Mozilla Firefox 3

I can say that Mozilla Firefox 3 is my favorite browser. Now its popularity is second after Internet Explorer from Microsoft. Internet Explorer gains highest popularity because it is packed with Microsoft Windows, if it isn’t, perhaps the story will be different. Firefox is free, may be Internet Explorer is free too but we must buy Microsoft Windows to have it. Today, Firefox is the most popular free web browsers, and almost everybody today ever use Firefox in browsing.

Today, I still use Firefox 3 along with Opera and Google Chrome, and Firefox still becomes my favorite browser. But I notice that in several points, Firefox is inferior compared to Opera and Google Chrome:

• First, Firefox 3 needs more time to start compared to Opera and Google Chrome. Today I use Firefox 3, and this problem is still occurring. It is so obvious that I don’t even need stopwatch to compare it.
• Second, sometimes when Firefox 3 is loaded to open multiple tabs, it will automatically shut down itself. This problem also occurs when Firefox 3 is opening a site containing particular ads script. I met this problem when I use dial up connection to connect to internet, there is no problem in other connection.

Generally, I like Firefox, in several points it is superior compared to other browsers, including Internet Explorer. Considering that almost web browser now is free, it is no use to compare them based on whether free or not. I have been using Firefox since 2005, I thought it was faster than other browsers I knew (browsers I knew in that year are IE and Opera). Today it is almost impossible for lay people to compare browser based on speed, all of them almost equal.

There is one reason I like Firefox very much: There are many available plug-ins and Add-ons in internet, just j search them. Almost all of plug-ins and Add-ons are designed to suit Firefox. As the leading free web browsers, it is not strange that there are many people’s contributions to improve it. You can download it from its official site or in Download.com

Ah! My Goddess Season 2

Season 2 of Ah! My Goddess anime is titled “Sorezore no Tsubasa” in Japanese, it is translated to Everyone Has Wings according to some sources, or Flights of Fancy in other. Well, I don’t understand Japanese so I can’t comment which one of them is the correct translation. It has 22 episodes, still consistent in its genre as peaceful and humorous stories, even if there are truly existing conflicts between characters. The story, of course, is still around Belldandy and Keichi relationship, accompanied by Belldandy sisters (Urd and Skuld) and Keichi’s friends. Here is opening of season 2 in Youtube.

There are three introductions of new important characters in Season 2, they are Peorth, Sentaro, and Hild. These three characters will continue to appear in later episodes. Peorth is a goddess who considers herself as Belldandy’s rival, accidentally called by Keichi via phone. Her appearance mostly makes troubles to Keichi and Belldandy, but her rivalry with Belldandy seems to fade over time. Sentaro is a boy Skuld meet in temple’s neighborhood she, Keichi, and her sisters live now. Soon both of them begin closer, even developing crush each other. This happens when Urd’s body is shrunk because of error in Yggdrasil.

The last is Hild, she actually is Urd’s mother, who has an authority over Hell. Urd has mixed blood of God and Demon. She is summoned to Earth by Urd, to cure her split personalities as a result of her conflict with Marller. Of course, Hild won’t help for free, Urd must pay back for her help. Hild continues to appear later because she leaves a part of her to remain in Earth when she goes back to Hell.

Ah! My Goddess is full with references to Norse mythology, I don’t really understand about it. I also don’t really understand about its rating. In addition, there are some mild sexual contents in words and scene. I can notice that Peorth is always shown wearing skimpy clothes, so is Urd in several occasions. That’s no problem for me; I am in early twenties now. This was made for TV, so many fans recorded it. There are numerous peer to peer file sharing using torrent in internet, you may try it if you have high speed internet connection.

Ah! My Goddess Season 1

Ah! My Goddess anime is based on manga authored by Kosuke Fujishima. The canon version, manga, is still being serialized now, published by Kodansha. Its initial run was in 1988, so it has passed over two decades now. Season 1 contains 26 episodes; here, important characters are introduced one by one in this season.

Story of Ah! My Goddess is about Keichi Morisato, a college student, and his love life revolving around him. The story begins when a goddess, Belldandy, comes to Keichi’s boarding house to grant him a wish. Keichi, who feels a bit unsure unintentionally, wishes that a goddess like Belldanny would stay with him forever. Unexpectedly, his wish is granted by heaven, so Keichi and Belldandy must stay together now. Everything become more complicated when Keichi’s housemates kick him out from the house, they consider that Keichi breaks the rules for bringing a girl in. subsequently, Keichi and Belldandy who are homeless finds a place in a temple, the priest lends them the temple while he makes a pilgrimage to India. Later the story is flaming up with the occurrence of Keichi’s college friends, Belldandy’s sisters (Urd and Skuld) who stay with them in the temple later, and also the demon, Marller, who constantly brings troubles to Keichi and Belldandy.

The plot is nice I think, there are hardly any dark or bloody scenes. Relations between characters are sown in peaceful and funny situation; even if there are rivalries exist. I think that the disputes between them, even if it is between Belldandy and Marller, are more presented in comedic senses, not in hatred atmosphere. Kikuko Inoue is the voice actress for the character Belldandy, she is famous for her sweet peaceful motherly voice. This truly suits Belldandy who brings peaceful atmosphere to chaotic environment around her and Keichi.

In this era, its almost impossible to prevent any product from piracy. I haven't check it yet, but may be there are many torrents or direct downloads of this Season 1. So, just watch it and enjoy!

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First Semester of Great Teacher Onizuka

Anime of Great Teacher Onizuka is based on a manga authored by Tohru Fujisawa with same title. Personally, I like this anime very much. Tohru Fujisawa made the hero, Eikichi Onizuka, appears uniquely. He is portrayed as lazy, stupid, and former delinquent person with low level of IQ, but amazingly passed board exam to be an educator. Despite his bad background, Onizuka has caring and loving sides to his students far more than any other ‘normal’ skilled teachers, who are portrayed lacking educational souls.

Onizuka is a former gang member, but strangely obsessed to be a perfect teacher despite his bad education background. Somehow he succeeds to become a teacher when chairwoman of Holy Forest, Ryoko Sakurai, is convinced by his spirit and hires him, and from this start, his story as a teacher in Holy Forest begins.

Great Teacher Onizuka has 43 episodes, and this First Semester contains Episodes 1-23, each episode are titled as Lesson #, so they are Lesson #1, Lesson #2, and so on. In first semester, important characters are introduced one by one, starting from Onizuka himself, Principal Uchiyamada who hates him, his colleague teacher – Azusa – who has a crush on him, and his students like Noboru Yoshikawa & Uehara Anko, Kunio Murai, Tomoko Nomura, Miyabi, Urumi Kanzaki, etc. These episodes show how Onizuka builds his relationship with his students, who initially don’t trust him at all and even try to abuse him (something they did to their previous homeroom teacher).

Usually, there’s two languages option in the DVD, English and Japanese (with English subtitle). I like to watch it in Japanese; English dub is weird in my ears. This anime is not suitable for kids, for there are harsh words and scenes emphasizing partial nudity. Harsh words and violence are present almost in all episodes. And even if there are serious plots about Onizuka trying to solve problems connected to his students or himself, I still see funny things in them. Onizuka is always portrayed in funny ways when he panics over some problems. And last comment from me, first semester has 23 episodes, each episode around 20-25 minutes, so this anime can be a choice for “movie marathon” in weekend.
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