2003-2004 Emails

Email announcements from school year 2003-2004.

Fall 2003

[MnA] Sat, Sept 27 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Sep 24 13:18:01 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

 I know, I know. It's another newsletter by that guy, isn't it? Well-have
no fear! I promise 137.4% more enjoyment from this year's newsletters over
last years.

First, the news!

First meeting of the quarter is THIS Saturday, September 27. Come back to
the Silo for what may just be one of the most ass-kicking years we've had
in a while.

I don't know how, but someone (I think Nik) sold his soul to the devil to
get us Patlabor for the year. Also, Inuyasha continues with another year
of amazingness (as it will for forever). And finishing up this year is
Hana Yori Dango, the best show no one's ever seen.

If it wasn't for Nadia you wouldn't get your Gainax fix. And of course,
the man-Yoshitoshi ABe with Haibane Renmei, the most beautiful show in the
world.

Rounding out our later hours we've got the unbelievable Azumanga Daioh,
followed by Noir (girls, guns, no zombies-but two for three ain't bad).
And finally some Hellsing and Crest of the Stars.

Halloween decorations already? Yes, I was walking through Wal-Mart (evil
den of commercialism and well-priced nerf guns) and saw the Halloween
decorations and was suddenly reminded that we're having another huge
Halloween bash. Start making your costumes today before midterms kick in!

Okay, time for the Schedule:

5:00 Fansub O' : Read Or Die the TV - ep 1
5:30 Hana Yori Dango - ep 26 : The Couple's Sleepless Night!

Break : How long has it been since you heard "ten minute break?"

6:00 Patlabor - ep 1 : Second Unit, Move Out!
6:30 Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water - ep 26 : King's On His Own

Break : I went to Japan this summer and all I got was this lousy scar.

7:00 Inuyasha - ep 51 : Inuyasha Who Lost His Heart
7:30 Haibane Renmei - ep 1 : Dream Of Falling From The Sky

Break : My new school year resolution is to be less angry (note last
message about scar).

8:00 Azumanga Daioh - ep 1 : Child High School Student - She's A Genius -
Frightening Isn't It? (phew!)
8:30 Noir - ep 1 : The Maidens With Black Hands

Break : I'm a little too excited about Azumanga and Patlabor and Haibane
and...

9:00 Hellsing - ep 1 : The Undead
9:30 Crest of the Stars - ep 1 : Invasion


That's all folks!














Here now, you didn't think I'd forget to rant my insanity to you, did you?
Well, as I sit here repeating my new mantra "i don't need this anger"
repeatedly to myself, I realize-maybe I doooo need this anger.

Sure my Jamba juice tastes great, but damn that guy took like 25 minutes
making it. I could've planted my own damn apple tree in that time and
crushed the ice by foot in time to receive my now ripened apples.

So yes, what's new in the news that you guys need to hear? First-Japan is
expensive. Let no one tell you otherwise. I mean, sure-I voted to sleep in
parks but the guys I was travelling with were all about 'beds' and stuff.
Damn princesses, I tell you.

Second, and possibly more imporant than the money issue-the Japanese
Toilet is a complete mystery. I tried more than thirty positions, none of
which seemed to work. I'm beginning to think they really keep western
toilets around the corner behind signs that foreigners can't read, and
that the Japanese toilets they lead you to are all a big practical joke
against westerners. Either that or I just can't figure out how to use
them.

Finally-has anyone seen Lee around? I've got something for him (not like
how a puppy leaves you a present-but how someone who went to Japan got
something) and I have no idea where to find him.

Okay, onto the stuff on the web I need to show you. I've had three months
off from this gig, and I've been thinking-there is a lot of f***ed up
stuff on the web that I could easily subject you all to, so why haven't I
thought of this sooner?

Besides the club webpage (which you should all visit now and bookmark)
there are a lot of things out there that maybe, just maybe you would all
find interesting.

I think I found out about this through either Megatokyo or Penny-Arcade
(both of which you should probably hit up also), but it's the National
Geographic Picture Of The Day. There are some pretty damn amazing pictures
in there among all the crap with sunsets and oceans or old wrinkly people
who are rrrreally wrinkly.

http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/

Second, The Parking Lot Is Full web-comic. Sure they stopped making new
ones, but that doesn't mean you can't go through the 5 or 6 years of
archives and have a good (if not great) laugh. If there is anything more
twisted and sick than this, then please let me know.

http://www.plif.com

Of course, there's always Redmeat by Max Cannon, and Derfcity by a close
friend of Dahmer, and the Boondocks (best comic being published daily) by
Aaron Macgreuger (sp?).

Hmm... that was a lot of comic talk, wasn't it? I guess I should talk
about something more manly or macho here.

So uhh... oh yeah! Our out-of-club social event this quarter/year!

A Catapult! How about it minna? A Minna No Anime Catapult!! I think we'll
be a smash hit at Open House. Just imagine it; we think a show sucks-we
put it, along with a few pounds of mild explosive, into the bucket and
them BAM! Somewhere kinda far from where we are standing it goes boom.
Perfect, no?

Just, think about it for now. I think you'll come around to my side.

Anywhoo-I guess I should get back to class now. Graduate level math bites
my undercarriage. Well, not literally-'cause that would hurt, but you get
the idea. I sure hope this 'way of the semi-pissed off peaceful warrior'
thing works out for me.

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna no Anime Secretary (the other officers make fun of me... sniff...)
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MnA] Sat, Oct 4 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Oct  1 15:09:28 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san,


First, the news. Then, the schedule. Lastly, information worth dying for.



News:

 Our schedule has been rearranged a bit this week. We're trying
something out, that we think will work-and hope you all accept. We're
shortening our breaks down to 5 minutes between hours so we can supply a
half-hour break right in the middle of club.

 Yep, we gave you dinner time. Now you don't have to choose a show to miss
so you can go eat. Also, we hope that with the lights on for a whole
thirty minutes maybe you'll mingle among each other and figure out a plan
to overthrow our current elected officials (El Presidente and me among
other) come spring time and elections and whatnot.

 Who has costumes ready? Who has costume ideas ready? 'Cause there's no
way we're gonna let Josh beat us up in the CosPlay contest AGAIN. Spike
Spiegal, Gatts from Berserk, who knows what he's gonna be this year.
However, if anyone wants to team up on a costume, or get some help making
one I'm down. Just e-mail back and we'll put up a fight against the man of
a thousand costumes. Otherwise, the rest of us should get cracking on our
costumes right away (you will love my magical girl transformation,
especially when you see my cute, furry little sidekick).

 Oh, and the CosPlay contest is held during our
mega-halloween-bash-meeting. You'll be hearing all about that every week
as it draws closer. Also, if I can, I'll try and leak some of our secret
prize info your way.


And now, the Schedule!

5:00 Fansub O' : You'll have to come to find out! Actually, it just hasn't
been decided yet.
5:25 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 27 : Doumyouji Goes To New York!

Break: Maybe I'll cosplay as Doumyouji? Mess up my hair and get a red
sweater that says "Pris"

5:55 Patlabor - Ep 2 : Kanuka Has Arrived
6:20 Nadia:The Secret Of Blue Water - Ep 27 : Island Of The Witch

Break : Captain Nemo, that would be a good costume. Everyone would think I
was captain Global, though. I could go as King? But I'd have to wear
pants.

6:50 Inuyasha - Ep 52 : Irresistable! The Youkai's True Nature!
7:15 Haibane Renmei - Ep 2 : Streets & Walls - Touga - Haibane Renmei

7:45 BIG BREAK: Get some food. Find out who sits behind you and munches on
snacks during your favorite shows. Hug an officer!

8:15 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 2 : Today With Osaka - PE & Volleyball - Hiccups
- Her Brain - Newbie (phew!)
8:40 Noir - Ep 2 : Our Daily Bread

Break : Maybe I can come as one of the girls from Noir? You guys think my
hairy legs would look good in a miniskirt w/ a Beretta in one of those
stocking-holsters?

8:45 Hellsing - Ep 2 : Club M
9:10 Crest Of The Stars - Ep 2 : Kin Of The Stars

That's All Folks!























Man, I hope I did all the math correctly when putting those shows in those
time slots. I got a memo with times from El Presidente, but apparantly
they don't teach mathematics over in the computer science department or
something. Wow, I just alienated most of the readership of this newsletter
with that comment, didn't I?

Okay-THANK YOU to everyone for showing me the proper usage of a Japanese
Toilet. E-mails and links on the club webpage have not gone unnoticed. And
it is true, the "cool graffiti" is not cool in anyway what-so-ever. That
aside, please don't help me with that anymore. I think I understand how to
use one, thanks.

Last week I sent you guys links to some excellent web-comics. I don't know
if you checked them out or not, I hope you did, but either way I'm going
to link-ify this rant again this week. First thing, and this one really is
so simple that it's forgotten over and over again that many people never
go to this website :

www.animeondvd.com

Really, check that one out. I had a nightmare involving the Navy and thus
my thoughts turned to Dylan out in the 3rd level of hell learning how to
be a seaman or something, and thus I was reminded of informing all of you
about this website of wonders.

Okay, here's something more serious. This last summer I went to Japan (as
you all know from having read my book "The Wacky Mis-Adventures Of Gaijin
Jimmy in Tokyo" or my weblog on blogspot) and a mere two and a half weeks
before my departure date someone asked me one of thse most important
questions in the world.

You see, I consider myself smart, but not smart. I think of things like,
"I'll need socks. Yeah, those ones," and, "I wonder if I should take my
GBA for those long train trips?" However, until my friend asked me "hey,
where's your passport?" I had completely forgotten that such ill-begotten
slips of paper existed. Needless to say, I paid a hefty fee to the US
gov't so they could get off their lazy asses and process my paperwork in
record time. So, here is vital information for all of YOU who want to
leave the country sometime in the next ten years.

http://travel.state.gov/passport_services.html

Also, if you look around a little on google or whatever you can find a
place in NY that gets you passports in ONE DAY-no questions asked, cash up
front. That place worries the fuck out of me. Big Tony can apparantly
leave the country any day of the week, but us mere mortals must apply
weeks ahead of time. Many weeks, actually.

Okay, here's a question. Is it just me and my friends that do this, or
perhaps do you also participate in this age-old practice of odd
friendship?

Do you also keep around a friend who you all make fun of, but are never
really mean to? I mean, we've got a friend (two actually, each in a
different circle of friends) who we make fun of because he's one step shy
of being the stupidest man alive.

We were discussing keeping him around when we all realized that he was OUR
idiot, and not anyone else's. We protect the little gimp from other fishes
swimming by who want to bite off his empty head, ya' know? An example of
his foolishness (for he is both foolish and stupid), we are watching
"Terror Toons"-the most god-awful movie ever created by man or satan. One
guy gets a 9" needle to the head and "W" (we shall call him) turns away
from the screen and squirms.

Me: What are you doing?
W: I hate needles, ewwwwww!
My Brother : Aren't you a paramedic? EMT or something?
W: No, I'm a fruit juice blender!

::pause for 2.87 seconds::

Me: What the f*** did you just say? You're a FRUIT JUICE BLENDER?!
W: No, I said I'm a first responder.
Tony (also there) : I heard fruit juice blender.
W: Dude!
Nick (also, also there) : Yeah, I didn't understand what you said but it
really did sound like you said fruit juice blender.
My Brother : Yeah, fruit juice blender.

::laughter at our friend, the fruit juice blender::

W: I said first responder!
Me: Yeah, whatever fruit juice.


So, yes. If you have this friend, treat them well. Well, I mean-as well as
you can stand to treat him/her. We realied these people are worth keeping
around for the comical value if nothing else, oh-and there's the whole
"friendship" thing too, I guess. Oh, and yes-"W" picked the movie of the
night - "Terror Toons." If you want to see a bad, bad movie that's so bad
it's bad and not good because it's bad, really really bad mind you (you
have been warned this movie is bad) then this is the movie for you.
It's... probably for rent at Hollywood video. That's where we found this
bad movie up north in the Bay Area anyway, but of course that was the
Hollywood with the largest adult film selection in the Bay Area.


Needless to say, all of us who own cellphones have him listed under "fruit
juice blender." And yes, we are currently trying to convince him that our
local junior college can't give him a Masters degree in engineering. You'd
be amazed at how true this all is, if you ever met him.

Well, I think we've covered all the bases. Anime website,
how-to-leave-the-country website, and a bit of my friend "W" for humor.
Next week I guess I'll tell you about the worst (or best?) drinking game
ever. Hint : It involves LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring and drinking when the
word "RING" is said, or in print on screen. Needless to say, three of us
nearly died that night. And we still haven't found the cat. Poor Gizmo.

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna No Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MnA] Sat, Oct 11 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Oct  8 14:12:21 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

Things are in full swing now that we're heading into the third week of
Fall quarter. For those of you new to the mailing list, welcome and I'm
sorry, I'm so sorry.

NEWS:

Well, our schedule is still in that experimental range where we somehow
allocate 5 minutes to show 25 minute shows. I've got an updated version
for this Saturday that checks out and damn there is some good stuff coming
your way this weekend.

The half-our dinner break seems to be a great success, but we're still
hoping for feedback from your end of things. Come up to one of us during
any break and let us know what you think about the shorter breaks in
exchange for a dinner break.

Also, I keep plugging this because it's important! The Halloween
Mega-Party-Thingie! Yes, when else do you get to see us officers dress up
like our favorite anime characters? And don't forget to find a costume for
yourself-how else can you win our grand prize if you don't at least enter
into the CosPlay contest?

And if you doooo win, don't pull a Gendo. Don't leave early, the results
get tallied later and your overall score is what determines your ranking
(and officers can't win so you have a damn good chance) and then we have
to hunt you down and let you know that you're going to AX this year on us.

Enough news.

THE SCHEDULE:

5:00 Kaleidostar - Ep 1 : I have no idea, but I hope it doesn't involve
those little girls with the big heads and the sand in their brains.
5:25 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 28 : Tsukushi Goes To Canada!

5 Minute Break : Just enough time to spray febreeze on that guy next to
you who kinda smells like octopus.

5:55 Patlabor - Ep 3 : We're Special Vehicles, Section 2
6:20 Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water - Ep 28 : The Floating Islan

5 Minute Break : Does anyone remember last years trivia question about
King's most prominent feature?

6:50 Inuyasha - Ep 53 : Father's Mortal Enemy! Ryuukoytsusei!
7:15 Haibane Renmei - Ep 3 : The Temple - Lecture - Pancakes

7:45 BIG BREAK : Go get some food or hang out and get to know your
neighbors, or both? I'm thinking of starting a food run to Kona's or
something, anyone interested? Preferably someone with a car?

8:15 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 3 : Nyamo - Factional Rivalry - Yukari Showed Up
- It's Not My Problem - Through Thick And Thin
8:40 Noir - Ep 3 : Assassin's Game

5 Minute Break : I never knew the story of high school girls in Japan was
so... cracked out.

9:10 Hellsing - Ep 3 : Sword Dancer
9:35 Crest of the Stars - Ep 3 : Daughter of Love

That's All Folks!















Let's talk about something real, shall we? Like the worm in my roomates
head that we named Roy Allen. Here we go!

It's hard to determine what this thing is in my roomates head, but I'll
give it a shot. Well, I'll try to keep this description timid, but be
warned that the reality hiding behind these soft words is so horrid, that
one would shriek in terror at the very memory of such a sight. Ahem. Let
us begin.

My roomate (of which there are many and have been many over the years)
came to me with a large towel folded and held against this forehead. Not
taking any particular attention to it I continued to fix his computer (god
I hate my life) and attempted small talk. Eventually I had to ask about
what was underneath the towel, a move I would later regret as I would be
unable to sleep soundly for a week.

I was asked not to overeact or scream and then the towel was removed. In
plain sight, just left of the center of his forehead was an object. There
is hardly sufficient time to describe the sheer terror of this white,
solid, multi-faceted horn protruding from his temple. My mouth agape I
slowly shifted positions to better view it from multiple angles.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

Well, I did want to say yes, but then what would have happened if he did
perish? I would have to do something.

"Pull it out. I'll get a wrench."

"No! I'm not pulling it out, are you crazy? There's a hole in my head!"

"Well, there's actually something sticking out of the hole in your head.
Pull it out, it'll heal."

"No. You were bit by a spider once, right? Did this happen to you?"

I shouldn't have laughed, but I couldn't help it as I replied.

"Fuck no. I was bit by a black widow on my shin and that messed me up, but
not like that."

"What should I do?"

"Pull it out. I mean, it might hurt a bit but it's better then letting it
grow."

I cannot recall what happened immediately after that, however, he did go
see a doctor. Two, in fact. First he waiting 24 hours and went to the
Health Center here on campus where a doctor told him he had very little
time left and that there was nothing he could do to stop his immediate
shuffling off of this mortal coil (I kid you not. The doctor was the same
one I had when I got bit by a spider and he's a complete f***).

The doctor then recommended he visit an emergency room, which my roomate
did after much woe and sorrow given to him by his current predicament of
brain tumor/worm/fever and/or alien implant. Upon arriving at a REAL
hospital, the doctors grabbed his head, leaned him back and with tweazers
performed a "plucking" motion which resulted in a most interesting "pop"
sound being heard within his head. A band-aid was applied, then they asked
if he had his Tetris shot. He said, what? Oh, sorry-Tetanus.

The nurse, playful with her patient threw him stomach first on a
table, and skillfully produced a medium-sized needle attached to near
half-a-liter of fluid, all of which was injected in my roomate's rear end.
They then asked him to leave and not return unless more worms were
growing, in which case they planned to gather their silk and start a
company.

Okay, I hope that distracted you long enough so that you wouldn't realize
I'm in a most delirious state of hunger right now. I could really, really
go for one of those "lunch" things.

You guys ever use this website? It's pretty bad-ass, especially since I'm
an engineer (no ability to spell):

www.dictionary.com

Hmm... well. Yeah, I've got a few links here I'd like to show you guys but
I don't feel like explaining any of them this week so expect some good
stuff in the next newsletter.

Also, expect a lot less story in the next newsletter. I just wanted to try
changing it up and felt like being creative 'n stuff. Not creative like "I
like to break pottery then color it pretty colors!" but creative like "how
many ways can I throw this pencil at my monitor and have it bounce back to
me?" As Cobain once sang, "maybe I'm dumb."

Here is where I whore out my own agenda:
Here's a casting call for anyone out there with a GBA/GBASP or
will have one by the beginning of next year. I'm looking to gather a party
of rough adventurers for RPG'ing weekly in Crystal Chronicles. Also,
you'll need to own a TV and a house. I don't have either. I do, however,
have a GC and will be in possession of... wait a second.

Why don't we just make a club and play in the Silo or something? Hell
yeah!

Ten foot tall monsters sucking on a fireball, ahhh... nothing could be
sweeter, except maybe sugar. Lots of sugar.

How long has this letter become? Oh-one last note! If you're still reading
this then good for you, I'm impressed. I'd be bored by the end of the
story and just give up. However, someone asked me about my 'blog. I
mentioned it last week and forgot to include a link (perhaps forget is a
lie, but still-I didn't think anyone would actually ask for it). Here it
is, in all it's glory.

sloaero.blogspot.com

That covers my trip to Japan, my ability to see
demon-nightmare-type-horses, some sherpa's on Everast (or it will when I
get my next post on there up), and all sorts of just stupid stuff that
happens in my life. Interesting? Funny? Romantic? Well, definitely not
romantic. As Cage once said, "...because I am lonely. So very lonely." But
hopefully funny/interesting and informative about Japan and all the pretty
sights and all the things your friends could possibly to do you so that
you are stranded 5000 miles from home, in a completely foreign culture,
without the knowledge of the usage of their facilities.

Okay, time to end this letter. My fingers are tired. Well, actually I need
to go solve the pressure distribution over a Tangent-Ogive section
nosecone at multiple Mach #s with various calibers and for slightly
modified geometry.

OH! Yes, one last link then I will leave you alone for a week, I swear.

www.bubbahotep.com

I love Bruce Cambell, and this... this is genius! The Oscars must finally
recognize one of the greatest unknown actors of our time. I recommend the
"king size" trailor, by the way.

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna no Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MnA] Sat, Oct 18 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Oct 15 14:02:41 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!



Of course-the news, the schedule, and the rant, right? Of course, unless I
made some stupid choices about time management and only have time right
now for the News and the Schedule? Perhaps some guest commentary?

But, and here's the but-if one of my fellow officers sends me their rant
I'll have to ship to all of you as a second newsletter. I hope you don't
mind receiving two times the mail from us this week as you normally do,
but on the bright side you get to hear someone other than me talk. And I
guarantee you that I'm a lot more vulgar than my counterparts-meaning the
guest rant/commentary would probably have nothing at all to do with the
worms coming out of my roomates head, or how to use a Japanese toilet, or
even the logistics of building the MnA catapult to launch rival club
members at Open House.

So without further ado, lets talk news.

NEWS:

As far as I know, we're still trying our 'experimental' schedule. People
are enjoying the 30 minute break for dinner and we feel that once we all
get accustomed to a 5 minute break things will just feel right. We hope so
anyway, and if you don't like the way things are then let us know soon.

Halloween? Yes, our super-dooper, Mega-big, Gianto-strongu Halloween
Meeting is slowly approaching. In case you haven't heard, there will be a
Trivia contest (jeopardy style this year! Wao!), GuiltyGearX2 tournie, DDR
room, viewing room, CosPlay contest, and of course-prizes for competing in
these fun contest.

Weird aspect to the halloween meeting this year? I believe homecoming is
kicking us out of the Silo on Nov. 1 (the perfect day for our meeting!
Nooo!), and letting us back in on November 8.

Good aspects of that? You get one more week to make a costume! And if you
need the help I need the friends... sniff snif... so lonely...

Another good aspect? I think we're currently the holders of one
reservation of a tatami room in the back of Tsurugis for a Minna No Anime
Tsurugi-dinner/lunch trip. We've traditionally been able to fit around 16
people in that room, I think. It get crowded the more people just crash
our dinner party, so please sign up early and get yourself a seat!! And,
if you're new to the club this is a great way to get to know some of us
who have been around and spent more money on anime VHS then you will spend
on your entire college tuition.

And my favorite part of the Tsurugi dinner... THE WASABI CHALLENGE. Is it
wrong? Yeah. Does it burn like no other? Yeah. Did I cry? Like a baby. I
walked away the proud winner, holding two wind-up things (one shaped like
a monkey that flipped and the other moving sushi which I almost ate one
night). The Wasabi challenge, mind you, is not for the faint of heart. It
involves ordering Wasabi rolls, and placing Wasabi ON the wasabi rolls.
Then, without the aid of anything other than your sheer will power you
must eat them. Sure, it may sound painful. Sure, maybe you've had wasabi
on your sushi before, or maybe you thought it was green tea ice cream, but
this is the extract of the extract of pure nostril-burning pain. It has
been diluted and purified for your un-enjoyment. So, those looking to
de-throne me, come. I accept all challengers except Paul. Paul's not
human.



THE SCHEDULE:


5:00 Fansub O': I think I smell Macross on the wind. No, wait-that's F3.
5:25 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 29 : His Warmth

5 Minute Break : Enjoy the last minutes of autumn sunlight.

5:55 Patlabor - Ep 4 : Head To The Evil Mountain!
6:20 Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water - Ep 29 : King Vs. King

5 Minute Break : Did you remember to wear deoderant?

6:50 Inuyasha - Ep 54 : Tessaiga's Ultimate
7:15 Haibane Renmei - Ep 4 : Garbage Day - Clock Tower - Birds That Fly
Over The Wall

7:45 BIG BREAK : Get dinner, meet people (it is a club after all), enjoy
some music vids or redvsblue. We'll try to find at least one thing to
entertain you.

8:15 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 4 : A Fun Job - Pool Pool Pool - Ribbon - Just
The Two Of Us - A Good Person?
8:40 Noir - Ep 4 : Sound Of The Waves

5 Minute Break : Oh, in case you are all wondering. My roomate is fine.
The worm was removed from his skull (worm? Well, it was something) and
he's healing pretty well.

9:10 Hellsing - Ep 4 : Innocent as a Human
9:35 Crest Of The Stars - Ep 4 : Surprise Attack


That's All Folks!!!



















(There will either be a rant arriving later this week, or perhaps I should
just double up on the rant next week and really let you guys know who I
think needs their head chopped off by Ninjas.

Mind you, these would be really cool ninjas.)

[MnA] Sat, Oct 25 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Oct 22 14:47:31 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san,

As usual, the news is followed by the schedule. This week, however, we are
returning to our usual "news/schedule/rant" where I get to talk you people
about whatever is crossing my mind. OOh, this week is a special treat
because I've been pretty high on cough syrup. Well then, let's get
started.


NEWS:

On November 8, we will be hosting our big-ass Halloween party-meeting
thing. We expect some support from and members to show up from the
Atascadero Japanese Animation Society (despite the fancy name I think
there are only like 5 guys in it-at least that's all I've ever seen).
They'll be around doing the contests just like everyone else, and you'll
recognize them because you'll never have seen them before and they'll have
some pretty good costumes.

The contests that we're holding are going to be a GuiltyGearXX tournament,
a Trivia Contest, there's going to be some rounds of Lee's Anime Eyes
contest, I'm not sure if the DDR room is holding a contest, and of course
our big one-the CosPlay Contest. Yes, oh yes. You need to participate in a
few (3 I think?) in order to win our "GRAND PRIZE" which is always
something really nice. Previous years have had prizes such as tickets to a
convention and some spending cash when you're there. Pretty good for
dressing up like Kenshin, huh?

The week before our big halloween party, during halloween weekend we're
going out to Tsurugi as a club. That's right, we've reserved the back room
(the tatami room with rice-paper sliding walls 'n everything!) for up to
16 people. If there's still room on the signup sheet this Saturday then
get your name on there! You can't miss one of our few out-of-club
activities, and you especially can't miss the WASABI CHALLENGE. That is, I
think, my favorite part of the Tsurugi outings.

Uf.. even more news! This is more current than both of those.

Minna No Anime Members Mailing List? Yes, that's right. We've sold out and
made a yahoogroups mailing list for all you lovely people. Please, please
sign up so I have someone to talk to via e-mail besides the MnA officers
(dreadfully boring conversations about sandwhiches).

So, if you want to join in on our conversation and whatnot here's the
address to send a letter to:

MNAMembers-subscribe@<removed for spam reasons>

Okay, and the final, final last finally last piece of news.

We, the officers, are either a) dumb or b) too smart. We've got some
trivia questions (by some I mean we've got more than you could shake a
stick at) and are looking for more. So, we're offering YOU the chance to
make trivia questions. How does this benefit you? Well--you make a trivia
question - you send it to us - we like it - we use it - you sign up for
the trivia contest - your question comes up - you just earned 100 points
or more. Yes, is it cheating? No. The odds of your question coming up
while you're on the board are very small. And if everyone sent in a
question on two then the playing field would be even.

Oh, and some people seem intimidated by our bad-ass trivia contest. Let me
tell you right now, and this is from personal experience having hosted
this before: The person sitting next to you is not smarter than you are,
unless it is Dylan or I. Dylan is off learning how to be a Navy Nuclear
Engineer or something, and I'm hosting this. Therefore-the person sitting
next to you is not, and I'll repeat this because I don't think you
understand me yet-NOT smarter than you.

Example? Sure-here are some questions I remember being answer incorrectly
last year:

In Macross/Robotech who did Hikaru/Rick Hunter look up and call his
sempai/older brother?
Correct Answer: Roy Fokker
Answer given by Contestant: Minmei?

In Trigun, what is the bounty on Vash?
Correct Answer : $$ 60,000,000,000
Answer given by contestant: The Humanoid Typhoon! Wait... no!

See what I mean? The person sitting next to you is not smarter than you,
and they never will be. Now send me some questions you'd like put into
this years contest (nothing is too simple and nothing is too hard). Either
respond to this and e-mail me here or find me on Saturday and hand me your
questions in person. Remember, your questions may be altered since we're
trying to do a Jeopardy style game this year-and that means your answer
must be in the form of a question.

The Schedule!

5:00 Fansub O' : You know. I never really have a clue as to what we're
showing in this time slot. I only wish to see that Trava Fist Planet of
Doom thing again.
5:25 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 30 : Wanna Be Friends?

5 minute Break : Should I put the HYD titles in english or nihongo? Either
way they never make sense to me.

5:55 Patlabor - Ep 5 : Rampaging Labor X-10
6:20 Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water - Ep 30 : The Underground Labyrinth

5 minute Break : The wacky-silly part of Nadia is nearly over. Sniff. Good
times, good times.

6:50 Inuyasha - Ep 55 : Flower Stones and Shippo's First Love
7:15 Haibane Renmei - Ep 5 : Library - Abandoned Plant - The Beginning of
the World

7:45 BIG BREAK : Get some dinner. Get something to drink. Get some fresh
air. Sign up for contests, and think of a winning costume (Senorita
Grandis would get my vote and my unwanted affection-of course, so would
Nausicaa).

8:15 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 5 : Summer Holidays - Welcome to Chiyo's Room -
Invitation - An Experienced Person's Tales - It's All Too Much (phew!)
8:40 Noir - Ep 5 : Les Soldats

5 minute Break : I swear, Azumanga is some sort of illegal crack.

9:10 Hellsing - Ep 5 : Brotherhood
9:35 Crest Of The Stars - Ep 5 : The Battle of Gosroth

That's all folks!


















Ouch. I'm sick. Not just sick like, "oh jeez, poor baby." No, I'm sick
like "Zombie! Run!!" Yes, perhaps the T-virus vaccination shots I took are
taking effect? Who knows.

Either way, I ache. I've got a fever. My chest hurts from coughing so
much, and so does my back. I pray that none of you picked this up from me
last saturday. Of course, that's not help for this Saturday when I'll be
in the Silo with all of you again. At least on the bright side as of today
I'm kicking this things ass. I'm nearly over it from what I can tell.
These have got to be the last 24 hours that I'll be sick. Yeah! That puts
me in slightly under a week. Ugghh.

You listen to Radiohead much? No? Oh, well-check them out sometime. Just
not Kid A. That's just a weird album concept.

So it has recently come to my attention that people are beginning to doubt
my encounter with the undead over by the house of Josho. I tell you this
now, and I tell you this in earnest-if she was not undead then she was
soon to become a ghoul. I had no choice but to dispatch her to the best of
my abilities. It was messy, sure. And maybe the cleanup sucked. But when
you're dealing with the undead, nothing's ever easy.

Switching gears.

Anyone seen the second Battle Royal yet? I was in Japan and was planning
on watching it but stuff came up and I didn't get a chance to see it.
Actually, the truth is I got lost in the neighborhood around my hotel and
walked around in circles for 2 hours before finally finding my way back
via underground passages and subways.

The first Battle Royal(e?) was just amazing. I loooved it. There's all
this stuff going on and underneath there is this sort of message to the
entire film of "if you think you're worth it then go for it." Of course,
most people can't get past the violence (and there is a lot of) in this
film, but if you can then you've got a chance of seeing what is really
underneath it.

So yeah. I've seen trailers for the second BR movie. WOW. So I guess
instead of losing army guys they're taking the classes now and sending
them out after Shuya and his magnificent 7 or something. The little girl
with the teddy bear is back in the sequel (the one who was there right in
the beginning of the first film) and there are some other people of
interest. Most importantly-I didn't see what's-her-name in the trailer for
the sequel (Nanahara? No, that's Nanahara Shuya... what's that girl's
name-No.. Nobuu... something). Second, Kitano's daughter is in this years
class. Weird? Yes, but she's apparently bad-ass. I mean, she is Kitano's
daughter after all. Oh, and there's this really hot chic with a sniper
rifle. Or maybe it was a guy, but he looked like a hot chic in the few
seconds of trailer footage. So... I'm just going to keep my hopes up for
that one.

Moving on. You have free time, don't you? You're very, very lucky. I
remember free time. I even seem to have some on weekends every now and
again. Mostly I'm studying or something. Late and night into the early
morning I'm working and working.. and then-BLAM. It's saturday. I take the
day off and enjoy minna. And then, just like a dream-it's over and back I
go to the slave-mines of Grad School. Or at least, trying to be grad
school. I realized pretty much everything depends on how well I do in
classes this quarter. Wow. That's a lot of responsability on my shoulders
considering I'm taking 18 units, 8 of which are in two classes that
probably two of the most difficult I've ever taken.

Math 501: Overview of what we've learned so far. Fourier Series (review
for me) with applications. Fourier Integral and Transform with
applications. Sterm-Liouville Problems in solutions for PDEs. Galerkin's
method for approximating flutter solutions to PDEs of aircraft skins in
flow. Yes, 5 feeks are down... five to go. Midterm next week, another
project soon to hit the table. And of course, more topics to learn.
Oh-wait, forgot the separation of variables techniques (multiple) that we
learned. So yeah, it's been a pretty hectic class.

Aero 521: Missile and Reentry Vehicle Aerodynamics. Need I say more?
Well-if you know nothing of aerodynamics know this--it's not easy. If you
do know something of aerodynamics know this -- it's not easy. Yes. That's
about all I can say about that.

Am I done bitching about my life yet? No. I have one last, final thing to
say about the crappiness of existance for people such as me : The job
market sucks right now. Even if I did graduate I'd have to fight for a job
only to be fired in a few months anyway. Maybe I should just start a
clothing line inspired by the fact that college students don't change
their clothes very often?

Yeah, that'd be great. Except that the entire line would be nothing more
thant white t-shirts and pants. And nothing would make them special to
wear for three days. Maybe built-in deoderant? But that would eventually
run out, I guess.

Hey-I've got it. I'll sell my kidney. Then clone myself. Then do it again,
and again, and again! Yes-I'm sure people need kidneys! Is cloning
illegal? Can I clone myself in Canada or Mexico? Maybe Russia. But I don't
speak Russian. I'd like to learn, but I'd have to learn how to speak Mat
also. Mat is the russian language of swearing, in case you didn't know
(don't I sound all intellectual-really I'm just high on cough syrup and
don't know what to talk about and my fingers wont stop hitting keys).

Hey, so-if a million monkeys were on a million typewriters and they were
typing for all time, wouldn't one eventually type out Hamlet? And wouldn't
one eventually type out the series of events known to us as reality? I
mean, a script for reality. Not improbable, right? So-somewhere right now,
in our infinite universe of infinite possibility, there is a monkey-on a
typewriter, writing down that I'm writing this down. It kinda blows your
mind. Well, after you've had as much dextromethorphan hydrobromide as I
have in the last 24 hours... well... woo!

Yes. Woo. Hey you think John Woo introduces himself as, "Woo. John Woo?"
Okay, I think its time to bust out the AirSoft gun and start shooting at
things. No, not the cat. I'm afraid of it's owner, my roomate, the scary
one... she'll kick my ass. No, I think I'll shoot things like this old
Pac-Man tin or maybe some empty soda cans or... old manga I don't want
anymore? Nah. I think I'll just give those away sometime. Do a mini-raffle
or something. OOh, that actually sounds like a good idea. Door prizes via
a raffle at the Halloeen Party? Yeah-I think I'll ask the other officers
about that.

Because I know that while many of you will CosPlay I know that even more
of you will not (because you are laaame!!! or busy?) and I feel sad
letting you leave without a chance at winning something. Well, it'll be
more than just stuff we dont' want anymore. If we do the raffle/door-prize
thing then it will probably be new stuff-but Manga does sound like a good
idea for raffle prizes. Maybe even give away a DVD or two. Hmm... perhaps
this is a good idea, and perhaps the other officers will beat me down for
mentioning this in public w/o consulting them first.. hmm... Yes. Well,
we'll just have to wait and see, wont we?

Oh-and I forgot to give everyone a great link to go check out this week.
Hmm... something, related to anime this week?

www.anipike.com

It's been around a while, it's been down-but not out, and it's really,
really... well. It's just anipike.com. I've found it to be useful somedays
and I've found it to be the biggest pile of shit ever produced by the web
on other days. I recommend checking it out, though, if you've never heard
of it. It's a great way to find fansites for your favorite shows. Also, it
looks like they finally (sometime in the last two/three years?) updated
their site. But, yeah-the anipike is still the anipike. I just wish it was
a little better, more like google-but with only anime. Except that google
already returns good anime searches... hmm...



-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna no Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MnA] Sat, Nov 8 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Fri Nov  7 12:58:16 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

Okay, everything is falling into place, like a giant Tetris game. We're
near the dead line, and we Finally got that long piece that will destroy
four lines worth of blocks. Yes, oh yes. Can you hear the happy russian
music playing?

Well, as usual-the news is first. The schedule is special this week, but
you already knew that. There might be rant/more news space after I explain
to you how we're going to rock out this weekend. Or there might not, I
still have to a) think up a costume b) create this costume c) realize that
my costume sucks and think up an entirely new and 'badass' costume d)
create that costume e) realize my new 'badass' costume looks like a giant
penis and place it in my closet never to be seen by human eyes again f)
grab some duct tape, paint, electrical tape, a laser, and then make a 2.5
hour costume that everyone thinks is pretty spiffy. Phew. Okay, here we
go!

NEWS:

Okay. It's here. Finally, November 8. Our Halloween meeting!! Yeah!! We
have our Jeopardy-style trivia set up and ready to run, we have our DDR
room, our Game-contest room, and of course-the big prize--the CosPlay
contest w/ Awards being handed out immediately afterward.

Now, quite story here. I'll tell you the moral first, then the story.
Moral : DO NOT LEAVE AFTER THE COSPLAY CONTEST IF YOU ENTERED IT. The
story? Our first place "gendo" walked off because he's Gendo or something,
you know-all moody and isht. Or maybe he just thought he didn't do well?
Well, we found him next week and yeah. So, since repitition is key, Do Not
Leave After The Cosplay Contest If You Entered It.

Oh, and if you show up for the Cosplay contest in Cosplay, at least enter
the damn contest! Last year? Two years ago? I think I saw a Deedlet show
up, and then she disappeared into the wind, much like the real, er,
animated one.

So, I think this is where I plug our rooms.

We have a DDR room! Yes, I believe this is a contest, but don't quote me
on that. Either way, I will attempt to bust my mad-suckage-moves on their
DDR systems, so be there. You'll never see me do anything like this again.
Ever. Well, unless you manage to make to AX and we find a place with
Guiness.

GGXX? Why... GuiltyGearXX? Spawn of spawn of the badass fighter? Of
course, did I mention this is also a contest? Yes, and after watching
everyone's fighter game skills last weekend (pretty fighter, sailor moon
fighter) I think that anyone, literally anyone, has a decent chance of
making it to the finals. Also, maybe El Presidente will honor us and step
down from his throne to show us how the game should be played. If I
remember correctly, last time I played him at this game he kicked my ass
with one hand, on an upside down turned around controller.

Of course, there's still rumor of Lee's eyes game, but I'm not sure where
this has started? So, we may have this and if we do let me explain it to
you. First off, its one of the most fun contests we have. Second off,
everyone is in the same handbasket when it comes to this game. The game
runs like this, Lee comes to the front of the room, points at all of you
and laughs at your pity human brains, then the game begins. An eye is
projected on the screen, or normally 2 actually. Everyone sits at their
buzzers stupified. The picture widens a little, and now you can see some
cheek or eyebrow, or maybe a fluff of hair. Still confusion. Finally the
picture widens enough to give the answer away to anyone who has ever seen
this character. People buzz in. Sometimes, and this is rare-people buzz in
on the first picture. Sometimes wrong, but mostly right when they do. I
mean, c'mon-how hard was it to guess that eye belonged to Sharon Apple? Of
course, that one guy from Gekiganger was pretty hard.

Oh yeah, there's a trivia room. Is it badass? Yeah. Is it too late to sign
up? Probably not. This years trivia will involve a jeopardy style
video-gameboard with buzzers (oooh, we're almost professional) and of
course-lots and lots of anime questions. We've gotten a good response of
questions from members, so expect to see one/two of your questions or
maybe more depending on how many you sent in. Also, as I mentioned
previously-the person sitting next to you is not very smart.

So, if you like direct competition then the GGXX and DDR rooms are going
to be where its at for you, otherwise our multi-player (up to 12? Probably
only accept 8-10 a round) Eyes/Trivia games are going to rock your world.

Okay, and finally. The Cosplay and Pumpkin contest! Yes, we will judge
you. No, we're not mean little schoolyard kids. Well, El Vice Presidente
is, sorta, but the rest of us are pretty nice guys/girls. Mind you-one or
the other, not both. Back to the topic? Pumpkin carving contest! Yes,
never too late to sign up for that either. If suddenly inspiration strikes
you at 3am tonight and you run out to a local pumpkin patch and return
with a pumpkin and some barb-wire scars, then feel free to carve the
coolest design (anime related?) ever and bring it in! I'm carving Gema, or
was it Black Gema Gema? I can never tell.

Okay. Uf. Finally the CosPlay contest? Yes. It will, as tradition
mandates, take place in the Silo-where we normally have our meetings.
Also, during all the other contests the Silo will be hosting spooky, scary
anime! Or something like that, we hope.

So there is your explanation of the night. In brief. A very large brief
actually. Man, that reminds me of this time in Ross that we found this
giant pair of boxers and then started laughing 'cause we were just talking
about windsocks. Then we realized that, like an iceberg, we'd only found
the tip of the shorts-there was an entire other leg waiting to be
discovered. Cavernous I tell you, cavernous.

So, yes-here is our basic schedule of the night (so you know when to show
up!!):

THE SCHEDULE:

~3:00pm - DDR Mania begins. Why early in the night? So you're not tired
from carrying around that damn 10' sword of yours that is part of your
costume. Lasting an hour and a half, think you can last a few round and
make it to the finals? Think you can still stand by the time the finals
roll around?

~4:30pm - The Trivia Preliminaries. Yes, a few rounds of jeopardy between
friends? We'll get the finalists from the rounds we play here.

~6:00pm - We're thinking Eyes Preliminaries. If you can make it through
here, then you're gonna have a lot of fun/anguish in the finals (but
aren't fun and anguish the same thing Gendo?).

~7:00pm - GGXX. The one. The only. The game tournament. Is it going to
kick ass? Hell yeah. Is it going to kick your ass? Only time will tell...
only time will tell.

~8:30pm - Trivia Finals. If you've made this far then obviously the guy
next to you wasn't smarter than you. However, now you're in finals-where
only the knowledge gained from eating the brain of someone smart can help
you.

~9:30pm - Eyes Finals. Oh boy are you gonna stumped. If its half as
obscure as it was last year only one man I know could recognize these
eyes-and that's the guy who made the contest.

10:00pm - Judging for Costumes and Pumpkins!! Finally. The grand finale of
the night. We line you up, we vote, we find our finalists, you three take
it outside and duke it out while we vote for you, then we call you back in
and have everyone sit around remembering good times while we tally votes
and scores in the contests and find our grand-prize winner.

Grand prize this year? I think, and I'm sorry for not being sure right at
this moment-but I am pretty sure we're looking at one, maybe two tickets
to Anime Expo or FAnime. ::insert wicked laugh:: You have no idea what we
had to do to people to get those.

Of course, the fine print: You have to be a club member to win the grand
prize ($2/quarter, $5/year). You have to enter at least 2 other contests
beside the CosPlay contest. No, you don't have to kick major ass in
everything you enter (I think that's a bit impossible to DDR in a gundam
cardboard outfit), but think of this as the beauty contest among
anime-fans. There's the swimsuit competition, the talent competition, the
BS competition, only here its the CosPlay, GGXX, and Trivia contests.

If anyone has questions regarding this Saturday's mega-meeting go ahead
and shoot and e-mail right back here and I'll try and respond as I finish
making gameboards for the uber-badass trivia contest.

Oh-yes.


Prizes? Besides grand prize there will be a prize for each respective
contest, and a few more here and there. You'll just have to show up to
find out what you can win. ^_^


-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna No Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MnA] Sat. Nov 8 Extra Notes

(Minna No Anime, Fri Nov  7 13:04:49 2003)
Okay, I forgot a few things.

Food:

We have cheap, CHEAP prices on some pizza. ASI decided they'd help fund us
for some food and we figured we'd count their cash as your cash and that
way you'd bring less cash and use less cash for the same thing which costs
the ... The pizza is cheap. We're looking about $1/slice or $2 for 2
slices and a drink! Best deal in town? Hell yeah it is.

Viewing room:

In case you're in some downtime, or just not feeling up to posing for more
pictures in your costume then have a seat in the Silo. We'll be in the
rooms surrounding the Silo for all the contests, leaving the Silo free to
be showing spooky, scary anime the entire night!!

I think we've made a tradition of showing that one movie.. uhm... uh...
vampire girl... sword... killings... Uhm... !!!! Blade? Something like
that. Blood! Not blade, that's Wesley Snipes. Ha ha... ooh. Was I wrong.

Okay, that is all. Enjoy the meeting this Saturday! And enter the
contests, you will enjoy them-trust me. I know from personal experience,
and from watching the laughter of someone who sucks at DDR slowly fall
onto their opponent, thereby destroying both their scores.

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna No Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

Halloween, one last thing (really this is the last one...)

(Minna No Anime, Fri Nov  7 16:41:26 2003)
Hey everyone,

Jamshid forgot to mention one small thig in his last two e-mails...

We'll start the party at 2:00
Again, we start at 2, even though the first competition
is at 3:00.

We want you all to show up a little early so that I can fill you in on all
the rules and what-not.

If you plan on participating in ANYTHING, please show up around 2:00 or
2:30.

-Nik
President, Minna No Anime

MNA 11/15/03

(Minna No Anime, Fri Nov 14 22:39:42 2003)
Hey MNA members!

Our secretary K has been late with the e-mail this week so I'm gonna do it
(even though it's friday night).

First, if you're interested in joining our MNA members mailing list send
an e-mail to...MNAMembers-subscribe@<removed for spam reasons>

We have interesting anime related conversations via this mailing list, so
if you feel like discussing stuff along with us and other ex-members like
the notorious Dylan Hall, then join the list.

Now for the schedule...

5:00- Sakigake Cromartie Highschool (Eps 1 & 2)
5:25- Hana Yori Dango ep.31

5 min break

5:55- Patlabor ep.6
6:20- Nadia ep. 31

5 min break

6:50- Inuyasha ep.56
7:15- Haibane Renmei ep. 5

Big-Ass 30 minute break

8:15 Azumanga Daioh ep. 6
8:40 Noir ep. 6

5 min break

9:10 Hellsing ep. 6
9:35 Crest of the Stars ep. 6

Normally K would insert a random rant here, but since boring old me is
doing the mail, there will be no rant this week.

-Nik
President, Minna No Anime

P.S. Check out the website (www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub) for pictures from
halloween!

[MnA] Sat, Nov. 22 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Wed Nov 19 15:58:31 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

Ah yes, the "weekly" newsletter. Well, mostly. Here we go with the
standard format; news, followed by the schedule, followed once again by a
blurb-of-somewhat-unbelievable-length.

The NEWS:

Room Change? No, not permanent-or even for the entire night. The first 1-2
hours of club we may be in room 112, right around the corner from where we
normally meet. I believe, room 112 was either the Trivia room or the
Gaming room for our Halloween contest, so if you were there for halloween
you know where to look. If not, then come up to the Silo from the bottom
doors and then turn toward the bathrooms and walk past them. I'm sure
you'll hear/see us.

The library! Yes, our librarian has an e-mail address in case you need to
get ahold of some tapes for the upcoming thanksgiving break, or winter
break. Just shoot a letter over to:

mnalibrary@<removed for spam reasons>

And you can check the website for what is in the library currently, and
feel free to make suggustions for what you might want in the library (any
suggustions for MKR and I will personally hunt you down atomic-elbow your
head so far into your chest that...)

Okay, but what about before Saturday? You can't wait that long to see my
pictio-master-nary-ing? Then have we got something for you, a Pictionary
Party at Ben's place. Will it be tame? Sure. Will it be wild? Once I get
my head-butt rampage going, sure. Will it so damn fun we'll be talking
about it on Saturday? Yes, for weeks.

So don't miss out, come and join us for some Pictionary and some chill
hang-out time. Drinks/Snacks will be provided by both those of us over and
underage for those both over and underage, so we're definitely not
pressuring anyone into anything (except for drawing silly pictures on
paper). Oh yeah, it's at Ben's place.

Directions? They are on the club webpage : www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub
But if you don't trust them I guess you could use rand-mcnally or
yahoomaps or whatever, here's his actual address:

2374 Flora St.
San Luis Obispo

Mind you, I think his directions are a little whack. Not like
whack-a-mole, but like whack-on-crack.

Oh jeez, how could I forget this 'till last? T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST!! I
believe on the web page there are rules for the contest, but in brief we
generally want something that looks bad-ass, doesn't break any copyright
rules, and is original artwork. I think there are some rules for color
limitations and the date all designs will be put in front of the club and
voted on by everyone.

Also, the winner gets something nice every year. You get a free T-shirt,
and the respect of your fellow club members.


THE SCHEDULE:

5:00 Fansub O' : If I had my way we'd be watching Blizzard cutscenes.
5:25 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 32 : Doumyouji... don't come?

5 Min. Break : Laugh, it's good for you. Too bad it's not good for that
guy you're laughing at.

5:55 Patlabor - Ep 7 : Model 97's New Replacement
6:20 Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water - Ep 32 : Nadia's Lover

5 Min. Break : This one time... at band camp... I smoked opium while
watching GITS, and it all made sense.

6:50 Inuyasha - Ep 57 : Everything about the night at the Dougenkyo - Part
1
7:15 Haibane Renmei - Ep 6 : End of summer - Rain - Loss

30 Min. Break : Get some dinner. Enjoy some company. Say hi to your
teammates from Pictionary, and laugh at the losing team again.

8:15 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 7 : Fairy Class - Man Of Character - Let's Go! -
Mascot Rival
8:40 Noir - Ep 7 : Black Thread Of Fate

5 Min. Break : I wonder if I'll get to draw a catapult in Pictionary.

9:10 Hellsing - Ep 7 : Duel
9:35 Crest Of The Stars - Ep 7 : Fortunate Revolt

That's All Folks!















Not much rantage this week. I'm helping my roomie and some others with
various engineering crap this week. They have a presentation at Boeing
this Friday and I hope they pull together and do well.

Otherwise, I'm just trying to finish my damn Math work so I can enjoy
Friday night without feeling guilty for taking the night off. It looks
like I've been added to the MnAmembers list, which is a good thing-I was
planning on signing up for it eventually but kept forgetting.

Hey, any of you listen to KCPR? We're having an Auction right now. Just
tune into 91.3 between 9am-5pm. I just won a Tattoo. ^_^ Maybe I should
let the future of a small patch of my skin rest in the hands of Minna?
Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea... no wait, it sounds like a
horrible idea. But that's never stopped me before.

Okay. Well, if I get the resolve to do this, then it will probably break
down like this : You give me a design, I put said design on my body, I
show said design to parents (who currently have no idea I'm even thinking
of getting a tattoo), and then I save the world from the evil machines who
came back in time from the future (thanks to your tattoo design).

Of course, maybe I'll just figure out my own design. I mean, if you said I
should put a spider on my face and I did... well, that would suck.

Well, I guess I'll see you all down at Ben's place on Friday night for
some Pictionary? Check the news up at the beginning for his address, or
just visit the web page and get directions.

You know what? Recently I started reading "A Heartbreaking Work Of
Staggering Genius," and all I can say is that it is exactly what the title
says it is. This may be one of the only books I've ever bought a spare
copy of just so that I could loan it to friends and force them to read it.

So what's the book about? Well, I haven't finished it yet but I can give
you a brief overview. It's amazing how this guy writes, and how his
emotions are directly translated into you. He's going through this period
in his life where both his parents have died of cancer five months apart
and he is no in charge of raising his little brother. This isn't some
"chicken soup" story or anything, there is a lot of pain and very little
of 'moral of the story' type feeling when you're reading this. I mean,
he's just a twenty-something who comes out to Berkeley to try and raise
his kid brother, and his digressings and musings and ability to write to
anyone who's ever felt any sort of helplessness or joy or any sort of
extreme emotion.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox. But if I were you I'd check it out. It made
it to the Pulitzer finals, but someone else walked away with the big prize
that year.

Well then. I must be going now, I believe there are locusts invading our
backyard. I've got quite a bug-crushing job ahead of me. Oh, no... nooo!
Its the earwigs! Fuck! Did we tell you about the grandiose war between the
five of us (the Atomic Penta-Circle Of Power And Doom!) and the EARWIGS
(death and decay in bug form) last winter?

Damn... I thought we'd wiped them out. Okay, well-think of it this way.
What are the odds, the statistical odds of finding an Albino Earwig? Okay,
well we saw two last year within two weeks of each other. Of course, there
were earwigs everywhere, everywhere, everywhere you could think of. Wake
up in the morning, they fall out of your alarm clock. Turn on your
computer, they fetched your keyboard. Cook dinner, set the table for
five-million.

Only this year... they have those damn roly-poly things with them. It's an
alliance. An eeeevil alliance. I'll keep you guys updated weekly on this
conflict here on Tassajara. Hopefully we'll be able to throw them out
again. Remember the Alamo!!

Oh, and yes-December 17th. Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King is
out. It is also the centennial of flight, 100 years exactly to the day
when man first displayed powered flight. So you have 2 reasons to party,
which are both less than a month away!

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-MnA Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub

[MNA] Fri, Nov 20 Pictionary Event

(Minna No Anime, Thu Nov 20 21:45:22 2003)
Minna,

I wanted to give everybody one last reminder about the Pictionary Event to
be held at my house tomorrow evening.

We at Minna no Anime like to think of this club as a social club; a good
place to meet some great friends with the same interests as yourself.  And
that is what tomorrow night is all about.

So come on by and join us for a good game of Pictionary and get to know
the other members in the club!  Help out by bringing a snackfood or two,
and we'll see what we can do about getting pizza.  I was talking with Mike
today about getting one of those 30" pizzas from the new place that just
opened up.  Heck, it's worth it just to see how huge this thing is if you
haven't seen one yet!

People will start showing up at 6 and hopefully the game will start by 7.
Instructions on how to get to my place are on the website:
http://www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub  .  If you need a ride or something, I
suggest sending an email to the member's list.  I'm sure we can
accomodate.

Hope see you all tomorrow!

-Ben

[MnA] Sat, Dec. 6 Meeting

(Minna No Anime, Thu Dec  4 04:06:02 2003)
Konnichiwa Minna-san!

I hope you all enjoyed thanksgiving, whether it was time spent with family
or time off from work/school. Hell, even if you worked that night I hope
you at least enjoyed that much.

NEWS:

Last meeting of the quarter is this saturday. I guess that's the most
important piece of news, really. As is our tradition, we will have a movie
in our schedule so we have to bump a few shows. There was nearly
some violent bloodshed over this, but we eventually worked out what is
going to stay on the schedule this week and what is merely going to take a
breather for a week (and the resulting four weeks of vacation immediately
thereafter).

Also, the pictionary party was a success. Of course, any party I can walk
away from I consider a success, but the fact is we had a nice turnout at
Ben's place of about... uhm... well, we had two teams of about 7 or 8
each? So something like 16 people, I guess the math works. And damn, with
that many people there I still managed to kill half that 12 pack and
coerce Rebecca into giving me a ride so we could get more. And for those
of you who didn't show up, you missed a lot of circles with squiggly lines
attached to them. More on this in the rambling/rant/review section below.

And although I don't know what the official policy is, I'm just taking a
guess that you should probably return any tapes to the library that are
currently in your possession so you can borrow the next ones over the
verrrry long break.

And there's an ONLINE TREASURE HUNT THING! On our website! Find all the
answers and one of us will reward you with a shower of anime presents! A
very short, and dry shower of anime presents. Of course, I wonder what
we'll do if you find all the wrong (really wrong) answers... I guess we
didn't think about that. Maybe we'll just corner you in an alley and
throw our old fansub tapes at you or something.

THE SCHEDULE:

5:00 Hana Yori Dango - Ep 33 : Makino Still Can't Decide!
5:25 Nadia : The Secret of Blue Water - Ep 33 : Jean writes a song. A
really, really bad song.

5 Min Break: Come as me about the pictionary party, I have gossip.

5:55 Haibane Renmei - Ep 7 : I really hope you didn't miss last weeks
episode.
6:20 Azumanga Daioh - Ep 8 : More pigtail dreams, Lupin cameo, Chiyo's
father isn't human, Sakaki riding a white horse to the rescue. No,
really-I'm not kidding with this title.

5 Min Break : Does anyone like the musical, RENT? We're thinking of going
to Vegas to see it again...

6:50 Noir - Ep 8 : Much blood was spilt to bring you this week's episode.
7:15 Hellsing - Ep 7 : Much blood was spilt in this week's episode.

30 Min Break : Dinnertime. Maybe we should organize getting a pizza or one
of those 7-footlong sandwhich things that come with steak knives so you
can eat your coffee?

8:15 Crest of the Stars - Ep 8 : No other show is this good.
8:40 Millenium Actress - Beautiful. Simply beautiful, read review below.

That's all folks!













There are two parts to this rant today. 1) the story of how I found love,
and then god laughed at me. 2) Millenium Actress 3am Review!


1) the story of how i found love, and then god laughed at me.

First off, I think I need to ask you about your Thanksgiving
day/weekend/extended weekend. So, how was it? Mmm-hmm. Oh, that's nice.
Really? I'm happy she didn't pull that trigger, then.

Well, my break? Oh, how kind of you to ask. I fell in love. Yep. Totally,
completely, head-over-heels, first-sight-at-love. Er, love-at-first-sight.
Does this mean I'm getting soft? No, it means I've found the woman I want
to spend the rest of my life with.

If perfect were a person, she would be it. Except that people can't be
perfect, such is the nature of man. And how is she not pefect? Well... I
have to somehow get past the fact that she's got a kid. And is married.

Now, I haven't met the husband. So he might be a really big guy, but I'm
assuming that you have my back if we were to get into a rumble. I mean,
who is this random guy to just step back in my timeline, find the woman
that he knows I'm going to love one day, and then marry her? The audacity
of this little-punk infuriates me.

Of course, like any good recon scout I have returned mostly-verified
information. The kid? Probably hers. Well, okay-98% chance it's hers. But
he's ugly. And not just like, "your kid looks like a fish"-ugly, but "is
that your... kid?"-ugly. Like a chihuahua on two legs, I kid you not.

And the husband thing? Well, I'm of that retarded age where I need to
start checking left hands and ring fingers when I meet women whom I might
have to lay the "anime-geek-charm" on. Guys, mind you-said "charm" has no
effect I've noted so far.

Oh yeah, so the husband thing. I didn't seeee a ring on her ring finger,
but then again-I didn't see any jewelry on her at all now that I think
about it. And as my roomate pointed out, no-I wasn't undressing her
mentally and yes-I played it cool when the kid walked up next to her and
that whole thing went down.

Now, I think the situation is almost clear enough for you to understand
how crappy this whole thing was. Now that you've got those details, let me
give you the backdrop to this whole fiasco.

This is a woman who I haven't seen in ten years, and back in the day we
used to hang out a decent amount. So, I see her at a big family
thanksgiving dinner party (no she's not my cousin, although I did have to
think about that for a while before convincing myself) and I'm just
stunned by how gorgeous she is now.

Time to move in, slowly say hi to people until I'm near her. We're like,
hey-I haven't seen you in ten years, I'm very happy to see you again. Mind
you, our dialogue is much more full of wit than this. So we're talking,
sorta (I think I was drooling, but I might have just been staring at her
open-mouthed like a moron) when this kid walks up and she calls him by his
name and picks him up. I'm like, "okay. she's holding someone else's kid.
I wonder who's kid? I know every family here except hers. well, her
parents haven't had a kid since her brother, and he's my age almost. he's
not married at all. shit. isn't not hers, is it? damn-i can't ask, that'd
be too obvious. play it cool, ask her brother."

So we kinda split, grab drinks, food, talk to other people-party stuff.
I'm hanging out with her brother and I sorta ask him, 'who's kid is that
over there?' Like you know, so it's all covert 'n shit. CIA type stuff.
His response, "well, I am an uncle ya' know."

Perhaps you've seen the Princess Bride? Remember that scene when Cary
Elwes is screaming in true pain? That's the sound of a breaking heart. Not
just one that was broken in two, or five, or a million pieces, but one
that was vaporized by the heat of an atomic bomb that exploded over the
sanctity of your happy place.

Okay. So. Well, it wasn't until after the party was over and I was still
stuck thinking about my uber-woman (she's got two eyebrows this time! I'm
so happy!) when I realized... she's got an older brother. No, I wasn't
thinking that, perverts. Maybe... just maybe, she took care of this kid
all night, nurtured it like a mother, watched over him, and ... and... and
maybe it's not hers! Maybe it's her brothers! Who didn't show up! But left
his kid with his sister who was going out to a party to look after!

Right? 'Cause then the younger brother would still be an uncle, and ...
and... I can feel hope dying as I type this.




2) Millenium Actress 3am Review!

Satoshi Kon, ever heard of him? Yeah-well you probably know his work, but
not the name. It's kinda how things are here in the states. If your name
isn't Miyazaki or Hayao then most fans don't really recognize your work.
Satoshi Kon directed an amazing psychological thriller a few years ago
known as Perfect Blue.

I know you've heard of it, or probably seen it. Well-needless to say, that
movie was excellent in its animation and use of non-linear time. Other
good examples of non-linear time in movies bring Pulp Fiction and Memento
to mind right away. Now, Satoshi Kon can work time as well as anyone on
this planet. Perfect Blue showed us this, and Millenium Actress (his
sophmore work in feature films, I believe) takes us beyond what we expect
in style, emotion, and execution.

Beyond how story is told we have all the other features of this beautiful
movie. Acting, animation, music, and an unfolding plot all come across
together and blend perfectly. The movie slips from scene to scene and
sometimes you don't even notice how seamless the integration of the entire
film is.



But you want some of the story and plot, right? Well-I will attempt to
leave spoilers out, but be warned-there may be some semi-spoilers.

About thirty years ago Japan's most famous actress disappeared and went
into hiding for unknown reasons. A reporter finally tracks her down and
secures an interview with her about her past. The movie follows her
recounting her history from why she became an actress to why she
mysteriously left one day. As the story is told we follow through
flashbacks that are woven into, with, and around her life on and off the
screen. Her on-screen flashbacks into movies she starred in begin to
reflect her real life and very quickly you'll notice that it is all one
long narrative between her reality and her films (which reflect her
reality so much that despite the changing time periods of her films the
narrative is coherant and told linearly through the periods of her life).

Okay, I think I said the same thing twice there, but I think you'll
understand it. How does the movie end? Well-I hate spoilers, but I'll try
to explain at least a little to you.

This is the same explanation I had to give my 11 year old cousin (who
didn't quite understand why time periods were shifting throughout the
film) : No, she didn't die in space you idiot.

So, if anyone thinks that anyone in this film dies in space I hereby
deputize you with the ability to smack that person. I mean, really. Once
you see the film you'll completely understand what I mean by that, and
just how confused this kid must have been to ask me that question.





Phew. Okay. Another 3am movie review under my belt! I love writing these
things instead of my lab reports; although, my lab partner is probably
going to kill me tomorrow.

Have a nice break if I don't see you this saturday! And if you're one of
those lucky enough to be an engineering student-I feel your pain. Or, more
acurately you feel my pain-a small, small tiny portion of it.

-Ahmad Jamshid "K" Amini
-Minna No Anime Secretary
-www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub