iOS Applications

Anybody reading this? Oh, hi there. Sabas posting infrequently yet again. Not even about anime or light novels, the jerk. Just wanted to take the time out to talk about smartphone apps. I use my iPhone on a daily basis. Listening to podcasts, reading manga, tweeting, etc. So I thought I'd give some recommendations on two apps I think everyone should have.

ComicGlass: You'll see tons of manga reading apps, but most of them rely on aggregator sites like MangaFox for their content. I've never been a fan of those sites and instead rely on downloading them through the scanlator's website or IRC channel. Drop the .zip, .rar, .cbr, or .cbz files into iTunes for ComicGlass and you're well on your way to manga reading bliss. ComicGlass has a multitude of other features for downloading off the web, PDF support, libraries, and the like. This is the definitive manga reading app on iOS.

Drag and drop manga in iTunes

ついっぷる/Twipple (Pro): The new Twitter redesign sucks. The worst part is, they've taken Tweetie, probably the best designed iOS Twitter application and made it look and feel exactly like the website. A travesty. I've messed around with other clients. TweetBot is probably my second choice, but the UI is very forced. This one just is feature packed and just feels a lot better than the rest right now. Also includes built-in support for Instapaper, Read It Later, Evernote, and various image hosting sites for pictures you take with the iPhone. The app has a free and pro version. The only difference between the two is added features in the pro version for the die-hard tweeter. 

I've organized my home screen to display my most frequently used apps on the first page, other apps organized by categories on the second, and games on the third page. I still haven't quite decided on what apps should be on there permanently, but it's a start.

Current home screen

Let me know in the comments what apps you use, how you've got them organized, etc. What should I be posting about next?

Rapture

So. It’s the end of the world. Or not. I’ll be playing video games/watching anime.

Video Games

Portal 2 – Finally beat the single player. Stephen Merchant deserves as many awards as he can get for voicing Wheatley. GLaDOS is great and all, but Wheatley’s role in Portal 2 makes it come together. I started co-op, but my roommate/coworker killing me three times in the same level sort of dampened my mood. I’d still be up to playing on Steam though!

The Witcher 2 – Man, the prologue took ages. Combat works a lot better than what I remember from the first one. Hard to take on multiple enemies though. Normal difficulty doesn’t throw any punches, either. Liking it a lot. Can’t say a whole lot since I just hit Chapter 1 though.

Terraria – Still need to spend more time on it. The two people I’ve given it to are enjoying it immensely though, so I’m going to try to squeeze more time into it.

Anime

Denpa Onna  - Loving this. Though Meme is getting on my nerves. You're a MILF. Stop acting like a kid! And Erio is just love.

Gosick - Oh how I wish the novels were translated. But this will do.

Hanasaku Iroha - Ohana is just lovely. And the OP is stuck in my head along with Denpa Onna's.

Ano Hana - I think this show would've worked better if Menma wasn't so annoying. Still going to keep watching though.

Video of the week (or whenever I post next)

Why light novels?

The main reason I started this blog was to promote light novels to as many people as I can. Why? I think they're fun to read. If you can pick one up and enjoy it, I've done my job.

What do I like most about light novels? The characters. Longer novels can elaborate on some grandiose plot and overarching themes. I don't think light novels get that sort of luxury. There's a reason it's light, right?

So what do you get in a light novel? Dialogue. Communication. Characters interacting with one another. The characters make friends, sever ties, grow apart in their relationships from one chapter to the next. Some die, some fall in love. It's life, right? Then the book ends. It's up to the reader to decide if they want to know what happens next~

Yes, this is me procrastinating and not working on that Bungaku Shoujo/Book Girl post. I'll finish it (soon-ish). Also, thinking of giving away some light novels in the future. What kind of contest would you want to do?

Club Mogra

I'm not a clubbing type of guy. Nor am I much of a social guy. So anyone who knows me relatively well, me going to Club Mogra would seem very shocking. But with DJ's like eelica and kz (who by himself is reason enough to go), and the awesome music, girls wearing yukatas, and a very nice staff, could you blame me? So yeah, I had a blast. Just don't play Renai Circulation. Or do. And see me bounce myself to death. Oh wait, HanaKana does that to me regardless.

The manager's real nice and gave me some glowsticks and a pamphlet of their events after I told him I was some stupid American sailor. So say hi to him when you're over there. I'm headed there this weekend so you'll probably see me in the Ustream chatroom and wearing something much brighter so you can tell it's me.

If you're in Tokyo, you owe yourself this place a visit. I mean it. The music, the atmosphere, the DJ's, everything was incredible. It's a street away from the craziness of Akihabara, and you wouldn't notice it in the daytime. There's only a small placard with 'MOGRA' that tells you you're in the right place.

If you want to hear what the music's like, just search up MOGRA with your torrent search engine of choice and download away. If you want to get a feel of what it's like, hit up their Ustream. And learn about their events via Twitter and website.

An Intro of Sorts

Never had a proper intro for this blog. Name's Sabas and I'm a light novel enthusiast, dabble in visual novels, watcher and reader of anime and manga. But really, I'm just a sailor who happens to be stationed on a rusty tin can outside of Sasebo, Japan. Not that it means much because Sasebo is a small sailor town where the only thing worth doing in the evenings is get wasted. That or stay kooked up in an internet cafe into the wee hours of the morning watching anime and talk about how mundane my life really is on Twitter.

I had this blog sitting here for who knows how long. So I'm making some effort to update this place somewhat regularly. In-between getting underway for a few months at a time, and the brief moment on dry land, I hope. I'm not much of a writer so most my posts will be short, but hopefully with a few pictures to catch your eye. Like my pictures from Anime Expo of last year. Or whatever port visits I make in the near future.

I'm working on a little project of mine, Neverath Academy. Basically it's a pen and paper RPG anime-style campaign revolving around a magic school full of epic beamspam, traps, and whatever happens to catch my eye. It's a silly project, but I'm having fun with it as I go. It probably wouldn't ever be a completed project, but I'll probably post a few things here and there that I think looks good enough for the general public.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of light novels, even if they don't get the attention or sales they deserve. Like, Zaregoto, for example. I was shocked by the fact that the second one even came out. I'm glad it did though. Ending is twisted in its own special way, and there wasn't enough Tomo, but that's just me. I'm hoping there'll be enough sales for the third one to get released, but I might have to buy a few more copies for friends to boost sales (again) before Del Rey considers it. 

So that's me. I'm still working on the site, and working on updating it as often as I can, but who knows? Maybe the next time I post I'll be at Club Mogra listening to yet another mix of Only My Railgun.