October 26, 2015
In Another Totally and Utterly Unexpected Development...
The death toll in Mexico from the most powerful hurricane ever recorded appears very likely now to be approaching...naught.
As a rule I dislike with increasing intensity whenever zeroes show up in these sorts of statistics, unless there's just one of them by itself in which case it's a joyous thing.
Math is weird that way.
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October 25, 2015
RWBY Volume 3 Begins
Somewhere, Monty Oum is surely smiling.
The opening of RWBY:Volume 3 continued the shows general trend of considerable improvements in production quality and pacing seen over the last two seasons. The Vytal Festival, which has been "right around the corner" for most of the last two seasons and somewhat hyped, has finally arrived. Naturally, this episode has a fair amount of "smashies" and "splodies"which allow us to conclude that Dillon Gu (who was hired as action animator/choreographer after Mr. Oum's death) is, indeed, up to the task.
Action aside, the pacing and writing of the episode are quite good as is the voice acting.
Apart from the fact that this is a tournament cour that will last at least a couple of more episodes, we do find out three things of varying levels of importance.
"Oooh! Oooh! What things? What Things?"
Well for one thing, to everyone's astonishment, it's revealed that...
"RWBY's dad wears Lederhosen!"
No. just. No.....I mean he does, but...Dammit...
Fine..
Amongst the MANY things that we've learned...
The hapless shopkeeper, who, do to the local crime wave, has switched from a high overhead retail establishment involving crystal MacGuffins to a more easily insurable noodle kiosk, may, in fact, be more than meets the eye. He is certainly well versed in the esoteric art of card-fu.
'That was rude, but kind of awesome."
Somewhat surprisingly, we are quickly introduced to that new character from the trailer who has been getting so much fan attention for the last week. While her time on screen is brief we do get a surprising amount of insight into her character and motivations.
Liquorice
Apparently, Team JNPR has been having some extracurricular adventures of their own, albeit off camera...
"You know. All those times WE dealt with murderers."
It was an offhand comment, but it was certainly interesting.
Equally offhanded but rather less likely to be a continuity error, was the revelation that Rin and Nora are not only both orphans, but they both no longer have homes to return to.
Not so much revelation as confirmation is the fact that the episodes are 17 minutes and three seconds with credits. This means that we've got to wait a week to see that bit at the rest of the next fight and whether or not the lowbrow foreshadowing will pan out.
This season is off to a resoundingly promising start.
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October 24, 2015
Jellyfish!
...that's what this reminds me of!
That time at the Chinese restaurant I decided to try something completely new and off the wall...and so I ordered the jellyfish.
Well, there are similarities: I have the sneaking suspicion that a terrible prank has been played on me and a general sensation of horrible wrongness. On the other hand, the Jellyfish did not make me fear I had lost brain cells.
MILPOM however....
Can't unsee eyes
After watching the show I checked the '"about" bar to see if any side effects were listed, what their symptoms were and if there were any counter agents recommended.
But all I got was this...
The story takes place in a certain ordinary town where it is natural for everyone to wear an animal costume head. It depicts the everyday life of the main character MILPOM and her friends who live there, filled with the essence of Kawaii and a little bit cynical girls.
I read it twice and it didn't put me at ease at all.
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There's Going To Need To Be A Re-Release
One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes points out the obvious application for the blackest substance ever synthesized by humans.
Art by S. Zenith Lee
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Owarimonogatari
Owarimonogatari is supposed to be the finale of the Bakemonogatari franchise and it shares the tone, pacing and aggressively surrealist art direction of its predecessors as well as being fairly dialog heavy...and text heavy... having bursts of 'textposition' onscreen for such a short period of time that they frequently defy even the pause button.
Araragi, the (former vampire highschool student who is theoretically the protagonist) has tended heretofore to deal with various flavors of supernatural horror. This time a really creepy transfer student has gotten him looking into something much more mundane.
Or not...
The narrator and point of view are not particularly honest and there seem to be very peculiar goings on...assuming that they are happening.
It takes two episodes to finally get the ground rules set...
...and now the show is off running; down a flight of stairs in an M.C. Escher painting.
This one is looking to be quite good, being both clever and genuinely creepy at times.
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I Swear....
None of those typos were there when I proofread this morning's posts.
All fixed now...
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OK, Fears Were Unfounded
Crunchyroll WILL be streaming RWBY, starting tomorrow.
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Eileen Must Make The Gatekeepers Shudder
Ren'py has improved dramatically since I last poked around with it, (before the computer was hit by lightning). The whole process is even more intuitive than it used to be. The engine now allows mini-games in one's visual novel.
"...and embedded video!"
Eileen (the engine's helpful tutorialbot) doesn't look all that disruptive, but what was once the purview of tech giants and big publishing houses has been freeware for some years and is remarkably user friendly. It's still improving steadily.
Of course, Sturgeon's Law remains in force, so this will result in a lot more crap flooding the market...but this will be a function of a lot more stuff getting made, which means that there will be more potential for those rare gems both by virtue of sheer numbers and the low threshold for experimentation.
All in all, things like this and other tools may be a bigger development in the long run than people realize. Creators have increasing potential to do an end run around those who today often presume to be custodians of societies creativity and stifle that which they find uncongenial.
We still have no flying cars or O'Neal colonies, but take heart, Eileen here is proof that our future is not inevitably a dystopia...yet.
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October 23, 2015
The Journey of Learning Never Ends...
Tonight I discovered that Buffalo Bob's Mild Alligator Jerky is not a particularly delectable comestible.
Rather the opposite in fact.
So much so that I felt the need to post about it.
Here is a palate cleanser.
Neopolitan by Iesupa
Be advised that ice cream can be bad for you....especially this kind.
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Super Robot Girls Z Plus Ends
Well..she pretty much sums up the series, but sacred honor demands that I write something.
Super Robot Girls Z Plus never quite came together. It could have been a great show for parents to watch with their kids if they had toned the vulgarity down a notch. The fact that it was a 10 minute show that aired once a month did not help. As it was it was, it was this silly show made me chuckle quite a few guilty chuckles mainly because being an old fart, I got most of the obscure super-robot show references (and am a bad person).
In fairness though, it did pick up towards the end, especially with the revelation that the season two big-bad is a special kind of malevolent....
Zounds!
Lots of structural stupidity in this show, but with the main villain's motivations being a contempt for the suburbs and a hatred for weirdoes it's not without merit if one can minimize the number of one's brain cells the show kills.
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200 MPH Sustained
Holy Crap!
This is the most powerful hurricane in history and is about to absolutely nail Manzanillo and Puerto Valarta as well as do a lot of damage to Guadalajara. Worse, the west coast of the USM rarely gets hit by hurricanes, so a lot of the people there have no appreciation for what these storms can do.
The flooding in Mexico is likely to be biblical when it hits the West Sierra Madre and again when it passes over the Eastern Sierra Madre but it will still be bad when it reaches Texas, where they are talking about 8-12 inches in Houston, which has already been hit by flooding this week and is thoroughly saturated.
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And So They Came to Pass
Well, THAT was transcendentally unpleasant, but at about 7 this morning, a final excruciating moment of agony largely ended the pain.
I case you're wondering, it felt kind of like this...
...but different.
Having been up (save for fitful naps of less than an hour) for a week, I immediately collapsed and slept through my alarm clock.
This was by far the worst kidney stone episode I've ever had, even the one that impacted and required surgery a few years ago did not approach this in pain.
An important note to my readers regarding home remedies:
I have gathered that while some products do indeed facilitate the dissolving of certain types of kidney stones, they are stone-type specific. Maniacally chugging vast quantities of them can push the PH of the kidney too far in the other direction...which causes very rapid formation of entirely different kinds of stones...in my case less congenial ones.
Moderation in all things is important.
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October 22, 2015
Kidney Stones Are Unpleasant
For over a week, I have not one, but two of these that have embarked on their respective journeys of discovery. One of them seems to have stopped just short of the threshold, either due to second thoughts, to contemplate how different the journey might have been on the right side, or simply to ensure that there is a record of its passing etched permanently along the path. Though both are born of the same awesome process that gives us spectacular cave formations, I confess I have less appreciation for the miracle of their formation than I might if they were not cutting up my urinary tract.
But enough bio-crystallography; here is something, that while in no way a substitute for content, is at least pleasant to look at.
(Note: Most of the discussion of Hestia's character design tends to focus on the physics of her ribbon, but I'm more curious as to the function of the air intakes over her ears.)
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October 21, 2015
Today in History
Well...today.
We have twitter, but no self lacing shoes, Mr. Fusion or Hoverbo....
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218 Years Ago Today
U.S.S. Constitution was launched.
Built to fight the Barbary Pirates (yes our first war was against Islamists) the ship distinguished herself in that war as well as the War of 1812, where the ship defeated HMShips Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane, and Levant and in the process earned the nickname "Old Ironsides".
Saved from the breakers by public outcry, the ship served for nearly a hundred years, circumnavigating the world, fighting pirates and slavers, serving as a a school ship, carrying out various diplomatic duties, and on occasion even supporting archeological and oceanographic expeditions. In 1874 she carried the US delegation and display to that year's Paris World's Fair.
After a spell as an accommodation hulk, the ship was restored as a museum ship in the early 1900's and is moored in Boston harbor, the oldest commissioned warship afloat.
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October 20, 2015
Well, This Is Raising My Hopes Enough That The Inevitable Betrayal Will be Most Vexatious.
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A Few Observations of Negligible Importance
CGI has come a long way in the last 16 years.
Widening my page screen some years ago really bolloxed by earlier formatting.
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October 18, 2015
Japan in 1887
...as imagined in 1987.
There may be some inaccuracies.
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The State of Things
Business Insider has published STRATFOR's thumbnail overview of the world situation and their predictions for the rest of the year.
It's long but warrants a read (though one should probably ignore the breathless headline). STRATFOR can be hit or miss on their predictions, but they do give a decent overview of what's happening now and, more importantly, they also keep an eye on parts of the world that get less coverage.
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October 17, 2015
Don't Forget That October Is...
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
National Liver Cancer Awareness Month
Down Syndrome AwarenessDown Syndrome Awareness Month
Energy Awareness Month
Healthy Lungs Month
National Campaign for Healthier Babies Month
National Physical Therapy Month
National Spinal Health Month
Rett Syndrome Awareness Month
National Psoriasis Month
National AIDS Awareness Month
National Dental Hygiene Month
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
Celiac Sprue Awareness Month
SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Awareness Month
Eye Injury Prevention Month
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
National Medical Librarians Month
Talk About Prescriptions Month
Down Syndrome Awareness Month
Hunger Awareness Month
Remember too, these dates in this highly commemorative month....
1-7: National Sarcoidosis Awareness Week
3- 10: Hearing Aid Awareness Week
3-9: Mental Illness Awareness Week
3-9: National Fire Prevention Week
4-8: Drive Safely to Work Week
11-15: National School Lunch Week
12-20: Bone and Joint Decade National Action Week
18-24: National Drug-Free Work Week
23-31: Red Ribbon Week (Drug-Free America)
Lung Cancer Awareness
24-30: Respiratory Care Week
24-30: Pastoral Care Week
4: National Child Health Day
7: National Depression Screening Day
13: Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day
10: World Mental Health Day
15: National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
16: World Food Day
20: World Osteoporosis Day
22: International Stuttering Awareness Day
22: National Mammography Day
27: Lung Health Day
Lung Cancer Awareness
Celiac Disease Awareness Day
Also:
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