TheSa|nt's Blog

Author: TheSa|nt from Animevortex.net and Grauw from abma (alt.binaries.media.anime)

Even if just a $1, If you find my tutorial helpful, please:

Being an anime-related domain, this site (naturally) gets a LOT of requests on how to find/download fansubs via newsgroups.

Recently I posted on a very quick-tutorial on how to use easynews for newsgroups. However, there are other ways to more thoroughly explore newsgroups via desktop-based applications. A long time ago, Grauw developed a wonderful tutorial on how to do this, but through time a lot of it become outdated. So I have gone through and created a new version of the tutorial to better cover today’s practices, features and additional facts. This will act as the advanced guide on how to dive into the deep end and get crazy with it!

Even though I tried to summarize this as much as possible, the tutorial is still a bit lengthy and might be intimidating when looking at it but trust me when I say “it’s easy!”. It just has to be put into enough words to help even those who have been living under a rock — Now after reading this, if you are still missing anything, it should be easy to pick it up on your own through messing around. If I went over every possible detail on the usage of newsgroups, this tutorial would literally go on forever.

(continue reading…)

So I guess that Nathan as been dropping numerous cameo phrases, teases and all sorts of things throughout the TV series Castle in regards to “Firefly”. Blastr pointed out a few of them here (http://blastr.com/2011/02/7-firefly-nods-nathan-fil.php) but there are more.

It appears that Nathan and some of the other actors are attempting to get everyone back together. Really they have promoted the idea since the show’s demise, but through resources such as their cult fan-following “the brown coats”, they may be able to raise around 300 million dollars to steal the rights to the name away from Fox Network so that they can bring the series back.

Acting members, writers and more have recently admitted they would be willing to drop what they are working on in order to jump back on board. All in a push to convince Fox to either join in or let the rights to it go.

Evil television networks heh. So with all the petitions, all the talk, and now money being raised all over….common Fox…let the rights to it go if you’re not going to play ball.

Last Friday I found a bone while chomping down into my chicken bowl from El Pollo Loco. Not exactly what I expected to be included with the ingredients. It’s a good thing I didn’t somehow swallow it. o_O It’s too bad because I loved going there but now….Idk. I contacted the company to make sure they knew so they could look into that but never heard a thing back from them.

I had bit down onto it pretty well too so pondering the idea of visiting the dentist now just to make sure it didn’t chip anything. *sigh*

If you live in Vegas, have a special someone and want to send them the greatest of flowers money can buy, you should check out of one of the local shops here. Flowers of the Field have some awesome deals, amazing designs and some of the best customer service you can ask for.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner approaching fast, so jump on the safe train and make sure you get that special someone something from the best there is!

You know I wouldn’t steer you wrong in my recommendations. If it’s worth it, I blab it, if it’s not I will blab it even harder just to rub it in. So Gentlemen, take my word…from experience, these people are the best.

http://www.flowersofthefieldlv.com/

Happy upcoming Valentine’s Day!

TheSa|nt

“It’s no longer about the fans, it’s only about the money”

4 years+ ago you could hesitate for months before getting you tickets to comic-con (and a 4-day at that). Getting there was easy, attending was very little stress and you could get into just about any panel you needed to.

Now? Within the last few years the convention has become horrible. The tickets sell out fast, the location of the convention is way over a comfortable/reasonable capacity, price went through the roof, there is no room to breath or move and most of the panels are pretty much impossible to get into unless you come 3+ panels early into a room and sit there the rest of the day (and some people do this which is why its impossible to see anything). Don’t get me started on the badge pickup line….WOW was that a hike in 2009 winding all over and then around the building down to the back hitting the docks and following them all the way down through to the hotel. I could just imagine what it was like last year or will be like this year. Then if you want to attend any “good” panel, you have to jump right back into a line just as long almost (Hall H…).

For 2011, the registration has been a nightmare since EVERYONE knows registration is going to be a problem, so EVERYONE jumps on all at once to get their tickets. I have seen this happen for concerts and small local events that are considered “limited time only”…but one of the west coast’s largest conventions….server crashes, failed registration dates, and now that the tickets have finally gone on sale via their final attempt…..sold out in ONE DAY.

An entire convention (of that size), sold out in one day. That’s pretty amazing….however, what’s not amazing..is that I ( as well as so many others ), should have been part of that crowd. Instead, I received nothing but “Website is over capacity” error messages from “TicketLeap” and it remained like that for hours.

Finally, it let me through and I chose my 4-day pass and entered all of my information (including payment information) and made it as far as the screen to confirm the information and ……….website is over capacity. Going back to try it again, it claimed it couldn’t complete the process because 4-day tickets were no longer available (sold out).

So much for you having “15 minutes” from the time you add them to your cart. You would think that means you have a guaranteed ticket in your cart (for 15 minutes)..kind of like how TicketMaster works, and the server would prioritize you in it’s load since you have an active sale. Nope….even though you have gotten your cart filled, your no one special.

So after many screens of over capacity warnings, I finally got back to the start and the day by day passes were still there. I chose Thurs, Fri and Sat (no point in adding Sunday since I’m already being forced to spend more than I was with the 4-day passes). I once again made it far into the checkout process and……oh look…….over capacity warning. Going back to try and submit it again…..error…..tickets no longer available. Both Fri and Sat was sold out. Of course, the moment of time spent in shock sitting there wondering “wow…did that really happen”….the remaining tickets sell out and *poof*….another year without the con.

Now I feel not only have they gone out of their way to really wreck this convention into the mess that it is and make it very difficult on you from registration to the end of the event, but they have to kick you where it hurts a few times and leave you on the side of the street with nothing.

I used to go every year, and when I was a real young boy, I remember the El Cortez. Now however I have missed last year and this year. Meanwhile, they keep piling more and more people into that building without expanding (preferred) or moving to a larger location, they continue to raise the price, and they use what’s obviously the lowest bidder for ticket sales/registration partners (i.e., TicketLeap)…even though we pay so much. It’s no longer about the fans, its only about the money.

I don’t think I have ever been so disappointed in something. A long-time tradition officially squashed.