Tag: Swag

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex CD-BOX

Yes, got mine in the mail. Thanks YesAsia! I highly recommend them. Free international shipping (conditions apply)!

The package design is exquisite, very classy. All transparent and white.

GitS:SAC front
A shot of the front
GitS:SAC back
Of the back
GitS:SAC opened
Opened up

The styrofoam block to hold the Tachikoma USB thumb drive is a little out of place though… am I supposed to toss it out and keep the drive elsewhere? Tsk…

GitS:SAC complaint
Only complaint

Making the booklet white on white is just… ass backwards. It looks very cool and everything, but come on! The print is actually more legible in the photo compared to Real Life due to the camera flash.

GitS: SAC Tachikoma drive
The Tachikoma thumb drive and instructions

Isn’t it just the cutest thing?

One thing I noticed is that the music was beautifully mastered. There is a remarkable clarity to even the densest passages; I could hear each instrument distinctly. The music by the incomparable Kanno Yoko is fantastic, of course.

There have been complaints that the new O.S.T. 4 “Smooth in the Shell” is only available in this set, forcing fans who have already bought the other albums separately to shell out for the whole set if they want that. Pretty bad form by the record company, but for the few fans of Kanno Yoko who don’t already own any of the previously released albums (like myself, luckily), this is a great set to own.

Uproar In Heaven

Otherwise known as 大闹天宫 (Da Nao Tian Gong). This was shown on television just about every year during the Lunar New Year when I was a child, and was a favourite of mine.

Found out there was a DVD release in 2004 but did not manage to find a copy of the 40th anniversary edition for sale on eCommerce sites. The cover of the standard edition is just… butt ugly.

Finally managed to snag a new copy on eBay, for only S$25. Just look at that beautiful packaging. The character art sheets are a very nice touch. The video quality is a disappointment though. Scratches, dust, even some pen marks are visible. Obviously there was no effort made to clean up the source.

That said, this is probably the best that is available at this point of time, and I am very happy with this purchase.

Amazon Swag: November 2006

My Amazon order arrived late last week. I am a happy and contented man.

Clockwise from top left, a pair of Ayreon albums, “Into the Electric Castle” and “Actual Fantasy Revisited”, Frameshift “An Absence of Empathy”, “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence After the Long Goodbye” and the pièce de résistance, “The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1”.

New Love

Picked up this darling just a couple of days ago, courtesy the government of Singapore.

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Its an Ibanez SZ320. The photo fails to do it justice.

Posing it in front of my other treasure, the CD collection. Fell in love with the tone and feel when I tried it, was a no brainer. The intonation was just about perfect off the shelf, and I did not need to adjust the action. It has a set neck, string-though-body design, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard… and the bridge is a thing of beauty. Sustains forever. Aaaaaaa… you could go and have a bite and… aaaaaaaaa… you’d still be hearing that one.

Oh my ex-guitar, you have served me well, but your hardware is corroding, the frets are worn out, and your knobs and pickup toggle and other bits are falling off. And Marty Friedman endorses my new love. I’m sorry but it wasn’t even a contest…

Now all I need is an amp that goes up to eleven.