Author: Don

Status report

I don’t have interests or hobbies; I have obsessions. They usually progress like this:

Stage one: What’s this?

Stage two: This is kinda interesting. Let’s investigate it further.

Stage three: This is really interesting. It’s worth a little time and money.

Stage four: This is absolutely magnificent, wonderful stuff. Let’s spend every waking moment on it and annoy all my friends with my enthusiasm. Let’s max out the credit cards, too.

Stage five: This isn’t quite as much fun as it used to be.

Stage six: In fact, it’s starting to feel like work. Let’s do something else tonight.

Stage seven: What a waste of time. The hell with it.

Stage eight/one: Hey, what’s that?

Not every obsession runs through every stage. Photography has oscillated between stages three and five for years and probably will continue to do so as long as I can hold a camera. On the other hand, I spent far too much time in the SCA, and I am very thoroughly burnt-out on that sort of historical re-creation. Don’t even mention Renaissance faires to me.

With respect to anime, I am currently at stage six. I’ve watched very little in the past few weeks, and what I have seen were old favorites, not new shows. I know I should be keeping up with Kaiba, and I would probably enjoy the recent episodes of Soul Eater if I bothered to launch VLC, but right now both look more like duties than pleasures. Rather than force myself to watch them anyway and guarantee reaching stage seven, I’m going to take a break from anime.

Perhaps I’ll spend the summer reading. There’s a whole generation of science fiction and fantasy writers that I haven’t yet seriously investigated, and at least two of them, Tim Powers and Neal Stephenson, are first-rate storytellers if what I’ve read is representative.

So, there’s not going to be much happening here for a while. I do have a few posts in mind, but I’m in no hurry to write them. I’ll be back when I’m back.

Miscellany

How Obama can win:

Hey, McCain has been ignoring the catgirl vote throughout the primaries, I say Obama should take advantage of this. As a matter of fact, a strong anti-tentacle monster platform would bring in both the catgirls and the Lolis. He could then show show his strength on defense by committing to a crash course of giant robot development. All he would need at that point would be a promise of combat training for all nubile young schoolgirls and he would have the entire geek vote locked up.

On a related note, here’s the most frightening title I’ve heard in a while: The Melancholy of Hillary Rodham.

*****

That other dealer has Geneon merchandise on sale. Haibane Renmei, Someday’s Dreamers and others are going for $5 per disc, and this time there’s no minimum order.

*****

Via Pixy, sophisticated technology in the service of sheer silliness:

And some Leeky Star:

*****

Stranger than anime: the operatic guide to dating.

*****

Yoshitoshi ABe will be in Minnesota in September. It’s a bit out of bicycle range for me, unfortunately.

*****

Update: No. No. No. No. No. No.

Why do people drive like idiots?

Because they are idiots.

Three things to keep in mind when you ride a bicycle on Wichita streets:

1. If there is any possibility that a driver won’t see you, he won’t.

2. If there is no way on earth that a driver can possibly miss seeing you, he still won’t see you.

3. Right-of-way? What’s that?

Miscellany

The inhabitants of the moon never see an earthrise or earthset. However, spacecraft orbiting the moon, e.g., the Kaguya, do. Here is the earth rising and setting, as recorded in HD. (Via Aziz.)

*****

Speed Racer is probably worth skipping (though I might listen to Racer X). If you’re looking for an exciting race story, I recommend instead the Kuricorder Quartet’s take on “Highway Star”:

Here’s the quartet again with some tunes you might recognize.

*****

Understatement of the week:

Something tells me the commenter hasn’t met all that many nuns.

*****

Give peas a chance:

(Via Blackadder.)