Bovril is not Bovril anymore?

Warning: This blog entry may not be suitable for extra-hard-core vegetarians since it's mainly just me babbling on about a product derived from beef extracts. Beyond that I have nothing against your diet lifestyle of choice - but that's beside the point.

Growing up, I used to enjoy a product known as Bovril, which I understand might not be familiar to everyone. It's similar to products like Marmite or Vegemite. Only it's made of beef extracts. If your country was previously colonized by Britain some time in its past when all the major world powers went mad and tried to lay claim to most of the world, you might have it in some local grocery stores. If not, perhaps it'll be in shops specializing in imported foodstuffs from Britain.

Back to where I started, I used to have this product when I was growing up. Either as spread in cheese sandwiches (toasted or plain), on plain crackers, as flavour for rice porridge or even as a nice broth by just mixing it with hot water.

Though I do like beef, I do not eat it very often. In fact, I hardly have anything resembling a beefsteak at all during the course of a year. This is because one of my parents has an allergic reaction many meats and seafoods, thus the whole family's diet follows suit. Thus I used to enjoy having Bovril for its beefiness - even if isn't really meat nor can it substitute for a piece of leather.

Suddenly, a new turning point in my life, I leave college and fly to New Zealand to live and as well as continue my studies at University. Bovril turns out to be not a particularly common product in the local supermarkets. More prolific are Vegemite and Marmite. Marmite being the local speciality, and Vegemite more Australian than Kiwi. Still, they were the major source of the salty dark pasty non-meat extracts spreads, and they are just as delicious. Once or twice I've found real imported Bovril in shops (a South African goods shop, actually) and took advantage of them. It's probably a decade now since I've really had a good taste of Bovril.

Just a few days ago, I saw one in my local supermarket. I took it off the shelf thinking it would be a nice change for a spread. Then something on the label caught my eye. 'Suitable for Vegetarians'. For a moment there I was left a bit confused. Bewildered even. Then after reading the label, my world shattered.

There's no beef in it. Not even just the extracts. I must admit though that I did not check if had any imitation beef flavouring. Bovril is now just another Vegemite or Marmite.

Now, I can only assume the worldwide Mad Cow problem we not too long ago may very well be responsible for the removal of the beef.. I might just be overreacting, but what's bothering me the most at the moment is why are they still calling it Bovril? Where's the Bovine in it?

That's my aimless rant for the day. And I bid you a good night.



edit: I might give up on the e-mail posting if this keeps up. It seems to play havoc with the text formatting and inserts carriage returns that were never there. Or it might just by my e-mail options. Might give it a few more tries. In the meantime - manual edits! There, all fixed.

The never ending battle against Technology

I'm trying out this new Technology doohicky (which probably has been around since the stone ages, but I've only discovered recently) whereby blogs can be updated by e-mail.

Amazing stuff. Doesn't help that I often make new posts and then spend the rest of the night editing and revising it and then re-publishing it before I'm finally satisfied. If this works, then perhaps more frequent blog updates would be forthcoming. Pictures and formatting may require direct intervention, but simple text such as this should be no problem.

Take that technology, you have not bested me this round!

edit: on second thought, maybe I have been bested. My screen is showing some odd paragraph formatting. Next time I'll go with a plain text e-mail.

Closet anime fan surfaces?

I love animé - I grew up on bad dubs of things like Transformers Masterforce and Doraemon and what have you so it has been instilled in me since childhood. I just haven't been very vocal about it in my net dealings. Just haven't had a great need to do so rather rather than anything else. Just for the record: I like robots, fantasy, comedy and combinations thereof. Don't like overly serious stuff (like EVA). However I have been trying other genres that I would normally never try to associate with (like Kanon, Clannad and Air), and finding myself thoroughly enjoying them. Also, to peg me into what type of western Anime category I am: I listen to the original audio and use subtitles (to assist - my ears and brain do the bulk of the interpreting). Nothing against dubs if done well, but I am a purist at heart and don't like any of the material changed if at all possible. Even cultural/pop culture references. It's a bit elitist, but while I was quite happy with what they did in, say, Last Exile (which was very good, by the way in either language), you'd have to try listening to the English dub for Dragon Ball (the original first series) and compare it to the story that is told by the original Japanese audio and its subtitles. The difference was at such an extreme level that they were completely different stories. I practically stopped watching my anime through both languages after that. Mind you, I shouldn't have been surprised by that as Westernizing anime and completely changing the stories has been an age old tradition. Look at Robotech, the various Voltrons and Saber Rider and the Star Sherrifs. They share little in common with their source material. Anyway, enough aimless rambling about my personal preferences (it's boring).

Thought I'd list a few quick shows I've watched or rewatched recently (mix of new and old) and my thoughts on them.  

el Cazador de la Bruja - Bounty hunters, genetically engineered witches, secret organizations, shifting loyalties, a good dose of fun and drama, likeable and imperfect protagonists and loopy bad guys that are more messed up in the head than bad to the bone. Great stuff. Highly enjoyed it. Not the greatest show ever, but great viewing all the same if you'd like a good yarn.  

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - Imagine a cross between a world martial arts tournament style stories (like the original Dragonball) and toss Gundams in. Mix well. Definitely not 'Gundam' as far as Gundams go (even the creator says so in the notes), but still extremely enjoyable. Along with shows like War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team, it's fun viewing. Do note that they did change a few Gundam names to soften the blow a little for Western aesthetics.  

Shattered Angles - Fans of UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie and Steel Angel Kurumi might get a kick out of this for some of its references. The image of Val for example shows up as a Steel Angel. Mixed feelings about it, but I wouldn't say it's bad. Will need to watch it a few more times to truly get a fix on it.  

Princess Tutu - Slow start, but this was quite a good series once it started to pick up. Has the typical magical girl type theme, but not so much in the combat sense as many shows in this genre go. The main protagonist mainly solves problems by dancing. Has bittersweet conclusions and plots twists just like some of the ballets and other stories that are used throughout the series. But I guess it's as herr Drosselmeyer says that perfect heroines (referring to the main protagonist) are boring. I really dislike the way some subtitles are handled, particularly with changing what is said by the characters (like names). You watch enough anime in its original language and you do tend to learn a few words, so things like this irk me to no end. However this story is one case where keeping the subtitles as close to the original source material would have caused some puns to not work. The main character for example is called Ahiru, which is Duck in Japanese. As it also happens, she is also a duck. So it would make sense for Duck to be a duck in the English subtitles and dub. Beyond a few name changes, it's fine. Oh, did I say I adore the main character's voice? Don't know why but the squeaky voice and awkwardness of the character is quite an appealing combination. Note, minor nudity but nothing to froth at the mouth about. That's not the point of the show.  

Baldr Force EXE - exploding heads. Didn't like it. The whole premise of having a virtual entity is that it's virtual. Yet here we have the virtual body being erased and your real life body bursting like an overripe watermelon. Matrix with virtual mecha. OVA format, and way too short and thus felt as though they rushed through everything. Only got it since it was on special, so no skin off my back. What next? Who knows, I have a small library of shows to rewatch over the rest of the year - on top of the new ones. Mainly looking forward to starting on Slayers Revolution as soon as Slayers Revolution R is out. In the meantime, may try to rewatch Kaleido Star and Rune Soldier Louie.

The new 1/144 Zaku II F2

I was poor on cash last month so didn't have much of a capacity to buy much for myself bar the essentials. However, it gave me a chance to work on some of the model kits I had been collecting but not building. This consisted of a bunch of Gundam kits involving various High Grade 1/144 GM's. GM's are the mass-produced Gundam units used by Earth Federation Forces/Space Forces, and function solely for the Zeon army to destroy by the handful. Basically it's the EFF/EFSF version of the Zaku II in function. But that's just a bit of useless information. In addition to the GM's, I was especially excited to try Bandai's brand new 1/144 Zaku II F2 kit, which is the Zaku variation that appeared in the 0083 Stardust Memory series. Not to be confused with the good old Master Grade 1/100 model. This new kit is fairly recent and was released about a month or two ago of this posting. There are two releases of this, the Zeon and the EFF version. Built here is the green Zeon version. I haven't had much of a chance to construct the other, but is otherwise identical bar a tan paint scheme. The MS-06F2 appears to be a rather a heavily armoured variant of Zaku II MS-06F, with heavier plates on the arms, chest and loops to secure the piping around the waist. Though lacking in double jointed elbows, which seems to be the standard in the more recent model kits (like the Gundams and the Zaku I circa 2006 and onwards), this model is a vast improvement over the previous High Grade Zaku II offering. In fact, I dare say it's almost tries to mimic the shoulder and hip articulation found on the Master Grade v2.0 Zaku's, particularly with the shoulder and hip assemblies. The head is a bit smaller than in the previous 1/144 Zaku II, the proportions look a whole lot better, and almost matches its 1/100 v2.0 counterparts. There are actually three helmet variants available during assembly. The standard (as above), commander's antennae and one with three armoured plates along the forehead. The 1/100 Master Grade EFF Paintball version of this chap had these armour plates that you can glue onto the helmet. The only thing that I find that is missing from this kit is the 280mm Zaku Bazooka, which is practically a standard fitting on most Zaku II model kits as is the obligatory 120mm Zaku machine gun. The 120mm Zaku Machinegun is present but with a different stock and under-barrel grenade launcher attachment. The Zaku Machingun even comes with the alternate ammo magazine used by the EFF Zaku's during Paintball practice. It is molded into the rifle, so you only need to remove the standard ammo drum to reveal it. Other accessories include theHeat Hawk (axe, and also the second obligatory weapon next to the Zaku machinegun) , a pair of triple tube rocket launchers that fit on the legs and a 90mm heavy machine gun as seen in the top picture. The only real major complaint I have about this kit is the clip that holds the Heat Hawk to the armour skirting. Rather than the usual round peg and peghole setup, it's a rectangular recess that you have to fit a flat diagonal peg into. It doesn't like to stay in very well. An undocumented and probably unofficial use of the axe holder is to slot it between the 'open 'optional hand to make it look like the Zaku is handling the axe in a more casual manner. Overall I must say that I do highly approve of this new Zaku, though it could use double jointed elbows and a better axe holder. Now I'm crossing my fingers in hope that they release the humble Zaku II in Bandai's new RG (Real Grade) series, which I am lead to believe is like cross between the level of detail or complexity of a Master-Grade scaled with the usual High Grade scale (1/144). First up in the RG line is the iconic RX-78 Gundam, which I may actually cave in and try out one of these days when it is finally released.

Building Zaku II v2.0's the hard way

Sometimes I challenge myself and do some really hard things just for the heck of it. This might be partly due to the X-COM series, which some of you who know me, am a fan of. The first three games in the series are very harsh on beginners. So hard that many new players will often have to rely on save/reload to beat it. Nutters like myself, who want to make it harder, make occasional self-imposed challenges to just plain make it harder for the heck of it. From time to time I appear to extended this idiosyncrasy (or perhaps a case of masochism?), just for the heck of it, on other aspects of my life. Mostly on other computer games. But now, I've attempted it with model kit building. For the first time ever, I've built two 1/100 Master Grade MS-06J Zaku II v2.0 model kits completely without once referring to the manuals. Welcome MS-06F #2 and MS-06J "White Ogre" #2 (Blue Eye) to the family. Note: The photo for the MS-06F may appear to be cut in half if viewed from the main Blog window. Just click on it to open the full image directly from my Photobucket account. Now, I will admit that I have had practice in the past. At least 10 variants of these guys so far, so it's not as if I started blindly. Also their basic frames are the same and differ only in minor details. There are still hundreds of bits of pieces to put together and it's been months and months since the last build. The one thing I found about this fun feat was that the entire build process was so much faster. Normally I can take about 8 hours to build one. I think I only took 5 - 6 hours this time. After this, there are still five v2.0 Zaku's, 1 v2.0 Gouf (based on the Zaku 2.0 frame), a 1/100 and 1/144 MS06F2 that are waiting to be built. Still need to get a Geara Zulu, which is very Zaku-ish. I do declare that I have a serious case of Zaku-Zaku-mania. I suppose it is better (and probably cheaper) than alcohol addiction.

Fishing pictures up

Too long to be a tweet - the Fishing Gallery is up. Only half a dozen photos at the moment, but they are some of the better (non blurry) ones. Next up, I'll throw in some of the boring pre-production photos.

"Fishing"

As is probably apparent with my ramblings so far on this blog, I like robots. Indeed. But I also like whimsical things. So where possible, I combine them. The result was a diorama of a 1:100 scale Master Grade Zaku II v2.0 (the very same one in the first photo of the last blog entry) with a fishing rod. Yes, a Zaku-sized fishing rod. A Brief Brief If the question buzzing through your head at the moment is: "Why?", then my answer would be "Why not?" The title of this diorama is "Fishing". I know, a rather dull title, but it works. This was entered into competitions at my local Japanese toy hobby store (Hobby One) and to a competition in Japan with the Hobby Japan monthly magazine. I must thank Yoshi, who runs Hobby One, who assisted with my entry submission and also a fellow competitor. I didn't win either of the two, but that's fine as I only entered for fun and basically for the learning experience. It was a blast. It humbles me to admit that the competition was fierce - there are tons of great modellers out there. If you manage to pick up a copy of the February 2010 issue of Hobby Japan, you can find my entry misspelled "Fvishing" amongst the many non-winning runner-up entries. Unfortunately the photo selected was not one of the better shots to use in a thumbnail. Alas, can't complain! It's exciting enough for a novice like myself to have been selected amongst the runner ups. On the photo Today I'm presenting one of the photos I was able to amass for this project. I'm no great photographer, but this is arguably one the better images in the collection, and also an accident. The best received amongst all those I've shown it to, at least. This accident I am referring to is a visual illusion that extends the diorama beyond its boundaries. Observe the near portion of the river. The uneven surface of the clear resin (done by prodding the surface with a brush while it was setting) combined with the reflection of natural sunlight results in the illusion of foam on the surface. This makes it look like there are currents in the water. Next observe the lake and the bank on the far side. These don't exist. Or rather, they do exist, but they're not part of the diorama. The diorama ends where the water changes from light to dark. Observe the horizontal bar of light close to the far bank. That's really a clear strip of plastic that I used to contain the river. If you look at the part of the photo closest to you, you'll see the other strip of clear PVC sheet containing the other side of the river and bank. Notice how that part of the photo looks like a 3d cutaway of the river. One thing I like about this photo is how the sun and shade play off the Zaku, the fishing rod and the terrain. Though silhouetted (and thus masking all the details), the lighting results are almost artistic. The overall picture works very well to viewers that glance at it for the first time. If you inspect it too much, or if you've been reading my comments here, you'll discover that it's just an illusion. If you squint your eyes, you'll probably even see the tiny pilot that's by the Zaku's right shoulder shield. Just under the diamond shaped light reflecting off the shield. Don't worry if you do not - the pilot's not the focus of the photo. When I get a chance, I'll put up higher-res version of all the better photos on my Photobucket account.

An uninformed ramble on the Zaku II

Today's mindless rambling is about the mono eyed beast known as the Zaku. More specifically it is the Zaku II. Please note that as per the title, I know very little of the source material not having watched the original series the Zaku originates from. Most of what I know I've gathered in bits and pieces from various sources so please take everything I say in here with a grain of salt. Corrections obviously welcome for those that are better versed in the history and origins of the Zaku II. As a semi-related preamble to this: The real purpose I'm bringing this up is because I just plain like this mecha. However, the other reason is that I had a diorama project I was working on mid to late last year mentioned in last years blogs, but didn't really elaborate on it too much. This was partly due to the fact I had put it into two model making competitions, one local and one in Japan (purely for fun, I assure you!), so wasn't at liberty to disclose too much of the details. Now that the competitions are over - and naturally I did not win (though did end up amongst the many great honourable mentions ) - I will be putting up some photos of the results in the near future. As the key figure in this diorama is a Zaku II, I thought I'd give a brief overview of what it is, from my uninformed perspective. Right, enough o that. What is a Zaku II? Well, this chap in the photo below is a Zaku II - taken from a few snaps I took a few years back called "Zaku II On the Lawn".

To those that know what these guys are and want more specific details on the Zaku in the photo, this is a MS-06F Zaku II. That probably doesn't mean much to most folks. The MS-06 is the model numbering system that Zeon (the side that uses these mobile suits) assign to their various mobile suits. The F marks this as as a variation of the MS-06 with modifications that allow it to be used in space. A MS-06J for example would be the ground type that doesn't have the extra rocket boosters on the legs and backpack. There are many-many other variations. The Zaku II is a type of mobile suit in the Gundam universe. The best way I could describe them is that they look a bit like an American footballer with spikes on one shoulder pad and a shield replacing the other.

Like a large majority of the mobile suits that feature in this series, its sequels and its spinoffs, they have a single camere "eye" on the head (main camera). Zakus are the mass produced staple mobile suits used by the Principality of Zeon (the alleged 'bad guys') against the Earth Federation Space Forces (the alleged 'good guys'). They technically exist solely to be blown up in very large quantities by the EFSF. They are the counterpart to the GM (pronounced Jim) used by the EFSF, which in turn is blown up in large quantities by Zeon. It's interesting to point out that the name Zaku closely resembles the Japanese word Zoku, which can be interpreted as vulgar or common. That technically describes them quite well. I think a better term was Zako - but I can't seem to find the translation in my dictionary - or maybe my imagination made up the word.

These guys first featured in the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam, and I understand were designed by Kunio Kawara, one of the mecha designers for the show. Despite being the blow-me-up-now mecha for the show, they turned out to be more popular than the titular mecha for the series, the Gundam. The plastic model kits for the Zaku outsold the Gundam at a ratio of 2 to 1! They were originally sold in the standard mass produced green colour and the Char's custom Zaku II which is essentially a red repaint that came with a command antennae on the head.

As the years have gone by and the Gundam mythos continues to expand, many variations of the Zaku have emerged. And I'm speaking of the Zaku II alone, and not the other Mobile Suits that appear to be Zaku spinoffs like the Marasai in Zeta Gundam and the Geara Doga in Char's Counterattack and the Zaku's featured in Seed Destiny. The Zaku, is in a way, the basis for many later mobile suits. (The white Zaku in the photo is an unpainted "White Ogre", a personalized Zaku II from the Igloo 2 series. Note the antennae on the head. That generally signifies that the Zaku II is used by a commanding officer and the whole suit is calibrated to be something like 20% better than the normal suits piloted by the soldiers.)

If you were to ask my why the Zaku did better - I wouldn't have a clue except that I am just as hopelessly fascinated with them. The Zaku is actually quite simple looking monster and is not as intricate in overall detail as the Gundam. There are more curves than straight lines on the limbs, torso and head. Perhaps it's the simplicity of it that assists much of the Zaku's appeal. In a way, for the model kits, this simplicity lends itself greatly to easy customization of the paint work or for etching your own details in.

One aspect of the Zaku that may put mecha fans off is the fact that they are asymmetrical thanks to the shoulder armour consisting of one round pad (with spikes) on the left arm and a shield on the right arm. I quite like the asymmetry - but I do agree that it's a matter of taste. But if you think about it, these are only bits of protective armour. From a model kit perspective, there's always the option of buying two kits and swapping the shoulder pads.

According to the specs of these mobile suits that you get on the instructions for the model kits, Zakus can weigh up to 80 tonnes when fully kitted with their basic equipment (including 100mm machine gun, a 280mm bazooka and an axe known as heat hawk). If you can imagine the amount of weight these guys are swinging about and the amount of momentum they can possibly achieve with that much weight, it's mind boggling. Heavy metal indeed! 'tis a shame they're made to blow up so easily.

Since the start, Zaku model kits have been released and re-released in various sizes such as 1:144, 1:100 and 1:60, and come in various grades classified as High Grade (HG), Master Grade (MG), Perfect Grade (PG) and numerous other types including assembled action figures and other fun items. The recent Master Grade 1:100 scale Zaku II v2.0 releases (from 2006 onwards) are quite breathtaking model kits that are very intricate kits to put together with probably about 5 - 8 hours of construction time depending on how much effort you put in.

Once done, they are excellent to fiddle with and pose thanks to their highly articulate frames as well as offering a feature present in many master grade kits with removable armour plates that let you view the inner mechanical details.

I'll simply close this article off with a personal recommendation by saying that even if you don't plan to immerse yourself in the Gundam universe but would like a fun mecha model kit to put together, definitely give this chap a try. I highly recommend any one of the v2.0 master grade kits - they're well worth it and oodles of fun. However don't limit yourself to the Zaku II - they're just the focus of this blog article. I can heartily recommend the Master Grade 1:100 Gundam Mk II v2.0 kit (either in the AEUG or Titans colour schemes) as well if you'd like to try a Gundam instead, which features equally good articulation and features an interesting sliding armour system to facilitate the articulation without the armour getting in the way. If you don't have any local shops that sell these kits, you can try places like ebay or online shops like Hobbylink Japan.

"Live Fats Die Yo Gnu"

Title is a quote borrowed from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Soul Music (ISBN 0-552-14029-5). On Sunday morning I woke up to the news of a tsunami warning. As with any other major events or natural disasters that have happened over the years, especially those that may directly influence me, this was quite something to take in. The estimated time of the arrival of the waves was about 10.30-11-ish in the morning. That passed and all seemed fine. That was a good relief. For then, you never know if there were going to be aftershocks. Either last year or the year before, we had a similar impending tsunami warning, reported by the media. Our Civil Defence department took a rather lacklustre attitude towards that potential disaster and was heavily criticized by the public, media, politicians, etc. Obviously everyone had a right to be angry about that - our lives could have been in danger. Luckily it turned out all right and wasn't too major a catastrophe. This time, Civil Defense seemed to be on the ball. Warnings were issued, the media did frequent coverage of the impending disaster. Even residents in some seaside communities were given phone calls or cellphone txt message warnings. Good on them - better show than last time. Then, later that evening, I found it both amusing and horrifying to learn at how so many people ignored the warnings and pretty much flocked to the beaches for a paddle and a sunbathe or go out on a boat ride. Like candles, humans live short but bright lives. As if often advised, we should "live for the moment". That's not really a bad bit of advice. If you're going to get killed by a tsunami, why not get in one last swim on an otherwise great day or at least be amongst the first to see the surge of water arriving in person? Why not indeed? I don't think it was ever implied that you had to live in the moment recklessly. I think I'd rather opt to forgo a nice day at the beach and live long enough to see many more. But that's just me. Yes, it turned out okay in the end, so all's well that ends well. But is that really a fine thing? What if it hadn't? I don't like to think too deeply about things like the meaning of life and whatnot (to be honest, it bores me to sleep), but this event was an interesting insight for me into what it is to be human. We're a stubborn species.

The Last Piece Syndrome

This is probably not true at all places, but is something I've noticed in my workplace. We have a trolley that sits in the middle of the office which is mainly used as ... well, a trolley of course. However it is frequently used as a communal food table where snacks or other types of food are put on for everyone to share and enjoy. It's one of the office customs we've had that keeps morale up and helps socially- goodness knows we need all the positive things we can get. It's a different matter when it comes to potato chips, but for foods like biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, etc, whenever there's one piece left on the plate it'll remain on the plate for a very long time. It is as if it has become invisible. Why is this I wonder?