Nascar vs SuperGT 300 Racing

What crazy person would try to compare 2 different types of racing. Even ones that are oceans a part - well me of course.

There has been much to do with the recent SuperGT 300 racing this year in Japan. It seems that the Otaku fans have more to do than just watch anime and read manga. They now have the SuperGT 300 racing circuit that may catch an eye or two.

Now Nascar tried this not too long ago or was that Cartoon Network primarily. There were some movies and game themed cars.

It was more of a ply to get the kids interested and spend money on the 24 scale cars . Not that they were that cool. Hell, even when I tried to find them on the web, it kept getting hits for the toys than the real cars. Maybe if they got the other 100 minor sponsor stickers off them, they would be much more cooler.

Not lets jump to the head of the class and check out this years SuperGT 300 cars. I think they did a stunning job on these designs, but my favorite so far is Miku. Ikamusume though came in at a very close second as well.

I have some great photos below showcasing the cars and the ever popular Racing Queens. Now this will get me to definitely come the race track - but I think I will need some spare memory sticks and batteries O-O

Good Smile Companies Miku Hatsune is a BMW Z4

Pacific NAC Ikamusume is a Ferrari F430




Apple Evangelion RT TEST TYPE-01 is a Mooncraft Shiden MC/RT-16





Direction's Evangelion RT Production MODEL-02 is a PORSCHE 911GT3


Hankook Racing Haruhi is a Porsche 911


Sorry, now Race Queens - whats up with that !

As you can see, there is much to do with the SuperGT 300 racing. From the news reports, the last race was won by Good Smile Company.

Sources: ani-culture | ASCII.jp | Response

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Review: Boomslank T-Shirts

~semi-paid advertising~

Not sure how Boomslank did it, but I have to say that First Class shipping was never so damn fast in my life. They shipped out the boxes on Friday and hit my doorstep on Saturday :^)

I did not open these until Sunday as we got home late that day. My son was itching to open one to see if it was his.

When we opened the first box, we like the way it was packaged inside a plastic bag. It was an extra step to make sure the shirt was not damage by water which was very cool. Even had their logo on it.


Again, my son was getting a bit crazy as he wanted to see if it was his. To his luck, it was his shirt in this package. It even came with a cool post card which told you the design number, its name and a brief description of the design idea.


What was funny was after all the boxes were opened, we had designs 00, 01 & 02. My son got 00 Airport, my wife got 01 Gate Keeper and I got 02 Flag (silver version). I will be keeping these post cards in a file for the future as I like the stories behind the shirt designs.

The shirts are all made by American Apparel. That in itself should tell you the quality of these shirts. They all fit quite well for the sizes ordered. Since I got a small for my son, it was a little long, but he is a kid and not an adult. They were soft and light which makes it a good comfortable shirt to hang out with during the hot summers.

They have a total of 7 designs so far that I think would meet with anyone's taste. I was torn between the one I got and the Strike Witch design - sexy! ALl are on white shirts with the exception of 02 Flag which also comes in a Silver.

Now, here are some pictures we took wearing the shirts. My wife was a bit shy, so I had to make a 'little' adjustment to her. Other than that, these are the actual shirts worn by actual people.

I tried to get a little more 'excitement' out of them, but for some reason they were camera shy. Except for the bunny ears which was funny :D

If you want to have something that didn't fall off the shelf, this is the way to go. Why get something off the rack that everyone else is wearing. Get yourself something that is unique and different for a change. You can own your own designer shirt that will be the envy of your anime / manga friends.

Hell, start a freaking trend in your area just like we hope to do in our area of the world.

Check them out at Boomslank.com

~semi-paid advertising~

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Weekend Shenanigans

Well another weekend gone and shopping completed. Did a little bit of buying this weekend with some cards and Anime DVD's.

Went to Suncoast to see if they have Evangelion 2.22 on the shelves.They did not and when I asked, they said it would be released tomorrow (Sunday 04/03). Dude, you have a sign that clearly states it was released on 03/29 of this week, why the are you lying to my face? This is what I wanted to say, but knew that they had a big Anime Sale tomorrow and they were holding some copies back.

My son was able to get a 2 pack of Pirates of the Caribbean Trading Card Game. He loves getting these as they have mini pirate ships that you build.To say that he is a collector, is stating it mildly as you can see by his collection. I took an old wooden Coke case carrier and made a shelf out of it for his collection.

I did manage to go back the next day for there "big Aniume Blowout Sale". I was able to get my copy of Evangelion 2.22 on blu-ray and also got the complete collection of Tokyo Majin - S.A.V.E. version. Everything came to $37.09 USD. THe big sale was if you bought anything anime related, you got the second one at 1/2 off.

Hopefully in the future, you will see a review of both of them on my blog. But for now, I need to catch up on my other reviews. I will have the review of my Transformers Terradive figure up this week. Should be about mid week when it will post with plenty of pictures.

For those playing the Nintendo DS game Transformers: War for Cybertron, I have a code for ya. The secret code is 9871 and it will immediately unlock Ramjet for your game. In the Decepticon version, it is available for missions and the multiplayer modes. For the Autobot version, it is only good for Multiplayer only - sorry.

Have to get back to my Anime watching and hope everyone had a nice weekend as well.

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Donate with your Credit Card Points

Want to donate , but do not have the cash to do it? How about using those credit card reward points you have earned?

I had gotten a email from one of my credit card companies about donating my points to the Japan Quake and Tsunami Relief effort. I don't really use my point at all for this card, so I thought why not.

For every 1000 points you donate, most will give the charity $10.00. They give them the full amount as usually other forms of payment they keep a percentage for administration reasons. Though I have heard that they are going to actually donate the full amount of anything given without charging a percentage.

Between the 2 cards that I have, I donated $50.00 to the Save the Children fund to help Japan. I talked with my wife and we had heard about the numerous orphaned children in Japan and thought this would be a great charity.

Want to give yourself, here are some Credit Cards that I know of and the sites they use to have you donate your points. The only drawback is that you have to sign up for each one, but you can remain anonymous.

You can always check out what major credit card you have to see what they are doing to support the effort to help Japan. Here are some that I was able to find:

American Express uses Members Give which is associated with Just Give.org.

Capital One uses Giving Site which is associated with Network for Good.

Chase Bank uses UR Member site which is associated with the Red Cross.

Discover uses Discover Giving which is associated with the Red Cross and others.

Graphic Source: tokidoki

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How My Dontation is Helping Japan

I received this email from globalgiving and wanted to share it with you all. It was interesting to read and I wanted to let you see how funds are being dispersed by globalgiving. We usually only send out money and we hope that it gets to the right spot. Here you can see where all that money went to and the organization that are using it.

If you have not notice, I have also 'borrowed' an idea from Open the Toy and have a link setup for Google Crisis Response. Can't miss the big red cross to the right there!

HAVE YOU DONATED YET?

facebook     twitter    How Your Donation Is Being Used To Help Japan All of us at GlobalGiving have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity that has come from people all over the world in support of those impacted by the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Over 20,000 of you have donated time, energy, money, and ideas to help those affected by the disaster. Today, just one week after the earthquake hit, we are disbursing $725,000 from GlobalGiving's Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund to six organizations already in Japan working on relief and long-term recovery efforts. You can see the exact allocation of these funds below. We wanted to share with you more information about the organizations receiving these first funds and the valuable work that each is carrying out with the help of your donation. Japan Platform - Japan Platform is an emergency humanitarian aid organization working with Japanese NGOs, the Japanese business community, and the Japanese government. Funds provided by GlobalGiving will be used to provide disaster coordination and financial support to the 18 Japan Platform partner NGOs that are responding to the emergency by providing short-term food aid, medical assistance, and tents, while planning a long-term response. Peace Winds - Peace Winds is a Japanese organization that has focused on emergency humanitarian relief for the past 15 years. GlobalGiving funds will help Peace Winds distribute emergency disaster relief supplies - including food, cooking supplies, and blankets - to people at shelters in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture and to provide free satellite telephone services and mobile phone charging so that survivors can ensure family members of their safety and to check on family members in other affected areas. Save the Children - Children are always among the most vulnerable during emergencies. Save the Children is working with children and caregivers to provide psycho-social support and materials and to establish Child-Friendly Spaces in affected communities in Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwata, and Ibaraki Prefectures. Architecture for Humanity - Architecture for Humanity and its teams of professionals in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto are partnering with other organizations to mobilize around the long-term reconstruction effort. GlobalGiving funds will support communities and design professionals in the safe and sustainable rebuilding of community structures, health clinics, schools, hospitals and civic structures. International Medical Corps - International Medical Corps has an emergency response team of doctors on the ground in Sendai, and is coordinating with local officials to fill critical gaps in the response efforts. These funds will help the group focus on reaching isolated coastal communities that were devastated by the tsunami and have yet to receive aid. Lifeline Energy - Lifeline Energy is working with local partners to distribute wind-up and solar radios and specialized programming to non-Japanese speaking survivors, who are lacking access to critical information following the disaster. These radios are also equipped with flashlights and cell phone chargers and are designed for especially complex emergency situations. GlobalGiving is committed to keeping you informed about the impact your donation is having on the ground. In the coming days, weeks, and months, you'll continue to receive updates about how these funds are being used and stories about the people whose lives you have helped change for the better. For additional insights into how GlobalGiving is handling donors' funds, read our Chief Program Officer's recent blog post. Together, you are making a difference in the lives of so many in Japan. Thank you, Britt Lake and the GlobalGiving Tea The world is full of problems. GlobalGiving.org is full of solutions. 1023 15th Street, NW, 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20005, USA - 202-232-5784 - contact us

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Welcome a Guest Writer to the Blog ~ DC

I have always had an open invitation to anyone who wanted to be blogged here about themselves and what they cosplay. I have my first email from someone a couple days ago that wanted me to do a quick write up and spread the word for them. He has also offered to do some reporting on Cons and had some ideas as a guest blogger here. So you may be seeing more of DC in the weeks to come :)

Without further a-do, let get to the interview:

"What is your name and location?"

David C Rushton AKA: "Priest of Tao"
San Diego, Calif., USA

"What cause you to "Cosplay"?

Beginning at my first San Diego Comic of 2002 I was exposed to Cosplay.(the exception to that was back in my biker days riding to see at MIDNIGHT, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" I do a GREAT MEATLOAF) Each year until 2007 I never thought I would dress in a "Cosplay" costume. What Character, what series? It hit in 2007.


"What Characters have you "Cosplayed?"

In 2007, I decided on a "Historical" interpretation of the costume of a "Japanese Taoist Priest", 14th century EDO period Japan. My Priest of Tao, MK 1. After that year, a idea grew in my mind. It began with a "Bleach Soul Reaper Captain's Uniform". Then the idea of something from "Inuyasha", Priest Costume.

THEN, I asked myself: "Why not designed my own "Character + Costume"? A bit from many Anime Series combined into: "The Priest of Tao, MK 2", My standard Cosplay" uniform/costume. Each year a slight up-grades/changes. (MK 2 & MK 4). The MK 4 Priest of Tao is suitable for many Anime Series.

A "Harry Potter Wizard" group photo was being taken once as I was walking by. A Harry Potter cosplayer stopped me. "Good Wizard.", he addressed me, "Would you be so kind to join our gathering of Wizards? And how shall we properly address thee? Thy name please?"
In my standard "CONSTIPATED CONAN WIZARD" voice I answered: "I am The Priest of Tao." Then in a Jewish style of Mel Brooks: "OY! For you, call me the wizard, The Wizard of Tao!" The place died laughing! and that is WHAT I LIVE FOR!

"What conventions or shows have you Cosplayed at?"

So far only the San Diego Comic Cons. But I will soon be branching out to a few around the Southern Calif. area where I can drive to.

"For any aspiring cosplayers a little shy, what words of wisdom do you have?"

I must quote, NO! I SING! I sing that song from "THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW" ~ "Don't Dream It, BE IT!"

"What do you do when not cosplaying?"

I am a 100% Disabled Veteran of Viet Nam, as I received it in 2001. Worked as a crew chief on B-52 D's. AKA: "The BUFF", Worked for 25 years in the aircraft industries, and Navy aircraft. I found my "writer's voice in 2001. Now fully retired, I' m free from working, and can LIVE + DO what a writer of "Hard Science Fiction", does best. CREATE!

Here are some more awesome pictures that were also sent along for your enjoyment.

READ MORE - Welcome a Guest Writer to the Blog ~ DC