Gaffer Tape's YouTube Reviews of Awesome Candy-Creating Goodness! (The Facts of Life/Star Trek III Conspiracy!) — Page 2

Germany HAAAAAAATES Scarborough Fair!  I thought everyone knew this.

Well, as long as I have everyone's attention, I have a question.  I've begun at least THINKING about my next video, and I need some technical assistance.  I still has no job, so is there a freeware equivalent of Photoshop out there?

A lot of people love GIMP, but the whinedows version sucks monkey balls. I recommend paint.net, I use it all the time - only thing it's missing is an airbrush.

Thanks, kev.  I'll give paint.NET a shot, although I'm currently having some trouble with the installation.

I still really like Paint Sho Pro.  It's not free (exactly) but it is < $100.

New video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbHnbE44mn0

I took it easy this time, so it's all photographs, but I just couldn't not review the new DBZ Dragon Box release.  It's honestly the equivalent of a fully-restored anamorphic DVD release of Star Wars with hardly a mention of the special edition (and I did make that comparison in the vid)!  Enjoy!

This is my fault. Just so you guys know.

To be honest, I'm more pumped about the new Dragon Ball season box sets! The first 13 episodes finally available as they should be!

Eh, I'm gonna hold off on the DB season sets.  Yes, I agree with you, Nanner, that it's amazing to finally get the first 13 episodes, but I'd prefer to wait for the (hopefully it'll happen) DB Dragon Box, so I can get the credits and next episode previews and not have the English title cards.

And, yes, this is bkev's fault.  Anyone who was waiting for Wonder Woman Part II... yeah, it's bkev's fault it got pre-empted.

EDIT:  Ooh, I just noticed you linked me at the DaizEX forums.  Thanks, bkev!  It actually looks like most of my views so far have come from that link!

Gaffer Tape said:

Eh, I'm gonna hold off on the DB season sets.  Yes, I agree with you, Nanner, that it's amazing to finally get the first 13 episodes, but I'd prefer to wait for the (hopefully it'll happen) DB Dragon Box, so I can get the credits and next episode previews and not have the English title cards.

They did it again?! What the hell, FUNimation?! I swear, their business decisions almost make George Lucas look sane.

Well, yes, I do consider the situations similar, but the GT and DB sets aren't as bad as the DBZ season sets.  Apparently the DVNR and color "correction" isn't as extreme, and the 16:9 cropping has been abandoned.  But, as common, they're missing the next episode previews.  And apparently whoever authors current FUNimation DVDs has abandoned the tradition of using alternate angles (for things like English/Japanese title cards, etc.), so the only title cards (and logos) they use are the English ones.

Considering I'm not a huge fan of DBGT in the first place, it was a bit of a shock that the old singles were actually more complete than the season boxset (they actually included the credits and the previews), so I certainly didn't buy either of those sets.  And I don't really see how the DB season sets are any better than the previous 2-disc releases from back in the day, other than the convenience and the addition of the first 13 episodes (but remember that if you have a region-free DVD player, those episodes were released in Australia)*.  Since I'm all anal-retentive about getting everything as perfect as possible, I figure it'd be better if I just saved my money for the Dragon Boxes.

*Actually, would you need a region-free or other region player?  Since FUNi DVDs are typically 1, 2, and 4 anyway, you could probably just import a used copy of the disc and play it just fine on a region 1 player.

The season sets are nice because they have less encoding errors and are nice and progressive. The two-disc sets are horribly encoded and interlaced. HOWEVER, the season sets are more zoomed in on the picture.

I just discovered that this set existed this morning, and was hoping to run into a breakdown of it somewhere.  Conveniently, Gaffer is on the same page as me.

I won't be getting it as I found out after buying the "remastered" Season 1 that, good lord, most of the series is really boring.  I hope that Kai can fix that, even though I don't fully understand what its about (is it just a re-edit, or a re-animation?).

Jumping into the series at the beginning of The Android Saga in college was fun, and it was my first anime, so it'll always have a special place in my heart.  Just not on my shelf (probably).

You should check out Volume 1 of Dragon Ball. Things are actually paced well, as they didn't have any filler.

Wow, you guys are geeks.  And this is coming from a huge geek!

I've always thought it was odd how most geeks have the same interests in common.  Have any of you ever wondered why that is?  Most of us seem to like science fiction, comic books, anime, computers, etc.

It's weird to think about, but it does give us a culture of our own.

Nanner Split said:

You should check out Volume 1 of Dragon Ball. Things are actually paced well, as they didn't have any filler.

Well, not entirely true. The manga didn't introduce Pilaf and his cronies until Goku and company were approaching his castle, but the series introduced him in the first episode and had him make appearances (usually working behind the scenes) in nearly every episode.  But, yeah, for the most part, there wasn't much added.

And doubleofive, Dragon Ball Kai is basically a re-edited, re-acted version of Dragon Ball Z brought in line closer to the manga (deleting the filler that ruins the pacing and makes the show drag).  There is a bit of reanimating on occasion, but it's generally just the same animation from the original series with a musical score by the guy who does the video game soundtracks.  It's an interesting idea, but I actually lost interest in keeping up with it months ago.

And good point, bkev, for pointing out the problems with the 2-disc DB sets.  But if Nanner just needs the first 13 episodes and is annoyed that the Japanese title cards have been replaced, he might want to pick up that set instead.  But like I said, my opinion is to just wait for the Dragon Box.  I'm still pissed at myself for caving and buying the first two worthless season sets, and I'm not doing that again.  It's Dragon Box all the way for me (although I haven't decided if I'll bother with the GT or movie sets).

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I actually found a blatant Star Trek reference in DBZ yesterday.  Those of you who have been around the fandom long enough to know FUNimation's original dubbing under Saban remember the "cargo robot," the censoring used to imply the news plane that Nappa explodes doesn't have any people in it (episode 22).  Well, I just noticed that it's shaped exactly like a Star Trek shuttlecraft and even has the designation of "NCC-1701-A" on it!  My guess is that it's an homage to Star Trek V of all things, given that that movie came out earlier that year, was the first to heavily feature the Enterprise-A, and was the only film to have a significant shuttlecraft sequence.  Neat!

doubleofive said:

I've always thought it was odd how most geeks have the same interests in common.  Have any of you ever wondered why that is?  Most of us seem to like science fiction, comic books, anime, computers, etc.

It's weird to think about, but it does give us a culture of our own.

I somewhat shamefully participate in the following geek activies:
Love Sci-Fi
Post multiple times a day on a website dedicated to part of the Star Wars saga
Play a lot of videogames
Collect Action figures
Have action figures on my desk at work
Read and collect Comic Books
Enjoy new technologies
Enjoy serious western cartoons (Batman TAS for example)
etc...

So whenever someone starts talking about anime, I think I should probably like it.  However... no matter how hard I try... I just can't seem to get into it.
They make some Matrix Anime and I think, "Maybe now I'll like it."  No.  They make Halo anime and I think, "Maybe now I'll like it."  No.
I guess I'm a broken geek.  Only most of me works.  Maybe it's this new robotic hand I got.  Perhaps it makes me more machine than geek. 

:(

xhonzi said:

doubleofive said:

I've always thought it was odd how most geeks have the same interests in common.  Have any of you ever wondered why that is?  Most of us seem to like science fiction, comic books, anime, computers, etc.

It's weird to think about, but it does give us a culture of our own.

I somewhat shamefully participate in the following geek activies:
Love Sci-Fi
Post multiple times a day on a website dedicated to part of the Star Wars saga
Play a lot of videogames
Collect Action figures
Have action figures on my desk at work
Read and collect Comic Books
Enjoy new technologies
Enjoy serious western cartoons (Batman TAS for example)
etc...

So whenever someone starts talking about anime, I think I should probably like it.  However... no matter how hard I try... I just can't seem to get into it.
They make some Matrix Anime and I think, "Maybe now I'll like it."  No.  They make Halo anime and I think, "Maybe now I'll like it."  No.
I guess I'm a broken geek.  Only most of me works.  Maybe it's this new robotic hand I got.  Perhaps it makes me more machine than geek. 

:(

You're not alone, xhonzi. I've never really been a fan of anime either (Dragon Ball's all right, but I haven't really enjoyed much else). I'd say I can relate to just about everything else on your list there, except maybe comic books (too short for me; I dig a good graphic novel though). Then again, I'm in college majoring in physics so I think it'd be more of a surprise if I wasn't into any of those things. :P

Syfy?

Warbler said:

why would anyone want to pay tribute to that disaster of a movie?    

Didn't the first two movies also have shuttlecraft sequences

No, that was some other type of docking craft.