Steve, Steve, Steve, Stephen, Steve, …

The Maximum Leader says he doesn’t know who all the Steves are in the current poll. Let’s see if we can do something about that. Here are several of the Steves in action.

Stephen Bennett: “C.E.O. (Comanche Executive Officer)”

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/CEO.mp3]

Steven King: “Medley: Puttin on the Ritz/42nd Street/It Don’t Mean a Thing” ((The bass you hear is actually the sound of the two lowest strings on King’s guitar run through a separate pickup and electronically transposed an octave down.))

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/Medley_Ritz_42nd_Mean A Thing.mp3]

Steve Lukather: “Naima”

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/Naima.mp3]

Steve Morse: “Cruise Missile” ((Jerry Peek, bass, and Rod Morgenstein, drums))

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/Cruise Missile.mp3]

Steve Stevens:”Melt” ((Tony Levin, bass, and Terry Bozzio, drums))

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/Melt.mp3]

Steve Vai: “The Attitude Song” ((Stuart Hamm, bass, and Chris Frazier, drums))

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/The Attitude Song.mp3]

For Steves Hackett and Howe, dig out your old Genesis and Yes albums.

I regret that I don’t have any Steve Kaufman handy (what I have is on cassette, but my tape deck died several years ago). He is the only person to place first three times in the National Flatpick Competition at Winfield (Mark O’Connor only did it twice). If flatpicking is what you like, he’s your guy.

If you don’t know who Stevie Ray Vaughn is, you have some remedial listening to do.

Update: In celebration of April 15, here’s Stevie Ray:

[audio:http://tancos.net/audio/Taxman.mp3]

Coming attractions

Kadokawa has posted the trailer for Mamoru Hosada’s Summer Wars that Fellini 8.5 found earlier:

How long will we have to wait for an American release?

Below the fold are Kadokawa’s notes with the Google translation. I would welcome a more intelligible summarization or translation, should any bilingual reader have the time.

Continue reading “Coming attractions”

Fall, winter, spring, winter, winter, winter …

I’ve lived in Wichita for the better part of my life, and I still don’t know what normal Kansas weather is. Does this look like spring to you?

That’s the view from my front porch this afternoon. Aside from a few patches of green at ground level, it looks like February, not April.

There are more hard freezes predicted for tonight and tomorrow. I wonder if this will be another year without lilacs. Here are pictures of the last few daffodils. They most likely will be gone Tuesday.

Continue reading “Fall, winter, spring, winter, winter, winter …”

Precise language

From a discussion in the comments at TSO’s place:

>Reminds me of my System/360 days when we had to suggest to the programmers that rather than ask the operator at the console to type “1 for Yes, 2 for No”, the program should request “Y for Yes, N for No”.

>And what’s wrong with “1” for Yes and “2” for No exactly? 🙂

>One for yes and two for no is great if you have at least one position to the right of the decimal point.

>”And what’s wrong with ‘1’ for Yes and ‘2’ for No exactly?” 1thing.

59 babes

Here are the nominations:

Akane (Ranma 1/2)
Alpha (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
Amuro Ninagawa (Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho)
Arai Chie (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Atsuko Chiba (Paprika)
Balsa (Seirei no Moribito)
Eineus (Macademi Wasshoi)
Falis (aka Alita) (Murder Princess)
Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Ginrei Von Vogler (Giant Robo)

Grand Duchess Laetitia (Tytania)
Grandis Granva (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia)
Haruka Urashima (Love Hina)
Horo (Spice & Wolf)
Ifurita (El Hazard)
Kan’u Unchou (Ikki Tousen)
Kei (Dirty Pair)
Kyoko Otanashi (Maison Ikkoku)
Lady Eboshi (Princess Mononoke)
Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars)

Lexshue (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Lina Inverse (Slayers)
Lum (Urusei Yatsura)
Luxandra (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Lyar Von Ertiana (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Madoka Ayukawa (Kimagure Orange Road)
Mai Kawasumi (Kanon 2006)
Meia Gisborn (Vandread)
Mikuru Asahina (adult version) (Haruhi Suzumiya)
Mio Sakamoto (Strike Witches)

Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Mitsune Konno (Love Hina)
Musubi (Sekirei)
Rena Sayers (Mai Otome Zero)
Mutsumi Otohime (Love Hina)
Naomi Armitage (Armitage the Third: Poly Matrix)
Nausicaä (Nausicaä)
Pirotess (Record of Lodoss War)
Priss Asagiri (Bubblegum Crisis OVA)
Rin Tosaka (Fate Stay Night)

Roberta (Black Lagoon)
Rushuna Tendo (Grenadier)
Ryoko (Tenchi Muyo OVA)
Ryoko Yakushiji (Yakushiji Ryokou no Kaiki Jikenbo)
Ryomou Shimei (Ikki Tousen)
Sachiko Ogasawara (Maria-sama ga Miteru)
Sayaka Yumi (Mazinger Z)
Setsuna (Shingu)
Shampoo (Ranma 1/2)
Sharon Apple (Macross Plus)

Spoor (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic)
Tsuruko Aoyama (Love Hina)
Urd (Ah! My Goddess TV)
Yoko (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann)
Yomiko Readman (Read or Die)
Youko Mizuno (Maria-sama ga Miteru)
Yuki Mori (Nova Forrester) (Space Cruiser Yamato (Starblazers))
Yuri (Dirty Pair)

That’s 59 altogether. I’ll run three rounds of 19, 20 and 20, and the seven top finishers in each round will go on to the final round of 21.

If I wait until I have pictures of every candidates, it will be next year before I start the poll. Therefore, I’m beginning the first round tonight, and I’ll post the pictures when I have them all.

I have a some questions about the candidates in the remaining rounds. First, I am informed that Yoko is 14 at the beginning of Gurren-Lagann. Does she remain 14 through the series, or does she reach an eligible age? And how old is Akane in Ranma 1/2? And Shampoo? Also, there are four nominations from Love Hina. I have no problem with the three from Crest of the Stars because that was an exceptional series, but I am skeptical that there are four worthy babes in LH. Do all four deserve nominations, and if not, who does?

I’m allowing Horo even though she has the human form of a 15-year-old. I figure that her centuries as a wolf goddess count for at least one additional year.

You can vote for up to three candidates in each round.

Addendum: Oh, yeah, about the previous poll: I had expected that Neon Genesis Evangelion would win easily, and it did take an early lead. However, Naruto soon caught up and eventually won the title “most overrated anime,” 35% to 31%. Bleach was a distant third at 15%, followed by The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann and ef: a tale of memories. A total of 199 votes were cast.

Congratulations to Pete, who submitted the 500th comment to The Kawaii Menace.

For those keeping track: the first vote cast in the new poll was for Kan’u Unchou.

Update: Has anyone besides Ubu had trouble voting for more than one? If so, then please either list the other candidates you would have voted for in a comment or send me an email (tancos [at] tancos (dot) net; be sure to include the word “poll” in the heading so I don’t delete it as spam), and I’ll make adjustments.

Update II: I made a change to the template (which should have not been necessary, grrr), and you should be able to vote for multiple candidates now. If it still doesn’t work, let me know, and I’ll bang my head against the wall some more. (If you’ve already voted for one, want to vote for one or two more candidates, and haven’t mentioned them in the comments here, feel free to visit here with a different browser and vote for the others. Given the circumstances, I won’t regard it as cheating.)

Wired kid

I just got off the phone with my nine-year-old nephew. He’s a bright kid, a voracious reader, and he enjoys anime. He likes Bottle Fairy a lot. His favorite, though, is Serial Experiments Lain, which I sent to his father several years ago. Um, parents, keep tabs on what your kids watch. ((If any anime series is a classic, it’s Lain, but I hesitate to recommend it to anyone younger than college-age.))

Today’s idiotism

And besides, I don’t really see how there could be such a thing as a “surge” in popularity for Light Novels; they’re basically just romance novels written for men, which is, uh, not a terribly large demographic here in America.

This is too imbecilic to let pass. “Romance novels” for men — absolute nonsense. A “light novel” is essentially the Japanese equivalent of an occidental “young adult” book. Fuyumi Ono and Nahoko Uehashi are counterparts of such writers as Diana Wynne Jones, ((One of my favorite writers. Her book Howl’s Moving Castle is far better than Miyazaki’s botch of a movie and is strongly recommended.)) not Harlequin romance hacks.

Anime babes II

Here are the ladies nominated in the comments so far:

Rushuna Tendo (Grenadier)
Meia Gisborn (Vandread)
Setsuna (Shingu)
Kan’u Unchou (Ikki Tousen)
Grand Duchess Laetitia (Tytania)
Urd (Ah! My Goddess TV)
Madoka Ayukawa (Kimagure Orange Road)
Yoko (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann)
Balsa (Seirei no Moribito)
Ryoko Yakushiji (Yakushiji Ryokou no Kaiki Jikenbo)
Falis aka Alita (Murder Princess)
Arai Chie (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Lexshue (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Spoor (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Mio Sakamoto (Strike Witches)
Horo (Spice & Wolf)
Amuro Ninagawa (Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho)
Lyar Von Ertiana (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Luxandra (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Ryomou Shimei (Ikki Tousen)
Mai Kawasumi (Kanon 2006)
Rin Tosaka (Fate Stay Night)
Naomi Armitage (Armitage the Third: Poly Matrix)
Ryoko (Tenchi Muyo OVA)
Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic)

To these, let’s add the Brickmuppet’s list:

Roberta (Black Lagoon)
Yomiko Readman (Read or Die)
Yuki Mori/Nova Forrester (Space Cruiser Yamato (Starblazers))
Sayaka Yumi (Mazinger Z)
Lady Eboshi (Princess Mononoke)
Nausicaä (Nausicaä)
Kyoko Otanashi (Maison Ikkoku)

And a couple more from Arson55’s:

Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Lina Inverse (Slayers)

Finally, let’s let most of the rest of the previous top ten have another chance: ((Sailor Venus is underage, and kinda flaky, too))

Sharon Apple (Macross Plus)
Priss Asagiri (Bubblegum Crisis OVA)
Grandis Granva (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia)
Pirotess (Record of Lodoss War)
Ifurita (El Hazard)
Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Ginrei Von Vogler (Giant Robo)
Lum (Urusei Yatsura)

And a few of the runners-up:

Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Shampoo (Ranma 1/2)
Kei and Yuri (Dirty Pair)

That gives us 47 candidates, if I counted right. Most of the ladies I had in mind have been nominated, but let me toss out a few more names to consider:

Sora (Oh! Edo Rocket)
Kirika Yumera (Noir)
Eineus (Macademi Wasshoi)
Rue (Princess Tutu)
Alpha (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
Chane Laforet (Baccano!)
Nice Holystone (Baccano!)
Atsuko Chiba (Paprika)

What I think I’ll do is run three rounds of about 17 or 18 candidates each, and then a final round with the top seven from each of the preliminaries. I’ll probably start the polling this weekend after I locate pictures of all the candidates. Until then, nominations are still open. If there is a worthy babe not listed above, please mention her in the comments.

Thank you, everyone who responded, and thanks again, all you who included links to pictures.

Oh, yeah — Rei Ayanami is not eligible for three reasons. 1. She has no “attitude.” 2. She’s underage. 3. She creeps me out.

Update: By all means keep the nominations coming in. And please do point out those who are under sixteen; it’s not always easy to tell. Utena, for instance, seems much more mature than fourteen, and Gurren-Lagann‘s Yoko doesn’t exactly have a fourteen-year-old’s figure.