Trivia that matter
I recently discovered that John Stump, the composer of “Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz,” wrote other pieces of music, including the “String Quartet in A Minor (Motoring Accident).” A tribute to Stump, with scans of his scores, can be found here.
More remarkable scores can be seen here, here and here. Some of them have been performed.
More here.
(Via NRO.)
Update: A collection of eyjafjallajokull links. And one of several webcams.
The Kwanzan (or “Kanzan”) cherry (Prunus serrulata) was at peak bloom today at the botanical garden.
I visited Botanica again this afternoon and took a lot of pictures, which I’ll upload to my gallery later. On the way home I spotted a couple of other noteworthy floral displays: a Chinese empress tree, above, and a wisteria.
Shinji, as I expected, has a substantial lead in the “most annoying character” poll. ChibiUsa and Happosai are battling for second place, and C-ko and Kimura have also made strong showings. I doubt that the standings will change significantly with additional votes, so let’s start a new poll.
Who’s the best villain in anime? Please post your nominations in the comments. You can nominate more than one character, but please don’t get carried away. (Also, please avoid spoilers. If an apparently benign character is revealed to be a malefactor only in the last few episodes of a series, don’t mention him. There are plenty of other evildoers to choose from.)
You might find it useful to review Steven’s criteria for a good villain:
1. Hubris: He thinks he’s strong and dangerous because he is strong and dangerous. But he isn’t quite as strong as he thinks he is, which is why…
2. Nemesis: he eventually gets what’s coming to him. Maybe it’s incremental punishment, or maybe it’s a grand reckoning, but in the end he suffers and probably dies. And before it happens, he knows what will happen to him and why. When it happens, in the eyes of the audience there should be a feeling of justice being done, and feeling of triumph.
3. Comprehensibility: We understand his motivation, even though we may not agree with it. What he does makes sense.
4. Menace: Serious villains should genuinely scare us.
5. Attraction: But villains should also be a bit seductive. There should be just a little bit of a temptation to root for the bad guy over the good guys. We should admire the bad guy, just a little, maybe. And feel just a bit sorry for him in the end.
The tax collectors of Kansas want me to file my taxes online this year. How well does their website work?
After calling the toll-free number and learning nothing useful, I tried again.
So I clicked there.
I can cycle through the log-in page and these two pages indefinitely.
Every year I try to pay my taxes online, and every year I marvel at the utter incompetence of the website designers. Then I file my tax return on paper. Now the state of Kansas, in its wisdom and magnanimity, is going to start charging an extra fee for those who don’t file online (and another fee for those who want paper checks). There do exist some words that — weakly — describe my feelings toward the Kansas taxman, but I prefer to keep my website PG-rated.
Update: Success, finally, after changing to a different browser.
I spent the weekend in Atchison. Here are a few of the pictures I snapped.
From the comments at John C. Wright’s place:
johncwright: If I had written EVANGELION, not only would I have have written an ending, but I would have explained both the first and second impacts, and the relation between the Qabala, the ghost of the mother hidden in the Eva, the spear of Longenes, and the point of Ikaru’s plan.
false_keraptis: Mr. Wright, as a science fiction reader, I am willing to entertain outlandish and unlikely premises, and my disbelief can be suspended from the lightest and most fragile of strings, but you’ve gone too far here. To suggest that Evangelion could ever be made to make sense to anyone is simply ridiculous.
The script to Shoka won the grand prize in the Animax competition in 2008. I’m not sure why. While the gimmick of using calligraphy and other arts as the basis of magical combat lends itself well to animation, the story and the characters are of scant interest. Still, the piece is worth seeing for the art, particularly if you’re sick of moeblobs with insectoid faces. Screen captures are below the fold.
I also recently watched Haiyoru! Nyaru Ani and Ranma – Akumu Shunminko. The former — a series of short moe-meets-Lovecraft animations — might sound like a brilliantly insane idea, but I don’t recommend it unless you think stabbing a little girl ((She’s actually Nyarlathotep, but she still looks and acts like a silly little girl.)) in the hand with a fork is funny. The latter is part of a celebration of Rumiko Takahashi’s work. It prominently features Happosai, and demonstrates why he has done so well in the current poll. I can’t recommend it either, even if it is the first new Ranma episode in years.
Update: Here’s the right way to make Cthulhu cute.
… so if I want to post a picture of a Lenten Rose, I’d better do it today.
This is a good year for flowering trees such as magnolias:
It’s blossom-gazing time, with sakura blooming in Japan. I did a little blossom-gazing myself yesterday at the local botanical garden, which has a few flowering cherries. Wichita had enough serious cold weather this past winter to trigger profuse bloom. Instead of a blue tarp, I brought my camera.
I arrived one windy day too late to catch this one at its prime.
A revived Geneon USA announced today that it has licensed Dennou Coil for North America. Mitsuo Iso’s anime is considered by some to be the best TV series of recent years. The company also announced licenses for Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke and three of Masaaki Yuasa’s works, the series Kaiba and Kemenozume and the movie Mind Game. Dennou Coil is scheduled for release in June as a six-DVD set with a list price of $24.99. Mononoke will follow in July. The Yuasa anime will be available in August as both a seven-DVD compilation and on Blue-Ray discs.
In additon to anime, the new Geneon plans to issue anime soundtracks, starting with those of Dennou Coil and Spice and Wolf.
The new Geneon was recently incorporated by former executives from the Funimation, Media Blasters and Bandai companies, who acquired the right to use the name of the company that released such anime as Cardcaptor Sakura and Haibane Renmei in North America.
“ToLOVERU, Queen’s Blade, Ikki Tousen and that thing with the mutant cabbage are all licensed for region one, yet superior shows are ignored,” said a company spokesman. “We were embarrassed.”
The spokesman noted that the company founders found the Bandai Visual/Galaxy Angel Rune debacle illuminating.
“Perhaps it makes sense to the Japanese to pay exorbitant prices for small portions of crap, but that business model doesn’t necessarily work on the other side of the Pacific,” he said. “We’ll see how offering good quality at a reasonable price works.”
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The White House today confirmed reports that the Obama administration is considering replacing most of the USA military with squads of mahou shoujo, or “magical girls.”
“Economically, it makes a lot of sense,” said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in a morning press conference. “Armies are expensive to maintain and operate, and let’s not even talk about the boats and planes — have you priced a F-22 lately? All a magical girl needs is a wand or talisman and a cute animal companion.”
Questioned about the ability of little girls to face armies, Gates noted that during the past few decades, Japan has been effectively protected from alien invasions and evil masterminds by a network of magical girls and “mecha.”
“One of our consultants is the mistress of Earth, Water, Fire and Windy, and she holds the cards of Light and Dark,” Gibbs noted. “What army can withstand that kind of power?”
Screenings for young women with magical talents will begin this summer.
Gibbs refused to confirm or deny that there are plans for a special “trap” battalion, stating only that the Obama administration is committed to diversity in every form.
In related news, the White House announced the appointment of Yume Kikuchi to the position of Secretary of the Treasury.
“We need someone who can conjure money out of thin air, and Kikuchi is an obvious choice,” said Gibbs.
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The Secret International Consortium of Digital Content Merchants has officially leaked a memo announcing its plans to phase out all “digital rights management” (DRM), noting that the inconvenience to users is greater than what little protection it offers against piracy. In a press released cracked this morning, the consortium acknowledged that this does indeed mean the end of all region coding.
Adobe, the publisher of Photoshop and other graphics and publishing software, announced that it will continue to include aggressive DRM with all their products.
“What the hell are they thinking?” said an Adobe spokesman. “The purpose of DRM is to punish the legitimate user, and it always has been.”
In related news, Adobe announced that it will be moving its telephone support to Burkina Faso. A company spokesperson noted that confused customers currently talk to personnel in India. Sometimes, the staffer responding to the customer speaks English well and understands the questions. “That is plainly not acceptable,” said the spokesthing. “Moving our support services to the country with the lowest literacy rate in the world should ensure that our users’ help desk experiences will always be memorable.”
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A flock of winged pigs was sighted soaring over the steeple of St. Christina the Astonishing Church in East Nowhere, Kansas. Meanwhile, Loki’s Tricksters defeated the Anubis Crew “c” to aleph-null to advance to the semifinals of the Demonic Snowball Tournament in Hell.
… and Cardcaptor Sakura is an old favorite, but I don’t think I’d ride an anime itachari like this around Wichita.
(Via Alafista.)
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John C. Wright previews his next novel, which features the Nine Samurai Vampire Warlocks of Kyoto. There may also be skin-tight latex nun suits. ((Permitted as of Vatican II.))
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Care to propose a caption?
(Via Dustbury.)
