Chapter 33.9: West Wing Shear

Ok, perhaps I missed something on tonight's episode, but there's a problem about the story line depicting the trouble with the International Space Station. My understanding is that there is an attached Soyuz capsule on the ISS at all times to serve as a lifeboat in the off chance the crew has to abandon the station. That could have been addressed in two sentences in the show, and I think it should have been. They could still have posited the military shuttle idea and suggested that CJ Cregg leaked the story to the New York Times, but the lifeboat should have been addressed. If I missed it, then mea culpa: it wouldn't be the first time.

Sega Gals report 3 of 4

You can say this next pair are two sides of the same coin, it’s Honey from the Fighting Vipers series! The one on the left is the standard Honey that is part of the core set of six figures, and the less clothed one on the right is one of two chase/secret figures.

Standard Honey looks great and is based off her costume from the first Fighting Vipers game (her FV2 costume would probably be too complex for a figure at this scale). There’s nothing bad I can say about the costume as I’m a huge FV fan. This future punk take on the maid outfit is original and hasn’t really been copied much over the years. The problem with this figure lies with the pose; while it’s a great pose by itself, it just doesn’t look good combined with so many large armor pieces.

The secret Honey mimics what happens when her armor gets knocked off in the game. Without the armor, you can appreciate the sculpting care they took with her features. The pose works much better here as well.

Rating
Standard Honey – 8 out of 10
Secret Honey – 9 out of 10

Chapter 33.8: Mate in Three Moves?

I was intrigued by the re-emergence of chess master Bobby Fischer, who has been detained in a Japanese jail since last July. Apparently he hadn't shaved since then and his face was covered in a gray beard, which looked perfectly suited for his new life in Iceland.

He reportedly has become an Icelandic citizen and renounced his U.S. citizenship. He and his Japanese wife, whom I believe he married while he was in prison, flew to Reykjavik. They love him in Iceland, where he won his most famous chess match against Russian master Boris Spassky, a 1972 battle in the Cold War.

I didn't realize the problems with the United States revolved around his earning $3 million for beating Spassky again. The 1992 match was in the former Yugoslavia, which was verboten territory for Americans back then, according to the article.

As I recall, Fischer had been a bit of a recluse prior to 1992 also.

Personally, I think there should be t-shirts emblazoned with his bearded, baseball-capped visage, perhaps with a phrase in Icelandic -- not that I know anything about the country outside of Björk (or is it Bjørk?). He denounces governments, plays chess better than 100 percent of the planet (statistically speaking), and runs away to the Arctic circle. How cool is that!

Sega Gals report 2 of 4

The next pair are Arsha & Peperogu from Monster World IV and Hibana from Nightshade. According to importer NCS, Hibana doesn’t automatically come with two heads (one with mask and one without mask and flowing hair), but the toy dealer I bought it from included both so who knows. I only posted the above shot of the masked head, but I have others I'll post later that highlight the latter.

Hibana’s outfit is one of the coolest original costumes of recent years. Sleek, stylized, and very sexy. I’m actually surprised that such a heavy fetish-looking outfit made it into a mainstream game. The figure captures almost all the important details, but it would require a more expensive paint job to accurately convey all the little touches. For a figure this size though, it’s a great achievement. Plus that pose is totally sweet.

Arsha & Peperogu look pretty cool too and are constructed very well. They did a good job of making Arsha’s costume bright and cute. The solid nature of the figure make the billowy pants appear less fluid and make like Arsha has some seriously thick legs.

Rating
Hibana – 9 out of 10
Arsha & Peperogu – 8 out of 10

Sega Gals report 1 of 4

Released this past February was the second collection of figures (produced by Yujin) based on popular gals from various Sega games. Initially, it wasn’t in the CostumeGet! manifesto to feature figures, but the value of these for outfit fans is undeniable. So for figures, costume grading is based on the design of the outfit and how well the plastic/resin model realizes it in 3D.

There are six main figures in the collection with two “chase figures”. Our first two featured characters are Elwing from Shining Tears and Tyris Flare of Golden Axe. The quality of the figures is really good and Elwing in particular has a lot of small details worth examining. I’m not familiar with the game yet so it looks like a straightforward forest elf outfit to me.

Tyris' costume could be considered bland since it’s just a bikini with matching boots and gauntlets. However, nostalgia is a big factor and unlike Shining Tears, I was a huge Golden Axe fan. To be fair, Shining Tears comes out tomorrow (3/22/2005) domestically so I may yet become enthralled. The only disaapointing thing I can say about the Tyris figure is that made her butt looks sort of flat.

Ratings
Elwing – 7 out of 10
Tyris – 8.5 out of 10

Chapter 33.5: Moving Forward

The edits began today. I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. I’ve made the basic proofreading fixes, beefed up a few verbs, but I don’t know that I’m reading it like a reader would. I don’t know yet if it’s enjoyable. I’m still locked into the first chapter; I might need to give it more time to sit. It’s too fresh.

Perhaps this is because I’ve gone through the first chapter so many times already. I don’t know chapter 20 nearly as well, and it’s been months since I last read that deep into the story.

Still, today has not been a loss. I’ve gotten below 120,000 words. I’ve also asked some questions of the novel I believe a reader would ask and which need to be addressed. This will take a while.

Chapter 33.4: Worry Warts

I was just reading a piece about marketing one's small business. The sixth of the six tips spoke of not letting yourself worry -- to think positively. Sounds good, of course, but it's not that easy. Not to go into too much detail on what is a worldwide billboard, but I can relate to worrying too much.

Perhaps the thing I'm most positive and optimistic about currently is my novel, which I've barely touched since finishing 10 days ago. Mentally, I've eliminated some scenes and chapters, though I've got to physically do it and resolve the potential timeline holes that creates. I honestly expect those particular scene changes to not be so difficult. The primary purpose of those scenes is to create a reason for the wife to be out of town at a particular time. I can do it more succinctly without losing the story or the reality those scenes convey.

As any writer should, I recognize that I'm a small business. I need to have a product to bring to market -- articles or novels or scripts, editorial services as well -- and I need to let potential customers know about me, my talents, and what I can do to help their business grow. I hope to grow my business, and along with that will come other business partners. Of course, there's more to a business plan than those things. I have to know my market and show how I am focusing my strategy to meet what the market needs while differentiating myself. And I suspect that each new book will have a new "management team" of readers who have the skills and background to show me what I'm missing in the product -- whether it's my understanding of a specific setting or line of work or, God forbid, grammatical structure.

I was watching snippets of tonight's Project Greenlight, where the producers (including Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) selected a script and a director. What intrigued me was that neither the script nor the director were unanimously accepted. Serious issues of art versus commerce arose. I was a bit surprised that the less commercial director was selected, for he will present some obvious challenges. He doesn't seem to prepare well, and it's not clear what his vision is of the film he's to create. For him to succeed, it will take more than artistic talent.

One comment I found interesting was that the safer selection could have created a "double" on a baseball scale, while this guy could hit a home run but just as likely strike out. (Is it any surprise that Affleck and Damon are Red Sox fans?) In part, the safe selection was based on personality, and the antagonism toward the selected director also appeared based on personality. The director who presented himself as the weaker "small business" was selected, but how much slack will he be given before the leash is yanked back and possibly chokes him. I hate reality shows generally, but I might actually watch this one.

Chapter 33.3: Starting Slow

I can't say anything about the nascent baseball season has caught my attention yet. At this point in March I'm usually paying attention to learn which young players to watch and which team will be the surprise that catches their division asleep. (I think it's the Mets, actually, but they're not a huge surprise.)

But with all the discussion about steroids I'm simply not that interested. I probably am a hypocrite, because I believe the biggest problem with baseball right now is that fans are willing to give cheaters a pass. Yet, here I am saying 'I don't care, just start playing.'

I've looked at the Mets early schedule, and I think they could post a strong April and early May, especially if they put their pitching rotation the way I think they will. But it all remains to be seen. Perhaps the Marlins won't be as strong as I think they could be. I expect the Braves to win the division again, and I think the Mets aren't capable of more than 89 wins -- and that's a stretch in my view.

But right now I don't care. Is this part of what happens during a mid-life crisis? Hard to say. This is my first go-round as far as I'm aware. Perhaps I need spring instead of this crazy, disgusting weather: 58 one day, 28 and snowing the next. Give me a break! I need a vacation like no other time in my life. Not happening yet, however.

Chapter 33: First Draft

I have finished the first draft of my first novel, and I’m fighting my exuberance. I know there’s lots of work left to do, and I still have weeks of work before my initial readers will see a copy. My wife will see a copy before others. By the end of this year, she might read this book three times. She’s an excellent reader who will pick up on the things I’m missing, point out where I’m boring the reader, and show me that I’m telling the story rather than helping the reader see it.

I have written more than 120,000 words, which is probably about 25-30,000 too many for what this story is. Off the top of my head, I recall the Stephen King book, “On Writing,” advises that revision takes the original and cuts back 10 percent. Mine will probably be closer to 25 percent when a couple rounds of revision are complete.

I’m happy to have gotten this far. Yet, I’m aware that this doesn’t mean my book will be bought by a publisher much less grace the shelves of Barnes & Noble, among the hundreds of other titles. This step has not accomplished anything beyond what I’ve described. But, damn, it feels good right now.

Best and worst costumes of Tekken 5

Without a doubt, Tekken 5 is my favorite in the series by far. A brief history: 1 was ok, 2 was great, 3 was above average, Tag was a stopgap, and 4 was a big disappointment. I could go on for days about Tekken 5's finely tuned engine, sweet music, and awesome story scenes, but we’re here to talk costumes and that’s just what we’re going to do.

We’ll divide the characters into Best, Worst, and Near Miss categories. If a character is not listed, it means the outfit is neither great nor terrible, which I guess can be considered bad in a way.

Best dressed
Yoshimitsu
No surprise here as the space forest ninja is always the most outlandish character in any cast. His P1 costume is crazy and intimidating at the same time and his purchasable Alternate outfit is equally bizarre and cool. His P2 get up is a bit too close to one of his earlier looks, but we’ll let that slide this time Yoshi.

Jack-5
For the first time in series history, Jack actually looks like the scary ass robot you don’t want to mess that he's supposed to be. He usually ended up looking like a human with disproportionate head and arms.

King
P1 outfit is pretty standard, but P2 is pimp dope. The black robe goes perfectly with many of the bonus accessories, the chief being Armor King’s mask. I like how it’s been shown that King is clearly wearing a mask, yet talks like a tiger and has a real tail.

Raven
This is the way to debut a character. I love when they aren’t afraid to offer totally different styles between P1 and P2 outfits. The latter looks like a totally different person.

Christie Moteiro
You could argue her two outfits are just strategically placed bits of cloth, but it fits with her character. Christie's before and after fight comments tell you she uses her sexuality to cloud the opponent’s focus so of course she has to wear next to nothing.

Jin Kazama
His outfits haven’t changed much except for a different look for his Alternate costume, but his P2 jogging suit with hood gear is still the shit. Two words. Bad. Ass. Plus no one pulls off the glowing gloves of death look like Jin.

Near Miss
Asuka Kazama
This is painful because she is my favorite character in the new game. So generic. P1 is just ugly, but it can be saved if you change up the colors in the customize mode. P2 is over used in other fighters and I hate its inclusion here. Alternate outfit 1 is your average schoolgirl look and that’s very average too. BUT Alternate outfit 2 is AWESOME. Yakuza style look complete with tats on her inside thighs. She looks like she should be presiding over an illegal dice game. Oh mama!

Nina Williams
Her P1 outfit is very cool, but P2 really drags things down. Perhaps having an Alternate costume could have elevated Nina’s status but she didn’t get one. Hello? She had like 5 or something in Death by Degrees; they should have brought one of those numbers over.

Anna Williams
Like Her sister, P1 is great, very elegant and sexy. P2 is just a pain to look at though. Is she like someone’s grandmother or something? It can sort of be saved with color swaps. Her Alternate outfit is also bizarre. I’m still torn whether I like it or not.

Julia Chang
Okay, both her outfits are a bit tired, but they FINALLY modeled her face correctly. She is now the cute native Indian girl you knew she could be. Poor Ganryu.

Ling Xiaoyu
Every outfit Xiaoyu has is new and they're all really fun, but something is missing. The assortment lacks that one stand out number that puts her over the fashion hump.

Worst dressed
Brian Fury
I guess being a super villain means you don't care if you look ultra generic. He’s a murderously insane cyborg for crissakes! Give him something that says “seriously fucked up in the head guy”.

Heihachi Mishima
C’mon Heihachi, you totally went back to your aging closet instead of busting out with something fresh. You came back from the dead dammit, rise from your fashion grave too.

Paul Phoenix
Another guy that went retro in a bad way. That thrown off top with the white shirt from Tekken 4 was a great step forward for you. What happened?

Chapter 32.65: Less Than a Week?

I'm starting to get excited. I was closer to completion on the novel than I had realized. Tonight I consolidated two small chapters that were unwritten into one. And when I looked at what was left, I discovered I only had two, perhaps three, chapters left to write. I should be able to do that this week.

I have more than 116,000 words right now and a lot of revision to do, but I'm just talking about the first draft. I expect to cut whole scenes -- perhaps entire chapters -- when I delve into the messy copy I've composed. I will need to add detail and trim the "telling" that pervades too many chapters of the book.

I've recognized themes that will need exploration, minor characters that need to either become notable or die off altogether.

One thing that's hard to describe, however, is the feeling of anticipation when the story seems to be coming together: the end is near. By April I'll be well into revision.