Author: Don

Nutcracker 2017: Party

Dress rehearsal at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, December 7, 2017. Click to embiggen.

Dress rehearsal at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, December 7, 2017. Click to embiggen.

Girls with guns

Before Koichi Mashimo’s trilogy1, there was The Nutcracker, as produced annually by Friends University Ballet.

I spent the evening tonight taking far too many pictures at the dress rehearsal. I’ll eventually post a bunch on my photo weblog, but it will take a while to go through them all.

Update (December 10): I’m through with the party scene in act one. The pictures are here.

I’ve put one in puzzle form below the fold.

Continue reading “Girls with guns”

Dianthus nergalis, and blogging in 1842

Ruri’s Law: the vast majority of people are idiots

Crunchyroll continues to license interesting older anime. Recent acquisitions include the willfully eccentric Oh! Edo Rocket2 and Tatsuo Sato’s first major series, Martian Successor Nadesico. There’s also the exceedingly odd Cromartie High School. In all three, anything can happen.

The very early days of the internet

I’ve compiled a short wish list of shows that the people at Crunchyroll might consider for future acquisition.

Dennou Coil — It’s available on disc, but I don’t think this classic Miyazaki-does-Ghost-in-the-Shell series has ever been legally streamed in North America.

Shounen Onmyouji — Protagonist Masahiro is the only shounen hero who doesn’t make me mutter “idiot.” The show was one of the last licensed by Geneon USA and was orphaned when the company went out of business. The later discs are virtually unobtainable.

Katanagatari — Also available on disc3, but I don’t think this eccentric and ironic chronicle of extreme swordsmanship ever been legally streamed here.

Crest/Banner of the Stars — Possibly the best thought-out dramatization of war in space.4

Pupipo — Short and funny doesn’t mean trivial.

Continue reading “Dianthus nergalis, and blogging in 1842″

G, D, A, E, sometimes A, E, A, E

Over the years I’ve watched my young friend Roger Netherton develop from a talented youngster to a first-rate fiddler. I’ve mentioned him numerous times, e.g., here, here, here and here; you can find additional mentions by searching here for “Roger.” He focuses on old-time music, but that’s not his only interest. He taught himself Japanese well enough that he was able to skip the first year of Japanese language class at college and start with the second year. He later spent a semester at a college in Japan. He did the translations for my notes on installing Hatsune Miku, which is the most-visited page on my website. Here he plays a melody from the anime Someday’s Dreamers, accompanying himself on piano.

Roger is finally ready to record an album. His Go Fund Me page is here. If you like old-time fiddle, you might want to check it out.

ANN No

Like hell I’m giving these jackasses my phone number. It looks like it will be about two weeks before I visit Anime New Network again — if I bother. The encyclopedia is sometimes useful, and perhaps 10% of the news is actually noteworthy, but the rest is just a waste of pixels. I can do just fine without it.

At six months

The cactus and stapeliad seedlings are half a year old now. These pictures are all stacked focus, with from 26 to 92 images in each stack assembled in Helicon Focus. They are all much enlarged. The Gymnocalycium above is the largest of the cacti; it’s about a half-inch in diameter. Click to see it larger; … Continue reading “At six months”

Gymnocalycium

The cactus and stapeliad seedlings are half a year old now. These pictures are all stacked focus, with from 26 to 92 images in each stack assembled in Helicon Focus. They are all much enlarged. The Gymnocalycium above is the largest of the cacti; it’s about a half-inch in diameter. Click to see it larger; right-click and open in a new window to see it larger still.

Turbinicarpus lophophoroides
Copiapoa hypogea
Mammillaria bombycina
Mammillaria bombycina
Mammillaria huitzilopochtli
Stapelia