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...
"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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Kind of.
The part of the episode with Yura concerns her moping over the realization that she's screwed up. She's to ashamed to go back and is deeply remorseful that she's caused everyone so much trouble.
After Kirishima confronts her in a Video arcade and the meeting gets heated, Yura starts having her visions again but instead of war scenes its the faces of her friends in random locations. After the vision of Kirishima-puppy shown above she laments that there is no place for her and...sure enough she tries to go to a pachinko parlor, a series of convenience stores and restaurants but they are ALL closed for one reason or another. She then encounters a pervert who mistakes her for the young lady who he's been corresponding with online(!) She then finds hersel at the shrine and things on her end proceed get overtly supernatural.
Meanwhile the team is dealing with the fact that Sonora has been accepted into an overseas study program she had long since given up on. She's leaving in a few days. Haruna visits her to see her off and the two discuss....Yura.
It was odd, and a tad mopey, but much less depressing than the last three and as I said it ended on a hopeful note.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Sep 18 08:55:36 2013 (F7DdT)
1
I was confused by the relative distances until I finally spotted the logarithmic scale. My navigation skills may have been dulled by heavy reliance on GPS, but at least I have a vague knowledge of interplanetary distances.
Posted by: Siergen at Mon Sep 16 21:29:31 2013 (Ao4Kw)
Well, About That...Dawkins Thng.Earlier I posted a link to a Salon piece that's been making the rounds. It's made quite a stir because it suggests that Dawkins is highly dismissive of what he calls "mild pedophelia". Looking at the quotes in Salon, they seemed damming in the extreme.
Well, it appears that Salon did to Dawkins what MSNBC did to George Zimmerman. The actual Dawkins interview being quoted is here and Dawkins does explain the specific context of the quote here. He was pointing out that his own experience pales in comparison to others. I disagree strongly with his historical perspective argument in this particular case. However, his statement is in NO way an endorsement or dismissal of child molestation.
He charitably calls the issue a misunderstanding.
It is not. This was character defamation pure and simple and I am ashamed to have unwittingly perpetuated it.
I am no fan of many of Dawkins's views. However, this Salon article is simply defamatory.
1
The historical perspective argument is a tricky one, particularly when we're talking about time within living memory. I'm not sure I agree with Dawkins on that either.
But the key lesson here is, if Salon says the Sun rises in the East, wait and check the next morning.
Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at Mon Sep 16 09:49:36 2013 (MNAY3)
3
Don't forget that Dawkins dared to mention the unmentionable about Muslims recently, too. The leftists may be getting ready to throw him under the bus.
Another thing about this "mild pedophilia" thing is how the moral panic with the attendant zero-tolerance prompted all sorts of awful laws, which hurt manga and anime fans. People like Handley are getting thrown into prison and made wear the GPS collar like in worst of dystopias for possessing manga that's deemed "child pornography". For that reason alone I consider it justified to push back on the pedofillia scare.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Sep 16 11:58:47 2013 (RqRa5)
The Twin Terrors Of Twitter
Pity Robert Stacy McCain. He is beset by vast quantities of Twitterspam and is noting a pattern that distinguishes it from comment or E-mail spam.
Like a surprising number of RSM links these are mildly NSFW.
I don't really understand Twitter, since I don't participate there. What exactly is he concerned about? If all they do is "follow" him, what's the harm?
Is it because they're filing complaints about him and trying to take his own account offline?
2
Not directly, but it's a story because Twitter IS deleting accounts due to fake abuse claims while obvious spambots litter twitter.
Also the bots might have a distorting effect upon the upcoming IPO if they are counted as actual users.
Also bewbies.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Sep 15 14:05:49 2013 (F7DdT)
4
Buying phony followers to promote yourself is a violation of Twitter's terms of service; since it's difficult to prove he didn't buy the obviously-fake followers, his account could be suspended temporarily or permanently. It also spams him with notifications about each new follower, making it difficult to find real notifications.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sun Sep 15 20:40:51 2013 (+cEg2)
..I mean she has people ears, right there on the side of her head where they belong, so that thing on her head must be a bow, and yet...the bow...it emotes.
*****
Perhaps as part of a concerted effort to maintain balance in the universe, episode 9 followed up on last weeks breakneck pace and thoroughly satisfying battle with...the girls re-arranging their room. Next week looks exciting though.
1
The first episode revealed a magical substance called Dust that provided magical energy inthis world. I assume that their weapons are powered by that, sometimes in the form of expendable cartridges,
Posted by: Siergen at Sun Sep 15 00:43:27 2013 (Ao4Kw)
2
Yeah, I'd thought about that, which is why the Lorenzonni came to mind but I think these are a blending of tech. I got the impression that Ruby doesn't use magic or at least dust.
Weiss certainly does and it's clear that Nora's grenades are dust based, but as to what propels them? The show's made in Texas...so I'm guessing propane, which makes the weapons propane accessories.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Sep 15 00:52:43 2013 (F7DdT)
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OTOH, Ruby WAS in a Dust shop in the first episode. On the gripping hand, she seemed confused in episode 2 about the stuff, when she ran into Weiss.
Posted by: RickC at Sun Sep 15 01:27:34 2013 (swpgw)
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It looked like she was loitering in a 24 hour Dust, drygoods, magazine and music store.
I could be way off, but I get the impression that she doesn't use Dust and may not be a magic user at all.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Sep 15 01:33:59 2013 (F7DdT)
I mean she has people ears, right there on the side of her head where they belong, so that thing on her head must be a bow, and yet...the bow...it emotes.
Friday The Thirteenth Fell on a Friday This Month
Well, today I got written up at work, pulled over by a cop, and to top it all off the Village Inn ran out of lemon pies.
Let's see what else happened recently that might induce riggatriskaidekaphobia in our readers.
1
Um, had to pay for $2800 in car repairs, and I was the only one on my crew at work today. While working in the 48 section, my paint spilled, ran unnoticed through a hole in the corner of the containment tray and for about 10' down the center of the fuselage.I had to scramble to clean it up before it began to set, and fish it out from all the nooks and crannies in the brackets.
BTW, said paint contains Hexavalent Chromium. Just looking at the MSDS for it will cause cancer and liver failure.
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Sep 14 06:28:00 2013 (TJ7ih)
I narrowly missed this bit of fun. Came along as the police were taping off the crime scene.
As for Richard Dawkins - no, he's not evil, he's talking about his personal reaction to something that happened to him as a child. The Salon headline is a lie, and under UK law they'd be dead meat in a libel suit. (Which is the first time I've ever said anything positive about UK libel laws.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Sep 15 04:11:18 2013 (PiXy!)
I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning,
like mild pedophilia, and can’t find it in me to condemn it by the same
standards as I or anyone would today,â€
He did not actually say
that one of his former school masters "pulled me on his knee and put
his hand inside my shorts,†and that to condemn this "mild touching upâ€
as sexual abuse today would somehow be unfair.
Because if that's the case then US libel laws will offer Salon no protection. That is pure defamation of character they put those words in quotes so there isn't even the Maureen Dowd defense.
On the other hand, if he said them and there is no actionable contextual omission, then he his trying to move the goal posts, Overton Window, ( or what have you) on child molestation. Sticking ones hands down a child's pants to do anything other than change a diaper or remove an erant blue ringed octopus is wrong was wrong and has been wrong for a very long time. It's also as close to objectively wrong as wrong can get.
Now while I'm not exactly a fan of many of Mr. Dawkins's conclusions, ( he's a leftist for one thing ) I am perfectly willing to believe that, given his role in 'coffee gate' and his recent statements regards Islam, (both of which are 'new class' taboos of the first degree) that someone has decided to throw him under the bus. That was the first thing that came to the mind of my friend Bob! and I would have no trouble believing it.
Has he denied these quotes or declared they are horrifically out of context? I would be happy to post an emphatic retraction.
Those quotes, (if they are accurate quotes) are hard to square with not being evil.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Sep 15 09:48:25 2013 (F7DdT)
7
Well, the first of those is a quote. The second is not, it's a gross misrepresentation of what he is saying.
We have to be clear here: He is talking about his reaction to something that happened to him - this all regards a specific incident recounted in his memoir - and about the context in which it happened. He doesn't defend it, nor does he make light of anyone else's experience. He just says that he found it creepy and unpleasant rather than emotionally scarring; he notes that the perpetrator's later suicide affected him much more strongly.
The reason he said "I don’t think he did any of us lasting harm." - a quote the Salon piece borrows from three times, but only once accurately - is not because he doesn't think it's harmful, it's that he discussed it with the other victims in that particular case, both at the time and years later after the suicide.
As for whether Salon has it out for Richard Dawkins, I'd hazard a guess that the answer is yes. Whether that's because he doesn't toe the leftist party line (he treats all religions equally, which is just not done), or it's just a dying site just trolling for page hits like Slate, I can't say.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Sep 15 21:14:49 2013 (PiXy!)
8
Hmph. I was wondering why no-one actually quotes the original Dawkins interview in The Times, but rather refers to second-hand summaries - it's because it's behind a paywall, and no-one's willing to pay the 25 squid. And even if you did, no-one would be able to check that you quoted it accurately, because they're not interested enough to cough up the 25 squid either.
Which turns it into a game of Chinese Whispers where the truth is right there but no-one can be bothered to check.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Sep 15 21:25:42 2013 (PiXy!)
9
Found the full interview here. (Salon, obviously, didn't bother to look.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Sep 15 22:38:53 2013 (PiXy!)
Traffic is Back To Normal
Yesterday, Hampton Roads commemorated 9-11 by having bomb threats directed at the regions tunnels and bridges. I live 7 miles by road from the university. It took me over an hour and a half to get home. Despite the official line that everything was ended by 3pm, I was almost late to work this morning because of a snarl around 03:30. The bridge-tunnel was down to one lane and inspectors seemed to be searching under the bridge.
As far as I know no bombs were found and everything was back to normal this morning.
"… only 77% of sequences identified could be matched to a known
sequence, species or type strain, suggesting that a vast amount of novel
biodiversity is present.â€
I suppose "novel" is a good description of shoggoths.
Young lady standing in for Mr. Lion is Mao from GJ Club.
The Message
The Message behind Stella Women's Acadamy High School Division...I'm sorry...where was I?
Oh yes. I think I've figured out the theme behind this show.
We at Gainax hate you.
Our childhoods were miserable because
we were a bunch of
geeky, socially inept otaku who grew to hate our hobby (which we blame
for all our lost opportunities). Nothing makes us sicker than seeing
those who watch and enjoy anime for they remind us of our selves and our
many personal failures. We hereby dedicate our lives to making you hate
the medium as much as us, for we are transgressive and enlightened
hipsters who understand the nihilistic futility of
everything...Well...everything except
the cruel pleasure we derive from getting you gullible fools to first
enjoy something we create and then watch helplessly and despair as we
dismember it without anesthesia before you. That is the greatest joy in
all creation.That we are paid to do this is icing on the cake. It's an
ephemeral joy though. Your innocence thus defiled, you can bring us
little amusement from this point on, but there are always others that
follow the likes of you. Now get
thee along, Aokigahara beckons you.
I could be a bit off there, but there's a better than even case to be made for that theory at this point.
Bad personality matchups, maybe? Yeah, yeah, Yura never had friends and thus never had the opportunity to learn consideration for other people, she got a few hits of approval and she got hooked on the feeling, that's her lookout and bad on her behalf.
But it also represents a pretty massive leadership failing on both Sonora's and Haruna's behalf. Sonora screwed up initially when she bawled out Yura for not following etiquette that she hadn't bothered to tell her about... and clearly she's never sat down with Yura to tell her "hey, you don't have to be Rambo to play with us." She definitely noticed the problem (i.e. that Yura conflated winning with having any kind of self-worth), and she made a few offhand comments about it... but that's all. To the extent that Yura's relationship with the team deteriorated, it was clearly a problem that Sonora could have and should have nipped in the bud early on.
Haruna, same song, second verse. Haruna clearly recognized the same problem, and in her own way tried to get Yura to come to that realization... but because she didn't tell Yura "you know, I want you to value the team" rather than just trying to force her into the role without explaining, the lesson didn't take.
So yes, is Yura a jerk? Yeah, but she's not someone who's a jerk because she likes being a jerk - it's just that she's running scared that nobody will like her, and nobody's sat her down and said "hey, we like you already!" (Doesn't help that she's awkward enough not to pick up on the clues from context.)
But both Sonora and Haruna were confronted with an unbelievable rookie talent, who picked up on the mechanics like a duck taking to water... and they both dropped the ball. Both of them recognized that Yura had an attitude problem, but neither of them realized what they needed to do to straighten her out.
This falls on Sonora more than Haruna, who is frankly at least a little bit of a cold fish; I don't know that Haruna herself was equipped to give Yura a heart-to-heart talk. But Sonora? She's an oddball in a group of outgoing, active oddballs, she's used to dealing with some in-group personality conflicts, and as Yura's sempai and roommate, she had the opportunity to know her better than anyone. She ought to have managed this better than she did. For that matter, it stretches believability that she didn't, and at that point this is the major problem with the show. I don't buy it, that's all it is; they needed to have the problem develop to make the plot work and didn't think about what that meant for Sonora as a character, and it's just bad writing.
On top of that, the supernatural bit now feels totally out of place. I wanted to watch -that- show, not this one...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Sep 11 18:43:14 2013 (pWQz4)
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All good points.
I didn't go into detail about Yura's transcendental asininity in part because I kind of feel for her even as I would blame no one for hating her. She's a very awkward person at an awkward age who has (as you point out) been terribly socialized.
I think your point about Haruna is spot on. She's not equipped to deal with this as she's not terribly sociable herself. She does seem to be decent, particularly with regard to her team.
Regards Sonora, yelling at her about the surrender was tin eared, but perfectly reasonable given the embarrassment the team suffered. She did then walk back and start mentoring Yura......she then ended up in the hospital, which set a lot of this off. Remember even Sonora is only 17 or 18.
As to "that other show", yeah, I agree wholeheartedly that I'd rather be watching that one.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Sep 11 19:03:48 2013 (F7DdT)
12 Years Ago
Via Cdr Salamander: This is the best overview I have ever seen of what it was like that day as the realization gradually set in that something was very wrong...then the awful certainty.
UPDATE:Subur Banbanshee has further thoughts on the various events that occurred on this date in history. Remember that 2001 and 2012 were exceptions to what has generally been an auspicious date for civilization.
I Should Put This Below the Fold
...but I won't because it's not really politics, it's parody.
(That should be perfectly clear from the very, very, very slight exaggeration)
1
Are you kidding? A Pollyanna-style solution to a completely intractable problem where all outcomes are bad and everything we can do would only make the situation worse? Handing off the ultimate responsibility of success to an ambivalent international organization?
It's practically MADE for Obama.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Tue Sep 10 16:23:18 2013 (pWQz4)
Bakunyumorion
..is one of those songs where it's important to know know what the lyrics actually mean, because having this just pop up on ones playlist in earshot of a native Japanese speaker could be awkward...
Admittedly it's less awkward than a bad kanji tatoo in that the embarrassment does not stay with one for life and one wont be banned from bathouses in Japan.
The realization that the song is about gigantic boobs is similar to the creeping cognizance of the fact that the text in the title of the video is not Cryillic, but rather some asinine font...
..which means...
...those sprites are....
UPDATE 2: Time actually named this one of the 50 best inventions of 2010. Inexplicably, 3 years on, there seems to be no implementation of this amazing idea.
I should also belatedly mention that I got this via Brian Wang,.
PANCAKE GIRL!
She has abilities other than stalking!
...and she really likes her job.
Episode 8 displays some of the best and the worst of RWBY.
The usually good voice work seemed a bit off this time around. However, that, a moment of somewhat forced character development and a patch of exceedingly cheesy dialog is rather compensated for by 13 minutes of absolutely kick-ass action...which is further enhanced by the completely unexpected awesomeness of Pancake Girl (Nora Valkyrie).
Even with the rough start, this was easily the best episode since the pilot and the first where everyone (even Jaune) got to shine.
This show is not just a collection of random anime tropes. This episode actually has much more in common with early '90s Hong Kong martial arts flicks...
...also Chuck Jones, (but the less said about that the better).
I laughed. I winced. I cheered. I groaned. This is an odd and uneven show but it is amusing me thoroughly.
1
If you've watched Oum's "Dead Fantasy" series, you know that it's in fantastical battle scenes like this where he's in his element.
They're worth finding (Oddly, they're not on HIS YouTube channel).
Posted by: Mauser at Fri Sep 6 03:42:00 2013 (TJ7ih)
2
I think Pancake Girl needs to cut down on the caffeine a bit.
Posted by: Siergen at Fri Sep 6 21:57:01 2013 (Ao4Kw)
3
Not necessarily.
It could just be a sugar rush.
That pile of pancakes was bigger than her head. That's a LOT of syrup, so ingested the equivalent of a whole BOX of Apple Jacks.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Sep 6 22:54:22 2013 (F7DdT)
What's Wrong With This Forecast?
So..In the mad dash between work and class I encountered a report on the Weather Channel.
It seems that Tropical Storm Gabrielle is bringing horrendous flooding to Hispaniola and particularly Puerto Rico...but is unlikely to affect the United States in any way.
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!
