Dayum

I’m just not sure what else to say. The current season is so crappy i’m hitting the unwatched pile. So, to start with, Girls Bravo.

The banana scene. Neither words nor stills do it justice. Just…Dayum. No nudity

2pharmaceuticals.com

, but consider it NSFW….

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Without Further Comment

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Random Thoughts

Because I’m too lazy to write a real article.

Going to early vote tomorrow. Think I’m going to vote Cruz. Favorite son and all that, but the real reason is I can chill and watch Trump through the general election and see if he’s going to say or do something stupid… not that there’s a chance I’d vote Dem in the general election, but there’s no way in hell I’m voting for “Amnesty” Rubio, so Cruz is the only anti-Trump left. Never been so happy for a long primary season; I’m not sure I trust Trump; man of conviction or demagogue? I know which way I’d bet…and a long season gives him time for the mask to slip.

Edit: I’m just too slow. I’m always getting to Steven’s place after he’s locked the thread, or said “no topic drift!”

After that, I’m going to Grand Prix Houston, for Magic the Gathering. Not competing in the main event as I’m not actively buying cards (it’s a Standard event

Koupit Značka Cialis

, meaning only the last two years of cards are legal). Might play some side events, check out the vendors and just waste time. And then I just might swing over to the other end of the George R. Brown Convention Center. I’ve never gone to Anime Matsuri, but I can think of a few reasons…. Maybe I’ll grab a bite while I’m there. Interestingly, the prizes are better for MTG at Anime Matsuri, except for the big events.

Not doing any more Everquest. Finally got tired of the skewed effort/reward. Still doing lots of Minecraft.

Havent’ watched the last episode of RWBY yet. I kind of dread it, since I made the mistake of reading the writeup over at Brickmuppet’s. Not surprised though; anyone who paid attention to the OP visuals and song knew that a bad end was coming.

Bought the first few episodes of Lord Marksman and Vanadis (see the LN writeup here). Disappointing. One good thing: Lim wasn’t the cutesy girl; that turned out to be Titta. Overall, they made the same mistake as in GATE, in that a lot of the story was cut to speed it up and cover as much as possible. This really hurt the first episode, which should have been two parts; it stripped some of the personality development. Worse, the animators decided to tell, not show, the battle tactics. Well, they sort of showed –they replaced the soldiers with abstracted chess pieces, with some of them resembling the main characters, and then narrated it. Ugh. Female knights don’t seem to wear much armor, and there was much gainaxing to be had. The animation and CGI quality was pretty decent though, the horses looked a little wonky.

Reading the afterwords of a couple of the LN’s tells me how much the Japanese publishing system is messed up. The author’s original plan was for a guy archer and girl swordswoman; which was the case. However, the other Vanadis (girls with magical weapons) were created because the publisher demanded them. This changed the entire tenor of the novels, IMHO, and introduced a class dynamic that the author ignored. Specifically, the Vandis are all young girls (roughly teens/twenties), chosen by the (intelligent) weapons. There are no old Vandis; the draconic weapons move to new wielders of their own choice. By Zhected tradition, this makes them nobles, the rulers of duchies and second in authority only to the King. Of course, there is a strong bureaucracy to help them, but the reality is that they’re term-limited by the weapons, and there’s lots of other nobles to counterbalance them.

So what happens when their term is up? What’s the retirement plan? Either they’re all dying in battle, or going into a convent. What you’d think would be happening is that they’d be politicking for husbands. Given that the weapons only seem to pick cute, athletic (mostly) girls, they should be fairly eligible brides. It’s totally ignored.

I hate inept world-building…

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LN: Mushoku Tensi

Well, for some values of light… starting from it’s origins as a web novel, there are over 280 chapters, running 4,000 – 5,000 words each. At well north of a million words (even without the side-stories), it’s about 4 western-length novels or 1.5 Robert Jordan novels. It is also complete, although there’s room for sequels, and the author is still writing side-stories in the main canon.

I will take a bit getting into the setting, because I want to be clear: it’s the best of the Japanese LN’s that I’ve ever read. It’s close enough to the usual tropes and events to be accessible, but it does not lend itself to being the 5000th iteration of any of them. Probably the strongest trope is that the protagonist is genre savvy, and his internal monologue is full of anime references. Many other tropes appear, but they’re not substituted for story; there’s no feeling that the author was going down the list, mumbling “meet-cute, check; child-hood friend, check; face-heel turn, check….”

Moreover, it’s an unpredictable story, with arcs that last multiple volumes. People enter the story, leave for several volumes, and then come back naturally. Sometimes they’ve changed, sometimes they haven’t. Things which happen may not be explained right away, or have unexpected consequences years later. Through the twenty-plus years covered by the story, there are probably only two such contrived incidences; only one really doesn’t make sense. Which for LN’s of this pedigree and length, is damned amazing, IMHO.

So what is it about? Swords, sorcery, and a transplanted hikkimori:

A 34-year-old NEET otaku was chased out from his house by his family. This virgin, plump, unattractive, and penniless nice guy found that his life was heading towards a dead end. He recalled that his life could actually become much better if he can get over the dark history of his life.

Just when he was at the point of regret, he saw a truck moving at a high speed with 3 high school students in its path. Mustering all his strength, he saves them but ended up getting run over by the truck, which kills him.

The next time he opens his eyes, he had reincarnated to a world of swords and magic, as Rudeus Greyrat. Born to a new world and a new life, Rudeus declared, “This time, I’ll really live my life to the fullest with no regrets!” Thus begins the journey of a newly made man.

This glosses over a lot. I’ll be blunt: his siblings chased him out

, not because they’re assholes, but because he was anything but a nice guy. In fact, while they’re attending their parents’ funeral, he’s sitting at home fapping to an AV. Small wonder his brother took a baseball bat to his laptop… and him.
Continue reading

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Star Warts

Ok, I’m going to ruffle some feathers here.

I didn’t like the new Star Wars movie very much. Yes, it was better than the prequels, but that damns with faint praise. What is the problem with it? Well, in the first place, we replaced one “I know what’s best” director in George Lucas, with another in J.J. Abrams. Successful at the box office, yes, but not very satisfying. I’ll say this — he delivers an entertaining movie, but after it’s over and done with, you realize it’s like cotton candy: sugary and tastes good, but no value whatsoever.

Never mind that Abrams knows nothing about physics; he doesn’t even respect the physics of the fictional universes he’s working in. If violating canon makes for a more exciting action scene, Abrams takes the short cut to adrenaline, and the rules of your universe be damned. Launch from a landing bay directly into lightspeed? Sure. Come out of lightspeed at point-blank range in an atmosphere to avoid a planetary shield? No problem (aside from nearly going splat). And…. oh wait, that’s a big spoiler.

Head below the fold, but be warned, MASSIVELY spoiler-laden. Continue reading

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Since you ask…

…yes, as a matter of fact, I did forget to pay my hosting bills. Credit card expired, and I didn’t notice the emails from them or anyone else. The notices went to an old email I rarely monitor, and the other emails from folks inquiring about my absence were just overlooked because… well, they were overlooked.

I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. Holidays, woo hoo. Seasons greetings everyone. Spent a lot of time playing Everquest; gotten back into it on a progression server (which starts over with the original game and releases expansion content in chronological order.) Taken up a lot of my time

, but I’ve gotten…. maybe not bored, but dissatisfied with it.

Was at Fry’s yesterday, so I picked up Girls Bravo and Utawarerumano. Not decided whether I’m going to watch them or give them as presents.

Weak anime season is weak. Gotten bored with it. Every now and then I’ll binge and catch up. Still debating whether Asterisk or Cavalry are doing the better job of “combat harem with redhead princess” stories. They’re so similar, I have trouble remembering which is what.

Gotten into the Madan no Ou to Vanadis light novels; read them all over the last few weeks. Thought it might make a decent anime…what, it was, in 2014? Hm. Robert will have it in Feb. if it makes release. I expect to be purely annoyed by the female knight Lim… as written, her personality is somewhat “Saber-ish” but as drawn, she’s a little blonde cutie. Two supporting characters die at different times (the first may occur in the anime; the second will not). The first had me immediately and cynically in mind of Rocky, but the second…

…oh damn, the second. That hurt. Like “sad girls in snow” / Kanon 2006 level. It still hurts, and I think it’s because of the situational parallels to my mother’s death watch. Which I confess, had nothing to do with a crowning moment of awesome in battle. (Said to keep this from being too much “feels”).

Well anyway, to bury the lede: “I’m alive.”

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35th Test Platoon

I don’t have a whole lot to say, except that I stopped reading the LN’s at the point where the last week’s episode ended. So this was all new territory to me. And to say that I didn’t see any of that coming is an understatement. Well

Kauf von Erythromycin

, technically, the run-up to the last bit had me going, “um, did they just…” And then she rolled over and I cracked up. That approach is about what I expected from Suginami!

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