In my typical half awake, middle of the night state I was looking through the listing of new fansubs over on AnimeNfo and ran across a show called Earth Defense Family. Upon looking at the description I decided I will have to try and snag at least one episode of it:

An ordinary family is chosen to become high-tech fighters to defend the earth from an invasion of horrible alien monsters. The family consists of 8 year old Daiichi, his 14 year old big sister, his 34 year old Mom and his 40 year old Dad. But this isnt your ordinary Japanese family after all.

First of all, everyone is involved in this, not just the kids. All four have their own power suits, special weapons and roles. Daiichi and his sister have flying surf boards, the Moms car transforms into a flying car and the Dads suit doubles as a rocket suit. Everyone is initially enthusiastic about this turn of events, but things start to wear thin pretty quickly when they find out that they are charged for each super weapon that they use to defeat an alien, and the bounties that they get are being swamped by an ever growing debt. And they can’t resign because the unknown agency that has chosen them will throw them into debtors prison if they don’t pay off their bills.

I like when they take a fairly typical genre and add interesting little twists to it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower. “Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.” [Quotes of the Day]

It seems that Beijing Evening News reprinted an article from The Onion as real. It seems they didn’t realize that it was a joke (and said they will still have to research it more before they print a correction).

Well, it’s finally happened. Warner Bros. Pictures has teamed with Gaylord Films to option the rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters the Wonder Twins, with plans to make a live-action family feature. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I just know that it scares me.

Originally seen on http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

My astrological ruminations weren’t enough to decode your destiny this week. I had to add a novel form of divination — videomancy. Prostrating myself in front of my blank TV screen, I prayed that I’d be guided to turn it on at the right moment to receive an omen about you. When I felt the spirit rise within me, I pushed the “power” button on the remote and pressed the “channel” button seven times. What came on the screen was a scruffily dressed mother and toddler in a thrift store. They bought a bedraggled baby doll dressed in a bear suit. When they got home, the mom removed the doll’s costume to wash it. A wad of $100 bills fell out. Bingo! I had my videomantic oracle. Here’s my interpretation of its meaning for your life, Scorpio: An underprivileged aspect of your psyche will soon make a valuable discovery by accident.

(– From http://www.freewillastrology.com/ –)

Articles like the following kind of annoy me:

Security Hole Found in KaZaA File-Sharing Service. A study showed that users of KaZaA, an Internet service for sharing music files, frequently expose personal files on their computers by misconfiguring the program. By John Markoff and Matt Richtel. [New York Times: Technology]

Why do articles like this annoy me? I find them kind of misleading. There isn’t anything in how the software works that I’d call a security hole. Yes, some people share out more things they think they are. I used Kazaa for a while (before I found out about the spyware and ripped it all from my system) and it wasn’t hard for me to figure out exactly what I was sharing. Maybe I’m just more paranoid about that kind of thing then most people. I also think a security hole is a different kind of flaw then a crappy UI.

So last night I finished watching the Utena TV series. After sleeping on it I think I pretty much liked it, despite not being real sure what it is about. Or at least what it is about for to me. I get the feeling it is one of those shows where everything is up for interpretation. I think Chris was much more affected by it then I was. While I felt kind of shellshocked after the massive Utena binge I’d been on for the last few days, I found the series more one I’d like to go back and rewatch at some point.

I can definitely say that it didn’t leave me as bewildered as the Utena movie, which qualifies as one of the most stunning animated movies I’ve watched (from a visual standpoint). Now I’m wondering if I should start taping Evangelion for Chris.

Edward Chilton. “I’m worried that the universe will soon need replacing. It’s not holding a charge.” [Quotes of the Day]

I hate high humidity. When the air gets this heavy it gets a little bit harder to breath. I know it makes me cough a lot more. I think it is most probably the reason that I have not slept well tonight. And it is making me more and more cranky.

So now it is 4:40am and I’m once again at that decision time. Do I stick it out for another hour and go into work really early or crawl back into bed for two hours and probably oversleep and get into work around 9. I’m starting to think I should shoot for the first one, since that would mean I could get out a bit early. Bah.

I just found out that Better Off Dead is coming out on DVD. This is definitely one of my favorite Cusack flicks. I should check to see if The Sure Thing is out on DVD also.