Curiosities and silly stuff – Page 4

Typo of the century

Further nonsense from various places:

The first Strike Witch?

More curious costumes here.

*****

Madan no Ou to Vanadis is doing a lot of things right and is probably the best show currently airing. Nevertheless, there are still mistakes, such as the use of swords in an era of plate armor.

Boo, boo, etc.

It’s Halloween today, right? Time to get the bag of chocolate out of the freezer.

There’s a fine line between spooky and silly, as Frëd illustrates in this footnote to American history.

*****

There’s a lot of anime suitable for Halloween, from the many iterations of Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro (including in particular Hakaba Kitaro) to Soul Eater and Hozuki no Reitetsu. If I had to pick just one, though, it would be Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke. Here’s one of the two-episode stories:

The entire show is on YouTube, but it’s available for such a reasonable price that there’s no excuse not to buy your own copy of this probable classic. ((I don’t declare anything a “classic” until it’s at least ten years old, and Mononoke is from anime’s year of wonder, 2007.))

*****

Boris Karloff drinks tea.

*****

If you’re looking for a proper Halloween post, Isegoria has a bunch of them.

Never mind

The moment I lost interest in Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, a pale pastel imitation of Madoka Magica.

There are a number of other current shows I’m not watching, which I may or may not discuss when I have more time. Until then, here’s a safety video from Air New Zealand.

(Via Bayou Renaissance Man.)

Hey, Sailor

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.

You learn something every day

On a recent trip to the grocery store, I discovered that cows are seafaring mammals. Or fish.

Pop cultural quiz …

… with bonus cheesecake.

How many of these superheroes can you identify?

Watch your language

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.)

***

Something I found in my archives that might be worth posting again: G.K. Totoro, or Totoro Roosevelt?

(From here.)

Today’s literary classic

Fillyjonk:

“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.

Crimson on wheels, with peaches

With bells on, too.

Update: The Professor thinks that this may be the coolest thing ever:

Perhaps, but it lacks Segways.

A few notes

None of this summer’s anime looks likely to break on through my indifference. Yet another Nobunaga story? Momotaro, with fan service? An undead idol? Meh. I have better ways to waste my time. There are a couple I might take a look at anyway — Sailor Moon, to see if it’s any improvement on the original, and Hanayamata, to see the dance — but none of the descriptions has piqued my curiosity in the way that the previews of Shin Sekai Yori and Joshiraku did.

***

Who is this unfriendly gentleman? I guarantee you that you’ve heard of him. The answer is here.

***

Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains will play a concert that you can listen to live online Thursday evening. I’ve heard Tricia several times at Winfield, and I can certify that she is one hell of a good old-time fiddler.

Color it vulnerable green

Here’s an old coloring book that might have been lying around Yukari Akiyama‘s house.

(Via Borepatch.)

Pestiferous policy 3

Today’s quote:

When it comes to copyright law, a simple recitation of facts beats the sharpest satire hands down.

Bergamot, indeed.

Did we land, or were we shot down?

Miscellaneous links and nonsense:

David Bentley Hart, from the May 2014 First Things:

Journalism is the art of translating abysmal ignorance into execrable prose.

A look at brilliant, psychotic Joe Meek, who changed the sound of music.

Stereo pictures from WWI. A couple of notes: stereograms made for hand-held viewers use the parallel method of viewing, not the crossed-eye. I.e., the right eye focuses on the right image, the left eye on the left. It is possible to free-fuse the images, though it is easier done than explained. Let your eyes relax and drift apart until the images of a well-defined region in the pictures, such a the bright sky through the roof in the above image pair, start to overlap. Focus on that region until the images snap together, and you should then be able to see the entire scene in perspective. (You’ll need to sit back at least two feet from the monitor if you want to see the full-size images at the link in stereo.)

Continue reading “Did we land, or were we shot down?”

Special jumbo edition of miscellaneous silly nonsense

Some of these are from Borepatch, the Brickmuppet and Dustbury, but I forget where I found most of them.

Continue reading “Special jumbo edition of miscellaneous silly nonsense”

Crossed over

Inevitably, ponies have appeared in Glie.

One kind of efficiency

I’ve been skipping around in The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse recently. Here’s a bit of practical advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Earth, crowded, cries: “Too many men!”
My counsel is, kill nine in ten,
And bestow the shares of all
On the remnant decimal.

Most of the verse is subtler than that — if an encomium to the London sewer system, for example, can be called “subtle.” If you all are very good, I won’t quote any more of it.