That looks like a nice little setup. Enjoy it.

You reminded me of a nice Marantz CD player I had up until a couple of years ago. I know it's all 1's and 0's and all that snake oil stuff, but something about that CD player, as ancient as it was, just produced a wonderful sound. I regret parting with it now. These days I have my CD's stored away and everything dumped 1:1 on my Pioneer XDP-300R.

Thanks. Really enjoying it. Nothing beats CD for me when it comes to music playback.

TYPE J-9 "GRIFFON" already in hand, i'll be completing my holy trinity of MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR GOOD SMILE corp.
"MODEROID" 1/60 scale model kits this month, with the AV-98 "INGRAM" (UNIT-1) and ARL-99 "HELLDIVER"

eventually, i'll probably find myself expanding out to include the AV-0 "PEACEMAKER" as well...

This arrived today, and in pretty good shape too. I started capturing the cassette the minute I took it out of the jiffy bag. It's safely digitised now.

Incidentally, this isn't in Spinegrinder. Well, it is, but it's listed as another film, Wheels On Fire? Not the same film as far as I'm aware. Errata?

Battlestar Galactica: Season One (2004) [825 367 3]

Bundled with another Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, with original PSU and USB cable.
I have three of these drives in working condition now, but only one boxed (just missing the original install disc for that atm).

A couple of months back, I bought a copy of Numero 95 on vinyl, but the sleeve came in dented during transit so I returned it.

I finally bought another copy, from the same store - and they sent me the exact same one!

A package from the good people of Australia arrived today. Took about 83 years to get here but it's all in one piece!



First up, a blind DVD buy in Sidecar Racers. I couldn't find this available in a better format anywhere else in the world. It looks intriguing, especially the image on the back cover with some bloke being thrown from a sidecar in to the air. Oh and sidecar racing is whopper, so there's that too.

Next is The Man From Hong Kong. A proper 70's classic and better still this one comes with a soundtrack CD in the limited edition set. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of entry in my opinion.

And lastly, the main event... Stunt Rock. This one has two limited editions, one with a short run of a comic book adaptation of the film. The other will be the same set minus the comic book when stock runs out. I thought about adding Deathcheaters to my order, but will get it another day. Had to pay heartbreak tax alas so it stung a bit.

I think this could be a perfect double or triple feature. I'll have to check my calendar for when I have enough time to do it!

Trailers for those who may be interested:

ARL-99(B) "HELLDIVER" this particular unit goes way back with me,
all the way back to the late-1990's, in fact, when i had happened across the 1990 BANDAI 1/60 kit at a comics'/collectables' shop,
on "Sale" for around $15.00 from it's "Nominal" $25.00, due to a Post-It note on the front, denoting some manner of "Missing Chess Piece"

turned out that it was in fact missing the frontal chest half, and i had ended up scratch-building a makeshift replacement,
from the turret, no less, of a toy tank i had happened to have lying about at the time;










just finished the new-ish GOOD SMILE "MODEROID" version of the same Mecha, in the same scale;

Microsoft Ergonomic Desktop (Keyboard & Mouse)... replacing the Surface Ergonomic Keyboard because the Alcantara wrist rest is super dingey, impossible to clean, and the key travel isn't that much better than a laptop. Prior to the Surface Ergonomic, I had the classic Natural Ergonomic 4000 for nearly a decade and it never quit... to the point that about 70% of the key labels were completely rubbed off, and I've kept it around for any time I need a USB keyboard (usually when diagnosing Bluetooth issues). The current Ergonomic Desktop seems to just be a more modern-looking 4000. I may sell the mouse that comes in the package and pickup the Bluetooth version of the same shape.

Also, got the package for $9 shipped on eBay while it currently retails for $60-$90 new.

After trying several powered speakers and not liking all of them ( one can't be properly silent, with other I can't adjust any lows or highs and stuck with utterly overpowering base ) I decided: Screw it I am going the AMP way. Got a good denon DRA-F109 received and DALI Spector 1 speakers.
I am finally happy. Solid sound, I can adjust everything I ant. Flat cables are on order to make sure everything fits properly on my shelf.

Went to a local metal shop and made a stand for the received with a bit of offcut checker plate metal. It was cut and bent to my specifications.

The stand for the receiver is pretty cool, but is it absolutely necessary? I can't see the transport generating enough heat to need the space above it or vibration to need isolation... unless the receiver is wider than the transport, and that would drive me nuts aesthetically as well!

The AMP is bigger than the CD player, that's why the stand, or it would look ridiculous.

Worth mentioning, as I also own a couple of these X360 USB External HD-DVD drives, if you own one of the Toshiba laptops that had shipped with a HD-DVD drive, you can actually use these X360 externals to plays videos on those laptops. The laptop literally doesn't care whether you're using the internal drive or a external HD-DVD drive. Felt it a point of note as those HD-DVD laptop drives had short (MTBF) lifespans when actually used.

After long hunt I finally found the Lost in translation photo book for the right price.

Beyond pleased.

Couple of bits of tat arrived today. First up a massage gun. With Ironman training building up over this year it's going to come in useful. Gave it a try today after a 70km ride today and a 16km run yesterday and it's working great. A good stop gap between phsyio sessions (and about €500 cheaper and just as effective as a Theragun).

Next up is the Only Fools and Horses Blu Ray set. Finally got an alright price on it, not a great discount but it's unlikely to fall a great deal this year. Gave one of the discs a quick spin, To Hull and Back, and it looks absolutely incredible. Rightly so as it's been scanned from the original negatives. Worth the cost of the set alone. Not seen the other episodes yet but heard they are a mix of film negatives and upscaled original broadcast masters (the later 1980's episodes were shot straight on video tape, possibly Betacam?). Not going to be as good as To Hull and Back as that was the only one shot entirely on film. However these have been hailed by everyone so far as the best you will ever see and hear.

The only thing to beat these would be 100% uncut broadcast masters to beat the old partwork magazine VHS tapes that were all uncut but also now impossible to find and cost a fortune. I hope they make more Blu Ray OFAH releases.

Looks nice

Well got another R2 DVD set in the mail today, found it for a really cheap price, 20 bucks.
I do hope this has the skit I saw years ago and also know I will enjoy it due to the actors in it.

I need to get an R2 DVD player…

Every DVD player I own is a region free player, too much crap I like that I actually have to own on DVD
from foreign countries so need that. You can get decent ones for under 60 bucks now, the ones I have were under 100 at the time.

You can also search up and may be able to unlock your DVD player, one that I do own was able to without me knowing it.