So I went to a nearby hi-fi audio store the other day to see if they had headphones that I could audition there. I didn't go in with any kind of prepared playlist or anything; I just tried songs off my iPod that I thought might be interesting. Anyway, they allowed me to audition the following headphones: Grado SR80i Bowers & Wilkins P5 Denon AH-D5000 Beats by Dr. Dre studio Grado SR125i So out of all of them, I liked the Grados and Denon the best. The Denon I liked better for punch and clarity, but the bass was too strong for my taste. They were very comfortable too. The Grados were pretty good, but like other open-backed headphones I've used, they feel like they're missing some impact. It's like they can't focus the music into my ears. That doesn't stop me from using open-backed phones, but it's not where I want to go for impact. Anyway, both Grados sounded very similar; I wasn't able to tell the difference, but I also wasn't able to lis...

Keeping in mind the advice I got from you all on things to keep in mind when doing arcade stick artwork, I have created a second design. I think this one should still look fine even when hands are covering most of it while in play. Still don't know if I should do something with the buttons or not. Once again, any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks! New and improved(?) arcade stick artwork design After some advice from another friend, here is an alternative. Perhaps more improved?

So I bought a bento box from Kofuku Shop at Harvard Square in Boston, MA this past weekend, and decided to try to make use of it today. This was my first time making a bento. When making the food for it this morning, I discovered that it didn't actually hold a whole cup of rice in the bottom tray, so I'm thinking next time I make rice for it, maybe 3/4 cup is the way to go. Nevertheless, I didn't really plan out the box, so it's not a particularly balanced meal, but still, at least I got some vegetables in it. It's got some approximation of tamagoyaki in it, a hot dog, and my first effort at blanching spinach. Spinach really does take up a lot less room after cooking it, so I'll have to make more next time. Anyway, I have a picture below of my finished efforts right before I was going to start eating it for lunch today. The milk coffee is mine too, but anything past that is not. My delicious first-time bento (with Milk Coffee!)

Just got my Japanese keyboard from Lenovo today. They were FAST! I just ordered from them yesterday! They also spelled my name totally wrong, replacing all S's in my last name with F's. As I expected from when they gave me the part number, I got a Chicony-made keyboard. I haven't really used it enough yet to say if I think it's any better or worse than my old keyboard. Taking out the old one though, I discovered it was an ALPS-made model. Anyway, successfully installed it into my laptop. Some pictures are below. My new Chicony-made JP keyboard installed in my laptop My old ALPS-made US keyboard after being removed With the new keyboard in, of course I had to now get Windows to understand that I had a 106-key keyboard now instead of a 101-key keyboard, so I relied once again on my friend caelk's posts on his experience with changing the mappings , and did the instructions in reverse, since he was trying to change from 106-key layout to 101-key layout. I fol...

The IDOLM@STER blog announced that Bushiroad is releasing the IDOLM@STER 2 Trial Deck this weekend! It will include the GO MY WAY! climax card, and a the BK MANIAC event card. It will sell for 1,300 yen (tax included). Need to pick it up sometime! Go my way, whoo!

After modding my Mad Catz Fightstick TE recently with the Toodles MC Cthulhu and Imp v2, I started thinking about maybe replacing the artwork on it with custom artwork as well. I put together a quick design with gimp...well, it would have been quick if I could use gimp properly.   Anyway, what do you guys think? Feel free to leave impressions and suggestions in the comments.

Just finished Pretty Cure Splash Star! Moving on to Yes! Pretty Cure 5 after this. Hopefully will update later with actual impressions of Splash Star.