Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in withtheirfists' LiveJournal:

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Friday, September 26th, 2008
7:27 pm	Had to make a quick post that should interest those of you that are as enthusiastic about oldschool manga as I am... Two BIG Tezuka titles are back on the bookstore shelves this week (saw them at the local bookseller myself tonight but didn't yet partake because I'm still buried in Statwork and reading a LOVELY new short story anthology called "The Living Dead), and they're both relatively cheap given the value. First of, we've got Astro Boy... ...Dark Horse has relisted the series, and will be publishing it in a double volume format.  So this edition merges Volumes 1 and 2 for over 400 pages of Atom Action, and all for the competitive price of $14.99.  $10 if you're looking to score it on the cheap online. And then there was a second title that I KNEW was coming, but had forgotten all about until I saw this REALLY stylish looking bookspine on the shelf, slipped it off the rack and into my hands, and saw that the fanfavorite we've all been waiting for is at last upon us.... Black Jack is here!  It'll be coming out every two months from the fine, fine folks at Vertical who have vowed to see it through to the VERY end.  Vertical's really doing fans of the unlicensed surgeon a solid.  So show your appreciation, won't you? Current Music: "Breaking the Girl" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
2:17 am	yipao came up with a meme on his journal that I couldn't resist.  The idea's simple, post a favorite movie and it's director for every single year, for as many years as you've been alive on this Earth. 1985 - "Return of the Living Dead" - Dan O'Bannon/"The Breakfast Club" - John Hughes. (I know I'm only supposed to pick one, but I've watched both of these movies a dozen times.  They're the both in their respective genres.) 1986 - "Aliens" - James Cameron 1987 - "The Living Daylights" - John Glen (Timothy Dalton is a VERY underrated Bond) 1988 - "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" - Robert Zemeckis 1989 - "Batman" - Tim Burton 1990 - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" - Steve Barron 1991 - "Out For Justice" - John Flynn (Seagal's Best Movie) 1992 - "Hardboiled" - John Woo 1993 - "Groundhog Day" - Harold Ramis 1994 - "Ed Wood" - Tim Burton 1995 - "Twelve Monkeys" - Terry Gilliam 1996 - "The Frighteners" - Peter Jackson 1997 - "Men In Black" - Barry Sonnenfeld 1998 - "Dark City: Directors Cut" - Alex Proyas 1999 - "The Iron Giant" -Brad Bird 2000 - "Dancer In the Dark" - Lars Von Trier 2001 - "The Devil's Backbone" - Guillermo Del Toro 2002 - "Ping Pong" - Fumihiko Sori 2003 - "Big Fish" - Tim Burton 2004 - "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" - Michel Gondry 2005 - "Batman Begins" - Christopher Nolan 2006 - "The Departed" - Martin Scorsese 2007 - "Zodiac" - David Fincher 2008 - (So Far) "Speed Racer" - The Wachowski Bros. And I TAAAAG.....everyone .  Yeah, if you can read this, then get cracking. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: "Starry Stairs" by Okkervil River (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:00 am	I have fun watching Gangland on the History Channel for all the wrong reasons. A part of me could just nod my head and say, "well that's a very informative take on a counter culture that I know next to nothing about", but instead I find myself chuckling every three minutes when the very white narrator has to read off lines like "raped...by the LATIN KINGS" and "ROLLING FORTIES and POPPING GLOCKS" with the same straight faced tone that he would if he were telling the story of Washington crossing the Delaware. Add in the fact that almost once an episode someone with revealed and very unique tattoos shown explicitly on camera has their face obscured because they're worried that they'll be identified by their gang members or the authorities if they speak out on what really goes down in the streets, and you've got an instant recipe for unintentional humor. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
2:35 pm	Told you I'd post a Meme. 1. What are some of your nicknames? Casey, Case, Le Bread, WithTheirFists, Spence Sational, a wide array of not so nice words. 2. What do you do before bedtime? Brush and floss, talk to friends on the web, watch TV or read comics. 3. What fandom(s) are you most into at the moment? Chikara Pro/Ring of Honor Wrestling, Super Robots, Tokusatsu, Western Animation 4.)What is your favorite scent? I'm not really that good at remembering smells, so I'll go with a really familiar one. The smell of pavement after it rains. There's nothing quite like it. 5. What video games are you playing at the moment? At the moment? None with enough frequency to say that I'm really sinking my teeth into them. The last game I was REALLY into was Bionic Commando: Rearmed, which I'm only a level away from beating now but had to step back from for a little while to deal with schoolwork. I'd say Rock Band 2, but I'm really only hooked on playing that when friends are over. Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Spore are coming up for me though, so maybe those will get me hooked all over again. 6. What do you eat the most? Lots of wheat products and meat. Also, I love pastas. A zero carb diet would mean I'd starve to death. 7. Do you trust easily? Not really. Takes a little doing to get my trust, but I always try to provide as many opportunities as possible to new people to give them the chance to gain it. 8. What was your first big fandom? Pro Wrestling, Monster Movies, and Giant Robots. Not much has changed. Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles were pretty high up there too. 9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy recently? 10. Do you have a good body-image? I have a really middling self image. Talk to me long enough, and you'll likely here me allude to being "Mr. Personality". I like my height and my hair though. I worry a lot about my teeth and make sure that I brush them as often as I can. 11. What's your favorite Holiday? As a kid, it was Halloween, but Halloween's REALLY died these days. What the hell happened to all the Trick or Treaters and spooky hommemade haunted houses? So I guess Thanksgiving, because it's proximity to my birthday USUALLY ensures that I have the day off from school. 12. What websites do you visit most? Wikipedia, ChikaraFans, Youtube, WrestleCrap Forums, Anime Academy, 1Up, TV-Nihon, and a few others. 13. Who are currently the most important people to you? The short answer is my friends, both those that I've met in person and those that I only know through the magic of the internet. 14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? Well, he didn't tag me. His loss. But the man does have excellent, excellent taste and it's always fun to get his Edmundtary on the stuff we simeulcast. 15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? Placebo's cover of "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. Give it a week, and I'll be into something else altogether. 16. What’s your favorite item of clothing? T-Shirts go great with anything. I love non-namebrand shirts with cool designs on them, but absolutely loathe any that have "clever sayings on them". Many an awesome or funny image on a shirt has been ruined by someone writing a one liner on it. Also, I hate shirts with peoples faces on them unless said face is really stylized. 17. What's better: to give or to receive? I like both. I always try my best to hook up friends with meaningful gifts or stuff that I know they'd really dig if they were aware of, but I like people applying that same level of thought for me just as much. 18. What would you do if you saw £100 lying on the ground? I'd take it, but only because I can't spend £100 anywhere in America Land. 19. What items could you not go without during the day? Toothpaste, clean drinking water, and a working shower. If at work, lots of hand sanitizer to counteract some of the gross bodily things I deal with on a daily basis. 20. What should you be doing right now? Getting cozy with Probability and Demography assignments. But I'm in between classes right now, so I'm not too worried. Current Music: "Alice Practice" by Crystal Castles (Comment on this)
11:28 am	I swear, it's always a bit upsetting to know that my parents buy into political rhetoric so easily. Having to listen to my Dad and stepmom reason that Obama shouldn't be elected because he's possibly Muslim, has the middle name Hussein, and may or may not be the antichrist over my morning cheerios and toast just grates on my nerves. Hook and line, man. Current Music: "Wrong" by Archers of Loaf (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
2:00 pm	Somebody make up a meme for me to fill out. I want this El-Jay operational again. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
7:44 pm	Unless I'm reading the latest e-mail I got wrong, seems I'm officially confirmed for a Press Pass at Otakon 2008. Time to expand my knowledge on Peter "Racer X" Fernandez and Jam Project so that I don't look like a total goon if I get a chance to speak with either of them. Hurray for not having to piggy back this year on other peoples badges. Double hurray for not having to sit in the fourth row when the first three are vacant "reserved for press who are doing margarita shooters down the road" lots. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, June 13th, 2008
7:22 am	Putting down 5 dots of Terro Ant Poison in the Kitchen before I went to bed. Woke up this morning to find them TEEMING with ants on every drop. Now to play the waiting game and see if they rush it back to the colony and poison the well in a couple weeks time. I love bugs and I almost regret having to do this, but my kitchen just isn't an ecosystem. So the President of Shell Oil is blaming the US Government for high gas prices, because they won't let them drill an Alaskan Wildlife Refuge? Why of all places does it have to be the refuge? In sunnier news, I'll be watching GaoGaiGar by this time next week. For those of you that have "been there, seen that", how likely are the odds that I'm going to totally embrace this one? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
6:17 pm	http://kotaku.com/5010122/capcom-vs-legendary-anime-company HOLY CRAP! I get to play the Gatchaman Team and Racer X in a fighting game powered by Arc Systems Guilty Gear Engine? SIGN ME UP! Ignore the stuff about Macross. The original poster doesn't really know his companies. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, March 29th, 2008
3:12 pm	Using various forum connections made over the years to possibly, maybe get a press pass at Otakon and have a shot at interviewing Kageyama? The pot is sweetened. Current Music: "The Big Sleep" by Murder by Death (3 Comments |Comment on this)
2:30 am	So Caitlin goes to Japan. I'm a little bummed. Turns out, I've apparently made a cultural exchange of awesome proportions. The roster for the indy wrestling show I'm going to includes the first American matches in 2008 for Takeshi Morishima, Go Shiozaki, and Naomichi Marufuji. That lightened the burden. But then I find out an earth shattering thing. KAGEYAMA HIRONOBU is coming to Otakon. For the first time in America ever. He who sang every anime opening that was ever good. He who howled the openings to Dragon Ball Z, Heat Guy J, and every giant robot show worth mentioning. And I officially feel like I can fly. Final Fantasy fanboys, this is like hearing that Nobuo Uematsu is coming to your family reunion. JUST TOO DAMN EXCITED. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
12:36 pm	If you need to reach me, Snake, my codec is S-U-D-A 5-1. So I hear today that there's this rumor circulating that Suda 51 and Hideo Kojima are in talks to collaborate on something called "Project S" after Kojima wraps up Metal Gear 4. Now I know Suda is a huge fan of Kojima's old game Snatcher. Are we talking an apeshit crazy remake of Snatcher with two of the most surreal minds in gaming at the helm? Words can't express how much I HOPE so. Plus, Grasshopper is developing Fatal Frame IV for the Wii and remaking almost all of their old Japan hits as Nintendo DS games. Here's to hoping they all get kicked this way. With the success of No More Heroes, anythings possible. Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: The Crunches and Scrunches of blended ice coffee. Students talking about Christ (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 5th, 2008
1:59 am	An Open Letter To The Internet Dear people of the internet,                             Please stop dashing my hopes during my quests to uncover nostalgic retro junk on Youtube, Google, and beyond.  It seems like everytime I think I've finally found a legit clip/episode of an awesome 80's/90's cartoon, all I get are grainy looking "hilarious dubs" of the stuff I'm looking for.  Everybody wants to be the next "I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH".  I'm a reasonable guy.  Just make with the funny clips and you'll look plenty cool in my eyes.  The last thing I need is for you and your fat friend in the Jim Belushi t-shirt to mutter, "Oh, you know I'm doin' reefer!" over clips of the Real Ghostbusters stumbling around.  On a related note, finally acquired a copy of the show that gave us THIS and many other gems on the cheap.  Used, no less.  But it's Out of Print, so I can't be picky.... Until next time people: flame on & on & on & on..... Current Music: "Flame On" by Johnny Storm (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007
2:21 am	The Los Angeles Gimme-Gimme Twist So today was the day I cashed in the record store gift certificates and blew a little-lot of money at Amoeba, the amazing indy record store that lies smack-dab on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and appropriately (in this bloggers eyes) near the walk of fame star of one Bela Lugosi. So what'd I deign to spend those certificates/extra spending money on you ask? CD's: "Twist Party!!" by Los Straitjackets with The World Famous Pontani Sisters and Kaiser George: I've been listening to masked surf guitar foursome Los Straitjackets for some time now but I could never bring myself to pick up one of their albums.  Though this album doesn't necessarily hit the same chords as their usual fair, the sheer novelty of hearing the band team up with a latino equivalent of Buddy Holly in Kaiser George, and celebrate the force of nature that is The Twist for 16 tracks is irresistible in and of itself.  The World Famous Pontani Sisters near as I can tell are experts at Twisting, and I expect the accompanying DVD will teach me and any other swinging cats how to master the FORBIDDEN dance.  As with most Straitjackets album, this would be the perfect soundtrack for an "El Santo vs. The Phantom of the Malt Shop" type drive-in movie.  Still, if I'd had the option, I probably would have grabbed the live album "Damos y Caballeros!" instead "Lust, Lust, Lust" by The Raveonettes: Always happy to see a new Raveonettes album, and this import is a beaut.  My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be a single track on this one that matches the speed or heft of Pretty In Black's "Twilight" or "Love in a Trashcan".  Still, the Raveonettes continue to build the set-list for the worlds most depressing prom like only they can.  The grainy, reverb heavy guitar riffs still bring images of pompadoured rockabilly street toughs and science fiction double features to mind as strongly as ever.  DVD's: Now here's the real meat of the purchases... Troll/Troll 2:  I couldn't resist this one.  And if you're a friend who lives 0.2 or 20,000 miles away, the likelihood of me forcing this one on you at some point is pretty much inevitable.  "Cholesterol and Toxins" be damned, let's whip up some ham sandwiches and start off next years movie nights right. Godzilla Collection 1:  I've heard great things about the level of work Classic Media has put into their Godzilla releases, and this box collects all 7 of the films (in chronological order) that they've released so far.  I've put off putting my money toward these films for long enough, but the prospect of having both the American Theatrical Edited Versions and the Uncut Japanese versions in one box with some pretty exceptional extras/commentaries just became too tempting.  Balls in your court Classic Media, bring on the next seven!  It's worth a mention that the individual boxes for each movie, essentially the original Japanese poster art against a gravel background, are damn classy. And an 8 pack of 70's/80's horror films so skeezy that the boxes inside are blank and the discs are double-sided.  Picked this up on blind-faith that they'll be absolutely dreadful.  Science refers to this as the "Night Train to Terror" effect. AND today was capped off by Caitlin's gifts to me finally arriving in the mail... Popeye The Sailor: 1933-1938: A REMARKABLE collection of every single one of the Fleischer Brothers Popeye cartoons over a five year period.  And if that weren't enough, there are a heap of commentary tracks from film historians (Ren & Stimpy director and esteemed cartoon blogger John K. provides a couple too), top notch image/sound transfer, and a wealth of other Fleischer cartoons to round out the box (including to my surprise a good chunk of the Koko the Clown cartoons).  Also on the plus side is the fact that there seem to be 2 or 3 documentaries on almost every single disc.  Really looking forward to digging into this one. She also got me a copy of  the Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter II graphic novel with Stan Sakai's signature on the cover.  This one was bought in front of me at Things From Another World (Dark Horse's store, filled suspiciously with more Marvel and DC stuff than Dark-Horse material, located seconds outside of the Universal Studio lot), retailed for the price that the book always did, and had apparently been sitting there since he'd signed it in-store back in 2002.  The clerk was delighted when she bought it because, "NO one seems to know who Sakai is!"  It's a damn shame, but one fools snubbed book, is a happy readers treasure. I know I've played too many survival horror games; when I'm sitting in the office/guest room wondering which game used the horrible sound the Moore families washing machine produces for a creature effect.  At least I hope it's the washing machine, sounds like Swamp Thing angrily slam dancing in the dark outside my room. Only in Los Angeles could I pass by one of the Nickelodeon Production Lots, and see it be flanked on one side by a huge billboard for a strip club and on the other by a thrift store called "Out of the Closet" that offers, no joke, Free HIV Tests on the side.  A crazed hobo yelled, "THIS IS MY TOWN!" outside of a high-cost movie theater, only to be accosted by an earpiece wearing security guard that looked more like he was prepared to take a bullet for the President than shooing away a frothy-mouthed bum annoying people buying tickets to Sweeney Todd.  Two hours later I saw him outside the subway station declaring to anyone who'd listen, "THIS IS MY COUNTRY!"  No security guard is going to talk him down, no sir.  This is a man with With Their Fists spirit, a genuine can-do gent who can't be discouraged by an Armani wearing rent-a-cop.  They can have the CITY, but this is HIS DAMN COUNTRY. More on the Holidays and Los Angeles in future posts. Current Mood: dorky Current Music: "Mad Scientwist" by Los Straitjackets & The World Famous Pontani Sisters (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 28th, 2007
12:43 am	Begrudge Me A Nerdy Nitpick... ...but once I really got to thinking about the concept of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, doesn't the fact that a jumbo sized war-fleet of Aliens just appearing in a modern day American kind of make Ripley's adventures in the first two Alien films seem almost mind boggling? It's safe to assume that the US Military and a gang of College Losers and Blonde Bimbos handily dispatch the creatures by the end of the film, because movies like Transformers have assured me it damn sure won't be other aliens (duking it out in what could ONLY be sumptuous shadowy shaky cam) that get to do the brunt of the dirty work in this day and age. So isn't it kind of sad that someone as awesome as Ripley has so much trouble taking down just ONE in the first movie, or discount the notion that her crew would be so surprised by their first encounter with a race that already showed up and screwed around on this beautiful blue planet of ours? I guess when I get right down to it, what bothers me most about the latest string of monster vs monster flicks is that somehow in their finite wisdom, the people slapping these things together can't just get down to the nitty gritty of what the crowds really want to see. I go to a movie where two nuclear powered killbots that sneeze acid battle for global supremacy, all I'm expecting of the screenwriter is to give a VERY flimsy plot to establish why these two are so mad at eachother, and then to back the hell off and let the visuals do the talking. All I could ever want from it are 80 minutes of glorious curbstomping into skyscraper action. This should NEVER be the venue to give me a bullshit love story, have teenbeat actors ruminate about the meaning of life, or show a brave soldier in Iraq kiss pictures of the "people he left back home". Don't need to sympathize with a kindhearted Texan that tragically got AIDS from a blood transfusion when I plunk down a 5 dinero to see Leatherface take a meathook to Norman Bates scalp, that's just silly. And since I'm in the mood to say it, I'm STILL putting my money on JJ Abrams pulling his usual crap and only showing the monster in Cloverfield in bits and pieces. I mean, we've already got a wobbly handheld camera showing all the action. I'd love to be proven wrong, but at this point, I'm just not willing to take a sip of the Cloverfield Kool-Aide. Current Mood: cynical Current Music: "Out of Limits" by Los StraightJackets (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
1:48 am	Fire & Rain... ...since the law of cosmic averages flings misfortune my way at a stunning rate of 60/40, the positive stuff that happened with the paper was TERRIFICLY balanced out by my laptop bag zipping open, sending my laptop crashing to the pavement. HP offered to fix it under warranty, but I likely won't have it back until sometime into January, given the fact that I'm going to be in California until January 8th. Chances are, I'll steal some time here and there on the family PC, but if for some reason I don't talk to any of my e-pals, Superbuddy and Non-Superbuddy alike for the next month, you fellows have a Merry 'Lil Christmas and a Happy New Year. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
1:08 pm	T-G-I-T The smoke has finally cleared on the grade for the abnormal psych paper that I spent all of thanksgiving break and most of my birthday writing, and I'm delighted to say that the tide finally turned HARD in my favor. Out of 95 possible points, I somehow scored a 96, which means regardless of how well I do on the exam, I should still have at least a C in the class. A hearty THANK YOU to all of you that helped proof and fact-check this 10 page beast in the weeks leading to the due date. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: "Prescilla" by Bats For Lashes (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
1:06 am	Want a Friend? WANT A FRIEND ON WII THAT'S COOL?! NONE OF THOSE PANSY FRIENDS YOU PLAY MARIO STRIKERS WITH SOMETIMES, BUT ONLY IF YOUR BUDDIES ON COUNTER-STRIKE AREN'T LOOKING. MAN UP! MAN UP YOUR LIST! 3900-9472-8955-3385 Current Mood: predatory Current Music: The Sound of Boy Lists Becoming Man Lists (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 12th, 2007
2:15 pm	Because I've NEVER done stuff like this. Leave a comment here and I will: 1. Tell you why I friended you. 2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc. 3. Tell you something I like about you. 4. Tell you a memory I have of you. 5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you. 6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours. 7. In return, you must post this in your LJ. (21 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
2:55 pm	To all interested parties.... My laptop and Wii are NOW wireless. All this really means for you is, come February, much Smash Brothering will be had. Current Mood: groggy (1 Comment |Comment on this)