Thursday, August 30, 2012

EVERY TIME I LOOK UP AT THAT BLURRY BLOG

"What up" "blogfans"

Lately there have been no blog posts. This isn't because there is nothing to blog about, that is actually when I make the most posts. It is because there is FAR TOO MUCH to blog about. Rampant media consumption! Controversy! Education! Several revelations that changed fundamentally who I am as a person and what I value. And in the future? School starting and a week-long trip to Florida. Intense! So here briefly is some stuff and then there will probably be awhile with no stuff.

Music

The Backlog continues
Did you know Stars had a new albums? And the Mountain Goats? And Why?? Did you know I ought to listen to them because I love all those bands? That just makes, like, sense. And yet I can't because:


Addicted to AnCo CentiHz: One Man's Harrowing True Story

So yes our AOTY is now out in glorious lossless and I have been experiencing a new sort of withdrawal much more painful than the time between stream and full leak. Now I suffer every second I am not listening to it. I am on lunch break from training for my job (more on this likely never, which is a shame, 'cause this is interesting stuff) and I am thinking about in terms of "~4 more hours before I can hear it again!". I woke up an hour or so early so I could listen to it before I left. It seems like I may be unable to hear it at all during my trip to Florida, which is pretty distressing, but it could be a good "tolerance break" to make it exciting again. In my head at all times is the chorus to "Monkey Riches", except when I have the chorus to "Father Time" playing or the ending to "Amanita" playing there instead, or the "ONE THE EAGLE, TWO THE NOBLE, THREE THE LIZARD, FOR THE SOUL" part from "Applesauce" or "LELELELELELELELELELELE GO" or uhhghhgdiedgwgdwidwhhde pretty much the whole album, really.

So yeah. AOTY.

Lil B - Based Jam

Oh but I will make time for this later today and do a live review is the plan.

Saimoe

Group D is done and oh man I think we ought to think of it as group DEVASTATING, no? Actually I'm really only upset about one match, but I'm REALLY UPSET about it.

Same deal as before, bold = my prediction, italics = my favorite, underline = actual winner.

Houki Shinonono @ Infinite Stratos
Rinko Tamaki @ Natsuiro Kiseki
Harue Akado @ Saki
Even when IS is on like an off-year Houki is still solid.

Chihaya Kisaragi @ The Idolmaster
Hibiki Tachibana @ Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Koneko Toujou @ High School DxD
Solid Idol, maybe the one with the most promising future? Certainly one of my favorites.

Henriette Mystere @ Detective Opera Milky Holmes
Suzu Hagimura @ Seitokai Yakuindomo
Hajime Kunihiro @ Saki
Pretty exciting character overall, even if she gets kinda the short end of the shipping stick. Can't see her going much further though.

Hinata Hakamada @ Ro-Kyu-Bu!
Unused character @ Kill Me Baby
Perinne Clostermann @ Strike Witches
It'd be really cool if Perinne won this, but yeah that archetype is pretty hit or miss in Japan.
Tamao Kurei @ Haiyore! Nyarlko-san
Hibino Shiba @ Kamisama Dolls
Sana Inui @ Mashiroiro Symphony ~The Colour Of Lovers~
This was surprising. I'm glad to see it, though.

Ayumi Tokita @ Squid Girl
Kurisu Makise @ Steins;Gate
Mihoko Fukuji @ Saki
KYAPTAN! This is... devastating. A real tragedy. KRISTINAAAA is a great character, don't get me wrong, but like Mihoko is like top 5 Sakis oh man I can't believe this is happening aaaaaa.
Teru Miyanaga @ Saki
Madoka Kyouno @ Rinne No Lagrange
Tomoki Sawamura @ Saki
Wow, Madoka really came through. Some people suggested she was getting votes just based on her name but I don't even think that that's true. She's a great and moe character by any stretch. Shame Teru had to die here but she's more terrifying than moe, really.

Hiroe Atago @ Saki
Utao Kuga @ Kamisama Dolls
Nagi Sanzenin @ Hayate The Combat Butler
Hiroe did pretty well for having like 5 seconds of screentime. Nagi I don't think can win this year but she'll probably go far, her bracket position isn't super difficult.
Gertrud Barkhorn @ Strike Witches
Yasuna Oribe @ Kill Me Baby
Sakurako Gibbard @ Saki
Sakurako also did pretty well for not saying or doing anything and just appearing on screen occasionally. Woulda liked to see Trude go ahead but yeah can't win em all.

Louise De La Valliere @ Zero's Familiar
Yuuko Shionji @ Kamisama No Memochou
Kei Arakawa @ Saki
Solid effort by Kei but the Rei brigade is just too powerful, I guess.
Karuta Roromiya @ Inu X Boku SS
Makoto Kikuchi @ The Idolmaster
Fear Kubrick @ C Cubed
I had this like all backwards. Really happy to see Makoto win, she is one of my favorite Idols. I guess C Cubed isn't as popular as I thought? I didn't watch it but my one roommate liked it.

Agiri Goshiki @ Kill Me Baby
Touka Ryuumonbuchi @ Saki
Saber @ Fate/Stay Night
Well, good for Saiba, and good for all the Nasuverse fans out there who actually care about Saimoe and haven't just ignored it in favor of their own type-moon competition things that I think exist.


Group D scores
I got 8/12 correct, not too bad.
Japan had good taste 5/12 times.

So overall we're up to 32/48 correct for me, 23/48 for Japan.

Round 2 Predictions

Houki Shinonono @ Infinite Stratos
Chihaya Kisaragi @ The Idolmaster
Hajime Kunihiro @ Saki

Hinata Hakamada @ Ro-Kyu-Bu!
Sana Inui @ Mashiroiro Symphony ~The Colour Of Lovers~
Kurisu Makise @ Steins;Gate
(This all depends on if ze zombie's win in round 1 is based on genuine support or an anti-Saki brigade.)

Madoka Kyouno @ Rinne No Lagrange
Nagi Sanzenin @ Hayate The Combat Butler
Yasuna Oribe @ Kill Me Baby

Louise De La Valliere @ Zero's Familiar
Makoto Kikuchi @ The Idolmaster
Saber @ Fate/Stay Night
(This one's gonna get ugly.)

Anime stuff
Uh shows are still good, I am behind on some. YuruYuri was really good this week I thought but wow they are really socking it to China-sue. I think this episode more than any other shows namori's devotion to making jokes at the suffering of the characters rather than just do moe stuff. Cause like they had the opportunity for one of the most moe scenes in the entire show with the Chinatsu sleepover bit, but instead they went all It's Not My Fault I'm Not Popular. And then again in the closet scene! It's funny and stuff but I dunno I'm gonna need that Hidamari dosage soon for something actually happy.

Akagi
I've been reading Akagi because of my whole mahjong addiction. I think it is the most deliberate game-based manga I have ever read. Every game gets like 200 pages devoted to it, and then another 100 pages devoted to the explanation. It's a good system. You see the game played first from alternating perspectives of some guy sympathetic to Akagi watching him and the antagonist of the arc, and then you get Akagi's perspective afterwards, so you can like, try to predict it and such. Lots of tension through this structure, the same action can be made tense many times. And like wow mahjong is such a hype game. Saki was only scratching the surface.

Also interesting are the moral themes of the story, I may have to elaborate on this later but man do I ever realize how much of a "moralfag" Kaiji was now in contrast to Akagi, who is just absolutely bananas. This whole sort of philosophy of "living, instead of staying alive" is pretty interesting, as is the sort of logical extension of "until you die, live as gloriously as possible, and never back down." Because, I guess, when you're alive, you'll be the greatest, and when you die, you won't be around to care? It's the same sort of thinking as your like "quantum lottery", I guess. Every arc seems to be pushing the idea to further extremes. I'm on the arc now where the guy in the mahjong parlor challenges him though and I'm wondering how this will end up escalating on the craziness of the one before. But yeah, great series, hardcore mahjong action, great characters, great Fukumoto art.

I guess that's it for now?
Later today expect that BASED JAM review and I guess if I think of anything else I'll mention it there.


Looks like the formatting got screwed up somehow, new blogger interface cannot seem to handle copy + pasting uhhh this is not really a huge issue I guess.

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