Testing the new CCFL.

It's a miracle. I managed to swap out the CCFL on my IBM Thinkpad T42p notebook computer. I am finally back to full UXGA glory. It was actually relatively easy to install the replacement CCFL. The only scary part was snipping off part of the leads before soldering; I was afraid I had cut them too short. (I don't think you're supposed to trim the leads before installation, but mine were definitely too long.) Taking out the old CCFL was a different matter. Because of the way the original was secured with tape, I completely destroyed the old light while removing it from the screen in November. I fell into despair after that, to tell you the truth. As you can see, it took me weeks to muster enough nerve to install the new one.

My R50 next to my reborn T42p

If your laptop screen dies, I recommend just buying a whole replacement from eBay for $60 if you're not reasonably comfortable with soldering and handling extremely fragile objects. I also definitely introduced some dust particles between the sandwich of layers comprising the LCD monitor while replacing the bulb. I presume I was not diligent enough in ensuring clean conditions. Alas.

28:13:15< Evirus> The art in Marvel Mangaverse isn't that great until the 2006 series.
28:13:16< Divine> I couldn't read something called "Marvel Mangaverse" on principle
28:13:17< Tir_McDohl> Marvel Moeverse

See also ENOZ.

Ah, nuts. So it's not the inverter. I hope replacing the CCFL is easier than it looks. On the other hand, fixing my busted minidisc player was a cinch. Yes, I said minidisc. I'll let you in on a secret: I like using minidisc because Sony's SonicStage software is a colossal piece of garbage and it makes listening to music an incredible pain in the ass. These arduous conditions will enhance your enjoyment of the music because you'll appreciate all the God damn work necessary to get there from here. It's sort of the same deal as with vinyl except on ephemeral media and without the benefit of high fidelity audio. Word.

[Update: IT'S A SONY.]

13:02:27< Evirus> I'm almost out of Haagen Dazs.
13:02:29< rq> strawberry?
13:02:29< Evirus> Yes.
13:02:29< rq> i had some coffee haagen dazs
13:02:29< rq> pretty good
13:02:29< Evirus> Speaking of which, I think I'm going to pioneer the next great blogging advancement: Previews for the upcoming blog entry. There will be more service-service, too.
13:02:31< rq> that doesn't sound that great

Oh, SCHEIßE.

Apparently all this traveling was too much for my Thinkpad T42p. Okay, I didn't kill it kill it, but either the inverter or the CCFL is dead. (With my luck it's both, eh.) I hope it is the inverter and not the CCFL, because I know I can replace the former myself easily. However, I don't know if I can replace the CCFL myself without acing the screen.

The dead screen wouldn't bug me so except that it's a 15" UXGA 1600x1200 beauty, and it's basically impossible to get a notebook computer with a high-resolution screen anymore—not around the five-pound mark at least. I despise glossy screens, and I don't care for today's widescreen offerings. Widescreen? More like shortscreen. (1280x800 on a screen larger than 10 inches is pathetic.) I don't really want to buy another Lenovo, but it doesn't look like I have much choice. Come back to me, IBM! I love you forever!

HAPPY END !

I told you that story to tell you this one: My mostly-dead Thinkpad gave me an excuse to buy an Asus EeePC 900. I can watch anime away from home again, but it drops frames on more resource-heavy videos. So far, instead of trying my patience, this shortcoming makes me nostalgic. The stuttering takes me back to the days when the beginning of the Love Hina OP (the part with the cherry blossoms whipping down the title screen) crucified my computer. And I invested in a Pelican 1490 laptop case/briefcase, so I should be good to go now. Never again.

So, I bought The Right Stuf's boxed set of His and Her Circumstances (A.K.A. Kare Kano, A.K.A. Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou). I'm only a couple episodes into the DVDs (although I've seen the show before), but I'm still pretty impressed with the work The Right Stuf did on the show, including multiple subtitle streams for all the on-screen text that appears.

Unfortunately, the DVDs do have some fairly significant problems. For example, my Pioneer DV-563A-s positively choked on the multiple subtitle streams several times within the first two episodes alone. This usually manifested as severe lag in the subtitle streams, but the subtitles themselves also "freaked out" (a very technical term, I know) a few times, and danced entirely off-screen at least once. This is apparently a known problem that happens to other players as well, particularly when there is a lot of on-screen text. For example, I gave the first disc a try in my old Sony, but that player choked on the tougher sections as well. [Update: I had no problems at all with my HTPC.]

But anyway, if your DVD player is up to the task, it's a great buy. Hell, it's practically worth it just for the fact that they set the original Japanese language track as the default setting. Man, that never happens.

The other problem I have with the discs is that the video quality is not particularly good. In fact, it's downright poor for a DVD. The worst problem with it is the visible interlacing that plagues many motion scenes.

Still, despite these problems, it is a good deal, and it is a good show, so I still recommend it, and aside from the technical problems, the DVDs themselves are quite nice, particularly the aforementioned perks.

I made a simple Love Hina Winamp skin featuring Narusegawa Naru.

Love Hina Winamp skin

This is my first skin and I've only tested it on Winamp 2.80, so results may vary. I also made it so the volume button disappears when it's at 100%. I didn't bother skinning the mini-browser because I never use it.

While I consider Chobits be a failure in the robot-girlfriend genre, Hand Maid May is surprisingly good. All 11 episodes are already available on three DVDs, and while I've only seen the old, low-res fansubs, I'm prepared to heartily recommend them.

Hand Maid May and Kazuya Saotome

Hand Maid May neatly joins two staples of anime: The robot-girlfriend and the maid-uniform genres. (See also Mahoromatic.) It's a fairly simple, silly, stereotypical anime in the giant-sweatdrops and "falling down after hearing something surprising" vein with rampant rampant fan service throughout the first episode. Somewhat ironically, because it's not at all ambitious, it succeeds brilliantly. Hand Maid May is simply a cute comedy about a clueless geek (Kazuya Saotome), his spirited sex bomb neighbor (Kasumi Tani), and a tiny devoted robot maid (Cyber Doll May), and on that level it works very well.

Okay, Kotaro Nambara (Kazuya Saotome's chief rival and antagonist) is incredibly annoying, albeit intentionally so. However, I am willing to cut him some slack because everyone else in the show is pretty charming. Besides, Nambara's voice actor is Ueda Yuuji, who also played Urashima Keitaro in Love Hina and later went on to do fairly innocuous soft core porn with Asakawa Yuu, the voice of Motoko from Love Hina and Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh. Whoop!