Anime verdict - Steins;Gate

Let me start off by pointing out that this particular anime isn't for younger audiences - it's definitely a more serious story, and there's some language, questionable jokes (mostly Daru's fault) and a bit of fan-service mixed in.
Also, please be warned that although I did my very best, some spoilers have slipped in just the same.

...and I also might talk your ears off.  This is a looong post, guys.

Steins;Gate was dubbed by Funimation in two parts last year, and I started watching it soon after the first twelve episodes were dubbed and released.  This series dives into a popular sci-fi subject - time-travel - by a rather interesting method.  Rather than physically travelling through time like a 900-year-old Time Lord in a blue phone box (which the show makes references to a few times), they change events already passed and alter their future by sending text messages back in time using a cell-phone.  This also involves one of the strangest time-machine discoveries I've seen yet - microwaved bananas, which turn fluorescent-green and their molecular structure pretty much breaks down.  They eventually stop nuking bananas to send their text messages since it was both getting expensive and they didn't actually need the bananas as a catalyst or fuel source.

In a nutshell, if you take a look at my currently non-existent list of anime favourites, you would see that the top spots are now occupied by three different series, all of which are on an equal footing.  These three would be the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series - which only recently joined the top ranks as I've sort-of rediscovered the series* recently, if that makes any sense; the short, 13-episode Angel Beats!, which I've talked about before; and now Steins;Gate.

Thanks to Funimation for uploading the trailer

The story is quite mind-bending and lengthy as well, spanning a full 25 episodes and going through two major, interconnected arcs - which Funimation conveniently released in two parts, giving us the big unexpected cliff-hanger at the end of episode 12, which in my opinion is also one of the funniest episodes of the whole series.  It's rather ironic too, considering said cliff-hanger, but I can't say anything more about that cliff-hanger without risking giving away its cliff-hanger-ness.

New Audi A5 update

I've already fallen behind with my blog posts - I originally had planned to do a post every ten days or so, since I wanted to have double the number of posts in 2013 as I did in 2012.  However, I've been quite busy and haven't had much time to think about new posts or subjects.
However, I do already have one subject to post about, I just have to get around to it.  Last week I (finally) finished watching sci-fi anime series Steins;Gate, so I'll definitely be doing a post about that.  In the mean time, I'm happy to say it has happy ending - I had my doubts during the last few episodes.

For today, I'll be posting all the new updates on the Audi A5 project.  I've mostly been posting about it on BlenderArtists.org, so the last image I posted here was of the new bumper panel.  I've made quite a few changes to it since then.
These images start from August 21st last year up to present day - on a side note the HTML has messed up and not all the images are 100% centred, but I can't figure out how to fix it :|

A new bumper and front wing.

Software Spotlight - Audacity

And we're back with the second entry in my planned series, the Software Spotlight!  Today I'll be talking more-or-less briefly about a program I've used a lot - open-source audio editor Audacity!  And it works on all three major operating systems (Windows, MacOS and Linux) so that's a plus.

Image courtesy of audacity.sourceforge.net

I'll start off by saying I am far from being an expert on sound engineering and editing.  As always, I'm just trying things out and figuring it out as I go - I've been doing this for years with various software, even back when the most complex image and sound manipulation programs I used were Microsoft Paint and Sound Recorder (hey, I had to start somewhere)

Anime verdict - Fractale

I had originally written a small Journal post on this series on DeviantART, roughly half an hour after finishing the thirteenth episode, but there was something about the post and my wording that I didn't like and couldn't manage to fix, so I tossed it into the digital trash bin.  Here I am, giving it another shot, but this has also given me time to think back on the series and have a more objective viewpoint.  I tend to be in "fanboy" mode when I finish any series, and the whole "OMG that was awesome" factor tends to show a lot ;)

Ultimately, I am disappointed by Fractale.  It was a series I was very much looking forward to watching, after seeing the English trailer for it on the Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike DVD (which, while I'm on the subject, I quite like).

Basically, I find the trailer better than the series.  This is actually the first anime I've watched that hasn't made it onto the Re-watch list.  Every other series has been a favourite, from Haruhi to Shana to Steins;Gate and back.

The trailer made me think the series was a combination of elements from one of Isaac Asimov's visions

Software Spotlight - Guake Terminal

I'm hoping this is the first of a series, to be honest.  It's an idea that popped into my head this morning and I just went with it.  But, without further ado, let's talk Guake.

Guake is a command terminal for Linux, much like the standard terminal you can find in Linux Mint.  What makes this one so special is that it's unobtrusive - the standard terminal will always be present in some form, whether that's on-screen or minimized to your taskbar, or on another workspace.  Guake is also always present once launched, but the difference is that Guake will hide in the notification area, and only come out when you call it with the (default) F12 key.  It also has workspace immunity, so it will appear on your screen regardless of which workspace you are currently using.
You can see it here in action on my second monitor**, currently running a python-script for automated GPU temperature monitoring and fan-speed control (script by lfrisken on BlenderArtists.org)

And like the standard Terminal, you have the option of having several different Tabs running different processes - Guake, however, displays these on the bottom.

The other nice thing about Guake is that it is very customizable.  In the Appearance settings alone, you can set transparency - I have mine around 20-25% - and background colour, font colour, set up a background image, change font types and sizes, as well as pre-defined palettes, which I haven't yet tried.
On top of which, keyboard short-cuts are also customizable.  For instance when Guake starts for the first time you can summon it using the F12 key, set it to full-screen with F11, and so on.  However since Blender also uses the F12 key for rendering images (therefore a pretty important key) I've changed this to the "~" key, between "Esc" and "Tab".  I find this more intuitive, but you really can set it up with whatever key combination you like.

There are also several other options, most of which are more technical so I haven't yet figured out what they do.  Putting all that aside, however, I can definitely recommend Guake to any fellow Linux users.  It's quick, unobtrusive, and quite customizable.  I thought I liked the standard Terminal quite a bit, but Guake has overtaken it :)

** The only slight issue with Guake at the moment is that you can't choose which monitor it appears on.  It simply sets itself up on what it considers the primary monitor, which in my case is, oddly enough, my second screen.  If I remember correctly this is something in development and should be available some time in the future.  It doesn't really affect it negatively in my opinion.