Surprises on the Outer Rim
One of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes ponders the conundrums faces by NASA boffins as they try to interpret the data from the Youggoth probe.
The skull of the film director F. W. Murnau — best known for "Nosferatu,†his 1922 Expressionist take on Bram Stoker’s "Dracula†— has been stolen from a cemetery outside of Berlin.
Not currently a suspect.
On the bright side, this could easily be parlayed into the basis for a sequel to that awesome John Malcovich movie.
Whether this is a good cause is a matter of debate concerning discussions of ethics as applied to phantasmagoric matters beyond the scope of this post.
However, there is little dispute that Don's melodies are easy on the ears.
Preliminary images and instrument readings show that Pluto is much larger than scientists had expected—about two-thirds the size of Earth’s moon. By the most recent measurements, Pluto is about 1,472 miles in diameter, making it easily the biggest planetary object beyond the orbit of Neptune.
It will take some time to get the closet picture processed as the data transmission rate is agonizingly slow, but this pic taken before the probe turned all its antennae on Pluto and its moons gives some idea of what to expect.
OK
For less than 5 minutes, there was a post here that expressed my extreme outrage at a particularly outrageous outrageousness. Only belatedly did I realize that that the original (and sole) source for this tale of venality was not a Newspaper article quoting witnesses as I had initially thought, but rather a solitary REDDIT post where some Anon claimed to have been at an event and behaved outrageously.
Well...
Here are some aqueducts that are about as well supported as the former post.
Iwata was a rarity in the gaming industry: a corporate president whose background was in game programming. He joined the Tokyo-based developer HAL Laboratory fresh out of college in the early 80s, and immediately began working as a programmer, helping to create classic games like Balloon Fight and the Kirby’s Dream Land series for Nintendo.
Iwata not only came up through the ranks from the production end, he also oversaw a vast improvement in the companies fortunes. His background meant that he was also able to integrate the creators input much more smoothly with the corporate decision making process, which probably helped Nintendo immensely.
He brought a lot of people joy through his efforts and will be missed.
Proof That Civilization is in A Declining Phase
Vast sums of money were spent getting top notch animators and talent to bring a sumptuously produced adaptation of a comic book to television. "Wait."You may ask. "Why is this unusual?"
Because the comic book is Monster Musume, and....well, if you're alone and not at work...look...
There were rumors that this was going to have very short episodes and that gave me some hope that this was actually going to be along the lines of the long discontinued web comic as opposed to the manga. That is not the case. This is a full length series and is faithful to the manga almost line for line.
The first episode though, is very similar in tone to the webcomic that always revolved around some monstrous mythological abomination and her boyfriend trying to deal with the various complications their relationships entailed. In this case said monstergirl is Milia, an approximately 20 foot long Lamia (snake girl) who is perfectly charming...
...if somewhat grabby...
... and is part of a cultural exchange program between Japan and various fantastical Fortean races that have recently come out of hiding. Due to a clerical error she is placed with a student living alone. The two of them hit it off quite well, which is a complication because of some asinine anti-miscegenation clause associated with the program.
This pilot episode is in its own weird way, both cute and charming. It is NOT safe for work or the kids as the show is surprisingly brazen regards nudity.
The big problem moving forward is that this is very faithful to the manga, which quite soon became a harem comedy, and that rather destroys the charm of these two trying to overcome the many societal, logistical and mechanical obstacles they face in their romance. A review of the manga that sacred honor forced me to do can be found here.
If this is your cup of tea, then you are in luck, because this is a top of the line production which is beautifully produced, has excellent voice talent and a soundtrack by Manzo and HiroakiTsutsumi. The flip side to this is that people whose job it is to know these things believed there to be a large enough market for softcore monstergirl porn that this high end project got greenlit. We are surely in the end times.
This was a well produced and enjoyable episode, but I'm unlikely to follow this show closely. I'm even less likely to admit to to doing so.
Honestly, the manga needed the Mon Squad - something where they could roll with the hook ("here is yet another monster girl") without necessarily landing her in the guy's bed. The harem had grown to improbable size, even if half the participants weren't "really" in the harem.
Ai Yori Aoshi had the same problem - interesting romance that got a lot less interesting with four more girls in the mix.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Mon Jul 13 03:52:50 2015 (uqQHL)
2
Nearly the whole SWAT team is neat and deserve their own show. The Centaur is a delightful nutbar, There is a lot of cool here that's watered down to check off the trope boxes.
One thing that bugged me: In the comic, Kimihito is a young adult who has a day job, I believe he works in construction.
This is a minor plot point as he has to keep bringing his house up to EEOC monster-girl accessibility specs...until the requirements get so ridiculous that Smith steps in to have the government do it. In this its stated that his parents are overseas and its at least implied that he was a student.
They've taken one other element from the comic
(and web-comic, where all the dudes were coping with the particular expenses and challenges their loves incurred on their limited budgets) that was cool and trashed it, apparently trying to avoid alienating the NEET demographic.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Jul 13 08:26:37 2015 (1zM3A)
3Nearly the whole SWAT team is neat and deserve their own show.
Moreso than the actual show, actually.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Jul 13 17:31:06 2015 (jGQR+)
4
That was the SWAT team in the end credits? I see a Dark Skin/White Hair girl, but I can't tell what kind of monster she's supposed to be....
I was a bit surprised with some of the dialogue, with Millia referring to him hurting her and doing whatever he wants to her multiple times. That seemed kind of... off.
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Jul 18 12:44:42 2015 (TJ7ih)
5
Her name's Doppel, short for doppelganger, but there's apparently more to her than that.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sun Jul 19 00:29:57 2015 (ZlYZd)
Gate
A portal opens in downtown Tokyo, next to a comic book convention. Out of the void pour what appears to be Roman legionnaires, preceded by orc shock troops, and backed up by knights riding fire breathing dragons.
In the ensuing chaos, hundreds if not thousands of civilians die before the JSDF can deal with the situation, which they do handily as dragons are not bullet proof.
In the aftermath of this bizarre fiasco, the Japanese send a reconnaissance in force to reconnoiter the other side of the gate. Among them is our hero who has just been given a field commission for his valor during the initial incursion.
Despite its derivative premise and a certain lack of tension for our heroes in the battles, the first two episodes of this yarn are showing considerable promise.
The recon force is anwered by no less than four armies right out of Lord of the Rings, each numbering over 30, 000 that attack in rapid succession. Note that this show does NOT pull its punches. For instance, a frontal assault of 20,000 hoplites against half a dozen tanks and some heavy machine guns does not result in a pitched battle, it results in 20,000 dead hoplites.
What keeps it from being a snuff film is that the characters on both sides are well realized and the fact that the story is now about our hero who after the initial bloodbath has been given a small detachment and some phrase books (gleaned from prisoners captured in the initial incursion) and try to come to some understanding with the locals.
There is a LOT of neat stuff going on and thus far it has been handled quite intelligently. I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to continue to be good, mitigating against this is the fact that the promo art hints at a harem show, the portrayal of some of the Americans and
stomach churning one-sidedness of the initial battles.. Nevertheless, this is surprisingly interesting two episodes in and I'm looking forward to more.
1
Well, it's not surprising that "my husband was in danger but mercifully, I was really too sick in bed to understand what was going on" is not a Disney concept.
OTOH, you're obviously not a heroine if you're playing "that one chick who whines about her husband being in danger and demands that other people's husbands die instead." If you're going to have spunky love interests be a category, Hollywood, stop making them unheroic idiots.
But it looks like we'll be able to ignore the annoying bits and focus on the exciting parts.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Sun Jul 12 18:03:00 2015 (ZJVQ5)
Tonight, at a friend's place it was strongly suggested that I watch this.
To my initial dismay, School Live! is a slice of life show that, despite an engaging and generally interesting cast, seems at least in the pilot, to be focused on what appears to be the most annoying character in the history of ever.
I leave you, gentle reader, to guess which one.
Nevertheless, under duress, I ended up watching ALL of this moe' mess.
Tomorrow, on MY computer, where I will have control of the freeze-frame button, I will simply have to watch the whole thing again.
Despite (or perhaps, because of) my initial dislike for the shows more cloying elements, I am tentatively recommending it. In stark contrast to its initial impressions, it displays considerable depth. School-Live! does take a while to get going, but the show becomes...quirky and thoughtful in a completely unexpected way, as it explores the dichotomy between its character's carefree whimsy and the realities they face trying to cope with their rather demanding and stressful high school environment.
I say tentatively only because I'm skeptical that they are going to be able to sustain this heteroclite yarn, but I am eager to find out if they can. This first episode was actually kind of brilliant and it is for now most unreservedly added to my watch list.
On the off chance that anyone reading this blog has watched the show, I do have a question.
Is the pink haired teacher real?
UPDATE:I just got home and, unhindered by Blackberry blogging, added the picture, a link and slightly reworded two sentences for obscurity.
1I watched it, I'm on the verge of making it a weekly writeup, and
the teacher apparently IS real, according to that wikipedia place.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Jul 12 03:39:40 2015 (jGQR+)
2
I had the same question, and the freeze-frame button answered it. They were very careful with PoV.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sun Jul 12 10:52:45 2015 (ZlYZd)
3
I've watched it three times and I'm still not 100% sure, but there is much win in this show.
The foreshadowing is, in retrospect, not even subtle at points, but it is SO nicely handled, that it appears to just be a little idiosyncratic.
I actually thought this was a previous club pet.
...until well...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Jul 12 13:56:10 2015 (ohzj1)
The data also includes the first fairly clear pictures of the planetoid. It does look like the atmosphere might indeed share some commonality with that of Titan (Tholin rain). It's really cool that they're getting pictures like this 6 days out (quite an accomplishment given how little light there is out there). Of course, the probe will be out of contact during the flyby and we won't know if the mission is a success for a couple of days.
As to the pattern-spotting, it's unclear if the formation in what appears to be the southeastern quadrant* is a cloud or a surface feature. The Telegraph says it looks like a valentine, but here at Brickmuppet Blog we also can make out an anglerfish or perhaps, Hem Dazon.
*Compared to most other planets, Pluto is a bit off kilter anyway and, in any event, New Horizons is coming at it from an odd angle so it's probably not really the southeast.
Betting Against Ourselves
We here at Brickmuppet Blog were somewhat surprised at just how fast the topic of the post below went from obscure to focus of major interest.
It is our sincere hope that that pattern does not repeat with THIS story.
A Patriot missile defense battery operated by Germany on the Syrian-Turkish border received "unexplained commands†from a "foreign source,†sparking fears it has been hacked...,
In an extraordinary move, the People’s Bank of China has begun lending money to investors to buy shares in the flailing market.
"Umm...What?"
That just smacks of desperation. The article also mentions twice that the government is concerned about "monstrous public disorder" which further fails to instill confidence.
1
It's not good, but everyone (everyone who was paying attention, anyway) knew that China was in an economic bubble. Still, they have a fundamentally strong and growing economy, both internally and in terms of exports, so they'll weather this. Unlike Greece, they've learned that socialism doesn't work and abandoned it.
2
All good points. China's been around for 4,000 years so I'm sure they will endure. My big concern is secondary and tertiary effects that this might set in motion. "Monstrous disorder" does not lend itself to optimal decision making.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Jul 7 21:09:13 2015 (ohzj1)
3
Yeah, the free market just optimises things (more or less) in the long run. It makes no guarantees that the path will be smooth. Even less so when governments inevitably put their thumbs on the scales and their fingers in the till.
4
And just for perspective - after a drop of 30%, China's stock market is at its lowest point since... April. April 2015. That's how much of a bubble they've been in.
6
Potential for some real ugliness. *Everything* is trending down. Stocks, commodities, the value of the dollar, precious metals. There's a lot of "pay no attention" hand-waving going on, too.
8
We'll see over the next several days, but copper and aluminum did not do well, which indicates a lack of faith in manufacturing.
Of course, there was a whole lot of stuff making people jittery, the computer glitches (which we are assured were not hacks) Greece and concerns about the safety of the donut supply may have combined to accentuate alarm.
Still, I fear the Chinese problem may well be a nontrivial matter.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Jul 8 18:37:40 2015 (ohzj1)
2
I barely recall seeing the first. Where can the second be found?
Posted by: Mauser at Fri Jul 10 07:14:40 2015 (TJ7ih)
3
It can't unless one was part of the Kickstarter.
The film will air in Japan in October and be available shortly thereafter. There is also a TV series being tentatively considered as the Kickstarter's success is its own pitch.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Fri Jul 10 10:18:49 2015 (ohzj1)
1
Oh, it sounds like a fun time for all now. But mark my words: someone in the Federal government will forget to secure their servers, and the AI program from a drone will leak out onto the Internet and into the fighting robots. And then... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emdzsz_XvfA
Posted by: Siergen at Mon Jul 6 17:06:33 2015 (doGQX)
2
In other words, it's all fun and games until someone loses an AI?
Additionally, two of The Brickmuppet's Crack Team of IT Babes share their thoughts on the matter. Happily, since the .gif has no sound, no language warning is necessary.
1
Has anyone proposed any reasons for this "new and improved" feature? I can't think of any...
Posted by: Siergen at Fri Jul 3 10:21:33 2015 (o4lGr)
2
It makes it easier to share your home wifi with friends. Remember, we're probably not a representative sample of users. Theoretically, though I coubt in practice, it would make stronger wifi passwords more acceptable, as you wouldn't have to walk everyone through entering a cryptographically secure password when they come over
Posted by: ReallyBored at Fri Jul 3 10:41:38 2015 (ulGxe)
3
It makes it easier for your friends to share your home wifi with their friends. And easier for a temp to share your office wifi with anyone they've ever exchanged email or shared cat pictures with. And it's enabled by default in Windows Phone.
And the only sure way to "opt out" is to make your wireless network incompatible with printers, Kindles, etc.
6
I strongly suspect that if I asked some of my friends who are still with the borg, they'd be able to name the VP whose pet project it was. And that everyone who pointed out the legal and other problems was "encouraged" to overlook them. The "make the world change their networks" opt-out has that sweeping arrogance that just screams Microsoft VP.
It flew under the radar with Windows Phone, because not that many people actually buy them. I suspect the number of network managers who've actually seen a Windows Phone in the wild is quite small. :-)
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sat Jul 4 12:16:01 2015 (ZlYZd)
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