High Grade 00: GNZ-003 Gadessa

The Gadessa is an experimental mobile suit created for use of elite pilots in A-LAWS, the "peacekeeping" force that serves as the main antagonists for the second season of Gundam 00. Ribbons Almark intended for the Gadessa, along with the Garazzo, to serve as the personal mobile suits for his Innovator cronies, and the Gadessa is piloted by Revive Revival and later by Hilling Care. Its only armaments are a set of low-output beam sabers, two machine guns, and the oversized GN Mega Launcher.



The Gadessa is slightly larger than average but still is shorter than the towering Arche Gundam from the same series. Bandai has the kit designed so that they could easily recycle runners between it, the Garazzo and the Gadess, resulting in slightly more color stickers than I would have liked. Construction is a breeze, however.

Articulation is average but not anything to write home about. It won't be utilizing most of its joints because it never stands, only hovers, and has to hold the hulking GN Mega Launcher.

The design is one of my favorites however, because it feels like something out of Zone of the Enders, a severely underrated video game series. It's also a departure from traditional Gundam design with its spindly points for feet and rear-mounted escape pod.

Accessories include only the GN Mega Launcher and a stand. Fortunately, the gun is detailed and articulated, able to switch between firing modes as well as mount on the backside.

Bandai does a fairly good job with the Innovator mobile suits, despite some corner cutting. The Gadessa is well worth it if you like the design, like really big guns, or want a machine to antagonize one of your Gundams with.



As always, the top picture is a cell phone shot of my model, and the lower one is Bandai official photography.

Oh crap, I think I just ran him over.

The Men Who Stare at Goats is the (mostly) real-life story of the New Earth Army, the U.S. military's brief flirtation with new age techniques in order to create enhanced supersoldiers, psychic spies, and Jedi warriors.

The copious Star Wars references was worth the price of admission, but you could probably get away with just renting the DVD. Given the premise and cast, the film turned out somewhat underwhelming. It seems vaguely without direction and ends up with a sort of meandering pace. It also falls off towards the end, leaving me in surprise when it started leading up to the credits.

That said, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Kevin Spacey more than make up for most of the flaws, adding hilarity to nearly every line and scene. Even the smallest things, like eating a Twizzler or holding a goat, has added levels of hilarity. The film derives most of the humor from its absurd-yet-true premise and a dark satire of the military, notably in a hilarious shoot-out outside an Iraqi gas station.

Basically, if you're a fan of any of those actors and/or Star Wars, you won't regret the time and money spent. Everyone else, wait for the DVD.

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Am I the only one who spends the semester composing his Instructor Evaluations in his head? Because I have choice words for basically all my professors so far. And of course, everyone knows that negative reviews are way more interesting and fun to write than glowing reviews. I don't have much of an idea of how well I'm doing in my classes, because none of them are terribly prompt graders and none of them really use the online gradebook, so I'm in the dark until they get on the ball.

I would rather not go to work tomorrow. It's Saturday, which means customers, who happen to be a serious impediment to my work. It doesn't help that the back room barely has enough room to walk around in. There are too many books to shelve and the "Truck to Floor in 24" maxim is a joke. The almighty Zone Vice President will visit on Tuesday, expecting everything to be spic and span, and heads will roll if they are not to his specifications. No matter what the reports say, if I happen to be fired during his visit, know that it was because I said something to an authority figure that was less than respectful.

Joe the Biden is going to be on The Daily Show next week! I hope Jon asks him how often he sees Obama's "Man, shut the fuck up" face.

Review of the HG Gadessa to come over the weekend I think.

Is this coffin empty, or did you just pull off an awesome magic trick?

Wonderful. Thanks a lot, PAWS. I can start choosing classes on December 8th. That's nearly a frigging month away. Spring 2010 sure is going to be a fun semester when all I can take are ENG 421: Intro to the Soap Opera, HIST 344: Southeastern Colorado History 1890 - 1895, or CHEM 283: Bismuth and You.

Have you ever been to Whole Foods? It's a nice place. But that place is way expensive, so I mostly just wander around looking at stuff and taking samples. Honestly, I'd love to help out the environment, support farmers, wear scarves during the summer time, and be a part of the green movement, but I just don't have the scratch.

I'm seeing The Men Who Stare at Goats tomorrow night and it should be quite the treat.

That is all.

This post brought to you by the magic of the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

Continuing in the grand tradition of entries written after 10 in the evening.

Both roommates are out of the house at this late hour. Josh to God-knows-where and Cody to some concert for a band I've never heard of (which speaks more to my music knowledge than to his taste) and here I am alone on my stupid computer in my stupid apartment, and I could probably be doing way cooler things right now.

It's almost time to register for Spring 2010 courses and, as it always happens with class registration, it's going to stress me out. I'm almost always given a late appointment so I don't get my first choices of classes and I freak out because what if this class isn't going to help me at all in becoming a real, functioning adult?! It doesn't help that my Letters and Arts adviser's catchphrase is "I don't know anything about that" or that the English chair thinks I might be slow and/or annoying. I haven't met my specialized English adviser yet because I am lazy and intimidated haven't had the time but he's into TV, Film, and Queer Theory which is all very exciting. Also he kinda looks like Zachary Quinto.

While browsing the English major page, it occurs to me that I've had far more classes with the preeminent English faculty members than I realized. Of course, one thinks I'm a good-for-nothing because I may have fallen asleep in his class once or twice (honestly, I do think John Donne was kind of cool, but boy do you like to hear yourself talk), one was pretty cool but probably doesn't remember me (even if her TA remembers me BY NAME), and one thinks I'm just quiet despite my good essays on early film criticism, so we'll see where this all goes.

Jon Stewart's impression of Glenn Beck made my entire week. Linked for your convenience. He's got the whole thing - right down to the cognitive dissonance and random taking on and off of glasses. Al Gore visiting both Stewart and Colbert was pretty hilarious too. I like how our nation basically has two choices as far as vice presidents go - you have either the freewheeling guy with a wacky sense of humor like Gore or Biden - or the evil, shapeshifting master of darkness like Cheney or Agnew.

High Grade 00: GN-006GNHW/R Cherudim Gundam GNHW/R

Neil Dylandy, the first Meister to hold the codename "Lockon Stratos" piloted the Dynames Gundam, a long-range support mobile suit noted for its sniping abilities. Neil was killed towards the end of the first season by the mercenary Ali Al-Saachez, resulting in Celestial Being's search for a replacement. Naturally, they went to his twin brother, Lyle Dylandy, and gave him the Cherudim Gundam, an upgrade to the Dynames. After sustaining damage in a battle with the Innovators, the engineers at Celestial Being repair the suit and equip it with new weapons and equipment, mostly in the form of six remote-controlled GN Rifle Bits.



The kit itself is a fairly simple build, however the green plastic is particularly susceptible to nub marks after clipping them off the tree. I did my best to clean most of the parts, but you can still plainly see them in person. The whole thing was another 3 1/2 hour build between snap-together and painting.

In any case, the Cherudim Gundam is a compact mobile suit with loads of accessories. There's the GN Sniper Rifle, four GN Pistols, seven GN Shield Bits and six GN Rifle Bits. A transparent stand is included so that the bits can "hover" to the side of the kit.

Articulation is impressive, given the size of the kit, but it's coming to be something that the High Grade 00 line is known for. The only paint required is for the GN Pistols, though I painted the sensor on the V-crest because the sticker was rubbish.

There are some complaints however. The kit is incredibly back heavy thanks to the GN Rifle bits hanging off the backside, and the pieces don't even fit together very well, so they routinely fall off. The GN Rifle cannot switch between sniper mode or submachine gun mode on its own and requires part-swapping.

Overall, you could probably survive getting just the basic Cherudim Gundam, unless you really want the Rifle Bits or the second pair of pistols. The core kit is excellent.



Again, the top picture is a blurry cell phone picture of the one I built, the bottom picture is from some Japanese site.

Top-shelf failure by any measure

Why did nobody inform me that both Inara and Wash were going to be on ABC's V? I realize that I have to take some of the blame myself for not recognizing Morena Baccarin in short hair, but the rest of you have no excuse as far as Alan Tudyk's involvement goes!

In British Literature, we will be reading T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, which you may know is one of the most important poems of the twentieth century (or so Wikipedia tells me). It's filled with all sorts of literary and cultural references and allusions. So the instructor thought it would be cool to have us pick a few of the references and report back to the class so that we can form a better view of just what the hell the poem is about. She listed as many as she could think of and allowed us to pick two to research.

I ended up with "Tristan and Isolde" and Oliver Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer" because I wasn't quick enough on the draw. She called on people and eliminated choices as she went, resulting in all-out war to get desired topics. I could have gotten Shakespeare's The Tempest, which I really wanted, but she gave it to some jackhole who couldn't make up his mind. Because, let me tell you, I can write some effing essays on The Tempest. But I guess I'll have to do some actual research like a sucker.

I would like to go see A Serious Man. It's what the Coen Brothers (responsible for No Country for Old Men and the under-appreciated Burn After Reading) can make now that they have oodles of cash and cred, what with the Academy Awards and everything. I don't know how much it'll connect with me though, being that I (A.) am not Jewish, and (B.) did not grow up during the sixties. Also, I'm poor and shouldn't be blowing money on movies.

I will however, make an exception for the upcoming Men Who Stare at Goats. With a cast like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lex Luthor, The Dude and George Clooney, it's kind of an instant sell.

I can't be cool

The following really happened.

Alex: (has just accidentally set off the smoke alarm)

Josh: (goes to open window to air out the house) I don't know why you guys keep closing the window anyway.

Cody: (mock anger) We close the window because IT'S FUCKING FALL AND IT'S FUCKING COLD OUTSIDE! ARE YOU CRAZY?

Guy walking by outside: YEAH!

Josh: (recovering from his surprise first) DON'T AGREE WITH HIM!

Cody: FUCK YEAH!

Guy walking by outside: YOU FUCKING TELL HIM!

Josh: I don't need my arguments undermined by someone who's not even in the house!

Alex: (is oblivious and missed the whole thing because he was getting the pizza out of the oven)

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I am partly to blame for this whole consumerism thing and I accept that. For instance, I am now considering purchasing a kit of the Qubeley Mk. II Elpeo Puru colors solely because it has awesome-looking box art, even though I already have the kit in Haman Karn colors. This is not entirely without precedent. After all, I bought the entire First Law trilogy because one of the book covers looked pretty.

Welp, Castle is starting. Be right back. And here I am at the commercial break to relay to you my roommate's opinion that everyone involved with the episode's victim are, quote, "fags". Commercial break again. ABC really wants V to succeed. Back again, just to let you know that I'm fully aware that I'm typing this on a laptop and if I really wanted to, I could just take it into the living room with me and not have to get up at the breaks shut up.