October 03, 2013
The Overton Window of Tech
In amongst his closing thoughts on Gatchaman Crowds Don makes an interesting point I'd missed.
I never saw Dennou Coil, but the difference between Lain and this is jarring. Of course, they are different types of show and Gatchaman Crowds really is unusually upbeat, but I think his trend-line holds up pretty well.
Of course... more...
Shifting attitudes toward information technologies can be followed in anime. In 1998′s Serial Experiments Lain, the "wired†is weird, scary and dangerous. In 2007′s Dennou Coil, evolved Google Glass is a lot of fun, though occasionally still dangerous. In Gatchaman Crowds, smart phones and conscious artificial intelligence are taken for granted and are generally benign.
I never saw Dennou Coil, but the difference between Lain and this is jarring. Of course, they are different types of show and Gatchaman Crowds really is unusually upbeat, but I think his trend-line holds up pretty well.
Of course... more...
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The Genki Singularity
Gatchaman Crowds has come to a close and while it ended on a rather anticlimactic note this show was still a well above average and enjoyable romp.
As I mentioned in a previous post, It has a quirky, rather simplistic art style and it's not particularly well animated. It feels kind of low budget, but that may be a perk, because the impression I get is that the people making it had a fair amount of creative freedom...and went wild with it...starting with the theme song which isn't exactly J-pop...
It's a fascinating little show that, amongst other things, touches on the remarkable ability of social networks and other information technologies ( and ummm...magics) to do end runs around hierarchical structures...for good or ill.
The protagonist is SO perky as to be off-putting at times. However, she's smart, optimistic and insightful.
As I mentioned in a previous post, It has a quirky, rather simplistic art style and it's not particularly well animated. It feels kind of low budget, but that may be a perk, because the impression I get is that the people making it had a fair amount of creative freedom...and went wild with it...starting with the theme song which isn't exactly J-pop...
It's a fascinating little show that, amongst other things, touches on the remarkable ability of social networks and other information technologies ( and ummm...magics) to do end runs around hierarchical structures...for good or ill.
The protagonist is SO perky as to be off-putting at times. However, she's smart, optimistic and insightful.
She's perkytudinous!
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the somewhat abrupt (but internally logical) ending. If you watch it, do sit all the way through the last episodes credits though.
The oddness, presence of Mr. Not-a-Panda and complete lack of relation to its classic namesake will be seriously off-putting to some people but I recommend it.
more...
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the somewhat abrupt (but internally logical) ending. If you watch it, do sit all the way through the last episodes credits though.
The oddness, presence of Mr. Not-a-Panda and complete lack of relation to its classic namesake will be seriously off-putting to some people but I recommend it.
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October 02, 2013
While Nonconducive to My Productivity At The Moment
...This podcast is sufficiently well done that I will have to catch up shortly (when I won't fear further distraction from my current assignments....or sleep deprivation due to nightmares).
It starts here.
Via Don...whose helicopters are properly sorted.
more...
It starts here.
Via Don...whose helicopters are properly sorted.
more...
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Oh My
I'll just leave this Drudge-ism here....
more...
more...
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October 01, 2013
The Prodigal Paintballer
Stella Women’s Academy High School Division Class C3 finally comes to a close with a completely incongruous palate cleanser of an episode.
Practical considerations force the team to enter a paintball/ beauty contest with unexpected results.
These last two episodes were probably the best of the series, being thoroughly pleasant and occasionally quite funny.
As to the show itself, it ended up being a bit better than I'd come to fear.....though I can't really recommend it due to the fact that our heroine goes SO far off the rails and becomes such an ass that two or three of the episodes are just terribly unpleasant.
As a lighthearted slice of life comedy this does not work...but the show is actually a drama, with a pleasant (albeit underutilized) cast and a good deal of comedy relief.
The main thrust of SWAHSDCC3 is about a young person struggling to find balance and I'd wager it's a story that rings true to a lot more of us than are willing to admit it. Yura is at an awkward age and behaves awkwardly. She strives so hard to improve her lot that she misses the point of the exercise......and then must try to fix things. This is something a lot of people deal with simply because, being human, we all tend to screw up.
On the debit side: The weird metaphysical elements are never explained and actually detracted a bit from the story the show is trying to tell. Most teenagers can't go to ghosts for advice nor can they bend reality so that whole plot point just sort of hangs there making one go..."wut!?"
That gripe notwithstanding:
This show with the comically ponderous name is about sportsmanship, but also about redemption. In a huge break from most contemporary fiction, in this case the redemption comes not through heroic works, or proving ones complete innocence of fault, but rather, by atoning for ones mistakes through contrition and learning life's lessons. That alone makes this admittedly schizophrenic show a rare bird and a very refreshing change of pace.
I guess GAINAX doesn't completely hate us after all.
more...
Practical considerations force the team to enter a paintball/ beauty contest with unexpected results.
I'll say
These last two episodes were probably the best of the series, being thoroughly pleasant and occasionally quite funny.
As to the show itself, it ended up being a bit better than I'd come to fear.....though I can't really recommend it due to the fact that our heroine goes SO far off the rails and becomes such an ass that two or three of the episodes are just terribly unpleasant.
As a lighthearted slice of life comedy this does not work...but the show is actually a drama, with a pleasant (albeit underutilized) cast and a good deal of comedy relief.
The main thrust of SWAHSDCC3 is about a young person struggling to find balance and I'd wager it's a story that rings true to a lot more of us than are willing to admit it. Yura is at an awkward age and behaves awkwardly. She strives so hard to improve her lot that she misses the point of the exercise......and then must try to fix things. This is something a lot of people deal with simply because, being human, we all tend to screw up.
On the debit side: The weird metaphysical elements are never explained and actually detracted a bit from the story the show is trying to tell. Most teenagers can't go to ghosts for advice nor can they bend reality so that whole plot point just sort of hangs there making one go..."wut!?"
That gripe notwithstanding:
This show with the comically ponderous name is about sportsmanship, but also about redemption. In a huge break from most contemporary fiction, in this case the redemption comes not through heroic works, or proving ones complete innocence of fault, but rather, by atoning for ones mistakes through contrition and learning life's lessons. That alone makes this admittedly schizophrenic show a rare bird and a very refreshing change of pace.
I guess GAINAX doesn't completely hate us after all.
more...
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September 30, 2013
Papers
I am beset by them.
While I deal with that, here is some educational material to fulfill FCC requirements.
While I deal with that, here is some educational material to fulfill FCC requirements.
See? Now you know!
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Well This Doesn't Tell Us Much at All
....except that sometime in 2014 there will be a new Yamato movie.
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September 28, 2013
When Guderian Had Nightmares
...this is probably how they looked.
Via Pete in the comments.
Via Pete in the comments.
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A Very Special Episode
This weeks episode of RWBY was apparently preempted by an after-school special focusing on the heartbreak of bullying.
...
...
Yeah...pretty much nothing happened except well, this...
I assume that the gratuitous bunny girl who was onscreen for 7 seconds is a continuing character because she gets a silhouette in the closing credits and a new name appears in the cast list.
...
...
Yeah...pretty much nothing happened except well, this...
I assume that the gratuitous bunny girl who was onscreen for 7 seconds is a continuing character because she gets a silhouette in the closing credits and a new name appears in the cast list.
Next week , I predict...
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September 25, 2013
Bismark as a Pole
This does not seem realistic at first glance. However, if these two were to get together and didn't kill each other it would be a formidable economic and military power.
Holy Hanseatic League!
Slavs and Germans have not historically gotten along. (the Hapsburg Empire being something of a qualified exception) but good lord, this would be an economic powerhouse right off the bat and could be a major military power in a few years.
This would make an interesting if unlikely scenario for a speculative future history, especially if the Eurozone's continuing feckless meltdown caused Austria and Slovenia and just one or two of the Slavic countries to jump on the bandwagon, you'd have a huge industrial juggernaut from the Adriatic to the North Sea. Austria-Hungary reborn, but far more formidable.
Russia would likely be most annoyed.
Lech Walesa has called for Poland to unite with Germany to form one European state, despite the bloody history between the two countries
Holy Hanseatic League!
Slavs and Germans have not historically gotten along. (the Hapsburg Empire being something of a qualified exception) but good lord, this would be an economic powerhouse right off the bat and could be a major military power in a few years.
This would make an interesting if unlikely scenario for a speculative future history, especially if the Eurozone's continuing feckless meltdown caused Austria and Slovenia and just one or two of the Slavic countries to jump on the bandwagon, you'd have a huge industrial juggernaut from the Adriatic to the North Sea. Austria-Hungary reborn, but far more formidable.
Russia would likely be most annoyed.
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SCIENCE!
While amazing and useful in it's initial application, this technology has obvious beneficial applications for society beyond those specified in the article.
"Science ROCKS!"
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September 24, 2013
The Real Gainax Ending
...to an airsoft game.
Kids were having an airsoft tournament in the yard of one of the kids in question. A stupid, meddling, hysterical, haplophobic busybody of a neighbor* called the police. The police came, no charges were filed.
The school board took notice. The boys (excluding the son of the STASSIette) were given long term suspensions ('till June). One got his suspension suspended because his parents consented to have him sent to reform school. The other is being home schooled.
This decision, by the VA Beach school board was unanimous.
Time to clean house.
* Said neighbor from hell was fully aware that the guns were toys firing plastic pellets. She just doesn't like guns...or toys that look like them. Note that her son (poor kid) was playing with the boys at the time, but no charges were filed against him. The law applies omly to those who don't express the proper views.
+Note that the pic is misleading. The crime here was not the one on the books but the act of being boys. I have little doubt that a group of young ladies doing this would not have gotten anything but a "you go girl!".
And then they were expelled...+
During a hearing Tuesday morning, Aidan Clark and Khalid Caraballo were given long-term suspensions in a unanimous vote. The suspensions will last until June, but a hearing will be held in January to determine if they will be allowed back in school.
Kids were having an airsoft tournament in the yard of one of the kids in question. A stupid, meddling, hysterical, haplophobic busybody of a neighbor* called the police. The police came, no charges were filed.
The school board took notice. The boys (excluding the son of the STASSIette) were given long term suspensions ('till June). One got his suspension suspended because his parents consented to have him sent to reform school. The other is being home schooled.
This decision, by the VA Beach school board was unanimous.
Time to clean house.
* Said neighbor from hell was fully aware that the guns were toys firing plastic pellets. She just doesn't like guns...or toys that look like them. Note that her son (poor kid) was playing with the boys at the time, but no charges were filed against him. The law applies omly to those who don't express the proper views.
+Note that the pic is misleading. The crime here was not the one on the books but the act of being boys. I have little doubt that a group of young ladies doing this would not have gotten anything but a "you go girl!".
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Achieving Balance
Stella Women's Academy High School Division Class C3 episode twelve scared me for a moment.
I was afraid there was going to be much angsty dialog, but instead the episode is a very long, frequently escalating and occasionally quite cartoonish airsoft duel...where everybody has a grand old time.
There's nothing deep here. Yura has gone from one extreme to another and found them both unpleasant. Now she's stopped being an asshat and is enjoying a hobby she has become quite good at....a hobby she now wants to share with other people.
To my utter astonishment this was a perfectly pleasant episode.
It did nothing to explain the metaphysical weirdness we've seen from time to time in the show, but it did establish that Yura has found her path and is happy as she learns where it leads her.
I was afraid there was going to be much angsty dialog, but instead the episode is a very long, frequently escalating and occasionally quite cartoonish airsoft duel...where everybody has a grand old time.
There's nothing deep here. Yura has gone from one extreme to another and found them both unpleasant. Now she's stopped being an asshat and is enjoying a hobby she has become quite good at....a hobby she now wants to share with other people.
To my utter astonishment this was a perfectly pleasant episode.
It did nothing to explain the metaphysical weirdness we've seen from time to time in the show, but it did establish that Yura has found her path and is happy as she learns where it leads her.
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September 23, 2013
Nairobi
A dozen well armed fanatics in a gun free zone.
The Daily Mail has pictures of the carnage in Nairobi...lots of very disturbing pictures. This reminds me a lot of the Mumbai raid from a few years ago.
Two suicide bombers slaughtered the congregation at a Pakistani church Sunday.
Al-Quaeda has begun a new phase of attacks, less spectacular but much harder to stop.
As Cdr Salamander notes, it's just a matter of time before we're hit again. Read the whole thing, including the comments.
Remember that a few weeks ago the leader of AlQaeda called for small, scale, and lone wolf attacks (he specifically praised the Boston Bombings). Remember the Beltway snipers and what panic that caused. Remember Boston being shut completely down earlier this year.
I expect we're going to see rather a lot of this sort of thing in the future.
Snipers, Pipe bombs, and false threats to wear down the system.
Keep your concealed carry permits up to date and remember that places you are not allowed to carry are the places most likely to be attacked.
The Daily Mail has pictures of the carnage in Nairobi...lots of very disturbing pictures. This reminds me a lot of the Mumbai raid from a few years ago.
Two suicide bombers slaughtered the congregation at a Pakistani church Sunday.
Al-Quaeda has begun a new phase of attacks, less spectacular but much harder to stop.
As Cdr Salamander notes, it's just a matter of time before we're hit again. Read the whole thing, including the comments.
Remember that a few weeks ago the leader of AlQaeda called for small, scale, and lone wolf attacks (he specifically praised the Boston Bombings). Remember the Beltway snipers and what panic that caused. Remember Boston being shut completely down earlier this year.
I expect we're going to see rather a lot of this sort of thing in the future.
Snipers, Pipe bombs, and false threats to wear down the system.
Keep your concealed carry permits up to date and remember that places you are not allowed to carry are the places most likely to be attacked.
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September 22, 2013
Hiroshi Yamauchi 1927-2013
Hiroshi Yamauchi has passed away.
For 53 years he led Nintendo, and through that helped change the world.
His achievement was remarkable, as was his foresight. He not only recognized the potential for video games, ge picked the right people to develop them and gave them sufficient creative freedom to succeed. Getting his games into the US Arcade market at a time (the early '80s) that there was considerable antipathy towards all things Japanese was no mean feat.
It's hard to get ones head around the impact he had.
His story gets more remarkable still...
The article mentions that he made mistakes and encountered setbacks in the shaky postwar economy. However he learned from them and, most remarkably, after paying off the debt those setbacks incurred, never went into debt for a business venture again.
Even today, Nintendo carries no debt.
Wow!
Mr Yamauchi ran the company from 1949 until 2002.
In that time, he took what was a small-time collectable trading card company and built it into one of the most recognisable - and successful - video games brands today.
His achievement was remarkable, as was his foresight. He not only recognized the potential for video games, ge picked the right people to develop them and gave them sufficient creative freedom to succeed. Getting his games into the US Arcade market at a time (the early '80s) that there was considerable antipathy towards all things Japanese was no mean feat.
It's hard to get ones head around the impact he had.
His story gets more remarkable still...
The article mentions that he made mistakes and encountered setbacks in the shaky postwar economy. However he learned from them and, most remarkably, after paying off the debt those setbacks incurred, never went into debt for a business venture again.
Even today, Nintendo carries no debt.
Wow!
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September 21, 2013
The All-Seeing i
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September 19, 2013
AVAST!
...me hearties, for this piratical beauty and the two
urchin's she's guardin' have just discovered who the real sea wolves are
and why those pustulent bilge rats make off with so much of our loot.
"Man the long guns!"
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September 18, 2013
Oh My God
If this is true, heads must roll.
Note that that is a very big IF.
Thus I strongly suggest people wait for a bit more info.
Note that that is a very big IF.
Thus I strongly suggest people wait for a bit more info.
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September 17, 2013
Stella Women's Acadamy High {EXPLETIVE DELETED} Episode 11
The viewers who resisted the urge to get all cutty with a straight razor after last weeks episode are rewarded with a look at what the well adjusted characters are doing.
They've received some bad news...but they are determined to make the best of the situation.
Then we go to Yura...who is putting on a brave face, despite being beset by guilt, despair and zombies...
...shortly after this things begin to get weird.
Kirishima has a perfectly reasonable, fleeting moment of bitchiness which ultimately leads to this unexpected visual...
Which is not nearly as weird as one might deduce from that image but was freaky nonetheless. As the show proceeds to follow Yura (whose funk is compounded by having a run of supernaturally bad luck), it continues to get a bit strange...
...AND CREEPY!
After that throwaway moment of utter wrongness, the episode gets... odd...
Episode 4 is not the outlier we thought it was
Not a bad episode. It's not terribly upbeat, but then there is a lot of baggage to work through, and it does end on a rather hopeful note.
UPDATE: Good golly typos!Added some helpful punctuation and rewrote that third block of text to be more clear.
They've received some bad news...but they are determined to make the best of the situation.
Then we go to Yura...who is putting on a brave face, despite being beset by guilt, despair and zombies...
...shortly after this things begin to get weird.
Kirishima has a perfectly reasonable, fleeting moment of bitchiness which ultimately leads to this unexpected visual...
"I promise...It doesn't hurt"
Which is not nearly as weird as one might deduce from that image but was freaky nonetheless. As the show proceeds to follow Yura (whose funk is compounded by having a run of supernaturally bad luck), it continues to get a bit strange...
...AND CREEPY!
Holy crap! I cannot believe they did that!
After that throwaway moment of utter wrongness, the episode gets... odd...
Episode 4 is not the outlier we thought it was
Not a bad episode. It's not terribly upbeat, but then there is a lot of baggage to work through, and it does end on a rather hopeful note.
UPDATE: Good golly typos!Added some helpful punctuation and rewrote that third block of text to be more clear.
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September 16, 2013
Interstellar!
If mankind does not fall back into the darkness, future historians will likely consider this to be the important event of this year. .
If mankind does not fall back into the darkness, future historians will likely consider this to be the important event of this year. .
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