Core Dump

Ah, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It’s hard to say anything about this series that hasn’t already been said elsewhere – this is a very well-known anime (and manga) series. It’s also rather… different… from most other series. To say that it’s “unique” would be putting it mildly!

The plot is simple on the surface (high school story) but complicated underneath (involving, of all things, time travelers, aliens, and “espers” – that is, people with ESP/psychic powers). Oh yeah, and also a girl named Haruhi Suzumiya who sometimes has bouts of melancholy – with unexpected results (to say the least).

Nevertheless, the animation is very well done and the voice acting is top-notch, so this is a series that is a pleasure to watch. This is a series that is equally likely to make you laugh, make you stop and think about the nature of life in the universe, or just make you squirm with embarrassment.

Unfortunately, the English version of this anime seems to be a bit… sporadic. Although the first season box set is available, I have yet to see anything from the 2nd season available in English thus far – and it’s been quite a while since both the 1st and even the 2nd season came out (in Japan, of course). So if you end up liking this series (as I did) you may find yourself in agony waiting for the next episode to come out on DVD.

Still, this is a lovely anime, and well worth watching – highly recommended for anyone who enjoys anime.

I had promised in the previous installment of Desktop Madness to post any further wallpapers in the same style as that last one – and sure enough, I found another one, this time featuring Tsuruya (and Kyon’s little sister)!

(As always, click on the image above to get the full-sized wallpaper image.)

As far as I can tell, that’s it for this “series.” I haven’t been able to find any more in this style beyond the ones I’ve already posted.

Today’s desktop madness features Haruhi herself – drawn, I believe, in the style of the manga, rather than the anime series. (As always, click the thumbnail below to get the full-sized wallpaper image.)

Apparently it turns out that there is a series of these wallpapers for various characters, and I seem to have some of them already posted: here’s one for Mikuru, and here’s one for Yuki.

In the spirit of “gotta collect them all,” I will keep my eyes open for any others in this series and post them here on Desktop Madness as I get them!

This is an anime for anyone who wants a break from the “usual” anime fare.

Azumanga Daioh is, in general, about a small group of high-school girls, telling the stories of their daily lives throughout high school. While that might sound a bit boring at first (and, arguably, it is) the beauty of this series is in its execution.

If this series was about “normal” girls, it would be pretty boring – thankfully, the characters in this series are anything but “normal.”

From Chio-chan the child genius to Osaka the… ummm… Osakan “idiot,” the cast of Azumanga Daioh is as colorful as the series itself.  Each character has their own unique quirks, and the combination of them all is likely to leave you in stitches from laughing so hard.

Some of the humor comes from over-the-top exaggeration, while other bits come from subtle non-sequiturs that may have you doing double-takes. From wacky dream sequences to a teacher who is a little too honest about why he became a high-school teacher, Azumanga Daioh is a series that is full of fun little stories that almost anyone can enjoy.

Because of the nature of the story (high school) the series is naturally limited – once the characters graduate high school, the story is basically over. So it’s not one of those super-long winded series that just goes on and on and on without any sort of end in sight. Another advantage of this shorter run (just 24 episodes) is that you can get the entire series in just 1 DVD box set (reasonably priced) and can even pick up the entire 4-volume manga set in one single large omnibus volume (although I recommend the individual books, since the omnibus version, by its very nature, shrinks the page art a little bit).

Overall, I highly recommend this series – as well as the manga on which it is based.

So, I’ve been living with my new computer for almost a month now, and that’s given me plenty of time to become familiar with the changes that came with Windows 7.

Previously, I’d only played around with Windows 7 through the betas and release candidates in a virtual machine – which, by its very nature, lacked the power to really let Windows 7 shine.

My new computer, on the other hand, has enough “oomph” to let me turn on all the bells & whistles so I can see how they work and which ones I like. This has allowed me to really get a “feel” for Windows 7 – arguably in an even better way than I did with Vista on my old computer.

So far, I have to say that I am very pleased.

If you’ve read any other Windows 7 reviews, you’ve probably read a lot of praise on how Windows 7 is a great leap forward, it’s so nice, etc.

Well, those people weren’t lying.

Windows 7 is incredibly polished. I’m sort of a details person, so these little details, the “fit & finish” of Windows 7 really impress me.

In any case, let’s get down to the details – in a nice, convenient list format:

• Multitasking: you need a true multi-core CPU to get the benefits of this, but Windows 7 does a superb job of running lots and lots of programs all at once without any sort of trouble between them. And if one program goes down, you can just kill it and keep on truckin’ – no reboot required.
• Stability: Windows 7  has so far been incredibly stable for me – and I tend to push my computers hard, so I’m one to know. Of course, part of this is due to the fact that I’m running the 64-bit version, and the 64-bit versions of Windows don’t allow “unsigned” drivers. And since device drivers are often the biggest contributor to instability in Windows, the fact that only “signed” drivers are allowed means that (overall) the quality of drivers is much higher – which means, in turn, that Windows is more stable.
• UAC: My biggest gripe in Windows Vista was the UAC prompts that would pop up in various places – most annoying to me, personally, was when I tried to drag & drop to re-arrange folders in my start menu (I like to have my start menu nice & neat). If the folder or icon I was dragging & dropping was in the “All users” branch of the start menu, I’d get a UAC prompt when moving it. It was just incredibly annoying. In Windows 7 these prompts come up less often, which makes me very happy!
• New Task bar: This is one place where I found myself unhappy with the default Windows 7 behavior, which is to show programs in the task bar by icon only (even when the program is open). I like being able to read the title of a window at a glance, without having to mouse over it, so I turned that functionality off. Plus, having the task bar buttons be full-sized with titles helps visually distinguish (even more) between running programs and programs that are just “pinned” to the task bar.
• Glass Effects: speaking of the task bar, if you hover your mouse over open programs, you’ll see that the sort of glowing colored highlight follows your mouse pointer – as if your mouse pointer were a light shining on the button. On top of that, the color of the highlight is based on the color of the program’s icon… Niiiiiice. It’s little details like this that really impress me.
• Aero Peek: Though I think the name is a bit pretentious, it is a handy feature. Basically the evolution of the “show desktop” button in that you can just hover over it, and it will make all open Windows 100% transparent so you can see your desktop (any windows that are not full-screen will show a faint outline so you know where they are). Other than that, the button acts just like the old “show desktop” button – click it once to show the desktop, click it again to restore all windows. Simple and easy, but it’s nice to have it permanently attached to the task bar, so you don’t lose it.
• Libraries: I’m not exaggerating here – I love libraries. I’d been wishing for some sort of functionality like this for years, without even realizing it – or even being able to describe what I wanted. But libraries deliver. Got a folder with some pictures in it, in some strange location on your computer? Just add it to your “Pictures” library and now it’ll show up as if you had copied it into your “My Pictures” folder – but without actually having to copy it there! And since things like Windows Media Center and so on use libraries (rather than specific folders), it makes managing a music & movie collection so much easier!
• Windows Media Center: The new UI for Windows Media Center is nice, but I didn’t really mind the UI in Vista either, so this doesn’t really impress me that much. It’s nicer, sure, but not enough for me to sing its praises.
• Windows Media Center Extender Support: OK, so maybe I will sing the praises of the new Media Center UI – at least, as it applies to Windows Media Center Extenders. Because the new UI applies to these little, under-appreciated, under-powered devices. My Media Center Extender (MCE) hasn’t gotten any faster, but it looks nicer and it works more smoothly than it did when it was connected to a Vista computer. So there’s a bonus there.
• Media Sharing & “Play To”: In addition to having a Media Center Extender, my new TV also supports the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standard, which means it can connect to my computer and stream media (pictures, videos, music) from my computer. Under Vista, the only way to get this media was to browse for it from the TV – and the UI was a bit clunky and sometimes crashed! With Windows 7 however, the game has changed. Although the UI for browsing media directly from the TV is still clunky and slow, it is much more stable. And if that’s not your cup of tea, you can play media directly from the PC to the TV by right-clicking a file and choosing “Play To” and then selecting the TV (Windows detects any DLNA devices on the network automatically – though they do have to be turned on first!). There is just something deeply, geekily cool about selecting a video on your computer and then hearing it start to play in the other room!
• Videos link on the Start Menu: It’s a little thing, but it was always very annoying to me that in Vista there was no “Videos” link option on the Start Menu. You had links to Documents, Pictures, and Music – but no Videos! Thankfully, this little oversight has been corrected in Windows 7. Again, it’s the little things that really add up and make Windows 7 such a pleasure to use.
• Drag and Drop re-arrange of Task bar buttons: I’m not talking about pinned items, but actual task bar buttons for open programs – you can now drag & drop to re-arrange them as you see fit. Previously, you needed a 3rd party program to enable this feature. It’s not a big deal, but it’s nice if you’ve got a lot of windows open and you want them arranged in a certain order.
• Volume control for multiple audio devices: Although Windows Vista handled volume control pretty well (you could adjust volume on a per-program basis), Windows 7 takes this even further. Now, most people will only ever have 1 audio device – their main sound card – in their computer, but increasingly you find people with secondary sound cards – maybe a USB headset, like I have (for Skype, etc.). When you click the “Volume” icon in the taskbar, it shows the “main” volume control, same as always. But, if you are using a secondary audio device (like, say, you have Skype open and are using your headset), when you click the “Volume” icon you get two volume sliders – one for the main volume, and one for the secondary device. Nice! You can control the volume for each individually – very handy!

So those are the big new things I’m very happy about with Windows 7. Suffice it to say, if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend you upgrade. Believe me – it is well worth it!