Curse of the Colonel

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Now this made for some interesting reading.

Curse of the Colonel (カーネルサンダースの呪い, Kāneru Sandāsu no noroi?) refers to an urban legend regarding a reputed curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Harland Sanders. The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel’s anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues.

In 1985, much to Japanese people’s surprise, the Hanshin Tigers faced the Seibu Lions and took their first and only victory in the Japan Series, largely due to star slugger Randy Bass, a gaijin (foreigner) player for the team.

The rabid fan base went wild, and a riotous celebration gathered at Ebisubashi Bridge in Dotonbori, Osaka. There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players names, and with every name a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leapt from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking someone to imitate MVP Randy Bass, the rabid crowd seized the Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) plastic statue from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.

This impulsive maneuver was to cost the team greatly, beginning the Curse of the Colonel. Urban legend has it that the Tigers will not win the championship again until the statue is recovered.

I blame Randy Bass. Damn gaijin. But can you imagine the curse they’d have gotten if they’d tossed Ronald McDonald off the bridge?

Posted in Random Nonsense | 2 Comments

Monday Morning Report

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Well, the National Hurricane Center moved the track back south a bit now, raised the chance of it being a hurricane slightly, and the storm has sped up. Next major update is 10 am CDT.

Edit: I’ll be moving further weatherblogging to Houblog.

Posted in The Real World | 2 Comments

Looks Like Rain

Posted on August 3, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Steven points out it’s not that likely to become a hurricane, but around here, “only a tropical storm” is not something to inspire over-confidence.

Update: Already raining. Not part of Edouard, but it’s part of the same conditions that spawned the storm. The most disturbing thing I’ve seen is the speed with which it formed. At 5pm EDT this evening, it was first designated a Tropical Depression. An hour later it had to be upgraded to a Tropical Storm — the pressure fell 5mb in ninety minutes, requiring the special update. Such strengthens the wind speed and total power of the storm. Last measurement had it at 1002mb. Below about 990 it’s getting close to hurricane status — pressure at the nominal hurricane point is around 980mb. In other words, if it kept intensifying at the same rate (not at all likely, I admit) it’s becoming a hurricane right now as I type this.

I’ll post again after the 11pm EDT update.

11pm UPDATE: it’s leveled off in strength and the track has been moved slightly north. That’s a good sign, for Houston.

Posted in The Real World | 4 Comments

End of the Witchblade

Posted on August 3, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Not there yet, but watching DVD 6, next to the last episode.

I’ve previously discussed the highbrow nature of this show, but in a series full of “ya gotta be kidding me” moments and characters (seriously, if slasher combat chicks were a genre, this show would be its Gravion) I think I have found the one shot that sums up the entire goal and target demographic of the series in a single frame. It’s a spoiler and mildly NSFW, so behind the tag:

OFMG!

Her second-stage Witchblade form has a pierced tongue???

Update: Turns out, so does her first-stage form. Never noticed it before, I guess, or they just didn’t show it.

Picking my eyeballs up off the floor with that one. Sheesh!

Posted in DVD Reviews, Snap Reviews | Leave a comment

There Are Worse Things… (Updated)

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Ubu Roi

…in this world, than being forced to take a picture with Yoko and, um, who is the other girl supposed to be? Oh well. Much worse things, indeed.

Still, the one on the right is definitely not qualified to be Yoko. But, is it a sign that I’ve watched too many fanservice shows, that I am amused by how “Yoko” is using her hair to conceal the fact that she really isn’t either?

Update:

And in other news, the first of the former ADV titles is coming from Funimation:

Devil May Cry, Kanon scheduled along with more Geneon titles via Funimation

And Ranma 1/2 returns….

The “It’s a Rumic World” exhibition of manga creator Rumiko Takahashi’s original artwork opened in Tokyo’s upper-class Ginza shopping district on Wednesday with both the previously announced special 30-minute Inuyasha anime short and a new Ranma ½ anime short. The Ranma ½ short adapts the Akumu! Shunminkō (Nightmare! The Incense of Spring Sleep) story from the manga. This is the first Ranma ½ animation produced in 12 years.

Posted in Fandom, Upcoming Releases, Webcomics | 2 Comments

Ecchi Witches, Ep. 5

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Ubu Roi

Well. At least now we know which side of the road Miyafuji walks on.

Yes, it was about Charlotte (Shirley) Yeager and Fransesca Lucchini. Turns out Shirley’s a speed freak and she wants to break the speed of sound. Best she can do is about 800 kph (mach 1 = about 1200 kph for the metric impaired). Yes, it’s a beach episode, so we see the girls in their swimsuits. Well, until Shirley’s disintegrates in the midst of battle. Understandable, considering what it (and she) had just been through.

We’ve reached the point where logic is getting thrown out of the window though; what shredded her swimsuit should have shredded her. Not to mention the minor detail of Miyafuji and Lynn suddenly not knowing how to swim, despite getting dumped in the ocean during episode 3.

Next week is Sanya.

And Crunchyroll needs to get it’s act together…. I can’t download! Says media mods only now…. hope the sales plan didn’t get tossed, or I’m back to being a pirate. 🙁

Edit: Oddly for a swimsuit episode, we get to see pants!

Posted in Fansub Review, Snap Reviews | 5 Comments

No Grass on Field

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Ubu Roi

From ANN:

Coharu Sakuraba’s Kyo no Gononi (Kyō no 5 no 2 or Today in Class 5-2) manga is being adapted as a television anime series. The comedy manga follows the “lightly ecchi,” everyday life of fifth grader Ryōta Satō, his childhood friend Chika Koizumi, and the rest of their school’s Class 5-2. The manga was already adapted into a four-episode video series in 2006. The television series will premiere in Japan in the fall.

Fifth graders.

“Lightly ecchi.”

Greaaaaaat. Kodomo no Jikan with 11-year-olds instead of nines. That’s so much better. If that’s Chika on the cover (looks like a young Luna from Gravion), then I’m afraid. Very afraid.

Posted in Random Nonsense | Leave a comment