For the interested, the uninterested, and those who are reading for no particular reason whatsoever, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to working out exactly what I’ve got on DVD, figuring out how many minutes/volumes of anime in particular I have/am getting, and get the whole thing clear in my mind. I’m going to start out with the anime, and then after some mathematics and witty repartee, work on to the ‘normal’ stuff. Afterwards, I might do some ‘life stuff.’

Ben’s DVD List

Anime

Stuff I already have:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Perfect CollectionrnNeon Genesis Evangelion: Movie CollectionrnHellsing CollectionrnHaibane Renmei Vol. 1 - New FeathersrnHaibane Renmei Vol. 2 - Wings of SorrowrnNoir Vol. 5 - Terminal VelocityrnNoir Vol. 6 - Cloaks and DaggersrnVoices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe)rnSpirited Away

On order (arriving February 11th):

Witch Hunter Robin Vol 1. (w’box) - RevivalrnHaibane Renmei Vol. 3 - Free BirdrnNoir Vol. 1 (w’box) - Shades of DarknessrnNoir Vol. 2 - The Hit List

To order (definite):

Haibane Renmei Vol. 4 - Day of FlightrnWitch Hunter Robin Vols. 2-7 (Vol. 2 - Belief, Vol. 3 - Inquisition, the rest unnamed as yet)rnNoir Vol. 3 - The Firing ChamberrnNoir Vol. 4 - Death WarrantrnNoir Vol. 7 - The End of the Matter

Other stuff being considered at least semi-seriously:

Final Fantasy Unlimited - Phase 1rnGrave of the FirefliesrnExcel Saga (If a box set ever comes out, I swear I’ll buy it!)

Stuff that I’m previewing now to decide about:

FLCLrnBubblegum CrisisrnEscaflownernChobitsrnserial experiments: lain

rnSo, a bit of information. I currently have, in terms of time:

650 minutes of Evangelion (TV series)rn193 minutes of Evangelion (2 Movies)rn325 minutes of Hellsingrn175 minutes of Haibane Renmeirn175 minutes of Noirrn30 minutes of Hoshi no Koern125 minutes of Spirited Away

leading to a total of 1673 minutes of anime on DVD. In my possession now. For the interested, that’s just under 28 hours of anime. Add in my already ordered anime and we gain:

125 minutes of Witch Hunter Robinrn75 minutes of Haibane Renmeirn225 minuets of Noir

a total gain of 425 minutes, making a total of 2098 minutes (35 hours) of anime on DVD, in my possession, as of next Wednesday or so. And, within the next few months, I am guaranteed to purchase at least:

75 minutes of Haibane Renmei (finishing the series)rn275 minutes of Noir (finishing the series)rn525 minutes of Witch Hunter Robin (as it is released, which will take a while)

Which will add another 875 minutes onto the total, making it 2973 minutes (49.5 hours). And that’s assuming that I don’t start buying anything else. Here, for some more fabulous numbers ( ^_^ ) I will ending up owing this, in terms of DVDs:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Perfect Collection (8 DVDs)rnNeon Genesis Evangelion: Movie Collection (2 DVDs)rnHellsing Collection (4 DVDs)rnHaibane Renmei Collection (4 DVDs)rnNoir Collection (7 DVDs)rnWitch Hunter Robin Collection (7 DVDs)rnVoices of a Distant Star (Hoshi no Koe) (1 DVD)rnSpirited Away (1 DVD).

For those unable to count, that’s a grand total of 34 anime DVDs. From the series that I’m currently collecting. Now, we have to ask ourselves, does this spell obsession?

Probably. Since I’m also looking very seriously at starting to buy FFU (Final Fantasy Unlimited) depending on whether I like the first episode or not, at possibly buying FLCL (due to it being 6 episodes on 3 DVDs) and, if Excel Saga every boxes itself, I will definitely buy it… We’re looking at a 6 episode series, being 200 minutes, and two 26 episode series, being 650 minutes apiece, totalling a nice, spanking 1500 minutes of anime. And that’s not counting movies like Grave of the Fireflies, and anything else that might tickle my fancy, like Fruits Basket, Cowboy Bebop (which I will watch!), lain (which, if I ever get around to watching the rest and like as much as the first part, I’m buying) etc etc etc.

In about a year’s time, I could be looking at an anime collection of, hmm, lets see… 34 DVDs (calculated) plus another 35 odd DVDs… so around the 70 DVD mark. And, although this might not seem like too much to many people, here’s a rough value estimate.

$2100 (AU, of course)

Which is probably close, considering the price of each DVD, plus some boxes etc. Scary huh? Now that that’s all done, I proudly present:

‘Normal’ Stuff

Current Possessions:

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingrnThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition)rnThe Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersrnThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (extended edition)rnBruce AlmightyrnMonty Python Live at the Hollywood BowlrnThe Matrix Reloaded

as well as:

BlackAdder CollectionrnBlackAdder’s Christmas CarolrnMonty Python’s Meaning of LifernMonty Python’s Life of BrianrnFinal Fantasy: The Spirits WithinrnPirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

noting that the last five mentioned (BlackAdder et al. aren’t, strictly speaking, legitimate).

Upcoming Purchases

Stargate SG-1 Series One CollectionrnStargate SG-1 Series Two CollectionrnThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingrnThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (extended edition)

rnWell now. Isn’t that interesting. My anime list, at least in terms of DVD numbers, is a fair bit bigger. I never realised, until I started thinking about it and stacked them all next to each other. Interesting.

[end-list]

Now, for thoughts of the day/week… wow. That’s really impressive. I have a lot of DVDs… almost all legit (unlike, in some ways, my MP3 collection) and quite expensive to maintain… huh. So that’s where all my money goes. ^_^

And now, for a bit of randomness and snapshots from the life of Ben. Today, I had a kind of job interview/discussion about a new job I’ve scored… doing network/computer administration for a primary school. At the moment, I’m looking at migrating a dozen or so machines (small school) to OSX, and am also being asked to build a second network within the school for the Infants building. As is, the primary building has a network running, primarily OS9, with two OSX machines - which I’m not entirely sure work with the network anyway! The Infants building has no machines, but is apparently cabled in preparation for a network - they tried it once before but it failed. So, I have to remember how to create OS9 networks, make them work with laser printers and each other, and probably without a dedicated server. Joy.

Of course, I used to be able to do that kind of thing, back in High School. But I haven’t ran OS9 for anything more demanding that Warcraft II in almost three years (WC2 don’t work in Classic :( ) and so am going to have to relearn a lot of OS9 - I dimly remember how to set everything up on the client machines, but I don’t think I’ve ever configured a server running Appleshare before… sigh. I’m sure I can find plenty of guides/people to help me out though, if need be. ^_^

Other than that… hmm. Went to Uni this week on Tuesday, handed in Fernne’s KBC application, bought three new CD pens (steal and die!), then popped into town to do some window/anime shopping. Visited Electronics Boutique, saw Noir Vol. 6. Thought, hmm, been meaning to get that… maybe later. Wandered across the mall to the Phantom Zone (stair climbing was also involved) where I had a twenty minute or so chat with the proprietor (no-one else was there) about anime, upcoming and past, and then I ordered/reserved the Witch Hunter Robin Vol.1 & box, and Haibane Renmei Vol. 3 for when they come in. I then asked if he could reorder back catalogue, to be sure… then ordered Noir Vols. 1 & 2 off him. After a bit more chatting, I browsed his shelf stock, and saw Noir Vol. 5… and thought, in effect, “whatthehell.” I bought it then and there, then after leaving Phantom Zone, traipsed back to EB and bought Vol. 6. My justification? Well, they’re already here, and I’m going to buy them anyway… why not now while they’re available?

I haven’t watched either of them yet… I don’t intend to, until I get Vols. 1,2,3 & 4 out of the way. I’ll probably order 3 & 4 off the ‘net. They retail at 34.95, but I’ve found a site that sells them for 29.15 each, with shipping being 5.50 for the two of them (Express post, of course. Normal is cheaper, but… ) which saves me a few dollars, ships them out within two days and can have them arrive when I have the money to throw at them - which won’t be for a while, considering I’ve still got to pay $110 on the order I placed - 25% deposit is paid already.

In other news, Valentines Day is, I believe, Saturday after next. I hate Valentines Day. Not for the content, although it’s massively commercialised etc. No, I hate it because it’s a Saturday. And I work Saturday nights. On the front counter. Where we sell flowers. Understand?

I didn’t think so. Basically it boils down to this: I have other things to get done on a Saturday night rather than sell 500 goddamn bunches of flowers ever two hours! Slight exaggeration, perhaps but I’m sure you get the point now.

Oh yeah, and being single, Valentines Day somewhat loses it’s point too. Yeah.

Enough of this for now. I’ll talk again later - probably before next week when I buy anime, like, maybe tomorrow or Saturday night after the last sane weekend before the flower rampage. :)

Later.

-Andiyar