Some things are too cool by far

I'm not really sure what it is about steampunk that tickles my fancy so, but regardless of the reason it certainly does.

While this isn't precisely steampunk, it is a very interesting site.

I'm especially enamored with the steam powered R2 unit.



And again:



I'm still planning on saying a few things about Onegai Teacher, and a number of other anime I've recently finished, but that will have to wait for another day.

Even Shorter, less random

I'm not sure what it is about the weather that has me wanting to blog about it. While the actual snow fall had stopped by the time I was done with work today, the blowing snow made the driving conditions among the worst I've had to deal with this winter. The whiteout conditions were certainly the worst I've had to drive through for the last two winters. Man am I glad I still don't have my poor old Mustang (or as I liked to think of it the winter deathmobile).

I now return you to my usual non-weather related blog.

Short and Random

A woot for post 40. Even if this is going to be a very short post.

The Twins played their first game of the season last night. That makes me happy. They won and that makes me even happier.

My joy is tempered however by the winter storm that dumped a few inches of snow on me (and obviously everyone else living in my neck-of-the-woods) late last night/early this morning.

I should have a few things to say about Onegai Teacher, and Ghost Hunt within a day or so.

This link is like geek heaven (at least my kind of geek heaven).

I told you this would be a very short post.

Kanon (2006)

I doubt I’ll have as much to say about Kanon, as I did with Kashimashi. I guess that is a little odd since I found Kanon to be one of the nicest and rewarding anime I’ve watched. It certainly isn’t perfect, and I’d never claim it’s for everybody, but I’m always going to rank it high among my favorites. I should point out I’m talking about the 2006 remake. I’ve never seen the 2002 version of Kanon, nor have I ever played any of the versions of the visual novel these anime were based on.

The story revolves around Aizawa Yūichi a second year high school student who moves in with his Aunt and Cousin (Minase Akiko and Minase Nayuki) whom he used to visit during the summers when he was younger (although he hasn’t done so for seven years). Yūichi quickly runs into several girls he used to know from his previous visits, but strangely he and in many cases they have trouble remember details of the events seven years prior.

The early episodes of Kanon are pleasant and leisurely paced. They do a nice job of introducing the main and supporting characters, but beyond some nice conversations, and the sowing of seeds for possible romance nothing much seems to be going on. Or at least it seems that way on the surface, nicely woven throughout are little hints and clues speaking to the fact that there is something more going on. Some are nicely used cues hinting at the areas and themes the anime is going to expand upon; others start out seeming like standard romantic anime fare, but quickly become apparent they have more importance than typical anime cliché. Then there are the more subtle clues that only become apparent when remembered after viewing later episodes. Finally, and these are my favorites, there are the revelations that induced double-takes or vocal interjections on my part while I was watching. The first one of those happened for me at the end of episode 4, where I was left wondering if the entire tone and them of the anime was about to undergo a radical change (happily it didn't, but it did leave me wanting more). A second, possibly even bigger “What!?” moment happened in episode 8. At that point it started to dawn on me, and as I continued through this anime it became more apparent (and delightfully so) that the world Yūichi lives in is every bit as fantastic as the worlds presented in say Kino’s Journey, or The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (obviously in different ways, but fantastic never-the-less). My absolute favorite part of this anime was discovering just how much more was going on than I then I was expecting.

I should mention a few things in passing.

Forgive me for blogging about the weather, but I felt my local weather was pretty fitting for April Fools' Day. As one might expect from spring the last week has been pretty rainy, the previous two days in particular have been practically nonstop rain. Today however when I looked out my window I was greeted not to the sight of more rain, not to the sight of sunshine, or even just overcast skies. Nope I got to see snow; however it was warm enough that despite the fact the snow was coming down at a decent rate none of it was accumulating. So in a way it was like fake snow, I got the see the stuff fall from the sky, but I didn’t have to deal with it piling up on the ground. I felt it was a pretty appropriate April Fools' Day joke on the part of Mother Nature.

Baseball season has started. I am a very happy person.

I am really good at starting new anime (not as good at finishing them, because I’m easily distracted by more new anime). Last night I started a number of them. I have a feeling when I get home from work Ghost Hunt will occupy a large amount of my time before I go to bed (I watched the first 4 episodes of 25 last night). However Red Garden may give it a run for its money (I’ve watched 2 of its 22 episodes). I also took in the first episode of Code Geass, and the first two episodes of Negima!?.

Ghost Hunt’s title gives you a pretty good idea of what it’s about. The characters seem pretty interesting, and there are hints that the main female character has secrets to be revealed. I found watching Red Garden to be an interesting experience because I knew almost nothing about it when I started watching it (I usually at least know the genre of an anime before I start it). I knew it was by Gonzo, and that back in October John from Ask John had written in his Ask John column that he felt it might be overlooked by American fans (verses Pumpkin Scissors also by Gonzo which John thought would be a hit with American anime fans). I did have an amusing revelation when it dawned on me that Red Garden was set in New York City. If I had paid any attention to the opening credits the setting would have been obvious, but instead I got to sit through the first half of the episode wondering what was bothering me about it. The lack of school uniforms, the yellow school buses, and the characters with names like Rose, Claire, and Kate finally drove the point home for me about two minutes before the anime made mention of New Jersey. I don’t have much to say about Code Geass yet. It’s set in the future, it has mecha, and the main character seems rather intense (he has an interesting power, but I’m not sure I’m going to like him). The art style of Negima!? is very different from Mahou Sensei Negima! I’m a fan of the Negima manga, but less enamored with the original anime (I didn’t hate it, I just preferred the manga). I’m not sure yet what I’m going to think of Negima!? but at least it’s interesting to look at (not quite as stylized as Gankutsuou, but close).

Kashimashi

March saw me watch three separate anime series with a strong element of romance to them: Onegai Teacher, Kanon, and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ (also Romanized as Kasimasi). I would characterize all three of them as delightful although I’d have to give a qualified delightful to Kashimashi. Of these three Kashimashi is the series I most want to talk about.

Kashimashi induced the strongest emotional response an anime has produced in me for sometime, unfortunately that response was anger directed at the OVA ending. The main characters are three high school classmates Osaragi Hazumu, Kamiizumi Yasuna, and Kurusu Tomari. Hazumu is a somewhat effeminate boy easily described with words like kind and gentle. Yasuna is a quiet and lonely girl who suffers from a pretty unique form of androphobia (although Hazumu is the exception to that). They share an interest in gardening. Tomari is a tomboy who has protected Hazumu from bullies since they were both small children. The plot revolves around Hazumu’s sudden transformation into a girl (due to a very close encounter with an extraterrestrial scientist), and the love triangle that develops between the three of them afterwards.

The supporting characters are generally fun and interesting. Hazumu’s parents and Tsuki Namiko, one of her teachers (the only teacher depicted), exist almost solely for comic relief, but they aren’t overly intrusive (and on the scale of amusing to annoying they lean towards the amusing side). To some extent Soro Asuta, Hazumu’s only male friend, also serves as comic relief, but as he comes to grips with the fact that Hazumu is a very cute girl he presents an interesting (if never very serious) alternative to the main love triangle. I found the final member of Hazumu’s circle of friends, Mari Ayuki, to be particularly interesting. She is the only friend neither pursuing nor contemplating a relationship with Hazumu (although it is strongly hinted that she does have feelings for one of her friends, probably Hazumu, but the object of her affection is never explicitly identified). Ayuki is basically an emotional voyeur (that may be putting too harshly but it does get the point across), and is very content to remain an observer and not a participant in the unfolding drama (not that events allow her to completely get her wish). The final major supporting characters are Sora Hitoshi and Jan Pū. Hitoshi is the alien responsible for turning Hazumu into a girl, and is also an anthropologist who traveled to Earth to study love; Jan Pū is the spaceship’s anthropomorphic AI. Jan Pū’s primary functions in the anime are being cute, and providing comic relief. Hitoshi’s lack of understanding of human culture and his interactions with Namiko also results in a fair amount of comic relief. His study of love boils down to either observing Hazumu or placing Hazumu in situations where her relationship with her suitors could advance.

The series opens during the aftermath of Hazumu confessing his love to Yasuna. After Yasuna rejects his confession Hazumu hikes up Mt. Kashima to find solace. As Hazumu walks up the mountain he reflects on his relationship with Yasuna and a series of flashbacks tell the back story of how they met and became friends as well as the encouragement and advice his friends gave him prior to him making his confession. Meanwhile Hazumu’s friends Asuta, Ayuki, Tomari learn of the results of his confession and concerned start searching for him. Eventually Tomari concludes Hazumu must have hiked up Mt. Kashima, so with Asuta and Ayuki in tow she starts up the mountain to find him. Interlaced through all of this are scenes of Yasuna showing signs of regret and hinting at that her rejection of Hazumu was undertaken rather reluctantly as she makes her own way up Mt. Kashima to return one of the two plants she and Hazumu transplanted from the mountainside to the school garden. Finally mixed in with all this terrestrial action is the goings on of Hitoshi’s spacecraft in orbit around Earth, and wouldn’t you know it the ship suffers engine failure.

While the alien ship is falling towards Earth Hazumu sees what he thinks is a shooting star only after making the obligatory wish (for a loving relationship naturally) does he realize something is amiss. Well apparently being rejected by the girl he loves wasn’t all the abuse the universe had in store for Hazumu on this day because the ship crash-lands directly onto the poor guy. Naturally Hitoshi feels very bad about this and with access to advanced alien technology is able to save Hazumu’s life, however one small mistake is made while rebuilding Hazumu’s body and he is turned irreversibly into a she. Acting in accordance with galactic law Hitoshi reveals its ship to the world and announces to everyone that he is very sorry for crashing into Osaragi Hazumu, and he is also very sorry about accidentally turning Hazumu into a girl, but asks that everyone please treat her with respect. Attracted by both the large alien spacecraft hovering over the mountain (engines apparently fixed) and by the announcement concerning Hazumu both Yasuna, and Tomari rush towards a clearing just in time to see an unconscious (also a very naked, and very female) Hazumu float down in a beam of light into their waiting arms. With Hazumu alive and returned to Earth the spacecraft disappears back into space, and the first episode comes to an end with Hazumu waking up to Yasuna and Tomori looking over her.

The next eleven episodes are spent setting up, fleshing out, and then resolving the love triangle between Hazumu, Yasuna, and Tomari. And it does so very nicely and in a rewarding fashion. It takes some work for Tomari to accept Hazumu as a girl, and Hazumu has to exert some effort to renew her friendship with Yasuna. When Yasuna tries to take her relationship with Hazumu beyond friendship it causes not only Tomari to deal with her feelings for Hazumu, but starts Hazumu down the path of actually coming to a decision. When that decision is finally made it makes sense given the internal logic on the anime, and I was generally happy with the outcome (admittedly I would have preferred Hazumu choose the other girl, but that doesn’t mean I hated the choice that was made). In other words it was a good, if bittersweet ending.

Then I watched the OVA. My main problem with the OVA is that far too much happens in one 27 minute episode. It’s not that I’m unhappy with the results, it’s just everything was rushed, and there was little explanation of why the characters were undertaking the actions depicted. When there was explanation it consisted of something like this:

Char1: Hey Char2 do you remember when you did that thing?

Char2: Yes I do. It was a hard thing to do.

Char1: Why did you do that?

Char2: Well I did it for this reason (gives reason).

Char1: Yes I understand and accept your reason for doing that.


I have no idea how much (if any) manga was left to adapt after episode 12, and I have no doubt there were probably significant financial reasons making more than a 1 episode OVA unlikely, but all that aside from a purely story driven perspective the events of the OVA should have been broken up into 6-8 more episodes. This would have allowed time to actually show why the characters did what we are told they did in-between episode 12 and the start of the OVA. There would have been time to show why several characters underwent a change in attitude from episode 12 to the OVA allowing their behavior in the OVA to make sense. If there had been time to show all that I have no doubt I would have been completely satisfied with the outcome. In the end I feel like the OVA is just saying here let me in one episode completely change everything and provide a new resolution that totally negates the one the previous twelve episodes carefully worked towards.

Okay so I spent way more time talking about Kashimashi than I thought I would. So I’m going to have to save my thoughts on Kanon and Onegai Teacher for another post.

Well this month kinda got away from me

I really didn’t mean to let a whole month go by without posting anything, but obviously those intentions were for naught. It’s not like I wasn’t up to anything during March, granted I wasn’t up to anything new, but I continued on with my usual activities meaning role playing and anime. You’ll forgive me if I touch on some of this only briefly.

The BESM campaign continues to go extremely well. I can see the end approaching, but I find I am repeatedly under estimating the number of remaining sessions. I’ve been thinking only three more to go for probably the last three sessions. We should be holding our next session April 14 assuming things go as planned there will be at least one more session after that (but given how things are taking longer then I think they will probably two more sessions). I suspect my players are enjoying themselves as much as I am if for no other reason then some of the interesting plans they come up with for their characters (for example). We did meet once for the Eberron campaign during March, and I look forward to continuing that, although I haven’t heard anything about that for a while now.

A little aside I’ve mentioned that one of the things my friends and I do when we gather to game is spend some time with the Wii first. Well this ritual lead some of my friends to ponder while bowling on Wii Sports, why don’t we actually go bowling for real. So we did just that. I broke 100 during our first game (quite good for me), and struggled to get to into the 50s during the second game (all in all pretty typical).

So anime. . .

I watched a great deal of it during March. Probably the most I’ve watched in a month since last November (I may well have exceeded the amount I watched in November). First off I’ve stayed current with the same shows I’ve been staying current with for a while now namely Bleach, Busou Renkin, and Naruto Shippuden. I started and finished My-HiME, Mai-Otome, Kanon (the 2006 version), Onegai Teacher (including OVA), and Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ (also including OVA). I also started (but not yet finished) BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (18 of 26 episodes), Pumpkin Scissors (4 of 24 episodes), Kino's Journey (8 of 13 episodes), Kyo Kara Maoh! (25 of 78 episodes), and Doki Doki School Hours (15 of 20 episodes). I’ve continued watching Hunter × Hunter and am through all 62 TV episodes, the first 8 episode OVA, and 7 episodes of the second 8 episode OVA. I’ve also watched a few more episodes of Tokimeki Memorial Only Love.

I don’t know that I’ll do this tomorrow, but soon I think I’ll post my thoughts on Kanon and Kashimashi for sure, and probably something about My-HiME, and Mai-Otome after that. I only have one episode of Busou Renkin left to watch so I’m sure I’ll have something more to say about it once I’ve finished that series off as well.

Well he is a Sith Lord. . .

The weather this last weekend was most uncooperative so I ran my BESM campaign remotely. All-in-all it went just fine I couldn't get my firewall to allow my computer to act as a server for any of the various programs we made use of, but other people were able to handle that so it was only a minor annoyance. We did have one "major" technological outage, but I cannot really complain about it as it luckily happened just when I was ready to call a short break so I could fix myself some food, and was resolved a minute or two before I was finished eating the food I had just made myself.

I received an e-mail from an old friend of mine today. It consisted of a link to an amusing video on YouTube. I give you Dark Vader being a jerk:

Way too much Haruhi

Tomorrow, weather permitting (and if not technology permitting), I'll be running my BESM campaign. Tomorrow I will also be making the official decision about what to run for my next campaign. That particular decision is approximately 99% made at this point so baring a last minute strenuous objection by one of my players (or some late night epiphany) I'll be running a sci-fi campaign featuring independent mecha pilots in a Firefly/Serenity inspired setting. The second place idea was The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya inspired campaign. In honor of the campaign that might have been (and I guess clings to a 1% chance of still being) I give you this post which happened when happy chance lead me to YouTube, YouTube -like it usually does- lead me to more YouTube, and that inspired me to see how many of these Haruhi Suzumiya videos I could embed in this post.

I'll start with the original video I ran across. It's your basic anime music video featuring the end credits of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and a song from the Namco game Mojipittan. I found it delightfully amusing and immediately began looking for more.


Next I'll move on to the clean versions of the opening and end credits (see here for song titles and artist info).


With the original versions out of the way I give you the all dance version of the end credits.


I was very happy to find this edited together version of Haruhi's surprising rock concert at her school's cultural festival. Kyon's face when he realizes Haruhi is on stage just kills me.


Sticking with the rock theme I move on to this AMV featuring The White Stripes song "Fell In Love with a Girl."


There is a veritable cornucopia of Haruhi Suzumiya themed AMVs to be found on YouTube (and doubtless even more on the Internet in general). To represent those countless numbers I chose this one because it featured Nagato Yuki who may just be my favorite character in the anime.


Finally I leave you with the Gundam version. The fact that a Gundam version exists is proof that people with far too much time on their hands make wacky things and post them to the Internet, and other people with far to much time on their hands (like me) find those things and blog about them.

A little light reading

No earth shattering updates in my life this last week to report which overall is probably a good thing. The Eberron campaign on Monday was fun, and we'll be meeting again tomorrow. We should probably wrap up the current adventure (or so our DM has estimated). The process of remote gaming is proving surprisingly workable, even if the occasional technological issues are still somewhat annoying. All-in-all I'm quite happy with the experience thus far, and I am really enjoying being a player again. My own BESM campaign should meet again this coming Saturday an event I eagerly anticipate. I estimate my current BESM campaign will be concluded in another three to five sessions, and while I’m more then a little sad to see it end, I’m also filled with a fair amount of satisfaction over how it’s developed.

I’ve spent the majority of my free time this last week rereading many of David Weber’s Honor Harrington books. I also ran across LibriVox.org and its collection of public domain audio books, and promptly making use of its services I’ve enjoyed having Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars read to me these last two days. I should start in on the The Gods of Mars in the next few days.

I also found time to watch some anime. I’m still keeping current with Bleach (episodes 114 and 115) and Busou Renkin (episodes 18 and 19). My research into the picture I used to end my post on 2/9 peaked my interest a bit so I’ve since watched the first six episodes of Blood+ (I’ll probably get around to watching a little of Fate/stay Night as well). Since I’ve only watched a few episodes I don’t have much to say about it yet, but I did find those six episodes to be pretty interesting. Over the last two weeks or so I’ve watched the first four episodes of Sumomomo Momomo mainly because I wanted to do a little investigation into martial arts comedy anime with an eye towards some future BESM campaign (I’ll probably get around to checking out Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi at some point for the same reason). I’ve found it to be enjoyable enough that I imagine I’ll continue watching it. Last night I watched the first episode of Tokimeki Memorial Only Love and I find myself at a loss for what to say about it. I enjoyed it to be sure, but I don’t think I could describe it other then to say I have no idea what to expect from episode two (I will say that assuming the remaining episodes follow in the footsteps of the first episode I could be in for quite an enjoyable parody of high school romance anime).

Finally I watched the debut episode of Naruto Shippūden. I was surprised how easy it was for me to follow the action and guess what had transpired from where I left off watching Naruto and where Naruto had ended prior to the new series. The short (and somewhat unfair) description of those events would be not much. For the record I watched 82 episodes of Naruto prior to stopping leaving 138 episodes before the events of Naruto Shippūden, of course the last episode of Naruto based on the manga was 135 (and remember episode 101 is an omake and episodes 102-106 comprise the first of the anime only filler arcs) so I’ve watched a bit shy of two-thirds of the anime based on the manga, but still I think I should have had a few more questions about what was going on when I watched the new Naruto series. All that said I really did like Naruto Shippūden and look forward to watching some more of it.

It did not escape my notice that pitchers and catchers reported to spring training this week. Obviously there is still awhile to go until the season opens, but never-the-less the phrase spring training always makes me happy.

I leave you with the following video I ran across on YouTube:

Previous misadventures in plumbing

It occurs to me that recent events aside I’ve never really shared any of my various plumbing related stories of ill luck (well at least I haven’t done so here). I’ll spare you the minute details of every single instance where water ended up on my floor, or my things. Sufficed to say the place I lived before I moved to my wee little house was the ground floor of a duplex, and before that I lived in a basement apartment so I’ve grown used to water occasionally falling from my ceiling (and once in the basement apartment seeping up through my carpet). Come to think of it in the place I lived at before the basement apartment when water was drained out of the kitchen sink (such as after doing dishes) it would backup into the bathtub. However all those minor annoyances pale in comparison to the following.

Towards the end of my stay in the duplex the sewer backed up in a most spectacular fashion. The problem first became evident while running the washing machine (I seem to have bad luck with those as well); a little tip – when the water draining out of your washing machine comes rushing out of your toilet its probably time to call in a plumber. On the plus side that particular incident got me a nice set of new bath towels as I had to go buy several new ones to soak up the water on the bathroom floor since almost all of mine happened to be in the washing machine at the time.

My favorite tale of plumbing woe happened shortly after I moved into my wee little house. It was a Sunday morning, and I was taking a shower before work. I was at best half awake when I attempted the incredibly difficult procedure known as turning off the water and I did manage to turn off the cold water, however when I went to repeat the process with the hot water all knowledge of “righty tighty, lefty loosey” completely deserted me. I grabbed the knob with my left hand and turned, unfortunately I turned the wrong way, and instead of the water shutting off the knob came off in my hand. Imagine my surprise as I stood dumbly in my shower holding the broken knob while a jet of hot water was streaming out of my wall. I stumbled out of my shower wet, naked, and just a little bit confused and stared forlornly at the vertical geyser of water that was slamming into the far wall of my bathroom. A disconcertingly large amount of that water was being deflected down onto my floor and draining into the bathroom heating vent.

It occurred to me that I was probably going to be late to work, so my first action was to call there and advice them of the situation. The coworker I spoke to was very understanding of the situation when I explained it to him, it probably didn’t hurt my case that he could hear the water striking my bathroom wall over the phone. With that out of my way I set about trying to get the water turned off. I reasoned that since there was an access panel on the other side of the wall where the water was coming out that might be a good place to start. I looked around for a hammer or some other tool that would allow me to open that panel (it being conveniently nailed shut), and after a bit of a mad scramble around my house I did locate my hammer. Unfortunately upon opening the access panel I found no shut off valve. I set off on a second mad scramble to find a pair of shoes, and then quickly descended into my basement to search for the shut off valve. Naturally its location was surrounded by a rapidly expanding pool of water, and directly underneath the rather impressive shower being caused dually by the water leaking out of heating ducts and by the water running down the outsides of the water pipes leading back up to by bathroom.

With my basement safe from any further deluge I was free to see if I possessed any skill at plumbing. Sadly I met with only limited success. I was able reattach the knob to the water pipe in such a fashion that when the shut off valve was opened water didn't shoot out of my wall. Instead it ran out of the bath tub's faucet like you'd expect it to, however further turning of the knob didn’t cause the flow of water to diminish in any way, and worse yet turning the knob actually ran the risk of breaking the connection with the pipe leading to a resumption of the bathroom geyser, and the basement flooding. With no other way of stopping the running water in my bathroom I once again threw the main water shut off valve. As best as I can recall I was only ten minutes late to work. It was Tuesday before I was able to get anybody out to fix it, and much to my general annoyance the only thing that needed to be done to rectify the situation was the replacement of a small rubber washer that was likely washed down the drain when the knob originally came off the wall.

I do have an update to my chess match with Erik (I'm white, he's black):

Move  White   Black

32.     Rac1    RxR

33.     RxR     c5

34.     b5      . . .

Tomorrow will be the third meeting of the online Eberron campaign I'm taking part in. I leave you with the following picture depicting an event that I hope won't be inflicted upon any of the characters in the party (although it would be a better outcome then dying). I believe the picture is of Momochi Zabuza from Naruto.