Regarding Aikatsu!, the big slump of 2015 and basically me oversharing

Before the big slump of 2015 (more on that later), I had a routine. For every anime season, I would review the massive JPEGs of doom to see what shows are coming up, shortlist the shows that sound like they could be good and prepare my streaming, torrents, etc accordingly. I had been doing this routinely since roughly 2008-2009 when Toradora was airing (the first anime I watched weekly as it came out with the fansubs). 

Fast forward to 2012, specifically the Autumn or "Fall" season. This season was home to a few big names: Chuunibyou season 1, Hidamari Sketch x honeycomb and Girls und Panzer to name a few. Now, generally speaking, each anime had a description, cast, hashtag, etc to give you a rough idea and it was this that I would base whether to watch a series or not. Sometimes I'd pick something up from recommendations too I should add. So generally, you'd get something like this:

-moetron.com, 2012

But there was one show that just plain didn't have anything written about it. One show that stood out as a "who cares". One show that made me think "sounds stupid, like YuGiOh but with idols. I'll watch one episode as a laugh."

-moetron.com, 2012

So, first things first. Yes, I watched the first episode of Aikatsu! completely on a whim and expecting to drop it. As part of writing this blog post, I just this second finished watching episode 1 again to see if I can remind myself what made me continue watching. It has been quite a while since I last watched it, so it might be nostalgia talking, but the characters, the music, the genuine fun the show seems to have is still there, even if the CG was super wonky back then. Truth be told, I often skipped the song in old episodes of Aikatsu! as they often repeated the same songs every week for a while and the CG was super wonky.

Fast forward to today and we're approaching 3 whole years since the first episode. I've watched every single one and I've seen the first movie too. Lately, they've got a much bigger variety of songs to choose from, and the CG looks fantastic! Click here to see a comparison of just how far the CG has come over the first 54 episodes, not to mention the newest ones look even better!

So what is "the big slump"? Well, in 2014 I got a significant other who encouraged me to watch shows I wouldn't normally be interested in because I watch "too many little girl shows" and not enough of what they liked. So I figured I'd try and expand my horizons a bit and watch some other shows. This lead to me trying to watch a bit of everything and not really having the time to do it. This person became particularly toxic towards the anime, music, and basically everything I enjoyed and, eventually, me as a whole. I was watching less and less anime to the point where I hardly watched anything. I finally left that relationship at the start of 2015. That person is long behind me now and I want nothing to do with them ever again. This left me with an issue: I had many series in my backlog that I couldn't bring up the enthusiasm to attempt to catch up on. Despite parting ways with this individual, I was still, what I consider, quite broken. I just couldn't get the enthusiasm to watch most anime. I can't watch something if I'm not in the mood for it, and the mood only happened a couple of times a week at most. The biggest issue for me was starting new series, not knowing what you're in for. I also blame part of this on Madoka Magica, a series which I utterly despise, probably not because it's a bad show, but because I forced myself to watch it all and became completely depressed as a result. It's not a show I enjoyed, but I watched the whole thing because everyone else was and I didn't want to feel left out, but I feel worse off as a result so thanks everyone. Any sequels or continuing shows I was fine with, I'd still be watching these every week. Most notable of these is Aikatsu! of course. This slump continued until mid-2015 where I got myself into another relationship of sorts, but one that basically had an agreement that neither of us were super sure about whether it would work out for various reasons. I was very happy with this relationship and, although it has since ended, I feel like a better person because of it as I'm starting to understand just who I am, what I am and what I enjoy and be way happier with it. It also seems to have reset my anime watching-ness...that's a word, as I'm now marching through my backlog with a few episodes a day, rather than a couple of episodes a week. I basically consider this relationship-like thing I had to have basically rebooted me and I'm on the way to getting to how I want to be.

Let's go back to Aikatsu! again. I'm still watching this show every week and I have been doing for almost 3 years (minus 2.5 weeks at time of writing). I can't explain quite how happy this show makes me. I have so much fun seeing what the characters are up to, hearing the new songs, buying the CDs and, hell, I even managed to meet Ruka, Mona and Miki from Aikatsu Stars while I was in Japan last month (they seemed pretty psyched that someone from the UK came to see them, and I can gloat that I was the only westerner there). I just have so much fun with this whole franchise every week! I'm going to do my best to get to Japan to see the third film (second story-based film) next summer, as that's my new number 1 goal after I completed my "just get to Japan, doesn't matter what happens while you're there, just get there" goal in July.

Saving Money - A Tale of Self Control and Going the Extra Mile

If you pay any attention to my ramblings on Twitter, you may well know that I'm going to Japan this year. This has been planned for quite a while, and it will require a fairly large lump of money if I'm not to be in debt for the next few hundred years (well...more in debt for the next few hundred years, I went to university after all). So the plan is simple: we kill the spending.

Okay, so flat out "killing" spending doesn't quite work. Spending money to buy random crap you don't need is like a drug addiction; you just need to manage it better and trick/force yourself into no longer caring about the item. Alternatively, find ways to spend as little as possible while still getting the thing you want, or a cheaper equivalent. This is a blog post about some of the ideas I've used to save money.

1) What are you saving money for?

This is super clever, and suggested by my good friend Mhairi last year: Put reminders of what you're saving money for EVERYWHERE! Keep it in your mind at all times by putting reminders on your wall, in your car, on your computer, on your phone, on the toilet, etc. This way, you'll be less inclined to spend stuff because you've got what you're saving for in your mind at all times.

2) Keep track of everything you spend

This used to be a super pain, especially with banks starting to cause payments to be days late appearing in your account meaning you go overdrawn (true story). You could keep everything in an Excel spreadsheet or, if you're keen, a database like Access or MySQL. However, there's something way more appropriate to today: an app. There are apps out there that are really quick to add payments to, both immediate and scheduled. I don't use my bank app any more except when transferring money from my current account to my savings account. I manage my balance by using an app called "Finance Tracker". This is very useful as you can create categories to allow very quick assigning of payments, also allowing you to make reports on what you've been spending money on the most and give you ideas on how to spend money on those things less. It also has the option for multiple accounts. I use this as one for bank account, one for cash, but the latter is tricky to keep track of since cash can go all over the place and quickly sometimes. However, it has allowed me to not go overdrawn on a few occasions and I'm really pleased I have it.

One thing to bear in mind is that applications like this that can give you your approximate balance need you to keep putting in monthly/weekly/whatever outgoings every month up to pay day. I typically do this once I can see my salary in my bank account. I then spend 10 minutes setting up all my known outgoings for the month.

3) Set yourself some restrictions and guidelines, but give yourself the opportunity to bypass it

Restrictions on spending. Sounds scary, but it doesn't have to be. It's difficult to go into generic examples for everyone, so let me talk about my own.

One of the most influential ideas I've had (as in influential on my spending) was the idea that I was not to spend over £20 on anything other than the necessities (so fuel, rent, etc) UNLESS I watch this 1 hour 17 minute video of some friends of mine in Japan having a great time. If, by the time the video is over, I still want the item in question, then I buy it. The idea here is that, by watching the video, it reminds myself of what I could be missing if I don't save up enough. Additionally, it adds a layer of breakage where there's a period of 1 hour and 17 minutes between "I want this" and actually buying it. Quite often, I get to about 5 minutes in and go "you know what, I'll wait until after Japan".

Try to contain your social life. If you've got friends who often want to go to the pub/out to eat, let them know that you're saving up so can't do that too often. Have fewer nights out, or tone them down a bit (maybe have food at home, then go see friends in the pub for example). This is a lot easier for me due to me not having any alcohol whatsoever (you can get some good deals when you're the designated driver by the way) but I used to spend the equivalent on food instead, so that's something.

4) Find cheaper ways of doing/buying stuff. They are out there.

So here's an example of how I'm saving a fair bit of money while still being able to do the things I love, like travelling on trains.

Over the next month, Northern Rail have an offer where you collect 2 tokens from newspapers, print out a form and you can buy a day ticket valid on all Northern Rail services for £10, or £17.50 for a weekend ticket. Most notably, I was planning a trip to Garsdale to visit the friends I'm going to Japan with. To drive, the petrol alone would be in the region of £35, about the same as the train price (only it's quicker to drive). However, by getting 4 newspapers delivered (at £1.06 each, coming from Leeds because none of the newspapers in the campaign are on sale in Crewe) and, thus, 2 day tickets, it works out cheaper than the standard return ticket, and I've got a bit more flexibility than just going straight there. Getting the weekend ticket would allow us to travel somewhere on the Saturday too, and it's still cheaper than the petrol! Not by much, but every pound counts. Previously, I've travelled all the way to Newcastle-upon-Tyne on one of these tickets, then back the next day, so it's a cheap way of getting my train travel fill while spending less than usual.

Loyalty cards, if you don't mind the shops tying your purchases to you for marketing, etc, can be useful for saving money on some purchases. Points are a pain, so I use the Co-Op card to get some money back each year instead.

UPDATE: Your phone probably has a calculator. Use it when doing the shopping. For example, I drink 2 cans of either Pepsi Max or Diet Coke every weekday. This means I will often buy the cans in bulk. However, larger containers are not always better, depending on offers. This is gonna sound crazy, but when at the supermarket I break out my phone and calculate the cost PER CAN. £7 for a box of 24, or two boxes of 12 for £5. You go for the latter, saved yourself £2 there. Sometimes it's less obvious, but you get the idea. Sometimes, the saving is like 1 or 2p per can, but it all adds up!

5) Do odd jobs?

As a side business, I do mystery shopping for certain companies. It doesn't pay much, but it often results in a subsidized/free meal if you go for the restaurant/pub jobs. Just remember that you need to sign up as a company and do a tax return each year. I've got that to look forward to. Fun.

6) Don't stop believing

You can do it, I believe in you.

Peter Shillito's 2014 Aikatsu Awards

Following on from my earlier anime rewards posts, time for the 2014 Aikatsu! Awards!

As many of you may know, I'm kinda, sorta obsessed with Aikatsu! so it makes sense to have entirely separate awards for Aikatsu!

Without further ado~

The 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development

With the 3rd season now well underway, the characters we've known and loved have now been around for a 2 years in the real world, 3 years in the show world (there was a year timeskip between season 1 and 2 if you didn't know). This led to characters we know from the first series now being 3 years older than when we first met them, along with new characters introduced along the way. One of the most notable changes is Raichi, Ichigo's brother, who has noticably grown taller (there is a height comparison to Aoi at one point both in the original series and the second).
Akari is the obvious choice for this award. Starting off as essentially an "Ichigo wannabe", copying her hairstyle and mannerisms and trying to be her, Akari didn't seem like a character I could really like at all. However, even though she is still technically the Ichigo replacement for the 3rd season onwards in terms of "leader of the main trio", Akari has progressed into her own unique character. From a striking visual change when she cut her own hair (no longer a clone of Ichigo's), to developing her own personality and mannerisms (Akari's thing where she kisses the cards she's about to use is the most adorable thing).

Akari wins The 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development

Honourable mention goes to Aoi Kiriya and Ran Shibuki as, in late season 3, they have started acting as producers for Ichigo completely on their own, without needing to join a course like those available in Dream Academy. Aoi has also continued her role as the lead character in the Naughty Detective police drama. Essentially, she's standing on her own two feet, in contrast with many others.

The 'Who?' Award for Character Lost in the Gap Between Seasons

RIP Dream Academy. The third season has completely forgotten about the Dream Academy characters it would seem, save for a few mentions of characters where relevant in the plot, but they're otherwise absent. Kii is mentioned in the episode where Akari became the new Pon Pon Crepe image girl, while Seira appeared in a flashback and an in-anime photo. I also have a feeling that she may appear in the Great Ichigo Starmiya Festival due to the appearance of certain cards in the background of some shots. However, everyone else has vanished entirely. I don't even think they've appeared in flashbacks.

Literally everyone from Dream Academy gets The 'Who?' Award for Characters Lost in the Gap Between Seasons

Honourable mention goes to Hikari Minowa who got an entire episode in season 1, even going on-stage, then only ever seen in cameos since. However, she is the mascot for the real world Aikatsu! Style shops to the point where you could get a CD of her singing short versions of various Aikatsu! songs from said shops, but only there. You could argue that she's more forgotten than the Dream Academy characters, however her character wasn't really developed enough for me to care after that one episode in season 1.

The 'Kanzaki Mizuki' Award for Worst Character Other than Mizuki

Okay, so naming the award after Mizuki might be a bit unfair, but I really can't stand Mizuki. Everyone in the show seems to hold her in some kind of crazy-high regard. She's just arbitrarily assigned as "top idol" and has never left the top spot despite her not actually doing anything in ages. So she's default worst character.
This award actually goes to Otome Arisugawa. I've hated her since season 1 and the fact that she became Starlight Queen (essentially the most popular idol in the school) while Ichigo was in the USA was ridiculous. Visually, I dislike the "Happy Rainbow" brand of clothing, her voice is incredibly grating especially when yelling her "love you" catch phrase and everyone seems to like her despite her only activities seemingly being eating sweets and walking places. I'm very pleased she's not in season 3 much, but then the characters I do like from older seasons are also not in season 3 much. It's like they give with one hand and take with the other.

Otome Arisugawa wins The 'Kanzaki Mizuki' Award for Worst Character Other than Mizuki

Honourable mention goes to Maria Himesato from Dream Academy who even the anime admits only got popular due to a photo in a magazine. They never really expanded on her character much. However, she was introduced mid-series and, like all other Dream Academy students, she's pretty much forgotten completely now.

The 'It Sucks to be a Fat Male Foreigner in a Little Japanese Girl World' Award for Aikatsu! Merchandise I'll Never Be Able To Obtain and/or Use

So it was announced recently that a line of Aikatsu!-themed glasses frames were to be released, along with images of said glasses. I've looked them up online, and I can confirm that they look amazing and they also won't fit my giant head. I really appreciate the images with measurement dimensions on for the glasses, as I know for sure that they won't fit me and, thus, shouldn't waste my money on them. I've got nowhere to put glasses on display, so if they won't fit on my head, I shouldn't get them. Another problem I had is that most opticians don't like fitting lenses to frames that aren't theirs due to fears of breaking them, so I wouldn't be able to use them anyway (I wear prescription lenses).

Aikatsu! glasses frames win The 'It Sucks to be a Fat Male Foreigner in a Little Japanese Girl World' Award for Aikatsu! Merchandise I'll Never Be Able To Obtain and/or Use

Honourable mention to all other apparel, such as t-shirts, available to buy at Aikatsu! Style.

The 'Mai Waifu' Award for Best Aikatsu! Character

I don't think there's much point in having this award listed. You all know that Yurika Toudou is my favourite character in Aikatsu! Her ability to remain in her vampire character almost 24/7 is amazing and she's so much fun because of it. She's really cute as well, especially in those rare moments when she's in non-vampire mode with her hair down and wearing glasses (glasses are a major plus for any character in anything ever and I won't have anyone say otherwise). Her clothing brand of Loli Gothic is fantastic, and really suits Yurika, along with the incredible music used (Eien no Tomoshibi is the best song in Aikatsu!). It's a shame she's not appearing much in season 3, but with one of the new trio using Loli Gothic as her main brand of clothing, I'm hoping she'll appear a bit more later in the season.

Yurika Toudou wins The 'Mai Waifu' Award for Best Aikatsu! Character

Honourable mention to Aoi Kiriya, my second favourite character in Aikatsu! Her role as the Idol Professor in the series is pretty fun, and Futuring Girl is a fantastic clothing brand that I actually prefer over Loli Gothic and, indeed, all other brands.

Did you read all that? Huh. Wasn't expecting that. It's just me gushing over Aikatsu!, only in more detail. Why would you want to read that? Oh well. Here's to another year of Aikatsu! - maybe I'll get to see the film at some point~~~

Anime Rewards Continued: The Total Bullshit award (not as funny as the last post)

The Total Bullshit award for comedies drawing fun on making someone feel insecure about themselves goes to Denki-gai no Honya-san

I'm really sorry about this, but Denki-gai no Honya-san made me feel really angry. There's a character in it "Sensei-san" who is a manga author. The show frequently has characters make fun of her due to her "low girl power", which is to say she has mannerisms and habits that "a girl should not have". They often refer to some of her activities or mannerisms as "reducing her girl power" to the point of having arbitrary scales or bars on-screen. They then tell her about this or show her recorded footage leading to her getting worried about the boy she likes not liking her because of this. This happens frequently throughout the show and nobody backs her up or reassures her. The rest of the show is pretty funny, albeit a bit tedius at times, but christ I hate the other characters when they do this. I'll probably get told I'm taking a comedy too seriously, but sometimes a show like this takes things too far.

OPINIONS (dramatic music) - TheShillito's 2015 Anime Awards

Time to give out some awards for some animes. Without further ado:

The Not-Aikatsu Award for Best Idol Anime Other than Aikatsu

Nominees:
Love Live 2,
PriPara,
Locodol

First to drop off the list is Locodol I'm afraid. It was fairly fun and seemed to be more about the general activities of local council sponsored idols promoting tourism rather than getting careers as "idols". They frequently say "we're locodols (local idols) not idols" when reinforcing this to people. Sadly, the show dragged on and it never really decided what it wanted to do as it eventually started pushing the girls into actual idol roles instead, which seemed odd considering they weren't supposed to be proper idols...I dunno.

Love Live season 2 drastically outperforms season 1 in my books. Season 1 was very much about setting the scene and getting everyone used to the characters. After season 1 ended, the hivemind got to work with fan art, more shipping than Parcelforce, etc. Season 2 came into play and, in some cases, flat out acknowledges these and runs with them up to the point of them actually confessing any feelings of course, we can't be having that! I also really appreciated how everyone in the show had also had enough with Nico's "Nico-Nico-Ni", often cutting her off or getting annoyed, the latter letting myself identify more with the characters (as much as an overweight white British guy can identify with adorable 2D idol singers at least). Sadly, I started to get very frustrated by the direction of certain sections of Love Live, particularly with the handling of the "Love Live" event itself and who won. Announcing the winner as an off-hand comment from someone and not showing reactions is AWFUL. The one moment I wanted to properly share with the group and NOPE. Thanks for that.

So that leaves me with PriPara. I can't get enough of this show. It started out very similar to Aikatsu! in terms of structure, however it changed drastically as they added more characters, fleshed out backstories and had the most amazing moment in idol anime this year: the acceptance of a non-female character in female clothing. One of the characters in PriPara is visually female and, indeed, a twin of another character. However, the character is male. When this was revealed, I was half expecting them to make a really big deal about it. A few people were surprised, sure, but then Mirei says something along the lines of "it doesn't matter what gender someone is, if they get a Pri Ticket, they can enter PriPara" and that's the last they say about it with the exception of the headteacher, who is portrayed as the "villain" generally anyway, so her complaining actually has the opposite effect. PriPara is a show I'm really enjoying watching and it is indeed still going, albeit the fansubbers have a few real-life troubles so they're a few episodes behind (there's no legal stream for this show, thanks Obama).

PriPara wins the "Not-Aikatsu award for Best Idol Anime Other Than Aikatsu" for 2014.

I feel honourable mention should go out to Wake Up Girls, but I didn't watch that. Sorry.

The Kylie Minogue Award for Song I Just Can't Get Out Of My Head

Nominees:
Extra Magic Hour (Amagi Brilliant Park opening),
Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! (Aikatsu! S3 opening),
Welcome!! DISCO Kemokemoke (Gugure! Kokkuri-san opening),
Marble Make up a-ha-ha! (PriPara Insert song),
Uraomote Fortune (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun ED),
Witch ☆ Activity (Witch Craft Works ED)

These are all the songs that have been floating round my head at various points throughout the year. There's a few more there than there should be for a nominees list, but I couldn't not mention some of them, so I'll whittle them down a bit.

Uraomote Fortune has one of the most infectious intros of all of these, but that's really all this song has in terms of earworming. I typically had the "HANTAI NO HANTAI NO" etc bouncing round my head for hours, but not much else. The song was nice, don't get me wrong, but there's not much else earwormy to speak of.

Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! is a tricky one to review, as it's part of a continuing series (so I hear it at least weekly) and I know all the words to the first third (the third in the show, haha!) but the more I think about it, the less of an earworm it feels. I guess this one's out of the running too.

Marble Make up a-ha-ha! has a section where the characters, sorta, breathe out hard in rhythm to the music and it sounds ☆☆AMAZING☆☆ and I had this section in my head until I finally got the CD, and then I became obsessed with a different song on the album that overshadowed it. It was only really a small section of the song that stuck in my head, so it would be wrong of me to give it this award.

Extra Magic Hour "[twinkle] [ticking] LOOK TO THE SKY IT'S MAGIC HOUR [clap]" gosh this song is fun. The quiet introduction leading up to [Akino Intensifies] is the perfect moment to turn up the volume (and I do every time). This used to be what I started my drive to work with in the morning and the same on the way home. It used to often get stuck in my head at work and I would hum it regularly. This is definitely an earworm. I wonder if it's the winner...

Welcome!! DISCO Kemokemoke: Now we're talking. This is a song that was stuck in my head for quite a while. Multiple quotable sections, from the chorus to the "BOOGIE! dance dance dance" lead this song to be a major earworm. Bonus points for having Ono Daisuke in of course.

Witch ☆ Activity: Ah. Yeah, Witch Craft Works started airing in January and the single came out in February. I think it's safe to say we have a winner. From catchy lyrics that transcends language barriers to cover art that parodies Kraftwerk, this song is catchy on multiple mediums and has been with me for the whole year, and there's an OVA episode due out in a few weeks! Time to get witchy witchy

Witch ☆ Activity wins The Kylie Minogue Award for Song I Just Can't Get Out Of My Head

Honourable mention: Hana wa Odore ya Irohaniho (Hanayamata OP). I originally had this in the nominees, but then I realised that it's not that it's an earworm. It's because I love singing this song and it feels fantastic simply to listen to it.

The The Twintail Award for the Best Twintails in I Wanna Be The Twintail

Nominees:
Tail Red,
Tail Blue,
Tail Yellow

Tail Red is the winner. Red hair is great, but red twintails is something else. They're not the ones that go all twiddly at the end, they're straight and smooth. I also really like Tail Red because Red's actually a guy, so I can relate with wanting hair like that.

Tail Red wins the The Twintail Award for the Best Twintails in I Wanna Be The Twintail

Honourable mention: Tail Yellow just because her character when fighting is amazing.

The Shillito Cup for Best Aikatsu Song of 2014

Nominees:
Sweet Sp!ce
Eien no Tomoshibi
Du-Du-Wa DO IT!!
Good morning my dream

Sweet Sp!ce was used superbly as a rivalry song between Ichigo and Seira, though it was a shame they used "Friend" for the final showdown with WM. A good rock sound, with some electronic elements really reflects the two characters well.

Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! as mentioned earlier is a fun track to sing along to. The dancing in the opening sequence version is super fun, though the performance version leaves something to be desired.

Good morning my dream has some amazing sound samples in for all the clock noises, alarms, etc, leading to a very fresh sound for Aikatsu and a good sign of songs to come for the new series. It also continues the trend of me only liking every other Aikatsu ending song.

Eien no Tomoshibi has to win this award however. Like GLASS DOLL before it, this track continues the trend in gothic rock you can dance and sing along to with some fantastic instrumental sections and powerful singing.

Eien no Tomoshibi wins the Shillito Cup for Best Aikatsu Song of 2014

Honourable mention: Tarte・Tatin. Not out on CD yet, so don't know what the full version's like, but this song is pretty amazing, and I've got my eyes on Sumire as the only remaining Loli Gothic brand user in the show now Yurika-sama has a minor/rare role.


That's it for now. Might have some more ideas of dumb awards later, but it's 2am and I'm up at 9 WHOOPS BYE

Updating MySQL records with a Microsoft Access front-end - lock violations?

As part of my work, I've been using Microsoft Access as the front-end for a MySQL database (there are reasons for it, don't ask). I came across a problem though. When trying to update a set of records, I always seemed to get the following error:

Microsoft Access can't update all the records in the update query.
Microsoft Access didn't update 0 field(s) due to a type conversion failure, 0 record(s) due to key violations, 883 record(s) due to lock violations, and 0 record(s) due to validation rule violations.
Do you want to continue running this type of action query anyway?
To ignore the error(s) and run the query, click Yes.
For an explanation of the causes of the violations, click Help.
[Yes] [No] [Help]

So as you can see, there's lock violations meaning they can't be updated. Or are there? Nope, there aren't any lock violations.

In my search to find out what was going on, there seemed to be a variety of potential causes. 1) No primary key in the table being updated. I made sure there was a primary key and there was. 2) A setting in Microsoft Access locked the records. Nope, it's in "No locks" mode. 3) MySQL locked the table, run UNLOCK TABLES to sort it. No difference.

I was starting to give up, until I looked closely at the message that came up before the error:

You are about to update 889 row(s).
Once you click Yes, you can't use the Undo command to reverse the changes.
Are you sure you want to update these records?
[Yes] [No]

What I didn't notice before was that 6 records were not affected by the lock violations. I opened up the SELECT equivalent of the query and reviewed the data. Turned out that those 6 records were the ones that would actually change their values, while the remaining 883 would remain the same.

So it sounds to me like Microsoft Access or the MySQL Connector is interpreting the server's response as refusing to update records, rather than "these records are already done mate, no point in doing it again". So clicking [Yes] on the error would update these 6 records and otherwise run the query as expected. However, this is not ideal in case there was an actual lock violation, so I modified the update query so that it wouldn't try to write anything to the field if it already contained the right value. Once I did that, no more error.

I don't usually post stuff on here, but it's worth sharing since there's no clear forum post or anything online about this, most go on about primary keys or just complaining about using Access as a front end for MySQL (often valid point, but not helpful when you're trying to fix a problem - looking at you Stack Overflow).

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - A dash, a death and a drink

I am writing this from the comfort of my hotel room in Newcastle (I made it). The lack of updates since leaving for Carlisle are for a variety of reasons. Let's go through the journeys though:

So onward to Carlisle I went from Leeds. I posted a bunch of pictures on Twitter for a while, then I suddenly stopped. As I tweeted much later on, phone signal on that line was occasional at best. To make matters worse, my phone *attempting* to connect and my failed photo uploads meant that it used up lots of battery, meaning on the approach to Carlisle, my laptop had died and my phone was very low, so updates were quiet due to preserving battery (which turned out to be futile, more on this later).

Carlisle. I was outside of a train for less than 60 seconds. I arrived into platform 6, a bay platform, 5 minutes earlier than planned. Right next to platform 6 was platform 5, containing a train to Middlesbrough...VIA NEWCASTLE! It was the train one hour before the one I was due to get. I went to the front of my train on arrival and got out, dashed round and into the train in under 60 seconds. By catching this train, I would arrive into Newcastle an hour earlier than planned, and I did.

I remember my hotel being between Newcastle and Manors stations, a bit closer to Manors. Brilliant! I can get a train to Manors and save some more time! There was one ready to leave and I hopped on it, and the journey took about 2 minutes (ending the day on another Pacer was not in the plan, but whatever).

Then everything went wrong.

I planned on using my phone's map functions to guide myself to my hotel once I got to Manors. I got there and opened the maps application.

goodbye - Peter's Phone, October 2013

My battery died as I arrived at Manors. I got off the train in a bit of a dazed state. I had no idea where to go. I remember it being near the quayside or something like that, so off I went in search of hotels (they usually bunch together). I walked and walked, occasionally asking people directions only for them to not know or to send me to the wrong hotel. Eventually, I stopped off at a corner shop for a drink and the guy knew where the hotel was! I arrived at the hotel one hour and twenty minutes after my train originally arrived into Newcastle. I was exhausted, but I made it. Until I realised I only had 45 minutes to get myself checked in and find/get to "The Gate" to meet a friend and regular listener of my radio show for some food. That bit's not about trains, but he lives in Sunderland and uses the Metro to get to Newcastle. As a true English gentleman, I must see him off at his destination.

And so I went on the Metro, but that's for another blog post. I need sleep.

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - Onwards to Carlisle

I arrived in Leeds bang on time! Hung around for half an hour waiting for the Carlisle train and now I'm off. Going to take lots of pictures as requested by Northern Rail on Twitter which will end up on @theshillito on Twitter and probably here eventually. My phone is being charged up by my laptop, which itself only has 1 hour 20 mins left, so I may end up out of signal at some point :S

ETA at Carlisle: Still 15:32 (on time)

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - Delays from everyone

Delays happen. I get that. Northern Rail have a bit of a bad reputation for this, sometimes unfairly. With the failure of an electric unit resulting in the use of a Pacer unit (see previous post for my reaction to this) and the late running of the service due into Crewe before mine, likely meaning my train had to wait a bit behind this, I arrived into Manchester about 10 minutes late. No big deal, I'll get the tram to Victoria with the hope of getting the 10:21 to Leeds.
Nope.
The tram got to just inside the door at Victoria station and stopped. There was a tram in front just sitting in the platform not going anywhere. Turned out this was due to not having a driver, and it was sitting there waiting for one (you would've thought they'd do this at a terminus rather than in the middle of three routes, but whatever) so while sitting on the tram waiting to get to the platform, the 10:21 left. Well okay then. New plan. The next train to Leeds was the Selby-bound train at 10:48, which would get me to Leeds for 12:12. Still plenty of time to get to Carlisle on time, which is the important bit. I can't cancel my hotel if I don't do it before 12pm, so as long as I get on a Carlisle-bound train, I can safely make it to Newcastle, regardless of how late it is.

So here's the updated timetable with delays and changes as-of writing this post on the train to Leeds:

Depart Time	Depart Station	--	Arrive Station	Arrive Time
08:50+5min	Crewe	--	Manchester Piccadilly	09:44+10min (arr: 09:54)
10:48	Manchester Victoria	--	Leeds	12:12
12:49	Leeds	--	Carlisle	15:32
16:28	Carlisle	--	Newcastle	17:59

This still gives me over half an hour leeway at Leeds, which means I should still be able to make it. We'll see how the day continues.

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - Pacers at Crewe?

I've never seen a Pacer at Crewe before until now... https://vine.co/v/hgP7xVmplhI

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - Crewe

"The 08:31 Northern service to Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport is currently running 16 minutes late."

Well that's a good start. The train I want is running 5 minutes late because of this. Oh good. First train of the day, and I already face delays. Well, it's a good job I factored in delays longer than this. If only this were Japan, where delays of over a minute are very rare.

Getting my money's worth: A Northern Rail adventure - Prologue

I'm a crazy person.

There I said it. I'm bat-poo crazy.

Today, on the 4th October 2013, I will be travelling on the train for almost the entire day, give or take a few connections.

A few weeks ago, Northern Rail partnered with a newspaper publishing company to publish an advert in a variety of their publications which included a token. Collect two tokens and you can buy a ticket for unlimited Northern Rail travel for a day for £10. As a side story, I travelled to Buxton to obtain newspapers that actually contained said tokens, and bought 10 copies, meaning up to 5 days of travel.

I've used a couple on some silliness, going to Leeds, Selby and Brough, but I thought "what would get me my moneys worth? Well, going to Carlisle might be an idea, right at the top of the Northern network map. Nah, too easy. That just requires a change at Manchester and Leeds. How about going all the way round? On the Northern Rail network map, there is no Northern connection between York and Darlington, meaning the only way to get to Newcastle would be to go via Carlisle.

Sorted.

So here's the plan. On weekdays, the Northern Rail Day Ranger is only valid on trains after 8:45am. So, I will be on the 08:50 from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly. I will walk to Victoria (or maybe get a tram). From Victoria, I will get the train to Leeds. Depending on how quickly I get there, I could maybe  get the 10:00 or the 10:21, arriving into Leeds at 11:33 or 11:57 respectively. Following that, the trains are a bit sporadic, so I've given myself plenty of time to account for delays at Crewe, Manchester or on route to Leeds, as the train to Carlisle leaves at 12:49, arriving at Carlisle at 15:32. Now, I don't know Carlisle station very well. The last time I got off a train there was due to overhead line problems meaning my Pendolino to Scotland had to stop there and I had to get a Voyager onward to Edinburgh. It was a very quick change and I didn't really pay much attention (it was a morning service). Unless we accidentally arrive early in Carlisle (it can happen) I will have just under an hour to wait before my train to Newcastle leaves at 16:28 (the previous one leaves a few minutes before I arrive), arriving in Newcastle (proper Newcastle-upon-Tyne, not Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is down the road from me and doesn't have a train station anyways) at 17:59.

So in a slightly less wordy way:

Depart Time	Depart Station	--	Arrive Station	Arrive Time
08:50	Crewe	--	Manchester Piccadilly	09:44
10:21	Manchester Victoria	--	Leeds	11:57
12:49	Leeds	--	Carlisle	15:32
16:28	Carlisle	--	Newcastle	17:59

This is all assuming A) There are no delays, and B) I don't get stupid ideas and go elsewhere. I've got a hotel booked in Newcastle, so I will try and contain myself, and the number of trains between Leeds and Carlisle aren't frequent, so if I miss that, I will struggle catching up.

I will post some pictures and ramblings throughout the day tomorrow. I hope it's still bright at 6pm in Newcastle, as I want to play with the Metro :D

Train Stations - That's a thing now

Okay, so if you don't know me in real life, or follow me on Twitter, you may be unaware of my recent hobby(?) of going to places on the train and taking a picture of myself next to a station sign. I started doing this for several reasons. Partly to get me to walk more (walking around a place I'm stuck in, or to the next station while I wait for said train) and also because I like travelling.

I got asked a lot if I had a goal. At first, I didn't really. Now though, I have a goal: All the stations on the Cheshire Day Ranger map. The map is here http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Resources/Cheshire%20Day%20Ranger.pdf and I'm currently (at the time of writing this) 42 stations down (plus others from outside the map where I've gone on a wander).

Album of stations (inc non-Cheshire Day Ranger ones) http://imgur.com/a/Kbwfi#0

Anti-Piracy Gets My Goat - A Poem

Hello all. I was a guest on AllFM's "The Marmite Files" on Sunday, which is a comedy panel show every month taking up half of the "Marmite Junction" show that day. One of the rounds is known as "PPRS" or "Poem, Prose, Rant or Song" where each contestant/guest can talk about the topic of that month's show. This month's was "What Gets My Goat".

Like any good guest, I prepared for it at 3am on the day of the show. My PPRS was about the attitude towards Internet piracy. Unfortunately, I felt it might be a little too political, and I wanted to be invited back on the show. I ended up improvising a bed time story about how computers stop working very well after 3 years.

Back to the poem though, I thought I'd share it with you now since I didn't use it on the show. Be warned that the structure is a little off (it was 3am after all) and I'm far from being as good as Danny Chivers.

Anti-Piracy Gets My Goat - by Peter Shillito

Picture one day, in the month of May, I want to see a movie.
Films a-plenty, snacks, there were many, but the prices, they were a doozy.
Tickets: eight pound? Boy how I frowned, and left feeling quite woozy.

I went home that night, following my plight, to download the film instead.
Illegal? I confess. But those prices depress and got me seeing red.
But before you go sue, here is my cue, to share with you what's ahead.
   
Statistics have shown, that those who download, buy more than those who do not.
Yet the large companies, more skeptic than bookies, treat the pirates like snot.
People won't buy without giving a try, unless they know it is hot.

What I'm trying to say, is that the Pirate Bay, should definitely not have been blocked,
It's a promotion tool, you silly fool, some artists confirm that it rocked.
But at the end of all this, some companies take bliss in constantly staying shocked.

What gets my goat, before I fetch my coat, is people treat it like theft.
It's advertising, not stealing, the original is still left.
Now if you'll excuse me, I bought a DVD, and if you haven't guessed,
I downloaded it months ago, but back then my cash flow...got a little stressed.

Addendum: Following this post, I checked the ticket prices for Crewe cinema. After they got taken over by Odeon (previously Reel Cinema), normal adult tickets are £7.10, but then there's £2 extra for 3D films, plus £1 for 3D glasses (which you can apparently re-use). Basically, that's £10.10 for a cinema ticket (and 2D films are getting fewer and fewer these days).

Anime Wants List - February 2012 Edition

RIGHT THEN! I am a student. I have a student loan. Therefore, spending money on anything that's not food, rent or bills is mighty tricky. Heck, I had to think twice about spending 99p on "Tell Your World" (the Hatsune Miku song used in the Japanese Google Chrome adverts) on iTunes UK. So I've applied for jobs at various places, some haven't responded yet (and may not at all) and some haven't got a suitable job for me. So money is generally tight.

Meanwhile, Manga UK has become somewhat notorious for their treatment of blu-ray releases (or rather, the lack and cancellations of them), leading me to look at Australian blu-rays instead. I've ordered the biggest anime release of last year that I was looking forward to from Australia: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya on blu-ray. This is likely to be the only anime I'll be buying this year with the exception of special limited editions that will actually become difficult to buy if I delayed it for too long. That is, of course, unless I get a job. We'll see how that goes.

So, I started off making a list of Australian blu-ray releases I wanted so I had a quick reference if/when I get a job/another source of income. I then started looking at other releases from American and British companies and started noting them down including if they were available as a blu-ray (and if I could play it in a blu-ray region B country). So, I shall share this list with you. I've noted on American blu-rays if they are multi-region or not (USA is region A, while Australia and UK is region B) plus some extra notes here or there. Note that some of these aren't released yet, but probably will be by the time I get a job >_<

----------------------------------
Anime Buys List:

Sentai Filmworks:
MM!
KOBATO.
Maid-sama
Akikan!
And Yet the Town Moves
You're Under Arrest: Full Throttle
World God Only Knows (BD A, so maybe get DVD?)

Funimation:
B Gata H Kei (BD A+B)
Dance in the Vampire Bund (BD A+B)
Full Metal Panic! Second Raid (BD A+B)
Heaven's Lost Property (BD A+B)
Is this a Zombie (unreleased BD ???)

NIS America:
Occult Academy (unreleased BD ???)
Toradora part 2 (dig up special edition)

Bandai USA:
Haruhi Suzumiya season 2 (Manga UK's edition has faulty Japanese audio)

Kaze:
Princess Jellyfish (unreleased BD?)
Persona 4 (unreleased BD?)

Madman Australia:
World God Only Knows (unreleased possible future BD?)
K-On (boxset is not yet released BD)
FLCL (BD)
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (BD) (in transit)

Siren Australia:
Dennou Coil
Welcome to Irabu's Office (aka Trapeze aka Kuuchuu Buranko)

Manga UK:
Haruhi-chan (both parts)
Angel Beats (Siren do the BD if Manga cancel another blu-ray)

--------------------

One last note from me. "The World God Only Knows" is being released on DVD and blu-ray in the USA by Sentai, but the blu-ray is region A only (which I can't play). Madman is releasing it on DVD only, but they mentioned on Twitter that it's a possibility in the future. I'll hold out on buying the DVD in the hope for a blu-ray release from Madman. Alternatively, there may be a DVD-only release by Manga in the UK. Or, if all else fails and I save up a lot, I'll get another blu-ray player that can play region A blu-rays.

Peter Shillito