Appleseed figure
Last month, an action figure of Deunan Knute from the tremendously excellent film Appleseed was released in Japan, packaged with a PS2 game by Sega. Fortunately for those who cannot afford to buy an expensive PS2 game, the figure was also released separately, though possibly not in significant quantities since it seems difficult to find. I got mine from an ebay shop, Otaku.com based in Japan, and I’ve only seen it listed sans game from that one dealer.
This is by far the best Deunan figure of the many that have been made since the original comic book by Masamune Shirou debuted many years ago. At least three of the earlier figures were based on her design in the comic book, and two (besides this one) were based on how she looks in the 2004 film.
This newest one is based on her appearance in the film, in a unique pose, and with an interesting ripped pant detail that sets this one apart from the rest (“A superficial slash wound may be viewed on her leg,” one Sega site notes, “but we’re fairly positive she’ll survive”). I’m not usually this much of a fan of anime, but Appleseed was really very good. A sequel, Appleseed: Ex Machina is expected to be released later this year. Here’s the preview for the 2004 film that is already on DVD:
UniPimp
My testimonial for UniKeep’s binders that I’d written in January appeared in this month’s e-newsletter from UniKeep. See relevant part of the newsletter below. Why did I pimp for UniKeep? Just ’cause I like their binders, and also I fondly remember writing the equivalent of ad-copy when I worked at JEMI and I like to keep in practice. There’s a few typos in this (I didn’t pay as much attention to tenses as I should have), but I think I successfully incorporated product names, usage, and ordering information into a story-like format. And, it is honest:
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When multitasking goes wrong
Lesson of the previous night: Do not surf porn and simultaneously read CNN in the last moments before sleeping, not when CNN is all about the pet food crisis. Not unless you want to dream of McGruff the Crime Dog doing unspeakable things.
Highlander producer dies
Just ’cause it doesn’t seem to be getting much press, I’d like to mention that Bill Panzer, co-creator of the Highlander series, has died. The amusing thing about all the tributes to him that various actors and production people have written is that many of them say how they disagreed with some of the directions he tried to take Highlander in — i.e. the crappy directions. But it appears that without Panzer, we would not have had the wonderful Highlander: The Series television series, or the Highlander 4: Endgame film either (both of which I liked very much).