Trivia that matter
If those were actual inflorescences of Amorphophallus titanum and Rafflesia arnoldii, Seiya and Isuzu would be treated to the gentle aromas of dimethyl trisulfide, dimethyl disulfide, trimethylamine, isovaleric acid, benzyl alcohol, phenol, indole and other distinctively fragrant molecules.
It’s just possible that Amagi Brilliant Park is that rare thing, a KyoAni show worth watching.
Many people think that Pluto is a full and proper planet, not just a “dwarf.” What do you think?
[poll id=”2″]
(The picture is from here.)
Update: new picture.
“Hocus Pocus” was released on album 43 years ago this month and as a single a year later. The Borderline Boy says that this is the best song in the known universe, and I won’t argue. Certainly the lyrics alone are worth the entire output of any dozen singer/songwriters combined.
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I discovered that cows are seafaring mammals. Or fish.
Ontakesan, the second-tallest mountain in Japan, is clearing its throat.
This is possibly the most frightening video I’ve ever seen. If there had been fresh hot lava erupted, the ash cloud would have instantly incinerated the videographer and everyone with him.
A less-terrifying video of the mountain:
There’s a webcam here.
Update: vulcanologist Erik Klemetti comments.
A not-quite-random screen capture from Joshiraku. Pete isn’t the only one who finds the show compulsively re-watchable, though of necessity I stick with the fansub.
(Dammit, WordPress Safari, when I type “fansub,” I don’t mean “fan sub.” Don’t harass me with your expletive-deleted autocorrect.)
Update: a few more screencaps:
The rest of the cast …
… and one more.
I recently encountered liquid celery. I hope I never do again.
My friend Roger, musician and aficionado of fine anime, acquired another fiddle for his collection Friday in the old-time fiddle competition at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas.
This was his encore:
Update: A better-quality recording of Roger from a jam session later in the festival:
… because every single one of these is out of my price range.
I spent yesterday at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. These are a couple of the sights there this year. There are more pictures at my Flickr page.
So today is Squawk Like a Parrot day? Meh. If it’s pirates you want, I recommend Marika Kato and company. (The picture above is the wallpaper on one of my computer monitors.)
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Something I found in my archives that might be worth posting again: G.K. Totoro, or Totoro Roosevelt?
(From here.)
On the way to work this morning: Clematis terniflora, alias C. paniculata, alias C. dioscoreifolia, alias C. maximowicziana. I usually prefer to call plants by their Latin names, but in this case it’s less confusing to just say “sweet autumn clematis.”
Tuesdays are ninja Mondays: just as bad, but you never see them coming.
… but this site is going to be fairly quiet for a while longer. While things are not quite as insane as they were a month ago, there’s still too much to do. (Someday I may compile a list of anime for times when you wish everyone would just shut up, go away and leave you alone.)
Fortunately, I can occasionally make time to take pictures. Here are a few recent ones.
His films have an inner clarity and beauty that few others achieve. Yet they are frequently wrapped in mystery, ambiguity, and confusion. And purposely so. Miyazaki not only fills his films with the treasures of intellectual study, he also refuses to over-clarify them. As he said of his epic Princess Mononoke, “I made this film fully realizing that it was complex…If one depicts the world so that it can be figured out or understood, the world becomes small and shabby.”
Update: Bonus quote:
There is a parallel universe where Hayao Miyazaki directed The Hobbit movie. Maybe one of its inhabitants can lend me a DVD.
Bárðarbunga has gotten down to business. There’s a good view of the action here.
Update: There are good photos here.
Update II:
The worst-case scenario for this sort of eruption: Laki, 1783.
The crowd at Volcano Café are obsessively following the events in Iceland. The comments are worth reading, as well as the posts.
Update III:
More pictures here.
If you are embarrassed that such an inconsequential weblog as mine links to your site, it’s easy to remedy. Just post a blanket denunciation of the “baby boomers,” and I will delete your link from my blogroll. Kathy Shaidle and Mark Shea both removed themselves from my site in this fashion years ago, as did Vox Day this morning.
What does “indecipherable” mean in this sentence?
The newsstand is increasingly indecipherable from the supermarket checkout aisle.
Does ranting about stupidity make you a little bit stupid yourself?
“One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Kitty White found herself, in her bed, transformed into a small, mouthless cat.”
There’s also a Harlan Ellison story there, but you knew that already.
Barðarbunga may or may not be erupting — It can be hard to tell when there’s half a kilometer of glacier on top of the volcano — but it’s in Iceland, not Indonesia. The picture above is of the Tengger caldera in Java, where glaciers are rarely found.
These are the lyrics to a certain over-familiar song rewritten as a sonnet. Can you identify the original? Here’s a hint the answer. There are more sonnets here.
(Via Fillyjonk.)
