Many sites have this, the ability to post their feeds with thumbnail photos, but my God is it a pain to find out HOW to do it, even for a programmer, like me. Even more of a trouble is that my blogs are all run from my own server/sites; so, despite this being a "blogger" blog, I get no customization love from Google being that this isn't a .blogspot blog or Wordpress blog -_-

Having thumbnail recent posts and label posts looks far better than the regular text feeds we commonly see with RSS feed aggregation. Thanks to a new reworking on the feed2js by engadgeteer.com's Bryan (who btw is also an anime fan), I was able to finally automate, thumbnailed posts for my blog and their labels. Of course, I'd like to have the code be local to my own site for SEO and security purposes, but this will do for now till I work a deal with them.

Check out some of the areas I've added recent posts to, like the front page (at the bottom), here (check below), and even on sections like anime figures, cosplay and anime music. Now with this, I can bring back old sections of the site like say Final Fantasy VII Tifa's section and have all posts about Tifa show under her gallery of photos automatically. This will then be integraded with the Member's Blog for more exposure to your posts.

Speaking of the member's blog, um, some of you signed up to blog and possibly win Nendoroid Kureha but haven't posted a single post -_- You have to be in it to win it guys, and being in the contest means posting on the Member's Blog .

Thanks again engadgeteer.com and their developer, Bryan for this much needed feature.

Many sites have this, the ability to post their feeds with thumbnail photos, but my God is it a pain to find out HOW to do it, even for a programmer, like me. Even more of a trouble is that my blogs are all run from my own server/sites; so, despite this being a "blogger" blog, I get no customization love from Google being that this isn't a .blogspot blog or Wordpress blog -_-

Having thumbnail recent posts and label posts looks far better than the regular text feeds we commonly see with RSS feed aggregation. Thanks to a new reworking on the feed2js by engadgeteer.com's Bryan (who btw is also an anime fan), I was able to finally automate, thumbnailed posts for my blog and their labels. Of course, I'd like to have the code be local to my own site for SEO and security purposes, but this will do for now till I work a deal with them.

Check out some of the areas I've added recent posts to, like the front page (at the bottom), here (check below), and even on sections like anime figures, cosplay and anime music. Now with this, I can bring back old sections of the site like say Final Fantasy VII Tifa's section and have all posts about Tifa show under her gallery of photos automatically. This will then be integraded with the Member's Blog for more exposure to your posts.

Speaking of the member's blog, um, some of you signed up to blog and possibly win Nendoroid Kureha but haven't posted a single post -_- You have to be in it to win it guys, and being in the contest means posting on the Member's Blog .

Thanks again engadgeteer.com and their developer, Bryan for this much needed feature.

Something I should have done long ago, but up is the Chuck's Anime Shrine Flickr group. Post what ever anime/otaku related photos you want up there. This adds another way to submit fan art than just the MobleMe part of my site. The group is new but hopefully it can help gain some eposure for all of you ^^;;

Something I should have done long ago, but up is the Chuck's Anime Shrine Flickr group. Post what ever anime/otaku related photos you want up there. This adds another way to submit fan art than just the MobleMe part of my site. The group is new but hopefully it can help gain some eposure for all of you ^^;;

Just a little addition I did for the site in preparation for an iPhone/mobile friendly version of the site. I made an iPhone webclip icon for the homepage of your phone. It's from the picture I drew and looks a lot better on the iPhone/ iPod Touch springboard than the typical screenshot.


So, if you want to add this site to your iPhone, go ahead and the image above is what you'll see ^_^

How To Create an iPhone Webclip Icon for Your Website:

• Create a 57x57 pixel .png image
• Name it "apple-touch-icon.png"
• Add it to your site's root folder (web docs root..not your server)
  

Just a little addition I did for the site in preparation for an iPhone/mobile friendly version of the site. I made an iPhone webclip icon for the homepage of your phone. It's from the picture I drew and looks a lot better on the iPhone/ iPod Touch springboard than the typical screenshot.


So, if you want to add this site to your iPhone, go ahead and the image above is what you'll see ^_^

How To Create an iPhone Webclip Icon for Your Website:

• Create a 57x57 pixel .png image
• Name it "apple-touch-icon.png"
• Add it to your site's root folder (web docs root..not your server)
  

Last Tuesday me, along with a select few got the honor to visit the BusinessWeek headquarters in NYC. We were nominated as BusinessWeek's top readers of 2008 and the purpose of the meeting was to go over what BW and the BusinessWeek.com site should improve on and try to portray in this coming year. At the top floor of the McGraw-Hill building we were greeted to a wonderful and very talkative cocktail party and then a very tasty dinner and dessert.

(Update: check out the official blog post on this at BusinessWeek.com)



The whole set up was thanks to BusinessWeek's Editor-in-Chief, John Byrne, and his top editors of whom we got to meet with. It was wonderful to see such a large media company take the time and effort to reach out to their readers like this. John and the staff are all very down-to-earth and a pleasure to speak wit. In no way, shape or form did we feel belittled by them being there. (Can't say the same about my p/t job's boss though.) One of the obvious truths we are seeing in public media is that the media is being diluted by the numerous blogs and of course the dwindling newspaper sales thanks to the good old internet.

The one of the biggest topics we talked about though was the workings of different comment systems on the website and on sites in general. Currently, BW has a more welcoming commenting system than say engadget.com or youtube. For the most part you can state your opinion logically like an educated adult and not get too much slack. The balance of whether to have comments or not is always a big choice for a webmaster. There are times that garbage and childish comments by "trolls" can ruin the image of a story or site, yet the user ingagement make the site come alive so you do need it to some degree. One good example just from here on CAS is the fact that I had to make it so members only can post on the "Otaku Blurbs". This was after a troll or two got a hold of the feature.

So, what comment system would be good for both here or on a site on say, BusinessWeek?

The other major topic that came up has been the current buzz on the web for the past year now. I'm talking of course about Twitter. In the coming months, BW will be utilizing both the comment system and Twitter together in different ways, most likely with use of # hashmarks to better categorize the events in business and throughout their site. Finding a use for Twitter outside of its obvious social fad has been the main question for many in both social and business circles. I mentioned a bit of a site I just started working with, beamagpie.com in which you can approve tweets to broadcast on your account and the more followers you have..the more you can get payed. Not certain on how well it'll work and I'll assume more like it will be down the road. Granted of course, my goal is to never come off as money grubbing advertiser on Twitter. Such actions by any person there will prevent any meaningful followship and might cause many of the issues that plague Facebook for the site as a whole.

I'll ask you, the readers of CAS... what do you find useful about Twitter? For me right now, it drives traffic to my site...and is a great place to vent with listeners.

...

To everyone I met there at the meeting, I had a great time and it was an honor to meet you all, both the wonderful readers and the BW staff ^_^ Sorry I didn't mention any names, didn't want to single anyone out at all.

Here's to a great 2009 and hopefully more insightful meetings like this one.

Last Tuesday me, along with a select few got the honor to visit the BusinessWeek headquarters in NYC. We were nominated as BusinessWeek's top readers of 2008 and the purpose of the meeting was to go over what BW and the BusinessWeek.com site should improve on and try to portray in this coming year. At the top floor of the McGraw-Hill building we were greeted to a wonderful and very talkative cocktail party and then a very tasty dinner and dessert.

(Update: check out the official blog post on this at BusinessWeek.com)



The whole set up was thanks to BusinessWeek's Editor-in-Chief, John Byrne, and his top editors of whom we got to meet with. It was wonderful to see such a large media company take the time and effort to reach out to their readers like this. John and the staff are all very down-to-earth and a pleasure to speak wit. In no way, shape or form did we feel belittled by them being there. (Can't say the same about my p/t job's boss though.) One of the obvious truths we are seeing in public media is that the media is being diluted by the numerous blogs and of course the dwindling newspaper sales thanks to the good old internet.

The one of the biggest topics we talked about though was the workings of different comment systems on the website and on sites in general. Currently, BW has a more welcoming commenting system than say engadget.com or youtube. For the most part you can state your opinion logically like an educated adult and not get too much slack. The balance of whether to have comments or not is always a big choice for a webmaster. There are times that garbage and childish comments by "trolls" can ruin the image of a story or site, yet the user ingagement make the site come alive so you do need it to some degree. One good example just from here on CAS is the fact that I had to make it so members only can post on the "Otaku Blurbs". This was after a troll or two got a hold of the feature.

So, what comment system would be good for both here or on a site on say, BusinessWeek?

The other major topic that came up has been the current buzz on the web for the past year now. I'm talking of course about Twitter. In the coming months, BW will be utilizing both the comment system and Twitter together in different ways, most likely with use of # hashmarks to better categorize the events in business and throughout their site. Finding a use for Twitter outside of its obvious social fad has been the main question for many in both social and business circles. I mentioned a bit of a site I just started working with, beamagpie.com in which you can approve tweets to broadcast on your account and the more followers you have..the more you can get payed. Not certain on how well it'll work and I'll assume more like it will be down the road. Granted of course, my goal is to never come off as money grubbing advertiser on Twitter. Such actions by any person there will prevent any meaningful followship and might cause many of the issues that plague Facebook for the site as a whole.

I'll ask you, the readers of CAS... what do you find useful about Twitter? For me right now, it drives traffic to my site...and is a great place to vent with listeners.

...

To everyone I met there at the meeting, I had a great time and it was an honor to meet you all, both the wonderful readers and the BW staff ^_^ Sorry I didn't mention any names, didn't want to single anyone out at all.

Here's to a great 2009 and hopefully more insightful meetings like this one.

Just added a new feature today. For those who want to advertise say their anime con, anime store, video game store, sushi restaurant, etc; you can now do that on the site. The link can be found under the Sponsors section or where you might see this cute pic of Yuki Nagato.

The traffic on my site has been on the rise over the past year. I was thinking of doing what otaku guru Danny Choo does by selling adspace at a fixed rate, but my site has yet to even reach half the views he has ^^; (Danny gets about 10 or so million unique visitors a month and his ad prices are actually really good for that kind of exposure..so check it out if you can as well)

Currently, as of this date, my average daily unique views are about 2000 with it growing every week (or about 60,000 a month). My alexa ranking is at about 190,000 and about half or more of my traffic comes to the blog here. I'll be posting stats from my webhosts her on this post or on futrue posts...so you guys know exactly how much is coming in.

The ad box is done by projectwonderful.com and instead of giving a flat rate for ads, they let me simply auction off the spot. This makes it fair for any would-be advertisors since you can determine the daily price of your ad. Its starting off free, but won't be that since somebody can out bid you at any time ^^;

Ad info:

Size: 300px x 200px
Prefered ads: anime, game, japan, gadget, otaku related items
(yep, I own an anime store but I don't mind anime store links shown there as well)

For more info and additional terms, check out the the terms and FAQs of http://www.projectwonderful.com

Just added a new feature today. For those who want to advertise say their anime con, anime store, video game store, sushi restaurant, etc; you can now do that on the site. The link can be found under the Sponsors section or where you might see this cute pic of Yuki Nagato.

The traffic on my site has been on the rise over the past year. I was thinking of doing what otaku guru Danny Choo does by selling adspace at a fixed rate, but my site has yet to even reach half the views he has ^^; (Danny gets about 10 or so million unique visitors a month and his ad prices are actually really good for that kind of exposure..so check it out if you can as well)

Currently, as of this date, my average daily unique views are about 2000 with it growing every week (or about 60,000 a month). My alexa ranking is at about 190,000 and about half or more of my traffic comes to the blog here. I'll be posting stats from my webhosts her on this post or on futrue posts...so you guys know exactly how much is coming in.

The ad box is done by projectwonderful.com and instead of giving a flat rate for ads, they let me simply auction off the spot. This makes it fair for any would-be advertisors since you can determine the daily price of your ad. Its starting off free, but won't be that since somebody can out bid you at any time ^^;

Ad info:

Size: 300px x 200px
Prefered ads: anime, game, japan, gadget, otaku related items
(yep, I own an anime store but I don't mind anime store links shown there as well)

For more info and additional terms, check out the the terms and FAQs of http://www.projectwonderful.com

For the second time I once again grace the front page of BusinessWeek's website. This time, instead of poking fun at Secretary of Treasury Paulson, I got my own article up there. The article might not be anything of use for my fellow anime fans but in it I talk about how email is the number one form of communication between me and my customers, which is usually fellow otaku. Business has been getting rather busy but even so, I'm not answering phone calls like a maniac as seen in my day-job or in many other businesses. Granted, the anime fan demographic is that of people who are in this century and who would use email instead of a phone to answer simple questions.

Basically, we all know jobs could and should be kept here in the US (for those of us living in the US). I know many people, anime fans or not would love job opportunities to open up if major companies just keep their international staff internationally. Anyways, check up on the article if you'd like.

For the second time I once again grace the front page of BusinessWeek's website. This time, instead of poking fun at Secretary of Treasury Paulson, I got my own article up there. The article might not be anything of use for my fellow anime fans but in it I talk about how email is the number one form of communication between me and my customers, which is usually fellow otaku. Business has been getting rather busy but even so, I'm not answering phone calls like a maniac as seen in my day-job or in many other businesses. Granted, the anime fan demographic is that of people who are in this century and who would use email instead of a phone to answer simple questions.

Basically, we all know jobs could and should be kept here in the US (for those of us living in the US). I know many people, anime fans or not would love job opportunities to open up if major companies just keep their international staff internationally. Anyways, check up on the article if you'd like.

I know, I'm a bit late on this now that it's Jan. 4th but here's my little look back of 2008, my anime site during 2008 and other cool events.

For many, it was a crappy year. The warnings I gave many who threw their money and time into things like expensive college degrees for so-called "good jobs", to stocks to a new home sure got their rude awakening. I feel bad for those who didn't fair well in 08 and I do hope for a better 2009 but I'll say it again....if you don't get control of your life (instead of depending on a job or boss to take care of you), this will happen over and over again. The financial morons who caused many problems will go away free and those who thought that working hard for a job will once again get the short end of the stick. You all work hard, so do what you love and love what you do. Don't get a degree or job just because your parents said "There's money in it" That's nothing but slavery with a paycheck attached to it. Anyways, on to the anime site.

As some of you know as of a few weeks ago I claimed my freedom from my job. Well, I'm still at my job but only on a part-time deal (two days a week to be exact). I did leave out of anger and frustration plus the anime biz has been growing like crazy. The full "Leap of Faith" will happen but I'm basically a free man as of x-mas eve.

Anyways (sry ranting again ^^), some of you might have noticed a lack of updates..that's mainly from the the anime biz getting well...busy. Economists and the public cried how sad sales and business was for 2008 but I sure saw different.
Here's a list of what happened in 2008 for me:

(Please note that I'm not doing this to brag, I wanted to show you all that 2008 didn't have to suck and if you just follow your dreams and ignore society's crys for unneeded extended college time, jobs and drudgery, you'll do fine. Of course anything you do, you got to work for it. Make sure you work for yourself and you are not wasting your life filling you're boss's pockets and ego.)

• Aquired anime.fm
• Started my own personal blog at charlesgaffney.com
• CAS version 4.0 redesign
• Gave out figures for contests
• Gave out Free Death Note Movie II Tickets thanks to a deal with Fathom Events
• Anime sales in 2007 $40K. In 2008: $90K! Thats a 125% increase in sales! Screw 2008 economics
• became a videogame reviewer
• expanded current anime items on hand from $2000 to $12000 making my store the largest storage of anime figures this side of NY!
• Got on BusinessWeek's front page a few times
• CAS traffic maxes out at about 170,000 rank on alexa.com...that's about 2000 people a day. Not amazing but not too bad.
• Qualified for a Google Adsense check for the first time.
  
• Became a BusinessWeek columnist
• turned my day-job into a two day a week p/t (almost a no time ^^;) thus making me a full time anime blogger and store owner!
  

See! 2008 didn't suck for everyone. Us otaku don't follow the norm and while everyone was crying we just stayed in our own anime-loving world doing what we like.

I really want to thank all the fans of the site and all my customers for making 2008 a wonderful year. 2009 will be even better. I do plan on doing at least one anime con appearance and with my store, I should once again get professional passes to SDCC . It's one heck of a trip from NY but it would be great to first see it in person.

I know, I'm a bit late on this now that it's Jan. 4th but here's my little look back of 2008, my anime site during 2008 and other cool events.

For many, it was a crappy year. The warnings I gave many who threw their money and time into things like expensive college degrees for so-called "good jobs", to stocks to a new home sure got their rude awakening. I feel bad for those who didn't fair well in 08 and I do hope for a better 2009 but I'll say it again....if you don't get control of your life (instead of depending on a job or boss to take care of you), this will happen over and over again. The financial morons who caused many problems will go away free and those who thought that working hard for a job will once again get the short end of the stick. You all work hard, so do what you love and love what you do. Don't get a degree or job just because your parents said "There's money in it" That's nothing but slavery with a paycheck attached to it. Anyways, on to the anime site.

As some of you know as of a few weeks ago I claimed my freedom from my job. Well, I'm still at my job but only on a part-time deal (two days a week to be exact). I did leave out of anger and frustration plus the anime biz has been growing like crazy. The full "Leap of Faith" will happen but I'm basically a free man as of x-mas eve.

Anyways (sry ranting again ^^), some of you might have noticed a lack of updates..that's mainly from the the anime biz getting well...busy. Economists and the public cried how sad sales and business was for 2008 but I sure saw different.
Here's a list of what happened in 2008 for me:

(Please note that I'm not doing this to brag, I wanted to show you all that 2008 didn't have to suck and if you just follow your dreams and ignore society's crys for unneeded extended college time, jobs and drudgery, you'll do fine. Of course anything you do, you got to work for it. Make sure you work for yourself and you are not wasting your life filling you're boss's pockets and ego.)

• Aquired anime.fm
• Started my own personal blog at charlesgaffney.com
• CAS version 4.0 redesign
• Gave out figures for contests
• Gave out Free Death Note Movie II Tickets thanks to a deal with Fathom Events
• Anime sales in 2007 $40K. In 2008: $90K! Thats a 125% increase in sales! Screw 2008 economics
• became a videogame reviewer
• expanded current anime items on hand from $2000 to $12000 making my store the largest storage of anime figures this side of NY!
• Got on BusinessWeek's front page a few times
• CAS traffic maxes out at about 170,000 rank on alexa.com...that's about 2000 people a day. Not amazing but not too bad.
• Qualified for a Google Adsense check for the first time.
  
• Became a BusinessWeek columnist
• turned my day-job into a two day a week p/t (almost a no time ^^;) thus making me a full time anime blogger and store owner!
  

See! 2008 didn't suck for everyone. Us otaku don't follow the norm and while everyone was crying we just stayed in our own anime-loving world doing what we like.

I really want to thank all the fans of the site and all my customers for making 2008 a wonderful year. 2009 will be even better. I do plan on doing at least one anime con appearance and with my store, I should once again get professional passes to SDCC . It's one heck of a trip from NY but it would be great to first see it in person.

The countdown has begun. I did it. After years of claiming one day I will, after years of doing a network marketing company (hence why between 2004 and 2007 I was absent) and now the almost two years of running the anime business, I've finally put my two weeks (more like week and a half) resignation into my job. I was originally claiming that I was doing this before my 25th Birthday in November but, due to being offered health insurance, I stayed. This past Friday, the second week of working mostly from home, the stress my job gave me along with the back-lashing because I was home finally made me throw in the towel. On Dec. 24th 2008, the one year anniversary of Danielle and I's engagement, I will no longer be an employee. From that day on (as long as things go well of course) I will be working this site, anime.fm, charlesgaffney.com (BuisnessWeek connections) and the figure biz full time. My "title" will be a full time Otaku, writer, blogger and Anime Store Owner. Gone are the time cards, the morning commute, the pointless belittling that occurs in all jobs. As long as things go well, I will finally, finally own my life and Danielle will soon also do the same (no more Bob's Stores!).

The economy sure is scary right now. Lots of lay-offs are happening. Loads of people won't have a home or a job to go to, while you have me, a 25 year old otaku, a Computer Science semi-grad who is telling the corporate world "please take my job, for I don't want it."

I'm trying to prove my mantra as true. The truth that you can run your own life by following your dreams and doing what you love. Too many times I've seen people toss their dreams for a so-called "good job." When the schooling for that job, the boot licking and the stress caused by this job along with the inevitable layoff has done nothing but hurt you and your future. Chances are you don't want to do what you do and it's the very thing that causes us all to age and die from the inside out. If it wasn't for the Internet, yes, getting a good job would still be a good deal since starting a business would be that much more harder to do. Times have changed though society, schools and even our parents won't think that is so. While jobs fall everywhere, these pillars of our life will think it is still in our best interest to spend tens of thousands of dollars in college when, truthfully, if you don't have the scholarships and you have something like a business, a possible music, writing or art career, that that path would actually be the better route to take and more fulfilling to your being. Here's part of my letter to my boss:


I want to thank all my current and future fans/customers for helping me do this and I will bring back contests and other cool stuff as this site and the internet in general progresses.

Hey, and I think its pretty cool to be a "full time otaku." So enough of the deep talk. Time to celebrate ^_^. Below is the video I always wanted to show as my victory dance...

The countdown has begun. I did it. After years of claiming one day I will, after years of doing a network marketing company (hence why between 2004 and 2007 I was absent) and now the almost two years of running the anime business, I've finally put my two weeks (more like week and a half) resignation into my job. I was originally claiming that I was doing this before my 25th Birthday in November but, due to being offered health insurance, I stayed. This past Friday, the second week of working mostly from home, the stress my job gave me along with the back-lashing because I was home finally made me throw in the towel. On Dec. 24th 2008, the one year anniversary of Danielle and I's engagement, I will no longer be an employee. From that day on (as long as things go well of course) I will be working this site, anime.fm, charlesgaffney.com (BuisnessWeek connections) and the figure biz full time. My "title" will be a full time Otaku, writer, blogger and Anime Store Owner. Gone are the time cards, the morning commute, the pointless belittling that occurs in all jobs. As long as things go well, I will finally, finally own my life and Danielle will soon also do the same (no more Bob's Stores!).

The economy sure is scary right now. Lots of lay-offs are happening. Loads of people won't have a home or a job to go to, while you have me, a 25 year old otaku, a Computer Science semi-grad who is telling the corporate world "please take my job, for I don't want it."

I'm trying to prove my mantra as true. The truth that you can run your own life by following your dreams and doing what you love. Too many times I've seen people toss their dreams for a so-called "good job." When the schooling for that job, the boot licking and the stress caused by this job along with the inevitable layoff has done nothing but hurt you and your future. Chances are you don't want to do what you do and it's the very thing that causes us all to age and die from the inside out. If it wasn't for the Internet, yes, getting a good job would still be a good deal since starting a business would be that much more harder to do. Times have changed though society, schools and even our parents won't think that is so. While jobs fall everywhere, these pillars of our life will think it is still in our best interest to spend tens of thousands of dollars in college when, truthfully, if you don't have the scholarships and you have something like a business, a possible music, writing or art career, that that path would actually be the better route to take and more fulfilling to your being. Here's part of my letter to my boss:


I want to thank all my current and future fans/customers for helping me do this and I will bring back contests and other cool stuff as this site and the internet in general progresses.

Hey, and I think its pretty cool to be a "full time otaku." So enough of the deep talk. Time to celebrate ^_^. Below is the video I always wanted to show as my victory dance...

This is a few months late but I just had to write about this.  After reading Sanjo-chan's blog on it I had to put in my two-cents.  Many of you otaku know that Toonami stopped airing in late September.  Many of us can thank Toonami for turing us into otaku.  I started right at the very beginning in 1997 and I've seen up until about a year or two ago when Toonami only had Naruto as their only anime.

When I stated in the past that it was Final Fantasy VII that helped me become an otaku after years of just being a gamer, that was just half the story.  I am still upset of the downfall of Toonami and anime in general on Cartoon Netwoork so I feel I have to let you know my story and where I'm going as an otaku because I might have a hand in what is to come.  If you'd care to read on, here's my story:

Back in 1997, which was now 11 years ago, I was in the 7th grade.  (Yeah, I turned 25 as of last Saturday so I'm an older otaku).  Back then my days were basically that of playing baseball, hockey and football watching the New York Ranger's hockey and playing lots of video games after school.  In September of 1996, Pokemon came to the US and I would watch it every morning at around 6am.  I watched it not because I was an anime fan but because I was a fan of the game, which BTW still holds my record consecutive play time of 13 hours.  Yes, I one day played Pokemon Blue for 13 hours straight.  Sure wish I could have that kind of free time now.  Anyways, anime's height in America at the time was the rare showings on Sci-fi channel and the occational Miyasaki runs on pay-per-view (Princess Mononoke to be exact).  Finding anime was tough here at the time and as both a jock and a gamer, anime wasn't something I really knew of.

The popularity of Pokemon woke up the execs of Cartoon Network and thus Toonami months later came to be with its first host, Moltar from Space Ghost Coast To Coast; Cartoon Network's only in-house production at the time (more on those in a bit).  During the spring of that year I was introduced to Final Fantasy VII by my long time friend, Tiago Barros.  He had a Playstation and I was just a Nintendo boy so I went to his house often to fight him in Dragon Ball GT Final Bout, Bust-A-Move and of course watch him play FFVII.  He would tend to leave mid game to watch Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z on Toonami.  I didn't know what the appeal was and I just played the games while he watched.  Shortly, I began to watch Toonami with him and with my love for Tifa in FFVII, I was all over the internet (aka the World Wide Web at the time) looking for more info and getting into Toonami and anime.  It was then I became an otaku.  I of course went beyond Toonami in terms of series to watch since not all anime was shown on there, but it was Toonami that got me into it in the first place (along with FFVII).

Fast forward to 2001-2002, I was in the 12th grade and I was in Miss. Beris' Web design class in New Field High School, mainly to kill time.  A project was due to create a full working website and thus this site, Chuck's Anime Shrine, was born.  Thanks to Newgrounds.com, in which alot of the design ideas came from, my site became popular with otaku since it was one of the few places pre-You-Tube to have AMV videos to view.  Because of this site and my anime fandom, I met Danielle who is now my fiancee and turned this site into a business that is on a roll.  Sales will be double of last years, very close to $100K and as of last month, my profits matched my job's income...even when I only listed and sold a fifth of the items I have on hand and not even a tenth of items on the way.  I can safely say that my job is now completely expendable and my originally failed plan to escape the 9-5 rut is only a few months away or less.

As you see I owe a bunch to Toonami and have lots to be upset for them being gone, but here's the surprise you get for reading through this very large blog post; I'm going to use my newly gained anime presence to try to bring back something like Toonami or Toonami itself.   Remember my good friend Tiago who I thank dearfully for converting me into an otaku?  Well, for the past 5 years he's actually been working in Atlanta with Adult Swim and more recently with Cartoon Network headquarters.  Toonami's death and anime's slowdown on Cartoon Network can be blamed for Adult Swim's transformation to Cartoon Network First Party Only shows but once I'm freed from the chains of a 9-5 job, I'll make this one of my big goals.  So, Tiago, if you are reading this, I'll be in touch with you soon on some things.

Anime.fm is a site I recently aquired that even got the attention of our favorite blogger, Danny Choo and if you are reading Danny, turning Anime.fm into what Toonami was would be a great idea for us on it if you still want to work with me on it ^_~.  Let's also not forget that I'll be training to be an anime voice actor along with making video games for Flash, X-box 360 and Apple iPhone so very soon my dream of being a force in the anime/game industry will be a reality. In other words, I have connection in the right spots.

Hope you guys like the new look of the site and the lack of updates was because of the huge number of anime orders I had to deal with so check up on my updates as they will be more frequent again.  Though I didn't quit Berger-Bros like I wanted to a few weeks ago, the time is soon and with all that is in front of me now, my days an a meager employee are almost done. Below is the final broadcast of Toonami but I'm using this blog post to let you all know that anime won't die if I have something to do about it, since I might be in the coming months.

(Also, don't forget that Toonami still lives on with its Jetstream website)