The concept of the “lethal radius” (the radius of the circle within which the number of survivors of an event equals the number of fatalities without), useful in discussions of bombs and music technology, is also relevant to perfume science.
Category: Whatever
I’m back
3,500 Nutcracker pictures. Gah. I’ve gone through them all, selected the best and cropped and edited them and burned a stack of CDs for the dancers and crew, and I am done, done, done. Life can return to what passes for normal around here. Maybe I can even watch some anime. (The morbidly curious can see a selection of the pictures here.)
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Congratuations to Avatar.
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What happened to Astro? (Update: he’s back, sorta.)
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I probably will add Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann to my “buy” list. I did watch the first two episodes and was not entirely unimpressed. Since this was a Gainax series, though, I decided to wait until it completed its run and see what the final word was before investing any more time in it. By all accounts the show succeeded on every level and is probably one of the best of the year.
I can’t resist posting the Gurren Lagann Jack:
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Every time I hear someone say “Ohayo,” I have a strange urge to reply, “Illinois.”
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When I lived with my folks, I got stuck every year with taking down the Christmas tree, which by that time was thoroughly dried-out and prickly. It was not much fun. Since then, I have never had the slightest interest in putting up my own tree. However, if I were to decorate a Christmas tree, even though it’s utterly inappropriate, I would like to include a Belldandy angel among the ornaments.
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Sooner or later I’m gong to want to upgrade to a more recent version of WordPress. Before I do, however, I want to make sure that I can still post the occasional phrase in Japanese characters and not see “???.” When I upgraded my other weblogs, I lost this capabiity, even though the selected character set is still UTF-8. How can I make the Japanese look the way it’s supposed to?
Notes in lieu of an actual post
It looks I’ll have to watch more of ef — a tale of memories. The visual novelties in the first episode were entertaining, but none of the characters seemed particularly interesting. However, several of the more thoughtful writers on anime are impressed with the series, and Author declares it the top pick of the fall, so perhaps I missed something.
I probably am a little too quick to dismiss the shows I sample. There are good reasons for being picky: there’s a lot out there, most of it is of average quality or worse, and I don’t have unlimited time. In general, the sooner I drop a show, the better. The danger is that I’ll dismiss something genuinely good because it doesn’t make a strong first impression. This may well be the case with ef. Shugo Chara might be another instance; I only made it through half of the first episode, but those who like it, like it a lot.
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While the fall offerings may be disappointing, overall this has been a decent year for anime. Five series so far are on my “buy” list should they be licensed: Denno Coil, Seirei no Moribito, Oh! Edo Rocket, Baccano! and Mononoke. In comparison, only three from last year made my list (Suzumiya Haruhi, Ouran and Muteki Kanban Musume). I’ll probably add Moyashimon unless the quality drops, though I don’t plan to buy the Aspergillus oryzae plushie.
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Update: Jonathan Tappan has been posting pictures from his vacation in Japan.
Absolute destiny apocalypse
I haven’t had much time for anime or anything else recently, but I did manage to watch the first disc of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Good grief. I think I’ll watch Cat Soup again; that’s a model of clarity in comparison. I suppose everything will make sense in the end, but seven episodes into Utena, it’s absurdity upon absurdity, combined with swordfights, silliness, pointed chins and a minimal animation budget. Surrealistic though it is, it remains mostly on the right side of the line between silly and stupid, and I am curious to see if the writers do make ultimately something coherent out of the nonsense.
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Here are a few odd links. Click at your own risk.
A term I didn’t need to learn.
I didn’t really need to see this. (Found it here.)
This is worth looking at.
Virtual boredom
I’ve spent my recent lunch hours investigating Second Life. This virtual world may have a lot of potential, but I find it disappointing. It’s fun to learn to fly and customize your avatar, but once you’re past the orientations and in Second Life proper, it turns out that there’s nobody there. ((There are supposedly 40,000 to 50,000 residents logged in when I visit, but they all must be playing hide and seek.)) There’s plenty to look at — elaborate buildings and landscapes, stores full of clothes, hair, skins, eyes, wings, animations, etc. — but wherever I go, I’m almost always quite alone. When I do encounter someone else, he is generally as disinclined to begin a conversation as I am. There are some busy sites with lots of visitors, but I dislike virtual crowds as much as real ones. I have yet to find a congenial spot.
It hasn’t been a complete waste of time. Some real-life musicians stream live performances while their avatars stand on virtual stages, and the music is occasionally quite good and offbeat. When’s the last time you heard virtuoso musical saw? Supposedly some well-known musicians like Suzanne Vega occasionally give virtual concerts, but I have yet to recognize any of the performers listed on the schedules. There have also been some discussions announced that look interesting, but never at times I can attend.
So, is there anime in Second Life? Well, there are Naruto fans, as demonstrated above. Quite a few shops feature clothing, hair, shapes and skins inspired by anime and gothic lolita styles, and there is quite a bit more that’s Japanese. I found one virtual shop devoted entirely to general anime cosplay and another exclusively to Sailor Moon.
(Notice how much of the snapshot above is blurry. It takes a long time to render all the fine detail, and if your computer, video card and connection are not the absolute fastest available, expect to spend a lot of time waiting for your system to catch up with SL.)
So there are anime fans in Second Life — somebody had to make the wares and rent or buy the virtual space for the stores — but finding them is not easy. There are over a hundred anime groups listed, a few with hundreds of members, but they don’t actually do anything. There are no meetings, discussions or events in any that I’ve looked at, and no newsletters. The only anime-related communications I’ve received were announcements of new costumes. In contrast, I receive regular updates from various SL musical and dance organizations.
There are a few haibane around:
If I do continue to visit Second Life, it will be for the music, not anime.
One unexpected pleasure: shopping for clothes. In real life, it’s a pain; the styles don’t appeal and the sizes are never quite right. Clothing your avatar, however, is fun. Penneys might not have much in the way of kimonos, but in the virtual world they’re easy to find. I haven’t yet seen any Abh uniforms, but I did find some other outfits of note. Snapshots below the fold.
Music and marathons
I’m not terribly impressed with Ghost Hound — yet, anyway — but I do like the opening song, “Poltergeist,” by Mayumi Kojima. A few days ago I came across something listed as “Ghost Hound OP album.” It turned to be Kojima’s “A Musical Biography 2001-2007,” and it’s not standard J-pop. Most of the songs fall somewhere between novelty jazz and rock, with touches of rockabilly, surf guitar and the top 40 of an earlier era. To be painfully honest, on some of the tunes I enjoy the band and the arrangements more than her singing, but she earns points for an idiosyncratic repertoire. “Poltergeist” is Kojima at the darker, rockier end of her range; here’s something more playful, “???????!,” or “The Last Shot.”
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It’s an obvious point, but perhaps worth making anyway. Some series should be marathoned, while others are best appreciated one or two episodes at a time. For most series, of course, it doesn’t much matter. I’ve watched a dozen episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in one sitting, and also watched one per evening for weeks, and enjoyed it equally both ways. However, something like the Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles saga demands to viewed in one or two long sittings (if you can get past the bizarre character designs ((Kei’s and Yuri’s busts are as large as I find attractive; bigger than that just looks grotesque.)) and the mystifying first episode. The series’ creators perhaps expected too much of the casual viewer and the professional reviewer). Don’t put the first disc in your player late in the evening if you need to work the next day. Seirei no Moribito is another to marathon, as is Baccano!. I’ve held off watching the second half of SnM until all of it is available and I have six uninterrupted hours available to spend on it (maybe Thursday, finally).
Lightweight comedies and farces, on the other hand, are best viewed one or two episodes at a time, else they become cloying and the formulae become too obvious. Galaxy Angel A and Z, Animal Yokocho, Kerero Gunsou, Muteki Kanban Musume, Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, etc., are all best taken in small doses. Also, some of the more thoughtful episodic series benefit from being watched one episode at a time, with time to reflect between viewings. I can’t imagine wanting to marathon Mushishi, for instance, or Kino’s Journey.
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A bit of good news via Anime on DVD: Martian Successor Nadesico is being reissued as a “perfect collection.” It’s due out January 1.
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Mickey Mouse Feio. (Via Cartoon Brew.)
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What exactly is Aria?
Miscellany
Some odds and ends while I download Moyashimon:
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I’m not a fan of Star Wars, but this was uncalled for. (Caution: causes severe ear pain. Blame the LLamas for this one.)
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Here’s an alternate history story: if MGM had said “yes” to Bob Clampett in 1936, would the Japanese now be fansubbing American animation? (Via Aliens in This World.)
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I may be wrong, but as I understand it, the “sei” in “seifuku” is short for “sailor.” I.e., its distinguishing characteristic is the sailor collar. Consequently, I think only one of the outfits in this poll qualifies as a proper seifuku. (Update: I was wrong — see Andrew F.’s comment. Never mind.)
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I’ve added Yumedamaya Kidan to my to-investigate list.
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The next self-help bestseller: Aerophobics: The Easy Six* Step program to end your exercise addiction. It could be helpful in maintaing a proper otaku lifestyle.
*”’cause let’s face it, twelve steps is WAAAAAAY too many.” —SR
66,000 business cards …
… as a Menger Sponge.
Also: mathematical origami.
Bonus link: More mathematical fun — Context-Free Art.
Different kinds of memory
Here are a couple of New Yorker articles of interest concerning amnesia and music, and life as an Aspie. (The former link via Fred.)
fyi
This came up in an email exchange with a friend. I thought that other victims of photography might appreciate it:
The default mode in all digital cameras is “caricature.” The software automatically looks for slight defects in a person’s appearance and exaggerates them. If there are no defects, it will interpolate some. (Film cameras have a similar feature.) Unfortunately, camera manuals are minimal these days and seldom include directions for changing this default. In other words, nobody looks as bad as his picture.
Tuesday morning miscellany
One of the pleasures of Dai Mahou Touge is watching Punie and Paya-tan, her mascot, instantly transform from cutesy and playful to utterly ruthless, and back again. Paya changes seiyuus when he makes the transition. I thought Dark Paya sounded familiar, and I was right; he is voiced by Jouji Nakata, who is Giroro in Keroro Gunsou.
I’m surprised at how little attention DMT has received, despite its being one of the better examples of animated black humor. Once again, if Steven hadn’t spotted it, I’d have missed it. Why has this been ignored, while Dokuro-chan, which you couldn’t pay me to watch, has been endlessly discussed and now has a sequel?
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Not anime, but geeky: U.N. Secretary General or Star Wars character?
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Also not anime but still geeky: A new idea for a first-person shooter.
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And finally, a word from Shunpei:
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Bonus link: Put down the duckie. (Via the LLamas.)
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Update: Congratulations to Avatar.
The path to enlightenment, or how to squander vast amounts of time and money
Some bloggers recently have reminisced about the origins of their addictions. I might as well, too.
I don’t watch television. At all. Consequently, I never saw Dragonball or any other Japanese imports. I did once come across a mention of something called “Sailor Moon” in a newspaper. It sounded dumb. Nor have I ever been a gamer of any kind, unless you count chess. Final Fantasy means nothing to me. If there ever were any “good old days” of anime, I missed them.
Some years back I read a review of a movie called Princess Mononoke. It looked interesting, and Neil Gaiman had worked on the English script. I made a mental note to see it if it ever came to Wichita. It didn’t.
Time passed. I discovered that one of my musical friends was an aficionado of Japanese animation from ‘way back, and he had a copy of Princess Mononoke. (He also has an impressive collection of anime cels, including some from Porco Rosso.) The movie was terrific, even with the English dub, and I asked him for more to watch. Most of what he brought by was disappointing — e.g., Those Who Hunt Elves (not recommended) — but I did discover the original Dirty Pair and Martian Successor Nadesico.
Meanwhile, I read every entry on every anime review site I could find. After sifting through hundreds, thousands of reviews by plainly unreliable writers, I settled upon Serial Experiments Lain as my first purchase. It was as good as Princess Mononoke, and utterly different. Ghost in the Shell followed. Some time after that I discovered that Steven Den Beste also saw that Lain was something exceptional. I finally had found a writer on anime whom I could take seriously. (I’ve found a few more since then. See the blogroll.)
I eventually started a weblog devoted to anime in addition to my main one (you’re reading its successor). A little over three years ago, one of my acquaintances from the SCA organized an anime festival in Wichita and an anime club. I’ve furnished most of the videos the club views at its rare meetings.
This isn’t quite the full story, though, and Princess Mononoke wasn’t the first anime I ever saw. That title belongs to Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke, released in the USA before the last ice age as “Magic Boy.” It was the greatest movie I had ever seen. It blew away everything by Walt Disney. Then I saw Forbidden Planet, and that was the greatest movie ever made, and I forgot about Magic Boy until my discovery of Miyazaki many years later.
Random notes
Dino Squad — yet another reason to stick to anime. (Via Tim Blair.)
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I notice that the group fansubbing Dokuro-Chan II calls itself “Philanthropy.” That’s not the word that occurs to me.
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For those who regard every anime they’ve downloaded that is subsequently licensed as a an “obligation buy,” a suggestion. If it’s a lousy, trashy series, e.g., Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, don’t spend your money on it. It will only encourage the company to license more garbage. Instead, take that money and apply it to a good show, preferably one that is underappreciated. (My own policy is less stringent. I purchase more than I download, and if a show is genuinely good, it goes on my “buy” list, even if I don’t expect to rewatch it soon. My drive may be getting full, but my shelves are overflowing.)
Surviving the weekend
• I may be one of the stranger people around (though I think I’m perfectly normal, myself), but I’m not the silliest.
• There is an inverse proportion between the depth of an induhvidual’s political insights and his loquacity. There is similarly an inverse proportion between the distance from his mouth to my ear and the volume at which he proclaims his thoughts.
• There are few, if any, pictures of Narutards among those I took this weekend. There are also very few FMA characters. This was deliberate. There aren’t any Wolfwoods either, though I didn’t originally plan to omit them. However, those blasted crosses kept getting in my way when I framed shots, and I got irritated. Hint to cosplayers: pick characters who don’t carry cumbersome props.
• There were a number of SOS-dan girls, but no Kyon that I saw. There was only one representative from Ouran, and not Haruhi, either. Most of the solar system Sailor Senshi were represented; only Mercury and Pluto were missing. What most surprised me was the number of girls with Chobits ears.
• The music CDs were tucked away in an awkward spot next to the yaoi doujinshi. I’ll freely admit that by some standards I am mildly eccentric, but yaoi fangirls are downright weird and a bit creepy.
* I managed not to spend much money, but I did pick up a few CDs. The soundtrack to Utena is, um, interesting. Much of it is standard film score fare — some orchestral stuff and chamber music, some pop and rock, a bit of new-agey drivel, synths, etc. — a bit better than average but not particularly memorable. But the second half is something else. It’s been compared to the Vienna Boys’ Choir singing with Megadeth, and that’s a fair description.
I also found the soundtrack to Jubei-Chan I, which I’ve been looking for. The score isn’t outstanding, but there are a few pieces I like, and most of them are included, e.g., the full-length version of Bantaro’s theme. There is also this:
• “Raw” format, in which the image as caught by the sensor of a digital camera is initially recorded before being converted to jpeg, is wonderful. The “SafeSync” I ordered so I can use my old strobes with my new camera still hasn’t arrived, and I had to make do with the on-camera flash. It wasn’t up to the job, and most of the jpegs were woefully underexposed. However, I saved most of the images in both jpeg and “nef” formats (“nef” is Nikon’s version of raw), and I was able to salvage every one of the raw images, even when the jpegs were hopeless.
Request
I just a note from my brother:
I’m getting a laptop tomorrow. Any recommendations?
I don’t use laptops, and if I did, they would be Macs, which I don’t think he is interested in. Does anybody have suggestions for him?
Request
I just a note from my brother:
I’m getting a laptop tomorrow. Any recommendations?
I don’t use laptops, and if I did, they would be Macs, which I don’t think he is interested in. Does anybody have suggestions for him?