Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Virginia Sales Tax Changes - July 2013

This notice applies to our Virginia customers only.

As of July 1st, 2013 sales tax in Virginia will increase state wide to 5.3%, and to 6% for residents of Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area.

As many of you know, our fulfillment warehouse is currently located in Winchester, VA, and since we operate and ship from Virginia we have to collect VA sales tax (which is currently 5%) on all orders shipping to addresses inside the state of Virginia. Virginia is our home state and is currently the only location/state that we collect sales tax for, or ever intend to collect it for if we have our way about it.

VA dept of taxation recently sent us a letter letting us know that effective July 1st, 2013 they are increasing the state wide sales tax rate three tenths of a percent from 5.0% to 5.3%.

Also (and for the first time ever) they are adding an additional 0.7% sales tax for residents of the Northern Virgina and Hampton Roads areas, making the effective sales tax for those areas 6.0%. This will be the first time that Virginia has authorized a regional sales tax that will not be the same amount state wide.

The 6.0% tax rate will apply to Northern Virginia residents who live in the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park plus Hampton Roads region residents who live in the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Southampton, Surry, and York and the cities if Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.

And while it won't apply to us, but in case you are wondering, the Virginia sales tax on groceries (food) will remain the same at 2.5%.

We will adjust our sales tax collection matrix for destinations inside Virginia to the new amounts starting July 1st.

Monday, April 22, 2013

NIS Announces Hanasaku Iroha Blossoms for Tomorrow 2 Premium Set for July!

NIS has sent over the paperwork for the 2nd Hanasaku Iroha Blossoms for Tomorrow premium release, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order:

Hanasaku Iroha: Blossoms for Tomorrow Collection #2 DVD/BD Combo Set (Premium Edition)

This premium collection includes a hardcover art book (full color, 36 pages) which provides a deeper viewing experience with in-depth staff interviews, character design insights, and rough sketches. It also includes clean opening and endings and Japanese trailers.

Release date is set for July 2nd.

Synopsis: Ohana's job at Kissuiso continues. Just when she grows accustomed to her daily tasks as a hot spring inn attendant, Kissuiso's financial stability is called into question. An opportunity to have a movie filmed at Kissuiso causes a big to-do, but will that be enough to revitalize interest in the inn and keep everyone's dreams alive?


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Anime Gun Porn - Black Lagoon

Someone (apparently too lazy to use Google) recently asked me about the guns that Revy carried in the Black Lagoon series, and since I take an interest in that sorta thing I figured I would answer his question here.


Considering she probably picked up the old military pistol belt at a surplus place for a couple of bucks, you can tell where Revy puts her money. She favors a pair of custom Beretta 92FS Inox's slung in a custom double leather shoulder rig. The stainless steel Beretta's are custom fitted with longer barrels which are threaded for fitting a suppressor should she feels the job requires one. The threads are covered with a matching nut to protect them when not in use. They are also fitted with custom ivory grips and inscribed with the words "9mm Sword Cutlas", a matching Calico Jack jolly roger on both the slide and grips, and the inscription of the Thai gunsmith that did the work.

The base gun before she had the work done by her Thai gunsmith (Praiyachat was his name) is a Beretta 92FS Inox (stainless), but it's one of the older production models (early 90's or before I think) that still had the straight dust cover like the military M9, something like this:



Newer Beretta 92's have the sloping dust cover that is fatter in front of the trigger guard. Only new M9's (the military version) still have the straight cover, and that's because it's set in stone by the mil spec. The first time I saw the show, I commented to a friend that she probably had a couple of old M9's that she had chromed out when she had them worked on, but that was not the case as she made clear later in the series.



This was the last view of earth a lot of people had before they departed this world for the next...


She calls them her "Praiyachat Sword Cutlass Specials" and she uses them quite effectively - in fact, it becomes a sorta 'ballet of bullets' with her when she gets worked up into a battle frenzy. There was an airsoft replica floating around awhile ago that was a favorite with Revy cos-players:


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Funimation's July 2013 Releases - Now Available for Pre-Order!

Funimation has sent over their July 2013 release schedule! We now have it up on the store site for pre-order. Here's what's coming:

Is This A Zombie? Season 2 DVD Collection (Eps #14-26) (Limited Edition) - Jul 9
Hetalia Axis Powers Complete Series (Season 1 -2) DVD Boxed Set (Classic Collection) - Jul 9
Is This A Zombie? Season 2 DVD Collection (Eps #14-26) (Standard Edition) - Jul 16
Fairy Tail Season #2 Collection #1 DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #49-60) - Jul 23
Fairy Tail Season #1 Collection #2 DVD/BD Combo Set (Eps #25-48) - Jul 23
One Piece Season 5 Part 1 DVD Boxed Set (Uncut)
- Jul 23
Case Closed Season #1 DVD Box Set (Eps #1-26) (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Jul 23
Case Closed Season #2 DVD Box Set (Eps #27-52) (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Jul 23
Case Closed Season #3 DVD Box Set (Eps #53-78) (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Jul 23
Case Closed Season #4 DVD Box Set (Eps #79-104) (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Jul 23
Case Closed Season #5 DVD Box Set (Eps #105-128) (S.A.V.E. Edition) - Jul 23
Lupin III : The Woman called Fujiko Mine DVD/BD Combo Set (Limited Edition) - Jul 30
Lupin III : The Woman called Fujiko Mine DVD/BD Combo Set (Standard Edition) - Jul 30

Evangelion 3.33 Promo Real

The Evangelion 3.33 DVD and BD releases in Japan on April 24th, which means that we're probably only a year away from seeing the North American release. YEAH! Here is the promo real for it they started streaming today:


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Minmay Admits She Doesn't Mind Paying Japanese Prices



The Dumbest Question of the Day

While watching TV coverage of the events today, I noticed this exchange from a reporter outside the hospital interviewing Trauma Surgeon Peter Fagenholz:

Dr. "We've got 8 patients who are in critical condition..."

Reporter: "Do you think the people who are in critical condition at this point, if things will be looking OK for them?"

Dr. "Well, they're not looking OK because that's not what critical condition means"

You can watch the whole interview here. I don't know what sort of credentials you need to get a job as a reporter today, but I wouldn't give that one a mop job.

Good thoughts to the folks in Boston.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Katsukon 2013 Cos-Play

Another excellent video (produced by MLZStudio) featuring some of the Cos-Players at Katsukon (one of our local cons) in February:


The music in the video is Eternity by Paul van Dyk (feat. Adam Young)

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Friday, April 12, 2013

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Monday, April 08, 2013

Anime Matsuri 2013 Cos-Play

Beautifully produced video (by MLZStudio) featuring some of the Cos-Players at Anime Matsuri in Houston a couple weekends ago:


The Music in the video is Song of the Caged Bird performed by Lindsey Stirling.

Friday, April 05, 2013

NIS Announces The Natsume's Book of Friends Season 4 Premium Set for July!

NIS has sent over the paperwork for their The Natsume's Book of Friends Season 4 premium release, and we now have it up on the store site for pre-order:

Natsume's Book of Friends Season 4 DVD/BD Set (Premium Edition)

This premium collection includes a hardcover art book, “Natsume’s Book of Friends,” (full color, 28 pages) which provides a deeper viewing experience with in-depth character bios, an episode guide, key character and background art, and more.

Release date is set for July 2nd.

Synopsis: Still in possession of his grandmother's Book of Friends, Natsume spends his days returning the names of yokai to their rightful owners. He has been learning how to deal with the yokai and humans that surround his life, but the time has come for him to deal with something even more difficult—his own past, and future.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Viz Announces Lagrange DVD & BD for June!

Viz has announced that they will be releasing the first 12 episodes of Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne on both DVD and BD in June.

We've got them up on the store site for pre-order now:

Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne DVD (Eps #1-12) - Jun 12
Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne BLURAY (Eps #1-12) - Jun 12

Synopsis: As the proud - and only - member of the Kamogawa Girls' High School Jersey Club, she goes around helping people in need. But Madoka's life is turned upside down when she is suddenly asked by a mysterious girl named Lan to pilot a robot. Motivated by her desire to protect the people and city of Kamogawa, Madoka agrees to pilot the resurrected Vox robot to fight against extraterrestrials that have come to attack Earth.