April 16, 2015
So you want to Fix the Hugos
Over on my writing blog, I've written a post about the Hugo voting system and a possible improvement. One that isn't quite as politically targeted and mathematically incomprehensible as what they're discussing over at Making Light.
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April 04, 2015
Traveling in the wrong circles
One of the most irritating things about trying to follow anime (Aside from not having enough time to watch it (Damned mandatory overtime and higher priority household chores)) is that since it's an unpaid fan activity, well, it's not always reliable.
And man, when it comes to unreliable fansub groups, can I pick 'em or what?
I'm especially good at picking groups that start off strong, get the A+ rating, and then fall apart three episodes before the end, when you're entirely invested in their version of things. Given my download speeds, invested is a carefully chosen word. (I have found some tricks, like changing my port to 80, since my ISP would DIE if they blocked web traffic, but since UDP port 80 is reserved for their network management, it kills a lot of trackers, unless I start on a random port then switch over after I've got enough peers. I have graphs that are appalling proof of their practice, just waiting for the FCC.).
It's probably more prevalent on shows that HorribleSubs is also running. My latest ire is directed at DameDameDesuYo, for their slow releases of Junketsu no Maria. Episode 10 just came out. everyone else is up to 12. But everyone else is HorribleSubs, and all the groups that re-encode HorribleSubs. (I really don't get the point of that).
The shows that I've been downloading, but not watching as loyally, they're finishing up on time.
Before, it's been Commie that drives me up the wall. But whatever it is, I just have this uncanny ability to hitch my wagon to the slowest mule.
Updated to add: DDY came though, and I just got the last couple of episodes. Maria had a happy ending. In fact, everyone had a happy ending, it was almost too pat, how it all got wrapped up. But actually, I was satisfied with it. Definitely not a typical story. I'm not entirely sure how to approach the write-up.
And man, when it comes to unreliable fansub groups, can I pick 'em or what?
I'm especially good at picking groups that start off strong, get the A+ rating, and then fall apart three episodes before the end, when you're entirely invested in their version of things. Given my download speeds, invested is a carefully chosen word. (I have found some tricks, like changing my port to 80, since my ISP would DIE if they blocked web traffic, but since UDP port 80 is reserved for their network management, it kills a lot of trackers, unless I start on a random port then switch over after I've got enough peers. I have graphs that are appalling proof of their practice, just waiting for the FCC.).
It's probably more prevalent on shows that HorribleSubs is also running. My latest ire is directed at DameDameDesuYo, for their slow releases of Junketsu no Maria. Episode 10 just came out. everyone else is up to 12. But everyone else is HorribleSubs, and all the groups that re-encode HorribleSubs. (I really don't get the point of that).
The shows that I've been downloading, but not watching as loyally, they're finishing up on time.
Before, it's been Commie that drives me up the wall. But whatever it is, I just have this uncanny ability to hitch my wagon to the slowest mule.
Updated to add: DDY came though, and I just got the last couple of episodes. Maria had a happy ending. In fact, everyone had a happy ending, it was almost too pat, how it all got wrapped up. But actually, I was satisfied with it. Definitely not a typical story. I'm not entirely sure how to approach the write-up.
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March 24, 2015
Junketsu no Maria Ep. 9
Still saving things for a full write-up. Although one comment I wanted to throw out there is that while Maria is against the war and killing and death and such, this show is not some anti-war polemic. Save that for 15-year-old Gundam pilots who whine, "War is so horrible! Why do I have to be so good at it?" I saw another review that didn't quite get that, and thought that as an anti-war polemic, it didn't quite make good sense.
Mostly all of the characters have contradictory beliefs to struggle with. Maria is in love with a young man, but thanks to a bit of a curse the Archangel Michael laid on her, if she has sex, she loses her magic. (Said young man is torn between his love for Maria and his duty to his Lord.)
Unfortunately, word of this curse reaches the high priest, and the local lord, and they send a mercenary who has no love for her interference in his battles to, ahem, relieve her of her magic. By a strange turn of fate, he is interrupted before he can complete the deed, but Maria still seems to have lost her magic, and that is when the church and their forces seize her.
Which goes to show, you can keep your virginity and still be totally fucked.
I expected this mostly to be a sex comedy, especially since all the witches send their familiars to go off and molest the generals to influence the tides of battle, and make a bit of money (Although one English witch conducts some of her affairs in person). But Maria's conflict and her willfulness, and principles, all conspire to put her in exactly the wrong place. In the scene above, she is brought before the village she protected and who loved her in order to be rejected and humiliated. (And then in an even WORSE fate, she ends up in a cell with the head priest who has a philosophical revelation, all of which goes over her head as he quotes more and more philosophers.)
Mostly all of the characters have contradictory beliefs to struggle with. Maria is in love with a young man, but thanks to a bit of a curse the Archangel Michael laid on her, if she has sex, she loses her magic. (Said young man is torn between his love for Maria and his duty to his Lord.)
Unfortunately, word of this curse reaches the high priest, and the local lord, and they send a mercenary who has no love for her interference in his battles to, ahem, relieve her of her magic. By a strange turn of fate, he is interrupted before he can complete the deed, but Maria still seems to have lost her magic, and that is when the church and their forces seize her.
Which goes to show, you can keep your virginity and still be totally fucked.
I expected this mostly to be a sex comedy, especially since all the witches send their familiars to go off and molest the generals to influence the tides of battle, and make a bit of money (Although one English witch conducts some of her affairs in person). But Maria's conflict and her willfulness, and principles, all conspire to put her in exactly the wrong place. In the scene above, she is brought before the village she protected and who loved her in order to be rejected and humiliated. (And then in an even WORSE fate, she ends up in a cell with the head priest who has a philosophical revelation, all of which goes over her head as he quotes more and more philosophers.)
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March 17, 2015
Go! - Public Service Broadcasting- the Race for Space
This is fun:
The rest of the album and tons of space stock footage can be found here:
The rest of the album and tons of space stock footage can be found here:
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February 25, 2015
The Grittiest Sentai ever
You'll never look at them the same way again.
Update: Well, that didn't last long. I hope you got to see it, because it was awesome. but the guys from Saban DMCA'd it, which is a lot less fun than MCSA'ing. But apparently it got 12 million views in 2 days, and That kind of popularity when there's profit at stake can not be allowed! (Apparently there's a reboot movie planned for next year.)
Still, nice way to put your fanbase (not that I'm a part of it) in its place, dickheads. People will remember this move and you will trade an active fan base for a passive one, and those don't last.
Updated Update: Son of a gun! It's back! Watch it while you can!
You'll never look at them the same way again.
Update: Well, that didn't last long. I hope you got to see it, because it was awesome. but the guys from Saban DMCA'd it, which is a lot less fun than MCSA'ing. But apparently it got 12 million views in 2 days, and That kind of popularity when there's profit at stake can not be allowed! (Apparently there's a reboot movie planned for next year.)
Still, nice way to put your fanbase (not that I'm a part of it) in its place, dickheads. People will remember this move and you will trade an active fan base for a passive one, and those don't last.
Updated Update: Son of a gun! It's back! Watch it while you can!
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February 17, 2015
Junketsu no Maria (DameDesuYo)
I just wanted to reiterate my recommendation of Junketsu no Maria. I'll definitely do a full-write-up when the series completes.
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February 14, 2015
Blargh
I have actually been sitting at home all day since Tuesday evening, but I haven't been able to watch or do much of anything. I'm in the process of fighting off a Staph infection that has invaded my left shin. I'm running two different antibiotic courses, and changing a lot of gauze (TMI deleted). But in the meantime, I have very little energy. But on the plus side, I am feeling a lot better and can walk without pain again, and some of the swelling has gone down.
This isn't my first time, that was 2008 in the other leg, and that one was worse. WAY worse. I felt like I was gonna die. But obviously I didn't.
Anyway, thanks for all the comments on the Silver Hair post, I think that was a record!
I won't be posting any related pictures to the topic of THIS post though. You can thank me later.
This isn't my first time, that was 2008 in the other leg, and that one was worse. WAY worse. I felt like I was gonna die. But obviously I didn't.
Anyway, thanks for all the comments on the Silver Hair post, I think that was a record!
I won't be posting any related pictures to the topic of THIS post though. You can thank me later.
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February 10, 2015
Shinmai Maou no Testament - 03
Sheesh, what time of the evening do they run this thing? There's a group bathing scene (With lots of Buy the BD glow all over it) that I swear made me wonder if I'd accidentally DLed some Hentai.
Alas, no Rubber Ducks in the bathroom, although the school nurse has red half-rims. I feel safe saying the latter here since I know I'm not spoiling the hunt.
I don't have any hunts, really. Although I'm notorious on DeviantArt for pointing out when artists draw buckles backwards. But that's not really a positive thing to hunt.
Alas, no Rubber Ducks in the bathroom, although the school nurse has red half-rims. I feel safe saying the latter here since I know I'm not spoiling the hunt.
I don't have any hunts, really. Although I'm notorious on DeviantArt for pointing out when artists draw buckles backwards. But that's not really a positive thing to hunt.
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January 28, 2015
Fridge Illogic
So, let me see if I've got this straight. In Absolute Duo, there's this drug called Luciful (Engrish for Lucifur?) that apparently has been administered to tens, if not hundreds of thousands of kids, the only mentioned effect of which is that 0.1% of them develop this ability to generate psychic/magical weapons. Then they get to go to school to learn to fight with them, but at least half get turned away the first day (which would probably leave them incapable of enrolling in another school for at least a term).
Okay, so... Why? Why are tens or hundreds of thousands of parents allowing their children to be injected with this drug, and why are these kids being taught how to fight? With whom are they supposed to be fighting once they graduate? Why are their parents basically enlisting their children into some kind of army?
What happens to the other 99.9% who don't manifest abilities? What happens to the 0.05% who DO manifest psychic weapons but are turned away from training with them? Is it really a good idea to give kids swords and spears and such that you can't take away from them and set them loose in the world without even any training?
Yeah, Rule of Cool, but no, somebody wasn't thinking here, at all.
(And furthermore, if this is some kind of new technology, why does everyone act like there's some kind of long-standing tradition attached to this?)
Okay, so... Why? Why are tens or hundreds of thousands of parents allowing their children to be injected with this drug, and why are these kids being taught how to fight? With whom are they supposed to be fighting once they graduate? Why are their parents basically enlisting their children into some kind of army?
What happens to the other 99.9% who don't manifest abilities? What happens to the 0.05% who DO manifest psychic weapons but are turned away from training with them? Is it really a good idea to give kids swords and spears and such that you can't take away from them and set them loose in the world without even any training?
Yeah, Rule of Cool, but no, somebody wasn't thinking here, at all.
(And furthermore, if this is some kind of new technology, why does everyone act like there's some kind of long-standing tradition attached to this?)
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January 21, 2015
Silver Hair is a curse
I may have mentioned that I have a weakness for characters with white/silver hair (especially if they're dark skinned). Unfortunately, lately this has led me to some pretty awful anime series.
The most recent one I finished was "Blade & Soul" which should be retitled "Blade and Soulless". The "Heroine" of the series was a sort of ninja assassin from the "Sword Clan" whose entire clan, (most especially her master) were wiped out by this new Evil Empire. She, thanks to her training, is stoic, virtually emotionless, and barely speaks. At first it looked like it might be some kind of Wandering Hero(ine) story, but no, the writers had a VERY small cast they wanted to work with, (virtually all of them female and very busty, so if that's all you care about, go to town) and an equally small list of locations to have the action. Alka is supposedly motivated by revenge for her murdered master, a murder she was accused of by the empire mage/warriors who actually did the deed, for which she has a bounty on her. Only problem is, she doesn't come across as motivated by much of anything.
Protip, while it might sound cool to build your story about a strong, silent, badass blade chick, the actual result is about as interesting as a brick.
Another central character is this blonde woman who runs the most famous huge saloon (and implied brothel, although none of that is in evidence). Eventually it comes out that Alka, as one of her assignments, killed her lover, the one who built the place for her. She wants revenge, but she's way too sophisticated to just have her killed. She wants Alka to suffer, but as an emotionless wretch, that's impossible. Two thirds of the way through, Alka gets her revenge, killing "Jin Varrel" the top of the warrior/mages of the Empire, who uses some kind of magic called the Corruption that mostly makes people shred and vanish, but it doesn't work well on Alka, because her butterfly tattoo is kinda magical too, although she apparently doesn't know much about it.
Alka being out of work and out of reasons to do much of anything wanders about, running into people who miss loved ones she's killed or people who want to kill her, but she remains pretty much empty. Starving, the Proprietess of the bar/brothel gives her a job, and assigns her to work with a girl who had a murderous past, but is really nice and helpful, actually. Alka shows the barest glimmer of starting to care, so the girl is killed. Revenge at last! But it's strangely unsatisfying.
Jin Varrel is resurrected by the second in command, who actually turns out to be the real leader of the baddies (after the emperor) because Jin is really just an empty emotionless puppet because that's the only thing that can contain the Corruption. But this time, she somehow hangs on to her original identity, and somehow Alka is connected. I say Somehow advisedly, because it doesn't make much sense. You could wear out a strip of carpet going back and forth to the fridge with this series. They meet up, fight, and somehow Alka having emotions (which hurts her fighting ability) frees Jin up too, because they are "Alike" (The dead barmaid also made a point about how they were alike, which is the key to Alka's emotions, it seems), and so instead of finishing fighting to the death, they hug or something.
There's also a sort of Desert Pirate Queen, and a brash, noisy drunken bounty hunter girl, but they don't really drive the plot very much, although they both contribute vast tracts of land to the scenery.
Like Amagi Brilliant Park, there's a final episode that comes out of nowhere, throws the characters into a stupid treasure hunt storyline, and really adds nothing. And don't even bother with the little chibi vignettes that came out with the BD release.
It was crap. (I had to balance out the last two brilliant series I wrote about.)
In further erronious pursuit of the Silver-hair... I was watching Absolute Duo. And as charming as the girl is, I am totally sick of the guy who acts like a girl throwing herself at him is radioactive trope. And when they strung together a SERIES of "Awkward falls into compromising positions" in the second episode, I just stopped the tape and walked away.
The most recent one I finished was "Blade & Soul" which should be retitled "Blade and Soulless". The "Heroine" of the series was a sort of ninja assassin from the "Sword Clan" whose entire clan, (most especially her master) were wiped out by this new Evil Empire. She, thanks to her training, is stoic, virtually emotionless, and barely speaks. At first it looked like it might be some kind of Wandering Hero(ine) story, but no, the writers had a VERY small cast they wanted to work with, (virtually all of them female and very busty, so if that's all you care about, go to town) and an equally small list of locations to have the action. Alka is supposedly motivated by revenge for her murdered master, a murder she was accused of by the empire mage/warriors who actually did the deed, for which she has a bounty on her. Only problem is, she doesn't come across as motivated by much of anything.
Protip, while it might sound cool to build your story about a strong, silent, badass blade chick, the actual result is about as interesting as a brick.
Another central character is this blonde woman who runs the most famous huge saloon (and implied brothel, although none of that is in evidence). Eventually it comes out that Alka, as one of her assignments, killed her lover, the one who built the place for her. She wants revenge, but she's way too sophisticated to just have her killed. She wants Alka to suffer, but as an emotionless wretch, that's impossible. Two thirds of the way through, Alka gets her revenge, killing "Jin Varrel" the top of the warrior/mages of the Empire, who uses some kind of magic called the Corruption that mostly makes people shred and vanish, but it doesn't work well on Alka, because her butterfly tattoo is kinda magical too, although she apparently doesn't know much about it.
Alka being out of work and out of reasons to do much of anything wanders about, running into people who miss loved ones she's killed or people who want to kill her, but she remains pretty much empty. Starving, the Proprietess of the bar/brothel gives her a job, and assigns her to work with a girl who had a murderous past, but is really nice and helpful, actually. Alka shows the barest glimmer of starting to care, so the girl is killed. Revenge at last! But it's strangely unsatisfying.
Jin Varrel is resurrected by the second in command, who actually turns out to be the real leader of the baddies (after the emperor) because Jin is really just an empty emotionless puppet because that's the only thing that can contain the Corruption. But this time, she somehow hangs on to her original identity, and somehow Alka is connected. I say Somehow advisedly, because it doesn't make much sense. You could wear out a strip of carpet going back and forth to the fridge with this series. They meet up, fight, and somehow Alka having emotions (which hurts her fighting ability) frees Jin up too, because they are "Alike" (The dead barmaid also made a point about how they were alike, which is the key to Alka's emotions, it seems), and so instead of finishing fighting to the death, they hug or something.
There's also a sort of Desert Pirate Queen, and a brash, noisy drunken bounty hunter girl, but they don't really drive the plot very much, although they both contribute vast tracts of land to the scenery.
Like Amagi Brilliant Park, there's a final episode that comes out of nowhere, throws the characters into a stupid treasure hunt storyline, and really adds nothing. And don't even bother with the little chibi vignettes that came out with the BD release.
It was crap. (I had to balance out the last two brilliant series I wrote about.)
In further erronious pursuit of the Silver-hair... I was watching Absolute Duo. And as charming as the girl is, I am totally sick of the guy who acts like a girl throwing herself at him is radioactive trope. And when they strung together a SERIES of "Awkward falls into compromising positions" in the second episode, I just stopped the tape and walked away.
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