Otaku no Podcast

Episode #0030 – 2011 Year in Review (Finally!), Part 1

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Podcast Symbol By now you are no doubt aware of our prime directive here at Otaku no Podcast: "Better late than never." In that spirit, we bring you (finally!) our 2011 Year in Review episode. (Part 1 of 2)

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Music: "Boys, Come Back to Me" (少年よ我に帰れ Shōnen yo Ware ni Kaere?). Lyrics, composition: Tika･α / Arrangement: Kenji Kondō / Singing: Etsuko Yakushimaru Metro Orchestra. 2nd OP to the 2011 anime Mawaru Penguindrum.

Continue reading Episode #0030 – 2011 Year in Review (Finally!), Part 1

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:22 — 31.3MB)

Pray for Japan: The Charity Screening

Pray for Japan: The Logo We’ve talked before about Pray for Japan, the film chronicling last year’s disastrous Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and its effects on the populace of Ishinomaki, Miyagi, the largest coastal city in the Tohoku region. Well, good news – the film is finally set for its North American theatrical debut!

Mark your calendars folks – Pray for Japan: The Film will be premiering on March 14, 2011 at 7:00 PM at the following theaters:

ATLANTA
BOSTON
CHIGAGO
DALLAS
HAWAII (Maui)
HOUSTON
KANSAS CITY
LOS ANGELES (Torrance)
LOS ANGELES (O.C.)
MONTREAL
NEW YORK CITY
SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO (Bay Area)
SEATTLE
TORONTO
WASHINGTON, DC

AMC Phipps Plaza 14
AMC Boston Commons 19
AMC River East 20
AMC Firewheel 18
Maui Mall Megaplex Cinema
AMC Loews Fountains 18
AMC Main Street 6
AMC Del Amo 18
AMC Orange at the Block 30
AMC Forum 22
AMC Empire 25
AMC Mission Valley 20
AMC Cupertino 16
AMC Pacific Place 11
AMC Yonge & Dundas 24
AMC Loews Georgetown 14

You can check showtimes and/or order tickets online. Be sure and get your tickets early before they sell out! All proceeds will go towards the JEN NPO, a relief organization that has been on the ground in the Tohoku area since day 1 providing aid and relief, and in fact are still there to this day.

Episode #0029 – SOPA and PIPA in a Nutshell

Podcast Symbol In light of last week’s mass protest against SOPA and PIPA, two destructive pieces of legislation winding their way through Congress, I thought it would be a good idea to examine in closer detail the issues that are at stake. There is a lot of good information out there; but there is also a lot of FUD, rumors, and just plain nonsense. One of my favorite podcasts recently discussed this issue in great detail, but framed in easy to understand language, and they have graciously allowed me to rebroadcast this segment on the Otaku no Podcast feed. I believe it deserves a listen.

In this segment Nosillacast host Allison Sheridan and her co-host Bart dissect the technical ramifications of SOPA and PIPA, discuss the issues at stake, and explain why we must continue to remain vigilant.

Today’s Theme: “Sky Clad Observer,” by Kanako Itō, OP to the 2011 anime Steins;gate. Get a Crunchyroll Premium Membership!

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Continue reading Episode #0029 – SOPA and PIPA in a Nutshell

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:50 — 18.3MB)

We did it!

Fist of Power You took down your sites. You overwhelmed your elected officials with messages of opposition. Some of you even took to the streets. And, by golly, you did it: SOPA and PIPA are starting to lose support on Capitol Hill. Whereas last week only 5 lawmakers were in opposition, after today’s actions, that number has swelled to an impressive 35 opposing. And the thing only needs 41 “no” votes to effectively be stalled.

So does this mean we can relax, that we can declare “Mission accomplished” ? Not on your life. The powers of evil behind will not rest until their goals are achieved. There is still so much that can happen between now and January 24, when voting is set to begin on these bills. Bribes can be circulated. Lawmakers can sneak loopholes and other tools in at the 11th hour. And even if SOPA and PIPA go down, you know they’ll be back with something else. And it might even seem reasonable. But, believe you me, it isn’t. (It’s a trap!). We must remain ever vigilant, and continue to educate and inform our elected officials. Please keep on your Congress critters’ backs — give them something to think about come voting day.

But not right this minute. Take a few minutes and give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Go hoist up an icy cold beer (or any other beverage of choice). You — we — made history today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank our listeners and website viewers for answering the call and for putting up with a little website downtime. You guys all rock. Seriously.

ChibiCast #0025 – Stop American Censorship

Stop American Censorship

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.5MB)

Moving to a new server; there may be some podcast/website issues over the next week or so (Updated)

Moving servers Update, early Saturday morning, January 14: If you are reading this message, then that means that the worst of it is over: the site is up and running on the new server, and all the data was moved over successfully. All that’s left now is tweaking things to get everything working “just right” and tuning for performance. Things may go down here and there for brief periods during the weekend, but the worst of it is behind us.

When I started this blog and podcast several years ago, I really had no idea where this would all be going. And, for the first year or two, our numbers (podcast subscribers as well as web site visitors) were pretty dismal. But lately I have watched those numbers climb ever so slowly as the days, weeks and months flew by, and they’re now at a pretty respectable level. Not quite OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND, but getting there. So, yeah, we’re movie’ on up in the world. Unfortunately these larger numbers have begun to strain our resources, namely server capacity, as can be evidenced by the increasingly slow and sluggish Otaku no Podcast website. Clearly it’s high time to make some changes around here.

Actually, the first of these changes happened several weeks ago. As some of you may know, we’ve had our domain name registered through Go Daddy. I was reasonably happy with their service, and was willing to give them a “pass” on some of their more controversial aspects (their “sexy” advertising, etc.). But all that changed when it came to light that they supported the destructive legislation known as SOPA, a very disturbing piece of legislation that, if passed, could pave the way to loss of Internet freedoms and privacy. They have since backed down (somewhat – their language is still very wishy-washy); however this has eroded their credibility in my eyes to the point where I wanted to stop giving them my business. As of several weeks ago, all Otaku no Podcast-related domains are now off of Go Daddy and are registered through Hover.com, an excellent registrar who opposes SOPA. Over the next few weeks I will be moving my other domains (those used for personal means as well as other projects I’m involved in) to Hover. (Note: the Otaku no Podcast website has been hosted for quite some time at 1and1, who are on the record as opposing SOPA.)

Anyway, the real change will be coming over the next week or two, in that we’ll be moving the website onto a new server with significantly larger capacity (but still hosted at 1and1 – I’m quite pleased with their service so have no inclination to switch). At the same time, I’ll be doing some “behind the scenes” work, restructuring the code that runs everything, to make it run smoother and better (things that I’ve been meaning to do for a while now).

So, over the next week or so, as I migrate the site’s code and data over to the new server, you may start to see some strange things happen around here: silly “test” posts, missing pages, missing audio/video files, or perhaps even the dreaded “404 Not Found.” I’ll try and keep this to a minimum, but, in a move as large-scale as this, there are a thousand and one ways that things could go horribly wrong; so let this serve as fair warning.

(Of course, I’ve managed to say in 1,000 words what really only needed about 10. Such is the way with me. Oh well.)

Heads up: Anime Los Angeles starts tomorrow!

Anime Los Angeles banner Heads up, people – Anime Los Angeles is coming tomorrow to the LAX Airport Marriott

5855 W. Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045
1-800-228-9290

Guests include Chris Carson, Stan Sakai, Dave Merrilll, Kyle Hebert, Jon Allen, Lauren Landa, Stephen Weese, Panda Cubed, Jonathan “Jake” Tarbox, Kaiji Tang, Julie Rei Goldstein, Jessica Straus, Danielle McRae, Derek Stephen Prince, Craig Miller, and Mark Allen Jr. And of course there’ll be the usual anime con fare, including a rather nice dealer’s room, artist’s alley, musical guests, cosplay masquerade (and tons of hall cosplay too), dances, gaming (both tabletop and console), and oh so much more.

Pre-reg is sadly closed, so you’ll have to register at the door. Prices are $25 for Friday, $35 for Saturday, or $20 for Sunday. And with their “Parent-in-Tow” program, any attendee 14 years or younger can bring a grown up for free. (It doesn’t have to be a parent; it can be a sibling, other relative, teacher, guardian, etc.)

For more information, you can check out their website; however the latest and greatest information can be found in their awesome downloadable schedule, which you can get using the free Guidebook app (available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry devices).

Unfortunately, through a strange twist of fate, none of the Otaku no Podcast regulars will be able to make it to con (contrary to what I said in our most recent ChibiCast). I may be able to attend one day (most likely Saturday) but that is still unknown. So con coverage this year may be, erm, somewhat lacking. Gomen nasai.

Otaku no Podcast has its first sponsor!

Advertising Greetings, and Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a great (insert name of particular holiday variant you celebrate), and we wish you all the best for a happy, safe, prosperous and fun-filled 2012!

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve just published our first episode of the year. And you probably noticed something different about it: we now have a sponsor! The various podcast networks we publish through have begun offering advertiser opportunities to us.

But, before you get the wrong ideas and think we’ve gone all commercial and sold out on you, let me (hopefully) reassure you with the following three promises. Whenever I decide to put an ad in an episode, I promise that…

It will be short and sweet.
If you’ve listened to other tech podcasts, such as those on Leo Laporte’s TWiT network, they’ll operate similar to the ads he does: a brief “This podcast sponsored by X” message during the intro, and a short ad read sometime during the middle of the episode. By “short,” I mean 1-2 minute tops. And there may be an extra ad banner on the website. But that’s it. No ginormous background image plastered all over the home page, no over 9,000 hour long testimonials, none of that.
There will be only one ad per episode.
Unlike some of Leo’s podcasts (which sometimes have 2, 3 or even more ads per episode) I’ve decided to only put out 1 ad per episode. MAYBE, if the episode is really really long, I might put a second ad in it. But absolutely, positively no more than 2 ads per episode, and in 99% of the cases, there’ll be just 1 ad.
I will only accept advertisements from companies and products that I believe in, and that I believe offer a product or service of interest to you, the listener.
Ideally I’d love to offer ads from anime-related businesses (stores that sell DVDs/Blu-rays, figures, etc.); if you happen to work at such a company and are looking for a place to advertise, please get in touch . But until such a glorious occasion presents itself, you’ll probably be seeing and hearing ads for various tech related products and services, since most anime fans I know fall rather squarely in the geek/tech enthusiast mold.

Finally, lest you get the wrong idea that I’ll suddenly be “rolling in it” and buying yachts and taking trips to Tahiti or something like that, we’re not talking about a whole lot of money here. Again it’ll basically amount to just a little extra “something” to help keep the bills paid around here. (Besides if I were to take a trip, it would be to Japan, and not Tahiti or anywhere boring like that. )

Anyway, if you have any comments or concerns about all of this, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Video #0013 – Japanese Classic Cuisine: Curry with Rice

Video Podcast Symbol In today’s episode we show you how to make another classic Japanese dish, one you’ve no doubt seen at one time or another: Curry with Rice.