the return policy time is volume 6 and it ends in a few days I think I might take that one back so I'm not screwed with atleast 1 disc.

    Now are ALL the discs faulty? Or only some from the bad batch? Does the Thinkpack release and the Viridian re release have the same discs? Am I able to buy that and take discs 4 5 6 from it? I started buying the singles way long ago because of the art box :).

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  5. The discs in the complete collection my girlfriend has (I have singles, she got the boxset) all work fine, so there ARE good discs of it out there.

    BTW, how do you like the anime so far? ^^

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  6. It was actually really good! I thought it was going to be nothing but killer lolis and focuse on "look at me I'm a loli". Meh I don't care much for loli stuff but man this was good! Especially Mion/Shion, she was nuts! The dub wasn't all that bad either. Because at the end of Geneon's death they kinda went cheap with their dubbing but it's still good!

    Are the singles and collections the same discs? I'm a collector and it would be weird if I had non matching discs if I grab the collection to fill in my faulty singles. Could you take pictures of them for me? You can send them to me over Mania. My name is the same their. Also are both the collections(because there is 2 complete collections) the same discs too? I need my info before I go and buy away I don't want to get burned any further lol. Thnx

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  7. Nice that helps alot! I'll wait and see what Funimation says when they email me back. If I can't get new ones I'll buy a complete collection from Fry's or Rightstuf.

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  8. Ah... I think I figured out why I liked Mion/Shion more... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xis8dBAhzIg This from season 2?

    ;D

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  9. rofl, yes. That's from a set of comedy shorts on the DVD extras of season 2. I hope they'll be included in a potential US release :P

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  10. @ bal-anime: Yeah, the VvV art box is a bit tight and if making Azumanga Daioh references gets me praise, I may have to start dropping more of them!

    @ Excel Generations: I've got to second the "buy the manga" recommendation. It is fantastic, better than the anime in my opinion.

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  11. Yeah, as much as I love the anime of Higurashi When They Cry, I have to admit that the anime does have to do a fair bit of rushing of the plot in order to get through 6 entire arcs in one 26-episode series. The manga has more breathing room in terms of pacing, while the visual novels might be TOO dragged out for some peoples tastes. So in that sense I suppose the manga is just right, lol.

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  12. Woot Funimation emailed me today. They said I had to scan my receipts and reply back with it. Then they will begin to process my request! :) I guess I might not get burned after all!

    I'll eventually check out the manga I suppose. The anime does seem really good. I actually didn't think it would be all that. I made a deal with a friend of mine during Fanime that he must buy Excel Saga and I must buy When They Cry, and watch it of course.

    Also I'll be taking BART to San Francisco on Wednesday with some friends. Summer Wars baby! I'll let you guys know if it rocks my socks off.

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  13. WHOLLY HELL! This was the best i mean BEST customer service I have ever experienced! Funimation emailed me back in 2 minutes! That's right 2 MINUTES!

    "Thank you for providing the necessary information. Your replacement disk(s) will ship within the next 2-3 business days via UPS Ground."

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  14. Ok guys I am about to leave to frisco in an hr. Weee this movie is going to be so much fun! Btw Funimation sent my dvds 30 mins after the 2nd email confirming my process. All in the same day, man that is excellent customer service! ttyl

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  15. I think I'll try to contact FUNi about getting a replacement disc for my Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood part 3 disc 2. It came scratched and had skipping problems in the middle of episodes 35, 39, and the textless opening.

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  16. Wow! Summer Wars was an extraordinary movie! Apparently everyone bailed except 1 friend and myself. Glad we went though we both thought the movie was brilliant. This movie deserves to be nominated and WIN the academy award. Seriously it blew Toy Story 3 out of the water. I suggest you guys go see this movie if it's playing near you or request it.

    @ bal you should email productconcerns@funimation.com they will take care of you asap! If you have your receipt you are set! They didn't even ask me to send in my faulty discs. They just shipped them out in no time!

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  17. ah shit vodka and anime dont relaly mix. uhhh happpy new years! watching wandaba stylee

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  18. Sure has been quiet around here. It's been almost a month since a new blog post. :(

    I wonder how Rich has been doing?

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