Archive for August, 2010

Yahoo IMAP Settings for Android

August 28th, 2010

I couldn’t easily find this information on the Internet… and considering how many people use Yahoo, that thought is staggering. So here it is. I can’t believe email is so hard to use on Android.

This works over 2/3G and WiFi, and Yahoo currently (still) does not support IMAP IDLE which would allow for “push” email.

IMAP Server: android.imap.mail.yahoo.com
Security: SSL
Port: 993

SMTP Server: android.smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Security: SSL
Port: 465

UPDATE: Nevermind, this will not work over Wi-Fi. In order to use IMAP over Wi-Fi, your email client needs to send a special GUID directive (non-standards complaint, yes) to the Yahoo IMAP server in order to log in. Maildroid and K-9 Mail both do this, although I’ve had serious problems with Maildroid (plus the interface sucks and the ads are so annoying; I always accidentally click them). K-9 Mail claims to support push (IMAP IDLE?) over Yahoo, but I have never gotten it working. Maildroid makes the claim too, but I can’t bear that app for one second longer, and I doubt it would work either.

Meanwhile, gmail is running smoothly and retrieving my email via push faster than my desktop is. Why do people still use non-google mail services.

Two Weeks in China: Summary

August 22nd, 2010

今天开始我要每天把我去中国这夏天的记录写下来一部份,主要为未来给自己看,也让我多练练我的中文。 当然,也是给我博客念念的。 每一篇写完以后,我会把这篇链接上去。

Starting from today, I will be blogging about my experiences in China for two weeks during the summer of 2010. This is mainly for personal record, but it’s also a way to make myself practice writing in Chinese. Of course, my blog visitors are also welcome to read my cogitations.


八月五日(四)-洛杉机出发

八月六日(五)-到达北京首都国际机场,到达天津宝地

八月七日(六)-宝地,和爸爸的家庭一起

八月八日(日)-宝地,到达北京,去探亲我妈的家人,在大舅家过夜

八月九日(一)-北京,去我妈的大学同学的家,在那儿过夜

八月十日(二)-北京,跟我妈的铜学的女儿已起玩儿,游泳,滑冰,晚餐根领外一格同学

八月十一日(三)-北京,跟我妈已起办事,完去天坛观光

八月十二日(四)-北京,飞到上海虹桥国际机场,四人住一间旅馆屋子,根妈妈的其他的同学们一起晚餐,见到她们的孩子们

八月十三日(五)-上海世博EXPO2010

八月十四日(六)-上海,逛名街,逛大厦,逛旅游点,坐船看上海夜景

八月十五日(日)-上海,旅馆里睡懒觉,再逛店吃晚饭

八月十六日(一)-上海,乘动车去杭州,见到老爷的亲戚,逛杭州景点,见到我的二十、三十来岁的侄子和侄女,在老爷的哥哥的女儿的儿子的家过夜

八月十七日(二)-杭州,接着逛景点,见妈妈的朋友,乘动车回上海

八月十八日(三)-上海,逛商店,坐地铁,便利店三明治

八月十九日(四)-上海,飞回洛杉矶和非法恐怖份子三明治


August 5th (Thursday) — Departure from Los Angeles

August 6th (Friday) — Arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport, arrival at Baodi, Tianjin

August 7th (Saturday) — Baodi, staying with father’s family

August 8th (Sunday) — Baodi, arrival at Beijing, visit mother’s uncles and aunts, stay at granduncle’s house

August 9th (Monday) — Beijing, stay at mother’s college friend’s gorgeous Beijing house

August 10th (Tuesday) — Beijing, play with college friend’s daughters, swimming, ice skating, dinner with more of mother’s classmates

August 11th (Wednesday) — Beijing, accompany mother for business, go to Tiantan for sightseeing

August 12th (Thursday) — Beijing, flight to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, 4 people cohabiting hotel room, go to big dinner with mother’s classmates, meet their children

August 13th (Friday) — Shanghai World EXPO 2010

August 14th (Saturday) — Shanghai, strolling the famous streets, shopping, visiting attractions, boat ride and view of Shanghai nightscape

August 15th (Sunday) — Shanghai, stay in hotel all day, then shopping and dinner in nearby mall

August 16th (Monday) — Shanghai, take train to Hangzhou, meet with my grandfather’s relations, visit Hangzhou attractions, meet my 30-year-old nephew/nieces, dinner, sleep in grandfather’s brother’s daughter’s son’s house

August 17th (Tuesday) — Hangzhou, visit more scenic tourist attractions, meet and lunch with mother’s friend, take train back to Shanghai

August 18th (Wednesday) — Shanghai, shopping and subway-riding and convenience-store sandwiches

August 19th (Thursday) — Shanghai, flight back to Los Angeles and illegal terrorist sandwiches

Time Travel is Bad for Your Skin

August 2nd, 2010

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. That is because… THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!!

Demonbane Episode 01

It’s Shanatan!

All right, it looks like we’re back on track with good anime that’s worth watching. Hopefully.

Is that a diaper?

It’s an Eva! IT’S SO TOTALLY AN EVA!!!

Demonbane Episode 06

I liked this anime so much at first. Unfortunately, the plot might as well not exist, as the whole show is pretty much an excuse to display (awesome) giant mechas and use random cool-sounding terminology from the Cthulhu Mythos. I do really like the H. P. Lovecraft references, and the art is quite enjoyable, but I wish this series was 26 episodes or longer, so the scriptwriters could have enough time to add in most of the plot they presumably left out from the game. Oftentimes, between one episode and the next, a few months of less important plot points are skipped over.

I believe this anime would have made a good long-running shounen series. It’s just too bad that it turned out to be this kind of 3D-graphic-artist bragging-rights anime.

Kanokon Episode 04

Can I suicide myself in a puddle yet? Can I?

As a side note, I think I’m getting to like the intro.

Demonbane Episode 07

The twelve-episode anime series Demonbane: otherwise known as 12 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Fall in Love with a Book. I like my creative name better than the original.

Demonbane Episode 08

Rhetorical question of the day. Can books die?

Demonbane Episode 09

I can’t help but believe that all this great animation is wasted on this plot… or lack thereof.

Demonbane Episode 11

The staff for this anime must have consisted of 500 world-class artists and animators… and one pea-brained H. P. Lovecraft-obsessed scriptwriter.

I worship the character design, 3D animation, and voice acting. However… what kind of a lame script is this. That single scriptwriter must have been drunk on top of his mental retardation. Do Japanese get Down syndrome?

Even an H. P. Lovecraft enthusiast would commit seppuku after watching this anime, I think.

I have reason to believe that all the characters in this anime are on crack.


This summarizes the entire anime.


Demonbane Episode 12 FINAL

I won’t comment about the cheesy “I love you” scene. It’s funny how epic the graphics are, and how lame the script is. It strikes horror into my fragile heart.

Hm, but at least the ending is meaningful, unlike most anime endings. I’ll admit that I liked the princess best, but all that pairing got was one cheap kiss.

Demonbane THE OVA

Why is this OVA ten times better than the 12-episode anime. I guess they switched out the drunk-scriptwriter-who-was-on-crack for a real scriptwriter.

“It’s show time!” <– reminds me of that guy from Digimon Savers.

THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANIME. Dammit. They need to remake Demonbane like this. Lemuria Impact is also much less lame (although it’s still epicly overpowered).

End of Spring 2010

August 1st, 2010

I started out watching like ten of this season’s animes, by now it’s narrowed down to just, like… what, three or four?

[DAMNN sorry… this was supposed to be posted a month ago. Hehe.]

Angel Beats Episode 13 FINAL

God… why is this final episode so stupid. Yuri’s kawaii personality is really headdesk-inducing. Kanade being normal is cute. Everything else… oh god. Head keeps moving towards desk instinctively. Trying to protect my brain cells.

The rest of the episode after the graduation ceremony better be epic. Especially how they suddenly switch between uncalled-for humor and omfg tragedy end of anime soliloquy. Was that a love confession fro– ok it was. Heart. gg.

That plot twist was kind of unexpected… the heart donation acceptor was… (spoiler) Kanade… This ep lacked epicness. Sequel anyone?

This anime gets something like an AA. Priceless empathetic heart-breaking moments, mixed in with the worst of Japanese stupidity. If they had made a better ending, this could have gotten an SS, or even an SSS.

Mayoi Neko Overrun Episode 12 FINAL

Yeah, Fumino really has the right to tell other people to be straightforward and honest. The randomness of this anime is great, although I still think Sora no Otoshimono was better in terms of randomness. For overall plot and romansu, I’d prefer Nyan Koi. The sentimentality isn’t very well-done. The art is okay and there are too many characters.

The final plot with Nozomi was pretty good. Somebody still needs to explain why she has nekomimi. Takumi is being lame. Great ending (especially after watching Angel Beats‘ really lame one). Kaho didn’t show up? Well.

This anime gets something like an A+. Great mindless humor.

Utawarerumono Episode 01~02

First impression: Awesome. Doggy. Ears. I’d watch this anime just for the doggy ears. This anime is made by the same people as Tears to Tiara, and that was pretty good, so I expect nice things from Utawarerumono. Unfortunately, unlike Arawn/Arthur from TtT, the lead male (or at least I’m guessing that guy’s the lead male) is horribly ugly. That mask is marring my enjoyment of this anime.

Not only is the lead female (or at least I am assuming she is the lead female) doggy-ear+tailed, there’s also a doggy-ear imouto! Can the female cast get any better? J/k ><

Doggy-ears feels like she’s already married to Masked Lead Male. Awwww. Also, why does everyone call Masked Lead Male “kid”? He looks old and ugly. And then the two Doggy-ear siblings start calling Masked Lead Male father, and Old Lady gives him their father’s name. If this review looked long, realize that the only event that occurred in these two episodes was them killing Mutikapa.

Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! Episode 01-14

From the wikipedia summary, this anime sounded like paradise to me — all the elements of a long-running shounen series that I like. Unfortunately (at least judging from the first 13), it ain’t that awesome. The intro and outro are pretty good. I don’t like most of the characters. Tsuna, the lead male, is okay, but I’d like to see some character development from him. The kids are all ugly and annoying, and Tsuna’s “family” consists of weird people. Kyouko is pretty cute, but I must admit I really do like Haru and her eccentric… everything. Last but certainly not least… Reborn, the grade-school Italian mafia hitman…

It’s not just the opening and ending themes that are good… I really like the “Italian mafia movie” BGM that features in much of this anime. The jazzy feel is just such a nice, welcome contrast to typical anime background music.

So in conclusion, this anime feels more like a comedy than a shounen series.

Kateikyou Hitman Reborn! Episode… uhh… up to 52-ish

The first “arc”, if you will, was really more comedy and status-quo slice-of-life than shounen. But… once we get into the action, we discover the true beauty of this anime. It’s quite like, say, Law of Ueki in how it features the protagonists against impossible situations. In fact, that’s a staple of the shounen genre, but I don’t need to mention that I really like those storylines. The music is really, really good. The OPs and EDs are fantastic for the most part (I dislike a few of them), and the BGM really fires you up in those climax moments.